Latest / It's Time for Success: The Business Insights Podcast / Money Talk for Entrepreneurs: Mindset, Tax Strategies & Building Long-Term Wealth with Melanie Cheek

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Money Talk for Entrepreneurs: Mindset, Tax Strategies & Building Long-Term Wealth with Melanie Cheek · It's Time for Success: The Business Insights Podcast

• Sharon: [00:00:05] Welcome to It's Time for Success, the Business Insight podcast. I'm your host, Sharon de Koning. I love business, I love working with businesses. I love learning about business. Hence the creation of this particular podcast. At this podcast, we get to interview other people and so they can share their wisdom and their insights with you, our listeners, and me as well. I get to learn a lot. This particular podcast is also sponsored by my company, It's Time Promotions, wherein I also get to work with businesses much like yourselves at It's Time Promotions, we pride ourselves with doing majority of our work in-house. So we do embroidery, we do screen printing, we do engraving, we do all the print for the signs, right up to fleet graphics, full wraps on your vehicles. We have three locations here in Alberta. If you have a company and you think that you can use our services, I would really appreciate the opportunity. If so, just kindly reach out to my team at itpromo.ca. Tell them you heard about us on this podcast and receive some special pricing. Thank you everyone. Sharon: [00:01:05] I'm absolutely thrilled to have you here today. Today we're going to dive into money talk. This is something every entrepreneur needs to hear and often avoids until the dreaded tax season or until, well, heck, retirement. That's not too far away from me and I'm not even prepared for it. Joining us is the brilliant Melanie Cheek, financial advisor who specializes in helping entrepreneurs orchestrate their wealth and, well, pay less tax. So if you're an entrepreneur, you will want to get a pen and paper for this session. Welcome, Melanie. Thank you for joining us today. Melanie: [00:01:34] Thank you for I am honored to be invited, truly, really enjoyed our, our pre podcast chat and discovered there's a lot of similarities in how we grew up and our generation in terms of learning about money or not. Sharon: [00:01:50] Didn't the yeah, the not learning about money until. Yes. Okay. Let's just let the tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, if you could please, Melanie. Melanie: [00:01:58] Okay, so this is my second business as an entrepreneur. I've been a financial advisor since 2013, and I'd always wanted to learn how to manage my money because as I was mentioning to Sharon, growing up in a small community, small farm, and that's so common in Alberta that our parents may not have learned, you know, how to manage their money on the farm or even in the cities. And so as children, we don't learn that either. And quite often we're out of the house at age of 18 at least it was in my generation. And you're you're going you go to the bigger center for a job. And so I very quickly got into credit card debt because I didn't understand the interest and how quickly that compound interest, how quickly it accumulates. So I got myself into a lot of trouble in the first five years, and then I didn't get any training. There's nothing in the schools. And as financial advisors talk about that a lot. I was talking to two teachers the other day who mentioned the same thing, where their schools are still not addressing the financial education. So I fast forward, I was a single mom for a number of years. Again, not managing my money and worrying myself pretty sick. And it took a crisis to actually waking up in the middle of the night with panic attacks and going, you know, something needs to change. Melanie: [00:03:21] But I must have been a prayer that I put out there. You know, I was given a book, so I was given a book called Rich dad, Poor Dad, and it just sparked something in me. And I went, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is a whole new way of looking at like, is this family the fella that wrote the book? They were not wealthy. They had a number of kids, but it was the way he used his money. And so that sparked that interest. And then so I started learning. My girlfriend and I started having and setting goals was critical at that time. I'm so grateful to Marlene because a goal without a plan It's just a wish. So we sat down every year. I used to set goals on my birthday every year, but then they get sat in a drawer until the next year, and then I would pull them out, and then I'd beat myself up because I wasn't achieving my goals. And then we started doing it together. And that accountability piece was really with a bottle of wine and some chocolate and. Okay, um, what do you want? So I did start goal setting at that time. And I remember I had a little sticky note on it that said, uh, piano, car, computer, house. Those four things, uh, and then set, but it still took me years. Melanie: [00:04:29] It was not until I was in my 50s that I was introduced to somebody that could actually teach me. I had the desire, but the opportunity didn't present itself. I had a business. I had a music business for 14 years, but I did not know how to manage the money side of that very well. Like I say, I wouldn't have traded that experience, but I was still working part time to subsidize that business. That's not a great place to be. So in my late 50s, it's never too late. It's never too late to start, Sharon. So jumping in and the lifelong learning piece is really critical for an entrepreneur as well. So I was given the opportunity to be trained with London Life now, Canada Life and I started graduate learning about life insurance, but actually learning about how to manage my money, learning how to invest my money and invest in myself. And so I am now in a much better position. But I didn't think about retirement way back then. It was too far away in in my 30s. And I think, but, but now what I've learned is, is, is that mindset is we need to teach other people, we need to teach the 30 years. Sharon: [00:05:34] We need to teach. Melanie: [00:05:36] How to think differently about money. So and that's where I come from now is that watch how you talk about money. What's your mindset around money and delve into your past like the worry and the want from being a farmer, the original entrepreneurs in this country. It was worry and want. And we did hear about money, but it was always negative. So. So where are you coming from in terms of your money? I often in in my presentations talk about, well, you know, sure. Change your mindset. Sure. How do you change your talk? Well, there's, there's one main phrase that I have stricken out of my vocabulary for the last ten years, and that's called I don't, I can't afford that. Sharon: [00:06:15] Ooh, I love it. So it's no longer in your vocabulary. Melanie: [00:06:19] It's gone. Don't ever again say I can't afford that because you are setting yourself up for that truth. Sharon: [00:06:25] Because your brain just grabs that. It grabs it, morphs it. Melanie: [00:06:29] And it's really not the truth because you're choosing to spend your money on something else. So acknowledge that you're controlling your money. You're the one that's choosing where to spend it. Sharon: [00:06:39] Mhm. Melanie: [00:06:40] You know, be honest. I'm choosing to spend my money on this instead of this. And so you can afford it. You can afford it. It might put you in in too much debt, but you're choosing you're making a choice. You are making a choice in every step of your life. And then the second, second word that I, I've changed in my life was the word budget. It felt like a diet, like going on a diet, uh, which means you're denying yourself something. So what happens when you're on a diet and maybe you get a little bit down and you say, oh, you know what? You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have that ice cream and chocolate. I deserve it because, you know, I've just worked really hard for this. Well, so that word budget, that's what it means to me is that it's more of a, um, a negative view on it. Other people don't have that same attitude towards it, but I do. So I changed. So what would I changed it to spending plan. Sharon: [00:07:32] Okay, okay, so you have to have plan B for that. Okay. Spending plan. Melanie: [00:07:35] It's a spending. You are spending your money. So be conscious of where you're spending your money. That's the one thing. Like you have to have money coming in. So yes, making sure that your business is profitable. So you have to have money. And that's a whole other conversation maybe later on in the in this podcast. But. Sharon: [00:07:55] Mhm. Melanie: [00:07:56] But the other piece of it is, and I do have a spreadsheet, I love spreadsheets, so I have a spreadsheet that shows me exactly what money's coming in. And when it comes in and, and all of the different revenue streams that I do have now, and I took me a while to build now, but where are you spending your money? And so that the phrases like I say budget might have a negative connotation to you. So change it to spending plan and it has a whole different feeling to it. Okay, I'm spending my money. Where am I spending my money? Well, I'm spending my money. I'm spending a lot on, on, um, house insurance, car insurance. Maybe there's a better quote out there. I'm spending a lot of money on my credit cards and why that interest rate is really high. I was given the advice to call my credit card company and ask if there's a lower interest credit card. And there was. Sharon: [00:08:47] Mhm. It was. Melanie: [00:08:48] And there was. It's, uh, shining a light on the individual pieces and, and then making a choice so that you can free up some money and, you know, put it aside for yourself. Sharon: [00:09:01] Mhm. Wow. So you're talking about your revenue streams and your in your sheets, I call it sheets, Excel, whatever the case is. So the revenue stream and the expenses, that's what you put in the sheets. So you actually have your spending plan all laid out. Or separate? Melanie: [00:09:14] They're separate. Well, I mean, I do have a template