What does it look like to work with us?

Here’s an overview of what it’s like to get started with Tidy Books and what it looks like each month!

Phase 1: Onboarding - your Quickbooks Online account will be optimized for your photography business and your system will be made as easy, simple and streamlined as possible.

Phase 2: Tidy Up - we start at January 1 of the current year and make sure everything is up-to-date and accurate for the year.

Phase 3: Ongoing bookkeeping - it’s smooth sailing from here with your books being 100% accurate and up-to-date by the 15th of each month. Your responsibility at that point is providing us with bank statements and answering our questions.

Ready to get started? Book a call below.

Tax deductions for your photography business

I have heard more than one photographer describe themselves as “accidental business owners.” They start with a passion for photography, then discover that people want to pay them, become sought-after in their location or niche, and voila, a business is born. Suddenly there is income to be deposited, expenses to be tracked, and taxes to be filed (and paid).

Whether you stumbled into being a business owner or you planned carefully and rolled out a formal business plan, there are certain business demands that take time and attention. Keeping good financial records is one of those essentials. It’s not fun, but it’s necessary. 

Keeping records of your finances means that you need to track every dollar that comes in and out of your business.

It’s best practice to completely separate your business and personal money to do this. Hopefully you have already set up a separate business bank account and credit card. If not, that’s your first priority. 

Once you’ve separated your business and personal money, you’ll need to have a consistent system to keep track of your business money. 

As you are tracking the money coming in and out of your business, knowing which expenses qualify as deductions will help save money and keep you legit when it comes to tax time.

Here’s a breakdown of possible tax deductions for your photography business. As always, you should seek specific advice from your tax professional for your situation. 

• Marketing & Advertising 

• Website-related expenses 

• Client gifts (up to $25/client)

• Education, coaching, and networking 

• Equipment and repairs

• Studio rentals & location fees

• Meals

• Production costs (albums, prints, etc)

• Contractors - i.e. second shooters, assistants, studio managers, etc. 

• Editing/Retouching

• Bookkeeping and accounting 

• Legal fees

• Subscriptions 

• Software costs

• Merchant fees 

• Props 

• Possibly portions of your phone, rent, mortgage, and utility bills 

• Mileage 

You’ll need to track these expenses in an organized manner so that the category totals are easily available to you when it comes time to file taxes. If you are just starting out, you may be able to do this with a spreadsheet. You’ll manually enter your income and expenses and sort by category to get your totals for the year. 

If you plan to grow and scale, consider using software like Quickbooks Online, Freshbooks, or Zoho books. Instead of manual data entry, these allow you to connect your bank accounts for an automatic bank feed. At tax time, you’ll be able to run a Profit & Loss report that summarizes your total income and expenses. 

When your busy season hits, it gets easy to put this important piece of your business on the back burner and let things like tax-deductible expenses slip through the cracks. But if you wait until the end of the year to catch up on your books, you will likely forget to include some of your transactions. Not to mention that dread of having it constantly hanging over your head.  

You might consider hiring a bookkeeper to keep you organized. Or you might simply plan to set aside a few hours each month to stay on top of your finances. If your books are up-to-date throughout the year, you will feel so much relief and freedom. You’ll also be able to make strategic decisions about your business - like deciding if you can afford an equipment purchase, or a studio manager, or if you need to cut expenses. Without having a good picture of your tax-deductible expenses, it’s very difficult to plan and make decisions. 

Whatever it looks like for you, make a plan today to organize your finances and stay current. Your business (and accountant) will thank you. 

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Tanya is the owner and founder of Tidy Books, a bookkeeping firm dedicated to helping photographers succeed with money. Find financial resources and support for your business here.

Try HoneyBook at 50% off

When it comes to business management tools, HoneyBook is our favorite in terms of its integration with Quickbooks. It seamlessly pushes your invoices and payments to Quickbooks for easy matching. Our clients love it! If you'd like to try it out, you can sign up with my 50% off code "TidyBooks" here. You can sign up for a 7-day trial and this code will get you 50% off your first year.

When Should a Photographer Hire a Bookkeeper?

Do you need a bookkeeper?

We believe every business owner should have a CPA from the start. Your CPA will ensure that your business is tax compliant, advise on the correct business entity for you, and help you save the maximum amount on taxes. 

