April 24, 2025 • 10 mins
Want to Actually Grow Your Business While Still Enjoying Your Latte? Welcome back to Balanced! Steph, your bookkeeper and fellow entrepreneur, is sharing a game-changing perspective in this quick 10-minute episode.
Forget restrictive budgeting and the myth of constant cost-cutting. Discover how intentional spending and financial clarity are your secret weapons for sustainable savings and business success (yes, the latte is safe!). Tune in for the details!
What You'll Learn:
- [0:25] The Latte Lie: Why cutting small personal expenses isn't the key to business savings.
- [1:05] Intentional Spending > Blind Cutting: Focusing on making every dollar work for your business goals.
- [2:05] Unlock Your Bookkeeping Power: See your financial records as a tool for strategic decision-making.
- [3:10] Quick Bookkeeping Wins: Learn to analyze your profit & loss, gross margins, and expense categories.
- [5:10] Value Your Time: Understand the real cost of doing everything yourself.
- [6:40] Time Audit 101: Simple steps to track your time and identify areas for outsourcing.
- [7:55] Spending with Intention: Align your business spending with your core values and growth objectives.
- [9:05] Spend to Save: Discover when strategic investments can lead to long-term cost savings.
- [9:45] Get Financial Clarity Now: Learn about Steph's free consultations and in-depth diagnostic reviews.
Resources to Take Action:
- Get personalized advice! Book your FREE one-on-one bookkeeping consultation today.
- Ready for a deep dive into your financials? Explore the Diagnostic Review service.
- Don't miss out on more practical business tips! Subscribe to Balanced!
- Help another entrepreneur find financial peace – share this episode!
Want more tips on balancing business and life? Follow me on Instagram for insights on bookkeeping, business, and everything in between!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steph Blain (00:40):
Hi, and welcome back to the Balanced Podcast,
the show where we talk allthings business, bookkeeping,
and living a life that actuallyfeels aligned.
I'm your host, Stephanie, andtoday in this short and sweet
episode, I wanna kick things offwith a little truth bomb.
You don't need to cut out yourlattes to save money in
business.
This episode isn't about guilttripping you over every dollar
(01:03):
spend or convincing you tooperate from a place of
scarcity.
It's about something far morepowerful, something that will
actually move the needle in yourbusiness.
It's about spending withpurpose, looking at your numbers
through a new lens, and creatinga system that will help you make
smart and aligned decisions.
Because here's the truth, theway that we think about saving
(01:24):
money has gotten a little.
Surface level.
Cancel a few subscriptions here,skip the takeout there.
And sure, those things mightsave you a few bucks, but are
they changing the trajectory ofyour business?
Probably not.
I wanna go deeper than that.
This episode is aboutunderstanding your money so
well, that every dollar youspend has a job.
(01:46):
It is about approaching spendingwith clarity and confidence, not
fear or guilt.
It's about shifting your mindsetfrom where can I cut to, how can
I make this work smarter for me?
Today we're diving into whycutting costs isn't the real
goal.
How your bookkeeping system isactually one of your most
powerful decision making tools.
(02:07):
Why your time is just asvaluable to audit as your
dollars, how to reframe yourspending, so it actually
reflects your values and growthgoals.
And why sometimes the smartestway to save is to spend.
So get comfy, pour that lattethat you don't need to feel bad
about, and let's dive in.
Let's be honest, cutting cost iskind of glamorized In the
(02:28):
entrepreneur world, people wearfrugality like a badge of honor,
but spending as little aspossible is not the same as
running a lean, efficient, andprofitable business.
Yes, we should be responsiblewith our money, but responsible
doesn't mean restrictive.
And cutting costs for the sakeof cutting costs can actually be
harmful because it focuses yourattention on scarcity instead of
(02:51):
possibility.
What if instead of trying to runyour business as cheaply as
possible, you try to run it aseffectively as possible.
What if the question wasn't, howcan I save a hundred dollars
this month, but how can I use ahundred dollars in a way that
creates$500 in value?
Intentionality doesn't alwaysmean cutting.
It often means clarifying,clarify what matters, what moves
(03:15):
the needle and what yourbusiness actually needs.
Some expenses are necessary.
Some are inefficient, some areunderutilized.
Your job is to sort the three,not eliminate everything, just
to feel frugal.
And here's the kicker.
Some of the most powerfuldecisions you'll make in
business aren't about savingmoney at all.
(03:35):
They're about knowing when tospend it.
So let's talk about yourbookkeeping system.
Your bookkeeping system isn'tjust a dusty folder of numbers.
It is a living map of where yourbusiness has been and where it's
going.
