Episode 24 - The CEO's Playbook: Understanding and Harnessing Business Finances

Are you prepared to conquer the business landscape? If you're a CEO, you can't afford to miss our latest True CEO Podcast, where we unmask the mysterious world of accounting. We've got LaVonne Shields, our accounting strategist, sharing her insights on vital financial concepts - from mastering financial statements to tax planning. Imagine yourself transforming every financial transaction into a stepping stone for sustainable business success; we'll show you how!

Ready to decipher the language of business? Let's discuss the distinction between deductions and expenses, and disbursements and dividends. Imagine the feeling of confidence as you navigate business conversations, understanding every word that's thrown your way. We'll also chat about reverse engineering your staff's paychecks, ensuring you're not underpaying or overpaying anyone.

In the final segment of our podcast, we dive into the nitty-gritty of business banking and the role of technology in business.  As a bonus, we'll also address the realities of predatory lending, the risks of financing a big asset on a credit card, and how to find the right loan for your needs. It's time to revolutionize your understanding of accounting and leadership! Tune in and become the master of your financial destiny.

Thanks for listening! Please follow, rate and review.

Produced and Recorded by Randall Hayes.

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Transcript

Sonya Songer: 0:29

Thousands of Patrons, ements of Patrons, birch trees Rocks. Welcome to the True CEO Podcast, where we equip CEOs with the financial prowess they need to conquer the business landscape. I'm your host, sonia Songer, and I extend a warm welcome to all the visionary minds joining us today. In this episode, we dive into the world of accounting and unveil the crucial to-dos that every CEO must master. Get ready to unlock the secrets of financial acumen as we explore the essential accounting practices that will elevate your business to the new heights.

Sonya Songer: 1:27

From financial statements to budgeting, tax planning to cash flow management, we leave no stone unturned in providing you with the insights and strategies needed to make informed decisions and propel your organization towards sustainable success. So grab your calculators, sharpen your pencils and prepare to become the master of your financial destiny. It's time to embrace the accounting essentials that every true CEO must conquer, and to do so, we have our usual panel of experts, and that's going to be LaKeisha Cubs Hayes, who is our CEO expert. We have, of course, the person who's going to be giving us most of the information today, and that's LeVon Shields, who's our accounting strategist, and then myself, sonia Songer, the HR specialist here. So, levon, what are these to-dos that?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 2:18

you speak of, and I want to know where your pencil at because Sharpen it, because you're supposed to sharpen.

Sonya Songer: 2:24

I have a pen that's not going to work.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 2:26

We got to erase. Accounting is all erasure, it's not erasure?

Sonya Songer: 2:32

You shouldn't be. Are you doing something shiesty that you need to erase?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 2:36

The question Do you have a second set of books? I mean you might, you should.

Sonya Songer: 2:45

I have one. What's in my head? What's?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 2:47

in my head versus what's on paper.

LaVonne Shields: 2:49

Are you know? Those two things I've always met.

Sonya Songer: 2:51

So now there's six tips Don't have too many books. Don't break the law when you're making a law. Don't break the law when you're making a law. Yeah, don't do that.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 3:02

I mean.

Sonya Songer: 3:03

And don't out yourself on the podcast. She doesn't know what she's talking about, at least not in regard to true CEO. I don't know what she's doing over there with strategic behavior and none of the other stuff, but true CEO is legit.

LaVonne Shields: 3:25

So what are some crucial accounting to-dos that new business owners, established business owners should definitely embrace? One of the first ones is definitely bring in some sort of professional whether you're just meeting with them and a one-on-one hey what am I supposed to do? Kind of thing or actually bring someone to do the job of managing your numbers, Because it's just that's facing it's not everyone's forte, it's not the thing they should be doing in their business at all. So get the support of having an actual professional who can walk you through some of that, Because it is it's very muddy waters. There's a whole lot of moving and shaking and things that need some clarification. So, as opposed to just trying to wing it, you should probably get someone who can help you organize that and put it into some structure. I mean, it's just the way of the world.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 4:15

And I was talking to a couple of people I was coaching there. It was just like, well, I just want to know how to do it myself. I was like do you really want to that's a whole separate profession. Right, that's a whole profession and I was like how much of it do you want to be able to do? I mean, I can understand from a CEO standpoint of what do I need to know within this system to then be able to have clarity on my numbers. I can understand that.

Sonya Songer: 4:44

And make sure somebody's not siphoning money off of it.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 4:47

Right, absolutely, absolutely Now.

Sonya Songer: 4:49

I understand that part.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 4:50

But I'm just like why am I going to do this myself?

LaVonne Shields: 4:55

Like that is I ask all the time I'm like okay, so you won't do that by yourself.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 5:00

Yeah, I'm not the professional in this round. I don't even think you really want me to deal with the numbers? Not at all. You know I was like-.

