Episode 87:

A Fresh Approach to Managing Cash Flow for Travel Agents with Victoria Berry

You can listen directly here. 

Managing your business finances is important for any entrepreneur. But it can also feel overwhelming if it’s not a natural skill.

In the latest episode of the Travel Agent Achievers Podcast, Ros chats with Victoria Berry, who's an accountant and knows her stuff about making money work for your business. Together, they talk about how to handle your money without all the complicated jargon.

Victoria, the brain behind Bookkeeper Hub, breaks down tricky financial ideas into easy steps. She is a trained professional in the "Profit First" method. It’s a system that can help business owners struggling with money flow. It's not just about keeping your books tidy; it's about making sure your business makes you money too.

"Profit First" is about splitting up your income into different pots. You've got money for profit, your own pay, taxes, and running costs. This way, you're not just reacting to money problems; you're planning for them.

Victoria also talks about why it's important to understand how healthy your business is financially, not just doing what the rules say. She uses real-life examples to show how changing your money habits and using "Profit First" can make a big difference to your travel business and your life.
This episode is packed with great advice for travel agents wanting to get a handle on their finances. Whether you're trying to figure out cash flow, want to make more money, or just want a business that works for you, Ros and Victoria have got you covered.

So, tune in to this chat and start taking charge of your finances to make your travel business a success!

On that note, we’d also love to have you in the Achievers in Travel - Facebook group, make sure you join the FREE community. Achievers in Travel - Accountability group

Links Mentioned in the Episode

Victoria's book - "Zest for Success"

For Bookkeeping Services and Online Course - www.bookkeeperhub.com.au

Built to Sell by John Warrillow

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Quotes from this Episode 

"Profit First is a system that allows us to drag you kicking and screaming out of poverty. Look at you improving your business, improving your lifestyle, and most importantly, improving the flow of money to you and your family." - Victoria

"If your business is just you and it is reliant on you, you have yourself a job. If you have a business that has either staff or contractors that work for you... you've got a business." - Victoria

"Profit First takes that one bucket and splits it into five. And that's where the magic happens. Because by taking money out of that main bucket and putting it aside for different purposes...it allows for you to put money aside so that you can cover all those things." - Victoria

"Then it's also working with our clients and making sure that, you know, your clients are number one because if you don't have clients and you don't have sales, you don't have a business at the end of the day." - Ros

"Just because the book says you should have 10% profit doesn't mean that you do in your business...it's a gradual process of getting there." - Victoria

"We've seen businesses in horrid shapes. We've seen businesses in great shapes...We don't judge, no way. It's more about how can we help you get from A to B." - Victoria

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"A Fresh Approach to Managing Cash Flow for Travel Agents”with Victoria Berry"

 

Ros: Hi everybody. Welcome back to the Travel Agent Achievers Podcast. I'm Ros, your host, once again for a very special episode. Today, I am joined by Victoria Berry, who is not only an accountant and business advisor where she has helped countless businesses start, grow, and sell their business for over 25 years. She's not old, though, trust me, and she's one of the most interesting people that I know with a very diverse background. With the rise of cloud accounting for things like Xero and, you know, all the other things online that you might be using your cloud accounting services for now, has led Victoria to create Bookkeeper Hub. This is a way to provide zero training, FIX IT services to ensure small businesses just like you and I are able to keep up to date with meaningful information from your accounting system. Now this is because you and I both know that we have many things to do as small business owners and accounting or looking after your finances may not be a top priority. So by having somebody on your team, which is what we say to clients, having somebody as part of your team to look after this and help guide you through the process is awesome. 

Now with Victoria's frustration many years ago, with the inability to give great advice to startup businesses, it led her to write a book called "Zest for Success." Now, everyone, I am going to be putting this into the show notes for you. And this book covers the basics of starting and running a business in an easy-to-read format with links to valuable resources as well, which we all love having all of those bits and pieces that we can come back to. And this knowledge has then also been transferred to one-on-one and additional training as well. So we're going to talk about that with a bookkeeper training online course we'll talk about that a bit later as well. But really, for Victoria, I know her passion is taking financial literacy to the next level. She is an accredited profit first professional where she assists business owners to manage their cash flow in a very easy way. So one of the reasons why I've asked Victoria to become a guest with me here on the podcast is just to help us understand finances in an easy way, particularly around cash flow. It's a big thing that I think all small business owners need to be across and understand. Victoria, welcome to the Travel Agent Achievers podcast. Thank you for joining me.

Victoria: Thank you, Ros. It's a pleasure to be here. And as you said, yes, Profit First really is a passion of mine. The underlying process or fundamental of Profit First is to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty. 

Ros: Poverty? You know, business owners or small business owners were no good at managing money?

Victoria: Potentially. Yeah, there's a lot of small businesses owners that don't make a lot that sometimes you think, "Have you got a job or a business?" So this is a system that allows us to drag you kicking and screaming out of poverty. Look at you improving your business, improving your lifestyle, and most importantly, improving the flow of money to you and your family.

Ros: Do you find so, you've been in business for over 25 years yourself and your background? Is an accountant and what are the sorts of things have you done?

Victoria: Well, that's a very thing. I've got a long history in charities. I've been treasurer of lifesaving clubs, different charities, Generation Innovation, Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival. That was an interesting one. I'm nothing nothing about music. I got roped in as treasurer. But really, small businesses, my passion, helping people working out where they want to be, getting them from A to B, and making sure that they can live in the meantime.

Ros: You wrote a book, "The Zest for Success." For business owners that are thinking of starting or that are starting up and running a business, what you just said before is something that I often talk about as well, that a lot of small business owners and would you agree or how would you talk about this, a lot of small business owners actually start a business to leave a job but what they are, in fact, doing is actually creating themselves a job, not necessarily running a business. Like, how would you explain that?

Victoria: I can explain that quite simply. If your business is just you and it is reliant on you, you have yourself a job. If you have a business that has either staff or contractors that work for you, and you're making money off other people doing processes, or you, whether it be booking travel, whether it be laying bricks, you've got a business. So a business is ultimately something that you can build and grow and potentially give yourself, have the tools, so to speak, and long term, something that you can sell. That if you're not involved in day-to-day management, that you can have systems and processes and the right people in place. You've got an asset for you and your family. And to me, that's what you want to be aiming for. There's a great book by a chap called John Warrillow called "Built to Sell." And it really talks about if you're starting a business, you want to start with the end in mind, meaning that you want to create something that you can ultimately sell. 

Ros: Do you think that that's also coming back from a business perspective? Thinking about your vision or your goal when you're actually starting out? From your experience? Have you seen a lot of business owners that say this is my end goal or want to sell the business? Or they're not thinking that far ahead? I don't think I ever did. I just wanted to come home. That was my whole reason for leaving the corporate career. I'm like, "I'm travelling way too much. So let me just get into travel and help everybody else do it," but I still travel a lot. 

Victoria: Yeah, look, there's so many reasons why people go into business. Yeah, some is lifestyle. Some is wanting to be around to raise kids. Some is they work for someone else and see the sales that come in and think, "People, it's greener on the other side of the fence, and I can be making more." Sometimes it's, "I've had enough of working for someone else or the corporate lifestyle." The reasons are varied there. And some people do start with a sale in mind, and you hear ridiculous stories about people going public and selling companies for millions and millions of dollars. Yeah, that is just so not the reality of small business. They are probably 0.1% of the population of small businesses that get that massive payout. The rest of us try and build something that ultimately, hopefully down the track, we can sell, but in the meantime, gives us what we need to continue, which could be money, it could be lifestyle, or a combination. 

Ros: Yeah, I think that I mean, I know for me that there's definitely a combination of both. I am very fortunate, and I'm very grateful that I can work from home like a lot of travel professionals that are a part of the Travel Agent Achievers commute from home. We may have families, or we may want to be building a business to give us the lifestyle that allows us to work certain hours or to still be able to travel or to take people with us on experiences. As you say, there are many reasons why people will start a business but then also stay in business. From your experience and what you know now, over the last few years, I mean, in the travel industry, we saw a lot of people leave the industry, that lost jobs, businesses decided not to continue or push through, and over the last 18 months or so. So you know, from the end of 2020 to 2023. I would say a lot of people have rejoined the industry or are starting out again. From your knowledge. What are the stats are the numbers around small businesses because we're seeing I mean, it's quite tumultuous. 

