Foreign to the Brilliant Pet Accountant Podcast with me, Vicky, where I will give you practical business and finance advice to help you grow a sustainable pet business.

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Hello, hello, welcome everybody to this week's live on my favorite topic in the world, paying yourself some dollar.

Very important topic and as I found out, not many people do it weirdly enough.

So we are going to talk about paying yourself today.

So if you're one of those people that always leaves it to the last minute or doesn't do it, this is the podcast episode for you.

So yes, if paying yourself is an issue, whether you're a dog groomer, boarder, walker, trainer, anything else in between, then you need to listen to this because it is very, very important.

Because it's something that people don't do, oddly enough, which you would think is a bit strange, but it's not.

And that's why I'm going to talk about it.

For those of you who don't know, my name is Vicky, I am one of the pet accountants and we're going to do a continuation of our series that we've done over the last few weeks.

All of these podcasts aren't random.

They do interlink with each other.

So if you are listening to this for the first time, please go and look back and check out the other podcasts that we've done on pricing, boundaries, capacity, and now we're doing Paying yourself.

So like I said, they all interlink and they all work together.

You can't have one without the other.

Can't pay yourself without doing your pricing properly.

You know, you're not going to get your pricing properly if you don't have boundaries.

And you're not going to have boundaries if you don't do your diary properly.

So like I said, all interlinks.

And so the next one on the agenda is paying yourself.

And the reason I've chose this one, apart from the fact it interlinks with all of the other ones, is I've started doing more of our discovery calls for the pet accountant recently.

If you're a limited company, you will likely get me and the odd sole trader.

And actually over the last couple of weeks of me doing this, especially with the limited companies, because you can only pay yourself one of two ways, dividends or via the payroll.

One of my questions is how do you pay yourself?

Thinking the answer is going to be either one of payroll or dividends.

And actually a lot of people have said to Me?

Oh, I don't.

And I'm like, what?

What do you mean you don't?

And I don't pay myself.

Like I'm just paying my bills and then I just see what's left.

Or they literally jump pay themselves any money out of the business.

And sometimes sole traders say this to me as well, but it was just highlighted over the last few weeks with a lot with limited companies when they've just said I don't pay myself.

So how the hell do you live like, like how are you getting money to live if we're not paying ourselves, you know.

And one recently, obviously I'm not going to mention any names, has a very good business, is making six figures and doesn't, doesn't pay himself any money.

And I think, you know, know from the conversation it was just a lack of structure and lack of strategies rather than, you know, the business being bad or you failing or anything like that.

It's paying yourself isn't the problem.

It's trying to do about having a system in place.

And when I was speaking to this person, it was clear that it didn't have any systems in place, which hopefully we're going to work together on and get those sorted so that he can start paying himself.

So yeah, that was a bit of an eye opener.

So I thought, well, what better talk to do than paying yourself?

We do it obviously as an accountancy firm, we pay ourselves, but we do it in a, in a strategic way.

We have our own pot.

I've mentioned this loads of times about having separate pots within your bank.

And paying ourselves a wage is almost exactly the same as saving money for VAT and saving money for tax.

It needs to be intentional and, and not something that you do at the end.

And I think that is the issue a lot of people are doing is that they're doing it at the end.

So that's what we're going to discuss today.

Make sure that you listen to the other podcasts as well because like I said, they all interlink with each other and you'll be able to get more out of them if you listen to them as a whole.

A question already.

Brilliant Oakley.

So how much would you take off each walk to pay yourself and keep some of the business?

It would be well below minimum wage.

So I'm going to put a pin in that Oakley, just until we've gone through what I'm going to discuss because it may answer your question and then I'll come back to that because again, that links into the pricing element of it.

Especially with dog walkers, because dog walkers don't charge half as much as they should.

By the time you've taken off your overheads and everything else, you're not left with very much to pay yourself, which, like you've lightly said as below minimum wage.

And that is more about pricing yourself, right, Oakley, rather than what money you can take.

But we'll, we'll swing back to that at the end, but feel free to carry on putting on questions on there.

