So good stuff. So how long has Unboxed Advisors been in business now?
How many days?
We just launched this July the 19th.
July 19th. Woo! Cool. This is like breakout, unboxing of Unboxed Advisors right on Vision
Pros Live. That's super fun. Awesome. You've been a CPA for how many years? I'm sorry to
put that on you.
21 years.
21 years. So you started at 10?
At age 10?
Yeah. I started at age 10.
Alright. 21 years and how many team members do you have in this, in the current and Unboxed
Advisors right now?
Right now there's three of us. And we've got plans to add a couple more advisors within
the next three, six months.
Okay, so you're looking for great advisors out there to join you.
Absolutely.
Alright, as you grow. And welcome in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm Jackson Calame. I'm your show host. We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs
and guest leaders who are building fantastic visions out there.
Welcome to Vision Pros Live. I'm your host, Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of First Class
Business. And I have Susan Bryant, CPA on the show. She's got other acronym titles,
but those are outside of my ballpark. I don't do acronyms. So she can teach us about what
those are. Or if you're listening and you know what she does, then you'll be up to speed.
But if you don't, those are opportunities for you, myself, and all the visionaries out
there to level up and make sure that you understand what her skill sets are and why those things
might matter. Because one of the greatest things we're guilty of as entrepreneurs is
delegation by abdication. When I first heard that, I looked that word up. I had no idea
what it meant. And that was last year. And I was like, okay, I think I get the concept
of the idea. Like I should probably delegate responsibly is what's being alluded to. But
I looked it up and sure enough, abdication is basically taking what you don't want to
do and placing it on the shoulders of somebody else and saying, you do it, I'm done with
this. And then unplugging and never really learning what they're up to. And if there's
two areas that I see entrepreneurs doing that, and most commonly it is HR and finances. And
when I'm talking about entrepreneurs and talking about those who aren't investment bankers
at hand, those who aren't financial advisor, you're financial advisor and you're delegating
your finances, you're responsible. I don't know what you're doing in life. But that said,
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they do. It's an opportunity to give back to communities who have super, super severe
needs. These are people who don't have access to clean drinking water and you get to see
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They're empowering these communities to know how to maintain these systems as well. That
way the system has sustainable filtered water henceforth. And you can imagine over 10, 20,
30 years what that probably does for the people who live there. So I hope you take the opportunity
to either give back to that or if you challenge me and you're like, I know a better charity,
we'll go give to them. Use this moment to be inspired to go give back. So without further
ado, I've got Susan Bryant coming on board. As I said, the talk to us about finances and
how her vision's unfolding with Unboxed Advisors. She is new to her business, not new to business
and not new to the game of helping with finances. So I'm excited to unlock her vision. Susan,
thank you so much for being here today. Yeah, super excited to be here. Thank you so much,
Jackson. It's great to be part of the show. Absolutely. So Susan, let's dive right in.
Who should be listening? Why should they listen to you specifically? And what are they going
to get out of today's show, do you think? So business owners, entrepreneurs, people
who are ready to break free from the, I would say it is this chaos that has enveloped them
because they have so many different things coming at them with the finances being one
of the key components, but also because they know that everything that's happening in their
business that is going to either go right or go wrong is going to show up in that set
of financials. So people who understand that connection and they want a better way, they
want to talk about what should be happening versus what is happening when you talk to
someone who has an accounting background, like who has this, you know, who is a CPA
or who is assisting small business owners, I know, in attempting to grow. So why should
they listen to me? Well, I'm not, I wouldn't say that I am the expert on all things, but
I am a curious person. And so I'm always wanting to learn more about what other people do and
how they make money. And that gives me a unique perspective because I've really applied that
in my whole life. And so I've gathered a lot of information, working with thousands of
different types of businesses over my, in the course of my profession, you know, my,
my career. And so I really believe that that gives me the ability to speak to business
owners in a way where we can take information and cross apply it to other situations. So
I think that's what I would say. Nice. I love it. And you covered quite a bit of the vision
as well of what you do to serve those that you're working with. Let's dive a little bit
deeper into that. So I know it says in 30 seconds, but I have more time. Let's expound.
