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How I had my first QUARTER MILLION Dollar Year!

It's that time of the year again, the dreaded tax time. This year is going to kind of suck because I made a lot more this year than I have previously, but at the same time, I have to think of it as a high value problem.  I just started receiving my 1099 tax forms, the ones you get from self employment earnings. It's official, it's the first year I've been completely self employed and it feels great!

In this post I'm going to share with you my actual 1099 form, a breakdown of what it is, how much I made, as well as share with you how I've limited how much tax I'm responsible for.


For the past 5 years while traveling, I earned so little money that I didn't even need to pay taxes.  I still filed just in case, but would pretty much just fill out a one page 1040EZ form saying I made less than the amount needed to file.

For single dependents who are under the age of 65 and not blind, you generally must file a federal income tax return if your unearned income (such as from dividends or interest) was more than $1,000; if your earned income (such as from wages or salary) was more than $6,100.

I thought I was coasting through life, I even wrote a book titled: living the good life on the cheap, that's how frugal I was and content not making any money. So why the change of heart? Because now I know that it's actually possible, I can do it location independently and still travel, and it's honestly kind of fun.


Here is my actual 1099 form that I got from Shopify which is the eCommerce platform I use to host my dropshipping stores.  In January 2014 I made $8,862 in sales and was pretty happy.  As I optimized my site and grew my business, all while traveling through SE Asia, Thailand, Berlin, and even diving in Borneo, I ended up with my biggest month ever in December with $37,181 in sales.

The grand total? 

This one store did $269,344 in gross revenue in one year.  For everyone who asks why I recommend Shopify and Anton's course in my Recommended Resources Page so highly, it's because his system and this platform allowed me to build a six figure dropshipping store in less than a year.  



How much do I keep?

With most businesses and if you were to import your own products you would want to have 50% margins since you have to risk a lot of your own money in inventory. However with dropshipping, profit margins are usually a lot lower at 30-35% on average.  So no I didn't get to keep that entire quarter million to myself, a lot of it went into paying the suppliers, shipping, and advertising.

However the good news is that wasn't my only store or stream of income for 2014. My goal for last year was to be able to save up $30,000 in the bank after all of my living, travel and business expenses.  I wrote about it in detail in the $30k Gold Watch Challenge that you can read about. I managed to achieve that goal by the end of March last year, and since then I've been able to save up 3x that since I'm location independent, my living expenses are 1/4 of what they would be back in the U.S.



Also since I have been out of the country for more than 330 days, I qualify for the Foreign Earned Income exclusion which you should ask your accountant about if you are a digital nomad. I personally have been using Greenback Expat Tax Services which I'd recommend if you are living outside of the U.S. but do your own research and talk to your local accountant first.

I'm getting ready to do my taxes for the year and will report back after April on how much I actually brought home after taxes and expenses, but I just wanted to share this first 1099 form that I received and hopefully inspire some of you to read my new book Life Changes Quick and do it for yourself in 2015, and to think if it wasn't for one or two of the tiny changes I talk about in the book, I would have passed at the one yard line.


The goal for this upcoming year? No more quarters, nickels or dimes. Let's aim for the full Million. Who's with me?

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Warm Regards,

Johnny

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Income Report 849880600016975878

Post a Comment

  1. Your transparency is awesome. I look forward to the future post about taxes paid etc.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anyone who publicizes their 1099 for the world to see is the f*cking man!!! I truly appreciate your honesty. Based on 30% profit margins, you made $80M in gross profits. That's awesome. Once I get my business filed and accounts set up, I'm purchasing Anton's course from you. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey thanks Nelson! Hope to see you inside the course.

      Delete

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