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It's Not About The Money
It's Not About The Money episodes
- Tax brackets (and why they're not as scary as they seem)
Steve attempts a dubious analogy to explain how tax brackets actually work. It involves buckets, a garden hose, and a very tall ladder.
- (00:00) - Inspiration from a client's budget categories
- (03:25) - Buckets and a garden hose
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Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
13 min - Book Club: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Greg McKeown)
Steve might have too many things going on.
“Essentialism” by Greg McKeown provides ideas on how to focus your efforts on the things that truly matter.
Along the way, Tyler and Steve discuss a few aphorisms to jumpstart your thinking. “No is a complete sentence.” “Less but better.” “Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.”
- (00:00) - Steve might have too many things going on
- (06:34) - "Very few things are exceptionally valuable"
- (09:31) - Focused forward movement
- (12:32) - Unacknowledged workaholism?
- (15:05) - Evaluating opportunities on multiple levels
- (20:45) - Tradeoffs
- (22:46) - "No is a complete sentence"
- (26:55) - Intentional time for strategic thinking
- (34:15) - Who would this book be good for?
Links:- "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
38 min - Steve gets a letter from the IRS
Steve gets a surprise letter from the IRS, and it’s not good news. But with his wits about him, and with copious documentation, he’ll ride out the storm in style.
Getting IRS correspondence is never fun, but as long as you keep your records, have a good tax pro on your side, and don’t panic, it’s totally manageable.
In this episode, Steve explains the basics of dealing with IRS correspondence, and it’s less scary than you think.
- (00:00) - Literal guinea pigs
- (02:27) - Steve gets some ominous mail
- (04:29) - What went wrong?
- (07:37) - What if Steve didn't have his documentation?
- (09:27) - Open your IRS correspondence!
- (10:46) - Should you hire a tax pro to do this?
- (13:22) - Taking the deductions you're entitled to, as long as you can back it up
- (16:00) - Who's liable for your taxes?
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
21 min - Book Club: You Need a Budget
As much as Steve and Tyler talk about You Need a Budget, it was finally time to review the book written by YNAB founder Jesse Mecham, which explains the mindset and process of this beloved budgeting method.
Reading the book (again, in Tyler’s case) has already changed how they budget. Tyler has freed himself up to make quicker progress on his financial goals by simplifying his focus on true expenses. Steve gave himself permission to be less obsessive about his budget, and got ideas about teaching kids money management skills.
Links:
- "You Need a Budget" by Jesse Mecham
- "The Entitlement Trap" by Richard & Linda Eyre
- (00:00) - The virtues of paper notepads
- (04:55) - You Need a Budget, by Jesse Mecham
- (09:48) - Make budgeting sacred again
- (15:27) - Reframing "can I afford this?" to "does this move me closer to my goals?"
- (18:13) - Balancing True Expenses with the flexibility to budget for emerging priorities
- (29:14) - Budgeting for future months
- (35:16) - Teaching kids to budget
- (39:56) - What makes the YNAB Method different?
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
43 min - Solopreneur Taxes 101: From W-2 to Schedule C
How are taxes different when you’re self-employed? Steve discusses how things change when you go from a W-2 job to being your own boss.
The biggest changes are the way you pay your taxes (withholding versus estimated tax payments) and what things you can deduct.
There are a few gotchas and surprises on the journey, but you, armed with this knowledge, can go forward prepared to face them.
- (00:00) - On Resolutions and Journaling
- (06:20) - Set the scene: You have a W-2 job but are considering starting a business
- (07:57) - W-2 jobs and withholding
- (12:21) - Withholding vs. estimated tax payments
- (13:56) - Rules of thumb for estimated tax payments
- (19:52) - Deductions for individuals
- (23:49) - Deductions for businesses
- (26:19) - Self-employment taxes
- (28:46) - The way to avoid all taxes
Links:- It's Not About The Money episode 27: "The philosophy of tax deductions"
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
32 min - Retrospective: The first year(ish) of the podcast
Tyler and Steve discuss the first year of “It's Not About The Money,” including numbers (surprisingly not zero!), popular episodes, favorite episodes, paradigm-shifting episodes, and advice.
Consistency is probably the most important factor, and the barriers to entry may be lower than you think. Pursuing creativity for its own sake has been rewarding.
- (00:00) - Tyler gets mistaken for an older person
- (02:58) - The most important number
- (07:28) - Downloads, "followers," impressions, etc.
- (10:30) - Which episodes have received the most attention?
