Latest / Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design / 195 | Why Your Bookkeeper Should Be Doing More Than Reconciling Transactions (with Erika Londono Vargas)

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195 | Why Your Bookkeeper Should Be Doing More Than Reconciling Transactions (with Erika Londono Vargas) · Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design

• 0:00
  Erin Gray: Welcome back to Your Money, Your Rules podcast with me, your host, Erin Gray.
• 0:04
  Erin Gray: On today's podcast, I had such a fun conversation with Erika Londono Vargas, who is the founder of Inti Financial Advisory, where she helps business owners, especially women, gain clarity and confidence in their financials.
• 0:17
  Erin Gray: Erika has a background in economics as well as an MBA, and she brings extensive experience in financial operations, including managing global payroll across multiple countries, budgeting, financial reporting, and supporting business owners with key financial insights.
• 0:31
  Erin Gray: Through Inti Financial Advisory, Erika is on a mission to make finances feel simple, transparent, and supportive.
• 0:38
  Erin Gray: And Erika really believes that when business owners have the right financial partner, they can make more informed decisions and build sustainable, profitable businesses without feeling overwhelmed by their numbers.
• 0:48
  Erin Gray: Erika and I are very aligned on multiple things, and I loved having this conversation with her because obviously I love having conversations with people in spaces and their expertise and that they love to do what they, you know, enjoy doing what they love to do, like bookkeeping or, you know, taxes and insurance and all of that.
• 1:06
  Erin Gray: I really want clients and listeners to gain a lot of insight from our conversations as well as be working with people that support you, that are behind your mission, that want to educate you and help you grow and scale along your journey and your path as a business owner.
• 1:24
  Erin Gray: So thank you for listening.
• 1:25
  Erin Gray: Let's dive in.
• 1:26
  Erin Gray: Thanks, Erika, for joining us.
• 1:28
  Erin Gray: I'm so glad you're here.
• 1:29
  Erika Londono Vargas: Thank you very much for inviting me.
• 1:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: I mean, I am very much appreciative of spaces like this.
• 1:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have been following your podcast for a few weeks, not that long ago.
• 1:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I found that it's a very nice space for me to explore myself as a business owner and see myself on many of the topics that you touch on.
• 1:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I'm very excited.
• 1:49
  Erika Londono Vargas: I'm very thankful for being here.
• 1:51
  Erin Gray: I'm glad you're here.
• 1:52
  Erin Gray: I just spoke with someone this morning and they asked, like, what is your podcast about?
• 1:56
  Erin Gray: And I'm like, it's has changed and has so many evolutions, you know, since it started, but it was always about having a voice and saying actually what I wanted to say about money and business and emotional regulation, nervous system regulation, whatever you want to say around that, because I felt like that there was this, for lack of a better word, gap in the market where we're not talking about our actual feelings when it comes to business.
• 2:19
  Erin Gray: And from my understanding and from my feelings, I always felt like there wasn't a space for that.
• 2:24
  Erin Gray: And I definitely would I say turned the body off.
• 2:27
  Erin Gray: And I just operated in my head for 20 plus years.
• 2:30
  Erin Gray: And really bringing that back online and obviously work what I do with clients of really being in touch with our body and making more intuitive decisions than we are with our heads.
• 2:38
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I totally agree with that.
• 2:40
  Erika Londono Vargas: Even in my own personal journey as an entrepreneur or business owner, I have found that even being in my head is all about emotion.
• 2:49
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's all about self-esteem and the concepts I have about myself, success, how success looks like.
• 2:56
  Erika Londono Vargas: The other day I was working with my therapist around what are my concepts about work?
• 3:00
  Erika Londono Vargas: How does work look like?
• 3:02
  Erika Londono Vargas: And where did I learn that?
• 3:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I came to realize that to me, being productive, air quote, or being successful was being busy.
• 3:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I am definitely reshifting or redefining my concept of success and my concept of myself and saying, like, you know what, I do deserve some peace and I do deserve some freedom.
• 3:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that is only an option, I believe, when we have faith to grow, to learn, to mess up, to know that it's okay to make mistakes as well.
• 3:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I believe that's the kind of gap that we need to close because we see so many business owners being so successful and so seven figures and so much that we are so afraid of messing up and we're for afraid of making mistakes in business.
• 3:50
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I think we should bring that back to the conversation.
• 3:54
  Erika Londono Vargas: Making mistakes is okay.
• 3:55
  Erika Londono Vargas: I know I've learned that the hard way.
• 3:57
  Erin Gray: Yeah, and that's like how we learn, right?
• 3:59
  Erin Gray: Like we're not taught.
• 4:00
  Erin Gray: I have so many thoughts about school.
• 4:01
  Erin Gray: I could do like a whole podcast episode, like a series of school, but that's not how you're taught to be a business owner in school.
• 4:08
  Erin Gray: You're taught to be a good little rule follower and slave follower, you know, with school.
• 4:12
  Erin Gray: It's like follow and they don't encourage.
• 4:15
  Erin Gray: So it starts so young, right?
• 4:17
  Erin Gray: They don't encourage, listen, how you learn is actually you just go do the thing and then you get data and you realize, oh, okay, what I liked, what I didn't like, what am I gonna do differently?
• 4:27
  Erin Gray: It, you know, like being a straight A air quote straight A student is more so about like how do I get it perfect, which actually doesn't help you in entrepreneurship.
• 4:35
  Erin Gray: So I'm so excited.
• 4:36
  Erin Gray: I've got a list of questions.
• 4:37
  Erin Gray: Um, I told Erika before I, you know, hit record.
• 4:39
  Erin Gray: I'm like, nothing I do is fast.
• 4:41
  Erin Gray: I've slowed down so much.
• 4:42
  Erin Gray: So even though I'm gonna say it's rapid fire, it's not really rapid fire.
• 4:45
  Erin Gray: Um, but here is what I you've actually helped me and my husband in our tree company business.
• 4:51
  Erin Gray: And what I have recognized, like I immediately number one felt a connection with you.
• 4:56
  Erin Gray: I also knew you had knowledge that what I have recognized is not all bookkeepers or CPAs are created equally.
• 5:04
  Erin Gray: And one of the things that I recognize in you is like you actually, and I know you're like a little duh, Erin, but like there are bookkeepers that I have, you know, interviewed that don't actually either know what they are doing or they aren't as detailed as I want them to be.
• 5:20
  Erin Gray: So if you're open to it, tell me what do you think?
• 5:24
  Erin Gray: What would you say that a bookkeeper does for them as a business owner that most people maybe misunderstand or don't even know what you do?
