ADHD RISE 🖤 Systems & Organization Busy Entrepreneurs | Christine Bergland | Val Nichols Business

Piles are a waste of time, which means they are a waste of money. If you know how to find things, that literally is the first step to getting organized.

Hey everybody, welcome to ADHD Rise, where I rise, you rise, we rise together. And this is our much anticipated event. We are going to be talking about business organization and structure, which is so exciting. I cannot wait to introduce you to my friend, Miss Christine, who is incredible. She's going to share with us today how to get organized in your business and how to create systems for the busy entrepreneur out there just like you. My name is Val Nichols, for those of you who don't know.

Hi, Val.

If this is your first time ever joining live, let me know so we can say hello to you, give you a shout out. And if you are a regular watcher of lives in my world, then say hello. So because we're friends and all that great stuff. So I'm going to pass the mic over to my friend Christine. She is the queen bee of all things organization and structure. So Christine, welcome. So excited to have you. Thank you for your patience this morning. And can you share a little bit about yourself?

Good morning. My name is Christine. A little bit about me would be that I'm, I'm kind of a nerd and I really, really like numbers. And one of my favorite things to do is balance. My tagline is organization is a beautiful thing. Really, all that bookkeeping is, is organization. So a lot of People are, in my experience, afraid of their numbers.

Mm-hmm.

And one of the things that I like to do is empower people to understand their numbers so that there is no more fear and they can make, um, better decisions. About what to do, what they want to do, and where they want to go. Why get organized? First off, it's less stress, and which will improve your health. For example, bookkeeping starts with balancing your checkbook, which I know is a foreign concept to a lot of people these days. And it really is a good thing to do.

Hmm.

It's where all your information is, is in your forms of payment. How are you paying for things? What are you buying? And what your CPA wants to know, or wants you to do, is group things so that you can give to that person the numbers that are plugged into your tax return. And what you don't want to do is shortchange yourself, to miss things, to not be able to find things. Uh, the easiest way— and there are lots of ways to track what you're spending your money on— When you get a little bigger, I do recommend a software program, say for example QuickBooks, but it does not need to be complicated, or, or just— there doesn't need to be any difficulty with it. You can use a binder and ledger paper. Uh, it's, it's— And create what you need. I would say for anybody who hasn't started organizing for next year's tax return or this year's tax returns, even just going into your— having your bank statements and saying what— or just marking what each thing is, once you have categories of what it is that you need to track and want to track. categorize straight on to your bank statements. Uh, that is what I call the worst possible case scenario.

Mm-hmm.

But it is— it's, it's simple and it's the quickest way to get your numbers if you haven't been keeping receipts, and I do not recommend using cash. You want to use your checking account, your business checking account, as opposed to your personal checking account. 2 different things, important to keep them separate. Your credit cards, however it is you're paying for things, you want that information. Essentially to be called what is coded, and coding doesn't have to be mysterious. It's just organization. The result of being organized has a lot to do with self-confidence that comes from making the better decisions for your business.

Mm-hmm.

You increase your productivity, you save time. Things like bookkeeping, keeping your check register, um, the, the, the complementary side of that is filing. Um, important to give everything A place where it belongs so that when you need it, you can find it. And, and I know lots of people say, well, I know it's in that pile, and that's great, but it takes time to go through that pile.

Mm-hmm.

And sometimes you have to go through more than once, and it's better for everything to have a place, an organized that's easy to read. So I can do— I do everything from setting up filing systems. What I do, my business CDB System Design, I design or organize bookkeeping, administrative, and office systems. My experience is all across the board. I am concentrating right now on bookkeeping because there is such a huge need for it. And it's the baseline.

Mm-hmm.

