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The Treatment Room
166. Should your beauty business be an S. Corp?! (with Kickstart Acocunting)
00:42:39
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- [00:01]
Danielle Hayden
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Mario's Bistro. The special tonight is the beef carpaccio.
- [00:08]
Tessa Zolli
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- [01:04]
Danielle Hayden
Hello guys. Welcome back to the Treatment Room Podcast. I'm your host Tessa Zolli and so excited to welcome back returning guest Danielle Hayden. She is the CEO of Kickstart Accounting and oversees my numbers and bookkeeping key thing personally. So we're excited to have her back as we all prep for tax season as business owners especially. So I have had Danielle on before. We have gone over a lot of information about taxes, but today we're going to talk more about budgeting, cash flow, scaling your business and financial growth and tax liability. So Danielle, welcome back to the show.
- [01:49]
Thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited to do this and we work with a lot of clients in this industry and so we've heard a lot of the questions and have been able to really help our clients have breakthroughs in this area. And so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to share some knowledge today that will encourage other other people to have some breakthroughs in their their financial lives.
- [02:18]
Wanted to ask you overall, what do you think is one of the best ways that an esthetician can reduce their tax liability?
- [02:29]
I'm going to start at the basics. So one thing that I've seen for individuals who become sole proprietors and are at the beginning stages of of growing their business is that we, we don't think about our business being a separate entity from ourselves. And as a result we tend to commingle business and personal and so we lose sight of what's truly a business expense and what's truly a personal expense when we're Commingling business and personal funds. So the first thing I would suggest is changing and shifting your mindset. I don't care how small or big your businesses your mindset needs to be. I am the business owner. I'm the CEO of this business. And in order for me to stay compliant with the IRS, because it is an IRS requirement, I have to 100% completely separate my business from my personal in order for me to run a healthy, sustainable, profitable business business. And so we want to have a business checking account and business credit card, and then a personal checking account and personal card. I like to use the example of, like, if you go to Target, Walmart, Ulta, I want you to use two separate cards. Like you are checking out for your business and then you're checking out for yourself individually. And by doing that, you'll capture more of your business expenses and therefore you'll reduce your tax liability. Does that make sense?
- [04:13]
Yes, absolutely. Something you've said to me, I think, in the previous episode, Danielle, was that it's also really difficult to get an accurate understanding of your numbers if you're doing a lot of the commingling with the personal and business expenses. Can you kind of expand on that again?
- [04:33]
Oh, it is like, impossible. And at this time of the year, we're doing a lot of this because, you know, business owners will go to file their taxes and they're like, oh, my God, I forgot to com. I forgot I was commingling. I forgot to open up that business account a year ago. You. You don't have a good sense of how healthy your business is or what are really business expenses when you're commingling. And, you know, one thing I hear from clients all the time is, you know, Danielle, I. You keep telling me that I'm profitable, but, but where's all of my cash going? And when you have personal expenses going through your business account, you're not, you're not able to feel or understand how much your business actually costs to run. Because a lot of times it's actually our personal expenses that are very expensive or adding up quickly. And so our cash is going towards those personal expenses. And when we're able to separate them, you can know and understand how your business is performing separately from how your personal life is, is being handled from a budget perspective.
- [05:48]
Yes, that's something. As soon as I learn that from you. I've done that from the very beginning and it's been so clear cut. There's really not a lot of instances. You know, maybe on occasion a couple times A year I'll use the wrong card and realize. And, you know, we can put in the bookkeeping system, but for the most part, I don't have that big issue. And once you separate it and just you're using, you know, your business account for business expenses, it makes everything so much easier. And, you know, I really don't think I would have an idea for what my numbers are if I wasn't doing that. Like, I just wouldn't know my business is healthy and profitable if I weren't able to see the numbers, because I still am early in my business. So I'm really glad I've done that from the beginning. Talking about, you know, managing cash flow as a business, do you have any advice for an esthetician who wants to better manage that cash flow for business and personal?
- [06:55]
Yeah, absolutely. So I think one thing that I hear from our clients in this industry is that we have seasonality. Now, don't get me wrong, every single business, regardless of the industry, has seasonality. And I think it's the most important thing that we can do as business owners is to understand what our seasonality is and then how we can prepare for that. Now, the best way to look at your seasonality would be to look in your QuickBooks. There is a really fun. I know I'm using the word fun. There's a really amazing report called the profit and loss by month. And you can run your profit and loss by month for the last 12 months. Now, obviously, your, your bookkeeping has to be current in order to be able to do that. And so when you work with a bookkeeper like our, our clients, their bookkeeping is always current. So every week we go in and process transactions. So a client of ours could run this report at any time, or we also send this report at the end of each month to our clients. So this report, you can go back and actually look at each and every month. And in there you can see what months your sales have increased and what months your sales have decreased. Now that almost feels like whenever I point out sales, it feels like pointing out the obvious because we can see sales from our point of sale system. We can feel it from how busy we are and how busy we have. Anybody who's working with us, we can see how busy they are, but it's the expenses that creep up on us. So when you're looking at your financial statements, when you're looking at this profit and loss report, we want to look at the sales coming in to see what months our sales are coming in high but then we're going to look at our. Our expenses because we forget about the large inventory purchase we have to make in order to restock, or we forget about the large annual payment that we need to make for our operating software or our email marketing system or the ads that we're. We're running. And so we need to look at both directions so that we understand the seasonality of our expenses. Now, I can use Kickstart as an example, because we have a very high expense ratio in the spring. So a lot of our large annual expenses happen in that May time frame. And it's really difficult because summer is actually our slowest time. So we have these large expenses, and then we go right into our slow season. And what that's done for me as a business owner is I know that I need to start preparing for that event every single year. And so every week, I am making transfers from my operating account into a savings account. So. So that I am prepared for not just taxes, but I'm also prepared for those swings in. In seasonality. Does that make sense?
- [10:04]
It does. And I feel like estheticians can probably relate a lot to that as well, because summertime, a lot of our clients are traveling. They're not, you know, as serious as they are maybe during the holidays or other months about getting their skin treatments. But I think that's such an important point. Point to. To be able to anticipate those slower seasons because it happens every year. And then, you know, you panic and feel like, oh, my gosh, you know, I don't have the same.
- [10:38]
Are they ever coming back?
- [10:40]
Yeah, exactly. And my dad. My dad, funnily enough, he's in another industry. He's in real estate, but he is going through the same thing right now. There's seasonality in all the industries, like you said. But I feel like that is a great idea for us to anticipate the slower months, the busier months, and have an idea of what our big expenses are so that we can save for that. Like tax season approaching, having the money.
- [11:10]
Set aside for that, we really need to. Well, I wouldn't say need. We really have the opportunity as business owners to save for big expenses. And to your point, just like taxes, I would love for every business owner to have three savings accounts. So we have our operating account. Money comes in, money comes out. Like, that's where we're paying our bills from. That's where our sales are going into. And then to have two savings accounts, and one is for your tax savings. And not to say that you're not going to pay your estimated taxes. You'll pay your estimated taxes as they, they come due. But here's what happens to a lot of our clients is that you're paying estimated taxes based on last year's net income. So when your tax account says, here's how much you have to pay next year, that's based on last year. And if you're listening to this podcast, I know you're growing and you're growing as a, as a business owner, you're growing as an individual every single year. And so this year's profit might actually be much higher. And so you need to save money towards your taxes outside of tax season. And so our clients all receive in their monthly snapshot a tax reserve so they know how much to put into that second, second account. Then our third account can be like our rainy day or investment fund. So I would love for every business owner to have one to three months worth of operating expenses saved in their, their savings account in case something happens. So