small business bank account Archives - Solopreneur Profit Coach |

Three Important Financial First Steps to Starting a Business
Gallery
Three Important Financial First Steps to Starting a Business

Banking, Profit First, Small Business, solopreneurs

Three Important Financial First Steps to Starting a Business

3 First Steps to Starting a Business: At Peace With Money

There are plenty of money myths to avoid when starting a business, but what are the right financial steps to take when starting out? It’s an important question to answer as you embark on your business beginnings! Today I’m sharing with you three important financial first steps to starting a business.

Save Up

Especially if you’re planning to quit your day job or make your business your primary income stream, it’s important to establish a savings cushion. Start with enough savings in the bank to keep you and your business afloat for 3-6 months. The time period you aim for is dependent on your comfort level with developing your business into a healthy income stream. Even if you’re planning to start your business as a side hustle, saving can be helpful. It may enable you to work less hours for your other income sources, or give you a little start up cash for initial business expenses.

Speaking of business expenses, keep them low. Don’t fall victim to the “you have to spend money to make money” myth. The lower you keep your business expenses, the closer you get to creating a supportive and financially sustainable business.

Know Your Why

Focus on your “money why” for starting your business. Like I discussed last week in my article on saving, having a purpose and a plan for the cash your business generates is very important! Have a plan for your Profit. What are you going to use it for?

Even if you’re starting a side hustle, have a purpose for that income. Avoid the urge to simply inflate your lifestyle. Knowing your “money why” will help keep you more focused on your business and make the profits feel more purposeful and rewarding.

Take it to the Bank

Open a bank account just for your business. Do some research on the best business banking options before you commit to an account. Taking advantage of a good banking offer can start your business off on the right foot!

3 First Steps to Starting a Business: At Peace With Money While you’re nailing down the banking details of your new business, make sure you also create a money system for yourself. Have a plan to pay off your expenses and also pay yourself. My recommendation, of course, is Profit First, which you can read more about here. If you’re considering starting a business, I highly recommend reading the first 5 chapters of the Profit First book, which you can download here on my site. If you find yourself intrigued, you can schedule a curiosity call with me to talk about Profit First and your business. You can also read my other articles on small businesses. A few that might be helpful are these ones on accounting for business expenses, invoicing your customers, and managing cash flow.

Wherever your business beginnings take you, I hope these three points help you take the first steps with confidence.

I first published this post over a year ago, but I thought August would be a good time to roll it out again, with our theme being transitions. If you have other business transition-related thoughts or questions, just let me know in the comments. I’d love to address them this month!

☮

Angela

Images: Brooke Lark

By Angela Keller|2019-08-24T22:11:59-07:00August 24th, 2019|Categories: Banking, Profit First, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: goals, how to, money why, Profit First, small business bank account, small business banking tips, small business motivation, small business tips, starting a business|0 Comments

Three Important Financial First Steps to Starting a Business

3 First Steps to Starting a Business: At Peace With Money

There are plenty of money myths to avoid when starting a business, but what are the right financial steps to take when starting out? It’s an important question to answer as you embark on your business beginnings! Today I’m sharing with you three important financial first steps to starting a business.

Save Up

Especially if you’re planning to quit your dayjob or make your business your primary income stream, it’s important to establish a savings cushion. Start with enough savings in the bank to keep you and your business afloat for 3-6 months. The time period you aim for is dependent on your comfort level with developing your business into a healthy income stream. Even if you’re planning to start your business as a side hustle, saving can be helpful. It may enable you to work less hours for your other income sources, or give you a little start up cash for initial business expenses.

Speaking of business expenses, keep them low. Don’t fall victim to the “you have to spend money to make money” myth. The lower you keep your business expenses, the closer you get to creating a supportive and financially sustainable business.

Know Your Why

Focus on your “money why” for starting your business. Like I discussed last week in my article on saving, having a purpose and a plan for the cash your business generates is very important! Have a plan for your Profit. What are you going to use it for?

Even if you’re starting a side hustle, have a purpose for that income. Avoid the urge to simply inflate your lifestyle. Knowing your “money why” will help keep you more focused on your business and make the profits feel more purposeful and rewarding.

Take it to the Bank

Open a bank account just for your business. Do some research on the best business banking options before you commit to an account. Taking advantage of a good banking offer can start your business off on the right foot!

3 First Steps to Starting a Business: At Peace With Money While you’re nailing down the banking details of your new business, make sure you also create a money system for yourself. Have a plan to pay off your expenses and also pay yourself. My recommendation, of course, is Profit First, which you can read more about here. If you’re considering starting a business, I highly recommend reading the first 5 chapters of the Profit First book, which you can download here on my site. If you find yourself intrigued, you can schedule a curiosity call with me to talk about Profit First and your business. You can also read my other articles on small businesses. A few that might be helpful are these ones on accounting for business expenses, invoicing your customers, and managing cash flow.

Wherever your business beginnings take you, I hope these three points help you take the first steps with confidence.

☮

Angela

Images: Brooke Lark

By Angela Keller|2018-06-03T23:56:12-07:00May 28th, 2018|Categories: Bookkeeping Business, Cash Flow, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: business beginnings, business planning, cash flow management, entrpreneur, financial planning, money priorities, Profit First, small business bank account, starting a business|0 Comments

5 Simple Steps to get Ready for Tax Time

As a small business owner, or let’s face it, just as an individual, tax time can be stressful. But there are ways to reduce that stress and be ready for tax time before you know it. As a former tax preparer and practicing bookkeeper, here are my top suggestions;

#1 – Designate a folder or box for all the mail that arrives regarding taxes. You don’t even have to open the envelopes just collect it all in your “spot”. Super simple!

#2 – If you are doing your banking online, you are probably getting email notifications that your tax statements are available. I like to flag these emails as they come in and then sit down when I have some time later in the week to go back through the emails, log in and download each statement from the bank. Save all of these to a file folder you’ll call 2017 Tax Documents.

#3 – If you are running a small business (and a side hustle does count), please, please, please tell me you have been running that business out of a bank account separate from your personal spending. If not, go open that separate account right now! If so, you can easily determine your income and expenses for the year by reviewing your bank statements. Better yet, if you are running your business on an accounting platform such as Quickbooks Online and you have updated and reconciled your accounts, those reports are right at your fingertips. I do suggest that you start this step in January just to give yourself plenty of time.

#4 – You should have received all of your tax mailings by mid-February. If your tax preparer is going to want everything in electronic form (or you just want to stay super organized) scan all of your paper statements and add them to your 2017 Tax Documents folder.

#5 – Grab a copy of last year’s tax return and review the entries you had last year. Or if you have a digital file from last year, compare the statements with the information you have for this year. This can jog your memory so you know you haven’t missed anything. The last thing you want is to have to file a corrected tax return because you left something out, so just take the time and make sure you’ve got all of your information.

You did it! You are ready for tax time! And if #3 is causing you to pull out your hair, maybe it’s time to talk to a professional to help you set up a system or to decide if you are ready for ongoing proactive bookkeeping. Come January of 2018, you’ll be glad you did!

☮

Angela

By Angela|2018-02-05T00:34:28-08:00February 4th, 2018|Categories: Taxes|Tags: bookkeeping, organize, personal spending, small business bank account, tax return|0 Comments