Your bookkeeping is important and if you’re doing them properly, they are a hugely valuable resource for understanding your business’s profitability. That’s important. Not just because it’s nice to see how much money you’re making, although it is… BUT also because of the danger of not knowing when you’re NOT making money like you’re supposed to be. Early warnings are good, they give you time to fix a problem before it costs you too much money and puts you in the s#*t. If you don’t know there’s a problem, things can get worse and worse over time, and the problems may compound. They get bigger and bigger if you’re losing money or not making much. You need to know if every month is profitable and as profitable as expected and, if not, why not? You need to know if every job is as profitable as it should be, too. You need to use your numbers to help you find out why there’s a profit problem and where that problem is in your business. I’ll stop myself from diving into that hole. That’s why your books are important. So your accounting system should be a live, up-to-date view of the lifeblood of your business, for you to use regularly to ensure everything is going as it should. I see people's books where it’s all over the place and we can’t easily understand what costs are what. Things get coded to the wrong place, that kind of thing. Now, if you’re just doing the bookkeeping for compliance, that doesn’t mean very much BUT once you start wanting to understand your numbers and what money is going where, it does. Another thing that happens is they’re not up-to-date. You or your bookkeeper does everything once a month or something and they’re up-to-date for a few days then they get less and less useful. This is really common. I rarely see accurate and up-to-date books and I see a lot of them. So are yours useful to you? Are they correct and are they up-to-date? So they should be correct and they should be up-to-date and if I’m your coach, I’ll be pushing you to get that happening. But who should be the one to do it? The right answer is, “NOT YOU”. You’re probably not very good at it. I’m sure you either do okay or you could – it’s not harder than a trade. I’m not very good at it. I’m not patient enough, I find it frustrating and annoying. I would rather spend the time on other work. And I’d rather you did, too. You need to know these numbers, not be the one monitoring them and reconciling them. So, someone else, not you. A bookkeeper is an obvious candidate. There are lots of them around – lots of good ones too. And lots of less good ones, so interview them and check that they understand a bit about business not just about the compliance part of bookkeeping. My partner Michelle, runs a bookkeeping business for tradies, (for my clients, principally). So there’s an option for you. They’ll set your books up the way I like them so you and I can use them to figure out what’s going on. They’ll update them weekly. They’ll call your debtors for you and speak to you regularly. So, if that’s something you want to explore, comment ‘Books’ and I’ll connect you. There’s a bookkeeper options guide, too. Because Michelle's team is not your only option, of course. Comment ‘Guide’ if you want that and we’ll send it across. ----------------- If you’re interested in growing your trade business, head over to our website and you can read some more of these Tradies Toolbox Tips: https://www.smallfish.com.au/trades-business-coaching/ Book a money-maker call: https://www.smallfish.com.au/chat FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoach Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau