Most entrepreneurs skip reflection altogether. They’re busy, tired, and ready for a fresh start. But if you don’t pause to reflect, you repeat the same mistakes. You carry old habits into a new season. You build goals on top of unclear patterns.
Reflection is where leadership starts. It’s where clarity lives. It’s simple, but not easy.
In this episode, Danielle walks you step-by-step through the Year-End Reflection Framework built into the Kickstart system. It’s the tool that helps you understand what worked, what didn’t, and where you can step more fully into your CEO role next year.
Your Year-End Reflection Framework:
At Kickstart, reflection is built into everything we do. It’s part of the Kickstart Framework, the same system Danielle uses to run her own business every single year.
1. Review Your Revenue
Start with your total revenue for the year. Compare it to last year, then review month-by-month. Ask yourself:
- Which months were your strongest?
- What contributed to that success?
- Which sales/marketing efforts created reliable results?
- During slower months, what changed? Were you consistent or did you pivot too soon?
Real growth happens when you stick with what works long enough to see the results.
2. Reflect on Profit & Net Income
Profit tells the truth about your business’s health—not just what came in, but what stayed. Consider:
- Were profit margins healthy (10–15% after payroll)?
- What supported profitability this year?
- If profits decreased, what shifted?
And remember: Profit doesn’t matter if it costs you your energy, well-being, or sustainability.
3. Examine Your Expenses
Look at your total expenses year-over-year and month-by-month. Ask:
- What purchases supported your goals?
- Which investments truly helped you grow?
- Where did spending align—or misalign—with your intentions?
- Was spending driven by confidence, or by fear and FOMO?
Spending isn’t bad. It’s information. It reveals your priorities, patterns, and beliefs. Also reflect on:
- What purchase made you most proud?
- What helped you step more fully into your CEO role?
4. Evaluate Your Cash on Hand
Cash isn’t everything… but it is stability and choice. Review:
- Cash this year vs. last year
- Cash month-by-month
- Whether changes align with the season you were in (growth vs. optimization)
- How many months of expenses you have saved (aim for 1–3 months)
If you’re not there yet, start small—even $50 a week builds momentum. Cash gives you freedom to make thoughtful, empowered decisions.
5. Look at Debt & Owner’s Draws
This is where clarity really clicks. Debt payments and owner’s draws don’t show on your P&L, but they dramatically impact cash. Ask yourself:
- Did I pay myself consistently?
- Does my compensation match my effort?
- Did I take on or pay off debt intentionally?
Your goal is balance: Pay yourself. Manage debt. Build savings. All at once, sustainably.
Topics Discussed:
(00:00) Intro: Why Year-End Reflection Matters & the Year-End Reflection Framework to Use
(01:20) What Kickstart Clients Receive in Their Snapshot
(01:53) Year-End Reflection Framework: Review Your Revenue
(05:42) Year-End Reflection Framework: Reflect on Profit & Net Income
(07:53) Year-End Reflection Framework: Examine Your Expenses & Spending Patterns
(09:50) Promo Break: Kickstart’s “Check Your Books” Service
(11:02) Spending That Builds You as a CEO & Brings Joy
(13:37) Why Cutting All Expenses Isn’t the Answer
(14:17) Year-End Reflection Framework: Evaluate Cash on Hand & Creating Stability as a CEO
(18:30) Year-End Reflection Framework: Debt, Owner’s Draws & Where All the Cash Really Went
(20:34) Your Role as CEO: Consistency & Ownership
(21:36) Outro: Like, Share and Subscribe!
Resources:
Check Your Books | kickstartaccountinginc.com/checkyourbooks
CFO Services | https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/the-cfo-solution/
Book a Call with Kickstart Accounting, Inc.:
https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/book-a-call/
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;33;23
Danielle Hayden
Hello and welcome back to Business by The Books. Today I'm going to walk through a simple framework that you can use to help you reflect on your financials for the last year so that you can come into next year feeling confident and empowered. Now this tool is not easy. I said simple, not easy. It is your responsibility as a CEO and as a business owner to show up in your visionary seat, to take responsibility for your business and do the hard work.
00;00;33;28 - 00;00;55;10
Danielle Hayden
Now, hard work doesn't mean the newest strategy or a fancy new tool. It is about being consistent and showing up for your business, regardless of what you think that the metrics might tell you for last year. Now we hear from our clients all the time, I feel like this year was slower or I just don't feel good about my numbers right now.
