Accounting and Bookkeeping don’t come naturally to most fitness professionals. You’ve got so many other hats to wear that it is likely something you only think if you start up and need a loan or investors. If you’re a trainer or coach going solo or online, you may never have needed (or so you thought) additional revenue. Have computer, open for business may have been your motto. (I get that, it was mine too, until I realized all the courses I needed to invest in and the contractors who I needed to build out what I wanted). Taxes are No Joke  If anything is a guarantee in fitness business and life, it’s taxes. Building a sustainable fitness business that’s truly a career not a hobby is not easy. It’s easy to spend hundreds or thousands on tights, music, and equipment and realize you still have no clients. With guaranteed taxes and expenses and no guaranteed revenue you can quickly have a problem.  Want good news? There’s a solution to this. Get savvy on the taxes, accounting and bookkeeping structure that can help you now. You’ll sleep better.  There’s a big difference between someone who offers accounting and bookkeeping services and someone who really cares about your business. A lot of people will just crunch the numbers and tell you how much your taxes are. Someone invested in your success will help you determine whether something is a good or bad decision right now.  Accounting and Bookkeeping Roles Your bookkeeper is going to do monthly P&L balance sheets and any kind of special reporting you need. Your accountant is going to handle big-picture recommendations for your business that include legal changes, legal obligations, vision for the company, corporate tax return and possibly personal tax returns. In most instances accounting and bookkeeping services are provided by two different people. Your accountant and attorney might need to talk about what kind of entity you should be. Is LLC right for you or S-corp, or C-corp, for example? Sometimes your decisions are both legal and financial. Money Mindset If you’re still in the mind-set of “this is how much I make per hour, earned today, this week or month = this is how much I can spend,” you can get in financial trouble quickly. Likewise, credit cards make it easy to overextend yourself with items you really don’t have an ROI on. My guest in this episode answers a few questions - specifically about taxes - for you.  Shannon Weinstein  Shannon is a CPA and fitness professional based in Connecticut. After working in accounting for over ten years she discovered her passion for fitness, she decided to apply her background into her passion. Shannon provides one on one coaching for fitness professionals and business owners, as well as tax and accounting services. She operates most of her business virtually, serving clients all over the country.  Questions we cover in today’s podcast: Tell me more about how you became interested in the subjects of finance and fitness.   What are the common mistakes you see fitness professionals make when it comes to managing money?  What should our listeners know if they are moving from being employed to becoming self-employed? How much does it cost to hire a bookkeeper or accountant and what are the options?  How can our listeners get in touch with you to find out more about accounting and bookkeeping services? Connect with Shannon: http://bit.ly/fitnancial https://www.instagram.com/shannonkweinstein/ https://www.facebook.com/fitnancialsolutions/ That bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach really gets worse with time. That desire to just focus on making more money will limit you and the good you can do. With 6000 women a day entering menopause, not finding the trainers who understand hormone balancing exercise, this investment will pay of with a single client. The Flipping 50 Specialist  Enroll now.    You'll learn how to create programs for hormone balance, coach women based on signs of perimenopause, menopause, and post menopause for natural ho