Navigating the Challenges of Being a Business Owner
Unknown Speaker 0:00
The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you may hear do not necessarily represent the views of K, u and v Las Vegas, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Hi, this
Unknown Speaker 0:26
is Leah Crawford. And I'm Rhonda Nolan.
Unknown Speaker 0:28
Welcome to the let's talk with Lee and Rhonda show. We're here for
Unknown Speaker 0:31
you and we're ready to go. Let's do it. Hey, Las Vegas. Good
Unknown Speaker 0:38
morning.
Unknown Speaker 0:38
Good morning. Good morning to the beach. It's a beautiful Saturday morning. And I just want to know, has everybody been outside and done their morning walk? I did do my morning walk today. This energy?
Unknown Speaker 0:58
Wow. Um, well, I'm not walking I'm studying. So uh, yeah, I'm studying. I'm studying and have been studying and we'll be studying for the next couple of months. morning walk morning walk, get you in the mood get you up, get out. Yeah, you know what, when I worked out in the morning, I did feel I did feel a different burst of energy. Just about working out in the morning.
Unknown Speaker 1:19
When you work out in the morning, your metabolism starts. So everything you eat metabolizes, faster. So that's why it's always best to work out in the morning, just go
Unknown Speaker 1:26
ahead and walk in the morning, we take that walk around the block, go ahead, take a walk, take that walk. Well, Rhonda, what we're gonna talk about today, because this is Saturday morning, we're here to talk about just some business stuff so people can get ready for their next week already for the next couple of weeks until we come on, again. Just being a business owner, the challenges of being a business owner and people understanding that as a business owner, I don't get the luxury of taking off. Sometimes I don't get I mean, I make my own schedule. I don't get a paycheck every other week. I don't get a paycheck every other week. So what are what are some things that that you could that you would say? Let's have a conversation about that? Because being a business owner is rewarding, right. But there are two things we're working on the business and we're overworking in the business?
Unknown Speaker 2:12
That's correct. That's correct. So I think that everybody should take a look at their business and find out what are some of the areas that they need to grow the actual business, and maybe some of the areas that need to really tighten up their actual business?
Unknown Speaker 2:25
Okay, well, well, let's take me, for example, been in business for 10 years, the business runs. Okay, I have, you know, getting I'm probably about to hire another employee. The business does run when I'm not there. But I find that there's a difference between working on my business, and working in my business. And working on my business is getting up in the morning looking at my bank accounts to see what money is there. Going in and looking at my financial statements. website, which I have, I'm challenged with website thing, but making sure that my website is operational and doing what I needed to do. Ensuring that I have the the marketing materials like business cards, I just realized I have no more business cards, oh, I have no more business cards. If I want to change the logo, just the things that I'm working on my business because I have to realize that I am my I am a brand. That's right. And by me being a brand, there are certain things that I need to do like a photo shoot, you do another photo shoot, professional photo shoot not a picture with my camera, you introduced me to the professional photo shoot, which I love. No, I like that. But working on my business, what are some other things that you can recommend? What else is working on your business?
Unknown Speaker 3:39
We'll take a look at what your needs are for your business. If you've set a business goal, and you said that you want to make X amount of money each month, you know, are you meeting that goal? Are you making those numbers? And if you're not making those numbers, what systems can we put in place to assure that you will make those numbers?
