Five things I did to never worry about taxes ever again.
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Have you felt that sad painful tax feeling in your belly come April? I have. In today's instagram post I share about my journey of paying taxes and in our podcast episode of the day, I openly documents the journey of how I went from sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my boyfriends parents house my first year of business, to this year having to pay six figures in taxes.
Talk about ALL the things Taxes conversation.
Because I want you to feel GOOD about taxes.
Chant it with me: "I LOVE TAXES AND TAXES LOVE ME!"
Feel better yet?
Over the last three years I have done so much work around this area of my financial health that not only was I prepared this year's bill, but I was actually excited to pay my taxes!
#saidnooneever
But seriously.. I actually felt better about paying a six figure check than I did paying a $5,000 bill three years ago.
Perspective is everything right?
The reality is, being able to feel GOOD paying taxes has little to do with how much you owe and has everything to do with how you allow yourself to feel.
So lets talk about it. I want to help you feel GOOD baby!
So in this post, I am going to share with you the four things I did that totally changed my mindset around paying taxes.
My History of Taxes
My very first year of paying taxes in my business was absolutely painful. Basically, I owed a bunch of money and had zero money available because my business was making squat.
I had taken out my 401K when I quit my corporate job (I used that cash as a leg to stand on when I walked away from my corporate job in 2015.) And by the time tax season rolled around, I owed extra money because I withdrew my 401k early. And I wasn't making any money in my business so like.... that was a big problem.
I made it through - I borrowed from Peter to pay Paul and promised myself, "I will never have taxes be painful ever again." I made a promise to myself that I would make six figures that following year so that I would never struggle to pay taxes.
But here's the reality: "making more money" is not a solution to getting your head above water to pay taxes. You'll just owe more taxes. As a new business owner, this wasn't something I really understood at the time so I just hustled and busted my butt that year promising myself that I would make the money I needed to thrive.
The following year my business exploded. We made $187,000 and I had to pay $35,000 in taxes. OUCH. Basically everything we saved had to get put towards taxes that year.
When you run your own company, it can easily feel like the government is stealing from you when you get your tax bill. As entrepreneurs, we work so so hard for our money right, so when we pay ourselves first and then have to use all of that savings to pay the government, it can feel like we are being taken advantage of by dear old Good Sam.
That year, it felt like I was being robed by the USA. Still paying off my consumer debt, getting a roof over our head and buying our first home, getting married and going on a honeymoon we spent a lot of money that year. Yes we made a lot, and we did save some money, but the real honest truth is we spent most of it. The first year as a business owner when you actually start making money can sometimes throw you for a loop: You want to buy nice things and have nice experiences so the thought of saving to pay taxes AND to save for retirement can easily fall on the back burner.
And it did.
I pulled almost all of our savings and wrote our $35,000 check with tears. I cried a lot and then made another grand promise to myself: "Never again will I go through this pain of paying taxes."
So here we are, year three. And our business hit the half a million dollar mark.
BEAUTIFUL.
Totally magical.
And then taxes came......
And the $105,000 bill arrived....
And for the first time I SMILED. Like actually smiled.
But this year was different. This year I celebrated. This year I had the money to pay it off and then some.
This year, I didn't feel like I was being stolen from by the government. It was beautiful.
Five Things I did to never worry about taxes ever again
Here are the five things I did differently that drastically affected my relationship with taxes.
1. We put 30% of our revenue away in a separate bank account. This made a huge impact for us. For every $100 we made we put roughly $30 away in a separate private bank account that we couldn't touch. We set this up so that it was easy for us to move money into the account but was incredibly hard to take money out of it. We also made sure to do this routinely and in a scheduled way. My suggestion is to set a reminder in your phone to do this once a month at the end of your month when you tally up your numbers. Then store that money away and put it somewhere safe for tax season.
2. I changed my relationship with receiving money. As business women we need to master the energies of receiving money. When money is hard to come by, we feel like it is hard to make, and hard to earn and just plain old hard to grow a business. So we tell ourselves this story that we can only make $30,000 or whatever our upper limit is. Yet we are craving a lifestyle that is bigger and more beautiful and requires more resources and so we start to live outside of our means. By changing our mindset with the Energies of Receiving, we can finally heal our old stories about money. being scarce and we can attract pure abundance. Now every month I do my Good Enough. Reprogramming to recondition my mindset and become a money magnet for good.
3. I changed my relationship with releasing money. In year two of my business, I was a woman fairly new to wealth and abundance living. I had this feeling that the moment I received money I needed to spend it on myself or else I would never have the opportunity to spend money on the things I wanted ever again. I was uncomfortable with receiving money and thought that the minute I had it, I had to spend it. This is where a lot of business owners can start to live outside of their means instead of saving for the tax monster. After all, if you have a limiting belief that says "money is hard to come by," you will try to spend it the minute you have it. Demolishing your limiting beliefs is a big game changer. You can work through my limiting belief worksheet exercise to get started on reconditioning your mindset around work, wealth and success (I'll share the offer below for you babes).
4. I changed my relationship with letting money sit. Another old pattern and fear I had around money was that it wasn't safe to let money just sit in my bank account. Because of all my old trauma around money and people taking it from me (a story for another day), I was afraid to let money sit in my bank account. I had to get used to letting money sit in there and feel GOOD sitting in there. "It is safe to have wealth" became a mantra I used for a while.
5. I changed my relationship with taxes and paying the government. This was a. big one that I spent MONTHS healing and reconditioning. Growing up I heard adults complain about taxes ALLLLLL The time. So when I became an adult, guess what I did?
Have you ever asked yourself, "Is that belief really true?" or better yet, "Is that my belief? Or is it my parent's belief that I am just carrying around?" Choosing to abandon the old limitations your parents conditioned you to have is transformational for any human no matter what the limitation is. Not feeling good enough, fear of failure, and all the other limiting beliefs we carry are mostly conditioned in us by our parents.
And taxes are no different. I remember when we wrote our first big tax check my husband said to me, "Paying taxes is a sign you are making big money in your business. That's a good problem to have."
And he's right. Anchor into that belief and trust that paying taxes is a beautiful sign you are doing well in your business. Another belief I anchor into every April: "I am paying this tax bill and releasing this money and the universe will bring me back 3x more this year."
Love you babes!
Remember - taxes don't have to be scary. Walk yourself through the limiting belief exercise in this worksheet and watch your mindset (and your bank account) shift once and for all!
