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Here’s how to hate doing your taxes a little less.

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Honestly, I’m really tired of being told that you need to have elaborate systems to grow your small business.

Maybe it’s my lack of patience with anything tech-related that’s not coding. Maybe it’s my undiagnosed-but-I-swear-I-have-it ADHD.

Whatever it is, I simply cannot get behind the idea of spending untold hours setting up & learning how to use a software or program that’s allegedly supposed to make my life easier.

 (This is probably why I love Squarespace, Flodesk, and Acuity so much. They’re intuitive, learning to use them is easy and quick, they contain so many all-in-one features, and they work together flawlessly.)

 I tried both Honeybook and Dubsado. I spent hours editing and customizing — only to still not get what I needed from these supposedly amazing CRM softwares. It comes as no surprise to me that there are people who’s whole entire job is setting up Dubsado accounts for other small business owners.

 Instead, I use templates for my proposals, welcome guide, and goodbye guide that I can simply duplicate and edit as needed. I copy/paste an invoice template and schedule invoice reminder emails for clients directly through Gmail. I send contracts through DropboxSign.

 It’s “old school”. But for me, it’s easier and quicker – and it works.

But of all the stresses in a small biz owner’s life, taxes are the worst.

And I knew that unless I had an easy system in place, tracking expenses and organizing receipts would get overwhelming real quick.

 So before I even officially launched my business, I created a stupid-simple Excel sheet to record all of my business expenses, track my income, and keep all the details for the weird little tax things like car mileage and home office utility write-offs organized in one place.

 And when I started getting my first clients, I added tools to figure out what I should actually be charging for my services, and get a clear picture of my productivity.

 It’s nothing fancy. It’s not beautifully color-coded or filled with cool fonts. It doesn’t even use a bunch of crazy Excel formulas and functions. But whenever I send it over Brittany — the lovely CPA who files my taxes — this is her reaction:

I’ve had multiple fellow small business owners/friends ask me for this system over the years, so I’ve decided to turn it into a free template for you.

Because prepping for taxes is enough of a headache —
you don’t need the tools you use to also be a pain in the ass.

You may already have a system that works for you (amazing!!!), or this particular tool may not work for you (everyone's brain is a unique little chaotic world), but it could be helpful for you if —

💸 You’re a service-based business owner with a small but mighty solo operation — who hasn’t landed on an actual system for keeping track of all the info you need when tax season rolls around.

🙈 You've hired a CPA to help you with your taxes, but when it comes time to send them all of your receipts and info for the year… you don't know where anything is and you feel helplessly overwhelmed.

⏰ You don't want to spend hours figuring out how to use another new tool – you want a simple system for organizing your financial info that only takes minutes to learn.

⚖️ You want to keep the pulse on your expenses vs. revenue — you like the idea of sitting down each month to enter your data so you always have a crystal-clear understanding of your biz finances.

📈 You want to be better at mapping your yearly income goals, holding yourself accountable, and keeping track of which of your services are the most profitable.

Here’s what this free template can help you do —

• Track your income and your expenses (and categorize them as you go!)

• Plan and strategize for long-term financial growth, with a profit planning sheet that helps you figure out pricing and project quantities you have to reach to meet yearly financial goals.

• Use the hours & productivity tracker to analyze your weekly hours, determine which projects are the most lucrative, and discover your slow and busy seasons.

• Keep misc information (like your home office square footage, gas mileage, & utility bill totals) in one place to make tax season easy.

So if you want to win brownie points with your CPA
(or just, you know, survive tax season) – I got you. 

Disclaimer: I'm not, like, actually an accountant or a tax specialist or a financial advisor (ha!) BTW. This is just a system that's worked for me. Please work with an actual expert for your taxes so the IRS doesn't take your house because you wrote off nail appointments as a biz expense. 💅

Now go make (and organize) that bread!