January 29, 2025 • 43 mins
Creatives often face the daunting task of managing their finances, leading to stress and burnout. This episode emphasizes the importance of compliance in business operations, shares practical strategies for effective bookkeeping, and discusses how AI is changing the accounting landscape while still preserving the invaluable human touch.
I'm chatting with Danielle Wagner, CEO of Vyde and you are gonna love this conversation where cover:
• Insights on common financial hurdles for creative entrepreneurs
• Importance of understanding legal obligations and compliance
• Strategies for managing bookkeeping effectively
• Value of breaking financial tasks into manageable pieces
• Benefits of using AI in accounting without losing the human element
• Encouragement to outsource tasks to focus on creative passions
• Importance of giving oneself grace during challenging times
• Balancing creativity with business demands
You can try VYDE for free for 30 days HERE
Download their free pdf HERE
Contact Danielle HERE
PS: I have ONE spot left for 1:1 coaching for Q1 - grab a free alignment call with me asap to see if we're a good fit --> https://renee.io/bookacall
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
especially within the creative industry.
(00:01):
It's so easy to get bogged downor disheartened by all the
things we have to do or look atthe things that just feel like
roadblocks in our way.
I know as a novelist trying tosubmit my work and getting all
these rejection letters.
Sometimes you're like, okay,why do I even do this?
(00:22):
Why what's the point?
And I forget about how it trulymakes me happy.
And the point isn't to getother people's approval, it's to
create something and dosomething I love.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to Tried and True with a dash of woo, where
we blend rock solid tips with alittle bit of magic.
I'm Renee Bowen, your host,life and business coach and
professional photographer atyour service.
We are all about gettingcreative, diving into your
business and playing withmanifestation over here.
So are you ready to getinspired and have some fun?
Let's dive in.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Hey, hey, welcome back to tried and true with a
dash of woo.
I'm your host, renee Bowen,thanks for joining me today.
We are talking about stuff thatyou guys don't like to hear
about, but please stay with mebecause it is important and you
need to know about it.
So I am talking with DanielleWagner, who is the CEO of VIDE,
and VIDE is an accountingservice.
They're an accounting programDon't let your eyes glaze over
(01:21):
but you guys, what they do isreally, really awesome.
It would save you so much timeand energy.
You have no idea.
I really am excited aboutspeaking with Danielle because
not only is she the CEO, she'salso a creative right.
So, yeah, she's the CEO of thisaccounting firm, but she's also
got a degree in writing andEnglish.
(01:42):
She writes novels.
She's got a really coolbackground working in media in
general, and I love talking withpeople who seem to mix those
two worlds of left brain, rightbrain, strategy, woo, whatever
you want to call it being intouch with all of these
different facets of ourselves ashuman beings.
(02:04):
And we talk a lot about some ofthe things that they see over
there with creativeentrepreneurs, because they work
with a lot of creatives and alot of photographers through
their program that they offer,which is awesome, and all the
information about what they dois in the show notes and we talk
about a little bit about thatin the show as well.
But we really also talk aboutwhat she sees us creatives
(02:26):
struggle with in terms of thatand how we can mitigate that and
how we can get ahead of it.
We talk a little bit about AIas well.
So this is a really really coolconversation that I think is
really timely.
I mean, it is tax season sounfortunately they're not going
anywhere.
We have to do those things.
There are ways to make thiswhole process so much easier on
ourselves, and not just like thephysical time of doing it, but
(02:49):
like taking away the mentalstress of it, because VIDE
offers bookkeeping services,like they do it for you and it's
so affordable.
You guys like their mostexpensive plan is $249 a month
and they have cheaper ones, likereally accessible and there's
no contract, like you're nottied into anything.
It's really cool.
So you guys are going to lovethis conversation I had with
Danielle.
She's really cool.
Let's just dive in.
(03:14):
Hey, Danielle, thanks forjoining us here today.
I'm really excited about thisconversation because I really
love talking with people whosuccessfully blend their love of
the arts or their creativebackgrounds with what is usually
thought of as more of like aleft brain kind of field, like
math or accounting, and yourjourney to CEO at VIDE is really
intriguing to me.
You have this background instorytelling, basically right,
(03:36):
you've got this degree inwriting English.
So how do you balance theanalytical nature of accounting
with what you guys do there,with the creative aspects of
marketing and storytelling, asyour role of CEO over at Vyde?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah Well, first off, thank you so much for having me
.
I'm so excited to be here and,yeah, I did graduate with a
degree in English and writing,so I am far from where I thought
I would be, but that's okay.
I can remember most of whathappened during my graduation
ceremony.
I do not remember because itwas so boring, but the one thing
(04:16):
I do remember was them givingdon't quote me on the statistic,
but it was a really highstatistic like 75% or something
of jobs that existed todaydidn't exist five, 10 years ago,
and that just was kind ofshocking to me.
And so it told me just toalways leave yourself open for
the unexpected.
And that's what I've kind ofdone in my career.
(04:39):
So you're right, I have endedup in something that's a little
more typically considered leftbrain analytical.
But what I've discovered is it'snot as mutually exclusive as
you might think.
There's so much creativity thatstill happens in budgeting or
accounting and finances.
Not that I'm saying we getreally creative with people's
(05:02):
finances here.
That's not at all what I mean.
There's obviously rules we haveto follow and we want to keep
people compliant, but at thesame time, if you're looking at
your finances, for instance, andyou're trying to project what
you're going to make over thenext year.
There's a lot of factors inplay there and there's a lot of
(05:23):
different ways you could take it, a lot of creativity and
choices you have to make ofmaking that prediction and
making it as accurate aspossible.
So I just kind of hold on tothat and embrace that side of
things, even though, yes, thereis more of that analytical side
and I enjoy stretching my brainthat way.
(05:44):
It kind of can be a relief toswitch which side of the brain
I'm using in day to day.
But also I just love to see thecreativity.
If you're looking at againsomeone and what they might be
owing next year for their taxbill, there's again a lot of
(06:06):
creativity in the solutions youcan provide of how to lower that
tax bill.
And so I think there's a lot ofartistry in what our
accountants do here being ableto look at someone, their unique
business situation, all of thelaws and rules and regulations
and tax deductions you could betaking, and then start creating
like an individualized plan forthem of what would work best.
So yes, you know it doesstretch me, but I do see
(06:32):
creativity even in what we do,and that's part of the reason
why I love working here.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, I can definitely see that A really
good.
I really feel like well, firstof all, I feel like we need the
melding of both right Strategyand creativity all the time.
I mean obviously, some morethan others, depending on what
we're doing.
But even just with my ownbusiness and working with my
accountant over the years, Iwould not ever want to do that
(07:02):
first of all, but yeah, there'sa lot of creativity that comes
into that and I love that.
You guys over there too, youwork with a lot of photographers
and a lot of creatives, youknow, just in the services that
you offer.
So I can imagine that you knowworking with us crazy, right,
great people.
Right, you have to, you have tolike understand our thought
(07:26):
processes and things that youknow we're going through, as
well as our businesses.
So, you know, having said that,because you guys work with so
many of us, you know you alsoprobably know that we struggle
to balance the artistry of whatwe do with the demands of
running a business.
Like a lot of us just don'tcome to that naturally.
(07:49):
You, like me, are probably oneof those people who, like you
said, you like to kind ofstretch yourself into that.
I'm kind of the same way, likeI definitely wouldn't consider
myself, you know, super leftbrain, but I love, I love pieces
of that for sure, you know, asa creative.
But a lot of us aren't that way, and in my coaching business I
work with a lot of photographerswho are like they just kind of
(08:09):
like go into a coma when theyhave to start looking at numbers
, or even like are so triggeredby looking at the numbers.
A lot of them fall into it asnot really an accident, but kind
of right, because they lovewhat they do and they're like oh
, people want to pay me for this.
Now what Right?
So in your experience, in whatyou guys do, what are some of
(08:32):
the biggest financial hurdles oreven mistakes?
Small creative business ownerslike photographers?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
make.
I definitely have some greatsuggestions that way.
Do you want to also kick thisoff by just saying give yourself
a little grace?
We've all been at a point wherewe look at a profit and loss or
balance sheet or whateverfinancial report you're looking
at and kind of have the glazedexpression.
(09:00):
There's a reason ouraccountants are so good at what
they do.
They've gone through years ofschooling and continually have
to take credits to stay on topof what they do.
So you know, if you're one ofthose people who looks at
finances and then you just kindof want to tear your eyes out,
that's okay, that's fine and itwill come kind of with practice.
(09:24):
So some of the things that I'dsay is just first know legally
and financially kind of what youneed to do to stay compliance.
There's a lot of things thatyou can be thinking about.
Oh man, I wish I had this greatfinancial strategy and plan and
all these things in place.
(09:45):
There's a lot you can build offof from that.
But first off, you just need toknow the basics and what will
get you in trouble.
There's nothing worse thanstarting this amazing business
and, a few years down the road,getting into some trouble.
That really is painful or evenforces you to close your
business really is painful oreven forces you to close your
(10:09):
business.
