00;00;00;00 - 00;00;23;07

Unknown

Welcome to the Profit First for Real Estate Investors podcast. This series is the simple CFO Case Files, where our CFOs break down real client scenarios, financial systems and practical decisions from inside the business. Enjoy the episode.

00;00;23;10 - 00;00;44;04

Unknown

Good afternoon everyone. Cristina Gutierrez here with simple CFO and we are back with the case file. So every week we're breaking open case files with our CFOs. We're we're asking them questions. We're digging deep in with how we're really able to help all of our clients. And today we have David Richter back on the phone and my favorite person to meet with.

00;00;44;04 - 00;01;03;04

Unknown

And we are flipping the script a little bit. So I'm going to have David jump in and flip the script as he wants to. I'm excited about this one. Honestly, I'm excited that you said you're my I'm your favorite person on these things. So like, I just I win there. So I feel like we could just shut it down right now and I feel great.

00;01;03;04 - 00;01;27;28

Unknown

So just kidding. For all of you out there, I don't know if you know this, but Christina and I are actually the business owners together and that I've heard so many things, horror stories, like we've been in business now almost seven years with simple CFO and Christine and I this year became business partners. And I tell basically everyone and I say this year, but it's been what, over a year now, right?

00;01;27;29 - 00;01;51;20

Unknown

Yeah. That we've been business partners honestly all the years shuffled together. Once you're a business or it's like what is going on? And I, I tell people all the time, it was the best decision I've ever made and I still feel that way. What is this? Almost 18 months into it, and I had a meeting this morning with two business owners, and I told them again, this was the best decision I've ever made.

00;01;51;20 - 00;02;10;27

Unknown

I was with another group yesterday and sat there in a group full of people, and I'm like, I would die if I did not have to stay in it. And this was the best decision of my life, my business life, for sure. So this is what Christina means to me, and I wanted to flip the script today and take because I'm the Chief Chaos creator here at simple CFO.

00;02;10;27 - 00;02;33;18

Unknown

So like, I'm I'm commandeering this episode. She is shaking her head vigorously. If you can't see it, if you're just listening to this episode. But I wanted to dig into Christina and her back in just a little bit. I also wanted to have her talk about the partnership dynamic, but then also, she's got some really great reviews recently from some of her clients, and she has been a CFO and still is a CFO.

00;02;33;18 - 00;02;47;15

Unknown

And that's where I want to get her perspective as well, too, of like working with clients and working with business owners. If you're sitting there as a business owner and we beat this drum all the time making money but feeling broke, if you're like that, you don't have to stay that way and there's like steps to get out of that.

00;02;47;15 - 00;03;08;14

Unknown

So that's why I want to interview Christine. So Christina, thank you for joining me today on your podcast. The pressure is on, the pressure's on. And she she is like, okay, if you've ever read the book traction with iOS visionary and integrator like Christina is, I believe, one of the ultimate integrators out there. And she puts a lot of pressure on herself because she's had operations first.

00;03;08;14 - 00;03;29;22

Unknown

She's got that logical brain. She's always clicking and gear, but she she also comes up with a ton of great ideas, too. She's she's definitely special in a good way. Not in not in the slow way. So we're going to make sure that I want to focus on your journey, though, to how you have adapted over the years and become more of a business owner of the mindset and what that took.

00;03;29;22 - 00;03;52;25

Unknown

So you didn't stumble into fractal CFO by accident? Like, how did you become a fractional CFO? How what what did it look like before? Simple CFO and getting into the finance world. Oh, wow. All right, so I was born October. No, I'm just kidding. Oh. So like, I mean, it goes way back, so I could talk all day on this because I am a true, typical accounting nerd, right?

00;03;52;26 - 00;04;10;23

Unknown

So when I was in seventh grade, I took an accounting class and I was hooked. And I was always a math nerd to like. I stayed after class to do all the math stuff. I mean, I was in the math club, if that says anything. So I just I just loved it when I did accounting, I thought, oh, that's really cool.

00;04;10;23 - 00;04;41;28

Unknown

I like that too. I like the devil. I like the credit. I can figure this out. So one of the things I think that helped me most in my life and you, some people might call it instability because I did move a lot and I had a lot going on. So what I did when I became old enough to work and could be in the office is I never took a full time job, and I don't even know if you know this, David, but I worked at all the different jobs in a temp agency, and this was just so I would understand how to work with people, how to organize, how to follow, how to

00;04;42;00 - 00;05;00;05

Unknown

what programs do they use, what software did they use. And that's all I did. For 2 to 3 years I worked only temp jobs, and when people wanted to make the full time hire, I wouldn't do it. So a lot of people call that instability. I like change, that's no secret to anyone. I am always one foot out the door I can.

00;05;00;05 - 00;05;17;22

Unknown

I feel like I can always do something better. So I thought, I can suck it all in, I can learn. And while I was getting my master's degree, I actually worked for jobs. So this is this is my crazy life. Yeah. And I've done everything from just bookkeeping. Basic. Did the oddity work for the federal government, did all these different things.

00;05;17;22 - 00;05;43;09

Unknown

And funny thing is, is when I moved to Charleston, I worked in property management, still work there in Florida. So I kind of gained real estate. And my husband also started getting an interest in working in real estate, too. So we started learning some things together. I mean, back in like 13, probably 2013, it's been quite a while, and I took a job here and I worked with a bunch of investors.

00;05;43;09 - 00;06;02;16

Unknown

He purchased commercial properties and I helped him set those up, do the box by, do the presentation, talked to investors, paid them, but the portfolio together. And I was pretty much when I got that job, I got an office and he said, hey, meet me here this day. He put me in an office with a computer and said, Everything's in Dropbox.

00;06;02;16 - 00;06;22;06

Unknown

There's a bunch of files over there. Figure it out. No training, no nothing. I was the only person there. And he said, figure it out. So I would ask him a lot of questions as the owner. And he's like, look into that box, figure it out. So for those of you that don't know Dropbox, it's just a and we all know on the cloud with just a bunch of files, just like a Google Drive.

00;06;22;06 - 00;06;40;10

Unknown

And I had no idea where to even start. But I've always been a go getter. So I was like, all right, cool. I got this. Husband didn't appreciate that because that was 15 hour days, but that was a great experience. It's one of those where you struggle through it because you're like, I don't even know what to do and I know when to ask questions to.

00;06;40;16 - 00;07;07;25

Unknown

So that was a great experience of real estate. And he was a real estate mogul. Mogul Harvey say that word. But he was a really smart guy. So it just kind of morphed me into that and then learned how to, like, run his company. Yeah. And everything. I hired all of his property managers, all the accountants, everything that came after that I pretty much controlled and hired, which gave me a ton of experience.

00;07;07;25 - 00;07;31;29

Unknown

So that that helped. And then when I left that job and decided to do my own thing, I learned from other individuals and mentors how to actually start a CFO firm had actually be a CFO. Questions to ask, what to look at. So and then I, you know, obviously have degrees have studied, I've done all of that. So I have the book side and then I have the experience side.

00;07;32;05 - 00;08;10;12

Unknown

And that's how I morphed into just being able to provide value and be a good CFO. That's awesome. So it sounds like a lot of grit, determination, perseverance. You threw yourself into some deep ends where other people probably wouldn't do that, like when you said the temp energy. I just want to get a bunch of knowledge and working different things and doing different things, which is incredible and which I think really goes into the skills that you've built in order to be a great, you know, like integrator operator, to understand how a business really runs, not just a visionary, like, let's just go have some great ideas.

00;08;10;12 - 00;08;31;03

Unknown

It's like, how do we put pen to paper and what do we really do to get there? But that also makes you a great CFO too, to see. Sounds like you had a lot of the skills that you've built over time and through education, self-education as well to continuing that education well past. When you got a degree, you got the real world education, which is amazing.

