Small business finance Receipt by receipt, season by season Edition N° 13 · Fall 2026
A quiet ledger for creative studios

The finances of your studio, kept well.

For photographers, designers, film and event studios. Snap a receipt, send a quote, see what every event really made — and everything is filed into your own Google Drive. No spreadsheets. No accountant-speak.

Create your studio → Watch the film · 1:30
Start your studio in under two minutes. Cancel anytime.
$19A month, one studio
UnlimitedTeam members, no per-seat fees
Your DriveEvery file, filed for you
Silent loop · example studio, sample figures Watch the full film · 1:30 →
In this edition
  1. 01The enquiry
  2. 02The quote
  3. 03The calendar
  4. 04The receipts
  5. 05The conversation
  6. 06The invoice
  7. 07The profit
  8. 08The year
N° 01–08 · How it works

One event, start to finish.

Some studios call them events, some call them projects. Either way, here is one — from the first message to the last receipt — the way it moves through Nudge.

N° 01 · The enquiry

Know where every client came from.

Add the client once and note how they found you. Over a season, Nudge shows which channels bring the work that pays.

New client
Ada Hale & Sam Okaforada.hale@example.com
Came from
InstagramReferralWebsiteWedding fair
Instagram this year9 enquiries · 4 booked
N° 02 · The quote

From draft to yes.

Every quote is Draft, Sent, Approved or Rejected. Only sent quotes count toward your pipeline, so the number you see is money that is really on the table.

Quote Q-0118$6,400
  1. Draft
  2. Sent
  3. Approved ✓
  4. Rejected
Full-day coverage$4,200
Second shooter$900
Album & prints$1,300
Pipeline · sent quotes only3 quotes · $14,850
N° 03 · The calendar

A yes plans itself.

Approve the quote and Nudge creates the event, lays out what to bill and when, and puts the date on your home calendar beside every deadline.

November2026
SMTWTFS
1234567 891011121314 15161718192021 22232425262728 2930
Sat 14 · Hale–Okafor weddingEvent
Fri 6 · Send day-of timelineDeadline
Sat 21 · Balance $3,200 dueTo bill
N° 04 · The receipts

Snap it. Check it. Done.

Photograph a receipt on your phone and AI reads it into an expense — vendor, date, total, category, event. You check it and save. The file goes into your studio's Drive, named and sorted.

New expense · read from photo
VendorPellow Florals
Date2 Nov 2026
Total$184.50
CategoryStyling
EventHale–Okafor
Looks right · Save
N° 05 · The conversation

Every call and file, on the event.

Notes, call summaries and files live with the event, not in an inbox. Attach a brief or contract and AI writes a short summary you can check against the file.

Conversation · Hale–Okafor wedding
22 SEPCall. Golden-hour portraits at Larch Barn. Second shooter confirmed.
24 SEP
File. Hale-Okafor-brief.pdf
AI summary · check against the file 120 guests · coverage 1pm–9pmSecond shooter for the ceremony400 edited images within six weeks
3 NOVNote. Timeline sent to Ada.
N° 06 · The invoice

Invoices that number themselves.

Invoices and credit notes are generated from the revenue you record, numbered correctly and saved to your Drive. Your clients pay by card inside Nudge too — no one gets sent elsewhere.

Fern & FieldINVOICE
INV-2026-042
Bill to Ada Hale · Issued 28 Sep 2026
Deposit — Hale–Okafor wedding$3,200.00
PAID 30 SEPSaved to Drive / Invoices
N° 07 · The profit

What did that wedding actually make?

Each event shows what was sold, what is logged, what is still to bill, planned costs against actual — and the profit, always current.

Profit · Hale–Okafor wedding$5,164$6,400 sold · $1,236 costs · $3,200 still to bill
Planned vs actual▬ actual▭ planned
Second shooter
$450
Album & prints
$601.50
Styling
$184.50
Travel
$0
N° 08 · The year

Then, the whole season at once.

Reports bring every event together: profit, quotes won, your best clients, which lead sources pay — and this year against last.

Profit by month2025 ▭ · 2026 ▬
Quotes won11 of 18
Lead sources that payReferral$21.4kInstagram$14.9k

All screens show an example studio with sample figures.

N° 09 · Your records

Your records stay yours.

In your own Google Drive

Every receipt, invoice and credit note is filed into your studio's own Drive folder, named and sorted. Your records are never locked inside Nudge.

