Latest / The Accounting Leads Now Podcast / Burnt Out, Understaffed, and Scaling Anyway? Sharrin Fuller Has a System for That

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Burnt Out, Understaffed, and Scaling Anyway? Sharrin Fuller Has a System for That · The Accounting Leads Now Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success, where we sit down with leaders who are rethinking what it means to run a sharp, scalable and financially smart business.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, james Donovan, and today's episode is a special one because I got to meet today's guest face-to-face recently at GrowCon.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: We had a great time hanging out, from casino night to catching the hockey playoffs at the bar.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: The energy was fun, but the conversations were deep and I walked away thinking this is someone I have to bring on the show before we dive in.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Big thanks to our sponsor, billcom.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: If you're still doing payables manually or drowning in email approvals, it's time to upgrade.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Billcom helps automate your ap process so that you can focus on higher value strategy and you can grab an exclusive offer at billcom slash promo 500.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Now let me introduce today's guest.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Sharon Fuller is the founder and CEO of Glass Wallet Ventures.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Her firm helps businesses scale smarter by stepping in with fractional leadership, giving founders and teams the executive clarity they need without the full-time overhead.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: She's all about visibility, systems that work and financial leadership that actually moves the needle.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: We're going to dig into her story, her wins and what she sees on the horizon for the future of finance and fractional models.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Let's get into it, sharon.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Let's rewind a bit.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: What were you doing before launching Glass Wallet Ventures?
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I had a different company.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: I had an accounting firm that I started in 2006 because I was an operations manager at a cold storage facility and I somehow ended up doing everything for them.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And then he said hey, I'm going to sell this company.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I was like what am I going to do?
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: And we had a bunch of tenants that leased space in our building and they said I wish I could hire you, but I only need you for like five hours a week.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, there's like eight to 10 of you, that's a full-time job.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So my first company was a simple office solution and I was your mobile office manager.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: So I did office management and bookkeeping.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I live in San Diego.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: On Monday I drive office to office and pick up there.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I honestly have them put like a shoe box out, because that's the level of everybody was.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I'd grab their folder, their shoe box, take it back home, scan it, file it, do their books, go back in, prep the checks on that next Monday, send out check signs on now and take it back with me.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: So I think I I feel like I really kind of helped pioneer the start of the um lazy accounting work from home.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I am not going to work in a desk nine to five, monday through Friday.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I wanted to work at a bar on the beach.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, we've had the pleasure of being able to share a couple of drinks at a bar and watch hockey.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: That is correct.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, was there a moment that pushed you to take the leap and build something of your own?
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh man, I tell you, I've always.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I've been working since I was like 10.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: We all have paper outs.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I want my own money.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: The worst thing is when your parents are like, if you do this, I'll give you a dollar.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I'm like, no, I'm going to go do this, and then you can't tell me what to do with it, right?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: So I always had a paper route or a nanny.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: And then I was in sales.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I did timeshares, kirby vacuums, you name it Um, printer ink or printer consumables.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: And then I worked for Costco and I opened Costco's and I was in marketing.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: And then then I left.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I left Costco and I went to be a paralegal.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And when I um, when I was going to be a paralegal, I was like I hate that, I can't do this.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: This is I can't do school this is just awful.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I can't do this anymore.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Um, I even tried to do college during high school.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I was like this is paid call, this is paid high school.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I also have my manicurist license in three states.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: A lot of people don't know that about me, so I can license to do your nails in three states.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: So during my paralegal, I'm like I got to the business section.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I'm like I'm just going to go buy a business.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: This is dumb.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: So I bought the salon that I was doing nails in.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: No way.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: And then from there I was like I can't work for anybody anymore.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I can't.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Every time I work for somebody.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: I can't handle corporate, I can't handle the.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: You know, watch what you say.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: You have to be at this desk from nine to five because if you're not, you're not working.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: And I mean it's just I couldn't do it.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I was like this is the most inefficient, this is ridiculous.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: So I decided, as my friend Sean Duncan always says, I am just unemployable.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Um, so I just decided I always need to work for myself.