What you see is what you get? Well, not in fast food advertising.

​And this discrepancy is at the heart of recent lawsuits, but doesn’t this all feel a little bit silly?

I mean, on the one hand, I think most people agree that advertising should represent the actual product it is trying to sell. On the other hand, you probably knew exactly what my first line referred to without needing to go into details of how the actual food can differ from what you see in ads. And yet, even with that being that case, it is not as if we are surprised by this when we order something at one of these franchise places or refuse to return because of it.

So is anyone here really at fault?

I mean, if the end result of this is that McDonald’s is forced to make the food in its ads more closely resemble what you receive at the restaurant, I don’t think this is going to affect their food at all. If they were to offer something that looks fuller and includes more ingredients, that would shift it right out of its fast-food niche. Instead, I would place a bet on the change coming in how they advertise instead.

And no matter what, it probably isn’t going to alter customer behavior that much. At this point, we all know what a Big Mac really is … and sometimes we still want one.

For in the end, isn’t advertising just a best-case scenario no matter what? Be it in any products or services that we consume, we understand that the pitch for them presents an ideal and we will be satisfied as long as we are approaching that ideal. Reaching it, however, well, those are special moments.

Even when falling short, though, that doesn’t mean advertising isn’t working – after all, this is the second week in a row I have mentioned fast food burgers in this space.

And that ideal really does work both ways. When someone sells something, they may not be able to hit 100% satisfaction with every customer, but they want to get close enough to keep them coming back. That is how a business thrives after all, by selling what you offer and then giving to that someone to the best of your ability. And then as a customer, you should get a satisfying experience out of it.  If that doesn’t happen, well, then it is time to move on. Or at least file a silly lawsuit, it seems.

Just in the end, whether you are a business or a customer, we all need to work together to see that people are getting what they want.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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​It was National Cheeseburger Day this past Monday, and even though all these national days don’t mean much of anything, chances are good that you heard about it. And most likely you didn’t hear about it because you were celebrating with a parade downtown honoring the wonders of ground beef and cheese between a bun. Although if you were, please let me know where this happens so that I know where to be next September 18.

Instead, though, you probably heard about it because of how many businesses, from national franchises to local establishments, used it as a way to offer some deals for the day. And of course some of these were pretty simple – if you see somewhere says you can go out and have a burger and fries for $6.99, well, that can be enough to make you go since you didn’t want to cook dinner anyway. I did, however notice many of the national chains weren’t just offering a deal that you could walk in and get – you had to use their app – and there seemed to be a little business lesson in there.

It seems clear that if multiple places are offering deals if you use their app, this is because they want more people to use their app. And the reasons they would want people to do this are pretty clear, too, and the easiest one can be that it gives them access to customers all the time. There is clear value in being able to send an ad to something everyone is carrying in their pockets.

At the same time, though, one can understand reluctance among customers to embrace these apps. After all, it is not very difficult to walk into McDonald’s and order a burger and it is something we have been doing for a long time.. You’ll still get it in minutes. And then there is always the push-and-pull that comes with new tech, some of which takes off immediately, some of which takes longer to gain hold, and some of which never does.

But for business owners, you have to be willing to try new things, and you have to be willing to make some moves to get people to try them. Those 50-cent cheeseburgers may cost a business something in the short term, but it could also be the means for long-term gains. Overall, I would say this means don’t be afraid to try to offer new products (or new ways to get old products) when it could lead to an obvious good path. And heck, don’t even be afraid to do this by taking advantage of made-up holidays.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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Information that sounds too good to be true is actually too good to be true? No way.

The place to get good tax advice isn’t on TikTok? No way.

I promise these sarcastic thoughts come from somewhere, as this recent article from Forbes sent my whirring in different directions, and not many of them good. The article highlights something that I thought was worth spending a little extra time on, though, so here we are.

The article itself speaks of a viral TikTok post that discussed the Augusta Rule in taxes, a use of which can involve businesses renting space in an owner’s home for business meetings. It then spins off into a discussion of an example of how difficult and nuanced the rule actually is.

And yes, the general rule being discussed is real, there are actually potential tax benefits for business owners to use their homes for business meetings. So if you happen to be a business owner and you hear about something like this that you think you could legitimately use, yes, you should be interested and should look into taking advantage of it.

The problem, though, is when looking into it stops there. If one just runs with an idea without looking into where the idea comes from, it does not often lead to good places (which is something we should remember in many area of life). I don’t even want to say that you need to enlist an expert because it’s not like looking up any more information is beyond a layperson. I just want to say that any idea one feels deserves action also deserves another moment or two to get more than just one piece of information before taking that action.

And that concept should probably be leaned on a little more when the potential for an IRS audit increases when you don’t do it.

The internet is a wonderful place where many people are allowed to have a voice that they may not have otherwise. But that doesn’t mean it’s always a place filled with truth. But it could be - just give yourself the extra moment to find out where it is. For every wild, untrue claim posted out there, there are many more things posted that are closer to the truth. A search can find these if we step outside our hopeful echo chambers.

And of course, if you ever feel you do need the opinion of an expert, to find out how something works in truth, please feel free to contact us.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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When you hear about people who run into problems with their tax returns, most of the stories involve huge numbers and vast wealth. And that stands to reason as they are attention grabbers – for beyond that, who really cares about tax stories? They are also the stories that are the most ‘criminal’ as they often include an attempt to circumvent the system or at least involve some spurious arguments that were knocked back. Most tax mistakes, though, are smaller, and I think it’s likely that most of the mistakes end in people paying too much in taxes, not in getting some sort of break.

So how does this happen? Well, it is when people do not claim deductions and/or credits for which they would have been eligible. And why wouldn’t they? The answer is usually that they simply are not aware of what was out there for them.

We see this happen a lot with people whose situation changes. If someone starts going at their tax returns by themselves when they start working and have one job for which they receive one W2, it is likely they started off submitting their most advantageous return. But for most of us, our situations become more complicated as we grow and if we are still submitting a similarly simple return, the chances that we are missing out on something that could have helped us increases.

This type of dynamic becomes amplified when someone starts a new business or changes from being a W2 employee to becoming self-employed. And the potential advantages there can be immediate if you are aware of where tax savings can occur. But how does one even know that they should start tracking their mileage driven for business when they begin? And even if they find out about this later, how impossible is it to reconstitute months of trips that were already taken?

And then when it comes time to file your taxes, is there awareness of how to use a home office deduction for those now working from home?

Then once things are going well, would there be some benefit by paying yourself as an employee? Or setting up a retirement plan?

And just how much potential savings could be missed out on if continuing to go it alone for years?

For those whose interest has been sparked by this, you can read this recent article to find some tax tips for the self-employed. And for those whose interest expands beyond reading an article, please always feel free to reach out to us and have a discussion about how your current situation could be leveraged to your best advantage.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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