Starting Small

[startingasmallbusiness]

Cryptocurrency and Taxes: How Does Crypto Affect Taxes

Cryptocurrency and Taxes: How Does Crypto Affect Taxes

            Cryptocurrency is the most interesting thing I have learned about to date. It was a concept that I couldn't have imagined I would spend this much time researching and learning about. Cryptocurrency has shown up in massive sources of media in 2022, but it has not yet reached mass adoption. Many people that I have spoken with are preparing for a recession at the moment. While the US economy is experiencing a recession, cryptocurrency and the market generally would be expected to experience a downward trend or rather stagnant charts. Cryptocurrency can be unpredictable, and many people are experiencing what investors would call their first "bear market". A bear market is an event in which a market experiences prolonged downward trends on its charts or overall price declines, according to Investopedia.com. During a bear market, market participants may experience an increased amount of FUD-or uncertainty and negative feelings toward the markets, which encourages the decline in value.

Cryptocurrency was introduced in 2009 with bitcoin, and other forms of crypto have gained massive amounts of popularity in the past several years. This article released by cpajournal.com in January 2019 lists Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple as popular forms of cryptocurrency. Today, July 20th, 2022, Litecoin $LTC is listed on CoinMarketCap at $58.87/coin. When this article was published in January 2019, Litecoin was listed at about $30/coin. If someone had invested $1,000,000 into Litecoin on January 18th, 2019 and withdrawn your money July 18th, 2022, you would have made an 82% total return and would have approx. $1,828,193.132 total today before taxes and before calculating CPI, according to https://dqydj.com/litecoin-return-calculator/ (a Litecoin return calculator). According to this Crypto Tax Calculator by Forbes, that is an Estimated Capital Gain of $828,193.13 and the Estimated Capital Gains Tax would be roughly $156,846.13, leaving the investor with around $671,347 in profit. By investing in Litecoin, an investor could have multiplied their starting investment by 1.489%.

Some resources to learn more about crypto/NFTs/Web 3.0 include: CoinTracker.com, CoinDesk.com, Forbes Crypto Tax Calculator

Tax Withholding is when an employer withholds income tax from their employee's paycheck and pays it to the IRS on their behalf. Wages paid, along with any amounts withheld, are reflected on

If you're an employee in The United States, you're probably used to having your taxes withheld from your paycheck by your employer. Every year, you get a refund during tax season. But what about people who own businesses or make income from other sources?

Cryptocurrency is a new form of income that is being taxed by the government. If you own or sell crypto, you will be taxed based on how much profit you earn and how long you hold the crypto/digital asset(s). This is different from how taxes are typically withheld from your paycheck, but it is essential to know how you will be taxed on this income. When it comes to taxes, even an honest mistake can be a critical one.

Regarding my previous post, I left a note that it was to-be-continued. I have done more research on my question:

What investment accounts (IRA, 401K, Etc.) can I open? Which ones should I open?

I created this blog because I wanted to learn more about financial literacy and the entire process of creating a healthy and successful business. I am researching and writing as I learn. After researching these topics, there are subjects that I want to learn more about that I think will benefit me as an entrepreneur.

How will the stock market and the crypto market behave during a recession?

How are specific niche sectors of crypto taxed, i.e., airdrops? NFTs in general?

What are the best ways to make financial gain during a recession?

How to handle cryptocurrency and stocks and taxes in the most efficient way possible?

How to open and make the most of investment accounts

How to calculate gain and loss on a stock: RESOURCE

CPI Consumer Price Index- What it really is, how it works.

Google Transparency as a tool and why it's necessary in today's world; begin learning about cybersecurity.

[startingasmallbusiness]

The BEST Financial Advice for a 20 Year Old

I searched "Top Financial Advice For 20 Year Olds" on YouTube and came across this video. In this video, the hosts discuss the top 10 pieces of financial advice that they would give to a 20 year old kid who wanted to learn about money. Their number one piece of advice was:

TIME is your most abundant and valuable resource. You most likely do not have kids, you may or may not have a full time job, be in school, etc. If you are young and healthy, you should be maximizing the potential that your time is worth. You have the ability to accumulate money at an exponential rate, which means the younger you are when you invest, the more money you will make in less time. One of the hosts from "The Money Guy Show" YouTube channel explains that he did not realize how valuable his time & money was when he was younger, so he missed out on a lot of great financial opportunities. The talent then goes on to explain how investing $1 when you are 20 or 21 years old could become $88 over the next 45 years, however the value of a dollar is influenced by a number of factors. I found this PDF on moneyguy.com (ironically enough, the same guys that run the YouTube channel created this. They know how to use SEO), that explains how a young person should invest their money to be a millionaire by the time they're 65. This PDF shows how the earlier that you invest, the more time your money has to grow, and how you will make more money over time. It is a formula sheet, essentially, where you multiply your wealth multiplier # by your total in your investment accounts to calculate the projected growth of your assets by age 65.

