Outsourcing Mistakes That Could Cost You Your Business

#76. What can you learn from someone else’s mistake? Today, Sevana and Tiffany shake things up a bit by starting with the fascinating story of a well known entrepreneur who was conned by her closest advisors and how you can avoid the mistakes she made that is all too common for small business owners today!

Resources/References:

https://books.google.com/books?id=DBoAAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA37&dq=Thomas%20A.%20Andrews%20GLORIA%20VANDERBILT&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q=Thomas%20A.%20Andrews%20GLORIA%20VANDERBILT&f=false

Got questions or have a topic you want Sevana and Tiffany to cover? Email them at thebusinessbehindsmallbusiness@gmail.com and see your question answers or topic of interest discussed on a future episode!

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About BBSB - We are two business owners with two very different perspectives on building business, and the business behind that in order to achieve your goals. One of us built to sell, and will continue on the serial entrepreneur path, which means your focus and drive should include very particular tools and tips in order to achieve your goal. The other, is building a generational business, one that can go on long after she’s let go of the wheel. This type of business also requires very specific tools and platforms to achieve this goal. Both women have been successful in their own right, but in honesty - haven’t scratched the surface! 

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Disclaimer - Details of today’s story was inspired by true events. Also, we are NOT licensed financial experts, nor do we give financial advice. Anything we share with you here on our podcast, whether it be a personal experience or submission, or advice/tips that have worked for us, or that we believe would work for you should not be viewed as either financial, business, or tax advice. We ask for you to do your research, have open and honest conversations with your company’s own support providers and make decisions based upon that. Throughout this broadcast we will share our knowledge and give suggestions and hope you will receive them as part of your overall research to better your own company.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi everyone. Thank you for listening to our podcast. Tiffany and I give our all to this podcast with curating information, researching platforms, and creating a show with the best up-to-date information we can. We have a vested interest in the growth and health of your business and hope you feel the same way about us. And with that, we welcome you to our show, The Business Behind Small Business. Whether you're selling or staying, we're here to remind you that just because you own a business doesn't mean you are a business owner. Hmm, we are your hosts, Savannah Stone and Tiffany K.O. The sharing the more finite details of entrepreneurship, revealing the dots between startup and success. No one gets to a million without getting a little dirty. There's a lot of business behind small business, so let's get to it. So speaking of getting dirty, uh, we've decided that we are going to kind of switch it up a little bit, you know, put y'all on your toes. We might be on our fourth season, but we are growing just like you are, and we're learning and refining our show so that we can give you a show that you really enjoy listening to and um watching. So uh we have changed a little bit of our farm format, and um we are working on our strengths here. Wouldn't you say so, Tiffany?

SPEAKER_01 1:27

I would say so. I think you I think once uh our listeners hear our new format, they'll know exactly where we're going with this. Yes. Uh so in saying that, uh are you ready, Tiffany? I think so. I think so. I am ready. I'm strap me in, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

All right start. All right, so how do you get from farming to shipping to railroads to blue jeans? Generational wealth doesn't come with a business degree, and for some it doesn't come with acumen and finances either. Poor little rich girl or easy prey. Let's dive into the dark and glamorous world of the Gilded Heirs, her sinister confidants, and how her trust in them cost her millions.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I feel like there should be a dramatic.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