- (13:43) - Advice for starting a podcast
- (16:22) - Get better at it by doing it
- (21:42) - Steve and Tyler's favorite episodes
- (28:20) - Episodes that changed Tyler's perspective
Episodes mentioned today (in release order):- 3: "Do I need an LLC?"
- 8: "Bookkeeping: What is it? Why do it?"
- 9: "Bookkeeping: YNAB vs. QuickBooks"
- 10: "Book Club: The Prosperous Coach"
- 12: "To niche or not to niche"
- 13: "Finding a niche in HVAC, with Jeremy Wells"
- 14: "Book Club: Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey"
- 17: "Book Club: Psychology of Money"
- 20: "Appliance Repairs, or, What is the Client Really Buying?"
- 23: "Creativity and the drive to create"
- 26: "Implementing 'Getting Things Done'"
- 28: "Revealing our business finances for 2023"
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
33 min - Zapier and business process automation
What processes could you automate in your business? Steve, a software developer turned tax professional, talks through several automations he’s built recently using Zapier. Tyler gets excited about the possibilities, and the two brainstorm some other ideas to “work on the business” and free up time for higher-value activities.
- (00:00) - Tyler's annual review retreat
- (03:05) - What is Zapier?
- (05:28) - LLC consent form automation
- (09:50) - Podcast production automations: breaking it down into manageable pieces
- (13:32) - Using AI to write JavaScript (it got pretty close)
- (19:06) - Other automation ideas
- (21:35) - Choosing tools for their automation potential
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
28 min - Side hustles to start with minimal capital
Steve and Tyler have both learned so much from actually starting businesses, rather than just learning about starting businesses. So if you want to start one yourself, how should you begin?
This episode goes through some business ideas that need varying levels of skill and varying amounts of capital. Maybe one will spark an idea for you and inspire you to try something of your own.
- (00:01) - Steve buys a battery pack and Tyler buys some lightswitches
- (04:53) - Starting a side gig with limited capital
- (08:53) - Under $1000: pet sitting, personal shopping, music instruction, language translation, content creation
- (13:23) - Coaching
- (16:03) - Tax preparation
- (17:18) - Are these numbers bare minimums?
- (18:35) - Other interesting finds: medical claims billing, car detailing, lawn care, pressure washing, home cleaning, vending
- (22:17) - Home cleaning on YouTube
- (24:02) - Vending machine businesses
- (27:43) - Risk, capital, and experience
Links:- 58 businesses to start with $10k or less
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
31 min - Revealing our business finances for 2023
Steve and Tyler pull back the curtains, open up the closets, and get very vulnerable about how much it has cost to start their businesses.
Tyler proposes a rubric for evaluating expenses, which proves extremely useful: 1) Essential, 2) Have to Have, 3) Nice to Have, and 4) Shouldn’t Have. They break down what exactly is in each of these categories for them, as well as the totals and percentages for each category.
The last 20 minutes is full of introspection about the experiential value of starting a business and the various phases a young business goes through.
- (00:00) - "If I understand your inflow and outflow of cash, I know exactly what's in your heart."
- (01:55) - Opening up the closets on Steve and Tyler's business expenses
- (04:40) - Essential, Have-to-Have, Nice-to-Have, and Shouldn't-Have
- (07:26) - Tyler's expense breakdown
- (14:35) - The power of retrospectives
- (17:09) - Client experience, and other things we care about
- (21:44) - Steve's numbers
- (29:16) - Steve debates about his payment processing platform
- (34:58) - Growing and experimenting versus optimizing profitability
- (39:45) - Ratios of essential to non-essential expenditures
- (41:36) - Tool churn, operationalizing, and more growth vs. profitability
- (45:08) - Differences between personal finance and business finance
- (50:46) - Learning business through experience
Links:- Planet Money episode containing Min Jin Lee quote: "Economic fact in literary fiction"
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
55 min - The philosophy of tax deductions
Sure, that big business expense may land you a tax deduction, but that doesn't make it a good idea.
On this episode, Steve describes how the tax code is a tool to achieve policy goals by incentivizing certain behaviors. This might mean you should have kids or buy a truck, but don't do it just for the tax benefits.
- (00:00) - The Dad-a-Base
- (02:16) - Should you buy that truck for your business?
- (06:33) - Taxes as a tool for policy goals
- (09:34) - The philosophy of tax deductions
- (18:08) - Tax planning season
---
Steve Nay:- https://daybreaktax.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsteven/
Tyler Smith:- https://www.tylersmith.io/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersmith-io/
23 min
About It's Not About The Money
From the publisher's feed
Solopreneurs and small business owners: learn about leadership, operations, entrepreneurship, productivity, taxes, client creation, marketing, bookkeeping, and more.