Creator tax and wealth advisor | Fiduciary | Enrolled Agent | Founder of Render Financial | Posts ≠ investment advice
Joined December 2009
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Q4 is a busy time for creators. I get it.
But here are 5 things you can do before year-end to save yourself time, money, and stress in Q1.
Shore up emergency reserves.
Before making big purchases, review your reserves.
Use Q4 profits to shore up reserves so that you aren't scrambling for cash in Q2.
5 more reasons creators might be a red flag to brands (and what to do instead):
5) Withholding metrics
Please for the love of sushi, provide a link to the video/post right after it's published. A few days later send metrics to them without being asked.
Pro tip: If you include a short snippet about why you enjoyed working with the brand and are honest about what went wrong (if it flopped), how it could be improved for the next one, etc. they will love you forever.
Attributing return on investment for creator campaigns is extremely difficult. Any piece of insight helps them justify what we all know: creator campaigns work, even if they aren't easily measured.
The average career of a successful creator lasts 5-8 years.
By this point, 60-90% of creators are burnt out and consider quitting.
That means you have, on average, 3-5 years of peak earnings before plateau, slowdown, and/or burnout.
What I hate seeing is a rise, decline, large liabilities, and no financial stability.
Financially plan accordingly.
1) Tax Hygiene / Planning
- Have you reviewed the full range of retirement accounts available to you?
Most have deadlines e.g. Solo 401(k)s need to be set up by Dec 31 to contribute for 2026
- Any charitable donations you want to make this year?
- Are your books clean? (Makes tax time way less stressful)
- Are you maximizing deductions?
- Any gear/equipment worth buying this year vs. waiting?
- Time to move from an LLC to an S Corp?
2) Revenue Generation
The next few weeks are the best window to lock in sponsorships for Q4 and Q1.
- What % of this year’s income came from AdSense, sponsorships, products, affiliates, etc.? What do you want that mix to look like next year?
- Reach out to brands (and build a relevant list if you don’t have one)
- Push for multi-month or multi-video deals to smooth income and avoid a dry Q1
- Build cash reserves for the first half of 2027
An example of authentic affiliate marketing and how creators can more effectively implement it into their content.
4b) The flip side to requirements:
If there are requests that don't feel natural, say so! Have a conversation. "I see here you would like to point out X, Y, and Z of your product. Based on my experience and audience relationship, it would be more natural if we showcase these features by doing A, B, C."
Sometimes requirements are written by product people who are removed from the reality of what actually works with creator campaigns. Show them how it can be improved, that you're on the same team, and they will thank you for it.
Become an advocate for their goals.
Btw, you should want it to be a success because that's how you get ongoing deals, not just one-offs.
5) Constantly ripping other brands or people on socials, i.e. rage rants.
You can say what you want on socials. Just realize there are certain risks many brands are unwilling to incur.
If you have a history of ripping the brands you've *willingly* worked with in the past, there's a good chance I wouldn't take that risk as the brand.
This isn't complicated, just be a good human.