1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,800 Right, You work more, you're putting in sweat equity, you're 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,840 willing to do whatever it takes. And at the end of the day, if 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:08,800 you truly don't have an understanding of what's 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,760 happening in your business, then did you make the right choice, 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,720 right? Or how can you maximize the 6 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,560 decisions that you've made? Look at it from, and it's not 7 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,040 just because one of the things I've, you know, I've often been 8 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,000 quoted to say is I want people to stop looking at top line 9 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,320 revenue. I mean, truthfully, does it 10 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,280 matter if you sold $3,000,000, you have no profitability. 11 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,400 Like is that did we lose? I'll give you I'll give you this 12 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:37,000 line revenue is vanity, profit to sanity and cash is going. 13 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:40,880 Yes, yes, I feel like a lot of business owners trade their 14 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:46,080 their jobs for a less paying job as a business owner, right? 15 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,080 You work more, you're putting in sweat equity, you're willing to 16 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,640 do whatever it takes. And at the end of the day, if 17 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:54,600 you truly don't have an understanding of what's 18 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,640 happening in your business, then did you make the right choice, 19 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,520 right? Or how can you maximize the 20 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:02,080 decisions that you've made, right? 21 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,360 Welcome to The Kingdom's podcast, where we share the 22 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,040 stories of extraordinary people and dissect hot, relevant topics 23 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,760 that shape our world. From visionary leaders to 24 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,040 trailblazing creatives, we uncover the mindset, strategy, 25 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,320 and grit behind greatness. Whether it's business, culture, 26 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,960 or personal growth, we ask the real questions. 27 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,840 This isn't just conversation, it's transformation. 28 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,320 The Kingdom's podcast, Your Next Breakthrough, starts here. 29 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:40,040 Music licensing reimagined. Your live ladies and gentlemen, 30 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:45,480 you are once again welcome to the King James podcast and today 31 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:50,400 I have with me my friend, my mentor and a female version of 32 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,440 myself from the other side of the pond. 33 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,760 Make welcome the money woman moniker rocker Cassander. 34 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,560 How are you I'm. Doing fantastic today. 35 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,280 I'm so glad to be here. I like that the money woman I'm 36 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,560 I think I'm going to change my my title, my emails. 37 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,880 Wow, Monica is about to change harmonica. 38 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:15,840 Yeah, that's the model MONICKER. Wow. 39 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,040 It's just that it's it's really lovely to to to have you on the 40 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,280 show. I'm a newly minted fractional 41 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,240 CFO. And you are, would I say, an 42 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,520 oldly minted CFO, a leader, fintech leader, you know, 43 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:32,960 entrepreneur extraordinaire. Wow. 44 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,360 You're welcome. And of course, you know, on this 45 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,040 show, I, I do a great work with exploring the mindsets, the 46 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,160 systems, and, you know, the stories behind legendary leaders 47 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,200 like yourself and of course, bold entrepreneurs, people that 48 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:55,320 are reshaping the landscape off our generation basically. 49 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,560 And today you are actually forced in the financial strategy 50 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:06,000 and fintech space and you are the incredible moniker whose 51 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,720 moniker is about to change. Rocco Quesada. 52 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,040 You know, before we dive in, what's the song? 53 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,160 A quote or mantra that perfectly sums up your approach of 54 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,760 business and life. Oh, definitely, I would have to 55 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,320 say a song would be beautiful day by YouTube, right? 56 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,080 And how it explores the duality of life, you know, and really 57 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,440 the duality of business, right, of how I think there's 58 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,200 everything can be OK and and not right. 59 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,680 And how you have to keep your pulse on not just what's 60 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,000 happening in the day-to-day, but also on where you're headed, 61 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,720 right? And that's our role as a 62 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,640 fractional CFOs, right? Like we're, we're really talking 63 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,200 about the strategy of where we want to take our business, where 64 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,080 do we want to end up, right, being forward facing and how you 65 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,920 know, and the change of political environments and the 66 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,120 change of economies and the change of technology, right 67 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:00,720 advancements and things like that. 68 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,160 Like how do you stay so forward facing? 69 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,480 Like what are the things you need to do in order to stay on 70 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,480 top? You know, it starts on the mind, 71 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,760 you say, you talked about beautiful day. 72 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,920 Interestingly, it's actually a beautiful day in Miami, FL and a 73 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,120 beautiful day in London, England. 74 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,480 What a fantastic when I say phenomenon, you know, in terms 75 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:28,040 of the climates, in terms of the weather, but also everything 76 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:32,320 begins with the mindset. Our Christian man of faith and 77 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,720 the Bible says as a man think gets in his heart, so is he. 78 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,400 You know, the mind is the world's most powerful tool when 79 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,880 we come to think about it. You know, your mindset actually 80 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,480 informs you your philosophies. And there's something I always 81 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,640 see on the show conceive, believe achieved. 82 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,880 But on my birthday 2 weeks ago, I think I, I did a little tweak 83 00:04:54,880 --> 00:05:01,160 to that, you know, conceive, believe, strive to thrive and 84 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,240 achieve. You know, you need to put in 85 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:05,280 that work. And this weekend of people who 86 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:09,160 are putting that work, you are a big example and you're also 87 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,640 paying it forward. So what inspired your transition 88 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,320 from traditional accounts into Common, a fractional CFO and 89 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,440 fintech entrepreneur? Well, that's such an interesting 90 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,720 story. So for me, I've always liked, 91 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,560 and I think most accountants by trade will say that, right? 92 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,320 They've always liked structure, routine, knowing right, 93 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:34,360 predictability. And so I was fortunate enough to 94 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,360 get my, my career started in what I would say is the best 95 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,760 form of accounting, which is operations accounting. 96 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,200 I've always loved to see how things work and how it relates 97 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,080 to the finance of a company, right? 98 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,000 And so I started my career very young. 99 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:56,400 I was probably 24 years old and I was managing a department for 100 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:58,880 a major cruise line in operations accounting. 101 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,480 It was the most intense and still to this day probably one 102 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,320 of the things I look back on with the most pride in my 103 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,320 career. Even though I've owned my own 104 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,720 business and I've owned multiple businesses over the last few 105 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:14,520 years, but I've I've had agile planners now for we're going 106 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,880 into our 12th year. Wow, congratulations. 107 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,800 Thank you, thank you. And I, I look back on that time 108 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:28,200 and I think the, it was for me accounting, well, finance and 109 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,440 accounting when it's intertwined with operations, even something 110 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:33,760 like e-commerce. e-commerce is like a puzzle. 111 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,760 And it's like, how do you get the pieces to flow together? 112 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,360 There's so many different moving parts and they're all moving at 113 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,160 the speed of light. Like when you think about a 114 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:43,680 floating hotel, right? How many transactions are going 115 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,560 through a point of sale system at any given time? 116 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,120 Or I think about being in a major convenience store and how 117 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,920 many times you hear the register being scanned at the same time, 118 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:53,920 right? Like those are all multiple 119 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,280 transactions. When you think about that 120 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,600 neurological base of transactions happening and how 121 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,200 do you put them all together? That's always been something 122 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,000 that I that I find mesmerizing, right? 123 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,200 Like how do we? So many moving variables. 124 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,680 Yeah, no, like how do you, how do you break that information 125 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,280 into by the hour, by the day, by the week, by the month, by the 126 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,000 year, right. Like and how can the data, Yeah, 127 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,920 how can you use the data to structure where you want to go, 128 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,760 right. Not just, I think one of the 129 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:30,360 bigger challenges in the accounting world is there's, 130 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:32,640 there's so many different, you have so many different needs, 131 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:34,520 right? Like you definitely need having 132 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,360 a bookkeeper in the day-to-day and, and dealing with what's 133 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,920 happening now. But your tax professional may be 134 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,680 working on either what's going to happen in the future or what 135 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,280 already happened in the past, right? 136 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:49,600 But who's really looking at where you want to go, right? 137 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,400 Like what is the strategy to get there? 138 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,720 I work with some amazing business owners and it's always, 139 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:01,120 it's always interesting to me to see how they consolidate their 140 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,240 data, right? Like they'll always bring out a 141 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,560 spreadsheet of like, I'm exporting from here and I create 142 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:11,720 this table and I do this right. And what I, what I love about 143 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,800 the fintech industry is how we're building tools to 144 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:16,680 accommodate that, right? Exactly. 145 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:23,320 Literally building tools to be able to take that data and make 146 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:28,120 it usable not just in accounting and finance, but in operations 147 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,400 and logistics, in all different parts. 148 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:35,120 Even in HR, right, We can look at what is happening with the 149 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,200 data points to figure out where we want to go. 150 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:44,680 You know, basically data is the heart of communication. 151 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:50,360 You know, if you're giving me information to process, right? 152 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,160 I process information in order to make well informed decisions. 