Latest / That Home Loan Hub / From Numbers to Niches: Belinda’s Straight Up Solutions for Homebuyers & Entrepreneurs

Transcript

From Numbers to Niches: Belinda’s Straight Up Solutions for Homebuyers & Entrepreneurs · That Home Loan Hub

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome Belinda.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Wilson from the Straight Up Solutions Limited.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Beautiful.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, belinda.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming in today.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: You're a good friend of mine, yes, and a few other things.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Absolutely and absolutely honored to have you, as I believe you are the first accountant really on this podcast.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: So no, pressure, no pressure, I'll set the bar high.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, please, Very, very high.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Today I want to talk to you about things that people should know when they are.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Obviously, I'm a mortgage advisor.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I help people to get a home and I deal with a lot of self-employed clients, right.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about what can people do to set themselves up for success when they're looking to buy a house or get a top up or buy an investment property, etc.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: In terms of financials.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Okay, absolutely so.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: The first thing I find is a lot of business owners need, first of all, to have a good accountant, of course of all.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: To have a good accountant, of course.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Um, if they don't and they present themselves directly to a bank, they will basically miss the opportunity of presenting themselves the best way possible.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So number one is find a good accountant and then, obviously, that accountant will definitely have connections with mortgage brokers like yourself.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: So, yes, the first thing is to make sure that their financial statements are in order and that they're up to date and that they are tidy.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: So a lot of business owners, when they present themselves to me as they come in, they tend to not really know sort of where they're sitting a lot of the time.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And it could be that they are using software, for example zero, but they don't actually really know how to use it properly and they're not really sure how to get the best out of that software, to actually know where is the business sitting now and where is it going to go in the future.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I'm always looking at okay, where have we been?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: But where do you actually want to head and what are your goals in a business?
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Because when they present themselves to the bank, the bank is ultimately yes, they're going to look historical, but I think it's also important to look to the future as well, because things change.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: And where do you want to head with your business?
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: basically, Exactly because that's the question.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Often we get back from the bank right the state of the business.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: What does it look like now?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Especially if they've been quite new to the business as well?
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: sometimes, yes definitely We've got to understand how the last 12 months looked like and whether they had previous experience.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So, for instance, if you were a plumber and decided to become an electrician, you know the bank may not look at you favorably, but if you were a plumber working for a company, now you've gone self-employed yes, often.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: We will take into account your cash flow forecast as well.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: So do you help with the cash flow forecast?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, absolutely.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So I tend to look at the business to determine what is the best way for forecasting for the bank, because some businesses can be really, really basic.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: So I tend to go okay, let's just keep it real high level, because a lot of businesses don't know what they don't know.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: So it's really just sort of working with them and understanding, okay, where do we anticipate this business to go?
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: What have we been doing so far?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Because if they've only been trading for say, three, four months, they don't really have a good feel yet.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: But at least it's a starting point, and any starting point is a good point.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: So if the business is quite small, I will probably just start more with a high level sort of excel forecast, um, just to really get the feel with the business and the client to understand, okay, what are we looking at.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: The bigger the business, though, then I will tend to use software.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Normally I use spotlight reporting.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I really like that.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: What is that?
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Ah, so basically it's a forecasting tool and I actually use it with a number of the clients that I work with.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Some of them sit in the building space in terms of like building merchants, and so you can be working with merchants that have millions of turnover.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: So I prefer to use spotlight forecasting for businesses that are bigger and from there I can basically go okay, let's look for the next 12 months and we go through everything in detail.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: So we look at their turnover, we look at their sales, we look at all of their cost of sales.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So, for example, in the building industry, it will be their purchases, their materials that they're buying and a building merchant will be their actual stock that they're buying to sell to customers.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Then we go through all of their expenses.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: So get quite detailed the bigger the business.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: But it's not an issue because if you know and can work with a client, you can get what you need to make it a really solid forecast.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: And I mean I've been quite fortunate with some of the clients I've worked with that they've got, you know, multimillion-dollar turnover.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: But we can actually get it pretty accurate if we've got a nice history as well.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: That's really cool.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: It's fun Well it sounds like it's fun.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: And I love the name of your company because obviously it's Straight Up Solutions.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, so you're quite straight up with your advice, right?
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: you're not gonna pull the wool over the eyes and be like, oh, your business is doing fine, exactly if it's bad, you're gonna tell them, yeah, yeah, 100.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I believe that's the best way to be is to be honest yeah, and you're also going to tell them, I guess, how to improve or where to cut costs.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: And yes, things like that absolutely.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Um, I've found that because I've worked in chartered accounting for 25 years since I left high school.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: The big thing I find with businesses is that they just want people to be upfront and just tell them how it is.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: They don't want vagueness, they actually just want to know so that then you can work through to find solutions, because so many clients that I have that come into my practice is they will say to me oh yeah, I just didn't know of my last accountant, I just didn't understand.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: And I like to also just talk to people one straight up.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: but I also like to just use simple, plain English so that they understand, because I think sometimes people can tend to talk down to people and I think they just think we're all on the same level and we are ultimately.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: But from an understanding point of view, if I went and saw a lawyer, yes, I understand a lot of it, but I don't understand all of it, so I expect them to explain to me in layman's terms if I can't understand something.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: So when I'm dealing with clients, 100% I come and work.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Whatever level of understanding they're at, I work with them so that I know that when they leave they totally get it yeah, because that's what I'm dealing with, a lot like um with the self-employed clients.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: they will come in and you know they give me their financials when I interview them.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: And you know I go how are the financials looking?
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, it looks great, you know.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And then I get the financials and the net profit is like yeah nothing, nothing really bad.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm like how did you think your financials are great and all they're doing is they're looking at the turnover, the sales, you know, and they're like yeah, you know, I'm making 500k.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, like well, you're not.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Like, if you actually drill it down and down there, there's nothing exactly so um yeah also, yeah, making sure that people understand, because sometimes people just look in the wrong they, they do absolutely and they, they sort of like you say they look at the side but it's like when you go through all the expenses you sit there going.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: You'd be better off working for somebody than working for yourself.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: That's how sometimes I feel Maybe I should go back to the bank ASB.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: If you're listening?
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: No, I'm kidding.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: But we love the freedom of self-employment, we love the freedom, and that's what it comes with right Like.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I make sure whatever I earn, my staff get paid, and if I don't get paid that month, oh well, I just have to work harder the next month.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: But as long as everyone else gets paid, I'm good.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: But you're right, Like you know, people need to understand what every line means, and if there is a way to save money without huge sacrifices, then absolutely.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: You know, make those tweaks.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: And when I work with clients, I work with the client.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: I do not send the work overseas, offshore, which a lot of accountants are now doing.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: They send it overseas.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Don't think a lot of clients are particularly aware of that, Whereas I am all about knowing and understanding that client.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: So when I'm working with clients they can be assured I know everything.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I see everything, but that's not a negative, because then I can identify one opportunities and two sort of you know, bring in sometimes sensitive discussions around some people's spend and just go.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, actually, you know, but there's always opportunities wherever you look and I think it's really important to really understand their client by working with them and working with their information.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I totally agree, and that's what I like about you, Belinda.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you so let's pretend we've got a hairdresser client, you know, self-employed, looking to buy a house, and, um, you know, what sort of advice could you be giving them in the beginning, Like whether they're tossing you know, whether they should work from home or whether they should go and work out of a salon, like in terms of cost, just you know.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Not an advice, guys, whatever you um, but just the hypothetical scenario.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: What could they be doing well for themselves, to set themselves up for success?
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I think working from home is actually quite a good option and it's definitely more feasible now than it used to be.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Of course, some businesses you can't work from home, some businesses you can't work from home.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: But I tend to sort of say before you and I have a particular example with a client taking out a lease, and it was probably a two or three year lease be really careful when you're very first starting out.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Don't, unless you really know that you've got guaranteed income of X amount per month, be really careful to lock yourself in to a lease, because it can be really difficult then if you find out six, 12 months down the track that things aren't going the way you expected them to and you've still got another two years.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly yeah.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: So you've really got to do your homework right from the beginning, in terms of before you even go out.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: It was easier for me personally because, as an accountant, I could work from home to begin with.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: And as you know I'm now going to go out with my little commercial building, so it's going to be great.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: But for some businesses, yeah, you might need to be out in the face of the public.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: From the beginning you might feel that, okay, I need to be out there, I need to have a lease so that people know who I am.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: But you've got to just be really careful and do your figures and really do your homework before you basically commit to anything major.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, and you need to obviously seek the advice of a lawyer in terms of what does a lease mean?
