What Your CPA Wants You to Know
A podcast for entrepreneurs! We are a husband and wife team running our CPA firm together. We know just how difficult it can be to take your business dream to a reality. Our mission for this podcast is to guide, empower, and educate entrepreneurs in an easy-to-understand way! We want business owners to have the information that they need when they need it, AND without the hefty accounting invoices from a CPA! Follow along for practical advice, tips, and tricks from a CPA who knows what it is like to run a business, and strategies to keep your business thriving from an MBA! We will also show you how to run a business while keeping your family and sanity intact along the way!
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What Your CPA Wants You to Know
59. Juggling Ambition and Motherhood with Elisabeth Emmerich
As a mother of three, Elizabeth joins us to share her experience opening and running her own business. We discuss her pivot from traditional therapy to entrepreneurship and managing the beautiful chaos of motherhood. We discuss honestly how we both deal with our professional ambition and the demands of parenting three children.
Elizabeth shares the strategic shifts that led her from personalized therapy to the creation of her podcast and an online course. In this episode, not only does she reveal the nuts and bolts of managing business with personal life but also provides advice for those eager to do the same.
We chat openly and honestly about how we balance our ambitions as business owners and desires to be present mothers during these important years.
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Yeah. So it's a real big balance and certainly not impossible, I think, for anyone to start a business if this is like oh, I want to do this. This is a nudge that you're hearing in today's episode. But yeah, it does take a lot of work up front and some sacrifices in the beginning, for sure ["Sing-A-Ring"].
Speaker 2:Welcome to what your CPA Wants you to Know.
Speaker 3:Tax and accounting help can be expensive, so we've created this podcast to help guide you through it all and make you feel like you have a CPA in your back pocket.
Speaker 2:I'm Carson Sands.
Speaker 3:And I'm Taryn Sands.
Speaker 2:I'm a CPA with over 10 years of experience helping people start and grow their businesses.
Speaker 3:And I'm an MBA with a specialization in marketing and entrepreneurship. Taxes suck and we want to make sure you don't pay more than your fair share.
Speaker 2:We're here to share everything your CPA wants you to know.
Speaker 3:And a fun and easy to understand way.
Speaker 2:Let's get started.
Speaker 3:Let's do it. ["sing-a-ring"]. Today we have Elizabeth on the show. She is a mom of three, business owner and a fellow podcaster, so we met in a mastermind for business entrepreneurs and it's just been really awesome getting to know her and connect over the past few months, as we're both working to grow our own podcast and online content. We also recently recorded a podcast together for her podcast, Experience Motherhood, which releases very soon, and that really made me want to interview her on our podcast. So thank you so much for coming on and talking all things business with me today. Could you just start by telling everyone a little bit about yourself, your family, your kids, all the things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for having me. It is really fun to get to know you over the last few months because I didn't know who you were prior and so it's been really fun, and you have so much amazing knowledge around the business, like tax things, and it's been such a helpful blessing, I guess, really, and your podcast has been really fun. It does make it way more interesting than just reading a blog about it or something. It's like ugh.
Speaker 2:So it's been really fun.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so, like you said, I'm a mom of three, I have three boys, I am a fellow podcaster, I have a course that is coming out again soon, and I'm also a licensed therapist here in Minnesota and I have my own private practice. So I run two separate businesses that are similar in nature but a little different too.
Speaker 3:Yes, and we're going to talk about that a little bit why we're both doing all of that, having like we're very similar, we have these practices, but also we're kind of getting into this new thing, and we'll talk about that later. But first I want to know tell me a little bit about your first business and where did the idea to start it come from? Did you always want to start a business or was just something new?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what's interesting, like, looking back when I think about this question, both of my parents actually were very entrepreneur-ish. My dad has been running, and still runs, a Kung Fu studio in Milwaukee, wisconsin, and so he did that my whole childhood and so I really watched him run a business on his own. And then my mom was a music teacher at a school, but on the side she did private piano lessons and so had a separate little business hustle, I guess, on the side for that too. And so it's funny because I never really put two and two together of like. Oh, maybe that's where it kind of got sparked in me, but I didn't really realize it until like very recently that they both kind of had that spirit about them.
Speaker 1:But I did not expect to have my own business. That was not at all in my radar at all. Certainly, going to graduate school to be a licensed therapist, they teach you literally 0% about anything business-related, marketing, nothing, I mean they just don't. And I think that's one of the biggest caveats in my field in particular is that so many therapists want to have some more autonomy and to do things their way and not just be stuck in a clinic, and we are not taught that at all, and so you really have to figure it out on your own, and that's kind of what I did. I definitely had some support from other therapist podcasts that actually really sparked my interest in where I learned and some YouTube channels.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so I was at a clinic for a couple of years and I just got an itch that I could not do the amount of hours of seeing clients that they were requiring at the clinic. I was burning out. Already I was early on in my career and I was having babies and I just wanted to be home with them more. I wanted to. I didn't want to be a full stay-at-home mom because I loved doing my therapy work, but I really wanted to be there and really play a major part in that part of their lives. So I figured out how to branch out into a 1099 role, and so that was my first step towards fully having my own business. So I did have a business, obviously.
Speaker 1:But I was a 1099 at another clinic for a little bit and got my feet wet and I was slowly cutting back more hours because I was having another baby and I could not have childcare. I was just she was like the owner was so great and she just kind of really pushed me out of the nest faster than I probably wanted. But I am so thankful that she did, because it made me figure it out on my own and she knew I could. I knew I could. It was just really scary and so she kind of was like go fly your wings and have your own business, you don't need to be here.
Speaker 1:I was working such little hours to make it beneficial for her and so I did and that was probably back. I want to say it was like 2019. And then maybe like summer fall-ish, that I fully transitioned on my own and I haven't looked back since and I would never join another clinic at this point. I love being my own boss and I love the freedom it has, but it's still a learning curve and I think it probably always will be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so many people can relate to that, because even accounting we were just talking about that on a different episode that, yeah, they teach you how to do tax returns and everything, but they teach you in a way that you're going to go to another practice.
Speaker 3:They don't teach you anything about business All of this stuff that I was taught in business school. Carson had none of those classes. This applies to so many people we see opening medical practices and things like that. But the good news is, like you said, there's so much free information out there, like this podcast and YouTube channels and things like that, that anybody can figure it out if you're willing to put in the work and educate yourself. So I also love that. You said you could never be, or you didn't want to be, 100% stay at home mom, because I felt the exact same way and I wanted to figure something out that worked for me, because I had worked so hard getting my master's degree and I love that part of my life, but I also love being a mom and starting my own business just seemed like the only thing that made sense to do both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a really interesting blend, isn't it? It's like a part of you. You don't want to totally disregard all of that, but then, yeah, I love being at home and I could be some days I'm like, oh, I'll just do this, I'll just be at home, and then other days I'm at the office and I'm like I just love this.
Speaker 3:I don't, you know it's so funny it is, it's so hard and it changes so quickly. Because I remember just telling Carson like I am not a stay at home mom, the kids will go to daycare and I'm going to work. And he's like I know you've told me that before, and then, as soon as that first kid comes, it just kind of all changes and I didn't know. I was like I don't know what to do now, Like I want to be with her but I also want to work. So things have got to change and it's crazy how it changes so quickly once you're in the situation and what you want to do, which is fine, yeah, so I know you said you could never go back, but I always have to ask this one question on the podcast. So what is your most favorite thing about being a business owner and what is your least favorite thing?
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, okay, so I kind of alluded to it already, but the flexibility piece of being my own boss is amazing and that's probably my favorite thing about it is that I can create my own schedule. I can work as much or as little as I want. Obviously there's financial goals in mind and, like you know all of that, but really it's up to me and so I love the flexibility piece. I would say the hardest thing, at least for me in this season, is managing all the different like aspects of the financial piece of being a business owner, because I do not have an accounting degree.
