WEBVTT
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The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
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solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
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those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
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We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
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Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or comment should
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be directed to those show hosts.
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Thank you for choosing W four WN Radios success successful,
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hard successful women.
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Did you know women represent just three of Fortune five
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hundred CEOs and less than fifteen percent of corporate executives
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at top companies worldwide? Have you wondered what the secrets
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are to getting into the top ranks, whether in the
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private or public sector. Do you want to figure out
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how to stop being held back in your career? Are
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passed over for promotion, then you're in the right place. Hi.
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I'm doctor Matlanane lewis President and CEO of the Executive
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Women's Success Institute. I have decades of experience in the military,
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the federal government, and corporate America, and my mission is
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to help women succeed and tap into their full potential.
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I want to reach a million plus women around the
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world to become the leaders they are meant to be. So,
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if you want to move into a management or executive
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level position, or maybe you are a female veteran transitioning
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out of the military into business entrepreneurship, and reach out
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to the Executive Women's Success Institute at three zero one
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six nine three three two eight four let us get
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you on the fast track to success. Well. Hello, and
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welcome to the Success for Women's Show, where you can
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view us on Talk for TV and listen to us
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on the Women for Women Network. I am doctor Madeline
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Ann Lewis your host, and my mission is to help
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women accelerate the path to success. Well, today's topic is
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the CEO mindset and we're gonna be talking about We're
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gonna have some great nuggets coming up for you today
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and the CEO mindset from avoiding your finances to owning
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your wealth. And my guest today is none other than
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Miss Kristin Graham. Let me give you just a little
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bit of background on her. Kristin Graham is the co
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founder of six Figure Business Coaching. Kristin is a business coach.
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She's a podcaster and real estate investor who believes that
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sustainable growth starts with strong business systems and the right
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support team. She understands that the time is that time
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is the most valuable asset for business owners. With years
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of experience in real estate, mortgages, and business ownership, she
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helps entrepreneurs delegate confidently and scale with the help of
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virtual assistance, from bookkeeping to marketing. Her passion lies in
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empowering business owners and creating opportunities for talented virtual assistance world.
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Why I would like to bring my guests to screen,
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Miss Kristen Graham.
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Hello, Doctor Lewis, Thank you so much for having me today.
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Well, it's a pleasure to have you here. I know
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your schedule has been busy, so we are looking forward
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to some of the nuggets that you're going to share
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with us today. But before we get started, I always
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share the standard bio, but I also like to ask
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my guests or just to tell us what you want
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us to know about Kristin Graham.
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Oh, my gosh, Like you said, my background is real estate.
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I love everything about real estate. But I've got a
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pillow from my sister in law that says, I'm not bossy,
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I have better ideas. So I've always been really good
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at delegating. I know you were in the military, so
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thank you for serving my joke that I would do
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really well in the army if they let me start
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off as a general. So delegation has kind of always
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been my thing. I guess I love helping business owners,
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but particularly female business owners, step into their leadership power
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and understand we leave people and we manage task and
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the women deserve to have support in their businesses.
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Absolutely, absolutely, that's one of the reasons why I love
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working with women also, So tell us why do so
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many entrepreneurs avoid looking at their numbers, you know, in
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their business in the first place. Why do you think
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that is?
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Well, we joke when you start a business, you get
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to wear a lot of hats. Right, Well, there's hats
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we don't even know we have to wear when we
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start a business.
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We do know.
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Bookkeeping is one of them, but if you haven't taken
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bookkeeping classes and you don't feel comfortable with accounting software
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and principles, it's one of those things that gets pushed
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to the back burner. Right. So marketing is important because
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it helps you bring in clients. Client work is really
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you know, top priority. So it's one of those things
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that just gets pushed back. There's also a lot of
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shame and guilt and fear around money, you know, So
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it's just one of those things that again it keeps
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getting pushed back. Also, I have found that sometimes CPAs
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will talk down to women, belittle them, and so again
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sometimes they've had bad experiences, they've been told they're not
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great at math. So it's a lot that goes into
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the psychology of why I think women in business sometimes
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of away their finances and so it's a lot.
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To unpack, right absolutely, I tell you what, what Math
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was never my favorite subject in school. I remember I
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had to have tutors to make sure I got their math.
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But I do have a wonderful CPA, So I am
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thankful for that that she makes sure that all the
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numbers are where they're supposed to be. But you're absolutely
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right about the fact that there's that fear there in business,
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especially if you're in business, to make sure that the
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numbers are correct. So what do you think is the
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biggest bookkeeping our financial mistake? You see that small business
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owners of making.
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Yeah, this one really surprised me. But business owners will
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start an LLC or they incorporate their business because they
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want lead protection for their asset real right personal assets
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and business assets. Sometimes what they don't understand is with
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that LLC or that incorporation, there are rules you have
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to follow. One of those rules is you need to
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keep your business and personal finance is separate. If you're
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not doing that, you could be opening yourself up if
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you were to be sued that your personal assets could
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be at risk. That is a really big one, and
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it's you know, it's one of those things we don't
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ever talk about. So I guess I was surprised how
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many people didn't understand that. But it does make sense.