But to be honest, not every business needs a bookkeeper. If you enjoy numbers and have the time, then you can likely manage your books yourself.

But if that’s not you, you might consider hiring a bookkeeper. Here are a few reasons to make the move:

1. You get to the point where the time you are spending on your books is keeping you from focusing on other crucial areas of your business.

2. Your books are falling through the cracks because you can never seem to find the time to do them.

3. You just really hate the financial details and are tired of having it hang over your head. 

I’ll give you a few real-life examples. I have a great client who is super detailed and keeps her books very well-organized. She reached out to me because it was just time to get the financial piece off of her plate because of the scale of her business.

Now, we meet monthly to go over the big picture of her finances. She knows what she needs to do, and she’s happy and free to focus on the things that only she can do in the business. It’s not that she can’t manage her own books. She simply wanted the freedom to focus on the bigger picture.

On the other hand, many clients come to me feeling very unorganized and lost when it comes to finances. They have no desire to learn or spend their time on something that a professional could do. I can think of one specific client who fit this description when he came to us. He experienced immediate relief that we were able to shoulder that burden of the financial details. 

If you can relate to one of these clients, it might be time to outsource your books. Book a 15-minute chat with us to discover how we can help.

Tidy books on Shootproof and Milky Way

I’m so excited to be a regular contributing writer for Shootproof. I recently wrote an article about money management. If you struggle with cash flow, budgeting, or just managing your funds in general, click here to read the article and find some great tips to help you head in the right direction. 

I also did a really fun podcast with The Art and Soul Show. We chatted about common problems photographers face, how to overcome them, and solutions to move forward with confidence. Listen here!

How is a Bookkeeper Different From a CPA?

While there is often overlap between a bookkeeper and a CPA, they serve distinct purposes for you as a business owner. 

Think of it like the difference between a nurse and a doctor. In general, a CPA is like a doctor you see for major events (birth, surgery, etc). In the financial world you “see” a CPA for major events like tax filings and financial analysis. Their focus is on taxes and saving you money.

A bookkeeper, on the other hand, is like a nurse. They are always by your side, taking care of the details (the nitty gritty stuff) through all your ups and downs, making sure you are well taken care of. 

In your business, a bookkeeper tracks the money coming in and out of your business. They are the ones who will categorize your expenses and reconcile your books so that you have good financial reports. They take care of the everyday details and make sure your CPA has what they need at tax time.

Sometimes a CPA will offer bookkeeping services and sometimes a bookkeeper will do tax prep and filing. They are both independently important and have their own roles and strengths. In an ideal scenario, these two roles will work together to form a dynamite team for your business.

Wondering when it’s time for you to hire a bookkeeper? I’d love to have a quick 15 minute phone call to hear more about your business and determine the best path for you. 

Bookkeeping Q&A with Photography Consultant Amy V. Cooper

Listen to the Clubhouse Replay

I had a blast chatting with Amy V. Cooper on Clubhouse. We covered a lot of material, but here are some great questions we answered:

• When does a photographer need to hire a bookkeeper, and how does this differ from a CPA?

• Tax time is coming up - are there any common expenses that photographers can write off that maybe they are not familiar with or haven’t thought to expense in the past? 

• When do photographers need to charge tax? 

• What bookkeeping software and processes do you recommend?

If you’d like to hear the answer to these questions (and more!), head on over to Amy’s blog for the replay. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

End of Year Bookkeeping Tips for Photographers

Here are some do’s and dont’s for end of year bookkeeping in your photography business.

Do:

Take advantage of software. Spreadsheets are great, but software like Quickbooks is AUTOMATIC and accurate.

Tip: if you are completely behind with your books this year, learning a new software may be too overwhelming. Plan to set up Quickbooks in the new year. In the meantime, get yourself tax-ready with your current system. Use an Excel spreadsheet, or something like 17hats. If you already have a system, try to make the best of it. 

If you really want to get started in Quickbooks, get help from a professional for setup. You’ll save yourself hours of time and headache. There are a couple of simple pitfalls that often occur in QBO that can be avoided very easily.  

Don’t:

Miss tax deductions! Make sure all transactions are entered for the year. If transactions were not automatically pulled, manually import or enter them. If you bought something for your business with your personal card, make sure you have included this as an expense for tax deductions. 

