January 22, 2025 • 33 mins
Unlock the secrets to financial clarity and strategic growth for your small business as we sit down with Ahuva Gruen, a seasoned CPA and the mastermind behind AG Financial Services. Gruen reveals the misleading nature of relying solely on a bank balance and emphasizes the power of clean financial books and understanding your finances in depth. This episode promises to transform your perspective on financial management and introduce you to the invaluable role of a fractional CFO in guiding your business towards sustainable growth.
Accountants are more than just number crunchers—they're strategic partners in your business's success. We shift the narrative from mere tax compliance to a dynamic partnership that enhances your financial health. By closing books regularly and forecasting financial futures, accountants can uncover cost-saving opportunities and investment potentials that you might overlook. This episode champions the idea of viewing an accountant as a vital investment in your business's financial well-being, helping you navigate potential pitfalls and achieve your business goals.
Scaling your business isn't just about growth—it's about doing it right. We explore the distinctions between scaling and growing, focusing on the efficiency and financial planning required to scale successfully. With real-life examples of businesses that have faced challenges in scaling, we provide insights into managing debt wisely and using credit lines effectively. For business owners feeling stuck, this episode also delivers strategies to regain momentum and commit to your entrepreneurial dreams with financial clarity and sound planning.
Ahuva Gruen: Fractional CFO & Founder of AG Financial
Website: https://agfinancialcpa.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahuvagruen/
Podcast: https://agfinancialcpa.com/podcast/
Email: agruen@agfinancialcpa.com
#BusinessGrowthTips #FractionalCFO #BusinessScaling #CleanFinancialBooks #EntrepreneurMindset #AccountingTips #BusinessStrategy #SmallBusinessOwner #SmartBusinessMoves #CashFlowManagement #FinancialPlanning #GrowYourBusiness #BusinessSuccess #ScalingSuccess #EntrepreneurshipTips #SmallBusinessGoals #FinancialFreedom #MoneyManagement #SmallBusinessPivots #BusinessPodcast #MichaelDMorrison #BOSS #BusinessOwnership #OklahomaCity
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome to another Small Business Pivots.
We have another special guestfrom around the world and, as we
do weekly, I always say there'sno one that can pronounce and
announce their business name andtheir name, like the business
owner.
So I'm going to let you havethe floor here for a second.
Introduce yourself, yourbusiness and where you're from.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I am a Hoover Gruen, I'm a CPA from New Jersey and my
business is AG FinancialServices, which is a fractional
CFO business with an account forkeeping services which means is
CFO stands for Chief FinancialOfficer consultants and I go and
(00:41):
help businesses grow andsucceed and get unstuck with
areas of financial as aconsultant, Instead of paying a
full-time salary, instead ofpaying benefits and employer
taxes if you don't need afull-time CFO, this is effective
, financially worthwhileinvestment in your business.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, I's.
I know a lot of business ownersthat could use your assistance,
so how do you think we're goingto help our listeners to best
today?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Number one is awareness to know what's going
right, what you're doing right,what you're doing wrong, where
you can improve tips, ideas.
Number one to open ouraudience's eyes to know what
they can improve in wherethey're leaving money on the
(01:33):
table, what they could do better, how they could get unstuck
great podcasts, how they couldget unstuck and really succeed
in their business.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Fantastic Well listeners and reach their dreams
.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh, that's even better.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You just put the icing on the cake right there.
So let's introduce the show andwe'll be right back, because we
got a lot to help our listenerswith today.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.
(02:12):
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours.
Atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom,
our business owners use theirbank accounts as a measuring
(02:33):
stick.
If I've got, I know right.
If I've got money in the bank,I must be doing well.
If I don't, I can't sleep atnight.
So you are a fractional CFOwhich helps business owners get
(02:55):
unstuck.
A lot of them are so.
Do you got anything?
You're just like, hey, here's.
Here's what I want to startwith.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
This is a great starting point Audience business
owners.
Number one bank account.
It's not the right place tostart.
It's not the right place tostart and it's not the right
place to end.
Yes, cash flow is important, but, number one, you have to have
clean books.
You have to be able to readyour financial reports to
(03:25):
understand them, your profit andloss.
You could have money today inyour bank account but it could
be gone from your debt payment,from your payroll, from your
expenses.
Or you have no money in yourbank account and you could have
big sales and the money justdidn't come in yet.
So number one is to haveclarity with your financials.
(03:48):
You have to have clean books toknow what you're basing on.
And then it's really importantto have an understanding.
A lot of my clients tell me Iopen their eyes because, number
one you have to have anunderstanding of your financials
, of your profit and loss, ofyour balance sheet.
(04:10):
Profit and loss is income andexpenses, balance sheet is
assets and liability and equity.
I had a client that said to methe other day I made so much
money this month.
Last month you said I made$40,000 in net income.
I didn't take on $40,000.
I said come, like I do all thetime Come look at your balance
(04:33):
sheet, come look at your profitand loss.
And he saw it.
He had a debt payment on a loan.
He has inventory cash in thebank is.
It is not really where youshould start and where you
shouldn't.
It is a piece of it.
Cash is king, but there's somuch more.
There's so much more importanceto really understand than to
(04:58):
know oh, cash in the bank, yeah,you could spend it all, but
then what happens on a slowmonth?
What?
What happens if you make?
If there's a one month that youdon't make so well, then how
are you going to pay yourexpenses?
You're going to go.
If you go make a huge barbecueand spend all your money from
your business, you won't be ableto milk the cow for years to
(05:20):
come.
You won't be able to live offthe business and prosper for
years to come.
You won't be able to live upthe business and prosper for
years to come.
So that's a great beginning andthat's like oh ouch, a lot of
people, michael, they don't evenknow what's going on in their
business If you're runningfinancials.
I saw a couple of companies onmore than one platform
(05:42):
QuickBooks Online QuickBooks,desktop QuickBooks, another
program.
You have to have one centralplace really to know what's
going on.
And part of cleaning books isalso you know, reconcile your
bank account, your bank accountsare now reconciled to your
software and how do you reallyknow if it's clean books, how do
(06:04):
you know if it's accurate?
Number one you have to haveaccurate books, bookkeepers to
keep data.
