What Your CPA Wants You to Know

69. Building a Business You Love: With Josie of Love for the Littles

• Carson Sands, CPA & Teran Sands, MBA. • Episode 69

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Every now and then, we cross paths with someone whose strength is so palpable, it resonates through their stories and touches our lives.

Josie's story of unwavering love and resilience as she navigated the diagnosis of her third daughter's heart condition and Down syndrome is one you won't forget. Our latest episode offers a window into her world, where the simple act of crafting bracelets sparked a global chain of support. These bracelets symbolized hope and togetherness for people all around as her daughter braved the critical heart surgery. Josie's candid recounting reminds us that even in our darkest times, the compassion of others, can shine through.

Josie started her business, Love for Littles, a venture where passion meeting business. Josie's story captivates as she details how a personal mission evolved into a means of solace for families battling health crises. It's not just about the bracelets, but the bonds they foster. As her children contribute, taping these symbols of solidarity onto cards, we're reminded that business can be both a labor of love and a family affair.

Join us to hear how Josie started a business from passion and how she is making money while also supporting others along the way!

Find Love for the Littles Here:
Website: www.theloveforlittles.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theloveforlittles
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theloveforlittles
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theloveforlittles
Phone Number: (920)207-9453

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Speaker 1:

I have been able to heal myself and help other people heal. So there's just such the drive to keep going, regardless of the numbers that are coming in or what my taxes look like at the end of the year. I'm really grateful that that just doesn't matter to me as much as other people need to worry about that. I feel very fortunate that I get to just focus on the passion and help people as they need it. Welcome to what your CPA Wants you To Know.

Speaker 2:

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. I'm Carson Sands and I'm Taryn Sands.

Speaker 1:

I'm a CPA with over 10 years of experience helping people start and grow their businesses.

Speaker 2:

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 1:

We're here to share everything your CPA wants you to know in a fun and easy to understand way.

Speaker 2:

Let's get started. Let's do it. Today on the podcast, we have Josie, who I met in a business mastermind and I was blown away by her story and her business. Really, the entire room was actually in tears as she shared her story and I just knew that I had to have her on the podcast at some point. So today is the day. Thank you so much for joining me today, josie.

Speaker 1:

Well, thanks for having me. I'm so excited.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm so excited we could make this work. I didn't want to do a big intro because I wanted everyone to hear your story from you, so could you just start by introducing yourself to everyone first?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so my name is Josie and I have four little daughters. I live in Wisconsin and we had quite the surprise when I was pregnant with my third daughter. We didn't know we were having another girl. We were going into the 20-week ultrasound, going to find out if it was going to be a boy or a girl, and we thought that was going to be the biggest surprise of the day. But my husband and I were in for much more than we thought when the ultrasound technician just put her hand on my leg and said we need the doctor to come in. So the doctor came in as we were doing the ultrasound and she just looked at my husband and I and said there's something wrong with your baby's heart and I felt like the time just stopped. I didn't. I was so shocked. I don't even have the words to describe that feeling.

Speaker 1:

So after we heard that news, the next few days were filled with such fear and unknown tears, hugs. I had two little girls at home who were just two years old and one year old at the time. So the world kept moving on. But I didn't know how we were going to do that, because they still needed to eat and have baths and go play and I was just broken inside. So it was just a really hard time of life. But we found out that our daughter was going to have open heart surgery after she was born and then we also chose to do an amniocentesis to find out that she had Down syndrome. So that was just a lot of news to get when we were only hoping to find out the gender, yeah, so that was kind of intense, but I still had the second half of my pregnancy to heal, learn, worry, read, cry, share the news with all of our friends and family, and that was just really important to both my husband and I. We process things in different ways. I was much more introverted about it. I just wanted to go to my room and cry and he was the one who really took over, talking to people and he found the support from our friends and family where I just found the solace that I needed, just being home and with my other two girls. So, yeah, that was kind of what happened and that was.