I also would like to point out that time is on your side when you are younger, plain and simple. If you spend more time learning about finance, business, real estate, and other profitable skills and knowledge, you will be worth more in the future. You will be able to educate those that don't know any better. When you don't understand something, it's easy to brush it off or delay learning. However, if you learn about things while you're young, you have more time to put that knowledge to use and you will never have to put in the effort to learn that information again.

Next, I found this video titled The 4 Best Types Of Investment Accounts on YouTube (once again). Personally, I think this video is extremely helpful. Here is my personal summary on this video and what I learned:

You must have an emergency fund saved up before you start investing or putting your funds into different things. The best account to keep your emergency fund in is a high yield savings account.

2. First best account is a health savings account, but it is mostly beneficial for people in a higher tax bracket and you can't take the money out until you are 65, and then you can use it however you want but you must pay taxes on it. You can also get tax free medical care. Health savings account are important because as you age and experience life you will endure health care expenses. You can use this account for medicare premiums and these accounts have tax advantages. (HSA's?)

3. Invest in your retirement account at work - examples include: 401k, 403b, 457 plan, or a simple IRA plan. For 401ks, you get a max contribution to your salary and you can invest as much money as you can afford into this account. Your employer will match it if you are lucky or at least add a percentage and your money will increase exponentially over time. There are also tax deductions for these types of contributions. If you have good options for investment accounts with reasonable fees at work, you can max out your contributions. If you pay a lower tax rate now, see if you can contribute to a roth option at work because you will lock in your tax rate.

3. Contribute to a personal IRA.

TRADITIONAL VS. ROTH IRA

Traditional: tax deduction now, pay taxes later in retirement. There are deductible rules.

Roth: Pay taxes on the money contributed now, and you get to take it out tax free when you retire. A Roth IRA is better in my personal opinion as of right now. Income limits could make you ineligible for this option.

Deductions are expenses that can be subtracted from a taxpayer's gross income in order to reduce the amount of taxable income. It can be referred to by the IRS as a "taxable reduction". Reductions can be used to decrease the amount of taxes that a taxpayer owes, according to Investopedia.

Standard tax deductions are a flat rate that the tax system allows someone to deduct. This number is set in stone, it can not be negotiated. The standard tax deduction

I created this blog dedicated to starting a small business (and personal/financial wealth) because I am an entrepreneur and I want to start some of my own official, licensed companies. I wanted to learn more about finance and investing, and learn how to maximize my time and my wealth now so I can achieve my goals faster and more efficiently.

After reading about some of the financial advice that financially successful people would give to a 20 year old, I have developed a list of questions that I need to spend some time learning more about. Here is my list:

What investment accounts (IRA, 401K, Etc.) can I open? Which ones should I open? What are the benefits/disadvantages of an investment account? How much money do I need to be adding to these if I want a profitable return?

2. How can I benefit from deductions with my current employer/income status? Everything there is to know about taxes and business taxes!

To be continued..

[startingasmallbusiness]

Investing, Stocks, and Marketing for Beginners

When I was young, I was unsure of what I wanted to do as a career when I got older. In school, we took quizzes and personality tests that offered us careers that match our results at the end of the survey. Every time I took a survey like this, marketing was one of the recommended jobs for me. At the time, I wasn't even exactly sure what "marketing" was. I assumed it was more product design than business for a long time. Sophomore year of high school I was taking an English class with a business focus at Georgia Gwinnett College. In this course, we had to write a term paper and do a project about a business process of our choice and how we would have optimized it/made it better.

I was simply scrolling through Instagram when I found exactly what I was going to do my project on. Yeezy, Kanye West's company had just begun rolling out their marketing campaign for "Yeezy Season 6," the 6th line of clothing from Yeezy. Yeezy is a brand deal/collaboration between #Adidas and #Kanye West. It has a very high fashion-high quality reputation and it is known for neutral tones and limited-edition sneakers and clothing drops.

