The World is Your Office with Jelena Arkula

Welcome to Accountants Law Pod, where accounting professionals and law firms converge. Hosted by Lynda Artesani, Sarah Prevost, and Stephen Libhart.

Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. And this week we have a very special guest that I think Sarah's probably known longer than me, but I've known for a very long time as well. And we're calling this one The World is Your Office. Because that's the beauty of the world we live in today. We can actually work from anywhere and nobody really knows where we are. And Steve's a great example of that. So Sarah, I'm gonna let you introduce our very special guest today.

Oh my gosh, this lady has been a rockstar in my world since the moment we, it was one of those kindred spirits like Lynda and I, like the moment we met, it's like, oh, this is awesome. And Steve, to be truthful. Helena was, part of a group that our dear friend Seth David was— is the mastermind of, and we had the fortunate opportunity to meet and realized how many likenesses we had in our personalities and were very directly well-spoken. When we decide to say something, it just comes right out. And I always admired her thought process around integration. Tools, how to— she just jumped. When she gets one, she's in it. She quickly assimilates it, decides if it's going to work for her and moves on. I'm like, whoa, that— I want that specialty trait. But it, you know, as life goes, we get busy. We kind of check in once in a while. The conferences make it so. And then pandemic hit and I was like, where in the world is this beautiful lady? And she just decided to hit me up one day and we started a Friday morning connection, just to check in weekly, see how we're doing to make it through this pandemic. And so my beautiful friend Helena, who is sitting somewhere in the world, somewhere in this beautiful spot, somewhere in the world, and gets to join us today and talk about travels and working and all the mastering tools that you've done through this process. You've given me some great tips, by the way.

Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, you all. So I'm actually currently in Croatia. It's pretty much has been my kind of like a second home since pandemic. And so I was always prone to travel and I liked it. I remember back in 2008 was when the first time when I went to Dominican Republic, I had a good friend there and I was thinking to myself of like how cool it would be for, I can, you know, I can work from there and not really be, not really be tied to the office. Tools weren't available back then. The internet was horrible and I was just kind of like thinking about it. And that was usually my thought process is to kind of envision where you want to be and then try to work yourself backwards as to kind of how to get to that point. So it took a while because most of, most of the QuickBooks that I worked with was desktop and was just kind of hard to log in and what have you. My first client, it was 2009, was when I switched over to the QuickBooks Online. It was not as great as it is today, but it got me to the point of thinking as to kind of like, uh, how to get to that. So there was a lot of obstacles at that time. I was able to connect, but then the banks were not allowed it, or, you know, and then the introduction of a VPN came about. So, uh, over the past many years now, um, I have developed this, uh, thing because I always wanted to travel. I'm originally from Europe. 25 years spent in States, and I always lacked that. I felt great, and I love LA, and I love California, and I love States, but it just— I always was missing that part of being able to be surrounded with my extended family, my mom, and just to kind of be able to pick up and go and just work anywhere I am. And so I was traveling back and forth. I, you know, I decided to back in 2000, I think '16 or so, there was a Running Remote conference in Bali. I was like, I'll just go there. So it was a, I created an ongoing, outgoing message saying that, you know, I'm gonna, it was a 2-day conference, but stay there for a month. And my outgoing message was, I'm going to a conference and then I'm gonna, uh, I'm gonna practice what I just learned, running remote. And so that's how it came, kind of came about. And then Summer 2019 is when I decided to take it a little bit longer, next, a little bit for a few months to go to, to stay in Croatia because it's beautiful Croatia. We have Adriatic Sea here. And then I decided to kind of like, I'm just gonna stay through the holidays towards the end of the day. And then there was a Qubic Connect in March of 2020 in London that I was just thinking, I'm just gonna do that as well and go back to States. Then pandemic happened and then I kind of forgot to come back to States. And ever since that, I've been traveling around the countries in Europe. I was just recently— last week I was in Barcelona. This year I think I went to London, and last year was in Paris, and then surrounding countries anywhere I can go with a car. So Italy, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Austria, just kind of— I'm losing count. Those are the maps that—

That's beautiful. That you're—

Yeah.

Exactly. I mean, gorgeous.

I love it. I love this. I love, like, I don't know, I'm just traveling around right now, but you still do your— you still have your clients.

You still— Absolutely. Absolutely. So when I came— I'm happy to come back.

Yes, we're happy to come back.