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: And if you get into it and then you need to get out of it, how easy is it actually going to be?
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: So you definitely need a lawyer in your camp as well.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: And then, obviously, talking to the accountant, you need to really sit down and bring to the table your homework so the accountant can work through with you to sort of sound check what you've given them and logic check and go actually, is that realistic?
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: A good accountant will know straight away whether something's realistic or not.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And then I find the expenses side is actually the easier bit to forecast, the sales side not so much if you don't have that guaranteed income.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: So again, you've really got to do your homework before you commit to something that's yeah, no that makes absolute sense, and I mean I guess, as you mentioned, like because you're dealing with so many different clients, you would see you know who, what, how they're performing and whether they're similar businesses.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, what can be done?
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm so privileged in 25 years I have worked across the board.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Honestly, some accountants aren't probably quite as fortunate as me, I don't think in terms of the range of clients.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Did you start when you were five?
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: I might look young but not really Eight.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: 19, 20?
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: We'll say 20.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I'm 45, 20.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's very few businesses that I'd say that I haven't been involved with Probably sort of heavy manufacturing.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: No, haven't been involved with probably sort of heavy manufacturing.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: No, but then if I think about where I started and in Thames, which is a country area in the Waikato dairy farming, sheep farming so I sort of started in the farming area, even though I don't come from a farming family, and then, yeah, I had so many businesses and then moving into sort of Auckland.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: That was an interesting experience.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Just just a huge, broad range of businesses.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: So some of them probably not the best to disclose just nature of their business, um, that's all right.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: We just talked about sex industry in a previous episode.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's actually.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: That's actually what it was.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Shall we just say a high-class brothel?
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good money, good money in the high-class brothel area, and he paid his taxes.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So fantastic.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, I've worked with a range of clients and, in terms of turnover, a range of turnovers, we can say, from a $50,000 turnover over to $50 million turnover.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Wow say from a $50,000 turnover over to $50 million turnover.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: So it's awesome because you see so much, but what you find is that all businesses have the same needs.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was about to say the fundamentals will be the same right, whether it's 50K or 50 mil.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, no, absolutely.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Belinda, who is your ideal client?
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Like, let's say, you're going on your own, you know, you're setting up your own practice.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Who is your ideal client you want to deal with?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: I love clients and I work best with clients that I'm working with regularly.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: So if I think of my clients where I provide more like virtual CFO services is probably the best way, where I'm working with them on a regular basis every month and then I'm reporting back to them and then I'm also assisting with their overall sort of business operations as and when they need.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I don't live and breathe in the business, but I have that sort of high level.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: That's what I excel at, that's what I'm good at and that's how I then can bring more out of a client and help them with their business, because whilst they're running a business, I'm also running a business and I'm also assisting my husband with his forensic crash business.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: So I've got a lot of other experience that I can give back into that client and I think that's really important, because sometimes you'll find that professionals don't have that actual, like real life experience yeah yeah.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: so for me, I'm again.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I'm just so thankful for having those opportunities along the way and now to be self-employed, because now I can help clients with other areas, not just accounting, because I think a lot of accounting firms you can go into, you you'll get accounting services.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: That's cool, that's good, that's what you need.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: But there's a whole other level that businesses actually want and need.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: And they need.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I think, there is a want but there is definitely a need.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: And again, going back to what I do, I see that effect Because if someone comes to me and their financials are not looking sharp, I mean I can only create so many miracles in my line of work and I can only pull so many strings, you know, with the banks.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: But if your financials are not looking good, then it's really hard to get the deal across the line.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: And often, you know, people have to wait and then they miss out on opportunities.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, and sometimes the six-month wait could make a massive difference to the property prices.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Yes, you know, like if they don't buy now and in six months' time the property price has gone up, the goalpost has moved.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, so they have to save more deposit.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, or they have to have better income yet again, because the government legislation changed, you know the DTI rules, etc.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: So it's super important to get those fundamentals right from the get-go.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: But tell me a little bit about this funny statistics that we often hear about, that the most businesses die within, you know, first, 12 to 24 months because of provisional tax and everything else.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely how can people be prepared for that better?
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Again, one poor planning.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Everything else, yeah, definitely.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: How can people be prepared for that?
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Better, again, um, one poor, poor planning.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: I think everyone has this romantic idea about self-employment and that you can claim everything.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's so great being self-employed, I can claim everything, it's like.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: No, that's not really the case.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: But I think what people often fail is that they don't get the right people again in their camp.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: From the start and when you hear about, I remember when I first started in accounting, the common theme was when you start in business, you, you need to have a good accountant.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: You need to have a good accountant.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: You need to have a good lawyer.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: You need to have also good relationships with your bank as well and obviously, yes, mortgage brokers come into that, Come into that side.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: So it's like a square of love.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: If we go bank mortgage broker, accountant, lawyer, of love if we go bank mortgage broker, accountant, lawyer.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Those are really important from the beginning so that you set yourself up right, you have the right structure whether that is a sole trader company, a trust, it depends on the nature of your business activity and you need to have advice from the beginning and have a good relationship, because it's like a partnership and it's a partnership from the start.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: And if I think of one of my ITM clients.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: When they bought out the original shareholders, they were working with me with regards to some ERP software set up and training.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: So I was coming in as a software support advisor.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: I wasn't coming in as an accountant.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: But then when they found out that I was an accountant, they're like she's the lady for us and they knew that they wanted me from the start.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: And I think, whoever the accountant is, it's important that the client identifies from the beginning yes, I want that accountant to work with me and if they don't know a lawyer, then that accountant generally will know a lawyer that they can recommend and make sure that it's going to meet what they need.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: So that's the first thing is having the right people in your camp from the start.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: The second thing is actually being realistic and asking yourself the hard questions of okay, it's all very romantic saying, okay, I want to work for myself, I want flexibility, I want to earn more money, but you have to actually work out.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Are you actually going to one have more flexibility?
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Are you going to end up being in a better position Because there's nothing wrong with being an employee?
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Then it comes with some good, good benefits overall in terms of stability.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: So you really need to know, okay, is this actually going to work out?
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and and really do your homework and your due diligence on that side because where I see people spend a lot of money in the beginning is marketing.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: They go and pour a lot of money before they're even making any money.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: They're spending a lot of money creating the logos and paying someone to do their social media, et cetera, et cetera.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: So I think if they had the right person in their camp going, hey, maybe you know you shouldn't spend money on this yet.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, yet I mean, I'm a big believer in social media.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Obviously I do what I do.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Yes of course, and I love what I do.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Yes, but it came later, like six years ago, when I first started my business.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I didn't have a proper social media account or spend a lot of money on stuff, I was just.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: It was supposed to be a part-time job, working from home, you know looking after the kids.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Didn't expect this to escalate to the point where it did, but just a glimpse into my life as a you know sole trader.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: You know, worked in the bank.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I had a lovely job.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I was getting, you know, paycheck every fortnight and it was great, it was comfortable and I was pushed into this area and I didn't really want to do this, but it was sold to me as an idea.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Oh, you can stay from home, you know, stay at home, work from home, and it worked.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: It worked for a while until I needed to get an office and then get further.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: So I think this is where um a lot of people make mistakes.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Is 100 diving head in making?
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: absolutely silly decisions.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, they, they go on it hard and and they don't budget, they don't say, okay, what am I prepared to spend in my first year, like you say, on marketing?
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: And I'm a real um believer in your brand and your image and being front of mind.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: So when people think mortgage broker, they think Zerbanusa.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: When they think a lawyer, they think of whoever that might be.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: I really sort of believe that you need to, yes, get your brand out there, but you need to do it in a way that's managed.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Sustainable.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, yeah, you don't want to be spending, just pouring money into it.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Thousands yeah.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: That might not actually and really, how do businesses in New Zealand really work?
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: They work on relationships.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: That is the key and if I think of the clients that I have, whether it's in my practice or in my previous employment, I worked with those clients for over 10 years because I built a relationship and I care for every client and I love my clients.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I love them, I love each and every one of them and I think that's important in New Zealand small businesses you have to build those relationships and that trust and it takes time and no amount of advertising is going to achieve that it's the word of mouth, right?
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you've done a good job by someone, they're going to go and tell 10 people, but if you've done a bad job, they're going to go and tell 100 people.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, and I have a client that's still in the firm that I was working in in Auckland.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: He's great, but he's still there because obviously he's connected with other clients there.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: So he's there at that moment, but he's referred like about five businesses.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: To me that speaks volumes because he could just refer them to where he's still at in the other firm.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: But no, so, yes, it's all about that referral, but they need to be quality referrals as well, because you've got networking groups, which I think are important to get out and so that people know.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: But really, how do people actually get your service and the experience of your service?