But you have to have book good,big, keep, good bookkeeping and
then you also have then youcould really work with the data.
And that's where I come in.
Yes, some of them I do helpthem with their bookkeeping, but
really strategicallycontrolling the money and
(06:27):
strategically what's workingright, what's not working right.
We're leaving money on thetable where they could expand.
And you know also profit margin.
You have to know what's goingon, what's your overhead, what's
your course of goods sold.
You can't tell that from thebank account.
(06:47):
You can't tell anything.
You can't tell.
Okay, I'll leave some for later.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, well, so that clarity.
So in the business coachingworld, when we work with clients
, we often say that one of thethings that most business owners
are missing, if they just hadclarity and that could be in the
strategy, that could be intheir books, financials, that
could be anything, but itusually is just lack of clarity.
(07:14):
So that's a great point Fromthe business owners that you
work with.
For some reason, I know thatmost business owners try to do
accounting themselves.
They try to do the QuickBooksthemselves, to start off,
because they think they don'thave enough money to hire a
bookkeeper or a CFO.
What advice do you have thatcould encourage them, inspire
(07:37):
them to say, stop that thinkingand go hire an accountant,
because you can't do anythingwithout clear, accurate records,
like you said.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Great point.
There's a few different aspectsof that.
Number one, like it says in thebook, who, not how, Do what
you're best at and delegate therest.
It's important.
I'm sure, like you tell yourclients in your coaching in all
areas of the business, a lot, of, a lot of business owners
either, either they're not goodat it, so then their books are
(08:10):
not clean, are not straight.
You could have software today,tomorrow, if you're not doing
using it right, you don't knowwhat you're doing, it's not
going to get you accurateinformation.
And and if they do have, do youhave time?
Could you use your time forsomething that is much more
(08:31):
financially worth it?
I saw a quote from a book Greatat Work recently Do less and
obsess To do the most importantwork that will bring the most
benefit and do it well anddelegate the rest.
(08:53):
And also that's bookkeeping.
But I do much more forbusinesses than just bookkeeping
.
I'm helping them with thefinancial, with the profit
margin.
I had a client I came in and hewas using deposits to fund
operation which, as we all know,that's like a bad recipe, and I
(09:14):
said I believe it's like hedidn't know what was going on.
I have good profit margin.
I said I believe it's like hedidn't know what was going on.
I have good profit margin, Isaid really.
I said, after I dug a littlebit, I said I believe your
profit margins are off and it'syour employment, your employees'
efficiency, Business ownersthey're good at what they do but
they're not good at running thefinancial as strategic.
(09:37):
I'm also accountability.
Accounting besides accountscould stand for accountability.
A lot of them are all over theplace running a hundred
different ends.
You can have good processes orsome of them.
A lot of them don't but if youdon't follow through and you
don't make sure and their mindis on all over, they can't
(09:57):
concentrate on the financials.
So either they're not good atit, or they can't concentrate,
or they could be using theirtime more wisely.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Absolutely, and I want to kind of piggyback on
that, because every businessowner that doesn't have accurate
financials.
When I ask them what theirprofit margins are, they whip it
out real quick.
But when we get theirfinancials straightened out, get
them accurate and up to date inreal time I'm batting a
(10:27):
thousand at this.
I've yet to have a businessowner what they thought their
profit margin was that'sactually what it was after we
had accurate books.
So if you're just guessing,you're probably wrong, because
I've yet to meet a businessowner that was right, that
didn't have clear, accuratefinancials from an accountant
like yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Right and also I forgot to add in.
So this is my specialty, thisis my expertise.
My expertise so I could offerand advise and I'm an outsider
from them to really look and digin.
Like a client of mine said, Iget into the gut of the company.
Yes, we look at, we make abudget and, yes, the profit and
(11:11):
loss and the balance sheet andthe statement of cash flow, but
I also we discuss and westrategize and we control what's
driving those numbers.
I'm not that enough for me.
Just that's step one.
The first step is to have cleanbooks.
But I'm not just making reportsand making a forecast.
(11:32):
It is about making sure we getthere and what's holding us back
or what are we doing or whatare we not doing to get there.
And that's what business ownersdon't have.
If they're, let's say, a lawyer, their forte is being good with
the legal, a doctor, withmedical.
(11:53):
They're not good at financials,they're not accountants.
It's also their expertise ofbeing in the field for over 20
years and willing that this ismy life mission.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, that's a great point.
We have a couple of areas inaccounting that we hear often
and I'd like for you to kind ofexpand on those, because I'm a
big believer in accountants.
In fact, if I would have goneback over two decades ago, the
first thing I would have everhired was an accountant.
I mean, that's how strong Ifeel about accounting.
So we hear about closing booksand forecasting.
(12:30):
Can you kind of explain whatboth of those are and how that
helps a business owner?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Great point I want to point out.
Everyone thinks of accountantsas taxes.
There's different areas ofaccounting.
There's accounting that'scompliance, that's taxes, and
then there is CFO and privateaccounting that helps the
businesses grow and succeed.
So tax accountants are focusedon taxes, on compliance to Uncle
(12:59):
Sam and the government, and I'mfocused yes, of course we have
to give in the taxes and itshould be clean and accurate and
not get letters but much moreon helping the business grow and
succeed.
So great point.
So closing books means closingthe books, making sure
(13:19):
everything is accurate,everything is reported correctly
.
Closing the books at the end ofthe year means to file taxes,
closing the books.
But more important is closingthe books monthly.
It's closing the books, havingclear books, or at least, if
you're small, quarterly, to beable to make financial decisions
(13:41):
, to be able to see profitmargins, to see where you made
money, where you lost money, tohave clear books, what location
made money, what location lostmoney, what services you should
expand on that.
You're leaving money on thetable.
What services?
Is just draining um funds,draining operations, draining
(14:02):
resources like where?
And the second part isforecasting is when you want to
grow, you want to do well, youwant to be also efficient and
effective.
It's to make a forecast, abudget, how much you could spend
on everything every month, howmuch income and expenses are.
So you don't have help.
(14:23):
I have no way to pay my taxesor no way to pay my any like
seasonal expenses.
