Latest / Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design / Ep. 76 Financial Tips from a CPA: Smart Money Moves for Success (with special guest Chidi Egbujie)

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Ep. 76 Financial Tips from a CPA: Smart Money Moves for Success (with special guest Chidi Egbujie) · Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design

• 0:00
  Erin Gray: You're listening to generate a life Well-lived podcast.
• 0:02
  Erin Gray: I'm your friend and confidant, erin gray.
• 0:04
  Erin Gray: On this podcast, we will explore all things money, business and self-development, including human design.
• 0:10
  Erin Gray: I hope you enjoy the journey where I share everything that I know and am continuing to learn a long way as I honor my heart's desires while inspiring and encouraging you to do the same.
• 0:20
  Erin Gray: How are you?
• 0:21
  Erin Gray: Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you for listening every week?
• 0:27
  Erin Gray: If you're new here, I want to say welcome.
• 0:30
  Erin Gray: I truly appreciate each of you that listen throughout all over the world, so many countries, so many cities.
• 0:38
  Erin Gray: I truly appreciate you taking the time.
• 0:41
  Erin Gray: I know that you can listen to lots of podcasts and I just want to say thank you for tuning in and listening and sharing my podcast.
• 0:53
  Erin Gray: On today's podcast, I invited Chidi Egbouje, who is a UK-based accountant and business advisor.
• 0:58
  Erin Gray: He's the owner of Virtual Focus Accountants and he helps his clients improve taxes and financial situation to help their businesses grow.
• 1:06
  Erin Gray: He shares a wealth of knowledge.
• 1:09
  Erin Gray: I love to have conversations where we really get into the nitty gritty and what someone sees like a CPA or financial advisor or a state attorney, what they see on the what I call it their side of the laptop and he really dives in and we dive into.
• 1:25
  Erin Gray: You know, when you're starting a business, things to start to think about, the clarity that we really need to have as business owners, valuing time and space to ponder and to envision for our business, not just a year, three years from now, but 10, 15, 20 years from now, as well as cashflow and the scarcity versus abundant mentality.
• 1:48
  Erin Gray: One of the things that we didn't talk about on the podcast that we actually were talking about after I hit stop, which I should have kept recording but the idea of how much of us we may not even recognize it are in a scarcity place of minimize taxes, minimize taxes, minimize taxes versus how do we create more money.
• 2:08
  Erin Gray: And so, if this is, you just recognize, this is a lot of business owners, and I think we've been so conditioned by the financial world of minimizing our taxes versus how do we create more money.
• 2:22
  Erin Gray: And that is one of the things that Chidi really stands for is yes, okay, we're going to implement tax strategies, but that's not the thing we're going to focus on.
• 2:32
  Erin Gray: We're going to focus on growing your business and making more money and how do we do that more effectively.
• 2:37
  Erin Gray: So I hope you enjoy this episode.
• 2:39
  Erin Gray: Before we dive into the conversation, I wanted to let you know if you are wanting to understand more about your own unique human design and use it to make empowered financial decisions, you can enroll in my free four-part video workshop series.
• 2:52
  Erin Gray: This series will help you connect deeply with your intuition, gain more clarity and create a money mindset that truly supports your life.
• 3:00
  Erin Gray: To enroll, you can head over to my website under work with me, and I'll also include the link in the show notes.
• 3:05
  Erin Gray: Now let's dive into this week's episode.
• 3:08
  Erin Gray: Thanks, chidi, for coming in and having a conversation with us about taxes, which, I don't know, sometimes people don't think so highly of it, but I think it's a necessary thing for us to discuss.
• 3:19
  Erin Gray: So thanks for coming on and sharing your time with us.
• 3:22
  Chidi Egbujie: No, thank you for having me yeah of course.
• 3:25
  Erin Gray: So let's dive in just a little bit about your story.
• 3:28
  Erin Gray: I think it's fascinating how you kind of ended up here.
• 3:30
  Chidi Egbujie: So if you want to share with the listeners how you got to where you are, so my journey has been sort of a long-winded journey in the sense that I studied business and then, after studying, it was then time to find a job.
• 3:47
  Chidi Egbujie: And I found the job the first job I could find, which was putting invoices into a system, and then, from then on, I wanted security, so I wanted a profession that would always pay me a certain amount of money, no matter what, and accounting just seemed like a place.
• 4:04
  Chidi Egbujie: I like numbers, so accounting seemed like a good place for me.
• 4:08
  Chidi Egbujie: So that's how I ended up in an accountant, being an accountant, and then it was.
• 4:12
  Chidi Egbujie: You're striving for more and better, and financial services seem to be the place where you can work in some of the big firms in the world, and I was fortunate to work in some of the big, some of the really great firms JP Morgan and the like and in and there you learn a different level, not just in how you conduct yourself and how, but essentially how businesses run and how big businesses and big business individuals or people make decisions.
• 4:43
  Chidi Egbujie: And that was a real insight for me, in that we talk about how we work virtually in COVID, but we were doing that before COVID, we were hot desking before COVID, and so people, when it's time to make big decisions, they bring the data, they bring the information, the summary versions, they bring the PowerPoints and that's drove, drove.
• 5:04
  Chidi Egbujie: When it came down to wanting to do my own thing that was a key part of it is how can we get business owners to use the data from the business to make key decisions.
• 5:17
  Erin Gray: Yeah, I think it's fascinating because I think if you have worked in a nine to five which most of my clients in this kind of is where I, you know I came from the finance world and I helped my family's construction business.
• 5:28
  Erin Gray: So if you have worked in that space, it's very much so kind of like school, you know, versus when you go and you become an entrepreneur.
