Why Should I Care About The Balance Sheet Report?

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Do you have your own system for keeping track of expenses and other things that go on in your business with a fancy spreadsheet? If the answer is yes then you might be getting only half of the financial picture of what is going on in your business. Don’t get me wrong. I love fancy spreadsheets and it is quite handy to use in a pinch. But it is not a long-term solution because no one ever asked to see your spreadsheet to learn how your business is doing. This is where the Balance Sheet report comes into play.

Begin With The End In Mind

What goal are you trying to achieve? Picture this. You just started your business and put in a lot of your own money but now you are in need of additional funds to help you buy key things for your business. You go down to your local bank and they ask to see your Balance Sheet so that they can get a better financial picture of your business. You look at them with a blank stare and the loan you need starts to look like a mirage. Or maybe you want to bring in a partner to help your business grow and they ask to see your Balance Sheet to see what your financial picture looks like before they move forward with you. The Balance Sheet in both cases plays a pivotal role in determining the outcome of your business decisions.

Why You Should Care About The Balance Sheet Report

The Balance Sheet Report helps you to:

• Learn how much you own, owe, took out & kept inside your business

• It could help you to obtain additional funds to help you grow your business

• It provides key information to outside stakeholders who want to do business with you.

What Is On The Balance Sheet Report?

• Assets - What you own

• Liabilities - What you owe

• Equity - What you took out & what you kept inside of your business

The Balance Sheet is a key report that helps you to run your business smarter. A spreadsheet can’t help you to do that because it only tells one side of the story.

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Welcome To The Month Of April!

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I don’t know about you but the month of April just brings a smile to my face.

:)

There is something about watching the flowers come into full bloom and leaves growing back on the trees that just warms my heart. The weather here in Las Vegas is a comfortable 70'ish degrees right now and the sun is shining. In the next month or two, we will be on fire with the heat BUT that is later..lol

April goes hand and hand with spring cleaning and I have been doing a little bit myself these days. I have also been doing some spring cleaning in my business by taking a look at the overall health of my business and areas that I can make improvements. One area that I love taking a look at is my financial reports. This month I am going to focus on looking at the 3 major financial statements you should be looking at monthly and why they should matter to you. The 3 major financial statements are the Balance Sheet, The Income Statement (P&L), and The Statement of Cashflows. I hope you will join me on this financial journey and learn something that you can add to your business toolkit.

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The Month Of March Round Up

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Spring is officially here and the month of March is almost over. I love spring which for me signals new beginnings. My favorite thing to do is go outside and get into nature here in Las Vegas. I know the two don’t always go together in the same sentence but to us locals, it is what we do at this time of year.

This time of year is also great for taking a snapshot of what is going on in your business. This month I focused on a little bit of mindset & motivation in my first post. In my last post, I took a look at our favorite topic which is taxes. Well, it might not be your favorite but it is a necessary evil to keep the evil tax man away from your door. The posts are short & sweet and useful. Take some time to get caught up this weekend while you sit outside enjoying the spring air.

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Tis The Season For Taxes

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The tax season is here. Are you ready? Do you have all your ducks in a row? If not do not fret. Here is a short checklist to get you started on your journey.

• Make sure your books are in order: Your accounting records should be categorized properly and reconciled by the month. You will need to have this in place to pull reports for your tax professional.

• Gather all tax-related documents: Your tax professional is going to ask for a plethora of documents so they can complete your filing. Check out this resource for a tax prep checklist and other goodies.

• Find a tax professional to take care of your tax filing: This is not the year to DIY it. Do yourself a favor and find a trusted tax pro to help you navigate the muddy waters this tax year. Check out this resource to help you get started.

Tax time is here and it doesn’t have to be a stressful time for you. Take some time to implement the 3 tips above and you will have smooth sailing.

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It All Starts In Your Mind

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Everything starts with a thought and then action. I often run into the challenge of trying to get things on my to-do list crossed off with slim success at times. One day I stopped to think about why I was struggling to get these tasks done. I thought about other times when I made a goal list and got those things accomplished and wondered what was different.

