#32: Let's Keep a Good Set of Books with Guest, Cristal Rubio of BeautyPro Bookkeeping

Hey there! Are you a local mom business owner? If so, we've got some exciting news to share with you all. The doors to our Working Moms of San Antonio Business Owners Community are now open! Join us now in our supportive new community for local networking events, customizable social media templates, classes and workshops, business resources, and to be a part of our exclusive referral directory. We love to help our working mom business owners grow. So visit workingmomsofsanantonio.com/membership or just click the link in the show notes to join us. See you in the community.

We're Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a San Antonio area realtor and lender, but most importantly, we're working moms.

The goal of this podcast is to provide support and a sense of community to San Antonio area working moms like us. So join us in trying to find a balance between career, family, and everything in between. Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We've got a guest on with us today, Krystal Rubio, and she is a bookkeeper and also a tattoo artist. So we're gonna turn it over to her and she's gonna introduce herself and talk a little bit about what she does and we'll kind of get going.

First of all, why do you change to freaking customer service voice? I know. I was like, no.

Yep.

Yeah, that's my phone voice.

I know that.

I'm like, wait, I got to call her out on this.

Yeah, I'm glad you did, because honestly, in 2024, I'm trying to do less phone voice, but it's so hard after 10 years in this industry. It's just— it's hard to turn it off.

You sound like a game show host.

Yeah, sit up straight. Seriously. And for me, I'm just like, all right, bitches, let's go. No, but I get it. Like, it does become hard because even like when I'm doing— at first, when we first started doing the podcast as well, I was my customer service voice also. Like, and I was like, no, I don't want to do that. But it's so hard not to.

Yeah.

But yeah, so I am, I have been a bookkeeper for probably 3 years now, but I have, I got my degree back in 2012 in business administration. And during that time I had already gotten my, I'm a retired hairstylist too, but you know, let's not talk about that. But when I got my degree, it was so that I could run my own business so that I could run my salon. And, you know, I figured, why not? I like going to school, but I also have ADHD. So then I end up doing all kinds of shit that I probably don't need because I overthink everything. Yeah. So I went to school for it. I only used it for my business. I used it when my husband opened up his business in California. And then I was like, okay, like, that's the only reason I went to school for, just so I could work for me, which is, I mean, kind of dumb if you really think about it. But that was my mind was like, no, you're doing it. It's going to work for you and that way you don't have to hire anyone. Well then, go fast forward to 2020, pandemic, all this shit happening. I decided—

Oh, that old friend.

Oh yeah, man. So I decided, I'm done doing hair. I had a studio here in San Antonio. I was over it. I think that like most people, everyone during the pandemic, you realize that whatever it is that you were doing, that wasn't it. You know, you just thought, I know for me, I decided like, this is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. And one of my friends there at the studio, she was like, I didn't know you did bookkeeping. And I was like, well, yeah, but I just don't, I mean, I haven't done it in a long time. I only do it for myself. So she hired me on. And then from there she kept on wanting to pass on my information. I was like, I don't want to do this shit. Like, What if I— because in my head I was like, what if I fuck something up? You know, like, yeah, I haven't done this in a while, so what if I— there's something that I don't do the right way? And it wasn't so much because, like, I thought that it had to be something more professional, or that I had, you know, I was like, I don't have the look. My hair is always fun colors. I have all these tattoos. Who's going to take me seriously? But I had to realize that I kept on reading her books. I saw her growth and I was like, I want to do this for other people. And I want to do it for other people in the beauty industry because we're looked down upon and they don't take people, they don't take us seriously. They think our job is not, you don't make that much money or it's just like a hobby or whatever. So I wanted to show different, you know, I wanted also for ourselves as hairstylists, sometimes we also don't see our worth, but I think in the industry as women, we really don't see our worth, period. So I wanted girls to start seeing themselves in a different light and I wanted to help them grow. And my friend, she finally pushed me to keep on going. And then last year is when I took myself seriously and I started to grow. And then from there, now this is what I do and I love it.

I think it's great.