So I'd say, just first makesure you know those things in
and out that you need to do tostay compliant with.
Whatever entity structure youhave, whatever type of tax forms
you're filing it's veryindividualized for each person.
As long as you know thosethings and have those deadlines
marked on your calendar, take adeep breath and then you can
build the rest from there.
(10:29):
And if you aren't sure whatsome of those things are, reach
out for help.
There's plenty of greatresources.
Our team would love to helptalk you through some things.
But as long as you have that,you can kind of take a deep
breath and then start buildingfrom there, because there are
quite a few things again you cando from that point.
(10:49):
And so once you've kind ofcovered yourself that way, then
that's when I start saying, okay, now build it one step at a
time.
Look at where you are at someof the holes that you have and
things you aren't good at, andstart thinking about okay, what
can I hand over to other peoplewho I trust, or how can I grow
(11:10):
and learn about these things.
Try not to do it all at once.
I mean, accounting is just onesmall piece of everything you
have to do as a business owner,and I know what that's like.
My husband is a business ownerand going through that journey
has been very insightful for usand very frustrating at times
(11:32):
too.
So again, kind of just seewhere you're at, look at your
priorities and start one thingat a time, with finances
specifically.
I'd say there's a lot of smallbusiness owners, especially in
the creative industry, who leavea lot of money on the table,
and we've created some guides tokind of help them know
(11:52):
deductions, they can take waysthey can maximize their savings,
things that you're probablyalready doing that you just need
to learn how to take advantageof.
So once you kind of get to thatpoint where you're a little
more stable, you can look intothose or again reach out for
help, find someone who you trust, who knows this world, and they
can help you really maximizethose savings.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, that's kind of the big thing that I see is,
like you know, so manyphotographers especially, but
just I think any creativebusiness owner has you don't
know what, you don't know right.
And so that asking for help,first of all, like that's great
advice too of like taking itstep-by-step, because that is
definitely something that I seeall of us are guilty of at some
(12:36):
point is those of us with I callthem spicy brains, right, like
you know the the having to do500 things at the same time,
whatever you can call it, a lotof different things.
But a lot of creatives havethat kind of brain where it's
very, very active, and peoplewith that kind of brain where
it's very, very active, andpeople with that kind of brain
tend to get overwhelmed byeverything.
Right, like that feeling of Ihave to do all of this right now
(12:58):
, like I have to do everythingfrom top to bottom, I have to
figure it out in the next hourand a half or everything's going
to fall apart, and that's notthe case.
Like it's really important tojust slow down and be like, okay
, what is the actual next rightstep here?
Because it's just one littlepiece at a time, and then also
that you know asking for helpand realizing that you know none
of us are really meant to bethe end all be all of our
(13:20):
business, like, yeah, most of usare solopreneurs and we kind of
have to be, at least for awhile, but it's I always tell
this to my coaching students assoon as you can afford to
outsource the things that youeither aren't good at or don't
want to do, or both, becauseusually that's both, you know
what I mean Like the samecategory that is going to grow
(13:41):
your business in ways that youcan't really see right now
because you're just in it toomuch and you can't think past
that.
Well, if I spend this muchmoney a month on someone else
helping me, then that's money Ispent.
Actually, it's money that youare growing your business.
It's investing in your businessin a big way.
Obviously, you want to be smartabout it, but I do think that
(14:03):
that's a piece that a lot ofpeople have a lot of resistance
to, because they're so used tohaving to just wear all the hats
and do all the things.
And you mentioned briefly.
I want to kind of also mentionfor the listeners Vite has this
awesome downloadable PDF thatI'm going to link for you guys
in the show notes.
It's got a lot of stuff in it,but one of the things inside
(14:27):
this PDF that I think is reallyhelpful is the 16 deductions
that every small business canclaim.
So while it's not specific tolike a certain business, this is
like stuff that if you guys arejust starting out and you
really don't know, this guidehas so much useful information
in it.
So I definitely want to makesure that you guys grab that in
the show notes and just go overthat, and even if you've been in
business for a minute, youstill might be surprised by some
(14:49):
of the things that are on thatlist.
So again, you don't know whatyou don't know.
So just kind of take it thatone step at a time, and we're
not going to go into taxes perse in this episode, even though
this is tax prep season for mostof us.
What I see happening a lot andI've been guilty of this too,
(15:10):
don't get me wrong you getreally busy, as we all do, and
we also don't like the task ofbookkeeping and keeping up.
I see a lot of photographersand creative entrepreneurs just
putting all of this off untilthe last minute, which is pretty
common.
So what advice would you giveto us, to somebody who might be
(15:34):
doing that until the last minute, right, which is probably most
of us I'm sure you see a fairamount of that as well what is a
piece of advice that you couldkind of give to us to either
maybe prevent that fromhappening or, okay, we're in
that situation.
Now what?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
that from happening or okay, we're in that situation
.
Now, what Exactly?
First off, I just say there aretax extensions for a reason.
You're not alone.
A lot of business owners are inthe same boat and it is a lot.
You have to get together in ashort amount of time at the
beginning of the year.
There's a reason for taxextensions, you know, and
there's a little safety netthere too.
If you're completely unprepared, go ahead and extend and take
the time to do it right and makesure you're getting the
(16:14):
deductions that you need.
But yeah, if you're currently inthat position and really
stressing about tax deadlinesaround the corner and
bookkeeping and all of thosethings, I'd say kind of to your
point, it is really great tooffload some of that if you can.
There's a lot of solutions outthere or sometimes there's also
(16:35):
someone you know in your family,right, who can jump in and help
out if you're really drowning.
But other than that, it's kindof just comes to try and get an
organized approach to it right.
There's the different steps.
You do have to do yourbookkeeping first and I know
that's kind of the most notexciting and not fun part of it
(16:58):
too.
Right, it can be kind ofgetting into the weeds and you
feel like how is this making adifference?
But it really can make a bigdifference in the end for how
much you save.
So make sure you're doing thatfirst, to try and maximize all
the deductions that you can, andthen from there just you kind
of have to get it done which isnever fun, but there's a lot of
(17:22):
great resources out there alsofor preventing things in the
future.
I usually like to, for kind ofour side, business and things,
try and schedule some time everycouple of months to check in
about it, because it's so muchbetter if it's not kind of
January where I'm facing it allat once.
It's just this huge task thatfeels like I can't be beat, and
(17:46):
it also always is a busy time ofyear for some reason right.
And so break it up over the yearas best you can.
Here I'm giving this advice andthen I'm kind of in the same
boat where I fall in a littlebehind and have a lot that I
have to get to.
But that's when you kind ofjust have to know yourself.
(18:06):
Some people work better withdeadlines looming over you, some
work better if you break it upover time.
But again, reaching out forthat help is just so crucial and
I'd say too, don't let it takeaway from your love and your
passion of your business.
I think I love that you said youtell people to outsource what
(18:28):
they don't want to do as soon asthey can, and I think that is
crucial, especially within thecreative industry.
It's so easy to get bogged downor disheartened by all the
things we have to do or look atthe things that just feel like
roadblocks in our way.
I know, as a novelist trying tosubmit my work and getting all
(18:50):
these rejection letters, youknow sometimes you're like, okay
, why do I even do this?
Why what's the point?
And I forget about how it trulymakes me happy.
And the point isn't to getother people's approval, it's to
create something and dosomething I love.
And so I think if you're also inthat mode where you're just
(19:10):
feeling, you know, is this evenworth it anymore?
That's when you can take a stepback and again offload what you
can.
If you're not in a place whereso you stay out of trouble,
It'll be okay.
Maybe you lose out on a fewsavings and you can do better
(19:33):
next year, but hey, it's yourbusiness and your passion that
matters most, so make sureyou're focusing on that.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, that's good advice.
Yeah, there's big big thingslike the compliance issues, and
there's smaller things, yeah,and so it's.
It's, I think, important toprioritize, like, okay, I may
not be killing it on all ofthose fronts right now and I'm
not, like you know, looking atmy profit and loss monthly or
whatever it is, but you canalways make a goal to get better
(20:04):
.
Right, it's always a choice toget better, as long as you are
compliant with those big things.
That's the stuff that I think alot of people just get so
scared about, and I think thatwhen people are afraid of
anything or overwhelmed by it,they tend to just want to run
from it, because you literallygo into fight or flight.
Right, it's like our brain'sresponse, and so what I'm always
trying to do is just helppeople get to that neutral space
(20:27):
.
Right, you might not get tolike the I mean, I know I'll
probably never get to like theoh, I'm so excited to look at,
you know, my bookkeeping rightnow.
No, I probably will never beexcited about it, but I can get
neutral about it.
I can be like all right, it is,it is what it is.
Like, this is great, like thatI, you know I'm able to kind of
keep up with it and pat yourselfon the back when you do stuff.
(20:50):
You know that is moving you inthe right direction and not beat
up on yourself.
Those are.
Those are some things that Ialways try and impart as well to
my audience here and mycoaching students.
