Why Your Numbers Are Your Most Powerful Business Tool With Jami Monte

Too many entrepreneurs treat bookkeeping as a year-end obligation, when it should be a tool for making smarter decisions about hiring, spending, compensation, and profit. Today, I’m joined by CPA, financial educator, founder of Chillbooks, and fractional CFO, Jami Monte, to discuss why getting close with your numbers is the key to running your business confidentially and strategically. Jami is passionate about helping solopreneurs gain money clarity and she has a gift for making bookkeeping feel less like punishment and more like freedom. This conversation is exactly what so many business owners need as they step into that next level. 

Here’s what we cover:

• Why knowing your numbers gives you the freedom to make better decisions about your time, team, and business growth
• How proper bookkeeping, categorization, reconciliation, and sales tax tracking can help you keep more money in your pocket
• Why relying on your accountant to clean everything up once a year keeps you reactive instead of empowered
• How reports like a monthly profit and loss statement can reveal revenue patterns, spending trends, and what's actually moving the needle
• What founders need to know about claiming business expenses, understanding grey areas, and documenting write-offs properly
• How to separate your personal and business finances, plan your cash flow, and build the habit of paying yourself consistently

This episode is an incredible reminder that bookkeeping isn’t just about staying organized for the CRA, it’s about becoming the kind of CEO who knows what’s happening in their business and can make decisions based on facts instead of fear. Please leave a like on this episode and share it with a fellow female founder who’s ready to level up as a leader. I’ll see you next week!

Connect with Jami:
Website
Instagram

Gazzy’s Links:
Website: https://www.authenticgazzy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authenticgazzy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authenticgazzy
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthenticGazzy
Podcast Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GazzyAmin
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authenticgazzy

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome to CEO Sales Sessions. I'm Gazzi, your host, former political staffer, turned entrepreneur, and founder of Sales Beyond Script, where I build CEOs whose sales feel effortless and profit becomes inevitable. I've spent years in the highest pressure rooms, both in politics and business, and I'm bringing you everything I learned straight to this site. No fluff, no filler, just actionable steps, tough love, and big thinking alongside some of the sharpest COs in the game. Let's get to work. She was one of the first people that came to my mind when I wanted to create the podcast because I know that this is something that many founders need help with. So let me read the intro for this incredible guest. Jamie Monty is a CPA financial educator and founder of Chillbooks, a self-paced bookkeeping course built for Canadian solopreneurs who have been avoiding their numbers for way too long. She also does fractional CFO work with growing media agencies and has been TurboTalk's Canada spokesperson on CP24, CTV Your Morning, The Globe and Mail, and BNN Blue Mark. Jamie might be the only CPA who makes bookkeeping feel like freedom instead of punishment. And I'm so excited that you're in Canada and here in the studio sharing your wisdom. Thank you so much for saying yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Thank you for having me. And like you said to listeners, thank you for being here for this conversation.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

I want to go right into it because this is a conversation that I feel like needs no beating around the bush. So let's go right in. Most entrepreneurs that I know are treating bookkeeping like punishment. It's the thing they avoid, they hate. It's this unsexy part of entrepreneurship for some reason. So, how do we have to change our relationship with our numbers? And you use the word freedom. How does that come into play?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yes. So what I when I like to talk about this story that uh really illustrates the freedom piece. So I had a friend who he was a consultant in the medical field and he had QuickBooks, and every year he would just kind of avoid using it all year, and then he would pay like a few thousand dollars at the end of the year for his accountant to clean up and do his filing for him. And as you can imagine, for me, this was like killing me on the inside because I was like, dude, can you just I literally have a course that will tell you step by step what to do. Like, can you just deal with this situation? And finally, one year he was like, fine. He so he he logged into Chillbooks and he started following like the principles that I teach around bookkeeping and and universal principles, not just principles that are set to me. And soon after his his partner was pregnant and had a child. And so I went to his place to see the baby. And I was sitting on the couch and he was sitting next to me. I had the baby in my arms. And you know, you have that moment when your kids have your friends have kids where you're just like, Oh my god, like I can't believe you made this. And like, you know, like you're just like the baby's cooing and you're just like, wow, life. And then I look over at him and he's like, I'm I'm freaking out. He's like, I'm freaking out. I'm feeling so much pressure right now. Like, I'm like, I want to spend time at home helping my partner. I want to spend time with this baby. I, but I also want to bring the financial security to the family and want to know that we are okay. Yes. And so he's just like, ever since the baby's been here, it's just been like stressing in the back of my mind. Oh. And so I said, Well, where are you at? Like, how how are things going with the business? He's like, I don't know. And I'm like, What do you mean you don't know? I'm like, I'm like, you've been using QuickBooks. You you've been doing QuickBooks. He's like, Yeah, but I I only really got through like the foundation and like the invoicing part. I didn't do the expenses. I said, Okay, but go get your go get your computer. So I still have the baby in my arms. He goes and brings the brings the computer over his laptop. And I'm just kind of like, click here, click here, click here. You're the best kind of friend, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

