May 24, 2024 • 15 mins
We're excited to welcome Charles Read, a financial expert, entrepreneur, and Vietnam War veteran, to the podcast. As the founder of GetPayroll, Charles has been providing full-service payroll solutions for over 30 years. He is also the author of "The Payroll Book: A Guide For Small Businesses and Startups."
In this episode, Charles shares his extensive experience in financial leadership, offers practical advice on payroll management, and discusses the importance of building a high-performing team. Join us for an episode filled with expert insights and valuable business strategies.
Check out Charle's book here: https://thepayrollbook.com/books/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the United States of Small Business, a podcast where
the essence of American entrepreneurship is celebrated
in every episode, with host JohnQuick at the helm.
Join us as we embark on a journey through the heart of the
nation, uncovering the inspiringstories of small business owners
from coast to coast. Experience the vibrant energy of
(00:20):
bustling cities and the serene beauty of Small Towns Hall while
discovering how individuals are turning their entrepreneurial
dreams into reality, even against the greatest odds.
Each episode brings you face to face with the dreamers,
creators, and doors who form theeconomic backbone of our
country, all sharing their spirit of innovation and
(00:40):
resilience. Whether you are in the early
stages of sowing the seeds for your own business, scaling new
heights in your current venture,or simply captivated by tales of
grit and triumph, you are in theright place.
TuneIn on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora and beyond.
(01:01):
For deeper insights and to connect with the heart and soul
of America's Main Streets, visitUnited States of
smallbusiness.com. Subscribe to United States of
Small Business with host John Quick now and be inspired by the
powerful stories of entrepreneurship, community, and
the unwavering pursuit of the American Dream.
(01:22):
Begin your journey of inspiration with us today.
Welcome everybody to the United States, a small business
podcast. I'm your host, John Quick.
Today we are thrilled to have Charles Reed with us at the
Stringus Financial entrepreneur and Vietnam War vet, Charles is
the founder of Get Payroll Company, providing comprehensive
payroll services for over 30 years.
With a wealth of experience in financial leadership and as the
(01:44):
author of the payroll book, a Guide to for small businesses
and startups, Charles brings unparalleled insights into the
payroll and business management.Join us as we delve into his
fascinating story and journey and expert advice.
So without further ado, Charles,welcome to the United States of
Small Business Podcast. John, thank you very much for
(02:05):
having me. I'm looking forward to it.
Well, this will be fun getting to hear a little bit about your
story and get it to know you a little bit.
You have over 50 years of expense in financial leadership,
financial leadership and you're the founder of Get Payroll.
What are some of the most commonpayroll mistakes you see small
business owners make and how do you think they can avoid some of
(02:26):
these pit pitfalls? Well, there's two huge ones.
First of all is not knowing whatthey don't know, what forms have
to be filed, what forms, what numbers you have to get, what
deposits you have to make, when you have to make them, when you
have to file your forms. All the things that go into just
trying to stay on the the right side of the tax man.
(02:49):
That's one of the big things. So they they need to get advice
on all of that. So they make sure that all their
ducks in a row, there's enough problems with the IRS in the
States without not abiding by the rules to start with.
So that's a huge one. The second one, and this small
entrepreneurs and new businessesfall into all the time, is
(03:12):
misclassification of employees. You don't get to choose whether
a worker is an employee or a contractor, and neither do they.
There's a whole body of law thatchanges.
There's new rules that went intoeffect earlier this year on
who's a contractor and who's not, and if you don't follow the
(03:34):
rules, it can be extraordinarilyexpensive.
I had one client that actually reached 6 figures in penalties
and interest off an audit in California so it it could be
devastating. Well, that's that's some good
practical tips. I really appreciate that your
journey spans from being a Vietnam War veteran to becoming
(03:57):
a successful entrepreneur. How has your experience in the
military shaped your approach tobusiness and leadership over the
years? You know, that's a very
interesting question because most business people don't
understand what the military brings to the table for
experience. When I, when I, before I went to
work for myself, trying to work for other people, they just
(04:19):
didn't understand it. I like to hire veterans.
So it brings discipline, it brings sense of mission.
People who've served in the military tend to have a much
better understanding of themselves and their place in
the world and how to make thingssuccessful and how to work as a
team. Also, I was an NCO, so I worked
(04:42):
for a living. Other other enlisted will
understand that one and leadership in in the in the
Marine Corps, one of the tenets of leadership is mission men's
self. You accomplish the mission, you
take care of your men, then you worry about yourself.
(05:05):
And that translates extraordinarily well to
business. That's awesome.
So one of the things that I think you've done really well
over the years and reading aboutyou is media appearances.
