How To Build Your Business Finances Into Your Routine Without Stress and Make It Fun with Sara Fins

How To Build Your Business Finances Into Your Routine Without Stress and Make It Fun with Sara Fins

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and I have the lovely Sarah Fins with me, and she is the owner of Sarah Fins Coaching, and she is also a finance coach. I’m so excited to talk about our topic today, but before we get into that, let’s hear a little bit about you and your background, and how you got started

I began my career in accounting. I went to school for accounting. I earned my CPA. I worked in various corporate accounting roles for several years, in New York City and also in London, and. After my daughter was born, she’s 12 now. I went back to school for health coaching to follow my passion for health and all things health and wellness

I started my health coaching business and ran that business for about 10 years. During that time I discovered that so many of my colleagues and health coach friends and other entrepreneurial friends were struggling with the finance side of their businesses. And so that came naturally to me because of my background in accounting before I started my business. 

And I realized that because I knew running my business, as well as my knowledge of accounting, I could help other solopreneurs learn to manage their finances easily. And so it started just by helping some friends, you know, on kind of a casual basis.

 I thought to myself that it might be something that I., you know, work, turn into a business and help more people with. And when I started doing that, first of all, I loved it. I love it. And it was super rewarding. And it’s something that I, find, is needed. And so I’ve moved into that full time now and I’ve kind of, you know, with the health coaching to the wayside, and I’m focusing on supporting other entrepreneurs right now.

That’s awesome. I love when two different passions come together. And the second thing that I love, and this happens in almost every episode if we’re talking to a mother, is. After birth, like a career change. Like it’s, So like, you know, like, okay, I’m doing this and I don’t wanna do this when I have a kid. Like, that’s just not gonna work for me. And I just love that transformation.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, corporate, you know, corporate accounting is, um, it’s a demanding field to be in and it’s not very flexible. 

And so I knew that I, you know, wanted to be around more, um, while my kids were growing up. I decided becoming an entrepreneur was the way to do it

That’s awesome. I love that. It’s one of my, I guess favorite things to hear from anyone like, I started this because I had kids and now I can be home with them and you know, be present and you know, that’s like music to my ears, so I love it. Awesome. So today we’re gonna talk about how to build your business finances into your routine without stress and make it fun. The last part is the part that I’m really curious about, but let’s talk about it.

I mean, one of the things I try to do with my clients is to take the stress and the overwhelm, and the scariness out of finances because I truly believe that anyone can learn how to manage their business finances. You don’t need to have an accounting background.

You don’t need to even have, you know, business training. You just need to. Willing to learn new things and get, kind of, get in there. And so I work hard to kind of demystify that and also to bring some fun into my recommendations for my clients

That’s awesome. I love it. And. I know you’re right, but I have had the opposite experience of myself like I am probably your ideal client. At least I was until I got my bookkeeper last year. but you know, like I was overwhelmed.

I would just like not to do anything really until like April. And then I would have to go through the entire year. I think we talked about this when we first met, but like I would go through the entire year in like two weeks and I couldn’t talk to my family

I wouldn’t like, I’d be like, Nope, I can’t talk to you until I get this done. I can’t talk to you until I get this done. Like it was horrible. And so I love that you’re trying to kind of counter that gives us kind of a really easy way to track things. So let’s talk about it.

You’re, you’re not alone. First of all, I hear that time and time again because also, as moms and business owners, we’re so busy, we wear so many hats. We have a thousand things to do every day that there’s, you know, the things that don’t take priority, like the finances. Until they are a priority come tax time.

I tend to fall by the wayside. But I designed my course and my system intentionally so that it can be something that can be done a little bit each week or a little bit each month, depending on the size of your business. So that way when it comes to the end of the year, you’re just kind of finalizing the details.

You’re not having to spend all that time in one lump sum or one sitting to get it all done. And so I think. I feel very strongly that if you put in a little bit of time upfront, It, you know, will keep you from having to do it all at the last minute, but also it takes that stress away and then you can let kind of the fun creep in.

The fun part is knowing what’s going on with me. I don’t know if, if that’s the fun part, making it fun, but to me, that’s where I see the fun and like looking at reports and like seeing things and not having to guess, you know, like knowing like this is how much is in there, this is how much is in there, and all of those things.

From where you know, which parts of your business are bringing in the most revenue, what’s going out, maybe what you, shouldn’t be spending so much on at the moment, or what you have to invest in, say, a new program or a new platform that you need, you can look at that in real-time instead of waiting until the end of the year and kind of, or kind of winging it

During the year. And then also too, if you’re tracking your finances regularly, when you are making money and when your launches are successful and when your sales are happening, that’s fun, because we’re in business to help people, but we’re also in business to have a thriving business that can support us and our families. That’s exciting, at least to me. But it sounds like it’s the same for you. You resonate with that as well, right?

I love that. I mean, before again, I was just kind of like, it was just always anxiety when I thought about it. Like always anxiety, always anxiety. And now I just, actually yesterday my bookkeeper sent me the report from January, and so now I know like, what. I know like what happened in January and you know, like what our net was and all that stuff. And I just love it.

So, yeah, that’s great. And you were probably all, all ready for your taxes in advance, right? Which is contrary to every other year. And it’s awesome and, and it’s such a good feeling and like you were saying, that you don’t have to stress about it because it’s done, you know

I love, you know, that you have a bookkeeper, but what I found is that many, so entrepreneurs, Either they’re not at a place financially where they’re ready to make that investment. But what I also think is important too, that you know, you said your bookkeeper sends your reports. 

You wanna make sure that even if you’re hiring someone, you’re still looking at the numbers for the reasons that we talked about before. But you, you wanna make sure you’re still in the numbers, even if you’re not the one, you know, entering them and tracking them throughout the year, it’s super important too.

