The 12 Core Task of Your Accounting and Finance Team
Audio Transcription
Learn About The Accounting And Finance Team From The Business Coach : Podcast Transcript
Do you feel like you are stuck with your customer service. Business Coach, Clay Clark and Dr.Z will teach you the 12 core task of accounting and finance.
Recording: Now, broadcasting from the center of the universe and the Thrive15.com world headquarters. Presenting the world’s only business school without the BS with optometrist and entrepreneur, Dr. Robert Zoellner and a former Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the year in your ear, Clay Clark. It’s the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170. Three, two, one, boom.
Clay Clark: What is going on there Thrive nation? Welcome back to the Thrive Time Show during your drive time home. It’s a fantastic Friday and for many of you, many of you, you are headed in to a super weekend. Many of you got plans to grill. Some of you have plans just to marinate and chill. Some of you are going to go over next door and talk to that neighbor about who knows what for an hour and a half. You’re just going to have a relaxed weekend, but Z, Dr. Zoellner, before we get into this great weekend, we have got an action packed show for the Thrivers. Sir, how are you doing on this Friday?
Robert Zoellner: I am fantastic. It is not just any Friday.
Clay: It’s not just any Friday.
Robert: No, no, no. The Seagulls they say, the Seagulls capitalism’s profit marched to the end of the year. That’s that nasty word P, the profit, about money, money. Black Friday, so they say that really from here on out, the sales at the end of the year for most companies, this is the profit for the year.
Clay: They go from red, it’d be in operating on a loss into the black, operating in on a profit all during one month.
Robert: Yes and that’s why it’s called Black Friday.
Clay: See, this is just it from our home office. A lot of people listening did not know that my friend. They did not know that.
Robert: Well, now they do and that’s why they listen to the show to get little nuggets. To get little knowledge bomb nuggets like that. There we go, there’s the bomb.
Clay: Nice. Now it’s bomb number one. We’re just getting started now Z.
Robert: A lot of people are driving home, I just want to correct you. A lot of people are driving away from the mall after they’ve slept overnight to get the Black Friday deal or they’re in Best Buy right now streaming us-
Clay: I was trying to be politically correct. Okay, here’s where we’ll reset. Many of you are on your way driving home after you spend the night in a tent to get a Samsung 72 inch TV-
Robert: For a hundred bucks.
Clay: -For a hundred bucks.
Robert: Yes, [laughs]
Clay: Many of you are just now waking up from that all-nighter that you’ve done — the entire night of time you’ve invested in getting those Black Friday Specials. Some of you are recovering from injuries because a lady was trying to grab an item off the shelf before you. You went in there to get a little nice gift for your grandson or niece, or something and that woman tried to grab that item off the shelf before you, and so you — you started to throw a little kung-fu kick. Now you find yourself injured. You got a chip too.
Robert: You got a chip too and these are just the kind of go-getters. These are just the kind of go-getters that are looking to start or grow their business Clay. That’s why we know that those are the people listening to us today.
Clay: Absolutely. Now Thrivers, listen to this. We’re talking today about the 12 core tasks of your accounting and finance team. Why should you listen? I’m going to ask you a few questions here. Do you ever feel like you are never on the same page with your accountant or bookkeeper? You just never quite know what they’re thinking, what they’re doing?
Robert: They’re talking so confusing.
Clay: I think a lot of times here the jargon, it’s overwhelming for some people. Is this you? Do you ever feel like you’re missing something in the accounting department? You’re just going, “Did we pay Berry? Did we pay Billy? Did Billy get paid?”
Robert: “What happened? Billy?”
Clay: “Billy? Why did we pay Billy?” Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your company’s accounting needs? Do you ever feel like, “File this, file that. I got to do this, I got to do that. I got to talk to the state. I got to get my LLC re-updated.” Do you ever feel overwhelmed? If you do, then today’s show is for you. We’re talking about the 12 Core Tasks of Your Accounting and Financing Team. Now, I’m going to give you a notable quotable coming in hot, coming in hot from Eric Reese here. This is what he says. This is the author of the Lean Startup Method.
He says, “After more than 10 years as an entrepreneur, I came to reject that line of thinking. I have learned from both my own successes and failures and those of many others that it’s the boring stuff that matters the most.” That’s not very fun on this Black Friday, boring stuff. “Startup success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Startup success can be engineered by following the right process.” You mean to take the luck out of it?
Robert: That doesn’t seem fair.
Clay: Which means it can be learned and which means it can be taught. Now here Z, I want to dwell on this because a lot of people right now, you’re getting into the Holiday season, you’re being very thankful, you had a great Thanksgiving, but some of you are starting to look at other people who are successful and saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I was so successful.” You’re thinking like basically that they are successful because they were born to the right family, the right genes, the right — people believe that though.
Robert: A spoon is silver.
Clay: We’re going to teach you the proven systems. But I want to ask you, growing up did you have a — did you grow up with a silver spoon?
Robert: No, we had sporks, that way we could double them as a fork and a spoon, and they weren’t silver. I think they were-
Clay: How many kids were in your family growing up?
Robert: Seven, six boys and one girl.
Clay: Wow and then you had basically three different pseudo-dads, right? Three different dads, three different father figures?
Robert: Yes, I guess you could but now you’re just throwing math out there. Now you’re just throwing math.
Clay: Would you consider it a stable childhood? Was it unstable? Did you move a lot? Did you live in the same house a lot?
Robert: We have time that the police showed up we got to move. No, I’m teasing. I’m joking me jokers on. I would say it was stable. I would use the word stable to describe my childhood. We didn’t move a lot. We moved a few times.
Clay: Did your family when you wanted to start your business today go, “Well, here’s the first 100,000, here you go.”
Robert: I wish they did. Wouldn’t that have been nice?
Clay: Yes.
Robert: Wouldn’t that be nice?
Clay: Wouldn’t it be nice? You started with-
Robert: “You want that cash or check?”
Clay: You started from the bottom?
Robert: Started from the bottom?
Clay: Okay and so you’ve learned these systems. You’ve learned how to become successful.
Robert: You have to if you’re going to be successful. You have to listen to today’s show and master these moves if you want to be successful in business.
Clay: You believe anybody who’s listening could learn these skills and if they apply the same systems that you’re applying, they could have success?
Robert: Absolutely. At 100% guarantee that in my mind, I know that to be an absolute factoid.
Recording: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: Core task number one here Thrivers. Core task you ask, “What is core task number one?” Here it is, core task number one. This is big. You must have a system in place to verify that your team members are being paid on time.
Robert: They will fuss if you don’t make sure they get their money.
Clay: With a young lady today, I feel bad but this is a true story. A young lady today and you go, “Why do you tell us these bad stories? It makes us lose confidence.” Because I’m being real, I’m trying to help you, okay. She comes up to me and apparently she turned in something to her — to be paid last week. Apparently, she did not get the payment she was expecting. This has never happened to her before [coughs] excuse me Thrivers, I’m very emotional about this. This is the first time that’s ever happened. It hasn’t happened in a long time in the business, but she didn’t get paid for something she’s expecting.
I saw the look in her face, because you remember when you talked to your boss about not getting paid for something? You almost don’t want to upset the boss. You don’t want to — but you’re also upset.
Robert: Yes, you think, “Is there something nefarious going on here? Is this just all some big shell game of shamockery? Is this is a shamockery? They’re telling me one thing and now they’re giving me something else. What is going on here? Can these guys be trusted?”
Clay: It causes a whole host of questions to be asked. All you need to do here Thrivers, this isn’t a complicated thing. As a business coach, I want you to go ahead and set a time, if you own a business to pay your team members. Just set a time. Not just like if you get a chance, because a lot of you are listening right now, you are the marketer, you’re the sales person, you’re the product provider, you’re the recruiter. You wear a lot of hats because you’re a business owner, but you have to have a specific time set aside, block it out to pay your team.
Robert: Yes, you have to.
Clay: Z, when you’re growing your optometry clinic, how quickly before you began to delegate the bookkeeping? How quickly was it before you started delegate that payroll and that whole thing? How many minutes, how many weeks, how long were you in business before you-?
Robert: Maybe about six months before I — It was me and I had one employee. Probably the first six months I did everything. I had to figure it out and it wasn’t fun. It’s not my skill set, so it was gnashing of teeth and pulling what few hairs I have left out of my head out.
Clay: You have a beautiful head.
Robert: [laughs] Thank you, but about six months and I had a family member coming in who had the skill set and took it over, and helped me out on that. Finally we got so busy, where I had to go up to the family member and say, “You know, I appreciate you helping. But between the kids, your kids I should say and tennis, and all the things you’re doing, you’re not getting my accounting done in time, so I’m going to hire an accountant. AKA your services are no longer required.”
Clay: If you’re listening right now, I’m just telling you this as a business coach. If you have someone that you — if you’re the business owner and you’ve hired someone to do accounting, you have to have a set time to follow up with them. You just have to have a set time to make sure things are getting done right.
Robert: Absolutely and you go over your PNLs and all the other things that you have setup that we’re going to cover today. But you’ve got to have that system in place. Really now, partial CFOs and partial accountants, and guys that do your books on small scale are very affordable. You may say that and then go, “I can’t afford an accountant. I can’t afford a CPA.”
Clay: “I can’t afford that.”
Robert: “I can’t afford that.” Well you can, because they can dummy it down and do part, they can do a part. They’re not your full-time staff members. Now I have some that are full-time staff members, but it took years to get to that point where I called Critical Mass to where it made sense to hire someone full-time.
Clay: Now, Thrivers, moving on to core task number two, you must have a system in place to verify that your team members are paid accurately. See, the first part is on time, the second part is accurately. You got to make sure because, Z, have you ever had employees who turned in false expenses to be reimbursed for, false mileage, false anything? Have you ever in the years of employing hundreds, maybe at this point, thousands of people, have you ever had an employee turn in false information, Z? Has it ever happened?
[music]
Clay: You know, your sound effect came in before my sound effect, but this is my sound effect that I want to hit.
[music]
Robert: Oh yes.
Clay: Have you ever had an employee mislead you with dishonest reimbursements?
Robert: Yes I have, in fact. It happened when we set up the auto auction. I found out the hard way that the lady that set up all the payrolls happened to set herself up by one and a half times the salary that I had agreed to.
Clay: That’s a hot move for her.
Robert: It’s a hot move for her and until you go in and verify it, and you check it, you get the payroll statements, which she would be the one to get those statements and she would be the one verifying it. I’d meet with her and go, “Everything verified, everything good?” She’s my controller, “Everything good? “Yes.” “Okay, great.” Except she wouldn’t tell me that and then I finally figured it out. [laughs] I said, “What were you thinking?” After the break, I’ll tell you what she was thinking.
Clay: Now Thrivers, we have another notable quotable, I’m going to sneak in here before the break. “Checklists seem lowly and simplistic, but they help fill in for the gaps in our brains and between our — the gaps between our brains and between our brains.” That’s Atul Gawande. Stay tuned. Payroll. Excitement.
[music]
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Live, local now. You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: All right ,Thrive Nation, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show during typically your drive time home, but for many of you, you’re just starting to drive home from a fabulous day of shopping. You’re not driving home from work, you’re driving home from shopping. You’ve been out there buying various accoutrements that you go in there first with the altruistic goal of getting some discounted items for your family and friends, your loved ones. But then you get into Best Buy and you go — or Sam’s — Sam’s Club is the worst. You go into Sam’s Club and you go, “I might need a blender too.” All of a sudden you’re buying stuff. “I might need a huge sausage too. I might need a big old cheese selection as well.” Now you’ve bought all these items for yourself, you bought everything you don’t need in bulk at Sam’s.
Robert: Oh yes.
Clay: You’re headed home feeling guilty, you’re going to wrap half of that stuff for those people, the other half you’re going to keep for yourself. Z, really that’s what Black Friday is all about my friend.
Robert: Yes, spending money. That’s what it’s about.
Clay: Copious amounts of spending-
Robert: Copious amounts of spending.
Clay: You’re helping America’s retail sector get profitable.
Robert: Amen to that.
Clay: Now here’s the deal, Thrivers, we’re talking about a subject today that I know a lot of people- – we need to be talking about. But we’re not going to talk about it because it’s not exciting. We need to talk about it but we don’t talk about it because it’s not exciting.
Robert: That’s why we’re the number one business show in Tulsa.
Clay: Absolutely, the number one of all the shows.
Robert: Because we’ll tackle the subjects that just aren’t sexy. We’re going to tackle the subjects that you need to learn, you need to go through and yet you’re like, “That’s not fun.”
Clay: But you know the reason why we can tackle a not sexy subject, Z?
Robert: Why is that?
[music]
Clay: Because you’re sexy.
Robert: Oh. [laughs]
Clay: You bring a certain sexiness to any subject. We could be talking about anything, we could be talking about chlorophyll. We could be talking about nomenclature and chlorophyll, and there’s still a certain herbal essence.
Robert: “You see kids, chlorophyll, that’s what makes oxygen.” Yes, you’re right.
Clay: Now here’s the deal, Thrivers. We’re talking about core task number two. Before the break, I teased you with a little notable quotable. But here’s the core task number two. A system is in place to verify that your team members are paid accurately. You must have a system to make sure they’re paid accurately. But Atul Gawande, my main man who wrote The Checklist Manifesto, he has a quote that at first pass, might not make a lot of sense but we’re going to get into it. He says, “Checklists seem lowly and simplistic, but they help fill in for the gaps in our brains and in between our brains.” Z, the checklists free up our minds.
Robert: They do free up our mind and let me finish my story that we went into the break on.
Clay: Give us a story.
Robert: I sit down with this lady and I figure out that she’s paying herself one and a half times the agreed salary.
Clay: Not good.
Robert: I’m just like, “This is–” My brain was exploding. I sat her down, calm as I could be and I asked her why that was the case.
Clay: “I don’t know why I’m taking one and a half times my salary. Just it’s something I feel like is good.”
Robert: She said to me, she looked at me and she said, “Well, I’m working more than I thought I was going to be.”
Clay: “Basically, one and a half times what I was going to do.”
Robert: [laughs] “Yes, so I just justified it that I’m working more than I decided I was going to, or thought I was going to, so therefore it only made sense-”
Clay: Only intelligent people can justify, Dr. Zoellner.
Robert: “It only makes sense that I paid more, right? It’s no big deal about that.” I was livid.
Clay: “I look it like I’m sowing seeds that your business, and I’m sowing a lot of seeds, so I get paid more.”
Robert: Yes, exactly. I just went — get out of here. I took the high road, I didn’t press charges, I figured what comes around, goes around. For the most part-
Clay: Basically we took the high road.
Robert: I took the high road and I said, “Hey, get the-
Clay: I keyed her cars, I keyed all the cars.
Robert: Slash her tires.
Clay: That was all I did. I basically — I will tell you this. To me, the things I wrote on Facebook may not have been appropriate-
Robert: But I meant them at the time.
Clay: I meant them at the time and she will have no problem walking back from the middle of the woods where I left her.
[laughter]
Robert: That is if she’s able to walk.
Clay: If she’s able to walk.
[laughter]
Robert: Because Vinny drove her out there. No offense to any man named Vinny out there.
Clay: No offense man, but seriously, you’ll be sleeping with the fishes if you mess with his payroll again. I get excited with my lead pipe.
Robert: The point is business owners listening out there and soon to be business owners, that the person I had paid to verify and check to make sure the accuracy of the pay checks going out, she was the one that gave herself a raise and didn’t even think to talk about it.
Clay: Which leads me into the Andy Grove quote. This is the guy who was the CEO of Intel, the guys who they make the processor, the chips in the computers. He says that, “Only the conspiracy theorists survive.” I believe that as a business owner, you really do. At all times, this is what a business owner hears in their head all day. They’re going, “What’s going on guys? What are you guys talking about?” Seriously, as a business owner-
Robert: Are you on the clock? Are you on the clock right now?
Clay: I’ve been self-employed starting some kind of business since I was 16 years old basically. I’m telling you, my t-shirt business back in the day, here was the move. I bought a t-shirt for five bucks, I’d agree on a design, sell the shirt for 15 bucks, that’s like three dollars. I’d press it on there with my — what’s the move, it’s the silk-screener.
Robert: Yes, yes.
Clay: You silkscreen the shirt, you sell it, 15 cha-ching, boom, that’s the move. I’m going, “If I sold it for 15 and the shirts are five, and it’s two dollars to press the thing, how do I have eight bucks?”
Robert: Yes, how do you — it’s just math. Now you just keep doing math.
Clay: You start finding others, the guy who’s helping me press t-shirts in my basement, he’s going, “Well, basically, I could give away two t-shirts for my buddy over here, my buddy over there, pretty soon that’s like four buddies, but we’re all buddies.” Yes.
Robert: Yes.
Clay: You’re bad. What happens is, is that over time, you realize, “Wait a minute, they’re stealing. Are you guys giving away our t-shirts?” “What we are doing is a benevolence. We are doing an outreach to give shirts to high school students who otherwise could not afford them unless they were to get a job.”
Robert: Yes and we don’t want to put that on them.
Clay: Yes. You have to have that sort of mindset. Thrivers, the Action step for you, core test number two is get a checklist. You have to have a checklist, I’m telling you. Look at the checklist, know what everyone should be paid in every week when you do payroll, it’s like whoa. You sit down you go, “Whoa, whoa, what was that random expense? What was that random payroll?” I’m telling you, every week, people play those games.
Robert: They can’t stand it.
Clay: Somebody turned in last year 18 hours to clean the cycle Rama, which is a maybe a surface area of a 15 by 15 square feet.
Robert: Well, they were very diligent. I guess they were, that was a clean space when they got done, it took 18 hours.
Clay: I talked to this person and they’re just like, “Well, I didn’t know who how cleanly you wanted it overall, and I just — it was a guess a lack of expectations, I just wasn’t sure.” I’m going, “No, there’s no way,” but they do it. We had a young lady about six weeks ago, we do marketing, we help local doctors in Tulsa do marketing. Z, they have these pharmaceutical reps that go from business to business. A lot of these doctors will outsource my crew and we could drop off stuff for them. What happens is the person will turn in miles, this person turn turned in — I’m not exaggerating, my wife looked at it, over 240 miles in one day in Tulsa. We’re going-
Robert: Wow, that’s a lot of driving.
Clay: “So you went to Dallas.” “No, I just went to Harvard and I went over to Yale, and I went–” You’re going, “There’s no way,” they go, “Oh I guess it was 27.4 miles.”
Robert: Yes, I get the point. I got that little dot, it’s just a little dot.
Clay: It’s amazing how they never mess up to the short, they never are like, “Oh, I meant 2.4 four miles Oh, I meant 24.” It’s always never short themselves, they always go long.
Robert: How is that? Why is that?
Clay: I don’t know. But I’ll tell you this Thrivers, when we come back, we’re talking about core task number three. Core task number three and this is all about helping you get your accounting and your finances together as a business owner. This is the time of year where everyone spending copious amounts of cash on things that you probably don’t need, buying gifts for people they’re going to return in a few days. But the thing is, it’s the Thrive Time Show on this beautiful Black Friday.
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You’re listening to Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: All right, Tulsa Oklahomies, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show during your drive time home, and for many of you, you’re driving home from a day of shopping. You’ve been shopping, shopping and shopping. My name is Clay Clark and I am a business coach. I’m the former SBA entrepreneur of the year and I’ve got Dr. Robert Zoellner right here. Sir, how are you?
Robert: I am fantastic and if you look out on Facebook Live right now you just got a little treat.
Clay: Yes, you got a little eye candy there.
Robert: You got a little eye candy right there.
Clay: Mr. Redman right there live on Facebook Live.
Robert: Live on Facebook Live.
Clay: Broadcasting from the left coast of the Arkansas River here in the box that rocks He’s a beautiful man and if you’re on Facebook Live, you just got a little visual treat.
Robert: You know what, you’re welcome. You’re welcome.
Clay: You don’t owe us anything extra. Here’s the deal Thrivers, we’re talking about how to get your accounting systems in place. Specifically we’re talking about core task number three, a system is in place to verify that your vendors are paid on time. What? Pay them on time?
Robert: That’s crazy.
Clay: Now, here’s the deal, Thrivers, you want a system in place to verify that you’re paying them on time. I’m going to give you notable quotable again coming at you here. Here it is, “Good checklists, on the other hand, are precise, they’re efficient to the point and are easy to use even in the most difficult situations. They do not try to spell out everything, a checklist cannot fly a plane, instead they provide reminders of what only the most critical and important steps, the ones that even the highly skilled professional using them could miss. good checklists are above all practical.” That’s from Atul Gawande, the author of The Checklist Manifesto and the guy who is a medical professor there at the Harvard Medical School.
He’s talking about checklists, you’ve got to have them in place, Z. Because, Z, your business is today, they’re so complex. You’ve got an auto auction going, you’re an investor in a bank, you’ve been optometry clinic, do you have any idea the name of any of your customers that came in today? Do you know the name of one customer that you know for sure came in today of any of those three businesses?
Robert: I don’t think so.
Clay: What percentage of the employees that work there could you name, if you had to? You want to name them?
Robert: Oh, don’t put me on the spot. Now in my next office meeting, I’m going to be in trouble. He’s got me thinking it’s going to trouble.
Clay: I’m going to report myself. When I went into the Elephant in the Room last week we have, there’s 44 lounge coordinators. That means when you go there for your haircut, there’s somebody who goes, “Hey, welcome to Elephant in the Room, are you Robert? Hey, good to see you for your appointment, let’s bring you back for your haircut.” These people who greet people, there’s 44 of these people.
Robert: Okay, question right back at you then.
Clay: I didn’t know any of them.
Robert: Not one?
Clay: No, seriously. Last week there was a training and Abigail was the one who facilitated. I literally had to write down everyone’s names because I have no idea who they are. Because I only fellowship with the managers and with the founder, Justin, who I’m partners with. I care about everybody but I’m writing down everyone’s names. Literally, if I were to spend every minute of the day just trying to meet all the photographers taking wedding photos and all of the grooming professionals, I wouldn’t get anything done. Eventually, I had to decide, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to focus on the leaders and try to coach up the leaders and they can coach of their people. I don’t think I’m a bad guy, just I realized I was out of time. Unless I wanted to have no down time to chase my wife around and to procreate, I’d have to stop and learn names.
Robert: Stop and do the important thing and that’s learn everybody’s name.
Clay: Yes. I’m just saying, Thrivers, if you’re listening right now, you’ve got to have a checklist in place to make sure that you’re paying everybody on time, your vendors.
Robert: To follow up on that, also what you need to do is always verify with the vendors. Some vendors will give you a discount if you pay early and then the ones that don’t, and if they have a payment, they’ll tell you when it’s due. Don’t pay it long before it’s due. I was talking to one of my clients the other day and I said, “Wait a second, we get 2% quick pay on this one and this one says we can — the 90 days, it’s 30-60-90.”
[music]
Oh my goodness. There we go, holy cow.
[laughter]
You need to follow up on that because sometimes they don’t always tell you and you have to dig around a little bit. Do you have a quick pay discount? Sometimes you might even educate them to say, “No, we don’t but that’s a great idea. We’re going to put it in place.” Say, “Well, if you pay by in 15 days or if you pay in 30 days if it’s good for your cash flow and you can do it, you can take advantage of savings right off the bat, which is free money.” It’s just free money.
Clay: Just free money, it’s all we’re talking about, free money.
[music]
Holy free money.
Clay: The thing is the Cubs went to the World Series this year.
Robert: 108 years.
Clay: They hadn’t been for 108 years.
Robert: No, no, they’d been in ‘71 since they’d been, they hadn’t won it in 108 years.
Clay: This just in, this just in from our Chicago Cubs home office. Harry Carey was the voice of choice for that team that could not win for years. I’m going to try and sneak in as many Harry Carey references today.
[music]
Okay, but I want to give you a little move, a little bonus move about paying your vendors, this is a little sneaky move. You tell me if this has ever happened to you.
Robert: Okay.
Clay: Have you ever had a vendor that you’re not working with send you an invoice that says, “Past due?”
Robert: All the time.
[laughter]
All the time and they’ve done the research – there’s a couple of them out there, that’s all they do.
Clay: That’s all they do, scare-
Robert: They’ve done the research and they know if it’s a small enough bill-
Clay: Like $44.
Robert: [laughs] Whatever, they’ve done numbers on it, I need to look that up. That they know that they’ll get some people to pay it.
Clay: Yes, so here’s the deal my dad, I had my dad years ago do accounting. My dad’s all about like a bill comes in, pay it the same day, boom. My dad’s all about being honest, being accurate. when we get this bill in for a bridal show that I’ve never — By the way it’s not the Tulsa Wedding Show, the Taylor Great Wedding Show, not that show. We get an invoice in from a bridal show saying that we’re pat due, we’ve got to and pay this stuff. My dad says, “Hey, I want you know I’m pretty frustrated,” I say, “Why is this?” “Because we’re late by 60 days on this bridal show and I went ahead and paid the thing, I was just frustrated.” I said, “How much did you pay?” He said, “Well, it’s like $2,000.” I said, “What? What bridal show?”
We look it up, it’s not even a show we’ve ever gone to before. I called up the business, I said, “Hey, my dad just paid a bill for a bridal show that I’m not even in but I definitely know you invoiced,” and they’re like, “I’m sorry, we thought you wanted to do it.” But that’s their move.
Robert: That’s their move.
Clay: They always they past due, urgent. It’s a move. Thrivers, if you’re listening right now, you might be taken advantage of the super move, it’s one move that people are doing to scam people. If you’re listening right now, you don’t want to get scammed, also don’t pay those bills early Z. if you do pay him early, make sure there’s a little savings there.
Robert: Absolutely, it’s your money, you be in control of it. You tell it where to go, you tell that money where you say, “You go here, you’d you go there.”
Clay: Money, where do you want me to go?
Robert: Where do you want me to go? I’m going to take this money and build a brick house. That’s what I’m going to do with my money.
Clay: Wow, brickhouse, Thrive Time Show.
[music]
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You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: All right, Thrive nation, welcome back to the inspiration station, your audio dojo of mojo where you go to learn what you need to know to start and grow a business, fo sho. I am a business coach and my name is Clay Clark, the former SBA entrepreneur of the year in your ear. I am broadcasting here from the left coast of the Arkansas River, very excited to be here today. As always, I’m joined here with a man who’s — he’s an optometrist. You go, “He’s an optometrist, okay, he’s an entrepreneur, okay. He’s in the horsey, he races horses, okay. He’s involved in a bank, okay. What does he do? What does he do?” It’s the man, the myth, the legend it’s Dr. Robert Zoellner. Sir, what do you do?
Robert: I’ll tell you what I do, I am now excited about the Thrive Time Show, where people can tune in Monday through Friday, 5:00 to 7:00 right here on Talk Radio 1170, and they can get practical business tips on how to start or grow a business, that’s what I’m excited about, and that’s what I’m doing right now. It’s Black Friday and I hope the things that we’re selling, I hope throughout they’re buying it, you see what I’m saying?
