Relay Bank

One of THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS you can do as a business owner is to have a dedicated business account. This simple step will allow you to avoid so many bookkeeping heart aches. 

I recommend Relay. It is the actual bank that I use for my business, so I know a thing or two about it.  

Here are some reasons I am happy Relay customer:

• Easy to open! (there is no excuse not to have a business bank account, y’all!)
• No fees and no minimum balance. My heart hurts a little because I see so many business owners paying monthly fees for their banking!
• I can pay vendors when I need to (AND require that they submit their W-9 so 1099s are a breeze!).
• It was created by people from the accounting world and that means it was built with the accounting and bookkeeping tasks in mind. Users can invite their accountant or bookkeeper to their Relay account so that the accounting pro can fetch statements, manage Accounts Payable (No more paying your own bills!), and view W-9s, etc. 
• It stays connected to bookkeeping software like FreshBooks (the software I specialize in).*

• It is built with growing teams in mind. You can create up to 50 virtual or physical cards with spending limits to give to employees or track spending related to specific projects.
• Team members can also get role-based access to Relay so they can safely help with banking tasks like sending bill payments.
• When you are ready for very robust Bill Pay workflows and controls, Relay Pro is a seemless solution (and not another app you have to learn and adopt!).
• They help facilitate the Profit First Method. Now, I’m not saying that everyone should do full-blown Profit First, but I do think that a “Profit First Lite” method of banking and savings is strong way to approach your cash flow management.

BUT PLEASE

PROMISE ME

GET A BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNT.

It is so important.  And I’ll tell you why, based on my experience dealing with small business bookkeeping this every single day.

Being fanatical about only using a dedicated business bank account can make up for most bookkeeping “sins”.

Simply by keeping all of your business transactions on one account, you at least can always download a CSV export of your transactions and rebuild the financial history of your business. 

Think about that CSV data dump for a second… 

IN GENERAL (a few caveats, but let’s keep it high level)

• “Money In” is either an investment in the business (an Owner’s Contribution for Single Member LLCs), a payment from a client, a transfer to pay off your business CC, or a refund for an expense. 
• “Money Out” is a business expense, paying off your CC, or you paid yourself (an Owner’s Distribution).

If you have any questions about business banking best practices or Relay.  I can partner WITH you, with proper controls in place, to utilize all of Relay’s functionality that is built with the small business owners in mind.  

I’m especially interested in helping solve some of your Accounts Payable pain points.  Schedule a call if that is something that you’d love help with.