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
92. Balancing Business Growth and Family Life: Setting Boundaries in 2025
Ever felt like you're sacrificing your family life for business growth? It’s a dilemma many of us face, especially as we navigate the complex demands of 2025. This episode is a reflection on the art of setting boundaries to ensure that our professional ambitions don’t overshadow the important moments with our loved ones. With three active kids, the conversation is about making intentional business choices that align with family values. It's about saying "no" when necessary, adjusting work hours, and hiring help to avoid the burnout that comes from trying to do it all.
This episode is your reminder that a business should serve your life, not consume it. With insights on goal setting and productivity, we encourage you to create a balanced lifestyle that supports your overall well-being!
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Also in in 2025 is putting your vacation on your calendar, just like you would do if you worked for someone else. You need to look at the year and say this is when I'm taking time off Time off for myself, time off for my family and make it happen.
Speaker 2:Welcome to what your CPA Wants you To Know.
Speaker 1: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 1: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 1: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 1:In a fun and easy to understand way.
Speaker 2:Let's get started.
Speaker 1:Let's do it. Hi everyone, I'm back for another solo episode, which actually I'm not very excited about. It's still hard for me to do these solo episodes because it's just I don't know. It's just one of those things that is very hard to do. It sounds a lot easier than it is, trust me, but, as we mentioned in the previous episode, it's getting a lot harder and harder for us to commit to this podcast, and that's what this episode is kind of all about today.
Speaker 1:It's about not just the tax and business side of running a business, but the side of the business that often doesn't get talked about. Whenever we're just glamorizing the part of running a business, like scheduling your own hours and being your own boss, and while all of those things are really great, sometimes the part of being a business owner that is really hard doesn't get talked about. So that's what this episode is about. Today. I did a little post on Instagram about the ins and outs for us in 2025 as business owners, and I think this is something really great to do. Even if you're not so keen on setting like big goals for yourself or starting the year with a new year, new me, there are still things that you can definitely talk about and try to fix in your business, and I think that you definitely should. Now for us, this needs to be a year of no. Now for us, this needs to be a year of no, and I think we've brought it up, you know, here and there on the podcast.
Speaker 1:But not only do we own a CPA firm together, we also have three little kids and right now those kids are busy. We have multiple sports and busy nights and all of that, and that's the season of life that we're in and for that reason we have to make some hard changes in our business and we have to slow down. And we've said this for the last couple of years of. We've kind of ramped up into this season, but just being here with the crazy amount of things that three kids can be going to or doing, with birthday parties and sports events and school events and field trips and fun runs and spelling bees and talent shows, and you get the gist of your parent, there's so much and we want to be there for those things. So we can't do both. We can't grow this giant business where we're adding employees all the time and managing people, and be there for all of those things for our kids. So our business, that we've spent a lot of time and energy and blood, sweat and tears building for the last few years, has to be put on the back burner.
Speaker 1:And that doesn't mean that we're not working in our business. It just means that we're not doing those big things that we were doing initially because we have to carve out so much time for our family. Now, time is one thing and we're all low on time, but another thing that comes up for us is just energy. So there's a lot of nights, especially when the kids were younger, that we would come back to the office after they went to bed and do more work. Now we totally could still do that, but it left us not having enough energy for the things that really mattered most to us. And maybe you're thinking that that applies to you too. Maybe you are spending too much time and energy on one thing in your life and you need to switch to the other. So for us, we were just finding ourselves more grumpy with the kids because we weren't getting enough sleep or just enough downtime, and that's not what we need for this season of life. We need to be ready to go and putting our best foot forward whenever we're spending time with our kids. So when we make decisions for this business, we have to make sure that we are putting our family values in there too.
Speaker 1:So if you have a small business, you know exactly what I'm talking about. So I guess this episode is to give you permission to have a no year too, because if you are always drowning in your business, then you need to make some changes, and there can be a million things that could fix that. But whenever we talk to business owners that are just I'm always drowning, I'm still drowning, and then you talk to them six months later they're drowning. Something has to change. What is that in your business that you can change? Can you change that by either hiring more help? Can you change that by fixing your hours? Can you change that by taking on less work? What needs to give? Because, unlike a traditional job, you're in charge and you can dictate change. So if your hours aren't working for you, change them.
Speaker 1:If you have a job where you're trying to work at a specific time but really you do better in the mornings, change that. I've even learned that about myself I do much better and my stress is much lower if I focus on the work and the emails, like earlier in the day, as opposed to waiting and getting some stuff off my plate with, like, the kids and school and all of that and then getting to work. It's way less stressful if I do it earlier. So for me that means getting up at six in the morning. Sometimes I know personally I'm not going to do good work and it's not going to feel good for me if I do that later in the day or if I stay up late, put the kids to bed and then work. That just doesn't work for me.
Speaker 1:So in for 2025 is getting rid of things that are not working in your business. Make a list right now. What is that? What is not working? What are you doing? Time and time again, you're complaining about it. You're are you doing time and time again, you're complaining about it. You're stressing about it time and time again. What is that and how can you fix it?
Speaker 1:Also in 2025, setting smart goals. So make sure when you're setting those big business goals, that you're actually incorporating your other priorities. If it's family, like for us, those business goals need to reflect your personal goals as well. I often have to tell myself that the entire reason we started this business was that we wanted to be very active parents. We wanted to be there in our kids' lives. We didn't want to miss all of these years. We didn't want to miss all of the important things in our lives. We wanted to pick them up from school and be at the field trips, and if I can't arrange things in my business to make that happen, then what was the point of even starting this in the first place?
