Your Business Needs a Garden, Not a Jungle: 5 Signs You’re Overdue for a Financial Cleanup

Nelisa Lee
2 days ago
3 min read

Running a business should feel like tending a well-planned garden—not hacking your way through a jungle every time you look at your books.

But for many real estate investors and small business owners, their financials have slowly turned wild: tangled categories, unexplained balances, bank accounts that don’t match up, and that sneaking feeling that something’s off... but no time to figure out what.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone—and you’re probably overdue for a financial cleanup.

Let’s explore the 5 biggest signs it’s time to pull some weeds 🌿

🌱1. You Don’t Trust Your Reports

You open your Profit & Loss statement… and immediately question it.

“Why does it show a profit when my bank account says otherwise?”

“What is even in that ‘Uncategorized Expense’ bucket?”

“Where did that income come from?”

If your gut says, this isn’t right, then guess what? You’re not working with clean data—and that means every decision you make from it is on shaky ground.

🌿2. You Have Multiple “Mystery” Accounts

If your chart of accounts has categories like:

“Ask My Accountant”
“Uncategorized Expense”
“Repairs,” “Repairs-General,” AND “Fixes” (what’s the difference again?)
“Opening Balance Equity” that never goes away

…that’s a red flag. These placeholders, duplicates, and vague catch-alls are often symptoms of rushed setups or inconsistent bookkeeping—and they silently distort your numbers.

🍂3. Your Bookkeeping Is Always “Behind”

Let’s be real—if your books are 3+ months behind, they’re not helpful. You can’t analyze performance, prep for taxes, or make timely decisions.

You don’t need to be a bookkeeper to keep up. But you do need clear workflows, proper systems, and (if you’re delegating) a team that knows what to track and how to record it.

🌾4. Your CPA Is Always Asking for More Info

If your accountant sends you a mile-long email every March with “missing info,” “uncategorized expenses,” or “we need to fix this before we can file,” that’s your financial garden crying out for attention.

A clean set of books should be ready—not reactive. The goal is to have clarity before tax season ever hits your inbox.

🌼5. You’re Growing… and Feeling the Strain

Growth is exciting—more properties, more income, more opportunity. But if your backend systems haven’t grown with you, it quickly becomes overwhelming.

Multiple entities, joint ventures, investor capital, and property-level tracking require more structure than a basic bank-feed approach. If you’re scaling but your books are still stuck in seedling mode, it’s time to replant.

Let’s Clean It Up (So You Can Breathe Again)

This is exactly what we do inside our Weed Out Service—a deep-dive financial cleanup where we untangle your chart of accounts, reconcile all cash and credit card accounts, clean up historical transactions, and rebuild your books so they actually make sense.

You’ll walk away with:

✅ Clear, accurate financials

✅ A customized chart of accounts tailored to your business

✅ A foundation that supports growth, not chaos

✅ Peace of mind and breathing room