• 5:33
  Erika Londono Vargas: Absolutely.
• 5:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: Thank you for that answer and for the opportunity to work with you and your business.
• 5:37
  Erika Londono Vargas: Uh it is always a pleasure to work with clients that are involved, actually, and the difficulties when they're not.
• 5:44
  Erika Londono Vargas: So people tend to believe that bookkeepers just record transactions and have your books ready for tax.
• 5:50
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that is maybe 10, 15% of what we do.
• 5:54
  Erika Londono Vargas: What we also make sure of is that when you step into your financial records, that you have the capacity to make decisions, giving that clarity for you to know this is my gross profit, my net profit, this is how much I've made in the year, this is how much cash I have in the bank.
• 6:10
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I have seen it so many times that you have a feeling that you know how much you made, but when you look at the numbers, it's like, no, I didn't make that much.
• 6:19
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's like maybe you did, maybe you didn't.
• 6:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: So it's all about transforming economic movements or economic transactions into data that you can use to make decisions.
• 6:30
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's how I would put it.
• 6:32
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 6:32
  Erin Gray: And do you feel like, because I have seen this in my clients, I've seen it with other people that I like, it's almost this sense of maybe it's a little bit of they don't know.
• 6:42
  Erin Gray: So they don't know the questions to ask, to make sure that who they get paired up with is actually going to take care of them and you know, go into detailed financial reporting.
• 6:51
  Erin Gray: And maybe it is also a little bit of like abdication of responsibility, like that's what my bookkeeper does, versus viewing you as the business owner and you as the bookkeeper as this uh cohesive partnership that you work together back and forth versus it's almost like a hands-off sometimes, is what it has felt like and what I've seen versus that ownership.
• 7:13
  Erin Gray: And like I said, it could be because of all the emotions that we feel around numbers.
• 7:17
  Erin Gray: It could also be because we don't even know what we don't know to ask, but it's also kind of like eh, that's kind of their arena versus like it's my arena, and I'm gonna get somebody to help me in my arena.
• 7:28
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes, absolutely.
• 7:29
  Erika Londono Vargas: I'm gonna give you an example.
• 7:30
  Erika Londono Vargas: I am a finance person, and I'm not a marketing person.
• 7:33
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I have no idea how to give SEO or like meta ads and Google Ads and what all that is.
• 7:41
  Erika Londono Vargas: And what I try to do is that I don't have to know everything, but I need to be curious enough to know the effect that would have on my business.
• 7:49
  Erika Londono Vargas: And this is a great time to be alive, to be honest with you.
• 7:53
  Erika Londono Vargas: The resources that we have in regard to artificial intelligence, for example, is something that I use a lot.
• 7:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: And even if you don't know what to ask your bookkeeper, just send a few questions to your artificial intelligence of your choice.
• 8:05
  Erika Londono Vargas: What should I ask?
• 8:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: Tell you have to say or be connected with what you want to learn about your business.
• 8:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: I always think of it as can you take your books, your profit and loss, your balance sheet, and say, This is the status of my business?
• 8:19
  Erika Londono Vargas: Can I start a new venture?
• 8:21
  Erika Londono Vargas: Can I should I even seek for funding?
• 8:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: Should I get a partner?
• 8:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: Should I get funding from a line of credit?
• 8:29
  Erika Londono Vargas: Can you actually make those decisions?
• 8:30
  Erika Londono Vargas: Are you just feeling low on cash?
• 8:32
  Erika Londono Vargas: Oh, I'm low on cash, I'm low on cash, I'm gonna get some credits.
• 8:35
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have some businesses where they get like seven lines of credit.
• 8:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: I'm not against working capital easiness or flow, but I am against the weight of the debt on your finances to be very high, no?
• 8:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: And one of the things that I tend to do is if you're seeking for a bookkeeper that is going to help you make better decisions, make you feel more empowered, make you feel more understanded, not understand it, that's in Spanish, understood, more understood and more capable.
• 9:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: All of the partners that you seek in your business leverage you, and that's the ownership part.
• 9:10
  Erika Londono Vargas: You should take on or you should hire people.
• 9:13
  Erika Londono Vargas: And on a first impression, you have to feel a connection as a human being because we tend to seek for someone who's qualified.
• 9:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: There are a lot of people who are very qualified, and that doesn't mean that it's a good fit, you know.
• 9:27
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have had clients that are very good, but they are not a good fit.
• 9:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have learned from my personal experience that it is okay to disagree, it is okay to not be okay, but it's also okay to say no.
• 9:40
  Erika Londono Vargas: This is not the kind of client I want, this isn't the kind of bookkeeper I want, this is not the kind of CPA I want, and that's perfectly fine.
• 9:47
  Erika Londono Vargas: But before you even know what you don't want, you should be very connected with what you do want.
• 9:53
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that is something that has happened in my firm many times.
• 9:56
  Erika Londono Vargas: We're not that old, but I have been in finance for many years.
• 10:00
  Erika Londono Vargas: I didn't know what at all what I wanted to do.
• 10:02
  Erika Londono Vargas: No, I started this business because I had a lot of experience and I saw a market need for it.
• 10:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: And when I started the business, I just started growing and growing and growing and growing and growing.
• 10:13
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I was like, oh my God, please stop.
• 10:15
  Erika Londono Vargas: I had to slow down.
• 10:16
  Erika Londono Vargas: And when I came to realize is that not all clients were my clients.
• 10:20
  Erika Londono Vargas: Not all the people who seeked for help were good for me or for what I wanted to achieve.
• 10:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: And it's just you touched on something very important, which is education versus entrepreneurship.
• 10:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: I was a superb employee, if I may say so myself.
• 10:35
  Erika Londono Vargas: I went up the corporate ladder in so many years, in so many positions, in so many different companies.
• 10:40
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that's because I went above expectations for what they wanted from me.
• 10:45
  Erika Londono Vargas: And when you're a business owner, that's not the right path to go.
• 10:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that's what I ended up being, and a busy employee of my own company, doing so much for my clients, underbilling, putting a lot of pressure on myself.
• 10:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that made me realize I don't really have to put all this pressure on me.
• 11:03
  Erika Londono Vargas: I don't have to, and you as a business owner, all of us, all of you guys, business owners who are listening, so you don't have all the answers.
• 11:11
  Erika Londono Vargas: But you have to be humble enough to let other people help you get those answers in the best way they can.
• 11:17
  Erika Londono Vargas: Whether that's a marketing person, whether that's a CPA, whether that's an insurance person, you have to allow yourself to get the help you need.