And to really know on differentexpenses, different income, the
return on investment, what youwill get for that investment,
for that expense, for thatincome.
(14:43):
Really to know also, whenthere's a slow month, in a
better month, to put money aside, really to have like the goal
what we want to reach, what else, what our sales targets are.
What do we want to keep ourexpenses?
What do we want to keep ourexpenses?
What do we want to keep ourcourse of goods sold really to
grow and to scale.
(15:04):
You have to have forecast.
But before you can forecast youhave to know, have clear books,
you have to know what's goingon.
Because when I do forecast, Idon't just set back the numbers
based on the past, but I look atwhere we should cut costs,
where we're leaking out money,where we should spend more that
(15:26):
will make us more money, returnon investment, or what products
we should sell more.
Yes, it's the forecast, butit's not just spitting back
numbers, it's everything thatgoes in, like I'm sure you work
on in a slightly different way,is the four Ps People, profits,
(15:48):
profit and products to work with.
That all drive the financials,which is what I believe in
looking at the whole picture andnot just at the reports.
Yes, reports telling us a story, but we want to improve the
story, so we can't just oh, thisis the report, now what are you
going to do to get to our goals?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
I love that description because many
business owners think ofaccountants as a tax accountant
and they think of them as kindof an overseer of the IRS.
In other words, they're kind ofmore on the IRS side than they
are on the business side.
But that's not actually true.
You're a partner of thebusiness, you're trying to help
(16:33):
them and for those that continueto say I can't afford an
accountant, I promise you thedeductions you're losing.
Yes, the deductions you'relosing and everything else that
an accountant can provide foryou will pay for itself over
time.
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Right, but it's more than that.
If you wait for your taxaccountant, you lost a whole
year of improving.
Yes, you think I can't afford,but I see so many business
owners.
They would make so much moneymore if they had the financial
guidance they would be.
If they're leaking out moneyand they don't know what they're
(17:14):
doing, they a lot of timeunfortunately go under because
they don't know what they'redoing.
They a lot of timeunfortunately go under because
they don't have the financialguidance To have.
It's so important.
It's not an expense.
Yes, on your tax return it's anexpense, but really to think of
it as an investment into yourfinancial health, into your
health of your company, of yourbusiness, of your baby that you
(17:38):
put your heart and soul in.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Let's jump over to.
I know a lot of business owners.
You're listening to SmallBusiness Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, Boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(18:03):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
Let's jump over to.
I know a lot of business ownerstalk about scaling their
business, and I know that's kindof one of your expertise.
So can you kind of explain whatscaling a business really means
(18:24):
, Because I know there's amisperception of what scaling
versus growing a business is.
Can you help us with that?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Scaling a business.
I think I use it the same aslike growing your business.
But you want to grow yourbusiness and make more money.
I have a, I had a lawyer, Ihave a lawyer client, an
attorney.
He made more money before Icame, when it was just him and a
partner, than now that he hasfour or five attorneys working
(18:56):
for him.
And attorneys are supposed tohave good profit margin.
But if you don't have goodprocesses, if your employees are
not, for example, for him,tracking their hours so they
can't bill and their expenses,money was leaking out.
You don't want to just grow,you want to really scale and
make more money.
(19:17):
Every expense that you, everyinvestment, your website, your
marketing or equipment what'sthe return on investment?
Is it going to be moreefficient or it's just a good
electronic toy that it'sexciting, but is it really going
to be more efficient?
I have a client who hadequipment that he invested in
(19:39):
when he was getting bigger andhe thought it's so efficient.
And when it came down to it,when I really went by project,
project, a lot of projects, tosee how much we made on it and
if we didn't make, why?
What went wrong?
What could we control?
While we can.
We saw that these equipment onsmaller projects ended up
(20:02):
costing more money and they werelosing money.
So very nice that you want togrow and you'll go and take out
a loan and buy equipment Nowwith the loans.
It's one thing to take out aloan to invest, but don't go
take out loans just to fund youroperation because that's a
(20:24):
slippery slope.
But he wanted to take out aloan to buy this fancy equipment
that was supposed to reallysave money and it was supposed
to make them make more profit onthe project make more profit on
the project.
But when I dug in and when wereally did homework, we saw that
(20:44):
a lot of the deals it ended uptaking much more labor and
losing money using the newexpensive equipment.
So you have to really know whatyou're doing Really, what is
going to make you grow, beforeyou go hire more staff really to
make sure your staff are usingtheir time wisely.
You're delegating to each staffusing their strong points, not
(21:08):
just don't hire more staff.
If your staff has time, morestuff if your stuff has time.
Don't buy more products toexpand to more products if
you're leaving money on yourtable for the products you're
ready.
So I guide companies whenthey're growing.
First they have to get stablewhen they're growing to really
(21:29):
grow successfully.
Not make impulses buy, not makeimpulses investment.
Really make sure everything isfinancially worth it.
You're going to go buy a newbuilding?
Does the numbers make sense?
You're going to expand youroffice?
Does the numbers make sense?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
We hear a lot from influencers that you know you
don't want debt and I think alot of them are coming from the
place of personal debt likecredit cards and things like
that.
But in business there is such athing as good debt.
Can you kind of explain thedifferences in why a business
owner would get a loan and whatmakes sense for that, for
(22:07):
expansion or anything else?
Scaling?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Great point.
Debt could be good and it couldbe bad, like fire.
Fire could be good.
It heats our houses, but firecould be deadly.
That is the same way.
Credit card interest is afortune of money.
It's like money leaking out.
It builds up, it's like aslippery slope.
(22:31):
Like a slippery slope.
But if you take a debt for aninvestment, for inventory, if
you have a plan in place, howare you going to pay it?
You have to count in what's theinterest rate into your cost of
goods sold.
If you're doing it as aninvestment with a plan in place,
that's good debt.
But if you're just doing it tofund operation, then stop.
(22:52):
What's going on.
If you're blowing money, ifyou're looking at like we
started in your bank account andyou didn't save for quite
months and then you have to goin debt, that's a very slippery
slope.
It can engulf your wholebusiness like a fire God forbid.
You have to know what.
(23:12):
You have to be able to pay it.
