0:04

Welcome to The Frontrunner Podcast with your hosts Ray Mayfield and Tiara

0:06

Jones to engineers more from

0:09

coworkers to in laws. And now

0:09

business partners, creating a

0:13

safe space to be open and honest

0:13

about what it really takes to

0:16

start or run a business.

0:17

We know it's easier said than done. But you were built for this and you are not

0:19

alone. Join us each week to hear

0:22

stories, lessons learned and

0:22

strategies from trusted advisors

0:26

and new and seasoned

0:26

entrepreneurs on how to endure

0:29

the marathon entrepreneurship.

0:38

Peace everybody Ray's here

0:40

and this is Tiara

0:41

and welcome to

0:41

another fantastic episode of The

0:43

Frontrunner Podcast we hope

0:43

everyone is doing well. So T

0:46

tell us what we're talking about today.

0:48

Today, we're

0:48

talking about back in Business

0:51

Essentials.

0:54

The back end,

0:55

the back end, yeah, it's not a topic that usually people want to talk about. And

0:57

they usually avoid. But it's

1:00

important if it's very

1:00

important, actually.

1:02

Because a lot of work I think I think, you know, it's a lot of work to legitimize

1:04

and your business is a lot of

1:08

work is grimy and grueling. I

1:08

think it's it's not it's pretty

1:11

time intensive, too. So I think

1:11

it's a step that people just

1:14

look beyond. Yeah. So yeah, it's

1:14

a very good topic of discussion

1:17

to have today. Yeah, I like it,

1:17

I look forward to it. Awesome.

1:20

Let's

1:20

get to it. So,

1:20

first step, or first thing is

1:24

the paperwork. So of course,

1:24

when you're registering your

1:27

business with your state,

1:27

there's always paperwork that

1:32

comes with it that the state

1:32

sends you. And certain

1:35

agreements and things that may

1:35

or may not be required about the

1:38

state, but is important for your

1:38

internal processes and things

1:42

like that. And so we'll talk

1:42

about your operating agreement,

1:45

if like you're an LLC, or

1:45

looking at your bylaws, if

1:48

you're a corporate Corporation,

1:48

I know sometimes people get a

1:51

template, and then just like,

1:51

Okay, I'm gonna go with this

1:54

template, but you don't even

1:54

know what the template says. Or

1:57

like what you're actually

1:57

agreeing to. And so then that

2:00

could be problematic. If in the

2:00

event, you know, something

2:03

happens to you, for whatever

2:03

reason, people are going to look

2:06

to those agreements to know, you

2:06

know, what to do with your

2:08

company. So, you know, who's who

2:08

has authority to make decisions,

2:12

you know, how do you dissolve

2:12

the company? How do people get,

2:15

you know, payouts, if you people

2:15

have a certain, you know,

2:20

interest in your company and

2:20

things like that, you know, how

2:22

do those investors get paid?

2:22

What are the percentages, you

2:25

know, all those details are all

2:25

in the operating agreement and

2:29

in your bylaws. And so, it's

2:29

really important to set it to

2:33

how, you know, you want your

2:33

business to run, versus just

2:36

saying, Oh, yeah, this that

2:36

paperwork that I got, when I

2:39

registered, and I'm just gonna,

2:39

you know, just put it in this

2:42

drive or in this folder, just

2:42

let it sit there.

2:45

There. Yeah, no

2:45

doubt about it, though, don't

2:47

bother when you look at, you

2:47

know, going through the process

2:50

of registering your company,

2:50

and, you know, quote, unquote

2:52

legitimizing it for business in

2:52

your state, right? Um, we did

2:57

that were great for us that I

2:57

think a lot of people, you know,

3:00

it costs a little bit of money,

3:00

but we use a Registered Agent.

3:04

So when you have registered

3:04

agent, I think what that does is

3:06

that takes that burden off your

3:06

shoulders, and what you're

3:09

essentially doing is you're

3:09

paying and legitimize third

3:11

party to register an act on your

3:11

behalf. That's cute, all those

3:15

wonderful things like getting

3:15

your operating agreement, and

3:19

you know, all all administrative

3:19

documents in place for you. So

3:22

you can just all you do is paste

3:22

in one, given them your company,

3:26

and tell them tell them the

3:26

percentage breakdown and it's in

3:28

your everything. And that's what

3:28

we use the word work pretty well

3:31

with us. So yeah, I know a

3:31

Registered Agent as well, it

3:35

will save you some time. But you

3:35

know what time is money. So you

3:38

have to pay a little bit for it.

3:38

I don't think it's that

3:40

expensive. I think it was just

3:40

over 100 bucks. For us when we

3:43

did it. It just seemed easier as

3:43

I'm not a lawyer to without a

3:47

lawyer who was law and order but

3:47

we're not lawyers and none of it

3:51

so I think it makes sense to put

3:51

your money where you don't we

3:55

don't have the knowledge to

3:55

execute certain things for your

3:57

business. Right. So um,

3:57

definitely for those who are

4:00

not, you know, too in tune with

4:00

heavy paperwork and registering

4:03

for the state it's very simple task, I'm gonna be wrong. But you know, if you want to take

4:05

some of your paid your plate, you can pay a little bit of

4:07

money, and you can have a Registered Agent execute that

4:09

stuff on your behalf right and

4:11

what happens with your

4:11

registered agent is they file

4:13

your your they legitimize your

4:13

LLC corporation or Inc with the

4:18

state that you're doing business

4:18

in. And then they act as kind of

4:22

an intermediary between you and

4:22

the state. So instead of the

4:25

state having your address to

4:25

other companies have your

4:27

address and bombard you with

4:27

stuff it really go. You can go

4:30

to your registered agent, your

4:30

registered agent, you can scan

4:32

it and email it to you. you

4:32

communicate through email,

4:35

something's come in the mail.

4:35

But I think having a Registered

4:37

Agent helps initially we're

4:37

getting started right? And

4:41

that's something you can do for

4:41

a year or two until you have the

4:43

time and you you have more

4:43

knowledge understanding about

4:48

execute registration yourself.

4:48

You know, registered agent is a

4:51

good, a good segue, a good

4:51

intermediary. And again, they

4:54

have all the templates for you.

4:54

You pay them they send you your

4:59

your state license. To the

4:59

business, and then they send you

5:02

an outline or template of your

5:02

operating agreement, what you

5:05

just go in into and change and

5:05

make tweaks to, for the disabled

5:10

veteran, small business owners

5:10

out there, pay close attention

5:13

to your operating agreement. And

5:13

if you're the veteran, if you're

5:17

a veteran, you know, it has to

5:17

be detailed, in there the

5:21

veteran executes certain things

5:21

as the final say or authorities,

5:24

yada, yada, yada, or else you

5:24

have you run into that, you

5:28

know, conundrum when you go to

5:28

register through the vet biz

5:31

portal.

5:32

Yeah, we learned that the hard way.

