People sing the praises of every book by Michael Michalowicz, and I sure loved Clockwork, which I have on my recommended books page. From what Christine Odle, author of Rockin’ Your Business Finances, has told me, following Profit First by Michael Michalowicz leads to paying a lot more in taxes than doing things her way does. What? Sure, “render unto Caesar” and all, but who wants to pay more taxes than absolutely necessary?
Christine Odle and others have given some criticism of Profit First. That book is great for small-business owners who lack self-control or have trouble managing their cash flow. Implementing some kind of a system is certainly better than having nothing in place and just shooting from the hip, spending money on whichever shiny object rolls in front of you. When someone doesn’t have a plan, it’s easy for money to be frittered away.
One could come to the conclusion that for those of us who want to grow our businesses and for people who don’t want to pay a large chunk of our gross income in taxes, Profit First isn’t the best choice. Okay, so then what? That book is recommended over and over. Is there a book that has a different approach?
Here’s the book I’ve used since it came out: Rockin’ Your Business Finances.
This book takes a tax mentality approach rather than a profit mentality approach. It also shows you how you can legally get your business to pay for benefits like meals and massages.
Rockin’ Your Business Finances and the tax mentality
A tax mentality approach reduces the amount of your income that is taxable. Rather than be taxed on $250,000 in gross income, you could be taxed on the $25,000 or so that remains after your business expenses are taken from that gross income figure.
The opposite approach, a profit mentality, says the bigger the profit, the better. Profit is the yardstick they use to gauge success. By that method, it makes sense to take your profit out of the income first. Profit is not the only measure of success, and Christine Odle would say it’s not a good one.
In Rockin’ Your Business Finances, she says some things that might be a little shocking, such as telling you that as a business owner, you really do not want to show a profit.
That flies in the face of everything we’ve been told, doesn’t it? Aren’t we in business for the purpose of turning a profit? Sure, if you want to pay more in taxes.
Legally pay less in taxes
But if you can reduce your tax burden so that you can ethically and legally pay less in taxes, wouldn’t you want to do that? Many business owners who use the approach taught in Rockin’ Your Business Finances pay zero dollars in taxes. Click the image above to find out if you can do that, too.
Let there be no confusion here: it’s important to follow the rules. Neither the author nor I will advocate tax evasion. This book makes it clear that you should stay aboveboard and only do things that are legal. When you read Rockin’ Your Business Finances, you’ll learn a different approach that could change your life and help you grow your business.
P.S. Some readers of this book even get a check from the IRS, which is known as a “tax refund” even though it’s not actually a refund because they didn’t pay anything in. It’s wealth redistribution. That might be good or evil in the long run and on a large scale. But if it’s put to good use, money that you can use to grow your business sounds to me like it could be a blessing. Have you clicked the book yet?