Latest / Business Roundtable / Stop Letting Your CPA Keep You Broke: Strategic Wealth, Tax, and Profit Planning

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Stop Letting Your CPA Keep You Broke: Strategic Wealth, Tax, and Profit Planning · Business Roundtable

0:13
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Business Roundtable Podcasts. I'm your host,
0:16
Speaker 1: David Carr Founders Do with Your Business, where I bring
0:18
Speaker 1: people together to accomplish great things, including a brand new
0:21
Speaker 1: guest on this episode, Katrina Kraft. Welcome to the podcast. Katrina,
0:26
Speaker 1: Thank you, David.
0:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
0:27
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm super excited to have you here today because
0:30
Speaker 1: there has been for those of you have been living
0:33
Speaker 1: in the United States at least, we've had a lot
0:35
Speaker 1: of uncertainty in this year, financial planning, all of that
0:39
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And Katrina is a CPA wealth strategist.
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Speaker 1: She really helps entrepreneurs, those professionals that really want to
0:46
Speaker 1: build sustainable wealth and helping with strategy, which I'm excited
0:50
Speaker 1: to have her unpack with us today. And no matter
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Speaker 1: where it's happening, whether it's in Washington or Wall Street
0:56
Speaker 1: or your hometown Main Street, here is Katrina to help
0:59
Speaker 1: us to the kind of navigate that. So, Katrina, I'm
1:02
Speaker 1: so glad to have you here because I think there's
1:03
Speaker 1: a lot of people like holding on to dear life
1:05
Speaker 1: at times and like what's going to happen next, and
1:09
Speaker 1: you know, and I'd love to have you before we
1:11
Speaker 1: dive into the media that I would love to have
1:12
Speaker 1: you talk a little bit about your journey because I
1:14
Speaker 1: know you've done strategic you know, tax planning, CPA, but
1:18
Speaker 1: you've really I felt like why I want to have
1:20
Speaker 1: on the podcast is it's not just that, but it's
1:21
Speaker 1: really strategic wealth planning, which I think is a little
1:24
Speaker 1: different than maybe people have heard in the past. So
1:27
Speaker 1: if you don't mind take us through a little bit
1:28
Speaker 1: of your journey to where you're at now and what
1:31
Speaker 1: you're doing.
1:33
Speaker 2: I love to start off saying something that's controversial.
1:37
Speaker 3: Your accountant is keeping you broke.
1:40
Speaker 2: And the reason I say that is that I'm a
1:43
Speaker 2: CPA and I started with traditional accounting, which is all
1:47
Speaker 2: about compliance, making sure that the Davidson credit are correct,
1:52
Speaker 2: you're recording your transactions, and you're filing with the IRS
1:56
Speaker 2: as they tell you to file. But as I begin
2:00
Speaker 2: to study well building and tax strategies, I realized that
2:04
Speaker 2: most entrepreneurs were not failing and lacking cash because they
2:09
Speaker 2: had lack of ideas. It was because they had not
2:11
Speaker 2: been taught how to use the tax code strategically and
2:15
Speaker 2: how to grow their profitability by looking at the cash
2:19
Speaker 2: flow and the bottom number. So because of that, I
2:23
Speaker 2: developed the Craft Money Map system, which allows business owners
2:28
Speaker 2: to grow their wealth, build their wealth and really grow
2:32
Speaker 2: profitable strategically. Like you said, it's really about strategic and
2:37
Speaker 2: not waiting until tax time to make decisions.
2:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
2:41
Speaker 1: I think that's so important as much as I focus
2:45
Speaker 1: strategically on your peoples to it and your people. I
2:47
Speaker 1: want to have you on the podcast her Katrina, because
2:49
Speaker 1: you're looking at those things that sometimes business owners are not.
2:52
Speaker 1: And I think what I hear sometimes, Katrina is they'll
2:54
Speaker 1: meet with their CPA once a year and that's it
2:57
Speaker 1: and that's like, oh, well, let's check the boxes. But
3:00
Speaker 1: that to me what you're hearing you say, and I
3:02
Speaker 1: love want you to unpack this some more, is you know,
3:04
Speaker 1: not is you have to look at this more.
3:07
Speaker 2: You can't just be once a year, right, correct, Yeah,
3:10
Speaker 2: once a year is really too late, and especially the
3:12
Speaker 2: year has already ended. So if you go to your
3:15
Speaker 2: tax preparer, it's not their fault. First of all, they're
3:18
Speaker 2: super busy at the time that they're doing taxes. They
3:22
Speaker 2: don't have time to strategize, and at that point you're
3:26
Speaker 2: still trying to gather your data.
3:27
Speaker 3: Most of the time you're missing data because throughout the year.
3:30
Speaker 2: You don't even recognize what you don't know, and you
3:33
Speaker 2: don't recognize that you're missing opportunities to do those strategic
3:37
Speaker 2: type of planning and deductions. So it's really not their fault.
3:41
Speaker 2: It's because we're not proactive. You're reacting to something that
3:46
Speaker 2: is already too late and already done.
