1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,560 The minute you file the LLC paperwork, the minute that you 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:09,240 accept a payment from your first customer, the minute that you 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,080 start going into relationships with contractors and vendors, 4 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:18,480 you are the CEO of your business and you have a responsibility to 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:24,400 know your numbers, to understand your finances, and to understand 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,440 how to use that information to make business decisions. 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:34,680 And we cannot outsource our responsibility to AI, to 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,280 automations, to QuickBooks, and either to our bookkeeping team, 9 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,200 like your money team is there to support you. 10 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,680 You're now listening to Design Curious, a place where you 11 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,640 creative one, are here to learn about what it really is like to 12 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,200 be an interior designer. And I'm your host and mentor, 13 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,400 Rebecca Ward. If you're worried about how to 14 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,440 succeed in a creative career, if you're ready to learn your next 15 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,600 steps to become an interior designer, and if you want the 16 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,680 satisfaction of doing something you love every day, you are in 17 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,880 the right place. Grab a coffee, a notebook, and 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:18,360 let's dig into today's episode. Hello and welcome to episode 182 19 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:22,800 of Design Curious podcast. Today on the podcast we have 20 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:28,120 returning guest Danielle Hayden. She was back on episode one O 4 21 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,400 with some great financial insight. 22 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,400 She is Co founder and CEO of Kickstart Accounting Inc, a 23 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,240 bookkeeping and accounting firm that is on a mission to coach 6 24 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,560 figure and beyond female entrepreneurs so they can better 25 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,560 understand their numbers through bookkeeping, financial analysis 26 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,160 and support so they can grow profitable, sustainable and 27 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,640 enjoyable businesses. I know you're going to love our 28 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:59,040 conversation again today. You can't talk or learn too much 29 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,560 about money when it comes to running your own business. 30 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:06,120 It's always a good conversation. And so let's get into it with 31 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,639 Danielle. Hi Danielle, welcome back to 32 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,280 Design Curious podcast. It's great to have you again. 33 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:13,160 Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,720 Yeah. It's been almost 2 years, a year 35 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,400 and a half since you were on the podcast. 36 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,200 I know you have more great information to share. 37 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,600 And one of the topics we're going to talk about today, which 38 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,880 I think is very relevant for 2026 is the subject of AI. 39 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,680 And we haven't touched at all on this podcast AI with your 40 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,680 financial processes. And so why don't you dig in 41 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,120 there? Because I'm not even aware, like 42 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,240 I'm not using any AI, I don't think in any of my financial 43 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,000 parts yet in my business. So when would someone want to do 44 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:47,440 that and what are the things to be? 45 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,360 Aware of. Yeah, So the reason I started 46 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,680 talking about this topic, I went to a business conference here in 47 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,840 Cleveland a few months ago and I listened to the facilitator talk 48 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:07,640 about AI and how this group of business owners should be using 49 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:14,000 Chachi BT to do financial analysis for the business owner. 50 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,360 And Rebecca, when I said I was dying, cringing in my seat, I 51 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,480 could not stand it anymore. I finally raised my hand and 52 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:27,600 said, I'm sorry, but I cannot let this group of people walk 53 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,920 out the doors today thinking that it is OK to upload their 54 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:38,960 financials irresponsibly into their ChatGPT and think that 55 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,360 chat can give us a full financial analysis. 56 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,960 So I recently recorded on my podcast Business by the Books, 57 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,720 some of the the ways that AI and automation is actually hurting 58 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,800 our ability to look at our financials as the CEO of the 59 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,160 business. And I want to start with 60 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,600 QuickBooks, if that's OK with you and I can talk about like 61 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:05,360 some of the issues I see there. So in QuickBooks for anybody who 62 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:10,480 is doing their own bookkeeping, one thing over the last several 63 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,280 years is there's a lot of automation that's happening and 64 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,920 you'll see it's kind of some of the ads is we sync with 65 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,360 QuickBooks. It's a beneficial feature and I 66 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,640 understand, right. We're like, oh perfect, the 67 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:27,600 systems are talk to us, talk to each other. 