FORBES ARTICLES

Here are the articles that I have written for Forbes.

 

Five Steps Business Owners Can Take To Stop Living Paycheck To Paycheck

I’m not going to give you a secret formula for your business that will make savings happen overnight. No one can do that, no matter how much you pay them. Let’s face it — we’ve all been in that situation where you pay a consultant to make your problem disappear only to find that you would have been better off just going on vacation with that money.

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A Commonly Missed Tax-Saving Move For Self-Employed Workers

Jane starts a wedding photography business. She already has bookings on most weekends for the rest of the year to keep her busy and hopefully fill up her bank accounts. Jane diligently sets aside 15% of her income. She used an online income tax calculator to determine that will be her effective tax rate. The rest of the income she uses to pay her personal bills and enjoy a well-earned vacation. Fast forward to February when Jane sits down with her tax preparer…

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Five Questions To Ask Yourself Before Any Business Purchase

Each time you need to make a business purchase, you should follow a predetermined process to remove the emotion and guesswork from the decision. Creating this process may take time and thoughtful consideration of many variables, but here are a few simple questions to help you develop a solid foundation for making business purchase decisions moving forward.

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Five Simple Steps to Evaluate Business Investments

Financing and monthly payments are a useful way for small businesses to expand beyond their current means. In itself, this is a great thing. Getting a mortgage to buy a small office, for example, also ends up being an effective way to save and build assets.

But it’s a slippery slope, with many businesses unable to properly…

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Eight Ways To Simplify And Optimize Your Accounting System

Small businesses can’t model a big-business accounting system. It’s not effective, and it wastes time and money. What you, as a small-business owner, must do is simplify and optimize your accounting system and focus on actionable metrics. Here are eight ways to do so…

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What is Basis and When is it Relevant?

There are many calculations that involve basis. While there are many accounting and tax implications, this article will focus on specific scenarios in tax preparation where basis is considered. Most small-business owners can and usually do go years before encountering a situation where basis matters.

 

 

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Managing Lifestyle Creep As A Small-Business Owner

After a productive tax season, I’ve found myself analyzing my lifestyle spending more than I have in a few years. I’m very aware of how lifestyle creep, also known as lifestyle inflation, can sneak up on you. However, it seems that just being aware does not help to mitigate the problem; after all, you work hard to have a better life and want to enjoy it. Thus, as I make plans for the future, I find myself analyzing my budgets and with it, lifestyle creep.

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Five Questions To Ask Yourself Before Any Business Purchase

Each time you need to make a business purchase, you should follow a predetermined process to remove the emotion and guesswork from the decision. Creating this process may take time and thoughtful consideration of many variables, but here are a few simple questions to help you develop a solid foundation for making business purchase decisions moving forward.

read more

Supercharge Your Small-Business Retirement Account

Small-business owners generally start out investing the majority of their money back into their own business. This makes sense since you want to grow the business and benefit from the growth in the future. As the business grows, there has to be a shift to more diversification and retirement planning. With a variety of available accounts, each with their own tax rules, it can be hard to determine the most tax-advantaged way to save for retirement.

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Pricing Strategy Ideas For Your Small Service Business

For small businesses providing personal services, the owner’s pay is a large part of the business expenses, but not the entirety. There are many metrics and strategies small-business owners can utilize to determine pricing for services. Here are a few ideas to help you develop a strategy that works for your business.

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Tips For Changing Your Business Trajectory And Designing The Life You Want

You often read about business owners giving themselves a hard goal for large change, then executing and living happily ever after. I can’t say this is my happily ever after, but I’m getting close and hope that sharing my story can provide some insight into how to do it.

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Four Ways To Better Manage Your Small-Business Cash Flow

Most people don’t question the timing of monthly or yearly bills, but business owners should. When running a small business, you typically manage a much larger portion of money than a regular household. Therefore, to succeed, you should enhance your cash management strategies.

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Quick Accounting Tips For Rental Property Owners

For many people, acquiring a rental property is the first major investment they make that they also must actively manage. Many property owners don’t move past a couple of properties, while others soon expand to dozens. Each person has their own goal, and rental property management or investing is not for everyone.

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Tips For Making Your AI-Based Small-Business Accounting System Work For You

Rick has been managing his small-business accounting using a spreadsheet for the past eight years. He has a fair amount of number crunching to do, but it still seems faster than trying to enter all the data into an accounting system.

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Tips For Optimizing Your Accounting Software

Accounting software is designed to be used by accountants. In a small business, the accountant role typically falls upon the owner, who generally isn’t an accountant. While I recommend a professional accountant or bookkeeper, even when one is used, there are a few quick ways for business owners to check the validity of the work done and ensure their books stay up to date.

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