INCOME and HOURS REPORT December 2015 WAHM Proofreading Amwriting Fiverr

*Check below the income graphic to find out my hours worked and how that shakes out hourly and after taxes.

Lets get some things out of the way before I show you my rockin infographic I made on the FREE site canva.com. Also, here are the figures for August 2015 at $1,658.

Here is September 2015 at $2,354.

Here is October 2015 at $1,448. (vacation month)

Here is November 2015 at $2,272.

December was crazy busy with proofreading, as youll see on the graphic below. Lots of Fiverr jobs and a couple of outside jobs found me as well. Ive done a ton of BlogHer work but that wont pay until March so youll see a spike then. Trying to get some of the regional parenting magazines to pay is really starting to make me mad and its time to work on the next edition of the book and make sure they get the boot so you dont have similar experiences. Ebooks did well this month only thanks to Kindle Unlimited, where you pay $10 a month and can have up to 10 ebooks on your Kindle at a time, switching them out with others. If people are grabbing my book that way and actually reading the pages, I get paid based on pages read and based on the pot of money of KU subscribers (I am one of them!). So if you get my book on KU, please take the time to flip through it!

WHO am I?
I am the homeschooling mom of 5 kids and wife to Aron. I graduated from community college at the age of 28 with a 2-year Associate of Arts general degree. My work background: waitress, hostess, secretary, office manager at various places. I got many opportunities to learn how to proofread but have no formal training in writing, social media or direct sales. I quit my job in 2001 to stay home with my first son and never went back to work in an office.

WHAT do I do?
Im a blogger, author of books, writer of regional parenting magazine articles, social media maven, proofreader, Jamberry consultant and Younique presenter.

Why I am sharing my income?
I like to show what can be done. I am able to fit in at least 20 working hours per week and usually more while homeschooling my kids, loving on my husband and taking the kids places to have fun (pool, sports, field trips, co-op, playdates, trips, etc.). I am not sharing this to brag or because I think I rock. I am sharing so you know that someone with no English degree can be a writer and a proofreader and make a decent income.

I recently decided to focus on just six main areas of income, as opposed to the way I used to do it, making pennies here and there in way too many online places. Diversification is still very important to online income for me, but by focusing on six areas, balls are not getting dropped and my time is more focused.

** I call Younique and Jamberry income "online" because I dont do vendor events or home parties.

STAY WITH ME HERE!
So what you see above is what I RECEIVED ... in my accounts and in the mail as checks. So a lot of that was EARNED before December. So what I EARNED in December is $2,279 and I worked 100 hours this month EVEN ... no joke! ... and Ill try to get better about tracking time I worked on my ebooks so you can see time put in on the front end of that for income on the back end eventually.

If you want to divide $2,279 EARNED in January by 100 hours worked, you get $22.79 per hour. Yes, that sounds great to be working at home all comfy cozy while my kids sleep and then they wake up and we homeschool and have a blast the rest of the day.

KEEP IN MIND, however, that taxes are not paid on that. And that my health insurance is through my husbands work. If you want to take about 20% off the top of that for taxes, just for fun, then I make $18.23 per hour. Still not bad and I set my own hours and dont work with people face-to-face, which rocks for my ADD!!!! I can make more if I rock magazine articles because I spent an hour or so on one and then if its decent it sells again and again, making my bottom line look AMAH-ZING!

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around. Some months I may have a lot of articles in publications but dont show much income ... thats because checks will often show up later and many at one time.

*This is the book I reference that helps me make money writing articles and also brings in a little bit of income all by itself ... I dont hit the article writing very hard because Im super busy with LIFE and MOTHERING and proofreading!

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Pros and Cons of Being an Owner Operator

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

View my Other Posts:

A Holiday Wish
Blogs, Forums and Other Resources
Texting Ban
The Way it Was - A Short History of Trucking

FAQ for the Owner Operator
Pictures
Anti-Idling Regulations
Definitions and Industry Terms
Blackrock Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)
Interactive Cost per Mile (CPM) Calculator Spreadsheet
Privacy Policy
1) Owner Operator 411 – Welcome
2) Income and Expenses
3) Financing and Credit
4) Operating Authority or Leasing?
5) Equipment
6) How To Do Bookkeeping and Other Necessary Paperwork
7) What You Need to Know About Loadboards
8) Companies That Lease Beginning Owner Operators
9) What You Actually Need to Get Started - Licenses, Permits, Insurance, and Taxes
10) Truck Driving Schools

Pros:

You are not tied down to a 9-5 job.

