Latest / The Daily Writer / Accounting Essentials for Writers | Danielle Hayden

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Accounting Essentials for Writers | Danielle Hayden · The Daily Writer

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: Hey friends, welcome back to the Profitable Writer Podcast.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: If you're new here, my name is Kent Sanders.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm an author and ghostwriter, and this is the show that helps you grow your impact and income as a writer.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for joining me for this episode of our Summer Expert Series.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: It goes without saying that there are two main words in the title of this podcast, profitable and writer.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: The chances are pretty high that, just like me, you became a writer because you wanted to express yourself or tell stories.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Or perhaps you were drawn to other elements of writing like publishing, editing, or research.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: Those are all well and good, of course, but we do ourselves a huge disservice when we neglect the other component, which is, of course, the profitable part.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: Profit isn't just about making more money, it's also about keeping more of the money that we do make.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I'm really excited to share this conversation with Danielle Hayden from Kickstart Accounting.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Danielle is an absolute genius when it comes to accounting and entrepreneurship, so much so that I entrust Kickstart Accounting with my very own bookkeeping for Standards Communications LLC, which is my own company.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell you just a little bit about Danielle.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: She's the co-founder and CEO of Kickstart Accounting Incorporated, which is a bookkeeping and accounting firm that is on a mission to coach sixth figure and beyond entrepreneurs so they can better understand their numbers through bookkeeping, financial analysis, and support in order to grow profitable, sustainable, and enjoyable businesses.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: With over 15 years' experience in the world of finance, Danielle has worked her way from accounting firm intern to the co-founder of Kickstart Accounting.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: She understands how complex business finances can be, and she knows that entrepreneurs need more than just a bookkeeper.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: They need real financial analysis and support in order to get the confidence required to create the sustainable wealth they deserve.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: She's also the host of the Business by the Books podcast.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: When Danielle isn't in her money mindset work, you can find her hiking or spending time with her family.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: So in today's conversation, Danielle and I focus on topics related to healthy business spending, what to pay yourself as a business owner, and other accounting and business essentials.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: Now, before we get into this conversation, let's let's just have a couple moments to be real with each other for a moment.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: If we can do that, hopefully you've, you know, this is your first rodeo with me as the host of The Profitable Rider.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: Hope that you trust me and know that I have your best interest at heart and love you as a fellow traveler on the writing journey.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so hopefully we've established all that.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: So let me just say something very direct.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: I know a lot of writers ignore accounting and business basics because they don't understand it or they're not sure what to do next.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, kind of like something that you are afraid of or you don't want to deal with, you kind of put it in a box and you put it on the shelf and you just ignore it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And as a result, your finances and your money is all messed up.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not a good situation to be in.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: I can tell you from first hand experience that when you engage with a great bookkeeping firm like I have found with Kickstart and a great accountant and great financial people, it makes your life so much easier.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta tell you, and they're not paying me to say this, I have been really, really happy with Kickstart's services the last few years, and I really encourage you to check them out.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Seriously.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Again, this is not a paid promo.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: I had just I've used them for a few years and I've been really, really happy, and they are fantastic people.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: You can find out more about Danielle and Kickstart Accounting by going to the website, which is kickstartaccountinginc.com.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: I highly encourage you to do that.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Their services are extremely affordable.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, cost way less than I thought it would be whenever I signed up with them.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so I highly encourage you to check it out.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely is worth your time to do so.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: And with that, here's my conversation with the amazing Danielle Hayden.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: Here we go.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: Danielle, it's so good to talk to you here on the Profitable Rider Podcast.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: So this is kind of a unique conversation because I'm actually one of your clients, which I have, I don't think I've ever been able to say that about any podcast guests before.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: So thanks for coming on the show.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's exciting.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thanks for having me.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is awesome.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I do want to say thank you for the amazing service that Kickstarter Accounting has provided to me.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think I've been with you for about two and a half years.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: And um I just have appreciated it so much.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: I had never used a bookkeeping service before, and it's been immensely helpful.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: It really, really has.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: So you guys are doing an incredible job over there.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: So well done.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I I actually can't tell you how much it means to hear that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I have such an awesome team who really uh gets excited about what we do.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, I have a team of people who get excited about bookkeeping, uh, about tax, but really what they get excited to to do is is to work with amazing people like yourself.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, well, thank you.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's very kind.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're a mission-based business and we want to be able to help the help business owners really use their numbers and and and hit the milestones and goals that are important for you.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a really cool uh ecosystem.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I do have some questions prepared, but um I do want to ask you about your journey though, first as a business owner, because you know, this is a podcast primarily for writers, but we talk about a lot of business stuff, mindset, goal setting, entrepreneurship, those kinds of things.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm curious, because you're you know, you're a business owner yourself, obviously.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: What was behind your decision to have a business like Kickstart Accounting where you employ how many people work for Kickstart Accounting?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's several dozen, right?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: Or more.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's 25.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: 25.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: So why go to that kind of model?