Speaker 1:I loved math when I was younger, I was very good at it, but I have not taken a math class since like senior year in high school, so it's been a while, but that's really the most challenging, and there's software systems that I've learned to kind of use. But I think there's always this creeping feeling that I get of, like am I doing this wrong and I'm going to like get in so much trouble, or maybe I didn't like file that correctly, or I think there is a real lingering fear for me always as a business owner because I do not have a degree in any of this business stuff at all, and so that's the hardest thing for me right now is just figuring out how to allocate my money in the correct ways as a solopreneur, and then also just that fear of like I don't want to do it wrong. That's my perfectionism piece coming into you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that gets a lot of people. They'll just lack of confidence in that. Probably it's hard to get that ever Because, as you know, being a business owner you always feel like there's something more you can do and then just lack of confidence that you know enough on the taxes and accounting side to be like, yep, I'm good, you know no problem, I won't owe taxes this year, I've withheld enough, I've. You know, there's sales tax, there's quarterly payments or tax return. There's so much and people know very little about all of that that it's almost impossible to feel like I've got this.
Speaker 3:So I do think that as you go so like years down the road, you kind of get into a rhythm, just like anything else. But I feel like that's what everyone mostly says when I ask that question that they just don't feel like they're tackling that side of it or that they are doing enough, or that they might be doing something wrong. So definitely one of the reasons we created this podcast to help you. But also, things change so quickly and tax laws change so quickly that sometimes we feel that way too. Are we doing enough to make sure that we are using the laws for our advantage and we're informing everyone, so it's a slippery slope.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and can I? I'll add to that, I think, something which is probably true for a lot of business owners. So correct me if I'm wrong, but at least from a therapy private practice standpoint, there's extra. I don't know if you call them taxes, but there is well, I guess it is. It's a provider tax. As a health provider, that also is something that we have to pay every year, which is, in my mind, you know, of course, so silly. It's like just keep taxing, yeah, poor as poor providers, but it is really hard to know the flux in the year. It's like if I only if I see this many clients, I can make this, and so I have to put this much aside for taxes on this, for the provider tax and retirement and then but it might change like a week later to some. It's just such a dance and I think that is super challenging, and I'm sure other businesses deal with that to an extent, of course too, but it is just hard. That is a really hard thing about being a business owner.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I feel like we even struggle with that for so many years Our businesses season, that we have a lot of seasonality, so you know at the end of the year how much do we need to set aside, because tax season isn't starting up till January. So, yeah, it is definitely hard to get into a routine when things are always changing. Oh, yes, we always talk a lot on this podcast about how we love being business owners and the flexibility and all of that. But the other side of that is a lot of people don't want to start businesses because there's so much time and energy and they say, like business owners work, you know, day and night and all of this. It really is like having another child. I can confirm that because I feel that way a lot. Do you feel that way and do you think it's been really possible for you to juggle being a mom and business owner, and how do you tackle all of that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say I feel very similar to that. It is kind of like having another baby. I look back and I think if my kids were in a younger stage than they are now so like right now they're nine, seven and almost five that is a different season of life where I have realistically more time than I would. If you know, we were back in the five, three and one stage, or the four, two and baby. I mean, there's always that a little bit. And certainly I had a private practice when they were younger, but it was very part time, still is part time. It wasn't a full time business. So I felt like it was a little more manageable to carve out that time.
Speaker 1:But I think with this new business that I've started on top of the private practice, I have definitely struggled with time management and all of the things that come with starting a new business.
Speaker 1:Right, it's so much more work in the beginning stages, as you know, to get it up and running and get those systems in place and you know, constantly still figuring out like where should this business even go, or like do we need to pivot or not, and so that's been really a learning, you know curve, for me for sure.
Speaker 1:I think it does help that my kids do have some school during the week and so I kind of work in these little pockets and they're also old enough that they do play on their own A lot of the time. They don't, you know. Of course they want to play with me and I do play with them, but it's not as similar as it was when they were little and like two and three and four and really need your like full attention, right, like they can kind of be self-sufficient some of the time without the arguments. But yeah, so it's a real balance and certainly not impossible, I think, for anyone to start a business if this is like oh, I want to do this. This is a nudge that you're hearing in today's episode. But yeah, it does take a lot of work up front and some sacrifices in the beginning, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's exactly how I feel is that, yes, people are right, it does take a lot from you and it also gives you a lot, but there's more work in the beginning, like you said.