00;00;55;13 - 00;01;20;26
Danielle Hayden
And I encourage every single one of our clients and I encourage you to look at the data. I know you might be an intuitive leader, but it's important that we're looking at the data as well as our intuition as we make decisions for the next year in our business. Let's take responsibility. Let's step into our role as CEO and go through this year and reflection tool together.
00;01;20;28 - 00;01;45;17
Danielle Hayden
Now, if you are a Kickstart Accounting, Inc. client, you are going to receive this tool completed for you as part of your financial packet this month. So every single month our clients receive their income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and the Snapshot. The Snapshot is our way of doing the analysis for you, so that you can show up in your role as a CEO.
00;01;45;19 - 00;02;07;11
Danielle Hayden
And so this year end reflection will be included with your Snapshot so that you can open up the numbers and start reflecting right away. So first is our revenue. We're going to look at revenue as the total year. So what was 2025’s total revenue? And I simply want you to look at two things. I want you to compare this number to last year.
00;02;07;14 - 00;02;27;02
Danielle Hayden
And then I want you to look at your revenue by month. Now there's a lot of different analysis we can do here. We can compare this quarter over quarter. We can compare this month over month. We can compare this year over year. But I think that's where we can confuse ourselves and start to feel overwhelmed as a business owner.
00;02;27;03 - 00;02;50;27
Danielle Hayden
And so I want you to simply look at two things. What was your revenue for this year compared to last year? Then I want you to look at your total revenue by month. Now the goal here, the reflection is for you to pay attention to what worked and what needs your attention. Your revenue shows how your business performed.
00;02;50;29 - 00;03;17;04
Danielle Hayden
It reflects the results of every single decision that you made, how consistent you are, and the strategy that you applied. And so as you're looking at these two metrics only, I want you to ask yourself which months were your strongest? And then from there, what contributed to your business's success during those months? You might go back, look at your calendar that month.
00;03;17;04 - 00;03;45;10
Danielle Hayden
Look at the calendar leading up to those months. Where did your leads come in? Who were the clients during those times? Really spend time understanding which month this year where you're strongest and what contributed to the success, and then which sales efforts or marketing activities brought you the most reliable results? Now, I know, I'm a visionary too, you guys, so there's things that I really enjoy doing and other things that it is really hard.
00;03;45;10 - 00;04;16;23
Danielle Hayden
My team has to pull me through the mud to get things done. And so I'm not asking you what brought you the most joy. I'm not asking you what you liked doing. I'm asking you what efforts, what marketing activities actually brought in the results to your business. So when you look at those strong months, when you look at the peak months and the dips, what activities were contributing to those dips and which activities were contributing to those peaks?
00;04;16;26 - 00;04;43;25
Danielle Hayden
The idea is that we know what's actually working and what's not working, so we can do more of that next year. Again, not what lights you up, not what you prefer doing, but what's actually bringing results into your business. And were there any slowdowns this year? What was happening to your business during that time? And I don't want you to spend too much time thinking about the economy or what was going on in the big picture.
00;04;43;27 - 00;05;08;23
Danielle Hayden
Really actually, think about your business. This is about taking responsibility for you, your actions and your business. So during those times of slowdown, what was happening? And did you stay focused on your core offers or did you shift directions too quickly? You guys, growth as a business, growth as a CEO, it happens when you stay consistent with what works.
00;05;08;27 - 00;05;37;07
Danielle Hayden
As visionaries, it's our responsibilities to make adjustments on data and not emotion. So were there times this year that you shifted directions too quickly, or you didn't stay consistent for long enough to see those efforts pay off? And so, what strategies will you be consistent with next year? The idea here is that we are going to reflect on what worked and what didn't work last year.
00;05;37;10 - 00;05;55;08
Danielle Hayden
So we're bringing in the good stuff with us into next year. That is our revenue reflection. I’m gonna move in to net income. We're going to look at two numbers. Again, we're going to look at your total net income, and we're going to compare that to last year. Just the total net income and how that compared to last year.