If I know it's not going to be answered in the chat, then I will answer it.

If not, we'll swing back to it at the end.

Right, guys, I'm just going to interrupt the podcast for a quick second.

As an accountant, we're always trying to find ways of saving you guys some money, which is why we have teamed up with the brilliant Low Pay, who are half the price of summer.

So make sure you guys click the link in the bio and save those pennies.

Let's get back to the podcast.

We going to talk about paying yourselves properly and not feeling guilty about it, which is the issue.

People feel guilty about paying themselves and I don't understand that.

So we're going to go through it.

So a lot of you think, and I've heard this from speaking to people as an accountant, what happens if I take too much from my bank account?

What happens if something happens next month and there's not enough left in there?

I'll just wait until I paid everything else or until it feels a little bit safer for me to take some money.

But then that never comes, never happens.

So then you never end up taking any, or you don't take enough and almost feel guilty and stressed about it.

And like I said before, it isn't necessarily a paying yourself issue.

It's to do with not having the systems in place or not doing with doing it with a strategy to get it done properly.

And it just always seems to be the last thing.

So today we're going to talk about paying yourself, having a strategy to do it, and doing it without panicking.

So that is what we're going to chat today.

So I do find within the pet industry, and I've said this before, that no one's taught us how to do business, no one's taught you how to price, no one's taught you how to do boundaries.

And you go into it with a love of the animals rather than sometimes because you want to start a business.

And you were taught, you know, to work hard, you know, to care for the animals, how to show up but then the owner pay sort of doesn't really get factored into it.

So you tend to do what I said before, where you take what's left at the end of the month or at the end of the week, you react sort of when the bills come in and they're due and you just take money for those.

And then if that sort of cycle continues, you're going to slowly resent the job.

Okay.

And there's no strategies that they end up just being coping mechanisms.

So we can't just do what's.

Let's just take what's left or just react to the bills.

We need to make a sort of conscious effort and a conscious strategy to pay ourselves out of the business.

Now, just as a random question, whilst I've got quite a few of you here, if you don't mind, can you just put in the comments whether you pay yourself a set month.

A set amount.

Sorry, per month or per week or whether it's random.

So if you can just put in the comments for me, random if it is just a random amount or if you do have a set amount that you pay yourselves each month, because it'd be interesting to know who does what, because I know a lot of people out there do pay themselves a set amount.

But then do you go back and revisit that set amount or is it just a set amount every month that you've plucked out of thin air, or do you do what's left?

So it'll be interesting to know in the comments if you're not shy.

There's plenty of you watching.

So put it in the comments for us just because then everyone will know.

Everyone is probably doing the same thing.

So just let me know whether you're doing it randomly or whether you have a set amount.

Fabulous.

Someone's been brave enough to put it in.

Random set amount.

Good.

Like there's no wrong answers per se.

It's more, you know, we're going to try and get you on the right track, but don't feel bad if it's random because this is what this is for.

So keep putting them in there because you probably find that a lot of people do it randomly and it's a common theme, which is why we're talking about it today in the first place.

So if you're.

What you find, if your income is random and unpredictable, that you're going to be in a constant sort of state of high, late and stress because you're never going to know where the next money is coming from, you're going to be worried about the next bill.

You're going to be worried if you have a quiet month or if you know there's quiet months coming up in your calendar and it's all going to be exhausting and cause you a lot of stress.

And, and it also makes your business decisions a lot harder because if you're not tracking what money is coming in and out and you don't know how much you can pay yourself or where the money's coming for the next bill, you're just going to be constantly stressed and you're not going to be able to make good business decisions whilst not knowing where that money's coming from.

So again, it links to your boundaries, it links to your pricing, because if you haven't priced yourself right, you're not going to be able to make enough money to pay yourself at the end of the month and that's where the stress comes in.

So, so all of these things that we're talking about over the last sort of month, all interlinked and all play a massive part and you having the money in your back pocket at the end of the week or the end of the month, however you pay yourself.

Now, I do a set amount because I see a lot of people have said random, which is absolutely fine, but you're probably going to find that you're really stressed every month because you don't know where that wage is coming in.