5:33

Yeah. You know,

5:33

hard, hard, but easy, right,

5:36

hard, hard, but easy, I think it

5:36

was a matter of, because we're

5:39

fortunate where, you know, you could just communicate through email and world COVID. So like,

5:41

Hey, you need to, you know,

5:44

break this down, and help us

5:44

understand exactly who's running

5:47

the business here. And that's

5:47

all you have to do to take a

5:50

little bit of time, and be

5:50

creative with your words, and

5:53

make sure that, you know, it

5:53

means that the favorite the

5:56

veteran

5:58

in that case,

6:00

yeah, in that case, when that's when that's how you're structured, right.

6:01

Um, another thing to not look

6:04

beyond is your registration with

6:04

your county to right, the city

6:07

or county that you live in too

6:07

each state, each county has

6:11

certain requirements. So as you

6:11

go forth to do business, you

6:14

know, just verify that you're

6:14

operating in accordance to where

6:17

you be protected from, you know,

6:17

the back taxes from the county,

6:21

if you've been operating in your

6:21

area for a couple of years, and

6:24

they originally the county different you got a business, they got to come knocking for

6:26

their cut. So by all means, you

6:28

know, head down to your own, I

6:28

think it's the county government

6:32

office, this will be live is

6:32

called the government office,

6:35

and he's going there and

6:35

register your company, and

6:38

you're good to go into it and

6:38

protect it from a tax

6:40

perspective. And you had, you

6:40

will also receive a certificate

6:42

to operate your business within

6:42

that county that you live in as

6:45

well, too. So definitely don't

6:45

forget that part.

6:48

Exactly in the kind

6:48

of know where your paperwork is.

6:50

So I know, you know, the state

6:50

will send you documents and

6:53

things like that, but just scan

6:53

it in, you know, put it on your

6:56

Google Drive Dropbox, or

6:56

whatever you use. So you could

6:59

always have access to it.

6:59

Especially when it comes to, you

7:02

know, some of these

7:02

certifications and grants and

7:04

things like that. Sometimes they

7:04

ask for these documents. And so

7:07

it's better that, you know,

7:07

you'd be prepared and no one

7:11

what the documents are what they

7:11

say, and to you know exactly

7:14

where they are. Absolutely. So

7:14

it helps a lot. We've kind of

7:17

learned this with us as we've

7:17

gone through, you know, signing

7:22

up for different certifications

7:22

with the veteran to vet biz and

7:26

things like that, and other ones

7:26

that we're working on through

7:29

the state. We've kind of walked

7:29

through a few of these hurdles,

7:33

and kind of, you know, worked

7:33

our way through it. And so we

7:36

don't want you all to have to go

7:36

through any of that as well. We

7:38

want you all to learn from our

7:38

mistakes.

7:41

Yeah, yeah,

7:41

absolutely a mean word where,

7:43

you know, no one's perfect,

7:43

especially when starting a

7:45

business. So I think there's a

7:45

lot of, you know, bumps in the

7:49

road, and tons of red tape that

7:49

you can cut through pretty easy

7:52

if you just do the research,

7:52

right. So, you know, research

7:55

could be reaching out to

7:55

somebody who's gone Google, hey,

7:58

what I need to do in the state

7:58

of Georgia to start a business,

8:01

and it should lay out all the

8:01

checks and checks in the box,

8:04

you need to do the execute such

8:04

thing. So they have to do some

8:07

due diligence research to make

8:07

sure you know, your, your, you

8:09

know, your foundation is solid.

8:11

Right, exactly. And

8:11

there's no we talked about local

8:14

resources a lot, but you know,

8:14

your chamber of commerce in your

8:17

local county and things like

8:17

that, or even just calling your

8:20

state's office, usually, from

8:20

what I've, you know,

8:24

experienced, they're quite

8:24

friendly. And so, you know, if

8:26

you ask them a question about something, or there's something you don't understand about a

8:28

form or anything like that,

8:31

they'll take the time to explain

8:31

it to you. And then you can get

8:34

it straight from the source. And

8:34

I know, the Chamber of Commerce,

8:36

at least in our area, they have

8:36

different workshops and things

8:39

like that, for new businesses to

8:39

explain, you know, some of this

8:42

back end stuff from you know,

8:42

the paperwork and things that

8:45

you should look out for. And

8:45

then in addition to that, I

8:48

think it's important to have

8:48

just certain business

8:50

professionals, you know, within

8:50

your network and to start

8:54

building a relationship. So

8:54

like, when it comes to, you

8:57

know, your legal, you know,

8:57

issues and things like that. So

9:00

like having a lawyer, you know,

9:00

on standby, that, you know, that

9:04

you don't necessarily have to,

9:04

you know, get a retainer with,

9:07

but at least start you know,

9:07

kind of shopping around and kind

9:10

of seeing Okay, if something

9:10

happens in my business, or if I

9:12

need, you know, help with

9:12

something Who can I go to so at

9:15

least start, you know, going

9:15

through and making those, you

9:19

know, introductions and you

9:19

know, kind of feeling them out

9:21

and seeing you know, who fits

9:21

well with you and your business

9:24

and what you're doing the same

9:24

sense when it comes to an

9:26

accountant. I suggest with all

9:26

businesses just go to an

9:30

accountant because there's,

9:30

there's things that they can

9:33

they can do to help you as far

9:33

as taxes and things like that.

9:36

And there's also can be things

9:36

that you may not know anything

9:39

about, or you know, that you may

9:39

not know to ask and things like

9:42

that, and they'll kind of have

9:42

that back at knowledge because

9:45

that's their job and they can

9:45

help you out with that. And

9:47

then, you know, bookkeeping, I

9:47

know with us, we've kind of been

9:50

doing a lot of the bookkeeping

9:50

on our own. But I think we when

9:53

you get to, you know a certain

9:53

point and you have a lot of

9:56

different transactions and

9:56

things going through, even a

9:59

bookkeeper could be You know,

9:59

super helpful, and they have a

10:01

lot of virtual bookkeepers and

10:01

different programs out there

10:04

that you can use to help you,

10:04

you know, keep track of your

10:07

money, because that is

10:07

important. You want to make

10:09

money and then you want to keep

10:09

as much of it as possible. And

10:12

so you want to have those, you

10:12

know, you want to start building

10:14

those relationships early on

10:14

with people that are experts,

10:18

you know, in those areas versus,

10:18

you know, listening to the so

10:21

called experts on IG, because

10:21

that's just this is not it.

10:25

Yeah. Ask

10:25

questions, man. Like, you know,

10:27

they give you, you know, for for

10:27

us, we're fortunate to have a

10:30

great a great CPA, right. And

10:30

lawyers and lawyer and a

10:36

phenomenal Lord. Yeah, sorry.

10:36

Yeah, we have, we have do

10:39

contacts and family friends, we

10:39

were able to put ourself in a

10:43

great position with great

10:43

people. were extremely

10:45

knowledgeable to help us right.

