Building upon our previous finance discussion, we're diving deeper into the essential aspects of what to track and when.
We’ll be taking a look into why It's Essential: Discover why tracking your business finances is absolutely crucial for success. Learn how a lack of cash flow management can lead to the downfall of many small businesses. Gain confidence and take control of your financial situation for a more prosperous future.
⏰ The Power of Daily Tracking: Uncover the importance of daily tracking and how it helps you stay on top of your financial health. Discover key metrics and indicators to monitor regularly to ensure you're making informed decisions.
🗓️ The Weekly Pulse: Dive into the weekly financial check-ins that provide valuable insights into your business performance. Learn how to identify trends, spot opportunities, and address any potential issues before they become major concerns.
📅 Monthly Deep Dive: Take a monthly deep dive into your financials to assess your overall business health. Explore essential metrics, review financial statements, and evaluate your progress toward financial goals. Gain a comprehensive understanding of your business's financial position.
💡 Real-Life Example: Discover how a client transformed their profitability by implementing these tracking techniques and gaining a clearer understanding of their business's financial dynamics.
FREE Hiring & Finance Resources Links
Turn 6 figures in sales into 6 figures in profit [FREE]: https://www.theproductproject.com/moreprofit
Instant Access to The Hire and Scale Masterclass [FREE] - https://www.georgiafitzgeraldcoaching.com/MasterclassReplay
This podcast is brought to you by;
Georgia Fitzgerald (www.georgiafitzgeraldcoaching.com) and Pip Harland (www.theproductproject.com)
If you have a topic you particularly want support with, why not drop us a DM on our Instagram pages: @iamgeorgiafitzgerald OR @pipharland
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, and welcome back toanother episode of the podcast.
In today's episode, we are talkingall things finance, and we're breaking
it down into its simplest form.
What the heck should we be tracking,and when should we be tracking this?
So if you are a lot uncertain about yourfinances, go grab yourself a notepad.
We're gonna really break itdown to you step by step, what
(00:21):
you're gonna be tracking andwhen you should be tracking it.
And this is really to follow on fromour previous episode, so you really
get confident in those numbers.
Yeah, this is amazing.
So we're basically using all ofPip's expertise to tell you exactly
what you need to look at everykind of day, week, month, year.
And the reason that thisis so important is that.
(00:45):
I mean, we know most businessesfail due to a lack of cash.
That's really why mostbusinesses go under.
So it's essential that you get into somereally good routines about the money that
you have or the money that you don't have,and work out how to keep on top of that.
And I know from my own experience, I feelso much more confident in my business.
(01:07):
When I've got that control and thatoverview over my finances, like nothing,
then comes in ambushes you, sets youoff course, puts you into panic mode.
And when we're in that feeling of kindof desperation, because we perhaps
haven't kept a good enough track at thefinances, it's actually so difficult
to sell and make sales because Ifeel like it really comes across.
(01:30):
What do you think?
Oh, it's so true.
I feel like finances is one of thosethings that if you are on top of it
and you're feeling good about it,it changes your whole mindset around
how you're approaching your business.
And all it takes is these few littlethings to go from feeling really
overwhelmed and feeling like you wannarun away from it all to actually feeling
(01:50):
like you're in control and going out thereand making changes with the new business.
So I'm so excited that we get to sharethese top tips with you guys today.
And it's amazing because these things,they may sound so simple, but they can
make such a difference in your business.
So for example, I had one client and theyhad a profitable business, you know, on
paper and in Zero they were making profit.
(02:12):
They were making profit each year,but they were really struggling with.
Dealing with their cash and thecash flow up and down in order
to maintain that profitability.
And all it took was for us to put thesesimple financial tracking processes
in place for us to really understandwhen cash was coming in and out.
And it really helped us plan.
(02:32):
So instead of having these hugemonths with huge, huge bills and not
seen the profit till much later inthe year, we were able to change the
payment plans, we were able to changethe cost structure of the business
to get them set up in a much more.
Stress free and profitable way.
So you didn't have to sit and lookat that bank account and think, how
the heck am I gonna pay this bill?
(02:53):
And this is really it.
It's just about makingthese little tweaks.
So I'm really excited thatwe're jumping into this today.
So let's start out with what arewe going to be tracking daily?
. Okay.
So from a daily perspective,we are going to look most
importantly at your cash position.
So that is.
Open up that banking app on your phone andlook at the number in your bank account,
(03:15):
and if that terrifies you, you definitelyneed to be doing this every single day.
And the reason that we're doing thisevery single day is just that you start
to get a feeling for what's normalin your bank account and what's not
normal for your business bank account.
And really quickly, you'll then getthat gut feeling if you look at the
number and you think, Hmm, hang ona minute, something isn't right.
Or, oh, I wasn't expectingthat cost to come out.
(03:37):
It's just getting inthe process of checking.
And of course if you are a little tightthis month, you , definitely want to
be checking to make sure that you'renot getting any costs that are gonna
come out and put you into the red.
You also want to be tracking whereyou are spending your time, and I
know we'll probably go into this inso much detail in another episode, but
tracking your time and your team's timeis a really useful way to understand.
(04:02):
Where your ROI is, and thisisn't something that you need to
look at the numbers daily, butyou want to be doing it daily.
So using something like Toggle,which is free just to understand
how many hours you're workingand what you are working on.
So later on you can then understand whatyour return or your on your investment is.
Because remember, your team has acost, so you need to understand that
(04:22):
what you're getting outta them isactually giving you that profit back.
And then the final thing you want to bemaking sure you're doing daily is just
getting in the habit of filing awayany emails which are finance related or
receipts into a place to deal with later.
I'm not saying that you need to dropeverything when that invoice comes
through and pay it immediately, butjust really get into the habit of
(04:43):
putting it into a folder or putting itinto a box if it's a regular receipt.
Into a place that you can come back to atthe end of the week or however frequently
you are looking at these things and thenyou can deal with them and then you know
that you've got all the invoices in theright place, you've got all your receipts
in the right place, and it's reallyquick for you to then deal with them.
And it doesn't become this stressfulthing at the end of the year where
(05:04):
you're rummaging around lookingfor receipts in your purse and
the bottom of your drawer and youknow, all the things that hands up.
We probably have all done at somepoint in our life, but let's not
get into the habit of doing that.
Yeah, I love that.
And I think like getting into that goodhabit about when the bills come in or
the receipts is such a good thing to doand it's that fine line between don't
drop everything and lose concentrationand pay the bill right then and
(05:27):
there, but equally don't discard it.
So you have to spend three hours tryingto find it at the end of the month, uh,
when you really need to put it through.
So, Getting into some goodhabits, easy habits on that,
that create minimal resistanceto doing it every week is great.
Okay.
So that that is sort ofdaily what we need to do.
(05:48):
So thinking about weekly, and I reckonI can guess where we're going with this.
So, I would say that weekly, we needto start by looking at our sales.
So what are we actually selling ineach service or in each product if it's
a product-based business every week.
, because again, that comes down tolater on looking at what are we
(06:09):
putting our time into versus whatis the return that we're getting?
Because some products are gonnagive us a much greater roi.
So if we are in that cash strap stage,we know where we should focus our efforts
to like quickly turn some more money.
, and then on that, so the same sortof idea as well as looking the sales.
We've gotta look through the cost inthe bank every week, and do they align
(06:32):
with where we think we are, , in termsof spending money, in terms of cost to
do with products that we're generating,in terms of subscriptions we have,
or memberships or whatever it is.
Is it all matching up to the numberthat we've got in our head, or have
we slightly got that wrong somewhere
along the line?
Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?
(06:52):
If you don't look every week suddenlyby the end of the month and you've
not caught something, it just addsup and up, which is really why it's
so important to look in so regularly.
And on that cost front, when you'vegot invoices coming in, now you
might pay these weekly, or you mightpay them fortnightly or monthly.
Generally a service-based business canprobably get away with monthly if you've
(07:15):
got a little bit more cash in the bank.
And a product-based business wherecashflow is your one thing that you
are really, really focused in on,you might have to be paying weekly.
And so you want to make sure thatevery week you're going through your
invoices, you are paying them, orif you're not paying them, you are
marking when you are going to pay them,depending on how much cash you've got
in your account, and also with that,that you're doing all your bookkeeping.
(07:37):
So as these invoices come in, Youknow, whether you are bookkeeping
yourself or whether your accountant'sdoing a bookkeeping for you, you
are sending these invoices andthese receipts to the right place.
So, Most people, , that I work with,my clients will have it all automated.
So they can literally forward the invoiceto an automated email address and it shows
up in their zero, and their accountantcan go in and, and we can make that
(07:57):
match to put the cost in the bank againstthe cost that they've actually made.
But you wanna make sure that you'redoing that every single week so you
don't forget what half of these costsare for, because there is nothing worse
than your accountant coming back at theend of the year and saying, Okay, PIP.
So tell me, what was this, you know,49 99 that you spent on Amazon and
you are desperately searching throughthings, trying to figure out why
(08:21):
you bought this thing and whetherit's an allowable business expense.
So it's just so much easier ifyou can just send that through.
And then, like you said, Georgia,I'm really big on tracking
things on a weekly basis, so youcan make those little tweaks.
And if you are using paid ads in yourbusiness, this is a really great chance
to sit down every week and look at themand make sure that your click-through
rates and your cost per lead.
(08:43):
Is right.
And if you need to do something aboutit, you can make those little tweaks.
Again, we don't want to be waitingtill the ends of the month until
you remember to look at your paidads to do something about it.
That's money going out.
So you wanna make sure thatthat money going out is bringing
that money back in for you.
And then the final thing that youwant to be looking at weekly is
updating your cashflow tracker.
So looking at what you've spent.
(09:06):
What's coming in and then just lookingahead and going, okay, now that I know
where my week is, have I made more sales?
What's going on in the pipeline thatI can start to fill into my tracker?
And just having that sense check again.
Okay.
Right.
We could meet all of our billsas they fool you over the next
month, over the next quarter.
I love that.
And I think actually it's so simple.
(09:26):
And when you get good at this particularservice based business, this really
shouldn't take you very long every week.
I mean, we're looking at like half anhour to be honest, but half an hour
that can really help you out, can't it?
So that's so true.
So that's weekly.
What about monthly?
What are the things that youwould have us focus in on
monthly?
(09:47):
Okay, so the biggest thingmonthly is starting to.
Do that, , airplane view down oneverything, and start to take that bigger
picture into place and look at that roi.
So, Are our investments working for us?
Whether that's a project, whether that'sa team member, whatever it might be, but
really starting to think about the roi.
So are we spending ourmoney in the right place?
(10:09):
Because weekly is often a littlebit too short of a period of time to
really make proper decisions over this.
We can.
See the beginnings of trends, butyou're not gonna see a trend in a week.
You're gonna need at least a monthto start seeing those trends.
So it's looking at that data,your paid ads, your sales, those
costs, going out and saying,okay, am I seeing the return yet?
Or if I'm not, what changes amI gonna make in the business
(10:32):
to help me see that return?
Yeah, and that's such a big thing whenyou're thinking about team as well,
because here, I think, you know, if youhave got into the strategy phase, which I
completely encourage, when you make thathire, you are hiring with an ROI in mind.
So is that team memberdelivering on that roi?
I think a few episodes ago we talkedabout, you know, when you hire a
(10:55):
DMS assistant and you are payingthem X amount a month, but you are
thinking that they're gonna generate.
A certain amount in sales, whichshould then make it worth your while.
But if you are looking at those sales andthey're not quite hitting it, and they're
not improving week on week, then whatdo you need to do to make that better?
(11:15):
Is it around coaching them inthe way that they're delivering?
Is it around?
Changing their responsibilities slightly.
Have you maybe got thewrong person for the role?
, so really looking at actually, isthis working out the way I planned
it would, and if not, why not?
Like what are the changes thatI can make to either ensure that
it does or to draw a line underit and move in another direction?
(11:38):
So true.
It's so worth taking that time aside.
Each month, as you say, each weekyou just put half an hour aside and
you can whip through this, but givingyourself a few hours or half a day
every month to go through this isgonna make such a massive difference
to the trajectory of your business.
If you can give youryourself that space and time.
And then of course with team therecomes the monthly payroll cost.
(12:00):
One of our biggest costs, so that'sanother thing you need to make sure
that you're on top of each month.
So checking hours with whoever's runningyour payroll, making sure that all your
team members hours are correct with them.
Then making sure that you are payingH R C or whoever you're paying taxes
for your team members if they'reemployees, you might have pension
contributions or other employee benefitsthat you need to pay for or deal with.
(12:23):
And so it's just making sure thatyou've gone through that process.
You've made all those payments that all ofyour employees have the right details that
they need on their pay slip if they'reemployees or that they've invoiced you, if
they're working as a contractor for you.
And then generally, you know, wetalked about r o I, but one of the,
the big things I also do as kind ofpart of my general check is really
looking at the cash side of things.