68 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,240 It's going to take care of itself. 69 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,120 So excited for this automation that's going to occur. 70 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,560 We have so many clients who come to us at Kickstart Accounting 71 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:40,920 when they come through our onboarding process, we do a 29 72 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:44,840 point review process where we check the books before we move 73 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:47,200 forward. And what we're seeing over and 74 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,920 over again is duplicated sales, uncaptured expenses, duplicated 75 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,480 expenses, which is really scary because it's actually literally 76 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,280 real dollars. It's going to cost you in taxes 77 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,600 when your financials, when you're double sinking something 78 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,800 or you're sinking it and then applying the payments when 79 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,600 you're doing that, those strategies without understanding 80 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,640 how to actually reconcile your financials. 81 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,160 And here's the thing about QuickBooks, it does not say like 82 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,640 with big red letters or exclamation points or like 83 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,160 alerts or bombshells saying, hey, you did that wrong. 84 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,280 Oh yeah. You know, like, hey, that's not 85 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:29,120 right. Like, hey, don't put that there. 86 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:30,480 That's actually not how you do it. 87 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,760 There's options in QuickBooks. And to be clear, I don't expect 88 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,760 QuickBooks to do that because QuickBooks doesn't know, right? 89 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,080 Like you need options in accounting. 90 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:44,680 You have to apply your logic and then as a business owner, if you 91 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,520 then take your DIY bookkeeping. Done. 92 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,640 Incorrectly, right? So QuickBooks didn't tell you 93 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,440 there's no big flashy alerts telling you your financials are 94 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,560 wrong. And then you take those 95 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,840 financial statements and you go type into your free version of 96 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:02,120 ChatGPT. Hey chat, analyze my financials 97 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,720 for me. ChatGPT wants to please you. 98 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,440 It wants to tell you what you want to hear. 99 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,320 It is also not going to alert you that your balance sheet 100 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,640 doesn't make sense, that you are an LLC, not an S Corp, that your 101 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,160 sales are duplicated, that you've never reconciled your, 102 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,640 your books. And so the chat wanting to 103 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,040 please you, it's going to give you a full financial analysis of 104 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:29,400 your inaccurate numbers. And I want to be clear, I'm a 105 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:34,000 daily user of of AI. I love automations, I love 106 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,640 systems and I love AI. So I'm not trying to scare us 107 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,280 out of using it. There's a place for it in our 108 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:44,040 businesses. But I think that we're rushing 109 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:49,680 to use this automation and rushing to use AI and it is 110 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:55,840 irresponsibly in the place of humans who know how to say, hey, 111 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,640 those sales are duplicated. Hey, the balance sheet, it's 112 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:01,440 wrong. You're actually not an S Corp 113 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,440 and those are in the wrong places or those debt payments, 114 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,800 they're not captured correctly. And then to do a full real 115 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,160 analysis based on what's happening in the world today and 116 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,560 proven frameworks that have been used for thousands of business 117 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,040 owners. What are those financials 118 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,560 telling you rather than chat wanting to please you using 119 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,640 inaccurate numbers? Yeah, well, that's a really good 120 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,360 point. I never would have considered, I 121 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,080 guess, putting my financial into chatting free porn analysis, 122 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,360 knowing I guess also that chat is, you know, hoping to please 123 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,320 you and in that that's like private information that's could 124 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,320 be, you know, used publicly. But it's really interesting also 125 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,800 to think about that. It's such such a technical and 126 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,520 precise practice, like doing your bookkeeping if one thing is 127 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,520 off and of course, you know this, but like it, it could 128 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:01,920 unravel everything and then it's just too much error that could 129 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,040 happen. And then you're, you're stuck. 