EP 38: Top 5 Money Mistakes

00:01:38 [Alison]
Not charging sales tax or not separating out your sales tax from your actual earnings and income.
00:01:45 [Alison]
Okay.
00:01:45 [Alison]
So I’m actually possibly doing this one right now.
00:01:48 [Alison]
Hey.
00:01:48 [Alison]
I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.

00:01:51 [Melissa]
Hey.
00:01:51 [Melissa]
I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO photographers.
00:01:56 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:02:01 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges, and now we want to share our experience with you.
00:02:05 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.
00:02:12 [Alison]
Alright, guys.
00:02:13 [Alison]
Welcome back to the show.
00:02:14 [Alison]
Today, we are talking money mistakes.

00:02:16 [Alison]
This is gonna be a fun one.
00:02:18 [Alison]
First disclaimer, as always, we are not CPAs.
00:02:20 [Alison]
We are not accountants or bookkeepers.
00:02:22 [Alison]
This is not advice.
00:02:23 [Alison]
So make sure you talk to your own accountant before you start changing up or saying you say here.

00:02:28 [Alison]
This is just purely educational.

00:02:30 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:02:30 [Melissa]
We’re gonna jump right in to the first mistake that we see with people, and that is not paying yourself.
00:02:38 [Melissa]
And they

00:02:38 [Alison]
don’t is charged.

00:02:39 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:02:39 [Melissa]
I mean, on the one hand, that seems like, well, why would you start a business and not pay yourself?
00:02:43 [Melissa]
But I don’t know.
00:02:44 [Melissa]
I I don’t know.
00:02:45 [Melissa]
I paid myself right off the bat.

00:02:46 [Melissa]
Allison, why didn’t you pay yourself?
00:02:47 [Melissa]
Just out of curiosity.

00:02:48 [Alison]
I didn’t know because I just didn’t know.
00:02:50 [Alison]
Like, I remember the exact time and place and location and who told me when she it was just like a photography meetup.
00:02:56 [Alison]
Right?
00:02:56 [Alison]
It was like a rising tide get together or, like, three of us.
00:02:59 [Alison]
And this other photographer that ended up being becoming a pretty good friend was like, oh, yeah.

00:03:03 [Alison]
I was paying myself this, this, this, and I was like, I’m sorry.
00:03:06 [Alison]
What?
00:03:06 [Alison]
What do you mean you paid yourself?
00:03:07 [Alison]
Like, isn’t anything you have go to you?
00:03:10 [Alison]
Like, I just didn’t like, it’s just one big pot.

00:03:13 [Alison]
I was operating like, oh, I got paid.
00:03:16 [Alison]
This is the money.
00:03:17 [Alison]
Like, whatever.
00:03:19 [Alison]
Okay.

00:03:19 [Melissa]
So you weren’t, like, not paying yourself.
00:03:21 [Melissa]
Like, you were Right.

00:03:21 [Alison]
Like, I was earning money, but I wasn’t

00:03:23 [Melissa]
paying everything to yourself.

00:03:25 [Alison]
Saying, here’s your paycheck, Allison.
00:03:26 [Alison]
Here’s your compensation.
00:03:27 [Alison]
Like, it was just, like, everything was mine.

00:03:30 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:03:31 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:03:31 [Alison]
And Everything.
00:03:32 [Alison]
Mind blown.
00:03:33 [Alison]
Like, I I just had to stop her and be like, what do you mean by that statement?
00:03:37 [Alison]
Because I’m not doing that.
00:03:38 [Alison]
And so that was the beginning of enlightenment.

00:03:41 [Melissa]
Well, and I think that kinda leads into mistake number two that we’ll probably go into a little bit more.
00:03:45 [Melissa]
But, you know, mistake number two is actually, like, paying yourself with money you’ve not completely earned.
00:03:49 [Melissa]
And I think that kinda falls into that same thing of, like, okay.
00:03:52 [Melissa]
Well, someone paid me.
00:03:54 [Melissa]
That now just gets transferred to my personal checking, and now I have all this money.

00:03:58 [Melissa]
And, like, no.
00:04:00 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:04:00 [Alison]
No.
00:04:01 [Alison]
How can I get it formatted too?
00:04:02 [Alison]
Like, I just shot this giant wedding day.
00:04:04 [Alison]
Oh, wait.
00:04:04 [Alison]
I already paid myself half that money.

