Looking for a Financial Advisor for Online Business Owners?

Are you an online business owner? A financial advisor who specializes in serving entrepreneurs who operate online businesses can help you make smarter money moves.

Whether you run an online business that sells physical products, or you generate income as a content creator or influencer, your financial planning needs differ from people who hold traditional 9 to 5 jobs.

You’ll likely find dozens of nearby financial advisors well-suited to help you reach your money goals with a personalized plan. But it may be more difficult to find a financial advisor who specializes in serving online business owners.

Fortunately, many financial advisors offer virtual services so you can meet online no matter where you (or they) live. This means you can choose to hire a specialist financial advisor who lives hundreds of miles away if you decide their knowledge and experience working with online business owners is a better fit to help with your unique financial planning needs.

Financial Planning for Online Business Owners

💡 In the Q&A below, you’ll gain insights from financial advisors who work with online business owners to help them make smart decisions to enjoy life more today while preparing for a comfortable retirement in the future.

🙋‍♀️ Do you have questions not answered below? Use the form on this page to submit your questions, and we’ll update this article with answers from the financial professionals and educators in the Wealthtender community. You can also contact the financial advisors featured in this article directly to set up an introductory call or ask your questions by email.

Q&A: Financial Advisors Specializing in Serving Online Business Owners

Answers to Questions with Jenna VanLeeuwen, CFP®

We asked Jenna VanLeeuwen, a financial advisor based in Jersey City, to answer questions based on her experience serving online business owners that could help these entrepreneurs feel more confident about building their wealth.

Q: What is a common financial planning challenge unique to online business owners, digital entrepreneurs, and content creators that you frequently encounter when working with your clients? How do you work with them to overcome this challenge?

Jenna: For many digital entrepreneurs, online business owners, influencers, and creators, a significant challenge is the seemingly overnight success they often experience. 

These entrepreneurs may grind away at their passions for some amount of time and don’t always see the fruits of their efforts right away. Many times, they will transition from modest earnings to sudden viral success, getting traction, gaining a huge amount of followers, and making a lot of income in a short span of time.

As they go on this rapid journey to success, they often need a crash course on how to become a good business owner. With that comes the all-important management of taxes. They might end up with an unwelcome surprise in owing thousands of dollars in estimated taxes unexpectedly. There’s a big difference in learning that lesson when you’re making, say, $100,000 versus earning $1,000,000. 

Another unique challenge is cash flow management. Like many entrepreneurs, influencers and other digital entrepreneurs can have highly variable monthly earnings.

Additionally, the rapid pace of change in the digital entrepreneurship and content creation sectors requires a forward-looking financial strategy. It’s important to understand how much you can spend today versus how much you need to save for tomorrow.

Just like those in the entertainment or sports industries, digital entrepreneurs need to make sure they’re protecting what they have. You also need to be prepared if your interests shift, the platform evolves, or monetization begins to look different.

Ultimately, every single decision you make financially gets amplified and you’re now pushed – very quickly – into this new and unfamiliar world. There’s a lot to learn very quickly, but there are also experts like me able to help.

Q: For online business owners who are unsure whether or not they should hire a financial advisor at the current point in their lives, what guidance can you provide to help them make a more informed and educated decision?

Jenna: The first hint that digital entrepreneurs, creators, and other online business owners should hire a financial advisor is when they see a significant bump in income. If you’re starting to bring in a decent amount of income, that’s a great time to reach out to someone like me who specializes in business owners. And that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a lot of money already in the bank.

If you focus on hiring a financial planner when you see that income rise, that means you can be strategic about things like tax planning and starting investment accounts from the get-go. And the money you then save on taxes positions you well for the future. 

Prior to finding me, many of my clients initially felt overwhelmed by business finances. Starting with a bookkeeper or accountant is beneficial, but a financial advisor becomes invaluable as income rises and optimization becomes a priority.

Q: How do the services you offer online business owners distinguish your firm from other advisory firms?

Jenna: One key difference is the way you pay a financial advisor to work with you. Many firms charge based on assets-under-management and basically require that you’ve saved a bunch of money before they feel they will be able to work with you. Rather than this approach, my firm is fee-based, charging a monthly retainer. We prioritize income flow over accumulated savings, ensuring accessibility for entrepreneurs at varying financial stages.

