I got myself something to eat and was channel hopping as usual and between the election stuff was a lot of doom and gloom over with one financial crisis after another. I can’t hep but wonder how this will affect internet income. My writing business is doing very well, but my other ventures are just sprouting up.
With the recent government buyout, more people are becoming concerned. Over at Wickedfire there was a break taken from the usual party atmosphere over there and this thread, US Gov’t Bailout of Banks, got started. The thread has some enlightening information and informative links.
Wickedfire’s creator had a post back in March of this year, A Recession is Great for Internet Marketing and Internet Advertising Industry.
So what does someone like me who has a limited knowledge of things, think? I believe that there will be some who will bail out of the internet in fear, unsatisfied with the income that is coming in. That space will be quickly snatched up by those who are creative and looking for new ways to bring in some bucks. Sites will need to be relevant today and when things turn back around. It may be awhile, but they will eventually.
An example: Real Estate
- Poor economy-foreclosure and bankruptcy related pages
- Sales down or stopped-rental and rent to own related pages
- Good economy-how to invest in real estate pages
- Housing market boom-house buying related pages
All economic times are covered in the same site!
I will be taking my paperwork tomorrow to get my taxes done. So, today I prepared my tax information to take to my accountant, Linda Feltor.
I found PayPal helpful in that I was able to print out all my income from payment for my writing this past year! I didn’t pay all my business expenses with my PayPal business debit card, so I had to search through some receipts and go to my hosting company and my domain registering company to get that information. If you haven’t done so already…….get a PayPal account to keep track of the following for tax time:
- Income/invoices
- Business Related expenses
Those pesky fees that PayPal charges are all deductible!
Felter’s Accounting has a great tax organizing tool to download for free. It is also helpful for this year to use it as a reference to know what kind of information you will need at tax time and what kind of expenses can be deductible.
Get one of those file folders that have all 12 pockets in an expandable and cheap holder. Throw receipts in there with a little notation on the back to remind you at tax time what it was for. Keep away from extreme heat because it can damage some receipts’ print.
If you have some free time on your hands at the end of the month you can:
- Sort each receipt by type of expense
- Copy on a sheet of paper in case the original receipts’ ink fades.
- Keep a running total of expenses (a basic rule of thumb is to have expenses that equal about 10% of your income)
To really pay the lowest tax payment or to get the biggest refund that you can, an accountant can come in handy for consulting even if you can’t afford monthly service or to have one do your taxes. I learned enough ways to save money in an hour when I first met with Linda to more than cover what she charged!