It CAN happen to you
By Anna Masker In standard10th August, 2016
There was something suspicious about that charge on the bank statement. The client didn’t remember making that purchase. They just happened to open the statement email and log into their account to see their statement balance. Noticing it was unusually low they–“just out of curiosity”– looked to see what they were spending their money on.
Your other line of business: Bank
By Anna Masker In standard3rd August, 2016
Again! The customer didn’t pay again! It was the third month in a row that my client’s customer had some excuse as to why they couldn’t– or wouldn’t– pay. When I looked at my client, I had to ask: “When did you become a bank? Because I thought you were in a completely different line
Can you afford to hire another person?
By Anna Masker In standard15th July, 2016
It’s the classic chicken or the egg situation. Do you hire a new person to handle all the new business you think is going to come in? Do you wait for the new business to come in then hire someone? It’s the age-old question every entrepreneur has had to consider. Hiring a new person is
Why lumping labor below the line is bad for your business
By Anna Masker In standard8th July, 2016
We often run into companies that book costs under one category — Payroll. And that Payroll line is often found in the expenses section of the P&L, not up in Cost of Goods Sold. So who cares? Labor is labor — especially if you are paying salaries, right? It’s not a variable cost, right? Wrong.
Your Business’ GPS
By Anna Masker In standard1st July, 2016
I love the Waze app on my phone. What I like about Waze, is that it’s more than just a GPS app– it is like a mini-copilot. It tells you when there is debris on the road ahead, where the police are, and how long you’ll be sitting in traffic. I use it all
You can’t make good decisions when your numbers are crap
By Anna Masker In standard16th June, 2016
From the silence on the other end of the phone, I knew I had lost them. I had spilled my guts and had broken every rule of sales in the process. I cringe now thinking how I tried to convince the business owner on the other end of the line why having a strong
Delegating vs. Abdicating
By Anna Masker In standard31st May, 2016
Michael Gerber in his book The E-Myth, has a famous saying: ” You need to work on your business not in it. ” In order to start working “on” your business in strategy, marketing and other management tasks you need to start pushing some responsibilities to your team as you grow. In our experience there
Staying Scrappy
By Anna Masker In standard27th May, 2016
6 years ago we got a dog. She was the scrappiest thing we ever saw. Before getting to the shelter, and before we even saw her, we had agreed on a name — Chloe. But when we got to see her, well, let’s just say she didn’t look as refined as a “Chloe”. She was
Bookkeepers aren’t cheap CFOs
By Anna Masker In standard9th May, 2016
Every so often I see an underlying theme start to converge in blog posts and LinkedIn. Most recently I’ve seen an influx of encouragement that you should use your bookkeeper to do analysis for you, to help you manage cash etc and improve your workflow. I think these people are making a big, big mistake.
Getting too big for your britches
By Anna Masker In standard29th April, 2016
“You’re getting too big for your britches!” I found those words spilling out of my mouth as I scolded my 10 year old, to which he responded perplexed, “Mom, what are britches?” I couldn’t help but laugh as his sincere curiosity made my admonishment more of a joke than a parenting win. How often did