Energetic CFO

5. The Ultimate Guide to Financial Organization

• Eric Vogel

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Episode Highlights:
📍 Feeling overwhelmed by financial tasks? In this episode, host Tiffany simplifies financial management for your business by breaking down key tasks into manageable chunks. Learn how to streamline your processes and take control of your business finances, from daily checks to annual reviews.

Topics include:

  • The importance of staying on top of your bookkeeping.
  • Creating a rhythm for managing receipts and expenses.
  • Avoiding common financial pitfalls like impulsive decisions and disorganization.
  • Building financial habits to improve clarity, confidence, and wealth-building potential.
  • How financial systems can align your goals and actions to achieve success.

Takeaways:

  1. Clarity Equals Confidence: Organize your financial tasks to gain control and reduce stress.
  2. Set a Routine: Daily, weekly, and annual financial reviews make managing finances easier.
  3. Avoid Pitfalls: Stop relying on intuition alone—balance it with hard numbers.
  4. Financial Wellness: Save for the future, build cash reserves, and reduce lifestyle inflation.

Resources Mentioned:
📄 Free Download: The Ultimate Financial Checklist
Get your copy here: Download HERE

📚 Books & Tools Recommended:

Follow & Connect with Us:
🌐 Website: Energetic CFO

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💬 Share your thoughts: What financial tasks do you find most challenging? Email us or leave a comment!
📤 Share this episode with someone who needs financial clarity.
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Next Episode:
Forecasting 101: Building Financial Projections for Beginners.