we have the, the rainy day savings. But it also can be for those big investments like maybe you want to buy a new piece of equipment or you want to buy some new inventory to test. You can then make those per, you can, you can save in that third savings account so that you can make those purchases really confidently. This client came to me and said, you know, I really want you to help me, teach me how to run my business at a loss. And although an od, we decided to help her and we did what we call a catch up where we pull in all of her transactions for the last year so she could see where she was making money and spending money. And what we saw was that she was actually commingling business and personal like we were talking about at the beginning. And once we were able to pull out all her personal expenses, her entire mindset shifted. She was able to see that, oh, I have a real business that has a chance of generating a profit and can really support myself and my family. And when her mindset shifted, she was able to start spending money to actually grow her business. So we watched her invest the next year really heavily into advertising and marketing. Her profit did go down that year, so in year two, her profit did go down, but she was investing very heavily into growing her top line revenue. After she stabilized her income and she had a consistent set of clients coming in, she said, all right, I need to reshift and cut back on my spending so I can take home more profit personally so that I can save to buy a home. So we cut back on advertising and marketing, and we shifted those dollars to putting her on payroll and taking some owner's draws. And we got to watch her buy, buy her first home, which was so incredible. And then after her mom got sick, she needed to take a step back from her, her business. And so she invested heavily in paying her team. So her profit, her profit really decreased while she cared for her mom so that her team can come in and help her. So I just give this example because we're all going to have these seasons of life. And so a healthy business can. Should be generating between 10 and 15% in profits after you pay the business owner. And so if your business is profit, profiting more than that, you know, maybe it's time to bring in some help into the business and get yourself some support so that you have better work life balance. If you're, if your business is profiting less than that, it's not to say that you're wrong or that it's bad, but it's just an opportunity to say, what season of spending am I in, what season of business am I in, and what do I need to do to make changes to support this season that I'm in today?
- [15:44]
That's really, you know, interesting to hear because I think a lot of us would assume you need to be profitable all the time. And, you know, it's. It's good to know that there might be seasons where you're more focused on spending or bringing in new clients, marketing to eventually grow the business and enjoy the healthier profits.
- [16:10]
Yeah, we have to allow ourselves opportunities to spend money. You know, one thing I'll get on client calls sometimes, and, and my clients will say, all right. It's like they brace themselves, you know, shoulders up, like, all right, tell me where I need to cut back in spending. And I'm like, cut back? What do you mean cut back? You know, I. Isn't your goal this year to grow? And I was like, yeah, my, my. My goal is to grow. I'm like, well, then we need to increase our spending, not decrease, because our clients are going to come. You know, sometimes they come from referrals, but often we need to reinvest in our business in order to be able to grow as business owners and to grow and just, just hit our goals.
- [16:55]
Would you say for, you know, say an esthetician gets a room after they have their license, they're starting a new business? Would you say in the beginning it's more normal to see a business investing and spending and then a Couple years in, get into a season of more profitability.
- [17:18]
Absolutely. So if you are in your first year of business, I, I think it is absolutely okay and normal. If you are not showing a profit, you are building a business. And we have to learn to crawl before we can walk. And so we need to take all those baby steps, you know, learning to generate the revenue, serve our clients, allowing our clients to get results and then tell their friends so that we can build that referral base. And there's going to be more expenses. When we start out, we have expenses to build our supplies, our inventory, our advertising, our marketing, business cards, flyers, you know, all that costs money. And so it's often not until year two or three that we see clients hit a stride. Well, where they are able to start to finally balance out having a profitable business that is growing and thriving.
- [18:21]
And can you, you can correct me here, Danielle, but I just want to get a better understanding because I know we should be spending, you know, on marketing efforts and a lot of these business expenses, wouldn't you say, for taxes? If you're underspending, it can put you at a disadvantage.
