Are you DONE with tax filings or just getting started?  I hope you are planning to file a Schedule C, I hear a lot of small businessowners do not and it’s a shame to pay MORE than you need to on taxes.  Since this just might be on your *to-do* list, I wanted to share some tips my accountant has given me:

The first step in reducing taxes is to know what is deductible.  A simple definition of a deductible expense is an “ordinary and necessary expense you incur while furthering your business for profit”.   If that seems vague, keep in mind that Congress intended the tax code to be general, because all deductions are unique to the particular facts and circumstances of a particular person and/or situation.  My tax guy has defined ordinary as “one that is common and accepted in your field of business” and necessary is “one that is helpful and appropriate for your business”. However, an expense does not have to be indispensable to be considered necessary. 

In our network marketing business it is not unusual to have an expense that is used partly for business and partly for personal purposes.  You can divide these expenses and deduct the part that is for business.  (Example:  I wrote off a trip to Mexico and even though I stayed with friends, the purpose of the trip was business so I wrote ALL my expenses off…airfare, rental car, food…but not the lodging since I stayed with friends.  In the audit for that year, the auditor let it go after I explained it).

Limits on Losses:  If you DO NOT carry on your business activity with the intention of making a profit, you CANNOT use it to offset other income.  If you deem this to be a hobby, or for sport or recreation, then you are eligible to only deduct the expenses of the hobby up to the income the hobby generated.  Some people DO choose to work network marketing as a hobby…so this applies to them! Read the rest of this entry »

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I used to think that leaders distinguished themselves by rising above their people. It’s the “cream of the crop” theory. That was a mistake. I’ve learned that MLM leaders distinguish themselves by rising with their people, and there’s a world of difference between those two.

Leaders take people with them on the journey. You don’t go by yourself. If you’re going by yourself, you are not a leader. You might be a very self-made, successful person, but you’re not a leader. You’ve got to decide whether you’re going to be a tour guide or a travel agent.

Travel agents give you brochures and tell you all about the trip, but they’ve never even been there. They get the tickets for you, give you a planner and send you off somewhere. You don’t want to be a travel agent; you don’t want to be sending people where you’ve never been, you want to be a tour guide. You want to bring your people along with you and say, “Let me show you something. I’m going to take you places where I’ve been and lived, and tell you all about them as we go. I’m going to let you in on the journey.” Read the rest of this entry »

As a professional networker, I value my time more than anything else.  If there is one thing that burns me more it is people who say “yes” to the business and then don’t treat it like one.

MLM aka Network Marketing IS a Business and it requires the same dedication as if you were spending millions of dollars to start any other kind of business.  Of course, in network marketing you can get started for under $100. and so it seems some people don’t take it seriously.  That’s sad, because it is one of the greatest wealth opportunities available to anyone that could literally make you an MLM - Network Marketing fortune, like it has for me. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a topic that will be debated for a LONG time and with 60 years of history for the belly-to-belly crowd, some may never convert.  I AM a total and complete convert to the internet after experiencing the power and savings that the Virtual aspect provides.  Today (and for years) I generate a totally online MLM income.

I am a big believer that our Industry is all about bringing people together and that means creating community.

All communities need gathering places.  Think of the corner pub, the office lunchroom, the neighborhood bookstore, the local hobby shop, the village church, that hip downtown music club, or the Hotel ballroom – all places where people can gather in groups.

Virtually, a gathering place can be a mailing list, a discussion topic, a chat room, a multi-player game, a forum or bulletin board, a website, or some combination of these.  In fact Social Marketing (via MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze and dozens of others) are the newest craze getting more hits than Google! Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t let that subject line scare you, I’m going to explain in a minute.

There’s a world of difference between wanting something and absolutely having to have something.  Have you ever noticed that people always seem to earn just enough money to cover their expenses?  Whatever they GOT To Earn, they will earn.  Why don’t most people earn more than just enough to cover their expenses? Because they don’t have to!

If you want to do better in life, you have to make living a certain lifestyle and achieving a certain level of financial independence a personal GOT TO.  Right now, you probably want many things.  But wanting isn’t going to do it.  You’ve probably wanted them a long time…which is why you haven’t got them.  And you won’t get them until you convert your wants into “magnificent obsessions”.  Until you are filled with a Fervent Desire and a Burning Need to have more, you are always going to have about what you’ve currently got.  To have More, you not only have to BEcome more; you also have to require more. Read the rest of this entry »