Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Well, hi there, and welcome to another podcast being recorded at CollabWerts here in Midtown Paducah. I am Andrea Wilson and I am.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: With Sherry Newcomb from L. A. Miller & Associates, also in Paducah, down from Midtown Market.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: And we're glad you're joining us today, as always. And I guess just by the way, we've designed this podcast, we've talked about a few things. We don't have a script or a plan. We just want to be able to get on here and kind of talk like we do here in the office, about real matters that affect business and the humans in the business.
So today we kind of started this morning by. It was. It was interesting because I was thinking of a word I wanted to focus on, and out of the blue, I get a text message from Sherry that says, hey, our word today is expectations. And I was like, ah, that's really interesting. And I text her back and I was like, interesting. My word was consequences.
And so we've spent the last 30 minutes just kind of bouncing back and forth, talking about how those two things affect businesses that we work with and see and just some of their stories and experiences with when they start their business and what they expect to happen in that business as they make actions towards getting it open and starting to run it and with marketing and letting people know it exists, and then you know the consequences of that. So, Sherry, you got a good example of a business today that we can talk about. No names.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Okay? No names.
I see this happen a lot.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Did you try again? Oh, Siri's listening. Oh, let's turn her off. These darn AIs.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: I'm Sherry, not Siri. So it happens a lot, and I do think it's so funny that it happens that way. So I'll tell you a little bit about some things that I see very commonly as an accountant for people that are wanting to start up their own business.
There are a lot of great tools out there online to use. Unfortunately, not all of us know how to use the tool. If you're a contractor, never hand me a hammer. It's not a good tool for me to use. Or a chainsaw online is sometimes not a good tool for people that are wanting to start up their business. There are some things out there that they are very easy to use, but you can mess things up so fast and it messes up your whole foundation of your business.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: So I think people know and I think it's okay for us to actually say what those are. So there's a couple of big Big ones. One I can think of. What are the names of these online startups?
[00:02:57] Speaker B: One for a lot of us that live here in Kentucky, it's the One Stop Portal with the Kentucky Secretary of State and it combines the Kentucky Secretary of State and the Kentucky Department of Revenue and it's at the One Stop Portal. Fabulous tool if you're a professional.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Yeah, but they market it. They make it look like a kindergartner could use it.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: A kindergartner can use it. Kindergartener can make mistakes, makes it difficult for em to get to the first grade.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: So the business owner goes into it with the expectation of hey, this is out there for me to use.
Likely they don't have a lot of money because they are a new business owner, I'm assuming. Right, agree. That's big. So the expectation is I can save all kinds of money and do this myself.
And that's true. And what goes wrong?
[00:03:54] Speaker B: What goes wrong is they don't necessarily know all of the steps that it takes to complete that new business setup. They think it's a. They think that the Kentucky One stop is you go there and once you're done, you stop. No, you're not one and done with the One Stop.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Well, hey, it makes sense.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Like it makes sense.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Once and done. That's it. I've done everything I'm supposed to do. Okay. So the consequence to that is, well.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: It'S Kentucky One Stop. What does that have to do with the Federals? What does that have to do with locals in Kentucky?
[00:04:30] Speaker A: Right. So the consequences, their business really isn't set up.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Business may not necessarily be all the way set up.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: So they saved, they saved some money, did it themselves. Because we're all in the DIY age. We can do everything. There's YouTube, there's YouTube, there's the Internet.
We kind of was talking about this just a few minutes ago about. We're kind of in this enlightenment 2.0 H where we have access to basically any information that we want, but we might not know how to use that information. So that's the downside, the action and the reaction. So the, you know, what's good is we can get onto it ourselves. What's bad is there could be some misinformation. And then so we've saved some money, we've set up our business. We don't even know that we've done it incorrectly. Because one of the things I like to say around here is what you.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Don'T know, you don't know or something like that. I don't Know.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Do I say it with that face?
[00:05:36] Speaker B: Probably. No, I hear it with that face.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: You don't know what you don't know because you don't know. And you know, I know that that seems really crazy to say it that way, but it is the truth. And so that's what happens to these business owners. So then they show up at your door.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Now they show up at my door and they're so proud of the work that they've done and they've set all their business up. And I look at it and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's gonna take me double to fix than it did for them to do the first time. And it's not finished. Yeah, so.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: So what's the biggest mistake that you see?
[00:06:12] Speaker B: The biggest mistake that I see is they are starting up a business. And the biggest mistake that they all want to be an llc, but they don't necessarily know what an LLC is.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Look, I don't know. Can you, can we, can we talk about this for a second?
Tell me about llc. Tell our listeners and viewers out there about an llc, because it is a major mistake. I hear you guys talk about it all the time. We get phone calls at the front that they're set up as an llc. Then we bring information to you, to you guys, meaning the accountants in the LA Miller firm. And you ask us questions we don't know. So explain this to us.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: What I do with a new client as they come in is. Is. And they say they want to be an llc. First I ask them if they know what that means. Do they even know what LLC stands for? Limited Liability Company is, what an LLC is and do they understand what a limited liability company is? Now, this is my professional description of it. So please, I want to put a disclaim out there that if I'm a little off, it's my definition.
