Launching After Graduating with Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa

Launching After Graduating? Career Success Tips for Emerging Entrepreneurs

Is now the right time to start a business or launch into entrepreneurship? Tips to pay bills while starting up and pros and cons of Launching After Graduating with Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa's Career Success Tips for Future Entrepreneurs.

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Transcript

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 0:01

Welcome Vanessa Correa. It's so good to have you on the Career Success Tips Show, brought to you by ROIinU Digital Marketing Career Launcher. I've worked with so many different interns, who've been amazing, and I've mentored a lot of recent grads and emerging professionals. And entrepreneurship always comes up. It seems like it's much more common as a career goal. And I thought based on your expertise as a CFO, virtual CFO, and a tax strategist, that would be amazing to get your insights on whether or not, right after you graduate, is a good time to become an entrepreneur. And I know that you have some great pros and cons for us and some great tips And I ask this all the time, but I would love to get your thoughts: If someone was reading a book about entrepreneurship or about career launching, what's something that would no longer apply because of COVID or just how things are today. What stands out?

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 1:04

It's really a massive shift from the traditional employee-employer relationship to freelance work, the gig economy, entrepreneurship, and startups with the great resignation that everybody sees That's something that traditionally, there's a career path, right? You go to school, you finished school, you get a job, you apply for the jobs you pick, whichever one you liked the most, and then you stay there through the rest of your indefinite life and work on climbing the ladder. And now the economy has changed. The career opportunities have changed and with this new shift to freelance work and everybody being their own boss and living in a virtual world, that's not really something that many people had a lot of experience with. We all just are getting through it together and seeing all of the new opportunities that come

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 1:59

It's fantastic. And you get to see what types of clients do you typically work with? What are their backgrounds?

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 2:05

We usually work with professional service business owners, so marketing and advertising. We have some niche specialty in we also work with coaches, life coaches, sales coaches, pretty much anybody in the professional service world. We have a few contractors and restaurants too. Overall anybody that's out there serving their communities.

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 2:29

I love that. Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to the place you are?

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 2:35

When I was going through school I graduated, I was working full-time while I was going through school. I was volunteering and preparing taxes at H&R Block. And when I graduated I went to a CPA firm, and I started doing CFO work and learning how to support business owners. And I was making$13 an hour working about 50 hours a week. And I realized that I was kinda miserable, and I hated it. Thankfully for me, one of my clients saw something in me and believed in me and encouraged me to start my own business. And a lot of mental barriers the fraud mentality and imposter syndrome, how am I going to be able to make ends meet and so on? And all of the traditional concerns that a lot of people have when they make that shift to entrepreneurship and I couldn't have dreamed of it going as well as it did. When you take that moment and stare fear in the face and say I'm going to do it anyway, the universe conspires on your behalf. And that's what happened with me. I was lucky enough to come across some amazing people, a lot of amazing women in business. That referred me, word-of-mouth. A lot of tight-knit circles up there, and then my business just grew and grew. And now I'm to the point where I'm able to be selective of the people I work with. I'm able to help them grow their businesses, pay less in tax, and be a bigger part of their company.

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 4:14

That's really inspiring. Was that a long process? How much time you had spent working at the firm and then how long it's taken you to build this life that you've built?

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 4:27

I started college in 2012. And in 2014, I got my first job in an accounting firm where we were handling the whole financial cycle. And over the next three years I went through a couple of internships, a couple of CPA firms, and I kept seeing like the same thing happening at all of these places. You report on the past; you get one report; you collect your fee. And I'd say it was probably at my last position as an employee for about a year and a half. I had about five years' worth of experience working in the industry. And then when I started my own business, I wound up taking a 50% pay, cut to go from where I was making$13 an hour and bringing home about$2,000 a month. And then I started my business. Went down to about a thousand dollars a month. And within two months I was making$8,000 a month. So that was just with three clients. Whereas before I was servicing 13 clients making a fraction of that. I finally realized I'm working way less; I'm loving what I do way more; and I'm making a ton more.

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 5:48

You took the leap, right? There's always risk involved, and I think it might be important to talk about the value of working for someone else. Even if you have the aspiration that you're going to go out on your own, because one thing that stuck out that you said was you had worked at a number of different firms and you saw the same problem. And you thought: I have a better way; I can do this differently. And, I'm just curious if you could talk a little bit first about how, cause I think I know what you're going to say, because this is the accountant I've been looking for, that you probably do a lot more planning and prediction and that's how you support small businesses. Traditionally you turn your paperwork over to your accountant and they say, this is so much owed taxes. And you're flipping that, right, in that relationship that you have, you've seen what they've paid. And I would say that it doesn't relate specifically to taxes. Probably you're able to save a lot in other areas, too. But you probably do a lot of work in a lot of areas to help small businesses be successful.

