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Welcome to Suite Independence, the podcast designed exclusively for established beauty professionals ready to transform their careers and build the salon business of their dreams. Hosted by industry veteran Kristin Kienzle, founder of Utopia Modern Salon Suites, this show is your essential guide to thriving independently in the beauty world.
Kristin, with over 34 years of experience, understands the unique challenges and incredible opportunities you face. She created Utopia to be a supportive, inspiring community where independent beauty professionals can flourish, and this podcast extends that mission directly to you.
Forget the styling tips; we're diving deep into the business and personal development aspects that truly empower your success. Each episode offers insight, inspiration, and clarity to help you succeed and build your career in a healthy way. Whether you're looking to grow your client base, refine your business strategy, enhance your financial literacy, prioritize your well-being, or ultimately own your own salon, Kristin shares the wisdom and actionable advice you need.
Join a community dedicated to empowering beauty professionals to reach their full potential, ensuring their businesses thrive and afford them the lifestyle they desire. Tune into Suite Independence and start building the vibrant career and fulfilling life you deserve.
Ep04
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Kristin Kienzle: [00:00:00] On today's episode of Suite Independence, you are going to find out if doing your taxes is comparable to a blowout, a brow wax, or a full Brazilian welcome back to our podcast. Today we're sitting down with
Meet Ryan Kittrell, CPA
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Kristin Kienzle: Ryan Kittrell, with Kittrell and Klaskin CPAs.
Ryan Kittrell: Hey Kristen. Thanks for having me.
Kristin Kienzle: So Ryan, introduce yourself and tell us how you help small businesses and what you do.
Ryan Kittrell: Sure. I'm Ryan [00:01:00] Kittrell a CPA with Kittrell and Klaskin. It's CPA firm geared towards helping small businesses. We provide bookkeeping, payroll, advisory and tax preparation and planning.
Kristin Kienzle: The reason we wanted to have Ryan on is because he's actually our CPA. We trust him greatly and know that he has a lot of insight that he can share. That will be very interesting to other beauty professionals.
Ryan Kittrell: I don't know if it'll be interesting, but Kristen, I appreciate you having, having me on. This is an honor to sit with your podcast.
The Importance of Bookkeeping for Beauty Professionals
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Kristin Kienzle: So, Ryan, you've been working with beauty professionals for years. What are some of the interesting things you find about our industry from a tax perspective or accounting?
Ryan Kittrell: I think the interesting thing about the beauty pro industry, and I wanna thank you and Coach Lee Gray for helping us get into this niche a little bit.
But the interesting thing is. Self-employed, beauty pros have a lot [00:02:00] going for them. They're typically pretty dedicated to their craft. They want to do well.
Common Financial Challenges in the Beauty Industry
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Ryan Kittrell: I have noticed that a large majority of them are anxious about their bookkeeping. They're anxious about their taxes.
It is not something that they want to deal with.
Kristin Kienzle: Exactly it. We don't have the brain for it. As beauty professionals, we tend to be more creative, so Right. I, I find so much value when people in our salons work with you or even another CPA, because they are structuring all of their finances so well, so that they can enjoy their incomes while also not having to be stressed about taxes.
And I think it's, very beneficial for them and their business too. Work with someone and know that all those things are taken care of.
Ryan Kittrell: I know that for most of them, coming to see me is not at the top of their list of things that they want to do.
But the ones that take care of their books for their business, take care of their taxes with me or whoever [00:03:00] else. They're ahead of the game.
Kristin Kienzle: It's especially important for someone who wants to go independent. When someone comes into a suite, they instantly become a small business owner, and there's a lot of responsibility that goes with that.
And like you said, they are excellent at their craft and they care about their craft. They take really great care of their clients, but sometimes they overlook the details of their personal finances and their business finances and books.
Ryan Kittrell: Right. And it, it.
Navigating Social Media Financial Advice
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Ryan Kittrell: Can be very overwhelming with the amount of things that are coming out that pop up on TikTok or Instagram or, or whatever.
You're kind of bombarded with a bunch of information about how easy it is. But at the same time there's lots of information and it all, doesn't all mesh with each other, so it makes it pretty hard.
Kristin Kienzle: I have a story about that. We recently had some new things come out that affect beauty professionals regarding tips and things like that, and I saw it coming out on social media and I got worried [00:04:00] that our beauty professionals would take that information as real truth, which some of it may or may not be.
And I reached out to you to say, Hey. Help us communicate this to our network of beauty professionals so that it's communicated properly and professionally. And I thought it was interesting how you were working on that at the exact same time. Like our thoughts collided on that.
Ryan Kittrell: Yes. I was very excited.
Understanding Tax Deductions for Beauty Professionals
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Ryan Kittrell: Uh, The big, beautiful Bill, very excited for Beauty Pros because of that deduction, but there are some rules around it.
It's not no tax on Tips, it's no income tax on tips. It's still subject to payroll tax. So, and there's a GI, limitations and all that. I won't get into all that, but there are some rules around it that haven't been pushed out on social media as much as they probably should be if you're going to let everyone know that there's no tax on tips,
Kristin Kienzle: right.
That's, that's a perfect example of why these. these small business owners need to be working with someone like you because [00:05:00] they're taking that information as gospel and it's very misleading if you don't know all of the details in the loopholes, which I didn't know them either. So you were very enlightening when you helped us push out the details of that information.
Ryan Kittrell: Yeah. Thank you. Working with me or, or someone like me or just. Getting educated yourself, any one of those three things will set you up for success.
Kristin Kienzle: And there is a lot of good information on TikTok and Facebook and Instagram, but it's always definitely worth fact checking, especially when it comes to taxes and
Ryan Kittrell: Absolutely.
Absolutely. The social media. It could get your mind running on some potential questions to ask someone that, is an expert. And my mindset is if you see it and you wanna ask a question about it, ask it, that there's no question that shouldn't be asked if you feel it's relevant.
Kristin Kienzle: That's great advice.
That's good.
Simple Financial Systems for Small Businesses
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Kristin Kienzle: So because we've already determined that beauty professionals don't tend to be [00:06:00] wired to think about these things, however we know we need to, do you have any suggestions for a really super system, super simple system that we can easily implement that will help?
And help us keep track of things and be ready to pay taxes and understand the basics. is
there a, simple
Kristin Kienzle: system for implementing healthy habits in your business?
Ryan Kittrell: Healthy financial habits? I would say yes. The number one rule that Beauty Pro should follow when they're starting their, business and they're starting to take on clients, is have a business bank account. Don't mix your personal expenses with your business expenses.
'cause that's a great way. To start the confusion. On top of that, there's missed deductions because you, if you've got it all intermingled it, it may be hard later on when you're trying to address this stuff and, and enter your taxes into your, enter your expense into your tax software or give it to your CPA to find all that stuff that's in your buried in your personal account if you have [00:07:00] all of your business income and expenses going into a business checking account.
That makes it very simple to say, Hey, I may not know exactly what to do with all of these things, but I do know that they all are related to my business. So here you go. That would be the super simple way to do it. But then you have to, you know, pay someone or, or have someone that's good with spreadsheets or, and good with knowing what category those, that stuff would go into, take care of that stuff for you.
But at least you have, here's the. Here's the bundle of income expenses, rather than having them kind of interspersed with personal stuff.
Kristin Kienzle: And that's very simple. So at the very minimum, have one checking account for your income to go in and your expenses to go out.
Ryan Kittrell: Yeah, and I would say you could double up on that.
Get a business credit card if you're good with managing a credit card. I mean, the points can be pretty amazing when you're buying all your supplies and stuff. To get that 2% cash back or [00:08:00] travel points or whatever. So you could do the same thing with a credit card. But again, keep them both.
Kristin Kienzle: Keep it separate business only.
Yeah. That's good.
When to Hire a CPA or Bookkeeper
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Kristin Kienzle: So then at what point would you recommend a beauty professional is ready to hire someone like you and or your bookkeeper to help with their day to day, month to month needs as well as their taxes?
Ryan Kittrell: It all depends on their. Level of competency, willingness, or wanting to mess with the stuff past the bank account and the credit card.
And how big, how large they feel that their business is gonna go out of the gate. So I've had people come to us. Not having started their business yet, but ready to start their business. We talk about startup expenses and stuff like that. So my answer is it depends, mm-hmm.
As is a pretty common answer in our industry, but it depends on what they're wanting. Do they wanna spend a lot of time on their books, or do they wanna spend their time being creative and [00:09:00] cutting hair and letting us take care of that? Do they love Excel spreadsheets and stuff like that? Like I do. Then go for it.
And we also have the ability for them to work with us and, and other CPA firms do, and they could ask questions as they go throughout the year.
Kristin Kienzle: So we've talked about having a separate account for business transactions only.
What Expenses Are Deductible?
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Kristin Kienzle: What are some things that a beauty professional should be looking for in that account?
That could be potential deductions.
Ryan Kittrell: Almost everything that they're spending, as long as it's a business expense that's for their business, almost everything will be deductible in one form or another. Now, not always everything. If you think that your Botox is deductible for yourself, it's not
Kristin Kienzle: really, even if it means you look the part in your business.
Ryan Kittrell: No. And, and we've had that question and similar questions. It is not something to make yourself look better in the eyes of your. client [00:10:00] As far as like manicures and Botox, and we've had a laser sculpting question, those would not be deductible expenses. So in that case, maybe you paid for it through your business account.
It's a personal expense, so in most cases that'd be a draw.
Kristin Kienzle: So what's the craziest thing you've ever seen a beauty professional try to do that?
Ryan Kittrell: So I would, my answer would be the Botox or the laser sculpting. We had a, a guy that was trying to deduct his country club dues, which we thought that was interesting.
But really at this point we see everything. So nothing is too surprising.
Kristin Kienzle: So there's no way to deduct your country club dues?
Ryan Kittrell: No, I will. I'll not. You typically not. No. But I will say, again, it doesn't hurt to ask. Because some, sometimes people will ask things that I'm like, yes, that's, that's deductible.
Kristin Kienzle: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Kittrell: It's kind of obvious, but it's not obvious to them. So
Kristin Kienzle: what about clothes or shoes that you only wear to work?
Ryan Kittrell: It depends [00:11:00] on perhaps your industry. If the clothes or shoes or something that you could wear out in public mm-hmm. That would, would be fine. No. If it's scrubs or something like that, then yes.
Kristin Kienzle: Okay.
Ryan Kittrell: And let me caveat that with probably,
Kristin Kienzle: I think most of your answers will be, it depends,
Ryan Kittrell: correct? Yeah. It always depends on the circumstances. And something that beauty Pros could remember is just, is three words, ordinary, necessary, reasonable. Those are good first things that you can think about on your own, and then if they, if in your mind they pass all of those ordinary, necessary, reasonable, then it good opportunity for you to ask your expert what they think about that.
And then they'll have, they could say, yes. They could say, let me look into it. They could say no right off the bat. But they'll be able to research that them hearing why it's ordinary, necessary, and reasonable to you is helpful to them. 'cause [00:12:00] No, no CPA knows everything so
Kristin Kienzle: well and sometimes in our industry, it is important to how you present yourself.
So, for example, if I'm going to carry you know, a computer bag or a tote bag or something, and it happens to be a designer brand. Is there, is that an issue as far as being able to write that off versus something I pick up maybe at Target that does the same job but it costs more because it's a designer brand?
Ryan Kittrell: Yeah. And that, and there we key in on sounds, ordinary sounds necessary. Mm-hmm. Is it reasonable? And then we look at how much it costs. Mm-hmm. And what's, what would be the average kind of. The cost of a tote bag that somebody's carrying around. If you're at, if your tote bag that you're buying, your designer tote bag is, you know, 10, 20, 30 times the regular amount, that's not reasonable.
Kristin Kienzle: I see. So we talked about some things that are not deductible, but what are some things that beauty professionals don't realize [00:13:00] are deductible, that maybe they're missing?
Ryan Kittrell: There's a lot of very common expenses. So supplies are a given. Things that are deductible that they might not know are deductible.
I think the big one is continuing ed stuff and travel related to that. Again, there's an, it depends there, depending on the circumstances of what all's involved, but continuing ed is typically deductible and the travel that may happen because of that. The registration for, yeah, continuing outta the registration is obviously part of that.
And then the travel, business mileage is one that is not necessarily tracked in your in your business checking. You gotta track your mileage. But mileage is, would be one that I think a lot aren't tracking and it could be a valuable deduction.
Kristin Kienzle: So the beauty pros who thrive the most in their business are the ones who do what.
Ryan Kittrell: So even though they're creatives and they don't necessarily like it, if [00:14:00] they are, can stay disciplined enough to take a look at their books.
Take a look at the story that their books are telling them monthly. It's not just taxes you can get, you gain a lot of benefit from looking at your p and l or your metrics. I would say once a month, at least quarterly. And, what are they telling you? Is there an expense that's getting really high?
Are their sales down and they haven't recognized it? Things like that. The beauty pros that are. Disciplined enough to do something that they don't like to do once a month for 30 minutes, an hour, whatever. Those are the ones that are gonna thrive financially. The second part of that is do something with the information.
Look at it and see what story it's telling you and kind of. Have an action plan based off that, whether it's doing great, keep going the way I am, or Ooh, that shouldn't be spending that much money on that.
Avoiding Common Financial Pitfalls
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Kristin Kienzle: Mm-hmm. I think it gets real easy to [00:15:00] spend a lot of money on your business and get in the mindset that, oh, it's just a tax deduction.
I hear that a lot. Oh, that's a write off. That's a write off. And so they get crazy with spending because they. They perceive it as a write-off, like it's not real money.
Ryan Kittrell: Yes. And that is a, that's a common thing, not just among, among beauty pros is to say it's fine, it's a tax write off. No tax write off.
Well, again, it depends, but most tax write-offs are not dollar for dollar. Mm-hmm. You know, at, at the most 37%. So you are saving, you don't wanna save 30 cents. You don't wanna spend a dollar to save 30 cents.
One of the, one of the best, I have examples I have of this generally is I'm gonna go, I'm gonna purchase a vehicle through my business account.
It's gonna be a business write off. There's a whole bunch of caveats and stuff to that too. But if you're spending 30, 40, $50,000. And riding off a vehicle, let's say that that all happens and works out [00:16:00] perfectly. You're saving 30% of that at the, at the maximum, you're probably saving a lot less than that, and then you depreciate that and expense it or whatever.
When you sell the vehicle, you're, you're depreciation are captured, so you're paying tax on that. It's just not a, it's not a good deal. I want Beauty Pros to be in the business of building their business. Building their wealth, not lowering their taxes to the lowest level possible.
The goal should be, yes, take advantage of every tax deduction you can, but don't spend money just for the sake of spending money and have a tax write off. Use that money to grow your business and grow your wealth.
Kristin Kienzle: On the flip side of this, and you and I have had this conversation a couple years ago, don't.
don't not make money because of the tax. Im implication. Don't go to, don't increase your pricing because you'll make more [00:17:00] money and your tax bill will be higher.
Ryan Kittrell: Yeah. That's, that's another somewhat common mis misconception. Our, our, our tax rates are progressive. You're normally not paying a hundred percent taxes on your income.
So to say to yourself, if I raise my prices I'm just gonna pay more taxes. You are gonna pay more taxes, but you're also gonna make more money and you're making more money than. The taxes that you're paying.
Kristin Kienzle: That's important. I do hear that mindset a lot.
Well if I, I've really gotta cap my income or I'll end up paying more taxes and I, I don't know. You made that clear to me a long time ago. 'cause I think I was dabbling in that mindset. You were like, it's always better to make more money. You will have to pay more taxes, but you'll still make more money.
Ryan Kittrell: Right.
Kristin Kienzle: So talking about mindset. There are other mindset challenges I see with the people who work in our salons.
The Importance of Regular Financial Reviews
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Kristin Kienzle: They get major anxiety when tax time comes around because mostly I think they don't know what to expect. They're inexperienced and they're [00:18:00] disorganized and they're not working with someone like you.
They're trying to do it on their own and they don't know what they don't know. So How do you help someone when they come to you and they're very anxious and have anxiety about all this?
Ryan Kittrell: Well, we try to, that is common and we, try to put them at ease and let them know that.
What they're experiencing is common and we're not dare to judge. I think beauty pros will come in with very common, normal issues and things, accounting work that needs to be done, but they're for some reason embarrassed by it. Mm-hmm.
Kristin Kienzle: I can relate to that and
Ryan Kittrell: there, and I can say it, and they're still gonna be embarrassed by it, but there's no need to be, we see lots of things.
And just coming in and not knowing what you don't know is fine. That's why we're here. If they knew everything, you wouldn't need me.
Kristin Kienzle: Yeah. I appreciate that about you because you do tend to go in when you're showing someone all of your finances, [00:19:00] it's a lot of decisions you've made. And when someone like you as a professional is looking at that, it's easy to feel judged and I appreciate that.
You don't ever make me feel judged, but sometimes I do kind of get anxious about. Okay. What's Ryan gonna think of this financial decision that I've made?
Ryan Kittrell: Yeah. And it's never the case where I'm thinking or thinking, oh my gosh, Kristen.
Kristin Kienzle: Yeah. How
Ryan Kittrell: could you, I'm, I'm not judging you. It's part of our job.
Kristin Kienzle: I think the bottom line is, is that you are the expert in finances. We are not, and we are the expert in what we do. And so, you know, they're, you're there to help us do what we do better and we need to enlist you to help us. Stay in our lane and succeed.
Ryan Kittrell: Yeah, I was thinking about this is why I pay more for my hair to get done.
I forgot to schedule my auto, I forgot to schedule my appointment, so my hair's looking a little shaggy now, but [00:20:00] I, don't know what to do with my hair. I don't know a thing about it. So I go to a beauty pro that knows what they're doing. I don't go to sniff and clip and, and get it murdered.
Sorry, sniff and clip. I go to someone and it's so nice to go in there and them ask me questions and I don't know, they asked me the same questions. Well, that's not.
Kristin Kienzle: It's a trust issue. You know, they're the experts, so you trust them to make better decisions for how your hair should look.
Ryan Kittrell: Right, and I very much appreciate that.
Kristin Kienzle: Yeah. It makes it something that you don't have to worry about. That's how I feel about working with you. And I feel like I say that a lot and, and a lot of. Different circles, but it's nice to know that all of my finances are taken care of, my taxes are prepared properly. I'm ready for what's coming and I know that you're watching what's going on in my business and keeping an eye on things and pointing them out to me by sending me reports [00:21:00] that I do not enjoy looking at.
But
Ryan Kittrell: yeah
Kristin Kienzle: it does make a difference and it does move the needle.
Ryan Kittrell: Taxes and accounting are not, the be all, end all piece of this. The big piece of it is growing your business and being able to focus on your business and. Build up that income for yourself and do what you love to do.
Success Stories and Client Experiences
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Kristin Kienzle: So have you been able to see people who start their business and they're not working with you or maybe anyone, and they come to you and you start working together and their business improves and they're able to take home more money and, and really watch their metrics and do better?
Ryan Kittrell: Yes. One of the. Things that I love is when we're sitting in on our, our, our mid-year planning or our first planning session together, projection planning, and we're going through, we kind of go through how we came up with the projection.
We try to keep it from being so boring. A good marker is when we see Kristen's eyes glaze over when we're doing that with her. But almost every time, at least in [00:22:00] that first meeting, we hear, oh, I didn't, I didn't know that. Nobody ever explained that to me before.
Mm-hmm. And when that light bulb comes on, it's a good sign because they can go forth and do good things with that information. And it kind of helps them maybe make adjustments with whatever we're talking about.
Kristin Kienzle: So you just explained that in general terms. Do you have any good stories?
Ryan Kittrell: I don't know if it's a good story, but a client that I'm very proud of in the beauty pro industry, that they've gotten to the point where they've got a very good business.
They've got lots of employees. And when she came to us, there was notices coming in from the IRS when she, we started working with her. It was probably, at least two years that we were still getting notices from the IRS
Kristin Kienzle: Oh, how
Ryan Kittrell: scary. And from Kansas about things that that had occurred previous to our engagement.
And this person is a creative, very good at running her business [00:23:00] does not like accounting, kind of like what we've been talking about, but her business is at the level where a monthly meeting is appropriate. So we meet monthly, we go over her financials, we go over any questions, concerns, or what's going on in her world that could affect her finances, what she's worried about.
We go over her budget and her forecast, and due to this, the notices have basically stopped and she's taken a, good salary from her business and she's showing good profits, so she's got cash in the bank, I don't think she's ever gonna not be nervous about her business as a business owner.
