Stellar Solopreneurs: How Aby’s Upholstery Does Money

Custom upholstery adds amazing pop and custom flair to any space. This special skill is a great way to add to a space or refresh a furniture piece, and with the right money management techniques, it can also produce a thriving business.

That’s just what founder and CEO Abigail Figueroa-Vera has done through Aby’s Upholstery, the custom upholstery shop in San Jose she founded in 2003. The business provides beautiful custom upholstery services for residential and commercial spaces in the Bay Area of Northern California. Along with excellent craftsmanship, her business has also financially sustained itself for 20 years. She has some great tips to share on her own business money system, and how other small business owners can adopt her successful habits.

What are some financial habits you use in your business that help you stay calm and confident about money?

When business is great, aside from saving, I have worked to maximize my credit to gain access to capital. This way when times are slow we have the necessary cushion to help us ride out the waves. When you are paralyzed in financial fear it really deters you from focusing on what you can control today.

How do you make decisions on what to spend on for your business, and what are some things that help you do that?

We spend on what is needed to facilitate our jobs. If a tool or device allows us to be more efficient we don’t think twice about the purchase.

How do you prepare for taxes in your business?

I think one of the key elements is having the right people on your financial team. Working with a bookkeeper is what has ultimately helped the company stay up to date monthly. Doing so facilitates my CPA in helping me better prepare for tax payments, etc.

 

Are there any tips for financial record-keeping you want to share with other small business owners?

Every business expense is on a company card or corporate account so that we can track every transaction.

What are some financial goals in your personal life that your business income has helped you reach, and how do you make sure that’s happening?

Here are a few: children having a private education, financing club athletics for my kids, driving safe vehicles, purchasing a building for the company and purchasing a home.

My next personal goals are to scale my company in such a way to make these dreams possible for my staff. I also want to own a company that can function without me being at the center of it all in order to create a solid infrastructure. Setting new goals for your company will always assure that your personal goals are met!

What’s something you wish you’d known about the financial side of running your own business when you got started?

The importance of knowing how to create your financial team – the investment is worth its weight in gold and even twenty years later I am still learning – each chapter will lead you into the next!

Want to connect with Aby’s Upholstery? Check out the website to see her menu of services, from pillows and cushions to full custom projects,  and join her mailing list. You can also take a visual tour of La Casita, her showroom, and connect with her on Instagram to see more beautiful images of her work.

If you enjoyed Aby’s thoughts on business finance, you might also like to check out our free resource, Reach Your Life Goals: A Business Owner’s Guide. Click here or below to get your free download.

By |2023-09-27T13:46:49-07:00September 20th, 2023|Categories: Bookkeeping Business, Small Business, solopreneurs, Taxes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Stellar Solopreneurs: How a Digital Marketing Consultant Does Money

Digital marketing is a valuable and sought-after skill, and with more and more businesses trying to reach their audiences online these days, there’s usually plenty of clientele. But how do marketing consultants turn bustling businesses into a money systems that sustain and support their lives?

In our second installment in Stellar Solopreneurs this month, we’re hearing about just that from Tracey Lee Davis of ZingPop Social Media. Not only does Tracey deliver professional excellence (I can personally attest to this as a happy former client), but she also has a lot of wonderful words of wisdom for solopreneurs looking to build confidence around their money systems in their businesses. She is one of my bookkeeping clients, and one whose sterling money habits I continually admire! Check out what she has to say:

What are some financial habits you use in your business that help you stay calm

and confident about money?

VERY early in my career, a cohort in a networking group shared with us that she owed over $10K in taxes that year, and she didn’t have it. That absolutely terrified me. I already had a plan for saving for taxes, but that moment solidified that I would never “fudge the numbers” with that account. So every week, I make sure that I am dividing up my income based on paying me, paying my taxes, and paying my business. I have never had an issue paying my taxes in my almost ten years of business! Whew!

How do you prepare for taxes in your business?

