Most business people pay lip service to education and obtaining tax advice.

Maybe not you—you're actually taking time to read a tax savings newsletter. I'm talking about the average business professional.

Ask a group of business people if they'd be willing to attend a seminar on saving taxes, and ¾ of the people in the room say yes. Give them a specific date and time, and only a handful will actually sign up!

It used to surprise me when I heard that 80% of all businesses fail in their first five years. Now that I've been in business for several decades and have seen many entrepreneurs come and go, I'm somewhat surprised that 80% actually make it past five years!

Maybe I'm being a little harsh—but not much. One thing I've learned is that most successful business professionals embrace a "culture of learning." This is especially true during difficult financial times.

Personal and professional self-development is a journey—not a destination. It is something that is always a work-in-progress. Often, business people get so caught up working "in" their business that they forget to spend time working "on" their business. Part of working "on" a business is devoting time to professional development, education and obtaining tax advice.

Benjamin Franklin once said, "If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return."

With that in mind, here's an action item for this week. Look at your financials (e.g. check book, credit card statements) for the last year. Have you spent anything on some type of on-going business education or tax advice?

If you aren't "emptying some of your purse into your head," take a few minutes to think about what you want to learn to help you build your business and save tax money—and sign up for something this week! Don't put it off any longer.

If you want to earn more, you need to learn more! Oh, and reading a tax newsletter won't hurt either.

Thanks to Dr. Misner for the input on this article.

Wishing you many happy returns,

Dr. Wayne T. Essex