• 5:40
  Erin Gray: It's almost like a complete one 80 in terms of how you have to make decisions.
• 5:47
  Erin Gray: And when I say how you have to make decisions, what I mean is like nobody's standing over you telling you what to do, like you have to make your own decisions on yourself, you have to trust yourself and you have to take risks.
• 5:59
  Erin Gray: I don't want to say have to, but you know you take risks, you, you know you try shit and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, you know.
• 6:06
  Erin Gray: And I don't think schooling prepares you for entrepreneurship in that way.
• 6:13
  Chidi Egbujie: A hundred percent and I think for me, as a business owner, that was one of the.
• 6:17
  Chidi Egbujie: I'd say that it was a hard bit.
• 6:21
  Chidi Egbujie: I had to learn the hard way, which is when you're faced with a decision, whether it's your software, whether it's your staff, whether it's your clients, and there's no one else.
• 6:31
  Chidi Egbujie: I mean you're fortunate if you have a co-founder, partner, business partner you can bounce ideas with, but if you don't, you just have to really make those decisions.
• 6:42
  Erin Gray: Yeah, and I think it comes back like it's a lesson, I think, in self-trust, like you really have to trust yourself.
• 6:51
  Erin Gray: And I think it's a lesson in self-love, too.
• 6:52
  Erin Gray: Right, Because when shit doesn't work out, you have to be like it's okay, I've got you, you know, we're going to figure it out together.
• 6:56
  Erin Gray: You know, together.
• 6:58
  Erin Gray: You know your mind and your body and your, all the things you know, but I I think that that is something that you can read all the books that you want, but there's there comes a point where that internal work of being there for yourself, of trusting yourself, of doing it and like the, the way that you do it, is how you learn to ride a bike right, like you just do it and you get data and you make decisions based on what you experience versus I think sometimes we want to iterate in our mind, like we want to think of all the things before we make the decision, versus just making a decision.
• 7:35
  Erin Gray: What did we get for the result?
• 7:36
  Erin Gray: Making another decision, just, you know, moving on down the road that way and and that becomes your, your, your new norm.
• 7:44
  Chidi Egbujie: You know, it just becomes your new norm.
• 7:46
  Chidi Egbujie: You think of what's the problem?
• 7:48
  Chidi Egbujie: How do how do I fix it?
• 7:50
  Chidi Egbujie: What do I need to do?
• 7:51
  Chidi Egbujie: Is this a big deal or not?
• 7:53
  Chidi Egbujie: And you know how many options do I have.
• 7:56
  Chidi Egbujie: Choose one and move on, because you can get in.
• 8:00
  Erin Gray: I call it like in the head right, like you can get so heady about stuff of like well, which one?
• 8:05
  Erin Gray: And then you sit and then you're just stuck in indecision versus just making a decision, because really what we're trying to do is avoid a feeling right when we make it, if we in our you know mind of like making a bad decision right, and so it's just making a decision and then seeing what the data is and then moving forward.
• 8:21
  Erin Gray: I would love it if you would talk about because we, before the podcast, we record hit record.
• 8:26
  Erin Gray: We talked about, you know, starting, having and growing a business.
• 8:30
  Erin Gray: So I love it when I can get behind what I call it like you're behind your laptop and you get to share what you see on your side, because I think there's our side as a business owner and then there's the CPA or the financial advisor or things of that sort.
• 8:46
  Erin Gray: So, from a standpoint as someone starting a business, what do you see and what would you say hey, I've seen this a hundred times, let me save you some time, or these are my suggestions, or things of that sort.
• 9:02
  Chidi Egbujie: So let me answer that with an example.
• 9:04
  Chidi Egbujie: Right, yeah, there was a business owner who I met, maybe about three years ago, and this business owner they had it was sort of like a cafe that they had, and that cafe was niched towards young moms.
• 9:24
  Chidi Egbujie: Maybe there's too much information here, but essentially what we're saying is that this cafe had a playpen area in the unit right, which sounds great.
• 9:35
  Chidi Egbujie: It sounds great, great idea.
• 9:37
  Chidi Egbujie: You know, moms can come in, come together, have coffee and and have the kids playing, and it's fantastic.
• 9:44
  Chidi Egbujie: But from a business owner, if you, if we sit down and we say, look, how much money do you need to make from this, right, and then we then flip that on, well, how many, how many coffees or cakes does this business need to sell to give you what you need to make, then you'd realize, actually, this niche is not going to do that.
• 10:09
  Chidi Egbujie: Yeah, so it's really, it's really, um, it's it's rethinking or or putting some asking questions about the model or the approach that we've chosen, to make sure it's right, because sometimes it sounds good, I want to own my own this or I want to be my own boss, I want to do this, but haven't we really?
• 10:32
  Chidi Egbujie: Let's really think about and plan around this solution or this that we're offering, whether it's a product or service, and to see whether it's worth going down.
• 10:44
  Erin Gray: The word that came to mind is fantasize, like I think sometimes we can fantasize about our business being a certain way and we I think we do this with all relationships Like, our business is just another relationship, right?
• 10:56
  Erin Gray: But we have this fantasy of like what this business is going to do for us, versus meeting that need on our own.
• 11:05
  Erin Gray: And then, like you're saying, just like, okay, really, in order to live the life that you want to live on the money that you want to create, you're going to have to sell X, y, z.
• 11:16
  Erin Gray: Like, is that a legit, realistic thing?
• 11:20
  Chidi Egbujie: to do.
• 11:21
  Erin Gray: And so how can you?
