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TuneIn Do you experience a rude awakening every April when Tax Day approaches? In this episode, we're highlighting three critical money mistakes that could be devastating to your business - not just during tax season, but all year round.
Do you experience a rude awakening every April when Tax Day approaches?
If so, you're one of many creators who seem to be caught off-guard by this yearly reminder that your creator business is just that - a business. And the IRS does not take it easy on you just because you are not 'good at business.'
In this episode, we're highlighting three critical money mistakes that could be devastating to your business - not just during tax season, but all year round - and we'll show you how fixing them can free you from stress and anxiety. Not only that, these solutions will keep more money in your pocket and less going to Uncle Sam.
Note: For our international listeners, please refer to your country's tax code and get professional help. For everyone - this is not financial advice or tax consultation - we advise all of our community of creators to seek help from a licensed financial professional.
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© 2026 Paul Creative Solutions
More About the God and Gigs Show
Welcome to The God and Gigs Show, the podcast for Christian creators who want to build a creator lifestyle that honors God and gives you the joy and satisfaction you've always wanted.
This isn't a show about hustle culture or chasing the next algorithm trick. We go beyond surface-level tips to talk about what it actually looks like to create from a place of faith — practical strategies for podcasting, content creation, and growing a creative business that lasts. You'll hear conversations about staying consistent without burning out. We also dig into finding your creative voice along the way, even when ministry, family, and work are all pulling at the same hours.
Whether you're just exploring your creative gifts, or you've been creating professionally for years, this show gives Christian creators practical tools and spiritual encouragement to fully embrace God's creative calling - at any level of skill or vocational ability. The goal is to help you create consistently and embrace God's will for your creative life without sacrificing your calling.
Your host and founder is Allen C. Paul — podcaster, musician, author, and speaker based in South Florida. We started this show to help creators thrive in faith, business, and creativity through simple, practical solutions.
We'll cover questions like:
- How do I work in secular arts and entertainment without losing my faith focus?
- What does it actually look like to build a creative business as a Christian?
- How can I stay consistent with content creation without burning out?
- What's the difference between hustle culture and sustainable creative work?
- How do I find my voice as a faith-driven or creator?
- How can I balance ministry, family, and creative work?
- What are practical first steps to working as a Christian creator?
If you've been searching for honest conversations about faith and creativity, keeping your family and relationships as your first priority, or how to build a business that honors your calling, you're in the right place. Join us every week as we help you become the creator you were created to be.
Connect with us on Instagram at https://instagram.com/godandgigs and learn more about the God and Gigs 360 community at https://godandgigs.com/membership.
Have more questions? Check out our FAQ page on The God and Gigs Show
I hate to tell you this, but you might be in the process of destroying your creative career because of an issue you are not even aware of, but it isn't lack
8 seconds
of talent, and you're not missing out on some special creative strategy. Here's the truth. Some of the most successful15 seconds
creators ended up losing everything because of one fatal mistake, not handling their business. And for many of22 seconds
us, that comes down to one word that nobody likes to talk about, taxes. Now,27 seconds
I already know this is probably not the episode that you really wanted to listen to. You'd rather talk about growth,33 seconds
content, platforms, getting more visibility. But what if I told you that ignoring this part of your creator lifestyle is exactly what could cost you42 seconds
everything you're building? Not just your money, not just your peace of mind,46 seconds
but your ability to actually sustain the calling that God gave you. So, today we're not just going to talk about taxes. We're going to talk about how you53 seconds
can get this monkey off your back and finally end the financial stress that you've been feeling in your creative future. Now, if you're new to the show,1 minute