Yeah, I freaking love it. I can't see myself doing anything else except for my little side hustles that I call them side hustles, but they're also like full-time jobs. Like the tattooing. I also took classes for that and I was doing it, which is not legal, but I was doing it here at home and it was only on friends. It was only on friends. So they were letting me practice and I was like, all right, you let me practice, then you can't talk shit or you can't say I fucked up because you're letting me practice.

Yeah.

Um, but you know what, they— I did pretty well, and now I work at Vanidosa Studio with Claudia, and I do Tattoo Fridays there, which is a lot of fun.

Yeah, yeah, recently Crystal did one for me and it was awesome.

Yeah, but oh my God, so one thing that Erika will not do is tell you that the tattoo is fucking crooked.

Luckily Like, it's not now.

No, it's not now. But so when we first— so I'm putting the stencil on, right? And then I'm looking at it. I'm like, this doesn't look right. But I'm like, I asked her if she liked it and she was like, yeah. I'm like, can you stand up for— or I don't know if I told her to stand up or what we did, but I needed her to move her arm a different way. And I was like, that doesn't look centered. And then she's like, oh, yeah. I'm like, you should have told me something. What the hell? This is going to be on you for I don't know how long. You know, it's only permanent.

I'm like the queen of non-confrontation. It's a problem.

Oh man, she goes, you should have said something.

I was like, I'm gonna just let you do it.

No. Hey, Crystal, it's kind of neat because you have the books, the analytical part of your brain, right, working for your bookkeeping, making sure you're organized. And then you have that fun— your ADHD is kicking in, right? You have that fun aspect and creative aspect of your personality that can come out and, you know, shine with your tattooing. I think that— I'm jealous. I want that. I think it's incredible. I see your post with the tattoos and my younger sister, I'm like, we gotta go, we gotta go together. She's all tattooed and I have tattoos, you just can't see them very often. But I'm like, I'm dying to get over there to see you.

Yeah, yeah, make an appointment, I'll get you in. Yeah, I loved it. I, because I do love the, I do love the creative. And it's so funny that when I was little, and I just talked about this in my podcast, I said when I was little I would look forward to getting like the stationery sets or like the pens and all these like fun colors of paper and like office supplies. To me, that was what made me, you know, get excited as a kid. Yes, I have a collection of like, I have two big old I don't know what they're called, but where you put pens and then it spins.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, I have a big one that spins. Yeah. And it's full of pens. And I have another one full of Sharpie markers and all the different colors because I'm obsessed with fucking pens.

Yeah, I am too.

And honestly, homeschooling was like my dream come true. I know you homeschool too, because then we could get all the supplies.

Yes. That was like my— the first thing I did when I said I'm gonna homeschool, I was like, well babe, now I need all this shit.

Like, yeah, I need a whole room of stuff.

Yes. And now my room is completely organized and I have different colors and everything kind of goes. I have my bulletin board. Like, I don't fucking even look at that shit. The kids don't even look at that shit, but it looks pretty. Yeah, yeah, but it looks nice and it's like Uh, I went in my big-ass printer, like, do I really need a— I do need a printer like that. Like, it's an office printer. That's something I wanted when I was growing up. Like, it's the dumb little shit that for other people as a kid, you're— why would you even want that? And for me as a kid, I remember asking, I think one of my mom's friends, she was a secretary at a school, and she gifted me, um, a typing book so that I could learn to type fast. Like, What fucking kid does that?

But you know, I think it's also our generation. Like, you know, kids now, they want the latest technology stuff. We were all excited, we got that big-ass box of crayons. Yeah, have you seen those memes? Like, I— that's what we like, and as adults, that's what we still like it. I have—

I still— I have a collection. I have a collection of crayons that I have, my box of crayons that they're just mine, and they have to be Crayola. And then I have the different little— like, they come with the, like, different designs or whatever on the boxes.

Yeah.

So I have every single one that has come out, and nobody—

oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Oh, you can't use them? They're collectible?

No, they're collectible. I mean, you can— I'm sure you can, but I don't. I'm like, they're mine. If you touch them, I'm gonna kill you. I mean, you know. And I'm funny. And I have coloring books. I even— I published a coloring book as well.

Yeah. Yeah.

That's awesome.

