Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Abundant Mindset. I'm Marina Painter and today we're talking about transforming the way you think so you can transform the way you live and lead.
We are watching now Media Television.
Welcome to Abundant Mindset with Marina Painter. I'm Marina Painter. In this show we explore how we think, lead and grow. How we respond to challenge that can reshape not only our business, but the reality we create for ourselves.
Today we're talking about something very important, the relationship between mindset, money and business growth.
Many business owners want more revenue, more freedom and more stability.
But deep inside it's often fear. Unless abundance, confusion or believe that numbers are just something to survive. My guest today is Kelly Coughlin, CPA entrepreneur, business strategist and CEO of Everyday CPA Inc. The firm he founded in 2012 to help small and medium sized businesses with accounting, tax strategy and long term financial strategy.
Kelly brings decades of experience helping entrepreneurs and business owners solve financial challenges, strengthen profitability and build companies that are not only successful today, but resilient for the future.
What makes this conversation so aligned with Abundant Mindset is that Kelly understands something very powerful. Numbers are not only just reports, they reflect decisions, habits, leadership and the mindset of person behind the business.
Kelly, welcome to Abundant Mindset.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Marina, thank you very much for having me. I love your show and I'm very excited to be a part of it today.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Very good. So let's, we have so much to cover today because that's a topic that a lot of people, business owners, they think about. They don't maybe necessarily talk about it. But right now we're going to unpack all of it.
So let's dive right into it.
Let's try to connect why money mindset and business behavior so important to understand. Like what is that connection? Could you let us in on, shed some light on that?
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Well, it's a simple, but it's a complex question in a way. But I think that the common pattern that I, I kind of see is, is, is when you, when, when you don't have intelligence about your business, when you don't have true understanding of your, of your business, then you end up having confusion and confusion can kind of create fear.
And the opposite of that is clarity.
Clarity creates confidence, confidence creates, let's say better decisions and better decisions create abundance.
I, I believe so. It all gets at, kind of starts with confusion and the connection is abundant. So it's up to, it's up to us to kind of connect the dots. That, that's how I see it.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Absolutely. So and I And I know in decades of experience for you, you come across with so many people. What are the typical patterns do you see for business owners and how that, you know, the, the relationship with the money that they have, like, and where do you think it's coming from?
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Well, I kind of get it. I'm not a psychologist by any means, but, you know, I, I just turned 69 yesterday. And so I've, I've been around.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Happy birthday.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Thank you.
I've been around and I've seen, seen a lot. And you can kind of see different patterns of, of behavior. But then. And it's, it's, you know, I can't say I'm. I'm not like this in many ways too.
Human nature kind of tells us to avoid uncertainty and discomfort. And when the numbers are confusing, it's easier, more comfortable to, to postpone looking at them, to confront what they might reveal.
You know, it's kind of like men especially, I think, are, Are used to avoiding the doctor if there's something wrong, if they have a pain somewhere, and so they don't want to confront it until it's too late sometimes, and that's not good.
So it all gets at avoiding the unknown and uncertainty. So I don't, I don't really think it's business owners acting badly, right? They're kind of acting what's in their nature. So I don't like, you know, shaming or guilting them. I, I try to get them to recognize that this is what's going on and then to try to deal with it properly.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Well, because we have to remember, right, that that confusion creates problems. So what problems do you see? How does potential confusion, in fact, the way a leader makes decisions.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Oh boy, that's, you know, you know the answer to that. You just wanna, you just want to give me a layup, Marina, but you.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Well, because you don't, you know, people don't know what they don't know. So bringing the awareness because they might be thinking certain way, but they're not even know. They don't even know that they are thinking that that's what getting them to. Right. That's why it's important to clarify that because those are the things they don't want to have in life. And that's why we're talking about it.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it's a good question and it's the heart of, of many of this. It's confusion creates hesitation. Hesitation can be expensive, right? Not acting timely. Hesitation doesn't necessarily mean acting quickly because many times I've found in my career, acting quickly in a reactive mode can be the wrong decision. That's why I'm big on strategy. Strategy implies thoughtful thinking, you know, patient understanding and assessment of the situation and then reaction. But in order for that to happen, leaders have to have confidence. I believe confidence in your, in your numbers. The, the numbers, the numbers tell you what happened in the past. They, they're not, they're not, they're not about the future.
