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Picture your life's work, your legacy, slipping through your fingers because of a simple oversight. This nightmare scenario is what Shreve, a seasoned lawyer with a poignant family narrative, and I tackle in our latest podcast episode. We're dedicated to steering you away from the treacherous shoals of financial illiteracy and inadequate asset protection. With Scherrie tale of her family's farm as a backdrop, we unravel the crucial 'three I's'—identify, inventory, and improve—to chart a course for entrepreneurs seeking to shield their business and personal interests. Our discussion is a lifeline thrown to those swimming in the often choppy waters of asset management.

Ever pondered about the day you'll hang up your entrepreneurial hat and how to ensure you do so gracefully? That's where our heart-to-heart takes us as we unfold the significance of financial acumen for entrepreneurs. We'll guide you through the minefield of capital allocation, the siren call of credit card debt, and the mirage of easy funding, all while equipping you with the strategies to keep your venture—and your pockets—healthy. Shreve's expertise shines as we dissect real-life examples illuminating the importance of a rock-solid retirement and exit strategy from the get-go.

But what good is wealth if it doesn't spark joy and foster growth—not just for us, but for those around us? We reflect on the profound satisfaction derived from pivoting our entrepreneurial dreams from profit-heavy to impact-rich. Scherrie and I share anecdotes that underscore the transformative joy of aiding others. Finally, we hone in on the silver lining of missteps and offer practical wisdom on advancing your financial literacy. It's not just about the numbers; it's about crafting a legacy interwoven with wisdom, generosity, and the kind of fulfillment that comes from making a true difference.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello and welcome to Underdogs, bootstrapers and Game
Changers.
This is for those of you thatare starting with nothing and
using business to change theirstars, motivating people who
disrupted industry standards.
This is the real side ofbusiness.
This isn't Shark Tank.
My aim with this podcast is totake away some of the imaginary

(00:24):
roadblocks that are out there.
I want to help more underdogs,because underdogs are truly who
change the world.
This is part of our content forgood initiative.
All the proceeds from themonetization of this podcast
will go to charitable causes.
It's for the person that wantsit.
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of Underdogs,

(00:47):
bootstrapers and Game Changers,episode six.
And I'm so excited todaybecause I have shreeprints and
you know.
One point I want to make inthis little intro here is the
power of podcasting, the powerof networking, the power of
making new friends, and I was onShreve's podcast a couple of
weeks ago.
I felt like we hit it off andwe became kind of friends

(01:08):
immediately and I don't evenknow where that connection could
go at some point, but it'salready led to a great
discussion once.
I'm going to have her helptoday to explain another amazing
subject matter to help youBootstrapers at home.
Shreve is an incredible person.
I can see her warm heart whenwe had our last discussion, so
that's what's so great.

(01:28):
She's tied to this thing thathappened to her growing up is
where I'm going to kind of focustoday.
And her family had a lot ofland and basically, if you will,
kind of this hand handed downhomestead that was lost in the

(01:49):
process to the family, and thismade you grow up and want to do
more to understand financialliteracy, to understand
protections, to understand law,and that led to Shreve being a
lawyer and she's working a lotwith entrepreneurs and that's
why I thought she would beamazing to have on, because her
heart shows to me and, at thesame time, one of the biggest

(02:09):
things in business is going tobe financial literacy.
So if you want to learn moreabout Shreve as a person, she is
absolutely amazing.
But today we're going to focusstrictly on the knowledge, and
so we're going to dive rightinto it.
Shreve, thanks so much forcoming.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Thanks for having me, Tyler.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
I always want to give this glowing.
Especially like somebody likeyou has so much background, it
can only do it in so manyminutes and still have enough
time to get the subject matter.
But thank you so much for beingon.
I appreciate you.
As a person, I'm excited to thediscussion we're going to get
into and I think today whatwe're going to focus on is
really this idea of financiallybeing literate and protections,

(02:46):
and could you tell me a littlebit more about the story I
glanced on In the beginningabout the family farm, or is it
a farm?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, it was a farm.
My grandparents had a 150 plusacre farm and prior to living
with my grandparents, my motherhad been sick a lot and passed
away at the age of 36.
So my brother and I just kindof bounced around and at some
point we stayed with my mother'sparents and it was a great
experience.
You know all the love you candefinitely have in a family, but

(03:15):
when they passed away theydidn't have a will or a trust
and fast forward no will ortrust.
Well, you know the governmenthas a plan for what happens to
your assets with no will ortrust and there was just a lot
of division in the family interms of who gets what.
Now, all the land was not lost,but I did have an aunt who lost
her portion of the land, and soyou know it hurt a lot of

(03:38):
members of the family becausethis land had been passed down.
You know, two generations prior, my great grandfather, his
parents, were slaves and weactually lived a few miles down
the road from the plantationthat he grew up on, and so you
know it was hard to.
You know, know that that landhad been in our family and some
of it had been lost.
So that was my first experiencewith the need for understanding

(04:03):
personal finance and estateplanning, because a simple will
or trust could have kept thatproperty in our family.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, no, absolutely, and actually like the idea of
financial literacy, planningthat sort of stuff anyways, and
that's where I thought we couldmostly help the bootstrapers
with all this is like you haveto have a plan around this stuff
, you know.
It's like not even like maybemany of them out there aren't
about to inherit some sort offarm or ranch or you know, and
like the discussion really islike financial literacy,

(04:32):
understanding these things.
And so what are some thingsyour family could understand
like base notes?
One on financial literacy,because that was part of what
became part of the problem,right?

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Right.
So you don't have to have a lotof money to have an estate plan
.
You pretty much have to have adesire to pass the assets and a
formal way to do it.
So a simple will would havedone that for us, or, in our
case, a family trust.
But I start people out a littlebit further with some more
basic financial tools.
I call them the three eyes, andso in order for you to pass

(05:04):
down property or asset, you haveto one identify what you have.
You be amazed at how we acquirethings over time, but we don't
keep a good record of it.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Okay, and you also have to do an inventory.
Once you've identified it,inventory what it is.
And for us entrepreneurs, wealways, you know, we may start
out buying stuff in our personalname because we haven't built
business credit but we're usingit for a business purpose.
So I tell people.
The third eye is to improve theclassification of those assets,
because what will happen is youknow you may have a truck that

(05:39):
you're using for your companythis and your personal name.
So what happens when you getinto an accident in that vehicle
?
They're going to reach intoyour personal pockets.
So I try to start entrepreneursout with a very basic
understanding of personalfinance and really understanding
what assets should be used inyour business versus personally.
And if there's, you know, someco-mingling or crossover, I help

(06:01):
you understand how to improvethat classification, to put a
motor around your assets.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, let's talk about that for a second, because
a lot of our audience is maybegoing to start in the
landscaping industry, right,luckily they maybe are already,
have a personal truck, and sothat puts them a little bit
ahead of the game because theygot the number one tool that
they need.
So let's say now I'm a bigproponent of right away.
You got to start now treatingit like a business, right, and
we haven't even talked aboutliabilities yet on the reasons

(06:27):
you separate those two things.
But let's talk about, like,taking that truck and now we're
going to become a business.
What's your advice on how tohandle that part?

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay, what you definitely want to do is you
want to set up an entity.
A lot of people look at LLCsbecause they're easy to set up
and they're very attractive, andso you know a lot of times that
will work.
But it's really going to dependon the industry.
In this instance we have alandscaping company.
So one identify who's workingwith you on your team, your

(06:57):
asset protection team.
I know it sounds fancy, butit's not.
If you're in business and youhave a vehicle, you already have
an insurance agent.
He's part of your assetprotection team.
You already have a bank whereyou're depositing money, so you
have a banker that you'redealing with, part of your asset
protection team, and hopefully,if you don't have an attorney
or a retainer, you may know agood attorney who can minimally

(07:20):
do an operating agreement foryou that sets out what you can
and can't do within the companyand, if you have a partner, what
your rights and obligations are.
So a lot of people think thatthrowing insurance at stuff
solves all the problems.
But I'm going to get a lot ofinsurance, yes and no, Depending
on how big your company is.
I like to tell people to lookat a three entity system, and so

(07:45):
it starts almost like a house.
You have the roof, which may bea trust or a will.
You have as your frame aholding company and then
everything else, your foundation.
That's where your insurance andyour operating companies kind
of go together, and so that'show you build a moat around your
business.
So just think about it in termsof, with each operating company

(08:08):
, you're going to have a threeentity structure.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, no wonderful advice.
I want to just hit that alittle bit from my angle too.
I call a operating agreement,operating in agreement, you know
.
So it's basically the rulesyou're setting forth for the
company and, like you said toyour point, partner can be a
really part and part of that.
And then separating things,right, you know?
So, for instance, we could talklike a company owning a

(08:33):
building, right and so, and thenhaving a business in that
building, and really, in myopinion, and maybe I'm sure
yours too, it's like, if you can, resources wise, separate those
entities, right, because thenif something happens in the
business now they can't take thebuilding and then now they
can't take your personal house.
So there are a lot of reasonslike Shree's to Shree's point.

(08:54):
You separate these thingsbecause they become their own
person in a way.
That's the way I always thinkit, sorry, I always bring things
back to the very basic level,and it's like we want them suing
not all of us, not everythingwe have in the world.
Let them sue that part thatthey are unhappy with or you
know whatever slipped and fellon that right.
So now everything in your lifeis not pulled into that, and so

(09:14):
that's why bootstrapers outthere, starting with nothing?
You know it's like it isimperative to start with some
sort of company separation fromyour personal assets.
So back to the truck.
What do you think the best wayis for somebody to take a
personal assets and then push itinto their company?

Speaker 2 (09:30):
So what you can do and this is kind of the pin and
part on the financing for someof that as well you know if it's
for the business, title it forthe business, and then when you
get insurance for your businessand your commercial vehicle
those that you know theinsurance for that decorations
are a little bit different, soyou definitely want to move it
over to the business side andhaving an insurance agent that

(09:51):
you work with.
If they are already ensuringthe vehicle, they can actually
talk you through that and getyou the best coverage possible.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
And that's your to your point.
To once again, it's likethere's a couple of things to
have on your team, you know, orpeople on your team and a
tremendous insuranceationinvaluable right, not easy to
find overall, honestly, we'regoing to actually go into a
whole episode on insurance here.
A great lawyer, attorney, youknow, is wonderful to have.
You know, somebody that hasyour back on things is

(10:20):
absolutely imperative.
And accountant CPA amazing tohave tax accounting, whether
separate or together with theCPA, that's another amazing
person to have on your team.
But to your point, once again,you know, it's like having a
team put together for all thisstuff.
You know business isn't donealone.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Right.
And one thing, too, that peopleneed to consider is you know,
sometimes you're surprised atthe end of the year when you
have to pay this huge amountback in Texas.
That's because maybe what youhave is a tax prepare and not a
tax planner.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, yes, thank you for saying that, absolutely, and
there is definitely adifference.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
You want to make sure , and I mean it could be the
same person, but a tax preparejust takes what you've done in
the previous year and theyprepare a report which is your
tax return.
A tax planner actually workswith you and advises you this is
the best time of year topurchase this, or hey, you have,
you know, this big thing comingup that you may need a
deduction, or you know thegovernment has had, has these

(11:20):
incentives that they want tooffer you to do certain things.
So definitely get a tax planneron your team.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
It can save you so much money.
And you know, at the end of theday, I think it's a decent
point even though it's more of afinancial episode to say that
you know it's not the worstthing in the world if you end up
having to pay taxes.
There's smart ways to involvethings in your company, but at
the same time, it's a scorecardright.
It's like it's a scorecardthat's going to help you get

(11:47):
financing.
It's a scorecard that's goingto help you get investors down
the road.
It's a scorecard that's goingto help your company be for sale
.
And you know, basically youkeep track of that in your
in-house books.
But the only game keeper,record keeper out there in the
world that people are going tolisten to is the IRS.
So whatever you report to theIRS, that's going to become true
.
So there is years and I, like Isaid, this gets into a financial

(12:10):
episode.
There is years where you wantto buy a bunch of stuff, you
know, and have very low income.
You know, so you can build thebusiness.
And there is years where youwant to show a lot of growth and
try to look at it as not payingthe man.
Try to look at it as like youdid a good score that year.
You killed it right.
And now the bank's going tolook at you and say I'll take
some risk.
The investor's going to look atyou Wow, I might invest in this

(12:31):
company for this.
The buyer's going to say whoa,okay, this is a good asset.
I'm going to base some of theway I value your business off
that.
I know we're getting off thereon financials, but it's
imperative it all comes together.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
So and not only that.
I mean you know if you're theperson that has a heart, that
you want to help your church,you want to help a civic
organization.
You know, and you have a verygood year in your business of
working with a tax planner.
You can earmark where you wanta percentage of what you would
have paid to Uncle Sam, go intoa charity or some or someplace
like that.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I'm going to pivot a littlebit and I want to get to the
basics of let's let's talk to a16 year old kid.
Let's talk to an 18 year oldkid.
Let's talk to somebody starting.
How do we start getting in themind of financial literacy?

Speaker 2 (13:17):
I like to start with the concept of the dollar plan
and so with the dollar plan thatyou basically earmark where
each dollar goes to.
So I try, and this is what Itell my children.
I have a 16 year old and a 19year old and I let you know, I
let them know I love you, butyou can't stay here forever, so
let's talk about yeah, let'stalk about what is it going to

(13:39):
look like if you have to live onyour own, and so we look at a
dollar and what percentage ofeach dollar.
You know how much of this isgoing to go to food, shelter,
transportation, and so we startwith the very basics in terms of
what it's going to take just tolive.
And so you don't want to justlive, you want to thrive.
We put entertainment in there.
So a basic understanding foryou know, for every dollar that

(14:02):
I make, there's a percentagethat I have to pay for taxes,
and nobody wants to talk aboutretirement is 16 years old, but
you have to know, just like withthe business, you start with
the end in mind.
So what is your exit plan?
Regardless of what you want todo, what is your exit plan?
You probably do not want to workor have to work until 70.
You know there may be somethings you want to do.

(14:24):
So we start with the dollar andwe break down what it's going
to take.
And the thing that my kids arejust amazed about is that you
know what we used to combine.
When I was young, I rememberhaving buying penny candy candy
at the store.
Yeah, and they're like really,mom candy was a penny.
So we talk about inflation andthings like that.
So, starting just with a basicunderstanding of where each

(14:47):
dollar goes, and if you're anentrepreneur and you're looking
to start a business, same thingwith your business look at your
marketing each dollar and alsoinclude a reserve account which
is just saving to count for yourbusiness.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yes, absolutely.
You know, one of the thingsthat I get the kind of the most
hate for online is when I tellbusiness people that they need
to be financially literatebefore they get into their
business.
I get a lot of hate, for thisis like, if you're no good with
your personal answers, you'regoing to be horrible with
business finances, because backme up here because I hate to say
it but business feels a littlebit different.

