As a yoga teacher, you probably know how to stay cool most of the time, but if something disrupts your breathing, then that has to be all those boring things like bookkeeping. That’s not the reason you became a yoga teacher, right? Don’t fall into despair, modernization has reached that field as well, and bookkeeping for yoga teachers no longer has to be a nightmare.
Why Does a Yoga Teacher Need to Know Everything About Bookkeeping?
If you’ve finally decided to become a yoga studio owner, you’re probably very excited and on cloud nine. However, between choosing the perfect yoga mat and drapes for your new yoga studio, you have to ensure you understand some basics of running a small business.
If you want to earn money, you need bookkeeping, you can’t run your studio without it. At the very beginning, while you still don’t have a lot of yoga students, it might seem that an Excel sheet will do the work, and you can deal with invoicing and scheduling payments.
However, sooner or later, day-to-day accounting will become a nightmare, and you’ll start lagging behind. Instead of thinking of tax season, focus on your next yoga class, and leave the accounting to those who actually know how to do it. So, breathe in deeply, and let’s start!
What’s Bookkeeping?
You worked hard and studied to become a yoga instructor, but one of the things you probably weren’t counting on when starting a small business is that you’ll have to deal with all sorts of business administration.
On a yoga teacher training course, they probably don’t tell you when the tax year starts or how tax return work. Simply put, bookkeeping is the process of recording all financial transactions of a business.
What Bookkeeping Comprises of?
Bookkeeping is a seemingly easy process of making records of daily transactions and cash flow, but it also includes taking care of payroll, financial statements, bills, and all sorts of taxes and tax deductions. As a business owner, you should have an idea of how these things work, but you shouldn’t be the one taking care of it.
Bookkeeping for Yoga Teachers Done Properly
As a yoga studio owner and teacher, you probably know many ways to calm yourself down, even in the most stressful situations. Although bookkeeping doesn’t necessarily have to be stressful, it can look very new and scary to someone who’s never done anything like this. So in case you want to try and do it on your own, prepare to take a deep breath, breathe in and breathe out, and let’s start with some useful tips.
- Be organized from day 1 – to become a good bookkeeper yogi, you should strive to do it right from day one. Meaning that you should start recording your expenses and income as soon as you start working. Establish a system that works best for you and stick to it.
- Don’t fall behind – sure, it is easy to do the bookkeeping at the very beginning when you probably don’t have a lot of clients and expenses. But as your business starts growing, recording all the money that comes in and out will become more challenging, and you’ll eventually forget an expense or two. Try not to let that happen.
- Tax deductions – if you are registered as an independent contractor, you can easily deduct many costs, such as travel expenses, yoga props, internet in your studio, or you are investing in continuing education, and so on. It is important to keep all the receipts.
- Following cash flow – by cash flow, we don’t mean just the money that comes in, but also the one that goes out, the money you are spending on equipment, bills, salary, and everything else. Only when you record that you can get the real financial picture of how your business is going.
- Be prepared for tax season – if you don’t have experience with taxes, just the thought of the tax season probably gives you a slight migraine. However, don’t try to run away from your responsibilities and postpone the inevitable. Prepare to pay taxes in advance by leaving some money aside just for those purposes.
- Track income monthly – although some like to do it quarterly, it is better to do it monthly. Draw the line at the end of each month and see how your income is growing. It will be less overwhelming if you do it monthly than quarterly, and you will have better insight.
- Invest in a workshop – just like you had to go through numerous courses to become a yogi master, you can’t expect to become a bookkeeping expert overnight, which is why it might be handy to invest in a course or two about taxes or bookkeeping, just to ensure you’re on the right track.
- Outsourcing – finally, if bookkeeping is just something you don’t want to deal with, perhaps the best solution is outsourcing – finding a company that offers bookkeeping services and can provide you with a bookkeeper who knows how to keep your books perfect.
What’s the Best Bookkeeping Solution for Yoga Teachers?
Of course, this is something that you could do on your own, but if you’re really not into numbers, taxes, and finances, why not leave it to someone who is? When thinking about starting a yoga business, one crucial step you should make is to invest in bookkeeping services. Of course, nowadays, there are plenty of providers that offer these services at a reasonable expense, and one of them is LessAccounting. As the name implies, you’re the one who will be doing less accounting.
Although they are most famous for their accounting software, LessAccounting also offers reliable bookkeeping services for small businesses. You will get a dedicated Certified Public Accountant who will take care of everything and help you optimize your business administration. Your designated bookkeeper will keep your books up to date, give you free tax advice if needed, prepare monthly statements, and much more.