This is one of the most frequently asked questions in starting a new business, and one that people often get wrong by underestimating the answer. That may not be a problem, if there is plenty of cash in reserve and sales pick up quickly, or it may be a devastating problem if there was very…
I love to read stories of entrepreneurs starting from scratch and building great small businesses out of their guts and ideas and just a little bit of cash. Stories like the birth of Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are good, too, but a tad harder to relate to- at least for me. The stories I really…
Sometimes people get the idea that real entrepreneurs are hard chargers who never hesitate and do everything immediately. That’s not true. There are lots of successful entrepreneurs who are just like everyone else when it comes to getting going- sometimes it is harder than others. Sometimes it is really hard. The difference is that they…
You can think of the chart of accounts as your accounting foundation, and a lot of people have foundation problems! The chart of accounts, or COA, is the list of places you can put your money. The goal for your COA is that it should be as detailed as you need to give you quality…
Having a partner can be the best thing in the world, or the worst. To avoid lots of potential partner problems, you definitely want to have a partnership agreement, in writing, before you start your business. That is not the end of making your partnership work, however. Whether you know your partner well or have…
Partners can be both a blessing and a curse. Many small business owners swear that without their partners they never would have gotten where they are today. Others are certain that going solo was the right decision, and a partner would just have slowed them down. Here we try and highlight both sides of the…
Sometimes people know their books are wrong but they aren’t sure what is wrong. Other times, people have no idea there is a problem because they don’t know what they don’t know. If you know for sure your books have problems, then use the chart below to see what kind of problem(s) you are having…
I thought the article I wrote on how to pick a bookkeeping service came out really well, but it was over 3,500 words. Not everyone is that excited about bookkeeping (not sure why not? 🙂 ) so this seemed like a good opportunity to try creating an infographic. Here are the results: Although the bullet…
There is no shortage of blogs out there, but time IS short and you don’t want to waste your time reading stuff that isn’t going to benefit you. Here is a list of business blogs in no particular order that I think are worth the time and that may not be on your radar yet:…
There are lots of people and firms who provide bookkeeping services but they are not all created equal. The problem is you can’t test them all out and figure out which ones are good and which aren’t- you have to commit to one and go with it for awhile and even then you may not…