Mark J. Kohler, a lawyer and CPA, breaks down side gigs from rideshare to real estate and warns against treating them as unpaid hobbies. He emphasizes organized bookkeeping, legal compliance, and tax deductions like home office and vehicle write-offs to maximize income and financial freedom.
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Well, a lot of people are taking on a side gig, a side hustle to bring home some extra cash. But we thought we would try to help you do it the right way. Lawyer CPA and author Mark Koller joins us. Boy, Mark, that's a lot. You've.
Yeah, I've got a lot of side hustles.
Lawyer, like, talk about. Okay, so we want to talk about making extra money because tax day is upon us. One in three Americans who are working have a side job. What are they typically doing?
Well, a variety of things.
Yeah.
And driving Uber, maybe selling something online, a little service business, doing some real estate. And people are starving for a little extra income to just make ends meet. It's really something that's just grown out of the desire to maybe build a retirement and have some extra income.
Is it a good idea to do? If you're watching and you're like, wait a minute, I don't have a side gig, what are some things that people should be considering?
Well, first of all, why don't we wake up every day with a little more happiness? Over 50% of Americans hate their job. They just don't. It's like Department of Labor surveys just show job satisfaction so low. We've got the American dream at our fingertips. Let's do something we love. Let's get passionate about something again. And I know you may not be able to binge watch as much Netflix, people, but it's okay, you know, let's get out and make some money and do something we love.
What are some of the potential pitfalls?
Well, I think people need to realize that it's gonna take a little time and they've gotta be cautious if they're going to be disorganized, you know, with their, with their books. Yeah, you're gonna say, oh, I'm gonna make some money on the side, but then they throw books out the window. Or if they are serving people face to face or kind of a customer service scenario, we've got to look at legal liability and we want to be cautious. But really there's so much you can even do online and just some small things that can make that extra difference in our lives.
I know a lot of people do MLMs, the multi level marketing. So what's your take on that?
I think that's great. If there's a product that speaks to you and you enjoy it and you don't mind maybe talking to your friends or neighbors or your network, because that's really what it's about, working your network. But that's okay. It's a great gateway drug to get you into business and doing things. And I understand you even have a small business on the site. Voiceover.
That's right.
Yeah.
A little bit of voiceover.
That's right.
I think I call it Casey llc. Real creative with it.
No, I love it. But if you enjoy it and you can make some extra money on it, why not, right?
Yeah. But it gets confused. Like, for me, it's confusing. Like, I'm not a numbers person. I'm a creative person, and I know a lot of people are creative. And it starts to become this gray area of what do I need to know? What don't I know when it comes to legal stuff and all of that.
Yeah. I'm so glad you brought it up, because it's not just legal. It's a little bit of bookkeeping. It's just good business management. We don't learn this in school. We don't learn it even in college unless we really focus on it. Right. So I really encourage people. One of those risks is to jump into it without education.
Really?
Yeah. Like, go in. Yeah. And the type of education you could do is really simple. Just subscribe to Entrepreneur magazine, get on their site. There's so many resources. Ryan Shea, the president, does such a great job with this organization. And get a little maybe training in some classrooms or online education. If you want to dive into real estate. I love Renatus. It's an online course that can help you learn real estate. I just want give all these resources. People can get out there and go, real estate. I can learn how to do real estate or whatever it may be. Just start studying, get some good newsletters going, listen to some good podcasts, get your juices flowing.
Is there a line between it being worth it and not being worth it when it comes to devoting your time into something? Like, is that when it comes to the risk reward of like, oh, gosh, I don't want to spend all of my weekends doing my side hustle if it's only to make a certain amount.
Yeah, that's a really good point. Because if you're not making money at it, is it a hobby? Right.
Okay, good point.
But if you're not making money at it and you're not enjoying it, stop. But really, I think we can find some way to make revenue at what we love doing as long as it's legal. You know, people remember that. But if you love doing it, let's get out there and start testing the product, testing the service. And if you enjoy It. And if you're passionate about the industry or the product or the service you're doing, it's going to be easy. And all of a sudden you're making some extra money to pay down debt. Get a debt snowball going and then start funding a Roth ira. Use that money not to maybe increase your lifestyle. We as Americans are terrible at that. We'll make a little money and we'll spend more. Let's save it, let's pay off debt. And all of a sudden we start to feel a little bit of breathing room. That side business is a tool to make our life better. There's so much opportunity.
It sounds like it's a tool to not feel stuck. For people who are feeling stuck, yeah,
we have the glass ceiling. So many people have a job where I'm never going to make so much more per hour. Well, how do the rich get richer? They do something on the side, whether it's real estate or a service business. And if you've got some inside knowledge, maybe partner with someone.
Oh, that's a great idea.
Yeah. Someone that may have the money or the time. Look at your resource and say, you know what? Partnerships are not bad. Make sure you document it. Let's not write it on a napkin at Denny's. But partner with someone that could complement your skill set. And all of a sudden it could be lonely. And now you have a team member.
I love that sign up over Moons Over Miami. As long as it's an actual piece of paper, not the tennis napkin and you have a book out, I want to make sure people can read up more. The Tax and Legal Playbook.
Yeah, the Tax and Legal playbook. I've got a second edition coming out next month because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs act, which really makes small business better than ever.
Really?
Yeah. With the Tax Cuts act, it helped big corporations with a tax cut, helped individuals with some standard deduction increases and all that. But there was a huge section for small business if you want to save taxes and have a small business on the side. Now I can write off things that you may have not been able to. Cell phone, home office, some travel, some auto. I mean, when you're doing your voiceover, man, you're on the road. Yeah, we gotta write that off.
Yeah. Mark Kohler, thank you so much. Thank you. I think people are at home, like, relaxing over breakfast. They're like, no, we're gonna get out and work.
