I had the pleasure of having Erica Goode, Fractional CFO to Coaches and Consultants, on the latest episode of the "Hourly to Exit" podcast, where we discussed some fascinating topics related to financial management, business growth, and the accounting industry.

Here are key takeaways from this episode:

1. Understanding the Balance Sheet: Erica explained how assets, debts, and equity work together on a balance sheet. This knowledge is crucial for business owners and potential buyers, as it helps in evaluating the financial health and value of a company.
2. The Importance of Accurate Financials: When forecasting the future of your business, Erica stressed the significance of having precise financials from the past to build a realistic projection. This includes understanding one-time expenses and not projecting them into the future.
3. Shifting Perspectives in the Accounting Industry: Erica shed light on the challenges and drawbacks faced by accountants, such as long working hours and high burnout rates. However, she also mentioned the positive shift happening within the industry, with younger accountants working towards change and bringing fresh perspectives to traditional accounting practices.

If you're interested in learning more about these topics and gaining valuable insights from Erica Goode, make sure to check out the full podcast episode. You don't want to miss it!

More About Our Guest:

Erica Goode has been a Certified Public Accountant for 15 years. She runs a virtual accounting firm supporting coaches and consultants with bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO services and also hosts the Coaches, Consultants, and Money podcast. She’s a former Director of Finance at a Fortune 50 company and started her career as an auditor at a Big 4 public accounting firm. Erica is also the mom of 2 and the wife of a fellow CPA. She lives with her family in the mountains of Idaho.

Connect with Erica Goode:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Connect with Erin and find the resources mentioned in this episode at hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Hello, ladies.

Welcome to the hourly

to exit podcast.

I am very excited to have

Erica good with me today.

Hi, Erica.

Hey, thanks

so much for having me.

Well,

we go a bit back.

And so I'm excited to have you

on to talk about, financials,

that buyers care about.

I think you might've called

it financials that matter

to buyers, but before we

jump in, I'd love for you

to introduce yourself to

the audience.

Sure.

So I'm Erica Goody.

I'm a CPA and I am a

fractional CFO for coaches and

consultants and individuals

who are growing those

practices, whether they

decide to be a soloist or

they want to build an agency.

I work with them on a daily,

weekly and monthly basis.

not just once a year as most

CPAs is that that's how often

most people see their CPAs,

but I am meeting with my

clients every single month and

we are talking about what has

happened in their business and

more importantly, what's going

to happen in their business

and planning that out.

So do you consider

yourself

a fractional CFO?

Is that kind of the role?

I do.

Yeah.

Yes.

And different people know of

that and don't know of that.

And so, yeah, I think it's,

a great resource to have

if you're ready to bring.

A financial professional

into your business more

than just once a year.

definitely fractional CFO.

It can be such a huge

resource into your business.

Oh,

I will say

like lot of us don't

understand completely the

difference between any kind

of accountant versus a CFO.

Like what's the difference?

Yeah.

So that's not uncommon.

I think there's so much

confusion in the industry

and looking into the industry

on what everybody does

and who do we call what?

And.

A lot of times the labels

overlap and people do

similar things, but I

would say like CPAs.

I think there's an assumption

that a CPA does tax.

I think CPAs is

just a designation.

CPAs wear many

different capes, right?

They can do many

different things.

And so I think there's a

difference of, you can have

a CPA who is your tax CPA.

And you can have accountants

or CPAs who are fractional

CFOs and those serve

very different purposes.

And a lot of times business

owners or individuals get

frustrated because they

think their tax CPA should

be acting like a financial

planner or a fractional CFO.

And then there's

all this kind of.

Yucky feelings

against each other.

Like, well, my CPA is not

providing this and my client's

asking me for things that

they didn't pay me for.

And so there's this lot of

confusion around, what is

the purpose and what are you

paying for when you have a tax

CPA versus a fractional CFO?

Yeah,

I've had

both and I've had the

disappointment of having

someone who was just like,

all I'm doing is your taxes.