Don’t:

Make mistakes. Reconcile all accounts to check for duplicates or missing transactions. If the reconciliation is not zero, investigate.  

Do:

Review the year. Pull your profit and loss. Pull your balance sheet. Go through each category to make sure it looks accurate. 

Do:

Look ahead for next year. Based on this year, start planning ahead. Look at areas where you can trim the fat and cut unnecessary expenses. Analyze your best months - what did you do and what can you do more of? Set revenue goals based on the past 2-3 years. Make a budget and plan your cash flow 3-6 months in advance. 

Do:

Consult a professional. A CPA/accountant will give specific advice for tax planning. They can spot areas where you could save money on taxes or where you need to consider planning ahead or setting aside extra money. Let a bookkeeper or money-savvy friend look over things to spot areas of discrepancy.

Client Spotlight: How Jackie made 2020 her best year

I asked my client Jackie Zoeller of Denver Headshot Company and Selah Photography to tell us about 2020 and how she pushed through obstacles to make this her best year yet. I hope you’re as inspired by her as I am.

What did you do in 2020 to push your business forward? 

I didn't give up! I tried to find every opportunity to be adaptable and worked to make the most out of any idea that came together.

 I've also worked harder at relying on experts instead of myself for everything within my business. I know photography, not marketing, finance, or business development. Instead of slowly trying to figure things out for myself, I took leaps and hired great people to lead me and come alongside my company.  It often came at an initial loss but the value of the risk ended up multiplying once things were in place. 

I also am constantly choosing to not let fear make my decisions. I've learned a lot about my weaknesses and negative thought patterns and have chosen to move forward despite being afraid. 

What were the results? 

Outside of the stay-at-home order, my revenue is on track to be up by about 400-500% each month compared to last year. In October of 2020, I brought in about half of my yearly gross revenue from 2019 in one month.

How would you encourage other photographers who have had a tough year?

Know that tomorrow is a new day. Believe that if you really want to do something, you can. Ask for help.

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You can see more of Jackie’s work on Instagram @denverheadshotco and @selahphotographydenver

Top 5 Reasons to Hire Tidy Books for your Photography or Videography Bookkeeping

1. We can take any mess and make it pretty.

   Last week I got on a call with a photographer after catching up her books from the past 9 months. The first thing she said was, “How bad was it?” We laughed and I assured her that we’ve seen it all and there’s nothing that phases us.

   The fear of showing someone else your messy books can be intimidating. Especially if you’re “not a numbers person.” But it’s what we love to do - take your mess, tidy it up and show it to you in a way that is refreshing.

   As one client said, “they took my mess of accounts and made things work beautifully together in Quickbooks.”

2. We know the unique challenges photographers and videographers face.

   Because Tanya, the owner of Tidy Books, has run a photography business herself, she gets photographers. And because our team works exclusively with photographers and videographers, we can anticipate the challenges you face.

   We have a proven process to carefully manage your books and work with outside softwares like 17hats, Dubsado, Honeybook, Shootproof, PixieSet, etc.

   Running a business can be lonely. We can be a sounding board for your concerns, successes and dreams. Then we can help you use your numbers to be proactive about meeting your challenges and reaching your goals.

3. We can prepare you for the fluctuating nature of the industry.

   Cash flow is the number one frustration we hear from photographers and videographers. You make a ton of money but you feel broke. Where has all the money gone?

   Once we make sure your numbers accurate and up to date, we can help you plan ahead and prepare for low income months. This means you can give yourself the paycheck you want. Some clients even say they feel like they’ve gotten a raise. At the very least, you’ll have consistency and peace of mind.

4. We care about your business as much as you do.

   While you’re busy doing what you do best, we keep a close eye on the money coming in and out of your business.

   We make sure your numbers are accurate. We look for unnecessary expenses. We treat your business like we do our own. Which means ultimately we want you to reach your goals, make more money and pay yourself well.

5. We can show how your profit compares to other photographers and how to increase them.

   Because we have our eyes on lots of other photographers like you, we can show you how your numbers compare to other photographers like you. We look for common areas of overspending or areas where you could increase profit. We work with you to create goals and can keep you on track through out the year.

Do you need help getting organized and staying organized with your business finances? We offer complimentary discovery calls to review your bookkeeping system and give recommendations for moving forward.