Unknown Speaker 3:57
Right? So that's working on a business now when you're working in the business that you reach and the goal of ACOP basically, of meeting those numbers. And what What could that be like we were talking about this the other day on another urban chamber had a series of roundtable before accounting and one of the questions was if someone came to you, and they wanted to grow by 30%, how would you how could they get there? You know, what is the goal and just remembering to some of the comments and it was like number one? First let's see what that 30% means. So we have someone making $100,000 that wants to get to 130 What do you need to do to get there? And you're right with the marketing so do you need to target more customers? So
Unknown Speaker 4:47
it depends on what product you're selling right? And then you need you need to take a look at who are your current customers and who are the customers where you have a small amount of those particular customers and you need to do some segmentation marketing Okay, you're working on a certain demographic, and you want to grow your business with that demographic, because whatever product you're selling them, they need it,
Unknown Speaker 5:07
they need it got it. So when I'm working on that I grow the business announced, but you also got to monitor to, to make sure as you're growing the business, that the because if you want to grow by 30%, that means that you want your net to be 30% more, not your gross. So if I want my net to be 30%, more than I also have to monitor my expenses, that's how am I spending my money, that's what am I spending my money on. And we were talking about this earlier, going back to your financial statements, understanding your financial statement understanding and walk column by the gap names, the generally accepted accounting principle names, your balance sheet, your balance sheet is the heart of your business, right? So on your balance sheet, you have you know, you have your assets, you have your liabilities, and you have your equity. So with your assets, how much money do you have in the bank? How much cash cash equivalents? You know, do you have any marketable securities? Are you carrying inventory? Because inventory is the asset until you sell it? Do you have any equipment? How are you depreciating? Said equipment? You know, are there any other assets? You know, how are you classifying these things? Then what your liability really understanding? What is the short term liability? And what's the long term liability? And then do you have any notes payable, no mortgages, different things like that, what do you have in regards to your business, and then depending on your setup, will determine what your owner's equity section looks like. And as the business owner understanding this, so that when you're making decisions about your business, you know, you're looking at because when I know if I'm going to invest in a company, I'm gonna get your balance sheet. But when know something about a company will look at your balance sheet, you know, because that is the lifeline of your business that tells me a lot about some decisions, you've made what you've done, because those things don't go anywhere they just historically stay, then looking at the profit and loss statement. So with the profit and loss statement, just you know, how's my income coming in? Do I have cost of goods sold? Because cost of goods sold was a big question. When idle application, people didn't understand it. Some people put numbers in there. And I'm like, Wow, you got numbers and Cost of Goods Sold when you don't? That's not your business model. You know, so understanding your business model. So you know, where the numbers go, you know, what are your general and administrative expenses? What are your operating know, what are your operating expenses? What are you selling expenses, and just understanding your financial statements and having a partner in that we were also talking about the importance of consultants, you know why it is important not to have you know, to have consultants around, you know, you do marketing, and you build brands. So paying you is important, because you're going to help someone build that brand and give them feedback. What I do I do accounting important, because I'm going to help you understand your financial statements, attorneys, when you get those contracts, and make sure you have you know, the right type of the right person for the business, because all accountants don't do the same thing. All attorneys don't do the same thing. Make sure you have one that reads code that deals in contracts. They basically can have read and make sure that the contracts you're signing, you know that you understand what what is in the contract. What is in the contract, because I tell people, you know that legalese, that legal jargon, is something totally different from our everyday conversation, you know, just and we all can read, but even, you know, go to an attorney,
Unknown Speaker 8:27
right. And even if you're purchasing a building or purchasing some land to expand your business, make sure you have a real estate attorney to review your contract. Again,
Unknown Speaker 8:37
the attorney right. The attorney right, because as somebody who said, you don't want to go into the hospital and have your optometrists working on your appendix. I mean, you're right, you want to make sure because every every professional, all these professionals, you know, they have specialties and you want to make sure that you're engaging the right person. But again, working, working on your business and I think a lot of times we missed the mark on working on our business, not filing not knowing what payroll was we had a conversation about payroll, what are the payroll requirements, you know, do you have an employee or are you classifying them as subcontractors, no to different requirements subcontractors. You write them a check, you give them a 1099 and EC at the end of the year non employee compensation but if you have an employee you're giving them a W two. Well with w two employees, which this is July forms are due to small deposits need to be in 940 ones that do modify Business Tax is due for Nevada employers and also Nevada unemployment tax is due this month for Nevada. I know people that work in the state leave but I have employees in the state and just understanding what the requirements are so that you are in compliance with whatever the requirements are, as some of it is Nolan. We had another conversation about again working on a business state in Nevada if you are in business, you have to hit a business licensed every year. That's a state business license every year. And somebody said to me, Well, you know, I didn't know that, well, when you register the x or email address, and you had a Registered Agent, they email your Registered Agent, they also email you, they do it 90 days out, 60 days out, 30 days out, because in the good thing about Nevada, if you're late paying it, you pay the penalty. But you know, your license then becomes valid again, but you got to pay it. And so
Unknown Speaker 10:27
if you have if you're if you're a business license has lapsed, because you did not pay it last year, because maybe you didn't do any business due to COVID. And maybe your business picked back up this year, and maybe it didn't, but it would behoove you to go ahead and pay those fees. Because what you don't want you want to happen is that they send you to a collection agency. And yet again, oh yeah. If you if you do not pay your fees, they will send you to an internal collection agency and that could show up on your business credit report it DUNS and Bradstreet or it could show up on your personal credit report. I didn't know that they were sending out yes, they do. They stayed in Nevada does not play. Oh, okay.
