I spent four years in the United States Marine
Corps. I was a sergeant. Did two years over including
a combat tour in Vietnam. One of the things you
learn in MCO school, the Marine Corps is mission,
men, self. Regardless of what it takes, that's
the first thing you do. Everybody jumps for somebody
else or, you know, you either jump for them or
they jump for you. Well, that doesn't translate
well into business. Thankfully, my wife was very
much of a people person. I married her while
I was in the Corps and she... broke me as some
of that over the years. Right? That's funny.
Small businesses very seldom get audited to start
with. S corporations are audited less than 1
% of the time. Okay. You have to get over several
million dollars before you really get on their
radar. So the chance of you being audited are
slim, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.
If you can't do it yourself, hire somebody that
can. So you have the detailed records of what's
happening because That's your guide to whether
you're successful or not. download the episode
and if you're watching on YouTube, you know what
to do. Hit that like button, subscribe and turn
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And as we always say, let's make thriving our
new normal. So today we're diving into money,
business and IRS secrets with none other than
Charles J. Reed, CPA, IRS insider and veteran
entrepreneur with 50 plus years of financial
expertise, 400 plus media features and a track
record of helping business dodge IRS penalties
and master payroll. Charles is here to drop a
game changing insights. And if you're an entrepreneur
looking to keep more money in your pocket and
avoid causing mistakes, this episode is for you.
So let's just get into it. avoid some costs and
mistakes, and build some wealth with Charles
Reed. Welcome to the podcast. How are you doing
today, Charles? Michael, excellent. Thank you
for having me. It's a pleasure to be with you.
Yes, yes, yes. I'm so glad you're here because
this is, or as we're recording, this is tax season.
It is. So it's good to have you on and I'm so
glad, you know, especially for beginning entrepreneurs,
you know, new business owners. taxes, what taxes
scare for people anyway, and especially for the
new business owners. So we're going to dive into
it before we get into it. You were in the military
and how that, how did that experience shape like
your world of leadership and business? That's
a, that's a very interesting question. I spent
four years in the United States Marine Corps.
I was a Sergeant at the end did two years including
a combat tour in Vietnam. One of the things you
learned in NCO school, the Marine Corps is mission
men. Self you accomplish the mission regardless
of what it takes. That's the first thing you
do You accomplish the mission then you take care
of you then you take care of yourself That translates
very well to business get the job done Whatever
it is. Our job is to provide perfect payroll
on time every time to our clients We bend over
backwards to do that Whatever it takes we put
into it then I take care of my staff, my people,
my clients. All that comes before me. If somebody
doesn't get paid because we're short of cash
and in the beginning, every entrepreneur is,
it's me. It's not my staff. If somebody needs
time off and I have to work to make up for it,
if they need it, they get it and I make up the
difference. Okay. It's mission, men, self, and
that translates very, very well to business.
Now, there are things that don't translate well.
The Marine Corps, like all military, is very
hierarchical. Everybody jumps for somebody else
or, you know, we either jump for them or they
jump for you. Well, that doesn't translate well
into business. Thankfully, my wife was very much
of a people person. No, not at all. I married
her while I was in the Corps and she broke me
of some of that over the years. Right. That's
funny. Yeah, you're right. So like, you know,
you take from the military what you did learn
and you applied it to your business and to get
payroll. your business. And we'll talk about
that later. With 50 plus years, you know, experience
here, let's talk about the let's just start start
off with IRS, you know, what's one of the things
that business owners, beginning business owners
should know about taxes and knowing about the
IRS? Okay, there's the most important thing.
Most important thing is their people. Okay. They're
mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters.
They're people, but they are civil servants.
They don't have the same motivation that an entrepreneur
has. They put in their 40 hours a week, get their
30 days vacation, retire in 30 years. You can't
fire them effectively. They don't have the same
motivation. So the first thing you have to do
is treat them like people. They're not, for the
most part, They're good people. They're not nasty.
They're not vindictive. They're not vicious.
There's a few shit You've got one in your family
like that. So, you know, it's nothing that you
don't realize right The next thing is human Yeah,
the next thing is the IRS makes mistakes their
systems are old and antiquated They don't talk
to each other. The silos are in different spots.
They'll tell you that they make millions of mistakes
a year So the fact that you get a nasty gram
from them doesn't mean it's true. We abate many,
many mistakes every year. Pre -COVID, the IRS
issued $13 billion in employment tax penalties.
Billions of dollars were abated because they
were wrong. Dealing with the IRS is appeal, appeal,
appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal, keep talking
to people because sooner or later you'll probably
find somebody that'll say, yeah, you're right.
And it's over. So don't ever give up. Understand
the first letter, you get a letter from the IRS
saying you owe this money. You send them a letter
back saying, I don't know it. They don't read
it. They send you back a form letter saying,
no, we're not going to evade anything. That's
the first thing. It's only on their third letter
does somebody actually look at it. And it may
take multiple levels of appeals to get somebody
to actually talk to you about it and get into
it and get into the details. If you get into
collections, they don't care whether you owe
the money or not. As far as they're concerned,
you owe it. They're never going to talk about
the underlying facts. So once you get into collections,
you have to go back to appeals or go to tax court
or district court or whatever. Because collections
is a collections agency and doesn't care Now
one very important thing to remember the IRS
cannot penalize you for a simple mistake only
for gross negligence Okay. Now the taxes of course
if you make a mistake and the taxes are on you
owe the taxes, but the penalties on that Are
only applicable if you were grossly negligent
the problem of course lies in who? determines
gross negligence. The IRS thinks they do. In
fact, the court determines gross negligence.
So you appeal it, you appeal it, you appeal it,
you take it to the tax court if you need be,
and the judge may look at it and go, nah, that's
not gross negligence. It's a simple mistake,
happens all the time. And if you go to tax court,
95 % of all tax court cases are settled pre -court.
They'll make you an offer no matter what, I promise
you. What's an example of a gross negligence?
You just don't do it. That's gross negligence.
Now, if you sent it off and it didn't get there,
that happens. That's not your fault. The post
office didn't deliver it or didn't deliver it
timely or the dog shredded it or whatever. Those
are mistakes. Gross negligence is not doing something
deliberately miscalculating. deliberately misrepresenting,
deliberately not doing something. But if you
make a mistake, if you added it wrong, if you
multiplied it wrong, if you sent it to the wrong
address, these aren't gross negligence. Again,
the IRS is going to argue with you. But the farther
up the ladder you go, the more likely you are
to find people who will be reasonable about it.
Because at the lower levels now, the IRS will
deny it. At the lower levels, they're measuring
on how much they collect. and how many cases
they settle, and they're encouraged to collect
taxes. And the IRS will say differently, and
I understand that. They can't admit that in public.
But it's endemic. It's built into the system.
So when you get out of that, and to people who
are looking at the real case and not concerned
about just shuffling them off, you're liable
to get people who are more amenable to understanding
what happened and why and so on. Yeah, I'm glad
you say it that way because, you know, it kind
of drops the veil of, you know, the big scary
IRS people to, hey, they're just people. They're
people doing a job. They're civil service doing
a job. And that's all they want to do is do the
job and get it done. When I talk to an agent,
what's the, what's one of the, like, yeah, go
ahead. We have a little contingent here. When
I talk to an agent, the first thing I do is say,
how's it going? How's your day? What's the weather
like there? I will have conversations sometimes
10 or 15 minutes with an agent, just talking
before we ever get to the case at hand. When
doing so, I build a community of interest. Okay.
They're in New York. Well, you know, my father
came from New York years ago. God, it's snowing
up there. Never snows down here. That's why I
live down here in Texas. Just anything to develop
camaraderie, community goes a long way because
people are yelling at them all the time. Don't
yell at them. Don't scream at him. Don't jump
up and down. Because just imagine if somebody
was doing that to you. Your response would be,
you know? So be nice to him. If you get a real
butt on the phone. Disconnect, call back, you'll
get somebody else. You get somebody else. Yeah,
that's the route. That's the way I would go to.
We're talking about the taxes and the new guys
in the entrepreneurship world and you having
the knowledge. Are there any little known tax
deductions that small businesses should really
take advantage of? Sure. There's a lot of them.
There's some that are unknown. 45S is one. If
you give your people time off for what would
be an acceptable reason for family medical leave
purposes, adoption, sickness, sickness of kids,
family sickness, a number of other things, all
the FMLA stuff, but you're not subject to it
because you're not 50 people. If you give them
time off for that and pay them right now, you
can get a tax credit. for up to 25 % of what
you pay them. And basically, everybody gives
time. Sally's kid's sick, so you pay her for
the day, because she had to stay home. And that
may be in your PTO policy, that she gets two
weeks of PTO a year. Well, if she takes the day
to take care of a sick kid, or because she's
sick, you can get up to 25 % of what you paid
her back as a tax credit. Wow, okay. That is
a secret. I'm going to suggest that for all your
listeners, if they will go to thepayrollbook
.com and enter the discount code podcast, I will
send them a copy of my newest book, which is
The Payroll Book, A Guide for Small Businesses
and Startups, free of charge. No shipping, no
handling. As long as supplies last, we'll ship
them one free of charge. I'll pay the postage.
Thank you. That's really cool. I'm sure that
they'd take advantage of that because I I think
I will. So you'll definitely be seeing my email
in that there. Like since you gave that, is there
a strategy that businesses can use to reduce
the chance of being audited or is it just, you
know, you just got to take it if it comes. Small
businesses very seldom get audited to start with.
S corporations are audited less than 1 % of the
time. Okay. You have to get over several million
dollars before you really get on their radar.
So the chance of you being audited are slim,
but That doesn't mean it won't happen. Keep your
record straight. Use a separate credit card for
the business. Do everything by check or credit
card. Record everything. Keep all your records.
Keep them in a form that you can access and provide
to an auditor. All these things are just, they're
good business. Keep track of your records because
your financials and your financial records guide
you to where you're being successful and where
you're not being, where you need to put your
efforts and where you don't. It's extremely important
that you know what's going on in your business
in detail because it will help guide you to make
you more successful. Yeah. So that will solve
audit problems because an auditor comes in and
says, okay, you have these entertainment expenses
or you have these travel expenses. Show me. And
so you can start going through them and you say,
okay, here's the mileage. Here's the log. Here's
the first entry. It was such and such for such
and such on such and such a date, so many miles,
the business reason, the next one, the next one,
the next one. After about five of them, he's
going to quit asking. He's done because he knows
you keep good records. So he's not going to look
at everything because it's a waste of his time.
Once he knows that you have good solid records
on everything. The audit gets done very quickly.
It's when they're spotty and then there's personal
stuff in there and there's stuff that you can't
document and so on and so forth. That's when
it becomes a problem. That is not to say that
you shouldn't deduct things that you can't document.
If it's a legitimate deduction, even if you can't
prove it, go ahead and deduct it on your tax
return. You may lose it on audit, but your chance
of being audited are less than 100. So, okay,
I'll take that chance. You know, I play poker.
Take the chance. My chances are much better at
poker than they are. Okay. So, losing to the
IRS is very unlikely. And one of the things,
remember, going back to it, the IRS is people.
They're not this monolithic, perfect establishment.
They're people, they make mistakes, they can
be talked to, they can be influenced. So be nice
to them. Be nice to them. I mean, just being
nice goes a long way. Even if you probably get
a butt on the phone, if you don't hang up, still
be nice. It may take you a little further than
not being nice. I've got something that's come
up. I'll call back. Click, call back. Oh, hi.
Yeah. Just like it was all brand new. Are there
financial red flags that entrepreneurs should
look out when they scale their business? Because
we do talk to people that are beginning but also
want to be interested in scale their business.
Are there financial red flags that come up when
doing that? Well, this is why you need to have
a CPA that works with you, prepares your financials,
goes over them with you. talks to you about them.
So you can see the red flags. If you're a restaurant,
you can see that your food cost is creeping up.
If you are, if you have an establishment, your
utility costs are rising for some reason. That's
how we figured out we had a water leak because
our water bill went up. Okay. We looked at it.
We had a leak. We had to talk with the running.
So, you know, that, that was an extra $40 that
month. Well, we got a plumber out there and we
fixed it. So be aware of what's going on. The
red flags will present themselves. if you look
for them. Now, of course, the biggest thing is
cash flow. You need to be aware of your cash
flow because cash is king. You run out of cash,
you're out of business. So cash flow is critical.
You need to know what your cash situation is
on an ongoing basis. For those who are starting
out, I tell them, imagine every possible expense
that you might encounter. as you start your business.
And when you have that number, double it and
you might be close because there's things you'll
never imagine. Wow. Yeah. You know, there's some,
there's things that sneak in and you're like
things start to, they start to add up. They start
to double up, you know, and the next thing you
know, wait a minute, what's going on here? Yeah.
And you talked about a CPA, getting a CPA. When
is the, when should you get a CPA when you're
starting a business? Like when's the best time?
before you start, talk to one, find one that
understands the type of business you wanna get
into, because they will provide you, and normally
you can talk to them the first time for free.
If the guy says, you gotta pay me to talk to
me the first time, find somebody else, and they'll
give you hints, and they'll give you help, and
then if you like the guy, and he's got the experience
you want and you can talk to him and it's a good
fit. He can help you create your business plan.
He can help you create the prospective financials
for the bank, for your financing, whatever. And
he can help you set up your accounting system
so you'll survive an audit if it happens and
set up your financial reporting so you'll know
what's going on in the business. You just can't
run it out of your wallet. It doesn't work. No,
it doesn't. I'll be honest, that was the beginning
for me. I was like, yeah, this ain't working.
This ain't working. We got to shift and admit,
you know, I want to grow. And this ain't how
to do it. This ain't how to do it. What's up
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.TheOrientsGroup .com. All right, we're done
with the spot. Let's get back to the podcast.
Every business needs four advisors. They need
a CPA. for their financials and their taxes.
They need a lawyer. As much as I hate lawyers,
including my own, you need a lawyer for legal
advice. You need a banker because you're going
to have accounts, you're going to have money,
you're going to have cash flow. You'll need a
banker that you're going to work with. And you
need an insurance agent that can help protect
you from the vulgarities of business and life
and people who will try to steal money from you.
The one thing to remember with these advisors
is they are advisors. They don't run your business.
Your CPA may, your lawyer probably will, tell
you how to run your business. Don't let them.
Listen to them, listen to their advice, but it's
your business to run. It's not theirs. They're
not in it. They don't operate a day -to -day.
They won't take the loss if you go out of business.
They'll try to take the profit if you stay in
business, but it's your business. Use them as
advisors. You don't want to ruin your business.
You know, it's really solid advice. CPA, lawyer,
banker, and insurance agent, all advisors, right?
Don't let them try to ruin your business. That's
really solid advice. Okay. I think we have a
little lag. I'll cut this part out, but I think
we have a little lag between you and I. We do.
Okay. So I'll, okay. I'll just, so I'll, um,
after you speak, I'll give some little time.
So we won't overlap, but just let you know that
I'm, I'm catching that little lag there. So,
all right. Um, so I'll just cut that part out
and we'll just pick up where we left off here.
So you, I mean, you have your business get payroll.
Um, and I know that, you know, payroll is a big
deal. So what, what does get payroll do? for
new business owners or just business owners,
period. What we do is we provide payroll services
and payroll -related services for small businesses
around the country. So you don't have to worry
about what forms you need to file, when you need
to file them, what you need to withhold, when
you need to withhold it, when you need to pay
it in. year -end forms, quarter -end forms, state
forms, local forms. We do all of that and we
keep up on the changes in the law and advise
you on the changes in the law as things change.
So all you have to do is track, you know, what
the pay is for the people, the number of hours
of the salaries. Let us know and we take care
of the rest so you don't have to. The example
I've used for years about dealing with the IRS
on this stuff is When I grew up, Pele was the
world's best soccer player. But if you put him
in a New York Yankees uniform and second base,
he would be lost. He wouldn't know the game.
He wouldn't know the rules. Pick up the ball
with your hand. So when you have business people
who are successful with what they do and provide
a service or a product, and then you say, okay,
now go deal with the IRS. They're pale at second
base. That's where we come in. We know the rules.
This is our ballpark. In many cases, we know
more than the IRS people we're dealing with.
We study this. We study the law. We go to court.