And especially when you know you've got your personal bills to pay for, like your mortgage and food and if you've got kids or whatever, then that's going to cause you a lot of stress as well.

And then you're going to start hating your business because you don't know where the money's coming from and you work in every hour in the day.

And again, that links to your diary and your capacity.

So we want to sort of get out of that vicious circle and do something different and think, right, I'm going to start paying myself set amount and we'll go through the best tactic to do that in a sec.

Set amount every month as a salary amount review personal cost at least yearly.

Yeah, Sharon, great.

What I do personally with my personal costs is I have a spreadsheet, funnily enough, as an accountant, I have a spreadsheet and I put all of, I have two banks and I put all of my set direct debits that go out every month.

So it'll be something like gym membership or fuel or rent or mortgage, utility bill.

And I have every single thing that goes out of that bank on that spreadsheet.

And then when I get paid, I know how much I need to leave in each bank to cover what is going to come out.

And then I know how much I've got for my own personal spending.

But I would do that on at least a 6 monthly review because you'll be amazed of how many subscriptions and things that you've got through Apple who which you forgot to cancel or you know, something that you'll pay monthly for anything.

Oh shit, I haven't used that in six months, I need to get rid of it.

So I would do it at least every six months because you'd be surprised of what's going out of your bank account without you realizing.

But put it on a spreadsheet, just a simple spreadsheet of your bank.

How much goes out every month is a set.

You can put stuff that's variable on there and then at least you know how much money you need to earn from the business to cover your own personal costs.

And that's where the pricing comes in as well.

So it's great that you do that Sharon, but I definitely do.

Every six months I have a spreadsheet too list all cost month and yearly.

Fabulous.

And everyone needs to do it.

Tegan last Tegan made me do her a spreadsheet as well with all her direct debits on.

And it's a great tool because you can forget.

And also if you do it every six months and you print out your bank statements and you get a highlighter pen, we've got a highlighter pen.

Get a highlighter pen and just highlight everything that you've purchased.

Then that isn't a regular cost like mortgage and stuff, just random things that you purchase.

It could be a coffee, could be takeaway, could be the cinema, just anything that's just a random cost.

And highlight your bank statements for six months and you'd be surprised how much money you spend on tut.

When I did it I was like, oh my God, I spend a lot of money on coffee and things like that.

Now I could, if I cut back, save quite a lot of money per month.

So simple, simple task printer and do it for your business as well.

Print out your bank statements, get yourself a set of highlighter pens and highlight all of your regular costs like you rent, you know, wages, whatever and then see what else that you're spending.

And actually it's a good eye opener to say actually I've spent a lot of money on this business account on that I don't need and because sometimes if we don't look at it, then you don't realize and doing it every year is not going to help because that year is already gone.

There's nothing really much you can do about it when you spent, you know, thousands of pounds on Tut for the previous 12 months.

So do it on a regular basis.

Do it like every six months at least and just get a set of highlighters.

It's tedious.

But actually you might go, oh, I forgot I had that dark debit.

Let me put that on my spreadsheet.

And then you'll know what you're earning in your business.

Is that covering what you need it to cover for your personal stuff and also to give you a bit more money left over to go to the cinema, to go out on a night out.

So a simple task.

I do it every six months with my highlighters, print out my bank statements and then I sort of cry into my pillow for how much money I've spent on stupid stuff.

But it's a good and it's easy task to do and it will help you again with the pricing element because you need to know how much.

I'm going off on a tangent, but you need to know how much you need in your personal life.

So how can you set a price for your dog walks or set a price for a price increase if you don't know what money you need in your back pocket to cover your personal cost, to cover your business costs and to leave you some money left over.

It all interlinks and that's what you've got to look at.

But this spreadsheet and printing off your bank statements with a highlighter pens is a really good start.

And that will be the basis of what you used price.

And then when you know how much money you need in the back pocket, that's when you'll start tightening up on the boundaries.

And because you've tightened up the boundaries, you'll find that you have a lot more money left over at the end of the month and that's when you can pay yourself.