Yeah. So it's like, it's, I don't know, it's the little things that make me happy with the bookkeeping, but I still get to be creative. And I think most of my brand is creativity, even like my bookkeeping shit, everything's pink. Like I, you know, I remember in school, I used to get in trouble when in college, when we were working on our spreadsheets and my spreadsheets were all pink with purple. And they would tell me that's not, you're not never going to make it in the professional world because. You want to make everything so colorful and so girly. And I was like, watch me make it work.

Yes.

Oh my gosh.

Well, that kind of goes back to what you said before. I had no idea that there was really some kind of a stigma with beauty industry folks and that kind of thing. That's very interesting.

I was just thinking that same thing. I was thinking the same thing. I never thought— I've never thought that about, you know, the beauty industry.

They don't take the business as serious businesses.

No. So even when I went to beauty school, it took me a while. My mom— parents always know what you're going to do when you grow up, and no matter how much you say, that's not what I want to do, they already know. My mom, since high school, she would always tell me, why don't you just go to beauty school? She saw me always messing with hair color. You know, I learned to do nails when I was 12 or 13, so I always did all the fun stuff. Also the makeup, I loved it. But I was like, no, because I really thought that hairdressers didn't have an education and that the education that we got wasn't, you know, I didn't, I wanted people to know that I was smart and I wanted mostly my family, I wanted my family to, to believe that I was smart and I felt that if I went to beauty school they were going to think that I just took the easy way out. But when I went to beauty school and I, they handed me books and those books you had to learn science, you had to learn anatomy and chem— That's when I was like, oh shit, like this isn't easy. Like it was one of, I think it was really hard, especially the anatomy part of it. So then I realized, that's when I realized this is more and we have to be taken seriously, you know? Yeah. So that's when I started kind of, even now, that's why I advocate so much for girls to take themselves seriously when it comes to their beauty business because it's more than just, you're more than just a beautician, you know? You're more than what you think you are in the service industry. And I feel that once they have their books done, they'll realize how important and how much money they can actually make doing what they love.

Yeah.

I think it's also the stimulus because it's a trade. Everybody pushed you to go to school, get a degree, spend all this money. And then I'm in the finance world, right? I look at people's tax returns, I look at people's finances. And we have people who went and got their master's, their doctorate, and they're 20 years after school still in debt. Still in debt because they can't get it paid off because they went and got these degrees to be the smartest people. But you are working $60,000 a year and can't pay off your debt.

Yeah, that's so crazy.

Doctors who don't know how to handle their own books. It is. I think that stigma, like you said, that you had to do these things in trade schools, really got kind of like, oh, then you're not as smart. No, they're the smartest people.

Yes. In the last few years, my mentality has changed a lot as well because I used to always think when my kids were in public school, I was always pushing college and that they had to go to college once they finished high school. And so our oldest, who's 20 now, We said, you know, as she was getting closer to going to college, we're like, you know, if you don't want to go to college, you don't have to go to college. You could find something that you love. We've always known that she loves to cook. She loves to bake. And she's had a baking business since she was 14. So, and she got her food handler's card and she went and did all the stuff that you needed to do and to figure it out at 14. You know, I wasn't even there at that age. And So we knew, we told her, why don't you just go to culinary school? Because we know that's what you love. No. So she went to UTSA. I think first semester she made it. Second semester, halfway through, she stopped going to school and she was living at the dorm. So I kind of, as a mom, you know that they're not doing something right. So I was like, we went and picked her up. We're like, you're done. Like, because she wasn't going to classes. And we told her, why don't you go to school to something that you love? Why are you— And even then she went for dental assisting, which we— and she likes it and she's not working in the field, but we know what she loves. She loves to bake and she loves to cook. And so it's one of those, if you just go to the trade school, she had to learn on her own and that's okay. And I'm okay with that. But now it's like, why do we push college on all these kids when a lot of the times you see what their strengths are as they're growing up. You know, my 15-year-old, her strengths are makeup. She loves makeup, she loves acting, so I— she wants to be an aesthetician, you know, and she takes acting classes and she loves all this. So each one of my kids has had something different. I wouldn't have noticed that or known that had they still been in public school, you know. So now I don't push the college because I've done the trade school, I've done the college I've done just small classes and now I know what it is that, you know, that's what they're good at. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, my son did the welding. My husband welds and my son's like, Mom, I don't know if school— I don't have the ability to homeschool. I don't know if I could do it, but they're in private school and he actually went up to his campus and said, hey, I'd like to to start a welding club. Is that something that we use? I like to work with my hands. So the dean, they're like, hey, if you can put it together. So right now he's putting a proposal. I'm like, you need safety equipment, you need access to electricity. Who's going to monitor? There he already has a sponsor. I'm like, there's welding companies that might, you know, like give you some old equipment that you could use. So he's putting a proposal together right now. And I told him, I'd love you to get some kind of business degree because obviously being self-employed is where I'm pushing him to be. Yeah, but you see all these other kids going, I want— I'm going to go to, you know, XYZ University. And I said, if that's your calling, that's your calling. But I'm— I will be proud of you to be a— well, though they make good money, I can tell you that.

