With the increase of coronavirus-related layoffs and growing unemployment, many people are pivoting to entrepreneurship, freelancing, or working remotely to stay afloat financially. The pandemic led to Tax Day being pushed back on a federal level from April 15th to now. How accurate your accounting is throughout the year determines how stressful tax season is. The extra time has allowed taxpayers to not only recover but prepare.

For Tax Day, I prepared this short guide to the Home Office Tax Deduction specifically for new remote workers. If you are considering taking the deduction next year, there is certain qualification criteria to keep in mind.

What is the Home Office Deduction?
The Home Office Deduction is a tax deduction available for homeowners or renters who use a part of their homes for conducting business. Whether it is meeting with clients one on one, working online behind a laptop, or packaging items you sell, you may qualify for this deduction if you’re conducting business primarily from home.

Work From Home Employees May Not Qualify
At the time of this post, it is estimated that up to 30% of the workforce will be working from home until the end of 2021. Even with the number of remote workers in the U.S. rising, recognize that working from home for an employer may not qualify you for the Home Office Deduction according to IRS Guidelines. In the past, those who worked remotely were able to deduct un-reimbursed home related business expenses under Schedule A miscellaneous itemized deductions. The 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has since eliminated that option.

As a W2 reporting employee, you may be able to take the deduction if you work from home as a convenience to your employer. An employee’s home office is deemed an employer’s convenience only if:

• It is a condition for maintaining employment
• It is needed to allow an employee properly perform her/his duties
• Necessary for the employer’s business to function properly

WFH employees may also qualify if their primary job function is to perform administrative work or management activities, and if there is no other location for them to perform those job duties. Activities that fall under this description include functions such as book or record-keeping, billing and payments, report writing, and/or appointment scheduling. To learn more about what administrative work qualifies for the deduction, see IRS Publication 587 on Business Use of Your Home.

The Deduction Is Not About Who, but Where
Even if you are not self-employed full-time, you may still qualify for the Home Office Deduction. Remember, the deduction is based on the location of where you regularly and exclusively do business (your home), not on how many self-employed hours you put in.

Exclusive use means that the portion of your home you use for business is exclusively dedicated to that. For example, if you work primarily in your living room, but also use the living room for rest and leisure, then that room wouldn’t qualify. Some exceptions to this may include if you use your living room for packaging and storing inventory you sell, or if you run a home daycare facility. Read how the IRS defines exclusive use here.

Know Which Deduction Option To Take
The home office deduction is suitable for the self-employed who claim a percentage of their home is devoted to their business. There are two options for calculating this deduction: the simplified and standard option.

Simplified Option: with this option, you take $5 per square foot of the portion of your home you use for business. It is truly the simplest option.

Actual Method: with this option, the deduction is calculated by taking the total amount of expenses of operating your business in your home and multiplying it by the percentage of your home used for your business. For example, if a quarter of your home or apartment is used primarily for your business, you could deduct up to 25% of your total home expenses with this option.

Home expenses may include your mortgage or rent, costs of utilities, and homeowner/renter’s insurance. However, the IRS is very meticulous about what can be written off as either a direct or indirect business expense. It’s always best to keep accurate records of expenses for business separate than for personal use throughout the fiscal year.

If you are unsure of which option to use, see instructions outlined by the IRS and consult with a qualified tax professional.

Note: I am not a qualified tax professional and do not represent the IRS. To find a tax pro, see the U.S. directory of credentialed tax preparers in your state.

I recently did marketing research on 30 tech firms in my local region and the different hats employees play within the first 3 years of launch.  I used this research to come up with 4 archetypal roles I find pivotal to fulfill in a startup. Meet the Idealist, Manager, Architect, and Producer.

The Idealist: CEO, Startup Founder, Executive Director

This is the visionary who is responsible for leading how the company’s mission is carried out.  Idealists outline, communicate, and sell their work by leading and influencing others. They are highly intelligent in that they can see the bigger picture and map out the essential goals of the company.  In illustrating: the team is the boat that transports the product, but the idealist leads as captain.

The Manager: VP, Project Manager, COO, Associate Director

The Manager oversees the team, keeps them on track and schedule, handles the administrative details of the product and services offered by the company.  Managers coordinate all other team member activities through mid-level leadership monitoring and delegating tasks. Without a Manager, there is no one to steer performance and organizational requirements.

The Architect: Business Analyst, Marketing Director, Quality Engineer

The Architect is primarily responsible for turning the company’s vision into a blueprint of action. Architects are great at planning and designing to scale. Their duties may include assisting the Manager to create a summary of estimated costs, working with the Producer to test and improve the product before moving forward, and reporting to the Idealist the latest field research.