• 11:23
  Erin Gray: You know if it's yes, we want to do business, we want to have a business that is fun and enjoyable, and also, can you get that side of it somewhere else?
• 11:35
  Erin Gray: You know, maybe, what that person's trying to do, versus, okay, if you want to have a coffee shop and that's what you want to do.
• 11:40
  Erin Gray: And I think it's also, when I say fantasize, it's like looking at both sides, right, like it's there's parts of business that aren't so fun, right, and just acknowledging that when you start out like there are things that you're going to do that you're going to feel resistance to, but that's just part of being in business, being a business owner.
• 12:02
  Chidi Egbujie: No, exactly, but I always say and it's it's always funny coming from me, the accountant, because people expect it from me but I say let the, let the numbers guide us, the numbers which show us the path.
• 12:14
  Chidi Egbujie: And so when we talk about uh, this my point earlier on around this example is the numbers could, could do one of two things.
• 12:24
  Chidi Egbujie: The numbers would either deter us and say look, no, this is not going to work, scrap it, go and think of something else to do.
• 12:30
  Chidi Egbujie: Or the numbers will say okay, you can do this, but to get this you must do this, and by that I mean the, the kind of clients or customers that we go for, the costs that we incur, the investment right investment that we put in, because it might mean that actually, if you need, if you need these many clients, we need to invest in some marketing to get access, because just where the mart is not going to give you that.
• 13:00
  Chidi Egbujie: So it forces our decision makingmaking either for or against.
• 13:05
  Chidi Egbujie: And if we're going for, it just means that we may be pitching at a different level than if we hadn't done this analysis.
• 13:13
  Erin Gray: Yeah, I love that because I was having a conversation with another CPA and he does more so franchises and he kind of ran the numbers for a client and they were talking about, like that they didn't do fountain drinks, and that was what the CPA was thinking.
• 13:26
  Erin Gray: It was like, hey, this is a great opportunity and, just like you're saying, it's not that you have to do it, it's just if you decide to do it, then this is what it's going to look like.
• 13:35
  Erin Gray: And the client was like I don't want to do fountain drinks, I don't want to mess with that.
• 13:38
  Erin Gray: So they figured out another way to increase profitability.
• 13:41
  Erin Gray: So it's not saying it can't be done, it's just recognizing okay, this is what it is if we're going to continue down this path and so, like you said, four or do we need to pivot or do something different?
• 13:53
  Chidi Egbujie: Exactly.
• 13:54
  Erin Gray: So what are some other things for new starting business owners that you do?
• 14:00
  Erin Gray: You typically help brick and mortar, or is it online, or is it kind of a whole range of of clients?
• 14:08
  Chidi Egbujie: it's a good question.
• 14:08
  Chidi Egbujie: We've got a whole range of clients, but we, we I find that the tech world, you know, we, we kind of we're like brothers and sisters.
• 14:19
  Chidi Egbujie: You know, we like tech, we, we we're fans of being cashless and we have ambitions for growth, because in tech the growth can be quite rapid, it can be quite ambitious, and they understand the value, the need of data.
• 14:37
  Chidi Egbujie: So I just find that we're a good fit.
• 14:38
  Chidi Egbujie: But ultimately we still marry on with a lot of different sectors.
• 14:45
  Chidi Egbujie: I just find sometimes when you've it would also depend on the client or you know, or the business owner, because some people are not open to data.
• 14:55
  Chidi Egbujie: You know they're not open, or maybe they're not as literate or comfortable with using a computer, and so clients like that would struggle to kind of give you the kind of value that we feel that you should be getting.
• 15:10
  Erin Gray: That's also something else.
• 15:11
  Erin Gray: You know.
• 15:12
  Erin Gray: It's interesting because we sometimes we don't look at that and think how can we improve?
• 15:24
  Erin Gray: We look at that and think like that is part of who we are Meaning, you know, like, okay, I may be not be good with QuickBooks, I might not be good with reading reports, and then we make that mean something about us and our capability.
• 15:37
  Erin Gray: Versus that's just another language that hasn't been taught to a lot of us and I think it's kind of been complex on purpose, and so versus okay, this is just something else I'm going to need to learn so that I can, from an empowered place, look at my numbers, talk to my advisors from a very independent and empowered place.
• 16:02
  Erin Gray: And it doesn't mean I'm not smart, it doesn't mean anything about me, it just means this is the language that they speak in all day, every day, and I do not.
• 16:10
  Chidi Egbujie: Man that gave me goosebumps, because because I and I I think the important thing is as a as a business owner, you know you've got to be comfortable understanding how the business is doing.
• 16:26
  Chidi Egbujie: I know you're not an accountant, a bookkeeper, but there's got to be a middle ground where, rather than just putting your hands up and saying, look, you just do it and just tell me what I need to do, you have to find a way of coming to the party and understanding how my business is doing.
• 16:47
  Chidi Egbujie: So, just, they need to, however, they do it.
• 16:51
  Chidi Egbujie: They need to give you that number or the information in a way that's clear enough for you to understand, or simple enough for you to understand, should I say, and that's the best way.
• 17:02
  Chidi Egbujie: And likewise, as you say, aaron, we've got to start to understand this new language.
• 17:11
  Chidi Egbujie: And and companies and business owners that are not keen to understand data or have financial processes implemented in their business, they get slowly left behind and they run the risk Sounds a bit scary, but they run the risk of going bust.
• 17:30
  Erin Gray: So I think that there's two sides to this coin.
• 17:32
  Erin Gray: I think the one side of the coin is because we have thoughts and beliefs about ourselves.
