Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Planning, Budgeting, Scarcity Mindset, Financial Freedom, Online Business

86 | Overwhelmed with QuickBooks? Do this instead

• Erin Gray | Financial Coach, Former Certified Financial Planner and CFO

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Does the thought of using QuickBooks make you cringe?  

So many entrepreneurs feel like they should be using it but end up feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and stuck doing nothing instead. 

In this episode, I’m breaking down a simpler way to manage your money—one that doesn’t require complicated software or hours of bookkeeping each week.

In this episode I discuss:
✅ Why QuickBooks can feel so overwhelming
✅ A simple, effective way to track your income and expenses without the overwhelm
✅ How to create a money system you’ll actually stick with
✅ When to outsource your bookkeeping (and what to know before you do)

Managing your money doesn’t have to be hard. Tune in to learn a stress-free approach to staying on top of your finances.

Want to learn more? Here are your next steps:

Step 1: Join my FREE Facebook Community.

Connect, share, and learn how to master your money with other women just like you.

➡️ Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/941450038160915

Step 2: Grab your FREE Human Design chart

Curious what your Human Design chart reveals about how you're uniquely designed to make aligned financial decisions?

➡️ Get your chart here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/receive-your-human-design-chart

Step 3: Ready to transform your relationship with money and build true financial confidence?

Let’s create a strategy that feels aligned, intentional, and empowering—just for you.

➡️ Schedule your 1-hour Money Mastery Call here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/11-support

Money doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Let's create a strategy that feels nurturing and custom to you.

From my soul to yours,

Erin

Erin Gray:

On the podcast. Today we're going to be talking about QuickBooks, and I'm sure for a lot of you, that word might actually make you cringe, but I want to offer that number one. You are not alone. So many entrepreneurs feel like that. They should use it, but end up feeling confused and frustrated instead, and then don't do anything at all. So today I'm going to be sharing a simpler way to manage your money, and one that doesn't feel complicated or require complicated software or hours of bookkeeping each week. So if you're ready to ditch the overwhelm and find a financial system that actually works for you, this episode is for you. Do you want to create a system to stop avoiding your money? Maybe you're feeling guilt and shame when it comes to finances. Welcome to your Money, your Rules. I'm Erin, a former certified financial planner and CFO, and yet I used to avoid my money and had fear, no matter how much we had. I can't wait to teach you how I overcame my money avoidance and started consistently managing my finances in a really simple way. It's time to get comfortable with money. Hey lady, if you are tired of feeling stuck or feel like more like on this little hamster wheel of just like it's the same thing over and over again and you actually want a money system that is clear and my favorite simple and actually supports you and your business. I would love to help you. In just one hour, we'll create a plan that gives you clarity and confidence around your numbers, where you've been, where you're going, so that you can move forward. To schedule a call, you can head over to my website at generatealifewelllivedcom and I'll put the link in the show notes to schedule your call. So let's talk about why I think QuickBooks can feel overwhelming to a lot of new entrepreneurs.

Erin Gray:

One. It is, I think, a completely different language. When I started in my family's construction business, I did not know QuickBooks and I got the fast track fire hose. Like I came in, I didn't know QuickBooks. I knew finance but not QuickBooks, and that is a completely different language. Like it's like speaking Spanish or Mandarin or French, like it is an entirely different language. And the bookkeeper that we had at the time I think there was a little bit of some, let's just say that she wasn't too fond of me and she ended up quitting two weeks after I started. So I learned how to do QuickBooks by trial and error, really, and that didn't happen overnight, although me and my dad ended up doing payroll together to like 12, 12 AM that night because she quit on a payroll day, which that's a whole nother story for a different day. But I think that, um, you know, she did it so that we would have to really struggle to do payroll and thankfully my dad knew how to do payroll. But it was a huge, steep learning curve and QuickBooks is an entirely different language.

