0:24

Hey everyone. Thanks for joining me

0:24

for another episode. I'm your host, Jesse Butts.

0:28

Today, we have a bonus episode,

0:28

and this one is all about the

0:32

realities of self-employment. I'm chatting with Brian

0:34

Bohley a payroll expert

0:37

with years of experience

0:37

being self-employed before

0:39

hiring his first employees. Brian and I met when we were

0:41

both working for a small

0:44

business online payroll

0:44

company, when that was still

0:46

a little bit of a novelty. Brian is now the founder

0:48

and owner of InFocus

0:51

Payroll, goodbookin', and,

0:51

coming soon, BookAssure.

0:55

Brian, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining me.

0:59

Jesse, thanks for having me today.

1:01

Yeah, absolutely. So Brian, can we start a little

1:02

bit with your background?

1:06

Can you tell us what you

1:06

were doing before you

1:10

ventured out on your own?

1:12

Well, I, I spent

1:12

many years doing customer

1:14

service, , at all levels. So I started out as low

1:16

as a the grocery store,

1:20

moved my way up to customer

1:20

service desk, then cashier.

1:25

I really enjoyed working

1:25

with the customers,

1:27

making them happy. So during college and just

1:28

after college, I took on some

1:33

customer service representative

1:33

jobs and at the online payroll

1:39

service, that's where I met you.

1:41

I was working there and

1:41

servicing 35,000 small

1:46

businesses, answering

1:46

their questions, helping

1:49

them resolve issues. One of which you might remember

1:50

was Twitter back when they

1:53

only had five employees.

1:55

Vaguely. I do remember that. Yeah.

1:57

Yeah, So I, I, I,

1:57

I had a problem with, , with how

2:00

the customers were being helped. So I went into the tax

2:02

department because I

2:04

thought that's where I

2:04

could solve their issues.

2:06

The troubles were just so much

2:06

deeper than that, that I really

2:10

felt like either I had to get

2:10

out of the industry altogether

2:14

or do something about it. Instead, right away, I

2:16

found a position working

2:19

for Aon, which was serving

2:19

large Fortune 50 companies.

2:24

Bank of America was one of them. And the corporate culture

2:27

just wasn't for me.

2:29

It was really toxic. That was where I was forced

2:30

to decide whether or not I was

2:34

just gonna go and do something

2:34

else, change careers altogether.

2:37

Or if I was just gonna

2:37

try to do something within

2:40

the payroll industry. And that was when I decided

2:41

to start InFocus Payroll.

2:45

And, and what timeframe was this roughly that you started?

2:49

Well, I, I

2:49

incorporated in February of

2:52

2012, so just over 10 years ago.

2:55

And that was about a month after

2:55

I had started with, with Aon.

3:00

So I kind of had an idea

3:00

pretty early on that it wasn't

3:02

gonna work out with them. And then I launched

3:04

right after leaving Aon.

3:07

In July, I got my first client.

3:10

That was pure luck

3:10

and happenstance.

3:13

I, I was at a networking

3:13

event, a chamber of

3:16

commerce networking event. And it was my very first one.

3:20

I think I had a hundred business cards. I thought that'd be enough.

3:23

I had a, a business

3:23

owner come to me.

3:25

He says, I need payroll. And I just thought, Well,

3:26

this is gonna be easy.

3:28

I'll just get a client at

3:28

each networking event and I'm

3:31

gonna be highly successful.

3:33

And did that pan out as you, as you thought it would?

3:36

No, no, it was,

3:36

uh, it was a disaster actually.

3:40

Cause then I went into each

3:40

networking event trying to

3:43

pitch my services to all

3:43

the other people there to,

3:48

you know, trying to make

3:48

long lasting relationships

3:51

with other colleagues. And there, I was trying

3:53

to sell them on payroll.

3:57

For, for a little more frame of reference too. So you started your

3:58

business, InFocus Payroll,

4:02

a little over 10 years ago. How long were you doing

4:05

that solo, just yourself?

4:10

So I ran into some

4:10

difficulties pretty early on.