3:49
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean I think we have to think yeah, yeah,
3:52
Speaker 1: definitely further ahead. I've seen this where Katrina work. Companies
3:55
Speaker 1: are hiring and they don't realize the ratifications of what
3:58
Speaker 1: maybe they have a certain threshold of employees and other
4:00
Speaker 1: things that they have to start providing to them. They
4:03
Speaker 1: have been planned for that, and like you said, if
4:06
Speaker 1: they're waiting, it's just too late, instead of like what's
4:09
Speaker 1: your forecast, what's your plan and having somebody like you,
4:11
Speaker 1: Quadrina meet with them and say here, let me let's
4:14
Speaker 1: do these check ins and pulses if you will, to
4:16
Speaker 1: make sure that we're on target or off target? Right?
4:20
Speaker 3: Correct?
4:21
Speaker 2: And I love that you brought in that you're helping
4:24
Speaker 2: with the people side, because people are the second biggest
4:28
Speaker 2: expense after you think about taxes, and really understanding who
4:33
Speaker 2: your people are, like, are they in the right seat
4:36
Speaker 2: on the right bus, right then looking at how you
4:39
Speaker 2: can help your people to grow, and it's a tax
4:43
Speaker 2: deduction when you hire people certain types of employee benefits
4:47
Speaker 2: or tax deduction that incentivizes your people. And so really
4:51
Speaker 2: understanding that whole structure is very important. I think a
4:56
Speaker 2: lot of people miss that too. They just hire people
4:58
Speaker 2: they think they may need them. But you and you're like,
5:01
Speaker 2: how do you work with maybe the people you have
5:04
Speaker 2: so that they are being productive?
5:05
Speaker 3: And that's important and it's all about the strategy.
5:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I mean right now, we're you know, we're
5:11
Speaker 1: recording this now here in October twenty twenty five. As
5:15
Speaker 1: we're going in the end of the year, there's been
5:17
Speaker 1: a lot of transition. We're actually in the middle of
5:19
Speaker 1: a government shut down. What does that look like? Whereas
5:22
Speaker 1: if you're depending on government funding for example, other things
5:25
Speaker 1: there that you don't have that potentially right now, we
5:27
Speaker 1: have potential shifts in healthcare policies, right and so or
5:32
Speaker 1: international trade. There's been a lot of uncertainties there. So
5:35
Speaker 1: I think, you know, these things are like ongoing. It's
5:37
Speaker 1: not like it's just set it and forget it. There's
5:40
Speaker 1: constant shifts and I think what happens I see, Kritrina.
5:44
Speaker 1: Sometimes people do things they're emotionally driven. They're they're like,
5:48
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, this is happening. And I don't think
5:50
Speaker 1: any of us make wise decisions when we're more triggered emotionally, right,
5:54
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah.
5:55
Speaker 3: That's correct.
5:56
Speaker 2: I mean at that point, you're a lot of times
5:58
Speaker 2: in survival mode and that is reactive and you may
6:02
Speaker 2: not be making the best choices. That's why you should
6:04
Speaker 2: be strategic. Because we've seen government shut downs before.
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Speaker 3: It's nothing new.
6:10
Speaker 2: So if you are involved in governmental contracts or anything
6:13
Speaker 2: that involves the government, you need to have a strategy
6:16
Speaker 2: if this happens. They've been talking about it that it
6:19
Speaker 2: could happen, Well, plan ahead for it. You know, we
6:22
Speaker 2: have a new tax laws. We know that it could happen.
6:26
Speaker 2: They've been talking about that as well. So what does
6:28
Speaker 2: that mean for you strategizing? Like we were talking to
6:32
Speaker 2: our clients about what could happen. You don't know what's
6:34
Speaker 2: going to happen until the law passed, but still, what
6:38
Speaker 2: could happen and what do you need to do to
6:40
Speaker 2: put in place now so that you're prepared and you're
6:44
Speaker 2: not caught paying the irs more than you need to.
6:47
Speaker 2: So it is important just all around to just have
6:50
Speaker 2: a plan. And now at the end of the year,
6:53
Speaker 2: it's a great time.
6:54
Speaker 3: That's what you should be doing.
6:56
Speaker 2: You should be looking at strategy, looking at your twenty
6:59
Speaker 2: two twenty six. What can you do to first of all,
7:04
Speaker 2: at the end of the year, buy different assets that
7:07
Speaker 2: maybe you can get a huge tax deduction on. You
7:10
Speaker 2: may have different expenses that you can take this year
7:13
Speaker 2: instead of next year. But if you don't know your
7:15
Speaker 2: numbers and know that you need a deduction, then you
7:18
Speaker 2: don't know if it's time for you to spend on
7:20
Speaker 2: December thirty first or January first, right, piece of it.
7:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've seen businesses and I think this is important too, Katrina,
7:28
Speaker 1: because I've worked with professional services businesses and some of
7:31
Speaker 1: them in the way that they're doing their accounting is
7:33
Speaker 1: it makes sense to And again I'm not the specialist,
7:36
Speaker 1: so you tell me, But you know, I see the
7:37
Speaker 1: people of like are we a cash basis or we're
7:40
Speaker 1: a crual basis? How are we going to recognize revenue?
7:43
Speaker 1: These are things I see, like come up, It's like,
7:45
Speaker 1: what's the strategy? When are we going to receive that money.
