Easiest Accounting for Non-Accountants

Are you managing a small business of your own and have no accounting background? Have you attended various seminars on accounting for non-accountants but still have no idea what they're talking about? How will you know if your business is earning or not? Even if you see cash coming in, it doesn't mean you're really earning and that you can sustain the growth of your business.

If you have ventured on a small business of your own, then these 3 easy steps to know if your business is earning is definitely for you. By small business, I mean that aside from being its President and CEO, you are also the Vice President, the secretary, the salesman, the accountant, the security officer and even its janitor!

If you have this kind of business, you've probably experienced how hard it is to both handle the operations of the business and perform the back-room and monitoring activities at the same time.

Some people are able to pull it off, either by sheer luck or by a good combination of intuition and natural business skills. But many also fail because they are unable to see the true status of their business and thereby gear their efforts based from there.

How do you know if your business is really earning without hiring an expensive accounting service at the start of your business? Following is a simple way to determine whether you are incurring profits or true net losses.

1.  Make a total of your earnings for the period.

As an example, add up all your earnings for the last 6 months. By earnings, I mean the money you received from sales or from the services you rendered, such as performing landscape services. We will call this TOTAL A.

2.  Make a total of your cash outflows for the same period.

We will call this TOTAL B. Care should however be taken in this step because it is often here where people fail to include many items they are not aware of as having an impact in their business. Include the following:

• Fixed monthly expenses e.g. salary to a personal assistant, monthly rent, internet and phone bills, utilities such as water and electricity consumption. (These are more or less fixed in nature since they are to be incurred from month to month at a rather regular basis)

   

• Cost of goods or services sold. When you sell decorated lamps for instance, the cost of your goods sold is the combined cost of the materials used in order to build the lamp. This includes the lamp stand, the shade, the bulb, even the plug! It also includes any labor expenses incurred in designing or assembling the lamp.

If on the other hand, you're not into selling products but services, like interior design services, the cost of your services is the fee you pay for yourself in exchange for the work you performed.

Note that this is different from the salary of assistants first mentioned above. Note also that the fee you receive from the work you performed is not the same as the revenue you made from your business.

Consider this. A business is not a job. When you have a job, you don't spend anything for the business of your boss. You don't pay for your office electricity. And you certainly don't pay for his secretary's salary!

But when you have a business, even if you're the one performing the main work at the start, you take care also of all the costs of your business.

Also, if you wished to, you could have just assigned that work to someone else who'll be working for you. If this happens, what money will you receive from your business then?

 

• Proportionate expense for your furniture, fixtures, equipment and other big and costly assets that you acquired. Why proportionate? Because assets like these that you buy at the start of your business are not likely to be bought again the week or month after they've been bought. They are usually used for many years, hence compute only the relevant proportionate amount for the period (say 6 months to be consistent). How do you compute this?

Total Cost of Asset x    Period Used (in years) = Expense

Useful Life (in years)

Example:

$ 5,000 x 0.5 years= $ 500

5 years

3.  Finally, deduct Total B from Total A.

Total A – Total B = Profit (Loss)

If it's a positive figure, CONGRATULATIONS! Your business seems to be doing well and earning. If on the other hand, it results in a negative figure, don't worry. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should give up. But you can assess your situation from there and make wiser decisions based on your current business position. Good luck! I wish for you the best.

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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When we realize the lives of the people who rose from rags to riches, people who have become wealthy, we often realize that there is really no secret or magic formula that made them rich.  In fact, they keep on saying the same things, making us wonder how it could all be that simple.  And if it is, why do so many of us still fail to be where they are.

Hence, instead of presenting the things they often say, maybe it's better to present the opposite things that hinder people from applying the secrets of the rich:

1.  Fear

Many people don't even try for fear of failing.  They do not wish to walk unfamiliar grounds and content themselves with their lot instead.

2.  Lack of Knowledge

Many people do not possess the needed knowledge in order to succeed at what they're doing.  Setting up a business?  Investing?  How do you go about it all?  To our surprise, those who made it big points out that the knowledge we need is already there, around us, ready for the picking.  We just have to seek it from the people and from the resources that possess such knowledge we can use to succeed.

3.  Lack of Persistence

Some people, they are able to gain the knowledge they need.  They are also able to overcome their fears.  But what hinders them from attaining their dreams is the lack of persistence and consistency in their actions.  Rich people do the opposite, they don't stop until they get what they desire.

