0:02
Welcome to design for the creative mind, a podcast for interior designers and creative entrepreneurs to run their business with purpose, efficiency and passion. Because while every design is different, the process should remain the same. Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the woowoo and probably a swear word or two. If you're ready to stop trading your time for money and enjoy your interior design business. You are in the right place. I'm your host, Michelle Lynn.
0:49
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the design for the creative mind. Podcast. I'm Michelle Lynn. I'm excited to be here with you today. I want to in or should I say re introduce Daniel Hayden. She was a guest on our podcast a couple years ago back in 2022. She is a reformed corporate chief financial officer or CFO who is on a mission to help rule breaking female entrepreneurs understand their numbers so that they can gain the confidence needed to create sustainable profits. You know, we all want that. Yes. After spending 10 plus years in the boardroom as a corporate financial officer, Danielle is now in her sweet spot as the CEO of kickstart accounting. This is where she helps business owners with bookkeeping, financial analysis, education. And just recently, she's added on tech services, the fractional CFO aspect, and just full service all around. So she's also the author of the profit planner book series. I mean, holy cow, that's a lot. When Daniels isn't crunching numbers on a client's behalf or crafting the next iteration of the profit planner, you can find her hanging out with her two kids as she inspires them to lead their fullest lives. We're doing any and almost every fitness related activity, ranging from Pilates to Spartan Races. Additionally, she has her own podcast called business by the book. So, Danielle, that was a mouthful.
2:22
I know I was sitting I'm like, oh, good lord.
2:26
Welcome back. Thanks for being here.
2:28
Thank you for having me back. So excited to
2:30
be here. Absolutely. And I know that our conversations just going to be so interesting to our audience, because you and I serve the same the same people, it's entrepreneurs, small business owners who are majority of female.
2:44
Yeah. And have a creative mind. Right? Like, they don't teach you the business side. And so I mean, all of our clients love what they do. They're passionate about what they do. But it's the number side, it's the business side that got some tripped up, like, I don't know what to do here.
3:01
Guilty. I've been in that same boat, it's just like, and numbers can used to just give me anxiety. Yeah,
3:08
it's totally normal is what I'll say, Oh, good. Because I think we shame ourselves. Like, I'm the only one that's confused by this, I'm the only one that doesn't understand my taxes, I'm the only one who doesn't know how to use it. The only one that pain myself. And that's just not true. You are not the only one. There's so much shame around this topic. But we're gonna pull that down, we're gonna pull that down and make it really, really approachable.
3:34
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I think also, we come into owning our own business thinking that we're good at what we do, we should be good at all the things. And the numbers just don't come naturally to the creative minds more often than not really having you in somebody's back pocket has is just so valuable. You had mentioned paying ourselves and you know, bringing home a paycheck and things along that line. Let's talk a little let's start with that. And the importance of taking home a paycheck. Like let's just dig in and talk about why how when, yeah, what is what how do you advise your clients? What do you suggest for small business owners? Maybe who just assume, like I did when I first started my business back in 1902, that I'll just take whatever's leftover in the profits, because there's gonna be so much that I really don't need a
4:27
paycheck. Yeah. You know, first, first of all we hear is sole proprietors or LCSW. They're like, this is my money, right? Like my business is this. And first of all, that's not true. That's literally actually not the case. The IRS says that if you commingle your business and your personal expenses, that you are doing what's called piercing the corporate veil, so if somebody goes to sue you, you've now just pierce the corporate veil. If the IRS comes to audit you, pierce the corporate veil. So you want to keep your business and your personal expenses 100%
5:05
separate. And that's just as simple as having a separate bank account. Yeah, you just have a separate
5:09
one, one business checking account and one personal checking account. One business savings, one, personal savings, business, credit card, personal credit card. But this is why paying yourself is so important. Because if you aren't paying yourself, you're going to commingle the because you need money to live.