Speaker 1:

I was a teacher before this and when I was pregnant with our third I decided I was going to stay home with our babies. And it turned out to be great because our little girl Maya was born, and we were. She was born healthy. She was supposed to go into heart surgery between four and six months, but around five weeks old, just brand new, she was starting to show signs of heart failure. So we knew we had to move much more quickly than anticipated.

Speaker 1:

And in the two weeks before her surgery I was sitting at my parents' kitchen table. My mom was there, my grandma, my sister and I my two little girls and I was holding Maya and we were just making support bracelets. So instead of those silicone, silicone Livestrong type bracelets that everybody had, I wanted something a little sweeter, more simple, more meaningful. So we were making these little bracelets that you tie onto your wrist with like a little heart charm, and we gave them out to everybody. And there was just something really therapeutic about making these bracelets, knowing what was going to happen. It just kind of kept my mind off of the surgery and what I could do right now, which was just love my little girl. So we gave these bracelets to everybody and on the day of Maya's surgery we asked everybody to wear the color pink, and that was the color of the string of the bracelets.

Speaker 1:

And on that morning everybody, so many people, posted pictures, sent us pictures of their bracelets. And that morning everybody, so many people, posted pictures, sent us pictures of their bracelets, of them wearing pink. It was all over the country, all over the world. We even had one of our friends who was stationed in Egypt and he had two of his friends and himself wearing pink. Yeah, it was just really, really special knowing that while my little seven-week-old baby at the time was on the operating table with her chest open and the doctor working on her little heart that was the size of a walnut, we were filled with such love and joy from people sending us their love and the pictures throughout the day. And it was an eight-hour surgery and that's a really long time to wait. So getting those pictures and getting that support just really passed the time and made us feel not so alone in really some of the darkest times of our life.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Every time I hear it I can sympathize so much. We were also told that our daughter was going to have the surgery when she was born and Everything worked out fine. But that's probably one of the scariest moments of my entire life not knowing what you can do. So I love hearing that.

Speaker 2:

I think that it shows so much tenacity and courage and the things kind of fell into place with you. You know going to be staying home anyways, and then this whole business that is started from just a giant passion that you have for this and the people in that situation, because I know that we've talked before about it's so hard for people to know what to say and do for you in that situation, and you gave them something to do, which is what everybody wants. They just want to help in some way, shape or form, and a lot of times that's not. You don just want to help in some way, shape or form, and a lot of times that's not. You don't want to talk to them on the phone or, like respond to a text. But these bracelets can really make you feel like you're supporting someone in a way that they can be supported in that time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that was really important to us too and we it was a gift. I didn't know I needed at the time giving out those bracelets, but it really was because people would ask, like you said, what can I do? What can I do? And I was like I just need the surgeon to fix her heart, I don't need anything else, I just need her to be okay. But then people sending us these pictures just brought such a lightness to, like I said, a dark time in our day, our life. And it was a physical way of seeing the community that you have too, cause you know, like you have your support system if you're lucky. But seeing the bracelet like we gave some to her nurses and even her cardiologist and I know her cardiologist cares about every single one of his patients but seeing that little pink bracelet tied to his wrist was like oh yeah, that's my girl, like he loves her too, you know. So it was just really important to be able to physically see that.

Speaker 1:

So that's when I, after all that was said and done, my husband and I were on a trip together, actually just kind of talking, and I wasn't sure when I was leaving, teaching, I wasn't sure what I was going to do after the kids were grown up. I knew I wanted to stay home, but I was worried about leaving teaching, because I love helping people, I love teaching, I love working with kids and with their parents, and I loved all of that. And so all of a sudden it was like maybe I could help people with these bracelets People who are going through a tough time. Their support systems can buy these bracelets. It kind of turns into like a little friendship bracelet that people will as I'm thinking about you, I'm just going to send you a picture and I've heard such great feedback from other families who have gone through heart diagnoses that it really means so much to them.

Speaker 1:

And so I decided to just try to become an entrepreneur. I guess I had no idea, I wasn't. That wasn't like a dream of mine to own my own business or anything. I just wanted to teach and be a mom. Those were that's what I wanted. And so now that I am an entrepreneur and a small business owner, I get to help so many people by teaching about Down syndrome or heart defects or how to support people or how to ask for support when you're going through things. So it just it does feel serendipitous that I get to. I'm still teaching, but it just looks really different, and without Maya I wouldn't be able to do that.

