How to Keep More of the Money You Earn with Kelly Ward

Let's just talk to the person who maybe right now is stressed about money. What's the best way I can start coming back from that?

The best thing is to get a plan for your money and tell it what to do instead of it telling you what to do. So many business owners are having the exact internal conversations with themselves and like, you are not alone at all.

Money is like one of the ultimate stressors and it doesn't have to be. We just have to have people like Kelly in our life. Kelly, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so excited for this conversation, you guys. I just told her it's so much fun when I've gotten to get to know somebody before the podcast. Not only have I known you obviously from our Mastermind this year, but you and I got to travel together.

I know.

Like, we got to literally travel the world together.

That's right.

On one of my friends, Rob Murgatroyd, and his wife Kim, they put on these incredible trips, and Kelly and I have been able to spend a lot of time on those trips together, and it truly has been just so much fun. And I always know, like, if Kelly's there, it's gonna be a good time. And you're also somebody who just, for anyone who doesn't get to be with Kelly in person, you have such great energy, you're hilarious, you're so much fun. You're someone who just I immediately can drop in with. And those are the type of people that I'm like, I just, I'm like glue with them. 'Cause I'm like, okay, you make me feel great about myself, you make me feel funnier, and I get to laugh the whole time.

Exactly.

Thank you. So I just wanna, I wanna like say that first, because you're also very adventurous and you absolutely go against the grain of what you do for a living. So Kelly, you're a CPA, you are a real estate investor, you own your own firm, you also have a charter company. There's like other things that you do on top of this. You're one of the people who, like, when I got to meet you and drop in with you, I was like, you You're just, you keep surprising me. And how is this all happening? And so I think, you know, today's chat I'm very excited about because that, that is a special kind of person, a special type of entrepreneurial brain. And I also know that you are like, uh, you know, we've had a chats about this, which we can share this. I believe we can take this out if you don't want this in here, but like, you're also the, uh, the strong one in your family. Like you have broken the mold. Yeah. You've broken a pattern. Like A lot comes with that. A lot comes with that in your personal life. So Kelly, tell me about, for everybody listening, like tell me about your day-to-day. Tell me about your CPA business.

Yeah. Yeah. So, um, right out of college, I moved up to Alaska, to Fairbanks, Alaska, actually. Um, at the time I was married to a guy in the military. We actually got stationed before or right after I accepted his proposal. Probably best. I would have prob— I would have made it up here otherwise. Um, but 20 years later, um, Alaska has, has been like a great place to kind of like, you know, build and grow from. But I was really good at numbers growing up, and this is going to sound super nerdy, but all of you fellow nerds will understand this. Anytime I would have a new calculator around, I would add up my two phone numbers because, you know, we had our main phone number and then we had our sister's phone number. So I'd add up the two phone numbers and it always had to come out to be 1650-7293. And that's how I knew the calculator worked. I don't know if anybody else checks their calculators, but that was, that was like, okay, something's wrong with you when you start doing those things.

I can say I've never done that, but I need you in my life. So keep going.

Yeah. So I just, I really liked math. I, you know, I took Calculus 1 and Accounting 1. And I was like, well, I could either always be a teacher or I could maybe do something with this accounting thing. Cause my parents can't add 1 and 1 together and get 2. So they definitely weren't helpful in like the direction.

Hmm.

Um, and I moved up to Alaska. I called every firm in the phone book, literally back then. And, um, one of the guys, He's like, well, I don't really need anybody to help me, but I mean, I'm old. It'd probably help make things a little bit easier. And being from Mississippi, what sealed the deal was he had hold music that was country. And I was like, I have found my people. This is my place. And so fast forward, that firm I've been with since I moved here, and now I own that firm. So it's been 20 years. And what really just kind of the great thing about working for him for those first couple of years before I took over is he let me run with it. He knew and saw in me that I was interested in technology. I didn't want to stay grounded just in Alaska. So it was like the first year I was there, I had it set up to where we could work remotely so I could travel. Especially having, you know, family 4,000 miles away. So that was like one of the first things that we really, I really like leaned into. And the other thing is just the relationships. Anybody that's been an accounting major or knows much about the accounting industry, we have like the Big Three, the Big Four. And so in college, people push you, you got to work for the Big Four, you got to work for the Big Four. Yeah. You know, you got to get that on your resume. And so that was always my intention is, okay, I'll go to Alaska, I'll work for this small firm, and then I'll follow, you know, my ex-husband somewhere and I'll work for the Big Four, and that'll be what I do. And it was like 7 to 8 months in working with these small business owners, and I was like, there is no way I could go from helping people and realizing how it affects like their children's lives to being on a team that works on a corporate client who no one knows who you are and you change, you know, seats every year and all that kind of stuff. For me, it just didn't feel like that was the path. And I'm, I've never regretted that. I'm so glad that I accidentally ended up in a small town in Alaska and found this path.

