The primary motivating factor for owning your own business is making money, but what good is making money if you don’t get to keep it?  When you factor in income tax, state sales tax, and any of the other taxes you pay, it’s not uncommon to find that by the time you actually spend your money, you’re left with only about 50% of the original amount.  This is because as an employee of a business, every purchase you make is with after tax dollars, and then you are taxed again when you purchase something with those after tax dollars.

Many people understand the concept of tax-deductible purchases, but as a business owner, you can make those same purchases with pre-tax dollars.  For example: if you needed to buy a computer for your small business, you can purchase this with income from your business and never pay federal taxes on it, whereas as an employee, even if you were able to fully tax deduct that purchase at the end of the year, you would have to get those dollars back in the form of a tax refund.

Small business owners will also only be taxed on their profits.  This can be a difficult concept for those who have never owned a business before, but consider the following example.

Joe has a delivery business; he made $100k last year gross; he spends 50% of his gross on fuel, therefore his profit is $50k so he is taxed $15k and is left with $35.

Sam works as an employee for a delivery business where he has to purchase his own fuel, but is compensated with a higher salary.  He earned $100k last year and spent $50k on fuel, so he paid $28,000 in taxes, $50k in fuel and was left with $22k.

Admittedly, this is an overly simplified example, but you can easily see the tax benefits a small business provides.

Finally, let me say that I am not a tax professional, but rather an entrepreneur, so please consult a tax professional if you have specific tax questions or questionable deductions.

Make money from home by offering a money-making opportunity to thousands of people looking for ways to make money from home. Due to the high unemployment rate and the number of jobs lost due to the Great Recession, more people are looking for ways to make money from home than ever before. You can help them and help yourself at the same time.

But first you need to decide why you earn an income from home. Do you want to make money from home in order to take your dream cruise vacation? To build your dream home? To buy your dream car? To put your children through college? To pay your bills? To support your hobby? Write down the reason you want to make money from home. Next write down how much money you want to make from home. Do you want to make $200 a week? $500 a week? $1,000 a week or more? It is important to write down the amount you want to make working from home. Now you have the reason you want to earn money from home as well as the amount you want to make. Ask yourself how much time you are willing to commit to making that targeted amount of money. Are you willing and able to put in full time hours or part time hours? Now you’re ready to write down your goal statement. Your goal statement should look something like… I am going to make $600 each week, working 2 hours a day in order to buy my brand new Dodge Challenger.

Now write down your plan. Your plan should support your goal statement. Your plan will be the blueprint for achieving your desired outcome. It is important to consider the options for making money from home. You can come up with an idea and build on it until you are able to make the amount of money you want to make from home. You can buy an existing home business and market it. You can buy a franchise and plug into the system in order to make money. When weighing your options, you will realize it may take more time to develop your idea into a money-making opportunity. It may take less out-of-pocket money but could cost you in the long term when you realize the timely opportunities you could have taken advantage of in order to make money.

Buying a home business will allow you to make money quickly but there will be costs involved. Similarly, buying a franchise will cost money but will allow you to tap into a proven business plan and hopefully, a lucrative market. Many people do not buy home-based businesses because they are concerned about getting scammed. After all, the Internet is not regulated and there are many fraudulent people who won’t think twice about taking your money and providing nothing in return. To test the business opportunity, look for a money-back guarantee or a trial period which required minimum fees. Any legitimate business opportunity should provide you with a way to “test drive” the business before making a financial commitment to it. Very few franchises offer a money-back guarantee or a trial period so be sure to thoroughly investigate the opportunity before purchasing it.

Making money from home with a home business also allows you to deduct certain business-related items from your income taxes. These deductions can save you thousands of dollars a year. Saving money with your business can be just as important in the early years as making money at home. Consider your tax bracket and calculate how much money each dollar of deductions will contribute to the bottom line. Be sure to keep accurate records for all of your business expenses.

There are tremendous opportunities to make money from home and to help others make money from home as well. Being organized will be to your advantage when exploring your options as well as getting started making money. Learning from people who have been successful will save you time and will help you avoid costly mistakes. At the end of the day, keeping the focus on your goal will be the most important aspect of making money from home.