Business Tax Deductions

I hate doing anything related to taxes, which is why I have an accountant. However, here are a few things to keep in mind throughout the year so that your taxes go as smoothly as possible and so that you can legally pay as little as possible. This is not a comprehensive guide, just a few suggestions for things to keep in mind.

Home Office (Overhead Percentage Based On Square Footage of Office Space)

Your home office is an expense that your business incurs, which makes it a deductible expense. The following list includes many of your home expenses that can be partially applied to deductions for your business. Check with your accountant for details and clarification.

· Mortgage Interest

· Property Taxes

· Home Owners Insurance

· Utilities (Water, Electric, Sewer, Garbage, Natural Gas, etc.)

· Internet / Wifi

· Repairs

· Depreciation

· HOA Fees

· Check With Your CPA For Details.

Section 179 Depreciation Deduction For Tangible Assets May Allow You More Deductions Than Usual For Tangible Assets:

· Applies only to tangible assets (assets that can be touched).

· Allows for up to 100% of the cost to be deducted in the first year instead of spreading the depreciation out over several years.

· This applies especially to equipment, machinery, and vehicles which can have a very high purchase price.

· Check with your CPA for details.

QBI (199A) Deduction (20% Pass Through Deduction) Is Extremely Valuable If Your Taxable Income Was Less Than $164,900.

· Applies to most “qualified” trades or businesses.

· Allows you to decrease your taxable income by 20% if your total taxable income was less than $164,900

· Check with your CPA for details.

Health Insurance Premiums

· Self Employed Individuals can write off 100% of their health insurance premiums.

· This applies even if your family is included on the plan.

· Even if the plan is under the name of your spouse, you can deduct 100% of the cost for the household if you are self employed.

· Check with your CPA for details and clarification.

Business Insurance

· Your business insurance is 100% deductible as a business expense.

Marketing

· Any expense related to promoting your business is 100% deductible.

 Home Office 100% Deductible (Not Overhead Percentage Based)

· Computers, Printers, Scanners, Software, Accessories

· Furniture

· Accounting Services

· Website, Email, And Hosting

· Office Supplies

Dealing With Burn Out…

This one is a little personal for me at the moment. I definitely have no legitimate complaints these days. My business is doing well, my family is healthy, secure, and happy. On the surface I have everything I’ve ever wanted, except time. As husbands and fathers we proudly and willingly bear the burden of provisioning our family with the resources they need to thrive. This, however, takes up an immense amount of time if we’ve set lofty goals and are truly trying our best.

Lately I’ve been feeling the strain of keeping the Handyman Business going, keeping the YouTube channel going, repairing vehicles, repairing my home, paying out unexpected expenses, along with all of the other myriad things that life puts in our path. The truth is that there are days when I would love nothing more than to sell the business, sell the house, and move my family out to a little one acre property with a tiny house and just wake up and spend the day with my kids. Today is one of those days.

Then, I wake up and remember that this world is not necessarily a nice place and if I want my family to be Bulletproof then it’s my job to make sure that financially we can weather the storms that are coming. This means waking up every day and doing what needs to be done even when it’s the last thing I want to do.

I want you all to know, especially if you’re experiencing burn out, that you can do this. Yes it’s hard. Yes it’s exhausting. It requires that we put our own wants and needs and comfort to the side and get to work. Every time you make that choice to get up and keep going you’re building in resilience. Do it 10 times and you’re a little stronger. Do it a hundred times and you start becoming a pro. Do it for a few more years and you’re untouchable. The work you put in today will pay off dividends tomorrow and forever.

I’m writing out this newsletter right now because I have a goal for this channel to become something that truly empowers men to provide for their families in ways that they didn’t think was possible. I know how hard it is, because I have done it and I’m still doing it. You can do this just like I can, and I’m proud to be a member of the club of men who wake up and do what needs to be done regardless of what we would like to be doing. You guys honestly are what keeps me going when all I can think of is getting out of the arena to take a break.