4.  Not Making Enough Mistakes

That's right.  Our mistake is not making enough mistakes to learn and grow from them.  Unlike those who made it, we want to create a perfect plan before we even dare to move one tiny step.  Remember that sometimes, being too safe is really not being safe at all.  When you try not to risk anything, you are really risking the opportunities in discovering valuable lessons from experience and in being strengthened by getting up from your falls.

5.  Lack of Hope

It is not the lack of good purposes that hinder us from being rich.  Everybody has a good purpose, a noble goal with which to dedicate his efforts to.  But what really separates the winners from the quitters is this simple word.  HOPE.  People don't give up because they lack a good motive to strive for.  People give up because they can't see the possibility of making their aspirations happen.

Don't lose hope :-)  Everything is there, already placed by heaven in roads and small paths around you.  You just need to take the first step and to believe that you can reach your desires.  These are the true secrets of the rich.  They first had heavenly riches which nobody can ever take away.

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Did you know that you no longer have to pay $278 (13,400 in pesos) for buying your computer's operating system as well as for the additional office softwares for wordprocessing, spreadsheets, presentation and database?  I've currently surfed for the prices for Microsoft Windows Vista and for Microsoft Office Home Edition and the total price was definitely more than what I paid for my new super handy Blue laptop!  I'm not saying that they are not good products, I've used them at the Office for quite some time now.  What I'm saying is that we have an alternative considering the hard economic times ahead.  You CAN SAVE MONEY.

At first I was really hesitant to try out new products.  What if it doesn't work?  What if it costs me more in the end?  But a software that's worth higher than my cutesy little laptop is just too much for me.  So I tried out something different.  I've learned that there are free open source softwares available in the internet right now, as in absolutely free that you can use right after your download.

1.  Open Office

Instead of using Microsoft Office, you can use the FREE Open Office software.  I was a bit afraid of this at first, but I've tried using their equivalent of WORD and EXCEL, and I'm quite satisfied.  I'm even happy with a feature of their WRITER (equivalent of Word) that enables you to quickly convert a document into a PDF copy at a click of an icon.  Just how cools is that?  :-)

Here are their equivalent softwares:

Microsoft Word - Open Office Writer

Microsoft Excel - Open Office Calc

Microsoft Powerpoint - Open Office Impress

If you're still doubting its ease of use, I assure you that you may not even notice you're using a different software.  Here's a snapshot of how it looks like.

If you want to try it, here is the DOWNLOAD LINK.

By the way, even if you're already using the Open Office Writer, you can still save your document as Microsoft Word! So you can still open your saved document on computers that refuse to save money, haha.

2.  Linux

If you are looking for an alternative to Microsoft Vista, you can try UBUNTU,  a linux-based operating system that works much like what Windows will do for you.  And yeah I know, the word UBUNTU is kinda weird :-)  But it has a cool meaning you know?  UBUNTU means 'humanity to others'.  Nice huh!  I've even signed up for their free CD and they mailed two CDs to me, free of charge.  One for me and one for a friend.  But you can download the software without waiting for your CD.  Here is the DOWNLOAD LINK.

Oh, and by the way, I will not be receiving commissions for promoting these products.  After all, aren't they FREE!  :-)

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101 Ways to Earn Extra Money

Want to earn Extra Money? See this 101 ways to earn extra money and augment your current income.

1. Make money online. Start a blog and register at google adsense. You can also promote products via amazon or other affiliates like clickbank.
   

2. Write your own e-book and sell it too! It's as easy as uploading a PDF copy of your file at LULU.COM. All you have to do next is to wait for your extra money coming in. No printing cost or long waiting time for your printed copies to be disposed! If you don't have time to write your own e-book, you can have 50% commission for selling my e-book SUCCEED IN YOUR DREAM JOB NOW! Promote to friends, facebook friends or twitter followers ;)

3. Dig up your antique items at home and sell it at auctions, flea markets or at e-bay.

4. Learn website design and get paid for designing your friends' personalized websites. You can also go freelance and expand your market worldwide. Easily learn website design in a matter of months by enrolling at IT schools or learning via correspondence in your own preferred time at PENNFOSTER.COM.

5. Master SEO (search engine optimization) and be an expert in giving advice on how websites could rank better at google.

6. Enjoy playing computer games. What? How could you earn extra money by playing and having fun? - No kidding. Various on-line role playing games have their own systems of wealth that can translate to real cold cash. Rare items in virtual worlds are sometimes bought in cash via arrangement between players.