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: So I'm like I better find something I'm really good at and that works.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Otherwise I'm just gonna be a bum did, I did.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I hear you correctly say you worked at costco yeah, oh yeah, I, I worked at costco years ago as well.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when what year?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: um, when was it?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I probably 2009.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I would have been graduating.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I think it was the summer I was getting ready to graduate high school, or the year before maybe I would.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I was packing groceries like after, or packing the cart after school and then would stock the shelves or like push the carts in.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: So that's I.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Actually.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it, like they always paid really well, it's a good after school job I started.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I opened the st george utah one in 2000 and I was in membership and marketing because I'm such a people person, obviously.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: And then I would travel with costco and open all the new locations, like I opened the um austin texas one and I opened the one in the they transferred downtown, or in Henderson they moved locations.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I opened that one but I really didn't like it because again, it was just a.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: It wasn't whether or not you're good at your job or anything, it was how long have you been with a company Seniority.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, okay, so this dumb, dumb here who can't do anything, it just gets promoted because they've been here five years longer.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: And it was just so.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: I was like this I can't do this, I just can't.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: And I was cross trained in every.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: I work everywhere I could do.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I loved it.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Anytime there was cross training open.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I'd like train me, train me to court all of it.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I could.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I could make you all that stuff right now.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I could fold the clothes.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I could do sales.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I was in the tire station for like a few months.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: And I love that was my favorite.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: But I eventually left.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: When I was, it was just so many chiefs and not enough Indians.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: And and then the ones that have been there longer would get so mad at me because they're like you've only been in the company for two years and you're cross trained more than I am.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: I'm like I want to.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Did you apply for it?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell you, so I just couldn't.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Carpet's not for me, not for me.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Fair, um, interesting that we share that.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Costco, costco employment.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Um, they only paid like 10 bucks an hour.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: You started in 2009 when they were probably like a 15 16, so 10 bucks was amazing, and st george in 2000, it was it was canadian, though, so it probably was equivalent to yeah, yes four dollars and 25 cents yeah, yeah, I gotta ask you um, where did the name glass wallet come from it?
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: it's such a unique visual I am unique.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Um, so when I first started glass wallets after I sold my firm, I thought I want to buy people's firms or invest in their firms, build them up, take equity and then let them grow or sell.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So the whole thing was transparency glass wallet, I'm gonna buy a bunch.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: It was going to be more of like an investment venture type thing, and then, of course, I ended up just starting more firms because, I am a glutton for punishment, uh, and I'm I'm into crazy S&M.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I just like to be beat up because I didn't learn my lesson the first time, so it was really just about transparency more than anything.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, still is.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: That's awesome I'm overly transparent.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: No, I love it.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: That's so cool.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: What was the vision for the business when you started and how has it evolved since?
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, so the vision was really just.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I thought I really just want to help.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: I want to help people do what I did because I just went through it and I see so many people, um, I'm gonna take these off cause they're glaring Um, I see so many people who, um, start their company and they're just a mess and they're and I'd been there right Like I started it before.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I think the first project management software was Todoist and it was just, there was like nothing.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: I think Asana was just coming out, but in 2006, there was nothing and I just was seeing all these people trying to adjust after COVID, but I was already way ahead of the curve because this is how we already did it.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: We were fully remote from number from the beginning.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: So I just wanted to help those people and I wanted to educate and I don't know, just advise.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: And, like I said, I somehow got roped in not roped in, Building accounting firms was just something I was good at and I could do, and so I just I did it again and now I don't know if you saw, but I'm selling my first.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: So I bought out my first, selling it and going back to glass wall and back to my original vision, which is again advising accounting firm owners.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: And I'm also doing some advisory for some FinTech startups because they're trying to get into the accounting world and I keep telling them you've got it, you've got money, you got brains, but you're missing a gap in the market and you're trying to build something that's already built.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Shift and build this.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: So I'm trying to help them do that so they don't blow other people's money.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: But you know, whatever Um what?
