Financial Confidence, Tax Planning, and Business Visibility with Expert Tiffany Phillips

In this episode of The Visibility Impact Show, we dive into the world of money, taxes, and financial visibility with CPA and tax strategist Tiffany Phillips, CEO of Phillips Business Group. Tiffany shares the truth behind why most business owners are overpaying tens of thousands in taxes, and how to change that using smart, legal strategies. She breaks down what proactive tax planning actually looks like, the common mistakes entrepreneurs make, and why most CPAs are keeping you stuck.

Tiffany also opens up about the mindset shifts required to take control of your finances, why visibility builds trust in the financial space, and how she used her podcast to grow her brand and impact. Whether you’ve been avoiding your numbers or want to optimize what you’re already doing, this is a must-listen for women business owners who are ready to feel confident, empowered, and strategic with their money.

Grab Tiffany's Book and connect with her:

https://yourbiggestexpense.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-phillips-cpa-528587187/

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Transcript

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0:01

Welcome back to the visibility impact show. Today we have a special guest and this is the first for us on this show. So I'm super excited to introduce you to today's guest because I know there's gonna be so much knowledge and most likely you're gonna want to connect with her after the show. So make sure you stay tuned and listen to all these nuggets that are gonna come to fruition today because I know they're gonna blow your mind. So we have a CPA, the CEO of Phillips business group. the author of Your Biggest Expense and the host of the Small Business Finance podcast. Welcome to the show, Tiffany Phillips. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So, okay, CPA, tax strategist, author, podcast host. I mean, what do you not do? Okay, fair, fair, fair. You're a numbers girl, not a recipe girl. So how did you get to where you are? Like being a CPA, being a tax strategist, author, podcast host, how did you get to where you are today? So story short, I started out doing taxes right out of college that for a few years, handful of years determined I really hated taxes under the guise of working for other people. I'm like, this is not cool. I am out. Went into corporate for a number of years, liked that a lot better, but it really felt unfulfilled. I was the one that they hired to come in and clean up things, fix things. Normally there was a major mess. And so for me, what I realize now, I was really good at solving the problems. I was really good at coming in and establishing procedures and making sure I had the right team and doing all these things. And then when that was done, it, the question mark was now what, now what do I do? So then I went on to the next problem that I needed to solve typically for another company until finally I was working for someone at that point, it was a small business. And I'm looking at the owners and thinking, this is so ego driven and thinking back now, it's like kind of cringe just a little bit. But I remember looking at them and thinking, man, if they can do this, so can I. And it was, it was a lot of ego, but it was what I needed to like take the leap. That was nine years ago. And I started my practice very much like any other standard CPA, taxes, bookkeeping. et cetera, nothing to write home about. About six years ago, my dad calls me and says, Hey Tiffany, I've got a good problem and a bad problem. All in one, I had a really, really great year last year, best year I've ever had. The problem is, is that the industry has cooled off now. I don't have the business that I had previously. And we've basically had to use that money in the interim because of the decline. I don't know how I'm going to pay my taxes and I need your help. And at that point I had never done any tax strategy. I didn't even know what that was. I didn't know how to find the answers. And I realized that it really for my parents, I'm like, I've got to fix this. I wasn't even thinking about anything else. I'm just like, how do I fix this for my mom and dad? So I was getting ready to go on a mastermind retreat. One of my coaches focuses specifically on the CPA industry. And so I'm going to that. There were a few people there that did tax strategy, tax planning. And I just determined I was going to ask a bunch of questions. So that's what I did. Asked a bunch of questions, got enough information. Again, ego. I'm like, I can do this. I can figure this out. So naive in so many ways. And so I come back to my dad and like, look, if you want to be my guinea pig, I think I can help you. And he said, yeah, I will do anything. That was the thing that pivoted my entire business. Of course, it's been six years of figuring it out in an industry that's very traditional, typically male dominated. not a lot of strategy. It's very much like we're going to fill out some forms and be there in case you have a question. I've really had to like completely transform my business, learn how to build the right team because again, I'm hiring people who've never worked for a firm that is strategic. hiring the right people, training the right people, creating the SOPs and the workflows and all this kind of stuff and