Mindset

My mindset for the items that I did get completed was positive and I had a ton of energy to get things done. I also gave myself a reward for getting it done at the end. So then I thought about how I can apply those same things to my to-do list that is growing by the day but not getting completed.

Change my mindset about it

Take a second look at how I described my to-do list:

“It is growing by the day but not getting completed”

This thought process is enough to make anyone NOT want to do this. Instead, I am trying a new perspective around it which focuses on how I will feel once it is done. Additionally, I will also break up the to-do list into bites size chunks. Deep Patel calls this setting “micro-goals” which entails “Breaking down each segment of your goal into a tiny “micro-goal.” Divide each larger task into the smallest possible unit of progress, and include each of these baby steps in your schedule. Keep breaking down your goals until they’re sliced up into tiny, easily achievable micro-goals”.

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on hitting our goals and making things happen within our business. In order to accomplish these goals, we must have the right mindset. Check out this tool to help you clear your thoughts so that you can focus. I hope this information gets you energized to reach success within your business.

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Welcome To The Month Of March!

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Spring is in the air here on the west coast - sorry east coasters;)

This is the perfect time to begin the process of doing some spring cleaning in your business. This month I want to take a look at the following areas:

Tax Prep Management - How to find your tax professional and be best prepared once you meet with them.

Process Improvement - I will share tips to help you to document processes within your business.

Motivation & Mindset - I will share 2 resources you can add to your toolkit to help you to stay focused and refreshed.

The month of March is here and it is a great time to get re-energized within your business. What is your favorite thing about this month? Share with me in the comments below.

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February Monthly Round Up

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The month of February is pretty much in the record books. It always boggles my mind how fast this month goes by. I hope you found time to work on your business this month and move it forward. If you had a busy month like I did and did not have a chance to read the blog posts that I wrote on Why It Is Important To Get Organized In Your Business and How To Do It then take a few minutes and read them. It could be just what you need to move out of a business rut. I also did a post on tools that you can use to help run your business efficiently. I hope you take the time to read and apply it to your business.

Don’t just consume and not apply. It will be a waste of your time and I know that your time is precious.

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How To Get Organized In Your Business

Are you living in a constant state of chaos within your business? If so don’t feel bad or ashamed about it. This isn’t something that is seen as a real priority until you become frustrated when you can’t find something. I am speaking from experience. It is usually when you are working on a deep-thinking project and you click on a folder that should have what you need in it but it doesn’t. The next step is to pound your fist on the table and make promises to yourself to get better organized and the cycle continues.

:)

Recently, I discovered a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done The Art of Stress-Free Productivity that changed my perspective on how to get better organized in my business and in my life. It boils down to these 3 things:

1. Get stuff off your mind and put it in a place that you will check back later.

2. Make a decision on what actions you will take on your stuff by thinking about the desired outcome and working backwards.

3. Keep regular reminders around that will help you to follow up on your action items

This list is simple but powerful. He provides more detailed information about each of these in his book. My goal today is to share a brief overview with you to get your mind prepared to move in this direction.

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Why Is It Important To Get Organized Within Your Business?

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The life of a small business owner is fast-paced. There are meetings to attend, networking events to attend and then there are the day-to-day operations. If you have a personal life then throw that into the bucket as well. It is enough to make your head spin. That is why it is so important to get organized in your business. What you do inside of your business flows into other areas of your life. For example, if you have a personal meeting that you need to take during the week then you need to make sure that it doesn’t conflict with business activities. Here are 4 reasons why it is important to get organized for your business:

• It reduces stress

• It helps you stay on top of trends within your industry

• It enables you to pursue revenue-generating opportunities

• It helps you to stay on top of your finances

There you have it. I hope this quick blog post was a good reminder about why it is important to get organized within your business. Next week we will look at how to do it.

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Welcome To The Month Of February!

