Profit Is A Choice

Joining me on the podcast today is Sherry Wilson, owner of Business By The Book which provides bookkeeping services across the country. Sherry started her business as a side hustle in 2013 and I met her in 2014. She has grown the firm to more than 5 people and now has a location outside of her home. 

Sherry and her team strive to offer excellent service and industry understanding. Some of their offerings include budgeting, payroll, and sales tax filing in addition to the normal bookkeeping services we all need. Sherry and her team have multiple certifications and stay on top of the latest and greatest changes each year.

• Bookkeeping
• Business Growth
• Processes
• Oversight

• If people are not comfortable with their bookkeeping skills, we are more than happy to do that for them.
• Retainers are not really earned income until applied to an invoice.
• Sales tax rules are constantly changing.
• The better the communication, the less the bookkeeping fees will be.
• It is never too soon to hire a bookkeeper.
• Always have a W-9 on file for your sub-contractors.
• If you are bi-lingual, you can communicate with 80% of the world.
• Don’t allow set-backs to discourage you. There is a season for everything.

• Website: https://www.businessbythebook.money
• Facebook: Business by the Book
• Instagram: @businessbythebook.money

• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
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Cindy Lin is on the podcast today. She is a home staging educator, podcaster and the founder of Staged4more School of Home Staging.  Her podcast, The Home Staging Show,  is the longest-running and the #1 podcast on iTunes dedicated to home staging.  Her goal is to provide modern, practical and quality home staging education to help home stagers excel and build profitable and sustainable businesses.  

In our time together today, we focused on what staging is, how Cindy got started and some of the pivots she has had in entrepreneurship. Cindy is always learning and trying to stretch herself. Listen in as she shares where she thinks she got that drive. 

• Staging
• Pivot
• Growth
• Entrepreneurship

• It was a very natural transition for me.
• Running a business takes a lot of moving pieces.
• Profits will save any problem in a business.
• When you have loop holes in your contract, you will leak money.
• When you are an entrepreneur, the 80/20 rule really applies.
• You can create freedom from your business no matter how busy you are.
• I think the edge between interior design and staging is becoming blurred.
• You have to tell the visual story about your brand.
• Because the way things are with social media, it promotes more transparency.
• We need to understand how consumers today are buying.

• Website: https://www.staged4more.com
• Facebook: Staged 4 More School of Home Staging
• Instagram: @staged4more

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Amber De La Garza is on the podcast today. She is a productivity specialist who helps entrepreneurs create actionable solutions to maximize profit, reduce stress and to focus on what matters most to them. Amber also hosts a podcast, Productivity Straight Talk. She and I met at Podcast Movement, a conference for podcasters in late summer. After realizing how many connections we had in common over a lunch meeting, we hit it off. Amber focuses on productivity as a means to leverage profits – and you know I love that!

On our podcast today Amber shares what she considers to be productivity and what is not. You just might be surprised. We also dig into how to quickly determine if what you are doing in your business is really productive and profitable. 

• Time
• Marketing
• Sales
• Service
• Leadership

• You have the knowledge, but what is the disconnect of execution?
• If I can do it for “them”, then I can do it for other companies. 
• Businesses do not see organization as a necessity. They see it as a luxury. 
• Productivity is investing your best time into your best activities. 
• I don’t believe we are made to be productive all day, every day. 
• There are specific principles to productivity. 
• If you are doing your best work, don’t judge it.  Do more of it. 
• Your “best time” is when you do your best work. 

• Website: https://www.theproductivityspecialist.com
• Podcast: https://www.productivitystraighttalk.com
• Facebook: The Productivity Specialist
• Instagram: @amber_delagarza

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On the podcast today, I have my husband Joel.  I am pretty excited and just a little bit scared about the conversation that we're going to have…but I think it's going to be fun for many of you. My listeners have asked what my husband thinks of what I do, so I'm going to ask him some questions.

• Family
• Work ethic
• Partnership
• Entrepreneurship

• We grew up in households where the income came from big companies or the Public School system.
• We were sleeping in the “work room”.
• I couldn’t even buy shoes for the kids, but I was working on clients’ second or third homes.
• We went from having six figure jobs to zero income coming in.
• I worked a lot, but it was based around everyone else’s schedule.
• There are different burdens each one of us carry.
• I was shocked at what people were willing to spend to cover windows.
• Our boys have been raised in a home that values work.
• Work is called work for a reason.
• Profitability is more than about the money.

• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting
• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

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Jamie Lieberman joins the podcast today. Jamie is a lawyer and founder of Hashtag Legal. Jamie describes her firm as not only your lawyer, but a partner in your business. I love that description. Her firm focuses on helping you maximize your profit while protecting your assets. And who can’t get behind that!  

Jamie and I met at Podcast Movement this summer. And as you can hear me share with Jamie in our discussion – she was so approachable. Honestly, after a quick meeting, I was a little shocked that she was an attorney. Not because she was not professional – quite the opposite. She was professional and approachable – and that is not always expected from the legal profession.  