But I wanted to ask a little bittoo, because you guys are
different.
Like, I've spoken with a lot ofdifferent people in the
financial industry, theaccounting industry, that kind
(21:11):
of thing, who work withcreatives, but when you guys do
an offer over there, it's alittle bit different, because
you kind of take a lot of thethings that we hate to do off of
our plate.
The actual bookkeeping is donefor you and you guys do it in a
way that is very accessible forpeople.
(21:33):
It's a low monthly membershipwith no contracts, and so I'm
fascinated by this.
I really didn't even know thatthat was an option until I found
you guys, and that's one of thereasons I wanted to tell people
about what you guys do, becauseI know a lot of photographers
and creatives look for this kindof service where they're like
yeah, you know, like I have thisservice or I have that and it,
(21:55):
you know, sucks in my bankaccount, but I still have to go
through it and I still have todo all these things, and that's
the part that they hate and thattrips them up.
So tell me a little bit aboutunder the hood of what you guys
do over there for creatives.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, definitely One of the biggest things.
Like you said, we are not ado-it-yourself solution.
We do it all for you, so that'sautomatically a huge load off
your plate, but it is apartnership too right.
There's certain things we can'tknow automatically.
We wish we could just read yourminds and do it all and file
(22:32):
taxes and we're all good, butthere's a lot of.
There is some input we'll needfrom you but that's also kind of
some of the beauty of ourservice is we are flat
subscription, no matter how muchyou use this.
So if you are confused abouthow to read your books and you
want to meet with us monthly tofigure it out and learn more, or
(22:54):
even several times a month andhave lots of questions, great,
that's all covered.
If you're kind of at a pointwhere you want to be more
hands-off and check in a coupletimes a year to do some tax
planning, we work with that too.
So that's also some of thethings that I love about how
we've structured our business.
We see ourselves as smallbusiness advocates, not just
(23:16):
accountants, and that'ssomething that I just love about
the culture of our company.
You truly feel it.
A lot of the people who workhere either have a small
business or at one point starteda small business that is either
still running or might'vefailed for some reason, but they
have some kind of passion forthese small business owners and
understand how difficult it canbe, and so being a resource for
(23:38):
others is just something wepride ourselves in and yeah, so
kind of just giving you more ofa look of how things are is
everything.
Everyone has a dedicatedbookkeeper and tax accountant.
So you're talking to the sameperson, the person who
understands your finances aswell as possible.
Also, we connect with mostbanks, so you don't have to
(24:01):
upload bank statements andthings like that.
You connect your books and thenwe kind of take it from there.
We reach out if we havequestions or need help.
But the nice thing about that is, whenever I'm doing it all
myself, I tend to let things goa little too long and then I'm
like, oh yeah, I was supposed todo that and Q4, I was supposed
to do this.
So it's nice to also just kindof have someone who's prodding
(24:25):
you to do the things.
Maybe you don't absolutely wantto do them, but right, they're
just.
They do most of it for you, butthey're also there to prod you
and keep you on track and beproactive and say, hey, we
haven't talked a while aboutyour tax strategy.
Did you want to meet about that?
How are you feeling going intothe new year?
So it's nice also just to havesomeone who's kind of looking
(24:45):
out for you and knows you andyour personality.
So that's another thing that wereally strive to do and just
make it work for you, causeagain, yeah, every business is
different and every person'sdifferent, and how much they
want to be involved with thisside of things is going to be
different.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Yeah, I just I'm so fascinated by that because to
have your own dedicatedaccountant and bookkeeper, you
would assume that it would bejust way more of an investment
than what you guys have it as.
And you guys can find all thisinformation in the show notes,
by the way.
Like, definitely go check themout.
Everything is on their websiteabout, like, how they offer it
and what they offer.
(25:25):
But like I was really, reallysurprised how accessible it is
for most creative entrepreneursLike this is something that you
can easily work into your costsof doing business.
Because the time that the timenot just the actual time of
doing those things of you know,doing the ledgers and all of
that that's physical time in andof itself, but also the mental
(25:48):
time, cause I don't know aboutyou guys, but like I've got that
anxiety brain so I can spenddays like worrying and stressing
about something that I amputting off or I don't want to
do Right, and so like thatmental load like that is a huge,
(26:08):
huge thing to be able to takeoff your plate.
So I mean it's not just likethe physical time of getting it
done.
I think you're saving people aheck of a lot of stress as well.
So I love that and you guys candefinitely look below to kind
of dig into that.
But I just wanted to make surewe mentioned it because it is
very different than a lot of thethings that I've seen out there
(26:28):
and I love that you guys havesuch a personal approach to it
as well.
Like you said, like you'rethere to help, you know kind of
poke and prod a little bit whenthat's needed and when people
you know need thataccountability, it's very easy
to just get off track just ingeneral.
So I wanted to ask you aquestion too that is a little
bit off topic, but kind of notreally.
I just love to get your inputon this because I'm not in your
(26:51):
world.
I'm in a creative space butwith all of the rapid
advancements of AI, I'minterested to know what you see
possibly coming in that world ofaccounting services and how
it's evolving and maybe what youguys are looking at doing or
anything that you've seen, justadvancements in general.
(27:14):
I'm very interested that world.
I have a little bit of a techieinterest, so I'm just wondering
, like, what are you seeingthere with AI and what you do?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, and I'd also say, you know, I'd kind of love
to hear that side of things fromyour side.
You know, as an artist inphotography, how you see AI
transforming the industry.
I'd love to hear your response,kind of after I can go over
accounting, I also have a lot offamily who's been in
photography.
My sister's currently aphotographer.
(27:45):
My father was a videographerand photographer all throughout
his life.
So you know, it's it's a placeI have special in my heart for
photographers and artists outthere and it's yeah, it's just
changing everything.
So, yeah, for the accountingworlds, it's hard for me to even
think where we might be,because I even think about last
(28:08):
year or even last week or lastmonth and some of the goals that
we were setting for ourselvesthat seemed like, oh, we'll
reach this in five years.
It seemed like suddenly,overnight, we could achieve it
through AI, which is just mindblowing.
So definitely seeing that rightnow in the accounting and
financial industry, there's somethings that AI is doing really
(28:31):
well.
With other things not so much.
Not surprisingly, taxes arestill a little difficult for AI
to fully do accurately, right,but a lot of the bookkeeping and
other things like that.
So that is something we verymuch invest in and part of the
reason and we are able to keepour costs so low I mean, our
(28:54):
highest tier plan is 250 bucksper month, and then we have more
affordable options depending onwhere you are at in your
business and part of that isbecause we can leverage
technology and we have kind ofour own special team that
focuses on AI and how we canadapt it to our company.
It seems like there's so manyproducts out there and people
(29:14):
willing to sell you theirversion of AI, but it's never
quite right for your use case orwhat you're trying to do.
So we've really customizedthings ourselves and kind of
built it out to really work withour software and everything,
but it's incredible speed andeverything.
(29:36):
So, yeah, we're doing that a lot.
I mean accounting.
A lot of it is kind of dataentry, categorizing things these
manual processes that AI hasjust expedited.
Incredibly, we found it doesn'teliminate the human touch,
though you still need someone togo back over those books, who's
(29:58):
familiar with the business, youknow, and that's why we have
still a dedicated bookkeeper foreveryone, because, I mean, ai
is great with so many things,but there's just some nuances
too.
So then special use cases,depending on each business, so
we do use it to move thingsalong a lot faster, but then
(30:19):
definitely have that human touchof someone reviewing all those
books and making sure it fitsand then also just maximizes the
time that they can spendone-on-one with our customers.
So that's what I love about itit doesn't take away the human
element, it's just magnifying it.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
So that's what I love about it.
It doesn't take away the humanelement, it's just magnifying it
.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, and that's basically, Ithink, how it should be used,
especially right now.
It's definitely advanced at acrazy rapid rate.
I mean, I signed up for ChaiChibi Tea the minute it was
released because I was like,okay, I just want to know, I'm
just one of those people I wantto figure it out.
Released because I was like,okay, I got to.
I just want to know, like I'mjust one of those people I want
(30:58):
to, I want to figure it out, andjust you know what you can do
with it now.
Just with that program in thelast couple of years, has it's
insane, it's crazy.
So, as far as, likephotographers, you know there's
definitely been a lot of, andyou know my husband's an actor
and a writer and so there's alot in that world too.
Right, Like of you know, scriptwriting, and how how much are we
(31:22):
relying on AI and all of thatstuff?
It's, it's scary andfascinating at the same time.
So it's been really interestingto see.
You know, we have to, we haveto continue to advance our
awareness of it at least becauseit is not stopping.
And so, like anytime anyonecomes to me and they're like,
well, I just don't, I don't useit, you know, and I don't
(31:44):
understand it, or they have apushback about it, that's kind
of where I feel like you're,you're going to kind of miss the
boat here, and I'm not sayingyou have to leverage it and get
on board and be all excitedabout it, but you, but you
should at least know about itand know what's going on,
because you have to know how tomitigate it and how to stop it
(32:05):
if you need to in your ownbusiness and whatever it might
be right.