It's like that's the friend you want to invite over. It's like, open up your QuickBooks, let me see this exactly.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Air your dirty laundry. And I'm like, I know you've been doing stuff in here. And then sure enough, I saw this like widening of his eyes because he was like, Oh my god, I didn't realize I already passed this month's revenue goal. And I'm like, Okay. And then all of a sudden he's like, Oh, he's like, I can start transitioning some more work to my assistants so I could take a little bit more time this month. And then you could just see like the wheels started turning and the relief was there. And so when I speak about, you know, bookkeeping being something that people feel like is punishment and avoiding, but actually turning it into something that brings freedom. That's the type of freedom that I'm talking about, is that freedom that he saw in that moment? Yes, freedom to do what he wanted with his time because he knew what was going on with his finances, and also like freedom, financial freedom.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yes. Yes. And what I'm hearing from what you're saying is a different way of looking at bookkeeping where it's not just organize your books for tax purposes. It's use the data in a way that's gonna help you make educated decisions. Like, oh, now that he knows, oh, I've already hit my revenue goal, I can outsource some of this. Yes. Maybe it means I value this differently. And so it's not just about doing it for the sake of tax purposes, which is what I see, you know, like on Instagram, it's like, oh, like prepping for tax season and this looking like this dreading thing that we have to do. But even just from the story you're saying, it helps make forward-thinking decisions. And also as a founder, like you know where you're at with yourself. Like, I'm sure that's not the first time you're hearing that said friend didn't even know where they were at with that month's revenue goal.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah, it's very normal. Unfortunately, it's it is like you said, a lot of entrepreneurs, they do the books for the CRA. They do them for tax season, but they don't realize the what the power can give you when you're on the on the pulse all year round. So I agree with you making decisions and also like I always say, like, if you're an entrepreneur who like if you want to build your lifestyle and pay for your lifestyle with your business, there's no other way than to know your numbers. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

I love that. So let's go there and and see how, because when I think of uh chillbooks, QuickBooks, the tool that it is, what comes to my mind the first thing is like, okay, invoicing through QuickBooks. So that's like the first tool that comes to my mind. Then under that layer, I have bookkeeping. So then I'm understanding where is the money going? What's what's under that then? Because I think also, I mean, I've been using QuickBooks, I've been learning from you using QuickBooks for many years. I don't think that I know all of its full capabilities. And you're saying like freedom, the ability to make decisions. So other than knowing how much is coming in and how much is going out, what's that middle space that you're seeing is helping founders?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yes. So I mean, we have to talk about saving money on tax and keeping more money in your pocket. And I think as founders, it's I mean, just as like a savvy business owner, you don't want to be giving more money to CRA than you need to. Okay. And we don't need to be shady. We're not trying to do things, you know, we're not trying to do any shady things. But like, I don't want to give a penny more than I should be. That's right. And when you do bookkeeping, your bookkeeping is you recording, like you said, the ins and the outs, but also it's categorizing things properly. Also, it's separating out sales tax if you're somebody who's registered for GST or HST. Yes. And those sales tax, those input tax credits are very lucrative. So that is something that is number one comes to mind is like you want to keep more money in your pocket, categorizing things correctly, reconciling, reconciling your books to your bank or credit card statements. Those are the things that are going to make sure that you or your accountant, whoever's doing your taxes at the end of the year, can optimize.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

I love that. And I think that was one of the game changers for me as well, was not just for invoicing of asking for money and receiving the money and saving it, but understanding keeping those receipts, knowing those are business expenses. And then when the bank is connected and those receipts, like you take the picture of the receipt and it connects those two things for you. Like, oh, that was like a moment where Nika and I used to do traditional bookkeeping, like it wasn't that way. And then when we got into QuickBooks and we found how that could do it, it was like, wow, that opened so much more. Um, that I didn't, I wasn't as a business owner thinking that way. Because most of the time we're thinking about scaling more money in, but we're not really looking at when the money comes in, how is it categorized, how are things expensed? And so what would you recommend to the person who's in that stage where their bookkeeping isn't as clean and pretty? Like, would you recommend a once-a-month sort of a setup or do it as you go? Like, what's that best practice that you're suggesting?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I suggest, so first and foremost, before you get into like the timing, is to prioritize your setup of what you're doing. Because what I find is yes, I can tell you once a month, once a week, once a quarter. But if you don't actually know what you're supposed to be doing and you don't have a system that's taking care of things in the meantime, like where are you when you get a receipt? Where do you send it to? Or invoicing, like does it get sent out automatically from your system? So, so absolutely, yes, you want to be checking in as often as you can on the books. Like, I think, truthfully, if you can log into your QuickBooks or whatever your system is every Friday, refresh it, make sure the receipts are in. And then maybe you'd pop in once a month to do more active, like reconciling and reviewing your financials. But I think this number one step before you get to those points is like, how do I manage receipts? What software am I using? So, so I like to focus more on setting up those foundational steps. That's like the infrastructure, like the actual foundations of it. Yes. But I'm sure you're looking for a cadence. So I will tell you definitely once a month, I would recommend minimum. But that means that through the month you're invoicing still, through the month, you're still keeping receipts and putting them in a specific place digitally or physically.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Okay. And then my follow-up question to that is how do you know if you have that foundation set up? Like, is it good enough that you have an accountant that has access to your QuickBooks and they do it? Or are we talking about like learning more and optimizing things in there? Cause like, let's just say I have a great accountant, sure, and I do the tax thing once a year. But is there more to the foundation that you're talking about?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Absolutely. And that is a big misconception that I hear from that I hear and that I see with entrepreneurs. And especially when I first started my own business, I started as a doing tax, had a tax practice. So I was filing taxes for self-employed people. And a lot of them thought because they had hired me to do their taxes, that that included all the bookkeeping. And what uh and also what what they didn't realize is if they were not staying on top of reconciling the books and doing their books monthly, what we would spend our efforts on at the end of the year was really just cleaning things up, not actually optimizing. It's just like, let's just get this together so it's in a state that we can file somewhat comfortably and move on.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Oh, I and I really like I know someone's hearing this and they're like, that's me. I'm that person. And it's like, I was that person. I'm so happy that I'm not anymore. But it's like just leaving it, relying on the accountant to do it at the end of the year. I know expensive. It's expensive stress. Yeah, and it's also you don't feel empowered because when you're in that scenario, you're relying, there's so much pressure and stress, and you're relying on someone who is really outside of your business.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