5:27
So if I went to go pay for my child's birthday party using my business bank account, that's commingling. That is
5:38
commingling. Gotcha. So you want to pay yourself a paycheck, you know, pay yourself and then that birthday party, you're gonna pay with your personal credit card, you're allowed to take money from the business, as I'll see, you just have to do it into your personal account, and then pay for your personal expenses through your personal checking account. Now, as an LLC, let's talk about kind of how and when and like the logistics of paying yourself. When you're an LLC, you take what's called owner's drawers. And I consider owner's drawers, like going out to the cash atm of your business. You don't pay taxes on it. You do not pay taxes on your owners drawers, you can take as much cash as you want out of your business. The IRS does not care. You can take it all you have your business has to survive that. Right. But you legitimately could take it, what you are paying taxes on it is the net income of your business. That's why having financial statements having bookkeeping, having a bookkeeper is so important, because at the end of the year, you need accurate, right, not some thrown together. pile of garbage that that you're going to overpay in taxes on. Right, when you have accurate financial statements. When you have accurate bookkeeping. You don't overpay in taxes, because what you are reporting to the IRS is your actual net income. Does that make sense? It does.
7:11
It absolutely does. Okay.
7:13
So the net income is what you pay taxes on. That's the profit of your business. The owners drawers, you can take as much cash as you want. You're not paying taxes on that. But people still ask me like, what exactly do I take out of my business. And when I I suggest that everyone takes an average amount of your your sales minus your average operating expenses. Find this number by going into your profit and loss statement. So you can go into your accounting system, we suggest QuickBooks, you can pull your profit and loss by month for the last 12 months. Again, make sure it's accurate first. So hey, bookkeeper are my numbers, right? Yeah.
7:55
Because otherwise, you're going to be estimating your income or your paycheck. These numbers. Exactly exactly like that will be like trying to estimate what size sofa you needed to put into a living room without taking the measurements.
8:10
That is a perfect example. Thank you for making that apology. Yeah. Because I think when we we can apply it to what we do all day. I think it really helps us kind of put it in the right seat because financial statements can get in
8:23
the right seat. We're talking about a sofa. Yeah. Sorry, I couldn't leave that one there. Right
8:29
now. We're on a roll here. All right. So you you've taken the measurements. Alright, so you have the accurate pieces of the puzzle. So when you're looking at your profit loss by month, you're looking at the last 12 months, you're taking the average sales minus your average cost of goods sold, minus your average operating expenses. This is your average profit. Now I want you to pay yourself every single month. No, I can hear people, my revenues lumpy, my my expenses are lumpy. I don't care. That's why we're doing an average amount. Taking it consistently over time. That's
9:10
perfect. That's, I wish I would have known that back in the day. Number out of my God made it up.
9:20
Yeah, that's what so many people are doing. And so I just again, no shame in your game. Right? You did what you did. Now moving forward. Now your bookkeeper can help you too. If you have a ton of seasonality. Talk to Your Money Team, right. Like, that's why I can't do what you guys do. Like literally physically, fundamentally, I cannot do what you do. Right? Like you should see the rest of my house. Like, I can't do it. So I need you and you need your money team. Money Team can make sure that it's accurate. And you could ask questions like, hey, is this the right amount to be paying myself monthly?
9:57
Right. Well, that And also I have a bookkeeper worth her salt or a Money Team worth their salt is going to have some comparisons. It doesn't have to be the exact industry but like, give me an idea. If you've been in business for X number of years, and you're paying yourself $150 million. That's kind of out of sorts.
10:18
Are you meaning loves healthy percentages?
10:21
Yes. And designers, on the other hand will pay themselves enough? Yeah. So you know, $25,000 a year babe, that's not your salary. That's your salary? No, and you're taking over straws. But that's a whole different conversation. Well,
10:34
let's talk about the salary. So if you're an S corp, so at your you're an LLC, filing your taxes as an S corp, so my design firm is, okay, perfect. So you so you understand this, You be you now are on payroll. So as soon as you become an S corp, you are now a business expense to your business.
10:55
I've been called worse.
