Archives for 2014

9 Reasons Your Accountant May Be About to Fire You

August 21, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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You're Fired

I am going to show you how, without possibly even realising it, you could actually be the reason you don’t have a better relationship with your accountant.

I am going to give you a little reality check, so you can decide whether it is your accountant you need to change or your attitude.

To download the audio file to your computer, please right click on this link and choose save link as, or save target as, depending on your browser.

If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio or video, we have provided the full transcript further down the page for you.

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Transcript

If you watched my video “Is it Time to Fire Your Accountant?” I gave you some red flags to be aware of so you can move on with a clear conscience.

If you haven’t seen that one, make sure you do.

In this one I am going to show you how, without possibly even realising it, you could actually be the reason you don’t have a better relationship with your accountant.

Coming up, I am going to give you 9 tips you can use to decide whether it is time to change accountant.

Today I am going to give you a little reality check, so you can decide whether it is your accountant you need to change or your attitude.

How many times have we been dissatisfied with a supplier or service? Replaced them with another supplier and then in no time found we are dealing with the very same issues that caused you to change suppliers the last time.

Maybe the problems did not begin and end with the supplier. Because most people are professional, they are loathe to call us out on our crap, so we can continue on oblivious to the consequences of our actions.

Changing providers even for the better is a hassle, so if you have an opportunity to resolve, why not take it.

Some things to watch out for are:

1. Your accountant has to remind you over and over to provide your paperwork. And when you do, it is at the last minute and then there is a mad panic to meet tax or compliance deadlines.

2. You don’t do or have any proper bookkeeping or record keeping system so the accountant has to start from scratch or unravel a tangled unfinished mess.

3. You contact your accountant at all hours of the day and night and expect an immediate response.

4. You try and get services or advice over and above the initial agreement for free. If you catch yourself starting conversations or emails with the words “Just a quickie…” “Or I hope you don’t mind…”, check how often you do it. Are you taking the ……

5. You rarely pay your fees on time, even though you mean to. Maybe you need an instalment plan.

6. You have successfully negotiated a lower fee but still want to receive higher fee service.

7. Deep down you resent or don’t value accounting fees anyway so no matter who your accountant is, they have their work cut out trying to impress you.

8. You don’t follow advice, but still complain or stress that things are not working out.

9. You keep changing accountants and it is always “their fault”.

You can hold your head up now; lightning is not going to strike you where you sit.

I just wanted to highlight that there are 2 sides to every coin and it does us no harm to check our own perception, expectations and behaviour from time to time.

You are just caught up in your world, just like the rest of us.

Plus being an entrepreneur is no walk in the park, it is hard work.

If you recognised yourself in any of those, don’t despair, you are not a bad person.

Just promise me the next time you catch yourself cursing out your accountant; even if it is just in your head.

Maybe stop, count to ten and think about how you may be contributing to the situation.

And in the words of Dizzy Rascal “Fix Up, Look Sharp”

Is it Time to Fire Your Accountant?

August 21, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Fire Your Accountant

How do you know you are getting a good service from your accountant? If you are not happy with your current accountant:

Are you right about them? Are you misinformed? Or are you just plain picky.

Well I am going to give you 9 tips you can use to decide whether it is time to change accountant.

To download the audio file to your computer, please right click on this link and choose save link as, or save target as, depending on your browser.

If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio or video, we have provided the full transcript further down the page for you.

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Transcript

How do you know you are getting a good service from your accountant? If you are not happy with your current accountant:

Are you right about them? Are you misinformed? Or are you just plain picky.

Coming up, I am going to give you 9 tips you can use to decide whether it is time to change accountant.

There are some amazing accountants and accountancy firms out there, but they are not all created equal. Forget whether they are experts in tax, or compliance or any other service for that matter.

What you need also need to be looking at is how they interact with you. Business person to business person.

Be aware that even if your accountant messes up, the buck still stops with you. So if your accountant files your returns late or there is later found to be an inaccuracy. It is you who are legally responsible. And any financial penalties or fines have to be paid by you, not them.

“It’s not my fault”

Just won’t wash with the authorities.

So you can’t afford to be complacent about the service you are getting.

But it is not just the practical things that should be red flags, there are more subtle things which you are probably aware of on some level; but do not feel are serious enough to make a fuss about.

See if any of these apply to you:

1. Your accounts, tax returns, benefit declarations etc are filed late despite the fact your accountant had everything they asked for ages ago.

(Though if you are the give information at the last minute in a shoebox person, then my friend, you only have yourself to blame).

2. You deal with different people each time, who have to familiarise themselves with your business before you can move on, so causing a delay in getting your questions answered.

3. If you deal with one particular accountant, they ask you the same questions again and again, showing they clearly are not interested in your business besides doing the paperwork.

4. You are charged on an hourly basis.

In a world where value for money is more important than ever, hourly rates promote inefficiency. Why should slower service cost you more?

5. You are quoted a fee for the year but you get additional bills that you were not expecting. So you avoid asking for help; in case it ends up costing you more money.

6. Your accountant doesn’t explain what your numbers mean in a language you understand.

And closely related

7. Your accountant makes you feel stupid.

8. If you do find yourself in hot water with the tax office your accountant doesn’t have your back and leaves you to it.

9. They are unaware or are unwilling to explore of new trends in business that could improve quality & efficiency e.g. cloud technology, virtual services. – This one is very common in the finance industry.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. You can probably come up with others that I haven’t mentioned here. I am just using the most common complaints that I get from the hundreds of businesses that I have dealt with over the years.

So if after that you think “You know what, I am getting a raw deal here”, do something about it. Even if it is just tactfully bringing any concerns you have to your accountant’s attention.

It could be that it is you who is actually not being a good client.

WHAT?!!

Go watch my video 9 Reasons Your Accountant May be About to Fire You……..If you dare

2 Vital Financial Tasks Business Owners Love to Ignore

August 18, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio; we have provided the full transcript further down the page for you.

Business owners are Jacks and Jill’s of all trades, especially in the start-up phase. Budget? Forget it, start-ups don’t have cash to spare. That being said, there are two main financial scenarios most business owners tend to ignore.

Insurance

It won’t happen to you…until it does. If I asked you what is the largest business asset you will ever own, what would you answer be?

Your office building?

Your employees?

Your retirement account?

All of those answers would be incorrect.

The biggest asset your business will ever own is the ability to earn income. Much of that income potential rests firmly on the shoulders of the CEO or company founders. Protecting that fact is easily ignored. Three main ways a business’s biggest asset can be threatened?

Disability or death of a key employee.
Lawsuit or legal liability.
Natural disaster.

An entire blog post could be written on each bullet above, but the main idea is pick up your phone and call an expert to explore what types of insurance policies your business should have in place.

Bookkeeping

As a savvy entrepreneur, you have better things to do than bookkeeping…or do you? Knowing when to spend, and how to save, is vital to company success. Sometimes new business owners simply do not know – what they do not know. Business tax laws are complex and highly specialized. It is such an easy thing for a business owner to ignore. A trusted tax advisor is the key to company tax strategy. Compiling business income and expenses into measurable categories allows accounting professionals to give recommendations for growth. The entrepreneur is responsible for translating those recommendations. The best news is bookkeeping delivery is changing and the following delivery modes may fit your business best:

Traditional face-to-face help: Let’s admit it; sitting down with a “numbers person” can be comforting. However, entrepreneurs are willing to pay for that comfort. Start-ups however must minimize first year expenses or risk failing. Professional face-to-face consultations can be costly and threatening to precious cash. Living the life of a lean start-up means innovation, not tradition. Many accounting professionals now offer online services to stay competitive. Technological strides enable entrepreneurs to push the boundaries of tradition and save.

Freelance bookkeepers: Freelance bookkeeping experts can be virtual or local, but both options are less costly than traditional bricks-n-mortar accounting firms.

The rise of freelance bookkeeping talent is cost-effective and efficient. Freelance accounting help is 80%* cheaper than traditional face-to-face help. Cost set aside, freelancers are also far more productive and can be located globally. A freelancer can be working while the business owner sleeps. National freelance websites allow entrepreneurs to capitalise on expertise not found locally.

Software programs: QuickBooks and Sage (in the UK) have traditionally been the the most well-known option for business owners. Other options include Xero, FreeAgent and FreshBooks.

Kashoo, Mint.com and PayPal also offer extensive transaction reporting free of charge.

DIY accounting software is difficult to use. Entrepreneurs need every bit of cash, but making sure bookkeeping software is properly utilized is vital.

As an entrepreneur, you owe it to your success and the success of your company to stay proactive. Admitting you procrastinate in certain financial areas is the key step to fixing the problem. Don’t go it alone, seek the help of a qualified professionals to make sure you have covered all your bases.

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Resources and Items Mentioned

Xero
FreeAgent
QuickBooks
Sage
FreshBooks
Mint.com
PayPal

Why Listening to Your Accountant Could Send You Broke

August 12, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Why Listening to your accountant

I’m going to share with you a very common piece of advice ironically given by the more proactive accountants that may seem great from a tax point of view, but can totally mess up your cashflow.

To download the audio file to your computer, please right click on this link and choose save link as, or save target as, depending on your browser.

If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio or video, we have provided the full transcript further down the page for you.

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Transcript

Today I am going to share with you how a very common piece of advice often given by accountants (ironically the proactive ones) which makes complete sense from a tax point of view can totally mess up your cash flow in the short term.

Oh boy am I going piss off a few accountants today?!

Yes your advisors are the professionals, but it is you work in your busy on a daily basis, so you will always know things about what is going on that they don’t.

Your accountant may be giving you advice that is based on your past performance, but have no idea what is happening going forward and create a financial problem you can avoid.

So what is this piece of advice you should be wary of? Allow me to demonstrate.

Accountant – “I have looked at your figures so far and you are making a lot more profit than expected”

Client – “That’s good isn’t it?

Accountant – “Yes that’s great. The only thing is that means you have quite a bit of tax to pay”

Client – “Oh no, I want to keep the tax bill down, what can I do?”

Accountant – “Well luckily you have not reached the end of your financial year yet so you have time. I would suggest you spend some money before then to reduce your profit.”

Now you may be asking why on earth that would be a problem.

And you would be right.

After all to get this advice in the first place would indicate 2 very positive things:

1. You have a proactive accountant who doesn’t wait until your financial year has passed to tell you what you should have or could have done.

2. The less tax you have to pay the better.

Well yes, but I have seen people spend ten grand on a piece of equipment to avoid paying two grand in tax. This is a very simplistic example just to make a point so don’t get hung up on the actual amounts.

Now while this may actually reduce your tax bill, depending on what method you use to buy the item, it may also reduce your available cash.

Don’t even get me started on the implications of going down the credit route.

Now if your business is:

flush with cash and the expenditure doesn’t affect your day to day money requirements
or the item you are buying is something you really do need and would have bought anyway
or it is something that will help you make more money

Then what the hell, spend away.

But if spending the money will affect your ability to cover your day to day running costs then it is a different story altogether.

The basis of the advice is based on what your advisor gets from your profit and loss report.

A profit and loss report may show you how much profit you make but it does not show you your cash position.

It does not tell you how much of the money you made has actually been received by you
It does not show you how much of it you are unlikely to receive due to bad debt clients
And whether you have enough money on an ongoing basis that can comfortably cover your normal expenses let alone any additional purchases.

Some of this your accountant can determine from your balance sheet but that is still only a snapshot in time.

Historical time at that.

So to use my oversimplified example:

You spend ten grand on a vehicle or piece of equipment and yeah you slash your tax by two grand. But you are still eight grand down in your cash at bank for an item you may not actually need or want.

Now I know as a matter of principle you may well resent giving the two grand to the revenue, but personally I would rather do that and keep my other eight grand in the bank.

So FESS UP or MESS Up lesson for today.

“Don’t prioritise avoiding tax over saving money”

I am About to Lose a Massive Deal because of my Accounts

June 25, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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About to lose a massive deal because of accounts

Are you the type of person who sells like Brian Tracy but tracks your money like Enron?

Well, I’ve got a true story about a client that you might want to hear.

Let’s just call him Kevin….

To download the audio file to your computer, please right click on this link and choose save link as, or save target as, depending on your browser.

