You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff podcast. Hey, everyone. I am so excited because I have Octavia Connor on the line now. Octavia is here to talk to us about business accounting and business finances, which I get a ton of questions about. So usually I tailor the interview or the content around new business owners, but what about those well seasoned
ones that just don't keep up their books? That's who we're going to talk to today. So. Hey, Octavia, how are you? Hello. Hello. I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm so happy that we're talking about this topic. Thank you for having me, Tiffany. I am always excited to talk about everything. Finances, everything. Accounting for small business owners. Yes. Yes. So let's just hop right in. So we already said who we're talking to right now.
So these are the business owners that have been in business for a little while. However, they haven't been keeping their books up, so we're going to get into some tips for them. What is your first tip for those business owners? Well, I would definitely say the very first thing you want to do is to get an accounting system. What a lot of business owners don't realize is that if you are a registered business in the United States in particular, you have to have a system
that can be audited. And so you want to maintain an accounting system that is accurate, up to date, and reliable at all times. And so you can do this by using some of the well known systems out there, or one that's even not well known, but it will definitely help you. And so, of course, we know
about quickbooks, but there are other ones that are out there. And so that's the very first thing you need to start your accounting system and start it by, of course, subscribing to an accounting system and then entering all of your financial information in that system and make sure that accounting system match with your bank and credit card statements for your business. Now, with the accounting systems, I get questions all the time about what's the best one, how do I
choose? Where do we go from here? And so with that being said, what are some of the ones that are out there, and what would a business owner consider when going with one versus the other? So the very first thing I highly recommend, before you use any type of accounting system, is that if you're going to do it yourself as a business owner, which I do not recommend. But if you are gonna do it yourself,
then I recommend that you receive training. Right. Because it really doesn't matter which accounting system you use. If you're doing it yourself and you are not fully aware of how to use it, then whatever you put in it is going to spit out that information. And so I always like to say, garbage in, garbage out. Now, granted, you may not think or want to put garbage in your accounting system, but if you're not fully
aware of how to use it, then that's exactly what's going to happen. And so the financial reports that it produces for you will not be accurate because the information you put in there is not accurate. Now, the number one accounting system to date is Quickbooks online. However, that does not mean that is the accounting system
specifically for your business. I would recommend finding one that is specific for your business, one that is user friendly, or finding an accounting firm, like, say yes to profits, that will handle all of this for you, but also provide you with that knowledge and financial visibility and insight that you need to make strategic business decisions. Yes. Yes. I completely agree with that, because I use Quickbooks myself, and I was doing my own books for a long time,
and I was like, you know what? Let me just hire someone. Because as a business owner, why am I doing this? Exactly. Why am I doing this? And even though I love numbers and I love money and all those good things, it was just a task for me. So I'm like, okay, let me hire someone. Best decision ever, because I'm, you know, I know that. I know a great deal of this stuff. I have done a lot of accounting, you know, back in my day, but it makes a huge difference when you
hire someone that does it day in and day out. Okay? So, as a business owner myself, I highly recommend hiring out, and I'm glad that you brought that up. So, since we talked about, you know, kind of hit on two tips right there. One was getting an accounting software accounting system in place. And two, I'm gonna just say, is maybe hiring out for that accounting work. What is another tip
that we can give our small business owners? You want to understand your business structure and how that relates to your taxes and how you are to manage your money. So what do I mean? So there's a difference if your business is an LLC, a limited liability company, or if your business is a limited liability company that's taxed as an S corporation, right. There's a difference in the way that, one, you manage your money in the way that you pay yourself as the CEO
and in the way that you file your taxes. And so based on your business structure, you want to determine the correct and proper way to manage your finances and to file your taxes so that you pay the smallest legal amount possible in taxes, and your business is one that is thriving, that is cash flow positive, and that is profitable at all times. Because you're clear on everything that you, you are allowed to do based on the structure of your business.
Yes, I completely agree with that one. I think one of the things that small business owners struggle with the most, especially when they're first starting out, is how do I want to structure my business? And because of social media, everybody believes that they have to have an LLC. And so there's a lot of people, business owners, that I know that don't know everything that goes into having an LLC, how filing those taxes is a little different than if you're a sole proprietorship and so
on and so forth. And so I'm so glad that you brought up business structure, because that is something that even some of my seasoned business owner friends are thinking about redoing their structure or going into a different structure for different reasons. So I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah. Yeah. It's so important because as you're growing and scaling your company, there may be a time where you need to transition to a different structure
for tax benefits. And so you want to make sure you're clear on the benefit of doing that and when the right time for you to actually make that transition. Right. You don't want to make it too early. You don't want to make it too late. And so in order to stay on top of those things, you need to have an accounting system, which goes back to the first tip that we talked about. You want to make sure you have that in place and that
you're looking at your numbers. A lot of entrepreneurs don't look at their numbers, and so they're making decisions too late or they're making decisions when it is, uh, it has became detrimental to their company. And so you definitely want to, you know, have that financial visibility so you can make those decisions so that everything works out for your benefit in the end. Exactly. It goes right back to the numbers.
It goes right back to the numbers. All right, so we went over a lot so far, but I think we have time for at least one more tip. What is one more tip that you can give our small business owners that are in this predicament? So one more tip. I cannot not say this tip. Right. So I operate as a fractional CFO, and the biggest thing that I can tell business owners is to plan for every dollar that is entering and leaving your business. So you should have a financial
strategy to call it a profit plan. And you should have a cash flow forecast that you are reviewing every single week in your business. The benefit of this is that it allows you to be proactive instead of reactive, and it allows you to make those key decisions that is going to move the needle forward in your business. So have a financial strategy and have a cash flow forecast that you look at every single week. Ooh, I love that. I love that.
Because I tell people all the time, how do you know where you're going if you don't know where you're going? You have to have a target. You have to have something that you're working towards, and that goes with your money. Your money needs to have a job. What is it doing? And I'm so glad you said that because that is my push today, to go ahead and cancel some of these subscriptions that I know I don't need in my business. But I'm so glad that you said that because it's so
true. So, Octavia, this is packed. We only at ten minutes almost, and we have dropped so many gems in those ten minutes. So if people were interested in learning more about you or any of this information that you provide or services, how could they find you? First? You can go to my website at say, yestoprofits.com. there you can download, and actually, you can download our free cash flow mastery toolkit that I love to give all entrepreneurs to really help you
get ahead of your game and your business. And you can get that at say yes to profits.com toolkit. Right? But you can go to the say yes to profits website to learn everything about us, to listen to the say yes to Profits podcast. And definitely you want to follow me on Instagram at octavia Connor, CFO. Yes. I love it. Cause I do wanna say, say yes. I do wanna say yes to profits. Okay, so thank you so much. And if you all didn't get all of that, I'll make sure I
have that all in the show notes for you. Thank you so much, Octavia, for coming on and just dropping, I mean, this whole truckload of gems on us. No problem at all. Thank you so much, Tiffany, for having me. And I hope that everyone takes information from this move forward and scream, say yes to profits in their business. Yes. Thank you. All right, bye. Thank you for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with TIFF podcast this week. You can check TiFF out
every Thursday for a new money talk podcast. But if you just can't wait until next week, you can listen to previous podcast [email protected] or follow tiff on all social media platforms at money Talk with t until next time, spend wise by spending less than you make a word to the money wise is always sufficient.