
Daydreaming is good for you and your career. Really. It unlocks your creativity when you doodle and let your mind wander. The quiet time from daydreaming actually reenergizes you. If you’re hitting a work rut, try these creativity techniques to jumpstart your day. But how can you turn doodling, daydreaming and playing around into productive career goals? We chatted with Carrie Green, founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association and author of She Means Business, about how she uses visualization and daydreaming as tools to be successful. Her tips will help you use your creative mojo to your advantage.
1. Make a visualization jar. Carrie uses this tool to help her daydream daily. Decorate a mason jar however you like, then cut up pieces of paper. “Write down things you’d love to experience in your career and personal life, and have fun with it,” says Carrie. Fold up the pieces of paper and stuff your jar. Every day, in the morning and at night, take out one piece of paper. “Spend a couple of minutes vividly visualizing experiencing what’s on the paper like it’s already happened,” says Carrie. Keep the jar by your bedside to make it a daily ritual.
2. Go through a visualization process. In her book, She Means Business, Carrie has a 12-step process that she recommends. “Here’s the amazing part about visualization — your brain literally can’t tell the difference between an action you performed and an action you visualized,” says Carrie. Her process starts with thinking about the outcome you want, visualizing the outcome becoming true, seeing what you look like, what you can hear and see, and making the image bigger and brighter. Most of all, truly experience what you want as if it was really happening. You can use this to walk your way through asking for a raise or dreaming about your ultimate career goal.
3. Move past resistance. On Carrie’s website, Female Entrepreneur Association, she publishes stories from women who’ve turned their ideas into wildly successful businesses. What she’s learned from these women is that in being clear about what you want to achieve, you’re more likely to bring it to fruition. “The women who visualize building a successful business manage to move past the resistance and make it happen,” says Carrie.
4. Block negative thoughts. In Carrie’s TEDx talk about programming your mind for success, she talks about how negative thoughts can hinder what you desire. Shooting yourself down when you have an idea often leads to those ideas never happening. Carrie shares some ways to stop the flow of negativity, or what she likes to call the “negative committee.” When you’re in a spiral of bad thoughts, say to yourself, “Stop.” It can help let you take back control. Create an inspirational playlist of music that makes you feel good, and play it throughout the day. Take time for some professional development every day, whether it’s reading a few pages of a book or listening to a podcast.
5. Persevere. When you hit an obstacle or rejection on the way to your dream career, continue to stay focused on what you want to achieve. “Trust that somehow it will come to pass,” says Carrie. When she hits a roadblock, Carrie will take a step back and shift her focus onto solutions and how she can move forward. “Honor the process,” she says. Keep moving forward!
6. Schedule some quiet time. To spark her daydreaming drive, Carrie will do something she calls a “dreaming brain dump.” “I’ll go and sit somewhere quiet, light a candle and then spend 30 minutes or more writing out my dreams. I just write whatever comes to mind. This always gets me inspired,” she says. Buy yourself a pretty notebook and a beautifully scented candle, and write down whatever comes to mind.
7. Get clear on your goals. Every day, Carrie writes down in her planner what she wants to make happen (we like these stylish planners from Erin Condren). “I love writing everything out by hand and getting focused on what I want to achieve, which helps me to create the success in my life with intention,” says Carrie. Turn your daydreaming into actual plans when you write them down, and set dates next to when you’re going to make that action step happen. You’ve got this!
Do you daydream at work? Has it made you more productive? Tweet us at @BritandCo and let us know!
(Photos via Getty)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures