Soul Proprietor: Tips for Running a Money and Spirit Savvy Business
Over the weekend I picked up Lisa Sonora Beam’s book The Creative Entrepreneur and stopped in my tracks when I saw the chapter entitled “Soul Proprietor”. What a great reframe! It shifts the concept from Sole; meaning only, exclusive and alone, to Soul; meaning spirit, heart or essence.
Your business, then, becomes a source of connection rather than a prison of isolation. The trick is to find a balance between soul- the essence of what you bring to the world and proprietor- the reality that you own a business.
Here are some tips for bringing the proprietor part of the equation front and center:
1. Know Your Balances: Check your bank and credit card statements daily or weekly (use Mint.com), update your check register and follow up on anything you don’t recognize or agree with (like fees)
Benefit– You know where you are, and will make more conscious decisions about spending and saving.
2. Save a percent of every penny earned, FOR YOURSELF. If you make your deposits or have a banking day once a week this is easy– simply transfer a percentage to a savings account. See if you can do 10%….even if you end up using it down the road, at least you are creating a healthy practice of saving. Remember also to save for taxes.
Benefit– You are building discipline, and valuing yourself. When you need to pay for a training, a trip or give yourself a bonus, you’ll have the money to do so.
3. Keep Track! Write on every receipt and on your credit card and bank statements– note what you purchased if not completely obvious. The IRS loves notes, paper trails and supporting documentation. Going to visit a client and want to write it off? Attach info about the client to the receipts for the visit– their address, what you talked about, how they paid you (if they did). File these together and the IRS should have no question that you were doing business.
Benefit– If you get audited you can sit in the corner and meditate rather than wringing your hands and sweating profusely. Oh, and you’ll avoid fines and penalties, and feel good that you handled it so well.
4.Don’t use the excuse that “it’s a write off” for spending money you don’t have. It’s only a deduction if you have income! You don’t need Write Offs you need “Right On’s”!
Benefit-- You will get more honest about what you can afford to spend, and hopefully start turning a profit.
5. Delegate your bookkeeping. Truly, this is so valuable, especially at the beginning of a business. A bookkeeper can set things up in a flash, saving you time and frustration… but most importantly, she’ll do it the right way, so that you don’t have to pay to have it redone later.
Benefit– There are many: you’ll stay on top of things because you’ll have to get things to the bookkeeper monthly; you’ll be able to focus on doing what you love to do; it will be done correctly and you’ll actually have a profit and loss statement- which, if you read it, can help you to evaluate what’s working in your business and what’s not.
6. Protect your intellectual property. This means that if you come up with a great name for your business or strategy, trademark it, and if you are blogging, writing articles or producing training materials they need to be copyrighted. Counsel-to-Creativity is my favorite resource for this!
Benefit– You are being professional by doing this, and are requiring that people take you seriously. Should someone try to use or steal your idea or copy you’ll have legal recourse. Besides, it’s cool to have TM after a name or idea you conceived of!
Tips for bringing the Soul part of the equation into focus:
1. Create community that supports your vision. Surrounding yourself with people that say Yes to your ideas is not only important, but it’s healthy! This can be online or face to face. Trust yourself to reach out to like-minded soul proprietors to share lunch, mentoring and give support.
Benefit—Fertilizer! Feeling connected to others will fertilize the soil of your dreams, while grounding you, lovingly, in reality
2. Put your essence into your product or service. Another way to say this is “Let your freak flag fly”. The old model of business, where everyone one wore the same uniform (a business suit) and did things in a prescribed way is fading fast. Some of the most brilliant (and richest) people in the world conduct business in jeans and have barely cut their wisdom teeth… who knew? Dare to pour your unique, quirky, beautiful self into all you do.
Benefit—You will feel at peace. When we line up who we are with what we do amazing things happen!
3. Hire a coach or business consultant to help you plan, build strategy and ensure that the “Soul” is not being left behind or the “Proprietor” is neglected or worse, completely abandoned. My rule of thumb when hiring such a person is that I want to work with someone I admire, respect and who is at least 5 steps ahead of me. For example, when I hired my writing coach, I looked for someone who was 1) published, 2) experienced in helping new authors, 3) well connected and 4) a great communicator. Jeffrey Davis is all this and more, and I’m leaping forward under his tutelage. I might have been able to do it on my own, but this way I feel supported, love the guidance and have both accountability and timelines to keep me on track.
Benefit— Clarity of purpose. You benefit from the insight and experiences of your coach, and from simply hearing yourself talk through issues as they arise.
I would love your stories and comments about your life as a Soul Proprietor.
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