This was the year!
You took the bold step of making your side hustle your day job.
You had a decent year, you may not want to live on the income you made for very long, but you made it.
Pat yourself on the back, raise a glass - you are a bonafide entrepreneur, welcome to the club!

That was yesterday; then you filed your taxes.
I remember this day well... "I have to pay what!?"
If you have been an employee all your life, you likely have grown to expect a tax return, not to have to return your hard earned money to the government. You may have even expected to pay a certain sum, after all, everyone has to pay taxes but hoped that your other deductions would offset enough that it wouldn't hurt too much. We can't help it, not everything in our mind makes the switch from employee to a business owner in one year.

Don't give up.
It may feel like there is no point in owning a business if it is always going to be an uphill battle to get ahead.
Here's the thing, that is not how it has to be, and you have choices to solve this problem now.
So many times I see entrepreneurs fail to thrive because they think there are only two choices; to succeed or fail. There are always more than two choices; you just have to stop, think, strategize and decide.

Stop
Stop all the doomsday scenarios running through your brain how you are not going to make it because you're ruined, and allow your mind to open to the possibility that there is not just one way, but many around this.

Think
Think differently, as any life coach will tell you, change your mindset, and you change your life.
It goes a little something like this...
Everyone has to pay taxes, so, so do I. If I didn't know how much more I would have to pay as a sole proprietor or small business owner, now I do. Lesson learned. Now is probably a good time to hire an accountant for next year so I can plan ahead.

This is a sign of my success. I rocked the shit out of this year! I just need to get over this hump, and I will be on my way.

Strategize
Now that your mind is in a better place, it is time to figure out how you are going to pay this year's tax bill while still growing your business. I highly recommend hiring a financial planner. Most small business owners think that they can't afford one, this simply isn't true. There are two business professionals you can not afford NOT to hire, an accountant and a financial planner. They both can save you more money then you will ever pay them by educating you on deductions, tax savings and damn good ideas you're in the wrong industry to come up with yourself. Don't settle for the first one you google, interview and ask questions to make sure they can see things with a big picture strategy and that your best interest is at heart. 

(The following brainstorming example is not to take the place of a financial professional's advice, or your own good sense. Only you and the professional you choose to entrust the knowledge with, know your true financial situation and how these ideas would impact the overall picture.)

Do you have resources of which you are unaware? What about:

• That 401K you still need to roll over - a financial advisor can help you decide if there is a way you can borrow from yourself to pay your taxes and how to do it with the least amount of tax penalty the next year.
• Do you have equity in your home? Maybe a home equity loan is an option.
• You may qualify for a personal loan, choosing one with the lowest interest rate and best terms is important. (enter the financial advisor again)
• Did you know that IRS offers a monthly payment plan for federal income taxes? You could qualify, it is very easy to apply, and you find out instantly - learn more here.
• The CRA in Canada also has its own version of payment arrangements - learn more here.
• You could ask your father-in-law for money. (I just put this one in here to make sure you are still awake) No really, depending on your relationship, you could ask your mother-in-law to ask your father-in-law for money.

Part of your plan should be how you are also going to pay next year's taxes. Hiring an accountant to project your quarterly taxes and show you how to pay them can then be part of your immediate strategy for paying your taxes now.

Decide
There are more solutions to consider, and it may take employing many ideas to make it work. But, you do not have to choose to quit. If you choose NOT to quit, then more decisions need to be made to move forward. The important thing is to move.

Happy Tax Day! You Earned It!
Pat yourself on the back, raise a glass - you are a bonafide entrepreneur, welcome to the club!

​Rebecca Garza is a Start-up Business Coach and Online Marketing Consultant who helps small businesses build a brand presence and grow.

I's the week between Christmas and New Year's, no matter how you celebrate or worship during the Holidays, this is often a time of reflection. For an entrepreneur, there are so many in between's. You often feel caught between giving enough time to your business and your family. As you are building your business, you may be caught in between a 9 to 5 job and finding the time for your real passion. We entrepreneurs also find ourselves caught between our dream and the reality of our situation.

As you reflect this week, I encourage you to reach for the clouds in your mind.
What would your life look like if there were no obstacles in between?
If you could build the business you wanted, and design your future to serve you and allow you to serve those you love, how would that feel?

The fact of the matter is, the in-between can be waded through, problems can be solved, obstacles can be removed or worked around or even with. If you are ready to face the in between, work through obstacles and create the life and business you want, set up a discovery call with me and let's get started

​Rebecca Garza is a Start-up Business Coach and Online Marketing Consultant who helps small businesses build a brand presence and grow.

Life throws us curveballs.
Whether its tragedy, unexpected inconvenience or sheer bad luck... shit happens.
And sometimes the unheralded, staggering shit that happens is so palpable it stops us in our tracks.

When a curveball hits an entrepreneur in the face and knocks them out of the game, who is minding the store? Can a small business owner even afford to have life's mishaps come their way?
What if one day, or week, or month off would end an enterprise?

