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As we enter the final quarter of 2024, Tiffany-Ann dives into the critical strategies business owners need to implement to close the year on a high note. In this episode, she explores the importance of tightening operations, focusing on key metrics, and staying organized in the hectic lead-up to the holiday season. From managing finances to planning for client gifts and holiday hours, Tiffany-Ann covers it all, with her signature mix of practical advice and engaging stories. Whether you're looking to boost your Q4 performance or lay the groundwork for a successful 2025, this episode has you covered.
Key Insights
- Establishing structured financial processes is crucial for avoiding cash flow issues.
- Timely invoicing is essential, especially during the holiday season, to maintain cash flow.
- Starting budget preparation for the new year now can lead to better financial readiness.
- Thoughtful client gifts and early planning for employee bonuses can strengthen relationships and morale.
- Engaging with accountants early for tax planning can maximize profit retention and avoid last-minute scrambles.
- Accountability in business is vital; participation leads to better outcomes.
(00:10:40) - Discusses the challenges of the fall season and the importance of strategic planning.
(00:11:06) - Emphasizes the need to focus on metrics and budget for 2024 to achieve goals.
(00:11:44) - Questions whether current goals are too attainable and the importance of accountability.
(00:12:10) - Reflects on the freedom and responsibility of being a business owner.
(00:12:37) - Highlights the importance of self-accountability in business success.
(00:13:14) - Draws parallels between civic engagement and business accountability.
(00:14:00) - Encourages reflection on personal achievements and accountability as the year ends.
(00:14:46) - Stresses the importance of preparing a budget for the upcoming year.
(00:15:31) - Discusses the need for timely financial planning and closing monthly accounts.
(00:15:57) - Introduces the topic of planning client gifts and their significance.
(00:16:29) - Advises on creating memorable client gifts that stand out from the usual options.
(00:16:54) - Discusses the importance of thoughtful gifts over generic branded items.
(00:17:40) - Questions the effectiveness of promotional items as gifts.
(00:18:07) - Considers alternative ways to show client appreciation, such as holiday cards.
(00:18:31) - Warns about the timing of sending holiday cards to ensure they are received in time.
(00:19:10) - Encourages updating business profiles with holiday hours ahead of time.
(00:19:22) - Discusses the importance of planning for vacation time and team availability during holidays.
(00:19:55) - Stresses the need for a leadership plan during busy holiday periods to ensure business continuity.
(00:20:29) - Discusses the importance of organization and planning for team holiday parties.
(00:20:50) - Reflects on the challenges of organizing holiday events as a company grows from five to nearly 100 employees.
(00:21:16) - Compares the costs and logistics of holiday celebrations for small versus large teams.
(00:21:37) - Considers employee interest in holiday parties and the importance of planning around busy schedules.
(00:22:05) - Shares thoughts on employee gifts versus bonuses, emphasizing the differences in approach for smaller organizations.
(00:22:35) - Discusses the timing and common pitfalls of issuing holiday bonuses at the end of the year.
(00:23:01) - Highlights the rush to give bonuses and the potential for mistakes in payroll processing.
(00:24:04) - Advises on the importance of proper planning for bonuses to avoid complications later.
(00:24:26) - Stresses the need to consider holiday timing and employee availability when planning celebrations.
(00:24:57) - Explores the impact of holiday seasons on business operations, regardless of personal beliefs about Christmas.
(00:25:31) - Emphasizes the significance of planning for tax season to maximize profits.
(00:26:38) - Shares a recent experience with a client regarding bookkeeping and tax preparation timelines.
(00:27:04) - Discusses the importance of having accurate starting balances for effective bookkeeping.
(00:27:46) - Comments on the increasing time required to complete year-end accounting tasks.
(00:28:20) - Describes the need for proactive tax planning and the missed opportunities when not prepared.
(00:29:27) - Advocates for monthly bookkeeping to stay informed about financial health and make timely decisions.
(00:30:18) - Urges listeners to engage with their accountants early to implement necessary changes before year-end.
(00:30:53) - Encourages communication with CPAs and bookkeepers to ensure financial strategies are in place.
(00:31:18) - Discusses the limitations of bookkeepers providing tax advice and emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive tax strategy that considers personal circumstances.
(00:32:00) - Explains the interconnectedness of various income sources and how a holistic approach can maximize profit retention.
(00:32:24) - Encourages listeners to evaluate their accountants, especially if they felt unsatisfied with past services, and highlights the importance of finding the right financial advisor.
(00:33:06) - Compares the relationship with accountants and banks to that of a long-term dentist, noting the difficulty in changing providers despite dissatisfaction.
(00:33:29) - Urges listeners to consider new accountants who can better serve their needs and help strategize for success.
(00:34:06) - Motivates listeners to reflect on their goals before the year ends and take actionable steps to achieve them.
(00:34:26) - Introduces the concept of the "entrepreneurship rabbit hole," where one decision leads to numerous questions, emphasizing the need for deeper exploration.