(15:24):
You know in the terms of whatmoney is, because it's like oh,
it's a business expense, youknow, but it's still of an
expense, so don't let yourselfget so far off track that it's
like the business is paying forit.
You know like the money feelsdifferent.
It's like, and then itdesensitizes you to money a
little bit in your personal life, which is dangerous because
it's like, for instance, youknow, like one of the things I

(15:45):
used to do is I charge off everysingle piece of our business
right on a credit card.
And don't, please, please, outthere and hesitant to even say
this, I'd rather you not have acredit card unless you're
extremely disciplined, becausethis is one of the things that
kills businesses.
But if you can be extremelydisciplined and pay it off every
single month.
You can get points and thingslike that for it right?
So and there's the other sideof that too is you protect

(16:08):
yourself from contractors andthat sort of stuff too, because
in some situations you cancharge back the card and they're
helping you fight some unfaircircumstances.
So for those with thatprotection and those points I
used to do it right and soyou're paying $100, $200,000
credit card bill a month thenyour personal stuff becomes so
small in comparison.
You can actually start to screwup your personal finances too.

(16:29):
I think these are what thingsthat people don't think about
when it comes to, like,financial literacy.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
And one thing too, I think one of the biggest things
that you know new businessowners don't consider
underfunding like beingunderfunded when you start,
because think about this you mayhave Joe and Joe makes the best
widgets.
You know, nobody can beat Joemaking widgets.
So as a creator he's great, butas a business person he may not
know all the ins and outs.

(16:56):
So he starts his business withyou know less than the capital
he needs to sustain.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, and not only that.
And then let's say they do geta little bit of funding or
family helps them or somethinglike that.
You know, and out there I'msorry, bootstrapers most of you
are not going to get fundingwhen you first start beyond.
You know, like your family, ora silly credit card which I
think you stay away from.
You know for the most part.
I just gave you some fun waysto use a credit card, but mostly
my advice to bootstrapers don'thave the credit card.

(17:23):
It.
Nothing sinks you faster than acredit card.
Because for these two reasons,if you start with a lot of money
or you know a little bit of anesting, you're going to buy the
silly couch, you're going tobuy the silly artwork, you're
going to buy the things youdon't need.
One of my favorite stories is Idon't know if you've heard I got
to look it up so I get itbetter but there's basically
this guy that wanted to get intothe belt business and so there

(17:43):
was a machine out there thatmake belts and it was $100,000.
And he's like man, you know, andthis could have been easily his
excuse like I don't have 100grand, I can't raise it, I can't
be in the belt business.
But instead he thought aboutthis, and I think this is a key
point If you don't have the 100grand which he would have spent
now he's like, okay, I want tostill do it, so how can I still

(18:04):
do it?
And he went out there and wentto Home Depot or something,
built the machine.
It cost him $10,000.
And now that machine reinventedthe entire industry.
So don't get caught up in.
I need all this stuff.
You know, and like your clientsaren't going to care if you
offer amazing customer service,if you have a fancy piece of
artwork on the wall, I promiseyou.
So don't get caught up inspending a bunch of stupid money

(18:25):
or in your own life, huh.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh yeah, and one thing I want to share with folks
as well is that you know wetalked about beginning with the
end in mind.
Yeah when you start a business,you always need to be thinking
about your exit, and so a lot ofpeople think the exit is that
I'm going to sell my business.
Well, a bankruptcy is an exit,whether you're dissolving the
business or reorganizing.
If you don't have a legalstructure and you're a sole

(18:48):
proprietor, then your debt is anexit.
If you are, if you have apartnership, you know it could
be.
The dissolution of thepartnership is an exit for that
business.
So don't just think about it interms that I'm going to sell it
.
And if you're someone who camefrom, you know, making W to
income, you may have put yourentire retirement into this
business.

(19:09):
How do you re?
How do you recoup that?
How do you get that money backout of the business?
Those are some basic things youneed to consider before you
open your doors.
You know you need to have anexit plan because those are all
events that can, you know, senda little termination of your
business.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
Oh, absolutely, and to your point too, and something
I wasn't smart enough to do inmy first business is like what's
your future plan for thebusiness in general?
Because if you're going to goout there and I kind of
disseminate this into tell me.
If you see this, in the worldthere's two types of
entrepreneurs.
For the most part they're theones that build the business and
they love running it.
They run the operations,they're happy to be involved for

(19:45):
a very long term.
And then there's people thatare kind of like me.
You know you could call it ADDor whatever, but I enjoyed the
build of the business.
The second the business isbuilding and life becomes
somewhat normal.
I hate to say it, but when youget out of that struggle phase I
get bored, right.
And those are the people thatgrow a company and sell it,
usually pretty early on.
And it's important to know toyour point, like, where you want

(20:08):
to go with the business.
Either person is fine, you know.
Like to run a business foreveris amazing.
Just know you run that businessa little bit different than the
person that's starting it tosell it, right.
And so in my first business Ididn't know what I was going to
do so.
I always ran it like I wasgoing to own it forever right.
Growth, growth, growth at allcosts.
You know it's like and you knowlike there's a better way to do
that.
If it's like long-term businessor this is a couple of year

(20:30):
business for me and I'm going tosell it.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
And one thing to consider as well, because you
know, the assumption may be thatwe're just talking about single
business owners, but if youhave a partner or partners, or
if you know it's a joint venture, there's so many different
things you have to consider andhaving a good attorney, like we
talked about in your team, canhelp, you know, take care of
some of that.
You may be in business withpeople that you don't know

(20:56):
personally and you're not sureabout their track record.
What sort of business entity doyou start with?
And LLC may be okay, but ifyou're talking about maybe a
different industry, you'retalking about a merger.
These are all things.
You just really need to look atthe different types of business
entities when you first getstarted as well.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah, do you want to talk a little bit about those?
Throw them out there for them.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Sure, now the sole proprietorship, which I do not
recommend to anybody.
You know you're basically allthe liability is on you.
You use your social securitynumber.
People sue you directly.
When you die, the business dies.
It's very easy to get inbusiness because you just start
transacting.
Next, in terms of barriers toentry, the easiest one to get

(21:41):
into is an LLC.
So the great Can I hit?

Speaker 1 (21:44):
that last one for a second, just with a couple more
points.
So the first one a lot ofpeople this is the way they
start, right.
You start working on the sideor something like that.
You're putting your incomedirectly into your personal
income, you know, on your taxreturn, and then all the assets
of the business and your companyare together.
The reason this can be such aproblem is how do you separate
your own life from your businesslife?

