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Managing The Money By James Martell Arlene and I are in a unique situation because, unlike most couples, we don't get a paycheck every two weeks from an employer. In our case, we derive income from multiple sources paid out in a variety of formats, at irregular intervals usually in a currency other than our own, which is Canadian dollars. Earning revenue through Affiliate Programs, as well as our trainings, offers unique challenges though. So I thought I'd share how Arlene and I handle the money. In the early days most of the checks were mailed to us. As they piled up, Arlene would prepare a report and then make a bank deposit at our local branch. As the business grew, however, we eventually handed this activity over to our bookkeeper. The bookkeeper would then handle all of the data entry providing us with a general overview of how well we were doing on a twice-a-month basis. Doing it this way was great because when it came to tax time, which is April for both Canada and the US, all we would have to do then was pass over the books to our accountant who would prepare our tax returns for both personal and corporate revenues. Most people getting started are not going to need either a bookkeeper or an accountant during the early stages. However, once you can see steady revenue and are sure that you will keep going with affiliate programs you would be well served to first hire a bookkeeper, then an accountant.
In the picture to the left you can see Arlene holding many of our affiliate checks, however as this industry has matured, more and more companies (merchants) offer direct deposit. This is a great convenience to not only them, but us as affiliates because there is simply less leg work involved into getting money into your bank account. However, I must say, I miss the days of seeing these huge piles of checks on my desk. Although I am not licensed to offer either legal or financial advice, a question that keeps coming up from students is this; should I incorporate? My typical answer for that question is that you seek legal advice. Any accountant that you eventually hire would be able to advise you based upon your country of origin and financial situation.
That's the general set-up that works best for us even today. Now having said all of this you must remember that if you have been an employee all of your working life you need to proceed slowly before making drastic changes. Typically to join most affiliate programs you can do so using your personal name and have checks mailed to your home or have monies deposited into a bank account or a PayPal account. Normally this extra income can be used to offset taxes paid from your employment revenue. Because most people start out with affiliate programs on a part time basis they will be able to add extra revenue to the family budget in addition to offsetting taxes withheld from their regular paycheck. Once again, these are all issues that can be handled by your bookkeeper/ accountant. All the best,
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In
our case, we have a friend who
handles our bookkeeping and he
was able to recommend the
accountant. Once you're serious
about doing this I would
recommend hiring someone off
In
our case, it was very clear
around 2003 that we needed to
set-up a corporation for the
many benefits it would provide.
We chose to incorporate in the
State of Nevada,