Clay: Z, I’m going to say this, there’s many people out there who are out there busy selling, there’s people out there who are buying, people are buying what you’re selling, at the end of the month though you’re just doing some yelling, let’s repeat. People are buying what you’re selling, but at the end of the month you’re doing some yelling. What’s happening is, is there’s a music in business, it sounds like a symphony, you get the sales guys, they’re rolling in the right direction, you got the marketing guys, but then the accounting, you go down there at the accounting department, which oh by the way is an entrepreneur, you’re usually in charge of when you first get started. You’re in charge of that department too by the way.
Robert: Yes, that is a key department.
Clay: You go down there and this is what you hear.
[music]
Beautiful. Here we go. Here we go Carlos.
Robert: That’s when you go down the accounting department, that’s what you feel like is happening down there.
Clay: Yes, it’s a great song, It’s the great song, it’s a national anthem, but it’s just being sung the wrong way, and you’re going, “That’s not how it should go.” Many of you feel like that, you’re going, “This is not how the accounting should go. No, I’m tired of it, I got to fix it.” If that’s you, you want to fix your accounting systems, well, then today’s show is for you. Core task number four, you’ve got to have a system in place to make sure that your investors are paid on time. Z, you got to make sure your investors are paid on time. Many startups out there bringing some venture capital, they got some partners, why do you have to pay the partners on time? Why can’t you pay the partners later, not even pay them at all?
Robert: “Yes, why [inaudible 00:34:37] aargh I’m going to die, I’m not going to pay you this month,” because they’ll have legal recourses on you. They are usually, if someone has money and they loaned the money to you, then they have means and they are accounting that money, that’s usually the way it works.
Clay: Well, that’s you versus you talking about money and people with my money.
Robert: Am I supposed to find a girl or boy that just won a lottery, he found Billy that just won the lottery ticket. He’s like, “I just want $100 million and I want to give you some.”
Clay: Well, Z, what about the entrepreneurs out there listening? Because I see it a lot. It’s the entrepreneurs out there who are – we’ll call it, “Get rich quick entrepreneurs.” What they want to do is they want to get you to invest in their business and then they want to get rich immediately. As soon as the business doesn’t hit immediately, immediately once the business has the first sign of struggle, they skip town, they’re guns out. Well, talk just for the entrepreneurs listening right now, because there’s so many listening right now. You’re actually in the car with someone who’s done this, you’re in the car with someone right now who literally has taken money from an investor or from a customer. You’ve brought in that money into your bank account and you’ve chosen to use the money for something — it wasn’t intended for that. Why in a city like Tulsa, such a small city, or any city really, why do you just have to honor your commitments and not do that kind of Jackass reason. Why do you have to it?
Robert: Well, it takes me back to the farm, this is my segment.
[music]
But I love the dairy, cool farm logic. Of course, I love to use my favorite farm animal, the pig. I have a saying, the book I’m writing currently, The business Pig, one of the chapters deals with big pig eats first at the trough.
Clay: The big pig eats first at the trough
Robert: What does that mean?
Clay: I don’t what that means.
Robert: What on earth does that mean? Are you talking about pigs and troughs, and foods. Your investor, the person that put the money up, they’re the Big Pig, and you got to make sure like this core task number four says that, “They get paid back their money, otherwise it does not go well.”
Recording: You’re listening to The Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: I go, “How do people get in this twisted dough, like it’s a cold Keith sweat song?” twisted, it’s not good. A lot of people are listening to this and what they do is they go, “I’m going to pay myself back first and then the investors second. Why is that wrong, what’s wrong with that?
ROBERT: Well, it depends on the deal you have technically, but first-in-first-out, usually is the way most deals are structured. What that means is that the person that put the money in, is expecting to get his money out on a timely deal. That’s why so many businesses fail, I think it’s because they’re undercapitalized, people are not using the money wisely. They’re opening businesses and right from day one, “Let’s pay a house payment, two car payments, private school payment. Hey, we like to eat out a lot, my wife’s not that good a cook, so we like steak dinner.”
Clay: “Z, I’m going to say this because I always want to be honest with you. We have to eat out, we eat out lot and we’ve got to do that. Then we got the NFL package. The team I like, they were technically black–” What is it called, Z, where you can’t see, the team, blackout?
Robert: Blackout.
Clay: “There’s a tragedy, so I had to get the NFL super ticket, whatever that was, and so now there’s a lot of expenses. You got to understand my needs, I got some basic needs here.”
Robert: I got my needs, that’s my needs and that’s why we talk about delaying gratification, that’s why we talk about saving for a rainy day, that’s what we talk about building your war chest and making sure you have enough money before you start the business. Start small and if you do borrow money from someone and make a deal with them, do the honorable thing and make sure you repay it on time, and that you have a checklist to make sure that you’re doing that. In other words, that’s not something you go, “I didn’t, I think I did, did I send Billy’s check last month? I think I did. I think Billy got his check, well if he didn’t he’s rich, he’s got a place-”
Clay: “Billy why are you chasing me down, Billy I’m sorry.
Robert: “He’s got plenty of money, I don’t need to double check to see if he got his check.”
Clay: Z, core task number five, a system must be in place to verify that all incoming deposits are placed in the company bank account. Now, here’s the deal Atul Gawande, our checklist manifesto hero, he says, “We know the patterns, we see the cost, it’s time to try something else, try a checklist,” “But I don’t want to use a checklist, I’m super smart, it’s all in my mind.”
Robert: “It’s so restrictive, it takes away my creativity.”
Clay: “I pay people more by feel bro, I look around the office and I’m like, “Oh yes, duck, duck, gray duck, pay the gray duck.””
Robert: “Yes, pay the gray duck.”
Clay: But no, seriously, if you’re listening right now and you’re screwing this up, if you’re getting these, it’s not like rocket science here, we’re not talking about having a major triple bypass here, what we’re talking about is just simple moves that have to be done over and over, and over again. You’ve got to verify the money you put in the account, actually gets into the account, Z.
Robert: This is the one, this is the one,-
Clay: Here we go.
Robert: This is the one guys, you’re thinking, “I want to start a business, we’re going to start a little business.” Then we start the business and we make a thing, and we sell that thing, and we make some money, and we’re excited. Now, we make more things, we’re now going to hire some people. Well, they’ll have the same passion and trustworthiness that I have, won’t they?”
Clay: “Absolutely, because everyone trusts everyone.”
Robert: “Yes. Aren’t you supposed to?”
Clay: “We’re all about culture. Our product is culture.”
Robert: “Yes, plus I hired them from an establishment of-”
Clay: Craigslist. Everybody outsources Craigslist.
Robert: “Yes, or they said they’re a member of some church, so therefore they must be trustworthy.” I’m not knocking on any of that, but I’m just telling you what people are people. If someone’s having a tough month personally and I’ve seen it time and time again. They’ve having a tough month and if you think they’re going to let their cellp hone get turned off, or if they’re going to slip a little bit of extra out your cash machine, cash register and put it in their pocket, and look both ways. One of the things that I really recommend and they’re inexpensive now, they’re like nothing. They’re almost like free, it’s like free, cameras. You just get like a thousand billion cameras and you let those things DVR tape for a long time, like six years. You have six years of tape to go back in.
Clay: I have a camera story I want to share.
Robert: Okay.
Clay: This year, I walk in, we had some headphones that were stolen, some nice headphones. I walk up to the young man, who by the way I saw the video of him taking the headphones.
Robert: Wow, are you sure it was him?
Clay: I said, “Hey, I was watching the videotape last night, I couldn’t get it to play. I’m going to download them and figure it out, but somebody has taken the headphones. Do you know who it would be?” When you watch somebody’s face and they know that you might or might not have seen the footage. If it could’ve been a Hollywood movie, just the inner dialogue back and forth, because he’s going, “I bet he hasn’t seen. I bet you.” He’s kind of going, “What would you have seen on the footage? What camera angle because I can help you find that footage.” I’m telling you, cameras sets — it sets everybody free. It’s all about the transparency, which is why we have a camera in the Box that Rocks for the show. On Facebook Live right now, we’ve got a camera right here to make sure that we are in fact here.
Robert: You can watch us to see if we steal anything off this table. Wait a second, it’s our stuff, ain’t it?
Clay: Z, I am sorry that I stole your David head from your desk and moved it to my head.
[music]
Robert: That was on my desk.
Clay: Yes.
Robert: I can’t trust you.
Clay: I noticed that you-
Robert: I can’t trust you at all.
Clay: I noticed that you stole the horse head that’s yours that I thought was mine and put it on your desk, Z.
Robert: Because it’s mine.
Clay: Because it is yours. Okay.
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[music]
Broadcasting from the center of the universe. Featuring optometrist turned entrepreneur, Dr. Robert Zoellner and US SBA entrepreneur of the year, Clay Clark. This is the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: All right, thrive nation, welcome back Oklahomies. Welcome back Tulsa. Welcome back, this is the show where we give you all the editorial and all the facts about how to start and grow a business. My name is Clay Clark, I’m the former SBA, that’s the Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year and I am also a business coach. I am here, I am joined today — I’m telling you what, it’s like a bouquet of humanity over there. It’s Dr. Robert Zoellner. Sir, how are you?
Robert: Hey Thrivers, I’m doing great. Happy Black Friday. I hope you got all the great deals that you spent the night in that tent for last night for. You’re full with turkey. You took a pumpkin pie out there. You put your little pop tent up, you’ve got your little heater. You’ve got your little thing. You’re there eating pumpkin pie. You joke with the people that are behind you in line going, “Ha, ha.”