For me, the best way for to describe it to that person is to think of a limited liability company as an umbrella of protection over the assets of that company.
And then after they like, okay, that makes some sense of thinking of what's the worst case scenario that's going to happen to that company and the assets being protected by the umbrella. What's outside of the umbrella? Be thinking about those kind of awareness.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: That gets a little legal talk about piercing the veil.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Yes, that's where we talk about piercing the co. Piercing the corporate veil. Yeah, that's some good legal terminology right there.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: So that just means if you run expenses through that are, say personal expenses and not business Expenses that could be.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Potentially piercing your corporate veil. So the other examples, you know, umbrella protection, what happens when your umbrella gets holes in it? When a rainy day comes, you're going to get, you're going to get a little wet or a lot wet. Okay, So I defined to them and talked to them a little bit about what is a limited liability company so that they understand that. And then from that I tell them there's two different definitions. There's a single member company or there's a single member llc.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: This is where I get confused. So pay attention people. Listen closely. Right here. So there's two different ones.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Single member LLC and multi member llc. And from there I tell them, if you don't decide how you're going to be taxed, the IRS decides for you.
So as you're going to the one stop portal and you're saying, I'm going to be an LLC and it's me and my wife, it's me and my friend, it's me and my brother, it's whoever. Me, myself and I does my, you know, it's best to probably get it. It is, it's not best to. It is always best to get the advice of a professional. It does not take long to get to do that and have them kind of help and walk you through this service. You can, you can save, you can actually really save yourself money when you take the time to get a little bit of advice. Who was that? We've been talking about philosophers and what is it?
An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure?
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah, so it kind of talks about. Well, so what you're saying, and the way I would interpret that in this scenario is you're going to pay a little money on the front end, which may seem like a lot, but if you pay for it on the back end, if you do it incorrectly and you pay for it on the back end, it's going to cost a lot more than it would have in that initial investment with that professional. Is that what you're saying?
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Okay, it is.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: So I interpreted that right. So when talking about the professionals, we have attorneys who help set up small business. Our office on the La Miller side helps set up small business.
Collab Works actually has part of the La Miller team that works as consultants that if you want to do it yourself, we can customize some things and get an advisor with you, that is a smaller fee, but we just do some advising and then kind of telling you if you've missed something. Um, and then we also have someone at our college, right. Sherry at wctc, we do. Who is. What is his title?
[00:10:54] Speaker B: And he actually works for the Small Business Association.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: Okay. And is that. That is at the college?
[00:11:02] Speaker B: That is out at the college, yes.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Okay. And so some of you may know who we're talking about. We're going to kind of hold on to the name because that's something we want to focus on in a future episode and just really and hopeful, have him on the show to talk more about what he does. But now through him, you can actually, and I don't think there's any qualifiers, but he actually works with people at no charge. Right.
And it'll be interesting to get more information from him about how that works, how they find him, if there are any qualifiers and exactly what he does and to what depth, because, you know, it is our goal. I mean, obviously we want everyone to come to LA Miller, but we can't service everyone. We just can't. And there are some clients who are perfectly fit to come here because they're going to go on with consulting and advising. Their company is large, or maybe it's already established and we're fixing some things or changing entities even, and they are needing other services, services like payroll and bookkeeping. So that's kind of a perfect client here.
But then last week we had a client, a potential client came in and spoke with Sherry about his business goals and dreams and what. I think he already had a business name, business plan, but he needed help with the setup. And you want to tell a little about that story? It's a really wonderful story.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: It was a good, it was a really good experience for me. Had a client that came in and yes, he'd started a new business, a new llc, and he'd already, you know, gone and registered it online and gotten his federal ID number.
And he was, he was ready to go. He was ready now to talk, talk to our office about bookkeeping and doing taxes. So as I looked at it, I noticed that the way he had registered his business with the Secretary of State did not match the name and the title of how he got his federal ID number. I was like, okay. And then I asked him about, did you, have you, have you gotten these state ID numbers? Have you gotten these local ID numbers? No. Didn't know I had to do that. The one stop, I did this. I did this. So there was going to be a little cleanup work on this client before we could go to the next step. And I always like to tell everybody, you know, when you get those numbers, when you, it's. It's like building a house. You want the foundation of your business to be solid and secure. So you want those id, those account numbers to be solid and secure before you start to build any more of your business onto it. His next step with us, you know, was going to be the bookkeeping process. Well, we need good federal ID numbers as we put them into our software, yada, yada, yada, to go on from there. He was, we're gonna have to do some cleanup work on him. So I told him what the cost was to do the cleanup work, and I immediately saw the, the reaction.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah, so you were able to read his body language. So he was not expecting.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: He was not, he was not expecting that the cost of cleanup sometimes is more expensive than the cost to actually.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, we see that every day here.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: So I told him that, and he said, I'll be back tomorrow. I said, okay. So it gave us both 24 hours to think about it. And there's another good lesson. Always give these major decisions 24 hours to think about it. I tell people there are not accounting emergencies. Think about things for 24 hours. So it gave me time to think about it for 24 hours too. So as he came in the next day prepared to pull the trigger, I'd been thinking about it, I saw his knee jerk reaction of the money was going to be expensive, but I also saw the potential in this young man as an entrepreneur, as a potential client for our office. And I, I just couldn't discard him. So as he came in and we, we talked about his situation and he was ready to go. And I said, I can't take your money. And I, I gave him his money back and I sent him to the sba.