10:45

And I think it's important in

10:48

the beginning, right? Everybody

10:48

wants to have all the answers,

10:51

but we don't know everything

10:51

right. So it's okay to say, hey,

10:54

tax guy, how do I stop paying so

10:54

many taxes? It's okay to get a

10:57

breakdown understanding of you

10:57

know, how your payroll should

11:01

work, right? It's great to get

11:01

an understanding of, you know,

11:03

all the all the essential

11:03

paperwork, paperwork that you're

11:06

going to need in order for your

11:06

company to have a solid

11:09

foundation and execution is

11:09

fantastic. And know your

11:12

bookkeeping. Right? Our CPA

11:12

wanted to do bookkeeping, he was

11:14

like, yeah, it's fairly simple.

11:14

We can do it, but you really be

11:17

wasting money for me to do it.

11:17

You could do it yourself. And I

11:19

was like, oh, great Tiara, like,

11:19

Oh, yeah, I can do that, which

11:22

we know T can do all things. So

11:22

high five to T. Thank you, of

11:25

course. So you know, don't don't

11:25

be afraid to ask a question,

11:28

though, man. I mean, it's okay with saying, hey, I want to protect as much money as I can

11:30

with my business. How can I do

11:32

that legally, you know, without

11:32

putting myself in the bind

11:35

later, Uncle Sam. So definitely,

11:35

definitely take advantage of all

11:39

the opportunities, you have the

11:39

one on one counseling, even if

11:41

it costs a little bit of money,

11:41

or, you know, you got to go have

11:44

a lunch, or you got to take

11:44

somebody a cake, you know, to

11:47

open the door, but then they

11:47

communicate with you. Take

11:51

advantage of it, man. I mean,

11:51

you never know how far those

11:53

little things, those little

11:53

relationships you established

11:56

can go, Oh, you know what, one

11:56

of the most recent books I'm

11:58

reading, The Laws of Spirit

11:58

talks about how, as

12:01

professionals, we should make

12:01

every opportunity to meet people

12:05

who are subject matter experts

12:05

in various fields that you're

12:08

going to need, right? A lawyer,

12:08

an attorney, someone working,

12:12

you know, in the county Tax

12:12

Office, you know, all those skin

12:15

essential pieces marketing

12:15

purposes, someone who has access

12:18

to, you know, basketball

12:18

tickets, or sporting events

12:20

tickets at last minute, you

12:20

know, there's all critical

12:23

people to know who can help you

12:23

as some shape form or fashion

12:25

law, your path, you know, so you

12:25

know, don't don't don't forget,

12:28

you know, you, you have to give

12:28

the gift. And it may be time, it

12:31

may be cake, it may be something

12:31

important. But you know what

12:34

you're going to get in the back

12:34

end. That's that's key. And

12:38

hopefully that's a partner who

12:38

will want to work with you and

12:41

help to see your company grow.

12:44

Mine. So what book

12:44

number is that? Right?

12:47

78..78?

12:49

Almost there you go

12:49

make this 100 goal.

12:53

shower, listen in the books.

12:56

Yeah. What'd your

12:56

co workers say about your books?

12:58

So yeah, off

12:58

topic. But funny story. I was in

13:02

walking into the building. One

13:02

day, I was grabbing coffee. And

13:04

I ran into a few guys how my air

13:04

pods on like, Oh, what are you d

13:08

ing, walking with your airpo

13:08

s? Like listening to books,

13:11

an? And they were like, what

13:11

re you listening to? I think a

13:14

that point, at that time, it

13:14

adn't been like a book about the

13:19

big oil. I think it's called Bi

13:19

Oil conspiracy, right. And it t

13:22

lks about how, you know, the, du

13:22

ing the World War, the Nazis f

13:27

gured out how to make synthetic

13:27

oil, and other forms of pet

13:33

oleum in the US took those ideas

13:33

So essentially saying that oil

13:36

ill never go away. They'l

13:36

always be able to easily repro

13:39

uce, reproduce it, and they

13:39

laughed like that sounds like

13:42

uch a lame book, and they were l

13:42

ke, man, like you just read

13:44

nything huh just to get throug

13:44

it. This book must be three h

13:46

urs, like No, it's two. They're

13:46

like, ahh it proves my poi

13:49

t next you'll be reading Dr. Seu

13:49

s. Like Yeah, real funny. But h

13:53

y, man, if I got to add th

13:55

you can learn

13:55

something from all books, Dr

14:00

Suess.

14:00

Coming off the top

14:00

row with the elbow. I like it.

14:03

But back to the

14:03

topic. So we talk about

14:07

bookkeeping and kind of doing it

14:07

yourself and keeping track it

14:09

really is just as simple of

14:09

knowing what's coming in and

14:13

what's going out. So what are

14:13

you spending your money on?

14:15

Well, first, let's talk about

14:15

where the money is coming there.

14:18

You need to have a business bank

14:18

account, there's no way around

14:21

it. Just go ahead and set it up.

14:21

Yes, with some banks, there may

14:24

be fees, some don't have fees,

14:24

or really do your research to

14:28

see, we're fortunate enough what

14:28

Ray being a veteran, thank you

14:32

for your service, sir. All of

14:32

our fees were waived in that

14:38

sense, but we still have to do

14:38

our research to see you know,

14:40

you know which banks would do

14:40

that. So make sure you have a

14:42

business bank account. And none

14:42

of these things are coming from

14:46

your personal account and you're

14:46

not doing any type of

14:48

commingling but really keeping

14:48

track of, you know, what you're

14:52

spending how much you're

14:52

spending, because I know you can

14:54

sign up for a lot of these

14:54

software subscriptions and

14:57

things like that. Sometimes you

14:57

can forget what you even signed

14:59

up for. So really keeping track

14:59

of Do I really need this? Am I

15:02

using this? Can I go to a

15:02

different plan that you know may

15:05

work better for me that may be a

15:05

little bit more affordable, you

15:08

know, keeping receipts of you

15:08

know, travel, when you're eating

15:12

out, things like that. Just keep

15:12

track of all of that stuff,

15:16

because you don't know how it

15:16

can benefit you. So you just

15:18

have all the information is

15:18

better to have more information

15:21

than less information and take

15:21

it to your know your accountant,

15:25

your CPA, and then they'll know

15:25

what to do with it. So you don't

15:28

have to worry about you know,

15:28

all the details, behind the fact

15:31

on how is this going to benefit

15:31

me, but just make sure you at

15:33

least have a spreadsheet,

15:33

because that's where we started,

15:35

you know, our accountants, it

15:35

starts simple. With an Excel

15:38

spreadsheet, don't go to any of

15:38

that software first, because you

15:41

need to understand your numbers

15:41

first, before you put into a

15:43

system and it makes sense. So

15:43

like, you know, really knowing

15:46

your numbers to the point. So

15:46

when you do go to QuickBooks, or

15:49

you know, other software, you

15:49

understand the numbers coming

15:52

back out of it. And so, and I

15:52

recommend doing this monthly, I

15:55

know sometimes people will wait

15:55

until tax time and be like, oh,

15:58

shoot, where did I go? Where's

15:58

that receipt, you just take pick

16:02

a day. So we do have I think its

16:02

the 15th of every month, just

16:07

random day, but the 15th of

16:07

every month, I go through and

16:09

look at all of our finances, and

16:09

you know, anything that we've

16:13

spent, you know, looking to see

16:13

if there's anything we can cut,

16:16

you know, all that stuff just

16:16

takes a couple hours, you know,

16:20

but it'll save you a lot of time

16:20

and a lot of headache come tax

16:24

time, especially if you're

16:24

having to do quarterly taxes or

16:27

anything like that. You definitely want to keep up with it monthly.