Clay: They’re acting like they’re trying to be nice to you, but as soon as those doors open, they shove you down. They ran over you.
Robert: Take you pie, it’s crazy.
Clay: Years ago for Elmo, people were beating each other up for Elmo. Back in the day, that was a move. Now Z, we’re talking about these accounting systems to help you get your numbers right. Help you get those at the accounting. See entrepreneurs, a lot of people want to talk about how to grow a business, how to sell some stuff, how to market. That’s exciting topics. “How do you market? How do you sell?” Z, I can’t tell you how many sales seminars there are. Sale, sale, sale.
Robert: I’ll tell you what. Yesterday’s show, while we were eating – Sharp didn’t bring us any pie.
Clay: He did not bring us any pie.
Robert: We were pie-less on Thanksgiving. We were just hammered with Turkey from earlier in the day, but yesterday’s show if you missed it, you might’ve been busy like doing the family thing, maybe eating Thanksgiving dinner, that kind of thing. But if you missed the show, it was the show on sales, how to get your sales up. Go to thrivetimeshow.com and stream that thing as many times as you want. Take notes and just own that. It was a beautiful show.
Clay: It’s equal time here on Thrive, we’re talking about how to sell some stuff, which is then how to account for stuff.
Robert: Yes, which is necessary.
Clay: We’re making it fun. I’m going to tell you what, because core task number six. You want to have a system in place to verify your weekly account balance. I’m going to tell you, I call this a system. Z, you remember back in the ’80s. Z, back in the ’80s when you have a boom box and a bunch of dudes, you’d be going out to play basketball, and there’ll be some attractive ladies that got the quad skates on. You know the skates with the wheels, and the four wheels. She got the Daisy Dukes and she’s out there in a denim shirt on there. It’s like tied, she would tie their shirts so it showed just a little bit of the tummy action?
Robert: The midriff.
Clay: The midriff, yes, and shed be doing — Then, there’ll be a guy who was the coolest man you’ve ever met, and he would have these Air Jordans. Do you remember that? She’s out there skating and you homies are about ready to play, and he had the song playing. Do you remember the song here? Maybe I grew up in the wrong part of the country.
[music]
Yes, so you got that system going. Now, Thrivers, we’re going to teach you on how to have a system. When you have system, people start to gather. They start to go, “Oh my gosh. Is all that bass located in that guy’s face?” He’s holding that boom box right by his ear.”
Robert: He can’t get enough.
Clay: He’s got so many of those triple D batteries in there. Thrivers, we’re going to help you make a system that’s going to take your accounting to the next level. Z, are you ready for this?
Robert: I do. I can hardly wait. This is the stuff that’s not really like exciting, but it’s so necessary. Those of you out there getting ready to start a business or you’ve got a business you want to grow it and take it to the next level, these accounting core task we’re talking about are so important.
Clay: You got to verify here. You’ve got to have a weekly system to verify your account balance. Your account balance.
Robert: Have you ever had one where you didn’t? Did you ever have a business where you didn’t do that?
Clay: Yes. I can say this, one of the things that I have just huge pet peeve on, is I hated it when anything is setup auto drat out of my bank account. It freaks me out. I’m not going to do it.
Robert: Yes, exactly. You know what, I actually take them to the next level. In most of my businesses, we do a daily accounting, daily.
Clay: Daily?
Robert: Daily. It was part of their checklist in the mornings that they do. A lot of them will then get that to me.
Clay: I’m just telling you Thrivers, you have to obsess about this. Again, if you want to start or grow a business, the great thing about it is you potentially could have financial freedom and time freedom. The problem with it is that when you have freedom, it also comes great responsibility. I’m going to give this notable quotable. This is just in from Atul Gawande, the author of The Checklist Manifesto. He’s also a surgeon, a leading surgeon and he is a professor at the Harvard Medical School. He says this, “We are built for novelty and excitement, not for careful attention to detail.” I’m going to repeat that again, “We are built for novelty and excitement, not for careful attention to detail. Discipline is something we have to work at.”
Robert: Oh Billy.
Clay: What is this going to drag? Why is he so negative, that Atul? Z, I want to ask you this, seriously. We’ve talked about this, and I know I’m a cyborg, I’m captain intensity, you’ve been working with me on the five F’s. We have Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness, Friendships. Z you said, “Why don’t you sprinkling some fun?”
Robert: Yes, give me a little super move number six there.
Clay: I think a lot of entrepreneurs — now, I’m not going to say all entrepreneurs. I think a lot of entrepreneurs start a business because they think it’s going to be fun.
Robert: Yes, fun, doing my passion.
Clay: For me, I don’t know what it is. I think I started business because I think it’s going to require me to be-
Robert: Maniacal.
Clay: -Maniacal, and focused, and intense. I don’t know what the deal is, but the other day I was watching the Bill Belichick interview. Did you see the interview he did? They’re talking to him about the swag? Did you see this?
Robert: No, unfortunately I missed it.
Clay: Dude, you’ve got a troll on my Facebook and watch this. It’s so good. The reporter goes, “Coach, do you feel like the team needs to bring a little more swag into the–? He said swag and Belichick just looks at him like he’s never heard the word swag. Now, if you don’t know who Bill Belichick is, he’s wearing a cut-off — you got to see, it’s a cut-off hoodie. He just shows his arms. He hasn’t worked in like 20 years, just studying playbooks. He’s got this nasty sweatshirt on and he goes, “I don’t know what that is. I think if we win games and show up and win a lot of games, which we do, then that’s what we need to do. What is this swag you’re referencing?” All I’m saying is there’s a lot of entrepreneurs who tend to operate on more of the swag side. They’re more into that energy, and that excitement and not thinking about the diligent details.
Recording: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: Coach the Thrivers out there, Z. Someone’s listening right now who is pumped up. They got a business where they’re selling stuff. Maybe they got a snow cone stand or a car lot somewhere. They got a new business, they’re selling cell phones. They’re doing something where they’re selling a lot of stuff. They are pumped and people are like, “Oh my gosh, you’re awesome. You’re the man.” Meanwhile, you know and they know, and we all know that they’re not checking their account balances. They’re not being detailed. What advice would you have for them?
Robert: Well, I tell you what, that takes me back to — do you know what that makes me want to do?
Clay: I don’t know what that makes you want to do.
[music]
Robert: That makes me want to preach. That makes me want to preach.
Clay: Go ahead.
Robert: I’ll tell you what, something I used to teach my kids.
Clay: Tell us what you used to teach your kids.
Robert: I used to tell them.
Clay: What do you tell them?
Robert: I used to tell them all the time?
Clay: What did you tell your kids all the time?
Robert: Work first-
Clay: Work first?
Robert: -Then play.
Clay: -Then play.
Robert: -and that’s going to make for a great day.
Clay: That’s going to make for a great day.
Robert: I tell you what, if you’re too busy having fun and not taking care of the fiscal; responsibility of the office, guess what?
Clay: What?
Robert: You’re probably going to lose your office. All big chunks of money that should be in your bank account will be in somebody else’s bank account.
Clay: You could be listening to this sound clip.
Recording: First off, I am 35 years old. I am divorced and I live in a van down by the river.
Clay: That’s what they could be saying.
Robert: Yes, I mean a van down — I’m sure it’s a fine van.
Clay: Yes, beautiful.
Robert: Our office is by the river, so what’s wrong with by the river?
Clay: No, nothing wrong with the river.
Robert: We’re at the left bank of the beautiful Arkansas River.
Clay: If you’re going to live in a van, live in the van by that river because it won’t be swept away.
[laughter]
Robert: It won’t get swept. You have a beach front property basically, at the Arkansas River, come on. We’re having a little fun here about it, but it’s a very serious topic. That is shrinkage happens. Your money, if you don’t watch over it diligently and I love the way you say paranoidly, okay.
Clay: You got to be paranoid.
Robert: You got to be paranoid. If you don’t do that, it will walk away.
Clay: It will, every time.
Robert: Yes. I tell you what, first time a business bounces a check — there’s some businesses out there, you bounce one check, you’re dead. Like in my auto auction business. When we first got started, there was a lot of money floating, there’s a lot of cash moving around. When you’re selling 400 or 500 cars and each car is $8,000 to $10,000, that’s a lot of money exchanging hands and going back and forth. The kiss of death of an auto auction is you bounce once check, one check, it spreads like wildfire and nobody will show up. You’ve got to be paranoidly just diligent on tracking your moneys.
Clay: You’ve got to do it, because if you don’t do it Thrivers, nobody else is going to do it for you. Absolutely, have to be obsessed with tracking your numbers.
Robert: That’s a knowledge bomb right there.
Clay: You got to be obsessed. The only thing about being obsessed is if you don’t block out time to be obsessed, you’re never going to do it. You’ve got to block out that time to be obsessed. It can’t be a thing where you go, “I’m motivated. I’m going to do this.” I’m asking you when specifically, put it in your calendar, when are you going to look at your numbers. You’ve got to block out a time, Thrivers. Core task number seven, you must have a system in place to verify the accuracy of your profit and loss statement. Accuracy, accuracy. Without an intentional focus on accuracy, you’re going to have jackassary.