And I'm like, but I've got

this issue, And then I've had

the, fortunately, I don't, I'm

not with that person anymore.

Now I have the more of

the, CFO helps me kind of

forecast, helps me think

about my business and,

things like that, which

is great resource to have.

So,

yes, absolutely.

So I would, yeah, I would say

the fractional CFO is usually

looking forward more than

they're looking backwards.

They need to look

backwards, but their focus

and their value comes

from looking forward.

Right.

So when, is somebody

ready for you?

I provide

different level of services

depending on where people are.

a lot of times I see people

come in around like the two

to 300, 000 revenue mark,

because they're having a lot

of questions around converting

to an S Corp and they

don't know what that means.

They don't know if that's

right for And they

don't want to, you know,

everybody's afraid of

doing the wrong thing and

getting arrested by the IRS.

The IRS will not

arrest you also.

So everything's going

to get arrested.

And they're

attached.

Jail or debtor

jail or

something like that.

There is for sure tax jail.

I would feel very confident

in saying the listeners of

this podcast are probably

trying to do the right thing.

And they're probably

never, ever, ever going

to get close to tax jail.

tax jail is reserved for

people who are purposefully

doing really bad things.

Well, they would

probably

at, scale, I imagine too.

Yes.

At scale.

Believe me, they deserve it.

You missing a couple of

deductions or putting in wrong

numbers on your tax return

will not land you in tax jail.

so yeah, I see people.

one point is I see them

usually at the two to

300, 000 mark when they

start wanting to look

forward in their business.

And when they're starting

to see significant growth

and scale and like that kind

of that click moment, like,

Oh, I figured this out.

Finally, after years

of, trying different

things and experimenting,

I figured this out.

And now I see that there

is I plan for it?

I think the best problem

that I get to solve is

I have money coming in.

What do I do with it?

Or how do I do

it the right way?

Or how do I save on

taxes the right way?

Or how do I invest in my

retirement the right way?

And so I always say I

get to solve the really

fun problems, right?

Having too much cash

is a fun problem.

Yes.

And we get to figure out

how to make more cash,

save more cash and invest

it in the right ways.

so that's one point and then

another point that people tend

to bring me in is when they've

created what is like an agency

or something where they have

a staff of people and they've

done very well and they've

been able to track things.

along the way, probably

until their first million

with their bookkeeper or

by themselves sometimes.

And then they get to

the point where cash is

flying in every direction.

We've got to make

payroll twice a week.

We're bringing in

invoices, but some of

them aren't getting paid.

How do I get those paid?

I can't miss payroll.

And we start to get these

really tens of thousands of

dollars in and out swings

on a weekly or biweekly

basis that can get really

nerve wracking if you don't

have a good visual into.

The plan for those and how

your cash flow is kind of

growing and fluctuating

as you run that business.

Yeah,

that's great.

Yeah.

The first example like

that was when I, cause

I've never, I haven't

done my taxes like ever.

I don't think so.

I've always used accountants.

For my taxes, but it wasn't

until kind of that flex point

that I brought in, someone

to kind of do financials,

which, brings us to, because

I never had financials before

that I just said, yeah, so,

so that brings us to our.

Topic today.

And so I'm excited about it

because I haven't been talking

on the exit side of the hourly

to exit journey for a while.

So we're going to talk

about that today and

about the financials that

will matter to a buyer.

But just starting from the

beginning, like, what do we

mean when we say financials?

Yeah.

So what I mean, at least

is, I mean, really simply

a balance sheet and, or a

profit and loss statement,

no matter where you are at

any point in your business,

you're going to need to do

those, whether you keep them

in a spreadsheet, there's

no shame in spreadsheet,

whether you keep them.

On a legal pad.

That's okay, too.

Like those financials

statements is always going

to be what feeds your taxes.

So whether you do it on your

own or you have an accountant

do your taxes, you're always

going to have to produce

some kind of financials.

And that's usually going

to be your balance sheet

and your profit and loss

statement at the very minimum

for every business owner in

whatever stage you're at.

