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Entrepreneurs On Fire July 2019 Income Report

July 2019 Income At-A-Glance

Gross Income for July: $183,659

Total Expenses for July: $30,223

Total Net Profit for July: $153,436

Difference b/t July & June: -$169,236

% of net profit to overall gross revenue: 84% 

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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 July Tax Tip: Your Entertainment Deduction is no-longer

Normally I use these income reports to discuss tax strategies business owners and entrepreneurs can use to reduce their tax bill.

Things like deducting travel, or forming a nonprofit, or all the other many tax-saving strategies we have discussed here over the last five plus years.

But every once in a while I need to use these reports to discuss something you can’t do to save money on taxes. This is one of those times!

Prior to the tax law changes for 2018, “entertainment” costs within your business were always deductible.

We’ve had a few different tax tips on these income reports discussing taking advantage of that deduction, such as when I went to watch my Indians in the World Series and took a business associate.

Ah, the good old days of 2017 and prior, when the IRS would help pay to entertain you business contacts!

Unfortunately, that deduction went away in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act that took effect in 2018. And judging by the 2018 tax season, a lot of people don’t know it!

Prior to 2018, meals and entertainment were always grouped together in a businesses bookkeeping. And for good reason: both were tax deductions but only 50% deductible.

So if you spent $200 taking a client golfing and to lunch, you could deduct $100.

Now, only the lunch portion of that day is deductible (and still at 50%).

This is a big change, and it means you need to make sure you or your bookkeeper are no longer lumping your meals and entertainment expenses into one category. Instead you now need to have a separate non-deductible category for all entertainment costs.

But since we like to look at the positive side here at EOFire, I’ll leave you with one saving grace!

Food or drink costs incurred during entertainment are still deductible.

So while my World Series tickets would no longer be a business deduction, the two beers and hot dogs I bought during the game would be! As long as the food and drinks aren’t included in the cost of the entertainment directly, you can still deduct them.

While I hate to spend an entire report talking about something you can’t do, sometimes preventing you from doing the wrong thing on your taxes can save you as much in penalty and interest costs as teaching you a new strategy!

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!

David Lizerbram’s Legal Tip: When does my business need a waiver?

There are a lot of circumstances when a well-crafted waiver document will be an asset for your business.

A waiver is simply an agreement whereby someone agrees not to bring a legal claim in the case of a loss or injury.

You agree to waivers all the time, often without even knowing it.

For example, when you go to a concert or a game, your ticket almost always includes language stating that you are assuming certain risks and agreeing not to sue.

The same thing happens when you enter a parking lot, go in for a medical procedure, or attend a conference.

Waivers are everywhere, and your business may need one from time to time – even if you’re not putting on big concerts or practicing medicine.

Let’s say you’re hosting some sort of event.

Maybe it’s a mastermind for fellow entrepreneurs or a fun get-together for your clients. You want everything to go well, of course. But life is full of risks, and you can’t control all of them. Let’s say someone gets sick from the food you serve, or they get in a car accident going to or from your event…

These situations are why it’s wise to have your attendees sign a waiver.

The waiver will include language to the effect that the attendee waives, releases, indemnifies, holds harmless, and discharges you against any claims related to the event.

The attendee should certify that they are able to participate in the activities and have not been advised otherwise by a medical professional.

The document should also state that the waiver applies to the attendee’s family members, heirs, successors, and assigns, because you want to be protected even in a worst-case scenario.

The waiver should specify which state or country’s law applies, because people may be traveling to your event from all over. And it should state where and how any disputes are to be settled – for example, in binding arbitration in the county in which you do business.

As you can see, there’s a lot of complexity in even a short waiver document. That’s why a waiver is best written by an attorney.

If you host events regularly, your lawyer may be able to create a form that you can re-use, with small modifications, over and over.

Of course, there are free waiver forms that can be found online, but beware, most of them are not very good. Still, if you really can’t afford a lawyer, something might be better than nothing.

