Write Your Way to 6 Figures : Newsletter November 12th, 2021

Hello All,

I’m at a conference this week - specifically a writer’s conference in Las Vegas. It has been a long time since I have been to an in person event, so I was both excited and anxious. Fortunately, other than the mask mandate (and remembering to keep it on!) and Covid testing for travel, everything is pretty much the same as pre-Covid. (Las Vegas is certainly as busy as it’s ever been). The conference itself has been excellent - I’ve learned a lot and met some lovely people. All of us have been through a shared trauma, which seems to have made many of us more approachable, (and perhaps a bit more socially awkward :) )

I’m one of those nerdy people who likes going to conferences for the actual learning. And while this was a writer’s conference, many of the lessons are the same across all walks of life. Success is a product of hard work, perseverance and patience. Many of the authors here have earnings in the 6 figure range and beyond (which was surprising to me as I hadn’t realized what a massive market there was for books and the sheer number of genres and sub-genres). There is a formula that many writers use to achieve this goal, which is that one must write several books a year, usually as part of series. Once the reader has been drawn in, they are compelled to follow the adventures of characters that they have come to know and will therefore continue to purchase new books in the series. Of course, simply writing the books isn’t enough to be successful; you need to spread awareness by implementing a marketing plan, exactly as you would in any type of business. There are many different types of marketing strategies which range from simple advertising (primarily through Amazon and Facebook) to building a brand where you connect with your readers on a deeper level.

One of the great benefits of going to conferences, in addition to learning and networking, is that it takes you out of your day to day environment. You get to hear other people’s stories from which you can draw inspiration and stoke your own creativity. You see other people, who have the same challenges and how they deal with them. During one of the sessions the speaker asked about 500 people how many of them experienced imposter syndrome and almost every single person in the room raised their hand. It can be gratifying to know that we’re all trying to figure it out as we go along.

Deducting conference expenses are subject to specific rules in Canada and include how many conferences you can attend per year, geographic restrictions and the types of expenses that are deductible. My article discusses what you should know:

Small Business Articles/Tips

Creating the Meta-Verse As many of you have undoubtedly heard, the Facebook parent company is changing its name to Meta, as it expands its business to encompass its virtual reality offerings and likely (although not stated) to reshape public perception of Facebook. This article from Canadian Business examines the impact of changing your business name.

Tax News: Payroll taxes for employers are set to increase significantly in 2022 as both EI and CPP max contributions increase, as explained in this article from the Globe and Mail.

QuickBooks Tip - Tracking Conference Expenses: Classifying travel and conference expenses can be done in several ways:

1. All expenses can be allocated to one account, that you would create as an expense in your chart of accounts, called conference expenses. This is the simplest but lacks granularity.

2. If you attend more than one conference a year, you can create a separate expense account for each conference. This allows you to see how much you spent, in total, on each conference.

3. You can allocate the transactions to a conference account as in point 1. and create a tag for each type of conference or type of expense (eg. hotel, airfare, meals etc.) or even tags for both. As explained, in my last newsletter, you can then create reports by tag.

There are many other ways to do this. The goal is to ensure that you are able to analyze the data in a meaningful way.

Books and Resources

QuickStart your QuickBooks:
A comprehensive guide that takes you through the many features of QBO and gives you step by step instructions on how to setup and work with QBO day to day. It is ideal for beginners who have never used QBO before and also for those who are currently using it, but have questions or need guidance.

Small Business Tax Facts:
For those of you want to have a better understanding of tax, how it applies to your unincorporated small businesses and how to do your own tax return (or at least understand what your accountant does). It also includes a comprehensive breakdown of deductible expenses, by category, with somewhat entertaining examples.

FastStart Your Business
A step by step guide for anyone who is planning to start a Canadian business or become self employed (as a sole proprietor) and wants to know what they need to do or simply has questions.

Small Business and Your Dividends
Explains what incorporated small business owners need to know about small business dividends, differences between salary vs dividends and step by step instructions on how to file your own dividend declarations (T5s).

NEW: FastStart Your Corporation:
The step by step guide to starting your small business corporation, including what you need to know about incorporation, setting up your accounting and tax considerations.

Use discount code “special” to save 20% on any (or all) book(s) when you purchase from the website.

If you prefer a print version, all books are also available at Amazon . Note that print versions purchased on Amazon include a complimentary PDF - you just need to email me and include proof of purchase.

Free Resources

Start Your Business Checklist
Dividend Declarations Checklist
Small Business Tax Return Checklist
Business 2021 Tax Deadline Calendar
QBO Set Up Checklist.
Small Business Calculators
Previous newsletters.
Corporation checklist coming soon

Consultations

I also provide one on one consulting services. Additional details can be found here and here.

Reviews/Feedback

• I would love to hear your insights into existing blog posts, topic ideas for new blogs, feedback on my products/website or anything else that you want to talk to me about. You can use my feedback form or email me directly at ronika@montrealfinancial.ca. I’m always looking for ways to improve or provide value (to the extent possible) and this will be most helpful.

• For anyone who has purchased my books through Amazon or directly and found them useful, a review on Amazon would be hugely helpful (to leave a review you only need to have an account with Amazon even if you did not purchase it from there).

• Finally, if you think anyone would benefit from this newsletter, you can send them my subscribe link.

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Ronika