Right.

And what is a

balance sheet?

Oh, thank you.

A balance sheet.

Yes, that's true.

A balance sheet tells

you what assets you have

and what debts you owe.

And so accountants

love to be in balance.

Balance sheets are called

a balance sheet because

they should balance your

assets are always going

to equal your debts plus

your equity in there.

And so I'm going to take it

out of business for a second.

Cause there's.

sometimes we're like, wow,

that's I don't even know what

my assets are in my business.

But when I think about

something very basic,

like, if you think, in

terms of owning your home.

Your home is your assets.

Let's say you have a 400,

000 home and you have a

300, 000 mortgage on it.

That means your asset is the

400, 000 thing, the home.

Your debt is the 300,

000 thing and your equity

in that is 100, 000.

And so the 400 equals the

300 plus the 100, right?

And it works the same

way with our business.

We have assets in our

business, and then we might

have debt in our business.

And the difference is the

equity or the value that we,

the owner have when we Pay

off the debts, basically.

All right.

I'm going to go

in this direction.

Just bear with me.

So, you know, I like to talk

about intellectual property

as being an asset in the

expertise based business,

but I don't think they show

up on the balance sheet.

Tell us how, what that

is.

Yes.

So that is really, so there's

some really nitty gritty

accounting that we won't go

into into depths of it can

show up on your balance sheet.

One of the ways it can

show up is if you buy that.

And so actually, when you're

talking about exiting, I

didn't know we were going

to go this direction.

You're really, making

me scratch my brain

for some really good

gap accounting here.

but this is good because

this is talking about exit.

So if you do have

intellectual property to you.

To me, the business owner,

if I have intellectual

property, it might not show

up on my balance sheet.

You're right.

But when it does show up on

a balance sheet is if a buyer

comes in and says, Ooh, I

see you have something of

value intellectual property.

I want to buy that from you.

now if the buyer pays money

for it, it is now an asset on

their balance sheet, right?

You're right.

It wasn't on the seller's

balance sheet as soon as

it gets sold and somebody

pays money for it.

Then it's an asset to them.

All right.

Well, that brings us to

the financials that buyers

like, and maybe there's

then the extras that aren't

quite on your financial

statement as a seller.

So, yeah, do you want to.

Anyplace you want to start

there?

let's jump into the

profit and loss statement.

We talked about balance sheet.

I think a buyer's before

anything, a buyer is.

Probably not going to care

about your balance sheet.

Your balance sheet is

your balance sheet.

Whatever you owe

in your business is

literally your business.

They're likely not going

to take on debt, from you.

And so what a buyer is

really going to care about

is what's happening on your

profit and loss statement.

And more importantly, what's

going to happen in your

profit and loss statement.

And so what you have,

every business owner

is going to have what

happened in the past.

What they want to see

is probably what's

going to happen in the

next five to 10 years.

They're going to care a

lot about your revenue.

They're going to care a

lot about your profit, and

they're going to care a lot

about the difference between

those every year going

forward or your trend lines.

And so they want to know if

you're increasing in revenue,

how fast you're increasing

in revenue, and what it

takes to increase that from

like an expense standpoint.

So they're going to

worry about how fast that

trend is moving in profit

and revenue and what

it takes to get there.

Because if you've set up

your business, so they care,

they're going to look at

what happened in the past.

You've created this business.

It's hopefully moving

in an upward into the

right direction, right

up into the right.

That's what everybody wants

to see up into the right.

And it's moving at

a scalable clip.

But if it's taking expenses.

And it's degrading

profit, right?

that's what a

buyer cares about.

They care that they're

going to be able to take

by that business and make

more money and more profit

every year in the future.

And so couple of really

important things is, your

financials matter because

we care that they're

accurate in the past.

That they're very accurate

in the past because that's

what's going to feed your

forecast in the future.

And we care that when

you talked about having

a fractional CFO, that

the person helping you

build out that forecast is

really keenly aware of how

your business operates.

Because you can

have an example of.

