Decoding Dollars

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W four WN Radio. This is
Beyond Confidence with your host w Park.

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Do you want to live a more
fulfilling life? Do you want to live

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your legacy and achieve your personal,
professional, and financial goals? Well?

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Coming up on dvparks Beyond Confidence,
you will hear real stories of leaders,

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entrepreneurs, and achievers who have stepped
into discomfort, shattered their status quo,

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and are living the life they want. You will learn how relationships are the

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key to achieving your aspirations and financial
goals. Moving your career business forward does

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not have to happen at the expense
of your personal or family life or vice

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versa. Learn more www dot Gwpark
dot com and you can connect with vants

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contact dant gwpark dot com. This
is beyond confidence and now here's your host,

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W Park. Good morning listeners.
It's Tuesday, and I'm thrilled to

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be here with you because I'm with
you. So what I want to share

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with you is that during the holiday
season, it's so important to keep that

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kindness going. And I want to
thank each and every one of you who

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have got our books because some of
the profits from our books go to keewod

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dot org and we help entrepreneurs from
all across the globe. And the best

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part is that remember we want to
take the holiday cheers and seasoned spirits into

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twenty twenty four and we just kind
of continue that kind of circle that I

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invite you to do it. Take
one hour of your time every month and

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give it to someone without any restrictions, without any agenda, just be kind.

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So I'm going to invite our guest
in today, Melanie Paul. Welcome,

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Melanie, Hi DVID. Thank you
for having me. Oh definitely,

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so folks. For those of you
who don't know Melanie, she has been

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an accountant with over twenty four years
of experience. She started her career as

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a nonprofit CFO moved into governmental accounting
at a very prestigious local university. In

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two thousand and nine, she left
the corporate world. You know, a

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lot of us have that desire to
do that, and she did that.

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She started her own business and she
has done really well, and she has

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focused on bookkeeping for small, individually
owned businessess is She's got a very interesting

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background with experience in forensic accounting,
job casting, cash flow projections, and

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budgeting. And she also has a
team of bookkeepers that work with her and

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she has helped several businesses not only
in bookkeeping, but helping them find money

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in their business. So we all
want some cash, right Like, whatever

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cash we have brought in, we
want to see how we can keep more

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of it, what you can do
with it, And that's what we are

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going to be talking about today.
So welcome Elanie, Thank you, thank

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you. Yes. So, before
we jump into our conversation today, can

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you share with me if you recall
a moment from your childhood that stands out

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for you even today. From my
childhood, hm hm, I remember trying

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to figure out what I wanted to
be when I grew up, and it

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started with a veterinarian and moved from
being a veterinarian into I loved cosmetology and

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doing people's hair, and I was
a model, and I wanted to make

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up and make people look pretty.
But I said, if I ever have

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my own business, I want to
know how to run it. So I

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went to become an accountant just so
that I could figure out how to run

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my cosmetology business. And then it
turns out I ended up loving accounting.

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So I went from a veterinarian to
a makeup artist and a cosmetologist to an

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accounpany. Well, it's the intention, right, It's about what you wanted

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to do and to support that,
you created the skill sets, and that's

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what's fantastic. Yes, So there
are a lot of tell us that you

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know, tell us a little bit
about your journey as you continued through taking

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accounting. How did you know that
that was it for you? Funny story,

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I hated school. I couldn't stand
school. In fact, it was

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kind of a running joke in our
family that we don't know how I ended

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up graduating because I skipped school a
lot. I just didn't want to be

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there. But I was always on
time for my accounting class. When I

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was in high school. I loved
my accounting class so much that I would

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do other people's projects when I was
done, I'm like, oh, please

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let me do years. Let me
do years. I just thought it was

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the funnest thing. I got a
hundred in that class, and I just

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thought it was the most wonderful thing. And I didn't like anything else about

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school, but that class kept me
going through high school. And that's what

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That's the first time that I felt
like I found something or somewhere where I

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belonged. I felt something that I
was good at. It's powerful. Yeah,

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So what I'm hearing is that if
you find something, do you have

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a sense of belonging, and if
you're passionate about it, go for it.

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Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. I
always believe turning a passion into a

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business is the best thing to do. So going from a nonprofit organization,

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you joined a local university. To
tell us a little bit about that transition

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from nonprofit to for profit another funny
story. I love nonprofits, but it

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is backwards accounting. It's everything I
went into becoming a nonprofit CFO straight out

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of college. I had a five
year degree in accounting. We all learned

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about governmental accounting and corporate accounting,
but we don't really teach you much about

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nonprofit accounting. When I went in
there, everything I've learned, I had

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to basically throughout the window and just
start from scratch and think backwards. So

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I did that for a while,
and then two thousand and eight, two

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thousand and nine hit and I started
working with some businesses. They wanted me

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to help them out. I wanted
to kind of go on my own,

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and I was working with a tax
accountant, and I kept thinking I would

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get into taxes because everybody says that's
where the money is, right going to

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taxis you'll make all this money.
Okay, great, I'll just do that

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accounting background. I could do this. I hate taxes, but I could

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work for him, and I I
was learning it, and you know it

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basically that an entry, and I
thought this will be great. He recommended

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me to someone as a QuickBooks expert. I've been doing QuickBooks for over twenty

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years, and so I went in
and was looking at the books and she

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said, I noticed that they were
double counting their income. And I said,

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well, this is our red flag, because that means they're going to

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pay double the amount of taxes roughly, And so I showed the lady that

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I was working for, said,
well, show me what you mean.

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And I went through and I showed
her how they were double counting their income

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and she started getting into it,
and she goes, wait, stop,

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that's not my problem. All we're
supposed to do is take their numbers and

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put it on a tax return.
Their books are management's responsibility. So I

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found out a little bit more about
this business. It was a mom and

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pop business. They had no clue
what they were doing, and it was

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evident in their books. And I
said, but somebody should teach them.

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And she says, well, they
won't pay me for that. We've done

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that, We've been down that wrap
before. They won't pay my rates.

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Just do what I asked you to
do, take the numbers and put it.

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And I said, you know,
I'm having a hard time doing this

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because I mean, they're going to
pay more taxes. This is just not

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right. And so I went home, thought about it, and went back

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the next day and I quit and
I gave her a verse shore that I

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had made in about forty five minutes
and printed it out eight and a half

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file of paper black and white,
folded it up and I said, I

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printed like twenty happies and I left
it there and I said, anytime you

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run into these popes to have trouble, please hand them my card. I

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don't think she ever referred to anybody, but that was what propelled me into

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saying, I want to meet every
business owner that doesn't know how to do

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their books, and I want to
teach them how to do their books so

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that not only could they make decisions
around their business, but they won't pay

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less access. That was my mission
at that point. That was my new

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passion. It wasn't about money,
It was about big people. And then

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I know you were you work for
profit? And what was it that helped

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you make the decision? Like you
know, because there's so many people who

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are working in the corporate world,
or they're in a job, or they're

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in a business that they're putting a
lot of time and effort in, but

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they want to transition. What went
through your head and how did you decide

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to transition. I actually loved my
job at the university. I loved the

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guy that I was working for.
In that sense, where I was working

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was kind of isolated, and that
we were kind of a co op with

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different universities, so we could kind
of not I don't want to say,

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be stringent to the university rules,
but it operated a little differently and we

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were great. And then he ended
up getting another job offer and I ended

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up getting into another position, accounting
position in the university, and man,

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I hit that bureaucracy really quickly,
and I was just like, but you

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know, if you do it this
way, it would be so much.

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I had all these ideas and you
know, I can help you, and

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I can help. This would be
great, but they don't want to hear

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it. They've done it this way
forever, like, but you're losing money,

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but you know, there's a lot
of butts. And I just realized

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I'm a puppet. You know.
I am hired. I made great money,

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but I'm hired to do things a
certain way, and there was no

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thinking outside the box. There was
no saving the company money. And that's

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just it didn't line up with who
I am. So I decided it was

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time to leave and start my own
business. I was. I didn't love

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what I did. I loved what
I did. I did, I didn't

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love being in a box. So
what I'm hearing, Melanie, is that

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you wanted to help people. Your
desiras you love the job and you wanted

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to help people, and there was
no room for that because of bureaucracy.

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Because anytime if you take a look
at any big organization, to bring about

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a change is like saying, you
know, like, how are we going

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to talk about that elephant in the
room. And it does take time and

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it's the reality. So tell us
about a little bit about your business journey

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before we dive into all the deep
questions which I'm sure our listeners are waiting

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to hear well, like most business
owners. And I can say this now,

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but it has been it's been hard
to say this in the past.

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The best way to learn your business
and how to to grow is to fail.

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And I have failed. I have
failed over and over and over.

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But I've learned from all those failures. And it was hard at first,

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but I jumped right back in and
said, okay, okay, I made

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a mistake and this wasn't great,
and I'm sorry. I apologize. This

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was horrible. I gave away a
lot just because I felt so bad.