7:48
Speaker 1: How are we going to do that? I think these
7:49
Speaker 1: are all things that need to talk with you about
7:51
Speaker 1: because it has a big impact. You can have a big,
7:53
Speaker 1: big tax bill, right depending on if you make the
7:54
Speaker 1: wrong decision in one of these areas correct.
7:57
Speaker 2: And making the decision at the wrong year could be
8:01
Speaker 2: just as impactful is not spending at all because maybe
8:05
Speaker 2: you don't need the deduction this year.
8:07
Speaker 3: If you know you're going to get a big.
8:08
Speaker 2: Contract in the next year, you may want to wait
8:12
Speaker 2: to do certain type of purchases. So that's why it's
8:16
Speaker 2: not too late to plan for the next year now.
8:19
Speaker 2: And then there's still good time because we're at the
8:21
Speaker 2: end of the year to make some decisions now that
8:24
Speaker 2: are really going to impact tax time.
8:26
Speaker 1: Mm hm. So I love that you say, Okay, you
8:30
Speaker 1: know there's a there's a tax compliance. Okay, to check
8:33
Speaker 1: the boxes, right, but how do you how do businesses
8:36
Speaker 1: balance that? Okay compliance whichever you know. I think you're
8:39
Speaker 1: you're minimizing risks there, but also where you can you know,
8:43
Speaker 1: be you know, legally and ethnically creative in like coming through?
8:47
Speaker 1: Is that where you come through in the strategy Katrina,
8:48
Speaker 1: And you're like helping them like, hey, this is how
8:51
Speaker 1: I see the law. This is how we can because
8:53
Speaker 1: I feel like that's why you said they could be
8:54
Speaker 1: losing money, because if you're just checking the boxes, it's
8:56
Speaker 1: like the law does allow for these certain things, right,
8:59
Speaker 1: just create if you will.
9:01
Speaker 2: Yes, Well, the tax code is over six thousand pages,
9:04
Speaker 2: first of all, and the IRS says business owners can
9:08
Speaker 2: deduct what's ordinary and necessary. Now that's very vague if
9:13
Speaker 2: you think about it. But you need to know your industry.
9:16
Speaker 2: And that's important too to work with someone that knows
9:19
Speaker 2: your industry because I don't work with restaurants. I don't
9:22
Speaker 2: know what's ordinary and necessary in the restaurant industry. So
9:27
Speaker 2: there are things that you need to definitely when you're
9:29
Speaker 2: looking for a CPA tax provider strategists, hopefully you're working
9:33
Speaker 2: with a strategist. They know your industry because they know
9:36
Speaker 2: what's ordinary and necessary. And that's where the tax code
9:39
Speaker 2: and utilizing the tax code comes in, because I say,
9:42
Speaker 2: the tax code is not fair, but that is your
9:47
Speaker 2: opportunity to utilize it to your benefit because it benefits
9:50
Speaker 2: business owners and investors.
9:52
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, I really like that. Finding some means
9:57
Speaker 1: it's varied. I don't work in the entertainment industry. You know,
10:01
Speaker 1: historically in the EEC architecture, engineering, environmental consulting, professional services space,
10:05
Speaker 1: so like I know that part of it, but like
10:07
Speaker 1: you said, if you go to other industry, I don't
10:10
Speaker 1: know a manufacturing is not my area of expertise. What
10:13
Speaker 1: is allowed or what is like you said, you know
10:17
Speaker 1: industry standard if you will, and so you can get yourself.
10:20
Speaker 1: I think I can see where you get yourself into
10:22
Speaker 1: a lot of trouble if you're not aware of that
10:24
Speaker 1: and understanding understanding that right, Yeah.
10:27
Speaker 2: And when I look at the profitability, I'm looking at
10:30
Speaker 2: the nuances of the business. So I work with agencies
10:33
Speaker 2: and practices and looking at those.
10:36
Speaker 3: There are different rules.
10:38
Speaker 2: The IRS actually has different audit rules and checks depending
10:41
Speaker 2: on your code for your business.
10:43
Speaker 3: So knowing that and knowing.
10:45
Speaker 2: What's common like common you know, KPIs that you're looking at,
10:50
Speaker 2: that's how I help my business with profitabilities. I know
10:53
Speaker 2: you know some businesses have a three percent profitability if
10:56
Speaker 2: you may be in construction, but that's not the people
10:59
Speaker 2: who I serve. So if you are at three percent
11:01
Speaker 2: and you're a practice owner or an agency, I know
11:04
Speaker 2: that we have some work that we need to do.
11:06
Speaker 2: So understanding all of that, Like for you, you have
11:09
Speaker 2: to understand salaries. You probably deal with like how do
11:14
Speaker 2: people work in these type of environments, and so that's
11:17
Speaker 2: important to work with a specialist in your industry.
11:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean if there's a big difference between
11:22
Speaker 1: hiring employees and like you said, all the taxes there
11:25
Speaker 1: or independent subcontractors, those are totally different things. What is
11:29
Speaker 1: your business products that works. I'm here in California, so
11:31
Speaker 1: most of the time most of the businesses have to
11:32
Speaker 1: hire employees. They can use subcontractors. The California has made
11:36
Speaker 1: it more difficult exactly, no matter and they can have
11:41
Speaker 1: subcontractors as much problem Mike Katrina.
