December 22, 2025 • 49 mins
Let’s be honest- most business owners didn’t start their company because they love spreadsheets.
But avoiding your numbers? That’s where things get dangerous.
In this episode, we sit down with Megan Schwan, founder of Sidekick Accounting Services, to talk about money without the jargon, judgment, or shame. Megan shares why financial literacy is the real power move for entrepreneurs, and how the Profit First method flips the script on traditional accounting.
We talk cash flow, confidence, and why so many smart, capable business owners (especially women and minorities) feel overwhelmed by money- and what to do about it.
This episode is equal parts education, empowerment, and “why didn’t anyone tell me this sooner?”
If you want your business to stop surviving and start thriving, this one’s a must-listen.
What You’ll Learn:
- The #1 financial mistake small business owners make
- How to take control of your money without becoming an accountant
- Why Profit First puts YOU first
- How understanding your numbers builds confidence, clarity, and growth
Connect with Megan: chatwithmeg.com
Company Spotlight: Sidekick Accounting Services
Mentioned in this episode:
Joe Bean Roasters
Use promo code Lunchador for 15% off your order! https://shop.joebeanroasters.com
Lunchador Podcast Network
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:45):
Foreign.
Welcome back to anotherepisode of Getting Real with Bossy,
the podcast that shows youwhat it's really like to be a business
(01:06):
owner.
We are your hosts, Kelly Bushand Kelly Metrus, and we are so glad
to be with you today on thisrainy, rainy, rainy, cold, miserable
day.
Yay.
There's no better day topodcast, though.
I agree.
I got my blanket on.
I'm cozy.
I am stuck in my kitchenbecause it's loud near all the windows,
but at least I'm cozy.
(01:27):
Yes.
I'm glad you're cozy.
I've jumped in, like, 10 different.
Not jumped, stepped in puddles.
I'm soaking wet from, like, mymiddle of my calf down, but I got
the heaters on, so my feet arestarting to warm up and my hair's
all frizzy.
But it's okay.
We're gonna make it through.
It's okay.
We're making it throughbecause we've got a great.
(01:47):
A great episode today.
So I'm excited about that.
Yes.
So other than being soakingwet, how are you, Kelly?
I'm great.
I got out of town for a couple days.
We had our restaurantassociation member summit in Cooperstown,
which is one of my favorite,favorite little towns in New York
State.
It's gorgeous, especially thistime of year.
(02:08):
I woke up one morning.
It was 28 degrees.
I was like, oh, I'm just gonnago out, stand and breathe outside
and breathe for a minutebecause it was just so cold.
It was really wonderful.
But you're insane.
Yeah.
And I was.
I was begging people to jumpin the water with me because it's
right on the lake, but nobody would.
But that's okay.
I didn't.
I did not go do my own littlepolar plunge.
(02:30):
If Aaron was there, heprobably would have came with me.
Oh, totally.
Yeah.
I should have called.
Yeah.
But, yeah, it was good to get away.
It's always good to be withother industry professionals and
hear from people who arehaving the same issues and successes
as you and sharing information.
I got a lot of great ideas andtalked to the couple people about
(02:52):
some things that we're talking.
Gonna talk about today, abouthow to manage your finances and redistribute
things a little bit.
So I'm excited to.
Excited, excited.
It was nice to get away and,you know, feel a little.
I really wanted to go.
I'm jealous.
It was nice.
Did you by any chance.
There's a Calvin and Hobbsexhibit in Cooperstown right now.
(03:13):
Did you buy.
I thought if I had known thatyou were going because I didn't Realize
you were going.
I would have told you about it.
I did not see it.
They have, like, the actual,like, original drawings.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, that's cool.
I didn't have any free time, but.
We are literally going todrive to Cooperstown and drive back,
like, in a day.
I'll go with you.
If we weren't able to go.
Yeah, no, it was.
(03:34):
I got there.
We.
I went right into session, andthen as soon as we left, I had to
leave because we had a bigevent on Tuesday with a new person
who.
New to doing events at our place.
So I had to go and help outwith that.
So I could not.
I could not.
I did not get to.
To spend any time.
Really.
Did you get to enjoy yourselfat all?
So, so much.
(03:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because Don came the second night.
So the first night I was on myown, which I'm always like, I love
when he's there, but itsometimes takes him a second to warm
up and, you know, start mingling.
So it was nice for the firstnight for the welcome reception.
I was like, okay, I'm gonna gotalk to every single person who's
standing by themselves.
(04:15):
So it was like, a nice littlechallenge for me to kind of go out
and meet new people.
And we have three new boardmembers who are all incredible and.
And unique.
So I got to kind of get themall together at the table and sit
with them for a while and feellike I was actually doing my job
because I'm head of leadership.
So it was good.
I was like, I feel like I'm.
(04:36):
I don't know.
It was very successful meeting.
Very excited.
Awesome.
Because our industry.
Well, I'm glad you got to go.
Struggling, so it's nice to,like, be good people, but.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah.
Wish you could have been there.
How are you doing?
I'm okay.
It's crazy, you know, asusual, just managing, getting through
all the stuff.
Yeah, the stuff.
(04:58):
Yeah.
Just every day just flies byfull of stuff to do, and another
day happens, and then you'relike, oh, it's the end of October.
Sweet, right?
I know.
It was not arguing, but I havea vendor who's giving me some trouble
right now.
And I'm like, it's November.
He's like, it's October.
I'm like, really?
(05:20):
It's November.
Like, it's November.
By the time I'm going to begetting this stuff in that you.
I've been promised for a whilenow it's going to be November.
Because November is.
And for those.
Those listening, I don't thinkthis is airing until January, but
yes, we tape ahead, so.
Surprise.
Yes.
Yeah, I'm actually speaking ofJanuary, I've been looking at travel
(05:41):
plans for my family becauseevery time there's a two week Christmas
break, I try to, you know, fortheir Christmas present, like leave
town.
And I don't want to bookflights because it's, you know, in
January.
Maybe this will be fixed andyou guys will be listening to this
and be like, what is she eventalking about?
But remember back to Octoberwhen aviation just starts falling
apart and nobody's able to fly.
(06:02):
Yeah.
I would go somewhere on atrain maybe.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh, right.
So.
So that's where I'm at.
So that's any free time I'mhaving right now.
I'm trying to get ahead onChristmas and birthday season.
So.
Yeah.
So by the time this airs inJanuary, I will be three weeks away
from finalizing the holidayseason in my family.
(06:24):
Good times.
It'll almost be done.
So just know that I've beenworking on it since before now.
Right.
Well, Megan's amazing.
Everybody is going to learnsomething new today.
Gonna take something from itand hopefully hit up chat with Meg.
Yes.
(07:13):
So we hope you enjoy the episode.
Hello, and welcome back toanother episode of Getting Real with
Bossy, the podcast that showsyou what it's actually like to be
(07:36):
a small business owner.
Today we're talking withsomeone who truly embodies resilience,
strategy, and heart.
Megan Schwann, CEO and founderof Sidekick Accounting Services,
a national virtual accountingfirm, on a mission to help flip the
statistic that 8 out of 10small businesses fail.
For decades, Megan has helpedthousands of entrepreneurs gain control
(08:00):
of their finances, mastertheir numbers, and build businesses
that are not just profitable,but sustainable.
She's a certified profitfirst, professional business scaling
expert, and also a solo mom offour who has faced incredible personal
challenges and still found thestrength to build something remarkable.
In today's episode, we'll talkabout her journey from overcoming
(08:22):
adversity to becoming apowerhouse business owner and.
And how our courage, mindsetand mission are changing the way
small business owners thinkabout success.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, Megan.
Thank you, Kelly.
And Kelly, I'm so excited tobe here.
We are so glad to have you.
So many questions.
First of all, I know we wantto hear your story, but Sidekick,
(08:45):
I love the name.
Can we start there?
Sure.
Yeah.
So originally my business wasmy last name, my married last name.
And so when I went through adivorce or separate, really started
with a separation I was like,I gotta change my business name.
Right?
So it was really difficult.
(09:05):
I don't know if like anybody,I put a lot of weight on names.
First of all, I shouldprobably start there.
My kids have very intentionalnames that have meanings behind them,
so it means something.
So when I was trying to figureout my business name kind of wanted
the same, you know, you know,thing where it was like, wait.
So it was a really hard process.
(09:25):
But one of when I wasresearching names, somebody had told
me to look at what I was wantwhen I wanting to embody for our
clients and look at differentlanguages that mean those same things.
So kind of like when I wasdoing the research behind that, I
had just come across Sidekick.
And I was like, oh, that's,that's perfect because we want to
really be a sidekick and apartner and a collaborator with our
(09:49):
clients on their business journey.
But the other kind of caveatto that is that me and my kids were
really big Marvel fans andSidekick is like superhero.
So it was kind of embodied themission of our company, but then
also was kind of a homage tomy kids as well.
So it just was, it was perfect.
And that's how it is.
(10:10):
And we have a lot of funinternally, like in our business,
playing off of the sidekick theme.
We do team ups as like what wecall our morning meetings.
We do Sidekicks Unite as likeour company wide meetings.
We do a profit assessment,what we, which we call our version
Profit Avenger.
So we play a lot into thewhole superhero theme within our
(10:32):
services and so many possibilities.
Yeah, exactly.
And legitimately it's been alot of fun.
No successful superhero getsthere alone, Right, Exactly.
They have to have a sidekick.
They have to have, everybody'sgot a sidekick.
And it, it's so funny becauseI don't think we really talk about
that.
The naming of your business issuch like, you know what you want
(10:55):
to do, you're passionate aboutit, you're excited to start your
business, and then you'relike, oh, I have to come up with
a name.
Yes.
Yeah.
And it can be really toughtrying to figure it out, making sure
it's available.
You know, all of that kind ofstuff too.
Yeah.
Hitting a name and then it'snot available and you have to start
over.
And you have to start over and.
Renaming and that's, you know,that's a challenge in itself.
(11:17):
And yeah, sounds like youpicked the right one.
It works for you.
It's a nice balance betweenhome and work, which I think is something
that you embody and andbusiness, small businesses, who you
are helping, we need toremember that we need that balance
and it's just great name.
