You’re about to launch your food truck (or maybe you just launched) – congratulations! It takes perseverance and passion to get to the point you’re at. However, as you know, food truck ownership is a constant flood of satisfying milestones in addition to expanding to-do lists. With your launch, you’ll need to get on top of the accounting tasks that come along with owning a mobile food business. This means boosting your financial IQ.

4 Ways To Increase Your Financial IQ:

If you are the type of food truck owner who cringes when it comes to numbers, you’re not alone. Many mobile chefs have deficiencies in their basic financial knowledge that impede them from contributing fully to financial discussions and conversations about strategy with their accountants or financial managers.

  • Get a book. Whether it’s traditionally books or digital content, books and magazines are a great way to grow your financial IQ.
  • Take a class. It’s time to go back to school, take a course in accounting or corporate finance.
  • Get a mentor. Ask a more financially savvy truck or restaurant owner to mentor you.
  • Circle the wagons. Find others in your local food truck association who need to build the same skills and come together to create demand for a class.

With most of these suggestions, you don’t have to spend a dime. Chances are that a local truck owner has the knowledge and expertise to teach you what you need to know. Most vendors are willing to share this knowledge with newbies. There are a lot of useful local organizations such as SCORE that can help get you up to speed.

RELATED: Get Mentoring That Grows With Your Food Truck

Take Your Time

If you’re getting ready to launch your food truck and are still worried that you have too much to learn in a short time, don’t. You don’t have to become a financial whiz overnight.

I advise every startup food truck owner to consult at least once or twice before launch with an experienced bookkeeper or accountant to help the truck get started on the right foot. For those of you who feel like total novices when it comes to the money stuff, consulting a professional will quickly improve your food truck financial IQ.

Hiring A Pro

Food truck vendors may turn to an accountant for some of their business. Accountants can take the records, to create income or financial statements, calculate taxes owed or prepare tax returns at year’s end. Some accountants are also qualified to serve as financial consultants to the truck owner.

Food truckers need to have a solid handle on the numbers to thrive. That’s why it is so important to have know the numbers yourself or hire a professional to help you with this work. From basic spreadsheets to cloud-based computing to very sophisticated software, the best system is the one that is easily enabled and has all the features necessary for that particular business.

The Bottom Line

Starting a food truck can be an overwhelming process. If you follow these suggestions, you’ll have your new truck’s finances in order as you increase your financial IQ. From reading a few books to finding a financial mentor will all contribute to your food truck’s success, now and as it grows.

Do you know of any other ways for food truck owners to boost their financial IQ? Seminars, conferences, or online tutorials? Feel free to let us know on social media. Facebook | Twitter