00:04:06 [Alison]
Like, no.
00:04:07 [Alison]
Like Yeah.
00:04:08 [Alison]
I I personally don’t love that.
00:04:10 [Alison]
I I don’t wanna get paid until the work’s done and completed.

00:04:13 [Melissa]
I and I am a 100% on the do not pay yourself until the work is done because I can’t tell you how often I see in photography groups where somebody has a client who wants to cancel, needs a refund, blah blah blah, whatever the reason.
00:04:26 [Melissa]
And the photographer’s like, I can’t refund them.
00:04:27 [Melissa]
I spent the money.
00:04:28 [Melissa]
And I’m like, you can’t do that.
00:04:31 [Melissa]
Like and honestly, to me, I would rather keep that money in the bank to be able to refund and bless and release than to go back and forth with a client who is already, like, wanting to cancel for whatever reason and now catered.

00:04:44 [Melissa]
And the stress level on me just is not worth it in that scenario.

00:04:48 [Alison]
But if you don’t have

00:04:48 [Melissa]
money, you can’t do it.

00:04:50 [Alison]
Right.
00:04:50 [Alison]
And keep in mind, we both have nonrefundable policies.

00:04:53 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:04:53 [Melissa]
But we will But

00:04:54 [Alison]
that doesn’t mean we’re horrible peep we’re I don’t wanna say horrible people.
00:04:57 [Alison]
Doesn’t mean we’re robots about it.
00:04:59 [Alison]
Right?
00:04:59 [Alison]
Like Right.
00:05:00 [Alison]
Well, no.

00:05:00 [Alison]
But Yeah.
00:05:00 [Alison]
It’s worth the refund to just, like you said, bless and release.

00:05:04 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:05:04 [Melissa]
And sometimes, honestly, as a newborn photographer, I have gotten that email that says, hey.
00:05:09 [Melissa]
This did not go the way we wanted it to go, and we are no longer in need of a newborn session.
00:05:14 [Melissa]
And let me tell you very quick, like, I couldn’t refund fast enough and then, you know, send her condolences, that kind of thing.
00:05:20 [Melissa]
Like, you’ve gotta be able to be in a position to do that.

00:05:22 [Melissa]
So like we were saying, mistake number one is when you just consider everything yours, like, you need to have, like, a paycheck.
00:05:29 [Melissa]
Like, you need to know, like, this is how much that needs to come to me as the photographer and what I’m getting paid as the business owner.
00:05:35 [Melissa]
And then you also need to make sure that you are not paying yourself with money that has not been earned.
00:05:39 [Melissa]
Like, I think for Alice and I both, when we complete the work, that’s when the money is earned.

00:05:44 [Alison]
Yep.
00:05:44 [Alison]
100%.
00:05:45 [Alison]
When the order’s placed, once that’s otherwise, it sits in an account and just waits for the day.
00:05:50 [Alison]
Because on the same note as the newborn thing, I’ve had people get sick and not come to Hawaii, Like, at all, they completely they’d either they pushed out three months and then that even that didn’t happen.
00:06:02 [Alison]
Still kept an unrefundable policy, but it happens.

00:06:05 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:05 [Melissa]
And, I mean, the thing is, it gives you that chance too to be able to, like, just bless and release and, like, move along and not have to stress about it.
00:06:11 [Melissa]
Because there are times that, you know, I’m like, I would just rather not deal with this person anymore.
00:06:17 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:17 [Melissa]
I can sit the contract and and point it finger point at my policies and all of this.

00:06:21 [Melissa]
But bottom line, if they’re blowing up my email and blowing up my phone and making me miserable It’s not worth it.
00:06:27 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:27 [Melissa]
I would rather just move along.
00:06:28 [Melissa]
Absolutely.

00:06:30 [Alison]
Hey, girl.
00:06:30 [Alison]
Yes.
00:06:31 [Alison]
You.
00:06:31 [Alison]
The one stuck in that business quicksand, it’s Allison here.
00:06:34 [Alison]
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00:06:44 [Alison]
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00:06:45 [Alison]
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00:06:50 [Alison]
Book now and you can schedule your coaching session during any time of December 24 or through February 25.
00:06:56 [Alison]
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00:07:03 [Alison]
Whether it’s upping your pricing, strategizing a move, or or just finding more clients ready to give you all their money and make it rain dollar bills.