It should.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

We should have a dun dun dun like yeah, S S V U, whatever, like you know, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Well, before we begin, please note our disclaimer. This is available in both our show notes and on our website and should be referred to before and or after this podcast. You ready for a story? You ready? Chris and Tom grew up together in the 50s, often vacationing together with their families on the Jersey Shore. Not only were they best friends, they were like family. And life was idyllic and comfortable for the two boys. Jersey Boy Chris's family were proud Greek immigrants and they ran a flora shop in Newark. Thomas's father was a Manhattan surgeon and raised his boy with sensible values amidst the chaos and noise of the city. Their childhoods were happy and unaffected, and when they both started the paths of their careers, they took each took on different yet very distinguished journeys. Chris went to and graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey with a major in philosophy, and then he went on to obtain a medical degree from New York Medical College, and from there he began his residency in psychiatry at the New York Hospital. Tom attended Fordham University Law School, after which he spent five years as the assistant to Frank Hogan, the Manhattan District Attorney. In 1972, now going by Thomas, he got an offer of a lifetime to join the illustrious Shea and Gold, one of New York's best-known law firms, which he quickly accepted, leaving his position with Hogan to what he saw as the beginning of a blindingly bright future. By 1973, both men had made a huge mark in their professions, and it seemed nothing could stop either of them from becoming the most formative and prestigious men of their careers. At this time, Chris, now known as Dr. Zuce, was the senior psychiatric resident on duty, and when he was struck by a meeting, that would change his life forever. Dr. Zoyce started his day much like anyone else in his position by doing the morning rounds. As he traversed the lobby of the hospital, he was met with a dazzling smile from an even more captivating woman. He'd never met someone as beautiful and glamorous as Gloria, and knew if Kismet existed, this must be it. Gloria had been sent to the hospital by her physician, and she asked the young resident to help her find out why she felt so detached.

unknown 4:59

Dr.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Zoyce agreed to treat her and found that her former psychiatrist was just treating her with too much volume. Who could blame him? The former psychiatrist, that is. She'd had a much more difficult life than anyone of her standing, and what lay behind the furs and diamonds was the broken heart of a little girl. Gloria's mother wasn't great at choosing men. Her husband was a drunkard and careless, charming and conniving. Gloria, whom our Gloria was named for, had married the wrong Vanderbilt. After her husband squandered most of his fifteen million dollar inheritance, died, and left his widow and child nearly penniless. The elder Gloria wanted nothing more than to forget Reggie and the debts he'd riddled his widowed wife with, and so she laid a kiss on Little Gloria's head and left for Paris. Little Gloria was left in the care of her nanny until her Aunt Gertrude took her in. Aunt Gertrude was the wealthiest of the Vanderbilt heirs. However, when she died, she punished Little Gloria for reuniting with her mother as an adult, and left her with nothing more than a bracelet as an inheritance. Yeah, and for three years sought comfort and peace from therapy sessions with him. She trusted him implicitly. So when she fired her attorney, shortly after her third husband had died in 1978, for just split secondly forgetting his name. Dr. Zoy suggested she seek counsel from a longtime friend of his. Thomas Andrews was just as star truck struck as Chris must have been when meeting the beautiful Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper. And Gloria knew Chris wouldn't steer her wrong. At this time, Andrews had risen to the highest status of partner at Shea and Gold. In his mind, nothing could top that. But it didn't take long for the two men to be swept into Gloria's world. Dr. Zoice, at this point, had become her on-call staff psychiatrist, and Andrews was temptingly beckoned to leave his partnership to work exclusively for Gloria. Andrews wrote a two-page contract with the terms of their deal. It was pretty simple. In return for his services, she would turn over 10% of her earnings, her net earnings, after any deductions for commissions to agents, which he convinced her was a deal. What he left out, and the plot twist to this story, is that he and Chris had formed a private partnership named A to Z with an agreement to split evenly any income from her. At this point, both men had become not just her closest confidants, they were also her closest friends. Tom and Chris quickly became a part of her Uppercrust lifestyle, attending many of the parties and events either she or her friends hosted. Andrews worked fast. Soon after working exclusively for her, he brokered a deal with Murjani, a company that owned the licensing of Gloria's name, the Vanderbilt name more so, for apparel and fragrances, payable over the course of two years. Gloria was now flushed with cash and she was ready to spend. Andrews also consolidated control of her finances and convinced her to fire her accountant. Now that Andrews controlled all the money that came in and all the money that went out, the plan was set to have full control over Gloria's life as well. Andrews would send blank contracts for her to sign. And she signed them. And protect her from statements and finances so she didn't really know what she had. He directed her to focus on the luxuries she could now afford. Go shopping, Gloria. You'll be fine. Even Dr. Zoyce began sending his invoices directly to Andrews, rather than submitting them to her first, and then her giving them to Tom. Andrews began to take more and more without a hint of suspicion from Gloria. He would take from gross instead of net or he would take 20% instead of 10%. 20% as in he would take 10% and then take another 10%. So it was still 10%, but really it was 20%. He would take from profits of home sales or any other things that were not part of the original agreement, because originally it was supposed to be the net profit of uh contracts that he brokered, agreements that he brokered, not when she sold something. Dr. Zoyce knew very well of Gloria's mental vulnerability, and he also knew how much he and his partner were profiting from it. And when I say mental vulnerability, it was something that most people knew. Gloria had not had a life or even a childhood, or of the three marriages, a place in which she was being taken care of or cared for or somebody just looking out for her her entire life. So when Tom and Chris entered her life, she felt like these men were going to take care of her. She put a lot of trust in the people that were around her. And since it looked like they were taking care of her, she kind of went with it. Of course, there's always three sides to every story: her side, his side, and the truth. And when it comes to his side, both Andrews and Zois were adamant that they were paid every bit of what they would have charged any other client, and that Andrews especially was left holding the bag after having been blacklisted by the law industry for having left to be Gloria Vanderbilt's financial husband. In the end, he died penniless and disdained, while Zoice forever harbored the guilt of Gloria's son's suicide to having been barred to treat him by Gloria herself. So he treated Gloria's son.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