- [18:40]
Absolutely. So when you are underspending, you are going to be overpaying in taxes. Now, I want to be clear. I'm not telling you to go spend money because it's a tax deduction. We do see that often, too often happening. Or a CPO say, you're really profitable, you should go spend some money. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Only spend money if you are, if you are really looking to actually spend those dollars. We had a client, this was three years ago now, she was planning on opening a second location. And her CPA told her that she was going to turn a profit and to go and spend some money so that she didn' taxes on it. So she went and she took a large bonus. She gave her team some gifts, client gifts. She prepaid for a conference. And then in the spring, when she went to go open her second location, she didn't have the cash and the funding. And so she ended up having to take on a lot of debt to open that location. And so it was very single minded of the CPA to say, go and spend money just so you're not paying money in taxes. Where we need, need to be thinking as business owners, holistically, what's happening today and what's going to be happening in the next three to six months. I can't just spend money today to save money and, you know, to have to take on debt in six Months. So yes, if you are underspending, you will overpay in taxes, but only spend money for a tax deduction on expenses that are going to truly help you hit your goals.
- [20:22]
Okay, that's good to know. Smart spending. I want to make sure we talk about entity types. As far as sole proprietors, llc, S Corps. I feel like, you know, this has always been important, but I've actually seen S Corp popping up a lot more in the whole like, esthetician community. I have seen a lot of esthetician business coaches recommending it. So I was wondering if you could speak to the pros and cons of each entity.
- [20:55]
Yes, I love this question. So most business owners start as a sole proprietor or an llc. If you are sole proprietor, I would highly recommend becoming an llc. Here in the US we have a amazing opportunity to have our individual assets separate from our business. And so it's really important that you form your llc, that you have that formation so that you are legally protected. It won't actually change any of the tax statuses of of your business. Moving from a sole proprietor to an LLC is strictly a legal protection. That net income, that income that your business is bringing, so sales minus all of your expenses, net net income flows through your personal return on both as a sole proprietor and an llc. So no changes there. But you can become an S Corp as an llc, which then does change your tax status. And I would agree with you, becoming an S Corp is catching some popularity. The the main reason why people become an S Corp is that you can put yourself on payroll and then you become a business expense to your business. So you can take both payroll and owner's draws. And then you also have access to things like an accountable plan under an escort. Now, I only want you to even consider becoming an S Corp if you have three things. If you are making over $100,000 per year in net income, if you are consistently separating your business and personal expenses, and the third one is that consistently taking owner's draws. So those, those three things, we have sustainable net income of a hundred thousand dollars for for two years. We are currently coming. We are not commingling business and personable and that we are consistently taking owner's draws. I call it like the Monday Diet. We're not gonna suddenly become an S Corp and start separating our business and personal. We're not suddenly going to become an escort and start having the cash to pay ourselves. It's just like going on a diet on Monday. So we want to make sure that we have the right Financial practices and habits in order to allow ourselves to become an escort. When you become an S Corp you have to pay yourself a reasonable compensation. And this is an IRS thing. It's not a kickstart. Accounting says so. It's not a. Danielle Hayden Sundays so the IRS says that you have to pay yourself a reasonable compensation as an S Corp entity. And so we want to know that you have enough profit in your business to consistently pay yourself plus the payroll tax. And then the one of the benefits of becoming an S corp is that you can pay yourself an owner's draw. And so we need to have enough profits in our business that we'll be able to pay the payroll, pay the taxes and take owners draws or accountable plan reimbursements so that we are maximizing those benefits.
- [24:15]
So okay, so I'm here, I'm hearing all of this and you know there are some formalities involved, right? I mean this is a really formal process where you're going to be overseen more by the irs, right Danielle, okay, you are setting up payroll. So can you speak to what are like the big advantages of doing all this? If somebody is kind of on the fence but they've met those three prerequisites that you're talking about, like what is the payoff for somebody who does the formality of becoming an escort?
