Michelle Lynne 0:02
Welcome to design for the creative mind, a podcast for interior designers and creative entrepreneurs to run their business with purpose, efficiency and passion. Because, well, every design is different, the process should remain the same. Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the woowoo and probably a swear word or two. If you're ready to stop trading your time for money, and enjoy your interior design business. You are in the right place. I'm your host, Michelle Lynn.
Hey, lovely listeners. This is Michelle Lynn, I just wanted to hop on before we started this episode and give you a warning that you will not want to listen to this episode with children in the car. You won't want to listen to it and mix company and you won't want to listen to it if the F bomb is offensive to you because this episode contains a few of them. In a good way. It's very informative talking about taxes and legal information and things along that line. But definitely wanted to give you the heads up. So I hope you enjoy it if you do proceed. If not, then I will just see you in the next episode. Not this one, but the next one. This is the one that has the F bombs. Okay, see you soon. All right. Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. I'm so excited that you're here. And I'm really excited to introduce my friend like business bestie. Is that what it is Braden? Yeah, he's a California licensed attorney and tax professional. His tagline and this is where I got that is your gay best friend here just to help you get your legal and tax shit legit. Braden works primarily with service based creative small business owners through his courses where he educates on contracts, business entities, cashflow systems, taxes, you know, all the stuff that creatives run and hide from so welcome, Braden. Super excited that you're here. Hi,
Braden Drake 2:18
thanks for having me. I'm very excited to be here and chat about all the things Yeah,
Michelle Lynne 2:23
chat about all the things well, let's just talk about like, how did you get started in like, legal and tax and like the personality? Yeah,
Braden Drake 2:36
it was, you know, it was such a journey. Like the joke is always I always like to argue so naturally, whenever you like to argue the family always says you need to go to law school. Like that's the running joke with any attorney. Right. But yeah, I mean, I always like like English and social studies are my favorite subjects in school. And then I went to college, majored in political science. And honestly, I didn't really know what I wanted to do as an adult. And so my default was just, I was like, let's go to law school. Sure, why not? So I discovered, it took me a while. But I discovered a passion for entrepreneurship while I was in law school. And that encouraged me to start my own business, like out of the gate. So
Michelle Lynne 3:12
I didn't know that. So you never worked for like a law firm, or did the whole pursuing partner thing or whatnot?
Braden Drake 3:18
No, so I straight out, I was very lucky to have gotten some really, some really like pretty prestigious internships in law school, like internships that were highly sought after. And I was working in these large law firms. And the whole time, I just felt really bored, really terrible, and also really guilty, because like, I have so many friends, who would like take me out to get this internship. And I'm hating every minute of it. So I just knew that it wasn't going to be for me. And I always tell people, I was very privileged at the time that my now husband was nine years older than me, he's also an attorney. So I had a little bit more of the financial freedom in order to start my business, which I recognize that not all people have as well, that is
Michelle Lynne 4:01
such a blessing. But it's also really interesting that you recognized and that you had the balls to move forward with entrepreneurship, like, right away.
Braden Drake 4:08
The guy I told, I told, I told him, it's gonna be so much easier for me to do it now than me go get a full time job, just get used to like an additional six figure salary, and then have to see that go away. I was like, you're already used to me being a poor student. So why don't you just let me be a poor entrepreneur for two years. And I think it was looking back I think that was the smart choice for me. Yeah.
Michelle Lynne 4:29
And it's, it's courageous, because our audience, we're all entrepreneurs and small business owners. And it's hard. I mean, who I had no idea how how difficult it would be. So I guess you were young and had the energy. Yeah,
Braden Drake 4:46
I think also, I when I was in law school, I had this realization. I was like, I always wanted to be a small business owner, but what would that look like? And then it kind of dawned on me well, solo law, legal practice is a thing. My dad started his own construction business when he was like, 22 are you 23 years old? My uncle flowershop? Yeah, like most of my uncles are farmers, so they own their own businesses. So what I said I wanted to go start my own business. Most of my family was like, okay, yeah, that makes sense.
Michelle Lynne 5:12
Hmm. Very cool. Y'all, this podcast episode was made possible in part by foyer, a lightning fast interior design software that creates photorealistic renderings. I'm not kidding, you can barely tell that it's not a real room. So why leave your beautiful designs up to the imagination of your client, when you can show them what their space is going to look like? You will sign more clients and get more approvals with the software. It's powered by artificial intelligence, and a whole vouch for its ease. Because if I can do it, anybody can. Because you all know that my design team are the ones who do all the work, find [email protected], as well as in the show notes. What you do now, why is what you do important to interior designers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, creatives like us, tell us a little bit more about what you do. And then we're gonna I'm gonna ask you a couple of pointed questions. Okay,
Braden Drake 6:15
great. So yeah, I mean, most of what I do is legal and tax education for creative business owners. So I'll often tell people that my business and my mind fills the gap between like a Legal Zoom and hiring an attorney. So I no longer do one on one work. A lot of new entrepreneurs in particular, they don't know who they should hire, they don't know if they can afford it. But also some of these DIY, why options are not great. So I educate on how you can do the things that you need to do until you're ready to go like hire your own legal team, CPA, all that kind of stuff. I
Michelle Lynne 6:48
think that is awesome. Because I did Legal Zoom early in my career, and it just failed miserably. Yeah. Legal Zoom, it works. For some, it didn't work for me.
Braden Drake 6:59
The weird thing about legals, in my opinion is they crossed they, they cast a very broad net, but the solution is actually only ideal for a very small percentage of the population, in my opinion, work, they would not really see me as a competitor, but you know, they're kind of my competitor, right? So that's the way I look at it.
Michelle Lynne 7:16
Yeah. Well, it's a brilliant business model on their part, like, I wish I would have come up with the idea. But yeah, it didn't, didn't solve my problems. So with that, are you able to serve? Like, if we've got a nationwide audience? Are you solely available to help people outside of California? Like where do your boundaries lie? Yeah, so
Braden Drake 7:43
since I no longer do one on one legal work, I technically I help people all over the country. I have students all over the country. But I will always tell people that I am more familiar with California specific laws. So obviously, TARS rutile, I lived
Michelle Lynne 7:57
in California worked in California, and that is not an easy state to have a business.
Braden Drake 8:01
No, it's not an easy state to have. If I really enjoyed like doing hourly legal work and sales tax work, I could probably, I could probably make a lot more money because we have very strict laws. But that's not really my passion. So I do I try to do a good job. I pat myself on the back. But what I tried to do is tell people, what they can do on their own and when they can do it, and when they need to hire a legal professional. And if you need to hire someone when isn't important to find someone in your state. So quick example, trademark laws federal, you can hire someone anywhere. But your contract drafting is based on state law.
Michelle Lynne 8:36
Okay, so how do we know if our contract is solid? Like? That? Would I would a big question.
Braden Drake 8:45
Yes, I would for your contract to know if it's solid. First, I would think about the original source. Right. So where did you get it from? And how?
Michelle Lynne 8:54
So google.com? contracts don't work. Right.
Braden Drake 8:57
Exactly. And also, like, how much have you manipulated it since then? This surprises a lot of people. But like you provide contract templates in your programs, right?
Michelle Lynne 9:06
I have a few. But so my attorney said in my in my program, don't put them in the sales aspect, put them in the bonus and give them more than one to cover my booty. Yeah,
Braden Drake 9:17
okay, smart. So I have like three. Yeah, what I'll often tell people in the surprises I think a lot of individuals is sometimes you're better off getting really solid templates from people who really understand your industry, then you might be hiring an attorney who has no idea what you do, like, can you imagine like, most people have no idea how interior designers build their clients. So if you go talk to an attorney, who's never hired, a designer doesn't work for designers, they're not going to design a contract, right? And if you're a new designer, like you're not going to know, like, you're not gonna know how to write your payment policies either. So that attorney might draft the contract in the same way that they would for a construction company or for the same way like a plumber would bill and you're like, No, it doesn't work like that. They're not really going to know unless you can explain it to them in great detail. Yes,
Michelle Lynne 10:04
I think that is such a huge key. And I know I have revised mine a few times and just recently with COVID had to had to put some terms in there as well. So yes, there is a plug for the interior design business bakery because we have contracts.