16:30

Absolutely.

16:30

Absolutely. You know, it's so

16:32

funny, right? Our accountant was

16:32

like, yo, like, he doesn't

16:35

believe in technology. Right? So

16:35

he comes to meetings with

16:39

binders of paper. And he's like,

16:39

Yeah, what do I need the

16:43

computer for? I just write it

16:43

down and keep it in here it's so

16:45

it's so funny to me. But it

16:45

really makes sense, right? So

16:47

we're you look at, there's

16:47

multiple ways to backup and have

16:52

your material available. There

16:52

is you know, of course, you

16:56

know, printing, writing your

16:56

notes, filing them away, taking

17:00

pictures and uploading them

17:00

somewhere, especially your

17:02

receipts. You know, if you if

17:02

you lose paper a lot, it takes

17:06

up it takes five seconds to take

17:06

a picture of receipt after you

17:08

order some read something, buy

17:08

something right and just upload

17:11

it somewhere where you have a

17:11

tax folder somewhere where you

17:13

can just dump stuff into and

17:13

sort at some point. But yeah,

17:17

definitely like to to like what

17:17

Tiara said right, you definitely

17:19

take time once a month to go through and just touch your finances right? You want to look

17:21

at your your spend plan, make

17:24

sure you know your money is

17:24

going where it needs to go make

17:26

sure all your expenditures are

17:26

accounted for when you're

17:28

talking about what software

17:28

packages you're paying for, you

17:31

know the reoccurring fees, things of that nature, your lease, if those were have brick

17:32

and mortar shops who pay your

17:36

lease or mortgage every month,

17:36

you don't just want to

17:39

understand where your money is

17:39

going. You want to understand,

17:41

you know, hey, this is how much

17:41

money I have to spend for my

17:44

company this month, this is how

17:44

much money this month budget for

17:46

this month is my budget for the

17:46

quarter. And then you'd set

17:48

goals quarterly, semi annually

17:48

annually for profit and revenue.

17:52

Right? So, you know, you want to

17:52

take baby steps, you know,

17:55

crawl, walk, run, you know, so

17:55

again, you know, just to recap

17:59

things you touched on, right, we talk about understand your paperwork as you follow your

18:00

stuff with the state, and even

18:03

your local county government,

18:03

the business bank account. And

18:07

then from there, what should

18:07

they do next T?

18:09

So I think a lot of

18:09

people just gloss over this

18:13

because it can be confusing, but

18:13

taxes. So when it comes to sales

18:17

tax, so y'all know, you gotta

18:17

you know, pay taxes come tax

18:20

time for businesses to depending

18:20

on where your businesses,

18:22

different deadlines and things

18:22

like that. But sales tax, and

18:25

it's not just for product based

18:25

businesses, there are a lot of

18:28

states who require sales tax for

18:28

digital products. So if you're a

18:34

virtual business, and you have,

18:34

you know, certain digital

18:36

products and things that you

18:36

sell, you may be, you know,

18:39

subject to sales tax, right. And

18:39

so, there's also, you know, when

18:43

you start talking about sales

18:43

tax, there's the Nexus, and

18:47

which kind of just breaks down,

18:47

where are your customers coming

18:50

from where the majority of our

18:50

customers coming from. So for

18:53

example, we're in Virginia, so

18:53

we have a Nexus in Virginia, and

18:57

then say, if we have a lot of

18:57

customers in Georgia, depending

19:00

on the percentage, you can look

19:00

it up, it gets kind of

19:04

confusing, but depending on the

19:04

percentage of customers you

19:06

have, you may also have a Nexus

19:06

in Georgia where you will have

19:09

to pay sales tax in Georgia as

19:09

well. And so there's a company I

19:13

think it's called of Avalara.

19:13

I'll link it in the show notes.

19:17

But their whole purpose is to

19:17

help you kind of with that whole

19:21

sales tax, you know, thing or

19:21

whatever to understand, you

19:24

know, what your state requires

19:24

and how much and because it also

19:27

changes by county. So it's a lot

19:27

of different numbers to have to

19:31

deal with. And what I've seen, I

19:31

have some clients have some

19:34

friends, they'll be like, Oh,

19:34

yeah, I'm not really paying

19:36

sales tax. I'll deal with it

19:36

later. Y'all you don't want to

19:39

mess with with taxes with the

19:39

IRS with the state. You just

19:43

that's just one thing. You don't want to get involved in

19:46

and get their money

19:46

Exactly. One way or

19:46

another news probably going to

19:49

end up being a whole lot more

19:49

than you to want pay. So just

19:52

take the time to you know, do

19:52

some quick research and then

19:56

talk to a professional. Look at

19:56

some of these companies like

20:00

Avalara that, you know, can

20:00

provide the service to you,

20:04

especially for product based

20:04

businesses, because you don't

20:07

want to have to end up paying

20:07

those taxes can mean you want to

20:11

be able to set it up, set your,

20:11

your website and your e commerce

20:16

site up so it's charging the

20:16

right amount of taxes to your

20:21

customers so then you're not

20:21

stuck with paying that. And then

20:23

depending on, you know, the

20:23

state, there are certain

20:26

deadlines that you have to pay

20:26

that by and they will start

20:29

tacting on penalties. Yeah,

20:29

learn that the hard way too. So

20:33

don't be like us, make sure you

20:33

understand all the details, read

20:37

all the things because then they

20:37

have like weird dates, like,

20:40

like some one is due, like on

20:40

the 20th and things like that.

20:43

It's weird, and it's by a

20:43

certain time, and if not, they

20:46

charge you $10 and then another

20:46

$10. And it's just even if it's

20:49

$10, there's still money, I

20:49

mean, that you could be using

20:52

elsewhere. So don't avoid taxes,

20:52

if your service based, you know,

20:57

look into your state to see if

20:57

you know digital products,

21:00

digital products, require sales

21:00

tax, and things like that. So

21:05

just make sure you do the due

21:05

diligence, because in this

21:08

sense, ignorance is not bliss,

21:08

okay. The state the, you know,

21:13

IRS, none of them are going to

21:13

care when you say, Oh, I didn't

21:16

know that. I don't care that you

21:16

didn't know you have a business.

21:19

And it's your job to know. Yeah.

21:19

So absolutely. If you don't

21:22

know, that's why we said it's

21:22

important to start building

21:25

relationships with other

21:25

business professionals so they

21:27

can help you, you know,

21:27

understand. And so we all know,

21:30

the purpose of you know, this

21:30

topic was to at least, you know,

21:34

help people get to the point

21:34

where they'll know what

21:36

questions to ask, or you know,

21:36

where to go. And of course, you

21:39

guys can always dm us, we're an

21:39

open book. So you what we did

21:43

wrong, what we learned, that,

21:43

you know, to help you out, so

21:46

please feel free to, you know,

21:46

email us send us a DM any of

21:50

that. We'll put all the

21:50

information in the show notes,

21:52

but please reach out to us if

21:52

you have any questions.

