In today's blog, you will learn about four free tools to help manage your business finances better.
So, lets get into it.
These are tools that we use everyday within Purple Yak and these are not sponsors.
They’re completely free, and they’ll handle most of the heavy lifting when it comes to managing your business’s cash flow, finances, and capital to ensure you’re on top of your numbers.
First, we have Google Sheets. It’s essentially Excel for Google and is available in the cloud.
If you have a Google account or a Gmail account, Google Sheets is free. It’s essential because it allows you to track your profits and losses at your P&L. You can monitor all your expenses and revenue, and you’ll know if you’re making a profit month after month. A simple spreadsheet with basic formulas can provide a lot of visibility into your finances.
We also use Google Sheets for projections to forecast growth and set goals for achieving those projections. If you’re new to spreadsheets, formulas, and calculations, it’s actually quite simple. I highly recommend checking out YouTube for free tutorials on using Google Sheets.
In about 30 minutes, you’ll be well-equipped.
I also like using Google Sheets for planning projects. Whether we are launching a new course, product, or event, it helps us calculate the costs, potential revenue, and attendance needed to make it worthwhile. It’s a great place to start and validate a viable product feature or idea.
Google Sheets is a fantastic tool for collaboration. You can share it with your team, allowing multiple people to work on and access the same document simultaneously.
Another great tool is ProfitWell, which is completely free. It’s an excellent way to gain visibility into your revenue.
ProfitWell integrates with payment processors like Braintree or Stripe and specialises in subscription-based services. It’s perfect for businesses that offer recurring subscriptions, such as software companies, membership sites, or group coaching with monthly or annual subscriptions.
ProfitWell provides comprehensive metrics, including monthly and annual revenue, churn rate, and customer turnover. It also offers easy-to-understand charts and graphs for data visualisation.
Setting up ProfitWell is a breeze, and it’s completely free.
One of the best things about ProfitWell is its level of visibility. It provides insights into your business’s performance trends, helping you identify slow or fast months. Additionally, it offers tools to compare your business with others in your industry, allowing you to assess your performance and identify areas for improvement.
If you’re looking for a business analytics tool, ProfitWell is an excellent choice. It’s free forever, and you can even add team members to your account to share access.
It’s truly remarkable how ProfitWell offers such a comprehensive set of features at no cost. They do offer other services that charge for, but the metrics tool is free.
The third tool to help you with your business finances: your bank app. Many people are unaware of its capabilities, so I highly recommend checking it out.
You can even set up sub-accounts and then save money for future products, releases, or business expenses. Each bank offers different features in its app, but check yours out—many people have discovered great functionality within their apps to streamline finances.
Our bank account for example allow us to put our sales payments into 4 pots automatically these are profit, taxes, staff pay and operational expenses. See what you can do with yours.
My fourth tool is my favourite payment processor, Stripe.
Yes, Stripe allows you to charge customers for credit card payments on your website. The rates are competitive, and it offers invoicing capabilities.
Imagine invoicing someone for freelance work or organising an event. Sometimes, you feel they need expensive invoicing software and monthly fees. Stripe is free! You can create invoices directly in your Stripe account and send them via email. Customers can pay directly on the web by clicking a link and entering their credit card information.
Stripe even invoices customers automatically when they make a purchase on your website. It creates an invoice and charges it in the background.
As an admin, you can also create one-off invoices, which is fantastic. It’s like a billing CRM because you can add new customers and use their information to invoice them again.
Once you’ve been paid once, Stripe securely stores your credit card information. You can then send them invoices or charge them immediately with an invoice. And the best part? It’s completely free to use Stripe. You won’t be charged anything until you actually charge your customers.
That’s where they take their 2.9% fee, I believe, plus 30 pence per transaction, which is quite reasonable and competitive. But here’s the catch: creating invoices and sending them is absolutely free. You don’t need to pay for a service.
If you’re overwhelmed with tools and recommendations, don’t feel pressured to implement them all at once. Start with one or two and focus on mastering those before moving on to the next.
Once you’ve integrated those tools into your workflows, you can pick up the next one. There’s no rush to take on everything at once.
Got a burning question? Reach out on our social channels or email michael@purpleyak.co.uk
Thank you for reading, and take care.
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