153 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:01,640 And the ABC of communication is a accurate, a brief and be 154 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,040 concise. If you're able to achieve those, 155 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,080 then you're having efficient communication. 156 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:15,080 And that is exactly, you know, what persons like yourself who 157 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,560 are able to leverage on technology, leverage on AI, 158 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:26,000 leverage on dates are solutions, you know, leverage on ERP's, you 159 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:32,960 know, relevant ERP's to ensure that organizations actually do 160 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:38,200 not spend or waste time and resources on needless, you know, 161 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:43,320 computing, needless data processing and needless systems. 162 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,720 Right. I think with that C right, with 163 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,640 being concise, we also need to be curious, right? 164 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:55,520 Curious as to finding ways that may work better, finding ways 165 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:00,280 that are more efficient, right? Like so we went from an age of 166 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:05,520 only having certain systems that we would be able to connect to, 167 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,000 to. I remember I want to say back in 168 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,200 maybe 2010, it was like the average business had maybe six 169 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:15,520 to seven applications they were using right now if you were to 170 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,840 look at some companies tech stocks, right, like what is in 171 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,400 there, how are they running the business, right? 172 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:26,760 And there's definitely, there can be overlap. 173 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:31,280 They're all serve a purpose. But I think the key part is to 174 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:37,640 be curious as to how to maximize the data and how to maximize how 175 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,600 we're presenting it, right? Are we making better decisions 176 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:45,680 based on the data that we're extracting from these systems, 177 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:50,280 right? I think we have to be very open 178 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:55,000 minded when it comes to looking at the, you know, I, I and 179 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,200 working with, with certain businesses, you realize that 180 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,560 we're in a different generational era, right, where 181 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:05,720 you will still have business owners that are very much like, 182 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:07,520 this is the way we've always done it and this is the way 183 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,320 we're going to continue to do it, right. 184 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,480 Now. We also have we've always done 185 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,680 it this way, but is there a better way, right? 186 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,880 Is there, you know, like can I find the right solution? 187 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:25,240 And I think it's really important that we use our skill 188 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:29,280 set to not only find what it what's already out there, but 189 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,560 also to be able to build what's necessary, right? 190 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:41,920 Like to use our creative acumen to how we look at numbers to 191 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,640 solution, right? And I think that that's really 192 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,720 what the role is going to be. It's going to be testing 193 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:53,640 different theories on how we can use the data, like the data, 194 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:55,280 like there's just so much available. 195 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,640 You know, I now, it's still one of the things I love most is to 196 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,800 break that down, right? And sometimes I would say 197 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:06,320 sometimes the role that we play, right, is to ask the questions 198 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,240 of how can we use this data better, right? 199 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,320 Like trying to think of an example. 200 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:19,520 We, we've worked with companies where something as simple as 201 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,800 like monitoring leads, right? Like where are leads coming 202 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:24,640 from? We use this information, we 203 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,640 capture the data, but are we utilizing it, right? 204 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,040 So you've been putting all this data in your CRM, right? 205 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,280 And where are the leads coming from? 206 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,760 But are you, are you actioning on what that data is telling 207 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,320 you? That's the question, right? 208 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:49,120 We see a lot of AD campaign spends we're going to spend more 209 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:51,560 on on doing all of this. But when you look at the raw 210 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:56,680 data, it's really word of mouth referrals, let's say that RB, 211 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,160 right, like so what's? That is the most reliable form 212 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:01,320 of marketing. Yeah, well. 213 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:04,280 That's the thing, right? Like, I think we've gotten very 214 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:09,960 used to this is what we need to do, but are we using that data? 215 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,120 Data junkies. Yeah. 216 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,160 We have in decision time, it's just data data junkies. 217 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,040 You know you should be processing that data, you know, 218 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,160 to make a decision on where to spend more, you know what 219 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,040 channel, what funnel, you know to invest more in people just 220 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:31,200 take this data up and why. So like I said previously, data 221 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:36,320 is meant to be collected in order to help you to make better 222 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:42,280 informed decision, right? So if you or not utilizing data 223 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:46,200 to to make better informed decisions, then why are you 224 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:48,920 collating that data? And you know, we still have 225 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,240 business owners as well who basically make decisions based 226 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,280 on hunches and intuitions, right? 227 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:00,040 That's a that's a discussion for another. 228 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,880 That is a discussion for another day. 229 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,800 But it's such a great way to segue to my next question to 230 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,800 you. You know about the biggest 231 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,960 misconceptions you know that small businesses have about a 232 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:15,720 CFO and what a CFO does and why do they often wait too long to 233 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:20,320 hire one? So the biggest misconception is 234 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:22,880 that they can't afford one, I think, right. 235 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,720 I think that would be the, the biggest misconception. 236 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,760 I think having a strategist and that's what I would deem, you 237 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:34,160 know, I, I think we use the, the moniker of CFO, right, or the 238 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,640 title of CFO because people they know what it means, right? 239 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:42,960 But with it they attach a very high price tag is what they 240 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,800 attach to it I often. Now you sounded, now you sounded 241 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,800 like Adam from the CFO projects, I mean. 242 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,640 When, when I tell somebody, right, I almost don't want 243 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,080 anybody to introduce me as a CFO, right? 244 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,200 Like I almost, I, I truly don't, I, I'd love to be introduced as, 245 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,040 as another business owner. I'm just like the person I'm 246 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:02,720 talking to. I'm a business owner. 247 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,760 I have the same concerns, right? The difference is that I help 248 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:10,600 businesses make better decisions based on the information that 249 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,280 we've collected from their numbers, right? 250 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,280 Whether you want to put that as a CFO or not, as you know, 251 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,640 debatable, but that's really what we're doing right like. 252 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:20,760 I'm gonna put you that other way. 253 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:22,840 You help businesses to mind their business. 254 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:27,680 Yes, very much so. I, I think the question begs to 255 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,680 what we were talking about, right? 256 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,080 Like when you have your books complete, right and let's say 257 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,960 you have years of data, if you're not utilizing that data 258 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,280 to make better decisions than what's it there for? 259 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,760 Right? Like, sure, compliance is one 260 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,360 thing, we need to file taxes. There's laws, absolutely, but 261 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,680 there's so much information in those numbers that to not use it 262 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:52,800 is it makes it makes no sense, right? 263 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,880 Like I, I often talk to business owners that I've been candid and 264 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,040 they're like, I'm intimidated. I don't, I don't want to look, I 265 00:15:58,040 --> 00:15:59,880 know there's something wrong in my numbers. 266 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,520 And one of the things I used to say is I make business owners 267 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:04,760 fall in love with their numbers again, right? 268 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,120 Wait, there's so much power in knowing what's happening in your 269 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,240 day-to-day. There really is you, you get to 270 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,440 make better decisions. Like what? 271 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,360 What good is it for me to look at my financials from a year 272 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,240 ago? It's a plan for now. 273 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,120 Like I, I don't, you know, I want to know what happened 274 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:22,600 yesterday. I want to know what happened 2 275 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:24,120 weeks ago. I want to know what happened 276 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,120 this week in the business. I want to keep my finger on the 277 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,240 pulse, right? So that I can see how I can 278 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,640 maximize on that, right? Like how can I take better 279 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,240 advantage of what the numbers are telling me? 280 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:39,840 That's in a nutshell what we do, right? 281 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,920 Look at it from and it's not just because one of the things 282 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,800 I've, you know, I've often been quoted to say is I want people 283 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:47,440 to stop looking at top line revenue. 284 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:52,520 I mean, truthfully, does it matter if you sold $3,000,000, 285 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,600 you have no profitability. Like is that did we lose? 286 00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:59,200 I'll give, I'll give you the slide. 287 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:03,760 Revenue is vanity, profits is sanity, and cash is king. 288 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:09,800 Yes, yes, I feel like a lot of business owners trade their jobs 289 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:13,880 for a less paying job as a business owner, right? 290 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,200 You work more, you're putting in sweat equity, you're willing to 291 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,760 do whatever it takes. And at the end of the day, if 292 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:22,720 you truly don't have an understanding of what's 293 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,240 happening in your business, then did you make the right choice, 294 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,360 right? Or how can you maximize the 295 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:32,600 decisions that you've made, right? 296 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,160 Being a business owner, being an entrepreneur is not for 297 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,120 everyone. That's exactly right. 298 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:44,760 And I think sometimes it can be underrated of how how difficult 299 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,440 it is, right? Like I know for me when I think 300 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:51,240 about my business, it's not just my welfare, but all of the 301 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:53,840 employees that work with us, all of the contractors that are 302 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,440 depending on us, right? There's a lot of pressure. 303 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,120 Wouldn't you want to maximize the information you have at at 304 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:03,440 your fingertips to make better decisions, right? 