130 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,440 You're, you're of a, of a Creek, you know, And it's just like, I 131 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,080 would not trust AI with that, especially not yet. 132 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:13,480 Like, you know, maybe, I don't know, 10 years down the road it 133 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,360 might get like better processes, but still I don't think we can 134 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,920 replace the human part of that. So that is really good to be 135 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,920 aware of because we definitely don't want people doing that and 136 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:28,880 trusting AI to do all of their financial planning and, and 137 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,720 reconciling and. Nothing can replace you as the 138 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,280 CEO. So I think that's, you know, a 139 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,320 lot of growing business owners, they say, well, I don't see 140 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:41,919 myself as the air quote CEO of this business, right? 141 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:45,920 Like I just started, I'm an accidental entrepreneur and not 142 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,120 ready to see themselves in that way. 143 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,520 And that limiting belief, I think keeps us from taking 144 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,280 responsibility. The minute you file the LLC 145 00:08:56,280 --> 00:09:01,120 paperwork, the minute that you accept a payment from your first 146 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,840 customer, the minute that you start going into relationships 147 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:09,600 with contractors and vendors, you are the CEO of your business 148 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:14,400 and you have a responsibility to know your numbers, to understand 149 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,960 your finances and to understand how to use that information to 150 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:25,000 make business decisions. And we cannot outsource our 151 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:31,200 responsibility to AI, to automations, to QuickBooks, and 152 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,440 even to our bookkeeping team, like your money team is there to 153 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,560 support you. We call our services done with 154 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:38,320 you. Like, yes, it's done for you, 155 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,200 but we really need you to lean in and TuneIn because we want to 156 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:43,960 do it with you, alongside of you. 157 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,720 Yeah, it's so important that the CEO knows what's happening 158 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,680 financially and like where to even focus their energy, like 159 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:56,040 it's data that they can use to understand how healthy their 160 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,280 business is or when and where they need to grow. 161 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,600 So to tune on that point when someone is starting out in their 162 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,480 business and you know, hopefully they'll very quickly realize 163 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,520 they're ACEOA, lot of people start out as sole proprietor or 164 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,520 just LLC. Do you want to touch on the 165 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:16,680 point on when it's good to understand when you need to 166 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:19,440 change maybe your classification there? 167 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,000 Yeah. So I recommend becoming an LLC 168 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,920 from day one. So if you're operating as a sole 169 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,680 proprietor, it's early in the year, go file the paperwork to 170 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:33,480 become an LLC. It's really cool what we get to 171 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:35,720 the opportunity to do here in America. 172 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,200 We get that legal protection of being an LLC. 173 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:44,040 So go advocate for yourself, get the protection now that is a 174 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:49,640 legal protection as an LLC. You can then go say to the IRS 175 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,560 that you want to be taxed as an S Corp. 176 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,440 And I don't want you to do it right away. 177 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,160 It's a really important decision, but I'm gonna give you 178 00:10:58,160 --> 00:10:59,840 a three-step framework to know when it's time. 179 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:07,120 So if your business is bringing in $75,000 a year of net income 180 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,920 for more than two years, so not one year, we want two years. 181 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:16,120 So if our business is bringing in $75,000 of net income, sales 182 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,680 minus cost of goods sold, minus all your expenses number at the 183 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,600 bottom of the income statement for two years in a row. 184 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,040 I also want to make sure that you are completely separating 185 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:27,600 your business and personal expenses. 186 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,400 If you are commingling business and personal, you cannot become 187 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,600 an S Corp. It's like I'm going to go on a 188 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,720 diet on Monday. I'll get my sugar intake 189 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,480 together next week. Yeah. 190 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,080 You're not going to separate your financials, what should 191 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:43,880 become an S Corp if you're not currently doing it. 192 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:45,360 So make sure you have that practice in place. 