The Yeezy Season 6 marketing campaign had me absolutely fascinated. I was instantly inspired by Kanye's mind and the thought process behind this strategy. Vogue released an article titled "Kanye West Breaks the Internet With an Army of Kim Clones That Includes Paris Hilton" following the release. Even though I did not previously admire Kanye or Kim Kardashian in particular before, this campaign absolutely blew me away and I began to understand why they had such a large fanbase. Marketing is STRATEGY. It is using the current trends and market positions to your advantage. It is giving the public something to look forward to, it is connecting dots, solving problems, and providing a solution or enhancement to someone's life. The Yeezy Season 6 Campaign featured several influencers and celebrities that I had previously followed on several social media apps, including Paris Hilton, dressed up and photographed as "Kim Clones." These personalities, who all already had very high "statuses" associated with their name and they had their own look/style/brand, were dressing up as Kim Kardashian and even went as far as wearing the same color/length wigs, posing the same, and going to the same locations. It was a very casual aesthetic and it made you imagine the clothes in everyday life. Vogue analyzes the campaign and suggests that it could have been "an art piece examining the way celebrity shapes our purchasing decisions and self-presentation, like Cindy Sherman on psilocybin." These were my immediate thoughts when I saw the initial release of this campaign. I was already heavily exposed to influencer marketing and I had aspirations of one-day turning social media into a stable income stream. Kanye West had just blown my mind, pronouncing himself the king of influencer marketing. Brands would go to extreme measures to be partnered with all of the influencers/celebrities involved in this marketing campaign. I can not imagine how much money it must have cost to successfully onboard all of the models-unless they almost felt...honored? To dress up as Kim Kardashian and pose in Yeezy x Kanye clothing?

That was it. Kanye has such a large presence and following that he holds a lot of power and influence. Anyone who works with Kanye West is deemed worthy of recognition and they are given an immense amount of publicity and "clout". One of the celebrities that posed for this campaign was Paris Hilton, whom Kim Kardashian had previously worked for as an assistant. - wait, what? Kim Kardashian was Paris Hilton's assistant, and now Paris Hilton is dressing up as a "Kim Clone" for millions of people across the world? My initial instinct felt like these models would not necessarily want to be a part of this ad if they are having to pretend to be a "clone" of someone else...but in this particular case it was almost deemed "an honor". This campaign had my mind spinning and it introduced me to the depth of marketing and all of the possibilities that come with a good marketer + a worthy brand.

Currently, I am working as a social media content creator/coordinator + growth and outreach manager for multiple brands in the crypto/web 3.0 space. I never expected myself to be in this position right now, mostly because I was pretty new to investing in general and didn't quite understand everything that goes into it. I love learning about business and I randomly learned about bitcoin in 2012 on YouTube. I was fascinated by the concept but didn't pay much attention to it/didn't research it further until around 2018. I have learned so much in the past 7 months that I have spent working for this company, and I am eager to learn more and figure out the best ways to explain cryptocurrencies/blockchain technology/web 3.0 concepts and applications/so much more. I am particularly eager and hopeful that I will be able to connect with more girls in this industry and find more girls that want to be involved.

One way that I would explain stocks, businesses, or NFT projects to someone that have prior knowledge would be: the founder is the lead investor in the project. They want the product to succeed more than anyone else because they have the most invested in it. A founder/team of founders should be motivated, dedicated, and do what they can to increase the value of the overall business. When a company chooses to go public, they are able to raise capital from the public to go towards business expenses/expansion. This often leads to publicity and will attract new customers to the company.

Example: Tech giant Apple obtained an #IPO and went public in 1980 with 4.6 million shares for $22/share (according to cultofmac.com). Before I knew this information, I had heard of people investing in "safe" companies that they believe in, and many used Apple as an example. It is a prime stock, and everyone in the United States is familiar with the iPhone. Apple continues to release successful products and according to marketwatch.com the company brought in $378.35 billion.

