Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP158 - New Tax Year, Same Problems? Let's Fix That

Transcript

EP158 - New Tax Year, Same Problems? Let's Fix That · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the Three BS Podcast where we go beyond
• 0:05
  the numbers and get into what actually makes a business work.
• 0:08
  I'm your host Stephanie Marshall, founder of ABCSUKA,
• 0:11
  Multi award-winning boutique finance and systems partner.
• 0:15
  I help business owners who've outgrown the basics bring
• 0:18
  clarity, structure and proper systems into their business so
• 0:21
  things finally feel in control. If you want more clarity, more
• 0:25
  confidence, and a business that doesn't feel like constant
• 0:28
  chaos, you're in the right place.
• 0:31
  Each week we tackle real problems, answer the questions
• 0:33
  you're probably already thinking, and give you practical
• 0:36
  steps you can actually use in around 15 minutes.
• 0:40
  So if you're ready to build a Better Business with confidence
• 0:42
  and clarity, then let's go. Hello and welcome back to
• 0:47
  another episode of The Three BS Podcast, your go to place for
• 0:50
  around 15 minutes of motivation, education and inspiration to
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  help you build a Better Business each week.
• 0:58
  If we haven't met before, hi, my name is Stephanie Marshall.
• 1:00
  I am the founder of ABCSUKA multi award-winning boutique
• 1:05
  finance and systems partner and I help growing businesses who
• 1:08
  have outgrown their bookkeeper move from messy reactive
• 1:11
  finances to clear structured numbers and systems that they
• 1:15
  can actually use to run their businesses properly.
• 1:18
  Because I really care about the people behind the business and
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  not just the numbers. Now, today's episode is
• 1:24
  perfectly timed. Yes, it's the first episode of
• 1:27
  Series 4, but we're also at the start of a brand new tax year.
• 1:32
  And whether you realise it or not, you've been given a clean
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  slate, new numbers, a new timeline, a new opportunity to
• 1:39
  do things differently. And here's the sad reality.
• 1:42
  Most business owners won't use it.
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  They'll carry forward the same habits, the same pricing, the
• 1:48
  same lack of structure, the same I'll deal with it later approach
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  and then in 12 months time they'll be in exactly the same
• 1:56
  position they are now, just busier and probably more
• 1:59
  frustrated. Before we even look forward
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  though, let's acknowledge what the end of a tax year usually
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  looks like. So for a lot of business owners,
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  it's rushing to get things in order, chasing that last minute
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  information, trying to make sense of their numbers and a bit
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  of stress around what's owed and what's going to be owed in the
• 2:17
  next few months. And that's not because you are
• 2:21
  doing anything wrong, it's because the year wasn't
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  structured properly. So instead of this being about
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  new goals, new year, it's about fixing what didn't work to help
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  you build a Better Business. This is an opportunity that most
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  people miss. A new tax year is not just a
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  date change, it's a reset point. It's one of the only natural
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  moments in business where you can stop and say, well, what
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  actually does need to change in the business.
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  Not what sounds good, not what you saw online, what actually
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  needs to change to help you build a Better Business.
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  Let's start with the one that people avoid the most, pricing,
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  because pricing is often uncomfortable.
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  It feels really personal, it feels risky, and it feels like
• 3:03
  something you'll get round to eventually.
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  The truth is, if your pricing didn't work last year, it's not
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  going to magically fix itself this year.
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  If you were busy but not properly paid, working long
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  hours but just not seeing the return, or constantly needing
• 3:20
  more clients to make it work, that's not a workload problem,
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  that's a pricing problem. You can have a fully booked
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  diary and still feel like you're chasing your tail financially
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  because if the numbers don't work, the business doesn't feel
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  right. So the decision is, are you
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  going to fix your pricing this year or are you going to carry
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  it forward and hope for a different outcome?
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  Because there's two paths lead to two very different
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  businesses. Now, I wouldn't be a good
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  bookkeeper and accountant without mentioning this one, so
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  I hope you're expecting it. Fix 2 is your bookkeeping
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  because this is where everything starts.
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  And I want you to be really honest with yourself here.
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  Last year, were you on top of it or constantly catching up when
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  the VAT deadline or the tax returns were due?
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  Because those are two very different experiences.
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  And the reality is that bookkeeping done regularly gives
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  you more clarity, more control and more confidence in your
• 4:15
  business. Whereas if you're doing it all
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  in bulk at period end, it's going to give you stress, a bit
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  of confusion and reactive decisions.
• 4:23
  And I'm going to be transparent. Most business owners sit in that
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  second category. So often I see business owners
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  come to me at the end of the year for their self-assessment
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  tax return. The problem with that is, is if
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  I ask you what that receipt was for 11 months ago in Tesco,
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  you're very unlikely to be able to tell me whether it was fuel,
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  whether it was stationary, whether you bought storage boxes
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  or whether it was something completely different.
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  And I can almost guarantee you won't have a copy of that
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  receipt for me to put into your books either.
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  The pattern is always, I'll just catch up later.
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  I'll sort it at the end of the month, or I'll deal with it when
• 5:00
  I need to. And with the new legislation
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  coming in from April with May, that's digital quarterly is now
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  the bare minimum. And if you continue the pattern
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  and the cycle of I'll just catch up later, I'll deal with it when
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  the quarter end and I have to submit comes around.
