Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey y'all, what's
up?
Welcome back to the MarketingHappy Hour podcast.
I am Shelby McFarland, the CEOof The Marketing Broker.
I love that you are tuning inagain to listen to another
episode.
I love doing this podcast as Isay every episode because it
gives me something to lookforward to every week when I'm
recording for you guys, as wellas it makes me dig a little
(00:22):
deeper on what I know, what Iwant to share, and how I can
help you with your marketingefforts for your business or
even just your entrepreneurshipjourney.
That's what I'm gonna be talkingabout today.
I'm talking about business.
We're not gonna really talkabout a lot about marketing.
I want to talk about my businessand how I um three mistakes that
I have made, and trust me, thenumber is much larger than three
(00:45):
that I have made over the last13 years as a business owner,
and things that you can learnfrom me rather than you going
through these mistakes on yourown, because that's no fun.
Um, I wish I would have knownthis from somebody else or
learned it from somebody else,but as a young entrepreneur, I
was a little stubborn, and youmay be in that little boat too,
but it's okay.
(01:05):
Sometimes we gotta be a littlestubborn.
That's what entrepreneurs are,and that's how we get through,
and that's how we hustle, andthat's how we become successful.
Um, but if you can take thatlittle bit um away today, you
can actually learn somethingabout what I have over the last
13 years.
Let's talk about the firstthing.
I just had a conversation withmy CPA yesterday, and I have
(01:28):
been through several CPAs, bythe way.
Um, but I told him, I said, Man,I wish that people would hire a
professional CPA and bookkeeperat the beginning of their
business.
Like that is something that Iregret about being a business
owner is thinking that I canliterally do all the things and
(01:49):
that I know how to do it, andthat no one's gonna take it from
me.
Um, and that I'm quote unquotesaving money because I'm doing
it myself, and that is not thecase.
Let me tell you that my bookswere screwed up from day one.
The first business I had, um, Iwould do taxes like like
(02:10):
freehand, as in like writing itdown, and I was going through
like all of my bank accountstatements, and oh, I just
remember it like it wasyesterday, sitting at the
kitchen counter with like sevendifferent highlighter colors,
trying to go through, putting itall in a ledger.
It was awful.
But that was before I meanQuickBooks was around, but it
wasn't like super popular backthen.
(02:31):
Um, but then when I have my whenI started my business now, I'm
like, oh well, I've been doingthis myself for you know four
years.
I can do this going forward, andthen I started making more money
and making more money and makingmore money, and I was like, oh
gosh, I don't know what I'msupposed to do.
And so then I had someone adviseme to um just someone that
(02:54):
helped me file taxes, notsomeone that prepared the taxes.
Um, she told me, Oh, we need tochange to an S Corp.
And I'm like, Okay, well thenshe didn't really tell me, Oh,
well, you also have to do yourtaxes differently, and you gotta
figure this out and that out.
So then I screwed that up, andthen I tried to find a CPA, and
my first two CPAs screwed meover.
(03:16):
Um, they didn't do it correctly,and then the CPA before I have
now was um just somebody thatwas not very he was
knowledgeable, but he was notsuper professional, and I didn't
really like that.
Um, but the CPA that I have nowis young and he is all about
like let's follow the rules, butalso I want you to save as much
(03:40):
money as you can.
Um, but then at the same time, Iwant to make sure that we're not
getting audited and all of that.
And then on top of that, I alsohave a bookkeeper now, something
that I thought like, oh, I'lljust plug and play into
QuickBooks.
I've got all this taken care of.
I've had him now for about ayear, a little over a year, and
it's completely changed thetrajectory of my business.
(04:03):
So this is year nine of thisbusiness, and it's the first
year that I have not had toactually think about like, guy,
I gotta go and like I don't evenknow what it's called.
Whatever, you balance the booksor something like that.
Like, I gotta do that.
Well, I don't have to do thatanymore.
I have a meeting with him once aquarter.
He tells me this is what you'remaking money in.
I've been able to focus on thoseareas, I've been able to grow
(04:25):
those areas and become like moreof the leader and salesperson in
my business rather than havingto work in the admin on the back
of my business.