I began to go down the #investing rabbit hole once I began to learn the basics of investing. I was always interested in working to make money and making large amounts of money quickly was endearing to me. Today, I am realizing more and more that long-term investing and making decisions that will help you compound your funds in the future is important. We are able to research IPOs and they are required by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission Of The US) to provide the public with extensive disclosures and reports. It is also very expensive and it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure an IPO for rising companies. According to Kesavan Balasubramaniam at investopedia.com the public will often scrutinize the actions of the company's management and it can be a stressful position. Having an IPO can also make the management/founding team act in questionable ways in order to increase their funding or gain approval from their #shareholders.

The idea behind this is mutually beneficial. The public (you and I) can research a public company and find out everything we want from the founding team's personal upbringing to the amount of revenue that the company brought in the previous period. We can find companies that support our values or solve problems that we personally struggle with. Once you purchase a share, if the company's overall share price increases, you earn a profit. This gives incentive for the public to help contribute to the marketing, outreach, and overall success of a company.

[startingasmallbusiness]

This Is Why Your Company Needs To Utilize SEO in 2022

+ Content is King

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial skill that business owners and marketers in this century need to master. If you are marketing a product or service on the internet, you should be using SEO to your advantage.

SEO manages where your website is ranked based on the algorithm of apps and search engines. If you have a lot of backlinks mentioning your website and directed traffic to your webpage, you're more likely to be ranked higher on the #SERP, the Search Engine Results Page,

Developers.Google.Com explains here how to add your website to Google, how to build a sitemap, and how to optimize your website for search engines.

(note: this article reminded me that cybersecurity and coders are in demand, look into getting some certifications maybe! Read more about that here.)

Understanding how algorithms work and how to use them to your advantage is a crucial part of the whole business process in 2022. It is almost essential to offer online services no matter what industry you're in if you want to compete with other growing businesses. There is a lot of information on the internet, and there is a reason that you get recommended certain ads, articles, and photos on social media.

Marketers can use this to their advantage to target audiences that are more likely to be interested in their product/service.

Businesses can use SEO optimization to make their websites appear above their competition.

This article, "Small Business SEO: A Beginners Guide To Get You Started in 10 Quick Steps" is a good example of a blog utilizing SEO.

Source

I was searching for an article about businesses and best practices for #SEO. This blog utilizes keywords and SEO-optimized titles, tags, and links to make its webpage appear on a random Googler's (me) search page. 2 of their titles include "The Importance of SEO for a Small Business" and "Small Business SEO Tips to Get Your Site Ranking."

These titles both include eye-catching words that emphasize the need for SEOs. Someone who has heard the term for the first time and is wanting to further their research would be fairly likely to come across this article if they just searched the term "SEO Tips."

One of the most important factors to consider when developing an SEO strategy for your business is content. SEO will not work (at least not near as effectively) without quality content and a solid foundation. When creating content tailored for a business, it should be high-quality, it should be relevant for your target audience, it should include keywords/phrases, and it should be up-to-date. It's also important to think about what devices and platforms your audience will be using to find and consume your content. Will they be using a phone, tablet, laptop, TV? Will your content be posted on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.? Or maybe you intend on posting to all of these platforms? (let's be real-you should be using each of these platforms + more in 2022 if you want to develop a strong digital presence). Each of these platforms and streaming options will require content with different formats and dimensions. Content that is optimized for Instagram is not the same as content that is optimized for YouTube or Tik Tok, for example.

Here is a small breakdown of formatting tips and basics for each platform as of June 2022.

Tik Tok: VIdeos should be created with 1080x1920 dimensions. Tik Toks can range in length from 6 seconds - 10 minutes. When creating content for Tik Tok, you should note that the caption and like/follow/sharing options will take up room on the viewer's screen, so downloading a template to use throughout the editing process could be helpful in order to optimize your settings

THIS ARTICLE goes more into depth on size guides and template overlays for various platforms.

Instagram: Instagram has multiple different options when it comes to posting content. You are able to post photos, reels, regular videos, longer videos, stories, and highlight reels + covers. A regular Instagram photo/video is 1080x1080. An Instagram Reel is 1080x1920. A story post is 1920x1080. A reel must be 90 seconds or less. A regular video post can be 3 seconds long - 10 minutes long. An Instagram story post is limited to 15 seconds.

YouTube: YouTube video standard dimensions are 1920x1080 (the opposite of Tik Tok/Reels).