Maybe you're building a

business and it does take in

year 1 and 2 a lot of expenses

to stand up what you're doing.

But those expenses are

1 time costs, and maybe

they're not going to be

there in year 3 through 8.

Right?

And so you care very

much that the person

helping you build your

forecast understands that.

Those expenses are one

time things and they're not

projecting them into the

future and that's where the

buyer is going to see values.

You've built up and created

this thing and now it's

going to run at a much

better operating margin.

Now,

if I'm thinking

about selling my business,

take us to like the T minus.

three years, five years.

okay, I want to sell

my business in 2025.

Well, it's too late now.

If I wanted to start

that was let's say 2030.

when do I need to start

thinking as a seller, as

opposed to just an operator

or maybe they're the same.

Oh, I think,

they can be the same.

here's why I think

that because.

a business that somebody

else is going to see as very

valuable is now currently

also very valuable to you.

what a buyer thinks is

valuable is something that's

going to kick off a lot of

profit and a lot of cash

relatively easily because it

has a solid operating system

behind it, know, processes

and it's running efficiently.

It doesn't take just.

Me as the seller to

operate it and to push all

the buttons every single

minute of every single day.

And so in essence, if you're

building something that's

going to look very attractive

to a buyer, you've built

something that is already

very valuable to you, it's

already kicking off profit.

It's already making a good

cashflow and it's relatively.

quote, easy to run

without you, or at

least you specifically

somewhat

independent from you.

Exactly.

Yeah.

and so what about if,

I'm trying to pay myself

kind of nothing so I can

keep cash in the business

and keep growing it.

Like, how will the seller

buyer look at that?

So cash in the

business is we kind of always

have lots of questions around.

and I'm going to go

into taxes for a second.

Do I get taxed on the

money that I take out of

the business or do I get

taxed on any money that

the business generates?

Right.

And so there's this,

sometimes there's this

misnomer that like, if I

keep money in the business,

I don't pay tax on it.

usually I would guess the

listeners of this podcast are

either an LLC or an S corp.

They're probably not a C corp.

So you're going to pay tax

on anything that is just

revenue minus your expenses.

Is your profit, it's

also going to be what the

potential buyer cares about.

They don't care whether you

took money out of the profit

to pay yourself or you didn't.

In essence, that cash isn't

going to be there's anyways,

like you've earned that cash.

You're going to walk away with

that cash when you sell it.

What they care about is

that profit line item.

And so as the.

Seller, if you are

generating a lot of cash

and you can pay yourself.

By all means pay yourself,

but if there's a reason that

you want to keep that cash

in the business, because you

think that that helps you

build or grow something that

in the future is going to be

valuable, then by all means,

if that's your purpose, do it.

I wouldn't say keep

money, never keep

money in your business.

Sometimes I get people like

it's December, how much

money should I spend so I

can reduce my tax burden?

And I always say.

You should spend 0 if

you don't have to, right?

Like, we should never

be spending 1 to save 0.

30.

Oh, yeah.

It's the same thing.

Yes, and I think there's

a misnomer out there that,

like, I need to spend

something in December so I

can save on my taxes, but.

We should never be

spending money that

doesn't need to be spent.

I would rather you take

home a dollar and pay

30 cents on tax on it.

Than take home 70 and

then pay tax on that.

It was

going to be, you're going

to buy it in January.

Like, okay, right.

Right.

Right.

and so

I'd be very careful.

Keep money in your business.

If you think that you

can spend it in a way

that's going to make your

price tag later higher.

it's

an investment.

Like, you're waiting maybe

to make capital investments

and things like that.

Yeah.

So if I underpay myself.

Does that not increase, like,

what looks like profit, even

though it really isn't because

they would have to pay someone

the market rate in order to

replace me.

Right.

So there's 2 ways

to pay yourself.

let's assume you're an S corp.

Somebody listened to this

is probably an S corp.

you probably are on the

books having a salary.

you always want to pay

yourself a reasonable rate.

and the IRS requires,

they call it a

reasonable compensation.