The Producer: Web Developer, Software Engineer, Graphic Designer, Copywriter

The Producer is the most central player in any tech startup for one important reason: they turn the idea or blueprint into an actual product.  Producers develop frameworks to create the vision. Basically, they are the doers, and if you want a great end product, you’ll need to have great producers on your team.

Looking at these archetypes, what role would you say you play in your startup/company? How do you work with other roles on the team to improve your products? In helping with my research, please feel free to comment answers below.

1.  Your organization can no longer live up to it’s vision.  This is typical of companies and groups that have a breach of integrity.  They fail to fulfill the goals they set out to do.

2.   It’s either vague or too long, not “just right”.  While an organization may be trying to illustrate several different points of interests in a statement, longer ones can bring about confusion.

3.   Your competition is saying the same thing (and does a better job at doing it). Branson sums up the article with one simple form of advice: “brevity is key”.  He recommends applying a twitter-like 140 character template in explaining your organization’s purpose and expectations, which should read like a motto worth repeating.

To learn more on how to draft a mission statement, visit my blog post, What, Why, Who, and How: 4 Questions to Answer in Writing an Effective Mission Statement

A SWOT analysis is useful in helping to evaluate an organization based on both internal and external environmental factors: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT is a method that is mostly favored among businesses more so than non-profits.

The strengths outlined in the analysis help businesses to define how well they fair competitively by measuring success. This includes:

1. Positive brand recognition and reputation among customers
2. Favorable network access to new markets
3. Cost advantages

The weaknesses outlined are direct and indirect absences of strengths:

1. Ongoing product launch failure
2. Expenses outweighing profits
3. Lack of access in distribution services

Likewise, defining the opportunities a business helps to place options on the table as to what can help it succeed and grow. Recognizing industrial threats helps to outline customer needs that have yet to be fulfilled and the different barriers caused by outside influences that hinder profit-making.

Non-profits and NGOs who are involved with social causes and/or political advocacy may benefit more from analysis such as STEP. A STEP analysis focuses exclusively on external environmental factors: social, technological, economic, and political.

Social factors in STEP or PEST analysis are those concerning demographics, population, and culture that have an effect on how the organization functions and reaches its goals. In looking at social factors, organization leadership and staff should ask themselves:

1. What are the basic demographics of the community we serve?
2. What is the age distribution of our target population?
3. What attitudes does the community we serve have in regards to our work?

Technological factors are becoming increasingly important in how an organization designs future fundraising and promotional campaigns as more Americans are relying on smartphones, apps, software, and social networking to obtain information. Analyzing technological factors include:

1. Software used by the organization to complete tasks
2. Rate of technological change and the effects on the group
3. Response from target audience on social network platforms

For organizations that serve working class or low-income populations, Political and economic factors in a STEP analysis are the most significant in evaluating work. For example, Political factors may include how your target population is effected by recent tax, education, or employment policies locally, statewide, and federally. Also, how the community being served is fairing economically may influence the success of a fundraising or donor campaign sponsored by the organization.

Strategic analysis works best when the stakeholders involved come to the table with an open mind and are willing to be challenged. Hosting a biannual or quarterly meeting to get staff and board member input is recommended to introduce and kickstart analysis in program modeling.

In closing, I want to stress this point: the analytical method used must lead to clear action steps for new program changes if any. In addition, there should be sufficient time given to the staff of a business or organization to implement any new strategy that leadership comes up with. Customer and staff feedback about new program implementations will be equally important for strategic analysis sessions and meetings that occur in the future.

In effort to help organizational leaders and staff get started, here is my model for drafting a mission statement easily by answering four questions about the nature of the work being done.

Components of a Mission Statement

As an executive member of your organization or business, ask the following questions to help come up with a draft of a mission statement:

What is our organization? All organizations have a name, but the name is just a factor of branding.  Staff members must be able to define what exactly the purpose of their organization is.

Why we do what we do?  By answering this question in the statement, the organization explains to potential supporters and target audience members why it exists.  This is the purpose of the organization.

For whom do we serve? This question outlines the target audience/ community being served by the organization.

How do we serve?  Organizations have a list of values, objectives, and principles that guide their work. By answering this question, staff indicates how they intend to achieve the primary goals of the organization.

After completing the draft, read over and have several other staff members do so as well.  Remove jargon and shorten sentences to avoid incoherence. Try to get the overall statement down to 3 concise sentences taken from the answers you described in the 4 questions above.

Case Study: Mission Statements and Women’s Advocacy Groups

Both examples I list below are the mission statements from two non-profit organizations in the Chicago area with the target audience of disadvantaged women. I removed the names of both in order to focus on the statements verbatim without harming the overall reputation of the organizations.

“XXXX breaks the cycle of homelessness for women in Chicago. Through a continuum of housing options, comprehensive support services and opportunities for change provided by dedicated volunteers and staff, women succeed in achieving their goals of stable housing, sustainable income and greater self-determination.  We seek to fulfill our mission through the expression of our core values….”

This is a good example to use in breaking down the key elements of an effective mission statement. Strategically, the organization hit all the key components:

1. What: This is a housing organization in Chicago staffed by both volunteers and professionals.
2. Why: The organization seeks to help disadvantaged women fulfill their housing needs.
3. Who:  The target community that the organization serves is homeless women.
4. How: The organization offers support services based on their core values in helping women find housing, employment, and grow self-esteem.

Now, let’s look at another example of a mission statement.  Though the statement provides a foundation of the principles that empower the work of the staff (the Why? component), it misses the mark in regards to fully defining what the organization is, who it serves, and how it intends to fulfill its purpose:

“XXXX is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.”

Many organizations make the mistake by defining who they are by indicating what they are against.  The statement could be more objective in that it leaves too much room for questions that distract from its purpose.  For instance, how does the organization define racism? How does the organization intend to empower women? What are the primary scales being used to measure whether peace, justice, freedom, and dignity is being promoted? As a non-profit consultant, I don’t recommend staff members who intend to seek donations from various different funding sources go this route.  The statement is passionate but far too broad.

In addition, a mission statement should outline goals that are engaging and promotes action beyond sentiment.  It is important to continue to re-vision and tweek the drafts composed using this model. If you are an organizational leader such as executive director, community manager, or board chair member, have as many executive staff members as possible help compose the statement in making sure everyone is on the same page in moving forward.  

The problem in relying on volunteers is that circumstances arrive that creates hurdles in their time consistency.  For example, if the volunteer base of a given organization is predominantly made up of college students, working around the university’s schedule for availability can be difficult.  After graduation, students depart from the areas where they serve, and finding replacements in a timely manner can leave organizations vulnerable. Other volunteers deal with outside issues such as work conflicts, family obligations, and mental burnout that can hinder the amount of time they donate to an organization.  Knowing this, non-profit leaders should develop strategies for marketing to find and secure not just volunteers, but actual talented individuals who are willing to do pro-bono work that is congruent with their skill set.

Who Defines Pro-bono Talent?

Pro-bono talent consists of professionals and interns who are willing to donate their expertise and skills in a particular area to an organization.  Non-profit organizations have a variety of needs open to be met in areas such as marketing, accounting, strategic planning, law, and business.  The vetting process of securing talent requires leaders to find volunteers in the same way they would search for new hires. By matching knowledgeable volunteers to do tasks within their expertise, time is donated to an organization in the most effective way.

Using Social Media to Find Talent

Leaders can find pro-bono talent online through social media sites like Linkedin.  According to research reported by the Taproot Foundation, 78% of Linkedin members have donated either their time and/or money to social service, while 76% members stated in the research survey that they would be open to volunteer opportunities that allows them to use their specific skills.  Non-profit organizations that mismatch volunteers to tasks  that are beyond their comfort or skill level may not have success in encouraging them to commit to a longer term of service.  Conducting profile and industry searches on sites such as Idealist and NPO.net is useful for scoping out talent online, in addition to connecting with trade associations, board members, and alumni clubs from local schools.

Recruitment, Appointment, and Evaluation

Screening applicants to fulfill organizational needs should be taken as seriously as hiring paid individuals.  Therefore leaders must review what they are willing to exchange for pro-bono work since monetary compensation is not an option.  Here are actionable items to get started:

1. The best bet is to find talent who are already passionate about the cause the organization stands for. If a volunteer believes in the mission, he/she will benefit from seeing the organization fulfill it’s goals and will want to be apart of that dynamic.  
2. Hone in on talent by concisely defining the role, qualifications, responsibilities, and time commitment of the work that needs to be done before recruitment.  
3. Develop a list of perspectives who have express adamant interest in the organization and instead of “interviewing” them, have an open house to welcome and host the potential talent in discussing the work in a more casual manner.  Pay attention to what gifts they can offer the organization and assign tasks according to what volunteers are good at.
4. When appointing tasks, follow up with volunteers to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their experience working with the organization.  Evaluating volunteer work allows leaders to be open to new and better ideas that recruited talent are able to offer.
   

Volunteers who are prepared and supported by leaders are more likely to continue their work with the organization.  Because people seek out opportunities to give their time as a form of personal development, securing pro-bono talent starts and ends with the kind of relationship leaders foster between staff, volunteers, and the community they all serve.

While volunteering as a college admissions coordinator for an after-school program in Chicago, I was frequently asked by the Executive Director to share my story.  Coming from a small town, I moved to the city for grad school and secured an internship at the largest women’s organization in the country only months later which helped build my reputation as young social activist.   I was flattered to be asked, but usually shied away from opportunities like “sharing my story”. I grew up with many advantages that many of the youth at the program did not. What could I possibly tell these students that wouldn’t reek of cultural privilege?

I suggested to the ED that finding an alumni of the program who would be willing to lead a workshop for the students would be more appropriate.  After patiently hearing my concerns, the ED still insisted I be the one to spotlight: “You’re not there yet, but you’re working on it consistently.  Not giving in to the struggle. That’s how we want to inspire these kids”.  Knowing how I respond to typical started-from-the-bottom tales, I agreed with him that sharing my story from a view that focused more on the process rather than the end result was the best way to go.

Lately, I’ve sensed that people have also become immune to common success stories.  By immune, I mean shut off completely for the sake of allowing themselves time to develop without the pressure to be great now and fast.  It’s amazing to see so many women of color winning, but I think the hire up the ladder we climb, the more we tend to forget.  We forget about the hunger, the drive, that moment we finally woke up and decided to do something.  We forget about the long hours drafting business plans, paying out of pocket for those extra courses to expand our skills, the preparation that went into the most important sales pitch of our careers, or even the number of calls we made before securing our first big donor.  

Being guilty myself, there is much I rather forget.  Sure, networking with influencers sounds more glamorous in giving details about my come-up, but what exactly would I prove by pushing that particular image forward and ignoring the hurdles?  In the process of doing all-nighters to learn code, taking overtime at my 9 to 5 to save more money for future ventures, and writing pro-bono to gain exposure, I’ve learned to enjoy the process.  The process is a story many can relate to, regardless of privilege.

Stepping out to fulfill a dream on your own is frightening.  As leaders or entrepreneurs, we experience failure, closed doors, longer hours, and get used to hearing “no” more often than we readily admit.  By teaching those we mentor how to not fear struggle and face it in order to reach goals, we not only give them hope, but encouragement in building a healthy work ethic.

Evolving beyond just being annoying, trolls are becoming strategic in direct targeting and are even hired by companies to criticize and harass competitive brands and voices online.  Strategic trolling serves two purposes: to gain influence over your followers by discrediting your reputation online through social media,  and to cause technical disruption by posting false, misleading content through sites and blogs affiliated with your brand. Here are the top 4 strategic trolling tactics that ruin brands:

1. Leading you into the honey trap via interviewing. A honey trap is when a brand rep is lured into an opportunity which may benefit the bran on the surface, but later places the rep in a compromising position.  You may be asked to do an interview where the mood of the discussion may take a controversial turn. The purpose is to get a reaction out of you on record.  Unless, you have a trained media representative for your company or brand, stay on course by avoiding honey trap-like invitations that function as set ups.  

2. Change or alter your photos on social networking sites. This tactic has become especially popular among those who are photoshop-savvy.  Images are deemed questionable depending on the context of which they are presented.  For example, being photographed walking with a member of the opposite sex can get you accused of cheating if a troll is creative in building a malicious, yet convincing story around it.  Monitor photos of you posted on the net as well as who has authorization to share them. The longer questionable images stay public, the easier it is for them to spread.

3. Writing or creating a false review about your services.  Basically, someone who claims to be a former client or user of your product writes a blog or creates a Youtube review bashing it for the sole purpose of discrediting you.  Perform Google and social media searches every other day to see what people are saying about your products and services. Be prepared to set the record straight. Resolve online complaints head on and quickly by responding with solutions.

4. Interceding your business deals with the intention to stop them. This can be something as small as posting negative comments continuously on your site or as big as emailing your partners with false information about your company.  Please know that leaking confidential information about your clients online is illegal and punishable in most state courts. However, if trolls can prove that the source of the information is from you than you will be at fault and accountable to the backlash.  

You can further protect themselves by making privacy and security a priority in the social media management of your brand.  Make sure you have a confidentiality statement included in your contracts even if administered via email. If an intern or another person is running your social media profiles, create posting rules and guidelines for them to follow.  Review and audit all content scheduled to be published on your site publically and have any comments moderated. Remember, you control your image online, so be diligent in protecting it.

