I used to spend two hours every week on finances and bookkeeping.
Two hours of staring at Quickbooks, logging into bank accounts, chasing down receipts, figuring out what invoice number I was on with a client I'd been working with for months.
I dreaded it every time. It wasn't hard. It was just... soul-draining.
At some point, I did the math and felt a little stupid. That's when I invested in an accountant.
When to hire an accountant
If you're making $80,000 or more per year as a Creator, you should probably be incorporated as a corporation rather than an LLC. (Not accounting advice — consult an accountant. That's the point of this email.)
At that income level, you should pay someone to handle
Bookkeeping
Taxes (business and personal)
Invoicing clients
Paying contractors
Chasing money you’re owed
That last one is more valuable than most people realize. Having someone else chasing your clients preserves your relationships. You stay the friendly creative partner; the accountant is the "bad cop." Nobody feels awkward, and you get paid.
$80,000 a year is a $40 hourly rate. 2 hours a week = 8 hours a month = $320 in time spent…and that doesn’t include the opportunity cost:
How much could you earn if you invested that time in growing your business instead of in managing your finances?
Probably a lot more than the money you save doing your own accounting.
I pay $500 a month, and my accountant handles everything mentioned above. It’s not an exaggeration to say that my business really started to grow after I started making that investment.
I’d do it again 100/100 times.
Try it out (at a discount)
I went through several accountants who hadn't worked with Creators before finding one who did, which is why I'm stoked about our Creator-focused accounting partners at Creator Access Network:
Cookie Finance - Big firm, lots of Creator clients - offering $400 off onboarding + first month free (up to $800 savings)
Boring Stuff - Founded by Jon Youshaei and Zack Honarvar (Airrack's manager) - offering 50% off first 3 months (at least $600 savings)
ClearPath - My accountants - offering 25% off for 1 year (up to $1,500+ in savings)
Don't pick an accountant based on price alone. With accountants, communication and trust matter most, so get on some calls with a few different firms and feel out the vibe. Then see how it goes for a few months.
BTW - these discounts pay for a full-priced CAN membership nearly 8x over, and at the current pre-order price, up to 19x.
You should be spending your time making content and delivering work. Everything else is a task you can hand off.
Especially accounting 🤢.
See you next week,
Avi