You have to pay yourself

what you would pay somebody

else to do the work for

you if you wanted to sit

and sip coffee all day.

Right.

And so, really like the

underpaying yourself.

shouldn't be an option.

Now, if you want to take less

distributions outside of that,

that's actually still not

going to make a difference

to your profit at the end of

the day because your owner

distributions aren't a part

of your profit and loss

statement, just your salary.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

All right.

That makes sense.

And then what are the, I mean,

have you taken someone like

done someone's books as they

were exiting a business and

I haven't

gone through the exit.

our exit plan is.

To exit in the next 5 years.

So let's make sure we're a

doing all of this accurately.

So somebody can't come

in and be like, well,

what's this number?

Like, always be

prepared for an audit.

Like, if you're prepared

for an IRS audit, you're

going to be prepared for

somebody to come in and

look at your books during

a due diligence process.

yeah, we've, gone through

the process of getting.

Investors and also, being

prepared for if somebody

comes knocking, we're

ready to tell you how

much this thing is worth.

And when a deal

falls through because of

the due diligence process,

like what are typically

like, what went wrong?

Oh, I'm

definitely not an expert

or a broker in the

due diligence process.

My guess would be that,

something looked rosier than.

It was proposed to be

that it was actually, and,

due diligence is somebody

comes in and starts asking

all of the questions.

They start nitpicking

everything, which is a

hard process to go through.

Right.

And, that is the

nature of the process.

And You've maybe said, oh,

we're at a 50 percent margin.

And so they're going to dig

into who are your contracts?

what makes those up?

How long are those?

How easy are those to

get when they expire?

And then somebody is going to

dig into all your expenses.

And if after they

do all that digging.

Cause what they're doing,

they're trying to poke

holes in your forecast.

And so if they poke holes

in that and they're like,

wait, you said you're going

to grow at 30 percent revenue

for the next five years,

year on year, every year.

I don't know how that's

possible based on

what I'm seeing today.

That's what they're trying

to kind of poke holes into.

And so that's where like.

We can all make up a forecast.

Any CFO can make up a forecast

that looks real great.

but the moment somebody starts

poking holes in it and can't

get to the same numbers that

you did, that's where a due

diligence process would start.

imagine, breaking down and

a buyer would either walk

or say, I still want it, but

at a very different price.

Right.

Right.

That's when the

retraining, I guess the

term is starts, right?

Yes.

So if somebody's thinking

about, they want to sell

their business someday,

that's why we're here.

Like what, something that

they can do today with or

without a CFO's assistance

that can help them kind

of get on the right path.

I don't

think it's ever wasted

time to sit down.

In a spreadsheet of your

own and start forecasting

out what the future of

your business looks like

or what it could look like.

and it doesn't have to be a

really nitty gritty process.

I think sometimes we

can hear words like that

and be like, oh, I don't

know how to do that.

I wouldn't even

know where to start.

It's really just, open

up a spreadsheet and

say, this is what I think

this year will look like.

Here's what I think.

Okay.

The next five years could

look like and from a

revenue standpoint, and

then what would it take

from an expense standpoint?

Like, is that going

to cost me money?

Is that going to make

me hire somebody?

And what does that

do to my margin?

And it can be very high level,

but it starts to get your.

Yeah.

brain working in that

future direction.

If you've only ever really

looked through the past for

tax purposes, it'll start

making you thinking, wow,

why would a buyer want this?

Or what would a buyer want?

And how can I

make that happen?

That's

great advice.

Like just thinking

about, looking back, like

starting out there and what

resources are required.

To get there and start

thinking about it that way,

as opposed to, like, instead

of pushing up the Hill, like,

how do you pull yourself

up to where you want to be?

I like that.

Yeah,

There's a lot

of times where, as business

owners, especially as excited

business owners, I hear

things like, okay, well,

we're going to increase

revenue by 100, 000 dollars

in this next 2 months.

And I'm like, great.

Are you going to have

to hire to do that to

complete those contracts?

And it kind of stops.

