Last month, I shared some insights about starting my small business that I have learned by staring in my magical looking glass back to the start of my small business. Four years later, there are still some things I need to improve upon, especially regarding finances.<\/p>\n
The main reason that people go into business is to make money, however, it is also the same reason that people fail at business; they don\u2019t make money.\u00a0 Not because they don\u2019t have a great product, or because their services aren\u2019t in demand \u2013 simply because they don\u2019t have a mental grasp on the money piece.<\/p>\n
My looking glass still has some smudges and a few cracks in it so I don\u2019t pretend to be a millionaire or a financial wealth expert, but I do have some tips to share to help you not make some of the money mistakes that I did in the early days.<\/p>\n
KNOW YOUR NUMBERS CHURCH AND STATE:\u00a0 WORK EXPENSES AND PERSONAL EXPENSES BILL ON-TIME Last month, I shared some insights about starting my small business that I have learned by staring in my magical looking glass back to the start of my small business. Four years later, there are still some things I need to improve upon, especially regarding finances. The main reason that people go into business is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371,"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rossstreetagency.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>What does this mean?\u00a0 You can have a very busy company with lots of clients and your days are filled up with appointments but at the end of the month, have you made any money?\u00a0 Have you made enough money?\u00a0 It is uber-important to know your numbers.\u00a0 That means you need to know how much your business expenses are in a month (fuel, insurance, office supplies, payroll, hydro). And, if your business is your only source of income, you also need to know how much you need to live on (pay mortgage, buy groceries, buy clothes etc.) You need to track these expenses\u2026at bare minimum monthly, even better if you can do it weekly.\u00a0 You are a rock star if you can do this daily.\u00a0 On the flip side, you need to track how much money you make every day.\u00a0 Some days will be a $200.00 day, some days maybe a $1000.00 day.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter, you just need to know.\u00a0 The only way you can adjust your business practices and go after new business is if you know your numbers. Whether you do this in an Excel spreadsheet, or on the side of each page of your day timer, it doesn\u2019t matter. \u00a0Just do it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>It is a very bad business habit to mix your work expenses with your personal expenses.\u00a0 Right from the beginning, keep a separate account and credit card solely for work expenses.\u00a0 It makes your accountant happy, it makes your bank account happy, and it makes it much easier to know your numbers.\u00a0 Especially if you are not blessed with the organization gene, keep your accounts and expenses separate. You then always know if you have enough money to cover your business obligations.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>You and your customers may have different perceptions of when bills have to be paid.\u00a0 If we go to a retail store or a restaurant or get a hair-cut, we pay for those goods and services right away.\u00a0 Other small businesses send you a bill for services rendered (electrician, accountant, administrative consultant).\u00a0 If you don\u2019t send your client a bill for 30 days, and they take 30 days to pay it, you are carrying that loss of income for 60 days.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you but I didn\u2019t get into business to be a bank\/loan officer.\u00a0 Get in the habit of billing your clients within 3-5 days of completing the job for them.\u00a0 If they take a week or two to pay you at least you are still within the same billing month.\u00a0 You can keep track of your numbers and they won\u2019t forget they owe you money.\u00a0 Trust me, it is much harder to collect monies owed once a month or two has gone by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"