The Blog
Home Office Deductions
As tax season begins, we must ensure we claim all taxable expenses for our small and micro businesses. There is much confusion surrounding the Home Office deduction. What can freelancers and subcontractors claim for home office expenses? While it's true that tax...
Imposter Syndrome
Imposter syndrome is a common psychological hurdle that many people face, where they doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as a "fraud." It's a sneaky mind trap that can hold back even the most successful individuals by making them believe they're not as...
Contractor vs Freelancer
I've had an eventful few months expanding my client base. I've been actively engaging on various freelancer sites and my go-to platform, LinkedIn. I was sitting in an online room with 40 other applicants and listening to another VA business pitch for applications to...
POPIA Compliance
The Basics of POPIA Compliance: It is common sense that some information is sensitive and should not be exposed. We must consider privacy and security in all our processes and systems and incorporate them into our daily operations. POPIA is about privacy and...
Better Planning
Better planning is a skill that anybody who wants to achieve their goals and succeed needs to learn. Planning helps you to organize your time, resources, and tasks and to anticipate potential challenges and opportunities. Planning also allows you to monitor your...
LinkedIn Top Tips
LinkedIn is the online space where you should have a presence if you offer professional services or want to be easily discovered by your next employer. It is a powerful platform for professionals to grow their network, showcase their skills, and find new...
50/20/30 Budget Rule
If you're looking for a simple way to manage your money, you might want to try the 50/20/30 budget. A popular way to budget that divides your income into three categories: needs, wants, and savings. Here's how it works: Look at three months of salary slips and bank...
Facebook Page or Group
Facebook page or group? It's a question I see a lot of in the various groups I support. Specifically in those groups that have vendors who sell physical products. The main difference between a page and a group is that a page is more focused on broadcasting your...
Post Covid Pivot
The covid-19 pandemic disrupted many businesses and industries, forcing them to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. The pandemic was a challenging time for most people, but not for us. We adapted quickly and easily to the new situation and found new...
Staying Organized during Lock-down
We are in what feels like day 1001, while in actual fact, it is only day 28. (Yes I totally had to go and look it up). Staying organized during the lockdown has been a huge challenge for me. I think I may have gotten it all tied up now. Although I am gauging that on...
Closed Budget
Last month we started our series on Budgeting with the easy envelope system. Today we look at a slightly more complicated method of budgeting using the closed budget. The premise behind the closed budget is that just because you got an increase doesn't mean that your...
Budgeting Power
Whether you run a business or are just trying to stretch your salary. Budgeting is a life skill that helps empower us. In today's blog, I want to share some tips and give you power over your budget. It really doesn't matter how much you earn, or what your financial...
Healthy Lifestyle Tips
Running a business and being an entrepreneur is hard work, add being a mom into the mix and suddenly your day gets swallowed up. So I created an infographic, "Healthy Lifestyle Tips" to help you remember to take care of yourself. It takes just a few moments to do, but...
Large Retainer Package
The last bookkeeping package I offer is the Large Retainer Package. This is for that business on the knife-edge of moving from small to medium size. Which means that your business will be needing to employ a full-time administrative person sooner rather than later....
When Should I Register My Business?
A question I am often asked is; When should I register my business? Now I am no expert so I thought I would ask one for you. My friend Lorette Terry from Savvic Statutory Services has brought some interesting topics for you to consider.I thought it a good starting...
Is Outsourcing Right for your Business
One of the most frequent questions I hear is outsourcing right for my business? Mostly this comes from brick and mortar businesses. As freelancers who already work remotely handing those jobs over which we are really bad at or that we just plain hate to do makes easy...
What’s in the box?
During the annual ECMeetUp at the beginning of the month, we heard from an amazing group of panelists. Talking about the gaps we have in our online presence. A major take away from the talk for me was about my mission, my one true thing.Now although I only consider...
Medium Retainer Package
In our last blog, we covered a package ideally created for the micro startup. Today we look at a package for the micro who has been running a year or so and small businesses. The Medium sized package was created with your business in mind. So let us go over how this...
Retainer Package Benefits
I have finally gotten my own ducks in a row and have launched my bookkeeping retainer packages. It's a little scary and a little exciting all rolled into one. But it does raise the question, so how does that benefit you? From a cash flow, budget point of view you know...
Motivation in Business
Staying motivated to do the daily business 'things' is hard work all on its own. As business owners, we need to do those tasks on a daily basis that don't fill our tanks and bring us joy. So what can we do to get through the daily tasks that need to be done? I love...
Year End Melanie’s Top Tips
It's February and the South African tax year-end is fast approaching. For most finance and admin staff, this time of year is very stressful. I have worked in environments that have a large emphasis on the year change over and in environments that have none. Each...
Planning
I love to plan, that week between Christmas and New Year traditionally is my downtime for planning and goal setting. This year, if you followed my Insta Stories turned my strategy session on its head. My mini person ended up in hospital, which was downright...
Time Blocking
As a mom, who is growing her business. Actually I can’t get by without two things, a to-do list and time management. My favourite technique to use is called time blocking, between my to-do list and time blocking, I remain sane. Time blocking is quite an easy way, that...
Importance of Admin Processes
One of the things so often overlooked when a new business is started is the admin processes! As an administrator, I find that really hard to believe. But I have come across it again and again. Especially with the move to non-traditional start-ups. Then Back in the...
How outsourcing got my client paid early
I really love what I do. Sitting idol kills me! When my dear friend and mentor needed help to get her admin in hand, I jumped at the chance. With all the admin things under control, suddenly she was getting paid three weeks sooner. It's sometimes so very easy to...
Value of an External Administrator
It's common knowledge that if you want your business to grow, you need to employ some help. With all the many facets of running a business in today's online world, how do you decide what skill sets you will need to hire? And then finding that one unique person who is...
What is a Virtual Assistant?
One of the newest questions around, but did you know that the concept of working remotely has been around for more than 20 years?Originally, us the administrators drove around spent an hour or two a week at your premises and took the bulk of the work home. That sounds...
Hi! I’m Melanie
I have a passion for making order out of chaotic numbers and papers. With 20 years experience, I have mastered getting those admin ducks to obey and stay in their rows.
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Education
- Diploma Journalism 1999
- Certificate Bookkeeping 2008
- QBO Certification 2020
- Certificate in Digital Marketing 2021
- Klaviyo Certified 2022
- EVH FB ADcelerator 2023
- Technical Accountant (ICB) 2024
Current Experience
- Bookkeeping for NPO - 2018 to present
- Bookkeeping for SME - 2019 to present
- Payroll for SME - 2019 to present
- Social Media Management - 2023 to present
Past Experience
- Administrator - OK Foods 1997 to 2003
- Payroll Administrator - Nirove SA 2009 to 2014
- Bookkeeper / Administrator - Nirove SA 2009 to 2014
- Assistant Bookkeeper - Khanya Hygiene 2010 to 2014
- Eastern Cape Secretary - Cleaning Association 2012 to 2014
- Owner (Jack-of-all-Trades - Social media, marketing, blogger, bookkeeping, teacher) - Zahra's Oriental 2013 to 2022
- Bookkeeper - Bartel Systems 2016 to 2019
- Administrator - The Nut Basket 2019 to 2021
- Administrator and Project Assistant - Hot Mess Consulting 2020 to 2024