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: what makes your approach different from traditional advisory for or for other accounting firms?
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: well, traditional is a yeah right, a loose term so I'm not corporate, of course, and I've worked for companies that are just that.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: I've worked the 90 hours a week and and I, I just don't I really I feel like I relate to people better and I always remember what it felt like being that super motivated number one employee that just got crapped on all the time because I didn't have a CPA behind my name or because they knew they could take advantage of me because I cared Right, and I also know how I've done all of it.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I failed, I failed, I failed, I succeeded.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: I failed again, I failed, I succeeded.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: So, and then I've done it on both sides I've been the employee, I've been the employer, I've been the owner.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: So I'm taking the approach of trying to really relate to people on a personal level and letting them know that business is business.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, but when it's your business and it's your team, this is personal and people need to give themselves the grace and kind of understand where they want to be, because I may have this way to do things, but it needs to fit into what your vision is of your business.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: So, really, just, I'm just, I'm just super transparent.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to sell something that doesn't work for you.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to try to push you to do something you're not.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to waste my time, I'm not going to waste your money.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Um, and that's really kind of the way I do it.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I would be like a coach, I will be the one that will not be letting you say it.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: I'm like get up.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: I will light a fire under you.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: People need that, though.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: That's.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: You bring the accountability.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I am.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I do bring the accountability, but you got to do it differently because I have never been able to have a like a fitness coach, like a personal trainer.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: I hate being told what to do, and if you try to tell me what to do or tell me, no, I am just going to be like doing the opposite.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: So I am not good like that.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: I can't do tony robbins, I can't do any of that.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: But a lot of people need that and you just really got to find out how to get to them not get to them, but how to work with them, because my way doesn't work for everybody.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: A lot of men don't like it.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Some do.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Um, women are usually harder to read.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Men are easy.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: They're like knock it off when we're like I have it off.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Women are like that's the one I have to be careful with.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Even though I am a woman, I've worked with so many men especially.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: A lot of my clients were VC backed startups in the software industry.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: So a lot of men and a lot of engineers, and you get into that world and it's a different world of sitting at a board table with those people than where I sit at a board table with the AFWA, the Accounting Finance Women's Alliance.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Different world and I'm always like tone it down, sharon, tone it down, yeah, yeah.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: But I have to say it nicely.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody this sucks.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: You're all amazing.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: This sucks, let's fix it.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Whereas before I'd be like oh, but yeah, what's a?
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: What's?
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: One thing founders usually don't realize they need until you show up Um, uh, in game they just most of the founders, most people started start something cause they've been somewhere, they're good at the process, they're good at the product and the service and they just cannot.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: They're going to do it better than where they're at and they're great at product and service.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: But they didn't think about what happens when I need more people.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Who am I going to add?
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: What do I want to do with this in three years?
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: What happens if I need to take a vacation?
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: They don't have any of that vision planned.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I didn't.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I just knew I needed to make money.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I needed and I wasn't going to go back to work for someone.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: And usually by the time they really get into it and realize what they need to do, they're at a, they're in a hole.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Um, they, they can't scale because they can't, they don't have the time to stop, they can't, they can't exit because nothing said, they'd get no valuation for their company.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: It's nothing, will nothing, will transfer.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Um, you know it really just that that in game.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: What?
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Where are they going?
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: What's the roadmap?
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, awesome you have to identify that before you identify anything, cause if you don't know where you're going, you can't get in your car and drive.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Yep, that's so true.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: And then you're just, you're just driving blind.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Essentially, I'm going to trademark that thing.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: So it sounded great.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Um, are you able to share a recent client win that really illustrates what you do best, or one that just gets you like super fired up?
