This is a guest post by Andrew Dubinsky.
Keep your personal and financial records separate. This goes right along with my first tip.
Don’t use your personal account to pay for business expenses and vice versa. Get a business bank account as soon as you can.
Most business bank accounts now offer debit cards so you can still pay for internet purchases with business funds. Remember, no matter what kind of structure you choose, the bank will require some kind of documentation that the business is formed. This will make it much easier to start keeping accounting records and can really save your bacon if you get audited or when you come to sell the business.
Action: Check. Do you have good company records or are they a shambles?
Do you mix up business and personal expenses? What do you need to do to get a clear financial picture of your business? Do you need to have a chat with your accountant or bookkeeper about how to record expenses properly and how to set up your accounts so they work for you.
Join the Conversation
Do you have any tips on keep business and personal expenses separate? Share with us in the comments. Or use them to create a little bit of extra motivation and accountability to get your action task for today done. And I would love you to join me on Facebook or Twitter.Image used under Creative Commons license courtesy of Andres Rueda
Andrew Dubinsky is a successful entrepreneur with 4 profitable start-up companies under his belt. He is the CEO of Encomia, where he developed electronic signature technology for the mortgage industry. Mr. Dubinsky has been mentioned in Time Magazine, The WSJ as well as numerous other banking/mortgage trade publications. You can catch him on Twitter @AndrewDubinsky.
hello I was wondering what you thought of me helping my husband start up his own business? He just bought his own tractor trailer and hes worried that we may get mad at each other because if I do something wrong. I think it would be good to keep business in the family, it seems he is nervous about allowing me to help. From your experience what do you think?
Great question Maggie!
Working together works great for some couples and not at all for others. It depends on the nature of the relationship and whether one of you has a strong need to have their own space.
I’ve worked with my husband on some businesses and by myself on others. Both has worked fine however working together has been more effective when we have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Also having a process to solve disagreements is important. This is something you could agree on before hand.
Your husband may have perfectly valid reasons for wanting to work on his own. Have a think about what these may be (he may not be articulating them all) and make sure you really understand where he is coming from.
Is there a low-risk way you could trial working together for a short while? You could set a time period for a trial and evaluate at the end when you have a feel for how you work together instead of having a forever commitment to it now. This is exactly what I would do if I was taking on a business partner from outside the family.