Just because there’s money in the bank doesn’t mean your business is truly profitable. In this episode, Danielle lays out the most common (and sneaky) financial mistakes she sees entrepreneurs and small business owners making without even realizing they’re doing it.
From undercharging to over-relying on your gut, Danielle is not here to shame you—she’s here to show you how to avoid them so you have the tools you need to build your business with confidence, clarity, and a financial plan that supports your vision.
Key Takeaways:
- Your Bank Balance is Not the Full Picture: Why real profitability lives beyond what’s in your checking account. Profit is not the same as cash flow, and both matter in different ways.
- You Don’t Have to Do It All Yourself: You're not a bookkeeper—and you don't need to be! Delegating your money tasks is one of the most empowering moves you can make. Outsourcing your books (or any task that’s not your expertise) isn’t giving up control, it’s giving yourself the ability to make smarter business decisions.
- Knowing Your Numbers Puts You In Control: Reviewing your financial statements monthly isn’t just “nice”, it’s necessary. It keeps you from guessing and it’s how you grow with intention.
- Pricing for Profit, Not Panic: Undercharging leads to burnout. You deserve to get paid what your work is worth—and then some.
- Create a Plan for the Slow Seasons: Feast-or-famine is not a strategy. Use data to build stability and breathe easier year-round.
- Think In Terms of the Long-Game: Even if you love your work now, it’s never too early to plan for the future. Building a business that runs without you means real freedom.
Topics Discussed:
(00:49 – 01:43) Mistake #1: The Illusion of a Healthy Bank Balance
(01:44 – 02:47) Mistake #2: Doing Your Own Bookkeeping and Ignoring Your Financials
(02:47 – 03:16) Mistake #3: Not Looking at Your Financials on a Monthly Basis
(03:24 – 04:47) Mistake #4 & 5: Not Charging Enough and Not Raising Prices Regularly
(04:48 – 05:30) Mistake #6: Not Tracking Return of Investments on Expenses
(05:31 – 06:22) Mistake #7: Chasing Revenue Over Profit
(06:24 – 08:07) Mistake #8 & 9: Hiring a Team and Asking for Help Too Late
(08:07 – 08:53) Mistake #10: Not Planning for Slow Seasons and Creating a Money Buffer
(08:53 – 09:59) Mistake #11 & 12: Ignoring Financial Red Flags and Relying on Your Gut Alone
(10:00 – 10:34) Mistake #13: Allowing One Client or Revenue Source to Dominate Your Business
(10:35 – 11:10) Mistake #14: Not Having Standard Operating Procedures In Order to Delegate
(11:11 – 11:42) Mistake #15: Inconsistent Invoicing and Follow Up
(13:57 – 14:45) Mistake #16: Not Creating an Exit Plan and Having a Long-Term Vision for the Future
Resources:
Kickstart Accounting’s CFO Services | kickstartaccountinginc.com/cfo
Book a Call with Kickstart Accounting, Inc.:
https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/book
Connect with Kickstart Accounting, Inc.:
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/Kickstartaccounting
YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@businessbythebooks
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/kickstartaccountinginc
Episode Transcript
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:08
Danielle Hayden
Think your business is doing fine because there's money in the bank? I hate to break it to you, but that number doesn't tell the whole story. In fact, it might be lying to you. On today's episode of Business by the Books, we're getting real about the silent killers of small business success, the financial mistakes that are so common
00:00:21:10 - 00:00:44:23
Danielle Hayden
most business owners don't even realize that they're making them. Don't worry, this episode is not going to be about shame. This is about claiming back your power. I'm going to walk you through the most common mistakes I've seen over my years as a CFO and CEO. And more importantly, I'm going to walk you through how you can fix them starting today.
00:00:45:01 - 00:01:09:07
Danielle Hayden
So let's dive right in. What are the mistakes that small business owners are making? The number one issue I see small business owners make is only looking at the bank balance to do their bookkeeping and to make business decisions. We mistake our cash balance for real profitability when we are only looking at the bank balance to make business decisions.
00:01:09:07 - 00:01:43:19
Danielle Hayden
We’re ignoring everything. We're ignoring outstanding bills, the taxes that are owed, and all of those future obligations that we have to other people and that people have to us. Smart CEOs, successful CEOs, they don't make business decisions by just looking at the bank balance or their gut. They use the full picture, their full financial statements to analyze the big picture and know and understand what the best business decision is for their business.
00:01:43:19 - 00:02:10:18
Danielle Hayden
All right, mistake number two is DIYing your financials for too long. Look, you guys, I understand it's easy to get caught in the trap of doing your books in spreadsheets, thinking that you need to do it all yourself, or thinking that you need to control the process in order to know what's going on. DIYing your financials wastes your time and increases errors that cost you so much money.
00:02:10:19 - 00:02:47:11
Danielle Hayden
I want to give you back your weekends. I want you to go spend your time as a CEO of your business, doing only the things that you can do, the things that give you energy. Stop paying for the errors in your bookkeeping. Let's face it, you are not a bookkeeper. I can't do what you do, right? I am not trained to do the incredible things that you do, and you, as a business owner, are not trained to be a bookkeeper and are not able to handle the bookkeeping in a way that is going to be accurate and save you money in the long-run.