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Have a pressing issue with your business finances? Click here for help

You Don’t Need Willpower in Your Business, You Need a Cut Man

June 13, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Don't need willpower, need a cut man

To download the audio file to your computer, please right click on this link and choose save link as, or save target as, depending on your browser. If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio or video, we have provided the full transcript below.

Why is it that no matter how important or life transforming it would be to change a behaviour or to follow through on a promise to ourselves; why is it so easy to sabotage everything we have worked for or that we dream about?

Over and over again.

So often, before I can truly help someone make a shift in how they set up their accounts or finances, I find myself fascinated by the obstacles that they throw up for not wanting to do even the simplest of tasks.

In the early days, in my naive self I thought that as long as I shared what I knew with someone, that person would be able to move forward. I was innocent enough to think that as long as I was giving knowledge, that was the key. They already had the willpower right? After all they had come to me, not the other way around. So that meant they were ready to get to work.

I quickly learned that is not so. Unless the motivation or the fear is identified, all the knowledge in the world will not make any difference.

My journey of up and down finances and up and down weight had nothing to do with my lack of knowledge. I am trained in accounts, and I can tell you the calorific composition and fat content of most foods from the top of my head. That is how much of a food nerd I was.

I was a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno when they were still bodybuilders and the general public had no idea who they were. Yet it didn’t stop me making poor health choices, and trusting my finances to people who were obviously not right to advise me, and told me what I wanted to hear. That allowed me to avoid what was hard, painful and confusing.

Every time I put on a few pounds I would read more, join another group or buy another DVD.

When all I had to do was commit to making small manageable changes. Then do them over and over again until I did them despite how I felt or what had happened that day. I also hadn’t learned that to do that is easier when you have someone in your corner. No matter how good a boxer you may be, you need a cut man in your corner to patch you up. The person to tell you that you can do it, and to give you some quick tips to get you back on track so that you can go back out into the ring again feeling confident.

The problem is that the fear of feeling foolish can get in the way of even finding someone like that although you know you need them.

The subject of money and weight brings out the evasive side of us. How many times have you been asked a direct question like “How much do you earn?” or “How much do you weigh?” and given answers with lots of words but no numbers?
Practical questions met with emotional responses.

Then you feel silly and inadequate and silently vow to get yourself sorted out. Willpower goes into overdrive, you feel revitalised and then slowly but surely, you slip back into the old pattern. With me a bad day would send me running for scones with cream and jam. Just the one, I would say and then I will start again tomorrow. But then tomorrow would come and I felt so annoyed with myself for the slip up the day before, I would have a cheesecake to make myself feel better.

I knew that one cheesecake or scone wouldn’t pile the weight back just like that so I have time to get my willpower back in gear. Then 6 months later when I can only fit into one third of my clothes, it would dawn on me that I left it a little late. Things only really began to improve when I stopped trying to do it all on my own; with only willpower and information overload as my support team.

How does this play out with business money?

Picture the business owner stung by late penalty charges. He or she vows to be on time with their business taxes and pay them on time next year. That is willpower at play.

Now picture the business owner stung by late penalty charges who hires a bookkeeper so they don’t have the same mad rush at the end of the year. Now that is putting a cut man in the corner of the ring.

Someone that deals with the cut while it is fresh, while there is still a chance of winning the bout.

There may well be some people in this world who are so self-motivated, self-disciplined, do not suffer doubt, rarely procrastinate, and are able to keep their emotions out of all business decisions. If this sounds like you, you are truly a rare breed.

If not, then understand that as talented as you are, ambitious, determined and knowledgeable as you may be, you will slip up or slip back.

You will lose momentum and heart, because willpower tends to run out before we hit our goals. But that is because you are human, not to mention any other personal issues you may be dealing with at any given time.

It is quicker to build in mechanisms than to change a pattern. The trick is to have those mechanisms in place to keep you on track as you work on yourself or your situation. For me, it was Weight Watchers for 5 months; when it came to business, I joined BNI for a year, because both held me accountable when I needed it. Knowing that others had an expectation of me and that I could share issues speeded up my “transformation”.

It was tough but I wasn’t alone.

Fess up time

What are you dealing with alone right now?