really relinquish control because it's was my baby for so long, but I realized I could not grow in scale if I had to do everything. And so it's been a really crazy, fun, exciting journey. And here I am today. And honestly, I enjoy my business a whole lot more than I ever have. And it's been pretty cool. So I think we got to get right to it because I know that entrepreneurs, most entrepreneurs, I'm gonna say 90 % are not tax savvy. They are not financial savvy, right? Some people are still operating out of their personal bank account, which I have been audited. I know how bad that is. Like in my first business, it is not a good thing. No, it's not. And I think there's a lot of fear wrapped up around taxes and also I think and I don't know what your take is on this but it also can halt people's success because of the fear of having to pay more in tax dollars. So I'd love to like riff on this a little bit with you. Yeah, I mean, honestly, there's so much we can dig into there because there is a lot of fear and it's not just here's the thing that drives me crazy as a CPA. It's not just the business owners that are scared. The CPAs are scared. Like they're so flippin terrified of the IRS that they want to play it safe on everything. And look, I want to be really, really, really clear on this. I am not saying to do anything illegal. not doing saying to do anything unethical. I am saying doing everything within the laws. The problem is, is that even with solid tax law, even with court case references, even with all of the backup to say you can do these things, too many CPA say, no, you don't want to do that. Like it's going to get you audited and that's going to be a problem and, and all these things. And ultimately, It ends up meaning that business owners pay what I have found in my own personal experience in six years and a minimum 20 % additional tax, but I've seen it as much as 40 to 50 % and more. Like it's a, it is a lot. Like I'm not talking about like a few thousand dollars every year, which we'd all like a few grand extra. I'm talking about tens of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. that legally should be the business owner because I talk about this in my book actually quite a bit. The thing, and as I was researching my book and like trying to figure out the right angle and how I wanted to, I make a topic that's very stuffy and boring, like make it fresh. The thing that I realized is that 99.5 % of tax law is written for your benefits, actually written in a way to help you reduce your taxes. It's actually not written to make you pay more. And so digging into that and leaning into that has really created a lot of opportunity for what I found business owners that they have a gut feel, especially as women. Like typically we get a gut feel that something's wrong. And we're like, man, there's something wrong. There's something here. I've got to figure out how to solve this problem. People find me, business owners find me because there's a gut feel that something's off. Mm-hmm. And then they, we have a conversation. A lot of times they come listening to my podcast and we're like, my God, this is what I thought. I had a gut feeling that there was opportunity here. didn't realize how bad it was. it's such a different voice than what they're used to. so the immediate no, Hey, you know, Mr. CPA, can I use this tax strategy? I heard, heard on Tik TOK or heard on Instagram, or I was listening to the small business finance podcast and she said, I could do this. No, you can't do that. Like an immediate shutdown. And instead of having that immediate shutdown, it's like, let's have a conversation about this. see, let's see if it meets your, your specific details. Does it, do you really fit the requirement? If you do, let's do it. Let's, let's make you audit-proof. Let's make sure you're solid. And then that turns into, can you hire the new employee? Maybe you're a solopreneur or you just really want to VA and you're like, man, I need somebody to help me. it supports that extra expense for a VA or it allows you to go on vacation this year maybe for the first time in years. It allows you to maybe start saving money whereas before you really weren't able to because every dollar is going back into your business and so it really opens up an opportunity to accumulate wealth which is what it's all about. Well, it's interesting. I'm going to compare two different things here, but I think it's interesting. We're willing to get a second opinion for like brain surgery or open heart surgery, but somebody wants to rip out all the money that we've like saved right out of our bank account. But we're not willing to get a second opinion because that's just the way it is. And that's just what I owe. I feel like, you know, again, if you have that gut feeling, this is an opportunity to just like something medical right get a second opinion on this don't just go with it because that's what someone says Yeah, and that this is uh the reason I titled my book, Your Biggest Expense is because taxes literally are your biggest expense. Most people, when you look at your income statement or your profit and loss, you're looking at that. Most people, when you look at those statements, they think payroll, cost of goods sold, those categories, those are my biggest expense. It's not. It is your taxes because you're paying income tax, sometimes state and federal. You're