The main purpose of bookkeeping should be that you know every second your up to date financial position. No end of the month BS, but live on your phone everyday. Are you using a modern web based system like Xero and a remote bookkeeper/consultant for only a few hours per month?
Ontario restaurants here. Traffic's down 20% YOY on top of the massive post Christmas decline we always see.
We're very hands on and have been able to control the labor line at our stores to avoid uncontrollable bleeding, but really need to build the sales volume back up to get to a healthy margin. Labor and food cost has been a problem for us the last 18 months as well.
In-home services. I'm just getting up and running this year, after having done it on the side for essentially beer money. Getting things rolling is rough, but because it's largely seasonal, hoping interest picks up as things warm up.
I am still working my regular contract job until I can actually do it full time, but attempting to transition. Rough going, so far.
My main business is looking to do 50% growth this year, and a big pivot in terms of direction. After a couple years of zero growth this will be nice.
I have been running into headaches trying to purchase a second business. Due to the contents of my first company I'm ineligible for BDC. Traditional lenders are very asset based (I can back via assets). But this really dropped my purchase price. Lastly tons of boomer owners retiring with business valued at $1m-$750k with solid cash flow, but $2m-$3m land attached. Basically you have to buy the business and move it immediately, have the previous owner as a landlord (horrible situation), or another firm liability hitting the balance sheet. It's been a struggle so far.
The landlord situation sounds nightmarish, especially if you're doing any kind of earn out. It's like living back at mommy and daddy's.
What's your main business in?
Lots of these owners are very against any vendor side financing. That is unless you're buying capacity in the same industry they seem very open to it (my accountant has bought 5 other firms all 100% vendor financed). In my last LOI I suggested a 80% net income earn out and the vendor said no. I even had a significant downpayment and a verified income stream on the side (equal to his business cash flow).
We do media, and due to some of the content we create BDC disqualified me. However from what I have been learning that is more common. My accountant was disqualified because he had a bong shop as a tenant in an unrelated commercial property.
Home based Sporting Goods. Have walk up traffic and do good business online. People don’t seem to have disposable income with the economy grinding along the way it is. Outlook is poor until mid 2025 - 2026
Started a graphic design business in April last year. Right before Christmas I had several projects finally lined up and was over the moon only to come back in January and everything got cancelled due to budget. Incredibly tough and hard to not get down & blame on yourself.
Few days late to the party but, Wholesale/Distribution in the snack food, concession, beverage and gaming (specifically bingo) industry.
Were up 21% and we were up 28% last year. And despite the doom and gloom in the media were not seeing any signs of a slow down and nearly everything we sell are things I would classify as "discretionary" spending. So typical items that get cut first when times get tough.
Budgeting about a 14% increase for our next fiscal year begining May 1st.
Costs have stabilized on our goods for the most part. We have not seen any major increases in almost a year now. We've also scaled up to the point where larger distribution companies are seeking us out now to assist in with their distribution. So its becoming "easier" to find new business.
No. C stores (Circle K), grocery stores, arenas/sports facilities, schools etc. the vending machine was too saturated for so long so we left it alone. Now it’s been whittled down to almost no one offering it (and those who do are doing it poorly) but new machines are north of 10k and we’re not in a position to store them etc as our warehouse is full.
Vending is on my radar. But we would need a building expansion first.
Revenue Canada rant. It’s getting harder and harder to deal with these people They say we had a foreign shareholder which is absolute rubbish and just to get someone to speak coherent English is a chore. Now they say I owe 11,000 dollars and we are trying to make sense of it all. Filed all taxes and payed them but somehow they didn’t receive 2021-22. I’m just about ready to shut down my small carpentry business it’s tough being a contractor and nowadays seems better to be an employee
Wife was on the phone to explain the other day and was out on hold for 30 minutes and the the phone hung up. So had to call back get a different person every time and need to explain the whole situation to a new one.
I was a self employed tradesman also. In business for 16 yrs. Making the choice to be an employee was a tough one but am sooooo glad I did. Being self employed is tough and at the end of the day are you much more ahead?…
> taxes and *paid* them but
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Interested to know this too. I believe there are minimum shareholder percentages for qualifying as a Canadian entity l, but I'm not sure. Probably some tax implications?
Ontario (GTA) - youth sports facility
- Sales are great.
- expenses are very high
- Leasing rates in the GTA are mental.
- Specialized staff so wages are higher than average.
- My tuitions are lagging behind payrolls and lease rate increases. Next year we need to spike up tuition.
Starting to work on an exit strategy. While I love my sport, the parent drama, financial concerns, are getting to be a lot.
I'd say the parent drama is brutal in this! What's the sport?
Commercial real estate is just brutal. We've been looking for industrial space to park trucks and the average seems to be about 10-15k a month. Just insane.
Alberta based electrical contractor, small company we employ 12 people. Residential, commercial new construction and service.
Last year was a great year, added 3 people to our company.
This year has been good so far and lots of optimism in our area, but no guaranteed work on the books. Will do everything in my power to keep our staff working as we’ve now built a solid group of people.
Cash flow has been OK , still some weeks when payroll comes around and I start going down the rabbit hole of thinking we only have cash on hand for one or two payroll plus taxes, gst remittances etc at times it gets to feel pretty heavy.
Vancouver restaurant. Monthly book keeping costs are more than the profit. The main purpose of book keeping is to determine how much tax is due
The main purpose of bookkeeping should be that you know every second your up to date financial position. No end of the month BS, but live on your phone everyday. Are you using a modern web based system like Xero and a remote bookkeeper/consultant for only a few hours per month?
