Badassery Magazine Issue 6 | Page 42

BOOKKEEPING BLINDNESS: Overcome Your Financial Hurdles by Melissa Capps B ookkeeping = Big bad boogie monster Situation: You are scared to know the truth. You’re spending too much or bringing in too little. Whatever is going on in there, you’re afraid to look. You don’t want to know the bottom line so you’ve let your fear take the reigns. Solution: Take some time to address your fear. Nine times out of ten, for budding entrepreneurs, it’s a fear of failure. “I’m not bringing in enough money; I’m a failure.” “I’m overspending; this is never going to work.” But guess what? You are not a set of numbers and neither is your business. Numbers don’t mean anything. Remember, they are just theoretical representations of quantity. It’s what we do with those numbers that is the important part. 41 I’ve overspent on my business before, BIG TIME. Do I consider myself a failure? Hell, no. You know why? Because I have realized I was spending money on things for my business, like e-courses (which I haven’t finished) and perfect little day planners (which I never used), and other bullshit, instead of facing my fears and just doing the work. YOU HAVE ALL THE TOOLS necessary to succeed, so don’t let a set of numbers make you want to bury your head in the sand. Instead, I took a look at what I spent money on and asked, “Was it worth it?” I said no, so now I don’t buy those things. On the other side, I asked if it was worth joining a women’s business group. I answered “Hells yeah” so I invested in the next step in that same program. I know what’s working and what isn’t because I look at my numbers.