It's almost April and taxes are due. Trust me, I am feeling your pain. Well, almost. This year, for my new portrait business, I chose to work with a bookkeeper and an account. You see, numbers and I are like oil and water. We rarely mix, so outsourcing something I didn't like to do simply made sense.
While I fought with myself and said I could take care of tracking my mileage, reconciling my books and itemizing my receipts, letting go really felt liberating. I could now return my focus back on making images.
But if you are just starting out, or you have attempted to keep your own accounting straight and you are disciplined, I have something for you that might quickly ease your frustration.
Most of us have to keep accounts somehow. Some resort to Excel spreadsheets and some use online or offline software programs. If the word: “QuickBooks” makes you shudder in fear, consider QuickBooks For Photographers, a series of step-by-step video tutorials that will walk you through the program, setting you up and bringing you peace of mind.
Jenny and Josh Solar are the brains behind this and the other programs I am going to tell you about today. Not only were they super helpful through the video series, they also resolved the questions I had after I had watched the program. The reason I am recommending this and their other programs is because they are well organized and useful from the get go. While I had off-loaded my QuickBooks work to my bookkeeper, I still went back to my desktop program to see if I could follow along and set things up as I was instructed. It was super easy and the fact that I could see the results right away made it all the more useful to me.
QuickBooks For Photographers is available for both Macintosh and Windows users. So, rest easy people!
Mastering Tax Time E-Book for Photographers is also something I would recommend to you, so that you can be prepared for next year's taxes. Right now Mastering Tax Time E-Book for Photographers is on sale for $19.00, saving you $10 right off the bat. If you are a pack-rat like me, hoarding receipts for years (but not being able to track them), you will get much relief in hearing how the Solars keep track of everything and can easily find all those pesky bits of paper when you absolutely must (that is, during tax time).
“This guide is designed to help you get organized and stay organized with all things tax related. It covers everything from bookkeeping to mileage, home office deductions to equipment lists and more!”
Lastly, there would be no numbers to plug in if you didn't have any sales, right? Well, you may have a ton of expenses, but it's always nice to run a business in the black, not red.
The Solars have a product called In-Person Sales. If you have been posting your images to an online gallery and haven't seen an uptick in sales, this 29-page guide book is for you. 
Given Jenny and Josh's long experience as wedding and family portrait photographers, I trust what they have to teach me about this topic. In fact, In-Person Sales is one of the books I am consulting right now as I structure my portrait business in Connecticut.
Here's the deal: If you Solar power your business and buy all three products mentioned above, I'll give three (3) of you 1/2 hour of my time ($150 value each) via a Skype video call. We can talk about your business. We can talk about specific photography issues you are encountering. We can talk about how you are using social media. I am not promising you that I know everything, so if you stump me, I'll either figure it out and let you know or will direct you to someone who does. So, come back here and tell me you bought QuickBooks For Photographers, Mastering Tax Time and In-Person Sales. I'll confirm with the Solars and then I'll pick three names out of the hat. Deal?
My photography business is Solar powered. Is yours?
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