We have repeating bills for all predictable bills like rent.
Weekly Time Saved: 15 min
If a bill never changes, its easy.
Enter the amounts, assign to the proper account, and set it up to repeat.
We pay this by check, so we have it auto approve now and get sent to the "to be paid section"
If a bill does change (like the payroll or auto loan payment), we setup a repeating bill but have it go into drafts with $1 dollar for each line item (state payroll tax, auto interest, etc).
Then, in a monthly checklist, we review draft bills and fill in the correct amount.
Eventually, we'll automate this using the API and hosted tables.. but... one step at a time.
One other small feature is that of the placeholder in @Xero.
We can put a placeholder for month so it shows what month the bill is for better tracking.
In this case, we are billed for next month, so we put "+1" in the bracket to track it correctly.
On bills where you need to adjust amounts before they are correct, I recommend having them go to draft instead of right to approve... otherwise you might accidentally pay it before ready.
I do two things.
1. send to draft 2. use $1 so its obv wrong
The next risk to worry about is not going back to drafts (especially as we automate the books more and more) and fixing.
That is an operational / systems thing and I'll be tackling next week
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Understanding how you yourself view your business in fundamental in how you approach grow it, solving problems, and making decisions.
If you haven't figured out how you view it, take some time to do this.
Here is how I view small business ...
1. I view it as a giant process consisting of 3 main machines.
Thinking in terms of machines leads me to these perspectives:
a. they take inputs, do something, have outputs
b. you can tweak the output through changing inputs and what the machine does (or how it does it)
c. when there is a problem, my job is to figure out what went wrong, and fix or replace that component. The fix or replace decision is a crucial insight.
Here is something from the inside playbook no one shares, and we aren't supposed to talk about.
If you are fresh out of B-School, this will seem like poor business. If you have a few years... you'll get it.
Margins, Favors, and Lies...
Most customers, the ones I enjoy dealing with, you do straight up business, all the time, and build trust.
However, there is a customer level of corporate size and machinery, that when you get to, they no longer have a desire to relate with you, they want to own you.
Business needs to be transacted differently here.
One of my mentors used to say "when you can make money, make it".
I thought this was bad business, unethical, and not as good as being straight and even with pricing and quotes.
If you keep collecting ideas to put together the perfect implementation, I was there too.
Time to start and release some crappy implementations - they have turned out to be my best... over time!
Documenting your business can be the core of your small business to iterate on!
BTW.... I've been wanting to start releases videos for a LONG TIME!
This is my crappy iteration. Shot of iphone, no special mic.
I have 4 condensers, Elgato lights, and a Sony A6300... but to get started, I just hit record. I'll adjust something each recording session until 👌🏼
Slightly longer version on Youtube.
No "lower thirds", horrible tags, didn't make a custom cover.
Why did I even bother!?
Because iterating on what I did here today will be much easier (and faster) than researching, buying all youtube extras, and planning the perfect environ