4:14

Having my first child in 2013

4:14

did not help the situation.

4:19

It kind of put a strain on our finances. And so I started taking on

4:21

some consulting gigs, and

4:25

so that allowed me to be

4:25

solo for much longer than I

4:28

probably should have been. Then as I started to feel like

4:30

I could go back to the business

4:34

and grow it, we had our second

4:34

son in 2015, and so I started

4:39

taking on some more consulting

4:39

gigs, all the way through

4:41

the end of 2018 I did those.

4:44

And then I kind of had

4:44

an issue with a client,

4:48

my largest client, more

4:48

than 50% of my revenue.

4:51

And I had to fire them,

4:51

which was a really tough

4:54

decision, obviously. And that was when I was

4:56

like, okay, I have to

4:58

take this seriously now. It was almost like

4:59

a fork in the road. Again, just like before I

5:01

was like, Either I gotta

5:03

make this work or get a

5:03

regular nine to five job.

5:07

So that was when I

5:07

hired my first employee.

5:10

And he did not have

5:10

any payroll experience.

5:14

He came highly recommended,

5:14

from his aunt who I had

5:18

actually trained in payroll.

5:21

Yeah, he's, he's been great. He's still with me and he's

5:22

like my right hand man.

5:26

Nice. Congratulations. So, so Brian, now that we have

5:28

kind of a sense of your high

5:32

level story, wondering if we can

5:32

kind of tap into that expertise.

5:36

So I'm curious, based on

5:36

your experience going solo,

5:40

if there's a listener out

5:40

there who's been considering

5:43

that, what should they do or

5:43

consider at this point, if,

5:46

if they've been toying around

5:46

with the idea for a little bit?

5:49

Well, it's, it's different for everybody obviously.

5:52

I keep thinking back to

5:52

earlier on, in my career when

5:56

I could have started sooner. And really, if you can do it,

5:58

if you can get started before

6:02

you have kids and a mortgage,

6:02

maybe even before you're

6:07

married, that makes life a

6:07

whole lot easier because you're

6:10

gonna wanna put everything

6:10

that you have into this.

6:12

It's not as glamorous

6:12

as people think.

6:15

It just takes a lot of work

6:15

and it can put a strain on

6:18

relationships, especially when

6:18

you're married and you have kids

6:22

it's, it's no longer about you. Every decision you

6:24

make is about us.

6:30

So that's, that's kind of, my

6:30

biggest piece of advice would

6:33

be to try and strategically plan

6:33

the timing, , so that you have

6:38

the least number of roadblocks

6:38

in the way or any kind of things

6:42

that could complicate the issue.

6:45

And then second after that,

6:45

you either wanna make sure

6:48

you have a proper runway,

6:48

so depending on what kind

6:52

of business it is, it's a

6:52

product, then a lot of times

6:55

you have to have, you need to

6:55

start up with a lot of capital.

6:59

If it's a service business,

6:59

like I, like I started, it's

7:04

a little less of an issue. You're only charging for your

7:05

time and maybe some software.

7:08

And then third, you might want

7:08

to, before you quit your job,

7:14

just kind of use friends, family

7:14

colleagues, as Guinea pigs to,

7:20

to see if they're as excited

7:20

about your idea as you are.

7:24

Sometimes, , you can kind of

7:24

get stuck in your own little

7:28

bubble and think that you

7:28

have this really great idea.

7:31

It turns out that it's, it's

7:31

only gonna help a small few.

7:35

And you might be one of those small few.

7:38

Can you elaborate

7:38

a little bit on that comment

7:41

you made about, self-employment

7:41

not being as glamorous as

7:44

it, as it's made out to be?

7:47

Sure. I think, I think that's

7:48

touched on a lot in, in

7:50

various different self-help

7:50

books and, and everything.

7:53

They try to really paint a

7:53

picture of just like what it

7:57

really means to, to start a

7:57

business and , it it's nice

8:02

and it's rewarding to be

8:02

called the founder or to be

8:07

referred to as a business owner. It's, it's...