That's Anderson Cooper's old uh older.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Anderson Cooper's older brother old brother, yeah, the one that committed suicide. I can't remember if it was the older brother or younger brother. I'm gonna say it was his older brother.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

It's definitely his brother, though.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

It was his brother, yes, Anderson's brother, who suffered tremendously from uh a lot of different mental um mental incapacities. And so he was under the care of Dr. Zoy, and Gloria just barred him. And for three years, she just helped her son with you know homeopathic ways. And unfortunately, he jumped out the window of his home in front of her. Yeah. Terrible. I get I get chills just thinking about it. Uh in 1993, just weeks after Thomas Andrews's passing, Gloria Vanderbilt was awarded one and a half million dollars in a lawsuit that she had uh against the men. Although she found it vindicating, she did feel what she lost was worth so much more than the small amount she recouped in the suit. She trusted these men and assumed that they would care for her as those in their professions should. Instead, she felt they took advantage of a woman with a big name and a big heart. So big, right? That is sad. Oh my gosh. I know. So we are going to now switch gears and we're going to get into the core of our episode, which is five accounting mistakes that could cost you your business. Uh, but before we switch gears, we're going to go into our commercial break, and then Tiffany is going to share what our episode is truly about. Wouldn't it be great to hear the sound of us promoting your business for you right here on our show? Of course it would. You can have that and more by producing a show or multiple shows. All you have to do is email us at the businessbehindsmallbusiness at gmail.com to express your interest and we will share with you what you will receive with your investment. You'll have the opportunity to have your name and the name of your business mentioned multiple times on our show, having your company logo on our social media along with details on how to get in touch with you and other marketing opportunities as well. Please support us so that we can continue supporting you.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

All right, so, like, first of all, the the utter betrayal. I mean, this sounds terrible. I mean, especially came from coming from professionals who, you know, we typically see we typically see them as upstanding people, right? Yeah. Um, but the crazy part is that it's not unusual. And Savannah, you can attest to this too. It is not unusual how easy it is for small business owners to basically hand over an all access pass and have unquestioned faith to those who do things in their business, especially in areas that they themselves have very little understanding of. Like accounting, like law, like marketing, like everything. Everything.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

All of the things.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Because I think when it comes down to it, after all, they already are super overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things they already have to learn and how to grow their business. They feel like they can't possibly know everything. So, of course, the natural solution to that is you hire other people, right? After all, you always hear that adage you know, you hire the people who are smarter than you to help you run your business. Because otherwise, how exactly do you grow? And yes, you do need to hire people. But the moral of today's story is actually twofold when it comes to outsourcing. Number one, always trust but verify. For sure. And number two, delegation is not synonymous with abdication.

