Every entrepreneur needs time to step away. The need to recharge and restore themselves so that they can return to their business with new vitality and ideas. It’s like the oxygen mask on airplanes–you need to put on yours to be sure that your business can breathe. As an accountant, I’m here to tell you that it can be good for your bottom line.

We as women have to shift our mindset about money.

We have so many hangups around our finances that start from when we were children. It’s not polite to talk about money, we’re told. The desire to be a people pleasure means that we’re not taught to negotiate for our worth at jobs, which then translates into fear about charging our value in our businesses.

It can feel uncomfortable to say that we want to make money. But if that’s not the goal, why did you start your company?

Don’t let a fear of money keep you from making money. Here are my suggestions to help you overcome your mindset about money.

If a business owner keeps poor accounting records, their tax accountant has no choice but to file taxes based on sloppy and inaccurate financial statements. In this situation, the tax accountant can’t minimize the client’s tax liability, because they are basing their work on inaccurate financial statements.

You can see now why I’m so happy to hear your commitment to doing better. Make it your project to get yourself organized this month, and your mission to keep up with good habits throughout the year and you’ll find that keeping your records updated and organized isn’t scary at all! Here are my suggestions:

Working for yourself is a dream for many, but it comes with signnficant challenges. One of the most difficult to manage is how to effectively juggle multiple tasks, all of which must be done now.

You have your work to attend to. Then you have to stay on top of your accounting and finances. Don’t forget your marketing and social media. It’s enough to make your head spin!

I’m a big fan of using technology as an aid to help entrepreneurs maximize their limited time.

In life, but particularly in your business, we’re constantly aware of the lack of time and need for money. We always have to play a balancing act to determine how to best manage this reality and pursue actions that help us maximize both.

Once we realize that we can’t do it all, we have some choices to make. We can continue to try to do everything ourselves, knowing that it will cost us in terms of overall time, quality, productivity, or all of the above. We can ignore some of the tasks and deal with the ramifications of not attending to one or more areas of our business. Or, we can embrace the fact that it’s time to find solutions to the areas where we struggle most.

Small business owners are overwhelmed. They have the responsibility for every aspect of their companies and very often, they bear that burden alone. Some of my clients want to pay attention to their books, but they are too stressed out to focus on their accounting.

When everything is important and has to be done now, it’s hard to know what to prioritize. Sound familiar?

There is no replacement for expert advice and experience when it comes to managing your business’ finances. But in this technological age, I firmly believe in utilizing tools at our fingertips to help us maximize our time. Here are a few of favorites that I recommend to clients to help them manage their money.

Stephanie leaped at the opportunity to become a spa owner. In her excitement, in getting up and running, she never opened a business checking account and used her personal checking account to operate her massage spa.

It wasn’t intentional, she was going to do it, but one day lend into weeks, which lend into months, which lend into the end of the year.

When tax time approached, Stephanie needed to get financial statements and financial documents to her tax accountant, she couldn’t remember who the purchases belonged to. Were these purchases and deposits personal or were they for the spa?

Having access to affordable benefits is one of the most significant challenges to entrepreneurs in America. Health care in particular presents challenges due to expense and importance of your health history.

I want business owners to enjoy financial wellness, but that means their overall health needs to be taken care of as well.

Whether it’s the right time for you depends on many factors. How many transactions do you make in a typical month? How much time are you currently spending each week and month on bookkeeping?

There a number of free tools that small business owners can use to assist them maintain their financial records.