They're not really in your business. You could have great accountants, but to feel empowered by your own numbers where you know how to navigate through QuickBooks, you know how to like understand what those numbers mean, that on its own is what I consider like mental freedom as well. Yes. And empowering to know that I'm not putting all of my eggs in an accountant's basket. That's not a good place to be as an entrepreneur where it's at the end of the year, like, I hope they can work miracles. I can't find anything, but I really hope that they can work a miracle. It's like that's not really the accountant's job either.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

And I I agree completely. Like they're not, and also they're not like they're not able to make numbers up. So whatever you give them is what they're dealing with. So if you haven't been on top of it all year, stuff's gonna get missed. And also, I know a lot of entrepreneurs fear like, oh, if CRA checks in on me, it reviews things or audits things, but that's because if they're not empowered and they don't know what they're filing, they don't know what data they've given because it's a bit of a mess, then of course you're gonna be scared of a review or an audit.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

So then that's the disempowering piece.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yeah, yeah. That's when it feels scary, like punishment, like CRA is this bad thing. That like if they when it's like that's all that mindset part is just like because we're not empowered with our own numbers.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

That's the essence of what Chillbooks is about. Your program teaching people how to set that up for themselves so that that foundation isn't a once-a-year thing. It's built for sustainability, for scalability, and it's kind of like what you're using to make business decisions off of, not just what you're feeling, but what the numbers are saying. What's the best investment? Where is money coming in? Where is it going out? And using that as that tool.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yes, and being able to run and understand reports. Because I think that's another thing too, is like I can say, oh, you'll be able to make better decisions, but if you don't even know what to what type of report to run, how to run a report, how to compare things to. Oh, tell me, tell me, I don't run reports. Okay, so there's you're telling me there's reports. There's a whole report section in QuickBooks Online. Okay. And just to be clear, so when I inside Chill Books, I teach QuickBooks Online. So that's like my software of of choice. So that, you know, because it can be confusing that I picked a name that was basically sounds the same as the software, but it is the software we're but it's so much more chill. It's chill. That's the whole point. It's like you don't have to be scary, it's chill. Right? Exactly. It's that's exactly it. So, so um, when I used to promote the course, I used to call this the third phase of the course um the sexy stuff, the juicy stuff. Yes. Because that's the the and that's what I call the reporting and knowing your numbers. So inside QuickBooks, there is a whole section on reporting. And in there, you can pull reports about, you know, who owes you money, who you owe money to, how often you're paying things. You can actually set up reports to go to you automatically. So say you want to see who owes you money every Monday so you can follow up. You can just set a report that goes to you into your email, and then you can be like, oh, I gotta check in on these guys. Brilliant. Um, but my favorite report specifically as somebody who's an entrepreneur, who's a solo entrepreneur, service-based. I love um the profit and loss by month report because I find it really helpful to be able to look at the the how the how much money I've been making and spending month by month in one, like be able to look at it in one screen. So I can see patterns, I can see, oh, I launched this month, how did my revenue look? I can see my ad spend over different months and how that relates to the related income. So I find that really helpful and and using categories. So, so the reporting is really exciting when you have the foundation set up and you've set up categories that make sense. Yes. So you might, every uh every entrepreneur that files taxes in Canada, um, one of the common, one of the standard uh categories with CRA is advertising. Fine. But we might be doing advertising in many different ways. We might have paid ads, we might be doing in-person events, we might be investing in a podcast. Yes. And so you might, as a founder, as an owner, might want to know how much am I spending on each of these buckets? And so what you could do is, for example, set up sub-accounts that kind of like roll up all into advertising. Yes, but then also down into those things.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Set that up this year, game changer. Because then I could actually understand what was moving the needle in the business. What was it? Was it the podcast? Was it the in-person events? Was it the this? And when you can see it, I guess, all in one picture, that's game changer. I haven't seen it month by month report, though. I'm definitely gonna do that. So is that the same thing as like the traditional PL reporting? Because I think that's like the profit and loss is like the most commonly thing people will use. Would you could you talk a little bit about that and what that is? Or is that the same thing as this report?