BlogBarefoot.com

by Vicky Collins, CPA

One of our Barefoot Executive Experts (BEEs) from Barefoot-Executive.com

Register for her free tax tips newsletter and see her awesome resources at the Deduction Diva site!

If you are like a lot of my clients and customers, this means that this year, you’ve vowed to do your paperwork “right”.  While it may feel like the elephant in the room, it’s really easier than you might think.

Here is a list of things to do now:

1. If you have inventory and didn’t do a count on December 31st, do it now.
2. Get an official odometer reading. If you are ever audited, IRS may ask to see proof of your odometer reading at the beginning and end of the year. If you haven’t had any repair work or oil changes in the past month, you will need to find a way to get a reading. If you don’t need any work done, you can always go to an oil change/repair work shop and request an estimate. They should put the odometer reading on the estimate.
3. Finish up 2008 filing and bookkeeping.
4. Review and complete your 2008 mileage log. It will never be easier to finish than right now.  If you haven’t started your 2008 log, it’s ok – you can still do it now. Just look at your planner and receipts and use those to calculate your miles. For 2008, the rate is 50.5 cents per mile. It’s definitely worth preparing this log!
5. Set up your 2009 files. Think about your categories of expenses. By getting your files together now, it will be much easier to file your receipts throughout the year.
6. If you don’t have a separate checking account and credit card for your business, go ahead and establish them now. It’s always easier to do your record keeping, when you don’t have to go through and separate out personal and business expenses.
7. Make or review your business plan. This is great documentation of your intent to make a profit. It also helps you stay on track during the year.
8. Make appointments with yourself either weekly or monthly to do your bookkeeping. It is so much easier to do your paperwork and bookkeeping regularly. You’ll also be less likely to forget to include income and expenses.
9. If you pay estimated tax, your final estimate for 2008 is due January 15th
10. Vow to learn as much as you can to help yourself keep more money in your pocket through legal tax deductions and strategies. You can start tomorrow with our tax call. It is said that statistically, the average self-employed person overpays their tax bill by $3,000 – $5,000 every year. If you think you could be in this group, you owe it to yourself to learn as much as you can.

At Deduction Diva, we have developed tools and programs to help you file paperwork, develop tax plans and to learn about tax deductions. These tools were designed specifically for direct sellers. Check them out today at the Deduction Diva website.

Tags: Tips by Carrie Wilkerson
2 Comments »

HELP: Book is at the editor & I’m at a loss for title…It’s a Chicken Soup for the Soul TYPE book (stories with business applications).

They are all my stories, observations and powerful business lessons that I’ve compiled over the years I’ve been in business (juggling kids, home, life, debt, overweight, etc)

I need a title!

Submit your title and subtitle suggestions here…

• IF YOUR TITLE IS SELECTED…you will win a signed book, credit on the printed inside acknowledgments, PLUS a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com or I-tunes (your choice).

• ONLY ENTRIES POSTED HERE WILL BE CONSIDERED – do NOT email them to our office or post on Twitter.

• Deadline for entries: Thursday, January 22^nd at 10 am Central Time (no exceptions)

Sites to Investigate if you don’t know much about the Barefoot Executive:

http://Barefoot-Executive.com

http://the-Barefoot-Executive.com

http://YouTube.com/BarefootExec

http://TwitterBarefoot.com

Thanks for your help! Spread the word!!

Tags: Marketing by Carrie Wilkerson
163 Comments »

(c) 2008 Mark Semple, Successful Together Coaching

Do you ever find yourself feeling like you’re business isn’t moving anywhere?

You love what you are doing, you are passionate about your products / services and you know that you have all that it takes to be a huge success.

And, here you are frustrated because nothing seems to be happening and you’re not making any money.

Your bills continue to flow in and pile up, and you know you will have a major problem unless something happens really soon.

One of the most important things we learn about is to be clear on your ‘why’. Crystal clear. Your ‘why’ is your purpose for all that you are doing. It is the profound difference you are making in your life, your family’s life, or someone else’s. When you think about it, you feel a glow & warmth, a surge of energy unlike anything else.

Your Why is what your whole journey is all about.

And, it is the single most important thing to stay connected to when you have a period that isn’t quite as productive as you want it to be.

If you have a family vacation planned to an exciting place, you all feel the buzz & eagerness to get there and start having fun. When you take off in your car, all you can think about is getting to your destination and what it’s going to feel like to get there.

You have your route planned, your car is fresh, serviced & full of gas, you have all the supplies you need and the weather is great.

And, suddenly, you realize you’re not moving anywhere! The motor is running, the car is in ‘Drive’ and you’re pushing on the gas – you’re still not moving.

You realize that you have hit a mud hole and your wheels are just spinning.

So, what do you do? You can continue to keep the gas pedal where it is and keep the wheels spinning. You can push harder on the gas and make the wheels spin faster. Neither of which would accomplish anything other than get you more stuck, waste your gas and potentially damage your car.

The optimal course of action to take right now is to shut the car off, step out and look for options that you can do.

Note that the purpose has not changed: You are still driving towards a fun trip. You are on the right highway with a good car. It is just that, at this moment, you are not physically moving toward your goal.

All the really matters right now is simply getting the car moving again – period. Everything else is still important, it just can’t happen until the car is in motion.

You must keep your vision of your goal alive and bright, as this will give you the inspiration and intuition to find the solution to your current opportunity.

Continuing this analogy, getting your car moving again obviously requires one thing: Get out of the mud.

And there are 3 immediately obvious solutions available to you:
1. Find something to put under the wheels to get traction.
2. Push the car as someone presses the gas.
3. Get pulled out.

There probably are additional solutions to this problem – the point is that you would not have seen any of them if you had not shut the car down and stepped out.

So, how does this apply to your business?

First off, know that a problem does not take away from your purpose, vision and your ‘why’. When things do feel like they’re not going the way you want, getting closer to your ‘why’ will keep you focused.

Next, slow down to speed up. If you’re not moving and what you are doing does not feel like it is getting you anywhere. Step back and observe. Just as spinning your wheels will get you deeper in mud, continuing to do the same actions will get you deeper in your situation.

When you step out of the problem, you are able to see solutions more easily.

And, a key concept: Ask for help. If you could not get your car unstuck by yourself, you would not think twice about asking for assistance.

Why not do the same thing with your business? Simply talking to someone else can help you see something that you may not notice from your current position.

Remember, all that you are doing right now is getting back into motion. Once you are rolling, you are in business and the rest of the plan is just as it was.

Learn from your experience. Few things are as frustrating as finding yourself back in another problem shortly after you got out of one.

If you’re feeling a little stuck right now, you have a choice: You can either stay stuck or you can look for the shift you need to get back in motion toward your dreams.

Whether you want a shift in your life, business, relationship – or need a hand getting your car out of the mud, we are here for you.

And don’t forget to enjoy your trip.

Mark Semple CCC
Home Business Success Coach

www.SuccessfulTogetherCoaching.com

Tags: Marketing by Carrie Wilkerson
5 Comments »

I have one son and 3 daughters. I was one daughter in a house with 3 boys.

Guess what? We’re different. We really are.

You may want to shout ‘equality’ and ‘we’re the same’ and you may even want to put a woman in our highest public office.  But I maintain…that while we are all stupendous, valuable and wonderful…we are different. Men and women are designed by our Creator quite differently (THANK GOODNESS) and you really can see it beginning from when we’re little.

This week I was at a marketing conference and there were about 8 women and 192 men. While I personally LOVE those ratios as far as standing out in the crowd…it caused me to wonder again why the big gap?

All of the sudden, I had an image in my mind of my older brother Kevin and I on the roof of the house at about ages 6 and 8. I am saying, ‘How do we get down? Look how high we are!’ and Kevin is saying, ‘The fastest way is to jump! We can do it!’

Now…think of your daughters and sons. Think of you and your husband. Think of men vs women in this instance.  You know what happens in MOST cases.

Carrie or little girl: I don’t think we should. This is dangerous. We might get hurt. We’re going to get in trouble. We might smash the flowers.

Kevin or little boy: It’s the fastest way. We can do it. It’s not that far. There’s a soft patch of grass. C’mon – let’s go. AND HE JUMPS!

The little girl waits until her dad brings a ladder or she finds a carport, low spot, ledges or some safe way to climb down.

The little girl is safe. She isn’t in trouble. And she is relieved that she didn’t have to jump.

The little boy has broken his arm. He got yelled at by his parents. And all the while, he is saying to himself, “you KNOW, if I had faced the other direction when I jumped…it would’ve worked better. As soon as my arm is healed, I’m going to try AGAIN!”

Now – you might be laughing…but this is more true than you might be willing to admit.

Let’s translate it to business.  As women, we study. We learn. We want something more. We prepare and prepare and we are a little hesitant to really venture out and PLAY BIG because: 1) we might fail 2) we might hurt ourselves 3) someone might not approve.

Men are playing BIG, failing BIG, getting hurt, bankrupt or embarrassed and then getting up and TRYING AGAIN!

What I want for you is this:  JUST JUMP – play big…take the steps (or the leaps) and let’s FAIL FAST so we can adjust what works, what doesn’t work and what we can do to make this work better for YOU!

Men aren’t better than us. They’re not stupid either, contrary to what we might think when they jump off the roof. They’re just not afraid to test things until they figure out the best way.

Who is with me??  Ready, Set….JUMP!

Tags: Marketing by Carrie Wilkerson
29 Comments »