new in the busines world- help.! :-(

[moon]

I love this forum!I only had the chance to post on a few topics, but have spent hours reading what everyone has to say.  I'm somewhat new to forum but loving it more and more everyday.Today I'm asking for advice and recomendation of books or web sites to go to regarding how you should keep track of you financial records.  What I mean is, I'm working contract- 60/40 split for a womens hospital as the massage therapist.  I have only been a massage therapist for almost four years all part time.  This job will be the first job that I do everything on my own.  I could use all the advice and help anyone is willing to share.  Like how much should you take out of each sale for taxes. (I live in Houston, Texas)  Please help. I very overwelmed.  Thank you for all that help.

 

[Misty]

When I was an IC I tryed to save 20% out of every weeks "pay check".  Which isnt much, its 4$ out of every   20$ I still do that now. This way I have my tax money saved before hand.  There is a website I believe its massagetree.com that sells record keeping books.  I cant tell you how good they are as I have never used them.  And maybe someone on here has other or even better suggestions for you.Welcome to the forum!Morgan

 

[Litgraida]

Hi littleriver, I ran a small software business for a few years before starting on this great path of bodywork, I could say lots of things, but first off, do you have/know an accountant?  They know all about this stuff, and can save you a lot of time, and remove any risk of getting it wrong.  Someone specialising in small business accounts would be good.  Also, your bank may be a good source of information, even if you are not ready to open a business account with them.  By the way, it is a really good idea to start thinking of your business as a separate person from yourself - get a separate bank account for your business, if it doesn't have one of its own yet, to keep everything separate from your personal finances.  Lend your business a little money to get it started, if you need to, and then, whenever the business buys something, the money comes out of the business's account, and whenever you do a treatment, the money goes into the business account.  Keep a piece of paper (the printed receipt/invoice) recording each thing your business buys, and file them in the order of the date received.  Keep another piece of paper (or a record in a spreadsheet) everytime your business takes any money in, and again store them by date.  That way, you have a full record of all the incomings and outgoings, and once a month, it's a no-brainer to check them against the bank statement and tick them off, and spot any mistakes in the paperwork (doing the bank reconciliation).  You will always have a clear picture of where your business is, how profitable it is, and how much it can afford to pay you as wages.  Of course, your business has to pay its taxes before it pays your wages :-( and it should also keep some money of its own each month - this can be used for buying things, or expanding, in the future, and also, eventually you and your business may even decide that it can pay you back the initial loan ;-)Not sure of any relevant books or websites, as I'm in England and things may differ a little, but these basics are pretty standard.

 

[Vitric]

new in the busines world- help.! :-(

The SBA (small business association) has lot's of free resources to help. If you have a local office they can set up an appointment for you to talk with a retired business person. I think this is called SCORE (service corp of retired executives). They were very helpful with the "technical" stuff like records and taxes.One tip that helped was to keep a sheet for every month that I staple the small store reciepts to then write a little note what it was for. That way they don't get lost and I can still read them at the end of the year.Kirsten