What are you beating yourself up about that comes back to wind you up time and time again?

Are you avoiding asking for help because you feel asking for assistance would be an admission of inadequacy or failure?

What’s your story of financial willpower? Leave a comment below.

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Are You Still Running Your Business Through Your Personal Bank Account?

June 12, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Are you running business thru personal bank account

Do you use your personal account for business? Is it a good idea? Is it even legal?

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If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio or video, we have provided the full transcript further down the page for you.

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Open a business account in less than fifteen minutes right here

Transcript

It may seem simpler to use your personal account for your business, particularly when starting out.

But with the tax office always looking for ways to uncover irregularities in small businesses, there are definite pros and cons.

It is not a legal requirement to have a business bank account if you are a sole trader/self-employed or in a partnership. But it is if you are a limited company. So if you are a limited company, get it sorted.

I know there are sometimes reasons that make this difficult. If you have had previous credit problems for example, it may be difficult to open any current account let alone a business one but as your circumstances improve I would strongly advise it you to open one as soon as possible.

If you are a partnership, even though you are a collection of two or more sole traders, the fact that there is more than one of you means that the personal bank account thing is just too messy. Imagine separate accounts for each partner and trying to amalgamate them into one set of partnership accounts. Nightmare!

Banks do not want you to use your personal account for business because they are structured to cater to the two different types of account holder. And most importantly if you use your personal account for business, they make less money out of you because there are usually no fees attached to personal bank accounts for standard transactional use.

You may view this as a major advantage, which I agree; it is. But there are some real disadvantages that may outweigh them.

Once you use your personal account as part of your business dealings, if you ever had a tax inspection you have opened the door to your personal affairs for the tax office to walk through and scrutinise more than you bargained for. Inspections are limited to the boundaries of your business dealings. But if you bring your personal bank into the equation you stretch those boundaries and then they are all over you.

Unless that is – you have been scrupulous about keeping your business money completely separate from your personal money.

If you are using a personal bank account but every transaction on it relates exclusively to your business, and you can verify that with supporting paperwork then great.

But all too often I have seen accounts where this is the case (most of the time) and then random purchases for personal items pop up here and there.

Like the monthly car payments, which you have left as they are, because it would be too much hassle to move to another account.

Though to be fair; this happens just as often with business accounts too.

The difference is that with a business account items are regarded as business related first unless shown to be otherwise or are unknown. While with a personal account the opposite is true.

Come tax time you will have to separate your business income and expenses from your personal transactions. Not only will it take unnecessary time, it can cost you more in accounting fees because you are giving your accountant extra work.

I have even had clients who signed up for one of my bookkeeping packages that could have been paying much less. We would spend so much time dealing with lots of entries that were not business related, but because they appeared on the bank statement we had to account for them. So apart from the increase in price, they were paying for transactions that they could not even claim for so they were hit by a double whammy.

So to recap:

A) If you are a limited company and you don’t have a business account. Open one.

The money in the account belongs to your company not to you. Even if you and the company have the same name you are treated as separate entities.

B) If you are a sole trader of member of a partnership; the legalities are not as cut and dried as with limited companies but business is tough enough without making it complicated so I urge you to do one of two things:

I. If you are going to continue to use a personal account, don’t mix business money with personal money and use the account exclusively for business dealings. Have a separate personal account for your private affairs.

II. Better still, open a business bank account and be done with it. It will also make you appear to be a more credible business rather than someone who has a hobby that you make a bit of money from.

5 Tell-tale Signs You are Bored with Your Business

June 2, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Overworked business people

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If you would rather read while you listen or you prefer to just read without the audio, we have provided the full transcript further down the page for you.

Are you bored with your business? Not sure? Here are 5 tell-tale signs to look out for.

Your Business Keeps Losing Big Contracts or Customers

It is a big blow for a business to lose a big contract or customer that brings good revenue to the firm. Although many factors can lead to a business losing a major source of revenue, a bored business owner can also play a role in that. Boredom can affect certain essential aspects of a business and even reduce the efforts made by the firm to keep clients happy.

