Wendy Barlin, Author, Professional Speaker and Tax Strategist. (Ep 28)

[0:00] so uh let's start from there
[0:02] what do you do
[0:04] so thank you um so i spent the last 25
[0:07] years as a cpa the last 11 running my
[0:10] own business
[0:12] helping small business owners
[0:15] with a cash flow and their taxes but so
[0:18] often the phone would ring with people
[0:20] looking for help and i couldn't help
[0:23] everybody i only had so many hours i had
[0:25] to keep my prices at a certain point
[0:27] because i had a team of people to pay
[0:30] and there were so many people who turned
[0:32] to google for tax or financial advice it
[0:35] just broke my heart
[0:36] and so this year my goal has been to
[0:39] carve out time
[0:41] to educate and to help people
[0:44] find answers about their money and about
[0:47] taxes from an expert and not have to
[0:49] rely on google or their buddies on the
[0:52] golf course to get those answers
[0:54] and how can people reach out to you
[0:57] i have a website
[0:59] wendybarlin.com there's all sorts of
[1:01] things there there's free resources lots
[1:03] of free downloads with tax tips and
[1:06] worksheets
[1:07] there's some webinars that you can pay
[1:10] for and listen two and then we've just
[1:12] started opening up an eight-week uh tax
[1:15] program for diy-ers people who don't
[1:18] want to hire an accountant but want to
[1:20] learn
[1:21] how to
[1:22] maximize their own tax deduction so
[1:24] we've got a large range of things from
[1:26] free downloads to the eight week course
[1:29] which is for those people who really
[1:30] want to dive deeper
[1:32] okay and do you want to share the
[1:34] pricing details and all
[1:37] right so again for free all the way up
[1:40] to eight thousand dollars for the
[1:43] course
[1:44] um and periodically as we get close to
[1:46] filling those courses we do offer
[1:48] discounts to we do ten people in a group
[1:51] so that it's very personal and i can
[1:53] answer a lot of those questions so look
[1:56] out in your email for discount codes on
[1:58] that
[1:59] okay and then last question on this one
[2:01] on your website i did not notice a
[2:03] linkedin or twitter accounts and also i
[2:07] are you planning yeah i'm not a tweeter
[2:09] i'm not a tweeter but i am a linkedin
[2:12] person and thank you for letting me know
[2:14] i'll have my web team add the linkedin
[2:16] address but i'm definitely active on
[2:18] linkedin and uh please feel free to
[2:21] reach out to me there
[2:22] okay thank you for all those details so
[2:25] let's uh dive into our
[2:27] interview section what you wanted to
[2:29] become when you was in high school
[2:31] well i think it's even earlier than high
[2:33] school honestly when i was a little girl
[2:36] um i wanted to be a princess i wanted to
[2:39] be whisked away
[2:41] by a prince on a white horse but i think
[2:44] by the time i got to high school i
[2:46] realized there was no prince coming
[2:48] and i grew up in a very traditional
[2:51] south african home where my mother
[2:53] didn't work and i watched her having to
[2:56] ask my dad for money and anytime she
[2:59] wanted to buy something she had to ask
[3:01] him first and i remember thinking to
[3:03] myself i'm this is not gonna be me
[3:06] if the prince on the white horse isn't
[3:08] coming then i'm gonna take control of my
[3:10] own money and so i went to school and
[3:12] got an accounting degree
[3:14] not because i wanted to be an accountant
[3:17] but because i wanted to always be able
[3:19] to provide myself provide for myself
[3:21] and provide for my children and never
[3:24] have to ask someone else or be reliant
[3:27] on someone else for money and to this
[3:29] day
[3:30] that gives me a great sense of pride and
[3:32] a great sense of security
[3:34] you knew very early that what you wanted
[3:36] to become
[3:38] i did i think most of us did right
[3:40] although i do have a lot of friends who
[3:41] in their 40s kind of jump to a second
[3:43] career but i think most of the time it's
[3:45] only because the first career was
[3:46] something that we either felt um
[3:49] socially appropriate to do or we were
[3:52] pushed into right and then as you mature
[3:54] you realize
[3:56] so when i started doing accounting it
[3:57] was very traditional it was hourly
[4:00] billing it was auditing it was
[4:02] accounting and here i am 25 years later
[4:05] we never charge by the hour and we do
[4:08] things very differently than i learned
[4:11] to do 25 years ago so even within any
[4:15] one profession there are a lot of
[4:16] different ways to make it work here
[4:20] okay so moving from your college
[4:22] accounting degree so how your career
[4:25] started and how did you
[4:27] what all happened
[4:30] well after college i was in south africa
[4:33] and it was not a safe place to be in the
[4:36] mid-90s
[4:38] there was a lot of turbulence
[4:40] in terms of politics and socially and it
[4:43] was a scary place to be starting a
[4:44] career
[4:45] so i packed a bag
[4:48] and i went backpacking around the world
[4:50] for a year
[4:51] and it was the most amazing experience i
[4:55] had no money i was staying in youth
[4:57] hostels
[4:58] um and one of my stops was los angeles
[5:01] california and i just fell in love with
[5:04] muscular gorgeous city with all kinds of
[5:07] opportunities for entrepreneurs for
[5:10] people who are excited about business
[5:14] and i never left i found a job
[5:17] and i rented an apartment i didn't know
[5:19] anyone i found an apartment i got a car
[5:22] and i never left and then i just went
[5:24] from job to job to job until the towers
[5:28] fell in new york
