Financial Freedom
~ Table Of Contents ~
ACTION NOTES
You will learn so much from this booklet but deep learning only will come from application. Use this page for specific actions you will take as a result of specific things you learn from reading this booklet. Find two or more people who are also seeking financial freedom and go through this booklet together.
NOTE: There are QR codes / links to websites. If you do not have access to a computer, Compass Accounting can be similar to a library where we have access to a computer if you would like to read/research something Please call us
Questions? Call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 or call/text Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
Dear Friend,
What are your dreams and goals for you, your family and your business if you own one and/or would like to own one in the future?
How do we get into a stronger financial situation as a family and/or a business?
This booklet is designed to help you learn how to earn more, work less, have less stress and have greater life balance in all areas of life through improving our financial freedom.
We have partnered with a non-profit organization, Life Masteries Institute. They have many resources and a dedicated team who are passionate about helping you, your family and friends / loved ones to be better stewards not only with our money, but what they call all 7 T’s
To Stewardship.
Sincerely,
Life Masteries Institute & Compass Accounting 574-370-6867
Jason Miller & Katie Lehman
Kids: If you were to save your money for a pet, would you rather buy a dog or a kitten? Why?
Parents: What do your children want? How can you help them to learn to work and save money for what they think they want? This will help them to value whatever they buy and will help them to value the work that you do as parents.
When we go through this book as a family, we learn how to best steward (wisely use our money) for the mutual benefit of the entire family.
What if … you didn’t have to work for money, where would you invest your time? What would you do with your day? Yes, we’re serious, write it down.
Why are we doing the work we are doing to earn the money we’re earning? What do we think is holding us back the most financially?
We often don’t dream about what we would do if we didn’t have to do the work that we do, to earn the money that we do and/or if we do dream, we don’t know what actions to take to achieve that dream.
Imagine … knowing the secrets to learning how to earn more, while working less, enjoying what we do, investing money and leveraging.
Katie, Jason, and the entire Compass team would like to welcome you into a wonderful adventure in gaining financial freedom. Financial freedom is a dream that sadly some people never achieve. What’s saddest, is that it seems that we were created to BE free … So … Why aren’t we free?
There are two parts to this book.
● Part 1 is personal finances for anyone.
● Part 2 is specifically for individuals who either currently own a company and/or want to own a company.
Would you like a GIFT 30 Minute Strategy Session based on your personality? Please complete this 3 minute personality survey and share that you were referred by Compass Accounting and we will reach out to you to schedule an appointment after you complete the 3 minute survey.
Thank you!!! We would like to thank Life Masteries Institute (LMI) for help in developing this booklet along with our referral partners. If your business / organization and/or someone you know would like to contribute to this worthwhile endeavor of helping individuals gain financial freedom call Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318
Referral Partners
The average person on the street knows 250 people. The average business owner knows over 5,500 people. Life Masteries Institute and Compass Accounting have a passion for helping business owners bring massive value to every customer / client.
We also believe that when we partner with other businesses and community based organizations that we can accomplish far more together than we could ever accomplish on our own. Just like when the tide rises in a port, all the boats in that port will rise together.
Life Masteries Institute (LMI) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to helping local businesses work together with other businesses as well as community based organizations. LMI would love to help your business and/or community based organization to fulfill the vision it was created for, for the betterment of the entire community.
Why did we include things for kids to color?
We believe that it’s never too early to teach children the value of money. Working hard, saving, being generous ~ giving, investing and spending. When we teach our children, at a very young age the power of delayed gratification, we give them a gift for life. ~ click here ~ for additional things your children can color.
Kids: Talk to your parents / grandparents about the “Time Value Of Money” … the power of compounding interest.
Parents: If we save / invest money, rather than spend it, we’ll have more money. Compounding interest is when people save money, gain interest and then that interest also gains interests. It builds without us doing the work.
How do we as a family apply this? How do we help our children to learn how to learn, to embrace this as a core value to them?
Part 1 ~ Personal Financial Freedom
1-1: It’s Simple … But It’s Not
Spend
less than we earn.
So why is this so hard for people? Why do we tend to raise our standard of living as we increase our income?
Track all income and expenses. This one simple action can help reduce our expenses by 10% to 20%+. Why?
Discipline ~ Spending less money is often mostly a discipline thing. It’s how we think.
Knowledge ~ If we track all our expenses, we increase our knowledge of what we are really spending our money on and that helps us with both knowledge and discipline. Understanding where and how to get the most value from where we spend money also helps.
Financial Peace University ~ Dave Ramsey has helped tens of thousands of people around the world.
Accountability ~ This could be a spouse, friend and/or outside resource like Life Masteries Institute. Call Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318 for additional information on group and individual education and accountability.
Please check the above boxes you commit to doing.
The following are some examples of worksheets that you use and/or create your own to help you track the following key things required to create financial freedom for you and your family.
● Income
● Expenses
● Liabilities / Debt
● Assets
● Budget
Income ~ Any money coming into your home. This includes all sources of money coming into our home. Brainstorming ways within the family and how we could earn more money can result in some fun ways to have more financial freedom long-term.
Expenses ~ Any money going out of your home. Just tracking our expenses can reduce our monthly outgo of money by 20% or more. Helping everyone in the family understand what it costs to maintain a home / family helps everyone to appreciate the work that goes into earning the money and can reduce expenses.
Assets ~ These are things that we own. For example: Homes, equipment, vehicles … everything that has financial value.