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: It's by actually working with you and trusting you and, like you say, if they trust you, they'll refer you.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and dealing with you on everyday things, yeah, that's awesome.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Can we briefly dive into your very successful business that you've built with your husband, forensic Crash?
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Yes, just to show an example to the listeners that you know you took a massive leap of faith and created something amazing in my eyes.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you, um.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Can we just quick I know it wasn't part of the plan, but when you mentioned that I was like I'm gonna dive in for the forensic crash.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: So tell us about that business.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, the background yeah, thank you for asking, because I actually think it's a really good example of how you can turn a dream into something really cool.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: So my husband was in the police for 16 years.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: In the second half of his career he was a serious crash officer.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: When we left Auckland and we moved down here, he became the national serious crash trainer.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: So that was his very final job in the police and he was in that role for about three years.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: So all up 16 years.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: That time in the police.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: The first half was good, but the second half was very stressful.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: A lot of people would say it's the sights and what he sees.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: That wasn't it.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: It was actually the workload, the internal politics of the police.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: The police have a very toxic culture.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: It is what it is.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: And I said to him in the end dude, this job is going to kill you.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: We need to do something about that.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: But of course at that time I had my accountant's hat on and I couldn't deal with him just leaving and not having any job.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: So I sort of had to say to him you need to find a job because I can't just have you just leaving the place.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: So he went out and he had a couple of jobs in between, but it was actually during COVID time, when he was at his very final employed job, where he came out to me and he just said I'm going to do it.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: I said, what he goes, I'm going to do it.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Wow, I am going to set up a forensic crash business.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: I said okay, and he got his first case and it was quite an interesting case and shall we just say I refer to the case as drug lord.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: We'll just leave it at that.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: And it was a good case.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: And this particular person came to Bruce and said I know that I'm going to go to jail because of this particular case.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: I accept that, but I cannot get the answers out of the New Zealand police as to what happened.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: That's all I want.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And that's when Bruce said okay, I'm going to take this on because I just want to give this particular individual the answers that he needs.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: That's all it is for that particular case.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: So he did that and from there he was able to buy his first piece of equipment, which was a crash data retrieval kit, and he's one of the only civilians in the country that has that.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: I think there might be another civilian who works in crash as well.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: So that's how it sort of started, and it was very slow to begin with, very, very slow, because it's a very unique business being a crash investigator.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: It's not like you can also just sort of go networking going hey, guess what I do?
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Because it's not really a selling point, if you know what I mean.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: So it was very, if you know of anyone having a crash.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: call me the worse it is the better.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I'll be there for you, just like yeah, it marketing, bruce, terrible marketing.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: So it was very, very slow to begin with.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: But as each criminal lawyer started to work with Bruce, they would talk to other criminal lawyers, so then another case would pop up and then another case would pop up.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: So it was sort of that.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: First two years was was just steady, steady building.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: And I said to Bruce you need to have that brand image and you need to be front of mind.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: So, yes, when people think crash, they think Bruce.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: So that's sort of how it started to evolve.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: But Bruce wanted to also move into the insurance area because, with his various equipment, because he's a real techie, he's a real nerd and because he was in the Air Force as an avionics technician, he's very, very technical.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: So, whilst you might go, oh, bruce, ex-police officer, serious crash officer, there's a lot more to him.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: And so from there he decided he wanted to get into insurance.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: But it was very difficult to break into the insurance market.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: And then it was kind of about end of last year where I was starting to go okay, where is this business going, bruce?
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Because we're kind of just floating along.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: It's okay, but you'd be better off right now going and working for someone so we need to shift this somehow, or rather Accountant hat went on right, yeah, the accountant hat, and I don't really like putting that hat on when I know that we're on the cusp of something amazing.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: So I was just like, okay, just let it go.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: But then I had to.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: I had to put my accountant's hat on.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: And especially if it's your loved one, and especially if he's pursuing his dream and you can see he's so much happier than being where he was Absolutely I pursuing his dream and you can see he's so much happier than being where he was, absolutely.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: I think it's a hard place to be because you want him to be happy and pursue his dream.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: But you're like well, we just need to get paid.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Exactly, We've got bills to pay here, honey, Exactly yeah.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: And he had a really rough time, and he still does, because a lot of New Zealand police officers that he worked with for years in the police are quite jealous of him, which does my head in, like I personally love to see people succeed.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: If you've got a dream and you can make it real, go for it, own it.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: So it was really difficult that he would get a lot of negativity and unfortunately that's just again, I think, how the culture is in the New Zealand police for a lot, of, a lot of police officers, and so it was really difficult for me to say dude, you need to sort yourself out, mate, because this is not working.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: And as I was walking, so we went for a walk down the beach and I just went, oh, you need to sort it out, and then I just had to walk away.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: So I walked about six k's home.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: He followed me the whole way home going do you need?