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But I learned from that and just
kept going forward and kept moving forward and

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kept moving forward and it's great now. And not to say I'm not still

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going to make mistakes. I will, but it's learning from those mistakes and

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moving forward. You just get stronger
and then you can help others who make

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similar mistakes because we all do.
We all made mistakes. We're human.

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And just being able to talk to
somebody and talk to my client and I'm

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like, oh my god, you're
not going to believe what I just did,

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and I'm like, hey, let
me share you with you something I

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have experienced, and they're just like, okay, it's not just me.

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Thank you for sharing, and it
kind of helps get them over the hump

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and growing their business as well.
So let's say, you know there's a

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small business owner. They're getting started
and they have to wear so many different

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hats and they're talking about, you
know, I can't sleep at night,

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I'm ovumed and this business is not
where it should be where I started,

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and how can I bring back that
passion? What would you tell them?

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The first thing I would say is
ask questions. So many people when they

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get overwhelmed and they're like, oh
my gosh, this is they get this

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burden on their shoulders and they start
hting things and I'm like, I just

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won't open my mail, I won't
do this, and then they can't sleep

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because they're like, I have no
idea like what I'm doing. And I've

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seen cycles of a business. When
you first started out, you're you're passionate

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and you're just you're on fire,
and you're just like, I can't wait

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to do the work. And you
go out to a networking meeting and you

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just share business cards all over the
place and share phone numbers, and then

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the business comes in and you're like, this is awesome when you start working

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in the business, and then you
head a lull and you know, you

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did all the business. Now you
got to go back out and do networking.

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Then you got to do the business, then you got to do networking,

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and it's kind of an ebb and
flow, and then you just get

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to the point where like what am
I doing? In about year two or

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three, it starts to hit it. You're like, I'm not making any

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money, Like I really want to
do this, I love it, it's

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my passion. But then the money's
just not coming in. I don't know

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how long I can keep doing this. And then all these start to put

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out the fire that you had at
the beginning, and you're just like,

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Okay, now I have I've made
my own job. I got out of

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corporate or I got out of wherever
I was working working, and I did

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this because this was what I was
passionate about. But that passions turned into

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a job. I don't like it
anymore. Maybe I should just go back

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and get a job because at least
there I got paid. I didn't like

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it, but I got paid.
And so the first thing I would say

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is ask questions, look at your
expenses. I find a good bookkeeper that

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would really help you because they're your
partner and they're going to be in this

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with you, and they can help
you look at numbers from a different perspective,

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in not a judgmental way, just
hey, how can we help you.

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Let's see where you are, how
can we help you grow? The

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first thing I do, and most
of the clients I get are at this

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point they're not sleeping, and I'm
like, okay, let's look at your

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cash flow. What kind of recurring
expenses do you have? And we all

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have them. Do some subscriptions,
we have those out there wazoo. No,

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absolutely, yeah, but that's giving
of any clients details. Can you

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share us a story. You mentioned
that you have lines who are coming to

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you, who are at this stage
and who are going through and it's hard

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because as I approach people, people
are like, oh, what do I

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do? And here's the thing that
it's important to have that list of people

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in your circle. And one of
the people that you're mentioning that you know

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having that professional by your side is
definitely a bookkeeper. I definitely agree with

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that. So give us a story
without naming any names. Okay, So

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I was working with someone who had
a remodeling business. It was a They

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were spending a lot on advertising and
jobs were coming in and they were busy.

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They were doing great. I looked
at their numbers and I'm like,

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ay, y'all are doing pretty good. But the guy's just like, I

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can't sleep at night. I just
can't sleep. I'm up all the time.

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Something's wrong. I can't put my
finger on it. I mean,

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yeah, we're doing great. They
just started doing some new construction and they're

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like, yeah, we're doing great, but I just I don't know where

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it is. We're making money,
but I feel like it's just something and

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I just can't put my finger on
it, and I just can't sleep,

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and so I said, just give
me a week, and I went and

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I just created this massive spreadsheet.
I like spreadsheets, but I created this

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massive spreadsheet and I looked through every
single job and they were doing about one

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hundred jobs a month, so it's
a lot of jobs. They had a

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whole crew and everything, and I'm
just like, okay, let me figure

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this out. So I went and
I looked at everything, and about a

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week later I came up. We
had a meeting and I says, would

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you like to know what your average
gross profit margin is for every job that

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you have? And we're talking about
big remodeling jobs and he said sure,

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said fifty cents. What that can't
be right. That can't be right,

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and I said, no, that
is right. Here, this is right.

