Grow Your Business, With The Patience Of A Gardener
Keywords: Business Plan, Incorporate, Home Business, online business, work from home, tax strategies
Gardening teaches patience. Grow your business. The ‘Garden’ analogy is on purpose and appropriate. You prep the soil, plant the seed, water & fertilize, then weed. The Harvest comes later.
Plan ahead is what I mean. You need to plan what type of business you want to do on-line. There are many different types of business to be done.
The most important concept to understand early is, ‘If you know how you want to do business, you will know what you need and WHAT YOU DON’T NEED.’ In starting any business, expenses can get out of control because you have no previous expenses to compare with.
You can find yourself the proud owner of ‘Hundreds if not Thousands of dollars’ of tools, software, auto-ship products, subscriptions and other ‘Monthly Bills’ that you soon realize might be useful if you had decided to do business ‘That Way’. But you had soon realized that your natural talents and experience have led you into a learning situation enabling you to ‘cross off the list’, certain modes of operation.
Well, you still have those responsibilities to address and other expenses that you do need to handle. So Plan as much as you can first. Go methodically through this learning experience.
This market isn’t going away anytime soon. The idea is to have positive cash flow as early as possible in your ‘New Business’. You’re the Owner, it’s your responsibility. Why go through the all the BS while someone else keeps most of the revenue created by your work. I decided that I’d rather work very hard and keep all the profits the government will let me keep. Note the term ‘will let’. Oh Well, ‘it’s always something’.
There are many legal strategies available to let us minimize our tax burden. Are you a Tax Drone, or a Wage Slave? Too many Tax Drones just file and accept whatever happens, but most people who don’t itemize are leaving money on the table that they could keep without getting their hands slapped. These tax situations seem to change daily, almost in swirling fashion.
I’m by no means a tax authority, (Always consult an ‘Enrolled Agent’ or CPA, for US tax situations, or whatever is appropriate in your country, before acting on ‘Any’ tax advice). At this time in the US you may be in a position to write off business expenses for your home business at the rate of your personal tax rate, ie. (if in the 25% bracket, you may be able to deduct 25% of those expenses). Again you must consult an expert to know your own situation. Someone once said ‘Tax Evasion is illegal, but Tax avoidance is our Duty.’
When you realize that you are an on-line business person, it may be in hind sight. You have to begin accounting for cash flow that came straight to you without any interference. Somewhere in this time period you will need to plan. Plan big. If you reach a goal too easily, you probably didn’t set your goal high enough.
To really be serious and ahead of the game write up an official ‘Business Plan’. There are Software Programs available for this. This will be necessary later to secure business loans. Remember those goals, not just lofty goals but a real ‘Business Plan’ with attainable goals that build steps to further goals, you may want to show some possible investor or Bank the proof that you can make their money pay for itself.
Then my advice would be sit down with a ‘For Fee’ Certified Financial Planner and discuss your first plan and what changes are needed to reach a ‘Specific’ goal. The reason I specify a ‘For Fee’ CFP is that they won’t feel the need to sell you a product that they have, but you don’t need. Have some ideas about your tax status and expectations ready to discuss.
Once you aren’t an ‘Employee’ for someone else, your income and Credit Rating will change. This can make ‘Credit’ more difficult to obtain, so an evolving Business Plan will show that you are serious when applying for a Business Loan.
One Note here, It’s ‘Credit when they want you to take it. It’s Debt when you want it and once you get it’. Don’t take on debt unless you have a plan to ‘leverage’ that debt for improvement and /or investment with a return.
Webmaster of Informational Sites and Blogs since 2000
C R Ellsworth is retired and living in the ‘Great Northwoods’
For more on Business Plans
www.i-work-4-u.com/yes/bizplans.html www.IncorporateABusinessNow.com mailto:dblsundog@i-work-4-u.com Will Request Confirmation
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