So, as I was saying, the firstthing is hire professionals from
the very beginning.
I'm not talking about hire mefor your marketing, like that's
something you can probablyhandle as a business owner
unless you just don't want to.
(04:47):
But when it comes to importantthings like your freaking money,
I would hire a professional.
If you need any recommendations,I will definitely send you my
guy's number.
Um, both of them, my CPA and mybookkeeper.
They're absolutely fantastic.
They work as a team, they umcommunicate about my stuff,
especially um when I'm recordingthis, we're going into the end
(05:08):
of the year, the last quarter,and they're gonna be talking
about like, okay, what doesShelby need to spend to make
sure our taxes are up?
Does she need to give mortar fora one 401k?
Like that kind of stuff.
So that way we know I'm goinginto January when I'm filing
again that it's all prepared andready to go.
So find you a good CPA, find youa good big bookkeeper, let them
(05:31):
do their job, do not micromanagethem, just give it to them and
they will do it for you, and youcan focus on growing your
business, um, especially if youget the right person because my
team is fantastic.
I call them part of my teambecause they literally are part
of my team.
Like, I would not be able to doit without them.
Um, and I regret not doing thatfrom the beginning because you
(05:52):
know, stuck in that mindset oflike, oh, I can do everything, I
know how to do everything, I'msmart enough, I can do that.
Um, okay, next thing.
This one's a little bit harsher,especially for me as an
Enneagram eight.
I assumed that everyone wasgonna hire me.
And you're like, wait, that wasa mistake you made.
Like, yeah, not everyone's gonnahire you.
(06:14):
And also assuming that you'rejust gonna get the business all
the time and not have to workfor it is not a great mindset to
have.
I was so successful in my firstbusiness that we took over the
market.
I knew people were gonna use us.
Um, and then I opened thisbusiness and I'm like, okay,
(06:35):
well, I'll just take that andI'll just come into this
business with it.
And like I know people are likepeople know me, I know that they
trust me, but they like gettinginto different markets and
expanding my business, I've hadto prove myself along the way.
And it's even more so hard now.
And you would think, like, oh,you know, 10 years into this,
like, how would you like why isit harder?
(06:57):
Well, it's harder becausethere's more people that do what
I do.
I just lost a bid yesterday.
I hate losing, by the way.
Like, that is the worst feelingin the entire world.
But I have to accept that it'sjust my energy needs to open up
and that something else is gonnacome in and I'll attract it, but
I'm not always gonna get thebusiness, and you're not always
gonna get the business, and it'sokay.
(07:18):
But the thing that I learnedthat when someone tells me no, I
now ask why.
Back in the day, I used to belike, Well, screw you, I don't
want to work with you anyways.
You know, like I would have likesuch an attitude about it, like
a little brat.
But now I'm like, okay, so youtold me no.
Can you please tell me why youtold me no?
(07:38):
And some of the answers thatI've gotten are like, well, this
person already does my website,so we're just gonna go ahead and
let them do our digitalmarketing too.
Okay, that makes sense.
Or, hey, this person was likemore in our budget, but we
really appreciate theopportunity to like talk to you
and learn more about you.
All right, got it.
Um, I also have people that havesaid, oh, well, actually, I've
(08:00):
given this duty over to anadmin, but instead of hiring you
full-time, we'll just hire youas a consultant.
So it's one of those thingswhere I go into like a
consultation and yes, I want tomanifest working for them.
I want to um make sure I'mselling myself correctly.
I do want to earn theirbusiness, but when I don't, I
(08:21):
want to know why.
Because on the other side ofthat, I can grow from it as a
business owner and as a person.
I mean, it may have been a daythat I was sick and like on Zoom
and like not feeling good, or itcould have been a day I was just
like not really in the mood tosell anything, and maybe I just
kind of came across wrong.
And I want people to tell methat because I have to make sure
(08:41):
that moving forward in otherconsultations that I'm not doing
the same thing because then it'sgonna inhibit my business from
growing, and I'm never gonnagrow as a leader or as a person
or a salesperson.
So don't assume that people aregonna hire you.
Go in and earn every client orcustomer that you get every
(09:02):
single time.
Earn it because then you'regonna be like, okay, I got this.
