I have a little confession to make.
Whilst my business has been having insane bouts of growth via all of the income streams I have applied, there has been one part I have been neglecting….
You could say that I even put my head in the sand and tried to ignore it.
Because, you see, I knew, that after the insane year of growth my businesses has had, I was going to be up for a lot in tax and I did not plan for that. #mybad
And, it sorta scared me that I hadn’t planned for it because we all know, the ATO man wants to know all-the-things.
Sure, I had records of everything….. Somewhere.
I had been putting it off because I knew it was just going to take a lot of brainpower to collate everything, and yep, as I suspected, it literally took painstaking days of forensic researching to make sure I got everything my accountant requested so she could fix my bad ways.
I can totally see where I went wrong, I am not a planner, I am a doer. I wanted to keep working on all the fun things, like creating our next business to sell, helping Mums just like you start a business of their own and supporting our clients in the FB group and showing them how to create passive income and grow their business.
I didn’t want to stop and do boring tax stuff, that quite frankly, I am crap at. Numbers are just not my thang. Come and talk to me about creative stuff and you have me at hello.
Finally, I said to myself, enough.
This is ridic.
Face your fears.
Take the time to sort it out and move on.
You know better than this.
By not addressing it, I was causing masses of blocks hindering the flow and movement of my business. The energy was pooling into a little pond and spilling over. I needed to get it out and flowing again.
A mantra was adapted, tax is good, it means my business is growing, tax is good, it means my business is growing, tax is good, it means my business is growing.
The beauty of when a business is doing really well, is you can outsource your problems to professionals to fix. I remember years ago trying to set my business up as a company but I never ended up going through with it because I tried to DIY it. I didn’t want to pay the $1200 or so for an accountant to do it for me and of course I got confused, overwhelmed and lost in the process so I gave up.
If you are staying stagnant and not making any progress, you need to pay someone to help you close that gap, to make progress, to set you up the right way so you don’t end up 12 months down the track head banging the table wishing you’d done it ages ago.
In this case, you are paying for the transformation to get you from A to B and the value of gaining that movement is worth so much more than you could ever put a price on. It is one of those intangible things.
This time, I didn’t even ask the accountant how much it was, I just said, ‘I need this done. I needed it done yesterday. I am in a world of pain because I didn’t do it when the voice inside my head told me to’
My accountant waved her magic wand over everything and structured my business the way I should have done ages ago. She made all the pain go away and now I just do what she tells me to do and feel so relieved I don’t have to deal with the stuff I don’t enjoy anymore. (with good sense and caution of course)
Here is the thing, as your business grows you need a team of experts you can trust and rely on to take parts off your plate so you can do what you to do best and they can help you make those #likeaboss movements to step up and tick off your goals.
It doesn’t happen overnight (but it does happen 😉 start with baby steps, when the time comes to up-level, you will feel it.
Now I have been through all of the stages of business. Startup, gaining traction and fully established and here is my advice to you, and disclaimer alert – it will vary on the type of business you run and setup you have.
Beginners with few expenses:
If you are in the startup stage, I still totally think that you can just use Paypal, a Google Spreadsheet and your bank account to track your incomings and outgoings. Sure, you can use a paid accounting program but my suggestion is save that cash and reinvest it in growing your biz instead. Think about it, that $25 per month you spend on the basic level of Xero could be spent on FB ads to gain new customers/clients, then reinvest that income into more FB ads and watch your business grow.
To automate this process and save you time, use Zapier to setup a zap so that whenever a payment hits your Paypal account it will automatically update your Google Spreadsheet.
Businesses that are gaining traction:
If you are out growing option #1 but still have a low number of expenses, consider an entry level accounting program like Freshbooks. It is super cheap and can be automated with Zapier.
What I had working really well was, as soon as a specific payment hit my Paypal account, it would send a zap to Freshbooks and automatically raise an invoice which waited for me to check/modify/send and then it would automatically raise a new job for my team in Asana and add a new client folder in our Google Drive.
This worked well for a while but my expenses and incomings were coming in super thick and fast for me to be taking time out of my day to manually be adding them into Freshbooks and if you have ever tried tracking expenses in Paypal, it is literally a world of pain.
I did actually chat with Zapier and they said they plan to add a Zap so Paypal outgoings can be automatically added into Freshbooks which will be amazing when they do.
Personally, I would chat to an accountant at this stage to discuss GST and the best structure to suit you and your business.
Fully established businesses:
These days, I will happily pay convenience over saving a few dollars here and there because my time is so valuable, and it needs to be spent in all of the areas of my business that benefit my business best. Like serving and supporting my clients, creating new content to reach more potential customers, refining systems to help my team, writing blogs like this one or taking time out to recharge and practice self care so I can work more productively.
As I have A LOT of incomings and outgoings with a team of 17 and A LOT of subscriptions and tools I have signed up to which help run and automate parts of my business. I have a fast moving account and I need everything documented and automated to an inch of its life because I ain’t spending time on something when I don’t have to be.
Now, everything is held accountable via Xero and I get instant stats on where my business is financially and how much I have coming in. Xero connects with my American Express Platinum credit card and 98% of all of my outgoings go on the card.
This card accrues points like a mofo as well.
Ok, so the annual fee did make me gag a little, it is $1500 per year but this card offers a crap load of stuff aligned with one of my highest goals, which is to travel regularly into the world with my 7-year-old and teach her worldly things as she grows up. We also do a lot of trips to Scotland to visit the inlaws and this card will enable us to fly business class each time.
The conclusion is, the points will far outweigh the fee and sometimes you just have to spend money, to make money. Already, just for signing up we have a bonus 150,000 points which is enough for my daughter and I to fly to Vietnam in January business class and visit Halong Bay on a little mummy and daughter bonding trip we’ve been dreaming about.
I really should have done this forever ago, but you know, life…
Here is what I want you to know from my experience:
Don’t get overwhelmed feeling like you need all the expensive stuff straight up. Start on a lean budget with DIY and automating the parts you miss out on by not having the fancy software and upgrade as you recognise the signs.
Start on a lean budget with DIY and automating the parts you miss out on by not having the fancy software and upgrade as you recognise the signs.
Do outsource to professionals when you feel yourself getting overwhelmed and not making progress with where you want to go and who you want to be. Check in with yourself. Is fear making your decisions? Are you subscribing to any limiting beliefs? If so, get the advice of a trusted expert to help you move past it.
Please don’t forget you are the writer of your story, you choose how to piece together your path and you have to summon the courage and be brave to take that first step and show the universe your intentions and where you are going, and without a doubt, it will follow.
(PS: If you want more info on my credit card or similar cards I looked at email me and I will put you in touch with my Amex dude who can help)