Right. Numbers, you know, balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, all of those cool things that make all of us excited.
It's, they all come from what's called journal entries. And journal entries are like what, you know, teenage girls do in their high school, grade school journals. They, they record the events that happened. And in business, that's what we do. And it's important to record the history and then memorialize it in a way that it's meaningful so that they can make good strategic decisions, not reactive, but good strategic decisions about the future. So it's really more about the future than the past. But in order to make good decisions about the future, you have to know, well, what did we just go through? What has happened?
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. So. Which brings me to another question.
So do you know typically signs of the business owners operating from fear instead of clarity, something that will stand out to you, something you can pinpoint?
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Yeah, there are a handful. It depends on the business.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: But
[00:08:39] Speaker B: you know, I think many businesses, they, they don't like to.
It. It's, you know, cash is the, is the lifeblood of a business. You know that.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: And, and cash is the king, they say, right?
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it is.
And always knowing, even when it's, when you don't want to know the balance. Right? Always knowing that because that's the, that's the blood of the, of the company. That's what keep it, keeps it alive.
Cash from some sources. And it's always better to have cash from operations. But you know, cash from whatever source capital or, or you know, permanent equity or loans is okay too. But knowing that and then what I, what I see indicators of when people aren't really on top of. There are two things. It's a, it has to do with accounts payable and accounts receivable. One is if they don't pay their bills on time, that's normally a sign that there's something up.
And if I'm on the receiving end of that, I always look to see who's paying timely. And I tell my clients, you, you get on that. When, if you've sent an invoice to be paid in 10 days, date 11. You should outreach to them. If it's 30 days, outreach to them, don't let that go because you want to be on the, the first list to be paid, top of the list to be paid.
Similarly, if you, if you got to pay your bills, you, you, you need to have a good control system in place to make sure those get, those get taken care of. Because, you know, if you can't, you can't manage that part of the business. If you're not collecting revenues timely, if you're not paying your bills timely, everything else kind of suffers downstream from that. So those are the two things that I kind of look for out AR and aap. How are they being managed?
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And if you don't collect, you can't pay the bills either, Right? That's what puts you out of business in the first place. Absolutely.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Kelly, this is such. Yeah. And that brings, you know, and it all starts with you and your mindset. More importantly, abundant mindset, because it has to be an alignment in your life and your business.
And it's such an important foundation because abundance is not about pretending everything is fine. Right. It's, it's about having the courage to see what is real, understand it, and lead from clear place.
Okay, we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we're going deeper into tax strategy, profitability, and how business owners can stop reacting to their finances and start using them as a roadmap for growth. We'll be right back. Stay tuned. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more insights to help you create abundance, alignment and meaningful transformation. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Marina Painter and this is Abundant Mindset on NOW Media Television. Let's continue.
Welcome to Abundant Mindset. Stay connected to the show and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand, anytime you like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish on the move. Catch the podcast version at www.nowmediatv. from business and news to lifestyle culture and beyond, Now Media TV is streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are.
Welcome back to with Abundant Mindset. I'm back with Kelly Coughlin, CPA entrepreneur, strategic adviser and CEO of Everyday CPA Inc.
So we talked about mindset behind money, the connection to mindset and money to business decisions.
I would like to talk about another very good spot here and it's a very scary place for a lot of people. That's, it's it's the, it's taxes. Everybody loves taxes, right? Nope, they don't.
So why taxes are so scary? Or should we be scared of it?
Let's, let's talk about that.
So business owners, we know miss the opportunity for planning, implementing, structure for future growth and support.
So this is, this is where abundance becomes practical. It's about timing, strategy, clean books, stronger decisions, and building a better life and better business.
So really, life is full of alignment with your vision, your goals and authentic self.
That's, that's where we need to connect the dots. And we'll start with the just strategies in tax planning, why it's so important, and what to ask your CPA while you're working with the ucpa. So, Kelly, let's talk about that. What are the biggest mistakes owners make when they, when they think about taxes at filing time? Only when it's kind of just, you know, it's March, April, and here they, they go, you know, here's my paperwork for my cpa. What happens then? What do they miss out on?
