Bookkeeping software isn’t exciting but it’s important. In this article I share about the best bookkeeping software for free that I use in my own business.
If you want to have a successful career in professional drumming, you’ll also have to learn to use some kind of bookkeeping software. Bookkeeping software will help you know how much money is coming in and going out of your business every month. This is essential to your business’ survival.
Bookkeeping software for self-employed
When I started my business, I designed elaborate Excel spreadsheets but soon realized that keeping track of my expenses and income was going to get very messy that way. It also didn’t let me run reports for filing taxes and income statements for different time periods.
Being self-employed, I decided to try using the bookkeeping functions that came with my drum teaching scheduling software. That was great and I could run reports but they were pretty limited. I still need more powerful bookkeeping software.
A few years ago I discovered Wave bookkeeping software. It’s a web-based program for companies in the US and Canada. It has many of the features included in the best accounting software but with one HUGE difference. Wave is bookkeeping software for free!
No affiliate marketing for Wave bookkeeping software
Wave is bookkeeping software for free so there is no affiliate marketing program for this software. I am not earning any commission by sharing this information with you. I simply want to help you be the most successful you can be.
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This is bookkeeping software small business needs
The thing I like most about Wave is how easy it is to use. I’m not the smartest guy when it comes to technology and accounting. I think Wave developers were thinking about non-technical minds when they designed their software.
Most of us creative types would just rather be creative all day and not deal with the pain of daily business tasks. Some big-time drummers even hire accountants or other bookkeeping professionals to handle their financial details.
I think if I was making loads of money, I might do that too. Wave however, is the answer for those of us who haven’t yet achieved rockstar status. I’ll be sure to ammend this article when I do. 🤙
What bookkeeping software should i use?
Drummers and other musicians don’t usually know where to start when looking for bookkeeping software. I know some musicians who don’t file their taxes every year. They just think keeping track of income and expenses is a big pain in the butt.
Their thinking is like “Hey, I don’t make that much anyway, so what’s the difference?” They’re just hoping the day of the tax man knocking on their door never comes.
Getting some bookkeeping software for free like Wave will make everything so much easier to do. If you keep track of your income and pay the taxes you owe, it’s a lot less painful than paying penalties later.
I have never had any troubles with this as I have always counted every penny (yen) I have earned through my business and reported my income accordingly.
The way I am able to do this with relative ease is by using bookkeeping software like Waveapps. In Wave, it’s super easy to print out year-end income statements. I can also print them for any other date parameters I need.
When it’s tax time, you won’t stress anymore about income and expenses. They’ll all be right there at your fingertips by logging into your Waveapps account.
Other ways to use Wave bookkeeping software
I also track all of my music royalty and merchandise sales through Wave. This is all very handy to pull reports on total digital downloads and CD’s sold (Yes, I sell CD’s in Japan!). I also use it to track how much money I’m bringing in from music publishing.
I can also see how much I’m making from drum lessons or from gigging. It’s all pretty cool. Wave helps me know which income streams are strongest. I may put more energy into those streams in the future and focus less on the weaker income streams.
Check out my article about 5 ways to make money playing drums. These are some of the ways I bring in money every month.
Handy receipt app for your phone
Wave also has a handy app to take a photo and upload your receipts to your Wave account. You can then edit the details of each receipt in Wave. I still keep my hard copy receipts but having an electronic copy is also helpful.
I will say that the app is sometimes a bit glitchy but all-in-all, it works pretty good.
Other paid services and features
There are other paid services you can use on Wave and you can do so much more with it than I do. I have never paid for anything on Wave and it works just fine for me. In the era of “monthly software subscriptions” this is really nice.
Conclusion
If you are looking to get your drumming business financial house in order, Wave can definitely help you do it. At the start, it will be a lot of data inputting on your computer but it will be worth it in the long run.
If you get paid anything for your drumming skills or merchandise sales, keep track of it. Keep track of all of your expenses related to your business. For definitions about what are acceptable business expenses, consult your respective tax authority.
The bottom line is, you need to know at any time what your bottom line is! Wave will help you do that so you can KEEP ON DRUMMIN’!
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