I'm like, oh.

yeah, I guess I will.

So your, 100, 000 of

profit really is maybe

more like, 70, 000.

And that's, well,

if you need to

hire an

expert, then yeah.

What does that mean?

Yeah.

Which is fine.

That doesn't mean

it's a bad thing.

That doesn't mean don't do it.

That just means take both

sides into consideration.

so I usually

ask about, trends in

someone's area and I don't

know, are there trends in

accounting?

Financial or, qualitative?

either

one.

right now the trend in

the accounting space that

everybody is paying attention

to is the, shortage of CPAs

and accountants in our space.

Yes.

is, and it is very well known

In the industry, but if you

are outside of the industry,

I don't think people realize

that there is, a shortage.

I believe there is a crazy

statistic that says something

like in the next 10 years, 75

percent of CPAs will retire.

And they're not coming in at

the same clip that they're

retiring at this point.

And so I would be shocked

if somebody listening to

this had not had an issue.

If they'd gone out looking

for a CPA recently, a new

one had an issue finding one.

because even inside the

industry, if I'm trying to

refer somebody, I cannot find

somebody to refer you to.

That

is so interesting.

So why is it just not the hot.

Major anymore, what's

going on there?

Oh,

a deep answer.

The deep answer.

I think This is my opinion.

So don't, don't, you know, if

you, there's a lot of people

giving this quote though.

So, I think it's been a

very, I'm trying to speak

kindly to my industry.

there are long hours.

There can be very long

hours in accounting and, the

burnout rate is very high and

accountants are notoriously

also bad at pricing.

And so you get This funny

squeeze where, accounting

firms aren't making enough

margin and they're treating

their employees poorly

because they have to get

their contracts completed.

And so you have

this burnout and.

I can imagine if I am a

college student thinking about

majoring in accounting and I

ask 10 CPAs who have been in

public accounting, they're not

going to say necessarily kind

things about how their work

life balance has been, which

will not motivate anybody

to go into the industry.

And so I think.

There's a lot of things

playing in to the industry,

but it's not an attractive,

work life balance in

the traditional sense.

There's a lot of, younger

accountants who are changing

the industry, but it takes

a while to turn a ship.

And so we are slowly moving

in the right direction, but I

think right now there is a lot

of old schools of thought and

traditional ways of running

firms that does not appear

to be attractive to new up

and coming college graduates.

Are

you mentoring

young accountants to kind

of have a different business

model than billing hourly.

I'm

trying to figure out

my own way of doing it.

and then we'll see if

I can pass along the

knowledge the next.

generation, but gosh, I

mean, I see those young

kids and there are people

who should be accountants.

Like that sounds like a

funny thing, but there are

personalities and the way

certain brains work that

they should be accountants.

And I would hate for them.

I would hate for our society

to lose that because of just.

Inefficient and poor

work life balance,

and everyone

can't be a computer engineer

or, whatever the hot, hot

things are now that, yeah,

we need professionals

all across the board.

So, all right.

Absolutely.

And we need to treat

our people well and

across every industry.

We people should be

treated like people.

Well, I would

imagine

the market will correct

itself at some point.

Like, if you can't recruit

and retain talent, then you

need to change something.

Right.

And, certainly,

our people working

remotely, like, is that.

Yeah, it's

starting and so what I imagine

will happen is the people who

are running traditional firms

with old schools of thought

they will have an extremely

hard recruiting process and

the up and coming firms who

have very progressive new

ways of thinking will easily

recruit people and you will

just see this shift of.

Market share move towards the

progressive thinking firms.

Yeah, and

similar things happening

in the legal industry.

I will say I'm pretty far

removed from it at this

point, I mean, I haven't

been in a law firm and God,

don't even know a very long

time, but the different

kinds of firms that are.

virtual and have kind of,

independent partners, people

who have their own firms,

but then come together

under 1 brand to market

their services together.

they don't have the same and

you can work as hard as you

want to, and have a little

more, balance in their lives.

yeah, I mean, the

burnout in the legal.

