2020 Tax Deductions for Sole-Proprietors and Small Biz

by CT Perez | Dec 11, 2020 | Business, Deductions, taxes

The IRS recently updated their Tax Cuts & Jobs Act guide which outlines qualifying advertising and business related expenses. The full list is available in 56 page IRS Form 535 Business Expenses, for use in preparing 2019 returns.

I have outlined the expenses I found helpful to know about, especially as the owner of a small business. Please refer to IRS Form 535 for the full details. Additionally, the nonprofit, SCORE, is a good resource for digging deeper on this and other related issues for business owners.

Business Use of Your Home
Advertising
Education
Web/App Design and/or Development
Print Marketing
Digital Marketing
- Google Ads
- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Ads
- Display Banner Ads
- Influencer Ads
- Email Marketing
Newspaper, Magazine, TV, and Radio Ads

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I write about topics that matter to my business, and my clients’, as well as related things that may be of interest, even if they are on the periphery.

An Answer to the Collision of Generative AI into the Design Industry

by CT Perez | Feb 11, 2026

As a web designer whose primary client base is largely composed of small businesses, I often “throw graphic design” in the mix as a value-added service at no additional fee or a nominal fee to keep them on board. Now with AI making huge inroads into the profession, I felt compelled to find out just how much.

Adobe Announces Big AI Updates: Firefly, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator…

by CT Perez | Oct 14, 2024

Adobe Announces AI Tools Across Most of its Creative Cloud ( Read the official post by Adobe ) I’m not a fan of using 100% AI for everything. But always the early adopter (I bought my first IBM PC in 1984 when I was in high school and by 1995 I was building my own…

The King of Search to Eliminate AI Generated Content from Results

by CT Perez | Mar 11, 2024

Since Google’s public debut in 1998, hacks have stayed busy trying to trick its search algorithm into gaining higher rankings in its Search Engine Results Pages aka SERP. (Read more about SERP: https://www.semrush.com/blog/serp/). The first “hacks,” were elementary:…

Aerial Photography Continues to Remain in High Demand

by CT Perez | Oct 30, 2023

The first known aerial photograph . . . [W]as taken in 1858 by French photographer and balloonist, Gaspar Felix Tournachon , known as “Nadar”. The modern aerial photography I’m writing about began on June 25, 2014, when the FAA granted the right to use drones in…

Westlake, Sacramento Video

by CT Perez | Oct 18, 2023

Aerial photography of Westlake, a planned community just minutes from the State Capitol and Sacramento International Airport.

Poster for Historic Home Tour in East Sacramento

47th Annual Historic Home Tour: East Sacramento

by CT Perez | Sep 10, 2023

Sierra Blue’s studio is located in East Sacramento, a neighborhood rich with architecural history. A few weeks ago, I came across a call for volunteers to help with the 47th Annual Home Tour which happens to be in East Sacramento this year.

A Quick Run Down History Lane: The Illustrious Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance

by CT Perez | Aug 5, 2023

Calling the Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance a boat show . . . would be akin to calling the World Series just a baseball game. The “Concours,” is the premier “Woody,” event in North America with a history rooted back to 1890 when wooden steamships transported timber for…

Interactive Map of North Tahoe

by CT Perez | Dec 28, 2022

Lake Tahoe’s Lodging Renaissance Sierra Blue presents a new interactive Google Map to help people figure out where they might want to stay when visiting North Lake Tahoe. The recent renaissance of sorts in the lodging property space around Lake Tahoe has been big…

Who Is Winning The Global EV Race?

by CT Perez | Dec 19, 2022

Who Is Winning The Global EV Race? The global electric vehicle market is heating up and China wants to dominate. The country has invested at least $60 billion to support the EV industry, and it’s pushing an ambitious plan to transition to all electric or hybrid cars…

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WordPress Update Slip

by CT Perez | Nov 2, 2020 | WordPress

WordPress Auto-Update Slip Up

Like millions of other webmasters, I use WordPress to create and develop simple, and complex websites. The much loved Content Managed System was the first to begin using automatic-updates, freeing webmasters from the tedious job of having to manually update applications.

A few years ago, WordPress launched their auto-update feature for the core software system, you know - not applications, but the actual"mission-critical," program that IS WordPress. This was a good thing. All the new "copycats," like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace do it too and for good reason. People who use the knock-offs systems generally do not posess the skills or experience to maintain core files.