(22:04):
Number one, and see what'sactually going on.
And number two like to Cherie'spoint super important if you
don't want them taking yourhouse, your car.
You know different things likethat.
If you're out there landscapingand you let go of the lawn
mower and it happens to runsomebody's foot over, you don't
want to lose your house, yourfamily's house, your cars.
You know everything in life, soyou separate these things out.
On to number two, sorry.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
No problem.
Number two a limited liabilitycompany.
And with a limited liabilitycompany, it's gonna differ if
you're a single member or amultiple member LLC in terms of
how, in the event that you pass,your estate is separated and
also what you want to take intoaccount of.
If you are a multiple memberLLC and this is something that I

(22:48):
did not do with my firstbusiness you want to make sure
that you have something that'svery similar to what's called a
spousal consent form.
What does that do?
Because this happened to me inmy very first business.
I was in business with apartner and he was married.
I don't know what was going onat home, but his wife walked in

(23:09):
one day and said, hey, I'm yournew partner, you're gonna be
dealing with me, and did notlike that at all.
But we just had a handshake.
We did not even have anoperating agreement, and I mean
an operating agreement is theminimum you need to have with
the LLC.
So having a spousal consentform that outlines what the
rights of the spouse are at alltimes and in the event of death

(23:30):
priceless, priceless.
So yeah, so multiple member LLCor single member, they're
handled differently in differentstates.
I'm in Mississippi, so inMississippi, if you die and you
have a single member LLC, yourfamily has 90 days to wrap
everything up or there's aprocess for it.
So they're handled a little bitdifferently.

(23:51):
Now that's the document thatyou will file with the state
that you're living in.
Next, you have a corporation andall of these entities are like
a separate person sitting at thetable with you and they have
formalities.
Now, the difference between acorporation and a LLC are some
of the formalities, and thething that will really get you

(24:13):
is if you don't follow theseformalities.
I know it sounds like it's hardto do, but you pretty much just
one don't come equal assets.
If you have a corporation,you're required to have meetings
and keep minutes, and I tell mypeople with LLCs, do the same
thing.
They're not always as formal asa corporation, but keeping good

(24:34):
records.
There's a clear indication ofwhat you intend to do in the
business, especially if you havepartners.
Now you do have different typesof partnerships.
With the partnerships, yourliability is based on your
interest in the partnership, andsome folks think they may be in
a partnership, but it may be ajoint venture.

(24:54):
So a joint venture more so islike when you have two companies
that come together maybe toform a third company or a
company and individual, andthere are several different ways
to do it.
But just get a goodunderstanding and if you put the
people together that are onyour asset protection team and
you start I would recommend evenhaving annual meetings with
them and talking about thedirection for your business it

(25:19):
could be that as part of yourthree entity structure, you have
all of these things, becauseyou may start with a trust, you
may have a holding company, youmay also have a management or
marketing company that is acorporation and your service
companies may be LLCs.
But it's gonna really depend onwhat you need and you don't have
to start there.
We're just talking about basics.

(25:39):
Get you one entity.
If you have an LLC, get a goodoperating agreement with the
spouse's consent form ifnecessary, and if you have a
corporation, make sure you havebylaws and that you keep minutes
of your meetings.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, well, and to your point too.
It's like know where you wannago, know where we wanna end and
know what you wanna become,because those are the different
types of companies that youprobably wanna think about
starting If you're gonna becomea small business forever.
Yeah, we just told you we don'tlike sole proprietorships, but
you could probably stay in that.
You could probably be fine withan LLC, but then if you wanna
think grand and big in that sortof thing, then you gotta think

(26:18):
about going to a corporation atleast if you wanna have multiple
investors, if you wanna havedifferent protections, that sort
of stuff, and there's all kindsof tax strategy reasons.
You do each sort of company,but there's also expenses too,
and so I work in the.
When I teach people businessstuff around here, I always work
in the good, better, best world.
Let's talk about some for thebootstrapers.

(26:40):
It's not always easy for themto have multiple companies,
multiple different things goingon, because you're talking about
now expenses and multiple taxreturns and keeping on the ball
folks too.
When you open up something like, do you see this stuff online,
by the way?
That's like open 16 LLCs andnow you're gonna be wealthy.
Yeah, it's like.
Let's talk about the downsidesof that for a second.
You give me yours first.

(27:01):
I wanna hear what you thinkabout the 16 levels of LLC
strategy.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
What is not necessary If you know what you're trying
to do and where you are.
Basics you need a company andyou need some sort of document
that governs how the company'srun.
Like I mentioned, if it's anLLC, you need an operating
agreement.
If it's a corporation, you needbylaws, and so having that and
also a lot of people think thathaving standard operating

(27:30):
procedures is for big companies.
Now, you don't need 10,000, butyou do need a couple, and the
one that I tell folks that youmust have is a cash management
and handling policy.
How do you receive funds intoyour business and how do you
deposit that funds and how arethey reported.
So those are just some basicthings that I think you need in

(27:51):
your business in terms of SLPsand also A contractor and
employee onboarding and training.
I know it makes me a fancier,but you just have something
basic for how you train youremployees coming in, because it
cuts down on turnover, and ifyou have less turnover, you have

(28:13):
people in your business.
You're becoming more efficient.
So those are some of the basicthings that I think Blue
Strapers need.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you know, you and I couldtalk for four hours because we
could touch finance, we couldtouch legalities, we could touch
I mean 16 times.
I've been thinking in my mindit's like maybe we should talk
about piercing the corporateveil.
You know, in a lot of differentways and you know it's like,
and then it is like bringingback it to people when they
start.
And one thing I noticed, andlike everybody has a lens for

(28:40):
the world, and one thing that'samazing about Shari, in my
opinion, is you notice how shekeeps talking about the end game
.
Right, she keeps coming back tothe end game of what your
business is.
And this is based on sorry forme to pre-assume, but I'm
reading you why we're talkingand it's like it's based all
back on the original story wetold you about the farm, right,

(29:01):
it's like don't, this is alesson that she had to learn the
hard way, right, and because ofthat, I mean it did turn some
amazing things around for you inlife.
You became a lawyer, you becamean advocate for these groups of
people, but that's why her lensis so heavy on the end game.
Is this like thing thathappened with her family?
Cause we learned.
It wasn't your mistake by anymeans, and you know your family.

(29:23):
I dare not even want to reallycall it a mistake on their part.
They just didn't know.
You know it's like but let'stalk about mistakes for a minute
.
It's like what tell me one ofthe biggest mistakes you learned
from?

Speaker 2 (29:34):
One of the biggest mistakes I had back in 05, I had
two mortgage brokerages and youknow rocking and rolling and
that was a time when you can getlike 100% financing on an
investment property with a 500credit score Crazy right.
Crazy, okay, so we were justrocking and rolling and because,

(29:56):
you know, I didn't have all theskills and the tools that I
have now, I did not see themortgage crisis coming so fast
forward to 08, I literally losteverything, lost it.
And that's when I went to lawschool, you know, after dealing
with my family, dealing with theloss of my mortgage brokerage,
and you know, at that time I hada what, a six year old and a

(30:18):
three year old, and I reallybecame passionate because I'm
like this does not have tohappen to anybody.
But part of the problem wassome of those same systems that
I now know that are in place inmy current business.
I didn't have them then.
I did not have, you know, atrack on the numbers, I was not
able to forecast and I wouldprobably say, even though that

(30:40):
was my biggest failure, it wasthe best setup for me because it
was like a wake up call.
I mean, imagine waking up andhaving a very successful
business and then the next thing, you don't have anything you
know, yeah, so, and then itcomes back to that like
financial literacy stuff.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
It's like we need to plan for good days and bad days,
right?
So investor you one of thefirst things you said today is,
you know, talking about likewhere does that dollar go?
You know, and it's like youshould always be worried about
that in business and then lifeand like the power I mean, do
you want to go into the timevalue of money a little bit?
You know, it's like the.