Victoria: It is, and the travel industry does have its ups and downs. It's this kind of parallel to the real estate agent story. When house prices are up, real estates pop up from everywhere, go out on their own, and then when things don't go so well all prices drop then the good people stay, the others get out of the industry, and travel was very much the same. Unfortunately, like real estates, you guys are dependent on world events. COVID was obviously a shocker for everybody but definitely for the travel agent industry. But ultimately, it comes back to having good business at the end of the day. So you need to make sure you've got your systems and your processes in place. Make sure you've got good marketing. You're not reliant on any one customer, that you've spread your eggs in many baskets, so to speak, and making sure that you've got good backend systems so that you can scale and so that you can go up and down depending on the lean times but ultimately trying to get something that's sustainable that can work in the long run. 

Ros: Yeah, I love that because that's exactly what we do and travel agent achievers. It's the education and the empowerment for advisors and small business owners to understand and learn about all of the different areas in business, and I break it down into four areas. So we talk about sales, getting the sale, you know, the language around it, you know, that whole process of marketing as well, which we know that there are so many things that you can do to promote it. Then it's the operations and the systems and the structure. And then it's also working with our clients and making sure that, you know, your clients are number one because if you don't have clients and you don't have sales, you don't have a business at the end of the day. 

Victoria: Correct. 

Ros: Oh my goodness. Yeah. So with what you do, and I think it's also about money in a sense that it can be quite stressful. So one of the biggest stresses that I see is for advisors and travel business owners that are always thinking about is the money coming in next month. How do I know what's coming in cash flow forecasting if they worried about that, but also just money in the bank and a lot of advisors may live month to month or week to week depending on when they get paid. And that bucket there that one source of income is what then carries them through whether they are, you know, a solopreneur or whether they are a business owner that has contractors or people who work with them. That income is what they rely on. So for you when you talk about Profit First, can you just tell us a bit about what it actually is?

Victoria: Sure, I can. And its underlying is a really basic system. There's a few intricacies to make sure that you get it right. But let's just talk about the base system to start with. And when we're talking about most businesses, as you say, they've got one bucket of money, one bank account, they get paid their commission once or maybe a couple of times a month, and they've got to work out how much they can spend over the next four weeks to make sure that that bucket isn't empty. Make sure they've got money to pay themselves, make sure they've got money to pay the taxman, make sure they've got money to pay their staff or contractors, subscriptions, rent, anything that they might have in their business. So Profit First is a system that's based on your bank account because that's what human nature is most people look at their bank account and make a decision based on what's in there as to whether they can afford to pay something. So Profit First takes that one bucket and splits it into five. And that's where the magic happens. Because by taking money out of that main bucket and putting it aside for different purposes, and being really strict that you don't steal from the other buckets.

Ros: So tempting though.

Victoria: It is very tempting. It allows for you to put money aside so that you can cover all those things. So the five bank accounts we set up five bank accounts now, most banks these days will let you have online bank accounts that are fee-free. And as long as you transfer to and from a main bank account so we can be smart about that. It doesn't need to cost us any more than what we're currently paying in bank fees. And if your bookkeeping is set up correctly, it shouldn't cost you any more on your bookkeeping. So just want to make that blatantly clear before I start. But we've created five bank accounts. 

So the first one is our income bank account, and that's your main bank account, the one you've already got, where you're getting paid from. We don't want to change that we don't want to give anyone an excuse not to pay us. We get our money in into that bank account. Then we set up for other bank accounts. Our first one is our profit account. Now profit is your reward for being the business owner. So if you could imagine if you were a shareholder in BHP, twice a year BHP will pay you a dividend, which is your award for the risk of owning the shares in BHP. Well, as small business owners, we don't pay ourselves dividends like this. So, having a profit account gives you the ability to do so. Now, I'm going to just say it doesn't mean we're paying big dividends, okay? It's just a process of paying dividends. It's really important. So, we have a profit account, which is our reward for the risk of owning the business.

We have an owner's pay account, which is where we put money in so that you can pay yourself a set wage or a drawing, depending on your entity setup each week, which means that your home life, you know how much is coming into your budget each week. You can pay your groceries, pay your rent, pay your mortgage, everything else so you can budget around that.

The third bank account is your tax account. Now, that is where we put away money for the taxman because he gets really cranky if he doesn't get paid. 

Ros: Yeah. That’s true.

Victoria: Now, there's differing opinions on that. The way that I run that is it that's where GST goes. It's where your PAYG for staff, where your super for staff, and where an amount for tax for yourself goes if you're a sole trader.

Yeah, and the annual taxes as well, I mean, here.

Victoria: I would say the idea is.