that has both in it. I actually give it to people. It's, it's something I can give for free. It's a spending plan. So it does have and all the formulas are built in. So the one page in this spreadsheet is where your income is coming in. And then the next page is all of your expenses and it's fluid. You can change it like what you're paying for your rent or your mortgage or, you know, utilities, if they change every month, that kind of thing. And then the third page is it does all the math for you and shows you what your net worth is. And so that's something that I look at every year as well. My birthday is January, so it's easy. It's the beginning of the year. You're setting new goals. I said so I go into what's my net worth. Has my net worth grown in the last year? And then I also do it quite often in July in the middle of the year, I guess. Okay, where am I at? I've paid. Yeah, paid this off. I've paid this off. And it's a feel good thing. You need to reward yourself too, and celebrate those wins. Just the small ones, even that. You know what? I paid $1,000 off my credit card, or I have a different credit card. That's not as high of an interest now. Or I negotiated a better a better rate for my car insurance, my house insurance, all of those things. Utilities. Uh, I have now switched to a company called Xoom with an X. Sharon: [00:10:34] Um. Melanie: [00:10:35] Again, networking. We talked a little bit about networking and learning and learning from other people and. Sharon: [00:10:41] Mhm. So it, thanks to podcasts. I learned everything. So that sheet that you just talked about, it's not just, would that be a budgeting plan for anybody out there not budgeting? Oh, that's in my vocabulary. Would that be a spending plan for anybody that anybody. Melanie: [00:10:58] Yeah. It's not necessarily for business owners. It's for anybody. It's actually for more personal than business actually. Sharon: [00:11:05] Okay. I just think there's a lot of people like kids out there, my children in particular, and I think everybody in their 20s, they don't have a hot clue about that stuff. And I, I would love for them to understand it. Like even, you know, I hear it all the time and not just from my kids. I hear it around the because I work with people all the time, but how do they say, oh, they don't get paid enough? It's so expensive to live right now. You know what I think I believe anyways, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. Yes, it's hard to live right now, I get it, it's hard. But you got to cut back or focus on what you can focus on whatever. And maybe don't buy something else. Like it's not up to your boss to give you more money because the economy is the way it is, right? You got to figure it out. Melanie: [00:11:48] You do. And and being creative. And I don't think that this generation is facing anything different than our parents did in the dirty 30s or the war times. Sharon: [00:11:57] Just got to figure it out. Melanie: [00:11:58] You figure it out. So I'm going to give a shout out to one of my mentors, Donna Worthington, because she's a she's a certified financial planner. I don't know if you can see this, but it's called the $10 talk. And it is. It's not just for kids, although she created it for kids, but there's many, many adults. So really, you just only need to concentrate on four aspects. And it's a very simple, you get paid half of it, you spend on what you want or need, and then you divide up the other half of it into, like you say, the 20% for, uh, saving for emergency emergency funds. That's something that I had to learn instead of using my credit card. Sharon: [00:12:41] Mhm. Melanie: [00:12:42] Talk a little bit away and then the other 20% for investing. How are you investing? It might be it just it might be a simple savings account in a bank when you're starting at 16. Sure. Uh, there's daily interest savings accounts now and then 10% to give away to charity. Yes. And so what I've done for a young man in millet here where I live. Sharon: [00:13:04] But is a business owner as well, though we start business or I started business, this has been 20 years now. There's like we talked about before, prior to recording about how back when we started, there was no business school. Melanie: [00:13:18] No, certainly. Sharon: [00:13:19] Right. So we just jumped in and we had to figure it out. And there's things that 57 years old, 20 years in, I'm still learning like I'm learning at this podcast. And I wished I would have known 20 years ago. So if you're starting a business, it's important to what you just talked about yourself, like educate, read those books, absorb whatever you can from other people, and learn and be open minded. Right? I think it's Extremely important. Melanie: [00:13:41] It is. And I think, well, what I was mentioning before about planning, like my first business, I, I jumped into it. And then it wasn't until 3 or 4 years later that someone said, well, you know, asked actually, it was it was a bank when I wanted to be a credit card merchant. Do you have a business plan? I said, well, what's that? Sharon: [00:14:02] What's that? What's that? We didn't have business plans. No. Melanie: [00:14:05] And so okay, well maybe I okay. So then I actually did get some help through the, they started having, uh, they were entrepreneurial drop in places in the cities. Okay. Nothing in rural. Sharon: [00:14:18] Yeah. We now we do. Now if have any listeners that want to start entrepreneurship go to Startup is very helpful in our area here. Um, and I think they are a little bit more rural as well. The startup people. Melanie: [00:14:29] Are starting to now. Yes. And, uh, like Camrose has one, but at that time, so then they had a free course that I took on a business plan. And then I discovered that the business that I started wasn't really sustainable in the market that I was in. I was like, mhm. I kept on, Sharon: [00:14:44] But you love doing what I do. Melanie: [00:14:46] I kept on doing it anyway. But, you know, because you learn, you learn from your mistakes. That's the whole point we're told. But learning by mistakes. So when I started in this business, I actually asked a lot more questions and I did things differently. I, I just gradually invested in my business and I took it really slow. Sharon: [00:15:04] I was telling Melanie before we started recording. So I had a tax free savings account attached to my normal bank account. And so I'd put money in there and I was like, oh, I have a savings. I just thought it was a glorified savings account. And so then all of a sudden I can transfer it in and out easy. Like it was just locked right there. So I just thought that's what it was. And then so have I seen something I wanted? I would just transfer it back out and spend it accordingly. But I've now learned just recently that a tax free savings account is way more beneficial, especially as an entrepreneur, I guess for anybody actually. Um, yeah, it's very beneficial. And if you don't know what it is, research it or reach out to people like Melanie or Melanie directly, and she will help you and guide you accordingly on that because it is very, very important. I guess that kind of leads us into our questions here is, um, the saving money part, Melanie, how to keep more of your hard earned cash away from the tax man. And I think that tax free savings account, obviously because it speaks for itself is part of that. Can you go into a little bit of detail there. Melanie: [00:15:59] Sure. And it is the tax free portion of it. There aren't very many things that that was given to us. The government gives us that it's tax free and that's the only one. And so my generation, we're so used to putting money into an RRSP. Mhm. That's what we were taught to do. But now what I've learned is unless your income is around $100,000 a year or 80 to $100,000 a year, put your money into a tax free savings account instead, because the RRSP, it does give you a tax break. But if you're below that threshold of 80,000, it's not giving you the bang for your buck on saving your money on taxes. It's not. And because then when you take it out, you have to pay tax on it. When you take it out and taxes never go down. So down the road, when you're taking that RRSP out, you're paying more tax on it than what you have saved when you put the money in. So that's why you use the tax free savings account and you put the money. But you have to make sure again, like I'll reiterate that, make sure that you're invested in something that's going to grow inside that tax free savings account. Sharon: [00:17:05] Mhm. Melanie: [00:17:06] And I do have, I, I actually talk to people about, go to an insurance company that has tax free savings accounts because they are a step away. It's, it's not as easy as transferring from your bank account. You need that to be a step away, like a text away or a phone call away of access to it so that it has a chance to grow and compound. Sharon: [00:17:28] Mhm. Yep. Melanie: [00:17:29] So now the threshold, I mean, it's $106,000 is what you can put in there. So if you if you end up with an inheritance or something like that, put that into a tax free savings account. It can grow tax free. You can take it out tax free. As long as you're not maxed out. You can, you can do that back and forth. But there are some fine tuned things that like what you take out if you're at your top of, of what you can put in and you take the money out, you can't put it back in the same year. You have to wait till after January 1st to. Sharon: [00:17:59] Gotcha. Melanie: [00:18:00] Yeah. Right. But most people aren't near that. Most people are still in the middle there somewhere or partway. And so yes, you can have different, you can have three different ones. And that's what I advocate for my clients. You have a tax free savings account for emergency fund. So you know that you're going to use it for an emergency fund so you can take things in and out, but as you need it, have one that's set aside for a big purchase. So if you want to save money for a home or for a car or something like that, put it in a tax free savings account, make your money work for you. And then your third one can be your retirement. So maybe you're not making that $80,000 a year yet, or $100,000 a year yet you still need to put some money in for retirement. I call it the entrepreneur's pension plan because most of us as entrepreneurs, we're not, there's no pension waiting for us at the end of the day, company pension, I mean. You're still the CPP and so you still want to pay into the CPP. Mhm. I took a course a few years ago and was told like, there's still there's enough money in our, our Canada Pension Plan to last another 75 years. So, you know, I mean, there is there just is. They got smart and there's a whole board of people that direct and are investing that money. And it has grown. So there's no, I don't know where this idea came that they're going to run out. Sharon: [00:19:13] Yeah. I was told when I go to retire, it's not going to be there when I was like in my 30s. Melanie: [00:19:17] That's not true. That is not true at all. So anyway, we were talking about the tax man. Look at how you can save money on on your income tax as an entrepreneur. Make sure that you understand what your your deductions are. Many people are working out of their home now. And and I learned this early from my bookkeeper accountant friend because I did all my own. And that's another. Sharon: [00:19:40] Mhm. Melanie: [00:19:41] A thing that you do in the early years. But it was a mistake because. Yeah, I was staying up till 2:00 in the morning to do my, my books and, and then I would, I would spend money paying for an accountant to go go over it and learn from that. And what I learned from that is that the percentage of your utilities you're spending everything like I, I use my office and I have a home office and I use my dining room to meet clients so I can deduct, I think it's 12% of my whole household expenses, even down to the plants that I buy, uh, for the front of my yard, that is curb appeal. There are people coming into my home, the, the lawn maintenance. Um, and like I say, utilities, the interest on your mortgage, your vehicle track, your mileage. It's only $80 a year to pay for Mile IQ. It's so easy. So you're driving somewhere personally? You just. Okay, that was a personal trip. You're driving somewhere for business. You swipe it to the right. Simplify your life by having an app like that and. Sharon: [00:20:43] Take advantage when it's there. Take advantage of it like we're we pay as we pay through our teeth taxes. Like. Yes, absolutely. I have a story about RRSP because I did was I was told because I'm from that generation, I put money into an RRSP and I know we're going to talk about it here coming up about retirement plans and things, how different ways of investing. So one of my investments is we bought a condo and we have it as an Airbnb, so I didn't have the down payment for it. Well, I did because I have an RRSP. I pulled it out, my God. So I was like, what are you talking about? Like so much taxes. And I thought I was doing the right thing by putting that there. And my accountant says, well, no, it's called retirement for a reason. Melanie: [00:21:24] Yes. Sharon: [00:21:24] So probably whatever. Melanie: [00:21:26] You paid 30% tax on that. Sharon: [00:21:28] Plus I had to pay it before anyways. Yeah it was, it was an atrocious amount and I was so heartbroken and discouraged. So if I would have had that tax free savings account, I wouldn't have had to pay the dreaded tax man. Melanie: [00:21:41] So this is a new tool that was just introduced two years ago by the Canadian, by the federal government. And so this is another piece that they've they've actually given. So it's a first home savings account. So it is a blend of tax free savings account and an RRSP. So when you're you can't have owned a home for four years, but you can open a first home savings account. I suggest you research whether you can do it. I suggest you go to an insurance company to do that, not a bank, because insurance companies, the advisors have more time to spend with you. But anyway, you get a tax break for the money that you put in. So acting like an RRSP, but it grows tax free and you can take it out tax free towards the purchase of your home. Sharon: [00:22:28] But your first home. So that doesn't I would not qualify. Melanie: [00:22:31] You could sell your house and say you're renting for a while and then you can. Then you can open up first home savings account. Sharon: [00:22:39] So how long is that go for? Like so if I for years to sell my house and then I have to rent for four years before I can do it again. Yeah. Melanie: [00:22:45] That's right. So it's another tool out there that's just been introduced in the last couple of years. Sharon: [00:22:50] That's good. We need help. We need help out there. Perfect. Okay. Safety nets. That's our next topic. Protecting your family and your business. If something goes wrong. What? How do we do a safety net? Melanie: [00:23:00] Well, my first go to is life insurance. Even when I was a single mom and, you know, working two jobs, it still was top of mind for me. Like, what happens if something happens to me? How are my children protected? And, and sort of I'm from a big family. That's not I mean, there would be no question that my sisters, my family would step up, but I wouldn't want my children to go without money. And so my husband, my ex ex-husband was was a very accident prone and not very mindful of lifestyle. And so I, I put life insurance on him to protect me and my kids. And then I put life insurance on myself as well. Even the term insurance is very inexpensive, especially when you're young, you're in your 30s and 40s. It's very inexpensive for a term policy. You're renting that insurance, but you're also giving yourself some peace of mind. And then when you're in the position to be able to do it, um, buy a permanent policy. And this is something I teach, I teach life insurance 101 that no matter where you go, there are only two kinds of life insurance. There's term life insurance, like mortgage insurance. And don't buy mortgage insurance. Call me before you do. If you have mortgage insurance through your lender, call me. Sharon: [00:24:17] Yeah, I'll. Melanie: [00:24:18] Help you understand why it's not a good tool. So term life insurance for the what if something happens and the permanent life insurance for when when you pass away. But permanent life insurance is like an investment. It grows inside the policy. So it costs you a little bit more, but it's investing your money. So since we're talking about entrepreneurship and maybe you've decided to go into business with your cousin or family member, and yes, you have a partnership agreement, but have you funded that partnership agreement? Have you put a tool in place? So yes, you've decided that, oh, if one of you passes away, the other is going to run the business or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But as hopefully what a lawyer will advise you when you do this partnership agreement is that, well, if one of you passes away, the other is all now in business with the spouse. Sharon: [00:25:08] Mhm, mhm. Melanie: [00:25:09] And is that something you want? Most of the time the answer's no. So you can get a term policy. The company owns it, company pays for it. It's, um, a crossover policy that ensures both of you. So that when partner A passes away, life insurance money flows into the company through the and out through the Capital Dividend account and buys the shares from the from his. Now that partner A, now partner A past away, partner B now has money in the company to buy the shares back from the spouse. And so then you will have 100%. So that's one really, really important piece. Key man insurance. Are you the only person that's like, are you are you the person that's bringing the revenue into that business? Sharon: [00:25:52] Mhm. Melanie: [00:25:53] You need to protect that, uh, especially if it's a family run business. Uh, and you're the head of that family run business, your kids, you're guiding your children into the next generation. Well, what happens if you pass away and you're the you're the main. You're the key man? Sharon: [00:26:09] Yeah. So if I'm, if I'm so my company is a corporation, so I'm the sole I don't know what the word is, but 100% share. Guess what? Melanie: [00:26:16] You're the shareholder Sharon: [00:26:17] That's it. Yeah. So what else? If I get hit by a bus. Melanie: [00:26:20] And there's no life insurance. Sharon: [00:26:22] I have lots of life insurance, but it's not through. Just through the company. Melanie: [00:26:25] Okay. Well, it would be a good idea. You could change the ownership. So if you have a personal policy, let's say I don't know what kind of life insurance you have. That's something that. Sharon: [00:26:34] Because everything goes to my husband, but I have a company to run. Everything goes to my husband. Melanie: [00:26:38] Well, you can change that. Sharon: [00:26:39] He hasn't knocked me off yet. Melanie: [00:26:41] So maybe you can take a look at what you said. You have lots of it. If you have more than one policy, take a look at one of those policies and see if it. If you can, you can change the ownership and you can change the ownership to your company. It's harder to do it backwards. It's harder to take a company owned policy because then it goes through a whole valuation. And there's, there's, yeah, there's a taxable. Sharon: [00:27:00] But for somebody just starting up and they need to secure their business, they can take out a term policy if they're a sole proprietor. Melanie: [00:27:07] Yes, definitely. Sharon: [00:27:09] Whatever the case is or a partnership. I totally get that because that's very, very important. But even as a sole proprietor, you still need that. So you can still take out a term policy in case you get hit by that bus. Yes. And it will look after your company. Sharon: [00:27:21] Yes. Sharon: [00:27:21] That's perfect. Melanie: [00:27:22] At least it'll be money in the company so that if, say, the people left behind choose to wind it down, that there's money to use to wind that down. Okay. Pay off your creditors, you know, whatever. Sharon: [00:27:33] Yeah. Yeah. And it would be just think about, you know, we build these businesses with our guts and glory or whatever the thing is, and then all of a sudden something happens and they just have to like. Melanie: [00:27:43] Well. Sharon: [00:27:43] Push everything off for sale. Melanie: [00:27:44] Uh, tragic story. When I first got into the business, my partner, a life partner, and he was in the business as well. We were at an office in Camrose and a young couple came in, and he had just took over the business from his dad. Um, so owed dad, uh, $300,000 for this business. And then they came in looking for a life insurance. And because they had three kids and they came in like three times and I was just listening. And then the third time they, you know, you know, Dave ended up calling them in and he said, oh, no, we changed our mind. We're, you know, it's really tough right now. We just don't have enough money to to pay for this. It was a term policy. Three months later, he passed away at hockey practice. 