Okay, so what's so cool about you is that you're like, okay, if I'm going to live in Alaska, but I love to travel, I really wanna make this work. Like honestly, for most people's brains who are super, like you say, nerdy, which we love, we need them.

Yeah.

Love a nerd, I need you. I absolutely like need more nerdism in myself. But you also look at your life, like what is the quality of life going to be like?

Yeah.

Have you always been that way? Where did that come from?

Yeah, so that actually, I was not always like that. Depending on if you were on a trip with my mom or my dad, it was either Destin, Florida, and New Orleans, or Disney World. I'm pretty sure I went to those places 7 bazillion times.

Wow.

Because they were all driving distance from where we were in Mississippi. But it was honestly, it was college when we found out, or graduating when I found out that we were going to be moving to Alaska. I completely, and this is like, you know, sounds a little naïve, but I really thought I would just be like everyone else and build a family in Mississippi and be there the rest of my life. And as soon as I hit Alaska, well, we did drive through the United States. I wouldn't recommend or not recommend that, just make sure your relationship is solid. But anyways, once I got to Alaska, it was just in that week-long trip, I'm like, there's so much out there. That I cannot even like fathom. I never would have known that, you know, and getting into Alaska in the summer specifically, most of y'all know there's like, it's the midnight sun. The sun is not setting right now. So right now, you know, it's summer now. And so I'm like, you go to sleep at 2 a.m., the sun is still up. You go to a bar, you come out at 3:30, the sun is still up. So it also puts a whole nother thing on love life. But anyways, I digress, but it's one of those where it's just, there was so much to see. And that summer, that very first summer, so immediately when I moved here, I made up a, um, plan to see one new state, one new city, and one new country every year.

Mm-hmm.

And so like, that's basically what I've done is that's been my intention is just to do something new. Cause It's crazy. It was— if you go, if you've not been to a lot of states and you go to one new state a year, you still, you're looking at like 40, 45 years depending on how you visited. That's— it just, it's so many people don't get to experience like life and stuff. And so that's where it started. And then it just went deeper and deeper. And, you know, it's like now I've got the tattoos of airplanes and all that kind of stuff because it's just, if I don't, had a suitcase packed or the air, the trip in my, my apps, my airline apps. And I feel like I'm like gonna go insane.

Wow. So you have to have that planned because you just have that spirit of like, I need to go see, I need to go learn.

Right.

I, I guarantee that that has had a big impact on your business in a great way. Tell me, tell me the benefits of that in your business.

Yeah. So I mean, honestly, the benefits are experience, culture, understanding, empathy. I mean, I could kind of go on and on because what you're, you know, when you're traveling, I'm going to hole-in-the-wall hotels maybe, or hole-in-the-wall restaurants in a, you know, a town that's got a population of 60. And then I'm going to like these nice hotels when I'm at conferences or events and things like that. And what you're—

what I'm—

constantly looking at is thinking about my clients. I swear I think about my clients more than they ever think about me. It's really weird in the middle of the night when you're thinking about them. And so, but I think about, you know what, that was such a great idea. I bet this person could apply this, or I'm thinking about the numbers. This restaurant is absolutely massive. What is their overhead for like one night? Like, you know, how many guests do they have to get in just to cover, you know, cover their payroll costs. So it's thinking about those things. But because I work with so many industries and so many people across all of the United States, I have clients all over the US, not just Alaska. It's— I think it helps me to better educate my clients. And also, I'm a huge advocate of education and constant education. And so if I see something that's out there, it's like, Oh, Let's bring that back. Or like I said, like, what can we adapt and add to somebody else? And unfortunately, Alaska is a little bit behind the times on, on some things, a lot of things actually. And so one thing that it has done to my advantage is it's allowed me to really bring some things to the space, the business space that others in Alaska haven't necessarily seen or experienced yet, and kind of to be able to be an advocate or a leader in that. Especially like social media. We were the first CPA firm to be on social media in town, you know, and it's like, that's— doesn't seem like a big thing now, but back then it was like no one was on social media. And it's like, well, if you're searching and somebody's asking for a firm, we were the only one you could tag, you know, kind of a thing. So just small things like that. And then like same thing with COVID we had to pivot zero because we had everything already set up to be able to work wherever. So we had no changes to our policies, processes, and things like that as far as the day-to-day, because we had already been working that way.

Wow. Yeah, there's no time that I have traveled that I haven't brought something back that I'm like, fresh perspective. Oh, wow. People are going to love this teaching lesson, podcast episode. Like, I always, you know, I actually struggle when I'm not doing new things, kind of like you where you're like, I'm itching, you know, to pack a bag. I'm itching for learning something new, going somewhere, seminar, a new friend who can bring new perspective. Because when you're built like that, and when you are, when you are a builder, you are very aware that new things make you better. Like, new perspective, new entrepreneurs, new conversations. Like, it's just going to improve everything that you're doing. Okay, so speaking of the fact that you have the freedom to travel, you are great with your money because you're—

Yes.

