How Good Bookkeeping Can Grow Your Business with Annie Hillman

12/19/22 • 50 min

Don’t you just love bookkeeping? Well, I sure don’t. Yet, proper bookkeeping can make a difference in your business. To get you excited to dive into your books and records so your business can grow, I brought on a guest with a real passion for managing the minutiae of business.

About Annie Hillman

Annie Hillman is the founder and head bookkeeper at Atlas Bookkeeping Co. While finishing her college degree, she took a temporary accounting job and instantly fell in love with accounting. She worked her way up to staff accountant and stayed there until starting Atlas in 2020.

Now, she spends her days helping business owners treat numbers like a tool, not a threat so they can run empowered, profitable businesses with calm confidence. She helps business owners embrace numbers, increase profits, and stress way less with monthly money management. Besides crunching your numbers, Annie loves fitness, baking bread, and hanging with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.

Why It’s Time to Hire a Bookkeeper

Even if your business is tiny or you’re just starting out, getting help with your books is a great thing to do. One thing that helped me grow my business was hiring a bookkeeper. Annie and I explain how doing this will free up your time so you can focus on actually running your business, not just managing its details.

Unless you’re an expert at this already, a professional bookkeeper will also provide you with data you might otherwise miss. You can then use this information to help your business thrive even more. It’s also helpful to get an outside perspective on your business for an objective viewpoint.

What You Can Do to Better Manage Your Books

To get your books in order, Annie has some suggestions. First, don’t wait until the end of the year. Regularly dedicate some time to it. Also, don’t muddy up your numbers with personal expenses. Keep your business numbers separate from everything else.

Annie also wants you to keep your receipts organized. Even storing them in a simple Google Drive folder will make everything so much easier when it's time to crunch the numbers.

We also discuss helpful tools for keeping track of expenses and income, such as Annie’s Money Mapper and accounting software. If a tool can save you time and effort, then it will be worth the cost in the end. Even if your business is small now, set all this up so that things will continue to run smoothly as you grow.

What’s been your biggest bookkeeping challenge? Leave a comment on the episode page!

In This Episode

Why paying a bookkeeper will save you money in the end [6:00]
The most common mistakes business owners make with their books [13:30]
The important distinction between a bookkeeper and an accountant [17:00]
Helpful tools for tracking income and expenses [22:00]
Accounting for the difference between profit and sales [31:30]
Making sure you have enough money for tax time [42:30]

Quotes

“There’s something to be said about looking at your business objectively. Sometimes as a business owner, you can’t do that with your own numbers.” [12:28]

“A bookkeeper is going to manage your books on a monthly basis. So they’re going to get really into the minutiae of it.” [17:50]

“That might work when you have two clients. But we all want to grow and scale our business. That’s not going to work when you have a hundred clients or more.” [30:32]

Review Fed and Fearless on Apple Podcasts! Send a screenshot of your review to [email protected] or send me a DM on Instagram and I’ll send you my Overcoming Undereating eBook. If you post your favorite episode in your Insta stories and tag me @LauraShoenfeldRD, I’ll also send you my 14-Day Calorie Challenge Recipe Guide!

Links

Download your FREE Profit Planning Workbook!

Find Annie Hillman online

Bookkeeping Basics Guide

Use Coupon Code - PODCAST20 for 20% off Money Mapper

About Annie Hillman

Why It’s Time to Hire a Bookkeeper

What You Can Do to Better Manage Your Books

Annie also wants you to keep your receipts organized. Even storing them in a simple Google Drive folder will make everything so much easier when it's time to crunch the numbers.

What’s been your biggest bookkeeping challenge? Leave a comment on the episode page!

In This Episode

Why paying a bookkeeper will save you money in the end [6:00]
The most common mistakes business owners make with their books [13:30]
The important distinction between a bookkeeper and an accountant [17:00]
Helpful tools for tracking income and expenses [22:00]
Accounting for the difference between profit and sales [31:30]
Making sure you have enough money for tax time [42:30]

Quotes

“There’s something to be said about looking at your business objectively. Sometimes as a business owner, you can’t do that with your own numbers.” [12:28]

“A bookkeeper is going to manage your books on a monthly basis. So they’re going to get really into the minutiae of it.” [17:50]

“That might work when you have two clients. But we all want to grow and scale our business. That’s not going to work when you have a hundred clients or more.” [30:32]

Links

Download your FREE Profit Planning Workbook!

Find Annie Hillman online

Bookkeeping Basics Guide

Use Coupon Code - PODCAST20 for 20% off Money Mapper

Previous Episode

How To Go Through Menopause Like A Rock Star with Esther Blum

Are you dreading menopause? Many women do. But today’s guest has not only embraced this stage of life, she also makes it a lot of fun! In this episode, you’ll hear how to approach menopause with enthusiasm.

About Esther Blum

Esther is the bestselling author of Cavewomen Don't Get Fat, Eat, Drink and Be Gorgeous, Secrets of Gorgeous, and The Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous Project.

She currently maintains a busy virtual practice where she helps women balance hormones, lose stubborn body fat, and treat the root cause of health struggles. Her new (5th) book, See Ya Later, Ovulator!, was released on October 4th.