8:09

it can feel like a

8:09

prestigious title.

8:12

But really you're not just

8:12

the founder and the owner.

8:16

When it's just you, you're the,

8:16

you're the bookkeeper, you're

8:19

the administrative assistant. You're the janitor.

8:22

You're pretty much everything

8:22

that you wish you could

8:26

be and never wish you

8:26

could be at the same time.

8:30

So, for example,

8:30

if you have a passion for

8:34

photography, this spans a

8:34

lot of creative endeavors and

8:38

you want to do more of that.

8:41

People think, I can do more

8:41

of that if I go on my own.

8:45

And what most of their time,

8:45

and it sounds like this is

8:48

what you're mentioning too,

8:48

is occupied with is, you know,

8:52

booking the gigs and paying

8:52

vendors and updating your

8:56

website and answering inquiries.

8:59

So that time for the actual

8:59

practice of what your business

9:02

is continually shrinks,

9:02

especially as you grow.

9:06

Yeah. I mean, you certainly have

9:06

more creative freedom when

9:08

you're calling the shots. And, and you get to decide what

9:10

projects you're working on.

9:13

It becomes really tough when

9:13

you're starting to have to

9:17

decide between the ones that,

9:17

the projects you want to work

9:20

on and the projects that you

9:20

need to work on that are gonna

9:24

actually help you pay the

9:24

bills and keep the lights on.

9:27

Definitely the bigger your business becomes, the more layers of

9:29

complexities there are.

9:32

And, my father-in-law,

9:32

who's a serial entrepreneur

9:35

and one of my mentors.

9:38

He told me right when I

9:38

started the business, he's

9:40

like, Well, this is great. Now you only have to

9:42

work half the time. And I thought this was odd for

9:44

him to say, because he worked

9:47

like 70 to 80 hours a week. He's like, Yeah, , you get to

9:50

pick which 12 hours a day, seven

9:53

days a week you wanna work.

9:57

And so it's kind of like in

9:57

order to get to the things

10:00

that you really want to get

10:00

to, you have to spend a lot

10:04

of time working at the things

10:04

that you need to work on.

10:09

So I think of it as you

10:09

could probably work eight

10:12

hours a day, five days a

10:12

week and, and maybe get by.

10:17

But you would only be

10:17

getting done the things

10:19

that you need to get done. The things that you want to get

10:21

done are the things you save

10:25

for after you get through all of

10:25

the, tough stuff, all the things

10:29

that need to get done in order

10:29

for the business to survive.

10:33

And earlier

10:33

when you were talking about

10:36

going into to payroll or,

10:36

or excuse me to a payroll

10:40

business for yourself. You had mentioned that, you'd

10:42

hit this crossroads where you'd

10:45

seen the problems and you felt

10:45

like it was either try to solve

10:49

them or make a, a career change.

10:53

So, I'm curious how we can

10:53

frame this a little bit around,

10:56

you know, the passion debate. For listeners who might

10:57

be wondering, like, Do I pursue my passion?

11:00

Do I pursue something I'm good at? And, and I don't wanna

11:03

put words in your mouth. So, so please, you know,

11:04

correct me or, or disabuse

11:07

me of any incorrect notions. But it, it sounds like maybe

11:09

you, you did develop a, a

11:14

passion for this, but it was

11:14

really more like you saw this

11:18

opportunity and felt that you

11:18

could solve it versus being, you

11:21

know like, payroll is the thing

11:21

that I love more than anything.

11:26

Like what's your, your

11:26

take on going self-employed

11:30

in the, you know, passion

11:30

versus practicality realm.

11:34

Well, let's, let's just take a couple steps back real quick.

11:37

Payroll was not always

11:37

my passion and, I

11:42

get asked that a lot. Like, what made

11:43

you wanna do this?

11:45

What made you wanna start a payroll service? It's even sometimes I, I

11:47

take a step out and I look

11:51

at myself and I'm like,

11:51

How did you get here?