That's kind of cool. Exactly. So when the pandemic happened, I have a very good— I have awesome roster clients. Some of them left over the years, as they do. Some of them came on board. I'm very upfront with with, uh, with my clients where I am. I use Practice Protect, for example, for, you know, uh, so for security reasons. And I have a team here as well. And, um, so all of my clients know that I'm here. And, uh, the way I present it is, is to kind of like— I don't, you know, few years back before I came to, to, to Europe, my thought process was instead of me trying to driving to client's office and losing time in traffic and not having the Ermahmiller chair and not having the tools that I actually can have, the huge screen and what have you. When I used to go to clients' offices, I would be asked to answer the phone, to just sit on a wobbly chair, to be in the front desk and just, it just, you know, didn't make sense. So I was very firm and nicely but firm as to what's the, what's the best use of me. I, I can give you my services the best way when I'm surrounded in an environment that works for me and where I can give 100% and not spend time in driving in traffic and what have you. So that's how it kind of came about. So all of my clients were very much used to us working this way, and I'm very, very, very strong on paperless, cloud only. And the reason for that is because I, early in my life, I realized I'm dyslexic. I have English as a second language. I'm a horrible typer. On my iPhone, I say, you know, I speak typo. And most of my friends who I speak to, they already know as to kind of like, I'm just going to make mistake and I'm fine with that. So that's just it. This is how the package is. And with that, the clients that I already have, they're used to that. So they know that they will get good reports. They know that they will have a quick response from me. They will, they know that what they will get. What they will not get with me answering the phone all the time, being on a, on a call whenever they need to, everything can be done. So I don't have particular niche for the clients, but one thing that is a requirement for me is the client has to be technology okay. In my contract, it says that I can actually connect any apps that I want approved, of course, by Intuit or Xero, what have you, because I support both. So with that approach from the get-go, when I have a client, I always say, you know, and I forgot what her name is, a wonderful lady, the puppet, um—

Oh, Ingrid. Ingrid.

Ingrid, yes, yes. So I, I, I, I heard her once saying that, um, I, you know, whenever I have a, a conversation with the client, what I can offer, and if they're coming back with a, you know, can you do this, can you do that, and I kind of have— this is what we would be— would we have I know I'm not, uh, probably the most, uh, expensive one. I'm definitely not the cheapest one, but I know, I know I always deliver more than I charge. And with that approach, if they come back, then there's no question about prices. They just know what they get. And this, you know, we work with Keeper, we work with—

Yes.

The new app, you know, the different apps, uh, the file exchange just makes sense for us. So, and that kind of Those tools helped me tremendously to be able to just pick up and go with the tools that I have and have a laptop and have the 2 extra monitors that I'd carry around with me, the portable ones. Yeah. A little bit more expensive, but they're awesome.

Actually, I wanted to get that link again so we could post that.

Yes.

That's— I've seen other people do that. But you, you brought up some, like, there's some tidbits in there, and I know Steve, We've talked extensively privately with Steve about his travels around the states with his Airstream. I almost said Airbus. I don't know what my problem is with this.

Everybody always calls it an Airbus.

You've done extensive work with internet. And I know from my personal travels, and Lynda had this too, when we both went to Europe, we augmented our schedule to work like you do, Helena. And we, internet was the big, one of the biggest pieces in this having reliable internet. And I can't imagine being in Bali and traveling. I mean, but the title, like the way that you said, what's the best use of me, I feel like is the pivotal question to be asking a lot of ourselves at this juncture in our lives. And Nicole McKenzie actually wrote this whole piece, Lynda, on LinkedIn about we are not the firm that picks up the phone.

You answer the phone and I told you I don't. My voicemail says I'll maybe get to my voicemails on Friday.

I know. I love it. I mean, you see, I, some, I, because I recognize some phone numbers, other phone numbers I don't bother. I mean, there are a lot of calls that come in. Nope, not happening.

If I'm gonna go to Bali, I'm not working. I don't think I'm gonna work. I don't wanna bring even a computer if I'm going to Bali.

Right?

But I was there for a month, so I was able to actually, so. Yeah, I was there for a month and it was amazing. So yeah, I mean, the one thing that there, there are some obstacles with traveling. So for example, here in Croatia, I currently have 4 different carriers. So I have my, my iPhone has the T-Mobile from States and I have another T-Mobile for here from Croatia. And then I have another phone which is Android because Europe is very much better for Android. I have another carrier and I have a Google Fi. And so out of those 4, one of them will have a 5G connection that I can usually use for my hotspot. I don't rely, when I go to the particular, you know, Airbnbs or what have you, I would ask about connections and they'll always say, you know, we have a great connection. Yeah, it works for Netflix, which means downstream is great. Yeah. But for us, which is extremely important, is having a good upstream because when I'm using the Zoom call like this one or when I'm in QuickBooks, and few other programs. I need constant communication. Downstream is great, but then if you test your connection, it might be great for downstream, but then upstream is just like 5. That doesn't work for me. So I can't, you know, so when I ask, you know, when I go to somewhere, I usually ask a host to go to Ookla and just to test it out and send me a screenshot so that I know exactly if I can test it or not.

That's a great idea actually. Show me that it's—

Yeah. And, uh, the UOKLA or something, the testing, uh, website. I haven't had to test this.

So you must spend on internet because of the traveling you do. You think that you have a higher cost because you're traveling? Yeah, but it's an investment.

I don't, I don't. I mean, it's just T-Mobile has a good coverage for, uh, throughout, you know, so T-Mobile I may basically use because that's my, my US, uh, uh, phone. And so depending on which country they are, I usually use the Connect, but then I have— I'm lucky that I'm in European Union. So anywhere I go in European Union, I have a good connection because it's just kind of— I don't have roaming in any of the European Union countries.