LaVonne Shields: 5:07

It's simple. I'd be like where is the receipt?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 5:10

Where's the receipt? I was like, what receipt, what receipt did you want me to have? I had to have a receipt for every single thing that I do, every thing.

Sonya Songer: 5:19

I was like, I mean, I guess, they do give you a receipt for every transaction.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 5:24

I mean they do, but I didn't think you had to have it for every little Like. I went and bought some gum. Why am I Can I buy gum in the business? That's what I need to know. What's my first?

LaVonne Shields: 5:34

hope.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 5:36

You know, I walk right up to the line and I look at it.

LaVonne Shields: 5:39

Well, I mean if you look at it and you look at it, but that's the whole thing is because and these are tow, this are walking. I'm like can I do this? But that's the whole thing is. The numbers are the the story. And if you don't have the backup to the story, then I think we said in another podcast about HR if there's no documentation, then there's no way it didn't happen, there's no way of proving it. And the crazy part about the IRS is that you're they're crazy, but your bank statements and credit card statements don't show us proof. Oddly enough, when it comes to deposits they do, but when it comes to money going out, they don't count that. They want to see an asset.

LaVonne Shields: 6:18

They want to see an actual receipt that describes what it is that you were moving money for. And if you don't have it, then in the worst case scenario, which is an audited situation, that goes, that goes away, that goes, it goes away. So if you were claiming it and you don't have the proof of it. It goes away. It's no longer part of the calculation.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 6:38

So basically, they just put it into your dividends or all of the other stuff, depending on your structure.

LaVonne Shields: 6:43

Yeah, depending on the structure so it becomes-. So if you're a sober prior, then yeah, because it increases the net income of the business, and so that's what you're going to get taxed on, especially for self-employment. If we're talking about entities, now it's a whole different deal as far as how it goes, because if it was pulled out and it should have been considered a payroll, then now you've got to go back and reevaluate how you calculated where that expense was and then possibly pay penalties and interest. Oh no.

LaVonne Shields: 7:08

For not calculating the per-. Why Exactly so, when you don't have an expert there who's helped you navigate the minefields of that one? Because it is that. It's literally that it's like oh, don't step right there, don't do that, unless you don't want your pinky toe. You might want to go somewhere else.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 7:27

What about that person that's not spending hardly any money in their business and they're just wanting to hold on to it?

Sonya Songer: 7:33

I know what you're talking about?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 7:38

What about those people? To be honest, out of the people that I coach now there are a number of people that say, oh, I can't spend that money and every dime that I have goes back into the business. I find it quite, you know, like.

Sonya Songer: 7:56

again, I go right up to the line and I look at it Back into the business, how you should be spending it then.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 8:01

Well, I mean, they're spending it kinda, they're not taking any money, they're not like, they're not utilizing, they're not paying themselves. I mean outside of payroll, you know, because obviously you have to do the payroll. But what about those people that you know are just not doing what they need to do?

LaVonne Shields: 8:22

Well, this is why the professional comes into play, because what's the strategy? So we're holding on the cash for what reason? Because there's always tax strategy and there's operational strategy.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 8:31

Yes.

LaVonne Shields: 8:31

Tax strategy is spend it all, pay it as least amount of taxes, as you want. Operational strategy is I want to make sure that I have access to any lines of credit or be able to sell my business or do things like that, so then you're going to need to have a particular level of profitability. The sweet spot is how can we accomplish where I'm paying the least amount of taxes for this level of profitability that I want to be in?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 8:54

Right.

LaVonne Shields: 8:54

Which is why you have your experts. You don't just kind of wing it and go off of one strategy, especially if that strategy doesn't even work for your entity, it doesn't work for your industry, it doesn't work for just your business in general. You, just because you saw someone on TikTok, say you gotta do this, no, don't.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 9:10

I just want to see all the money in my account. It hit with a capital gains.

LaVonne Shields: 9:16

Goes back to the what Like. What does that mean? But then that's where we're having the right kind of professional. Unfortunately, my industry is known for having very disassociated professionals. We see you at the end of the year or we tell you what it is supposed to do. However, that person who is looking to see that dollar amount in their bank account probably has another issue that they're working off of, probably coming from a place of scarcity, not knowing what it is that they're supposed to be doing with it in the first place, and so if you can't walk them through, okay, I understand that that's where you're coming from, but this is our goal. So how do we release some of that? Going in and depending on the expert.