(31:21):
Let's talk about that for asecond, because I think that's
imperative, jumping back to,like the 16 year olds on why
they should think about why thatdollar invested is so important
.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, and I know you said time value a month.
One thing, too, that I look atit from the standpoint of the
cost of inaction because yeah.
So you know, today your businessmay be making $100,000.
This is an even number.
Yeah, if you do X, y and Z toimprove your business, you know,
look at the dollar plan, lookat your investment, your time

(31:52):
and the things that you'reputting into the business, you
could be a $500,000 a yearbusiness.
So what's the difference?
That's $400,000 difference formaking small tweaks in your
business and having the rightfoundation.
So a lot of people think thatjust not doing anything or
putting it off is not costingthem anything.
But it's actually costing you,in this example, $400,000 a year

(32:13):
.
That's the cost of inaction,for just not doing anything.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Well put, or financial literacy.
You want to go out there in thesecond year, business has a
success and you want to buy thebrand new car, the Ferrari or
something like that.
It's like now what if you putthat same couple hundred grand
into a new piece of equipment?
Now we've got not onlysomething that's more functional
for the long term, but at thesame time you've just thrown a
barrier.
I mean that was one of thebiggest things that was a win

(32:38):
for me in my business.
You know I didn't take salarythe first couple of years, you
know, and one of the things Iwas able to do is I was able to
throw barriers to entry andthings that made me money in the
business over and over again.
One of my first huge purchaseswas the second largest powder
coat oven in the city.
My competition couldn't touchme anymore.
I was the only one doing my ownpowder coating for my car

(32:59):
builds.
You know it's like it took somesacrifice.
It had to be smart here.
I had to be disciplined becauseinstead of buying the fancy
whatever it is, I put that intothe powder coat oven right and
that reap dividends that we werealways gaining from.
You know.
Just one example of using yourmoney to make future money right
and presenting it towardsfuture values.
Let's talk about like that fora second.

(33:23):
It's like so we have some extramoney in our business or in our
life, you know.
It's like, let's talk about theway you plan with that extra
money.
Right, I've got an extra 20grand.
I can pull this in.
You know, let's say, it's in mypersonal life or my business
life, so we got an extra 20grand.
You know, let's talk about whatwas smart way to strategize
with that extra 20 grand.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Okay One.
If you're in business, youalways need to have a certain
amount of liquidity money thatyou can get to for emergencies
and things like that, but a lotof people don't plan for and it
took me a minute to really getit.
I may have lots of insurance,that's great, but do I have a
certain amount set aside in myreserve account for those claims

(34:03):
?
You know I may have a $1,000,$5,000 deductible.
Do I have that set aside, andis that separate from the liquid
funds that I have in mybusiness?
So one thing that I do with andI hate to call it extra money
because I like to haveeverything earmarked, but I make
sure that I have money setaside for deductibles I, in a

(34:23):
separate account, a reserveaccount, I have a liquid account
that accounts for a certainpercentage of what I'm liable
for in my business, Also taxesand maintenance.
I have separate accounts forthat because if you're working
with a tax planner, you prettymuch know what you may be liable
for from year to year in yourtaxes, because you're getting

(34:44):
your books done, hopefullymonthly, but if not quarterly so
you're seeing your numbers allthe time.
And if you own your ownequipment and or buildings, you
wanna make sure that you haverepair funds that aside for the
maintenance that upkeep thosebuildings, to keep your
insurance premiums down.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
And to your point, it all comesback to how we value a dollar
and, in my opinion, a largeamount of financial literacy is
disciplined right.
It is hard not to wanna go outand buy the new car, right, but
that's not the smart thing atall.
What do you talk to people onthe emotional level?
I think a lot of this becomesemotion Like you'll make that

(35:23):
make sense.
Oh, I worked so hard for this.
Oh, my clients need to see mein something fancier, because
that's what's gonna be like thekey to the business.
We'll make excuses all day longto get that fancy car instead
of putting the money into yourbusiness.
So let's work about the mentaldiscipline.
What's your advice on gettingpeople to discipline towards the
proper ends instead of the oh,the immediate gratification?

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Well, you have to understand the peaks and valleys
in your business.
Like, let's go back to yourlandscaping.
Like during the rainy seasonyou may not be making as much
money because it's rainingoutside, so you can't get out
there and maintain yards forpeople, so that's gonna be a
valley in your business.
You're not gonna be making asmuch money, but you wanna make
sure that the income you havecoming into the business it's

(36:06):
level of a period of time tosustain you and any employees
you have and expenses.
So I really try to get peopleto see that it's not just that
you have this windfall and allthis extra money.
If you're in business for thelong haul, then you wanna make
your company attractive and alsoif your exit strategy is to
sell, one way to be attractiveis to have your business

(36:30):
financially stable and yourbooks looking really good.
Is somebody who may wannainvest in your business or
purchase your business?

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, I have a friend who's a accounting teacher at a
college and she said she hadsomebody stand up recently.
I don't need this accountingstuff.
I'm gonna be a business person,I'm gonna own my own company
and that is the silliest thing Iever heard.
Everybody wants the fancymarketing stuff right, I need
the furniture, I need the car togo out there and talk to
clients.
Nobody wants to talk aboutfinances, right, and that's one

(37:00):
thing I love about you, becauseyou talk about it as much as I
do, because we know that's wherethe importance is the gurus
online.
The reason they talk about theseother fancy things is because
that catches your attention andit's not provable or disprovable
.
So you don't need to be a goodbusiness person to say, oh, just
go out there and get it doneand rah, rah, rah.
We talk about the fundamentalsbecause that's what's gonna make

(37:22):
your business do success.
Some of the stuff we're goingover right now is not a lot of
fun, right.
Corporate strategy, the longterm of, like what happens after
you pass away these are not funthings, but it's all about
planning and businesses aboutplanning.
I'm gonna pivot now because Iwanna show people your heart a
little bit while we're onbecause we only have about 20

(37:43):
minutes left, and so let's talkabout why you do this.
Why do you get out there andyou try to help people with
these things, using yourmistakes, using the wins, what
is it that gets your heart goingtowards people with their
businesses?

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Well, it really starts at home.
I really missed having a familyunit.
I grew up watching, watchingtelevision and seeing families
and things like that, and so myhousehold was different.
We had a lot of love, but wejust did not have these
conversations.
And so when I look at mydaughter Madison and my son

(38:22):
Dylan, I just don't ever wantthem to have to figure it out.
And so you know how great is itthat I can help somebody else
not have to figure it out and Ican still make a living, you
know, and take care of my family.
So I just saw so much of it and, being in Mississippi, we are
last on the list for all thegreat stuff.

(38:43):
I mean all the bad stuff, and Imean first on the list for all
the bad stuff and last on listfor all the good stuff.
So anytime that I can, you know,make a shift and help somebody,
I would love to do it, becausenow that I understand these
things, it's not that they'rehard, they're not always
expensive.
You just have to know or have away to get to someone who does

(39:04):
know.
You know a mentor or a coach orjust some resource, because
none of these concepts, you know, require you to have advanced
degrees, just a basicunderstanding, and even with
having a team, if you startgetting your insurance agent,
your banker, your taxpreparatory, let them start
talking to each other about yourbusiness.