Robert: Why is that? Why does it have to be that way?
Clay: I just feel like on the planet earth, what’s happening is that if left to default, anything overtime corrodes, breaks down, drifts, stops working, weeds grow in the garden, et cetera. You’ve got to put in that diligent effort to maintain something and maintaining something requires you to be accurate. I think most humans, we think in terms of hand grenades like big ideas. We don’t think in terms of accurate rifle-
Robert: Surgical.
Clay: -Surgical. We don’t do it.
Robert: There was a lot of very descriptive images you just rolled through there that really I think were apropos. That is, is that people say, “Why does have to be?” Well, that’s just the laws of nature. It will degenerate if left unattended.
Clay: Thrivers, I’m telling you this because Dr. Z and I care so much. We didn’t build this show to sit here and say, “You guys are all not making good decisions. We know everything. You don’t know anything.” What we’re saying is we’ve gone through the minefield of entrepreneurship. We’ve run through there, we’ve lost a leg, we’ve been injured in battle. We made it through though and we’re here to teach you. We’re saying, “Hey, the mines are over here. The mines are over there. The mines are everywhere.” Watch out, Thrive Time Show.
[music]
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You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: All right, thrive nation, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show during your drive time home from buying every gift that your family and friends needed, and they didn’t need. Some of you, if you’re driving home right now with four to five meat logs. You’re driving home right now and you got those – no, I’m serious.
Robert: A meat log? What is that?
Clay: Every year I used to buy this for my dad for Christmas. You go there into Walgreens or Sam’s Club, or Walmart, one of those places with a Wal in the name. You’ll see is massive sausage that no person should eat. It’s like a huge — it gets like a foot long, a foot and a half long just sausage, summer sausage, and you just buy that for the person you care about. You get that jelly, that jelly in a cane? You get the cane?
Robert: Oh yes, okay.
Clay: Have you not bought any of that yet today?
Robert: I’m sorry. I’ve been getting ready for the show.
Clay: All I’m saying is I have registered. A lot of times people go, “Did you register for the wedding? Where did you register? Did you guys–? You’re a great couple. Where did you register?” No one ever asks me, “Hey, where did you register?” I’m telling you, I went over there to Walmart and I went, “Poop.” I registered for my Christmas gifts. One of the things that I want, is I want Christmas jellies in a cane. And I want the cane shaped in the — they taste better when they’re in the cane.
Robert: You know what, that’s probably scientific.
Clay: I want six meat logs. That’s all I’m asking for.
Robert: That’s all you’re asking for. That’s fair.
Clay: That’s fair enough. Thrivers, we’re talking about the exciting topic of how to get your accounting in order. How to get those finances in order. I’m telling you what Thrivers, we’re bringing some fun to it. We’re bringing some entertainment, we call this edutainment, because it is entertainment-
Robert: Edutainment?
Clay: -and education combined, Thrivers, unbelievable. My name is Clay Clark, I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, and here with me today, broadcasting from the Box that Rocks, the thrive15.com world headquarters, is Dr. Robert Zoellner.
Robert: I’ve been called a lot worse than that. The O is not pronounced, Clay, you know that. You’re just being silly now.
Clay: Sorry, I just wanted to try all the different pronunciations possible to get it incorrect three times.
Robert: My favorite is when that someone called me one time was Zoellenjaimer, I’m like, “What is that?”
Clay: Zoellen?
Robert: Njaimer.
Clay: Oh, Zoellenjaimer, welcome to our headquarters. Seriously, so core task [laughs] number seven. You have to a system in place to verify the accuracy of your profit and loss statement. We talked about that. Now we’re moving on to core task number eight. In honor of — Does Tony Romo wear number eight?
Robert: Yes.
Clay: When he’s on the side-lines, does he still wear number eight or did he change it?
Robert: No, he’s number nine.
Clay: He’s number nine?
Robert: Yes. Sam Bradford is number eight.
Clay: Really? So Romo is nine.
Robert: Yes, pretty sure,
Clay: Aikman was eight. That’s who it was.
Robert: Aikman, yes. Yes, Aikman was eight. That’s why Sam Bradford chose that because Aikman was one of his idols.
Clay: I stand corrected, unbelievable. Wow. Okay, so number eight. The Ocho, not in honor of Tony Romo. The number before Tony Romo. A system in place for cross referencing your weekly budget against your weekly expenses.
Robert: That assumes you’ve got a budget to begin with right?
Clay: Okay, so here’s where I want to get in to this a little bit okay. This happened about four years ago. This one almost made me shoot somebody when I realized it was illegal, and I was going, “Well, it’s totally not worth it.” But here’s the thing is–
Robert: Yes, they frowned upon that.
Clay: We have a budget for water for the office.
Robert: For water, okay. Yes, of course.
Clay: And coffees.
Robert: Yes.
Clay: The little cups you put the coffee and the Keurig cups. You got the water, the coffee cup.
Robert: Just coffee, yes.
Clay: Well, so you got the whole thing. We got these water, if you go into it’s called Buy Five, buy drinks, it’s like flavored water, maybe it’s called Buy Five or something, have you ever seen these?
Robert: No, I don’t think I have.
Clay: If you go to the store, the convenience store, you go in there and you say, “Hey, I’m trying to spend as close to five bucks as possible for one small drink, could you show me where that is?” they go, “It’s over here.”
Robert: Yes, here it is.
Clay: One young lady in the office who is on a diet, she decided it will be a good move for the health of the company-
Robert: The health of the company, she’s just concerned about the health of her co-workers.
Clay: I’m not kidding, this is what she said, to help everybody have less sick days, she’s going to replace the water with the Buy Five.
Robert: Why wouldn’t she?
Clay: My wife is looking at the numbers and we’re going, “Hey, we’re dropping $250 on XYZ and not $50.” Then you know Z, there’s toilet paper you can get that it’s soft, it’s nice. We won’t get into all the details, but there’s that nice toilet paper.
Robert: There’s expensive, there’s the multiple plies.
Clay: But then there’s that next level where you’re taking — what’s the expensive animal Z, what’s an expensive animal?
Recording: You’re listening to The Thrive Time show on Talk Radio 1170.
Robert: Well, an expensive animal would be a high-end thoroughbred racehorse item for example, it’s expensive.
Clay: Let’s take in rare hair from a thoroughbred racehorse, weaving that into a toilet paper then you can buy that stuff. It’s woven with threads of gold, it’s just total paper, I’m not kidding. You’ve seen it before, it’s like seven, eight times more than other stuff and this continues, the paper towels.
Robert: We got to get the best.
Clay: We got to get the best. She says, “Our team deserves the best.” Now here’s where it gets me, the ink cartridges, when you buy a Brother printer, standard Brother printer, that thing is going to be about $275, $300 you buy at the office depot, Brother black-and-white laser printer, but the ink for that thing is maybe 200 bucks, so the printer itself is 275, but the ink is 200.
Robert: You’re kidding, just give me this thing.
Clay: This person decides to pre-order, you know they change model numbers all the time, they’re not going to make the same printer for the next 20 years-
Robert: No, they got to change it very frequently.
Clay: They want to do it because once you have the cartridge to the old printer, you got to just goodbye the new printer, when you get the cartridges good anyway. You got to buy some more cartridges, that’s the move.
Robert: That’s the move.
Clay: This person, I’m not exaggerating and this is how I caught the whole thing, it was the 5th or 6th of the month, I noticed a guy with a dolly bringing in Buy Five and then I noticed a guy with a dolly bringing in ink cartridges. I’m not talking about four or five, but I’m talking about 45.
Robert: Cases?
Clay: Cases. I pull the guy, “Hey, homie, homie where are you from?” He goes, “Oh, I’m here with the supply delivery company such-and-such store, we deliver supplies,” “And how much are you getting paid to do delivers?” “I don’t know, but we charge a premium to have it delivered and that’s it, so I’m waiting.” I talked to the person, “Why are you having it delivered?” they said, “Well, because I wanted to save time, I want to make sure I’m not wasting my times” “So who decided on these items?” “Well, I met with him and they thought this was the premium stuff, I know we’re a premium brand, and so I wanted to.” Did you bring, how many?” I’m not exaggerating, “How many did you bring by?” and this person goes, “Well, if you bought 60, then you’re able to get 10% off,”
I’m like, “60? That’s enough ink for at least 60 weeks. Just the thought process of when people are spending your money, Z, that’s different isn’t it?
Robert: It’s so fun.
Clay: Why is it so fun?
Robert: People love to spend my money.
Clay: They do.
Robert: They love to spend it and they always have such a great reason for spending it. Like you said, “Don’t you want your employees to be healthy? Don’t you want the best toilet paper possible? Don’t you think that we deserve and that when we have high-end clients, they see these paper towels and they know we went to the extra effort to get those? Don’t you think that’s important?”
Clay: “I guess I do think that’s important, we should operate at a deficit in order to let people know we care about the cleanliness of them.” By the way, let’s not scrimp, let’s get the premium ultra-keurig cups, the ones where it’s like the coffee where mug why, and he’s out there in Colombia or Chile, he’s raising the coffee beans, but he’s loving on each bean, it’s handcrafted, handmade, hand packed, into the keurig cup with his hands.