Unknown Speaker 11:05
Well, no, cuz maybe because I pay all my I pay, you pay all yours, hey, I'm in the business. They have closed, dissolve them. Right. I just, I just thought that if you didn't pay you just didn't pay.
Unknown Speaker 11:17
So if you if your business closed during COVID-19 it because you can not move forward with what it was you were doing. Go ahead and let the state know that you dissolve your business. Therefore, they won't send you a bill saying that you owe them for your business license.
Unknown Speaker 11:30
Got it? Yeah, no, I didn't know that. They I just thought that they just you know, you just they just set out their doorman, and then when you paid it to pick back up, no pay it, it got revoked.
Unknown Speaker 11:37
And every year you let it go, they put on more penalties. So if you ever have to go back and use that license, the penalties are not pretty. Trust me. I know this from experience from experience. Not something someone told me, this is something that happened to me several years ago. And then once that happened, I said to myself, I'm never paying late again, I will always be on time. So now I pay my licensing fees 30 days ahead of the due date.
Unknown Speaker 12:07
Well, you want to know what's interesting about that, because we were also talking, talking about like the different types of business, you know, just understanding when you formed a business. One, most will most will all corporations here you have to have a registered agent. And that registered agent gets all mailings and different things like that on behalf of your business because they are your registered agent here in the state of Nevada. We were talking, you know, just just making sure that your registered agent also is diligent, you know, I know people that serve as their own resident agents. I like I honestly, I like third party, just pay somebody to do it. So that you don't miss those deadlines. Because most residents and agents only no more than 100 $200 a year with the late fee. I think it's two, it's a couple $100. Right, right. So you I mean, you just you're just doing just just being in compliance and having a good team around you. And that's what I'm noticing. So you need to be in business, you need to have a team around you. A team around you got to hear your squad. What does your squad look like? You know, so that when you have questions, you got people around you that are knowledgeable and that making it up as they go along.
Unknown Speaker 13:16
And also if you have a city of Las Vegas license, you have to pay that on time as well. Oh, yeah. All of them,
Unknown Speaker 13:22
obviously, all of them city, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson. So
Unknown Speaker 13:25
what we should do is, as business owners, we should try to pay those particular bills at least 30 days in advance. That way we know we're in compliance,
Unknown Speaker 13:33
right? Because I even I mean, being it's so funny, because I think about being being a business owner, you know, and when you have property in the city, because you have to pay a sewer bill, pay, I pay a sewer bill, on top of my rents wasn't included in my lease, and my landlord is amazing. But well, and just all the things that I had to pay on top of paying the rent and paying the utilities budgeting for all of that knowing how much that was, and then having my pricing coincide because I still want to eat after I pay everybody. Right. You know, and but but budget for it? No, because I do have a city Las Vegas business license. I mean, and when they send me the bill, I said I'm a check because I budgeted for it all year, the money's there, send me the bill, I send you a check because that those fees of those being in business legitly I know helped me especially with the state grant that came out last year with pets, being able to sit there and have everything that they need it with just clicking buttons and uploading it. And then it was my file maintenance, knowing where my stuff was knowing where my original articles of incorporation is my annual business license renewals, just having all of that information readily available, right? Because we have a filing system. And when I look back, I'm like, oh my god, it just, it piles up but just being consistent and diligent about making sure that my business is in compliance and we talked about filing a tax return annually, follow them annually have conversations, if you don't have an accountant, get one, get one, go and talk to one, have quarterly, monthly quarterly, if we do annual meetings, but it's better to me if you have a more frequent conversation, because with COVID, people were coming to get their taxes done. And then they get frustrated, because they're like, Well, I gotta get a 4506. To get this loan, I can't get it. Because of this, my taxes aren't filed, can you hurry up? Well, it takes time to build the numbers. But if we're doing it on a regular basis, the clients that I had that were doing it on a regular basis, no problem. They had all the numbers, they understood what to do. And they did it because applications were actually very easy,
Unknown Speaker 15:47