So at least just have theawareness.
And there's a lot ofphotographers, yeah, like you
said, who were initially veryagainst it.
I have embraced it a lot.
I think that it has saved me somuch time.
There's editing programs nowthat include AI but, like you
said, there's still a personaltouch.
(32:27):
It's not like I'm handingeverything over to the computer.
It's assisting me.
I'm using it like my assistantin many, many different facets,
whether it's copywriting, blogwriting, social media planning,
editing.
It can do a lot of those thingsthat an assistant would do for
(32:49):
me.
But it's me.
It's like I've trained it to bethe best assistant ever,
because it's basically me.
And that is like there's somany.
How many times most of us havesaid like, oh, my God, I just
wish I could clone myself.
Well, you kind of can in a lotof ways now with ChatGPT or any
of these other programs that alot of us are using.
(33:10):
So in that respect, I embraceit.
I'm not fully, like, I'mcautiously excited about it.
Let's put it that way, right,because I really feel like we
need to be, we need to becautious of it, we need to know
what's kind of going on.
But, like you said, I think mostof us are sort of using it in
that way where it's like how canit make me better, how can it
(33:32):
make me more efficient, how canI make my business feel more
personal to my clients?
Because most of what I teachwhat I do as a photographer and
teach as a photographer is ahigh touch experience.
You know more luxury basedclients.
We're charging more, basically,and shooting less clients, and
the only way that you can reallydo that is if you are
(33:53):
outsourcing, if you are givingaway stuff that you don't like,
like you're bookkeeping and oryou know you are, you are using
technology to help you progress.
So that just means that we havemore time with our clients.
Like you said, with with youguys.
It means that the actualbookkeepers have more personal
time with their with theirclients too, which I think is a
(34:15):
good thing.
So I love that that you guysare using it in that way.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Exactly and kind of to your point.
It is a choice, right, what yougive it and offload and some of
the things I'm sure that peoplewant to offload.
Sometimes that personalcommunication does get to be a
drag and I see a lot ofcompanies offloading that to AI.
But we've made a consciousdecision that, hey, no, even
(34:43):
though, yeah, sometimes it canbe a lot to wade through it's
important because you're givingpeople peace of mind.
That's where you get to knowtheir businesses in
communicating with them.
So you have to make the choiceof what you hand over and you're
still the one in control.
I mean, yeah, there is a lotwith them, so you have to make
the choice of what you hand overand you're still the one in
control.
I mean, yeah, there is a lotwith AI.
It can be scary and thinkingabout how jobs might change and
(35:07):
things, but again, if we kind ofutilize it, then it also can
maximize and who knows what kindof jobs will be there in the
future.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Exactly, yeah, Fascinating, Okay.
So before we wrap up, I want toask you one question that I
usually like to ask a lot of myget most of my guests, you know
my show here is is we talk aboutthe, the mixing of strategy and
magic, or manifestation, or oranything having to do with that
duality of the left brain, theright brain?
However you want to package it?
I like to think of myself asintegrating both of those on the
(35:46):
daily and as a creativeyourself.
I'm interested in finding outwhat sort of practices keep you
in that place of groundedness orconnectedness, or whatever you
want to call it, because we allhave different words for it.
But what are some of the thingsthat you do for your
self-development as well?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Yeah, I think that's a great point and I think I've
brought this up a little bit intelling other people about this.
But I have to give myself gracea lot of the time and cut
myself some slack because I wantto be at that point of complete
groundedness and balance andsome days I achieve it, but
(36:30):
those are probably the minority.
Just because, like you said, mybrain works the same way where
I have so many things firing offat once, or there's a lot of
things that I'm balancing mylife between work and family and
hobbies, and so I just kind ofunderstand that, hey, every day
doesn't need to look perfect andbe completely balanced.
(36:52):
It kind of balances itself outover time.
There's times when my job is alittle more consuming and we
have a lot going on, and thenthere's other times when I have
a lot of difficulties or justtime I need to be spending with
my family and those kind of ebband flow, and it tends to create
(37:14):
a balance in the long run, andso I can't get too caught up in
the day-to-day.
Oh, here's all these thingsthat I didn't get to, that I
wanted to get to.
I try and flip that and justlook at okay, what did I
accomplish today?
What do I feel proud of?
And still, what can I work onfor the future?
But I look at finding thecreativity where I am now.
(37:36):
But I look at finding thecreativity where I am now.
Sometimes you have a littlemore freedom to really dive into
yourself and create the thingsyou want to.
Other times there's moreresponsibilities on your plate.
So I look at either time and Ijust think of okay, how is that
still creative?
Or what kind of magic did I seetoday, even though it wasn't
(37:59):
what I expected, because mostdays are not what.
I am going to expect when I amright now in my career.
It was not something I everexpected, and the unexpected is
great too.
It brings its own kind of magicthat you have to look for and
see.
So I think if you're just atleast deliberate in that, in
being honest with yourself andreal and saying here's where I'm
(38:22):
at now, this is the magic I'mseeing, here's what I want to
realize in the future.
But it's okay, I'm not thereyet I'll get there.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
I love that.
That's really, really importantbecause I feel, like a lot of
us well, I know a lot of us tendto crack the whip on ourselves
the most, like we're our ownworst enemy and our, you know,
biggest motivator sometimes.
But also we can be really hardon ourselves, like I didn't do
it the right way, or like yousaid, I didn't do enough and
(38:52):
there's no, there's no good inthat, you know, at the end of
the day, like giving yourselfthat grace is really important.
Yeah, we want to hold ourselvesaccountable, but there's that
line of okay, I'm not going tobe good to anybody if I'm just
beating myself up on the dailyand telling myself that I didn't
do enough.
(39:12):
Sometimes, like you said, theunexpected.
One of the things I like to askmyself every morning is like I
wonder what's going to show uptoday.
I just wonder because you saidthe unexpected.
One of the things I like to askmyself every morning is like I
wonder what's going to show uptoday.
Like I just wonder because younever know.
And staying open to that is, Ithink, a really important skill
for all of us, but especiallywith small business owners,
because you really do never know, like even with what you're,
(39:33):
you know, even as a CEO, I'msure, like you said, things just
pop up and you've got to dealwith them in the moment.
So it is what it is.
You just got to kind of movethrough it.
So, yeah, thank you.
That was very, very, very cooland I love everything that you
guys are doing over there.
I'm very excited to share allof this with my audience here
and on social.
(39:54):
I'll be talking about this onmy social too, because anything
that's going to take, like Isaid, the mental load off of us
like this, I think, is going tohave really big impact for a lot
of small, creative businesses.
So thank you for sharing all ofthat with us, and you guys can
find all of that information inthe show notes below, but would
(40:14):
you like to go ahead and let usknow as well?
I know that you're over onLinkedIn, so I don't know.
If there's a place where peoplewant to connect with you, they
can.
How do you like to stayconnected to people?
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, linkedin is a great way.
Feel free to reach out there.
Also, reach out to meindividually, danielle Wagner.
My email is dwagneratvideio, soI always love hearing from
people.
So feel free and reach out tome and I just I really do
appreciate this opportunity totalk with you today and, to you
(40:46):
know, just have a have anothermoment to step out and kind of
think through these things.
So thank you so much for havingme.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Sure, I'm super excited to meet you guys as well
, like awesome company, so Iwill put all of that in the show
notes as well, you guys andyeah, thank you so much,
danielle.
Thank you All right, so I hopethat you guys got some good
takeaways there.
Please download that PDF.
I'm telling you, the PDF thatthey have put together has so
many useful tips and tricks andjust things that you might not
(41:15):
be thinking of, and it's notbehind an email capture wall,
it's a straight download.
I'm going to link it to Dropboxdown there so you can just grab
it and download it to whateverdevice your computer, your phone
, whatever.
I suggest downloading it toyour computer so you can
reference it as you work throughyour books, and if you guys are
(41:35):
interested in trying Vyde out,there's a link for you guys to
do that as well.
I'm happy to help promote theirprogram because I really do
think it is so awesome and it'sgoing to save you so much time.
Honestly, if you hate doing yourbooks or if you just like so
many photographers that I talkto, you have the programs right,
whether it's QuickBooks orsomething else that you're using
(41:57):
.
You might have your bank hookedup to it, but you still need to
go through it and make surethat all those categories are
correct.
You got to do a P&L, you got toget prepped for taxes and you
just don't do it because youdon't like to do it.
Trust me, I get it.
I'm super there.
I'm with you on this, but thismakes it so much easier and it's
(42:17):
really, really affordable.
Like, honestly, the money thatyou spend on things like this
comes back to you 20 times morebecause you're able to give your
clients so much more of you andyour family as well, right?
So, like, I'm all about youhaving a life and things like
this help you have a life, cause, let's be honest, nobody really
(42:39):
loves doing this kind of stuff.
So, and if you do, hey, morepower to you.
I know a lot of photographerswho are actually accountants.
