The hectic time of holidays is almost here and will quickly be gone.
Are you ready to gear up for a new year of business?
Are you ready to file your taxes from this year?
In the aftermath of the holidays, it's probably a good idea to get all your receipts in order and make sure your spreadsheet of income/expenses is up to date (you do keep track, right?) Even if your business is coming out in the red after all the deductions, it's good for your own peace of mind to know exactly where you are. You can't get anywhere if you don't know where you are starting from! If you didn't keep careful track of your income, expenses and kilometers this year, start January 1st for next year. It's a good habit to get into and it's not hard to do. A simple spreadsheet with the headings: "date," "description," "income," "expense," "kilometers." Works well for me. At the end of the year I sum the income, expense and kilometers. Be sure to subtract the expenses from the income to see how much money you REALLY made and on your taxes you can deduct kilometers as well as a portion of your house expenses because you have a home business. If you lease your car, I think you can deduct some of that too, but I'm not an accountant, so check with the person that does your taxes to see what things you can give them to deduct in there. If you do your own taxes and know of a resource for looking up things like that, please post a link in the comments below for others who might find it useful. Lucky for me, my dad is an accountant and he does my taxes for me.
Make 2012 your best business year yet!!
Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown :oD
Thursday 22 December 2011
Monday 12 December 2011
Resolutions and Goal Setting
Yes, it's coming to that time of year!! Take a look at your books from 2011 and see how you did. Are you happy with the year compared to previous years? We always want to do better, we all want to see improvement, but I hope that you are happy with how far you've come enough to be able to push yourself to do more and not bring yourself down with the grumpy gusses.
Setting goals for the upcoming year is often a daunting task. You don't want to set your goals so high that they are unattainable, but you also don't want to set them so low that you don't feel like you really accomplished much by reaching them. There are often one or two on my list that go onto the list the next year or two as well... There are sometimes one or two that have been there for a couple of years already and need to be removed so that I can move on to other things (juggling was one of those for me).
I thought I'd take this post to talk about setting those goals so that they can be meaningful and helpful. I'm no expert (as usual), but I hope that some people find my thoughts helpful in setting their own goals.
1. Write them down - put them in a place where you can look at them, often. Studies have shown (ok so I don't have exact references to the studies, but trust me they are out there) that having your goals visually in front of you every day makes it far more likely that you will accomplish them. Keep them at the front of your mind and push for them.
2. Be Specific - REALLY specific. Not, "make more money." Look at your income for the last few years, is there a trend in the amount that you are increasing each year? So take the next number you would expect and bump it up (just a little) for your goal. Make it a little harder than coasting along, but not so far out there that it is a ridiculous expectation. Then, be even MORE specific... HOW are you going to make more money? Are you adding to your offered services? Advertising more? Raising prices? Cutting back expenses?
3. WORK on your goals - ok, is that too obvious? Then why does everyone sit back with their business and wonder why it's not going anywhere? A really important quote that everyone should keep in mind with their goals, "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." ~ W. L. Bateman
4. Share your goals - well, some of them at least. If there's something that you want to be held accountable for working on, then tell someone about it. Once you've said to someone, "hey, I'm going to learn to ride a unicycle!" ... the next time they see you, they're bound to ask how it's going! And won't you be happier to say that you've come a long way with it rather than embarrassed to say that you haven't gotten on it since you fell three months ago? You don't have to tell your customers your annual income and income goals for next year (unless you have investors and such), but let a few friends know what you're working on so that they can encourage you to get it done too!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Make 2012 your best year yet :oD
Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown
Setting goals for the upcoming year is often a daunting task. You don't want to set your goals so high that they are unattainable, but you also don't want to set them so low that you don't feel like you really accomplished much by reaching them. There are often one or two on my list that go onto the list the next year or two as well... There are sometimes one or two that have been there for a couple of years already and need to be removed so that I can move on to other things (juggling was one of those for me).
I thought I'd take this post to talk about setting those goals so that they can be meaningful and helpful. I'm no expert (as usual), but I hope that some people find my thoughts helpful in setting their own goals.
1. Write them down - put them in a place where you can look at them, often. Studies have shown (ok so I don't have exact references to the studies, but trust me they are out there) that having your goals visually in front of you every day makes it far more likely that you will accomplish them. Keep them at the front of your mind and push for them.
2. Be Specific - REALLY specific. Not, "make more money." Look at your income for the last few years, is there a trend in the amount that you are increasing each year? So take the next number you would expect and bump it up (just a little) for your goal. Make it a little harder than coasting along, but not so far out there that it is a ridiculous expectation. Then, be even MORE specific... HOW are you going to make more money? Are you adding to your offered services? Advertising more? Raising prices? Cutting back expenses?
3. WORK on your goals - ok, is that too obvious? Then why does everyone sit back with their business and wonder why it's not going anywhere? A really important quote that everyone should keep in mind with their goals, "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." ~ W. L. Bateman
4. Share your goals - well, some of them at least. If there's something that you want to be held accountable for working on, then tell someone about it. Once you've said to someone, "hey, I'm going to learn to ride a unicycle!" ... the next time they see you, they're bound to ask how it's going! And won't you be happier to say that you've come a long way with it rather than embarrassed to say that you haven't gotten on it since you fell three months ago? You don't have to tell your customers your annual income and income goals for next year (unless you have investors and such), but let a few friends know what you're working on so that they can encourage you to get it done too!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Make 2012 your best year yet :oD
Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown
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