30 Day CHALLENGE- Log What You Spent

In the spirit of transforming in the New Year, I propose a challenge to everyone who wants to partake…

In the spirit of making a difference in our lives and in our world, for the next 30-days let's track our daily expenses vs. income and calculate the net for the month…

This is a practice of bringing heightened awareness to how you are relating to the money you already have, so that we know definitively what we are doing, observe the trends/habits/addictions, and move into a balanced budget where we begin touching our dreams.

1. Every day write down in a log, excel spreadsheet or quicken what you spent money on and what you made (when applicable).

2. Determine whether you are positive or negative

3. Check off the days on a calendar

4. Email me (or post a comment) each week as your progress, hit snags, rough patches. The trick is to keep picking yourself back up.

Tips: you can keep a little note pad or keep your receipts so you can remind yourself at the end of the day what you spent. Don't take it too seriously, have fun!, watch what shows up. Invite a friend to do this with you or share this with them and ask them to hold you accountable.

Honoring your commitments to your self is ground zero for so many things in life. Personal Integrity is the life spring of lasting peace and joy!

If you want a sample spreadsheet and/or financial sobriety worksheet email me at: info@thegreenbookkeeper.com

If you have any other tips or questions please email or post as a comment on the blog.

This can work for your personal finances and/or your business to bring you into greater awareness and transition you into making conscious choices that better serve your higher goals, dreams, family, community and on outward.

The greatest need in our financial system is oversight and accountability and that starts from the bottom up. We can make more with less, live brighter lives more simply, together, free of all the poor habits that no longer serves us.

Blessings ahead… Tye Kirk

PS. One of the greatest obstacles is the rationalization/misbelief that we will start saving when we get more money. As reported in The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley- that rarely ever happens. Start today with what you already have and build the habits and practices that lift you out of this what Paul Krugman recently referred to as "Deep Hole Economics".

DEAD-Lines October 15/31, tick, tick, tick~LIVE~!

Are you walking the line? Did you forget something?

Below are important deadlines, but there is so much more waiting, ready- when you are. This is a busy month AND you can't afford to put off getting your life on track--(NOT ANOTHER SECOND). Don’t get stuck using 2011 income to pay 2010 taxes. Worst of all, if you wait, you prolong the deadening swirl of unknown, gripping fear, and lurking despair-- a mess toeing disaster... Well, here is a shining ray of Green Light for you and/or your business.

It takes a systematic approach to move from mess to Success & missing deadlines to Making Headlines.

• 6 Month Tax Extensions October 15, 2010. Final Deadline to file 2009 Individual Income Tax Returns (with extension)
• Sales Tax Liability October 31, 2010. Sales Tax Payments due for businesses.
• Employer Tax October 31, 2010. Payments are due October 31st
• Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments for 2010 Income Tax are due Apr 15, Jun 15, Sept 15, Jan 15

First deadline, your 2009 Income Tax Return (with extension) is due and you are at risk of paying penalties and interest if you miss this deadline.

Second deadline, I suggest paying Quarterly Sales and Use Tax Payments online at:

https://efile.boe.ca.gov/boe/express_login_code.jsp

It's quick and easy. All you need is your express login # off the form they mail out and the quarterly info from your income statement. Remember to print a copy/save the pdf.

Thirdly, for Employer Tax you need the 941-V, Payment Voucher, DE-6 Quarterly Wage and Withholding Report (California), and DE-88 Payroll Tax Deposit (California)

Fourth deadline, if you make self employed income you may need to make quarterly payments to avoid owing big come April 15th. Use the 1040-ES & 540-ES Voucher (California)

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

http://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/02_forms/02_540es.pdf

Plan ahead, budget now, so you can Green Light Your Dreams...

Tye Kirk

Know your Numbers, Live Rich!

310-922-4419

info@TheGreenBookkeeper.com

www.TheGreenBookkeeper.com

Punchin' the Clock...

Punchin' the Clock...Whenever the issue becomes about time- 2hrs i lost here, 3 hrs i'm missing out on over there: It's Contraction not Expansion, Warrior not King, It is ego acting out like the scared, bewildered, confused boy it is... From this small, defeated place not even a million extra hours could change a thing.

If your stuck down in a hole - quit digging.

Tye Kirk
Know your Numbers, Live Rich!
310-922-4419
info@TheGreenBookkeeper.com
www.TheGreenBookkeeper.com

Workin’ hard or hardly workin?

I recently asked 3 people this question and got 3 very different answers....

Are You Workin’ Hard or Hardly Workin’?

A colleague replied, "Workin’ very hard!" With a mix of pride, obligation and desperation like a cornered wolf.

A friend replied a different way, she said "yeah I’m workin’ my ass off and it never seems like I can catch up and my to do list is taller then me and I…" And then something clicked and she said, "And you know what, I am doing my best, and I love all that I am learning and I wouldn’t trade it for anything…"

Suddenly, she had a totally different view of her situation. She caught herself mid-sentence and changed her whole mood, attitude and outlook on life.

Without explaining herself or what happened. Or apologizing. And seemingly not even noticing, she transformed. I felt the difference like night and day. And it was stunning.

A third person, a co-worker of mine is this blatantly chipper, ridiculously bubbly go getter-day-after-day…and I love it! It’s contagious and I love those days working with her. I glimpse another world sometimes when mine is off kilter. She infects me with her joy virus and the rest of the day I am smiling and laughing for no reason. I don’t thank her, but I make sure I give her the same enthusiasm back.

The heaviness of work is a loaded question. How come different people respond to their work in different ways? And I ask myself does work really need to be hard?

