I've been running my sponsorship work and the media buying side through one account and telling myself the Xero tags were good enough. They're not. Last month a client's production advance went to salaries and I nearly missed VAT. I don't want to double my admin, but Sunday-night reconciliation isn't a system. For anyone running more than one brand: how are you actually keeping money separate without hiring?
Solved
Two brands, one account. The tags didn't save me.
What a useful answer should help achieve
A low-admin way to keep client prepayments out of operating cash across brands without hiring.
Already tried
Tagged transactions in Xero and kept a separate sheet; both broke down by month-end.
Constraints and unknowns
Solo, no bookkeeper, and every admin hour is a billable hour lost.
Portfolio Operator · sponsorship & ads · Established Solo · This snapshot stays with the question when the author updates their profile.4 replies
Audience: Public. Replies follow this audience.
Accepted answer
0Jose GarciaContent Strategist · self-paced coursePhilippines·Early Revenue·6d ago
Open a second account for client money. Transfer only when delivered. Kept me sane until I could afford a bookkeeper.
Why the asker chose this: This is the one I am acting on — thank you.
0Gustavo SilvaInstructional Designer · membershipBrazil·Growing Team·6d ago
You're overcomplicating this. Register a separate company for each brand. Anything else is bookkeeping theatre and you'll keep making the same mistake.
0Angus PendletonLegal Educator · Subject-Matter ExpertsAustralia·Early Revenue·6d ago
Separate companies at your stage is just more compliance to feed. Keep one entity, open a second current account, and move money on a fixed day each week. That fixed transfer is the governance.
0Ayanda PretoriusFreelance Designer · self-paced courseSouth Africa·Early Revenue·6d ago
I did the second account thing and it only started working when I named the account 'client money' and paid myself one fixed amount monthly. Before that I still dipped into it.
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