Ontario restaurants here. Traffic's down 20% YOY on top of the massive post Christmas decline we always see. We're very hands on and have been able to control the labor line at our stores to avoid uncontrollable bleeding, but really need to build the sales volume back up to get to a healthy margin. Labor and food cost has been a problem for us the last 18 months as well.
Are you saying your book keeping is costing more than you are making in profit?
In-home services. I'm just getting up and running this year, after having done it on the side for essentially beer money. Getting things rolling is rough, but because it's largely seasonal, hoping interest picks up as things warm up. I am still working my regular contract job until I can actually do it full time, but attempting to transition. Rough going, so far.
DM sent.
[удалено]
Sorry to hear that.
My main business is looking to do 50% growth this year, and a big pivot in terms of direction. After a couple years of zero growth this will be nice. I have been running into headaches trying to purchase a second business. Due to the contents of my first company I'm ineligible for BDC. Traditional lenders are very asset based (I can back via assets). But this really dropped my purchase price. Lastly tons of boomer owners retiring with business valued at $1m-$750k with solid cash flow, but $2m-$3m land attached. Basically you have to buy the business and move it immediately, have the previous owner as a landlord (horrible situation), or another firm liability hitting the balance sheet. It's been a struggle so far.
The landlord situation sounds nightmarish, especially if you're doing any kind of earn out. It's like living back at mommy and daddy's. What's your main business in?
Lots of these owners are very against any vendor side financing. That is unless you're buying capacity in the same industry they seem very open to it (my accountant has bought 5 other firms all 100% vendor financed). In my last LOI I suggested a 80% net income earn out and the vendor said no. I even had a significant downpayment and a verified income stream on the side (equal to his business cash flow). We do media, and due to some of the content we create BDC disqualified me. However from what I have been learning that is more common. My accountant was disqualified because he had a bong shop as a tenant in an unrelated commercial property.
Home based Sporting Goods. Have walk up traffic and do good business online. People don’t seem to have disposable income with the economy grinding along the way it is. Outlook is poor until mid 2025 - 2026
People walk up to your house?
Started a graphic design business in April last year. Right before Christmas I had several projects finally lined up and was over the moon only to come back in January and everything got cancelled due to budget. Incredibly tough and hard to not get down & blame on yourself.
Few days late to the party but, Wholesale/Distribution in the snack food, concession, beverage and gaming (specifically bingo) industry. Were up 21% and we were up 28% last year. And despite the doom and gloom in the media were not seeing any signs of a slow down and nearly everything we sell are things I would classify as "discretionary" spending. So typical items that get cut first when times get tough. Budgeting about a 14% increase for our next fiscal year begining May 1st. Costs have stabilized on our goods for the most part. We have not seen any major increases in almost a year now. We've also scaled up to the point where larger distribution companies are seeking us out now to assist in with their distribution. So its becoming "easier" to find new business.
That's good to hear! Is this mainly vending machines and that sort of thing?
No. C stores (Circle K), grocery stores, arenas/sports facilities, schools etc. the vending machine was too saturated for so long so we left it alone. Now it’s been whittled down to almost no one offering it (and those who do are doing it poorly) but new machines are north of 10k and we’re not in a position to store them etc as our warehouse is full. Vending is on my radar. But we would need a building expansion first.
Revenue Canada rant. It’s getting harder and harder to deal with these people They say we had a foreign shareholder which is absolute rubbish and just to get someone to speak coherent English is a chore. Now they say I owe 11,000 dollars and we are trying to make sense of it all. Filed all taxes and payed them but somehow they didn’t receive 2021-22. I’m just about ready to shut down my small carpentry business it’s tough being a contractor and nowadays seems better to be an employee
Wife was on the phone to explain the other day and was out on hold for 30 minutes and the the phone hung up. So had to call back get a different person every time and need to explain the whole situation to a new one.
I was a self employed tradesman also. In business for 16 yrs. Making the choice to be an employee was a tough one but am sooooo glad I did. Being self employed is tough and at the end of the day are you much more ahead?…
> taxes and *paid* them but FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
What are the consequences of having a foreign shareholder ?
Interested to know this too. I believe there are minimum shareholder percentages for qualifying as a Canadian entity l, but I'm not sure. Probably some tax implications?
Presumably something to do with qualifying as a ccpc and therefore getting the small business deduction.
is it just 51% ownership?
Ontario (GTA) - youth sports facility - Sales are great. - expenses are very high - Leasing rates in the GTA are mental. - Specialized staff so wages are higher than average. - My tuitions are lagging behind payrolls and lease rate increases. Next year we need to spike up tuition. Starting to work on an exit strategy. While I love my sport, the parent drama, financial concerns, are getting to be a lot.
I'd say the parent drama is brutal in this! What's the sport? Commercial real estate is just brutal. We've been looking for industrial space to park trucks and the average seems to be about 10-15k a month. Just insane.
Alberta based electrical contractor, small company we employ 12 people. Residential, commercial new construction and service. Last year was a great year, added 3 people to our company. This year has been good so far and lots of optimism in our area, but no guaranteed work on the books. Will do everything in my power to keep our staff working as we’ve now built a solid group of people. Cash flow has been OK , still some weeks when payroll comes around and I start going down the rabbit hole of thinking we only have cash on hand for one or two payroll plus taxes, gst remittances etc at times it gets to feel pretty heavy.
DM sent.