Like, I have so many people inmy, my coaching programs who
were accountants in theirprevious life and that's awesome
, but that's rare.
Most of us, it's not our thing.
So check them out the link'sbelow.
If you guys have any questionsabout any of that.
You also can email Danielle.
(43:00):
That was super awesome of herto give us her email.
I'm going to put that for youtoo, and, just as always, reach
out to me with any questions andif you share about the show,
please tag me so I can alsorepost it and connect with you
on Instagram.
I hope you guys are having anawesome week and I hope you
continue to, and I'll see younext time.
Love you, bye.
especially within the creative industry.
(00:01):
It's so easy to get bogged downor disheartened by all the
things we have to do or look atthe things that just feel like
roadblocks in our way.
I know as a novelist trying tosubmit my work and getting all
these rejection letters.
Sometimes you're like, okay,why do I even do this?
(00:22):
Why what's the point?
And I forget about how it trulymakes me happy.
And the point isn't to getother people's approval, it's to
create something and dosomething I love.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to Tried and True with a dash of woo, where
we blend rock solid tips with alittle bit of magic.
I'm Renee Bowen, your host,life and business coach and
professional photographer atyour service.
We are all about gettingcreative, diving into your
business and playing withmanifestation over here.
So are you ready to getinspired and have some fun?
Let's dive in.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Hey, hey, welcome back to tried and true with a
dash of woo.
I'm your host, renee Bowen,thanks for joining me today.
We are talking about stuff thatyou guys don't like to hear
about, but please stay with mebecause it is important and you
need to know about it.
So I am talking with DanielleWagner, who is the CEO of VIDE,
and VIDE is an accountingservice.
They're an accounting programDon't let your eyes glaze over
(01:21):
but you guys, what they do isreally, really awesome.
It would save you so much timeand energy.
You have no idea.
I really am excited aboutspeaking with Danielle because
not only is she the CEO, she'salso a creative right.
So, yeah, she's the CEO of thisaccounting firm, but she's also
got a degree in writing andEnglish.
(01:42):
She writes novels.
She's got a really coolbackground working in media in
general, and I love talking withpeople who seem to mix those
two worlds of left brain, rightbrain, strategy, woo, whatever
you want to call it being intouch with all of these
different facets of ourselves ashuman beings.
(02:04):
And we talk a lot about some ofthe things that they see over
there with creativeentrepreneurs, because they work
with a lot of creatives and alot of photographers through
their program that they offer,which is awesome, and all the
information about what they dois in the show notes and we talk
about a little bit about thatin the show as well.
But we really also talk aboutwhat she sees us creatives
(02:26):
struggle with in terms of thatand how we can mitigate that and
how we can get ahead of it.
We talk a little bit about AIas well.
So this is a really really coolconversation that I think is
really timely.
I mean, it is tax season sounfortunately they're not going
anywhere.
We have to do those things.
There are ways to make thiswhole process so much easier on
ourselves, and not just like thephysical time of doing it, but
(02:49):
like taking away the mentalstress of it, because VIDE
offers bookkeeping services,like they do it for you and it's
so affordable.
You guys like their mostexpensive plan is $249 a month
and they have cheaper ones, likereally accessible and there's
no contract, like you're nottied into anything.
It's really cool.
So you guys are going to lovethis conversation I had with
Danielle.
She's really cool.
Let's just dive in.
(03:14):
Hey, Danielle, thanks forjoining us here today.
I'm really excited about thisconversation because I really
love talking with people whosuccessfully blend their love of
the arts or their creativebackgrounds with what is usually
thought of as more of like aleft brain kind of field, like
math or accounting, and yourjourney to CEO at VIDE is really
intriguing to me.
You have this background instorytelling, basically right,
(03:36):
you've got this degree inwriting English.
So how do you balance theanalytical nature of accounting
with what you guys do there,with the creative aspects of
marketing and storytelling, asyour role of CEO over at Vyde?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah Well, first off, thank you so much for having me
.
I'm so excited to be here and,yeah, I did graduate with a
degree in English and writing,so I am far from where I thought
I would be, but that's okay.
I can remember most of whathappened during my graduation
ceremony.
I do not remember because itwas so boring, but the one thing
(04:16):
I do remember was them givingdon't quote me on the statistic,
but it was a really highstatistic like 75% or something
of jobs that existed todaydidn't exist five, 10 years ago,
and that just was kind ofshocking to me.
And so it told me just toalways leave yourself open for
the unexpected.
And that's what I've kind ofdone in my career.
(04:39):
So you're right, I have endedup in something that's a little
more typically considered leftbrain analytical.
But what I've discovered is it'snot as mutually exclusive as
you might think.
There's so much creativity thatstill happens in budgeting or
accounting and finances.
Not that I'm saying we getreally creative with people's
(05:02):
finances here.
That's not at all what I mean.
There's obviously rules we haveto follow and we want to keep
people compliant, but at thesame time, if you're looking at
your finances, for instance, andyou're trying to project what
you're going to make over thenext year.
There's a lot of factors inplay there and there's a lot of
(05:23):
different ways you could take it, a lot of creativity and
choices you have to make ofmaking that prediction and
making it as accurate aspossible.
So I just kind of hold on tothat and embrace that side of
things, even though, yes, thereis more of that analytical side
and I enjoy stretching my brainthat way.
(05:44):
It kind of can be a relief toswitch which side of the brain
I'm using in day to day.
But also I just love to see thecreativity.
If you're looking at againsomeone and what they might be
owing next year for their taxbill, there's again a lot of
(06:06):
creativity in the solutions youcan provide of how to lower that
tax bill.
And so I think there's a lot ofartistry in what our
accountants do here being ableto look at someone, their unique
business situation, all of thelaws and rules and regulations
and tax deductions you could betaking, and then start creating
like an individualized plan forthem of what would work best.
So yes, you know it doesstretch me, but I do see
(06:32):
creativity even in what we do,and that's part of the reason
why I love working here.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, I can definitely see that A really
good.
I really feel like well, firstof all, I feel like we need the
melding of both right Strategyand creativity all the time.
I mean obviously, some morethan others, depending on what
we're doing.
But even just with my ownbusiness and working with my
accountant over the years, Iwould not ever want to do that
(07:02):
first of all, but yeah, there'sa lot of creativity that comes
into that and I love that.
You guys over there too, youwork with a lot of photographers
and a lot of creatives, youknow, just in the services that
you offer.
So I can imagine that you knowworking with us crazy, right,
great people.
Right, you have to, you have tolike understand our thought
(07:26):
processes and things that youknow we're going through, as
well as our businesses.
So, you know, having said that,because you guys work with so
many of us, you know you alsoprobably know that we struggle
to balance the artistry of whatwe do with the demands of
running a business.
Like a lot of us just don'tcome to that naturally.
(07:49):
You, like me, are probably oneof those people who, like you
said, you like to kind ofstretch yourself into that.
I'm kind of the same way, likeI definitely wouldn't consider
myself, you know, super leftbrain, but I love, I love pieces
of that for sure, you know, asa creative.
But a lot of us aren't that way, and in my coaching business I
work with a lot of photographerswho are like they just kind of
(08:09):
like go into a coma when theyhave to start looking at numbers
, or even like are so triggeredby looking at the numbers.
A lot of them fall into it asnot really an accident, but kind
of right, because they lovewhat they do and they're like oh
, people want to pay me for this.
Now what Right?
So in your experience, in whatyou guys do, what are some of
(08:32):
the biggest financial hurdles oreven mistakes?
Small creative business ownerslike photographers?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
make.
I definitely have some greatsuggestions that way.
Do you want to also kick thisoff by just saying give yourself
a little grace?
We've all been at a point wherewe look at a profit and loss or
balance sheet or whateverfinancial report you're looking
at and kind of have the glazedexpression.
(09:00):
There's a reason ouraccountants are so good at what
they do.
They've gone through years ofschooling and continually have
to take credits to stay on topof what they do.
So you know, if you're one ofthose people who looks at
finances and then you just kindof want to tear your eyes out,
that's okay, that's fine and itwill come kind of with practice.
(09:24):
So some of the things that I'dsay is just first know legally
and financially kind of what youneed to do to stay compliance.
There's a lot of things thatyou can be thinking about.
Oh man, I wish I had this greatfinancial strategy and plan and
all these things in place.
(09:45):
There's a lot you can build offof from that.
But first off, you just need toknow the basics and what will
get you in trouble.
There's nothing worse thanstarting this amazing business
and, a few years down the road,getting into some trouble.
That really is painful or evenforces you to close your
business really is painful oreven forces you to close your
(10:09):
business.
So I'd say, just first makesure you know those things in
and out that you need to do tostay compliant with.
Whatever entity structure youhave, whatever type of tax forms
you're filing it's veryindividualized for each person.
As long as you know thosethings and have those deadlines
marked on your calendar, take adeep breath and then you can
build the rest from there.
(10:29):
And if you aren't sure whatsome of those things are, reach
out for help.
There's plenty of greatresources.
Our team would love to helptalk you through some things.