You can make a lot of your own decisions.

You can make a decent living.

You get to "be your own boss".

You get to see a lot of this beautiful ol USA (and maybe Canada and Mexico).

Cons:

You are not working a 9-5 job.  You will put in 20 hours days.  You will go without sleep, food, and showers.  You will do a lot of sitting and waiting.  Waiting to get a load, waiting to get loaded, and waiting to get unloaded.

You will be gone from home - a lot.

You must make a lot of your own decisions:  Do I buy tires, or have the engine rebuilt?  Do I take this cheap a** load so I can get home, or do I sit out here in the boonies for 3 days waiting on a decent paying load?  If I wait on a decent paying load, how much am I going to lose by not working for 3 days?

You can make a decent living, if you work your butt off, but it is getting harder and harder to do.  Every day freight rates are cut and you are forced to haul for less money.  Rates are no higher than they were 20 years ago, and in many instances, they are lower.  Most of the money you make will go back into the truck.

You get to "be your own boss", with all the decisions, troubles, and headaches that come with being a business owner.

I would like for any current truck drivers who may be reading this to add to this list by making a comment.

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A Fun and Lucrative Business Almost Anyone Can Do by Marc Charles

7:22 AM

Hi Gang:

Ive enclosed an article I wrote for International Living.

Enjoy :)

Marc

A Fun and Lucrative Business Almost Anyone Can Do

By Marc Charles

I discovered a fun and lucrative business almost anyone can do…from anywhere.

I say “almost anyone” because this is not for everybody. There’s some work involved, a knowledge curve and details that might overwhelm some people.

But, this business is fun, and you can do it “on the road”, in your spare time or work from your kitchen table if you want to.

The idea is to acquire products at deep discounts from more than a hundred countries around the world, and sell the products online at amazing markups.

The greatest obstacle when it comes to selling products online is traffic. You need tons of targeted traffic and qualified buyers (versus tire kickers). The problem is this kind of traffic costs money, unless you can piggyback sites like Amazon, ebay, CraigsList and other shopping sites.

Last week while moderating a forum I set up around this business, I was amazed how people were leveraging this business and making money.

One gentleman from Germany was importing colored computer cables at deep discounts and reselling them on technology shopping sites at huge mark ups.

A young woman, Jenny, is importing Christmas supplies and reselling them to other online retail stores. She’s doing this from her “pantry office” next to the kitchen in Calgary Alberta Canada.

The point is this is a fun and lucrative business almost anyone can do, even if you don’t have a lot of money to get started.

I also discovered a trading exchange that enables entrepreneurs to locate reputable suppliers in other countries and order from them directly instead of going through a middleman. 

I know dozens of entrepreneurs who are leveraging this neat business. You can meet them in this program I’ve developed to help you get started. 

Today, starting a business on a shoestring is much easier than it was 30 years ago—or even five years ago.

Theres nothing wrong with building a big business. I’ve helped dozens of entrepreneurs and start-up ventures do it.

But when you run a business from your kitchen table, a back bedroom, or even “on the road” as your travel you can greatly reduce the downside risk and expense.

Almost anyone can do this business. Plus, the weak economy makes this business even more viable.

Editorsnote:Remember you only have one more day to get Marc’s program with a $100 discount.Try it out. This might be just the right opportunity for you. Sign up to receive it now. URL

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C Program which takes n values from user and then sort them using Bubble sort

C# Program which takes n values from user and then sort them using Bubble sort

Program Statement:

Write a program which takes n values from user and then sort them using Bubble sort

Solution:

 public class bubble
 {
 int n, x, y, z;
 public void sort()
 {
 System.Console.Write(" Enter length of array : ");
 n = Convert.ToInt32(System.Console.ReadLine());
 int[] array = new int[n + 1];
 int[] temp1 = new int[n + 1];
 int[] temp2 = new int[n];
 System.Console.WriteLine(" Enter {0} numbers : ", n);
 for (x = 0; x < n; x++)
 {
 array[x] = Convert.ToInt32(System.Console.ReadLine());
 }
 for (y = n; y > 0; y--)
 {
 for (z = 0; z < y; z++)
 {
 if (array[z] > array[z + 1])
 {
 temp1[z] = array[z];
 array[z] = array[z + 1];
 array[z + 1] = temp1[z];
 temp2[z] = array[z + 1];
 }
 else
 { temp2[z] = array[z]; }
 }
 }
 Console.WriteLine(" >>>Ordered List<<< ");
 for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
 {
 Console.WriteLine(" {0}", temp2[i]);
 }
 }
 } 

