EP 64: The Real Reason Photographers Avoid Their Books (It’s Not Math)

Y’all, can we talk about the elephant in the room? That pile of receipts sitting on your desk, the QuickBooks notifications you’ve been ignoring for months, and that sinking feeling every time tax season rolls around? Yeah, we’re going there today.

This week, we’re bringing you Melissa’s actual bookkeeper, Jenny Vazquez from Foxtrot Bookkeeping, to spill ALL the tea about why photographers need to stop DIYing their books and start treating their finances like the business asset they are.

“I just think putting negative energy towards your money is never good… when you’re working on your money or looking at your money, you want it to be positive.” – Jenny

What You’ll Learn:

• The #1 reason photographers should outsource their bookkeeping (hint: it’s not what you think)
• How often you should actually be updating your books (Jenny’s answer might surprise you)
• The most common bookkeeping mistakes photographers make and how to avoid them
• Why using your personal Venmo for business expenses isn’t the end of the world (but here’s how to fix it)
• The difference between working with an independent bookkeeper vs. your CPA’s bookkeeping service
• When to make the leap from spreadsheets to QuickBooks (and why you probably should have done it already)
• Smart receipt organization systems that will save you during an audit
• How proper bookkeeping can actually help you make better business decisions throughout the year

Bonus Gold Nuggets:

💎 The Gmail Receipt Hack: Create a new email folder each January (like “2025 Receipts”) and set up automation to tag PayPal receipts. Just drag and drop receipts throughout the year for instant organization.

💎 The B&H Photo Strategy: Buy all your camera gear from one retailer so you can log into your account years later and pull all purchase history for depreciation tracking.

💎 The Weekly 10-Minute Rule: Jenny’s ideal schedule is just 10-15 minutes weekly to review transactions while they’re fresh in your memory.

💎 The Venmo Mix-Up Fix: Accidentally paid a contractor from personal Venmo instead of business? Just email your bookkeeper the receipt – they’ll handle the reconciliation magic.

💎 The Subscription Audit: Ask your bookkeeper for a list of all your monthly subscriptions. You might be shocked at what you’re paying for and forgot to cancel.

Connect with our Guest:

• Jenny Vazquez – Foxtrot Bookkeeping
• Instagram: @foxtrotbookkeeping
• Website: foxtrotbookkeeping.com

Transcript:

[00:00:00]

Melissa Arlena: Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. Um, I’m super excited. This week we have my actual bookkeeper on to

Alisonbell.co: Hey.

Melissa Arlena: about bookkeeping. Um, so we’ve got Jenny from Foxtrot Bookkeeping. Welcome to the podcast, Jenny.

Alisonbell.co: Welcome chinny.

Jenny Vazquez: Thank you so much. I’m

Alisonbell.co: Yeah,

Jenny Vazquez: to be here.

Melissa Arlena: so

Alisonbell.co: awesome.

Melissa Arlena: I met through a, uh, networking group when I was down in South Florida. Um, and so it was just all female entrepreneurs. We would get together for lunch like once a month or so. Um, and so she came in and she was. She did bookkeeping and it was one of those things I was still doing a spreadsheet.

Melissa Arlena: I think I may actually, I take that back. I think by then I had upgraded to QuickBooks. Um, but I was just like, oh, I might have some questions. I might be leaning that direction. And I remember at one point I messaged Jenny on Instagram because I had a question about what was it? It was a revenue. Like I can’t, it was something about revenue stream on whether, um. Uh, it was cash I think or something, or I don’t know. I don’t know, tech stuff, y’all. But I had a panic moment and I was like, oh my gosh, am I doing everything wrong? And so I reached out to Jenny and she was so sweet, and she was just like, Hey, you know, like, can I give you a call? Like, let’s just talk about this real quick.

Melissa Arlena: And that was it. And it like really stuck with me too of like, you know, she gave me some free advice and like, talked me off the ledge. Um, and so then when, and I had forgotten about this, when I realized at some point that my bank had stopped connecting to QuickBooks for like six months, y’all like it was, it was not just a few transactions that needed to be added into QuickBooks.

Melissa Arlena: It was months worth. And I was like, I do not have the time for this.

Alisonbell.co: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: then I reached out to Jenny, I’m like, can you do this? Um, and that’s when she became my bookkeeper and I go into QuickBooks to like pull a profit and loss statement here and there, y’all. But I don’t categorize transactions. I don’t touch any of that.

Melissa Arlena: I mean, I pay attention to it kind of

Alisonbell.co: Mm-hmm.

Melissa Arlena: I’m not there clicking buttons anymore and I’m not panicking at tax time that I have to go through all of these transactions, which Alison and I have both done. So, um, yeah.

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