[00:00:00] Speaker A: SA.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Hello, my name is Noor Al Masri. Welcome to Echoes of Impact with Noora. We believe that everyone is capable of making an impact and changing the world around them. So we challenge limitations and uncover stories that inspire a greater impact for you and the world. Welcome again to Echoes of Impact.
This segment is sponsored by Newest Books. This is the recurring segment we've been doing during the tax season. Save Taxes with Nura yes. So how do you save taxes? How do you stop overpaying in taxes?
This is what I've been working on with the clients since the beginning of 2024 because I've noticed a lot of people are really overpaying in taxes without acknowledging that they don't know they are overpaying in taxes because maybe they are getting some refunds when they file their taxes. So they think, okay, I'm getting refund. That means I'm not overpaying in taxes. But in reality, they might be overpaying in taxes. So what's the first step to take in order to ensure taxes? The first step as entrepreneur, a business owner, you have to do your bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is the essential piece that's going to help you save in taxes, to help you get all the deductions you deserve for your business.
Bookkeeping is the stone, the cornerstone that's going to help you build the foundation. Then you can do tax planning. Then you can do a lot of other things. But if you do not have bookkeeping, your taxes will be wrong. You will miss deductions. You will not have the right information. You will be managing your business with misleading information, information in your head or maybe in your spreadsheets.
So what is bookkeeping? A lot of people do not understand bookkeeping. I still have these questions every single day when I talk to potential CL clients. Like, I don't know, what does bookkeeping mean? I have my Excel sheet. I have my bank statements. Well, bank statements and Excel sheets and credit card statements and loan documents. All of these are not bookkeeping. These are a source document.
Each one of them is a source document for bookkeeping.
You cannot know how much capital you have if you do not really do your bookkeeping. You cannot record your portion of the business, like how much percentage you have over your partner. Even if you don't have partner. You cannot really manage your business without bookkeeping.
And this is a compliance work. So let me explain bookkeeping more in a simpler style. It's technically recording your expenses and revenue from all the source documents, including any cash payment or cash you received, recording them in A way that is aligned with the gaap. What is gaap? It's General Accepted Accounting principle.
This is the law for bookkeeping. General account, general General accepted accounting principle gap.
This is what technically the bookkeeper or the accountant do for you. If they are good bookkeeper accounting. Because a lot of people are not there. So you have to know who you are working with. There's a lot of great bookkeepers, but also there's a lot of not great at all bookkeepers. So you need to make sure you are doing your bookkeeping in a good way. Let me give you an example. I work with someone, they are business owner, they do taxes with Nura's books. They haven't been doing their bookkeeping with us. They. They worked with someone else. And when we were doing their taxes, I was like, oh my God, what are you doing? They have the rents for the home. They have their, their personal expenses within their personal bookkeeping, their business bookkeeping. I mean this is not how you do it.
And if someone just know the very basics on bookkeeping, they will not do that. I don't know who they are working with but some people, they don't want to invest with a good accountant, a good bookkeeper. So they end up like really, really mess it up so much. We were able to correct the books for them. But if you are taking your financials to someone who do not take the time to make sure they understand what you have in your balance sheet, what do you have on your or do you have on your profit and loss, you could be in a big trouble. Because yeah, you might save in taxes, but in a wrong way. If you get audited, you will pay penalty, interest and the taxes that you had to pay. So you want to make sure you are using the right professional and connecting your books or your, your bank account or your credit cards account to QuickBooks or Xero or any of these softwares is not really bookkeeping. Using a software to bill your client is not bookkeeping. All of these things things are a portion of the bookkeeping, but it's not bookkeeping. That's source, document source.