What does that vision look like for those that you serve? Who do you, again, specifically,
who do you love to work with? And we'll go from there. So my vision is to restore the
CPA profession to what it once was. And that is that we are more than just transaction
oriented compliance generating report making machines. And we have ample time. And so the,
you know, the, the, my vision is, is that we have ample time to ask questions, to truly
advise holistically our clients so that they are making more money, that they are saving
money and they are protecting their wealth. Right now, the way that CPA firms are structured,
it is just transactional. It's send your information in, we'll produce a report or a return and
we'll send it back out. And there is not enough time, capacity, bandwidth, or even initiative
on the part of CPAs to say, this has to end. We must stop because we are not serving our
clients the best of our ability. Yes. Okay. So this is, this is interesting. You use the
word restore and I'm, I take it that's before my time because what you describe is what
I've pretty much always seen at any, any company I've worked with. So what are we, when was
that timeframe when things used to function that way or what companies are doing that,
that you admire? Yeah. I think there's been a few things that have contributed to this
over abundance of compliance work. And that is the tax law has changed dramatically and
legislation keeps on coming and coming and coming. You know, just think about the stuff
from COVID, the employee retention credit, PPAP loans. I mean, the tax law that was just
preceding that in 2018 was like the biggest overall since 1986. We had more legislation
like there's, it's just constant, even like things like the wayfare case law that changed
sales tax nexus. That's an accounting issue. So those types of, those types of compliance
issues and this over abundance and compliance work have caused accountants to just become,
they just keep taking on more and more and more clients instead of saying, I'm not taking
any more clients. I just want to serve the ones that I have. So I think that is just,
that to me is the difference and what it is that should be the vision for accountants.
It's not sell as much work as you can and try to produce as many returns. The vision
really needs to be how do we work with just the right number of customers and help them
to achieve a transformation from where they are to where they want to become and work
together to make sure that that is financially viable for both parties.
Nice. Very cool. And so I'm going to shift a little more personally here. I love the
business vision. We're going to come back to that and talk in depth about how you got
through, how you uncovered that, how that could affect people who are listening in today.
But what's your personal vision? What are you up to as a person? What do you want to
accomplish over the next 10, 15, 20 years?
As a person, I view myself as an agent of positive change. That's just how I've always
kind of referred to myself. So my personal vision is to just leave an indelible mark
on as many people as I can and help as many people as I can as both a professional and
as a friend. And in a lot of cases, those kind of get blurry, right? My professional
acquaintances and networking partners often become really good friends and just lift up
as many people as possible by being of service to them. So that's my vision. I hope to always
be a great mom and a great wife and a great daughter and a great aunt. So all those personal
relationships are really important to me and hope to get better at them. I would say that
as an accountant, I've made a lot of sacrifices over the years in terms of time with my kids
and relationships along the way. So it's becoming more and more important to me as I
get older to really take the time to make sure that people know how important they are
and show them and show up and be present in all the right ways.
That's awesome. I'm glad you incorporated that. And it's such a tempting thing. I'm
not going to call anybody else specific that's been on the show, but it's so tempting to
answer that personal vision question where you circle it back to your audience and why
it matters about what you're doing for people. And that's cool. And I get that. But I think
it's helpful for people to know who the leaders are out there that are also human and that
also care about their family and care about those aspects of life. So thank you for sharing
that boldly. And I am one of the people who puts family first. I'm dad before I'm CEO
and everything. And I've been a stay at home dad since I was 21. I've been perfect at it.
I have my errors and the things I lose sight of as well. But I think there's a great opportunity
for corporations and professionals to try to make more room for the balance and the
victories that could come from doing just that. So very wise of you. Anything you want
to add?
I would just say that you just can't get that time back. So choose wisely.
Right. Well said. Bittersweet. And most of us listening can appreciate that. And so again,
we're going to dive into this summer dive into a darker subject. What's your worst business
experience ever?
Oh, man. Are we talking about client experience? Are we talking about business partner experience?
I promise not to dictate. I will let you choose that route. Let's think, I would say, think
in your heart and your mind, whoever's listening in, what might they benefit the most from?
What story?
Okay. So I think at some point there was a question like on Facebook or something. What
would you tell your younger self? And I remember thinking to myself, the first thing I would
tell myself is always have my own legal counsel. Okay. So even when you think someone is looking
out for you and they are, oh, but they trust them and they're going to give you a great
job and pay you good money and blah, blah, blah, you get your own attorney and you make
sure that every document is written that protects you in the right way. That would be my, like
from a bad business experience, I would just make sure that you have all your I's dotted
and your T's crossed in every little document you sign. Make sure you know what is going
to, what might hurt you and what might help you.
It is interesting what superpowers come from our traumas.
That's true. Absolutely.
You know, I hear it and I would second that. I think it's very wise for people, you know,
you don't want to get stuck living in fear, but you also have a duty to learn how to protect
yourself. You know, as a business owner, you are vulnerable in so many different ways.
And some of us are more risk tolerant than others. Some of us recover or like the recovery
process, I guess, more than others. But, you know, that's not necessarily a good thing.
I would say you want to be prudent about that. Do you have any, I mean, this is outside of
your scope and I get that. Nobody here listening right now can listen to me for financials,
for legal advice. Let me just put all the compliance stuff down right now. We're speaking
friend to friend right now. But Susan, where do you recommend they turn for that?
Well, I think you have to build a team of people around you. And this is one of the
things that we like to do at our firm is we call it the ICO 25 in case of emergency 25.
There's 25 different roles that need to be filled to surround you as a business owner.
And you know, a lot of that translates into personal as well. You know, there's some overlap,
sometimes like insurance is both business and personal, you know, financial advisor
might do both the company 401k and maybe your personal investments, right? So sometimes
there's some overlap there. But it's really sort of building this network of people around
you who can help you. Now, I would say if you were, if I was going to talk to 28 year
old Susan and say, hey, who are you going to call as an attorney to look out for you?
I would, I don't think I had a network at that time where I would have known who to
call. So as for you, I would say the first thing is, is build a network. I don't care
how young you are, what, if you're in corporate America, if you are in an invite, you know,
professional services, network with people, build a network, go create a LinkedIn, go
talk to people, meet with people, have coffee, create the Rolodex. Maybe it's digital now
and not necessarily paper based, but create this system for yourself. Stay in touch with
these people. Don't be afraid to refer business and, and, and build your own set of trusted
advisors who eventually you will begin to lean on as you move forward in your career
and as you meet people who need them. And it will be win-win for you in the end.
Wow. I love this. This is going to be one of my favorite episodes. I think for a very
long time, and here's why most of us as visionaries live in the future. I mean, we're looking
at the future, but from the standpoint of like what we could accomplish, where we can
go with the service you could provide. What's so interesting about your vision is, and it's
funny too, today I also interviewed Neil Katz, great interview. He also brought up networking
as an important element. So he brought in the people that had to do with the vision,
but you've also brought up the structure of legalities and the people as they pertain
to the existing entity. And what it reminds me of is, and this is all a giant game to
me, by the way, visionaries, like everybody's listening, like this is all supposed to be
a game, have some fun with it. But what I see when you're talking about vision is I
don't see a light speed direction towards this thing you're endlessly hoping for. You're
like talking about the, like building a city, laying the roads in interconnect, the buildings.
You've kind of got me grounded on the here and now in a visionary way, which is really
unique and cool. I appreciate it. So I'm like, oh yeah, the Rolodex. Oh, I take that for
granted. I back up my contacts at least once a year, you know, and get them onto multiple
email accounts. I've never told anybody that. Right. And I don't remember who taught me
that, but some old dude a long time ago probably taught me to do that. And those are, again,
those things like you don't want to go through the nightmare of missing out on the foundation
of your vision. That's what it is. It's foundation. I kind of got the wrong...
It is foundational. You're right. And it is sort of, you know, maybe I think I really
like that analogy of sort of it being like a city because I believe that what we have,
we just have to sort of reorganize it both in our mind and I guess in some type of reality.
And once we do, it's more geared towards helping us to achieve those purposes. Right. We can't
completely throw out like, I'm like, I can't throw out my entire profession. Although some
people said it needs to die. However... Some people say stupid things. Right. That's true.
I mean, there's some business models and strategies. I think we can all say, okay, everyone just
needs to stop doing that because it doesn't work. We don't like it. Right. So if we all
spent time and we can reorganize our reality into something that had a better foundation,
it sort of becomes like a trampoline. Right. It's this, you know, can give you this springboard
to the future. And that's sort of what I like to think about when I think about what we're
creating and unboxed is, you know, we're not going to throw it all out, but we are going
to reorganize it. And maybe it's like turning over the puzzle pieces so that we can have
a better picture. Right. And actually have more clarity going forward instead of it being
so fuzzy. Like, does my CPA do that? You know, who does that? Like there's a new law that
just got passed called the Corporate Transparency Act. And one of the questions out among professionals
is are the accountants going to do that? Are the attorneys visited? Like who's going to
do it? Like, because the accountants don't want any more to do. Right. I bet attorneys
don't either. Just guessing. Yeah. Well, you know, they still know about hours. So, you
know, that's true. That's true. CTP, Certified Treasury or what is that? Certified Tax Planner.
Oh, certified tax planner. Okay. I went too far. I was looking on Google too. I was like,
hold on. What is certified treasury professionals? That sounds like-
For a banker, that would be a good thing to have. So a certified tax planner. So there's
an organization called the American Institute of Certified Tax Planners. Okay. And believe
it or not, not all accountants think strategically. I find this hard to believe, but this is a
very true statement. Yes. So- Aren't they humans? I find humans make a lot of errors.
Me included, by the way. So it doesn't surprise me. I was kind of surprised to learn this.
However, in the process of preparing a tax return, one of the things that you have to
do is you have to think about all the possible ways that you could avoid tax through, you
know, legal changes in operation, entity organization, another advanced tax reduction strategy is
like, and there's lots of them to explore. But most people preparing tax returns just
put the numbers in, send it out, and don't even ever think about it. And that is like
mind blowing to me. So when I started really getting into tax planning several years ago,
and it was like, we set an initial goal. I remember one year to save people $750,000.
And like within the first week, it was like, the whole like the little thermometer, you
know, like completely filled up. I was like, we're gonna need to raise the goal. How much
more millions of dollars are we going to save people? And so over the course of the last
four years, I've saved people in excess of $25 million in taxes. Yeah, sweet, crazy amounts
of money. And the government's not happy with you, by the way about that. But the rest of
us are. I rest is in me, I guess. But not really, because there's, there's actually
an author by the name of Tom Willwright. He's wrote a really awesome book. And it talks
about how the government is really your partner in in your business. I mean, that's kind of
a weird thing.
Well, yeah, in Texas, you're not going to get very far with that. That voice message.
I get that. But I think it's worth it to hear the outside perspectives. And so I'd love
to hear it. What is he?
It is so I mean, the concept is, is the tax code is like the government's way of being
your business partner, in a way. I mean, they don't own any part of your company. But, you
know, for every, you know, they're going to give you the ability to take deductions, right?
And maybe you have a loss in the current year when you start your business. But next year,
when you make money, you'll have the ability, you know, you won't get the benefit of those
deductions from the prior year, because you would have taken those losses before. And
so now you have to share in the income, you know, share, you know, have a greater amount
of tax due on that income, because now you got to share more with the government, because
you've benefited from prior year by taking the losses. So, I mean, when you start to
think about it that way, I was like, you know, that's actually sort of a positive way to
kind of look at the IRS. So, um, it's, I think it's so liberating to try to do that, because,
you know, it's very rare that something is inherently evil, or inherently good. Right.
And you got people who've made improvements to the tax processes, you have people who
screwed it up, probably. You have people who have to try to fix that, right. And so it's
a constant balance of, of trying, and the system's so large, there's millions and millions
of people, but, you know, you can cry about it, you can moan about it, you can, and then
accept it, or you can learn to utilize it for your benefit. But as an entrepreneur,
that's not my job. I'm not supposed to do that. I'm supposed to run my business and
run the city, not mess with the sewer lines of the business or the bank vaults of the
business. Right. There's other people who are supposed to do those aspects. And that's
where somebody like you comes in, it sounds like. That's something you kind of get a kick
out of learning those things. Yeah. So the great thing about every business is they're
totally, every business is different. So the learning curve is like, it's cool to me to
learn how somebody is, A, making money, because I've been surprised over the years, like,
wow, they're making money doing that. Okay, cool. That's awesome. And then just the way
that a business is organized, how they staff things, divide work, operations, all different.
All of them are very different because the people who've founded them and, you know,
kind of cast their vision, they're different. So it's great to come in and kind of learn
like what it is that they want to accomplish. So similar to the questions you're asking
me, if people have questions or they have goals that are financial related. So whether
that's, you know, I want to buy, you know, sell my business one day and retire, or, you
know, I want to run it passively, get investors, I mean, you know, lots of different options,
give it to your kids or something like that. So it's nice to sort of understand sort of
where they're going and what is in their mind, not only what they want to accomplish in terms
of purpose and their mission, but also in terms of like that, what that means financially,
because there's usually a number that accompanies that. Like I'll know I've accomplished my
mission when, and I also have X dollars in the bank.
Right. Absolutely. That makes sense. So let's talk real quick about, I shouldn't say real
quick, but what's your best experience in business?
One of my best experiences was creating this opportunity for a business owner to protect
an immense amount of their wealth by both saving taxes and leveraging a really advanced
strategy. It was super complex, but it resulted in for, this was a young, he was younger on
the other side, you know, early thirties, running a business, profitable business in
the strategy that we created when he's in his sixties, he'll have access to, you know,
in excess of $10 million of after-tax income, just like money is just sitting there to do
whatever he wants, pay taxes, buy a property, blah, blah, whatever you want. Like that type
of financial freedom to me, like being able to help somebody achieve that is remarkable.
Yeah. One in a million, you know, or more. And that is pretty cool. So where do you think
you would have been, how do you not worked with you? Just curious. Think you would have
figured it out or what could have happened? What does happen when they don't have the
right person?
Usually people, as you know, most entrepreneurs choose the path of least resistance when it
comes to accounting, taxes and financial planning. And the path of least resistance is do nothing.
Well, stay with the same accountant. I'll stay with the same financial advisor because
it's a pain in the, you know what, to change. And that lack of action is what hurts them
the most. So, and I totally get it that like when you got started, it was your dad's accountant,
you know, or your roommate from college or frat brother from whatever. I get it. Okay.
But you got to, as your company begins to become a little bit more sophisticated, you
got to go back and evaluate those relationships because I will tell you in most cases where
people have friends who are helping them, their friends are not doing them any favors.
They've taken that relationship for granted. Like they're charging them very much to do
it, but they're not helping them either. So maybe that would be like, Susan, maybe that
Sue, what's your best advice in business? Like pay for good professional advice, pay
the money. It's worth it. You are the beneficiary as the person making the payment. You will
win every time. It might seem like, wow, that's a lot of money, but you will ultimately, like
it will pay dividends down the road. Yes. All right. So let me switch the screen thing
up. I want to pull that comment back up. I went ahead and posted it for us because, and
it's probably not going to be every entrepreneur's favorite quote ever to hear, right? We're
not winning massive friends here, but I'm going to double down with you on this because
I support it and we need our vegetables as much as we may enjoy our desserts, right?
Most entrepreneurs choose the path of least resistance, right? And that makes sense in
life, right? When you've got so many things going on, so much to do, it makes sense to
try to do that. But another way of saying that is you're taking shortcuts. Another way
of saying that is you're kind of falling for the get rich quick traps, right? Those are
all your, yeah. And I don't know if you can call an entrepreneur lazy. I guess it reminds
me of the J O B people you talked about with somebody who just files a tax return and doesn't
think about it. Like, yeah, there are some who think that entrepreneurship is just funny
games. Those are more independent contractors though. I don't think they call themselves
entrepreneurs at that stage. I didn't when I was that lazy independent contractor. You
know, I hadn't quite graduated the, do I call myself an entrepreneur yet or not? So, but
I think this is so critical for people to hear and wake up and realize like, Hey, you
know, the path of least resistance, there's a lot of, there's a lot of dangers around
that path versus doing things the right way. So you and I, we help entrepreneurs almost
in a similar capacity. I did use that city analogy on accident for the purpose of the
foundation, but it does want to use often with entrepreneurs, right? So when you're
building a business, you have all sorts of different things that are priorities. Depends
on who you're working with, doesn't it? So some people are like, Oh my gosh, I would
never have a city without a fire department. And somebody else is going to be like, yeah,
but what about the hospital that needs to come first? And somebody else is going to
say, but the police station, because otherwise we're on during a kind of like track method
for criminals. Right. And so each element, well, our businesses are the same way, right?
Do I mess with finances first? Do I do vision? Do I, do I get my product and service out
there first, et cetera? How do you go about deciding how to guide entrepreneurs down that
pathway? What do you start with? Or do you let them figure that out?
Yeah. So we actually have created a six step onboarding process. We spend about two hours
a week. That sounds so planted. I just want everybody to know I did not plant that. We
did not plan the six step process. No, that's totally random. I'm cool with it. I'm excited
to think about it. Sorry. Go ahead. So this, it's, we created this because most of the
time when accountants become involved in the business, it's really just to kind of do what
I would call like an order list, right? Like, okay, you need to file an 1120 S we're going
to do your payroll monthly bank reconciliations, produce your W-2s at the end of the year.
Like we're just making a list of all the things that need to get done. We've sort of erased
that. Yes, those things need to get done. But where we really need to start is by asking
these bigger questions, not because I'm the person who can solve all these things. Like
I'm not an attorney. I'm not an HR expert. I don't know everything there is to know about
sales and marketing, but it's my job to ask the questions so we know what's on the business
owner's mind. Uncover just question after question after question, because in order
to achieve true chance transformation, we have to know where it is they think they are and
where it is they want to go. So this change in state, right? So it's like, you know, caterpillar
to butterfly kind of thing, right? This is where you are. This is where you want to be.
So the goal is to go through and ask all of these questions in a regimented way. We give
them homework, there's quizzes. And the idea is that we're creating this roadmap for them.
And by the end of that onboarding process, we basically have a list of priorities of
all the things that we are going to go through and help them to kind of quarterback. And
this is where we're different and kind of why I think this is such a great need in the
marketplace. So many business owners, I can't even tell you the number of times I've suggested
great idea after great idea to business owner, like you guys should really implement a 401k.
And they're like, that's a great idea. I need to do that. And the financial advisor sends
out the paperwork and first question they get to is what's the match going to be? And
they're like, I don't know, how much can I afford? I don't know what to do. And then
they just like mark unread in the inbox and it just sits there, right? That's where I
feel like we need to be more involved as part of the advisory team of say, hey, let's factor
that into forecast. And you can see scenario one, two, and three at a three, four or 5%
match. What do you want to do? This is how it's going to impact your profitability. This
is how it's going to impact taxes. This is how it's going to impact cash. Those are the
types of things like painting a little bit of a vision of the future for them. That's
the stuff they need. And then take the paperwork away from them. Like it's not on your to do
list anymore. We'll do it for you so we can be both up. This is like done with you and
done for you. A little bit of both. Like they need somebody to hold their hand, but at the
same time they need somebody who can make an actually pass it on to and say, you got
this? Yeah, I got it. Okay. I know. And people are so again, passively, I love that you use
that term path of least resistance. Like we love our acronyms as entrepreneurs. We want
everything simplified into three letters. But at the same time, like it lets, you know,
take a step back there and I'm glad you did. I also catch that you're very nurturing individuals.
So I would, I'd feel comfortable asking you dumb questions. And that's an important thing
when you're dealing with 401k. So you're dealing with all benefits and all these things. So
it's nice to have a CPA who doesn't talk over your head. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure that your
audience knows, like, I mean, you made a list of the things you got to learn when you start
a business. I mean, I mean, even just like setting up social media accounts. I mean,
it's all, it's all really hard. And there's one ebook that did not do very well. And that
was the 101,000 steps to set it up. But just kidding, but it's about like that. I've tried
many times. It is right. And, and you had to learn all those things. I, I, I feel like,
especially with accounting money, it makes people really nervous. They know that cash
is the life, you know, blood of their business. If they, if they don't get the finances right,
like it's disastrous. They also have a lot personally on the line, you know, and it's
really not even like the business bank account. It's like, they don't want to fail, right?
They really want to do a good job. They really want to help people. I mean, they got into
this for a reason. So sometimes people come to me in their books or like, they really
are, they're messy, right? Cause they're not accountants when they started it, they
kind of just pieced it together. And sometimes they can feel a lot of shame around that.
And I, my advice to people when they start to kind of feel that way, it's like, it's
okay. Just know that you are not alone. Most, every mistake you've made as a business owner
or can stay accounting or taxes, everyone else has made those too. Yeah. And I like
this quote that you guys have here. You know, it's, I had to bring it up. I was like, all
right, I'm going to bring this up right now just to look at it because, you know, it's,
it's, that's what we should be on the lookout for is somebody who can help us feel empowered
to be able to break free of that. And it was actually going to be the support. And I hope
some of the people listening gather that from you. Yeah, I hope so. And I really hope people
will go back and kind of not, I don't want them to tolerate a bad relationship with someone,
especially for accounting and taxes, because it's too important to their business. Like
don't tolerate bad service. If somebody doesn't call you back, they don't get your return
on time. They don't respond. They don't explain things clearly. Find somebody different. There
are much better people out there. Just don't tolerate bad. Don't do it. Like it's hurting
you more to not have the right advisor in that area of your business. Yep. Absolutely.
We're not going to talk about it today, but finding your exit strategies too, and how
you go about that is mission critical. Whether that's talking to somebody like myself or
Susan trying to find out like, well, how do I go about that? You know, how does this transition
take place in a way that doesn't piss off the person who's been managing my finances
for X amount of years? Or better yet, have a conversation that includes both advisors
in that capacity, because then it's like everybody's knowledge in the room helping you to get the
most out of your enterprise. Yep. And I think too, we're not going to cover it, but there
are protections when it comes to CPAs and CTPs that exist to protect you as a business
owner if you end up in a situation where somebody's not playing nice. And those are things that
don't exist for marketers, for instance, or operations individuals. They don't have those
types of checks and balances that exist. But if you don't know what they are, that's another
thing to ask Susan about and turn to her about. I don't have the answer for that. I would
go to a number of different CPAs. I would ask all three of them. I'm super skeptical
when it comes to stuff about compliance, and it's because I don't know enough about it.
So I want to be well protected. I'll ask somebody old, I'll ask somebody young, and I'll ask
somebody who I find very intelligent and open on the matter. And then I'll take all three
of those pieces of advice and piece together what I think is the best path for me now that
I'm a little bit more well-informed on the subject. So if you're listening and some of
the stuff that's going over your head, know that I have full confidence that Susan will
break it down for you in a patient way. On the flip side, if you're listening and you're
like, guys, talk about more depth. Well, we're just trying not to leave people out in the
process. I think Susan could go as deep as needed when it comes to tax planning and finances
and what else you could do. The six-step process makes sense. What you should be looking at
is the fundamentals of the individual that I have on this interview, and I find them
sound. So what powerful lesson can other visionaries learn about your experience, from your experience
so far, and running your business?
So I actually wrote a little booklet called The Secret Sauce to Unboxed Success, and sort
of did like a brain dump of like all the things that over the course of my career, I'm like,
okay, here's everything you need to know. I feel like that might be like version one
right now. I might have like version two in like a few years because it keeps evolving
the more and more things I learn. We're in not only working with like doing my own business,
like running my own business, but also working with other business owners. Okay. So I would
say the most powerful lesson that I have learned is that leadership matters. Leadership matters
on everything. The absence of leadership matters. Leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership.
Everything that's happening in your business is a reflection of your own leadership.
Again, we're not making super fans here out of everybody, but I know you're making the
right fans.
Yeah, they're hard lessons. I mean, it's hard to see it. I mean, I would actually even go
a little bit further and say that whatever you see in your financial statements is a
reflection of you too. So I mean, all this stuff is just it's like a mirror. So I do
think that though your mindset and how you lead and influence the way you dream, ideate,
brainstorm, solve problems, your action-oriented behavior, your core values that are driving
you things, the passion, the conviction, all of those things to me are like the essence
of leadership, right? And how you convey that to other people and help them to find all
those same things in themselves. And in a lot of cases, I'm working with business owners
who they haven't got that figured out yet. And I'm working with my own staff who I'm
trying to bring up into these roles. So it's a...