LaVonne Shields: 9:57

Again, my industry is known for transactional, being very disassociated with the actual business owner and the operations of the business, so finding the right professional is crucial. I love the fact that the new ones coming out the gate are being more advisors and not just transactional, but they're still. The foundational part of it is I'm going to prepare your taxes, okay, well, that's great, but I also want to get access to funding, and those are two different strategies. And if you don't know anyone who's willing to have that conversation with you. You could be in a position where, yeah, you have low taxes, but good luck on getting along for that building in the next two years. Or, yeah, I'm able to get this loan, but, man, I got paid all this money and taxes. I wasn't prepared for that. How do you step your way into that?

LaVonne Shields: 10:40

So getting the right professional is crucial and there's so many stages that you can get it from. So it's not saying you have to go hire someone at $250 an hour or $2,000 a month is really finding based off of where you are. Where can I start? And then that way you build into that relationship and then find out if that's the right person. Because, again, if all they're talking about is, oh, we need to make sure we're at least amount of taxes, okay, but my lender over there is telling me I need to be prepared to qualify for a loan. How do we make this work?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 11:12

So you got to have that. What's the strategy and I think that's what I love about just even talking about this topic is what is the strategy in which you are operating under? And a lot of people don't have the strategy. They're just like, okay, well, now I'm entrusted with all of this money for this corporation or you know this entity, and now what am I supposed to do? And you're either on the on two ends whether I'm hoarding all of the money because I'm scared I'm going to go out of business, or I'm spending all the money because I'm reckless and I don't necessarily think about you know what is what the future entails. I just know that. You know this money came in and you know it's mine and I'm going to mine and I'm going to mine.

LaVonne Shields: 12:00

Well, that's thought that that's where, again, having that professional come in, because that mindset is one of the biggest ones to switch over. If, even as a sole proprietor, you'd want to create some separation between you and your business, yeah, because there has to be separation between you and your business. However, if there is no one guiding you through how to make that transition, then you end up in a position where you're forced to have to pay taxes on this one because, well, yeah, you was doing this back and forth and when they came and looked at it, it looked like a business, right, it looked like a business. So if it didn't look like a business and it's not going to get business benefits or, on the other side of it, it's, you know, there was just money movement and no one knew exactly where it was going. And so when it comes time to really see you moved all this money, then how do we relate it to what actually happened in your business?

LaVonne Shields: 12:46

So you paid these people, you got the system, you did this training, you did all these things. How did that relate to what's happening in operations? Right, you know, do the people who are making things happen have the resources that they need with all this money you were moving. You moved all this money, but you don't have any new computers. You're still working off of. You know 1997 operating system.

LaVonne Shields: 13:10

But everybody went to Hawaii for the team meeting. It's like, okay, that was great, you wrote off the travel, but the day to day sucks. The day to day sucks and you know, having the right sort of collaborative professional start there. Find somewhere where you can start asking the questions and learn how from a CEO, business owner mindset. You should be looking at your numbers, right. You should be looking at your numbers so what that actually leads into what one of the next parts, which is learn, learn the language. You gotta learn the language, right? You know you're called people all the time and you ask me so what's this between a deduction and an expense? They're the same thing. Where are you asking me about the information? We call it a deduction when we're talking about your taxes, but in your day to day it's an expense. So it's interchangeable. But people get all concerned like, well, I need to know what my deductions are because my expenses. You said the same thing.

Sonya Songer: 14:08

You said the same thing Like when people order a chai tea latte. Chai and tea. Both mean tea, Chai and tea.

LaVonne Shields: 14:18

So you're asking for a tea, tea, latte. I was today years old when I got that, so luckily I don't chai me, I don't drink chai. It means tea, so learn some new English. Well, I know.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 14:34

I just had my lawyer calls me, probably, you know, every six months or so. He's like hey, kish, you need your minutes right, cause you have your CPA who's telling you one thing, and then you have your corporate attorney that's telling you one thing, and so sometimes those things match up and sometimes you know they serve two different functions. It's really just what it is. And so he asked me last week sometime. He was like he should you know, your dividends are low. And I was like my dividends, like what are we talking about? And I was just like well, what are we? He was like what are you doing with the money, you know, cause you have to be making some kind of profit? And I was like, well, yeah, we're making a profit. And he was just like and I was like disbursements, and he was just like your disbursements are dividends. And I was like, okay, because my CPA is saying, okay, your disbursements are this, but then he comes with it and have dividends on the paper and I'm like I don't even know what you're talking about right now.

LaVonne Shields: 15:40

And these are two different things.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 15:42

So where? Where do you see it?

LaVonne Shields: 15:44

I mean even from a language, from a simplicity standpoint like, well, I need a profit and loss or do I need an income statement?

Sonya Songer: 15:52

It's the same thing.

LaVonne Shields: 15:53

Same thing, same thing, but you don't know. You don't know what you don't know. So if you don't know the language, you don't know how to communicate it, and not from even from a bias standpoint. But accounting is the language of business. It's the one way that you're able to equalize everybody by saying, hey, are you making enough to support your business? It doesn't matter what industry in, what size you're in. If your math not math, then we got a problem. So learn the language so you can figure out where what's happening.