[5:29] and that was when i realized i want a
[5:31] job i want to do something for myself
[5:34] this is my opportunity so i quit my nice
[5:37] big six figure job and went out on my
[5:40] own
[5:41] and as many people on the call know that
[5:44] is an adventure in and of itself
[5:47] um with many highs and many lows
[5:50] but here i am today
[5:53] um with a seven-figure
[5:55] business that i've worked very very hard
[5:58] to build but that i love
[6:01] and you're providing business
[6:03] career to many other people too not just
[6:06] around the world
[6:07] we have a team around the world yeah
[6:10] awesome
[6:11] so i want to ask you a question so you
[6:13] was in south africa
[6:15] you decided to
[6:17] go
[6:18] travel around the world
[6:21] i have many questions
[6:23] number one what all countries did you go
[6:26] ah so the way the air ticket worked was
[6:29] that i had to keep traveling in one
[6:31] direction
[6:32] so i started
[6:34] in australia
[6:36] and i went down to new zealand
[6:38] and then i came over to the us
[6:41] and i traveled uh 26 american states on
[6:45] a greyhound bus
[6:47] and then i went up to canada
[6:49] then i went over and did western europe
[6:52] and because i'd been kind of looking for
[6:54] work
[6:55] in california while i was here
[6:59] the timing was such that a job came
[7:01] through and the paperwork came through
[7:04] for me to come back to the states
[7:06] once i was in western europe so i never
[7:09] got to eastern europe um i got as far as
[7:12] austria and germany and then i flew back
[7:16] to the us
[7:17] because there was this job waiting for
[7:19] me and i didn't want to give up that
[7:21] opportunity so that was the end of my
[7:23] travels but i was gone about nine months
[7:26] and let me tell you you get very sick of
[7:28] your clothes
[7:30] when you live out of a suitcase for nine
[7:32] months
[7:33] so my last stop before i came to
[7:35] california
[7:37] was in london and i left most of my
[7:40] clothes behind i will never forget just
[7:42] leaving it all and saying i never want
[7:45] to see these tennis shoes again
[7:48] they were a companion for nine months
[7:51] that's it that's it but i met the most
[7:53] amazing people and you know here i am 25
[7:57] years later and i'm still in touch with
[7:58] people that i met on the road just other
[8:01] travelers and
[8:04] do you ever uh do you ever think about
[8:06] finishing the travel
[8:08] that you had in mind so east europe and
[8:11] any other country that you have not
[8:13] touched at that time
[8:14] well you know it's very different
[8:15] traveling when you're 25 than when
[8:17] you're 45.
[8:19] um so the idea now of taking a youth
[8:22] hospital is very different i do still
[8:24] travel but now i have children
[8:26] and i have a lot more responsibilities
[8:28] so i do travel as much as i can but it's
[8:31] not the same there's something very
[8:32] freeing about traveling when you're
[8:34] young and you have no responsibilities
[8:36] other than a backpack of dirty clothes
[8:38] to take care of um so i really recommend
[8:41] for anybody that has the opportunity to
[8:43] do that because once you start building
[8:46] a business and you have a mortgage and
[8:47] you have children all of a sudden
[8:50] the thoughts of the fear
[8:52] and what could happen change the things
[8:55] that you choose to do every day you know
[8:59] but
[9:00] you went
[9:01] to this
[9:03] adventure expedition number your parents
[9:06] um
[9:06] they didn't not register for this
[9:09] that's a great question so now that i am
[9:12] a parent i cannot believe they let me do
[9:14] it
[9:15] yeah
[9:15] i have a liberty rules
[9:19] my parents
[9:21] yes they wanted me to go because
[9:23] they knew that the future in south
[9:25] africa was uncertain
[9:27] and they were worried for my safety and
[9:30] so they they definitely supported me
[9:32] going it was hard for them because there
[9:34] were no cell phones we had to
[9:36] communicate by a fax machine
[9:39] there was no email back then
[9:41] so it was very very hard for them but i
[9:43] certainly appreciate it and now as a
[9:45] parent i cannot imagine
[9:48] putting my 21 year old daughter on a
[9:50] plane and saying good luck be careful
[9:53] oh they they definitely has courage and
[9:56] support for you and trust for you um
[9:58] which is what kind of
[10:00] made you who you are now
[10:02] right most likely
[10:04] most likely but you know
[10:07] the dna is the dna my sister is very
[10:09] different
[10:10] she would never have done that and um
[10:13] she went straight from home
[10:15] to college
[10:17] to get married
[10:18] and so some of it is just who we are
[10:20] right
[10:22] that's true
[10:24] and i see that in business owners people
[10:26] who have the courage or the crazy to
[10:29] quit their job and truly believe in what
[10:32] it is they're gonna do
[10:34] um
[10:35] those are people we find each other
[10:39] true
[10:40] very true you are the one who who
[10:43] defined your destiny not anyone else so
[10:45] i i agree
[10:48] it's just interesting to me right
[10:49] because when you look i'm sure you have
[10:51] the same there's people in your family
[10:52] it was so different to me
[10:54] how can i be related to these people
[11:03] so when
[11:05] when you went to australia
[11:08] um that was your first destination
[11:10] and
[11:13] you're on a plane you're going there you
[11:15] don't know anybody
[11:17] well i did have some family in australia
[11:19] so that was a bit of a softer landing my
[11:21] best friend from high school lived there
[11:24] and i did have some family there that
[11:26] was a good place to start