11:54

But I saw an opportunity

11:54

to make a difference and to

12:02

provide a kind of service

12:02

that didn't already exist.

12:05

Customer service is not

12:05

really highly valued within

12:10

the payroll industry. Mostly geared towards the

12:11

technology end with low paid,

12:17

undervalued reps, glorified

12:17

customer service reps talking

12:22

to the clients, telling them, You're gonna have to talk to your CPA about that.

12:25

Or, you know, we

12:25

can't comment on that.

12:29

Or it's gonna be 12 to

12:29

16 weeks until you get

12:32

your amendment done. It doesn't matter what

12:33

you're needing it for.

12:36

and that was just frustrating for me to see. And at the time I didn't

12:39

really have any other thing

12:42

that I thought stood out to

12:42

me that needed to be solved.

12:46

So payroll it was.

12:49

So, you know, for

12:49

people who are really interested

12:53

in, in self-employment, should

12:53

they form or incorporate

12:59

some type of company? Or should they just work

13:01

under their own name? Like, what are,

13:03

what's your take?

13:05

What are you typically

13:05

recommending to, to, to people?

13:10

Well, it depends on who you talk to. What they recommend.

13:13

And really if you're gonna start

13:13

out anywhere, if it's not a,

13:17

if it's not a business where

13:17

there's a lot of liability where

13:20

you could get sued being a sole

13:20

proprietor is absolutely the

13:25

simplest most straightforward

13:25

option, especially when you

13:28

don't have any revenue yet and

13:28

you're just incurring expenses.

13:33

And then once you get enough

13:33

revenue to where you can

13:36

think about paying yourself,

13:36

that's when you need to

13:39

talk to an expert like a

13:39

business attorney or a CPA.

13:43

If you want to

13:43

start working with a business

13:48

name, is that permissible

13:48

being a sole proprietor or do

13:53

you have to form a business

13:53

if you want to, instead of,

13:56

you know, Jesse Butts Writing,

13:56

something like, The Best

14:00

Damn Writer Ever, hopefully

14:00

you don't use that name.

14:06

Yeah, that would

14:06

be tough to fit on an IRS form.

14:08

You can have a DBA

14:08

as a sole proprietor.

14:12

A DBA is a?

14:13

Doing business as. So you would file that with

14:14

the secretary of state.

14:18

And it's, it's pretty straightforward. Anyone can do it.

14:21

You would need to, uh, publish

14:21

in a newspaper your information

14:27

and that your your name is

14:27

being used as a DBA, and it's

14:33

representing you as a company. So once that's published

14:35

you send that, in proof

14:38

of the publishing to the,

14:38

with the application.

14:41

Then it can, be official. So anyone can do that.

14:45

When you're a DBA it doesn't

14:45

really shield you from anything

14:49

from a liability standpoint. If that's what you're

14:51

mainly looking to do,

14:54

then it's, it's better

14:54

to, form a a formal entity.

14:58

If I'm a sole

14:58

proprietor, that means that, you

15:01

know, the IRS and whatever your

15:01

state's revenue department, they

15:06

don't see any difference between

15:06

what I do for work and what I

15:10

do with my personal finances. It's all one and the same.

15:13

Is that

15:15

So there's

15:15

opportunities to write

15:17

off business related

15:17

expenses from your income.

15:21

So that's one way to

15:21

differentiate your

15:24

expenses from personal. The main thing is, is that you

15:26

have to pay self-employment

15:31

tax because you are the

15:31

individual and the business,

15:36

you're both of those things. And so that is where the

15:37

employer, in case you don't

15:42

realize it yet, the employer

15:42

actually matches the Social

15:46

Security and Medicare on

15:46

your regular W2 income.

15:49

A lot of people don't know that. And then when they start their

15:51

business, they're really shocked

15:54

when they get hit with the

15:54

self-employment tax, which is

15:56

the employer portion as well.

15:59

So, so there is a difference,

15:59

but it's all filed under

16:02

the same tax return, if that's what you mean.

16:04

And what, how much

16:04

is that, like percentage-wise,

16:07

that self-employment tax?