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, which obviously for you involves uh it's a completely different way of running a business as opposed to you just being a solopreneur by yourself.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what led to your decision to expand what you're doing where you have a couple dozen people working for you, you have lots and lots of clients.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what was behind that decision just from a business perspective?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's uh a really great question.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know that I set out nine years ago to do that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nine years ago, when I started Kickstart, I really wanted to uh help business owners.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I thought I was gonna be an outsource CFO.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that was my my previous life was working as a CFO for these um mid-sized businesses.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to help them create budgets, strategic plans.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it was really interesting as I took on our first several clients.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I realized, well, I can't create a budget because we don't have bookkeeping in place.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can't you can't create a strategic plan unless you have historical financials.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the business model pivoted, and I think that that first pivot that I made gave me permission that I can change over time, right?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like as the business changes and as what people need from me change, I I can change as a business.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so at that moment, we we went to bookkeeping first.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So now whenever we work with the client, we do bookkeeping first so that the budget can be accurate, the taxes can be accurate, and more importantly, we as business owners can make better business decisions.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I say all that because I gave myself permission as a as a as a person, as an individual to pivot my my business model.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I loved working directly with clients and helping them um understand their number like there's nothing better than being on a client call.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you've you've been explaining the financial statements month over month over month, and there's this like light bulb moment where somebody's like, Oh, I finally get it, or wow, I still don't get it, but I really appreciate you explaining it to me again.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I love doing that, but there there came this moment where I I was I I couldn't make any more of an impact.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was completely full, and I would not be able to take a vacation with my family.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I was a single mom of two young kids at the time.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I literally remember sitting at the dining room table of my old house, um, had those the old school paneling that um, you know, as soon as the heat turns off, the it's like cold in the house.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, we've moved since then.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I was a single mom, two kids sitting at the dining room table.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I specifically remember this moment where I had to decide if I was gonna bring on a new team member and at the same time work with a new marketing consultant.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I was going to grow, I needed a team.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if I was gonna hire a team, I needed to grow at that pivotal moment.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I decided, I like I at that moment said, I want to be able to make a bigger impact because I'm only ever going to be able to help so many people.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that what we're doing at Kickstart, the framework that we've created, the way that we treat people, the culture, I believe that that has the opportunity to make an imper a bigger impact than what I can provide on my own.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: What was that emotional journey like for you?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: It so you have this moment where you think, okay, I'm I have a a business that's feeding my family on some level, but now I've got to think bigger and I've got to do things that are now gonna make me probably uncomfortable.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: I've got to learn working with the team and these different systems and processes.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: How did you feel about that launching into it?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: Was there a lot of fear there that then you just sort of shove aside and you go for it?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: Or how did you move forward, even in spite of not really knowing exactly what the future held for you?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, you nailed it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I was fearful and did it anyway.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I think maybe um being a runner has helped throughout the years because as a runner, it's like super uncomfortable.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's not many days where I'm like, yes, I get to go for a run, but there's this moment that's out on the trail that as I'm running, I'm like, man, this feels good to be alive.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And afterwards, there's this huge dopamine, runner's high.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone who's a who's a runner can really um like pin that moment.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's how I feel about entrepreneurship.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's super scary, right?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not like, I wasn't like, oh yeah, I'm so ready to jump into this.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's the most uncomfortable, hardest thing I've ever done in my life, besides being a mom of my two kids.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: But as I'm doing it, it makes me feel alive.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And for every team member that we bring on, you know, I could see it as a risk and a fear where I can say, wow, I'm so thankful for the opportunity to make a bigger impact by bringing on this employee.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm making an impact in their life.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, accounting is a male-dominated industry.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So as I bring on each team member, you know, they have an opportunity as for a career in this industry, and they get to help make an impact.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have to just go uh punch a clock at some accounting firm somewhere that they're seen as a number.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: They get to be part of this mission.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just think of it as an opportunity every single time.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: I I love how you've described that.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think that's this is why so many business owners and entrepreneurs do running?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: Because in some, aside from just the health benefits of it and the life benefits, in some ways it's kind of like a proxy for overcoming things that you're uncomfortable with.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: So that's it's basically like a physical manifestation of the same thing that's gonna help you face uncomfortable things in life and in business as a whole.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, and to process our thoughts because I have a lot of thoughts and ideas and um big things that I want to do all the time.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I I think that time, especially running, allows me to say, okay, what's important?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: What's important for me, what's important for my team, um, what things am I gonna pull and actually and actually implement?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because if I had it my way, we would be like changing things all the time.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I get really excited.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: I know that makes it kind of hard when you have a team to be constantly changing processes or systems or or software or whatever.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have to be really diligent about what we what we change and how often we change it.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I I just feel I feel so much gratitude.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I often tell our clients, you know, running a business is probably the biggest personal um personal growth journey I could ever imagine being on.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we're all doing that in some way.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's more than any book I can read or any seminar that I can go to.