unknown 14:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

We'll get into a little bit of that too, what and what all that means. First of all, it is all too easy to believe that those who go to college for their degree and then pass a test to get a license must know everything about how they're doing and must be super ethical in how they approach what they're doing. Yeah, totally. And yes, putting that much time and money into getting your license to be able to practice law or you know, be a CPA for accounting could deter most people from doing some crooked thinking, but it's not always. And you only need one bad egg to basically teach you a lesson that you rather not learn after losing large sums of money, much like Laura Vanderbilt, and not to mention all the stress and anxiety that comes with that.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Plus, don't forget, experience always counts more than the degree.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Now, you should absolutely trust the people that you hire. Hiring meaning whether you hire them in-house or you outsource them, whichever the case is, but you should always verify the work. Now, what does that mean? That means that if you get handed a contract by your lawyer, uh, read it. And if something doesn't make sense to you or doesn't sit right with you, like there's no words on the page because the contract is blank, question the heck out of it until you understand it. Yeah. And as you gain more experience, this stuff gets a little bit easier. At first, it probably just feels like a lot of legal needs, which I think we all feel when a lawyer gives us something for the first time. Like, how is this even English? But over time, you'll have more experience and it'll get a little bit easier. Now, let's suppose that a CPA hands you a report that does make doesn't make any sense to you. Then you sit your butt down with them and you talk it through until it makes sense to you, especially if this has to do with your tax return.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Now, the other thing that we see all too often when it comes to what small business owners do, that is a big, big mistake, is that delegation does not mean abdication. So, what's the difference between the two? Well, a real life example, and I know Savannah's gonna chuckle over this because she's she she's heard this before, she's experienced it, is letting somebody take over everything or have the attitude of just take care of it for me so that it's off your plate to the point that you don't even want to be in a loop about it anymore. Now, you as a business owner should always, always be in a loop with anything that might incur liability for your company or has to do with your business money. Now, the best example I can give is a real life one, which I swear to God is true. I used to have clients who are all too willing to give us administrative access to anything and everything in their business, including their bank account, which means including check writing abilities and including wiring like abilities and their social security number without much of a question.

unknown 17:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Now, I do, and I think Savannah, you also do, is we actually push back on our clients and make sure that there's simple controls in place to protect them from themselves, meaning that we used to push back and say, no, no, no, at the very minimum, there needs to be dual action access to share your administrative access, including making sure that you, as the owner, have admin access, and that the client, the business owner, is set up for notification and things about account activity so that really there's a way to hold everybody accountable for what's happening. Yeah. So even if you delegate the work, um, maybe at the end of the day you'll know, you know, kind of who's neck to ring if something goes wrong. But if something goes wrong, guess what? As the business owner, you're still the main fish on the hook. There is no getting away with that. The buck stops at you.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yes. Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

So let's go on and talk about, you know, how do you actually trust but verifying your business? And how do you delegate without abdicating in a real life running company like the one you have? So we got a few things. So listen up. Number one, I would say that anything you need to sign off on, you make sure you understand. So that means contracts, that means tax returns, that means any kind of application you need to sign your name on. And yes, fine print may be a little tedious and all that legal writing may actually make your head spin, but you owe it to yourself to understand that you that to understand what you're signing and your advisor in a transaction, whether it's a lawyer or a CPA or maybe even an internal hire, like a manager who's providing you with a document, they owe it to you to spend all the time and effort it takes to help you understand it.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Now, the other thing you do is um decrease the risk of any kind of fraud in your business. One of the things, one of the easiest things you can do is have two or more people be part of the same process. So it's not one person doing it from end to end. I think this is the most common way that fraud happens is you have one person you solely trust, and you basically give them the kings to your king, like the keys to your kingdom, which is your business. Having more than one person in the process basically lessens the chance of fraud because there's less uh um less opportunity for them to collude with each other, which is basically two people getting together to con you. And although you may have to be extra careful after hearing Gloria Vanderbilt's story, because it did actually take two in that case, you can always add three to the process if you need to, only if it makes sense. Right. And if it doesn't make sense, then this leads up to the next item we're gonna talk about, which is don't give away too much control.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Which to me is kind of is basically the abdication part too, where you're like, here, take take it all, take everything.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, it's too much for me. Just take it from me. You know, I can't deal with it right now. Just yeah. No, you can't. You just can't. I'm sorry, that's the job you signed up for as business owner. Um, so don't give away too much control. That means that you know, delegate by have having others do parts of the process for you, but you should always have internal controls in place to one, make it harder for fraud to occur, and two, to keep you in a loop at some level. Yep. So as your business gets bigger, the level in which you get involved gets higher, but you're always still involved. Um, maybe that could be a sign-off on the very end or a final review. But again, it may if anything result, anything that's being done results in a liability for your company or has to do with your business money, you should be involved in some way.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Yep. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