Oh my gosh.

So that's great for that. But a tip as well, this summer I booked what I thought was a beautiful place in the island Hvar in Croatia. And I asked them about do they have 5G? And then she said, the host said, they only have 4G and it's excellent. And when I booked it, just out of the, you know, kind of, I don't know why, but I, so I, I turn on the, this is a business travel because I work anywhere I go, right? Mm-hmm. And I got there, the connection was horrible. So I was able to call the Airbnb, uh, uh, customer service and I basically said, listen, I'm here. I, yes, it's a pleasure, but I also have to work and I, I don't have a means to do that. And I was able to actually get a refund, which was unheard of for me for Airbnb. But that helped me out because that was my non-negotiable. The first thing I asked her was about the internet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have clients in Croatia.

No, I don't.

I—

Everything's okay. Everything is US. Everything is US. I don't— and you know, one thing that's in Croatia and pretty much all the countries, most of the bookkeepers, accountants are both. So they're pretty much all— everybody's like CPA. And I'm very strong in, in, in, I, and Sarah knows about it. I have this kind of like when I talk to the clients, I have this because it helps me to make analogy on a lot of, a lot of different parts. So one thing when a client calls me and asks me about questions, what I can do and what I can do it for them. So this is what I say to them. I am a nurse. I'm a head nurse in charge. I make sure your chart, your financials are pristine, everything where it's supposed to be. But if you need question about prescription and diagnosis, please don't ask me that because this is your CPA. For them to make a decision, they would need to have an excellent chart and to be able to just not to spend a lot of time looking for it. So everything was supposed to be— oopsie. But if you ask me to prescribe and diagnose, it's the same thing if you ask for a nurse to prescribe a diagnosis. If you run into the nurse who's going to do that, please make a U-turn and run. Same thing with me. So please, you know, I will advise you on as to what I think you can talk to them or what I see it. I know about payroll and sales tax, but anything else, I don't have the picture. I don't claim to have. I don't want to have. So your financials are going to be the best you can get and then you can talk to your CPA and have no question about that. So that's how I have it. And this part—

You know, great way to put it. Just simply put.

Yeah.

You're the head nurse.

I am head nurse in charge.

I know every time Sarah comes skipping along with another, I found this software, and then I say, how'd you find this one? Oh, Yelena showed it to me when I'm like, ah, did you, did you tell her about being cut off that you're at a maximum this year for all the software changes?

Where are the squirrels? We've got their squirrel.

I know I don't have my squirrel in here.

I do.

The kitten was trying to kill that.

We test a lot of things. We share a lot of information. That really came out of being that we're all alums and originals of Seth David's.

That's, yeah.

Really initial group.

It's ma—

I mean, we're still a part of it. It's just really a definitely a different group. It's grown quite a bit. And I'm so glad for him. But that original group is like you unpack live, you test it out. Does it meet your criteria?

I actually met Seth David when I decided to become a bookkeeper. I was a banker for quite some time and I was really good at it, but I just was not happy with working weekends, especially not working the Fridays after Thanksgiving. It's just not going to happen. It's just not me. You know, Friday and Saturday and what have you. So Exactly. So I always wanted to do accounting. I was taking accounting classes and what have you and just kind of switched over to accounting. And then after, in 2008, I was laid off from a production company where I was a staff accountant. And one of the vendors who was an IT guy who was working for the company asked me to be his bookkeeper. And that's how I kind of started. I didn't really seek for a job. I would just kind of organically float into that. That's great.

Yeah.

And I kind of came across the meetup in the West Los Angeles area, and there was an evening dinner with ProAdvisors, and it was organized one Thursday a month, I think it was. That's where I met Seth David, Kathy McQuiggan, Cheryl Jacobson, and a few others. And we kind of had this— you meet up at the local mall. There was like a conference. We bring our dinners and we just talk about it. There was new apps, and that's how I kind of you know, got into the bookkeeping and I heard about the conferences and that's where it all started. So I'm internally thankful for Seth David.

So the, it's the community. We've talked about this collectively.

Absolutely.

Like how Steve has transformed his world. Lynda and I obviously been transformed by a lot of conferences and a lot of meeting community. I mean, we're, we're a byproduct of meeting on Seth's thing as well. And joining forces. Um, but it— Steve, I think you're— when we first off camera, when we were first talking, you were like, oh my God, that's so cool, you're in Croatia. But it's probably the same thing that happens to you when you're traveling. Like, wait, you're— you, you're running your business in your— I'll say Airbus. Like, it's— isn't it amazing? Like, that you— there is a way to to make it work.