I love that, love that we're starting.
Thank you.
(11:38):
So tell us how you startedyour business.
What made you want to be abusiness sidekick?
Well, I kind of fell into itas I think many of us do.
The long story short is I wasworking two part time jobs at the
time.
One of them was as abookkeeper for a landscaping company,
which was kind of myintroduction into small business.
(12:01):
And then I got laid off ofboth of those jobs within a year
of or within a month of each other.
So I worked with both of themfor about two years, got laid off
within a month of each other.
So it was really like, okay,now what?
At the time I was married, hadtwo small children, we needed two
incomes for our household.
So it was really like, allright, now what?
And I was doing taxes on theside for friends and family, had
(12:25):
my bachelor's in accounting.
I just kind of thought tomyself that I was doing the bookkeeping
for that landscaping company.
I could probably do it forother small businesses, still, still
work mostly from home.
So I created my company,started networking, and now, almost
12 years later, we work withhundreds of clients every year across
(12:46):
the US And I have a team ofseven employees and two contractors
that work with me regularly.
And it's really grown intosomething I never imagined at the
time.
It was just like I neededincome, I wanted to be flexible for
my family.
It's just, it's really growninto something that I couldn't have
imagined.
But I'm so, so thankful for.
(13:06):
My business has been soinstrumental to being able to help
me through some incrediblelife challenges and transitions.
And now, you know, that's whatour goal is, to help other people
grow successful businessesthat support their life and their
vision and gives them options.
Because when you have asuccessful and sustainable business,
(13:28):
you as the owner have optionsfor, you know, you have to pull back
or if you want to move forwardor, you know, whatever that looks
like.
And, and that's really, Ithink, important, especially with
the majority of our clientsare women and minorities.
So, you know, they often arejust doing what they do to support
their families.
So.
Yeah, but that's the, that'sthe long story short.
(13:50):
So we talked a lot this past year.
We did a summer money series.
We talked a lot about theimportance of understanding money,
being comfortable with money,talking about money, your cash flow,
your numbers, P L statements,like having even if your hands aren't
in it, you need to know it.
So even if you have somebodyelse doing it, as a business owner,
(14:12):
you need to understand whatthese things are, what your goals
are, you know, where you are.
Aside from the bookkeepingitself, what does your business do
for small business owners?
So we do, we do thebookkeeping, but we also do tax prep,
we do tax planning, and thenwe're certified profit first firm
(14:32):
like you mentioned, which is acash flow management system.
So we help implement that intobusinesses, create that system, and
then also do business coachingrelated to that as well.
So kind of full circle, onestop shop.
Yeah.
Yep.
And it really, because most ofour decisions and most of what happens
like in our business reflectin our numbers, you know, so the
(14:55):
more you can understand themand lean into them and like you said,
you don't have to be the onedoing it, but you as the owner need
to spend some time with your numbers.
You got to have thatunderstanding of how they work and
what they're telling you.
And so we really try to helppeople do that, you know, not just
do the bookkeeping, but reallybe proactive and have a better understanding
(15:16):
for what, what they're lookingat and then how to use that so that
they can make better datadriven decisions for their business
to create that sustainable success.
It's so important.
I'm sorry, Kelly, I think I just.
You off go for it.
Do you, do you find people area little resilient to that at first?
I'm always surprised at howmany people are like, no, I've got
my bookkeeper, I have myaccountant for that stuff.
(15:37):
And we're just like, but you,but part of their job is to be sharing
that information with you andyou then making decisions to guide
them.
They know what they know, butyou know your business.
And I'm always so surprisedhow many people are so hands off.
So do you do find that peopleare resilient to then utilizing that
knowledge?
Yeah, like, yeah, they,they're like resistant to it.
(16:01):
A lot of times they or theycan be, but then you have, you have
the clients that do where theyjust want, they just want the box
checked that their bookkeepingdone, their taxes were done and they
don't want to lean in.
But a lot of times what Ifound is that those are the business
owners that tend to strugglewith growth.
They tend to struggle withgetting out of the business.
(16:22):
Right.
So they're the ones that arestill in it and they're just, they're
doing everything.
They can't take time off, theyget overwhelmed.
So like the business Ownersthat lean into it.
And we have some businessowners that I've worked with when
we started doing coaching, andthey're so nervous about it and they're
so anxious about it, but oncewe start working through it, and
(16:42):
sometimes, like, I have totell them, trust the process.
You know, as you get into it,it's hard to make changes.
We all know that, right?
We're wired to run, you know, or.
Or avoid anything that's different.
Right.
That's just kind of how ourbiology is set up.
So when we're leaning intodifferent things, it is scary and
it is a little bitoverwhelming, but that's what we're
(17:04):
there to help with.
We're there to kind of holdpeople's hands, if you will, a little
bit, to walk through them,through that process, to encourage
them.
And once they trust that and they.
They get into it and theystart to do it, they start to look
at their numbers, they startto look at their KPIs and start monitoring,
there's, like, this wholesense of empowerment that comes,
(17:25):
like.
And confidence that comes fromdoing that, which is the really cool
thing about it.
But, yes, there's a lot ofpeople that, you know, they say they
want to be hands off.
We have some clients that arehonestly like that.
But a lot of times it's theones that lean in, the ones that
show up, that it really makesa difference for the growth and success
of their business and how theystart to feel about money, how they
(17:47):
start to make decisions, howthey start to plan.
You know, it shifts whenpeople really lean in and embrace
the uncomfortable of yourfinances and taxes and all that good
stuff.
(18:42):
And when you go to the bank,you know, your industry, the bank's
gonna.
The bank doesn't.
The bank knows banking.
They don't.
They look at what the Internetsays, you know, and the Internet's
not going to tell you your business.
It's going to tell you theoverall arching.
And they'll be like, well,this is.
This is what it's supposed tolook like.
Well, no, this is my business,and this is the.
The number I've shownconsistently for this amount of months
or this amount of years.
(19:03):
And knowing that and havingthe confidence to push back and say,
no, you should support mybusiness and its growth because this
is what I've proven to do, notwhat the industry is doing in Michigan
or Illinois.
Right.
Like, this is here.
This is me.
But I just want to circle back.
You mentioned your Profitfirst certified.
Can you explain what that is?
(19:23):
Yes.
So Profit first is there's abook called Profit First.
So it's based off of thismethodology and system of creating
stable cash flow within your business.
Every successful business hassystems in pretty much every area.
So this is like your moneymanagement system is what Profit
first creates.
And the way we do that is bycreating different bank accounts
(19:46):
for different buckets.
So there's five core accounts.
One is income, one is owner'scomp, profit is another one.
Operating expenses and thentaxes are the five main buckets that,
that we create when it comesto that.
And we create a percentage orwe look at, we don't create, we look
at historical data to create a percentage.
(20:08):
Where every time income comesinto your bank account, usually on
a weekly basis, it getsdistributed by a percentage into
these five buckets.
But what it does is itleverages people's behavior.
So over 75% of business ownerslook at their bank account balance
to see how much money theyhave and to make decisions off of.
So we leverage that behaviorby creating these different buckets
(20:31):
that now prioritize thesedifferent areas and use that to be
able to stabilize cash flow.
It also helps to create orforce profitability.
Because if your business is not.
If your business doesn't haveenough money left over to pay your
taxes or to pay you areasonable amount of, to reinvest
(20:52):
into your business, then yourbusiness really isn't truly profitable.
It might be on paper, youknow, with your net income.
And that's sometimes wherepeople struggle is like on their
profit and loss.
There's a net income number,but they feel like they don't have
any money.
Right.
Like a lot of people feel that way.
And so this actually helpspeople be truly profitable.
It helps them to proactivelyplan by putting money away for taxes.
(21:16):
That's a huge pain point thatwe see for small business owners
all of the time.
People do not pay estimated taxes.
They don't have money put awayfor taxes.
If you pay taxes, it's notnecessarily bad.
It means you made money.
But it really sucks when youdidn't plan for it.
So it helps to lean into thatas well.
So it creates thestabilization of your cash flow through
(21:37):
seasonality or differentpoints of the year.
It forces that profitability.
But what we really see is thatit really helps bridge the gap between
your monthly reports and thenwhat happens on a day to day basis.
So it really makes money moretangible for people, especially the
people that struggle with thisarea of their business and to understand
(21:57):
it and how to manage it andall of that kind of stuff.
So it really helps empowerpeople who struggle with those areas,
but it creates a system forhow you manage your money, and it
helps people be really, reallysuccessful and intentional with their
business and their money andcreate that stability that a lot
of business owners struggle with.
Yeah, it's a really unique plan.
I actually just went to atraining earlier this week with somebody
(22:20):
who teaches the same plan.
And when I came home, we werehaving, you know, this is a tight
time of year.
And my husband's like, oh, weneed to get this stuff.
And I said, okay, where are wetaking it from?
Because if we have this muchfor payroll, we're not shorting payroll.
So what you're telling me isI'm not gonna have enough for payroll.
Well, I can't short payroll,so where are you taking it from?
(22:42):
So thinking about it in thesebuckets, I'm like, I need to go to
the bank and get moreaccounts, because this is just a
genius thing because, youknow, I'm always going to pay that
bill.
But physically having to takeit from my cost of goods for liquor
is.
Is a conscious thing.
And it just makes you reallythink, how am I spending my money?
And that's such a thing.
I think we need it, like,across our lives, not just in our
(23:04):
business.
Money has become less and less tangible.
And now it's just tap and go.
You don't even swipe.
Like, I don't even have to.
It's on my phone.
I don't even need my wallet.
Right.
I can buy things on my phoneand just hit a button, and then my
phone buys it.
It's so intangible.
And the idea of forcing.
I don't know if this is a word.
(23:25):
Tangibility.
Yeah.
With our money, I think, is fascinating.
And for the listeners outthere, they're probably like, me
and I listen to these thingsand we go to these trainings, and
you're like, I'll totally dothat when I get home.
I'm going to set up my fiveaccounts and.
And you're not gonna.
90% of the time, we're not gonna.
So this is where your businesscomes in.
(23:46):
Yeah.
And not only are you doing thebook eating, but you're able to make
these changes and force peopleinto these behavior changes.
