The 3 Things You Need When It Comes To The Business Side Of Podcasting

So you’re running ads on your podcast? GREAT. Be prepared to get paid! But do you have everything you need to handle it on the business side of things? What about taxes? Should you have a company set up? What about billing and invoicing?⁠
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Our Chief Operations Officer Amy Howard breaks down the baseline basics of the business of podcasting for podcasters: to accept your money, no matter where you are hosting your podcast, you need to have you W9, bank account, and billing or invoicing ready to go.

1. W9

The first thing you will need a W9. Whether operating as a Corporation/LLC or independently, you will need to have a W9 ready to go to get paid from advertisers. You can find one online for free. And no, you don’t HAVE to have your own company (it’s fine if you do), but if you don’t have a corporation, not to worry, you just fill it out personally and use your Social Security Number. This is what you’ll provide to the representative of the company that’s going to pay you.

2. BANKING INFO

Be ready with your banking account info you will be using to receive revenue. You will need your routing number in addition to your account number. If you’re unfamiliar, both these numbers are found across the bottom of your checks. A lot of banks will also allow you to access this information via your online banking account. This is usually the information advertisers (or your podcast host) will use to direct deposit funds into your account. (NEVER give this information to anyone who you haven’t verified is actually with the payment department of your podcast host or the brand you’re advertising with as these numbers can be misused by the wrong people to pull money out of your account.)

3. BILLING & INVOICING

Choose a system to use for billing and invoicing. It’s important to keep track of what you bill for, what money is coming in, and if anything is outstanding. Pionaire uses and has been happy with the services of Stripe. You’ll want to keep track of everything so that when it comes time to pay taxes for the year, you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips.

As your podcasting revenue stream begins to grow, you may want to consider bringing in a financial professional to help you with accounting, filing taxes, or employee payroll (should you expand to add members like producers to your team), but for now, once you get those things in place – you’re all set to start receiving the money you’re making off your podcast!