But I digress. In an article published on October 31, 2020 in Search Engine Journal, a significant hicup with the auto-update is outlined. Will it stop us from using WordPress? Probably not. WordPress is an open source coded system that is built by and for programmers who work together as a team to create new features, and solve common problems.

Flawed WordPress 5.5.2 Security Update

The fiasco began on October 29, 2020 with a routine update meant to address critical security issues. WordPress 5.5.2 was meant to prevent issues like Cross Site Request Forgeries, XSS (Cross Site Scripting) attacks and more.

Unfortunately, the update also introduced a bug that caused new WordPress installations to fail. This is how WordPress explained the bug:

“WordPress 5.5.2 …makes it impossible to install WordPress on a brand new website that does not have a database connection configured. This release does not affect sites where a database connection is already configured, for example, via one-click installers or an existing wp-config.php file.”

In order to fix that problem, WordPress stopped version 5.5.2 from rolling out to more sites. And that’s when a rogue update pushed itself out automatically.

Google G-Suite is Now Workspace

by CT Perez | Oct 13, 2020 | Google

Google's famous "G-Suite,"

is now, "Google Workspace." The change appears to be an effort by Google to improve it's suite of "office apps," by integrating their video conferencing system, aka Google Meet, across more applications. To quote Google's VP of Google Workspace, Javier Soltero, "This is the end of the ‘office’ as we know it."

Many clients and associates still seem to be a bit puzzled about what G-Suite is. I always ask them if they use Gmail, and often they do. Well, that's really one of the core applications of G-Suite. A Gmail account gives users access to G-Suite, even if they aren't aware the 9 dots in the upper right corner will open G-Suite.

The bottom line is really about the battle for market share in the ever-growing cloud-based office applicaion space. With more people working from home, this kind of competition should only serve to help users get more bang for their buck. For the record, most of G-Suite is free for single-users which was the first salvo fired by Google at Microsoft when MS Office was running a cool undred bucks at Fry's on CD.

For a visual overview of the major changes from G-Suite to Workspace, here's a video by a third-party that goes by 9to5Google on Youtube.

2020 Palm Springs Summer

by CT Perez | Oct 5, 2020 | Palm Springs Lifestyle, Photography, Travel

Photos from Palm Springs and Indian Wells, Summer 2020

Summer began and closely thereafter the LNU Lightening Complex (fire) ignited around Napa, California. The smoke permeated nearby Sacramento causing AQI's to reach upwards of 500+. It would burn from August to October 2, 2020 and become the fourth largest wildfire in the recorded history of California.

Choked by the smoke, we packed the dogs and hit the road for bluer skies; destination, Palm Springs. Technically, Indian Wells, but we spent a lot of time throughout the beautiful Coachella Valley; seven weeks to be exact.

I was able to continue servicing my clients and even picked up some new projects while I was there. Virtually all of my clients use Zoom, Google Meet and GoTo Meeeting for communications which made being hundreds of miles away, a non-issue.

This gallery represents some of my favorite photos from this trip. I forgot to pack my Nikon so I made do with my trusty iPhone. Still, I think they came out just fine for displaying on the web.

One of the new projects I began in Indian Wells was a virtual tour for a real estate agent. More on that later. It definitely got me thinking about expanding my services to include virtual tours.

Oh yeah, while we were visiting, this fun hulu flick came out, called, "Palm Springs." Kind of "chick-flicky," all funny, with a pinch of zombiesqueness for good measure.

Photography

Homes, Cars, and Things of Palm Springs and Indian Wells

Testing Zillow’s new 3D Tour App

by CT Perez | Sep 11, 2020 | Photography

Real Estate Photography

Zillow's 3D Home Tours is new app (Sept 2019), for iOS and Android that just about anybody can use as long as you have a steady hand and an eye for detail. The virtual tour I posted below took about 20 minutes to shoot and render, then about 20 more minutes to process and load on my website. I think it's better than much of the stuff we see on countless real estate websites. Just a few years ago, only serious professionals with high-grade equipment were doing this. Now - it's in the palm of your hand, literally.

The real estate industry has seen a major surge in the development of "virtual tour," applications in the last year alone. And then there's the drone stuff. Drones can really increase the presentation of high-end properties to showcase vast amounts of nature like beaches or mountains.

Another cool feature, invented by Google, is creating a "walk-thru," presentation as many of us use with Google Maps. I'll be testing this asap, too. Here's a video of this feature used by a company in Sunnyvale, CA called Matterport: https://www.facebook.com/Matterport/videos/1680999475274141/

I'll be testing other applications, cameras, and equipment to find a setup that provides the best result at a good price-point.

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