In this episode of The Casey Cease Show, dive into the world of finance with expert Sarah Jones, CPA. Discover key strategies for saving money and growing your business effectively. 

Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, Sarah's insights are invaluable. 

Tune in to learn how to make your money work harder for you and take your business to the next level. Don't miss out on this game-changing conversation.

Ready to elevate your entrepreneurial journey? Let's dive in.

Casey Cease: Everybody welcome back to another episode of the Casey Cease Show. I'm here with my good friend and my CPA, Sarah Jones with Sarah Jones, CPA, Sarah. So good to have you on the show today. Why don't you take a minute and just share a little bit about yourself. And we'll dive in.

Sarah Jones: Casey, thank you so much for having me and I really enjoy working with you when you told me you wanted to come on. I was like, come on, what is Casey doing now? And I'm so excited. I'm Sarah Jones of Sarah Jones CPA. We're a full service CPA firm.

In just overall sense of being in power and in charge of their business and also on their personal side, just to have a success roadmap, just to know, feel like they're in charge. I feel like a lot of times there's so much misinformation or some fear and you're operating out of fear.

You need a CPA to kind of come along and do that with you. And that's what we really try to do.

Casey Cease: Yeah, I've enjoyed watching you grow your business. I remember when I was coaching your husband Phil and on the pastoral nonprofit side, and he was like, yeah, I think my wife's going to go off and start your own accounting firm and tax, you know, planning firm and everything else. And I was like, it sounds like a snooze fest and I'd never met you.

And I remember I had been, I know how important it is to have an accountant, but I had not had a good streak of luck working with CPA's and accountants as I was scaling my business. And so when I saw you online, I remember sending you like one of my things and you're like, all right, it's done, it was super quick, and then you're like, I was like, but I have three more and you're like, great, send them over and it was done.

And I remember for me, one, I recognized you from your husband, but two you were just being so helpful and that's been my experience across the board, not only with you, but your great team that you have, that you genuinely love helping your customers.

Why don't you walk us through that journey.

Sarah Jones: Well, it's a fun story, a little bit of an embarrassing story because I've made every single mistake in the book. But I always have been in accounting, I went to school and got my undergraduate. I really was on more of the budget analysis side and then I did kind of full circle accounting. And then my last job, I was the senior accountant at one of the local municipalities here and I actually really enjoyed the job.

My immediate boss was an awful leader. And I remember just, she, one day she threw papers at me and I was like, man, this is some bull. So I remember I came home and I told Phil, I said, do you mind if I just kind of try to go do this on my own? And I'll never forget what he said cause it always stuck with me. And I've, quoted this many times, he said, Sarah, like worst case scenario, if you do it, let's say you suck. I mean, worst case scenario, you go get another job because you do have the degrees and the experience.

So I put in my 90 days notice and started, you know, getting some clients on the side. And at the very beginning, I just, we did bookkeeping and it was just me, and it was literally lots of work, lots of late nights. There was a lot of missed working out.

And I gained a lot of weight very early in my journey that I've been fortunate enough to get off that. I struggled with balance and knowing what to do with clients and I remember at the beginning, clients had my cell phone and they could text me and call me anytime. And I was burnt out and I was just trying to get to a point where we could you know, cover the bills, but also grow a team.

We went from me, a team of one and we're a team of 11 now. And that's why we have the success and that's why you say things like that, like, oh, we're so helpful. It's because we have a team to help and accommodate. And we all have, I feel like very shared values, we all like to have fun, serve our clients, really like to be involved in the community. And I think that really, like I think and I hope and I pray that it really comes through with the work that we're doing. I

Casey Cease: No, it absolutely does. And, you know, when I think through just the dynamics of accounting, I've learned so much just working with you and your team on the importance of having accountant, especially, as a business owner you know, having good bookkeeping and, you know, everyone's like, oh, why do you want to spend money on bookkeeping?

Cause I know you do bookkeeping, you do tax, you know, tax filings, but you also do preparation. Like who, I know anybody and everybody, but let's say there's a lot of people watching this who are either successful in their own right, you know, working for a large corporation or their own business or are on the entrepreneurial journey as well.

Give us an idea of the type of people that you feel like you can help the most?