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He said yeah, is this right? Yeah. We went over all

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of them and he goes, she
can't be right. And I said,

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well, there's something internally off to
make this happen, and said, do

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you mind if I ask your employees
questions? And he said sure. So

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I went around and I pinpointed one
of the problems. I asked to salespeople

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who were going out and getting the
jobs. I said, when you I

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wanted to go through the processes and
I said, well, when you when

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you are meeting with a client,
are you getting a down payment? No,

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we really don't like to ask for
down payments, Like, oh,

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okay, is everybody like that?
And he says, yeah, we just

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you know, we just don't do
that. I'm thinking, okay, well,

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you're putting out all your expenses up
front, you're paying people up front,

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but you're not getting anything to be
able to offset those expenses. And

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then because they had exploded so fast, they got behind on their jobs and

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they were there were some issues,
and so they were camping people. And

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so when you put all that together, they were not making money, but

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they had just started into new homes, and new homes was doing really well,

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so that that was carrying the other
side of the business. And so

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he made an executive it's a decision
to stop the remodling. He said,

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I'm just going to stop. Took
all the guys that he was working there

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were modeling, brought them over to
the new home side. That was five

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or six years ago, I think, and he's doing great. I mean,

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he's in the millions right now he
is doing really well. So it's

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just knowing those numbers. They couldn't
see it because it was buried in those

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numbers. That's where the forensic part
comes, where you just pick things apart

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and start looking at them. I
don't look at things to point fingers.

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I look at things to say,
where's it broken? And how can it

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be fixed? How can it line
up? Just another quick one. I

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had another guy. I met with
him and I says, what's was the

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most important part of your business?
He said, my employees. And I

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said, well, yeah, I
agreed with them. And I said,

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well, you know, what would
you like to do for them? And

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he goes, I want to give
them a raise. They earn it,

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they're doing great. I want to
show them my appreciation. But you know,

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I'm losing money and if things don't
turn around, I have to close

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a business. And I love my
employees. They've been with me for some

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of them over twenty years. And
it took us five months and we figured

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it out. We did, you
know, the same thing, the same

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process I did with the other guy
figured it out. He gave his employees

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bonuses. He's still doing really good. And that was over ten years ago,

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and what was the issue with his
business? Nsfees ever, draft fees,

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timing, timing clients would pay.
And then oh and he was he

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had never raised his prices and he
had a transportation business that involved fuel,

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and you know, fuel prices raised, the cost of everything went up,

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and he hadn't increased his prices.
So we went through all of his jobs

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and you know, did some break
ef and analysis calculations and figure that what

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he should charge them. But he
also agreed, I just can't go from

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here to hear, let's incrementally increase
it because I can't. I can't just

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you know, my clients are absolutely
love his clients, and he goes,

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I can't just you know, hurt
them because they built this into their budget.

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So by doing that and getting his
cash boat under control so he didn't

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have all these nsf bas, he
did great. And that shows that you

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can still keep your ethical values,
because it's important, especially if you an

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entrepreneur. You go into entrepreneurship to
serve people, you can still have that

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value of working from a place of
integrity and still profit. And that's the

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beauty of what you have shared about
the stories. So now there's a lot

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of people as they're growing, you
know, let's say things are in place,

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they may be thinking should I advertise
or not? So what has been

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your experience with that. I'm all
about advertising. I think it's great.

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I love word of mouth advertising obviously, But my first question if someone asks

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that they should advertise is what are
you expecting? Because a lot of people

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just want to throw money at someone
and think that they're going to, you

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know, help grow their business,
and that doesn't always turn out. You

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really need to think through it.
What's your expected return on investment? So

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I asked them, you know,
what's the average cost of what you sell?

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How much do you make on each
item you sell after all expenses?

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And then how many sales would you
need each month to pay for that advertising?

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Because you kind of have to break
it down that way, and then

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you have to note do I think
that this type of advertising could if I

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did this, could I sell ten
more widgets in a month? If so,

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then by all means you should do
it. But I think they also

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need to put make sure in their
budget that they can afford at least six

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months of whatever advertising they do,
because it takes time, and if they

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just throw money at this one,
and that doesn't work after thirty days,

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then we're going to go over here, and that doesn't work. Every thirty

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days, and we're going to go
over here, and then after a while

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we're broke. Whereas if we just
stayed with one and knew what our expectations

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were, and we knew how much
can we afford for that advertising based on

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what we're selling, then you can
make a much more informed decision and the

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advertising usually works to your benefit.
It's more than more than I just need

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more business question. That definitely makes
sense, and a lot of people we're

