When my schedule started filling up, I knew I needed to take taxes more seriously.
Bri turned a hobby into a full-time lifestyle and fashion photography business, which she runs while being a supermom to her son.
Income streams
- Lifestyle & fashion photography
- YouTube channel
Tax setup
- Connects her bank accounts and credit cards to Keeper to automatically categorize tax-deductible expenses
- Writes off gas, studio rental, props and software
- Has a tax pro review her return before it's filed
How did Bri get started?
Bri never planned to be a photographer. Her younger brother needed homecoming photos he didn't want to take, so she grabbed her phone, walked him and his friends to the park, and shot them there. Everyone loved the results. She taught herself the rest on YouTube.
When Covid hit and families suddenly wanted pictures they could hold onto, the calls kept coming, and a hobby turned into a business. Today she shoots lifestyle and fashion, styles and directs her own sessions, runs a YouTube channel, and homeschools her son, setting him up each morning before she gets to work.
I'm an entrepreneurial mom. So my day starts with being a mother, transitions into being a business owner, and back to being a mom.
Why did tax season start to loom?
As the bookings and income climbed, so did the spending: gas and the commute between shoots, studio fees, props, subscriptions, supply runs to Michael's. She knew that once you earn a certain amount taxes get serious, and she didn't want anything coming back to bite her. The catch was that she had no real idea how any of it worked.
In her first year she didn't earn enough to owe anything, and she was so new to it that she wasn't sure what even counted as income. Do you report the $100 your grandmother slips you for your birthday? By year two or three she started paying closer attention.
“Taxes are like a divorced ex you share a kid with. You never want to talk to them, they only bring you stress, but you're forced to deal with them anyway.”
What did she try first?
A family CPA helped her get organized while the business was still a sole proprietorship, but she never really understood what happened after she handed everything over. She'd drop it all off at the office, smile, and leave.
Once she was sure this was a real business, she moved her bookings and client payments into HoneyBook. It could track expenses too, but only if she typed in every one by hand. Go to Walmart, buy fabric for a shoot, log what it cost. That was never going to fit how she actually works. QuickBooks came next and took some weight off, but she saved everything for the last minute, so filing still took days.
I've tried so many different methods to track my expenses and do my taxes. HoneyBook, QuickBooks, TurboTax, a CPA. I have no idea how any of this stuff works.
What does her tax setup look like now?
She wanted something that would let her feel sure she wasn't missing anything, without losing days to it. Keeper connected to her bank and put her expenses in one place, sorting the write-offs out automatically. For the first time, tracking fit how she actually works.
All I have to do is swipe, swipe, and tap. That's the type of functionality I need.
At tax time the handoff is just as light. She uploads her forms, a tax expert reviews everything before it goes to the IRS, and she waits. The write-offs she used to leave on the table now show up on their own.
I'm writing off my Michael's supplies, my Chevron gas bill, my studio rental, my Canva subscription, and this cute little business lunch I went on yesterday.
What changed?
What used to take up days of prep now takes hours. The first time, she ran to tell her mom she was already done.
She tracks expenses as she goes now instead of rebuilding a whole year in a panic every spring, and filing has stopped being the thing she dreads.