(39:26):
Authorize them to do that.
It's gonna cut down on some ofwhat you have to do because you
give them the directive on whatto do to help move your business
further, faster.
And there's just so many thingsthat I understand now and I
just out of everything else thatI've tried to do, because I've
tried different areas of the lawin my practice, never really
liked it, but this is the thingthat resonates with me the most.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
You know I should have you give the intro for
underdogs, because everythingyou just said down to like
making sure your kids knew someof this stuff, to me that's the
most important part.
Everybody talks about, oh, youknow, like they have a rich
uncle, they have a rich dad, youknow, and so they got fun and
they have connections.
That's not the biggest part.
It's the information andeducation, which is what this

(40:10):
show seeks to do.
It's like to stand in for thatinformation.
We might not be giving you theconnections for, say, but I'm
telling you how to get them.
We might not be giving you themoney per se, because I'm
telling you, most businessesstart with $6,000.
And, honestly, if you're notfinancially literate enough to
save out $6,000, and I'm sorry,bootstrapers, underdogs you

(40:31):
gotta go out there and work two,three jobs.
I'm sorry, you know, I'm sorry,that's the way it is, but look
at the benefits to that.
The benefits are in yourbusiness.
You're working 80, 90, 100hours a week.
Anyways, you'll be used to it.
You know you won't have time tospend any of it.
You'll build a work ethic whichis incredible for your future
goals.
You know, it's like I thinkevery downside is actually an
upside to starting your business, and it's up to people like you

(40:55):
and I, sherida, to fill in thatpart right If they're willing
to work hard and do those things.
I think it's up to us, beingfellow underdogs, being fellow
bootstrapers, to help them withthe educational component that
you and I had to get our buttskicked on right, and that's
probably why is that, why youenjoy doing it Is because you
get to help somebody, savesomebody a butt kicking.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Look, definitely.
And one thing that we did nottouch on that I like to share
with folks is if you are someonewho's leaving a job to become
an entrepreneur full time andyou're talking about income
replacement, you may be making$50,000 at your W-2 job.
Well, you need to make morethan $50,000 as an entrepreneur,
because what are you doing now?
You're giving up your insurance, you're giving up your

(41:38):
retirement and you may have someother fringe.
So when you're makingprojections for your business or
you're trying to calculate whatit's gonna take for you to
maintain your household becauseyou still have to have that
personal finance piece in thereonce you become an entrepreneur
you need to be making more than$50,000.
So just get the number ofwidgets you need to totally
replace all of that.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Yeah, totally, and I just gave you the reason why
being personally financiallyliterate and disciplined, it
takes a lot of discipline.
And then, even if you're okayat that and you jump into the
business, the business is gonnadesensitize you to money.
I promise you the second.
You have $10,000, $20,000 rentbills.
What do you think yourhousehold rent feels like?

(42:20):
It feels small Is the second.
You have $4,000 a month a powerbill.
Your one at home feels small,but you still gotta keep that
ship in order too, so thebusiness can actually ruin
somebody.
That's an okay financiallyliterate personal person.
Because you jump over here tothe business now you're
desensitized to huge money.
It's like $200,000 credit cardand you're just sending that

(42:42):
money out.
You start to think, oh okay,well, my $3,000 at home is not
that big, but if you can't runthe ship at home, you can't run
the ship in business either.
And thinking about every singledollar and where it's going.
I love that Mr Wonderful thingactually on Shark Tank.
Usually I'm downplay on SharkTank, but one thing I love is
what Mr Wonderful says aboutsending his dollars out into the

(43:04):
world.
It's like you send that dollarout right and you want it to
come back with more right.
So if you think about everysingle one of them as being a
teammate, going out there to getmore, you spend it on.
And I'm not the one to saynever have the coffee.
But if you spend it on a coffeethat one's never coming back
right?
So what can you spend it on tomake it come back with friends,
as he says?
You know.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Love it.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
So how do we get them to wrap into where you and I
already are, with thisdiscipline being important
around financial literacy?
What is something we canrah-rah them?
What's something you do torah-rah your kids?
Because right now they're justthinking, you know, it's like
sure, mom, I'll spend my dollarson a skateboard, I'll send my
dollars on an Xbox, I'm notgonna think about retirement or
anything like that.

(43:47):
What are some ways you use tohelp with that?

Speaker 2 (43:51):
Yeah, it's not the most exciting thing to talk
about for most people.
If you're looking at a businessI look at, well, I plan my time
and my energy because if I canshow you how to take that dollar
and have more time for yourfamily, invest more, you know,
put that money towards charitiesor other civic organizations

(44:14):
that you love and not have towork as hard, is that attractive
to you, is that more excitingto you?
And so those are some of thethings I try to open up to
people Like you can still be anentrepreneur.
You can have time, freedom,financial freedom, but there are
just a few things you have toput in place.
And when you start showingpeople how easy it is, you know
it's not as expensive as youthought it was gonna be the

(44:35):
first thing they think abouthiring an attorney oh, that's a
lot of money.
Well, there are some, you know,do-it-yourself options that you
have to get you started and youknow, and some low-cost things
to get you started.
So that's one way I try to getthem, you know, to buy in.
It's like, hey, I can do this,and you show them how they can
do it with help and you showthem the resources that they
already have, because a lot ofthe people that you need in your

(44:56):
team you're already talking to,and so you just show them
what's possible.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
I hope you don't mind I'm gonnasteal a little bit of this
episode to plug Glave a littlebit on that note, because it
falls in perfect.
You know what we do here, likewith Glave, don't you at my
facility.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
You told me that you helped, like people can actually
come in and they can getassistance, or you kind of
mentor people as well.
Businesses.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Yeah, and so everything you're talking about
is something that we strive todo.
For instance, we had our firstseminar on Wednesday.
We had 120 RPSPs and we had 100people show up Excuse me,
probably yeah, maybe around wedidn't count it but maybe around
70, 80 people show up somewherein there and we do that 100%
for free.
And so a lot of people stayedtill the end and I had this big,

(45:42):
long line of people talking tome and they would be like you
know what?
I went to a $700 class and itdidn't teach me near what you
guys did for free.
And there's one guy's like somuch value, thank you so much.
I was like next time at leastlet us bring the food, because
not only did you give us thisinformation, you fed us, you
know.
And then we do the seminars toyour point, because this is what

(46:02):
I believe, exactly like youbelieve, and I believe that we
have to give them the education.
That's why we do the freeseminars.
The other thing we do is wehave a free workspace and I
think that and it kind offrustrates me that I feel like
we do a lot for the I'm gonna bethe next Facebook world.
Build your business plan here.
We'll help you get investors.
You know the big business wannabe world, but we don't do much

(46:24):
for small business in my opinion.
So we have a workspace here.
You can come in anytime, justlike those bigger wanna be want
to be companies.
I'm not talking in wannabeswant to be companies, but you
can come in and use ourworkspace anytime.
We have somebody in here rightnow.
They're working on theirtrademark, so they're sitting at
their desk.
Every day we're popping overthere helping with their

(46:46):
trademark stuff.
Group of guys working on theirwebsite originally tried to hire
us and we're like, instead ofpaying this immense amount of
money to have us build out awebsite, why don't you just come
in, sit at the desk and learnhow to do it?
You have the best website guyin the world my business partner
right across the room.
He jumps over there all thetime and helps him with the next
step of the website, and so wereally feel that those things

(47:09):
are imperative.
The other thing I do is, in myschedule, I slot out at least 10
appointments a week so you cancome down and sit down on
anything you wanna talk aboutand get help with it.
So I want to thank you forallowing me to kind of put that
in there on your episode,because I feel exactly like you
do and that's the tool we'retrying to use and I know you're

(47:30):
doing a lot with that.
How are you?
What's the best way to getahold of you and get some help
from you If you're not inPhoenix?
I wish Shari was, because I'dhave her down here every other
day helping me with mine, butwe're far apart.
So what's the best way to gethelp from you out there?