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talking about let's talk about some best
practices. A lot of entrepreneurs don't like

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numbers, and I know I'm one
of those who doesn't like numbers. So

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a lot of people say, like, Okay, why do I need a

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00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:57.880
budget? You know things are changing
so much throughout the year. What would

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you tell them? I think a
budget is needed. But I think a

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00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:07.920
reason why a lot of people are
against budgets is because they do what they

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call a static budget. And a
static budget means if we're most accountants and

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bookkeepers are saying, we got to
do a budget, so a year in

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we're going to predict what you're going
to do next year. But it's static,

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which means it doesn't change, but
your business does change. And so

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what happens is you have this budget
and as you're going throughout the year,

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you're not even close to it,
and you're like, well, then what's

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the point of doing this well.
Budget is very important to predict because it

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can show your ebbs and flows in
your business. There may be one month

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that's you're doing really well, and
maybe you project these other months. You

336
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know from experience these other months are
going to be kind of hard for you.

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Maybe your business doesn't do good in
the summer, but it does great

338
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.279
at the end of the year,
or vice versa. And so a rolling

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00:24:56.319 --> 00:24:59.599
budget's what I like to do.
And what a rolling budget is. It

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00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.960
starts it's a static budget, but
every month you take one month off that's

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00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:07.880
the actual month to replace that to
the budget, and then you put another

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00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:11.720
month on and any changes, maybe
your renting goes up, so you pull

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00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.759
that rent all the way through for
twelve months. You always have a twelve

344
00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:21.160
month view of your business, and
it's a current twelve month view because you're

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00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:26.759
putting in there things that are known
your expenses have increased, your income has

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00:25:26.839 --> 00:25:30.920
decreased, and you can kind of
look through and see how you're going to

347
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.240
do. And maybe you see in
October you're going to have a loss,

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but in August you're going to have
a really good income. So maybe when

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you start well. To give a
good example, I had a business that

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I did this with and they would
they would it was a service based business

351
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and they would go out there kind
of it was a like a plumber for

352
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.960
example. They would go out there
and have these projects and they would get

353
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all the material and they all the
labor, and they put them in these

354
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projects and then they would get paid. So their cash flow would go down

355
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:11.200
that month and they would look they
would have a loss because you're putting out

356
00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:14.440
a lot of money. But then
the next month they get in a lot

357
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:17.880
of money because they finished the job
in the customer pace. Yeah, and

358
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then they would say, Wow,
we've got all this money. We can

359
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.799
go buy that new car or that
new truck, or we can go celebrate

360
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Christmas and take everybody out, which
is great to want to do that,

361
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but the next jobs going to come
and you're going to need money for that

362
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job. So the rolling budget will
show these ebbs and flows, so as

363
00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:40.599
you can prepare and you can say, wow, I've made ten thousand dollars.

364
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.680
This money came in and it's great, but I can only spend two.

365
00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:47.519
Yeah, but I need to save
that eight and then that two.

366
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The next month is going to turn
into three, and the next month four,

367
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the next month five, and yeah, that's what's really about to do.

368
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That makes sense. And so Okay, they have the budget, they

369
00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:03.759
have a bookkeeper, are they have
everything in place? Now they're sitting down

370
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:06.200
with the account and at the end
of the year and they're like, okay,

371
00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:11.599
you know what you're telling me.
There's I made money, I got

372
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:15.640
to pay tax on it, but
I don't see them my bank account.

373
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So what do they do them?
And I love it when they say,

374
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like where is this money they say
I have? And why am I being

375
00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:30.599
taxed on money that I don't have? That's my favorite question and everybody asks

376
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.160
it, and there's a lot of
different answers, and this is why it's

377
00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:40.759
so important to know your numbers.
So there's management books, and these are

378
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.519
your books done in a way that
helps you make decisions. And there's your

379
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:51.559
tax books, and there are two
different sets of numbers, and so there's

380
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:55.480
lots of things that especially if you
have a lot of loans and you're paying

381
00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:57.799
on those loans, all those payments
go on your balance sheet. Well,

382
00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:02.000
your profit and loss is what tax, that's net income is what's tax?

383
00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:07.079
All those payments they're not there,
they're on your balance sheet. So you

384
00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:08.839
may be paying a lot of money. So you see your checking account going

385
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:14.200
down, but your profit loss is
going up, and that can be confusing.