21:55

Yeah, for sure.

21:55

May each one teach one man, and,

21:58

you know, don't play with your

21:58

taxes, you played a whole lot of

22:01

stuff, but your money's not one

22:01

of them in taxes is definitely

22:04

not one of them. I think

22:04

everyone knows stories of, you

22:06

know, these movie stars and

22:06

musicians and you know, who

22:10

don't pay taxes on, you know,

22:10

$40,000, they got somewhere and

22:14

IRS shows up and they show up

22:14

with the police unit to arrest

22:18

you know, like a criminal. So,

22:18

you know, you just want to make

22:21

sure you know, you do the simple

22:21

things through these things up

22:24

front, the hard things on front

22:24

to right, I mean, you don't want

22:26

to cut any corners, you're

22:26

getting, you know, T hit around

22:29

the head, if you are solid

22:29

professionals in your corner who

22:31

are helping you IE a CPA,

22:31

they'll let you know, and make

22:35

sure you don't get caught slipping with your taxes. But in the event that you have a

22:37

question, ask, you know, Google,

22:40

you know, research know, hit us

22:40

up here, another entrepreneur up

22:44

on, you know, someone in your

22:44

family who may have some

22:46

knowledge on the subject, you

22:46

know, definitely take advantage

22:49

to to build that, that winning

22:49

circle to put those people

22:52

around you who are going to help, you know, point you in the right direction, you know, when

22:54

you run into one of those tough

22:56

questions or problems. That's

22:57

right, that's

22:57

right. And then so let's move

23:00

along to a professional kind of

23:00

representation. And so you know,

23:05

representation matters, you

23:05

know, first impressions, all of

23:09

that. And so, it's another thing

23:09

that I think is often overlooked

23:12

is your email, are quick to just

23:12

go and get a Gmail account.

23:17

However, with a business, I

23:17

mean, with the job you work for,

23:21

I mean, think about the email

23:21

account there, it's not your

23:24

[email protected] So then why

23:24

should the business you're doing

23:26

be any different, you should

23:26

take it just as serious, as you

23:30

know, the, the nine to five that

23:30

you work for now, or that you

23:32

once worked for, or any of that.

23:32

And so I mean, it's about

23:36

depending on the plan you get

23:36

could be as low as six bucks a

23:39

month. With a Google workspace,

23:39

I think they changed their name

23:43

from G Suite. But that's what we

23:43

use. It was simple and easy.

23:46

Like, if you have questions, you

23:46

know, hit us up, we can, we can

23:49

help you with that, all you have

23:49

to do is get a domain. domain

23:53

name. So domain is pretty much

23:53

when you go to a website, that

23:56

website name What comes after

23:56

the www and before the.com

24:00

that's your domain, pretty much

24:00

sure what you're going to be

24:04

using. So you could set that up

24:04

to kind of whatever you want.

24:08

Sometimes you have to be

24:08

creative, because I think it's

24:10

like a business to go and like

24:10

just buy domains.

24:14

People buy domains

24:14

and you have to buy back from

24:17

them. Right? You know, probably

24:17

four times a price. So Exactly.

24:20

So that's you don't want to first things you want to consider as kind of okay, what

24:22

is my domain name going to be

24:24

because I'm going to get my

24:24

email set up, but you don't have

24:27

to, you know, immediately go to

24:27

a website, but you can use it

24:30

for the purposes of getting your

24:30

professional email set up

24:33

because of mean having the

24:33

business Google workspace also

24:37

gives you added you know,

24:37

security protection when it

24:40

comes to your documents and your

24:40

email and things like that the

24:43

free version of Google and Gmail

24:43

don't give you and so you know,

24:47

your business is important, you

24:47

know, it's your baby so want to

24:50

protect it and show up.

24:50

Definitely like how you want to

24:52

be seen cuz I mean, I mean,

24:52

think about it. How would you

24:55

feel working with a company does

24:55

that a Gmail account, you'd be

24:58

like oh, He's kind of like,

24:58

Okay, why i don't i don't get

25:03

it,

25:03

it's not just the

25:03

coverage of like, it's like to

25:06

you like, like salt shaker

25:06

123 [email protected], or it's

25:10

always something like, you know, I've seen, I've seen that a couple of times a time or two in

25:12

the past couple of months, you

25:15

know, it takes nothing up front, if you know the name of your company, you can start

25:17

researching the domains

25:19

immediately right in lot one in,

25:19

be creative as you want to be

25:23

without, you know, being as lazy

25:23

as you can be, you know what I

25:26

mean? Just Just pick a solid

25:26

one, claim it and then get back

25:29

to when did when the time comes.

25:29

But definitely, definitely you

25:32

don't, you know, just want to be

25:32

a little more professional. And

25:34

you want to approach your business, because that's a representation of you. And now,

25:36

you know, when you hit me in my

25:40

Gmail at soso, gmail.com, you

25:40

know, it doesn't really ring

25:45

professional. So you know, just

25:45

keep that in mind.

25:48

Yep, absolutely.

25:48

And then thinking about, like,

25:50

representation wise, addresses,

25:50

I know, we kind of get caught up

25:55

in this, too, is having

25:55

different addresses and things

25:58

like that. And so we had a

25:58

mailing address, and then we had

26:01

kind of our, you know, virtual

26:01

home base address that, you

26:05

know, we were using or whatever.

26:05

And we kind of get caught up

26:08

with, you know, different

26:08

certifications and different

26:11

things that we were using, especially with the government side of our work, because we had

26:13

the two different, you know,

26:16

addresses and things weren't

26:16

matching up and all that type of

26:19

stuff. So I said all that to

26:19

say, make sure you're using the

26:24

same addresses on like your,

26:24

with your bank account, when

26:28

you're doing certifications,

26:28

like all that type of stuff,

26:30

make sure you're using the same

26:30

address and don't kind of mix

26:33

and match. Because it can be

26:33

very confusing, especially if

26:37

you use something different than

26:37

what you registered, you know,

26:39

what the state with the county

26:39

and things like that. And so you

26:42

know, it's okay to have, you

26:42

know, virtual addresses and

26:45

things like that, but just be

26:45

mindful of what you put down.

26:48

Because I know a lot of times

26:48

what will happen is you'll start

26:50

your business, and you'll kind

26:50

of put your, your house or

26:53

somewhere down and you're like,

26:53

Okay, I want to change it to

26:56

somewhere that's, you know, not

26:56

my personal, you know, residence

26:59

or whatever. But then sometimes

26:59

you can forget to change it in

27:02

all the respective places. And

27:02

then things can get a little

27:06

messy. And so you just want to

27:06

pay close attention to that and

27:09

make sure that your addresses

27:09

are all matching the way that

27:13

they should. And it's it's clear

27:13

that one may just be a mailing

27:17

address, versus one may be the

27:17

place where you're actually, you

27:20

know, putting in work and things

27:20

like that. And so I know, it's

27:23

kind of it seems trivial, but

27:27

important, though, it is very important. I mean, when you're when you're looking

27:29

at certifications, and maintaining certain abilities

27:31

for your company to qualify for

27:35

certain contracts, whether

27:35

you're minority company,

27:37

whatnot, all this stuff matters

27:37

when you move through the

27:40

certification and verification

27:40

process for your company. So

27:43

yeah, without a doubt, I know we

27:43

use a we have a physical

27:47

address, and we have a mailing

27:47

address, right. So it's nothing

27:49

wrong with using both, or you

27:49

just want to make sure that it's

27:52

everywhere. It's the same, used

27:52

correctly. Yeah, yeah. So very

27:55

important, very important.