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I think, well, I think it's it's helpful for anybody to know what a PL is because sometimes people don't necessarily know if if they don't have a bookkeeping system, they're not able to just click a PL report and see it. So a PL is a profit and loss. It's also called like an income statement. Um and uh and what it does is it shows based on the categories that you've set up in your software, it'll show you your all the different income that you've brought in for a specific period and all of the expenses categorized by the categories that you've set up for a specific period. So I could look at a specific month of the year, let's say May, and say, okay, I brought in 10,000 from this stream of income, 20,000, what a dream, 20,000 from this stream, 30,000 from this stream. And I'm like, okay, stream three of income is killing it. So and so you can see all of that income and you can see all of those expenses. Like, oh, I spent 10,000 in advertising. So that just wiped out the 10,000 on this income. So, like, you know, so you can see I'm trying, it's hard when we're just talking about it, but it's it's a report and it shows all the categories and it does the math for you. So those of you who don't like math and get scared about bookkeeping, if you don't like math and you're scared about bookkeeping because you think it's math, the system does the math for you.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Oh, okay. Like, and I think it's worth saying, like, I got a 51 in grade 10 math. So I'm not someone who loves numbers, but I taught myself to fall in love with it and see QuickBooks as my best friend. Like she's trying to help me, she's there for me. And I feel like that way of seeing it is just I also like that you gendered QuickBooks as a woman. Yeah. Oh, everyone on my team, we're we're uh we're a female team. I love it. Yeah. And my AI too. My client yesterday was like, sorry, when you say she, who are you referring to? I was like, oh, my Claude. Like, but now we're gonna call her Claude. We're gonna call her Claudette so that Oh, I love Claudette. It's so fun, right? It's so cute. She deserves a name because she is an integral part of the team. And so it felt like QuickBook is not just the tool, it's like a part of the team, you know. I love it. So good. Okay, so I have a question for people who aren't using QuickBooks. My step before getting Quickbook, I've been on QuickBooks for about maybe four years now. Before that, I was using Excel spreadsheet. Um, do you hate them? Do you love them? Would you supplement? Like, I kind of still use some spreadsheets. Like this, the fear in your face. I don't know. Cause I'm like, is that a good thing? Do you want to hear that?

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Like, should I say that out loud? What kind of what are you using? I'm curious. What are you using spreadsheets for? Because I don't think it's a bad thing. I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

The main one that I'll use it for is um the master revenue spreadsheet. So every month we'll write all of the invoices that go out, and then like I have it coded of the save this percent for this and save this percent for this. And there's a toggle of when my executive assistant has moved that money over to the correct bank account. Because we have to save part of it for HSD and part of it for income, correct? Yes, yes, totally. Yeah. So yeah, yeah. That spreadsheet is like putting all those numbers there. And then when my executive assistant's going in, like Nika knows, okay, this amount has to be transferred to this account. So it's kind of like that master spreadsheet. And it also differentiates for me, which was one of the common mistakes I made of like how much I made versus how much I really made. Because when in my mind, when I'm like, oh, a $20,000 client, that's all my money. Not true. Not true. Like after reading like profit first book, it's like, okay, well, I move money for operational expenses. We're moving money for when I want to hire people. There needs to be a bucket there. So that one spreadsheet that I have, everything else is in QuickBooks, but that one spreadsheet is kind of like my quick glance of it. And making sure that the money goes to the right account. So I'm not spending the wrong money. Cause that was part of my bad belief that I wasn't a good money manager. Was in my first year, when I got money, I blew the money. So even though I made six figures, I had no idea how I made it or what I spent it on. So I judged myself that I wasn't good with money. Because when it came to tax season, they were like, hey, you owe 16,000 or 26,000, whatever the number was. And like I wanted to cry. I was like, what the so you suck at this, clearly, you suck at this. And that was the year where I was like, I'm never gonna make this decision again. I'm an excellent money manager. Like, we have systems to support us, and the books are always clean. Love. So that what but that system, that's why I'm like stuck to having those numbers there. Cause I'm like, I can't make the mistake I made the first round because I have to take out the 13%. I have to take out the 25%. And then that number is actually much smaller. So if you're blowing all of the money that comes in, yeah, bad tax season. That's why, that's why you have that bad relationship with tax.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