I used to painstakingly create an Excel spreadsheet that was many tabs in total. I would scour through emails and receipts to make sure I got everything listed correctly. And I relied heavily on my calendar to track medical appointments and volunteer miles. It took me hours to do all of this. Now that I am using Angela’s services, it is ridiculously simple to do my taxes every year. I really just need to keep track of my mileage, which compared to what I was doing before, is a breeze!

Are there any tips for financial record-keeping you want to share with other small

business owners?

While I am so happy using QBO for my bookkeeping, I started out using an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my invoices. That early system really helped me with divvying up my income, and honestly, I couldn’t wrap my brain around how to easily continue to do that without that spreadsheet when I started using QBO. So I still use it, more for making the math easy and keeping track of my invoice numbers rather than for official bookkeeping purposes. Having that redundancy gives me an easy way to keep everything straight; I can leave myself notes, and it makes moving money into different accounts on my weekly money day so simple.

How do you make decisions on what to spend on for your business, and what are some

things that help you do that?

I am a very frugal person by nature, so I generally am very cautious when it comes to spending money. One of the biggest considerations is, “Will this investment ultimately save me time in the long run or make my life easier in some way?” So getting a bookkeeper, getting a VA, getting a CPA, all of these are smart investments for me because they do their job so much better than I can, and they do it faster, too. So it frees up my time to work on the things only I can do and the things I love to do. Also, if I am spending my free time doing something business-related because I don’t want to take away from my time for client work, it is absolutely worth investing in having someone help me with that task. Our free time is so valuable!

Another thing that has made a difference in making decisions on what to spend was getting a business credit card. I functioned for many years in my business without one, and that was fairly limiting if I didn’t have enough cash in the bank for a big purchase. My business credit card has definitely made a difference in that regard!

What are some financial goals in your personal life that your business income has

helped you reach, and how do you make sure that’s happening?

Travel is important to me. I have friends all over the world and seeing them in person is balm for my soul. When I finally took the plunge to get a business credit card, I made sure to get one that gave me travel rewards. This has allowed me to take a number of trips that I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.

What’s something you wish you’d known about the financial side of running your own

business when you got started?

I started my business in December/January. I didn’t think at all that a lot of annual costs would need to be renewed in those months. I also didn’t know they would be the slowest months in my business. So while I wouldn’t change when I started my business, I am glad to be able to let people who are starting to think about opening their own consider when you will have other big expenses in your life and when your business will have natural lulls. There have been a number of years when the holidays, my recurring business costs, and slow business have been a bit uncomfortable, but hallelujah for that business credit card!

Want to connect with Tracey’s wonderful digital marketing services? Check out her website and join her mailing list. You can see a full list of her offerings, from webinars to memberships to 1:1 coaching, right here. I highly recommend her membership – my business benefited greatly when I was in it!

If you enjoyed Tracey’s thoughts on small business finance, you might also like to check out our free resource, The Cashflow Reboot Guide. Download your free copy here or by clicking below.

By |2023-05-25T11:58:26-07:00May 25th, 2023|Categories: Bookkeeping Business, Small Business, solopreneurs, Taxes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Stellar Solopreneurs: How an Herbalist Does Money

Have you ever wondered how an herbalist makes money? This month on the blog, I’m running an interview series called “Stellar Solopreneurs!” We’ll hear from a couple different small business owners about their own financial insights and how they set up their money systems for financial success.

Today we’re hearing from Madeleine (aka Magic), who is the Head Content Creator for At Peace With Money, but also the herbalist extraordinaire of Roots in the Cracks Herbal Hub! Magic teaches online and local classes on herbal medicine making and identifying medicinal plants, and also runs an online educational membership, The Autonomous Herbalism Learning Community. Check out what they have to share about the financial side of their business:

Are there any tips for financial record-keeping you want to share with other small business owners?

