When it came to managing his finances Olympic sailor Jim Colley always had an ‘I’ll get to it later’ mentality.

Sailing professionally and coaching a range of athletes, Colley has operated as a sole trader for the last 10 years juggling his own bookkeeping using spreadsheets and invoice templates.

It all came to a head while he was preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“It was time consuming, and often left me dreading doing admin. I wasn’t contributing to my super, and it was often hard to produce an accurate pay slip,” Colley said.

“I knew I was missing opportunities for tax reduction, but I didn’t know where to start when it came to good accounting and I wasn’t making enough money to justify spending thousands on an accountant,” he added.

A friend recommended Colley try Hnry, an all-in-one digital accounting service for contractors, freelancers, sole traders and the self-employed.

Colley set up his account within a few hours. He can save his client details, send quotes and invoices, photograph receipts and upload them straight away and most importantly, allocate a percentage of his income to tax, and another percentage to super and paying off his student loan.

“Hnry have done a fantastic job in educating me on my personal finance, each invoice gives you a projected pay slip, with allocations, deductions and my final profit.”

“It also gives me projections on my yearly income, essential for the ad hoc nature of my work, which allows me to budget more effectively and contribute to my savings.”

Colley estimates he spends roughly one quarter of the time he used to when doing his own accounting, and now all his finances are in one spot instead of several scattered desktop folders.

“Hnry also provides income statements that I can use for requesting loans or securing rentals, it is quick, easy, and the team are always on hand to answer any questions you might have.”

The biggest improvement for Colley however, is the peace of mind that using Hnry has given him.

“I feel far more comfortable now, knowing that I am paying myself super, I am paying off my student loan and that come the end of the financial year I won’t have to worry about submitting my tax return, Hnry will have done it all for me.”