This is where you get the information to do the bookkeeping. But that is not bookkeeping. And then your accountant will categorize. Of course we're categoriz categorizing the expenses and income. They're going to ask you because you are the business owner. And the more information you provide, the more accurate the bookkeeping will be. The more information or questions your bookkeeper is going to ask you, the more accurate your Bookkeeping will be the bookkeeping the way that's going to help you make decision and informed decision, not a blind decision. You don't know when to invest and how to invest and where and where to invest. If you do bookkeeping in a regular basis, in a monthly basis, a real time bookkeeping, which means like any, anything happens, you're recording. This is what we do at Norris Books. This is going to help you, this is going to help you make sure you understand your numbers. You have your numbers and that real time so you can make more accurate decisions, so you can grow your business.
So this is literally bookkeeping. If you still don't understand bookkeeping, don't worry like this is just a technical term. So don't be hanged out there. The main thing is you need to do it for your business. This is technically, it's going to tell you, give you the health of your business, the cash flow of your business and when it's time for taxes, you're ready. You don't have to do extensions, you don't have to do anything. You just give it to your accountants, they will do your taxes and you are ready. You don't have to put an extension and be thinking about the prior year while you have to focus on the year, the current year that is going to help you achieve the goal in the current year. Because last year closed, the file of last year closed. You did your taxes, you've done everything that you need to do. You are focusing on the current year so you can grow more and faster. You might think that's not going to affect you, it will affect you. If you're, if so many boxes open in your brain last year, this year, the taxes, the bookkeeping, it will affect your progress and you're achieving your goal for the current year. If you want to grow faster, if you want to make informed decisions, if you want to save in taxes, if you want to make sure you take all the deductions you are entitled for, if you want to make sure that you don't overpay in taxes and be able to do an accurate tax planning, you need to do bookkeeping. If you need help with that or with your taxes, feel free to reach out to me. You can book a
[email protected] contact again it's nourasbooks.com contacts. N O U R A S B o o k s.com contact and you can book a time on Zoom and we can discuss how we can help you. So again, this was the segment about safe Taxes with Neuro. It's sponsored by Nourish Books, the tax and accounting, my tax and accounting firm. And please, please make sure you have your finances together so you can grow. I want to see empires. That's why I am doing this show and I am doing my YouTube and everything because I want to see an in buyers around me. I don't want to see just small businesses. Small businesses are great but some of you maybe you want to have an empire and this is the first step to make sure you are in control of your finances. Well, that's it for today for this segment. Now we're going to moving to the next segment. I have two amazing guests. We're going to talk about financing as well as other topics. Stay with me.
Don't go away. Stay with me and you will be I'll be talking to their guests. Amazing guests today.
Until the next segments. Stay with me. Take the break.
This is Echoes of Impact.
We'll be right back.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: Welcome back. This is your host Noor Al Masri and this is Echoes of Impact with Noora.
Today we're going to talk about very interesting topic. We did not talk about it before with a very special guest. I'm not going to tell you. Stay with me so you can find out what are we talking about.
Welcome my friend CJ Charlotte, welcome to Echoes of Impact for the first time. How are you doing today?
[00:11:53] Speaker C: I'm doing great Nora. Thank you for having me. It's truly my pleasure to be on your show.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: Of course. Thank you for being here.
Usually I like my guests to introduce themselves to the audience. Can you give us a little bit of your background, what you're doing?
[00:12:11] Speaker C: Yeah, no problem whatsoever.
Like Nora said, My name is C.J.
i'm from Naperville, Illinois, suburb outside of Chicago. Born and raised here.
I'm currently a full time student at Aurora University.
I work full time as well for Disaster Solution Illinois Restoration Services, a local fire and water restoration company and I currently lead most of the marketing and sales throughout the company.
It's truly been a learning experience through school and then hands on work as well.
Truly blessed to be where I'm at today.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Awesome. Yeah, it's really interesting because you know we met at a networking group and you're very active in the group. You are always there. I was surprised myself to know that you are a full time student and you have all these jobs, you have all these commitments. So can you tell us a little bit about your job? Like what would you like? What, what do you like about your job? What's made you like be that committed to, to the job you're doing right now?
[00:13:22] Speaker C: I, I currently love the position I'm in.