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: absolutely.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: I mean always.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: So we have.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: I mean so I have my, my firm, where I have core, and then I also have my, my advisory.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I do advisory, for I do fractional cfo work for some of my clients as well.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: One of them is just, they're just a huge company and when I first came in, of course they're like, well, we don't really need you.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: And so every time I just kind of sat in the background quietly.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: But now and it's for men, which I'm not a man hater in any way, but just me when I come in, they're usually like I'm not listening to this one.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: So just when they reach out to me and they say, hey, sharon, we need you to rebuild this for us, or hey, sharon, we're about to go do this, and then they entrust me with it, I just know that I'm doing something right, especially when I come into the room and they don't want to hear me.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: They want me to sit down, they want me to be quiet, they don't care what I have to say, and somehow being able to build that trust, build that relationship um stand my ground with, while staying in my lane, which is a really hard one for me because I'm a dominant, assertive person, but you can't be that way with everybody.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Some of you have to.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: So really kind of knowing how to get in to prove that I am anyhow.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, so it was.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I was really kind of excited with the other day when they actually called me up and said we need your help on this project.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: We don't know where else to go.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Actually, we went to you first and I have a feeling you're gonna get it figured out and I just, of course, dropped everything I did because I wanted to be like yep, here you go.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: So it makes me feel good when I see the transition from to please don't leave.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: That's so cool.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: All right, random question for you For, I guess, the people who aren't watching, just the listeners what's the significance of the guitar behind?
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: you.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Everybody asks me that Art Alexakis from Everclear should really give me royalties.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: I am a Everclear.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: You're too young for this.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: You probably only know one song Everclear, which is lead singer, RL exactus.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I'm their number one fan.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: I've been to their concerts like 20 times.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: So, during COVID was my 40th birthday and I already had he's like a, not a, has been.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: You know it's, it's, it's alternative rock, so he plays, you know.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: You know country fairs things like that.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: So he um, it was like he had an offering for only five people that entire year that he would come to your house cook for you and 10 friends and play like an hour concert.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: So I bought it for my 40th, I really.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: And then that's so cool and they canceled it.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: So he sent me a fender strat autographed.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you can see anyhow yeah um yeah, and then gave me a little birthday message.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: It was really cool.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: I was really excited about it so yeah if there was a fire, I'd grab that my dog, I'd take my husband.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: He'd wake up that's so cool.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry to hear that you weren't able to have the in-person.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: You know, not a bad ms.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: So now he's not doing that anymore, but I still see him every time he's coming around.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I think in like a, a month or something, I'll go see him again well, good consolation prize to have it in the shadow box, really cool yeah, and I've met him so many times that it's like, hey, art, what's up?
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: that's cool.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Um all right, I got another question for you, so we all hit walls at some point, what's?
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: one hard lesson you've learned on the entrepreneurial path that has helped shape you for who you are now or hand things off when you, if you're running everything, if you're not running everything, as if my whole entire team wins the lottery tomorrow nobody comes in, what can I pick it up?
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: You're in trouble, you have to, and I've done it three times now.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I teach it but I wasn't doing it.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: So I actually just went through it again last October, got rid of almost my entire team but like two people and I had like 12, and stepped in and just documented and templated everything and I'm like this was so easy, why didn't I do it?
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: But if you don't have that, everything goes, goes down the gutter because nobody.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: How do you scale?
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: How do you bring on another member to your team If nobody, if it's not written on how to do things right, just cannot scale without the the documentation.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: So that will stop you in every single way that's such a sobering thought of.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: If your team all wins the lottery and they decide to leave the next day, do you have?
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I used to say hit by a bus, but I was told that's morbid yeah, I don't know it, just it hits different the way you worded that of like, if they they win the lotto and they hey, they love you, but they're not coming back, what do you do?
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: And that's.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: That's a scary thing, so that's.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Hopefully some people listening also resonate with that and they're like all right, I got to document some more stuff.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I know I do listening to that.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: So I'm actually releasing a course today.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: I have the clone and conquer method I just trademarked and it's how to clone what you do and so you can work less in your business and more on it, like it's all about getting everything out there so it can be replicated over and over and you do it once and you don't have to do it again, and it's.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: It's really amazing to me.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: It's such an easy thing to me, but I forget that it's not to everybody and it feels like it's the end of the world.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: So I'm teaching my methods.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Nice, that's so cool.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Is that is that a little teaser of what clients would get working with you as well.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, I, we actually just launched my community.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: We're calling it the hub, the clone and conquer hub, um, and it's really for those that don't really want one-on-one have time for one-on-one, but they want to be part of the conversation.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: If they're in my hub, they get all of my courses that I'm doing and they also get templates and all that thing.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: And then the one-on-one is really more strategic, based on what your needs are, because everybody's going to have different needs.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: So I have like a different level, like what are we going after?
