IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD A CPA, YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO START A BUSINESS.

There are so many angles that must be considered when starting a business, but certainly the most important, yet...most BORING..is the financials of that business. Sure the dreams of making lots of money are exciting, but it cost money to make money. So the question is...how much is it going to cost? Now, this subject alone could take up an entire book, but I want to just hit the highlights here and keep it basic, so as not to bore you.

Of all the mistakes I've made in my lease option business, I'd have to say the financial end of it are in the top two. My company was moving so quickly I could barely read the road signs going by. I was working 60 plus hours a week, AND I was trying to do the books on my own. Writing the checks, paying the bills. I got QuickBooks and I tried to learn it. I even had someone show me how to use it. UUUHHGG!!! Give me a freaking BREAK!

Here's the deal people.

I had a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), but I only saw that CPA twice a YEAR! Once to drop off, once to pick up. I didn't know what was coming or going. I was a financial TRAINWRECK!

I LOATHED Quickbooks! A plus was a minus, a minus was a credit...WHAT?!?!

I'll discuss some of the financial details and errors in future blogs, but for right now I want to focus on one thing here.

If you want to start a business.....get a CPA! But there's more to it than that. Get a CPA that is easy to reach, easy to get a hold of, can answer your questions, and give you continual guidance as you need it. You will also want a bookkeeper. Some CPA's are bookkeepers, but not all bookkeepers are CPA's.

You want a CPA that is either a bookkeeper or that has a bookkeeper by their side that work hand in hand with the CPA. Think of the bookkeeper as the person doing the checkbook. The bookkeeper will be the one entering the data into the QuickBooks or other software, keeping all the accounts and records of those accounts straight and up to date. This includes not only the checkbook, but credit cards, lines of credit etc.

The CPA will be the one that not only does the actual taxes for you, but will ideally give you guidance, whether on a quarterly basis or whatever is deemed necessary, as to how to tighten up and strengthen your company's financial position.

Let me make this clear.

YOUR job is to grow and operate the business. NOT...I repeat...NOT to try to unravel the mysteries of the inner workings of bookkeeping software!

"But how much will getting a CPA cost me?"

To give you hard figures, I'll use my actual expenditures to give you some idea.

I was spending about $125 a month just for bookkeeping. I was also spending about $500 for the companies taxes to be done and about $350 for our personal taxes to be done. But what I found is that I needed much more guidance and help.

Visiting the CPA twice a year wasn't getting me the actual hands on help I needed. I needed someone to take the company financials by the reign, and get a serious plan in place for us to pay off any debt we had, and build our company into what it really could be. So I switched CPA's, and went with someone that would be MUCH easier to communicate with on a daily, weekly or monthly basis if needed, and that would meet with me to discuss where we were, where we wanted to be, and what the plan was for getting there.

I now pay $300 a month which includes EVERYTHING, including the yearly taxes, financial planning and guidance, and bookkeeping.

I want to go back to my previous statement. YOUR job is to focus on the company. Don't think that because you are paying someone to do the books makes you look like a financial dummy. Balancing your personal checkbook, and doing the company financials are as far apart as building a bird house and building a real house! Trying to do the books on your own takes away from your very valuable time, that could be spent on creativity, business planing, and growing your company. $300 a month for me allows me to go out and make 10 to 20 times that versus the time I would have to spend to try to do the books myself....EASILY!

In one of my upcoming posts I'll actually have a guest CPA come on board to discuss some of the problems and mistakes that she has seen small business owners encounter.