There are 80-ish days left in 2026 … and I promise you, is lock-in season.

👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas. This is one of those issues that might not make you money, but it will definitely save you money.

A lot of year-end checklists love to drop in December, so this one's going out in October, because this is when I'm already thinking about ending the year right.

20 things … the first 10 are about money, and the other 10 save you a year of friction.

📍 In this issue:

The full 20 are at the bottom, and number 20 takes about 5 minutes 😉

let’s dive in!

_{a message from our friends @ Lovable}

I've left money on the table.

Not because brands underpaid me, but because I walked in without the right number. 

And when you don't have a number, the brand fills in the blank for you.

If you're a creator, a marketer, or anyone who pitches brands: your rate card is your leverage. Without one, you're negotiating on vibes.

So I built a free Brand Deal Rate Card Generator using Lovable.

You put in your follower count, newsletter subscribers, engagement rate, and what you want to make per month and it outputs a formatted rate card you can actually send to a brand. 

The math behind it is trained on real B2B creator and marketer benchmarks, not a number I pulled from thin air.

The whole tool went from idea to live in under an hour. That's what I keep coming back to with Lovable, the person with the idea is the person who builds it.

Know your number before your next pitch.

2 weeks ago I told you Q4 can be close to a third of my annual revenue.

It's also when the boring stuff gets pushed (and honestly, it IS boring). You're busy getting paid, so the invoices and the paperwork get handed to "January me."

A lot of companies stop processing invoices sometime in December. Miss the date and your invoice waits until January.

I promise you, nobody in accounts payable is thinking about your invoice on December 23.

So I want you to send every invoice you're sitting on this week (yes, even the small one). Then send your contact this:

"Quick one before the holidays … what's the last day I can get an invoice in and still be paid in 2026? I want everything on my side in before your cutoff."

Put the date next to the deal in your tracker.

A December invoice that gets paid in February is 2 months of you covering a brand's bill.

If you pay anybody (an editor, a designer, a virtual assistant), this one is for you.

For years, $600 to a contractor meant a 1099. For payments in 2026, that number is $2,000.

And no, that doesn't mean you get to stop tracking.

The IRS says the first step with any contractor is a W-9. So I want you to get one from every US contractor you paid … and I mean every one, even the editor you only used once.

(overseas is a different game. Ask your accountant.)

Get it now, while they still answer your texts. The 1099s are due February 1.

It works the other way too. A brand that paid you $1,500 may never send you a form, and you still owe tax on it. So keep your own count.

"How do I pay less in taxes?" is a great question … in November.

Last year, I hired a fractional CFO to keep my books tidy for tax time. (it's a necessity if you have a business.)

So take these 4 questions to whoever does yours:

Open your notes app and list every tool you pay for.

Then write down what each one costs per YEAR. A $29 tool you forgot about is $348. 3 of them is $1,044 … for software you haven't opened since the spring.

Me personally, I run every business dollar through 3 filters. Does this compound? Is this repeatable? Am I buying future relief?

If you have to talk yourself into it, it's probably an expense.

Last month I told you ChatGPT only survived on the cheapest plan I could get away with. Same energy here.

Now let me be fair … a tool you use every week is worth paying for. The ones at the bottom of this email are mine.

And for every tool that makes the cut, look for the affiliate program. I made $1,819.05 in 12 months from tools I was already using.

Before you plan one new post for 2027, pull your top 10 from 2026.

I said it on YouTube a couple weeks ago … I think 80% of people already making content could get by doing one thing: a content audit.

An older post just means a small fraction of one audience saw it once, on one platform, on one day.

So your top 10 is your Q1 content. Run it back.

Open every deal you signed this year and write down 3 dates:

That third one is money. If a brand is still running your video after that date, that's a new conversation … and usually a new fee. Read what you signed first.

Last October I told you to add usage and exclusivity columns to your deal tracker. This is why.

Last week I gave you the line I've used since my college internships …

When someone thinks of ____, I want them to think of me.

You can change your blank every year. So change it or confirm it. That's number 20, and it's 5 minutes.

Do the money half before the holidays. Give the rest until January 31.

See you next Saturday,

Brandon

Each week, I share content on social, branding, and growth strategies. Catch up in case you missed anything.

The tools, equipment, and systems that power my content. (Yes, these are affiliate links.)

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