I think you've had over 400 media appearances from Fox News
to Forbes. What's some practical advice
you'd give and it just start starting out entrepreneurs on
(05:28):
how important it is to get your name out there as opposed to
hiding under a rock and just expect me to know about you.
Well, you know the old saw aboutinvent a better mousetrap in the
world will be the door to you even though you live in the
darkest forest. That's bull.
It won't happen. You'll starve to death with your
better mousetrap. If you don't light your light
(05:52):
and shines it on the world, nobody else is going to.
So if you want to be known, if you want to attract inbound
marketing, which is of course all of our goal, you've got to
be out there. You've got to talk to people,
you've got to be seen, you've got to make your business known.
You've got to present yourself as a expert and a thought leader
(06:13):
in your industry. And that's extraordinarily
important from my point of view to do so.
I have a staff that does that constantly.
We've done in the last four years since my most recent book,
which helps because I've got a book that was on Amazon, way up
on Amazon and small business books and so on.
(06:34):
All of that helps. So I've done over, as you said,
400 media appearances over 300 since the book came out.
We, we book them all day every day, all the time.
I do three to five podcasts a week as a as a guest.
The book articles. We just recently had a piece in
(06:56):
Harvard Business Review. So you know, we're out there all
the time. We're posting videos literally
daily shorts, long form educational videos, fun videos.
We, we, we do a Halloween one. I love the last Halloween one
with with the the IRS as the army of the dead zombies and
(07:21):
skeletons. We have a lot of fun with those.
We have a lot of educational ones.
Some some are funny and some arenot.
And it it's it's, it's a great time, but it's.
It's awesome. So your, your, your recent book
is called the payroll book, A Guide for Small Businesses and
Startups. Talk to me a little bit about
(07:42):
what somebody could expect if they open up the pages and start
reading that. Well, I refer to as as 3530
years of wisdom distilled down to 95,000 words.
It, it goes through a number of things in payroll and payroll
related items, the laws, the, the applications, lots of, lots
of horror stories, the things not to do, lots of good
(08:03):
information, lots of things thatif you're not in the business,
you may not be aware of things like 45 S to get a tax credit
for paying for time off for youremployees, other things and, and
how to stay out of trouble, how to deal with it if you get into
it when the IRS makes a mistake,how to deal with it, all those
(08:24):
kinds of things. It's, it's, it's a reference
book. Use it, pick it up, look at it.
I, I don't suggest you just sit down and read it cover to cover
like you would a novel, you know, but it, I tried to make it
fun. I'd found there was nothing in
the industry really out there. So I said I'll write something.
(08:47):
And two years later, with the help of a major publisher, we we
finally got something out. It's a lot more work to write
that book that it sounds up front, I promise you.
Well, that's awesome. We'll put the the links for that
book in the podcast description.Well, somebody.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go one better for your listeners if
(09:08):
they'd like a copy of the book. If they'll go to the
payrollbook.com, enter the discount code podcast, we'll
ship them free of charge a copy of the book as long as supplies
last. That's awesome.
They're going to be very excitedabout that.
Who's somebody that you've looked up to along the way?
It's kind of been a hero in yourlife and why?
(09:30):
Well, you know, my father was a,was an entrepreneur and a small
businessman. I, I learned a great deal from
him, grew up working in the business.
I started making wet Verifax copies in the office when I was
six years old. So I, I, I grew up in, in a
small business and, and small business people to me are, are
the backbone of the United States and what makes this
(09:53):
economy work. So I, I love that.
I'll tell you my favorite authoris Michael Gerber, the E Myth
Revisited, which saved my business.
I buy it by the dozen and give it to my clients and it's
required reading of all my employees when they when when
they're hired. So lots of good advice out
(10:17):
there, lots of lots of good rolemodels, just you have to look
for them. Yeah.
So you've had probably ups and downs along the way.
If you could go back, take a time machine, you know, 30 years
and go back 30 years, what wouldyou tell yourself?
Give it. What kind of advice would you
give yourself? Put away an extra 100 bucks a
(10:39):
month in the investment account and I'd be rich today.
But other than that, you know, it's, it's been up and down.
I started the business with my wife.
I lost her nine years ago. But you know, just really, we,
(11:02):
we, we had a good time doing it.We enjoyed it, we liked what we
do. Probably the the most important
thing I would do would have beento take off my marketing hat and
put it on somebody else sooner. When I finally hired a marketing
manager, 'cause I thought I could market.
And so when I finally hired a marketing manager, I realized
(11:23):
within a couple of weeks I can'tmark my way out of a paper bag.
So we'd be a much larger firm today if I had hired a marketing
manager 1015 years earlier, I promise you.
