Two components of our business:
Internal: Spending time with our Money
External: Finding the Clients to get Money
Have you kept up with your books for the year?
Have you paid Uncle Sam Quarterly your Taxes?
The best solution is to have a Book-Keeper or an Accountant. In case you can’t afford either, this blog may help.
Many agents do not deal with this area of their business and this is a big mistake. I have
made this mistake so if you can learn from my school of hard knocks, you will thank me.
Seven tips to help you survive the Uncle Sam nightmare until you can afford to hire
someone to keep your books:
1. Open a separate bank account where you do not have easy access and deposit 15%-20%
every time you close a deal. This is do not touch money.
2. Keep all your receipts.
3. Reconcile your bank statements MONTHLY.
4. Review your credit card statements MONTHLY.
5. Download all your statements and store them.
6. Create a spreadsheet for your expenses. Write out who you made your checks payable to
and categorize the expense.
7. Keep a file of all your investments, mortgage statements or any other paper work that
you will need at the end of the year.
Listed below are some expense categories that you can use; but based on your expenses you
will itemize according to your real estate business:
- Advertising and Promotion
- Automobile Expense
- Bank Service Charges
- Business Licenses and Permits
- Business Development
- Charitable Contributions
- Continuing education
- Meals and Entertainment
- Office Expenses and Supplies
- Postage and Delivery
- Professional Fees
- Travel
Most agents are too busy working on the external part of their business by securing clients
to close deals; but they forget to work on the internal part of the business which is spending
time with our money.
Keep it simple until you can afford to hire someone to keep your
financial records. Do not leave this part of your business left
unattended.
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