Speaker 3:I always go back to this metaphor where it's like your business in the beginning is like a newborn baby and there's so much work. But you do get out of that stage and as your business grows, you can take a step back. Maybe you have more systems in place, maybe you have employees. Whatever it is, it definitely gets easier, and our business is seven years old now and I definitely feel like it's miles easier than it was whenever we first started. There's just you have to figure out so many things what's your name, how to pay taxes, what's your logo going to look like. Ordering all of these things just the very basic steps ends up being like a hundred little steps to get started. So it definitely gets easier. So it's something that if you are willing to do the work in the beginning, you know you can definitely be rewarded by sticking through that first initial phase of the business. Now, did you have to do any reframing around either motherhood or entrepreneurship to make your business work for your family?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's an interesting question. I'm sure I did. I was trying to think of specific things when you mentioned you might want to cover this topic and I was really like, yes, there's reframing for sure. I think something that I, like I said before, have been learning this year is just that balance. I don't want to be a mom who is in front of her computer working all the time while her kids are just playing behind her, yet at the same time, it's going to take a lot more work here in the beginning to get it up and running.
Speaker 1:My goal is not to do what I'm doing forever and long term. I think having that value in place of, like I don't want that for my family. It's been really helpful for me, too, to have a supportive husband. He is like fully on board for me, following my passion and can see the vision of what I would like to build, but also, yeah, making sure that I have time to still do the things that I want to do as a mom, like yesterday I went on a field trip to my school's basketball women's basketball game and it was so fun and to have again that freedom and flexibility to be like you know what I'm doing nothing business today. I'm just going to hang out with my seven year old and it was awesome and second graders are really loud.
Speaker 3:But they're fun.
Speaker 1:They're so fun to watch.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, I think the reframing really is telling myself that, hey, I'm not a bad mom for working more, but that I am a good mom because I'm showing up for my kids still and I have values and passions in the business world as well, and that's wonderful because I'm following my own belief system and values and I think my kids are going to really see that and they have seen that.
Speaker 1:You know, they didn't even know really what a podcast was before and, like my oldest thinks it's really cool, like he wants to learn how to edit my podcast episodes. So I'm going to have to figure out how to train him in and then I can, you know, pay him. He'll be on my company payroll, yes, but yeah, like things like that, I think it's been really cool for them to see. You know, hey, mom has some new vision and how she wants to serve other moms and women around the world. That's so cool. But then also making sure that I am still staying in my motherhood value role and going up for them. Still, you know, I'm not going to pick one or the other, it's kind of that balance or that dance.
Speaker 3:Yes, so perfectly said. I know so many people messaged us on Instagram and that's what they struggle with and I think for me it was hard initially to have to rein it in the business side, because I can't create an accounting firm that has 15 CPAs and all of these working parts because it would take too much from my family time. On the flip side, I can't have all the family time or my business would suffer. So I really had to reframe my goals and even like society's goals, like we're maxing out on clients, so the next realistic step would be hire more people. Right, I can already tell you I don't have the bandwidth to deal with that, and so sometimes I feel like I fall short of the business side because we could grow a bigger business. But when I remind myself what my goals are to also be, you know, living in this moment with my kids and while they're here then I feel better about it.
Speaker 3:But that doesn't mean that those thoughts don't creep up. Also, the flip side I'm not always at every single kids things. Now that I have three kids participating in everything, we always make it to the very important stuff. We wouldn't miss anything. But sometimes I don't go to the fun run, or I don't bring them lunch to school because I have to be working in the business so that I can pick them up at three o'clock. You know like, yeah, it just has to happen. So I think reframing for me was that I can't be like this, the ideal picture of a mom that maybe I was raised to think, and I also can't have this like big business. I just had to reframe what works for us and really what boils down to it, what makes me happy, because I was really just thinking of, I guess, what other people were telling me. So it's hard.
Speaker 1:It's so hard and I love that you said that too like figuring out like what your own goals are as a person, as a business owner, as a part of your family. You know it's going to look different than you know what someone else's business is doing. Or maybe, maybe you don't ever want to hire your employees. For a while I thought I wanted to hire more therapists and turn into like a clinic, and at least at this point I'm like no, like I don't really want to manage. I don't have the bandwidth to manage other people's stuff on top of everything else. But so I think it's just really checking in with yourself and figuring out like you know what this feels right right now or this is what I want to go for this next year and being okay with it, and that it might look different than someone else's business.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and when you were saying that, I was just thinking you know, owning your own business, you also have the ability to pivot whenever that feels right. So you know, maybe in the future you don't know, you can't really make that decision now Maybe you do want to hire, who knows? But for right now you can make the best decision for your time and your family and your priorities and later do what works best for you, and that's why I love it so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really is so great, so great.