So all interlinks.

We don't want to create anxiety, we don't want to be exhausted.

So that is why paying yourself needs to be something that you do as regularly as you pay your rent.

You know, a lot of people have a pot for rent, for vat, for tax.

Your wages needs to be on one of those intentional pots and not I'll just see what's left at the end of the month and I'll just take that because all you're going to do is stress yourself out.

We don't like stress.

So you've got to get this phrase in your head.

Pay yourself first.

Even if you write that on an A4 page, stick it somewhere in your salon, stick it in your car, you know, stick it on your phone screensaver, pay myself first to make it as intentional as you can possibly be.

And don't forget about it because again, I know it sounds terrifying because people will go, oh, but what if there's no money left and it's taken money before?

It feels safe, but it's not what it actually means.

You know, paying yourself first doesn't mean you're being reckless.

It means you're being intentional.

Like I said before, the panic comes from paying yourself randomly and the karma comes from paying yourself as a predictable, intentional thing that you're going to do.

Because if you've got structure, you're going to be less stressed and you're going to remove all the guesswork.

You're not going to guess your prices, you're not going to guess your boundaries, you're not going to guess your increases, you're not going to guess your capacity.

It's all going to be structured and tailored to what you actually need.

But we've got to do a little bit of homework before that, especially if you start from scratch or if you have been doing it randomly.

Then a simple spreadsheet.

Print out your bank statements for your business and your personal.

Ideally have two separate ones.

Especially with making tax digital coming into place.

We do not want to muddle the business bank or the bank account you use for business and your personal bank because it's going to make things really, really tricky.

So we'll.

I'll touch on MTD at the end.

But if you're sat there and you're like, oh, crap, I mix my business, I'm a personal up, get a separate account, there's free ones out there, Metal, Monzo, Tide, Starling, that all do the pots function as well?

So make sure that you have a separate bank account because that will massively help.

So let's talk about why taking what's left never works.

Okay?

Because we don't want the what's left method.

That's not what we want.

Okay?

We want to be taking an intentional salary and we don't want to have, oh, well, I'll just take the 100 quid that's left in the account or, well, I'm not going to take anything because I've got that bill on paper.

It sounds Sensible, because you think, well, you know, once I paid all my bills, you know, I will see what's left.

But all it's going to do in reality is create constant uncertainty.

And that is what's going to cause you stress.

There's always going to be another bill to pay.

There's always going to be another quiet week than the one before.

And there's always going to be another reason to wait until the end of the month or the end of the week, okay?

Because then you're making the owner pay, optional.

Everything else gets paid.

And you're absorbing the risk and you're absorbing everything else because you're leaving yourself to the last minute.

And all that's going to lead to, like I said before, is burnout.

Because you're just going to be stressed.

You're going to blur your boundaries because you're just going to do every hour under the sun like we did last time.

You're going to make poor pricing decisions because you're stressed and you're burnt out.

So again, having a structure is going to work, and you just got to start from the small thing, like putting your bank statements out and just build it up, okay?

It's gonna make it stable, and that's what we want.

So in order to do that, which I'm hoping you're gonna say, well, how am I gonna do that, Vicki?

Come on, give us the eye.

Give us the.

The tips.

We want just simple, boring, regular amount.

So step one, choose a modest, regular amount.

Don't go for your dream salary.

Don't go for the absolute maximum.

You can take, you know, your business and what you take in generally every month, you know, have you done a recent pay increase?

Because you better factor that in.

So we just want a regular, modest amount that you know that.

That business or your business can afford.

So just something sustainable.

It could be weekly or monthly, but the consistency matters more than the size of the paycheck.

We need it to be consistent.

Okay?

So step one, think about what your regular sort of modest amount that your business can take every month and start with that.

And then we can build it up as your pricing increases and everything else to your dream salary.

Hopefully, you know, after a year, after two years, does anyone have.

I know you did it as random amounts, but does anyone sort of know what their business can take out every month?

Because that.

That's a good question.

If you sat in there going, well, does anyone go, I have no idea.