305 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,600 Like when you when you frame it in that way, does it not make 306 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:11,080 sense to have an extra set of eyes to help you think about 307 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,680 your long term strategy and your business? 308 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,120 Not just an extra set of eyes, but well trained eyes, you know? 309 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,160 That. Helps you yeah, well trained and 310 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,160 well experienced eyes and that's exactly what we are as a 311 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,960 factional CF OS. But you know you you have 312 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:32,520 actually said that your business is a machine right? 313 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:37,600 Are you able to do a quick walk through or overview of the 16 314 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:40,800 parts that drive our profitability and how they work 315 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,320 together? And I know you have, you know, 316 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:48,200 what would I call this now a robust resource on this and real 317 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,720 quick, how can we share that with the audience? 318 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,640 Yes, it's actually available on our website. 319 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,040 We'll post a link to it in in the. 320 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,200 In the description. So yeah, the show notes below. 321 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,720 But it's more the best way to explain it, right is when you 322 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,960 think I, I'll use the example of a printer. 323 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:10,920 I think a lot of times in businesses, we start a business 324 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,840 because we have a passion for something and there is an 325 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:15,560 emotional attachment to it, right? 326 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,160 Like we obviously it's something we feel very strongly about and 327 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:25,000 we wanted to achieve, but we stop looking at the business for 328 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,920 what it is, which is it has a purpose, right? 329 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,400 And so to give you an example, it's like a printer, a printer, 330 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:33,520 it has a role, it's going to print. 331 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:36,080 And if it doesn't print, then there's the parts of the 332 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:38,480 business, of the parts of the printer that we need to look at. 333 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:40,880 Perhaps I'm out of toner, perhaps there's a piece that 334 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,880 needs to be replaced, right? But when you can break down the 335 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:47,720 different parts of the business and how it should work, then you 336 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,520 can triage those areas, right? So when we talk about the 337 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,880 different drivers, we talk about drivers of, of, right, the 338 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,480 drivers of revenue and then the drivers of cash flow. 339 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,320 Like I think that's something that is least talked about is 340 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,240 how healthy is my business, right? 341 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,800 If tomorrow there's a crisis of some sort, right? 342 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,840 Let's go back to the pandemic where, you know, if you were a 343 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:12,760 hospitality business and you were selling, you know, a 344 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,040 restaurant and people couldn't come into your restaurant 345 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:16,360 anymore, right? What? 346 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,680 What were you going to do and what were your options? 347 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:25,120 Cash flow and profitability are your rainy day bank, right? 348 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:28,800 And it's not we get so caught up in the day-to-day and can I meet 349 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,360 my expenses for this month? But what is your plan long term, 350 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,960 right? A year from now, three years 351 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,200 from now, five years from now, what's your exit plan in your 352 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,280 business, right? And if you want to truly look at 353 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,880 your business as a machine, right, then you need to be 354 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,680 planning for that and you need to plan for you know what, what 355 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:50,840 is my business truly worth, right? 356 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,080 If I were going to sell my Business Today, it's going to 357 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,480 be, it's going to be based on the profitability of the 358 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:00,360 business, right? I mean, you could sell it for 359 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:05,200 parts if you have a great client base, lots of inventory, right? 360 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,600 But if you want to sell it as a whole, then you have to make 361 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,160 sure that it's healthy enough and that it's profitable and 362 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,960 that there's cash flow, right? And those are the things that 363 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,480 get overlooked, you know, particularly in a small business 364 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:22,000 and in startup business. Exactly like no controls and 365 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,440 management override of controls where where the controls even 366 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,240 exist. It's it's quite a very, very 367 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,480 interesting terrain, but how should businesses approach 368 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,320 financial forecasting in today's uncertain economy? 369 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,040 By leveraging, leveraging the data, right, leveraging and 370 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:42,960 looking at the data in different ways. 371 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:49,320 I think we often look at our financials as, as this is what 372 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:53,560 we sold in the last month and that's a way to forecast for 373 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,520 sure. But do we understand why? 374 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:57,960 Do we understand what we need to tweak? 375 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,040 Do we understand what we can do better right, looking at the 376 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,840 entire picture of what's happening? 377 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:07,520 What are the drivers? Yeah, definitely. 378 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,280 Looking at the drivers, breaking them down, you know, most of the 379 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,600 time if you, if you tell it, if you talk to a of businesses 380 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,120 struggling, their answer is always I need to sell more, 381 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:18,880 right? That's always the answer. 382 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,560 I need to sell more. And that's possibly not right. 383 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,840 Like maybe I need to increase my price, maybe I need to negotiate 384 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:27,600 my cost. Maybe I'm holding too much 385 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,920 inventory, right? Like who's who's looking at all 386 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,520 of those different letters. And I think there's a huge 387 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:39,320 misconception about who's responsibility that is. 388 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,800 A lot of times we'll talk to a business owner and they're like, 389 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,200 but I have a bookkeeper. Are we clear on the scope of 390 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,400 what the bookkeeper's responsibility is? 391 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:52,440 Or when we have entry conversations, they'll say, but 392 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,360 I have ACPA, OK. But is that included in the 393 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,200 scope, right, of what the CPA is doing for you? 394 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,720 Are they going to be monitoring profitability, cash flow, right? 395 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:03,360 Not to say that they can't, right? 396 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:05,240 And not to say that a bookkeeper can't either. 397 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,960 It's just is this included in the scope and is it even on your 398 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,800 radar, right? I often say nobody gets into 399 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,680 business to do their bookkeeping, right? 400 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,560 Like nobody's ever like really excited about, yes, I need to 401 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:18,960 reconcile my bank account, right? 402 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,960 But if we could get excited about the data that's in there, 403 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,640 right, again, what it tells us, then maybe we would have a 404 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,120 different perspective on looking at the numbers, right? 405 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:35,160 Maybe we would be more excited to truly forecast where we want 406 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,760 to go, right? Because forecasting isn't just, 407 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,600 I mean, it can be, it can be how much money are we going to make, 408 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,720 right? But if I tweak, if I make one 409 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:46,840 change, if I touch one driver, right? 410 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:52,160 So if I, if I lower my cost, right, I'm pulling a lever in my 411 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,840 business. If I raise my price, I'm pulling 412 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,480 a lever in my business. What happens if I touch them all 413 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:00,920 right? Like if there's 16 different 414 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,760 drivers and I can tweak them all just a little bit, right, My 415 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,560 business can have a completely different outlook than what I 416 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,240 thought. So you could be have a food, 417 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,120 water simulation on your visas. Of course, you're actually 418 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:18,880 adjusting that multiple variables at the same time. 419 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,280 Absolutely, absolutely. The thing is, do we have our 420 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,920 pulse on those variables, right? That's the question we get stuck 421 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:32,000 in. I've always paid X for this, 422 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:34,880 right? Or I have a great relationship. 423 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,160 Like did we, we try, did we try to have a different 424 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,600 conversation, right? Did we, do we have stretch goals 425 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,320 for ourselves, right? Like one of the things that I 426 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,840 think is the biggest killer of business is getting comfortable. 427 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:51,640 Get comfortable being uncomfortable. 428 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:58,400 You know what a way to see Brian talk to my next question and it 429 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,960 is what so three things do you think business owners should 430 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,440 stop or start doing if they want to scale up our profitability? 431 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:12,320 So I, and I think this is the greatest thing for any human to 432 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,240 do, right, is approach everything with curiosity, 433 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,400 right? There's a lot of times that we 434 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,240 believe we know the answer, right? 435 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:27,440 And we're not open to something being different or changing 436 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,000 something because we've always done it this way. 437 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,560 It's traditionally been done this way, right? 438 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,200 And we live in a time where I think that that's, you know, who 439 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,440 thought, what was it 2 years ago that AI really became used? 440 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,080 Like I, I'm seeing teenagers in high school that are having 441 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,120 conversations with ChatGPT now, right? 442 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:49,720 Like who thought that that would be where we are now? 443 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:54,600 If we don't approach everything we do with curiosity, we could 444 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,760 be leaving something on the table, right? 445 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,200 I think if we're gonna, I would want to see people embrace. 446 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,760 I know nothing, right? Like show me your way. 447 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,200 Show me what you know. How can I leverage what I know 448 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,200 what you know? How can we put it together to 449 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:14,640 make something versus being in a position of I know what I need 450 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,200 to do in business, right? Like, and I think that even even 451 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,280 for us as advisory professionals, that's an 452 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,240 interesting place to be, right? Like when you have a 453 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:29,000 conversation with someone like, well, OK, explain to me why 454 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,760 that's happening. Like why do you think that's 455 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,640 happening, right? Like we're show me, show me how 456 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:35,760 the data points you there, right? 457 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,520 Like give me physical proof of how we got to that, right? 458 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,640 Like, but these are conversations that should be 459 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:49,400 had, right? Like, you know, we live, we can 460 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,680 build just about any tool right now. 461 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:56,880 You can, you can have, you know, AI compute the most complex 462 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,040 things, right, just by having a conversation. 463 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,880 It's not even like it's like, I want to input this data and I 464 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:03,560 want to look at the data that way, right? 465 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,480 Like if we're not curious about what we can do with that, then 466 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,080 we're going to leave. We're going to leave stuff on 467 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,080 the table. For sure. 468 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,880 So Speaking of leaving stuff on the table, what is on the table 469 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:18,520 right now is strategic advice for new CFO fems. 470 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,720 And of course, you know, I am on that table. 471 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,400 So as someone who's just, you know, launched their new 472 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,640 fractional CFO service and you know, what foundational systems 473 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:32,320 mindset shifts or habits would you recommend for them to focus 474 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,520 on? For I would say that you 475 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:40,680 definitely you. You have to have your your 476 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,920 processes systematized, right? It has to be repeatable. 477 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,440 I think the challenge with growing into advisory service is 478 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,280 it is part of what most accounting and finance 479 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,440 professionals already have in their wheelhouse, right? 480 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:59,560 It's about setting up a way to systematize that information and 481 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,360 make it repeatable for multiple clients. 482 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,600 It doesn't matter. That's capable as well. 483 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,160 Correct, right. It doesn't matter the industry 484 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,480 per SE, right? And that's the beauty of the 485 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:11,760 numbers. The numbers are the numbers, 486 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:14,200 right, right. Your benchmarks may be 487 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:20,240 different, but how am I looking at all of the different parts of 488 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,920 my business, right, at all the different drivers? 489 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,880 How am I looking at that data and able to consolidate that and 490 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,720 put it in a way that is understandable and more than 491 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,640 understandable actionable? I think that's right, because 492 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,880 having access to the data and not making a decision or change 493 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,280 is almost criminal, right? Like it's like if you have all 494 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,120 these data points and what am I doing with it? 495 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,680 And that's what we're really trying to, that's what we're 496 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,960 doing with advisory service, right, is that we're presenting 497 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,560 the data in a different way. You know, for for assurance 498 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:58,520 services, you know, the emphasis is more on the accuracy and the 499 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,360 understandability of of the data, right? 500 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,480 On the other side, you know you also need to ensure that the 501 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:10,440 data is actionable and understanding because you're 502 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,520 actually making recommendations and not just making 503 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,960 recommendations. You're making recommendations 504 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:21,120 that's ought to be actioned in the other for that pieces to 505 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,840 move to the next level. Absolutely, absolutely. 506 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:30,360 I think that's the, that's where the, the guiding your client 507 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:33,320 comes from, right? Like meeting them where they are 508 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,760 because at the end of the day, you know, this is something that 509 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,800 you've been doing for how long, how long have you been in the 510 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,800 field? I I'm embarrassed to say how 511 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,200 long I've been in it, but how long have you been in the field? 512 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,440 I'll say again, seven years now, yes, some plus years now. 513 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,320 So it's. So even. 514 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,480 Second nature already. Then, right, the amount of 515 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,480 knowledge you have in being able to support a business, right, 516 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,040 can be overwhelming to someone that isn't as familiar, right. 517 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:09,200 And so I think we need to also keep our pulse on meeting, 518 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,680 meeting people where they are, right? 519 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,600 Like this is new, it's different, We're looking at data 520 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,360 different. Let's be curious, right? 521 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,760 There's, there's ways to look at this from a different 522 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,360 perspective, right? Where someone might see a 523 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,840 challenge, you may see an opportunity. 524 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:31,760 And that's actually very, very true, you know, so back to to 525 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:38,680 the framework about a business acumen as a global acumen, being 526 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,640 able to work with cross functional teams, right, that 527 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:46,840 helps you identify opportunities across the board and beauty 528 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:52,280 relationships would actually help you to action those 529 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,280 recommendations that come by way of the opportunities that use 530 00:30:57,280 --> 00:31:00,640 put out. So it's all just moving 531 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,400 variables, different moving parts together and you need to 532 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:09,240 figure out how to feed them together and ensure a proper 533 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:14,640 balance for yourself and for for your clients. 534 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,520 But what would you say is like one big mistake that you know 535 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:24,000 many new CFO consultants make when starting out and how is the 536 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,680 best way to avoid it? So one of the things I think the 537 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,360 big, the bigger challenge is that they think they don't know 538 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,600 enough, right? Or they're not leveraging the 539 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,360 years of experience they have under their belt, right? 540 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,040 I spoke briefly about my time working at a cruise line, right? 541 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:43,600 Like that, the amount of knowledge that I gained from 542 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,440 that experience, right? Like unless you did the same 543 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,080 thing or worked in a similar situation, you wouldn't have 544 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,080 that knowledge. Don't underestimate the 545 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,760 experience that you have, right? Or different opportunities. 546 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:02,560 One of the reasons I opened up my own firm was it's such a 547 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,600 taboo thing to say, but you know, you can get tired of doing 548 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,080 bank reconciliations month after month, right? 549 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:09,000 Like. Exactly. 550 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:12,480 What did I find interesting is learning about different 551 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,320 businesses, right? Like, so, I mean, I can probably 552 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,440 tell you I worked for a diaper manufacturing company. 553 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,640 I had no idea that in 3 minutes they could make over 400 554 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,640 diapers, right? Like, so there's a, there's a 555 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,240 lot of data that you can extract and that's what I find 556 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,240 interesting, right? So never underestimate because, 557 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,840 you know, I meet people or I meet other financial 558 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:37,960 professionals that are like, Oh yeah, but I'm just an accountant 559 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,200 and I'm like, what? How do you mean I? 560 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,040 I hate that I seriously just like that, but our people do 561 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:46,480 that a lot. Good luck. 562 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,480 Or they're like, well, I'm a bookkeeper or I'm ACPA and I'm 563 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:51,680 like, I don't know, I am a numbers wizard, right? 564 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:55,520 Like I can take those data points and be able to construct 565 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:58,480 a different plan or I think of a different way to do things, or 566 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:00,840 it's about leveraging the information, right? 567 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:05,080 Like I think we like to put it in a Pretty Little box of what 568 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,160 this looks like and we want to give it a title. 569 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:09,840 And that's the challenge, right, with saying that I'm a 570 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,120 fractional CFO or ACFO or whatever it is. 571 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,600 It's like at the end of the day, I'm here because I want to help 572 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,960 you and your business succeed. I want to help you plan out that 573 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,920 strategy to be able to get to where you want to go, right? 574 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,240 Like a lot of times we get disconnected in our businesses 575 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,440 from our why, Why did we start the business, right? 576 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,080 Like why did you start your firm? 577 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,640 What was your? Basically, you know, to to help 578 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,960 our businesses reach the next level and you know, be 579 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,440 resourceful to these businesses. And you know, my business 580 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,960 philosophy is Wayne Wayne. You know when you add value to 581 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,960 an entity, they are happy to give you value because money is 582 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,280 a store value. So the only way to get it is to 583 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:58,440 make people happy way of you being resourceful to them. 584 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:02,360 That's the easiest way to make money in my business philosophy. 585 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,960 You know, when you give people value, they they are happy to 586 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:10,280 give back, you know, some value in return and win, win is the 587 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,960 best way to grow and the most sustainable way to grow in any 588 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,400 form of business. I stand to be corrected. 589 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,920 Or do you have any opposition to that philosophy? 590 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,199 No, no, as a matter of fact, I find that interesting, right? 591 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:26,880 Because what you're saying is that what's important to you is 592 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,080 the value in the exchange, right? 593 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,040 The energy exchange, because I do think that money is current. 594 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,239 It's, it's energy, right? And so that's the exchange, 595 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,480 right? For me, very similar to what you 596 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,600 said, I want to see businesses succeed, right? 597 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,880 Like I feel everyone has a specific skill set, right? 598 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:48,600 And you need multiple different skill sets to successfully 599 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,480 operate and stay in business term, right? 600 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:58,240 And so to say that I, I may not be the best person for you if 601 00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:00,920 you were trying to do a paper clip campaign, definitely out of 602 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,040 my wheelhouse, right? But my relationships with people 603 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,960 that can do that, right? Or knowledge that I've seen 604 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,960 numbers that we've run all these things may still help your 605 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,240 business, right? And the more people that you 606 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:14,760 have that can add that type of value, the more successful your 607 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,560 business will be. OK, interesting. 