Yeah.

So let's talk about that. For somebody who's feeling really just overwhelmed, um, by money right now, what's the first thing that you would tell them to do?

Summer's almost here, and I know so many of you are trying to plan the vacation, the family trip, the girls weekend, or even just a few days where you can actually unplug. But you don't wanna spend your whole time wondering if you're overdoing it. Did you overspend or quietly falling behind on your goals? And this is where financial clarity changes everything. Because it's not always about whether you can afford something. Sometimes it's about wanting to make a decision from peace instead of pressure. You wanna enjoy the trip, you wanna book the dinner. Yes to the memory and know that your money is organized before you go. Monarch is the personal finance app that tracks everything. Accounts, investments, savings, goals, and spending. Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off, just $50 with promo code EYH. What I love about Monarch is that it monitors your money so you don't have to carry the mental load of checking multiple accounts. Mm-hmm. Accounts, guessing where everything went, or realizing after the fact that your lifestyle expenses crept up more than you thought. It's like having a financial advisor in your pocket. Monarch helps you see your cash flow, savings goals, investments, and spending patterns all in one place. Most apps only tell you what you've already spent. Monarch helps you set the goals, map out big purchases, and see if you're actually on track before it's too late to adjust. You can ask Monarch's AI assistant anything about your finances, like, how much did I spend on travel last summer? Or can I afford this vacation without touching watching my savings. And the AI weekly recap can flag spending spikes, net worth shifts, and upcoming expenses so nothing sneaks up on you. Because money clarity is freedom. And this summer, I want you to make making memories with peace the priority, not mental math. Use code EYH at monarch.com to get your first year at Monarch Core half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at Monarch with code EYH. Are you the person or the friend who is constantly planning everybody's travel, but you actually love doing it? And maybe even in your spare time, you are looking at different places you could go and what you would do on that trip. Maybe you're thinking of having the business, but it feels a little bit complex because a lot of people wanna start a business, but you get stuck in the complexity of all of the challenges of starting up your own business. Fora removes that barrier by giving you a fully built foundation so you can focus on growing your own travel business, not the logistics. Fora is a modern travel agency platform designed for entrepreneurs who want to build and scale their own travel business without starting from zero. It combines technology, training, and supplier relationships into one unified system. As a travel advisor with Fora, your subscription gives you access to industry-leading booking and payments infrastructure, operational tools, and comprehensive training so you can launch and grow your business efficiently from day one. You earn commission on every hotel, cruise, and travel experience you book, turning client bookings into a scalable income stream. Many advisors begin with their existing networks and expand over time. Fora is built to help you launch quickly, operate professionally, and scale with confidence without the traditional barriers to starting a business. Become a Fora advisor today at foratravel.com/earn. That's foratravel.com/earn and make sure you tell them we sent you. foratravel.com/earn.

The first thing that I would say to do is to look at your numbers. And I would say this like for individuals that do or don't have businesses and then also business owners, of course, it's even more important for business owners. But I think the, like, the reality is unfortunately, historically, generational-wise, we haven't talked about money, you know, parents to children and things like that. And so, you know, even like younger kids right now, they see their parents, grandparents, whatever, go up and, you know, tap a card or swipe a card for groceries or at the, you know, movie theater or anything and everything. And they don't understand that that necessarily correlates to cash money.

Right.

Any kinds of things. They don't have the feel. And so, you know, really it's kind of taking it back to that concept is when we're swiping, we're not, we don't, we no longer have as much of an emotional connection to that money as if it was physically in our hand and we were passing it over. So I would say to look at your numbers. So like I said, for businesses, obviously you should have bookkeeping software or something like that, but not just what's in the bank. Like, what are my numbers actually telling me? How am I doing this month? You know, what's coming up? We, you know, for individuals, we all know Christmas is the same December 25th every year. Like, it hasn't changed ever. You know, like your husband's birthday is the same day every year, your anniversary. All of these dates are the same, same time every year. So you can plan for those instead of, oh crud, like next week is like, I got to get something for Chris. And, you know, it's like scrounging. But what I would tell people to look at specifically with their numbers is their bad decisions. So one of my favorite things to do with my clients, um, especially like if they're struggling to either grow or if like their personal budgeting is not great, is I tell them to make a category called bad decisions and put your transactions in there or like those expenses, smoking, maybe drinking too much, like, you know, dip, like all of those kinds of things, put it in like the bad decisions category. And coffee, getting a coffee every morning. Like if you actually looked at those numbers and how much you're spending on that, then at least you're educated to know that you're doing it. Mm-hmm. And unfortunately, a lot of people are not looking at the numbers, so they don't even know how they're in this situation. Because they just have it blocked.

