This week’s Your Turn is all about last week’s column: Incorporate.
Bonnie,
Oh-em-gee.
LOVED your articles on the incorporating and receipts. I went off and bought the book you suggested to us in class and I read it, twice. But man, how much I wish I could have recorded word for word everything you and Keith said in our class session about it, because my brain oozes with sooo many questions.
I have to tell you, in my journey of being a mom to a young actress and on my own personal acting journey, I’ve become so much more confident in grasping and understanding the “business” of acting and all the Actor Mind Taffy that truly effs some people up.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given tips and advice to other moms of young actors and how many a-ha lightbulb moments I’ve created. It then hit me how you must feel when you see a room of 25 glossy-eyed actors staring at you salivating, hoping you will tell them the secret to “making it,” and when you show them how to do the work and it’s almost like an epiphany smacks them in the head.
In the past year, I have literally taken the hands of two new moms who wanted to get their kids into acting and educated them on how to do the WORK first, teaching them how to treat this like opening a small business. Nowhere in the world does someone wake up one morning and say, “I’m going to be a baker and open up a shop,” and then just climb out of bed, go into a random empty building, and start baking. But actors do this every day.
I am a certifiable nerd and I love computing data and researching. For whatever reason, having 50 Excel and Word documents with computable data gives me some sort of kinky excitement. I find that I tend to give information overload in trying to teach a parent about the business side of acting for their child.
So my husband finally clocked me over the head and said, “Write a book and cater it towards parents of young children in the business.” DUH!! Now I have to read the other books you suggested about how to get a book published. Can you write one about cloning yourself? *sigh*
I know when I first started my journey for my daughter three years ago, I wished something like this existed for me. So I’m going to write it. 🙂 My problem is, I have so much information to share — How do I keep the book from becoming an encyclopedia? Haaa. So for the past year, I’ve been putting my sarcastic humor into words on paper and I can’t tell you Bonnie how many times I hear you in my head. When I get to a question I may not fully know, I often have to channel my inner Bonnie. Ha ha ha.
Often times when I speak I think of that Allstate Car Insurance commercial, where the people who are insured by them start talking but it’s the voice of the spokesperson instead. In my head, it’s my lips moving, but your voice coming out. Ha ha. Of course it’s only funny to me. I think in more than half the articles I’ve written, I’m giving thanks to you in some way or other.
Anyhow, I just wanted to say thanks again for your awesomeosity and your amazing ability to breathe truth and humor into this crazy journey. Even though I don’t get the luxury of working with you daily anymore, reading your articles keeps me inspired and on my toes.
Keep up the good work!
Best,
Georgina
PS — A while back, you wrote an article telling all of us to put some positive affirmations, so to speak, on paper and put it in an envelope, seal it, and hang it on a wall. Did I miss the follow-up article on what you were going to ask us to do next?
What a wonderful email, Georgina! Thank you for this. All of it. 🙂
I’m so excited for you and your journey toward authorhood. It is so very valuable to share what we’ve learned along the way, so others don’t have to make mistakes unnecessarily. Of course, not everyone will WANT to do the work (like you said, being a certifiable nerd helps, because you ENJOY all the work, but not everyone DOES), but for those who do, you are helping them find a good path, so they can have an easier time of it than they might otherwise. Good for you!
I’m honored that you hear me speaking when you talk (you know what I mean) sometimes. 🙂 That’s fabulous and that’s a wonderful compliment!
The follow-up article to the list is going to be at the end of the year, I think. I usually make it a 12-week thing for SMFA online students, but this version will bring us so close to the end of the year that I’m gonna make it the year-end article, most likely. Stay tuned (and don’t peek)! 🙂 It’ll be wonderful.
Much love to you and your family… and keep sharing your toys with the world! XO
Hi Bonnie,
Thank you for your article on incorporating. Very useful information! I have a question regarding that since my husband and I are in a similar situation as you were when you incorporated. We file joint tax returns and are both actors with side survival jobs. Is it better to form one corporation for both of us or two separate?
Thank you!
Hiya Stella, great question!
Okay, so you can do it either way. Should you choose to set up separate corporations, just keep in mind you’ll be filing separate taxes, with separate accounting ledgers, separate boards, separate articles of incorporation, and, well, an additional, separate annual payment into the system as corporate entities.
Since you’re already filing joint tax returns, I’d imagine incorporating together makes sense, as you’ve already entangled your finances, and it’s actually — brace yourself — easier to disentangle your corporate finances than it is your personal finances, as a married couple. There’s way more financial paperwork involved, for those forming corporations, than there is for people joining together in marriage!
So, since you’re already all mixed together, you’re best off (again, check with a CPA who understands the level of corporation you’re specifically looking into forming for the REAL bottom line, of course) working together as a corporate entity! Your savings is not exponentially higher by doing it separately, at this point.
Congrats to you and go get it! 🙂
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001579.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.