Take care of yourselves gentlemen. Take an hour for yourself after everyone else is asleep. Remember what you’re capable of. Peek in on your kids in their beds and remind yourself that every sacrifice you have to make for your comfort and happiness is going straight into their future. I love you guys. Keep on keeping on and reach out to me if you need a little encouragement.

Retirement Planning

I follow multiple routes for retirement planning. Truthfully I’m not where I should be and am now playing catch up.

1. Robinhood Roth IRA (I have no business relationship with them…yet) For the self employed, Robinhood offers a traditional 401K and a Roth IRA. The traditional 401K can be tax deductible in the moment, but when you pull out that money at retirement time you’ll pay taxes on all of that money you invested as well as on the money you earned. With a Roth IRA you pay taxes on the money that you invest today like any other income, but all of the money it earns for you will be tax free when you pull it out at retirement. Guess what…Taxes will likely be higher in the future. So I’ve opted for a Roth IRA. The great thing with Robinhood is that you can choose where your money gets invested. Mine is 100% Tesla at $50 per week, soon to be $100 per week.

2. Home Ownership - Owning a home isn’t precisely retirement savings, but given how the market has performed historically I expect to either retire with no rent or mortgage payment, or to be able to sell my home and downsize with a sizeable chunk of cash in the bank. As an alternative to selling, you can turn your home into a rental when you downsize with no mortgage to pay on the rental home. In todays economy that would be $1500 - $2500 per month of income. In the future who knows how high it will be.

3. Business Ownership - One of the reasons I take my handyman business seriously and don’t treat it like a piggy bank is because I expect to use it for retirement as well. If I manage to grow this business into something long lasting and profitable then I should be able to turn over management of the business to my children and partially retire off of the dividends. This, however, requires that I work hard today (see above about burn out).

4. Bulletproof Handyman - I envision this Bulletproof Handyman project as something that I will one day grow into a real advocacy group for small self employed home service business providers. Like any other business, if I work hard and do a good job advocating for my community, the market will find ways to reward me. Ultimately Bulletproof Handyman will be a brand with real value to it’s community and I expect that there will be forms of monetization that don’t include asking the community to pay. This can and should also be a source of revenue in my retirement years.

5. Homestead - Most importantly, my extreme long term goals include a piece of land (paid off) with a house and some small scale farming and livestock to self sustain. Very few families are truly off grid, but I do believe that I can build a life on a homestead that requires very little in terms of external resources to sustain itself. A moderate retirement check should be plenty when you have no rent, no mortgage, no utilities, and you’re creating most of your food on site.

6. Other 401K plans. I do also have a couple old 401K plans from previous employers that are still there. One day when I have the time (something I haven’t had in years) I’ll get those converted over as well, but they’re there currently earning some small amount for retirement.

7. Raising Great Kids - Perhaps the most important of them all… I plan to take care of my parents and loved ones when they can no longer do it for themselves, and I’m raising good kids to be capable of taking care of my in my twilight years. There is no job more important on this earth than raising good children who will in-turn raise good children of their own.

New Business Owners Policy With Next Insurance

I recently upgraded my insurance policy with Next Insurance to a Business Owners Policy. You can watch the video here. https://youtu.be/JB0Y1jq1Ox8 This didn’t raise my rates a lot, but it did bring a lot of peace of mind. Included in the upgrade is Professional Liability which will cover all of the biggest threats that aren’t directly related to accidents that happen on site including getting sued. Also included is tools and equipment coverage. Soon I will likely get my Commercial Auto insured on that plan as well but for now I’m holding out to see which vehicle I ultimately move forward with for the business. You can click here for a free quote from Next Insurance (my provider for the last 4 years) and the leader in the insurance industry for the trades. https://nextinsurance.sjv.io/PyVJGN

Charging For Estimates

I receive so many questions about charging for estimates and it’s not an easy one to answer. There are many factors to take into consideration.