You know, I can't say it more. I love small businesses. It's always, it's always been a passion of mine. Throughout my career I've worked with nothing but small businesses and disaster solution. Illinois Restoration Services is no different. It's a, it's a company that holds a special place in my heart. You know, great friend of mine, her dad is the owner of the company, you know, through unfortunate circumstances, but say about two years ago, you know, I got introduced to him. You know, he performed a water mitigation on my basement after it had flooded. You know, I really had nowhere left to go. And you know, he came in and he did it at cost. Just showing how genuine a person, you know, Jim was.
You know, I was currently working at a different full time role doing more so recruiting and HR aspects of things and you know, six months goes by and you know, I reached out to Jim as a, you know, just better understand what he would do if he were in my shoes. He's a younger gentleman, extremely successful I'd say for his age. And you know, I reached out and more so just wanted to see what he would do and you know, if there's a possibility that I could be mentored throughout that process. I performed a ride along with him and offered me a position within the sales and marketing department.
I am the sales and marketing department. So kind of picked that up and started it from scratch. And it's been a journey ever since, just learning the ins and outs of the company, especially learning directly from him how to run and manage a small business.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: That's great because a lot of people like your age, they don't want to, they don't know what to do. They maybe get smaller jobs here and there just to get some cash and for you to go reach out to, to the gentleman and to want to be learning and mentor. And I know you have big dreams as well. So this is, this is really great.
And you know, I love to share the such stories with our audience because whatever you are like even you feel like you feel young, you feel like I'm not ready yet, I didn't graduate yet maybe. Well, I wish I can do this. But they don't take the same step. The, the step that's gonna allow them to do something like the worst thing like that gentleman will tell you, like, oh, sorry, I can't help you. What you know, but you know he, he took you in and like offered you a position that a lot of people your age like wish to have that position and really that, that has been, I'm sure that has been a good, great for their, for their business and good for you as a young professional like to start to having that hands on experience with a small business.
So I want to touch base on the, the work that you do. I know you give us all the time advices on now this is what you have to do in the winter, this is what you have to do in the summer in terms of like not getting your house caught in the fire or not getting a flood in your basement or whatever. So can you touch base on that? Like what's the most, you know, the advice for people like to make sure they, their houses are not in disaster?
[00:17:02] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, no problem at all. So what I do specifically is 90% of my work is with insurance agents itself. So I go out and I not it's considered sales, but more so I build relationships, I build relationships with insurance agents and then you know, they give me a call when one of their customers call them and say, hey, my house just burnt down or hey, my, my basement flooded, there's a sewage backup or a pipe burst or any of these situations that you could think of. And you know, then I go out there and I evaluate the situation hopefully before they put a claim in. So that way, you know, if it's not claim worthy, we can save them some time, we can save the insurance sometimes, we save us sometimes and we just do things out of pocket. But with those bigger jobs that do come in, we work directly with insurance companies. So we're throughout the process, start to finish. So say a, a pipe burst, you know, you're in the Midwest, it's you know, you got polar vortex going on. It's negative five consistently for a week straight, right?
Temperature rises, you're back in the 20s, you know, you're approaching the 30 degree mark. As, as soon as the water that was frozen in those pipes start to thaw, it expands, which ultimately puts cracks in either the PVC or copper pipes.
And as soon as you turn that water on, it starts spraying like no other.
There's truly no way around it.
A lot of people, a lot of homeowners aren't informed exactly on where their water shut offs are. So that's where I see a lot of the damage coming in. But as soon as that water is shut off, or even if the water isn't shut off when we come in there, that's the first thing we do is we shut the water off, we evaluate the damages. You know, is the drywall wet, the carpet, the hardwood flooring, the vinyl plank flooring, any aspects that go into building a house, we go in there and we evaluate what's wet, what is saturated and could potentially cause some concern for spore growth.
And we go in there and we, we then remove any saturated piece of building material and we essentially dry things out over three days. We use antimicrobial medical grade microband. So that way it prevents spore growth and it kills spores that were there previously. Say the leak was a continuous thing. People didn't realize. So it'll kill anything that's there and then it'll prevent anything else from growing.