You're gonna do a better job forthem.
And again, if they tell you no,it's okay.
That no is gonna be a yes in thefuture, but that no is also a
time for you to grow as abusiness owner, as a
salesperson, and as a leader.
Again, you don't ever know.
We're not all in a great moodall the time, okay?
(09:24):
I have had people try to sell meon things, and I'm like, dang
girl, like you woke up on thewrong side of the bed.
It's too early for that kind ofattitude, you know.
Um, and I've been that personmore times than I wish that I
would have.
So there you go.
Don't assume people are gonnahire you.
And the last thing, this one isum a little bit close to home,
(09:45):
but I the big mistake, biggestmistake, I think this is the
biggest mistake I made as ayoung entrepreneur in this
current business that I'm in wasthat I volunteered way too much.
And my business coach MikeHarbour told me this, and he
like kind of put it intoperspective um in a harsh way.
(10:07):
So I'm gonna tell you guys howhe told me.
He said, Okay, for the nextmonth, I want you to write down
everything that you do, as inevery hour of your day.
I want you to write down whatyou're doing, how you're
spending your time.
And I'm like, gosh dang, okay.
Back then I was running around,I worked about 40 to 50 hours a
(10:29):
week.
Um, I didn't have a kid, so Ithink I was pretty sure I was
married, yeah, I was married atthe time.
Um, so we have like not really alot of personal time, um, but I
did have that to put in there,and it was very important for me
to make sure that I was honestwith myself and not giving um
(10:50):
myself any grace, right?
I'm like, okay, let's sit downand write it out.
At the end of the month, it wasOctober at the time, at the end
of the month, I added up that 40hours of that month was spent
doing volunteer work.
And that was back then rotary, Iwas on boards, I was doing
(11:11):
chamber stuff, I was likeambassador, I was going to
networking events, all thethings.
But at the networking events, Iwasn't networking, I was
actually volunteering at thenetworking events, so that's a
difference.
So then he goes, Okay, so howmuch per hour do you charge?
So, like if someone's gonna callyou and consult with you, how
much is how much is it?
And back then, um, it was$150 anhour.
(11:34):
So he said, Okay, well multiply40 times$150, and what is that
number?
And I I don't do math, so Idon't know what that number is
now.
It was a really big number.
He was okay, well, that's howmuch money you lost in the month
of October.
I was like, Holy shit, that is alot of freaking money.
(11:54):
I'm like, okay, well, I've lostthat much money in October.
Think about all the othermonths.
I've been doing I've beenrunning rampant like this for
two or three years now.
Like, I've lost all this money.
So then that put a really bigreality check on me to where I'm
like, okay, let's like narrowdown where I'm volunteering.
I immediately quit boards.
I immediately quit volunteeringwith the chamber.
(12:15):
I stayed on with Rotary becausethat was something I was
passionate about.
I really dug deep inside of meand was like, okay, what am I
passionate about?
What do I want to stay?
Like, where do I want to stay?
What do I want to spend my timeat?
How am I okay with spending mytime?
And so that's what I did.
I stayed with Rotary, I droppedeverything else.
I still have it on my resume,which is great.
But now in like today's world, Iactually am very conscious of
(12:39):
like where I volunteer my time,where I spend my time.
Um, especially now that I'mjuggling being a mom too.
I just want to make sure thatit's all equal and I'm actually
making money.
Um, volunteering is great, don'tget me wrong.
Volunteering is awesome, butfind something you're passionate
about and spend time on that andnot like spending hours and
hours and hours of driving hereand driving there and doing this
(13:00):
and doing that, and it's notcoming back.
We want to make sure that if weare volunteering for like a
business reason, that isactually gonna be like a return
of our investment.
You know what I'm saying?
So the three things is I didn'thire a professional, so go hire
professional CPA and bookkeeper,they will help you.
Do not assume people are goingto hire you.
(13:20):
You need to earn every singlesell that you make.
And the last thing is don'tvolunteer for everything, don't
say yes to everything.
Learn to say no, learn to beokay with that.
Your time is precious andimportant to you, and you need
to put it to good use inbuilding your business.
All right, guys, I'll catch youon the next one.