After being in corporate America for the majority of my adult career, I knew handling finances appropriately was key to building a solid foundation for a business. Therefore, when I first started my coaching business, I knew that tracking finances and collecting payments would be a crucial yet challenging part of my business model. Today, I want to share with you how to track financials like a CEO and tips to getting started.
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Tracking Financials like a CEO
When I launched my business, I knew we could live off my severance package and my husband's income. This helped me know that I had about a year before I needed to start paying myself from my business. However, nest egg or not, that doesn’t mean that you can slack on setting up appropriate financial systems.
In order to be the CEO of your business, it is a MUST that you face the financial component of your business fearlessly and with confidence. I highly recommend that you incorporate these actions into your financial setup!
Getting Started on Financials
#1: Don’t Wait on Using Tools
When I first started my business, one of the first software purchases I made was FreshBooks. I cannot stress enough how helpful it is to have a tool to aid you in your financials. Let’s be honest; math is hard, and tracking everything by hand is a time-consuming pain in the ***. Don’t wait to start using tools; the sooner you get started, the more data you will have to analyze and the less backtracking you will have to do later on.
#2: Keep Business and Personal Finances Separate
Tracking payments, invoicing, and expenses can be confusing; it's the worst when receipts get mixed up! When I first started, it didn’t take me long to realize that keeping my personal and business financials separate was critical to keeping my systems organized. I highly recommend that you have two separate financial systems, one for personal and one for business. Yes, this means having a separate business bank account as well!
For my business accounts, I use Novo. It is a powerfully simple small business banking platform sponsored by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A that offer small business checking.
#3: Define What You Want to Earn
In the early stages of building your business, you may get overwhelmed when refining your offers, establishing fees, and keeping track of everything. It can be confusing, but I have one piece of golden advice that I want you to always keep at the forefront of your mind. Define what you want to earn and stick to it!
Remember, your business needs to not only pay for itself but pay for you to uphold the lifestyle that makes this all worthwhile.
Women Entrepreneurs Making it Happen
Did you know that women own 44% of small businesses, but they only make up 4% of the small business revenue in the United States? That’s simply bonkers! Women entrepreneurs need to have systems to collect payments and track their business's financial components so they can design predictably profitable businesses.
This is why having the right tools or support, like a financial advisor, will help you run the daily tasks such as servicing your clients, attracting new people, creating offers, and more.
If you are overwhelmed with what you should use to collect payments, what tools would be the most beneficial, or if hiring someone is the right solution for you, I encourage you to book a strategy session so I can help you define this.
Get the Links!
FreshBooks is a wonderful accounting service that I use to invoice, track expenses, and more! Get my affiliate link by clicking HERE!
Keep your business and personal financial separate by using small business fintech! Novo, powered by Middlesex Federal Savings F.A. offers small business checking. This is what GCC uses and I love it! Get my affiliate link by clicking HERE!