I’ll admit, when I first starting blogging I had no set plan or approach on how to organize my business expenses. Money coming in, money going out–didn’t really do a great job keeping track. To be fair, everything started off as a hobby so I never thought I would be bringing in an income. Needless to say since I never had that intention, I didn’t have anything set up or in place to help manage it. But I could only use that excuse for so long!

So as time has passed, I’ve definitely had to get savvier (ie. more responsible) when it comes to managing and organizing business expenses. I still have areas I can definitely improve in, but these few things have helped me get at least somewhat organized!

Create an Excel Spreadsheet: This one is easy and a game changer! You can use an excel spreadsheet a variety of ways. One of the ways I use it, is I have all my collaborations listed by month and next to is how much the collaboration is for and when/if I’ve been paid. This way, I can see all the money coming in on a month to month basis and what has been paid out/what hasn’t. This helps me keep track of everything in a way that is organized and easy to refer to. So even though those aren’t expenses per say, it helps me keep track of what is going in and out. This can also be done with actual expenses every month so you can see where you’re investing and/or spending in your business.

EDIT: Now instead of Excel, I use a platform called Monday. It keeps all my campaign deliverables organized, in addition to keeping track of payments from brands.

Get a Business Credit Card: I didn’t do this until this year and I wish I would have done this so much sooner! One being because helps you keep much better track of expenses when the ONLY things charged on the card are related to business. You can easily look at the balance and see if you’re spending more than you’re bringing in, where your money is going, etc. Especially when tax season rolls around, with a credit card dedicated to only business purchases you’re not having to go sort through all your credit card statements figuring out what you can write off. Everything is nice and neat in one place. I have the Chase Ink and really like it! (Also, if you’re a Chase holder already you can merge your points between the 2 cards which is nice).

Hire a Business Accountant: Let me just say that our business accountant has been so helpful. Obviously from a monetary standpoint, but she has also be really valuable when we have questions about starting a new LLC, switching one business from an LLC to an s corp, whether Stephen should own part of my company for tax purposes, etc. Aside from that she has been a huge help (and has saved us a lot of money) when it comes to taxes. Taxes can be confusing enough as is, but especially when you’re working for yourself things can get complicated easily. She has been able to advise us on when it was time to switch from an LLC to a S-Corp so we wouldn’t be taxed nearly as heavily, to setting up paying our taxes quarterly. All in all a business account is a great resource when it comes to managing your money at tax time and also giving you pro-tips on how to set stuff up along the way.

I hope these tips helped! If you have any more please pass them along! xxC