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Madison Brown, owner and CEO of Madison Dearly Bookkeeping, realizes and understands hiring a bookkeeper may not be as sexy as hiring a social media manager or copywriter. But knowing your numbers may be one of the most important things to know to have the ability to level-up your business. In this episode, I sit down with Madison to discuss, “Should a bookkeeper be your first hire?”

Spoiler: Yes, yes it should! 🙂

Should a Bookkeeper Be Your First Hire?

Madison’s entrepreneurial career was sparked after she had her second baby. Like many of us have experienced, the reality of balancing motherhood and working a 9-5 job is difficult to say the least.

“When I came back from maternity leave, I was crying that whole first week,” Madison said. “And that’s when I realized this wasn’t what I wanted to be doing anymore.”

With a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting, Madison knew this area was her zone of genius. She just wanted more flexibility to be a more present mom.

That’s when Madison Dearly was born.

What Exactly Is Bookkeeping?

Madison likes to break down what bookkeeping is in this fun reel she posted on Instagram. First, you add up all the money that comes into your business. Then, you add up the money that goes out such as paying employees, subscriptions etc.

Finally, what you’re left with is your profit. This is used to pay yourself, make investments and continue growing your business.

The Value of a Bookkeeper

Hiring a bookkeeper allows you to know your numbers and level-up your business. When you’re ready to hire a bookkeeper, you’re not just a freelancer anymore. You’re the CEO of your business. If you don’t know how much money you have to hire employees, a business coach or join a mastermind, how are you going to confidently be able to do these things that are pivotal to the growth of your business?

You have to know if you can afford those things because you don’t want to run your business on debt. It gives you so much more clarity and freedom as a business owner.

Starting Point with Bookkeeping

If you’re not quite ready to hire a bookkeeper, but want to get know your numbers for your business, Madison has a few tips.

The first suggestion to get you more organized is to open a separate bank account for your business. It makes things much easier to see expenses and profits solely for your business. And it keeps all the other personal expenses out of the way.

The other suggestion is to invest in software. She likes the program Xero. It’s only $12 a month, and it’s way less expensive than a program like Quickbooks. It’s very simple to understand too.

You can link your business bank account to your Xero account, and begin categorizing everything. Then, you’ll be able to start generating profit and loss reports for your business.

Tool to Take Time Away from Your Business

When you own your own business, it can be hard to prep for time away for things like a maternity leave or an extended vacation.

Madison has two tips to prepare for time away from your business.

The first is to increase your profitability. Whether that’s through booking more clients, selling digital products etc., your goal is to increase sales.

The other tip is to beef up your cash reserves. Once your profits start going up, you can start stockpiling your cash reserves to lean on when you want to take that time.

Madison created a spreadsheet that does all of these calculations for you.

Here’s what you input into the spreadsheet:

• Amount of time you want to take off
• Amount of time you have before you want to take the time off
• Profit and loss numbers

Once you have all of that in the spreadsheet, it gives you a nice monthly goal that you need to save every month in order to hit the goal of taking the time off without ever having to think about anything else.

To hear more of Madison’s story and why bookkeeping is so important, tune into the podcast episode wherever you listen.

Connect with Madison: Website | Instagram

Book a call with Madison HERE.

Maternity Leave Spreadsheet found HERE.

If you’re wanting to turn dream clients into paying clients, you’ll love this podcast episode HERE!