TAX TIME [Makers Monday Motivation 4.9.18]

“Yeah, it’s tax time!” - said no creative ever

The start of April inevitably means it’s time to do your taxes. Love them or hate them (I’ve yet to meet a maker who really enjoys this annual ritual), taxes are critical to keeping any small creative business running successfully, so for this week’s Maker Monday Motivation I wanted to pass along some words of encouragement and simple tips, to help you as you take on the accounting tasks in your week ahead.

Tips to turn your tax time into an empowering (and possibly even enjoyable) part of running your creative business:

Shift your mindset:

Look at tax time as an opportunity to really see how your creative venture preformed.
Consider doing your taxes as a great chance to get organized.
Be grateful you’ve chosen a creative pursuit instead of crunching numbers all day ;)!
Is your studio in your home? Running your own creative biz allows you to write off a portion of your bills such as your rent, utilities, internet...that’s pretty cool!
Make your tax prep hours more enjoyable with this Spotify playlist by Billboard.

Prepare throughout the year:

Track the miles you drive for business purposes with the MileIQ app.
Set up an accounting software to track your income and expenses year round. (I’m a big fan of Freshbooks)
Save receipts! Your creative business (even as a side-hustle) allows you to deduct many of the things you spend money on each day (ie: that coffee date where you talked about your products; your design magazine subscriptions; visiting museums for “research”). The Shoeboxed app is a great way to insure you never lose a receipt.

Get help:

Taxes stress you out? Hire an accountant and let someone else do the number crunching and tax preparation for you.

Need some help getting organized so tax time isn't so stressful in the future? I’d love to support you. Schedule a free 30 min intro coaching phone-session.

We’re in this together,

Ashley