Hmm. So when you're like, when you're at first just kind of unraveling that necklace, like going, okay, what do I need to start doing? So that's the first place. Like, what are all of these extras?

Yep.

Okay. Yeah. The bad decisions, which really makes it quite blatant. Thank you so much for that. I'm like, oh, got a few of those.

Okay.

And putting it in that, what would you say is the next thing if someone's like, okay, I'm very aware on that. And like, I know I'm doing some bad decisions.

Right.

How can I start coming back? Let's just talk to the person who maybe right now is like stressed about money.

Yeah.

What's the best way I can start coming back from that now?

Yeah. I mean, realistically, the best thing is to get a plan for your money and tell it what to do instead of it telling you what to do. And so, I mean, there's a lot of different systems, um, you know, envelope system. This money is for this, that kind, you know, this, this money is for food and drink for the week or for the month, that kind of a thing. But it's like the stress is a lot of time comes from those unexpected challenges that pop up. And so if we are planning or we're working on planning that out and laying it out, then those unexpected things are less likely to pop up because you've got this savings account set aside. So I would, you know, it's like, it's the old motto to pay yourself first, putting aside as much as possible. And everybody, depending on your financial situation, that's gonna, that's going to differ. And I would say in that, it's very, very difficult for us to not compare ourselves to others, but everybody is in a different place and you don't have any idea that you may be really like, you know, you're trying to keep up with the Joneses, but the Joneses had everything financed, you know, to their teeth and like they don't own anything. We don't know everybody's background story. And so essentially just really like telling your money where to go, but paying yourself first. And another thing is like, as far as like debt, things like that, is laying it out, looking at the interest rate, your monthly payment, you know, all of those things, how long you have to go so that you can get that plan. And you're not just like, it seems like this piece that's out there forever. It's like, okay, well, I got an extra $50. Let's tackle this credit card. And then now I've cut 3 months because that was the interest that was earning each month or something like that. So the knowing the numbers and then planning for the numbers.

Mm-hmm. What's the, you, you get to see a lot of businesses you work. How, how many businesses do you think you've worked with throughout your time doing this?

Um, thousands. Uh, I mean probably somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000.

Yeah. Wow. So you've gotten to see behind the scenes of so many businesses. What's the difference between people making income and the ones that are like actually able to rack up money?

Honestly, I know it sounds like silly, but really it's It is being proactive rather than reactive.

Okay.

Unfortunately, like, what I'd like to say here is that most people think that they're doing things that no one else are doing. Like they're having struggles that no one else is having. And it's, you know, like, why me? Why me? And things like that. And, and what I'd like to say is that so many business owners are having the exact internal conversations with themselves. And like, you are not alone at all. And so asking questions is huge to, you know, it's your business. Like, take control of it by asking questions. Don't feel like you can't, you know, ask questions of your accountant, of your advisors, things like that. But the proactive piece is, because if you're not, if you're not actively looking at what's next, then we're always going to be having our money tell us what to do because, well, it happened, it's gone, it's over with, that kind of a thing. But if we change the pace and we start looking at next quarter, then you're able to know what's coming ahead and saving money, putting money aside for, you need this upgrade for your system, or you need to, you know, you're going to do a new marketing campaign or something along those lines. You've got that laid out. instead of trying to, you know, figure out what you're going to do after the fact. So, and that really, I play that a lot into the tax strategy sides of things because, you know, so many people will come in and I'll ask like, how did your year go? Da da da. And it's, I don't know. Well, if you don't know when you have a business, it's, you're not, you're obviously not looking at the numbers. And so like changing that and having those conversations to where you know where you're at at all times, and then you— or it's easier and easier to dictate and to know where you're going, especially for planning purposes when it comes to, like I said, tax strategy and things like that. You know, if you come in and you— the numbers have you owing a lot of money, there's not a whole lot of things I can do after a year is over with. There's a few strategy items there, but not much after year-end. If you come in in October and it's like, hey, I had a good year, um, I am worried about taxes, then we have 3 months to look at, you know, all these different strategies that we could apply, um, and maybe even build on to get you to where you may be saving $10,000, $20,000, $30,000. I mean, hundreds of thousands depending on the size of your business and what you got going on. And it's literally just the timing. It's looking forward instead of looking backwards is the biggest thing there.

A lot of the people listening are, are small business owners. They're entrepreneurs who are in year 1 to 5. Some have been at it for a while, but essentially the small business owner.

Yeah.

Um, what would you say to them if they're a little bit lost on even questions they should be asking right now? Like, oh man, maybe I don't have a full grip on my numbers. Maybe I don't understand that there is a bunch of money that I could be, or that I might be leaving on the table right now.

Yeah.

What's a good thing to be asking? And is it feasible to be like, hey, I want a once a week meeting with my advisors? Or what does that look like?

The one thing that, you know, every business has in common is everybody has to pay taxes. For any industry, any business, any individual. And so when you're looking at, you know, who is important as far as like advisors and things like that, I mean, obviously, um, I've got a little bit of a preference there, but it's like, I think your accountant, your CPA, your tax person is your most important person. I say this a lot, which sounds a little weird sometimes, but it's like, I am in your underwear drawer. Like, I know everything you got going on. I know, you know, where you're eating, if you're healthy or not, you know, like if you're paying for a gym membership that you're not using, like. what subscriptions you like. We know everything that's going on, and we're one of the only people in your world that probably do know that. And so that person that is in those numbers looking at your stuff, whether it be just at the end of the year for taxes or a continual relationship, to me, that's the easiest person to get that advisor reset, right, advisory relationship set up. But I would say that there, you know, unfortunately nowadays we don't have enough CPAs. And so there's such a diverse range of CPAs. Most of the people nowadays, it's like kind of that the old stereotype, stereotype from when I started, everybody's like the old white guys. There's a lot of that. Most of them are going to die at their desk, you know, it's just. They don't have a plan, um, for anybody to take over. But there's so many that are out there now also that are not continuing to educate themselves, things like that. And then you have those that actually do care, and there's a lot, of course, in the middle and all that in between. But what I would say is, these people, again, they know so much about you. Would you be comfortable going to dinner with them? Yeah. And talking about it. Or like, I mean, if you feel, if you feel like you're going to the— sorry, dentist here— but like, if you feel like you're going to the dentist to see your accountant, like, that's not a good thing. And I, like, for me, relationships are so important. So it's like, it's funny because most of my clients have become friends and vice versa, just because it's like, it shouldn't be so scary. Like, you want somebody that's on your team pushing you forward. with that educational knowledge about your books and stuff like that, instead of someone that's fighting you. I had a client once tell me that his old CPA was so excited because they finally got him to pay $1 million in tax. And I'm like, do they work for the IRS? Like, what, what was like, I don't, why would someone ever want to make someone do that? And so it's like, I think, you know, going back to your question is, is having somebody that can help you with that. Because CPAs, you know, or tax strategists, again, find somebody that you can communicate with, that you, you can actually trust there. But they do bookkeeping, usually they do payroll, they can help with taxes, they do the advisory, they can do the strategy. And so that's a lot of those main areas. And then because of the relationships and, you know, in communities and things like that, they're probably the ones that you could ask ask for advice on an attorney or an insurance company or things like that because, you know, it's, that's their arena too, is, is knowing who's supporting other, other people in the community or otherwise.

Yeah, I, I literally can't imagine, like when I first started Closely, I was like, I need financial people in here immediately. Like, give me a CFO. And I, I think the thing that I learned with that was just how much they are capable of doing and how much you can use them. So one of the things that, like, I want small business owners to hear is you're probably underusing your person, actually, because of usually the wealth of knowledge that they have in all of these little pieces can tend to be put together nicely by one human instead of having it all over the place, or you think you need to do certain things. So that was That was something that was like really exciting for me is going, wait a minute. Oh wow. They can really help with a ton of stuff and, and utilizing that. But I didn't learn that until I really sat down and had meetings with them of like, what do you help everybody with? Like, tell me holistically in the business, all of the things that you do and like, what, how can we, like, I just wanted to utilize that to the maximum.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, totally. All right. So. For small businesses, what would you say is a like normal meeting rate to really get in there and learn about your numbers with that person? What should those meetings look like?