Can I tell you something about the business degree though, at least on my, my view? So I went to get my business degree and everything that I've learned as a bookkeeper now or that I know I've learned more hands-on than I ever did in school. And the stuff that you learn in school, it's so much bullshit, to be honest. It's more to hold you down and to put you in a little box that when you ask the questions, they don't— and this was that— oh, I did a heart.

It thinks you love business school.

Yes. That was so crazy. I think it's my gestures for the MacBook.

Yeah, I don't think we've ever had that happen before.

Yeah, I was like, wait, what happened? But yeah, so having to do all these bullshit classes, like, for me, like I said, my brain cannot focus long enough to sit there through a freaking history class, through an English class, through all these classes that I don't need and they're useless. And maybe they're not, you know, people might think differently, but when I ask questions because of something that I didn't understand when it came to either accounting or it came to anything that had to do with marketing, it was like they couldn't break it down for me. And I'm a visual learner. You need to break it, you need to dumb it down as much as you can and I'll figure it out. Like I'll learn it. But if I'm asking you a question and you're like, well, this is how I explained it, then okay, then you're not willing to teach me the way that I'm telling you that I can't learn. So it was more of those like, okay, whatever. So everything that I've learned that I know now for bookkeeping, I've honestly learned as I've done it for myself. Yeah.

No, that's great advice. That's good to know.

Yeah. Especially if that's not something he wants to do, like he's going to struggle with it. Yeah. Because I've tried going back to school so I could get my CPA. My brain doesn't even finish the semester.

You know, I mean, I worked in a CPA office for years, 5 years. When I was right out of school. I too was pushed to go to college. I ended up going and saying, well, if you're going to make me go, I'm going to get an art degree, much to my dad's dismay. And so, and I mean, I did, I paid a lot of money for it and I barely used it up until recently. I have a graphic design degree.

Yeah.

And so, and just like you, I was doing, and I got my real estate license and stuff. I was doing my own marketing. I was doing my own stuff. And so it's like I had this 4-year university degree from UTSA that I was literally just using for my own self, which is crazy.

Yeah.

Right. Yeah.

Yeah. And so until I started doing it for others, we opened up a little graphic design company, my husband and I. And then, so I started doing it that way. And then obviously with the Working Moms, I do all of that now. And that is really my jam. And so I did get pushed into college, but I ended up turning it in a way where it was like, these are the things that I like. But my dad was like, What the hell are you doing? He was like, what is an art degree? You know, what kind of a job can you get? You know, like all these things. And so I didn't get a ton of support really while I was in school.

Yeah, because it was—

he just didn't understand it. My dad's in international business and he's very like— oh, and so yeah, and so I mean, he's wonderful, but he's just very like, these are the, you know, yeah, this is like the logical stuff and this is how it's gonna go. And so he didn't understand it at all. And so I agree with you, even like— and homeschooling my kids too, like I will not push college on them. There's just— I just won't, you know. There's just— I spent so much money and I literally could have taken specifically graphic design classes and had the same kind of takeaway now, right? I mean, I will say there was— I, I had a wonderful experience in college. Yeah, I met people, you know. There are other skills that you learn being in college, but yeah, I mean, I'm kind of with you on that where it's like, hey, just where people I find really succeed is when they're doing something they really love. And the success comes like with not as much effort because you're just to do it. You want to wake up every day and you're like, hey man, I'm here and these are the things I'm gonna do. And so you automatically become a little bit more successful because you want to get in there and you want to do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What does it feel like? It doesn't feel like work. No, you enjoy what you do. Yeah, it doesn't feel like work. Like, I love number— I love numbers. I love numbers. I love working numbers. The networking part of my job is harder for me, like getting out and doing that part. But I love working numbers and making— it's like a puzzle. I'm doing a puzzle all day long. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Find something that you love and create a career out of it.