You don't know the proper way to do things, and here's the thing, too. A lot of people will go and follow people on social media. One, if whoever you're following on social media is not like a tax attorney or a CPA, do not follow them because there's some really bad advice, but somebody will get some advice and think that it applies to them.

Well, it might not because the IRS makes it complicated of things you can or can't do depending on how you're set up. So there's a lot, you could be looking at a tax tip that completely doesn't even apply to you because of your setup or there could be a ton of opportunity you could be doing, but you don't know about it because you don't have a really, you know, good proactive CPA.

But when it makes sense, what's the opportunity cost of you actually doing that work versus you handing that off to a professional and you going and hustling and doing a couple of more hours of work a week, that to me is huge. That's when it really makes sense. A lot of times accounting is seen as a sunk cost and a good CPA will actually be a really good, a great return on your investment.

Casey Cease: Oh, it's been a massive return on investment for my companies and I, and just the hassle effect, right, where you know, I don't want to get in trouble with, the government. I want to make sure to pay everything that's due, but I also don't know of all the benefits. And I think some of that obscurity is perhaps by design, but when you're working with clients on a growing business, I coach, as you know, I coach a lot of businesses that are scaling and growing pretty substantially.

What are some general things that business owners should keep in mind as their organization is growing quite a bit?

Well, you really need a CFO, you really need tax planning. Maybe you're hitting multiple seven figures. You might need to transition from an outsource CPA like us, to us doing oversight and having an internal full time controller. For that internal control, those checks and balances and cash flow and all of that stuff. So it depends on where your journey is, but what I think is important is that a good CPA will know what you need and they'll kind of grow with you over time. And I think that's really important.

If you can at least vision near with me and say, okay, if that happens then when you think about doing this, you have a great attorney you work with that helped me with on the formation side.

But I want to talk a little bit more about how a good CPA does save money, cause one, I've actually experienced that, but let's talk a little bit more about how is somebody that's on the expenses, a good investment for a business owner? Transcripts

Sarah Jones: Well, it goes a to z from the very beginning If you do not have somebody doing your books and everybody rolls their eyes because it's not fun, it's not sexy to talk about. Everybody comes to me and automatically wants the big mamma jamma tax plan and I'm like, I'm all for that, but we need to start with foundations if your books are not Accurate, I can guarantee you're overpaying in tax.

You can track how that's doing through the year and then getting with the CPA team that will say, Hey, for example, last year at this time you were at 250,000, we're at 400,000 this year, great job, but let's talk a little bit of tax strategy, okay?

Then having a CPA, and we do this, and most good CPA's will do this as well, just kind of a complimentary look at how you're currently set up. What would I do differently? I do those every single week for new and potential clients to understand why you're set up the way you are.

So clean books, get those reports, have proactive meetings with your CPA and tax planning. Like I very conservatively speaking, cause in everybody's different. So there's always going to be anomalies. Cause some clients we hit it out of the park and save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I'll say on average, good tax planning can save a business owner probably 20 to 30% a year on tax. That's money back in your pocket to put in your kids, you know, college funds for you to invest or maybe to put back in your business and grow the business that much more or to go take that vacation that your wife's been bugging you for, you know, I mean, to me, I want to be a good steward of my money.

And if, you can save money with tax planning and again, you want to work with the CPA that's less money that's going to the IRS legally and it's money back in your pocket. So it's a win.

And then what I realized was we were currently on the accrual basis and I was my CPA she had at least that's what she told me was double account or basically double recognizing income. And so if I brought five thousand dollars in the books were counting ten thousand dollars in and I'm the one that caught it.

Number three, it's like, I know I have a team that has my back. And it also, when I'm, you know, I mean, with all the moving parts with the publishing company, the marketing agency, my coaching practice, the investments I'm making, it just helps to have a third party that objectively looks at and can see the transactions and where everything's going, as well as, they continue to grow to have a plan.

At what point is it, cause there's the, what the big four or whatever major accounting houses, like how big of clients you and your team handle before you start referring out to you know, bigger accounting firms or whatever?

Sarah Jones: So it's not so much is like the size of that you are, I think it depends on the services that you need. So I would say probably are we handle, let me rephrase, I have some client and you've told me this too.

