Tax Tips for Small Business Mompreneurs

It's that time of year. One of the great benefits of having your own business (besides being your own boss, setting your own schedule, taking vacations whenever you want, and having more time with your family) is all of the tax benefits and write-offs of a small business. 
For me the biggest key has been getting organized.  I personally chose to incorporate but that's something to talk to your accountant about. Whether you file as a sole proprietor or an LLC or corporation, here are some great tips:

• Stay organized throughout the year.  Enter expenses and income into a program like Quickbooks or I use mint.com - which links to your checking and savings account and you can set rules so all costs paid to X vendor are listed as Business Expenses for X purpose.
• Scan receipts with an app like Shoeboxed or save emailed receipts into folder in your email system ie 2015 Business Expenses (or get more details and categorize)
• Use a separate checking account and credit card specifically for business expenses.
• If you use subvendors, send them a 1099 so they pay the taxes on what you paid them.
• Talk to your accountant about what is and isn't allowed as a writeoff. Some good things to consider:
• Do you have a home office? Part of your mortgage and utilities may be deductible.
• Which restaurant meals are deductible?
• Office & Business supplies including printing (flyers, brochures, business cards, applications)
• Gifts for clients & employees
• Mileage and/or car expenses including registration if you use your car for business
• Trips to conferences, training event, corporate retreats (if you have your own corporation)
• Online costs ie your monthly blog costs, advertising on Facebook or google, email systems like Aweber or mail chimp that you use to email customers
• Do you give away samples or product?
• Other costs specific to your field ie products purchased for research

**Talk to your tax professional about your specific situation.

The Holidays are Upon Us!

Sorry it's been a while since I posted.  With school, activities, running my own business, and focusing on more family time, life is busy.  I'm sure it is for you too!

Plus the holidays are here so there were will be more activities, more get-togethers with family, more cooking and more SHOPPING and that means SPENDING MONEY.  Did you know the average household spends over $800 for the holidays and most put that on credit cards - so they do into debt to celebrate??  I do a holiday budget each year and we spend about $1,000 on gifts for all of our friends and family. That doesn't include, the tree, Thanksgiving dinner, holiday meals out, or host gifts if we attend parties.

But this isn't a post to tell you to spend less on presents.  That's not up to me and honestly I like being able to buy presents for people who matter to me.  But my challenge to you is, why not earn an extra $300-500 (or more) between now and Christmas to offset those costs?  By starting your own business now, and not waiting until a more "convenient" time, you can make the holidays happier and less stressful for you and yours.

If you are interested in learning more about joining my team, and having me mentor you through the next two months to earn that holiday money, email me at heatherserrano@gmail.com.  There is no obligation, this is just more information so you can decide if it's for you. Take a leap of faith and learn more - you may find that it's something that changes your life, like it did for me!

Going Public

So you want to start your own business, or have started your own business, but one problem - you haven't told anyone about it!  This happens with people in my business all the time. They don't want to put themselves out there and "go public" until they have success either with the products or with the business, and then they feel like they can announce it. Some people are also nervous about what other people will think, or if they will be judged (I know I was!)

The problem is, if people don't know you have a business and that you are a resource for a product or service, they don't know to come to you (and buy from you) or to recommend you to their friends. You are delaying your own success.  Not to mention, having the extra accountability of people knowing what you are doing will push you to have more success. And people are going to judge you no matter what you do in life, what's important is that you learn to not to take it personally and realize that only you can determine what you want in life, and how you want to go about doing it.  I've learned not to worry about other people. Most people who are judgmental or rude are unhappy in their own lives, and there's nothing you can do about that! As they say, haters gonna hate. :)

So my most important advice is - don't wait until you feel like you are READY to talk to people about your business. Be honest and share your story - the easiest way to start is on social media - and include the following and be authentically YOU:

• why did you decide to start a business?
• why did you choose the business that you did?
• what do you have to offer people? Products? Parties? Coaching? Support group while using the products?
• how can they get in touch with you?

One exception: if you have a full time job now and you have to keep it under wraps so that your current employer doesn't think you are on your way out or are not serious about your current career, be very careful what you post and who can see it (you can restrict co-workers from seeing certain posts or block certain people).  