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I mean a lot of times people said their own
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LLC or maybe the attorney does it, but they don't
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talk to them about all the rules. So yeah, it
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makes sense. But that's that was the one that surprised
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me the most.
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Wow. That, Yeah, that is interesting. I guess I never
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thought about that, but that that is very interesting. What
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would you say is the difference though, between bookkeeping and
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accounting and why should business owners understand that difference?
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Yeah, so every month you have money coming in and
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you have money going out. If you don't have that
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money tracked properly, then it's really hard for you to
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make decisions in real time. So to me, bookkeeping is
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having you know, everything reconciled every month, taking the time
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to review your profit and loss statement. And sometimes it's recognizing,
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oh my gosh, I need to raise my prices, or
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that particular offer is not profitable at all, and I
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don't think I could raise it high enough to be
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able to sell it and make it profitable, so maybe
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I need to let it go. So it's one of
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those things where that information is so important. I think
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about accountant or your CPA is the person that does
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your tax this so having a bookkeeper, a very affordable
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bookkeeper can take care of all the day to day
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bookkeeping for you, and then every month they can review
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your numbers with you and point out things that maybe
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you wouldn't see and say they can help you challenge
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am I spending too much money in this category? You know?
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Do I need again raise prices? Do I need to
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cut costs? Do I just need to generate more clients?
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And if so, how much more so that I can
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bring home the paycheck that I need and I want
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my life as well as having a profitable business.
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Oh well, I guess I'm kind of lucky then because
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my person she can do both. She could do the book,
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so I guess I'm lucky in that respect then that
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there is that difference, but she can handle both ends
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of it. Now, this is kind of an maybe an
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off question. What do you think is when you talk
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about the money coming in and the money going out?
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I know sometimes you know, being in business, your face
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with having to sign u invoices, sign checks and whatever
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things like that. Do you think it's a good idea
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to have the person handling your books. Have they let
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them have that power of attorney where they can sign
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the checks? Or should you always sign your own checks?
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It depends on the business and how it's set up.
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So I would say, first of all, a lot of CPAs,
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a lot of accountants will do bookkeeping, or they have
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people in an office that will do bookkeeping. Generally, you know,
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a great CPA is probably gonna bild one hundred and
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fifty to two hundred dollars an hour for the work
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that they do. So a lot of times that's just
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it's not affordable for a lot of small business owners
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to pay that. So that's one of the reasons why
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they separate out bookkeeping and who defiles their taxes. But
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when it comes to you know, I.
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Feel like so many things have become more electronic. I
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don't have checks personally, I don't even have I don't
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have checks in the business, so I don't worry about
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writing checks. When I have my mortgage company, I did
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have an office manager and she wrote all the checks
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and I signed them. We had really good checks and
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balances in place. With a situation where you know, right
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now all of our money comes to paypaler stripe, It's
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all transferred to us digitally, I don't really need to
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worry about, you know, the invoice that goes out. The
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money comes in electronically, so there's not that that issue.
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And the same thing with paying bills that we do
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everything online. I think you have to be very careful
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how much power you give to people, though, and if
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you do that, you have to have checks and balances.
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If you google fraud, whether it's in the small businesses
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or nonprofits.
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You will be shopped.
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How many people go to business to go to jail
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for fraud, whether that's CEOs you know, the family friend
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who's been the book cut keeper for twenty five years
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that they find out is embezzled millions of dollars. So
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you always want to be on top of your finances.
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You know. For us, a lot of our clients are
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you know, they're pushing that hundred thousand dollars or maybe
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they're at one hundred. They're tying to get to two
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fifty to half a million dollars. So for them, having
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really solid, affordable bookkeeping with someone that can trust in
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systems and processes in place is important. And in our
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particular model, we do not recommend that your bookkeeper is
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taking care of paying any of the bills. They don't
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have any access to your full account numbers in anything.
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And that's what that's my thinking too. I just feel
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like I kind of want to put an eye on
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just everything that especially you know, if it has to
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do with the money going out and different things like that.
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But I've had some a couple of friends that did
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that and they wound up getting into well not only
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getting into trouble, but almost losing their business in some
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cases losing their business because, like you said, with the
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fraud part of it. So that is something that you
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as a business person, you really have to be careful
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about doing that. Yeah.
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Yeah, But even if you think about something smaller, what
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we find is a lot of times when clients have
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their bookkeeper have everything set up, they realize they've been
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paying for a software that they haven't used in two years.
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You know, it's only sixty bucks a month or whatever,
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but that adds up, you know, Or they realize maybe
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they've mispaid you know, their annual renewal fee for their LLC,
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or their insurance lapsed. So being on top of the numbers.
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It's not just about embezzlement, but it's also about just
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knowing and making very conscious decisions about where your money's going.
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I think it's so important.
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Exactly absolutely at what stage should a business owners start
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taking their bookkeeping serious. I mean at the startup, I
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mean in the middle of it, or once they're well established,
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or at what point should they take it serious?
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Day one? So, for example, if you're starting a business
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and we just talked about, you set up an LLC
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and you incorporate it, well, if you're paying all the
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business expenses out of your personal account, you've already commingled