Speaker 3:Yes, so I said earlier we would talk about this a little bit. Like us, you have many different moving parts of your business. Now you have a practice which is a service-based business and you also have a podcast, which I can tell is a lot of work, and now you are launching this online course. So I'd like to talk about the reason that you made those specific pivots in your business. I know a lot of people were super confused with why we wanted to start a podcast or why we're releasing other things beyond what we were originally doing. So I'd love to just kind of open up that discussion and share with people why you made those pivots and your thoughts behind that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's always interesting to me when anyone shares their story of those pivots, because usually there's some similarities but of course there's differences as well. And, being the service-based business which I'm sure some of you can relate to, it's very time consuming and I can only take on so many clients without feeling burnt out and also not delivering my best quality of care for them as well. And so I think when I was coming up with this new separate business, which kind of originally was a coaching business, which I still do it was really an opportunity for me to serve more people, because as a licensed therapist I'm only licensed in my state of Minnesota and so I can't serve anybody outside of my state legally and ethically. So that was part of it and I wanted to be able to help more people outside of that state. So that's kind of where it first started.
Speaker 1:And then I don't know where the idea of podcasting came from. Truly, have no clue. It just hit me and I was like I think I need to start a podcast because podcasts as all of the listeners even listening right now know it is so easy to just get content in your ears from anywhere and you can be doing other things and learning and growing or just having a good laugh or whatever kind of podcast it is, and I just felt like that would be such an amazing avenue to be able to highlight other mom's stories in particular, because that's what the podcast is and just highlighting that we all have unique stories that are worth talking about and sharing about, and then covering some mental health topics and all kinds of things that I feel like moms in general really struggle with. And so it was a really what seemed like a easy, in a sense, way to get more information out so that more women could feel supported and not alone in their journey. And then from that I was like, oh gosh, like I just have so much I want to help moms with and I can't necessarily always do it just on a podcast, and so I decided to create a course, and the course is tons of information based on what I know as a therapist, as a mom, to help women in an even deeper level than they can get out of a free podcast or a blog, and it's also really nice to.
Speaker 1:I think you know, as anybody else who has started a course, it really gives an opportunity for people to take some of that learning and growth in their own hands, in their own time. I think there's always going to be value for sure of going to see a therapist to meet with a coach. I don't think that'll ever change. But not everybody has the time to do that. They don't have the finances to do it consistently to actually see progress, and so that's where I felt like a course would really be beneficial to everyone I'm serving, and then also beneficial to me as a business owner, because I don't have to give more of my time but yet I still can earn a living. I can support more people at the same time.
Speaker 3:Yes, just like we were talking about earlier, you're spending all of this time right now to make this course and I'm sure it's a lot of work. I haven't made one, but it looks like it. Yeah, it took a lot, so but in the years to come you're going to keep benefiting from that work that you put in right now. So it's a great move as a business owner to make some passive income and also, like you said, you're just out of cap. You can only talk to and see so many people in a day, and this is a way for you to reach more people by putting in a little bit more time now. So that's basically exactly why we did all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can totally relate. I mean, it is something it's like it doesn't take away the joy of working with one-to-one clients and of course, there's specific questions for each person that need that one-in-one attention. And so, again, I don't think your services aren't going away, mine aren't going away, but there is some areas that we can still help people grow and if they want to kind of figure it out on their own a little bit, that can work a lot of the time. And just like your podcast and your guide that you have, you are able to provide all of this information that business owners can then take and they can utilize themselves. And then, if they did have more specific questions, they could reach out and try to get on your caseload for one-to-one or you could refer, or maybe someday you will grow and have additional CPAs.
Speaker 1:Who knows? But yeah, I love the flexibility of it and, like you said, it's a lot of work up in the beginning. But I'm not thinking about things right now. I'm thinking about things for the future and how I want my business to feel and how I want my motherhood experience to feel in my family life. I'm thinking in the future and in order to get to that goal, I have to do some of the grunt work now, in the beginning, and it's a sacrifice for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a lot of work right now and up front. I know Carson really didn't understand at first. That's why I thought it was such a good thing to talk about on the podcast now, because in 2020, I gave him this crazy idea I want to write this book. It's going to guide people because we were getting calls all the time hey, I'm starting a new business. Here are my questions, same questions every single time and like we need to compile all of this.