So there's going to be folks listening in that are going to
think to themselves, man, I, I need to get a hold of Charles
and, and talk to him about his company, get payroll.
(11:45):
Talk to me about what that process could look like for
somebody that calls you and wants to take on some of your
services. What is your typical onboarding
process look like? Walk me through some of those
details. Well, they talked to Pete.
My, my a new business development manager or to me to
start with, we determine if it'sa good fit, given them an
(12:09):
estimate of costs and so on. And then if that's acceptable,
we'll send out a file invite with the information we need,
put all that in and get it to us.
And you'll be up and doing payroll probably within seven to
10 days. Nice.
SO along the way, you know you've had a lot of success.
(12:36):
What's some advice you'd give tosomebody that maybe hasn't taken
that first step yet in their entrepreneur journey?
What's some practical wisdom andadvice you give that person?
Well, first of all, there is no work life balance for an
entrepreneur. I was doing a panel discussion
one time and somebody asked me about work life balance as a new
(12:58):
entrepreneur and I just cracked up there.
There is no work life balance. It's work for the first few
years. It's work.
And if you can't handle that andor your domestic partner can't
handle that, you're going to have a problem.
You may not be cut out to be an entrepreneur.
You may want to go work for the government.
(13:18):
That's a nice cushy job. But beyond that IA piece of
advice, and I've sold it from Bill Gates before he got a
little off the rails here, people will overestimate what
they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can
(13:41):
accomplish in a decade. It's a marathon, guys.
It's not a Sprint, it's a marathon.
It's a slog. It's over and over, day after
day, week after week, month after month, year after year,
and you'll be amazed at what could happen.
But it ain't going to happen tomorrow.
(14:04):
Amen to that. Well, Charles, 15 minutes here
has gone by in a flash. Do you have any last minute
thoughts before we head off and tell folks where they can find
you? Websites, social media, all that
kind of stuff. I think being an entrepreneur is
wonderful. I would not change it.
I would not go to work for somebody else on a bet.
I love the freedom of being an entrepreneur.
(14:25):
So if you've got the the psychological has the
constitution to to be an entrepreneur, it can be a
wonderful life. Not easy, but wonderful.
Well, I really appreciate you joining us, Charles.
We'll put the link to the book in the podcast description for
folks listening in. Click on that link, fill out the
(14:46):
form. You get a free book sent to you
while supplies last. We wish you nothing but success,
Charles here from the United States a small business podcast.
And we hope everybody has a phenomenal rest of their week
and a good Memorial Day weekend.Until next time, I'm John Quick
from the United States, a small business.
Have a good day.
Welcome to the United States of Small Business, a podcast where
the essence of American entrepreneurship is celebrated
in every episode, with host JohnQuick at the helm.
Join us as we embark on a journey through the heart of the
nation, uncovering the inspiringstories of small business owners
from coast to coast. Experience the vibrant energy of
(00:20):
bustling cities and the serene beauty of Small Towns Hall while
discovering how individuals are turning their entrepreneurial
dreams into reality, even against the greatest odds.
Each episode brings you face to face with the dreamers,
creators, and doors who form theeconomic backbone of our
country, all sharing their spirit of innovation and
(00:40):
resilience. Whether you are in the early
stages of sowing the seeds for your own business, scaling new
heights in your current venture,or simply captivated by tales of
grit and triumph, you are in theright place.
TuneIn on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora and beyond.
(01:01):
For deeper insights and to connect with the heart and soul
of America's Main Streets, visitUnited States of
smallbusiness.com. Subscribe to United States of
Small Business with host John Quick now and be inspired by the
powerful stories of entrepreneurship, community, and
the unwavering pursuit of the American Dream.
(01:22):
Begin your journey of inspiration with us today.
Welcome everybody to the United States, a small business
podcast. I'm your host, John Quick.
Today we are thrilled to have Charles Reed with us at the
Stringus Financial entrepreneur and Vietnam War vet, Charles is
the founder of Get Payroll Company, providing comprehensive
payroll services for over 30 years.
With a wealth of experience in financial leadership and as the
(01:44):
author of the payroll book, a Guide to for small businesses
and startups, Charles brings unparalleled insights into the
payroll and business management.Join us as we delve into his
fascinating story and journey and expert advice.
So without further ado, Charles,welcome to the United States of
Small Business Podcast. John, thank you very much for
(02:05):
having me. I'm looking forward to it.
Well, this will be fun getting to hear a little bit about your
story and get it to know you a little bit.
You have over 50 years of expense in financial leadership,
financial leadership and you're the founder of Get Payroll.
