February 14, 2025 • 13 mins
Welcome to the very first episode of Peace Luv Biz! Hosts Steve, the business growth guy, and Mary, the accounting guru, kick off their journey by exploring how business owners can achieve financial success while maintaining peace, love, and balance in their lives.
In this episode, Steve and Mary share their experiences helping small businesses grow, from solo entrepreneurs to multi-storefront success stories. Mary recounts a fascinating forensic accounting case that sparked her passion for digging into financials, reinforcing the importance of clear, honest bookkeeping.
They discuss common financial stressors for business owners, including the misconception that income equals bank balance, the necessity of goal-setting, and the importance of delegation. The duo emphasizes that running a business is not a "set it and forget it" endeavor, it's a continuous process of learning, adjusting, and balancing work and life.
Key takeaways:
- Accounting is not scary, understanding your numbers brings clarity and control.
- Every business owner needs a clear plan with measurable goals.
- Success requires delegation, owners can't wear every hat in the business.
- A strong network of fellow entrepreneurs can provide invaluable support.
Be sure to subscribe and visit www.peaceluvbiz.com for free resources, business tips, and updates. Until next time, find your balance and grow your business with peace and love!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the first episode of Peace Love Biz.
I'm Steve, the business growth guy here with Mary, the accounting guru.
Excited to kick off this journey with you.
The podcast is all about building your business in a way that connects your financialsuccess with peace, love and balance in your life.
(00:22):
How are you doing, Mary?
I am doing amazing.
Thank you and happy Valentine's Day to you.
Yeah, Happy Valentine's Day.
is February 14th.
It's a great day to be launching a podcast that focuses on peace and love.
So we figured this would be a good way to kick it off.
So the idea of this is whether you're an entrepreneur, a freelancer, small business owner,or just a general human being, we're here to show you how to make finances a source of
(00:52):
calm and clarity.
and hopefully not to stress and overwhelm you.
So that's kind of the idea behind this and we're gonna dive into some strategies, somestories and some general takeaways of how to operate in life and in business.
Yeah, I think that this is gonna be great.
Obviously...
(01:13):
having done this for just a couple minutes, being in accounting forever and loving everymoment of it, being the kind of unicorn in my field.
There is so much people can learn and so if I can assist them to learn when you get aletter from the IRS, you do not need to freak out.
(01:35):
It's okay.
No, it's gonna be okay.
You don't need to text me right away.
You don't need to call me.
I mean, if you need to, need to.
but the world does not stop.
We'll get it taken care of.
It'll be fine.
And then there's just a lot of learning to do for people just starting off, people justgetting into business, learning business basics.
(01:57):
And that's what we're here to explore.
We have some really great people that are gonna be joining us, people that we've literallystarted in their apartment doing as a masseuse.
and now has four sore points.
So we have really, a lot of...
(02:20):
and we just want to keep doing that and help everybody have that balance so that theydon't go, my god accounting.
No, accounting is great.
It's great as long as you it's working for you.
yep nobody there is no such thing as an accounting emergency um nothing nothing's lifethreatening is going to happen because of that we're here to help um so you've been doing
(02:46):
accounting as long as I've been alive essentially um that's what pretty much you know I'mI'm in my mid-30s Mary's been doing this 28 29 years um so pretty much um
What would you say is some of the highlights in your accounting career?
(03:09):
what are some of the key moments where it's like, okay, I've really made a differencehere, where you feel you've made a difference.
I would say, way, long, long time ago.
I was actually a, a front desk manager, but I did accounting for so long.
(03:33):
kind of jumped back and forth and I was part of a team that we, came into newly acquiredhotels.
And I found out that the
company we took it over from had three sets of books.
So there was three different P &Ls for the same time period.
(03:58):
So depending on who was asking for something, they would give them a different report.
And that was everything from, like we had two restaurants.
like.
the number of covers and the average breakfast ticket was a totally different numberdepending on who walked in and asked for stuff.
(04:20):
And it was only through us going through and having to audit that we found all this.
So then we had a, that's one of those, everybody goes.
But you don't have a job anymore.
And that's when I really understood how much I love the forensic part of accounting.
Yeah.
And that has led me to great things, whether it's a mom getting the child support shedeserves.
(04:48):
That's happened.
Or saving a guy from prison for 20 years.
Or just telling somebody that, you know, hey, there was no fraud, outright fraud, butthere was total lack of work being done.
I mean, but the hotel story is when I definitely realized I loved
(05:08):
love it.
and finding the numbers.
Yeah.
yeah.
(05:30):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I there wasn't just like, I thought software could just be miscellaneous.
