Being financially prepared and moving from surviving to thriving.
You can’t control what you can’t measure. If you’re unaware you're on a slow decline this season, or from year-to-year, you may not be saving appropriately or pivoting to offset this decline.
If you haven’t been taking care of your finances, tax time can be a pain. You may have a large payment owed to the IRs that forces you to start saving and budgeting to cover those costs.
By doing these things earlier, you’re not putting yourself in this position where you have to choose between advertising and paying the IRS.
Even when it’s hard, if it's possible, you need to make it happen. This way you can avoid situations where you didn’t budget properly, and you’re stuck with a large sum of money owed to the IRS.
Since 2001, and even post Covid, the dance industry has been trending upwards. The question is this: Dance studio owners, are you seeing this translate in your business? Is this upward trend translating to more students, profit or revenue?
Are you bringing in more revenue, and if so, where is it going?
We all know the economy has been rough lately. Has it caused your expenses to rise? Are you able to trim any expenses? Are you upselling to current students, and allocating more funds?
These are all great questions to ask yourself, and great data to be tracking!
Last week, we talked with Amy Robinson about the importance of an emergency fund. If you feel like you aren’t able to set anything aside because things are too tight, we encourage you to negotiate expenses where you can. Phone, internet, credit card debt, and if you’re currently in a lease that’s stretching your income, talk to your landlord about renegotiating.
Here are a couple more ways to put more savings into your emergency fund: (aka, how to make tax advantaged decisions)
If there is anything you’re contemplating donating, do it before the end of December. If you have a flexible spending account, make sure you spend anything left over otherwise you will lose it.
If you expect to be in a different tax bracket, you may want to shift income or deductions between your years.
Research any available tax credits. (education, child, energy, etc)
These are things you want to start looking at now, so you have accurate data and can file your taxes properly and promptly!