Brian 
Real estate can be an amazing wealth building tool, but it has a lot of challenges and easy traps for beginners to fall into. Fortunately, they are mostly avoidable if you are careful. I work in property management in addition to being a bookkeeper. The following is exactly what we do, including our actual screening … Read more
This is a highly underappreciated concept and I see a lot of small businesses do themselves a lot of harm by not managing expectations properly. They want the sale so they promise the sun and the moon and end up being the reason they disappointed their own clients. It’s much better to under-promise and overdeliver. … Read more
A sunk cost is money that you’ve already spent that you can’t get back no matter what. Many people will continue spending money on something or moving forward with a project or idea simply because they’ve already put so much money, time, and effort into it. The reality is that the sunk cost is done, … Read more
This is a very common and extremely damaging trait for a small business owner. I have seen more than a few business owners who think they have to be right all the time. They think that if they accept someone else’s input that they’re not the genius business owner they think they need to be. … Read more
Of course this is a problem we’d all like to have, but I have seen some people do well enough that it can cause them to get sloppy. This is most likely to happen when you make enough money that you don’t feel the pain of being sloppy with other things. For example, letting your … Read more
This is a common issue that most business owners don’t realize how damaging what they do actually is to their own business. I can think of at least two businesses I’ve worked for or with that definitely made things much worse for themselves by overworking employees. Of course every employer wants to get the most … Read more
Books The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey – This is all about personal finances but it doesn’t matter how successful your business is if all the money that comes home is poorly managed. This book can be a true life changer for you, your family, and your employees. Most people who follow Dave Ramsey’s … Read more
Few businesses are dependent on the owner alone. One of the hardest things about growth is finding good help but even once you found good help, your management of them will dictate how well they and your company do. Having worked on both sides of the employer-employee relationship, I know it can be hard to … Read more
There are few things that need to happen pretty quickly when you first start your business. You need to register as an actual business with your state, get an EIN from the IRS, register your domain, and get a Gmail account. However, before you can do any of these, you need to pick your name. … Read more
What this means is that if you are so hesitant to try something unless it’s a guaranteed win, you’re missing A LOT of opportunities. If you never try new recipes in your restaurant, you’re missing out on business. Not all will be home runs, but you’ll never have new hits if you don’t try new … Read more
A sinking fund is how you save up for a specific large expense that you know will come in the future. In personal finance, it can be saving up for a new car, a down payment on a house, replacing the roof or HVAC system, etc. In business finance it can be whatever your business … Read more
Most businesses take on at least some debt at some point. Most need funding just to get started, and growth later can require additional debt. However, it can also be the undoing of your business. Most businesses fail in their first year and the ones that fail later often do so for the same reason, … Read more
This is probably the last thing you’d expect to hear from your bookkeeper, after all, most will be happy to take your money as long as they can. But having done this enough, I can say there have been times where the best thing to do was accept that the business had run its course … Read more
A lot of business owners have a bad habit of being too controlling. Among other things, this can cause them to not let people thrive to their full potential. It can be a habit of wanting to be right, they feel they have to be the expert at everything. After all, if the employee is … Read more
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that sometimes it’s important to not care about certain expenses. Yes, this contradicts all sorts of teachings, but let me explain. I’ve done the books for people bringing in over $600,000 per year. Those same people wanted me to call Verizon to question $2.51 on a $250 … Read more
This seems simple enough, but having done enough bookkeeping, it needs to be said. Have a separate checking account for your business. All money the business makes should go into the business checking account and all expenses should be paid from the business checking account. This alone keeps your bookkeeping much simpler, much easier, and … Read more
It’s very common for a business owner to have made purchases before the business was officially up and running. This isn’t a problem at all. They should definitely still be on the books and it’s a simple journal entry between the proper expense account(s) and the owner’s contributions account. As the owner, you can make … Read more
This one is pretty simple, but please make it so people can easily read and remember your website. Use initial caps when you list your website. YourCompanyName.com is a lot easier to read and remember than www.yourcompanyname.com which just looks like a long German word. Also, you don’t need the www. because they will still … Read more
I still remember the first time I spoke with a CPA about doing my taxes and they asked if I was an S-Corp. I said I wasn’t and they said I should be. I asked why and they said it’s better. “How?” I asked. “It’s better for you” was all I could get. What good … Read more
This one can be a little tricky, so you need to double-check with your tax preparer what is best for you, but if you run your business from home or even just have a home office in addition to your business location, you probably should be deducting for it. The exact amount can be done … Read more