(12:44):
So looking at my runway, do I haveenough saved for the next three
months so something go really wrong?
You know, have any of my costs changedand do I need to put more money
aside this month for that runway?
Have I saved enough money towards tax?
Have I saved enough money towards anybig projects that I want to invest in?
It's just, again, having that general.
(13:04):
Sense check in my finances andare they setting me up for the
month ahead and for what I nowhave planned, because everything
obviously changes month on month,
.And so I wanna make sure that we've got all of our ducks in a
row ready to support us on that.
So, , what about you?
What other things do you alsolook at on a monthly basis?
Okay, so
all the things you mentioned,I would definitely look at the
(13:26):
sales, I'd look at the cost.
I'd look at my rough p andl, like where am I standing?
Um, what's coming up in terms ofbills, what's coming up in terms of how
I'm moving forward towards projects.
But for me, and the thing, anyonethat has ever worked in recruitment
will completely understand this.
It's all about lookingat my pipeline as well.
So I'm looking at the salesthat I've made, but what am I
(13:47):
forecasting for the month ahead?
So I've got like my target amount.
So that is, if it really goes toplan, this is where I think I'll be.
So, This is what I'm forecasting.
These are my kind of dead sales.
So then I can look at that based on thebills that I know might be coming up in
the next month and think actually, What'sleft from this month that I maybe need to
(14:09):
carry over and think about for the nextmonth before I, you know, hit the shops or
go wild on, , some kinda online shopping.
, so yeah, really important to be thinkingabout like what's in the pipeline
and if the pipeline is low, why?
Like what can you do to change that?
, because I think if you've gotthat overview of what's coming
o up and you are not just being.
(14:30):
Super reliant on the powers that be.
Yeah, it's really gonna give youso much more confidence about where
you're at and what you're selling to.
So yeah, definitely pipelineis a big thing for me.
So then, okay, so we've looked at monthly.
We're onto quarterly.
Tell us what we need to do there.
Okay.
Quarterly.
I feel the fear into everybodywho's back registered because
(14:51):
of our quarterly bat returns.
If you're UK based, and obviously ifyou're not based in the uk, you'll have
other sales tax requirements to makewith whoever your , tax people are.
So with your back return, youwant to make sure that all of your
stuff is out with your accountant.
So all your bills, your invoices, yoursales information is with them, and you'll
need to then check what they send you and.
(15:14):
Have that sense check.
Does this look right?
Do the numbers look right?
And of course, because you've beenlooking weekly and monthly at your
numbers, you'll very quickly be ableto help your accountant sense check
that you've included everything inthere and that it's all looking good.
And generally with this, I find thata lot of the time, this is where you
get a really accurate p and l comingthrough because everybody's really
(15:36):
looked at the detail of your accounts.
And this is again, another chanceto look at your p and l and
making sure are you profitable?
Are costs going out as expected?
Are you making enough sales?
Are we on track towardsthose bigger goals?
And then of course, once you'vegone through your VA return,
you need to pay your va.
Or it might be that you have, , a VArepayment coming back depending on
(15:58):
what you're selling in your business.
So making sure that you pay your VAreturn on time is massively important
because if not, you can get finesand you can deal with all of the
joys of H M R C coming after you.
So really making sure youare on top of that and not.
On the day of the deadline, you'vegot yourself, , you know, over a
month from the end of the aboutreturn to get all of this done.
(16:18):
So make sure you are on top of this.
Get a reminder in your calendar and makesure that you are chasing your accountant
if they're not chasing you, so you canget it done and dusted and out of the way.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Not on the day of the deadline.
Okay.
So I think all of this is reallyabout looking forward, isn't it?
And also with the, thekind of quarterly stuff I.
(16:41):
Look at the big goals that you've setfor the year, because most of those
goals we've set, say some annual goals.
We've broken those down into sixmonths and into quarterly targets
as well, so, How are you in relationto those targets that you've set?
Like how are you getting on,where are the costs looking?
What's the R oi?
Like, what's going well?
What do you need to tweak?
What needs some changing?
(17:02):
Have you actually done better thanyou thought and perhaps you've got
some more money to put into liketeam costs or growing certain areas?
Do you need to check in with yourteam and see how they're feeling
about where they are in that quarter?
Like what they feel is going on?
Are they definitely stickingaround for another quarter or has
it just been way too stressful?
(17:22):
So it's really kind of getting an ideaon this because any changes in the team
and their performance is gonna massivelyaffect your next quarter as well.
So really making sure thatyou're checking in with them.
I think from my point of
view, No, that's so true, and I thinkthat's something also in terms of as
we start to look towards what we'relooking at annually, is looking at
(17:43):
how much we're paying our team andyou know, any bonuses that we might
be paying them or any pay increases.
And that's another thing that we needto be factoring in as we're looking each
month, each quarter, each year, justchecking in and making sure we understand
what we need to do to keep everybodyhappy in the business, as well as, you
know, keeping the business running.
And then of course, annually we havethe, the joy of our annual accounts
(18:07):
and our personal tax return, ourself-assessment, our CT 600, if we're
a limited company, this will dependson whether you're a sole trader or
whether you're a limited company.
What time of year this allhappens and how this happens.
So if you are a sole trader, you'llbe doing your self-assessment
by the end of January.
So you'll want to make sure that you'vegot all of your information to your
(18:29):
accountant early because I can tell youaccountants get very stressed in January.
And they do not want you to be sendingreceipts in on the 30th of January.
They would like that to be way furtherin advance than that, especially
if you want to get their supportand then to like you as a client.
So make sure you're really on top of that.
And then if you are a limited companyin the uk, depending on when your,
(18:52):
, tax year ends, ends will depend onwhen your company tax return is due.
And of course, all of this is changingin the coming years and so, Make sure
you speak to your accountant and they'llreally help you with how all of this
is changing, but you just wanna makesure you've got everything in in good
time, because if you are paying yourselfthrough dividends, the sooner you can
get your corporation tax paid and doneand dusted and your annual accounts done.
(19:15):
The sooner you are gonna know howmuch you really can pull out of your
business in the form of dividends.
Now, obviously you can pull outmoney beforehand, but you won't know
exactly what that final number isand what that final profit figure is
until you've had this all signed off.
So getting that done and dusted asearly as possible is really important.
And then of course with thatcomes paying our tax bill.
(19:35):
Now, because we've looked everyweek, month, quarter, and been saving
dutifully, like good business owners,this won't be a surprise, right?
This will be so easy.
We'll just go into our tax pot and we'llspend it and we'll just pay our tax off.
