E74: How “Paying Yourself First” Can Drive Up Profit Margins

Diane Gardner is the owner of Adept Business Services. She has been with Profit First Professionals since 2005, with elite certification as a certified tax coach. She also owned B-G and Associates from 1981 to 1992. With her extensive knowledge from nearly 30 years of providing tax planning consultation and bookkeeping services, she co-authored the bestselling books Stand Apart and Why Didn’t My CPA Tell Me That?, created the nationwide Get Off the Wheel practice management solution for accountants, and leads the Business Breakthrough Mastermind Group in her hometown of Rathdrum, Idaho.

In this episode, we talked about business income, tax planning, budget preparation…

Show notes

• Introducing Diane Gardner. [1:08]
• How she got started, and what’s happened to her over the last four years. [4:10]
• Insights on how large companies employ different strategies for litigation and other legal purposes. [7:09]
• The advantages and disadvantages of different business structures, and the questions one should ask before forming those institutions. [9:00]
• Diane talks about “piercing the corporate veil,” and what must be done to avoid putting yourself at risk when spending money on other things within the company. [11:35]
• Diane’s thoughts on 1099 employees. [13:45]
• The difference between tax preparation and tax projection. [18:32]
• Acceptable versus unacceptable ways of spending business funds outside of the office. [22:18]
• The likelihood that home service businesses are overpaying their taxes. [24:16]
• The limits of what you can do in your home office. [24:50]
• Tax incentives for business owners, and how to hire the right people. [27:45]
• The biggest mistakes business owners and professionals make, and what they can do to save thousands of dollars. [33:39]
• The technology to use for record-keeping in your business if you don’t have an advanced CRM. [35:27]
• The things that any good accountant should be doing for you. [38:23]
• The kind of work that a tax coach does. [42:39]
• The business breakthrough mastermind group that she formed. [47:25]
• Parkinson’s law, Mike Michalowicz’s “toothpaste tube” analogy, and the “pay yourself first” approach to business budgeting. [51:45]
• Three books on Diane’s reading list. [58:28]
• How to get more information about Diane. [1:02:20]
• Diane’s most important piece of advice to home service business owners. [1:03:29]

Resources And People Mentioned:

• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Amazon
• Google
• Facebook
• Yahoo
• Yelp
• Dave Ramsey
• Quickbooks
• Excel
• Neatdesk
• Ben Shapiro
• Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown