2 years ago, student Timothy Van Ostaijen started his own marketing agency. He went looking for an accountant but came back from a bare journey. Dexxter to the rescue.
Interview by Anouk Mouton – coach at ikwilzelfstandigworden.info
What exactly do you do as a student entrepreneur?
Timothy: ‘I run Onlimited, an agency that helps entrepreneurs and organisations with their strategic online communications. Our team consists of a few occasional collaborators and 4 permanent student-entrepreneurs who all have their own specialisation.’
Why did you want to combine studying with entrepreneurship?
Timothy: ‘I was previously handling marketing for several companies as a job student. Until the people from White Labels, another student enterprise, told me that the student-entrepreneur statute is much more financially interesting. Now I can tax deduct the costs for my laptop or own marketing, for example.’
Is it difficult to combine running your own business with studying?
Timothy: ‘This year is quiet because I only had my internship. But during those 8 weeks of full-time internship, I had to push through at times. When I start a new bachelor study next year, I will have to plan well. I hope to be able to fully focus on Onlimited 2-3 days a week anyway. The rest of the week I will have to combine a bit more with classes and assignments. Fortunately, I have a long collaboration with most customers where I know in advance what needs to be done when. Unexpected short deadlines don’t happen very often.’
You now do your own bookkeeping. Why didn’t you choose a bookkeeper?
Timothy: ‘When I started, I called around five accountants. Most of them offered only 1 formula: either they take everything off your hands or you do everything yourself. Some accountants even admitted that my bookkeeping was quite simple, and that it might not be worth it to outsource everything. That’s when I decided to do my bookkeeping myself.’
You now use the app Dexxter for your bookkeeping. What all can you do with it?
Timothy: ‘Basically everything: I can store all my invoices in it, do my vAT declarations, prepare a customer list and fill in my personal income tax. You can also draw up invoices in Dexxter, but I have yet to start with that. The vAT declaration took barely 5 minutes. It was a lot more complicated when I still did my vAT declaration via the FPS Finance website.’
What are the advantages of Dexxter for you?
Timothy: ‘Most accountants I spoke to would charge me around 1,500 euros per year. So I save quite a lot of money. I also like the fact that on the dashboard I can see live how much taxes I will have to pay. The timeline is also very reassuring: it tells me, for example, when I have to submit my vAT declaration. Before, I was always afraid I would forget something. Meanwhile, on my recommendation, my 4 fellow student entrepreneurs also work with Dexxter. They are just as satisfied.’
Timothy Van Ostaijen (22)
Event & Project Management at KdG (Antwerp)
Managing director of Onlimited since 2019
Would you like to discover Dexxter?
This is possible through Dexxter where you can always use our 30 days free trial. This gives you plenty of time to discover all our functionalities, including the community. The community is a place in the application where entrepreneurs can ask questions and get answers from other entrepreneurs with more experience.
Also know that you can get a lot of extra information and guidance for your journey as a student entrepreneur through various organisations. For example, consider SINC, which Dexxter is an approved partner of to take your accounting knowledge to the next level.
You are not alone as a (starting) self-employed student, let that be clear!