• 11:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah.
• 11:27
  Erin Gray: I think also the word I wrote down, which I am working through this too, and I see it in clients.
• 11:32
  Erin Gray: It's like that is that is one of the beautiful things about clients is when you see it in them, it's in you somewhere too.
• 11:37
  Erin Gray: And it's like, oh, this needs to be corrected, right?
• 11:39
  Erin Gray: It's this overgiving, right?
• 11:41
  Erin Gray: And I think as women, we have these just generous men to, right?
• 11:45
  Erin Gray: But like women, I noticed it more of like this overgiving.
• 11:49
  Erin Gray: And I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of like where it comes from and all the things, but like we have to recognize that sometimes what that actually does, even though it comes from a very generous, genuine place, it wears us out, it burns us out, it affects our bottom line.
• 12:04
  Erin Gray: It also doesn't allow our clients to rise to the level that they need to rise to.
• 12:10
  Erin Gray: So being really mindful, and I love that you said it because it's like no matter, I have women in all different industries, and it's like no matter what it is, right?
• 12:18
  Erin Gray: Like we are all over giving and you know, allowing that to recognize it and then to be like, okay, where are my boundaries?
• 12:25
  Erin Gray: What do I need to do?
• 12:26
  Erin Gray: And so speaking of boundaries or like what would you have clients look for if they are dissatisfied with their current bookkeeper?
• 12:35
  Erin Gray: What would you have them look for in a new bookkeeper to, you know, I think also it's like make the transition easy as well as like I'm with you on that.
• 12:44
  Erin Gray: Like you have to hire someone first on your intuition and what do you feel like because you're gonna be working with this person very closely.
• 12:50
  Erin Gray: So who cares if they have all the credentials and all the things and they're very knowledgeable, but the way they talk to you is poor or they don't call you back, or you know, I've heard all the things, right?
• 13:00
  Erin Gray: So, what would you suggest clients look for if they are looking for a new bookkeeper?
• 13:04
  Erin Gray: What are some of the things that you would be like?
• 13:06
  Erin Gray: These are absolutely like some of the, I don't want to say non-negotiables, but let's go there for like, yeah, these are things I would pay attention to.
• 13:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: I would have an interview checklist just to ask a few questions to get down the knowledge part because there I think accounting and bookkeeping is such a beautiful professional path that has even me, I'm not a chart certified accountant, but I have been an accountant by practice, right?
• 13:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I do have a degree in economics.
• 13:33
  Erika Londono Vargas: But there are many, many bookkeepers that may not have the knowledge or the studies for performing the task and they know the mechanics.
• 13:42
  Erika Londono Vargas: But if you don't know the logic behind it, you may get lost in the mechanics.
• 13:46
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I would recommend powering empowering yourself with a short checklist on the credentials, just to make sure that who you're interviewing is right fit skills-wise, but also be very mindful of the way that they, like you said, speak to you, how they answer questions, the way they express themselves.
• 14:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: And you and one of the things that I love most about your approach is connecting with your body and making sure that in your body you feel safe.
• 14:13
  Erika Londono Vargas: Because sometimes you can have you can be interviewing someone who's very knowledgeable, but you may feel a little adrenaline or a little fear.
• 14:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's like, wow, this person really knows their stuff.
• 14:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: But it's like, is that coming from a good place?
• 14:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: Or do you are you fearful?
• 14:28
  Erika Londono Vargas: Or are you fearful or are you scared of what they're saying?
• 14:32
  Erika Londono Vargas: In the end, all of these financial information processes come down to, like you said, emotions and the way that and the concepts that you have around them.
• 14:42
  Erika Londono Vargas: So if you're going to hire this very knowledgeable bookkeeper just because you want to check out mentally, that's that's not the right path at all.
• 14:50
  Erika Londono Vargas: You have to be willing to engage to a certain level and be available for a few questions every month.
• 14:56
  Erika Londono Vargas: If your bookkeeper doesn't ask you any questions, you should be scared.
• 15:00
  Erin Gray: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 15:02
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah, I mean, if you don't get at least one or two texts or emails from your bookkeeper a month, maybe they're slacking on your books.
• 15:09
  Erika Londono Vargas: Maybe you should be more attentive of what they're doing.
• 15:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's what I would say.
• 15:14
  Erin Gray: You know, I have had this balance, and I'm sure you can speak very um candidly with me because I have done so much detailed stuff in books and taxes.
• 15:25
  Erin Gray: I have, if you want to call it, a concrete way of thinking about how I want my books to be.
• 15:32
  Erin Gray: And I don't think it's a bad thing, but I do think sometimes I could ease up on the I think of a very detailed-oriented person.
• 15:40
  Erin Gray: And I think I don't know if you have clients like that where it's like, what do you suggest of like, okay, what is really important and what is like, okay, we can let this not be, you know, like I think about like how I want a chart of account set up and how I want to be able to look at stuff.
• 15:54
  Erin Gray: And I think that comes from my construction background because we did so much job costing and I wanted to see each job.
• 16:00
  Erin Gray: And so there's that, but I think you kind of have to play with, okay, what is your industry and how detailed do you want the data so that you can, you know, look at things and make decisions and also not be so set in your ways?
• 16:13
  Erin Gray: Because I think sometimes that is a bottleneck for me.
• 16:16
  Erin Gray: And I'm curious if you see that in your clients as well, some of them.
• 16:19
  Erika Londono Vargas: I wish I saw more clients that were as engaged, actually.
• 16:23
  Erika Londono Vargas: And in so many meetings that I have, for example, boarding meetings or client assessment meetings.
• 16:30
  Erika Londono Vargas: I asked them, do you see profitability by service or product?
• 16:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: Do you see, do you know exactly how much is your cost of what's all?
• 16:38
  Erika Londono Vargas: Do you have loans?
• 16:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes.
• 16:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: Have you used the statements of them?
• 16:41
  Erika Londono Vargas: No.
• 16:42
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's like people should be more involved in their actual books, but it's so difficult to know what you don't know.
• 16:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: Back to my example on marketing.
• 16:50
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have absolutely no idea what the reputation of a website is, right?
• 16:55
  Erika Londono Vargas: But I am willing to learn, and in so many ways, I have had to learn from making really, really bad mistakes.
• 17:03
  Erika Londono Vargas: I just know that I have another client who's very much like you in the sense that he's very particular, meticulous, organized, and he gives me very long descriptions of the expenses that he has, and he does his own mileage and he does his own travel expenses, and it's so detailed and it's like music to my ears.
• 17:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: I wish everybody was like this.
• 17:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I don't think that's set on your ways.
• 17:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: If you have a bookkeeper that tells you that that's not right, there's offensiveness there because I am very much knowledgeable and I do know what I'm doing.
• 17:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: And when I have a client that also knows it, it's beautiful and it's really good because they actually know what they want.
• 17:41
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's a very difficult scenario when you have a client that never responds, never sends the statements, and asks you the day in April 14th, like, are my books ready for taxes?
• 17:52
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah, I don't think it's bad to be set on your ways, air quote, on what you do want and what you do know.
• 17:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: I think it's beautiful that you are capable of delivering up service or product to your clients and be as involved in the making of your business.
• 18:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that only comes from experience.
• 18:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: I think that maybe I don't know if experience may come from years of experience or like being older or just being more having business acumen that sometimes people get from families, like when entrepreneurship has been on the family for years.
• 18:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: So that knowledge can be passed along to newer generations.
• 18:25
  Erika Londono Vargas: But it's definitely something that comes as in my case, as you grow older, you are more open to other people's opinions and other people's perspectives and understand that that has nothing to do with the way you do things, and it's not at all personal in my experience.
• 18:43
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah.
• 18:44
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 18:44
  Erin Gray: What you said is something that I always say with my clients is you have to be willing, right?
• 18:48
  Erin Gray: Like I may not know some things, but I am willing to learn.
• 18:52
  Erin Gray: I'm willing to take the time.
• 18:54
  Erin Gray: And I think here you go back to what you originally said about like your therapist and like we're deserving.
• 18:58
  Erin Gray: It's like there are people, there are business owners who are kind of in that still that hustle mentality and really like you have to be willing to slow down long enough to like build some good foundation so that you can, you know, grow and skill.
• 19:13
  Erin Gray: And that feels uncomfortable in the body.
• 19:15
  Erin Gray: Slowing down feels uncomfortable.
• 19:17
  Erin Gray: It feels unsafe in the body because I think a lot of us have grown up in families where we had to earn love, we had to earn money early on.
• 19:27
  Erin Gray: Like there were things that we had to do to prove.
• 19:29
  Erin Gray: And so that is a nervous system and that is a habit that we have done for many years and we are having to retrain.
• 19:37
  Erin Gray: And in the doing so, what I always tell clients, like when we go, we can make decisions from expansion and we're still going to feel all of those feelings in our body.
• 19:46
  Erin Gray: Like it's not going to be rainbows and daisies.
• 19:48
  Erin Gray: Like, yes, we're going to have the goods and the ups and the whatever, right?
• 19:51
  Erin Gray: And not being attached to either.
• 19:52
  Erin Gray: But like we part of growth is feeling that discomfort in our body and not attaching to it and also knowing like it is part of the process.
• 20:01
  Erin Gray: Like it is your, what do you get on your Disney ride?
• 20:04
  Erin Gray: Like it's your pay to play, it's your, it's your ride, your ticket on your ride, you know?
• 20:08
  Erin Gray: So tell me a little bit about what red flag.
• 20:11
  Erin Gray: That seems really harsh, but like what are some of the things that you notice with clients?
• 20:15
  Erin Gray: Or do you notice themes that you see when you get booked from clients?
• 20:20
  Erin Gray: What are some of those things?
• 20:21
  Erin Gray: Because a couple of things here.
• 20:23
  Erin Gray: One, I I want everyone listening to understand this happens, not just to you.
• 20:28
  Erin Gray: Like I have seen this so many times with clients.
• 20:31
  Erin Gray: So it's not a problem.
• 20:32
  Erin Gray: Here you go back to willingness, and you're not alone.
• 20:35
  Erin Gray: You're not the only one.
• 20:36
  Erin Gray: Yes, we worked with someone.
• 20:38
  Erin Gray: We thought they were taking care of what they were supposed to be taking care of.
• 20:40
  Erin Gray: They're not.
• 20:41
  Erin Gray: Now we're moving our books.
• 20:43
  Erin Gray: So, what are some of the things that you see to illuminate for some of the listeners?
• 20:47
  Erin Gray: Of like, okay, these are the things that I would go into QuickBooks after we get off of this, you know, podcast, and I would take a look and see like, is this stuff getting done?
• 20:54
  Erika Londono Vargas: Well, the first thing I would do is go to the reconciliations module and take a look if the reconciliations have been done.
• 21:01
  Erika Londono Vargas: But that is only one piece of the puzzle.
• 21:03
  Erika Londono Vargas: The next thing I would do is run a balance sheet for the last period for which your reconciliation was done and take your statement, your bank statement.
• 21:11
  Erika Londono Vargas: And you take a look at the balance on your bank statement and compare that to the balance of your bank account in your balance sheet.
• 21:17
  Erika Londono Vargas: You have absolutely no idea how many times I have seen that wrong, but incredibly wrong.
• 21:23
  Erika Londono Vargas: And it's because the bookkeeper knows how to do a reconciliation, but they leave lingering transactions that they don't reconcile because they don't match.
• 21:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: For example, we have a bill payment and an expense.
• 21:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: I don't want to go too technical here because I could go for hours, but you can have duplicate transactions.
• 21:40
  Erika Londono Vargas: And instead of asking the questions, you're just, oh, I need to get this reconciliation done, boom, that reconciliation done, boom, the next one, the next one, the next client, the next client, the next bank.
• 21:50
  Erika Londono Vargas: And you'd never get on a resolution mindset.
• 21:53
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that's when you have to, as a bookkeeper, you have to be very mindful of what you're doing.
• 21:57
  Erika Londono Vargas: If I am reconciling this account and I have transactions that And match my reconciliation.
• 22:01
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have to go and into the statement.
• 22:03
  Erika Londono Vargas: Is this here?
• 22:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: Is this check cashed in this period?
• 22:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: No.
• 22:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: Okay.
• 22:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: I move it to the next period.
• 22:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: I ask the client.
• 22:09
  Erika Londono Vargas: I see what's going on.
• 22:10
  Erika Londono Vargas: I try to find the information and then try to clean it up as much as possible and always make that verification.
• 22:17
  Erika Londono Vargas: I think that's the number one quality assurance part that I do in my firm.
• 22:21
  Erika Londono Vargas: And then the second thing I see that are red flags is, for example, when undeposited funds is not zero.
• 22:28
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes.
• 22:29
  Erika Londono Vargas: Or payments to deposits, however you want to call it.
• 22:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yep.