I'm not my "AFTER PHOTO" Yet

This is something I hear a lot specifically in my fitness business but can also apply to many other businesses you may be considering starting. Maybe you are selling cooking products or cutlery but you are not a great cook yet? Make-up rep but you don't always have the perfect face on or know the right techniques? Weight to lose but want to work in fitness?

DO NOT let this be a reason for you to put off starting your business. Any business takes time to grow, and if you wait until you are "perfect" to start, guess what, you will never start - and you will never achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

It's crucial that you use the products your business sells, but you don't have to be the PERFECT example of them yet. What's most important is that you are willing to learn (how to apply make-up, how to eat better and exercise, whatever) and you want to help others do the same.

TOP REASONS WHY YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE YOUR AFTER PHOTO YET:

• It's OK to be on the journey with your customers. People connect with others who are like them.
• Especially if you are working full time now, with a future plan to work your new business full time, you won't get to that point if you don't start building your business. Even if you have very little time to dedicate to it, do something every day so you are moving in the right direction
• You get a discount or wholesale price on buying these products yourself (which gets you to your goal or the skill you want faster!)
• In any network marketing company, the sooner you get in the better. While position in the organization isn't everything, it is a benefit to you.

I also blogged about this on my fitness site HERE

Setting Business Hours

Whether or not you are working on your business along side a full time job, or it is your full time/only job, you need to set business hours. One of the dangers of having your own home-based business is that you can get sucked in to working 24 hours a day. Because most of the work can be done online or from your phone, it's always within arms reach.  But that's dangerous for many reasons.

1. It tells your customers you are always available to them and they will continue to expect an immediate response.
2. There is no work/life balance. The whole reason you started your business was for some freedom right?
3. It's harder to be present with your family and friends. It's very distracting to be "on" all the time. You need to learn to turn it off.
4. You will get more done if you have set time to work on your business and be productive. The busier I am, the more focused I am during business hours.

HOW TO DO IT

Working a Full Time Job:

• Get up 30 minutes early to get a few things done before going to work
• Use your commute time to work for personal development or conference calls
• Lunch Hour - use your lunch hour as your "Power Hour" (I will do a post about that later this week) and get as much work done at one time
• TV time in the evenings - go through your DVR and remove all of the shows you don't even really like. Use that time to work on your business.

Working Your Business Full Time:

• Decide what hours of the day you will work - for me that's while my kids are at school
• Don't work outside those hours
• Communicate those hours to your colleagues and customers and team members

In both scenarios, be sure to communicate to people when are you available for phone calls, and don't be a slave to emails or FB messages. Tell people I only check messages/emails once a day at this time of day so if you need something urgently, don't email it to me.  The people who are important to you should have your phone number or a way to reach you if it's urgent.

When's the last time you got a 50% raise at your job?

When’s the last time you heard of anyone getting a 50% raise, in 6 months no less, at their job? I'm going to go out on a limb and say NEVER. In fact most folks these days are lucky to get the annual 3% cost of living raise, all while working harder as layoffs are forcing those left behind to carry a larger load.

That's why you need your own business. And a traditional business will not create numbers like this. A network marketing business CAN. Our coaching business has increased 50% since January, and in just 6 months of 2014, we’ve already made more than all of 2013.

What has that meant for us? I was able to leave my full time job. I can take my kids to school and pick them up every day. We are taking our very first family vacation to Hawaii this summer. But best of all, it’s FREEDOM to do what we want and go where we want without asking anyone’s permission. It’s the ability to DESIGN our lives how we want them.

So get out there are find an opportunity that is right for you. Google is your friend. Search for network marketing companies that do or sell something you LOVE.
PS. And if any of this is at all appealing to you:

• Fitness
• Getting paid to lose weight (be your own success story!)
• Helping others
• Increased energy
• Setting a good example for your family
• Putting yourself on the path to financial freedom

Then we want you to join our team and we will show you how step by step, what you need to do each day to have the same success or BETTER. If are you interested in more information, use the CONTACT form to the right of this article and we’ll send you details on what we do. Or you can visit this SITE to learn more about what we do. It’s NOT for everyone, but why not see if it’s for you?