608 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,960 So what's, what's the best way you know to stand out? 609 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,480 Because for me, I, I believe in being different and being 610 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,360 different is what makes you just stand out. 611 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:32,200 So how do you position, you know yourself as success and you know 612 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:36,520 this increasingly competitive financial services space? 613 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:46,040 I would say that would be I, I place a lot of a lot of emphasis 614 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,280 on building relationships, right? 615 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:57,320 Not like this is like finding a business advisor, right for your 616 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:01,000 business is often like finding a doctor or a therapist, right? 617 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,440 Like it has to be the right person, right? 618 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:05,080 The person. Wow. 619 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,000 You know why I'm laughing? I was chilling with my doctor 620 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,480 friend yesterday. He's an orthopedic surgeon. 621 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,480 He's been on this work class before. 622 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,240 Doctor AB to Jabbar Hamza. Shout out to him. 623 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:21,760 And you know I tell your name. You're a doctor of bones or bro? 624 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,160 I'm a doctor. I'm a financial Dr. Bro. 625 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,360 I checked the pulse. I checked the health status of 626 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,320 of organizations. So put some respect on my name, 627 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:35,040 brother. And you're confirming it today. 628 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,200 God bless you, Monica the body woman. 629 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:42,280 With with there, there are a lot of people in the space, right? 630 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,760 But not everyone is going to be the right fit for your business. 631 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:48,000 Yeah. Like it's, I don't, I never see 632 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,280 it as competition. I think there is the right 633 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,160 person for every business, right? 634 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:56,000 And that is going to be determined by the relationship 635 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,040 that you build and the impact that you're able to have, right? 636 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,080 Because if someone doesn't want to get on a call with you 637 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,320 because they don't vibe, they don't feel the same energy, 638 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:05,920 right? Is that going to be a successful 639 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:10,120 relationship even if you have the best skill set in that 640 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,400 market, right? If I can't reach you because 641 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,560 we're not on the same page, then how can I impact your business, 642 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,600 right? So for me, I think it's about 643 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,680 connecting with people, building a relationship, right? 644 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:26,280 And being in a space where you feel like not only they can 645 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,080 benefit from you, but that you can benefit from them. 646 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:29,920 Right. Yeah. 647 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,000 Win, win, win, win. Always. 648 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,120 That's what I was with you like I I love a win win. 649 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:37,880 You know, that's that's just the best way. 650 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:39,880 Everybody leaves the table happy. 651 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,120 I don't want one party leaving the table happy and the other is 652 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:46,240 leaving feeling, you know, shortchanged. 653 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,560 He he does I. Want whoever we work with has to 654 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:55,320 feel like, I want them to feel like they received value, right? 655 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:57,080 I didn't just give them a report. 656 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,600 I didn't give them a tangible document, right? 657 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:05,160 Like we had a conversation, we discussed things, we came up 658 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,240 with an action plan together, right? 659 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:11,240 Like there's deliverables built on the conversation that we had. 660 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,840 We have been approached by and it happens a lot more frequently 661 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,480 than I care to admit where they're like, no, we want to 662 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:19,960 work with a team that's just hands off. 663 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,440 We never want to meet with you. Just tell us what we need to do. 664 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,400 And I'm like, probably not a good fit, right? 665 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,320 Like because that's not the way I work. 666 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:34,320 I'm not going to get the information I need to help you 667 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,720 change your business, impact your business if I can't connect 668 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:39,960 with you. Exactly the data. 669 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,920 The data tells you a story, right? 670 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:49,000 But the relationship and conversation are what shifts the 671 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,720 data. But you know the interesting 672 00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:55,080 thing, right? It's still part of data because 673 00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:59,080 we tend to focus too much on quantitative data, but we do get 674 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:02,480 qualitative data off the relationships. 675 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,280 Absolutely. But the qualitative data does 676 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,800 not go into those, you know, analytical tools. 677 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:18,120 It goes in here, you know, we often, often, often undermine 678 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:21,160 the qualitative data. And that's one annoying thing, 679 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:25,720 you know, amongst our numbers guys like ourselves, the 680 00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:28,040 qualitative data does matter a lot. 681 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,160 And it's good to see a person like yourself acknowledge it. 682 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:36,120 You know, how's partnering with incubators like Texters or 683 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:39,320 lining with, you know, fintech ecosystems helps you to grow 684 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:44,920 phenops and agile planners? Being a Tech Stars alum is 685 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:48,360 probably one of the like, It was one of the greatest experiences 686 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:51,240 that I've had. And also, when you talk about an 687 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:54,320 entire system that gives back, right? 688 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:59,400 Like the entire tech stars ecosystem is on giving back, 689 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:01,800 right? So you reach out to anyone in 690 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,640 the network for a need, a question, a conversation. 691 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:07,800 Can I pick your brain and the doors open? 692 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,280 I've never seen a system like that. 693 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,760 And to be a part of it was great, right? 694 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,000 Or is great because you're always going to be alone. 695 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,080 I think that that's the model that we have to adopt as a 696 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:23,600 society, right? We tend to gatekeep a lot of 697 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,440 information we don't want to share. 698 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:29,080 And being part of an incubator, being a mentor to in these 699 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:33,520 programs, helping develop new technology is just just an 700 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:35,960 amazing experience. I can't even really, I don't 701 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,120 think I'm doing it justice. I'm putting it into words, 702 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,280 right? Like I know when we went through 703 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:45,680 the program, we we met with, I don't know, so many e-commerce 704 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,880 businesses that we wanted, we wanted to get feedback from and 705 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:50,880 everyone. Like it was never a no, it was 706 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:54,080 never difficult, whether it was like, I only have 10 minutes, is 707 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:55,320 that good enough for you? Perfect. 708 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:59,160 I'll take the 10 minutes, right? Like it's about truly being part 709 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:03,120 of the change, right? Being part of building the next 710 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:05,400 great thing. I think that in itself is a 711 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:10,040 mindset. You know, it's interesting how 712 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,760 super successful people do not hold back. 713 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:16,880 They don't get keep information. And you know, information is key 714 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:21,000 if you are to progress to to the next level or to anything. 715 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:27,200 And that's brings me to the concept of the fixed mindset and 716 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:30,160 the growth mindset. You know, people who have that 717 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:34,720 fixed mindset tend to get keep information tend to live in that 718 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:38,360 scarcity mode, right? But why hate when you can't 719 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:40,920 collaborate? You know if you if you close 720 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,400 your hands right to to hold what you have back in your hands are 721 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:46,320 not going to be open to receive more but. 722 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:50,760 There is a the challenge or the opportunity, right? 723 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,800 Like sure, you may not want to give every industry secret that 724 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:59,120 you have, right? But even for us, like I think as 725 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,120 advisory professionals, right, like I give away more 726 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,640 information and in a conversation at a restaurant 727 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:08,800 with a business owner, then I would because it's, it's how, 728 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,760 how do you build a relationship if you're guarded on what you're 729 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,320 going to share or the knowledge that you know, right? 730 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:21,880 Or how can you, how can you scale if you don't want to 731 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,520 discuss where you're trying to get to or how you're going to 732 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:28,120 get there? Or how can you receive, right, 733 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:30,840 the information that you need if you're not willing to have a 734 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:34,360 conversation or ask? And so I think these are the 735 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,920 things that we need to keep in mind when we're having those 736 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,400 conversations. You know, I was listening to a 737 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,120 podcast the other day where I believe what the what the 738 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,240 gentleman quoted was don't block the blessing, right? 739 00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:50,680 And I wonder how much we do that right in conversations when we 740 00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:53,880 gate keep thinking that we're going to give away something 741 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,400 that we're actually blocking what we can receive. 742 00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,160 Exactly, you know, and of course, you know, Speaking of 743 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:02,640 don't block the blessing. I think you were aligning with 744 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:04,720 my thoughts, right, Because sometimes you're in 745 00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:10,200 conversations with people, you know, and he he you bring on 746 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:14,480 those elements that you would probably have wanted to get keep 747 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:20,800 and they actually provide you with superior information or 748 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:24,600 even just a little bit of insight to improve what you 749 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:30,800 already have speaking, speaking, for example, about yourself and 750 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,920 myself, right, actually discourse, you know, the beats 751 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:37,600 and Pats and you know, strategies on my new company 752 00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:42,600 with you. And you did a great thing giving 753 00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:44,840 me a referral to the CFO projects. 754 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:49,360 You know, I spoke with Adam, you know, a great guy, you know, and 755 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:56,880 I have been really grateful for that opportunity to be immersed 756 00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:04,320 in a very supportive system, you know, with all of that technical 757 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:08,320 and non-technical support, you know, business development 758 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:12,480 support, like how do you get that if you don't open up in 759 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:17,160 terms of exchanging strategies, you know, in terms of, you know, 760 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:20,960 exchanging ideas, like you don't get what you need. 761 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:23,760 A closed mouth is a closed destiny, right? 762 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:25,520 Right. Whose mouths don't get fed? 763 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:28,440 Absolutely. So that's really interesting 764 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,120 too. So being part of the CFO 765 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,120 project, right, like I'm actually a mentor for the 766 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,120 program. It is such a great program. 767 00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:38,200 I've learned so much and even I know you spoke with Adam, but 768 00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:42,240 Jeff Prager is amazing as well. One of the things we talk about 769 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:48,680 is there's so many businesses that need help right there. 770 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:53,920 There's not enough people to, to be the change that's needed, 771 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,160 right. So if you don't talk about 772 00:44:56,160 --> 00:45:00,680 what's helping you or how you've gotten to where you are now, 773 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,880 right, you know, like it it I was at a local event and I, I 774 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,960 want everybody to get what they need right? 775 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:11,520 Like I, I never, I don't see things as direct competition in 776 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:15,080 that manner because because not everyone is meant for me. 777 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:17,240 Just like I'm not exactly everyone, right? 778 00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:21,000 And so if they can get what they need right, then I feel that you 779 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:22,920 will get repeated in different ways, right? 780 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:27,160 And so you always genuinely, I always want to help anyone get 781 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:31,040 like I am what I would call a serial connector, right? 782 00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:35,000 Like if someone has a need, whether it's I need printing 783 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:36,400 done AT shirt, it doesn't matter. 784 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:38,480 I know someone that knows someone that can get that done. 785 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:43,320 Definitely yes. On that, you know, it's to be 786 00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:47,440 helpful, right to to help people achieve what they need, right 787 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,960 and to be able to give in ways where you're not expecting to 788 00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:52,880 receive is one of the most beautiful things. 789 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,240 Exactly. I think what you just said right 790 00:45:56,240 --> 00:45:59,200 now, my friends that know me would agree that you're the 791 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:04,160 female version of me. You're just on the other side of 792 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,120 the pond, you know, Same philosophies, you know? 793 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:09,720 Yeah. And of course, we don't just 794 00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:11,760 talk to talk. We walk to talk. 795 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:18,160 You know, there's this book, The Finalist Evolution by Scott 796 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,400 Ritzheimer. He was a guest on the podcast, 797 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:26,520 You know, he, he basically documented the, the evolution, 798 00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:30,160 you know, the journey of a founder from, you know, 799 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:34,760 inception to exits. And there's this phase he, he 800 00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:39,080 talked about, you know, the shift from being a reluctance 801 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,480 manager to being a disillusioned leader. 802 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:46,560 You know, how do founders know when it's time to stop being the 803 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,520 doer and start being the builder? 804 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:58,240 So I think what is difficult about being an entrepreneur at 805 00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:02,920 times is that you are the visionary for sure. 806 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:08,800 You spread yourself in. But like for me, I am still very 807 00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:11,760 much a doer in the businesses that we have. 808 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,080 I don't know that that will change. 809 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:19,320 I, I think as you evolve in your founder journey, right, then 810 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:23,200 there's things that you will delegate and give up. 811 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:26,800 However, I think there is a shift that happens, right? 812 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,840 Like where you acknowledge what you're good at, where you excel, 813 00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:32,520 and where you don't. Exactly. 814 00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:37,960 There is a point where you have to step back and own that right? 815 00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:40,800 Like and own. This is not, this is not my zone 816 00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:44,880 of genius, and I should probably let someone who excels in that 817 00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:51,080 space do that part right. But it takes a owning your own 818 00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:54,080 business is to me right like it is. 819 00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,680 It is my personal relationship, my husband, my children, my 820 00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:59,120 grandchildren and then my business right like it is right 821 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,800 there like after the humans in my life. 822 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:07,480 And it is hard to give up parts of your baby you know, that 823 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:10,200 you've built, right? Like you, I think for me, I went 824 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,560 through a phase of thinking that no one understood our brand but 825 00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,320 me. Like I couldn't explain it to 826 00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,200 anyone else. Like nobody, nobody's going to 827 00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:20,480 get it. Nobody's going to do it like me, 828 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:22,560 right? Like I need to be the one that 829 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:24,600 does all of this. I'm the one that does this. 830 00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:28,880 And now I'm like, no, how can I build these things so that 831 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:32,640 someone else can do it? Because the truth is there's 832 00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,880 people now on the team that do things better than I do in 833 00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,000 certain, you know, spaces, right? 834 00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:43,080 Like maybe there's, you know, like I, I feel like I always 835 00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:45,120 want to be a visionary for the companies that we're in. 836 00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:48,000 I always want to be a part of dreaming to where we're going to 837 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,240 go, right? But am I the one that needs to 838 00:48:50,240 --> 00:48:52,000 execute all the time? Probably not. 839 00:48:52,240 --> 00:48:56,400 No, you know, and he needs to burn out very, very frequently. 840 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:01,120 Yeah, it does lead to burnout. But for me, I've learned very, 841 00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:04,840 very quickly, you know, that he needs to be able to institute a 842 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:06,680 systems in place and teach people. 843 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,560 Yeah, I think maybe because of my teaching background, you 844 00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:13,440 know, if you're able to explain certain things to people and 845 00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:16,800 build a walkthrough. Yeah, a well documented 846 00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:19,320 walkthrough. And I think that helps to serve 847 00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:21,920 as a guide for people. Anybody with average 848 00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:26,480 intelligence is able to follow a well documented walkthrough. 849 00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:29,440 And which repetition if you'd not so? 850 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,520 I'd love to pick your brain on that because we are structured 851 00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:35,400 individuals by nature, right? Yeah, yeah. 852 00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:40,480 If you work with, you know, any type of SaaS software, right? 853 00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:43,520 Software as a service, there's always change, right? 854 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:47,400 One of the things we talk about a lot on the team internally is 855 00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:51,640 Sops, right? And the endless changes that 856 00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:53,760 happen. And how do you stay on top of 857 00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:57,120 that? Where do you fall on the list of 858 00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:02,440 documentation or Sops in this ever changing landscape? 859 00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:06,080 You know, the only constant thing you know is change 860 00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:11,560 basically and that is why I believe in constantly updating 861 00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:14,560 your documentation. But in the 1st place, there has 862 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:17,960 to be a documentation on ground. Remember, I'm an auditor by 863 00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:21,800 background or aside from that audio background, right? 864 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:25,600 I am actually a piece of strategist by future. 865 00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:30,240 So even while I was in audit, I think I do have some managers on 866 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,960 time, PwC who told me like you should consider being a 867 00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:37,160 strategy, not being an audit. Of course, the way you think, 868 00:50:37,160 --> 00:50:39,920 the way your mindset is, is actually beauty and business 869 00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:42,880 strategies. I never really got what that guy 870 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:46,120 was saying until much later, like, oh, there you go. 871 00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:49,120 Because of value, right? So, so back, back to the 872 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:53,200 question, right? Same thing with forecasting. 873 00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:57,120 You see how, you know, the landscape keeps changing, the 874 00:50:57,120 --> 00:50:59,680 variables keep changing. Are you saying we are not going 875 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:03,040 to have a forecasting model? No, we'll keep updating the 876 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:06,520 numbers. And yeah, so basically you can 877 00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:10,160 update on a ad hoc basis or a periodical basis. 878 00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:14,000 So basically you just try to find, you know, a periodic 879 00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:18,680 system that actually works well for that business model, you 880 00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:21,000 know, depending on the frequency of change. 881 00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:27,400 So if we have say a quarterly review, right, yeah, fine. 882 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:31,040 But if we have any major changes then we update on add up basis. 883 00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:35,760 So that's not the way to go on, you know, my own side of things. 884 00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:38,280 Interesting. Well, no, I, I think I've 885 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,880 learned over the years that I'm more of a rule Bender than a 886 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,720 rule breaker. And so I tend to, I think what I 887 00:51:43,720 --> 00:51:49,840 heard you say is structure is built into the updating of Sops 888 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:54,320 and, and what. And so I'm just always curious 889 00:51:54,560 --> 00:51:57,080 at how other accounting professionals are taking that 890 00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,360 right, because I do feel like particularly software changes so 891 00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:04,080 much now by the time you make your final edits on how to do 892 00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:05,800 something, it's huffed into. Yeah, yeah. 893 00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:09,120 So, so basically you just need to classify what are the major 894 00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:10,720 changes, what are the minor changes. 895 00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:14,160 So if you're doing on a monthly basis, right, So you could wait 896 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:17,080 till the end of the month if it's a minor change, because you 897 00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:21,160 keep documenting the sense, you know, you have your, your Google 898 00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:23,880 sheet where everybody's collaborating on and you know, 899 00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:26,480 put documents and those things in notice, right? 900 00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:30,800 So yeah, if you can wait, let it wait till the month end process. 901 00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:33,120 If you cannot wait, then OK, we updated. 902 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:36,400 So it's still structural flexibility, you know? 903 00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:40,640 Gotcha. You're welcome. 904 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:43,800 You know, when we're talking about founders, you know, that 905 00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,280 are trying to move from Beanstalk in the weeds, you 906 00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:50,280 know, to becoming visionary leaders who will build scalable 907 00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:52,400 systems and culture. Like what's? 908 00:52:52,400 --> 00:52:56,880 What's your advice for that? And it goes back to what I was 909 00:52:56,880 --> 00:52:59,880 stay curious, right? I think for founders 910 00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:03,840 particularly, sometimes we get, I've seen it happen where 911 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:07,080 they're so focused on what they're building, it no longer 912 00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:11,200 serves the purpose and they haven't pivoted yet because 913 00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:14,280 they're so focused on the end goal, right? 914 00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:18,600 Like a lot of times we have to stop and ask yourself, is this 915 00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:22,320 still working the way we intended, right, particularly in 916 00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:24,320 the founder world. And there's a lot of missed 917 00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:27,080 opportunities. Because I think what happens, at 918 00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:29,880 least particularly in the fintech space, is that you're 919 00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:34,040 solving for a certain solution and you're so focused on solving 920 00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:35,880 for that one thing that you can't see that you have 921 00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:38,600 something even bigger right in front of you, right? 922 00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:42,840 And so you have to be able like, I'll, I'll give you a perfect 923 00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:44,720 example. When we were building out fin 924 00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:48,120 OPS, we had a target market that we were looking at, right? 925 00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:53,160 And if it wasn't because we had met other companies that were 926 00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:56,120 larger than what our target market was, we would have 927 00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:58,960 possibly never made that pivot. It was talk and having those 928 00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:01,760 conversations are like, wait, you're missing what you could 929 00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:05,760 actually build with this, right? Like and and I remember those 930 00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:08,200 moments of being like, so a headstrong, but that's not who 931 00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:09,640 we want to build this product for. 932 00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:12,600 This isn't what the intention was, right? 933 00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:19,120 Like you get very focused on your why that you might miss 934 00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:23,360 just how big something can be. Exactly. 935 00:54:23,360 --> 00:54:26,400 And you know, that comes with the growth mindset, the open 936 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:28,560 mindedness. You know, sometimes when you 937 00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:33,800 just saw tunnel vision and you just focus on achieving a 938 00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:38,920 particular goal with a particular method, it keeps you 939 00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:42,560 away from seeing other possibilities, right? 940 00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:45,600 What the flip side to that is bad too, right? 941 00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:48,520 Like because if you're not laser focused on the end goal either, 942 00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:50,080 then you might miss the milestone. 943 00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:52,040 So there definitely has to be a middle ground. 944 00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:53,680 I think the. Yeah, definitely. 945 00:54:53,680 --> 00:54:55,040 I like that middle ground, right. 946 00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:59,680 And remember, even from my answer to you on the SOP's 947 00:54:59,680 --> 00:55:04,000 right, you'd see my mindset is all about balancing structure 948 00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:07,360 and flexibility. But that is a hard line. 949 00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:09,560 It is a hard line to follow if you're not. 950 00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:13,440 It's approaching it with curiosity. 951 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:16,600 Like what can this is there? Yeah, like if we get. 952 00:55:16,600 --> 00:55:19,000 And maybe that that is the growth mindset, right? 953 00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:20,960 Because if we're fixed on something. 954 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:23,320 But what is the middle ground mindset, right? 955 00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:25,640 Like meaning. Because at the end of the day, 956 00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:29,000 I've seen the same situation with founders where they don't 957 00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:33,280 get to the end goal because they change too often, right. 958 00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:39,000 So it's like there has to be or maybe maybe it's about who's on 959 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:41,280 the team, right? Like maybe it's about the 960 00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:45,560 players on the team too, right? It's, it's interesting, right? 961 00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:50,920 The founder's journey can be, it's a hard 1, you know, like 962 00:55:50,920 --> 00:55:54,200 it, it is to be a founder, to be an entrepreneur is is hard. 963 00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:57,120 And while you may have a team, it's interesting how it can 964 00:55:57,120 --> 00:55:59,200 still be lonely, right? Like. 965 00:55:59,440 --> 00:56:03,680 Yes, absolutely, because the recent reward, you know, lies 966 00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:06,960 with you, the resettle work absolutely like you. 967 00:56:06,960 --> 00:56:11,600 But, you know, and I think I would use the the growth of this 968 00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:18,400 podcast as a as an example, you know, what a great time to use 969 00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:24,000 as an example, having clocked 10,000 subscribers just two days 970 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:28,480 ago. And think about the growth that 971 00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:31,320 has been achieved, you know, from inception till now. 972 00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:35,600 So if you look at the early days of the broadcast, you know, I 973 00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:38,440 was using a platform called Stream Yard. 974 00:56:38,680 --> 00:56:41,040 And you know, I was always curious about how can we 975 00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:42,440 improve? How can we improve? 976 00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:48,600 And over time I discovered, yeah, I was using a certain, you 977 00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:53,440 know, number of tools. Yeah, another tool called 978 00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:58,760 Oversleeps. That tool helps you to court 979 00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:01,400 your long form content into shock leaves. 980 00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:06,880 Well, I discovered it wasn't given me the image quality, the 981 00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:11,440 video quality that I wanted. It doesn't export your videos 982 00:57:11,440 --> 00:57:14,440 and 4K quality. So why am I paying so much money 983 00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:16,720 for this thing? You know I started doing my 984 00:57:16,720 --> 00:57:23,000 research, you know discovered I needed to buy a 4K camera, 985 00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:26,720 right? So I did research, got the best 986 00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:30,160 brand on the market, which is Logitech and of course I saw the 987 00:57:30,160 --> 00:57:33,920 improvements with the video quality and what else. 988 00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:39,080 I had to move from stream yard to a platform called reader side 989 00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:46,040 and reader side. Boom, the quality game changed. 990 00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:49,240 You know, it could produce your long form and your short form 991 00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:52,360 content. You know, with the 4K quality, 992 00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:57,240 they, they, they kept on, you know, improving on the 993 00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:01,320 technological features, even the AI features on the platform. 994 00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:04,160 And I like, OK, these are the guys that get the kind of person 995 00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:06,120 that I am. You know, I am a progressive. 996 00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:09,000 I have, I have an elderly friend, you know, who, who comes 997 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,880 to my place, He's always saying, well, anytime I come to your 998 00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:14,240 house, you know, something has changed. 999 00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:17,040 There's also positive improvement, you know, and 1000 00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:19,440 that's, you know, the kind of person that I am. 1001 00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:23,880 So we started with sharing stories of ordinary people doing 1002 00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:25,960 extraordinary things as as a motto. 1003 00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:28,600 And some people like, I don't like the idea of being called an 1004 00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:30,120 ordinary person. OK, don't worry. 1005 00:58:30,240 --> 00:58:32,920 We've changed the the motto to sharing the stories of 1006 00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:36,880 extraordinary people and dissecting hot topics. 1007 00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:39,160 Because I discovered it's not just about the stories of these 1008 00:58:39,160 --> 00:58:40,680 people. These people are coming to share 1009 00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:45,200 education. So, you know, it's funny, people 1010 00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:48,920 said, you know, just keep re strategizing and at some point 1011 00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:52,760 people got to know me almost, you know, we're identifying me 1012 00:58:52,760 --> 00:58:56,200 with, you know, with interviewing people in combat 1013 00:58:56,200 --> 00:58:59,840 sports because I do, aside from being a chartered accountant, a 1014 00:58:59,840 --> 00:59:03,280 finance guy, I do have a background in martial arts. 1015 00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:08,280 I used to trade Taekwondo, karate, and of course I do mixed 1016 00:59:08,280 --> 00:59:10,800 martial arts. I think guys from the UFC, you 1017 00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:14,880 know, on this show I've had the president of the Pfc has been 1018 00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:17,040 over fighting championship on this show as well. 1019 00:59:17,080 --> 00:59:21,200 But I thought to myself, you are way more than martial arts. 1020 00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:26,680 You are a businessman, you are a finance professional and you're 1021 00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:30,160 very vast and versatile. So what did I do around it 1022 00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:33,000 again, I was trying to dive into speaking with business leaders 1023 00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:36,040 like yourself, speaking with, you know, health practitioners, 1024 00:59:36,040 --> 00:59:40,800 doctors, just speaking with guys in AI tech and basically more 1025 00:59:40,840 --> 00:59:43,080 focus more on business, business, business. 1026 00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:48,320 And now here we are. So over time, you just need to 1027 00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:52,880 as a founder, you know, change the goal posts over time. 1028 00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:56,120 And that's what brings, you know, that growth because if you 1029 00:59:56,120 --> 01:00:01,800 just focused on the particular pathway, is it it's difficult to 1030 01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:05,840 achieve accelerated goal growth rather, but then there's a 1031 01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:10,640 structure already. But when you keep welcoming 1032 01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:15,000 ideas, new ideas. And new possibilities, you know, 1033 01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:16,800 people tell me, oh, why don't you do this? 1034 01:00:16,800 --> 01:00:18,320 Why don't you? There's so many things people 1035 01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:20,520 have told me. And I said, OK, based on the 1036 01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:23,040 structure, I just try to incorporate it, incorporate it. 1037 01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:26,760 And here we go, 10K subscribers. Thank you guys, your feedback, 1038 01:00:28,440 --> 01:00:31,000 you know, cheap deal has actually helped, you know, to, 1039 01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:33,000 to, to achieve this level of growth. 1040 01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:36,440 So for me, you know, it's about finding that way of balancing 1041 01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:39,880 the flexibility and the structure, you know, the 1042 01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:41,520 structure stays, you know, the same. 1043 01:00:41,520 --> 01:00:45,640 But you know, when you cheapen that flexibility over time and, 1044 01:00:45,640 --> 01:00:52,320 you know, having this beat sized adjustments over time, yeah, 1045 01:00:52,320 --> 01:00:54,160 we're still trying to achieve, you know, that goal. 1046 01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:56,720 And what was the goal I set out, you know, to achieve. 1047 01:00:56,960 --> 01:01:01,040 If you look at Spotify, the podcast is under the category 1048 01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:04,040 self help. So my two major goals when I 1049 01:01:04,040 --> 01:01:06,240 started out was education and inspiration. 1050 01:01:06,720 --> 01:01:10,040 So if I can educate people and inspire people, I think my work 1051 01:01:10,440 --> 01:01:13,720 here is well done. And I think you would agree with 1052 01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:17,120 me that those are the two things I brought you here to do, and 1053 01:01:17,120 --> 01:01:20,920 you're doing them indirectly. Well, I, I wanted to touch base 1054 01:01:20,920 --> 01:01:23,800 on, you know, there's a really good friend of mine that I met 1055 01:01:23,800 --> 01:01:26,000 in Techstars. I hope he hears this podcast 1056 01:01:26,040 --> 01:01:27,680 because he'll definitely get the reference. 1057 01:01:28,600 --> 01:01:33,160 Wow, but. When we met, I told him that my 1058 01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:37,480 goal in life was to have an extraordinary life, right? 1059 01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:49,640 There was a question that was posed, I believe it was 1060 01:01:49,640 --> 01:01:52,960 yesterday in a conversation, which is like one of the one of 1061 01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:55,840 the things that you would give women in business, right? 1062 01:01:55,840 --> 01:02:00,080 Or minority owned businesses or anyone that's like, you know, 1063 01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:03,920 right now trying to build something, What would you do? 1064 01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:06,720 What would you say? And what I would say is stop 1065 01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:10,960 playing small, right? And realize that you are, you 1066 01:02:10,960 --> 01:02:12,920 are meant to have an extraordinary life. 1067 01:02:13,120 --> 01:02:17,280 When we block our blessings or you know, there's another really 1068 01:02:17,280 --> 01:02:20,760 good friend of mine that says when we hog our gifts by not 1069 01:02:20,760 --> 01:02:22,480 sharing them with the world, right? 