The Top 10 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know About ...

The Top 10 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Business Finances

1. Create a Clear Vision: Without a Vision you will Destruct

When you know what your vision is for what you are trying to create in business, just like your personal life, even if the path to get there is not fully clear, you will be motivated to forge ahead. When you actively take action every day to meditate on this vision, reflect on the what you need to do to create the vision, it will inspire you to actively take steps forward that help fulfill that mission. When you stay focused on the picture you are painting on the canvas, you will spend time on all the details that are important and not chase shiny pennies. Your focus will be clear and your heart will be in alignment with the actions needed to execute.

Without a Vision you will perish, expire, wither, shrivel, rot, molder, vanish, die, become destroyed, pass away, disappear, suffer destruction or ruin.

See it. Feel it. Trust it.

2. Create a Business Financial Plan: Ignoring your Business Financial Wellness causes harm

Most Entrepreneurs want to make money but take little time to understand the basics of how this information is reported and what it reveals. They think they can do this later, as they grow. They do not make it a priority from the get go, which causes them to always be reactive about their financial picture and not be proactive.

When Entrepreneurs live afraid to look at their own data, they create a domino of issues. This is one of the main keys to driving your business forward.

Understand the basics of what is required for your financial record keeping from what qualifies for a business deduction and what doesn't, to how to break down your loans with principal and interest, to your cash flow cycles.

Spend time understanding the basics of what a Profit & Loss Report reveals verses a Balance Sheet. Even from a high level over view, this will help you understand the true financial wellness of your business and what needs attention.

Take time to learn the state and federal due dates and put these on your calendar. These dates are Corporate Tax Return Due Dates, Franchise Tax Due Dates, Payroll Tax Due Dates (940 & 941 Forms), any State Forms with coorilating Due Dates, along with Estimated Tax Payment Deadlines.

Do not wait until Tax time to learn what you financial business decisions you should have made. At that point, it is too late to make adjustments to the prior year financials. Let me give you a tip, your CPA is not going to be proactive at

Prepared by: Misty W Gilbert, President of The Resource Management Group, LLC Contact via Phone: 214.702.5700 and Email: misty@

educating you. You need to schedule an appointment in 3rd or 4th Quarter to make a plan for how your year is shaping up and look at options for tax strategy and savings. If you can't outsource this task, make sure you have someone you can utilize on an as needed basis to guide you along the way. You need to spend time with a Financial Consultant and Financial Coach who will help you drive your business with this lens.

3. Start Small: Grow as your Profit Margins Grow Most Entrepreneurs over extend themselves too quickly with high rent, lots of software subscriptions and dues, and extensive meals and entertainment. Meals are only a 50% deduction, so keep this in mind with understanding you are basically taking the other 50% as an Owners Draw. Keep your business structure simple and add options as your profit margins grow. Focus on cash flowing everything as much as possible from the start. If you need a Business Loan, make sure it is one that you can manage. Living over your revenue resources creates an undue financial burden that will drive you into the ground, emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. This will eventually lead you to hate the very thing that you created and went into business to for.

4. IRS Rules regarding Co Mingling of Funds: Using Business Funds to pay Personal Expenses The IRS calls taking business funds to pay for personal expenses, co mingling of funds. Most Businesses do not have a clear financial structure in place and are not strict about their operations. Open a Business Checking Account and do not ever use it to pay for personal expenses. If you need funds personally, transfer the money to your personal checking account as a Member Draw/Shareholder Distribution/Owner Draw (verbiage varies by what your entity structure is). This will keep the lines very clear and if you are ever audited, there will be NO question as to what is a business expense verses a personal expense. If you pay things personally out of the business, even if you classify them as a Member Draw/Shareholder Distribution/Owner Draw, you are going to open yourself up to more scrutiny as the IRS will consider that potentially other expenses were misclassified. Keep yourself clean as a whistle on this!

5. The Truth about Profits: The goal is to make Money (not spend it all) Most Entrepreneurs have a goal to make money. They want to make a lot of money. Simultaneously they want to pay nearly no taxes, so they aim to spend all they make. This creates internal and external conflict. Remember, this should never be the goal!

