October 2021 Income At-A-Glance
Gross Income for October: $249,212
Total Expenses for October: $18,693
Total Net Profit for October: $230,519
Difference b/t October & September: -$34,444
% of net profit to overall gross revenue: 92%
Why We Publish An Income Report
This monthly income report is created for you, Fire Nation!
By documenting the struggles we encounter and the successes we celebrate as entrepreneurs every single month, we’re able to provide you with support – and a single resource – where we share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s possible.
There’s a lot of hard work that goes into learning and growing as an entrepreneur, especially when you’re just starting out. The most important part of the equation is that you’re able to pass on what you learn to others through teaching, which is what we aim to do here.
Let’s IGNITE!
**We’ll receive a commission on the affiliate links below. If you click on my affiliate link and sign up for the products and services I trust and recommend, then I will earn a commission.
Josh Bauerle’s Monthly Tax Tip
What’s up Fire Nation, my name is Josh Bauerle. I’m a CPA and the Founder of CPA On Fire, where we specialize in working with entrepreneurs to minimize their tax liability while keeping them in line with the ever-changing tax laws.
I’ve been working with JLD & Kate at Entrepreneurs On Fire for years now, and they’ve included me in these monthly income reports with unlimited access to all their accounts so I can verify that what they report here is complete and accurate.
And because they believe in delivering an insane amount of value to you, my job doesn’t stop at the verification level; I also provide a new tax and accounting tip every month!
Josh’s October Tax Tip: Considerations when hiring a new tax or accounting professional
Somehow, Fire Nation, we are nearing the end of yet another year!
I know year end brings about a lot of busy activity in many areas of your life, and one part that’s often overlooked is taxes.
Not only is year end the last opportunity for tax planning, it’s also the perfect opportunity to review who does your taxes – and if you should make a change.
Many of the best tax professionals won’t even be taking on new clients by the time you go to actually do your taxes, so the time to find a competent one is now!
So if you are going to look for new tax and accounting services, the next logical question becomes: what exactly should you be looking for?
Considerations when hiring a new tax or accounting professional
1. What designations do they have?
The sad truth is that tax and accounting is an incredibly unregulated profession. With no education, no experience, and no qualifications whatsoever you can start charging people to prepare their tax returns.
This is why I would only hire a tax professional who is either a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) or an EA (Enrolled Agent).
Having these designations doesn’t guarantee they are competent and ethical, but it at least guarantees they have a minimum amount of education and/or experience and no ethical problems on record.
I’m not saying a tax professional without a designation is bad, it’s just much more difficult to know what you are getting.
2. What experience do they have?
We all need to start somewhere, so this isn’t to try to prevent newer tax professionals from getting work!
But you want to make sure that either the person preparing your return, or at least the person reviewing their work, has a significant amount of tax experience.
How much experience is enough?
Everyone is different, but I would look for a very minimum of five years of true tax experience – and the more the better.
3. What industry do they specialize in?
As a business owner you want to find a tax preparer that specifically works with small businesses.
A small business return is substantially different from an individual return or a large corporate return.
I would also look for a preparer who specializes in your industry. For the most part, taxes are the same from industry to industry, but knowing your specific business will allow them to speak your language and better understand the tax savings opportunities available to you.
4. Do they make vague promises about saving you tax money?
Your tax professional should be looking to help in several ways, and saving you money on taxes is just one small part of it.
If a professional is making a bunch of promises about how much money they can save you without any specific examples they can put into terms you understand, I would run.
If they are promising to save you money on taxes they should be telling you very clearly how they will do it, and it shouldn’t be the only selling point they have!
5. What is their fee structure?
As with any service, you tend to get what you pay for with tax prep, so don’t go cheap!
But this doesn’t necessarily mean that a more expensive service will equal better quality.
I would look at how they are charging and not just how much they charge.
Do they charge hourly? Flat fee? Or do they offer all inclusive packages that include other services?
One isn’t necessarily better than the other, but know how they are charging for each of their services – not just how much.
And never hire a tax pro who tells you they will base their fee on how big your refund is!
All five of these tips should help you find the right tax professional for you. But by far, my best tip is to simply get recommendations from other successful entrepreneurs you like and trust.
If you run into the same person or company being recommended consistently, you know it’s probably a good one!
As always, please feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss what would be best for YOUR business. I LOVE chatting with Fire Nation!
What Went Down In October
NFTs On Fire Launches!
Passion is an important ingredient in everything you do. In fact, I love the Kevin Kelly quote “Enthusiasm is worth 25 IQ points.”
It’s hard to have passion without enthusiasm.
Recently, I have been following my passions down the blockchain rabbit hole and have discovered the fascinating world of NFTs.
It is very early in this space and only time will tell the relevancy of current NFT projects, but I decided to use some of my spare time (I have a lot more than most people assume) to launch a side podcast project called NFT’s On FIRE.
I have published 4 episodes, and I’m not adhering to any kind of a timeline as this is merely for fun when the desire strikes, but thus far it has been a fun ride and I am continuing to learn a lot along the way.
I’d love for you to check this project out and let me know your thoughts at John@EOFire.com!
Enjoy!
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October 2021 Income Breakdown*
Product/Service Income: $237,262
TOTAL Journal sales: Total Journals Sold 187 – $6,553
The Freedom Journal: Accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days!
