Modern business faces numerous challenges that often require innovative solutions for success. When entrepreneurs launch new ventures or projects, financial management becomes critically important to ensure the stability and growth of the company.

In this context, the experience of Anita Solovei and her financial director Bohdan Puzansky is particularly interesting. With the help of Finmap, they successfully implemented a systematic financial management process. In this case study, we will examine in detail how Finmap helped address the challenges posed by business expansion and how significant results in financial management were achieved.

Key Business Projects of Anita Solovei

Anita Solovei is an entrepreneur who manages several businesses across various fields:

1. Instagram page Be My Guest, which specializes in short-term apartment rentals in Kyiv, allowing tourists and business people to stay in comfortable apartments for short periods.
2. Instagram hotel Live.Here.Hotel offers guests comfortable rooms and an individual approach to each client, highlighting style and atmosphere.
3. Online camp "The Path of the Orange Blogger" is a project offering educational courses for bloggers and those who want to develop their online presence.
4. Instagram page Blog of Anita Solovei, a personal blog where Anita shares her experiences, ideas, and advice with her followers.

Anita Solovei actively develops these projects, combining traditional and innovative approaches, which requires efficient financial management and precise accounting.

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Challenges faced by the business

As Anita's business grew and the number of directions increased, Bohdan Puzansky, the financial director, faced numerous difficulties. Initially, financial accounting was conducted using Excel. However, with the expansion of projects that cover both offline directions (real estate rentals, mini-hotel) and online activities (educational programs, Instagram blog), this approach became inefficient. Managing expenses was especially problematic, as funds were often withdrawn from personal cards, leading to data confusion and complicating financial analysis.

Before the pandemic, the business was actively engaged in short-term property rentals, managing 60 apartments, which required daily accounting of large volumes of income and expenses. The pandemic forced a re-evaluation of priorities, with the focus shifting to the blog and info products, which increased the number of directions and complicated accounting for the 20-person team.

Project Specifics

Anita Solovei and her team manage several businesses, each with its own characteristics:

1. Be My Guest Apartment Rentals
   Short-term apartment rentals require constant tracking of income and expenses, which change daily. The need for accurate accounting of each transaction is critically important to determine the profitability of each apartment.
2. Live.Here.Hotel
   The hotel business requires not only financial management but also client service, which complicates accounting. Expenses may include staff wages, maintenance, and other operational costs.
3. Online Courses
   Running online courses requires systematizing expenses for advertising, learning platforms, and other services related to the course.
4. Anita Solovei's Blog
   The blog also has its own expenses: content creation, promotion, technical maintenance, etc.

With the appearance of several directions, there was a need to simplify the process, as managing Excel spreadsheets began to take up too much time. The large amount of data made it difficult to understand what was really happening in the business.

Therefore, Finmap was tasked with the following:

• Systematize accounting to see the overall picture of the business and data for each direction separately.
• Simplify accounting and spend less time on it.
• Make the data visual, so that at any moment, the financial picture of the business could be quickly understood without spending time on analysis.

Establishing New Financial Principles

Bohdan immediately decided not to create several companies in the service but to manage accounting in one, dividing it into Projects. After all, the company is essentially one. There is a general bank account from which money is distributed across different directions. Therefore, it was more convenient to create several projects within one company to see:

• how much money the business has overall;
• how financial flows are distributed;
• which direction is working well and which is not.

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At the first implementation of Finmap 1.0, each apartment in the short-term rental business was made a separate project. There ended up being 70 projects. On the one hand, this helped track the profitability of each apartment.

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On the other hand, such a number of projects complicated accounting, as expenses were often shared. For example, the purchase of towels, bed linen, and cleaning supplies. There was one expense, but it had to be distributed across 70 projects. Therefore, the first use of Finmap was quite challenging.

Evolution of Management Strategies

With the start of the pandemic, the demand for short-term rentals significantly decreased. Anita and Bohdan noticed that business efficiency had dropped, although time expenses remained high. The decision was made to rent most of the apartments for long-term leases and abandon part of the real estate. The main focus shifted to educational courses and the blog.

Now, Bohdan manages 7 projects in Finmap instead of 70. All apartments were combined into one project, as most of them are rented for the long term, and the data doesn’t change much from month to month. However, thanks to the ability to divide one payment across several projects, they can effectively manage the finances for each apartment individually. Tags are used for detailed accounting, which allows for a quick view of the information on each property.