paying you're paying estate tax, you're paying sales tax, you're sin tax, so alcohol, cigarettes, things like that. You have all sorts of taxes and in fact we are taxed on every dollar so many different times. It's like you've really got to figure out how to play that game in a way that's smart and leverage what's out there to your benefit. That's fascinating, that's fascinating. So what are some of the biggest mistakes you see entrepreneurs making when it comes to their finances or their taxes? Number one mistake is not tracking finances the way that you should. You mentioned earlier that you've been audited, keeping things in your personal account versus keeping it separate. That's a huge one, especially so what ends up happening is you start a business and you're like, I gotta make some money and I'll worry about these other things later. I'm not worried about it right now. There is merit to that to an extent. The problem is is that that turns into years of going down that path and a whole lot of bad habits that eventually catch up to you uh on a number of levels and not least of which is if you don't have a solid foundational solid foundation, I can't even talk about it. you don't have a solid financial foundation, then uh how do you know how profitable you are? How do you know? um If the the money like it the profit the income on the business is the right amount that you're paying tax on How do you actually make good choices? And so like number one You've got to have a good strong financial system where your business expenses and income is separate from your personal. I Number two beyond that as you start becoming successful and you start actually making a profit that like the next thing and honestly in tandem like as you're getting that place, especially if you started a business, you're like, I'm not quite profitable yet or I'm not making a ton of money, but you know, you're going to start planning for that. Like if you know you're getting, you're going to get to the point where you are making a lot of money. Don't wait to strategize and do not wait because I can't tell you. how many people come to me. And what we do is when somebody comes to us, we get the information, we ask a bunch of questions. We kind like going to the doctor. You mentioned that earlier, like I your weight and your height and your blood pressure. And I need to know what medications you're on. But in the financial sense, like I need to understand how you're structured, how you're paying taxes, how profitable you are, et cetera, so that I can determine if we can help you. And then I would say nine and a half times out of 10, if not more, we can. And then from there, it's like, okay, well, now we've got to the strategy in place and we tell the prospect, here's how much you've been overpaying in taxes. Here's our assessment. Here is the estimate. And I can't tell you how many times over the years people look at me in the camera. We're on a Zoom call and they look and go, are you serious? I've paid how much over the years? Too much in taxes? And it's heartbreaking because I mean, most of the time there's not a lot to do to go back. Sometimes we can. Most of the time it's not necessarily an error in how the numbers have been reported. It's a lack of strategy. And so then they're just sick at how much they've lost over the years. But I think there's a saying that's like the best time to plan a career, the best time to whatever it is, like was yesterday. And if you didn't do it yesterday, then it's like do it today kind of a thing. once you know better, you do better. And that's why I'm so passionate about this. Because once you realize there's an option, and I think too many CPAs just are so lackadaisical when it comes to this. they just, it frustrates me because their websites say they tax plan and they blah, blah, blah. And I look at that and I just shake my head because that's not true because their clients are coming to me, need me help. I'm like, that's not true. How can you sit there and put that on your website? Literally, your clients are coming to me and then we're finding 40,000, 50,000, a hundred thousand dollars in savings. within the first month. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, going back to what you don't know, what you don't know, you know, I, my first business, I had a skincare business, I was a business partner. So I had another partner in the business. And the reason we got audited is because she got audited, which flew like flowed into our finances partnership. And instead of like transferring money to the business bank account, I would just buy stuff out of my personal account. Well, what happened was, and this is why listen to Tiffany, but this is one of the reasons I learned the hard way not to use your personal account is because when we got audited, they went through everything in my personal account, every birthday card check that my mom sent me, she sent me $800 to buy the kids Christmas gifts, all of that they were trying to prove it was income versus a gift. And so to have to like literally my mom sent me $100 for my birthday and you're trying to make that be income so that I have to pay taxes on a gift. So it was very frustrating. It was very hard. And so they were trying to prove that everything we did was a hobby and not a business. I'm a, I, I worked my booty off way too much for this to be a hobby. So it