If you AREN’T making much money yet and you are trying to build more than ONE business… then that is the problem.

It’s pointless trying to make multiple sources of income if you aren’t making money from ANY.

Turn On Your Speakers…

Look at everything you’ve got going on and ELIMINATE some of them.

What are you most passionate about? Focus on that.

Get rid of the rest. I promise you that if you commit to mastering ONE thing really well and STOP trying to do too many things, then you’ll start to see success.

I’m sure you know what happens if you use a magnifying glass with a sheet of paper in the sun… the intense focus sets the paper on fire.

If you try to move the magnifying glass in too many areas, it won’t set on fire…

It’s the same with business.

I know many of you are struggling to make money and from my productivity perspective I know that trying to do too many things is the ROOT cause of it.

Look up the pareto principle (80/20) rule if you don’t know about it.

———————————————————————————————-

Early next week, I’m releasing a 24 minute & 20 second training video which will help you get FOCUSED on your tasks & business… look out for it and schedule in a 30 minute block to watch the video…

You’ll get back at least TRIPLE your time investment each week when you follow exactly what I explain in the video…

Leave us a comment below to explain your situation right now. Is lack of time your biggest problem? If not… then what is?

Committed To Your Success

Dave, Dawn, Kimberly & Gavin

TSA has been my baby and it has helped numerous people get More Exposure! More Relationships and Much More Success!!! With everything Dawn and I have going on in our lives, we have to first and foremost focus on #1 first. After that, we can help many and that is what we want to do PERIOD

TSA has become a little stagnant over the past several months and we believe we know why. Watch the video below and leave us your comments. Also, volunteer within your comment by letting us know specifically how you can support TSA and help it grow!

Dave, Dawn, Kimberly & Gavin

P.S. NEW UPDATE TO THIS POST 1/26/2012
Thanks guys for stepping up.

On the NEW updated spreadsheet, I created a NEW tab at the bottom called “TSA Volunteers”. Please take the time to enter your name in the area in which you are offering to help.

If you have additional positions or would like to see something else where we can improve TSA even more, feel free to do that as well by entering your name and suggestion there. This way, we have everyone who is willing to volunteer in one convenient location. Thank You for Your TSA Support!

Gavin has just launched The Empty Email Inbox Formula which will help you eliminate email overload in 10 minutes or less per day!

So, if you are overloaded with email and have too many emails coming into your inbox on a daily basis, then Gavin’s formula will show you exactly how to eliminate the overwhelm and manage your emails much more effectively.

When Gavin interviewed 17 Internet Business owners recently… some of the words they came out with while talking about their emails were:

I HATE Email, ANNOYING, overloaded, delete, overwhelmed, BOTHERSOME, unsubscribe, INTRUSIVE, Draining, a waste of time, CLUTTERED, Give me back my LIFE!

So, it’s a definite problem for many Internet Business owners!

How Do You Get a Copy?

The Empty Email Inbox Formula is free for a LIMITED amount of time… you can get a copy by going to:

===>>> http://tsamastery.com/blog/emptyemailinboxformula

You’ll need click on the ‘Get Instant Access’ button and then connect with your Facebook account to get access to the Special Report and VIP Members Area…

Be sure to download the special report, print it out, grab a coffee/tea, put your feet up and read through the report AWAY from your computer…

Then watch the video’s Gavin’s created to show you how to implement the formula into your business & life.

Do me a favour guys, if you find The Empty Email Inbox Formula valuable and it changes your life… be sure to give away a copy of the report to your website visitors, write about it on your blog, share it on Facebook or Twitter etc…

You can even add your own AFFILIATE links into the report to earn cash 24/7 when you give it away.

===>>> http://tsamastery.com/blog/emptyemailinboxformula

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the formula.

Committed To Your Success,

Dave

P.S. Please share this blog post on Facebook and let’s ALL help Gavin get the message out about The Empty Email Inbox Formula! There are thousands of people struggling with this problem and this is the answer.

P.P.S. Please leave us a comment below and let me know your thoughts!

So many time we get caught up in this online world and sometimes we (at least myself) need to step back a appreciate what we have and focus on what we want in our lives. I hope this little break will rejuvenate your minds and let you appreciate what we have here at TSAmastery.