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All About Making Money on Fiverr as a Proofreader Writer and More! WAHM

I stumbled on Fiverr.com in April of 2013 when I was looking for a way to make money from home online to pay off some mounting dental bills and other things and my husband had FINALLY given in and suggested we get Internet at home.

I was not disappointed. I immediately had a full queue of jobs and found that I could customize my gigs ... if I was not busy I could put my gig on a 1-day delivery time. If I was full up, I could change it to a 29-day delivery time to discourage new orders. Give it a shot. Its a versatile way to make money online.

Starting Out

I dont know if I just got lucky or what but people gave a newbie a try and soon I had good reviews coming in and more jobs. I was so busy at one point in 2013 that I was outsourcing, which was a total shit show (Im going with two words for shit show instead of making it one ... haha!).

I shut down my outsourcing situation and tried to keep up with the work on my own but soon had no life and my kids were eating too much fast food all summer. I got a bad review because I was hurrying through my work and it all went to hell for a while. It picked back up and then I overused Vacation Mode.

Just in the last few months I have gotten back on and made a decent income again. Ive done many different gigs on Fiverr besides proofreading so poke around to see what else you can offer. I put my delivery on at least 3 days so that keeps my orders low enough to manage. The main guy who does 24-hour delivery basically works full-time all day long doing small jobs. The client is charged $5 and you receive $4. At first I thought that was robbery but now I realize THEY are finding the clients for me pretty much so I will happily take my $4 for proofreading 1,500 words. I got more orders when my gig was for 2,000 words but it was taking too long to proofread that for $4 with so many non-native English speakers sending projects my way. Those projects just take longer because they require more time and reworking.

I have some Fiverr tutorials here on different topics:

How to get started as a proofreader on Fiverr

How to get started as a writer on Fiverr

Other gigs you can do on Fiverr

Payment and competition on Fiverr

Giving and getting feedback on Fiverr

Offering good customer service on Fiverr ... or anywhere

Heres my post on doing book reviews on Fiverr.

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My Income and Sources for April 2013

Total income for April 2013 = $438.69 (spoiler alert: May is over $1,000; post is coming soon!)

For the record, I have no reason to lie to you about any of the income I’m reporting, and the most underhanded, nasty, smarmy thing I’m going to do is give you my referral links so I can make a whopping dime or so off of each person who signs up to do what I’m doing!

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around.

I do not count my eggs before they are in my PayPal account.

Fiverr. I made $0 here in April, only because I didn’t sign up until April 16^th. You’ll freak out when you see May’s numbers. The majority of my income is from proofreading in the wee hours of the morning when my kids sleep but I also have gigs for selling my ebooks cheap, writing blog posts, selling reprint articles and promoting things via my social media outlets. 

Bubblews. Signed up here on April 26 and received $0 by the end of April. May is looking hella good, though. 

Regional Parenting Magazine print and online articles and reprints: $340. Yeah, still working on the 5th edition of the ebook (see right sidebar for 4th edition) and someday plan to query the nationals but am too busy on Fiverr!

BlogHer. Just one sidebar ad here made me $3.30 in January, $5.49 in February plus I got paid for a tweeting program for $50. They have lots of rules to follow, like you can’t have ads from anyone else on your site and can’t even post blogger giveaway opps. I only stay with my abusive boyfriend BlogHer because sometimes he offers me chances to review cool things for $50 or to Tweet a few times about a product for $50 and then he sucks me right back in. I’m pretty sure he’s jealous of Bubblews, though. 

AdSense??? I put questions marks because what I earn is all theoretical here. It shows that I earn an amount but will I ever see it? So it looks like I earned $19.22 in April from several blogs combined, but … 

Tomoson.com. I don’t make any money here, but it’s fun to receive free stuff in the mail and just do a quick review. Then you can either keep, regift or sell what you got! 