Industry is, hasn't changed.

think, I think

lawyers and accountants, run

very similarly run businesses

and business models.

And I think it'd suit us

all for those industries

to think differently.

Yes,

absolutely.

Absolutely.

Well, you know, this is

the hourly to exit podcast.

You know, we were

talking about building

a scalable and saleable

expertise based business.

And so I have, of

course, the soft spot for

creating, and protecting

intellectual property.

So when you are working with

expertise based businesses,

and they work with their

intellect, do you ever

come across challenges?

We talked a little

bit about it.

Like the fact that we

can't put those assets

on our balance sheets.

but do they have, other

issues that come up regarding

protecting their intellectual

property and what kind of

questions do they ask you?

I imagine they ask you

about, how to value it.

I think a lot

of, what I see my, clients

deal with is creating

the processes around

and like the frameworks.

It's always about framework.

And I don't think, whether

you're an IT, I have.

It marketing, coaching,

like all these different,

you know, it is all

intellectual property.

but I don't think they

and we always see it as I.

P.

I think, sometimes until

we've been educated,

we have very narrow.

Minds about what IP is, and I

think we grossly underestimate

that the things we are

creating and the things my

clients are creating, the

frameworks, the processes,

the platforms, like these

are all very saleable and

transferable ideas and

things that they're building.

And I honestly don't see

somebody coming alongside

them from a legal standpoint.

Calling that out for them.

I'm not sure that we always

know to do that when we're

creating these things

because we don't see them

as IP from that side.

Yeah, I like,

you know, of

course, I'd like to say that

is everywhere because every

time we're using our intellect

where you are creating

intellectual property and then

it's not just those things

that we are selling like.

Books and courses

and software.

It's also the things that

we use internally in our

businesses to help create

leverages in our businesses.

So absolutely.

I love that.

All right.

So we know this is

a very meta podcast.

I'm a female founder of an

expertise based business

that I hope to sell someday.

You are the female founder of

an expertise based business.

Are you thinking about

selling it someday?

Not at this time.

I am in a season of life.

We talked in the

green room beforehand.

We talked about the

ages of our kids.

I have a 12 year

and an 8 year old.

And so right now, I am pretty

focused on getting these

little people grown up and

running a business that just.

is truly like a lifestyle

suited for me business.

And so my goal today, I don't

have selling on the mind.

that doesn't mean that it

couldn't be in the future.

I don't have a finish

line that I'm racing to.

I enjoy what I do.

I want to keep doing it.

yeah.

Yeah.

This doesn't mean

it won't change.

I'm

with you on that.

We did talk.

I have a senior and I

am racing to the finish

line for that anyway.

but like you, like when

my son was young, like My

business was very lifestyle.

It was very much

like, I did not do any

business development.

It was just like, I

had my well clients.

That was it, you and

then, I had, I could

focus on other things.

and now that he's

pseudo independent.

I was starting to, like

put way more energy into

my business and, things

that I've been doing the

last couple of years.

and so there is a season,

yeah, for all of our

businesses that go along

with our lives, but certainly

when we are soloist women.

and so, yeah, I, I, agreed

with you there and, the funny

thing about retirement and

I guess maybe I think of

retirement almost as like

a employee kind of thing,

as opposed to a business

owner kind of thing, you

know, assuming you've

created a business that you

love, to me, focus on, it's

not retirement, but just.

Relaxing, you know,

like having less intense

needs in my business, but

creating those revenue

streams that require less

and less of made to me.

That is retirement.

And that's what, I'm working

on.

So I think that's such a

good call out because I

think so much of society

has this W 2 employee

mindset of retirement.

Like I turned this

age and I'm done.

And out of corporate, coming

out of burnout, like what

if we just created work for

ourselves that we enjoyed

that didn't kill us, right?

Like, what if we enjoyed every

day what we did and we weren't

so desperate to retire?

What would that look like?

And I, like that idea.

But you're right.

It's not something that we

think about creating until

we've left that W two mindset.