📍 Small Steps, Big Rewards – Your future self will thank you!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the financial tasks you feel like you should be doing but you're not really clear on what that is? Don't worry, I've got you covered today. In this episode, I'm going to break down the financial tasks that you should be doing in your business into manageable chunks so you can take control of your finances. We'll create a simple, actionable plan to keep your finances on track, from daily checks to annual reviews, we'll cover it all. Get ready to streamline your financial processes and achieve your financial goals. Welcome to the energetic CFO podcast, where we empower you to take control of your financial future. I'm your host, Tiffany, an advocate for financial literacy and business success. In this podcast, we'll explore a wide range of financial topics from money mindset and budgeting to building wealth and achieving financial freedom. We'll break down complex financial concepts into simple, actionable steps so you can apply them in your own life. Whether you're a new entrepreneur or a seasoned business owner, this podcast is for you. Join me as we dive into the world of finance and discover the tools and strategies to help you achieve your financial goals. Let's get started! Having a clear plan for our business finances has really helped us stay on top of what's going on. And, you know, it's not having a system around business finances has led us off track so many times. And we just realized it's so much easier if we just stay on top of it as we go. So, from things like managing, our bookkeeping tracking receipts, making sure that we're expensing everything. Sometimes we'll have to put something on a personal card. So for example, I am traveling, in the next week as of recording this. And I'm going to be putting all my travel on a personal card because it has more travel protection and benefits and it just works better for travel, international travel in particular. So. I'm going to be putting all my travel expenses on this personal card, but I want to make sure that it gets onto my business expenses so that I get that right off. So I have a plan that when I get back into town, one of the things I'm going to do aside from taking all the notes from the travel and implementing them in the business is making sure that I track all these expenses and get them in my books. And I know when I don't do it immediately, sometimes I forget. Sometimes I'll go back to it months later and be like, what the heck was this expense? And then I have to spend a lot of time trying to track down receipts and it just gets, it gets to be overwhelming. So by staying on top of it and having a rhythm around things like that make it so much easier. I know, I mean in our real estate business, especially when we have a big renovation going on, we'll get behind on keeping track of things. And then it leads to a big burden because we have tons and tons and tons of expenses we need to track. And we're sitting there trying to figure out what exactly was this thing. And It, if we kept on top of it weekly, it would be a lot easier and take way less time because you're not scrolling through hundreds of Home Depot receipts. You're just looking at a couple. So I know for me, like the finances used to be really overwhelming, but having these plans that we've put into our business over time and breaking them down into smaller, smaller, more manageable steps helped us take control of our finances. So if you're feeling overwhelmed by what should you be doing, you might not have any idea. Where do you even start? What do you need to be doing on an annual basis or a weekly basis? I mean, I know it's not something that's taught and I want to make sure that people really understand The things they should be doing in their business so that they have that clarity around their business finances So that's what we're going to talk through today So I know people can get so overwhelmed by all the financial tasks because it seems so daunting There are so many things to do And it seems like even just doing some of the basic stuff can be overwhelming and like a lot that you need to do, but if we break it down into daily and weekly tasks that take 10 minutes, it makes that quarterly review go so much smoother. So if you're struggling to track your expenses, if you have a hard time saving money or knowing where the money's going, I mean, the cash vacuum that I have seen in our business and in other businesses is crazy. I mean, I have seen people that are using cash advances on credit cards to pay the minimum on credit cards because they have no cash in their business and creating a rhythm for them, got them out of that that loop and that rat race so that they were able to have the cash reserves that they needed. I've seen also people make poor impulsive financial decisions. So they'll go invest in another opportunity or Make a move that winds up hurting them financially when it should be helping them because they're just not in a position cash wise or from the P& L perspective to make that move. It's having these systems and routines that really helps them know exactly what they need to be doing in their business operationally that will drive the financial goals that they're trying to reach. So what really is causing these problems that you see is a lack of organization. So not having a system in place can lead to so much confusion. I always say clarity equals confidence. And once you have that clarity, you can really make good decisions in your business, but it all starts with having financial statements, really. And the way that you get financial statements is having a system in place and a process so that, you know, what's going in and out of your business and where your finances are. Having good organization leads to better financial habits. So, you know, whether you're overspending or not, whether you're buying something that will really move the needle in your business. I have seen so many people invest in programs or. Support and things that there's a promise that they will, you know, reach all the sales that they need to. But really what they need to do is get honed in on what's going on in their business currently and streamline and improve that bottom line first. Because when you're scaling, think of this, if you're scaling a business and your profit margin is 10%, great. But what if we could get your profit margin to 20 percent and then you scale? Okay. Because then you've doubled your profit that you're making and each additional dollar that you bring in is bringing in double to your bottom line, to your family, to your pocketbook. So there's a lot of getting the financial habits locked in first before you grow because it's a lot easier to steer a canoe when it's small than trying to move a cruise ship. And fixing things while you're still growing and small is way more effective than trying to fix it after you've scaled and built the big machine. Learn And it also, as you're scaling, knowing when you should hire the right person is so critical because you don't want to invest in someone before you really need them, but you also don't want to invest in them too late where you've, you know, they could have had that support. So getting really, really clear on your finances and using that to make the strategic decisions is so key. Finally, people really are held back by this fear of financial failure. I know it can be overwhelming, especially when you're seeing big zeros for my real estate investor friends out there. I know when Eric and I first started getting into it, getting loans for hundreds of thousands of dollars was terrifying. And what happens if this all goes belly up? And there were so many fears there and it can, it can paralyze you and prevent you from really taking action. That next step towards your goals. But if you have clarity on the numbers, it gives you that confidence again, to move forward. And whether you're investing in real estate or building an online business or whatever it is you're doing, there is risk inherent in business, but it's knowing the numbers and having the systems in place that remove some of that risk and some of that fear and gives you the confidence to take the next step. So I've seen people try to overcome this by relying on willpower. And they try to just use their own intuition, which I'm all for using your intuition, but there are certain things in business that you need hard facts and relying on your intuition to make all your financial decisions is not the best way to do it. You can use your intuition when you're looking at the numbers and have a clear picture of, okay, I know if I make this investment, it's going to put my cash position in a disadvantageous place. It's going to potentially decrease my profit significantly, but I know in my gut that intuition hit. That this is going to lead to the income or the results that will lead to the higher profit and the better cast position. So I'm not saying don't trust your intuition, but I'm saying at least look at the numbers and have a clear picture of what is this going to look like so that you're making an informed decision and balancing that masculine hard numbers approach with the feminine