We then set our equipment. We have a slew of equipment. We have commercial dehumidifiers, we have axial fans, we have air movers, we have air scrubbers, air purification devices.
Just things to make sure that your living space isn't compromised by the long term damages of water. Everything is dried. Essentially we have. I know at our BNI meeting I brought in our FL thermal imaging camera, brought in our water meter, water moisture meter as well. And those are all tools that we use on a daily basis to ensure that the drying process goes smooth. And at the end of the day, the homeowner has nothing to worry about. And what sets us apart is we'll then take all that information, we'll break it down into an insurance approved software called zactimate.
Break everything down line item by line item, explaining what we did and why we did it, and then send it to insurance. We meet with the adjusters so the homeowners don't have to worry about it. And at the end of the day, we get the homeowners paid out as much as possible from the claim.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: To avoid that, to avoid that damage, what people have to do, like when this is like the minus minus five and now it's back again to the 30. So to avoid this disaster, what should the homeowner do?
[00:21:12] Speaker C: So as a homeowner myself, I've taken the necessary steps to ensure my house is secure from the Midwest winter.
You're in those states in the Midwest and it drops down to negative five for a week straight. What you want to do is you want to make sure all your pipes on your exterior walls are insulated. So you can go to Home Depot, Lowe's, any of the big box stores, and you can buy pipe insulation. Theoretically, it's just a pool noodle with a slit down the middle of it, but it provides enough insulation to keep those copper pipes warm so that way they don't freeze over and ultimately cause damage. Another big one that I've noticed especially around here recently is your, your hose bibs. So you go to turn on your water for the first time outside. So you're washing your car, watering your plants. If those weren't covered properly in the winter, it's more likely than not that water froze between the house, the outside, and you'll have water shooting back into your basement.
So another thing they sell at the big box stores is you can just buy little hose bib covers and it's pretty much like a big styrofoam cup that goes over it and you pull it real tight and it's a seal and it traps that heat in there so there's no risk of it freezing during the winter. And you can also just grab a roll of R13 insulation or whatever insulation is up to code in your area. And you know, just put that on some exterior walls so you have an unfinished basement and you can see those water lines, right? You know, you can put some insulation behind them. Typically you don't have to do that. I, I do it myself because I've, I've seen the damages that water has caused. So I go the extra step.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: All right, all right. Thank you so much, dj. The time runs very, very fast here. So before we go, I want to hear from you. What's your advice for people who think that, oh, not yet, we cannot get a proper job or still in college. What's your advice for people?
[00:23:18] Speaker C: My advice is it's never too early to start looking.
You know, if you're hungry and you got a good worth work ethic and you know you're ready to join the, join the workforce, it's never too early to start looking.
The biggest thing is time management. As long as you're able to juggle multiple tasks at once, it's more than doable. Being a full time student and a full time employee and to put 100% effort into both. Sure, it's a little time consuming and a little exhausting at times, but at the end of the day, you know, you look down that road and you see a bunch of doors that are not opened yet. That, that's the way I look at it. So at the end of the day, when I get to the end of that road, there's a ton of doors, a ton of new opportunities that are waiting for me, waiting for me because of all the hard work that I'VE put in now.
Awesome.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Thank you so much, C.J. for your time. Thank you guys for being here. So you heard that it's never too early. You just go ahead and try. The door will open if you are really hungry. This is Echoes of Impact with Noora. This is your host, Noora Al Mostri. We'll be right back.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: This is your host, Noor Al Masri. And this is Echoes of Impact with Noora.
We are moving now to the finances of the business. As I mentioned in the beginning, the business financing is the really determine the health of your business. Do you have a real business or do you have a hobby? Like is your business going to survive or is it going to end at any time at any risk that you have? So to talk about that, I have a new guest. We haven't had her before at Echoes of Impact and I'm very excited to have her. And today, Olga, thank you so much for being here with me at Echoes of Impact. How are you today?