11:44
Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, and California made it hard because a lot
11:48
Speaker 2: of different states started looking at how California treating contractors
11:53
Speaker 2: and so it's really a fine line. You definitely need
11:56
Speaker 2: to understand how the IRS treats contractors and employees because
12:01
Speaker 2: you can be fined and what will happen is if
12:05
Speaker 2: you treat someone as a contract or they should be
12:07
Speaker 2: an employee. You're going to have the fines and the
12:10
Speaker 2: back taxes and the interests that go along with that.
12:13
Speaker 2: So you really need to understand tax compliance is important,
12:16
Speaker 2: but then using strategies on how to maximize your deductions
12:21
Speaker 2: when you are hiring you know, individuals.
12:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, so when you're looking at the strategy, Katrina, what
12:31
Speaker 1: walk us through a little bit of like your your plan,
12:33
Speaker 1: how you break it down, because I love to hear
12:35
Speaker 1: your own take on this, because not everybody has this strategy.
12:38
Speaker 1: They're doing the ones your check in and so we
12:41
Speaker 1: would so what are the things that they should be
12:42
Speaker 1: asking or somebody working with somebody like yourself, Patrina like, oh,
12:45
Speaker 1: I never even think about that. In the strategy sessions.
12:49
Speaker 2: I like to look at the different thresholds or different
12:53
Speaker 2: phases of your business. So once you reach the six figures,
12:57
Speaker 2: you really need to be focusing on entity structure and
13:00
Speaker 2: you need to be focusing on deductions. A lot of
13:03
Speaker 2: people set up LLCs. They have no idea LLC is
13:06
Speaker 2: only at the state level. It's not a taxable entity
13:10
Speaker 2: as far as the IRS is concerned. So you have
13:12
Speaker 2: to elect if you want to be an escort, s,
13:14
Speaker 2: court partnership or sole proprietorship. So at the that level,
13:19
Speaker 2: that's what you need to focus on and have attack strategists.
13:22
Speaker 2: I would say quarterly that you're working with someone. When
13:25
Speaker 2: you're going into the multi six figures in seven and
13:28
Speaker 2: eight figures, that's when things change where you need to
13:31
Speaker 2: be working with someone monthly.
13:33
Speaker 3: You need to be looking at.
13:35
Speaker 2: Your strategy and making these decisions because you're probably leaking
13:39
Speaker 2: profits in various areas in tax and then just looking
13:42
Speaker 2: at your profitability and your balance sheet and your profit
13:47
Speaker 2: and loss, and so you need to be working with someone.
13:50
Speaker 2: They're going to look at attack strategies. We're going to
13:52
Speaker 2: look at different forms of distributions, like how do you
13:56
Speaker 2: do your distributions investing, also different deductions, maybe having multiple entities.
14:03
Speaker 2: We're going to look at income shifting, so shifting it
14:05
Speaker 2: from your high income to maybe a different income sector.
14:08
Speaker 2: So those are the types of things we do when
14:10
Speaker 2: we're looking at those. The second or the third phase
14:14
Speaker 2: is when you are making money consistently and you start
14:18
Speaker 2: to invest it in other opportunities like real estate. We
14:21
Speaker 2: talk about real estate investors. We work with all in
14:24
Speaker 2: gas people that are investing in all in gas, solar,
14:28
Speaker 2: so all these other types of investments that you can
14:31
Speaker 2: use your business income to actually grow and some of
14:35
Speaker 2: that is passive and so you have money coming in
14:38
Speaker 2: while your business is still producing. So say, for instance,
14:41
Speaker 2: you are in governmental sector and you've been shut down, Okay,
14:44
Speaker 2: well now I have this other type of income that
14:47
Speaker 2: is still bringing me money. So those are the phases
14:50
Speaker 2: that I look at. And so the strategies really depend
14:52
Speaker 2: on where you are in your business and in your
14:55
Speaker 2: life as far as your financials.
14:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's so so important that the that
15:00
Speaker 1: journey because I do hear like you said, you know,
15:04
Speaker 1: the LLC to the es CORP. How are you going
15:06
Speaker 1: to recognize right and how are you gonna get paid?
15:09
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of businesses also when they're
15:11
Speaker 1: doing well as far as like you're saying that sick
15:13
Speaker 1: seven figures figures hopefully is they're getting those spaces of
15:17
Speaker 1: like what are they what do they need to be
15:19
Speaker 1: thinking differently like you said that monthly review. And I
15:23
Speaker 1: think especially like you mentioned, because I work with a
15:25
Speaker 1: lot of business owners that maybe want to sell their
15:27
Speaker 1: businesses in the next five, seven, eight years. There's a
15:29
Speaker 1: lot of people I see in the baby boomer generation
15:32
Speaker 1: they're like, hey, I'm going to be selling my business.
15:34
Speaker 1: How are they once that business goes away, they're making
15:36
Speaker 1: revenue now, they're making once they leave that and they
15:40
Speaker 1: maybe maybe they make a decent amount, hopefully they do
15:42
Speaker 1: when they sell their business. But you know, what's that
15:45
Speaker 1: what's their income source after that?
15:47
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, that's important. That's important.
15:50
Speaker 2: And even as you prepare to sell your business, there
15:54
Speaker 2: are things you need to do. Because I do work
15:57
Speaker 2: with practice owners and they're looking to say, but sell,
16:02
Speaker 2: there's certain things that's going to improve the.