And most business owners onlylook at it when they're
scrambling for tax documents, oreven worse when their cashflow
is already tight.
But when you start to treat yourfinancial records as a strategy
(03:58):
tool.
Everything changes.
You can begin to see patterns,spot red flags before they
become disasters, and noticesmall shifts that lead to big
results.
So here are a few ways that youcan use your books more
strategically.
Number one, run a trailing 12month report.
Look at your profit and lossacross an entire year, not just
the last few weeks.
(04:19):
See how expenses rise and fall.
Are there seasonal trends arecost creeping up somewhere that
you didn't notice?
Things like that.
Search for the patterns.
Number two, check your grossmargin.
Are your costs of goods soldrising faster than your revenue?
Are you marking up products orservices enough to stay
profitable?
If not, your pricing or yoursuppliers may need to be
(04:42):
reassessed.
Number three, evaluate yourexpense categories.
If your software line is biggerthan your marketing line, ask
why.
Are those tools contributing togrowth?
If not, maybe it's time toconsolidate or make some changes
there.
Number four, highlight underusedassets.
Are you paying for apps, tools,or services that you're only
(05:04):
using 10% of?
Either maximize them or dropthem and find a simpler
solution.
Either way, the point is toreassess all of these things and
see where you can make efficientchanges.
Don't be afraid of your numbers.
Your books are not there toshame you.
They're there to inform you, totell you where you can trim,
redirect, or double down.
(05:25):
So now let's talk about yourtime.
This is one asset that you can'tget more of, and yet it's one of
the things that so many of usspend carelessly.
If you're spending 10 hours aweek on a task that could be
outsourced for$200 and thosehours could be used to serve
clients or build your businessin another way, you're not
actually saving money, you arelosing opportunity.
(05:48):
Time should be treated like aline item in your budget.
You only have so many hours.
So where are they going?
What are they producing, andwhat's the ROI?
Here's how to start treatingyour time, like the premium
resource that it absolutely is.
You can start by doing a timeaudit for one full week.
Track every single hour.
(06:09):
Group your tasks into categorieslike admin, fulfillment,
marketing, revenue generating,whatever makes the most sense
for you, the way your businessis.
Split up into tasks.
Assign an hourly value to yourtime based on what you could
earn in your zone of genius, andthen compare.
Are you doing$15 an hour taskswhen your time is worth$75 an
(06:31):
hour?
This exercise isn't about beingabove certain tasks.
It's about knowing your worthand being honest about
trade-offs.
When you reclaim your time, youcan reclaim your potential and
your business's potential.
So let's talk about the guiltfactor in all of this.
So many business owners strugglewith the internal pressure to be
scrappy and self-sufficient.
(06:52):
We don't want to spend unlessit's absolutely necessary.
We hesitate to hire.
We hesitate to invest to upgradebecause we're afraid of being
wasteful.
But what if every dollar spentwas a chance to align with your
values?
Spending in your business shouldreflect what you believe in.
If you value service, invest intools that make your client
(07:13):
experience seamless.
If you value freedom, hiresupport that gives you your time
back.
If you value growth, pay for thesystems or the coaching that
gets you there faster.
This isn't reckless, this isresponsible.
It's saying, I trust myself tomake decisions that support the
business I want, not just theone that I have.
So ask yourself, is this expensehelping me do my best work?
(07:37):
Is it in alignment with thebusiness that I'm building?
Am I spending from a place ofclarity or am I spending from a
place of fear?
The more you ask those deeperquestions, the more empowered
your financial decisions become.
All right.
Let's flip the wholeconversation on its head.
Sometimes the best way to savemoney is to spend it.
Strategic spending is often thegateway to long-term savings
(08:00):
because when you invest in theright places, you reduce waste
and increase efficiency andunlock growth.
This could look like.
Investing in automation toolsthat streamline your workflows.
It could look like hiring abookkeeper to catch costly
mistakes or missed deductions.
Upgrading your equipment orsoftware to prevent downtime and
(08:21):
headaches.
Paying for education or coachingthat helps you reach your next
revenue level faster.
You can't just cut your way togrowth.
At some point, you have to startbuilding.
And building requires tools andsupport and a willingness to say
yes to the right opportunities.
Remember, not all spending iscreated equal.
Some expenses are dead weight,others are springboards.
(08:44):
Your job is to know thedifference.
So here's the heart of today'sepisode.
Saving money isn't about beingcheap.
It's about being intentional.
It's about making every singledollar and every single minute
work in service of your goals.
So if you are feeling like it'stime to clean up your finances,
get clear on your numbers, andfinally feel in control of your
(09:05):
spending, I wanna help youwhatever way I can.
