Money Notes from Building a Microbusiness

A money plan is one of the most useful things you can set up for peace of mind around your business finances. When your personal finances and your business finances each have their own plan, you can see whether a tight month is a business problem or you pulling too much money out, not knowing which one needs attention.

I work with business owners, so why am I talking about your personal money? Because keeping the two separate is what makes the business side easier to run (and again, gives you more peace). I'll talk about the reasons a personal money plan makes running your business easier, including making it easier to figure out how much to pay yourself.

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation.

If your tax professional says they'll do your bookkeeping, do you assume that means you'll get a clear picture of how your business is doing? I ask this because bookkeeping done for taxes and bookkeeping done for business health aren't always the same thing, and if you're expecting the second one, you should definitely check.

I share a maybe too-nerdy overview of why taxes and bookkeeping are actually different focuses: what a tax pro is juggling versus what a bookkeeper is tracking. Just because they say they do bookkeeping, it doesn't always mean the detail you're picturing. I get a little nerdy because I'd love for there to be less miscommunication between money people and the businesses we're trying to help.

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation.

Do you feel like trying to price your services or product is really hard? Like you can't find the one right number? I want to shift our perspective, because I don't think there is one right number. Really, pricing is a journey.

I'll share my own journey with pricing: why I say pricing and branding go together, where most people start on their journey, and why it's only the beginning.

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation.

First, spreadsheets aren't the problem. You're probably already using one to figure out how much to pay yourself or to track sales and expenses, and tracking these things is good. That's not the problem. When accounting pros say "don't use a spreadsheet for your bookkeeping," a lot of business owners hear "don't use spreadsheets at all," and start thinking they're not really doing bookkeeping, even when they are. 

So I want to talk through the problems that make accounting pros say "don't use a spreadsheet for your bookkeeping" and when a spreadsheet is good to use — even if it's not the thing you're doing your full bookkeeping in.

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation.

If you’re creative or neurodivergent and not a tax pro, taxes are already confusing. Add in write-offs, deductions, and credits (plus all the conflicting internet advice) and it gets even more tangled. This is me offering a simpler way to think about it.

I’ll share where I think some of that panic is coming from: confusion between two different things — getting your numbers ready for taxes, and actually knowing how your business is doing. And I’ll share what to do depending on if you just want to get ready for tax season or check on your business health.

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation.

Nothing is actually free: not the bridge you drive over, not the resource bundle, not the "free" software everyone's excited about. In this episode I share how a YouTube video about the US interstate highway system inspired this idea about something I keep seeing in business: the hidden cost behind free.

I talk through where those hidden costs can be and how they affect your time, your attention, your mental energy. The point isn't to say free things are bad; it's to highlight the exchange you're actually making so you can act intentionally (and decide if it's worth it).

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation

You know when you lose a client (or a few at once) and feel that panic pull to go get new work right away? I've had a few transition off recently, close together, and enough people asked me "how are you not freaking out?" that I wanted to talk through how I try to approach it: looking for new work out of positivity, not panic.

I'll share why I try not to chase work out of desperation, how I figure out how long I can wait so the waiting doesn't feel like panicking, and why I keep my personal and business money separate so I can see which one needs more attention.

🌿 The Peaceful Pocket: Join the newsletter

💻 Want to work together? Book a Peaceful Money Map

💭 Have a thought to share, question, or want me to explain something more? Let me know here: Submit a thought or question

Disclaimer: Everything shared on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial or tax advice, and it doesn't create a client relationship between us. Nothing here should replace the guidance of a qualified professional who knows your specific situation.