But if you haven't, Managed to savethe right amount, or something's
gone a little bit different, or youraccountant has maybe brought up new
(19:57):
things that you haven't planned for.
It's then really going, okay, becauseI've got all this information in soon,
you have several months to pay your taxbill, so this will then give you time if.
Something's gone wrong in the planningor if you, this is you right now and
you're looking forward to the year ahead,it gives you a little bit more time to
plan how you're gonna pay for that tax.
So the earlier you can get your accountsand your tax returns earned, the quicker
(20:21):
you then can start thinking about,okay, logistically, where am I getting
this cash from to pay my tax bill?
And then if you've got a largercompany, you may need to go
through an annual order too.
And of course your accountantwill support you, , in doing this.
But if you do that, you're gonna haveeven more things that you need to
send through to your accountant andyou're gonna need to spend a lot more
time with them answering questionsabout how your business works and
(20:44):
the various different processes too.
But that's not one to worry about untilyou start to, to really grow in size.
Yeah, so something to feel good about ifyou're still in the five six figure base
is you don't need to do all that work yet.
So you know Exactly
Silver Line, enjoy itwhilst you've got it.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Okay, so some of this Ithink can probably sound.
(21:07):
To be honest to people a bit dull,having to think about having to do
their b a t and this, that and theother, but hopefully we've made it
seem simple and how important it iswithout you wanting to, you know,
dove any of your clients into the taxauthorities or anything like that.
Is that, have you got any storiesthat will help motivate us to
keep on top of that so that weperhaps don't end up in a similar
(21:30):
situation?
Yes, great question.
, so there are definitely several clientsI've worked with before where something
has gone wrong before I've come in.
And this is part of the reason thatI've come in to work with them, is that
taxes been underpaid or something'snot been reported correctly, and that
is because the information hasn't beengathered and looked after properly
(21:52):
to send to the accountant becauseobviously as an accountant you can only.
Take the information that your clientgives you and all the information
that you have access to, and try andfigure out backwards what's happened
historically, because you are not inthe business, you don't know all the
details that we do as business owners.
And what happens then, and I can thinkof one client in particular that they
(22:13):
ended up underpaying substantially.
, a large amount of that.
And so now have thesemonthly VA payments to make.
With M R C, and you know this, you arelooking at four or five grand a month.
It's a large amount of money comingout every month that hasn't been
planned for because there's somethingthat happened a few years ago.
And so this is why it's really soimportant if you get on this now, then
(22:34):
you don't have to end up in this situationwhere you suddenly have to find an extra
four grand a month because, you know, noteverybody has an extra four grand a month.
And I tell you what, I'd rathertake that home as extra pay for
me so it's really thinking about.
Getting everything done assoon as possible and just
getting into the habit of it.
And honestly, as you said, Georgia, it'swhat, half an hour a week to do this?
Half a day, a month each quarter, maybeput a day aside to really dive into it.
(22:59):
And finances are only one part of that.
You're also looking at your strategy.
That's all the fun stuff youget to do in your business.
So don't allow the stressto not get on top of this.
Just put that time in your calendar.
Just get it done, tick it off.
You'll feel great after you do it.
It can be fun.
It's just you need to make it fun.
But what I do know to be trueis particularly with VT or
(23:20):
tax, if you take that money.
Away from from the pot Assoon as you've earned it.
Yeah, it's so, it feels so much easierthan when you are having to find it
later on suddenly, and then it feelsreally unjustified, like why you
have to hand over all this money.
But if you're seeing it straightaway that your invoice comes in and
you take off the 20% and you putit in a different account, then.
(23:42):
You know, it feels like much morein control when the bill comes in.
It's not as painful as perhapstrying to extract it from your
personal accounts going forward.
So true, and a small hack on that.
If you put aside a little bit morethan you need, and I do this every year
when you pay your tax bill, the bit.
That's left over.
(24:03):
I pay myself as a little bonus each year.
And that I tell you is such a good wayof putting taxes aside cuz I know at the
end of the year I'm gonna get a littleextra bonus that month for myself.
So if that doesn't motivateyou, I dunno what will,
do you have like a rule of thumb, likea percentage that you always take, say
it's a service-based business, wouldyou always just immediately take a
(24:24):
percentage and put it in another account?
Or how would you do it?
So it's different for every business.
, but generally for service-based, Iwould say about 30 to 35% product.
It depends on your margins a lotmore, so you kind of need to look at
it, but as a very, very rough rule ofthumb, if you put 30% aside, you are
(24:45):
getting yourself in a good place there.
And then that might need to go upa little bit or down a little bit,
depending on the actual specifics.
Of your ba, um, of your business.
, and obviously tax as well has increased.
so we're now paying 25% corporation taxwhen it used to be 19 in the uk and now
there's a small profits threshold on that.
So if you're quite a smallbusiness, You'll be paying
(25:06):
closer towards 19% than 25%.
But that's something which is reallygoing to kick a lot of business owners
over the next year or two, becausesuddenly we have to put aside an extra 6%.
So of every a hundred K profit, that'san extra six K is going to H M R C.
So that's also something you reallywant to be thinking about when
you're putting your money aside.
Always better to put a little bit toomuch aside and then be able to pay
(25:27):
yourself back than, as you say, strugglingto figure out where to find the cash
from when the bill comes through.
Yeah,
that's huge.
I think from my own experience,and this is not as like a business,
but personally with finances, sowhen I used to work in recruitment,
we're incredibly commission-based.
So you could ha the difference betweenwhat you were taking home from one month
(25:49):
to the next could be absolutely huge.
, if you'd had a really good month, it was.
Completely different scenario to sayyour average month and then if you were
having a bad month and all your bills,main bills arrived in that bad month.
It could be an absolute disaster.
It was really difficult to kind of keepthat happy medium in what was going on.
(26:10):
So, , once you've got yourself slightlyin the s h I t, you never do that again.
Like, you've really come up with asituation where you're like, actually,
I need to keep on top of this.
So what I did, and this mightbe a tip for anybody that's
running, , a small business, youknow, service-based business where
you don't have huge numbers of costs.
(26:30):
I basically added up all my billsfor a year to work out exactly what I
needed in Bills, divided that by 12,and then put that amount of money into
a separate account like every month.
So then whenever a bill came out,I already had the money there ready
for it, , which for me really helped.
Now obviously, You have to geta bit ahead of yourself on this.
(26:53):
So you kind of need to wait for oneof those really good months and be
like, right, this is when I'm gonnastart it up and I'm gonna put two
months worth in there just to get meon the right track and then we're off.