LaVonne Shields: 16:23

Numbers wise relates to what's happening in the actual parts of the business. As well as being able to communicate with people who aren't a part of these standard conversations, you know you need to make sure that you can convey to everyone, speak the language of business, to people so they know exactly how to help you, exactly where you know they can give you the best bang for your buck or what's going on, as well as to make sure that you can. You can see your business from a 360 angle, absolutely. I mean, if you only see it from the. I know how to make cakes, okay. Well, do you know what it takes for you to make the cakes, market the cakes and figure out how many, what your capacity is for, how many cakes you can actually do in the course of a month. If you can't answer those questions and you're saying but I need, I need access to a loan for what. What do you need to make? I mean you decide.

Sonya Songer: 17:09

I'm not wanting you money to make camp Right.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 17:12

I mean, I just literally had this conversation with our CEO group, our accelerator group, and I was just telling them, you know, they were like, okay, well, how much can we afford to pay someone? Because it was like the numbers are too low. And I was like, well, the numbers aren't low, you just have not looked and delved into them. I was like, you know, let's, let's take one client. If one client is, you know, $80, then what do you want to take off the top? Because you know, obviously you want to go to profit first.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 17:45

So if we go to profit first, then profit first says what it was my expected profit that I'm going to make off of this reverse engineer, and then you reverse engineer it. So if I'm making, you know, I expect to make 15 and 20%, which is my industry standard, you know. So my industry standard set 15 to 20%. I'm going to take my 15 to 20% off the top and then I'm going to say, okay, this is how much I have left. Well, how much does it cost me every hour for overhead, for the people, for the staff that needs to make sure that this runs, without the people that actually make the money, like all of those different things and all of these different moving parts that people are not looking at, and it was just like oh, I never looked at it like that. Yes, so then I can afford to pay X amount of dollars for the people that do the work. Now am I going to pay complete and other like all the way up my top? Absolutely not. That's not how this works.

LaVonne Shields: 18:44

It's not how it works, but you won't even know how to make that that scenario happen if you don't understand the language of okay, so am I talking about my gross profit? Am I talking about my net profit? Am I talking about my operating expenses? All of the because that's where you need to know where you're going to make your adjustments. I sat in on a webinar and this guy explained it the best way I've ever heard from an accounting professional. It was.

LaVonne Shields: 19:09

It was basically saying at the top is where we're talking about your capability of running the business. Do you know what your price points are? Do you know what it costs for you to generate that money? Everything under that is how well is your management managing the business? Because those are management decisions. How much we paying a rent, how much we paying an operation staff, how much we paying you know choosing to do you know over time or things like those are management decisions. Those are happening boots on the ground, whereas everything else is happening at the higher level.

LaVonne Shields: 19:37

With your hypothesis, if we sell, this much is going to generate this much in cash, which will be what was left over, but if you don't know what part of the equation that we're talking about. You're going to start throwing stuff out there and people are like what, what do you actually know about your business? Right, what, what do you actually know about your business? So if you can't speak the language, then how can, how can you expect your business to grow if you don't can't even describe where it is and where you want it to go and get the support you need to move forward with it Down to the language, and then that just leads into. You know, one of the other relationships that you do want to have is a strong relationship with a lender, a banker. You want to have someone first you can talk to you, do you?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 20:21

want to have that.

LaVonne Shields: 20:21

That should be your coffee buddy at least once a quarter, somebody who can. Again, if you're saying I want to get to five million, all right, so then we probably want to make sure you have leverage of 2.5 as far as access to that. So in order for you to do that which goes back to the language I need your gross profits to be at this percentage, I need your balance sheet to say this as far as your ratios of debt. I need you to work through that, which means talk to your tax person to say, hey, least amount of taxes is not our priority Right.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 20:52

That's not the priority right now, and it changes from year to year, and that's the part that you need to understand. Is it changes from?

LaVonne Shields: 20:58

year to year and they need a 12 month. Look back to be able to say it. So you can't say I want to be prepared in three months, whoa Right. What was your previous nine months looking like before?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 21:08

this happened.

LaVonne Shields: 21:09

Right, but if you don't have relationship with a banker, then you don't know one. What other types of programs that are there out there? I mean, there are so many ways of getting access to money, so many ways of being able to fund your business, but if you don't have someone out there who's looking out for that for you, then when you need the money, you can't get access to the money. And when you don't need the money but should have it in reserves, you don't even know to go ask for it. Right, and even though think about like, oh yeah, we're doing good, that's great. Did you consider now applying for a line of credit? Did you consider now thinking about what it's going to be to get your own building, since you've been leasing for this last five months, five years, why you got your business at this level? What's the next part of that?