Can't do bigger things until you have the little, little things under control in order to adapt to changes. And there are all kinds of changes in the world happening around us every day. We, uh, Hmm. Being able to, to not have to panic because you don't understand how something is going to affect you is, is a lot, is one of the benefits. You know, I, uh, one of the things that I really like to do is teach people. And my business will do it for you if that's what you really want, but I will probably make sure that you understand your reports at least. Anybody who wants to learn how to actually do it, I am thrilled to train. There is— this is not rocket science. It is not a mysterious thing. stirring the little pot in, in the back room. It's, it's a great thing for everybody to have. And like I said, it doesn't need to be scary, but part of that is understanding. And, you know, and, and then once you figure out things like how much you're spending, On this or that, you can make educated choices. Do you want to be spending your money that way? Do you want to spend it differently? You can do goal setting, financial goal setting through budgeting and whatnot. You can set doable chunks of goal— of the goal for the larger picture. A lot of people get lost in details. It's important as a business owner not only to be aware of the details, but to be aware of the bigger picture. There's a bigger picture that is essentially your life. If you've started your own business, you have committed to creating something that in theory is going to improve your life through how you feel about what you're doing and how your relationships are affected. Do you pay your bills on time, or do all your vendors hate you? These things matter. Do you have the reports? Can you create the reports that the bank needs in order to approve your loan? Uh, there are so many ways that everything is interconnected. And yeah, like I said, I, I'm kind of a nerd and I enjoy this stuff. I, uh, one of the things that I like best to do is to clean up messes. Kind of 2 things: I like to clean up messes or start things from scratch. They're just All these numbers are just puzzle pieces. All bookkeeping is, is putting the puzzle pieces where they belong so that you get information that makes sense. What your CPA can help you decide— and, and I do recommend that you want a tax professional as part of your team, a tax professional an attorney, depending on what kind of an entity you have. Your governance documents had to be put together— bylaws, operating agreements. Hopefully you have at least somebody, a name and a phone number for somebody that you could call if you ran into a situation where you needed a legal question answered. I highly recommend Having payroll done professionally. I, I've done payroll for a lot of years. I choose in my business not to. It is a specialized field, and there are people who do nothing but all day, every day. It's incredibly affordable in today's world. To get that kind of assistance. If you make mistakes, they're expensive. When you mess up people's paycheck, they do not appreciate it. Um, and expensive mistakes, the cost, when you think in terms of, yes, I have to pay for this. But what I am saving in by having it done by somebody who really knows what they're doing and concentrates just on that, by a specialist, the peace of mind and the money you save by not having to pay for those mistakes is huge. Um, so an accountant, a CPA is great, a lawyer A bookkeeper, maybe to help you set up or teach you what you need to move forward on your own, or if there's been some confusion and you need that sorted out, getting someone with experience. Digital marketing is another important professional to have in your pocket. who your vendors are, your suppliers, other independent contractors. What you want to do is build a team. I can do a lot of things. I choose to specialize, and that makes me, I believe, better at the thing that I'm doing. I can concentrate on this, and I am in a very fortunate position where I have a fantastic network available. If I don't know the answer to a question, I'm not afraid to ask, and I have people who can give me answers. If I— if it's something that is a little outside of what I'm concentrating on or doing, I can recommend somebody, and I build— I'm working actively on building that network. All the time, and I have no idea where I am with time. So, um, I— there is so much to talk about. I would say the most important things are the check register and the filing system. Um, Things need to have a place to go, be they a piece of paper, be it a piece of paper or a number. Um, and starting a business, you know, um, do you have your business license? Did you talk to the Secretary of State? Did you get your EIN? All of these things. Did you form the type of entity that your CPA or accounting professional thinks is a good idea for Do you know what the different entities are? All kinds of questions. I have done a lot of research, in particular in the area where I am physically located. My networking has led me To contacts outside of my immediate area. This technology, for example, that we're using today, when it's working, is fantastic. You can do things from a distance. Or at your convenience that we didn't used to be able to do. The world keeps getting easier and easier, which easier and easier can become a complex thing. The, uh, you know, all the puzzle pieces that fit together form the life that you are creating for yourself. And, you know, most of us want to make money. Most of us, when we get extra money, once we've got things under control and there's extra there, a lot of us don't know what to do with it. I help out, generally speaking, my For myself, smaller businesses, I think after, say, 10 employees, roughly, it depends on the situation, you probably need an employee yourself to do what, to do what I do. Part of why I do what I do is because I enjoy variety and I need to jump all over the place and be doing different things every 5 minutes. That's just me. My dad is a CPA. He sits at a desk. And he stays there for like 12, 14 hours at a time. That is, uh, not the way I do things. But we want to make money. We want for our money to work for us, not against us. And the way to do that is to understand where that money is coming from and where it's going. Really, that's all bookkeeping is. Not long into— or I had a friend watching me as I started my business, and she, after about a year, came to me and confessed that she had no idea how much money she had, and she hadn't known for years. I said, we can fix that. She is literally a happier person today than she used to be just because she knows where she is. Not that she's ever been exactly worried about money. But if you don't, you don't know what you don't know, and the answers are easier to get than you think. And, and one of the biggest things is don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Keep it simple. Um, frees up time, frees up creativity. Um, you improve your relationships, and then you get to serve as a role model. I don't know how many people have children. Um, it's fascinating to me that many children today do not know what a checkbook is. Um, and I, I get it. Um, for any of those young people who want to start their own business, This is something that they're going to need to learn. You need to track and you need to budget in order to do goal setting. The other group of people that I really like to help are seniors whose spouse who took care of everything has passed away and they don't know what to do. It never occurred to anybody in my family that my grandmother would outlive my grandfather.

