GROUP THERAPY: 'I spend way too many hours on money admin. Any tips to streamline?'

Hey, I’m Loz Markham and to kick things off I want to introduce you to the head of accounts in my business, Loz.     

She works alongside my lead content creator Loz, head of administration and client management Loz, and my chief of snacks and coffee (also Loz). 

Sound familiar? 

You’re busy, I know you are and if you’ve been involved in any sort of business coaching, scaling seminars or any Lady Startup adventures with Mamamia (get in The Lady Startup Lounge Facebook Group already cutie), you’d know that admin can really slow a startup down. Especially when we want to be maximising the fun stuff: making, creating, and even planning the next business step.

So, automation truly is key. 

When I first started my own content creation agency, financial admin was my biggest time suck. 

Partly because it’s genuinely time-consuming and partly because my Journalism degree and complete lack of paying attention during high school maths lessons has rendered me basically useless at anything to do with numbers. 

I wasn’t quite ready financially to bring on a bookkeeper, so instead I decided to give MYOB a shot. It was actually my partner Nick who suggested it to me. He’d used it for years for his building company and was slightly (read: very) concerned about my invoices and financial admin being... all over the place. 

Side note: Listen to Mamamia's Lady Startup Stories. Post continues below.

Also, for those of you who are a bit further along, already having his accounting in MYOB makes the transition to bringing on a full-time bookkeeper a breeze.

Sceptical on whether or not I’d actually be able to pull this off, I was honestly shocked by not only how easy it was to do this all on my own, but just how much time I saved each week.

Seriously, I had plans to outsource but now I don’t really see the point. Here’s some of my (and other lady startups') favourite ways to streamline your money admin.

Cut your invoicing time. 

I wanted to get this out of the way early for those who are still spending more than 15 minutes using design software to make (admittedly gorgeous) invoices. 

Don’t stress, fellow creatives! All-in-one accounting solutions are no longer skipping over the part where we want our invoices to match our aesthetic. Plus, they literally take a click to put together which will save you a tonne of time.  

Now, while we’re on invoicing, this next one is actually my personal favourite. 

Honey, it’s not worth the chase.

If you’re an all-or-nothing, loves-hard-conversations-and-ready-to-take-the-bull-by-the-horns kinda gal, I envy you… because, my friends, this is not in my wheelhouse. Nothing sets off my nervous system and ramps up my procrastination like knowing I have to send a:

Hey Kylie,

I hope you’re having the best week! How are the kids? And the dog? 

The weather’s been just gorgeous hasn’t it?

Anyway, just one small thing but it’s seriously no big deal. I’m wondering if you got a chance to look at that invoice I sent you two months ago? No worries if not!!

I kind of need it paid so that I can afford to put petrol in my car, but like I said, no big deal, I love cycling anyway.

Excuse me while I crawl under my desk for the next 3-5 hours.

Sending my invoices through MYOB changed the game for me on this. All of my invoices are now trackable. At a glance, not only can I view who’s paid and who hasn’t but I’ve set up automatic invoice reminders so the system does the chasing for me.

Hours saved actually sending emails: 3.

Hours saved procrastinating/losing sleep over sending said emails: At least 25+ 

Stay one step ahead.

Now that you’re saving time on your daily admin, it’s time to start forecasting. The easiest way to streamline your money admin is to know where it’s coming from, when it’s coming in and how much needs to be spent on wages and expenses. 

I had a chat with a MYOB expert, their Head of Marketing Jane Betschel, about the biggest pain points for lady startups and it’s no surprise what came in at number one.

“Cashflow is one of the most common pressures on small business owners, with 32 per cent of SMEs surveyed for the June MYOB Business Monitor confirming it caused them extreme or a lot of pressure, second only to COVID-19.”  

Understanding my cash flow has been critical to understanding how my own lady startup is performing. For me, the things I find most helpful are:   

• Generating profit-loss statements  

• Knowing what recurring bills I have coming up and how much I owe

• Knowing who my late payers – and my great payers are

These features are all included in the cost of your MYOB subscription. Which is currently 50 per cent off for your first 3 months, which is excellent for any startups or side hustlers wanting to see what value it can bring to their own business venture.

Set and forget.

There are many ways you can automate your financial admin, leaving you free to focus on what matters most (in and outside of your business).

Some of the most popular ways Mamamia's Lady Startup Academy graduates are automating are: 

• Banking reconciliation 

• Organisation of expenses  

• GST tracking  

• BAS reporting  

• Employee time capture and rostering  

• Recurring invoices and bills  

If all of this is freaking you out a little, don't worry. I had an accountant (you can use a bookkeeper) set up my software and automations for me so that I quite literally couldn’t screw it up. Worth every cent. 

And finally...

Ditch the clutter.

While I had MYOB's Jane Betschel on hand, I thought it would be rude not to ask if they had any sneaky little tips for us. 

They let us in on their favourite part of the entire platform and I must say it’s pretty handy for those of us with a bit of a glove box filing cabinet situation going on. 

“It has to be the MYOB Capture app, free on the Apple and Google Play stores. The app integrates with your software to help you easily manage expenses. So basically, snap a photo of your receipts and the details will be captured and automatically filed in your software. Machine learning matches the receipt to your transactions and bank feeds so you don’t need to manually. Plus the image is stored so there’s no need for that shoebox of receipts. The biggest time-saver.”

Feature Image: Supplied/Instagram @lozmarkham @intentionalstudios