[11:28] okay so you you reached there did you
[11:31] live with them or you you find i mean
[11:33] how did you start there
[11:35] living right so i stayed with them but
[11:37] you don't want to stay with anybody for
[11:38] too long right
[11:40] you're not welcome at someone's house
[11:41] for too long so i stayed for uh probably
[11:45] a week and then i would find a youth
[11:47] hostel
[11:48] and you know people think of youth
[11:50] hostels i don't know what people think
[11:51] of these hostels but i
[11:53] was kind of nervous going to a youth
[11:55] hostel but the truth is they were the
[11:57] most amazing places where i met other
[12:00] people from around the world and it was
[12:03] much much safer than i imagined so you
[12:07] know you probably wouldn't leave your
[12:08] money out on the bed while you took a
[12:10] shower you have to be cautious but i
[12:13] never was nervous that something would
[12:15] happen to me and so i would generally
[12:17] find a youth hospital
[12:19] i used travel books there were books
[12:22] like lonely planet was the brand of book
[12:25] that i used and i would buy the local
[12:27] travel lonely planet and it would say
[12:30] these are the areas to go
[12:32] these are the places to stay these are
[12:34] the things to do and that was really my
[12:36] guide um and allowed me to do the
[12:38] research because there was no internet
[12:40] or cell phones or google back then
[12:44] and then you found i guess job and you
[12:47] started
[12:49] well i didn't work because you have to
[12:51] have a visa to work in those places so i
[12:54] was just living off the small amount of
[12:56] money that i had with me
[12:58] um and so i had i had taken some cash
[13:01] with me some of my savings
[13:03] and that's what i was living on so yeah
[13:05] it was bread and milk was a pretty good
[13:07] meal
[13:11] okay and then at some point you decided
[13:13] to go to the next destination new
[13:15] zealand which was down in new zealand
[13:17] what an amazing experience i've since
[13:19] been back several times and just the
[13:22] most amazing place
[13:24] did you know anyone there before
[13:27] no
[13:28] so how did you decide where in this huge
[13:32] new zealand where are you gonna go and
[13:34] how where you will live
[13:35] so again i got the lonely planet guide
[13:38] and i kind of looked through it and and
[13:40] said well i'd like to travel as much of
[13:42] the country as i can what are the things
[13:44] that i'd like to do what are the things
[13:46] that i'd like to see
[13:48] uh and sometimes things surprised me
[13:51] like one day
[13:52] i got on the wrong bus
[13:54] so i signed up for a tour company that
[13:57] said they were gonna take us to look at
[13:59] the mountains
[14:01] so i show up where they say he'll pick
[14:03] you up and a little white bus arrives
[14:05] the minivan
[14:06] and i hop in i sit down and i say hello
[14:08] to the guide i sit down
[14:10] the next thing i know
[14:13] they're pulling up at what looks like
[14:15] glaciers ice mountains and the guy says
[14:19] everybody else we're going to climb the
[14:21] glaciers and i said no no no
[14:23] that's not what i signed up for turns
[14:25] out i was on the wrong bus
[14:27] but i had no choice because the bus was
[14:30] leaving
[14:31] and there was nowhere for me to stay
[14:33] i had to climb this glacier
[14:36] and i said i can't
[14:38] i'm not fit enough i'm not strong enough
[14:40] i have ammo every excuse you can imagine
[14:43] and the guy said to me carry your poles
[14:45] here your ice shoes let's go
[14:47] and it was one of those moments that was
[14:50] so memorable what a fantastic experience
[14:53] to climb this glacier
[14:55] and i would never ever have chosen to do
[14:58] such a thing but the world intervened
[15:01] and so i had a lot of those experiences
[15:04] along the way where
[15:05] you know call it destiny call it
[15:08] call it the universe intervened and i
[15:10] had experiences that i wasn't planning
[15:13] on
[15:14] um
[15:15] but they were memorable
[15:18] how
[15:19] how long was that uh i mean how long is
[15:22] in how tall that mountain or how long
[15:24] how many hours don't you remember how
[15:26] tall it is but it just felt like forever
[15:28] and there were places where you had to
[15:31] kind of climb through a hole
[15:33] in the ice
[15:34] and i thought i'm gonna be like winnie
[15:36] the pooh and get stuck in this hole and
[15:37] someone's gonna have to pull me out um
[15:40] but i made it and you know it just makes
[15:43] you stronger all the things we think we
[15:45] can't do
[15:47] and so now i
[15:49] 25 years later i never say can't and i
[15:52] never say try i just they do it drives
[15:54] my children crazy when i they say all
[15:57] right we'll try there's no try you will
[16:00] do
[16:03] awesome so from there you you went to
[16:06] different states in the u.s canada
[16:10] anything else
[16:11] fascinating that you want to share
[16:14] well
[16:15] i really
[16:16] think that america is an amazingly
[16:18] interesting place so when i lived in los
[16:21] angeles i would have a lot of people fly
[16:23] into california go to anaheim where
[16:26] disneyland is and say oh i don't like
[16:28] america
[16:30] and i would say to them that is the
[16:31] silliest thing i've ever heard i was on
[16:34] a greyhound bus through 26 american
[16:37] states there is something for everybody
[16:40] in this country and i found that to be
[16:43] so fascinating as we went from state to
[16:45] state the different people the different
[16:48] towns the different cultures and i found
[16:51] people to be so friendly especially in