I just want to say that you told me this story when we first met as well. And I really, really admire your uh ability to take action and your ability to shift your mindset because it's really hard. It's really hard to because that type of stuff I think is also ingrained in different levels. Yes. As women, as like, I don't know how many people I know. Like it's like, oh, my dad's accountant does my taxes. Like and that's like this is just kind of how we've been a lot of us have been raised, and the messaging that we've gotten is like we don't do the money stuff. Yeah. And so I just know that those are deep beliefs that, and then something like that, a big tax bill like that smacks you in the face, and you're like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know if I can do this. Yeah, so it's it's very common, and and so you should be really proud that you pulled yourself out of that after one tax season. Yeah. Because sadly, a lot of people like I have a lot of people that join Chillbooks that are like, I've been dealing with this, I've been doing this for 11 years, and I just never have been able to figure it out. Yeah. And sometimes it's mindset, but and sometimes it's also just like having like accountants are not teachers. So having people give you advice and you're still confused, and then it just you're like never-ending poor bad tax season. So that's right. But it's amazing that you that you did that.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

And it's not easy.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

And that's why I love QuickBooks so much because that truly was the one tool that made it easier. Yes, there was the mindset stuff. You're right, but there was like basic infrastructure. Like, well, what do you do with your receipts? Where do you send invoices out of? Do you even have an account that money gets transferred over to? And so getting QuickBooks elevated me as an entrepreneur to get out of this, like, oh, I'm just good at like the marketing or the sales. It's like, if you want to be a CEO and you want to build a business that is going to build profit and freedom, you have to have a technology tool. And that brings me back to the question. So are Excel spreadsheets, no, no, no, but it's good. It's like, so are Excel spreadsheets not good? Like if as a CEO, should I not be using that and really try and integrate into a software and tool? We're talking about QuickBooks today, is that the suggestion? Or are you seeing that, you know, the clients that you're advising and working with that they could supplement in different ways and when to use what?

SPEAKER_00 26:03

So if you are going to be in business for multiple years, so it's not kind of like a side hustling or not sure where it's going, I always recommend from the start to get yourself in QuickBooks. It may feel like overkill at the time. Yeah. However, you get the historical data in there from day one. You get to go through the learning curve of learning the system while you don't have a ton of volume of activity in your business. And once your business starts to grow, you don't have to backtrack and figure all this stuff out. So it may feel like overkill at the start, but if you are planning on being in business for a few years or more, like it's not just kind of a maybe, maybe we'll see what happens with this. Then yes, I would say QuickBooks is the vibe, especially also invoicing. As you spoke about invoicing, most people need a way to invoice their clients. So why not start doing it right in the system? So you don't have to do more information of gathering all that information at the end of the year manually. Now, Excel spreadsheets, they have their place. And so sometimes I do a this workshop called Tax Prep Workshop, where um very creative name, where basically I helped it.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

I love clear marketing. This is what this is about. Don't put no fluffy words in there. Tax prep workshop.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

It's the stuff you've been avoiding all year. Let's do it. And I get together with entrepreneurs, and virtually three days we basically get fit go through all the stuff they haven't dealt with all year, and we put it into a spreadsheet that I've crafted, okay, to separate out sales tax and all this stuff. And then I'm like, this is your solution for right now, but get yourself into QuickBooks. So spreadsheets, they work for a time and a place, but they're not a system. Yes. So they're they and you know, mistakes happen, there's no way to reconcile and those types of things. And just back to your spreadsheet. Yes. Um, I think I think that if you have a spreadsheet that helps you and gives you clarity and makes you feel good with the financial side of your business, and you it might feel redundant with what you're already doing in your bookkeeping, that's okay. It what matters is what works for you. Yeah. Yes, we could talk about okay, how do you automate pull that report from QuickBooks top times it by this? This is how you do it. But the thing is, is like, what do you like that matters too?

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Yeah, yeah. And what's the system that works? Because over the years I've built a system where there's like two people doing this process in my business as well. So I'm not, I'm not a solopreneur. I do have some help. And I think that's like a liaise that the team can also use, like me and Nika. Nika's doing that bookkeeping part of the business. So I can also check that spreadsheet and know when she's transferred over the money because we kind of use the steps in there. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