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Well, I will say this, Marina, because I love the name of your, of your abundant concept here. I love that title. And I will say this, and I will defend this. If somebody's going to challenge it, that's fine. But I will say this, that there are a handful of industries, handful of businesses that can get abundancy without tax planning. They happen to hit a great opportunity.
There's, you know, the margins aren't important. It's like people are, are, are beating the door down to send you their money. Okay, There are, there are some businesses like that. And if the, if you're in that business, you don't need to worry about tax planning because you're making so much money, you don't care. Okay?
Most businesses aren't that way. And here's the, here's the statement I'm going to say is that if you don't, if a business owner doesn't think about doing good tax planning when they start to make money, you don't really have to do it as much when you're losing money in the first year or two.
But when you're making money, I will say this, that you better start doing some serious tax planning because we talked about this offline right before this.
Between 50 and 60% of your lifetime income and wealth will go to taxes. That's a big expense. You better deal with that. You better start dealing with that now. Build the habit of dealing with it now.
And it's not at tax preparation time. It's before you file the return, it's during the year when you're having a good year.
Let's start doing some tax planning so that when that time comes to file your tax return, you don't get this monster tax bill. You can control these things to a certain extent, but you can't control it after December 31st. You got to deal with it in June 30th. Now until December 31st.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Absolutely. Because at that point, you're just documenting the history. You're not writing the history, you're not making a history. Right. It's so important.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: So what. What do you tell people? I'm sure you have, what, you know, one of those people, from time to time they come to you and you say, you know, Kelly, I really don't want to pay any tax. How do I not pay tax?
What do you tell them?
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Well, the first thing I say is,
[00:16:56] Speaker A: maybe you don't have those people. I don't know.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: I. Yeah, yeah, you do. And you know that they're out there. But the one thing I do, and this is where my age comes into it, Marina, I tell people, you know, first of all, yes, let's do what we can to minimize tax. And yes, okay, you've had a great year. Let's do what we can to minimize tax. But I'm a firm believer in having people appreciate that they're in this situation and not the other extreme where you didn't make any money, you have no tax to pay, you have nothing to worry about with the IRS problems, but you got problems to deal with. Creditors you can't pay, employees, you can't pay your bills, your NSF at the bank. Those are real problems. Okay, taxes are problems. And yes, but. But in. Appreciate that you're.
That you've had the good wisdom, the however it came about, you know, that you got yourself in a position where you had a really good year. Be thankful for that. Now let's get to work on reducing the tax.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, and I'm sure you see a lot of that. So what kind of things that will indicate that this business owner is struggling or about to struggle? What are the indicators? What do you look at? How do you know that there might be a potential problem for the business owner?
[00:18:30] Speaker B: Are you talking about struggling with tax liability or struggling with the enterprise, cash
[00:18:36] Speaker A: flow, enterprise longevity of the business? How do they know? Because here's why I'm asking. A lot of people, when they look at their P. L. On the balance sheet, they don't even know what they're looking at, right. So how do you educate them what to look for or what to look at before they have a problem?
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Well, the obvious thing to look at is your cash balance in your bank account. Right? That's, that's a good thing, good place to start. And then the things that add or subtract from that are the net gain from the operations of the company.
So I really encourage people to set up their accounting in a way that they, they can track every dollar that comes in as revenue.
They need to know what costs go out, what, what money goes out that reduce that dollar in, in, in the bank account. So you know, gross margin is what people call it gross profit.