00:02:47:11 - 00:03:17:13
Danielle Hayden
All right, mistake number three is not looking at your financial statements regularly. Successful CEOs know that they need to look at their financial information every single month, because this prevents all of the other financial errors that we're going to talk about, all the other financial mistakes that we're going to talk about here. But the number one way that we can get a hold, a competent grip on our mistakes is to see that we're making them. All right,
00:03:17:13 - 00:03:46:22
Danielle Hayden
so once we're looking at our financial statements, what are the mistakes that we're overlooking when we're actually looking at the numbers? Not charging enough. When we are underpricing ourselves out of fear or out of comparison, it leads to chronic cash flow issues and burnout for you and your team. You have to charge enough not just to know your worth, or to keep up with the other businesses in your industry,
00:03:46:22 - 00:04:12:00
Danielle Hayden
you need to charge enough so that you can run a healthy, sustainable, profitable business. Because that's the only way that we can beat burnout is to charge enough to have the support of systems and team to help you have that long-term, sustainable business. All right, our next mistake is not raising prices regularly. Again, you guys, I get it,
00:04:12:00 - 00:04:39:04
Danielle Hayden
I'm right there with you. I have had to overcome all of these same issues. But when we are not raising our prices regularly because we're afraid to lose clients or rock the boat. When our costs increase, but our prices stay the same, it slowly erodes our profitability and it slowly erodes our ability to create a healthy sustain profitable business.
00:04:39:06 - 00:04:48:11
Danielle Hayden
And so we are not going to be able to sustain our business if we're slowly eroding our profitability by not raising our prices.
00:04:48:11 - 00:05:11:20
Danielle Hayden
Our next mistake is not tracking the return of investment on expenses. You guys have heard me talk about on the podcast, I want you to spend money on new tools, marketing ideas, ads, your team, but we have to have a way of evaluating every dollar that is spent in our business.
00:05:11:20 - 00:05:34:22
Danielle Hayden
Because every dollar has a job, it should be moving the needle, saving you time, or the expense should be cut. It is your responsibility as a business owner to create a profitable business, and that means you need to track the return of investment on every single one of those expenses. Our next mistake is chasing revenue instead of profit.
00:05:34:22 - 00:06:13:18
Danielle Hayden
You guys, this goes hand in hand. I hear on Instagram and social media-There's lots of buzz in the entrepreneurship community about chasing revenue, “I hit six figures. I hit a half a million. I hit $1 million in revenue.” We need to chase profit, not revenue. If you are taking on new clients that don't bring in profitability or bring in cash, if you are working with people who don't align with your values, your vision or your long-term goals for the sake of bringing in revenue, you are going to create a business that is not sustainable because it is not profitable.
00:06:13:19 - 00:06:36:19
Danielle Hayden
You can't pay yourself. You can't create a vision for your team, and you can't pay your team if you are chasing revenue and not profit. All right, speaking of our team, another mistake that we see business owners make over and over and over again is hiring too late. We need to be strategic about the team that we are building.
00:06:36:21 - 00:07:00:09
Danielle Hayden
Now, as you grow your business, you're going to start by hiring experts and outside services like your bookkeeping team, your tax team, your CFO team, marketing team, the people who are experts in what they do and can bring that expertise into your business. So you don't need to be the one who is managing the ins and outs of every area of your business.
00:07:00:11 - 00:07:30:12
Danielle Hayden
But as your business grows, you need to strategically think about building your team. If we are hiring too late, it is going to cause stress, burnout, and missed opportunities. Now I hear you saying to me, Danielle, I worry that I can't afford to build a team. This is why we need to be looking at our financials every single month and have a money team. Ask for help!
00:07:30:12 - 00:07:55:16
Danielle Hayden
Our next mistake is waiting too long to ask for help. Our pride, our fear it keeps small business owners isolated. Problems grow bigger and bigger when we ignore them, especially our financial problems. So ask your money team for help. Ask them to work alongside of you to make those big decisions like can I afford to hire? I'm ready to build a budget.
00:07:55:17 - 00:08:20:13
Danielle Hayden
I'm ready to set financial goals. I need to save for my taxes. How much do I save? Ask for help so that you can start to hire and build your team strategically. Now you guys, every business has slow seasons, and one of the mistakes I see business owners make over and over again is not creating a buffer or a plan for dips in revenue.
00:08:20:15 - 00:08:45:15
Danielle Hayden
We know that there seasonality in every single industry. It is your job as the CEO to know what your dip is, what your seasonality is. Take the time to look at your financial data. We provide our clients and their Snapshot a rolling 12-month historical look at both their revenue and profit so that they can be planning for these slow seasons.
00:08:45:16 - 00:09:14:07
Danielle Hayden
I want you to get out of the feast-and-famine cycle. This causes stress for you, your business, and your team. The next mistake that we see here is ignoring financial red flags. It is easy to dismiss a dip as a slow season, but we cannot ignore our gut when something feels off. So we need to listen to our gut and then verify with data.
00:09:14:07 - 00:09:39:01
Danielle Hayden
If we are avoiding financial red flags, we are delaying the ability to course correct as CEOs. So take the time to review your financials on a regular basis and look at the financial red flags with curiosity and then verify with data. I hear clients say to me all the time, I feel like this year has been so slow.
00:09:39:03 - 00:10:15:21
Danielle Hayden
I said, okay, well, let's look at the information. Let's look at the data and hear they're growing. Maybe not as fast as they've grown in previous years, but they're continuing to grow. Don't let your gut lead you astray. Listen to your gut and then look at the data so that you can stop ignoring those financial red flags. Another red flag that we see with our clients is letting one client or revenue source dominate the business. Dependency on one client creates a high amount of risk and the lack of diversification in your business,
00:10:15:23 - 00:10:42:11
Danielle Hayden
it threatens the sustainability. Remember, we are creating healthy, sustainable, profitable businesses and if we let one client or one revenue source dominate that, when there's a change in that client's business or in the economic environment, you threaten the sustainability of your business. Now, as we are growing businesses, we need to have a set of financial systems and standard operating procedures.
00:10:42:12 - 00:11:08:14
Danielle Hayden
We as business owners, we have to stop letting everything live in our head. We have to have a process for our financial systems and the way that we run our business. Stop being the barrier for your business. Stop being that roadblock for your business and get all the information, the standard operating procedures out of your head so that your team can support you.
00:11:08:18 - 00:11:42:14
Danielle Hayden
This is successful delegation. The next mistake is inconsistent invoicing and follow up. You guys invoices can not go out late or not at all. We have to have a process for billing clients early and often. Cash flow delays can be self-inflicted before you begin work with your client. Have an invoice process set up and consistent. Follow ups until you receive the cash.
00:11:42:19 - 00:12:09:18
Danielle Hayden
Now, there are so many business owners out there who avoid or misunderstand debt. All debt should not be seen as bad, nor should we have an overreliance on credit cards or a line of credit. We need to have a healthy relationship with debt and a return of our investment, and our analysis of our expensive to ensure that debt is playing a healthy role in our business.
00:12:09:20 - 00:12:37:13
Danielle Hayden
Do not over rely on your credit card or your line of credit. Work with your money team to understand the role that debt is playing on your balance sheet and your cash flow. Stop investing in vanity metrics. I know you guys, it is sexy to buy followers or invest in fancy branding or expensive software before creating the foundation of stability in your business.
00:12:37:18 - 00:13:00:03
Danielle Hayden
I know it looks good from the outside, and these are the things that are so fun to spend your money on, but before we spend on the vanity pieces of our business, I want you to understand the impacts of those expenses on your financial statements. When is the last time you did a rebrand? Do you really need to rebrand again?
00:13:00:08 - 00:13:31:13
Danielle Hayden
Is that the problem or is it avoiding the consistency? I see too many business owners neglecting their financial education. You cannot just rely on others. You guys, we love being the money team for our clients, but you as a business owner, you as a CEO, you have to have an understanding of your financial statements. It is your responsibility to review the numbers and decide how to act on them.
00:13:31:14 - 00:13:56:17
Danielle Hayden
We can't play that role in your business. We are able to provide you with the information so that you can decide what to do with the information. So keep tuning into this podcast, watching the YouTube videos and leaning into the financial education that is provided, so that you can empower yourself with confidence not to do the bookkeeping, but to understand the numbers so that you can make better business decisions.
00:13:56:18 - 00:14:35:10
Danielle Hayden
All right, lastly is not creating an exit plan. I get it, as business owners, we can end up creating a job for ourselves, not a business that can run without you. This limits the long-term value and the freedom that running a business can provide. This is why during our CFO services, we look at our client's long-term vision one year, three years and ten years, and how it aligns to their personal life so that we can ensure that we are working alongside our clients to get them where they want to go, not just in 12 months, but long-term.
00:14:35:11 - 00:15:00:02
Danielle Hayden
What is the vision of the business and how is it sustainable long-term? Where do you want to go as the CEO of your business? Because we had talked about a lot of mistakes today, and I hope that you feel empowered to go take action. Every single one of these mistakes that we talked about today can be solved with hiring a money team, regularly
00:15:00:02 - 00:15:28:16
Danielle Hayden
looking at your financial statements. Book a call with your money team and then lean into your role as the CEO of your business. Look at the numbers and use them to make business decisions in your business today. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Business by the Books. Don't forget to hit like and subscribe! This is the number one way we can help other entrepreneurs
00:15:28:17 - 00:15:57:19
Danielle Hayden
find this podcast, cause here at Kickstart Accounting, Inc., it is our mission to help entrepreneurs understand their numbers, get access to this information, and grow and thrive in their business. So please help me, help other entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can finally grow and thrive.