Finally, along with a waiver, you should consider getting insurance for additional protection. Insurance can be purchased for individual events, and many event venues require that you have insurance for their protection as well.

If you have questions about how to best protect your business against unforeseen risks, please feel free to contact me!

What Went Down In July

Trip Preparation

Much of July was spent preparing for our upcoming 3-month trek, which starts in early August in Las Vegas and ends in the beginning of November in Paris, France.

We have a lot of stops – 12 total – and we have several meet ups planned with friends around the globe, a couple of conferences to attend, and a huge to-do list we’ve been working hard to complete!

We thought it’d be helpful to focus this income report on our trip preparation since we get asked this question a lot:

How do you travel for 3 months at a time without skipping a beat in the business?

It’s all about planning and preparation. Let’s break it down…

Step 1: Know what you’re planning for (The trip details)

We’ve been planning this trip for several months now – since early January.

First step? Get our trip details set.

Without knowing what you’re planning for, it can be difficult to wrap your head around things like dates, deliverables, and next steps.

So if you think about the very early stage planning of just figuring out what exactly we’re planning for, you start to come up with questions like:

  • What dates will we be gone?
  • What stop do we want to hit?
  • How long do we want to be at each stop?

Sometimes taking one step forward is just a matter of asking yourself some pretty simple questions.

You’re planning a trip = when are you going, where to, and how long will you be there?

Once you start answering these questions, you’ll start to see the action items unfold.

  • What dates will we be gone?

We want to be gone for the worst of hurricane season (Aug, Sept, Oct)

  • What stop do we want to hit?

We want to go places we haven’t been before; Google search: best hidden gems of Europe in the Fall

  • How long do we want to be at each stop?

Last year’s trip was pretty busy (we moved every 4 days), and we wanted to slow it down a bit this year – we chose 1 week at each stop

Step 2: Create your to-do list and timeline

As we started answering these basic planning questions we were able to start looking at the things we needed to accomplish in order to make it happen.

Second step: create a to-do list and timeline.

Brain dump to-do’s

For me, this typically starts out with a brain dump, and then gets organized and prioritized after the fact.

So for our trip, I just started writing out everything we needed in order to be ready to walk out the door.

Once I had everything out on paper, I started organizing it by time-sensitive tasks and priority. Knowing that our trip starts in early August, I made that my deadline – or goal date – and started working backwards from there.

Here’s a look at some of the items I wrote down during my brain dump session:

  • Book plane tickets
  • Book train tickets
  • Book AirBNB’s
  • Look into airport transfers
  • Do we need Visas anywhere?
  • Organize recommendations
  • “We’re leaving” checklist
  • Packing checklist

Now if you’re preparing to go on a trip where you’ll be in one place the entire time, a lot of these details or tasks won’t be applicable. But on a multi-stop, international trip, they’re critical to consider.

Prioritize to-do’s

Now that I have my list of to-do’s it’s time to figure out their priority.

There are several items on this to-do list that require other things happen first in order to move to the next (otherwise known as dependencies). For example, I can’t book an AirBNB for our 3rd stop until plane tickets are booked – otherwise I won’t know which dates to book it for.

Create your timeline

Finally, once you have your to-do’s prioritized (it’s okay if you don’t have a ‘place’ for every single one – you can always adjust later), it’s time to put due dates on each.

So let’s look at a small portion of my to-do list, prioritized:

  • Book plane tickets
  • Do we need Visas anywhere?
  • Book AirBNB’s
  • Book train tickets
  • Look into airport transfers

In this scenario, booking plane tickets is the most important to-do because it’s a dependency. Once I have that information, I’ll be able to make moves on a lot of other tasks.

Since John and I love batching things, we agreed that John would book the plane tickets, and I’d handle the rest. So John had his timeline of booking 24 flights by the end of January.

Simultaneously I decided I’d get started on researching Visas.

