Bookkeeping
“What gets measured, gets managed.”
— My Dad, CPA, CA (but before him, Peter Drucker)
I own and operate a creative business called Few of a Kind Prints whereby I sell my art online and locally in Ottawa. For a while, I had a gist of how things were going, and that was good enough for me since my printmaking was just a side-hustle.
But, as I started to level up, I realized I needed a system to accurately capture my financial transactions to better understand how my company was performing.
I was stumped on seemingly simple questions such as:
How much have I really spent on printmaking supplies?
Which local markets had the best return on investment last holiday?
Have I priced my art correctly?
How much do I need to sell next month to break even? To make $2K in profit?
Are my wholesale prices and minimums viable?
It all starts with getting things written down.
I built out some custom financial tracking tools in Excel to get clear on my numbers. Turns out, I totally geeked out on the task and decided I wanted to learn more about accounting and financial management.
So, I enrolled in a Small Business Accounting program where I gained theoretical and practical knowledge on financial accounting.
What is Bookkeeping?
Bookkeeping is the systematic collecting, classifying and reporting of daily financial transactions that occur across all departments of a business.
When data is recorded and arranged correctly, adhering to generally accepted accounting principles, we can then see clearly how a business is doing. This intel is then used to make more informed business decisions.
My Services
Full Service Bookkeeping
Throw some money at the problem! Let me do everything for you.
Online Course for Handmade Sellers
Do you sell on Etsy, Shopify, at local markets or via wholesale retailers? Get on the waitlist for my upcoming bookkeeping course for product-based businesses who sell online and IRL.
Training & Consulting
After an initial consultation, you’ll DIY your own books. I’m around to help as needed.
Digital Downloads
Visit my Etsy shop for tools, templates and one-off services to supercharge your small business’ finances.
COMING SOON!
My Process
Want to hire me to do your books? Below are some of the services I offer (scaled up or down, as per your needs)
Initial Consult
We take the time to discuss your business. We establish the process for information exchange, select a best fit software, and prepare your chart of accounts.
Close the Books
At the end of each month, I reconcile your business bank account to ensure that transactions during the period are error-free.
Spring Cleaning
I perform a one-time clean up of your books so we have some data under our belt and we start things on the right foot.
🖩
Record
I journalize and post your daily business transactions to give you better insight into exactly how much you’re spending and making in each category.
Financial Statements
I prepare your primary statements including: Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Owner’s Equity.
Armed with data from bookkeeping, here’s how I tackled those earlier questions…
How much have I really spent on printmaking supplies?
Info after tracking: I may be single-handedly keeping my art store in business. 💸💸💸
How this informed my business decisions: Sourced new suppliers and materials; considered purchasing in volume; became more mindful of supply waste.
How much do I need to sell next month to break even? To make $2K in profit?
Info after tracking: My fixed costs are projected to be higher than my revenues next month (i.e. I’ll be operating at a loss).
How this informed my business decisions: I found creative solutions to lower my overhead (work one day at the front desk of my co-working space) and increase revenues by running Etsy ads.
Which local markets had the best return on investment last holiday?
Info after tracking: After vendor fees, parking, labour setting-up/taking-down, etc., only 20% of the 2019 markets I participated in were profitable.
How this informed my business decisions: Lead with a quality over quantity approach next holiday. Participate in markets that have historically yielded a higher return on investment. Continue gathering intel on new markets.
Are my wholesale prices and minimums viable?
Info after tracking: Yes, when selling prints (profitable). No, when selling greeting cards (breaking even).
How this informed my business decisions: Due to the labour-intensive process of printing, and customers’ price tolerance for greeting cards, I decided to stop selling my greeting cards wholesale.
Have I priced my art correctly?
Info after tracking: This is the wrong question to ask. Instead, I should ask, “how many customers must buy my art prints for me to be profitable.”
How this informed my business decisions: At my current prices the number of prints I had to sell per year/month/day to be profitable wasn’t realistic. So, I raised my prices.
Things to Know About Me
I’m based in Ottawa, Canada. 🍁
Where possible, I like to have our initial meetings in person to check that we’re a good fit. Once we’re through the early back and forth, our systems should run like clockwork and we’ll be able to shift to phone and email for check-ins. Translation: I’ll respect your time.
For now, I work only with sole-proprietors.
I plan to expand my bookkeeping services to include partnerships and corporations in the future. Stay tuned!
I’m not a tax accountant.
I don’t file your taxes. What I offer is a service whereby I manage your day-to-day books as per generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) so you can hand this information over to your tax accountant in one tidy little package. Or, if your tax situation isn’t overly complicated, you can even file yourself.
What are you waiting for?
I’m now signing bookkeeping clients for 2022.