Are you feeling out of balance with the money for your business? Today on Financial Fluency, we are chatting with the lovely Liz Lajoie. Liz is the owner of Stratera Business Solutions, a consultancy that helps coaches and creative professionals manage their finances. In this episode, Liz will give us an insider look into her new book which is being released today, that details how to manage and understand your business finances. With this, you’ll be able to free up your time so you can do more of what you love and achieve your zen.

Liz has a strong background in professional services and business management. She spent a decade as a business manager, CFO, and partner for a civil structural engineering firm. Liz was invited into the ownership and became the only woman in the ownership group. During that time, she suffered from a mystery illness that seemed to have no true diagnosis. After several years, she discovered her illness was Lyme disease. The disease put things into perspective for Liz and made her realize what kind of work made her happy—helping people sort out their small business finances while helping them achieve their goals.

Money management is a process. Liz’s book From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow is a financial how-to book for small businesses and entrepreneurs that will walk you through the best financial practices. Her goal is to have readers feel confident about their money and better understand all the ins and outs of being a small business owner. The book goes through how to read financial statements, setting aside money for taxes, how much money to take out of your business to pay yourself, and more. Liz drives home a key point—you can’t do things right if you don’t have a handle on it.

Some of Liz’s business tips:

1. Separate personal and business money.
2. Create a business checking account.
   1. Note: If you haven’t created an LLC or an incorporated company, it might be hard to open a business checking account. In that case, open up a separate checking account to manage your business finances.
3. Use a financial accounting system to give you a full financial picture.
4. Look at your cash flow regularly in order to keep accurate reports for your business.
5. Scan paper receipts to one location to keep a track of everything.
6. Assess your client onboarding process as the business owner to develop and nurture your relationship(s).

Liz Shares Words of Financial Wisdom

“Take a look your initial onboarding and/or contract flow to get cash in hand is. It can be an area that takes a lot of time, which can affect how long it takes for us to get paid. It’s a great opportunity to develop a great client relationship. Your contracts, invoices, receipts—anything written for your service can be a part of your client communication. The better you are at that, the more the client is going to love working with you. And they may be great as a referral or a continued client.”

Connect with Liz

You can connect with Liz on her website www.staterabusiness.com, or follow her on social media.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lizlajoie

Facebook: www.facebook.com/staterabusiness

Twitter: @staterabusiness

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Resources

Get Liz Lajoie’s book, From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow 

Zen Calculator: https://staterabusiness.com/zencalculator

Stratera Business Solutions: http://www.staterabusiness.com/

Quickbooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

HubDoc: http://hubdoc.com/