And it's just a case of waiting to see what's in the bank Account at the end of every month or does people know what's in there?

Let me know.

Let me know.

Share.

Tell me so mainly just to give you an example, me and Lee have a set amount that we take every month and we make sure that when money comes in we fill that pot up so that we can pay ourselves at the end of the month.

It's not something we leave to the end, it's an intentional pot that we put money in like our VAT pot, our corporation pot, our wages pot.

We have a separate pot and we review that every year depending on how the business is done.

Do we take more, do we take less?

But obviously the idea is that we take more every year and our wage increases.

So step one think of a modest amount that you know that your business can take.

Step 2 Treat your pay your owner pay like a bill.

Okay?

It goes out on the same day every time.

So we want a modest amount and we want the money to come out as a standing order every day, the same day every month or every week if you pay yourself weekly.

So make sure it's an amount that you know the business can afford to start with and that you set a date that every month the money goes into your personal bank account on that same day.

Like if you're getting paid, if you were paye, please give me a thumbs up if you're following this and it makes sense.

Please put any questions in the comments if you've got any.

As we're doing this.

Does everyone have a modest amount in their head and is your modest amount more than what you paying yourself at the minute or less?

Let me know.

Don't be shy.

All Share on the last ones everyone was throwing comments in then as soon as you start talking about money and pay, everyone goes quiet because it's a stressful topic and it's an emotional topic.

So everyone's in the same boat.

A lot of people have put random, random, random, but does anyone now have to listen to this thinking I'm going to put this amount and it's more than what they originally paying.

Please let me know.

Tell me I'm nosy.

I want to know.

So step one intentional amount.

Step two treat it like a bill, same day every month.

Step three don't panic.

Okay?

Review it if your cash feels tight.

Just don't panic.

Don't go.

All right.

God, I'm going to drop it by £100.

Just observe what happens over the next couple of months and then adjust it later.

Okay?

We can always change it up.

We can Change it down, but don't panic after the first month.

Take that set amount and then review it after a couple of months and see where you're at.

You might find that if you tweak your pricing and you've tweaked everything else, you've got more money at the end of the month than you thought you had.

And just remember, you can take it out of your bank.

It's sole traders, you've got a separate account.

Don't leave it in there, take it out.

You're not going to get taxed on taking it out of that bank account.

And that's another question I got asked.

Someone had like thousands of pounds left in their sole trader bank account that they were using and they were scared to take it out because they thought they were going to get taxed on the money that they take out.

You don't.

So it's in your account.

Move it into your personal account.

Don't leave it in there.

So step one, pick an amount.

Step two, treat it like a bill.

And step three, please, please, please don't panic.

Does anyone.

No one's talking to me.

Come on.

Is anyone panic when they pay themselves at the end of the month or do you pay yourselves in the middle of the month?

Just type the word panic if you panic or do a smiley face if you are happy when you pay yourself and don't get stressed, let me know.

Guys, come on, there's a lot of you watching.

Just type in a word panic or a smiley face.

Sometimes I have a panicked face, sometimes it's normal.

We don't mind.

See, sometimes you can have a panicked face, but also it's why you need a good accountant, because they can tell you what you should be taking home, especially for a limited company.

You know, we can help you look at your dividends and look at your salary to make it the most tax efficient.

And sometimes an accountant can say, you know, you need to be taking more, you need to be spending less, or you need to up your prices because you haven't done it in two years.

Tegan used to wing it.

I came late.

What should be left in the business account?

What should be left in the business account is, is money that you need to pay yourself.

Listen back to it and it'll all make sense.

Lenke.

But it's all about having an intentional paycheck at the end of the month and not leaving it to what's left from Rachel.

I do know a rough amount I could realistically pay myself on a regular date, but I do A lot of ad hoc work so I just take money out as and when the extra work comes in.

So my wage is very random.

So you can still set a realistic amount, like a base amount.

And then obviously if you do any ad hoc work on top of that, then you can take that out as like my hair's gone wild as a little tricky bonus.