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 6:54

Absolutely. I think that when you are an employee, and you're in that employee-employer relationship, there's pros and cons to employment just like there is for entrepreneurship. When you're an employee and you're on a W2 wage, your employer's paying half of your taxes for self-employment taxes that you would pay otherwise. Your earning potential, there's opportunities to increase that for when you first start out, of course, through promotions and taking on additional responsibilities. You may have different pros as an employee. There's stability there. Usually you don't have to worry about if"I don't sell a new marketing website this month, I'm not paying the bills and I'm not feeding my kids," and those types of things. So there's a trade-off and that some people are more risk-adverse where they prefer not to take on that additional risk and have to be responsible for bringing money in every month. And keeping clients happy and doing all those things, the bosses usually do. And on the other side of it, you know what you're giving up for that. Some people are happy with making a sacrifice and their overall earning potential so that they can have a nice, steady stress-free life. On the other side of that, if you do decide to go the freelancer, the independent contractor, the entrepreneur path, there's definitely a lot more earning potential there. You get to follow your passion and do things differently. And that's really how my business was born. The first place is the way things have always gone. Doesn't mean that's the way they should continue to go. I have a soft spot in my heart for entrepreneurs because my dad was an entrepreneur, growing up, and he impacted my life in a number of ways. And if somebody could have told him back then there's a better way to do this. You don't have to work 16 hours a day. You can make just as much, if not more. And have more time to spend with the people that you love. Then I think he would have really benefited from that back then. So now I'm trying to be that person for other people's moms and dads and sisters and brothers.

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 9:18

I love that story. And, we were chatting before we hopped on that your dad is doing well. He's been successful, but started out as someone who was doing a lot of physical labor before. And I think that's a really inspiring story to bring to your marketing and talk about your why. And, I feel very similar that really in this case, supporting hardworking students who, like yourself, that you are working full-time or working while you're going to school and giving them that leg up so that they can launch into a career quickly and be valued and not have to go through the treadmill of a lot of traditional businesses, it can be very fraught with problems. And I think transitioning from a supportive atmosphere where you're in college and everyone is there to help you succeed. And then you're okay, now go get a job and you don't have that infrastructure anymore. I had a hard time with that for a long time. And that's one of my whys, is to give you the skills that you don't walk in as deer the headlights. And then not have your wits about you and not know how to do a job that people expect you to know how to do. And then there's this sort of discovery phase, and it can go bad. I talk to recent grads who ended up in the wrong place. And that's not good. And it doesn't really have anything to do with you in particular: It has everything to do with expectations of what you should know and what you should be able to do that maybe the person who's hiring didn't have a realistic expectation of what your capabilities would be. So we try to just avoid that whole mess and it's okay, here's what you need to know. And here's who needs those? So let's skill you up and get you going and get you launched. And a lot of my interns have done really well in that regard. It can be a real struggle, and I appreciate that you're doing that. From a small business owner perspective, here's what you need to focus on, because everybody needs that. I'm a small business, and I need that, too.

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 11:26

College is hard. It's it's tough. It takes a significant investment both financially and from a time perspective. And that's why people like you are so needed out there. People need to help empower, lift these graduates up so that they can be successful and they can bypass some of the more traditional, longer paths to success and happiness. So if I think back when I was in college, there was an Economist article and one of my economy classes, and they had done a prediction that by the year 2025, the employee employer-relationship would be almost non-existent, and everybody was like that's insane. There's no way that's going to happen. And I think that's what we're experiencing right now is the landscape is shifting beneath our feet. And so anyway, that we can help build these graduates up and give them more leverage so that they can have impact sooner and faster without all of the headache, the better I think, for everybody involved. And there's just so many different areas that. Where you could be completely qualified. You could have gone through school. I went to school for eight years and I was 4.0 student. I had to be on the Dean's list every time. I'm a perfectionist. I was very meticulous. Attention to detail. A lot of college students put the pressure onto themselves that they've gotta be the best at everything constantly. And I think that's why there's so much stress when you're graduating. You've lose your support system, that you've learned all of your skills that have been there to steer you in the right direction and say, yes, that's right. Or no, that's wrong. And I think that's one of the most common struggles with entrepreneurs. There's nobody there telling them if they're right or they're wrong. They have to become that person for themselves. There's a lot of mindset stuff that happens. But when you've got your ducks in a row, and you've got things organized, and you've done your due diligence, sometimes you just got to give yourself a break and realize that nobody has it all together. Nobody's got a hundred percent skillset and mindset and everything going right for them at the same time. If you have something that you're passionate about, even if it goes against every norm you've ever heard go after it, you have that passion for a reason. And most often than not out of all of the clients that I serve, the ones that are most successful are the ones that are doing something different and doing something that they really love. So when you have those two ingredients, fear is just that: It's just fear. It's an illusion. It's not real. And when you face it and overcome. The world's your oyster--really is. Yeah.

