CHAPTER 11
Managing the money
After following the steps outlined in these pages, you should be in the happy position of sales coming in and reasonable costs going out. To stay on top of the books and manage your money, consider an accountant alongside accounting software packages. Most accounting packages are cloud-based, which means you can access records from anywhere and be safe in the knowledge that your financial data is being backed up and protected.
Here are the major providers and their price points.
| Product | Cost/offer | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Intuit QuickBooks | 30-day free trial followed by three product offerings of £9/£19/£20 per month | www.intuit.co.uk/quickbooks/accounting-software.jsp @intuituk |
| SageOne Accounts Sage One Payroll |
30-day free trial and £10 per month thereafter 30-day free trial and £5 per month thereafter for up to five employees |
http://uk.sageone.com/accounts @sageuk |
| FreeAgent | 30-day free trial followed by £15 per month (sole trader), £20 per month (partnership), £25 per month (limited company) | www.freeagent.com @freeagent |
| KashFlow | 14-day free trial followed by £18 per month | www.kashflow.com @kashflow |
| Xero | The company states ‘free trial and pay nothing until you are ready’ – when you are, it is £19 per month | www.xero.com @xero |
These tools, alongside accountants, will help with calculating cashflow and keep you safe in the all-important knowledge that there is more money coming in from sales, than going out of the business in the form of costs.
My advice would be to review the figures every week. What you want to know is:
- how much is in the bank
- what is owed to you in outstanding balances
- what you owe to suppliers/staff/partners
- what sales and outgoings are coming up within the next three months (this will be flexible, as new contracts and opportunities come online).
Over time, you may outsource this to an accountant or financial member of the team but, as the business owner, it is always your responsibility to know the finances of the company and, with cloud tools like those referenced above, it is easy to keep track.
As your start-up continues to grow, you will get busier and busier! Keep things in perspective and try to dedicate your time across three core aspects of the business. They are:
- Business development – attracting new customers and trade by increasing sales channels/partners/routes to market and raising your profile so many more customers get to hear about you and visit to buy.
- Customer service – taking care of existing customers through delivering a quality service or product on time and in budget. Keep in touch with customers through a regular newsletter, reward loyalty with deals and offers, and keep innovating to bring fresh ideas and products to market that get you noticed.
- Admin – this is all about invoicing on time and settling invoices on time; in short, keeping on top of the books of the business.
You certainly will not enjoy all three tasks to the same extent. Maybe you love going out to make sales but do not enjoy so much the back-end admin of invoicing for those sales. That is okay. What is important is to imagine these three tasks as spinning plates – your job is to pay equal attention to keep them spinning!
Starting and growing a business is one of the most pleasurable experiences in life. You are master or mistress of your own destiny, running your own show and earning your own keep. You get to make money out of doing what you love and, as this book shows, it has never been so cheap to do just that.
Everyone loves a start-up, so get out there, be cheeky, beg, borrow, barter, get started and relish every moment of your entrepreneurial journey!
