QuickBooks Money helps entrepreneur DJ Flow find his rhythm

Chris Santos, aka DJ Flow, has always loved music. What started out as childhood piano lessons turned to percussion in school; and then, later, to DJing. 

“Eventually I started getting into production—kind of blending the two things,” Santos explains from his well-organized studio-slash-vinyl-collector’s haven. Through his record collection, Santos lives his passion of not only creating and sharing music, but curating it as well. “'I’m having to build out sheds in my backyard to hold all my records,” he admits. 

Today, selling records is just one part of Santos’s professional life. He’s never stopped DJing, and he’s a producer as well. He’s living his dream and earning a livelihood that’s centered around his passion.

But that dream hasn't always been simple. “Like many other business owners, you're wearing a lot of hats,” Santos says. You're the content creator, you're the … packaging and shipping [and] the marketing department. It just never stops. … Being able to balance [everything] is very challenging.” 

Santos has had to become savvy with his tools and technology to manage his multiple income streams more efficiently. The latest app in his arsenal? QuickBooks Money. 

QuickBooks Money is a simple tool that allows business owners to get paid, manage their money with a business bank account, and stay on top of cash flow, all in one place. With invoicing, payment notifications, and up-to-date insights, Santos is running his business with confidence and looking forward to achieving his long-term goals.

DJ Flow gets his start

“I was 15 years old when I started DJing,” Santos says. “It was cool, being able to find it early. I started to do house parties, and that's kind of what, I guess, sparked my entrepreneurial journey.”

Santos DJed through high school and into college. “I started getting requests to do proms and people's eighteenth birthdays, cotillions, quinceañeras … all that stuff.” Without really meaning to, young Santos became an entrepreneur. He made decent enough money that he decided to maintain his DJ work in college, eventually playing at clubs, private events, and college parties. 

As part of his work, Santos had to keep a pulse on the current music scene. Even now, he’s always refreshing his sets with new tracks. He shops garage sales and thrift stores for records. As a result, he’s compiled an enormous collection of music — all of which eventually played into his own record-selling business.

But while Santos was growing his following and building his skill sets, financially, he often felt he was falling short. “There [wasn’t] any strategy,” he says, recalling his early financial goals. “My strategy [for running my business] was to get as much money as I could deposited into my account. That was the extent of [my] understanding of what was happening.” 

QuickBooks Money has seamless money management tools that help businesses grow

“When I found QuickBooks Money, I was just hoping to get that visibility and really centralize where everything was coming from into this single account,” says Santos. 

Much to his relief, getting started turned out to be simple. “Downloading the app and setting up my QuickBooks Money account was pretty seamless,” he says. “All of the onboarding prompts were super straightforward and allowed me to get started immediately.”

Santos chose QuickBooks Money as the deposit bank account for his various payment apps, so however a customer chose to pay, all the transactions flowed into one place. 

From there, he turned his attention to the invoicing features QuickBooks Money provides. 

“I was able to create professional invoices in the app,” says Santos. This included customizing logos and colors, making invoices instantly payable, and inviting customers to pay via a link or QR code. Every invoice also includes sales tax, due dates, and more.

“Prior to this, I was literally grabbing a PDF template and emailing it to clients. And then, you know, sometimes I would even lose track of if someone [had] paid or if I needed to follow back up.”

Now, Santos is much more organized. With QuickBooks Money, he’s started getting notifications sent directly to his phone, letting him know when an invoice has been paid. “Little things like that have definitely helped me understand what’s being sent out and [how much] comes in.” 

One of his favorite features when he’s ready to pay expenses is the QuickBooks Money debit card. “Being able to get the debit card immediately was very helpful,” says Santos. “The first thing I did after sending some invoices was transfer a lot of my auto pay subscriptions—things that I pay for on a monthly basis—over to that account and that card.”

From there, Santos began using the savings envelopes feature to categorize funds in his QuickBooks Checking bank account—included as part of QuickBooks Money—for different purposes. He appreciates the ability to earmark revenue streams into different envelopes: “[Having] different streams of income, sometimes I'll get invoices for events or DJing, versus selling records on my online store. Envelopes allow me to take the money that comes in and put it into different buckets.” 

Since he’s started using envelopes, Santos says he’s better able to see which parts of his business are growing and which parts need more attention. “Just that little feature has definitely helped me get the visibility that I'm looking for.”

Finally, Santos says he appreciates the Insights tab inside the QuickBooks Money app. “When I want to look at what's happening with the business, I can just click on that tab.” In moments, Santos is able to view his business’s performance month by month and see trends in his income and expenses.

QuickBooks Money sets the tone for a bright future 

Ever the entrepreneur, Santos is currently working on his own record label. And he’s beginning to better understand his business and how his various income streams work together. With the help of QuickBooks Money, he’ll be able to make informed decisions in the future, wherever the music takes him.

“I've already seen an impact in terms of being able to understand where my business is,” he says. “I think long term, having everything centralized, having everything visible and being able to see everything, will allow me to grow where I want my business to grow.”

QuickBooks Money is a bank account and payments tool in one that’s free to open, with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements, giving small business owners complete control of their money from anywhere. Learn more or get started here.

QuickBooks and Intuit are a technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by our partner, Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC.

Real QuickBooks customer compensated for their time.

QuickBooks Payments: QuickBooks Payments account subject to eligibility criteria, credit, and application approval. Subscription to QuickBooks Online required. Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. For more information about Intuit Payments' money transmission licenses, please visit https://www.intuit.com/legal/licenses/payment-licenses/.

QuickBooks Money: QuickBooks Money is a standalone Intuit offering that includes QuickBooks Payments and QuickBooks Checking. Intuit accounts are subject to eligibility criteria, credit, and application approval. Banking services provided by and the QuickBooks Visa® Debit Card is issued by Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to license from Visa U.S.A., Inc. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association. QuickBooks Checking Deposit Account Agreement applies. Banking services and debit card opening are subject to identity verification and approval by Green Dot Bank. Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. For more information about Intuit Payments' money transmission licenses, please visit https://www.intuit.com/legal/licenses/payment-licenses/. No subscription cost or monthly fees. Other fees and limits, including transaction-based fees, apply.

Features

Annual percentage yield: Annual percentage yield: The annual percentage yield ("APY") is accurate as of July 31, 2023, and may change at our discretion at any time. The listed APY will be paid on the average daily available balances distributed across your created envelopes within your primary QuickBooks Checking account. Balances held outside an envelope will not earn interest. See Deposit Account Agreement for terms and conditions.

Envelopes: You can create up to 9 envelopes within your primary QuickBooks Checking account. Money in envelopes must be moved to the available balance in your primary QuickBooks Checking account before it can be used. envelopes within your primary QuickBooks Checking account will automatically earn interest once created. At the close of each statement cycle, the interest earned on funds in your envelopes will be credited to each Envelope in proportion to the average daily balance of each Envelope. See Deposit Account Agreement for terms and conditions.

Cash flow planner: Cash flow planning is provided as a courtesy for informational purposes only. Actual results may vary.