10:59
You can take drawers, but you're also considered an expense to your business. So you're an employee, you lower the tax liability, your business is going to pay, you're paying into payroll taxes. But here the number is a little bit different to what you're gonna pay yourself, you have to pay yourself a reasonable compensation. So as an S corp, now we do this as as our part of our tax services, we run a reasonable compensation analysis for every one of our clients using what's called RC reports. Now, if you don't have a report like that, you can go to salary.com or something like that, where how much would you have to pay somebody else to do what you do in your business? That's how much you have to pay yourself in your area? benchmark? Yeah,
11:46
interesting. Okay, good, good, good, good. Well, then hopefully, I shouldn't get a major audit or anything like that. I'm in good shape with that I'm in good shape with that. So let's talk about because I think that once we start addressing, you know, one paying ourselves and just the financials in general, of running a business, it brings a lot of, and I've said this before, when you run your own business, the professional development intermingles, with personal development, and there's a lot of money stories that come with you. But the money mindset that you have to have, as a small business owner, like what are some strategies just like that, you could think of that you've worked with your clients to maybe like help release money blocks, so that you can actually start investing in your business? Because I know sometimes when you first start your business, you're like, I can't spend that money. I don't have it, I can't spend it, but you need to spend money in order to make money. You know, even the or, or when you are making money, you've got that that roller coaster like, look at my bank account. I can that. And then you know, like four months later, you're like, gosh, should I just spent everything that I need to say? Like what? Let's talk a little bit
13:05
about that. Yeah. All right. I find that we need to know our money personality type first. Right? So what is our money personality type, we find that people will land in one of four buckets. We do have a quiz. So if you go to kickstart accounting inc.com/quiz so that you can answer like five questions, and I'll tell you your type. The first one is our free spender. Our free spender is somebody who they don't they're not looking at the numbers before they go and spend money. They see it. They want it they get it right are free spenders. They're moving fast. They're spending fast. They're not they're not considering. Oh, I'm about to hit slow season. Right. Like I have the cash in my bank account today. I want this. I need it. And moving forward. Yeah,
13:51
I could have worn that T shirt at points.
13:54
Yeah. Next is our keepers, our keepers. Nothing ever feels like enough with our keepers. So you can be saving, and saving and saving and saving. And our keepers a lot of time, you'll say well, why aren't you paying yourself? Well, I'm paying myself because I'm leaving all the money in my business because I want to rate I'm reinvesting in the business. And I'll say well, what are you reinvesting it in? I don't know. I'm just leaving it in the business to reinvest it. I'm like, but you have to spend it on something to reinvest it. Like no, no, no, no, I'm just leaving the cash there. to reinvest it my call like that just means you're saving and you literally actually can't spend money. Like it's in your heart to not spend your super Yeah. Are perfectionist obsess over every dollar where's the dollar coming in? Where's the dollar going out? They're obsessed over every penny and it's freaking exhausting.
14:49
I'm married to one of those
14:52
guys. Uh, you know, that's one Wow. Holy crap. Man. It's our balance seeker. Our balance seeker knows that they can't do Everything themselves, they need help. They need to be able to spend money to be able to reinvest in their business and for them to grow. There is a level of healthy spending in business. If we are doing healthy spending in our business, then we are going to continue to grow our business. If we're not spending, we're not growing. Legends, when clients get on a call with me, they'll say, all right, tell me where I should cut back. I'm like, What are you talking about? You should spend money. Like if you're not hitting your goals, show me your income statement. I can tell you why you're not hitting your goals. Oh, wow. So your first step is know your personality type. Because that is the way you're spending money in your business.
15:43
And drop that in. Y'all will have this in the notes, but drop that website and link that
15:50
URL. Thank you. Kickstart accounting. inc.com/quiz. Okay, perfect. Thank you. So go take the quiz. Because it's really funny, because some people think that they're one thing, but the quiz shows them in another direction. So take, take the quiz. So that's first step, know what your personality type is, because that is how you are spending money in your business. Step two is a little bit softer. Like what season of your business are you in? Because I think that there's this myth that as a business owner, we all have to have hockey stick growth, that all of us are hockey sticking our way to million dollar businesses. And maybe you're not doing that.
16:32
That's not reality. Yeah.
16:35
Maybe your goal for this year is to be the one to pick up your kids from school every day, or some days. Maybe your goal is to care for your aging parents or to buy a home. We had a client who did this really interesting. We just watched her go through all the seasons. When she started with us. She came is kind of freelancer. Like I'm just doing this on the side kind of thing. Yeah. And then when we told her like, you're actually generating a profit from this side hustle thing that you're doing, she's like, Oh, I'm like a real business owner. Yeah, you're real. So once once, she got her mindset around that, that she was a real business owner that she could do this. She started to reinvest in her business. She said, Alright, I do want hockey stick growth. I'm investing in marketing, advertising, conferences, mastermind groups coaching. I mean, she was digging in to grow her business. And she did, she got that revenue, momentum. But then she decided that she needed to buy a house and she needed to lay down some roots. So she had to change the way that she was spending in our business to leave enough profits. She had to leave enough profits to take some owners drawers and put herself on salary so that she could buy the home. After she purchased her home, her mom got sick. And she had to move her mom into the utter her new home, which was great. At least she had the space. But she invested in a team. So her payroll costs skyrocketed. Yeah. She had to dial back on how much she was paying herself. But her business survived that season. And she had the space and time to go care for her mom. After her mom passed, she said, Alright, I gotta re stabilize, she restabilized her spending. She restabilized how much she was paying herself. And she refocused. But do you see how when we have seasons, our spending changes?