Late Payments from Clients

When a business does not receive prompt payment from clients, it will of course adversely affect the amount of available cash. What at first glance appears to be a financial problem can often be traced back to apathy at the top. Proper communication with clients should keep them on their toes when it comes to paying their bills. However a bored businessperson does not have the drive to ensure that clients are paying bills on time.

Lack of Connection with Employees

Even the best business can experience an unusually high turnover of staff in a short space of time. Major changes such as a change of location, change of management, economic forces for instance can force people to make decisions about their work life they may otherwise not have made. But it may go unnoticed if a business has a steady stream of people who decide to leave. Or outsourced providers who are not as interested in working with them as they initially were.

Showing an interest in staff members as well as keeping them interested in the firm is an ongoing process that requires commitment from the top. In a business that is not performing well; efforts to keep staff engaged are low priority. Albeit unintentionally. In an environment where people feel they are not valued, even money ceases to be enough of an incentive for them to stay.

Reduced Credit Line

It is easier for a business banker to notice that a company’s viability in line with credits is slowly dwindling even before the owners or directors realise themselves. An increase in bounced payments and an ever increasing overdraft requirement is a red flag to banks. Before the credit crunch it was easy to trundle along not worrying too much until it came time to renew your facility. To their horror, business was finding existing credit under scrutiny. Much the same way, personal credit card providers reduce your credit limit if they feel you are struggling. It has also seen the rise of alternatives to the mainstream banks to cater to those entrepreneurs who feel they are held to ransom by the big banks. Or who themselves have found their bank unsympathetic during the tough times.

Where boredom exists, so does attention to details such as trends in the business. Or worse, the owner is fully aware, but procrastinates about doing what is necessary and settles for just getting by. Finally only spurred into action when a financial crisis hits and they are forced to act.

Lack of Fun and Motivation

Boredom cannot exist where there is fun and motivation, unfortunately, the reverse is also true. When something goes wrong in a business based on fun, it is seen as a blip. Where the landscape is negative, the same situation takes on crisis status.

If the business owner is intentional about concentrating on what it is about the business that brings pleasure to him or her. That will eventually translate to their team and crucially to their customers.

When you talk about your business do people comment on how “energetic”, “excited”, “passionate” you are. Or words to that effect?

If yes, then that’s great, but if no, or not for a long time. Maybe a glass of wine and a one to one with yourself about what makes you happy about your business is long overdue.

Share with us: Have you ever been fed up of running your own business? How did you overcome it? You can leave a comment below.

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Alternative to Mainstream banks

image: ©Ambro freedigitalphotos.net

Does Your Money Move Too Fast for You to Keep Hold Of?

June 2, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Money and Time

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Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

Are You a Real Business or are You Messing About?

May 28, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Are you creating a real business? Are you ever likely to? Do you even care?

If you do; I will let you into a secret technique that I use when I meet potential clients; to decide what type of business I am dealing with.

So you will be able to answer this question for yourself about yourself.

One of the big issues that face small business people and entrepreneurs is transitioning from one stage in their business to another.

In the beginning it is hard to know where you are going to be 6 months from now, let alone in a few years. People believe that they need to be at a certain stage in their business before they have to “get serious”.

Most commonly based on how much money they need to be making first, or how many customers they must have, whether they have an office or staff.

The trouble comes when no plan is in place before these things happen and when you are ready to make the transition you realise that you the way you have set up your business won’t support it.

Depending on how you have structured things; it can mean the difference between dealing with some upheaval in your business that you navigate through(growing pains I guess).

Through to deciding that the leap to the next level is too great; so you will carry on as you are indefinitely. To ultimately becoming so disillusioned that you call it a day.

Ironically the decision to close the door is all too often not the decision of the entrepreneur; but due to weaknesses in the business that have exposed them to risks and cash flow problems.

The tax office for example is great at giving you the little push you need to turn out the lights.

Earlier I called it a secret.

It isn’t a secret in that only I know it. I just don’t discuss it in meetings or these days, Skype conversations. I sum it up in my head so that I know what type of business I am dealing with and to some degree what type of personality; so that I can keep the conversation to things they really need to know rather than what I want to tell them.

Businesses come in many forms; but to keep things simple; I work on a basis that there are 3 types of businesses that I come across each and every day.

The first one is what I call a TVB.

