Success One Day at a Time Summary and Review

Success: One Day At A Time by John Maxwell

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With all the recent books about building routines and habits (ie. Power of Habit, Miracle Morning, etc.), I thought I would go back to a book I read nearly 20 years ago.

”You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John Maxwell

John writes to be successful, you need to know:

  • You are what you do daily
  • You first form your habits, then your habits form you
  • It’s just as easy to form successful habits as it is to form bad habits

I see some variation of the first bullet point every week. The second bullet point is from a quote by John Dryden all the way back to the 17th century. The importance of habit is not new!

John Maxwell lists Seven Steps To Success

  1. Make a commitment to grow daily. If you make it you personal goal to grow a little everyday, it won’t be long before you begin to see positive results in your life.
  2. Value the process more than events. Strive for continuous improvement.
  3. Do not wait for inspiration. Motivate yourself and do what’s needed, no matter how you feel today.
  4. Be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity. This is powerful on many fronts. The FI/RE Movement saves 50% of their income so they have freedom in their 30’s and 40’s to do what they want. Instead of watching the latest Episode of Poldark or Walking Dead on Netflix and Prime, I choose to write. Exercise and eat right now to improve health later, and the list goes on.
  5. Dream Big. If you limit your dreams, you will not reach your full potential once you get to the self-imposed limit.
  6. Plan your priorities. I plan around my home life, exercise, side business and work, then I make sure to honor the commitments I set to myself and others. One thing I have never liked is idle time, so I plan every day, even down to the one hour of TV I allow myself to watch a show (mentioned above) with my wife.
  7. Give up to go up. You must give up something of value in order to gain something else. Make sure you are picking the better of the two opportunities more often than not. I give up 3 hours of time with my family a week to exercise in order to promote better health and longevity with my wife in the future. Make a list of what you spend time doing every week and see if there are alternatives that would help you grow.

This a great “small” book to keep handy to motivate you and remind you of what is important. I just gave information from the preface, but the book is 126 pages packed with quotes, stories and actions.

I will leave you with an often quoted saying from this book and elsewhere by Ralph Waldo Emerson –

“To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived.

This is to have succeeded.”

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“6 Months To 6 Figures” Review and Summary

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“6 Months To 6 Figures” by Peter Voogd helps you recognize what you want and how to get there.  This book is 178 pages with a starting price of $9.97 on Amazon.  Click the picture link above to view more details and order a copy if you want.

I thought this book was a quick and easy read with lots of motivating content.  The action items included within make this an ideal first book in your journey to financial freedom.  I used this to gain nuggets of wisdom from the author and sources, although I cannot follow all of the suggestions.

The author encourages entrepreneurship, while the best route to fast income, it is not feasible for everyone to jump in headfirst. I personally have a great job (public nonprofit) but do not make as much money as I could in public accounting or private industry. I’m ok with that since I make an impact and enjoy what I do.

I use side hustles to supplement my income. I have no immediate plans of scaling the cleaning business or CPA firm right now. Instead I save the extra $15,000 in income the businesses generate. I would recommend most people start side hustles and begin to generate an income before leaving a good job. Although, if you make less than $10 per hour now, you can probably earn more selling on eBay or Amazon.

What the author gets you to think about is how you can bring more value, thus increasing your worth.  His six musts to 6 figures are:

    1. Absolute Clarity– get clear with what you want.  Focus on just 1 or 2 skills at a time and break down into manageable goals. My one skill I want to improve is writing.
    2. Increasing Your Confidence Account– as you check off your goals, your confidence should grow. The author further explains if you don’t have confidence, you will always find ways to lose.
    3. Shifting Your Circle Of Influence– it’s very important who you hang out with.  I do not hang out with anyone that is considerably wealthier than I am, I need to find a different circle of friends.  I remember when I tried out for the tennis team my senior year of highschool.  I had only played a few months when I tried out.  After trying out, I was ranked number 7 (only the top 4 got to travel.)  How this relates is, I played up to the level of my opponent.  The ranking was set by a match best of seven.  I lost every match; however, I lost 4-3 to the second best player and 5-2 to the best.  The second best player lost 6-1 to the best and no one else had won a game against him.  Better players have always brought out more competition in me.
    4. Consistent Energy And Motivation  create habits and meeting goals should give you more motivation to continue to improve.  The key is to continue with consistent action and not get burnt out. My wife and I had a goal to lose weight. She lost 5 pounds in her first week and went gung-ho! That quick win has given her motivation to continually get to the gym, drop drinking sugary sodas and eating things that just don’t taste great.
    5. Creating Intentional Result Rituals  analyze what is getting you results and continue those activities.  Remember the 80/20 principle that states you get 80% of results from 20% of actions.  The principle translates to almost everything.
    6. Continually Focusing On Growth And Learning– learning does not stop when you finish school.  Never stop or you will become complacent.  What you put in your mind needs to be consistent with your goals in order to meet your desire. There are so many ways to continually learn. You can listen to podcasts on your daily commute, watch YouTube videos, read and many more.

I picked up a few great quotes from this book.  Even if you do not buy the book, refer back to these on occasion:

Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you’ll make a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

“Strive to become a better person, and, instead of comparing yourself to others, differentiate. The goal is to be slightly better than who you were the day before. The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.” – Peter Voogd

Until you value yourself,you won’t value your time.  Until you value your time, you won’t do anything with it.” – Scott Peck



Part of what makes this such a good starter book is that there are several points in which you have to stop reading, think about and write down specific goals, actions, or thoughts.  To get the most from this book, do not skip over those parts and complete these action items.  One of the better exercises is to create your top 5 goals over the next six months, further break down the steps you will take the next three months toward your goals, and ten reasons you have picked your goals.  I think the reasons are important, because a goal without reason is probably not well thought out and your heart is not really in it.

If you love your job and want to spend this next 30 years saving 10% into a 401(k)plan, this is probably not the book for you. This book is for those that hate their jobs and want to pave their own way.  I would definitely recommend to anyone that is not completely happy with their current work or financial situation.

Other titles by Peter Voogd

You can find out more about Peter on his website. You can also follow Peter Voogd on his podcast.

If you enjoyed this book review, please visit some of my other reviews.

Please comment what you learned from this book to keep the discussion going.

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QBI for Sole Proprietors

One of the changes of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is the creation of the Qualified Business Deduction (QBI).  

This post will give you a general idea on how to calculate for yourself, but if you want to know more, you can start here on the IRS website.

If you have a small business, need a Schedule C or E on your return, you probably are entitled to take a deduction on line 10 of page 1 on your Form 1040. The deduction is for tax years starting 2018 through 2025.

In most cases, the deduction is 20% of a taxpayers QBI from a sole proprietorship or single-member LLC (Schedule C) or partnership and S-Corporation (Schedule E.)

What is QBI?

Qualified Business Income is the net amount of income, gains, losses and deductions relating to the qualified business of the taxpayer. Compensation to the owners/partners or guaranteed payments are excluded from QBI. Investment capital gains, losses, dividends and most interest are also excluded from the QBI calculation.

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Who is Entitled to QBI Deduction?

An individual with a trade or business (with exceptions), trust or estate and certain other organizations that are not in the scope of this post.

Exceptions:

  1. Trade of being an employee. If you are a freelance that derives a large portion of your income from one client, you may be considered an employee of that client instead of an independent contractor. You can research on the IRS site here.
  2. The deduction is limited for those in a Specified Service Trade or Business (SSTB.) The deduction starts to phase-out if the taxpayer’s taxable income exceeds $163,300 ($213,300 completely phased-out) for Single filers or $326,600 ($426,600 completely phased-out) for those filing Married Filing Joint.
  3. Taxpayers that taxable income from W-2 wages exceed the threshold amounts above.

Specified Service Trade or Businesses Subject to Limitations of QBI Deduction

The taxable income limitations apply to the following types of service businesses:

  • Accounting 🙁
  • Law
  • Healthcare
  • Actuarial
  • Consultants
  • Financial Services
  • Brokerage Services
  • Athletes
  • Performance Artists
  • Any other trade or business relying on the skill of one or more employee

Where is the QBI Deduction Reported

Whether filing a Schedule C, Schedule E (from a 1120S or 1065) the deduction is taken at the taxpayer level (passed through to the individual.) For 2020, the deduction is reported on Line 13 of page 1 of Form 1040.

This will treat the QBI deduction like itemized or standard deductions, after AGI calculations but before arriving at taxable income.

Example

This will be a quick example. Let’s say I am a Single CPA with a small firm that netted after expenses $75,000 and I had paid myself wages of $50,000 throughout the year. The QBI deduction will be 20% of the $75K, $15,000.

The business will pay a portion of FICA and withhold a portion for the $50,000 in wages (assuming the business deducted their portion in this example to arrive at the $75,000 net profit.) As a taxpayer, my FICA and effective tax rate will be withheld from my wages and I will be responsible for the employee and employer portion of FICA (15.3%) on the $75,000 profit. The self-employment taxes will be reported on the new Schedule 1 and Schedule 4.

YouTube video explaining the QBI deduction:

 

I hope this helps clear up the new Qualified Business Income (QBI) Deduction. If you need help preparing your taxes, you can email me at ValdostaCPA at Yahoo.com or find me through Fiverr. I am a licensed Georgia CPA.

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NONCOMPETITION AGREEMENT TEMPLATE for the PURCHASER of a BUSINESS

If you are buying a business, you need to make sure the seller agrees to a no compete agreement.

I remember a story from a Warren Buffet book in which he writes about purchasing a furniture store. He failed to get a noncompetition agreement from the seller, so she ended up setting up a competing business across the street. While that had little impact to Buffet’s finances, it could ruin a smaller investor.

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TEMPLATE

NONCOMPETITION AGREEMENT

  DATE: (Date)
   
  PARTIES: (Name of seller (member/shareholder – “employee” i.e. John Doe))
  (Name of purchaser – i.e. ABC, LLC)

WHEREAS:

  1. Pursuant to an Agreement of Sale dated XXXX, (the “Sale Agreement”) the Purchaser has purchased the assets of the business of  NAME OF BUSINESS, a corporation/limited liability company, etc. organized under the laws of the State of STATE(the “Seller”).
  2. The Former Employee is the majority shareholder or member of the Seller and has been employed by the Seller as its president, CEO, manager, etc.
  3. In consideration of the Purchaser’s purchase of the Seller’s assets, NAME OF SELLING PARTY (the “Employee”) has agreed to restrict his/her right to compete with the Purchaser in order that the Purchaser will receive full value of the purchase.

AGREEMENTS:

1. AGREEMENT NOT TO COMPETE

The Employee contracts and agrees that for a period of five years from the date of this agreement, the Employee will not, directly or indirectly, as a proprietor, partner, shareholder, lender, employee, independent contractor, consultant, or in any other capacity engage, compete, or interfere in the TYPE OF BUSINESS business within the State of STATE/City of/Within 100 miles of, etc., including the hiring of former employees of the business, contacting clients, discussing trade secrets or anything else in the scope of the TYPE OF BUSINESS.

2. PURPOSE

This agreement is for the benefit of the Purchaser and future successors or purchasers.  The Former Employee acknowledges that amount of the detriment imposed on the Employee by the limitations contained in this agreement are not disproportionate to the benefit received by the Purchaser.

3. CONSIDERATION

As consideration for the Employee’s agreement not to compete, the Purchaser purchased the assets of NAME OF BUSINESS, including the Employees agreement not to compete pursuant to the Sales Agreement dated XXXXX.

or

As consideration for the Employee’s agreement not to compete, the Purchaser will pay to the Employee the amount of $XX.XX one year after the date of this agreement and a like amount in subsequent years after the date of this agreement, until the term of this agreement expires.

Above was a 1 page sample of the template. The entire template is 3 pages.

Through PayPal, you can order a Word document file of the template for $2.99. That way I never see your credit card information, just make sure your PayPal email address is correct. Checkout will be at the bottom of this page.

While there are numerous non-compete agreements online for free, what is your time worth? It took me over 2 hours to build this simple document from online research and past experiences., I would prefer to purchase one and save the time.