Erin Gray:

So if you think about all of the things in your business that you are learning how to do, market and serve customers and obviously take care of your money, it's one added layer that maybe you don't in the beginning and, based on how much you know you're generating an income, maybe you don't have the energy for, and that is okay. I also think and I think this is changing, which I'm so stoked about but I think QuickBooks has had kind of the market share for a long time. I mean, there were so many times that I would call QuickBooks support and I would literally want just want to like pull my hair out because the wait time was so much. It can be a very complicated system and it's also a very robust system. Like you can get a lot of data from QuickBooks, but in the beginning I don't think we really need all of that because I don't think that the value of pulling our hair out just so we can get all of this data is worth it. In the beginning, where do you really want to spend your time? I think it is on marketing and generating income, so then you can then get support with your books.

Erin Gray:

So you know, quickbooks does have a lot of features. There's lots of different. You know and think about it as an entrepreneur. There's so many decisions that we're making and I think a lot of times I have still. I still use QuickBooks desktop because I refuse to go to QuickBooks online. Yet I'm just going to leave it there for right now, but I don't want to go to QuickBooks online because I don't want to mess with that. Like I know QuickBooks desktop in and out because I had 10 plus years of QuickBooks the construction, um, they call it, I think, quickbooks enterprise and I know I know QuickBooks in in and out. But just like you guys, I am not going to spend my time to learn a new system to transfer all of this over when I outsource my books. Then I will consider that.

Erin Gray:

But really what is most important is that you actually sit down with your numbers and you actually know your numbers, right. So I think it's very. Quickbooks can be very complex, and that is an amazing thing because, like I said, you can get so specific, but in the beginning it's just not necessary. I don't think so. These are my thoughts. So take what you want and leave the rest. But I think what we can do instead is use a more simple tracking system, right?

Erin Gray:

So start with a spreadsheet. Start with, simply because here's the deal. Your CPA yes, would they love everything. Would they love to get what's called an accountant's copy inside QuickBooks and they just are able to download the information and it's perfect, and they're able to look at all the numbers and all of that, of course, right, that's in the perfect world. But what they really love is you knowing your numbers and you being very clear and having them organized. And if that means in the beginning that it comes from an Excel spreadsheet, but at least you have and you've tracked every single income, you know where your income sources are coming from and every single expense and you have them categorized. That's really what they care about.

Erin Gray:

So I would suggest start with a simple spreadsheet. You know you can either make two, if it's even if that feels even more complicated, right, like you can have an Excel spreadsheet that's strictly for income and you can have an Excel spreadsheet that's for expenses, or you can just have one Excel spreadsheet and you know one tab would be income and one tab would be expenses. But the biggest thing is making sure that you have separate banking accounts from your personal right. So separate checking and savings, business-wise, and keeping track of your income and expenses. And I think you know, talking to your CPA and just laying it out there, like listen, I'm not at the point that I either want to hire a bookkeeper or I'm ready to do QuickBooks. Like, how do you want to receive the information? What ways make it easier for you, the CPA? And also, I think, at the end of the day, you've got to make it easy on you, right, like so don't do things just because the CPA is suggesting it, because that makes it easy on them, like they work for you.

Erin Gray:

So if their suggestion is so complex, here we go back to like are you going to stick with it? If you aren't, then do the things that are super simple for you. So track what actually matters, like I said, your income, your expenses, and you can figure out profit from that. There's an excellent book called Profit Pillars and I'm going to do a podcast on this because I think some of you may have heard the book or know of the book Profit First, but when I read it I felt like it was very complicated and also it was more so for like a brick and mortar. But if you have an online business, a lot of the things that they're talking about didn't necessarily apply to us. But the Profit Pill pillars book is strictly written for the online business owner and when I organized my expenses in that way, I was able to get such clarity.

Erin Gray:

So really focus on simplicity. What are you actually going to stick with? Because I've had clients that are like I need to get QuickBooks and we work through it and then they end up not doing it because it feels so overwhelming, versus just saying, listen, I'm just going to do an Excel spreadsheet. It's simple, I'll stick with it. You know creating a weekly money habit, spending. You know 15, 30 minutes reviewing your numbers, inputting them into the spreadsheet and I'm not saying that we stay here, you know, forever with an Excel spreadsheet. But what I want you to constantly be asking yourself is what am I going to stick with long-term? What am I going to do on a consistent basis? Because if you are newer to business, if you are newer to accounting systems, is that where you want to spend your energy? Or do you want to spend it on generating income, bringing more leads and clients in, and then learning that other portion of QuickBooks, maybe at a later time, when you've mastered some of those other skills and knowing when to outsource right?