LaVonne Shields: 21:48

Right, If there's no one having that conversation with you, then you're usually end up in a very, very uncomfortable I mean not in a good way uncomfortable position financially, because you have access, you need money, but you can't get access to it. And then, when you're ready to move forward, you didn't even think about getting access to it. And that cycle just keeps going and going and going.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 22:07

And it's absolutely imperative for imperative that people of color hear this, because I mean you. Based off of my first name, I get turned down. My name is Laquisha Laquisha Cobb's Haze. I am black all the way through and through. When they see my name, they're like I don't get the benefit of the doubt that I can pay this money back, and so a lot of you know the black community is at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to lending and having money and you know, majority of them are boots and they're subject to the predatory lending.

LaVonne Shields: 22:52

So you get access to lending. You got, yeah, I got access to money. Yeah, but you know they're going to take money out of your account every day to pay that loan Every day, like every day, every day. Oh my God, I did that when we first started. I got my money. I got like what was it like? A?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 23:04

$5,000 loan that they wanted me to pay back every day and my revenue cycle was freaking 45 days. I did not understand that and I literally was like, yep, nope, this is where I stopped the bleeding. Why? Because what I do know like I said, I walk right on up to the line is that this is predatory lending and that you can file whatever you need to file, but what I'm not going to do is pay every single day. But then that also caused me issues with what was it? What was that? What you call it lean that they put on you.

LaVonne Shields: 23:46

The CC one.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 23:49

Yeah, the CCL. They put that out there. I think it's called CCL or CC something. Whatever it is. It stopped me from getting loans my very first few years.

LaVonne Shields: 24:02

And then the other part of that one is getting the wrong loan for what you're looking for. So it was why would you finance a big asset on a credit card just because the credit card has the capability? You probably would have done better by getting a fixed loan that you could spread out over this period of time, especially when you're weighing it out.

LaVonne Shields: 24:20

So if you don't have anyone who's letting you know like, hey, I get what you're trying to do, let's find the right tool for that. Let's figure out what this is long term. So I would tell all my clients whenever I work with them we're talking about money movement. It's very rare that money needs to move that fast where you don't have the capability to take a step back and go. Is this the right thing to do? I mean anything under depending on the size of the business. It might be $1,000 or less. Yeah, we're not talking about that. But when you start getting to, oh, I got to pay this $10,000. How do we not know that $10,000? No one knew. No one knew 10 grand was coming, because I know payroll is coming every two weeks. So I was prepared for that.

LaVonne Shields: 24:59

But what's this? 10 grand? What's that in two?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 25:02

But that's what I'm saying and who's talking to you about it? I mean, I know I'm pretty transparent and I say it, but I was dumb. It was my first couple of years in business. I didn't know. I knew payroll was coming. My revenue cycle was 45. I needed to pay these bills. I had enough, but I didn't have enough. You had just barely enough.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 25:24

I had just barely enough. And then, who was I going to talk to? To say, hey, do you know a banker? First of all, I'm already embarrassed. I'm already. I'm about to freaking fail. It's about to be over, I'm no good at business. All of these things are going through your brain like dang. Why didn't I think about that? And what was I supposed to do? And how was I supposed to get to this number? And damn, was this a?

LaVonne Shields: 25:51

really good idea. And then the other scary part is that because people make the assumption that a lender doesn't want to lend, that's their job. It doesn't literally how they generate money is their ability to generate interest and come for it.

LaVonne Shields: 26:06

Right, so I have lended out this much. So if you don't develop that relationship, you're not allowing someone to do what it is that they're here to do. You're not letting them serve their purpose. And the problem, especially amongst our community, is there's a belief that no one wants to loan to us, and that's not true. It's just that you're going to the wrong places. You're assuming that the bank on the corner, which is on every corner, wants to do business with you.

LaVonne Shields: 26:32

They know that you have no other choice to do business with them so that they can be very discerning. However, that little small thing that's in the cut, that you think has no resources, is probably banging with money, like access to a lot of resources, and they have someone who will look at you and go okay, I see three years ago you got in a little bit of trouble, but I've noticed that over here and, looking at your financials, we have something we can do for you, absolutely.

LaVonne Shields: 26:57

You might not get $5 million a day, I might not be able to get you access to that, but I can get you $1.5 million and then we can build on that. You want that kind of thing. Now someone says, oh, so you applied for $5 million and you just didn't get it and it's a no, and then they just be like nope.

LaVonne Shields: 27:12

No, Right, Because they don't need to worry about it, because they know that they get to play the law of numbers. 50,000 people are going to apply today for some sort of line of credit. All I need is two. All I need is two. So just imagine all that. All we need is two. So I can be very conscious and choose to have you. Just see what boxes you check, Because somebody else is going to go at a more prominent bank that you might not see as being as prominent as they are.

