How I Got Started With Small Business Bookkeeping

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When people hear I am a craft blogger turned small business bookkeeping teacher, they usually pause and then ask how I got started with it all. Well, to know that, you have to know a little history of Polka Dotted Blue Jay!

To find the beginning (bad photography and all) you have to go back to my first blog project: a wedding birdcage card holder I made in 2011. It launched my love for blogging, the first of many Etsy shops (do you have any idea how much it costs to ship a birdcage?), and eventually helping other creatives with their small business bookkeeping too.

I worked for over a decade as an accounting clerk for a law firm and got pretty savvy with spreadsheets, balancing budgets, and completing collection calls all while running my one-gal Etsy shop and doing all of those same things in my small business.

Since my Etsy shop was always a passion project and a crafty outlet, I couldn’t afford to hire a monthly bookkeeper or accountant, and I suspect a lot of creative entrepreneurs are in the same boat. I wrote an ebook to help a friend with her small business bookkeeping and, well, the rest is kind of history. Other creative friends begged for the ebook, the questions rolled into my DM’s, and I finally made the pivot from sharing my crafts to sharing my knowledge.

How Did I Know Where To Start?

Short answer: I didn’t!

I figured it out as I went along, which was fine, but I certainly don’t want you to have to do the same. It was a lot of hard work and trial and error. The most important thing was that I kept track of my expenses and income in a way that made sense to me and that was organized enough that I could take it to a CPA to help me file my taxes.

You can read the story about how my net profits couldn’t even buy me lunch – but I was thinking I was turning a profit!

So how do YOU get started with your small business bookkeeping?

I am hosting a 5-day Master Your Money Event next month and I want you to be a part of it!

Get daily emails, free printables, homework to help with YOUR bookkeeping, and then a LIVE Q&A session in a private Facebook group.

Tickets are $40 for this exclusive event. Click the image below to sign up and grab a ticket.

Need more help?

Want some DIY help with bookkeeping? I have an ebook that will walk you through some of the basics!

Click here to buy your copy of A Beginner’s Guide to Bookkeeping.

Once you complete your purchase, you will receive a receipt/email with the links to download the e-book and the additional attachments. Save them to your computer so you can edit and print them as you would like.