Do You Need an Accountant?

Have you had your blog going for a while? Are you starting to bring in some money from Adsense or maybe some affiliate sales? Maybe you’re thinking about all the money you’ve spent on Internet Marketing courses, plugins, and ebooks. If so, you’re probably thinking that you’re a long way from having your head above water in profit vs. start-up costs. If you’re just now making your first sales, you’re probably right, but this might be a good time to take a deep breath and take stock of your situation.

You’ve Come a Long Way Baby!

The fact that you are now bringing in some real money should be very encouraging. You should be thinking that this business can really work for you, and be spurred on to greater successes. I’m sure that you now realize that this is not a get-rich-quick scheme and there are no overnight millionaires, but it is definitely a business that you can grow over time. You are no doubt realizing that the more you learn, the more options you have to further your business. You may be finding that ideas are coming easier to you, and as you continue to have more customers, your interest is also growing.

Are You Keeping Your Receipts, So You Can Document Your Expenditures?

You should be keeping the receipt for anything you have spent money on for your Internet Marketing business. Anything you have spent money on in the pursuit of your business should have a receipt, I don’t care if you’re keeping them in a shoebox. If you buy pens, printer paper and ink, or manila folders from Walmart, you should keep the receipt. If you have bought marketing courses, ebooks, etc. and have paid for them using Paypal, you can print a receipt. Even if you have forgotten to print some receipts, Paypal has the information in your account for a long time, and you should be able to go back and print the missing receipts.

You Can’t Document Profits Without Knowing How Much You’re Spending

Although you’re probably doing it anyway, make sure that you have your rent, or house payment figures available too, along with your electricity expenditures or any other costs of living in your home. If you are working out of your home on your business, you should be able to deduct a percentage of those costs too. If you buy a new office chair, desk, computer that you use mostly for your business, these can all be chalked up to a business expenditure or at least a part of it.

Get to Know Your Local Accountant or CPA

Most towns big or small, have an accountant, or CPA who is in business for him or her self. This would be a good time to give them a call and introduce yourself. If you are courteous and don’t waste a lot of their time, I imagine most of them would be happy to give you a little free advice on when would be the right time to hire their services for your business. The main point is you are going to need to start thinking about how you are going to begin the process of paying taxes for your business. This can be done on the basis of paying estimated taxes on a quarterly system as a self-employed individual or you can at some point set yourself up as a LLC, just to name a couple of ways it can be done.

I’m not intending this post to mean you should worry yourself sick about it or feel you should run out and incorporate yourself today or hire a tax attorney, but give you some food for thought. What you definitely should do is believe in yourself, and plan for success!

When the time is right to hire an accountant, you’ll be ready