- [24:53]
The biggest benefit is going to be a reduction in tax. So an overall reduction in tax. You will pay payroll tax and you will reduce the amount of self employment tax that you're paying. So you become a business expense to your business. You are lowering your tax liability, therefore you are paying less in self employment tax. The other hidden benefit that I think that doesn't get talked about enough is that you are now an employee of your business. You're not self employed anymore. So when you go to purchase a car or a home, you have a paycheck to present to the lender. You are on payroll, you don't have to give tax returns, you don't have to prove that you are, that you have a business and that your business is profitable. I recently went and purchased a vehicle like six months ago and I didn't even mention to them that Kickstart was my business. I just simply presented them my paycheck stubs and they allowed me to purchase the vehicle. And so I think that as we grow as individuals, if buying a home is in your future, if buying a car is in your future, or making those types of independent financial decisions are in your future, being an S corp and being an employee to Your business can help you in your personal funding.
- [26:25]
Okay. As far as the tax savings, would you feel comfortable talking about like average numbers? You've seen people save come tax season after becoming an S Corp.
- [26:38]
So definitely talk to your CPA and your CPA can run those specific numbers for you. Um, I would say about 10%, but it depends on your overall financial situation. So your CPA at any time should be able to give you an estimate of what it would look like had you filed as an S Corp that year. And so they can run that analysis for you so that you can see those, those specific dollars. Sometimes you say 10, you're like, okay, what's that in dollar amount? I want you to be able to apply that to your personal situation. And any CPA who, who sees themselves as part of your team will be more than happy to, to run that analysis for you.
- [27:25]
Okay, great. And so say somebody, you know, talks to their cpa, they want to make that leap. What is the process like? Because I think sometimes as estheticians, we just get really intimidated if we don't understand what the legal process is for these things. And we're so busy with the day to day. I know when you explained the process to me, I was like, oh, it's not that complicated. But what does it become an escort?
- [27:52]
It really. So I always joke, the IRS makes it look and feel so much more complicated than it is. So there is a form on the IRS website that you will download to become an S Corp. That form looks very complicated because it says words like list all of the shareholders of your business. You're the only shareholder. You don't have anybody else who owns your business with you. So when you fill out the form, you can fill it out with the kind of the, the cap of that. You're going to go step by step within the form. And we actually have a really nice download that we created. So if you go to kickstartaccountyinc.com S Corp, you can download a, a document where we walk you through all the pros, cons, and then step by step of how to complete the form. But I just want to give you permission to see past the words like list all shareholders. You are the only business owner of your business unless you own a partnership. And so when you fill out the form, you will simply list yourself. And then in terms of the date, let's talk about the date for a second. You have until March 15, technically to fill out the S Corp formation forms. So generally the IRS wants to see those forms by March 15th, you can submit them late. So you can submit them as late as, like, July to go retro to 1:1. However, as an S Corp, you have to be able to pay yourself a reasonable compensation. So if you wait until July and you retro the date back to January, that means you have to pay yourself enough between July and December and this, the reasonable compensation number. All that means is that you have to pay yourself the equal amount to what you would have to pay somebody else in your area to do your job. And so if you don't have enough cash to do that, I would recommend holding off on the S Corp formation until the following year. Does that make sense?
- [30:13]
It does. Would it be more beneficial to. Okay, say you're looking at, like, the ballpark of what estheticians are making in your area. Is it better to go with, like, the lower end, higher end, or just on average, like, very in the middle?
- [30:32]
So I would go mid range. So you can go to like a salary.com and see what estheticians are making in that area and get a ballpark. And you can pull the national. You can pull the average. You can also talk to your cpa. So for our clients, all of our tax clients receive a reasonable compensation report every January. So every single one of our tax escort clients receives this reasonable compensation report so that they know exactly how much to pay themselves because it does change every single year. And we use a vendor who has been able to stand up against IRS audits. And that just gives me this confidence that's like, I don't know, like, roll my shoulder back like, I feel like Superman going into those types of decisions when I know I'm partnering with a vendor that has withstood the IRS audits and in the past. And so free version would be, yes, go like a salary.com, look at estheticians in your area, use the average. But if you want to have that next level of confidence, if you're pretty risk adverse, then Talk to your CPA or you can go to KickStartACCountyInCom and we can hook you up with one of the reasonable compensation reports so that you have that information every single year.