There was just purposeful creation of two extra reports to satisfy whoever's need.
So not ideal.
yeah, no.
(05:51):
Well, I think that can kinda lead us onto what we're gonna be covering in any episode thatwe kinda do.
There'll be key features, there'll be regular features, things like that.
the idea is we'll be giving you guys accounting attack strategies.
We'll be talking about holistic business growth and we'll be talking about differentstories, inspirational items.
(06:13):
an actual advice that you can incorporate into your business and into your life becausefor us at Peace Love Biz, healthy people and healthy books equals a healthy business.
And that really helps drive a lot of the conversation when we're talking to people becauseaccounting and business development, it's not really a transactional item.
(06:38):
It's more of a partnership.
It's about
you know, accounting isn't just about numbers, it's about creating that clarity andstructure so you can focus on really what matters most when, you you don't need a
restaurant owner to cook in the books, they need to cook meals.
That's what an accountant's for, you need to let them be the expert in their profession.
(07:02):
So for you, Mary, what do you see are some of the biggest financial stresses
for business owners what what do you think that some people some people are facing rightnow that some of the key topics
definitely what I've seen and I think what we both have seen is that we have, and I'mgonna take in something that you've said, is that you have somebody being the cook and the
(07:32):
dishwasher and the hostess and the bartender.
And you can't be doing all four things.
So you need to learn what your business is really about.
You need to have goals.
You need to have...
Plan if you don't have goals if you can't say this is what I want to hit these are themarkers I want to hit for my business.
(07:55):
There's no way then to have a plan if you don't have a plan You're just you are thinkingthat your income equals your bank account balance.
That's not true Your bank account balance is not equal to your net revenue of yourbusiness.
They're totally different things.
You need to have a plan whether it's
(08:19):
if you say I want to have 16 clients every month, that's great.
Do you have a set price?
Because if you don't have a set price, then those six clients may not be enough.
You may need 10.
I think there's a lot of opportunity for entrepreneurs, small business owners, microbusinesses to really learn the value of business and being involved in it.
(08:43):
And I'm not saying, you know, it's hard when you start out, but that's what we're
is.
Owning a business is not you take vacations whenever you want.
You work your butt off to get to the point that then you do have an admin and you can beaway for two weeks on vacation.
But guess what?
You may want to bring your work phone and keep tabs on stuff because you own the business.
(09:07):
That's your investment.
That's everything.
That should be everything to you.
It should be like a child.
Maybe that's why I'm so devoted to it because I don't want to lose anything else.
lose anything else.
it's your kid.
(09:39):
Absolutely, And then even take that, take the same comparison.
When children are born, they're literally, they're crying, they're hungry, we don't knowwhat the hell they want.
Oh, well, they don't know either, because they just got here.
So you can't expect your business to just boom, work.
I it takes time.
(10:00):
So when you have slow periods, just like when kids are born, when they sleep, you sleep.
When the business starts and it's slow, that's your time that you work and start gettingbusiness in.
Gotta do it.
is not a 9 to 5 job.
It can be extremely rewarding if it's done right.
But it's also gonna stress you out, you'll cry, you'll laugh at yourself, you willliterally have every emotion as a business owner.
(10:30):
The...
the...
Yeah.
have them.
We're small business owners.
This is what we do for a living is teaching other people.
This is not just accounting.
It's teaching other business owners how to be a business owner, how to make that.
We've seen it.
We've helped people go from 100,000 to 5 million.
(10:50):
And it's completely possible.
We've done it with several companies.
But you have to put the work in.
It's like losing weight.
I'd love to do that at some point in my life again.
But it's gonna take work.
So you gotta cut it out.
The pounds just don't fly off.
The business doesn't just fly off.
(11:12):
It takes work.
and you know you can pull the work in you can exercise and do all that stuff but if you'realso nutritionism right if you portion control is right which is my problem you should be
looking to see that the results
Absolutely, have to have, again, you have to have balance.
That's what we're all about.
(11:32):
So it's, yeah, you do have to work a lot, but we don't want you to the point that, youknow, you're sick and you're lack of sleep and we've done this already.
We've done the lack of sleep.
That's why we're going, hey, we know better.
We've learned.
Let us help you learn the best way to approach this.
If I could give one tip out to people that are small business owners that do feel likethey're on their own, it's you need to find yourself a network of other small business
(12:02):
owners that are going through the same things as you.
Because they will have been through it or they will be going through it.
And they can help empathize, they can give you tips.
Sometimes you just need to bend and talk your way through a scenario.
and that can help massively so
Absolutely.