00:07:11 [Alison]
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00:07:13 [Alison]
Get out of your own head.
00:07:14 [Alison]
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00:07:16 [Alison]
Click the link in the show notes, reach out and tell me you want that $100 off, and let’s keep it.
00:07:22 [Alison]
Okay.

00:07:22 [Alison]
So moving on to mistake number three, not charging sales tax or not separating out your sales tax from your actual earnings and income.
00:07:31 [Alison]
Okay.
00:07:31 [Alison]
So I’m actually possibly doing this one right now.
00:07:34 [Alison]
I am charging sales tax.
00:07:35 [Alison]
It’s not that part.

00:07:36 [Alison]
You need to know what your state says.
00:07:38 [Alison]
You need to know what your county and local jurisdictions are and what they require and all that stuff.
00:07:42 [Alison]
We can’t advise you on that.
00:07:43 [Alison]
You gotta figure that out for yourself.

00:07:45 [Melissa]
And I will tell you, like, triple check with your local authority because I know here in Virginia, like, ten years ago, little girls who called the taxation office, they got three different people and three different answers.
00:07:56 [Melissa]
So Just beware.

00:07:58 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:07:58 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:07:59 [Alison]
So make sure you’re clear on it.
00:08:01 [Alison]
Double check.
00:08:01 [Alison]
You can’t be too careful about that.

00:08:04 [Alison]
But once you are charging sales tax and that tax is in your account, it is not your income.
00:08:11 [Alison]
It’s not your operating expenses.
00:08:12 [Alison]
It’s not your owner’s compensation.
00:08:14 [Alison]
It is none of those things.
00:08:15 [Alison]
You are simply a conduit of funnel, so to speak, for that money to go back to whatever municipality deserves it.

00:08:23 [Melissa]
That’s where I I’m not charging sales tax.
00:08:25 [Melissa]
I’m collecting it.
00:08:27 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:08:27 [Melissa]
Because charging it sounds like it’s gonna go into my pocket, but collecting it lets you know I’m collecting this to go to someone else.

00:08:33 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:08:33 [Alison]
And then turning it around.
00:08:35 [Alison]
You know, my biggest mistake and confusion, and I was working even working with my accountant, and she’s the one who pointed this out to me.
00:08:41 [Alison]
She’s like, Allison, as it stood at that point, you’re collecting that sales tax, but then I wasn’t separating it out from what was truly business income Yep.
00:08:51 [Alison]
And then therefore, owner’s compensation.

00:08:53 [Alison]
And so I was basically getting taxed on money that I wasn’t earning.
00:08:57 [Alison]
I was getting taxed at the federal level or on the income tax level for, you know, hundreds, thousands of dollars that was never mine to begin with because I just wasn’t set out when I was paying myself and transferring that money into my accounts.
00:09:10 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:09:10 [Melissa]
So for example, you know, if you’ve got a client that has a 100 charge, and I know here in Virginia, it’s like 5.3%.
00:09:16 [Melissa]
We’ll just call it 5%.
00:09:18 [Melissa]
You’re collecting a $105, but your taxable income, you know, that that net income of yours is the $100, not the 105.
00:09:27 [Melissa]
So it’s a $100 to you, and then that $5 just, you know, goes over to the Department of Taxation or whatever.
00:09:33 [Melissa]
So don’t look at it and say, well, I earned a 105.

00:09:36 [Melissa]
No.
00:09:36 [Melissa]
You earned a 100, and they did the additional 5.
00:09:39 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:09:39 [Melissa]
But that in $5, something

00:09:41 [Alison]
meh, whatever.
00:09:42 [Alison]
Who cares?
00:09:42 [Alison]
You know,

00:09:42 [Melissa]
it’s gonna easily forgotten.
00:09:44 [Melissa]
You know, $10.20, 30?

00:09:46 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:09:47 [Alison]
It’s a lot of money.
00:09:49 [Alison]
So watch out on that.
00:09:50 [Alison]
If you don’t know if you’re doing that or not, get an accountant or a bookkeeper or somebody.
00:09:54 [Alison]
Get somebody that knows money because it ain’t me.

00:09:57 [Melissa]
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00:09:59 [Melissa]
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00:10:00 [Melissa]
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00:10:04 [Melissa]
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00:10:04 [Melissa]
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00:10:05 [Melissa]
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00:10:07 [Melissa]
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00:10:08 [Melissa]
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00:10:10 [Melissa]
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00:10:13 [Melissa]
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00:10:25 [Melissa]
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00:10:28 [Melissa]
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00:10:33 [Melissa]
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00:10:41 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:10:41 [Melissa]
So mistake number four is really not saving for future equipment upgrades.

00:10:46 [Melissa]
You know?
00:10:46 [Melissa]
I mean First

00:10:47 [Alison]
I I Yeah.
00:10:48 [Alison]
I think even before this, if you’re not charging enough money in order to save money, and I’ve been there.
00:10:55 [Alison]
I have been there.
00:10:55 [Alison]
But first, you gotta charge enough to have a savings.
00:10:58 [Alison]
But then, yes, you’ve got to be able to save for the future equipment upgrades.

00:11:03 [Melissa]
Equipment upgrades have done.
00:11:05 [Melissa]
Expensive.
00:11:05 [Melissa]
Oh my gosh.
00:11:06 [Melissa]
Well, I mean, I think the last time I got a new camera and a new lens, I think I spent, like, $6,000.
00:11:12 [Melissa]
You know?

00:11:13 [Melissa]
Easy.
00:11:13 [Melissa]
Like, it’s crazy.
00:11:14 [Melissa]
And, I mean, I was I ended up selling some other equipment that I wasn’t using and stuff.
00:11:18 [Melissa]
Mhmm.
00:11:18 [Melissa]
But, yeah, it is crazy.

00:11:20 [Melissa]
And so you have to be charging profitable rates.
00:11:23 [Melissa]
And if you are not, go back and listen to our episode with on me talking about that one.
00:11:27 [Melissa]
But you have to be charging profitable rates.
00:11:28 [Melissa]
And then I know this is starting to sound really, like, super bummer.
00:11:31 [Melissa]
You’re like, well, Melissa, I thought that $500 I got from a session, you know, and maybe you’re getting less than that, maybe you’re getting more than that.

00:11:37 [Melissa]
But you’re like, I thought that was all mine.
00:11:38 [Melissa]
And now we’re like, no.
00:11:39 [Melissa]
No.
00:11:39 [Melissa]
No.
00:11:39 [Melissa]
You need to set some aside for this, and you need to, like, put money aside for equipment.

00:11:43 [Alison]
Whittling down real quickly.
00:11:46 [Alison]
That $500 is not enough.

00:11:48 [Melissa]
No.
00:11:49 [Melissa]
So you really need to think about it.
00:11:50 [Melissa]
And I think the way people really talk about how to break that down is, okay.
00:11:54 [Melissa]
So how often am I gonna have to buy new camera gear?
00:11:58 [Melissa]
And then how often am I gonna buy new lenses?

00:12:00 [Melissa]
Now for me, lenses have always been,

00:12:02 [Alison]
like, the long term investment.

00:12:02 [Melissa]
Like, I buy one, insurance, I can count on probably keeping that lens for a good amount of time.
00:12:11 [Melissa]
But the camera bodies, they go out I think I used to be in every other option.
00:12:15 [Melissa]
So I guess it was what?
00:12:16 [Melissa]
Every is it every year, every two years that most camera manufacturers come out with a new one?
00:12:20 [Melissa]
I don’t even know.

00:12:21 [Alison]
I don’t even know how often they’re doing it.
00:12:23 [Alison]
But, yeah, I was the same.
00:12:24 [Alison]
Every other model is what I think

00:12:26 [Melissa]
yeah.
00:12:26 [Melissa]
And when I think about it, I got my first five d in 2008, and then I got the Mark three in 2012.
00:12:32 [Melissa]
So I think it’s every two years.

00:12:34 [Alison]
Okay.

00:12:35 [Melissa]
So I skipped the Mark two and went straight to the Mark three.
00:12:40 [Melissa]
And so yeah.
00:12:41 [Melissa]
So that was four years apart.

00:12:42 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:12:43 [Alison]
So I bought the three in ‘2 like, early two thousand thirteen, and I was waiting for the five that never came.

00:12:49 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:12:49 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:12:50 [Alison]
And then we went careless.

00:12:51 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:52 [Melissa]
So think about that.
00:12:53 [Melissa]
Now you could be a person kinda like an iPhone that you want a new one every year.
00:12:56 [Melissa]
You don’t wanna wait every other year, you know, or something like that.
00:12:59 [Melissa]
You know, how do you wanna do that?

00:13:00 [Melissa]
But if you’re like, okay, I’m gonna go every other camera upgrade or whatever, so it’s gonna be four years.
00:13:06 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:13:06 [Melissa]
Well, four years and the camera body, I mean, good lord.
00:13:09 [Melissa]
They’re like $3,000 at this point, you know.
00:13:11 [Melissa]
Every time.

00:13:12 [Melissa]
Map it out, figure it out, and how much does that I need to set aside.

00:13:16 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:13:16 [Alison]
And the body is not something you want to buy used shutter count.
00:13:19 [Alison]
The lenses, I actually just bought a used lens, and I’m totally happy with that.

00:13:23 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:13:23 [Alison]
But what used to really get me as far as gear replacement were laptops, like, computers.
00:13:28 [Alison]
I edit I do everything on a MacBook Pro.
00:13:30 [Alison]
I always have.
00:13:30 [Alison]
But before solid state memory came out, and that sucker was dying at exactly three years on the money, like, I had two or three pieces that I think it was the third one.
00:13:40 [Alison]
I was just it was, like, right as solid state came out, and I was furious.

00:13:44 [Alison]
I was like, I have to spend $3,500 on new computer every three years, like, on that dot.
00:13:48 [Alison]
Like, I was furious.
00:13:49 [Alison]
And he was like, well, why don’t you try I remember talking to the guy in the Apple Store and just being just telling him, like, this is unsustainable.
00:13:56 [Alison]
This is stupid.
00:13:57 [Alison]
I’m not doing this.

00:13:58 [Alison]
And he was like, well, let me tell you about solid state.
00:14:00 [Alison]
And here I am on the same solid state laptop.
00:14:03 [Alison]
I think that was five years ago as well as me.
00:14:06 [Alison]
And we’re doing fine.
00:14:07 [Alison]
We’re doing fine.

00:14:08 [Melissa]
So Yeah.
00:14:08 [Melissa]
But that’s a fair point.
00:14:09 [Melissa]
You’ve got computer upgrades.

00:14:11 [Alison]
$3,500.
00:14:12 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:14:12 [Alison]
It’s as much as a camera body.
00:14:14 [Alison]
And if your kid spills juice on it, get on.

00:14:16 [Melissa]
Well and then even, like, cards.
00:14:17 [Melissa]
We talked about in the Black Friday episode out, like, replacing your cards every year.
00:14:21 [Melissa]
Maybe you need a new tripod, you know, like, stuff like that.
00:14:23 [Melissa]
So you’ve got to have that money.
00:14:25 [Melissa]
Start saving it up.

00:14:26 [Melissa]
Because the worst thing that’s gonna happen is your camera body dies, and then how are you gonna earn income?
00:14:30 [Melissa]
You know, if your camera body is dead, now at that point, you’re gonna either have to go into debt to go ahead and get a camera body so you can continue shooting, or, you know, you’re just gonna sit there and be like, well, I’m out of business now because I don’t have a camera to, like, not going to that.
00:14:43 [Melissa]
Essential piece of equipment.
00:14:45 [Melissa]
And then I would say mistake number five is not knowing what your costs are.

00:14:51 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:14:51 [Alison]
This is huge.
00:14:52 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:14:52 [Alison]
And I think so many people can get by just guesstimating or or, like, ignorance is bliss here.
00:14:58 [Alison]
But it’s a necessary evil where we really do, like, regular probably, like, every year.

00:15:03 [Alison]
We need to map it, write down every monthly expense, every annual expense, and add it up.
00:15:08 [Alison]
And it’s a crappy process, but once you do it one time in Excel and you can just, like, delete some things, add some things, and just update it, it gets a lot easier.
00:15:15 [Alison]
But the surprise and shocker here are always the subscriptions.
00:15:19 [Alison]
Oh, yes.
00:15:20 [Alison]
100%.

00:15:21 [Alison]
Hands down.
00:15:21 [Alison]
That’s why, like, Rocket Money has its own app about subscriptions.

