We had a glimpse of spring a few weeks back, but then it dove right back into winter. Three days of rain, then today was just cold and drizzly. Got in a walk tonight and managed to avoid getting too wet.
Month: April 2024
BOOP BEEP
I love After The Beep so much. Call and leave a voice mail. I feel like there could be so many uses for things like this.
Via Josh Withers
THIS IS HOW WE DO IT
There’s a certain way to do TikTok, sure.
You can half-ass Instagram, and get 12 likes. I get it.
Or you can just do what YOU wanna do, and not worry about being a 12 person marketing and social media team.
Not everything is social media.
BENCH MAKES TAX TIME A BREEZE
Look, we’ve all got out strenghts and weaknesses.
Since I’ve been self-employed since 2006 (18 freaking years), I’ve never really been great with the whole taxes thing. All the expense tracking. The forms. Writing off all those tiny bank fees – those all add up!
I used to do everything in Freshbooks, and it was a MESS. Always. So much manual input. Or some months I’d just not clean up my books. I was a wreck.
Three years ago or so I bit the bullet and signed up for Bench. They connect to your bank accounts and do your bookkeeping. They used to shuffle your books over to another company for taxes, but now they process and file your taxes, too.
They also have this messaging feature through their website, too. So you can ask all sorts of questions about books, expenses, and taxes, and it’s CHILL because it’s just CHAT. With REAL PEOPLE.
If needed, you can book a call with them to talk about your books and taxes. It’s all included, and I LOVE IT.
Now… halfway through last year, I “streamlined” my operations and cut a bunch of expenses, so I thought, eh, I can manage my books myself!
Then it was the xmas holiday, and I still needed to process my books from November, and then December was lurking, too! I dreaded even getting started.
So I came crawling back (had great phone conversations with their team), and got re-started.
Here’s the thing – they have a “CATCH UP SERVICE.”
So they got connected back to my bank account, I uploaded some bank statements, and then they got my books settled from June-December.
It wasn’t free, of course, but it was WORTH IT.
Everything was updated, all books current. It was great.
Now, I just reviewed my taxes today, April 2nd, and we’re like, good to go. All done. In years past I’d get to filing my taxes in like, AUGUST or something, cuz I just kept pushing it off. Hell, I didn’t even file my 2019 taxes because of the whole COVID thing. Yeah… tax stuff is my weakness!
If that sounds similar to how you treat tax time, I highly recommend them. Check out Bench (affiliate link) and see if they might be a fit for you.
IMPACT
Had a wonderful conversation with a dear friend today, about life and work. And the big thing that came up was about impact.
That while money and the bank account are usually the biggest factors in our work, sometimes it’s impact that counts for most. And to somehow be in a position to seek opportunities for impact, that’s the dream. The bills are paid, there’s food in the fridge, and that opens up space for impact, and I gotta say, it sure feels nice.