A business of Tangible Value.

It is the one that is most likely to create the lifestyle you want. Its success is measured based on it currently being or having great potential to be:

Profitable
Grow
Have enough cash to meet it’s needs & then some

In his book “Built to Sell” John Warrillow describes such a business as having products or services that are:

Teachable
Repeatable
Valuable (to customers)
Scalable

Now note this doesn’t have to be a traditional bricks & mortar business. There are many entrepreneurs working from home offices or even the beach; who have managed to create them successfully.

Alas however TVBs are in the minority.

I work with many and they still have their challenges; they are just better placed to handle them when they occur.

So if you fit into this category. Well done. You got this part figured out.

With the other 2 types of business one or other of the success measures are lacking or erratic, usually it is lack of available cash on an ongoing basis.

So if you are not a TVB what are you?

You are either a Hobo Business or a Boho Business

So what is a Hobo business?

You probably guessed it. It is a business that is really a hobby. Now the challenging thing when I deal with Hobo businesses is that the owner does not see it that way.

But certain characteristic point that way. Some examples are:

Business is based on the skill or knowledge of the owner. If they don’t do the “thing” nobody gets paid.
They do everything themselves – they value saving money over saving time. Cost is the overriding factor in decision making.
Passion about what they do eclipses their desire to be profitable. They want to make money but rely on just working harder.
Fast forward five years and odds are very little will have changed.

What is a Boho Business?

It’s like a teenager that is struggling to grow into adulthood. It has all the hallmarks of a TVB but insists on still doing many things like a Hobo business.

These businesses may still be based on the skill or knowledge of the owner but they outsource or use casual staff so everything is not so reliant on them. But only for just in time projects.

Still lean towards doing most things themselves. Understand the value of leveraging their time but don’t really want to spend the money.
They buy technology & software to avoid paying for outside help, but end up abandoning them because they are too busy to learn anything new; or use them consistently.
They are passionate about what they do but see themselves as more than just a doer. Feel frustrated because they believe they are not able to fulfil their true potential.
Too busy to be a Hobo but not enough available money to be a TVB.

Now while I deal with all 3 types, Boho businesses are the ones that I can add most value to, because they usually have the money making part figured out. It is knowing what is happening with the money when it comes in that is causing them stress.

They are often the ones that are getting to or hit six figures in revenue but are no better off than before.

So ask yourself the question

Am I a Hobo or Boho entrepreneur?

Do What is Right For You but Beware

Regardless of what business category you fit into. The most important thing is that you are true to yourself. Where you are headed is where you will be happy and fulfilled.

If for example you are a parent and you merely want a way to earn so you can be home for the school run; then that is what is right for you.

But if you want to step things up when the children get older; be careful that you are not sabotaging yourself from the outset.

If you can be on top of your money regularly from day one, when you get busier you will already be positioned to monitor your progress and not be panicking because all you have is an out of date spreadsheet.

I go into much greater depth on this subject in my book Firmer Figures Fess Up or Mess Up. Go to my site and grab a copy.

www.firmerfiguresbook.com

The Number One Reason Entrepreneurs are in the Dark About Their Finances

April 8, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Are you one of those entrepreneurs or independent business owners who does everything you need to do to keep your business going?

You market well, you take care of your customers, and you handle your money or so you feel. Because every time someone asks you a question about your finances, it’s guaranteed it will be the one question that you can’t answer! Why is that?

You’re here probably because you do get asked questions, or you ask yourself questions about your finances where you just don’t have a clue not only how to answer them, but sometimes even where to look for the answer.

Well in my day to day business, I’m always asked various questions whether they be general financial questions, or questions specific to that particular client’s needs.

So just this week, I’ve been asked these questions already and it’s only Tuesday!

“I need to take X amount of money from the business to live on. Can I afford it?”

“This is how much sales I’m making at the moment. How much tax will I pay at the end of the year?”

“I keep putting money into the business; when will I be able to take it back out again?”

“We want to move into new premises, so I want to know if there’s going to be enough money to pay the rent?”

“Should I register for VAT?”

“When moving abroad, should we incorporate in the country we are moving to, or should we still keep the business as UK based?”