But as long as you have that,you can kind of take a deep
breath and then start buildingfrom there, because there are
quite a few things again you cando from that point.
(10:49):
And so once you've kind ofcovered yourself that way, then
that's when I start saying, okay, now build it one step at a
time.
Look at where you are at someof the holes that you have and
things you aren't good at, andstart thinking about okay, what
can I hand over to other peoplewho I trust, or how can I grow
(11:10):
and learn about these things.
Try not to do it all at once.
I mean, accounting is just onesmall piece of everything you
have to do as a business owner,and I know what that's like.
My husband is a business ownerand going through that journey
has been very insightful for usand very frustrating at times
(11:32):
too.
So again, kind of just seewhere you're at, look at your
priorities and start one thingat a time, with finances
specifically.
I'd say there's a lot of smallbusiness owners, especially in
the creative industry, who leavea lot of money on the table,
and we've created some guides tokind of help them know
(11:52):
deductions, they can take waysthey can maximize their savings,
things that you're probablyalready doing that you just need
to learn how to take advantageof.
So once you kind of get to thatpoint where you're a little
more stable, you can look intothose or again reach out for
help, find someone who you trust, who knows this world, and they
can help you really maximizethose savings.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, that's kind of the big thing that I see is,
like you know, so manyphotographers especially, but
just I think any creativebusiness owner has you don't
know what, you don't know right.
And so that asking for help,first of all, like that's great
advice too of like taking itstep-by-step, because that is
definitely something that I seeall of us are guilty of at some
(12:36):
point is those of us with I callthem spicy brains, right, like
you know the the having to do500 things at the same time,
whatever you can call it, a lotof different things.
But a lot of creatives havethat kind of brain where it's
very, very active, and peoplewith that kind of brain where
it's very, very active, andpeople with that kind of brain
tend to get overwhelmed byeverything.
Right, like that feeling of Ihave to do all of this right now
(12:58):
, like I have to do everythingfrom top to bottom, I have to
figure it out in the next hourand a half or everything's going
to fall apart, and that's notthe case.
Like it's really important tojust slow down and be like, okay
, what is the actual next rightstep here?
Because it's just one littlepiece at a time, and then also
that you know asking for helpand realizing that you know none
of us are really meant to bethe end all be all of our
(13:20):
business, like, yeah, most of usare solopreneurs and we kind of
have to be, at least for awhile, but it's I always tell
this to my coaching students assoon as you can afford to
outsource the things that youeither aren't good at or don't
want to do, or both, becauseusually that's both, you know
what I mean Like the samecategory that is going to grow
(13:41):
your business in ways that youcan't really see right now
because you're just in it toomuch and you can't think past
that.
Well, if I spend this muchmoney a month on someone else
helping me, then that's money Ispent.
Actually, it's money that youare growing your business.
It's investing in your businessin a big way.
Obviously, you want to be smartabout it, but I do think that
(14:03):
that's a piece that a lot ofpeople have a lot of resistance
to, because they're so used tohaving to just wear all the hats
and do all the things.
And you mentioned briefly.
I want to kind of also mentionfor the listeners Vite has this
awesome downloadable PDF thatI'm going to link for you guys
in the show notes.
It's got a lot of stuff in it,but one of the things inside
(14:27):
this PDF that I think is reallyhelpful is the 16 deductions
that every small business canclaim.
So while it's not specific tolike a certain business, this is
like stuff that if you guys arejust starting out and you
really don't know, this guidehas so much useful information
in it.
So I definitely want to makesure that you guys grab that in
the show notes and just go overthat, and even if you've been in
business for a minute, youstill might be surprised by some
(14:49):
of the things that are on thatlist.
So again, you don't know whatyou don't know.
So just kind of take it thatone step at a time, and we're
not going to go into taxes perse in this episode, even though
this is tax prep season for mostof us.
What I see happening a lot andI've been guilty of this too,
(15:10):
don't get me wrong you getreally busy, as we all do, and
we also don't like the task ofbookkeeping and keeping up.
I see a lot of photographersand creative entrepreneurs just
putting all of this off untilthe last minute, which is pretty
common.
So what advice would you giveto us, to somebody who might be
(15:34):
doing that until the last minute, right, which is probably most
of us I'm sure you see a fairamount of that as well what is a
piece of advice that you couldkind of give to us to either
maybe prevent that fromhappening or, okay, we're in
that situation.
Now what?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
that from happening or okay, we're in that situation
.
Now, what Exactly?
First off, I just say there aretax extensions for a reason.
You're not alone.
A lot of business owners are inthe same boat and it is a lot.
You have to get together in ashort amount of time at the
beginning of the year.
There's a reason for taxextensions, you know, and
there's a little safety netthere too.
If you're completely unprepared, go ahead and extend and take
the time to do it right and makesure you're getting the
(16:14):
deductions that you need.
But yeah, if you're currently inthat position and really
stressing about tax deadlinesaround the corner and
bookkeeping and all of thosethings, I'd say kind of to your
point, it is really great tooffload some of that if you can.
There's a lot of solutions outthere or sometimes there's also
(16:35):
someone you know in your family,right, who can jump in and help
out if you're really drowning.
But other than that, it's kindof just comes to try and get an
organized approach to it right.
There's the different steps.
You do have to do yourbookkeeping first and I know
that's kind of the most notexciting and not fun part of it
(16:58):
too.
Right, it can be kind ofgetting into the weeds and you
feel like how is this making adifference?
But it really can make a bigdifference in the end for how
much you save.
So make sure you're doing thatfirst, to try and maximize all
the deductions that you can, andthen from there just you kind
of have to get it done which isnever fun, but there's a lot of
(17:22):
great resources out there alsofor preventing things in the
future.
I usually like to, for kind ofour side, business and things,
try and schedule some time everycouple of months to check in
about it, because it's so muchbetter if it's not kind of
January where I'm facing it allat once.
It's just this huge task thatfeels like I can't be beat, and
(17:46):
it also always is a busy time ofyear for some reason right.
And so break it up over the yearas best you can.
Here I'm giving this advice andthen I'm kind of in the same
boat where I fall in a littlebehind and have a lot that I
have to get to.
But that's when you kind ofjust have to know yourself.
(18:06):
Some people work better withdeadlines looming over you, some
work better if you break it upover time.
But again, reaching out forthat help is just so crucial and
I'd say too, don't let it takeaway from your love and your
passion of your business.
I think I love that you said youtell people to outsource what
(18:28):
they don't want to do as soon asthey can, and I think that is
crucial, especially within thecreative industry.
It's so easy to get bogged downor disheartened by all the
things we have to do or look atthe things that just feel like
roadblocks in our way.
I know, as a novelist trying tosubmit my work and getting all
(18:50):
these rejection letters, youknow sometimes you're like, okay
, why do I even do this?
Why what's the point?
And I forget about how it trulymakes me happy.
And the point isn't to getother people's approval, it's to
create something and dosomething I love.
And so I think if you're also inthat mode where you're just
(19:10):
feeling, you know, is this evenworth it anymore?
That's when you can take a stepback and again offload what you
can.
If you're not in a place whereso you stay out of trouble,
It'll be okay.
Maybe you lose out on a fewsavings and you can do better
(19:33):
next year, but hey, it's yourbusiness and your passion that
matters most, so make sureyou're focusing on that.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, that's good advice.
Yeah, there's big big thingslike the compliance issues, and
there's smaller things, yeah,and so it's.
It's, I think, important toprioritize, like, okay, I may
not be killing it on all ofthose fronts right now and I'm
not, like you know, looking atmy profit and loss monthly or
whatever it is, but you canalways make a goal to get better
(20:04):
.
Right, it's always a choice toget better, as long as you are
compliant with those big things.
That's the stuff that I think alot of people just get so
scared about, and I think thatwhen people are afraid of
anything or overwhelmed by it,they tend to just want to run
from it, because you literallygo into fight or flight.
Right, it's like our brain'sresponse, and so what I'm always
trying to do is just helppeople get to that neutral space
(20:27):
.
Right, you might not get tolike the I mean, I know I'll
probably never get to like theoh, I'm so excited to look at,
you know, my bookkeeping rightnow.
No, I probably will never beexcited about it, but I can get
neutral about it.
I can be like all right, it is,it is what it is.
Like, this is great, like thatI, you know I'm able to kind of
keep up with it and pat yourselfon the back when you do stuff.
(20:50):
You know that is moving you inthe right direction and not beat
up on yourself.
Those are.
Those are some things that Ialways try and impart as well to
my audience here and mycoaching students.
But I wanted to ask a little bittoo, because you guys are
different.
Like, I've spoken with a lot ofdifferent people in the
financial industry, theaccounting industry, that kind
(21:11):
of thing, who work withcreatives, but when you guys do
an offer over there, it's alittle bit different, because
you kind of take a lot of thethings that we hate to do off of
our plate.
The actual bookkeeping is donefor you and you guys do it in a
way that is very accessible forpeople.
(21:33):
It's a low monthly membershipwith no contracts, and so I'm
fascinated by this.