So I really encourage people to understand how much does it take you to get that dollar right of revenue? That would be marketing and sales costs. And then how much does it cost you to fulfill that order, that dollar in revenue? And those things are, are the critical number to, to, to look at and know. You need to know what that, you need to know what that number is. They need to know how much does it cost me to get a dollar of revenue? And, and you, your marketing people, if you have a director of marketing, they need to be telling you that. They need to tell you that yeah, we, you, you get a return on investment of whatever it is right from your marketing spend. But they need to know what kind of contribution margin, what kind of, what kind of new cash is going into the account after all those, these expenses are paid. Sales, marketing, fulfillment, how much goes in. And if that's a negative number, you got to make some changes, right? Because that's, that's just going to get that, that gets gets worse.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: And that's just it. So, and that's how important it is to be aware about your numbers. You need to be able to read your P and L and about. Not even that even taking a step back, making sure your numbers are correct because you, you probably see quite a bit of that too. People get QuickBooks and now the QuickBooks Pro and all the numbers, all the liabilities are negative. All the P and L numbers are not where they are. And it's just like, okay, well how can you make any educated decision if you can rely on your data A and B, if you don't even know what it is you're looking at? So you have to be your own advocates and start with your side and know your margins and your numbers because that's how you can work with your CPA to the best of your advantage and make the educated decisions. You have to make.
And I'm sure you see a lot of that in your office, too. But that's probably the educational component that people, you know, they need to have if they need to have. Right. They can't rely on data if they can't read it.
So important.
So this is very, very powerful.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: I saw our industry, yeah, our industry has not done a good job of educating people on tax and accounting. And so we've kind of created a little bit of this. And that's why I think it's incumbent upon some of us to say this has got to stop. People don't have good accounting information. QuickBooks is good. If you don't know how to use it, QuickBooks is not good. Right. So let's figure out ways to get good information to people.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: Well, that's just right because numbers can either create fear or create freedom, but you have to rely on the numbers. It depends on how we relate to them and what we do with with the information.
Okay, let's take a short break and when we return, we'll talk about Kelly's unique approach to business strategy and why he brings lessons from history, competition and leadership into financial conversations. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs need most.
Stay tuned.
We'll be right back with more insights to help you create abundance, alignment and meaningful transformation. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Marina Painter and this is Abundant Mindset on NOW Media Television. Let's continue.
Welcome back to Abundant Mindset. I'm continuing my conversation with Kelly Coughlan, cpa, business strategist and CEO of Everyday CPA Inc.
One of the things that makes Kelly's perspective unique is that he does not look at business only through the lens of accounting. He also studies leadership, competition and historical strategy from Sun Tzu and Aristotle and Julius Caesar. Michael Porter's five forces. That's a good one. I never heard of it. Let's talk about practicing abundance.
Kelly, welcome back.
Let's, let's redirect slightly. So let's just marry all the stuff we just talked about and bring a little more depth to the strategy tax and just real leadership.
I would like to connect financial leadership with historical wisdom and strategies that many thinkers back in the day used to implement and this indefinite wisdom that's been passed on to us. So sounds like you've been scholar of that incredible knowledge. So tell me about your background and how you got involved and got interested more so in Sun Tzu.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: Well, Sun Tzu is just one of of those that I find fascinating and I think it really comes from ultimately when you Start looking at strategy. You kind of, you try to remove yourself from the noise of the, of the, of the situation and whether it's a battle or a sports event, competition or business competition.
And, and so you look at it and, and say, well, business is tough. It's very hard, right? Let's face it, it's, it's hard. It's hard work.
And so why not look at some of the, some of the people that really faced challenges. And that's where you kind of look at, you know, for instance, how does, how does someone like Alexander the Great lead a campaign that took his, his soldiers something like 21 years, his entire adult life was on one military campaign.
How does he do that? How was he able to keep people, employees, you know, they're, they're enlisted in the military, but you know, you can only force them to do something so long, right? But how was he able to, you know, keep people engaged? And Julius Caesar did a similar thing and, and when he conquered Gaul, you know, France, they just did some things that they, they understood. Leadership, competition, discipline, decision making.
And those are kind of timeless principles that, that I find so fascinating.
Sun Tzu taught that victories the best. Here's what I love about Sun Tzu's thing. The best victories come through preparation, positioning, and avoiding unnecessary battles. His advice was to avoid what's strong with your enemies and strike what is weak. I just love that concept, right? Don't take on a competition with a competitor where that's their strong suit. Change the field of play.
Take advantage of their weakness. Don't play into their strength, right?
[00:27:47] Speaker A: And be less reactive and more proactive. That's, that's what we all talking about. That's what creates that abundance and alignment in your life and your business. With you being as authentic as you are and showing up in life and your business, your family, your surroundings, that's the only way about, right? You have to be very strategic. So can you tell me about Michael Por's five forces?