Ebook sales from Payloadz.com were $39.90. I also sell the ebooks through Fiverr but count those in Fiverr income. 

Here are some I’m trying out:

PostLoop. Signing up and getting started is a PITA, but I hope to be able to report back some decent income from commenting in Forums. 

LikeNation. You know how you enter giveways and have to like and follow countless people? Well, if you have your own sites that need a’followin’, check this out. You like and follow and get “points” to do it. Then you can post what you want liked or followed and can use those points you earned. So you’re trading favors. 

Come back to see May’s numbers because you will flip your lid! (Hint, as of May 19 I’m already at $605). Great, now all my friends will be hitting me up for a loan. Haha! 

*Yes, I pay taxes on every stinking cent!

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How to select Open Path and Unfilled Path in Adobe Illustrator CC

We used to have a plug-in to select open path at http://rj-graffix.com/software/plugins.html#SelectMenu. But it is no longer working in Adobe Illustrator CC because the plug-in is not updated to accommodate the latest version of Adobe Illustrator.

However, I have found another alternative for this purpose. You can use the Javascript (this is not a plug-in) from http://www.aridocean.com/illustrator-extended-select-script to select open path and unfilled path in Adobe Illustrator CC. The good thing about using this script is that it will not get outdated :)

Simply download the script and paste it into your Adobe Illustrator CC folder Presets/en_US/Scripts. Restart your Illustrator and you will be able to use it under Files > Scripts > ExtendedSelect

Many thanks to Arid Ocean Maps for this wonderful scripts.

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Get Rich and Stay Warm This Winter by Marc Charles

Get Rich and Stay Warm This Winter!

A Unique Business Makes Money No Matter What Happens to Price of Oil

7:11 AM

Dear Entrepreneur:

A check was made out to me for $12,314! 

I stared at the stupid thing for almost a minute.

This was my second check in this silly business.

Now….don’t call the “authorities” claiming I promised you instant riches with absolutely no risk whatsoever.

Come on…..that’s not honest.

There is MAJOR RISK involved in this market and business.

But there are ways to protect yourself, or even get involved on a small scale, and this should help you reduce the risk.

What’s more…..

There are ways to approach this market and business that’ll give you an “edge”.

One “edge” is to know the market by researching and studying it like a professional, not a weekend gambler or football junkie.

I’ll show you how reduce your risk (and in some cases eliminate it) and make money at the same time.

But first it’s important to realize this market is highly leveraged.

That means you can put up a little money in the form of “margin” and leverage or parlay this amount into big gains.

In fact, the futures market is the highest leveraged market in the world…period!

And don’t kid yourself….

You could lose your initial investment in this market and MORE!

So….study, research and learn from savvy professionals.

The market and business I’m showing you today is heating oil futures.

So let’s get started………

There are two basic groups of people in this market:

·        First Group:

Large professional traders, money managers, mutual funds and institutions (like banks, oil companies and insurance companies)

·        Second Group:

Small speculators, traders, investors and beginners

One challenge in this market is to understand how it moves. 

But there’s a closely guarded money making secret I’ll share with now.

Everyone has access to the same information, statistics, charts, and advice.

But novice traders and investors will trade anything that moves. 

As soon as a stock, currency, commodity, or real estate property moves to a new high, everyone wants to buy it!

What’s more, novice traders jump from one market to another seeking the next “big” deal.

I knew a wildly successful futures trader when I started in this business. He said something I’ll never forget:

“You could lose several fortunes if you don’t focus on a specific market”

In other words, when it comes to trading futures (or anything for that matter) it’s better to focus on the nuances of the market you are trading.

Most new traders do NOT take the time to gain an understanding of each commodity market.

New traders don’t take the time to watch how it moves, trading ranges, cycles, or seasonal changes.

Novice traders don’t have a clue where the “Big money” is in a market (these guys control large sums of cash…think hundreds of million or billions).

And that’s not all……

The heating oil market is super easy to learn!

For example, let’s say you expected heating oil prices to rise during the winter months (which it often does but it’s tricky).

Let’s say that you purchased one March heating oil contract “at the market” (this means at the current prevailing market price) at 2.05.

Your expectations proved correct and the heating oil market moves up to 2.65 over the next few weeks. 