thank you so much for joining us. My name is Alan C. Paul and this is the God and Gig Show, where we help you to become the creator that you were created to be. And by the end of this episode,1 minute, 10 seconds
we're going to show you three critical mistakes that you might be making right now in your business. And more importantly, we're going to help you fix them before they catch up to you.1 minute, 24 seconds
So today, I want to make sure we get into this to really help our creators to avoid this issue. We do not want any1 minute, 32 seconds
more of our creators dealing with financial pressures when it comes to the taxes that they have to file, the income1 minute, 41 seconds
that they're earning, how to track it so that you can keep the resources that God has put into your possession as a1 minute, 49 seconds
creator. Not only that, also being able to get more of it because you're free from the pressures and the burdens of1 minute, 58 seconds
how to track it, how to manage it, how to spend it, and how to make sure that your business is going to be an asset to2 minutes, 6 seconds
you and not a liability or a curse of struggle every time it comes around to finances and business. So, we're going2 minutes, 15 seconds
to talk about three issues that almost every single creator deals with, okay?2 minutes, 20 seconds
And if this is not one of yours, I get it. But I I'm pretty sure one of these is going to apply to every single one of2 minutes, 28 seconds
us. Okay? So, the first issue that hits almost all of us is that income is not2 minutes, 36 seconds
being tracked. Now, when I say income is not being tracked, I mean that 90% of us, 100% of us, 99%, I don't know what kind of percent that you're going to do,2 minutes, 45 seconds
but it's up there. Start our businesses as hobbies or side hustles where we're just getting paid whenever we get paid.2 minutes, 54 seconds
People are like, "Hey, can you do this for me? Can you do this for me?" And they hand you a, you know, 50 bucks for this or $100 for a gig or whatever. And3 minutes, 1 second
it's, you know, oh wow, amazing. and you just throw it in your personal account,3 minutes, 7 seconds
which we'll talk about, okay? You throw it in your business banking, but you don't you're like, "Oh, here it comes. I3 minutes, 14 seconds
got it. Money. Yay." No tracking and no kind of understanding of, "Hey, what is the actual income of my business?" So,3 minutes, 24 seconds
the first thing of course that comes with taxes is it's an income tax, right?3 minutes, 28 seconds
In the US, we're talking to our US uh friends. If you're in another location,3 minutes, 33 seconds
in another country, obviously you have to take your own tax laws into account.3 minutes, 38 seconds
But fact is if you don't know how much you made, you don't know how much you owe. And here's where I'll bring in a3 minutes, 45 seconds
biblical principle. When Jesus is confronted about, do your disciples pay the tax? Of course, they were trying to trap Jesus.3 minutes, 57 seconds
But Jesus answered in a way which really should hit all of us who think taxes and income and management is not a big deal.4 minutes, 4 seconds
Jesus our Lord and Savior said render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and render unto God's the things that4 minutes, 11 seconds
are God's. Now many of us take that as oh well of course God owns everything.4 minutes, 16 seconds
So he was really saying that you know we should give everything to God that he deserves. But the first part of that was a command as well. You can't say render4 minutes, 25 seconds
unto God the things that are gods as a command and then forget the part about render under Caesar which of course represents our government represents the4 minutes, 32 seconds
authorities represents the our our our nation render under Caesar. We are called as4 minutes, 40 seconds
creators who have a gift from God to also be very very honest and authentic4 minutes, 48 seconds
and strategic about following through with our financial planning and with what we owe as a result of being paid.4 minutes, 56 seconds
Now again many of us started as hobbyists. We started as just hey I just want to get paid here and there and then all a sudden people pay us more often5 minutes, 4 seconds
and now maybe we're actually in a place where we're like oh I'm an entrepreneur.5 minutes, 7 seconds
from a business person, but the finances coming in, you don't know when they're coming in. You don't know how much came5 minutes, 14 seconds
in. And again, if the government ever finds out that you were being paid,5 minutes, 20 seconds
they're going to want their cut. This is the part where most of the creators that I just mentioned, the musicians and the artists that get in trouble, they get5 minutes, 29 seconds
audited. I know I hate even saying that word, but I have been audited, y'all. The government knows how to find us.5 minutes, 37 seconds
They know how to check out what you've been doing online. And if they ever come in and ask, "Hey, that little side business you're doing, we've never seen5 minutes, 45 seconds