Ros: We’ve got BAS and the annual tax and PAYG is if you've got staff, and superannuation, and it does creep up. I mean, it can, and this is one of the reasons why I wanted to have this conversation, is because it can creep on us so quickly that I don't think business owners actually realise that they can go backwards very quickly as well, or they have to start holding off the taxman and the other person and then superannuation and all the rest of it. And that's where they can get into trouble very quickly.

Victoria: Definitely. And by putting this away, we're putting a savings in for the annual tax as well as covering everything else. 

Ros: Yeah. Okay. 

Victoria: And then that fifth bank account is your operating expenses. So that's what's left. And that's what's going to run your business. So that's where you pay your rent, your staff wages, your electricity, your subscriptions, everything out of that. So by splitting it up.

Ros: Not just in your main account?

Victoria: Not in your main account, so nothing should come out of your main account except a transfer to the other four bank accounts, either once a month or once a fortnight.

Ros: Wow. Okay. So it's not for individual transfers every time you get paid.

Victoria: Every time you get paid, it depends on how often you get paid. Profit First works ideally on a fortnightly basis. If you ever read the book, there's a book called Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, who's an American chap, so it's based on the American system, so when you read it, you'll just look at what I personally put it. That's not how banking works in Australia. They talk about sending checks and paying by checks whereas we have internet banking, which is basically instantaneous. Yeah, but the theory being that if you do your profit allocations on the 10th of the month and the 25th of the month, it then gives you a few days to get the bills paid from your operating expenses. And it also allows you to see the ebb and flow of your money as it goes up and down from that income account. The reality is that some people will do it weekly because it's easier. It's a good habit to get into. I do mine weekly. Just so that I've always got money sitting in the relevant accounts for when I need it. Yeah.

Ros: Is that something, and I know as a business owner, it's great when you see a healthy bank account, whatever healthy looks like for people, but when you start paying out into all of these other accounts, to me, that gives me anxiety. I'm like, I'm on a second. There's nothing left in the big bank account. Is this is a learning process?

Victoria: It is a learning process, and it's a habit. So this system should actually give you less anxiety because although your main bank account's empty, you've got a nice big chunk sitting in your operating expenses to pay your bills. You've got a chunk in your tax account, which means you're not stressing about your tax account. You've got money for yourself, and you've got money for your profit. And that profit account's a sneaky little account. 

So when I was saying that if you had BHP dividends, you'd be paid twice a year with Profit First, we pay four times a year and we take half of whatever is in that account each quarter. So we always start the first quarter. So the first of April would be our next distribution. And we take half of what's in our profit account. It goes to us personally. And even if you're only putting 1% of your sales in, it might mean the first quarter you've got enough to buy yourself a lunch, the second quarter it might mean you've got enough to pay for a night away. It might be a pair of shoes, might be a handbag, but over time those amounts, because we keep topping it up, get bigger and bigger.

Ros: Would you leave that profit in there?

Victoria: You can if you want to if you want to keep it for a rainy day, but human nature, if you're getting that little bonus, it just gives you that little bit of drive for your business. You go, "Oh, I'm getting something a bit special out of it." And it's like, right, I can see that there's something in it for me apart from the daily grind.

Ros: I mean, this is a great conversation. I am sure that we will continue it, but I'm also thinking from a staffing point of view as well. That could be an incentive somewhere along the lines too. Like, I know as a business owner, to be able to receive something like I'm not big on getting things because I'm like, everything's covered and I'm fine. Like, I'm I know that I'm okay. But I know as an employee, that those incentives also do drive people.

Victoria: They do. And there's no reason why you can't use that profit distribution to give some to your staff if you wanted to. So, if you had $100 that was in there, you could take 50 and give the other 50. Or, if you had $100, you'd only take 50. Yeah, you could look at it and go, "Well, I might keep 25 and the other 25 might go to my staff." Now, hopefully, it's bigger than $100, but it's making it a nice easy example.

Ros: Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. So then the main account still stays as is, and you've got the four other accounts that it gets distributed to. The owners' pay one, like this always comes up because often as a business owner, I hear that, you know, you're paid last. So this kind of flips the switch. Why is this so important to have?

Victoria: It definitely flips the switch. So, normal accounting concepts, we have income minus expenses gives you your profit, right? We're working backwards, and that's what's called Profit First. We take the profit amount out first, then we take the owner's pay, then we take the tax, then what's left is what's your operating expenses. So, if you get paid irregularly, which most travel agents do, we're topping up our owner's pay account when we get paid, which should then leave us a balance that we're taking a set, weekly amount that it should always have enough in there for you to be paid.

But the big trick is engineering your business. So, when we look at those percentages, we make sure those percentages are right for you. In the book, Profit First, there are percentages that are set based on turnover. Now, there are American percentages; in Australia, we do it slightly different based on our tax rate, which myself or a Profit First professional can assist you with. But when we look at it and we look at the percentages, and we go, okay, if we were going to put 50% of our income into our operating expenses account, if that's not enough to cover our operating expenses, we then need to look and say, are the percentages correct? Do they need to be tweaked, or what do I need to do to increase my income to give me the dollar amount that I need to run my expenses for the month?

So, that's where talking to a Profit First professional, we can do the maths to look at it and say, right, what expenses have we got that we can cut that we don't need? Because there really should be three reasons for having expenses in your business. One is it makes you money. Two, it saves you money. Or three, it covers your butt. And if it's not doing one of those three, it shouldn't be in there. And sometimes it needs an outside perspective of someone who's not in the business to ask those questions and go, "Well, you've got this subscription to this. What's it doing? Do you really need it?" And looking at expenses, making sure on a regular basis that you've got the best deal, is your electricity through the best deal, is your phone through the best deal, making those decisions. Getting used to trimming expenses back to a lean, mean business and then going, "Okay, but I still don't have enough. What income do I need to do to give me the lifestyle I need so my wages are the right amount, and then I've got enough to cover my expenses?" and then working backwards and saying, "Okay, if my monthly income is $10,000, but I need $12,000 for those percentages to get the right dollars. Then it's a matter of talking to Ros and Travel Agent Achievers and going, 'Well, how do I get from 10 to 12?' and putting that in place to grow your business."

Ros: Yeah, this is so important, but I also am conscious of conversations that I have with advisors. They do say that there's shame or guilt or things that come up when people come to you and say, "Hey, I really want to implement Profit First." But for themselves, and I hear this like talking about creating a job for yourself or being a business owner and understanding conversations that are, "Ros, I've been working on this booking, and when I broke it down per hour, I only made $5 an hour or $2 an hour, and I spent so much time on it, like I've spent two weeks working on this one particular booking." Do you hear of stories like that, that stop people from actually implementing something like this? Because it's a real cold, hard look in your own face to say, "Hmm, can you do things differently?" It is, and it really kind of what we don't know, right?

Victoria: That's exactly right. And most people don't look at financials in their business. In fact, I know from my accounting history, a lot of people will just start talking numbers, and their eyes roll back in their heads. And that's why this system works so well because it's straight. This is the percentages. This is what we need to do. And it's all about baby steps. That just because the book says you should have 10% profit doesn't mean that you do in your business. And then it's a learning curve for you to say, "Well, if I haven't got this, how can I achieve this? Who do I need to work with to get me where I need to be?" And a Profit First system is a rollout. It's not a one-stop set and forget allocation. We look at it and we go, "Okay. This is where we are now, where we want to be perhaps two years, two and a half years down the track is where we want to be, and what do we need to do to make it happen?" So it might mean that your profit target is 8%. It might mean we're only putting 1% away for this quarter. And we work behind the scenes. Next quarter, we change it to 2%, 3%, 4%. So it's a gradual process of getting there, and when it's little gradual processes, it doesn't hurt. You can tweak your expenses, and we can tweak your profit and your wages by one or 2% a quarter. And as long as you're making a conscious decision on looking at the expenses and looking at the expenses and looking at the income needed and a long term goal, you can make them really easily. So I wouldn't be feeling too nervous about coming to talk to a profit first professional. We've seen businesses in horrid shapes. We've seen businesses in great shapes. 

Ros: You're not going to judge us right?

Victoria: We don't judge, no way. We don't sit and oh you know what? Bill wasn't doing so well. It's like, Okay, Bill isn't doing well. How can we help Bill? It's not definitely not a judgment. It's more about how can we help you get from A to B and get you out of this entrepreneurial poverty trap so that you've got regular income, you're getting regular dividends, and then you can work on all the other things to make your business and also business.

Ros: Do you see that as well? I mean, I love that there is just that acceptance and that there is no judgement around it. But for people who may have been in business for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years that are coming to you compared to somebody that's brand new, that doesn't make neither of them know any different and it's all a learning process. Do you find that there's one or the other that beats themselves up more?

Victoria: No, no.

