Do I really need to do all that work?

I get it. All of the finance mumbo jumbo is overwhelming. It's a lot of work, and you're right, it's HARD. It's sssooooo much easier to burry your head in the sand and hope that it will all even out come mid-April.

...OR IS IT?

Here's the thing. YOU'RE A BUSINESS! Would you trust any of the businesses you frequent if you knew they couldn't or didn't pay their taxes? What if you found out Apple was paying back taxes from the last two years? What if that corner store coffee shop was two months behind on paying their part-time employees? Wouldn't that make you loose trust? It should!

As a business, even as a solo-business, there must be some level responsibility to hold the entity to a higher standard than you hold your own individual self. People pay you a lot of money for your time and talent. With that payment, there is an assumed level of trust that you are running your business responsibly. That includes knowing your business' numbers, preparing for taxes, and understanding how expenses, pay roll, and profit work together within your business.

All that being said, I know that the organizational part of running a business is often not intuitive, and it can be really difficult. I'm going to let you in on a little secret though: doing the hard work now is going to make your life (and your business) so much easier in the long-run. Making the foundation of your business a priority will pay off in dividends years down the road.

When you build a house, the first (and most important) step is a solid foundation. It doesn't matter how big or fancy you build the house. Without a solid foundation, it's going to eventually come tumbling down. The same is true for your business.

So to answer the question "why do I need to know this?" or "isn't a full financial strategy overkill?". You need to know all of this so that you can create a sustainable business, so you can pay yourself a regular salary instead of just during your seasonal peaks, and so you can replace your beater car when it finally craps out. And simply put, no, it's not overkill. Haha. It's what all businesses should know about their own internal structure.