It's safe to say solopreneurship has exploded in recent years—and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Today, nearly 40% of the workforce is made up of freelancers, temps, independent contractors, and solopreneurs, and a growing number of millennials and Gen Zers are becoming solopreneurs—61% of independent millennials are planning to stay independent as solopreneurs.

While being a solopreneur is exciting—you’re your own boss, after all!—tax time can be a bit stressful. So, in anticipation of Tax Day, we sat down with Denise Vasi, the founder of the popular women's lifestyle site, Maed, to find out how TurboTax can help solopreneurs prepare for April 15 (which, friendly reminder, is on a Wednesday this year).

Read on to learn a little more about Denise and see how you, too, can use TurboTax Self-Employed #SolopreneurTaxTips to file your taxes with confidence.

Be sure to keep reading until the end for the chance to win a FREE TurboTax Live Self-Employed product code (valued at $250, includes ad-on services).

Join the solopreneur tax conversation by using our campaign hashtag #solopreneurtaxtips. Don’t be shy! We all have questions about taxes, share yours on social too!

CREATE & CULTIVATE: Tell us about your lifestyle brand, Maed. What inspired you to launch the site?

DENISE VASI: The site came about organically. Before content creation had a name, I was creating content as an actress and a model. Early on, I started sharing health and wellness tips, beauty finds, and quick recipes on my social platforms and, before I knew it, women were coming to me for advice and tips. From beauty to motherhood, the community I built around those tips with those women encouraged me to launch Maed. Maed exists as a permanent home for my content and a place where the information I was sharing could live forever as a resource.

Starting a business takes capital and there are always two questions any founder needs to ask themselves—Do I bootstrap, or do I raise?—So, tell us, what did you do? Did you self-fund or raise money? Why/Why not? What would you recommend to aspiring solopreneurs?

MAED is 100% self-funded and it was a very purposeful decision. Personally, I wanted to be on the ground level, having my hands in every aspect of running my business. My fear was that funding might persuade me to go out and expand too early. How would I know what type of qualities someone would need to hold a position in my company if I hadn't myself experienced what the job entailed? I also think self-funding helped me learn to manage budgets more carefully and with more intention. I think that self-funding not only allowed me to truly develop this community, but it also afforded me the time to be sure that this was a viable business that I was passionate about, through all of the tough work, before I considered acquiring debt or handling other people's money.

You've been very smart and savvy with your business and it's grown exponentially since you launched it just a few years ago—What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur who has a great idea but doesn't know where to start or how to execute it?

My advice would be, first, to put together a business plan. With this plan, you should thoroughly understand the ins and outs of the problem you’re trying to solve or what whitespace you’re filling in the market. After that, you should go out to your network and talk to anyone who will listen about your fully-fleshed idea.

Starting a business is an evolution, it's a journey that takes time and effort. The way you run your business will evolve as markets change, trends come and go, and social platforms rise and fall, so I don’t believe there will ever be a perfect time to start. But if you do your research, have a clear idea of your goal, you leverage smart tools to make your life easier and remain willing to learn along the way, then, with fearlessness and perseverance, you can accomplish anything.

What are you most excited about for your business in 2020?

My team is growing this year! As a “solopreneur” that's not only exciting but can also be scary! By making changes like this to my current solopreneur business I’ll make sure to leverage partners and tools like TurboTax Live Self-Employed to understand the tax implications of those actions.

Maed is like one of my babies. The community that I've built is so dear to me and one of the best parts of my day is being able to connect with my audience on a very personal level. I never want to lose that. Bringing on new team members to help manage specific areas of my business will not only allow me to focus on the creative and story-telling but will also allow me the time to continue to build upon that personal connection with Maed's community.

Our friends at TurboTax were nice enough to share a giveaway with Create & Cultivate readers so you can file your taxes for FREE this season!

30 readers will receive a FREE TurboTax Live Self-Employed product code (valued at $250, includes ad-on services). Simply fill out the form below to enter to win. The winners will be chosen randomly and contacted via email. Good luck!

TurboTax Live combines the ease and technology customers know and love about TurboTax with on-demand credentialed CPAs, Enrolled Agents, or Tax Attorneys, for ultimate convenience and confidence. You can connect live to a team of real credentialed tax experts in English or Spanish, for unlimited tax advice and a final review before you file.