Esther received a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Nutrition from Simmons College in Boston and is a graduate of New York University, where she received her Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition. Esther is credentialed as a registered dietitian, a certified dietitian-nutritionist, and a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS), with certification from the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists (BCNS).

She is also a member of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians in Functional Medicine, Nutritionists in Complementary Care, and the Connecticut Dietetic Association.

How Practitioners Can Approach Menopause with Their Clients

The sad state of affairs is that there are currently few options presented to women as they approach and go through menopause. Commonly, all they are offered is birth control or just a sympathetic shrug.

Esther explains how there’s so much more that practitioners can do. She describes the many tests and treatments that can truly help. With more knowledge about what’s changing in your body, you can enter this stage of life without dread. In fact, it can even be something to look forward to.

What Can Be Done to Make Menopause a Better Experience

Unlike conventional practitioners, Esther sees a huge value in hormone treatments for menopause. She points out the shortfalls of some studies that lean away from hormones and discusses the benefits she and others have seen.

There are also many lifestyles and diet interventions that will help, especially when it comes to weight management. Esther explains how optimizing protein and carbohydrate intake, exercise, and an indomitable attitude will prepare you to go through menopause like a rockstar.

What can you do now to help make menopause a better experience for you or your clients? Leave a comment on the episode page!

In This Episode

Why menopause is seldom discussed by dietitians and other providers [8:00]
What practitioners can do to change the landscape surrounding menopausal care [20:00]
Managing weight gain during menopause with diet [27:15]
Advice for aspiring book writers [35:20]

Quotes

“You don’t have to wait until you hit a full year of not having a period before bringing hormones in. You can actually bring them in during perimenopause, and you should.” [10:54]

“Do not sit and wait for the medical system to change. The way it’s going to change is from us; that’s how everything changes.” [19:55]

“You got to make nutrition fun and sexy and accessible for everybody. It shouldn’t be a dry bland diet.” [45:38]

Links

Find Esther Blum online

Follow Esther on Instagram | YouTube | Facebook

Esther’s Giveaways

Next Episode

Shifting your Subconscious for Growth and Healing With Allison Roman

How do your subconscious beliefs impact your physical health? Without deep introspection, it’s hard to know. But we are all affected by it. Today’s guest explains how to plumb the depths of our subconscious to learn what we need for full healing to take place.

About Allison Roman

Allison is a Transformation Coach & Holistic Healing Practitioner who helps women get unstuck and release what's holding them back from living their best life. By fusing subconscious reprogramming with practical lifestyle tools for empowered healing, Allison guides people to step into their power and create the life they desire.

She has been trained in numerous holistic methodologies and has been teaching and coaching in the wellness industry for over 15 years. You'll find her work focuses on the intersection of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being for aligned and authentic living.

You Can Control Your Subconscious Beliefs for Better Health Results

Throughout this episode, Allison explains how and why our beliefs impact our health. Perhaps you’ve tried every regular solution to a chronic health issue and are still stuck. Maybe you’ve even recovered physically but still feel like there’s work left to do. If so, it’s time to look beyond the physical level. There may be emotional and mental root causes at play.

Allison describes why what we believe is possible will be our experience. For instance, your beliefs about what is possible for your healing will affect how you view a diagnosis. Your level of optimism or pessimism will impact your results.

As practitioners, part of our job is to help our clients believe that they can get results. To do this, we need to understand where our client’s belief lies. What does healing mean to them? How do they perceive good health? This sometimes differs from conscious beliefs. Diving deep into this will be an important step for true change.

Taking Control of Your Beliefs and Your Healing Journey

Allison talks about examining and eliminating limiting beliefs to better align yourself with your goals. This is hard work. As she says, it keeps you humble. But it also builds up your emotional intelligence. Processing, feeling, and exploring emotions can allow you to use them for healing instead of staying in “victim mode”.

The truth is, you are the expert of you. Sure, practitioners and doctors can give you their perspectives. But ultimately you need to trust your own judgment.

Allison has some advice to help you better check into your beliefs and what your body is saying. This includes meditation, listening to your body, and examining the sources of emotions. Most of all, you need to believe that you will find the answer you seek, or it will remain elusive.

How might your subconscious beliefs be standing in the way of growth? Leave a comment on the episode page!

In This Episode

Why physical symptoms can be a reflection of our unconscious thoughts [5:45]
Signs that subconscious work is needed for further self-improvement [8:00]
How practitioners can help clients overcome the stigma of healing [14:30]
What deletion, distortion, and generalization are and how to recognize them [23:30]
What to do when your own judgment is in doubt [35:30]
How timeline therapy can be a powerful healing tool [51:00]

Quotes

“It’s been so impactful, not only for my health, but it has deeply impacted all the other areas of my life. It’s really powerful stuff.” [5:02]

“We go through challenges. We go through transformation. Any time we are transforming or up-leveling in any way, we undoubtedly are going to have discomfort. Going to those deep dark places gets us to be the higher versions of ourselves.” [18:08]

“This is where it’s so important to work with someone one-on-one who is doing subconscious work because it’s below your conscious awareness. You don’t realize that it’s happening, that’s how the subconscious works.” [45:25]

Links