Because behavior modificationis not an easy thing.
That's why we are stuck in our habits.
Right.
Like, yeah.
As people.
Well, and it's.
It's.
Right.
You know, it's.
It's.
The success of our smallbusinesses is so tied into everything
(24:08):
about us internally, and itkind of goes Back to that fear of
even letting people look intoour books.
I'm not, you know, if there'sa moment I'm not profitable, I'm.
I'm.
I'm taking that personal.
So to have somebody look atthat and go, oh, look, you know,
it's just nice to know thatthere are people out there who just
really are looking for that success.
And because you are so fullservice, you know, it's very clear
(24:31):
that you're going the extramile to help people feel comfortable
about that and teach them howto be successful.
Because there are times wheremy books look like I am incredibly
unsuccessful.
And to not take thatpersonally is difficult.
Right?
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
And that's where having, like,profit first really helps because
it uses.
(24:52):
It uses, like, your historicalnumbers, which for most businesses,
whatever you did last year interms of, like, revenue, you typically
can do the same in this year.
But even if it ebbs and flows,it helps to stabilize it because
we're using that percentageover time.
And every we with the way wework with our clients is every quarter
we're reassessing.
(25:13):
So it's not like this is itfor the whole year.
Every quarter, we're taking alook at what happened.
If we need to makeadjustments, we have a target that
we're working towards to makethose small tweaks to get closer
to our goals.
So we work hand in hand as asidekick, like we talked about, with
our business owners, to helpthem make those moves and to make
(25:33):
those adjustments and createthat accountability that really helps
drive them towards success andcreate that habit, which is really
powerful and really helpful, Ithink, for business owners, because
it is a hard topic.
It's hard to make changes.
So having somebody there tocheer you on and be a safe place
can make all the differencebetween, you know, your success and
(25:56):
failure when it comes to this.
I just had this image pop intomy head of, like, all of the top
superheroes.
And, like, their sidekickisn't just a trusted, like, friend.
They push them.
You know, not only do theymake them do things differently,
but they also keep them fromdoing crazy things.
Right.
So the sidekick is a.
(26:17):
Is a pretty important person,sometimes more.
Important, let's be honest.
Yeah.
They're the ones that areactually doing it and, like, making
sure it all happens.
So I love that.
So I was reading up on all ofyour stuff, and one of the things
I loved that I saw you wroteis helping people rewrite their financial
(26:37):
story.
And I just love that.
I think that that such a greatline to rewrite your financial story.
We don't think about money ina personal way.
And Kelly and I have beentalking about this a lot on the episodes
is it is such a personal partof us, you know, and a part of our
story.
And to have the power to do that.
(27:00):
Yeah, yeah.
And especially with women, youknow, we work with a lot of women.
And this money area, it can beso difficult because I think we.
We tie it to so many things, right?
Like our birth and oursecurity and trauma future, you know,
and.
Yeah, and trauma, exactly.
So there's so many things,like, involved with it that it really
(27:24):
is something that you can'tavoid, but it's really hard to also
embrace and lean into.
And sometimes.
Well, a lot of times, I knoweven for myself, I had to unlearn
a lot of things around money.
You know, I was raised in thechurch, and we always heard, you
know, the money is the root ofall evil, which isn't actually even
(27:45):
the truth.
The true quote, right.
It's the love of money that'sthe root of all evil.
Not just money, but you alwayshear it.
So you think money's bad,money's bad, money's bad.
It's kind of like what getsdrilled into you.
But as a business owner, I'mlike, I have to be successful, and
I want to grow and be able tonot just provide for my family, but
also make an impact.
(28:06):
Right.
And in order to do that, yougotta have money.
So I had to unlearn andrelearn a lot of things about money
in my own journey, you know, rewrite.
Like you said.
Rewriting that money journeyis definitely something that I've
had to do myself.
And I think that's why I lovewhat I get to do now as far as coaching
(28:26):
and helping these businessowners, like, really understand and
lean into this.
Because so much of it I've hadto take from my own journey and experience
of growing and creating asuccessful business.
And so now I get to helppeople do that also, which is really
powerful.
But we can, you know, and whenthings are successful and we have
a better understanding of howthings ebb and flow, we can unlearn
(28:47):
the things that are nothelpful and learn the things that
are so that we can create thefutures and communities and, you
know, family dynamics that wewant to create, a need to create
oftentimes as well, we allknow how the world is and the country
and everything.
People need people who are.
Who have a big mission, youknow, and want to make a good, positive
(29:11):
impact.
There needs to be more of usthat are successful to be able to
really create that change.
And that's something that wecan do even if it's not like, on
a global or even nationalstage, if it's within our families
and within our smallcommunities, we can make a huge impact.
That's a ripple effect intoother people when we're able to be
successful.
(29:31):
So it's.
It's really cool.
And as women, I think that weare taught by society, I don't know
that who we're taught by, thatwe don't get a bucket or our bucket
should be smaller, and that weshould be putting things into different
buckets.
And I love that this forcesyou to.
To have a bucket that's reasonable.
(29:52):
And it's.
It's okay to make a living.
It's okay to get paid for your worth.
Right.
And I think as businessowners, as women business owners,
we feel almost guilty takingthat pay when we could be doing other
things or, oh, I could befixing this, or I could be putting
the money somewhere else, thatwe deserve it, that we've earned
it, and that it's okay to pay ourselves.
(30:15):
It is.
Yeah.
And you actually really need to.
It's kind of like they sayabout, you know, you got to put your
mask on first, right?
In an airplane, if there's anemergency, you got to put your mask
on first before you can helpanybody else.
And I've had this conversationactually, a lot of times with several
of our clients where it'slike, you have to be profitable.
Like, it's fine if you wantto, you know, do the pro bono or
(30:38):
the discounted service, but ifyou're not able to pay yourself and
take care of your family, theonly thing you're going to do is
burn yourself out, and thenyou're not going to help anybody.
So it's like, we've had tohave this conversation with people
before where it's like youhave to make sure you're.
You're sustaining yourselffirst before you can help anybody
(31:00):
else with what they're doing.
And it is a hard, you know,concept to.
Or a hard reality, I guess.
It's not even a concept.
It's a reality that has to be,you know, you have to do it if you
want to get to, like, the next level.
And I, you know, same thing.
I had to do that myself, and Istarted through the certification
(31:21):
process with profit first.
We have to implement it withinour own businesses first.
And so when I got certified afew years ago, I had to go through
the process of Implementing itwithin my own business.
And it was really incrediblebecause of, even though I was an
accountant and, you know,business owner and everything, like
just the way it really doesmake money more tangible and makes
(31:43):
you more proactive.
It gave me the tools that Ineeded to buy a house.
So last year I bought a housefor me and my kids as a single woman
and a solo mom, which was areally big achievement and I'm very
proud of myself.
But I wouldn't have been ableto do that as easily if I hadn't
put a system in place andreally made sure that I was able
(32:05):
to pay myself what I needed toget paid and be able to plan proactively,
to be able to do that for my family.
And the same is true with that.
Now that I have, you know, ahome to provide for for my family,
we're able to start, you know,giving back in different ways.
So we work with nonprofitswhere we do do different discounts
(32:25):
with, related to that.
And we've got lower levelservices that we help with startups,
you know, and things like thatwhere we've made them really, really
affordable to help supportthem along their business journey
as well.
And so that's been really coolto be able to do, but I had to start
with being able to provide formyself and my family.
And you know, now that's a bigweight off.
(32:45):
I don't have to worry aboutwhere we live and that my kids have
spaces and all that kind of stuff.
And that's really importantand people need to do that as well
to be able to.
You got to take care ofyourself, I guess is what, where
I'm getting at.
You got to put your mask onbefore you can help anybody else.
Because when you do that, thenyou have a lot more capacity and
opportunity to help other people.
(33:08):
So it's like taking care of yourself.
You're actually empoweringyourself and giving yourself a foundation
to be able to have the impactand the ability to help other people
outside of yourself.
That's incredible.
Options.
Yeah.
You're giving yourself options.
Well, I think, you know, wego, we go into this a lot of us trying
(33:29):
to help other people and youget so into it and oh no, I'll just
want to do what I want to doand I want to be helpful.
But you know, making yourselfa profitable business gives you so
many more opportunities to beable to do that on a much larger
scale afterwards.
Yeah.
(34:31):
So what are, what are somethings that you notice collectively
that small businesses aredoing wrong that you go in to help
them with.
So the most basic one is nothaving separate accounts.
So not even just having theprofit first accounts, even if you
(34:51):
don't have that, but just likehaving your business and your personal
accounts separate.
And that's a big issue becauseif you get audited from taxes or
anything else and yourinformation is commingled, you're
putting yourself at risk.
You could end up owing a lotmore in taxes, interest, and penalties
because then you're not,you're not displaying the separation
(35:14):
that you need to have betweenpersonal and business.
And that's on any level.
If you're a sole proprietor,if you're a single member llc, if
you're a partnership, ifyou're an S corp, if you're C Corp,
any of the entities, no matterhow big or small your businesses,
you need to have separate accounts.
So that's probably the numberone thing.
When we work with people, we,we see that a lot.
(35:34):
When we start working withbusinesses, we're like, okay, first
things first.
You got to separate thesethings starting now.
So even if you haven't in thepast, start doing it now.
But the second thing, whichalso is kind of, you know, a more
basic thing, but it often getspushed to the, the back burner, as
they say, is just your bookkeeping.
So making sure that you'redoing your bookkeeping on a regular
(35:55):
basis or that it's being doneeven if it's not you, if you hire
a bookkeeper, you need to makesure it's being done on, on a more
consistent basis.
And it was kind of funny.
I actually just startedfollowing I.
The IRS Facebook page poppedup on my feed the other day and I
(36:16):
was like, oh, let me just, youknow, follow that in case there's
like, updates and things.
But one of the first poststhat I saw was actually about this.
And they're like, hey, youknow, having good record keeping
in place is what's going tohelp you deduct, you know, maximize
your deductions on your expenses.
And I'm like, yes, like, I'vebeen preaching that for years.
But now the IRS is also, youknow, solidifying that because it's
(36:38):
true.