34 years old, an undiagnosed heart attack. You know. Sharon: [00:28:29] So she's left with that debt. Melanie: [00:28:30] Most guys don't go to the doctor anyway. Sharon: [00:28:33] No. Melanie: [00:28:33] Especially in your 30s. Like the. They just don't go. Right. So undiagnosed heart attack. Gone. Sharon: [00:28:38] You're larger than life at that age. Melanie: [00:28:39] Dad is so angry. Yeah. Dad is so angry that there was no life insurance. Here's mom and the kids. The community. Yes. The community chipped in and did some fundraising. And they had ball tournaments and they had all this other kind of stuff. And but that that only lasts a certain length of time and then you're forgotten about then, you know, and then the father, father in law is so angry that that yeah, it was just one of those heartbreaking, uh, stories that it could have been a total rewritten. Spending $30 a month or something like that, or $40 a month for a term policy just for the what if? Sharon: [00:29:14] Yep, yep. We think it's not going to happen to us. But look around you. It does happen to us. And there's a prime example. Melanie: [00:29:19] Yes. Yeah. Sharon: [00:29:20] Okay. So we talked about term insurance or term policies for business and anybody in general, partnerships. But and then so now let's talk about breaking through. And we I just kind of like. So as a business owner, sometimes we work, work, work, work. Yeah. All of us do that. Yeah. And then guess what? You wake up and you're 57 years old and you're still working. So how do you different avenues of breaking through, of getting through that scenario so you can just get yourself set up for retirement? What are some steps or what have you seen? Melanie: [00:29:52] Well, what I've seen and what I'm doing, like I, I am actually 72 and still working. Sharon: [00:29:57] Well, good for you. Yeah. Melanie: [00:29:59] Yeah. Because I still have a passion, but I'm actually starting to phase out. So my breakthrough was learning to hire other people. Sharon: [00:30:10] Mhm. Melanie: [00:30:11] To delegate so that I wasn't working seven days a week. So that, you know, the first step was a bookkeeper so that I wasn't staying up until 2 or 3:00 in the morning, you know, doing my books and an accountant like I used to do my own taxes. But then I just got to the point where it was such a burden that, you know, a friend in a friend of mine in my in networking and we haven't talked about networking yet, but this networking that you do very valuable. And I met Patty and she was a friend, but then she became my, my accountant. It's the best money I've ever spent. Mhm. And then through that same networking group, I met a woman and her husband in Calgary that have a virtual assistants, and they were right across Canada. And so my virtual assistant that I've had for like five, six years lives in Ontario, but she handles all of the paperwork aspects that take me away from doing the more important parts of my business. Sharon: [00:31:06] So what would be those examples? Melanie: [00:31:08] Examples? Well, my clients would say, well, my address has changed or I want to change the beneficiaries on my life insurance. Or This is a tip about tax free savings accounts. The ones that were started in 2009 didn't have an ability to name a successor holder, but now they do. And so if you're married or your common law, your spouse should be your successor holder. So they can actually, if something happens to you, they can take the tax free savings account intact and still let still let it grow tax free. If they're just named as a beneficiary, they get the cash but not the advantage of the tax free savings account. So those kinds of administrative things are my virtual assistant. We meet for 15 minutes every two weeks by Zoom and we use the Google—technology is amazing. Sharon: [00:31:53] Yes. Melanie: [00:31:53] So we I can upload things to Google Docs and we have folders and whatever the spreadsheets and, you know, to do lists. So the virtual assistant has been been incredible. So now I can take two weeks. I took a month off last year. I went to Europe and knowing that Christina. And now she has an Ethan who plugs in when you know, for when she needs him to. But I only pay Christina. I know that they're managing whatever they. Any of the emergency things, they're on it. Sharon: [00:32:24] I think for things like that, you have to take time. So I just learned clarity breaks. This is a new thing for me. And so I tried to. It's again, it's that mindset we talked about. You got to focus on it because it's really easy for me to not do it. Um, it's not bred into me right away, but stuff like that. Like if you have time, reschedule down what you can hand off to somebody else. And often, like you talked about the bookkeeper. Melanie: [00:32:45] You can delegate. Sharon: [00:32:46] Yeah, delegate it to find out what you're doing in your business that needs to be delegated. So you could either focus on business or take a trip to Europe, whatever the case may be. Melanie: [00:32:55] Whatever the case may be. Sharon: [00:32:55] Yeah, yeah. Just be mindful that a lot of times those people that you are delegating, they can do it better than you. Guaranteed that bookkeeper you hired is doing it better than you did. Melanie: [00:33:03] Well. And you're right, it's a matter of assessing what your strengths are. Your strengths probably are attracting your clients because that's that's you light up when you talk about your business. Yep. But your, your strength may not be in the bookkeeping. And social media is another huge example of that because that's not my forte. It's just I just. Sharon: [00:33:26] Get so important. Melanie: [00:33:26] Frustrated with all of that that so I did hire somebody, you know, on a monthly basis to do that. Sharon: [00:33:33] Mhm. Melanie: [00:33:33] And now there are tools that you can do it yourself. And but I tried that and Hootsuite and all of those things that, oh yeah, do this, do this. It's not. Sharon: [00:33:43] You're still doing it. You're still doing. Melanie: [00:33:44] It. Yeah. I just don't. So social media is a is probably one of the most important aspects I think of for depending on what your business is. For myself as a financial advisor, it's not so much. I do need to keep it. Sharon: [00:33:58] You need to keep. I think for you. You need to educate people. Melanie: [00:34:00] Yes. Sharon: [00:34:01] Right. Yes. That's the and that's advantage for what you. Melanie: [00:34:05] Attract clients as much as. It just gives me a presence out there and a platform to teach, but otherwise then I'm building relationships and, and I think with people and then and their money, they want to be one on one. Sharon: [00:34:18] Mhm. Melanie: [00:34:18] Most of the time before they move their money over, they want to get to know you and. Sharon: [00:34:23] That's right. Well, you got to have that trust. You got to have that. Okay. So we talked about how to do this and a couple of things. I kind of want to elaborate. So we talked about how hiring somebody, they probably know more than you, but when you're give as an entrepreneur and we talked about how that person didn't have enough money for that term insurance. And it's hard. I'm not gonna lie to you, you cannot afford these things off the get go, right? And sometimes it takes a while to get into the weeds to figure it out. But when you get to that avenue or when you want to take that plunge, I remember this is a quick story. I'm going to try to elaborate this. So back in the day, I hired a business coach. His name is Jared Stanton, and I talk about very highly of him for good reasons. It's Time just bought their second location and then all of a sudden the oil crashed. I mean, I had zero money. It's Time was going to go down like I had people counting, you know, relying on me. I had a staff. I had one of my new team members just bought a house. Well, that house is literally up to me for her to bail to pay for her mortgage payments. Right? So it's, it's not just about It's Time. It's about what you've built and your community and your team. Sharon: [00:35:25] And it was very, very, very devastating. And I was listening to a book by Jen Sincero and it says, You Are a Badass. If you haven't listened to it, please do anyways. And in there, she said she got a business coach. I didn't even know what a business coach was. I had never heard of a business coach because it just kind of was starting to come out and I couldn't afford it. I could not afford it at all. I reached out to him, I sent him, you know, we had this conversation. We got to know each other, make sure we're a good fit. I invested in it when I knew I couldn't afford it. I just worked a lot harder and focused more, and I cut down expenses where I needed to, to cut down expenses. And it helped. It helped me. I made systems, I was able to grow my company. So it's just a matter of yes, you may not be able to afford that bookkeeper, but find out ways you can cut back somewhere else, just like we talked about for financial and savings for the future. Find out what you need help with that you can delegate for those people that can help better and maybe you can work it out. You can do it. You just got to figure it out. Melanie: [00:36:19] You just figure it out. And you know what I