You have to know what it'sgoing for, yet how much interest
is going to be?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I'm kind of derailing a little bit, because Boss
offers business loans as well asbusiness coaching, and so we
have lines of credit, we havelong term, we have small
business loans, but lines ofcredit a line of credit is
talked about often.
Could you kind of expand on howthat helps a business owner or
doesn't help a business owner,and how to use it?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Great point Lines of credit.
It's not like a set loan thatyou have like 20 years or 10
years to pay a line for credit.
It's that they could pull outmoney when they need it and pay
it back.
And sometimes you know itdepends on the loan If the
interest rate could change.
It's not like set for a certainamount of years.
(24:06):
Now, like I said, when to useit it depends on the business.
Let's say I have a e-commercebusiness.
E-commerce business they haveto invest a ton of money in an
inventory.
That's just the name of name ofthe other game and amazon, for
example.
They're supposed to have three,four months worth of inventory.
(24:28):
A lot of them cannot afford itwithout a line of credit.
Line of credit is more flexible.
But if they use it smallly, forinventory, for an investment,
knowing what they're paying,knowing what's the terms,
knowing how they're going to payit back, then it's much better
than just using a credit card.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
And so the difference between a credit card and a
line of credit is you don't wantto hold a high balance.
It's not like a credit card,where you blow it up and hit the
maximum.
So, in your opinion, is a lineof credit good to have, like go
ahead and apply for one, just soyou have it in the future, or
no?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I think it's good for business to have a line of
credit.
I think it's very good, but Ithink that what I found with
clients and with business ownersif they have it, it's very easy
to go and slip and take for andto spend too fast.
You should have a line ofcredit, and that's very good,
(25:32):
because sometimes you need money, unexpected expenses or a good
opportunity.
Yes, have a line of credit andthat's very good, because
sometimes you need money,unexpected expenses or a good
opportunity.
Yes, have a line of credit, butdon't use it to go expand your
office.
Don't use it to take out moneyand throw a big party for your
family or fancy vacation.
You have to have it, but youhave to have self-control or a
(25:55):
system of checks and balancesdepending on the size of the
business, to not just go andwaste it.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And if they have a good accountant like yourself,
you'll keep them from doing that.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I keep them from doing it.
Before you go buy a wholecontainer of a new item from
China let's say the e-commerceis it a good product?
Are you getting it for a goodprice?
Is there a market for it?
Or is it just going to eat upcash and they're going to be
sitting in your warehouse orlike equipment?
Lines of credits are very good.
(26:29):
It's very healthy, but you haveto really know when to pull out
money Not as easy, but like,almost like a credit card.
They don't realize how they'respending and then they say
where's my money at the end ofthe month.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Well, you mentioned something because of a lot of
our.
You mentioned business ownersbeing stuck and a lot of our
listeners are stuck Working withso many business owners.
Can you give any tips on how toget unstuck, because I know for
a lot of them they're just outof bandwidth and they don't know
what to do next.
But I'm sure you've worked withbusiness owners that kind of
(27:04):
hit the plateau and then theyleapfrog because of and what are
your tips for that?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Tips.
Number one have clarity.
Number two look at profitmargins.
Look at where money's leakingout.
Where are you leaving money onthe table?
Get educated, open your eyes,do the next right step.
It's so important processes Tohave good processes.
(27:29):
A lot of businesses get stuckif they don't have good
processes.
If they pay their vendors thesame day but then they're not
getting paid two, three monthslater, that's bad price.
That will hit their cash flowand make them stuck.
They have to have good.
I'm sure this is one of yourthings that you work on with all
(27:50):
your coaching clients.
Absolutely but it all hits thefinancial too.
They have to have goodprocesses.
I mean, if someone's stucksometimes it's sales they have
to know what's going on.
Where's the biggest fireburning?
Where's the biggest pain point?
Is it the processes about whenthey're getting paid, when
(28:10):
they're paying their vendors?
Is it cash flow?
Is it checks and balances?
Is it cash flow?
Is it checks and balances?
Is it profit margins?
Is it their products?
Is it client retention?
What is going on?
You really have to know like towork is so important to have
processes.
(28:31):
If an employee goes in to do aproject, if they do too much, if
they didn't know what the scopewas, you lose money because
you're not getting paid for it.
If they do too little and youhave to go back again or they
mess up, then it's also a bigissue.
And for products, if you don'tsend the right thing, if it's
(28:52):
not good quality.
It's not only important to haveclients, you have to keep them
and you have to keep them happy.
It's really important.
Like you said, people don'twant to invest in it.
It's much easier, it ispossible, even if you're stuck.
But the faster you get help,the faster you'll improve.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Absolutely.
And I find, with businessowners as well, part of that
getting stuck process is becausethey're out of bandwidth,
they're shorthanded, and I knowfor a lot of business owners
they are very stressed about.
They know they need help butthey don't know if they can
afford it.
And I promise you, listeners,if you have an accountant, you
(29:37):
will know, you will feelconfident that, yes, I can
invest in this machine, I caninvest in this person, or no, I
can't and I need to reduce someexpenses or liabilities.
So that's the power, anotherpower of having an accountant.
So how do people get ahold ofyou?
Where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
an accountant.
So how do people get a hold ofyou?
Where can they find you?
I'm on LinkedIn, ahuva Gruen.
On my website, ahuvacfocom.
They could DM me, they couldcall me, they could get me on
LinkedIn on my website.
Old-fashioned telephone email.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
The old-fashioned telephone.
Some of our youngers probablydon't even know what that means.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
But sometimes it's best with my clients.
It's not only good to have anaccountant.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
To have a shop is to communicate, not just oh, once a
year you brought up anotherpoint is most business owners
wait till the end of the year,and that is a no, no, no, no, no
.
Just don't do it.
You're costing yourself a lotof money and stress throughout
(30:43):
the year.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
And there are tax strategies that I could suggest
that it's too late at the end ofthe year and the tax
accountants and differentstrategies to make more money,
to pay less taxes that you loseout.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's that's.
Another great point is I didn'tI forgot about that, because
when December 31st, once January1 rolls over, you're there's
nothing you can do, there's nostrategy.
It's what's done is done.