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: And I said, no, I just need to work out.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: So at that time, that's when I decided to do my side hustle which has now obviously moved into a full-time business because I thought right, how can I make this work so that Bruce can pursue his dream.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: So that's what I did.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Well, all I'm going to say is be careful what you wish for, because literally within two months from that time, he cracked into the insurance market and he has hit it.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: So last year he had 25 criminal and insurance fraud cases.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: This year he's up to 140.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Whoa, amazing.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: What's the percentage increase here?
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Come on, oh, come on.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I mean that's like four or five times.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: You know Whoa Amazing what's the percentage increase here, come on.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's like four or five times.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: You know, that's crazy, amazing, amazing.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: And it just keeps spawning and expanding.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: That's kind of scary from one side.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, if we don't talk about numbers but the actual, oh my God, that's like 140 cases of people either committing fraud or crashing or doing whatever, that's kind of scary.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: But if we think about it as numbers, it's not as it's quite exciting, it's quite exciting.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: And so this year has been amazing.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: And he's also moved into they call it a vehicular homicide or murder by vehicle.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: So he's had a few.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: He's had a murder case and he's got other ones on the go.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: So it's a fascinating business and he's got other ones on the go.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: So it's it's a fascinating business and there's just so many angles and there's so many other areas he wants to grow into, and so now we've taken on a couple of contractors.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Um, they work, uh, independently.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Um, that's outside of this and I guess that's another tip as well for people that are self-employed that don't go and start employing people.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Exactly have them as contractors, if you can 100% Because then you're not laying out the salary, and if there's no, work.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Correct, correct, exactly, and that's what I said to Bruce.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Is that, hey, because of the nature of your work, although now you're literally at capacity plus, you don't want to commit to having a fixed employee?
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: At or say 30 hours a week, when the work can go quite up and down because who knows when you're going to get a um murder buy a vehicle.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: You can't really put that in the cash flow for a cast.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: I forecast august.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: August is the month you know.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: So that's when I said let's do it a different way.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: So what we do is we go.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, so the, the contractors do the insurance fraud work, uh, with bruce, because of the nature of their, um, their situation, because they are police officers, but they have got secondary employment.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: So you have to have secondary employment approved when you're in the New Zealand Police before you can work anywhere.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's an interesting process that goes through, because sometimes the New Zealand Police will just approve it and sometimes they'll just go no.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: And we knew that because the New Zealand police obviously view Bruce in a specific way that they could say no but that hasn't worked out quite that way, so that's been a positive.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: So, yes, so they basically work case by case, so we will allocate them a fraud case because they're all insurance.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: They're known as organised crime.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: It's a huge organised crime, shall we say, following or growing in New Zealand, which is sad.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Good for business, great for business, I tell you.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: But no, keep it coming, keep it coming.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: And it's a hard space as well, isn't?
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: it?
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it can be.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: You don't want the crime in New Zealand.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: But then if it is happening from the other handle, you are providing the service to crack into it.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: So imagine if you went on the scene and the crime is still happening.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Because it's still happening, there is no one to counteract.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: So, it's kind of cool what you guys are doing.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: It's really exciting and you're doing it for the right reasons at the end of the day.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: So, yes, I would definitely say to business owners that, again, look at your situation to determine do I need a contractor or do I need an employee?