386
00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:17.759
What sits on the profit loss and
what sits on the balance sheet and

387
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:23.039
owner's draw accounts. Most businesses that
are smaller, they take money out of

388
00:28:23.079 --> 00:28:27.160
their business account to pay themselves.
They make one thousand dollars this month,

389
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:32.039
they need to pay their mortgage,
they take it out and so that's called

390
00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:36.480
an owner's straw, and so that
also sits on your balance sheet. That's

391
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:40.000
pay that you have to yourself.
But on the profit side, you're looking

392
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:45.279
great because it doesn't affect it.
You're taking money pretty much out of your

393
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.920
balance sheet accounts. So oh,
in large purchases a year end. I

394
00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:52.839
love it when companies come up to
me and they're like, tell me what

395
00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:53.880
my numbers are, tell me what
my numbers are. I've got one right

396
00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:56.440
now that I just cleaned up,
and she's says, like, you know,

397
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.279
our tax account last year, they
killed us and we can't do this

398
00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.799
again, and so let me know
what the numbers are. Because we need

399
00:29:03.880 --> 00:29:06.079
to buy a truck at the year
end, we need to buy a vehicle,

400
00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:08.559
or we need to buy some piece
of equipment for our business. And

401
00:29:08.599 --> 00:29:14.000
they're thinking that if I have fifty
thousand dollars net profit at the end of

402
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.440
the year, I can go buy
a fifty thousand piece of a dollar piece

403
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:22.559
of equipment and I'm at zero.
That doesn't happen because that piece of equipment

404
00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:26.279
is going to go on your balance
seat and be depreciated over ten or more

405
00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:29.559
years, so you're only going to
get a portion of that, so you're

406
00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:33.319
still going to owe taxes. So
it's really being able to look at your

407
00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:37.440
numbers from two perspectives, your management
numbers to be able to make decisions around

408
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:41.799
the growth of your business and your
tax numbers so that you can put I

409
00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.240
like to tell people, put twenty
percent aside every month or every quarter.

410
00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:48.640
Let's look at your profit and loss
and let's take that amount put it in

411
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:52.440
a savings account because you're going to
have to pay it at the end of

412
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:56.000
the year. No, that makes
perfect sense. So do you have a

413
00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:02.519
story around this as well? Almost
every one of my clients, yes,

414
00:30:04.680 --> 00:30:08.599
I have one right now. Well
I have lots of them. All of

415
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:14.160
them are like this, and they
come in and they're just like, I

416
00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:17.720
got well the one right now it
kind of related to this one. It's

417
00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:21.160
kind of not. They owed a
lot of money last year and they didn't

418
00:30:21.160 --> 00:30:23.839
want to get sidetracked this year and
their account and wasn't doing a really good

419
00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:27.079
job and it made a mess.
And so they said, you know,

420
00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:30.039
hey, we're getting I just started
with them a month and a half ago,

421
00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.400
and they were like, can you
help us because we need to.

422
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:36.640
We don't want to get sidetracked by
the end of the year. We don't

423
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:38.119
want to all of a sudden to
have this huge tax bill. We really

424
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.480
don't know where we are. And
I was going through and I realized there

425
00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:48.039
is an account that they never reconsilt, ever reconciled, and they've got lots

426
00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:52.759
of loans and bank account never been
reconciled, and so I said, I

427
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:56.559
need the beginning balance, need any
balance. It was I had to do

428
00:30:56.599 --> 00:31:00.640
a hard reconcile to get to the
beginning of the year. Balance's for over

429
00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:07.440
two hundred thousand dollars to their benefit. That's expenses that they should have taken

430
00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:11.759
in prior years, and so all
that money that they owed in the prior

431
00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:15.559
years. I've had several clients have
this happened to them. All that money

432
00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:21.279
that they owed they didn't really owe
if their books had been done right.

433
00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:26.759
And I'm talking thos hundreds of thousands
of dollars if you add them all together,

434
00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:32.559
and for some of them there's nothing
you can do. For other ones,

435
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:34.599
there is stuff that you can do. And so right now I've got

436
00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:38.319
this. We're trying to figure out
what their tax person's going to do because

437
00:31:38.599 --> 00:31:42.960
each tax repair is a little different. You know, it's two hundred thousand

438
00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.359
dollars. You can't just stick that
on a tax return, so we'll kind

439
00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:53.599
of figure out what to do with
that. But yeah, it's it happens

440
00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:59.119
a lot, and I just it's
just knowing your numbers. And it's funny.