was thinking about while you were talking about that is that, you know, we're, we're very quick to hire coaches for our children for whether it's piano lessons or hockey or whatever it is. You know, there's, there's coaches, you're paying for gymnastics, you're paying for all of that. So why are we so reluctant to pay for a coach for our business? I did the same thing. I hired a coach, Christine Monahan, out of Vancouver, and she's part of the Reset Collective, which is a more of a mastermind network group. That's more that is business development and personal development all wrapped up in one. Sharon: [00:36:58] Mhm. Melanie: [00:36:59] Under her guidance, that's where I actually was again, changing my outlook on what I need to invest in to grow my business. And it was it was actually talking to her and, and meeting the, the virtual assistant that I have now. So yes, invest. Sharon: [00:37:18] Invest in it. You're investing in yourself and you're investing in your company, you're investing in your team, you're investing in your community. That's what I think. Yes, it was the scariest thing I've ever done. And I think part of my team thought I was literally smoking crack. And my husband says, well, you don't need that. It's like, yeah, I do, because and as an entrepreneur, especially when you're in there, you're not sleeping, you're stressed until there's no like beyond stress, beyond stress. And you got so much stuff going on in your mind. But these business coaches or your life coach, whatever the case, they'll help you focus on something, tackle that, focus on the next one, focus on the next one. Because otherwise it's just it's just everywhere up in your head and you can't get it out. And, and you have somebody in your corner. Melanie: [00:37:57] Yes, you do have somebody in your corner and somebody that you need to be accountable to. And I think that is a, that's a big piece as well. Is that being accountable to ourselves is admirable. Sharon: [00:38:08] Yeah. Melanie: [00:38:09] But when you're juggling so many balls in the air, you do lose focus. And you do forget. Oh, my. A week goes by and you haven't done what you said you were going to do. But if you know that you've got that appointment with your coach, you're going to get that done. Sharon: [00:38:23] You're getting that done. Melanie: [00:38:25] They held me to the... my feet, to the fire. And that's who says, hold your feet to the fire. But I needed help to hold my feet to the fire. Sharon: [00:38:32] You do. You do. And I think it's just. And then I feel because I had Jared for a lot of years, I can't remember how many, but I bought this in 2015. So probably I've had him for like eight years, something like that. And when your accountant says to you, because it's a big expense. Yes, it's a big expense. When your accountant says to you, whatever he's doing, he's doing it right. Yeah. So like, because he she could see that in the financials, right? So again, it's got to be a fit and it's got to be, you got to be open minded because they're going to throw things at you that you've never thought of before. They're going to push you out of your comfort zone. Again, that's you know, I always tell my team you got to be comfortable being uncomfortable because that's where you grow. Melanie: [00:39:10] Right. Exactly. Sharon: [00:39:11] Yeah. So it's, you know, you've got to have that mindset. But as an entrepreneur, I think that's generally ours anyways. Like I think that's, you know, our time. What do you call it? Or is it our genes? You know, so yeah. So anyways, okay, that's my thought on that. I remember I got a quick story. I know we're getting off track. So my business coach wanted me to work on business. That was a thing too. I didn't know there was on business and in business. Melanie: [00:39:31] On business. Exactly. Christine talks about that a lot. Sharon: [00:39:34] Yeah, it's very important. And if you don't know what it is, is there a book that they can read? I don't know, but anyways, any coaching book will tell them. Melanie: [00:39:40] I don't have one in particular for that. But what came to mind was what helped me in terms of, um, my coach was in time blocking. Because time management is still one of my, my bugaboos, if you will. Mhm. I'm, I'm, I might be a little bit ADHD and I think a lot of entrepreneurs are. Sharon: [00:39:59] Mhm. Melanie: [00:40:00] Um, and so the shiny objects, right? Oh, this is an exciting project. I'm going to yes, I'm going to say yes to that. I'm going to say yes to that and say yes to that pretty soon. You know, you're saying yes to so many things that you're, you know, and I still I go up and down with this all the time. But what she taught me was, and I still do color code, my, my calendar like this and time block, um, in colors, um, but designate the times that, that are prospecting, for example, and it's not negotiable. It's a non-negotiable best. It's on Mondays from 1 to 3. Don't make them too long. I think hers was like 90 minutes because after that, then you get your enthusiasm wanes and you need to keep your energy up to be talking to people. So, you know, Monday it's 90 minutes and then follow up on Tuesdays. And then my client meetings are usually Wednesday afternoons. And so time blocking like that. And I color code mine because at a glance I can see in green those are the client meetings. Do I have enough client meetings to sustain and to bring that revenue in? You know, so systems, right? Systems putting systems in place. You talked about that briefly. That's what a business coach is really great at helping you build, put systems in place. Sharon: [00:41:17] Yeah. Even like our business coach, like he's, we have a dashboard I still complete today and I know exactly what I pay per hour for my employees and how much I have the percentage that I have to stay in to maintain a healthy business. And, you know, you don't as an entrepreneur, you don't know those things or when is it time to hire somebody? And what does that look like? And how is that going to, you know, there's so many different avenues out there and it's scary. It's a scary thing. But you know what? You're not alone anymore. It's literally there's people everywhere. And like I say, we talked about earlier when we started, we didn't know we did business coaches weren't a thing. We didn't have business school. We had to jump in. We our parents didn't talk financing. So we have a lot there's a lot more opportunity now. Melanie: [00:41:58] Yes, I think so. Sharon: [00:41:59] Take advantage of it. Mhm. Melanie: [00:42:02] But I just thought of something. Here's my my ADHD mind. Show me where we're talking about tax savings. And I do want to just plug in for small incorporated companies where you are the owner and the only employee you can, you can save money by running your medical expenses through your corporation because it's a dollar for dollar expense deduction off your corporation and you pay less tax. Because on the personal side, if you run your medical expenses through in your personal side, first of all, you have to spend more than $2,300 before you can begin to get a deduction on the personal side, and then it's less than 10%. So if you do have children that have braces or you have glasses or you know, it's dental and dental and vision care is mostly the biggest expense that we have these days. And traditional employee plans do not kick in unless you have an employee or two. So if you're the only person in your company, you have to go through a third party like My HSA is the company that I chose, but it's the only expense is it's 10% of each claim. That's it. Sharon: [00:43:13] Okay, so they so I was visioning as a sole proprietor. Um, I was vision that they can just pay with their debit card at the wherever. No, no, you go through a company to get it. Yeah. Melanie: [00:43:23] You have to have a, you have to be incorporated. Sharon: [00:43:26] Oh, you have to be incorporated. Melanie: [00:43:27] You have to be incorporated. Sharon: [00:43:28] Okay. Melanie: [00:43:29] It was sole proprietors until 2019. And then CRA took that away. Sharon: [00:43:33] Of course. Of course they did. Melanie: [00:43:34] So now, I mean, I know a lot of incorporated companies that are there. They're the only employee or they maybe they have 1 or 2. And so if you want to keep your employees, the traditional plans are very expensive and they're very limited because the funnel is like this. You make 80% up to $10,000 for medications. Well, most people these days aren't on a lot of medications, so that's useless. That's not very useful. Then the next category is extended health. Chiropractor, massage, all of those preventative. And then maybe your maximum is up to $500 a year. Uh, and then narrows down to maybe some dental, but you have to wait a year before it kicks in, and then it's only up to a maximum of $1,000. That doesn't go very far and maybe no vision at all. So the traditional plans do not they're not a fit for small incorporated companies. So that's why the health spending accounts are a totally different model. Sharon: [00:44:25] Health spending accounts. Melanie: [00:44:26] Health spending are CRA approved, uh, company, MyHSA is based out of Calgary, and I've been a broker for over ten years. There's no start up fee, there's no monthly premiums. It's simply pay as you go. So you buy you say you spend $100 on an eye exam, uh, out of your personal pocket. And then you upload the receipt to MyHSA on your phone. They'll take $110.50 because it's just a 10% plus GST, $10.50 out of your corporate bank account and then reimburse you personally for that, the original $100. So you're just moving money around, but then all of a sudden now you've got 100% deduction out of your company for that. And it's legitimate. A Deduction out of your, and so you pay less tax because you're you got another deduction, uh, off of your annual income. Sharon: [00:45:14] So I have because as entrepreneurs in general businesses, if you want to, I don't know even because we're growing. So I'm always looking for the right people on our team. And one of them things are we have like not have to plus I want to have it, but we have that. We have a plan in place here at It's Time and it's to give back to our team members who've been with us and also to attract and you know, Melanie: [00:45:38] Of course. Yes. Sharon: [00:45:39] So it's very, very important. So I think we have a team. I think our team is 15 people now, I think. Nice. So that wouldn't per se relate to us. That's more for the smaller. Melanie: [00:45:48] You could definitely take a look at it. I mean it's a matter of again shining a light on what are you spending and what are you getting back for the dollar that you're putting in? What maybe it maybe it is for your employees and it's talking to them. Um, is this plan beneficial or are you still out of pocket? Sharon: [00:46:03] Yeah, because a lot of them because like some of them like say they have, um, what do you call that when you don't breathe very good. Those inhalers anyways, but the plan, they literally run out of the plan in August. Melanie: [00:46:13] Yes. Copd. Right. So you could pay. Right. So what you just evaluate how much are you spending a year on the whole plan per employee divided between your employees. And is that say say it comes to I don't know, I have no idea what you're paying. Sharon: [00:46:30] I neither. My Bookkeeper. Melanie: [00:46:31] Oh my. Well, that's an easy question for you, bookkeeper. What's the annual cost for this plan and what. And would the bookkeeper know it would be the, the company you'll, you'll get a report. Sharon: [00:46:44] Yeah. Melanie: [00:46:45] A breakdown. Sharon: [00:46:46] We get reports. Melanie: [00:46:46] Of what the employees are spending and what they're running out of faster. And if it comes, it comes down to $2,000 per employee or $5,000 per employee per year. Instead of you spending that $5,000 on that plan, and then the employees are running out or they're not using it because it's not it doesn't fit their need. But you really have to, to do a forensic audit on. Um, it doesn't suit their needs. Maybe that $5,000 can be given. Here's $5,000 for the year you spend it on whatever, but you're not getting any more. And you don't have to spend it. But you know, it's, it's the company is already putting that money out. But tailor it. Sharon: [00:47:24] That's what I just think. Because it doesn't do anything for mouth like, so if they want to get whatever, like their teeth looked after and they, I don't know. I just don't think it's allocated properly as far as I'm concerned. Melanie: [00:47:35] Let's talk. Sharon: [00:47:36] Okay. Melanie: [00:47:37] We can we can dive deeper into that and see where there might be a better fit for you and your employees. Sharon: [00:47:43] So out there for you all, any of our listeners that has a business as well. So that's just something we talked a little bit about networking. Let's go back on because this is I'm considering this networking. I'm considering I'm getting to know you. I've learned something, maybe something I can benefit from my team as well as my company. So there are different platforms and I'm an, I'm an introvert. So like for me to go out and meet people is not easy. It's not easy. So out here we have BNI, which you had talked about. So that's my networking group from there. I'm also part of Rotary. So I get to go out and talk and, you know, try to get back to the community as much as possible. And then now I have time on my plate for my business. I'm able to allocate a little bit of time to give back to the community. So I sit on some board, some boards that I find important to entrepreneurship, like Startup Lloyd. Melanie: [00:48:26] Oh, nice. Sharon: [00:48:27] And those kind of things, right. But I think networking, if you don't network, you need to network. Melanie: [00:48:32] Right. You do. Sharon: [00:48:34] You do need to if you're wanting to grow your business, you want to learn, you know, grow mindset and business wise, you, you need to network, you need to have conversations with people in the same circle or mindset, I guess is how it works. Melanie: [00:48:47] And you do. And most of the people that show up to the networking events are, I would say, as equally as focused on building their business as you are. But sometimes you have to be careful that they don't turn into like just a social event. Sharon: [00:49:00] Mhm. Melanie: [00:49:01] And where you're chatting about your kids or, you know, whatever, be mindful that, you know, I guess it's asking questions. I think that's something that I have learned about is rather than talking about what do you do? I said, well, just turn it around and learn as much as you can about that other person. And then you'll, you'll find that that you're going to build that relationship and then focusing on building that relationship rather than with the mindset of, oh, I want to get business out of this person. Yeah, no, because that doesn't really do that. Sharon: [00:49:29] No. Melanie: [00:49:30] But You still have to set a goal for yourself. Set a goal for yourself that I am going to connect meaningfully with one person out of this today. And, and before the end of the meeting, we're going to have set up a coffee date. We're just going to set up and just have coffee. So you, you're building a relationship. It's not that you're going to get the business from somebody that you hand your business and never just go out and say, here's my business card, here's my business card. You need to build that relationship first. So, but build it outside. Just use that meeting to say, hey, geez, I saw you at my son's hockey game. I, you know, like, um, you know, I would you be interested in going out for a coffee so we can just get to know each other a little bit better, each other's business is a little bit better and then use it for that. And so set a goal for yourself. Maybe it's one, maybe it's three. You're going to come away with three really positive connections that you can build on later. Sharon: [00:50:22] So my customers, I'm going to call them customers. Um, because I've been doing it for 20 years. I, my mindset's not there yet, but anyways, he's a recurring customer and he come in and I like to talk to my customers about what their pain points are and see other ways I can help them, not just the promotional products. Yes, we can make some cool swag for you, but we can do other things. So I asked them, and a lot of times right now what I'm hearing is people are having trouble staffing. Like staffing, is a big issue out here and I think it's a global thing. But anyways, so I says, okay, so what requirements, it's oil. So what requirements do they need? You know, class one, if they have their tickets for hauling certain kind of fluid or whatever, it's great. If not, we can ticket them. We'll send them away. It's good. Okay, I'll put my radars out there and I'm thinking, thinking, thinking. I was talking to my daughter and she was talking. She has a friend that I know, but they live in Saskatchewan. He's not overly happy. And I went, mm mm. And they got a young family. So I reached out to him. I says, so this is I have a somebody that's looking to hire and you might be a fit. I'll just introduce you to and you guys can figure it out from there. So I introduced them. He's working there and he loves his life. He moved his family out to us. And guess what? Because of that scenario, his wife now works for me and she's a saint. So like, you know, it's, it's sometimes it's not if you just do it from the heart, does that make sense? You got to do, you got to give, you got to give and it will come back. Melanie: [00:51:39] Yes. And that's, that's why I love connecting people. It may not benefit me. But it does. Sharon: [00:51:46] It does. Melanie: [00:51:46] It just it does. It comes back a thousand fold. Oh, you know what? I really think that movie that all the kids should be watching in school, even in elementary grades, is called Pay It Forward. Sharon: [00:51:58] Mm. Melanie: [00:51:58] Yes, that's a phenomenal movie, even though it's so sad at the end. But the message that that little boy, you know, put out to the world, and I think our young people, you know, you know, maybe the parents are not involved in the community because it really does come down to building your community. Sharon: [00:52:17] Yeah. So we talk about investment and put the money away from TFSA or RRSPs. But there are other ways as you're building your business. I really want to touch on this before we sign off. There's other ways of because, you know, life is fast, really fast. And so you start this business 20 years ago or 30 years ago and you work, work, work, work, work, head down. But there's other ways that you can invest into your retirement. Let's talk about that a little bit because I find it exciting. Melanie: [00:52:39] Oh, okay. Well, I call it the asset pie, I guess. And it's is putting yourself in the right mindset and in the right position. But in that asset pie, I have a number of things. I had real estate and I first started setting my goals because real estate is really still is one of the best investments that you can make, but it's not liquid really readily liquid. So you need to have a variety of things. So the real estate, having something that can grow long term, your tax free savings account is it's, it can be all of the above. It can be emergency fund for short term needs. It can be something that, you know, you use to save up for a bigger purchase for that car. So you're not, you're paying cash for the car instead of high interest rates on the car, and then have one for your retirement. And you can also use certain kinds of life insurance, like the dividend paying life insurance to even start with a small one that's you can buy one for like $25,000 for a death benefit, but you're not focusing on the death benefit. What you're focusing on is putting money inside that policy because it grows tax free. So and I haven't talked very much about these kinds of policies. They're called participating. You're participating in the profits of the policy. The Canada Life's Par policy is over 100 years old. So the money grows tax free in it. Melanie: [00:54:01] There's a guaranteed portion. And then whatever your premium and the more premium you pay, of course, it's just like any other investment, the more money