Speaker 1:Also in in 2025 is putting your vacation on your calendar, just like you would do if you worked for someone else. You need to look at the year and say this is when I'm taking time off Time off for myself, time off for my family and make it happen. If you don't do it now, it will never happen. You have to put it on the calendar. We have learned that the hard way and we do this at the beginning of every single year. So do that now. Figure out when you need to take the time off, block off your schedule, block off your calendar and make it happen.
Speaker 1:Also in for 2025 is getting up from your desk and taking breaks. Now, this is something that I truly struggle with, because when I get sitting down and get in the zone. It's hard for me to get up and stretch my legs for a bit, but you can do it with me. This year I'm getting up from my desk and I'm going to go on a midday walk because, if anything, I know that's going to help my stress and I can see it on my aura ring. That I got for Christmas that when I do not do that, that I got for Christmas, that when I do not do that, my stress is much higher. So this year it doesn't matter. I can respond to that email after I get back from my walk. It doesn't have to be for an hour or two 30 minutes getting outside and stretching my legs.
Speaker 1:In 2025, we are going to stress a little bit less about the work emails and what needs to be done and take that time in your day to stretch your legs and have a little bit of self-care for you in the middle of the day. Also, in for 2025 is working smarter, not harder. So limit your distractions while you're at work. I promise you you can get so much done in a short amount of time if you're actually focused on what you're doing and I'm talking to myself too, not just everyone else. So put your phone away and if that means you only have four hours of work, make a list and get it done. Limit all of your distractions. Don't be trying to watch TV or listen to a podcast or do all of these things when you're trying to work. I promise you you can get a lot more done if you're focused. So for me, and I'm sure for everyone, we need to focus on being productive in the hours that we have available and limiting all distractions. So all of those things are in for 2025. But what is out for 2025? What no longer works for us in 2025 and we're not bringing with us this year.
Speaker 1:So number one is setting goals and forgetting about them. So we just talked about all of those things that we're going to do. You do have to have a way to remember and focus on the things that you're trying to change and the positive actions you're taking. Focus on the things that you're trying to change and the positive actions you're taking. So if you didn't listen, a few episodes ago we went over like how we do our goals and how we stick to them through the year. So if that's you and you have some goals, or you're listening to this and you're making some. Now write those on the calendar so that you can go and look at them quarterly. That way, if you fall off the horse, you can get back on and over and over again. Sometimes I think that is one of the best superpowers you could have is starting over, because it's fine, if you mess up, you're likely going to and just get back up and do it again. It doesn't have to be next Monday. If you can learn the superpower of starting over time and time again when things pop up a kid gets sick, you get sick, or things just pop up out of the blue If you can learn to just start over, no matter what has popped up, that is a huge superpower.
Speaker 1:Now, this is a little bit about taxes, as episode two even though I said it wasn't, but also out for 2025 is not setting aside a portion of profits for taxes. So if you keep getting yourself into this predicament every year where your CPA says, okay, you owe $25,000 and you're surprised, let's change that this year, because you should be setting aside profits either weekly or monthly or whatever works best for you, so that you know you have enough set aside to pay your taxes. So many business owners get into this really, really bad rhythm and after a few years, it's not surprising. After the first, second year, we get it. We understand it is a big adjustment, but after that it's on you. Make sure that you're putting it in your calendar. However, you need to do it to make sure you're setting aside money to pay your taxes if you're self-employed.
Speaker 1:Also, in 2025, what is out is working absolute crazy hours. Now, there's a time and place for that and it can't be every single year of your life. You started a business, yes, but it doesn't have to dictate your life. If it is taking more time than a traditional job that you would have, why are you even doing it? You are the boss, you are in control of your schedule. So, in 2025, working crazy hours is out, and I speak from experience. I know that's hard to change because we were in the grind schedule for years, working every single minute that was available to us.
Speaker 1:If Carson had the kids, I was working. If I woke up early, I was working. If the kids went to bed If Carson had the kids, I was working. If I woke up early, I was working. If the kids went to bed, I was working. If the kids were playing, I was working, and that's okay for a while, but you cannot sustain that for a very long time. So if you found yourself in a rut like that in your business, this is your sign to change it, your year to change it and turn over a new leaf. Business ownership does not have to be a pair of handcuffs, and you are the one that can change that. Change can be hard, but you're the one that's in control of the amount of work you take on and the number of hours you're putting in each day. If you are no longer in those hustle years the first years of your business and you're working these crazy hours and this resonates with you here is a little reminder that it's time to change, that. It's time to make some hard decisions and make sure that you're not only working for your business, but your business is working for you. So that's what's in for 2025. And that's what's out for 2025. So that's what's in for 2025. And that's what's out for 2025.
Speaker 1:I know this was a little bit of a different episode, but I thought this would be helpful to some new business owners. I know it's helpful to give myself some of these pep talks, sometimes too. So if you liked this episode, I would really appreciate you share it with someone else, or if you haven't already. We love some reviews and we haven't had any in a while. So come on, guys, we need some more reviews. Hopefully you will be hearing some more from us this tax season. We're still trying to figure out how to say yes or no to this podcast and where our time is best spent. So 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.