I know plenty of small business owners who struggle with how to price their products or how much to invest in advertising. I see people question whether they can hire someone to help or whether that conference is in their budget.

And at the heart of all of these questions, are the nitty-gritty financial numbers behind all of our businesses.

Unfortunately, we often get caught up in the sexier questions and forget to dive into the reports… if we have the reports at all.

My business had been making well over $100,000 per year before I finally hired a great bookkeeper who could help me understand what was really going on with our finances.

There is absolutely no shame in not having your bookkeeping and financial reporting figured out right now. But today is the day you need to start moving in the right direction if you want to experience more clarity and growth for your business.

In this episode, we’re continuing our “what’s working” series. This series features consultants, service providers, and software companies that help make small businesses work. They offer a bird’s eye view across industries and business models to help us parse the trends and systems that are actually working for lots of businesses.

I’m joined by Kaitlyn Louvier from Bench, a hybrid bookkeeping software and service provider for small business owners. Bench’s goal is to help entrepreneurs master their financial lives with highly personalized bookkeeping services.

Kaitlyn and I talk about the difference between bookkeeping and accounting, what solid bookkeeping helps you avoid, and the top 5 numbers you should be tracking in your business finances. We also chat about the pros and cons of the options small business owners have to keeping their books managed.

This conversation is a valuable look at what’s working to track your numbers no matter what kind of bookkeeping system you have. But if you’re ready to level up how you manage your business finances, you can support the work we do here at the What Works podcast by giving Bench a try. Go to explorewhatworks.com/bench to start your free trial and get 20% off your first 6 months of bookkeeping. That’s explorewhatworks.com/bench or mention What Works when you start your trial!