Surprise!

Fortunately, she had her son, my dad, that helped him with, uh, with everything that she needed help with until she passed away. But, um, as a person without children and single, this is something I think about in the future. I'm going to need help. I don't want things dumped on my nieces and nephews. Um, that I can take care of today. So, and that requires planning. You know, I, I recently planned my funeral. I even got myself flowers. Um, these are things that you don't necessarily think about as you're building your empire. Um, I know that there was a period of time when I thought I was invincible. I have since learned otherwise, but that's okay. I still do really well. I love organization, and I organize lots of things. I've done everything from a hoarder's basement to large corporation filing and bookkeeping systems. I've decided where I like to be. For those people starting businesses, and it is my understanding that that is what this group of people is, is involved in and doing, there is a lot to be learned. Another thing I would suggest, and back to the paying for services, I, for example, am not the least expensive person you, you would be able to find. I'm also not the most expensive. There's a range. I would suggest to you that the cheapest may not be the best way to go. I can say about myself that My work is correct. Um, and I'm getting input from a number of CPAs, including— and I want to be able to work with yours. Um, and, and that's a, a relationship I would suggest fostering, is the relationship between your accountant, CPA, and your bookkeeper. Make sure they're talking to each other. And sometimes the attorney's going to want to get involved in the conversation, depending on what it is you're doing, where you're going, and what kind of notices you're getting from the IRS. IRS does not need to be scary. I'll make a confession. My baby sister worked for the criminal division of the IRS. She is the gun-toting accountant in the family, and bless her heart. My family has shown that you can take accounting and do anything you want to with it. And it's— that's what I think is one of the things that I think is fun about it. It is important to understand your numbers. And it does not have to be scary. If I leave you with nothing else, work on the mindset that this doesn't have to be scary. They're just numbers. And, and a lot of times they do what you tell them to do. I mean, there will be emergencies, there will be things that come up. There are always things that come up. It is the more information you have, the better prepared you are to handle the things that come up.

I love all the information you're sharing and so many good things in this. You gave a great explanation about why we need to do this, because I think a lot of people do think of bookkeeping and all of that as really frightening. And scary. And a lot of what you said, I was just like, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Because a lot of times those busy entrepreneurs, the ADHD entrepreneurs, we are overwhelmed by even getting started and often have piles of receipts, piles of things that is just daunting and we don't even want to get started with it. So for that person, what would you suggest as a first step if they're like, ah, this sounds great. I want to get there, but How do I even start?

I would suggest as a starting point, if you've got piles, first thing— and, and I'm real big into this— talk to the piles and tell them, I'm going to fix you. I'm going to put— give all of the pieces of you a place to go and put you there. The filing system. If you can make a list of the people you pay money to and create one file for each one and just put things where they belong, give them a place. A lot of us are pile makers.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, even I can be Guilty of it. But piles are a waste of time.

Hmm.

Which means they are a waste of money. So giving things, finding a place in your office or your home office, wherever you're working from, and designating it as a, this is where I'm going to put the paper. that I have to keep and that I will make— probably need to be able to find again, particularly if an audit comes up. If an audit comes up, and they're random, you never know. Um, some are focused, uh, but a lot of them are random, and they're ramping up at the IRS because they want our money.

Mm-hmm.

And You don't have to be scared of being audited if you know how to find things. And if you know how to find things, that literally is the first step to, um, to getting organized. And then it's looking at the check register.

Mm-hmm.

The check register and the filing system. So those are where I start with everybody.

If someone was wanting to get connected with you and work with you, what would they even need? Because I feel like a lot of times, sometimes, you know, we're talking about money, we're talking about systems in a business, like that can be really intimidating and scary and exposing feeling, right? So like, what would somebody need to even get started with you? If I was coming to you as a brand new entrepreneur that's been just thrown into the deep end, Throwing my receipts in a box and I'm like, I don't even know what to bring. Like, how would I even start? What would you suggest?