193 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,640 And then as an S Corp, you have to pay yourself a reasonable 194 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,680 compensation. So the IRS, this isn't 195 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:54,360 Danielle's rule, It's not kickstarting County's rule. 196 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:57,240 The IRS says you have to pay yourself a reasonable 197 00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,520 compensation. So that's how much would you pay 198 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,760 somebody to do the job if you weren't the one doing it. 199 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,600 And so once you become an S Corp, you have to pay that 200 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,960 reasonable compensation. So the third thing is that I 201 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,440 want you already regularly taking owners draws from your 202 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,120 business. If your business doesn't have 203 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:16,880 cash to pay you today, not going to have the cash to pay you and 204 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,280 payroll taxes next year. So it's a simple three-step 205 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,800 framework. Once you have $75,000 of profit, 206 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,480 you're completely separating your business and personal 207 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,320 expenses and you're consistently taking owner's draws, it might 208 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,840 be tax advantageous for you to become an S Corp. 209 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,680 Once you're an S Corp, you're an employee of your business. 210 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,640 It's a really cool step if you think about it. 211 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,760 You lower the tax liability of your business, you are saving 212 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:47,400 money on self-employment tax which is freaking amazing. 213 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,520 And then you also will be paying yourself a reasonable 214 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,320 compensation, meaning that when you go to buy your new home and 215 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,800 you go to buy a car or you go to bring out an investor or a loan 216 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:03,320 in your business, you're going to show that you have the 217 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,520 ability for your business to pay you regularly. 218 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,360 It's going to make getting those types of loans much easier. 219 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,920 So this is a full analysis that we do for all our clients at 220 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,000 Kickstart Accounting. So when somebody becomes a 221 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,760 client, we look at what is the best entity type for you and 222 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,440 should you be on payroll or not, and then how to pay yourself 223 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,440 that reasonable compensation. So your money team should be 224 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,160 able to help you with this type of analysis and make this 225 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,560 decision with you. That will be really beneficial 226 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:33,960 yeah. I love that you can be the 227 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,600 expert to help people understand when and you know to to become 228 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,080 an S Corp or or not they're not ready yet. 229 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:46,600 So that's great And when would you say is the best time for 230 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,280 someone to hire on bookkeeping services? 231 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,840 So like I always say that that's that was my first hire. 232 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,480 You should do it early. But is it like, should they do 233 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,080 it with their first client or should it be their second or 234 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:03,480 third or like how at what point can they not keep track of it 235 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,560 and or need to set up their accounts properly? 236 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:08,560 Is it from the get? Go yeah. 237 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,920 So I think that as a business owner, a new business owner, a 238 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,920 lot of what we're doing is buying back our time. 239 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:22,160 So you're doing everything in those early days and as soon as 240 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,480 you you have regular income in your business. 241 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,200 So if you're only getting one client here and one client 242 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,560 there, it's kind of a side hobby for you, then maybe that's not 243 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:33,800 the right time to actually get a money team in place. 244 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,960 But if you're bringing in consistent revenue and income, 245 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:42,680 then we're at the point right there to bring on support. 246 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,240 We are often our clients first hire because like I said, you're 247 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:49,920 buying your time back. You can't be keeping track of 248 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,160 this and honestly, you don't know how to do bookkeeping, so 249 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:54,280 it's. Probably, yeah. 250 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,280 I can't do, but you guys do. So I always say that with with 251 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,120 love, I need you and and you need us. 252 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,480 You know, as soon as you feel like you have regular income in 253 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:08,680 your business, get the money team. 254 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:10,920 Can I walk you through the four people? 255 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:12,640 I suggest everyone has their money team. 256 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,160 Yeah, that'd be great. So this is this is very 257 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,720 different because most people will say I need a tax account 258 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:18,800 because I'm going to have to file my. 259 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:20,920 My tax at the. End of the year, so it's like a 260 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,680 normal first one, but you actually cannot file your taxes 261 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,360 at the end of the year without person #1 so person number one 262 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,760 is your bookkeeper. And the bookkeeper keeps 263 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,080 organized while you're out making money and spending money 264 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,640 and doing your thing. Your bookkeeper. 265 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:39,400 I'd like to consider it the big puzzle, right? 