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I I have to continuously be learning about my weaknesses and my strengths, and then the strengths and weaknesses of my team members so that I can constantly be looking, looking forward.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I just feel like every day it's a personal growth journey.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: There's almost an element, it seems like, when you are running a business, no matter what size of it is, if you're a solopreneur or you have a team, there's an element to where you have to you have to confront kind of the worst impulses that you have as a human because you can't you can escape those if you're punching a clock for somebody else somewhere.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: You can go in and do your job and go home and whatever.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: But when you're running a business, if you're a person who's not motivated or you you avoid goal setting or you avoid hard conversations with people, or you don't want to work hard, it's gonna be really hard to have a functional business long term.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it kind of forces you to confront those darkest parts of yourself in many ways.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: It really does.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, right from money mindset, right?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like we all have a money story, a money journey that we've gone through.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden you start this business.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I like do you have to manage your personal finances, but then you have to manage your business finances too.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's scary.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's scary, especially if you've identified as somebody who's not a numbers person or not good at math, or um been told you've never been able to stick to a budget, right?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Those things though that becomes a really hard, difficult narrative to overturn.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that takes a lot of a lot of work.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, leadership, how you show up.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's that's where I'm putting a lot of my focus right now is you know, every day, um, you know, who do I need to be?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you said, you know, difficult conversations.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be difficult conversations with your team, the people that you have um in your business, your clients, um, your vendors, negotiations, um, all of it just goes so hand in hand where you have to show up every day and learn from those weaknesses and what feels really uncomfortable.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you sharing all that because a lot of times when, especially when we talk about business related things or particularly things like accounting or bookkeeping, things that have to do with money, people perceive those as fields that don't have a lot of heart to them, that it's just kind of number crunching and it's it's sort of impersonal.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: But I love this because obviously you care about this topic and you care about making a difference in business owners' lives through doing this particular thing that you do and that your team does.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And it's interesting because there is so much heart and soul involved in this that I think people a lot of people miss because they they just sort of perceive it as, oh, it's just crunching numbers or spreadsheets or whatever.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I love that you're sharing the real heart behind this.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's awesome.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, thank you.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, um my industry has a lot of darkness to it.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The the the tax industry um has not been the most glamorous place to be for true for for tax accountants, but then also for the receiving end of that service, it hasn't always been, you know, think about it, you have somebody who's really great at understanding the tax code.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: They're amazing at preparing tax returns.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Then they have to turn around and go talk to people and run a business and do all those things as well.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so it has it has been very difficult for for our industry.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I do feel a sense of um responsibility to help change the narrative in our industry because I think that taxes can be something that's not so scary.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's something that we do every single year.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And running a business doesn't have to be so scary.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, looking at our numbers and using them to make business decisions, like how empowering, you know, for a small business owner to get access to that.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Historically, it's been big businesses that have access to an accounting department, to big tax firms, right?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're the CEOs that get to make big important decisions.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started the business, I said, no, I want the I want small business owners, I want solopreneurs, the person who's doing their first hire, that second hire.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: I want those people to be able to have the information, to be able to receive that CEO dashboard to make business decisions.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, I love that.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: I I think you've you've carved out a really cool niche for yourself with Kickstart because people like me, you know, I just want to do my writing and I want to run my business and do the things that I'm good at.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't necessarily want to want to get a an associate's degree in accounting.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to have to learn all the nuanced stuff.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I know as a business owner, I need to know some of that stuff to understand the reports and all that, but but I'm really thankful for is it okay to say her name on this show who I work with?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, absolutely.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: I work with one of your team members, Danelle, who's been just so amazingly helpful and patient.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure whenever I do, I think I do a quarterly call with her.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: We just talked last week, I think.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I I'm sure that sometimes when your team members talk to people like me, they probably get off calls and they roll their eyes a little bit and thinking, wow, do they really not really understand this basic simple concept?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: But but she's so patient and explains things in a way that I can understand my numbers, which I really I think that's awesome.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I actually promise you that none of them roll their eyes and and they I would roll my eyes at me.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and and because it's part of our culture, we we we there's no judgment um at Kickstart.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really important because when people would come to us, they'll say it onboarding all the time, like, okay, I'm gonna let you, I'm gonna let you in, but like don't judge me for how often I go to Dunkin' Donuts, you know, like we we are seeing the most intimate parts of of people.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's very personal.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really important that that my team, when we have a very selective hiring process, and when we work with our team members, that we like we're coming from it with such a uh place of heart that it's just kindness and and we understand that look, I can't do what you do, either could Danell.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So so that's like the big thing I I think in business that we need each other.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no way that I could could write a book in the way that you guys, uh your listeners and you, I could not do that.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that you judge me for that.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so we don't judge other people for not understanding the numbers and the financial statements and the taxes because it's hard, it's really hard.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, when I was talking with uh Danelle last week, I said, I said, you know, you guys need a book to explain all this stuff to people like me, you know, solopreneurs, small business owners, you know, all the things about the basics of accounting and why this is important, how to understand the basics of your thing.