LaVonne Shields: 27:43

They will look at you and go okay, so what are the sum of your parts? Let's figure out how we make this work. And again, you might think you need five, but I can't get you five. I can get you two and we can lead up to the five. Or I can get you two as a direct loan and the other two I can get you as a line of credit. But you won't know that if you don't develop a relationship with someone who can tell you what are the lending options that are available to you and how do we get you to fit into the right one. I mean so knowing having a relationship with a banker is a crucial part of growing your business. That's something you definitely want to do, whether it be at your bank. Find another bank, find somewhere where there's a person who understands business that's one. Make sure they understand business and develop a relationship with them.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 28:29

This is not typically your B of A's or.

LaVonne Shields: 28:32

Wells Fargo.

LaVonne Shields: 28:33

They usually have someone who's rotating through Her taste was pretty good. Well, that's the funny part is, a lot of them are trying because they realize they've gotten that rap. Like you know, a business banker. I went to see a business banker and I told them what I I work in accounting and I told them what I do and they were like so so what exactly is it that you do? One is in the name. Right, I could have the time my business was keeping on steroids. It's like it's in the name what I do. So you're a business banker, cause now I got questions. I got a lot of questions about you, what you do, and why am I banking here? Why am I?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 29:14

No no no, no, no no, no, I know, for me it was really hard, just or it's really hard, I should say because everything that I do and I've established over the past seven years is in a big bank, and so even the thought of having to move all of that to another bank it is disheartening. And so I know for me that's probably maybe a barrier for me to even switch to another bank, because I'm looking at it like, okay, well, what do I move? And everything comes through here and this is a daily, hourly type deal. So where do you make that first step to say, okay, well, I'm going to look at a smaller bank, and but I guess that kind of goes along with what you're saying is talk to the bankers and talk to those people to say, hey, this is where I'm at and this is what I want to do on what's going to be the best, and have a real conversation.

LaVonne Shields: 30:11

You know, don't just go on there, have an expectation that, well, this is what you do, so get this to me. It's about the network part of it, finding the right bank, finding the right bankers, because I mean, it's such a broad just from within that that little part is so still vast, because there's those who only focus on industries, there's some that focus on commercial, there's some that focus on working capital. The lending comes in so many different ways. So having someone who can say, hey, here's a map that I think we can work through and as willing to be a part of your advisory team in some way, shape or form, that's where you win, as you get your full advisory board together, and your banker should be one of those, and your banker and your tax person should be having a conversation. They should be having some sort of a be in alignment in some kind of way, because if your taxes look like you know, with no, no low tax liability, might not be able to qualify for a loan.

Sonya Songer: 31:10

Now to circle back to the banking part of it. I hear what Keisha is saying in regards to not wanting to switch all of that over when you're so enmeshed in the large bank that you're with. So if you're having that conversation with a smaller bank, is there a possibility to where you don't have to make that huge switch? Is there a possibility?

LaVonne Shields: 31:40

Well, that's what the back room ever heard, that you ever heard.

Sonya Songer: 31:42

Right. But I mean, have you heard of that happening to where? Okay, what if I just put a certain amount here in your bank? Will that allow, will that qualify me to then be a part of your network? Now, to where I can still, because it's not obviously going to be the same numbers, right, because I'm showing you the numbers based on where all of my stuff is right now at this other bank. But for you to help me, can I just put a portion of that money into your bank?

LaVonne Shields: 32:11

Which, being able to have that good conversation with them and say hey look, I've been, I've been here the entire length of my business, everything runs through it. But you're telling me you can give me X, Y and Z. What's the roadmap to get there? Do I have to have all so much here? Because, again, depending on the lending mechanism that you're using, yeah, you got to put 10 grand here because I'm using as 10% of collateral on the line of credit that we're getting right to offer you. So, at bare minimum, yeah, I need 10 grand.

Sonya Songer: 32:40

Okay, cool.

LaVonne Shields: 32:41

Or at bare minimum I need you to like. For many of them during COVID for PPP, it was put your. I mean, I can get you this PPP loan, but I need you to now run your payroll through this bank. Okay, so let's figure out how I can just run payroll through this bank. What does that look like? And then the hope is that you appreciate the service that they're giving you and like what's going on, and then you'll be willing to move everything over because it'll be easier. However, if you're not comfortable having a conversation with a lender at all, then you're missing out on so many of the avenues that are part of business that run through money. I mean that are directly running through your access to money, how you're using your money, how the money gets easily moved across different banks and different payment styles. You get the wrong bank that doesn't allow you to do sale, and you're dealing with a whole lot of people who. That's how they operate.

Sonya Songer: 33:33

You're like oh, do you have some clients that can't do sale, because for a while it was difficult.

LaVonne Shields: 33:37

I don't know how to do it. I guess difficult, but I mean, but that was a big thing when QuickBooks became really, really huge and they started having the relationships with banks so you can have downloads. No, you're still not sure about that. You're not sure about that.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 33:55

She's saying I'm not sure that you're talking the right stuff right now, Hold on.

LaVonne Shields: 34:00

It's. You know a lot of them. They didn't allow you to do downloads in the QuickBooks, and so that was a decision, especially when me, when I was working with businesses, I was like, if I can't download and you want me to do manual entry, I got to now charge you per hour because that's time for me.

Sonya Songer: 34:15

That upticks the amount exponentially.

LaVonne Shields: 34:19

A lot, and so it is, you know, finding the right features. So you, you want to talk to someone who will walk you through it and give you the best information moving forward so that you can develop that relationship long term. I would say the magic number is three.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 34:36

That's my magic number. My magic number, my threshold and magic number is three. I can talk to three different people, ask them the same questions and or different questions, and you're going to be able to decipher, because I think that's the part where especially new entrepreneurs get hung up on. Okay, well, I went to go talk to this one banker. No, you need to go talk to two more. You need to go talk to two more people, and if they're all telling you the exact same thing, then obviously that's the thing. That's the thing I said. Now, if they all tell you three different things and you probably need to go speak to a fourth and or fifth Right or go deeper into the conversation or go deeper into the conversation.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 35:17

You're not asking the right questions. What kind of questions should I ask?

LaVonne Shields: 35:21

What was the perspective that they were giving you the answer on?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 35:25

You know were you rushed, you know, is this a conversation that you know you need to let them know that you want to take your time with this conversation. You are vested, you know you're looking into moving your money into a place, so what is it that I need to know? And don't feel like you have to be pressured into making a sale because the best people are not going to pressure you into making a sale.

LaVonne Shields: 35:49

They're going to be about the long term. The word is go, and that's, you know, the next important thing. Through that, embrace technology. Ooh, number four, you gotta embrace technology, you gotta learn how to use it.

Sonya Songer: 36:06

I mean, I'm still sending me checks.

LaVonne Shields: 36:09

I'm still dealing with people who are writing stuff down and manual ledgers.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 36:13

Oh, wow.

LaVonne Shields: 36:14

Uh-uh Excel. And then, until then, excel was the next thing, and so now you're realizing there's a lot, of, a lot more accounting softwares out there that take away and streamline this process. The thing about accounting is that it has always been so mentally manual Like you have to mentally manually do stuff and then keep coming back to cross-reference your work which I can only imagine how easy it was for people to steal money back in the day because it was just.

Sonya Songer: 36:46

I'm just going to turn this from one to ten Real easy, like at the beginning of a podcast. Books, like literally two books.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 36:55

Right, my stuff is all manual. So, you guys know, I do not have two books, right?

LaVonne Shields: 37:02

So when you can embrace the technology, that would be wicked. Embrace the technology because there's too much of it out there for you, not, right? It's just too much. And so for you to not embrace it, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage, because now it's not easy for you to pull financial reports, because you got to literally lay out a whole day to just figure out what it is. You did two months ago and with the whole goal is we're trying to plan what we're going to do in the next two months.

Sonya Songer: 37:32

Yes, and they're at various different price points, so there's absolutely something out there for everybody.

LaVonne Shields: 37:38

Yeah, and that's the big thing is find the technology that works for where you are and then do something with it. But 2023, you got to embrace technology you got to embrace technology.

LaVonne Shields: 37:51

Because once you're able to embrace technology, that takes you to the fifth one, which is then learn your key performance indicators, that your numbers tell you about your business Key performance. I need my bank account to always be in this amount. I need my debt to only be this amount. I need my operating cost to be this amount. How will you? What are the key things that let you know what we're doing is working? What we're doing is not working?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 38:15

and we're making adjustments. It's like a GPS. It's kind of like okay, I need to get to X, y and Z, I want to go to Newport Beach and I need to know the quickest and the fastest way to get there. I'm not getting ready to wing it. I'm not about to go pick up a book the Thomas guide I don't know who remembers those, I'm older than you.

Sonya Songer: 38:35

Of course I remember when are Thomas.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 38:39

I don't even know what was before the Thomas guide, but I remember the Thomas guide.

Sonya Songer: 38:43

They used to have them in the gas station. They didn't know the map of the area there no longer there.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 38:49

And neither is the Thomas guy. I believe the Thomas guy is even online. I believe it's online. So, technically like you have to know where you're going and those KPIs are going to get you there, you need to make a left turn. That might be you know, I need to save up X amount of dollars for you know, I don't know payroll.

LaVonne Shields: 39:08

I need to have X amount of dollars in a bank or pay her to do whatever computer to add to whatever it is that you're looking to do. You need to know your indicators to make sure that you can do it whether, even if you just look at it from a standpoint, we need to get 10 more clients. Okay, so how much money are we planning on spending to get those 10 more clients and do we have the capacity to actually service those 10 clients? Are we willing to?

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 39:31

Me and Sonya had that conversation. Where are we spending $5,000 on? Indeed, and we got two clients. I'm sitting up there like, uh, no, no, that's not, that's not going to work out for me. So then she comes back and says, okay, well, if you don't want to spend $5,000, keisha, then here's our other options, and we're not saying that they're going to bring in the other place. But what is the amount that you want to spend? Where is the line? And if you don't know the line, well, I need to bring in X amount of people to have, and I want this many people. At the end of the year, like right now, we have a goal of 30 new clients actually in centers. Every quarter, 30. Now, mind you, we had a capability of more, but 30 is. 30 is where we are, Because 30 covers these bills 30 covers.

LaVonne Shields: 40:27

So we definitely don't mind going above 30, but we know we damn sure can't go below 30. Absolutely, absolutely. And if you don't know, if you cannot figure out how to take the numbers which are telling you what it is that you're doing on an everyday basis and turn those into your benchmarkers, turn those into your conversation points and talking points when you're talking to your team, your advisors, everyone, then how will you know when to make that left turn? It's not. People ask when am I supposed to incorporate? I don't know. What are your numbers Tell me, because that's going to tell me.

LaVonne Shields: 40:58

At what point is it that you're paying too much? You're not getting the best bang for your buck if you're in this entity or you know you need to start doing this before you start doing that. But we can't, if we don't have everything in the system, we can't pull that information out and use that to determine where you're healthy, where your areas of improvement and where. Hey, if you don't keep an eye on this, your business will die. Well, business will die if this number continues to trickle down and it's going to die this fast.

Sonya Songer: 41:28

I don't want that. I don't want that. That's horrible. Look I don't want that.

LaVonne Shields: 41:32

However, most horrible because this topic of discussion and it's so funny everybody's like well, you know, I don't like numbers. Numbers scare me. I'm not a numbers person. I'm like, if you've been able to keep a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food on your plate, I don't want to hear that, but it is. You just don't know how to use it the right way, which is what goes back to get people who can answer those questions for you. Get a consultant, get a professional who's willing to have a conversation with you so that you can grow into not just a technician who knows how to generate income, but a business owner, a CEO, who knows how to run the enterprise of it and the accounting. That's the conversation. That's where it all fits.

Sonya Songer: 42:14

So then let's recap. Number one get yourself a consultant. Number two know the lingo. I'm remembering something.

LaVonne Shields: 42:23

Yeah.

Sonya Songer: 42:23

I'm happy for you. I'm like you. Look at the cup. This is off the cup. And those are the only two that I do remember off the cup. What's the third?

LaVonne Shields: 42:32

one after Technology Technology Know your lender, have a relationship with your lender, banker, your banker.

Sonya Songer: 42:40

Banker.

LaVonne Shields: 42:40

Johnny, banker Johnny. And then know your key performance indicators, know what your numbers are telling you about your business.

Sonya Songer: 42:48

Awesome. So thank you, guys all for joining us on this enlightening journey. Get ready to revolutionize your approach to accounting and empower your leadership with financial prowess. The true CEO podcast is here to guide you every step of the way in all of these things. So, levon, tell them where they can find you, because number one is get yourself a consultant.

LaVonne Shields: 43:13

Yeah, so you can reach me, the accounting strategist, on all platforms. The accounting strategist, and that's how you can find me. Or if you're looking for something a little bit more personal, you can find me LeVon Shields. And you know, brace yourself, my professional life and my personal life don't always intersect the way you might expect them to.

Sonya Songer: 43:31

So like for real, for real brace yourself, I'm me all day, every day, for real, for real. Brace yourself there as well. All platforms you should, you should definitely brace yourself.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 43:44

You can find me at LeQuise Coptes. You can also find me at Strategic Underscore Behavior. You can find us at TrueCEOlifecom or StrategicBehaviorConsultantscom.

Sonya Songer: 43:57

And how we find you. You can find me at BossyHR on Facebook and at only BossyHR on Instagram, and I believe my marketing team even has a Twitter for me and that's either going to be under Sonia Songer or under BossyHR, I don't know which they did.

LaVonne Shields: 44:19

So prepare for an unveiling of the Twitter to be announced.

Sonya Songer: 44:26

And that's where you can find me. Oh, and the website BossyHRcom.

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes: 44:32

And that's a wrap. Thanks, guys.