Absolutely. You know, the first thing I have to say is, is, is, Helena, will you marry me? You are resonating with me so much this morning because it took me several years to build my remote business away from my office that I'm in this morning. In fact, I'm leaving tomorrow and I'll be working from the road for another 10 days. But you know, some of the differences that I've I've discovered here is like, I can't use my phone as a hotspot to link to in most of the places I go. So I had to go ahead and beef up the, the internet by using a, a piece of equipment called a Pepwave. And the Pepwave, you may have heard of it, it works off of SIM cards from the phone company. So I have the T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, and I'm on a flat rate plan of $130 a month that I can turn on and off depending on if I'm traveling, which is way cool. And if, you know, if like I go to a convention, I can just unplug the Pepwave out of the Airstream and take it with me, put the little antennas on it, and I have it there. And I always— people are always wanting to get on it so they can do their work. Works really well. So you're really resonating with me on a lot of these things. You know, um, VPN— a VPN is very important.

Oh, huge, hugely important.

And so, you know, I've got 2 VPNs that I can use depending on what kind of reception I'm getting. And also Starlink just announced last week that they're coming out with another antenna that's about the size of a small laptop. So what is that going to do? Oh my gosh. I mean, you could take your Starlink with you when you travel, you know, think about that. And so you're music to my ears this morning. I was like you, you know, I've been doing this almost 20 years and it took me from 2017 to now to be able to completely divorce from QuickBooks Desktop. And going to people's offices and doing all of that. You know, Lynda, this, you know, should speak to you. And, uh, you know, it took, it took all those years and it took all those trials and errors to make it work remotely. But I've only been one place where I couldn't get reception, so that's not bad.

Yeah, yeah. But you, you touched on a really important topic. The, the VPN is, is, oh, an extreme, extreme— how it— because There are, there are some issues with, uh, so for example, Bank of America, they're just starting now in the past couple of weeks. I think they're changing, uh, they changed the login. So we've been having some issues locked out here and there, but, um, for many, uh, for about a couple of years or so, uh, I was not able to log in unless, uh, with a VPN. However, yeah, EDD and, and few other sites that, you know, some of the banks I have to have a VPN. So I use the app that has a dedicated IP. I can add that. So I use it, it helps me to, to have my own VPN and on all my devices and just to use a dedicated server where I just turn it on and then from there I log in. So that's a huge, huge, huge, that's a must. So basically a good internet connection, VPN.

Awesome.

And having an extra screen as well because working, you know, if you're used to on a huge screen, at where you are and then you're traveling and you don't have extra. And what I found that iPad doesn't work well because it's losing connection, especially if you have to log into your hotspot, then it just, it's not doing very well. It's, it works great when it's, when it's on the same network. But if you have to, if I have to connect my laptop on one phone and my iPad on another phone because of the downstreams and upstreams or have you, then I'm gonna lose connections and just doesn't make sense. That's why I have my extra screens, which are—

What about texting codes? What do you use? I've never asked you about this. I didn't know.

Google Voice Mail.

Yeah, but it doesn't always come through for me on Google.

It does for me.

Yeah. 'Cause like Chase works sometimes depending on, like some of them work, some of them don't on Chase login. It's the weirdest thing. I'm like, why?

Are you using it like a voicemail? It calls and leaves a voicemail?

No, just text code comes through the text code.

I have Google Voice too. Yeah, it's, um, okay. I never thought to ask you this, Lynda, because not everything is over VoIP.

Yeah, I mean, the, I, I have my US phone, which I'm never gonna lose, and it just, you know, it is what it is. And so I, I have some of the sites, they're not able, I'm not able to use Google Voicemail, but for majority stuff, I'm just gonna use the Google Voicemail. But then I have a T-Mobile as well, just kind of as a backup. But I prefer not to do that because with the Google Voicemail, I can use it with my team when we have to log in. We use Practice Protect and then, you know, get texts and what have you. And so it works well.

Oh, that's awesome. I know she's like a little bit further ahead of us with Practice Protect. That's what I was telling you. I'm so glad some upgrades that are coming. Ooh.

These are the screens. So basically it just attaches on the, on the back of the laptop. So like, you know, so, and then you are able to extend one and extend another one.

Oh, so that's almost like your big giant one.

Yeah.

And then you have two screens.

What brand is that?

And they're pretty good. Good question. Teamgee, G-E-E, Teamgee. I don't know what it is, but I, I, I'll send you a link for, for them. It's, it's, it's pretty cool. I mean, it works great. So I wouldn't travel without it.

Like Sarah, she has the, she has a, we all got the screen covers so that if you're on the plane, somebody can't be like looking at your data while you're working, it blocks it. So we all have that too. So when we travel, because I've had that happen where I'd be writing, I'm writing like my book and I look over and I could see the person's reading it. I mean, maybe not QuickBooks they'd be that interested in, but they were definitely interested in reading my book. I was like, uh, I kept turning my body towards the corner because I'm in the window seat.

Yeah, that's how I knew somebody was like, oh, do you, are you in accounting or something?

Mm-hmm.

Because I look at both.

Where is the branding?

I was looking around.

Have you found that, I know one of the things I found to touch back on something that you were talking about where the clients, you tell them, you know, you're traveling and where you're at. I do the same thing. I'll let them know, hey, I'm going to be gone the next 10 days, but you can still find me. I'm still there, I'm still online, I'm still working on your project. Our team is doing this, our team is doing that. You can call, whatever. I found, and I wanted to see if you have the same sort of response, I have never had a client say, oh, that's terrible, this is awful, you know, you can't do that. They are so supportive of it. They love that they're working with someone who gets to do that. And there's been many times where I've inspired clients, you know, get up and walk away and go do your work somewhere else.

Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

I'll get up super early in the morning in a campground somewhere in the mountains, and I'll do my work, and the sun comes up, and I go outside and go for a hike, and I've already put in 4 or 5 hours, and then I can come back later and do something and go for another hike or whatever. The clients love that. They love hearing those stories, and I love it when we bring it up in the podcast. I'm so thrilled you're here. There's another one out there.

Oh, yeah. Well, I mean—

Absolutely.

You, Helena, you're the one on top of it, not just security like we're talking about and all the measures you take. I mean, you really, like, it makes you as an accounting professional of any type pause and think, 'cause we have to work wherever we can. I mean, that's just the nature of what we're in. We're in a global community at this point with the way that we all choose to work. But you also, you stay in touch with the tools. Like, you introduced Keeper to us. And got us invested in it. That's how that started in that whole technology. So it— you, you should probably speak to how you stay outside of just you and I futzing around and talking on a Friday morning, how you stay connected. What do you do while you do these travels? Because it is so US-based for the outside looking in, and I'm learning that from you. There's a lot that happens here and it feels— Yeah. FOMO, I think, at times.

Yeah, yeah, it does. I've been feeling that, you know, for, for, as, as we talked about it before, uh, that I'm not, you know, not being on the ground in US, kind of like I'm losing, you know, few things. But then I'm realizing, you know, some of the stuff that just— I have internally curious mind and I am always looking to help myself with, uh, as I mentioned before, you know, being dyslexic and being, um, it's not— it's more like a condition. It is what it is. I just know I have it. And because of that, I'm not just gonna be able to, you know, type in front of anybody else. Or I know when I speak and I listen to myself after that, I might not have the correct words when I actually meant. But, you know, as long as you can understand what I'm talking about, it's fine. I allow myself to think it's fine, right?

Mm-hmm.

And so With that, the way I have it is my, you know, I try as much as I can to figure out how to help myself and how to help my team as well. And so when the ToolsKeeper comes along, they emailed me. I don't know why, but I kind of tend to have this, when it makes sense, I'm always open to hearing something. I hate sales pitches. I cannot stand when it's like, you know, when it gets spam with the emails. It's like, you know, guess, you know, new shiny toys and what have you. But if it's really genuine and they're like, hey, I just wanted to see, you know, run this by you. There's a new app as well that I'm testing right now that it's not great yet, but it's getting there really, really fast. And I texted you about it. I'll show you. Yeah. So it's something that I'm always curious because I will always have 5, 10 minutes of my time to stop and think about it if it's going to help me or not. I, we tend to be super busy and just completely focused on a task to lose sight of everything else. But end of the day, if I can actually, you know, take back 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes of a day, and just to kind of stop and think about it, write an email, think about it, and then come back to it and figure things out. And then things come, come to my, you know, being a business owner, you never really shut down. It's always running in your head. So I, I do, you know, have this thing that I always say, like, uh, think backwards, not forward. And the way I always pretty much, um, think of anything in my life, my business, everything, I kind of envision how cool it would be if I was able to do that, you know, if I was able to travel. And then I would imagine myself being— I was able to, to travel and like, what would that What do I need to have for that? I would need to have a good connection. Okay, so then I have to look for countries that will have a good connection. I would need an extra monitor, so I need the portable monitor. I would need, you know, I would need security. I would, you know, so I would get basically kind of work backwards to where I am standing now. And the path that I envision, it's never perfect. It's never the same. But just having the thought process on your way towards the imaginary place where you're thinking you're going to be. you get to adjust it. So that's why I like, again, not to think, uh, forward but backwards. Because when you're thinking forward, in my, uh, in my, in my way, I, I'm, I used to think as to like, I'm not getting there, I need, you know, and focus on one thing and just lose sight of everything else. But by being open to what's available and having, being in tuned as to what is out there and being an outlook for, for new apps or new solutions like Keeper. Keeper is such a game changer for us. I mean, we were able to complete 1099s by January 10th, which was unheard of basically just because we were able to, and I was able to do that while I was traveling. And so that's how I kind of open— I'm pretty much, I have to say, like I'm open to it. To, to, I'm always looking for new things because when we think about it, all the tools that we have, one thing that, you know, the app that I love, love, or maybe loved was Hubdoc. I was a diehard for them. But when, when they purchased, when they were bought by Xero, the interface changed, my use for them just ceased to exist. So I'm not using for QBO. So I love them, love, love, love, love, love them. But they're, you know, I have to, I'm not an owner of any of the apps, so I cannot control how they develop themselves.

Right.