Speaker 2 (47:45):
So I have a free Facebook group and there's no
promotions, no spam.
We literally are in thereanswering questions.
We're doing trainings, peopleare raising their hands, they're
asking questions and they'regetting help with their
businesses.
So that's one way.
It's a small business owners,entrepreneurs and solopreneurs
Facebook group.
But if you wanna just talk tome directly, you can send me a

(48:06):
message on LinkedIn and it's atShariSpeaks on LinkedIn and
that's the best way.
I try to get in there every dayand respond if you have any
questions.
And I also do a free webinaronce a month and it gives you
that blueprint.
So if you are interested andyou're ready to look at maybe a
three entity structure or justget some basics on the personal

(48:29):
finance side because we go overboth, it's an hour long webinar
once a month and it's usually onthe second Thursday of the
month.
You can check that out as well.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
We should partner on something sometime in due, like
a seminar on something.
I really want to bring expertsin here too, or, you know, we
can plug it in remote if youcan't make the trip, but we
should try to do some sort ofseminar together.
Our goal is to do at least onemonth here, and I love what
you're doing.
You know, I see what you'redoing and how many lawyers out
there in the world are tellingyou pop into my LinkedIn and

(49:01):
sent me a message and I'm notgonna charge you $700 an hour.
You know now, I'm sorry, goahead.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
No, I was just laughing, because people think
that and I don't, I don't chargestuff like that.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
I've gotten to the point in my career where I'll
help you with everything youknow I could possibly help you
with if you want to helpyourself.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Well, and I'll tell you this, it makes me better,
because when people bring mequestions, if it's something
that I know at the top of myhead, okay, I'm gonna answer it,
but I also want to make surethat I'm staying on top of stuff
.
So these are the problems thatpeople are having.
I'm trying to find newsolutions to help with new
problems and I just love itbecause it just makes me a
better coach, it makes me abetter attorney and it makes me

(49:40):
a better person.
So you know, you think that I'mhelping you.
You're actually helping me aswell.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
So totally Not only like.
I'm with you, like when we'resolving these problems all the
time.
You know, it reminds us, right,because a lot of times it's
been 10 years since I've dealtwith something like that, right,
and so it brings back thatmemory.
I'm like, okay, yeah, Iremember that.
Or it brings up a new situation, you're right, that we're
solving together and it makes mebetter for the next person, you
know.
And so not only that, but here,you know, like, here it keeps

(50:09):
me going.
You know, it's like we had alady from our seminar come in
and she's like I just needed tobe around you guys for an extra
10 minutes.
She just dropped by after theseminar and you know we hear
that about this place all thetime.
It's like I'm blessed to findthis place, you know, it's like,
and I just wanted to be aroundyou guys for a little while and
I, you know, I actually I wantto make it a point to say this,

(50:30):
and I'm sure Cherie will back meup that's why I wanted to have
one of the major reasons Iwanted to have her on, because I
felt like we think so similarin this regard.
But it's like the second youstart helping others.
You'll be amazed at how muchyour life changes Like in a way
that you can't even imagine.
A friend of mine asked me atone point she's like Tyler, I
want you to have joy in yourlife and I was running first

(50:52):
world businesses.
You know, like to all accounts,like everybody thought I had
the most incredible businessesof all time.
You know it's like so cool whatyou do, so cool who you get to
interact with every day.
I was miserable and then Iswitched over and I started
working in businesses that madedifferences in things and, along
the way, a person that neverthought they would have joy.
I'm like joy is not for me.

(51:13):
You know I'll try to help otherpeople because I'm miserable.
You know it's like a joy is notfor me, but I found joy through
this process, like I lovehelping people change their
lives and this is one of thebiggest ways even though it's
like a first world thing ofmaking money.
This is the one of the biggestways, in my opinion, we change
lives.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Oh yeah, I had one friend that told me.
She said just because you cando something doesn't not mean
you should.
And it took me a minute to gethere.
Like I said, you know, I was amortgage broker.
I had some other things, realestate broker and none of it
really gave me joy either, andat the time I didn't know that I
was missing that joy.
But what I do now makes me feelgreat, because when I'm able to

(51:54):
like to help a family keeptheir land, you know, for
generations, I'm able to help asingle mom, you know, put
together something for her minorchildren, those types of things
make me smile on the inside.
And so, you know, I never knewthat I was missing something
until I actually got it and it'slike, okay, I'm in the right
spot.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Oh, thanks for backing me up on that, because
you know it's until youexperience it and don't.
To be fair, you and I had to gothrough those other businesses
and things too.
We had to, and you have to getout there and you have to make
money in the world because it'stoo hard to help other people if
you're, you can't help yourself.
But then you know, once you canget there, you can use what
you've learned, like we are, youknow to change things and so,

(52:38):
like talking about end to endbusiness plan, you know end to
end life plan, like youmentioned in the beginning, it's
like what's amazing is youstart your first business.
You learn from it by gettingyour butt kicked.
You start another business, youlearn a couple more things, you
get your butt kicked and thenyou fix those and you get better
and better at it.
And the next thing, you knowthose butt kicking can mean
something because you can helppeople with that.

(53:00):
And when we're thinking to theend of our days on earth, it's
like if we haven't helped acouple people along the way, I
guarantee you'll sit on thatdeathbed and you'll be like man
I should have you know, and soand one thing to consider don't
worry about it being perfect.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
When you start, you know, just get started, get it
done.
You can perfect it along theway.
You know, put together whateveryou need to put together to get
started, but just make surethat as time passes, you're, you
know, getting the people aroundyou to help you with that
business.
Because you know, building abusiness is almost like raising
a child.
You know it takes a village, ittakes a team, and you know I

(53:38):
have a harp on team and exitplans.
That's when you hear me talkI'm talking about exits in a
team.
So those things are important.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
You know and I find that so interesting about our
discussion today is like I knowthat, like that's the way your
story starts and how you gotinto all this and you really
focus on that end game a ton,and that just goes to show you
it's like you could go throughsome hard stuff, like you did
some unfair stuff, some thingsthat make you sad, and now
you've used it to like that'swhere your focus is on helping.
It feels like to me.

(54:05):
Would you say that's true?

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Oh yeah, I mean, I don't even look at it as failure
now.
I look at it, as you know, anopportunity to pivot, an
opportunity to do somethingdifferent.
Like, hey, this didn't work,let me try something else,
because it's so easy to beatyourself up and say, oh, this
didn't work, or I wasn't good atthis, but there's something
that you're great at, there'ssomething that you're destined
for, so just keep going.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
I agree, and it doesn't have to be us in the
world.
But if you get anybody outthere that's trying to teach you
something and they don't talkonce about their mistakes, it
means they haven't done it.
I'm sorry, they're plain andsimple.
Somebody I mean Shari would youagree that, like we use our
mistakes more than anything elseto teach, because that's where
we learn the most?

(54:48):
Definitely?

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Definitely, had my business not failed, I probably
would not be close to where I amnow in terms of with my
business, because I would havethought that, hey, I've made it,
I've arrived, but I was a hotmess.
Looking back, the way that Iwas running business before now
was a hot mess, and yeah.
So sometimes it takes thosehard knocks to kind of wake you

(55:12):
up and see where you need to beand to position you for the
future.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
And that's why you underdogs need this, because
guess what happens?
I call them the golden couchboy.
If they've got a father,grandfather, whatever, with a
lot of money that's getting theminto business, they don't have
to follow the same rules.
They can also fail a lot andthen it's just another float of
a loan.
You know that keeps them going.
You out there, bootstrapper, youdon't have that immense amount
of time.
You know choices, fallbackplans, so we talk a lot about

(55:41):
our mistakes too, because youcan't make as many right.
You know it's like or like.
We can make those mistakes andwe barely slide it through,
right, you know, to get into thenext business.
So learn from those mistakesthat we've made and now, that
way it helps you slide throughbecause you don't have that
person that's going to hand youa bunch of money to get you
through your next mistake.
Everybody makes them.
It's just the way that you canfix them right.