Ideally, you would have those meetings, and again, part of it is gonna depend on, you know, kind of like affordability and stuff like that. But really what you need to be looking at is, as a business owner, you need to be looking at your financials, honestly, daily would be ideal, but with someone I would say monthly at the least, and then quarterly more in depth as far as like the tax strategy aspects and things like that go. But you need to understand like some of those key numbers, your gross income versus net income, you know, if you've got inventory, that inventory is, is a big factor for a lot of companies obviously, and that can be a big swing. Um, what your payroll numbers are compared to your income. You know, for us, for service industries, obviously your payroll number is going to be a lot higher than somebody that's got retail where then you've got a higher cost of goods sold compared to maybe the payroll. And then also a lot of people, I don't think they, like, you want to, when you're looking at your marketing numbers, what are you actually getting in return? So like, do you have a way to track your return on your marketing spend? ? Or are you just putting out Facebook ads and hoping for the best? Like, do you know what your close rates are and things like that? And a lot of accountants, like just, you know, traditional accountants or somebody that does a tax return, they don't want to know that stuff about your business. And so I think that's again where it really comes into like finding someone that will like advocate for you and your business and that relationship. I feel like that's That's the thing that I said earlier, but it's like relationships to me are just the most important thing. Cause it's, I think about my business, um, like, you know, I have staff in multiple states. And so it's like, what do I want? What do I need? Kind of a thing. It's like, if I've got to deal with insurance, it's like, I want somebody that I can call, you know, when it's of course, like last minute and something happened, you know, and I'm freaking out. That's what you want is you want somebody that's going to be on your team and that's willing to like be there, not somebody that's going to, you know, take off for a few months and you're not going to get an email response. I mean, that's unfortunately one of the things we hear the most is like, I never get a— I never get anybody to return my phone call or return my email. Or the second one is they never talked to me about my numbers. They just told me what I owed, you know? And like I said, there's a million great accountants out there. We just don't have enough. And at the end of the day, it is your business. And it's like, this is your baby. And this baby can like literally produce or provide, you know, uh, like wealth and stability for your babies, your actual babies. And so it's like you should be putting as much effort into that, into the numbers specifically, because knowing the numbers is going to help you run your business better anyways.

Mm-hmm. So we see a lot of, you know, we work with entrepreneurs, we get to see this a lot, and then you are also working with people. So there's a lot of people that make money, but it's actually one of the biggest things is keeping the money.

Yeah.

Figuring out how to multiply the money. So what's something that you see and how are you, how are you helping with that?

Yeah. So planning is huge. And I know I've talked about planning before, but I'll give you a specific story about making and keeping. And so both of my parents, you know, it's like they were small business owners and we never like had, we never really wanted for anything or anything like that. And so they were constantly like paying for— we did, all my sisters and I, we did sports, all that kind of stuff. But then you fast forward to it's time for retirement age and things along those lines. And neither of them have a penny in retirement, you know? So I've got one parent that is, is, um, working. And so like on my payroll kind of a thing, um, to, to have, to be able to like cover costs and things like that. And then I have another parent.

Mm-hmm.

Who I'm having to help out because, you know, disability and Social Security is not enough to cover monthly expenses anymore. And so the big difference on like making the money and keeping the money is you always have to go back to that paying yourself first.

Okay, so some of you guys know that I have an events background. I have put on masterminds, large events, small events. You guys see me loving putting on dinners for different women and friends. And let me just tell you, when you plan an event, a lot goes into it. Whether it's the thank you cards, the save the dates, all of the little place card holders, every single little detail can really start to make you kind of feel like you're going crazy.

And Zazzle is gonna be how you help pull this all off.

It's one place, one style, fully customized all the way from the first invite. Mm-hmm. To the last thing that they leave with you guys and getting their thank you cards. So Zazzle covers the full event invitations, save the dates, place cards, programs, signage, party favors, and thank you notes, all customizable to match your colors, your fonts, your entire vibe. So you can order 1 or order 500, whether it's an intimate dinner or a 200-person reception. Zazzle scales with you. Thank you. 3 steps. Pick a product, find or build a design, add your details. That's it. Zazzle handles the rest. Over 30 million customers have trusted Zazzle with their most important moments, and yours is next. Right now, save 25% on your first order at zazzle.com. That's 25% savings on your first order at zazzle.com. Go make something z amazing. Zazzle.com. One of the biggest mistakes I see new entrepreneurs make is thinking that Starting a business is just filing an LLC and calling it a day. I remember when I started my very first business, nobody tells you how many little pieces there are that you're gonna need to figure out. You need an address, a website, a phone number, operating agreements, compliance documents, and about 100 other things you literally did not even think about. And when you're trying to build something exciting, the last thing you wanna do is spend all your time piecing together a bunch of different services. And that's why I love what Northwest Registered Agent is doing. When you're ready to start your business, Northwest Registered Agent helps you do more than just file paperwork. You get all the tools to build a real business identity from day one, a business address, website, phone number, operating agreement, free guides, and more at no extra cost. Your business identity is everything that makes your business legitimate and professional. From public records and compliance to your website, email, and phone number. With Northwest Registered Agent, you don't just form a business, you start with a complete foundation built from privacy, credibility, and growth. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow business for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1,500 corporate guides, real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. What I especially love is that they help keep your personal information private. Your home address, personal email, and phone number don't have to be tied to your business. Plus, they give you access to thousands of free guides, tools, and attorney-drafted documents to help you run your business with confidence. Don't pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/earnfree. and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/earnfree.