Prepared by: Misty W Gilbert, President of The Resource Management Group, LLC Contact via Phone: 214.702.5700 and Email: misty@

If you make $1 million dollars and spend $1 million or more dollars, you do not have a healthy thriving business. If there are no reserves, you have a business that is not worth anything. You have an expensive hobby. True net worth comes from having a profit and bottom line that you will pay taxes on. This is success. Anything less is not.

6. Look at your Limiting Beliefs and Negative Statements: "This doesn't make me money" Part of business operations is the administrative side of record keeping, training, learning. When you only focus on the marketing and what generates sales, you will frustrate your team. You will end up with a disorganized operation. The results will be results that bring further problems. Create space in your daily, weekly and monthly routine for all of these tasks. Hire out what doesn't fuel your fire, but do not neglect keeping your financial records in order. You know my favorite quote from the book, The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson: Simple disciplines done consistently over time produce results.

7. Create Structure: Create a routine and system from the get go Set up your business on all levels to operate with structure. Examples: Do not use personal email for business. Keep business for business and personal for personal. Have a digital way to keep Human Resource Records, Accounting Records, Business Documents, etc. Start an online filing system from the get go so that you do not waste time looking for documents when you need them later. This means labeling all files and creating folders so that you can access everything in a way that is resourceful. Have set hours you are going to work, even if that is beyond the 9 to 5 mentality, create structure so that your friends know when you are available and you have work life balance. If you use your Personal Cell for Business, have boundaries and know when to be off the clock. Put everything in your calendar. Even built in white space to handle emails, paperwork and paying bills. If you design your business to be built 100% around servicing your clients and no time for follow-up, networking, and administrative tasks, you will always be frustrated with what you have not completed.

8. Keep an eye out for the biggest Overhead Costs: Office Space & Payroll If you need a brick and mortar Office Space, sign a lease you can afford and for a term that makes sense for your start up. Most Entrepreneurs have grand ideas on what this looks like and this becomes a significant financial burden. In order to grow your business, you will need employees. This generally is most Entrepreneurs biggest costs. If you resent paying your employees and have negative energy towards these costs, you will create a disconnect between you and your employees. Appreciate this expense. Remember why you have it and know what it provides for you. If you start feeling angst over the burden this is to your business, re-evaluate your business model. But DO NOT take this out on your Team. They are arms and feet of you. Treat them like it.

Prepared by: Misty W Gilbert, President of The Resource Management Group, LLC Contact via Phone: 214.702.5700 and Email: misty@

9. Have clear Priorities: "I don't have time for this" Every issue that presents itself is one that has to be dealt with. There will be things that come up that you do not want to make time for. This is part of being a leader. You do not get to pick and choose which problems you will handle. As an Entrepreneur, you must commit to handling all of them. The clearer you are on what your priorities are to get done every single day, the more action you will take to make that happen. The lack of clarity that you have around your mission, vision, purpose, services, products, methodologies, sweet sauce, competitive edge on the market, the harder it is going to be for you to execute on your dream. The key is no matter if you do or don't know the answer, make decisions quickly. The longer you procrastinate and push stuff off, the longer it is going to simmer in your mind and cause irritation. Learn to execute. Course correct as you need to. This does not mean do not do your due diligence to research and evaluate and compare options. It means if you know you do not want to work with a vendor, or a contract is not to your liking, or an employee is not working out, communicate and state the facts and what you need. Ask questions. Sometimes that means just to sit with yourself and ask yourself the questions so you can figure out what you really want so you know what you need to take action on. Create space for this.

10. Focus on Your Mission & Vision Statement: Treat Your Clients the Way You Want to be Treated Entrepreneurs want Clients who pay for services timely. But most do not pay their Vendors under the same terms. Pay your Vendors timely, per contract, just like you want to be paid. Do not do anything with a Vendor, Client, Customer, Employee or Strategic Business Partner you would not want done to you. It is simple. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Prepared by: Misty W Gilbert, President of The Resource Management Group, LLC Contact via Phone: 214.702.5700 and Email: misty@

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