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, there's rules around, actually, who is a contractor and who is an employee, because you can sort of waver into one or the other.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: But if you know specifically that, yes, these particular individuals control when they do their work, how they do their work, what type of work they do, then there's a space there that will meet the contractor requirements.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, don't overcommit yourself because, yes, if you don't have the work, that's an extra fixed cost that you might not be able to actually afford.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: So that's what we've done and I said to Bruce well, that way we can see how things go and as you grow we might move them to employees.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: But to me I think it meets their needs as well, because then it gives them the opportunity to do other stuff as well.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's awesome, belinda thank you so much for sharing that bit, because I think this is kind of really cool insight into your life.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: So, as you were saying, you're not just an accountant just going by what the textbook tells you or what the IRD requirements are.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: But you're actually living and breathing the self-employment, so you understand.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: When you have someone in front of you, you would know what to do, how to address that, including insurance, because so many people don't like insurance, which really blows my mind.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Um, I get it because I think it's an, it's a cost, where what's the benefit or when things go horribly wrong, insurance is there.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Exactly, and that's again my head on right, because I do insurances for people and see when people buy a house or buy an investment property or get a top-up, they know exactly how much they're buying, they know what they're buying.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: They can see a house, yes, they know what the money is going for.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: With insurance, it's a product where you're paying for something you can't see.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're paying for an idea of, if it happens, what will happen.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: So it's really hard to convince people that they need to have insurance.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: And I mean I've had a few cases recently where, even in my own I was in the middle of a Zoom meeting and I love having my hot tea with me when I'm in the Zoom meeting and because I talk with my hands a lot I knocked a cup and the cup went all over my laptop.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: So that was fun, it was a brand-new laptop and off it went, you know.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: But like, if I didn't have insurance, then I can't claim on it Exactly.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Or clients that, for instance, buy a house and they're like, oh, nothing will happen to us, we're fit and healthy, you know, yes, and you just never know what's around the corner 100%, and I always use that as an example, because I say to people because my dad had a stroke at the age of 45.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Wow, and he didn't have income protection insurance because he couldn't afford it.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: But what that meant was that because both my parents were very, very sick is that after he had a stroke, my mum became my dad's caregiver, my dad became my mum's caregiver.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: They ended up on invalid's benefits, and I can tell you that is very, very little to live off.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: Thankfully, he'd paid the mortgage off a year before he had the stroke, but I think people don't look down the barrel and go what if?
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: What, if something happens?
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: How am I actually going to survive?
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: And that's why I'm a big supporter of insurance, and it's amazing, though, how many businesses I work with a lot have a lot of insurance and some have no insurance and um, I mean we're not going to delve into it, but I know some of the insurance is the way we can set it up for people.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Is that there's a tax absolutely, um, deductible?
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: deductible expense.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: So, um you know, so you could have a benefit of two worlds, where exactly you can have the protection but then also be able to reduce your tax.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: And again, that's another person to bring into your camp as an insurance broker so that they can guide you through.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: Hello, because insurance is a bit of a world of its own.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: It's very confusing.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, it is, there's so much you can do with the ACC offsets and you know, when you're self-employed you can set up that thing, yes, yes.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot we can do.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: But, belinda, thank you so much for coming in, I think we've covered so much we have Efficient.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah Well, you and I both right the dream team, but before we we've, before we wrap it up, um, just want to find out a couple of things with you.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: So, favorite motto in life oh, my goodness, putting you on the spot here.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, what do you live by?
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: oh, I live by positivity.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: I I couldn't tell you who would have known, who would would have known.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: I am an eternal optimist and I mean I love life.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I love life and I'm grateful.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: I would have to say I live with gratitude.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: I am grateful every day for what I have because where I came from the life I had, I've seen it all and I've gone through some really like poverty and sickness and looking after very sick parents for 35 years between my sister and I.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: My sister and I both have a very positive mindset and just grateful every day.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: Thankful, and I always say be thankful for what you have and not for what you don't have.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I live by amazing.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Um funny enough, you should mention gratitude.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: I've created this um awesome diaries oh, my goodness, the gratitude diaries.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Would you like a?
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: white or black?
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: oh, my goodness, I'm gonna go for white, because I knew you were a white person.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: It's beautiful, stands out too.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Oh no, that's really, that is super cold.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you, um I want to say merry christmas.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: I am unstoppable.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: So that's one of my favorite phrases that I've lived by in the last few years, where there's been so much thrown into me as a self-employed person, as a business owner, etc.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: And my phrase that just kept me going was I'm unstoppable.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: You know, whatever you throw at me, yes, this does not stop.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Like, I'll just like you, you know, I'll just keep going, be positive, just do good, be grateful, be kind.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: The rest will follow, so 100% and that's what driven me to create something like that and just spread a bit of joy.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, that's so nice.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Valina.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you so.