What is that framework? What does it teach you? How does the business owner can implement that?
[00:28:23] Speaker B: Michael Porter is of, of all those that you kind of mentioned. You know, Aristotle teaches you creating good habits, right? So that you can.
Excellence is built through good habits. Julius Caesar demonstrated trust, shared sacrifice of how to get people to follow. Sun Tzu is more strategic on the battlefield. Now Michael Porter wasn't. He probably doesn't even, like, I don't even know. He might be dead now. I'm not sure.
But you know, he taught at Harvard and, and he. Harvard Business School. And you know, he's not in that same category, but I just love his, his five force analysis. And it's, it kind of is an exercise. I'd encourage everybody to read it. It's a short 10 page Harvard Business School issued back in 1979 or something. I can't remember when. But it, it tells people, shows people how to break down your competition into rivals, substitutes, all of these, these, this model, I don't want to get into that. But it really, everybody can do it and everybody should do it. Everybody should look at their business.
Marina, you should do this in your business. I have done it in my business.
Look at your business in the framework of this five force analysis and just plug in the box. There's five forces. Plug them in. And if you need help with it, get some help online or call Kelly Coughlin. Marina, Marina, you'd be an expert too.
And it will really help you understand where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are. And then you apply that Sun Tzu thing, which is, okay, you either build up your strengths, right, if, if you're weak in an area or you look at your competition and say, you know what? I'm going to stay away from that area because A, I'm weak. B, they're strong. I'm going to move over here.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Absolutely.
The other thing that's interesting to me, it's the, the habits, right? When I was a little kid, I remember looking at people and I'm talking about seven, eight maybe kid, and looking at people and think, okay, why is that we have all these people in this universe and why do people do what they do and don't do what they don't do? Right? Because not doing is also a choice that they choose for themselves.
So, and it goes back to habits and what molds them in the people that they become. Eventually the, the, the background, the mindset. And that's why I have this show. That's why I'm very passionate. It not just the mindset, it's the right abundant mindset because at the, at the end of the day, self actualization, self fulfillment, right? The, the top tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. That's our ultimate goal as a human being on this planet, at least I believe.
So if we live this life, might as well live to the fullest in, in a sense that it's the most fulfilling and gratifying and helping others.
But it starts with your mindset. It starts with your habits. Let's talk about habits. What habits would you really say these are the Habits that any business owner has to have, or they're essential.
[00:31:54] Speaker B: Well, I just want to echo what you just said about this habit, this concept of habit.
You will, if you go back to your bibliography on some of those books that you have read. And your reference, it comes from Aristotle.
It was called Nicomachean Ethics.
And he taught this concept that virtue is developed through repeated action.
Virtues develop through repeated action.
And the maxim that you take from that is, we are what we repeatedly do, and excellence is not an act, but a habit.
So virtue is one. Is something that people do.
It's been a long time since I've studied and read this, but virtue is. Is a habit. It's something that you do naturally, but you create that natural inclination to do that excellent thing by doing it. Act as if. Right. That's one way. What we say is that you simply do the right thing, but you keep doing it until it becomes a habit. And, you know, I mean, how many. We've heard that from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Effective People. And those books, you know, do repeat something 21 times. Right. And then it's a habit. But it really does come from the concept that Aristotle put out there in the 5th century. By the way, he was the one that taught Alexander the Great. I don't know if you knew that.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Well, he didn't teach me. But now we get to learn all about that through you, which is great. That's why I love the show.
Right. And we're talking about centuries of knowledge, and it's still foundational to this day because life changes, people change, times change, AI Comes in. But guess what? We're still the same human beings. We just deal with the same things. Slightly different variation of the same things, which is kind of incredible because at the end of the day, we all, the same human beings, deal with the same issues. And you know what? Again, once again, the, The. The habits, the mindset that. That separates you from somebody next to you. And that what. That's what makes you make that mark on your own life, your family life, and everybody else around you. Kelly, I really enjoyed this.
So this part of conversation, it reminds us abundance is not random. We talked about. It's not random. It's all designed. It's built through awareness, discipline, positioning, and decision we make.
So we'll take a short break, and I really want to come back and talk more in depth about all the things that I think that people really need to know. It's such a great insight you're giving us. I truly appreciate it when we come back, we'll, we'll, we'll close with by talking about business owners and what they can build and the companies they can build that are not just profitable but enduring. Don't we all want that? Every business owner starts this business up theirs. Isn't it the ultimate goal? Stop surviving, Start thriving. That's what we're here for. Kelly and I here to help you with that. We'll be right back with more insights to help you create abundance, alignment and meaningful transformation. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Marina Painter and this is Abundant Mindset on NOW Media Television. Let's continue.
Welcome back to Abundant Mindset. Stay connected to the show and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand, every anytime you like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish on the move. Catch the podcast version at www.now. media TV. From business and news to lifestyle, culture and beyond, Now Media TV streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are.
I'm here with Kaylee Coughlin, CPA entrepreneur, business strategist and CEO of Everyday cpa Inc.
So in this final segment, I would like to bring everything back together and really find out how we can build a sustainable success.
All the knowledge that we just discovered, how we can put it all together and have this one successful business. How do we get there? Well, that's a good question because we know business can make money and still feel fragile. It can grow and still create stress. And a lot of people live in that stress day in, day out and they don't even know how to get out of that hamster wheel. It can look successful from the outside while the owner feels overwhelmed on the inside.
How many people leave that merry go that hamster wheel? So we, it's, it's time to pause and really process what it is we have.
Do we enjoy what we have, what changes we need to make, and most importantly, how. So with careless input, we're going to know how to build a sustained business built for success, prosperity for many, many years to come.
So, Kelly, what does a resilient business look like from the financial side?
[00:37:45] Speaker B: I like your term resilience.
A resilient business, I believe, is it isn't one that never faces challenges. That's a double negative. I don't like using those. But it's a resilient business is one that does face challenges.
It's one that's prepared to navigate them.
It's financially resilient businesses have, I guess, some of the indicators of resiliency would be healthy cash flow, consistent profitability, manageable debt, and enough safety net reserves to withstand any unexpected events. Unexpected could be, you know, revenue declines, it could be loss of a custom, a key customer.
And so resilience is, is more than just the numbers. It's about, it's also about building a system that doesn't depend on the owner making every decision or solving every problem.
When the foundation is strong, owners stop reacting to every obstacle. They start making decisions from a position of confidence rather than fear. And I think financial clarity is what gives leaders that option. Is that, was that too long winded?
[00:39:25] Speaker A: Oh no, no, no. This is great because it actually brings to a different question.
What is the financial freedom? What is the definition of financial freedom to you?
[00:39:38] Speaker B: Well, financial freedom for, for the business owner is they don't have to be a part of every decision.
They don't need to. They have a team that can help, that they've empowered to, to continue with the enterprise with or without that person. That's, that's financial freedom. I don't, I don't find financial freedom when, and we all have to have done this in various stages of our business.
But it's, you know, I'll be honest with you, it seems like in the last three or four years I've, I've got to the point where I'm trying to empower others to continue with my enterprise without me and, or without my weighing in on every decision. And so building a system, building a team is what's required to get financial freedom if you're a business owner.
[00:40:45] Speaker A: Well, it's probably going to be good time to remind our audience what is the difference between a business and a practice?
Right. Practice is the one you cannot step out of. It relies on you for every decision.
Business, it's the one that's automated.
Right. It's well oiled machine. They don't, it doesn't need to have. You, you're there to build a business. You, you work on the business, but you don't work in the business because what a lot of and you see that a lot too. I'm, I, I, I know because you, you've been doing it for such a long time. So you've seen it all that a lot of people, they just glorify W2 employees of their own business. They work in that business. They're just an employee. They can't, they don't even have time to lift their head and say well here's what I have and I want to be here and Let me plan for that. They, just. Because they don't have the systems, and that was the key word you just mentioned, and I appreciate that. The systems have to be in place. You have to not only see what the systems you need, but integrated, implement them. Right. And so that, that enterprise, as you mentioned, will run on its own. And it's probably, it's, it's probably easy said and done, but it's, that's what the ultimate goal is for. That financial freedom, for the abundance of your life. You need to create a business.
