BIRD WILLIAMS: You're listening to Bird Means Business Episode 57. 

Happy New Year, Friends! I hope you are having a restful but powerful start to 2021. I shared recently on social media about how we set these goals for the new year and we dream up how incredible our lives and our businesses will be when we reach these goals. And we’ve got to remember to start, and not wait to start when everything's perfect or comfortable. Just start. Six days in, here on January 6 of the New Year of 2021, I hope you’ve started something. I hope you've made real, tangible steps toward those big goals and dreams that you made, because, like, Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” 

All those business owners that you're just so inspired by, or who make you say, “God, I want to reach their level of success.” They all had to start. They did it afraid. They said yes to the unknown and just put one foot in front of the other. And guess what. You can too. And you don't have to do it alone. You can get an accountability partner. You can shoot me a DM on Instagram. You can surround yourself with people, entrepreneurs, business builders who have gone further than you and who are seasoned entrepreneurs from whom you can glean wisdom. You can do this. You are doing it even by just being here and tuning into the Bird Means Business podcast. You're investing your time, your energy, your focus into building a better brand. So, just keep going. 

Y’all, I am super pumped about this episode because I've learned the hard way, how important it is to secure your money team, which is your CPA, and your attorney. I really really love sharing insights with entrepreneurs on how to navigate this process the right way. And recently, in Instagram stories, and just side note, we have a lot of fun in Instagram stories. So if you aren't following me there on Instagram, I’m @heybirdwilliams. Anyway, on Instagram stories recently, I asked you guys how many of you have secured your money team? And 87% of those who responded had not. I was like, “What?” I was really shocked that so many hadn't secured their money team which is your CPA and your attorney, and we're gonna get into all the nuts and bolts on that in just a second. But honestly, it's a no-judgment zone, because I was in the same place when I launched my first business seven years ago. I hadn't secured my money team, and it was a hot mess. But look, you don't have to make the same mistakes. You don't want to make the same mistakes that I did. You can learn from me and save yourself and your business so much time, money and energy by getting this right early on. So, when I saw 87% of those who responded to my Instagram story had not secured their money team, I thought, Whoa. But then I dug into why that was the case. I asked, “Why haven't you been able to secure a CPA or an attorney?” And I found out that it was just because it was really intimidating, and you just didn't know how to approach the situation. 

One entrepreneur, one of y'all actually replied and said it would be so much easier if there was just an email template that I could copy and paste for that initial email so it was a little less awkward. A little less of a hurdle. That first email that I'm going to send to my CPA or attorney. So my friends. That is exactly what you're getting as a supplement to this episode. You can click the link in the show notes to receive an email template and finally begin the process of securing your money team. Y'all know I got you covered. That's what I love to do. And look, this is just one less excuse to start. You can download this free email template so you don't have to draft an email from scratch, and it just might be the extra support you need. So again you can go to the link in the show notes to get your email template. 

Let's jump into the episode. We're gonna talk about who is on your money team, why you need a money team, how to work with your money team, and what that initial phase looks like. 

For starters, who's your money team. Now, these are two crucial members of your team. I call them my business besties because I want you to kind of think of them that way. I want you to think of them as these integral partners in your business, who are helping you along the way. Let's talk about your CPA first. Your CPA doesn't just help you file your taxes, they're actually a lot more strategic. They're consulting you throughout the year, not just at tax time on specific areas around accounting, how to minimize your tax liability. You want to think of them as someone who's going to be along the journey with you. The second member of your money team is your attorney. You're going to want to find someone who's licensed to practice in your state. Your attorney is going to protect you and your business from liability. They're going to help keep you safe. They are so important, these two members of your money team, that you should think of them as part of your actual business team just like you would your staff. This is how I laid it out in Prove It Plan. So if you haven't heard about Prove It Plan, it is my signature business development framework that I’ve used, not only in my own businesses. But with tons of clients that I've seen so much transformation when folks just prove it to themselves, and they understand their business in a holistic way, and they look at these different areas of their business and how it all works together. Well, in one of the sections of Prove It Plan we actually lay out all the details around your team. I believe your team is so crucial and important for growth in scale and it's something you need to be thinking about from the very beginning. And I include your money team here because again, they are that crucial. So I want you to think of your money team as actual members of your team. Now you might be thinking, “Okay, why do I need a money team. Let me just make sure I understand.” 