We never know when something like a COVID is going to happen, or, you know, if you're in a, you know, a highly volatile industry where, you know, something along that between tech or the oil business, you know, for those, you know, states that have to deal with some of those kinds of like natural resources, minerals. It's— there's always something that could affect us. And so we can't put off taking care of ourselves later. We really have to take care of ourselves now. And I say that to say— and I know this is sometimes a taboo statement— but taking care of yourself financially before children sometimes. Like, I understand you may want to pay for your kids' college or, you know, things like that, but Do they want to take care of you when they get out, or are you going to be, you know, is that something you're going to have to be dealing with yourself? And so really kind of, again, like just planning for those kinds of things is important.

Okay. So the planning ahead portion, and you know, for you, you probably tell people like, okay, you need to sit and have a meeting quarterly with yourself, or would you say twice a year? Like, what does that look like too?

Yeah, so I would say quarterly for sure for the, for the financials. And like, even if this is, you know, like you said, a small business, anything like that, it's diving into the numbers. If you take those numbers, you've got, you can take your last 90 days and really turn that into, okay, what's my next 90-day run going to look Going to look like. What I would say though is twice a year, do a money date with yourself. And that is looking at the numbers, but looking at like your short and long-term goals more for yourself as well. So it's like looking at your, your business. Yes, we want to get this done. This, um, we're going to launch this new product in this quarter, um, sales projections, things like that. But also valuing your time. So what are you looking— we look at the numbers all day long sometimes, but what are you doing that you could also offload or have someone else come in? Buy Back Your Time, great book. It's like, that's— there's so much there. Or The One. There's so many books that are there that are really speaking to those core principles. Sometimes we don't want to admit fault. We don't want to admit failure, but we are not the right person in that seat. And so acknowledging that, so those money dates to me are really important to take a step back and like, am I the problem? Because I mean, I know for myself, like that happens a lot. I get so, you know, wrapped into a project or something like that where it's like, or it's one of my good friends and I really want to make sure that they're taking, you know, great, they're taking care of them. But then I have so many other things and it's like, then it ends up being a week later. I still haven't sent them something or, you know, like, or whatever is the case. And it's like, there's systems that are in place for that, for us to step out of our own way. But like those money dates, like I said, looking at the big picture, but also looking at your personal goals so that, you know, you do have an idea of what do you have in your investment accounts. You know, if you have kids, do they have educational accounts set up? Do you have your trust, your, your wills, like things like that? Nobody really wants to think about those things, but those are all tying to your financials. You know, unfortunately, if you don't have something set up, all that money that you earned, all that money that you saved, all that money that you've got, allocated in your mind for something could be taken if there's not those, you know, those other factors in play for it.

Oh my gosh. Okay. So helpful. What, what's something for you personally that you're working on that feels scary, that feels exciting? What are you doing right now?

Oh man. So I actually have an event I'm putting on this weekend, my second event this year. So I'm really excited about that.

But— And you've never done events before, right?

This— I have spoken at events, but I've never put on one myself. On yourself? Yes.

Well, that's a whole other ballgame.

Yes, it is. And so what I'm really excited and the most nervous about is I'm actually in the process of writing a book.

Oh, okay.

So it's for small business owners and kind of like, you know, basically like the audience that you were talking about is, you know, these would people be people that are either starting a business you know, up to like $5 million or so. So, you know, that could be any years, um, and different levels of growth at your business, that kind of a thing. But I want the book to be, it's essentially like that go-to resource. So, you know, I, somebody told me I needed to get insurance. I'm starting a business and I need to get insurance, or I just hired that first employee. Like, what do I do? What do I need to know? Should I pay them as an employee or should I pay them as a contractor? What is workers' comp? Do I need to get a business license? Like all of these questions. And these are the ones that I was talking about earlier where people are like, I feel like I have such silly questions or it's a dumb question. And I'm like, there are no silly questions when it comes to your business. But basically this book, I want it to be that go-to resource for generally all of those things. Like I am not an insurance expert. I am not— a financial advisor as far as investments and things like that, but it provides the, the basics of all of these things that are tying into your business. And so you know who to go to or how that ties in, where you need to kind of look in that direction. The other thing that I really want the book to be able to do is as your business grows, there are other chapters or there are other parts of this book that will be able to hit you at different times. So this book would be a resource, you know, for day 1 or day, you know, 1,000 when you are making a change and starting to scale or looking at a second location. Because a lot of it, it's, you know, you can get your MBA, you can get a master's in business, and they are not teaching you how to start and run a small business. We are learning on the fly, at night crying ourselves to sleep, worried about anything and everything, not eating. You know, we're all doing that. And that's, I think, the reality of things that just aren't necessarily talked about. But it is. It's all of those things are happening. And just being able to provide a resource for people— this is what you need. This is it in plain English. Like, I'm not talking all the tax talk, tax nerdy stuff, you know, like, this is it. And, you know, and in plain English of what to do next. And you're not alone.

Yeah, we don't— entrepreneurs do not get into business literally knowing any of those things.

They don't.