Another difference is in terms of the services I provide, and how I structure that to help content creators and digital entrepreneurs. My entire process is built with them in mind. For example, we would look at whether you’re an LLC, a sole proprietor, an S Corp, or a C Corp, for example. We also do things like optimizing your business cash flow and matching that up to your personal cash flow and goals.

Beyond evaluating your business, there’s so much more to the content creator and digital entrepreneur business. For example, there are pretty unique tax situations. Tax scenarios for online courses, for example, can be very complicated and can vary state by state or even by municipality. So understanding how a digital product is taxed – it’s not simple. And not many people have the expertise developed to have a deep understanding of it.

Another complex scenario for content creators is tax deductions. For example, buying makeup to wear on screen can get murky. Generally, it wouldn’t be tax deductible because you can wear it again. However, if you hire a hair and make up artist for a brand photoshoot, that likely would be. It’s nuanced, and people often end up leaving money on the table as a result. It helps to find someone specific to your industry who knows what you can and cannot do. 

Last, if you’re representing a brand online or are starting to become considered a public figure, you are more exposed to brand management and even litigation issues. There is a massive ecosystem of people who can help you manage these partnerships – from brand manager to talent manager, insurance broker to accountant. It helps to know what these roles are and how they should be expected to support you. My work can help demystify this.

Q: What questions do you recommend online business owners ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?

Jenna: Questions to ask should go beyond understanding their client load, but to also seek answers to how they see you and your business. Are they treating you like a typical company employee and not a business owner? Do they feel there are ways that they serve business owners differently than other people? Do they have experience serving people in a similar space as yours?

While it’s very helpful to have an advisor that specializes in small business owners, you may want to go even more specific than that. Because content creators and digital entrepreneurs – while certainly considered small business owners – often find themselves in pretty unique circumstances.

Working with a financial advisor who broadly serves small business owners is one thing, but collaborating with someone who deeply understands and has directly addressed challenges specific to businesses like yours is another. These advisors use their expertise to your advantage by proactively addressing and preventing potential issues before they even surface. So much of what I do is proactive issue identification and solutions crafting.

Other questions to ask include those focused on how advisors are paid, their fee structure, the type of collaboration they expect to have with you, the scope of their service, and their relationship with other industry professionals such as accountants and business managers.

Get to Know Jenna VanLeeuwen, Financial Advisor for Online Business Owners:

View Jenna’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit her website to learn more.

Q: Is there a particularly memorable experience or a moment you recall with an online business owner when you first realized they have unique opportunities and circumstances when it comes to their financial planning needs?

Jenna: It is incredibly cool to see the impact that being proactive and intentional about your finances has on my clients. Watching the way that careful planning can help business owners grow wealth and find financial freedom is compelling, and that’s exactly what financial advisors set out to do. 

But working specifically with content creators and digital entrepreneurs, I don’t just get to witness the impact that my work has on financial freedom – I get to see the amazing results that are due to creative freedom. Creative freedom is just as important as financial freedom!

Financial freedom may take a long time to achieve. But if you understand your money, and you’re not afraid of it, and you feel comfortable and secure, then creative freedom is something you can have today! Creative freedom allows you to take more risks and shape your career in a way that you wouldn’t otherwise.

Take, for example, a movie director I advised. He witnessed many people in his industry who had to take on a lot of work in order to pay their large financial obligations. So in his case, when he did well, he ended up saving his money and living a lower-cost lifestyle when compared to his peers.

As a result, he could focus on directing as his ultimate creative project, and could be more intentional about his choices. He took on less commercial work and more freelance creative work that aligned with his vision. He knew what he truly wanted and I am certain will go farther with his career because he has given himself the ability to take creative risks with confidence. That’s where our work together truly feels priceless. 

It’s people like him who are the reason I am a financial planner for content creators and digital entrepreneurs: I get to know that someone’s life is improved because of my counsel. I love their passion, dedication, and willingness to innovate before trends catch on. And more than anything, I’m inspired by people whose work positively impacts others’ lives and our community.