Speaker 3:And so that year it took a lot of work. We had to sit down and have writing meetings and put it all together. And he still was just doing it just to appease me. He wasn't really thinking it would go anywhere. So here we are in 2023. And it's been years now and we've looked back at how much money we've made off of this one little investment that took very little upfront costs to make just time. And over the next 20 years before we retire, it's going to make us a lot of really good money. And it's still not exactly where we want it to be, but just give it a few years. All the work we've put in has really paid off. And then podcasting I know a lot of people are how do you make money podcasting? I don't really know yet.
Speaker 1:You know we're still working on that. Well, I'm working on that too. If anyone knows, please let us know. Yeah, let us know. Send us a DM. We don't know yet.
Speaker 3:But I do know it's possible if I'm willing to put it in the work and I've only been doing it a year. You know, in five years that might look different and by the time we retire maybe we keep doing the podcast when we can't see clients anymore. Who knows? All I know is that it's worth putting in the work now and it's really paying off for a lot of other people to get these episodes and our clients, because I don't know about you, but if I can't spend time with a client on something, I'll send them a quick episode and say look here's, you know, 30 minutes. That really deep dives into what I want to tell you and I've already recorded it. And here you go. So it's been helpful in our business and I hope long term our plan is that it would just be more passive income. Yeah, I 100% agree.
Speaker 3:I love it. Do you want to start your own business but have no idea where to start? Does the tax and accounting part of business ownership scare you? Or maybe you just don't have the budget for CPA services right now? If this sounds like you, listen up.
Speaker 3:We've created a new business guide to help you through every step of the process so you feel confident and supported when starting your business. Our guide will help make sure you don't miss any important steps and educate you on the tax and accounting side of things. The best part is that it's priced for less than one meeting with the CPA, so don't ignore this part of the process. Use our guide to educate and empower yourself without the hefty cost of multiple meetings with the CPA. We will guide you through the initial steps, provide yearly checklist and give you things to put on your radar for the future as your business grows.
Speaker 3:And just for being a podcast listener, you get a discount. Find the link in the show notes to purchase the guide and use code podcast at checkout to use that discount. Now back to the show. So I would love to know and I know everybody listening would love to know how do you manage all these different aspects of your business now that there are so many, and do you have any tips for those that are looking to start a business like yours, whether it's a course or a podcast or a practice or all of them?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that's a good question. Hopefully I'll hit them all for your listeners. I think it really comes down to if you have one business, two business, three business, whatever it is, or even if it's one business and being a part-time stay-at-home mom or whatever. I think it really comes down to planning and getting really organized and, as a very type A person, I do love to do that kind of a thing. However, I will be completely transparent that now, being a full year into having two businesses, I am struggling a little bit with balancing it all.
Speaker 1:But I think what I would like to do, and what I've tried to do, is to really keep certain businesses on certain days. So I only see therapy clients on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the morning, during preschool time, so it's very limited time. But then the other days of the week when I'm not seeing clients, I have specific times where I do my diagnostic assessments, where I do my treatment plans, where I might reach out to a client that I need to get some paperwork from or whatever it is doing some back-end business things at a different time. So I've got really set client hours. And then for my other business, I have certain days where I do podcast interviews and that's the day that I do them. And if it doesn't work out, I am flexible a little bit, but I really try to keep that kind of a block schedule and that really helps me to be like. You know, monday mornings are my podcast interview days. That's just when I do them, and then I use the afternoons and in between, when my kids are, you know, having their screen time and doing other things, to just kind of I mean real life here. But you know they're doing their thing and I'm catching up on the back end of things or when they go to bed.
Speaker 1:So it is a real juggling situation here, as anybody who knows, if you have kids and you have a business, it is just learning to be like flexible but also trying to keep a straight plan. It's like both. I don't know how to describe it. So that would be. One tip is to really just figure out like what days of the week are you doing certain tasks or working on certain businesses? Or maybe it even includes like I'm going to always grocery shop and do my pickup order on Thursday mornings or whatever day, and I think that'll really help the structure and again, things change Sometimes. You have to be flexible a kid is sick or whatever happens.