I run a very simple business that’s service-based, so although I sometimes purchase supplies, I don’t typically have many transactions. I do all my financial record-keeping in a spreadsheet with a couple different tabs. Maybe I’ll outgrow this at some point, but for now, it works really well. I want to share this because I want other people to know you don’t have to overcomplicate things. As long as I stay on top of my record keeping and do it regularly, this very simple spreadsheet system works for me.

How do you prepare for taxes in your business?

My main strategy for this is that I have a tax savings account, very similar to what’s suggested by Profit First. I make sure that I factor in how much I need to save for taxes into my prices. This has been especially helpful when I’m preparing a new class series and figuring out how to price it. I know that a certain percentage will get taken off the top for taxes, so I price with that in mind. It’s really helpful to have the money on hand when it comes time to pay and helps me avoid emergencies.

How do you make decisions on what to spend on for your business, and what are some things that help you do that?

One time Angela gave me the advice to think about spending decisions in my business by asking the question “Will this help me make more money?” It seems like a simple question but it’s really helped me prioritize and think about what to invest in.

This advice helped me make the decision to hire PedX Courier & Cargo, a local bike courier co-op, to put up flyers for me, because paper flyering seems to be the best way to market my classes. Doing this increased enrollment and also freed up a lot of time for me because I wasn’t the one pasting up flyers all over the county! (I highly recommend PedX for people in the Santa Cruz area, by the way!)

What’s something you wish you’d known about the financial side of running your own business when you got started?

I wish I’d known better how to price my classes and membership. In the last year or so, I’ve had to reconcile with the fact that in some ways, I was running my business at a deficit to myself.

Now I try to ask myself questions like “Ok, how much am I getting paid to teach this class/run this membership? Is that enough for me to sustain myself and not feel scarce or burnt out?” Pricing is a much bigger part of the process of producing each class I teach, because I put a lot more time into thinking about how I can be financially accessible but also sustainable. There’s a lot of math involved, but it’s worth it because I get to still offer classes on a sliding scale, something that’s really important to me.

Want to connect with Magic’s herbalism work? Check out their website and join their mailing list, Herbal Magic Notes, to receive free recordings of the herbal workshops. If you liked their thoughts on small business finances and want some more ideas, check out my eBook, Reach Your Life Goals: A Business Owner’s Guide! Click here or below to download your copy.

By |2023-05-11T12:06:24-07:00May 11th, 2023|Categories: Small Business, solopreneurs, Taxes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

4 Simple Tips for Keeping Your Small Business Finances Organized

 

In the midst of tax season, a lot of us are looking to do better on our finances. Maybe you got a big tax bill and are now wondering where your earnings went. Perhaps you were a little less organized than you would have liked. Or maybe this time just makes you extra aware of where your business is financially.

Whatever the case, mid-points like this are great times to give your finances a makeover! Here are my 4 simple tips for keeping your small business finances organized and intentional.

Review Your Goals

After a big financial event like tax season, the financial goals you set earlier in the year deserve a revisit. Check in with them and ask yourself if they still fit. If not, give your goals a nice update! Make sure what you’re aiming towards is relevant to you. You can check out my article on doing a mid-year review of your finances right here.

If you don’t have any financial goals, now is the time to set them. Harness whatever financial fervor tax season (or whatever other financial situation brought you to this post) has instilled in you.

What are your ideal financial conditions? Dream them up, write them down, and come up with a plan. If you need some pointers, here’s my article “4 Strategies for Setting Doable Financial Goals.”

Set Up a Weekly Money Check-In

So much of creating the life you want is about habits. One of the best habits to adopt, in my opinion, is regular “money time”. Find time each week to check in with your finances. Start with a short chunk, to make it feel more manageable. Fifteen to thirty minutes should suffice.

Use this time to check in with your expenses, upcoming bills, IOU’s, and more as needed. Here are my suggestions on what to look for during your weekly money check-in.

Make a Plan to Stay on Top of Your Books

Especially if organization was an issue this tax round and you run a business, making a plan to stay organized until next tax time is a great thing to do right now. Ask yourself what you need to be able to do this.

