You love creating content. It’s fun, exciting, and feeds right into your curiosity. Yet, being your own boss also means you’re responsible for all the business aspects, including managing finances and making sure taxes are paid on time.
Creatives don’t tend to enjoy the tediousness of business administration and management. The good news is that you can delegate a big chunk of the work to specialized tools. On the other hand, it takes a bit of work to build the right systems and find the right tools.
Today, we’ll help you figure out how to put your finances in order and design a money management system that’ll work smoothly behind the scenes.
Maintain Accurate Financial Records
Keeping records is not the most exciting job out there, but it can get you out of trouble and keep your business going forward. As a creator, you’re most likely juggling several irregular income streams (like clients, ad revenue, and brand sponsorships).
Structured record-keeping prevents missed payments, simplifies tracking unpaid invoices, and ensures proper cash-flow forecasting. It’s also a way to log verifiable proof of earnings and establish financial credibility with lenders (in case you ever want to apply for a mortgage or even lease an apartment).
To make sure admin work doesn’t interfere with creative production, here’s a minimal friction system that’ll help you keep track of things:
- Separate business and personal accounts
- Digitize and archive receipts at the point of purchase
- Schedule 1 hour of weekly maintenance
- Maintain a document cloud archive and a local backup
Extra tip: If you’re planning to apply for a loan or another activity that requires proof of income, you can create standardized pay stubs to document your freelance earnings. You can easily create pay stubs online within minutes, making it easier to organize income documentation when you need it.
Track Your Money
What you don’t measure, you can’t manage. You’ve probably heard a variation of this at least once, especially when looking for productivity hacks and advice. Unlike many so-called useful tips and tricks, this one is real: if you don’t know how much money you have and where it goes, you’re in the dark.
The good news? All you need is an automated accounting and invoicing platform that connects to bank feeds, automatically categorizes expenses, tracks estimated quarterly taxes, and generates financial summaries.
The Right Tools
Whether you’re trying to build better financial habits, organize your business, or devise a cost-saving strategy, you’ll need to create a tech stack that works for your business. Many of today’s tools are extremely capable of taking over complex administrative tasks for a small business, so do your research and find the ones that fit your needs.
Here are a few recommendations for accounting and invoicing:
- Wave: Ideal for solopreneurs on a budget
- Zoho Books / FreshBooks: Best for service businesses with more detailed needs
- QuickBooks Solopreneur: Built for contractors with a wide range of projects
For budgeting and documentation, you can use one of these platforms:
- YNAB (You Need A Budget): Works via zero-based budgeting
- Monarch Money: Excellent across combined personal and business accounts
- Expensify: To scan paper or digital receipts and archive digital copies automatically
- MileIQ: Automates background mileage logging for client site visits or gear pickups
You Can Handle Your Finances
Finance management can be scary, especially when you’re shouldering the entire responsibility of a business. Yet, if you’re aiming for success and growth, there’s no way around it. With the right tools and guidance, even the most whimsical of creators can put together a system that works behind the scenes, keeping track of each dollar and recording each transaction. Come tax season, you’ll be happy you got your finances in order.