Braden Drake 10:22
That's my that's my recommendation. I recommend people start with, like, really industry specific contracts. And then if you want to be more particular, take that contract to your local attorney and have them just make sure that it's kosher with your state loss. Yes.
Michelle Lynne 10:36
And that's perfect, because that's what I tell my clients is, here's my contract, you can have exactly my template, but you have to have it checked in your state. Yes. So that's, that's cool. Um, so another question that I come across fairly often is, what is the best legal structure like, sole proprietor, LLC, LLP? S corp, C Corp, like, What the What the what,
Braden Drake 11:02
for most people, for most people is going to be an LLC. So there's a lot of like, a lot of foundational understanding that we have to have when it comes to business entity. So the first thing you need to know is that what I call your default entities, so that's a sole proprietorship, if you're solo, or if you have a business partner, or a general partnership is that equivalent, they provide no liability protection, so they don't do anything to secure your assets if you ever have any legal problems. So we don't like basically,
Michelle Lynne 11:28
if I was running as a sole proprietor, and a client got ticked off at me and wanted to get my house, they could come after me and my house and my Yeah, my
Braden Drake 11:38
yeah, there's, I mean, there's a lot more steps like in between there, like hopefully, even if you're our sole proprietorship, you still have good insurance, and your insurance would cover you. And if your insurance doesn't cover you, hopefully your contract would cover you. But then if you like royally fucked everything up, and they actually can come after you and your insurance is like, Nope, we're not helping or you don't have insurance, then your LLC don't
Michelle Lynne 12:00
have good insurance. Because that's, that's a whole other podcast, insurance for interior designers like, yes, you can't call your local agent. And they don't always know just like you said, you can't call your local lawyer and they write a standard one says, so I
Braden Drake 12:15
call I call insurance contracts. And LLC is the layers of protection. And it's kind of like, you know, layers in an onion or like layer, I always tell people, layers of clothing and cold weather, the number of layers you need, it's going to be very dependent on your own set of circumstances. That's a great description, like how cold it is, like how experienced you are. I always tell people like you're going to have, you're going to want to pay a lot more attention to your contract. If you're doing like I operate a lot in the photography space as well. So a $200 portrait photographer, they're going to be a little bit more lacs about their contract than the $50,000, like high end luxury wedding photographer, same thing in the design space.
Michelle Lynne 12:54
That makes sense. That makes really good sense. So you would say LLC is pretty safe?
Braden Drake 12:59
Yeah. So you start with an LLC. I know in some states they don't allow LLC is for for professional license holders. I don't think that interior designers would typically fall into that group. These are usually like attorneys, doctors, people that have professional licensing accreditation bodies. But I'm never really sure because I found out the people who are subject to the esthetician board that falls into that group as well. Yes.
Michelle Lynne 13:23
And interior designers, there are licensed interior designers, where you have to go through and take NSI, DC Q peak, w x, y, z testing and so forth. And so I'm not sure if it falls into that. But again, that's where we would have to reach out to your state. Yeah,
Braden Drake 13:40
so you would check your state. And I would say there's kind of a difference between, like state required licensing bodies where you have to have a license to operate in that state versus like certification programs that are not required, but you'll use more for your own marketing purposes. So you can think about Yes, I do. And then
Michelle Lynne 13:56
there's also states who like here in Texas, I can call myself an interior designer, even though I didn't go to interior design school, I don't have my license. And that really ticks off other designers in other states where it's required, you know, and otherwise, I'd have to call myself a decorator in some of those states. So it's interesting state by state. You know what, I don't care as long as the check has my name on it, call me whatever.