(12:23):
What I would suggest is this is just the beginning for the podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe.
We'll be available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, all the other platforms.
Head to the website www.peacelovebiz.com.
(12:43):
That's peace L-U-V-B-I-Z.com.
And we'll have a bunch of free resources.
We'll have links.
we'll have guides, our blog is full of useful tips so keep an eye on that and we can helpyou you started on your journey to find financial peace and balance.
(13:04):
Absolutely.
So until next time, I've been Steve, the business growth guy.
Thanks and it's Mary and I look forward to hearing from y'all.
Thank you guys.
Welcome to the first episode of Peace Love Biz.
I'm Steve, the business growth guy here with Mary, the accounting guru.
Excited to kick off this journey with you.
The podcast is all about building your business in a way that connects your financialsuccess with peace, love and balance in your life.
(00:22):
How are you doing, Mary?
I am doing amazing.
Thank you and happy Valentine's Day to you.
Yeah, Happy Valentine's Day.
is February 14th.
It's a great day to be launching a podcast that focuses on peace and love.
So we figured this would be a good way to kick it off.
So the idea of this is whether you're an entrepreneur, a freelancer, small business owner,or just a general human being, we're here to show you how to make finances a source of
(00:52):
calm and clarity.
and hopefully not to stress and overwhelm you.
So that's kind of the idea behind this and we're gonna dive into some strategies, somestories and some general takeaways of how to operate in life and in business.
Yeah, I think that this is gonna be great.
Obviously...
(01:13):
having done this for just a couple minutes, being in accounting forever and loving everymoment of it, being the kind of unicorn in my field.
There is so much people can learn and so if I can assist them to learn when you get aletter from the IRS, you do not need to freak out.
(01:35):
It's okay.
No, it's gonna be okay.
You don't need to text me right away.
You don't need to call me.
I mean, if you need to, need to.
but the world does not stop.
We'll get it taken care of.
It'll be fine.
And then there's just a lot of learning to do for people just starting off, people justgetting into business, learning business basics.
(01:57):
And that's what we're here to explore.
We have some really great people that are gonna be joining us, people that we've literallystarted in their apartment doing as a masseuse.
and now has four sore points.
So we have really, a lot of...
(02:20):
and we just want to keep doing that and help everybody have that balance so that theydon't go, my god accounting.
No, accounting is great.
It's great as long as you it's working for you.
yep nobody there is no such thing as an accounting emergency um nothing nothing's lifethreatening is going to happen because of that we're here to help um so you've been doing
(02:46):
accounting as long as I've been alive essentially um that's what pretty much you know I'mI'm in my mid-30s Mary's been doing this 28 29 years um so pretty much um
What would you say is some of the highlights in your accounting career?
(03:09):
what are some of the key moments where it's like, okay, I've really made a differencehere, where you feel you've made a difference.
I would say, way, long, long time ago.
I was actually a, a front desk manager, but I did accounting for so long.
(03:33):
kind of jumped back and forth and I was part of a team that we, came into newly acquiredhotels.
And I found out that the
company we took it over from had three sets of books.
So there was three different P &Ls for the same time period.
(03:58):
So depending on who was asking for something, they would give them a different report.
And that was everything from, like we had two restaurants.
like.
the number of covers and the average breakfast ticket was a totally different numberdepending on who walked in and asked for stuff.
(04:20):
And it was only through us going through and having to audit that we found all this.
So then we had a, that's one of those, everybody goes.
But you don't have a job anymore.
And that's when I really understood how much I love the forensic part of accounting.
Yeah.
And that has led me to great things, whether it's a mom getting the child support shedeserves.
(04:48):
That's happened.
Or saving a guy from prison for 20 years.
Or just telling somebody that, you know, hey, there was no fraud, outright fraud, butthere was total lack of work being done.
I mean, but the hotel story is when I definitely realized I loved
(05:08):
love it.
and finding the numbers.
Yeah.
yeah.
(05:30):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I there wasn't just like, I thought software could just be miscellaneous.
There was just purposeful creation of two extra reports to satisfy whoever's need.
So not ideal.
yeah, no.
(05:51):
Well, I think that can kinda lead us onto what we're gonna be covering in any episode thatwe kinda do.
There'll be key features, there'll be regular features, things like that.
the idea is we'll be giving you guys accounting attack strategies.
We'll be talking about holistic business growth and we'll be talking about differentstories, inspirational items.
(06:13):
an actual advice that you can incorporate into your business and into your life becausefor us at Peace Love Biz, healthy people and healthy books equals a healthy business.