First off, I offer freeconsultations, basically a
one-on-one session where you canjust tell me all of the things
about your current bookkeepingsituation and we can just talk
back and forth about where toget started.
I also offer a service called adiagnostic review.
This one's a little bit more indepth.
(09:26):
It's a financial clarity sessionwhere I will personally go
through your books and identifywhat's working, what's not,
what's missing, spot some hiddenthings, some underperforming
assets, things like that.
And I will create a fullstep-by-step plan to clean up,
streamline, and get your booksmoving forward and working for
you.
So you don't have to do this allyourself and you don't have to
(09:48):
feel unsure every time you loginto QuickBooks.
Let's take the mystery out ofyour money and replace it with
full confidence.
You can head to the link in myshow notes, or you can visit
starlight bookkeeping.com tobook your session.
Until next time, keep your booksclear, your spending intentional
and your mindset abundant.
You've got this.
Hi, and welcome back to the Balanced Podcast,
the show where we talk allthings business, bookkeeping,
and living a life that actuallyfeels aligned.
I'm your host, Stephanie, andtoday in this short and sweet
episode, I wanna kick things offwith a little truth bomb.
You don't need to cut out yourlattes to save money in
business.
This episode isn't about guilttripping you over every dollar
(01:03):
spend or convincing you tooperate from a place of
scarcity.
It's about something far morepowerful, something that will
actually move the needle in yourbusiness.
It's about spending withpurpose, looking at your numbers
through a new lens, and creatinga system that will help you make
smart and aligned decisions.
Because here's the truth, theway that we think about saving
(01:24):
money has gotten a little.
Surface level.
Cancel a few subscriptions here,skip the takeout there.
And sure, those things mightsave you a few bucks, but are
they changing the trajectory ofyour business?
Probably not.
I wanna go deeper than that.
This episode is aboutunderstanding your money so
well, that every dollar youspend has a job.
(01:46):
It is about approaching spendingwith clarity and confidence, not
fear or guilt.
It's about shifting your mindsetfrom where can I cut to, how can
I make this work smarter for me?
Today we're diving into whycutting costs isn't the real
goal.
How your bookkeeping system isactually one of your most
powerful decision making tools.
(02:07):
Why your time is just asvaluable to audit as your
dollars, how to reframe yourspending, so it actually
reflects your values and growthgoals.
And why sometimes the smartestway to save is to spend.
So get comfy, pour that lattethat you don't need to feel bad
about, and let's dive in.
Let's be honest, cutting cost iskind of glamorized In the
(02:28):
entrepreneur world, people wearfrugality like a badge of honor,
but spending as little aspossible is not the same as
running a lean, efficient, andprofitable business.
Yes, we should be responsiblewith our money, but responsible
doesn't mean restrictive.
And cutting costs for the sakeof cutting costs can actually be
harmful because it focuses yourattention on scarcity instead of
(02:51):
possibility.
What if instead of trying to runyour business as cheaply as
possible, you try to run it aseffectively as possible.
What if the question wasn't, howcan I save a hundred dollars
this month, but how can I use ahundred dollars in a way that
creates$500 in value?
Intentionality doesn't alwaysmean cutting.
It often means clarifying,clarify what matters, what moves
(03:15):
the needle and what yourbusiness actually needs.
Some expenses are necessary.
Some are inefficient, some areunderutilized.
Your job is to sort the three,not eliminate everything, just
to feel frugal.
And here's the kicker.
Some of the most powerfuldecisions you'll make in
business aren't about savingmoney at all.
(03:35):
They're about knowing when tospend it.
So let's talk about yourbookkeeping system.
Your bookkeeping system isn'tjust a dusty folder of numbers.
It is a living map of where yourbusiness has been and where it's
going.
And most business owners onlylook at it when they're
scrambling for tax documents, oreven worse when their cashflow
is already tight.
But when you start to treat yourfinancial records as a strategy
(03:58):
tool.
Everything changes.
You can begin to see patterns,spot red flags before they
become disasters, and noticesmall shifts that lead to big
results.
So here are a few ways that youcan use your books more
strategically.
Number one, run a trailing 12month report.
Look at your profit and lossacross an entire year, not just
the last few weeks.
(04:19):
See how expenses rise and fall.
Are there seasonal trends arecost creeping up somewhere that
you didn't notice?
Things like that.
Search for the patterns.
Number two, check your grossmargin.
Are your costs of goods soldrising faster than your revenue?
Are you marking up products orservices enough to stay
profitable?
If not, your pricing or yoursuppliers may need to be
(04:42):
reassessed.
Number three, evaluate yourexpense categories.
