Here’s a practical guide tailored for a single-member Michigan LLC like yours:
🧾 1. Separate All Business Finances
Absolutely essential.
- Get a business checking account in the LLC’s name (you’ll need your EIN and Articles of Organization).
- Do not mix personal and business funds — even for small purchases.
- Use the LLC debit card or account for all income and expenses related to Scootercam.
📚 2. Decide on a Recordkeeping Method
Start simple — your main goal is accuracy and clarity. Three levels of effort:
| Level | Method | What You Track | Pros |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Spreadsheet (Google Sheets or Excel) | Date, Category, Description, Amount | Free, simple, great for hobby-stage |
| Intermediate | Wave Accounting or Zoho Books (both free tiers) | Invoices, receipts, income/expenses, bank feeds | Automates a lot, good for sponsors/subscribers |
| Advanced | QuickBooks or FreshBooks | Full bookkeeping, reporting, tax prep | Paid, but professional-grade |
💸 3. Track These Core Things
At minimum, record:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Income | Ad/sponsor revenue, subscriptions, merch, donations |
| Expenses | Domain, hosting/VPN, equipment (camera, sensors), web services, software, mileage (for maintenance trips), supplies |
| Owner Contributions | Money you personally invest in Scootercam |
| Owner Draws | Any money you take out for yourself |
| Assets | Equipment worth more than ~$500 (camera, computer, etc.) |
| Liabilities | Loans or credit cards in LLC’s name |
Keep receipts (digital copies are fine) for everything. Cloud storage (Google Drive or Dropbox) works well — use folders by year/month.
📅 4. Keep a Simple Ledger
If you prefer a spreadsheet, include:
- Date
- Description
- Category (Hosting, Equipment, etc.)
- Payment Method
- Amount
- Notes
That’s all you need to generate totals for taxes or sponsors later.
🧠 5. For Tax Purposes
- As a single-member LLC, you’ll report income/expenses on your personal return via Schedule C (Form 1040).
- Keep an eye on:
- Quarterly estimated taxes if income grows
- Sales tax (not needed yet unless you sell merch or charge subscribers for services)
- Track mileage if you drive for maintenance or filming (the IRS rate changes yearly — ~67¢/mile in 2024).
🧾 6. When You Start Earning
Once sponsors or subscribers come aboard:
- Issue invoices with your LLC name, address, and EIN.
- Keep a log of who paid, how much, and when.
- Use your accounting system to create Profit & Loss statements — sponsors love seeing where their support goes.
🪣 7. Backups & Habits
- Reconcile your records monthly (match your ledger or software to your bank statement).
- Keep a separate folder for each fiscal year.
- Back up data to the cloud.
🧭 Recommended Next Steps for You
- ✅ Open a business checking account.
- ✅ Get a free bookkeeping tool (Wave or a spreadsheet).
- ✅ Log every business expense starting now.
- 🗂️ Create folders:
/2025/Income,/2025/Expenses,/2025/Receipts. - 📅 Set a recurring monthly reminder: “Reconcile Scootercam finances.”
If you’d like, I can make you a ready-to-use bookkeeping spreadsheet template customized for Scootercam (with categories for hosting, sensors, etc.) — would you like me to generate that for download?
You said:
yes
ChatGPT said:
Perfect 👍 — I’ll build a simple, tailored bookkeeping spreadsheet for Scootercam Worldwide LLC, with:
- Separate tabs for Income, Expenses, and Summary
- Predefined categories (hosting, sensors, cameras, travel, etc.)
- Automatic totals and year-to-date summaries
Before I generate the file, a few quick choices so it fits your workflow:
- Format preference:
- 🟢 Google Sheets (shareable link, editable online)
- 🔵 Excel (.xlsx file you can download and open locally)
- Expense categories: I’ll include standard ones (hosting, equipment, software, travel, marketing, office).
– Do you want me to add any Scootercam-specific ones like “Weather API,” “Webcam Maintenance,” “Beach Operations,” or similar?
Once you confirm those two items, I’ll generate your bookkeeping file right away.
You said:
google sheets, and yes there are misc specific cost
ChatGPT said:
Excellent — we’ll set it up for Google Sheets, optimized for Scootercam’s mix of tech, weather, and creative expenses.