Categories and Payment Calendar

Bohdan actively uses the Categories functionality in Finmap to clearly allocate expenses and income among different aspects of the business. This functionality allows him to easily structure financial flows, separating payments related to real estate management, educational projects, and the blog. Thanks to this, Bohdan can see not only the overall picture but also analyze each business direction in detail.

Categories help him quickly identify where financial performance changes are occurring, enabling him to respond promptly and adjust strategies. This is particularly important as financial flows can vary greatly for each of his projects: real estate has stable long-term income, while educational courses and the blog may experience more dynamic changes due to seasonality or market demand. Thanks to such financial organization, Bohdan finds it easier to manage the business and make well-informed decisions quickly. He also uses the Payment Calendar to plan income and expenses, which helps track cash inflows and avoid liquidity gaps.

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It is very convenient to label them with categories and track how much money is being spent where. This also helps to notice when some variable expenses become fixed, so they can be planned in the Payment Calendar for future reference.

In the Payment Calendar of Finmap, you can plan Income and Expenses. Moreover, if you add future expenses or receipts, the Payment Calendar will show whether there will be enough money or if there’s a risk of a cash gap.

How to Simplify Financial Accounting: Bohdan’s Lifehacks for Effective Financial Management‍

Financial accounting can seem like a daunting task, especially when projects and expenses accumulate. However, Bohdan shares practical lifehacks that can help streamline finances and avoid unnecessary stress:

• Enter information daily. But if that’s not possible, at least make notes; otherwise, things are forgotten even by the evening of the same day.

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• Connect accounts and cards in Finmap so that transactions are entered automatically.

• If you have several projects or directions, but the same employees work in them, it’s better to separate salaries from projects and make them a separate category of expenses. For example, if you have a hotel, a blog, and a course, but the same marketer handles social media for all of them. 
• If this is not done, it’s difficult to allocate each salary to all projects. And tying it to just one direction is wrong because one project would bear the costs for all.
• Don’t hesitate to reach out to Finmap's support team.

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Transparency and Control: The Results of Using Finmap in Anita Solovei's Business

The implementation of Finmap allowed Anita Solovei and her team to systematize their financial accounting, combining all the data in one place. Now, it is convenient to track both the overall financial status of the business and the indicators of individual projects. Thanks to automation and transparent reports, financial control has become much simpler, and expenses—more understandable.

• Financial accounting for all 7 projects of Anita Solovei has been systematized. Now all the data is in one place. It’s convenient to view both information about the financial state of the entire business and individually for each project.
• At any moment, Bohdan can check how much money is in each account and on each card. He no longer needs to log into the personal accounts of each bank separately. Plus, it’s immediately clear how much money on the card belongs to the business. This is especially convenient when there are cards that are used for both business and personal needs.
• Now, Bohdan and Anita know exactly what expenses the business can afford. Finmap has information about planned expenses and how much money is currently in the accounts. It’s easy to assess what will remain at the end of the month and whether they can spend on something extra.
• Now, small expenses are accounted for, such as bank fees, which were previously not tracked because the amounts were insignificant. However, over a month or a year, they accumulate into large costs.
• Reports no longer need to be made manually—the Finmap program performs the analysis on its own. Now anyone who needs to can access and view the entire picture of the company. And thanks to the clarity of the reports, even those who don’t understand much about finance can see what’s happening in the business.
• Accounting has become simpler. Now, less time is spent entering information and analyzing it.

Watch the full episode of "If Only I'd Known Earlier" with Anita Solovei and find out:

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• What questions every entrepreneur should answer.
• How Finmap helped her avoid the theft of $4,000 and 20 sets of bed linen.
• What Anita wishes she had "known earlier" about finances and business management

^{*The interview was recorded before the full-scale invasion by the russian federation. Currently, the participants in the video communicate exclusively in Ukrainian.}

Bohdan Puzansky, the financial director, and entrepreneur Anita Solovei were able to successfully solve their financial management issues by implementing the Finmap system. This program allowed them to organize their accounting, simplify financial processes, and achieve significant results in controlling expenses and income. Finmap helped Anita Solovei and her team focus on business development and implementing new ideas, ensuring stability and transparency in financial processes.

Thanks to the systematization of financial data and convenient tools for financial management, Anita Solovei's companies can now effectively plan and control their expenses, ensuring stable financial growth.