I have currently been reading a book called, “Making Work at Home Work” by Mary M. Byers. Last week I wrote about Part 1-Saving Your Sanity. This week I will be discussing Part 2-Preserving Your Profit.
There is a ton of information within Part 2. This particular section focuses on accepting the “At-Home CEO” title, taxes, equipment, subcontracting, boosting revenue and all things planning-yearly, reinvesting and retirement planning. Since there are so many important sections within this second part, I am only going to focus on a few of them. I encourage all of you to pick up a copy of this book for yourselves so that you can do a more in depth analysis of your business.
In Chapter 13-Accepting the At-Home CEO Mantle, Mary explores what it takes to be a CEO and where you are mentally. She shares an experience of her own about being paralyzed with fear about having to make some heavy duty decisions about her business. Couple that with feelings of inadequacy about her skills as a professional running a successful enterprise and the stress of not being the mom she wanted to be and you’ve got the makings for a disaster! What saved her? A bit of advice she had heard: “Ace like the person you want to be.” It’s pretty simple advice, right? It’s so simple in fact that most either forget about it or figure there has to be more to it than that. What we come to find out is that it’s the simple advice that seems to be the most helpful and direct, but the hardest to hear and follow. She goes on to suggest creating a list of characteristics you feel a successful at-home entrepreneur should possess, then start “acting” like those characteristics. Basically, how you think about yourself will inevitably determine your level of success. There is additional advice throughout this chapter to help create a successful business.
With regards to your taxes, Mary offers quite a bit of suggestions. I have listed some of the biggies below, however, for a more in-depth description; you’ll need to read her book.
- Do not mix your business and personal finances. (the most important suggestion)
- Know what’s deductible.
- If in doubt, ask.
- Realize that small deductions add up.
- Keep your receipts.
The last chapter in the book, Chapter 22-Giving Yourself Permission to Make Your Business a Reflection of You, was great! Learning that it’s okay to give yourself permission to live life, to be a mother, to be work-at-home CEO, etc was empowering. To be able to embrace those permissions while learning to be flexible and knowing that things will invariably change with or without warning can be a challenge. But then again, we all knew that when we made the conscious decision to work from home, right? Riding the waves of success is never an easy thing and allowing ourselves permission to change the rules as we see fit (becoming more of a flexible individual) for not only our business lives, but our personal lives as well will, enable us all to achieve the goals and dreams we set out to achieve.
I would love to hear what all of you think of this book….so grab a copy and send me a comment. Happy reading!
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