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: First, because what I think as a priority isn't going to be someone else's priority, yeah, and if they don't know, then sure we'll start in the way I want to do it.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: But some people really have.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: This is what I want right now and you just got to help them get through that first.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: That's really cool.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: What's one tool or system or ritual that keeps people from operating at such a high level?
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: They don't have a decent project management tool that keeps you operating at a high level.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: They don't have a decent project management tool, or sorry that keeps you operating at a high level, or I guess we can go either way.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I'm getting my questions mixed up.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Your project management tool is everything.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Everybody needs to be on the same system.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: You need to be able to communicate, you need to be able to have that process in place the handoff, the templates.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Everybody needs to be working the same on your team and everybody needs to have visibility Because, like I said, you have to be able to know.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: You never know when something's going to come up and if you can see every single task in your project manager till across your team, you don't necessarily have to micromanage, because you can open it up, see where it is, see if there's an issue, be proactive.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I honestly don't know how people operate when they're in Excel or when they're on something else.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: I'm always telling them just get on something, just something that you control.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Don't let people keep it on their own desktops.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: It scares me.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Project management tools, everything.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious to hear your answer on this.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: I chime in after, but do you have a project management tool that you recommend?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I do so.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: If you have a, if you're client facing and you're handling a lot of clients, I love Client Hub.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: It has come a long way since it first came out.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: I love it me personally for Glass Wallet, since I don't need people.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: So Client Hub is great because we have all of our clients in there.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: We're communicating with them, documents, client tasks.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Me personally, I have ADHD, if you haven't noticed.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I use motion.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: It's got a whole.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: I put my task in there, the importance, when it's due, the time and it auto schedules me.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: So I know when I hang up with you, I need, there's a call, I need to schedule and I need to work on a budget and it's got a hard deadline.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: I have to have it done before 5 PM so I can cause.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Otherwise it's easy to look at all my things and be like everything's due or nothing's due, but now it tells me what I have to do and I.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: It has honestly changed my life, if you're.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: But I don't think it works.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: If you're managing client work, I think it's mainly for a team and internal work.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Okay, cool In my opinion motion might kill me, but I, I don't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't recommend it as an accounting firm.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Project management.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, I was going to add things.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I always hear this um from other mentors of mine and they always just say the best project management tool is the one you'll use.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: People can get so hung up on, you know, like picking the color of the logo and picking this, and it's like that's just busy work.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Pick the one that will work for you, I agree.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: And I disagree with that, because nothing's a time stuff to your company than choosing the wrong tool.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: You get it.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: The project manager tool is everything.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: It should be your number one thing for your entire company.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Everything sits there at your hub.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: If you get something based on, oh I just need to get something, you're going to have to move to something else because it's not going to scale.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: So you really need to think through what you need.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: What your needs are, how you're going to utilize it.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: What else are you plugging into it?