• Protection
• Contracts
• Legal entity
• Brand name

• Finding the right person who makes it easy, is the one to go with.
• I knew I needed client contact.
• I realized there was a huge gap in the industry.
• I love it because I live my clients.
• You have to put your time in.
• I really think you should stretch yourself and try new things.
• The thing about business is that every business is unique.
• When you don’t form an entity, you potentially leave yourself open for a liability personally.
• When you get the idea to start a business, form the business (legally) immediately.
• There is a difference between a business name and an actual trade name.
• Trademark is one area I do not recommend DIY.
• Think about how you feel when you are talking to your lawyer.

• Website: https://www.hashtag-legal.com
• Facebook: Hashtag Legal
• Instagram: @hashtag_legal

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Richelle Plett, of RLP Interiors is with us on the podcast today for a second time. Richelle joined us initially on Episode 8  in 2018 entitled, Stepping Back can be a Growth Strategy. At that time Richelle shared that she was closing her custom upholstery shop after many years and many iterations – as well as the difficulty she was facing from not having a scalable business – and not digging into the financials earlier.  

Since then, Richelle is finding new ways to push through after implementing Profit First and is continuing to push forward with courage into the new challenges and opportunities that are before her. In our conversation today – we are focusing on how to pick up and move forward. How to readjust our view and how to work without a safety net.  

• Transition

• Flexibility

• Ideal client

• Starting over

On the podcast today is Amy Ferrer of Miko and Boone Home. Amy and I have been friends for quite a few years. Probably since 2013 when I met her through another colleague. Amy is just one of a kind and I'm so excited to bring this podcast to you today. What we're going to talk about is her journey and how she uses that to encourage others.

Amy started off as a drapery workroom and she definitely has a heart for designers. I don't think I've ever met anybody who expresses their passion the way Amy does.

Topics Mentioned:

• Journey
• Fear
• Courage
• Passion

• Sewing wasn’t my passion. My passion was meeting with the clients.
• We are always looking at a better way of doing things.
• I am a present at the moment, but I am always looking down the road.
• If you have something tugging in your heart, you have to follow it.
• It is so easy to feel discouraged.
• We are all creatives.
• We have all “been there” and you are not alone.
• We love for designers to feel as if we are a part of their team.
• I believe design is here to stay. We all have a talent.
• The benefits of people to having a designer is to have someone with an eye and a plan.
• We all make mistakes. Give yourself some grace.

• Website: https://mikoandboonehome.com/
• Facebook: Miko + Boone Home
• Instagram: @mikoandboonehome

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On today’s podcast we are talking about trust. What is it, how to tell if you have it, and why it matters.

• Trust
• Fear
• Confidence

• Confidence is built on us trusting ourselves.
• Because your client is really engaging with you when they trust you.
• I trust my support team because they are focused on the same things I am.
• Acknowledging what you trust builds confidence.
• Once trust is broken it is difficult to get it back.
• We need to use common sense as we navigate business.
• I constantly work on building products and processes I can trust. And it takes time.

• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting
• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

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With us on the podcast today is the Trim Queen – Jana Platina Phipps. Jana is an expert in all things trimmings and as the title of this episode of the podcast, she believes embellishment is a creative form of self-expression. Jana will share with us her start with embellishments and where it has taken her. Topics we cover include unexpectedly finding a passion that you were not actively seeking, stepping out in faith and not fear, and pivoting when needed. This was such a fun conversation and I know you are going to enjoy it.

• Passion
• Embellishment
• Business pivot
• Diversifying income

• I really think having corporate experiences really serves me today. 
• When you are relaxed, that is when you are working at your peak.
•  When I do my workshops, it really brings me joy. 
• It gave me the confidence to make the jump because it what it looked like on paper. 
• I feel like I can’t be creative as I was in the past, because I can’t take those risks like I did back then.
• Embellishment is a creative form of self-expression.  
• People want something unique.  They want something handmade. 
• Everyone has their own personal story about trim.
• You should know what is going on in the market.

• Website: https://trimqueen.com
• Facebook: Trim Queen
• Instagram: @trimqueen

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With me today is Jennifer Smith of JLS Designs in middle Tennessee (just outside of Nashville).  Jennifer began her business almost 20 years ago focused on window coverings. She now offers design services to her clients as well. 

Jennifer has a vast portfolio of clients. She has completed design projects for Fortune 500 executives, some of the country’s most talented music and athletic industry professionals and hundreds of families to meet their home design and decor needs.  Her expertise and attention to detail has helped clients renting one-bedroom apartments and owners of multimillion-dollar estates. Her work has transformed area homes, schools, and office suites across the region. 

• Support
• Guidance
• Advice
• Trust
• Process

• You don’t have to rush to fill every seat at the “table”.  
• I trusted the process and trusted the advice, but I didn’t trust myself. 
• I need an accountability partner (personally).  That is on my radar right now. 
• We need a tribe.  We need those who are going to support us.  
• I can be a party of one really nicely...BUT I don’t want to be a party of one. 
• I am trying to be intentional on how I do my business...and you cannot do that on your own.  
• I have the power to make changes and alter the course of where I am going. 
• If nothing else, I am seeing the results in my business. 
• I am only as good as the team that I have surrounded myself with. 

• Website: https://jlsdesignstn.com
• Facebook: JLS Designs
• Instagram: @jlsdesignstn

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