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I Brought Receipts
A transparent look at my business expenses
Today’s edition of Wishful Working is a 4 minute read.
Happy May! Today, I’d like to bid adieu to April — and tax season — by pulling back the curtain a bit on my own freelance finances. 👀
I shared some of my 2023 financial details in an earlier newsletter, My Year in Review: 2023, but today I’ll be breaking down my exact business expenses from 2023. Because why not?
One of the things I love about freelancing is that there are really very few expenses. My writing business was cheap to get started, and it’s cheap to maintain. In fact, I’ve even been looking for ways to strategically invest in my business and increase my expenses. But more on that later.
Here’s what I spent money on in 2023, starting with the biggest expense:
Taxes
Those of you who are also freelancers know this, but taxes work a bit differently for self-employed folks. We don’t have an employer withholding taxes from our paychecks, so we have to do it ourselves. I set aside 30% of every invoice for taxes, and I pay four estimated tax payments throughout the year. I paid around $9,500 last year in combined federal and state taxes.
Business Insurance
In 2023, I started working with a client that required its contractors to have business insurance — specifically, commercial general liability insurance and professional insurance. It took just one afternoon of research and calling around to find suitable policies from Hiscox, and overall, I’ve been happy with the whole experience.
And while I’m still not sure it’s entirely necessary, I’ve decided to keep my coverage for now. A second client asked to see proof of my insurance not long ago, so maybe it’s becoming more of a thing.
I know many freelancers who don’t have business insurance, and I feel the chance of ever filing a claim is very, very low. But that’s the point of insurance, I guess. I paid $1,031 for insurance last year.
Website Expenses
My website, www.karadetwiller.com, is currently hosted on Squarespace. I’ve been happy with Squarespace for years, but I’m thinking of switching. It’s on the pricier side compared to some website building/hosting companies, and I’m due for a design refresh anyway.
I’m tinkering around with Framer, and I think that might become my new homebase for all website things. I also recently started using Porkbun to buy and manage my domains. All in all, my website expenses (including hosting and domain purchases/renewals) were $342 last year.
Subscriptions
I pay for a number of monthly subscriptions related to my business, including software tools, job boards, and paid newsletters. My most expensive subscription is probably Adobe Cloud, but I do manage to get a discount every year by pretending to quit. 😂
My total spend on business-related subscriptions in 2023 was $805.
Miscellaneous
Lastly, I had some random expenses. My only new office accessories in 2023 were a Pomodoro timer (that I rarely use) and a mic for podcasting (that I haven’t used yet). (Someone please invite me on a podcast.)
Other miscellaneous expenses include fees from payment platforms (Stripe, PayPal) and tax filing costs (I use TaxAct). My total for this category was $427.
If you consider taxes as their own beast, my business expenses total for 2023 was right around $2,600.
Not too shabby. 😎
But like I said, I’m actually looking for ways to spend a bit more on my business — call it reinvesting. Here’s what’s on my mind:
Hiring a CPA and/or a small business attorney to help with a few things
Attending an in-person conference or workshop
Paying for sponsorships or paid ads to promote this newsletter and some other projects
Buying (more) business-related books 🤓
Spending money on my business is fun, and best of all — it’s a write-off!
See you next week,
Kara