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: I have this whole tech stack thing that tells you what should read into what and if it doesn't work, you got to find something that does Otherwise.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: To lift your company off of a project management tool and set it up in another one will take you a month, two months, and you could drop so many balls.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: So while I agree to get into something, I also agree that they need to think about it a little bit more.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: That's fair.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: That's fair.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: I'll take the challenge on that.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, I just think sometimes people can get so hung up.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: It's like Monday or a sauna, it's like okay.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Well, a lot of them are pretty similar for the most part.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: If you don't, if you, I think you're so experienced in all of them, so maybe you're seeing it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: You're seeing it through a different lens, but I think, if someone isn't really sure where to start, yeah, most, most of them are apples and apples right.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I tell them to knock out that seven day trial and to bop around and for me, if I can, if it's pretty intuitive and you know the UI is, it's user friendly, I will stick with it.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: If I can hop in, and I'm and I'm pretty tech, tech savvy.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: So if I hop in and I'm like what is happening or I don't like this, I'm out, I don't care, like it's no.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: So I always tell people jump around and see which one you like the best, like they all have the same features, great.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Now jump in and be like Ooh, this one is purple and I love purple and I'm.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: This one makes me happy and this one looks like DOS and I don't like that.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: So I always think the user experience is a really um is is a big thing okay, perfect, some, some helpful stuff there for either either side of the fence people can decide which which direction they want to go um, I got two more questions for you.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Any book, podcast or mentor that shaped how you lead?
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So I she's going to hate I say this.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I do really look up to Dawn Brolin.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: She was kind of one of the first awesome county county friends I made.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: We were on the ADP board together in 2017 and I had never been to anything accounting, not conference, nothing and I was sitting in a bar my first.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I knew nobody.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I'm in New York and this crazy lady in and we're just sitting down being crazy together and I'm like I love her and and we just became friends ever since then.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: So I really I trust her.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I, you know, we on a grow con.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I think I told you she left early to me and then I took a different flight where we can both hang out in the Delta lounge for four hours before she caught her flight and I went over to grow con.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: But, um, I love her.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I just I look up to her.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: She's been through a lot.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: She's very open about her, her failures, um, open about her wins and she cares about people.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: But she's fun and you know, and she's real and I've honestly always just really looked up to her.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: She's going to hate me for saying that.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: She's going to hate it, but it's true.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: And then what's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Oh man.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Um, so I'm going to think that there is something that my dad I don't even like quoting my dad, cause he's no longer with us, but he was kind of a douche the last seven years of his life he always told me loose lips, sink ships, and you are the company or guilty by association.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: And I never understood it when I was a kid.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: And as I got older I'm like, oh, shut your mouth, sharon.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: And that's where I really learned, like if you tell it, it's going to get out there, right.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: And I, every time I say something I'm like I shouldn't have said that.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: It always comes back to bite me, and so I'm always very careful for the words that come out of my mouth.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I stand by.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: And then guilty by association was when I didn't understand, until I was older, and I'm like, oh, I hate that, but it's true, right?
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: So now it's like you hang out with a bunch of drug dealers.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You're a drug dealer, it's just how it is.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: And and take any of that you're stealing cars.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Well, wouldn't it be amazing if you became a car salesman?
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: You know all about cars.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Let's go get you a car salesman job and you'll make a gazillion dollars and you won't go to jail.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: But they want to be a car, they want to steal cars, right?
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: So I'm that.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I'm always that person tries to save them and I can't.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: I have to.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: So those things kind of help keep me in place a little bit.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: That's so good.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Um, thank you so much for for coming on, Sharon, and sharing all of your wisdom and having this conversation.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: It's so awesome getting to meet you at grow con and hang out at casino night and hang out at the bar after and watch um the hockey game.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: I forget.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I know Vegas is playing at the time, or the Oilers are on it Vegas and the Oilers, and we lost that round.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: And then it's okay, the Oilers just lost and that made me happy.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just lost last night.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, no, it was honestly a pleasure, and I can't wait to see you again at your event in Arizona.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: So thanks again for coming on.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: This was awesome, and how can people get in touch with you if they want to hear a little bit more or continue the conversation?
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: My website, for sure glasswalletventurescom.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Everything's on there about me in every single way LinkedIn, email contact, all the things, my podcast, my advisory, all of it Awesome.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Perfect.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: We'll put that link in the show notes so everyone can get in touch.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Again, Sharon, thank you so much.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I hope you found value in today's conversation.
• 29:09
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• 29:11
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• 29:16
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• 29:19
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• 29:22
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• 29:32
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• 29:36
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• 29:42
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• 29:49
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• 29:50
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• 29:53
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• 29:58
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• 30:04
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• 30:17
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