I really didn't even know thatthat was an option until I found
you guys, and that's one of thereasons I wanted to tell people
about what you guys do, becauseI know a lot of photographers
and creatives look for this kindof service where they're like
yeah, you know, like I have thisservice or I have that and it,
(21:55):
you know, sucks in my bankaccount, but I still have to go
through it and I still have todo all these things, and that's
the part that they hate and thattrips them up.
So tell me a little bit aboutunder the hood of what you guys
do over there for creatives.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, definitely One of the biggest things.
Like you said, we are not ado-it-yourself solution.
We do it all for you, so that'sautomatically a huge load off
your plate, but it is apartnership too right.
There's certain things we can'tknow automatically.
We wish we could just read yourminds and do it all and file
(22:32):
taxes and we're all good, butthere's a lot of.
There is some input we'll needfrom you but that's also kind of
some of the beauty of ourservice is we are flat
subscription, no matter how muchyou use this.
So if you are confused abouthow to read your books and you
want to meet with us monthly tofigure it out and learn more, or
(22:54):
even several times a month andhave lots of questions, great,
that's all covered.
If you're kind of at a pointwhere you want to be more
hands-off and check in a coupletimes a year to do some tax
planning, we work with that too.
So that's also some of thethings that I love about how
we've structured our business.
We see ourselves as smallbusiness advocates, not just
(23:16):
accountants, and that'ssomething that I just love about
the culture of our company.
You truly feel it.
A lot of the people who workhere either have a small
business or at one point starteda small business that is either
still running or might'vefailed for some reason, but they
have some kind of passion forthese small business owners and
understand how difficult it canbe, and so being a resource for
(23:38):
others is just something wepride ourselves in and yeah, so
kind of just giving you more ofa look of how things are is
everything.
Everyone has a dedicatedbookkeeper and tax accountant.
So you're talking to the sameperson, the person who
understands your finances aswell as possible.
Also, we connect with mostbanks, so you don't have to
(24:01):
upload bank statements andthings like that.
You connect your books and thenwe kind of take it from there.
We reach out if we havequestions or need help.
But the nice thing about that is, whenever I'm doing it all
myself, I tend to let things goa little too long and then I'm
like, oh yeah, I was supposed todo that and Q4, I was supposed
to do this.
So it's nice to also just kindof have someone who's prodding
(24:25):
you to do the things.
Maybe you don't absolutely wantto do them, but right, they're
just.
They do most of it for you, butthey're also there to prod you
and keep you on track and beproactive and say, hey, we
haven't talked a while aboutyour tax strategy.
Did you want to meet about that?
How are you feeling going intothe new year?
So it's nice also just to havesomeone who's kind of looking
(24:45):
out for you and knows you andyour personality.
So that's another thing that wereally strive to do and just
make it work for you, causeagain, yeah, every business is
different and every person'sdifferent, and how much they
want to be involved with thisside of things is going to be
different.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Yeah, I just I'm so fascinated by that because to
have your own dedicatedaccountant and bookkeeper, you
would assume that it would bejust way more of an investment
than what you guys have it as.
And you guys can find all thisinformation in the show notes,
by the way.
Like, definitely go check themout.
Everything is on their websiteabout, like, how they offer it
and what they offer.
(25:25):
But like I was really, reallysurprised how accessible it is
for most creative entrepreneursLike this is something that you
can easily work into your costsof doing business.
Because the time that the timenot just the actual time of
doing those things of you know,doing the ledgers and all of
that that's physical time in andof itself, but also the mental
(25:48):
time, cause I don't know aboutyou guys, but like I've got that
anxiety brain so I can spenddays like worrying and stressing
about something that I amputting off or I don't want to
do Right, and so like thatmental load like that is a huge,
(26:08):
huge thing to be able to takeoff your plate.
So I mean it's not just likethe physical time of getting it
done.
I think you're saving people aheck of a lot of stress as well.
So I love that and you guys candefinitely look below to kind
of dig into that.
But I just wanted to make surewe mentioned it because it is
very different than a lot of thethings that I've seen out there
(26:28):
and I love that you guys havesuch a personal approach to it
as well.
Like you said, like you'rethere to help, you know kind of
poke and prod a little bit whenthat's needed and when people
you know need thataccountability, it's very easy
to just get off track just ingeneral.
So I wanted to ask you aquestion too that is a little
bit off topic, but kind of notreally.
I just love to get your inputon this because I'm not in your
(26:51):
world.
I'm in a creative space butwith all of the rapid
advancements of AI, I'minterested to know what you see
possibly coming in that world ofaccounting services and how
it's evolving and maybe what youguys are looking at doing or
anything that you've seen, justadvancements in general.
(27:14):
I'm very interested that world.
I have a little bit of a techieinterest, so I'm just wondering
, like, what are you seeingthere with AI and what you do?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, and I'd also say, you know, I'd kind of love
to hear that side of things fromyour side.
You know, as an artist inphotography, how you see AI
transforming the industry.
I'd love to hear your response,kind of after I can go over
accounting, I also have a lot offamily who's been in
photography.
My sister's currently aphotographer.
(27:45):
My father was a videographerand photographer all throughout
his life.
So you know, it's it's a placeI have special in my heart for
photographers and artists outthere and it's yeah, it's just
changing everything.
So, yeah, for the accountingworlds, it's hard for me to even
think where we might be,because I even think about last
(28:08):
year or even last week or lastmonth and some of the goals that
we were setting for ourselvesthat seemed like, oh, we'll
reach this in five years.
It seemed like suddenly,overnight, we could achieve it
through AI, which is just mindblowing.
So definitely seeing that rightnow in the accounting and
financial industry, there's somethings that AI is doing really
(28:31):
well.
With other things not so much.
Not surprisingly, taxes arestill a little difficult for AI
to fully do accurately, right,but a lot of the bookkeeping and
other things like that.
So that is something we verymuch invest in and part of the
reason and we are able to keepour costs so low I mean, our
(28:54):
highest tier plan is 250 bucksper month, and then we have more
affordable options depending onwhere you are at in your
business and part of that isbecause we can leverage
technology and we have kind ofour own special team that
focuses on AI and how we canadapt it to our company.
It seems like there's so manyproducts out there and people
(29:14):
willing to sell you theirversion of AI, but it's never
quite right for your use case orwhat you're trying to do.
So we've really customizedthings ourselves and kind of
built it out to really work withour software and everything,
but it's incredible speed andeverything.
(29:36):
So, yeah, we're doing that a lot.
I mean accounting.
A lot of it is kind of dataentry, categorizing things these
manual processes that AI hasjust expedited.
Incredibly, we found it doesn'teliminate the human touch,
though you still need someone togo back over those books, who's
(29:58):
familiar with the business, youknow, and that's why we have
still a dedicated bookkeeper foreveryone, because, I mean, ai
is great with so many things,but there's just some nuances
too.
So then special use cases,depending on each business, so
we do use it to move thingsalong a lot faster, but then
(30:19):
definitely have that human touchof someone reviewing all those
books and making sure it fitsand then also just maximizes the
time that they can spendone-on-one with our customers.
So that's what I love about itit doesn't take away the human
element, it's just magnifying it.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
So that's what I love about it.
It doesn't take away the humanelement, it's just magnifying it
.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, and that's basically, Ithink, how it should be used,
especially right now.
It's definitely advanced at acrazy rapid rate.
I mean, I signed up for ChaiChibi Tea the minute it was
released because I was like,okay, I just want to know, I'm
just one of those people I wantto figure it out.
Released because I was like,okay, I got to.
I just want to know, like I'mjust one of those people I want
(30:58):
to, I want to figure it out, andjust you know what you can do
with it now.
Just with that program in thelast couple of years, has it's
insane, it's crazy.
So, as far as, likephotographers, you know there's
definitely been a lot of, andyou know my husband's an actor
and a writer and so there's alot in that world too.
Right, Like of you know, scriptwriting, and how how much are we
(31:22):
relying on AI and all of thatstuff?
It's, it's scary andfascinating at the same time.
So it's been really interestingto see.
You know, we have to, we haveto continue to advance our
awareness of it at least becauseit is not stopping.
And so, like anytime anyonecomes to me and they're like,
well, I just don't, I don't useit, you know, and I don't
(31:44):
understand it, or they have apushback about it, that's kind
of where I feel like you're,you're going to kind of miss the
boat here, and I'm not sayingyou have to leverage it and get
on board and be all excitedabout it, but you, but you
should at least know about itand know what's going on,
because you have to know how tomitigate it and how to stop it
(32:05):
if you need to in your ownbusiness and whatever it might
be right.
So at least just have theawareness.
And there's a lot ofphotographers, yeah, like you
said, who were initially veryagainst it.
I have embraced it a lot.
I think that it has saved me somuch time.
There's editing programs nowthat include AI but, like you
said, there's still a personaltouch.
(32:27):
It's not like I'm handingeverything over to the computer.
It's assisting me.
I'm using it like my assistantin many, many different facets,
whether it's copywriting, blogwriting, social media planning,
editing.