Braden Drake 14:18
I had, I had this conversation with a friend the other day too, about how like Not anyone can call them an attorney. But technically anyone can call themselves an accountant because an accountant is not an earned title. It's just a job description. So yeah, it's interesting. Yes, exactly. So the flip side of the LLC thing is a lot of people don't know they're, they don't understand that. LLC is actually have no impact on your taxes. So when you file an LLC, you pay taxes and file taxes just like you would as a sole proprietor. So if you ever hear anyone say, don't form an LLC, because you're not going to get tax benefits from it or do file because you will get tax benefits. That person doesn't know what they're talking about. s corpse help you with your taxes. And that's where a lot of the confusion comes in.
Michelle Lynne 15:05
That's and that's what I am. I'm an S corp, I believe operating as an LLC. Yes. Is that Is that what it's? Yeah,
Braden Drake 15:12
so you have an LLC tax, we call it taxed as an S corp, or even more technically, you have S corp status on your LLC. Because another fun fact for everyone, an S Corp is not actually a legal entity. So you don't technically form an S corp, you form an LLC, or you form a corporation, and then you elect to be taxed as a pass through an S corp or a C Corp.
Michelle Lynne 15:36
Oh, dear God,
Braden Drake 15:37
my head's already hurting. So basically, basically, yeah, the the short version of that is you're going to form an LLC. And then once it financially makes sense, you're going to tell the IRS hey, I want to get special tax treatment. And that's when we say that you have an S corp.
Michelle Lynne 15:51
Okay. C and those are the things that you find fun advising people on and it just makes my head hurt so so I'm gonna I know think let me interrupt myself to take a quick moment to thank sat enough insurance agency for sponsoring this episode of The designed for the creative mind podcast, their support and understanding of the interior design, decorating and home staging industries is unrivaled. Satin off understands what our businesses do, and they provide insurance that lets me sleep at night. Yep, this is the firm that I use. And they will do the same for your sleep habits. And your business too. They're more than an insurance agency, they're an extension of my business. They take care of the worry, because they are the experts, which allows me and my team breathing room to do what we do best design beautiful spaces. You can find their contact information below in the show notes. Give them a call today. Tell me what you're doing now to teach creatives these some of these details.
Braden Drake 16:55
Sure. So more about like my paid programs?
Michelle Lynne 16:58
I think so yeah. Because like, I know you have them, but I don't know exactly what they are. And I'd love for the audience to just get a little nugget of information. And then we'll have all of it dropped into the show notes. Because like we could talk 17 hours about S corp LLC, taxes, contracts and so forth. But that would probably tune out a lot of our listeners. But if they needed to, like what do you do? Fair
Braden Drake 17:23
enough? Well, I have podcast episodes on about every one of these topics on my own podcast. So we are like episode 155 At this point over on the unfuck your biz with Braden podcast, make sure you put the asterisks for the you are you won't find it. So that's free content. And then I also have a Facebook group I do free q&a is in there every Friday where people submit questions I answer them Facebook group is called brightens besties. So if you go to Brandon's besties.com, it will redirect you there, which is super fun. I have a book as well. But all of this is based on my signature framework, which I call the unfuck your biz framework, and I teach that in my signature group coaching program called unfuck your biz, so it opens twice a year, it's 10 weeks, we do calls twice a week, we have a textbook, training videos, contract templates, all of that. So that's my signature thing. And then I have some like smaller stuff as well.
Michelle Lynne 18:17
I know you have a lot going on. I knew you had a lot going on, but I didn't know the extent of it. So who would be who would benefit from that? Like, newer interior designers? Like do we need to do that? Or would we just outsource it?
Braden Drake 18:33
You're advising on? Yeah, so inside the course unfuck your biz? It's a five module program. Module One is learn so you learn all about taxes. It's almost like tax school one on one, which sounds really painful, but people enjoy it. They always say they feel very empowered afterwards. Module Two,
Michelle Lynne 18:50
what's the biggest tax mistake that you see from creatives?
Braden Drake 18:55
The biggest one is getting on what I call the OSHA cycle for everything. Yeah, and none of them are clean. That the mistake is basically when people don't pay their quarterly taxes, and then they get on this cycle of they can't pay this year's quarterly taxes because they're on a payment plan for last year's taxes.