Consistency...how the Compound Effect works

I had the great opportunity to listen to Darren Hardy, CEO of Success Magazine and the author of The Compound Effect, speak at our yearly coach summit this past week.  I really connect to what Darren teaches - read the book if you haven't!  He is 100% right that the small daily things that are easy to do but easy not to do, can add up to be more than the sum of their parts.  Sometimes you don't see the results for months or years then BAM...HUGE SUCCESS!! So many quit because they don't see results, and they never get there because they weren't consistent and patient.

What does this mean for you and your business?

• Do the daily activities (for us Beachbody coaches that's using the workouts and eating healthy, inviting new people to join our challenge groups or our coaching teams, and doing daily personal development). Do them every day. That's what DAILY means, right? :)
• Keep moving forward - keep the ball rolling. It's much harder to get things going if you take a week or longer off and try to jump back into things. Momentum will grow and it will become easier but you have to keep going.
• Always be talking to new people whether it be face to face or on social media. Consistently post on your Facebook page or Instagram or blog. (this is how the search engines find you too!)

These don't have to be HUGE things or take a lot of time as long as you do them every day.  Darren tells a great story of 3 friends - two who each made slight adjustments (good and bad) and one who stayed the same and tracked them over 27 months. You will be shocked at their results - you can read chapter 1 of the Compound Effect and this story HERE.

And guess what - there is no magic opportunity or get rich quick scheme.  While I do believe that positive thinking has an effect on your life, you can't just think or hope. You have to take steps towards your goals. And work HARD at it if you want true SUCCESS.

P.S. You can learn more about joining my team of highly successful online fitness coaches HERE.

Why Network Marketing?

I used to think network marketing was super shady, the people who did it were "icky" and frankly that it was not a legitimate business. Yes I was one of those "is that a pyramid scheme?" people before I learned more about it, educated myself and realized that it's completely different. Not only is network marketing legal, it's the best way out there to create a six figure income and beyond in the shortest amount of time.  If you are wondering why I recommend network marketing instead of a tradition business, there are a ton of reasons why, but here are the top 5:

1. Initial investment is pennies compared to opening your own store/restaurant, creating a product etc. Where else can you start a business for in some cases under $200? Most business require tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands and you are paying that debt back for years. 
2. They say traditional business take 3-5 years to make a profit. You can make a profit month 1 with network marketing
3. You can work a network marketing business "on the side" while you still have a full time job and paycheck.
4. Where else can you compress a 30-50 year career into 3-5 years? (Great tip from Sarah Robbins)
5. The time is going to pass anyway. Why not create and design your life how you want it??

Eric Worre wrote a great book called "Go Pro" and he says what we have isn't perfect, it's just better. (Highly recommend you read it!)

So why wouldn't you choose the BEST option that's out there?

Finding Time to Start your own Business

As a busy working mom, you probably have ZERO free time right? Work, your commute, family time, kids activities, and the like fill your days.  TIME is one of the reasons you feel so stuck. You probably think, I can't get out of the situation I am in because I can't find anything that will immediately replace my current income and I don't have the time to start something else on the time.  That is exactly what I thought.  I was lucky enough to be able to watch vicariously as a friend of mine who was just as busy as I was started her own business, in an industry that I was very interested too, and I saw that she was able to do it.  It wasn't easy.  She put in a lot of extra hours and gave up some sleep, but now she has a six-figure business working from home while her kids are in school, picks them up every day and the rest of the day is dedicated to them. That is exactly what I wanted. A big part of success is modeling what you do after someone who has what you want.  And one thing most successful entrepreneurs and "mama-preneurs" do is this:

So let's take a serious look at your time.

Television - how much time do you spend watching TV a day? Are there a few shows you could give up if it meant achieving the life you want?
Commute time - do you listen to talk radio or music on your drive? Use this time for personal development (audio CDs) or other trainings; or use this time for conference calls for your business
Lunch break - do you eat out with co-workers every day? Can you use that time to work on your business (online doing social media, prospecting, communicating with customers etc)
Hobbies - we all need an outlet and some fun for sure.  But can you put any of these hobbies "on hold" for just a couple of years and use that time to build your dream life? I think so.

One big time block that mama-preneurs often use to work on their businesses is after the kids go to bed. Can you clear out your 9pm - midnight schedule, whatever you do now during that time, and make it "Six Figure Mama" focused time??

Success doesn't come without sacrifice.  Can you find 10-15 hours a week to dedicate to a business? That's the minimum I feel like you need to start a serious business.