00;05;55;10 - 00;06;17;19
Danielle Hayden
Then we're going to look at the net income by month. Now your revenue, this shows what's coming into your business. But I want you to think of your profit or your net income, this is what stays in your business. This tells the real story about the health of your business. And so as you're reflecting on the net income---
00;06;17;21 - 00;06;39;20
Danielle Hayden
so remember this is the number at the very bottom of your income statement---what amount of money stayed in your business after paying your operating expenses? And so as you're reflecting on this, I want you to look at what is your profit margin within a healthy 10 to 15% range after your payroll. And then what helped you maintain profitability this year?
00;06;39;20 - 00;07;04;03
Danielle Hayden
So if you are profitable this year or the month that you had profits, what helped you manage that profitability? And if you're in a year where your profits decrease, that's okay. There's no judgment. There's no shame. But I want you to reflect on what changed, what expenses were rising. Did your prices drop? Or change in your focus? Now, I want to leave you with a reminder in this net income section of our reflection:
00;07;04;06 - 00;07;31;18
Danielle Hayden
Not all profit is created equal. And so if this year was a very profitable year for you, but your energy is completely drained, meaning that you are being pulled in every direction in your business, you are not properly staffed and you do not have the tools, systems and people to help you operate your business. Then more profit isn't always better.
00;07;31;24 - 00;07;57;22
Danielle Hayden
That's why we say that the healthy range of profitability for businesses is between 10 to 15%. If you're at 60-70% profitability, can you sustain that? Or do you need people, systems and tools to help you maintain the long-term health and sustainability of you and your business? All right, next, we're going to move on to the expense section of this reflection exercise.
00;07;57;23 - 00;08;30;03
Danielle Hayden
Now we have two numbers. Again, you guys, we're keeping this very simple for this tool. We're gonna look at our total expenses for this past year and we're going to compare that to the prior year. The second number, it's going to look at the chart of expenses by month. The goal of the chart is to see the ebb and flow month over month, so that as we're looking at this chart, we're able to see where our spending increased, where it decreased, and why.
00;08;30;06 - 00;08;56;18
Danielle Hayden
Again, no shame where this isn't a place for judgment, but it's to understand how our expenses rose or fell, the impact that it had on our profitability and maybe even our revenue. So as you reflect on your expenses, I want you to understand what supported you and what weighed you down. The idea is, what are we going to pull with us into next year?
00;08;56;19 - 00;09;28;11
Danielle Hayden
So as we look at this fluctuation month over month and our expenses, I want you to ask yourself which expenses directly supported your goals when you think about what this year meant to you? Maybe you were in a growth season. Which expenses directly supported the growth of your business or made your business more efficient? So if my goal for this year was growth, then when I look at my income statement, I should see investments in advertising and marketing.
00;09;28;14 - 00;09;49;28
Danielle Hayden
I can't tell you how many clients who have come to us over the years and say, yes, my goal is top line revenue growth. I want to grow this business. And when we go to look at their spending trends, I don't see the spending aligning with that goal. We should see in our expenses an alignment between spending and our goals.
00;09;50;00 - 00;10;14;20
Danielle Hayden
Yes, you need accurate bookkeeping to file taxes or apply for that loan, but honestly, that's not the real reason. The real reason is because bad bookkeeping, it's hiding all of your problems. At Kickstart Accounting, we've seen it all: doubled income, missing expenses, and air quotes, healthy looking QuickBooks dashboards that are just masking financial chaos. QuickBooks and AI tools?
00;10;14;21 - 00;10;41;04
Danielle Hayden
They won't tell you when your data is wrong. They just make it look pretty. And that's why we created the Check Your Books service. Our team of real human experts run a 25-point accuracy review of your QuickBooks, checking every transaction, every reconciliation, and every balance sheet line. Then we record a personalized video walkthrough so you know exactly what's right, what's wrong, and how healthy your books really are.
00;10;41;07 - 00;11;08;08
Danielle Hayden
No more guessing. No more pretending everything's fine. It's human to human walking you through the truth about your business. Now, if you're ready for this, go to KickstartAccountingInc.com/CheckYourBooks. We'll get started today so that you can step into your role as CEO with confidence. Now, as you reflect on your spending this year, I would like you to think about what brought you joy.
00;11;08;14 - 00;11;36;02
Danielle Hayden
Was there anything that created efficiency or helped fulfill the purpose in your business? Seriously guys, what was the number one thing that you were the most proud of purchasing? Maybe you've been thinking for years about investing in a coach, or getting bookkeeping off your plate, or running those paid ads, and you finally took a leap of faith on yourself and your business.