For some reason I don’t quite understand why I love my work. I work hard in the traditional sense of working long hours: 40+, some weekends, some nights, whatever it takes to get everything done. But I like it and I’m good at it and as long as I take breaks and exercise and eat smart I feel good.

I noticed a shift out of working hard as a draining, ox-pulling-a-cart phenomenon when I resolved the question of always doubting and second guessing what my life purpose was… I realized that the answer was staring me in the face… “Follow your bliss” and suddenly it dawned on me I looked up from my laptop, smiling, totally immersed in my work and the challenge and discovery of the moment and there it was the clue and I was awake enough to recognize it shining through- I love what I am doing.

I see that this might not be forever but for right now it is golden and I don’t have to cast it away to find the perfect thing. I can just build on what I already know I love. In this moment I surrendered and everything opened up.

The chronic tension I’d been experiencing for years wasn’t from the work, the tension was from self doubt that I could bring value and raise my game and thinking I needing to please people. All kinds of mind spells I was casting on myself.

So I paid attention to this little intuitive voice from within and followed my bliss and committed and all I had to do was keep improving the quality of my work.

I love what I am doing
I love the mystery of numbers and moving them and grouping them and seeing patterns and finding answers in them
I love that I am seeing big growth spurts in every area of my company,
Most of all I love delivering impeccable, on time, vital info that often times has a huge impact on the day to day operations of the company.

When I am squarely in this place I am working hard and hardly working.

Tye Kirk
Know your Numbers, Live Rich!
310-922-4419
info@TheGreenBookkeeper.com
www.TheGreenBookkeeper.com

Biz Start-Up Video

Finding my Motivation: Living in the Question

You can go backwards,
You can go back and forth,
You can rest and come back later,
But don’t ever back down.

How do you find motivation? In life, in work, in attaining your dreams?

Are you right now highly Involved, fully Engaged in what you are putting your time, energy, and life blood? Are you ripping off the covers to get out of bed in the morning?

This is something that has been coming up a lot for me this week: (see video blog)

For the past 6 weeks and counting I have been uncharacteristically highly motivated… I wake up early invigorated, invested, cracklin’ to get started. I do my morning health and wellness routine, eat a lite breakfast and then I set out doing whatever building my business calls for: the work, the visioning, the marketing, the critiquing, the billing, the emailing, the strategizing and scheduling.

What is making this month different than in previous months over the last several years of inconsistently following through on my plans and goals to build my business and follow through on a number of creative projects? Does starting something with a lot of flurry and eventually falling flat after 3 weeks sound familiar to you?

I don’t know the answer, but I ask myself: if I did know the answer then… I would say it’s one main thing and a constellation of little impactful things that add up big over the long run.

The little dipper of impactful things is composed of a consistent daily practice of Deep Self care- Cutting out the bullshit- Getting help & -Clearing the decks.

Specifically, I accomplish this through doing & being: eating right, exercising right, replenishing spiritually, connecting authentically with people, doing what’s most scary, tracking my time, following intuition, taking breaks before i need them, acknowledging my wins & what I am grateful for, setting intentions to be of service, asking for help, being held accountable, honoring my commitments, cultivating a sense of compassion throughout the day, and creating work routines. These are little, everyday practices that have helped me transform my relationship with work, minimizing the stress and maximizing the joy I feel throughout my day regardless of the deadlines, breakthroughs or set backs.

This last week was a great example. Everyday I had done my yoga practice before work and come Friday, the day of a big deadline, I had to really focus in and innovate a whole new system for how the client would track expenses and more succinctly measure profitability. I flowed through the work with no body tension and received just enough creative bursts that the project came together just-in-time, practically on its own with no “hard work”. The client was delighted and I remained at ease, in service and in awe with the process and my new levels of creative output and quality of work.

The one main North Star thing that is different in my approach to work and building The Green Bookkeeper Co. is that I am determined to do new things everyday and to do old things in new ways. Said another way I am committed to bringing heightened awareness to what I am doing and discovering new and improved ways of getting my work done. My whole orientation to work has shifted as I notice myself feeling fascinated about my work. It’s a shake up. I am not just going thru the motions- everyday is new and on the brink of another innovative creative explosion.

Ultimately, I notice I am living in the question, instead of living like I already know it all, asking myself: How could this be better? What else is needed to improve the quality and volume of my product and services?

It is exciting going through life curious with passion to learn more and at greater depth about what I am doing. This is a subtle distinction but the effect on my everyday life experience and work experience is astounding.

As a self-employed man with my own company I don’t have the luxury of a boss to keep me in line and light a firecracker under my ass everytime I show up late to my desk & sluff off in my duties. Its up to me and I am choosing to step up to the challenge and head out into new territory, everyday discovering a new piece to the puzzle called The Green Bookkeeeper Co. & the bigger Puzzle called Life.

Starting a Business is the Work of an Artist

Starting a business is the work of an artist- it is a creative endeavor– and it takes a strong desire and unquenchable thirst, a willingness to go the distance and dive into the unknown. Your success, in whatever form you define it, requires you to bear witness to your unfolding and surrender to the lessons and continue to pick up the pieces and fine-toothed comb the rubble. You better beg the gods for guidance and go along for the ride- flirt with destiny – step into bigger shoes, and each and every day decide to choose mastery and put back on the beginner’s robe.

I ask you for the same level of commitment I ask of myself: “Choose nothing less than to create a masterpiece.”

Tye Kirk
Know your Numbers, Live Rich!
310-922-4419
Info@TheGreenBookkeeper.com
www.TheGreenBookkeeper.com