So Rachel, you can still set yourself a base amount because then you'll know that you get in that set amount every month and psychologically you'll be less stress.

Hot Pause Emporium Great name.

I've recently set up and currently not paying myself.

Just leaving everything in my business account if I need more equipment, etc.

Conscious about paying myself with earnings being very up and down currently not sure how it works.

So do you have a backup then?

You know, if you're not paying yourself out of the business, how are you surviving?

Do you have a partner that works?

Because you know you can leave it in for equipment?

It's always good to have a small buffer for any equipment, especially groomers and trainers that might break down or you might need repaired to have like a buffer pot.

And we'll talk about that in another episode.

But you need to start taking money out of the business to pay yourself.

Otherwise how are you going to.

How are you going to live?

So it's good to have money left in there for equipment but also make sure you have a pot for yourself.

Rachel's put panic with a laughy face.

Sharon I've been self employed 15 years but from day one I paid myself a salary with the same amount as I earned.

Paye fab.

I'd regular transfer to go in three days before my end of month just as my salary did.

Great.

Everyone read Sharon's comment and do what Sharon's doing is an absolute perfect example because then you're not going to be stressed when it comes to paying your own personal bills because you've got the money then you know it's going in three days before the end of the month.

Do you increase your salary Sharon, every year just out of interest?

Do you increase the amount or do you have a set time where you look at it to increase it?

That would be an interesting answer Sarah.

Panic.

That's why I have you said get a good accountant Panic.

Pay end of month set amount but still scared I won't have enough to pay expenses even though I know I will again.

Exactly Mel.

You know it's a psychological issue that a lot of people have that if they take money, what if something Goes wrong.

Well, what if something don't go wrong?

You know, that's why you have the buffer pots, so that if, you know, if equipment does break or something happens, you've got buffer pot.

And it could be that you put five pound a month into a buffer pot.

Yeah, it might take ages to get loads in there but any small amount is going to help and it just is.

That's a little safety net for you guys to have the pots function and your bank account is really, really important and they're really good to use.

So buffer pots are great.

Salary pots, even better.

Or when I have annual leave coming up.

Exactly.

You know, as a self employed person, there's just you.

When you go on holiday, who's earning the money?

Nobody.

So again you've got to have, you know, have a holiday pot and have money put in for a holiday so that you still have money covering your bills when you go on your jollies for a couple of weeks.

Partner who works and I do some of the part time work on the side too.

So again that's great because you've got that income coming in which is going to obviously help because you've just started your business but as your business grows, you'll see your money change every month and just increase it every month.

But right this month I'm going to take 50 quid out, next month I've got some more clients, I'm going to take £75 out and just keep increasing it.

And if you set that from the start, if you've just opened your business and that's going to put you in good stead in five years time because you already have a set amount.

I have a book of pots and tax pots.

Good, because you will love smell.

That's why we're an advocate of the pot.

We don't get any money for saving these pots.

They're just a good tool to have.

So step one, pick an amount.

Step two, treat it like a bill.

Step three, don't panic.

It's also going to give you better cash flow because when you're less stressed and you're paying yourself properly, you are going to create better decisions.

Okay?

Because when you know what money is yours, your pricing improves.

Like I said before, your boundary strength and your capacity is protected and your panic reduces.

Which is why I said at the beginning this live on Paleo said links with all the other three that we've done in the last few weeks.

So if you can master each one of those, you'll find when you come to pay Yourself, which is the end bit, that you're going to have money left in that pot to do it.

And it will stop you making decisions out of fear or out of stress because you don't know where the money's coming from.

You'll start making better business decisions.

And when you know that your money, you rely on that money or boundaries automatically tighten because you're going to think, well, if I don't charge this customer a late cancellation fee, that's 50 quid out of my back pocket, or if I don't charge much further picking the dog up late, then that's my time that I've used.

And remember, you can't get that time back.

There's only so many hours in a day and you don't be working every hour under the sun.

So just remember that paying yourself isn't taking money from the business or like in theory it is, it's stabilizing the person running it.

And that's what we've got to think about is your business runs because of you.