During the next two weeks you will still have access to the 3S spreadsheet, but your counters and blog counters will be locked out. Last weeks Winners will be reinstated in their rightful position when we return on 1/4/2012. Remember, this is the time of the year for giving without looking for anything in return. So if you want to share the TSA love with other members during this time period, do it from the heart and it will come back to you many times over.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Dave, Dawn and Kimberly

The rules for business travel record-keeping are very specific and strict. Don’t panic though. This can be easy as long as you know specifically what to include and make it a habit to do it. Keep reading and you’ll learn both right here!

But first, I have to start with my disclaimer: These tax tips are based only on US tax law and as I am no longer a practicing tax professional, I insist that you consult a professional tax adviser before you begin to utilize the steps I have included here in this post. Especially for my great world-wide readers, consult your tax adviser to learn if my tips here apply in some form in your country and/or state.

The Specifics of Record-Keeping for Business Trips:

Your record-keeping for business travel expenses must include the answers to five questions posed by the IRS.

Here’s the 5 questions:

1. What was the money spent on? List each expense by name, plane tickets, taxi fares, meals (list separately), tips, registration fees, etc. (I’m sure I’ve missed some category examples so don’t think this is everything.)

2. When did you spend it? Dates and times of departure and return as well as date of each expenditure.

3. Where did you spend it? City you flew to, name of restaurant, start and end place for each taxi ride, name of hotel, who you gave tips too like “bellman”, “taxi driver” and “maid”. (You don’t need their given name for your records, but being a friendly relationship-builder, you may have that too, right?)

4. Why did you spend it? List the business purpose for the trip as whole and the business reason for each expenditure. The IRS is still the IRS, meaning not everything is automatically deductible. As we should have guessed, movie rentals and in-room mini-bar purchases are not deductible so do not go overboard here. We all really know what is for a true business purpose and what is not so use your common sense here.

5. Can you prove YOU paid your bills? Here you will need copies of paid receipts for hotel stays, transportation expenses (other than local transportation like taxi fare), conference fees and any individual expenditure over $75. Just get into the habit of always asking for a receipt from everyone. It is your right to receive one as a consumer. (Another tip here – ink on thermal paper receipts will eventually fade completely so it is best to photocopy these receipts once you are home so you retain your proof of payment.)

Answering these five questions is your documentation and it must be done within 24 hours of when you spent the money. The IRS can be very serious about this so make meeting this requirement a good habit you keep. Once you’re in the habit, it won’t be a chore at all; just part of your routine.

Here’s 5 Steps to make this record-keeping into a simple habit:

1. Carry a small spiral notebook with a paper-clip on the back cover or a notebook that includes an attached zipper pocket with you. Don’t forget the pen or two as well.

2. Every time you spend any money on anything (even on a non-deductible item, again we are developing a habit here), record it in your notebook using the 5 questions above, and save the receipt in zipper pocket or paperclip to the notebook.

3. Each evening (remember the 24 hour rule), review your notebook and be sure you have included answers to all 5 questions in legible hand-writing. Spend the time now to write any notes on receipts to remind you exactly what each receipt is for and the business purpose since it may be hard to remember later.

4. Put that day’s receipts organized in a safe place, like your suitcase or briefcase.

5. Once you are home, record the data into your tax deduction tracking system, whether its into an MS Excel spreadsheet or into a tax deduction software program. Then, of course, file the receipts into your organized tax filing records. (Don’t forget to copy the thermal paper receipts.)

These steps are a required part of taking trips that can become tax deductible business travel. Don’t think of this as a chore since it allows the tax savings you will receive when you deduct those expenses on your tax return. The payoff is well worth the time and effort. This also what every successful home-based business owner does to take full responsibility for their tax situation and therefore, pay the least amount in taxes as allowed by law.

Well, I hope you have been educated a bit during this series of tax posts on business travel. These business travel deductions are one of the advantages of being in business for yourself so don’t miss out. Plan your next trip accordingly and take the recommended action steps and you’ll enjoy your trip even more knowing the reduction in taxes you will receive on your income tax return.

As usual, I look forward to all your great comments below!

Committed to Your Success!

Dawn, Dave, and Kimberly

DISCLAIMER: Dawn Cook is not a tax professional or tax attorney. Therefore you must consult with a tax professional before implementing any tax strategy.

Anytime I do something, think of an idea, or even when I created TSA, leverage is on my mind first and foremost! Like I mentioned, there are many types of leverage and you need to learn how to use it to your advantage in any situation.