It can do a lot of those thingsthat an assistant would do for
(32:49):
me.
But it's me.
It's like I've trained it to bethe best assistant ever,
because it's basically me.
And that is like there's somany.
How many times most of us havesaid like, oh, my God, I just
wish I could clone myself.
Well, you kind of can in a lotof ways now with ChatGPT or any
of these other programs that alot of us are using.
(33:10):
So in that respect, I embraceit.
I'm not fully, like, I'mcautiously excited about it.
Let's put it that way, right,because I really feel like we
need to be, we need to becautious of it, we need to know
what's kind of going on.
But, like you said, I think mostof us are sort of using it in
that way where it's like how canit make me better, how can it
(33:32):
make me more efficient, how canI make my business feel more
personal to my clients?
Because most of what I teachwhat I do as a photographer and
teach as a photographer is ahigh touch experience.
You know more luxury basedclients.
We're charging more, basically,and shooting less clients, and
the only way that you can reallydo that is if you are
(33:53):
outsourcing, if you are givingaway stuff that you don't like,
like you're bookkeeping and oryou know you are, you are using
technology to help you progress.
So that just means that we havemore time with our clients.
Like you said, with with youguys.
It means that the actualbookkeepers have more personal
time with their with theirclients too, which I think is a
(34:15):
good thing.
So I love that that you guysare using it in that way.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Exactly and kind of to your point.
It is a choice, right, what yougive it and offload and some of
the things I'm sure that peoplewant to offload.
Sometimes that personalcommunication does get to be a
drag and I see a lot ofcompanies offloading that to AI.
But we've made a consciousdecision that, hey, no, even
(34:43):
though, yeah, sometimes it canbe a lot to wade through it's
important because you're givingpeople peace of mind.
That's where you get to knowtheir businesses in
communicating with them.
So you have to make the choiceof what you hand over and you're
still the one in control.
I mean, yeah, there is a lotwith them, so you have to make
the choice of what you hand overand you're still the one in
control.
I mean, yeah, there is a lotwith AI.
It can be scary and thinkingabout how jobs might change and
(35:07):
things, but again, if we kind ofutilize it, then it also can
maximize and who knows what kindof jobs will be there in the
future.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Exactly, yeah, Fascinating, Okay.
So before we wrap up, I want toask you one question that I
usually like to ask a lot of myget most of my guests, you know
my show here is is we talk aboutthe, the mixing of strategy and
magic, or manifestation, or oranything having to do with that
duality of the left brain, theright brain?
However you want to package it?
I like to think of myself asintegrating both of those on the
(35:46):
daily and as a creativeyourself.
I'm interested in finding outwhat sort of practices keep you
in that place of groundedness orconnectedness, or whatever you
want to call it, because we allhave different words for it.
But what are some of the thingsthat you do for your
self-development as well?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Yeah, I think that's a great point and I think I've
brought this up a little bit intelling other people about this.
But I have to give myself gracea lot of the time and cut
myself some slack because I wantto be at that point of complete
groundedness and balance andsome days I achieve it, but
(36:30):
those are probably the minority.
Just because, like you said, mybrain works the same way where
I have so many things firing offat once, or there's a lot of
things that I'm balancing mylife between work and family and
hobbies, and so I just kind ofunderstand that, hey, every day
doesn't need to look perfect andbe completely balanced.
(36:52):
It kind of balances itself outover time.
There's times when my job is alittle more consuming and we
have a lot going on, and thenthere's other times when I have
a lot of difficulties or justtime I need to be spending with
my family and those kind of ebband flow, and it tends to create
(37:14):
a balance in the long run, andso I can't get too caught up in
the day-to-day.
Oh, here's all these thingsthat I didn't get to, that I
wanted to get to.
I try and flip that and justlook at okay, what did I
accomplish today?
What do I feel proud of?
And still, what can I work onfor the future?
But I look at finding thecreativity where I am now.
(37:36):
But I look at finding thecreativity where I am now.
Sometimes you have a littlemore freedom to really dive into
yourself and create the thingsyou want to.
Other times there's moreresponsibilities on your plate.
So I look at either time and Ijust think of okay, how is that
still creative?
Or what kind of magic did I seetoday, even though it wasn't
(37:59):
what I expected, because mostdays are not what.
I am going to expect when I amright now in my career.
It was not something I everexpected, and the unexpected is
great too.
It brings its own kind of magicthat you have to look for and
see.
So I think if you're just atleast deliberate in that, in
being honest with yourself andreal and saying here's where I'm
(38:22):
at now, this is the magic I'mseeing, here's what I want to
realize in the future.
But it's okay, I'm not thereyet I'll get there.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
I love that.
That's really, really importantbecause I feel, like a lot of
us well, I know a lot of us tendto crack the whip on ourselves
the most, like we're our ownworst enemy and our, you know,
biggest motivator sometimes.
But also we can be really hardon ourselves, like I didn't do
it the right way, or like yousaid, I didn't do enough and
(38:52):
there's no, there's no good inthat, you know, at the end of
the day, like giving yourselfthat grace is really important.
Yeah, we want to hold ourselvesaccountable, but there's that
line of okay, I'm not going tobe good to anybody if I'm just
beating myself up on the dailyand telling myself that I didn't
do enough.
(39:12):
Sometimes, like you said, theunexpected.
One of the things I like to askmyself every morning is like I
wonder what's going to show uptoday.
I just wonder because you saidthe unexpected.
One of the things I like to askmyself every morning is like I
wonder what's going to show uptoday.
Like I just wonder because younever know.
And staying open to that is, Ithink, a really important skill
for all of us, but especiallywith small business owners,
because you really do never know, like even with what you're,
(39:33):
you know, even as a CEO, I'msure, like you said, things just
pop up and you've got to dealwith them in the moment.
So it is what it is.
You just got to kind of movethrough it.
So, yeah, thank you.
That was very, very, very cooland I love everything that you
guys are doing over there.
I'm very excited to share allof this with my audience here
and on social.
(39:54):
I'll be talking about this onmy social too, because anything
that's going to take, like Isaid, the mental load off of us
like this, I think, is going tohave really big impact for a lot
of small, creative businesses.
So thank you for sharing all ofthat with us, and you guys can
find all of that information inthe show notes below, but would
(40:14):
you like to go ahead and let usknow as well?
I know that you're over onLinkedIn, so I don't know.
If there's a place where peoplewant to connect with you, they
can.
How do you like to stayconnected to people?
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, linkedin is a great way.
Feel free to reach out there.
Also, reach out to meindividually, danielle Wagner.
My email is dwagneratvideio, soI always love hearing from
people.
So feel free and reach out tome and I just I really do
appreciate this opportunity totalk with you today and, to you
(40:46):
know, just have a have anothermoment to step out and kind of
think through these things.
So thank you so much for havingme.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Sure, I'm super excited to meet you guys as well
, like awesome company, so Iwill put all of that in the show
notes as well, you guys andyeah, thank you so much,
danielle.
Thank you All right, so I hopethat you guys got some good
takeaways there.
Please download that PDF.
I'm telling you, the PDF thatthey have put together has so
many useful tips and tricks andjust things that you might not
(41:15):
be thinking of, and it's notbehind an email capture wall,
it's a straight download.
I'm going to link it to Dropboxdown there so you can just grab
it and download it to whateverdevice your computer, your phone
, whatever.
I suggest downloading it toyour computer so you can
reference it as you work throughyour books, and if you guys are
(41:35):
interested in trying Vyde out,there's a link for you guys to
do that as well.
I'm happy to help promote theirprogram because I really do
think it is so awesome and it'sgoing to save you so much time.
Honestly, if you hate doing yourbooks or if you just like so
many photographers that I talkto, you have the programs right,
whether it's QuickBooks orsomething else that you're using
(41:57):
.
You might have your bank hookedup to it, but you still need to
go through it and make surethat all those categories are
correct.
You got to do a P&L, you got toget prepped for taxes and you
just don't do it because youdon't like to do it.
Trust me, I get it.
I'm super there.
I'm with you on this, but thismakes it so much easier and it's
(42:17):
really, really affordable.
Like, honestly, the money thatyou spend on things like this
comes back to you 20 times morebecause you're able to give your
clients so much more of you andyour family as well, right?
So, like, I'm all about youhaving a life and things like
this help you have a life, cause, let's be honest, nobody really
(42:39):
loves doing this kind of stuff.
So, and if you do, hey, morepower to you.
I know a lot of photographerswho are actually accountants.
Like, I have so many people inmy, my coaching programs who
were accountants in theirprevious life and that's awesome
, but that's rare.
Most of us, it's not our thing.
So check them out the link'sbelow.
If you guys have any questionsabout any of that.
You also can email Danielle.
(43:00):
That was super awesome of herto give us her email.
I'm going to put that for youtoo, and, just as always, reach
out to me with any questions andif you share about the show,
please tag me so I can alsorepost it and connect with you
on Instagram.
I hope you guys are having anawesome week and I hope you
continue to, and I'll see younext time.
Love you, bye.
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