It's hard to believe that the month of January is quickly drawing to a close and before you know it, the tax filing deadline will soon be upon us. For many individuals and small businesses, the mere thought of taxes and the organization effort involved in preparing for meetings with bookkeeping and accounting professionals can be very overwhelming. Especially during this time of year, our individual and small business clients rely upon us to help them organize their paper and electronic records in time for the tax filing season.
For those who plan to go it alone this tax filing season, we'd like to provide some helpful suggestions to take some of the stress and drudgery out of the document organization aspect of the process. After all, the outcome of your tax filing to a large degree depends upon how well-organized you are. Instead of dreading the whole process related to taxes, we suggest that you ease into it by injecting a bit of flair into getting your documents organized. I know...flair and fun are words rarely seen associated with tax season!
One of our favorite resources is Sorting with Style, a really fun site founded by serial entrepreneur, Sayeh Pezeshki. Here you can find so many fun tools for dressing up and enhancing your workspace by bringing out more of your personality through your choice of everyday items and office supplies.
For example, instead of using plain old boring manila folders for organizing your W-2's &1099's try some of these super cute file folders - a set of six folders for $9.95 adds a lot of visual punch:
Keeping all of your receipts categorized and stored in one place is easier with this very stylish file tote-use the interior pockets to separate receipts into broad categories such as home improvement expenses, medical expenses, automobile expenses, tuition expenses, etc. - retail price $21.95:
If you're a few months behind on your credit card and bank statement reconciliation and you happen to notice a charge that you don't immediately recognize, flag it with a notation, research it and come back to it later with these adorable sticky notes - 4 pads with 25 sheets each for $9.95:
These paper clips not only serve a practical purpose, but they can also be an expression of your love for your pooch - a pack of 24 clips for $7.95:
Tax time can be and often is an incredibly stressful experience. Although you may not be able to control every single aspect of the outcome to the degree you would like, it's important to realize that you are in full control of your attitude and outlook in terms of how you prepare for it. By using some of the suggested tools in this post and others like them, you are at least guaranteed to have a bit more fun and hopefully as a result, you will find yourself feeling less stressed.
This week I participated in a local area holiday trade show where I exhibited a table for my bookkeeping business, Empowered Bookkeeping. The event was held on the campus of a local school, designed mainly to attract the busy moms with children enrolled in the pre-school as well as a daycare program.
Amongst the various offerings and holiday goodies available at my table, I had prepared a handout for those ladies who stopped to chat, providing them with a list of the top 5 personal finance tips that I believe every busy woman ought to know. I pulled the list from a great website which I found to be a great resource for women in search of helpful information in the realm of personal finance. Feel free to check it out for yourself. The top 5 list is included for your convenience below:
1. Know that Credit Scores Affect More Than Interest Rates.If your score is less than 620, not only will you pay significantly more money for mortgages and other types of loans, but also more for your insurances. Your car, life and auto policy premiums will all reflect your credit. An adverse score may also keep you from leasing an apartment, or getting your dream job.
2. Don’t Skimp on Healthcare.Of all the ways to save money on monthly expenses, cutting your healthcare is the worst idea. Saving a few hundred dollars a year is hardly worth having to pay $50,000 in medical bills a few years down the road.
3.There’s a Big Difference between Saving and Investing.While saving money is something that should be done regardless (rainy day savings, retirement, etc.), investing should be done when you are relatively debt-free, especially when it comes to credit card debt. The average 18% annual interest paid by you on credit card balances will be hardly made up for in any investment opportunity.
4. Buy Life Insurance with the Hopes of Never Using itLife insurance should be purchased to help care for your dependants in the unfortunate event of your untimely passing- and that’s all. This way, mortgage payments, grocery expenditures and college fund contributions can continue without interruption.
5. Always Try to Pay More than the Minimum Mortgage Payment.By paying one additional principle and interest payment (mortgage payment minus any escrow payments) onto your mortgage balance each year, you will knock 7 years off the life of your note. It all adds up- to a lot!
On a recent sunny Los Angeles afternoon, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tricia Paul, owner and creator of The Tote All Bag, an ingenious and fun product that enables the user to stylishly transport daily essentials from purse to gym bag to backpack, etc. A busy wife, mom, and entrepreneur, Tricia talks about how she became inspired to launch her business and how she took the next step which was to translate her vision into reality. For any budding entrepreneur, I think her story is an interesting and inspirational one. In particular, her story may serve as that much-needed inspiration to women who may have similar aspirations and who just need a little push of encouragement. For your convenience, I've included a company snapshot below followed by the actual interview. Enjoy!
Business has been in operation for approximately 1.5 yrs
Product description: Purse organizer/Bag organizer made of funky, fun, hip fabrics; helps to keep daily essentials organized from bag to bag.
Price point range: $10 to $40
Customer Profile: Busy people – any busy person who carries essential items: students, moms, women, children. Target customer consists of every age group from teens all the way to adults
As far as the inspiration is concerned, a few years ago while watching “The Big Idea” hosted by Donny Deutsch, I was struck by something he said which stuck with me. He said that ifyou produce something that makes your life a little easier there is a very good chance it will help someone else too. I was struck by the concept of just trying out an idea – to do it for myself and hope that others like it. I kept this in mind and from the earliest product prototypes to the present styles, I try to make the items as pretty and as useful as possible.
Q: Do you have prior entrepreneurial experience? What motivated/inspired you to believe inyour ability to launch this product/business idea?
Q: As a busy mom, wife and entrepreneur, what advice do you have for other busy women with similar responsibilities/roles who also wish to start a business but who need some encouragement in helping them get over the (decision) hump? How do you go from coming up with the initial product idea/thought to deciding you’re finally going to go for it?
TP: The most important thing is to just believe in yourself and your abilities, to commit to your idea, and just go for it. For me it was staying up late at night researching manufacturing ideas, finding the right methods and people, taking my kids fabric shopping with me, using every opportunity to think about and further my idea. My advice for others is to go ahead and take the leap – believe in your product and try to make it simpleand cost efficientto produce.
Q: Describe your business financing – is it self-funded or did you have outside financing?
TP: The best part of the experience for me has been getting to see people using and enjoying the products or selecting my products for gift-giving. I’m also constantly inspired by my customers as they often come to me with questions or ideas which lead to newproduct ideas so there’s a constant creative loop between me and my customer base. I enjoy seeing the versatility of the products as they are used and I also enjoy the creative side of the business.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
TP: My biggest challenge has been finding dedicated “ME” time to spend on thinking about the business in terms of strategy and planning in the midst of everything else going on in my schedule. I’m trying to take a disciplined approach of using the time that the kids are in school to focus on addressing the other sides of the business that are just as important but are the things that I can’t always make the time to work on.
Q: As a mother of boys as well as a girl, what are the lessons/messages that you hope your children will learn from observing their mom in her role as an entrepreneur/business owner?
TP: I try to teach all of my kids to believe in themselves, to have a good work ethic in life and to be confident in themselves as well as in their ideas. It’s important for them to realize that you have to work for what you have and to be passionate about something – it’s not so important what it is but I want them to be passionate and excited.
Q: It takes a certain level of self-confidence and courage to start a business. Who are the members of your inner circle/support system network who provide you with encouragement when things are good, as well as in those challenging moments when you need some extra support/motivation? How has your role as an entrepreneur changed your own perception of yourself? Has it enhanced your own self-confidence?
TP: My husband is there to encourage me when things are going well and he’s also there to support me in those moments when I have some self-doubt. My parents also give me constant encouragement. They reassure me that they won’t be disappointed if one day I decided to walk away from the business or if the business didn’t do well. For me personally, the role of business owner has given me a little bit of myself that I may have felt that I had lost after becoming a wife and a mom. It’s added to my self-confidence because the business is 100% my own domain where I’m ultimately the one who makes all of the decisions. I’m enjoying being “the boss” and I also enjoy being able to focus on creating a product and building a business.
Q: The current economic climate poses challenges in particular for small business owners and entrepreneurs. What have been some unanticipated advantages and disadvantages of launching/promoting a business in the current climate?