Speaker 1:But generally that has really helped me kind of compartmentalize the two different businesses and my motherhood stuff and being a wife and all of that and if anybody is interested in, I think, starting a podcast or a course. I mean it really starts with figuring out like what your niche is, what you would want to do with it. I think I know I didn't know for me. I would be curious what you would say, teran.
Speaker 1:But for the podcast aspect I really was told up front through a course that I took on a podcast was that you can't just think that you're going to do it and then burn out because it won't be successful.
Speaker 1:I mean you have to be really consistent. So being like I'm going to do this like every week or I'm going to do it every other week consistently for a year or more and continue, I mean you can't just start it and then think it'll be good and then just quit. So that was something I like really took to heart of like okay, I started my podcast in April, it's now December. I did take a break in between the summer months because I needed to as a mom and but I was very clear about that on the podcast, that it's not going away, I'm coming back. And then I did come back, and same with the course too. I think figuring out like what do you know or what have you experienced or lived through that could benefit someone else and that could be a great course idea that could help your business, like your guide even, would be a wonderful example, right you?
Speaker 1:kept getting asked the same questions, like yeah, I mean, it saves you time in the long run. You don't have to keep answering the same question. Just send them. Here's my guide. It'll answer, answer all of your questions and then, if anybody is a therapist or any kind of health provider and you want to start a private practice, again, I found so much information just by listening to podcasts in my niche of therapy, so I've got other therapists who had did it.
Speaker 1:I reached out to people who had done it and I think that's a huge one too. Like, just ask somebody if you want to start a private practice, you want to do a course or podcast, reach out to people. I feel like if someone reached out to me, I'd be more than happy to share what I know or even direct them into the resources. I found that were really helpful and I hope that anybody who's listening, who wants to take that next step in their business, would do so in 2024. I think it's the year to do it and things are changing for so many businesses, so it's a great opportunity to do any of those.
Speaker 3:That is such great advice. I love that. Everything is figure-outable. So if you are willing to put in the work and, like you said, your podcast is about the same age as ours we started about the same time my expectations was to put in the work and create something people wanted to digest. I had no monetary expectations for year one, and so now we're going to reassess and moving into this, we'll have different goals, but I think a lot of people jump into these kind of fun projects because podcasting is fun. I love it.
Speaker 3:We love sitting down and talking to people about their businesses, but I do have to treat it like a business. What I mean by that is that I have goals, I have a deadline, I make sure that what I am saying I'm going to deliver, I deliver and that the product is really good. So I think what people can take from that is that if you're willing to learn and put in the time, you can make it successful. You just have to set your expectations that all of these type of things that we're talking about do take time and, with the exception of your service-based business, I know it seems like yours took off pretty quickly and you filled what you wanted to feel and ours did too. So you know that's a very minimal monetary investment when you're first starting out, if you're anyone like you or like us. But it can go pretty quickly and if you use all of those processes like you said you had in place, then it's totally doable. It's just being willing to put in the hard work really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I would add to even just another tip for kind of managing business life and all the balance is really communicating well with your family and making sure that you know they don't have to be 100% understanding of what you're doing, because I think sometimes when you're starting a business people are like what are you doing? You're crazy, because it feels so abnormal. But even just communicating that you know at, hey, I've got this idea, I have done the research, I've looked into it. I think it would be very successful. It's going to take some extra time on my part. Can you pick up some of the slack in this area that I usually do? Or vice versa?
Speaker 1:And I think just really communicating well can be such an amazing way to not only manage your business but also your own just emotional well-being as you're kind of navigating all of it, because it is a lot and you're going to have at least I do I have really good days where I'm like this is going great, and then other days I'm like what am I doing? And that is just it's part of the journey of it. But I'm not. You know, I'm not going to live in the pits, that, I'm not going to live on the mountaintop. I got to find the in between, and so just an encouragement communicate it. Make sure that your family is supportive. Or, if not your family, find one person who's supportive. It can just be one person who has got your back and can support you in your vision.