I would say grab your box of receipts, come with a pad of paper. Don't— keep it simple. Just your receipts and a pad of paper, or your bank statements and a pad of paper. Let's figure out who you're paying money to. Then when we, we know, we can start to put them in order so that you can find things. People I work with virtually, generally speaking, I'm not working remotely with anybody who has a manual system yet.

Hmm.

A binder, and I— my personal stuff in a binder. My, my business is in QuickBooks, but my personal stuff is in a binder that I've been keeping since I was 16 years old, and I have all that history because I'm a nerd. Um, um, so just a pad of paper, bank statements, Your box of receipts, and we'll just pick up the first piece of paper, identify it, write it down, and then we'll pick up the second piece of paper. Um, and we'll just go through it. A lot of people just need somebody to do it with them.

Yeah, I agree. I have a lot of clients like that, that they just need me to sit with them while they're doing it and walk them through the process. Because it can feel scary.

It can feel scary. The longer you wait, the bigger it is. Just another little tip. If you want to work with a bookkeeper, they're going to be less expensive now for your 2022 paperwork than they will be on April 1st.

All right.

It starts to get expensive. Don't wait, don't wait. You can't start any sooner than right now, so start. It's just taking the step and then the next step and then the one that comes after that. And it's fun, it's fun to see people understand where their money is coming from, where it's going, and what they can do with it. Money is no good if you're just using it blindly. If you can use it with focus, with intent, you can do some pretty amazing things.

Hmm, I love that. That's beautiful, Christine. So how could someone get a hold of you if they're like, I want to know more, I want to ask questions. I want to work with you. I want you to do my books for me. Um, I talk a lot about delegating tasks out and doing things that are not your zone of genius. So this is a great opportunity for people to reach out. How can they get ahold of you?

I love questions. So please ask me any questions you want to. I have a website that is cdnichols.com. Those are my initials. cdbsystemdesign.com. Maybe I could have made that more confusing. I have a lot of letters in my name. I know that every time I have to sign something. So you can get ahold of me through my website. You can also email me directly. One of my rules is that I don't answer the phone when I'm on somebody else's time. If you don't hear back from me right away, you will hear back from me as soon as I possibly can get to you, certainly within less than— or within 24 hours. I love questions. I love teaching.

Mm-hmm.

And anything I can do to help, that's what I want to do, is help people, because I don't want people to be afraid of their numbers, because I'm a geek and I want to share that. You don't have to like them as much as I do.

If you had one piece of advice for anyone that's like, I don't know, you know, it's just, is this another expense for me to add on? I feel like I can do it myself, but I really don't. At the end of the year, I tell myself every year I'm going to be on top of it. And then I have all those files and receipts. Like, what would you suggest to that person?

I would suggest A partner to just sit there with you while you learn to make it a habit. If it's something you want to do yourself, and it's no different than owning a business in general, it is the self-monitoring, the self—

Mm-hmm.

You know, just decide in your head, I'm going to do this. I want the stress to go away. I want the fear to go away. I want to improve my health. I want to have more confidence. I want to make better decisions. You know, just remember all the reasons why you want to do it and stop telling yourself, I don't want to do it. That's probably the biggest You have to stop telling yourself, I don't want to.

I love that. It's changing the narrative, changing the story.

Changing the story. And if you really, really don't want to, get a bookkeeper, preferably somebody who will teach you. A lot of people keep secrets. I don't know. Secret witches' Stewpot. I don't know what that deal is. But another thing I would say is make And make sure that there's more than one person who can help you. Because another thing I see a lot is people just being bailed on. Person's been with them for 15 years, and then all of a sudden they're gone with no notice and disaster. Have a backup.

Have a backup plan. Thank you so much, Christine. It has been an honor and a pleasure having you on here. And you guys, I can give Christine a huge shout out and personal reference that she is one of the most incredible people I know. And I would trust her with anything and everything. So, you know, she's definitely a great resource and a great person to reach out to. So make sure you're hopping on either to her email or her website as well to check out more and reach out to her. Be a great resource, a valuable resource for all things organization structure. All of that. Thank you again, Christine, for sharing your wealth of knowledge and your time with us today. I appreciate you so much.

Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Absolutely.

I appreciate you a great deal as well.

All right, guys, we'll reach out to Christine. We love you and we will see you very soon. Bye.

What a wonderful world.