Erin Gray:

For most people, bookkeeping isn't necessarily their thing. We're not taught in school, and for some people it's not really that fun. I do think, though, in the beginning whether that be at the very beginning of your business or as you're growing it, before you outsource bookkeeping I would highly recommend you pay for some time and advice to help you set up QuickBooks, to help you understand how to read reports, because you want to know your numbers, you want to know where things are, you know coming in, going out, how to read a report and, yes, that is what a bookkeeper does. But what I have learned is, when we outsource too early, we don't know how long it takes someone to do something, because we haven't done it ourselves and now that I have the immense amount of time and transactions under my belt with QuickBooks, if I were to meet with a bookkeeper and I were to ask them how long does it take you to pull an AR report, or how long does it take you to reconcile, you know three to five accounts, depending on their answer, I can know if they're actually, if that's actually in line, because I've done it so many times now. Granted, obviously, the the more you do it, the faster you get at it, but I think that sometimes we want to outsource too quickly and then we really don't know if the value that we are receiving and what we are investing is actually an equal thing.

Erin Gray:

And I think the biggest thing here is what actually is going to work for you, right. Going to work for you right, like your. Your mindset shift around. It's your business, it's your money, it's your rules. You get to do what works for you. Like so many times, I will hear women say well, my CPA, you know X, y, z and it's like they work for you and not to the point of you're treating them poorly. But just because it makes it easier on them doesn't mean that that is what is best for you.

Erin Gray:

And so really asking yourself and having that mindset shift of like do I want to put my time and my focus and energy right now to learn QuickBooks If it's not working in the sense of it's just a lot of information for you to learn, or do I actually want to just use an Excel spreadsheet and go from there and as I grow? Then I will look into QuickBooks and I will look into hiring someone to help me. You know, get me set up and teach me. You know there's so much learning on on YouTube. Obviously be be discerning, but there's a lot of information that you could learn over time the way QuickBooks works, so that when you do hire someone, you are more educated.

Erin Gray:

And I ultimately say like what is going to make you feel good, feel in control and not overwhelmed? Because, at the end of the day, what we want is numbers that we can look at, numbers that we can understand and a system that we're actually going to do, and I think the simpler it is, the easier it is to stick with it and the more organized you're going to be, because it's not this feeling of like oh my gosh, I have to sit down. It's like another barrier or obstacle you have to overcome in order to sit down with your numbers. Right, versus? Okay, I already know how to do an Excel spreadsheet. I'll just plug in my numbers here. I'll take a look at it. It takes 30, 45 minutes a week and I'm done.

Erin Gray:

Versus, oh my gosh, where do I even go to at the top of the bar to reconcile this account? And I want to say that you know what's best for you. Like, tap into your body and really ask yourself is this something that I want to do in this moment, or is this something that I want to put on the back burner and I want to learn later? And there is no right or wrong answer. Right, I chose to use QuickBooks starting out with my business because I had so many years of experience.

Erin Gray:

But if I was brand new to QuickBooks, I would not be attempting to learn QuickBooks right now. I would just use an Excel spreadsheet, I would keep it super simple, I would keep my numbers organized and then, as I grew, I would learn. You know QuickBooks and that's okay. So really ask yourself what is the best thing for you right now in your stage in your business and then follow that the biggest takeaway that I want you to remember here is track what actually matters right Income expenses, creating a weekly money habit. You're going to sit down 15, 30, 45 minutes a week. A weekly money habit you're going to sit down 15, 30, 45 minutes a week reviewing your numbers.

Erin Gray:

Use something very simple that works for you right now and you can grow into something as you expand and grow and then know when to outsource. And if you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and finally feel clear with your numbers and control of your money, have a system in place so that you can just plug and play. I would love to support you. In one session we'll create a customized plan that works for you. So head over to my website at generatealifewelllivecom and schedule a call. Until next time, did you learn something today? Do you know another female entrepreneur who might be avoiding her money? Will you send this episode over to her for me? And, if you have it in you, please leave me a review for this podcast? It helps the show grow and I love hearing from you. See you next week.