you report that." It is going to bite you in the rear end. We don't want that.5 minutes, 51 seconds
So, this is the first problem that we have got to address as creators. Where and how are you tracking income? Are you6 minutes
actually putting it into a business account? Do you have financial software that's tracking it or are you just saying, "Hey, whenever I get paid, I just pay this bill. I needed something6 minutes, 8 seconds
to pay a bill and I pay the bill." So many musicians, artists, creators live gig to gig. They live project to project. I know in the nineto-ive world,6 minutes, 20 seconds
we say paycheck to paycheck. But with the irregular income of creators, even if you do have a full-time job, your6 minutes, 28 seconds
part-time or your side hustle or your creative business is just bringing in money piece by piece by piece and you're not really tracking it cuz you think6 minutes, 35 seconds
it's a regular and it's not something you can count on, you don't count it.6 minutes, 39 seconds
But you have to count it. You have to be aware of what is coming in or else you can never be sure of what you should be doing with your money, how it should be6 minutes, 48 seconds
going out, whether it's personal or business expenses or income I should say. And then we'll get to expenses later. But these are the issues that6 minutes, 56 seconds
again bit me in the butt because I did not track it. And when people asked and when the government and when tax accountants and people said, "Okay,7 minutes, 5 seconds
well, what did you earn this year?" and I didn't have an answer, it was a huge red flag that I'm not really running a business. And that means again kind of7 minutes, 14 seconds
going into the tax kind of prep stuff that I can't really speak on because I'm not a tax preparer, but I can tell you this, if the income is not shown to be7 minutes, 23 seconds
business, it ends up just being personal income and that's taxed at a different rate and I can end up owing so much more7 minutes, 30 seconds
because I did not prove that my income was a business income. So I cannot take deductions from the business if I didn't7 minutes, 39 seconds
prove it was a business income to begin with. So these are just some of the small things I cannot go into detail and that's why we're going to do our deep7 minutes, 45 seconds
dive later so that our experts can talk about this. And by the way, quick shout out to our God and Gigs creator resource7 minutes, 53 seconds
center. We do have a video from one of our friends that we've interviewed,7 minutes, 59 seconds
Samantha Mayberry, who is amazing and she gives a work up. She's done a podcast episode, but she's also done a8 minutes, 6 seconds
deep dive into business finances and how you can protect your income from taxes and do better with that. So, that is the first issue that most of us deal with.8 minutes, 15 seconds
The second one goes right to where we are right now, which is tax preparation only happens at the last minute. You8 minutes, 23 seconds
guys, as I'm recording this on April 10th, I know there are many, many people that I am talking to right now that are8 minutes, 33 seconds
not ready, did not file, are not ready to file and have not even got a plan on whether they're going to do an8 minutes, 40 seconds
extension. Why? Because April 15th rolled up and you didn't even think about this. And here's something that's even more troubling. Many creators that8 minutes, 49 seconds
are in business shouldn't be waiting for April 15th. Depending on what state you're in, you may have already should have filed your corporate quarterly8 minutes, 58 seconds
taxes. You should have already sent in your um your business or your LLC uh certification for the year. Many states,9 minutes, 8 seconds
including Florida, where I'm at,9 minutes, 9 seconds
requires you to make sure that you reertify, that you send in your annual report for your corporation. You may not even know what that is. you may not have9 minutes, 18 seconds
remembered to do it. All of these things catch you at the last minute because you don't have a plan. And when you don't have a plan and think like a business,9 minutes, 25 seconds
what's really happening is you are setting yourself up to lose everything that you have built for the other 3659 minutes, 33 seconds
days. That is the fear the the the the fear that I have for so many of our creators. How can we get into this and9 minutes, 41 seconds
say we want to be inspired, we want to work hard, we want to write books, we want to create, we want to, you know, do art. We want to make music. And then9 minutes, 49 seconds
find out that because we didn't check all the boxes and make sure that we're prepared, that we wait till the last minute, that we scramble to try to find9 minutes, 57 seconds
