After losing her barista job during COVID-19, Judith Hurschler wasn’t interested in working for someone else again. She wanted to be her own boss and put her coffee expertise to use. While she hadn’t run a business before, her partner encouraged her to take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
“I’ve always thought running a coffee cart would be awesome, and one of my partner’s friends happened to be selling one,” recalls Judith.
And just like that, Little Cherry Coffee Cart was born. Initially, it was just Judith behind the counter of the first cart, but as her customer base grew and her event calendar filled, she bought a second cart to keep up.
“It’s grown massively,” she says.
We talked to Judith, now three years into business ownership, about the challenges and wins involved with running a small business — and how MYOB has helped.
Learning the admin ropes
As an experienced barista, Judith was well-prepared for the coffee and customer service side of the job. Despite starting Little Cherry Coffee Cart during a pandemic, she built a steady rotation of locations for her cart and started booking events like school fairs and festivals during weekends.
The admin element wasn’t quite so easy. As a brand-new business owner with a busy day-to-day, Judith found herself spending hours dealing with invoices, expenses and bank statements. She used an online accounting tool for the first year or two, but the 1% fee on earnings started to feel like a drain.
When she decided to transition from sole trader to company and started taking on employees, it was time for a change. She wanted a system that could handle invoicing, payroll and tax compliance seamlessly, with less time investment on her part.
“I thought MYOB sounded pretty simple to jump onto and sort out the payroll side of stuff,” Judith explains.
MYOB takes the grind out of admin
Judith switched to MYOB Business Lite in April 2024 and quickly saw the difference. The intuitive interface and automation tools simplified bookkeeping and payroll — tasks that once consumed hours of her week. Automatic bank feeds mean that payments and invoices match up automatically, saving even more time and reducing the amount of fiddly manual work needed.
Because it’s cloud-based, Judith manages some tasks from her phone while she’s out and about — perfect for someone who’s constantly on the move.
When I’m in the coffee cart, I’ll just jump on my phone and upload all the expenses and take photos of the receipts so I don’t lose them.
— Judith Hurschler
Chasing invoices is no longer an issue, either, as the software automatically tracks payments and sends reminders if they’re late. This ensures Judith gets paid on time and invoices don’t get lost in the shuffle. As the business takes on more invoiced jobs — for example, going out to workplaces as a perk for employees — this is a handy tool to have.
“It was hard to keep track of who had and hadn’t paid me,” she says. “Now, MYOB does it all for me.”
Most importantly, MYOB’s Payroll tools help Judith sort through the complexities of paying employees. The business has taken on several part-time staff to handle rising demand, which means she needed to work out when to pay them, how much to withhold, and whether she’s meeting IRD requirements.
“I can see exactly the time and dates that I should be paying someone. It brings it over from IRD as well, so I don’t need to jump onto IRD and calculate everything. And, yeah, that’s really, really handy,” she explains. “It’s simplified that for me, definitely.”
Simplicity, time savings and financial clarity
With more hours each week freed up from bookkeeping, Judith can now focus on running events, creating new menu items, and building her brand. Moving away from the previous platform’s percentage-based fees to MYOB’s flat monthly cost has also made it easier for her to manage expenses.
“It’s nice to have a fixed fee every month,” she says. “I don’t have to worry about how much I’ll be charged – it makes budgeting a lot easier.”
MYOB’s real-time financial tracking and dashboards are tools that Judith uses almost daily.
I do like looking at the graphs that tell you how much income, which expenses are going in and out. It’s pretty cool to see how much money we’ve been making and how much growth, especially any day throughout the month rather than looking at the end of the month.
— Judith Hurschler
While Judith didn’t necessarily expect her little business to take off, she’s thrilled with the amount of growth she’s seen over the past few years.
“It’s my passion now,” she says. “It’s crazy to think how much it’s grown.”
And as Little Cherry Coffee Cart continues to grow, MYOB will be right there with it.
Key wins with MYOB Business Lite
Hours saved per week on bookkeeping with automated invoicing and integrated bank feeds
Reduced costs by switching from a percentage-based fee to a flat monthly rate
Seamless payroll management for staff, with integrated IRD filing
Automatic invoicing and reminders to stay on top of payments
Want to find out how MYOB Business Lite could help your small business grow? Talk to one of our experts today.