I have learned as I've worked with clients, there are things that I talk about that I have been an entrepreneur for eight years now. So some of these things, I think, or just like, everyone knows. No, everyone doesn't know. I love to just break it all the way down. Okay? Why do you need a CPA? Why do you need an attorney? Let’s start with the CPA. First, you should never, ever be filing your business taxes yourself, unless you are a CPA. You should not file them yourself. I would not even recommend a TurboTax or anything like that. No shade on TurboTax. But you're going to want to have someone again, who's very involved in your business long term who's helping you think strategically about your taxes and your accounting. You want to use a CPA in that way. Instead of waiting till the end of the year to find a CPA just to help file your taxes, I want you to have a CPA who's engaging with you through the entire year, helping you make growth decisions, etc. Now some CPAs charge for this strategic guidance that I'm talking about. But the CPA that I work with, his name is Alby Abraham, he doesn't. And I didn't realize that that was a thing. I thought that that was just a part of it. But as I work with clients I’ve learned that a lot of CPAs will charge extra for that strategic guidance. So that's something you want to consider as you're looking at different CPAs and vetting them. If you've listened to the pod for a while you've heard a lot about Alby. If you want more information about him, go to birdwilliams.com/alby. 

Now, the next member of your money team, your attorney. Why do you need an attorney? Legal help I have found is like insurance. You don't think you'll ever really use it or need it. But then when you end up needing it, you're so glad that you got this right. When you end up needing insurance, you're like, “I'm so glad I'm covered.” It's the same way with the legal aspects of your business. You don't want a janky contract. You don't want to find out that in your business partnership, you were basically screwed over because in the operating agreement you didn't read the fine print or you didn't understand a certain phrase, and you just signed on the dotted line. So, you need someone who's trained to both draft and review crucial documents like an operating agreement, or a commercial lease agreement. Those are typically five years or more. So you want to make sure that you aren't locked into something that is detrimental to you and your business. Please, please do not review these documents yourself, and hope for the best. That is not the way we're going. That is not how you build a better brand. You want to have an attorney on your team. 

Now let's talk about how you work with your money team. When it comes to your CPA, there's a few things. I've mentioned taxes - so your annual taxes. But there's also things like bookkeeping and payroll. Not all CPAs offer these services. Some offer different services, so you're going to want to check on that. But bookkeeping is basically reconciling the transactions in your business that are coming through your bank account into a program like QuickBooks. And it's helpful to do that along the year, again, because it'll help you make strategic decisions, and you're not just waiting to the end of the year to figure out what to do with taxes. Or doing it at the beginning of the year when it's tax time. You're being strategic along the way. So I outsource my bookkeeping to my accountant, Alby. But there are also bookkeepers who do just that portion of it if you want. I talk a lot about bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes in Episodes 24 and 25. It's actually called “Bookkeeping, Payroll, and Taxes”. It's a two-part series and it is so good. It's a fan favorite. So if you haven't listened to that episode you want to go back and listen. And if you've listened already, you might want to get a refresher. 

We talked about taxes. We talked about bookkeeping. And then also payroll. Of course, there are payroll companies who again can do just that facet of these three items. Of course, there are payroll services who can take care of your payroll alone. But I like having my accountant, my CPA, do that as well. So, then I should back up and say, a CPA is a certified public accountant. I should have probably said that in the beginning, but just so you know what it means again, just to break it all the way down a CPA or accountant, is what I'm talking about. Now again, you can go to Episodes 24, and 25 to listen through that two-part series on all of these different elements and how to work with your CPA. It's super detailed and so good. 

Let's talk about your attorney. How do you work with your attorney? I found that more of the heavy lifting when it comes to your attorney work is going to be in the beginning. This is going to be with those initial formation documents you're creating, like your operating agreement. They can help you file your LLC. There's other corporate formalities and documents you want to really legitimize your LLC, which we talked about in episode 51 with Soluto. It’s called “LLCs and Trademarks”. It’s such a good episode, another fan fave. You're going to have them help you with that. But then also your contracts in the beginning and whatever services you offer, or even if it's a product that you have and you have a wholesale agreement. All of those contracts that you need in the beginning, any of your independent contractor agreements or employee agreement, handbooks. They can help you draft all of that in the beginning. Then there's going to also be things like your terms of service and privacy policy or disclaimer or GDPR that you're going to have on your website. I know it's a whole lot, but your attorney will know what you need as you talk to them about your business. Now, ongoing they're going to also be reviewing and drafting contracts as needed. So let's say, a big brand came to you and wanted to do a partnership. They most likely will give you a brand partnership agreement. Now you don't want to just blindly sign on the dotted line. You're gonna want to take that to your attorney and say, “Hey, can you review this?” Or at the very least, “I've read through it and I had these questions. Can you help me understand it” so that you don't risk exposing yourself unnecessarily. 