Now you decide to sell one March heating oil futures contract “at the market” and grab in your profit.

A heating oil contract on the NYMEX exchange consists of 42,000 gallons. 

When you opened the trade and bought one heating oil contract it was worth $86,100 (2.05 x 42,000 gallons = $86,100).  

A couple of weeks later when you sold this contract “at the market,” it would hypothetically be worth $111,300. 

In this example you would have made a profit of $25,200 (less commissions and fees).

That’s a lot of money for most people including me.

But for some people $25,000 is chump change!

Some of the traders, money managers and companies who participate in the heating oil futures market trade hundreds of contracts. 

In this example, if you traded 100 contracts on this same pricing move it would have meant 100 x $25,000 or $2.5 million!

Let’s come back to planet earth…..

In order to trade a heating oil futures contract you’ll need to make a deposit – this is referred to as margin. 

The required margin fluctuates daily - but for heating oil it’s currently around $1,000.

Heating Oil “Cheat” Sheet

Heating oil is a flammable liquid petroleum product normally used to fuel furnaces and boilers.

It’s similar to diesel fuel. Both of them are referred to as distillates. 

Heating oil is also known throughout North America as No. 2 heating oil. The market receives a lot attention every winter.

In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a regulated futures exchange. 

This is the easy part….

A contract is an agreement to buy or sell an underlying commodity at a certain date in the future, at a specific price. 

The future date is called the delivery date or final settlement date. 

The pre-set price is called the futures price. The price of the underlying asset (in this case heating oil) on the delivery date is called the settlement price.

A futures contract gives the holder the obligation to buy or sell. 

This differs from an options contract, which gives the holder the right, but not the obligation. 

Options are an entirely different market, but they are another way to greatly reduce your risk.

I’ll cover some interesting option opportunities in the weeks ahead.

An important thing about futures contracts…

Both parties of a "futures contract" must fulfill the contract on the settlement date.

The seller delivers the commodity to the buyer. 

Or, if it is a cash-settled future, then the futures trader who sustained a loss transfers cash to the one who made a profit. 

To exit a commitment prior to the settlement date, the holder of a futures position has to offset his position by either selling a long position or buying back a short position, effectively closing out the futures position and its contract obligations. 

The majority of futures contracts are exited before the settlement date. 

Most traders in the heating oil futures market have no intention of taking physical delivery of the commodity.  This is a major point.

The only companies interested in taking a physical delivery of heating oil are those involved the heating oil business.

You can watch heating oil futures prices on all of the major financial news networks, such as Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, BBC, and others. 

You can also track heating oil futures on the top financial websites, such as Google Finance, Bloomberg.com, CBOT.com, FT.com, Yahoo! Finance and others.

How to Make Money with Heating Oil Futures 

One of the best ways to make money by trading heating oil futures is to avoid losing money.

This isn’t a play on words or a tricky trading rule!

In my experience avoiding losses has been a very big deal. You could become very rich over time if learn HOW to avoid losses and let your winning trades run wild.

As I showed you earlier, the heating oil futures market is easy to understand and even easier to trade. 

However, just because winter is around the corner and temperatures are expected to reach historic lows (rumors) this doesn’t mean the price of heating oil futures will rise.

In other words, it takes a little effort and research to understand how the heating oil market works. 

We need to understand the “ebb and flow” of the market. 

Historical price charts are a great way to do this! 

Here are two places to obtain

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iOS Tab Bar and Toolbar Icons

If you are an iOS app developers, then you will be needing a lot iOS tab bar and toolbar icons to make your app more beautiful and stunning. There are graphic designers who create these icons for a price, while some are for free. Over here, I will be recommending IconBeast Pro.

IconBeast Pro is a set of over 1000 vector icons which priced at $75. These are icons are ready-to-use for iOS app with retina display supported. These icons are not only stunning, but they are pixel perfect even if you dont have a retina display devices. By purchasing IconBeast Pro, you will be granted a royalty free license and you are also entitled to free update when IconBeast Pro adds more icons in the future. This is a good bargain.

IconBeast Pro | iPhone Tab Bar and Toolbar Icons ($75)
IconBeast Lite | Free iOS Tab Bar Icons (Free)

300 Free iOS Tab Bar Icons

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Genes and Heredity

Have you ever heard a news reporter talk about DNA? Reporters talk about DNA found at the scene of a crime. They talk about police finding DNA “fingerprints.” Police sometimes use DNA as a clue to find out who committed the crime.