• 22:32
  Erika Londono Vargas: Undeposited funds, for all of you who may not understand what it is, it's just a bridge account that systems like Tribe or maybe merchant accounts like in Amazon or Shopify, they put balances there until you get the deposit from your client in the bank.
• 22:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: So you get it there for a couple of days, max, and then boom, it gets deposited into your bank account.
• 22:54
  Erika Londono Vargas: When you run a balance sheet, for example, and you see that that balance is just going up and up and up and up and up, there's something wrong there.
• 23:02
  Erika Londono Vargas: And you need to take a further look into it.
• 23:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: Because you're overstating your assets.
• 23:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's the issue.
• 23:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: You're overstating your assets and you're overstating your sales.
• 23:11
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that comes down to tax liabilities.
• 23:14
  Erika Londono Vargas: You're going to have to pay more on taxes.
• 23:16
  Erika Londono Vargas: The other thing that I verify is that loans have been amortized correctly.
• 23:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: We have split principal and interest for car loans, for working capital, for lines of credit.
• 23:28
  Erika Londono Vargas: And this is very, very, very important.
• 23:30
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I see it a lot when business owners do it themselves, do the books themselves, which I think is great.
• 23:36
  Erika Londono Vargas: You know a little bookkeeping, or you know a lot about bookkeeping and accounting, and you just get into it and you spend a couple hours a month, and that's done.
• 23:44
  Erika Londono Vargas: But every task that we do in our business has to be mindful of what we're doing.
• 23:49
  Erika Londono Vargas: And if we don't have the acumen in accounting for the nitty-gritty parts of it, it's better to have someone partner with you and help you because you don't have to do everything.
• 24:00
  Erika Londono Vargas: You can do so many things and you're great at what you do.
• 24:03
  Erika Londono Vargas: Or if you're not, let's talk about it and let's make you great at what you do.
• 24:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: But you are here running this business for the bigger picture, not for how you categorize McDonald's or KFC or other AI or something like that.
• 24:17
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah.
• 24:18
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I believe you have to trust your information.
• 24:20
  Erika Londono Vargas: Sorry, go ahead.
• 24:20
  Erika Londono Vargas: Go ahead.
• 24:21
  Erika Londono Vargas: No, no, no.
• 24:21
  Erika Londono Vargas: Go ahead.
• 24:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: Sorry.
• 24:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: I you have to trust your information and you have to make sure that it is done correctly.
• 24:27
  Erika Londono Vargas: And if not, then seek for someone who will get you there so that you can be more empowered.
• 24:32
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 24:33
  Erin Gray: I think this goes back to you use the word humble, like humility, humble, recognizing where your, for lack of a better word, limits are of like, I'm really good with bookkeeping.
• 24:43
  Erin Gray: And also, like I've said with you, like, okay, let's meet every, you know, month and make sure everything is there.
• 24:49
  Erin Gray: Because some of this is me teaching my husband some of that stuff, but it's that recognition of like, yes, I can do it by myself.
• 24:56
  Erin Gray: And also I value experience and expertise and someone doing it hours and hours and hours a week that you can just kind of check, right?
• 25:05
  Erin Gray: You're able to check.
• 25:06
  Erin Gray: I highly recommend people actually have a bookkeeper if you're in the seven figure range for sure.
• 25:10
  Erin Gray: Because I mean, I just think about depending on what kind of business you have, you may have hundreds of transactions a month.
• 25:15
  Erin Gray: I'm so curious when you said that the bookkeepers may not be reconciling, how are they able to reconcile?
• 25:22
  Erin Gray: Because if you're off, how are they forcing the reconcile?
• 25:25
  Erin Gray: I mean, I know you have that, I know uh this is Erin getting a little deep, but I mean, basically they're pushing a button that says to reconcile, force the reconciliation, and then that puts it into another account, is what you're saying.
• 25:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: Almost.
• 25:35
  Erika Londono Vargas: You may have a hundred transactions in your statement.
• 25:38
  Erika Londono Vargas: You have 70.
• 25:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: So the 30 that are not in the statement, they leave lingering.
• 25:43
  Erika Londono Vargas: They just don't check it on the reconciliation.
• 25:45
  Erika Londono Vargas: And then when they zero, they hit finish.
• 25:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: And when you go to the register, you're gonna see the transactions there, registered, but not reconciled.
• 25:54
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's what they do.
• 25:55
  Erika Londono Vargas: They don't move it sometimes.
• 25:56
  Erika Londono Vargas: They move it to another account, they move the date to another date.
• 25:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's also something I've seen.
• 26:01
  Erika Londono Vargas: But the other thing is that they just leave them lingering, just there, and they just don't take further look into what are they, why are they duplicated?
• 26:09
  Erika Londono Vargas: Do they belong to another account?
• 26:11
  Erika Londono Vargas: Are they transfers?
• 26:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: How do I move this in and make it copacetic?
• 26:15
  Erika Londono Vargas: I think it's a word you use a lot, and and I like it very much.
• 26:17
  Erika Londono Vargas: I didn't know what it meant before.
• 26:19
  Erika Londono Vargas: But to make it copacetic and to make it balanced and accurate.
• 26:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I think that's what I've seen that happens with reconciliation sometimes.
• 26:26
  Erin Gray: The word that comes to mind, and I'm typically not this way, but like that just feels lazy to me.
• 26:31
  Erin Gray: It's not asking the questions that need to be asked.
• 26:34
  Erin Gray: And I think, you know, as here you go back to hiring a bookkeeper, asking some of those questions and paying for, like, because I don't expect the bookkeeper to do my books and then to just ask me all my questions for free, right?
• 26:46
  Erin Gray: Like that needs to be part of the process, part of the value and the investment that I pay.
• 26:51
  Erin Gray: And also it's the bookkeeper's responsibility as well of like, hey, I'm in your books.
• 26:56
  Erin Gray: I don't see this, or this isn't matching up.
• 26:59
  Erin Gray: Where is this going?
• 27:00
  Erin Gray: Because I have seen like what you're talking about, bookkeepers just like, oh, and it's almost kind of like, let me just get it done, let me just check the box, right?
• 27:08
  Erin Gray: Versus, no, this takes care and consideration and this needs to be corrected.
• 27:13
  Erin Gray: How often do you talk to other CPAs for the clients as well?
• 27:18
  Erin Gray: Like, have you also seen a thread of like, I've had several clients where I'm like, okay, so tell me what your CPA asked you about, you know, or asked your bookkeeper.
• 27:27
  Erin Gray: And she's like, oh, they don't talk at all.
• 27:29
  Erin Gray: And I'm just like, sorry, go ahead, go ahead.
• 27:33
  Erin Gray: I'm just wide-eyed because how I mean, I've always believed and tell me if I'm off, but like data in, if data is great in, it's great out.
• 27:42
  Erin Gray: If data is garbage in, you're gonna get crappy garbage out, which then when you give it to your CPA, they're not getting good data either.
• 27:50
  Erin Gray: So, what are your thoughts or your comments to recommend to make sure that your bookkeeper is talking to your CPA?
• 27:58
  Erika Londono Vargas: I don't necessarily agree with the argument of them speaking with each other, but I do believe in accountability for each role.
• 28:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: Okay.
• 28:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: So, for example, I've worked with a company, this was a few years ago, and the CPA never questioned any of my transactions.
• 28:16
  Erika Londono Vargas: I just did my thing and they filed the taxes, and that was it.
• 28:19
  Erika Londono Vargas: Then they hired another CPA.
• 28:21
  Erika Londono Vargas: And this gentleman called me and he asked me, What is this account?
• 28:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: What is this account?
• 28:25
  Erika Londono Vargas: What are you putting there?
• 28:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: What are you putting here?
• 28:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: And we had like two-hour conversation, and I had at least two pages of things that I needed to fix.
• 28:33
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that took a lot of work, but it was great.
• 28:36
  Erika Londono Vargas: It made me a better professional, it made me better at doing job, I was doing job costing for the client.
• 28:41
  Erika Londono Vargas: It made me better at doing job costing at quality assurance at making sure that things happen.
• 28:45
  Erika Londono Vargas: And the sad part of it is that CPAs are not asking questions, they are receiving the statements and they're filing the taxes, no questions asked.
• 28:55
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I see that an insane amount of times.
• 28:58
  Erika Londono Vargas: I have this client that I'm supporting.
• 28:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: They have multi-entity, multi-location.
• 29:02
  Erika Londono Vargas: They have one in Puerto Rico and one in the US.
• 29:05
  Erika Londono Vargas: And it's like, have you asked this to your CPA?
• 29:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: And it's like, no.
• 29:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: Has your CPA asked you about this part?
• 29:11
  Erika Londono Vargas: No.
• 29:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: What?
• 29:13
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's really, really surprising how unfortunately some CPAs are just also checking a box, also just getting it done.
• 29:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: And like you said, it's just a matter of accountability rather than the conversation among them.
• 29:29
  Erika Londono Vargas: I think they should definitely have a station when things are not doing good or when things are not categorized correctly.
• 29:35
  Erika Londono Vargas: But if everyone knows what they need to be doing, if a CPA has a checklist of what they need to verify when they run the taxes, for example, that the W-2s, the amounts that you have filed for the payroll wages, like that's basic stuff.
• 29:49
  Erika Londono Vargas: So if everyone knows what they have to do and the expectations are set for what each person needs to do in the machine of your of the amazing business that you're running, then everything would go smooth smoothly.
• 30:01
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah.
• 30:01
  Erin Gray: I think that's one of the things I also encourage with clients is having, and I do see this with some tax people, is they are doing more tax planning than tax preparing.
• 30:11
  Erin Gray: You know, like I think all of us in society are like, okay, we're done with the hustle, we're done with the volume.
• 30:17
  Erin Gray: We want, you know, to go slower, help people at a deeper level.
• 30:22
  Erin Gray: And I think for if you have a CPA that is not doing quarterly reviews with you is not like that, might be something that you also want to look into because, like you said, April 14th or January is not the time to start start thinking about taxes.
• 30:37
  Erin Gray: Um and doing more of planning and holistic looking at everything versus, you know, like you're saying, just taking the numbers, going with it, checking the box, moving on to the next client.
• 30:47
  Erika Londono Vargas: Absolutely.
• 30:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: Let me give you an example of this.
• 30:50
  Erika Londono Vargas: For many businesses in many various industries, they have key performance indicators that are great for that type of industry.
• 30:58
  Erika Londono Vargas: And you may have seen those, I don't know, articles online saying, oh, KPI is also great.
• 31:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: Okay, you should implement KPS.
• 31:05
  Erika Londono Vargas: You have absolutely no idea what a KPI really is.
• 31:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that's the thing about what I was saying earlier about you may be spending a lot on meals out, for example, on outings with your clients or not even with your clients, which is bad.
• 31:18
  Erika Londono Vargas: You're putting it on the credit card of the company, but you may be spending too much and you're thinking, oh, I'm low on cash.
• 31:25
  Erika Londono Vargas: I need to get a line of credit.
• 31:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: Are you really low on cash or are you actually spending too much?
• 31:30
  Erika Londono Vargas: And we have key performance indicators that allow us to see, okay, what is my overhead ratio?
• 31:36
  Erika Londono Vargas: How much am I spending on my fixed cost against the revenue I'm generating every month?
• 31:41
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's the clarity that the books give you.
• 31:43
  Erika Londono Vargas: If your books are not done correctly, then you have absolutely no idea how much are you spending on payroll taxes, which in many of the companies I work for, it is almost half or over half the percentage of what they're spending in total for expenses, right?
• 31:57
  Erika Londono Vargas: So if you have the right data, you can say, okay, maybe I have to dive deeper into the role definition.
• 32:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: Do I have too many people?
• 32:05
  Erika Londono Vargas: Do I have too little people?
• 32:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: When can I actually hire someone new?
• 32:09
  Erika Londono Vargas: What level of revenue?
• 32:10
  Erika Londono Vargas: Not just in your head, oh, I need help.
• 32:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: Can you afford the help?
• 32:14
  Erika Londono Vargas: Or are you just going to get a line of credit, for example, just to get more money to not think of things, you know, to just slack off on making decisions?
• 32:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: And in many occasions, we use money to not make decisions, to not dive deeper, to not think about what we need to do.
• 32:31
  Erika Londono Vargas: So if we have clear understanding of our expenses, for example, can we cut off some lines and free up cash?
• 32:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: Can we understand better how we're spending on the payroll?
• 32:42
  Erika Londono Vargas: Are we doing a good job tracking all the payroll abilities and all the things that we need to pay?
• 32:47
  Erika Londono Vargas: So that's when the CPA slash bookkeeper slash fractional CFO, however you want to call it, is your partner, is your hand-on-hand person for with whom you can make these decisions.
• 33:00
  Erin Gray: Yeah, totally.
• 33:00
  Erin Gray: I think it's easy to, like you said, it's easy to not look at things because here you go back to it creates feelings.
• 33:09
  Erin Gray: The money never creates the feeling in your body, but you already have those feelings there.
• 33:13
  Erin Gray: And looking at the money amplifies those feelings, brings those feelings up.
• 33:17
  Erin Gray: And those are feelings we're either not used to feeling, not practiced in feeling, we don't want to feel it, feels a little, we're not used to it.
• 33:25
  Erin Gray: And so we choose a lesser path of res uh like the path of least resistance so that we don't actually have to make some of those, you know, you said about hiring, and I just did an episode on hiring, because first and foremost, you got to start with yourself, right?
• 33:39
  Erin Gray: Like where are you at?
• 33:41
  Erin Gray: Like, is everything clear with you?
• 33:42
  Erin Gray: If you're just thinking I want to hire someone just to hire because I feel so overwhelmed and this person needs to be in da-da-da-da-da.
• 33:48
  Erin Gray: It's like, okay, first you got to clean up all your stuff first.
• 33:51
  Erin Gray: And then here you go back to, okay, and then do you have the correct systems in place?
• 33:55
  Erin Gray: Because somebody's got to train that person.
• 33:57
  Erin Gray: Somebody's gonna, and then all of the money mindset and then the increased payroll.
• 34:01
  Erin Gray: And so it's like, it's not just uh, this goes back to instead of being reactionary, be more responsive, going back to nervous system regulation, sitting down, looking at your numbers, being with your numbers and having people in your corner to help you gain more clarity so that you can make more grounded decisions.
• 34:18
  Erin Gray: When I say intuitive decision making, I don't mean emotional decision making.
• 34:24
  Erin Gray: I mean tapping into your body and being a yes or a no.
• 34:28
  Erin Gray: And from my point of view, intuition is just very calm.
• 34:31
  Erin Gray: It's not this high presence, it's not this low, it's just like do this, don't do that, go here, you know.
• 34:38
  Erin Gray: Like, and I think we sometimes in the business world look at intuition and think it's this fluffy emotional thing, when in actuality it's very calm, it's very grounded.
• 34:49
  Erin Gray: There's not typically explanations for it, but it is a very grounded thing versus an emotional high or emotional low.
• 34:56
  Erin Gray: And I think that's where a lot of us tend to make our decisions versus giving ourselves time, riding our wave, allowing ourselves to be in something and then making that decision.
• 35:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I think 100% agree with that.
• 35:09
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I believe I've heard this somewhere.
• 35:12
  Erika Londono Vargas: I believe it's in the Bible.
• 35:13
  Erika Londono Vargas: I'm not very sure.
• 35:14
  Erika Londono Vargas: But God whispers, God does not yell, and you have to create the space to have those moments of silence when you can hear yourself because you in yourself have an immense amount of wisdom that you can connect to, and it's not emotional at all.
• 35:32
  Erika Londono Vargas: Just because you have the feeling you have to hire somebody doesn't mean that you actually have to if you don't have the structure for it.
• 35:39
  Erika Londono Vargas: Like you've said, there are so many things that you can, yes, make the decision with your intuition, but with information as well.
• 35:47
  Erika Londono Vargas: Something that feels more calm, more natural, more intuitive, more in tune with your mission, in tune with your vision of what you might want to make of your business.
• 35:58
  Erika Londono Vargas: And another thing that I see a lot, an incredible amount of times, is that people tend to take a look at their finances or their books when it's already too late.
• 36:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: Or when they actually are in a crisis, there is a bankruptcy coming up, perhaps, and that's when they put on their big girl, big boy pants and then start looking into it.
• 36:18
  Erika Londono Vargas: There was this firm I worked at, and they, the CFO, he was very, very knowledgeable.
• 36:24
  Erika Londono Vargas: He predicted we were going to run out of cash six months before or 10 months before we did.
• 36:29
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that was amazing because 10 months before we were able to plan our cash for the next year or so and be aware of what was coming our way, and then prevent that from turning a $10 million company into a bankruptcy, right?
• 36:44
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I think that when you have the space to make these decisions, you can create also the space to be secure to maybe bad moments in the market or a lower demand uh period in your company.
• 36:58
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that's one of the things I always encourage my clients.
• 37:01
  Erika Londono Vargas: We have to create an OPEX coverage, operations and expenses coverage um buffer.
• 37:07
  Erika Londono Vargas: We have to create our tax buffer.
• 37:09
  Erika Londono Vargas: So I think it's lovely to pay tax.
• 37:11
  Erika Londono Vargas: I actually adore paying taxes because the more taxes you pay means the more money you're generating.
• 37:16
  Erika Londono Vargas: I read this in a book, and this author was very, very much knowledgeable.
• 37:20
  Erika Londono Vargas: We have to stop being averse to paying taxes.
• 37:23
  Erika Londono Vargas: No, I love paying my taxes.
• 37:25
  Erika Londono Vargas: I love paying my bills because that means the money is circulating.
• 37:28
  Erika Londono Vargas: And if I'm paying the IRS this amount of money, it's because I've generated X amount of money, and that's wonderful.
• 37:34
  Erika Londono Vargas: And we have to associate that with positivity, with positive concepts before because it means that we are sharing that prosperity.
• 37:42
  Erika Londono Vargas: However, that is handled, that is up to other realms of understanding, which is politics and involvement as a citizen, et cetera.
• 37:51
  Erika Londono Vargas: But at least the norms that we have in societies that if we make X amount, we pay Y amount.
• 37:56
  Erika Londono Vargas: And that's wonderful to do.
• 37:57
  Erika Londono Vargas: The more you taxes you pay means the more money you're generating.
• 38:00
  Erin Gray: I love that you brought that up because I've actually had that conversation with a couple of clients and it's actually blocked them from generating more revenue because it's this like I asked one client, like, what do you feel about taxes?
• 38:09
  Erin Gray: And she's like, uh.
• 38:10
  Erin Gray: And I was like, okay, that just tells me we laugh a lot on my calls, but like that just tells me everything, right?
• 38:15
  Erin Gray: Like tells me where you aren't really going to grow.
• 38:18
  Erin Gray: Because if you have that visceral emotional response to paying taxes, your body is going to be like, nope, we're good.
• 38:25
  Erin Gray: We're not going to, you know, grow.
• 38:27
  Erin Gray: And so here you go back to like everything is energy, everything is emotion.
• 38:31
  Erin Gray: You've got to take it back to, okay, how do I actually think about, regardless if we can, you know, put the what you believe about politics and how the IRS doesn't take care of what they need to do.
• 38:41
  Erin Gray: Like that is like another story.
• 38:44
  Erin Gray: It's another story, but it's also like it's not helpful in like what you said, like believing and being like, I love to pay taxes because it means I've made X amount of money.
• 38:52
  Erin Gray: That is a very empowering thing versus, oh, I don't want to pay my taxes because I don't want them because they heck they can't even figure out, you know, their finances, which is all factual and true.
• 39:03
  Erin Gray: And also it's here you go back to, yeah, but how do you want to feel about paying taxes, regardless of whatever the government does or does not do with the money, coming back to you and taking care of your finances, your business and and things of that sort, you know?
• 39:16
  Erin Gray: And like you say, circulating the money, you know, like you pay taxes on your employees and, you know, the work comp and the general liability and like all of these people get to receive prosperity through paying all of this money that circulates.
• 39:29
  Erin Gray: And so really having a very different relationship with money and the way that we think about what we pay versus most people look at paying bills or paying taxes or, you know, payroll taxes and all that kind of stuff as like, ugh, versus no, this is I get to do this.
• 39:43
  Erin Gray: Like this is a privilege of a business owner that we get to do.
• 39:47
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes, absolutely.
• 39:48
  Erika Londono Vargas: I used to, I don't know if this is lame, but I used to dream of driving, you know, when I was younger.
• 39:53
  Erika Londono Vargas: I thought it was so lovely to drive.
• 39:55
  Erika Londono Vargas: And then when I started working, I was like, it's so lovely to see my big girl paycheck, what it says, oh, all these things, something, oh, so interesting.
• 40:03
  Erika Londono Vargas: And I always saw it as something that allowed me to step up to another level, right?
• 40:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: And like you said, it's such a privilege to get to know what all of the things that you have to pay.
• 40:13
  Erika Londono Vargas: Okay, yes, it's a lot of taxes.
• 40:14
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes, it's a lot of things that we need to pay, but that's wonderful.
• 40:18
  Erika Londono Vargas: That's wonderful.
• 40:18
  Erika Londono Vargas: We I get to share this prosperity with so many entities, with so many different parts.
• 40:23
  Erika Londono Vargas: I think that's something we see a lot in economics.
• 40:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's I laugh because it's so repeated in our classes, it's the invisible hand in the market, the way that money moves in the market and and in our society.
• 40:36
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's so wonderful to see instead of hoarding the money and it's like this is my money, like golem from the Lord of the Rings.
• 40:43
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's you have to let it flow.
• 40:45
  Erika Londono Vargas: It's so true.
• 40:47
  Erin Gray: Anything else that you want to share that maybe I haven't asked you that you want to share with the listeners?
• 40:51
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes.
• 40:52
  Erika Londono Vargas: I want to say, please, business owner listening to us, do not mix your personal expenses with the company expenses.
• 40:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: Thank you.
• 41:02
  Erin Gray: I have had you see that a lot.
• 41:04
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yes, I still see that a lot.
• 41:06
  Erika Londono Vargas: Yeah, unfortunately, owners mix their credit cards and they use the company card as their own personal credit card.
• 41:14
  Erika Londono Vargas: And just because you have an LLC or a subproprietor does not mean that you get to spend everything from yourself on yourself from the from the business.
• 41:22
  Erika Londono Vargas: You have to be very mindful of the ways that you're spending.
• 41:26
  Erika Londono Vargas: And um, I have seen cleanups of years and years and years of transactions where there was another thing is don't let this accumulate for so many years.
• 41:37
  Erika Londono Vargas: Because I have had to prepare uh information for 2022 taxes last year, you know, in 2025, 2021, 2022, 2023.
• 41:46
  Erika Londono Vargas: So it's a lot of information.
• 41:47
  Erika Londono Vargas: And when you're having to go two years back into your statements and try to figure out what this check was for, that's just gonna take a lot more space for you from generating revenue and generating wealth.
• 41:59
  Erika Londono Vargas: So those are the two things I would say.
• 42:01
  Erika Londono Vargas: Don't mix up personal and business expenses and do not allow this to take so long to get done.
• 42:08
  Erika Londono Vargas: Even if it's daunting, even if it's scary, even if you don't really know the answers, you have to trust the higher energy that will allow you to find the people that will help you.
• 42:18
  Erin Gray: Yes.
• 42:18
  Erin Gray: And they won't be the first person that I have seen that has not filed their taxes, you know, for a year or two.
• 42:24
  Erin Gray: And if you bring everything back to energy, how are you not in that cleanest, highest energy when you still have that in the little back of your head, right?
• 42:33
  Erin Gray: Like I need to file that.
• 42:34
  Erin Gray: Or, you know, if you want to be able to get a line of credit, not that you're going to use it, but you just want to have it, it's open, like that, just stuff like that.
• 42:43
  Erin Gray: That when you were talking about crisis, we don't want to get to that place.
• 42:46
  Erin Gray: And it's like, and when you want to be able to do some of the things that work that your personal taxes might require you to do, the time to do that isn't when you're asking for the line of credit or, you know, the bonding, depending on if you're a construction company, you know, with bonding and things of that sort.
• 43:03
  Erin Gray: And it's just here you go back to, I think at the basis, it's like be the client that you want your business, right?
• 43:10
  Erin Gray: Like how you want to receive clients for you and your business, be that client to your bookkeeper, to your tax preparer, to, you know, all of your advisors that you work with, because it goes, I mean, we attract what we are, you know.
• 43:24
  Erin Gray: So if we're if we are delaying, if we are slow to pay, we're probably gonna have clients that are slow to pay.
• 43:30
  Erin Gray: If we, you know, aren't if we aren't getting what we need to get done, depending on what kind of business you're in.
• 43:35
  Erin Gray: If you're in a consulting business and you have people not giving you the information, it's probably gonna show up there too, right?
• 43:40
  Erin Gray: So everything is a mirror.
• 43:41
  Erin Gray: So just I I love what you said about the personal and the business and also the like it's the emotionally responsible adult thing to do, right?
• 43:50
  Erin Gray: And here you go back to it, may not feel good in the body.
• 43:53
  Erin Gray: There are people that can help you, and also like it just feels good to to be on the up and up.
• 43:58
  Erin Gray: Yes, absolutely.
• 43:59
  Erin Gray: I agree with you.
• 43:59
  Erin Gray: You okay.
• 44:00
  Erin Gray: Thank you for joining us.
• 44:02
  Erin Gray: It's been such a pleasure.
• 44:03
  Erin Gray: Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.
• 44:05
  Erin Gray: And I'll see everyone in the next episode.
• 44:07
  Erin Gray: Thank you.