16:09

Well, it

16:09

comes across as 15.3%.

16:12

7.65% is the employee portion.

16:15

7.65 is the employer portion.

16:19

So when you're a

16:19

W2 employee for a company,

16:23

you're only paying half of that. But then once you're

16:25

self-employed, and we're talking

16:28

about sole proprietor, you're

16:28

paying all of that yourself.

16:32

Exactly. And that's why when you do

16:33

become a consultant or you

16:36

do work for yourself, your

16:36

billable rate should be much

16:39

higher than what your rate

16:39

would've been as a W2 employee.

16:44

To cover all the extra

16:44

taxes, all the paperwork,

16:48

the liability, and the

16:48

hassle of, of, of setting

16:52

up your own entity.

16:54

So why would

16:54

somebody choose to create

16:59

an LLC, which, you know, I

16:59

see so many small business

17:02

names have LLC at the end. Why would they choose to do that

17:04

versus being a sole proprietor?

17:09

I mean, I'm not a,

17:09

I'm not a business attorney, so

17:12

this isn't legal advice, but... when you set up an LLC,

17:13

you're basically making

17:16

that announcement or

17:16

you're differentiating

17:20

you from the business. That, that shields

17:22

you from liability.

17:25

Now, of course, you

17:25

don't get that for free.

17:27

You don't get to just do

17:27

everything exactly the same way.

17:30

There's a lot of extra hoops you have to jump through. You have to hold board meetings.

17:34

If you're the only board

17:34

member then it's with

17:37

yourself basically. Yeah, you just have to

17:39

basically record everything

17:41

as if you are a business

17:41

and not just an individual.

17:46

And you

17:46

mentioned the liability.

17:49

Or a liability aspect, I should say. So what does that mean?

17:54

The liability

17:54

of owning a business, can span

17:59

into many different realms. But for an example,

18:00

I'll just use payroll.

18:04

You could make a mistake

18:04

that would damage one of your

18:08

clients either financially or

18:08

emotionally, and, and then they

18:13

could come at you for damages.

18:16

So as long as you have your

18:16

business operating under an

18:21

LLC, and you're not piercing

18:21

the corporate veil by treating

18:25

the LLC, operating account

18:25

as your personal piggy bank,

18:30

you're not commingling personal

18:30

expenses with business expenses

18:36

then r eally you should have

18:36

business liability coverage.

18:40

And between that and the

18:40

entity itself should shield you

18:45

from any personal liability,

18:45

which means if you have a

18:49

house and you have savings

18:49

that would be shielded

18:53

from any kind of lawsuit.

18:55

And that business

18:55

coverage liability is that

18:58

some type of insurance policy

18:58

that you were mentioning there?

19:01

Yes. So there's general business

19:01

insurance, and then there's

19:06

also professional liability.

19:09

So professional liability... you can think of it as

19:11

like an endorsement for

19:13

specific types of, types of

19:13

industries that you're in.

19:17

So, professional liability

19:17

means, you could make a

19:21

mistake that would have a

19:21

negative impact on your clients.

19:26

Whereas there's other businesses

19:26

where there's not really as

19:31

much risk and it can all be

19:31

covered under a general policy.

19:35

So Brian,

19:35

when you are self-employed

19:38

and, and let's, you know,

19:38

just keep this simple.

19:40

So like, you know, you've

19:40

chosen the sole proprietor

19:43

or maybe the LLC option.

19:46

How do you actually pay yourself? Do you need payroll if

19:48

it's just you and you're a

19:52

sole proprietor or an LLC?

19:54

If you are an

19:54

LLC, ideally you want to be

19:59

paying yourself guaranteed

19:59

payments, which are basically

20:04

the same as owner distributions,

20:04

which is just taking money

20:08

out of the, the account to

20:08

use for personal reasons.

20:14

The guaranteed payments

20:14

go on the, they actually

20:18

go on the profit and loss

20:18

statement, which can help you

20:22

decide whether or not your

20:22

company is truly profitable.