Now you have to report what youdid or didn't do for that year.
But I know that we have a CFOon staff and our CFO is
(31:20):
literally can tell us, probablyin June, July, sometimes later,
earlier of here's what you needto be doing by the end of the
year.
Here's what you can beforecasting.
Here's yes, you can get thisadditional rent space or else
you're going to pay that intaxes.
So it really is powerful tohave an accountant.
So if you were, I always wrapup at the end of the show.
If you were in a room full ofbusiness owners different
(31:42):
seasons, different industries,different seasons of life what
is something applicable thatwould work for all of them to
hear?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Open your eyes, follow your gut, but with Smiley
.
Based on financials, based onyour guidance, do the next right
step.
Don't give up on your dreams.
There's a lot to say.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Wow, that's beautiful .
Well, you've been a wealth ofknowledge and a blessing to many
.
I appreciate you taking thetime to share with our listeners
today.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Thank you, it was great.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Thank you for listening to Small Business
Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, BOSS.
Our business is growing yours.
Boss offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(32:39):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onsmall business pivots.
All right, welcome to another Small Business Pivots.
We have another special guestfrom around the world and, as we
do weekly, I always say there'sno one that can pronounce and
announce their business name andtheir name, like the business
owner.
So I'm going to let you havethe floor here for a second.
Introduce yourself, yourbusiness and where you're from.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I am a Hoover Gruen, I'm a CPA from New Jersey and my
business is AG FinancialServices, which is a fractional
CFO business with an account forkeeping services which means is
CFO stands for Chief FinancialOfficer consultants and I go and
(00:41):
help businesses grow andsucceed and get unstuck with
areas of financial as aconsultant, Instead of paying a
full-time salary, instead ofpaying benefits and employer
taxes if you don't need afull-time CFO, this is effective
, financially worthwhileinvestment in your business.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, I's.
I know a lot of business ownersthat could use your assistance,
so how do you think we're goingto help our listeners to best
today?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Number one is awareness to know what's going
right, what you're doing right,what you're doing wrong, where
you can improve tips, ideas.
Number one to open ouraudience's eyes to know what
they can improve in wherethey're leaving money on the
(01:33):
table, what they could do better, how they could get unstuck
great podcasts, how they couldget unstuck and really succeed
in their business.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Fantastic Well listeners and reach their dreams
.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh, that's even better.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You just put the icing on the cake right there.
So let's introduce the show andwe'll be right back, because we
got a lot to help our listenerswith today.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.
(02:12):
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours.
Atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom,
our business owners use theirbank accounts as a measuring
(02:33):
stick.
If I've got, I know right.
If I've got money in the bank,I must be doing well.
If I don't, I can't sleep atnight.
So you are a fractional CFOwhich helps business owners get
(02:55):
unstuck.
A lot of them are so.
Do you got anything?
You're just like, hey, here's.
Here's what I want to startwith.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
This is a great starting point Audience business
owners.
Number one bank account.
It's not the right place tostart.
It's not the right place tostart and it's not the right
place to end.
Yes, cash flow is important, but, number one, you have to have
clean books.
You have to be able to readyour financial reports to
(03:25):
understand them, your profit andloss.
You could have money today inyour bank account but it could
be gone from your debt payment,from your payroll, from your
expenses.
Or you have no money in yourbank account and you could have
big sales and the money justdidn't come in yet.
So number one is to haveclarity with your financials.
(03:48):
You have to have clean books toknow what you're basing on.
And then it's really importantto have an understanding.
A lot of my clients tell me Iopen their eyes because, number
one you have to have anunderstanding of your financials
, of your profit and loss, ofyour balance sheet.
(04:10):
Profit and loss is income andexpenses, balance sheet is
assets and liability and equity.
I had a client that said to methe other day I made so much
money this month.
Last month you said I made$40,000 in net income.
I didn't take on $40,000.
I said come, like I do all thetime Come look at your balance
(04:33):
sheet, come look at your profitand loss.
And he saw it.
He had a debt payment on a loan.
He has inventory cash in thebank is.
It is not really where youshould start and where you
shouldn't.
It is a piece of it.
Cash is king, but there's somuch more.
There's so much more importanceto really understand than to
(04:58):
know oh, cash in the bank, yeah,you could spend it all, but
then what happens on a slowmonth?
What?
What happens if you make?
If there's a one month that youdon't make so well, then how
are you going to pay yourexpenses?
You're going to go.
If you go make a huge barbecueand spend all your money from
your business, you won't be ableto milk the cow for years to
(05:20):
come.
You won't be able to live offthe business and prosper for
years to come.
You won't be able to live upthe business and prosper for
years to come.
So that's a great beginning andthat's like oh ouch, a lot of
people, michael, they don't evenknow what's going on in their
business If you're runningfinancials.
I saw a couple of companies onmore than one platform
(05:42):
QuickBooks Online QuickBooks,desktop QuickBooks, another
program.
You have to have one centralplace really to know what's
going on.
And part of cleaning books isalso you know, reconcile your
bank account, your bank accountsare now reconciled to your
software and how do you reallyknow if it's clean books, how do
(06:04):
you know if it's accurate?
Number one you have to haveaccurate books, bookkeepers to
keep data.
But you have to have book good,big, keep, good bookkeeping and
then you also have then youcould really work with the data.
And that's where I come in.
Yes, some of them I do helpthem with their bookkeeping, but
really strategicallycontrolling the money and
(06:27):
strategically what's workingright, what's not working right.
We're leaving money on thetable where they could expand.
And you know also profit margin.
You have to know what's goingon, what's your overhead, what's
your course of goods sold.
You can't tell that from thebank account.
(06:47):
You can't tell anything.
You can't tell.
Okay, I'll leave some for later.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, well, so that clarity.
So in the business coachingworld, when we work with clients
, we often say that one of thethings that most business owners
are missing, if they just hadclarity and that could be in the
strategy, that could be intheir books, financials, that
could be anything, but itusually is just lack of clarity.
(07:14):
So that's a great point Fromthe business owners that you
work with.
For some reason, I know thatmost business owners try to do
accounting themselves.
They try to do the QuickBooksthemselves, to start off,
because they think they don'thave enough money to hire a
bookkeeper or a CFO.
