Owning and running your own business sounds like a dream job. Being able to manage everything from your daily schedule to the people you work with is exciting! It can also be overwhelming, especially when it comes to backend things, like bookkeeping and accounting.
As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve grown used to doing everything myself, so it’s been hard for me to imagine letting someone else handle things. But there are only so many hours in a day, so I decided to try out a service that was built for self-employed entrepreneurs like me: Collective. I have to admit, it didn’t take long for me to not only become a fan of the service, but want to let as many solopreneurs as possible know about it.
Before you try it out for yourself, here are 5 things you need to know:
1). It’s super easy to sign up
You’re short on time. Believe me, I get that. A lot of the time, it’s easier to continue doing things the way you’ve been doing them because the idea of learning and implementing something new sounds like more work than it’s worth. This won’t be like that. Signing up was just a matter of minutes. All I had to do was answer a few questions about my business-of-one and schedule my 25-minute introduction call.
2). You’ll know exactly what you’re getting in under half an hour
The next step after the signup is to have a quick, less-than-30-minute introductory call with a business advisor. It’s a one-on-one meeting where you get to hear everything that you’ll be getting with your service, understand if it’s a good fit for you, and ask all of your questions. Collective is built to help self-employed entrepreneurs with no employees or sales tax, who make at least $60,000 a year.
I was excited about the short meeting but mine actually went over the scheduled time. I had a lot of questions and the advisor was happy to answer them. I got off the call knowing exactly what I’d be getting myself into and they didn’t make me feel rushed.
3). You get a whole team to help you
This isn’t one of those subscriptions where you sign up and then are left to figure everything out on your own. You get a tax and accounting team that helps you set up your S Corp and a personalized back office system to keep track of things like bookkeeping and tax filing. You also get a dedicated tax expert to oversee your account and be your point of contact throughout your membership. So if you ever have a question, someone is there to help you 24/7.
4). This is going to save you time and money
Tax filing and reporting alone is one of the most confusing parts of running a business, and hiring someone to do it for you can easily run you over $1,000 a year. And that’s just for the taxes. If you add in bookkeeping, payroll and S Corp formation, you’re looking at around $7,000 a year. For a solopreneur, that’s a huge figure! With Collective, you pay less than half of that and have a team that takes care of everything for you. It’s a no-brainer for me.
5). You’ll have peace of mind
Running a business is stressful enough, especially when you’re doing it all on your own. Being a Collective member means knowing that your back office is being taken care of, and that it’s being done well. Every month, the team will categorize your expenses, verify your transactions with your bank statements and give you a full financial report so you are always up-to-date on where your business stands. You also get personalized advice from your Member Relationship Manager anytime you need it. That level of peace of mind is priceless. Have you met a CPA that does all of this? Me neither.
Get the benefits of a team without hiring anyone
Even with an MBA and masters in accounting, I’ve always found tax compliance difficult to understand. Now, I don’t have to. Being a Collective member brings all the benefits of having a dedicated team to run your backoffice without actually having to hire anyone. It’s a solopreneur’s dream. Sign up and schedule your introductory call today–you won’t regret it!