I am a licensed CPA, but not an attorney. I cannot customize to your specific needs, you need to research your specific State laws and possibly consult with an attorney. I am not liable for any losses you may suffer, so do your due diligence!

I email every form individually, so please give me up to 24 hours to send to you from when I receive the PayPal notification. If you don’t get within 24 hours and your PayPal email address was correct, I will still send the form and a full refund.

If I can help you with your taxes, please email me at ValdostaCPA at Yahoo.com or reach out through Fiverr.

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Best Ways to Make $1,000 – eBay

This site contains affiliate links.

What you will find in this post:

  • Step-by-step instructions on getting started with eBay
  • My income in 2019
  • What items I have found that sell (or do not sell)
  • Where I have looked for inventory to resale

Step by step instructions

  1. Download eBay to your phone (easiest)
  2. Register (or sign in if you have an account)
  3. Research similar products to see what they are selling for
  4. Click sell one like or from Selling Icon, choose List an Item
  5. Describe what you are selling
  6. Select New, Used, etc
  7. Give Item a Title – Be descriptive
  8. Add photos
  9. Choose category
  10. Type details – expanded description that does not fit in the title
  11. Choose format (auction or fixed)
  12. Enter fixed price or auction starting price
  13. Select shipping methods
  14. Set payment and return preferences
  15. Continue, then list. You can also setup to auto relist eight times if it doesn’t sell

That’s it to sell. Once you sell you need to invoice, give feedback and ship.

This post is for the most beginner of eBay users, like myself, and intended as an option to earn some extra cash. Currently, I am mostly selling items that I already have at my house.

My Goal is to Make $1,000 in Profit for 2019.

March 1st I spent an hour listing 13 items I had around the house with my phone. I listed everything with a 30 day buy it now, instead of auctions. Everything I initially listed was at least $17.99 and I offered free shipping. Since, I have listed a lot more lower priced items that fit in my mailbox that would not require me going to a post office.

I listed things like accounting books I no longer use and a bunch of VHS tapes. The tapes were listed at $17.99, I did in 3 lots of 10.

eBay allows you to list 50 items monthly for no insertion fees. Additional items start around $0.30 to list, more if you want the extra features. Once the item sells, eBay will charge you a 10-12% final valuation fee for most categories. They include the price of shipping on the fee, which is why I go ahead and adjust the price to include free shipping.

eBay also took notice of my first month, and gave me 200 additional listings without insertion fees. I just don’t have time to list that many within the 72 hours they gave me!

I had heard on a Scavenger Life podcast that you needed to list 500 items upfront and another 20 per day (100 per week) to make eBay a full-time income. I only want to make $1,000 this year profit, so approximately $1,250 should get me there.

Everything that doesn’t sell in 30 days will be automatically renewed up to 8 times.

If you have an iPhone, iPad or Android phone, listing new items is extremely easy with an app. I look for similar items, select “sell one like” and add my own pictures and information. It takes less than 5 minutes to list an item.

Everyone has items around the house they rarely use and do not need. This is much easier and less time consuming than having a yard sale. Comment below if you have questions or share your successes on eBay.

2019 Income to Date

Started in March.

Listed – 74 items (2 purchased)

72 Fixed Price 1 Auction

Of the listings, I have promoted 1 so far to test.

Sold – 18 items

Income generated (after PayPal fees) – $365.21

Postage – $76.43

eBay Fees – $43.72

Mileage – $56.26 (18.56 from taxable items)

Supplies – $15.64 (taxable)

Cost of Sales (for resell items) – (to date, $3.14, but not an expense until sold -Cost of Goods Sold)

Net income (loss) to-date: $173.16

Taxable portion (purchased items): $(34.20)

Hours spent in 2019 – 17

Income per hour – $10.19 so far – not great, but better than minimum wage. A lot of the work is in the listing, so this should get better. On the plus side, I have gotten rid of items around the house I no longer need.

October 15th, I decided to deactivate my listings. I will try eBay again in 2020, but it’s not the most effective use of my time.

