New Year New Business: How We're Tackling Growth and Business Expenses with Intuit QuickBooks Self-Employed
Last month we signed a lease for our first ever commercial studio space. I've already learned so much in this short time, and one of the biggest learning curves has been how to budget and track all of the new expenses. When Intuit QuickBooks asked if I was interested in trying out their Self-Employed service that works directly with Turbo Tax Self-Employed I was extremely interested! Talk about perfect timing! This post is sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks Self-Employed and all of the opinions are my real experiences using this fantastic product. If you're self-employed and looking to get a better handle on tracking your expenses and preparing for taxes, this is a product you'll definitely want to check out. Here's a link for 50% off for your first 9 months! Gotta love that!
I'll be using Quickbooks Self-Employed over the next few months and diving deeper into the features as we move into and through tax season together. In the new studio we're purchasing all new equipment, which comes with the full gamut of emotions. It's exciting to buy legit production level equipment (hello biggest kiln yet!) but it's also scary because those items come with big price tags. We've also been expanding our inventory of Suite One Studio designed items that we produce through partnerships, not in house, like our glassware and candles, and even the vintage we source. These items position us as buyers instead of makers and there's different tax paperwork to prepare to properly track those purchases and the eventual profit they later generate for us.
All of this growth and change has me reflecting on my first years in business and how important it is to establish good habits when you're nurturing a fledgling business. One of the best habits I set early on was to save receipts diligently.. okay, maybe obsessively. Not gonna lie, they often ended up in twisted piles on my desk in those early years but at least I had them! Now I have proper folders and files, and even keep notes for each receipt just in case the printed receipt doesn't clearly show what I purchased for the business. There are so many necessary expenses that can be written off when you really start paying attention! My advice: Save those receipts, jot down a couple words to remind yourself what "500 PK BRT WT" was months later-- oh yea, 500 pages of bright white printer paper for printing our packing lists, got it.
Quickbooks Self-Employed makes the tracking process as easy as you could hope. You can even link your business bank account directly and track on the go with their user friendly app! I expect this feature will be especially helpful as we move beyond our inspiration and planning board into this purchasing phase for the new studio.
I've only just begun my journey with Quickbooks Self-Employed and I've already had a handful of these leaning into the computer smiling, "Wait. What? I didn't even realize that was a write-off" moments! Want to try this service for your self-employed business? The 50% discount here covers your first 9 months and the rates are probably way lower than you're guessing-- How about $5-$12 a month? Come join me as we grow our businesses together with Quickbooks Self-Employed!
xoxo Lindsay
Sponsored by Intuit Quickbooks