WHAT IS DNA?

DNA is a substance that makes up genes. Everything alive has genes. Plants have genes. Animals have genes. You have genes.

Genes are the basic units of heredity. Heredity means all the characteristics you inherit from your parents. You get your genes from your parents. You inherit half of your genes from your mother. You inherit half of your genes from your father.

Genes are a kind of code. A tree’s genes tell what shape its leaves will be. A cat’s genes tell what color its fur will be. Your genes tell what color your eyes will be. Your genes tell what color your hair will be. Everything about you comes from the code in your genes.

WHERE ARE GENES?
Genes line up on strands called chromosomes in cells. Everything alive is made up of cells. Chromosomes are in the center, or nucleus, of cells.

Different parts of you are made of different kinds of cells. Your muscles are made of muscle cells. Your skin is made of skin cells. The code in your genes tells your body to make different kinds of cells. The genes in each cell tell the cell how to work. They tell the cell when to make new copies of itself.

WHO DISCOVERED GENES?

An Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel first saw inherited patterns in pea plants. He experimented with pea plants in the 1860s. One of the things, or traits, Mendel studied was what makes some pea plants tall and some short. He said that the traits must come from units of heredity passed from the parent plants. These units were later called genes.

In the mid-1900s, scientists discovered that genes are made of DNA. In the 1970s, scientists learned how to change DNA with genetic engineering. Scientists also learned that problems with certain genes cause diseases. Muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and hemophilia are some genetic diseases-diseases caused by problems in genes. Today, scientists are looking for ways to cure genetic diseases by altering genes through a process called gene therapy.

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6 How to Do Bookkeeping and Other Necessary Paperwork for the Owner Operator Permits and Taxes

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2000 379 Peterbilt

What You Need to Know to Become an Owner Operator

6) How to Do Bookkeeping and Other Necessary Paperwork
Permits and Taxes

 

View my Other Posts:

A Holiday Wish
Blogs, Forums and Othrt Resources
Texting Ban
The Way it Was - A Short History of Trucking

Pro and Cons of Being an Owner Operator

FAQ for the Owner Operator
Pictures
Anti-Idling Regulations
Definitions and Industry Terms
Blackrock Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)
Interactive Cost per Mile (CPM) Calculator Spreadsheet
Privacy Policy
1) Owner Operator 411 – Welcome
2) Income and Expenses
3) Financing and Credit
4) Operating Authority or Leasing?
5) Equipment
7) What You Need to Know About Loadboards
8) Companies That Lease Beginning Owner Operators
9) What You Actually Need to Get Started - Licenses, Permits, Insurance, and Taxes
10) Truck Driving Schools

Keep in mind that we have been doing this since 1972, so we will probably miss some stuff. If you dont see what you are looking for, just ask. It is difficult to describe something that to you is routine, but is all Greek to someone else.

Think about when you were learning to use the computer for the first time. You might have asked someone, “How do I find information about ACB company?” The old hand may have said, “After you open your browser, just type their address into the search bar.”

You were probably thinking, “What is a browser and how do I open it? How in the heck do I know what their (mailing) address is? What is a search bar and where do I find it?” To the person explaining it, they were very clear and made perfect sense. To you, their explanation was as clear as mud.

I will try to keep that in mind, but as I said, if I miss something, or dont explain something well enough, let me know and I well see if I can confuse you some more, uh, er, sorry, I mean clear it up.

My advice is to find a good accountant who knows the trucking industry.  The rest of this article is to just give you an overview of what and how expenses are counted.  Keep in mind that for every rule the IRS has, there are several exceptions. 

Where to begin? When I first started as an owner operator, in 1972, there was no such thing as a computer. Everything was done by hand! Can you imagine? At least we had adding machines, but I cant tell you the number of times we would spend a couple of hours going over a column of figures trying to find a mistake.