Manual Leverage – This is the amount of manual labor or effort along with time you put into something to get something more in return.

Money Leverage – Having your money work for you is a way to build wealth, but having someone else’s money make you money and even more powerful if you can find people willing to give it to you. Create and invest in knowledge and you will eventually have all the money you will ever desire. Invest in knowledge first and then in investments!

Education Leverage – As I mentioned above, invest in knowledge first. Once you have solid foundation on your subject matter, it becomes easier to implement anything you put your mind to. Education, Dedication and Attitude is Key to Success! Where have I heard that before?

Network Leverage – The use of other people’s skill, money, time, and efforts significantly improves your ability to succeed at building anything. This is one of my favorite forms of leverage and it should be one of yours as well. Using the talents of other people to accomplish a common goal is very powerful indeed.

Time Leverage – Time leverage is one of the most powerful forms of leverage as far as I’m concerned. If you can leverage you time, all other forms of leverage become even more powerful for you. This however usually takes the most time to implement, but once you figure it out, it can take you any place you want to go.

Now, how can we use these forms of leverage to benefit us all? I’ve been thinking about this lately and realize that we have something very powerful here at TSA, but have we truly thought about ways to utilize our combined leverage to make something remarkable?

Watch the video below and think about what we could accomplish working together.

Once you have finished watching the video, I would also suggest that in the comment section below, you might want to share your ideas what what you think we could accomplish working together. This stems other ideas and getting others to think about a future path. This is brain-storming at it’s finest and what creates CREATIVITY!

I know a lot of you are great at what you do and if you even had to think about it for a second, then you’ll want to be on this TSA Brain Storming webinar this Thursday night December 8, 2011 at 9pm EST.

Here’s the Webinar Link and Password:

TSA Brain Storming Webinar Link

Password: leverage

We look forward to seeing the TSA members who want to achieve more on this first ever Brain Storming Webinar!

***********************************************************************************************************************

12/9/2011 RECENT UPDATE TO POST BELOW

***********************************************************************************************************************

Well the webinar is over, but you can still get involved as we would love your input. With the suggestions of one of our great members, I created a “Storm” which is a way to share your ideas. If you haven’t done so already, visit this link and sign up for a free account to share your thoughts and feedback with you fellow TSA members. 

http://edistorm.com/storms/sort/11620/TSA_Mastermind_Webinar_Ideas

Also as indicated in the webinar, we are looking for some volunteer helpers to keep the TSA system running as smooth as possible. If you would like to contribute your talents to this great community, please send us either a support ticket or an email to admin@tsamastery.com with how you would like to help.  

Committed To Your Success!

Dave, Dawn and Kimberly

Contact Form 7
with Really Simple Captcha

This tried-and-true WordPress plugin combo makes quick work of setting up simple contact forms for your site!

Contact Form 7 is a simple contact form plugin that integrates with the Really Simple Captcha plugin (which was designed for use with it) to give you an easy to manage, stable, reliable contact form for your site, for free.

Both of these plugins are available for free in your WordPress dashboard -> Plugins -> Add New -> Search area.

In addition to what I’ve covered in this video, it is possible to do advanced things such as track form submissions with Google Analytics. More info on things such as that can be found on the plugin’s main website: http://contactform7.com/

Click here for a closer look at the contact form 7 code block if you need it.

As I mentioned in the video, your contact form is one of several necessary pages to not only establish your professionalism (as if that isn’t enough!) but certain ones are also required by law AND essential to Google SEO! Whew!

We’ll talk more about privacy policies, terms of service, affiliate disclosures and more in the future. Because of the tentative and fragile nature of those docs, they are something that most of the free solutions just won’t adequately cut and also why I cover my business butt with a LegalShield plan!

Pro Tip – In the contact form settings, set the subject line to something custom and then use a custom filter in Gmail to assign a label and an important/star to it when it comes in so you never miss it.

Questions? Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Leave them in the comments below!

Kimberly Castleberry, Dave & Dawn Cook
Dedicated To Your Success!

PS: (11-28-11) If like me you are a PrettyLink Pro user, you may currently be experiencing display issues with this plugin. I talked with Blair & Paul (who rock, btw) yesterday and they will have a patch for it very soon. PrettyLink Lite users should be unaffected as far as I can tell.