Having a general understanding of Visa requirements, I knew there could be a long lead-time if we were going somewhere that required one, so that became the next task in line for end of January / beginning of February.

Next, AirBNB’s. I made it my goal from the beginning of Feb to the end of April to book at least 1 AirBNB per week, starting with our first stop and going down the list.

Train tickets typically don’t open up until you’re within a 60 – 90 day window of your travel date, so my timeline for train tickets became end of June and into July for some of our later stops.

Finally, airport transfers. I knew these would be dependent on my AirBNB’s being booked, because oftentimes you can pay extra to hire your host for an airport ride (or they can connect you with a company or service who can help).

Knowing my AirBNB’s would be booked by the end of April, I put on my timeline to start inquiring about airport transfers in early May.

Step 3: Action (Do all the things)

You’ve got your trip details locked in, your know what your task list and timeline is, and now it’s time to start taking action!

As I’m writing this we’re just days away from taking off on our trip, and without our trip preparation, none of this would be possible.

So… what about the business stuff?

But of course… you’re probably wondering about the business side of things.

I purposefully laid this out with example of our actual trip plans to show you that it’s the exact same process – no matter what you’re preparing for. So here it goes…

Step 1: Know what you’re planning for (The work details)

You’re leaving on a trip! This is exciting… it’s actually a big part of the reason you decided to become an entrepreneur.

Freedom.

But of course, you leaving on a trip doesn’t mean your business just pauses and waits for you.

So, first step in preparing to be somewhat off the grid for an extended period of time is to understand what needs to get during that time.

Yes, this is knowing what you’re planning for.

Just like we did for the trip portion, we’re going to ask ourselves some basic questions:

  • What dates will we be gone?
  • How much do we want to work while we’re gone?
  • How available will we be while we’re gone?

Again, once you start answering some pretty basic questions, you’ll start to see the action items unfold.

  • What dates will we be gone?

That’s easy, cause we already answered it :)

  • How much do we want to work while we’re gone?

We’ve taken trips completely unplugged, trips where we’ve only worked 1 hr per day, and trips where we’re pretty much business as usual. This trip we decided we’re going to do something in between. While we don’t be working all day, every day, we will continue to check in every day and will likely have several full work days given that we’ll be in each location with plenty of time to spare.

That said, there are definitely certain projects and tasks we want to have done ahead of time so we’re not up against deadlines while traveling.

  • How available will we be while we’re gone?

While we will be online engaging and keeping up with the day-to-day, we really don’t want to pick up any new projects or commitments while we’re gone.

Step 2: Create your to-do list and timeline

Now that we know the basics of what we’re planning for, let’s brain dump!

  • Entrepreneurs On Fire podcast uploaded thru November
  • Sponsorships uploaded thru November
  • Show notes scheduled and edited thru November
  • Kate’s Take uploaded thru November
  • Blog posts scheduled thru November
  • Podcasters’ Paradise updates complete
  • Newsletters drafted thru November
  • Weekly digest emails (x2) drafted thru November
  • Podcast Movement set – talks, Podcasters’ Paradise meet up, etc
  • Mastermind On Fire free course live
  • KBB Mastermind in PR – RSVP’s, forms sent, requests complete, venue locked in

Hefty to-do list, I know! But we’re going to make it happen because our trip preparation is ON FIRE!

Now that we know what our to-do’s are, it’s time to prioritize and create a timeline.

Step 3: Action (Do all the things)

And now for the fun part: it’s time to start taking action!

With a few days left before our trip starts, I’m happy to report that our to-do list – DONE!

Don’t wait to prepare and plan

Here’s the best part of all of this: you don’t have to be taking a long trip or an extended time away from your business in order to set up every quarter like this.

And what can that do for you?

  • Relieve stress
  • Help you ditch overwhelm
  • Create a sense of accomplishment
  • Bring clarity to your business goals and how you’re going to get there
  • Give you FOCUS
  • The feeling of being caught up
  • …and of course, FREEDOM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 2019 Income Breakdown*

Product/Service Income: $127,136

TOTAL Journal sales: 380 Journals for a total of $10,068

The Freedom Journal: Accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days!

