Almost every solo tradesperson and small service business starts the same way: a notebook, then a spreadsheet. Jobs in one tab, money in another, maybe a rough client list somewhere else. There's nothing wrong with that — it's honest, it's free, and it works for longer than people expect.
Tracking income, outgoings, and job costs in a spreadsheet isn't a compromise — for a lot of businesses it's the right tool, full stop. A well-built template gives you totals, categories, and a clear picture of the month without paying for software you don't need yet. If that's all you're missing, a dedicated template is often a better fix than a whole new system — sites like SpreadsheetsHub have ready-made budgeting and job-tracking templates built for exactly this, rather than you rebuilding formulas from scratch.
The problem was never tracking the money. It's the client-facing side — a spreadsheet can't take a booking at 9pm while you're asleep, can't collect a deposit, can't show a client live availability, and can't give your business its own professional-looking page. Every one of those gaps is invisible admin cost until you notice how many messages you're answering by hand every evening.