1070 01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:26,640 We're not only affecting our own path in life, but someone 1071 01:02:26,640 --> 01:02:30,440 else's, right? Like your story of how you built 1072 01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:33,920 something or how you got there or what you've done to get to 1073 01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:38,520 where you are now may inspire someone else or it may help 1074 01:02:38,520 --> 01:02:40,360 someone not make that same mistake. 1075 01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:43,320 Like you don't know how someone's going to take what you 1076 01:02:43,320 --> 01:02:45,520 have to say or how life changing it is. 1077 01:02:45,800 --> 01:02:48,440 I think that what needs to happen is that we can undervalue 1078 01:02:48,520 --> 01:02:50,440 it, right? I think a lot of times we don't 1079 01:02:50,440 --> 01:02:54,080 want to share our experience or our stories, right? 1080 01:02:54,080 --> 01:02:57,760 And I'm like, no, I, I, I feel like we, we need to share more. 1081 01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:01,280 We need to talk about the challenges that we've had and 1082 01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:03,880 not just the wins, right? Some of the losses, you know, I, 1083 01:03:04,360 --> 01:03:06,640 I think we go around saying that I'm a two time founder. 1084 01:03:06,640 --> 01:03:08,400 I think it's true. Word, 9 times. 1085 01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:09,920 We've had nine different companies, right? 1086 01:03:09,920 --> 01:03:12,560 Like, who would have thought I owned a skateboard shop at some 1087 01:03:12,560 --> 01:03:14,520 point, right? Things that you do, right? 1088 01:03:14,520 --> 01:03:18,720 Experiences that you've had that have shaped who we are today, 1089 01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:20,360 right? Like all of those bits and 1090 01:03:20,360 --> 01:03:23,840 pieces are part of living that extraordinary life, right? 1091 01:03:23,840 --> 01:03:27,560 Like, just, again, they're not playing small, right? 1092 01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:29,680 Sharing your stories is so important, right? 1093 01:03:29,680 --> 01:03:31,480 You just never know who you're gonna touch. 1094 01:03:31,640 --> 01:03:34,360 You know, I, I am actually literally in the business of 1095 01:03:34,360 --> 01:03:36,880 sharing stories of extraordinary people. 1096 01:03:36,960 --> 01:03:40,440 So there you go, bring your referrals because I'm taking it 1097 01:03:40,480 --> 01:03:43,400 upon myself, you know, to share the series of extraordinary 1098 01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:48,400 people and dissect our hot topics, relevant hot topics, 1099 01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:52,920 important hot topics, you know, and I hope we, we only grow from 1100 01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:55,200 here. Yeah, just to the next milestone 1101 01:03:55,200 --> 01:03:58,000 of the key incoming. Yeah. 1102 01:03:59,240 --> 01:04:01,280 Whoa. You know, you've actually made 1103 01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:04,360 waves of both in finance and tech and of course you talked 1104 01:04:04,360 --> 01:04:09,200 about being a woman, you know, in this male dominated world. 1105 01:04:09,520 --> 01:04:12,920 So what has video experience navigating, you know, these are 1106 01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:17,360 male dominated industries, especially as a Hispanic woman 1107 01:04:17,480 --> 01:04:19,360 and how are you paying it forward? 1108 01:04:19,440 --> 01:04:23,440 I think my experience hasn't been typical because I live in a 1109 01:04:23,440 --> 01:04:26,320 multicultural area, right? I live in the heart of my. 1110 01:04:26,360 --> 01:04:27,720 Lucky you. Lucky you. 1111 01:04:27,720 --> 01:04:29,640 Yeah, well. I I definitely. 1112 01:04:29,960 --> 01:04:31,440 I want to be like you when I grow up. 1113 01:04:33,040 --> 01:04:36,560 I, I, I will honor the fact that that is not everyone's 1114 01:04:36,560 --> 01:04:39,440 experience, but speaking from my own experience, right? 1115 01:04:39,440 --> 01:04:42,640 I don't maybe maybe it's also a confidence thing, right? 1116 01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:45,840 Or maybe not not so much a confidence thing, but a, a 1117 01:04:45,840 --> 01:04:50,320 resilience and determination to share what we have to offer, 1118 01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:51,600 right? That it doesn't. 1119 01:04:53,840 --> 01:04:57,400 I've had very, very, I have nothing but beautiful things to 1120 01:04:57,400 --> 01:04:59,280 say about the experiences that I've had. 1121 01:04:59,280 --> 01:05:03,160 And I have heard for a lot of female founders in particular, 1122 01:05:03,280 --> 01:05:06,920 particularly in the cohort we were in, there was a lot of 1123 01:05:06,920 --> 01:05:09,600 Latin American culture and the experience wasn't the same, 1124 01:05:09,800 --> 01:05:13,400 right. And I think what is important 1125 01:05:13,400 --> 01:05:17,600 for women, for women, for business owners, for any type of 1126 01:05:18,120 --> 01:05:21,640 divert, you cannot, you cannot not focus on what it is that 1127 01:05:21,640 --> 01:05:25,200 you're trying to build, right? Like you cannot play small and 1128 01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:28,120 you have to show up with the energy of what I am bringing is 1129 01:05:28,120 --> 01:05:31,000 going to change the world. I am, I am producing something. 1130 01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:33,240 I am building something. I am bringing something to the 1131 01:05:33,240 --> 01:05:37,640 table that is going to change the landscape that we're in now. 1132 01:05:37,640 --> 01:05:41,920 And if you can keep that top of mind, then your outcome will be 1133 01:05:41,920 --> 01:05:44,720 more successful, right? I'm not saying that you don't 1134 01:05:44,720 --> 01:05:47,040 have hiccups and pitfalls and that they're not challenging. 1135 01:05:47,040 --> 01:05:51,120 They absolutely are. But if you keep your mindset of 1136 01:05:51,120 --> 01:05:53,240 what you're bringing to the table, then you can overcome 1137 01:05:53,240 --> 01:05:56,680 those challenges. Fantastic. 1138 01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:01,080 I know you're a very, very busy woman and members of your team 1139 01:06:01,080 --> 01:06:04,240 will come sheep you off the table very soon. 1140 01:06:04,840 --> 01:06:08,720 But before you get sheeped off the table, are you able to give 1141 01:06:08,720 --> 01:06:16,280 us a quick, you know, brief story I said it of of a female 1142 01:06:16,280 --> 01:06:20,680 entrepreneur who whose story or if you know utilizing smart 1143 01:06:20,680 --> 01:06:23,640 financial strategy is actually transformational and 1144 01:06:23,640 --> 01:06:29,240 inspirational. Yeah, I'm sure I can. 1145 01:06:29,240 --> 01:06:31,440 Of course, now I'm drawing a blank under pressure. 1146 01:06:31,480 --> 01:06:35,240 OK, before, before, before you, before you give us that story, 1147 01:06:35,240 --> 01:06:36,840 right? Let's quickly play the quick 1148 01:06:36,840 --> 01:06:38,880 fire round. You know I have 5 power 1149 01:06:38,880 --> 01:06:42,800 questions for you. Just very, very quick answers. 1150 01:06:43,120 --> 01:06:46,480 You know where, if possible, what's a financial tool or tech 1151 01:06:46,480 --> 01:06:51,280 stack you swear by? Controversial QuickBooks. 1152 01:06:52,520 --> 01:06:54,280 Oh wow, QuickBooks, I hate you. I know. 1153 01:06:54,280 --> 01:06:59,600 I know really it's gonna be controversial, but I feel like. 1154 01:07:00,560 --> 01:07:02,720 How about 0? QuickBooks has 0. 1155 01:07:03,400 --> 01:07:05,800 I'm Team QuickBooks. Still, there are some there are 1156 01:07:05,800 --> 01:07:09,080 some things I love about zero. I just feel, at least here in 1157 01:07:09,160 --> 01:07:12,600 the US, Zero is more popular on your side of the pond than it is 1158 01:07:12,600 --> 01:07:14,640 here. Yeah, that's actually very true. 1159 01:07:14,840 --> 01:07:16,640 You're correct. Absolutely important. 1160 01:07:16,840 --> 01:07:19,480 So what's your favorite business book or founder story? 1161 01:07:19,480 --> 01:07:23,960 Business book. I would I said like I I find it 1162 01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:26,880 a business book and a life book. I would say think and grow rich. 1163 01:07:27,520 --> 01:07:31,160 Wow, the one of my favorites. Wow, I said this on you know 1164 01:07:31,440 --> 01:07:34,280 this broadcast before, but let me just tell you, I think and 1165 01:07:34,280 --> 01:07:38,360 Grow Rich was the first book my father ever gifted me. 1166 01:07:39,360 --> 01:07:42,440 Wow. Yeah, and I honestly, that book 1167 01:07:42,440 --> 01:07:46,960 actually shaped my life. So big recommendation to the 1168 01:07:46,960 --> 01:07:48,960 audience. Go be think and grow rich. 1169 01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:52,040 And I think me later I'll drop, I'll drop the link in the 1170 01:07:52,040 --> 01:07:56,720 descriptions as well #4 What's the best piece of advice you've 1171 01:07:56,720 --> 01:07:58,840 ever received as a woman in business? 1172 01:07:58,840 --> 01:08:02,560 Share your gift. Your story needs to be heard, 1173 01:08:02,840 --> 01:08:04,760 right? Women have the tendency to show 1174 01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:06,760 up, or at least in Latin cultures. 1175 01:08:06,800 --> 01:08:10,160 I'll speak from Latin cultures. We're we're taught to stay 1176 01:08:10,160 --> 01:08:13,280 small, right? And I think that that's one 1177 01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:16,040 thing that definitely needs to change, right, Like show up with 1178 01:08:16,040 --> 01:08:19,240 your gift, show up with you have to contribute, keep talking 1179 01:08:19,240 --> 01:08:20,960 about the change that you want to be. 1180 01:08:21,080 --> 01:08:24,600 Those times are done right, of, of not. 1181 01:08:24,680 --> 01:08:31,279 And I, and I think more so is sharing vulnerably, right? 1182 01:08:31,279 --> 01:08:35,359 Having conversations, true deep conversations about business and 1183 01:08:35,359 --> 01:08:37,279 life, right? And how they're intertwined. 1184 01:08:37,840 --> 01:08:40,640 I think that we undervalue that we no longer live in a world 1185 01:08:40,640 --> 01:08:43,520 where it's like I, especially as an entrepreneur or business 1186 01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:45,720 owner, right? Like my, I work from 9:00 to 1187 01:08:45,720 --> 01:08:47,880 5:00. That doesn't happen anymore. 1188 01:08:47,880 --> 01:08:51,600 Like this is this is a part of my lifestyle. 1189 01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:54,000 For seven, I sleep with my laptop. 1190 01:08:55,960 --> 01:09:00,600 But I think what's interesting is, at least in this phase of my 1191 01:09:00,600 --> 01:09:07,520 life, right, I still work just as hard, but I get to choose 1192 01:09:07,520 --> 01:09:09,120 when and how. Right. 1193 01:09:09,120 --> 01:09:13,600 Yeah, such a flexibility. Yeah, but that comes over time 1194 01:09:13,960 --> 01:09:17,240 and it's a learning skill. It's not something that happens 1195 01:09:17,240 --> 01:09:20,080 right out of the gate, so. It's an acquired taste. 1196 01:09:20,960 --> 01:09:26,240 Absolutely. Well, so for me, I think it's a 1197 01:09:26,240 --> 01:09:28,319 line between personal and work, right? 1198 01:09:28,319 --> 01:09:31,359 And and how that line can be blurred, right? 1199 01:09:31,439 --> 01:09:35,279 I think what's important to know that if you take your eye off 1, 1200 01:09:35,279 --> 01:09:38,960 the other will suffer, right? So often times we think we have 1201 01:09:38,960 --> 01:09:41,520 to work more to produce more, to succeed more. 1202 01:09:41,520 --> 01:09:44,760 But if we don't take care of what's in our lives personally, 1203 01:09:46,720 --> 01:09:49,520 right? You cannot build a thriving 1204 01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:53,080 business while your personal life is in chaos, right? 1205 01:09:53,080 --> 01:09:55,960 And I've tried that it it doesn't work. 1206 01:09:56,040 --> 01:09:59,280 It never ends well. But those are the things that we 1207 01:09:59,280 --> 01:10:01,520 don't talk about, right? That we don't talk about. 1208 01:10:01,800 --> 01:10:04,040 I mean, like you do hear people say that you have to work out 1209 01:10:04,040 --> 01:10:05,760 for your mental health and things like that. 1210 01:10:05,760 --> 01:10:09,400 But but even connection with people that are important to you 1211 01:10:10,000 --> 01:10:12,280 will help you thrive at work, right? 1212 01:10:12,280 --> 01:10:13,960 And we sometimes undervalue that. 1213 01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:18,240 Very, very true. People, please take note. 1214 01:10:18,320 --> 01:10:23,560 So #5 finish this sentence. Wealth to me means dash freedom. 1215 01:10:24,560 --> 01:10:26,080 Wow, I like that. Like that. 1216 01:10:26,360 --> 01:10:29,000 Bless. I forget the traits, right? 1217 01:10:29,000 --> 01:10:32,280 The character trait I was thinking out for you is actually 1218 01:10:32,680 --> 01:10:36,080 resilience. Yeah, resilience actually keeps 1219 01:10:36,080 --> 01:10:39,120 you going and going and going. And of course, you know, you are 1220 01:10:39,360 --> 01:10:42,800 an embodiment of resilience. Your story, your journey, you 1221 01:10:42,800 --> 01:10:45,800 know, has actually benefited a lot from resilience. 1222 01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:48,800 Think about what you would be today without that resilience. 1223 01:10:49,040 --> 01:10:55,880 You know you just kept on going to the audience you know are. 1224 01:10:57,200 --> 01:11:02,720 Please go get the free guide 16 parts of your business machine 1225 01:11:02,720 --> 01:11:07,600 on the agile planners website. You know money card is. 1226 01:11:07,800 --> 01:11:10,840 Book right fit call. Even if you think you know. 1227 01:11:10,840 --> 01:11:13,160 I tell people all the time, book a right fit call. 1228 01:11:13,160 --> 01:11:16,280 Let's have a conversation. If something on this call piques 1229 01:11:16,280 --> 01:11:19,480 your interest and you want to have a conversation about it, 1230 01:11:20,160 --> 01:11:23,000 please take me up on the offer and book the right fit call. 1231 01:11:23,080 --> 01:11:26,600 You just never know again what impact I may have for you and 1232 01:11:26,600 --> 01:11:28,920 your business or vice versa. Maybe you have something 1233 01:11:28,920 --> 01:11:33,240 impactful for me. You know, that's what the call 1234 01:11:33,240 --> 01:11:36,840 the money woman money cars got your back like a chiropract. 1235 01:11:37,560 --> 01:11:41,680 So wow, from me to you, you know, I feel, I feel honored, 1236 01:11:41,760 --> 01:11:47,520 you know, having such a highly cerebral and natural business 1237 01:11:47,520 --> 01:11:53,520 leader on the podcast with me today, I did not forget that the 1238 01:11:53,520 --> 01:11:57,160 story, if you still have the story in your back, you can drop 1239 01:11:57,160 --> 01:11:59,880 it. But if you want to leave it for 1240 01:11:59,880 --> 01:12:04,800 Part 2, it's fine as well. From me to you, I can only see 1241 01:12:05,160 --> 01:12:08,200 on the broadcast an attitude of gratitude, a sweet attitude. 1242 01:12:08,520 --> 01:12:11,360 And when somebody shares their time with you, they share their 1243 01:12:11,360 --> 01:12:13,760 life with you. Thank you very much for sharing 1244 01:12:13,880 --> 01:12:17,120 your time, your life with me and the audience today. 1245 01:12:17,320 --> 01:12:19,440 A very, very big thank you to you. 1246 01:12:19,440 --> 01:12:22,120 Love and respect that from the other side of the pond. 1247 01:12:22,120 --> 01:12:24,920 Thank. You thank you so much for having 1248 01:12:24,920 --> 01:12:27,080 me and I definitely can't wait for Part 2. 1249 01:12:28,320 --> 01:12:29,520 Wow. OK, fantastic. 1250 01:12:29,640 --> 01:12:32,080 Guys. Please, please, Monica, tell 1251 01:12:32,080 --> 01:12:35,400 them to go subscribe. Yes, I want to now I'm invested. 1252 01:12:35,400 --> 01:12:37,600 I want to see as these numbers grow and change. 1253 01:12:37,600 --> 01:12:39,080 I mean, this is an amazing podcast. 1254 01:12:39,360 --> 01:12:42,280 You have so much to give, so much information to share. 1255 01:12:43,320 --> 01:12:45,840 I I really I can't wait to see as it grows. 1256 01:12:46,480 --> 01:12:49,200 Well, thank you very much. And of course guys, good talk to 1257 01:12:49,200 --> 01:12:50,560 yourself. See you soon.