Ep #161: 7 Ways to Ensure Your Business' Finances Are Set Up For Success in 2024 with Crystalynn Shelton

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Krystalyn Shelton, a licensed CPA with her own consulting business. She specializes in coaching small business owners on managing their finances and teaching individuals without accounting or bookkeeping background to properly manage their books for tax season.

 Crystalynn shared her inspiring journey from working in corporate to starting her own firm and conducting workshops and group trainings. She also outlined best practices for setting up business finances for success which include hiring a professional to set up books, separating business and personal accounts, automating transactions, minimizing cash expenditures, going paperless, regularly reviewing books and working with a tax planner.

Finally, she provided resources where one can find credible tax professionals and offered downloadable resource guides for beginners to seasoned bookkeepers.

00:02 Introduction and Guest Presentation
01:07 Krystalyn's Journey to Starting Her Business
03:59 Krystalyn's 'Hello' Moment
05:17 7 Ways to Ensure Your Business Finances are Set Up for Success
15:36 Finding a Good Tax Planner or Preparer
18:20 Final Advice and Contact Information

Guest Promotion:  
Assortment of freebies to get you starting on your Quick Books journey 👉🏽https://www.crystalynnshelton.com/podcasts

Where to fine Crystalynn:

Website: https://www.crystalynnshelton.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crystalynn.shelton.5/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalynnshelton/

Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the Hello C. S. Dorsey podcast. I have Krystalyn on the show today. How are you doing today? I am fantastic. Yay. I'm so excited to have you on. I cannot wait to dive in. But before we do, tell everyone who you are and what you do. So, yes, hello, everyone. My name is Crystal and Shelton. I am a licensed CPA and I have a consulting business where I coach small business owners on how to manage their finances. So, my primary client is the business owner that is doing their own bookkeeping and I teach. A lot of people who don't even have like an accounting or a bookkeeping background how to manage their books properly so that they can be prepared for tax season. So I do that. And then I also conduct. Workshops and teach people how to use QuickBooks either one on one, or I also do group trainings as well. Sounds good. I can't wait to dive in. So let's talk about the inspiration behind you starting your business. What was that like for you? So believe it or not, I knew I was going to start my own business back when I was a junior in high school. I actually took a bookkeeping class It was called record keeping back then. We won't say how long ago that was, but it was taught by a gentleman who was a CPA and he ran his own practice. So, it's just really inspired in that class to not only pursue an accounting degree and become a CPA. But eventually I decided that I wanted to have my own firm. So I actually made that decision way back then. And then I would say after I graduated with my degree and I earned my CPA, I did work in corporate for. Probably about eight years and then decided to go off on my own. But I didn't really necessarily want to do the books. I actually wanted to teach and train others on how to properly manage their books. And so I made that shift based on. Responsibility I had it at one of the corporate positions I held. I worked for Paramount Pictures for 8 years, and I was tasked as the accounting director to train my team on how to use a new accounting system. I had never done that before, but I was the best person to do it because I knew how they did their work and I knew the current system. So I was tasked with doing that. And at the end of it, I actually just realized how much I loved it. I created the training materials, I delivered the training, and it was so much fun that I decided, you know what, I actually want to do this. And so I, that was kind of like the moment where I was like, I want to pursue my certification and then go off and start my consulting business. So I actually ended up leaving corporate in 2010 to do just that. That sounds amazing. My mom would have loved you. Really? Yeah, I was the fantasy child. Like, I was the person in high school that was like, I'm going to be the next Selena. And I'm going to have my own, even though I don't sing in Spanish, but I was going to be the next Selena. I was going to have my own fashion designing, like have my own line of clothing. That was my dream. And my mom was just looking at me like, Oh God, this child here. But now she's like, I'm going to do this. It's not far fetched. The things that I tell her that what I'm going to do. So she's actually with me 100%. So, but yeah, she loved you back in high school. So I know you touched on it a little bit, but can you talk about a time in your business or your life where you had a hello moment? Yeah, I would say that you know, working for a corporation and working in accounting department and just kind of moving up the ranks. You know, I never had a had a position where I could just work 40 hours a week and go home. You know, accounting was just kind of 1 of those departments that were had minimal resources. And so, you know, an average 50, 60, 70 hour weeks working most of my corporate tenure and I realize that I didn't want to continue to do that forever. So one evening at the office, probably eight o'clock at night I just took my paycheck and divided it by the number of hours I was putting in and pretty much almost brought me to tears because I thought I was making great money until I actually saw my hourly rate based on what I was, you know, the number of hours I was putting in. So at that moment I was like, yeah, I have to make a change. So I would say that was it it's so awesome. So let's talk about seven ways to ensure your business finances are set up for success in 2024. Awesome. So there are several best practices that I share with my clients to just make sure that they start off on the right foot with managing their finances. And even if, you know, they started out. You know, kind of just figuring out on their own and they come to me with their books a hot mess Which happens quite a bit You know I always just make sure that they understand. Hey, we can you know recover from this and move forward So I would say one of the first things that you want to do Starting out is to hire a accountant Or a bookkeeper to help you get your book set up properly. Even if you don't feel like you have the budget or can't afford for someone to manage your books regularly, you can still hire someone like me. I can set the books up for you and teach you how to use the software properly. I think from the beginning, if you get your book set up properly, then you'll at least be on the right track. And sometimes business owners or people feel like, oh, I'm not making enough money to really use an accounting software, but you don't want to make wait until. You know, you're so busy because by then it will be overwhelming to get things set up. You want to do it when, you know, the activity is low, you don't have a lot going on and you can actually focus on learning how to use the software and using it, you know, correctly. So I would say first thing, hire a professional to help you get everything set up properly, and they can even help recommend software that might be right for you. So QuickBooks, obviously, that's what I use. I'm certified in it, but there's a lot of products out there. And so if you don't necessarily need a QuickBooks, you could go with another software product that might be more feasible for where you are in your business. Number 2 and something that I see far too often is do not commingle business and personal accounts. A lot of people starting out, even myself when I first started my business, it was actually my side gig because I was still with corporate. And so I actually used part of my paycheck to fund my business because in the beginning, obviously, you're not making a lot of money. And so a lot of new business owners, I did this myself, I was guilty of this myself, is I didn't set up a separate business account at first. I just kind of had everything in my personal account. And the problem with that is it's too difficult to figure out what money belongs to the business, what expenses are the business versus the personal, and it's just really frowned upon by the IRS. If you've got money sitting in one account for business and personal. They assume that you're probably not doing something right, right? You're probably I don't want to say that you're being shady, but they assume that things are not on the up and up. Let's say it that way. So I will just stress. As soon as possible, open up a business checking account and savings account. Most banks don't really require that much of a deposit. You can put down a small deposit to open the account, but at least you'll have it, right? So that's recommendation number two. Number three, you want to automate as much as possible. You know, business owners don't, people don't go into business to do bookkeeping, right? But it's still an important element of being successful as a business owner. And so what I typically do is I automate as much as possible. So, for example, QuickBooks and many software products allow you to connect your business bank account. And so instead of sitting at a keyboard manually entering, right, your income and your withdrawals, your expenses, you can have the bank just download that information automatically into QuickBooks on a daily basis. And then you're simply just reviewing those transactions and making sure they're categorized as they should before they get recorded on your books. So automation is I'm big on automation as much as possible. The next tip I have is use as little cash as possible to pay for expenses. So why would I say that? Well, typically, if you use a debit card or credit card to pay for something, you at least have a record. Either you have a receipt or you will receive a bank or credit card statement that shows that you spent that money. When you pay cash for something, you do get a receipt, but if you don't keep up with that receipt, you don't have proof. Right, that you pay for something, so that's why