First and foremost, you need to put yourself in a position where you can afford to say no. This means that you need to find more work than you can handle so that it’s easy to say no to window shoppers. Once you have that part taken care of you can really start to analyze when you should or shouldn’t charge.

1. For long term clients who always or almost always get your estimates approved, I don’t see any reason to charge for the estimate unless it’s a smaller job. If nothing else you can just add a few dollars to the estimate to cover the trip for the estimate.

2. I never charge for estimates if the client can send me pictures and videos that are sufficient without a trip to the property. Of course I do put in writing that if I find anything new on site that wasn’t covered in the pictures or couldn’t have been foreseen then we’ll have to do some add-ons.

3. I always charge for estimates from clients who don’t routinely get them approved as well as for new clients that my business wasn’t seeking out in the first place.

4. It’s only fair to charge for hours that you devote to someone else other than family. Your time is valuable and any time spent on the job should be billable time. Don’t worry about providing reasons why, it’s perfectly OK to simply say “We’re already too busy to be taking on more large projects and that is our policy”

Invoicing And Estimating Webinar

For anyone interested in learning the ins and outs of the admin side of the business, I’ll be hosting a free Webinar where I’ll take you into my Jobber CRM and answer questions and provide demonstrations of the software in real time. You’ll be able to interact and ask questions as we go through the process of creating jobs, invoicing, estimating, etc… To join in, just send me an email at [email protected] and put the word WEBINAR in the subject line. Once I have a handful of participants I’ll reach out and schedule a session. This is a free Webinar for those who want to dive deeper into the software. For a free 14 day trial of Jobber you can sign up here. https://go.getjobber.com/bulletproofhandyman  If you choose to purchase Jobber my link comes with a discount of 20% off for the first 6 months.

Prospective Client Introduction Letters

If you’re reaching out to property managers to sign on as a vendor, here are some helpful tips.

1. Include your full name, full business name, phone number, and email address somewhere on the main page.

2. Include total years of experience. This includes years of experience just being the guy who is always fixing stuff for friends and family. Example: We/I have a combined X years of experience in the construction trades.

3. Let them know that you have built your business around understanding their unique needs and excelling at meeting those unique needs.

4. Call yourself a vendor, not a handyman. Example: “XXXX Handyman Pro’s prides itself on providing top notch vendor services to our Property Management Clients”

5. Don’t waste space on your cover letter listing every job you can do. Simply refer them to the Jobs List that you’ll provide them later in the package. Example: “There is no job too big or too small. Please refer to our Jobs List for a comprehensive listing of all services that we provide”

6. Don’t sell yourself on price, sell yourself on value. Enough said. Don’t be telling them that you’re the cheap option because if you do, that’s how they’ll view you and thats how they’ll use you. They will send me all of the high value work and they’ll send you all of the low skill cheap work for cheap home owners.

7. Make sure to tell them that even if they’re not in need at the moment, you would be happy for them to keep your information on file. If they should even be in a pinch and need a reliable handyman on short notice they should feel free to reach out and send you the job. A lot of my clients happened because they already had my information and their handyman dropped the ball one too many times.

And Finally… A Personal Message

It’s been a crazy trip with all of y’all so far. I’m grateful to have all of you as my community. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know what kind of videos you feel the channel could use. Right now I have a thousand ideas but very little direction towards which ideas should rise to the top of the list.

Don’t forget we have another campout coming this fall, likely starting October 23!

Just a reminder that you can find us on the platforms below. They’re not all fully built out and active but I’m working on it slowly. It takes a lot of time and work to create a workflow to edit down videos and post them to all of the platforms but I am working on it!

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BulletproofHandyman

Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1146055450158909

Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/bulletproofhandyman/

Tik Tok at https://www.tiktok.com/@bulletproofhandyman

X Platform at https://twitter.com/HandymanHangout

Meanwhile, I love you guys, I hope you’re all out there killin’ it, and I’ll see you on the next one.

Ray Duke