16:04
Speaker 3: Amount that you get when you sell.
16:06
Speaker 2: So having the processes, having good financials, having assets on
16:10
Speaker 2: the books, having low liability, So you need to work.
16:13
Speaker 2: If you know you want to sell in the next
16:15
Speaker 2: five years, there's some work that you need to do
16:18
Speaker 2: so that when you present your company, someone feels I'm
16:22
Speaker 2: coming into something that's strong, that already has the processes,
16:26
Speaker 2: already knows their accounting, already knows the different tax aspects
16:30
Speaker 2: of how they would be profitable, and they know they're
16:33
Speaker 2: getting a profitable business that's going to get you more
16:35
Speaker 2: money than if you just have you have financials that
16:39
Speaker 2: are out of shape. You know, I've seen businesses try
16:42
Speaker 2: to sell and they don't even have financial statements.
16:45
Speaker 3: I'm like, how do you do that?
16:46
Speaker 2: And so all of that is important that you are
16:49
Speaker 2: ready to sell. And then after you sell, of course
16:52
Speaker 2: you can invest. You may have investments and other types
16:55
Speaker 2: of hope.
16:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully, I would say, you know, for those folks,
16:58
Speaker 1: like you said, Okay, maybe they haven't had the check in,
17:01
Speaker 1: they haven't had that reality check of where they're at Katrina,
17:05
Speaker 1: and like you said, their financial house is not in order.
17:09
Speaker 1: You know, what's in your experience? What's the turnaround time
17:13
Speaker 1: when they work with you to kind of get clearer
17:16
Speaker 1: and like, okay, this is you know, we've kind of
17:18
Speaker 1: got a mess here. We got to detangle this and
17:21
Speaker 1: and when they come to your Katrina and kind of
17:23
Speaker 1: can you maybe give us a case set of or
17:25
Speaker 1: example of clients you work with, But like, what is
17:27
Speaker 1: that turnaround story, Ben, when your experience, when you're working
17:30
Speaker 1: with those individuals that are like help, they finally say
17:32
Speaker 1: I need help, right, they raise their hand and they
17:35
Speaker 1: finally come to you and they say, I know I'm
17:38
Speaker 1: off and I need your help Katrina.
17:41
Speaker 2: So the Craft Money Map is a five month program
17:44
Speaker 2: and in the first month, our target is to let
17:48
Speaker 2: you see twenty five percent reduction in your taxes.
17:52
Speaker 3: What we do is we do a strategy workup.
17:55
Speaker 2: We look at your last two years of tax returns,
17:57
Speaker 2: we see what you're missing, and then we look at
17:59
Speaker 2: your current financials to see what we can actually deduct.
18:03
Speaker 3: I like to have quick wins because people's.
18:06
Speaker 2: Minds want to see that they're getting a return on
18:10
Speaker 2: their investment. And that's the thing, like when I look
18:12
Speaker 2: at that within the first month, I know if I
18:15
Speaker 2: can help you save money, or if you're not committed
18:18
Speaker 2: to doing the things, then we need to end our
18:20
Speaker 2: contract because I am about seeing those results. That's what
18:24
Speaker 2: brings me joy when I see the clients actually being impacted.
18:29
Speaker 2: So that's the first thing, and the next four months,
18:31
Speaker 2: we're implementing those strategies that we've outlined, so it's usually
18:35
Speaker 2: a thirty page strategy, and then we pick the top
18:39
Speaker 2: ones that we can implement and make the most impact
18:42
Speaker 2: over the next five months. And you're working with me
18:44
Speaker 2: to implement those, so I'm not leaving you by yourself
18:47
Speaker 2: because I found.
18:48
Speaker 3: That doesn't work.
18:49
Speaker 2: Then you have to work with them so that we're
18:51
Speaker 2: implementing those strategies the right way. And what I like
18:54
Speaker 2: to say is like at least twenty five percent tax
18:57
Speaker 2: savings and then increase in profitability of twenty percent. That
19:01
Speaker 2: is our goal and we've seen eighty five percent of
19:04
Speaker 2: our clients be able to reach that. So I'm very
19:06
Speaker 2: happy and that's why I say you got to be committed.
19:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's ex excellent. Well that was my follow
19:11
Speaker 1: up question is like, you know what, when you're working
19:14
Speaker 1: with a business owner, what do you have you seen
19:16
Speaker 1: for them? Like, so if you're speaking to me, like, hey,
19:19
Speaker 1: I'm going to do my part, but what do they
19:21
Speaker 1: need to do? How, what's what's what's their involvement of
19:23
Speaker 1: Like you know, it's not just set it and forget.
19:25
Speaker 1: It's like here, Kastrina is just going to solve my problem.
19:27
Speaker 1: We talk a little bit about kind of the mindset
19:29
Speaker 1: and approach and the way that they need to be
19:31
Speaker 1: so that they're going to be successful working with you,
19:34
Speaker 1: collaborating with you, Katrina.
19:36
Speaker 2: Yes, So first, once we figure out your goals, that's
19:40
Speaker 2: the first thing.
19:41
Speaker 3: I need to know your goals. Everybody's goal is different.