(00:34:59) - Shares insights on the meticulous process behind creating effective YouTube thumbnails, using Mr. Beast as an example of dedication to detail.
(00:35:20) - Discusses a recent conversation about content creation and the importance of balancing efficiency with achieving desired outcomes.
(00:36:57) - Describes a brainstorming session using Loom to evaluate different content presentation styles across platforms.
(00:38:51) - Reflects on the extensive exploration of content strategies and the challenge of making decisions amidst overwhelming options.
(00:40:07) - Advises listeners to recognize when to stop exploring and focus on what truly matters for their business.
(00:41:13) - Highlights the significance of social media as a digital business card and questions the value of investing time in perfect content.
(00:41:55) - Encourages subscriptions to the podcast and engagement on social media to support the show.
(00:42:15) - Concludes with well wishes for the week ahead.
Creators & Guests
What is Service Based Business Society Podcast?
Attention entrepreneurs! Are you looking for ways to scale your service-based business without sacrificing your sleep? Look no further than The Service Based Business Society Podcast, hosted by Tiffany-Ann Bottcher.
Each week, Tiffany-Ann shares valuable insights on productivity, business strategies, marketing trends, and tech secrets that you need to know in order to take your business to the next level. She firmly believes that a successful service-based business must prioritize an amazing client experience and sustainable, predictable, repeatable profit, and she'll teach you how to do just that.
But that's not all - Tiffany-Ann also invites expert guests to share their knowledge and experience with you, providing even more valuable insights on service-based business growth and sustainability. You won't want to miss a single episode!
If you're looking to create, grow, and optimize your service-based business, The Service Based Business Society Podcast is the perfect resource for you.
And don't forget to join the community on Instagram by searching for Service Based Business Society Podcast
MINDSET
Focused on helping entrepreneurs cultivate the right mindset for success in their businesses. Hosted by experts in the field, the podcast covers a range of topics related to mindset and business, including self-improvement, goal setting, visualization, and meditation. The podcast provides practical tools and strategies to help listeners develop a growth mindset, overcome limiting beliefs, and build confidence. Through inspiring interviews with successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, the podcast shows that a positive and resilient mindset is key to achieving business success.
DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING
Dedicated to equipping business leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to lead with confidence, based on data-driven insights. Hosted by experts in business leadership, the podcast covers a range of topics related to data analysis and interpretation, strategic decision-making, and effective communication. It provides practical tools and strategies for interpreting complex data sets and using them to make informed business decisions that drive growth and success. Through engaging interviews with successful business leaders and industry experts, the podcast offers valuable insights and examples of how to use data to build strong teams and drive innovation.
RELATABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP STORIES
A great resource for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to learn from the experiences of successful business owners. Through relatable and engaging entrepreneurship stories, the podcast provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that come with starting and running a business. Hosted by experienced entrepreneurs, the podcast covers a range of topics related to entrepreneurship, including idea generation, product development, marketing, and fundraising. Each episode features inspiring interviews with successful entrepreneurs, who share their personal stories and provide practical advice and tips for those looking to start and grow their own businesses.
BUSINESS TOPICS
As businesses continue to evolve, it's essential for entrepreneurs and business owners to stay informed about the latest trends and best practices in marketing, bookkeeping, technology, and innovation. The podcast is a valuable resource for anyone looking to keep up with these changes and stay ahead of the competition.
Whether you are just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, this podcast is a great source of inspiration and guidance from real-world examples of entrepreneurship success.