20:26

Whereas if you don't take

20:26

guaranteed payments, it might

20:29

look like you're actually

20:29

making more money than you

20:32

really are, especially if

20:32

you're trying to sell the

20:35

business, uh, eventually.

20:37

So, so let's

20:37

just make this very simple.

20:40

If you're a sole proprietor,

20:40

can you just, as needed

20:43

withdrawal funds from a business

20:43

account to your personal, or

20:47

do you have to do anything

20:47

formal around paying yourself?

20:51

No, when you're a

20:51

sole proprietor, you can pretty

20:54

much treat the business account

20:54

as your own savings account.

20:59

But it's not recommended,

20:59

obviously you wanna keep

21:02

it separate if you can,

21:02

but there are no real

21:06

regulations or requirements.

21:09

So let's say

21:09

you, you're self-employed

21:11

and, and you're doing well. let's say you're a designer,

21:13

and you have more work

21:18

than you can handle. Do you need to hire a W2

21:20

employee if, if you've

21:24

just decided that I can't

21:24

do this, I need some help?

21:28

Or is there some other way to

21:28

get that help, without hiring

21:33

an employee that's, you know,

21:33

still, obviously above board.

21:36

Well, just like a lot of these other topics we've been discussing, I, I always

21:38

try to introduce my clients

21:44

to a professional that can

21:44

speak on these more formally.

21:49

But, I will say that you

21:49

never wanna just jump

21:53

to hiring a W2 employee.

21:55

That's, that's a commitment

21:55

that, if it doesn't

21:58

work out, could lead to

21:58

issues down the road.

22:02

However, it's not always

22:02

as simple as just hiring

22:05

a contractor either. Contractos need to be treated

22:07

as their own individual

22:10

companies that can make their

22:10

own decisions and operate

22:15

when they want and how they

22:15

want, up to a certain extent.

22:19

If you're gonna hire somebody

22:19

and you're gonna say, This

22:22

is where we're at right now. This is where we need to be.

22:26

Go get 'em. Then that can be a contractor.

22:30

But if you're gonna say,

22:30

This is where we are.

22:32

I want you to come

22:32

in these hours.

22:34

Here's a computer

22:34

that you can use.

22:37

Make sure you use this software. And I need it done by this date.

22:42

Then that's an employee.

22:44

So if you had a

22:44

scenario where maybe keeping

22:47

with the designer thing... and, and again, I, I

22:49

totally realize that , this

22:51

is not legal advice. This is just a hypothetical.

22:54

But let's say you're a

22:54

designer and you have this

22:57

big contract and you find

22:57

another designer and say, you

23:01

know, This is where we are. I need these images in these

23:03

formats two weeks from today.

23:10

Ping me, if you have any questions. It, it sounds like, if

23:11

I'm understanding you

23:13

correctly, that's a pretty

23:13

legitimate contractor

23:16

situation versus an employee.

23:20

Yes. I mean, When it comes to

23:21

something that, detailed you

23:25

really don't have a choice,

23:25

but to lay it out for them.

23:28

You know, this format

23:28

by this, by this date.

23:31

But at the end of the

23:31

day, you're still not

23:33

telling them how to do it. You're still not telling them

23:35

when to do it necessarily.

23:38

Cause they could do

23:38

it ahead of time.

23:40

You're simply giving them

23:40

some, some constraints

23:44

to work work within.

23:46

And I assume if

23:46

you are in a position where

23:51

you do need to hire an employee

23:51

because, you know, you, need

23:54

them to work certain hours. You, you have to tell them every

23:55

little thing that they're...

23:59

I don't mean that like negatively, but if you have to give them a lot of

24:01

instruction and training.

24:04

What do you need when

24:04

you hire an employee?

24:09

Do you need like

24:09

worker's compensation?

24:12

Do you have to start

24:12

payroll at that point

24:14

if you haven't already?

24:17

Even if you don't

24:17

hire an employee, if you hire a

24:19

contractor, you may still need

24:19

to get workers' compensation.

24:23

Or at least make sure that

24:23

they have liability coverage.