19:43
Speaker 2: Some people may say I'm fine with five hundred thousand,
19:47
Speaker 2: let me be profitable with that. Other people have a
19:50
Speaker 2: goal like selling their company. So if that's your goal.
19:53
Speaker 3: How do we get you there? So I really want
19:55
Speaker 3: to understand your goal. So first be honest. Yeah, and
19:58
Speaker 3: dream big. I like people to dream big.
20:01
Speaker 2: So my mindset is your dream big, and we put
20:03
Speaker 2: it down and we see how we can make it possible.
20:06
Speaker 3: So you know, they say, what, uh, shoot for.
20:09
Speaker 2: The moon and maybe you'll reach the stars or the Yeah, yeah, yeah,
20:14
Speaker 2: have a get out there.
20:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, stretch yourself. So I'm gonna stretch you.
20:19
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say, like if someone says, well, you know,
20:22
Speaker 2: I may want to vote, I'm gonna say, well, you
20:24
Speaker 2: want a.
20:24
Speaker 3: Yat, you know. So we're gonna stretch you. And so
20:28
Speaker 3: be open to that. And then I need you Your.
20:31
Speaker 2: Financials need to be up to date. We do do bookkeeping,
20:34
Speaker 2: but I prefer not to do that. I want you
20:37
Speaker 2: to have someone that you're working with consistently. If we
20:41
Speaker 2: need to catch you up, we can do that because
20:43
Speaker 2: we're gonna need to see your numbers.
20:45
Speaker 3: So be open to that.
20:46
Speaker 2: Be open to talking about your numbers. The number is
20:49
Speaker 2: just the number. Money is just something that gets you
20:52
Speaker 2: to something else. Don't be hindered thinking money is good
20:56
Speaker 2: or bad.
20:57
Speaker 3: It's just a resource.
20:59
Speaker 2: And so we talked about, you know, doing that and
21:02
Speaker 2: then working with me is twice a month we're implementing.
21:06
Speaker 2: So you're talking with me twice a month for an hour.
21:08
Speaker 2: During that time we're doing some implementation, and then you're
21:11
Speaker 2: leaving with some homework.
21:13
Speaker 3: So you may have an hour worth of homework each
21:16
Speaker 3: time we talk.
21:17
Speaker 2: So I would say, commit, you have to commit to
21:19
Speaker 2: four hours a month. Yeah, and then give me the
21:24
Speaker 2: documents that I need. Because if I say let's hire
21:26
Speaker 2: your children and you never give me your child's name
21:28
Speaker 2: or age or anything that they can do, the strategy
21:32
Speaker 2: is not going to work. So that's what I said,
21:33
Speaker 2: do the homework. It's not difficult. I'm going to step
21:36
Speaker 2: you through. I don't expect you to be a tax
21:38
Speaker 2: advisor because if so, you would need me. I need
21:42
Speaker 2: you to be a business owner that is in your
21:44
Speaker 2: business and understanding that profitability and cash flow is important.
21:48
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Well, and I think I like how you
21:50
Speaker 1: first started with it. What what is your goal? What
21:53
Speaker 1: will be kind of begin with the end of mind,
21:54
Speaker 1: where do you want to go with this? And they
21:57
Speaker 1: start something and then they're like, I don't know quite
21:58
Speaker 1: where I want to go with this, and So is
22:00
Speaker 1: it just you know, do you just want to is
22:02
Speaker 1: this a lifestyle? We just want to make a certain
22:03
Speaker 1: amount of money? Is it that you want to help
22:06
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, grow and sell it? Is
22:09
Speaker 1: it something that you know where what is it? What
22:11
Speaker 1: is what is it that you really really want? And
22:13
Speaker 1: working with Katrina, and this is what I found working
22:16
Speaker 1: with business under two Katrina is if they're not clear
22:18
Speaker 1: about this, you know, it's it's it affects everybody in
22:22
Speaker 1: the organization. Other folks that are like, I'm not quite
22:24
Speaker 1: clear where we're going, What's what's the priority, What's what's
22:26
Speaker 1: important here? And so I love that you hold that
22:29
Speaker 1: mirror back up to them and say what is that
22:31
Speaker 1: because then we can there's different ways to get get there, right.
22:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
22:35
Speaker 2: And and you know, as a advisor, I'm asking you that,
22:40
Speaker 2: but my coach asks me the same questions because I
22:43
Speaker 2: have to be clear that when I say it, other
22:47
Speaker 2: people understand it, like my team.
22:49
Speaker 3: So it's not that I'm just you know, giving it
22:52
Speaker 3: to you.
22:52
Speaker 2: I get it back and I have to dig deep
22:55
Speaker 2: because sometimes you're like, what do I really want?
22:58
Speaker 3: You have to really think about that and is it lifestyle?
23:01
Speaker 2: Like you said, do you want more time with your
23:03
Speaker 2: family or do you want to just grow this business
23:06
Speaker 2: and sell it or do you want to build multimillions
23:09
Speaker 2: and then bring a partner in. So there's different things
23:11
Speaker 2: that you may want, and being clear on that is
23:14
Speaker 2: the first step, because that's going to allow me to
23:16
Speaker 2: say you need this type of structure. We work with
23:19
Speaker 2: asset protection attorneys so that if we do need to
23:22
Speaker 2: develop different.