Do you need to work with a bookkeeper? Do you need to get some training on how to do your bookkeeping yourself? Identify your needs and take some steps to set yourself on the right path.

Find a Money Buddy

It’s my personal belief that anything can go better when you have an accountability buddy. Find someone in your circle who has a financial goal they’re working on too, and join forces! This might be a fellow business owner, or someone from your church, or another mom from a play group.

“Why You Need a Money Buddy”

Once you’ve found your money buddy, establish the terms of your accountability partnership. How often do you want to meet? How do you want to do check ins? Do you want to learn about finances together, or just trade tips on goals?

These 4 tips will help set you on the right path. If you’re a small business owner looking for more ideas, you might like my free eBook, the Cash Flow Reboot Guide: A Guide to Thriving in Uncertain Times. Click below and get your free copy.

By |2023-04-11T13:53:14-07:00April 11th, 2023|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset, Personal Savings, Personal Spending, Small Business|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

How to Get the Best Financial Advice: Build a Financial Advice Team

Money is a team sport. Although we have an unfortunate notion in our culture that talking about money is taboo, we need to do our best to break it. By collaborating with others and building a team of people we can trust to talk to about our money, we can start getting the help and information we need.

There are many different people who can make up a money team. Money confidants, such as close friends and coaches who you can confess your financial feelings to, and receive good advice from, are one good example. Your bank can be considered a part of your money team, especially because good customer service is an important aspect of banking. Similarly, your tax prep person, financial planner, accountant or bookkeeper, and even the people you get financial advice from, are all important parts of your money team.

These “team members” fall into three different categories: people in your life, trusted professionals, and advice sources. Let’s take a look at each category and figure out how you can find good team members.

People in Your Life

Anyone in your life who you’re able to talk to about money falls here. Most importantly, these people are able to provide you with space to air your feelings. In some cases, they may also offer good advice. For example, if you’re friends with an accountant or a retirement planner, you’ve hit the jackpot! If not, good friends that you can open up to are still very helpful. The more we air our feelings about money, the more we’re able to think clearly and pursue practical solutions

If you don’t have anyone in your life that you’d consider a financial confidant, don’t worry. Run through your list of connections and identify some people with whom you might feel safe sharing thoughts, feelings, and ideas about money. Then, try approaching them with the idea of sharing these things. Many people are happy to have someone to talk to about this, so it’s worth a shot. For more tips, you can read my article on “Why You Need a Money Buddy.”

Trusted Professionals

Here’s where your team members might get more diverse. Financial coaches, bookkeepers, tax preparers, and financial planners all fall into this category. Not everyone will need to refer to every one of these professionals, and perhaps not on a regular basis. However, working with professionals in all of these areas can do wonders for your financial life.

Like a money buddy, coaches are there for you to confide in, but are also trained to help you find specific solutions. Good bookkeepers are able to deliver valuable financial insights about your business and follow appropriate record-keeping laws. If you run a business, you might find you appreciate that someone else does your record keeping, while you get to do whatever it is you really enjoy. Here’s an article about how to find a good bookkeeper.

Tax preparers are great to consult with during tax season. The most helpful tax preparers help you get a better idea of what you need to file, what you can write off, and if you qualify for any credits. Depending on your assets, you may or may not need to have a financial planner you can regularly work with. If you want to do some complex planning, it might be good to consider adding a financial planner to your money team.

Advice Sources

The last category is made up of public figures and advising entities. Your bank is probably the most important member of your money team here. If you don’t have a bank that provides good customer service, or if you’re getting charged bank fees, switch, and fast. Being able to sit down with a bank employee when you have questions is an important aspect of building your money team. Bank fees are just annoying, but also totally avoidable! Read my articles about “How to Avoid Bank Fees” and “How I Broke Up With Wells Fargo (And You Can Too!).”

