Being self-employed is… unique. If you, too, are running your own show, you’ll know exactly what I mean by that! If there’s one thing I’ve learned since taking self-employment full-time, it’s the importance of staying organised, especially when it comes to your finances. No day, week, month, or year is the same, and we can learn a lot from looking at the numbers side of our businesses on a regular basis. Here’s why you should schedule a quarterly finance check-in for your business and how to get started.
Chunking your year up into quarters gives you a nice seasonal view of how things are working. One of the best things we can do in our businesses is learn from experience and use those learnings to make better decisions. Spending some time working on your business, rather than in your business, four times a year can help you identify peaks and troughs in your cash flow and better plan your time and operations in the future.
Good question! We want to be using this quarterly check-in to tie up loose ends, get curious, and get organized. Here are four things worth doing on a quarterly basis.
If you lodge your taxes quarterly, you may already be doing this, but even if you don’t, making sure your business expenses are up to date at the end of every quarter can save you a lot of hassle when doing your annual tax return. It’s a great chance to make sure your record-keeping is tight (don’t forget those receipts) and ensure you don’t miss out on any deductible expenses.
I use my PocketSmith transaction dashboard to make sure I don’t miss a single expense across any of my accounts!
Check in with how much money has flowed in and out of your business during the quarter, and compare this to previous quarters to see how you’re tracking. You might have had a high-income quarter but also a high-expense quarter, or vice versa. It’s worth doing a sweep of what your expenses are here, too. Are there any subscriptions you don’t need anymore? Are you getting a return on investment in marketing activities? Have you made any big investments in tech or equipment?
Then, contextualise your income and expenses against what your quarter looked like for you. Did you make a lot of money but end up burnt out? Or was it a quiet quarter due to lower demand for your product or service? Spending some time with yourself and how your previous quarter felt for you as a business owner can be really valuable here, as it can help you optimise your time or processes better.
Is there anything you could outsource? What felt good and what didn’t feel good? What do you want to do more of? What do you want to do less of? Are any patterns emerging, like off-peak or higher-demand seasons — can you use this information to plan your year better?
Take this as an opportunity to collect data about your business. Over time, as you review quarter after quarter, you may be able to draw conclusions that help you in the future. For example, if Q2 is often much quieter, this might be a good time to take a break or spend time working on behind-the-scenes projects. Likewise, if Q4 is frequently a high opportunity season, you may be able to capitalise on this to boost your income to cover other quieter seasons.
In one of my check-ins last year, I finally connected the dots on the fact that January is a high opportunity time for me. I’d often try to take time off in January as it’s summer in Melbourne and lots of people take time off around the school holidays. Checking in with my business demonstrated that I’m far better to maximise opportunity in January and slow down in December!
I have to be honest — I don’t always set goals in my business! Some seasons are about just getting through everything, right? But when I’m in a phase of wanting to grow or step up a level, I’ll set goals that I can check in with at the end of the next quarter.
Sometimes it’s an income goal, other times it’s about trying new things, launching something, doing more outreach, or knocking over a project I’ve been sitting on. Quarterly goals are meaty enough that you can make some real progress, but not so big that they get drowned out in the chaos of the year.
Emma Edwards is a finance copywriter and blogger, on a mission to humanize the financial services industry by creating meaningful content that’s accessible and empowering. You’ll find her penning money tips at her blog, The Broke Generation, sharing financial insights on Instagram, or injecting life into content for her business clients.