7. Sharpen your writing skills and get paid by blogging for others or by writing reviews for other websites.

8. Study some more and write not only e-books but literary masterpieces and bestsellers. Be amongst the ranks of Tolkien and J.K. Rowling!

9. Be a celebrity blogger and get invited for motivational and personal development talks and seminars. Yes of course, you get paid for it! Unless you feel so altruistic and decided to do it for free.

10. Be a lifecoach, someone people consult with and ask for guidance in helping them reach their life goals or change their bad habits. You don't even have to be a psychologist! Schedule your sessions and get paid by the hour.

11. If you're well versed with accounting, economics or finance, you can be an advisor in that area and get paid for your expertise.

12. You can work online and earn money from home.  Check out these FREELANCE Websites.

13. Start an on-line English teaching job and get to work from the comforts of your own home.

14. If you enjoy photography, grab that camera and take poster-perfect pictures you can sell as postcard designs, calendar backgrounds or stock photos at the internet. See STOCKXPERT.COM

15. For the naturally gifted and artistically inclined, make a charcoal painting of your friends and enjoy your extra money.

16. Teach guitar lessons to kids in your spare time.

17. Teach piano lessons.

18. Teach voice lessons.

19. Enroll in personal and career development schools and teach what you've learned part time.

20. Teach Japanese, Spanish or French.

21. Be a nanny.

22. Rent a spare rooom in your house.

23. Do a garage sale of your old clothes.

24. Be an Avon Lady.

25. Sell insurance.

26. Sell real estate and earn extra money from your commissions.

27. Be a dance instructor.

28. Bake cookies and sell them as gift items.

29. Start a small food-catering business.

30. Be a wedding planner.

31. Design wedding souvenir items.

32. Start a day-care for children left by working parents.

33. Write lovely poems and send to greeting card companies like BLUE MOUNTAIN ARTS.

34. Plant some flowers and sell them.

35. Teach swimming lessons.

36. Join song-writing competitions.

37. Join scriptwriting contests.

38. Do modelling stints.

39. Sell some made-to-order cakes and pastries.

40. Sew some baby clothes and sell them.

41. Write some children's stories and submit to publishers.

42. Buy some piglets, let them gain weight and then sell them!

43. Buy some chickens then sell their eggs.

44. Rent your van.

45. Rent your sports equipment.

46. Start a cooperative's store.

47. Accept plumbing jobs from neighbors.

48. Sell old newspapers and magazines to recycling hubs.

49. Do stand-up comedy on weekends.

50. Be a clown at children's parties.

51. Start a food-cart business and sell hotdogs, waffles, donuts and the like.

52. Rent Halloween costumes.

53. Do Santa

54. Connect some cute beads and turn them into pretty bracelets, necklaces or anklets you could sell.

55. Sell some jewelry.

56. Walk some dogs.

57. Design personalized mugs.

58. Sell personalized T-shirts.

59. Make cute stuff toys.

60. Embroider pillow cases.

61. Do tutorial jobs.

62. Do carpentry work.

63. Teach self-defense

64. Do home massage.

65. Teach yoga.

66. Sell home-made chocolates for Valentines or Christmas.

67. Sell home-made muffins.

68. Do magic shows.

69. Be an events organizer.

70. Join TV game shows.

71. Learn computer trouble shooting and repairs.

72. Be a tourist guide.

73. Make knitted shirts, sweaters, or scarves.

74. Be a disc jockey at night.

75. Make special candles.

76. Make home-made beauty soaps.

77. Open a junk shop.

78. Open a small internet cafe.

79. Rent your home to a movie location shoot.

80. Place a bet with a friend that you can lose so and so pounds in two weeks. You'll save on food and earn extra money!

81. Open a car wash.

82. Make a brilliant invention, then have it patented and sold, haha!

83. Sell a high-traffic website.

84. Buy a lottery ticket and pray hard to win.

85. Refer friends to credit card companies and earn commissions.

86. Sue an evil creepy old villain and win the case!

87. Trace your family tree and claim a possible inheritance.

88. Find rich business partners to finance your bright business ideas.

89. Pray for inspiration.

90. Be a street performer.

91. Find a mentor.

92. Seek help from friends.

93. Read books on getting rich, write another one, then sell it.

94. Give and ye shall receive!

95. Believe and it shall be given you!

96. Read www.itakeoffthemask.com to improve your relationships, your money and your total happiness.

97. Ask your boss to retire early and be the administrator of his funds.

98. Get promoted.

99. Just find a higher paying job.

100. Sell jokes at Readers Digest.

101. Follow a treasure map. Hopefully, it will not only lead you to extra money but to such a kind of life and happiness you've been searching for all along. :-)

Finally, a Complete Book to Ensure Your Success
in Your “DREAM Job” NOW! Click Here To Read More...