Yeah, because I think that's— and I think that's what— if one good thing came out of pandemic, it was that a lot of people actually went for the things that they love to do. Yeah. And I know for me, like I said, I was like, okay, this is it. And I'm still using my creativity. I'm still me. And that's one thing that I always say when my clients that I have now, they know that I cuss, they know that I have tattoos, they know that. But when it comes to your books, they're going to be spotless. I'm going to take care of you. But if you're spending the money a way you shouldn't be spending it, I'm going to talk shit to you. I don't sugarcoat shit. It. You know, like, I'm just gonna— this is one, this is who I am, this is the kind of people I want to attract. And if you're not willing to, I don't know, work with me, or yeah, if you don't want me to tell you how to run your business, then we're not a good fit because I'm just trying to help you out, right?

Yeah, no, that's true.

No, I, I like that. I like that you get to— that you know who you are, you know, and you're gonna attract the people that you're gonna work best with. Yeah, it took a while. It does, but it's also— I'm, I'm hoping the world's changing a little bit in the fact that the color of the hair, the what's on your skin, it's not that, it's the person. Yeah, having that opportunity to get to know that person. So yeah, I think it's great. I love the fact that she does the whole creativity and then the bookkeeping.

Yeah, yeah. Oh my God, whatever. And like, if you see, if you see my room, like I have so much fucking craft shit because I always like start, I hyperfixate on one thing and then I'm like, I'm bored. So then I move on to something else. But my one thing that like my, that my husband thought was going to be a hyperfixation was the tattoo. He's like, oh, you're just getting another certificate, you know, but are you actually going to do something with it? I'm like, yeah, eventually. Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, it only took me a couple years, but I'm doing something with it now.

Yeah.

That's awesome. I'm so curious, like, because you see a lot of books and you deal with people, different kinds of businesses and that kind of thing. Do you feel like there are some common mistakes that people make? Like, I know I had asked, full disclosure, I just recently started doing like QuickBooks and bookkeeping just a couple weeks ago. And I had to ask Krystal, like, what the hell am I doing? Like, how does this work? And so I just wonder if you see people, like, what are some common mistakes? It's not that complicated when you really get in there, I guess. But it's just for someone like me who's not a numbers person, it was like almost like speaking a foreign language. Like I got in there and it was like talking about different types of accounts and like blah blah. And I was like, this is why you need somebody to do this.

Exactly. So I think one of the biggest mistakes that someone will do is open a QuickBooks account and honestly not know how to run it. Because even for me that I was taught um, how to do accounting. When I first started QuickBooks, it was very confusing to me, and I had to take a whole course just to understand it and to even be able to offer it to clients. Because when I started doing books, I was doing paper and pencil. Yeah, that's how I kept up with books. It was just on paper because I, I was scared of QuickBooks and I was scared of learning it because I was like, if I mess something up, it's I don't know. But then I figured it out and I got certified through QuickBooks. So I think one of the mistakes is that, like I said, people will go in it and then sometimes they categorize shit the wrong way and they don't ask anybody. Yeah.

Also, don't ask the internet because it'll tell you all different kinds of stuff.

I learned that.

Yeah.

I had to get with Crystal.

Yeah.

It's like, I need, you know, to do a certain kind of thing. And I was like, it's going to make— people on the internet are like saying I need to write a fake check and like do all this stuff like in this program.

And Crystal was like, don't do any of that stuff.

No, no. I was like, no, no.

Googling your symptoms online to find— I know. Yeah.