So, I don't know.
That might be helpful for people.
love it outta mind, outta sight.
You can't touch the pot then.
It's such a good way to do it, isn't it?
Yeah.
For me it definitely has to beout of sight, otherwise I'll be
(27:16):
like wanting to dip back into it.
Perfect.
Well, I hope you guys that reallyhelped at home, I hope there's a
lot you took away from this andif there's anything it's that it
doesn't have to be that complicated.
Just put that time asideand you have got this.
And don't forget that I also am sharinga free financial templates with you all.
(27:37):
So if you want some financial trackingspreadsheets for you that you literally
just need to plug your numbers intoand they do all of the hard work, don't
forget to send me a DM at pep Harland.
And I will shoot one of those acrossto you, so you can really just get
going and start tracking today.
Hello, and welcome back toanother episode of the podcast.
In today's episode, we are talkingall things finance, and we're breaking
it down into its simplest form.
What the heck should we be tracking,and when should we be tracking this?
So if you are a lot uncertain about yourfinances, go grab yourself a notepad.
We're gonna really break itdown to you step by step, what
(00:21):
you're gonna be tracking andwhen you should be tracking it.
And this is really to follow on fromour previous episode, so you really
get confident in those numbers.
Yeah, this is amazing.
So we're basically using all ofPip's expertise to tell you exactly
what you need to look at everykind of day, week, month, year.
And the reason that thisis so important is that.
(00:45):
I mean, we know most businessesfail due to a lack of cash.
That's really why mostbusinesses go under.
So it's essential that you get into somereally good routines about the money that
you have or the money that you don't have,and work out how to keep on top of that.
And I know from my own experience, I feelso much more confident in my business.
(01:07):
When I've got that control and thatoverview over my finances, like nothing,
then comes in ambushes you, sets youoff course, puts you into panic mode.
And when we're in that feeling of kindof desperation, because we perhaps
haven't kept a good enough track at thefinances, it's actually so difficult
to sell and make sales because Ifeel like it really comes across.
(01:30):
What do you think?
Oh, it's so true.
I feel like finances is one of thosethings that if you are on top of it
and you're feeling good about it,it changes your whole mindset around
how you're approaching your business.
And all it takes is these few littlethings to go from feeling really
overwhelmed and feeling like you wannarun away from it all to actually feeling
(01:50):
like you're in control and going out thereand making changes with the new business.
So I'm so excited that we get to sharethese top tips with you guys today.
And it's amazing because these things,they may sound so simple, but they can
make such a difference in your business.
So for example, I had one client and theyhad a profitable business, you know, on
paper and in Zero they were making profit.
(02:12):
They were making profit each year,but they were really struggling with.
Dealing with their cash and thecash flow up and down in order
to maintain that profitability.
And all it took was for us to put thesesimple financial tracking processes
in place for us to really understandwhen cash was coming in and out.
And it really helped us plan.
(02:32):
So instead of having these hugemonths with huge, huge bills and not
seen the profit till much later inthe year, we were able to change the
payment plans, we were able to changethe cost structure of the business
to get them set up in a much more.
Stress free and profitable way.
So you didn't have to sit and lookat that bank account and think, how
the heck am I gonna pay this bill?
(02:53):
And this is really it.
It's just about makingthese little tweaks.
So I'm really excited thatwe're jumping into this today.
So let's start out with what arewe going to be tracking daily?
. Okay.
So from a daily perspective,we are going to look most
importantly at your cash position.
So that is.
Open up that banking app on your phone andlook at the number in your bank account,
(03:15):
and if that terrifies you, you definitelyneed to be doing this every single day.
And the reason that we're doing thisevery single day is just that you start
to get a feeling for what's normalin your bank account and what's not
normal for your business bank account.
And really quickly, you'll then getthat gut feeling if you look at the
number and you think, Hmm, hang ona minute, something isn't right.
Or, oh, I wasn't expectingthat cost to come out.
(03:37):
It's just getting inthe process of checking.
And of course if you are a little tightthis month, you , definitely want to
be checking to make sure that you'renot getting any costs that are gonna
come out and put you into the red.
You also want to be tracking whereyou are spending your time, and I
know we'll probably go into this inso much detail in another episode, but
tracking your time and your team's timeis a really useful way to understand.
(04:02):
Where your ROI is, and thisisn't something that you need to
look at the numbers daily, butyou want to be doing it daily.
So using something like Toggle,which is free just to understand
how many hours you're workingand what you are working on.
So later on you can then understand whatyour return or your on your investment is.
Because remember, your team has acost, so you need to understand that
(04:22):
what you're getting outta them isactually giving you that profit back.
And then the final thing you want to bemaking sure you're doing daily is just
getting in the habit of filing awayany emails which are finance related or
receipts into a place to deal with later.
I'm not saying that you need to dropeverything when that invoice comes
through and pay it immediately, butjust really get into the habit of
(04:43):
putting it into a folder or putting itinto a box if it's a regular receipt.
Into a place that you can come back to atthe end of the week or however frequently
you are looking at these things and thenyou can deal with them and then you know
that you've got all the invoices in theright place, you've got all your receipts
in the right place, and it's reallyquick for you to then deal with them.
And it doesn't become this stressfulthing at the end of the year where
(05:04):
you're rummaging around lookingfor receipts in your purse and
the bottom of your drawer and youknow, all the things that hands up.
We probably have all done at somepoint in our life, but let's not
get into the habit of doing that.
Yeah, I love that.
And I think like getting into that goodhabit about when the bills come in or
the receipts is such a good thing to doand it's that fine line between don't
drop everything and lose concentrationand pay the bill right then and
(05:27):
there, but equally don't discard it.
So you have to spend three hours tryingto find it at the end of the month, uh,
when you really need to put it through.
So, Getting into some goodhabits, easy habits on that,
that create minimal resistanceto doing it every week is great.
Okay.
So that that is sort ofdaily what we need to do.
(05:48):
So thinking about weekly, and I reckonI can guess where we're going with this.
So, I would say that weekly, we needto start by looking at our sales.
So what are we actually selling ineach service or in each product if it's
a product-based business every week.
, because again, that comes down tolater on looking at what are we
(06:09):
putting our time into versus whatis the return that we're getting?
Because some products are gonnagive us a much greater roi.
So if we are in that cash strap stage,we know where we should focus our efforts
to like quickly turn some more money.
, and then on that, so the same sortof idea as well as looking the sales.