(56:03):
We're trying to get you to fixthem with information and be
fixing it before it happens,because you can't afford it.
The other side is the rich dadwho's just going to give you a
little bit more money to get youpast your mistake right.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
I mean, that's what it all boils down to in my mind,
and you know I can't thank youenough.
I think I'm.
We're actually we got a coupleminutes left, you know.
And so what is it that youthink let's wrap this towards
the financial way we started it.
What is the number one way thatthey're going to practice being
just a little bit better withtheir personal finances?

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Consistency and repetition as it relates to
reviewing your assets,inventorying your assets and
improving the classification ofyour assets, because you can't
protect them if you do not knowwhat they are and where they
belong.
And so I think that really isthe basis, and so we talk about
assets, cash vehicles, yourhouse, your investments.

(57:05):
You just have to have anunderstanding for how they fit
in your personal life and howyou're infusing those things
into your business, and once youhave that basic understanding
for those things, you can, youknow, take quantum leaps in your
business as it relates to yourbusiness finances.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Absolutely, and one tool that I use all the time
actually around here to helppeople, like, start to
understand this.
It used to be called somethingdifferent, it's called Rocket
Money.
Now they just bought thatcompany and it basically I don't
get paid by them, by the wayyou know, and in fact they won't
even partner with me oranything, but I do use this all
the time to teach people thefirst start to financial

(57:44):
literacy, and actually thissegues into when I can teach you
accounting.
If you'll do this like I canteach you accounting so much
quicker, it's ridiculous.
But basically you downloadRocket Money in your phone, you
connect your personal bankaccounts to it and every time a
transaction comes in, you'rechalking that up in one way,
shape or form, just like Cheriesaid.
You know it's like now we knowwhere that money is going,

(58:04):
though in this app, right, andit used to be donations.
I don't know what they chargenow.
I think it's five bucks orsomething like that, and so
that's an amazing way to startright, because then, when you
start chalking up these expenses, you see at the end of the
month that, oh man, I spent$50,000 on Uber Eats.
I got to stop that habit, youknow, I've even done this in my

(58:25):
own life.
I used to Uber Eats all the time, right, and then then I started
looking at what I was actuallyspending on.
I'm like this is not worth it.
There's no way that somebodyshould be able to spend
thousands of dollars on UberEats a month, you know.
And so it's like you think youknow you're spending it, but
then it's like this puts it inyour face, right, and I think
that's one of the first steps islike starting to understand

(58:45):
that.
So I hope that this episodetaught you a little bit about
financial literacy.
I think one more way that I canback up this episode is Cherie,
you know the Pied Piper story,huh.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
I do, but I'm going to let you tell it, oh.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
I was going to make you tell it.
And so the Pied Piper, right,he goes into town and the King
says and correct me if I startto mess up the story or add to
it.
So, and King says the PiedPiper, I got all these rats in
the kingdom, right, I need toget rid of the rats.
You know it's like they'redoing.
They're eating all the bread,they're, you know diseases, all
this stuff.
By the way, cats are the onethat spread most of the diseases

(59:22):
.
If I remember right during theplague, it wasn't rats Don't
hold me that out there audience,but I think so.
So, anyways, king goes um, getrid of the rats, pied Piper,
I'll pay you anything you want.
And then Pied Piper goes okay,I'll get rid of the rats.
You give me one kernel of ricea day, but you have to double it
.
King's like oh, that's cheapdeal, right?

(59:44):
Sends the Pied Piper out 30days later.
You can imagine how itcompounds that rice kernel One
kernel tomorrow too, two, thenext day, four, next day, eight
when it gets to the end of themonth.
It's unachievable.
Your business finances, yourmoney finances, the money that

(01:00:04):
you spend properly over time,has an immense value.
And if we're talking back tothis 16 year old kid that it's
oh, it's immensely difficult toput that away, but it is worth
so much money.
I mean I should have broughtsome figures onto this show.
Maybe I'll throw some on on theend.
I'm like how you can invest$100 at 16 and what it becomes
by the time you're 50.

(01:00:24):
Is the time value of money?
Right, it's Mr Wonderful'smarching a dollar out to the
world and that dollar comes backwith the $1.07, let's say,
invested Now.
Next time you're making a moneyoff the dollar and the seven
cents.
Do the math on this at home.
It's crazy.
The second I started thinkingabout this this way, I started
analyzing my each, every dollarmore.
And it's important for yourbusiness, it's important with

(01:00:45):
your personal life.
So I really hope this touch onfinance was helpful.
Shari, thank you for it.
Like I feel like we need to doan episode around like business
structures, breaking thecorporate shield or, excuse me,
piercing the corporate bail, youknow, like there's all that
stuff, but I hope there are.
Focus on finance.
Today was helpful for people.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Oh, I hope so as well .
And you know, don't let this bescary.
You know, if it's somethingthat you haven't thought about,
you just got to get started.
You know, you just have to takethe first step to get started.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Yeah, and Shari is amazing.
Please follow her on herpodcast.
Actually, I'm going to let youplug everything really quick.
Social media podcast, you knowlike where?
The webinars at all that stuff,please Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
So I can be found on all socials, at, at Shari speaks
, and you know that's Instagram,linkedin, twitter, all that.
And the best way to find me ismy website, wwwshariprintscom.
And the free webinar once amonth is at wwwshariprintscom,

(01:01:51):
which is asset protectionblueprint, and you can just come
and grab a seat and, you know,learn how to get started with a
basic plan for your life,finances and your business
Amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
And Shari is awesome.
Everybody follow her.
You know she's out there doingthis in the world for you folks
trying to help you and Shari.
We should find a class orsomething to do together.
I always like it when we gettogether and that's one of the
powers to podcasting, too.
I gave in my seminars like I'vehad some incredible people I've
connected to and referredpeople to, and you know you're

(01:02:27):
one of them.
I'm glad to have you in mynetwork.
I'm appreciative of you comingout to Bootstrapers today and I
hope we can do it again soon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Oh look, thank you, and I forgot to give them the
name of my podcast.
It's the Play Big Fasterpodcast.
So check out Tyler's episode ofmy podcast.
He did a great job.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Oh, thank you, and I learned I told Shari afterwards.
It's like I'm still trying tofigure out this interview thing
and like I got so many tips justbeing on her show too.
So you know, another great wayBootstrapers to start networking
is by starting a podcast, whichwill go over, probably in an
episode.
Here I'm going to wrap it up,shari, but thanks so much for
coming in.
Stick around for a minuteafterwards, please.

(01:03:05):
Thank you, underdogs, forjoining us once again for
episode six.
I hope you got something out ofthe financial chapter we're
going to branch off, and sodon't worry about accounting
quite yet.
We'll talk a lot about a lot ofthe specifics of today in a
subsequent episode.
Please stick with us.
Give me feedback too.
Tell me what's helpful andwhat's not.
This is all for you.
Thanks so much for turning in.

(01:03:27):
We'll see you next time.

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