If your software line is biggerthan your marketing line, ask
why.
Are those tools contributing togrowth?
If not, maybe it's time toconsolidate or make some changes
there.
Number four, highlight underusedassets.
Are you paying for apps, tools,or services that you're only
(05:04):
using 10% of?
Either maximize them or dropthem and find a simpler
solution.
Either way, the point is toreassess all of these things and
see where you can make efficientchanges.
Don't be afraid of your numbers.
Your books are not there toshame you.
They're there to inform you, totell you where you can trim,
redirect, or double down.
(05:25):
So now let's talk about yourtime.
This is one asset that you can'tget more of, and yet it's one of
the things that so many of usspend carelessly.
If you're spending 10 hours aweek on a task that could be
outsourced for$200 and thosehours could be used to serve
clients or build your businessin another way, you're not
actually saving money, you arelosing opportunity.
(05:48):
Time should be treated like aline item in your budget.
You only have so many hours.
So where are they going?
What are they producing, andwhat's the ROI?
Here's how to start treatingyour time, like the premium
resource that it absolutely is.
You can start by doing a timeaudit for one full week.
Track every single hour.
(06:09):
Group your tasks into categorieslike admin, fulfillment,
marketing, revenue generating,whatever makes the most sense
for you, the way your businessis.
Split up into tasks.
Assign an hourly value to yourtime based on what you could
earn in your zone of genius, andthen compare.
Are you doing$15 an hour taskswhen your time is worth$75 an
(06:31):
hour?
This exercise isn't about beingabove certain tasks.
It's about knowing your worthand being honest about
trade-offs.
When you reclaim your time, youcan reclaim your potential and
your business's potential.
So let's talk about the guiltfactor in all of this.
So many business owners strugglewith the internal pressure to be
scrappy and self-sufficient.
(06:52):
We don't want to spend unlessit's absolutely necessary.
We hesitate to hire.
We hesitate to invest to upgradebecause we're afraid of being
wasteful.
But what if every dollar spentwas a chance to align with your
values?
Spending in your business shouldreflect what you believe in.
If you value service, invest intools that make your client
(07:13):
experience seamless.
If you value freedom, hiresupport that gives you your time
back.
If you value growth, pay for thesystems or the coaching that
gets you there faster.
This isn't reckless, this isresponsible.
It's saying, I trust myself tomake decisions that support the
business I want, not just theone that I have.
So ask yourself, is this expensehelping me do my best work?
(07:37):
Is it in alignment with thebusiness that I'm building?
Am I spending from a place ofclarity or am I spending from a
place of fear?
The more you ask those deeperquestions, the more empowered
your financial decisions become.
All right.
Let's flip the wholeconversation on its head.
Sometimes the best way to savemoney is to spend it.
Strategic spending is often thegateway to long-term savings
(08:00):
because when you invest in theright places, you reduce waste
and increase efficiency andunlock growth.
This could look like.
Investing in automation toolsthat streamline your workflows.
It could look like hiring abookkeeper to catch costly
mistakes or missed deductions.
Upgrading your equipment orsoftware to prevent downtime and
(08:21):
headaches.
Paying for education or coachingthat helps you reach your next
revenue level faster.
You can't just cut your way togrowth.
At some point, you have to startbuilding.
And building requires tools andsupport and a willingness to say
yes to the right opportunities.
Remember, not all spending iscreated equal.
Some expenses are dead weight,others are springboards.
(08:44):
Your job is to know thedifference.
So here's the heart of today'sepisode.
Saving money isn't about beingcheap.
It's about being intentional.
It's about making every singledollar and every single minute
work in service of your goals.
So if you are feeling like it'stime to clean up your finances,
get clear on your numbers, andfinally feel in control of your
(09:05):
spending, I wanna help youwhatever way I can.
First off, I offer freeconsultations, basically a
one-on-one session where you canjust tell me all of the things
about your current bookkeepingsituation and we can just talk
back and forth about where toget started.
I also offer a service called adiagnostic review.
This one's a little bit more indepth.
(09:26):
It's a financial clarity sessionwhere I will personally go
through your books and identifywhat's working, what's not,
what's missing, spot some hiddenthings, some underperforming
assets, things like that.
And I will create a fullstep-by-step plan to clean up,
streamline, and get your booksmoving forward and working for
you.
So you don't have to do this allyourself and you don't have to
(09:48):
feel unsure every time you loginto QuickBooks.
Let's take the mystery out ofyour money and replace it with
full confidence.
You can head to the link in myshow notes, or you can visit
starlight bookkeeping.com tobook your session.
Until next time, keep your booksclear, your spending intentional
and your mindset abundant.
You've got this.
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