If you're, if you're doing it on your own sometimes you might have staff, but ultimately the business runs because of you.

You are the founder, you are the owner of the business.

If you're not paying yourself correctly, then how is that business going to survive?

And like I said before, don't worry about all these other businesses that are popping up charging like 10 or groom or you know, 2 pounds for a dog walk because they're not sustainable, they won't make any money and they will quit after six months.

So just don't worry about what everyone else is doing, don't worry about what everyone else is increasing their prices by or what everyone else has their dog walk as.

Do look at your figures.

So your homework okay for this week and I want you to do it.

And please put a comment underneath this live.

If you watch as a replay and if you've done this, print off your bank statements for your business and your personal.

Get yourself some jazzy highlighter pens and start highlighting what you're purchasing, whether they're fixed costs, whether they're luxury costs.

And then build your spreadsheet around the set amount that you know coming out of your bank every month and then you'll see how much is left over and then that will help you then price your business because you know how much money you need and your personal life per month to live and to have fun at the same time.

So that is your guys homework.

Get yourself some printer ink.

If you haven't got Any get yourself some highlighter pens and start printing and start highlighting and you'll be surprised on what you did.

When I did this I realized I was paying like over 200 pound a month on TV subscriptions so I could watch the football.

And I didn't realize, to be honest it was costing that much.

I just did it and then I forgot about it and so I canceled them all and saved myself like £200amonth.

And if I hadn't done it, I would have kept that probably for another six months until I realized.

So it's a good trick even if it's not even related to doing this.

You should be doing it anywhere in your business.

Print off those bank statements Sharon's put Yes, I look at my monthly personal costs and needs and work out on a spreadsheet and increases necessary things go up.

I break down yearly costs over 12 months to reliably also I. E. Car and house insurance.

And this is the thing, you know, everything goes up every year.

Your shampoo, poo bags, treats, leads, equipment.

If you're not putting your price up every year, you're actually over a five year period and be making less, not more.

You need to put your price up.

As hard as that is guys, you need to do it in order to make a profit.

Otherwise you're going to do that over a period of time instead of that to make sure that you are reviewing your expenses because sneakily people will start increasing things like when you go to the shop and like my mom is crazy for this.

She's like well I went into ASDA today and baked beans Branson pickled baked beans has gone up 3p.

Like she's just honestly like a psychopath with the food prices.

But you don't know and they just do it sneaking in.

It'll be the same with like your shampoo brands and everything else are going to increase their prices because they need to as well.

Which means in turn you need to increase your prices.

So don't be afraid to do that because you're a business and you need to make money again.

Someone's put gratefully thankful for their buffer because I've had a lot go wrong.

Sometimes life's a bit shit and for those of you a curveball.

But if you've got the buffers there, then it does help.

I was horrified when I found out a good dog walker who works a decade longer than me charges 25% less per walk.

I am putting the prices up again with the new tax year.

I would rather have less well paying Customers have less well paying customers, yet they're running around the whole day long.

Yeah, exactly.

And for some reason with dog walkers they all charge the same thing at £14 an hour.

Between, I found between £14 and £16 an hour for solo dog walks.

Who made that price up?

Why is everyone charging the same?

Surely you can't all have the same financial setup, so why is everyone charging the same?

Look at your dog walks.

I personally, and this is going off on a tangent, but I, I personally, if I was a dog walker and someone said I've got a dog that can only go on a solo dog walk because it's reactive and obviously you guys make money more money in group walks.

I recharge in 30, 40 pounds an hour for that dog.

Because you could spend the hour doing group walk and earning yourself more.

But that customer has a specific need for their dog that they need to be the only dog on that walk.

So therefore they have to pay a premium for that service because otherwise you, you could have four dogs on that walk and earning a lot more money.

Solo dog walks, they've priced more and try to avoid because you get more with the group walks.

I know some people have to do solo walks and that's fine, but if the dog has a specific requirement and that's why you're doing it up your prices, because that is a specific need, therefore they should be paying a premium for it.

So just a little food for thought.

There are two things before I go.