441
00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.759
I wish I could read you the
email that she sent because she was

442
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:05.599
so hesitant to work with me because
she's been burned so many times. In

443
00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:09.119
fact, she had a job and
she left her job to come in do

444
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:15.079
and work in her husband's business as
a bookkeeper because he needed help and they

445
00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:19.400
didn't trust anybody, and she said, can you just teach me how to

446
00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:22.000
do it? And as I got
in there, I said, well,

447
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:23.000
it helps me to be able to
do it, to be able to teach

448
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:28.680
you, because everybody's different. And
so she let me do that, and

449
00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:30.640
then she says, I could back
to the first question. I can sleep

450
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:34.839
at night now. I love it. She sent me a text one day

451
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.279
and she goes, can we be
best friends? I really like you and

452
00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:44.079
thank you so much, and you've
really helped me and I just she says,

453
00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:45.559
the way to the stress was right
around the holidays. The way of

454
00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:51.079
the stress. She has been trying
to get pregnant and has not been able

455
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.759
to get pregnant. So she's hoping
that all the stress comes off her and

456
00:32:53.799 --> 00:32:57.400
they'll be able to have a little
one, which will be so cool.

457
00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:04.880
Absolutely, will be thinking of your
client and hopefull the new year. Brains

458
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:12.359
are less stre I love joy and
the less stress we are. Yeah,

459
00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:16.160
better things are in our personal life. Absolutely, you said it, Melanie,

460
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:22.759
because stress is such a it's it
takes away a lot of things.

461
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:28.200
So now let's say people find themselves
in a very very hard situation and they

462
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:31.400
may need a business loan. Yeah, how can they go about getting a

463
00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:37.119
business loan that doesn't drain them completely? Yeah? And this is funny because

464
00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:38.400
I have a couple of clients every
time I meet with them and like,

465
00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:44.279
there any loans we can apply for? And I think COVID kind of did

466
00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:50.680
this, kind of had businesses depending
on external types of money because there was

467
00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:54.640
the PPP loans and the SBA loans
and ERC funds and a lot of people

468
00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:59.440
got money, but there was nothing
toad. They didn't have to do anything

469
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:01.119
to get that money. Well,
I mean they had to payroll in other

470
00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:07.319
things, but they didn't sell anything
to get that money. And then it

471
00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:12.519
kind of got absorbed into their business
and now they kind of still need that

472
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:15.840
income coming in. And so my
first question is why do you need a

473
00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:20.239
loan? Is there do you can
you get a personal line of credit instead

474
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:24.079
or a business line of credit because
they're out there and you only borrow what

475
00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:28.920
you need. But then the next
question is if the answer is I do

476
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:31.679
need a loan? This is why. And sure, I'm fine with all

477
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:36.480
that I have credit, Do you
have a financial business plan? Because a

478
00:34:36.519 --> 00:34:39.840
loan isn't free money. You've got
to pay it back, which means your

479
00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:44.719
income has to increase to pay it
back because now you have an additional expense.

480
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:51.679
And it kind of like that what
we were talking about with the advertisement.

481
00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:58.880
You know, you've got to plan
it out so that the money that

482
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:02.960
you borrow for the loan you get
a greater return to pay back the loan

483
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:07.599
and increase your income. And then
one thing a lot of people overlook is

484
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:12.039
what is your personal credit score?
Because I don't care what your business is,

485
00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:15.960
they're going to look at your personal
credit score. So that needs to

486
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.199
be pretty good and if it's not, it needs to be fixed before you

487
00:35:19.239 --> 00:35:21.599
even look for a loan, because
you don't want to go through the whole

488
00:35:21.639 --> 00:35:24.880
process. It's a long process to
apply for a loan, and then you

489
00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:29.559
just deflate because when people start applying
for a loan, in their mind,

490
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:31.119
they start thinking I can buy this, and I can do this, and

491
00:35:31.159 --> 00:35:36.760
I can do this, and they
start putting it out there and expecting it.

492
00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:39.239
And then when the answer comes back
that no, and it's like if

493
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:44.559
your personal credit score, it's just
like a big blow. They get depressed

494
00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:46.719
and it's hard to recover from.
So these are things we want to think

495
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:51.599
about before you look at the loan
and you know, what's your plan to

496
00:35:51.639 --> 00:35:54.119
pay back the loan or the line
of credit and can you follow it?

497
00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:59.840
And what happens if you don't?
You need to have this written down.

498
00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:04.800
What if I don't follow this with
the ramifications, I'm putting this on myself,

499
00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:10.000
but I need to have it in
there because I've also seen business owners

500
00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:15.719
just I've got one right now that
is doing daily loans and daily loans we're

501
00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:22.079
talking about thirty forty percent or more
in interest. It's and it's short term

502
00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:25.599
loans and they have to pay every
single day on the proceeds of whatever they

503
00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:30.800
bring in that day, and it's
killing them and it keeps them in a

504
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:36.159
cycle where they have to keep borrowing. So that's I like to say.