What advice do you have thatcould encourage them, inspire
(07:37):
them to say, stop that thinkingand go hire an accountant,
because you can't do anythingwithout clear, accurate records,
like you said.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Great point.
There's a few different aspectsof that.
Number one, like it says in thebook, who, not how, Do what
you're best at and delegate therest.
It's important.
I'm sure, like you tell yourclients in your coaching in all
areas of the business, a lot, of, a lot of business owners
either, either they're not goodat it, so then their books are
(08:10):
not clean, are not straight.
You could have software today,tomorrow, if you're not doing
using it right, you don't knowwhat you're doing, it's not
going to get you accurateinformation.
And and if they do have, do youhave time?
Could you use your time forsomething that is much more
(08:31):
financially worth it?
I saw a quote from a book Greatat Work recently Do less and
obsess To do the most importantwork that will bring the most
benefit and do it well anddelegate the rest.
(08:53):
And also that's bookkeeping.
But I do much more forbusinesses than just bookkeeping
.
I'm helping them with thefinancial, with the profit
margin.
I had a client I came in and hewas using deposits to fund
operation which, as we all know,that's like a bad recipe, and I
(09:14):
said I believe it's like hedidn't know what was going on.
I have good profit margin.
I said I believe it's like hedidn't know what was going on.
I have good profit margin, Isaid really.
I said, after I dug a littlebit, I said I believe your
profit margins are off and it'syour employment, your employees'
efficiency, Business ownersthey're good at what they do but
they're not good at running thefinancial as strategic.
(09:37):
I'm also accountability.
Accounting besides accountscould stand for accountability.
A lot of them are all over theplace running a hundred
different ends.
You can have good processes orsome of them.
A lot of them don't but if youdon't follow through and you
don't make sure and their mindis on all over, they can't
(09:57):
concentrate on the financials.
So either they're not good atit, or they can't concentrate,
or they could be using theirtime more wisely.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Absolutely, and I want to kind of piggyback on
that, because every businessowner that doesn't have accurate
financials.
When I ask them what theirprofit margins are, they whip it
out real quick.
But when we get theirfinancials straightened out, get
them accurate and up to date inreal time I'm batting a
(10:27):
thousand at this.
I've yet to have a businessowner what they thought their
profit margin was that'sactually what it was after we
had accurate books.
So if you're just guessing,you're probably wrong, because
I've yet to meet a businessowner that was right, that
didn't have clear, accuratefinancials from an accountant
like yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Right and also I forgot to add in.
So this is my specialty, thisis my expertise.
My expertise so I could offerand advise and I'm an outsider
from them to really look and digin.
Like a client of mine said, Iget into the gut of the company.
Yes, we look at, we make abudget and, yes, the profit and
(11:11):
loss and the balance sheet andthe statement of cash flow, but
I also we discuss and westrategize and we control what's
driving those numbers.
I'm not that enough for me.
Just that's step one.
The first step is to have cleanbooks.
But I'm not just making reportsand making a forecast.
(11:32):
It is about making sure we getthere and what's holding us back
or what are we doing or whatare we not doing to get there.
And that's what business ownersdon't have.
If they're, let's say, a lawyer, their forte is being good with
the legal, a doctor, withmedical.
(11:53):
They're not good at financials,they're not accountants.
It's also their expertise ofbeing in the field for over 20
years and willing that this ismy life mission.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, that's a great point.
We have a couple of areas inaccounting that we hear often
and I'd like for you to kind ofexpand on those, because I'm a
big believer in accountants.
In fact, if I would have goneback over two decades ago, the
first thing I would have everhired was an accountant.
I mean, that's how strong Ifeel about accounting.
So we hear about closing booksand forecasting.
(12:30):
Can you kind of explain whatboth of those are and how that
helps a business owner?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Great point I want to point out.
Everyone thinks of accountantsas taxes.
There's different areas ofaccounting.
There's accounting that'scompliance, that's taxes, and
then there is CFO and privateaccounting that helps the
businesses grow and succeed.
So tax accountants are focusedon taxes, on compliance to Uncle
(12:59):
Sam and the government, and I'mfocused yes, of course we have
to give in the taxes and itshould be clean and accurate and
not get letters but much moreon helping the business grow and
succeed.
So great point.
So closing books means closingthe books, making sure
(13:19):
everything is accurate,everything is reported correctly
.
Closing the books at the end ofthe year means to file taxes,
closing the books.
But more important is closingthe books monthly.
It's closing the books, havingclear books, or at least, if
you're small, quarterly, to beable to make financial decisions
(13:41):
, to be able to see profitmargins, to see where you made
money, where you lost money, tohave clear books, what location
made money, what location lostmoney, what services you should
expand on that.
You're leaving money on thetable.
What services?
Is just draining um funds,draining operations, draining
(14:02):
resources like where?
And the second part isforecasting is when you want to
grow, you want to do well, youwant to be also efficient and
effective.
It's to make a forecast, abudget, how much you could spend
on everything every month, howmuch income and expenses are.
So you don't have help.
(14:23):
I have no way to pay my taxesor no way to pay my any like
seasonal expenses.
And to really know on differentexpenses, different income, the
return on investment, what youwill get for that investment,
for that expense, for thatincome.
(14:43):
Really to know also, whenthere's a slow month, in a
better month, to put money aside, really to have like the goal
what we want to reach, what else, what our sales targets are.
What do we want to keep ourexpenses?
What do we want to keep ourexpenses?
What do we want to keep ourcourse of goods sold really to
grow and to scale.
(15:04):
You have to have forecast.
But before you can forecast youhave to know, have clear books,
you have to know what's goingon.
Because when I do forecast, Idon't just set back the numbers
based on the past, but I look atwhere we should cut costs,
where we're leaking out money,where we should spend more that
(15:26):
will make us more money, returnon investment, or what products
we should sell more.
Yes, it's the forecast, butit's not just spitting back
numbers, it's everything thatgoes in, like I'm sure you work
on in a slightly different way,is the four Ps People, profits,
(15:48):
profit and products to work with.
That all drive the financials,which is what I believe in
looking at the whole picture andnot just at the reports.