So that makes sense to me. Yeah, so but what matters is what works and what you'll do consistently.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Yeah, that's it. Ultimately, that's what matters. Yes. Something that works over time. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So this was a pure personal question of mine. Okay. Because, like, as you know, I speak at a lot of events. I'm doing a lot of in-person things. And so I want to know what counts as write-offs and what doesn't. The obvious ones that I know of are like a great app like Miles IQ, which connects to my car driving and connects is connected to QuickBooks. So, like we're recording where I'm driving and that sort of thing because I'm driving around a lot. So that's an obvious work expense. It's in my calendar. I know I'm going to meet Jamie at grid. This drive and the 407 bill included is a tax expense. The part that isn't as clear is like if I were to get my hair done for this episode, or if I were to buy an outfit, like I buy outfits specifically for events. I have a stylist that would buy outfits for a TV appearance, let's say, or a keynote speaking appearance. In my mind, it's it is a business expense. But I also want to make sure I'm understanding that gray area and how to best protect myself so that I'm not scared of CRA. Because I understand I'm I'm not I'm not feeding into that. Like they're gonna come after me. But I also want to make sure that I'm doing it right. So how do I ensure I do that right?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yes. Okay, so I'm just gonna rip the band-aid off about clothing. Please say yes. So when it comes to clothing, generally it's not a write-off because we all need clothing. This is this is not my argument. This is a series argument. She's like, for the record, before I get the hate. And everybody has roles in their lives that they might need to buy a special outfit for, or you know, in the corporate world, people can't write off clothing when they when they're working for other people. Like it's clothing is kind of like we gotta all present ourselves for the role that we want or the role that we're in. And and it's it's it's a it's considered something that's just personal. There are some exceptions to writing off clothing. One exception is if the clothing has your logo, at that point it's considered advertising.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

I love it. So basically, I have to get like a brand and part on my skirt.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Yeah, just get like a teeny tiny logo. Yeah, put it on everything. Yeah. No, but I didn't say that, but but advertising counts. Um security safety. So let's say you're somebody who works and you go into construction sites and you need hard toe boots or that type of stuff, that um steel toe, that's that would count as a write-off. But and and performers. So if you are performing at, you know, on in a play and you have a specific costume for that character, then then you could write off those costumes. So that's where I know where your brain is going and probably where listeners are going. But technically, when I'm speaking at a keynote, I'm performing.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

I literally work, like I'm thinking about, for example, like run the world. When I speak at run the world, I get my outfit made for it. So like I have inspo, I love fashion. I literally will buy material, work with a seamstress, work with a stylist, and we bring the vision of my outfit to life. Okay, we need to talk about that later. Yeah, yeah. And like that's how I got like for money moves. I had the fur, I had like a tie made for it. Cause I was wearing a suit, but I wanted to elevate it to make it gazzy, to make it what my brand is all about with its authenticity, expression. So I'm like, well, technically, that's that is a performance, no? Because I am on stage, fully set up with Mike, no lights, there's videographers.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Like, I know, I know, I I understand where you're coming from. And I'm gonna say I would not, I would say my recommendation is no. Noted. Um, so for example, when I did the spokesperson work and I had the media wardrobe put together for being on television, I would feel like that's a performance. And I was like, there's no way I'm gonna risk it. So I dispensed my stylist fees. Yes, okay. Because that I would not, that was directly related, but the actual items of clothing I did not. Okay, great. Okay, great. And I once heard of a TV anchor at one of my events. She um came up to me and she was like, I'm so happy you talked about clothing because she was a television anchor for years and she wrote off her wardrobe and which you would think as a television anchor, and it came back to bite her and she had to pay all the tax back that she had claimed. Fair. So fair.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

And I always want to be on the green side. I never want to be like in that middle. So would you say um hair and makeup for certain events? Would that be a little bit more?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

So so definitely like to me, it's still a gray area. Okay, but that's where I would personally feel comfortable for, especially makeup for an event. Like you can't use that outside of the event. You gotta wash it off after, right? Like I just feel like it's an it's a like that that I would push with, and I would also push with um with like hair.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yeah, fair. Because I literally will go because you know, we got froze, we got we got the curly curls. Yes, yes. So if I don't get it done, like I'm gonna have a full-on frizzy poodle hat by the end of the event. So like I must get that gel combed in and finger coiled one to one. Yes, yes. So okay, so those are yes and yeses.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Those are, but again, I don't don't don't come at me because my bread and butter is bookkeeping, so I'm not seeing a lot of the audits coming through and everything like that. That's right. But but if if I were looking at my own books, that's what I would do. Fair. Because everybody has a different risk tolerance, and unfortunately, the CRA does not say, yes, make up for events. Yes. No, like you know, so you gotta kind of go with that.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Yeah, that's it. And I guess to your point, if you're always clean with your books and you have all the receipts and things organized, that even if they did want to do an audit, you wouldn't be worried about it. Because you could clearly show it show, like, that was this event, here's the invoice for that, here it was in this different city. And so even if there was um, let's say, like a verification that needed to be shown, that it wouldn't be from like, oh my God, we're in trouble, something bad happened. It's like, no problem. We just need to show, we just need to show the data to them. Like, here's the evidence, like here's the here's the proof of it.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Yeah. Exactly. And on that point of writing things off is is um a key part of that is exact is that documentation. And and if you can, what what I find is the easiest thing with with things like travel, personal things, things that look like they could be personal and fun, but it's actually business related, is to write on the receipt, if it's a physical receipt, like what that was for before you take a photo of it and put it into your bookkeeping. And then you just know it's kind of like locked in. You don't ever have to think about it six years from now. Yeah. And um, or if it's a digital receipt, you just forward it into your bookkeeping system with text in the email.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