00:15:25 [Melissa]
Everything is a subscription now.
00:15:26 [Melissa]
Like I mean, dozens.

00:15:27 [Alison]
Does and it’s and sometimes, it’s easier, especially if you’re just getting started, to do that month to month.
00:15:33 [Alison]
Even though it is more expensive, it’s a it’s a smaller pill to take, right, like, to swallow to just get that going.
00:15:39 [Alison]
But those subscriptions, they add up so quickly, like Planoly and Lightroom and Yeah.
00:15:45 [Alison]
Email subscribe subscription and an AI editor and all the things that you’re going to have to pay for whether or not you’re taking sessions.
00:15:52 [Alison]
So you think about your busy season, like, oh, sure.

00:15:55 [Alison]
We’re doing just fine.
00:15:55 [Alison]
But what about January, February?
00:15:57 [Alison]
If you’re not shooting, you still have to pay those costs.
00:16:00 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:16:00 [Melissa]
I actually have a a task for my bookkeeper where every quarter when she sends me all my reports, she sends me what subscriptions I have.
00:16:07 [Melissa]
Because I asked her specifically.
00:16:09 [Melissa]
I said, I want you to keep me on track with what subscriptions I’m paying because you’re right.
00:16:13 [Melissa]
Otherwise, you just don’t even think about it.
00:16:15 [Melissa]
And the only reason I do pay attention a little bit to them is because I use EveryDollar for my business, which is like a Dave Ramsey app that we I use it we use it for our personal finances to track our spending.

00:16:27 [Melissa]
And so I wanted to be able to see those transactions.
00:16:29 [Melissa]
So, yes, I have a bookkeeper who does QuickBooks and stuff, but I don’t know about y’all.
00:16:33 [Melissa]
I’m not a CPA.
00:16:34 [Melissa]
QuickBooks, like, starts getting overwhelming.
00:16:36 [Melissa]
I like with every dollar that I can things and really understand it in my language, my financial language.

00:16:41 [Melissa]
If I wasn’t dragging those transactions over and drocupping them into their categories, there are times I go through it.
00:16:46 [Melissa]
I’m like, I can’t believe I’m still paying this.
00:16:48 [Melissa]
Why am I still paying this?
00:16:49 [Melissa]
And when you’re physically dropping that transaction in and you’re like, this is the third month in a row I’m dropping this even if it’s a $17 transaction, like, why am I doing this?
00:16:56 [Melissa]
I need to do something with it.

00:16:57 [Melissa]
Like Yeah.
00:16:58 [Melissa]
It sticks in your head more.

00:16:59 [Alison]
It holds you accountable so much more.
00:17:01 [Alison]
And then you may ask me how I know, find out that your business card is being used for your family’s Amazon purchases.
00:17:09 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:10 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:10 [Alison]
That Wrongly.

00:17:11 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:11 [Alison]
Accidentally.
00:17:12 [Alison]
But you don’t know unless you’re in there looking at it.

00:17:15 [Melissa]
No.
00:17:15 [Melissa]
And that card too because, man, I know for me, whenever I log in to, like, Venmo or whatever, there’s, like, personal cards, business cards.
00:17:22 [Melissa]
I had to email my bookkeeper.
00:17:23 [Melissa]
I was, like, I paid my girls, my subcontractors from our personal account instead of the business account.
00:17:29 [Melissa]
I was, like, so I need so I was like, you’re gonna see a a transfer.

00:17:32 [Melissa]
I need you to categorize that.
00:17:33 [Melissa]
Right?
00:17:33 [Melissa]
So, like, yeah, definitely just keep an eye on those cards.
00:17:36 [Melissa]
Make sure that you’ve got the right card for the right thing, that you’re logged into the correct account.
00:17:40 [Melissa]
Maybe get them out, but watch your transactions.

00:17:43 [Alison]
Yes.
00:17:44 [Alison]
Name them the right thing.
00:17:45 [Alison]
Sure they’re good.
00:17:45 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:46 [Alison]
Absolutely.