Robert: He needs to make a living too, I don’t know why you’re hating on him. What was his name?
Clay: They get a little sticker on the side that says like, “All of our farmers are paid 80 grand a year.” [laughs] I’m just telling you, Thrivers-
Robert: None live in poverty and they all hand select, the beans and hand love them.
Clay: Thrivers, I’m telling you, if you’re in a boat right now, a business boat, and you’ve got a leak, be careful because once you get a little leak in that boat, it starts filling up there, the boat starts filling up with a little bit of water. Pretty soon if you’re not bailing, next thing you know you’re starting to sink.
Robert: Unless the boat’s in this Arkansas River with the water in it.
Clay: Who said the Arkansas river will have you get a leak in that boat. You’re going to discover pretty soon, you’re looking down and you’re like, “Is that some dirt?”
Robert: That’s a dirt.
Speaker3: Thrivers, stay tuned we’re talking about accounting on the Thrive Time Show.
[music]
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Live, local, now, you are listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: Hello thrive nation and Oklahomies, welcome back to the Box That Rocks. We’re broadcasting here the Thrive Time Show from that audio dojo of mojo within the Thrive15.com, world headquarters located on the left coast of the Arkansas River and beautiful jinx America, where Dr. Robert Zoellner and I come together on a daily basis to bring you that entrepreneurial education that you really can’t find out there. Z, you just can’t find it.
Robert: It’s business school without the BS.
Clay: BS as in Bachelor of Science?
Robert: Well, that’s one.
Clay: You cannot get your Bachelor of Science by listening to this show.
Robert: Well, you can’t.
Clay: It’s without that, we’re not going to give that to you.
Robert: But we’re going to give you practical steps, action items that you could say, “I can do that, I can do that, and you’re telling me guys if I do that, it’s going to be better?” Yes.
Clay: Absolutely.
Robert: Verified.
Clay: Boom
Robert: Boom. It’s a thing.
Clay: It’s a thing and we’re moving on here right now, Thrivers, we are moving on to core task number nine, number nine. This is in honor of Tony Romo, who you mentioned, you said the core task number eight, can’t be named after Romo, that is Troy Aikman, it’s number nine math-man. Number nine, this is the number that Tony Romo’s wearing right now, he’s wearing it now. Is he ever going to play again you think? Is he going to be a full-time clipboard holder?
Robert: I don’t know why people think that’s such a bad deal. You pay me millions of dollars, I’ll wear baseball cap, a headset and hold a clipboard. In fact, if I just had a clipboard, I get millions of dollars here, because I need a baseball, I got a headset on.
Clay: We just got to hook that up for you, I’ll call Tony and say, “Tony, do you want to do a radio show and with Z down there?”
Robert: I’ll get down there again, I’ll walk to side-line and cheer on the boys.
Clay: It could be the perfect switch, less injuries for him.
Robert: Less injuries for him because this Box That Rocks is that we already know it’s pretty safe and secure location.
Clay: Absolutely, now we’ve got these new pads were standing on here, I don’t what you call these.
Robert: Is it ergonomic or what are they called?
Clay: They’re safety fast pads.
Robert: They’re also compressed for your-
Clay: Lumbar support.
Robert: Someone’s out there going, “I know the name of them, I just don’t remember now.”
Clay: I’m standing on a cushy pad right now that’s helping me just feel better about life-
Robert: Nick, what are these things called?
Nathan: Anti-fatigue pad.
Robert: Anti-fatigue pad, thank you. Nathan our producer, he’s so smart.
Clay: Now core task number nine, the system must be in place for managing your potential risk and insurance needs. Z, why do you have to do that?
Robert: You don’t, you don’t-
Clay: You don’t have to.
Robert: -You can scratch 9 off, forget Tony Romo, you’re on the bench, you’re not playing Dax the new Tony, just forget about it.
Clay: I’ll tell you what, then I’m going to go get a new perm.
Robert: Just forget about it, you don’t need to do this.
Clay: I don’t even need it.
Robert: This has got to be– Insurance is like, “Ah,” it’s just I hate insurance, I hate it.
Clay: You don’t need to get on insurance, because what you do is, when you get the extra money that you would be spending on that insurance, you can get down out there to the state fair, you can get yourself a deep-fried, whatever and you could sit down and next thing you know, you get yourself that new perm on that mullet. There’s a lot of things you can do with that money, Z.
Robert: I know and my insurance I just had to write down some show going, “Z, shut your mouth, you love insurance, “I’m like, “No, I don’t, it’s the best, I look at it as unnecessary evil.”
Clay: But you got to have it.
Robert: You got to have it.
Clay: Isn’t that a little bit of a racket though? Isn’t that a little bit of racket?
Robert: It is, but it’s a racket that you know. It’s just you got to do. You got to have insurance.
Clay: You got to have it because Thrives, let me tell you, you don’t have a bad day than a bad life.
Robert: Wow, that was damn.
Clay: I’m just telling you, an insurance is just a piece of paper and a promise, but at the end of the day, you’re buying peace of mind. The insurance guys that I love, I love Farmers Insurance over there.
Robert: Yes, is that your move?
Clay: I love these guys. It’s 3-9-2-4-0-0-0. It’s (9-1-8) 3-9-2-4-0-0-0 Farmers Insurance.
Robert: Why do you love them so much?
Clay: One, is I’ve actually been training their salespeople for nine years.
Robert: No way.
Clay: I’m a co-Fryer over there. I work with these guys and here’s a disturbing statistic and I don’t want to get the actual. I just give you a general stat here.
Robert: Okay.
Clay: in Oklahoma, roughly a quarter of the people on the road don’t have car insurance. You hit somebody.
Robert: It’s the law.
Clay: They hit you and they just choose not to have it.
Robert: You could have uninsured motorist as an add-on to your deal.
Clay: That’s right and it took that more Oklahoma when the tornado came through and devastated that community and just destroyed it.
Robert: Yes, horrible, horrible.
Clay: Unfortunately, this just in Thrivers, a little less than a quarter of the people weren’t fully insured. Meaning when their house was destroyed they didn’t have the money needed to build it back. That’s why you want to go ahead and pay a little extra for that insurance so you can have a bad day and not a bad life. These are just moves. These are just moves. See these are just moves. We have more moves than a U-Haul truck. Are you feeling me?
Robert: I’m feeling you. I like the U-Haul trucks because they put a state on there. It’s kind of fun to go. They’ve got Michigan on that truck. It would’ve been actually started Michigan or they put random Michigan on there, you know what I’m talking about?
Clay: Is there actually a U-Haul – Is there actually people in Delaware because I’m behind the Delaware truck.
Robert: Is that a state?
Clay: Seriously, have you ever met somebody from Delaware?
Robert: No. I know nobody from Delaware, but I do know that most S-corps and C-corps are formed up in Delaware. Apparently-
Clay: This just in. This just in. Now, Thrivers, this just in from our home office. “I have a notable quotable for you, a notable quotable. Just ticking boxes is not the ultimate goal here. Embracing a culture of teamwork and discipline is.” Atul Gawande is talking about checklists and he’s going, “Hey, listen, you can’t just check the box and go, “Yes, I have insurance. Yes, I’ve got the risk take care of.” You’ve got to think about it as it kind of a team? Your insurance guy is a team almost. Okay and you’ve got to make sure that you allow him to fully protect you so you can get out there and engage in that risk that you love called entrepreneurship. Now this move, to core task number 10, you must have a system in place for cash flow management.
Z, cash flow management because when the river runs out of water it stops flowing, Z. Or if you run out of cash flow, you end up on that dirt right there on the left coast to the river. You’re out there hanging out right there in that dirt crevasse next to the Arkansas River there by the jigs river walk. Right now where it’s not raining enough.
Robert: Well, you know what would be a beautiful thing Clay?
Clay: What would be a beautiful thing?
Robert: Here’s the thing if you’re listening out there. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to say this beautiful thing moment when we come back. I’m just going to tease everybody a little bit. I’ve got a beautiful little super-move moment that I’m going to tease you with and like your dream lover. When we come back I’m going to pick it up from there and I’m going to talk about it.
[music]
Clay: This was Mariah Carey back before she got scary. Right before she hooked up with Jermaine Dupri and when that whole rap phase, start getting a little crazy and call herself Mimi. This was back in the day with her voice was just the voice of choice. She would just say, “Give me the mic, let me sing, I’m going to wow you.” Thrivers, stay tuned for Dr. Z’s beautiful super move.
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You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: Hello Thrive nation, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show. Your audio dojo of entrepreneurial mojo, it’s Tulsa’s only local business radio show on Talk Radio 1170, where we join you every day from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. If you’re just joining us, if you’re just joining us right now this is just in. We are talking today about the accounting super moves or the 12 core tasks of your accounting and finance team systems. If you’re watching on Facebook Live right now and I know you are, you shouldn’t be watching on Facebook Live while you’re driving, Z.
Robert: No, you shouldn’t technically.
Clay: You shouldn’t be — you can’t
Robert: Unless you’re the passenger and you’re streaming it live.
Clay: Yes, they watch that live.
Robert: On your iPad.