you put into it, the more money you're going to gain. But you can use those policies while you're alive. You can borrow from it. I've had clients I've borrowed from my own, and I didn't start until I was in my late 50s. And I thought, okay, I this concept was like, oh my gosh, I need to have a permanent policy for when something happens, but also that I can use. So for example, one year I earned, I actually, during Covid, I actually had a banner year because people slowed down long enough to talk about their money. And so I had a great business year and I didn't put enough money away for income tax. And I'm facing my income tax bill and going, shoot, where am I going to pull that money from? It already pulled from my tax free savings account. I don't want to pull any more out of there. I thought, well, I've got some cash in my life insurance policy. So I liquidated the extra insurance that the dividends had bought. Liquidated that down to where I started. That's okay. I still had some other growth in there, and I used it to pay my income tax. So it's a tool. It grew tax free. I took it out tax free. Sharon: [00:55:09] What was that called again? Paulus. Melanie: [00:55:11] Participating life insurance policies. Uh, mutual life has them. Sunlife. Manulife. Equitable life. Empirelife. All the major insurance companies will sell participating life insurance policies or its and their permanent participating. So it's diving into the finer details of life insurance. There are some that are not participating. So you have to ask Mhm. What? How can a participating life insurance policy fit into my portfolio and use it as a portfolio? It's an asset. It's now considered an asset. There were ten years ago, we weren't allowed to call it an asset, but now we are. It's recognized as an asset. Sharon: [00:55:52] One thing that we I started doing over here at It's Time promotions is we been buying because we have three locations. So two of the locations we own. It's Time promotions owns the buildings. So I've been the one I've just recently put over to my numbered company for the building. My hope is when I sell, if it's sellable, I have no idea how that all works, but if I sell, It's Time promotions, they don't have to buy the building and the company. So then when I retire, hopefully I'll have a income come in from the buildings I own. Melanie: [00:56:22] Right. Sharon: [00:56:23] And then we're just working over the this is the most expensive one here in Lloydminster. So we're slowly going to work that over to the numbered company as well, with the hopes that when I retire then I have we have, you know, money coming in from these buildings. So there are ways of doing that to focus on, I believe. Anyways, I wish though I would have thought about it years ago. Melanie: [00:56:45] Right? Sharon: [00:56:47] You know, like I yeah. Melanie: [00:56:48] Same. And I know that one of the brokers in our, in my network is actually teaching people, young people how to leverage the home that they have and then, you know, to buy another home and, and rent and rent that other home out. And so using that, using that revenue, because once you have that rental home, you can deduct, again, all of the expenses on that income. So you've got the income, you've got the expenses, and then you've got some profit at the end. But it's just structuring it in such a way that you're paying less tax. Sharon: [00:57:21] Right. 100%. Melanie: [00:57:23] And a big topic these days is paying less tax. And so I'm learning from him. It's something that I wish I had known, God, if I had known this, I would have been able to because I did flip houses, I flipped two houses. I was so blessed as a single mom. It was a time when you could assume somebody else's mortgage because. Sharon: [00:57:42] Oh, I remember that's how I got my first house. Melanie: [00:57:44] My first house too. Sharon: [00:57:46] I couldn't afford it. I mean, I couldn't afford it. Melanie: [00:57:47] I was an entrepreneur. I was a sole, you know, self-employed, working part time. Sharon: [00:57:52] Yeah. Banks don't like self-employed entrepreneurs. Yeah. Melanie: [00:57:54] Right. Working part time. Sharon: [00:57:56] I remember. So I worked in a law firm and, um, there was an accountant. Accountant was my, my boss's best friend. So he'd always come up and I sat at the front counter. He said, Sharon, to me, he says, I think I was like, pre kids. I probably 19 years old, 20 years old, maybe. He said, Sharon, if you ever want to get ahead in life, get into real estate. That's what he said to me. Yeah. And I remember thinking to myself, okay, you're an accountant and have lots of money. I'm a literally 20 years old. I don't have a dime to my name. How in the heck am I supposed to get into real estate? But I remember thinking back now at 57, I wished I would have, yes, embraced it more or understood it. Like again. Nowadays you guys have an opportunity to understand it. We didn't have those courses available to us. So please, if if you're, if you have a house, if you have, if you want a house, there's a way to figure it out. Melanie: [00:58:45] Especially in Alberta. Sharon: [00:58:46] Do it. Melanie: [00:58:47] Especially in Alberta, because people are now people from B.C. and Ontario are coming in to Alberta and buying up our properties because they're recognizing that it's much more affordable here. We've only got 5% GST here, and not only courses to take, but people to talk to that can guide you. There are now that now the group that Keaton and his, they're running weekly or actually maybe weekly and monthly meetings, they're helping their coaching people for free, uh, on, on how to do this. And so that's a huge, huge advantage. Sharon: [00:59:20] Huge thing. Melanie: [00:59:20] To young people who have the right. Again, it comes down to your mindset and, and start with the end in mind, all of those things and act as if act as if it's another phrase that. Sharon: [00:59:33] I even like for real estate to like. Again, I didn't know there was people out there called mortgage brokers. Melanie: [00:59:39] Right. Sharon: [00:59:40] I did not know that. But they are there and they will work with you. The one I know from my BNI group her name is Joanie and she's remarkable. She's helped me. She helps my children. She helped everybody get a mortgage when their bank said no. Melanie: [00:59:53] Same with me just recently. So yeah. Sharon: [00:59:56] So like reach out to and they're going to work for you there. It might take a year for you to get your mortgage. They're going to help you. Melanie: [01:00:02] So am I saying yes? Same with the realtor in my BNI group. So I, I have a beautiful home. Um, but I became separated last year and was in the facing. I had to buy him out of the house. Yep, yep. And so here I am over 70, living in a small community and I'm an entrepreneur. Sharon: [01:00:26] Yea, and almost impossible. Networking is getting out and putting yourself out there and listening to other people and absorbing and just and people. Melanie: [01:00:33] People love to help other people. And I really do have that positive. Positive experience that people love helping other people. And they're not always out to get a buck for it. And sometimes we are, yes, we legitimately we want our businesses to grow. But if you're in a, in a network where everybody's on the same page and, but you're still giving. And then it just comes, it just it just comes back. When I started in the industry, it's the old sales training was get out there and cold call and go door to door and, and go through the phone book and, you know, call, call, call, call, call. And we would have a call night and they would give us pizza. And then we'd put in a room to make phone calls. Well, I just didn't. Sharon: [01:01:14] I'd quit. Melanie: [01:01:15] I couldn't. So I said to said to my director, I said, um, no, I'm, I'm going to build my business organically. And so both my, my director and my spouse at the time just laughed at me, you know, what do you mean build your business organically. Sharon: [01:01:30] Mhm. Melanie: [01:01:31] Well, I did, because that's when I discovered this in the Camrose, and it was, uh, it was a women's network that had just started. And so that's where I went. I went to this women's networking group, and then I learned about the other Womanition networking group in Edmonton. And then I learned about another one and another one. And I built my business by meeting people first and not, uh, cold calling, not going door to door. Sharon: [01:01:54] Yeah. Meeting them, understanding them, appreciating them. You build that relationship, that trust in each other, which is important. Trust. I think we better wrap it up here because I could talk to you forever. I know if I'm coming to the city, we are going to go for coffee. Melanie: [01:02:06] I'd love to. Yes. Sharon: [01:02:07] Favorite book and why? Melanie: [01:02:08] Well, I've got more than one. Is that okay? So the first book that changed my life is called The Secret. Sharon: [01:02:14] Yes. Everybody should read that. Melanie: [01:02:15] It changed my life. You can see how it's actually the spine is broken. And I've got tabs and I've bought copies for all of my children and my best friends. The next one was, uh. And these are all mindset pieces, but you have to change your mind before you can change your. Change your state before you can change your life. Sharon: [01:02:31] Mhm. Melanie: [01:02:32] Deepak Chopra, my realtor, gave me this the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. And it is business focused. God focused but mind based, focused. And then this one is a practical one. This Canadian author by Kelley Keehn, it's Talk Money to Me and it's straightforward, easy to read, very simple steps to do. I just love this book. Again, I've got tabs very quickly leveraging because I've gotten into so much debt. I worried about getting into debt and I wasn't taught how to use it properly. And so when my bank came to me and said, oh, gee, you know, you've, you qualify for a $20,000 line of credit, I said, no, no, no, I don't, I don't. Sharon: [01:03:13] That's how I am. Melanie: [01:03:13] I don't want any more of that. And then I