Yeah. I was like, don't do that. No. So, and then another mistake that people do is they use their business account, like their personal account. And they just, you know, they, they're not even— they mix it. They literally just use their business account for everything. And it's like, no, you have to separate the two. They're two different things. Like, pay yourself. And I think because we see and we're small businesses, like, we're like, okay, well, we don't need to— we don't need to separate it. We could just use it. And that's how we pay ourselves. No, make sure that you're paying yourself a certain amount from the profit that you're making. Um, and that's it. Like, I think those are like the main three. If you don't know QuickBooks, either take a small course and learn it, or just do paper and pencil, or, you know, also separate your accounts.

That's— I think the separating accounts is a good tip just because in what I do, I see it, right? So a lot of people who are trying to— people who are self-employed have a unique way of qualifying for homes. For example, and when they mix and mingle their assets, business and personal, it makes it more difficult to do things when it can be a straight line. This is your, this is how much you're making with the business. You know, obviously if you have multiple side hustles, you have money flow in different ways.

When I talk to my clients, I always tell them, you want to think about it this way. If let's say you want to buy a house next year. They're not going to want to see, like, when they look at your business account, they're gonna be like, what the fuck is this? Like, why do you have personal expenses on here? And then you're not making yourself look profitable. Instead, what's happening, you're making yourself look like you have all these expenses through the business because one, you don't have them categorized correctly, and we're just seeing all this money coming out. So how much money is your business actually making? So you're not going to know any of that if you don't separate them. So I always try to be very good with my clients about telling them that for the health purposes.

And do the hard work. Track. If you don't lump everything together, like a lot of people tend to lump stuff in, like for, if you have vehicle expenses, let's say you travel to different salons or whatever in your line of work, or the books that you do, don't lump everything in car and truck expenses. Write out your mileage because some of that, when you're qualifying for different types of loans, when people are looking at your books, you can add back in these deductions. So obviously most people's goal who's self-employed is to show the, the, your net as small as possible because that's what you're gonna pay taxes on. And you have legitimate deductions that you can do. Yeah, right. Yeah, they're great. But when you qualify for a loan, there's deductions that we as finance, you know, people who are giving you money, yeah, add back in some of those deductions to give you a large, hey, you actually made more profit, right? You have more profit and you're going, we're going to show you having more income that your business was profitable. So yeah, I think that's a great tip. A lot of people on my side, I see a lot of people mixing their funds. So I'm like, why is the business paying for cable?

Or why is it like, what?

Yeah. Like, you know, you're trying to—

and I see that a lot. Yeah. I see that a lot as well. I've also seen a lot of CPAs. Fuck Up Books.

And yes, oh my God, yes, I had a horrible issue. CPAs make mistakes and they'll— they don't do it right. And ultimately you're responsible for your own books.

I think there's a big misconception with that where people are like, oh, I have a business of like this caliber, a CPA has to handle my stuff. And it's like, number one, that's not true. And number two, just like in any other industry, there's different levels of CPAs. Some CPAs are good at their jobs. Some CPAs are bad at their jobs, just like any other job. You get a good doctor, a bad doctor, you know what I mean? So just because someone's a CPA doesn't mean they're going to be doing you the best. You need to get reviews and different, like, experience other people have had. I just— that drives me nuts when people say that. I saw it online the other day. Someone was like, I need a CPA, or I need someone to do my taxes. And so I recommended somebody and they were like, is this person a CPA? It's like that they're a tax professional. They don't have to be a CPA.

Yeah.

And to be honest, working in a CPA's office for all those years, the CPAs aren't the ones that are doing your taxes.

No, it's somebody else.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That's, I had one client that I took over and she had a CPA. When I tell you her books were a mess and she wasn't sure what the hell the CPA was doing. Yeah, man. It took me, and even now we were actually sitting down yesterday and I was trying to get all her shit together for tax time. And then I was like, are you fucking kidding me? Just when I thought that I had already fixed all this shit that this dude did, there's still so much more that's coming up. And it becomes frustrating because it's like you sit there and you charge all kinds of money for what you do. CPA, but you're not even doing your job right.

Yeah.