I recommend try to use a debit card or credit card because you'll always have a record of your expenses. The next tip I would say is and it's 1 of 1 that I, I really, really like is to go paperless. So nothing stresses me out more than having a lot of paper receipts. I don't know about you, Candace, but, you know, I am, I have tried so many different methods of trying to keep track of my receipts. You know, I've tried that. Hey, let's throw them all in the envelope. Hey, let's you know, use this pouch and keep it in my glove box. It's like nothing has been successful. I'll start out good and then yeah, I'll, I'll fall off. I'll, I'll drop the ball. So one of the tools that you'll find in a lot of accounting software is they'll allow you the ability to take a picture of your receipt and it will upload to your accounting software. So that's what I do. Now, wherever I'm out, if I get a receipt, I'll just take a quick pick and then I'll just toss the receipt. Because once it's uploaded, I don't need that paper any longer. So that's something that I absolutely recommend you try and do. Another tip that I find helps business owners to stay on top of their bookkeeping so that they don't get behind is to schedule time on your calendar to review your books. So this might sound like a no brainer but it's actually something that you need to do on purpose to be consistent. So what I have on my calendar is a monthly meeting on the 2nd, Saturday of every month. I have 2 hours blocked out. And I just grab my coffee or I'll go get my favorite latte, you know, to kind of make it fun. You know, some people might want to grab a mimosa, whatever works for you. And then I go through my accounting software. Make sure I've recorded everything for the previous month and by that time, I also should have my bank statement. So I'm able to reconcile my accounts. I'm able to review my profit and loss and just see where I'm where I am for the previous month of my income for my expenses. Just making sure everything's on track and I find that doing that once a month helps me to stay on top of my bookkeeping. You know, if you have a lot more activity. You may need to do this weekly review your, your transactions and record them. Because a lot of times people let it pile up and then it becomes extremely overwhelming and you definitely don't want to wait until it's time to file your taxes because then you're looking at 12 months worth of activity that you've got to go back. And deal with in terms of organizing for the tax person. And then I would just say the the last tip I'll give is you know, try to plan to meet with a tax planner. So, This is something that I did for the first time a couple of years ago. Now, I am a CPA, but I don't prepare taxes and I don't do my own taxes. And the primary reason is because I have no desire to stay on top of the tax. So, like zero there's other people that love to do that. And so I'm happy to pay those people so that they can tell me you know, what I can deduct. And if, you know, there's areas of opportunity for tax strategies that I can take. So a tax planner, which is, which is different from a tax preparer. So that there are people that just prepare taxes and they don't care to answer any questions. They don't want to give you any guidance or anything like that. That's that's not the people I'm talking about. I'm talking about people that want to sit down with you, look at your financials and provide you with some insights on where you could possibly you know, improve or expand upon your deductions and just different tax strategies they can recommend. So that you can reduce your tax bill if that's a goal of yours. And so I would say I meet with a tax planner once a year. But depending on how fast your business is going, it might make sense to meet with someone like that more often, especially if you're encountering. New purchases you're making or you're thinking about making a large purse purchase and you want some guidance on timing and you know, the possible deduction that you can get for that. So, but, yeah, those are the strategies that I help my clients implement so that they can be successful with their funding answer. That's amazing. That's awesome. I'm actually writing some things down because I didn't know the difference between a tax planner and a tax preparer. So my question is how can someone find a good one? Because the thing of it is, I hear and I see on social media a lot, like, people are not happy with who they have, or they don't know how to find someone, or, They'll find them on social media and kind of find out that they're just they just take their money. So On how can someone find maybe like a tax planner or a preparer maybe locally. Or something like that. Yeah, that's a great question. So what I recommend just because I'm part of this network is if they Google let me just see because majority of the people that support QuickBooks some of them also prepare taxes and provide the tax preparation and planning services as well. And what I love about this directory is that it has reviews. From their previous clients. So even on my profile, I have a bunch of reviews from former clients and you can read those reviews. Also, most of the folks like myself will offer a complimentary consultation so you can meet with them. Like, my complimenting consultations are 20 minutes and I'll usually go as long as 30 minutes and we get to chat. They can get a feel for me and ask me questions. So I want to just find this for you real quick here. But that's a great question. Yeah. Cause a lot of times it's really, you know, that it needs to be done, but then you're like, ah, how can I find a good person, you know? Yeah, so if you Google find a QuickBooks pro advisor and click on that link, you can just put in your city or your zip code in this little search box and then click find a pro advisor and people close to that area. It'll even give you the distance. We'll pull up on there. This is like, 1 of the best resources that I always recommend for people. So even if you're not, you know, interested in using QuickBooks, you can still find good tax people that are on here. And at least you've got the reviews, you see they're certified, they're legitimate. And so that kind of is a, that's like my number one go to resource. Awesome. Yeah, that definitely helps so much. Perfect. So any last minute advice you have for our listeners out there? So I would just say a lot of people, especially business owners, who are creatives or feel like they're not good with numbers. I'll just say this, you know, Anyone can learn how to how to manage their books. You don't have to have an accounting degree. You don't have to have experience. You actually just need someone to sit down with you and explain how it works. And that's 1 of the things that. I do I'm able to break things down into a simple and easy to understand language. So I don't use a lot of technical terms. So that it makes sense to you. And the 1 thing that you want to do when you're looking for someone to. Teach you is you want them to be able to explain the why behind whatever you're doing. So never have someone just tell you oh click here click here click here and do that You want them to be able to answer? Okay. So why am I doing this? Why you know, why do I need to do this? What is the impact of me doing this? So I was just saying, you know, my final words are just You can learn how to do your own books. It's just a matter of investing time and finding the right professional that's willing to teach you. So where can everyone find you? So I actually have a couple of gifts for your listeners today. If they go to crystallinshelton. com backslash podcasts with an S at the end, I've got a couple of downloads. One of them is a checklist and it's called your first seven days in QuickBooks. I also have another checklist for people who are seasoned with bookkeeping and would like a go to guide for how to close your books at the end of the year and preparing for taxes. It's called eight steps to closing your books. So they go to that page, they can download one or both of those checklists. I also have available my brand new book that just came out last week called Mastering QuickBooks 2024. So that book is available on amazon. com. You can also purchase it directly from that page as well. So yeah. Awesome. And we'll definitely link those up in the show notes. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. This has been really informative. Thank you so much for having me. I really, really had a good time and you know, look forward to, you know, hopefully your listeners will, will have a feel a little bit better about, you know, managing their books or at least finding a professional that can help them do it. So thanks so much.