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 14:16

And this advice 100% applies to anyone of any age that if you have a passion, you have a skill and you have a value that you can bring to people that they're willing to pay for. You have a good business idea. You just need to build the infrastructure around that. Someone like yourself. One thing that I think is really key is to talk about. The timing, right? Another shows with Dave Lubecyzk he was talking about, there's a certain cadence to life. And a lot of times when you have just graduated from school is a really great time to take some additional risk before maybe you have a spouse or, young children, and a lot of competing expectations. If you have this great idea right after you graduate might be the perfect time. Think of it as a gap year. Hey, in my gap year I launched a business. You can go into an interview and say, I tried it and I realized it wasn't for me, or the idea didn't really work. As an employer I would love to have that because I want the person who says I tried and it's not the timing wasn't right. Or the idea wasn't right. And I want to do this. Like I want to come in and I want to work with the team and I want to get a paycheck, and I don't want to have to worry about other stuff. I'm like, hell yeah. That sounds good. I'm on board with that. And it's I'm not expecting you to work with me for the rest of your life, but if you're willing to make a couple of years' commitment. And bring value out of the gate. Then that's somebody who I have a lot of respect and appreciation for. So I think there's a lot of value in terms of, I have this idea and I want to take a shot now, and then you can always transition into your career. So I love that thought.

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 16:02

Yeah. Same as an employer, myself, looking at the candidates that are out there now. The thing I love about Generation Z is they're very non traditional like they are, it seems like it's a lot easier for that generation to break through all of the norms and the structures that have already held society together, which is amazing. I'm really excited to see how that generation grows and evolves and changes the world. Honestly. And as far as when's the right time to start a business because that's a very pressing question. And a lot of, myself included, when I was in school, I didn't even, entrepreneurship was like a scary thought in the right hand, right field that wasn't, for me, that's not something that I was capable of doing. And until I met a couple of really significant people in my life that helped me to see things differently. I always just thought it was just a concept, a thought, not something tangible and real. That could be mine. And it doesn't have to be you don't have to choose left or right. And then that's your path for life. Like you're saying, if you go out and you try something and you fail Especially in my book, you're going to go way higher on that list of candidates than everybody else, because it shows determination. It shows the ability to believe in yourself and take a risk. And I truly believe that if you fail at something that you've tried, that was really scary or difficult for you, that there's so much that you learn through that process. It really does put you ahead both mentally and, from a maturity perspective, gaining that experience gives you other skills and abilities your your competition may not have. So that's really important. And you can do both you can have a job work full time, and if there's something you're passionate about. Work on the nights and weekends work in your free time, work on your lunch breaks to push that vision further forward. If you only move two steps in a week, hey, you moved two steps. There's also: All progress is good progress. So it's one of those things that people have to pay the bills. They have to put food on their table. They've got to keep a roof over their head for themselves and their families. And that was my biggest resistance to entrepreneurship is that's a great idea and it sounds cool, but how do I make ends meet in the meantime and where am I going to fund this from? And I think that if I could leave anybody with a piece of financial best practice: You're fully capable of more than you realize. The typical work week is 40 hours. Usually executives on salary or working between 50 and 60 and some of the elite athletes Olympic trainers, all of the really crazy people that have that motivation that doesn't stop. They can work 60 to 80 hours a week, and that's normal for them. It's relative, and you get to choose how you spend your time. If you choose that you want to have something that could potentially replace your revenue someday, or even just something that you feel really passionate about, that you want to pursue, that can make you some extra money on the side, just fit it in where you can, if you want to, if you've got a stable job that you're happy at, and that keeps the bills paid and it may not be what you want to do for the rest of your life. You can still keep that job to keep things going until you start to replace the revenue. And that was one thing that when I left my job for entrepreneurship, I took that 50% pay cut, and we were barely living paycheck to paycheck as it was at that time. And so it was pretty risky, but within two months, I doubled or tripled my income. I multiplied it times eight. So there's just so many, you never know until you start. And when you do start, if you can replace at least two thirds of your income before you make that shift and say, okay, I'm going to go here. And instead I would definitely suggest save up at least a month's worth of expenses, whatever it costs you feed your family, keep a roof over your head. All of the basic necessities, keep that in a savings account for an emergency, and then just jump and do it. Or do you want me to unison or do it as a hobby?

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 20:37

Yeah, I think that's a great tip. And I think, too, to maybe find, an employer if you're just looking for a job now, but you know that in the future, this is something you want to do maybe in your screening process with the employer. You might not want to announce this. But you look to see is this seems like someone who would say yeah, it's fine. If you go part-time you might not know right in the beginning, but you may know: OK, I've been here a year and there's no way that they would let me take a leave of absence. There's no way that they would let me reduce my hours. Maybe it's time to move on to a different place that them Figure out, right? Do your research and figure out like here's someone do they have unlimited leave? Do they have flexible? Do they offer education? Are there other benefits that you could get out of it? And, or I've seen this more often that there are a lot of Baby Boomers basically who are looking to retire and sell their businesses. And there's no one to take over So I actually, I was just talking to a plumber yesterday. And then that's exactly what's happening. Shaun's going to take over the business. And there's so much to learn. But look for an opportunity like that, because now you've just bought into a functioning company that has revenue. And look for somebody who may be looking to retire in the next five years, that they can groom you into that position. And that may be something worth looking at, but I don't think people really think about, but it's more and more common. I can think of about five people off the top of my head who joined a company with the idea that, the owner is gonna hand it off to them and retire. And obviously sell it in some form. You already know how these people put their lives into their companies. They're not just going to turn it over to somebody they can't trust. So if you think that entrepreneurship, like it doesn't have to be an idea that you dreamt up at night. There's different ways to be an entrepreneur. It's not just a tech startup or like I have this great. makeup or like I had this brand, I have this product that I thought of and that's awesome. And I love that. There's a lot of ways to do that, but there's different paths.

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 22:56

Absolutely. Yeah. Anything these days, especially with, there's influencers that are monetized on YouTube. There's, twelve-year-olds millionaires. If you would've told me this 10 years ago, even right. That's not possible. And I'm a generation right at the end of Generation X and before Generation Y, I, the internet was born in my life. And I remember when I was 13 years old getting our first computer. These newer generations, they've had it since they were born. That's all they remember. They don't remember a time before. The internet and with going back to that Economist article, when they predicted the employer-employee relationship would deteriorate and there'd be more gig economy and freelance. There's even more opportunities now because of that there's people that have four or five different jobs, and that's becoming more and more the norm. But they're still working part-time, and they're still making a full-time wage. Yeah, which is just crazy. You've got Uber drivers, you've got makeup influencers and tutorials. If there's anything that you enjoy doing that you're better at doing than anybody, the chances are you probably have a viable business opportunity. There's people that pay thousands and thousands of dollars to learn how to sell or to learn how to put makeup on better, or be better parents be better business owners. The list goes on.

Marketing Solutionist ROIinU Founder Suzanne McDonald 24:26

You said that you had some pros and cons, and I'm wondering if we hit them all. Cause we're, going to wind up in a couple minutes, but I I know that you're meticulous and organized, so I want to make sure we get those.

Virtual CFO and Tax Strategist Vanessa Correa 24:37

If you think of the pros of being an employee, you have a little bit more stability. You can still get fired and you can still decide everybody can go get hit by a bus tomorrow. There's always a certain level of risk that everybody accepts. It's just part of a more natural life. The cons of being an entrepreneur. I want to be transparent so that people don't, you have to at least know what's out there so that you're aware of how minimal the fear part of the equation is. And if you're looking at becoming a freelance worker or an entrepreneur in general, there's a couple of things you need to be aware of. Like you're responsible for paying self-employment tax. You want to make sure that you talk to a professional to make sure your business gets set up correctly. I think the last time I checked, it was 23 million businesses in the United States are not structured properly. And because of that, a lot of business owners wind up paying more in tax than they have to. And especially early on when getting a business started. So if you're not wasting money in areas that you shouldn't be, that makes that process a little easier. The benefits. And benefits like health insurance, retirement, those types of things that every employee ideally seeks. And an employer, when you're a freelance worker, you're the boss and it's up to you to make sure you're saving for your retirement, that you're saving for health insurance, and those types of things. The nice part. If you have a professional on your corner is they can make sure that your deductions and credits for doing those types of behaviors that the government wants to incentivize. There is a level of risk. In my business, I've been fortunate to be blessed with a lot of monthly recurring clients that more than cover the monthly expenses, but there's times a client might go bankrupt. You never know what's going on in somebody else's life. And, there's a small measure that you have to be able to look into the future and make plans for those types of things. And if you've got financial best practices on your side, you're saving for emergencies or saving for retirement. Those types of risks can be mitigated. And then aside from that is time management. And I think that after COVID had that became a big thing in everybody's mind, whether you're an employee or an entrepreneur. When a lot of people started working from home, they had to start directing themselves and being responsible for making sure that their responsibilities are getting taken care of, but they don't have the boss structuring their day for them anymore. They had to take the brains into their own hands and make sure that everything that needed to get done was getting done. And that was challenging for a lot of people. So being able to manage your time and manage your responsibilities is a big part of it too. But all of those are trade-offs for higher earning potential more freedom, more time.