Why you need a business license

Whether you’re a blogger, influencer, small business owner, or whatever you want to classify yourself as, you need to be operating your hustle as a business, and you definitely need a business license.

If you are providing services or products and receiving payment, you are an independent contractor. There’s a ton of reasons why independent contracts should have a business license, especially if you are making money. If you made money in 2018 and were not operating with a business license, you likely found yourself owing some money back to the IRS.

For those of you that are just getting started, I will briefly go over the basics. Bloggers make their money by working with brands to help them with exposure. They promote these brands across their blogs, social media, etc. to help drive awareness and traffic to a brand or product.

Those pretty Instagram pictures that you see, they don’t come to life on their own. They take special cameras, props, and sometimes will even have influencers driving around town to find the perfect location for a specific photo. People don’t realize how much time and effort really goes into these images and the content that is produced for brands. Not to mention, this all costs money, and we all already know that it takes money to make money these days. So if you want to be successful, you need to invest in your business.

So how do you invest? Through advertisement, marketing, giveaways, etc.

This is where having a business license becomes beneficial. Since you are an independent contractor, taxes are not getting pulled from your checks, meaning you will need to claim these and pay your taxes when it comes to filing. The props, equipment, and gas you use to create these marketing photos for brands are all expenses you can deduct when it comes to filing, which will help offset what you owe.

Always be prepared when it comes to filing and set aside a percentage of your earnings so you can pay your taxes when it comes to filing. If you end up receiving a return, then now you have a nice business account set aside for a rainy day.

So what exactly can you deduct with your license?

• Marketing expenses (including giveaways)
• Gas
• Travel
• Clothing
• Props
• Car lease
• Office space
• Photo equipment
• Photo software
• Cell phone bill and utilities
• & pretty much anything else that is contributing to the daily functioning of your business

Now that we are heading into Q2 of 2019, make it your goal to get your business license set-up so you can begin operating like an authentic business. Get yourself organized with payments received, and money you put into your business, to help analyze where you need to make adjustments to your spending as well.

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