- [31:55]
Awesome. Great to know. And Danielle, again, she oversees my bookkeeping, and she's made this process so clear and simplified for me, which I really need somebody to just give it to me in very simple terms. So just highly recommend working with her team on that if you're looking for good accounting services. My last question on that, Danielle, was, would somebody be able to get their taxes, you know, submitted for, say, 2024. And then later decide they want to be an S Corp as long as it's before July.
- [32:35]
Tessa Zolli
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- [33:36]
Danielle Hayden
Yes, well, so you will submit for 2024 for your taxes. And they're kind of independent events, so you could submit your taxes whenever you want. Even if you go on a tax extension for 2024, no big deal. File the extension. You could do your tax return independently. The S Corp is a separate form. And the S Corp form. So let's say it's. Let's just say it's May 1st, and you're like, oh, I'm. I'm really doing well again this year. I've. I've got my owner's drawers. I know I have the cash for this. I'm. I'm ready to take the leap. That's when you would retro the form to 1:1 2025. So on May 1st of 2025, you can retro it back to 1:1 2025 and then go on payroll. So two different situations. Because you can't retro to the previous year, because you wouldn't be able to pay yourself through payroll.
- [34:34]
Okay. Okay.
- [34:35]
Does that make sense?
- [34:37]
Okay. So good to know. I mean, March. It's March 17th, so we've kind of missed the deadline for S Corp on this year.
- [34:44]
Right.
- [34:45]
Unless you do the late filing.
- [34:48]
Correct. You can do the late filing, but make sure that you have enough cash to be able to pay yourself a reasonable compensation before the end of the year.
- [34:57]
Okay, perfect.
- [35:00]
And it's an important decision. You know, I, I, we saw too many clients during the post Covid era where they had a boom in revenue. And so we had a lot of clients go become S Corps. And then as the world returned to a new normal, that the revenue didn't keep the same pace. And so they weren't able to pay themselves. And so they had maybe one year of high profits, became an S Corp and then they weren't able to sustain the business and paying themselves in the same way. That's okay. You know, the IRS doesn't want you to go broke trying to pay yourself, so you don't, if you, if your business can't afford to pay, pay yourself. That's totally okay. Don't worry about it. Just don't take any dollars in owner's draws. So you are not allowed to take an owner's draw if you have not paid yourself a reasonable compensation. And if it ever feels like, you know, I really don't want to become an S corp or I just don't want to be an S Corp anymore, you can dissolve your S Corp election, but if you do that, you can't really become an S Corp for five years.
- [36:14]
Can you clarify what the owner's draw is for us non finance people?
- [36:20]
Yes. So an owner's draw, I like to call the owner's draw a cash ATM withdrawal from your business. So when you're an escort and you are on payroll, you are a business expense to your business, so you're actually a line item on your income statement, lowering the profit in your business. When you take an owner's draw, you're literally just going up to the ATM and taking out money. So let's just say you take out a thousand dollars a week, you are lowering the cash in your business, but you are not a business expense to your business. And so that's where it gets very confusing for people who are an llc, they'll say, I'm profitable, like I look at all this profit, but I have no cash in my business. And that's because that cash is really being withdrawn as an owner's draw or personal expense. And you are not a business expense to your, your business business. So you don't lower the amount of profit that your business has. So that's the best way I can, I could describe it. So an owner's draw is transferring money to your personal account, cash apping yourself, taking out cash from your business. But it's when we take that money to go pay for personal expenses.
- [37:40]
Got it.
- [37:40]
Does that make Sense.
- [37:41]
Yes, it does. Do you ever see businesses take like 5, 7, 10 years to decide they want to be an S Corp just because they want to be super sure of their profits?
- [37:54]
So I've seen businesses who never become an escort. You know, there's not a time like, it's not like all small business owners are S Corps and we're all just waiting to make it to become an escort. There's business owners who never become an S Corp, and that's totally okay. You can run your business as an LLC for forever. There, there is a level of tax savings or you just want to feel like, I don't want to use the word legitimate, but like that you, you have a paycheck from your business, you have a W2. You could, like I was saying before, you have the loan or you can go get the personal loan, there's a freedom within that, that, that some people are looking for. But if that's not for you, and that's not something that's important, you're like, I can get a loan by being self employed, presenting my tax return if that feels comfortable for you. There is no right time to become an S Corp.