But first, I have to start with my disclaimer: These tax tips are based only on US tax law and as I am no longer a practicing tax professional, I insist that you consult a professional tax adviser before you begin to utilize the steps I have included here in this post. Especially for my great world-wide readers, consult your tax adviser to learn if my tips here apply in some form in your country and/or state.

Here’s a list of the topics I’ll cover for you in this post:
1. Should you use Per Diem Rates as a deduction option for meals and incidental expenses?
2. Can you deduct the travel expenses of your spouse if they travel with you?
3. Can I get any business travel deductions for a cruise?

Now let’s get into the details:

First topic —> Per Diem Rates

If you’ll recall from my last post, if your trip qualifies as Business Travel, then you can deduct 100% of your transportation expenses, 100% of your lodging, taxis, rental cars, tips and incidentals, and 50% of your meals on “business days”. Per Diem Rates, that government employees are paid, can be used if you are a sole-proprietor, a partnership or an LLC filing as a sole-proprietor for deducting Meals and Incidental Expenses. This is not available for transportation and lodging costs, but actual costs here may be higher anyway.

Per Diem rates are set by the IRS each year and differ per the destination city. You can find the current Per Diem rates for your destination city at www.gsa.gov/perdiem. You can find the per meal and incidentals breakdown of the Per Diem rate at www.gsa.gov/mie for partial days which are your arrival and departure days. 

Ok, now I’ll explain the advantage of using Per Diem rates for your meal and incidental expenses.
(Let’s give examples of incidental expenses here – fees and tips to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops and maids.)

First advantage: there are NO record-keeping requirements for the meals and incidental expenses — Now who doesn’t like that one?

Second advantage: the amount of your deduction is based solely on the established rate for the location you are visiting and the number of days you will be there. So what is the advantage here? You can take steps to make your actual costs for meals and incidentals less than the per diem rate deduction you will be allowed. For example, you can book a hotel with a kitchenette and then prepare your own meals which will cost you less than the per diem deduction.

And there’s another option that is very beneficial here – you do not have to make a decision until you get home on which method you will use, actual costs or per diem rates for the trip. You’ll then pick the method that produces the higher business travel expense deduction. See, the IRS does have some common sense for home-based business owners.

Second Topic —> Can you claim your spouse’s expenses if he or she comes with you on your business trip?

There are just three options that each individually could make the answer “yes” and one question the IRS auditor will ask.
Option one – your spouse’s travel is for a bona fide business purpose (he or she can’t just come to be company, that is not a business purpose)
OR
Option two – he or she is an employee or owner of the business (ask your tax professional to be sure these qualifications truly do apply to your situation)
OR
Option three – the travel and related expenses would be deductible business travel (as defined in my last tax tip post on business travel) if he or she was traveling alone

What’s the one question on this topic that the IRS auditor will ask?
Here it is: “Would you have paid for this person’s business travel expenses if you were not related to him or her?”
Your answer must be YES or you can not claim the expenses of your spouse who accompanies you on your business trip.

Third Topic – What about the seminar that takes place on a cruise ship?

(You may not be looking to book your cruise ship trip very soon, but as you build your business with laser focus and superb consistency, that business travel by cruise ship can certainly be in your future plans. So as you make these plans/dreams, you’ll now know what the possible business travel deductions may be available for this up-and-coming cruise!)

Well here we have to start with some bad news, but you’ll be glad to know, there is two other pieces of good news that I’ll discuss next.
First off, expenses for any “business meetings” or “professional seminars” held ON any foreign flag carrier ship are simply not deductible.
(I’m making a guess here, but it would seem a great business opportunity would be to have a US flag carrier cruise ship business, right?)

Now the first way around this non-nondeductible expense rule is if your business involves booking cruise travel for clients then these cruise ship trips would be deductible expenses for purpose of familiarizing yourself with that cruise ship.

Now I also know that many of us are not in the cruise-ship-booking line of work. Therefore, here’s another way that could work for many of us:
The solution here is to have the business seminar take place on-shore rather than on-ship. In that situation then, your cruise just becomes your “means of transportation”. It is true that your choice of transportation or chosen class of service has no effect on the deductibility of the business trip transportation expense. We must be careful though that our choice of service would not be considered “lavish” or “extravagant” considering the specific facts and circumstances. Mainly, we can go First Class, but not go over the top.

