Yesterday was a monumental day in the Somerset household. First, I managed to do the dishes and even cook some dinner. Second, I had a short cat nap. It was epic.

Last, it was the first time both Lindsay and I have filed a tax return as a married couple, which I guess makes this whole enterprise official.

Now I absolutely hate spending time sitting in front of my computer entering numbers from different forms and expenses from different activities. Compound it with the fact that having a small business of my own makes things a little bit more tricky (WHAT DO YOU MEAN I can’t write off the entire wedding?? I had a couple clients there and it was supposed to build good will!!) coupled with an attention span about as long as an eyelash and you could see how I would quickly devolve into a sniveling shell of my former self wanting to hurl computers through windows and show the tax man where he could shove it.

That being said, after doing my own taxes for a few years, I’ve learned how to stream-line the process and can whip through them in a good solid afternoon without any real big challenges. I can’t profess to say that I figured all of this out on my own, I had help.

I worked with an accountant to figure out what I had to do.

When I was in the process of forming my business, I met with an accountant to figure out what option would be best for me (incorporated, limited liabilities, sole proprietorship), and also what information I needed to have on site and how I needed to structure my record-keeping to make sure tax day didn’t result in me climbing the bell tower with a sniper rifle and start picking off people while singing “Jingle Bells” out of my mind insane.

Every now and again, I’ll have a question that comes up or need some assistance that’s beyond my scope of knowledge, and I’ll go back in and get some help setting things up. For instance, last year I started writing with T-Nation and began receiving cheques in American dollars. I also set up my own digital product in Post Rehab Essentials, and needed to know how to keep all that on the up and up so I wouldn’t get audited or have to pay a stupidly high tax on any income earned. In I went and he showed me how to set up everything necessary to make it all happy happy, I paid his fee, and away I went confident in what I was doing.

I’m sure that in the coming years my business will expand (given the rate of growth over the past 5 years, I’m pretty sure 2012 will be kind of a tipping point moment), and as it expands I’ll probably need more assistance and some more sophisticated services, which I’ll be more than happy to pay for especially if it means I can do more and get the best opportunities to save money on taxes or penalties compared to doing it all myself.

Now here’s where taxes become like training….

The funny thing is this accountant is actually a member at my gym who has never worked with a trainer. He’s really well known as one of the best in the city, so I can trust his opinion in anything I need advice with. I see him doing the exact same workout today as he was doing 8 years ago when I first met him. He’s asked me occasionally what exercises he should do to help his sore back and shoulder, to which I say he should let me do a free assessment on him to see what exercises would be best for his current condition. He’s not down for that, and as a result keeps doing the same things all the time. I did actually wind up just giving him a couple exercises to help him feel better about what he was doing, and it only took me about 5 minutes so no issue there. Whether he’s still doing them or doing them properly two weeks later is another story.

SO here’s the dilemma a lot of people face. Should I pay for a service that’s going to give me targeted results towards what my goals are, or do I try to find out how to do it myself and save the money, knowing there’s a chance I could screw it all up for good. I had to update the electrical in my house a few years ago and my knowledge of electrical systems ends with “the screen is on so there must be power.” Instead of trying to figure out ways to not burn my house down or send a few thousand volts of juice flowing through my build, I called an electrician. Instead of trying to figure out tax codes I hired an accountant. Sure, these were pretty much one time things, but they got the job done that I wanted.

If you want a specific goal in fitness, find someone who can help you out better than you can help yourself. If your shoulder is sore, you could try to find out how to make it better, but you have a better chance of staying married to Kim Karashian for the duration of the year than you have of finding out what is causing the problem in the first place. If you’re not seeing the kind of progress you want on your current strength or cardio program, work with a coach who can look at you objectively and say “do this” to help bust through your plateau.

Yes, you will have to pay for their services. Here’s the kicker though. You’re going to pay no matter what. What is your time worth? Should you spend copious hours trying to wade through mountains of mis-information when it comes to what works and what doesn’t? How about the time you spend training in a program that isn’t getting you anywhere? What about the time spent visiting clinic after clinic to help keep you active in order to do the same program or a variation that you’re not sure will work?

The accountant I worked with charges around $300 per hour of his service, which is a lot more than I charge (read: a LOOOOOOOT more than I charge), so when I need assistance, it’s not going to be something I could ask my phone to figure out for me, but if I have a quick question I can ask over the phone, he won’t really charge me for that, which is both awesome and fantastic all rolled up in one. Maybe he does somehow when he sends me an invoice, and he’s coded it in some sophisticated manner that I’m just not catching. Anyway, he charges that much because he’s earned the education and can show a track record of success with previous clients to justify it. In the end, it’s actually a bargain to me.

In the case of the accountant and his wonky wing and back, all he would have needed to do was set up a time with me to go through a free assessment to find out what he needed to work on and what may be contributing to his pain, or to find out if he should go to a doctor or a physio for more specific treatments. From there, he could invest in one or two sessions to go through a concentrated program that he could do to help him get better instead of banging his head against the wall and then taking Advil to stop the pain.For even more benefit, he could work with myself and a soft tissue expert who could ensure he was progressing along at the best pace. A short term investment for long term benefits.

The whole point of this article is to simply say that you’re going to pay for your health one way or another. One was is to be proactive: eating the right foods that cost a little more than the crap-tastic ones, going to bed earlier and not catching Jimmy Fallon’s opening monologue in favor of getting a good nights rest, and working out with a purpose with someone who can tell you if you’re making progress in the right direction and switch things up if you’re not. The other option is reactive: paying for surgery and time off from work to recover, medications, poor health that leaves you drained and unable to do the things you want to do. The first options take Visa and Mastercard, but the second options will hit you with a much higher interest rate.

Don’t be afraid to invest in something that will give you multiple times its’ cost back in value. Professionals specialize in specific areas so you don’t have to, plus they know more about some hidden benefits than you would, and can steer you in the right direction quickly and effectively rather than spinning your own wheels and getting no where.