• 17:38
  Erin Gray: Typically, what I have found is either you didn't go to college and you're just like I'm going to just build this business, or you did go to college and you're like okay, I'm tired of the nine to five, or I'm tired of this high corporate or whatever it is and I'm going to start my own business.
• 17:53
  Erin Gray: And we have lots of thoughts around being smart and asking questions.
• 17:59
  Erin Gray: And you know, if we ask questions, then we make that mean we're stupid or we make that mean that you know, we don't understand, versus dropping the little ego that we have and just being like I'm here to learn.
• 18:12
  Erin Gray: And I think that's one side of it, and I think the other side is I think that the financial banking industry has complicated terms on purpose to need people.
• 18:26
  Erin Gray: I 100% think that we need advisors and, you know, accountants and all of that.
• 18:34
  Erin Gray: But when we, when we come at it from that place of oh, they know more than me, they, then we, like you're talking about we almost abdicate our power and our responsibility.
• 18:48
  Erin Gray: It's like, oh well, you know, I hear that all the time with clients Like, oh, my CPA is taking care of it.
• 18:52
  Erin Gray: It's like no, no, no timeout.
• 18:53
  Erin Gray: That is not no longer an acceptable answer because, yes, they might ultimately do your tax return, but you have to know your numbers.
• 19:02
  Erin Gray: You have to.
• 19:03
  Erin Gray: You've got to be able to get in there inside and out and you might say, oh well, that's not really what I enjoy doing, but nobody's going to take care of your business the way you are.
• 19:13
  Chidi Egbujie: Nobody, and especially when there's the parts of the business because you're like at the forefront like you know, I don't want to talk about war here, but in a war, someone's at the forefront, like you know.
• 19:25
  Chidi Egbujie: I don't want to talk about war here, but in a war someone's at the front shooting.
• 19:29
  Chidi Egbujie: But you kind of need to have an eye on how much ammo and how much and what's going on at the back to be able to do a great job right in the front.
• 19:41
  Chidi Egbujie: So you can't abdicate the the the role completely, even though someone's looking after the back.
• 19:48
  Chidi Egbujie: You need to.
• 19:49
  Chidi Egbujie: You need to come closer to that person and have a language that you understand right so that you can get the information that that helps you as you, as you run your day to day.
• 20:02
  Erin Gray: Yeah, I like that I think my dad and I used to you know, like I did all the financials and all the.
• 20:08
  Erin Gray: I did all the stuff that he didn't necessarily enjoy doing, but I was like his right hand guy and we would always say, like all of your numbers are like the pulse, you know the pulse of the business, like you've got to keep a pulse on your business, and you were the first person like you were the that is the fastest.
• 20:23
  Erin Gray: Like you on your business, and you were the first person like you were the that is the fastest.
• 20:26
  Erin Gray: Like I mean, that's such a good analogy, cause it's like by the time the CPA gets to it, that might be months behind, right, like you, you and months, depending on your size of cashflow, decide, uh, you know, depending on your cash reserves, like, oh, that that could be a huge thing.
• 20:40
  Erin Gray: You know, months, months could, could be something that could be really I don't like the word detrimental, but I mean it could, right.
• 20:49
  Erin Gray: And so really, I always go back to like why don't you want to look at it?
• 20:55
  Erin Gray: And sometimes it comes back to the numbers don't represent what you want them to, and then you're making them mean something about you, versus like what you're saying is it's just data, it's just, if you were to say there's however many postcards instead of money, how would we feel differently about the conversation?
• 21:14
  Erin Gray: But we, we put the word money on it and or profit or loss or whatever, and we become all squirrely with it.
• 21:22
  Erin Gray: So it's really recognizing, like the I call it the 3d part, right of the, of the reports and things of that and also the the emotional side that you feel with money and your business and what you're making it mean about you, like how many clients make their business mean something about them do you have a lot of no, no, and and I it's, it's a, it's a valid, it's a valid point.
• 21:49
  Chidi Egbujie: But I think it's it's similar to how, when you have a baby crying, and when a baby cries, if, as a parent, you feel, if you, you, you feel emotional about it because it's like how my baby's crying, I used to do something about it.
• 22:07
  Chidi Egbujie: But once you're able to almost treat it as a job and just say, okay, what does what does this cry mean?
• 22:16
  Chidi Egbujie: Do?
• 22:17
  Chidi Egbujie: Is the baby need food?
• 22:19
  Chidi Egbujie: Does the baby need?
• 22:20
  Chidi Egbujie: Is the baby cold?
• 22:21
  Chidi Egbujie: Is a big, and then you, you would deal with things differently because you're just, you're just focusing on understanding and finding solutions, and that's that's, that's how I see it yeah, it's like we're problem solving.
• 22:37
  Erin Gray: That's what we're doing 100 right.
• 22:39
  Erin Gray: So, in terms of helping clients when they're first starting out wanting, wanting to start a business, what are some of, like maybe the top three things that you would say?
• 22:48
  Erin Gray: Listen, I've seen this so many times.
• 22:50
  Erin Gray: This is what I would ponder, or, yeah, some advice that you might have.
• 22:56
  Chidi Egbujie: So one of the things that you want to understand from a business owner is where, where they're're going, where's the destination?
• 23:05
  Chidi Egbujie: Because, like, for instance, if you, if a pilot gets in a cockpit, he's he's thinking about where am I going?
• 23:14
  Chidi Egbujie: Am I flying to new york?
• 23:15
  Chidi Egbujie: Probably going the wrong direction from you, but am I flying to new york?
• 23:20
  Chidi Egbujie: Am I going to germany?
• 23:22
  Chidi Egbujie: Those things, um things, would form different parts, they'll take different parts and they would require different resources, different foundations, should I say.
• 23:33
  Chidi Egbujie: And so, being clear on that, a lot of business owners aren't actually clear.
• 23:38
  Chidi Egbujie: Surprisingly, they start off a business but you don't actually know where that business is going.
• 23:43
  Chidi Egbujie: You don't know how big it needs to be, you don't know how many staff you end up having to support it.
• 23:47
  Chidi Egbujie: But if, once you're clear around those things, then it then becomes important to then lay the foundations accordingly to support that right.
• 23:58
  Chidi Egbujie: And so what kind of systems do we need?
• 24:01
  Chidi Egbujie: What of you know?
• 24:03
  Chidi Egbujie: What services do I need to bring in to support me?
• 24:07
  Chidi Egbujie: And those things are.
• 24:09
  Chidi Egbujie: It's always easier and better for you, especially when you're thinking about growth, especially when you're thinking about selling the business one day.
• 24:17
  Chidi Egbujie: Laying those foundations at the forefront is always key.
• 24:22
  Erin Gray: Do you think that that comes back to?
• 24:24
  Erin Gray: Just let me hurry up and just start my business and make money, and they're not slowing down to ponder kind of like that 30,000 foot view, like where do you think that that comes from?
• 24:37
  Chidi Egbujie: Well, I think that when you think of the mind of a business owner is you're thinking the main bit.
• 24:45
  Chidi Egbujie: It's like I can picture these blue sweaters.
• 24:51
  Chidi Egbujie: You're like wearing a sweater cardigan.
• 24:53
  Chidi Egbujie: I want to make these blue cardigans.
• 24:54
  Chidi Egbujie: I want them to look like this.
• 24:56
  Chidi Egbujie: I want them to look like this.
• 24:57
  Chidi Egbujie: I want to get the product, the material from here.
• 24:59
  Chidi Egbujie: I want to get this.
• 25:00
  Chidi Egbujie: I'm going to sell it here, I'm going to sell it there.
• 25:02
  Chidi Egbujie: That's a lot and that's the focus of what, and it's no look, there's no surprise.
• 25:08
  Chidi Egbujie: That is number one, that's priority.
• 25:10
  Chidi Egbujie: But then maybe you haven't thought about those next steps.
• 25:15
  Chidi Egbujie: Where is this going?
• 25:17
  Chidi Egbujie: Do I want to be in store?
• 25:19
  Chidi Egbujie: Do I want to be my own main brand?
• 25:22
  Chidi Egbujie: Do I want to all these things?
• 25:27
  Chidi Egbujie: And so they think, okay, I'm going to start this first and then I'll figure it out and then you start and you get bogged down and then you actually don't actually, and you surprisingly to find business owners that are trading, they've started their trading and you ask them how much turnover they made, how much turnover they want to make in three years.
• 25:46
  Chidi Egbujie: And it's like a surprise, you know, because you haven't thought about these things and when you haven't thought about these things, you haven't laid the foundations.
• 25:54
  Erin Gray: I always say I think in the beginning you here we go back to like the nine to five you are acting more like an employee than you are an employer or the CEO, and in the beginning you kind of have to do both right.
• 26:06
  Erin Gray: You do have to be the employee, like you're saying.
• 26:08
  Erin Gray: You do have to figure out where am I, you know like what color, where am I going to get my material from.
• 26:12
  Erin Gray: You do have to do all that employee stuff and you also have to like visionary and, you know, have time.
• 26:19
  Erin Gray: And I call it like CEO time, like are you setting aside CEO time, like you are setting aside this kind of the to-do stuff, the nitty gritty stuff that needs to get done.
• 26:29
  Erin Gray: And also like the CEO time is just as important because, like you say, I mean, you'll wake up, you'll pull your head up three years later and you're like what has happened?
• 26:39
  Chidi Egbujie: 100%.
• 26:41
  Chidi Egbujie: I mean the book E-Myth.
• 26:43
  Chidi Egbujie: I don't know if you've read e-myth.
• 26:47
  Chidi Egbujie: Yeah, michael garber, he explained it so perfectly because it's the whole concept of I don't know if it came from him this whole concept of in the business and on the business, but that's just, um, that's just.
• 26:56
  Chidi Egbujie: That's just it.
• 26:57
  Chidi Egbujie: You get you open a business and you get stuck in the weeds and you just don't have the time.
• 27:04
  Chidi Egbujie: And even when you have the time, it's just not.
• 27:07
  Chidi Egbujie: You're just not thinking in that way to think, okay, where are we going, captain?
• 27:11
  Chidi Egbujie: Where's the ship going?
• 27:12
  Chidi Egbujie: Are we going this way or that way?
• 27:14
  Chidi Egbujie: And what do we need to do to to head in that direction?
• 27:21
  Erin Gray: yeah, as I say, no, just real life, construction, family business, spoken from true experience.
• 27:29
  Erin Gray: But you know, that was one of the things that I always would have conversations with my dad and my uncle about is like we've got to get away.
• 27:35
  Erin Gray: We like when you think, and this comes from here, we go back to like what is the real core of this?
• 27:41
  Erin Gray: This is scarcity, because when you think you don't have time to get away from your business, what is the real core of this?
• 27:44
  Erin Gray: This is scarcity, because when you think you don't have time to get away from your business, that is a scarcity mindset, right Versus, how is my time away from my business for two days to think, to ponder?
• 27:54
  Erin Gray: I don't know what book I read it in, but they were talking about how Steve Jobs used to take off like six weeks a year, like in a, in a concentrated time, and he would just ponder and he would think.
