Here’s the trick with a newsletter: you never know when it will go dark, and you also are just gonna get surprised when you least expect it. Such is life! Nothing makes sense!
Today is Tax Day, an absolutely random Monday in a year when we all needed a little more time to sort through the financial confusion of “2020.”
For a while on Instagram I did a “bit” where I mailed my tax payments to the IRS in very artful envelopes. It was a light and fun diversion for a very heavy task: writing a check for ~30% of the income I’d assembled through different jobs: some contract work, some hourly gigs, some low paying projects I was really excited about, some quiet & less glamorous powerpoint designing. It’s very possible to make a living as an artist as long as you’re creative about income streams! Taxes have been unpleasant every year of my career — a scheduled reminder that I'm either doing financially better or worse than I hoped, sometimes an overpayment but sometimes not enough. Since I had to print out my tax return and cut out a voucher to send with a paper check, then that mail might as well SING. And people loved those things! It was nice to imagine the sad sad paper pushers at the Internal Revenue Service receiving a thin slice of sunshine!
I stopped making the envelopes sometime in 2019: I was newly able to file payments online, but I’ll also share that the accountability was vulnerable. Quarterly estimates aren’t required (late payments do incur a very cute fee), and when times are tight it’s something I skip and pay for later. 2020 looked bright (lol remember?) until a recession hit alongside a pandemic. I was lucky to receive unemployment as a freelancer, but understanding all the rules has been confusing and expensive**. Although client work has slowly picked back up and each year my business brain grows, taxes remain a very raw & difficult topic.
Similarly speaking, I haven’t known how to return to writing this newsletter. I love it, it’s a fun and bright outlet for me, but like the envelopes, the accountability is tricky. I prefer to bring myself to the world smooth and confident, a brave woman with all my ducks lined up, but if I wait until I become her, we will never hear from me again. I’m among the millions of double vaxxed humans who are very different from who they were when this whole thing began. Coming out the other side is a privilege.
If it’s alright with you, I’m going to keep trying! I can’t guarantee a specific structure or calendar, but I’d like to be in touch via email more regularly. Exciting and joyful and beautiful things are happening at the same time as all of our pain and mess. There’s so much to be awake for! I spoke to my friends Abe & Isaac about this (and more!) on their podcast Empowered Human Academy a few weeks ago and it is a VULNERABLE but rich capture of how I’m thinking after the last year. I’d be remiss not to share with the curious.
Today I'm mailing in checks to my new local governments. I do love to draw on an envelope. I’m annoyed, I’m hopeful, I’m thankful.
** I should not speak about any of this without thanking my accountant I mean my mother. She’s prepared income taxes since I was in grade school and has answered so many questions and solved SO. MANY. PROBLEMS that seemed impossible to me. She retired a few years ago and has begun volunteering her time doing this for the United Way. The local news featured her in this interview and I’m so proud I have cried multiple times. Thank you to my dear best mom Jan.
And to wrap this up nicely and lightly in previous franmail form, I wanted to share a few business computer tools that have helped me organize my brain and made the road a lil less treacherous FOR ME PERSONALLY. Everyone’s figuring it out as they go, this is both comforting and terrifying.
Quickbooks
Sync that whole thing to your whole bank account. Sorting and itemizing receipts is a clicking game I play about every other month, and I just switched to sending invoices through it. I’m content with the ways it helps me stay enough on top of things.
Catch
This thing also syncs to bank accounts and lets you set aside withholding from each incoming payment based on your Business Goals. A pretty lightweight tool that’s been really helpful for taxes and seems promising for many other needs.
AirTable
Prayers of gratitude for my friend Meg who evangelizes this planning software. It’s likeeee a spreadsheet but it’s also visual, very customizable, linkable, etc. I started playing with it to plan trips, and now feel comfy enough to track my projects and tasks in there.
Dropbox & Google Docs
These aren’t good secrets but they’re essentials at this point! I keep my folders as tidy as possible and send links to share files all. the. time. Storing all my projects on a hard drive AND the cloud means I can keep using an ancient MacBook Air no problem.
Evernote
The note-taking option that has worked for me for a long long time! I keep running notes for my weekly to-do, project details, etc. And I also write out a small list on paper every day.
This issue of franmail was sent fast and loose! This is the truth! But attempting to be more honest and less precious! Would love to hear from you, please @ me. Sharing fun work/life/house projects on instagram and always promising myself I’ll update my website soon!
xo,
Frances