266 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,360 So you throw this thousand puzzle pieces on the coffee 267 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,760 table. Your bookkeeper comes in, they 268 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,680 put all those puzzle pieces together, so all you're looking 269 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,080 at is a beautiful completed puzzle. 270 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,880 And then your tax account can use the completed puzzle, the 271 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,720 organized financials that are accurate to do your tax return. 272 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,120 And since we see that in reverse order, a lot of times, as 273 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,800 business owners, we're trying to ask our tax account to be our 274 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,440 business coach, bookkeeper, a little bit of catch all. 275 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:15,200 So person #1 bookkeeper, person #2 tax account, all they're 276 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:16,840 doing for you is filing your tax return. 277 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,120 Person #3 is your financial advisor. 278 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,240 And your financial advisor is the person who's putting 279 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:24,640 together your business and personal finances. 280 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,760 They're looking at how do we use your business to create wealth 281 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,840 retirement accounts, Iras, 520 nines, like what else do you 282 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:36,160 need outside of your business? And then lastly is ACFO or 283 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,520 business coach, when you're ready to start looking into the 284 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,680 future of your business? For our clients, when we work 285 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,560 with them at under our CFO services, we walk them through a 286 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,000 five step goal setting framework where we're looking to the 287 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,200 future for the next 10 years and doing a complete SWOT analysis. 288 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:57,080 So you might not be ready for all four people today, right? 289 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,520 But start with person number one, who's your bookkeeper and 290 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,360 then your tax account and build from there. 291 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,760 That's really good advice. Yeah, I do think people think of 292 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,240 it as a reverse process because they'll be like here's take all 293 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,400 the receipts to their tax accountant like they need it, 294 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,040 maybe need it all organized so they're not spending all their 295 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,119 time reading through your receipts. 296 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,240 You know when I started the business 11 years ago. 297 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,720 Bookkeeping is not sexy, right? Like it's not the sexiest 298 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,240 business. So I became ACPA, and my 299 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,080 background was as a chief financial officer. 300 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,440 And so I had been helping these private equity firms, investors, 301 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,000 CEOs make all these business decisions using their numbers. 302 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:44,720 And when I started working with small business owners, I said we 303 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,120 need to bring access to that same information to the small 304 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:50,800 business owner. Like, I don't care if you're 305 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:55,400 doing $100,000 a year, you deserve the same access, the 306 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:59,000 same information as a business owner who's doing $1 million a 307 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,600 year. You know, like we all deserve 308 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,480 access to that information. And so that is my mission in 309 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,560 life is to make sure that small business owners have access to 310 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,880 their financials and know how to use them to make Better Business 311 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,240 decisions and to be able to step into their confidence. 312 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:20,360 So but keeping isn't sexy, but it's like the foundation of our 313 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,160 own. For sure. 314 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,640 Yeah, Really important stuff. We can't bypass this important 315 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,520 step if you want to be a successful business owner at 316 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,280 all. So yeah. 317 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:37,000 And interior designers are not naturally inclined to want to do 318 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,400 their own bookkeeping. I think most of us want to do 319 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,640 the creative stuff, so it's totally fine to hand it off to 320 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,400 the expert. Now explain again on in your 321 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,320 business, like do you offer a la carte services? 322 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,920 Is it like I know you had that 29 point inspection for 323 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,320 onboarding, but if someone maybe already had a bookkeeper, but 324 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:01,200 they kind of need a little more help with vision or future 325 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:04,720 casting and things like that? Yeah, so few options. 326 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,440 I'm going to be a little confusing for a second. 327 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:11,000 We do offer a one time check Your books service and you can 328 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,160 find all this on Kickstart accountinginc.com. 329 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,480 So if you are doing it on your own or you're working with 330 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,480 another bookkeeper, but you're having an uneasy feeling about 331 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,640 your financials, you can go to our website and select the check 332 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,520 Your books option where we'll go in and we'll check what you 333 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:27,440 have. Just give you an honest 334 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:30,240 assessment of what we're seeing and we'll take you through that 335 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,800 29 point assessment. I believe in my heart that every 336 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,920 business owner deserves to do what they love and to stay in 337 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,680 their zone of genius. I love bookkeeping and I love 338 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,000 numbers and I still don't do Kickstarts bookkeeping. 