I love that. So what is yours? Kind of framework. How do we do this? How do we accomplish not being stressed about it and building it into our own?

Right, so the first thing you need to do is have a system. So you need to find a system that works for you. You know, I built a system because I didn’t, I couldn’t find one that wasn’t. The ones that are out there I find are overwhelming for most business owners, and they’re complex and they’re more than they need unless you know you are a bookkeeper. Doing books for other businesses.

And so I created that. And then within that tracking, once you have something that you’re comfortable tracking, setting money dates is probably the number one recommendation. And then sticking to those money dates. And what I mean by that is you, Pick a date, you know, either once a week, Friday or Monday.

Usually works well for people depending on, you know, the flow of their business or once a month if you don’t have a huge amount of volume going through your business to sit down and take a look at your bank statements and enter them into the tracking tool that you use

And so your bank statements, but also if you have credit card statements related to your business or any other revenue sources. So if you. Whatever, stripe or square, or make sure you’re looking at all of those reports and then you’re only putting in a little bit at a time so that way you can spend, you know, an hour or less

Within my program, we have money dates that are half an hour and people find that that’s a nice amount of time for them to just on an ongoing basis, be able to plug everything in. And then make those money dates fun so that you want to go to them, right? So maybe that means you have an accountability partner whom you meet on Zoom and you do it together

That’s a great idea. I’ve never even thought of that because I’m sure you have business owner friends, right? Like most of us have business owner friends that are probably in the same boat, that are looking for that as well. So make it kind of a scheduled date or you can put some music on or you can do that as well. You know, have a cup of tea, have a glass of water, whatever it is that makes you feel comfortable and calm so that you’re not associating your finances with stress. And then the other recommendation I have is to use a timer. So if you find that you’re feeling overwhelmed getting started, just give yourself 15 minutes

It doesn’t all have to get done in one sitting. You know, if you, if you’re not doing. For in the tax time crunch, it doesn’t all have to get done at one time, right? So maybe spend 15 minutes that first time. Just get in there, look at your numbers, download the statements, do what you need to do, and then say, okay, time’s up

I’m gonna come back again tomorrow or the next day, do another 15 minutes, and kind of build that muscle of taking the fear away and taking the anxiety away. Looking at your numbers and, and plugging them into your tool.

Oh my gosh. I love all of those things.  I love them, like setting the mood. Like you’re, you’re going on a date with your finances, so you know, you wanna feel good, maybe even put on some makeup and, you know. Make yourself feel amazing. I love that.

it’s all about shifting the energy around the money because oftentimes we grow up with energy, certain energy around money, certain beliefs around money, and those are hard to shake. And if you can somehow figure out how you can shift that, at least. In the timeframe where you’re working on your finances, you know, be excited about what’s coming into your bank account

Be excited that you have this business that you get to, you know, invest in. And I always love to reframe taxes too. People kind of get grumbling about having to pay taxes, but. Paying taxes means your business is making money.

So to me, that’s a, you know, that’s a, a good thing. And also, if you are tracking your finances regularly, you can regularly put aside money for your taxes so that way at the end of the year, you’re not scrambling to try to cover, you know, a few of what you owe

That’s awesome. I love all of these things. So how can we get a hold of your program? Like if I’m, you know, a business owner and I don’t have a system, like if, basically if you were talking to me last year, Tell me.

So the name of my program is called Easy Business Bookkeeping. I intend to keep it just that, you know, easy. That’s why I use that name. So you can find me on social media at Easy Business Bookkeeping. And then the link to my course information is Sarah fins.com/bookkeeping

So that’s where you can find out all the information about the program and then, you know, on my website, go find out some more about me. So that’s the best place to find out information about the course.

Awesome. I love it. So do you have any other, um, tips or tricks or anything else that you’d like to share with us about making those finances less stressful and more fun?

What I’d like to say is to just get started so that oftentimes we can hold ourselves back from doing it for all the reasons we talked about, and I just challenge you to get started, and then, get support

So, you know, if that’s not my course, it could be somebody else’s course. It could be a friend who’s well versed in finance, can be a book, you know, whatever it is, gets support because we didn’t wake up one day learning all the things we need in our own business to make it successful.

So if you’re learning something new like finances, you need to take the time to get the support around it so you can learn it. So that’s what I would say. Don’t feel bad for not knowing. What you think you should know.

That makes complete sense because it’s like we all kind of think like, oh, well I spend money in my personal life, so I should be able to, you know, figure this out on my own. Like, it shouldn’t be this hard, but it is

It’s just different, you know, it’s not the same as your personal life. There’s receivables, payables, all that stuff, and you wanna make sure that you’re seeing those things and tracking and all of that stuff. So I agree. I think that’s a great tip

Yeah, absolutely. And I do have a downloadable guide if anybody’s interested. That’s a free guide. It’s also on my website, Sarah fins.com/steps. And what’s in there are three simple steps to get you started right away. So if you’re looking to dive in, you’re not sure. What you know what to do first. You can grab that guide and it’ll give you some information to get started

Awesome. Well, we’ll have that link in the show notes. So where is the best place? You mentioned Instagram, but where is the best place for people to connect with you online, social media-wise?

I have my Instagram page, easy Business Bookkeeping, and I also have a Facebook group, um, a free Facebook group called the Easy Business Bookkeeping Community you can just type that into the Facebook search bar and you’ll find my group and I’m in there all the time, you know, connecting and going live and talking with members and sharing tips and tricks for managing your finances.

So I’d love to have you come hang out with me if that’s something that resonates with you at the Easy Business Bookkeeping community

That sounds awesome. All right, well, you heard her go hang out in her community. Thank you so much, Sarah, for being here and sharing your wisdom with us and sharing very importantly how not to stress about money and how to make our bookkeeping fun. So thank you.