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Owning Your Success Newsletter
Greetings!
You may have received this newsletter in the past. If you have signed on with the OS Program or ATBS then you are receiving this newsletter as a benefit of the program. It will come on a bi-monthly basis to your inbox. If you are on the program without an email we will mail you the newsletter but suggest email as the preferred method of delivery. I hope you find the tips helpful in helping you maintain a successful transport business, remember your success is our success!
All the best for the Holiday Season!
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What Will you Do Differently Next Year?
As we come to a close on 2011 it is a good time to reflect on how the year went, was it as profitable as you had hoped or worse than you expected? I am not sure about you but my mind always shifts this time of year to what can I do differently for next year, where can I improve and so on. By the end of December I am in total goal mode but that is due to my year end being at the end of October so November brings on all kinds of financial reports and goal setting activities. If you are a business owner it is imperative that you go through this on an annual, semi annual, or quarterly basis. Some times I think I goal set on a monthly basis. As you move closer to the end of the month you will start hearing about the New Year resolutions, eat less, lose weight, exercise more, but do you ever hear anyone talk about their financial stability, there business goals or other ground braking efforts? Are you the type of person to put all of your goals down on paper, create giant flow charts, work on solutions, tell everyone your big plans of attack and then fizzle out by the end of January because life got in the way? You need to be somewhere in the middle, you need to have some breathing room so that when life does happen you have a way of handling without throwing out your goals. Proper planning is key, applying action over words is key, staying locked into your plan is key. To keep on track make sure you have proper goals set up using numbers, or something trackable that you can measure your success down the road. Many people say well I want to be richer than I was this year, but what does that mean? Do you want more money, do you want a better family life, what do you want? If your goal is I want to earn $4000 dollars more than I did last year now you have a specific goal, so how will you gain that amount, through increasing income or decreasing expenses? Remember if you don't change the way you do things now you won't reach those goals for the future.
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It's the Little Things that Make You Grow
The key to successful business ownership are the little things. We have talked in earlier posts about setting up your company properly, and making sure you have set up your budget properly, but where you will lose the most money are the little things. For instance every time you buy that coffee on the road do you get a receipt? When your wife goes to the post office for you does she mark down her mileage? If you pay kids money to help with the yard work are you able to deduct it, did you give him a receipt? If you have a home office that work may apply to your tax deductions. What about parking costs when your spouse goes downtown to register or file something with a company and parks at a meter?
These items are the type of thing that we buy everyday for a dollar here and a dollar there, but many times forget to ask for a receipt. Sometimes you can feel foolish to ask for a receipt for a dollar. But think of how much money you may be losing? Let's say the average owner operator drinks two to three cups of coffee a day, every day at a dollar a piece which is on the cheap side. That's almost $1000.00 a year spent just in coffee! Now do that at actual prices and you can see the numbers fly. Now add in all of the other items you forgot such as stamps, parking, and so on. At the end you will see you spent the equivalent of a truck payment and didn't claim it.
So how do you solve this problem? Keep a receipt book in the car, the truck, etc for those types of items so that when you purchase them you can write them in the receipt book. At the end of the week rip out the receipt and file it with your taxes. Mark on the receipt that these are purchases where no receipt was available. This will help you track your expenses, give you the tax deductions, and help you run your business more efficiently. Don't let those small items get away. Make sure you check with your accountant to see the best way to capture those receipts.
By Bruce Outridge |
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Happy Holidays
Trucking is a hard job and being a business owner is even harder. Even though we want you to work hard to be successful time with your family and friends is just as important. Make sure you take time over the holidays to recharge and focus on the important parts of life. From our family to yours we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May your holiday season be a safe and happy one.
All the best for the new year. Bruce |
Referral Program
Did you know you can earn rewards just for recommending somone to the program. Here is how it works: Recommend someone to any level of the OS Program and when they sign up I will send you a $25 gift card. Make sure yuo tell them to use say your name when signing up so you can get the reward. To receive the reward they must sign on with Outridge Consulting Services |
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Copyright InformationAll articles in this newsletter are copyright of Outridge Enterprises Inc the parent company for Outridge Consulting Services.Please respect article copyright laws.
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