And that really helps drive a lot of the conversation when we're talking to people becauseaccounting and business development, it's not really a transactional item.
(06:38):
It's more of a partnership.
It's about
you know, accounting isn't just about numbers, it's about creating that clarity andstructure so you can focus on really what matters most when, you you don't need a
restaurant owner to cook in the books, they need to cook meals.
That's what an accountant's for, you need to let them be the expert in their profession.
(07:02):
So for you, Mary, what do you see are some of the biggest financial stresses
for business owners what what do you think that some people some people are facing rightnow that some of the key topics
definitely what I've seen and I think what we both have seen is that we have, and I'mgonna take in something that you've said, is that you have somebody being the cook and the
(07:32):
dishwasher and the hostess and the bartender.
And you can't be doing all four things.
So you need to learn what your business is really about.
You need to have goals.
You need to have...
Plan if you don't have goals if you can't say this is what I want to hit these are themarkers I want to hit for my business.
(07:55):
There's no way then to have a plan if you don't have a plan You're just you are thinkingthat your income equals your bank account balance.
That's not true Your bank account balance is not equal to your net revenue of yourbusiness.
They're totally different things.
You need to have a plan whether it's
(08:19):
if you say I want to have 16 clients every month, that's great.
Do you have a set price?
Because if you don't have a set price, then those six clients may not be enough.
You may need 10.
I think there's a lot of opportunity for entrepreneurs, small business owners, microbusinesses to really learn the value of business and being involved in it.
(08:43):
And I'm not saying, you know, it's hard when you start out, but that's what we're
is.
Owning a business is not you take vacations whenever you want.
You work your butt off to get to the point that then you do have an admin and you can beaway for two weeks on vacation.
But guess what?
You may want to bring your work phone and keep tabs on stuff because you own the business.
(09:07):
That's your investment.
That's everything.
That should be everything to you.
It should be like a child.
Maybe that's why I'm so devoted to it because I don't want to lose anything else.
lose anything else.
it's your kid.
(09:39):
Absolutely, And then even take that, take the same comparison.
When children are born, they're literally, they're crying, they're hungry, we don't knowwhat the hell they want.
Oh, well, they don't know either, because they just got here.
So you can't expect your business to just boom, work.
I it takes time.
(10:00):
So when you have slow periods, just like when kids are born, when they sleep, you sleep.
When the business starts and it's slow, that's your time that you work and start gettingbusiness in.
Gotta do it.
is not a 9 to 5 job.
It can be extremely rewarding if it's done right.
But it's also gonna stress you out, you'll cry, you'll laugh at yourself, you willliterally have every emotion as a business owner.
(10:30):
The...
the...
Yeah.
have them.
We're small business owners.
This is what we do for a living is teaching other people.
This is not just accounting.
It's teaching other business owners how to be a business owner, how to make that.
We've seen it.
We've helped people go from 100,000 to 5 million.
(10:50):
And it's completely possible.
We've done it with several companies.
But you have to put the work in.
It's like losing weight.
I'd love to do that at some point in my life again.
But it's gonna take work.
So you gotta cut it out.
The pounds just don't fly off.
The business doesn't just fly off.
(11:12):
It takes work.
and you know you can pull the work in you can exercise and do all that stuff but if you'realso nutritionism right if you portion control is right which is my problem you should be
looking to see that the results
Absolutely, have to have, again, you have to have balance.
That's what we're all about.
(11:32):
So it's, yeah, you do have to work a lot, but we don't want you to the point that, youknow, you're sick and you're lack of sleep and we've done this already.
We've done the lack of sleep.
That's why we're going, hey, we know better.
We've learned.
Let us help you learn the best way to approach this.
If I could give one tip out to people that are small business owners that do feel likethey're on their own, it's you need to find yourself a network of other small business
(12:02):
owners that are going through the same things as you.
Because they will have been through it or they will be going through it.
And they can help empathize, they can give you tips.
Sometimes you just need to bend and talk your way through a scenario.
and that can help massively so
Absolutely.
(12:23):
What I would suggest is this is just the beginning for the podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe.
We'll be available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, all the other platforms.
Head to the website www.peacelovebiz.com.
(12:43):
That's peace L-U-V-B-I-Z.com.
And we'll have a bunch of free resources.
We'll have links.
we'll have guides, our blog is full of useful tips so keep an eye on that and we can helpyou you started on your journey to find financial peace and balance.
(13:04):
Absolutely.
So until next time, I've been Steve, the business growth guy.
Thanks and it's Mary and I look forward to hearing from y'all.
Thank you guys.
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