Today all you need is a computerized spreadsheet, or better yet a bookkeeping program. I first started out with something called Lotus. I am now using an old (2000) version of Quicken. It does the job for me, and I dont have any need to change. What program you need to use depends on what you need to track. If all you need is to keep track of is your income, expenses and mileage, any bookkeeping program will do. If you need to track information so you can do your own permits and fuel taxes, or if you plan on hiring an employee, you may want to consider a bookkeeping program geared to the trucking industry. There is a lot of trucking software around, but having never used any, I cant recommend one. If any readers have used any trucking bookkeeping software, especially owner operator software, please leave a comment and tell us what you use, what you use it for, if you like/dislike it and why.

Since the company I am leased to does all of the fuel and mileage taxes, and permits, we dont have a lot of bookwork to do, as we used to. We dont use an accountant. We never did. My wife kept track of the income and expenses and we would take the totals to a tax preparer to have our income taxes done. After finding mistakes for 3 or 4 years, and having to take them back and have them redone, she got tired of that and decided she could do the job as well as they could. She started ordering tax books from the IRS (now days you can get them online), and she started doing our taxes herself.

What kind of paperwork you will need to do, will depend on several factors. There is one rule that cant be broken, however, no matter what else you do: KEEP ALL OF YOUR RECEIPTS! For everything (except maybe meals – see later).

Before I go any further, I want to remind you that we are in the trucking business – not the tax business. Anything I say, you should have checked out by someone - an accountant or tax professional. See "Income and Expenses"

The information I am giving is just our experience and should be used only as a starting point, so you will know what questions to ask of your accountant or tax professional, and to help you understand what they are talking about.

How much of the following you, personally, need to do depends on how much someone else does for you, such as the company you are leased to, or an accountant you hire.

If you are unsure if the person you are going to knows trucking specifically, find someone else. If they give you information that doesnt sound right, call the IRS (or OOIDA) and ask about it. A good source for tax information is trucking magazines and organizations. Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is excellent – yes I am a member, no I dont get anything for plugging them. Most trucking magazines will run articles during tax season about tax questions specific to trucking, and some even have monthly tax columns.

If you are an independent owner operator – that is if you have your own authority, you will have to keep (or hire someone to do it for you) records for: every expense, all income, all capital (equipment) expense, miles run in each state, total miles, fuel purchased in each state, total fuel, and drug and alcohol testing (yes, even if you are the only person in your company).

The DOT tells you how drug and alcohol testing has to be done.  They have very specific rules about pre-employment, random, and post-accident testing.  The most difficult thing for the person who has their own authority and no employees, is the random.  In spite of what you might think, you cant just get up one day and say, "Well, I havent had a drug or alcohol test for a while, guess Ill go have it done today."  Oh, Nooo!  You have to select a "random person" on a "random basis" to have a drug and alcohol test, and you must keep very detailed records about who, how, when, and why.  The easiest way to do all of this is to hire a consortium. A consortium pools a lot of individuals together, pulls the random draws and does all of the required paperwork and record keeping.

As I said before, I am an OOIDA member, and I think they are one of the best things that ever happened for the owner operator.  OOIDA is a full-service organization and help with drug and alcohol testing for you, as well as help you get your own authority and permits. They have owner operator insurance, trucking and personal vehicle insurance, medical insurance, retirement, financing, and tons of information about the trucking business.  Membership fee is only $45.00 a year, which includes their very informative magazine, Land Line.

If you are leased to a company it depends on how much, if any, of the above they take care of on your behalf. Whatever they dont do, you have to.

As I said, keep all of your receipts for everything. If you hire an accountant, you take your receipts and settlement income (pay) statements to them. Some people I know put these receipts in folders with different categories. Some people will even total those categories, but most owner operators I know throw all their receipts in a box and take the box in to their accountant, complete with spilled french fries. Most accountants require that you take this box to them at least once a month.

The perfect way, although I dont know anyone who does this, would be to have a laptop, and enter each expense at the time you buy something, or as soon as possible afterward. I dont advise you to try to enter your toll receipt while driving (ha, ha).

If you are going to be keeping the books yourself, whether or not you do your own taxes, you should enter everything as soon as you can – usually at least weekly. It is so easy to put it off and the first thing you know, it is tax time, and you havent made but one or two months worth of entries.

What records you keep and how you keep them will depend on what type of entity you are. Are you a sole proprietor, a partnership, a LLC, an S corporation, or a corporation? Most likely you will be a LLC.

If you are a sole proprietor, you will use your social security number as your tax number. For all other entities, your will have to file Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number - EIN (you can also file for a EIN online). Its FREE!