505
00:36:36.199 --> 00:36:38.519
I mean, there's great, there
are good places that can help you.

506
00:36:39.239 --> 00:36:43.519
But I like to say, is
there a way and I've done this with

507
00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:47.000
a couple of people, is there
a way you can create You can become

508
00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:54.000
your own funder, you can create
a loan to yourself interest free and that's

509
00:36:54.039 --> 00:37:00.880
the budgeting and the ebbs and flows
and creating that business ential plan that you

510
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:06.920
talked about. So this has been
such a jam packed session where you've given

511
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:09.079
so many different in sights. So
tell us. So who do you work

512
00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:14.840
with? Where can people find you? I work with some business owners and

513
00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:19.000
I love them, and now I've
also got a lot of I work with

514
00:37:19.079 --> 00:37:28.199
nonprofits and we have several social businesses
where their business exists to help a social

515
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:36.119
need. Social enterprises, so we've
got several of those and you can find

516
00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:42.679
me at my website guide Star Accounting
dot com. I'm being more than happy

517
00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:47.400
to meet with someone and just no
strings attached. Ask questions. You got

518
00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:52.119
an hour, ask questions. You
cannot ask enough questions. And I can

519
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:55.800
review their financials and just give them
a report and say this is what I

520
00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:59.519
found, and you know, whatever
they want to do with that information,

521
00:37:59.559 --> 00:38:05.840
no strings attached. I just really
want to help people start asking the questions

522
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:10.440
and they feel comfortable asking those questions. Wow, that's that's very generous of

523
00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:14.119
few, Melanie. So if they
want to book a time with you,

524
00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:17.920
they can go to guide Star Accounting
dot com and find you there. Yes,

525
00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:23.639
yes, well they can call me
and okay, book the time that

526
00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:28.239
way too. Okay, Well,
thank you for sharing that. And as

527
00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:31.440
we wrap up the show, do
you have any last piece of advice?

528
00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:39.079
Ask questions? There's no such thing
as the dumb question, because that's how

529
00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:45.960
you stay engaged with your business.
And I do want to bring up one

530
00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:49.559
quick thing. I see a lot
of people, I hear a lot of

531
00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:52.400
people talk about I need to be
a six figure business, a six figure

532
00:38:52.440 --> 00:38:57.079
business. A six figure business does
not equal a six figure take home pay,

533
00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:04.000
and just I want to leave people
with that. I think that's important

534
00:39:04.039 --> 00:39:07.599
to know that you know, you
can have a business that doesn't make six

535
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:12.960
figures and make more take home than
a business that earned six figures or that

536
00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:20.159
has sales of six figures. Absolutely, so it's important that you sit down

537
00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:27.920
with Melanie and see where your businesses
and how you can go about outlining your

538
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:32.960
business financial plan and go with strategy
and tactics in your pocket. So thank

539
00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:42.559
you Melanie for joining us. MAY
really appreciate your time and insights. So

540
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:50.519
thank you listeners for being part of
our show, because without you, the

541
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:52.920
show would not be possible. So
thank you for joining us and sharing your

542
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:58.480
thoughts and comments, and who would
you like us to bring next as to

543
00:39:58.519 --> 00:40:01.320
how we can help you out,
And thank you one for making the show

544
00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:08.480
technically possible and talk to you some
more. Take care. Thank you for

545
00:40:08.519 --> 00:40:13.039
being part of Beyond Confidence. With
your host, v Park, we helpe

546
00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:15.400
you have learned more about how to
start living the life you want. Each

547
00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:20.800
week on Beyond Confidence, you hear
stories of real people who've experienced growth by

548
00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:25.639
overcoming their fears and building meaningful relationships. During Beyond Confidence, Vpark shares what

549
00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:30.239
happened to her when she stepped out
of her comfort zone to work directly with

550
00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:34.719
people across the globe. She not
only coaches people how to form hard connections,

551
00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:38.880
but also transform relationships to mutually beneficial
partnerships as they strive to live the

552
00:40:38.960 --> 00:40:43.320
life they want. If you are
ready to live the life you want and

553
00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:47.920
leverage your strengths, learn more at
www dot dvpark dot com and you can

554
00:40:47.920 --> 00:40:53.320
connect with vat contact at dvpark dot
com. We look forward to you joining

555
00:40:53.360 --> 00:40:54.119
us next week.