someone to do our taxes or do it ourselves. Let me just tell you guys again from experience. Doing the taxes10 minutes, 4 seconds
yourself as a creative is a very very very bad idea. I'm just saying it10 minutes, 12 seconds
because what it cost me was way more than what it saved me in the short term of not wanting to hire a professional.10 minutes, 21 seconds
So that is my official statement for our God and G community. I would highly highly recommend that you get a tax10 minutes, 30 seconds
professional because even if you understand deductions, even if you think you know, oh that's right, I can deduct this, I can deduct that, there are so10 minutes, 39 seconds
many things in the tax law that are changing every single year. And here's what I think is really, really powerful when it comes to tax preparation. Why10 minutes, 46 seconds
tax day is actually a good thing to use as this barometer of where you are in your creator business. If you think you10 minutes, 53 seconds
have the time to keep up with the changing tax laws and keep up with the industry and keep up with staying11 minutes, 2 seconds
inspired and keep up with putting out content and keep up with building a creative community, let me tell you, you don't. There is no chance. You have11 minutes, 10 seconds
enough time in your life to keep up with tax laws and things that you could be saving money on and all the different deductions and things like that and make11 minutes, 18 seconds
sure you run your business. This is a place where you do not need to be bootstrapping, my friends. Let's get professionals. Again, I'm going to shout11 minutes, 26 seconds
out Sam Mabberry because she's part of our community, but whoever you can get inside of your area that is understanding of the entrepreneur,11 minutes, 38 seconds
self uh small business, solarreneur lifestyle, creative lifestyle. We may look at a directory later um inside11 minutes, 46 seconds
guiding gigs so that there aren't more there's more than just one or two or three professionals. Maybe we can get be one different states. But point is you11 minutes, 54 seconds
need to find someone who can help you with this and not wait till the last minute as I'm talking. So if you're listening to this and it's April 14th,12 minutes, 1 second
it's April 16th, it's April 17th, it's May of next, you know, next month when I'm recording this and you're like,12 minutes, 8 seconds
"Well, what do I do?" Guess what? That's perfect because you don't have to wait till the last minute for next year. You can start doing this preparation now.12 minutes, 16 seconds
And we're going to talk about those tools that you can use to make sure that this doesn't happen to you again. So,12 minutes, 23 seconds
the third issue that keeps impacting creators of all kinds, but especially faith focused creators, is no system for12 minutes, 31 seconds
setting aside your tax payments and expenses.12 minutes, 36 seconds
Okay. So again, this applies all year round. Now, I was so blessed when Leseand Brown, our friend and member of12 minutes, 45 seconds
Got Kiss 360 and also our business mentor,12 minutes, 49 seconds
recommended that we start using Relay as our business bank. And the reason why I'm so impacted by that, and actually I12 minutes, 57 seconds
was doing this a little before because I started using Profit First in our business. is I actually have an episode inside our podcast on how we started13 minutes, 4 seconds
using profit first. But even when I started using profit first, I didn't necessarily use it as effectively as I could have. I am so glad that we started13 minutes, 13 seconds
using relay because this was a bank that was designed for profit first. And for the first time ever, you guys, I was13 minutes, 21 seconds
ready for the payments that needed to come in for our taxes and also paying our tax preparer, I should say, because13 minutes, 29 seconds
I had a system set aside to set aside money throughout the year that would take care of that expense. not only the13 minutes, 37 seconds
taxes but also the expenses that I have throughout the year. Operating expenses,13 minutes, 43 seconds
marketing expenses, keeping a portion of profit so that I can pay myself. And of13 minutes, 50 seconds
course, as I mentioned, the savings for taxes, all of those are five different accounts that I can set up very easily.13 minutes, 57 seconds
And that is why it's so important to have a system because before this, you guys, I got caught over and over again14 minutes, 5 seconds
staring at a tax bill or something I needed to buy, a marketing budgeting thing, and there was no money set aside14 minutes, 13 seconds
to make sure that I could pay for the thing that I needed to pay for. A business has expenses, but yet so many14 minutes, 22 seconds
of us as creators, we are haphazard. We buy things when we need them. we think we need to get them and then we run out and we try to do a gig or get more14 minutes, 30 seconds