intuition approach. I've also seen people crazy, unrealistic financial goals, or they're chasing the wrong goals. They might have a specific goal for their family and their business, but then they're doing things that don't align with it. So I know for us, we realized we needed to buy a house a month in order to reach our goals. And it put a strain on us and we had big financial goals. We wanted to buy a house a month and it wound up putting a big strain on us. personally and emotionally. And this was before kids. So that, you know, it was a different situation, but in hindsight, we made decisions that we probably shouldn't have because it was coming from a place of urgency and fear. And it all worked out in the end, but we had a property in COVID that we bought in that season of buying a house a month that literally made 4 in 2020. And that was a time where we really needed that income. And I mean, we eventually wound up selling it. Used it to exchange it into our big Airbnb cabins that we have. So it was all worth it. In the end, we were able to take some lemons and make some lemonade, but there were some stressful, stressful months because we had these crazy goals. So having a clear pulse on your finances helps, you know, are the goals you're working towards really aligned and are they. Attainable for you where you're currently at. I had a client that we we worked together for a while. And they Wanted to have a certain level of freedom with their family and through real estate and it was great great goals But the problem was they were keeping too many of the houses So instead of selling them and flipping them and having the money to cover their overhead in the business They were keeping them So they weren't getting that big, huge cash influx. And we just shifted their strategy a little bit and said, Hey, you have to flip at least X number of houses a month, and that's going to cover your overhead. And then anything above and beyond that you get to keep. So having that clarity around there, one, they knew their goals and then two, they built a plan around it. They would not have been able to do that if they didn't have the financial systems in place that told them exactly what was going on in their business, but their finances. So instead of relying on willpower and having these goals that don't, well, it's having goals, but having actions that don't align with the goals, what can you do instead? Having a regular routine that's daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually to sit down and look at your finances will make it so much easier. And I know you don't want to look at your finances daily. I get it. Maybe shift this to work in a way that works for you. Okay. But I highly, highly, highly recommend you have a schedule that works for you around this. And the intent is not to take up tons and tons of time building out systems around this. But the goal is to have a pulse and a view on your finances to know, do you have enough cash in the bank? Are you overspending on? Like overhead, is there software that you're paying for, but not using? What does your monthly income look like? Do you need to work on growing your top line? Do you need to work on streamlining? What's, what is the situation in your business? And then annually or quarterly, you want to make sure you're paying your taxes on time, that you're doing financial reviews to make sure that things are on track to reach your goals. And finally, annual reviews to make sure you're setting the strategy for the next year. Okay. We want to have strong financial habits. So we want to prioritize budgeting and forecasting, making sure that you're saving for your future. If you are building a non real estate business, I will say, you want to make sure that you're building retirement as you go. I have seen so many people that make a ton of money in their online business or really any business. And they increase their lifestyle gradually, just a little bit every year. And before they know it, they're in this spot where they have to continue generating this insane amount of cashflow. And let's be honest, the world has changed since 2020 COVID was a crazy era and things are shifting. And if you're not on top of that and continuing to grow and pivot and change your business as that happens, you could be in a spot because things have shifted. And you still have to make that same level of income because your lifestyle has increased and there's not a huge nest egg to fall back on. So making sure that you're saving a good percentage of your income for the rainy day. And for your future is so key. And the nice thing is if you're saving, let's say 40 percent of your income, because you're making a lot in that business. If you have a dip, 20%, let's say you're still saving 20%. So having clear plan for saving is so, so important. Making sure that you're working with professionals, have a good tax strategist on your team, whether that's your CPA or somebody else you work with so that you're not overpaying on taxes each year. I work with clients in my CFO business to make sure that they know what's coming in, what's going out. Are they reaching their goals? We also have the financial clarity course where we're helping. Smaller business owners take control of their finances. So as they're growing, they can be that go to resource for themselves and really understand their finances. And then when they grow and the business gets more complicated, then you bring in that professional, regular occurrence meeting but having a wealth advisor, if that's something you think you need, making sure you have the team to support you as you're growing your business. And finally, just having a good mindset around it, making sure that you, you are confident that you're going to reach your goals and focusing on abundance versus the scarcity. And I love having a good gratitude practice and really just being appreciative of what you already have, because I can tell you the more you appreciate what you have, the more you get in the future. And not that we're doing it to get more, but finding that peace and comfort and where you currently are is, it's just so sweet. I don't know how to explain it, but it It gives you that confidence to move forward and know that no matter what you're content with what you have and anything more than that is just gravy. So we want to prioritize our financial wellness, have a proactive approach to our financial management and have that mindset of abundance. And I mean, yeah, why, why should you spend all this time investing in, in building out your finances? It's going to reduce your financial stress. I know when I have a clear picture on what's going on in the business, even if it's not a good picture, I'm not happy with it. At least I know where I'm at. And again, clarity is confidence. So you know whether you can buy that thing or hire that person or whatever the move you're wanting to make is. So having just that clarity helps you manage where you're going next. You can make better decisions when you have a clear structure around your business. Because let's be honest, if you're not doing these tasks regularly, you have no clue how much you're spending, how much is coming in. And having up to date books is so, so important. The number of clients that I have worked with and the first six months plus, I mean, I had a client, we worked with them only for six months and we never had clean books from them. So it's really hard to have that professional help as a CFO when you don't have clean books. And you can't drive the ship of your business if you don't have clarity on what's happening. So by having these regular reviews allows you to take control and really know what's happening in your business. And finally, it helps you build wealth because you have a clear picture on can you make that investment and purchase and what, what you need to do next. So I have a great guide for you that breaks down. It's the ultimate financial checklist. We have everything you should be looking at daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and finally annually to make sure that your business is on track. So if you need help with this, check out the link in the show notes and download the ultimate financial checklist to help you stay on track. What financial tasks do you find most challenging or painful? Because let's be honest, not all of this is fun. I mean, I love the finance stuff, but some of the times it's like pulling teeth. So. Send me an email or share your experience in the comments below. I'd love to hear what, what parts of it you love and what parts you hate. In the next episode, we're going to dive into forecasting. My favorite thing. I love this stuff and building financial projections for beginners. Small steps, big rewards. Remember your future self will you Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Energetic CFO Podcast. Remember, small steps can lead to massive rewards. By taking action, staying disciplined, and seeking knowledge, you can achieve your financial dreams. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to share, like, and subscribe. And don't forget to leave a comment with your thoughts and questions. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep thriving.