Get Comfy with Numbers | Making Bookkeeping & QuickBooks Easy for Female Entrepreneurs, Bookkeeping for Small Business

Behind on Your Bookkeeping? Here's Your Mid-Year Catch-Up Plan

It's July, and if that mid-year check-in just gave you a pit in your stomach because your books are months behind... friend, you are not alone. Being behind does not mean you're bad at business! In this episode, I'm walking you through exactly how to catch up your bookkeeping now, so you can actually use your numbers for the rest of the year instead of just surviving until tax time.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why July is actually the perfect time to catch up (you've got 6 months of runway!)
• How to assess how far behind you really are (months, transactions, and accounts)
• How to decide if you should DIY your catch-up or get support (and why neither one is failure!)
• The month-by-month batching method that makes catch-up so much easier
• Simple habits to "stop the bleeding" so this month doesn't become next year's backlog

Remember: avoidance is the real problem, not the backlog. One reconciled month is momentum!

Ready to catch up your books? Download the free Podcast Cleanup Playlist! It walks you through the steps and red flags to look for as you clean up and catch up: https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

Come say hi on Instagram @erika_millard

Happy Bookkeeping!

Three of my clients just had their highest revenue month of 2026 (some the highest EVER)! A coach, a therapist, and an interior designer. Totally different businesses, but they all have the same boring secret in common: how they handle their bookkeeping.

In this episode:

• Where all three started: overwhelmed and confused by QuickBooks
• Each of their stories, from setup and training to the support level that fits their season
• The pattern they share: support early, a simple routine (hello, Finance Fridays!), and actually looking at their numbers
• Why I believe this played a real part in their growth

The magic ingredients? Get set up right, get support early, build a simple routine, and actually look at your numbers.

Curious what stage YOU'RE in? Download the free podcast playlist made just for your season, whether you're setting up, catching up, or ready to outsource.

https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

If you're the confused and overwhelmed one right now, you don't have to stay there!

Book a discovery call and we'll find the right support for your season.

Discovery call link: https://portal.erikamillard.com/public/appointment-scheduler/6138d4116063a033a5d47857/schedule

Happy Bookkeeping!

Welcome to the grand finale of Summer School! We're wrapping up the series by showing you how the P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement all work together to tell one big story about your business.

Haven't caught the other sessions yet? Go back and listen first! Links below.

• Performance, position, and movement: what each report is actually telling you
• The road trip analogy (speedometer, GPS pin, gas gauge)
• How to pull all 3 reports in QuickBooks Online for the same time period
• Why you can be profitable and still feel broke
• What your P&L has to do with your taxes

• Session 1: Let's Talk P&L https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/122-summer-school-session-1-lets-talk-profit-loss/id1707561040?i=1000771854013
• Session 2: Balance Sheet for Small Business https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/123-summer-school-session-2-balance-sheet-for-small/id1707561040?i=1000772954114
• Session 3: Cash Flow Statement for Small Business https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/124-summer-school-session-3-cash-flow-statement-for/id1707561040?i=1000773875365
• Grab your free podcast playlist: https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

Happy Bookkeeping!

You could be totally profitable on paper... and still feel like you're scraping by every single month. Sound familiar? That's exactly what we're digging into today!

In this Summer School session, we're breaking down the cash flow statement (the report a lot of small business owners skip right over) and why that's a problem. By the end, you'll finally understand why your profit and your bank account don't always match, and what you can actually do about it.

What is the cash flow statement? Profit is what you've earned. Cash is what's actually sitting in your bank account. Those two numbers are often not the same, and the cash flow statement is what helps explain the difference.

Why your profit and cash might not match:

• You billed a client but they haven't paid yet (hello, unpaid invoices!)
• You made a loan payment, but that cash is gone and it doesn't show up as an expense on your P&L
• You bought a big piece of equipment or a lot of inventory all at once, and recorded it as an asset instead of an expense

The three sections of the cash flow statement:

• Operating activities: cash from the day-to-day running of your business
• Investing activities: cash spent on bigger purchases like equipment or long-term assets
• Financing activities: cash tied to loans, owner draws, contributions, and debt payments

(Don't panic if you don't have an investing activities section. That's totally normal for newer or online-based businesses!)

Cash basis vs. accrual basis: The gap between your profit and your cash can also depend on which method you use to record your books. If you're not sure what that means, go back to episode 67 where we break down the number one QuickBooks setting that most people miss.

Do you really need this report if you already look at your P&L and balance sheet? Yes! The cash flow statement tells a story the other two can't. You can be profitable and asset-rich and still run out of cash if the timing is off.

"My P&L says I made money, so why is my bank account so low?" Timing! Unpaid invoices, loan payments, and big purchases all hit your cash differently than they show up on your P&L. Profit and cash are not the same thing, and that's okay.

"Is a slow cash month always a bad sign?" Not necessarily, but it is a warning sign. One slow month might not be a big deal. If it keeps happening, that's your cue to pay closer attention to your cash flow statement (and maybe even look into a cash flow management system).