I have to be okay to adjust the same way that it makes sense for me today. I cannot count it's gonna happen and that I have to, you know, it's gonna be there 5 years from today because I don't know where I'm gonna be. So because of that, I have to be open to constantly involved and just to test it out in my head and with my, with my tools and my, my clients if it makes sense or not. Dext is one of the things that I was using heavily. Not anymore because I have other, other places. So it just kind of like, I just being able to adjust myself to, and our, our practice as to what is currently happening and to be open to if something else come along, can we use it? If it's, if this makes sense. And that helps me to stay current, I guess. So, and with that, you know, and that helps tremendously.

We're traveling. You have a team too. You're like, kind of like Lynda and I, you have other people that have needs and say, say in this as well. Steve, Steve, it, we found, sound very similar in that it's kind of collective too. I'm looking at this, I want to implement it, or I hear my team is asking for it. And I mean, you adapt to those.

Yes.

Yeah, I'm extremely lucky. I have, I have 4 of us on team, but one of the, one of my senior bookkeeper, we've been together, I think, 7 or 8 years. And she's amazing. Yeah, amazing. She's in Serbia.

Yeah.

And she's, she's such a good— she has an amazing analytic mind. So we're similar in some sense and some of them are completely opposite. So whenever I have an idea, about an app or what have you, I always run it by her because I would like to have her input because, you know, I just, I just need to know how would you, how would you feel about that? And I'm always, so if you don't like it, please let me know because both of us have to work it. I might like it. If you don't like it, then you're not going to use it that much. And then it's not worth it. It has to make sense for us.

You've done, you just hit on something. You've done global before global was a thing. Isn't that cool? I mean, be— and that's what I'm saying. I'm— it really is that there's, outside of what we're— financial commitments and requirements of what we're supposed to do as citizens, there is— we— this market could serve us anywhere. I mean, we have— we know of people that have teams all over the world.

Um, yep. And multiples.

I enjoy the fact that you've always— that's why I've said, like, when you taught in 2017 in LA, you were talking at the time about Rocketbook and how informative and how much it changed for you because those notes could quickly go in and, and how much has changed since then.

Yep.

It's amazing. And now technology and what AI is doing, and we were just talking the other day about how much AI is going to shift this. And Lynda, I think you said 5 years, right, Lynda?

Yeah, I mean, it's just gonna be so fast. You can see it, you can see it coming.

Yeah. So to, to that point, to be relevant is to be open. But I think the biggest part, um, and where you and I always have aligned is we have a certain way of— I don't want to call it boundaries, but we have a certain way of the way that we choose to interact. It's very, um, professional and strong-minded, but without judgment and without like, it's my way or nothing. It's without control. It's just very much like, hey, look, I've got this. I know what I'm doing. I'm that professional. And just knowing what's— what works, like what you said, what works best for me, what's the best use of me, I think is something that maybe just doesn't get formulated enough in our minds. But I know, like the other day, Lynda Artesani and I were talking about something and I looked at her and I said, Is that the best for us? And she's like, no, it's not. I'm like, great, then that's our decision.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So small. It's such a small— these small words make such big impacts in our world. And I thank you for all the times that you've helped me and vice versa. I know that we've, we talk about this. We— Steve actually started doing this with us, collaborate on maybe how you read something from a client. That might not be so great.

We don't necessarily— Having that available where you've got somebody, doesn't matter where you're at, you can just bounce it off of them. And we did that this morning. I shared something with you guys. I was like, okay, this finally came to closure. And you were there in the beginning when I was freaking out about this particular thing.

Oh, yeah. I know.

And now it's come to closure and it's been fine. You were there to help me through it. I loved that.

Yeah.

And we're not like, we're in a network, we're in a community together. We're not, you know, business partners. It doesn't, it's not like we're disclosing certain things. We're just, hey, the intention. I think Lynda's, Lynda and I, I don't say we take for granted, we just know we're so dang fortunate that we have that moment together. And we've more inclusively, like you, Helena, we involve Nicole more and more. In the beginning, it was like we didn't want to burden her because she's learning. Now it's like we want her input. We want our team's thought process. We don't want to feel injured. Yeah.

So, and they like helping and they could have a good perspective.

So it's definitely—

Well, you know, they're seeing, they're deeper into the books than we are.

Yeah.

Yep.

You know, absolutely.

That's what we want.

Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And there, there was a, I forgot to mention because Stevia asked me earlier and I think it was important as well when you mentioned, and I apologize for not, about how the clients react when you tell them you're traveling. I was from the get-go basically when I had, I have few clients who are over 10 years with me and so they involved pretty much, but most of the clients, you know, in recent years, even before I was I forgot to come back to States in the past 4 years. I basically was very upfront. And one of the things that I— and I forgot, somebody mentioned this in a conference, and that's why I love the conferences as well— is the sentence was, having a bookkeeper is like a marriage. Both parties have to be willing to be in it. So that's kind of my stand, how I— when I approach the client, and I always tell them that, you know, if when I'm talking to them, if if they're asking about the price or what have you, my comeback with that is always, am I the only person you're talking to? If not, then business owner to business owner, please do yourself a favor and talk to at least one more. I prefer to be chosen and not the only option because both parties have to be willing to be in it. Right. It's more like a marriage.

Yeah.