And then finally, if of course, you get into some kind of lawsuit, your attorney will help you with that or be able to refer you to someone who can help you depending on the type of lawsuit. But for the most part, the bulk of work, typically with small businesses, is going to be in that beginning phase and then ongoing reviewing and drafting as needed, unless there's something like a lawsuit. 

I have an example of how to work with an attorney as well. It's Episode 15, and it's called “What to Know When Signing a Commercial Lease Agreement”. This is another one of my favorites because I go into detail about what to look for in the contract, how to work with your attorney, how to secure a lease on a building. So if that's something that you're interested in, if you're going to have a brick and mortar facility, a physical location, you definitely want to check out Episode 15. 

Now finally, I want to talk about what that initial phase looks like. So four steps. Number one. I want you to do your research. I want you to ask other entrepreneurs that you know, other people in your network, “Who’s the CPA you use? Do you like working with your attorney? Can you give me some recommendations?” I want you to really do some research, and then I want you to meet with multiple people. Don't just meet with one CPA or even two. I would say at least three different CPAs, three different attorneys, and really weigh the pros and cons. How do you feel when you meet with them? Do they just rush to the pricing, what they can offer you in terms of services, or are they really trying to get to understand your business? Make sure you compare and contrast the different CPAs and attorneys that you meet with. And then the third thing I want you to do is have a list of questions that are specific to your business that you can ask in this introductory call. I should say this too, for the most part, these discovery calls or initial calls are a lot of times, complimentary. You're able to get on the phone with someone and tell them your needs for free. Sometimes there is a fee involved and that's okay too. That shouldn't be a deal-breaker. But I just want you to know that a lot of times you can just get on the phone and ask questions for free. 

So you're on this call, this initial call with a CPA or an attorney, and you're going to want to ask questions that are specific to your business like, how do I lower my tax liability? What expenses can I write off? Maybe what personal expenses can be legally transferred to business expenses, like maybe your cell phone or your gas or mileage? How should you structure your company? When will you need to start making estimated tax payments? When does it make sense to convert to an S-corp for tax purposes to save on taxes? What are the types of contracts you need in your business based on the services you provide? There are so many questions to consider and think about and if you really want to hash them out and talk through this whole process in more detail, I'm happy to do that with you. You can go to birdwilliams.com/strategy to book a strategy session and we can dive right into really preparing you for this entire money team process. 

Okay. Step number four. Once you're ready to hire your money team they're going to have a list of items and documents and information they need from you. This is why it's really important that you've done a business plan first, that you've already developed one because you're going to want to know the answers to their questions. You're going to want to have informed strategic answers. For example, you just don't want to waste time and money being unorganized and having to come back to them with costly and timely changes. 

Let's say you go to an attorney and you're getting ready to work and they're like okay what contracts do you need? And you're going through all the lists of the different services you plan to offer, and your attorney charges you, I don't know, I'd say 300, to 400 something dollars an hour to draft these contracts. And then fast forward through you actually really thinking about your services and pricing and what your ideal client really needs and you're like, “I actually need to tweak some things.” So then you're having to go back to your attorney, and have them redraft documents that they've already drafted which is going to just cost you more money and time. So that's why it's so much better to have gone through a lot of this ahead of time. Doesn't mean that you can't go talk to an attorney or a CPA without having a fully fleshed-out business plan. But it helps in a lot of ways. It helps you sound more prepared. It helps you to be more on these calls and to really feel like you're in control. If you want more information on Prove It Plan which is my signature business development plan framework, you're going to want to go to birdwilliams.com/proveitplan to sign up for the waitlist, cause guys, the doors are opening soon. I'm so excited. 

All right, so we talked about who's included in your money team, why they're important, how you can work with them, and what that initial hiring and engagement period looks like. To take it one step further, I'm giving you a free email template to make securing your money team that much easier. This is a great way to build some strong momentum at the start of the year. It's one of those simple ways to just start like we talked about. Just go ahead and start. It's easy to go into the show notes, and click the link to get your email template, and begin the process of securing your money team, and in turn, securing your business. 
As always, thank you so much for tuning in to Bird Means Businesspodcast, for subscribing on Apple Podcasts, and for following us on Spotify. Be sure to tell every entrepreneur you know about this episode so that they can secure their money team too. We're in this together, y'all, right? All right, talk to y'all next week.