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and I said, I'm really surprised that Danielle doesn't have a book out there on this.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Because if if if she did, I would buy like 15 copies and give it, give it out to everybody that I know.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think this stuff is so important.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have to make we'll have to make that a project.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it would.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and that's one of the reasons that I do ghostwriting is because it helps me actually run my own business and understand my own life better.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: So I just finished a book on a short book on health insurance for somebody, and I learned a ton from it.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, oh, oh, that's good.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's really good.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, I should probably give you a copy of it because it's a health insurance consultant for small businesses and uh he's a super great guy, and I learned a ton from it.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that'd be really helpful.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: We we do the podcast, so we have our podcast business by the books.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more of a talker than a writer.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, um, every week I get to to to talk for 30 minutes about you know how to use our numbers to manage our business.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, that's that's that's what the real reasons because I like to talk and and write.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's dive into some things related to uh tax stuff.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: And and so I've I've spent the first half of this conversation.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh asking more kind of esoteric questions, I guess, philosophical, but I think that stuff is really important.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I want to ask you a few questions related to kind of some basic concepts related to what you do in the services that you offer.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: So for people who are really new to the concept of working with someone with their numbers with their business, what is how would you explain the difference between, say, a bookkeeper, an accountant, CPA, tax advisor, financial planner, all the potential people who can work with someone with in their business?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: What are those different roles?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: And at what point in their business should somebody consider hiring people at those different levels?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_03: I know that's a huge question.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is a huge question.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and I'll and I'll answer it.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So first of all, I'll say I had no idea when I started the business nine years ago how many different terms there were and how interchangeably they could be used um in different, you know, depending on where you came from.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: So as you hear terms, you know, if you came from corporate or if you can't, you know, just depending on even from where in the country, um, so there's no right or wrong terminology.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first, so I would say you need four people on your money team, and your bookkeeper is the cornerstone of everything else.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you can't file a tax return or set a budget or plan for wealth or do anything else unless you have a bookkeep, unless you have bookkeeping completed.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: So bookkeeping is the act of organizing and recording all of your spending and and income, organizing all that into an accounting tool, might be a spreadsheet, preferably a software.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it is the bookkeeper is generally the person who organizes it for you.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: So picture you have a business bank account.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: You, as a business owner, you're out making money, you're out spending money, you don't have to worry about a thing.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your bookkeeper is behind the scenes collecting all that data and they organize it for you so that it's in an easy-to-read format.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then the your bookkeeper um will send you your financial statement.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: At least they should.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not all services are equal, but at Kickstart, we then send you your financial statements at the end of each month with a CEO dashboard, easy to read walkthrough of your numbers.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that's bookkeeping and bookkeeper, and that's kind of the cornerstone number one person you need.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people ask me, when is too early?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like when, when should I really have a bookkeeper?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want, I don't want somebody to think they need a bookkeeper from the day that they formed the LLC.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I think from the moment that you start having regularly recurring revenue and expenses in your business, that's when you need to have a bookkeeper because you need to be able to file an accurate tax return.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our second person that we need on our money team is our tax accountant.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the tax accountant is really that person who their only job is to file the tax return and to and to help you with tax planning.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: What I often see happening is that because we like we start the business and then we have to file the tax return.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's a requirement.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you don't want to go to jail.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So year one happens, and we're told, well, you need a tax account because you have to file your tax return.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we get this tax account, and then all of a sudden we're calling, we're calling Joe for everything.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, um, I'm thinking about hiring this person.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Can I afford it?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: How do I set up payroll?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, should I pay myself?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm, you know, I how many business accounts should I have?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: How much should I save for?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we're suddenly asking this one person all these very business related questions.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not what they're trained for, it's not what they do.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and a lot of tax accounts have a really good heart, right?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like they they want to help people, and so they try to ask answer your questions, but it's really not what they do.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: They want to file your tax return.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: They want to file your tax return.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: Is that because, and I don't want to interrupt you here, I guess I am No, good.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: Is that because the the real function and the skill set of a tax accountant is that's a different skill set from a person who's really thinking about future planning and goals and the bigger picture of your finances.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_03: Is that fair to say?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: So on the Kickstart team, we have several different team members.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have a team of bookkeepers who do the bookkeeping, then we have a team of tax accountants who do the tax return preparation.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a team of CPAs, and then we have a CFO team.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the bookkeepers record the back transactions, so bookkeeping, looking backwards.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: The CFOs on our team, they're looking to the future.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: So they're doing the budgeting and the future planning of the business.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they're taking your personal goals, where you want to see your business in five years, they're taking all of that and helping you see the future.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: We'll get back to the conversation in just a minute, but I want to take a moment to give a big thanks to today's sponsor, Vellum.
