Madison Brown, owner and CEO of Madison Dearly Bookkeeping, realizes that hiring a bookkeeper may not be as sexy as hiring a social media manager or copywriter. However, knowing your numbers may be one of the most important things to know to level up your business. Have you hired a bookkeeper for your small business yet? If you’re on the fence, this blog is for you!
When To Hire A Bookkeeper
Madison’s entrepreneurial career was sparked right after she had her second baby. She soon realized how challenging it was to balance both motherhood and working a 9-5 job, something you might be familiar with as well.
“When I came back from maternity leave, I was crying that whole first week,” Madison said. “And that’s when I realized this wasn’t what I wanted to be doing anymore.”
With a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting, Madison knew this area was her zone of genius. She loved what she did, but she wanted more flexibility in her work to be more present as a mom. That’s when her business, Madison Dearly Bookkeeping, was born.
What Exactly Is Bookkeeping?
Madison likes to break down what bookkeeping is in this fun reel she posted on Instagram. First, you add up all the money that comes into your business. Then, you add up all of the money that goes out, such as paying employees, subscriptions, etc.
Finally, what you’re left with is your profit. This profit is the money you will then use to pay yourself, make investments, and continue growing your business.
The Value of a Bookkeeper
Hiring a good bookkeeper can empower you as a business owner by allowing you to know your numbers and level up your business. When it’s time to hire a bookkeeper, you’re not just a freelancer anymore. You’re now the CEO of your business.
Here’s the thing – if you don’t know how much money you have to hire employees, a business coach, or join a mastermind, how are you going to confidently be able to do these things that are pivotal to the growth of your business? You might be putting yourself at risk for making poor business decisions without even knowing it.
You have to know if you can afford those things on a day-to-day basis because you don’t want to run your business on debt. A bookkeeper manages all of this information for you. Bookkeeping services can give you so much more clarity and freedom as a small business owner. Having a dependable bookkeeper can also allow you to focus more on your passion – your business! When you can focus more on your business, you can spend less time dealing with all of the financial details that you don’t love so much.
Another great reason for looking into professional bookkeeping is the dreaded tax season. Does filing your taxes give you anxiety? Do tax returns confuse you? You are certainly not alone in this! Taxes are important, and you don’t want to mess them up, personally or professionally. Hiring a bookkeeper to help you with your business’s taxes could be a major win for keeping your business in motion.
Starting Point with Bookkeeping
If you’re not quite ready to hire an experienced bookkeeper but want to get to know your numbers for your business, Madison has a few tips for you before you go all in.
Her first suggestion to get you more organized is to open a separate bank account for your business’s financial records. Opening a separate bank account for your business makes it much easier to see financial information such as expenses and profits solely for your business. When your business has its own bank account, it’s much easier to keep everything streamlined and organized, and you clean up the mess of mixing personal and business information.
Madison’s second suggestion for you is to consider investing in bookkeeping software for your business. Personally, Madison prefers the program Xero. Xero is only $12 a month, and it’s way less expensive than a program such as Quickbooks. She explains that this accounting software is very simple to understand, too.
You can link your business bank account and financial data to your Xero account. Once you link your business bank account to your Xero account, you can begin to categorize everything to keep all of your expenses organized. Once you do this, you’ll be able to start generating profit and loss reports, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for your business. Setting up bookkeeping software on your own can certainly take some time and effort, but once you do it, you’ll be amazed at how helpful it is to see everything in one spot!
Tool to Take Time Away from Your Business
When you own your own business, it can be hard to prepare for real time away for things like maternity leave or an extended vacation. When it comes to taking time off, you want to have a plan in place. If you have a plan, you’ll be more likely to actually take the time you need off, and not stress about it the whole time you’re away. Because it is truly time off if you’re spending all of your time worrying?
Madison has two tips to prepare for time away from your business.
The first tip she shared is to increase your profitability beforehand. Whether that’s through booking more clients or selling digital products, your ultimate goal is to increase sales. This might take some creativity on your part, but lean into it! Come up with some new ways to generate profit before you take time away, and when you come back, you may be able to keep some of these ideas in place.
Madison’s second tip is to beef up your cash reserves before taking time away. Once your profits start going up, you can stockpile your cash reserves. This Is money that you can lean on when you want to take that time. Doing this for your business will be setting yourself up for success. You will also be less likely to worry while you’re out so that you can enjoy your time away, whatever the reason may be.
Not sure how to get started when it comes to tracking your increased profits and cash reserves? Good news! Madison created a spreadsheet that does all of these calculations for you. It’s like she knew you would ask.
Here’s what you input into the spreadsheet:
- Amount of time you want to take off
- Amount of time you have before you want to take the time off
- Profit and loss numbers
Once you have all of that plugged into the spreadsheet, you will see a clear monthly goal that you need to save every month to hit the goal of taking the time off without ever having to think about anything else.
You can connect with Madison by visiting her website or checking out her Instagram. If you’re interested in connecting with Madison directly, you can book a call with her here.
Find the Maternity Leave Spreadsheet HERE.
Was this post helpful in helping you decide when to hire a bookkeeper? We hope so!