Make sure you do your homework.

Secondly, if you're going to Crufts in March, please, please, please come and say hello.

We will be in Hall 1 stand 72.

We do have some Prosecco, usually behind the little podium and we also have non alcoholic beverages too.

So if you want to come and have a sneaky drink, alcoholic or not, then come and say hello to us.

Some whole.

1 stand 72 for those of you who are hitting the NTD threshold as of April, so that is a 50k turnover or more, you have to be NTD compliant by April and that includes rental income.

So you have to combine them.

If you rent out a house or a flat or whatever, if your combined turnover is 50k or more, you need to be registered with NTD from April, which means going on software, which means submitting four quarterly returns as well as a self assessment at the end of the tax year.

We are sending out information to our clients this week with regards to what they need to do and our prices.

So if you are in that boat and you haven't got an accountant or you're in that boat and you don't have software and you're thinking, oh my God, please, please, please get in touch with Tegan because she can talk you through the services that we're going to offer for MTD and also our prices her to do that for you.

And her email address is on the screen teaganulpio.co.uk so please get in touch with her if whatever reason you're in that boat and you went wherever.

NTD Mel's gotten a cruise on Thursday.

Fabulous.

We will see you there Mel, for a cheeky beverage.

Also, we've got about only 70 tickets left for the expo in October and then we will be fully booked and no more tickets will will be sold for the in person event.

This sort of stuff, the last sort of three or four podcasts are the sort of stuff that we're going to be going through at the expo.

Price and marketing, all of this stuff that's going to help improve your business.

So if you want to come to an in person friendly event and Mel will attest to this, it's a very friendly, relaxed environment, come and help your business make some new friends.

And we're going to have a little networking party afterwards on the Saturday night.

No one will be left on their own, so don't worry if you come on your own, it will make everyone feel inclusive and together.

You're not going to be sat having a drink on your own.

So please make sure you grab a ticket if you want to help your business out and learn and have fun whilst we're doing it.

So please grab your ticket to that because once they're gone, they're gone.

If you can't travel to Birmingham on 3rd October, it is being live streamed as well so you can watch it from the comfort of your own sofa.

And hopefully, and I've said this last week, our new website will be going live.

I would imagine in the next couple of weeks.

They're still working on it, so as soon as that is ready I will let you guys know.

We're out of tax season now, 31st of January's gone.

Hopefully you've all submitted your tax returns and paid for them.

We've still got a couple of latecomers that we're doing this week but it's a lot less stressful for me and me in February, March and we're gonna work behind the scenes to get stuff, extra stuff done for you guys come April and that includes the expenses guide which you can get on our website.

And download for free.

I'm going to revamp that and do a better one for you guys so you know what to include in your expenses.

So keep your eyes peeled for that and we'll let you know when that hits the website, which is also getting redone as well.

So all go in February, March.

Thank you very much for listening.

Make sure that you subscribe to the Pet Accountant podcast.

These go live every Monday so if you want to go back and check the previous ones, just make sure you press the follow button and then you'll get an update of when one drops.

But they usually drop on a Monday so go back and listen to those and hopefully you will have a great week and earn lots of money.

Pay yourself, please do your homework and then we will catch up next week with another episode.

I might start a series on marketing because that is one of my favorite topics.

I will see if I can get another one linked into this, but if not I might start a marketing series next week and we'll see where we go with that.

But thank you guys as always.

Get like and get sharing.

Kelly, I missed it.

I'm doing my accounts.

I don't believe you for a second Kelly.

So there we go.

Kelly, you know you are my favorite, especially when you shared the wrong picture yesterday.

If you know, you know.

But yes, time to print those bank statements Dawn.

And yet we'll see next week.

Do the homework.

It will make a difference.

Ultimately we want you guys to make as much money as you can and also have a sustainable business, which is the mission.

So if you need help with any of it, feel free to contact me directly.

You can just change that email on there to Vicki V I C k y@coolpeo.co.uk if you need any help.

Other than that I will get cracking and I'll see you guys next week and have fun and take care.

Bye.

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