In my role as GM of Xero Go, I speak with sole traders, accountants and bookkeepers and have learned so much about the ups and downs of running a business solo. I’m always so inspired by anyone who takes the brave step to start their own business. I love the passion and determination they so often display and know how challenging it can be, particularly over a sustained period.
As a sole trader, the freedom, sense of achievement and empowerment of being your own boss are amazing, and make the challenges worth overcoming.
And there are challenges – from the isolation and pressure of driving success on your own, to the amount of time required to build a healthy business. Meanwhile, due to economic uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to keep an extremely close eye on your finances.
However, achieving this insight can be onerous and time consuming. Eager to spend your valuable time running your business, instead hours disappear as you manually input expenses and chase late payments.
With all that in mind, this is why we created Xero Go, a free to download mobile app that helps ease the financial admin burden of running your own business. Leave behind tedious paperwork and time lost chasing clients for payments to focus on what you love.
Save time with easier capturing and tracking of expenses
Getting organised can be incredibly difficult when you have a million other things to juggle. It’s no surprise that spending time optimising processes would be low on very long to-do lists.
For example, keeping track and managing expenses can be a pain, with receipts having a nasty habit of disappearing.
But with Xero Go, you can quickly and efficiently track expenses on the go, capturing receipts using Quickscan and swapping those elusive pieces of paper for digital receipts.
Save details quickly and accurately, and automatically categorise spending as you go. The dashboard gives you easy access to a clear view of what you’re spending and when, without the hassle.
Tackle late payments and improve your cash flow
Late payments can have a huge impact on cash flow, making it incredibly difficult to plan for the future. In fact, according to our research, late payments cost small business owners a staggering £684m a year.
This is a crisis that requires greater attention from governments, trade bodies and bigger businesses. However, you can make it easier and faster for your customers to pay you with Xero Go.
By choosing to use the invoicing paid add-on in the app, you can create, send customised invoices and track them from your phone as soon as a job is done, allowing you quicker invoicing and more visibility on payments.
In addition, if you use Xero Go’s integration with Stripe you can add online payments, so your customers can pay at the touch of a button. Without the need to chase for late payments, you can ultimately improve cash flow.
And speaking of cash flow, we know it can be difficult to get a clear sense of your finances, especially during periods of disruption. This is why Xero Go offers a dashboard that gives you a periodic view of your income and expenses, to help you gain a clear view of your business, on the go, at any time.
Helping to make tax season less taxing
As a sole trader, you may feel a familiar sense of impending dread as tax season approaches. A mix of convoluted processes, looming deadlines and painful fines make this a particularly stressful time.
But with Xero Go, you can make tax time a breeze. No more shuffling through a shoebox full of receipts and stressing over fines – instead, with all your digital records captured in Xero Go, your books are up to date all year round and a once painful process is now a lot simpler. You can also easily invite your accountant to ensure they have the most accurate information, ready to go for tax season.
And Xero Go has a host of new features soon to be introduced, including bank feeds, so watch this space.
Final thoughts
You know better than anyone the importance of healthy finances for your business. But managing this financial burden can be challenging and time consuming.
This is why, with Xero Go, we want to help you spend less time on admin so you can focus on doing what you do best – running your business.