Brought to you by Bottcher Group of Companies
Hello and welcome to the Service Based Business Society podcast. I am your host, Tiffany Ann Botcher. On our weekly episodes, we will dig into everything you need to know about scaling your service based business without losing sleep. With my experience in creating over 7 figures per month and a passion for marketing, finance, and automation, this show will provide tangible tips and techniques for scaling your business. Let's get started.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Hello, and welcome back to another episode. It is hard to believe it, but it is the end of 2024, almost. It's the last quarter of the year. So, some businesses track their year on a fiscal year. That doesn't always align with the calendar year.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Other businesses, of course, are the calendar year. No matter what. Whether you're a fiscal year, calendar year, no matter what, it is the last quarter, the last 3 months of 2024. What should I be doing right now? Is there anything special?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Because I'm always like, woah. It's the last quarter. I'm all pumped up, and people are like, I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing right now. And it really depends on how you run your business for some aspects and other things no matter what you're gonna have to do. So we're gonna talk about that a little bit today.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We're also gonna talk about the, you know, kind of rabbit hole of entrepreneurship and, a lot of the opportunities for distraction it offers. We're gonna talk a little bit about a funny story today, and then we're gonna wrap things up and, get you back on your way because it's a busy time of year and we all have things. So that first question, what should I be doing right now? What is important? So much.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So much is important. It's really that time of year where we need to be really looking at what day is it. What is going on? One of the things that I see big businesses do that small businesses don't do is really focus on a schedule and how that affects the finances and the metrics. You'll often hear people say things like, I'm doing month end close.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You'll see in a corporation, hey. It's it's the end of the month. We don't do this until the, you know, x date. And one of the things I see small business owners do or, you know, small to medium business size owners do that is really preventing the growth is we do things all the time. We do them all the time.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's the I send payments every day. I do this every day. I do this every time one of them comes in. I you know, it's it's the well, my employees, they they pay for supplies, and I reimburse them every day. No.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We can't do it. It's not sustainable. Go back to episodes, we were talking about protecting your time. So people say, well, but my employees, they, you know, they pay for these supplies, and I can't they can't afford to just sit on the money until payday, and they're doing me a favor by buying the supplies. So, like, I feel I have to pay them back.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yes. You do, but not every day. If you have employees that are having to buy stuff every day, you need another plan. You can't have them buying with their own money every single day and you sending money every single day because if you think about the time for them, collecting the receipt, sending the receipt, waiting for the payment, and the time for you receiving the receipt, processing the payment, recording it, making sure you have the receipt, all that it's so much time. We have to get on a cycle.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So why is it important at this time of year? Because the days start to move very quickly. If you head into any Costco, you'll see we're already dealing with, you know, Halloween, fall, and Christmas. It's all here. It's all in every aisle of Costa.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's because at this time of year, it all starts to run together. If you're American, you still have Thanksgiving, Black Friday, all of these things. This is the time of year that just one week heads into another and into another. We just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, and that's really my sign of all the things to come. This is when we're we're really in both life and business in that kind of hustle mode.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's amazing how many things have to be done in any part of life between now and then. So when it comes to business, it means that we can't be leaving things these things to drag on, and we really need to be paying attention to what when is it? So often we see things at this time of year, business owners forget to do their invoicing on time. They forget to do their check run on time. Remittances get missed, that type of thing.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Because it's like, oh, crap. Is it already the, you know, 17th, 18th, whatever day of the month? What happened to the days? And that is why I say, hey. At this time of year, more than most, we need to make sure we are paying attention.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We need to make sure that we know what day it is. We know what needs to be done. We are organized with our task list. And if you go back to your episodes, we were talking about delegation and the ways that we can organize our list. When I say my list at this time of year is long, I mean it is long.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:To the point that the other day, to kind of backtrack to to 2 episodes ago, my amazing assistant was starting to throttle the list. I was, like, didn't we have to do x? And she says, oh, yes. That's on the secondary list. And I said, the secondary list?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:What is the secondary list? And she says, well, I didn't wanna overwhelm you by adding too much to that list, so I have another list. Once that one's shorter, I'll add to it. And I was like, oh, boy. Oh, boy.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Oh, boy. That's not a good sign. So when we talk about these kinds of things, we need to really be paying attention to what is going on and make sure that we know when is the end of the month. If we're talking specifically about finances, we want to be putting our revenue and our expenses in the same time period. So what happens is if you have a job and all of your employees have done all the work in the month of October, and you forget to send the invoice to no middle of November because you were busy.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You got busy. You have already paid for all of those people's time. You have paid for the supplies. Now you're gonna send the invoice out mid November, But your customers may be on holidays. Maybe they are feet up on the beach, margarita in hand, and they are not paying right now.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:They are paying you when they get back. Suddenly, you know, it's it's this chain of events that all started with, I just didn't get the invoice out on time because I was on holidays or busy or or whatever. And then the person didn't pay because they were busy or on holidays or whatever. And before you know it, it's a little bit tight. So often we see businesses tight on funds in December because depending on where you are, there's a number of statutory holidays.