Liabilities ~ Are debts that we have. We can have debt on assets that we purchase. Ideally we are not “running in the red” on a monthly basis. This would mean that our expenses are greater than our income. It’s wise to not incur debt / liabilities on vacations or other things that are not an asset.
Budget ~ Having the discipline to create a budget helps us to determine ahead of time where we prioritize where we are going to give, spend and invest the money that comes into our home.
1-2: Accountability
Throughout this booklet, you’ll see …
~ Mutual Agreement: I commit to do: ______________
What does this mean? A “Mutual Agreement” is a commitment to do something. Having one or more people “Buddies” to help you follow through on the commitment is probably one of the most important things to see success with the use of this booklet.
Your Commitment Buddies
Ideally, your Buddy / Buddies will have a conversation with you that sounds something like this:
“(Your Name), when someone makes a commitment to me, I like to understand how they want me to support them. Some people prefer encouragement and understanding when things get difficult. Others prefer to be challenged and held firmly to what they said they would do. Before we begin, I’d like to know which kind of support you want from me.”
Encouraging Support
If you’re having a hard time following through, I’ll listen, understand, and offer encouragement without pushing you too hard. You’ll always feel supported and understood.
Accountability Support
If you struggle to follow through, I’ll remind you of your commitment and challenge you to honor your word — even when it’s uncomfortable. You may not always like it at the moment, but it’s how I can best support your growth. Both approaches come from a place of care. The difference is simply how you want to be supported.
Coaching Tip ~ The NEXT Dimension Principle
“Coaching Tips” are provided by Life Masteries Institute (LMI) and/or Synergy Solutions, Inc. In “Part 2 ~ Business Financial Freedom” additional information will be shared about how you can get professional coaching from LMI and/or Synergy.
What’s the difference between a family who is living within their means and someone who is struggling? Most of the time, it’s “How we THINK.” If we really want financial freedom, we need to learn to THINK differently. There are four levels of coaching. Based on our personality and where we stand, will largely determine which level of coaching we need. More on this later in the booklet.
1-3: Track 100% where money goes
There are many ways to track where all the money goes. However you track where you are spending your money, it’s good to break your spending into “spending groups / categories" and add up all the expenses each month and then look at percentages for each category / group.
Budgets are great and recommended in addition to tracking where all the money goes. There are mental / mind things which can help us to also learn how not to spend money. Learning to have delayed gratification will help us to spend less.
Compounding Interest ~ If we were to get 7% return on our investment it would only take 10 years to double our money. So … at 7% interest, if we didn’t spend $1,000, in 10 years we would have $2,000, in 20 years we would have $4,000 and in 30 years, we would have $8,000. Yes, $8,000 would come from $1,000. It’s learning to get our money to work for us, rather than working for our money.
So … imagine … every $1 we spend, we’re not really spending $1 but $8. If we learn to see $1 as $8, we’ll tend to spend less and save more which leads to having financial freedom faster.
It’s often the little things financially that will end up blowing our budget … costing us financial freedom.
Write down some things that we have purchased that might not have been the best stewardship of our money.
In the next area, we’ll learn about personalities and how that connects into how we view, earn and spend money.
Good work on writing down whatever you listed above. That’s good news! What’s the most dangerous to us in having financial freedom is what we don’t write down and honestly don’t even know we’re wasting.
1-4: Understand our personality & connection to money
What does our personality have to do with our relationship with money … i.e. how we view / see money and how we use money? Actually a lot more than most people think.
Take this simple 17 second test and it will help us to understand our personality and our relationship with money. Do we see money as something bad or do we look at money just like we would tools, materials or any material thing where it’s something that we can use to achieve our full potential and help those around us do the same thing.
Amiable ~ If we chose the BALL and/or “Conflict with others” we would refer to this personality as the “Amiable” personality This personality tends to dislike conflict and may get taken advantage of by others due to having a strong desire to trust / get along with people.
Analytic ~ If we chose the CUBE and/or “Out of Order” we would refer to this personality as the “Analytic” personality. This personality tends to be more careful with their money and often likes to save their money and/or is very careful with how they spend it. They will often research buys very carefully. Often, but not always they are good at keeping books / records, paying bills, etc.
Expressive ~ If we chose the WAVY LINE and/or “Boring / Not Fun” we would refer to this personality as the “Expressive” personality. This personality tends to like to have fun. This type of personality can have challenges in saving money, following a budget, staying disciplined and not pursuing fun and the dopamine hit in their brain.
Driver ~ If we chose the PYRAMID and/or “Out of Control” we would refer to this personality as the “Driver” personality. This personality tends to be driven, very direct, often enjoys goals and seeks to save and invest money.
Coaching Tip ~ Learning strengths and weaknesses for your personality and that of those around you.
1-5: How we think matters ~ Personalities
Why do some people have more money than others? It’s a great question. It’s actually a combination of a number of different factors. But every factor in how well we do with money comes down to how we THINK about money. If we want more money, we need to learn to think differently about money.
We also need to learn to think differently about time as well. For example a successful business person knows that if we invest $10,000 into our business, we need to get $10,000 + something back to have a successful business. Business owners though will often work really long hours due to how they think about time.
In business, if we think of time where we exchange time for money … we’ll always run out of time. If we learn how to think about time like we do money we’ll learn to generate 3+ hours for every 1 hour we invest into our business. We’ll talk more about this in Part 2. As we gain more knowledge in specific things we can learn to earn more. As we gain wisdom we’ll learn how to have both more money and time.
Each of the four personalities will think about money in a different way. With each personality our greatest strength is our greatest weakness. Our greatest weakness is our greatest strength. It’s taking a strength and taking it too far. As we become more self aware of ourselves and those around us we’ll learn how to earn more and spend less … giving us greater freedom in all areas of life.
Amiable ~ If we learn to think differently about money we won’t be held back financially as an amiable personality, as we may be too nice to people and they may take advantage of us. Let’s make sure we don’t use money to buy praise, affirmation, love, friendships and/or to please people. Let’s learn to think differently about conflict and understand that some conflict / confrontation can be positive for everyone involved.
Analytic ~ As an analytic we may be penny wise and dollar foolish unless we learn to think differently. We may invest into things which look good on paper, but in the big picture they don’t make sense. We may struggle with being too tight with money, not as generous as maybe we should be. We can be great in finding the best value so that we can save people around us a lot of money.
Expressive ~ When we learn, as an expressive on how to think differently about fun, that can save us a lot of money. Learning to think differently about how we earn money and learning how to make everything we do as fun will help us to earn more. Learning to partner with other personalities for the mutual benefit of everyone is a wise thing to do.
Driver ~ As a driver personality we tend to think that having things in control is a good thing which can be really good for our finances. But learning to also be more flexible, at times, and consider feelings, hopes and dreams can also bring peace and harmony which can help us to earn more while working less.
Coaching Tip ~ Let’s learn to think through points of wisdom.
1-6: What about debt?
It’s been said that if we live debt free that we can have a 20%+ higher standard of living. So if we earn $60,000 a year debt free, it’s like earning $72,000.
As a general rule it’s best to not obtain debt on those things that lose value quickly. Don’t have debt for vacations or other things that we don’t have to have.
If we ask these questions, that will help us keep our debt down:
● 1. How much more money will we have when we get debt free?
○ NOTE: This is money that we would have without having to do any more work than we are currently doing.
● 2. What are the best debts to pay down quickly? Often it’s the higher interest rate loans but it could be the ones which have the lower balances as well.
● 3. If it’s debt which will help us to earn more money … Are we sure it will earn us more money?
● 4. If someone is telling us that we can get a high return with low risk they are either lying to us or not very smart themselves.
○ NOTE: A natural law, like the law of gravity is “High risk, high return … low risk, low return.”
Coaching Tip ~ Write down all our debt, what we owe, to whom, the interest rate and then the minimum monthly payment.
Each of the different personality types will have a different perspective of money. Often … but not always, the “wavy line” and the “ball” have the hardest time in not spending money / saving money.
When we understand our personality and the personalities of those around us, we’ll see greater financial freedom and do so in less time. There may be monthly Coffee Connections in your local area. There are weekly Zoom / phone Coffee Connection conversations where you will meet interesting people who can also answer questions about finances and/or help to hold you accountable. Call Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318 for additional information and/or see back cover of booklet for additional information.
As mentioned previously, there are four levels of coaches. Which one do you need for the season of life you are currently in?
Level 1 Coach is Cheerleader:
You’ll probably like this level of coaching as they are encouraging and even if you’re doing really bad they will give you an encouraging word. The Amiable personality tends to do the best for this level.
Level 2 Coach is a Teacher:
With every new financial dimension we move to, the rules of that dimension change The Analytic personality is often the best in helping us in this area.
Level 3 Coach is Coach:
The Expressive personality will often push you, like a great football coach. You may not like this person at times but they will help bring out your best.
Level 4 Coach is Navy Seal:
The Driver personality will challenge you. If you want to see amazing financial freedom in the shortest amount of time, then this level of coaching is what you are in need of. If you feel your Life Vision is bigger than fear or limitation, and you're committed to becoming who you were created to be, then pursue this level.
1-7: Questions
This booklet is continuing to be updated and we love to hear feedback on what you like the most and what you believe could be improved. What questions do you have where you did find the answer in this booklet?
Q1: Where can I get additional copies for friends and family?
Answer ~ Call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 or Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
Q2: Are there other types of valuable booklets like this on other topics?
Answer ~ Yes, there are. There are actually many different types of booklets and more being created every quarter. Call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 or Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318 for additional details and / or if you have specific suggestions you would like to see additional topics for booklets.
Q3: Why is strong bookkeeping so helpful for my taxes?
Answer ~ If we organize and track all our expenses at the end of every day, it’s only a few minutes and will save a lot of time, reduce frustration and will be more accurate. The more accurate things are, the more we will save on taxes … more money in our pocket.
1-8: Top Questions and Answers from
Compass Accounting
VERY IMPORTANT ~ Before using any specific numbers please contact your tax professional to see if the specific numbers have changed. The numbers and rules are as of February 25th 2026. You may have an older booklet and/or specific numbers and rules can change quickly.
Q1: How does the overtime / tips deduction work?
Answer ~ The first $12,500 single / $25,000 married is not taxable for overtime and tips are $25,000 per return.
Q2: What do I need to do to use the 529 plan?
Answer ~ Connect with us regarding the papers we send out in the fall in setting up an account and turn in your tuition amount you paid for the fall semester to run it through the account.
Q3: My income increased from last year; why don't I get a bigger refund?
Answer ~ Your taxable income might be in a higher tax bracket, so it is being taxed at that higher rate. Also it is impacted by your withholdings at work, there are many factors that play into this, it’s often not as black and white as just comparing refunds from one year to the next.
Q4: What expenses can I deduct as a school teacher?
Answer ~ You can deduct any expenses the school doesn't reimburse you. Any gifts you buy, drivers you have, or supplies you buy.
Q5: If I am newly married, what information do you need?
Answer ~ We need your spouse's social security number, birthdate, potentially a copy of previous year return, and need to know if your spouse's last name has been changed.
Q6: Do I need to issue a 1099 to everybody I paid more than $600?
Answer ~ No, starting in 2026 this limit rises to $2,000. And mainly for contract labor, rent, custom hire, etc..
Q7: What would I turn in if I bought a personal residence?
Answer ~ If you don’t use it for business or farming activity this will not affect your taxes, and you don't need to turn anything in unless you want us to track your costs. You will want to track things such as improvements made, purchase price, etc.. for when you go to sell your house.
Q8: Can I turn in medical bills?
Answer ~ Yes, but the amount must be substantial before it exceeds the standard deduction which is currently $15,750 single and $31,500 Married. The combination of mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and medical expenses must exceed the standard deduction to be considered to itemized.
Q9: How much income can my child earn before I can no longer claim them?
Answer ~ It depends a lot on their age, amount of income they make, if they live at home and you support them over 50% of their financial support, etc.. The parent gets a $500 child tax credit if the child is 17 or older and a $2,200 credit if the child is 16 years old or younger. So there are a few factors in this decision making process. Claiming or not claiming only affects the child’s return in rare situations, but it can significantly impact the parents return.
Q10: Can I receive Social Security from previous years if I'm 4029 exempt now?
Answer ~ We have found that it depends on who you talk to at the Social Security office, seems like sometimes it works and other times not, and sometimes after a few tries it may work?
Q11: What information do new clients need to bring?
Answers ~ We need your last year tax return, social security numbers and birthdates.
Coaching Tip ~ Often … it’s not that we don’t know the solutions to a problem we’re having. It’s often that we aren’t asking the best question.
1-9: How do I earn more money?
Essentially there are two ways to earn more money.
#1: Work harder and/or work more hours.
#2: Work smarter … more efficiently.
For most people, our minds will last longer than our bodies. If we learn how to use our minds as much or even more than our bodies, we will earn more money. To earn more money, using our minds we will either need more education and/or experience.
When we say “education” we are not necessarily talking about college learning. While college learning may help us to earn more, in today’s world, it is far from guaranteed. Learning a trade and/or learning from a mentor who has a lot more experience can change our lives forever.
Learning how to SEE what “the market” (people and businesses around us) are seeking is one of the most important ways to earn more money. If we work as an employee do we ask our supervisor and/or better yet, the owner, powerful questions.
● 1. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to become a more profitable / productive employee?
● 2. Based on your years of experience, what are some of the things you have personally experienced and/or seen others do which has helped them to be a more profitable / productive employee?
● 3. What do you think some of the biggest challenges the company may be facing overall?
The set up to asking these questions is a very important part to the success of asking amazing questions.
You might say … “I was thinking the other day and thought of a few questions. Would it be OK if I asked you the few questions I'm curious about?”
Setting goals will help you to increase your income. Napoleon Hill said “Whatever the mind and conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Why is this true? Our brains / minds are very powerful and once an idea … a goal is in our brain, our brain will go to work to figure out how to achieve that goal.
Tom Kunz shares … “What I love most about money is that it buys back my time.”
Mark Boersma shares … “What I love most about money is that it gives me leverage (a greater ability) to better achieve my God given life vision of helping those closest to me and all around the world.”
Sometimes in Christian circles people say “Money is the root of all evil.” but that’s not what the Bible says. It says … “The LOVE of money is the root of all evil.”
So how do we prevent loving money? Many people have found that being generous to those in financial need (people and organizations) helps to prevent being in love with money. When we look at money as a tool, just like a hammer or a spatula in the kitchen it helps us to understand that like any tool it can be used properly or improperly.
The goal … the passion of both Compass Accounting and Life Masteries Institute (LMI) is to help educate people to learn how to properly use money to BEcome all we were created to BE.
© https://www.lifemasteries.org www.compassaccounting.biz
Learning what our personality is and also learning how that connects into how we think about money is a wonderful first step. You can do this by doing one of two things. You can click on this QR Code, take 3 minutes to complete a few survey questions and someone will reach out to you. In “Referred by:” enter “Compass Accounting”
Or you can call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 or Elaine Yoder with LMI at 574-312-5318.
Coaching Tip ~ Most people tend to be either “Thinkers” or “Doers.”
People who tend to be “Thinkers” are wise if they “Do more” and those who tend to be “Doers” would be wise to “Think more.”
1-10: Can I work from home?
What’s the hardest thing about working from home? For most people it’s probably being disciplined and helping family and friends to not take advantage of your flexibility.
Treat yourself as an employee and “do not be nice to yourself.” Have scheduled hours that you must work and know what work you have to do. It’s important to know that based on a number of different studies that every interruption costs you, on average, 20 minutes of lost productivity. Train our spouse, children, family and friends not to interrupt us while we work at certain times of the day / week.
Plan your week in advance as much as possible on Friday or Saturday for the next week. Go into the next week, knowing what you are planning on doing.
Do EVERYTHING you possibly can to have a separate place to do your work where you will not be interrupted / distracted. If you have children who will be in the home, find age appropriate things for them to do. Share with your children why you are working from home and how you’re starting your own business to be able to spend more time with them.
Help your children “start their own business” and consider paying them something to do more of the work that you used to do. The more work they do around the house, helping with other children or helping mom and dad better focus more time on the business to give them more time in the long run. Even young children can have their own business which could be a cleaning business, lawn service company, food preparation business or really ANYTHING that needs to be done around the house could be a business.
Help them treat it like a real business where you are the customer and help them to realize the more they do, the better work they do, the better their attitude when they do the work, the more money they get paid.
Teach them %’s. They have 100% of the money they earn to allocate. The Bible says “The love of money is the root of all evil.” It’s not “Money is the root of all evil.” It’s the love of money. What’s interesting and strange when you think about it … often, it’s those who don’t have an abundance of money, that often seem to love money.
Look at yourself and talk with your children about “How you/they view money.” What some people love most about money is that “It buys them more time to spend with their family, friends and loved ones.” Others like that they can give money away to help others in need.” Others like money to build or create things which can change the world around them.
What helps prevent “loving money?” It’s teaching our children to give money to others in need, at a very young age. 10% is a good place to start, but it can be more. Some children will give too much away and might connect giving money to get love or praise and that’s not healthy. Working with our children to set up their own budgets where maybe, as an example, we give 15% to others / good causes, 20% they get to spend however they want, 35% could be put away for a long-term purchase or investment into something. This would leave 30% to where you and they think it should go.
Would you like to learn what things you might be able to do in working from home and/or be introduced to others who are working from home to learn how they do it? Call or text Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
Coaching Tip ~ Don’t procrastinate. Time block / schedule ~ DO!
1-11: What if I own a company?
Compass provides many services for those who own companies which will help you in all areas of bookkeeping, accounting and taxes. Call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867
Please continue to Part 2 ~ Business Financial & Time Freedom for additional information/education which will help you.
Life Masteries Institute has a 30 minute GIFT Strategy Session. Please call or text Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
The sad reality is that most business owners do not own a company, they own a job. Often a company will continue to grow and expand beyond what the business owner would ideally like. This puts stress and pressure on the marriage and family. It doesn’t have to be that way, but often is.
The QR code will give you access to a 3 minute personality survey which will help you to better understand you, your personality and how you can learn how to own a company not a job.
Coaching Tip ~ Getting help from those who have wisdom and can assist you to BEcome all you were created to BE.
1-12: What is a 30 Minute GIFT Strategy Session?
“What if 30 minutes could bring fresh clarity to your business?”
Sometimes what a business owner needs most isn’t more effort… it’s more clarity. A 30-minute strategy session is a simple phone conversation designed to help you step back and look at your business with fresh eyes.
We’ll get to know you, your business, where you are right now, what’s going well, and where things may feel heavy, confusing, or unclear. We’ll ask a few questions to better understand your goals, your biggest challenges, and what you would truly love help with. We’ll also explore how you naturally think - how your personality influences the way you lead, make decisions, handle stress, and pursue growth.
Many times, the reason we feel stuck isn’t a lack of ability… it’s a lack of alignment.
By the end of our 30 minutes, you’ll walk away with:
• Clearer perspective on your biggest opportunities
• Insight into patterns you may not realize are shaping your results
• A few practical ideas you can immediately apply
• And space to think strategically instead of reactively
The goal is simple: help you think strategically about your business and walk away with direction.
Part 2 ~ Business Financial & Time Freedom
With all that you have going on, what would you say your biggest challenge might be in any area of your business / life?
How many hours are you currently working a week? / week
How many hours would you like to be working a week? _____ / week
How much sales do you believe you need to have to support the type of life that you, your wife and children would like to have? $ ______________ / year What were your sales for the last year? $ 2 years ago? $ 3 years ago? $
2-1: Learn to think differently
2-1-a: Think different about time
⅓ of all business owners will say their biggest challenge is not having enough time. Over 96% of business owners say that if they had more time that would greatly help them to solve their biggest challenges. The following questions will help us to better understand what we need to do from a business perspective.
Are you currently doing your own book keeping?
1 to 10, with 10 being the best, please answer the following questions.
1. Confidence that you have the best pricing and that pricing will meet the needs of your business and family.
2. Weekly reports with graphs and charts which help you to quickly understand the overall health of your business.
___ 3. Monthly, quarterly and yearly reports with graphs and charts which help you to understand, at a deep level, the overall health of your business and meetings with those who have the wisdom to help us see things we aren’t seeing.
4. The ability to not only understand what the data means, but also what my options are to move the numbers where they need to be moved to have a successful business which meets the needs of my family and brings value to the community.
___
5. The ability to know the best questions to ask and the wisdom to make the best business decisions based on the data / numbers.
Bookkeeping for a company can be broken into three levels.
Simple
● We start doing record keeping, books and tracking of income and expenses.
● It’s easy, it doesn’t take much time and/or knowledge to do.
As our business grows, we get more customers, more business. That’s good but it also expands the time we are investing and requires more experience to really understand what story the numbers are telling us and what we should do with the numbers/data.
Intermediate
● It takes more time.
● It requires more timely reporting of the data and help in understanding what the numbers mean.
● Consistent reporting of data helps us to make better business decisions and to more quickly see issues/problems in our business.
Generally speaking, it’s best to have someone else come in and take over this work due to time and experience requirements along with the costly business mistakes or things we miss if we do it on our own. If we’re doing the work as the business owner, it’s costing us not only time which could be spent with our family, but it’s not the highest and best use of our time. If we allow others to do this and we invest our time in higher productive things, it will save us time, reduce our stress and the stress of our family, along with giving us a great ROI on the investment we make in delegating.
Advanced
● This is where it can be tricky. Do we hire a full time person to do the accounting / bookkeeping or continue to contract it out?
● It often seems like it will cost less to bring things inhouse, but it often doesn’t work out that way after all the costs are considered.
● The other big downside is we don’t have depth like an accounting firm will have. If our bookkeeper is sick, on vacation and/or leaves we don’t have the depth to cover that. The other downside is that the inhouse person often isn’t able to keep up with new changes in laws, regulations and technology which can bring additional productivity and effectiveness to that area.
● This is really important to do as accounting/bookkeeping connects into everything that we do and become more advanced and complex as we grow as a company.
● Talk with your accounting/bookkeeping and be honest with them. A great company can help you save far more money in all areas of your business than what it costs you to outsource this area.
If you would like a free consultation on if it makes sense to have someone else do your book keeping and help you better understand your financials, pricing and other key financial / accounting areas of your business call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 to schedule an appointment for a conversation.
NOTE: You do not need to have this entire booklet completed however, the more you complete, the more we will be able to assist you and the better advice we will be able to give you.
What is the biggest challenge / problem you are facing in your business?
Every challenge/problem we have in our business can be solved when we learn to think about all the factors around the situation in a different way. Working with highly trained and skilled professionals like Compass and those within the Life Masteries Institute network help us to learn to develop systems and ways of thinking which help us to BEcome all we were created to BE.
2-2: Case Study: Dreamscape Creations ~ Luke Miller
Do you ever wish you had a better handle on your financial numbers? Imagine if you had an “Accounting Dashboard” which provided you with key numbers weekly and you had confidence in your pricing, your cash flow and overall profitability. Call Compass Accounting and ask to talk to one of our team members about “The Accounting Dashboard."
Luke Miller is 20 years old, Amish, and one of the owners of Dreamscape Creations, a fast-growing construction company that launched in 2024. If you’re a seasoned business owner, you’ll quickly recognize the brilliance behind what Luke and his partner, Kenny Bontrager, have built in just two short years with the help of amazing parents and many others.
How did they do this?
Luke and Kenny in part, implemented The Accounting Dashboard through Compass Accounting and it transformed the way they see and run their business. Most companies struggle to truly understand their numbers. They may know revenue… maybe expenses… but very few know their real-time sales closing ratios, performance variances, profitability by project tier, or dimensional growth trajectory. Dreamscape does. The Accounting Dashboard didn’t just “track numbers.” It created clarity, visibility and leverage.
The Power of Tracking What Matters
Most companies don’t even know their sales closing ratio.
Dreamscape tracks:
● Key numbers and percentages to insure paying team members well and also earning a respectable profit for the owners
● Job costing and performance bonuses for team members
● Unit sales closing ratios
● Dollar ($) closing ratios
● Performance variance metrics
● Referral and networking conversion percentages
● Goals ~ Track efforts and correlates to results
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The average company closes around 10% of unit sales. Internet leads often close at 1–3%.
Dreamscape achieved a 33% closing ratio, making them nearly 600% stronger than the industry average. Even more impressive - their normal variance target was +4%. They hit +55%.
That level of performance doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when leadership has visibility and discipline. The Accounting Dashboard gave them the insight to see that their higher-end quotes were converting at a lower rate - still strong, but revealing a major growth opportunity as they scale from $835,000 toward their $2,500,000 goal in year three. Without accurate dashboards, that insight would remain hidden.
With clear financial insight, Dreamscape was able to confidently build their growth engine with 60% of business from referrals and 34% from networking. That kind of growth only works when the back-end numbers are strong enough to support it. Most companies take yearssometimes decades - to make one dimensional jump. Luke and Kenny nearly made four dimensional jumps in two years.
The Accounting Dashboard through Compass Accounting helped Dreamscape THINK like a multi-million-dollar company before they arrived there. Instead of reacting to problems, they were proactively steering the business.
The Secret?
They embraced Tom Kunz’s famous quote: “Trust the integrity of the system.”
Compass Accounting provided the system. Dreamscape trusted it. And the numbers speak for themselves.
2-3: BOS ~ Business Operating System
Our bookkeeping, accounting and all the systems which connect these things are fully integrated into our BOS, we have an engine that runs better which is good for everyone in our world, as business owners.
Often we as business owners are not fully confident if we are charging the right amount for our products / services. We often are not sure of our full costs in our business which prevent us from charging what we should. If we don’t have all the data available and/or aren’t sure how to read that data and/or aren’t sure of all our options, we will not make the best decisions in our business.
This is not only costly to our business but it also means that we’ll work more hours than we would need to if we had the BOS we could have. Additionally we will increase the stress, anxiety and pressure in our marriage and family.
2-3-a: DNA for PEOPLE
The DNA for PEOPLE is Personality Masteries. Life Masteries Institute (LMI) as a nonprofit has a large library of resources which help us to better understand ourselves and others around us through personalities.
In section “1-5: How we think matters ~ Personalities” there are a number of valuable insights/models that help us to better understand our personality and the personalities of those around us.
Understanding personalities will help us in every area as it connects to people. It will help us with our business customers, employees, vendors, referral partners … and every area of our personal life as well.
If you haven’t already done the 3 minute personality survey and the 30 minute gift strategy session, take 3 minutes and do that now and/or call/text Elaine at 574-312-5318.
Compass Accounting is a proud sponsor of the monthly LIVE Coffee Connection and weekly virtual podcasts. See the back cover for additional details on those events which have been life/business changing for many people over the years.
2-3-b: DNA for
BUSINESS
The 5/30 Grid and how Compass helps to sponsor LIVE monthly Coffee Connection in Shipshewana and weekly call in sessions.
We’ll also cover how important accounting / book keeping is to all 5 areas and all 6 levels / 30 boxes. We’ll highlight the various boxes which are directly connected into accounting and explain “Box 22: Measure All Costs” in detail and how Compass can help with this.
There are a few short/powerful videos which help us to all quickly understand the three components to BOS.
Other boxes covered are … SEE NEXT PAGE
All five areas for any business, which are in The 5/30 Grid benefit from strong accounting practices. Box 22: Measure all costs, is something with the right accounting/bookkeeping in place will help you in your business to not only bring a lot more value to your clients, but also to help you maximize your top line (overall sales) along with your bottom line (profits).
Compass Accounting works/partners with many types of businesses which will help your BOS … the engine in your business to run in peak performance.
As a business owner, would you be interested in learning how to set up systems where you would partner with a handful of other businesses where they will help you, and you will help them? Compass Accounting can help you set up those systems. We like to think of all our referral business partners where when the tide rises in a port, all the ships rise together. “We can accomplish far more together than we ever could on our own.
2-3-c: DNA for Life ~ “Natural Laws”
Over the last 30+ years we and our partners have discovered 500+ natural laws. These are laws which govern the universe. As business owners, when we understand these natural laws, through the wise use of systems we leverage our time (All 7 T’s to stewardship).
For example the Cluster Principle is a great one to teach people and then ask for referrals and explain how by referring business to other companies, with the right systems, will also grow our business as well. The average individual making a buying/selling decision will, on average, know between 3 and 9 other people who are making the same type of buying or selling decision. Imagine … if everyone of your clients/customers would just refer two great prospects a year to you, what would that do for your business? Yes, it could double it every year … on an ongoing basis.
Now, if you think, like many business owners do … “The more clients we have / business we have the more hours I work.” … we’ll partner up together and help you to learn how to think differently.
See … The 5/30 Grid not only will help you carefully and intentionally grow your business but The 5/30 Grid will also help you grow your team to support all new business. Imagine … having systems in place where you grew your servicing team at the same level / rate that you grow your business. Having more business can actually help you work less hours, have less stress and have greater life balance.
If your business would like to consider developing a more intentional referral partner business with Compass Accounting, connect with us today. We’ll schedule a time to have a conversation and determine if
there is mutual benefit to everyone and work together, to decide the best next steps are.
Here are some additional natural laws we talk about at the Coffee Connection monthly and weekly times we connect. As we learn how to leverage natural laws in the most effective way, we learn how to better BEcome all we were created to BE.
2-4: Leadership
How can we as business owners connect with other business owners for mutual benefit?
As we have mentioned the monthly LIVE Coffee Connections and weekly virtual Coffee Connections are exciting opportunities to connect with other business owners / leaders to learn and grow together.
Check out the last page for additional information about how to connect with those groups.
Compass Accounting seeks to provide the highest quality service at affordable prices to assist business owners and to have the resources needed to BEcome all they were created to BE. The 5/30 Grid is one of those models and there are many more.
As there are six levels of proficiency for each of the five areas within The 5/30 Grid there are also six levels of proficiency in both the Leadership and Profitable Partnership area.
What we have discovered at Compass Accounting is that as we develop, use and fine tune systems which help us to better service our clients, we can help introduce all our business clients to these same models and systems. “As the tide rises … All the ships in that port rise together.”
2-5: Spouse & Family Member Involvement
Having family members involved in our businesses can be a blessing or a curse. It’s almost always hard without question. When we use the 3 DNA’s within the BOS, it makes spouse / family involvement far easier.
Each family member will likely have a very different personality than other family members which … is what makes BOS so critical in helping family members to learn to not only get along but to also be in flow together.
There are many tools, systems and training available through LMI and member companies.
2-5-a: What if my spouse has made bad financial decisions in the past? How do I best respond?
Be humble. Understand that you see certain things, but not everything. You may be right, but it’s not black and white. You’re not 100% right, 100% of the time and you may not even see how many good decisions have been made, which more than pay for some of the poor financial decisions.
We tend to like people that are like us and fall in love with people who are opposite of our personality type. Each of the four personality types can make costly business mistakes, but will do so for very different reasons.
A business owner thinks in a very different way than employees / those who do not own a company. For the most part, employees are largely consumption minded. Most employees will consume 80% to 100% of what they earn. If an employee saves 10% to 20% of what they earn that is very unusual.
The typical profit for most small businesses is 7% to 10%. What does that mean? It means that a business owner invests 90% to 93% back into their business. Why is this important to making bad financial decisions? Often a spouse of a business owner doesn’t understand that owning a company is VERY different from being an employee. There are mistakes / things that just don’t work. That’s a part of being a business owner.
Actually … The most costly mistakes are those we make and don’t even know we’ve made them. Business coaching / consulting often doesn’t get used and we never get a written bill for what we don’t know / do.
This doesn’t mean that the spouse just needs to accept it. Often those who tend to be more cautious, analytic and amiable are the spouses of business owners and seem to feel the price / costs / pain of the mistake more than the business owner. The analytic / amiable will make just as many mistakes as the driver / expressive but the mistakes that the analytic / amiable make are hard to learn from if we don’t even know what we don’t know / do.