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Hi Nora, how are you? Thank you for having me Doing great.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you for being here. So since this is your first time here at Echoes of Impact, would you mind introducing yourself to the art to our audience so they learn more about you?
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Sure. Well, my name is Olga Hurtado and I am from Colombia, but I live in Miami in the Sunshine State. I own a CEO and founder of Neat Books which is an accounting firm and we attend businesses from the food industry and construction industry here in South Florida and also other states.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Awesome.
Awesome. Thank you so much for that. So can you tell us something? When did you start your business?
[00:26:27] Speaker A: We started. Well, I started business in 2015.
So this, this year marks 10th year anniversary of this.
Thank you. I started like a solopreneur but now we are a team of almost 20 employees.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: Wow.
Yes, I know, this is amazing. So do you have in house team or do you or do you have virtual people? Like how's, how are you operating your business?
[00:26:58] Speaker A: We have a portion of it like in the, in Miami and we have a virtual office in Colombia which I come from. And we split, you know, the responsibilities among both teams and we basically are the embedded team or the accounting team for our clients. So we have like, you know, separated of separation of duties and all that, you know, when you have an accounting department.
So we serve the clients with, you know, with that type of service and we have it split between Colombia and the United States.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: That's awesome. So let's dive in into like since you've been in business for 10 years this is amazing. I'm sure you've seen a lot of mistakes that business owners have all the time and their financials. So what are those biggest mistakes that you always see all the time and how do you think people can avoid them from your experience?
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Well, I think the biggest mistake I have seen in entrepreneurs is the lack of planning. Because when you run a business, you are in the hamster wheel and you think, oh, I need to do this and I need to do that. But at the end of the day, you end up doing nothing. Like you don't work with, you know, for your business, you work in the business. So this lack of planning don't help you scale your business. And at the end of the day you, you end up doing everything.
So you know the easiest way to avoid this type of mistakes for business owners is education. Educate yourself, ask questions to your, to the professionals you are surrounded with and learn more about your finances, your numbers, because they are the ones who give you like the results that you are looking for to project your business for the future.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: I love that you said education. One of our core value at Neuros Books, my company, is education. Because if you are not educated enough like to know what to ask your accountant to know what to look for, you really cannot, cannot pick the right professional to help you. So I'm glad you mentioned that. So how do you think like people really fear numbers, Fear the irs? First let me ask you, do what services do you offer in your company?
[00:29:15] Speaker A: We are mainly focused on accounting, like managerial accounting. But we also do taxes only for the clients we prepare the accounting for.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Okay, awesome. Got it. So I was talking to in one interview this morning, someone was asking me about like IRS and how people fear the irs. But people don't, don't only fear the irs, they also fear numbers. I don't want to look at my numbers. I'm afraid to look. Maybe I don't have enough money or maybe like in the morning, like they don't want to even look at their bank account at any time because I'm afraid I don't have enough money. Okay. Like if you don't look, what happens? Like nothing going to change. You're still going to have not enough money, right? Exactly. Maybe you'll be in negative. Right.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: I think fearing the numbers, we need to understand as entrepreneurs that the numbers are not the enemy.
Not looking at the numbers, that's the real enemy.
We need to fight for that.
We need to get to understand as entrepreneurs that we need to be surrounded by these people that can help us finish or end this fear of numbers. The numbers are not going to judge you and the professionals that you, you know, you, you end up hiring, they're not going to judge you, but they're going to what they're going to do for you. They're going to help you, they're going to help you like realize that clarity on your financials. So the numbers are not the enemy you as a business entrepreneur sometimes is. You know, you are your own enemy and you need to stop doing that as an entrepreneur.
[00:30:59] Speaker B: So how can someone over come that fear in your experience, like I'm sure you've talked to a lot of clients and you had a successful way for them like to, okay, like go over the fear because we can say like, oh, don't fear them, but they still cannot help it. So do you have some tools and ways that they can use in order to help them overcome that fear?
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Well, I think like, you know, it's the simplicity of having a business. Don't make it too complex. Okay. If you are going to check your cash flow, don't download a huge and massive spreadsheet. You're not going to understand, make it simple like you know, money inflows, money outflows and that's it. The results are going to be your, you know, your available cash. And with any, any business without cash is not a business. So don't over complicate things. Another thing that I see a lot in entrepreneurs is that they commingle business expenses with personal expenses. So I will definitely recommend an entrepreneur to have separate bank accounts for your business and for your personal expenses. That way you can see your financials clearly, you can see the real picture of your business and check your numbers at least once a week. Don't make it complicated. You don't have to be like a year report. No, just one time a week. That's it. You snapshot and you'll be, you'll be done.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
That also depends on the type of the business because some businesses, they are like money and money out every single day. How do you know like you, you have enough money to pay for a job or for, to, to, to invest in something for your business. If you're not looking at your numbers and having an, having a professional on your side, that makes a lot of, of difference. Because I know like numbers we might feel like, oh, it's easy, it's a spreadsheet like, or it's, it's in Quickbook or whatever. It's easy to understand. But for the entrepreneur like who is not in the financial place. It's really hard sometimes. It, it.
[00:33:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: You know, the first time I looked like someone like, did not really know how to use spreadsheet because we've been using it for so long, even like when we.
So.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: Even if I. In a piece of paper, like write it down. You don't have to complicate things. You know, when you're starting a business, don't over complicate anything. Just make it simple.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: Just understand this is not your bookkeeping.
Right.
As long as you don't mix bookkeeping with just understanding your number, that, that's fine.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: Nora, don't touch QuickBooks, please.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Right, like, so tell me, like, what do you have horror story about bookkeepings?
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Of course, I do have plenty. We can spend like hours and hours here. But you know, the entrepreneurs don't understand the importance of bookkeeping until they have to find to hire an accountant to clean up their books. Okay. And understand that cleaning your books is more expensive than hiring an accountant in the first place. Okay. So make it as an investment to you and to. And to your business and that's it. If you change that mindset when you, when you understand the importance of that, you will be good. Okay? Because sometimes people don't only do bookkeeping for the taxes, and that's the end of the game. Oh no, it's not the end of the game.
The clock is going to start all over again on January 1st. So the bookkeeping is the only tool that you're going to have to measure your business throughout the year.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. And they think like, the bookkeeping you do at the end of the year is not going to be as accurate as if you are doing it like in a monthly basis. So you forget like the other day, like, I have my own team of bookkeeping, do my own bookkeeping, because if I leave it to myself, of course it's not going to get done. So even us, we don't do our own bookkeeping. But the bookkeeper was asking me, so what are these few charges? I'm like, oh my God. I usually remember everything. But that's month. We had so many transactions. I was so busy traveling and so many things going on, I have to stop and think about it because I don't have time right now. I'll get back to you later. I eventually was able to tell and it was the same month, let alone like being after a year. We ask the clients all the time, okay, what is this? What's that? They don't remember themselves so we kind of like make the best judgments on the transaction, but it's not going to give you the same.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: No, it's not. It's not the real picture. It's not the real picture of your business. Not at all. I agree with you. 100.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Olga. Like, we'll be back with you after the break. But now, guys, we're gonna take a break. This is your host, Noora Masri, and this is Echoes of Impact with Noora. We'll be right back.
[00:36:29] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:36:38] Speaker B: Welcome back. This is your host Noora Masri. And this is Echoes of Impact with Noora.
We've been talking to Olga and about bookkeeping, about business finances. We're going to continue the conversation because this conversation does not end.
It's a wide topic and I'm sure you're going to get benefit if you focus, if you bear attention. Listen to this episode over and over again because it's going to break through your mindset and help you understand what do you have to do as a business owner and help you understand the importance of paying attention to your finances in business.
So we'll come back. Olga. OLGA so yes, we've been talking now, like I want to talk to you about the habits like we spoke about. Like how can they stop fearing the numbers? Like, are they simple habits they can build in order to make sure their financial finances in order?
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Well, I think like the most important habit, habit that an entrepreneur can have is to review their bank account on a daily basis. Okay. Because sometimes like they forget the importance of that and they just, you know, like, oh, we're not going to go to the bank account because we are scared. No, don't be scared. Check your bank account. Also, as I was telling you, the separation of the business and the other personal expenses, that's extremely important. And that's I think the most relevant habit an entrepreneur can have. Also save for taxes. I'm sorry, this is the reality. We need to pay for taxes. And sometimes people don't understand that if you save for taxes, you're going to be relaxed at the end of the year because you're going to have that bucket full and you're going to have to, you're going to, you're not going to be worried about that when all consent knocks on your door before April 15th.
So those are the habits that entrepreneurs don't like. If you follow those simple guidelines, you're going to be fine. You're going to be okay with your finances. Okay at the beginning because you know when, when your business grow, of course your business is going to have like other needs. But at the beginning is simplexity, simplicity over complexity.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. And looking at the bank account like, it's very important.
I was hearing also someone, Kodi Senators, I think that she was saying like she did not break free in her finances until she was looking at her bank account every single day. That also made a lot of difference because you're paying attention, whatever. Actually you pay attention to the energy flow there. So and so you will get more of it because you care about it. And that's what. If you believe in the law of attractions and stuff, it all works because your mind thinking about money, your money, like what do you have? Not in a fearful mindset, of course not like that's not going to work. But. And like, okay, I want to know the fact, I want to know, like, how can I improve? What should I do?
So this is really important points and simplicity. I love that. Like you said that because people were not, are not going to understand the complex finances. Sometimes like we have to really dig down to understand it.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: So like there are people who studied that. Okay. We went to college to learn that. So another habit that I will, I will say people need to break through, to break from is, you know, stop watching TikTok videos from, from everyone. Yeah. Because sometimes they give you some advice that is not gonna be for you. Okay. And people start like being creative with, with their books and with their taxes and all that. No, it's not like that. Every single case, every single business is different. Okay. You have a different need from another business. Okay. So that's another habit you need to break.
[00:40:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. I would be 100 on this.
I have no idea how many clients will come to me. I'm an escort. Why are you an escort? Well, I heard that I can save in taxes if I'm an S corp. Well, not in your case, but I don't pay myself salary and they don't pay themselves salaries.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: I'm like, oh my God, let's fix this, right?
[00:41:05] Speaker B: Start watching Tick Tock from non accountants.
Plus don't take advices like you need to talk to a professional for your own case. Like Olga said, like everyone is, has a different scenario, has a different needs. So thank you for that.
I mean, I can't emphasize this more. So having a clarity, clarity on your finances, like you're doing your bookkeeping, having clarity, how does affect your confidence as a person. And so what, what, what would you say about that?
[00:41:42] Speaker A: I think financial clarity is freedom for Any entrepreneur.
Okay. Because when you have your numbers clear, you know where you're going, you know where you're, when you're at right now. And you, you know your numbers from the past, so you know how much you have grown. That also propels your, your self esteem. Like oh my God, my first, my first year I made I don't know, $10,000 and now I'm making $200,000. Oh, can you see how, how I've grown? That's amazing. So if you have that financial clarity, it's going to give you freedom to make decisions, to make smarter investments, to understand what is the financial world offering you so you can have a better life. Like oh, can I do a retirement planning, Can I pay for my kids school? All that freedom is because you have financial clarity. So don't forget that it's extremely important.