And that kind of touches on the whole different, it's kind of going back to the, the habits that we discussed, but I kind of want to narrow down a little more. So what do you see? What habits do successful business owners like that run the enduring business have versus the business owners that constantly are under pressure and struggling and just that pure chaos. Do you, can you like, narrow down, do you see the distinction?
[00:42:52] Speaker B: Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna complete what you were focusing on and then link it to that final, that question of the team and building the team, not being a part of every, every decision.
I, look, you know, there's so many metaphors. We go back to the military campaign. You know, I'll say some things. You know, you can't win a war without a, without an army. You can't have an army without generals. You can't have the structure if it's a, if it's a soccer team, right? You can't, you can't, you can't win a match without the full arsenal of, of players there. Right? You can't win a football game without the full 11 members on the team. You can't, you need, you need a team to do this stuff. You can't. I like to sail. I've never sailed in your cool area, the Chesapeake, but I, I, I just
[00:43:49] Speaker A: started sailing, by the way.
That's it. I'm so sorry.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: What did you learn on what kind of boat?
[00:44:00] Speaker A: So it's a, it's a sailboat. That's, I'm telling you, like I, that, that's how much I know. But it's a 47 foot, that's all I know.
[00:44:08] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:44:08] Speaker A: And it's a crazy crew. Okay. I'm part of a crew. That's what I told them. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll learn. I, I can learn. Okay, well, I'm so sorry.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: It's a perfect metaphor because you can't sail a 47 foot boat. Without, you gotta have a skipper, you had to have somebody on the starboard side, you gotta have a tactician, you gotta have someone on the fore deck, on the port. I mean, it's you, you need help and, and you need to be, you need to empower people to take their job. And then if they're not doing their job, you got to get rid of them. Right? You gotta, but you have to, you have to train them, give them an opportunity to succeed. And if, if you're gonna have a business that, that succeeds in the long run and to finish with your point of the, of the, of the habits of training, education, making sure that people that they are given the opportunity to develop the habits to be successful is even more important. The, the more people you have taking on these responsibilities, the more important it is for them to also develop these habits and these, these effective ways that, the way that you want your business to be administered.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Kelly, I could not agree more.
And it's, it's, it's, it's part of the team.
Everybody in on that team, in that plan, design plan, right?
Everybody has a certain level of responsibility and for you to be the leader they need. So it comes from you, you the one that, that, that administrates all the changes in the company and assigns roles. But it's also important to have the right people because you can build strong systems on people that are not aligned with your vision. So as a leader, you have to have that vision and inspire people to lead your way. Right? So if viewers could make one shift, what could it be today? Like, would they say, today I'm going to make that shift quickly, what would it be like? What comes to your mind?
[00:46:30] Speaker B: God, that's a real tough one. I, I guess it would have to
[00:46:34] Speaker A: be
[00:46:36] Speaker B: get more strategic. Think about the strategic.
What are you in business for?
Why are you doing this? And who, what are you delivering to your customers? Why should they send you their money? Right? What value are you giving to them that would justify them parting with their hard earned money and giving it to you?
And I think that's kind of at the heart of, of what we need to do and everybody needs to embrace that.
Customers are making a choice to send us their money and they don't have to do that. But what are we doing to earn that?
[00:47:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. Kelly, I am so enjoying this conversation.
If our viewers want to learn more about everyday cpa, follow your work or connect with you, how can they find you?
[00:47:38] Speaker B: Well, the easiest way is everydaycpa.com that's our website and they can they can figure out a way to find us or me if they need tax or accounting help or whatever they can find us there.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: Very good. So Kelly, thank you so much for bringing your wisdom, strategy and practical insight to this conversation. Truly truly enjoyed this. So today we explored money, mindset, tax strategy, profitability, historical wisdom, leadership and what it really takes to build a business that can last.
What I want to take away from this abundance is not only vision, it is a way of thinking, deciding, planning and leading. That's how we show up in life, in business we create.
And to everyone watching this ask yourself where are you at your point of your life? Are you at that point? If not please reach out to Kelly and he will help you to get you to get you to the next point of life. I truly enjoyed this this conversation.
Stay tuned for next show. I'll see you.
