Spring cleaning for your books might sound like the worst thing ever to any creative person, but if you run your own small business, it unfortunately is a must. Freshening up your books is imperative to keeping your business afloat AND helpful in keeping the IRS auditors at bay.

Unless you are one of us rare people who daydream about spreadsheets, speak the language of finance, or the word “budget” makes you do a happy dance, then it is quite likely that the idea of tax season for your creative business gives you chills.

You are definitely not alone.

When you’re super creative, sometimes grounding yourself to complete menial tasks like bookkeeping for your small business can be a real pain in the neck. Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t care that you’d rather be out shooting at golden hour than tracking your expenses.

As a photographer or a creative, understanding all aspects of owning a small business can be daunting. Choosing the right type of business entity for your small business can be downright confusing.

But setting your company up as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or C corporation can affect your taxes in different ways. And if you are set up as an LLC or C corporation, you have the option to elect S corp tax status.

Most small business owners began their business because they wanted to run their own show and do what they love while being paid to do so. Therefore, it becomes painstakingly difficult to perform tasks that take you away from doing what you love. One of those tasks is bookkeeping.

Owning a small business, especially as a photographer, you have more than likely pondered why you should hire a bookkeeper. With the invention of accounting softwares, such as QuickBooks Online, it makes it easier now more than ever to do your own books. Right?

Wrong.

Owning a small business is no easy feat. I know you’ve already got a lot on your plate, and determining how to make sure your books are set up right may not be high on that list – but it should be.

You wouldn’t go all the way out to a shoot and knowingly leave your camera behind, would you? Just like it is imperative you have your equipment to be a photographer, the same goes for your books when running a photography business.

There is nothing quite like being a business owner. We have a to-do list a mile long of all the ways we can improve our business, simultaneously we don’t know where to begin. Imposter syndrome is real and playing the comparison game on social media is a trap.

You are all set for the new year. You have your budget established, and you know what goals you want to achieve…you even are thinking about what tax documents need to be ready for your 2022 return!

Take a moment to be proud of yourself and what you have built.

When you look at your to-do list, everything your business owns, your operations, processes, and testimonials, I am going to bet a lot of the work reflected was self-taught. That is not easy.

Maybe you started your photography business with some formal education in photography…but you still had to learn marketing, invoicing bookkeeping, and legal contracts to name a few.

Whether you are a planner like me or you like to just let creativity come to you at the moment, the new year is an excellent time to reflect and consider how to improve your business.