• 27:15
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• 27:23
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• 27:28
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• 27:44
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• 27:51
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• 27:56
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• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's trivellum.com slash Kent.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: Now let's get back to the conversation.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: That totally makes sense.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: That really makes a lot of sense.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: So there's um bookkeeper, tax accountant, CFO, and is what other people would you consider an essential part of your I think you mentioned four four modes.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have one more person, and it's one person I don't have on my team, and I'm gonna find them one day.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I want everybody to have a financial advisor.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we we do have different partners that we we work with, but a financial advisor is somebody who takes all of the bookkeeping, the tax planning, the future planning, and helps you plan your retirement.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: And they're helping you um plan both your personal and your business together.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that fourth person.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: And that's important because because your business is only one component of your whole life, it's not your whole life.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: I unfortunately for so many of us, it becomes so much of our lives.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, totally.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're so busy and we wrap up everything into our business.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we stop, we stop saving in our 401k or our retirement because we think our business is gonna be our retirement or we're gonna sell it someday.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we stop thinking about all of the ways that we need to be investing in our futures as individuals.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure that's easy to do because you can work for a few decades and have a successful business, and all of a sudden maybe you have a crisis of some kind, or something happens in your life, and you think, man, I don't think I want to run this business day today anymore.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: And then you think, man, I could have been doing this planning all along and and bents it up to be in a better place.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then no, and I'm sure that you've seen this many times before where people have to work in their business full time longer than they really want to because they didn't do planning or they didn't do proper proper tax, you know, preparation or or or whatever the issues are.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they um or or we see people just burn out, you know, that they've they've they burn out and they think that they just have to let their business go rather than then selling it.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or they've been using their business as a way to just save money on taxes.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they're spending money just to spend money, um, you know, taking their their their kids to conferences with them and uh you know, trying to trying to do all the tax uh loopholes.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden we wake up and we're like, hold on, I have several years of of tax returns that aren't profitable because I've been trying to run everything through my business so that I didn't have to pay taxes on it.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: And now I don't have anything to sell.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't have an asset that's worth anything because it looks like the business actually doesn't do very well except and just doing it, using it for taxes.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why it's really important to have the right money team because you want to have a team of people behind you who are saying, Hey, we want you to take the tax deductions that you that you should, right?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like we want you to maximize your tax deductions.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Totally.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: But we also want to we want to couple that with showing profit so that when you go to get a loan or a mortgage or by a car that you're eligible.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: I have heard that a lot of solopreneurs or or business owners, small business owners in particular, that it's harder for them.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, this happened to me um this past year.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I went to, long story short, we had some repairs that we needed to do in our kitchen.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: We we had a flood issue in our house upstairs.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, that's a whole long podcast episode in and of itself that nobody would ever want to hear.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, we we were trying to decide do we want to pay cash for this kitchen remodel?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: We had to do a full kitchen remodel, or do we want to take out a loan?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I was kind of investigating my options.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it what was what was really disheartening is I was trying to get a personal loan through my bank just to see if we could get it.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't have to have it, but I just wanted to see.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it was interesting because I make significantly more income now as a ghostwriter than I did as a college professor five or six years ago.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: But yet that didn't seem to matter.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's just the fact that I was a small business owner.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's like you have to, it seems like you've got to jump through all these crazy extra hoops and they don't really seem to believe you.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it just it seems like they banks almost want to penalize success in some ways.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's the most odd thing in the world.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: At some point in our businesses, as you grow, um, I I I do like forming an S-corp for business owners.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's gonna be my one of my next questions.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Lead, I'll lead you right there.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: As an S-corp, you can put yourself on payroll so that you have that that W-2 paycheck stub.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I went recently went to go get a uh a car and I didn't even tell them that I was self-employed.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I literally, on the employer, I wrote Kickstart Accounting Inc.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: and then handed them my paycheck stubs.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: It they didn't ask me if I was self-employed.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: I it it didn't matter.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: They didn't know it was your company, right?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been paying myself through Kickstart for several years, and and so it I have that longevity.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a question that said for the last three years, and I just checked the box.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I've been being paid by Kickstart for the last year.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's true, yeah.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: So so as a business owner, as you continue to grow, when you're making around$100,000 a year of net income, so not gross, not sales in the door.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking sales minus all of your operating expenses, that net number at the bottom of your PL.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: If that number is$100,000 or more for more than two years, we can start to think about becoming an S-corp.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And by becoming an S-corp, you go on payroll and you become a business expense to your business.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: And does that save on taxes as opposed to structuring it as an LLC or something like that?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, so technically, all in all, yes, you do save money in taxes because when you are on payroll, you are not paying self-employment tax.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if your business still shows a profit after it's paid you, you will pay self-employment tax on the net income of your business.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: But you're a business expense to your business.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you're lowering the amount of net income, therefore, you're lowering the amount of self-employment tax.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: The the kind of nuance of being an S-corp is that, of course, the the IRS loves to just be like, yeah, here's this little carrot, but here's you know, go through all the forms to it.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so as an S-Corp, you have to pay yourself a reasonable compensation.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, reasonable compensation means for your area where you live, how much would you have to pay somebody to do what you do for your your business?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Makes sense.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: What we're finding right now is that most industries, especially like a professional services, is is around$75,000 a year.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and and so we need to have enough to be able to pay you your reasonable compensation plus payroll or pay payroll tax.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_03: That makes sense.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: But as a business owner, you can also run a lot of things through your business that are legitimate expenses that if you were if you were doing that job working for somebody else, you wouldn't be able to do.