All right, number four, huh? Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

No, I said I agree.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

I was like, number four, Savannah would appreciate this when it comes to numbers, when it comes to financial reports, when it comes to the one report that actually tells you the most about how your business is doing. And financial report doesn't always have to be just your balance sheet and your profit and loss. There are other reports that have financial numbers in it that aren't your traditional reports. But let's just say at the very basic, you should always have a balance sheet and profit and loss. At a minimum. And you, as the business owner, is your responsibility to learn how to read the darn thing. Yep.

unknown 22:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Know what the words mean. Yeah. Know what the words mean. Know what the numbers mean. Understand the process. It's being followed to get to the numbers on your report. And like I said earlier, if you don't understand something, your account, your bookkeeper, your CPA should really sit down and take all the time it takes to explain every single account to you, every single balance to you. And honestly, do yourself a favor, do this every single month.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yep. I completely agree. Sometimes it can be, sometimes it can be very tedious and arduous. I get it. I totally get it. But this is what you're doing for the health of your business.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Yeah. Yeah. This is part of being a business owner. It's not the sexy part, so nobody talks about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

No. But no part of being a business owner. Yeah. And, you know, if it's what's paying for your livelihood, if it pays your mortgage and it pays your car note, then you need to be paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

So last but not least, kind of going on what you're saying, Savannah, is you know, honestly, check yourself. You're too busy to find the time or the energy to ask the questions to verify the work or to ensure that your processes have built in into controls that you may be working a little too much in the business rather than on the business.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Because at the end of the day, there's only one person who can work on the business, and that's you. You can hire all the people you want in the business to work in the business for you, but nobody can work on it other than you.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

So mobile truth for our listeners, it's time to ask yourself what part of your business have you wholly handed off to somebody else?

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

And when's the last time you felt that you were a little too tired to actually read the fine print and you just signed off?

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Now we've all done this and we've all been guilty of it. And if you're lucky, nothing has happened to you yet. But don't wait till something happens to you for you to learn this lesson. Because it could be one very expensive lesson.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

It really could.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

And the the other thing I would say is, you know, and I got this a lot, especially when I was first starting out, because you know, I was also young. I was the first time in business, you know, um, when you're in your 20s, and especially if you come from a culture where they tell you that you should always respect your elder when somebody is a little bit, you know, seen as older and wiser than you, you don't really question them because you've just been taught not to. Like every fiber of your being protests when you try to question them in a meeting or something. But you know, the one thing that um I I unlearned and then learned is the fact that somebody else's degree or experience should never intimidate you out of asking the questions just because you feel like you're being silly. Because it's your business. You absolutely have the right to ask the question. You are the owner of your business at the end of the day, it's what you wanted. After all, you sign up for this voluntarily. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, and to me, the dumbest question is the one not asked.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

That's right. And it's very true, absolutely. And when it comes to your business, don't let that get by you, right? So buck up, put your big boy, big girl pants on, and don't give up, even when you are at your most tired and exhausted self. You always have just that little bit left in you for you to just stop and ask the questions.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