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So if you have a team, you're paying out for all of those. If you don't have a team, maybe you're just closed. You know, if you are a painter, no one wants their living room painted on the 20th December. Maybe someone does want their living room painted, but they want to paint on 20th and not a day over. What I'm saying is there will always be those projects that come up that are, you know, weird timing.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Maybe someone had some kind of reno run long and they want it done for Christmas dinner no matter what. Sure. But most things don't happen after 18th December because people aren't starting new things. They're wrapping up old things because, well, the year is basically over. It's an it's a common thing where people don't take off on vacation between Christmas and New Year's because, well, everyone knows that everyone's kind of away.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And so while you might be working, it'll be way less. All of that to say, we need to be on top of things. We need to be focusing on when is the end of the month, and what is our month end closed procedures. If you don't have month end closed procedures, well, maybe now is the time to start putting some in place for the amazing 2025 year that is right around the corner. When it comes to month end, we need to be wrapping up, making sure that all of our invoicing is done, making sure that all of our expenses, receipts, everything are tracked down.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We're going to start our bookkeeping process, whether that is with a bookkeeping provider, casual, you know, plug for path to profit bookkeeping. This is what we do. Maybe you just need to send some documents, Or maybe you like to DIY your books and you need to sit and reconcile every single account. Either way, it still needs to be done. Whatever your piece of that process is, needs to be done.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We need to be collecting the money. We need to know how much money is outstanding. All of those pieces are so important. But why is it important? Number 1, we don't wanna run out of cash.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We don't want, you know, that kind of everything dragged in, and we get to Christmas. Maybe we're paying out Christmas bonuses. Maybe we wanna give ourselves as a business owner some kind of year end dividend, profit piece. You know, whatever that is. The the December month is often one of the more expensive months for businesses between some some holiday things that we're gonna chat about in a minute.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But either way, we want to know that we are on track. We also want to know that we didn't just take the last couple of months off. There's a there's a post kind of that goes around on social media, and it talks about, you know, you have 18 summers with your kids, or you have 52 weekends while they're 5. Or, you know, all of these things that really all serve a purpose to basically frame time is limited with your kids. Time is also limited with your business.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'm not comparing the 2. And if the choice is there, of course, the kids. That's that's not the purpose of this. Don't come for me. My point is that a lot of business owners take the summer and they kind of coast.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We can't also coast through November, December. Because if you take that up, suddenly you're at 6 months of the year that you were kind of coasting. We have to put the pieces in place in order to keep driving our business. The foot needs to stay on the gas in the business. Whether that's, you know and I I get it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We all start to feel a little bit rundown. September is a huge busy month. It's kind of that after school, we're back, it's fall, it's back to, you know, it's it's a hustle month. It's also the month where people get back to, you know, their fall hobbies, sports, whatever it is. Then, you know, October, November, December, it's it's a long grind.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:The fall is a grind. If you are affected by the weather, you know, the lack of sunlight, whatever it is, it's a lot. But it's not too much. And we have to really be strategic about it because there's many a days between now and the end of the year where amazing things can happen. You know?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:There's is you're you're one day away from perhaps hitting your goal. You're it's it's too much time to toast. So let's focus on those metrics. Let's let's drag out that budget for 2024 if we haven't been looking at it, the metrics, the markers, our goals, and say, are we there? Are we on track?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Are we close? Now is the time to really say, I have enough time to change the outcome. If you're on track, you're gonna meet your targets. Should we stretch them? Do we need a stretch goal?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Were they too attainable? Maybe you started the year and you thought you were going one direction, and now you're somewhere entirely different, and now is the time to say, hey. Are we meeting the new targets? What's the plan here? It's it's that kind of accountability with yourself.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I think as a business owner, there's overall a lack of accountability. If you don't work, no one says anything. I mean, your clients might, but no one's telling you, you must show up at 8. You must leave at 4. You get 20 minutes for lunch.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You've been outside too many times. Yeah. All of these things are the great parts of being a business owner. But if you decide to do too much of that, no one's gonna stop you. I'm not here to be the, you know, business owner police.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You gotta do what you wanna do. But know that if you choose to not be accountable to yourself, not to keep track of where you are, you might not end up where you wanted to, and you can't really say anything about it. A lot of times right now, you know, there's a huge discussion whether you're in the US or Canada. There is a lot of election talk. And the the thread I see over and over and over again is you can't complain if you don't.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I take that comment. It comes back you know, it's those who complain, but don't volunteer if it's a, you know, some, you know, some kind of organization like that. It doesn't matter what it is. You you can't be upset if you didn't do your part is really the the the long and short of it. And so when it comes to your business, if you didn't show up, if you didn't keep track, if you didn't make it happen, when you sit at your New Year's Eve party and you are not in your business where you wanna be, the only person that you can be upset with is yourself.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But on the flip side of that, when you sit on New Year's Eve and reflect I don't know if I maybe I'm the you sit you're you're you're doing your New Year's Eve thing, but it's just that moment in time where you're just kind of reflecting on the year, thinking of where you've been and how amazing it's been or or what's on the year, thinking of where you've been and how amazing it's been, or or, you know, how horrible it's been, and how much you're looking forward to the next year, whatever your vibe is. You you wanna be proud of what you've done. You want to know you did everything you could, and that you were accountable to yourself, that you showed up and did what you wanna do. So metrics. If you don't have metrics, that kinda ties into our next piece of now is the time to start prepping for next year.