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  Before you know it, you're behind again, Fix 3 is your
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  financial rhythm. So this is something that hardly
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  anyone has a rhythm, a way of checking regularly with your
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  business. Instead, it's ad hoc, it's
• 5:30
  reactive and firefighting. And it's done when something
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  feels awful, not quite right in your business, but the
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  businesses that feel calm financially, they have a rhythm,
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  they check in monthly, they review quarterly and they know
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  what's coming. It doesn't have to be
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  complicated either. It just needs to be consistent.
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  It's not a one off thing. It's something that you will
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  need to do regularly to stay on top of your business's finances.
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  And you might be wondering why this matters.
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  Well, because when you don't have a rhythm, everything
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  becomes reactive. And firefighting reactive
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  businesses feel stressful even when they're doing really well.
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  I'm probably going to catch a few people off guard here with
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  Fix 4 because most business owners are busy.
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  They're working, they're delivering, they're growing.
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  But if I ask them, what are you actually building, there's often
• 6:20
  not a clear answer there because more sales or more revenue is
• 6:24
  not a direction, it's a result. I want you to take a second to
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  pause and just ask yourself these three questions.
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  What do you want your business to look like at the end of this
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  tax year? And by that I mean, one, how
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  does it run? 2, how does it feel?
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  And three, how much does it rely on you?
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  Because if you don't define that, you drift.
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  You don't have the anchor, you don't know where you're going,
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  you don't have a plan or a map. It would be like walking to
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  Tesco without a shoppers and expecting to come out with a
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  week's groceries for the most amazing meal and fix 5 is the
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  biggest one. Your habits, your business is
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  built under your habits. Whether it's just you or you
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  have a team around you. It's not built on your
• 7:13
  intentions, it's built on your habits.
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  And the end of the tax year is the perfect moment to review
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  them. What worked last year in your
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  business? What didn't?
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  What created so much stress and what created clarity?
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  Because if you carry the same habits forward into this tax
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  year, you're going to get the same results.
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  A new tax year is not going to fix your business.
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  Better decisions will and better decisions come from awareness.
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  Which one of these five have you been avoiding?
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  Because that's the one that matters most and that's the one
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  you need to look at. Before we finish, I want to give
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  you one thing to do this week. The whole point of this podcast
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  is that in 15 minutes you will get some sort of motivation,
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  inspiration, or education to help you build a Better
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  Business. And you'll find one small thing
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  to implement in your business this week so that by next week's
• 8:05
  episode you will see a change in your business.
• 8:07
  This week, I want you to pick one of these five areas, not all
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  of them, just one, and take action on it.
• 8:15
  If you need accountability, find me on social media, drop me Adm,
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  send me an e-mail, tell me which one of those things that you
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  want to fix or tackle this week and I can check up on you and
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  see if you're doing it. It might be reviewing your
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  pricing, it might be getting your bookkeeping finally up to
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  date. It might be setting a monthly
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  check in date in your diary. So it could be during your CEO
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  hour, or it could be when you set your KPIs every week.
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  There's an extra box in there to track your leads, your sales,
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  your conversion rate, whatever it may be, deciding on what
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  you're building. What do you actually want this
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  business to look like in a year's time or just changing one
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  habit? Are you the type of business
• 8:58
  owner like me where clients are able to reach you at 8:00 PM on
• 9:02
  a Sunday and you will reply to that WhatsApp?
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  Maybe that one habit needs to be that you send out an e-mail and
• 9:10
  tell people that this is the way that you communicate with me and
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  my business from now on and this is when you can expect a
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  response. Now I'm asking you to pick just
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  one because progress doesn't come from doing everything all
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  at once. It comes from doing the right
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  thing and small steps that make a big difference.
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  My hope for you is that by this time next week, you'll already
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  feel a difference in your business.
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  So as you step into this new tax year, don't just carry
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  everything forward. Pause, reflect, decide.
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  Because your business deserves more than another year of the
• 9:43
  same problems, and you deserve better than another year of
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  firefighting. If you found this episode
• 9:50
  useful, please do like, create and review.
• 9:51
  Subscribe if you're watching on YouTube and hit that
• 9:54
  notification bell so that you know when the next episode of
• 9:56
  The Three BS Podcast goes live. It really does help more
• 10:00
  business owners find the podcast so we can all build better
• 10:03
  businesses. And if you want support bringing
• 10:06
  clarity, structure and proper systems into your business this
• 10:09
  year, that's exactly what we do at ABCSUK.
• 10:12
  The link is in the show notes. You can book a 15 minutes into
• 10:15
  my diary and let's see how ABCSUK can help you because
• 10:20
  after all, your business deserves better.
• 10:24
  Thank you so much for listening. This is the three BS podcast and
• 10:27
  I will see you next week for the next episode.
• 10:30
  Bye and that brings us to the end of another episode of a
• 10:33
  three BS podcast. If this has helped you think
• 10:36
  differently about your business, then it's done its job.
• 10:39
  Make sure you're following or subscribe so you don't miss the
• 10:41
  next episode. And if you found it useful,
• 10:44
  please do leave a review. It helps more business owners
• 10:47
  find this and start running their businesses properly.
• 10:50
  If you want more insights behind the scenes and the reality of
• 10:52
  what it actually takes to build a Better Business, come and
• 10:55
  connect with me on social media. And if you're ready to stop
• 10:58
  guessing and start running your business with clarity,
• 11:00
  structure, and conference evidence, your next step is just
• 11:03
  to click away because your business deserves better.
• 11:07
  I'll see you in the next episode.