Compass Rose Bookkeeping & Advisory

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Compass Rose Bookkeeping & Advisory You started your business for a reason. Let us help you chart the best course to achieving it. The journey toward achieving our business goals is never easy.

Let us help you chart the best course. Building even a simple business can be a complicated affair - you have so much to juggle, from making sales, to leading your team, to making sure that you stay in the good graces of the IRS. When you get bogged down in all that, it's easy to forget about the vision that brought you to this point. It's easy to get caught up in chasing immediate profit or putting out fires instead of staying on the course that will get you where you ultimately want to be. That's understandable! As busy as we can get, sometimes firing on all cylinders and hoping for the best is all we can do. But just like we need action to reach our goals, we need direction, too. That's where Compass Rose comes in. As a firm that provides both bookkeeping and high-level business advisory services, we do so much more than spitting out reports for you. You don't just need to know where you stand, after all - you need to know how to get where you want to go. Instead of charging blindly into the terrain ahead, we can give you the high-level perspective you need to prepare yourself for known trouble and to protect yourself against surprises. Between your vision and our expertise, we'll chart a course for you to follow, and adjust it as your business and the world around it change. Your business is precious, but it's precious as the vehicle by which you'll achieve your goals. Let's work together to make sure it gets you there. Whether you'd like to work with us to get your fundamental bookkeeping in order, to help you make confident strides forward, or both, I'd be honored to help. Head to compassrosebka.com to schedule a consultation.

New blog post today about some really common and really useful jargon - Cost of Goods Sold. Lots of financial pros are r...
08/08/2025

New blog post today about some really common and really useful jargon - Cost of Goods Sold. Lots of financial pros are really bad at explaining this and helping small businesses leverage it, and few small business owners that we've run into really understand it themselves. Let us know what you think!

Has your bookkeeper or accountant ever started talking to you out of nowhere about gears when you're reviewing your monthly or yearly reports?Maybe the exact word they used was "CoGS" - a bit of jargon which is a shortened version of some other jargon: Cost of Goods Sold.Why's that phrase important....

08/05/2025

Are Costs of Sales or Costs of Goods Sold an important part of your business?

Do you know that for sure?

Here's a challenge for the week: If you haven't investigated this idea as a potentially powerful tool for understanding and improving your business, have a chat with your bookkeeper or accountant.

Ask them what these terms mean and whether they could be useful in your situation.

Whether they change your business forever or you discover that they're really not relevant to you after all, you'll end up in that much better a position as you move forward :)

Send a message to learn more

04/30/2025

Proud to be a new member of the WI LGBT Chamber of Commerce. We hope to be good allies in support of the community there by helping small business owners understand and act on their business finances to achieve success on *their* terms.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

03/19/2025

Are you still scrambling to get numbers to your tax preparer?

If your deadline just passed, how traumatized were you by that process this year? :P

Most income taxes are almost due for 2024, and a *lot* of business owners have been scrambling to get their numbers in order for the past little while.

I really hope that you aren't (or weren't, if your deadline has come and gone already) one of them, but most of us are not so lucky or so prepared.

That mad dash for compliance is understandable, but are you taking advantage of the opportunity that it presents you, too?

Finally knowing how your business actually *did* last year means that you can start to make choices about how your business can *do better* *this year*. Almost all of us, though, will take a breath of relief when our taxes are done and then go right back into the grind, assuming or hoping that our hustle will keep our babies afloat and maybe even improving.

Maybe it's time to change that.

If you want to, but you don't know how, please join us on March 27th for a talk about how you can finally put your numbers to work for you.

Link below. Please share it around if you know other folks who should be there. Looking forward to seeing you :)

Send a message to learn more

Today at 3pm Central. Feel free to register even if you can't make it - everybody will get access to a replay once we're...
02/11/2025

Today at 3pm Central. Feel free to register even if you can't make it - everybody will get access to a replay once we're done.

Know someone who should be there? Send the info along! We'll be happy to see them.

Registration link below.

The next few years are going to be a wild ride for lots of small businesses. We'd love to share how you can think better...
01/28/2025

The next few years are going to be a wild ride for lots of small businesses. We'd love to share how you can think better about keeping yours in good shape or even to improve its health.

Now's not the time to pretend that running your business by intuition and its bank balance will keep working!

Or if you've been stressed about whether your business is sustainable in the long run and how to make yourself a CEO instead of your own employee, maybe we can help you cross that threshold this year.

Follow the link below to register. Get in touch if you have questions. And watch this space for more details between now and February 11th :)

Your business is your livelihood.Big changes are coming, whether we like it or not, and they will affect how well that b...
11/11/2024

Your business is your livelihood.

Big changes are coming, whether we like it or not, and they will affect how well that business performs. Will you be ready to survive and thrive through them?

We're hosting an event later this month to talk about a few things that might be weighing heavily on your mind as a business owner right now.

Get in touch by shooting us a message or by leaving a comment here if you want to be there.

We're only about two months from 2025.We're only about two months from what could be another round of "I know it's impor...
11/04/2024

We're only about two months from 2025.

We're only about two months from what could be another round of "I know it's important but I'll get to it eventually."
- or "My business is going great but I'm working myself to death."
- or "I *think* my business is doing great? But I bounce checks every time I take some cash out."
- or "I'm stuck needing help to make more money, but I don't have enough money to get help."

We're only about two months from what could be the year you get a handle on your business and start building it with *purpose* instead of with *raw effort* and *hope*.

Hustle and hard work are absolutely critical to the success of a newer, smaller, scrappier business. They have to be when you're starting from virtually nothing and building equity with blood, sweat, and tears.

But there comes a point where, to make sure your business survives and to make sure *you* survive building it from nothing, you should switch your mindset from Hustler to CEO.

What does that mean?

It means getting a handle on your finances.
It means making purposeful strategic decisions.
It means connecting more of your success to *systems* instead of relying entirely on *effort*.

Where does that start?

Knowing where you stand and what you've accomplished so far.

That means taking stock of your customers, your marketing, what works and what doesn't, and - maybe most importantly - the financial health of your business. Because knowing where you stand and what you can do to improve your financial situation *is what gets you paid*.

And because ultimately, even if Making Money isn't what you want to achieve with your business, *you can't work if you don't get paid.*

Are you going to take advantage of the next couple of months to get yourself in great shape for the next years or decades?

Whether your books are a mess (or nonexistent!) or you aren't sure what your next steps should be, I can help. Let's talk.

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Madison, WI

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