Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode
of Vision Pros Live. I'm Fletcher Ellingson,
your host and coach. Today on the show, we have
got Larissa McIntyre, and she is the founder
and principal of Rockbridge CFO. Welcome to the
show. Great to be here, Fletcher. Yeah, you were
just telling me that you just flew in from Paris
last night, so you're feeling a little... You're
feeling that jet lag, but you showed up anyway.
So thanks for doing that. Yep. That's what it's
all about. Right on, right on. So I've got a
number of questions we're going to dive into.
But first, I always like to start off with the
win. And some people think, ah, Fletcher, come
on. Really? Why? Why? Because there's a lot of
uncertainty. There's a lot of suffering in the
world. And it's easy to practice focusing on
what's not working well. And for our audience,
for you listening, if you're an entrepreneur,
solopreneur, manager, whatever, if you're in
the business world and making your vision come
true, we have to practice directing our thinking
and noticing what's working, noticing what the
wins are, because that helps us create momentum.
And if we're in this business world, we have
got to practice that. So, Larissa, give me a
win. What's something that's going well in your
life? Well, as a CFO and somebody who's come
out of the corporate world and is now fractional
with my own business, obviously marketing was
not in my wheelhouse. It's been interesting building
out all the marketing materials for Rockbridge.
i actually was speaking to a number of people
over the last couple of weeks and i've gotten
great kudos from them on what i'm doing from
a marketing perspective uh you know the look
and feel of the material you know the the blogs
that i'm writing so obviously i'm doing something
right and it really makes me feel good because
it's definitely not something that i've done
in the past and it's good to know that is resonating
with people Right on. Well, congratulations.
Yeah. As you said, it's not in your wheelhouse.
So it's a new experience for you and you're getting
good feedback. So that feels good, right? Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. Right on. Way to take that on. Before
I ask you about your vision, there may be some
people that are listening and the idea of this
fractional CFO or a fractional CEO or a fractional
CTO. That may be a new concept to them. Explain
what that is, please. Sure. A lot of companies,
when they're just getting started, they're smaller,
they need executive level help, be it CFO, CMO,
CTO, and they just don't want to expend the huge
sum of money that goes along with those executive
positions. A CFO these days can run anywhere
from $250 ,000 plus. And for a company that's
starting out and their revenues are maybe, you
know, anywhere from a million to 40 million,
that may seem like a very heavy lift for them,
but they still need the executive level insights.
So that's where fractionals can come in. They
can come in and basically spend some time with
you and help you get a better understanding of
what's going on in your financial world. And
it's not as expensive as having somebody full
time. Certainly, there's going to reach a point
when you probably will need somebody full time.
But if you're in that sweet spot of that million
to 40 million in revenue, a fractional is a great
way to go and get the insight you need without
the heavy lift of a cost. Yeah. And I don't know
how new this concept is. I'm hearing it more
and more. And I mean, it sounds to me like a
great move for. uh many companies it sounds like
accessible right because we like you said we
need that executive level experience that that
many executives can bring many i mean if you're
quality right but we need that experience we
need that insight because we have blind spots
all over the place and many uh entrepreneurs
and and and business owners their blind spots
are around finances right um they got into to
offer the service or the thing that they're really
passionate about or create the thing and they
may have very little awareness around how does
my money work or how do i budget right or how
do i forecast exactly not everybody goes to school
to be an accountant or to or has that experience
uh that they can bring to the table so definitely
fractional uh cfo uh is is a plus If you can
bring it on your business. Yeah, absolutely.
So the show is called Vision Pros. We like to
hear about people's vision. The people who are
on the show, they have this story and a clarified
story in their brain that they are now working
to bring into the physical realm. So my question
for you today is, what's your vision? I came
from the corporate world. or in the corporate
world you're working with one founder you're
working with one team and that's great but you
know there are so many businesses out there that
need help from that financial perspective what
we were just talking about and for me being able
to work with multiple founders and help grow
their businesses and impact quadruple, five times,
six times the amount of lives that come with
all of that, growing out those businesses, making
employment opportunities available. That for
me is my vision. I really want to be able to
help businesses grow and take their business
to the next level so that they can hire lots
of people and we can get this economy. continuing
to spin because it's it's i think uh i think
it's wonderful when you can do that yeah so what
i hear you saying is you want to help more people
absolutely yeah absolutely uh and i certainly
like that uh i think i think it's super important
uh to have that service mindset my next question
is why is that important to you like you want
to you want to help more more business uh business
businesses and owners and entrepreneurs why is
that important to you i get on linkedin and i
see all of these stories of people getting laid
off and people struggling to find positions they
shouldn't be like that i mean we are a huge country
we have so many opportunities and it pains me
a little bit to see people have to go through
that So if I'm able to help other businesses
grow so that people have those opportunities
available to them, that's why this is important.
Yeah. Yeah. So you see it. So there's this element
of helping and elevating other people. That's
what I am hearing you saying. Is that accurate?
That would be absolutely accurate. And the reason
why I want to highlight that for people who are
listening is because there's a lot of reasons
we might get into business. One is simply I want
to make a ton of money. Right now, no one's going
to begrudge you for that. But when when you have
the opportunity to either work with someone who
is purely financially motivated and just and
greed, if you will, even as opposed to somebody
who is like, yes, of course, I want to make a
good living and helping elevating others. um
to a place of empowerment is super important
to me obviously i'm going to go with that that
person because um their uh their ambition their
drive is is more pure in my mind not not pure
pure is a not the right word but that's more
in alignment with with what i want to see in
this world right um and so it's important that
we voice that and lead with that because That's
a different type of value that we bring as opposed
to just, hey, here's my service. I'm doing this
to get money. Neither one are good, bad, right
or wrong. But one of them. Right. But one of
them serves the greater good better. Like you
said, we live in a big country. There's a ton
of opportunity. And it pains you to see people
like struggling or flailing or being laid off
or not being able to find work or not being able
to implement their vision. And so that's why
a fractional CFO opportunity is important. And
I know that we've said this already, but it's
important for people to hear it again, because
this is such a. key piece to building a business
and i'm gonna i'll speak for myself like this
is something i have zero experience in it has
uh fortunately i've been okay with uh with it
but i lacked all the experience and i'm sure
like if you or somebody like you came in my business
you'd be like fletcher what are you doing come
on um and with and with some helpful conversations
you can help me tighten up the reins is that
accurate Absolutely. One of the things I like
to do when I engage with somebody is spend some
time. Let's talk about the pain points that you're
experiencing. Let's talk about why your business
maybe isn't doing what you want it to do. Let's
talk about those gut feels. A lot of founders
start off trying to manage their business from
their gut. This feels right. Well, there's going
to reach a point when you aren't going to feel
the love anymore. And it's going to be one of
those things where. you know what i need to figure
out why i need to figure out why and that's when
you know somebody like me can come in who's got
the experience and has been in the corporate
world and has seen a lot of things and help you
get that check back and provide you the data
and the information that you need to be able
to make the right business decisions so that
you can continue to grow and make those opportunities
available for people yeah and uh that while you
were saying that that uh brought something to
my mind and i think what i want to say to our
audience i really hope to hear this is like if
you're if you're struggling financially in your
business or you you're like things are not going
your way or there have been some colossal mistakes
what i want you to hear is this number one it's
not your fault but it's a hundred percent your
responsibility um and why would i say it's not
your fault well because you didn't go to school
to learn about that part of the business so you're
doing your best okay you're doing your best with
what you know and um so it's not your fault that
you're uh operating without this important information
but it is your responsibility and and and is
that does that resonate at all absolutely uh
you know And it's like when I said I don't know
anything about marketing. I mean, I went and
I talked to people and I made sure that I had
a little bit of guidance. I did some research
and that type of thing. Being a founder is a
very lonely situation. You know, you're expected
to know a lot. You're expected to kind of drive
all these different aspects of the business.
But there comes a point in time when you realize
or you should realize, you know what, I can't
be a jack of all trades. that's the old saying
jack of all trades master of none and you know
that's where you get yourself into trouble so
you know what when you reach that point where
you know what it's a little more complex now
and you need some help go and get the help because
there's plenty of people out there that can help
you and you know you need to just find the right
person that you can engage with that you trust
uh they can't have a you know meaningful conversation
with you know the last thing you want is to engage
a fractional cfo and you feel like you're being
reprimanded all the time you don't want that
you want to make sure that you have somebody
you can talk to and that you feel good about
having those conversations yeah and i think that's
so important what you just said because it can
be humbling it can be a little embarrassing when
you have to confide in someone and say like i
mean i really made some lousy decisions I feel
embarrassed about it. Like that can be just that
alone can stop you from getting the help that
you need. But when you realize like, oh, you're
not the only one. OK, you are not the only one
who's made that mistake. You're not the only
one who's misread that report. You're not the
only one who hasn't compiled any reports. Right.
You're not the only one. And I also like what
you said. You said it can be a little lonely.
Mm hmm. Right. It can be a little lonely being
the founder, the one wearing all the hats. So
if you if that's you, if you're feeling a little
lonely or a little lost and reach out, have a
conversation because there's hope there's there's
definitely hope. What's the best way to reach
you and get in contact with you if someone's
listening to this and they're like, gosh, that's
me. I I need this woman's services. Probably
the best place to go is my website, rockbridgecfo
.com. It's got tons of blog posts out there,
insights, that sort of thing. So if you're just
looking for information and want to kind of get
a better feel for what's going on, I'm always
putting new content out there. There's tons of
links there, book a meeting, fill out a contact
form. So that's a really good place to go. I
also have information about what engaging with
me is going to be like. What does that process
look like? Let's talk about an initial discovery
call. Let's talk a little bit about what it is
you need so that we can kind of put you in the
right services to make sure that you're getting
the most value from the money that you're going
to be spending. Yeah, excellent. And the domain
name again, please? It is rockbridgecfo .com.
Well, hey, it's been a pleasure having you here.
Thanks for your services and for wanting to and
for making a difference in the lives of businesses.
This is Fletcher Ellingson with Vision Pros.
Thanks for joining us today. It's time for you
now to get out there, be a source of kindness,
be a source of contribution. You do have something
to offer this world, and I believe in you. Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to 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 building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.