correct. Again, and we talk about this all the time, to small businesses, of just having all your paperwork in order, and having them at your fingertips where you can get them either in a file in your office or on your computer, or have both because a lot of things are electronic now, so when I get a electronic paperwork and licensing and this and that they're always print out a copy and have a hard copy. Because guess what? Computers aren't? 100%? Right? So you need to have both, have it honest, have a special folder on your computer with all your documentation, and then have it in a special file? Oh,
Unknown Speaker 16:19
I've also done Ronda is virtual file? Yeah, so having a file that is not necessarily on my desktop, but that I can access from anywhere? And is it CyberSecure people talk about cybersecurity. And I'm like, Okay, I, you know, I can have a fire in my office and burn everything. Right, you know, so I have a flash drive with some information on it. And then I have the, the cyber file cabinet where everything is there. And we're actually moving a lot of our files, cyber, because I need to be able to access them from wherever I am not just being married to being in my office. Right and, and accessing them from there. But I'm looking for now, if I was the Rhonda, I'm looking for people that haven't filed in years, there's there there lots, a lot out there. Right. Yeah, people haven't filed in years. And we were talking about that. Because on on another show, we were talking about that. Because when you get those letters from the IRS, right, and you know that you haven't done what you're supposed to do, it creates a level of anxiety, a level of uncomfortability. Right? And we are we looking for those people because we want to help you through this. And we want to help to know that, you know, it's, it's a process that doesn't happen overnight. But we're looking for those non filers, non filers just to get them in compliance. If you owe less work out a plan. If you get refunds sorry to say, if they're real old, you're not gonna get them. But when they're within the last three years, you know, we can get those refunds, but getting you to file those returns. Again, my name is Leah Crawford.
Unknown Speaker 17:48
I'm Rhonda Nolan.
Unknown Speaker 17:49
And we are let's talk with Leah and Rhonda and Ron, we're just having a conversation today. All over the place, though. And just talking about being a small business owner that sometimes I think small business owners we have ADD. The reason why I say that is because being a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats. Because you and you have to be efficient. You have to be perfect, but just efficient and aware of a lot of things. And you got to handle your business. You got to handle your business. I say like say see we have time management, real important, right? Yep, 24 hours in a day. 24 hours in a day, say you sleep? Six hours, six to eight hours. All right. So you take eight out minus eight minus 24 is 16. You got 16 hours left, right? Because some of us are driving around now you a lot, maybe an hour or two drive back and forth from work right. So now you're down the 14 hours what are you doing with the rest of the 14 hours? For me it is you said working out so if you take the workout, put the workout and you got to drive to work out drop back that might be an hour and a half. Let's just call it two hours out today. So now we're down to 12 hours if you work during the day, okay, that's eight hours eight to 10 Eight to 10 So you got two hours left to eat. So when you look when you look at your calendar and look at your time then you can make the necessary adjustments because someone told me about this is no this was entered a 120 9060 plan at work okay, and he was like they were like if you if you do this while you're in the office even though you're self employed, but if you incorporate this you'll become more efficient. And I did and because during COVID I was realized the days was flying by and nothing wasn't getting done because I was using bom bom I was wondering bom bom but I was I was you know laughing watching shows doing this doing that. But when I did the 120 9016 I would look at I would first write down everything I had to do. Look at what tasks could I get done in the first 120 minutes. And for cell phone off, taking no phone calls. Just did that 420 minutes, got a bunch of stuff done. Take a half an hour break, come back, sit down for another 90 minutes, just knock stuff out, come back, then did another 60 minutes, I will take all phone calls, either in those breaks. But I wouldn't talk to anyone during that during those segments. So I can make sure that I was getting work done. That little tip changed my business. And I was like, oh my god, I knew that was working on my because I realized that with time management, I needed to get better. So sometimes I flip it. And I do the 61st. So my 60 is always working one my business. So it was doing bank reconciliations is figuring out marketing, looking at the white light is the next my next thing is the website, looking at the website for our everyday trying to figure out what I want it to look like, what do I how do I want to be perceived? What is the brand I want to put out there. And then after that, writing, reviewing my business plan, doing that, like maybe once I was doing it once a year, but now I'm probably doing it like once a quarter. And looking at the projections that I put out there. And my meeting those projections, do I remember what I did what, how my time was spent? And then where do we go? Where do I go from there and but actively working on it, because I'm working in and I'm doing the work?
Unknown Speaker 21:14
Right? It's so easy for us to get distracted, especially since we're working from home now. And the kids are home and things of that nature. So you have to really, as a business person working from home, you have to go into your office and close the door and be disciplined,
Unknown Speaker 21:27
and you have to be extremely disciplined to be disciplined, you have to be disciplined, and then you discipline the children, you know, hey, you do go sit down. And as
Unknown Speaker 21:34
a consultant, you have to look at your client list, and you have to put in your calendar, or your daily schedule, I'm gonna work an hour on that particular project, I'm gonna work two hours on this project, depending upon what you're doing for the client, you have to segment it. So my day is segmented, I'm working for a particular client, you know, every couple hours of the day, you know, knocking stuff out. And so that's how I have to do it to keep on track, you know, and
Unknown Speaker 21:57
you got to, I mean that but that's time man and project management is just managing the project. But knowing that when the project gets close, you won't spend more time on it correct just to you know, just to iron some things out and allocating that time to do so. So you're not stressed out, right. And as we were having a conversation about like, what to tax deadlines. And my rule of thumb is when April 15 deadline, don't come to me April 1 When no taxes, right, because you get an extension, because I don't want I don't want to rush it because when you rush I see you make simple errors that could be avoided transposition to numbers and things like that. But if you take your time, go through the return review to return, talk about the return with your client, explain to them what they did, they might have some different input like, well, you know that I didn't do that, well, I did this. And then you can have a real conversation. Especially if they Oh, because I know we COVID sock, well, most of my clients were still working. They started investing a lot last year, and they were home had drive time was taken away. So they're sitting at home and I'm like, okay, so where's your investment? Where's the form for the dividends? And they were like, Oh, right. But that was having a conversation and knowing that we were missing documents, right? So that we can make sure that we get a good return review to return. And then have another conversation about how to handle you know, well if you get a refund or if you owe, but really educating the client base or just just information out there so that you know what that return says you're not guessing. I guess
Unknown Speaker 23:29
that's true. That's true. So you're listening to less talk with Leanne Rhonda, on K, u and v 91.5. And if you have any questions, if you want to run some things by us, you know, we can easily be contacted at
Unknown Speaker 23:43
702-382-5737 more time. 702-382-5737 So you're thinking about starting a new business here and thinking about it now should I do? I wish I can think okay, people come in here and they want to start businesses. Yes. What's the first thing first thing? Well, for me what I was hoping to do do a sole proprietorship small to a sole prop to a sole prop. Just go get the $100 business license, get the business licensing from the state in the county. Don't spend the money on incorporating. See if you like what you do. See if see if it's gonna make you money. Yeah, see if you see if it's going to be profitable. It's gonna be proud because if it's not going to be profitable, it's a hobby. That's true.
Unknown Speaker 24:27
We talked about that all the time. As
Unknown Speaker 24:29
a hobby. No, because people will leave I had a loss but you had a loss for the past five years. It is now a hobby right now. Uh huh.
Unknown Speaker 24:34
So you can't do that people. It's not a business, the hobby, you're gonna have to turn around, put on your big girl and boy panties and underwear and say, Hey, I make this type of money and I gotta pay some taxes on it. I have some other goals I'm trying to achieve because you can't buy anything if you constantly lose. That is correct. You cannot get any type of line of credit to buy a home or office building or anything you need if you continue to show a loss on your taxes. So you're gonna have to come up out of there, you're gonna have to show that you've made some money, you got to pay taxes on that money so that you can move forward, you may need to expand your business you need, you may need to, you know, get another office to do your business, and you may need to buy some property, some land, you know, to open up another office somewhere, I mean, you just never know, you may need a line of credit, you may want to redo your office, all of that stuff is irrelevant to what your taxes
Unknown Speaker 25:26
Well, I look at it right. Because in having, you know, just just dealing with different dealing with different just as different folks. If you are self employed, pay quarterly, just pay quarterly, look at your numbers quarterly, see what your net income is, and pay taxes off of that pay a percentage of that, you know, sent in estimated payment. So if you end up owing $4,000, at the end of the year, you paid $1,000 Quarterly, it's a lot easier to swallow $1,000 $333 a month, instead of trying to pay a big bill at the end of the year, especially why you got the cash flow coming in. Because if you had a net income, there some money's there, like people were saying, you know, one comment was, I got a net income, but I don't have no money in the bank. Well, what else did you spend the money on? Were you paying down loans? Were you I mean, what were you spending your money on. So that's when you look at your cash flow, and see how your cash is flowing again, and having the conversation and being honest, in the conversation, being honest with yourself being able to look in the mirror and say, Okay, I bought this, I bought that, you know, I might have paid off some equipment, part of it is the principal part of it is the interest. But with the principal, you get to depreciate it. So just understanding how your financial statements flow, not that you have to put them together. But if you know how you spent your money, somebody gives you a financial statement back, and you can't read it because it doesn't say what you did, because all the numbers do was tell a story. They tell the story about what you did. You know, and just be you know, just let's have real conversations about it, talk about our numbers and become a little bit more financially astute. So now we talked about the numbers. Other thing is retirement, because while we're talking about the numbers, let's talk about retirement. That's right, especially, especially entrepreneur, less. You want to retire one day, you want to retire one day, what does that look like for you? And how do you get there wishing number,
Unknown Speaker 27:28
I don't retire, I work all the way to the end.
Unknown Speaker 27:32
Just let it in. Because I'm gonna be in South of France, I told him, I said, I'm gonna be in the south, I'm gonna be on the south of France. Because in looking at the numbers all the time, now realizing that my retirement number needs to be in my numbers, right? You have to remember that, yep, your retirement number is and so if you back into it, you know, and then finding a formula right to back into it. So and I'll call it retirement numbers. 4 million, right? So if the retirement number is 4 million, well, we'll make it easy. 1 million. Retirement number is 1 million somewhere. How are you going to get there? So is it house being paid off? Okay, so then you have 15 years to do that? Is it putting money up? So and when you talk to a financial adviser, they'll sit there, put that number in and tell you how much you have to pay monthly, in order to get the number and it's all based off projections, but they back into it. But what I found is I'm not I'm not a financial advisor, right? So I had to go get the professional to tell me what I gave him my number. He told me what I had to do. And me and him just looked at each other. I was like, okay, so how are we gonna do? How are we gonna get there? He said, well, and that went back to I got that number working that number into my business. Correct. So I'm like, okay, so I need multiple businesses that bring in this, to send this there so that I can have this number because I'm gonna be in South of France. You're gonna we went to South of France.
Unknown Speaker 29:01
I'm gonna come visit you at all the time you can. When I give myself my week vacation. I'll still be working. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 29:06
You still be working? South of France. I'm telling you mark my words. I'm like, Where's Lee? No, Leland bear, you know, she just needs south of France. And France and we're sitting on the beach talking about hey, I'm done. But I think as entrepreneurs, those these are the conversations that we need to have and we need to be around people that are having those conversations. Well Rhonda, we have less than 60 seconds left. It has been a fabulous Saturday morning. Oh, fabulous. So okay, so I promise you, I promise you when I am done taking these exams, I am walking with you.
Unknown Speaker 29:39
Fantastic. You all know I'm up every morning I'm at the park at 530 sharp and I'm getting my three and a half miles in every day three
Unknown Speaker 29:49
and a half miles we year three and three and a half whole miles. All right. Next time until next time, this is less talk with Leah Rhonda. We will see you Whoo hoo. We will see you in two weeks. Two weeks stay safe have an amazing Saturday wear your mask yes wear your
Unknown Speaker 30:05
mask out in public stay safe we'll see you in two weeks alright bye
Unknown Speaker 30:22
You have been listening to a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you heard do not necessarily represent the views of K u and v Las Vegas, the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