That was that's a brilliant thing that I loved about QuickBooks is that when I get the invoice, I can press forward and go to like yeah, like my email, Yazzy than the QuickBooks Eve. And it will just send it and most times autofile it for me as well. Whew, love language. Which it's so nice. Love when it goes and it matches too. And it matches, I'm like, oh, I love you. Green, green, green all across. Yes, like that's Nika and I'm gonna. If you know, you know the green check mark. Literally, and it just like clicks and oh, it's so good. It's so good. Okay, my my last question is around paying ourselves. And as entrepreneurs, founders, solopreneurs, people growing the team, sometimes we're the last people to get paid. And so I want to talk a little bit about that from a bookkeeping perspective. What needs to be true? What needs to be happening for us to move to a place where there is consistent pay the way that we used to have it when we were in the nine to five. Because I've been in entrepreneurship for six years now, and that's that's the least consistent thing. My actions are always consistent, everyone else gets paid before me. Like I still pay myself, but I think six years in, like it took me a while to get to this point where I'll pay myself when big chunks come in and then like reinvest bits of it. But I also know that there's people that don't pay themselves for many years.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Or don't even think about that, and they just take whatever is left over. What's your thoughts on this? And how should we be thinking about that?

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Oh my gosh, I have so many things I want to say. I'm just trying to organize my brain. That could be its own episode. Pay yourself. I'm gonna try and distill it down to like a few key pieces that I think people need to be aware of. And and and so one is that you want to ensure, so we've been talking about bookkeeping this whole episode, but you want to make sure you're actually marking what you're paying yourself inside your bookkeeping system and knowing how to do that depending on if you're incorporated or if you're a sole proprietor. For a lot of sole proprietors, they feel like the business money is their money because legally it is. And CRA does looks at you as the same entity as your as your business. So it can be really easy to get into the trap of mixing bank accounts and just taking money out when there's money in the account and saying, okay, this is due, I'll pay it now. So an another system systemic no systemic or ch challenge I would see is is um having those separate bank accounts. It's a big mistake that I see many people make early on. Not big, it's a common mistake that makes their books more difficult, but also paying yourself because you need to feel that difference of my money versus the business's money to even get into the habit of knowing this is how much I pay myself. So those are kind of the system bookkeeping things. Record it properly and have your your accounts separated. The other thing is budgeting and cash flow. Doesn't really, it's not really about the bookkeeping, although the bookkeeping does help because you can kind of pull a report, the P L by a month. Yes, and then use that to help forecast the next six six months or a year as your base data. And then use and and so look to see how much money is going to be in my bank account at this month based on what I'm predicting is going to happen. Work backwards and plug in a number for your pay into that forecast. So there needs to be, if you really want to pay yourself consistently, it's not, I'm trying to simplify it here, but I've by explaining what you kind of do, but really it comes down to having a budget or cash flow, which is often both the same thing when you're like when you're a small business, that they kind of depending on what type of business you have, but if you're like a service-based business, but having a line item in there next to paying your advertising costs, next to paying your subscriptions, what amount can you pay yourself? Plan it out for the next six months and and do it.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Do you suggest that from the beginning, or is there a certain number or time that you suggest that at?

SPEAKER_00 40:34

So I suggest from the beginning that you're doing some sort of movement of money between yourself and the business. Yeah. And it could even it could literally be something like so small and insignificant, but I want you to get into the habit of my money versus business money and me paying myself. Yeah. So it could be insignificant to your life, but I recommend doing that at the beginning. However, if you want to have a sustainable paying yourself strategy, you need to know what your numbers look like. So it does take time.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

So it's not a clean, like, here are the steps and this is how it can do. And even I know that um you had mentioned what's that thing that people use pay not where you transfer certain percentages of money. I forget what it's called. Profit first. Profit first. Yeah. I know a lot of people that works really well for them. Yeah. So that is uh something that you could look into as well. But I think it's a matter of tracking things right, knowing your numbers and planning. Yes. Because if you don't have that plan, you're gonna feel like, well, if I pay myself a thousand, what's gonna happen next month if I need that money?

SPEAKER_01 41:41

That's right. That's right. And that's what that's what I always think of is like, well, let me just reinvest it back into the business. But I agree with you that it should be there, even if it's a small amount to get in the habit. Even before I was fully ready to get myself on consistent pay, I included in that spreadsheet and Excel what owner's pay would be using the profit first model, just so I could get comfortable with the idea of over the year I could at least see what that number is.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

I love that so much.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Even if I didn't transfer it to like the account doesn't exist where I move the money over the same way we do for HST and for savings. But I still have it there because I think to your point, knowing that there's a different thing, especially now that I'm incorporated, I am not the business.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