18:40
And sometimes our mindset doesn't? Yeah. She
18:44
released the guilt around it. You know, the year she was caring for her mom, her business didn't didn't hockey stick growth. It maintained they did did grow a small incremental amount. But she was okay with that. Right? Because she increased her spending around payroll. She allowed her team the space. And she had a business combative.
19:06
I love that. And yeah, she was still able to keep the business open. That's fantastic. So with that you were talking about cutting expenses isn't always the answer. Yeah. Because you need to reinvest in order to grow but you have to, you have to realign your expectations of let's just say your take home pay, or your savings or whatever the case may be with those with those adjustments. How much do you suggest keeping in savings for those moments when you know, you can't really plan to put your foot on the gas or put your foot on the brake just let's just say the brakes just happened. So
19:50
I suggest having three checking accounts at all times a Chatwal checking into savings, a checking account that just as the operating account money in money out, this is where your client deposits are coming out of his way of paying your credit card. Account Number two is to save for taxes. My mom always said, there's two things in guaranteed in life, you're gonna pay taxes and you're gonna die. Right? Stop being surprised that you're gonna pay taxes in April, you are going to pay taxes in April, my friends, save up for it.
20:24
Imagine trying to bake a cake without a recipe, you kind of know what the ingredients are. But you don't know how to put it all together. After lots of hard work and trying different combinations, all you are left with is a sticky situation and a stomachache behave. Running an interior design business can feel exactly that same way. That is why I created the interior design business bakery. This is a program that teaches you how to bake your interior design business cake and eat it too. If you don't want to figure out the hard way, and you want guidance to follow a recipe that has already been vetted, someone that has already been there and done it and will help you do it too. Then check out the year long mentorship and coaching program, the interior design business bakery. If your interior design business revenue is below 300,000. Or if you're struggling to make a profit and keep your sanity, this is the only program for you. You can find that information at designed for the creative mind.com forward slash business dash bakery, check it out. You won't regret it.
21:46
Okay, so here's another question. And I know that this this is y'all that are listening. This is not like financial advice, specifically for you. But this is generalized financial advice is do you suggest pre paying your taxes over the course of the year or just saving that shit holding on to your own damn money. This is how I feel about it. And then and then giving to the government. So
22:10
technically, as a CPA, you are required to pay your estimated taxes. And it's based on last year's net income. However, you can choose as a business owner not to pay your estimated taxes, you will pay a small penalty at the end of the year. So if you want to give an interest free loan to the IRS, you by all means can do that. Or you can keep your cash, cash and you'll pay a small penalty. So small interest to keep your own cash. But if you're going to not pay your estimated taxes, and even if you are paying your estimated taxes, you still need to be saving because if this year is better than last year, you need to have that money in the bank. Yeah, right. And that's 25% of your net income. So again, this is why I want you to have accurate numbers every month. Because when we send our clients their financial statements, so we send our clients their financials through what's called a snapshot, sheet says easy to read, really creative way of looking at your numbers. And in there, we have that exact number. This is how much you need to have saved for your taxes year to date. So it's given to you right there. And then that's the money you move into that savings account. Right. Now you see
23:23
that every month. So if you didn't move it last month, you better get your booty in gear this month. You get caught up.
23:30
Yeah, move it move that money. Yeah, don't let Don't. Don't be surprised. Right. Yeah. That's, that's why we send our clients monthly financials, because it's not quarterly. It's not at tax time. Like you need to be prepared monthly. No
23:46
business, you have to be nimble. Yeah, you might have to turn around and change something today. That was that's not working for you.
23:54
Yeah. And I suggest that you do that. And
23:58
you can't make that decision if you don't have the data. Exactly. Okay.
