At Fresh Financials, we have a Business Continuity Plan we hope we never have to use.
During the Covid-19 crisis, many of us have had to utilise those plans to keep operations running.
Your numbers aren’t just needed in a crisis, they’re crucial for making the exciting decisions about where your business is going too. But (and it’s a big but), you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you are right now.
And we do need to talk about the hard stuff. If you didn’t have a business continuity plan, with accurate up to date numbers to rely on – you probably struggled more than most. You may have felt like you were behind rather than ahead of the game.
We never want you to feel lost and stressed when it comes to your business, pandemic or not.
“Know your numbers” isn’t just a good accounting catchphrase. Knowing your numbers (or not knowing them) will affect you on a personal emotional level. It could be the difference between having a business and not having one.
So we want to explain what we mean in more relatable terms.
We mean: know your financial position down to the day
Every client of ours receives daily bookkeeping, and we’re doing daily bookkeeping for our own business too.
We see daily bookkeeping as an absolute must and here’s why.
Imagine you’re logging into your online banking system. You’ve got some big expenses coming up, and you want to see how things are going to balance out this month once the mortgage has been paid and everyone has been fed and watered. Unfortunately, you find your available balance hasn’t been updated for a month.
You’d freak out, wouldn’t you?
We talk more in depth about this in our dedicated blog: Isn’t it overkill to do it daily?
But you don’t need to stretch your imagination too far to see how daily accuracy can be absolutely vital. During this pandemic, being able to see our financial position on a daily basis has been our salvation.
Because we do daily bookkeeping with our clients, we’re talking to them all the time. We have such in-depth knowledge about where they are at in terms of their business and numbers.
This meant that when Covid-19 struck, the plan for the way forward for each of our clients was a lot quicker and easier to create, instead of having to look where they were at before.
We mean: always be ahead of the game
Daily bookkeeping is critical for understanding your cash flow, and improving it.
It means you can:
- Always see what’s coming so you can ensure your business doesn’t run out of cash
- Know how well certain products or services are doing so you can pivot quickly
And on the other side of the coin:
- Always see what’s coming so that you can jump at big opportunities.
I hear what you’re saying from afar, though.
It would be lovely to always be ahead of the game and for everything to be hunky dory. But I have about 10 different hats to wear every day.
You have people to manage, bills to pay, systems to perfect, clients and customers to please, and on top of all that you have your own life, family, hobbies, goals.
How are you supposed to be managing daily bookkeeping on top of all that? And understanding what the numbers mean for your business? You’re just about managing to get a shower in.
Getting support is a part of getting ahead
We’re not suggesting you do all of this alone.
Quite the opposite. We know from experience that business owners see the most success when they have someone they trust advising them on their numbers. You need back up.
All of our clients use us alongside their accountants to help with their finance management. During the pandemic, we were the first people they came to.
This is all due to the relationship we have with them. We love our clients, and we love that they have complete trust in us – and they trust us with anything. We’ve been humbled by some amazing thank you’s (and we’ve had plenty to dish out ourselves).
Being ahead of the game doesn’t mean hustling alone and competing against each other. It means getting the support you need. Being able to trust that someone has your back and can guide you. That’s how you get your weekends back! And isn’t that the ultimate goal?
We mean: Be empowered
We don’t want anyone to feel the stress of having no cash in the business. We do some real talking about that feeling in our cash flow blog here. We’re always here to talk if you’re struggling. Really.
But beyond the crisis management, knowing your numbers means being empowered. Having daily access to your numbers means you’re empowered to make great financial decisions for yourself and your business. It means feeling fully in control of your business. Getting a grasp on everything that’s whirling around you right now.
To get to this empowerment, you need to know how you’re doing, NOT how you’ve done.
If you’re ready to do that – get yourself acquainted with our fresh approach to bookkeeping.
We’ve used it here at FF HQ for ages, and we’ve decided that it’s too good not to share.