There you go. We pursue the regulations. We've
been on the IRS advisory council dealing with
the IRS problems, helping them solve them. This
is what we do for a living. I can't do your business.
I can't make your product. I can't sell your
service. That's not my business. My business
is dealing with the employment tax aspects of
around the country for the local states and the
federal government. And I know that backwards
and forwards and know how to make it work for
you. So let me. Let you. Yeah. You know what?
And as you were saying all that, I was like,
you know what? This is someone you want to have
on your team. Somebody who could do all that.
And the person that's running the business don't
have to worry about it. Exactly. It's, it's,
you know, I don't work in my own car. I don't
mow my own lawn. I don't make my own clothes.
I don't, I don't grow my own coffee beans. I
outsource these things. Payroll was one of those
things business should outsource before I ever
got into the payroll business. I outsourced it
to, to my competitors now. But simple is easy.
It's cheap. It's one of those hats that you can
take off and hand off very early on. I don't
ever recommend that a business do their own payroll
unless they're a CPA or a payroll expert. And
if you're an expert at it, well, fine, go ahead
and do your own. We do our own payroll, okay?
But if that's not your - Well, yeah, it's definitely
not mine. And so, and I'm letting the listeners
know right now. that, you know, don't, don't
do your own payroll. If you, if you can, if you
have the money to go ahead and outsource it,
outsource it. And I w I looked at your website
and everything and looked into all your services
and you look pretty good. So you might, thanks
for coming on, but you know, you might have a
new client over here. Okay. Just letting you
know. So what's up? You have so much experience
within the business world. What's one financial
habit a every entrepreneur should adopt? Wow.
Well, Track everything. I mean, and for entrepreneurs,
that's going to be a hard thing. They tend not
to be focused on the minutia. They tend to be
big picture people. They tend to want to accomplish
things. They want to be the next Elon Musk or
Bill Gates. We all want to be there, but you've
got, you've got track the minutia as much as
it's a pain in the ass. If you don't, if you
can't do it yourself, hire somebody that can.
So you have the detailed records of what's happening
because that's your guide to whether you're successful
or not. You may think the old saw, well, you
know, we'll cut the price and we'll make it up
in volume. That may or may not work depending
on what your margins are. You know, you may be
selling the hell out of something. If you're
selling at a loss for every unit you sell. The
more you expand sales, the quicker you're going
down the tubes. So you've got to know what the
details are. You've got to know the minutia.
And if you can't track it, hire somebody that
can. So your CPA can sit down with you and go
through it and explain what's going on and what's
happening so you know where to put your efforts.
make your business successful. You can't run
it out of your wallet. You can't run it out of
your pocket. It doesn't work. Too many people
have tried and failed. It just doesn't work.
You don't know what's going on. That little bit
right there can save people headache, time, and
lost wages right there. You personally, what
was a financial mistake that you made in your
business or did you? And did you recover from
it? Oh, I've made lots of them. You know... I
didn't start investing early enough, so I had
to make up for it later. I'd be a hell of a lot
richer if I put money away when I was a lot younger.
That's the mistake that a lot of us make, is
not staking out and saying, this much needs to
go for my investment and my retirement for the
future, regardless. That's a good habit to get
into. I'll tell you one. When I started my business,
Since it was new I could say I want to pay sales
tax on an annual basis So I did because I didn't
have to pay it quarterly or monthly Well the
next January the tax bill came in at 1200 bucks.
I went. Oh shit. Where's the money? So I immediately
paid my sales tax on a monthly basis so I didn't
get caught again Yeah, that's why but you didn't
know but you were you weren't aware at the time
It seemed easy. So I took the easy route and
that was a mistake. Okay Yeah, sometimes the
easy road ends up being the hard road. Absolutely.
That's good. That's good advice as well. What's
your approach to like making big financial decisions?
And have you ever had to make those financial
decisions under pressure? I try very, very hard
not to make decisions under pressure. I will
walk away from things. I will say, we'll talk
tomorrow. I try very hard. If they say, I've
got to have a yes or no right now. No, I won't
be pressured into doing things. I refuse to.
I like to think things over. I like to take time.
If they've got to have a decision today, no,
I won't do it. I refuse to. Making decisions
under pressure, you shouldn't do it. Just don't
allow people to pressure you like that. If they're
pushing you for a decision right now, there's
a problem. And the problem isn't with you. The
problem is with them. Don't do it. Just say,
no, I'll think about it. In negotiations, if
you can't walk away from a negotiation, you've
lost. Pure and simple. Any decision you have
to make, you can't say, I'm going to take time.
You've lost. Don't do it. Don't allow people
to put you in that situation. There's very, very,
very few situations where you have to make that
decision now. Get with your advisors. Get with
your spouse. Think about it. Get a good night's
sleep. Things look better when the sun comes
up in the morning. Things that look dire in the
evening. Yeah. The next morning, you're going,
well, it's not that bad. And it isn't. Your mind
will make things worse. You'll get anxious, the
chemicals in your body will stimulate in strange
ways and there's nothing like a good night's
sleep to get a different perspective on things.
I totally agree. I think just through the years,
I've learned that practice. I think with younger
mindsets or beginning entrepreneurs, it's like,
it's almost like a rush rush kind of identity
and I've learned just chill out, take a breather,
step back if you need to. or if I need to, and
then come back with, you know, the full capacity
of thought around whatever situation it is. And
I've learned that over time. Absolutely. And
something for entrepreneurs to remember, and
I stole it from Bill Gates, is that people will
overestimate what they can accomplish in a year
and underestimate what they can accomplish in
a decade. Entrepreneurship is not a sprint. It's
a marathon. It's one step at a time. It's a long
journey. Yes. Take your time. You'll be amazed
at what you can accomplish in 10 or 20 or 30
years like I have. I'm not as rich as I would
like to be, but you know. Well, well, you know,
that goes, that goes, you know, for pretty most,
a lot of people probably. And with all the experiences
now, I know you offered something in the beginning.
Is this the book that you wrote? It's not the
book you wrote, the payroll book? Yes. That's
something different, right? No, no, it's the
payroll book that I wrote recently. The payroll
book, a guide for small businesses and startups,
and I'll offer it to your listeners for your
charge. Okay, awesome. How did that come along?
Why did you decide to write that book? I get
questions all the time, and I looked around to
see if there was a good reference guide that
I could recommend to people. The only one I could
find is the payroll source. which is from the
American Payroll Association. It's $600, and
it's really designed to train payroll people
to become certified, certified payroll professionals.
It's not designed for business people. So I said,
I'll write something. Well, two years later,
I had something. Thank heavens for Wiley & Sons
Publishing. They're a major publishing house.
They took the book on. They helped make it a
much better book than my previous Self -published
books were so kudos to them and their expertise
that made it a much better book We've done very
well with it on Amazon and in the bookstores
and so on So yeah, it's I refer to it as 30 years
of wisdom still down to 95 ,000 words Wow, what?
That's a good deal anybody like the people my
audience is listening get that book because and
sign up so you can get that book because it sounds
like it's it's full of treasures that will definitely
help us in our businesses. Before we got on,
we talked about life, work, balance. And in the
beginning, starting entrepreneurs think that's
something that can be done. What is your take
on that? Well, as I was saying to you before
we started, I was on a panel discussion once
and it was entrepreneurs and one of the entrepreneurs
and one of them said, What about work -life balance?
And I just cracked up. I started laughing. And
I explained to the young lady that in the beginning
for an entrepreneur, there is no such thing as
work -life balance. It's work. If you want to
be a success, you're going to have to put your
heart and soul and time into making it a success.
Now, in a few years, you can balance things out.
But in the beginning, You have to focus on it.
And I told her if your partner doesn't understand
that, your life partner, there will be problems.
