Easy Ways to Have More Disposable Income
/As a wellness pro you understand better than anyone that money doesn’t drive you! Other factors like energy and time are more important in your life. So why care about increasing your disposable income? Truthfully, because increasing your disposable income will directly impact your time and energy. A means to an end; more money leads to more time for self-care, more energy to grow your practice, and more freedom to do what you want.
So how do you go about increasing your disposable income? Before we dive in, let’s make sure we’re on the same page.
Revenue, expenses and income are three words we’ll use a lot here. Revenue is how much money you bring in. Expenses represent how much money you spend. The gap between the two is your income; the wider the gap, the more money you have left over to spend or save, aka your disposable income. Read on for easy ways to widen this gap!
Sell a product or service online
Increasing your disposable income should be all about reaping the rewards of extra energy and time – so when considering launching an online product or service you want to keep it very simple. Yes this will bring in more money but you don’t need to re-create the wheel to do so. Consider low overhead options that are easy to put together, don’t cost you much, and can be easily marketed to your existing clientele. Something like a simple eBook is ideal – a fertility eating guide, a recipe book for regulating hormones, or an exercise guide for back pain are all great examples.
Cut back on flexible expenses
Flexible expenses include anything you spend money on that isn’t a necessity. We’re talking things like that expensive dinner out, those 5 Uber trips you took that day it was raining, and anything sitting in your Amazon Prime cart that isn’t essential to your livelihood. We’d never recommend cutting out all flexible expenses cold turkey. Rather, identify what’s important to you, where your values lie, and what gives you pleasure, and then cut back on anything that doesn’t fall into one of those categories.
Significantly lower your income taxes by incorporating
Your biggest expense as a self-employed individual is income tax. The easiest way to significantly reduce this number is by incorporating. Incorporating doesn’t mean your patients will know or see you any differently. It’s just a fancy term to describe your new structure as a wellness pro, where the money you make will now be put into your corporate bank account (which you own) and you’ll benefit from a much lower tax rate. To put it in perspective, as a sole proprietor (what most of you currently are), the lowest tax rate possible is 20%. Meaning at least 20% of your income (probably more) must be paid in taxes – that’s a big loss! Once incorporated, you’ll pay tax at 13.5% (in ON) or 12% (in BC). This one simple thing will save you at least 6.5% if you practise in ON or 8% if you practise in BC! That’s a big savings that adds up year after year.
Increasing your revenue and decreasing your expenses doesn’t have to be complicated. By employing these easy ways to increase your disposable income, you’ll enhance your quality of life and make major improvements to the energy and time you have available. Now get out there and up-level your life!