Michelle Lynne 19:15
Dude, I totally need to make my pay, I need to reach out to my accountant. I'm glad you said our quarterly
Braden Drake 19:21
taxes are due a week from today. We know that we'll have TAs once this releases, but
Michelle Lynne 19:28
oh shit cycle is so true. Okay, so that was your first module. What is your second module?
Braden Drake 19:34
So module two, the title of Module two is unfuck. So we look at mistakes that we've all inevitably made in our business. Usually these are business formation mistakes, like forming the wrong legal structure or forming in the wrong state stuff that you would not know about until you dive into the course materials, and then also back taxes. So I teach people how to set up installment agreements and things like that at the IRS, with the IRS if that is an issue. Oh, Yeah, yeah, so that's part two. About half of my students get to skip that module. So they're always very excited when they get to skip it. And then the other half, they always feel a sense of camaraderie because they think that they're like the only people on the planet who get hate mail from the IRS, so they feel a lot better when they know they're not alone. So we do that. Module three is where I teach people how to form their LLC, and there s Corp. So we have tutorial videos, and we do I call them LLC filing parties where we get on a live zoom call, and everyone files their LLC live on the call, so I can answer the questions fun. Yeah, well, they do. And we do business licenses, and DBAs, and EIN, and all these other acronyms that we get confused. And oftentimes about half the people were formed or LLCs. And the other half of the people who already have their LLC is realize the stuff that they've been neglecting to do so we do that stuff that's in module three. And then the the next step is cashflow. So if anyone's familiar with profit, first, I teach like kind of a modified version of that we get into cash flow management, love and then the last step is such a great yeah, I'm obsessed. It's been great. So the last step is systems. So we get into contracts, bookkeeping, contractors, 1099, all that kind of stuff. So it's a very robust program. It
Michelle Lynne 21:19
sounds like it and I'm like, damn it wherever you when I started all of this.
Braden Drake 21:24
I know. Right? Yes, foliage. Yeah.
Michelle Lynne 21:27
I've got a few years on you. Okay, good. Good. Good. Good. So going back to Profit First, just for those of you who don't know, it's a book by Malko.
Braden Drake 21:36
Was it Mike McCalla? Kaplowitz.
Michelle Lynne 21:40
And he is so funny. So if you have enjoyed listening to Braden talk, if you go back and listen, or listen to or read Profit First, Mike is pretty damn funny as well. Yeah. So he breaks it down. And it's not nearly as painful. I've had the pleasure of reading it. And then every time I get to like, moving my cash around, I'm like, who's Braden could just do this for me?
Braden Drake 22:07
Yeah, we've actually we've had I decided after so after I teach cashflow in the program, I also have an alumni membership. And a lot of them we start talking about personal finance. And so like, we've we've the language we always used to be somebody say, Okay, we've unfucked our business cashflow, but like what about our personal finances? So now my alumni have I have a whole series of programs unfuck your finances one of them. So get into personal finances? Then we have unfuck your contracts and unfuck your systems. It's like a whole ecosystem. That
Michelle Lynne 22:39
is so much fun. And then you just get to say the F word all the time. Yes, yeah. You
Braden Drake 22:44
did tell me I could swear at the top? Yes, yes. Yes.
Michelle Lynne 22:47
Yes. In fact, I'm going to be recording a bit of a disclaimer. So nobody's listening with our kids in the car. So okay, so you know, I love to talk all things business and development and so forth. But I also like to have a little bit of fun. So this next segment is and I'm not sure if I told you about this is a rapid fire q&a format to get to know you a little bit better. So nothing's off the table. So I'm just going to ask you a question. You just rapid fire back. Ready? Okay. Beach or mountains. Beach. Red or white wine. Red beer or bourbon? Bourbon. Any belly button or an outie? Belly button?
Braden Drake 23:32
Like on me? Yeah. Anybody any
Michelle Lynne 23:38
cake or pie? Pie? Chocolate or vanilla ice cream?
Braden Drake 23:44
Chocolate, obviously.
Michelle Lynne 23:47
What's your favorite book?
