Artist Bookkeeping
BOOKKEEPING FOR ARTISTS, CREATIVES & SMALL BUSINESSES
You created a business. Nobody said you had to become an accountant to run it. Let’s make sense of the numbers Together.
You don’t have to figure this out alone
Your sales are growing, the receipts and expenses are multiplying, and suddenly the numbers matter a whole lot more than they used to.
I help artists, creatives, and small business owners organize their finances and understand what their numbers mean in plain simple language.
Maybe you have been wondering if you’re doing any of this right. Your receipts are piling up, your business and personal expenses have gotten mixed together, or you keep putting off the bookkeeping because you’re not quite sure where to start. You may have you listened to an accountant or friend talk about the P&L statement, gross margin, and liabilities and felt like you kind of understood but not really. Accountants have their own language and most of us aren’t fluent but nod our heads and hope that no one catches on.
The truth is… you don’t need to know everything about bookkeeping or accounting. You just need to understand enough about your numbers to make good decisions for your business. I can help with the rest and tell you what everything means without all the confusing vocabulary.
I care about the person behind the numbers, not just whether everything adds up. My goal is for you to feel organized, understood, and supported so you can spend more of your time doing what you love, knowing your books are handled.
How I Can Help…
Monthly Bookkeeping
For businesses that are ready to stop managing their books alone. I’ll help keep your transactions organized, accounts reconciled, and financial reports up to date so you know where your business stands.
Catch-Up & Clean-Up
Behind on your bookkeeping? We can work through the backlog, organize what’s there, and get you to a place where moving forward feels manageable.
Bookkeeping Setup
Starting from scratch or ready for a better system? I can help set up QuickBooks, create a chart of accounts that actually fits your business, and get your financial workflow organized from the beginning.
Bookkeeping Support & Organization
If your bookkeeping feels scattered, confusing, or harder than it should be, we can untangle it together. I’ll help you organize your financial records, improve your bookkeeping system, understand your reports, and create a routine that gives you a clearer picture of your business.
Why Artist Bookkeeping Is Different…
As an artist, I understand the headaches of switching from a small side hustle into a real business and taking the necessary steps to help it grow. Your business will not look like everyone else’s so the generic advice online won’t always make sense to you. I also understand that businesses have their own rhythm, expenses, and ways of earning money and your bookkeeping system should be built around the business you actually have.
We understand There’s a person behind every Business.
Bookkeeping is about more than getting transactions into the right categories because those numbers represent something you’ve worked hard to create.
I want you to feel comfortable asking questions, getting help when something doesn’t make sense, and knowing that you have someone in your corner who cares about your business not just whether the books balance.
The goal is simple: you feel organized, supported, and confident enough to spend more of your time doing the work you love, knowing the books are handled and that you can get easy explanations when you need them.
For those of you with a creative business…
As an artist and a bookkeeper, I understand the financial side of creative work: art supplies and materials, booth fees, commissions, gallery percentages, online marketplaces, payment processors, equipment purchases, software subscriptions, and income that may look very different from one month to the next.
You won’t have to explain why you spent $600 on a camera lens, stocked up on prints before show season, paid a gallery 40% of a sale, or have three different payment processors depositing money into your account. I understand that every platform you sell on charges fees and it can be hard to keep track of them all. I understand that it can be hard to tell if you even made a profit on a commission, photo shoot, or concert after all the fees and unexpected expenses. I can help you to make sense of it all.
Who I Work With…
I have a special place in my heart for artists, makers, and creative business owners but you don't have to be an artist to work with me.
Through my bookkeeping work, I've gained experience supporting a variety of small businesses and organizations, including:
Artists
An Independent Bookstore
Therapists
Homeowners Associations
A Wildlife Nonprofit
A Church
A Small Home Builder
My favorite businesses to work with are small, owner-led businesses that are ready to get more organized, understand their numbers, and have someone dependable helping with the books. If that sounds like you, there’s a good chance we’ll work well together even if you’ve never picked up a paintbrush in your life.
Hi, I’m Mara Skye Wolf
an artist, problem-solver, and bookkeeper.
I didn’t take a traditional path into bookkeeping
For 16 years, I worked as an engineer designing equipment for fighter pilots and special operations soldiers. I lead a team working on complex projects and we learned how to look at a problem from every angle, spot patterns, and notice when something didn’t quite add up. We did work where details mattered and getting things right was a necessity.
As it turns out, those engineering skills translate pretty well to bookkeeping.
I unexpectedly found my way into bookkeeping after helping a musician create concert posters, social media posts, and a website. She recommended me to a local bookkeeper who thought my unusual mix of engineering, project management, and creative experiences might be a good fit. More than three years later, I’m still doing bookkeeping work and I’ve discovered that I genuinely enjoy the puzzle of it: following the numbers, finding patterns, and figuring out why something looks a little off.
I’m also an artist
I’m a wood burning artist, so I understand firsthand that creating the work is usually a lot more fun than tracking the receipts that come with it.
Creative businesses can also look a little different from traditional businesses. Our income may change dramatically from month to month, our expenses can be unusual. Supplies, equipment, commissions, shows, payment processors, and dozens of little purchases can quickly become difficult to keep track of.
That’s part of why I created Artist Bookkeeping.
I want to help artists and small businesses understand their numbers while giving their owners one less thing to worry about. My goal isn’t to judge you for the receipts that piled up or make you feel embarrassed because you don’t know the answer to a bookkeeping question. There are no “stupid” questions here. As an engineering lead, I sat through dozens of finance meetings and wondered what all the terms meant but I didn’t even know what to ask. I wish there had been someone back then that would have taken the time to really explained it to me. Now that the roles are reversed, I am excited to help you learn about your books.
I want to be the person quietly taking care of the books in the background, while still being there when you need an explanation, have a question, or want to understand what your numbers are telling you.
I believe every small-business owner deserves a bookkeeper who takes the time to keep their books accurate, reliable, and up to date and who genuinely cares about the success of the business behind those numbers.