Tips to Make Your Taxes Better Right Now

LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE HERE

In this week’s episode, I’m giving you some of my best tips when it comes to tax preparation and financial planning if you’re self-employed or a small business owner. I’m giving advice on completing bookkeeping, issuing 1099 forms, and why you need to schedule an early tax appointment with accountants.

Join me in this informative episode as I try to make your taxes as easy as possible so you can reduce stress and manage your money better.

Also mentioned in today’s episode: 

• Why you should associate bookkeeping with self-care activities 5:53

• When you should book your appointment with a tax advisor and why it helps if it’s earlier 10:33

• What is the triple deadline of April 15th? 17:52
  

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and share it! 

Links:

De-stress your taxes checklist: https://pod.link/1640538610/episode/829669c4f27589e3572ba3c2c497f24b

Issuing 1099s:

https://pod.link/1640538610/episode/5e3fdee788bf841e0aaeb5b3734e395b

Watch Youtube Video Version

Tips to Ensure You Pay Yourself

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In this week’s episode, I’m sharing some of my biggest tips to make sure you prioritize paying yourself first and funding your IRA as an entrepreneur.  

Join me as I go over some of what you can do to get the most out of your money every year and how you can make sure you’re prioritizing your IRA so you can get that FU money and grow your wealth. 

Also mentioned in today’s episode: 

• What is the triple deadline? 2:05

• How you can make sure you pay yourself first 6:59

• How you can make your tax season easier 9:01

• How to tune up your IRA 16:16

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and share it! 

Links:

Register for the FREE Live Class on May 18th at 12PM EST: How to Thrive in a Recession (When You're Self-Employed)

Sign up for Money Bootcamp:

https://www.sunlighttax.com/moneybootcamp2023

Watch Youtube Episode

10 Reasons Self-Employed People Get Stuck with Money, and How to Fix It

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Today, I’m sharing my thoughts about why it’s so hard for creative entrepreneurs and ethically aligned people to get well-served when it comes to money. 

Join me in this episode as I go over the 10 main points and the solutions on how creative and mission-driven people can stop having a bad relationship with money and grow their wealth. 

Also mentioned in today’s episode: 

• Why is it so difficult for us to get on top of our money 

• Mission-driven people and why they can get into a bad relationship with money

• The difference between having tax knowledge vs bookkeeping knowledge 

• The 3 part system you need to grow your money 

• How its possible for you to have a modest income and big stash of money 

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and share it! 

Links:

https://www.sunlighttax.com/deductionsguide

https://go.sunlighttax.com/free

Watch YOUTUBE Episode

Two shifts to help you sell more without selling out.

By guest writer, Business Strategist Sarah M. Chappell

You make beautiful work. You provide a service that helps your customers. You craft gorgeous products. You teach people life-enriching skills. There’s only one problem:

You feel so gross when you have to sell.

Most artists and creative small business owners operate from the “sales are slimy” belief at some point in their journey to make sustainable incomes from their work. But being afraid to sell because you feel that it’s manipulative or unethical—or that if your work were any good people would just buy anyway—leads to the same result: low sales that prevent you from having the freedom to devote your time to your craft.

If you experience this tension between wanting to be financially fueled by your work but afraid to actually ask people to pay you, you’re not alone. The good news? There are two simple shifts that you can make in your relationship to sales that will help you to promote your work without feeling like you’re selling out.

1. Stop making sales about you

Have you ever started a newsletter or social media post with the words “I’m so excited to share…”?

Or maybe it’s “I love this new piece” or “I’ve worked so hard to make this.”

(You can raise your hand. No one can see you.)

What do all of these have in common?

“I.” The focus is firmly on your experience as the maker, creator, business owner. No wonder you feel gross asking people to buy things from you! It sounds like you’re asking for a favor rather than an appropriate exchange for your brilliance, labor, and what your work will bring to the customer. 

Instead of centering your experience when talking about your work, try focusing on the customer: what does your piece, product, or service make possible for them? What will they experience through their purchase? What do they get out of it? 

This simple shift can have a massive impact on your relationship to selling. Your potential customers are not doing you a favor, or buying to make you happy. They’re buying your work because they want to!

2. Start focusing on service

There’s a business idiom that states “selling is a service,” and for good reason. Selling is not about forcing someone to buy your thing or reaching through the computer screen or across the event booth to grab their credit card.

Selling is about helping your potential customer to make a decision.

If someone is following your social media, walking into your shop, on your mailing list, or visiting your website, there’s usually a pretty simple reason: they’re interested in your work. They are actively seeking you out and want to know what you have to offer.

This means that your job is not to convince a potential customer that they need what you make, but to ensure that they have all of the information to make a buying decision.

Purchasing is an exercise in prioritization. Do I need this thing now? Is this experience or outcome what is most important to me at this moment? Does this solve a problem that feels urgent or like I’m ready to tackle? Will it help me?

When a customer is exploring your work, they’re running through these kinds of questions in their minds, even if they’re not conscious of it. And now that you know this, you get to answer them! Your sales materials are not going to focus on why you love your work, but how your work helps your potential customer. What transformation it will facilitate. What values it will affirm. What beauty it will bring to their lives.

Your customer is looking to you to help them navigate your work, understand its impact, and ultimately decide whether or not they want to prioritize it. You don’t need to sell them on it. You just need to help them.

Want to learn more about how to sell without that slimy feeling in the pit of your stomach? Business strategist Sarah M. Chappell is leading a free live training just for the Sunlight Tax community all about attracting your ideal customers without doing all the things or feeling like you’re selling out. Learn more and reserve your spot HERE.