[00:42:44] Speaker B: Absolutely mentioning that how much you have grown. I have a habit. Like of course, like I said, like I do of course have my bookkeeping. I cannot sit here like advise people to do bookkeeping. I'm not doing for my own. So. But one thing I like to have always, like from the beginning, the first year I started, I don't only compare the revenue for annual. I do write down each month, each year. And sometimes you feel like I'm not doing good, you're frustrated, oh, I need more business, I need to do this. But then all of a sudden when you see the growth, the number in that month, I do it very simple. Simple because I don't want to go look at my QuickBooks. Every time I want to compare this, I write it down on my notebook that I use all the time. Oh, okay. This is how much I made in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Now let's see how much I can make and grow in 2025 for this month. It really gives you jump start like for, oh wow, I'm really doing good. I didn't, it doesn't feel like it.
[00:43:56] Speaker A: I need, I needed, I needed. I didn't need the bank or something. Like I did it myself. I built this business from the ground up. So you feel that like that confidence in you. And that's amazing. I think that's, that's an amazing feeling when you are an entrepreneur.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. Like not. It's not someone is paying you, you are making the money. You're being people and being. It is an amazing thing.
So what are some steps? All the first step, like someone can take to break through that financial kiss, they haven't Been doing anything. What would you say the first, the first step so they can take control?
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Well, I think it's then the acknowledgment phase. Okay. People need to acknowledge that they have this financial chaos, okay. So they can, they can understand where they need to go. And when you, when you have that acknowledgment, you hire a professional to help you with that. Okay. And. And I think that's the last step. Okay. You acknowledge, then you, you start gathering all the information and then you get help. And what is getting help? Oh, hire an accountant or hire a certified. Certified professional that can help you and guide you through this. Because, you know, as I, as I mentioned, people have different needs. Okay. And probably your business is in a different stage that your neighbor's business. So get help based on your needs on your business. Don't get help just because. Okay. There are some accounting professionals that are niched and they can help you further to grow your business in a. With a different perspective, more focused on your business.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. So can you share. I'm just going to. Can you share a story, a success story from your clients that came to you so people can have it like, more people, like stick stories stick in their mind. So if you have. Sure, I would love to have.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: Sure. We have, we have a client and I, I love her deeply because she is such a. An avid investor and she has this amazing business. And what she was doing at the beginning, she was doing everything by herself. Okay. She didn't want to get any help because she thought she knew everything. Of course she has an avid investor. And then she realized that she needed help and she started looking for it. She found us, we talked to her and she had to pay for cleaning the books and she. It was a mess. And then all of a sudden she started like building this brick by brick. Oh, okay. I have this and I have this. And we organized everything for her in a very nice snapsh. And she was able to see her net worth, you know, how important and big that is. When you see your net worth and you see how much, you know, how many years you have, you know, in your business, and then you realize that you have achieved the goal that you thought five years ago that you were not going to get or it was impossible to get. So having, having this picture, having this, this snapshot of your life and your business all together, that's when you realize that I'm doing, I'm doing great, that, that I needed the help. I looked for it, I made the decision and I did it. And right now you can see her and we see her as a person that has tremendous potential because she can have a lot of businesses, but she knows and she understand the processes that she needs to follow in order for her business to bloom. So that's a very short story, but it's amazing what she has done. She's very young as well and she listens. So listen to the professional you hire.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. Now, Olga, like, how can people reach out to you if they need your help?
[00:47:50] Speaker A: Of course you can find me on LinkedIn as Olga Hurtado. If you have any questions, you can also send us an email@customersuccessitbooks llc.com or you can find me also on Instagram as the Business Secret Ingredient.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Oh, I love that name. Business Secret Ingredient. All right.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: All right. Thank you. Thank you so much, Olga, for being here with me today. I'll hope to see you soon and at Echoes of Impact. Well, guys, we came to an end. Thank you so much for watching. Again, like, if you need to watch the this episode again or listen to the audio of it and any broadcast platform or radio, please go ahead because it has a lot of value for you. It has a lot of tips that's going to benefit you as a business owner. Again, come back here Every Tuesday at 5pm Central so you can watch or listen to Echoes of Impact.
This is your host, Noor Al Masri. Until next time, keep making an impact.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: This has been a NOW Media Networks feature presentation.
[00:49:03] Speaker C: All rights reserved.