Each of the four personality types can make poor financial decisions but they will be different in nature. When we learn how to see these weaknesses, it can save us from very costly financial poor choices. ActionVISION business coaches are highly trained, experienced and certified in Personality Masteries personality coaching and mentoring.
With family members, who almost always have different personalities, it’s VERY important that all the family members, employees, ideally customers and even vendors do the 17 second personality assessment.
When we learn to work together in a business, in a family, in flow together we can accomplish far more together than we ever
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could on our own. Often business owners are men and their wives often see things the husband doesn’t and he doesn’t listen to her. This is not healthy for the husband, the wife, the family and the business.
On the other hand, a wife can often influence the husband not to invest into things that would bring benefit to the business, reduce the hours the husband works, reduce stress and improve life balance.
The “Less Assertive” personality types, the analytic and amiable personalities will often make less … noticeable mistakes.
What does that mean? The amiable personality (ball and/or conflict) will often avoid conflict (in the short-term) and won’t make the hard decisions, those that carry risk. This personality may give into pressure or avoid conflict and may say “Yes” when they should say “No” or may say “No” when they should say “Yes.”
The analytic personality can avoid making key decisions which can be very costly for a business. The analytic can also be drawn into investing into things which “look good on paper” and/or seem to have a lot of data which makes the opportunity/situation look good when in fact it’s not.
NOTE: The amiable and analytic can be VERY persuasive in the presentation of doing something or not doing something. When the decision doesn’t go well, both personalities can have a hard time taking ownership of their decisons.
The “More Assertive” personality types, the driver and expressive personalities will often make very noticeable mistakes. This is actually good from the perspective that if we know the mistakes we make, we can learn from them. Those personalities around these two personality types though can gain too much confidence and think they are right.
The expressive personality can be the most spontaneous personality. They can make the fastest decisions which can lead to amazing successes and can make the worst / most costly decisions. They tend to like the adrenaline rush of risks and this can cause them to make quick financial decisions which will hurt them and those around them.
The driver personality is similar to the expressive in being more assertive but is focused on tasks vs. people. The driver makes fast decisions and often is really good at making decisions quickly.
Any training / coaching you can get on Personality Masteries will help you and those around you to properly apply all that you are learning in Financial Freedom. Learn to be in flow with other personalities and use their “radar” their way of thinking to compliment your way of thinking. Working together, being in flow, properly considering all personality types / people around us will help us all see far greater financial success.
2-5-b: What if the family does or doesn’t want to work in the business?
The first generation tends to work really hard … the second generation often sees how hard the first generation works and doesn’t want to do that.
Each of the four personalities will tend to value very different things. What causes one personality pleasure will cause a different personality pain. Learning how to help each family member “connect the dots” and figure out how to take the things their personality likes to do and learn how to make any / all work fun is a gift that will benefit that person the rest of their life.
Another exercise is to help each family member draw a circle and around that circle write out all those things they are passionate about. When we learn what we are passionate about, what we love we can then be intentional about connecting what we enjoy / love to do into our business.
2-6: Buying / Selling A Business
Compass Accounting helps sponsor a weekly call in podcast on this topic. Please call Compass and we’ll schedule a time to have a conversation and point you in the right direction.
If selling your business, it’s VERY important to start the process three years before you decide to sell. If you are buying a business there are many factors and we would be honored to assist you any way we can.
2-7: Our Legacy
What were we created to BEcome? What is our legacy? Leaving a legacy for our children / grandchildren and others that we can help. Owning a company is something that is special and a part of owning a company. Take a few minutes to think about what you would like your legacy to be and write down some thoughts.
2-8: What’s NEXT?
If you are a current client of Compass Accounting, thank you for your business and your trust in us. Most of our business comes from referrals. We value introductions to others so thank you for thinking about us with others you know.
If you would like more Financial Freedom booklets, let us know and we will provide those to you as a gift to you and those around you.
Due to the nature of the booklet and how it was designed / written these booklets can provide amazing points for consideration for family events, church get togethers, to give to family / friends, providing to your clients and everyone else you know.
People you give these to will forever appreciate your consideration of them.
Compass Accounting
574-370-6867
Jason Miller & Katie Lehman
If they would like in life / personal areas they can connect with LMI. Ask about the 30 minute gift strategy session.
Life Masteries Institute
Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
Connect / Fulfilling Our Life Vision
What did we learn from this booklet that will help us live our life vision better every day? Who did we meet the right people who can help us achieve their life vision, and who can help BEcome all we were created to BE?
Action I Will Take!
Taking action is a result of how we think. What actions will we take from this booklet?
It’s good … to just sit back and … think … reflect … ruminate.
Community Events
Coffee Connection Weekly Virtual Meeting (30 minutes)
LIVE: First Saturday of every month
• 8 AM – Amish segment
• 10 AM – Open to all 7720 W 200 N, Shipshewana, IN
Breakfast provided: RSVP: Elaine 574-312-5318
Rosanna 630-649-4059
“What
is your
BIGGEST Challenge?”
Monthly brainstorming/discussions on:
● Gaining more free time & life balance
● Aligning employees with your vision
● Scaling up without risking business or family life
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Share FREE 3-minute personality survey with others: > https://synergytools.net/md3/SurveyLink.aspx Use QR code for 17-second Life GPS Personality >>> So … if someone or anyone could help you in any area of your business and/or your life, what would you love help with?