If you are a sole (single) proprietor (owner) it is fairly easy to keep records, as everything is 100% yours, income and expenses.

You are also 100% "at risk", meaning all debts, but more importantly, all judgments against your business. In other words, if someone wins a lawsuit against your business, even if your business files bankruptcy, you are still liable for the debts.

You are required to file a Form 1040 Schedule C (or C-EZ) - profit or loss from a business - sole proprietorship, and a Schedule SE - self-employment.

If you are a partnership, it becomes a little more complicated.  How is the partnership split?  50/50? 60/40? Something else?  It makes a difference when you file your taxes.  If it is 50/50 and you buy a $100,000 truck, each of you owns $50,000 worth of the truck.  Each of you will share 50% of the income.  If you financed the truck, then each of you is responsible for 50% of the debt.  Now apply that to 60/40 or some other percentage.  See, it is getting a little more complicated.  Now are both of you active partners?  An active partner is one who participates in the partnership.  For example, you drive and your spouse does the bookwork and record keeping.  You are both active partners.  However, if you drive and you hire an accountant, and your spouse doesnt do anything else, then your spouse is a passive partner, but if you and your spouse drive team, then you are both active partners.  Another example:  Your brother paid for the truck and wants a percentage of the profits in return, but you do all of the driving, maintenance, and everything else.  He is a passive partner.  Now, what if you have more than one partner? Some of them could be active and some could be passive.

Which partners are "at risk", and for how much? Are any of them guaranteed a set payment, no matter how much the partnership nets?

You are required to file a Form 1065 (with a Schedule K) - partnership, and give a Schedule K-1 to each partner. 

The partnership does not pay taxes.  It passes all profits and losses on to the partners using a Schedule K-1.  Each partner is required to file on their Form 1040, a Schedule E - supplemental income and loss, and a Schedule SE - self-employment. Each partner then takes his share of profits or losses on their Form 1040 based on the amounts on the Schedule K-1.

A LLC is a Limited Liability Company.  It used to be that if you werent a sole proprietor or a partnership, then you had to be a corporation or S corporation (small corporation).

Now they have the LLCs (Limited Liability Corporation) which is a relatively new business structure allowed by state statute.

LLCs are popular because, similar to a corporation, owners have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC.  The reason the owners have limited personal liability is because the LLC is required to carry liability insurance usually for about one million dollars.

Other features of LLCs are more like a partnership, providing management flexibility and the benefit of pass-through taxation (the LLC doesnt pay taxes, but "passes through" the tax liability to each member).

Owners of an LLC are called members. Since most states do not restrict ownership, members may include individuals, corporations, other LLCs and foreign entities.  There is no maximum number of members. Most states also permit “single member” LLCs, those having only one owner.  Some kind of "Articles of Organization" with your state will be required before becoming an LLC.  A limited liability partnership is called a LLP.

Individual members file a Schedule C, partnership members file a Form 1065, and corporations file a Form 1120 or 1120S.

All of this may make a difference in how you track your expenses and income.

When you become an owner operator, you become a businessman, excuse me, businessperson, and you also for some purposes become an employer (even if you dont hire an employee). Because of that, you must pay self-employment taxes on your earned income, which consists of both the employer and employee share of taxes (you are, in effect, hiring yourself). These must be paid to both the Federal and State tax departments. On the other hand, you get to deduct amounts for an IRA (Individual Retirement Account), a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) plan, health insurance, and 1/2 of your self employment taxes. There may be limits on some of these deductions, so be sure to check it out.

Speaking of being an employer, you can pay your children to wash your truck, your spouse to keep the books, or mother to be a co-driver. These payments are deductible, but you have to pay employer taxes on the amount you pay them (unless one or all are co-owners), and they have to pay income tax on what they earn from you.

On the subject of spouses, if you and your spouse share management decisions, you are automatically considered a partnership by the IRS, unless you elect not to be.  If only only of the spouses makes the decisions, and you dont have any other partners, then you will be a sole proprietor and you can hire your spouse, such as to do the bookkeeping.  If you do not "opt out" of being a partnership with your spouse, then you have to file a partnership return (Form 1065), an you each share in the expenses and income on a Schedule K-1.   See:  IRS site:  "Husband and Wife Business" for details.

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