Tax Return Made Simple Series – Busting Challenge No.3

The following is a sample extract of an unedited draft chapter of our forthcoming book, Tax Return Made Simple which addresses each of the 12 challenges that stop most business owners from doing their tax return and their accounts.

Challenge 3: Just where am I supposed to find the time!

Solution: Find the time in the places you’d least expect it.

You run a business which means you’re likely the kind of person who is actively working in your business (generating income) or on your business (generating sales) plus you’re always on the look-out for opportunities.

Why on earth would you do something like your accounts and tax return? After all, it doesn’t pay, does it?!

Actually, it does. If you’ve read any of my other books you’ll know I refer to our accounts as our finance friend. Your friends tell you what they’ve been up to, they share their celebrations and the challenges they’re facing, and they may ask for help. Your accounts are the same, they tell you what’s been happening in your business, what challenges and success you have experienced and what your business needs help with.

The only difference is that your accounts are not a tangible person and that the actions (and non-action) they are telling you are yours. Which to be fair, is why we don’t often look at our accounts, because no-one likes airing our dirty laundry, even to ourselves! However, do you remember your pain point and your responsibilities from chapter 1?

Looking at our dirty laundry…

Your accounts can tell you what actions are giving you sales and which aren’t. They can tell you which customers, services or products are more profitable and which are loss-making. They can tell you where you need to invest your time, energy and money and where to stop investing your time, energy and money. They can also tell you what you’re spending your money on and whether this is giving you the appropriate return on your investment.

Unfortunately, whilst most business owners do want to know this information deep down, they sabotage their success by ignoring their accounts (but we’ll cover that challenge in chapter 7). Hopefully, you can see your accounts do pay. They reward you with information on your business and they can be much better than any mentor, but you need to know how to read them (which we’ll cover in chapter 5).

Ok, so you understand that you need to make time for your accounts more regularly but how. You already have a million things to do!

First thing is to acknowledge how much time you really do have.

You don’t have 24hrs a day you only have 12hrs…

You only have a finite amount of time per day. 24hrs a week to be precise. However, assuming you sleep for an average of 8hrs, wash daily, cook & eat 3 meals a day and allow at 30-60 mins to relax at the end of the day, it only leaves you with a minimum of 12hrs a day for everything else!

End of preview.

To read more, sign up to receive the FULL preview HERE. Only available until 25th November! By receiving the full preview of Tax Return Made Simple, all I ask in return is feedback by 30th November, and if you would some free advertising, a book review for insertion in the published professional edition.  Then we hope you tell all your business friends about it.

© Helen Monaghan

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