3 Ways to Fail At Business Bookkeeping (And What You Can Do to Succeed)

Here’s the harsh reality of doing what you love – you have to do the bookkeeping you absolutely hate. Ok, ok well I at least absolutely hate it. Now, if I’m honest with myself, I only hate it because I don’t keep on top of it all that well. All my fault, I know. I’ve never been a wiz at money or math, so the one aspect of starting my small business that terrified me was dealing with the IRS. It’s a fact of small business ownership that we have to live with. I’m still trying to deal with it, and I’ve found ways to fail and succeed in my own small business.

Ways To Fail

1. Don’t Save Receipts, Ever – Such a bad idea for any SBO (small business owner) to not keep track of receipts and invoices. These are the hard cold facts for your bookkeeping that back up your spreadsheets.

2. Never Keep Track of Your Income and Expenses - Or at least put off keeping track until you’ve got 3 months worth of income and expenses, and it’s too overwhelming to even try to figure it out.

3. Do Your Own Taxes – Yeah, unless you’ve got some awesome skills in business taxes, this is just a terrible idea for new business owners.

Now, how can you succeed at small business bookkeeping if even the government is nipping at your ankles?! It’s possible, it must be if so many small businesses still exist, and are prospering.

Ways To Succeed

1. Save Receipts – For business expenses, at least, save receipts  for your purchases, whether its prints for clients, or some cute baby props.

2. Track Your Mileage – Driving for photographers is like, well, driving. It’s a basic part of getting to jobs. And it also costs MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! We all know how expensive gas has been, and we cannot overlook the fact that it takes a good chunk of change to fill up that tank to get to where your going. So track your driving mileage – I’m still working on this, it’s not something that comes automatically – and all of your gas fill-up receipts.

3. Get An Accountant - My family uses an accountant who is also a small business owner, and so I’m using her as my business accountant  too. She knows all about starting up, and what it takes, so she’s a great at helping me understand all the small business taxes and laws.

4. Make Some Sort of Income/Expenses Spreadsheet – At Hallmark, we were taught all about Quickbooks Pro and how to manage expenses and income with the program… Do you think that in the last 4 months I’ve used Quickbooks to manage my income & expenses? … Negative. Because for me, all these “Accounts Payable” and Income-Cash on Hand” is just too much for me. I’ve been trying to get some sort of routine with my version of Quickbooks, but I’m failing. So, I’ve made a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel that has a sheet for income, a sheet for expenses, a sheet for mileage, ect. WAY easier. Granted, not as organized as Quickbooks. I can’t send out invoices from my spreadsheet like I can in Quickbooks, but for my own sanity, and my own bank account, it works. So, use whatever works for you – spreadsheets, Quickbooks, ect. and stick to it. Create a routine of hoarding all your receipts (income & expenses) and then at a certain point, whether it’s every 3rd Wednesday of the month, or every time your wallet cannot hold anything more, plug all of it into your desired form. You’ll thank you, your accountant (see above) will thank you, and the IRS will just refrain from auditing you!

 

Now, I just want you to know, that this list is MY list too. I’m just a Sole Proprietor, trying to keep my balance in the small business world of finances. And let me tell you, it’s a big world for anyone just starting out, especially starting out as an artist, photographer, photojournalist, ect. It’s not our second nature to love crunching numbers – but it’s got to be done so we can stay afloat!! I’ll keep posting about my own struggles with this topic, and what seems to be working for me in the near future.

Cheers! – H