was a hard lesson learned, but it is the one thing that I will never forget. And I will never, ever, ever mix my accounts because I never want to be in that situation again. Yeah, and you know, the IRS is very invasive once you've been into an audit situation. And I don't think people realize the amount of stuff that they ask. It's like literally being on a witness stand and being just criticized for everything and they want every ounce of documentation. It's not where you want to be at all. And their job is how can we assess more in tax? How can we prove that what you've done is to our advantage instead of yours. And that's what they're doing their job, but it's not fun being in that situation. because we had to give magazine articles where we're in magazine, we were in the newspaper, we were on TV. We had to give everything to prove that we were a legitimate business. And you just never want to put yourself in that situation. Again, I didn't know what I didn't know. And now I know, thank God, will not make that mistake again. But if you're listening to this episode and you are crossing accounts, get them separated right now, because it is not going to do you any favors if you were to get audited. You know, the thing is, is that it was one of the scariest things I ever went through. feel, I mean, I don't want to go through it again. Don't get me wrong. But I also feel way more prepared if I ever were to have to do it again. Because, you know, but it took three years of my life away of stress and turmoil. And matter of fact, I was so scared to the point our last year in business. I didn't write off anything. because I was so petrified that they were I was like, whatever, will pay the taxes on it. Because they found so many things that they got us for. And again, it's just one of those situations you never want to be and I absolutely write off everything but I also absolutely, you know, even if I don't have a 1099 like it's revenue is revenue. Like, if it's $5 you slipped me like to speak like I'm gonna say I got $5 because I never want to put myself in that situation again. Well, that's the thing. It's like there is a difference between, I mean, there are people out there, other CPAs that, and I didn't realize this is a thing, to be honest with you, but I was looking into it. forget when it was, but I saw some stuff and started digging, but there are CPAs out there that they'll just come up with deductions for you, which is broad. It's actually not. It's true, it is illegal to do that. So to be clear, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm actually talking about legitimate things that you qualify for, whether it's something as simple as like one of the things I've done. My husband is on my board of directors. We talk about my business, we talk. sales. He's actually in sales for a corporate company. He did sales for me and my business for a period of time during COVID and a little bit after he was actually doing sales for me. He's on my board of directors and so oftentimes when I'm traveling for business he goes with me. And sometimes he will join in parts of not necessarily the training, but usually there's like events where spouses can come. And sometimes it does have a training component, but he'll come with me on that. And so it allows me to be able to write off his travel expenses, including his flight, right? And then normally we'll kind of add on a couple of days before, a couple of days on the back end and allows that travel. to be a tax deduction. So it's like there are these shifts. That's what I like to tell people is like, oftentimes it's not these big grandiose new things. It's the stuff that you're already doing and shifting just slightly to get the deduction, documenting a little differently, creating in my example, a shareholder, I held a shareholder meeting. Well, guess who was on the the board who are the shareholders, me, I'm the one, I'm the shareholder. So I held a meeting with myself and I documented that and I signed it and I dated it and I put it in my meeting notes and I added him to my board of directors. So it's like these little things, it's paying your kids. I had somebody, it's kind of funny. I'm assuming she, I don't like the word competitor because I don't view it as such. I'm like, we all. Like there is enough pie for everyone. I don't believe that it is a competition and nobody else can be me just like nobody else can be you. But I had someone who I think does what I do or is a CPA or accountant or something arguing with me on TikTok a few weeks ago that you can't pay your kids. And I'm like, well, what do you mean? You can't pay your kids. Like if they're doing a legitimate like task, you've given them title, they're being paid a market wage. There are certain things they're doing, like you're tracking their time, you're doing these things, you're legitimately paying in their bank account, it's in their name, and obviously you're the custodian over it. Like why is that not a deduction? And then as we dug into it, she was like, well, that should be taxable. And I'm like, okay, that if the kid pays less than like, if they're paid less than the standard deduction, there's no tax. There's zero tax. Like, I don't understand why this is not a tax deduction and why this is not tax free money, but that's the example. That's just one example of what I'm talking about. It's other accountants, other CPAs, it just doesn't click. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What are some of the things that people should be writing off that maybe they're not thinking of? I'm sure you see a lot of common themes that they just people don't think about this. Obviously the travel was a really good, a good one in paying your kids, but what other things are people probably missing out on? So many. I think one of the ones that for a really long time CPAs said were a red flag, like having a home office, business use of the home. Like traditionally that was one of those things like you can Google it. Like is business use of the home a red flag? you'll probably come up with thousands of CPAs that say yes. Especially in the environment that we're in post COVID where so many people work remotely. We've actually always been remote for like a whole nine years. I was using zoom before people knew what zoom was. So yeah, and so take a percentage of that because you're it's legitimate, but not only that there are certain things like there's a document called an accountable plan and I don't want to get too far in the weeds and get super nerdy on this, but there's a document called an accountable plan that allows you to reimburse reimburse expenses like your cell phone and things like that. that then signals to the IRS it's not income. You want to make sure that those reimbursements to your point and your audit story earlier, you don't want that to be viewed as income. But things like your cell phone, it does not have to be based on percentage of use. You can reimburse the whole thing. And so there's little things like that and every line is a little different. I mean, There are, there's plenty of deductions. There's honestly plenty of strategies where not only are we creating a deduction, but we're accumulating wealth on top. It's some of the more advanced stuff that we do. ah We've got, I mean, we go through a full assessment, kind of a look to go, well, like what are the quick wins we can get? Go ahead and get some savings. What are some of the things that are going to take a little bit longer to get fully implemented, fully audit proof? And then what are the things that have a big bang, maybe aren't for everyone or maybe aren't for people that aren't at a certain income level. But over time, it's like, okay, now we're at this place where maybe there's a more advanced investment that they need to get into that creates a deduction and accumulate 12. It really just kind of depends. But the short answer is there's plenty of opportunity. It's truly not if you can save money, it's how. It's the best way. So I had a training and a mastermind was in years ago. They had someone who used to be an IRS auditor come in. The reason she wasn't auditor anymore is because she did not like the feeling when she left people's houses and they felt like they had no hope and she goes, I'm going to turn this around. And I'm going to like make sure that people are never in this situation that work with me. And I found it interesting that she said, don't ever ask your tax person. Can I write this off? Ask how can I write this off? She goes, listen, I don't there's a line and I don't cross the line, but I tow the line. And I always thought that was interesting. And so that's always been my question with my tax people is like, how can I write this off not can I because that's it's much easier to say yes or no, right versus really like you said, if I say how can I that's way more of a strategy than a black or white answer, I guess. Yeah, 100%. And then you have some place to start with. It's like, OK, what shifts, what adjustments do I need to do to make it legal? Is it a documentation thing that I need to do? I just need a certain agreement in place to make it happen? Do I need to, like with the travel, it's like, OK, I got to add my husband to the board of directors. Perfect. I can do that pretty easily. It's it's a matter of like, what are the steps? But it takes someone who's willing to oftentimes think outside of the box. And most accountants, and I can say this because I guess technically I am, although I'll be honest, I view myself as more of an entrepreneur and less of an accountant. Accountants typically are very black and white. And that's part of the problem. It's like accountants are like, this is what the law like this is what it says this is the thing we've got to go between these parameters like there is no gray and that's simply not true. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that you say and you talk about is how tax savings can be reinvent reinvested back into your business growth. Can you walk us through maybe some smart ways that entrepreneurs can do that? Yeah, 100%. Probably the easiest thing to do is I mentioned a few minutes ago where sometimes you get to the point where you're saving enough that you're looking for other more advanced strategies and you're shifting your tax savings into investment. So it really becomes a wealth accumulation play where if you're saving, you're not sending off, let's say $30,000 in the IRS, you're saving that $30,000. You put that $30,000 into a wealth accumulation vehicle and then you're building wealth over the years. Listen, if do this every year for 10 years, you've made a serious nest egg. So that's one of the ones I love. The second one that I love is, you know, if you save that same example, $30,000, assess the things that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. If you got $30,000 worth of things off your plate, turn that into another head count, what else could you do? Could you continue to grow? Could you continue like, could you do more sales calls? Could you, you know, bring on more clients, like do more outreach. You know, maybe it's not a head count. Maybe it's putting that $30,000 into marketing. Maybe your marketing is going well and you need more funds to put in that. So you're shifting that money over there and then you're able to scale faster, but leveraging those savings in a different way. Not just taking the savings. and spending it necessarily, although sometimes that's good too. It's really just leveraging the money in a different way. And then lastly, you know, obviously you can use it for other personal things and, and vacations, et cetera, but it's really about like, how do you take that money and double down in an area that's going to get a better result in your business. And then when you do that enough times, it's really interesting because over time you look at and you'll be surprised at how much further you are, you didn't even realize just by making this adjustment. What are your thoughts on? So let's say you have a tax savings and you're talking about investing it, but what if you have debt? Would you suggest people invest it to make a bigger return or would you suggest that they pay off the debt, which is the better benefit for a business? It's really a matter of what type of interest rates do we have? How much debt are we talking about? It's probably a more nuanced question than that. Because if you've got like, I know our mortgage, we've lived in this house for five years now. And so interest rates were a lot lower then than they are now. And so a lot of people very much advocate for paying off your mortgage. And I think that there's a lot of validity there. That's a very good thing to do because over the years when you do the math, you end up paying a lot in interest, even at a low interest rate. But that interest rate compared to if I took out a loan of say $50,000 now, it's very different, right? So I wouldn't be worried about paying off my mortgage that I might be more worried about paying off say a $50,000 personal loan at 16 % interest. Yeah, totally. That makes sense. So have you seen mindset shifts in your clients who maybe they didn't understand finances at one time and after working with you, they feel more in control? Like have you seen the mindset shifts happen in them and in their businesses? So going back a little bit, when I started my podcast, Small Business Finance podcast, it was really birthed out of the desire to give people very straightforward, practical, easy to understand information, content on their business finances because time and time again, I had clients coming to me and they would tell me, man, you made this so easy to understand. And I just kept getting that feedback. I'm like, okay, there's something here. um obviously I have a gift is simplifying very complex things. So I leaned into that sort of the podcast and then fast forward as I've grown my team, I've got a team of about 10 and I've brought on people who have that same skill. Now I get feedback from them or they're saying, hey, I was talking to so-and-so and their feedback was the same. We've got a client. uh He actually is a franchise for like a kids youth sports thing. He's got multiple different locations and they were talking the other day and you know as a business owner, especially when you meet a like you reach a certain level of success. You wear so many hats. You have so many things going on that it is. It's a lot to juggle. It's a whole lot to juggle and so many times I catch myself doing this for real. I just get the point. I just need the nuts and bolts. I don't want all the fluff, right? And he was kind of doing that with a tax manager and they were, they were talking through one of the meetings they were, they were on and she was kind of talking about their finances. Like actually going through the financial statements and she was talking to him about a couple of key things and he was like, you know what? I've never had anybody explain it like that to me. Like that is incredible. He's like, okay. And his feedback to her was, I'm sold. And he'd been a client with us for like six or seven months at this point, maybe nine. He said, I'm sold. You understand, you've got this. I fully trust you. The way you explain that to me now, I've never had anybody explain it to me in that way ever before. So really. I just need you to bring to me the highlights. I just need you to bring to me the strategies. And you know, I really, I'm not interested in more than like a 30 minute meeting, like let's get in, let's get out because like you just proved in that very simplification of what's going on in my finances that you get it. And so that's really one of our mantras is like, it does not have to be as complex as what too many people out there want it to be. Taxes are complex. It's very nuanced. There's a lot going on. The reality is is that the clients don't care about IRS section code, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They want to know, can I do this? Will it benefit me? And how much is it going to save me? Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think there's the fear wrapped around is, you know, we just don't empower ourselves, you know, the non professionals, right? Like if we just empowered ourselves with just a little bit of knowledge, we would feel so much more empowered when it came to our finances. You agree with that? And have you talked about that? And maybe even your book? do actually a hundred percent. I'm huge on, you don't need to know all the details at all. Like you do not need to become a small business finance expert. That's what we are. But what you do need to know is enough about what's going on so that you can ask the right questions, know you're moving in the right direction. And if you are moving in the right direction, great, keep going there. Or alternatively, if you're asking the right questions because you have this baseline, this foundation of knowledge, and you're not getting the answers that you're expecting, then you know to dig in more and potentially find another solution to what you need. One of the worst things that I can say, especially when it comes to finances, is just not understanding any of it. Because you really open yourself up to a lot of risk. Risk for fraud, risk for overpayment in taxes, risk. or not being able to accumulate the wealth that you need to retire, maybe one day sell your business. There's just a lot of risk involved in that. I'm a huge advocate for at least learning foundations for all things in your business, especially before you hand it off, because then you know somebody's doing things the right way. Again, knowing how to ask the right questions, but specifically with finance. Like when it comes to your money, you just really need to at least know the basics of what's happening. Otherwise it can just be really dangerous. Yeah. So good. So good. You need, you need to be visible with your money or money needs to be visible to you. This visibility impact podcast. So, okay. Let's shift into visibility a second. What has visibility done for your business and your growth? You know, we'll talk about my podcast just quickly because I think that's been the thing, like the thing that's given me visibility for my own business. When I started down that path in September of this year, it'll be three years since I launched my own podcast. We're at 250 plus episodes at this point. So very exciting. But I'd never done anything like that before. I was not on social media. I just was not. I think I was on like LinkedIn. was really all I had, maybe a business face of a cage. And so I went down that path and much like we're doing right now, just talked into a microphone, loaded it up and then like hoped and prayed somebody found value in it. And then over time, talking to podcast listeners and people scheduling calls with me, I was hearing the impact that it was having for them. I'm like, okay, this is landing. Yeah. people need this, this is important. And it really just fueled my fire. And at this point, fast forward three years from there, and I've kind of expanded on more platforms, getting ready to launch YouTube and all the things. having that voice has really shifted a lot from a confidence perspective. It's allowed me to grow the business, have a greater impact. And really that's what it's about. It's like, how can I impact more people? Whether that's helping them keep more of their taxes, speaking life into them, because frankly, we live in a world that more people need to hear a positive message. It's been amazing. Well, and I look at I think we're all trying to build trust online and I believe and you can correct me if I'm wrong. If somebody is going to mess with my finances and they're going to be in my bank accounts, I need to be able to trust them even more. And so I would assume that visibility, someone who I've never seen before, who I can, who's never been on video, who won't even get on a zoom call with me, right? Like that's going to be really, I'm gonna have a lot of trepidation against that versus if I've listened to your podcast, I feel like you're my friend, right? I feel like I've known you for years because I've listened to your podcast and seen you show up on social media. And so I feel like that trust, especially in, it's important across the board, but when you're asking people to give them, you know, your financial information, it's even more so. Yeah, no, I agree. I think that it really adds a layer of that trust, which really, it really does matter. It's funny. I was looking through some notes. I have had a few calls with clients over the last few months and just trying to dial in, you know, everyone, the buzzword, like your avatar, like make sure you know your avatar. And so was just kind of going through some of that and refreshing some of some of those things and a couple of them using very interesting. like freights when they were talking to me. They said, know, Tiffany, when I found you, I felt like I can vibe with your personality. Like if we were in the same city, we could go have a drink together. We could hang out. I felt like we were on the same vibe. And I'm like, that's pretty cool. All I'm doing is talking in a microphone. Yeah. the other end, that person is listening and going, oh, this is incredible. And it's honestly, it's just such an honor to be able to do it. I love that. So good. So good. Okay. Let's do some fun rapid fire questions. Some of these are gonna be personal. Some of them are gonna be business, but let's start with the first one. What's the one thing that you wish every business owner knew about money? gosh. The one thing I wish every business owner knew about money. It doesn't have to be scary. Very good. I love that. So good. you take ownership, once you remove the fear from it, there's just a lot of power there and develop that confidence because it makes a huge difference. that so good. Has there been a book or a podcast or a training or something that's really shifted your perspective or changed your business? The Bible actually has changed everything for me. I am very much a woman of faith and all my life had that relationship. But especially as an entrepreneur, I really feel like nine years ago when I went into entrepreneurship, God used this. to fine tune me. We'll just we'll say it that way and sharpen me in a way that I probably wouldn't have been able to do it any other way. because it required a whole different level of faith and trust that I never knew before. And at this stage, it's so cool because I'm seeing so much fruit of nine years. And it's not just fruit financially, although there is that, it's fruit in my team and how much they love working for my business. And the things that they share offhandedly, with their friends about how much fun it is to do business, like to be a part of our business. It's another, it's a coaching group that I'm a part of that the guy that runs it had one of the women reach out and said, you know, she wanted to meet with me. I never had a conversation with her before and I agreed. And so we're talking yesterday and I just start sharing things and she, I told her, said, look, I feel like I'm kind of rambling. I hope this is. beneficial and she said you have no idea like this is exactly what I needed to hear this is incredible I got off and I'm like fighting back even tears now I told my husband I'm like I love the fact that God is using me and using my voice and it's such a blessing Ugh, I love that. I love that. Give me all the faith talk, all the faith talk. Let's do that. Okay. What would people be surprised to learn about you? Probably a lot, honestly. So many things. You know, I grew up poor. remember when I was born, we lived in a trailer house. I remember literally not having nickels to rub together. Just your very blue collar normal family, right? that, I appreciate that so much because it got me here. Mm-hmm. But it required a lot of like really digging in and making sure that the things that I believed specifically about money were really my own beliefs and not something else that was programmed through no fault of anybody is just if you don't know you can't adjust that and I've really spent the last two years really whittling that down and kind of stripping a lot of that away and figuring out what it is that I believe who I am. And it's been a journey, but yeah, I've, came from really humble beginnings. My husband calls me bougie all the time. but it's, it's not because I've always, I've always had the financial means it's, it's through a lot of hard work. Yeah, yeah, I respect that. I love that. Great answer. Great answer. All right, so before we wrap up this episode, where can my listeners find you? Yeah, so the first place is my podcast, Small Business Finance podcast. Do a quick search on any of the platforms. I'll pop up. And then from there, go get my book. can go to yourbiggestexpense.com. I have a book. I've got some free bonuses when you get it through that link and go check it out because it is a quick, short easy to read book. I did not write it so that literally it's going to take you forever to read it not by any stretch of the imagination. I've written it in a way where you can understand it. I actually put 10 of my top tax strategies in the book so not only are you going to learn some really cool things like why the tax law was written to your advantage, what categories you need to be in in order to maximize tax deductions the most. and then 10 strategies that you can leverage immediately. love it. And we'll drop all the links and the show notes. Make sure you check it out there so you can follow her podcast and grab that free book. Tiffany, it's been a pleasure having you on the show. Is there anything else that you would like to leave my audience with Gosh, thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure as well. And I would just say like, take control of your finances, bite the bullet, get rid of the fear. You've got this. I have so many women that come to me that are in charge of the finances of their business, whether it's woman-owned, entrepreneur, husband-wife partnership. And I'm telling you, the women have it together. They've got this. Even if you don't feel like you're some sort of a financial expert, I promise you, you're doing so much better than what you realize. And just keep moving forward. love it. I love it. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show. If you're listening to this episode, make sure you send it to somebody who can also benefit from it. Connect with Tiffany, grab that free book and make sure you share this episode. Again, it's going to benefit so many business owners. There's like not too small of a business or too large of a business that you can share this with because we all deal with finances in our business. So thank you again, Tiffany for being on the show. And we'll see you on the next one.