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So an annual calendar based budget really applies mostly to calendar year businesses. If you're a fiscal you know, if you have a fiscal year that doesn't align with the calendar year, which is a little more common in in bigger corporations and and Canadian corporations and whatnot, you probably already have your budget for your fiscal year. Or if you don't, now is a good time to do it anyway. But start prepping for next year. You want your budget to be done before the year starts, not 3 months, 4 months into the year.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Now is the time to be saying, hey. What do we wanna do next year? Do I have any working capital requirements for that? If you want to launch something crazy big next year, hey, I want to add another location. I want to add this revenue stream.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I want to add this equipment. Do you know how you are getting the money to pay for it? Because we've talked about on previous episodes, the easiest time to get money is when you don't need it. So planning for next year, knowing what your plan is, knowing what you might need, that type of is super important. So reviewing last year's budget.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Last year by 2024. Are we already calling it last year? Reviewing and planning for the future budget, making sure we're ready for January. All of these are kind of the financial paperwork thesis of this time of year, making sure that your months are closing on time. The next piece of that really ties into what else do we have to do at this time of year?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Now is the time to be planning for client gifts. Are you doing client gifts? Do you know what they are? Client gifts are one of the most in my opinion challenging things to do well. Number 1, if you are in any kind of industry where client gifts are common, everyone gives a gift at this time of year.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And so often, everyone does a gift basket. Well, a lot of times, those gift baskets go onto a table with 10 other gift baskets. So either you best have the best gift basket, the most unique gift basket, or perhaps not a gift basket in order for your gift to be memorable. Otherwise, you're really just adding some cash, you know, to your budget for client gifts that ultimately isn't really doing anything. Client gifts are a way we show appreciation, stay top of mind, all these things.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We want to give in something that someone's going to enjoy. So planning. Because if you're gonna have anything customized, you're gonna need a little time. We're not wanting to do that right in December. So, you know, and and here's the thing.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So often when we do client gifts, everything just has, you know, it's it's the I'm gonna send you something with my business name on it. Sure. You can throw in some we do we have some great pens. They are great pens. If you've ever gotten one of our pens, you'll know.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And I know that's a great pen because I actually grabbed the pen from my realtor, And it was a great pen then. And when I wanted to order pens for our company, I was like, I need to I need to find those pens because they were great pens. I remember saying to him at one point, I feel like I need to buy another house because I'm gonna need more pens. I'm out of your pens. I just bought my own.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Put my own business name. Stay kept the house. Not everyone just wants a whole bunch of stuff with your business name on it. Is it nice to add something with your business name on it? Absolutely.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Is a gift with all of your stuff on it? I mean, think of think of how many things you you use on the daily that has someone else's name on it, and then decide if that's the right thing. Outside of gifts, maybe you're like, hey, I'm not doing this. I do, you know, so I show my clients appreciation in some other way. Holiday cards.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Are you doing them? Do you know what you're doing with them? How are you getting them to people? When are you sending them? So often we think of these things, you know, towards the end of November, early December.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And by the time you prep the cards, every get everything and now the card has gone out, that person is already on holidays. They've left. They're getting your card in early January when they return. And guess what? It's gonna hit the recycle bin because Christmas is over.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Don't need this. Gone. So making sure that you get the stuff to people in time so that they will be there. They'll be able to enjoy it, all of these types of things. Holiday hours.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Do you know what they are? Do you know when the days of fall on the calendar? Do you know when you're open, when you're closed? If you have a team, do you know when they are going to be there and when they're not? Do you know what days are paid if you, you know, are an area where you have to pay for such a holidays?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:All of these types of things is is it time to look at now? I mean, that information has been available forever. It's just on the calendar, but we don't turn the page to that calendar or, you know, scroll that screen until we get closer to it. You can be updating your Google Business profile with the Christmas holiday hours now. You don't have to wait.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You can do it now. Be organized. Take something off your list. Check it off and get it done. Vacation time.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Are you taking time off? It's great that your business will be open or closed, but are you going to be there? Does someone else need to be there? If you have only a few people who take on a leadership role and maybe have access to certain things, Do do we know that we have one of those people available each day that we're open? Those are the types of things to be planning for now.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's very easy in a emerging growing business where you have a team that, you know, lots of people take time off. And at that pace, you just say, of course, take it off. Take it off. Yes. Yes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yes. But and maybe that worked for you last year. Maybe it worked for you the year before. But now maybe your business is twice the size and maybe now you need to make sure that you have someone to lead the, you know, lead the team available. So now is the time to just lay that out so that when people are asking that you can say, you know, yes, you can have such and such that yes, yes, and just make sure you have a plan.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's so much easier to adjust the plan before you approve it than realize you've already said yes to everyone, and now you have to work. Or now you, you know, have to close or whatever that ties into. Just be organized. Just make sure you're okay. Now talking about that team, holiday party.