Institute for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial Education Partner
"You always have a choice. Not making a decision is a choice." - advice from Jennifer Perrine
Last week, before Easter Break, Jennifer Perrine of Camelot Business Solutions spoke to us about keeping basic financial records for our businesses.
She created a simple sample spreadsheet we could use to model for our own businesses, and included everything we need to track:
- Date
- Method (of payment received or sent)
- Payee
- Type (income, expense, liability)
- Category
- Reason
- Decrease (expenditures)
- Increase (income)
- Balance
Of course, we can make our financial tracking more detailed and involved, but Perrine presented us with an unintimidating tracker to at least get us started.
And the word of the day: reconcile.
Perrine also touched on:
- Why we track our financials
- IRS
- Calculating mileage
- How to reduce taxes (expenses vs. income)
- Sales tax tracking
- "In the red" vs. "In the black"
Perrine also told us how she started her business, why she decided to stay in the Arthur area, how she chose her business name when she first started - Camelot is a play on the Arthur Knights mascot, and how she is currently rebranding.
We met Jennifer Perrine during our class days at Roselen's in Arthur, where her coffee club meets most mornings. She greeted us every morning with a smile and a friendly hello, even before she knew what our program was. Eventually, the coffee club supported our class business by entering a team into our Trivia Night. And now, we are proud to say, Jennifer Perrine is one of our mentors.
Thank you, Jennifer Perrine, for being so easy to talk to and get advice from, and for getting involved with Illini Prairie CEO this year!
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