27:57

You know, speaking

27:57

of the certification, and things

27:59

like that, you know, a lot of

27:59

these things that we're talking

28:02

about is to prepare you to take

28:02

advantage of the funding

28:06

opportunities that come out. So

28:06

you know, with the pandemic,

28:09

they had the PPP loan, and

28:09

there's other funding

28:13

opportunities in the forms of

28:13

grants and different things like

28:16

that. And because there were so

28:16

many people that were trying to,

28:20

you know, scam the system,

28:20

they're really looking at all

28:23

your paperwork, requesting all

28:23

your paperwork to make sure, but

28:27

when you're legit, like you're

28:27

serious, like you really need

28:29

this money, and that's why it's

28:29

important to you know, keep

28:32

track of, you know, your

28:32

finances and things like that,

28:35

because they want to know, How much have you spent, how much have you made, you know, what's

28:37

in your payroll, so they can

28:40

make sure they give you you

28:40

know, the right amount. And so

28:42

you just want to make sure that

28:42

you're in the position to take

28:45

advantage of those

28:45

opportunities. And, you know,

28:48

you know, your business like the

28:48

back of your hand, so you don't

28:51

miss out.

28:51

Yeah, absolutely.

28:51

I think, you know, one one, you

28:55

know, nugget I'll drop is you

28:55

should have like a quickbook,

28:57

right, you should have a file or

28:57

whether it is you know, hardcopy

29:02

soft copy digital or, or in your

29:02

hands that you can refer to that

29:06

has all the necessary documents

29:06

you need for any funding

29:10

opportunities, you know, pitch

29:10

going to be with a partner, you

29:14

know, you should have all those

29:14

things readily available at your

29:17

disposal to check out the Wim

29:17

monitor on my phone. I also have

29:21

a soft copy tool that I can grab

29:21

out of a file cabinet if I need

29:24

it, but you memorize after a

29:24

while, but we're looking at the

29:28

funding opportunities, a lot of

29:28

them have deadlines, and

29:31

sometimes they'll drop and you

29:31

have like 24 hours or 48 hours

29:34

so platform so you really want

29:34

to have like a cheat sheet of

29:37

all this information that

29:37

they're going to require from

29:40

you so you can quickly you know,

29:40

make yourself competitive for

29:43

those opportunities when they

29:43

present themselves. few and far

29:45

between what you know, within TT

29:45

around here right with since

29:48

COVID has come out or since

29:48

COVID, you know, impacted the

29:52

economic and job sector. There

29:52

are a lot of opportunities for

29:55

other businesses and people

29:55

starting businesses to take

29:58

advantage. Get some free money.

29:58

Free money is something that's

30:02

always out there, whether you go

30:02

through the SBA, but some of the

30:05

venture capitalists who put

30:05

money together, did they pump

30:07

into, you know, other funded

30:07

programs for, you know,

30:11

disenfranchised, disenfranchised

30:11

companies, minority owned

30:14

companies, veteran known

30:14

companies, black women owned

30:16

companies, minority women owned

30:16

companies to take advantage of.

30:19

So yeah, you know, do your due

30:19

diligence, but but have all your

30:22

stuff in a place you can find

30:22

it, you can quickly take

30:24

advantage of those opportunities

30:24

when they present themselves for

30:27

sure.

30:27

Yes, absolutely. We

30:27

actually did a newsletter on

30:30

this a couple weeks back. And

30:30

when we talked about like having

30:35

your digital folder, and you

30:35

know, the things that should

30:38

have in it. So we kind of walked

30:38

through, you know, the business

30:41

formation documents that you can

30:41

have and other licenses and

30:45

certifications. And then what

30:45

Ray talked about is kind of

30:48

having like that, you know, that

30:48

one pager that quick sheet of

30:50

all your information. So think

30:50

about it, like your contact

30:53

information. And I know it seems

30:53

like Oh, I know my contact

30:55

information. But if you have a

30:55

24 hour, you have 24 hours or

30:59

whatever to get in an

30:59

application, it's easier for you

31:02

to just copy and paste, right?

31:02

So like having your contact

31:04

information, your, your

31:04

business, ein your like your

31:10

DUNS number, if you have one,

31:10

you know, those types of things

31:13

they'll ask for, you know,

31:13

social media profile links,

31:18

websites,

31:18

right, exactly.

31:18

Your website, just having those

31:21

links ready, like what's your

31:21

mission statement? What's a, you

31:24

know, a quick two to three

31:24

sentence, you know, pitch about

31:27

your business, a biography,

31:27

because a lot of them ask for a,

31:31

you know, a biography, so

31:31

writing up, you know, a

31:34

professional biography for you

31:34

on different things like that,

31:37

and having descriptions of your

31:37

products and services. And so,

31:42

I've seen in a lot of different

31:42

applications and things like

31:45

that will they'll ask, okay,

31:45

what do you sell, you know,

31:48

describe it, who's the target

31:48

market, like that ton of stuff,

31:52

they want to know, because they

31:52

want to make sure that the money

31:54

that that they're giving out is

31:54

in line and with what their

31:59

organization is and what their

31:59

values are, and things like

32:02

that. And so they're going to

32:02

ask you these details about your

32:04

business, because they're not

32:04

going to be giving money to a

32:07

company that they either don't

32:07

believe in or feel completely

32:11

against, you know, things like

32:11

that happen. And so if you just

32:14

kind of have this high level,

32:14

you know, document whether sent

32:18

your phone, whether it's a

32:18

Google document or whatever, the

32:21

kind of just has these points.

32:21

So all you have to do is copy

32:24

and paste, because I mean, you

32:24

never know who you meet, either.

32:26

You may meet someone, you know,

32:26

when you're out at the metro on

32:30

a bus, I mean, anywhere at a

32:30

restaurant, they be like, Hey,

32:33

can you just can you send me

32:33

something real quick? Can you do

32:36

it right now. And you don't want

32:36

to be fumbling trying to figure

32:38

out oh, why don't have that

32:38

together, have it already.

32:41

So and you know,

32:41

really essentially what you can

32:44

do because what I do Tiara did a

32:44

fantastic job of taking our old

32:49

capability statement and

32:49

updating it in is literally like

32:52

a front and back page. Right.