We've gotta look through the cost inthe bank every week, and do they align
(06:32):
with where we think we are, , in termsof spending money, in terms of cost to
do with products that we're generating,in terms of subscriptions we have,
or memberships or whatever it is.
Is it all matching up to the numberthat we've got in our head, or have
we slightly got that wrong somewhere
along the line?
Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?
(06:52):
If you don't look every week suddenlyby the end of the month and you've
not caught something, it just addsup and up, which is really why it's
so important to look in so regularly.
And on that cost front, when you'vegot invoices coming in, now you
might pay these weekly, or you mightpay them fortnightly or monthly.
Generally a service-based business canprobably get away with monthly if you've
(07:15):
got a little bit more cash in the bank.
And a product-based business wherecashflow is your one thing that you
are really, really focused in on,you might have to be paying weekly.
And so you want to make sure thatevery week you're going through your
invoices, you are paying them, orif you're not paying them, you are
marking when you are going to pay them,depending on how much cash you've got
in your account, and also with that,that you're doing all your bookkeeping.
(07:37):
So as these invoices come in, Youknow, whether you are bookkeeping
yourself or whether your accountant'sdoing a bookkeeping for you, you
are sending these invoices andthese receipts to the right place.
So, Most people, , that I work with,my clients will have it all automated.
So they can literally forward the invoiceto an automated email address and it shows
up in their zero, and their accountantcan go in and, and we can make that
(07:57):
match to put the cost in the bank againstthe cost that they've actually made.
But you wanna make sure that you'redoing that every single week so you
don't forget what half of these costsare for, because there is nothing worse
than your accountant coming back at theend of the year and saying, Okay, PIP.
So tell me, what was this, you know,49 99 that you spent on Amazon and
you are desperately searching throughthings, trying to figure out why
(08:21):
you bought this thing and whetherit's an allowable business expense.
So it's just so much easier ifyou can just send that through.
And then, like you said, Georgia,I'm really big on tracking
things on a weekly basis, so youcan make those little tweaks.
And if you are using paid ads in yourbusiness, this is a really great chance
to sit down every week and look at themand make sure that your click-through
rates and your cost per lead.
(08:43):
Is right.
And if you need to do something aboutit, you can make those little tweaks.
Again, we don't want to be waitingtill the ends of the month until
you remember to look at your paidads to do something about it.
That's money going out.
So you wanna make sure thatthat money going out is bringing
that money back in for you.
And then the final thing that youwant to be looking at weekly is
updating your cashflow tracker.
So looking at what you've spent.
(09:06):
What's coming in and then just lookingahead and going, okay, now that I know
where my week is, have I made more sales?
What's going on in the pipeline thatI can start to fill into my tracker?
And just having that sense check again.
Okay.
Right.
We could meet all of our billsas they fool you over the next
month, over the next quarter.
I love that.
And I think actually it's so simple.
(09:26):
And when you get good at this particularservice based business, this really
shouldn't take you very long every week.
I mean, we're looking at like half anhour to be honest, but half an hour
that can really help you out, can't it?
So that's so true.
So that's weekly.
What about monthly?
What are the things that youwould have us focus in on
monthly?
(09:47):
Okay, so the biggest thingmonthly is starting to.
Do that, , airplane view down oneverything, and start to take that bigger
picture into place and look at that roi.
So, Are our investments working for us?
Whether that's a project, whether that'sa team member, whatever it might be, but
really starting to think about the roi.
So are we spending ourmoney in the right place?
(10:09):
Because weekly is often a littlebit too short of a period of time to
really make proper decisions over this.
We can.
See the beginnings of trends, butyou're not gonna see a trend in a week.
You're gonna need at least a monthto start seeing those trends.
So it's looking at that data,your paid ads, your sales, those
costs, going out and saying,okay, am I seeing the return yet?
Or if I'm not, what changes amI gonna make in the business
(10:32):
to help me see that return?
Yeah, and that's such a big thing whenyou're thinking about team as well,
because here, I think, you know, if youhave got into the strategy phase, which I
completely encourage, when you make thathire, you are hiring with an ROI in mind.
So is that team memberdelivering on that roi?
I think a few episodes ago we talkedabout, you know, when you hire a
(10:55):
DMS assistant and you are payingthem X amount a month, but you are
thinking that they're gonna generate.
A certain amount in sales, whichshould then make it worth your while.
But if you are looking at those sales andthey're not quite hitting it, and they're
not improving week on week, then whatdo you need to do to make that better?
(11:15):
Is it around coaching them inthe way that they're delivering?
Is it around?
Changing their responsibilities slightly.
Have you maybe got thewrong person for the role?
, so really looking at actually, isthis working out the way I planned
it would, and if not, why not?
Like what are the changes thatI can make to either ensure that
it does or to draw a line underit and move in another direction?
(11:38):
So true.
It's so worth taking that time aside.
Each month, as you say, each weekyou just put half an hour aside and
you can whip through this, but givingyourself a few hours or half a day
every month to go through this isgonna make such a massive difference
to the trajectory of your business.
If you can give youryourself that space and time.
And then of course with team therecomes the monthly payroll cost.
(12:00):
One of our biggest costs, so that'sanother thing you need to make sure
that you're on top of each month.
So checking hours with whoever's runningyour payroll, making sure that all your
team members hours are correct with them.
Then making sure that you are payingH R C or whoever you're paying taxes
for your team members if they'reemployees, you might have pension
contributions or other employee benefitsthat you need to pay for or deal with.
(12:23):
And so it's just making sure thatyou've gone through that process.
You've made all those payments that all ofyour employees have the right details that
they need on their pay slip if they'reemployees or that they've invoiced you, if
they're working as a contractor for you.
And then generally, you know, wetalked about r o I, but one of the,
the big things I also do as kind ofpart of my general check is really
looking at the cash side of things.
(12:44):
So looking at my runway, do I haveenough saved for the next three
months so something go really wrong?
You know, have any of my costs changedand do I need to put more money
aside this month for that runway?
Have I saved enough money towards tax?
Have I saved enough money towards anybig projects that I want to invest in?
It's just, again, having that general.
(13:04):
Sense check in my finances andare they setting me up for the
month ahead and for what I nowhave planned, because everything
obviously changes month on month,
.And so I wanna make sure that we've got all of our ducks in a
row ready to support us on that.
So, , what about you?
What other things do you alsolook at on a monthly basis?
Okay, so
all the things you mentioned,I would definitely look at the
(13:26):
sales, I'd look at the cost.
I'd look at my rough p andl, like where am I standing?
Um, what's coming up in terms ofbills, what's coming up in terms of how
I'm moving forward towards projects.
