Accounting sucks. Tax time equals massive headaches.
These are statements that I hear from a lot of readers. When I recently asked you guys to submit your most pressing creative biz issues, many of you mentioned the accounting and finance part of your biz.
And, as many of you know, I’m putting together a membership site that consists of interviews with some out-freaking-standing people in the creative community. On Monday, I had the pleasure of spending an hour chatting with Michelle Ward, the When I Grow Up Coach {how freaking fun is that name?}, and she shared amazing information and tips that you’re gonna want to join the site to get your hands on that interview.
After I realized that so many people struggled with this part of their business, I started asking the interviewees for their best financial tips. Even though this interview is for the membership site, I can’t help but share 3 of the tips that Michelle talked about when it comes to finances with all of you. {FYI, the interview is a podcast, so I’m paraphrasing some of these juicy tips.}
1. Stop calling it finances and accounting.
Who wants to work on accounting and finances? Don’t call it something that’ll make you want to poke your eyeballs out. Instead, call it something fun, like “time to count the money” or “time to see how much money I’m making so I can see how much closer I am to quitting my job.” Bottom line: try to make it more fun, so you won’t be as reluctant to work on it.
2. Use mint.com to manage your money.
Once you spend about an hour or two setting up an account on mint.com, it does things automatically for you. You link it up to your PayPal account and bank account, and then it helps you to organize all the different payments and charges. It also has a budgeting section and graphs/charts that show you what your income looks like month to month, where you make the most money, and where you’re spending the most the money.
3. Plan one “business building day” into your calendar each month.
Michelle sets aside one of the first business days in the month to go over finances from the last month, and it takes her about two hours. Then she does other fun “business building” stuff like working on her right-brain business planner or reading a business book she’s been wanting to dive into.
Don’t you love those tips? I do.
If you think those tips rock, you’ll definitely want to hear the full hour-long interview that is jam-packed with helpful stuff. Make sure that you check back in on Monday, because I’m going to open up the membership to 10 people for a sneak preview before I launch the site on April 4th–and one of those people could be you.
Also, after reading those tips, you might realize that you need more Michelle Ward in your life. If so, you should check out her 3rd Annual When I Grow Up Scholarship, where you could win 12 private 45-minute phone sessions with her. That’s a $1516 value. Um, yeah, that’s pretty amazing.
Do you have any “time to count the money” tips {aka, accounting tips} to add? Share them in the comments below.
Aw, April, you’re the bestest! I had no idea that you were gonna put something up like this. Thanks so very much – for all of it! I had such a great time chattin’ with you this week.
I didn’t know I was going to either until I was listening to the interview again to put together an accompanying workbook…and it clicked. I knew it was something I needed to share with all of my readers. 🙂
Aw, yay! So glad ya did.
Hi April! 🙂
These are great tips – I especially love the business building day one! Great idea. 🙂
I use something similar to Mint.com (since Mint wasn’t available for Canadian banks when I was checking into it). BudgetPulse.com is what I use and have found it to be fantastic for helping me keep track of what’s going in and out. 🙂
Thanks for adding that tip Jess!
Thanks for the tip Jessilicious!
I know Mint is working to go international but I don’t really want to wait, so I’ll go and check out BudgetPulse 🙂
I love this tip: “time to see how much money I’m making so I can see how much closer I am to quitting my job.” It definitely makes it easier to tackle that part of business when you change your thinking.
I have a decorated folder that holds the receipts for the week. I respond to it better than a plain manila folder and then I graph things like what sold the most, fees, etc. It makes it more “fun” when I get that visualization and it cleans up my inbox.
Hey Erika,
I love the idea of decorating a folder for your receipts to make it more fun! My sister-in-law gave me patterned folders that are fun and bright and I use them, because it’s definitely more fun than a plain folder 🙂
I signed up with Outright. They work with google apps and Shoebox. I’m just getting started on all of this stuff, so I’m not sure how well it’s gonna work. Thanks for your tips!
Thanks for sharing that Virginia!
*love* Michelle! She’s a game-changer!
Anyway, I just made a note to add a business-building day to my calendar. Thanks April!
(blush) Too kind, Deanna, too kind 🙂
I agree–she’s one-of-a-kind and faaaabulous.
I love the When I Grow Up Coach! Am a regular reader- she always has great ideas. Thanks for posting this! I signed up for mint.com a few months ago and it’s already made a huge difference in budgeting money not only for my etsy store- but for things like my “latte” habit and those lunch-hour trips to Anthropologie 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience with mint.com! Oh man…I wish I had an Anthropologie near me. But, it’s probably better on the bank account that I don’t 🙂
Aw, thanks Patty! You’re so sweet – I really appreciate you comment, and am so happy you’re a regular reader on my site! I just followed you on twitter, so don’t be a stranger no mo’, ‘K? 🙂
I’ve got your point. Honestly, I hate numbers. But, I have no choice, but to love counting my own money. In reality, when you have a business or salary. You should monitor your spending and how much the money you save. I learned it from https://www.htpenterprisesfinancial.com/5-great-ways-to-improve-your-credit-score-htp-enterprises-financial/
Nice blog writing. Very informative. i have learn many more thing form here.
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