Ah, the infamous side hustle. It has become more and more common for people of all ages, but particularly Millenials, to pick up an extra job in order to meet their expenses. For some, it’s also a way to dip their feet in the waters of entrepreneurship without having to get their hair wet.

The good news is that you are a business owner, my friend. Congratulations! Whether it is what you do as the sole means of earning a living or part-time, you have created a service, drawn customers, and gained income from the enterprise. That means that financial management of and bookkeeping for your enterprise have jumped to the top of your list of responsibilities.

“I can’t keep doing this,” said Maggie as she sat in yet another boring meeting. For ten years, she had climbed the corporate ladder to become a highly-respected engineer and project manager. Sure, the accolades, awards, and bonuses were nice, but she felt unfulfilled and bored with her job. She was tired of working long hard hours for someone else. More importantly, she was tired of missing out on life. How many more of her son’s soccer games would she miss?

How many times would she have to tell her daughter that she couldn’t make her ballet recital due to a business dinner? And, don’t even get her started about the lack of quality time between her and her husband. Yep, it was evident to Maggie that she needed to make a change.

You run a company, you’re busy. We get it. You have a to-do and must-do list filled with things you’d much rather do than taxes. But, the reality is, in order to run a successful business, you can’t dodge your financial responsibilities and expect to be successful.

It was 6:00 am, Brandi, a freelance copywriter and graphic designer instinctively reached for her cellphone to type herself a note about a killer ad line idea for a client. (“Is your business financially sound? Think Again.) “Not bad,” she said as she placed her phone on the nightstand and jumped out of bed to prepare for the day. 40 minutes later, Brandi sat at her desk, in her home office, sipping on hazelnut coffee from her favorite mug. She read through her emails, checking to see if one of her newer clients liked the radio script she had written the day before. They did. She smiled.

After she had responded to the rest of her emails, the next task on her list was to make sure her invoice system was up-to-date. It had been 18-months since she had taken the plunge into self-employment and business was booming.