00:17:46 [Alison]
And that’s that’s huge.
00:17:47 [Alison]
And that’s gonna give you some real gumption.
00:17:49 [Alison]
I know it gave me a lot of gumption knowing those costs and knowing where I wanted to be to not feel sorry, feel guilty about charging what I charge.
00:17:57 [Alison]
So

00:17:57 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:17:57 [Melissa]
And, honestly, we’re just talking about your monthly and annual operating cost for your business, but you wanna know that too so that when you sit down and figure out your cost of doing business to, like, figure out your pricing, if you don’t know what your annual costs are, I don’t know how many times.
00:18:09 [Melissa]
You know, we’re like, oh, it doesn’t cost that much to run the business.
00:18:12 [Melissa]
Sit down stuff out, and you’ll find out real quick how

00:18:15 [Alison]
much it does cost.
00:18:15 [Alison]
And if you don’t 3,000

00:18:17 [Melissa]
a month or something.
00:18:18 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:19 [Melissa]
If you don’t have those numbers in place, you’re not gonna set the right pricing for your business.

00:18:23 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:23 [Alison]
That number sounds like 3,000 sounds like a lot, but it’s a lot because it’s including my gear upgrades.
00:18:28 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:29 [Alison]
And when you take out how much your gear over how many years and how much it’s gonna cost and how much I’m gonna have to save for that, yeah, that should come out of my business expense.
00:18:35 [Alison]
I should be earning the money to do that.

00:18:36 [Alison]
Right?
00:18:37 [Alison]
Mhmm.
00:18:37 [Alison]
And you should too.
00:18:39 [Alison]
Okay.
00:18:39 [Alison]
So our bonus our bonus money mistake here, not tracking your mileage purposes.

00:18:45 [Alison]
And I have not done this at all for 2024.

00:18:48 [Melissa]
I will say this is one where I have been bad about it.
00:18:51 [Melissa]
And I have had to sit down and, like, look at my calendar and look at when did I have the session, and then pull up their address, pull up my address, and then MapQuest it or god.
00:19:00 [Melissa]
That’s a good word.
00:19:01 [Melissa]
Google Maps it.

00:19:02 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:02 [Alison]
This is super simple if you have have your same, like, handful of sessions.
00:19:06 [Alison]
And Yeah.
00:19:06 [Alison]
You know, I was just thinking, like, in my head, how am I gonna do this?
00:19:09 [Alison]
I’ll probably pay my 14 year old to, you know I’ll figure out the mileage, but I’ll have him go into my CRM, just calculate an expense or something.

00:19:17 [Alison]
I don’t know.
00:19:18 [Alison]
And just go just go to that calendar like you said and just track it all and then put it on an expense for every, I don’t know, my spreadsheet, I guess, for my accountant and have an annual

00:19:27 [Melissa]
Well, you just need to have the mileage, the total, like, how many miles you drove and stuff.
00:19:30 [Melissa]
But here’s the other thing, though.
00:19:31 [Melissa]
If you’re sitting down at the end of the year like we are, which is not the greatest thing, this is a mistake we’re both making.
00:19:36 [Melissa]
You’re forgetting stuff, location scouting, you know, or, hey, I had to go drive to the store to get paper for the printer because I needed to print out a contract or something like that.

00:19:45 [Alison]
Or if you’re doing true impulse Yeah.
00:19:47 [Alison]
And you’re going to somebody’s house.
00:19:48 [Alison]
There it is.
00:19:49 [Alison]
You’re going to and from your studio for a wardrobe consult.
00:19:52 [Alison]
That’s mileage.

00:19:52 [Alison]
If you’re going to rent a lens and it’s thirty minutes out of your way, like, there it is.
00:19:58 [Alison]
Like, there’s more mileage.
00:20:00 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:00 [Alison]
So there’s I guess there’s the surprise.
00:20:02 [Alison]
Seventh mistake is don’t do this all at one time like we are.

00:20:05 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:07 [Alison]
Well, awesome.
00:20:07 [Alison]
Well, thanks, guys.
00:20:08 [Alison]
Let us know if any of this was helpful.
00:20:10 [Alison]
If you’re making any of these mistakes, hit us up on Instagram and let us know.

00:20:13 [Alison]
Raise your hand, and let’s have a conversation.
00:20:15 [Alison]
Until then, we’ll catch you later.
00:20:17 [Alison]
Bye bye.

00:20:22 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:20:23 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:20:26 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:20:28 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:20:29 [Melissa]
Forward this episode to a biz bestie, no spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.

00:20:34 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:20:37 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at Allison Belle Photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.
00:20:46 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.