32:52

And I think it's fantastic to

32:55

have something like that readily

32:55

available on your capability

32:58

statement has all that in there,

32:58

you know, your NAICS code, your

33:02

your DUNS number, your

33:02

certifications, contact

33:05

information, and then a blurb, a

33:05

couple paragraphs about your

33:09

company and what you do. And I

33:09

think it's important if you can,

33:12

if everyone can take advantage

33:12

of creating a capability

33:15

statement that outlines who you

33:15

are, what you are, and what

33:18

differentiates your company from

33:18

those who are maybe operating in

33:21

the same sector as you, I think

33:21

it's very critical to have that

33:25

and have it available to share

33:25

at a moment's notice my mind is

33:28

on my phone, I can email it to

33:28

somebody, once I meet him.

33:30

Typically, I've met several

33:30

individuals here in the past,

33:33

you know, month or two, and you

33:33

know, handshake, get the email

33:36

address, as soon as I step out

33:36

of the office I'm already

33:38

pulling up their email, shooting

33:38

them a copy of their of our

33:41

capability statement. And just,

33:41

you know, reminding them that we

33:43

just met who I am, and looking

33:43

forward to, you know, continued

33:46

development for some type of

33:46

business relationship. So take

33:50

advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves, man, you know, you don't want to

33:52

be caught with your back against

33:54

the wall. Another thing too,

33:54

that I'll add real quick, we're

33:58

looking at the essentials of

33:58

your company, a website, most

34:01

places will not do business with

34:01

you should you not have a

34:04

legitimate website for your

34:04

company operate out of. So it's

34:07

very important not even think

34:07

it's a requirement by some

34:09

states that you have a website

34:09

for your company, a lot of the

34:13

programs that you may look to

34:13

apply for to get funding

34:16

required to have a company

34:16

website, for those operating in

34:19

the government contracting

34:19

workspace mandatory to have a

34:22

website. So take time to not

34:22

gloss over that as well, too.

34:27

You know, you want to have

34:27

something that's, you know, that

34:29

you can show that gives content.

34:29

It doesn't have to be a complete

34:34

product, but you do if you're just starting and you're building a website, that's all

34:36

Yeah, Titi did our whole website

34:40

with no input from me, which is

34:40

fantastic. Maybe a couple

34:44

paragraphs here and there and

34:44

she just created it all. But

34:47

it's important because we're

34:47

going to go to that right.

34:49

That's a marketing tool for you

34:49

and your company as well too. So

34:52

you know, where you may just

34:52

create a landing page initially,

34:54

that's fine, but don't forget to

34:54

go back and add the actual

34:57

content to it. You know, don't

34:57

forget to keep building it as

34:59

your company continues to grow,

34:59

you continue to move down

35:02

different paths, you know,

35:02

update your website and make

35:04

sure that it's current, right?

35:04

Because people are going to go

35:06

research you. And believe me, we

35:06

see the metric reports how many

35:10

people visit, visit the website,

35:10

it's important, even when you

35:13

think people aren't looking,

35:13

they're looking, they're going

35:15

to come across you some way some

35:15

shape, form or fashion. And what

35:19

you don't want them to see is u

35:19

finished or a lazy or not, well

35:23

put together product, right,

35:23

because I represent, you know,

35:26

people may look at your company

35:26

as a form of research before

35:29

they reach out to you for

35:29

something. And if that's

35:31

haphazard, then they're more

35:31

prone to go look elsewhere. You

35:34

know, it's just for someone else

35:34

who can do what they need to be

35:37

done. So definitely take

35:37

advantage of that opportunity as

35:39

well.

35:40

Absolutely, you got

35:40

to look at it as your kind of

35:42

digital storefront. So you may

35:42

not have a brick and mortar, but

35:45

you still I mean, you own your

35:45

website. And so you know, you

35:49

own your domain name, you own

35:49

your website, like that's your

35:52

kind of, what do you call your

35:52

virtual real estate? Yeah. So

35:56

you really want to, you know,

35:56

take advantage of that. So you

35:59

will have a place for people to

35:59

go, you know, and see about you,

36:03

right, and I mean, then that's

36:03

the place where you will conduct

36:06

business, because that's what

36:06

people you know, can look to get

36:08

in touch with you fill out

36:08

forms, how they can, you know,

36:11

actually buy something for you,

36:11

whether you have an e commerce

36:14

site, or if you know, a service

36:14

based businesses, they putting

36:18

down a payment for, you know, a

36:18

consulting session or anything

36:22

like that, like that all you got

36:22

to have a website, you got to

36:24

have somewhere for them to go to

36:24

bill that. And so you want to

36:27

keep that in mind. It doesn't

36:27

have to be, you know, crazy

36:30

fancy, you know, first, you

36:30

know, starting out and things

36:33

like that, just put the

36:33

essentials up there, who you

36:36

are, how to get in touch with

36:36

you what you do, make sure it's

36:39

very clear. And you know, what

36:39

you do front page above the

36:42

fold, you know, so it's clear.

36:42

So you know, what to catch

36:46

people's attention, you know,

36:46

right off the bat, but yes, Ray.

36:50

Great point.

36:50

Yeah, no doubt, no

36:50

doubt. So yeah, so I know, we

36:53

gave everybody quite a bit, you

36:53

know, we're looking at things we

36:57

have learned through our going

36:57

into our third year of

37:02

entrepreneurship, looking at the

37:02

foundation for your company, you

37:05

know, registering with the state

37:05

and county, making sure all the

37:09

operating agreements and bylaws

37:09

are in place. You know,

37:13

establish relationships with

37:13

those professionals who can help

37:15

you go and protect you from

37:15

making mistakes, lawyer, CPA,

37:19

advisors, mentors, you know,

37:19

people from from that nature,

37:24

and making sure your bookkeeping

37:24

is up to date, your taxes are in

37:27

check, your professional

37:27

representation, again, is

37:31

critical and important. You

37:31

know, and then the value of

37:34

having that you know, that

37:34

virtual storage place for all

37:37

your documents, and you can have

37:37

a file cabinet as well, too. But

37:40

you usually want to have backups

37:40

to the backup, sometimes I'm

37:43

going to capability statement,

37:43

you know that that, you know

37:46

that that quick marketing tool

37:46

you can whip out and send to

37:48

somebody who, who that's going

37:48

to tell them everything about

37:51

what your company is and what

37:51

they do. And you know why they

37:53

should do business with you over

37:53

anybody else. So definitely take

37:57

advantage of of that too. And

37:57

don't forget that website.

38:01

Important will link

38:01

our capability statement, you'll

38:04

see that ours is tide more to

38:04

the government side of our

38:06

business, but you can have a

38:06

capability statement, even if

38:09

you're not in government is

38:09

still a great marketing tool.

