I wanted to write this post for posterity. To be able to come back to it some day and see where I started.

I have been a business owner for over ten years now and decided that something needed to change. I have been a photographer since 2009, officially filing my first business documents in October 2009. It’s crazy to think that was eleven years ago.

When I filed my first tax return after declaring myself a business (I’m 110% sure I did it wrong), I was so nervous. I was using TurboTax and decided that I should write off the new laptop I had purchased. Because you know, it was for my business…well my soon to be business.

Thankfully, that all worked out and I learned from my mistakes and learned how to correctly manage my finances in my business. In fact, once I got into the nitty gritty of business finances, I realized that I liked it. Categorizing and keeping my books tidy was fun.

Yes. Total nerd alert. I embrace my nerdiness.

I think that for far too long, I have pushed my nerdy side away, hoping to keep it hidden. But if I’m being completely honest, I’m a huge nerd. I graduated second in my class in high school and was only a eight-tenths of a point away from number one. Yeah, I still remember that.

Maybe it was working way too hard in high school that I took it a lot easier in college. I studied Communication, a super broad liberal arts degree. But I was super intimidated by some of my friends and their advanced calculus courses that I steered clear from any difficult math.

Fast forward to starting my own photography business and learning the ins and outs of income and expenses. This type of math wasn’t hard. And for the most part, the software did all the calculations.

One of the most fun parts for me has always been projecting income. Seeing just how much money could be made in a particular scenario. It’s like a more organized way of dreaming of making money. See, total nerd status.

When it comes to starting a photography business, pricing is always the most difficult part for most photographers. What do I charge? How do I price this? How much money am I actually making?

This was one of the pieces that I actually really liked doing. I helped a couple of photographer friends calculate what their pricing should be based on their current life situation and circumstances. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I was doing price coaching because it was fun.

Then my life changed. I became a mom. I was fortunate enough to be able to focus on being a first-time mom. My photography business took a backseat and I was completely fine with that. I got to spend time with my newborn son and watch him blossom into a toddler.

Just as I was getting ready to get back into the photography game, two things happened. I found out that we were expecting again (yay!) and the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Yeah, that really shook things up. The whole country went into lockdown mode, we learned about the term “social distancing”, and everything became unsure.

With the birth of my daughter, and now managing two children under three years old, I definitely had to reevaluate what was I going to do with my business. With the pandemic still churning in the background, social distancing still a thing, and no desire to leave home until it is truly safe again, I decided that photography needed to go on hiatus again. Not forever, but for the time being.

During my maternity leave, I thought long and hard about what else I could be doing. And that’s when the idea of bookkeeping came into the picture. I had always enjoyed bookkeeping for myself (again, I know, totally nerdy) and as someone in the creative industry, I know how many creatives hate doing their finances.

There’s this dichotomy that’s often shared in the photography space: that either you’re an artist or you’re a business person. Meaning that artists aren’t known for business savvy, while business people can make money even if they aren’t a “true” artist. The stereotype goes that creative people don’t like math or managing the marketing and money part of their business.

That’s when it hit me. I could help all the creative types who are not necessarily math inclined do their bookkeeping. By helping them with their bookkeeping, they’ll have a clearer picture of where their business is and can plan where they want to take it.

And so begins my new journey into bookkeeping for creative entrepreneurs. I’m here to serve photographers, graphic designers, course creators, podcasters, the events industry, and online entrepreneurs.

Come join me!