One significant character trait of new professionals is that we learn early on to organize our work lives in such a way that they stay as balanced as possible.  When everything goes right, we want to be recognized for our contributions as confidence that our strategies do work in best practice. Yet when things don’t turn out as we had arranged, this catches us off guard because we rely so heavily on our well-planned agendas to get positive results.  

Being held accountable is about building trust.  New professionals as leaders are expected to do what they say they are going to do and follow up on assignments and tasks until completion.  It is easy to take the easy way out in deed as well as word, and outlined below are 3 annoyances that new professionals as leaders should stop doing in order to be more accountable in their work:    

1.  Stop blaming.  There’s a focal point that leaders need to come to terms with early on: no one but you is responsible for your behavior, so do not make excuses for it.  Taking responsibility when things go wrong in any given situation in which you are at fault does not indicate weakness, it shows maturity. When the focus in on you, you will make smarter, better decisions.  Evaluate your work periodically and look for ways to progress in eliminating negative impact. Also, be principled in shaping your actions in a way that recognizes that what you do may affect others. This will help in being able to answer for any unforeseen circumstances that may be the cause of your lack of attention.

2.  Stop bragging.  For those on a career track to move up professionally in as little time as possible, standing out as an individual is important.  In effort to prove their strengths in business, new professionals can be overly protective of their work, and may feel pressured to exaggerate their credentials in trying to beat out the competition.  Being authentic in business is important in building a brand though, and professionals should be clear about what is expected of them first, and then work on excelling at it. In addition, don’t over-emphasize your accomplishments in front of co-workers and friends.  They will appreciate you more for being humble, and your actions illustrate your competence better than your tall tales can.

3.  Stop whining.  Do you know what is worse than failing at a challenge?  Constantly subjecting people to the same complaints over and over again about that given failure.  Complaining will not make you feel better, but being proactive about making necessary changes to avoid pitfalls may.

The final step in dealing with the consequences of your actions when things go sour is to be honest with yourself and others if you are the one at fault.  Learning to take accountability is a leadership skill that is always welcomed in any profession.

In attempt to make their companies more lean, employers are producing with less labor, leading to a decrease in hiring.  The current job market focuses on which fields remain consistently in demand, and those in transition are paying attention. Being ready psychologically by having ambition to go after the type of job you want is just as important as having the resources to do so.  Switching job hats requires one to be flexible within a changing economy and adapt by learning new skills.  

Career shifting can be intimidating to those who crave security and stability, but it doesn’t have to be if you take the critical time needed to reflect on this decision before leaping straight in and going about steps half-wittingly.  Here are 5 honest and personal questions you should ask yourself in accessing whether changing careers is the right course of action for you:

1. Why do you want to do this?  There are many reasons why people want to change careers that are often related to their passions and beliefs about work.  Spend some time making a list of reasons why you feel you need a change in careers and what you hope to gain from a new position.  Be honest in making this list and take into account those who may be affected by your decision.

2. Are you up for it?  Finding a new position can be stressful and requires a lot of patience.  Having stamina and the ability to not take rejection personally are two positive traits career changers should have. Finding a mentor or letting your friends know about your intentions can be helpful in building a relational support system. You’ll need to surround yourself with people who believe in you at times when you are ready to give in.  Attending church, meditating, goal-mapping, exercising, and spending more time with family are just a few ways that people gain energy to deal with upcoming stresses. Find ways to refuel and focus yourself.

3. What are the opportunity costs involved?  Entering into a new career field may mean learning new skills.  Going back to school as a returning or new student can be expensive if you haven’t saved to pay the tuition and fees associated with college. Make a list of the amount you are willing to invest in yourself to get the position you want. Allocate money for travel expenses to and from interviews and expenses related to printing such as resumes and business cards. Remember taking advantage of opportunities also means having the ability to invest time in your new search.  Using free time to spend towards job hunting may seem like a sacrifice now, but it’s well worth it if you get the result you want.

4. What is your timeline? Create a goal by marking the amount of time you think it will take you to start a new career.  Give yourself a deadline for when you want to complete your career shift. Your timeline can be broken up into quarters or segments of time composed of weeks or months for smaller goals.  Include deadlines such as when you want to be completed with new classes you may be taking or the number of interviews you want to have scheduled for the month. Plug in important dates of events for networking, job fairs, and professional development seminars to keep yourself on task.

5. What is your Plan B?  For some people, the “plan B” may be learning how to be happy in the position they are currently in.  In this case, don’t be afraid to admit to yourself that changing careers may not be the best option for you at this moment, and work on improving your quality of life outside of your job.