clients or get a project going to pay for the thing and then we go into the next thing and we don't plan ahead and we end up needing the money again as I14 minutes, 38 seconds
mentioned before gigto gig project to project not really having a system of financial bookkeeping of recordkeeping14 minutes, 46 seconds
and or saving so that you don't get caught behind the eightball so I hope you see that I've laid out the problems14 minutes, 53 seconds
now I want to make sure that I lay out solutions ions. One of the first solutions is before April 15th,15 minutes
whatever you are doing, stop and say, "Where am I tracking my income?" So,15 minutes, 6 seconds
we're going to walk it all the way back to the beginning and say, "If you're not tracking your income, let's find a system to track your income." Now, there15 minutes, 14 seconds
could be so many software and banking systems and banking apps that can do this for you. I have a few that I'm going to recommend few in a little bit15 minutes, 22 seconds
in our tools section, but we also have some of those in our guided gigs toolkit, godgix.com/toolkit.15 minutes, 29 seconds
We'll put a link so that you guys can check that out. But find a income tracker. You will not know how much you owe unless you can track what you're15 minutes, 38 seconds
making. Secondly, as I mentioned, tax preparation starting at the last minute.15 minutes, 43 seconds
I would highly suggest going ahead and researching if you cannot do it for this year, finding an accountant or tax15 minutes, 51 seconds
preparer, not someone, and again, I know some people use the H&R Block and the different people, and I'm not trying to hate on any of those, but I highly15 minutes, 59 seconds
recommend you find someone who has worked with creators and or entrepreneurs and small businesses. It's so important to get someone that16 minutes, 7 seconds
understands what you could be saving and where you could be deducting and what you need to do next. Because here's a16 minutes, 14 seconds
cool thing. During the months that they are not as busy, they really are your adviser and they can advise you on how to protect your money, how to start16 minutes, 22 seconds
saving, how to start making sure you don't get caught behind a ball.16 minutes, 25 seconds
Especially, by the way, if you are like me and you have both personal income from a 9 to-ive job and your business income so that you do not mix the two,16 minutes, 34 seconds
that's one of the nos. and we'll talk about that in a future live stream. But this is where you got to start doing this now. So before you get to April 15th, start looking for someone who can16 minutes, 43 seconds
either help you file that extension if you're not ready and prepare for next year. Finally, the system for setting16 minutes, 50 seconds
for your taxes and your expenses. This is something that I would highly recommend checking out, Profit First.16 minutes, 58 seconds
There's also profit first for creators by our friend Christian Brim who's also a member of godgates 360 and has done a workshop inside the creative resource17 minutes, 5 seconds
center but setting up a profit first some kind of account system where you can have the five accounts like they17 minutes, 13 seconds
have in profit first and again I'll put the link in the show notes for the link that we have for profit first inside our membership but I want to make sure that17 minutes, 21 seconds
you guys are actually making a system for tracking this stuff in advance of next year in advance of April 15th. If17 minutes, 30 seconds
you start doing this now, I'm guaranteeing you, you will be in a better position by April 15th of the following year. You don't want to get17 minutes, 39 seconds
caught behind the eightball. As I'm sharing this now, it may feel like it's too late, but it's not. If you start taking steps now, you can fix the17 minutes, 46 seconds
financial mess that you're in and avoid the situations that could ruin your creator business and your testimony as a17 minutes, 54 seconds
called creative. You don't want that on your resume. You want to be free of all that stress, free of all that worry. So, take this to heart. When Jesus said,18 minutes, 2 seconds
"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar," he was serious. But he also meant it's possible for him to help you take care of it. He went out, told Peter18 minutes, 11 seconds
to go find a fish, pay the tax like that. When you follow these principles and you do so in a godly way, God18 minutes, 18 seconds
provides for you. So, I want to leave that last encouragement of this section. Don't think that this is beyond you.18 minutes, 24 seconds
Don't think that God is not interested in your finances. Don't think that God is not interested in you being structured and organized and efficient so that you can handle all these issues18 minutes, 33 seconds
that come along with being a creative business person.Sync to video time