They need to be on board with the fact that you're
going to put in 70, 80, 100 hours a week on a
business that you own, that's yours. You're not
working for Joe Blow. You're not working for
the many. You're working for you and for your
partner's future. So you put into it everything
you have. Now, at some point, it starts to self
-perpetuate, and you hire people, and you get
staff, and you have cash flow, and you have income,
and you can take a vacation. It took me about
10 years before I took a vacation. The first
three, four years were tough. One of the things
that I've learned is I have a tendency to want
to keep things like in order and correct and
it has one thing has to lead to another and some
kind of flow. Well, owning your own business,
it's not always that way because there's days
when you wake up and things are just completely
chaotic. Things don't flow at all. And so you
become subject to everything else and you have
no control. In that vein, what is your biggest
piece of advice to entrepreneurs? struggling
with that idea or that issue that ended up coming
up? Well, again, it's amazing what a good night's
sleep will do. So when things get chaotic, step
back, put it on hold for a day, go home, have
a drink, get a good night's sleep. You'll be
amazed at what happens. I remember very well,
this happened a number of years ago. On a Saturday,
I went in and in the mail, was $25 ,000 of NSF
charges on my bank account. Can you say that
one more time? $25 ,000 of NSF fees on my bank
account. It's a long story. One of my major clients
we're doing ACH work for and they had a limit
and the payroll was just over the limit for the
first time. And the bank rejected it without
calling the client. Didn't call me. Just didn't
put that money in my account. and everything
started bouncing. Everything. And I sat there
on that Saturday morning, literally not knowing
what the hell I was going to do. And it's a good
thing it was Saturday because had it been during
the week, I probably would have gone and shot
the banker, literally. Thank goodness for weekends.
By Monday morning, I had calmed down and realized
what had happened, called the bank, called my
client. The client was extraordinarily upset,
screamed at the bank and it was the same bank.
It was the bank I was using and the client was
using the same bank. Two bank officers got fired
over it because it was just absolutely unacceptable
what they did. And so it all solved and all the
fees were refunded and all the checks cleared
and everything turned out. But in that moment,
that dark, dark, dark moment, you know, I killed
somebody. So that was Saturday and by Monday
morning, I was rational again. So sometimes,
you know, I say it's back to your right mind.
Yeah. You know, I say there's no work life balance,
but there's times you've got to step back and
look at things and get a good night's sleep and
let things process and talk to somebody. because
I talk to my wife about it. It's amazing what
talking out a problem can do to it. It changes
the problem. You know, I've always said for years,
the Catholics have it right, confession is good
for the soul. The fact that you talk about a
problem to somebody, to your advisor, to your
spouse, to someone, changes it. It's no longer
internal is external it forces you to look at
it and analyze it in a different way than it
just Internally and it makes all the difference
in the world. Yeah to that point. I was just
thinking that not Too long before we start this
podcast. It was like, you know, I was like man.
It would be good to have a partner that you know
that I can talk to you know, when things are
like just all in the mind or all internal about
the business and whatever's going on throughout
the day and just to kind of share it, you know,
just so it can be out in the world, not so much
on the inside. So yeah, I was definitely thinking
that. So yeah, you're right on right on point
with that. So I know we got the lag. So I thought
maybe you're going to say something as we wrap
up. What is like from all the experience that
you've had, everything that you offered the world,
everything that you've offered the financial
world as well. What is your biggest takeaway
from all that experience and what is your biggest
piece of advice that you can give to anyone listening
right now? Absolutely. There is no traffic jam
on the extra mile. Go the extra mile for your
clients. Go the extra mile for your employees.
You'll be amazed at the results you will get
because your competitors won't. That's great.
You know, that's great. I'm not even going to
elaborate. I'm going to say thank you for saying
that. That's solid advice. You know, throughout
these 40 minutes or so, like every, every step
of the way, like you've, you've given great advice,
solid, solid advice. And I want to appreciate
you for, you know, taking the time out. And we
finally. got to connect and be able to have this
conversation. And I really want people to connect
with you. And how does that happen? How can people
get in connection with you? We're on the web
at GetPayroll .com. My email is CJR at GetPayroll
.com. And something quick, 972 -3 - Charles.
Thank you so much for being here, like being
on the podcast. I probably, we'll probably ask
you again to come back sometime in the future,
if you don't mind. My pleasure. And share some
more, some more in -depth financial, financial
business, whatever comes up. I want to thank
you and to all the listeners, you know, take
the advice, get on, send them, send them your
email so you can get that book and, you know,
connect with us on Facebook, on the Thrive with
Journey podcast group. And as we always say around
this time, Make thriving your new normal. Charles,
thank you again. I appreciate you being here.