24:01
All right. The third account is what I think is most important. I think this is really what you're asking is the rainy day fund. So I want you to have between one and three months worth of your operating cash in this account, what is operating cash, this is your average cost of goods sold, plus your average operating expenses. Plus your average monthly debt payments, your monthly average owner's drawers. So four things, okay, I should add that number up, you can have between one and three months. But this number is important because if you have a pretty low risk tolerance, you're going to have more like three months worth. as your business grows, and you have more and more expenses, you're probably going to have more like one month saved so you're probably like not gonna be saving $300,000 in this account. But when you're smaller and you're growing and things are more cyclical, I having more like three months So
25:00
now, if that makes sense, and that just also lets us sleep a lot better.
25:04
Yeah. Shall we need that as business owner? Oh,
25:08
yeah, just sleep in general sleep in general, still, as a financial professional, and you have a variety of different industries, but designers are a key factor. Do you have an issue that you see recurring from designers like bookkeeping issues, tax issues, like, Oh, whoops, every designer does this?
25:30
Yeah. I see two big issues in this industry.
25:35
One, my pen, I need to say, Okay, I'm ready.
25:40
One is, systems. We had a client who came to us a few years ago, and she was so proud of herself, that her point of sale system, house was syncing with QuickBooks. And then all the data was syncing. And she's like, I think my bookkeeping is good. Because I have the systems talking to each other. So pretty sure I'm good, right? Like, I don't need much help. We got into the system. And we're like, Oh, my God, the balance sheet is so wrong. She overpaid double. Her sales were duplicated. In the previous year, she couldn't figure out why she was so profitable, and had no cash. And it's because her systems were sinking and talking to each other. bookkeeping, what's wrong? Oh, and
26:35
she weren't our hero when he figured that out. Because Oh, my gosh, back.
26:38
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I think issue one is, what systems do you have in place? Are they talking to each other? If they're talking to each other? Are they talking to each other in the right way? And do you have a money team or somebody else looking to ensure that everything is accurate? And you're not overpaying in taxes?
27:00
Your man or underpaying? Yeah, that little come in? Take your money. Yeah.
27:06
Alright, issue number two, is putting your head in the sand, to say, I'm a creative person, I'm not good with money. And then all of a sudden, it's the end of the year. And you're surprised yet again, that you have a tax bill, that you didn't pay yourself enough that you didn't hire somebody because you thought you didn't have enough money. But here you are just coming going the whole time. And you've chosen to put your head in the sand and tell yourself a story. I'm not a numbers person, and then you overpay in taxes.
27:41
That makes sense. Or you're trying to navigate your business by your bank account balance.
27:46
Yeah, or your gut? Yeah,
27:49
I've had a couple of years like that. I don't recommend it. Yeah. Recommend that at all. That's interesting that you that there's two big buckets of issues that you've seen from designers? Do you see something similar with other industries?
28:03
Of course, of course, that's why we serve other industries, because a lot of the issues that we have are common amongst entrepreneurship in general. It's just in what systems do we have? And how do we use the systems? And how do we manage them. So
28:23
I want to dig in to your, before we started recording, you were talking how you've added your CFO services to your to your offerings. And I would just say that that has to be such a relief for some of your clients because they can bounce these things off of you and get information that is well educated. And not just over cocktails with a friend like what do you do and it's then don't over? Don't do them cocktails, or if you do do it after you've made decisions. But but for myself, you know, I didn't even know fractional CFO even existed for years. Yeah, and where to find one that I the specializes in small businesses. So you all if you're listening, you know if Daniel Hayden isn't your cup of tea to go get a fractional CFO, which she shouldn't be, find one, find another one, find somebody who can give you that guidance, just like we guide our clients to make the right selections, you know, proper scale, size, color, all the things it's the same thing from a financial standpoint. It really is.
29:34
And I always say bookkeeping is the vehicle to being able to do everything else. So we can't hire a fractional CFO if we're DIY in our bookkeeping, right? So our bookkeeper our bookkeeping is always the vehicle. We have to have accurate numbers first, then once we have accurate numbers, then we can effectively communicate with our business coach, because really, how do they work with you? or anyone else if they don't have accurate numbers, right? We can't make business decisions without it.
30:05
And I think it's important that you're giving us that information. Yeah. It's just like you're saying, Okay, this is what you need to do. But this is what I think you should do. And here's why. And we can double, we can look at that and also understand it. So I can be
30:22
done with you. Yeah,
30:23
yeah. Yeah. Because it, what I've learned is that as I get this information, and you're and you're teaching me that, what you're suggesting that in the future, it's like, what? What would what would Daniel do? Yeah. So it teaches us how to think going forward. And then we elevate our business, you know, with with your guidance.