And I think, I think there's a lot of really deep shame around it. I know I had it in for so many years, and I can still have it because there's still things I'm learning. That you can just be like, oh my God, I literally had no idea, or that's something that I always just gave to my CFO team. And so I think having the book too can really dissolve a lot of that shame and just bring an awareness on their own, on your own terms, you know, of like having everything that's, that's important for that. So I love it. Okay, so tell me about the event as well.

Yeah, so, um, the event, uh, it's called My Money Year. And so essentially What we're doing is it's building confidence and clarity around cash flow. And so what I've got is I've got speakers that are coming in, in different industries that are, um, as far like they're essentially, they're the pros in that. So whether it be financial planning or, um, marketing, business operations, leadership. And so essentially the conference brings in, um, those leaders into one place. And so it's helps your business from one end to the other as far as growth scale, growth and scalability, but also knowing those numbers and understanding how it all flows back to the cash flow and understanding, you know, it's like, what's the next step? What do I need to focus on for my business? And again, just like realizing too that we're all in this together. , and kind of creating, uh, a, a relationship and some peers to be able to, to move forward with.

Yeah, I, I literally, I have gotten so much out of events and a lot of it is having other entrepreneur friends that I—

Yeah. Yeah.

And like, we both know that we, we're obsessed with it. It's life-changing.

Right.

Because you, you just realize you're not alone.

Right.

Yeah.

One of the things I'm most excited about on it is there's an entrepreneur panel and this event is in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I picked 4 entrepreneurs in Fairbanks who are like, their stories are completely different. None of them inherited a company or was like from their parents or anything like that. You know, one was a military spouse that has, you know, 6 businesses now. One is one that, you know, went to prison and came out and like his story after that into entrepreneur and how now he has about 10 properties. And I've got one that retired himself through real estate investments before he was 40. Wow. And it's like, these are just our, you know, our neighbors and just having that and bringing that to show people that anyone can do it. You know, it's just like, you know, and you're not alone. Like so many people that are on this journey, they want to give back. And so it's like, it's just getting in those rooms to, to kind of like motivate you to do more for those that do really want to move forward. Mm-hmm.

Okay, so what are you most passionate about helping people with? Like, who do you help? Who do you want to help? What are you most passionate about?

I'm most passionate about small business owners, which I know is like sometimes a little bit vague. I do not work with corporations where you have like boards of directors and things like that. I don't— I personally don't work with like nonprofits or anything like that. The people that I want to work with are those where I'm directly like my, our conversations about tax strategy or, you know, closing that location, it's directly affecting their kids and their, their basically their generational wealth. Those are the people that I want to work with. It's like the ones that I'm going to see at the grocery store and we're going to say, hey, it's not like it's, you know, you pass them and it's like, oh, that was so-and-so. Mm-hmm. Like, it's just, to me, that's what I'm most passionate about is the relationships. Money is so hard to talk about. It's so sensitive. It's so emotional. And somehow I got really lucky, you know, in being able to understand it. And I love what I do. And so I want to be able to show that passion. To others and help where they are not passionate about it, kind of a thing, so that they have that confidence where, you know, they can text me a question and that, you know, doesn't make any sense kind of thing to them or whatever. And it's like, you know this, like, let's do this, we got this. But it's— so my passion is really in the small business, but the relationship part of it and knowing that those conversations that we're having or that I'm having is affecting, you know, like I said, their son's soccer team. Now they can play on, you know, one of the teams that's traveling because they were able to save this amount in taxes and can put that forward for that, those kinds of things.

Mm, so good. And you have an offer for people, which is awesome. So you guys, she is giving you a list of tax strategies. So this is easy, you can read it right away, you can integrate it, you can apply it. This is not something you have to go use your brain too, too much for.

Yep.

It's gonna be something very easy for you. So all you have to do is you can go follow Kelly on Instagram and Facebook. And so it's @kellywardcpa, Kelly W-A-R-D-C-P-A, and you just have to DM her the word happy. And she will send you a list of tax strategies that you could be missing out on. I'm telling you, most of you probably are. So go and grab those because I think it's going to be a lot easier than you think. And it's conversations like these that are going to start helping you open that door and get rid of either that fear or that shame, or figure out why in the hell you're not able to save money, where your money is going, because it is, it is the biggest stressor. Money is like one of the ultimate stressors and it doesn't have to be. We just have to have people like Kelly in our life. So I'm so grateful for you coming on the show.

Oh, thank you so much. No, it has been so much fun.

And I'm so excited for your event tomorrow.

You're gonna crush it.

So I'll follow up and see how it went. But you guys, thank you for listening. All you have to do is scroll down to the show notes too. You can go and see her exact handle and check it out there as well. But make sure you DM her. The word happy to get that list of tax strategies. Until next time, earn your happy. Bye everyone. Bye.