If you are trying to do yourbookkeeping at the end of the year,
that's a whole year.
You got to think back and tryto remember there's probably things
you're missing.
If you're not doing itconsistently, you're probably missing
out in a lot of deductions orat the very least, being proactive
to make changes.
(36:59):
Right.
Because all your decisions tieback to your numbers.
So the more you're looking atthem, the more you're going to see
trends, the more you're goingto see issues that pop up.
And you can make changesquicker if you're doing.
If you're looking at yourfinancials on a regular basis.
And then probably the thirdone, especially for, well, really
(37:20):
any size business is reallyjust not having a good understanding
of taxes or being proactiveabout tax planning is probably the
next one.
And it doesn't have to beanything, you know, super complex,
but just having, you know,somebody in your back corner or resource
or somebody that you canlisten to so that you understand
your deductions, what'savailable to you.
(37:41):
If there are other strategies,a lot of times people will forget
about retirement or, ormileage or home office or setting
up accountable plans orreasonable comp.
Like, just like thesedifferent strategies that are available
to people.
If you're not having aconversation with your tax preparer
before the end of the year,you're probably missing out in some
(38:04):
kind of opportunity to be ableto minimize your liability.
So you want to make sure thatyou're, you know, it's uncomfortable
and it's scary with taxes.
But I always tell people,like, the fear that we feel a lot
of times when it comes tothings is because there's a lack
of understanding.
So the more you can understandyour taxes, the less scary they're
(38:26):
going to be.
The more you can understandhow taxes work, the less scary they're
going to be.
So really stepping into itversus avoiding it is going to put
you in a better position justoverall when it comes to your business
and your finances and your taxes.
And that is a service that youprovide, right?
It is, yeah.
So if your accountant isn'tdoing these things with you, Megan
(38:47):
is virtual.
Give her a call.
Yes.
I remember my very first yearin business.
We finished the year we had aton of loans out because we just
bought the business and, youknow, eking by and had, you know,
very little in the checkingaccount at the end of each week,
just trying to figure out howwe were going to do it.
And we owed like $30,000 in taxes.
(39:07):
And I was like, I have dollarsin my checking account.
Like, how, how does this work?
And I didn't know that loanpayments are still profit.
Like you still made that moneyand you can't write anything off
because it went to, you know,and so it.
Was like these kind of things.
And we learned very quicklyhow to navigate and plan ahead and,
you know, do the prepaymentsand plan it all out so that we could
(39:30):
pay our taxes and not getslammed in the face, you know, end
of the year.
Super fun.
Yeah.
But you don't know you're nota tax preparer when you go into business
unless you're going into a taxpreparation business.
Exactly.
And that's, that's why we do.
That's why we have these conversations.
And that's, this is why bossy exists.
Because when you go intobusiness, you know, you don't know
(39:52):
these things and, and it's so overwhelming.
And then an audit comes andthere's all these things you just
didn't know.
Right.
So.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a lot to being abusiness owner that I don't think
any of us really realize untilwe're like, in it.
Right.
So there's been, there's beena lot of things I've learned over
(40:13):
the last, you know, 12 years,I'm sure, as its owner too.
And none of it comes at theconvenient times.
No, no.
Usually you're just kind oflearning on in the process.
Right.
Or building as they fly or whatever.
Building the plane as you fly it.
Yeah.
I did see that you have a freedownload on your website.
(40:35):
I do, yes.
Yep.
The one on our website, whichis actually really good if you're
working with an accountant,but you're not sure if they're going
to be proactive on your behalf.
We.
My download is 9 Questions toAsk your accountant.
And it.
You don't have to necessarily.
The thing is, is that youdon't have to know the answers.
Although I do give kind ofwhat you're looking for from your
(40:57):
response.
It's really listening for howthey respond to you.
Because if somebody's going tobe avoidant or if they're going to
give you a short answer andthey're not going to really be open
to a conversation or be aresource to you, then you may want
to consider working withsomebody else because you want somebody
who's going to be in yourcorner and who's not going to just
(41:19):
help you be compliant, butalso make changes that are going
to be beneficial to you in thelong run as well.
And unfortunately, there's alot of people in our industry that
don't do tax planning becausetax preparation is by definition
a compliance thing.
So it's kind of after thefact, it's not proactive.
(41:40):
So.
But if you want to be in abetter place when it comes to your
taxes, you got to be proactiveabout it.
So it's an important Distinction.
But unfortunately, noteverybody does it.
So those will be somequestions to kind of help you figure
out if your accountant is moreproactive or reactive so that you
can make the best decision foryour, you know, your company and
(42:01):
your future.
So definitely download that.
So if somebody wants you to bethe person that forces them into
bucket mode, I'm gonna call itbucket mode, and they want you to
be their sidekick.
And they're like, all right, Ilistened to this podcast, and I found
the perfect person to help meget my in gear.
How do they reach you?
My website's going to be thebest place to go ahead and book a
(42:24):
call with me.
My short link to My website ischatwithmeg.com and that will take
you.
Yeah, that'll take you to mywebsite, and you can book a call
right on there and learn moreabout our services and my team.
And I'd love to have aconversation because, yeah, there's
definitely ways that you cando and things to.
To help you get sustainableand successful, and that's what we're
(42:46):
here for.
And because you're virtual, doyou have anything else that you offer?
Well, we work with clientsacross the U.S. we do have an event
that's coming up in January.
It's called our Profit Clarity Workshop.
And it's a great way to kindof get a little bit clearer on your
profits.
So we go through yourpackages, pricing, and then just
(43:11):
your cash flow in general onthat workshop.
So it's a really great, like,first step into the buckets or, like,
into the profit points of yourbusiness and getting the those clear.
So it'll be a really fun workshop.
If you're available to join usJanuary 14th, I'd love to have you.
Is that just for your currentclients or anybody can sign up for
that?
No, that's anybody?
Yep, that's anybody.
Well, it'll be just after mysurgery, so it'll be perfect because.
(43:35):
Yeah, Kelly, no one's gonnabelieve that you're having surgery.
You've been talking about this.
So I was supposed to havesurgery on September 14, and I put
off a lot of my book workbecause I was.
The first three weeks, I can'tleave bed, like, other than to, like,
because, I mean, my anklesfused, so I was like, I'm gonna need
(43:58):
to do so much stuff andputting stuff on.
And now I'm like, now it gotpostponed because I got shingles,
so I end up in bed anyway.
But, you know, going back,even just now that I'm, like, two
months behind, I'm Like, Idon't remember.
What was that for?
I'm like, what?
And it's.
It is so important to stay ontop of that stuff.
So I'm glad that you broughtthat up.
(44:20):
I'm like, testify.
Because I literally improve ofhow much that screws you up.
Even just a month or two.
And there's been times whereI've been more.
I'll be honest, there's beentimes where I've been more than a
month or two off because ofwhatever reason, and I end up working
more than I'm supposed to anddon't get time to do the other stuff.
Yeah.
Staying on schedule it.
(44:40):
Yes.
Yeah.
Schedule anything else.
Yeah.
And I have found, too, Ialways tell people, because I teach
QuickBooks classes also.
And so I always tell them, youknow, you're gonna lose this if you're
not using it.
So that's kind of the otherthing too, is like you.
If you're learning how to doit yourself, it's gonna.
It's gonna be something thatyou kind of forget how to do.
(45:02):
So then you got to kind ofrelearn it each time.
But the other part, a lot oftimes is that if you wait and wait
and wait, it's going to becomebigger and bigger and bigger, which
means you're just going toavoid it more and more.
So I tell people, put it onyour calendar, even if it's once
a month, ideally probably oncea week, where you can just, like
get caught up for the week.
Takes 20 minutes maybe, if that.
(45:24):
And you know, then you're ontrack and you're not avoiding it,
and then it's not growing intoa big, huge monster that you avoid
for another six months.
And what I've learned is thosemonsters are usually the easiest
things.
When you finally sit down toattack the monster, you're like,
why?
This was not difficult.
This was not difficult.
Right.
Why did I put this off for so long?
It's like that frog, ifanybody's ever read that book, eat
(45:45):
that frog.
Like, not only is it notdifficult, but how good you feel
after it's done.
Yes.
And how bad you feel everytime you put it off.
Like it just fingering in your head.
You know what?
It stands.
So this is your friendlyreminder that money should be tangible,
that we need to know ournumbers, we need to get our stuff
(46:09):
in order, and that we need atrusting sidekick to get us there.
Absolutely.
Wonderful advice.
Well, thank you for joiningus, Megan.
I look forward to your ProfitClarity workshop in January.
And I love chat with Meg As a website.
I need to adjust my website.
(46:34):
You want to get to yourwebsite, so do that.
Right?
Yeah.
Chat with Meg.
Awesome.
Thank you.
And thank you for reminding usthat knowing our money and paying
ourselves gives us choices andoptions and the power that comes
with that.
So we really appreciate youjoining us today, Megan.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Great conversation.
(47:03):
Megan didn't get into it, butshe has a very inspiring story of
power and resilience ofknowing your business and being able
to take it to a place thatsupports you.
And maybe she'll come back andtell us more about that.
A different time.
But she.
She grew leaps and bounds tobe able to take care of her family,
(47:24):
which is amazing.
Rewrite your financial storyand came out the other side and able
to sit and inspire us today.
I don't know if I could havedone it, but she's amazing, so hopefully
she'll come back and share more.
And you know, she brought uptaxes a lot and that's something
we wouldn't really talk aboutin our money series is the importance
of knowing your numbers andyour cash flow.
But incorporating taxes, like,for me, I just.
(47:45):
It's a part of my cash flowbecause I've already got the prepayments
built in.
So.
Because I'm scared of payingat the end of the year.
So, yeah, I think that that'sa very important conversation too.
Is.
Is where you're especially.
This isn't going to air untilJanuary, so it's too late.
But for the next year, takewhat you learned this year and work
it into your cash flow fornext year and your buckets.
(48:06):
So we actually have a bucketbecause I'm scared of taxes.
So from the get go, oursavings account is our tax.
So every week we put a certainamount of money into the savings
account and that is savingsand taxes.