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Are you having 1? Do you know what it's gonna be? Have you booked it? If your as your business grows, that becomes harder and harder. So when I was in corporate, living that corporate life, we originally I mean, it was a small company when I started.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:There was 5 people there. And I can tell you, you know, and when I left, there was, you know, closer to a 100 people. When you think of that, you know, your team plus are you bring are they bringing a a spouse or a partner? So that doubles the size. The the holiday celebration when you have 5 staff compared to a hundred staff, very different.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Very different. Number 1, it becomes very, you know, it becomes very expensive to do exactly what you did for 5 people times a 100. Ultimately, a fantasy Christmas party isn't much different than a wedding in terms of food, venue, etcetera. Of course, no dress and all of that, but that can get quite pricey. Is the people that you employ, do they want to do that?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Is that something they look forward to, or is that something where they're dreading and maybe half of them aren't gonna show up? Knowing and planning for these types of things because everybody else is knowing and planning those types of things is also really important. It's also a busy time of year. So if you haven't booked it with your staff, they might have other plans beyond you know? If you're gonna throw a big holiday hurrah, you wanna make sure that people are actually available to come.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So employee gifts, employee bonuses. I don't think that you need to do both personally, and I think that employee gifts are often something that smaller organizations do. Maybe it's something that you do for someone you work directly with. I don't I don't I'd have never been part of doing an entire team of holiday gifts outside of maybe, you know, hey, we threw you a couple extra pens and something for your desk or, you know, that kind of thing, but I wouldn't call it a gift. You know, usually those kinds of more gifty things are kind of done maybe in a secret Santa format or something like that or gifts at the Christmas party, that are given out maybe not to absolutely everyone, but Christmas bonuses.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So often, businesses are thinking about bonuses, and it's so late in the year. Here's what happens. The business year goes along. The last payroll of December, depending on when you pay, has often already been run. It's been run.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And then a business owner gets a flash in the in ring. And it can be because someone else said something, and it's so common where people say, you don't wanna pay tax on that money. Give some bonuses to your team. Maybe it's what uncle Sam said at Christmas dinner. And business owners say, oh, my goodness.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Bonuses for everyone. You're right. I don't want to pay I don't want to pay tax. I don't want to pay taxes on that money. I'd rather give it to the team.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:All of a sudden, it's this rush to get bonuses done. So many times I've seen where bonuses have just been written on a check or, you know, give it in and we'll say, oh, we'll fix the payroll records later. It makes such a mess. So easy either to plan and know that it will be a part of the final payroll of the year or other people really enjoy being able to take it. Maybe you do direct deposit every time, but maybe for the holidays, you want to get, like, a paper check or whatever and you want to put it in the holiday card.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:This is so common. We see this all the time. It can still be run through payroll. The checks can still be done and you can still put it in the holiday card, but if you run it all appropriately, the paperwork to do properly upfront, so much easier than the paperwork corrections on the back side. So think about it now.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And you may not have a decision now. You want to see how the last quarter of the year goes. That's fine. But you should at least have on your list in your mind and know what is that cutoff date so that you can make a decision. At that is the busiest time, December.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's so easy to just let it fly by and then all of a sudden think, oh, I was gonna do bonuses. You want to be able to do it properly. You know, we've we've talked about kind of the financial metrics side, the paperwork, the month end, making sure that the, you know, the business is on track to do well. And now we've kinda talked about the holiday pieces. And there's a lot.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, there's a lot that goes into that because there are still stat holidays. There are still about you know, your team may or may not celebrate. It's it's there's lots of people that don't celebrate Christmas, but that are still very much affected by the Christmas holidays and how they affect their calendar and timing and whatnot. At the end of the day, kids are off school whether you believe in Christmas or not, you know, the stat holiday happens, the grocery store will be closed, all of those types of things whether you believe or not. So so the, you know, the comment of, I don't even really deal with Christmas, but everyone around you most likely does in some way, even if it's not for any kind of religious holiday reasons.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Alright. The last piece. And I don't wanna say it's the most important, but it's really important. Planning for tax season. Without it, I guarantee guarantee and I don't guarantee much that you are losing money.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Strategizing how to appropriately deal with tax season is imperative to keeping the most amount of profit in your pie. I was on a call with a client just this week. She's a newer client to our bookkeeping agency, and, historically, all of her books have been done by the tax preparer in February March. Now I say February, March, I I did ask on the same call if the books were done from last year. So what happened is we took over from 2024.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So and it was it was basically, like, when we'll get the starting balances from the account when they're done. She said we're just gonna you're gonna start posting from January onwards, and then we'll add the starting balances, which is totally fine. But I I have followed up a few times because we still didn't have those starting balances, and now it's almost the end of our year. And so I need those to be able to finish ours. And so, the answer is she doesn't know if the year end is done yet, which I would love to say is not common, but it is.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So if you're if you're in that same boat thinking, oh my goodness, I don't know. Mine is done either. It happens. Don't feel bad because it's not top of mind. And I feel like the accounting industry right now, now we deal with, CPA firms all over North America.