339 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,360 I believe every business owner should have bookkeeping off of 340 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,320 their plate so that they can go and do the things that they love 341 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,640 to do in their business. So our primary service is 342 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,040 bookkeeping where we work with our clients month over month. 343 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,560 We have a long very long term engagements with our clients. 344 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:03,480 So we do that day-to-day bookkeeping for our clients and 345 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,720 we provide something very unique called the CEO dashboard. 346 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,800 We call it the snapshot and. I have taken all of my 347 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,920 experience as ACFO plus my experience working with 348 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,800 thousands of business owners over the last 11 years to give 349 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,000 business owners exactly what they need at the end of each 350 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,360 month in their snapshot with a podcast episode, videos, 351 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,720 education on how to use it to make Better Business decisions. 352 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,640 How often do you hear air quote know your numbers and you're 353 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:34,480 like what the hell is? That, yeah. 354 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,920 So we walk you through that. So we do bookkeeping for our 355 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,600 clients and providing that snapshot at the end of each 356 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,800 month equips you to be able to make those business decisions. 357 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:45,720 And then we do offer CFO services. 358 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,240 So if you're working with another team or not, or you need 359 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,600 a bookkeeper, our CFO services is where we can start to look 360 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,880 towards the future and budget and plan for your future goals. 361 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,200 Awesome. Yeah, sometimes that is a really 362 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,240 nice benefit to have that CFO option too, because might have 363 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,840 everything else in place, but you're not really looking that 364 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,840 far into the future and you should be like, you need a road 365 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,360 map where you going to go, right? 366 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:15,760 So that's awesome. Are there any like books or I 367 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,960 mean, we know we have your podcast, Anything else that 368 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,760 you'd recommend someone who's like kind of just getting in 369 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,920 their feet wet as an entrepreneur to get a handle on 370 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,560 understanding finances and like all the things that go into 371 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,360 being an entrepreneur? Yeah, My podcast Business by the 372 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:37,440 Books, my favorite business book of all time that I think had the 373 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,480 biggest impact on who I am today. 374 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,080 And the business that I run today is built to sell. 375 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:48,120 And I think every business owner in reading that can think about 376 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:52,000 the type of business that they want to own and lead and the 377 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:53,600 type of business that they're going to build. 378 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,120 So that's my. Just bought that book and I 379 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:58,920 haven't started it yet, so excited for you to read it. 380 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,160 Yeah, OK, great. So that's a good book. 381 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,080 I was like, oh, this looks like a good book. 382 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:05,920 Awesome. So yeah, I'm excited to read 383 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,400 that book. Built to Sell, which because I 384 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,800 think also for interior designers, we don't often think 385 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:15,480 about having our businesses as something that is sellable or, 386 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,360 you know, able to pass on to someone else or anyone would be 387 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:22,720 interested in buying either. So like almost no interior 388 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,440 designers, I know they'll just retire their business. 389 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:30,000 So I think it's important to explore the options of selling 390 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,080 your business, but I'm sure it goes into much, so much more 391 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:33,280 than that. It's so much more. 392 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:37,840 So it's it's about how you are going to build the business, how 393 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,920 you're going to build the frameworks and the processes. 