And it sucks because I, it's not just one person that I've heard this happen to, you know, it's been multiple people and I don't know if it's from the same CPA or what, but I've, you know, find yourself a bookkeeper who really knows the kind of work that you do and that they're actually going to go hard for you as far as, you know, they're going to give you shit if you're spending the money you shouldn't be spending. They're going to be strict with you. They're going to, you know. They're going to hold you accountable for everything. Um, if you have someone who's just like, okay, they're just inputting everything that you give them without question, then you have the wrong person. Yeah.

So I just want to say CPAs are not— you're at the end of the day, you, the business owner, are accountable for your monies, what you pay and so forth. So just to quit, I, because it's very fresh in my mind, because we just finished it. But since October, been arguing with the CPA about this person's— they're trying to buy their home. They do construction, they're ready, the home is done, they're ready for their permanent financing. I come into the picture, they send me their tax. Now I've analyzed tax returns for 20 years, right? So I'm looking at it and I'm like, they don't match. Your numbers do not match. And of course, it was an older couple and she didn't know. She's like, I don't This is what I have. So I called the CPA up and I asked him, I'm like, hey, this number is not flowing from your 1120 to your personal account. Like, I don't— I can't follow the numbers. And they're adamant. Well, they forgot they had done an amendment. They never amended the personals. Then they still did it wrong. They weren't accounting for income. So this poor couple, it's overall because of their mistake, having to amend tax returns from 3 years ago, mind you, coming back. Not only did they owe additional $15,000 in taxes all of a sudden, it delayed their process in their home buying.

That sucks.

$20,000 they had to pay in addition in interest that they had to pay to the builder and extending their interest rate. Like, there's money involved and the CPA is not accountable.

That sucks. Normally when the CPAs, uh, a lot of the times actually when the CPA is the one that's in charge of books and even me as a bookkeeper, if I'm in charge of books and I mess something up, I have insurance in case anything comes back to the client because it shouldn't be their fault if I'm the one that's handling all their shit. And I have insurance for that and a CPA should too. So they can actually come after the CPA.

Well, that's definitely something else. I didn't know that. I'll share that. But I argued for a month. I'm like, they were insistent. I'm like, I realize I'm not a CPA, but I do look at these on a daily basis and I'm telling you this doesn't match. They finally came back. It took them weeks to come back and actually, okay, we see where this is not matching. We have to refile and so forth. But they're adamant that I was wrong.

Oh yeah.

I just feel horrible for this couple. But at the end of the day, I sat down with the couple and I said, Yes, you trusted a business to do it, but ultimately you're going to be the one responsible. So the taxes you owe are the taxes you would have owed back in '21.

Yeah, no matter what.

You would have owed it. It's just unfortunate now it's coming out of the blue when you've made this huge expense to buy a house.

Oh, that sucks. Yeah.

Yes, it was heartbreaking. But having someone, I think, like you kind of said, you know the industry that you're bookkeeping for and helping them. You know that industry. I think it's A CPA doesn't. CPAs are typically used for analysis on businesses, like they're like large corporations type of thing. I think a CPA does come in handy, but at the end of the day, you want someone who understands what you do every day.

Yeah. Because the only difference, I think that the difference between, uh, one of the biggest difference obviously between a CPA and a bookkeeper is the CPA, yeah, they have a license and everything, but they know the law. And they know more legal stuff and they're allowed to do more shit when it comes to legal than we do, you know, but it doesn't take away from them. Sometimes I don't even know how to use QuickBooks or sometimes I don't even know how to categorize shit and it's all miscategorized and it's like, and they hire bookkeepers who are freshly out of school. So when they're doing this stuff, it's like, are you making sure who is the person that's actually doing your books? Yeah. So that has— I don't know. Do your research when you're going to look for a bookkeeper, you know, or look me up, Beauty Pro Bookkeeping.

Definitely. Yeah, definitely. I think it's ideal to have someone who understands, truly understands the business that you do.

Yeah.

Whether they— not that they had to have done it before, but understands What type of expenses are normal in your industry? What type of things are you going to, you know, that kind of stuff. So yeah. So contact Krystal. Yeah.

If you want to get a tattoo as well, you know, Tattoo Fridays.

Okay. I have to ask a good question. What's the difference between, I saw you post something, a fine line. Is that what it is?

