True Story: Jen Landis
Today’s True Story is from Jen Landis who enthusiastically volunteered to share her experiences with business record keeping. Jen is the head girl at PinCurl Girls where she draws on her MFA and her experiences with the education process. As Jen tells it, PinCurl Girls “encourages girls to avoid self-doubt by looking for happiness, expressing their artistic talents and believing in themselves by thinking positive thoughts.”
Setting Sail
Jen started her business as an outlet for her inner girl. Since it was barely more than a hobby, she didn’t worry about the books very much. Looking back, Jen says “I’m not sure I ever thought about it. I was more concerned with if people were connecting with my art work.”
But, as interest in her art kept growing, she worked toward upgrading her bookkeeping habits. First, she started with a paper system with all her records printed and filed in a binder. Then she tried a software program but was overwhelmed by the time it would take to enter all the data. Jen was adrift in a sea of choices, “I knew there were lots of different avenues to my bookkeeping but didn’t know which one to try first,” she says.
A Seaworthy Craft
She found a vessel for her journey in Outright.com, a web based small business bookkeeping program that resonated with her way of working. Now, Jen is much happier with the state of her records. “I still use my binder process but all the down to the penny details and charts are accessible through this program,” she says.
Safe Passage
Now that she’s crossed the sea of her financial data and learned to steer the ship, Jen is reaping the benefits of her discipline. She’s able to make better business decisions like how much inventory to make, how much it will cost and how long it will last. Jen admits, “Before I started with the bookkeeping I couldn’t have told you that.”
The Storm Before the Calm
Jen weathered a storm that sprang from her own imagination. She was trying to navigate by the false stars of magic thinking about money. She remembers how she used to avoid looking at the credit card bills so she could ignore the interest cost. She’s reformed now but says it’s still hard sometimes to sit down and do the math. Despite that, Jen is staying the course. As she puts it, her old way of thinking “was all wrong. I now look closely at where my money is going and love how empowered I feel because of it.”
Resources
In an interesting bit of synchronicity, Jen recently found the book The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment
Details, Details
Do you want your creative business story told? Just volunteer! That’s right; this is an all volunteer group. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll send you some questions. That’s all there is to it – so send me a note today or a tweet today!
* Amazon Affiliate Link – Also available on Kindle!