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is that fair to say?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the government, they want small, the government wants small business.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like we, we as small business owners, we are pumping the economy.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the IRS and the government is giving incentives to people to start businesses, and that's why they allow so many tax deductions.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the home office, mileage, vehicle, uh, your cell phone, um, the airpods that you, yeah, you're gonna use them personally, but they're gonna use them for business.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: The the the computer that you buy, yes, you're gonna use it personally, but you're gonna mostly use it for business.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just bought myself a little vitamin D lamp that's gonna sit on my desk all winter.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's a business expense.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so though those are all little things that, yes, absolutely, are a business expense.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and we as um as small business owners have the option to be able to take advantage of those.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's see, that's a really interesting perspective because I think a lot of people look at government as being sort of this imposing force or this antagonist toward your business and stuff.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: But people most people don't understand that the government wants you to be successful in your business.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: And the more successful you become, the more they reward that in many ways.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: They really do.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: That they they they allow these deductions because they want business owners, they want people to form a business.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because without small businesses, you don't have a functioning economy.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Really don't.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: So when somebody is starting out, should do you recommend for most people that they start with an LLC?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: From the day that you collect money from a client, like if you are taking money in, I don't care how big or small, I want you to be form an LLC.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not an attorney, I'm an uh I'm an accountant.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: However, the LLC provides you with legal protection.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I want everyone to have that protection.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: From a tax perspective, um we also want to separate our business and our personal funds.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: So from the day that you substart that LLC, I also want you to go so to go and and start a business checking account so that our business and personal funds are completely separate.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you commingle them, um, you are doing what we call piercing the corporate veil.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you're you're you're not able to take advantage of the legal protection.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to keep everything separate.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's clean bookkeeping, clean for taxes, but also legal protection.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: I remember when whenever I started my business legally, uh, in fact, I just had to read, I just did my five-year renewal for my LLC.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: For a long time, I felt really intimidated by the idea of, okay, how do I?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_03: I know this sounds kind of dumb in retrospect, but I was thinking, how do I actually set up a business checking account?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: Do I need to do that?
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: How do I do an LLC?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: And all these things that you hear about when you're not in that world, they feel really intimidating.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: But is there anything that you could say to people who are writers at the beginning of this journey who haven't yet maybe formed an LLC or did a business business checking account?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: What could you say to them that would help them to understand this really isn't that complicated and you can figure this out and you can do it?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um you might be afraid and it feels uncomfortable and you don't know how to do it, and you're gonna do it anyway, right?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like we were talking about at the beginning.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you actually want to be a business owner and and and and make this into um a revenue generating facility for yourself, it's gonna be uncomfortable.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you're not gonna know how to do most of those things.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's learning how to just be uncomfortable and to do it anyway.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and luckily we live in 2024 and there's so many options.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think actually, there's so many options that the options become overwhelming.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: So when you when you go to form an LLC, you know, I think when I did it nine years ago, it was legal zoom or you went to your local attorney.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right now there's 20 different versions of legal zoom.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just simply used legal zoom.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: I paid$500.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a ton of money.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't, it didn't cost me, I didn't have to go to an attorney, didn't cost me anything.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Legal Zoom asked me some very basic questions.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: They filed it on my behalf.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, from a checking account perspective, go to your local bank.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: Once you, once you have that LLC paperwork, you can take your paperwork to the local bank and they want to help you.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna tell you exactly what you need.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so find some really kind banker um who who's gonna, you know, maybe go on a Monday at nine or Tuesday morning, you know, not a Saturday morning, and that has a little bit extra time to just be able to answer any questions that that you have.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: People in your local community want to help you.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: Doesn't this really go back to the impulse, again, of just being uncomfortable?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you want to have a successful business of any kind, you've got to be willing to take initiative and to ask for help, to figure out things that you don't know how to do.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: But even today, when everything is online, the idea of going town of going down to your local bank feels scary to some people, but I know, which is kind of weird because you think, okay, like 30 years ago, that was how you did all your banking.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: So it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to like go in somewhere physically and talk to a human.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: I and I do get it.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, you can open up a business check.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I know like Mercury, not all banks let you, but Mercury, I know, is one that you can do it online.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're somebody who you're like, I I'm not, I'm not leaving my house, then there are banks that you can do it online.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you you can call or chat with their customer service.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're somebody you're like, I'm not going to talk to anybody, you chat with their customer service and and they will help you.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think my point is that people want to help.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: I when I started a kickstart, it was really funny.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing a bunch of research and I found this accounting firm.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're about two hours from my house, not in the same local, doesn't matter.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: I we we do business online, they do business online.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we're both um throughout the US.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I sent them an email and I said, Hey, um, just really impressed with what you guys are doing here.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: Want to say I love your brand, any shoulda, woulda, couldas that you would have passed that you would pass down to your younger self.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: And these guys sent me an email back that had been like three pages worth of content of what they would have done differently, suggestions.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it was so kind.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had another guy here in Cleveland that could have very well been a competitor.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess technically he is a competitor.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: We don't see each other that way, but he sent me a message on LinkedIn and said, Hey, want to go to lunch?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and then when I I had a few like really silly questions that I couldn't figure out and I felt so silly, and he answered all my questions without any judgment.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, just my point is paid or not paid, people want to help.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, and there are a whole slew of of people in the entrepreneurship community who are looking to give back.