And the last one, which is my favourite and I get asked this every week:

“How come if I’m making all these sales, money is still tight?”.

In fact a few months ago, I got this little message through Facebook and the question was:

“Am I a six figure business yet?” and I replied “Yes, you really are.”

Now a few things are apparent. First of all, questions are asked in a financial form but they are really quite personal, or about the business as a whole. And even though these questions all seem quite different; I realised that the answer that I gave to pretty much all of them was the same.

In fact, it’s not even an answer; it’s actually a question that I was going to give to all of them:

“How up to date is your bookkeeping?” or “How recent are your accounts?”

And the answers that I was getting were things like:

“We’ve done nothing since the accountant did them however many months ago.”
“We’re fairly up to date but there’s some stuff missing.”
“Nothing at all. I haven’t even got bookkeeping or accounts.”

This is the number one reason why you usually find that you can’t answer the fundamental financial questions about your business that you need to know in order to make the bigger decisions.

The reality is that I could guess a lot of these questions. Because people think that I know about these things, they think that I’m able to just figure out the answer. I don’t figure out anything, I use facts. And the facts come from the data that we take from your business.

So if you don’t have the data, you don’t have the answer.

You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? Get your data, bookkeeping, accounts – whatever you want to call it – up to date! You don’t want to be working any more than a month in arrears because that is how quickly you need to know where you are to turn things around.

I’ve got a client who went through a rough time recently simply because they thought things were worse than they were, and when we brought them up to date, we saw that actually it wasn’t all that bad.

So bear with me on this one. Do what you need to do. It will pay off in the end.

Why Accounting Software is such a Disappointment

April 8, 2014 by Georgette Rowland Osborne

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Transcript

If you know me, you will know that I groan when people tell me they are doing their accounts using a spreadsheet. But the truth is; I have to admit there is a case for staying well away from accounts packages.

Want to know why? Stick around I’ll tell you in a second.

If you’re here, I’m guessing you are considering or have invested in accounting software and maybe it hasn’t been as plain sailing as you had hoped.

Well there is a perfectly logical reason for that.

Hopefully this will save you time, or money or stress or all 3.

Let’s say you fancy yourself as a bit of a musician. Let’s go with drummer.

Even if drums don’t interest you stay with me, I promise you will get this.

So the drummers amongst you, just you love to create rhythms on anything you can get your hands on. Sticks in hand you tap on table tops, pans, whatever. But you are fed up with playing at it and decide you are going to do it properly and so you go and buy yourself a drum kit.

Now imagine this state of the art drum kit arrives. You walk around it so you can see it from every angle. You pick up the sticks and tap the cymbals. You touch of the skin and then you sit down and pick up the sticks. This is it. You are on the way to being the next Ringo Starr. There is a Grammy award with your name on it.

You bring the down the sticks and start creating percussion poetry. Now you are playing ok but that’s it, just ok. You go again and to your horror it suddenly hits you. You don’t really know how to play the drums.

What an anti-climax. Even worse; you parted with money. Now the thing is here; you not only don’t have the skills to play it properly, it is going to take a while to learn it and even then you cannot guarantee ever getting beyond so-so level.

That is what happens to most people when they decide to go for it and buy accounting or bookkeeping software. Once it is installed & they go through the bits they know or thought they knew. Much like the wannabe drummer they get stuck. They have just enough knowledge to make noise, but not enough to make music.

But because the software marketing blurb has told them that buying the software will solve their bookkeeping issues they push on, get demotivated, dump it and slowly but surely go back to the financial equivalent of tapping a table top…… the spreadsheet or pen & paper.

If this has happened to you, don’t blame yourself.

If I gave you Jaime Oliver’s simplest recipe and all of his kitchen tools, you still wouldn’t create the dish the way he does. And you wouldn’t expect to. He took him years to build up wealth of experience and techniques that he has. No recipe or set of pans is a substitute for that.

The same thing applies with accounting software. Even the “easy to use ones” are only easy if you know what you are doing.

So if this has been your experience. Give yourself a break.

Accept that it will take time to get good at using it or better still get someone who is good at it to do it for you.

Not only will it be one less thing on your regular to do list. You might find time to do something you really want to do with the freed up time.

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