Braden Drake 23:49
Harry Potter. Oh, really? Yeah, that
Michelle Lynne 23:52
was so much fun. So much fun. So I guess you kind of already answered this last time. Not this one. But when was the last time you laughed until you almost peed yourself?
Braden Drake 24:05
Oh, I honestly feel like it's been too long since COVID. Like I know, right? Yeah,
Michelle Lynne 24:10
I don't. So maybe he's for wine. Or yeah, I
Braden Drake 24:14
needed I need a because yeah, I'm like, I'm an in person kind of person. I need to I need to get out and see my people hopefully soon. So you're
Michelle Lynne 24:21
an extrovert? Yes. Oh, for sure. Blown. Yeah, my husband's that way. He gathers energy from people. And like, I go to like, we met at a retreat, and you and I met at a retreat. And then like, every night at the end of the day, at the end of the session, I would like go to my room and I would just be there by myself and like, roll up into like a little fetal position. Yeah, I'm done. I'm done. Yeah, I'm
Braden Drake 24:48
I'm the opposite actually. Like my introvert friends are amazed by this. But if I do speak like, especially if I do a speaking engagement from like, seven to 9pm You know, anytime you're a speaker, everyone wants to chat with you afterwards. Yeah. And that drives my energy up so much that I need to like, participate in a soothing calming activity for two hours in order to get like wound back down to go to that
Michelle Lynne 25:09
afterwards. Yeah. And I just like, somebody carry me. That's awesome. Okay, so last question. If you could have one superpower, what would it
Braden Drake 25:18
be? That one's hard.
Michelle Lynne 25:21
All right, well, you don't have to answer it. I
Braden Drake 25:23
wish, I guess. Like, I don't like the ability to, like produce my own money. Is that a superpower?
Michelle Lynne 25:29
Sure, yeah, grow your own money tree, print your own paper that layout
Braden Drake 25:33
and not like not because I need to be filthy rich. But just because as an Enneagram, seven, I need to be able to like, I want to be able to do whatever I want to do at any given time. And so if I could live my life without financial constraints, it would just that'd be great.
Michelle Lynne 25:47
There you go. And, you know, I think I'm one of the only persons in America that hasn't done their Enneagram test.
Braden Drake 25:53
It's okay, we can talk about it. I'll give you all the tips. I'm okay. You
Michelle Lynne 25:57
could tell me where to go to take it so I can figure out who I am.
Braden Drake 26:01
Yeah, okay. Enneagram is to me
Michelle Lynne 26:03
agreements to Okay, note to self. All right. Well, Braden, is there anything that you would like to leave with our listeners, I will make sure that all of your contact information is in our notes. Is there where can they connect with you? We talked about some of it. Are you on Instagram? Facebook?
Braden Drake 26:23
Yes. So Brandon's besties. on Facebook. You can follow me on Instagram at Braden Adam Drake. So that's b r a d n. Adam, like the biblical figure, Drake, like the rapper. That's my full name. And I'm moving into our new house next week. So if you all follow my Instagram Stories, when this comes out, you'll be Yeah, you'll see all of my amateur interior design stories.
Michelle Lynne 26:49
Brandon's adventures? Yes, exactly.
Braden Drake 26:51
Yeah,
Michelle Lynne 26:52
that's so much fun. Well, thank you for being here. I really, really appreciate it. I'll make sure all of those details are listed in our show notes so that our audience can reference it. And for those of you who can benefit from even more resources surrounding the business of running your interior design business, join my growing community we're over on Facebook's private group is called the interior designers business Launchpad, where I give free training once a week. And then of course, if you're listening to this, if you please leave a review anywhere you're catching the podcast, it really does help. So until next time, thank you. Hey, y'all. If you love the show and find it useful, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your friends and followers. And if you like what you're hearing, want to put a face with a name and get even more business advice. Then join me in my Facebook group, the interior designers business launch pad. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feet. It's fun. I promise you'll enjoy it. And finally, I hear it's good for business to get ratings on your podcast. So please drop yours on whatever platform you use to listen to this. We're all about community over competition. So let's work on elevating our industry, one designer at a time. See you next time.
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