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_03: I have found that to be the to be true no matter what the field.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, even with ghostwriters, who you would kind of think that there would be a lot of competition going on there, but there's really not.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: You would be shocked at how often ghostwriters are quick to refer people to, hey, I've got this buddy who works on this kind of book, or I'm too busy to work on more books right now, or I'm not a good fit for it, or whatever.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just people want to help.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think part of it too is people who have a successful business and who are making it happen, you know, we see that in other people and we respond to that and we see that spark.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: And when you recognize that that go-getter spark in somebody else, you really want to help that person because it's kind of rare.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like most people just sort of want to sit back and go, well, I'll just kind of coast through life.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_03: But when you when you see that go getter spark in somebody, it it really makes you want to sit up and try to be helpful in some way.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: Even our my team goes through this.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's so funny.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because we we offer calls with our Services.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: So somebody can book a monthly or quarterly call.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And my team always says it's it's really easy to lean in when clients are leaning into you.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like when they're really excited and they're like, I have no idea what you're talking about.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like operating expenses, what does that even mean?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no clue.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: And but they're on the phone with you and they're excited to tell you about their business.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they're excited to tell you about the next goal or thing that they're doing.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and as they're excited, my team gets excited.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, I just want to, I just want to help and rally around these people who, to your point, are doing things and and and leaning in.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I think overall, like, yeah, people want to help when you lean, lean in.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I totally agree.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, we got a couple more granular questions here before we as we kind of wind this down.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I still appreciate your time popping on this conversation with me.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of people ask me about the LLC thing.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: That that somehow that's feels really intimidating to a lot of writers who are thinking about starting their business.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: So once they get an LLC set up, in whatever way they they want to do that, um sometimes people ask me about how do you actually pay yourself?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: So with an S Corp, I know that's a different kind of a system, but with an LLC, how do you recommend people pay themselves?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_03: Just by doing a draw from their business checking into personal checking whenever they need it?
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_03: Is that the simplest thing?
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have your business checking account and your personal checking account separate.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: So business expenses like this Zoom right here and and the equipment that you're gonna need.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_03: Microphone, the Mac keyboard, the everything on my desk.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, all those things.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: Those are gonna all come through your business account.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: When you go to pay the daycare bill or your mortgage or groceries for your family, that needs to come out of the personal checking account.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you are not your business.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: The business is not you.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you cannot put the check from your client into your personal checking account.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: It goes into the business account, and then you can write a check, you can do a transfer, you can do a Zell.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: The actual physical moving of the money is literally just a transfer of funds.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I have one client who literally writes herself a check, takes a picture of it through a personal account.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: I have some clients who do Zell payments, some that do transfers.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's that's the actual physical movement.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: As an LLC, you are not a business expense to your business.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: So every time you take what we call a draw, you're just going up to the cash ATM of your business.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: So you are not paying taxes on those dollars.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're just gonna go, like if you go take$500, it's not a business expense.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's called an owner's draw, and you are not paying taxes on that$500.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: You are going to pay taxes on the net income of your business.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: So what most I don't want to say most, what some business owners will do is they'll say, I'm gonna look at my profit and loss each month, and I'm gonna take a portion of my profit from last month and I'm gonna pay myself that way.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Other people say, like, no, I need consistent, you know, you have$3,000 every single month.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: I need that money from my my business.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so they set up an automatic transfer and deal with the business separately.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that part is something that talk to your money team to help you decide the on the amount that's best for you to transfer, but don't pay the daycare bill out of the business account.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's gonna be a nightmare for your tax accountant.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, your bookkeeper.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we want we want to keep things as clean as possible.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we have clients who all the time that that they accidentally put things on the business card that should have been on the personal, or vice versa.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty with like the Amazon stuff.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you you if you are working with a money team who you can just say, hey, accidentally put this expense on my business card, it was really personal, they'll categorize it as a draw for you, um, or the other way around.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: So um, not the end of the world if it happens from time to time, but we want to have the the structure in place.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like one of those people that I'll go to like Target, Walmart, whatever, and I will have two credit cards.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: I will put the divider halfway through my purchase because I want to take my business expense as a business on a bit of charge.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_03: So is there an element to I guess it's more of a philosophical question where anybody who's working with tax stuff, and I guess this is really more geared toward accountants, where so much of our tax code seems completely arbitrary, as if people in some government bureaucracy room just threw spaghetti at a wall and said, we're just gonna make up arbitrary rules that make no sense at all.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: But then as someone who is in this field, you have to follow those rules very specifically.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: How do you uh as an accountant, how do you keep from just getting frustrated at all these arcane arbitrary rules that seem like somebody just made up in an office somewhere?
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_03: How do you sort of deal with that element of this?
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the one that irritates me.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_03: Is that even a fair question?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you the one that irritates me the most.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you realize that that when you give gifts to like if you wanted to give your client a gift or your employee a gift, the the limit for the tax write-off is$25?
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: That makes no sense.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: What what even costs$25 anymore?
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: Chick-fil-A, maybe yeah, right?
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: And anything over that, they want to be wages.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: So anything over that, like if you're gonna give somebody a hundred dollar gift card, it really needs to be through through through payroll and not that as a gift.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Though those are the things I think for me that I get frustrated with because I'm just the bearer of bad news, right?
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: So from a tax code perspective, it makes sense to me and I understand it.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm okay with it now.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: It used to get me irritated, like why why do LCs even exist?