I'm nervous. Everybody's nervous all the time, everybody, no matter how good it is. But she's set up, she's got some backdrop now, some backing for if things do go wrong and she's not continually stressing about. What's gonna come today? How much am I gonna owe this month to [00:24:00] the RS
Kristin Kienzle: You're right about, as business owners, we are always worried, no matter how good things look on paper, on any given day or any given month, you're always worried.
Always worried. It's never enough because there's so much uncertainty. I will tell you, and she probably feels this way too. Sometimes I go into our meetings thinking, oh no, he's gonna tell me it's bad. And, And when you tell me it's good and I'm on the right track, that gives me a lot of confidence.
It sometimes lasts for a few hours or a few days, but it's very beneficial to hear that from you. And so I'm sure she really.
The Value of Professional Financial Advice
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Kristin Kienzle: Appreciated that.
Ryan Kittrell: And what we're here for is not necessarily to say every month or every quarter or twice a year or whatever you're doing Great. We tell you the truth.
Yeah. And, but the thing is, is we're telling you now to prevent or prepare for what's coming.
Kristin Kienzle: But knowing you're telling the truth is so valuable because when you say [00:25:00] it's good, like I said, I believe that it's good. And when you say, Hey, you know, we need to. Readjust some things, there's some things we need to watch or maybe worry about.
I take that seriously as well. Yep. It's, there's, there's a lot of confidence in having an expert like yourself when in our business.
Ryan Kittrell: Yep.
Scheduling Financial Check-Ins
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Ryan Kittrell: And, and the thing I commend her on again, is that discipline to do something that she doesn't like to do, and she knows that she doesn't like to do it, so she's got it scheduled and she, she gets it done and then she moves on.
Kristin Kienzle: That's a great idea to schedule it. That's something everybody should be doing. I'll take that advice. Put it on your calendar once. How often do you recommend we, did you say once a month? We should spend 30, I would say for,
Ryan Kittrell: for most. Once a month. If you're slower than that, then I would say at least once a quarter.
Kristin Kienzle: Would you recommend at the first of the month or the end of the month, or is there anything, whenever,
Ryan Kittrell: whenever makes sense for them? Every beauty pros have so many different things going on. And agendas and [00:26:00] schedules. It's whatever works for them.
Kristin Kienzle: That's a great actionable item though. You know, we as beauty pros do run on schedules.
We have books and appointments that dictate everything we do every single day, but to block that off on a schedule, I think would be very valuable, I think. That's a challenge I will give myself and I hope someone else will take that. I'll put it on my schedule and force myself to do it.
Good. Then if I don't, I'll feel guilty.
Fun Comparison: Taxes vs. Beauty Services
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Kristin Kienzle: So as we wrap up, and I think we've done a great job of making accounting and taxes sound interesting and relevant, but I wanna ask you something for fun.
So if you had to compare doing taxes to a beauty service, would you compare it to a blowout, a brow wax, or a full Brazilian?
Huh.
Ryan Kittrell: So I, do you know what a Brazilian
Kristin Kienzle: is?
Ryan Kittrell: I do know what a Brazilian is. I've only had one of those services. I'll let the audience guess which one. Okay. [00:27:00] But I actually had to ask my firm administrator, Lori, this morning, what a blowout was. So that doesn't sound bad. The, the, the brow wax would be my answer for most.
But again, it depends on the person and how anxious. Or excruciating, they feel like meeting with the tax professional is, but I would say for most probably the brow wax. I know it's not fun, but it it is bearable. Yeah. And, and,
Kristin Kienzle: and the results are nice.
Ryan Kittrell: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Kristin Kienzle: That was good. Well played Ryan. Well thank you for doing this today, Ryan. This is extremely valuable information and I think we've actually made talking taxes and accounting kind of fun.
So how can people reach out to you?
Ryan Kittrell: Well before that? Kristen, thanks so much for having me. It's always fun chatting with you and to get to do it in this environment is nice.
People can reach out to us at our website, [00:28:00] www.kittrellklaskincpa.com
Kristin Kienzle: we will put that information in the show notes. So you can just click the link there. Thank you so much for listening.
We also wanna give a shout out to Mikayla Wise for letting us use her suite here at our Tyler Point location. She's a hairstylist and taking the day off, so we're excited to be in her space. Don't forget to subscribe. And if you've enjoyed this episode, be sure and share it with a friend. We'll see you next time.