But for me, and the thing, anyonethat has ever worked in recruitment
will completely understand this.
It's all about lookingat my pipeline as well.
So I'm looking at the salesthat I've made, but what am I
(13:47):
forecasting for the month ahead?
So I've got like my target amount.
So that is, if it really goes toplan, this is where I think I'll be.
So, This is what I'm forecasting.
These are my kind of dead sales.
So then I can look at that based on thebills that I know might be coming up in
the next month and think actually, What'sleft from this month that I maybe need to
(14:09):
carry over and think about for the nextmonth before I, you know, hit the shops or
go wild on, , some kinda online shopping.
, so yeah, really important to be thinkingabout like what's in the pipeline
and if the pipeline is low, why?
Like what can you do to change that?
, because I think if you've gotthat overview of what's coming
o up and you are not just being.
(14:30):
Super reliant on the powers that be.
Yeah, it's really gonna give youso much more confidence about where
you're at and what you're selling to.
So yeah, definitely pipelineis a big thing for me.
So then, okay, so we've looked at monthly.
We're onto quarterly.
Tell us what we need to do there.
Okay.
Quarterly.
I feel the fear into everybodywho's back registered because
(14:51):
of our quarterly bat returns.
If you're UK based, and obviously ifyou're not based in the uk, you'll have
other sales tax requirements to makewith whoever your , tax people are.
So with your back return, youwant to make sure that all of your
stuff is out with your accountant.
So all your bills, your invoices, yoursales information is with them, and you'll
need to then check what they send you and.
(15:14):
Have that sense check.
Does this look right?
Do the numbers look right?
And of course, because you've beenlooking weekly and monthly at your
numbers, you'll very quickly be ableto help your accountant sense check
that you've included everything inthere and that it's all looking good.
And generally with this, I find thata lot of the time, this is where you
get a really accurate p and l comingthrough because everybody's really
(15:36):
looked at the detail of your accounts.
And this is again, another chanceto look at your p and l and
making sure are you profitable?
Are costs going out as expected?
Are you making enough sales?
Are we on track towardsthose bigger goals?
And then of course, once you'vegone through your VA return,
you need to pay your va.
Or it might be that you have, , a VArepayment coming back depending on
(15:58):
what you're selling in your business.
So making sure that you pay your VAreturn on time is massively important
because if not, you can get finesand you can deal with all of the
joys of H M R C coming after you.
So really making sure youare on top of that and not.
On the day of the deadline, you'vegot yourself, , you know, over a
month from the end of the aboutreturn to get all of this done.
(16:18):
So make sure you are on top of this.
Get a reminder in your calendar and makesure that you are chasing your accountant
if they're not chasing you, so you canget it done and dusted and out of the way.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Not on the day of the deadline.
Okay.
So I think all of this is reallyabout looking forward, isn't it?
And also with the, thekind of quarterly stuff I.
(16:41):
Look at the big goals that you've setfor the year, because most of those
goals we've set, say some annual goals.
We've broken those down into sixmonths and into quarterly targets
as well, so, How are you in relationto those targets that you've set?
Like how are you getting on,where are the costs looking?
What's the R oi?
Like, what's going well?
What do you need to tweak?
What needs some changing?
(17:02):
Have you actually done better thanyou thought and perhaps you've got
some more money to put into liketeam costs or growing certain areas?
Do you need to check in with yourteam and see how they're feeling
about where they are in that quarter?
Like what they feel is going on?
Are they definitely stickingaround for another quarter or has
it just been way too stressful?
(17:22):
So it's really kind of getting an ideaon this because any changes in the team
and their performance is gonna massivelyaffect your next quarter as well.
So really making sure thatyou're checking in with them.
I think from my point of
view, No, that's so true, and I thinkthat's something also in terms of as
we start to look towards what we'relooking at annually, is looking at
(17:43):
how much we're paying our team andyou know, any bonuses that we might
be paying them or any pay increases.
And that's another thing that we needto be factoring in as we're looking each
month, each quarter, each year, justchecking in and making sure we understand
what we need to do to keep everybodyhappy in the business, as well as, you
know, keeping the business running.
And then of course, annually we havethe, the joy of our annual accounts
(18:07):
and our personal tax return, ourself-assessment, our CT 600, if we're
a limited company, this will dependson whether you're a sole trader or
whether you're a limited company.
What time of year this allhappens and how this happens.
So if you are a sole trader, you'llbe doing your self-assessment
by the end of January.
So you'll want to make sure that you'vegot all of your information to your
(18:29):
accountant early because I can tell youaccountants get very stressed in January.
And they do not want you to be sendingreceipts in on the 30th of January.
They would like that to be way furtherin advance than that, especially
if you want to get their supportand then to like you as a client.
So make sure you're really on top of that.
And then if you are a limited companyin the uk, depending on when your,
(18:52):
, tax year ends, ends will depend onwhen your company tax return is due.
And of course, all of this is changingin the coming years and so, Make sure
you speak to your accountant and they'llreally help you with how all of this
is changing, but you just wanna makesure you've got everything in in good
time, because if you are paying yourselfthrough dividends, the sooner you can
get your corporation tax paid and doneand dusted and your annual accounts done.
(19:15):
The sooner you are gonna know howmuch you really can pull out of your
business in the form of dividends.
Now, obviously you can pull outmoney beforehand, but you won't know
exactly what that final number isand what that final profit figure is
until you've had this all signed off.
So getting that done and dusted asearly as possible is really important.
And then of course with thatcomes paying our tax bill.
(19:35):
Now, because we've looked everyweek, month, quarter, and been saving
dutifully, like good business owners,this won't be a surprise, right?
This will be so easy.
We'll just go into our tax pot and we'llspend it and we'll just pay our tax off.
But if you haven't, Managed to savethe right amount, or something's
gone a little bit different, or youraccountant has maybe brought up new
(19:57):
things that you haven't planned for.
It's then really going, okay, becauseI've got all this information in soon,
you have several months to pay your taxbill, so this will then give you time if.
Something's gone wrong in the planningor if you, this is you right now and
you're looking forward to the year ahead,it gives you a little bit more time to
plan how you're gonna pay for that tax.
So the earlier you can get your accountsand your tax returns earned, the quicker
(20:21):
you then can start thinking about,okay, logistically, where am I getting
this cash from to pay my tax bill?
And then if you've got a largercompany, you may need to go
through an annual order too.
And of course your accountantwill support you, , in doing this.