- Total: $1,419 (43 Freedom Journals sold + 1 Digital Pack)
The Mastery Journal: Master Productivity, Discipline and Focus in 100 days!
- Total: $1,975 (56 Mastery Journals sold + 1 Digital Pack)
The Podcast Journal: Idea to Launch in 50 Days!
- Total: $3,159 (86 Podcast Journals sold)
Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 Podcasting community in the world!
- Recurring: $10,147 (118 recurring)
- New members: $7,631 (23 new members)
- Total: $17,778
Real Revenue: Turn your BIG IDEA into Real Revenue
- Total: $300
Podcast Sponsorships: $212,537
Podcast Launch: Audiobook: $80 | eBook: $14
Free Courses that contribute to the above revenue:
Your Big Idea: Discover your big idea in under an hour!
Free Podcast Course: Create and launch your own podcast!
Funnel On Fire: Create a funnel that converts!
Affiliate Income: $11,586
*Affiliate links below – if you click on my affiliate link and sign up for the products and services I trust and recommend, then I will earn a commission.
Resources for Entrepreneurs: $9,811
- Audible: $27
- Bluehost: $0
- Click Funnels: $8,480
- CovertKit: $35
- Coaching referrals: $1,269 (email me for an introduction to a mentor for overall online business or a Podcast focused mentor!)
Courses for Entrepreneurs: $797
Resources for Podcasters: $403
- Podcasting Press: $77
- Splasheo: $50
- Libsyn: $225 (Use promo code FIRE for the rest of this month & next free!)
- Repurpose House: $45
- UDemy Podcasting Course: $6
Other Resources: $575
- Amazon Associates: $111
- Other: $464
Total Gross Income in October: $249,212
Business Expenses: $16,685
- Advertising: $23
- Affiliate Commissions (Paradise): $217
- Accounting: $374
- Cost of goods sold (Journals): $1,095
- Consulting: $265
- Design & Branding: $0
- Dues & Subscriptions: $402
- Education: $159
- Legal & Professional: $169
- Meals & Entertainment: $432
- Merchant / bank fees: $966
- Amazon fees: $2,471
- PayPal fees: $771
- Office expenses: $623
- Community Refunds: $97
- Promotional: $605
- Travel: $2,020
- Virtual Assistant Fees: $5,865
- Website Fees: $131
Recurring, Subscription-based Expenses: $2,008
- Adobe Creative Cloud: $100
- Boomerang: $50 (team package)
- Authorize.net: $36
- Google: $46
- Discord: $100 (annual fee)
- Bonjoro: $45
- Cell Phone: $187
- Google Suite: $34
- Internet: $40
- eVoice: $10
- Infusionsoft CRM: $241
- Insurance: $89
- Libsyn: $168
- Linktree: $6
- TaxJar: $19
- Taxes & Licenses: $523
- Zoom: $55
- Vimeo: $199 (annual fee)
- Xero: $60
Total Expenses in October: $18,693
Payroll to John & Kate: $15,900
In our May 2014 Income Report and our June 2016 Income Report, Josh focuses on how to pay yourself as an entrepreneur. Check them out!
Wondering what we do with all of our net revenue? We share all in our April 2017 Income Report :)
Total Net Profit for October 2021: $230,519
Biggest Lesson Learned
If it’s not broke, improve it!
You know the saying “if it’s not broke, then don’t fix it”.
More often than not I subscribe to that.
But just because something isn’t broken doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can improve it.
In other words, just because something has, or is, working well in your business doesn’t mean you should just “set it then forget it”.
There are a lot of things that happen on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis in our business that aren’t always “forward facing”. And a lot of times that’s coming up with ways to constantly improve what’s not broken, or in other words, that’s working really well for us.
Podcasters’ Paradise is certainly one of those things. Whether it’s updates to the training, creating new systems for the community, or trying out new programs like our Podcasting Assessment and our Accountability Partner Program, it’s just one way we’re constantly working to improve what we have to offer.
This month, a couple of things we’ve been focusing on improving – that aren’t broken but that we know are working really well for us – are our sponsorship system and our email newsletter.
For our sponsorship system, we’re finding ways to better communicate up front all expectations and the entire flow of a campaign so that the sponsor (or broker) knows how we work. Sometimes when things aren’t communicated clearly – or they’re received in a way you didn’t intend – that can cause a lot of extra work and frustration in a situation that doesn’t need any extra work or frustration.
And for our email newsletter, we love communicating with our audience. We currently send out 2 newsletters per week: one that shares what’s coming up that week on the podcast, and one that looks back on the week – kind of like a recap.
It’s a great way to share our episodes and promote our guests (and sponsors), but what about other resources we know can help Fire Nation?
So we’re currently brainstorming what a third email would look like. A very short, simple, value-added email that would share a great tip, resource, or tool that you can read in under 3 minutes. Stay tuned for that! And if you’re not subscribed to our email list yet, now is a great time to do so!
I bring up this lesson learned because I think it’s an important one to consider: sometimes it’s not always about launching or creating something new. As important – if not even more once you’ve found something that works – is to continuously improve that thing instead of using your bandwidth to start something new.
Alright Fire Nation, that’s a wrap!
Until next month, keep your FIRE burning!
~ Kate & John
Note: we report our income figures as accurately as possible, but in using reports from a combo of Infusionsoft & Xero to track our product and total income / expenses, they suggest the possibility of a 3 – 5% margin of error.