Earlier in this article, I mentioned that a financial planner can be a good reference, but another option is to simply meet with a planner at a firm as needed. I had one client who, when planning for retirement, made one appointment at a firm and got all her questions answered. No commitment needed, and a good source of advice.

The last member of this category is public advice figures. There are quite a few out there, so finding the ones who give the best advice for you might require some sifting. These articles contain some of my thoughts on finding good financial advice. Also, here are a couple of my personal favorite resources.

Building a money team takes some work, but when you have a network of people, professionals, and resources who can help you solve your money problems, you’ll be glad you did it! If you enjoyed this article, you might like my free e-Book, 9 Secrets of Financial Self Care. Click here or below to get your copy!

By |2023-02-22T20:20:07-08:00February 22nd, 2023|Categories: Banking, Small Business, solopreneurs, Taxes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

4 Quick Tips to Get Your Finances Back on Track

Post tax-season, a lot of us are looking to do better on our finances. Maybe you got a big tax bill and are now wondering where your earnings went. Perhaps you were a little less organized than you would have liked.

Whatever the case, mid-points like this are great times to give your finances a makeover! Here are my top 4 tips for getting your finances on track again, whether that’s in your business, or your personal finances.

Review Your Goals

After a big financial event like tax season, the financial goals you set earlier in the year deserve a revisit. Check in with them and ask yourself if they still fit. If not, give your goals a nice update! Make sure what you’re aiming towards is relevant to you. You can check out my article on doing a mid-year review of your finances right here.

If you don’t have any financial goals, now is the time to set them. Harness whatever financial fervor tax season (or whatever other financial situation brought you to this post) has instilled in you.

What are your ideal financial conditions? Dream them up, write them down, and come up with a plan. If you need some pointers, here’s my article “4 Strategies for Setting Doable Financial Goals.”

Set Up a Weekly Money Check-In

So much of creating the life you want is about habits. One of the best habits to adopt, in my opinion, is regular “money time”. Find time each week to check in with your finances. Start with a short chunk, to make it feel more manageable. Fifteen to thirty minutes should suffice.

Use this time to check in with your expenses, upcoming bills, IOU’s, and more as needed. Here are my suggestions on what to look for during your weekly money check-in.

Make a Plan to Stay on Top of Your Books

Especially if organization was an issue this tax round and you run a business, making a plan to stay organized until next tax time is a great thing to do right now. Ask yourself what you need to be able to do this.

Do you need to work with a bookkeeper? Do you need to get some training on how to do your bookkeeping yourself? Identify your needs and take some steps to set yourself on the right path.

Find a Money Buddy

It’s my personal belief that anything can go better when you have an accountability buddy. Find someone in your circle who has a financial goal they’re working on too, and join forces! This might be a fellow business owner, or someone from your church, or another mom from a play group.

“Why You Need a Money Buddy”

Once you’ve found your money buddy, establish the terms of your accountability partnership. How often do you want to meet? How do you want to do check ins? Do you want to learn about finances together, or just trade tips on goals?

These 4 tips will help set you on the right path. If you’re a small business owner looking for more ideas, you might like my free eBook, the Cash Flow Reboot Guide: A Guide to Thriving in Uncertain Times. Click below and get your free copy.

By |2022-05-12T14:30:34-07:00May 12th, 2022|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset, Personal Savings, Personal Spending, Small Business|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Two Helpful Tax-Time Solutions to Implement Now

Planning ahead for tax season pays off. Whether you’re chugging along on this year’s taxes or all done, here are a couple tips you can apply to prep for tax time, any time of year.

Set Money Aside Ahead of Time

I’ve spoken with many business owners who’ve told me they regretted not setting aside money for taxes. Some also tell me they were initially surprised by the additional self employment tax. Clients often come to me after they’ve been hit with the tax bill. At this point, we have to pay off the tax debt and save for this year’s taxes. Doing both is tough, and can make a real financial mess for new business owners. 