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: But fine, uh though those things I can I understand it now.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is it is the the way we do things, but it's the the small things, like how have we not adjusted right limit limits at this point, and because then when I give that news to my clients, my clients are mad at us, like I didn't create like I didn't make the laws, you know, like or meals are really technically only 50% deductible.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when we have to take 50% and and you can only deduct 50% of that, your clients will get mad that that they put all their meals through their business because they want it to be a business expense.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Well, I I it's not my rule that I didn't make the rules, yeah.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I think I get more upset, is just you know, I I don't I don't want I don't want to have to tell people that they can't deduct things.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: Does that concern you the fact that at some point some some presidential administration might completely change the tax code?
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: I don't even know if I believe that would actually ever happen, but maybe it could.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, wouldn't that throw your whole industry into disarray?
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of it it would.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really think it's crazy that we have this tax deadline of April 15th.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like in what world can all these tax accounts we have we have a shortage of people going into the CPA industry.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: So at any CPE conference you go to, as as CPAs, what we are talking about the most is the fact that nobody's coming into our industry anymore.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: You wanna know nobody's coming into the industry?
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because who wants us to work 80 hours a week from February 1st to April 15th?
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that I that I think for me is I think some change is right.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm ready for some change.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: We we're we're trying to do everything we can to disrupt our industry.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we we don't do the tax season craze anymore at our firm.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone can our clients can book a tax week and we only take a certain number each week.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you sign up for your tax week and we take an even amount of them through the tax extension deadline, so through September, so that our team, because that's not healthy to work eight hour weeks, right?
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we allow them to work like a normal 45, 50 hour, right?
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: Normal, and then we extend tax season through like September, and so uh we're trying to do our part of of just changing the industry and changing the norms around the industry.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Danelle is on top of things because she was because we chatted last week, she said, Hey, can you here's the people that I need you to get a W9 from, you know, the people that I've paid this past year.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, wow, that is that is on the ball.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm mad at that every single every single one of our clients received this month a list of their uh yeah, I love it of their contractors, and that's what your money team should be doing for you.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't have to think, oh my god, it's November.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to send out 1099s in January.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it's January.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: You need to collect 1090.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's what your money team is there for to say, hey, I'm thinking about this for you.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here's here's your list.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well, this has been such a fun conversation.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_03: Gosh, I've I didn't even touch most of my questions.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um sorry, I told you I was talking about it.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_03: But that's okay because there's if people really want to dive into this, they should hire somebody from Kickstart Accounting for sure.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_03: So, how can people find out more about what you guys are doing and uh and how you could help them no matter what size of the business they have?
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Kickstart Accounting Inc.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: is the best place to find us.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can uh come in and book a call.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you want to learn more about our conversation today, um if you go to kickstartaccountinginc.com slash gift, we have the top tax deductions on there.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we go through that that whole list.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then we have business by the books.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's our podcast where we're talking about this stuff every week.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll say, you know, we work with businesses of all sizes.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: So starting at solopreneur, we are often our clients first hire.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then we grow with our clients from there.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um come and book the call if we want we want to talk to you.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm a big fan of what you're doing.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_03: You've helped me immensely and um happy to help promote promote it because it will definitely make a writer who has a business, it will make their life easier for sure.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you again.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_03: This has been a blast.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, hey, I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I enjoyed having it with Danielle.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_03: As you can tell, she's a genius, she knows her stuff, and she really cares about this stuff.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, honestly, those are the kind of people that I love to work with.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_03: I really enjoy spending time with people who are obsessed with excellence in whatever it is that they do, whether it's writers, accountants, business people, plumbers, people doing yard work.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care what they do.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: I just like spending time with people who really, really love what they do, almost to the point of obsession, where they want to do so well in that area, they just love talking about it and they really, really geek out over what their thing is.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, and this is why I do this podcast because I love talking about writing and business and the intersection of those two things and mindset and being profitable and all the things that allows you to do in life and all that kind of stuff.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_03: And so, as you can tell, Danielle falls squarely into that category of somebody who loves what they do, is really good at it, and they know how to help other people with it.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_03: So hope that you took a lot of notes as you listen to this conversation.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, just like I did.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh even though I use Kickstart Accounting for um they do my bookkeeping services.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: I took a lot of notes and they are fantastic.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_03: So if you were looking for a great bookkeeping and accounting service, make sure and check them out by going to kickstartaccountinginc.com.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_03: Now, on the next episode, it's going to be something completely different.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_03: I've actually invited my friend and former client, Adam Boggs, to have a conversation about what it's like to work with a ghostwriter.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_03: He and I collaborated on his book, The Business Artist, which came out uh about a year and a half ago.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_03: And we just have a very open and honest conversation about what it was like for him to work with a ghostwriter.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: We talk about the process that we used for writing his book, uh, what his experience was like, his advice for people who are potentially looking to hire a ghostwriter.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: And also, one of the most interesting parts of the conversation, I think, was his advice for people who are looking to start or grow their ghostwriting business.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: So make sure and check that out.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: If you're interested in ghostwriting on any level, I think you're really going to enjoy that conversation.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: So looking forward to that, and I shall see you then.