30:47
Yeah. Done with you, right. So I always say we do the bookkeeping, and then we send our clients the financial statements in the snapshot. Now it's your job. Yeah. To look at them to ask yourself, what worked? What didn't work? What do I do more of? What do I want to stop doing? Then? Once you're ready, right? Bookkeeping is looking backwards. CFO work is looking forward. So once we once we feel really comfortable looking backwards. Now we can say, Oh, I actually want to put together a budget. I want to start forecasting. I want to start thinking strategically in the future. And then we look at a CFO to look into the future of our business. I love
31:29
that. Yeah. And it gives us the chance to be strategic about our financials, which drives everything, all the other decisions in our business. Yeah. So when do you find time to focus on your business strategy?
31:42
So two things, we run our business on a system called EOS. Have you heard of that?
31:49
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Entrepreneurs operating system. Yep.
31:53
We implemented about three years ago, we have an integrator. Kevin, who works with us. So for anyone who's listening, EOS is a operating system, where every year you look at your vi to your your vision, your mission, where do you want to see yourself one year, three year, 10 years? And how are you going to get there, every quarter, you said, you set quarterly rocks with your leadership team. So every quarter, we have a set of goals that are going to move our business forward. And then we meet weekly, to review the progress of the rocks, and then talk about any issues that are happening in the business. And it's time for us to come together every single week for 90 minutes to discuss what we need to change and how we need to change it. And then what we're going to do next. So we run out on Eos, but then we also have a money team. And this is something where I really struggled with it for a long time because I'm like, I know how to do it, you know, so I can do the bookkeeping, I can be my own CFO. But I realized I'm you know, the shoemakers? kids run around without shoes.
33:01
Yes, yes, yes. Yes, the cobblers kids. Yeah. So I said we're not doing
33:04
that anymore. We're going to be first in line. And so we have a bookkeeper who does our bookkeeping. We have a CFO who sits outside of our firm who does amazing work. And I have a CPA who who does our taxes. And I can speak to what we do so well, because I do it as a business owner. Well,
33:27
and that also shows the value of outsourcing. What what you need help with?
33:33
Yeah, I shouldn't be the one as a CEO. I don't, even if I know how to do it. I shouldn't be the one doing it. I am the CEO of this business. I am not the bookkeeper of the business girl
33:44
that is so so powerful. That statement is accurate in any business that is run by more more like it's not necessarily a solopreneur. But small businesses. Yes, just because you can do it doesn't mean you need to. Yeah, I love social media. I don't do my own social media. But I like I look at it and I'm like, I really want to do that.
34:08
But that's not the best use of your time, there is the best use of your time. And I think as a solopreneur we can tell ourselves this superhero cape story of like, I have to be the one to do everything. I air quote, can't afford it. Or I'm not ready. I'm not big enough. Well, guess what? You're big enough. As soon as you're generating revenue in your business, you're big enough to have a bookkeeper to get help in areas that that you're not the expert. Because guess what? You're not the freakin expert. Stop trying to do things that you shouldn't be doing.
34:38
Yeah, because you make money designing not procuring or bookkeeping or social media eating.
34:43
Exactly, exactly. So don't let solopreneur wearing being be your sob story to hold yourself back.
34:50
Boom. That's that's that might be the title of our podcast today. So what is the risk that you've taken in your career? That has been paid off. Hiring? Yeah.
35:04
Yeah, I'll never forget, I was sitting at my old house. And it was this two bedroom house, my kids were young, I was a single mom. And this is one of those houses that have the old paneling. And it wasn't insulated. So like the minute the heat turns off, you're like freezing, right? Like, the minute you like, sit at the dining room table, I'm freezing my butt off. Because they're sleeping, I'm drinking this glass of wine. And I was playing with our numbers. And it was a crossroads moment, I either stay here, and I stay small. And I keep on trading my time for money. Because I was capped. I couldn't take any more clients and service them myself. I can decide to grow. And I needed to decide how I was going to grow was I going to hire a team of bookkeepers to do the low level work, and I was going to still meet with the clients. So I'm gonna hire people who are at the same level as I was. And I could grow the business and are true. Like, where I was going to be managing a team of accountants? Yes. And I had to make that choice. And I hired two people in one day, I hired Sarah, who's still with the firm. And I heard of this marketing agency, because I needed I needed revenue. Yes, keeps. Yeah, we did it together. I did. I hired both of them together. And here's a really important decision that I made right then, though, I decided that I wanted to be a leader. And not the not the doer, not the designer, right. And I think that's an important decision for each and every listener who's listening, that when you start to hire, do you want to lead? Or do you want to be the one doing the work? Because it's going to change who you hire in your business?
