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The Quickbooks Resource Center houses some very informational articles. One article entitled, “5 Fatal Financial Mistakes Made by Small Business Owners” really caught my attention recently, as these mistakes are so easy to make. While perhaps making all 5 of the mistakes could prove fatal for your business, it’s important to keep a positive perspective if you catch yourself struggling with any of these. Change is possible after all!

1. Mixing Personal and Business Expenses

It can be very easy to mix your personal and business expenses, but it can create a lot of headaches come tax time. You will spin your wheels and spend more time than is worth trying to separate things out. Avoid this completely by having separate banking and credit cards that you can use exclusively business versus pleasure.

2. Hiring too softly

While it can be tempting to hire someone you know to fill gaps in your business, putting the right people in the right seats is critical to the smooth operation of your business. Don’t cut corners- use resources like networking groups and LinkedIn to search for qualified workers who will ultimately provide value for your bottom line.

3. Borrowing too much too early

It’s easy to get sucked into planning early on and have eyes bigger than your stomach so to speak. Sales projections should remain realistic and other avenues of investors should be pursued as well to avoid getting too deep into heavy debt repayment.

4. Being a Jack-of-all-trades

There are so many elements of your business to worry about- website development, marketing, social media, etc that it can be easy to lose sight of business priorities. Don’t be afraid to outsource the tasks that aren’t aligned with your particular skill set, even though you’ll be spending money, you can end up saving plenty of hours (time is money!) that you would have struggled through the task.

5. Forgetting to plan for retirement

While it’s often easy to get lost in short-term goals with a small business, it is still critical to plan for the long-term and have retirement savings occurring each month.

See the full article from Quickbooks.

Important Dates

While you’re enjoying the summer months, don’t forget these important dates:

September 17, 2018

  • Extended S Corp Returns Due
    If you got a filing extension on your 2017 S Corp tax return, you need to get it completed and postmarked by September 17, 2018.
  • 3rd Quarter 2018 Estimated Tax Payment Due
    If you are self-employed or have other third-quarter income that requires you to pay quarterly estimated taxes, make sure your third quarter payment is postmarked by Sept. 17, 2018 tax deadline.

October 15, 2018

  • Extended Individual Tax Returns Due
    If you got a filing extension on your 2017 tax return, you need to get it completed and postmarked by October 15, 2018.
  • Last Chance to Recharacterize 2017 Roth IRA Conversion
    If you converted a traditional IRA to a Roth during 2017 and paid tax on the conversion with your 2016 return, October 15 2018 is the deadline for recharacterizing (undoing) the conversion. Doing so could save you money if the IRA has lost money since the time of the original conversion.