• 28:04
  Erin Gray: And we, at least in the Western world I don't know how this is in UK and Europe, but it's like we live in such a fast paced we value doing over thinking and pondering and visioning that we think that that is not as valuable.
• 28:22
  Erin Gray: But I mean, I think that's even more valuable because you get that, you get to to get out of it and you get to think about and you get to see it from a more clear headed, versus when you're so focused and you're so, you can't.
• 28:33
  Erin Gray: You know, like the saying, like the forest between the trees, like what can you actually see, because you're so in it, versus thinking about and pondering, like and and you know, like, like you said, with the pilot, the pilot is constantly checking, like he's or she is having to constantly go back to you know, get us right back on track.
• 28:51
  Erin Gray: And how often are we doing that as business owners?
• 28:55
  Erin Gray: You know.
• 28:57
  Chidi Egbujie: I think you know it's it's.
• 29:01
  Chidi Egbujie: It's so fundamental because when you think of a business owner who is going on a path, so they started and they, you know, they have their day-to-day, they have their clients or customers, and then what?
• 29:16
  Chidi Egbujie: When you compare that business owner who then takes the time out to understand where and it's not I know we talk about money and data a lot, but it could just be time, it could just be how much time so you could, you can make, have that thinking or or evaluate that scenario and then, at some point, make changes, and then in 10 years, you have the difference between this business owner who's still plugging away on their own, doing what they do, not making enough money and not having the right kind of balance with in terms of clients or products or what they're selling, and then you have this business owner who is they spend the right amount of time, they've got great people involved, it's been hell getting there, but they've had to make that investment because they knew this was what they were working towards and they're making the return that they planned or hoped they would make, and that's the difference.
• 30:13
  Erin Gray: Yeah, Chidi's talking, and I'm like, yes, I'm just shaking my head, yes, yes, yes, and we can just wear ourselves out right, Because we aren't thinking like you're saying, we aren't thinking about the end goal.
• 30:27
  Erin Gray: And also here we go back to.
• 30:30
  Erin Gray: I think a lot of business owners get their value and their identity in how busy they are, and you know they love to talk about.
• 30:39
  Erin Gray: You know how busy they are, or all the problems that they're having, you know how busy they are or all the problems that they're having.
• 30:48
  Erin Gray: It's almost like a bragging right versus you know, talking about how amazing your business is or how much time you have to think, or like we just aren't that society yet where we talk about all of the things that are amazing in our life and in our business, versus it's almost like the misery loves company kind of thing.
• 31:07
  Chidi Egbujie: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:08
  Chidi Egbujie: And I think what came to my mind when you say that, erin, is linking back to something you mentioned earlier, where we're saying that a lot of business owners would have started from professional careers and they flipped onto business, and some of these professionals, at the time they had great jobs, some of them had teams, some of them had, you know, comedy cars, some of them had offices and they had all these things and now you flip to being a business owner and you, you believe that this, the life of a business owner, must be hard, and it must be.
• 31:47
  Chidi Egbujie: You know, and don't get me wrong, it is hard, but I think, yeah, correct, but the aspiration should especially now when there's so much tech, there's so much uh, there's opportunities with resourcing, with, with support, with offshoring, there's a whole lot of suite of of resources available to the business owner that, if you have that in mind, you can tap into these things, and you should.
• 32:15
  Erin Gray: You should have a better life, right, yeah, than you had when you were, when you were employed yeah, I think that goes back to you know, I always, I always come at it first from it, cause we live in an inside out world, right, like your body, your chemical makeup inside your body is used to struggle, Like you're talking about in the nine to five right, You're used to stress, you're used to, and so, flipping that and not being stressed all the time, your body's like what the heck?
• 32:44
  Erin Gray: No, we need to serve you up some stress, and so if you're not aware of this, you will continue to stay in the cycle.
• 32:49
  Erin Gray: What came to me while you were saying that is what I hear a lot of times is they don't know what they don't know.
• 32:55
  Erin Gray: So how, how does that?
• 32:57
  Erin Gray: How do we have that knowledge transference to all of the people that either want to start a business or are on their journey or, you know, in the midst of it?
• 33:06
  Erin Gray: How do we transfer that knowledge?
• 33:10
  Erin Gray: And I mean, I know it's everywhere and also it's like I think that can be overwhelming at times too.
• 33:19
  Chidi Egbujie: For me, I think that and it feels like this is just we're just peeling the same onion here being clear on where, what you want to achieve, right, it will force decisions, because this is, this is it's.
• 33:38
  Chidi Egbujie: It's bespoke for every, every, every situation.
• 33:41
  Chidi Egbujie: So I'll give you another example.
• 33:42
  Chidi Egbujie: I spoke to a guy who is a fitness instructor.
• 33:47
  Chidi Egbujie: Okay, so he's a fitness instructor in the gym.
• 33:49
  Chidi Egbujie: So all his clients in the gym.
• 33:50
  Chidi Egbujie: We said, okay, how you know, what do you want to do?
• 33:54
  Chidi Egbujie: Where is this going?
• 33:55
  Chidi Egbujie: How much you want to make?
• 33:56
  Chidi Egbujie: He says, oh, I want to make 100k a year.
• 33:58
  Chidi Egbujie: That's in pounds.
• 33:59
  Chidi Egbujie: And you know, I want to buy a flat.
• 34:01
  Chidi Egbujie: I want to, you know, go on holiday.
• 34:03
  Chidi Egbujie: Okay, fine, so now let's play with the numbers and by the time we play with the, we come up with a figure that your business needs to make.
• 34:15
  Erin Gray: Generate first, before you take home 100.
• 34:17
  Chidi Egbujie: Yeah, and let's say that number is 300K.