It's multifaceted.
It's multifaceted. And then you yourself are continuing to learn. I mean, like nobody has
all the answers, especially on that.
It's multifaceted. But it is that it's so humbling and so important to... And it's such
a refreshing... I think it was refreshing for me to figure it out, to realize, to be self-aware
that everything that happens in my business is my fault at the end of the day. Good and
bad. The buck stops at me. And that doesn't mean we take credit away from people. Of course,
you don't when you have your victories, but it's also extremely important to own things
that go wrong. I just had an interesting experience right on the subject. And again, I have to
own it. Realize like, okay, I made my missteps in this too. So just a minute ago, Susan was
talking about her six steps and I pulled myself off camera because I had to go answer the
door. Somebody's knocking on my door. And they knocked twice. I know they're not going
away. And I'm like, okay, interesting. What do I do here? So you're in your six steps.
I was like, okay, I'll just go answer the door. It was a client of mine who just exited
with us in a non-peaceful fashion. She handed me some materials, rolled her eyes and walked
away. And it's okay. I had to come back in here anyway. I wasn't ready to talk, but she's
choosing, they're choosing how they want to go about this. And it's like, oh man, like
right in the middle of the podcast. And those things, they happen and we have to be willing
to take a look at, okay, what can I do better in the future to provide? What can I do better?
I make sure I align with the people who are coming on board. What can I do to help people
understand expectations as they're going to play out with working with us? Our program's
180 days. They were at day 93. So it's kind of like, well, you know what, what happened
with understanding that this program's not finished. But I digress. Point being, we all
lose at times. We all have opportunities to take a step back. And, and you might be great
at leading the band, right, with your guitar, but that does not mean you're good at leading
the concession stand. And it does not mean you're good at leading the financial department.
That does not mean you're good at leading those three departments to connect together.
That does not mean you're good at leading the conversations with the government in your
business, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. There is almost no end to the depths of leadership
that you have to learn as an entrepreneur if you're going to win and be successful.
Yeah. I think one of the other things too, that I feel like in the last year that has
been coming more and more apparent to me is that it reminds me of the movie, You've Got
Mail, where good soundtrack, great sound, great soundtrack. And Tom Hanks is new characters
trying to start in that big giant Fox books in her store is going to close or whatever.
And they're in their little AOL chat room or whatever talking about, like, he's like,
well, you're going to have to fight back, take it to the mattresses. And she's like,
but it's personal. Like it's, it's, it starts with being personal. That I believe is the
fundamental thing that we need to get back to. I think even in terms of leadership is
first and foremost, it's going to be very personal. Your relationship, your staff, your
stores, your vendors, all of it. It's personal. We are people. It all starts personal first.
So I would just say like, we just had to be more human about it and less business way.
Yeah. The logic and the heart, you know, they, they got to line, at least for the types of
businesses that I construct and work with. I would agree with that. And if you don't,
then you know, you find people who align with that and good luck. I mean, all the, may,
may I say, I wish you well on that. So vision pros listening in. We'd love to know what
you appreciate about this episode. Let's definitely leave a comment on it. If you have questions
for us, let us know. I'm sure Susan would be happy to chime in. If we see it, we'll
make sure to tag her. If you leave a question for her. And she's got lead magnets coming
out too. And, and different types of elements that you can, you can go to our website and
key in on, but they can, can they connect with you on LinkedIn as well? Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. Susan Bryant, just so it appears here on the screen, CPA, CTP, you'll find me there
on LinkedIn. I'm very active on LinkedIn. I actually just got a top voice recognition
today. Some type of award where I'm a top voice. I got the email and I was like, Oh,
what does that mean exactly? So now I can all these articles. Like, yeah, it's pretty
cool. So you'll find me there a lot now. Awesome. Awesome. Find your Michelle Pfeiffer
look alike on linkedin.com then and enjoy the process. Vision Pros. It's always great
to serve you. If you need anything, let us know, subscribe, like review. We would love
that. We appreciate you very much. And we will see you on the next episode. Susan, thank
you for being here today. Thanks so much, Jackson. Thank you for being here today. I'm
really happy that you tuned into Vision Pros live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more fun. We'll
have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent time.