Casey Cease: Yeah, that, does make a lot of sense.

Sarah Jones: Hey, we can still do oversight, we can still do your actual tax, we can do your tax planning, but you need somebody in house. You need an accounting team, you know, a division in your company at that point.

Casey Cease: Yeah, absolutely. No, I've consulted for companies that were doing those numbers and they had an in house accounting team and it still made me nervous. From it seemed like more art than science was happening at that time. But I do like what you're saying on the tax planning, because I do know some folks that you work with that have higher income personally based on success, their business.

And for, you know, for some of them, you help them all, you know, your company is able to help all of it. But I know for them also, the personal tax planning is still extremely helpful along the way.

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Casey Cease: So where is Sarah Jones CPA heading now? I mean, we just finished the tax season. It may be a little while before it comes up, but what do you have coming down the, for us

But anyways, so, we are doing a lot of expanding. So we're growing our team, growing a lot on the tax side. We do offer CFO services, but we have signed up and I got a special certification as a certified CFO and we're building out kind of a really, really specific service for those clients that are higher end that really what instead of, well, and not instead of, but on top of the clean books and the tax oversight.

They really need a controller and maybe it doesn't make sense to have an internal, you know, $300,000 executive so they can use our team and we give them goals, accountability and we kind of keep them in line if they're not reaching their goals and it's based on their goals of really just cash flow, because that really is something that's such a continuous problem that I see with a lot of my business owners, for sure.

I think there's a lot of synergy to bringing a CPA and a financial planner together because a lot of times there's some disconnect. So we're doing that and I think my goal for next year is there's a couple of law schools that are now offering part time kind of hybrid programs. And I've always wanted to do that.

So I keep pushing it back and it because we keep getting so busy, but that's something I've always wanted to do. So that's on the horizon as well.

Casey Cease: Yeah, I can see that. I mean, why not? If you're going to be a financial planner and a CPA, you might as well be a lawyer. I

And I think there's a lot of power in that.

Casey Cease: Yeah, and I think that there's a value that a lot of people dismiss on working with folks who understand your vision or that have the ability to help you expand your vision. And that's one thing I've always appreciated with you, you always celebrate, you're like, Hey, that's awesome. Okay.

What about, can we go here? Can we get there? I know when I meet with Andrea, who's on your team with cashflow meeting, she's like, great, here's your goal. You got to go get this. And uh, you know, I'm like, yeah, let's go get it. You know, cause it just, it encourages me towards, you know, going after it.

And I think having all of those resources in one place, you know, comprehensively working on a plan, especially if you're in a growth trajectory, that's extremely important to have people that understand your companies, your goals and can ask really meaningful and insightful questions along the way.

You're also working on a book, and the reason I know that is I have the joy of publishing it through Lucid Books. And so, it's, why don't you talk to us a little bit about that?

Sarah Jones: that As I finished my sentence, I remembered, well, duh, I mean the book. So

Casey Cease: Don't worry. I'll bring it up. Yeah.

So your team very graciously came in and said, okay, these are your deliverables, this is what you need to do. So we are, I think almost towards the end part of it fire my CPA. And it is in no way, shape or form saying to fire your CPA and don't have a CPA, it is a cheesy, you know, accountants way of a hook and line sinker of marketing of if that resonates that, you know, with you, it means you need a new CPA.

The importance of a good CPA, how to find a good CPA. And I give you really tangible stories, things to look for what you need, what you don't even checklists and some things to go through when interviewing for a CPA and all of that jazz.

So I'm really excited about that, it's been a great and fun process. And we really, I'm saying that very honestly, it would still be something on my dream board. It would not be, you know, almost in fruition without your team for sure.

I had another CPA that was great, but she was retiring and so we had to transition, but also I was telling her what I wanted to do. And, you know, and so idea, like, I mean, literally, like if someone's like, Hey, you can fire that person. Like I remember when people have told me that for other people I've worked with, if I were with some of my other CPA's that I had before, and I saw that book, I'd be like, Oh my gosh, yes, please. Right?