Yes, reports telling us a story, but we want to improve the
story, so we can't just oh, thisis the report, now what are you
going to do to get to our goals?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
I love that description because many
business owners think ofaccountants as a tax accountant
and they think of them as kindof an overseer of the IRS.
In other words, they're kind ofmore on the IRS side than they
are on the business side.
But that's not actually true.
You're a partner of thebusiness, you're trying to help
(16:33):
them and for those that continueto say I can't afford an
accountant, I promise you thedeductions you're losing.
Yes, the deductions you'relosing and everything else that
an accountant can provide foryou will pay for itself over
time.
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Right, but it's more than that.
If you wait for your taxaccountant, you lost a whole
year of improving.
Yes, you think I can't afford,but I see so many business
owners.
They would make so much moneymore if they had the financial
guidance they would be.
If they're leaking out moneyand they don't know what they're
(17:14):
doing, they a lot of timeunfortunately go under because
they don't know what they'redoing.
They a lot of timeunfortunately go under because
they don't have the financialguidance To have.
It's so important.
It's not an expense.
Yes, on your tax return it's anexpense, but really to think of
it as an investment into yourfinancial health, into your
health of your company, of yourbusiness, of your baby that you
(17:38):
put your heart and soul in.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Let's jump over to.
I know a lot of business owners.
You're listening to SmallBusiness Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, Boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(18:03):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
Let's jump over to.
I know a lot of business ownerstalk about scaling their
business, and I know that's kindof one of your expertise.
So can you kind of explain whatscaling a business really means
(18:24):
, Because I know there's amisperception of what scaling
versus growing a business is.
Can you help us with that?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Scaling a business.
I think I use it the same aslike growing your business.
But you want to grow yourbusiness and make more money.
I have a, I had a lawyer, Ihave a lawyer client, an
attorney.
He made more money before Icame, when it was just him and a
partner, than now that he hasfour or five attorneys working
(18:56):
for him.
And attorneys are supposed tohave good profit margin.
But if you don't have goodprocesses, if your employees are
not, for example, for him,tracking their hours so they
can't bill and their expenses,money was leaking out.
You don't want to just grow,you want to really scale and
make more money.
(19:17):
Every expense that you, everyinvestment, your website, your
marketing or equipment what'sthe return on investment?
Is it going to be moreefficient or it's just a good
electronic toy that it'sexciting, but is it really going
to be more efficient?
I have a client who hadequipment that he invested in
(19:39):
when he was getting bigger andhe thought it's so efficient.
And when it came down to it,when I really went by project,
project, a lot of projects, tosee how much we made on it and
if we didn't make, why?
What went wrong?
What could we control?
While we can.
We saw that these equipment onsmaller projects ended up
(20:02):
costing more money and they werelosing money.
So very nice that you want togrow and you'll go and take out
a loan and buy equipment Nowwith the loans.
It's one thing to take out aloan to invest, but don't go
take out loans just to fund youroperation because that's a
(20:24):
slippery slope.
But he wanted to take out aloan to buy this fancy equipment
that was supposed to reallysave money and it was supposed
to make them make more profit onthe project make more profit on
the project.
But when I dug in and when wereally did homework, we saw that
(20:44):
a lot of the deals it ended uptaking much more labor and
losing money using the newexpensive equipment.
So you have to really know whatyou're doing Really, what is
going to make you grow, beforeyou go hire more staff really to
make sure your staff are usingtheir time wisely.
You're delegating to each staffusing their strong points, not
(21:08):
just don't hire more staff.
If your staff has time, morestuff if your stuff has time.
Don't buy more products toexpand to more products if
you're leaving money on yourtable for the products you're
ready.
So I guide companies whenthey're growing.
First they have to get stablewhen they're growing to really
(21:29):
grow successfully.
Not make impulses buy, not makeimpulses investment.
Really make sure everything isfinancially worth it.
You're going to go buy a newbuilding?
Does the numbers make sense?
You're going to expand youroffice?
Does the numbers make sense?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
We hear a lot from influencers that you know you
don't want debt and I think alot of them are coming from the
place of personal debt likecredit cards and things like
that.
But in business there is such athing as good debt.
Can you kind of explain thedifferences in why a business
owner would get a loan and whatmakes sense for that, for
(22:07):
expansion or anything else?
Scaling?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Great point.
Debt could be good and it couldbe bad, like fire.
Fire could be good.
It heats our houses, but firecould be deadly.
That is the same way.
Credit card interest is afortune of money.
It's like money leaking out.
It builds up, it's like aslippery slope.
(22:31):
Like a slippery slope.
But if you take a debt for aninvestment, for inventory, if
you have a plan in place, howare you going to pay it?
You have to count in what's theinterest rate into your cost of
goods sold.
If you're doing it as aninvestment with a plan in place,
that's good debt.
But if you're just doing it tofund operation, then stop.
(22:52):
What's going on.
If you're blowing money, ifyou're looking at like we
started in your bank account andyou didn't save for quite
months and then you have to goin debt, that's a very slippery
slope.
It can engulf your wholebusiness like a fire God forbid.
You have to know what.
(23:12):
You have to be able to pay it.
You have to know what it'sgoing for, yet how much interest
is going to be?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I'm kind of derailing a little bit, because Boss
offers business loans as well asbusiness coaching, and so we
have lines of credit, we havelong term, we have small
business loans, but lines ofcredit a line of credit is
talked about often.
Could you kind of expand on howthat helps a business owner or
doesn't help a business owner,and how to use it?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Great point Lines of credit.
It's not like a set loan thatyou have like 20 years or 10
years to pay a line for credit.
It's that they could pull outmoney when they need it and pay
it back.
And sometimes you know itdepends on the loan If the
interest rate could change.
It's not like set for a certainamount of years.
(24:06):
Now, like I said, when to useit it depends on the business.
Let's say I have a e-commercebusiness.
E-commerce business they haveto invest a ton of money in an
inventory.
That's just the name of name ofthe other game and amazon, for
example.
They're supposed to have three,four months worth of inventory.
(24:28):
A lot of them cannot afford itwithout a line of credit.
Line of credit is more flexible.