You know, so with that stance, they know where I'm standing. So when I told them, it's kind of like, you know, because we tend to kind of, when we're changing things about the practice and environment and location, We tend to, because we're in all of that age when we were, that's how we were talking when we were kids. You're, you know, asking for permission.

Mm-hmm.

I'm not asking for permission because this is my services. I, I'm allowed to change. I'm allowed to, to, you know, I'm, I know I will not change what I'm delivering. I'm gonna change my location, maybe hours when I'm delivering. And it's absolutely fine if you don't want that and if the client doesn't want that and wants to move on. I, the way I, uh, we create files, the way we name, you know, our naming culture, and everything else is pretty much ready to go now for somebody to be disengaged. That keeps me in a— Wow. My mindset is completely just, you know, we have the files, everything is pretty much downloaded, all the payroll reports, everything is— we have the name of the client, the way we use it, if it's a bank, last 4 digits of the checking account, for example, and then 23-'09. Would be for September. So it aligns perfectly, you know, and we know exactly where everything is. So with that, if somebody wants to disengage, this is where your files are. And that not just puts me at ease that if I'm okay with that and made a decision, that it's absolutely fine. There is no emotions in business. But having that stand, I think it kind of resonates with the clients as well because I'm not coming across as like, please keep me.

I'm—

it's absolutely fine. So it's just easier to just, just to engage with another client or, you know, most of our clients have been with us for over 5 years, but some of them are, you know, come and go. And that's absolutely fine. As you know, one would change the— one wants to change the relationship, you should. You're allowed to. You have your business, you have your business, but you have your business and your business is a decision maker, the same as I am. absolutely fine. So I have no problem with that. But most of the clients, when I told them that I came here and I'm staying here for during the pandemic, everybody was like, good for you. I'm really happy. Please be with your mom. Awesome. Because my mom lives in the same building as I do, 9 floors apart. So is that the important differentiator? Yeah, I'm on the 18th floor. She's on the 9th floor. She's— We don't see that. We oversee different sides of the building, but, you know, she's close by, which is really helpful. But we have a, you know, I have my own place.

Yeah.

And, but having that is, all the clients were very happy. And because the services delivery did not change, I was probably maybe more available because it was during the pandemic and I was, I was new in a country and I was just here and I was tied to, you know, because of quarantines or what have you. So I was there for them. It didn't really matter where I was from, but they were really happy that my, you know, if some, if I developed a good personal relationship, they were really happy that I was, that I was satisfying my, my emotional need to be close with my family during the difficult time. So if that's something that resonates with them, great. If it doesn't, that's great too.

I think I'm going to guess that you probably got a lot more confidence when you decided on this lifestyle. Absolutely.

A lot more confidence.

I'm hearing that from you. And number 2, I really admire that it's what, 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon there right now, and it's 8:00, 9:30 in the morning over here. You have this advantage in your business that you can do your work and you can have it all to the clients when they wake up and go to their office in the or whatever. That's awesome. And that gives you a sense of confidence too, because there's that delay in time for them to answer and get it back. And it just, you know, you're kind of in that cycle where you can appear to be answering really quick even though it's just a difference in time zone. So good for you.

Good for you.

I know, isn't that nice?

Yeah.

Lynda, I mean, Lynda had stuff done when she was, uh, traveling, and at one point she was like, okay, I just— I, I— she wanted to be connected, so she would do these moments, and then I wake up and I'm like, oh my gosh, I gotta get ready to read all this, right? Or I gotta get ready to do— but it was— I was— she mentioned how nice it was. I'm like, I know, it was really for me a pleasure. And similar to what Helena probably does, you have your work, how you work, and then I had to accommodate my evening up to a certain point. Which is fine because in Europe you eat later. The mentality is different as far as your lifestyle, so you accommodate that, and it works actually for us really well in Europe.

It does, it does. I do have to say that I kind of, because of the pandemic, because of the lockdowns, and because I was, you know, when I came here, I had my cousins and so forth, but didn't have maybe like the personal relationship, which now I do have. And so I was, I devoted myself and I kind of dive myself into work. So I was, I was working pretty much a lot of hours. So my goal recently has been— and I spoke to you about it, Sarah, a couple of times in the past couple of months as well— about that my goal for me for next year is to have a little bit more of a work-life balance and to be able to have like 10 days complete shut off and just to be, you know, not be— not wear my iWatch and not wear— not have anything, which I— it's not that I cannot do now. It's just I'm so used to having the Yes. It's a comfort zone for me to be there and to finish pretty much all the projects that I need to have 110% of my brain capacity for me. I can do that when nobody's calling me and nobody's ever emails or what have you. And then they all know by 11 PM, which is about 2 PM Pacific time, I probably will respond. After that, I'm just not, I'm not good. I'm just not answering. I'm not. Yeah. It's just I'm not. Yeah.

Yeah.

It is what it is.

It is what it is.

Yeah.

