Business Banking Woes and Business Goals

Today I finally decided to finish tackling the change with my business banking.  My old bank sold out to another one, resulting in far more changes than I prefer.  The transition was anything but smooth.  I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.  Today I spent nearly an hour on the phone resolving online issues, getting new checks and a new debit card.  

Still concerning me is that I don’t see any withdrawals for sales tax I am relatively sure my bookkeeper paid to various states last week.  Not sure what is happening with that as I gave her the new routing number in November.

Another huge issue was that this change delayed my payout from Amazon.  I am on a two-week schedule with them, and as a result of adding a new bank, Amazon had a required wait.  Since I missed the window, I now have to wait until my next scheduled payout which isn’t until next week.  Given that I’m still working on rebuilding my business after treading water most of the year, I need the payout to fund more items I want to sell.  On the bright side, my business account still has some funds available, I still have some inventory, and my payout (which keeps growing as Amazon handles the orders) is reaching a nice tidy sum.

I’ve been thinking a lot about goals for 2019.  Much like with getting out of debt, I find inspiration with others also building up their business.  Of course, I also know better than to compare as everyone’s situation is a little different.  Recently, I stumbled across a post made in a Facebook group I follow.  The post was super transparent, even including screenshots and the poster’s situation also in many ways, mirrored my own.  It gave me the motivation to revisit what I prefer most about the business, and that is the retail arbitrage end of it.  I love, love, love the thrill of the hunt and don’t feel I get that with the online end of it.  I have decided for the first quarter of the year to let that be my focus.  Of course, additionally, I have put numbers with that focus.

I’m sure some of you are wondering how much can be made selling on Amazon.  Unfortunately, that isn’t an easy question to answer.  Like with a lot of things in life, it boils down to more than just one thing.  How much effort you put forth and how much money you have to work with are two biggies.  As for my numbers, after expenses, I will see approximately a $1,500 profit this month.  While I could pull that money out of my account, as I mentioned previously, I am using it to continue to grow my business.  Think of it as compound interest  Compared to my first year in business, my numbers for 2018 were sluggish.  I intend to make 2019 a much better year!