What are some of the most commonpayroll mistakes you see small
business owners make and how do you think they can avoid some of
(02:26):
these pit pitfalls? Well, there's two huge ones.
First of all is not knowing whatthey don't know, what forms have
to be filed, what forms, what numbers you have to get, what
deposits you have to make, when you have to make them, when you
have to file your forms. All the things that go into just
trying to stay on the the right side of the tax man.
(02:49):
That's one of the big things. So they they need to get advice
on all of that. So they make sure that all their
ducks in a row, there's enough problems with the IRS in the
States without not abiding by the rules to start with.
So that's a huge one. The second one, and this small
entrepreneurs and new businessesfall into all the time, is
(03:12):
misclassification of employees. You don't get to choose whether
a worker is an employee or a contractor, and neither do they.
There's a whole body of law thatchanges.
There's new rules that went intoeffect earlier this year on
who's a contractor and who's not, and if you don't follow the
(03:34):
rules, it can be extraordinarilyexpensive.
I had one client that actually reached 6 figures in penalties
and interest off an audit in California so it it could be
devastating. Well, that's that's some good
practical tips. I really appreciate that your
journey spans from being a Vietnam War veteran to becoming
(03:57):
a successful entrepreneur. How has your experience in the
military shaped your approach tobusiness and leadership over the
years? You know, that's a very
interesting question because most business people don't
understand what the military brings to the table for
experience. When I, when I, before I went to
work for myself, trying to work for other people, they just
(04:19):
didn't understand it. I like to hire veterans.
So it brings discipline, it brings sense of mission.
People who've served in the military tend to have a much
better understanding of themselves and their place in
the world and how to make thingssuccessful and how to work as a
team. Also, I was an NCO, so I worked
(04:42):
for a living. Other other enlisted will
understand that one and leadership in in the in the
Marine Corps, one of the tenets of leadership is mission men's
self. You accomplish the mission, you
take care of your men, then you worry about yourself.
(05:05):
And that translates extraordinarily well to
business. That's awesome.
So one of the things that I think you've done really well
over the years and reading aboutyou is media appearances.
I think you've had over 400 media appearances from Fox News
to Forbes. What's some practical advice
you'd give and it just start starting out entrepreneurs on
(05:28):
how important it is to get your name out there as opposed to
hiding under a rock and just expect me to know about you.
Well, you know the old saw aboutinvent a better mousetrap in the
world will be the door to you even though you live in the
darkest forest. That's bull.
It won't happen. You'll starve to death with your
better mousetrap. If you don't light your light
(05:52):
and shines it on the world, nobody else is going to.
So if you want to be known, if you want to attract inbound
marketing, which is of course all of our goal, you've got to
be out there. You've got to talk to people,
you've got to be seen, you've got to make your business known.
You've got to present yourself as a expert and a thought leader
(06:13):
in your industry. And that's extraordinarily
important from my point of view to do so.
I have a staff that does that constantly.
We've done in the last four years since my most recent book,
which helps because I've got a book that was on Amazon, way up
on Amazon and small business books and so on.
(06:34):
All of that helps. So I've done over, as you said,
400 media appearances over 300 since the book came out.
We, we book them all day every day, all the time.
I do three to five podcasts a week as a as a guest.
The book articles. We just recently had a piece in
(06:56):
Harvard Business Review. So you know, we're out there all
the time. We're posting videos literally
daily shorts, long form educational videos, fun videos.
We, we, we do a Halloween one. I love the last Halloween one
with with the the IRS as the army of the dead zombies and
(07:21):
skeletons. We have a lot of fun with those.
We have a lot of educational ones.
Some some are funny and some arenot.
And it it's it's, it's a great time, but it's.
It's awesome. So your, your, your recent book
is called the payroll book, A Guide for Small Businesses and
Startups. Talk to me a little bit about
(07:42):
what somebody could expect if they open up the pages and start
reading that. Well, I refer to as as 3530
years of wisdom distilled down to 95,000 words.
It, it goes through a number of things in payroll and payroll
related items, the laws, the, the applications, lots of, lots
of horror stories, the things not to do, lots of good
(08:03):
information, lots of things thatif you're not in the business,
you may not be aware of things like 45 S to get a tax credit
for paying for time off for youremployees, other things and, and
how to stay out of trouble, how to deal with it if you get into
it when the IRS makes a mistake,how to deal with it, all those
(08:24):
kinds of things. It's, it's, it's a reference
book. Use it, pick it up, look at it.
I, I don't suggest you just sit down and read it cover to cover
like you would a novel, you know, but it, I tried to make it
fun. I'd found there was nothing in
the industry really out there. So I said I'll write something.