00;11;36;02 - 00;12;03;24
Danielle Hayden
Did that bring you joy? Were you so proud for stepping into your role as CEO? Did that purchase make you proud? This reflection tool? Yes, it's data driven, but we are entrepreneurs and as entrepreneurs, I want you to remember what's lighting you up and what's making you proud so that you can celebrate those expenses. Spending? It's not always bad. Spending money in your business is something that you should be proud of.
00;12;03;26 - 00;12;24;12
Danielle Hayden
So I want you to think about what were you most proud of purchasing and what did that do for your business? We all have a different money personality type, and so some of us, we invest money out of confidence. We love to spend money in our business, and other people spend money from a fear of missing out or as a coping mechanism.
00;12;24;14 - 00;12;46;20
Danielle Hayden
And so as you look at your spending, if we have major increases or maybe a consistent trend of increasing in expenses month over month, are you investing in a place of confidence and empowerment, or are you investing from a place where you are afraid to miss out on something, or you're spending because everybody else is spending money in that area?
00;12;46;23 - 00;13;09;28
Danielle Hayden
As you are stepping into your role as CEO and doing these important exercises, it's important to understand our expenses and why we are spending in the patterns in which we're spending. And lastly, what purchases this year help develop you as a CEO? There's lots of examples of this, you guys. Maybe you worked with a coach. Maybe you finally hired an operations manager.
00;13;09;29 - 00;13;37;12
Danielle Hayden
You finally got the CFO in your business. What purchases helped develop you or helped you step into your role as CEO and gets you the education, the skills, or the support that you needed to run a business that aligns with your core values of who you want to be as a business owner. Remember, this reflection is about what are we taking into next year with us, and what are we going to leave here?
00;13;37;13 - 00;14;02;20
Danielle Hayden
You cannot cut all of your spending and business. When someone comes to me and says, Danielle, just tell me where I can cut back. Just tell me. I just want to reassure you that the growth in business comes from spending wisely and with purpose. We cannot cut all of our spending in business and have a healthy, sustainable business in the future.
00;14;02;22 - 00;14;26;18
Danielle Hayden
So what spending investments are going to align with your goals for 2026? Let's take these lessons, this reflection, and use this to bring in the best version of ourselves next year. All right, we have two more areas. Next is our cash on hand. We’re going to look at two numbers. Our cash on hand at the end of this year compared to last year.
00;14;26;21 - 00;14;50;03
Danielle Hayden
And then I want you to look at your cash on hand by month. The goal here is for us to look at the trends. Do we see cash fluctuating month over month? Do we have large fluctuations? Is the pattern of cash decreasing month over month or is it consistently increasing? I've often heard through my journey that cash is key, and while there's elements of that I agree with,
00;14;50;04 - 00;15;22;16
Danielle Hayden
cash is a tool that can help us create a feeling of stability and confidence. Having enough cash gives you the ability as a CEO to make the most thoughtful decisions without stress. Now let's be clear, everything about entrepreneurship can be stressful. However, having cash on hand, having enough cash on hand can help us create that stability and confidence to make those decisions with empowerment.
00;15;22;18 - 00;15;44;05
Danielle Hayden
So as we look at the cash balance month over month, I want you to reflect on these three questions: How many months of average operating expenses do you currently have saved? I want you to have between 1 and 3 months worth of your average operating expenses saved in a separate savings account. This is your rainy day fund, so you should have three accounts as a business owner.
00;15;44;06 - 00;16;04;15
Danielle Hayden
One is your operating account. Money comes in, money comes out. Savings account number one is for your tax reserve. So every month in your Snapshot you will see a tax reserve number that's 25% of your net income. We want to see those dollars moved over to a separate savings account, so you have money to pay for your taxes.
00;16;04;17 - 00;16;32;05
Danielle Hayden
And the third account is 1 to 3 months worth of operating expenses. And that is your rainy day fund. If you don't have that today, how can we start to maintain that healthy cash reserve and start to make small movements into that direction in the future? I don't care if we're just saving $50 per week. We need to make movements so that we can create momentum and confidence in our business.