Ros: We all do the same. We all build ourselves up.

Victoria: We all do the same, but the newer people are probably a little bit more open to learning and change and those that are stuck in their ways. And particularly if they've had an accountant that's been drumming into them, read your profit and loss look at your balance sheet look at your cash flow. This system turns a lid on their head and some accountants get it some accounts don't get it. It doesn't replace bookkeeping. It doesn't replace. Having an understanding of where your business is. If anything, it should help you get a better understanding of where your business is and where it's going. What it's doing is harnessing human habits of looking at our bank account. And if we haven't got the money in our bank account to do what we need to do, then we've either got to find some way to reduce the costs or find some hustle to get more money and so it just works better. It just takes away that temptation to spend the money that you need to put away for tax and to make sure that you are paid first, ultimately.

Ros: Yeah, I mean, I'm just I'm just thinking about my husband here. He’s a videographer and he sees the latest greatest camera come out and he's like, Oh, I really need to get this new piece of equipment. And I'm always saying Is there money in the bank? Or is that being budgeted for do you really need it? But I also feel like I'm, I'm like the, you know, the baddie.

Victoria: The Grinch.

Ros: The Grinch, like, No, you can't have that but I want to you know, get what he needs in order to run the business. But there are hard conversations to have around money and maybe it's just I'm uncomfortable about having hard conversations or that I mean, me personally, and I know a lot of Australians and even anyone internationally as well. We've grown up with a whole lot of money knowledge, so to be learning about that sort of stuff now as a business owner can also be a challenge. And it can also be something that brings up extra stuff. So I know you're not a therapist, but do you have people that come to you and they're like, this isn't working for me. I don't know how to do it and they beat themselves up and then they don't want to do it and then they self sabotage and all the rest of it like you see everything so part of your role surely is a bit of a counsellor as well. Right? 

Victoria: Yeah, I often say there should be some psych subjects in accounting degrees, because we we see businesses at the top we see businesses the bottom we were married counsellors. But this system is flexible and for someone like your husband, there is an actual way to get around that and make profit first has a basis of five bank accounts. The number six one and call him his  colony. He's spending accounts that if he wants a bright shiny, that's where he buys it from, and he just put a certain percentage from your operating expenses accounts into that account each time you do your distributions. And if he wants to go and buy the new camera or the new this, how much is in that bank account, if it's there, it's his to spend.

Ros: Is that the same for travel professionals. When we see a deal come up and we're like, oh my gosh, this cruise line is got an incredible deal and I want to go and spend three weeks on that or, you know, this new fancy hotel is opened up or a new airline or something. Is that exactly the same for exactly it's not it's not considered as an operating cost, right?

Victoria: No it's not in the same way the same way that you might have a bank account at home to save up money for your holidays when maybe not for for travel people but the rest of us population do we put money aside or we're just doing is putting aside in a fund for whatever it is that floats your boat that's your bright and shiny. Yeah, sometimes it's subscriptions I know I get subscription creep I find bright shiny ideas and think they're a great idea at the time and and then six months down the track, I'll look at my accounts and go Why am I still paying for this because I'm not using it. So that's part of the system that we go through and, and look at things on a regular basis and cut out the things that we don't need, but there's no reason why we can't have with a quarter cutting kit or a slush fund or your bright shiny account or whatever it wants to be. That if you've got a business where there's there's things like that, that you do freehand over time want to go and grab something you've just set up a separate account for it. 

Ros: Yeah, I know, I mean, everybody is different. And I think a number of people that I also know I've got one person that comes to me at the moment she's like, Oh my gosh, every every online course that comes out, I have to buy it and I'm like, but how do you find the time in order to do all of that, like I'm very focused and to say, what is the need that you have right now to learn about and then learn that but I know for everybody there is something different whether it's, I want to go on for meals or I go on holidays or it's training or it's buying a new piece of luggage or equipment or outfit or whatever it is. So what you're saying is yes, there are five different buckets. But if you have a tendency for something outside of those, you can have a six.

Victoria: Definitely, definitely.

Ros: So I like the sound of this. This is a great idea. So having that set wage every week being able to put your tax aside and having the money to run your business and work backwards in a sense, is do you think it's something new or it's always been there?