[16:54] the southeast north and south carolina
[16:57] durham raleigh the people were so
[17:00] friendly everywhere we went
[17:02] and so i found it really expanded my
[17:07] impression of what america is and all
[17:09] the choices that we have here
[17:11] and so then when i went on to europe and
[17:14] people said things about oh you came
[17:15] from america i'd say to them you've got
[17:18] to go and travel these states and see
[17:21] all the different people and choices
[17:23] that are available to you i think many
[17:26] americans haven't had that opportunity
[17:28] throughout this travel two two more
[17:31] question on this one is the
[17:33] you you were you still using the money
[17:35] that you initially had or you you earned
[17:37] some
[17:38] i did not work at all for nine months i
[17:42] parceled out the money and you know
[17:44] staying in your hospitals was relatively
[17:46] inexpensive i always looked for
[17:48] experiences that were free wherever i
[17:51] went to a town or a city that i did have
[17:53] family i always wanted to stay with them
[17:56] ate their food and enjoyed their
[17:58] hospitality but otherwise yeah i mean i
[18:01] lived on
[18:02] milk bread
[18:04] whatever i could cans of food
[18:06] this was not about shopping
[18:09] this was not about eating expensive food
[18:12] this was about
[18:13] and culture and i think that's what's
[18:15] different today traveling as an adult
[18:19] is that now i want
[18:21] to experience the food and i want to
[18:23] shop in my destination
[18:25] but when i was in my 20s and i didn't
[18:27] have any money it wasn't about shopping
[18:30] it was about the experiences and i think
[18:32] that's the difference
[18:33] and overall throughout this time the
[18:35] safety um
[18:38] you manage that
[18:40] yes i you know there were one or two
[18:42] times where i thought it was probably
[18:44] also very smart um but i was extremely
[18:46] fortunate never had anything bad happen
[18:49] to me
[18:50] and uh
[18:51] just a coincidence that i'm saying nine
[18:54] months like a new birth
[18:58] i love that i never thought of that
[18:59] before you know
[19:03] all right so let's move further
[19:06] you you landed your first job
[19:08] and then you started that and then um at
[19:11] some point you decided i want to do my
[19:13] own
[19:14] uh after 9 11 you decided you want to do
[19:16] your own uh business so what was that
[19:19] process
[19:22] i i'm very decisive and once i make a
[19:26] decision
[19:27] i just do it
[19:28] i don't deserve and so
[19:31] once i knew that i wanted to start my
[19:33] own business i just did it i walked into
[19:35] my boss's office the next day and i quit
[19:37] i'm done and of course he said to me how
[19:40] much money can i offer you to stay you
[19:42] want ten thousand and i said you don't
[19:43] understand it's not about the money it's
[19:45] about my life i don't wanna do this
[19:48] anymore i don't wanna work for someone
[19:50] else
[19:51] and so i just did it and i started doing
[19:54] whatever i could to make money so i was
[19:56] doing tax returns for 300
[19:59] friends and family anyone that needed a
[20:01] tax return 300
[20:03] and after the first tax season i was so
[20:06] busy i was working harder than i ever
[20:09] had in my life
[20:10] not making a lot of money because i was
[20:12] only charging 300 for a tax return
[20:15] so over a period of time i learned
[20:18] this is how you charge for your services
[20:21] this is how you protect your time
[20:24] this is how the vet this is how people
[20:25] will pay for the value that you offer
[20:28] and so it's a pass and i tell people you
[20:30] know the first two or three years that
[20:31] you're in business you're just figuring
[20:33] it out there's no right and wrong just
[20:35] do it and figure it out because it takes
[20:38] time to kind of create something that
[20:41] has been your dream nobody starts with
[20:43] their dream business just like that
[20:48] the moment you when you went to that
[20:52] uh your boss office or the day before
[20:54] you decided
[20:56] uh typically you spend like weeks months
[21:00] years sometime
[21:02] on that thought right
[21:04] right would that same for you that
[21:06] you've been thinking for some time
[21:09] you know what i think it's something
[21:10] that's always in the back of your mind
[21:12] right i can do this differently i can do
[21:15] this better if it was my business i
[21:17] wouldn't do it this way
[21:19] and so i think
[21:21] i i think there's always a
[21:23] a little piece of me that was i'm gonna
[21:25] do this myself one day
[21:27] um but i am not the person to spend
[21:30] months
[21:31] and years crafting a business plan
[21:34] building a website before i do it
[21:37] i just do it and then
[21:40] i build the business and i build the
[21:43] website and so i have a lot of
[21:45] conversations with people every day
[21:48] who are just putting all these building
[21:50] blocks in the way
[21:52] you know first i have to do this then i
[21:54] have to do this before i can leave and
[21:56] some of it i think is just a cautious
[21:58] personality type so i'm a risk taker by
[22:00] nature so i just do it and then i figure
[22:03] it out because what's the worst thing
[22:05] that could have happened
[22:06] what's the worst thing that could have
[22:08] happened i would have failed and i would
[22:10] have gone to get another job
[22:12] okay i could have done that
[22:15] and so
[22:16] you know i as much as i
[22:18] speak to so many people every day and i
[22:19] tell them please don't spend years
[22:21] working on your business plan just do it
[22:24] um yeah that you have to be a risk taker
[22:27] and
[22:28] and not have fear
[22:30] of the unknown to jump out and do that
[22:32] and not everybody's cut out for it so
[22:34] there are some people
[22:36] who are just not cut out to be business
[22:37] owners and that's okay it's important to
[22:39] know
[22:40] who you are and what your risk tolerance
[22:43] is
[22:45] awesome this is
[22:47] like you decided and then next day you
[22:50] made and then you started your journey
[22:52] you know how i know if you go to a
[22:55] restaurant and someone puts a menu in
[22:57] front of you how long do you take before
[23:00] you make the decision me ten seconds
[23:02] i'll have the fish my husband oh i don't
[23:05] know what's best on the menu what do you
[23:07] recommend i'm like oh my gosh pick
[23:09] something and you know what he ends up
[23:11] picking cheese sandwich
[23:14] and that's because we are very different
[23:16] he is not a risk taker and he is not a
[23:18] decision maker he likes to think about
[23:21] it and research and so when people say
[23:23] to me i'm
[23:25] thinking about starting a business i say
[23:27] to them when you go to a restaurant and
[23:28] someone puts a menu in front of you what
[23:30] do you do
[23:31] and so that usually tells me whether
[23:33] there's someone who is just going to
[23:35] jump in and go all in or whatever
[23:38] they're going to need to research and
[23:40] take their time and think about it
[23:44] that's a great analogy i take time but i
[23:48] don't do research i just take time
[23:50] because i
[23:52] sometimes cannot decide which one at all
[23:54] there you go see so you're a researcher
[23:57] you need to make your plans before you
[23:59] just jump and it's really important no
[24:01] no no no i don't do research too no oh
[24:04] there you go
[24:09] well it's different it's different we
[24:11] was having a conversation um
[24:13] in one of the podcast uh
[24:16] one of the episodes that
[24:18] your personality and especially mine
[24:21] prior like three years ago
[24:23] um was different when i'm working in
[24:26] when i'm in office i'm so organized i'm
[24:29] planner i i know everything that is
[24:31] going on i can have a meeting with 60
[24:34] people and i can still have the groups
[24:37] identify that who is doing what right
[24:40] right in those working sessions so
[24:42] i'm that kind of person there but when
[24:45] it comes to my personal initiatives um
[24:48] three i'm talking three years so uh i
[24:51] was not that organized in thinking
[24:53] process in risk taking in taking the
[24:56] control or the drive right it was too
[24:58] difficult yeah
[25:02] so i i was i was taking a myers-bridge
[25:05] personality check and that's when i
[25:07] realized that how do i answer these
[25:09] questions should i answer
[25:11] when i'm
[25:12] in my office
[25:13] full-time job or
[25:15] should i answer it when i've been home
[25:17] um so i realized i was living three life
[25:20] one for my office second for my personal
[25:23] initiative uh my side hustle and third
[25:26] when i'm with my family and my kids
[25:29] interesting and so did you take three
[25:32] different perspective tests
[25:35] no um
[25:36] i did not i
[25:38] took uh based on what i'm doing at
[25:40] office but not three years i went
[25:43] through coaching and multiple other
[25:45] activities and now i i try my best to
[25:48] blend all three into one person
[25:52] okay now i'm not acting
[25:54] in front of other people that i'm a
[25:56] senior manager i'm this this person uh
[26:00] i act like i act in front of my kids
[26:03] or uh right and uh same thing
[26:07] with this
[26:08] youtube
[26:09] channel that i started six months ago
[26:11] and i writing i i try to be more focused
[26:14] more on the consistency
[26:16] and then the uh and then the the goal
[26:18] i'm trying to achieve versus uh
[26:21] limiting
[26:22] to what who i am and what i can do or
[26:25] not do so i am
[26:27] i'm delivering based on
[26:30] the out
[26:32] not the outcome but the the purpose of
[26:35] this initiative is describing everything
[26:38] else it's just bringing everything in a
[26:40] line alignment that's fascinating you
[26:43] know i never thought about that when you
[26:45] take those tests
[26:47] they're asking you to take it from a
[26:50] perspective and it's and it's not all
[26:54] encompassing because we are all
[26:55] different in different parts of our
[26:57] lives
[26:58] yeah yeah
[27:03] yeah and lasting not related to but
[27:06] there is another thing
[27:08] many years ago i started a a
[27:10] software development company i had three
[27:13] people working in india
[27:15] um and that was
[27:17] i had a full-time job and then i have
[27:19] this initiative
[27:21] wow um
[27:23] and uh
[27:24] i i left it to that level i
[27:27] i
[27:28] didn't think to make it so big um i i
[27:32] wanted that to dr up and running while
[27:35] i'm
[27:36] also enjoying my full-time job so i i
[27:38] never made that uh transition from
[27:41] the full-time job
[27:42] to this because back in the mind i was
[27:46] thinking
[27:47] uh this
[27:49] this is my passion this is my hobby if i
[27:52] convert that into a full-time job
[27:55] i will be after people to earn that
[27:58] minimum six figure that i'm earning in
[28:00] my full-time job
[28:03] then additional
[28:04] a work for my my passion and i felt like
[28:09] i shouldn't mix the two i do these for
[28:12] my passion my my hobby type thing and
[28:15] enjoy it
[28:16] and then my full time is giving me
[28:18] experience and the money um so that was
[28:23] a question you are 24 7.