So it's like that money justgoes in there and then when the tax
payment comes, that moneycomes back over whatever we need
for the tax portion and thenthe rest stays in savings.
(48:28):
Because it is important to notsee that money.
It makes a huge difference andit does make it more tangible.
But I do hate how money is sovirtual now.
Too many things are virtual.
All right, we'll chat withMega, know your numbers.
Follow us on all your favorite socials.
(48:50):
Really, we're just on Facebookand Instagram.
We try to be on the rest ofthem, but we're busy.
Bossy Rochester.
B O S S Y Rochester.
And share this with somebodywho you think needs to hear it.
Get those buckets out, Helpother people.
Be as successful as you'regoing to be.
Be the boss.
Foreign.
Welcome back to anotherepisode of Getting Real with Bossy,
the podcast that shows youwhat it's really like to be a business
(01:06):
owner.
We are your hosts, Kelly Bushand Kelly Metrus, and we are so glad
to be with you today on thisrainy, rainy, rainy, cold, miserable
day.
Yay.
There's no better day topodcast, though.
I agree.
I got my blanket on.
I'm cozy.
I am stuck in my kitchenbecause it's loud near all the windows,
but at least I'm cozy.
(01:27):
Yes.
I'm glad you're cozy.
I've jumped in, like, 10 different.
Not jumped, stepped in puddles.
I'm soaking wet from, like, mymiddle of my calf down, but I got
the heaters on, so my feet arestarting to warm up and my hair's
all frizzy.
But it's okay.
We're gonna make it through.
It's okay.
We're making it throughbecause we've got a great.
(01:47):
A great episode today.
So I'm excited about that.
Yes.
So other than being soakingwet, how are you, Kelly?
I'm great.
I got out of town for a couple days.
We had our restaurantassociation member summit in Cooperstown,
which is one of my favorite,favorite little towns in New York
State.
It's gorgeous, especially thistime of year.
(02:08):
I woke up one morning.
It was 28 degrees.
I was like, oh, I'm just gonnago out, stand and breathe outside
and breathe for a minutebecause it was just so cold.
It was really wonderful.
But you're insane.
Yeah.
And I was.
I was begging people to jumpin the water with me because it's
right on the lake, but nobody would.
But that's okay.
I didn't.
I did not go do my own littlepolar plunge.
(02:30):
If Aaron was there, heprobably would have came with me.
Oh, totally.
Yeah.
I should have called.
Yeah.
But, yeah, it was good to get away.
It's always good to be withother industry professionals and
hear from people who arehaving the same issues and successes
as you and sharing information.
I got a lot of great ideas andtalked to the couple people about
(02:52):
some things that we're talking.
Gonna talk about today, abouthow to manage your finances and redistribute
things a little bit.
So I'm excited to.
Excited, excited.
It was nice to get away and,you know, feel a little.
I really wanted to go.
I'm jealous.
It was nice.
Did you by any chance.
There's a Calvin and Hobbsexhibit in Cooperstown right now.
(03:13):
Did you buy.
I thought if I had known thatyou were going because I didn't Realize
you were going.
I would have told you about it.
I did not see it.
They have, like, the actual,like, original drawings.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, that's cool.
I didn't have any free time, but.
We are literally going todrive to Cooperstown and drive back,
like, in a day.
I'll go with you.
If we weren't able to go.
Yeah, no, it was.
(03:34):
I got there.
We.
I went right into session, andthen as soon as we left, I had to
leave because we had a bigevent on Tuesday with a new person
who.
New to doing events at our place.
So I had to go and help outwith that.
So I could not.
I could not.
I did not get to.
To spend any time.
Really.
Did you get to enjoy yourselfat all?
So, so much.
(03:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because Don came the second night.
So the first night I was on myown, which I'm always like, I love
when he's there, but itsometimes takes him a second to warm
up and, you know, start mingling.
So it was nice for the firstnight for the welcome reception.
I was like, okay, I'm gonna gotalk to every single person who's
standing by themselves.
(04:15):
So it was like, a nice littlechallenge for me to kind of go out
and meet new people.
And we have three new boardmembers who are all incredible and.
And unique.
So I got to kind of get themall together at the table and sit
with them for a while and feellike I was actually doing my job
because I'm head of leadership.
So it was good.
I was like, I feel like I'm.
(04:36):
I don't know.
It was very successful meeting.
Very excited.
Awesome.
Because our industry.
Well, I'm glad you got to go.
Struggling, so it's nice to,like, be good people, but.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah.
Wish you could have been there.
How are you doing?
I'm okay.
It's crazy, you know, asusual, just managing, getting through
all the stuff.
Yeah, the stuff.
(04:58):
Yeah.
Just every day just flies byfull of stuff to do, and another
day happens, and then you'relike, oh, it's the end of October.
Sweet, right?
I know.
It was not arguing, but I havea vendor who's giving me some trouble
right now.
And I'm like, it's November.
He's like, it's October.
I'm like, really?
(05:20):
It's November.
Like, it's November.
By the time I'm going to begetting this stuff in that you.
I've been promised for a whilenow it's going to be November.
Because November is.
And for those.
Those listening, I don't thinkthis is airing until January, but
yes, we tape ahead, so.
Surprise.
Yes.
Yeah, I'm actually speaking ofJanuary, I've been looking at travel
(05:41):
plans for my family becauseevery time there's a two week Christmas
break, I try to, you know, fortheir Christmas present, like leave
town.
And I don't want to bookflights because it's, you know, in
January.
Maybe this will be fixed andyou guys will be listening to this
and be like, what is she eventalking about?
But remember back to Octoberwhen aviation just starts falling
apart and nobody's able to fly.
(06:02):
Yeah.
I would go somewhere on atrain maybe.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh, right.
So.
So that's where I'm at.
So that's any free time I'mhaving right now.
I'm trying to get ahead onChristmas and birthday season.
So.
Yeah.
So by the time this airs inJanuary, I will be three weeks away
from finalizing the holidayseason in my family.
(06:24):
Good times.
It'll almost be done.
So just know that I've beenworking on it since before now.
Right.
Well, Megan's amazing.
Everybody is going to learnsomething new today.
Gonna take something from itand hopefully hit up chat with Meg.
Yes.
(07:13):
So we hope you enjoy the episode.
Hello, and welcome back toanother episode of Getting Real with
Bossy, the podcast that showsyou what it's actually like to be
(07:36):
a small business owner.
Today we're talking withsomeone who truly embodies resilience,
strategy, and heart.
Megan Schwann, CEO and founderof Sidekick Accounting Services,
a national virtual accountingfirm, on a mission to help flip the
statistic that 8 out of 10small businesses fail.
For decades, Megan has helpedthousands of entrepreneurs gain control
(08:00):
of their finances, mastertheir numbers, and build businesses
that are not just profitable,but sustainable.
She's a certified profitfirst, professional business scaling
expert, and also a solo mom offour who has faced incredible personal
challenges and still found thestrength to build something remarkable.
In today's episode, we'll talkabout her journey from overcoming
(08:22):
adversity to becoming apowerhouse business owner and.
And how our courage, mindsetand mission are changing the way
small business owners thinkabout success.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, Megan.
Thank you, Kelly.
And Kelly, I'm so excited tobe here.
We are so glad to have you.
So many questions.
First of all, I know we wantto hear your story, but Sidekick,
(08:45):
I love the name.
Can we start there?
Sure.
Yeah.
So originally my business wasmy last name, my married last name.
And so when I went through adivorce or separate, really started
with a separation I was like,I gotta change my business name.
Right?
So it was really difficult.
(09:05):
I don't know if like anybody,I put a lot of weight on names.
First of all, I shouldprobably start there.
My kids have very intentionalnames that have meanings behind them,
so it means something.
So when I was trying to figureout my business name kind of wanted
the same, you know, you know,thing where it was like, wait.
So it was a really hard process.
(09:25):
But one of when I wasresearching names, somebody had told
me to look at what I was wantwhen I wanting to embody for our
clients and look at differentlanguages that mean those same things.
So kind of like when I wasdoing the research behind that, I
had just come across Sidekick.
And I was like, oh, that's,that's perfect because we want to
really be a sidekick and apartner and a collaborator with our
(09:49):
clients on their business journey.
But the other kind of caveatto that is that me and my kids were
really big Marvel fans andSidekick is like superhero.
So it was kind of embodied themission of our company, but then
also was kind of a homage tomy kids as well.
So it just was, it was perfect.
And that's how it is.
(10:10):
And we have a lot of funinternally, like in our business,
playing off of the sidekick theme.
We do team ups as like what wecall our morning meetings.
We do Sidekicks Unite as likeour company wide meetings.
We do a profit assessment,what we, which we call our version
Profit Avenger.
So we play a lot into thewhole superhero theme within our
(10:32):
services and so many possibilities.
Yeah, exactly.
And legitimately it's been alot of fun.
No successful superhero getsthere alone, Right, Exactly.
They have to have a sidekick.
They have to have, everybody'sgot a sidekick.
And it, it's so funny becauseI don't think we really talk about
that.
The naming of your business issuch like, you know what you want
(10:55):
to do, you're passionate aboutit, you're excited to start your
business, and then you'relike, oh, I have to come up with
a name.
Yes.
Yeah.
And it can be really toughtrying to figure it out, making sure
it's available.
You know, all of that kind ofstuff too.
Yeah.
Hitting a name and then it'snot available and you have to start
over.
And you have to start over and.
Renaming and that's, you know,that's a challenge in itself.
(11:17):
And yeah, sounds like youpicked the right one.
It works for you.
It's a nice balance betweenhome and work, which I think is something
that you embody and andbusiness, small businesses, who you
are helping, we need toremember that we need that balance
and it's just great name.
I love that, love that we're starting.
Thank you.
(11:38):
So tell us how you startedyour business.
What made you want to be abusiness sidekick?
Well, I kind of fell into itas I think many of us do.
The long story short is I wasworking two part time jobs at the
time.
One of them was as abookkeeper for a landscaping company,
which was kind of myintroduction into small business.
(12:01):
And then I got laid off ofboth of those jobs within a year
of or within a month of each other.
So I worked with both of themfor about two years, got laid off
within a month of each other.
So it was really like, okay,now what?