23:23
Speaker 3: Types of businesses, we can do that.
23:25
Speaker 2: But if we don't know where you're going, we can't
23:27
Speaker 2: help you with the road map. It's called craft Money Map,
23:31
Speaker 2: and so it's the map, but I need to know
23:33
Speaker 2: that end point where you're trying to go.
23:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:36
Speaker 1: Well, and the other thing I think that stood out
23:39
Speaker 1: to me what you were talking is that you know
23:41
Speaker 1: money is is just an indicator. It's not good or bad.
23:44
Speaker 1: It just is. But I feel like I've had attorneys
23:47
Speaker 1: on on on the podcast in the past, and I
23:50
Speaker 1: think coming a similar maybe experience that you've had, like
23:53
Speaker 1: they're like, I can really help you, but if you
23:55
Speaker 1: don't come and talk to me, it's like the doctor,
23:57
Speaker 1: Like the doctor will help you, but if you're like,
23:58
Speaker 1: well I don't want to. I'm embarrassed or I don't
24:01
Speaker 1: really want to talk about that. I don't I'm going
24:03
Speaker 1: to feel like And I talked with attorneys and I'm
24:06
Speaker 1: sure you're the same way, Katrina, where they're like, I'm
24:07
Speaker 1: not going to make you feel bad about where you're at.
24:09
Speaker 1: It's just the facts that we're at. But they're like,
24:11
Speaker 1: I don't want to say because I feel like they're
24:12
Speaker 1: going to make me feel dumb or I feel like,
24:14
Speaker 1: you know, I'm inferior, right, I mean have you have
24:17
Speaker 1: you dealt with that with with Oh?
24:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean people have money shame, and you know,
24:22
Speaker 2: I love that. I've had some clients that come to me,
24:25
Speaker 2: like after they got a tax letter and they were
24:27
Speaker 2: just frantic and they were like, you like the text psychiatrist,
24:31
Speaker 2: So the text, you know, I just make them feel comforcause,
24:33
Speaker 2: like it's fine, I will handle it and just think,
24:37
Speaker 2: like you said, the analogy of a doctor. They have
24:39
Speaker 2: to get the X ray. They have to see what's
24:43
Speaker 2: in your body. So if there is something they can
24:46
Speaker 2: help cure it, we want to give a remedy and opening.
24:51
Speaker 3: It up and letting us examine it.
24:54
Speaker 2: Examining you, you know, is just helping you get a
24:57
Speaker 2: remedy and a prescription to to fix or improved, or
25:01
Speaker 2: we may say, oh, you're one hundred percent healthy, go
25:03
Speaker 2: run a marathon.
25:05
Speaker 3: You know, we just need to know where we are today.
25:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would. I'm curious. One of the tools I
25:12
Speaker 1: use in my practice called the five Voices, where I
25:14
Speaker 1: talk with people and see if they're more future oriented
25:16
Speaker 1: or more present oriented their voices. What curious to think
25:18
Speaker 1: about when you work with clients. Some people that are
25:20
Speaker 1: just looking like literally at the day to day and
25:22
Speaker 1: they're not looking in the future. And maybe the flip
25:24
Speaker 1: side where your people that are like totally looking at hey,
25:26
Speaker 1: this is the big picture, but they're not taking care
25:27
Speaker 1: of the things in the day to day. Do you
25:29
Speaker 1: see that within your practice?
25:31
Speaker 3: I do see that because there are different personalities.
25:34
Speaker 2: They're pe very futuristic and that's good, and so maybe
25:38
Speaker 2: you may need a board of directors that can help
25:40
Speaker 2: you say this is where we are today because you
25:44
Speaker 2: need the futuristic, because you need to have those big
25:47
Speaker 2: ideas and know where you want to go and where
25:49
Speaker 2: you want to end. And then if you're too just
25:52
Speaker 2: narrow sighted again, you need someone else, maybe your spouse
25:56
Speaker 2: or a friend, that's on your board or board member
25:59
Speaker 2: that can help you say, okay, well, where do you
26:01
Speaker 2: want to go in five years, because then we can
26:03
Speaker 2: take small steps to get here. So we still we
26:06
Speaker 2: need the five year but then if you like the
26:09
Speaker 2: small steps, we're going to develop the small steps to
26:12
Speaker 2: get you.
26:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
26:13
Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah, So you're helping them look at
26:17
Speaker 1: all of that. You're looking at the things that you
26:18
Speaker 1: need to do immediately, and then the things that are like, hey,
26:21
Speaker 1: these are the things we should start considering as we
26:24
Speaker 1: go into the future. And again, I'm a more future
26:26
Speaker 1: orient person, so I benefit from folks, especially my bookkeeper
26:30
Speaker 1: that's like, hey, looking at everything every month, because I
26:32
Speaker 1: won't always do it and it would get away from me, right,
26:35
Speaker 1: and you're like a big mess, you know.
26:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why it's good to have someone like you said,
26:40
Speaker 2: a bookkeeper that's every month, and then a strategist us
26:43
Speaker 2: every month, because even if you're short, every month is
26:47
Speaker 2: going to be good to say, Okay, let's do this
26:49
Speaker 2: tomorrow or next week.
26:51
Speaker 3: Where if you're futuristic, we're.