And what I love about your book, it's also not just saying, Hey, you know, being trite about that, but saying like, Hey, here's what you should expect from a great CPA. This is what you should be getting. If you're not getting it, then you need to look somewhere else.

What advice do you have for someone just getting started even beyond just as a fellow entrepreneur?

Sarah Jones: Oh man, I would say by far. Well, I'll say generically outside of my CPA hat, just be true to yourself. I feel like a lot of times, I did things not necessarily that were wrong. That's not that way in any way, shape or form, but things I probably wouldn't have done but I, was motivated by fear, cause you are at the beginning you know, I quit my job and I will say that most of the headaches and most of the situations that I messed up or got myself into was backed by somehow by myself and my fear and not being true and saying, you know what, that doesn't really align with what I want.

And I would say from the get go, just to be true to yourself. From a financial standpoint, be organized. Look, I understand people like roll their eyes. They don't want to hear it. Receipts, you need receipts. You've got to have accounting records, keep all of your business and your personal stuff completely separate. Don't co mingle those from the get go.

If you just start those good habits as you grow, you will be further along. You'll have a clear audit trail. You have a good ledger. A lot of times people come to me way after they should have and they have a mess, they don't have organization, they have no idea what's going on.

Just a really simple engagement, for really a very affordable rate. A lot of people think, Oh, it's going to be astronomical. I mean, if you're a huge company and you need all this stuff, yeah, we can do some of those bigger engagements, but for a little guy that just needs clean books, we're a great solution for that.

Casey Cease: No, I know a lot of people you've helped, you know, and I would tell them like, Hey, go talk to Sarah. They're like, but don't, that's short, big companies. I said, look, she has a very clear policy of how to behave. And a very clear expectations, but they are scalable. I mean, that's the whole investment part on your side is a lot of small businesses if managed well early on, if they have a great product or service targeting the right audience with the right strategy will grow and succeed.

Please just get quick books online. So he went and taught himself quick books online. He's like, man, I might need to talk to someone about how to actually set this up and run it. And I give them your information and your team's information because I said, look, anything I start now, I always have an admin in place and I always have my CPA team on boarded because I just don't mess around with it.

Once I start rolling with it because, and you know, as you grow as an entrepreneur and you have new offerings, you get better at selecting winners. You know, and so, I mean, you, but the losers have helped me over the years too, because part of the benefit of running businesses with a great CPA is like, Oh my gosh, you lost that, but you gained all this over here.

This loss will actually help you, I would have never known how to calculate and work all that because I'm great at going and starting things and causing chaos and then having hiring people to come put it together. So, I highly recommend that.

So what's one question I should have asked you, Sarah, that I haven't asked you yet.

Casey Cease: Well, how did we get started with Sarah Jones CPA?

Sarah Jones: sarahjonescpa.com we're located in Conroe. So if you're local, you can stop by. We are right off of 45 in league line road. We have a big billboard right on the freeway. Our phone number is 9 3 6 2 2 8 2 2 3 1. And Jamie is our office admin and she is fabulous. You can book a consult with me, or if you're looking really more for the bookkeeping and CFO and all of that stuff our VP of operations Andrea is phenomenal. She's who helps you every single week and you can book with her or book with one of our tax managers or if you say this is kind of most commonly what I'm referred for is tax planning.

Casey Cease: That's awesome. Well, Sarah, thanks so much for coming on the show. And I can't wait for folks to find you online. Where else can they find you online? Are you on social media anywhere?

Sarah Jones: We're trying, we're getting in to the social media world. So, we're on Facebook, we're also on instagram, I think it's Sarah CPA, Sarah Jones CPA. Yeah we're trying to do all that stuff where it's definitely new for us, but there's not a lot doing that in that space. And when I get a new client, you know, doing an intro session, I always say, how are you finding out about us?

And it's more and more, Oh, I saw you on Instagram. I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's crazy. So

Casey Cease: No, it's worth it. Well, Sarah, thanks so much for coming by. I'm sure I'll have you on the show again sometime soon to chat. And for those of you listening, thank you for listening this long, please feel free to like, comment and share with your friends and we'll see you on the next episode.

You might also want to check out our book for business consultation available at lucid books or double your sales strategy session at planify agency. Be sure to tune in next week for our next episode.