And so having those separate entities, and then now I'm getting in the habit of trying to pay myself. It's like, okay, it could all go to advertising, but this was actually dedicated for me. It's not that I'm taking away from something else, is if you use the profit first model, which I don't follow it to a T, but there's elements of it that I do follow very organized. At least I know my value and my owner's pay outside of what is this business, because I'm no longer the business. It has a name that is different than me, that one day this business could be sold. So what's in the business belongs to the business. What is in my account belongs to me. And even just having that differentiating number for me made a difference and made me understand my value as the CEO of the current company in a way that when I was a solopreneur and all of the accounts were the same, it wasn't giving me the full true picture.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Some days I felt like I had so much money, some days I felt like I had no money because I was using it based on said number, but that number isn't mine. And when you could break it down in the profit first and see, okay, it's operational expenses, it's this category, it's owner's pay. You realize, oh, what is truly yours? And it feels good to know that like that that money is mine.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Yes. Yes. And and something that I forgot to mention too. Well, I think two two things. One is I think that that feeling of like you said, some months you feel like you have so much money and you're like, now's the month to pay myself. And other months you feel like you don't. It's like when you have a plan, a budget or cash flow where you're looking further out, you know that oh, I got this great inflow of money. Perfect. It's gonna stay in my account because I only pay myself this much a month right now. That's right. So then you get into that habit of smoothing it out.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Yeah, it's responsible decision making instead of it like flowing with the ebbs and flows of income every month, which realistically is not always the same every month. And so I love what you said. I think most people aren't even thinking it's like for forward. Yeah. Right. That's the mindset I keep hearing. It's like what you're saying is when you know the numbers, it's forward decision making. And as entrepreneurs, sometimes like the money resets on the first. Like we're working month to month sometimes. Even with sales strategy, I can see there isn't systems of forward thinking. It's like, what are we gonna do this month? And I love that perspective that you're bringing is when you're fully understanding how to use QuickBooks, it's not for tax, it's not for this present moment. It's making educated decisions for what is next, where is the money going? Who are we delegating? Who are we hiring? And what does that cash flow actually look like?

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Mm-hmm. And on the paying yourself front, I have one more thing that I feel is helpful. Yes, please. Is if you're somebody who, let's say you have a system, like you have a bookkeeping system or you're tracking your numbers, but you're still not paying yourself because like those are two different strengths or challenges, I would say. And is is go back into your bookkeeping system and pull a report to see how much you've paid yourself. So depending on how you structure things in your bookkeeping, like inside Chillbooks, I teach people to use a shareholder loan account, which represents when they take money out and when they put money in. Because I teach everybody how to do bookkeeping as they are incorporated, even if they're not incorporated, just to get in that habit. And so I would get them to pull a report of shareholder loan, which shows them for a period how much they've invested versus how much they took out, because that's what happens. If you're if you're running that flow, you might put money in, you might take money out. So use that to say, okay, for the past six months or for the past year, this is the average. That's the number I'm gonna work on paying myself. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

I haven't even done that, the adding shareholder. This is why I really need to go through the full chillbooks, which by the way, if you're watching this, we're giving a code away to my community. If you're not using QuickBooks and you wanna learn, you want to learn from Jamie already, you know, like she has so much to offer. If you want to go through the official program, if you use Gazzy Crew, that's gonna get you $50 off the course. $50 off. You'll thank me later. QuickBooks was one of the best decisions I made for my business. And honestly, the vibe I got from just meeting you from day one is you represent chillbooks. You make it sound so easy, so fun, and you take that scary bit away from numbers. And I learned so much from this episode, so many things. Even the shareholder thing. I'm like, I gotta do that. I don't think I've even I even knew what that was before this conversation with you. So thank you so, so much. To wrap it up, I wanted to ask you one final question. It's a like a quick one. What's what are your favorite connectors into QuickBooks? I just because I'm like, oh, maybe there's things I can learn that like I I have Miles IQ as a connector and Stripe. Is there anything else that you've seen that's pretty cool?

SPEAKER_00 47:39

I'm going to say that I don't have favorite connectors and I'm more excited about built-in built-in AI features right now into QuickBooks because I've found that connectors in general are a bit of a pain to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Okay. Well, you're just gonna drop that at the last minute of the episode. We gotta tell you what's coming up with AI and how QuickBooks is also integrating that. Yeah, I guess that's gonna look different moving forward as well.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Yeah, and I find connectors they there's really a strong technical aspect to it that that in the setup and then monitoring it if it breaks. And so I just I don't have one that I'm like, this is the one I try to avoid them to be on.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

Well, I would love to bring you back for part two on this when more comes out around AI and more of my listeners are getting into QuickBooks and need more support. Hopefully, we can come back for part two of that conversation. I love it. Thank you so so much for being here. Honestly, like this was just probably one of my favorite episodes. Thank you for having me. I'm so grateful. Me too. Well, that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for sharing your time with me. I know as a CEO that time is your most valuable asset. So let's make it worth it. What's one thing that you're gonna implement or embody today? Because listening without action is just entertainment. So DM me your takeaway on Instagram at authenticgazzy. I want to hear it, and I promise you I will hold you accountable. And if this episode resonated, share it with a woman in your circle who needs to hear this. And if you haven't already, follow and subscribe so you never miss a Tuesday. I'll see you next week.