“We let our emotions get in the way of making sound decisions,” said Overdrive Extra contributor Gary Buchs. The owner-operator coach, recently retired from the road, was speaking to the tendency of many in business to put an outsize focus on the wrong areas — gross revenue, for instance, when the central goal should be profit.
Buchs was speaking as part of a discussion with satellite radio host Kevin Rutherford and Overdrive during one of the Partners in Business Overdrive‘s GATS Week online seminars in August, answering readers’ questions.
Buchs shared what he considers a common source of irrational decision-making — taxes, one he also took up last week on the Overdrive Extra blog. Beware the advice, he said, that “you need a new accountant” if you’re paying taxes as an owner-operator.
“I want to be the guy in the room who paid the most tax,” Rutherford said, indicative of the owner who made the most profit. Rutherford cautioned against the lure and luster of big-ticket equipment purchases simply for the tax advantages.
He’s been approached numerous times over the years by an owner-operator whose accountant has suggested they do just that — buy equipment simply for the depreciation benefit. He’ll ask that owner for the number one reason he/she got in business. “It’s usually money. ‘I want to make more money,'” Rutherford said, paraphrasing the answer. “Then it’s freedom, and they’ll go down the list.”
Eventually, the owner runs out of reasons, as Rutherford put it: “And I’ll say, ‘You never once said that you got into business to pay less tax.'”