I agree. That's right. All right. All right. So before we move on to uh recommendations, we want you to be a part of our conversation and let us know what you want to hear. Uh, did you like what you heard so far? Do you like our new format? We have heard that our our famous examples are really popular, and I've noticed that on TikTok that my famous examples seem to be the ones that get the most comments on. So that was the uh us doubling down. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was the motivation behind changing the format of our show. And uh, well, you know what? Send us questions, send us comments, or if there's anyone that you want us to cover or any uh type of business uh situation that you want us to cover, email us at the businessbehind small business at gmail.com and ask us questions related to the show. Let us know how much you love us. I'm more than happy to hear how much you love us.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

We would love to hear even more of those. It can also come in a form of a thumbs up, five-star rating.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Anything like uh we want to give you anything. We want to give you what you want to uh hear about. So now we're going to move on to uh saying that goes, put your money where your mouth is, and we're gonna drill down a bit further here to connect what we've discussed at a granular level to tangible sources you can take to the next level. Uh, have you got anything, Tiffany?

SPEAKER_01 26:56

So recommendations, I feel like uh I feel like I've recommended this a couple times, but I mean, I love the stuff and I read it myself sometimes. So, like, I still think that every business owner, I mean, numbers always seems to be the one place that most business owners do not understand. That financial report, especially that balance sheet.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Who just balance sheets are the one that no one understands.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Nobody gets it. Nobody gets the difference between cash basis, accrual basis, and why that even matters in your business. And it does matter. It it it it is hard to understand, hard to get your head wrapped around it. Um, even as somebody who's a classically trained accountant who went through all the degrees and all that stuff, like it took me a bit in the beginning to really get not really what the technical meanings are behind it, but really how does it apply? How does it work in your business? How do you use this information in your business?

SPEAKER_00 27:45

And also, I think that QuickBooks has made people believe that it's just a toggle.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah, that's not true, guys. That is like the world's biggest lie. It is not a button that you toggle back and forth. You don't press a button and you go from cast to accrual. Trust me.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

That's not how it works.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

I think that's the same thing as oh, QuickBooks just reconciles itself, right? Gosh, that's what we should do an episode on, is all the myths about accounting systems.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Seriously, because I use this all the time, that QuickBooks is the tool. So much like a hammer.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

There is a reason why their bookkeepers are not obsolete still, even with AI and all this stuff that's all built in. And um, there's a reason why still the number one demand of most business owners is how they can't find a good bookkeeper. Because if that is right, QuickBooks and every accounting system can do it all for them. Why are they still asking this question?

SPEAKER_00 28:43

I agree. I agree. IKEA, just because you can put together IKEA furniture does not mean you are a furniture maker. And just because you have a hammer does not make you a carpenter. Ergo, just because you know how to use QuickBooks does not make you a bookkeeper or an accountant.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

So yeah, so don't use that as your safety blanket, right? And don't use the fact that you, even if you have the money to hire a bookkeeper or an accountant with and couple them with equipbooks, that you're all covered. You still have responsibilities as a business owner at the end of the day. So I would say go pick up a book like finances for the non-financial managers, anything along those lines, like uh dismiss demystifying accounting or you know, the dump for uh dummies book, right? Like anything like that to help level up your own knowledge to the point that you understand it. And then when it comes to application, talk to somebody about it. Find somebody who's willing to educate you and talk it through with you so that you can wrap your head around this. And trust me, they're out there. You're staring at two of them right now. If you're on video, you're staring at two of them right now. But I do know quite a bit of professionals out there who's willing to do that, and that is so key to you as a business owner, no matter how small you are. Because I'm telling you, the bigger you get, the more important the stuff is. And we hark on this all the time because financial reports are at the end of the day your number one source in figuring out really what's happening in your business. So if those aren't done right, then you could be getting a whole different story than what's in reality.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Um, I don't quite remember how my uncle used to put it, but he also didn't say it in English. But it's something along the lines of always hire people with more, always hire people that are smarter than you. However, make sure that you always have more experience than them.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