Payment stays inside Nudge

Your subscription and card are managed in the app. You are never sent off to another site to pay.

Never sold, never shared

Your numbers are never sold, shared, or used to train anything.

Several studios in one login Team roles: admin and standard Unlimited team members Works on your phone, light and dark
N° 00 · The film

Why we built Nudge.

One wedding, start to finish, in ninety seconds: the enquiry, the quote, the receipts, the invoice and what it actually made. Or the 22-second version, narrated.

Read the transcript
Text on screen · sound effects · music Loads only when you press play
N° 10 · Plans

One quiet subscription.

A studio
$19/ month
Billed monthly. Pay yearly and get two months free. No per-seat fees. Ever.
Create your studio → Cancel anytime, keep access until the end of the paid period.
Everything included Receipt reading, filed to your Drive Quotes, pipeline and win rate Events with plans, costs and profit Invoices and credit notes Clients, lead sources, conversation log Home calendar and reports Unlimited team members
Add-on · another studio
+$6/ month each

Run a second studio from the same login, with its own ledger, events, clients and reports. Switch between them in one tap.

N° 11 · Questions

Asked plainly, answered plainly.

Something else? Write to contact@nudgealmanac.com. A person answers.

Is my data safe?

Your numbers are never sold, shared, or used to train anything. Your receipts, invoices and credit notes live in your studio's own Google Drive folder.

Do I need Google Drive?

Yes — Nudge files everything into a folder in your studio's Google Drive, so you connect a Google account when you set up.

Can my accountant see it?

Invite them as a standard team member — team members are unlimited — or share the Drive folder. You can export to CSV at any time.

What does it cost?

$19 a month for one studio, or yearly with two months free. Each extra studio is $6 a month. No per-seat fees.

What if I cancel?

Cancel anytime from settings and keep access until the end of the paid period. The files in your Drive stay yours.

Can I use it on my phone?

Yes, in light and dark. It is where most receipts get photographed.

Do I need to know accounting?

No. Nudge talks about events, receipts and profit — not debits and credits.

Transcript

The film, in words.

The 1:30 film has no speech: everything is on screen, with sound effects and music. This is what it shows. Every name and figure is an invented example (Example studio · sample figures).

  1. Before. Receipts in a shoebox. A spreadsheet held together with hope. An inbox full of quick questions. “You started a studio to make the work. Not this.” Then: Nudge Almanac, a quiet ledger for creative studios.
  2. N° 01 · The enquiry. A new client, Ada Hale & Sam Okafor, comes in from a referral. The studio sees where its enquiries come from: this year, 9 enquiries and 4 booked from Instagram.
  3. N° 02 · The quote. Quote Q-0118 for the Hale–Okafor wedding, $6,400, moves from Draft to Sent to Approved (Rejected is the other outcome). Only sent quotes count in the pipeline: 3 quotes, $14,850.
  4. N° 03 · The calendar. Approval creates the event. Deposit $3,200 paid 30 Sep, balance $3,200 due 21 Nov, both on the home calendar.
  5. N° 04 · The receipts. A phone photo of a Pellow Florals receipt, $184.50, is read into an expense: vendor, date, total and event. It is checked, saved, and filed in the studio’s Drive under the event’s Receipts folder.
  6. N° 05 · The conversation. Every call, file and note sits on the event: a call about golden-hour portraits, an attached brief with an AI summary to check against the file, a note that the timeline was sent.
  7. N° 06 · The invoice. The deposit invoice numbers itself, is marked paid, credit notes have their own series, and the PDF is saved to Google Drive.
  8. N° 07 · The profit. The event page shows sold $6,400, costs against $1,600 planned, $3,200 still to bill, and profit, always current.
  9. N° 08 · The year. Reports show the whole season: profit by month, quotes won (11 of 18), and which lead sources pay: referral $21.4k, Instagram $14.9k, wedding fair $6.2k.
  10. Close. Your files, in your own Drive. Payment stays inside Nudge. Never sold. Never shared. The finances of your studio, kept well.

The 22-second narrated cut covers the same story in short form; its written transcript is to come.

Fin

The finances of your studio, kept well.

Receipt by receipt, season by season. Start your studio in under two minutes.

Create your studio →
$19 / month · cancel anytime · unlimited team members