146 Financial Intelligence: What You Track Grows

Far too often business owners either fear or dread looking at the numbers or simply find it impersonal and boring. This is not an empowering way to approach your financials and does not have to be the case! Looking at the numbers can become a sacred monthly ritual where you take time to pause and reflect on all that you have accomplished and where you have room to improve. If this sounds like something you’d like to incorporate into your business, today’s show is just for you! Jeni and Sandy believe that what you track grows, not only because these numbers are in your consciousness, but also because you can create systems based on the data you uncover. There is often shame around small numbers, but every business has to start somewhere, so take time to understand and appreciate them. Every lesson the numbers teach you can be put to use to grow your business or make informed choices for how to move forward. Jeni and Sandy share two aspects of tracking numbers. They first talk about bookkeeping, what it is and the bookkeeping tools that they have found most useful for their businesses. Then they move onto a different aspect of tracking – the other metrics they use to measure their business performance. Tracking the numbers puts you back in the driver’s seat and empowers you to make decisions that align more closely with your goals. Don’t fear the numbers, embrace them! Key Points From This Episode:   Some of the reasons why what you track will grow.   Numbers are simply neutral data and not an indication of your worth.   Tracking can be separated into bookkeeping and other kinds of non-financial metrics.   Bookkeeping options: do it manually, hire a bookkeeper, or use an online bookkeeping tool or software tool.   How to choose a bookkeeping tool based on the specific needs of your business.   Insights into some advantages of using bookkeeping software.   Discover the specific reasons that Sandy and Jeni love using Bench for Namastream.   Learn more about the way that Sandy and Jeni track their sales goals.   Knowing your numbers allows for better decision-making and goal alignment.   Why it is useful to see differentiated product sales that comprise the total revenue.   If you have different products, differentiate goals and allocate energy accordingly.   Further expenses that Sandy and Jeni keep track of in their business.   Business performance metrics: numbers other than money that matter.   Make time to go over your numbers and let it be part of the ritual of running your company. Words of Wisdom: “The more you analyze and understand how you made that first dollar, the easier it is going to be to make your next dollar.” “If you’re not looking at this stuff, you’re really shooting from the hip and making decisions whimsically. And I love whimsy but not when I am talking about my business.”  Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:  Bench Accounting — https://soulfulmbapodcast.com/bench Namastream — https://namastream.com/ QuickBooks — https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ FreshBooks — https://www.freshbooks.com/ Stripe — https://stripe.com/ Tezza on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tezza/   Joy: Tezza App — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tezza/id1393061654 Hustle: Start Finishing on Amazon — https://amzn.to/2LBeR2n