Clay: Hook that up to a flat screen. Watch it. Make the driver watch it too, but just don’t — you’re driving, don’t be watching.
Robert: Eyes on the road. I do to intend them too.
Clay: Okay, now but seriously Z, before we left, we’re talking about these accounting super moves and then these moves you’ve got to do to get ahead of your accounting and you said you’ve got a beautiful move.
Robert: Protect my cash flow. Well, I’m just telling out there. Here’s the thing about it is this is that it would be wonderful, it would be magical, it would be a special day if everybody that came in to get your thing, came in and paid you in cash that day in full took the deelee me bob per thing and left.
Clay: That’s what if you’re a rapper.
[music]
Z, that’s how it goes, if you’re a rapper. Everyone pays in cash all the time. Solid gold watches, nothing to worry about man, no need to worry about it. My account handles that.
Robert: [laughs] But what happens is they don’t. We start a small business, people want to come in, want to open an account.
Clay: An account. It is a code for not pay you.
Robert: Which is build me repeatedly and chase me around the park.
Clay: I hate that.
Robert: I hate that, but people fall into it because they go, “Oh, they’re willing to spend a lot of money with me if I just give them credit. If I just extend payment plans to them.” Show me the money.
[laughter]
What happens a lot of them get trapped in that and what happens is their cash flow suffers because they’ve got a lot of money that’s supposed to come in accounts receivable, AR is high
Clay: “I got little monies that are going to be coming in soon.”
Robert: “I tell you what, I’m going to make it to you, you can’t refuse. You give me your thing and I’m going to come back with some money one of these days.”
Clay: “I’m going to call you.”
Robert: “Just remind me over and over, and over.”
Clay: “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to set up an account with you and then when I-”
Robert: “You can send me a bill and then eventually one day I may pay such bill. Until then, you know I’m happy because I got the thing.”
Clay: “I got my own classes Z, up to $99 special. I’ve come in with the Luigi and Mario and uncle sends Lucy. We’re coming.”
Robert: “I’ll bring a lot of business.”
Clay: “We bring a lot of business and I come in there. I buy 27 spectacles for my face. I get it all and I now you want me to pay? What is this? Disrespect?”
Robert: Another thing I got roped into was this barter company.
[laughter]
Is he’s here? It’s all this, “[unintelligible 01:17:34] here’s all the companies to participate and what’s going to happen they can all come in here and tag your stuff, I mean get your stuff right? Now get your thing. They get all the things they want and what you’re going to do is you’re going to have credit in this barter bank a world and anytime you want to go into one of their places and use that money, that barter money you can do that and it’s a beautiful system. It’s a beautiful system.” I told them, I said, “You know what, that sounds like a good system. I’ve got my own bartering company.” He goes, “Oh, excuse me, I don’t know about it.” I said, “Yes, it’s like a bartering company. It’s really cool.”
What happens is you come into my place of business and you give me cash and then I take that cash and I go into the businesses I want to go into and I buy stuff in there. We barter visa vie cash. Okay.
Clay: Z, I have a story. I have a story about this because this happened. I get out to a wedding and I get to the wedding, and this father of the bride, he turns to me. I’ll never forget. I go to collect payment and he tells me, he says. “I’m going ahead and get you paid here. Give me just a second.” Thrivers, I’m not making this up. We did thousands of weddings. This kind of stuff what happened not all the time but very rare. He goes out to his truck. He comes back with like, if you’re watching on Facebook Live, it’s a six foot wide table we’re broadcasting from. He brings back like a 6-foot, like a pallet of batteries. Like the small triple A’s, double A’s.
Robert: No, no way. Okay.
Clay: No, I swear to you, and he says if you’re not networking you’re not working. I go, “What?” He tells me, he says, he’s a member of this local barter group and he thought that I was too. Finally, I’m like, “Freak.” He writes me a check with from this barter group. My wife and me, and I am in loo of having all these freaking batteries, we now have a check for this stupid. This rather is like stupid.
Robert: You might charge the batteries I don’t know. You think I could do it again
Clay: They all like these generic off-brands. That’s like my second year in business. We have no cash. Now my wife and I like, “We’re going to go and use this.” We flip through this crappy book of crappy businesses and my wife ends up special ordering a couch from some crappy business. When that couch shows up,
it’s the greeniest, nastiest. It’s supposed to be leather but it looks like pleather. I wanted to set that thing on fire. I hated it.
Robert: Don’t fall prey to it and listen, hold your guns. You’ve worked hard to make your thing. You’ve worked hard to provide your service. You’ve got a passion about it. You’re doing it with excellence. Don’t give it away. When someone says they’re not going to pay you today, just point them down the road that way.
Clay: I ended up using the remainder of my trade-out cash to go on a time-share.
Robert: Oh God, it just keeps getting better.
Clay: Invest in Florida. But the application fee or whatever it was, is like more than a typical house to stay at. The whole thing was not good. Thrivers, don’t do that. Okay. Core task number 11, a system must be in place for tax filing and planning. I’m not going to belittle this because you and I are not accountants, but get an accountant.
Robert: I’ll tell you what, taxes are no joke. Taxes are no joke. Two certainties, you’re going to pay taxes and you’re going to die. You’ve got to make sure you take that seriously and you can’t wait until April 13 and wander into some dudes office with a box of receipts and go, “Hey bro, I think in a couple of days I need to, you know, take care of something.”
Clay: “I was going to see if you guys would do last minute taxes. I’ve got various receipts, various things that I’ve collected from over the years. An interesting, George Washington coin, a limited edition I have.” You can’t do that, right? You can’t.
[laughter]
Robert: You’ve got to make a plan. Plan, plan early. Meet with the guys. If you’re waiting until April to do your taxes, you’ve probably missed so many opportunities for deductions and so many opportunities to try to beat them, because it’s a gray zone folks, it’s a gray zone.
Clay: “I have 30,000 in taxes you say that I owe, but 27,000 could be deducted because I technically use my car for dating and I’m doing that speed dating thing, a lot of dating. I’ve got a dating site I’m part of.” Can I write that off, Z? Is that possible?
Robert: Yes, I’m not a tax accountant. I don’t know but I know somebody who does. I know a guy who knows a guy. Boom. I know a guy who knows a guy. Take it serious, set it up, plan for it, and don’t be last minute going, “Ohhhhhh.”.
Clay: Okay, one more tip on this though. So many Thrivers out there are going to get their taxes done by a guy. You know a guy and he says, “I know a guy.” and you say, “Is he an accountant?” “Well he’s a guy. You go in there and you get your numbers and you come out and you’re like, boom. You feel free.” Is he a mystic? Is he a yoga instructor? “I’m going tell you what, no questions, he might not be certified the way they want you to be but he will get you the tax numbers that you want.”
Robert: There you go.
Clay: Thrivers, you got to be careful.
Robert: You got to be careful because it’s no joke and when you go from a W-2, W-4 employee. That’s the same W?
Clay: Yes, you got the W-2’s or you got the 1099, the contractors, there are different rules, laws
Robert: Right, but when you go from being a — they take out everything out of your check automatically and they do all that for you and then you just fill out a simple form, to owning a business, it’s a whole different animal. You have a lot of tax advantages to owning a business. I’m telling you. Take advantage of them. If you don’t take advantage of them then that’s just silly.
Clay: Not smart. Thrivers, this just in from our home office, Core task number 12, final core task. You must have a system in place to communicate with investors to keep them updated. You’ve got to keep everyone updated, your whole team. If your father-in-law has put money in your business, if your mother-in-law has put money in your business, if your wife has put money in your business, if someone you know has put money in your business, if the bank has put money in your business, you’ve got to communicate. Keep them updated about what’s going on because lack of communication, Z, does not make financial relationships get better. You’ve got to communicate.
Robert: You’ve got to communicate and you might say, “Well, it’s an uncle.” Now, if it’s a bank, they’re going to force you to do it. They are going to make you do it. They are going to be on the phone saying, “Hey, we need PNL statements. We need your cash flow statement. We need your business. We need your stuff.” Banks, financial institutions, are going to make you do it. Take the higher road and if it’s an uncle or if it’s a friend, still sit down with them with the same urgency and with the same diligence, and talk to them about where the money is and how the business is doing because that’s how a serious business person handles it.
Clay: Now Thrivers, this just in. Okay. If you’re listening right now and you go, “Okay, I want to start a business. I want to grow a business.” According to Forbes, 57% of you want to do this. Here’s the deal. We’ve got three options tonight and I’m encouraging right now on this incredible Black Friday I want you to take action on one of these three things, okay. Action item number one, book a Thrive15.com workshop. I guarantee you it is the world’s best business workshop and we have never, and I repeat, never turned anybody away because they cannot afford it. We’ve got unbelievable scholarship programs. We can help you. Just go to thrivetimeshow.com, check it out, email us, we’ll get you in.
Second move, maybe look at business coaching. We have one on one coaching available. It’s not for everybody but it is something that can help you. Z, we have started the world’s best online business school. It’s Thrive15.com.
Robert: Just $19 a month. It’s the Netflix of business school. You can get on there and binge watch any topic you want. Email us at [email protected] and we will answer your questions.
Clay: This just in Thrivers, as always, three, two, one, boom.
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[01:25:31] [END OF AUDIO]