24:27

So definitely wanna still

24:27

make sure that when you

24:30

hire a contractor, you have, you have that. With a W2 , they're,

24:32

they're kind of like your responsibility.

24:35

I joke and I call my

24:35

employees, my kids.

24:38

It's like taking

24:38

care of my, my kids.

24:40

You have to make sure

24:40

everything is above board

24:42

and that you are transparent

24:42

and reporting everything

24:47

about that relationship. So you need to do a new

24:49

hire reporting to the state.

24:54

You need to collect I-9

24:54

verification and all their

24:59

identification you need to

24:59

verify to make sure that

25:02

they are authorized to

25:02

work in the United States.

25:05

You need to have them fill

25:05

out W4 forms so that you know,

25:08

how much tax to withhold. And then, for insurance

25:10

purposes, you definitely

25:13

need to get workers' comp,

25:13

even if they're working

25:16

out of their home or your

25:16

home it doesn't matter.

25:20

If they get injured while they're working, then that's a liability.

25:25

So, so Brian,

25:25

as you over the last 10

25:29

years, as your business has

25:29

evolved, and as you have

25:34

started new businesses, what

25:34

resources have you found

25:38

most helpful in all of this?

25:41

Good question. Let's see. Well, my father-in-law, who's

25:43

a serial entrepreneur, as I

25:46

mentioned before, he's, he's

25:46

probably been my best resource.

25:50

He's, he's let me figure things

25:50

out on my own quite a bit too.

25:53

Yeah, it was pretty tough. I didn't really have too

25:55

many people to lean on

25:57

in the very beginning. I just had to really work

25:58

on building relationships

26:01

professionally, to find out

26:01

who I could trust and for what.

26:05

Yeah, I think I, I think I

26:05

learned the hard way a lot.

26:08

I did join some networking

26:08

groups and there was, I don't

26:12

know if you're familiar with

26:12

mastermind groups, but there

26:16

were some mastermind components.

26:18

There were some coaches

26:18

that I worked with.

26:21

I've worked with three coaches. One was an absolute disaster.

26:25

It was like every time I

26:25

went to him with a problem,

26:28

I, I left with five times

26:28

that, from the meeting.

26:32

That was a very tough situation.

26:34

Coaches can be a good thing,

26:34

but they're expensive.

26:37

So I'm, I don't know. I, I'm still trying to

26:38

figure out really who, uh,

26:40

who , who's a good, where,

26:40

where a good resource is.

26:43

Actually for my, for my app

26:43

that I'm just now trying

26:46

to get built, I've actually

26:46

joined a community called

26:50

1871, which is an incubator

26:50

in downtown Chicago.

26:55

They're a nonprofit, they have all kinds of resources and different

26:57

workshops and, and things.

27:01

So I would say that going to

27:01

a nonprofit organization that

27:05

is geared towards helping a

27:05

business, small businesses or

27:10

someone in the industry that

27:10

you're looking to get into,

27:13

that's probably your best bet. Because they shouldn't have

27:15

too much of an ulterior motive

27:18

other than just to help.

27:20

So Brian, if,

27:20

a, if a listener is a little

27:23

bit curious about what you're

27:23

doing, where can they find

27:27

more about like the payroll

27:27

service that you offer?

27:30

And I know that you do bookkeeping and, and you mentioned an app

27:31

that you're developing. Can you just share a

27:33

little bit about those?

27:36

Sure. I, I don't spend a lot

27:36

of time on social media.

27:39

But I, I am on LinkedIn.

27:42

So, the profile is,

27:42

is Brian Bohley C-P-P.

27:47

And then also the websites

27:47

I have, InFocusPayroll.com.

27:53

It's the payroll website. And then GoodBookin.com

27:54

without the G at the end

28:00

is the bookkeeping website. And my email address is

28:01

[email protected] or

28:05

[email protected].

28:09

All right. Well, Brian, thank you

28:10

so much for joining me. This was a pleasure.

28:13

Yeah, no problem. Thanks so much for having me. It's been great.