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:On the whole, it used to take 6 weeks to get a year end done, and I would say now it's double that. If you are not following up, if you are not on top of it, if your bookkeeping is not great, if, like, all it it takes longer. Everybody's busy. The accounting industry seems busy. So, you know, not a slight, but as long as you have the 12 weeks, it's no problem.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:If you don't, then, of course, it is an issue. So, historically, she would get all her books done and get her taxes all at the same time. And so when I said to her, now now her books for 2024 are all caught up, she knows exactly, you know, what her sales are, what her expenses are, what her profit is for 2024 to date, and we have a forecast for where we will be at the end of the year. I'm looking at that profit amount thinking, oh, we better we better do some tax planning. And I said, have you already started the tax planning process?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I wasn't sure if she'd already started it based on, you know, previous relationships. And she said, no. What what do you mean? And I said, well, have we met with the the accountant yet? And she said, no.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I've I've I've never done that. And at first, I thought, oh my goodness. Judging by the size of her business and the amount of income, that was a missed opportunity. And then as I was on the call, I thought, oh, of course, before, she didn't have any information. We didn't know what the revenue we didn't know I mean, ballpark, but not enough to actually strategize.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:She didn't know and could not provide to the accountant, hey. This is where I'm forecasted to be at the end of the year. What are we gonna do about it? Am I on track? Do we need to make any changes?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Do we need to, you know, plan for bonuses, dividends, a a structure change? You know? Is it a LLC? Do we maybe need to elect to be an escort? Like, all of these types of things.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We didn't we didn't have the opportunity to do that. So now if you're following along on the podcast, you know, I am a firm advocate for monthly bookkeeping. You need to know, where are you? How are you doing? Are we on target?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:All these types of things. But now for the the same thing, we cannot take those numbers into account. Okay, this is where we're at. What should we do now? Because if you do it now, you actually have enough time to implement the changes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You actually have enough time to do something. If you're having that conversation, either next year, it's a 100% too late. Even if you're having it at the beginning of December, how much change can you really make? Sure. You can pay out a bunch of bonuses, but that's what you can't make it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You know, it's it's it's not ideal. So if you haven't got your books done, get them done. Get them done now. If you have got your books done, make sure that you're having those conversations. Send your CPA a quick email, quick phone call.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Hey. Just wanna check-in. This is where we're at. Would it make sense to book a call? If you if you have a bookkeeper, that bookkeeper can be on the call if that's if that's a role that they do.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'm, you know, in our firm, I'm happy to provide that because I I can help facilitate those those pieces. That's more of a, you know, advisory role depending on, like I said, depends on the bookkeeper and the service that you're having. But where we where we run into some issues and I'm gonna straight call out the industry is bookkeepers should not be providing tax advice. Yes. We can say overall, there is some decent tax strategies here.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But why a bookkeeper who works just on your business cannot provide an overall tax strategy is because your tax plan is is is your personal situation. It's your partner if you have one. It is your dependents. It is, you know, all of these different pieces tie into your tax rate. You know, it's it's your business, if you have other income, maybe, you know, it's it's a whole ecosystem and how it works together.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And and when it's looked at as an ecosystem and how it works together, that is how you can do do the best. You work really hard. You wanna keep as much profit in your pocket as you humanly can. I'm not saying we need to do anything bad. I'm not saying we need to, you know, play in the black.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'm not saying you need to, you know 100%. You can do so much better following all the rules with a little planning and strategy. So now is the time. Now it's to the same effect. If your accountant didn't do a great job last year, if you were left with more questions than answers, if you felt like they were unresponsive, if you felt like, you know, you you you paid a lot more than you ever had previously and they didn't have an explanation, Now's the time to be doing some quick homework.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Really would have been better a little, you know, a few months ago, but it's not too late to say, hey, I really wanna make sure that this person is serving me and my future well. You know? Your bank, your accountant, all of these things, I they it's almost kinda like the dentist. You start with a dentist and whether you love them, whether you don't like most times, people don't change. They stay at the same dentist forever.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's the same thing with banks. People can have a gripe about their bank forever. They never really leave because it's a pain to leave it's so much work it's fine it's not ideal but it's fine I bet they're all the same it's the same thing with accountants just because you've been somewhere for a really long time if that person is no longer serving you there are amazing incredible accountants out there with amazing that are helping you strategize, that are making sure that you're set up for success. Now is the time to be to be cashing in on those. Overall, I wanna I want you to just think about that December 31st date and think about what needs to happen between now and then to really be sitting there, you know, drinking your champagne, your sparkling, whatever, and think, yes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yes. What a great year. And that doesn't necessarily mean in all aspects. I'm just talking about business. It would be great if all parts of your life you felt were amazing, but what needs to happen?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You have time to do it, so go and do it. What prevents us? What prevents us from doing things like that? I was I I mentioned a little earlier. We're gonna talk a little bit about the entrepreneurship rabbit holes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So often, one decision leads to a 100 questions. And I think that being amazing requires you to explore those. If you want extraordinary results, you have to be willing to do more than the average bear. You have to be willing to do more, think more. I've seen you know, there's there's this great video on YouTube that that goes into how mister Beast designs his YouTube thumbnail.