Yeah. Fine line.

Tattoo versus like, what's the difference?

There is a big old controversy right now going on. Tattoo artists fucking hate all the fine line tattoo artists and all the permanent makeup artists because they are mad that we're not doing a fucking 2-year-long apprenticeship of being somebody's bitch at the tattoo shop, you know? And they had to do all this and we took a course and we're not supposedly, you know, Yeah, I get it. We're not as good at them because they have— as them because they have years of experience. Fine line is where you either use one needle when you're tattooing as either a one needle or three needles, up to five needles on the tattoo gun. And the different sizes, those create a very fine line. Well, if you tattoo with one needle only, it's very fine. And if you're, if it's not done right, it could blow the ink. So as you're putting it in, the ink could spread. Well, tattoo artists are not, they're mad because they don't know how to tattoo with one needle. They're trained to tattoo with 7 needles or more. And I'm, I probably will get a lot of shit from tattoo artists for this, but it's true. It's— they're more mad because they can't tattoo with a fine line. If you look, I asked for this one, I asked for that to be a fine line tattoo right here, and I think it was done with like 9 needles. Yeah, and it's a brown liner. So if you were to ask them, I've had some that the lines have blown out and it's not even one needle, you know, so they don't know their depth. But a fine line is just knowing how to tattoo small tattoos with very thin lines. And if you, if you show yours, I don't know how good you can see yours on the camera, but mine's thick.

I wanted it thinner. It's a—

and that's it. And look at, and look at Erika's now.

I don't know how to get it to go that way.

So it's more defined. Yes, clear.

Yes. Um, so it has to do with needles. Yeah.

Yeah. So my siblings and I, after my dad passed, we all like playing cards. So we all got— there's 5 of us. So each of us got a suit and my brother got— he got the wild card. He got the joker. But I'm like, it's not— I like it, but I, in my head, but I had pictured what I—

the more dainty—

the picture I gave, it was more dainty. Yes.

Yeah. So that's what— yeah. So that's what I, that's what I specialize in, in the dainty tattoos. I've done a bigger piece before, but it was like when I was still practicing and it's probably this big that I tattooed. And that one I did have to go with a little bit of a thicker needle only because it was bigger and it wasn't going to look as great if I went with the fine line. But I'm trying to build up to go to drawing bigger tattoos. And maybe even color, but my favorite are honestly the fine line, the dainty looking tattoos.

I got to come see you, Crystal. I got to. I need to get another one.

Yes, I'm all, I'm down for it.

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, now feels like a good time where maybe you can tell people how to get in touch with you for your services and that kind of thing so they can reach out to you for all your bookkeeping expertise and your tattoo expertise.

So for my bookkeeping, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn under Beauty Pro Bookkeeping. Yeah, Beauty Pro Bookkeeping. My website is beautyprobukkeeping.com/quote to fill out a form if you want more information and to get, you know, a quote. For my tattooing, it's Artsy Crystal on Instagram and Facebook as well. And there you could keep up with me. I do have a podcast. You could keep up on both of those. Yeah. So it's also about beauty. It's Beauty Bound. So I speak a lot about bookkeeping on there as well and the beauty industry. So yeah, so that's all everywhere you could find me.

That's awesome. And just to be clear, you specialize in beauty bookkeeping, but you are taking on other clients as well?

Yeah. So I specialize in the beauty industry, but I also take on small businesses. Yes. My specialty, like I said, I do focus on that because that's, you know, that's, uh, I worked in the field and I want to help the beauty industry, but I also obviously know the small business aspect of it and I know I could help small businesses. Yeah.

Perfect. Okay, cool. Well, thank you.

Yes, this was fun.

I appreciate always your blunt honesty. We need more of that in the world.

Oh, um, yeah, thank you for being on.

And then I will also thank our listeners for tuning in to this week's episode, and we will just catch you guys next week.

Thank you, guys.

Bye.

Thanks so much for tuning in to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media at our respective Instagram or join our Working Moms of San Antonio Facebook group. Those links can be found in our episode description. If you have an episode topic suggestion or question, please email us at office@erikaradisagent.com, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review. See you next week!