[28:27] i did i was
[28:30] oh that's amazing so you're doing it all
[28:34] yeah i was doing it all but now um
[28:38] now it's different i'm single person all
[28:40] over the place again on that one
[28:43] because this was my initiative this is a
[28:46] company that i was trying to run so i
[28:48] have to act
[28:49] as a
[28:50] as a ceo or account manager or something
[28:52] right completely different mindset than
[28:55] at that point i was a senior tech lead
[28:58] in my company so i was more technical
[29:00] there and here talking to customer i i
[29:03] don't want to use any technical terms so
[29:05] it was fine my life was so conflicted at
[29:08] that time
[29:09] right and also when you work in
[29:10] corporate america then you're within
[29:12] this corporate structure where you can't
[29:15] you're kind of required to behave a
[29:17] certain way and you're required to do
[29:19] certain things and anything different is
[29:21] not really welcome i mean they say oh
[29:24] bring up but they don't they want
[29:25] everyone to kind of work a certain way
[29:28] so that the machine runs
[29:30] um
[29:31] and and so you if you can't it's not
[29:33] easy to be yourself in that environment
[29:36] well yes and i don't know if it was the
[29:40] requirement in my company or not but
[29:42] inside me that was the perception that i
[29:45] have made that i have to make a
[29:47] perception um that i'm i'm a manager and
[29:50] i'm leader and i have to act certain way
[29:53] um
[29:55] right and
[29:57] that go on for some time
[29:59] but yeah and then i was after
[30:02] uh executive presence
[30:05] so uh to be able to go in the ladder you
[30:08] have to have
[30:09] executive presence and then
[30:12] i felt like uh my personality at home
[30:15] very laid-back uh not lay back in the
[30:17] charm but
[30:20] i just like to sit the way i want to sit
[30:22] or talk the way i want to talk and then
[30:26] this executive presence so i felt like
[30:28] there's a big mismatch but fortunately
[30:31] with last three years
[30:33] now i don't care about all those i just
[30:36] put who i am and how i act and and and i
[30:40] present that
[30:42] i love it good for you now there is a
[30:44] story right there because i think that
[30:46] there are probably a lot of people who
[30:49] could really relate to that especially
[30:52] doing the kind of corporate technical
[30:54] work that you do
[30:55] i i think you know that's a great story
[30:58] to share with the world
[31:00] thank you
[31:01] thank you
[31:02] it's a tradition where you change from
[31:06] impressing other people
[31:08] to ex
[31:09] to experience the moment that you want
[31:12] to live right
[31:14] so
[31:14] it's it's a mind's
[31:16] mindset shift or um yeah it it's an
[31:20] amazing journey and you're right
[31:23] yeah it really is you know because
[31:26] you're so focused on what needs to be
[31:28] done every day but when you're able to
[31:30] take a step back and look and go wow
[31:32] look at who i am every day that's so
[31:36] interesting
[31:38] all right let's come back
[31:40] okay let's come back my partner's not
[31:42] here now i hope the noise isn't too bad
[31:44] otherwise no i did not even hear
[31:46] okay um so when you started this new
[31:49] company and you said you took almost a
[31:52] year
[31:53] um
[31:54] where
[31:55] you was taking whatever is coming your
[31:57] charges was not that good uh not that
[32:00] much that
[32:01] so the two question that i wanted to ask
[32:03] number one
[32:05] what was driving you during this time
[32:07] and what help you had emotionally
[32:10] mentally that was keeping you insane
[32:13] right keeping you sane that yeah
[32:16] it was
[32:17] it was make money just make money pay
[32:21] the bills because i never had a plan b
[32:24] i didn't have any family here who were
[32:25] going to help me if i didn't have the
[32:27] money to pay the rent or pay for
[32:30] groceries i was going to be homeless
[32:32] so for me the big driver was make the
[32:35] money to pay the bills
[32:37] and i didn't really have anybody pushing
[32:40] me or helping me i was just self-driven
[32:43] to do that
[32:45] um and i still have that today because i
[32:47] don't have a plan and be a mortgage we
[32:50] don't live here
[32:52] so i think that's very different than
[32:53] people who stalk businesses and have a
[32:56] backup plan i didn't have a back of mind
[32:58] and there's something about not having a
[33:00] backup plan that makes you hustle
[33:05] and then the second thing that you said
[33:06] at some point you you figured out that
[33:10] how to
[33:12] bill for your services
[33:15] and
[33:18] so what would that process how
[33:22] yeah you know i i think it was a lot of
[33:25] self-education
[33:26] at that point where i would listen to
[33:29] podcasts and read books and go to
[33:32] conferences and what i started to see
[33:35] was that i was
[33:37] i was just good at what i did and there
[33:39] were other people in my industry who
[33:42] were charging more than i was and
[33:44] working there
[33:46] and so it doesn't happen overnight
[33:48] but slowly i started to realize my value
[33:52] and i started to push up my prices
[33:54] and i started to
[33:57] limit the time that i would spend with
[34:00] people or answering questions or working
[34:03] and so it was an evolution of you know
[34:06] 10 15 years
[34:09] of learning
[34:10] and finding ways to do things
[34:12] differently and better
[34:14] and i think we're all learning because
[34:16] markets are changing customer needs are
[34:18] changing and so we all have to change
[34:20] with that
[34:21] um but you have to be willing to change
[34:24] and so i'm always willing to change but
[34:26] people who are not willing to change
[34:28] they're either gonna
[34:30] be miserable or they're gonna be left
[34:31] behind you have to be willing to change
[34:35] and and again
[34:36] take the risk right when i said to a
[34:38] customer
[34:39] no more 300 tax returns it's gonna be a
[34:41] thousand dollars a tax return i took
[34:43] that risk that they could say no
[34:46] and leave and then i have no business
[34:48] but that was a risk that i was willing
[34:51] to take because i knew
[34:53] i was worth it
[34:54] and those are the risks that i've taken
[34:57] every day every year for the last
[35:00] 11 years
[35:02] i was about to ask you how many years in
[35:05] this uh this business and you just
[35:07] answered that question so 11 years so
[35:09] well i've been an accountant in the
[35:11] states for 25 years i got my cpa license
[35:13] 25 years ago but i you know worked at
[35:17] different firms i started my own
[35:19] business after about five years i grew
[35:22] that business so big i was stressed i
[35:25] wasn't having any fun and so i went into
[35:28] partnership with two other people
[35:30] and we formed a three-person accounting
[35:32] firm that was terrible i would never do
[35:35] that again
[35:36] and
[35:37] i'm assuming you're saying yeah terrible
[35:40] after a year of arguing over the coffee
[35:43] machine and what kind of coffee to put
[35:44] in the machine i'm like oh i can't stand
[35:46] this
[35:47] i need to be my own boss
[35:49] so i left
[35:51] and i decided what now what should i do
[35:54] now so i went back to take a job because
[35:56] i thought well get a nice success salary
[35:58] you know just leave at five o'clock
[36:00] every day
[36:01] yeah after two weeks i knew that was a
[36:03] mistake
[36:04] um and so 11 years ago
[36:08] i came home from my job
[36:10] and i said to my husband i quit today
[36:13] and he was
[36:15] horrified he said we're going to be
[36:17] homeless we're going to lose our house
[36:20] what are we going to do
[36:21] don't worry
[36:23] we'll be fine
[36:24] and i ended up buying
[36:27] a small 150 000 cpa practice
[36:31] from two retiring accountants
[36:34] and i didn't have that kind of money
[36:36] so what i did was i did a five-year
[36:38] payment plan with them where over five
[36:40] years i paid them out
[36:43] and that was the start of my 11 year
[36:46] journey of building this business to
[36:48] seven figures from 150 000
[36:52] by myself
[36:55] you did not tell your husband before you
[36:57] quit
[36:59] because i knew he would talk me out of
[37:00] it i knew he would be scared and he
[37:03] would be
[37:04] he would want me to suck it up and stay
[37:06] but i could not i i just could not
[37:09] um and so i will never forget that day
[37:12] standing in the kitchen and the look of
[37:14] horror on his face
[37:16] uh but here we are today
[37:18] and now he knows never to doubt me
[37:21] you know uh there was a episode that i
[37:24] did and
[37:25] we discussed about one particular item
[37:28] where
[37:29] i made a comment that the best way to
[37:32] kill your dream is to tell your uh
[37:35] husband or wife
[37:37] interesting
[37:39] because uh
[37:41] in your case it was slightly different
[37:44] he probably i mean he trusted you for
[37:46] the skills and all
[37:48] but many time
[37:50] and in that case um
[37:52] she wanted to open a wine shop
[37:56] oh and she
[37:58] told her husband and
[38:00] um
[38:03] so um
[38:05] that's their the dream was killed and i
[38:08] was saying that uh nowadays when i start
[38:11] something new for example this uh
[38:13] podcast i didn't tell anyone except my
[38:16] 11 year old
[38:17] my brother did not know my my parents my
[38:20] wife nobody knew and i just started it
[38:23] and for months i did not know other
[38:26] people did not know they knew that i'm
[38:28] into something but i always been into
[38:31] something
[38:33] so
[38:34] [Music]
[38:35] yeah so um
[38:37] dream squisher
[38:40] so the the reason behind it could be
[38:43] multiple
[38:44] and and one of the reason is uh they try
[38:46] to protect you yeah i do right um so
[38:50] they try to protect you
[38:52] either financially or emotionally that
[38:55] all right so all that
[38:57] is for good care but at the same time
[39:01] our fight is with ourselves
[39:03] and
[39:04] um
[39:06] when our close one
[39:08] say uh something that our mind is kind
[39:11] of talking us out then
[39:14] it it just become louder our internal
[39:18] points become louder so
[39:20] i realized when you start something
[39:23] either find a like-minded people and
[39:25] share with them or don't share with
[39:27] anyone you just fight with your mind and
[39:30] you will be okay right i'm a big fan of
[39:33] journaling
[39:34] so i i journal a lot i i keep
[39:37] handwritten journals here in my desk and
[39:39] i journal a lot because i find that for
[39:42] me
[39:43] an outlet of any fears concerns
[39:46] frustrations and then positive feedback
[39:49] of yes i can i can do this i know i can
[39:52] do this rather than relying on other
[39:54] people who have their own issues like
[39:57] you say that they bring to the poor it's
[39:58] not that they don't want to support you
[40:00] it's like they're scared for you and
[40:01] they want to protect you from anything
[40:03] going wrong and so yeah i uh i write it
[40:06] all on my journal
[40:09] another
[40:10] observation that all the people who have
[40:13] uh
[40:14] discovered themselves like not
[40:17] in terms of success success they all are
[40:20] successful but
[40:22] the people who know who they are
[40:24] uh they all have done the journaling
[40:27] interesting really yeah it's a common uh
[40:31] common uh habit
[40:35] wow because you meet a lot of
[40:37] interesting people
[40:38] i am and and uh i try to focus on the
[40:41] journey part so that's why i'm able to
[40:44] extract those um type of emotions there
[40:48] fascinating fascinating for 11 years
[40:52] continuously working and hiring
[40:54] different people
[40:56] all that
[40:57] again
[40:58] other than money what was driving you
[41:03] i guess a sense of self-pride i i always
[41:06] wanted to
[41:08] i want to be proud of what i do every
[41:10] day um and i also wanted to be able to
[41:13] manage my own time so i like that now
[41:18] i can play golf on a friday if i want i
[41:20] can go play tennis on a monday if i want
[41:22] to i like knowing that i i needed to
[41:25] build something that would allow me to
[41:28] have the freedom
[41:29] to take time for myself when i wanted to
[41:32] this
[41:33] punching a clock from nine to five and
[41:36] then having someone judge how many hours
[41:38] you do or do not work made me crazy
[41:42] and so my big
[41:43] my big goals were to make enough money
[41:47] and have enough people in my
[41:48] organization so that i did not have to
[41:51] be tied to my desk all day every day
[41:56] awesome in terms of books that i love
[41:58] that were life-changing you know
[42:00] um profit first by mike mcauliffe
[42:04] is absolutely life changing i was a
[42:08] profit post professional and mike
[42:10] nickelowes was my business coach for a
[42:12] while that book is absolutely
[42:15] life-changing um traction by gina
[42:18] wickman
[42:19] all geno stuff
[42:21] really life-changing
[42:23] um
[42:24] trying to see what else is on my
[42:25] bookshelf that i love
[42:28] uh
[42:30] i i'm a prolific reader and my goal is
[42:33] always to take one thing away from a
[42:35] book so i don't think every book you
[42:37] read you need to implement or follow
[42:39] their rules right
[42:41] no what i look is one thing that i can
[42:43] learn from it and then sometimes i learn
[42:45] nothing and i get halfway and i'm like i
[42:47] don't like this i don't like their tone
[42:49] um there's some books i've read where i
[42:51] just don't like their tone
[42:53] um
[42:54] a lot of books i read i just hope to
[42:56] learn one thing from and i i certainly
[42:59] found that profit first is one of the
[43:01] best with
[43:02] um
[43:03] tools and
[43:05] implementation that you will feel the
[43:08] difference in your life
[43:11] i like to get the video clip of your uh
[43:14] bookshelf too then oh yes absolutely i
[43:18] have
[43:19] rows and rows of books now you know and
[43:22] and what's interesting is i love to read
[43:24] on a kindle so for pleasure when i read
[43:27] novels and autobiographies that i read
[43:29] on my kindle but business books i like
[43:32] to actually have the book
[43:34] yeah you can see some of the book here
[43:39] some of them are because they had a very
[43:41] good color so it reflects very well and
[43:44] some of them i i read it in audible and
[43:47] then i like it so much that i bought the
[43:49] physical copy
[43:50] yep that's true too i've done that to
[43:52] you where i've read it on kindle and go
[43:54] i want to have that book
[43:57] yeah i love good books and so i think
[44:00] you know for those of us who when you
[44:02] don't have a lot of money to spend i
[44:03] never had a lot of money to spend on
[44:05] expensive coaches or mastermind or go to
[44:08] conferences i didn't have that so books
[44:12] were my way in and so i think for
[44:14] relatively little money you can grow
[44:16] your thoughts you can open your mind you
[44:19] can leave your office through books
[44:22] and because i see a lot of people say oh
[44:24] you know i want to join a mastermind or
[44:26] i need a business coach that would be
[44:28] nice i mean i you know i think we could
[44:30] all benefit from those but by way of
[44:32] dollar for dollar if you can't afford
[44:34] that then your next best thing is to
[44:37] read books
[44:38] listen to podcasts
[44:42] all right moving to the last section
[44:44] what is your goal setting and time
[44:47] management method
[44:49] oh i am absolutely
[44:51] very strict on this so
[44:54] um my calendar
[44:56] is brightly color-coded
[44:59] i never
[45:01] take client calls on the weekend
[45:03] and i only
[45:05] i was just writing an article about this
[45:07] yesterday i only see clients
[45:10] twice a week on tuesdays and thursdays
[45:13] and a lot of my colleagues will say to
[45:15] me but wendy don't you lose customers
[45:18] because you don't you tell them you can
[45:20] only see them on tuesdays and thursdays
[45:22] and what mike mitchell has explained to
[45:24] me that's really stuck with me is
[45:27] if you have a heart problem
[45:29] and you need to go and see the best
[45:31] heart surgeon do you think he says to
[45:34] you wendy when would you like to come in
[45:37] no no no he says i have an appointment
[45:39] on friday at nine o'clock will you be
[45:41] there
[45:42] and you say yes
[45:44] so when people call me and they have tax
[45:47] problems or money problems and i tell
[45:49] them
[45:49] i can see you on tuesday or thursday
[45:53] they say yes
[45:55] and for people who say oh i can't i can
[45:57] only work with you on a saturday i go
[46:00] i'm so sorry you need to find someone
[46:02] else
[46:03] because
[46:04] my time
[46:05] is extremely valuable and not that my
[46:07] client's time is not but this is my
[46:10] business it's going to work my way
[46:12] and so i absolutely believe in time
[46:15] blocking and time management and setting
[46:18] boundaries around your time
[46:21] so i have two two cell phones
[46:24] this one is for work and then i have a
[46:26] personal one when i'm not working i
[46:28] leave the work one in my desk
[46:31] i i'm not a surgeon no one's bleeding in
[46:34] my world
[46:35] um and so i also have a team of people
[46:37] who answer the phone and can help
[46:39] clients get what they need but i
[46:41] definitely think protecting your time is
[46:44] protecting your sanity and clients will
[46:46] respect that
[46:49] and how do you
[46:51] or should i ask different questions um
[46:55] who wendy will be in five to ten years
[46:57] from now
[46:58] oh that's a great question
[47:00] uh
[47:01] i will be
[47:03] susie orman
[47:05] but the newer updated more modern
[47:08] version
[47:10] i want to be able to teach on a larger
[47:12] platform and and
[47:14] help more people make smart choices
[47:19] is there any question that i did not ask
[47:21] but you want to answer
[47:23] um
[47:25] no i don't think so i think you have a
[47:27] wonderful interview styles you know i i
[47:30] i love it it's such an interesting
[47:32] conversation you are very different
[47:34] than a lot of other podcast hosts that
[47:36] i've met with you're very real and very
[47:38] personable
[47:40] thank you that means a lot to me
[47:43] thank you for saying that
[47:44] no you're welcome i've enjoyed this
[47:46] conversation it's like chatting with a
[47:48] friend
[47:49] that's that's what i try to do thank you
[47:52] um do you have a question for me
[47:56] i don't really i looked you up and uh
[48:00] and you're a fascinating person
[48:02] um and i wish you lost a lot of
[48:05] on your journey
[48:07] thank you again thank you so much
[48:10] um
[48:12] we gonna go through the last question
[48:14] what is your message to the audience
[48:18] my message to the audience is that you
[48:20] can do
[48:22] whatever you want to do i truly believe
[48:25] in the american dream i came here with
[48:27] nothing but a bag of dirt clothes
[48:30] and you can manage your money and you
[48:32] can learn to find more tax deductions
[48:35] it's about
[48:36] having the courage and the belief that
[48:38] you can and surrounding yourself with
[48:41] knowledge and always be learning
[48:45] thank you so much for your time today i
[48:48] enjoyed every minute of it
[48:50] thank you
[48:51] you're welcome dino
[48:55] [Music]
[49:04] you