TP: Right now there are lots of special deals on supplies and fabrics. Vendors and suppliers are willing to make deals in order to get the business. On the customer side, even though people don’t want to indulge on extravagances, they still want something a little bit special. The price point of my products allows people to still afford the little luxuries which aren’t expensive so it’s not considered a hardship for my customers to buy my products. As far as disadvantages, I’ve noticed that there are a lot fewer people out shopping –there’s less foot traffic in terms of shoppers. Then again the people who do come out actually seem to bebuyingfor the most part. There’s generally a lot less traffic in boutiques, etc.
Q: How have your friends been inspired by your role as a business owner? What are your observations and/or what are some of the reactions that they’ve shared with you?
TP: In general everyone has been very supportive and positive. I’ve got a network of close female friends and each of us has our own business so we’re constantly on the lookout for good deals that can come in handy for each other. This network of fellow women entrepreneurs has also grown into a great support system.
Q: Name one or more women (past or present) who inspire you or who, in your opinion, represent the empowerment of women and a brief description about the reason behind your selection(s).
TP: I’d have to say Oprah is definitely one of my inspirations because she is a completely self-made woman…she educated herself and built a huge empire through hard work and dedication. Katie Couric, too, because even though she lost her husband,she’s been able to go on to reach new heights, changing to a more high profile job, all in front of the public eye. She’s also a mom who puts family first while balancing the demands of a powerful position/career.
Q: How do you define the empowerment of women and why is it important for women in our society (including young women) to feel empowered?
TP: It’s important to be passionate about something or else you’ll lose yourself. Believe in yourself, believe that you’re equal, find something that you love, focus on it and especially in those difficult life moments, dig deep and go to that place.
TP: In the next year I’d love to expand and develop new product lines such as key chains. Ultimately I’d love to get my product into stores, especially L.A. area boutiques. I’m also planning on expanding my website capability so that I can do more commerce through the site. In general I plan on promoting my business a lot more.
I'm extremely excited to announce the addition of a new feature of the Empowered Bookkeeping blog, "Empowered Women in the Spotlight", which officially kicks off today.
The purpose of this feature is to give everyday women a moment to shine and to be recognized for their efforts and achievements which uniquely define empowerment. Whether they are wives, moms, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, small business owners, C-level officers, venture capitalists, professionals, artists, etc., or a combination of any of these roles, each woman has a story that makes her both exceptionally interesting and relevant. We'll bring these stories to you regularly via sit-down interviews with each extraordinary lady and we have assembled quite an amazing line-up of interviewees so please check back often!
Empowered Bookkeeping (the business) was founded upon a vision to help uplift and empower women financially as well as to promote the notion of the community of women supporting one another. By launching this blog feature, we have a very exciting and profound opportunity to highlight the achievements of women, not only to the public at large, but especially amongst other women, and in particular the young generation of women. Our goal is to inspire, encourage, promote and support women, no matter if they are our clients, our interviewees, or our readers, so as to be a force of change and help women recognize that there are no limitations as far as what they can achieve - with the right amount of encouragement and support, literally anything is possible.
We hope you enjoy this feature and of course, a big "Thank You" to our generous interviewees for setting aside time in their busy lives to enable us to bring you each story of empowerment.
I recently asked a diverse group of 65 women to participate in a survey conducted by my business, Empowered Bookkeeping LLC, which was designed to understand the attitudes, desires and behaviors of women with respect to the topic of financial literacy.
I'm excited to share the results of the survey with you in the hopes that the data will prove useful to you regardless of whether you are an individual woman or a woman business owner, etc.
As a thank-you to the survey participants, my business, Empowered Bookkeeping LLC, will be making a donation to a carefully selected charitable organization, Women Thrive Worldwide, in recognition of the important work that they are doing to help to shape US policies to enable women worldwide to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. The donation is being made as we commemorate 161 years since the first women's rights convention was held in the United States in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19-20 1848.
I hope that you will find the survey results interesting and if you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to contact me directly via email: empoweredbookkeeping@gmail.com
(Staple Remover, Sortingwithstyle.com)