So something something along those lines. So basically what it means is make sure you're the dumbest person in the room when it comes to like credentials and and education and whatever, but you need to know enough of what they do that you could do their job. You just choose not to.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Yeah, if you really had to, you could do their job. So this is all to say that you don't need to go in there and know how to work QuickBooks, but you know enough how to read that report to say something doesn't look right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Exactly, exactly, exactly. All right. So uh there are some uh there are of course some great resources on Gloria Vanderbilt. And uh so we're going to link a couple in the show notes. One of the articles that I gathered a lot of my information uh from really is I what did I say? It was like eight pages or seven pages long. It's really long, and it goes into a lot more detail than what we shared today. But uh this story is actually quite fascinating. There's also an HBO documentary that was produced by Anderson Cooper, Gloria's only living son, nothing left unsaid. There's also a movie that came out in 1982 about Gloria's heroine custody battle ordeal called Little Gloria Happy at Last that starred Angela Lansbury. There are also two great books about the Vanderbilt family and how the wealth was squandered: Fortune's Children, the second, and Vanderbilt, The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Catherine Howe. As for today's topic, I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with bookkeeping and accounting, as Tiffany said, uh, with bookkeeping and accounting terms. Um ask your CPA and your bookkeeper for regular check-ins over phone or video me. Uh ask your professional service providers for their COI and references before you hire.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Certificate of insurance. Yes, certificate of insurance.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Uh maybe you don't necessarily need to have like a copy of it, but just make sure that they are insured. Uh always hire a person that is part of a firm. I mean, that's my personal preference. If you hire someone that's part of a firm or part of an agency, as far as it comes as far as like a bookkeeper or an accountant or an attorney or or you know, like any other professional service provider, more likely there are going to be more uh insurances and liability protections than if they worked by themselves and were just a freelancer.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

And that that goes for anything, right? That goes for not just a county, but that goes for somebody who comes in and say that they're a sales consultant or something like that. Any professional service, uh marketing, you know, strategist or anything like that. It's again going back to trust, but verify.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Right, right. If they oftentimes belong to a more established firm, you'll also be able to find more information on how other people uh what what their experience was on them if you like were to do a search on them. Um more likely that that person, like I said, is going to have some more liability protections from they'll be backed by that by their agency or their firm. Also, if mistakes were made, likely it's might be written in your contract that hey, if your service provider um makes any mistakes, we'll pay for the mistakes kind of situation. If you if we're if you're working with a freelancer, just a basic freelancer, chances are those protections are not going to be there. So that's what I say. Uh, if you're going to be hiring someone in-house, like they're going to be on your payroll, definitely do a background check. Uh, background checks usually cost about $35 for a nationwide check. Uh, it's worth it for your peace of mind. And of course, references, and um, I personally put everyone that we hire through a proficiency test to make sure that they can do the things that they say on their resume. Well, so yeah, I know, believe it or not. I know, shocking.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Especially when AI is writing all these resumes, I'm sure it sounds fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Yeah, right. Uh, anytime I see um oh what is the word? AI uses it all, chat GBT uses it all the time. To that end, or something like that. Like some there's some like common phrase that they use that I'm like, people don't talk like that anymore. That's chat GBT.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

So anyway, but yeah again, yeah, trust but verify delegation does not mean abdication.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Absolutely. And you might want to abdicate and run for the hills when business is growing too much. Um, so please join us for our next episode where we're going to discuss what having too much business or when having too much business can be harmful. How prepared are you for success?

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

Stay tuned. Please show us your support by following us on your preferred podcast platform, social media, and YouTube, and YouTube Shorts. Um, our YouTube Shorts are awesome, and Tiffany puts a lot of time into them, and they're just so enjoyable. Um, we'd love for we'd love for you to also share our epicodes and hey, look for me on TikTok. I'm on TikTok now too. So I'm I'm working. I'm working on it. That she is. That's I'm I'm working on it. All of our links are posted below. Until next time, mind the business behind your business because all great successes start small.