"Is cash flow the same thing as a budget?" Nope! Your cash flow statement shows what already happened. A budget is a prediction of what's going to happen. But they can work together and you can create cash flow forecasts to plan ahead.

• Episode 67: The #1 QuickBooks setting that gets missed (cash vs. accrual basis)
• Recent guest episode with Emily: How to manage cash flow and what it means for your taxes
• Free curated podcast playlist: Find out exactly where you are in your bookkeeping journey:

  https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

Happy Bookkeeping!

Most small business owners either ignore the balance sheet or have no idea what they're looking at... and honestly? That makes total sense! The terminology is confusing, and it doesn't feel as urgent as your P&L.

But in this Summer School session, we're breaking it all the way down so you actually understand what a balance sheet is, why it matters for YOUR business, and what to look at when you open it up.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What a balance sheet actually is (and how it's different from your P&L)
• The ALOE acronym that makes it all click: Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity
• The most common asset types you'll see as a small business owner
• What liabilities and equity really mean in plain language
• How often you should actually be reviewing this report
• Why the balance sheet is a sneaky great place to catch errors

Key Takeaways:

The balance sheet is a snapshot in time, not a summary of activity. While your P&L shows how your business performed over a period, the balance sheet shows where things stand at one specific moment. These two reports work together, and you really do need both!

Everything on a balance sheet falls into one of three buckets: assets (what your business owns or is owed), liabilities (what your business owes to others), and equity (what's left over for you as the owner). Remember ALOE!

Even if you're a service-based business without a lot of physical assets, you still need to review your balance sheet. It's actually one of the best places to spot miscategorized transactions before they become a bigger problem.

Resources mentioned:

Grab the free playlist to find the episodes that match where you are in your bookkeeping journey: https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

Next week: Summer School Session 3 drops next week, so stay tuned!

Hey hey, friend! Welcome to summer school! All month long we're diving deep into financial statements and the foundations you actually need to understand your business. And we're kicking things off with the report you've definitely heard of but maybe never fully understood — the profit and loss.

What even IS a profit and loss report? You might know it as the income statement, the P&L, or just "that scary report." They're all the same thing! It's basically your business's scorecard for a specific period of time — what came in, what went out, and what's left over.

Key terms you need to know:

• Revenue/Income — Every single dollar that came into your business (sales, services, affiliate income, referrals, all of it)
• Expenses — Everything you spent to run the business
• Gross Profit — What's left after you subtract your direct costs (cost of goods sold) from revenue
• Net Profit/Net Loss — The bottom line. What's actually left after ALL expenses come out

Revenue is NOT profit (and why this matters SO much) A million dollar month means nothing if you spent $900k to generate it. We talk about why it's not always about the big income number — it's about how much you're actually keeping.

A live walkthrough of your QuickBooks P&L Pull up your report and follow along! We walk through:

• The income section (and why you should separate your offers/services)
• Cost of goods sold — what it is and who actually needs it
• Operating expenses
• The net income line at the bottom

Your midnight Google questions, answered:

• How often should I actually look at my P&L? (Hint: at least monthly!)
• My P&L says I'm profitable but I have no money — what's going on?
• My categories are a mess — does that affect my report?

1. Pull up your QuickBooks profit and loss report for the current or most recently completed quarter
2. Make sure your transactions are categorized before you run it
3. Look at your income section — are your different offers/services separated out?
4. Check out that bottom line — are you profitable? Does it match what you expected?

Podcast Playlist Freebie — Not sure where to start with your bookkeeping? Grab the free playlist that meets you right where you are → [link in show notes]

Summer School Series — This is part 1 of 4! Each session covers one big financial foundation topic. Stay tuned for the next session!

Today I'm sitting down with Emily Bowie, one of the partners at Thorne Advisors, and y'all... this conversation is SO good. We're talking about what happens AFTER your books are clean, why profit doesn't always equal cash, and how to know when it's time to bring a tax strategist into your corner.

In this episode, we cover:

The red flags that you've outgrown basic bookkeeping and need a tax strategist

What tax strategy actually is (and why it's not the same as just filing your taxes)

Questions you should ask before hiring a CPA

Why your bookkeeper and tax person need to actually talk to each other

The S corp breakdown you didn't know you needed, including when it actually makes sense to make the switch

Why a good tax pro will never make you feel like you're in the principal's office

The S corp tipping point:

Emily drops a really helpful rule of thumb here. That S corp conversion makes sense when your profit (not revenue!) hits $100k. Not $40k, not $60k. She explains why making the switch too early can actually create more headaches than it solves.

Questions to ask when interviewing a CPA:

1. Do you offer tax strategy, or just tax prep?
2. What's driving your strategy recommendations?
3. What are your core values around communication and timeliness?

The biggest thing most business owners are missing? Having their bookkeeper and tax strategist actually in the same conversation. If those two people have never met, this episode will change how you think about your money team.

Connect with Emily:

Website: https://www.thorneadvisors.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thorneadvisors/

Freebie: Grab the Cash Leaks guide (plus commonly missed tax deductions!) at https://www.thorneadvisors.com/cashleaks

Do you have QuickBooks open in a tab right now that you haven't actually clicked on in two weeks? This episode is for you.

First things first: you're not lazy, you're not bad at business, and you are so not alone. Bookkeeping avoidance is one of the most common things I see, and today I'm breaking down exactly why it happens AND what to do about it.

In this episode, I cover:

The 3 real reasons you keep avoiding your QuickBooks (hint: it's not because you're bad at this)

Why avoidance is actually making the problem bigger, not smaller

How to start breaking the cycle without needing a full free afternoon to do it

Why you need to drop the shame spiral for good

The 3 reasons bookkeeping avoidance makes total sense:

1. It feels overwhelming before you even start
2. There's shame, guilt, or fear attached to what you might find
3. Nobody actually taught you how to do this

But here's the truth: the longer it sits, the heavier it gets. What would take 30 minutes today can turn into a 3-hour project next month. And without your numbers, you're making business decisions based on vibes... which is a different kind of stressful.

The good news? You don't need a perfect 3-hour block to get caught up. You just need a plan and a starting point.

Ready to stop dreading it and actually start doing it? Grab the free Cleanup Playlist Bundle in the link below. It walks you through how to clean up your QuickBooks, get caught up quickly, and figure out if you're missing anything.

https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

Is Doing Your Own Books Actually Working for You? 4 Honest Signs Every Small Business Owner Needs to Hear

Be honest with yourself for a second... is your bookkeeping actually working? Not just kind of happening, but really working? There's a big difference between doing your own books and doing them well, and if you're a solopreneur or small business owner managing your own QuickBooks, this episode is for you.

Today we're breaking down four honest signs to help you figure out where you actually stand with your bookkeeping, and what to do about it no matter where you land.

Grab the free podcast playlist in the show notes — it's a curated starting point no matter where you are in your bookkeeping journey!

The 4 Signs We Cover:

Sign #1: Your Bookkeeping Isn't Getting Done Consistently Are your books only getting done when things slow down? Or is there a three-month pile of transactions waiting for you in QuickBooks? Consistency is the whole game with bookkeeping for small business owners, and if it's a struggle, it's usually a setup problem, not a you problem. We talk through some practical (and fun!) ways to actually make yourself sit down and do it.

Sign #2: You're Not Sure Your QuickBooks Numbers Are Actually Right Your transactions are in QuickBooks... but do you actually trust them? If you have a quiet little voice wondering whether your profit and loss report is accurate, or you've been avoiding your reports altogether, this one's for you. We talk about what to look for and where to get support so you can actually use your numbers to make real business decisions.

Sign #3: You've Been Avoiding QuickBooks Completely If QuickBooks is a tab you keep opening and closing without actually doing anything, that pit in your stomach is real information. Avoidance is almost never about laziness. For most small business owners doing their own bookkeeping, it's usually fear, shame, or confusion, and all of it is fixable.

Sign #4: Doing Your Own Bookkeeping Might Not Make Sense Anymore Your business is growing. You're good at what you do. And bookkeeping keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list. There's no shame in reaching the point where DIY bookkeeping just doesn't make sense anymore. Outsourcing your books isn't failure. It's a smart business decision.

Resources mentioned:

• Free Podcast Playlist: https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles
• Monthly Support Club (membership): https://erikamillard.com/monthlysupportclub

Happy Bookkeeping!

Not everyone needs QuickBooks right now. And some people who already have it? They're using it wrong. In this episode, I'm walking you through three real conversations I had with business owners all asking the same question: Is QuickBooks right for me? Each one got a different answer, and here's why.

What you'll hear in this episode:

The Spreadsheet Girly -- She had a perfectly fine system, low transaction volume, and zero urgency to switch. So why did I still nudge her toward QuickBooks? Because setting up your foundation before the busy season hits can save you from learning too many new things at once. Plus, if you don't have a way to invoice clients yet, you might as well have it all in one place.

The Guy Who Wasn't Sure It Was Set Up Right -- He had QuickBooks. He clicked through all the setup prompts. But something felt off. Sound familiar? Having QuickBooks and having QuickBooks set up correctly are two very different things. We did a full review of his chart of accounts, settings, and categorization, and now he's working through the course with a lot more confidence.

The Paper Ledger Lady -- She had discipline, she had a system, and she had been doing her own books for years. The problem wasn't her capability; it was the language barrier. QuickBooks uses accounting terminology that can feel like a foreign language if you don't have a background in it. The good news? You don't need an accounting degree. You just need someone to show you what to do.

The thing all three had in common? They weren't lost. They just needed someone to point them toward what actually made sense for their situation.

If you heard yourself in any of these stories, your next step is the free podcast playlist. It will help you figure out exactly where you are in your bookkeeping journey and which episodes to start with, so you're not sifting through 100+ episodes wondering where to begin.

Grab the free playlist here: https://erikamillard.com/podcast-playlist-bundles

Topics covered:

• When a spreadsheet is actually fine (and when it's not)
• Signs your QuickBooks setup might have gaps
• Why the language of accounting feels so overwhelming
• How to go from "I don't know what I don't know" to feeling confident
• The mindset shift that helps you stop overthinking and start taking action