Victoria: Like, it's not new, that the system itself has been around since eternity. Mainly, you know, a personal side. So I don't know about you, you might be old enough, but I know. When I was a kid, Mike, my grandparents worked and my grandfather got paid in cash and he come home each week with a little packet of money. And grandma would have jars you set up in the kitchen and she would put money into each jar there'd be money for the groceries, it'd be money for the car, the money for the holiday, the money for this. It's exactly the same process. It's just turned into business. And instead of having jars but we allocate a percentage into different bank accounts. She was allocating a percentage but because it was a set wage each week it was just set a certain amount whereas we're putting that percentage in so that when we have highs we're putting more away so that when we're having lows and we don't put as much away, we've still got a buffer to give us that set wage each week or to make sure we've got money to pay the rent or pay the staff. 

Ros: Yeah, making sure that the funds are there, managing those bank accounts, using all of this as well to have reliable figures in in your business and that's something that we spoke about before we went live is you do still need to have an understanding of your financial records and those sorts of things. But I mean, how would you explain it now by using the Profit First method as well as having your accounting system or your bookkeeper and your online banking through Xero or QuickBooks or those sorts of things? Like how does it all come together?

Victoria: Okay, so you definitely need to still have those systems. One is because you need to be able to pay your business activity statement each quarter. You need to be able to do your tax returns at the end of the year, which is a compliance grudge. We all get that and we have to do it. That's just how it is. But most importantly, if you've got a bookkeeping system, then you can see how your business is going. And you can see what you're spending on different things. So that's where I said before, that we come in and we have that conversation about those three reasons for expenses. And it's something that you really should be doing on a quarterly basis is is having a look at your systems and seeing what's in there. Profit First doesn't take away the fact that you need to have an understanding of your finances and your businesses going. What it is is a system of managing money to make it easier for you in the process, because it harnesses human behaviour. When we look in our bank account to see can we buy something? Is there money there? Yes, I'll spend it which means when we get it we've got one bucket of money, when we get down the end of the month we go to pay the wages and there's no money in there because I spend it on something bright and shiny earlier in the month. Whereas if we're taking those monies away, and we go and see what's left, then we've got a decision.

Ros: Yeah. This is something that I think is important for everybody to understand as a small business owner or a large business owner wherever you are at even as a solopreneur. So if people want to explore this a little bit further and you know, understand the process, how can people get in contact with you, Victoria?

Victoria: I'm pretty easy to find. I'm on Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn. Our website is bookkeeper hub.com.au. If you go to that it's got our contact details and you can just shoot me an email admin at bookkeeper hub.com.au you will get me my mobile or there's a phone number on the website which goes to my mobile

Ros: Gosh you’re way to accessible. I love it though. So what we'll do everyone is link to all of those details in the show notes as well. So make sure you check it out. I'm going to be also linking to your book that's in there and also the book that you mentioned Built to Sell and Profit First as well. The Mike Michalowicz  book and really just to be able to find you because everybody is at a different stage in their business. So if you're looking to get profit first set up and have somebody monitor it and help you through this process. Victoria is awesome. Make sure you check her out at bookkeeper hub. If you are also wanting to get some help with bookkeeping in your business as somebody that is they're able to allocate things and assist you in the background. From a bookkeeping perspective and accounting services Victoria has that as well. And if you want to do this yourself so if you want to understand the process, she even has an online course, which is the bookkeeper training and that will also be found on the website. We will link to everything in the show notes. 

For you, Victoria. This has been really insightful and very helpful. I love the bucket system and as you know this is something that we are also setting up and continuously monitoring in our business and across our businesses. I think it's a little bit of adulting that's happening this year.

Victoria: 2024 year of the adults.

Ros: Oh my gosh. 2024. Year of the adults, managing things up. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your knowledge and expertise with the travel agent in the teethers community. I sincerely appreciate it. In addition to that bow, for anybody who is a part of our achievers, mastermind Victoria is also going to be a guest expert inside our Mastermind program for the month of March and we are going to be walking through a workshop in how to set up Profit First and a few different steps there. So make sure if you have been thinking about joining the achievers and levelling up and really growing your business in a way that works for you, but also understanding the four different areas of business to help you move forward. Join us Inside the Achievers but thank you Victoria for being here. I sincerely appreciate you and and all that you do for everybody in the small business world as well. So thank you so much.

Victoria: Thank you for having me, Ros.

Ros: All right, everybody. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. I appreciate you. If you have any comments or feedback or things that you want to learn about, make sure that you reach out to us at travel agent achievers. Have an awesome day wherever you are, and I look forward to catching up with you very very soon. Bye for now.