When I first got started with affiliate marketing and making money online I treated it like a side hobby for years.
Now, if you listen to any successful online marketer, they'll tell you that in order to be really successful, you need to start treating what you're doing online as a real business.
Once you do everything changes.
But, one of the main reasons I was just "dabbling" in making money online for years...
Was because I was honestly scared because I didn't know what to do when it came to taxes.
I had always been taught to get a "real job" - so that's what I did.
So, all I ever had was a single income source, one W-2 at the end of each year...
With maybe some random side hustle cash jobs that I didn't report.
But it wasn't until I was working as a chauffeur for a hotel that everything changed for me.
I was driving around a very successful freelancer and I was talking to him about my fears with starting my own company, etc.
And I asked him which was more important...
- Making sure you've got your business entity setup correctly and having a fancy logo and business cards, etc.
- OR just make money first, and figure out all the rest of the tax stuff later?
And he said "Oh, absolutely work at making money FIRST. You're never going to know everything about taxes and legal stuff, and honestly you don't need to know. Because once you're making money you can just outsource that to an accountant or CPA. But if you're not even making money, having fancy business cards doesn't do you any good."
So, that was a life-changing moment for me.
From that moment on I just focused on making more money (without letting my fears of not knowing what to do about taxes hold me back)
I found a good CPA who I bring all my income and expenses to at the end of every year and I've never had a problem.
And in regards to whether or not you should setup an official LLC or S Corp in the beginning, I'd say don't stress out about that either.
I think it's fine to operate as just a sole proprietor until you're making enough on the side to replace your current 9 to 5 job.
Once you've surpassed what you're earning at your job you can roll everything into an official business entity so that it's separate from all your personal income.
And doing that has become much easier in the last several years as well.
Instead of going through overpriced local providers, you can just use online services like LegalZoom to handle all your business entity creation for a very affordable price.
So, in summary, don't stress about taxes and legal stuff and the things that you don't know.
Focus on making money and I promise once you're earning enough to live and support yourself comfortably all of those tax and legal concerns will work themselves out.
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