For 2020, I listed 10 books. I do not plan on concentrating on eBay, but I would like to make about $200 profit.

So far in 2020, I have sold 1 item, spending 2.75 hours in listing and selling of the items with a profit of $3.65. That’s $1.33 per hour, but this should improve if the other listings sale.

From my personal experience, I will grade items/locations below A-F, like in school.

Items that do not sell on eBay (or poor performing) from my experience.

Baseball Cards (F) – I wasted all of my junior high earnings from raking leaves and mowing grass. All those rookie cards I collected (over 500 from 1987-1992) are nearly worthless by the time you ship and pay PayPal and eBay fees. I wish I had just saved in a Vanguard Mutual Fund. My football and basketball cards are just as worthless. It’s sad, I typically paid $5 per rookie card, some as much as $28.

Books (C) – I have sold a couple, both fiction (hardcover) and nonfiction (paperback.) I have only sold books listed at $1.99. Coupled with media mail shipping, the buyer gets a used book for about $5. eBay fees are 12% on books and 10% on the shipping, so I barely make $1 at that price.

Girls Clothing, used, size Baby-12 (C) – This one has very low resale unless a popular brand and comes with a lot of competition. The plus side is most can be shipped in a poly bag and sent without having to go to the post office. I typically make about $2 per used item from my daughter’s used clothes after final value and shipping fees. I will resale what we have at the house, but I won’t spend much time sourcing outside. Maybe later for adult clothing.

Lawnmower Blades (D) – I bought 2 to test from ASC on clearance for $3.14. They average $21.49 with free shipping on eBay, but get very little views per day, 0-1 views. With what I listed them for, it will not be worth holding the inventory for sale. I will not do these again.

Scandinavian Collectibles (C) – I had one 6″ Vintage Horse and it sold within 12 hours. These go for about $20 including shipping, but are small enough to ship from your house. I wouldn’t seek out for the small profit they generate, but there is interest. More expensive collectibles could do as well.

VHS tapes (D) – I have a lot of used children’s VHS tapes. I sell used tapes for 17.99 for a lot of 10 with free shipping or 3.99 if new with buyer paying shipping. I have sold 1 lot and netted less than $6. This one is not worth the time, since I would be better served working PT somewhere to save money. I have only sold 1 of 3 lots listed. 12% final valuation fee.

Where I have looked to source inventory for eBay.

1st place is right in my own home. I have 4 kids and they grow out of stuff quickly. Unfortunately, they also use their stuff hard.

Agri-Supply  ASC (C) – ASC has potential, but not great.Most clearance items are on sale for about what they go for on eBay.  I would lose money by the time the final valuation fee is factored. The lawnmower blades mentioned above were marked down 90%, but with an average of less than a view per day, I could sit on a long time. They did have a couple items that I could net $30-40 dollars on, but would have cost me approximately $120 on clearance and had low sales volume. I’m going to put ASC on the schedule to visit every 60 days.

Big Lots (D) – Big Lots is supposedly already marked down and I did not see anything that I could make a profit reselling. This may be better buying in bulk for FBA by Amazon, but I don’t think it would be too profitable there either.

Habitat ReStore (C) – I have only gone once. I believe you can find a “diamond-in-the-rough”, but it will take a lot of digging. For the smaller items that are easier to ship, everything was priced at a break even amount. Some value in the larger items, but not for a reseller. Better for personal use.. I was told they will negotiate, but even at half off, most items would not be worth the hassle. The Re-Store will also go on my 60 day schedule.

I’ll keep testing for what sells and update this post often. My goal is to find a good niche I can make at least $20 per hour doing.

Books available on Amazon that advise on selling on eBay:

 

Some popular videos on YouTube that help you sell on eBay:

My favorite podcast on eBay selling is ScavengerLife. They also have a forum where you can ask their large community questions.

Please comment if you have a profitable niche right now and where you source your products.

If you are a reseller that needs help with their taxes, email me at ValdostaCPA at Yahoo.Com. My typical fee for Form 1040 and 1 State preparation and efile with a Schedule C (for the business, even if you have a LLC) is $300. You can also find me on Fiverr.

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