The Mastery Journal: Master Productivity, Discipline and Focus in 100 days!

The Podcast Journal: Idea to Launch in 50 Days!

Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 Podcasting community in the world!

  • Recurring: $20,153 (174 monthly, 1 annual)
  • New members: $7,498 (34 new members)
  • Total: $27,651

Real Revenue: Turn your BIG IDEA into Real Revenue

  • New members: $495 (11 new members)

The Revenue Crew: An Elite Mastermind ON FIRE!

  • Currently closed to new members

Podcast Sponsorship Income: $83,695

Podcast Websites: $5,000

Podcast Launch: Audiobook: $172 | eBook: $55

Free Courses that result in 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!

Mastermind On Fire: Create and run your own mastermind!

Affiliate Income: $56,523

*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: $24,449

Courses for Entrepreneurs: $29,239

Resources for Podcasters: $2,266

Other Resources: $569

  • Amazon Associates: $292
  • Other: $277

Total Gross Income in July: $183,659

Business Expenses: $27,677

  • Advertising: $0
  • Affiliate Commissions (Paradise): $2,120
  • Accounting: $961
  • Cost of goods sold: $1,848
  • Fulfillment (Shipwire): $653
  • Design & Branding: $227
  • Dues & Subscriptions: $130
  • Education: $112
  • Legal & Professional: $0
  • Meals & Entertainment: $951
  • Merchant / bank fees: $1,357
  • Amazon fees: $6,625
  • PayPal fees: $319
  • Shopify fees: $12
  • Office expenses: $141
  • Community Refunds: $989
  • Promotional: $20
  • Travel: $7,784
  • Virtual Assistant Fees: $3,168
  • Website Fees: $260

Recurring, Subscription-based Expenses: $2,546

  • Adobe Creative Cloud: $100
  • Boomerang: $50 (team package)
  • Bonjoro: $45
  • Authorize.net: $70
  • Cell Phone: $253
  • Google Suite: $50
  • Internet: $80
  • eVoice: $10
  • Infusionsoft CRM: $309
  • Insurance: $648
  • Libsyn: $206
  • Chatroll: $49
  • Shopify: $68
  • Linktree: $6
  • TaxJar: $19
  • Taxes & Licenses: $523
  • Zapier: $15
  • Xero: $30
  • Zoom: $15

Total Expenses in July: $30,223

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 July 2019: $153,436

Biggest Lesson Learned

How are you playing?

I was on a chat with a great friend the other day and we were talking about goals.

I asked her what her goal was for a launch she was working on, and she said this: “I’m playing to win.”

It wasn’t the answer I was expecting. I thought I was going to hear something like “50 sales!” or “6 figures in revenue!” …both of which are great goals.

But her answer was so much more powerful than any number of sales or any dollar amount. She’s playing to win.

And this got me to thinking: how am I playing in our business?

Am I playing to win, or am I playing to not lose?

Unfortunately, I can quickly and easily think of situations within the past 6 years – since I joined the team here at Entrepreneurs On Fire – when I was playing to not lose.

I was playing scared. Small. Timid. Wanting to remain ‘comfortable’. Being reactive instead of proactive. Second-guessing every move I made.

I didn’t want to make the wrong decision.

I didn’t want to make a big mistake or fail.

I didn’t want to lose.

But over the years, surrounding myself with positive, BIG thinkers, and continuing to educate myself through in-person events and online masterminds, I’ve felt a shift.

Hearing quotes from people like Tim Ferriss, who said “Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.”

Or Isabel Allende, who said “We only have what we give.”

Or Oprah Winfrey and her wise words that: “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.”

…they’ve all helped me realize how I want to play – how I will play. And that’s to win.

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. 

Click here for all of EOFire’s Income Reports

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