00;16;32;07 - 00;16;50;08
Danielle Hayden
So as you look at these numbers, did your cash balance increase or decrease this year? And does that align with your intentions and goals for this year? Every year is not going to be a hockey stick year. We're not going to have hockey stick growth in our revenue. We're not going to have hockey stick growth in our cash.
00;16;50;10 - 00;17;13;22
Danielle Hayden
There are some years that are investment years where we're investing in the growth of our business. And those years we might have a decrease in cash or large fluctuations. Maybe you hired a few new team members, and we had to invest in growing those new team members. Maybe you ran a large campaign. These growth strategies, they take cash.
00;17;13;25 - 00;17;40;14
Danielle Hayden
And so reflecting on, does that align with our intention for the year? Does it align with what our goals were for this year. And if the answer is yes and cash decreased, that's okay. If you are in a season of optimization or stability, then we will start to see that these cash balances are increasing because we're paying more close attention to our expenses month over month.
00;17;40;20 - 00;18;03;10
Danielle Hayden
We are optimizing, we are creating stability in our business. And so if you are in a season of optimization or stability, then we should see cash balances increasing. And lastly, I want you to reflect on are you comfortable with your cash flow? At Kickstart, our job is to bring you the data. It is for you to decide how that data makes you feel.
00;18;03;13 - 00;18;30;03
Danielle Hayden
It's your decision to determine what you're going to do with this information, how you're going to implement it in your business, and what you do with the information. And so does your cash balance make you feel comfortable? And tell me why. Why does it make you feel uncomfortable? So your takeaway here is to create the habits that you can put in place for next year to start to maintain a healthy reserve.
00;18;30;06 - 00;18;49;11
Danielle Hayden
All right, our last number that we're going to look at is our total debt, and this number we're going to look at our total debt compared to last year and then our debt by month. We're also going to look at our year-to-date owner's draws and year-to-date personal expenses. There’s a few extra numbers in this section,
00;18;49;17 - 00;19;15;27
Danielle Hayden
however the reason for that is because you can be profitable as a business owner and still feel like cash is tight. And this section of the reflection is to help you understand where your money truly went. When we work with our clients, this is the biggest area of confusion. I love when a client says to our team, you guys keep telling me I'm profitable, but where is all of my cash?
00;19;15;27 - 00;19;39;05
Danielle Hayden
And this section right here, this tells you where your cash went. So how much did you pay yourself this year? Was it consistent and does your compensation reflect your effort in the business? Did you take on debt or pay off debt? When you pay debt down over time in your business, when you take owner's draws and you take personal expenses,
00;19;39;07 - 00;20;10;26
Danielle Hayden
these dollars, they're not shown on your income statement. They are balance sheet activities. They're cash flow activities. So if you pay down debt and took out owner's draws, you will not see that on your profit and loss statement. You will see that on your balance sheet and your cash flow. And so if you feel like your profit is high and your cash flow still feels tight, this is the section that I really want you to pay attention to, to understand if you have debt in your business.
00;20;10;29 - 00;20;34;18
Danielle Hayden
What is the impact of that on your cash? If you are taking out owner's draws or commingling business and personal expenses, what is the impact of that on your financial statements? And the reflection here is simple. What changes can you make next year to balance paying yourself, paying down debt while still building a savings? You guys can do all three.
00;20;34;21 - 00;20;56;07
Danielle Hayden
We as business owners, it is our responsibility to pay ourselves to keep a healthy amount of debt in our business while creating a sustainable savings so that we have a healthy, sustainable business for our futures, for our futures, for our team's future, and for the future of our community. I am so excited to share this reflection exercise with you guys.
00;20;56;09 - 00;21;15;08
Danielle Hayden
If you have any questions or need support, I want to hear from you. Or if you are a Kickstart Accounting, Inc. client, please book a call. Book a call with your team. Your money team wants to hear from you. They want to walk you through this information. We can't do the work for you. Your money team wants to hear from you.
00;21;15;09 - 00;21;39;29
Danielle Hayden
I want to help you, but we cannot do the work for you. So please take this simple tool and do the hard work and show up for your business and be consistent this year. I am rooting for you, and I am so honored to be on this journey alongside of you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Business by The Books.
00;21;39;29 - 00;22;23;02
Danielle Hayden
Don't forget to hit like and subscribe! This is the number one way we can help other entrepreneurs find this podcast, because 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.