In 2016, Randee McKague and her husband sold their waste management company, giving Randee the opportunity to fully focus on her passion project, Your Western Decor, the home furnishings company she started back in 2009. Randee and her daughter Hayden, who is an interior designer, now lead the company together, providing clients with custom western-themed furnishings as well as interior design services.
As Your Western Decor grew over the years, Randee encountered cash flow challenges related to her reliance on traditional bank accounts, which weren’t directly integrated with Your Western Decor’s ecommerce business. “I wanted my finances centralized and accessible from one place,” Randee says. “That’s why I started using Shopify Balance.” By making the switch, Your Western Decor streamlined their financial operations and started getting paid faster for their sales, which benefited the company in a variety of ways.
Since moving to Shopify Balance, Your Western Decor has:
- Gained access to sales revenue in hours instead of days1
- Saved up to eight hours per month by no longer needing to track and reconcile multiple payment sources and account transfers
- Consolidated vendor and bill payments into one account, even for vendors who do not accept debit or credit card payments
The Challenge: Overcoming financial fragmentation
Once Randee began devoting her energy toward Your Western Decor full-time, the company grew even faster than she had imagined. They were soon working with dozens of manufacturing partners across the US to service clients’ needs. And although business bank accounts were necessary for managing the company’s cash flow in the early days, Randee realized that a more efficient financial solution could be valuable, especially to pay for the large furniture orders coming from her interior design clients.
“A client would place an order with us for an expensive piece of furniture, and we’d have to wait three days for the money to be deposited into our account,” Randee recalls. “In the meantime, our vendor might only have one in stock, so I needed to pay for it before it was gone.” Sticky situations like these left Randee with no choice but to make large purchases using a credit card or other bank account intended for different purposes. This placed a new burden on her shoulders: reconciling her accounts later on and ensuring she transferred money back where it came from.
With these stressful situations becoming more common as Your Western Decor’s client base grew, the need for a more robust and integrated financial solution to help the company maintain their growth trajectory and high customer service standards couldn’t be ignored.
The Solution: Shopify Balance Streamlines Cash Flow
Seeking a better option for managing Your Western Decor’s finances, Randee decided to test out Shopify Balance, the free financial account built into Shopify.2 Doing so allowed the company to manage their payments and transactions all in one place and to gain access to their sales revenue faster than ever before.
“Getting paid the same day we receive an order makes a big difference,” says Randee,1 emphasizing the value of being able to act quickly in response to her customers’ demands. “I can capture payment and within hours I can have my name on the product I need so I don’t risk losing it,” she adds, alluding to the peace of mind Balance provides.
Since adopting Balance, Your Western Decor has begun using it to pay for a wide variety of bills and other business expenses as well. The Balance Visa® spending card that comes with the account helps make this easy. “Most of my manufacturers and vendors use my Balance card to charge me for my orders, and I can see where all that money is going right from the Shopify dashboard,” Randee says. The company even handles their payroll through their Balance account. “It’s nice to have things under one umbrella,” Randee says, while adding that connecting Balance with QuickBooks is also useful for the company’s bookkeeper, who manages payroll and taxes.
On top of the QuickBooks integration, the ability to connect Your Western Decor’s Shopify Balance account with Shopify Bill Pay has been another valuable feature. This integration allows the company to handle payments to vendors more efficiently, especially those who don’t accept debit or credit cards. “Using Shopify Bill Pay, I can manage these transactions digitally, which saves me the time and hassle of writing checks by hand,” Randee says.
The Results: Unbridled growth with less financial stress
Shopify Balance has helped Your Western Decor realize substantial operational benefits. The fast availability of sales payouts lets them pay for large expenses quickly, ensuring they don’t risk losing the order and the revenue that comes with it. This has helped the growing interior design services side of the business flourish. “Having the money in our Balance account almost immediately after a client orders tens of thousands of dollars worth of furniture helps us tremendously,” Randee says.1
She adds that streamlining the company’s finances has freed up at least a couple hours per week that used to be spent on administrative tasks, reducing stress and allowing more focus on business development and client engagement. Earning cashback on Your Western Decor’s spending through Shopify Balance3 has also been a useful way to reinvest in the business. “We’re going to be spending money on office supplies and advertising anyway, so it’s nice to be able to get some money back,” Randee says. “It’s free money, so that’s always good.”
Looking ahead, Randee and Hayden are focused on continuing to expand Your Western Decor’s offerings. They are dedicated to helping both commercial and residential clients with not only designing their custom home furnishings but assisting them with the overall interior design of their spaces. With more time and energy freed up to concentrate on these goals, they are well-positioned to make the most of each new opportunity that comes their way.
With Shopify Balance, Your Western Decor saw results fast.
- Gained access to sales revenue in hours instead of days1
- Saved up to eight hours per month by no longer needing to track and reconcile multiple payment sources and transfers
- Consolidated vendor and bill payments into one account, even for vendors who do not accept debit or credit card payments
Shopify Balance has helped me gain back time each week that I used to spend on money management. But the biggest thing has been how it’s eliminated the stress of remembering which accounts were used to pay for new orders and ensuring those funds were always transferred back where they came from. Simplifying our finances in this way has been huge.
1 Shopify Plus merchants receive payouts the next business day by default upon opening a Balance account. Payout speed may be subject to change without notice and varies for every merchant.
2 Shopify partners with Stripe Payments Company for money transmission services and account services with funds held at Evolve Bank & Trust and Fifth Third Bank, Members FDIC. Shopify Balance Visa® Commercial Credit cards are powered by Stripe and issued by Celtic Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Shopify Balance has no monthly, transfer, or hidden fees. Shopify doesn’t charge any ATM withdrawal fees, but you may be charged by an ATM provider.
3 Earn up to $2,000 USD cashback on all eligible purchases per calendar year. Learn more.