(08:47):
And two years later, with the help of a major publisher, we we
finally got something out. It's a lot more work to write
that book that it sounds up front, I promise you.
Well, that's awesome. We'll put the the links for that
book in the podcast description.Well, somebody.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go one better for your listeners if
(09:08):
they'd like a copy of the book. If they'll go to the
payrollbook.com, enter the discount code podcast, we'll
ship them free of charge a copy of the book as long as supplies
last. That's awesome.
They're going to be very excitedabout that.
Who's somebody that you've looked up to along the way?
It's kind of been a hero in yourlife and why?
(09:30):
Well, you know, my father was a,was an entrepreneur and a small
businessman. I, I learned a great deal from
him, grew up working in the business.
I started making wet Verifax copies in the office when I was
six years old. So I, I, I grew up in, in a
small business and, and small business people to me are, are
the backbone of the United States and what makes this
(09:53):
economy work. So I, I love that.
I'll tell you my favorite authoris Michael Gerber, the E Myth
Revisited, which saved my business.
I buy it by the dozen and give it to my clients and it's
required reading of all my employees when they when when
they're hired. So lots of good advice out
(10:17):
there, lots of lots of good rolemodels, just you have to look
for them. Yeah.
So you've had probably ups and downs along the way.
If you could go back, take a time machine, you know, 30 years
and go back 30 years, what wouldyou tell yourself?
Give it. What kind of advice would you
give yourself? Put away an extra 100 bucks a
(10:39):
month in the investment account and I'd be rich today.
But other than that, you know, it's, it's been up and down.
I started the business with my wife.
I lost her nine years ago. But you know, just really, we,
(11:02):
we, we had a good time doing it.We enjoyed it, we liked what we
do. Probably the the most important
thing I would do would have beento take off my marketing hat and
put it on somebody else sooner. When I finally hired a marketing
manager, 'cause I thought I could market.
And so when I finally hired a marketing manager, I realized
(11:23):
within a couple of weeks I can'tmark my way out of a paper bag.
So we'd be a much larger firm today if I had hired a marketing
manager 1015 years earlier, I promise you.
So there's going to be folks listening in that are going to
think to themselves, man, I, I need to get a hold of Charles
and, and talk to him about his company, get payroll.
(11:45):
Talk to me about what that process could look like for
somebody that calls you and wants to take on some of your
services. What is your typical onboarding
process look like? Walk me through some of those
details. Well, they talked to Pete.
My, my a new business development manager or to me to
start with, we determine if it'sa good fit, given them an
(12:09):
estimate of costs and so on. And then if that's acceptable,
we'll send out a file invite with the information we need,
put all that in and get it to us.
And you'll be up and doing payroll probably within seven to
10 days. Nice.
SO along the way, you know you've had a lot of success.
(12:36):
What's some advice you'd give tosomebody that maybe hasn't taken
that first step yet in their entrepreneur journey?
What's some practical wisdom andadvice you give that person?
Well, first of all, there is no work life balance for an
entrepreneur. I was doing a panel discussion
one time and somebody asked me about work life balance as a new
(12:58):
entrepreneur and I just cracked up there.
There is no work life balance. It's work for the first few
years. It's work.
And if you can't handle that andor your domestic partner can't
handle that, you're going to have a problem.
You may not be cut out to be an entrepreneur.
You may want to go work for the government.
(13:18):
That's a nice cushy job. But beyond that IA piece of
advice, and I've sold it from Bill Gates before he got a
little off the rails here, people will overestimate what
they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can
(13:41):
accomplish in a decade. It's a marathon, guys.
It's not a Sprint, it's a marathon.
It's a slog. It's over and over, day after
day, week after week, month after month, year after year,
and you'll be amazed at what could happen.
But it ain't going to happen tomorrow.
(14:04):
Amen to that. Well, Charles, 15 minutes here
has gone by in a flash. Do you have any last minute
thoughts before we head off and tell folks where they can find
you? Websites, social media, all that
kind of stuff. I think being an entrepreneur is
wonderful. I would not change it.
I would not go to work for somebody else on a bet.
I love the freedom of being an entrepreneur.
(14:25):
So if you've got the the psychological has the
constitution to to be an entrepreneur, it can be a
wonderful life. Not easy, but wonderful.
Well, I really appreciate you joining us, Charles.
We'll put the link to the book in the podcast description for
folks listening in. Click on that link, fill out the
(14:46):
form. You get a free book sent to you
while supplies last. We wish you nothing but success,
Charles here from the United States a small business podcast.
And we hope everybody has a phenomenal rest of their week
and a good Memorial Day weekend.Until next time, I'm John Quick
from the United States, a small business.
Have a good day.
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