394 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,640 And I do believe that there's so many business owners who walk 395 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,560 away from their business because nobody shared with them those 396 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,240 strategies 10 years earlier. So like if you built your 397 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,640 business around the principles and built to sell, when you 398 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,360 finally go to think about walking away from your business 399 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,200 or selling your business, you might have something to sell 400 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,720 because you have been thinking in that way the whole time and 401 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:07,480 building your business. So yeah, it. 402 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:12,200 Takes intention from a long time ago, like it's like investing, 403 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,120 you know, or if you start early, it's not as hard, you know, 404 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,320 Yeah. So many opportunities as 405 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,680 business owners and I just think entrepreneurship is the coolest 406 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:26,160 thing that we we can do and we can be so intentional with the 407 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:27,080 business that we're. Building. 408 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:29,840 I love it. Awesome. 409 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,800 Well, is there anything else you want to share with our listeners 410 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,640 today? You can get support is the last 411 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:37,080 thing I'll I'll leave you guys with. 412 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,480 I am somebody who eleven years in, I still have never had an 413 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,880 executive assistant because I'm like, well, I can do that. 414 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:49,960 Give me two seconds, but use it as an example, OK, like we all 415 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:54,920 have a different kryptonite that we're allowed to get support. 416 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:59,720 So whether that be a bookkeeper, a tax accountant, ACFO, 417 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:04,680 marketing, like whatever it might be, you do not have to do 418 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,240 everything in your business by yourself. 419 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,560 So go get yourself some support. It's going to make this journey 420 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,320 so much more fun. I have a team of almost 40 421 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,040 people now and I have so much more fun running this Business 422 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,120 Today because I get to stay in my my zone of genius. 423 00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:24,880 I have to be here and do things like this with you, and I'm able 424 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:26,960 to do that because I have a full team of people behind me. 425 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,840 That's a really big team. Wow, that's impressive. 426 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,040 Well, awesome, Danielle. Well, thank you. 427 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,400 We're going to put all of your contact information. 428 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,240 Where can people find you on Instagram? 429 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,600 What's your handle again? Danielle Hayden Dash OH is my 430 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,480 personal brand and then Kickstart Accounting and all the 431 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:44,960 places. Awesome. 432 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:46,640 Great. We'll put those links in the 433 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:47,880 show notes so people can find you. 434 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,800 But thank you for coming on. You're welcome to come back 435 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,080 again. And again, I'm sure this is a 436 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,240 topic that is really one of our weakest links, I think as 437 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,120 interior designers. And so it's important to keep 438 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,120 reminding ourselves of all the things that we need to do 439 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:07,760 properly so that we can be enjoying our businesses like you 440 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,320 are. So thank you for that 441 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:19,080 inspiration, of course. So I hope you enjoyed that 442 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:23,480 conversation today. We have the links for Danielle 443 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:25,960 and Kickstart Accounting down in the show notes. 444 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,400 Check those out. While you're there, you should 445 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,240 check out our new download for you. 446 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:37,520 It is a recording of the webinar that we had last December as we 447 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,400 were getting ready for boot camp and it was well attended and I 448 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,320 realized that not many people were able to attend at that 449 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,680 particular time and probably we're still interested. 450 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,720 So I thought I'd make it available to you the recording 451 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,840 from that webinar and it was called from Passion to Profit 5 452 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,200 Money moves to start your interior design business, right? 453 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:04,280 So it is a proposed to the topic that we had today with Danielle. 454 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,680 And so if you would like to listen to that webinar that you 455 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,720 may have missed, then you can download it from the link we 456 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,400 have in the show notes. So go ahead and go there and get 457 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,880 that replay of the webinar. I think you'll get a lot from 458 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:20,840 that. And that's all I have for you 459 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,040 this week. Next week we'll have another 460 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,040 great episode. And until then, stay creative. 461 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,640 Thanks for listening. If you love this episode, please 462 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,400 leave a rating and a review. This helps me reach other 463 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,120 curious creatives like you. If you have a topic request or 464 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:40,440 would like to contact me, simply head over to my website 465 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:46,760 arworddesign.com or e-mail me at podcast at our award design com.