At the time I was married, hadtwo small children, we needed two
incomes for our household.
So it was really like, allright, now what?
And I was doing taxes on theside for friends and family, had
(12:25):
my bachelor's in accounting.
I just kind of thought tomyself that I was doing the bookkeeping
for that landscaping company.
I could probably do it forother small businesses, still, still
work mostly from home.
So I created my company,started networking, and now, almost
12 years later, we work withhundreds of clients every year across
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the US And I have a team ofseven employees and two contractors
that work with me regularly.
And it's really grown intosomething I never imagined at the
time.
It was just like I neededincome, I wanted to be flexible for
my family.
It's just, it's really growninto something that I couldn't have
imagined.
But I'm so, so thankful for.
(13:06):
My business has been soinstrumental to being able to help
me through some incrediblelife challenges and transitions.
And now, you know, that's whatour goal is, to help other people
grow successful businessesthat support their life and their
vision and gives them options.
Because when you have asuccessful and sustainable business,
(13:28):
you as the owner have optionsfor, you know, you have to pull back
or if you want to move forwardor, you know, whatever that looks
like.
And, and that's really, Ithink, important, especially with
the majority of our clientsare women and minorities.
So, you know, they often arejust doing what they do to support
their families.
So.
Yeah, but that's the, that'sthe long story short.
(13:50):
So we talked a lot this past year.
We did a summer money series.
We talked a lot about theimportance of understanding money,
being comfortable with money,talking about money, your cash flow,
your numbers, P L statements,like having even if your hands aren't
in it, you need to know it.
So even if you have somebodyelse doing it, as a business owner,
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you need to understand whatthese things are, what your goals
are, you know, where you are.
Aside from the bookkeepingitself, what does your business do
for small business owners?
So we do, we do thebookkeeping, but we also do tax prep,
we do tax planning, and thenwe're certified profit first firm
(14:32):
like you mentioned, which is acash flow management system.
So we help implement that intobusinesses, create that system, and
then also do business coachingrelated to that as well.
So kind of full circle, onestop shop.
Yeah.
Yep.
And it really, because most ofour decisions and most of what happens
like in our business reflectin our numbers, you know, so the
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more you can understand themand lean into them and like you said,
you don't have to be the onedoing it, but you as the owner need
to spend some time with your numbers.
You got to have thatunderstanding of how they work and
what they're telling you.
And so we really try to helppeople do that, you know, not just
do the bookkeeping, but reallybe proactive and have a better understanding
(15:16):
for what, what they're lookingat and then how to use that so that
they can make better datadriven decisions for their business
to create that sustainable success.
It's so important.
I'm sorry, Kelly, I think I just.
You off go for it.
Do you, do you find people area little resilient to that at first?
I'm always surprised at howmany people are like, no, I've got
my bookkeeper, I have myaccountant for that stuff.
(15:37):
And we're just like, but you,but part of their job is to be sharing
that information with you andyou then making decisions to guide
them.
They know what they know, butyou know your business.
And I'm always so surprisedhow many people are so hands off.
So do you do find that peopleare resilient to then utilizing that
knowledge?
Yeah, like, yeah, they,they're like resistant to it.
(16:01):
A lot of times they or theycan be, but then you have, you have
the clients that do where theyjust want, they just want the box
checked that their bookkeepingdone, their taxes were done and they
don't want to lean in.
But a lot of times what Ifound is that those are the business
owners that tend to strugglewith growth.
They tend to struggle withgetting out of the business.
(16:22):
Right.
So they're the ones that arestill in it and they're just, they're
doing everything.
They can't take time off, theyget overwhelmed.
So like the business Ownersthat lean into it.
And we have some businessowners that I've worked with when
we started doing coaching, andthey're so nervous about it and they're
so anxious about it, but oncewe start working through it, and
(16:42):
sometimes, like, I have totell them, trust the process.
You know, as you get into it,it's hard to make changes.
We all know that, right?
We're wired to run, you know, or.
Or avoid anything that's different.
Right.
That's just kind of how ourbiology is set up.
So when we're leaning intodifferent things, it is scary and
it is a little bitoverwhelming, but that's what we're
(17:04):
there to help with.
We're there to kind of holdpeople's hands, if you will, a little
bit, to walk through them,through that process, to encourage
them.
And once they trust that and they.
They get into it and theystart to do it, they start to look
at their numbers, they startto look at their KPIs and start monitoring,
there's, like, this wholesense of empowerment that comes,
(17:25):
like.
And confidence that comes fromdoing that, which is the really cool
thing about it.
But, yes, there's a lot ofpeople that, you know, they say they
want to be hands off.
We have some clients that arehonestly like that.
But a lot of times it's theones that lean in, the ones that
show up, that it really makesa difference for the growth and success
of their business and how theystart to feel about money, how they
(17:47):
start to make decisions, howthey start to plan.
You know, it shifts whenpeople really lean in and embrace
the uncomfortable of yourfinances and taxes and all that good
stuff.
(18:42):
And when you go to the bank,you know, your industry, the bank's
gonna.
The bank doesn't.
The bank knows banking.
They don't.
They look at what the Internetsays, you know, and the Internet's
not going to tell you your business.
It's going to tell you theoverall arching.
And they'll be like, well,this is.
This is what it's supposed tolook like.
Well, no, this is my business,and this is the.
The number I've shownconsistently for this amount of months
or this amount of years.
(19:03):
And knowing that and havingthe confidence to push back and say,
no, you should support mybusiness and its growth because this
is what I've proven to do, notwhat the industry is doing in Michigan
or Illinois.
Right.
Like, this is here.
This is me.
But I just want to circle back.
You mentioned your Profitfirst certified.
Can you explain what that is?
(19:23):
Yes.
So Profit first is there's abook called Profit First.
So it's based off of thismethodology and system of creating
stable cash flow within your business.
Every successful business hassystems in pretty much every area.
So this is like your moneymanagement system is what Profit
first creates.
And the way we do that is bycreating different bank accounts
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for different buckets.
So there's five core accounts.
One is income, one is owner'scomp, profit is another one.
Operating expenses and thentaxes are the five main buckets that,
that we create when it comesto that.
And we create a percentage orwe look at, we don't create, we look
at historical data to create a percentage.
(20:08):
Where every time income comesinto your bank account, usually on
a weekly basis, it getsdistributed by a percentage into
these five buckets.
But what it does is itleverages people's behavior.
So over 75% of business ownerslook at their bank account balance
to see how much money theyhave and to make decisions off of.
So we leverage that behaviorby creating these different buckets
(20:31):
that now prioritize thesedifferent areas and use that to be
able to stabilize cash flow.
It also helps to create orforce profitability.
Because if your business is not.
If your business doesn't haveenough money left over to pay your
taxes or to pay you areasonable amount of, to reinvest
(20:52):
into your business, then yourbusiness really isn't truly profitable.
It might be on paper, youknow, with your net income.
And that's sometimes wherepeople struggle is like on their
profit and loss.
There's a net income number,but they feel like they don't have
any money.
Right.
Like a lot of people feel that way.
And so this actually helpspeople be truly profitable.
It helps them to proactivelyplan by putting money away for taxes.
(21:16):
That's a huge pain point thatwe see for small business owners
all of the time.
People do not pay estimated taxes.
They don't have money put awayfor taxes.
If you pay taxes, it's notnecessarily bad.
It means you made money.
But it really sucks when youdidn't plan for it.
So it helps to lean into thatas well.
So it creates thestabilization of your cash flow through
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seasonality or differentpoints of the year.
It forces that profitability.
But what we really see is thatit really helps bridge the gap between
your monthly reports and thenwhat happens on a day to day basis.
So it really makes money moretangible for people, especially the
people that struggle with thisarea of their business and to understand
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it and how to manage it andall of that kind of stuff.
So it really helps empowerpeople who struggle with those areas,
but it creates a system forhow you manage your money, and it
helps people be really, reallysuccessful and intentional with their
business and their money andcreate that stability that a lot
of business owners struggle with.
Yeah, it's a really unique plan.
I actually just went to atraining earlier this week with somebody
(22:20):
who teaches the same plan.
And when I came home, we werehaving, you know, this is a tight
time of year.
And my husband's like, oh, weneed to get this stuff.
And I said, okay, where are wetaking it from?
Because if we have this muchfor payroll, we're not shorting payroll.
So what you're telling me isI'm not gonna have enough for payroll.
Well, I can't short payroll,so where are you taking it from?
(22:42):
So thinking about it in thesebuckets, I'm like, I need to go to
the bank and get moreaccounts, because this is just a
genius thing because, youknow, I'm always going to pay that
bill.
But physically having to takeit from my cost of goods for liquor
is.
Is a conscious thing.
And it just makes you reallythink, how am I spending my money?
And that's such a thing.
I think we need it, like,across our lives, not just in our
(23:04):
business.
Money has become less and less tangible.
And now it's just tap and go.
You don't even swipe.
Like, I don't even have to.
It's on my phone.
I don't even need my wallet.
Right.
I can buy things on my phoneand just hit a button, and then my
phone buys it.
It's so intangible.
And the idea of forcing.
I don't know if this is a word.
(23:25):
Tangibility.
Yeah.
With our money, I think, is fascinating.
And for the listeners outthere, they're probably like, me
and I listen to these thingsand we go to these trainings, and
you're like, I'll totally dothat when I get home.
I'm going to set up my fiveaccounts and.
And you're not gonna.
90% of the time, we're not gonna.
So this is where your businesscomes in.
(23:46):
Yeah.
And not only are you doing thebook eating, but you're able to make
these changes and force peopleinto these behavior changes.
Because behavior modificationis not an easy thing.
That's why we are stuck in our habits.
Right.
Like, yeah.
As people.
Well, and it's.
It's.
Right.
You know, it's.
It's.
The success of our smallbusinesses is so tied into everything
(24:08):
about us internally, and itkind of goes Back to that fear of
even letting people look intoour books.
I'm not, you know, if there'sa moment I'm not profitable, I'm.
I'm.
I'm taking that personal.
So to have somebody look atthat and go, oh, look, you know,
it's just nice to know thatthere are people out there who just
really are looking for that success.