• 34:21
  Chidi Egbujie: So the question now is can you make 300K in the gym?
• 34:27
  Chidi Egbujie: He says I can't, and then it's like okay, so what are you going to do about that?
• 34:32
  Chidi Egbujie: And so, all of a sudden, not for me, but he's coming up with all these ideas I could go online, I could sell programs, or I could.
• 34:41
  Chidi Egbujie: I could, I could rent a space, I can get other trainers to come and train, and and so.
• 34:47
  Chidi Egbujie: So that's, that's just from thinking about our destination.
• 34:52
  Chidi Egbujie: And then what could happen is this guy, 10 years down the line.
• 34:55
  Chidi Egbujie: He then has a scenario where maybe he has a, he has a spot he's rented there, he's got these guys going to train here and he's earning money from them.
• 35:04
  Chidi Egbujie: He's got these people he's coaching, doing online programs for, and he's playing golf on a friday, whatever the scenario.
• 35:10
  Chidi Egbujie: But but that's, this is what we have to think about, not just not just money, but also time, but also a headspace, because the more, the more stuff you have going on, the more stressed out you be, but the more the more working processes you have in place around your business, be it finance and be it everything else the better your life will be.
• 35:41
  Erin Gray: Yeah, you said clarity and you've said that numerous times and I think if you haven't been around business, a hundred K does not equal 150 K from a business.
• 35:50
  Erin Gray: You know, like that's such a good example that you gave like three and a half times, four times I mean like actually sit down and do the numbers.
• 35:56
  Erin Gray: But I think a lot of times because we aren't clear, because we don't sit down, because our ego loves fuzziness and not clarity, we don't do that exercise to, like you're saying, to actually figure out.
• 36:10
  Erin Gray: Okay, and that doesn't mean he's going to have this other gym and he's going to have all these group programs and he's going to all to have that right now today, but like you're saying he is going to be working towards.
• 36:20
  Erin Gray: It's kind of like when I sit down, it's like what is going to move the needle today versus staying in that rat race, I guess.
• 36:28
  Chidi Egbujie: Yeah, exactly yeah.
• 36:32
  Erin Gray: Is there anything else that you want to add that maybe I haven't asked or we've talked about, that you want to share with the listeners?
• 36:39
  Chidi Egbujie: So good question when we talk about companies going bust and it's not anything anyone else wishes number one is an idea that market doesn't want.
• 36:52
  Chidi Egbujie: Wishes number one is an idea that market doesn't want.
• 36:56
  Chidi Egbujie: So we talked about a little bit, about being clear, just rethinking your, your offer, right before you go out to the market and see what is right for you.
• 37:03
  Chidi Egbujie: But number two and the list of what where companies go bust is cash, and so, for me, cash flow is is a thing that affects a lot of business owners and it's a real try.
• 37:18
  Chidi Egbujie: I've seen it before.
• 37:19
  Chidi Egbujie: I've seen, uh, I've had a client who was making money, but they just ran out of cash.
• 37:27
  Chidi Egbujie: They're making money.
• 37:28
  Chidi Egbujie: You go, you got a service that people are buying from and then you somehow just run out of cash and then you go under and that's a real tragedy.
• 37:37
  Chidi Egbujie: So it's one of those things I'm very passionate about that business owners need to find a way.
• 37:43
  Chidi Egbujie: Looking in your bank account and seeing how much money you have left, it's not good enough.
• 37:50
  Chidi Egbujie: You need to find a way of forecasting, looking forward into the future and trying to predict, um, what's going to happen cash wise, and the bigger you get, the more difficult it is, or like you know, because when you're small it's fine, I know this client's going to pay, this client's going to pay, I've got to pay that, I've got to pay that.
• 38:11
  Chidi Egbujie: Even without looking in my bank account, I know roughly where I'm standing.
• 38:15
  Chidi Egbujie: But once you start, once your, your revenue and your costs start increasing, increasing all these things become a bit unclear as the timing of when you get money and when you pay money out starts to vary.
• 38:29
  Erin Gray: You can get, you can come on stock so is it a not paying attention and a not forecasting, like what you just said, like a discrepancy in accounts receivable and accounts payable, that kind of thing?
• 38:43
  Erin Gray: And also, do you have so?
• 38:46
  Erin Gray: Is that?
• 38:47
  Erin Gray: Let me just ask that question is that more so what it is is?
• 38:50
  Erin Gray: You're not being aware and paying attention to what your spread is from.
• 38:54
  Erin Gray: What is going out versus what when it's going to come in correct which then makes me think then you don't have a lot of cash reserves either no, but they could.
• 39:05
  Chidi Egbujie: because the thing is once you start, you know, once you start, and I and it's and I'm kind of digressing here when I see business owners that are doing well, you see the investment in the P&L right yeah, on the balance sheet, because you're seeing sorry, too many accounting terms there.
• 39:26
  Chidi Egbujie: No, because you're seeing people taking loans, people are spending money on marketing, people are buying equipment.
• 39:34
  Chidi Egbujie: You know there's a lot of investment that that goes in.
• 39:38
  Chidi Egbujie: But some people are buying vans, you know like.
• 39:41
  Chidi Egbujie: But sometimes when you start doing all these things, when the money is going out, it's harder to then be sure how much cash will I have in three months time when I've committed to buying this?
• 39:55
  Chidi Egbujie: Or you know I've bought this and I've deferred the payment, or I've got my taxes coming and so all these things, it could just hit you at once, right yeah, without warning.
• 40:10
  Erin Gray: It's the planning.
• 40:11
  Erin Gray: I wrote down how many of them are reinvesting back into the business, which is great.
• 40:16
  Erin Gray: And also, are you reinvesting at a my husband does not like this word because he thinks it's overused sustainable rate, but are we reinvesting too aggressively from where our cashflow is?
• 40:29
  Erin Gray: And also, I wrote down the person that has already achieved where you're trying to go.
• 40:36
  Erin Gray: Would they be making decisions from that place?
• 40:39
  Erin Gray: Like that is.
• 40:40
  Erin Gray: That is also.
• 40:41
  Erin Gray: What I think about is, would you be buying a van and all of these things you know, like sometimes, I think, if you haven't, if you're not used to having money, like just the act of having money, I think, with with our relationship with money, depending on what it is, money comes in and then money can go out as quickly versus having money and here we go back to conditioning, I think with the, the financial world of, like you know, yes, we do want to lower our taxes as much as what we can, but sometimes having cash in the bank and just paying our taxes is okay too.
• 41:17
  Erin Gray: You know, just like not not trying to, not trying to lower our taxes and buy equipment, right, Like there were times that the decisions that we decided to make, where you know what?
• 41:32
  Erin Gray: We're just going to pay a little bit more tax, but we're going to have a lot more cash in the bank versus trying to do that right off.
• 41:38
  Erin Gray: And now we have all of this equipment just because we're trying to avoid the tax.
• 41:42
  Erin Gray: Does that make?
• 41:43
  Chidi Egbujie: sense no, no, 100%, 100%, and I think it's always one, because I'm here to save, I'm here to give my clients more of their money.
• 41:55
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 41:56
  Chidi Egbujie: That's one of my goals.
• 41:56
  Chidi Egbujie: But at the same time, I think if your sole purpose is to reduce tax, then we've got it wrong, you know.
• 42:10
  Chidi Egbujie: You want to try and be as efficient as possible, but your main purpose should be trying to make more money.
• 42:18
  Erin Gray: I'm so glad you said that because so many business owners think what you just said right, it's like I want to minimize my tax.
• 42:25
  Erin Gray: It's like here we go back to scarcity.
• 42:27
  Erin Gray: Like no, how do we just create more money?
• 42:29
  Erin Gray: And you know the, the idea of the the taxes, like I'm not saying, you know, just, oh, it's totally fine that you, you know, miss all of these.
• 42:40
  Erin Gray: You know tax breaks and things of that sort, and also not so focused on how do I pay the minimum amount of taxes that I'm either not invoicing and I'm trying to push that off to next year.
• 42:54
  Erin Gray: Like you know, that happens a lot in the construction industry and it's just like you've got it, like I love that you said that, because it's not how do we minimize taxes, which is scarcity based.
• 43:03
  Erin Gray: It's how do we create more money, which is such an abundant mentality.
• 43:06
  Chidi Egbujie: No, a hundred percent.
• 43:07
  Chidi Egbujie: I've had.
• 43:08
  Chidi Egbujie: I've had clients in the past where all they keep coming at me is can.
• 43:15
  Chidi Egbujie: Had clients in the past where all they keep coming at me is can I claim this?
• 43:17
  Chidi Egbujie: No, you can't, can I?
• 43:17
  Chidi Egbujie: What about this?
• 43:18
  Chidi Egbujie: What if I do this?
• 43:18
  Chidi Egbujie: And what if I do this?
• 43:18
  Chidi Egbujie: No, you can't.
• 43:19
  Chidi Egbujie: What if I do this?
• 43:19
  Chidi Egbujie: What if I?
• 43:19
  Chidi Egbujie: It's like dude use this energy and this intelligence to focus on how we can do more, how you could do that better life for yourself.
• 43:30
  Erin Gray: I love that you said this because it's such.
• 43:33
  Erin Gray: I mean I'm going to say it again.
• 43:35
  Erin Gray: But it is the difference between a scarcity mentality of how can I minimize, how can I shrink, how can I keep everything.
• 43:43
  Erin Gray: And I didn't say this before, but some of us are building our businesses from fear.
• 43:49
  Erin Gray: Some of us are building our business from I don't want to go back to that job, or I don't want to pay this much in taxes, or I'm afraid that if I make this choice, then you know, we, we make these decisions from fear.
• 44:03
  Erin Gray: And when I say love, I just mean expansive and growth and abundance.
• 44:08
  Erin Gray: And so asking yourself those questions about you know, like Chidi saying, so asking yourself those questions about you know, like Chidi saying, when you're making decisions is this an expansive decision or is this coming from a fear-based place.
• 44:28
  Chidi Egbujie: Agreed, agreed.
• 44:29
  Chidi Egbujie: Oh, I love it.
• 44:29
  Chidi Egbujie: Thank you, chidi, for your time.
• 44:31
  Chidi Egbujie: It was so.
• 44:32
  Chidi Egbujie: Also virtualfocusaccountantscouk.
• 44:35
  Chidi Egbujie: You can find us on my website, you can.
• 44:37
  Chidi Egbujie: Chidi at virtualfocusaccountantscouk is my email address.
• 44:43
  Erin Gray: Okay, I'll put all that in the show notes.
• 44:45
  Erin Gray: He also has an ebook that I downloaded because I wanted to learn about I know it's UK based, but I'm always like let me know all the things and so he also has that if you're interested in learning about that.
• 44:54
  Erin Gray: So I'll put everything in the show notes.
• 44:56
  Erin Gray: Thank you, chidi, for sharing.
• 44:57
  Chidi Egbujie: Thank you.
• 44:58
  Chidi Egbujie: Thank you, it's been fun.
• 45:00
  Erin Gray: Yeah, until next time.