26:53
Speaker 2: Saying, okay, you want to sell your company five years,
26:56
Speaker 2: this is what we need to do now. So then
26:58
Speaker 2: in five years, you're prepared.
27:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, always to have that absolutely. I know we're getting
27:06
Speaker 1: close to into the podcast. You've gotten so many great
27:08
Speaker 1: things we are. I want to make sure that the
27:09
Speaker 1: listeners know we are connected on LinkedIn, so you guys
27:12
Speaker 1: can connect with Katrina and I there. But we're going
27:14
Speaker 1: to put make sure her website is in our show
27:16
Speaker 1: notes and all that stuff, so you guys can reach
27:18
Speaker 1: out to Katrina and of course leave comments anywhere, whether
27:21
Speaker 1: you're seeing us on LinkedIn or YouTube or wherever you're
27:24
Speaker 1: finding us on your favorite podcast platform. We appreciate you
27:27
Speaker 1: guys subscribing and following along there. Leave comments, leave your feedback,
27:30
Speaker 1: because Katrina is just a great resource and I know
27:34
Speaker 1: I would love to hear from you and like Katrina
27:36
Speaker 1: like exploring and saying, hey, I don't maybe I don't
27:38
Speaker 1: know where to begin, and having that conversation with you
27:41
Speaker 1: as saying, here's where's where you're at in that life
27:44
Speaker 1: cycle of the business, right because you've worked with so
27:46
Speaker 1: many business owners and businesses that you say, okay, well
27:49
Speaker 1: I see where you're at now, and I see where
27:52
Speaker 1: you could be heading right correct.
27:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like to see the whole funnel, so you know,
28:00
Speaker 2: funnel in your business where you're starting and then it
28:03
Speaker 2: may change and so you're in a different rotation. But
28:07
Speaker 2: it's good to look at businesses that way.
28:10
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And I'm in the same way Katrina, where you
28:13
Speaker 1: when you're a smaller business and you're you're growing, you
28:16
Speaker 1: have different employee challenges, people challenges as you're growing, and
28:19
Speaker 1: so the same thing the financial ramifications. What does that
28:22
Speaker 1: look like? And I think hopefully as you guys are
28:24
Speaker 1: listening to Katrina here on the podcast, you know, I
28:27
Speaker 1: have somebody else that I can talk to. I have
28:28
Speaker 1: somebody else that I could listen into and get ideas
28:32
Speaker 1: and perspective on. And that's why I love Katrina coming,
28:35
Speaker 1: you coming on the podcast, giving the philosophag get before
28:38
Speaker 1: you get. You're coming and proviting value. You're letting people
28:40
Speaker 1: hear your philosophy, your plan, your map of how to
28:44
Speaker 1: help them navigate this. I want to ask you as
28:47
Speaker 1: we're kind of getting we're getting closely into the podcast here,
28:50
Speaker 1: if you know the business owner has listening to this
28:54
Speaker 1: and they're like, Okay, you've got a lot of things
28:55
Speaker 1: swirling in my brain here, what would you encourage them
28:59
Speaker 1: to do if they after they listen to this podcast
29:01
Speaker 1: and click off, because we always want to help them
29:03
Speaker 1: be actionable and not just take it again this obviously
29:05
Speaker 1: we want them to enjoy the podcast, but what can
29:07
Speaker 1: they should do, whether it's reaching out to you or
29:10
Speaker 1: a step that they can do proactively so that they're
29:14
Speaker 1: being more strategic. Right, being more proactive.
29:17
Speaker 2: Well the first step because at the end of the year,
29:20
Speaker 2: look at your financials. If your financials are not current,
29:23
Speaker 2: make sure they are current before the end of the
29:26
Speaker 2: year so you can make decisions. Book an appointment with
29:30
Speaker 2: your tax strategies. If you do not have one, reach
29:33
Speaker 2: out to me and we can see how we can
29:35
Speaker 2: work together, because you need to make things and choices
29:39
Speaker 2: and decisions.
29:40
Speaker 1: Now.
29:40
Speaker 2: I just had a client to buy a car because
29:43
Speaker 2: the Section one seventy nine and bonus depreciation is back
29:46
Speaker 2: in place.
29:47
Speaker 3: Due to the new tax law.
29:49
Speaker 2: He bought the car for seventy four thousand, and he
29:52
Speaker 2: saved twenty one thousand in taxes just in the first year.
29:56
Speaker 2: But he'll continue to write it off. And so those
29:58
Speaker 2: types of decisions need to happened before you're in so
30:02
Speaker 2: that you have profitability in the cast that you want.
30:05
Speaker 3: Stop overpaying the irs well, Katrina.
30:08
Speaker 1: I thank you so much for being here on the
30:10
Speaker 1: podcast with us. Is real pleasure helpe you come back again.
30:13
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it the conversation today.
30:16
Speaker 3: Thank you, David.
30:17
Speaker 1: I definitely enjoyed it, absolutely absolutely, Thank you so much.
30:24
Speaker 1: You guys, make sure we'll have all the contact information
30:26
Speaker 1: so you can connect with Katrina and come back again
30:29
Speaker 1: in our next episode of the Business Roundtable podcast. Until then,
30:33
Speaker 1: take care steward, yourself well and your money. Take care everybody.
30:36
Speaker 1: Thanks so much,