But if you do that, you're gonna haveeven more things that you need to
send through to your accountant andyou're gonna need to spend a lot more
time with them answering questionsabout how your business works and
(20:44):
the various different processes too.
But that's not one to worry about untilyou start to, to really grow in size.
Yeah, so something to feel good about ifyou're still in the five six figure base
is you don't need to do all that work yet.
So you know Exactly
Silver Line, enjoy itwhilst you've got it.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Okay, so some of this Ithink can probably sound.
(21:07):
To be honest to people a bit dull,having to think about having to do
their b a t and this, that and theother, but hopefully we've made it
seem simple and how important it iswithout you wanting to, you know,
dove any of your clients into the taxauthorities or anything like that.
Is that, have you got any storiesthat will help motivate us to
keep on top of that so that weperhaps don't end up in a similar
(21:30):
situation?
Yes, great question.
, so there are definitely several clientsI've worked with before where something
has gone wrong before I've come in.
And this is part of the reason thatI've come in to work with them, is that
taxes been underpaid or something'snot been reported correctly, and that
is because the information hasn't beengathered and looked after properly
(21:52):
to send to the accountant becauseobviously as an accountant you can only.
Take the information that your clientgives you and all the information
that you have access to, and try andfigure out backwards what's happened
historically, because you are not inthe business, you don't know all the
details that we do as business owners.
And what happens then, and I can thinkof one client in particular that they
(22:13):
ended up underpaying substantially.
, a large amount of that.
And so now have thesemonthly VA payments to make.
With M R C, and you know this, you arelooking at four or five grand a month.
It's a large amount of money comingout every month that hasn't been
planned for because there's somethingthat happened a few years ago.
And so this is why it's really soimportant if you get on this now, then
(22:34):
you don't have to end up in this situationwhere you suddenly have to find an extra
four grand a month because, you know, noteverybody has an extra four grand a month.
And I tell you what, I'd rathertake that home as extra pay for
me so it's really thinking about.
Getting everything done assoon as possible and just
getting into the habit of it.
And honestly, as you said, Georgia, it'swhat, half an hour a week to do this?
Half a day, a month each quarter, maybeput a day aside to really dive into it.
(22:59):
And finances are only one part of that.
You're also looking at your strategy.
That's all the fun stuff youget to do in your business.
So don't allow the stressto not get on top of this.
Just put that time in your calendar.
Just get it done, tick it off.
You'll feel great after you do it.
It can be fun.
It's just you need to make it fun.
But what I do know to be trueis particularly with VT or
(23:20):
tax, if you take that money.
Away from from the pot Assoon as you've earned it.
Yeah, it's so, it feels so much easierthan when you are having to find it
later on suddenly, and then it feelsreally unjustified, like why you
have to hand over all this money.
But if you're seeing it straightaway that your invoice comes in and
you take off the 20% and you putit in a different account, then.
(23:42):
You know, it feels like much morein control when the bill comes in.
It's not as painful as perhapstrying to extract it from your
personal accounts going forward.
So true, and a small hack on that.
If you put aside a little bit morethan you need, and I do this every year
when you pay your tax bill, the bit.
That's left over.
(24:03):
I pay myself as a little bonus each year.
And that I tell you is such a good wayof putting taxes aside cuz I know at the
end of the year I'm gonna get a littleextra bonus that month for myself.
So if that doesn't motivateyou, I dunno what will,
do you have like a rule of thumb, likea percentage that you always take, say
it's a service-based business, wouldyou always just immediately take a
(24:24):
percentage and put it in another account?
Or how would you do it?
So it's different for every business.
, but generally for service-based, Iwould say about 30 to 35% product.
It depends on your margins a lotmore, so you kind of need to look at
it, but as a very, very rough rule ofthumb, if you put 30% aside, you are
(24:45):
getting yourself in a good place there.
And then that might need to go upa little bit or down a little bit,
depending on the actual specifics.
Of your ba, um, of your business.
, and obviously tax as well has increased.
so we're now paying 25% corporation taxwhen it used to be 19 in the uk and now
there's a small profits threshold on that.
So if you're quite a smallbusiness, You'll be paying
(25:06):
closer towards 19% than 25%.
But that's something which is reallygoing to kick a lot of business owners
over the next year or two, becausesuddenly we have to put aside an extra 6%.
So of every a hundred K profit, that'san extra six K is going to H M R C.
So that's also something you reallywant to be thinking about when
you're putting your money aside.
Always better to put a little bit toomuch aside and then be able to pay
(25:27):
yourself back than, as you say, strugglingto figure out where to find the cash
from when the bill comes through.
Yeah,
that's huge.
I think from my own experience,and this is not as like a business,
but personally with finances, sowhen I used to work in recruitment,
we're incredibly commission-based.
So you could ha the difference betweenwhat you were taking home from one month
(25:49):
to the next could be absolutely huge.
, if you'd had a really good month, it was.
Completely different scenario to sayyour average month and then if you were
having a bad month and all your bills,main bills arrived in that bad month.
It could be an absolute disaster.
It was really difficult to kind of keepthat happy medium in what was going on.
(26:10):
So, , once you've got yourself slightlyin the s h I t, you never do that again.
Like, you've really come up with asituation where you're like, actually,
I need to keep on top of this.
So what I did, and this mightbe a tip for anybody that's
running, , a small business, youknow, service-based business where
you don't have huge numbers of costs.
(26:30):
I basically added up all my billsfor a year to work out exactly what I
needed in Bills, divided that by 12,and then put that amount of money into
a separate account like every month.
So then whenever a bill came out,I already had the money there ready
for it, , which for me really helped.
Now obviously, You have to geta bit ahead of yourself on this.
(26:53):
So you kind of need to wait for oneof those really good months and be
like, right, this is when I'm gonnastart it up and I'm gonna put two
months worth in there just to get meon the right track and then we're off.
So, I don't know.
That might be helpful for people.
love it outta mind, outta sight.
You can't touch the pot then.
It's such a good way to do it, isn't it?
Yeah.
For me it definitely has to beout of sight, otherwise I'll be
(27:16):
like wanting to dip back into it.
Perfect.
Well, I hope you guys that reallyhelped at home, I hope there's a
lot you took away from this andif there's anything it's that it
doesn't have to be that complicated.
Just put that time asideand you have got this.
And don't forget that I also am sharinga free financial templates with you all.
(27:37):
So if you want some financial trackingspreadsheets for you that you literally
just need to plug your numbers intoand they do all of the hard work, don't
forget to send me a DM at pep Harland.
And I will shoot one of those acrossto you, so you can really just get
going and start tracking today.
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