I know. We've just— I mean, I've brought Lynda into a few of our meetings. It's great because you're kind of— you feel when you travel and somebody in our— somebody who we all know that had been doing this for some time too, he and his wife left, I think, Australia and did this whole travel thing. How do you make it work? How does it happen? How do you do this? And when you do these small steps, these small dosage, Steve, to your point, you gain some sort of confidence of like, oh, this is not that hard. You just got to get really savvy about it. And you got to lead with security and protection and understand where your limitations are. Sometimes you just won't know until you get there.

So—

You know what struck me? I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you know what struck me once? Because, you know, being living in LA and being in a from European country. And then the first time I came to visit was 5 years after. So I left in '95, and the first time I came to Balkan area, to Serbia and Croatia with Javi, was in 2000. And it was extremely emotional for me because I was just— I was longing to come back. And then anytime I would come back, I would have such a huge anxiety preparation, trying to figure out and like buying a ticket and buying this this and buying that. And then I would come to the point where I would be sitting at the airport and I'm thinking like the one thing that I was—

the—

I'm sitting at the airport and I'm seeing all the people like on Tom Bradley, for example, in LA, and anybody has a security point, uh, at any given time in 48 hours, all these people will be who knows where in, in the world. And that's a significant— of the, of the step toward traveling was such a like, uh, It was huge in preparation, but that moment where you get on a plane and just go, that maybe 10 hours, 12 hours later, you are somewhere. How many times we binge watch the Netflix show for like 10 episodes at a time, right?

Yeah.

I could be in that time somewhere else. So it was more of a pushing myself and putting the strain on myself of thinking like it's a huge thing to travel when it's not. Is just pick, you know, the only thing you have to figure out, you know, you have a few things for us if we want to work VPN connection, what have you. But if you have reviews and we have just pick up and go, that anxiety should— because we just tend to stop ourselves and overthink so much about it. Like it's a huge deal to cross the border. It's not.

Yeah, it's not hard to cross. I like crossing the border. I love it. Oh, well, I'm sure we'll have like tips and tricks from you listed, uh, with the show notes of this. And, and Steve will have to add in some of the ones that you mentioned as well. I just can't thank you enough. I mean, I, I really feel like just the friendship, uh, just everything, it's been so— it's just such a nice thing to be able to— and also be connected. To understand what's happening globally, to see from your perspective, you get the benefit of both in some ways and reconnection.

So—

You know, I'm sitting here looking at the map behind her and it's so cool.

I know.

Look at where we are. 10 years ago, we couldn't have done this.

Yeah.

We are currently in a meeting with somebody in Croatia, somebody in Florida, somebody in Denver, Colorado, and somebody in Portland. And here we are all connected in all these different time zones doing our thing. We couldn't have done this 10 years ago. How cool is all of this?

It is. Yeah. And we're fortunate to have it for sure. And living, like you said, living for us and then taking the anxiety off, take that, looking at it through a different lens, I feel like, and allowing yourself those opportunities. That's a, that's the big yes in you. Like that's the confirmation for yourself. So I love it. Thank you.

I guess the message here is if you think you've been thinking about doing it, do it. Life's too short, right? Just go for it.

Yes, absolutely.

Maybe forget to come back.

Maybe forget.

Although I'm coming to the States next month.

Yeah, she's coming to Connect, so we're going to get to see her in Connect.

Oh, you are?

That's fun. Oh yeah.

Now you can marry her there. You'll be in Vegas.

Perfect place, Steve.

Yeah. Yeah.

We'll get married there.

We'll get married in Vegas.

We'll get married in Vegas. Let's do an Elvis wedding.

I can't wait. Yeah, I'm coming up to 4 years, 4 and a half years. I'm coming back to States. Um, and, uh, yep, so I'll be there for, uh, 6 weeks or so. Uh, LA, Vegas, and maybe who are elsewhere, we'll see. But yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

Maybe Hawaii, maybe elsewhere, who knows, wherever the wind blows.

Exactly.

What's the beauty of, of adopting it and, and accepting it? Like You know, for us, it's, it's family related is why we go to Europe. So I love that.

So you haven't been in a long time either, Sarah.

Yeah, since the pandemic. And I really want to see my father-in-law. So I'm looking forward to that for sure. So awesome.

Well, Tiara, wake her up because it is early.

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Awesome.

Thank you, Helena.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. And thank you for being, uh, agreeing to, to wake up early for me.

Of course, my friend. Of course. Yes.

Yeah.

I was so nervous. I was just like, I was freaking out a bit because it was, this is my first podcast, by the way. So just so you know, I'm Yes, thank you. Thank you for having us.

It was great.

Thank you so much.

You're leaving when? Tomorrow morning.

Okay, he's gonna let the wind blow him away.

I'm going up to Ouray, Colorado for the Fall Colors Rally.

Oh, that's right. Yes, I'm excited.

So I saw a picture from my friend in New Hampshire and the leaves are turning up there already. So, and it's about that time of —It's actually—

Yeah, I want to leave early tomorrow because all the leaf peepers will be out and I want to get—

Yeah, but it is beautiful. Pictures, pictures, pictures, Steve.

I will, I promise.

Yeah, that's always— yeah. Well, bye-bye for now, friends, and thank you. Bye-bye.

Bye.