Speaker 2:

Exactly I love that. Now tell us how old is Maya today, how is she and what does your business look like today, years later?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So Maya is five years old, five and a half. She's in 4k right now. And she is just a half, she's in 4k right now. And she is just, oh man, she's amazing. She just brings so much light and love and joy. Like when we're walking around a store or the playground people will just like stop and watch her because she's just so full of life and happiness, she's doing so good and she's also one of the spiciest kids you'll meet. You know how she's feeling. You know like she'll let you know if she is mad about something or if she's happy about it. So she is just, she's just amazing.

Speaker 1:

And World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated in March, on the 21st, and I get to go into the schools and talk to classrooms about Down syndrome. So again, it just works out that, like having this business and having a daughter with Down syndrome and had a heart defect, that I get to still be in schools and still teach. So it just it's pretty amazing. And so with my business part it has been slow and steady. You know we're not very big. I always joke like I put the small in small business. But it's just really nice because, like when I have a mom sorry when I have a mom reach out to me saying, like I found your video at the right time. Thank you for sharing your story, thank you for selling these bracelets or giving these bracelets, like.

Speaker 1:

I just know that what I'm doing matters, and even if it's just to that one family, that means the world to me, and I feel so fortunate that I can do this as a stay-at-home mom.

Speaker 1:

I know a lot of entrepreneurs have to really make hard decisions about careers and all of that. I get to do this to help people and I'm so thankful for that, and I know that if I could spend more time, I could make it into a much bigger thing. Like my dream is to employ people with disabilities, give them meaningful work at a livable wage and have them help people too, because it's just a really beautiful life and world that we get to be a part of when you have a child with special needs, and so that's my big dream. I was hoping that by year five I would be able to do that, and I'm not quite there yet. I've been doing this for three years, so I have two years left to hire my first person that I want to hire, but it's just been really wonderful to be able to, that the business kind of can ebb and flow with what goes on in our life, because there's just always stuff.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's just stuff that comes up yes, kids and stuff, and there's nothing more important than being able to be a mom when you need to be there. So this just seems like everything kind of fell into place so that you can do that and also help so many people. I know that you are impacting so many people every day with just your orders and your daughters help you do this, too, right?

Speaker 1:

Yes yep, yep, I get to-. I love that. Yeah, it's so sweet. My older two, who now are eight and seven, a lot of times they're helping me either. They don't know how to quite make the bracelets yet, but they'll help me tape them onto the cards, because we personalize each card for the children who we get our orders online, so it's like a really personalized like we are sending all of our love to your family you know it's from my family to your family and the girls.

Speaker 1:

After we do an order, a lot of times we just kind of just take a moment and like put all. We always say, like put all of your love into these bracelets, and then we put them in the envelopes and then ship them off. So I like to think that the families can feel that and I've heard from people that it just means the world to them. So I like involving the kids in it and that they have a very good understanding of you know why we're doing it and how we're helping people, and it's just really neat that we all get to take part in it.

Speaker 2:

That is so neat. That is the coolest thing I've ever heard, and I just love how much passion there is behind your business, and that's not always the case. It's not the case for my business. I do love helping people with their businesses and it's a need, but it's not something that's just like near to my heart, and I haven't had anyone else on the podcast either that's had a business that is just they're so passionate about, and I think that I was trying to think of some other businesses like this and I know I've heard of them but the most life-changing and just craziest stories are the ones from people that created a business from a problem or a family member that needed it or something that they were so passionate about. So I absolutely love this and I love your story and I'm so glad that you're getting to share it today on the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Yes, well, thank you so much for letting me share, because I just you know you never, you don't think it's going to happen to you, right? You just never think your baby's going to end up in the NICU or something's wrong, going to be wrong with your baby's heart, but, but these things can happen and if not you, you might know somebody and you might not be knowing what to do for them. So it's these little things that really mean the world to families going through tough things. So thank you for letting me share this with your community.