38:12

And so, you know, look at ours

38:12

as just a template on how to lay

38:16

things out. But you can still

38:16

benefit from it, whether you're

38:19

a product or service based

38:19

business, that's not necessarily

38:22

doing things with the

38:22

government, because we found out

38:25

through some other programs that

38:25

we're working with that Amazon,

38:28

a lot of programs that they

38:28

have, they require a capability

38:31

statement. And so you just want

38:31

to make sure that you kind of

38:35

look at that and see how you can

38:35

make it or apply it to your

38:39

business. And then one last

38:39

thing before we go now SOPs now

38:46

I'm kind of a stickler when it

38:46

kind of comes to this funny

38:49

story. When me and Ray were I

38:49

think it was like the second

38:52

podcast we were recording. Like

38:52

I'm the type where I'm going to

38:55

write down what was the first

38:55

one, I would write down

39:00

everything like cuz I'm just

39:00

like, if something was to happen

39:03

to me, or something like that,

39:03

how will someone else know kind

39:06

of like what I do and so like,

39:06

um, I don't know, I'm real

39:10

particular about writing down

39:10

different steps. Like I go to

39:13

this website, I click this

39:13

button I do this I do that

39:16

because you know, just kind of

39:16

like as I fail safe, like I've

39:18

always kind of I'm trying to get

39:18

out of this but I'm like, worst

39:21

case scenario thinking type of

39:21

persons. I'm like, anything

39:24

happens everything Ray, go to

39:24

this folder and everything is

39:27

right there. So anyways, when we

39:27

were doing our first podcast, we

39:31

were looking at, we use a zoom

39:31

h6 some recording device, I

39:36

don't know, Ray is used to be a

39:36

sound engineer. So he's really

39:41

good at all this stuff. But

39:41

anyways, I was writing down like

39:44

literally the volume settings.

39:44

Click this button, turn

39:48

microphone on. And he was I

39:48

mean, he would not stop joking

39:53

me about all of it. And I'm

39:53

like, Are you kidding me? So

39:55

then the next time was

39:57

Tiara Tiara is

39:57

like okay, Typing volumes at

40:01

seven. I'm like come on man, its

40:01

not that serious.

40:03

If you get a sweet

40:03

spot where it works to me, you

40:06

want to have something that's

40:06

consistent has the same sound.

40:08

So it makes sense to me. But

40:08

then the next time we record it,

40:11

we couldn't figure out why

40:11

nothing was working. And y'all

40:14

guess what it was? We didn't

40:14

turn the mics on. But we would

40:17

have looked at the list I made,

40:17

we would have said turn it to

40:20

this turn the mic on. Am I going

40:20

to like that checklist checks

40:23

and balances? But anyway, I'm

40:23

gonna keep doing what I do,

40:26

right? Don't have to read it or look at it.

40:27

Oh, yeah, no,

40:27

bommies. I mean, read the world,

40:30

these people like you for those

40:30

who are familiar, standard

40:32

operating procedures? Oh, yes.

40:32

All right. So this is a document

40:36

that says, This is how I do my

40:36

process. And it's the same every

40:39

time they could be replicated.

40:39

If you follow these, these

40:42

instructions on this paper,

40:42

you'll get to the end result in

40:46

whatever timely manner you need

40:46

to now you know, I'm all for

40:49

SOPs, don't me wrong. I just

40:49

don't take the time to write the

40:53

write down stuff to the detail

40:53

that Tiara does, but that's what

40:56

makes us great, I focus on other

40:56

things and Tiara focus on other

40:59

things. And then they meet

40:59

together in the middle, in the

41:02

handshake. And that's a high

41:02

five and everybody's happy. This

41:05

is turn the volume to seven.

41:05

That's so funny. I was like,

41:08

Man, you're so you're so funny

41:08

T, but I appreciate that.

41:11

Thank you. I mean,

41:11

it works, we work. So whatever.

41:14

But the importance of SOPs are

41:14

when it gets to the when it gets

41:18

to the point where you're not,

41:18

it's not just you, you know, I

41:21

know when you first starting

41:21

out, it's just you, you're doing

41:23

all the work, but you want to

41:23

get to a place where you can

41:27

easily hand it off to someone

41:27

else. And so when you're ready

41:29

to hire an assistant or to hire,

41:29

you know, employee number two,

41:34

you don't have to scramble on,

41:34

you know, trying to figure out a

41:37

training plan and everything

41:37

like that, because what's going

41:40

to happen is you're going to

41:40

have as you go through, you

41:43

know, your processes and your

41:43

back end your operations, if you

41:45

just start taking notes that of

41:45

course, they don't have to be to

41:47

the level of detail that I do

41:47

with that. But just quick notes

41:50

on kind of what you do and how

41:50

you do it. And why you do it

41:53

that way, will help you when you

41:53

bring someone else on because

41:56

they can use that, you know,

41:56

material to reference and to

41:59

bring them up to speed. And so I

41:59

know, you know, first starting

42:04

out, you're like, I don't need

42:04

to deal with that now. But trust

42:06

me, it really will make a

42:06

difference once you're ready,

42:08

because you know, anything can

42:08

happen. You can meet someone

42:12

tomorrow, go viral, and you have

42:12

a whole bunch of people at your

42:16

door ready to buy your products,

42:16

buy your services, and you're

42:19

going to need help quick and

42:19

you're not going to have time to

42:21

be like, Oh, now I got to train

42:21

them. But I showed them how to

42:23

do this. If you just take a

42:23

little bit of time, you know, a

42:26

month, like pick a day, each

42:26

month and be like, Okay, let me

42:29

just write a couple of notes on

42:29

how I do this, or how to do

42:32

that. And then just put it in a

42:32

digital folder where you know,

42:35

someone else can get to, yeah, for sure.

42:37

And you know, plus

42:37

enough as you plus your staff up

42:40

and your business grows. But

42:40

those SOPs come in handy. If

42:44

you're fortunate enough to have

42:44

your business bought out by

42:46

somebody, you know, you have you

42:46

have documented procedures in

42:49

place. And I think that helps

42:49

the transition and the purchase

42:52

process go a lot smoother, too.

42:52

So, you know, I think a lot a

42:55

lot of entrepreneurs are out

42:55

there or in this worldd. I'm do

42:59

this for five to 10 years and

42:59

sell it to somebody else and go

43:01

retire and live on the beach. I

43:01

just do what I want to do globe

43:04

trot for us my life. But you

43:04

know, putting putting those SOPs

43:08

as a important, you know, it's a

43:08

very important procedural

43:12

document to have and establish

43:12

as you're looking at your

43:15

company. You know, you can't

43:15

really do anything without not

43:18

having standard operate standard

43:18

operations for how you do your

43:22

procedures. So definitely

43:22

establish those SOPs. Yeah,

43:25

great, great valid point. Great point.

43:27

Yeah, so what we'll

43:27

do I know we talked about a lot,

43:29

but we'll kind of the things

43:29

that we reference, we'll link it

43:32

in the show notes. So

43:32

definitely, you know, look at

43:35

that or you can go straight to

43:35

our website at

43:37

thefrontrunnerpodcast.com

43:39

for sure. If you guys have any questions, we're always available through social

43:41

media. For those who have our

43:44

emails or phone numbers hit us

43:44

up if you guys have questions,

43:47

you know, we'd love to help out

43:47

if we had the opportunity to do

43:49

so. You know, with that being

43:49

said, we love you guys and we

43:53

appreciate everybody taking time

43:53

out to listen. So you guys hold

43:57

it down. Peace

43:58

Peace stay solid