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I can’t believe that we are in the month of February already!

I love the month of love.

It is short but sweet.

This month we will take a look at how to get organized so that you can feel less stressed, tools you can use to help you stay organized, and why it is important. I hope you take time out for yourself this month to slow down, love yourself and find your center.

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January Monthly Round Up

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The first month of 2021 is almost in the record books and what a month it was. I hope you had a chance to refresh your spirit and establish some new goals for your business. This month we took a look at how we can accomplish goals for our business by taking it one day at a time. Next, we took a look at how to evaluate if participating in a business webinar right now makes sense for your current business journey. Finally, we took a deep dive into how to determine if you are using the right tools for your business.

January might be almost in the record books but the year is young. I am excited about all the new possibilities that are on the horizon for small business owners everywhere. I hope you are too!

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Invest In The Right Tools For The Current Stage of Your Business Journey

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It is exciting running a business and there are so many pieces to the puzzle. As I mentioned in my last post I love tinkering with shiny new objects to see how I can use them in my business. But I recently decided to take a step back from that approach and only focus on the tools that I need right now to run my business.

Why?

The reason why I have decided to do this is to allow me to f.o.c.u.s. - follow one course until success as it relates to my tool kit. What I discovered last year is that I was running from one new shiny object to another new shiny object and I didn’t effectively apply any of the tools to my business and that left me feeling frustrated. This year I am only using tools that fit these 3 categories:

• I need it right now

• It fits comfortably within my current budget

• It is easy to use

That is it. It’s not rocket science but as I started to see what entailed using a particular product I started to see that it was costing me time or money or both. That’s not productive. I need to be focused on delivering quality service and value to my clients and not becoming a Ph.D. in whatever tool that I am trying to use. I do believe there is value in becoming an expert user once you have chosen what tools you will use to run your business. It is important to map out what tools you need to use for each step in your business and then stick to that.

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Just Say No!

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As the New Year starts many people are probably filling up your inbox with invitations about business webinars with promises to take your business to the next level. I love learning and find it challenging to not sign up for every webinar under the sun. It is especially challenging because I own a 100% remote business so people facing activities are sparse. In my last post, I talked about the idea of focusing on accomplishing business goals one day at a time so in the spirit of that approach it has led me to be more intentional about what I sign up for.

Here are 3 questions I use to evaluate if participating in a business webinar is right for me:

• Does it fit where I am right now in my business journey? There is no point in attending a webinar for a future goal when I need to focus on the goals right in front of my face that might have me stuck.

• Is it something that I can put into use right away? I want to know that by attending the webinar it will solve a problem or sticking point that I am facing right now and that I can quickly implement.

• How long will it last? Good lordy! I am not a fan of long webinars that brush up against an hour. I attended enough lectures in college and that was enough for me. Additionally, I am an owner/operator so I don’t have a team to take over while I attend a webinar so I like my webinars short & sweet.

The New Year brings many opportunities to start anew and set off on a brand new course for your business. It is extremely important to guard your time and focus so that you can continue on the journey to reach your goals One Day At A Time.

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One Day At A Time

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What could you accomplish in a year if you took the one day at a time approach? It’s an interesting thought. I recently heard an interview on S.O.S radio from a New York Times Best Seller author named Mark Batterson and he wrote a book called Win The Day, 7 Daily Habits to Help You Stress Less & Accomplish More. He talked about approaching life with a one day at a time attitude. He said yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery…lol

So why not focus on what you can get done today. This isn’t a novel idea but it is one worth bringing back to our memory again.

One

Day

At

A

Time

This will be my focus for future blog posts. How we can accomplish our business goals by taking it one day at a time. After all, that is all we truly have!

Welcome to 2021 & let the one day at a time journey begin.

Keep IT Sunny….one day at a time:)

Happy New Year To You!

The clock will strike midnight tonight and 2020 will FINALLY be in our collective rearview mirror. I won’t bog you down with much today. I would like for you to take a moment to BREATHE, RELAX & ENJOY this last day of such a tough but nimble year for us all.