And now I can't beat him off with a stick.
No, I mean that, I mean that in the sweetest way.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: Well, he, he saw that you were a genuine person with genuine care about his contribution to this community, with the business that he was going to open and operate. And you saw his potential and that you also saw his struggle, which is a struggle for so many. And I think that that's something that's really, really special about the people in the La Miller firm, is that, yes, we're all here to make money. It is our job. It's how we pay our bills. It's what we've spent our life. Not me. You know, I always got to say that. Not me. I'm not an accountant and I don't do the business side. But that sounded funny, the business, anyway, moving On. Yes.
But the flip side is we don't, we don't have to have everyone that comes in the door. And if you come in the door and there's a better fit for you, our firm is going to tell you, the person that you meet with in la, Miller, if it's not right, if we're not the right family for you to land with, or maybe you just need, maybe you skipped a step, there's a step that you can go back, which is kind of what happened with this, with this young entrepreneur. Go back, start here. This is a better fit for you. When you get this done, then come back and see us. And I think that your actions and his reaction to that speaks volumes about, one, Sherry Newcomb as a person and two, Sherry Newcomb as our senior staff accountant and where your values are and how you work and what your passion is as far as helping small business. So I think that's really a lovely story that you shared with us today. And I, I know that we wish this young entrepreneur all the best and we are going to do everything that we can on our business consulting end and on our accounting firm end to help him succeed.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: As he was thinking about, I'm sure as he was thinking about his struggle of how am I going to come up with the money to pay her, My struggle in that 24 hours is how am I going to come up with the time? Because that's the way a lot of us professionals, we use our time and our knowledge to make a living.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Right.
Right. The electric bill is calling.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: The electric bill is calling. So my, my struggle was, if I take his money, how am I going to come up with the time? Because it was going to take time to fix him.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: So.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: So there was a lot to go back, untangle, rework.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Yes. So, you know, hopefully let's, let's start to kind of wrap this up. Time's money and I gotta go.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Okay. So the lessons are if someone has.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: A business, if someone has a business, you know, take time to contact a professional first, get the help. If you need the help that's there, you probably do need some help and some guidance. You're welcome to actually call our caller office when you. To schedule a new client appointment. You'll be meeting with me and we'll kind of talk through what you've got going on.
Be aware of the, be aware of those tools out there on the Internet. There's a lot of information, a lot of good information that you can use, and there's a lot of misinformation that you can also use, but it may cost you some money. So just be thinking about those as you go along.
What was the next.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Well, just, I just. With what you said right there, I mean, there is. There's a lot of different reasons to go to someone that you're paying versus a place that's free. And one I can think of right off the bat, just real quick, because I think it's important to mention is it's all good if, if, if the consultant, the advisor, the small business specialist, whoever you're talking to, the accountant, the attorney, they all know what they're doing because that's their field of study. If you're getting something for free, it's likely that it might take a little more time than it would if you're going somewhere that you're paying. And again, and it's just supply and demand. Supply and demand. We have. We are living in an environment right now.
And I went to see the governor yesterday, which was. It was nice. I enjoyed going to that. And he talked a little about this in Western Kentucky and that everything's right for entrepreneurs right now. And small business startups and everything's kind of aligned and we have tons of them. It's like everybody all of a sudden wants to stop working for corporate companies and large corporations, and we're all dreamers and doers and we want to do those things. So anyway, just think about that as you're thinking about where that fits for you to. To consult with someone on your small business, your dreams, your goals and getting that set up. Is that supply and demand? Because it is backed up. We're backed up. I feel like everyone in the community that works on that is backed up. And the governor, like I said, he reiterated that by saying the environment's right, you know, if you've got the resources and the environment's right for entrepreneurs. And that's quite exciting because we can see a lot of new creative businesses come along in our community, you know, and, well, everywhere.
So, yeah, so good show.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: All right.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Good show. Talking about the expectations, the consequences of those expectations, small business setup and what we can do at LA Miller collab works, and then also the resources that we can provide to you as the business owner. So call us, talk to us. If we can't help you, we'll help you find a place.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: That's exactly right.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you so much and we will see you next time.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Yes, thank you. See you next time. Bye.