Here’s what I’ll include by default:
🧾 Tabs
- Income – date, description, category (sponsorship, subscription, donation, merch, other), payment method, amount
- Expenses – date, vendor, category, description, amount, notes
- Summary Dashboard – automatic totals, monthly and year-to-date profit/loss, category charts
🧰 Expense Categories (customized for Scootercam)
- Domain & Hosting
- Web Services / APIs (Visual Crossing, MoonAPI, etc.)
- Equipment (Cameras, Sensors, Weather Station)
- Repairs & Maintenance
- Travel / Mileage
- Marketing / Branding
- Software & Subscriptions
- Office Supplies
- Utilities / Internet
- Miscellaneous / Other
- Owner Contribution / Draw
To finalize before I generate the sheet:
- What fiscal year start do you want? (Most use January 1, but if you’d rather start from when Scootercam LLC was formed, I can use that month instead.)
- And do you want the Summary Dashboard to include automatic charts (like a pie chart of expenses and bar chart of income by month)?
Once I have those two answers, I’ll create and share the ready-to-import Google Sheets template.
You said:
We can use Jan 1. Summary is good
ChatGPT said:
Here’s your customized bookkeeping starter file for Scootercam Worldwide LLC:
📊 Download Scootercam_Bookkeeping_Template.xlsx
You can easily upload this file to Google Drive, then open it with Google Sheets to convert it into a live, editable format.
Once open, you can:
- Add your transactions under Income and Expenses
- Use Insert → Chart to build your Summary dashboard (pie chart for expenses, bar for income)
- Expand categories as your operations grow
Would you like me to generate the ready-to-paste Google Sheets formulas and chart setup instructions next (so totals and visuals auto-update)?
You said:
yes
ChatGPT said:
Perfect 👍 — here’s how to make your Scootercam Worldwide LLC bookkeeping sheet in Google Sheets fully automatic with totals and visuals.
🧮 1. Basic Setup (after uploading the Excel file)
- Upload
Scootercam_Bookkeeping_Template.xlsxto Google Drive. - Open it → File → Save as Google Sheets.
- You’ll now have 3 tabs:
Income,Expenses, andSummary(you can add the last manually if needed).
📊 2. Formulas to Add Totals
In your Income sheet (assuming headers in row 1):
=SUM(E2:E)
Place that in any cell (e.g., top right corner) to see your total income.
In your Expenses sheet:
=SUM(E2:E)
That gives you your total expenses.
💰 3. Summary Sheet Structure
| Cell | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| B2 | ='Income'!E2:E | Pulls income data |
| B3 | ='Expenses'!E2:E | Pulls expense data |
| B5 | =SUM('Income'!E2:E) | Total Income |
| B6 | =SUM('Expenses'!E2:E) | Total Expenses |
| B7 | =B5-B6 | Profit (or loss) |
You can label these:
A5: Total Income
A6: Total Expenses
A7: Net Profit (Loss)
📅 4. Monthly Totals (for charts)
In Summary:
| Month | Income | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | =SUM(FILTER(Income!E:E, MONTH(Income!A:A)=1)) | =SUM(FILTER(Expenses!E:E, MONTH(Expenses!A:A)=1)) |
| Feb | =SUM(FILTER(Income!E:E, MONTH(Income!A:A)=2)) | =SUM(FILTER(Expenses!E:E, MONTH(Expenses!A:A)=2)) |
| … | … | … |
| Dec | =SUM(FILTER(Income!E:E, MONTH(Income!A:A)=12)) | =SUM(FILTER(Expenses!E:E, MONTH(Expenses!A:A)=12)) |
Then add:
=SUM(B2:B13) → Total Income
=SUM(C2:C13) → Total Expenses
🧁 5. Adding Charts (Visual Dashboard)
- Highlight your month-income-expense table.
- Go to Insert → Chart.
- Choose Column Chart for month-over-month income vs. expenses.
- Add another:
- Select your Expenses table (Category vs. Amount).
- Insert → Chart → Pie chart.
- Title it “Expense Breakdown.”
Optional aesthetic touches:
- Under Customize → Chart style, use Scootercam colors:
- Lake blue:
#38b6fe - Beach gold:
#f3b02e
- Lake blue:
- Set currency format:
Format → Number → Currency.
🧭 6. Suggested Workflow
- Log every transaction weekly (takes <10 minutes).
- Reconcile monthly with your bank statement.
- Use the Summary chart at tax time or to show sponsors how funds are used.
Would you like me to generate a version of this Summary tab (with all the formulas prefilled) so you can just copy/paste it directly into your Google Sheet?