And because you are so fullservice, you know, it's very clear
(24:31):
that you're going the extramile to help people feel comfortable
about that and teach them howto be successful.
Because there are times wheremy books look like I am incredibly
unsuccessful.
And to not take thatpersonally is difficult.
Right?
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
And that's where having, like,profit first really helps because
it uses.
(24:52):
It uses, like, your historicalnumbers, which for most businesses,
whatever you did last year interms of, like, revenue, you typically
can do the same in this year.
But even if it ebbs and flows,it helps to stabilize it because
we're using that percentageover time.
And every we with the way wework with our clients is every quarter
we're reassessing.
(25:13):
So it's not like this is itfor the whole year.
Every quarter, we're taking alook at what happened.
If we need to makeadjustments, we have a target that
we're working towards to makethose small tweaks to get closer
to our goals.
So we work hand in hand as asidekick, like we talked about, with
our business owners, to helpthem make those moves and to make
(25:33):
those adjustments and createthat accountability that really helps
drive them towards success andcreate that habit, which is really
powerful and really helpful, Ithink, for business owners, because
it is a hard topic.
It's hard to make changes.
So having somebody there tocheer you on and be a safe place
can make all the differencebetween, you know, your success and
(25:56):
failure when it comes to this.
I just had this image pop intomy head of, like, all of the top
superheroes.
And, like, their sidekickisn't just a trusted, like, friend.
They push them.
You know, not only do theymake them do things differently,
but they also keep them fromdoing crazy things.
Right.
So the sidekick is a.
(26:17):
Is a pretty important person,sometimes more.
Important, let's be honest.
Yeah.
They're the ones that areactually doing it and, like, making
sure it all happens.
So I love that.
So I was reading up on all ofyour stuff, and one of the things
I loved that I saw you wroteis helping people rewrite their financial
(26:37):
story.
And I just love that.
I think that that such a greatline to rewrite your financial story.
We don't think about money ina personal way.
And Kelly and I have beentalking about this a lot on the episodes
is it is such a personal partof us, you know, and a part of our
story.
And to have the power to do that.
(27:00):
Yeah, yeah.
And especially with women, youknow, we work with a lot of women.
And this money area, it can beso difficult because I think we.
We tie it to so many things, right?
Like our birth and oursecurity and trauma future, you know,
and.
Yeah, and trauma, exactly.
So there's so many things,like, involved with it that it really
(27:24):
is something that you can'tavoid, but it's really hard to also
embrace and lean into.
And sometimes.
Well, a lot of times, I knoweven for myself, I had to unlearn
a lot of things around money.
You know, I was raised in thechurch, and we always heard, you
know, the money is the root ofall evil, which isn't actually even
(27:45):
the truth.
The true quote, right.
It's the love of money that'sthe root of all evil.
Not just money, but you alwayshear it.
So you think money's bad,money's bad, money's bad.
It's kind of like what getsdrilled into you.
But as a business owner, I'mlike, I have to be successful, and
I want to grow and be able tonot just provide for my family, but
also make an impact.
(28:06):
Right.
And in order to do that, yougotta have money.
So I had to unlearn andrelearn a lot of things about money
in my own journey, you know, rewrite.
Like you said.
Rewriting that money journeyis definitely something that I've
had to do myself.
And I think that's why I lovewhat I get to do now as far as coaching
(28:26):
and helping these businessowners, like, really understand and
lean into this.
Because so much of it I've hadto take from my own journey and experience
of growing and creating asuccessful business.
And so now I get to helppeople do that also, which is really
powerful.
But we can, you know, and whenthings are successful and we have
a better understanding of howthings ebb and flow, we can unlearn
(28:47):
the things that are nothelpful and learn the things that
are so that we can create thefutures and communities and, you
know, family dynamics that wewant to create, a need to create
oftentimes as well, we allknow how the world is and the country
and everything.
People need people who are.
Who have a big mission, youknow, and want to make a good, positive
(29:11):
impact.
There needs to be more of usthat are successful to be able to
really create that change.
And that's something that wecan do even if it's not like, on
a global or even nationalstage, if it's within our families
and within our smallcommunities, we can make a huge impact.
That's a ripple effect intoother people when we're able to be
successful.
(29:31):
So it's.
It's really cool.
And as women, I think that weare taught by society, I don't know
that who we're taught by, thatwe don't get a bucket or our bucket
should be smaller, and that weshould be putting things into different
buckets.
And I love that this forcesyou to.
To have a bucket that's reasonable.
(29:52):
And it's.
It's okay to make a living.
It's okay to get paid for your worth.
Right.
And I think as businessowners, as women business owners,
we feel almost guilty takingthat pay when we could be doing other
things or, oh, I could befixing this, or I could be putting
the money somewhere else, thatwe deserve it, that we've earned
it, and that it's okay to pay ourselves.
(30:15):
It is.
Yeah.
And you actually really need to.
It's kind of like they sayabout, you know, you got to put your
mask on first, right?
In an airplane, if there's anemergency, you got to put your mask
on first before you can helpanybody else.
And I've had this conversationactually, a lot of times with several
of our clients where it'slike, you have to be profitable.
Like, it's fine if you wantto, you know, do the pro bono or
(30:38):
the discounted service, but ifyou're not able to pay yourself and
take care of your family, theonly thing you're going to do is
burn yourself out, and thenyou're not going to help anybody.
So it's like, we've had tohave this conversation with people
before where it's like youhave to make sure you're.
You're sustaining yourselffirst before you can help anybody
(31:00):
else with what they're doing.
And it is a hard, you know,concept to.
Or a hard reality, I guess.
It's not even a concept.
It's a reality that has to be,you know, you have to do it if you
want to get to, like, the next level.
And I, you know, same thing.
I had to do that myself, and Istarted through the certification
(31:21):
process with profit first.
We have to implement it withinour own businesses first.
And so when I got certified afew years ago, I had to go through
the process of Implementing itwithin my own business.
And it was really incrediblebecause of, even though I was an
accountant and, you know,business owner and everything, like
just the way it really doesmake money more tangible and makes
(31:43):
you more proactive.
It gave me the tools that Ineeded to buy a house.
So last year I bought a housefor me and my kids as a single woman
and a solo mom, which was areally big achievement and I'm very
proud of myself.
But I wouldn't have been ableto do that as easily if I hadn't
put a system in place andreally made sure that I was able
(32:05):
to pay myself what I needed toget paid and be able to plan proactively,
to be able to do that for my family.
And the same is true with that.
Now that I have, you know, ahome to provide for for my family,
we're able to start, you know,giving back in different ways.
So we work with nonprofitswhere we do do different discounts
(32:25):
with, related to that.
And we've got lower levelservices that we help with startups,
you know, and things like thatwhere we've made them really, really
affordable to help supportthem along their business journey
as well.
And so that's been really coolto be able to do, but I had to start
with being able to provide formyself and my family.
And you know, now that's a bigweight off.
(32:45):
I don't have to worry aboutwhere we live and that my kids have
spaces and all that kind of stuff.
And that's really importantand people need to do that as well
to be able to.
You got to take care ofyourself, I guess is what, where
I'm getting at.
You got to put your mask onbefore you can help anybody else.
Because when you do that, thenyou have a lot more capacity and
opportunity to help other people.
(33:08):
So it's like taking care of yourself.
You're actually empoweringyourself and giving yourself a foundation
to be able to have the impactand the ability to help other people
outside of yourself.
That's incredible.
Options.
Yeah.
You're giving yourself options.
Well, I think, you know, wego, we go into this a lot of us trying
(33:29):
to help other people and youget so into it and oh no, I'll just
want to do what I want to doand I want to be helpful.
But you know, making yourselfa profitable business gives you so
many more opportunities to beable to do that on a much larger
scale afterwards.
Yeah.
(34:31):
So what are, what are somethings that you notice collectively
that small businesses aredoing wrong that you go in to help
them with.
So the most basic one is nothaving separate accounts.
So not even just having theprofit first accounts, even if you
(34:51):
don't have that, but just likehaving your business and your personal
accounts separate.
And that's a big issue becauseif you get audited from taxes or
anything else and yourinformation is commingled, you're
putting yourself at risk.
You could end up owing a lotmore in taxes, interest, and penalties
because then you're not,you're not displaying the separation
(35:14):
that you need to have betweenpersonal and business.
And that's on any level.
If you're a sole proprietor,if you're a single member llc, if
you're a partnership, ifyou're an S corp, if you're C Corp,
any of the entities, no matterhow big or small your businesses,
you need to have separate accounts.
So that's probably the numberone thing.
When we work with people, we,we see that a lot.
(35:34):
When we start working withbusinesses, we're like, okay, first
things first.
You got to separate thesethings starting now.
So even if you haven't in thepast, start doing it now.
But the second thing, whichalso is kind of, you know, a more
basic thing, but it often getspushed to the, the back burner, as
they say, is just your bookkeeping.
So making sure that you'redoing your bookkeeping on a regular
(35:55):
basis or that it's being doneeven if it's not you, if you hire
a bookkeeper, you need to makesure it's being done on, on a more
consistent basis.
And it was kind of funny.
I actually just startedfollowing I.
The IRS Facebook page poppedup on my feed the other day and I
(36:16):
was like, oh, let me just, youknow, follow that in case there's
like, updates and things.
But one of the first poststhat I saw was actually about this.
And they're like, hey, youknow, having good record keeping
in place is what's going tohelp you deduct, you know, maximize
your deductions on your expenses.
And I'm like, yes, like, I'vebeen preaching that for years.
But now the IRS is also, youknow, solidifying that because it's
(36:38):
true.
If you are trying to do yourbookkeeping at the end of the year,
that's a whole year.
You got to think back and tryto remember there's probably things
you're missing.
If you're not doing itconsistently, you're probably missing
out in a lot of deductions orat the very least, being proactive
to make changes.
(36:59):
Right.
Because all your decisions tieback to your numbers.
So the more you're looking atthem, the more you're going to see
trends, the more you're goingto see issues that pop up.
And you can make changesquicker if you're doing.
If you're looking at yourfinancials on a regular basis.
And then probably the thirdone, especially for, well, really
(37:20):
any size business is reallyjust not having a good understanding
of taxes or being proactiveabout tax planning is probably the
next one.