I wish you joy and prosperity in 2021!

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Merry Xmas!

Tis the season to be jolly! I know there is a lot of doom & gloom going around out there BUT there are many things that we can choose to focus on that are positive.

:)

I will keep this post short & sweet. If you are sheltering in place and using technology to connect with family this holiday season to watch movies together check out this article on Make Use Of that shares different ways you can do this.

Enjoy your Christmas!

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Do You Have Systems In Place To Run Your Business Efficiently?

Running a business is a full-time job. Remember the good old days when you would work for someone and they took care of everything? All you had to do is show up and start working. In contrast, you are now in charge and it is up to you to have an organized way to run your business daily. These are the systems, tools & processes you use to run your business. Here are a few categories to consider:

Customer Center - This is where all things customer related live. This is where the initial customer meeting is documented for each customer. If they were a lead that turned out to not be a good fit then you would document why. You should have a CRM tool to help manage this process along with standard operating procedures to follow so that consistency can be maintained. A good CRM tool to check out is Zoho CRM.

Office Management - The place where we do business has changed in 2020. Some people are working at a traditional office while other people are working remotely. No matter where you call the office it is important to establish a few processes that will help you to stay organized. Do you have a way to make & receive customer calls when you are out of the office? Do you have a standardized greeting to answer customer calls? Some good tools to check out for phone communication is Grasshopper or Google voice.

Running a business is a lot of work. It is helpful to minimize friction and maximize efficiency by taking a look at your current processes to see where you can make improvements.

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How To Plan For Financial Success In Your Business For 2021

The end of the year is here. It is really hard to believe that we are in the month of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’s Eve but we are here. Now is a great time to stop and take stock of the health of your business finances. Here are 3 tips to make sure you are in shape heading into 2021:

1. Is your business healthy? Can you look at your Income Statement, Statement of Cashflow, and Balance Sheet to access the overall health of your business? Did you make more than you thought you were going to this year? Did you lose a little bit more? What products or services were hot sellers this year? Which ones are ready to go on the chopping block? If you can’t answer these questions with ease then it is time to get your books in order and updated.

2. Are you ready for tax time? Do you have a CPA or Enrolled Agent to help you prepare your taxes in a few months? If the answer is no then check out this post I wrote about how to find the right tax professional for you.

3. Are you charging enough for your services or products? If you are not sure then it is time to take a deeper look at pricing techniques. Check out this resource from Mark Wickersham from the Value Pricing Academy and gain the knowledge to start charging what you are worth.

The end of the year is here and although this year was a bust we can start to look toward brighter days ahead. The 3 tips above will help you to start planning for financial success in your business for the year ahead.

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Welcome To The Month Of December

Welcome to the month of December.

I love this month with all the festivities that take place. Of course this year will be a bit different but it is still a great time of year. It is also a good time to stop and take stock of what you accomplished this year. I am sure that there were many obstacles to overcome but despite that you were able to continue to move forward. It is also a good time to start planning for next year. That will be the focus of this months’ blog posts - how to plan for success in different areas of your business.

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Happy Day Of Being Thankful!

Today is one of my favorite holidays of the year: Thanksgiving!

This year it looks different for sure and we have all experienced all the changes this year has thrown at us. We are united in our collective sigh that this year has caused us to have. As we take time to pause and enjoy this holiday with our families via Zoom or in-person think about what you are truly thankful for? There are many things we can focus on that will cause us to become grim and depressed BUT we get to choose what we focus on. If we take a moment to pause and reflect there will be many things we can list that we can be thankful for. Here are a few things that came to mind for me:

A warm and safe home

Good food to eat

The internet & technology

My business

My clients

A safe economical car to drive

Good health

My family & friends

My faith

The list could go on & on!

This year has been the year of collective rapid change and we have all been affected. Today is about pressing pause on this year and shifting the focus to all the good things that we can be thankful for in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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