Youtube recently introduced a "YouTube Shorts" feature, to keep up with Tik Toks, Reels, and other forms of short video content. As the internet progresses, the human attention span is becoming shorter and shorter (as far as content consumption and entertainment goes) and it is important for these platforms to roll out updates and implement new strategies in order to compete with their competition & stay relevant. YouTube shorts dimensions are recommended to be 1080x1920, but they can also be square (1080x1080) like a traditional Instagram post.

Check out THIS VIDEO: YouTube Shorts: The Complete Guide

for more information on YouTube Shorts and how to optimize your own content.

Using these tips and optimizing your content creation process will help ensure that your SEO efforts are paying off. Content is king, and it is crucial to ensure that you take all the necessary steps to attract an audience, build a community, and scale your business.

[startingasmallbusiness]

Welcome to Starting Small, a blog dedicated to small businesses and those who are interested in starting their own business(es) in the future. We will be sharing articles covering an array of topics from website design, web 3.0 business strategies, e-commerce and running advertisements, content creation and influencer marketing, product development, and more.

Starting a business in today's world can seem like a daunting task, even though we have more resources available at our fingertips than ever before. The digital economy is a booming place full of people, resources, and possibilities (especially for business owners).

According to Forbes, "E-Commerce Sales Grew 50% to $870 Billion During The Pandemic," between Q1 of 2020 and Q1 of 2021. This spike led to exponential adoption of online retail services and familiarized thousands of people with shopping online, which obviously led to more revenue for online business owners. Creating a business from scratch is not an easy task, and it requires a lot of planning and action. Thanks to the development of the internet and the dedication of service providers, it is more simple than ever to plan and create your own company.

Making the most of your resources is one of the major keys to developing and running a successful online business.

Some of the most useful resources that you can use for business in 2022:

Shopify

Shopify claims to have "Everything you need to sell anywhere" on the homepage of their website. Shopify offers seamless website & e-commerce integration services that allow businesses across the globe to operate without hassle. Shopify allows a 14-day free trial for anyone looking to utilize their services. Build your brand, develop your online presence, and use Shopify's website creation tools to create a gorgeous online storefront for your products. Shopify even simplifies the checkout process and helps businesses to easily manage their shipping costs and overall processes, all in one place.

If you're thinking about starting a business, research Shopify and all of the tools that they have to offer.

Facebook Ads Manager

Once you already have your online store built and loaded with products, it is time to begin marketing. Meta by Facebook offers built in ad management programs where you can create advertisements for Meta platforms. This service can be used to run ads on Facebook (now known as Meta), Instagram, Messenger, or Audience Network.

Tik Tok For Business

Tik Tok, launched in China in 2016, is one of the fastest growing companies on the internet today. The app carefully formulated an algorithm that pertains to each user's distinct interests, which keeps users engaged and keeps them coming back for more content. Tik Tok was the most popular app on the App store in 2019 and 2020 according to BusinessOfApps.com. The exposure that Tik Tok creates is almost crucial to any company looking to develop an online presence in 2022.

Tik Tok has developed an entire subsidiary service/revenue stream for themselves by creating a "Tik Tok For Business" segment. Businesses can pay a fee to run ads on their target audiences' "For You" page. By running advertisements and paid promotions for businesses, the business gains more awareness of their brand and potential sales, and Tik Tok earns revenue from the businesses paying for the ads. Tik Tok also has the massive potential to reach young, trendy audiences that often don't recognize that the videos are advertisements, and may be more likely to make a purchase.

If you aren't looking to dedicate part of your budget to Tik Tok ads, you can focus on organic Tik Tok ads/growth. Spend some time researching the latest Tik Tok trends and focus on the videos that do well (high engagement-likes, comments, saves), and mimic them.

A hook piques your audience's attention. Developing a list of good hooks on Tik Tok will cut your production time in half and generate better results overall.

Some examples of good hooks to use on Tik Tok for business include:

"You won't believe this..."

"This is the reason why..."

"Are you looking to try ____?"

Mention a specific demographic/age/type of audience that you are trying to target

"Here's 10 Reasons You Should Buy This Product..."

Creating Tik Toks and growing your business account organically will take time, consistency, and creativity but once you crack the algorithm and begin to gain traction it will be well worth your efforts.

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If you're looking to scale your small business or to start your own, be sure to follow our blog to stay up-to-date on our posts. We will be providing you with tips, free resources, and a community full of business-savy minds just like you!

-Starting Small