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Now I know that mister Beast right now is a controversial topic and I'm not here to debate good, bad, or indifferent mister Beast. I want to say though he is and has been one of the biggest YouTubers of all time, if he's not forever going to be. The amount of work that goes into designing a YouTube thumbnail is crazy. They have split test absolutely everything to know what works and what doesn't. They only did that by exploring and trying different things.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So this week, I was chatting with someone on our marketing agency side and we were doing some work with shorts, reels, this type of thing. And we were talking about covers. The the question was very innocent. The question was, do you want covers? Do you want covers?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:That was the question. Do we wanna use a template? That's the question. And I I didn't I didn't have an answer. It was something that I had been mulling over for a while, and I I really wanted some of her opinion because I wanted to know that I I could achieve what I wanted to achieve while still being efficient about it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I didn't wanna say I want this and her know that that was gonna 10 times as long to actually deliver. So I wanted to I wanted to develop something that met the goal also while being efficient. And so I thought I'm gonna quickly use my favorite tool, Loom. I talked about it in a previous episode. And I brought up our YouTube channel on my screen.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Now I'm on Loom. And so I said, okay, so this is what I'm seeing. I like this. I don't like that. I like this.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Okay. But when it shows up on Instagram, now I've got the Instagram window open. It shows like this and it cuts off here. And then, oh, but how does that look on LinkedIn when the videos post over there? Okay.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So they don't look great in a grid, but on the feed, they look nice. Okay. And so the big debate, the big question, and if you have a comment, you know, drop it on the episode wherever you're listening is did I want to put the text on like the short vertical videos? Did I want to put it on the video or did I want to put it on the cover? Because it seems like when I was uploading those videos everywhere, it was not always taking the first few seconds of the clip and using that as the like video thumbnail for lack of better word.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So we're going back and forth and so I'm on and I'm showing her all these different things and then I said, well, I really like what this creator is doing and, you know, so now we're now we're looking at at that and so I'll be it was Dan Locke. I said, you know, I there's certain people that I really like their content. So, you know, now we're over on Dan Locke's YouTube channel and we're looking at his shorts and does he use covers? Is he putting text on the video? Okay.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Now oh, I also really you know, Gary Vee is, like, content creator of all time. So now we're overlooking at his. Does he use covers this and that? I also love Ryan Serhant. So we're looking at his stuff.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But then I'm thinking, well, but how does that play over to Instagram? So now we're looking at those same people on Instagram realizing they're actually not posting exactly the same content on the 2 platforms. Interesting observation. Before you know it, before you know it, the loom is 9 minutes long. We've explored multiple people's social content on multiple platforms, and the answer is I'm not sure.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'm not sure if I want thumbnails or not. And so I I said, okay. Here's the Loom. This is all my thoughts. I said, complimentary tour of my brain.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And what do you think? What do you what do you take from this video? What does what aligns with the social schedulers that we're using? We use 2 different ones, depending on the video source. And so, you know, what works?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:What is actually possible? You know? These people are doing this. It doesn't mean that I need to do that exact thing, but I like their stuff. In the end, we decided we're gonna we're gonna add some some, covers for a little bit and see how it goes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So if you see one of our covers, by the way, comment. Let me know. Cover? Text on the video. Let me know.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:That whole experience, yes, it took maybe 10 minutes of random things. But the question was one question and I think as business owners, we get that one question all the time. It's so many things. We've talked about in previous episodes when to explore, when not to explore. I just want to mention because it was one of this and it was a kind of one of those hit you in the face kind of like, oh, look at what I did.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yeah. Crap. I did it again. Sometimes it's good. Let yourself go down the rabbit hole but then know when the rabbit hole needs to stop.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:When I looked down a loom and realized that my loom was 9 minutes. So now I had really and I'm gonna, you know, quote unquote wasted 9 minutes. It wasn't a waste, but wasn't planned. Now I'm sending that video to someone else who's gonna watch it and take 9 minutes and then they're gonna think about it. At the end of the day, if it's not important, scrap it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We do a lot of content generation. So, you know, and I I said at one point last week, I said, hey. We really need to make a decision before we schedule another big batch because if we're gonna change it, I wanna change it before we do the next batch of content. It looks messy without covers. I want it also look nice.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But is there value in doing guys, I leave you with that thought. Decide which rabbit holes you want to explore. Which things are important to your business? You know, do you put covers on yours is my question. I know it seems so trivial, but so important at the same time.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I I had the conversation with our marketing team. Any, you know, anything online, website, social media content, you know, blogs, article, whatever it is, That is your digital business card. At the end of the day, someone searching for your business is, you know, and I don't know the stats. Let's call it significantly more likely to find a social post than they are business card. And people spend a lot of time, a lot of revisions getting their business card just right.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But how many business cards do you actually hand out? How many social posts do you actually post? How many people see them? If that is your digital footprint, your digital business card, who you are is taking a little bit of time to make sure you get it just right? Is it worth it?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I think it is. I ask you. We're all out of time for today, but the fun doesn't stop here. Make sure to subscribe to the Service Based Business Society podcast on your preferred podcast app. If you're hanging out over on YouTube, search for Tiffany and Batcher.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Your likes, shares, and reviews really do help the show. Until next time, have a great week.