Right?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, and you need

to do something.

I mean, assuming we're healthy

and our minds still work,

you know, and we have like,

what are you going to do?

I don't get what people

do after they retire.

I don't know.

Maybe.

I don't know.

I'm going to do what they do.

I don't know.

I'm going to need to

do something because

I don't sit well.

All right.

So as we wrap up, know, we

believe in creating a more

equitable society and we love

to support businesses and

organizations that, work, to

help us women in particular.

And so is there a organization

that you'd like to share

with

the audience?

So I have a cause not a

particular organization since

day one of building this

business, I have donated 10

percent of my salary and the

profits of this business to

domestic violence shelters.

But because domestic

I think the solution.

And what do I know,

leave it to the experts

but the solution to so

much domestic violence.

problems is so local that

my money, the causes that

we donate to are specific

to the local areas where

our clients are located.

I'm a virtual business.

I have clients all over the U.

S.

So, 10 percent goes back

to those cities, domestic

shelters in the cities where

my clients are located.

this is not a

chain restaurant.

These are people on the ground

in the cities, wherever you're

living that are building up

these organizations to help

women and men and children of

domestic violence situations.

And so those are very, located

all over the United States.

And so.

I get to actually search

out these organizations

and it's like my favorite

thing to do in December.

I get my card out, you know,

my debit card out and I

start, you looking up all of

these organizations that I've

now donated to for years.

And funny thing

happens every December.

the bank shuts down my card

on that day because I'm

dropping thousands of dollars

Portland and Austin and

Illinois and like all these.

And so then you see

my card's been stolen.

Um, so it usually takes me

a few days to get through

once I turn the card back on.

but yeah, so my, cause

is, domestic violence

support for women and

children and men also.

cause that is, not exclusive,

gender problem, but when I

do have a new client, I have

to look for, who's supporting

that particular city.

And so I will call

out a website called

domestic shelters.

org and you can put in your

zip code, your city, and

it will tell you everybody.

So who is supporting

that area of the country.

And I.

tend to do my research for

domestic violence situations,

starting with that website.

So domestic shelters.

org.

If you're looking for

somebody to support, or

if you know somebody who

needs support, you can find

who's in their area there.

That's beautiful.

Thank you for sharing that.

And so, do you have, something

special you want to, alert

the audience to about what's

going on in your business

offers that you may have?

Yeah.

So I have a podcast

called coaches,

consultants, and money.

I'll assume anybody listening

to, yeah, thank you.

I'll assume if you're

listening to this podcast,

you like podcasts.

And so if you want to

look that up, coaches,

consultants, and money and

follow along there, or you

can find me at ericagoodie.

com or on the socials at

Instagram and LinkedIn and

just, see what I'm up to.

I would love to hear from you.

You can welcome

to DM me anytime.

Yeah.

I noticed that

you're on Instagram.

So your business

is on Instagram.

My business

is on Instagram.

Now, what do you

do on Instagram?

Mostly just have fun.

Let's be honest.

I go, I'm a little more steep.

No, I'm not so serious.

I'm a pretty lighthearted

person, no matter

where I show up.

But, Instagram, if you drop

into my Instagram stories, you

will see a lots of behind the

scenes, family stuff, pictures

of Idaho, things like that.

And, this is not a

revenue generator for me,

but it's fun to, be out

there and be who you are.

And my prospective clients and

my clients get to see who I am

because at the end of the day,

we're all usually, buying.

the person behind

the business.

And so I think it's

important to just be yourself

and show up as you are.

That's

great.

Yeah.

Instagram is a little

bit dangerous for me.

Productive space for me.

Not

productive, but fun.

If you want to have fun,

go over to Instagram.

If you want to get all

the, highly professional

things probably head

over to LinkedIn.

Awesome.

Well, thank you

so much, Erica.

Thank you so much for sharing

your wisdom with us and

sharing, domestic shelters,

that

domestic shelters.

org.

Erin Austin:

Thank you so much.

All right.

Thanks again.

Thank you.