To solve this problem, I recommend two things. First, work with a tax preparer or bookkeeper who will help estimate a percentage to be held out for taxes. You can read more of my advice about working with a bookkeeper here. Putting money aside will help avoid that nasty surprise.  This can also be a precursor to implementing the Profit First system, which is designed to keep your business prepared to pay its expenses, and pay you a fair wage.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can also read my article 5 Steps to Prepare for Tax Time. Although recovery from this type of situation needs to be thorough, it’s a chance to implement new and better systems and get your business organized.

Learn to Read Your Quickbooks Reports

Bookkeeping is essentially a simple process, but it requires attention to detail. Whether you DIY your bookkeeping or work with a professional, hours can be saved by learning to read your QuickBooks reports. This can help you double check whether you’re entering everything correctly, or whether there’s any mistakes. Sometimes when I work with clients, we have a big mess on our hands that can be traced back to a few minor errors. Reading your reports regularly helps prevent this! If you’re interested in learning more, I offer QuickBooks trainings and love helping small business owners understand their finances better.

If you enjoyed this article and would like more insights into your business finances, subscribe to my newsletter! You’ll receive my weekly blog posts along with a monthly tailored newsletter that includes relevant financial tips for small business owners.

By |2022-03-21T12:26:24-07:00March 21st, 2022|Categories: Profit First, Small Business, solopreneurs, Taxes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

5 Steps to Get Ready for Tax Time

Yep, it’s that time of year again! As a small business owner, or let’s face it, just as an individual, tax time can be stressful.  But there are ways to reduce that stress and be ready for tax time before you know it.  As a former tax preparer and practicing bookkeeper, here are my top suggestions;

#1 – Designate a folder or box for all the mail that arrives regarding taxes.  You don’t even have to open the envelopes just collect it all in your “spot”.  Super simple!

#2 – If you are doing your banking online, you are probably getting email notifications that your tax statements are available.  I like to flag these emails as they come in and then sit down when I have some time later in the week to go back through the emails, log in and download each statement from the bank.  Save all of these to a file folder you’ll call 2017 Tax Documents.

#3 – If you are running a small business (and a side hustle does count), please, please, please tell me you have been running that business out of a bank account separate from your personal spending.  If not, go open that separate account right now!  If so, you can easily determine your income and expenses for the year by reviewing your bank statements.  Better yet, if you are running your business on an accounting platform such as Quickbooks Online and you have updated and reconciled your accounts, those reports are right at your fingertips.  I do suggest that you start this step in January just to give yourself plenty of time.

#4 – You should have received all of your tax mailings by mid-February. If your tax preparer is going to want everything in electronic form (or you just want to stay super organized) scan all of your paper statements and add them to your 2017 Tax Documents folder.

#5 – Grab a copy of last year’s tax return and review the entries you had last year.  Or if you have a digital file from last year, compare the statements with the information you have for this year.  This can jog your memory so you know you haven’t missed anything.  The last thing you want is to have to file a corrected tax return because you left something out, so just take the time and make sure you’ve got all of your information.

You did it!  You are ready for tax time!  And if #3 is causing you to pull out your hair, maybe it’s time to talk to a professional to help you set up a system or to decide if you are ready for ongoing proactive bookkeeping.

If you’re looking for a resource that can help you think about the connection between getting organized and taking care of yourself, I’ve got just the thing. 9 Secrets to Financial Self Care is available for free download, click below!

This post was originally published in February 2018

By |2022-03-15T14:01:47-07:00March 15th, 2022|Categories: Taxes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

How To Plan for Surprise Expenses

Did you have a nasty surprise yesterday with the estimated federal tax payments deadline? Or perhaps in your business you deal with other surprise expenses – things that add up. Worker’s compensation, insurance payments, replacing equipment, etc. can surprise business owners and knock you out of a financial groove very easily. Whether these things are a big issue in your business or not, I’m a huge proponent of planning to address them, just in case. How do we do that? Well, let’s talk ideas: 

Have an Emergency Fund

Having an emergency fund saved for your business can be extremely helpful. Whether a surprise expense comes up, or some other disaster strikes, having between three and twelve month’s worth of expenses set aside is great in a pinch. This strategy can be particularly helpful in emergency situations, but for taxes and other types of expenses that are somewhat predictable, try some of the other strategies below.

