- Do you know where you stand financially, today?
- Do you know exactly where your money is coming from and where it’s going?
- Would knowing empower you?
- Do you have a system to access a real time picture of your financial situation at any time anywhere?
Yes? Congratulations! You need not read any further.
So many artists, so many people, strain over their money. Accounting is scary for many creatives. But having ready access to current and accurate financial data is not only critical to your creative enterprise is is vital to your well being.
Here is what the creatives I consult with will often say.
- “But I can’t find time to crunch numbers.”
- “I don’t even know where to start.”
- “I can’t afford a bookkeeper.”
Knowledge is power and there actually is a free and easy way to gain access to knowledge.
I recommend Mint.com.
In case you are wondering, I’m not getting a kick back from Mint.com. I actually use it and I recommend it to artists that I coach and consult with so that they can get a handle on and manage their financial situation.
Why? Three reasons.
1. It is free.
2. It is easy to set up.
3. It is real time.
Mint.com allows you to track your spending and to monitor your online banking accounts.
The set-up is relatively painless. You simply link your online bank and credit card accounts to your Mint.com account. Then you categorize each of your personal and business income and expenses.
Once the set up is done your Mint.com account automatically updates. Then recurring transactions are automatically categorized, making your tax preparation easy and breezy.
Here’s the thing. If you pay cash for a lot of personal or business expenses then obviously this system is not going to be so helpful.
So I pay in cash for as little as possible. Why? So that I can…
- keep track of my expenses
- earn credit card bonus points and cash
- dispute charges if I did not receive the goods or services I was promised
One last note. The security of your online accounts is based in large part on the uniqueness of your passwords. Make your passwords memorable for you but impossible for others to find or guess.
Did you enjoy this article?
Leave a Reply