read the chapter on this and she said, if you're ever offered a line of credit or ever offered that, say yes. And so I called him back. Sharon: [01:03:25] Disciplined. I'd buy a new machine. Okay, okay. Melanie: [01:03:28] I called him back. I said, John, I've changed my mind. I don't have to use it, but it's there. So they people like to see that. Creditors like to see that it's good for your net worth, that you have access to cash because you get into a situation where you want to leverage your business, say an opportunity comes along for you to grow a building, you know, or it comes up and you, you know, and you don't have cash in your company, but you know that it would advance your business exponentially. Need that line, boom, use that line of credit. So that was something I learned from this book, Talk Money to Me by Kelley Keehn. Sharon: [01:04:03] Kelley Keehn. So I just embraced a partial CFO. I had my first meeting with him yesterday. Melanie: [01:04:10] Okay. Sharon: [01:04:11] First thing he says, Sharon, how come you don't have a line of credit? I says, because I have zero discipline. If I wanted a new, I don't know, printer for wrapping cars or I want a UV printer. So next on my list, I'd buy one. And he's like, no, And he says, Sharon, we. Because like in the promotional world, we have up seasons and down seasons. It's like a wave, right? So so before Christmas, it's very, very busy. My teams flat out. We work really hard. In fact, it's called blackout dates. They're not even allowed to take a holiday. I mean, family related, but they're not just going to go to Mexico for a week, right? Because it's too busy. Yes. Then January hits and we go into sleep mode and we make make work projects. So then payroll gets tight and I share and get stressed out and gets Sharon stressed out in November, December because we're so busy, we don't have people. And then you hit January and it's like, oh my goodness, I got to make payroll. So he said, Sharon is just to take that pressure off of those times. It's like, okay, but it's going to be. Yeah. Anyway, so it's, it's, that's funny that you bring that up because he's like, I literally had my first meeting yesterday. Melanie: [01:05:05] That's great. Yeah. And so you're using that expertise of somebody, something that is not your strength, but you're bringing somebody in to help with that area that you're not so great at because they are. Sharon: [01:05:16] Mhm. Yeah. I wouldn't have in fact, my bank has reached out for me and I'm like, no, thank you. Melanie: [01:05:21] Yeah. Um, say yes. And like I said, you don't know. Sharon: [01:05:24] Okay, so three books, the secret. The second one was Deepak. Melanie: [01:05:28] Deepak Chopra, D-E-E-P-A-K and Chopra is C-H-O-P-R-A. It says just a small little book. Sharon: [01:05:38] Quick, easy read. Melanie: [01:05:39] Quick, easy read. Yeah. Read a little bit before you go to sleep at night. Short chapters. And then. Sharon: [01:05:44] Then talk, talk. Melanie: [01:05:45] Talk Money to Me. It's a great, great book. How to save, spend and feel good about your money. Sharon: [01:05:51] Okay, so recap establishing clear financial goals. I think that we didn't pinpoint that, but mark it down said goal is how to refer that. So establishing clear financial goals, what are they to you and mark them down? Correct. Melanie: [01:06:04] Right. So that's how I do in the set a goal for myself for the year. And then then work backwards. So say I want to earn 20% more this year. So I set that goal. I actually have a, so I, I like spreadsheets, I have a six month goal plan. And so you you work backwards. So what is that goal? Break it down. What does that mean per month? What do I have to bring in per month? How many clients does that mean I have to bring in per month? And then the strategies, what strategies am I going to employ? And so it's just breaking that down and then revisit that. Like and break it down into chunks because and three months is the longest period you should really look at. So you do look at the year because you have to set that far away goal, but then it's got to be fluid. You've got to be able to massage it, right? So you set the yearly, you break it down into a six month and then in front of you. And I used to have I don't I haven't done my enough for this year and it's already April. A little Post-it note on the corner of my computer. Sharon: [01:07:09] Desktop. Yeah. Melanie: [01:07:10] This is my revenue goal for, for the next quarter. What's my revenue goal? And then I would just write down and on a spreadsheet to what I brought in, what's the gap? What is the gap? Gotcha. How am I going to address this gap? What other efforts am I going to do? Well, maybe I've slipped a little bit on my social marketing. Maybe I haven't called that, uh, you know, that prospecting piece and be dedicated about that prospecting piece. Oh, right. Somebody said they wanted to buy life insurance and I haven't got back to them. Yikes, yikes. You know, I was, you know, so it is helpful to have a coach that's, you know, you're accountable to, but you do have to do the work yourself and put those tools in place. You have to have goals. Otherwise you don't know if you don't know where you're going, you don't know how to get there. Sharon: [01:07:54] So we talked about, we call it a default calendar, but create that calendar that you talked about or take time off to create those goals. And yes, those points underneath it. I believe that you have to dedicate on business for that. Melanie: [01:08:06] Well you do. Yes. Sharon: [01:08:08] For our team here, we incorporated EOS. I don't know if you heard about EOS is entrepreneurial operating system. And it's much like what you talked about because again, as you're growing for me, um, I have all these ideas in my head, but I can't get them out. But I need people in alignment with me. So my general manager sits on the board with me, not a board. It's not really a board. I don't know what it is called, but we meet weekly and my training person, my sales lead, my production lead, and we brainstorm and it's based on quarterly and then weekly and also yearly, three years and five years. So we create what we call rocks together and focus points that we want to work on, and then we break it down individually. So it's because like we have 14 people that we have to try to communicate everything to. So it helps this size for that kind of thing. But regardless, it sounds like the same darn thing. It does same thing. It does. It's the same thing. Melanie: [01:08:57] You're and I'm missing the word is escaping me right now that Christine always uses in terms of, of, you know, working, working backwards. But and then with employees, it sounds like that you're, you know, they're going to buy into it because you're involving them in setting those goals and in achieving those goals. And so you get to buy in, you know, from people. Sharon: [01:09:17] I'm so fortunate. One of my girls has been with me since we opened the door. She was just out of high school. I was her first job. Melanie: [01:09:23] Wow. Sharon: [01:09:23] And then the other one, my general manager, has been with me right out of college. These people have embraced. They run my company better than I do. Like, I'm very, very fortunate. Yeah, I'm very good. Okay. I think that's probably. Are we good? Is there anything that we missed that you'd like to talk about? Melanie: [01:09:37] I don't think so. I think we've covered a lot. Sharon: [01:09:40] A lot. Yes. There are a few points that I left that I had written down that I'm not going to bring up because we're like way over time here. So it might be worth another session down the road, but let's just tell our listeners how they can get Ahold of you, because I think that if you're if we've talked about anything that piqued your interest, I think that you need to give Melanie a call and she's your person to help you with those situations, guide you accordingly or even refer, you know, from her experience as well. -Yeah. So how do they get Ahold of you? Melanie: [01:10:08] My phone number and I text. Text is a great way to reach me at 780-604-3711. I respond like I not 24-7, but that's an easy way to get in touch with me. Email will be its as long as info@melaniecheekfinancial.com. You can go to my website, which is www.melaniecheeckfinancial.com or Facebook. You can message me on Facebook page. Melanie Cheek Financial, you can send me a message through messenger. Um, I am easily accessible and I love giving and I do not charge for my time for helping people, you know, build. If you just, if you choose to work with me in a certain product, then that's how I get paid is by getting the insurance companies, but otherwise I do not charge for my helping people learn and grow. Sharon: [01:11:04] Yeah, wisdom. It's almost like mentoring. Melanie: [01:11:07] Well, it's giving back, right? I've been helped by so many people that, that, uh, you know, it's, it's just, it's all a full circle. Sharon: [01:11:15] Yes. Yeah I agree. Okay. So thank you to our listeners for listening today. I hope you found today's talk helpful. Please subscribe to the podcast and share it with fellow business owners who's looking to grow their business or looking to learn anything about business, because that's what this platform is meant for. And also we want to hear from you if we've encountered or if you've encountered a situation where you're like, what the heck? Or how do I do this? Or whatever the case is, reach out to us because I'd love to find that person that could help you accordingly through their experience and expertise. And I'd love to interview them. So if you have a situation out there that you'd like for us to talk about, please reach out. And also maybe another if you have encouraged or if you've encountered, if you've been through it, been through the trenches, if you've been through something that you would like to share to our listeners, I really strongly reaching out to us. I thank you for everybody for listening to us today. Thank you. And thank you for joining us. Melanie. Melanie: [01:12:04] Thank you so much. It's been an honor. Sharon: [01:12:07] It's been fun. Okay. Over and out, everybody.