Lighthouse Business Services

06/13/2022

Freelancers....Let's talk Estimated Taxes!

I know, I know, taxes are not on everyone's favorite topic list.
But.....there are benefits to paying them quarterly.

1. You don't owe as much at the end of the year

2. Tax time is easier because you either owe less, owe nothing or better yet, get a refund!

3. Less stress knowing Uncle Sam isn't going to come knocking on your door.

How can you pay them? You can send in a check to the IRS or pay online at irs.gov.

How often do you pay? You should pay at least quarterly. But if it is helpful for you, you can pay them more often to make sure get into the habit of paying them. I have some clients pay monthly.

When are the due dates for 2022 tax year?
-April 18th
-June 15th
-September 15th
-January 17th, 2023

If you haven't paid in yet, it is never too late to start! :)

For more information about estimated taxes, check out my blog post
https://www.lighthousebusinessservices.co/estimated-taxes/

05/31/2022

Raise your hand if you hate paying bills!

Hear me out…

Paying your bills doesn’t have to be stress-inducing.

I was in your shoes once. I was losing track of the bills I needed to pay and I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d have enough money in my bank account to cover everything.

That’s why I decided to create this Monthly Bill Payment Checklist!

I created this checklist several years ago and applied it to my personal finances.

I’ve always wanted to help others eliminate the chaos in their financial lives, so I want to share this checklist with you.

You can download it at the link below!

https://chaos2cash.co/checklistopt-in

05/09/2022

Pssst! 👀

I’ve just released my very first freebie! 🎉

Over the years, I’ve tried to think of something my followers could *really* use, and after chatting with a few, I discovered that paying bills was a serious sore spot for online service providers.

Understandably so! You have automatic payments coming out, personal bills, and business bills to pay.

How do you keep it all straight?!

That’s why I decided to share the Monthly Bill Payment Checklist that I use with my own finances!

The Monthly Bill Payment Checklist is here to help you so you can finally:
◊ Get your budgeting chaos under control
◊ Eliminate the overwhelm from paying bills each month
◊ Know where you stand financially
◊ Never miss a bill again
◊ Access it anywhere, on any device!
◊ Gain back hours of time spent on bill-paying each month

Download it at the link below!

https://chaos2cash.co/checklistopt-in

05/05/2022

Who here reads their financial reports each month? (Let me know in the comments) 🙋‍♀️

Do you know how fiscally healthy your business is?

Here's a blog post I wrote to help you understand why you should be looking them over and how they can bring clarity.

Want to know the secret to success? This may come as a shock to some of you, but Financial reports are a HUGE help in our success!

05/01/2022

Are you annoying your bookkeeper with these bad habits?

1. Ghosting 👻 - Don't leave your bookkeeper hanging. When your bookkeeper emails you with questions, it is helpful to answer them. I wish we were mind readers, but unfortunately for me, it is not in my skillset.

2. Lack of receipts 🧾- Receipts give us the backup data we need if you are audited with the IRS. If you have the ability to upload receipts to QBO or to a document sharing system with your bookkeeper, it is helpful. Your bookkeeper can actually attach the receipts to the QuickBooks Online transactions creating an instant backup for the transaction held within your bookkeeping software. This can save you loads of time if you are ever audited.

3. No Statements 💲 - To reconcile your monthly books, we will need access to your accounts (third-party access is best!) or we need you to send us statements. We cannot verify the data in your software if we don't have the official documents to compare it to. So send those statements!

Your bookkeeper is there to help ease the stress of tackling the financial side of your business. Help them help you and you will have a successful and long-lasting collaboration!

04/28/2022

Leading with Integrity is so pivotal in earning your client's trust!

When you lead with Integrity, you are:
- Honest
- Trustworthy
- Dependable
- Kind
- Ethical
- Compassionate
- Consistent
- Responsible

After all, isn't that what we all look for when we work with others?

04/26/2022

The first thing we need to do when tackling our money issues is to believe we can!

Oftentimes, our thoughts are:

📍I will never pay off my debt
📍 I will never be able to pay my bills on time
📍 I will never make enough money to pay everything

But you CAN do it!

With some simple systems and consistency, you can tackle any issue that comes your way!

Some things that can help you:

✔️Create a bill payment checklist (stay tuned…I will have one available for you…for free!)
✔️Create a debt snowball plan
✔️Do an expense audit - see what expenses are necessary and those that can be cut
✔️Tracking your income/expenses will help you to see patterns

Money can be a source of joy or it can be a source of anguish.

Let’s work together to make it a source of joy in your life!

The first step is believing that YOU CAN DO IT!

04/17/2022

Happy Easter!! 🐣🐇

03/18/2022

My Top 10 Core Values for Business

#10. Stability - Creating stability for myself and my clients
#9. Partnership - Working together to achieve goals
#8. Fulfillment - Fulfilling my passion is important to me
#7. Hope - Help my clients see there is always hope
#6. Freedom - The freedom to choose how and when I work
#5. Service - Serving my clients and the community to make it a better world
#4. Kindness - Treating others with kindness
#3. Respect--Mutual respect is extremely important to me
#2. Integrity - Always try to do the right thing

My #1 Core Value is my Family - The reason I do everything in my life!

What are the core values in your business?

Is there a core value you associate with me that I missed on this list?

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03/16/2022

3 Tips in Creating Financial Clarity

1. Consistently Categorize

Categorize your transactions the same way each time you do it. For instance, AT&T is always a telephone or utility expense.

Not Advertising one time, telephone another time and office expense the time after.

Create consistency in your books to create the most accurate picture of your finances.

Categorize your transactions regularly.

Keeping your books updated helps you to run the reports you need to analyze as often as you’d like.

I suggest at minimum one to two times per week.

2. Regularly Reconcile

Reconcile your books at a minimum, once per month.

Compare the information the bank has for your checking, savings, and credit card accounts with the information you have in your bookkeeping system.

You want to make sure there aren’t extra transactions or missing transactions in your records.

3. Review Reports

Review your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet monthly to bring clarity to your situation.

Look for patterns in your spending behavior and areas where excess spending is not serving your business. Dr. Phil always says, “You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.”

This is particularly true for your .

Keeping your books consistent and up to date will help you define the story your business is telling you through the numbers.

Clarity begins with knowledge.

Change begins with clarity.

Running a fiscally healthy begins here!

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01/06/2022

Happy New Year everyone!! 🎉

Now that December is behind us, it’s time to set goals and plan for the year ahead!

That being said, it’s *finally* time to get your finances in order (if you haven’t already~)

Most business owners are far too busy to keep their books up to date because they’re so focused on keeping their clients happy.

Bookkeeping can wait, right?

Wrong! 🙅‍♀️

You need to keep track of how much money you’re earning, how much you’re spending, and the expenses that are coming out of your account each week.

Otherwise you’ll start missing payments and incur overdraft fees! 😬

A new year is the *perfect* time to put a plan together.

If you need help finding out what’s best for you, send me an email at [email protected] and let’s chat!

Here’s to 2022 being our best year yet! 🥂