The fact of the matter is, that whirling sphere of chaos is heading each and every one of our way.
So the question is, is there anything to be done about it?
I would answer, "no, not if you have prepared."

If you expect curveballs, you have a backup plan in place for when you get taken out of the game.
Preparing for curveballs guides your decisions like; how much you charge, who to hire, whether or not to hire, even how you live your life (either completely immersed in your own reverie or letting others be a part of your life and investing yourself in theirs).

Given the proper preparation, when life happens and makes you sit down, you can then do what any human needs to do, sit out...  regroup, heal, rejuvenate. Let the life and business you purposefully built run itself for a while. Let the capable people you have wisely put in place beforehand take care of your interests so that you can continue taking care of them, yourself and your dream. 

I'm an empath. 
That's different than having the ability to have empathy for others. It is an every day, every minute state of being. I'm not just able to understand how someone is feeling; I actually feel it as if it's happening to me, if someone is in pain it hurts me, and I want to take that pain away. Being an empath means I'm susceptible to unhealthy relationships and being taken advantage of, but it also means I'm kind, I experience joy when other people triumph and I am able to make genuine connections very fast.
​
It took many experiences positive and negative through my adult years to realize this about myself and come to a place where I embraced it. I had to decide that if I was truly going to live, I could no longer shield myself from the the emotions that were not so pleasant to feel, because otherwise I was just a shell of who I truly am, and the people I care about and myself would never benefit from the many positive aspects of being an empath.

Being a very logical person, I had always thought it was that part of my personality that was going to get me ahead in business. It was not until I embraced my emotional strengths and let the two work together that I experienced true success.

OK, so we aren't all empath's... And even using a little empathy can be scary, because emotions sometimes are negative, or the connection they bring may not be something you have the energy for. So we avoid communicating with emotion, especially at work.

Many of us operate with two personas, one for home and one for business. We stifle our true selves in professional settings, but by doing that, we also stifle creativity, happiness and true connections.

If you were to ask me what my definition of marketing is, I would tell you it is delivering the right message, at the right time, to the right people, in the right place.

I am often asked to test ride new Email Marketing Tools, but seldom do they seem unique enough from the standard offerings already available for me to take the time to really delve in. But, there was just something about SendPulse that peaked my curiosity. It appears to be a tool that supports my definition of Marketing in every way, and not only does it do that using Artificial Intelligence to send emails, but SMS and push notifications too.
​

Delivering the Right Message
SendPulse has an A/B Testing feature that makes it easy to see what message is resonating best with your audience. It walks you through creating two different emails, allows you to choose what you want to measure (Opens or Clickthroughs), and analyzes which email is performing better. Then after a set time period of testing, it will only send the winning email out after that.

I recently watched an interview with Sarah Silverman on "Inside the Actor's Studio."  I find her to be not only a comedic genius, but a genius in general, so I was riveted to learn about her life and career. She said something very profound when asked about her advice on the writing process by James Lipton. She said, "write the bad version first." She went on to explain how you can get writers block trying to make your piece perfect, but if you just write the bad version, try it out and edit it over time, you will end up with something good.

I began to think how this can be applied to so many things in life, in particular the entrepreneurial process. There is a reason why we all love Nike's slogan "Just do it" - because everyone has dreams and goals and being given permission to shoot for the moon feels good. But, few "just do it." That's why I love tweaking this mindset to "just do it badly, then do it better."

OK, I acknowledge that doesn't work in every scenario if we are talking about selling something sub-standard. But perhaps your just do it poorly is trying your idea out on some friends and family for FREE until you have perfected your service, or creating your first prototype. Expect to fail, and expect to improve. You might just surprise yourself coming out of the gate.

When you are ready to turn that idea in to a viable business, let's talk!

OK, no one likes a bragger, but as a marketer, I am in the business of "bragging".
I need to find creative ways to make my clients look good to the right people.
One of the things I hear often in my Marketing Consultations is, "I have a hard time talking about myself and my accomplishments, it feels like bragging."
So then, how are you to write the About page on your website or your LinkedIn profile if you aren't going to brag?

Why do we hate unsolicited email so much? Have you ever asked yourself that? Could it be we have been programmed to do so? With all the hype over the Canadian Anti-spam Law and Trojan emails in the news, we are always on the alert when an email sneaks its way into our inbox from a sender we don't recognize. But, is it really all SPAM?

I have managed email marketing for clients for over 7 years. I see unsubscribe messages that make my toes curl. And the vitriol embedded in the rejection just seems to be getting more intense as time goes by. As with social media, when we can communicate incognito, we tend to use language we wouldn't if it were face to face. What I find very interesting is that often some of the most ungracious unsubscribe reasons given are offered by people who do their own email marketing. I suppose I incorrectly assume a supportive common thread among entrepreneurs. The adage "what goes around, comes around" is very true, as a small business owner you are your brand. If you get negatively personal in any kind of electronic communication, you may find others won't be so interested in what you have to say. But what can be equally damaging, is when an email is reported as SPAM with no reason given.