But if they use it smallly, forinventory, for an investment,
knowing what they're paying,knowing what's the terms,
knowing how they're going to payit back, then it's much better
than just using a credit card.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
And so the difference between a credit card and a
line of credit is you don't wantto hold a high balance.
It's not like a credit card,where you blow it up and hit the
maximum.
So, in your opinion, is a lineof credit good to have, like go
ahead and apply for one, just soyou have it in the future, or
no?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I think it's good for business to have a line of
credit.
I think it's very good, but Ithink that what I found with
clients and with business ownersif they have it, it's very easy
to go and slip and take for andto spend too fast.
You should have a line ofcredit, and that's very good,
(25:32):
because sometimes you need money, unexpected expenses or a good
opportunity.
Yes, have a line of credit andthat's very good, because
sometimes you need money,unexpected expenses or a good
opportunity.
Yes, have a line of credit, butdon't use it to go expand your
office.
Don't use it to take out moneyand throw a big party for your
family or fancy vacation.
You have to have it, but youhave to have self-control or a
(25:55):
system of checks and balancesdepending on the size of the
business, to not just go andwaste it.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And if they have a good accountant like yourself,
you'll keep them from doing that.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I keep them from doing it.
Before you go buy a wholecontainer of a new item from
China let's say the e-commerceis it a good product?
Are you getting it for a goodprice?
Is there a market for it?
Or is it just going to eat upcash and they're going to be
sitting in your warehouse orlike equipment?
Lines of credits are very good.
(26:29):
It's very healthy, but you haveto really know when to pull out
money Not as easy, but like,almost like a credit card.
They don't realize how they'respending and then they say
where's my money at the end ofthe month.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Well, you mentioned something because of a lot of
our.
You mentioned business ownersbeing stuck and a lot of our
listeners are stuck Working withso many business owners.
Can you give any tips on how toget unstuck, because I know for
a lot of them they're just outof bandwidth and they don't know
what to do next.
But I'm sure you've worked withbusiness owners that kind of
(27:04):
hit the plateau and then theyleapfrog because of and what are
your tips for that?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Tips.
Number one have clarity.
Number two look at profitmargins.
Look at where money's leakingout.
Where are you leaving money onthe table?
Get educated, open your eyes,do the next right step.
It's so important processes Tohave good processes.
(27:29):
A lot of businesses get stuckif they don't have good
processes.
If they pay their vendors thesame day but then they're not
getting paid two, three monthslater, that's bad price.
That will hit their cash flowand make them stuck.
They have to have good.
I'm sure this is one of yourthings that you work on with all
(27:50):
your coaching clients.
Absolutely but it all hits thefinancial too.
They have to have goodprocesses.
I mean, if someone's stucksometimes it's sales they have
to know what's going on.
Where's the biggest fireburning?
Where's the biggest pain point?
Is it the processes about whenthey're getting paid, when
(28:10):
they're paying their vendors?
Is it cash flow?
Is it checks and balances?
Is it cash flow?
Is it checks and balances?
Is it profit margins?
Is it their products?
Is it client retention?
What is going on?
You really have to know like towork is so important to have
processes.
(28:31):
If an employee goes in to do aproject, if they do too much, if
they didn't know what the scopewas, you lose money because
you're not getting paid for it.
If they do too little and youhave to go back again or they
mess up, then it's also a bigissue.
And for products, if you don'tsend the right thing, if it's
(28:52):
not good quality.
It's not only important to haveclients, you have to keep them
and you have to keep them happy.
It's really important.
Like you said, people don'twant to invest in it.
It's much easier, it ispossible, even if you're stuck.
But the faster you get help,the faster you'll improve.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Absolutely.
And I find, with businessowners as well, part of that
getting stuck process is becausethey're out of bandwidth,
they're shorthanded, and I knowfor a lot of business owners
they are very stressed about.
They know they need help butthey don't know if they can
afford it.
And I promise you, listeners,if you have an accountant, you
(29:37):
will know, you will feelconfident that, yes, I can
invest in this machine, I caninvest in this person, or no, I
can't and I need to reduce someexpenses or liabilities.
So that's the power, anotherpower of having an accountant.
So how do people get ahold ofyou?
Where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
an accountant.
So how do people get a hold ofyou?
Where can they find you?
I'm on LinkedIn, ahuva Gruen.
On my website, ahuvacfocom.
They could DM me, they couldcall me, they could get me on
LinkedIn on my website.
Old-fashioned telephone email.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
The old-fashioned telephone.
Some of our youngers probablydon't even know what that means.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
But sometimes it's best with my clients.
It's not only good to have anaccountant.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
To have a shop is to communicate, not just oh, once a
year you brought up anotherpoint is most business owners
wait till the end of the year,and that is a no, no, no, no, no
.
Just don't do it.
You're costing yourself a lotof money and stress throughout
(30:43):
the year.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
And there are tax strategies that I could suggest
that it's too late at the end ofthe year and the tax
accountants and differentstrategies to make more money,
to pay less taxes that you loseout.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's that's.
Another great point is I didn'tI forgot about that, because
when December 31st, once January1 rolls over, you're there's
nothing you can do, there's nostrategy.
It's what's done is done.
Now you have to report what youdid or didn't do for that year.
But I know that we have a CFOon staff and our CFO is
(31:20):
literally can tell us, probablyin June, July, sometimes later,
earlier of here's what you needto be doing by the end of the
year.
Here's what you can beforecasting.
Here's yes, you can get thisadditional rent space or else
you're going to pay that intaxes.
So it really is powerful tohave an accountant.
So if you were, I always wrapup at the end of the show.
If you were in a room full ofbusiness owners different
(31:42):
seasons, different industries,different seasons of life what
is something applicable thatwould work for all of them to
hear?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Open your eyes, follow your gut, but with Smiley
.
Based on financials, based onyour guidance, do the next right
step.
Don't give up on your dreams.
There's a lot to say.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Wow, that's beautiful .
Well, you've been a wealth ofknowledge and a blessing to many
.
I appreciate you taking thetime to share with our listeners
today.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Thank you, it was great.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Thank you for listening to Small Business
Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, BOSS.
Our business is growing yours.
Boss offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(32:39):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onsmall business pivots.
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