And it doesn't have to beanything, you know, super complex,
but just having, you know,somebody in your back corner or resource
or somebody that you canlisten to so that you understand
your deductions, what'savailable to you.
(37:41):
If there are other strategies,a lot of times people will forget
about retirement or, ormileage or home office or setting
up accountable plans orreasonable comp.
Like, just like thesedifferent strategies that are available
to people.
If you're not having aconversation with your tax preparer
before the end of the year,you're probably missing out in some
(38:04):
kind of opportunity to be ableto minimize your liability.
So you want to make sure thatyou're, you know, it's uncomfortable
and it's scary with taxes.
But I always tell people,like, the fear that we feel a lot
of times when it comes tothings is because there's a lack
of understanding.
So the more you can understandyour taxes, the less scary they're
(38:26):
going to be.
The more you can understandhow taxes work, the less scary they're
going to be.
So really stepping into itversus avoiding it is going to put
you in a better position justoverall when it comes to your business
and your finances and your taxes.
And that is a service that youprovide, right?
It is, yeah.
So if your accountant isn'tdoing these things with you, Megan
(38:47):
is virtual.
Give her a call.
Yes.
I remember my very first yearin business.
We finished the year we had aton of loans out because we just
bought the business and, youknow, eking by and had, you know,
very little in the checkingaccount at the end of each week,
just trying to figure out howwe were going to do it.
And we owed like $30,000 in taxes.
(39:07):
And I was like, I have dollarsin my checking account.
Like, how, how does this work?
And I didn't know that loanpayments are still profit.
Like you still made that moneyand you can't write anything off
because it went to, you know,and so it.
Was like these kind of things.
And we learned very quicklyhow to navigate and plan ahead and,
you know, do the prepaymentsand plan it all out so that we could
(39:30):
pay our taxes and not getslammed in the face, you know, end
of the year.
Super fun.
Yeah.
But you don't know you're nota tax preparer when you go into business
unless you're going into a taxpreparation business.
Exactly.
And that's, that's why we do.
That's why we have these conversations.
And that's, this is why bossy exists.
Because when you go intobusiness, you know, you don't know
(39:52):
these things and, and it's so overwhelming.
And then an audit comes andthere's all these things you just
didn't know.
Right.
So.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a lot to being abusiness owner that I don't think
any of us really realize untilwe're like, in it.
Right.
So there's been, there's beena lot of things I've learned over
(40:13):
the last, you know, 12 years,I'm sure, as its owner too.
And none of it comes at theconvenient times.
No, no.
Usually you're just kind oflearning on in the process.
Right.
Or building as they fly or whatever.
Building the plane as you fly it.
Yeah.
I did see that you have a freedownload on your website.
(40:35):
I do, yes.
Yep.
The one on our website, whichis actually really good if you're
working with an accountant,but you're not sure if they're going
to be proactive on your behalf.
We.
My download is 9 Questions toAsk your accountant.
And it.
You don't have to necessarily.
The thing is, is that youdon't have to know the answers.
Although I do give kind ofwhat you're looking for from your
(40:57):
response.
It's really listening for howthey respond to you.
Because if somebody's going tobe avoidant or if they're going to
give you a short answer andthey're not going to really be open
to a conversation or be aresource to you, then you may want
to consider working withsomebody else because you want somebody
who's going to be in yourcorner and who's not going to just
(41:19):
help you be compliant, butalso make changes that are going
to be beneficial to you in thelong run as well.
And unfortunately, there's alot of people in our industry that
don't do tax planning becausetax preparation is by definition
a compliance thing.
So it's kind of after thefact, it's not proactive.
(41:40):
So.
But if you want to be in abetter place when it comes to your
taxes, you got to be proactiveabout it.
So it's an important Distinction.
But unfortunately, noteverybody does it.
So those will be somequestions to kind of help you figure
out if your accountant is moreproactive or reactive so that you
can make the best decision foryour, you know, your company and
(42:01):
your future.
So definitely download that.
So if somebody wants you to bethe person that forces them into
bucket mode, I'm gonna call itbucket mode, and they want you to
be their sidekick.
And they're like, all right, Ilistened to this podcast, and I found
the perfect person to help meget my in gear.
How do they reach you?
My website's going to be thebest place to go ahead and book a
(42:24):
call with me.
My short link to My website ischatwithmeg.com and that will take
you.
Yeah, that'll take you to mywebsite, and you can book a call
right on there and learn moreabout our services and my team.
And I'd love to have aconversation because, yeah, there's
definitely ways that you cando and things to.
To help you get sustainableand successful, and that's what we're
(42:46):
here for.
And because you're virtual, doyou have anything else that you offer?
Well, we work with clientsacross the U.S. we do have an event
that's coming up in January.
It's called our Profit Clarity Workshop.
And it's a great way to kindof get a little bit clearer on your
profits.
So we go through yourpackages, pricing, and then just
(43:11):
your cash flow in general onthat workshop.
So it's a really great, like,first step into the buckets or, like,
into the profit points of yourbusiness and getting the those clear.
So it'll be a really fun workshop.
If you're available to join usJanuary 14th, I'd love to have you.
Is that just for your currentclients or anybody can sign up for
that?
No, that's anybody?
Yep, that's anybody.
Well, it'll be just after mysurgery, so it'll be perfect because.
(43:35):
Yeah, Kelly, no one's gonnabelieve that you're having surgery.
You've been talking about this.
So I was supposed to havesurgery on September 14, and I put
off a lot of my book workbecause I was.
The first three weeks, I can'tleave bed, like, other than to, like,
because, I mean, my anklesfused, so I was like, I'm gonna need
(43:58):
to do so much stuff andputting stuff on.
And now I'm like, now it gotpostponed because I got shingles,
so I end up in bed anyway.
But, you know, going back,even just now that I'm, like, two
months behind, I'm Like, Idon't remember.
What was that for?
I'm like, what?
And it's.
It is so important to stay ontop of that stuff.
So I'm glad that you broughtthat up.
(44:20):
I'm like, testify.
Because I literally improve ofhow much that screws you up.
Even just a month or two.
And there's been times whereI've been more.
I'll be honest, there's beentimes where I've been more than a
month or two off because ofwhatever reason, and I end up working
more than I'm supposed to anddon't get time to do the other stuff.
Yeah.
Staying on schedule it.
(44:40):
Yes.
Yeah.
Schedule anything else.
Yeah.
And I have found, too, Ialways tell people, because I teach
QuickBooks classes also.
And so I always tell them, youknow, you're gonna lose this if you're
not using it.
So that's kind of the otherthing too, is like you.
If you're learning how to doit yourself, it's gonna.
It's gonna be something thatyou kind of forget how to do.
(45:02):
So then you got to kind ofrelearn it each time.
But the other part, a lot oftimes is that if you wait and wait
and wait, it's going to becomebigger and bigger and bigger, which
means you're just going toavoid it more and more.
So I tell people, put it onyour calendar, even if it's once
a month, ideally probably oncea week, where you can just, like
get caught up for the week.
Takes 20 minutes maybe, if that.
(45:24):
And you know, then you're ontrack and you're not avoiding it,
and then it's not growing intoa big, huge monster that you avoid
for another six months.
And what I've learned is thosemonsters are usually the easiest
things.
When you finally sit down toattack the monster, you're like,
why?
This was not difficult.
This was not difficult.
Right.
Why did I put this off for so long?
It's like that frog, ifanybody's ever read that book, eat
(45:45):
that frog.
Like, not only is it notdifficult, but how good you feel
after it's done.
Yes.
And how bad you feel everytime you put it off.
Like it just fingering in your head.
You know what?
It stands.
So this is your friendlyreminder that money should be tangible,
that we need to know ournumbers, we need to get our stuff
(46:09):
in order, and that we need atrusting sidekick to get us there.
Absolutely.
Wonderful advice.
Well, thank you for joiningus, Megan.
I look forward to your ProfitClarity workshop in January.
And I love chat with Meg As a website.
I need to adjust my website.
(46:34):
You want to get to yourwebsite, so do that.
Right?
Yeah.
Chat with Meg.
Awesome.
Thank you.
And thank you for reminding usthat knowing our money and paying
ourselves gives us choices andoptions and the power that comes
with that.
So we really appreciate youjoining us today, Megan.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Great conversation.
(47:03):
Megan didn't get into it, butshe has a very inspiring story of
power and resilience ofknowing your business and being able
to take it to a place thatsupports you.
And maybe she'll come back andtell us more about that.
A different time.
But she.
She grew leaps and bounds tobe able to take care of her family,
(47:24):
which is amazing.
Rewrite your financial storyand came out the other side and able
to sit and inspire us today.
I don't know if I could havedone it, but she's amazing, so hopefully
she'll come back and share more.
And you know, she brought uptaxes a lot and that's something
we wouldn't really talk aboutin our money series is the importance
of knowing your numbers andyour cash flow.
But incorporating taxes, like,for me, I just.
(47:45):
It's a part of my cash flowbecause I've already got the prepayments
built in.
So.
Because I'm scared of payingat the end of the year.
So, yeah, I think that that'sa very important conversation too.
Is.
Is where you're especially.
This isn't going to air untilJanuary, so it's too late.
But for the next year, takewhat you learned this year and work
it into your cash flow fornext year and your buckets.
(48:06):
So we actually have a bucketbecause I'm scared of taxes.
So from the get go, oursavings account is our tax.
So every week we put a certainamount of money into the savings
account and that is savingsand taxes.
So it's like that money justgoes in there and then when the tax
payment comes, that moneycomes back over whatever we need
for the tax portion and thenthe rest stays in savings.
(48:28):
Because it is important to notsee that money.
It makes a huge difference andit does make it more tangible.
But I do hate how money is sovirtual now.
Too many things are virtual.
All right, we'll chat withMega, know your numbers.
Follow us on all your favorite socials.
(48:50):
Really, we're just on Facebookand Instagram.
We try to be on the rest ofthem, but we're busy.
Bossy Rochester.
B O S S Y Rochester.
And share this with somebodywho you think needs to hear it.
Get those buckets out, Helpother people.
Be as successful as you'regoing to be.
Be the boss.
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