36:57
That is so true. You can or you can, you can order you can hire like an office manager, somebody to handle with handle procurement and things along that line. And you can keep doing the design. Yeah. Or you can hire somebody to do that and design while you step up into more of a CEO. leadership role. And that that makes perfect sense, Danielle, because I hired other designers because I didn't, I didn't want to do all the designing. And I needed to hire people smarter than me. Who could who could design better than I wanted to spend all that time or was dealing with the clients? Yeah, I did not want to deal with the people anymore.
37:36
It is it is a personal, there's no right or wrong answer here. Right? Like you no matter what you have to build your admin team, your money team, your assistant, right? Like no matter what you need an admin team. So that's your non negotiable hires. I'm talking you're hiring on designers or like, Who do you want to be as a business?
38:00
Absolutely. Do you want to hire designers underneath you as as your assistant so you could still be leading the designer? Do you want to hire people who are as good as if not better than you? Yeah, exactly. I love that. Okay, so as we start to wrap up, what book do you recommend reading this year? Now? It doesn't have to be professional. Like, do you
38:20
love to sell is my all time favorite business book changed the way I think about my entire business? Not to sell it but how I created the framework of what we do and how we do it.
38:32
Is that how you got introduced to EOS? Um,
38:35
no, I'm in a group called EO the entre. I know EO. So EO entre introduced me to us. That makes sense. Okay.
38:44
Yeah, then I interrupted you book.
38:47
Oh, my favorite non business book is Nightingale right now. I just recently read that. Fabulous.
38:54
I think didn't she right. I just read the women and I think it was the same author. Yeah,
38:59
same. Same author. I'm reading the woman right now. She had the great alone. I read that one too.
39:03
I'm obsessed with her. Yeah, she's really good. I cannot remember her name. But y'all if you're like, Kristin, Hannah,
39:08
look at you. Like it'll come to me. Yes. Those
39:12
are good. Awesome. Well, gosh, I feel like we've just barely I know
39:17
I have so much more to say no.
39:20
We don't need to wait another two years. Okay. All right. Down on something. Now. I believe. We mentioned your website. How can people get in touch with you?
39:30
The podcast is business by the books. Website is kickstart accounting inc.com Instagram kickstart
39:36
accounting. Started accounting. So there's no ink on your kickstart accounting for Instagram. Yeah, okay, perfect. So I will make sure that those details are in the notes, especially since I cannot get my words formed very well today. That's the joy of Done is better than perfect. Y'all
39:54
pay I'm a strong believer that I will do B minus work any day like be my Listen done. Oh, but I just mean like, get shit done. Like
40:06
messing with you. Perfectionist
40:07
paralysis. Um, yes, perfectionism paralysis. I'll say now you gave it to me.
40:17
Leave it with you. That's alright. That's all right. This is reality, right? So I will make sure that that information is in our show notes so that y'all can go and find that and make sure you go and take the quiz. Listen to the podcast, and stay in touch with Daniel and hire CFO hire fractional CFO, y'all. Yeah, and if you guys want a business bestie, who will send you business tips, encouraging words, event updates, workshops that we have our free workshops that introduce the paid program of the interior design business bakery, if you want all of that sent directly to your fingertips, you can text the word bestie to 855-784-8299, I'll make sure that phone number is also in the show notes. But what I'll do is I will send you a text anywhere between two and three times a week without spam, sharing that business tips encouraging word event updates things along that line. If we run any sort of programs, you will be the first to know again, it's 855-784-8299. And you all choose to be great today, and every day. And thank you, Daniel for being here. Hey, y'all, if you love the show and find it useful, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your friends and followers. And if you like what you're hearing, want to put a face with a name and get even more business advice. Then join me in my Facebook group, the interior designers business launch pack. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feet. It's fine. I promise you'll enjoy it. And finally, I hear it's good for business to get ratings on your podcast. So please drop yours on whatever platform you use to listen to this. We're all about community over competition. So let's work on elevating our industry, one designer at a time. See you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
