Are you struggling to keep up with your finances? Do you have a hard time paying your bills on time and holding yourself accountable to a budget? Keep reading to find out the 3 ways to save money in your business and turn your vision into profits.
1 | Get An Accounting System
An accounting system like QuickBooks Online will help you keep track of your income and expenses, invoice and collect payments from your customers faster, and track your receipts on the go from your computer or mobile device.
One way to stay on top of your income and expenses is by entering all of the information into QuickBooks Online as soon as you receive them and schedule weekly reports to be emailed to you from the system.
Another way to use QuickBooks Online on the go is to take a picture of your receipt and attach it to an expense or check inside the mobile app. This saves you time from having to organize your box of receipts at the end of the year.
Using QuickBooks Online on a computer, you can schedule your accounts payable aging report that shows the list of upcoming bills to be paid to be emailed to you every week.
2 | Automate, Automate, Automate
The best way to stay on top of your finances and save money is to automate the process. Find a cool app like Hubdoc that will retrieve all of your bills, invoices, and bank statements into one document storage system for easy access and cut down the data entry process.
If you don't want to use a cloud app, set up email alerts in all of your accounts to remind you of when a bill is due and when your bank statements are ready for you to review.
Setting up email and mobile alerts and reminders will help you avoid late fees and lost letters in the mail issues.
“Bonus Tip: Schedule all of your bills to have the same due date and add a reminder on your calendar one week before the due date to review the bills for any issues. ”
3 | Create a Budget and Stick To It!
A budget will help you determine if you have a healthy spending habit. When I work with a client in creating a budget, we talk about all the plans for the year, determine what the target profit should be assigned to each plan. We then break down each large plan into smaller achievable goals to help the client stay on track throughout the year.
During this process, we offer ways to increase revenue and eliminate non-revenue generating products or services that do not add any value to the client's bottom line profit.
We also assign amounts to all the expenses such as payroll, overhead, building rent, and insurance with at least 10%-20% cushion built into the budget to cover unexpected charges in order to reach the target profit goal.
Once the budget is created, I help the client be accountable to the numbers by providing them with monthly financial reports showing the actual income and expenses compared to budgeted income and expenses. I also include highlighted areas of issues and success to help the client stay on track.
Summary
The budget process definitely requires dedication and commitment to maintain a healthy gross profit and increase cash flow.
Implementing the above 3 ways will help you generate sustainable long-term profits to achieve your business goals. Contact us if you need cash flow forecasting assistance.
