WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.600 Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.259 of Vision Pros Live. I'm Fletcher Ellingson, 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:07.599 your host and coach. Today on the show, we have 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.980 got Larissa McIntyre, and she is the founder 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:14.699 and principal of Rockbridge CFO. Welcome to the 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:18.980 show. Great to be here, Fletcher. Yeah, you were 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:21.980 just telling me that you just flew in from Paris 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:26.500 last night, so you're feeling a little... You're 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:28.679 feeling that jet lag, but you showed up anyway. 00:00:28.859 --> 00:00:31.140 So thanks for doing that. Yep. That's what it's 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:35.539 all about. Right on, right on. So I've got a 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:36.859 number of questions we're going to dive into. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:38.740 But first, I always like to start off with the 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:41.299 win. And some people think, ah, Fletcher, come 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:44.119 on. Really? Why? Why? Because there's a lot of 00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:46.439 uncertainty. There's a lot of suffering in the 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:49.719 world. And it's easy to practice focusing on 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:53.380 what's not working well. And for our audience, 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.100 for you listening, if you're an entrepreneur, 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:58.560 solopreneur, manager, whatever, if you're in 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.539 the business world and making your vision come 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:04.239 true, we have to practice directing our thinking 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.379 and noticing what's working, noticing what the 00:01:07.379 --> 00:01:10.459 wins are, because that helps us create momentum. 00:01:12.109 --> 00:01:15.030 And if we're in this business world, we have 00:01:15.030 --> 00:01:19.329 got to practice that. So, Larissa, give me a 00:01:19.329 --> 00:01:22.310 win. What's something that's going well in your 00:01:22.310 --> 00:01:25.989 life? Well, as a CFO and somebody who's come 00:01:25.989 --> 00:01:28.650 out of the corporate world and is now fractional 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:31.489 with my own business, obviously marketing was 00:01:31.489 --> 00:01:36.750 not in my wheelhouse. It's been interesting building 00:01:36.750 --> 00:01:39.150 out all the marketing materials for Rockbridge. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.379 i actually was speaking to a number of people 00:01:42.379 --> 00:01:44.359 over the last couple of weeks and i've gotten 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:47.500 great kudos from them on what i'm doing from 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:50.120 a marketing perspective uh you know the look 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.299 and feel of the material you know the the blogs 00:01:53.299 --> 00:01:55.280 that i'm writing so obviously i'm doing something 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:58.040 right and it really makes me feel good because 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.879 it's definitely not something that i've done 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.299 in the past and it's good to know that is resonating 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:06.519 with people Right on. Well, congratulations. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:08.939 Yeah. As you said, it's not in your wheelhouse. 00:02:09.020 --> 00:02:13.319 So it's a new experience for you and you're getting 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:15.800 good feedback. So that feels good, right? Absolutely. 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:21.199 Yeah. Yeah. Right on. Way to take that on. Before 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:25.159 I ask you about your vision, there may be some 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:28.860 people that are listening and the idea of this 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:33.060 fractional CFO or a fractional CEO or a fractional 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:38.449 CTO. That may be a new concept to them. Explain 00:02:38.449 --> 00:02:42.169 what that is, please. Sure. A lot of companies, 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:45.030 when they're just getting started, they're smaller, 00:02:45.270 --> 00:02:50.729 they need executive level help, be it CFO, CMO, 00:02:50.849 --> 00:02:56.069 CTO, and they just don't want to expend the huge 00:02:56.069 --> 00:02:58.530 sum of money that goes along with those executive 00:02:58.530 --> 00:03:01.870 positions. A CFO these days can run anywhere 00:03:01.870 --> 00:03:05.699 from $250 ,000 plus. And for a company that's 00:03:05.699 --> 00:03:08.560 starting out and their revenues are maybe, you 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.259 know, anywhere from a million to 40 million, 00:03:11.419 --> 00:03:14.120 that may seem like a very heavy lift for them, 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:17.340 but they still need the executive level insights. 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:19.960 So that's where fractionals can come in. They 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:23.280 can come in and basically spend some time with 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.639 you and help you get a better understanding of 00:03:25.639 --> 00:03:28.699 what's going on in your financial world. And 00:03:28.699 --> 00:03:31.719 it's not as expensive as having somebody full 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:33.800 time. Certainly, there's going to reach a point 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:35.819 when you probably will need somebody full time. 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:39.080 But if you're in that sweet spot of that million 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:42.240 to 40 million in revenue, a fractional is a great 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:46.139 way to go and get the insight you need without 00:03:46.139 --> 00:03:50.840 the heavy lift of a cost. Yeah. And I don't know 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:54.020 how new this concept is. I'm hearing it more 00:03:54.020 --> 00:03:59.080 and more. And I mean, it sounds to me like a 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:02.780 great move for. uh many companies it sounds like 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:05.759 accessible right because we like you said we 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.699 need that executive level experience that that 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:10.979 many executives can bring many i mean if you're 00:04:10.979 --> 00:04:13.939 quality right but we need that experience we 00:04:13.939 --> 00:04:16.319 need that insight because we have blind spots 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:20.240 all over the place and many uh entrepreneurs 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:24.360 and and and business owners their blind spots 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:29.370 are around finances right um they got into to 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:31.709 offer the service or the thing that they're really 00:04:31.709 --> 00:04:34.509 passionate about or create the thing and they 00:04:34.509 --> 00:04:38.649 may have very little awareness around how does 00:04:38.649 --> 00:04:41.050 my money work or how do i budget right or how 00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:45.029 do i forecast exactly not everybody goes to school 00:04:45.029 --> 00:04:48.949 to be an accountant or to or has that experience 00:04:48.949 --> 00:04:51.949 uh that they can bring to the table so definitely 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:57.889 fractional uh cfo uh is is a plus If you can 00:04:57.889 --> 00:05:00.149 bring it on your business. Yeah, absolutely. 00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:04.850 So the show is called Vision Pros. We like to 00:05:04.850 --> 00:05:08.550 hear about people's vision. The people who are 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:13.389 on the show, they have this story and a clarified 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:16.449 story in their brain that they are now working 00:05:16.449 --> 00:05:20.250 to bring into the physical realm. So my question 00:05:20.250 --> 00:05:25.209 for you today is, what's your vision? I came 00:05:25.209 --> 00:05:28.100 from the corporate world. or in the corporate 00:05:28.100 --> 00:05:30.899 world you're working with one founder you're 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:36.420 working with one team and that's great but you 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:39.240 know there are so many businesses out there that 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:43.040 need help from that financial perspective what 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.839 we were just talking about and for me being able 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.199 to work with multiple founders and help grow 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:55.319 their businesses and impact quadruple, five times, 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:58.800 six times the amount of lives that come with 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.959 all of that, growing out those businesses, making 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:06.160 employment opportunities available. That for 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.420 me is my vision. I really want to be able to 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:13.879 help businesses grow and take their business 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.560 to the next level so that they can hire lots 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:21.160 of people and we can get this economy. continuing 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:25.040 to spin because it's it's i think uh i think 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.699 it's wonderful when you can do that yeah so what 00:06:28.699 --> 00:06:30.879 i hear you saying is you want to help more people 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.740 absolutely yeah absolutely uh and i certainly 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:38.899 like that uh i think i think it's super important 00:06:38.899 --> 00:06:42.920 uh to have that service mindset my next question 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.019 is why is that important to you like you want 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:48.879 to you want to help more more business uh business 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:51.759 businesses and owners and entrepreneurs why is 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:57.000 that important to you i get on linkedin and i 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.860 see all of these stories of people getting laid 00:06:59.860 --> 00:07:03.139 off and people struggling to find positions they 00:07:03.139 --> 00:07:06.620 shouldn't be like that i mean we are a huge country 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:09.879 we have so many opportunities and it pains me 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:12.160 a little bit to see people have to go through 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:15.560 that So if I'm able to help other businesses 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:18.259 grow so that people have those opportunities 00:07:18.259 --> 00:07:21.379 available to them, that's why this is important. 00:07:21.779 --> 00:07:26.660 Yeah. Yeah. So you see it. So there's this element 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.439 of helping and elevating other people. That's 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.040 what I am hearing you saying. Is that accurate? 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:34.939 That would be absolutely accurate. And the reason 00:07:34.939 --> 00:07:37.540 why I want to highlight that for people who are 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:40.160 listening is because there's a lot of reasons 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.899 we might get into business. One is simply I want 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:49.300 to make a ton of money. Right now, no one's going 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:52.500 to begrudge you for that. But when when you have 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:56.180 the opportunity to either work with someone who 00:07:56.180 --> 00:08:00.560 is purely financially motivated and just and 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.060 greed, if you will, even as opposed to somebody 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:05.720 who is like, yes, of course, I want to make a 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:11.519 good living and helping elevating others. um 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:15.120 to a place of empowerment is super important 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:18.660 to me obviously i'm going to go with that that 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:23.220 person because um their uh their ambition their 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:26.600 drive is is more pure in my mind not not pure 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:29.339 pure is a not the right word but that's more 00:08:29.339 --> 00:08:32.080 in alignment with with what i want to see in 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:36.059 this world right um and so it's important that 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:40.330 we voice that and lead with that because That's 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:43.149 a different type of value that we bring as opposed 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:46.789 to just, hey, here's my service. I'm doing this 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:50.470 to get money. Neither one are good, bad, right 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:54.149 or wrong. But one of them. Right. But one of 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:58.350 them serves the greater good better. Like you 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:01.029 said, we live in a big country. There's a ton 00:09:01.029 --> 00:09:04.960 of opportunity. And it pains you to see people 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:08.139 like struggling or flailing or being laid off 00:09:08.139 --> 00:09:10.399 or not being able to find work or not being able 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:14.240 to implement their vision. And so that's why 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:19.200 a fractional CFO opportunity is important. And 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:21.860 I know that we've said this already, but it's 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:24.139 important for people to hear it again, because 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:29.970 this is such a. key piece to building a business 00:09:29.970 --> 00:09:33.950 and i'm gonna i'll speak for myself like this 00:09:33.950 --> 00:09:37.169 is something i have zero experience in it has 00:09:37.169 --> 00:09:41.090 uh fortunately i've been okay with uh with it 00:09:41.090 --> 00:09:45.970 but i lacked all the experience and i'm sure 00:09:45.970 --> 00:09:47.909 like if you or somebody like you came in my business 00:09:47.909 --> 00:09:49.610 you'd be like fletcher what are you doing come 00:09:49.610 --> 00:09:53.169 on um and with and with some helpful conversations 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:55.090 you can help me tighten up the reins is that 00:09:55.090 --> 00:09:58.840 accurate Absolutely. One of the things I like 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:01.480 to do when I engage with somebody is spend some 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:04.139 time. Let's talk about the pain points that you're 00:10:04.139 --> 00:10:06.919 experiencing. Let's talk about why your business 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:10.139 maybe isn't doing what you want it to do. Let's 00:10:10.139 --> 00:10:12.679 talk about those gut feels. A lot of founders 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:15.279 start off trying to manage their business from 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.799 their gut. This feels right. Well, there's going 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.419 to reach a point when you aren't going to feel 00:10:21.419 --> 00:10:23.940 the love anymore. And it's going to be one of 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:26.529 those things where. you know what i need to figure 00:10:26.529 --> 00:10:29.549 out why i need to figure out why and that's when 00:10:29.549 --> 00:10:31.929 you know somebody like me can come in who's got 00:10:31.929 --> 00:10:34.509 the experience and has been in the corporate 00:10:34.509 --> 00:10:37.129 world and has seen a lot of things and help you 00:10:37.129 --> 00:10:40.289 get that check back and provide you the data 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:42.809 and the information that you need to be able 00:10:42.809 --> 00:10:44.909 to make the right business decisions so that 00:10:44.909 --> 00:10:48.610 you can continue to grow and make those opportunities 00:10:48.610 --> 00:10:53.090 available for people yeah and uh that while you 00:10:53.090 --> 00:10:55.909 were saying that that uh brought something to 00:10:55.909 --> 00:10:58.669 my mind and i think what i want to say to our 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:01.309 audience i really hope to hear this is like if 00:11:01.309 --> 00:11:03.210 you're if you're struggling financially in your 00:11:03.210 --> 00:11:05.330 business or you you're like things are not going 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:07.309 your way or there have been some colossal mistakes 00:11:07.309 --> 00:11:10.909 what i want you to hear is this number one it's 00:11:10.909 --> 00:11:13.929 not your fault but it's a hundred percent your 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:17.730 responsibility um and why would i say it's not 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:20.309 your fault well because you didn't go to school 00:11:20.309 --> 00:11:24.220 to learn about that part of the business so you're 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:27.759 doing your best okay you're doing your best with 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:32.919 what you know and um so it's not your fault that 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:36.480 you're uh operating without this important information 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:41.460 but it is your responsibility and and and is 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:46.000 that does that resonate at all absolutely uh 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.659 you know And it's like when I said I don't know 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:53.379 anything about marketing. I mean, I went and 00:11:53.379 --> 00:11:55.779 I talked to people and I made sure that I had 00:11:55.779 --> 00:11:58.000 a little bit of guidance. I did some research 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.460 and that type of thing. Being a founder is a 00:12:01.460 --> 00:12:04.139 very lonely situation. You know, you're expected 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:07.379 to know a lot. You're expected to kind of drive 00:12:07.379 --> 00:12:09.419 all these different aspects of the business. 00:12:09.860 --> 00:12:12.139 But there comes a point in time when you realize 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:14.840 or you should realize, you know what, I can't 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:17.120 be a jack of all trades. that's the old saying 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:20.620 jack of all trades master of none and you know 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:22.440 that's where you get yourself into trouble so 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:24.580 you know what when you reach that point where 00:12:24.580 --> 00:12:26.840 you know what it's a little more complex now 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.259 and you need some help go and get the help because 00:12:29.259 --> 00:12:31.559 there's plenty of people out there that can help 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:34.799 you and you know you need to just find the right 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.700 person that you can engage with that you trust 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:41.009 uh they can't have a you know meaningful conversation 00:12:41.009 --> 00:12:43.370 with you know the last thing you want is to engage 00:12:43.370 --> 00:12:46.590 a fractional cfo and you feel like you're being 00:12:46.590 --> 00:12:48.490 reprimanded all the time you don't want that 00:12:48.490 --> 00:12:50.909 you want to make sure that you have somebody 00:12:50.909 --> 00:12:53.129 you can talk to and that you feel good about 00:12:53.129 --> 00:12:56.149 having those conversations yeah and i think that's 00:12:56.149 --> 00:12:58.409 so important what you just said because it can 00:12:58.409 --> 00:13:02.409 be humbling it can be a little embarrassing when 00:13:02.409 --> 00:13:06.090 you have to confide in someone and say like i 00:13:06.090 --> 00:13:09.879 mean i really made some lousy decisions I feel 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:13.080 embarrassed about it. Like that can be just that 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:15.679 alone can stop you from getting the help that 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:19.379 you need. But when you realize like, oh, you're 00:13:19.379 --> 00:13:22.659 not the only one. OK, you are not the only one 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:24.320 who's made that mistake. You're not the only 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.320 one who's misread that report. You're not the 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.200 only one who hasn't compiled any reports. Right. 00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:32.460 You're not the only one. And I also like what 00:13:32.460 --> 00:13:37.799 you said. You said it can be a little lonely. 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:41.100 Mm hmm. Right. It can be a little lonely being 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:45.679 the founder, the one wearing all the hats. So 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:48.139 if you if that's you, if you're feeling a little 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:51.259 lonely or a little lost and reach out, have a 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:55.279 conversation because there's hope there's there's 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.799 definitely hope. What's the best way to reach 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:00.820 you and get in contact with you if someone's 00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:02.960 listening to this and they're like, gosh, that's 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:06.970 me. I I need this woman's services. Probably 00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:10.649 the best place to go is my website, rockbridgecfo 00:14:10.649 --> 00:14:15.590 .com. It's got tons of blog posts out there, 00:14:15.690 --> 00:14:18.289 insights, that sort of thing. So if you're just 00:14:18.289 --> 00:14:20.409 looking for information and want to kind of get 00:14:20.409 --> 00:14:22.750 a better feel for what's going on, I'm always 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:25.269 putting new content out there. There's tons of 00:14:25.269 --> 00:14:27.769 links there, book a meeting, fill out a contact 00:14:27.769 --> 00:14:30.769 form. So that's a really good place to go. I 00:14:30.769 --> 00:14:33.669 also have information about what engaging with 00:14:33.669 --> 00:14:36.500 me is going to be like. What does that process 00:14:36.500 --> 00:14:40.259 look like? Let's talk about an initial discovery 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:42.960 call. Let's talk a little bit about what it is 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:45.460 you need so that we can kind of put you in the 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:49.039 right services to make sure that you're getting 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.960 the most value from the money that you're going 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:54.919 to be spending. Yeah, excellent. And the domain 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:58.820 name again, please? It is rockbridgecfo .com. 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:01.139 Well, hey, it's been a pleasure having you here. 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:06.879 Thanks for your services and for wanting to and 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:10.059 for making a difference in the lives of businesses. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.580 This is Fletcher Ellingson with Vision Pros. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.659 Thanks for joining us today. It's time for you 00:15:16.659 --> 00:15:19.019 now to get out there, be a source of kindness, 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:21.700 be a source of contribution. You do have something 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:24.470 to offer this world, and I believe in you. Thank 00:15:24.470 --> 00:15:26.429 you for being here today. I'm really happy that 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:28.450 you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:31.710 forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:33.509 continue to move forward. This is going to get 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:36.129 more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:15:36.129 --> 00:15:38.210 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:15:38.210 --> 00:15:40.389 the show. And thank you for giving us your time 00:15:40.389 --> 00:15:42.690 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:15:42.690 --> 00:15:44.990 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.