Speaker 2:

Of course, I think there's so many things that this applies to. I have a friend whose mom has cancer and you know that's a long battle and just thinking of people in a time that they need to feel the love, even if they don't want to be around people, like you said, and they just deal with it differently. It's such a small little gesture that goes a really long way. So I think you're you are really onto something here and you can grow this business as big as you want to, and I love that you are planning to grow this and employ people and just keep it going. I love it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, thank you. And I do just want to say too, I make bracelets. My business is called the Love for Littles because that's what it was started with little kids, but I have made bracelets for adults. One of my good friends, her mother-in-law, is going through cancer and end of life care and so she got bracelets for their whole family. So all the grandkids, all the family wears these bracelets and I just know that the grandma or the mother-in-law, it just means a lot to her, because you know, especially moms, grandmas, we don't ask to help, right. We don't ask people for help and or say that we need anything, which is a whole other podcast, probably but with this it's just that simple way to see that people are loving you without needing to ask anything of them or them ask anything of you. So it's just a really sweet little thing. So just wanted to throw that out there.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I think it's perfect. 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 2:

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 checklists and give you things to put on your radar for the future as your business grows.

Speaker 2:

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 in the show notes to purchase the guide and use code podcast at checkout to use that discount. Now back to the show. So you make bracelets for all kinds of people going through all kinds of things and you have so much passion behind this business. That is so different than my business, like I said before, and I want to know how do you feel that this has impacted your job as a business owner? I know they really mesh together a lot, but do you feel it's impacted it one way or another?

Speaker 1:

It does because, as things have gone on, or if I haven't been promoting or pushing on social or pushing out posts on social media or able to make all the in-person events that I want to. You know, with businesses it ebbs and flows and as much as you put in, a lot of times that's what you can get out and sometimes I can't put that much in. Last year my mom had a bone marrow transplant and so she was going through cancer or the bone marrow transplant for her cancer that she had, and the business just really had to go on the back burner. So I would fill orders as they came in but I wasn't doing much to like expand the business. So then when my mom, she's doing great now she's cancer free, but as, yeah, so like as life kind of picked back up to normal, if I wasn't so passionate about helping, I might not have continued this.

Speaker 1:

You know, it would have been really easy just to kind of shut the door on it Like this great, I did it, I got to help these people. But now I'm moving on and life is moving on. But because I'm so passionate, I keep working through those slumps and like trying to like dig myself back out of those slumps, I guess, or holes that I've let myself fallen into, and so I just think that passion is what keeps me going. And then also, it's been such a good outlet for me, healing wise, to deal with the trauma of seeing your baby you know baby nearly passing away, or the idea that you were going to leave a hospital without her. Dealing with all of that and talking to people, I have been able to heal myself and help other people heal. So there's just such the drive to keep going, regardless of the numbers that are coming in or what my taxes look like at the end of the year.

Speaker 1:

I'm really grateful that that just doesn't matter to me as much as other people need to worry about that. I feel very fortunate that I get to just focus on the passion and help people as they need it and, as you can accommodate that in your life, I love that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly yeah, thanks. What do you think is the thing that you struggle with most on the business side of it? Everybody has like their pet peeve, and I'm always interested to hear everyone's different answers. But what is it for you, goodness?

Speaker 1:

gracious. It's pretty much all of the business part of it. Like I said, I'm not a bit like it's so hard for me to even think of myself as a business owner or a business woman because, like I'm just Josie, I'm just a mom who wants to help people and so you can. You guys can't see me, but I was doing air quotes during the. Just I know more than that, but just in my head I'm I'm just Josie, and so all of the business stuff, making sure I was. I'm terrified, like I was terrified before.