There is a significant NOTE to mention here though: You will have to justify the location of the meeting being outside the continental US, but your tax professional can help you decide if the justification is adequate. Please talk to your tax professional before you book your cruise.

Transportation to a business location by cruise ship is considered “luxury water transportation” by the IRS. On a cruise, all expenses, transportation, lodging, meals and incidentals, are combined into an “all inclusive” fare. Therefore, the IRS allows you to deduct 200% of the maximum Per Diem rate authorized anywhere in the continental US at that same time of year to cover all expenses. For example, the Per Diem rate for New York City for November and December 2011 is $367. So you would be able to deduct $734 per day ($376 x 200%) for using a cruise ship as a means of transportation to a business meeting or professional seminar that takes place on-shore.

So there you have it, three more topics that hopefully will help you better understand and take advantage of the business travel deduction rules.

We are still missing, though, one very important topic and that topic is the record-keeping rules that determine, in large part, if the deductions are allowable. So I bet you know what my next tax tip post will be about. So stay tuned and I won’t keep you waiting long.

In the meantime, please share this post with those you know who could benefit by it. I look forward to your comments below as well.

Committed to your Success!

Dawn, Dave, and Kimberly

DISCLAIMER: Dawn Cook is not a tax professional or tax attorney. Therefore you must consult with a tax professional before implementing any tax strategy.

Last year the members of TSA dominated this contest and why not. We have the discipline and culture of commenting on blogs and this is your chance to take your blog to the next level of exposure. Last year I was apprehensive myself about joining the contest worrying about where I would be positioned when it was all done and said. Needless to say we did pretty well, but it wasn’t about where you end up at the end, it’s about More EXPOSURE and learning from others.

Being involved in TSA you have put yourself out their looking for more exposure. The Top 50 MLM Blog Contest can do the same for you if you get involved and put your ego aside. Working together in TSA we have the opportunity to once again help you get the added exposure you are looking to build here on the internet. If we work together with the philosophy that “each of us needs all of us and all of us needs each of us” we are sure to see Much More SUCCESS!

I addition to getting more success in this contest, I am going to reward you even more through our 3 Step Syndication System. At the bottom of the spreadsheet I will be adding an additional tab called “Top 50 MLM.” There you will add your link for other members to VOTE on your blog within the contest. Also you can add “10 Syndication Counters” for each “TSA members” site you vote on. Doing just 5 of these per week would give you 50 points, but doesn’t count as a blog comment for your requirements. This almost qualifies you for the Elite group in regards to your weekly counters, but don’t forget your weekly group and the required blog comments of 7 which includes the TSA blog.

So now is your time and I want to see “ALL TSA” members involved in this Top 50 MLM Blog Contest this year! Whether you think your blog isn’t good enough for this contest or you think it is, either way you are right, but I’m telling you that it is and you deserve the exposure this contest will give you PERIOD

Click Here or Below for a list of the current standings, so get involved and VOTE TODAY! 

Committed To Your Success!

Dave

I hope you’re all doing well… I need to write to you to explain a couple of things…

As you know, I’ve played an important role in TSA for the last 2 years. I love you guys and have worked very hard to bring you the best systems, tools, resources, video’s, and posts to help you in your quest to build your business.

I hope I’ve been able to do that for you.

Right now, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on in my business and life… I’m in the process of building up my Productivity business and have been taken away from TSA over the last 3 months because of it.

My daughter Lottie is 9 months now (can you believe it?) and I’m spending a lot more quality time with her…. so trying to build up 2 separate businesses at this time isn’t a good use of my time. (For those of you who know me, you’ll know I recommend 1 main FOCUS in your business. And that’s what I’m doing right now… cutting back to go forward)

There have also been a couple of things happen recently which have also helped my decision to leave TSA but I won’t be discussing them in this blog post as it doesn’t feel right to share it openly.

Just to add to that,  I also want to say that I have really enjoyed working with Dave, Dawn & Kim. They are all fantastic people, with hearts of gold and I wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again in the future if and when things change in my life…

All that is left to say right now is… thank you for being such fantastic TSA members. I will miss you ALL incredibly, and I will miss working with Dave/Dawn & Kim also!

I look forward to speaking with you and helping you build your business, although it will be in a different capacity….

Your Friend,

Gavin Mountford