Speaker 3:Yes, I love that you said that before we were recording I had said this is the first good day I've had in a long time and also I wouldn't have it any other way. I always say sometimes my job is putting out fires, because I just show up to work and like, okay, what fire do I need to put out? Today it does feel like that sometimes, yes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. And I did just record a podcast with Ashley and we were just talking about finding the group of people like you said. You need somebody that's going to support you and listen to you, and I didn't have that really beyond my husband and the mastermind has really given me that, and I can't tell you how beneficial that's been for not only my business but my state of mind in being a business owner. So if you haven't checked out that episode, it's a really good one on finding people that are like minded and that can just be your sounding board for your business, because that's such an important part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I think we've been just finding some kind of community that understands what it's like to build a business and who. Yeah, it can be that sounding board. I like that analogy of just bouncing off that idea. They can give you feedback. Maybe you're helping them in something, testing out a product for them, whatever it is. It is so important to have people who've got your back, Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I love it and I'm so glad I finally have that. So the last tax question that I'm sure you're super excited about. If there was one business or a tax topic that you would love us to cover in a podcast, I would love to hear what that is so that we can add it to a future episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I don't know if it's a tax question, but it's a business question. Perfect, I think something that I personally struggle with, and I think a lot of business owners and therapists struggle with in private practice, is actually paying yourself first, and I've read a few books and listened to podcasts about that profit first idea. I would love to know more about how to get into that, how to actually figure out what percentage should I be paying myself before I take out the back end stuff, or just how does that work when your income is really flexible and changing consistently? I think that's been a real challenge for me, and I think it's more of like I just am pulling from a pulling from a pot and just not really giving myself a consistent salary. But I would love to dive deep into that or hear that in a future episode, for sure.
Speaker 3:So you're in luck. That episode is definitely coming, because next year which I haven't even shared this with anyone, but let's just share it now we're definitely going to be adding a guide that's all about paying yourself as a business owner. So we'll address all that you just said, plus how to prepare for taxes, because a lot of people don't understand how everything flows, like from a K1 or your Schedule C, and what taxes are put on that income. So it's all going to be in one little package so that everyone will understand that that your pain point that you're just talking about. And, of course, we'll have multiple podcast episodes to give you some good content and some free advice on how you can get started on that. So you read my mind. It's one of those questions, you know, we get all the time and I'm like what do we need to do here? We got to do a podcast, we need to do an email.
Speaker 1:And I love to like such a business perspective. But it's like I think you are really you both are taking really doing what you're saying to do of like you get all these questions, the same questions or the same types of people coming to ask you these similar things, and it's like, well, instead of taking one to one time and explaining it all the time over and over, you're like let's just package this up and this can be a great, you know, another asset of the business to offer to other people. So I love that you're like doing that and not just telling people to do it.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and I I'm sure you get the same like feedback as we do. Our hourly rate is pretty high it's not as high as a lot of CPAs, but we have to charge for our time. So I love saying, hey, I have a guide that has literally hours of my time in it and you can refer back to it any time you want to, but it's $40. So I love that aspect of it and, like we were talking about earlier, I think if you are listening to this episode, thinking, oh, yeah, I could do the same thing with mine. I can do it.
Speaker 3:Elizabeth was saying and I can do what Taryn was saying and like, get those common questions and have a course or a podcast. That it's as easy as that. If you know all of those questions are coming in and you think, yeah, I have like a hundred podcast episodes I could create, then this is exactly where you need to be. Yeah for sure. So thank you so so much for coming to chat with me. I think this is going to be such a great episode. We have not had anything like this yet, from just a motherhood perspective, plus this whole online business thing that I know a lot of moms are doing right now or, wanting to do, thinking about it for 2024. So if everyone is interested in finding you and connecting with you, finding your course and your podcast, can you let everyone know how they can reach you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and thanks again for having me. It really has been a fun business conversation and nobody thinks business is fun, but it is fun. But yeah, if you want to connect with me, I'm over on Instagram at experience motherhood. If you want to learn more about my course or even my virtual coaching options, you can find all that information at experiencemotherhoodcom and I would love to connect with anybody.
Speaker 3:Awesome. I will make sure to put that on the show notes so you can get that easily. And until next time, thank you so much for listening to what your CPA Wants you To Know. Podcast.
Speaker 2:This podcast is intended to provide accounting and tax information for educational purposes only. All tax situations are unique and should be handled with the assistance of a tax professional.