Bookkeeping Tips for Brand-New Business Owners

Starting a business is exciting. It's also a lot, and somewhere in the middle of building your product, finding customers, and figuring out what you're even doing, your bookkeeping can quietly slide to the back burner. Here are three things worth putting in place early, before the back burner turns into a mess you have to clean up later.

Decide how you're going to pay yourself

It's easy to pour everything into the business and forget that you're a person with bills too. Set a plan for paying yourself, whether that's a set salary or a percentage of profits, so your own expenses and savings don't get lost in the shuffle. Future you will appreciate not having to figure this out during a cash crunch.

Set aside money for taxes as you go

Predicting your first-year tax bill is genuinely hard, but you can still protect yourself. A good rule of thumb is to set aside around 30% of your income for taxes as it comes in. Do that consistently and tax time stops being a scramble and starts being a non-event.

Find an accountant or bookkeeper early

You don't have to figure this out solo. An accountant or bookkeeper can help with your budget, your cash flow, your taxes, all of it, and hand you back the hours you'd otherwise spend untangling spreadsheets. That's time you can put straight back into growing the business.

Starting a business is exciting, and it's also a lot to hold at once. Decide how you'll pay yourself, set aside money for taxes as you earn it, and bring in help before you actually need it. Do those three things and your finances stay in order while you focus on the part you actually started this for.