Set Up a Money System

If you’re a regular reader, you know how much I love money-mapping. Setting up any kind of money system can help you think more broadly about how much you need to put aside for operating expenses and taxes, well before it’s time to actually pay for those things. Checking out my articles on money-mapping is a good intro to money systems if that’s what you need to get started. If you’re a seasoned veteran with money systems, or have at least tried them before, maybe it’s time to do a business check-in and see where your business is at financially. Assess the situation and make a resiliency plan.

Check In With Your Finances Regularly

Ideally, you have a bookkeeping pro doing this, someone who can regularly look at your numbers and pull out important insights. Or, if you’re doing it on your own, you have someone that you consult with on a semi-regular basis to review your books. Even when you’re not working with a professional, regularly looking at your finances is the way to go if you want to be prepared for surprise expenses. The more aware you are of where your business is financially, the more prepared you will be to deal with an issue when one comes up. I recommend finding a way to make regular intentional time looking at your finances fun, like finding a money buddy or setting money dates.

Note Potential Future Expenses

Take time to think about what potential expenses may arise in the future. Perhaps you use a lot of special equipment in your business, and some of it is getting into disrepair. Maybe you simply have a hard time remembering when insurance or tax payments are due. Take note of all of these things and factor them into your money system or savings plan. Write important due dates on the calendar well ahead of time so you’re aware of them. Have an equipment replacement fund set aside for when your laptop or pottery wheel or farm vehicle finally busts or needs repair. The more you can anticipate these things and incorporate some wiggle room into your money system, the less you’ll be knocked sideways financially when they do come up.

I hope this list has given you some good ideas for dealing with surprise expenses. If you need more ideas about developing financial resilience in your business, check out my free e-book, Cash Flow Reboot Guide: A Guide to Thriving in Uncertain Times.

☮
Angela

By |2021-04-08T15:10:30-07:00September 16th, 2020|Categories: Bookkeeping Business, Cash Flow, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Business

Today I am excited to bring you a client success story. With the tax deadline coming up swiftly, tax preparations have been on my desktop and my mind. But they haven’t been weighing down my clients, because of the tools we use to prep for tax season.

The Story

I have one client that I’ve worked with for several years now. In the beginning of my time working with them, taxes were a huge, stressful burden. By using a money mapping system that relies on Profit First principles, we were able to start setting aside money to pay taxes. In 2019, the client had an excellent year and made a lot of money. In ordinary times, this would be great. However, because we faced lower income this year due to the pandemic, if we hadn’t saved ahead of time, we would have found ourselves in disaster come tax season. Thanks to the money system we instituted, we had our tax payments completely covered, even with lower revenue this year.

The Success

Now my client and I are happily relishing in a worry-free tax season. Saving for taxes is one of the best things we’ve done for this business. It’s helped us avoid a lot of sticky financial problems and kept things running smoothly.

Our success is all thanks to the money mapping system we use. I’ve written a series on money mapping that you can read through to get a sense of how to put this tool to work. Aside from tax season, it has a lot of other benefits, like reminding you to save and making your work in your business feel meaningful. This process of creating a money system is a big part of what I do with my clients. You can book a curiosity call with me if you want to know more about how the process might apply to you.

A Little Reminder

Just in case you don’t get my newsletter, here’s a PSA: By July 15th, your 2019 taxes are due to be filed and paid, if you owe. You are also required to turn in your first and second quarter estimated taxes for this year. Please read my article on 5 Steps to Get Ready for Tax Time to get prepped. I’m also happy to offer my services – please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

☮

Angela

Image by Javier Sierra 

By |2020-07-10T13:20:06-07:00July 10th, 2020|Categories: Profit First, Taxes|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More
Go to Top