Speaker 1:

I had your little workbook and stuff too. I was like I won't do well in prison if I embezzle money somehow without knowing like this is going to be really bad for me. So it was all of those things that had such real implications. That really was terrifying. So your guide has really helped just make sure that I'm doing the right things and I have a wonderful CPA that we work with in Wisconsin and he is just wonderful and helpful. We've talked a lot about different options because I was struggling whether I should be a nonprofit or a for-profit and all of these things. So we're always kind of in talks. Eventually I'd like to turn this into a nonprofit, but it just was something I couldn't comply with during these little kids stages, so it's kind of a bigger picture item too. But yeah, the hard part about it is all of it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, all of it it seems like a lot. I know someone had messaged us saying that when they started this business, they just didn't realize the mountain that they were about to undertake. So it can be a lot, especially if you've never done it or you've never even thought you would find yourself in that position. So it can be a lot, especially if you've never done it or you've never even thought like you would find yourself in that position. So you're trying to figure out all of your marketing and, for you, your shipping and all of that. And then, oh yeah, taxes and all of those things. So it can be a lot, and I'm glad that you have a good CPA. That is always our number one tip Find someone who has a teaching heart. And then our guides too. It's great to just get a big picture. So most people feel like, oh, I just don't want to go to jail and hopefully that guide make you feel like I'm not going to go to jail, everything's good, I've got all of my boxes checked and I'm doing good yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, and it's funny too, because I made close friends with the people at the post office and you know, I think being passionate about your work too kind of helps, because when I'm talking to the lady at the post office, like she could tell that like I just need a little extra help here because I don't know what I'm doing.

Speaker 1:

I'm just trying to help Same with the CPA, same with business coaches or marketing, all of these things.

Speaker 1:

Like I've had so many people out of the kindness of their heart, like help me, because I'm doing this in a lot of ways out of the kindness of my own heart. Like I would love to be making enough money, like I said, to employ people, and you know I want to make it bigger, making enough money, like I said, to employ people, and you know I want to make it bigger. But for right now I was just kind of trying to make sure I was crossing my T's, dotting my I's, and that's why, too, like having a little bit of a slower build has been wonderful, because if all of these things happen and I was having these big orders or all this money coming in, I know I would have been super overwhelmed, because life is just overwhelming, especially when I have little kids, one with special needs, you know. So if I'm just really thankful that it's been very slow to be where I'm at right now, it's always just felt very comfortable. And the parts that weren't comfortable for me shipping, taxes, marketing, all of that I asked for help.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I love that, and that's something we always tell our clients is that it's best to grow slowly. For that reason it is so hard to tackle all of this. We see so many people just trying to grow too fast and it usually ends in either a large tax bill that they were not preparing for or hiring people too quickly. So I just love that you said that, because there is magic in growing slowly in any type of business.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I agree, and sometimes it's a little disheartening, you know, if you know like I was really trying hard with that thing and it doesn't happen. But again hindsight I can see that this has all just been the way it needed to be. So I'm very, very grateful actually for that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, especially, like you said, as a mom and with little kids they're not always going to be that little and you're going to have more time and brain space and just be able to put more into the business when you can't now and you never get the time back with kids. So I feel like being small whenever you need to be small is great, and some people maybe look at that badly, but I don't see that thing at all. I think that your family is the most important thing. So getting to grow slowly now and you have the rest of your life to expand this business and make it bigger, and right now you're just setting up all the little things that have to be in place to grow bigger anyway, yes, yeah, that was also important to me too, because I know I want, I wanted it to be secure, just like a house, just like a relationship If my base is secure, like the rest can be built upon it.

Speaker 1:

And so like making sure that all of these kind of littler steps that seem really, really big, you know, but like breaking it down into bite-sized pieces, making sure that everything is you're doing things correctly. So I'm not surprised by a huge tax bill or something like that. My first year I didn't realize I was supposed to pay taxes. Even though I didn't make technically make money, I still had to pay sales tax. I was like, oh good, good to know, figured that out when it was just, you know, I think it was like $87 or something that I owed. Okay, well, that's good. Now I, now I know that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and just getting into a group of those things when are your due dates and how are you going to do that and when are you going to put it in your schedule? All of those are very overwhelming. So if you're trying to start something large with zero processes in place, it rarely goes very well.

Speaker 1:

I could. I could see that happening.

Speaker 2:

So what is one very small or even a big goal that you have for your business in 2021?