- [39:01]
Okay, good to know. Good to know. Kind of just depends on your comfortability and weighing the tax savings with, you know, is it worth it to you to just, just have a little bit more involvement from the irs? Yeah, go ahead.
- [39:17]
And, you know, that's why it's so important to have a money team that you actually want to talk to. So, you know, you want to have a CPA and a bookkeeping team that you can call and ask questions to. Because this stuff is so freaking confusing. Yeah, like, it's so confusing.
- [39:35]
It is. And that was one of the, you know, driving reasons that I switched over to Kickstart. I, yeah. Felt, you know, with a lot of professionals, you just feel very intimidated and you should feel comfortable to ask these questions and better understand the business. So. Yeah, I just, I really credit your team for just being so open to the questions and helping me better understand the numbers. I feel like the, the snapshots and the overviews we've done have just been really, really helpful in providing clarity.
- [40:12]
Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. I just want to encourage everyone. Like, you don't have to. I think that sometimes we think that, oh, it's just supposed to be this way and there's, there's a barrier to change in this industry because you're really trusting somebody with intimate information. But I just want people to know that if your tax account isn't willing to help you answer these questions or provide this analysis to you or help you decide how much to pay yourself. There is a better way. And even if it's not, my team, you know, we're. We're. We would be more than happy to help, but just know that there are people out there who want to help, and my team gets excited to help. And so find a CPA who is excited to help you figure out these very major business decisions. It's not for you. As a business owner, you do not have to go become an expert in all things tax code or all things financials. You're good at what you do. I could never do what you do. We all need each other, and there is a breath of fresh air and being able to stay in our own zone of genius.
- [41:24]
Totally. Totally. And I. Yeah, I feel like estheticians need to hear that, because I think a lot of us can feel just like our beauty business is a small, little beauty business. And it may not be, you know, as respected as other businesses, especially if we're presenting it to somebody who doesn't quite know or understand our industry. Just wanted to empower anyone that you can switch if not feeling like you're getting what you need. Danielle, my last question for you is, do you have any top financial tips that you'd like to leave estheticians with?
- [42:14]
You don't have to be a money person or good at math to start to get a general understanding of your numbers and your spending. You know, when we make the decision to go out on our own and become an LLC or sole proprietor and become an S corp, you know, we really take on a responsibility. Like, it's a responsibility to understand our numbers, at least at a high level, so that we are able to stay in business. Your clients, they. They're counting on you, the vendors, your lease. Like, they are counting on you to stay in business, and they want you to succeed. And so we have a responsibility to know our numbers and think that as creatives, we want to put our heads in the sand and say, oh, I'm just not good at this information. And, like, that doesn't actually relinquish us from the responsibility of needing to understand our numbers and using this information. There's empowerment in it. And when you can finally sit down and look at this information and not know it. Intimate. Right? Like, I don't want you to know how to do bookkeeping or read the tax code. I just want you to feel confident in what you're looking at and be able to use the information to grow your business and make better business decisions. And when you can do that, there's just a confidence and empowerment that comes with that.
- [43:47]
For sure. Yeah. And I think a lot of us can relate and feel like it's hard to look at the numbers. But, yeah, I feel like your business, Danielle, just does a great job of lowering that barrier and making it more approachable. So I do have a referral link for anyone who wants to get started with with Kickstart, so I'll put that in the show notes. But thanks so much, Danielle, for coming on and educating us.
- [44:18]
Thank you so much for having me. I'm always happy to be here.
- [44:21]
Thanks, Danielle. Best of luck with tax season.
- [44:26]
Yes, thank you.
- [44:27]
Thank you so much for joining us. And we'll look forward to having you on again in the future.