If you’re sick of a boring job that doesn’t pay you well anyways, this may well be the most important book you’ll ever read to FREE you and give you a PROVEN formula in changing your life for the better.

READ MORE!

“Succeed In Your Dream Job Now!”Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not the year after. Do what you must TODAY.

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2010. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 101 ways to earn extra money, adsense, amazon, blog, blogger, e-bay, e-book, earn money from home, earn money on-line, extra money, freelance, google, Internet marketing, lulu.com, make money on-line, money, Search engine optimization, seo, sideline, stock photos, turn hobbies to cash, way to earn extra money, Web design, Web search engine, Website, working from home

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Do you know that you could be a million dollar millionaire in 17 years if you could just save $10 a day?  I've found this cool gadget called the million dollar calculator which lets you compute how long you can be a millionaire given the rate at which you could earn e.g. 20% , and the amount of money you could save for a day.  For a personal example, I tried to input a realistic amount of money I could save per day, which is $1  :-)  Yep, that's the current amount I'm earning at google adsense so no need to worry of not being able to put that in.  For the rate of earning, I put in 20%.  And whadayaknow, I'd be a million dollar millionaire by 2040!  :-)  That's just about 30 years from now.  No need to wait for my pension, huh?!  Try it yourself.  Maybe your dream of becoming a real life millionaire wouldn't be so unrealistic after all!  CLICK HERE

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: become a million dollar millionaire, become a millionaire, millionaire calculator

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Personal Budget - DOWNLOAD HERE

To do List - DOWNLOAD HERE

Check Register Monitor - DOWNLOAD HERE

Finally, a Complete Book to Ensure Your Success
in Your “DREAM Job” NOW! Click Here To Read More...

If you’re sick of a boring job that doesn’t pay you well anyways, this may well be the most important book you’ll ever read to FREE you and give you a PROVEN formula in changing your life for the better.

READ MORE!

“Succeed In Your Dream Job Now!”Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not the year after. Do what you must TODAY.

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: budget, check register, excel tools, excel tools to organize your budget, to do list

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Determining one’s risk tolerance involves several different things. First, you need to know how much money you have to invest, and what your investment and financial goals are.

For instance, if you plan to retire in ten years, and you’ve not saved a single penny towards that end, you need to have a high risk tolerance – because you will need to do some aggressive – risky – investing in order to reach your financial goal.

On the other side of the coin, if you are in your early twenties and you want to start investing for your retirement, your risk tolerance will be low. You can afford to watch your money grow slowly over time.

Realize of course, that your need for a high risk tolerance or your need for a low risk tolerance really has no bearing on how you feel about risk. Again, there is a lot in determining your tolerance.

For instance, if you invested in the stock market and you watched the movement of that stock daily and saw that it was dropping slightly, what would you do?

Would you sell out or would you let your money ride? If you have a low tolerance for risk, you would want to sell out… if you have a high tolerance, you would let your money ride and see what happens. This is not based on what your financial goals are. This tolerance is based on how you feel about your money!

Again, a good financial planner or stock broker should help you determine the level of risk that you are comfortable with, and help you choose your investments accordingly.

Your risk tolerance should be based on what your financial goals are and how you feel about the possibility of losing your money. It’s all tied in together.

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If you have a particular weakness, stay away from it. If you love to gamble, stay out of the casinos. If you have a weakness for shoes, drive past your favorite shoe store. On my part, I have a temptation for books so when I don't feel like spending, I try not to pass by the bookstore.  While avoiding temptation is hard, it is also necessary in order to save money. When you want to give in to your temptation, this is the time to use your “allowance”.

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Take time to learn the various things that “trigger” your spending. When you are depressed, lonely, sad, anxious, excited, whatever it may be, do you spend more? Once you can identify these triggers then you can learn how to control them. As an example, if you were just laid off from your job, although money is tight, you may have an overwhelming “need” to spend money. Perhaps you notice that when you are bored, you head for the shops. Knowing what affects you will help you to discipline yourself to find other ways of comfort.

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Gather friends,relatives, neighbors, and co-workers and set up a bartering system. Offer babysitting to one family in exchange for them doing your laundry or offer to clean someone’s house in exchange for a week of car-pooling your child to school. You would be amazed at the opportunities and the savings you could have using a bartering system.

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Post tags: extra money, money tips, saving money

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