00;08;31;03 - 00;08;46;19

Unknown

You're in the real estate space as well to your husband and yourself. And that's why I want to go to we're going to I'm going to jump around a little bit. I don't like to go now from okay. Christina has learned how to be a fractional CFO, and she's been taught, you know, and she's gotten mentors and guidance.

00;08;46;20 - 00;09;04;08

Unknown

Let's go now to the other side, like almost well, back into it. But I want to go to the end now. You've gotten some great reviews over the last couple of weeks from a couple of the clients that you still work with, even because, okay, this is another thing about Christina. Christina would want to work with, like all the clients, all the time, like if she could.

00;09;04;10 - 00;09;25;02

Unknown

Like, she just cares about people. She cares to get them where they really want to be. This is why we gel together very well. Because we both really care and want to do well by people. But she still has a couple of clients and a couple of them gave her reviews. And I just wanted you to talk about whether you want to start with Joe or if you want to start with John and his team with Alex.

00;09;25;02 - 00;09;40;01

Unknown

Just some of the things that they've said and like diving into, how did would they get to that point to where they're willing to write you these reviews? I don't want to just read them word for word here, even though I really want to. But like, you can go to simple CFO and read our reviews. You can look up Joe Terrio and you could look up John Coyle.

00;09;40;01 - 00;09;57;18

Unknown

Those are the two people that we're talking about specifically here. So Christina, talk about, okay, now you've got this experience. You've you've poured yourself into simple CFO. You've pour yourself into these clients. How did it get to this point to where they're like, oh my gosh, this was been life changing. Let's not I start with Alex and John.

00;09;57;18 - 00;10;17;15

Unknown

So Alex came on first and had a different experience because he was working with the different CFO. And then I came in and kind of took over. This is four years ago, guys, so we've grown and changed a lot in four years. But that was even before I was co and partner with you. So yeah, that was a long time ago.

00;10;17;15 - 00;10;48;21

Unknown

So he did strictly wholesales and maybe some flips here and there. And my husband and I started with flipping houses. So we knew a lot about flipping houses. And I will say with my accounting brain, we never went over budget on a house like we were really good with that. So I will add that. But he did wholesale select a couple of houses and he kind of just wanted to know his numbers, didn't really understand what his numbers were telling him when to grow, when to make moves, and then also wanted profit first set up in his business.

00;10;48;21 - 00;11;05;28

Unknown

I think that's a big thing. Everyone comes to simple CFO because Profit First is so proven, and if you do it the right way, you can make a good amount of money and then you know where your money's going, how to spend it, and you just it just gives you like this relief in this comfort. And I think that's what he he needed more than anything.

00;11;05;28 - 00;11;25;09

Unknown

And he only had profit first up and running. So now he just like his check ins our financial work together, just giving him numbers of like, digging deep so you can look at revenue, you can look at costs, you can look at expenses. But letting him know, like how many deals did you make? What did you actually pay per deal?

00;11;25;09 - 00;11;44;06

Unknown

What did you get per deal? What was your cost on this deal? How can you lower what we're paying commissions. We even talk about his personnel of like, okay, so let's go through your personnel. If he says, I don't think they turned as many leads as as they should have, then I'm like, okay, let's talk about that. So then we look at personnel, we look at his sales guys and we say, okay.

00;11;44;07 - 00;12;04;26

Unknown

Have you listened to the calls? How long did it take for them to make an offer? And then you even look at like minutes. And what type of deals are they getting? Are they good deals. Are they able to turn deals? Do you have a salesperson that's better for specific deals? Because believe it or not, some people want to talk to a woman rather than a man, and they're more comfortable talking to them.

00;12;04;26 - 00;12;26;29

Unknown

So then you're more likely to connect from a I could go all day, but but checking in on those numbers and really digging into things that, like normal business owners don't look at, especially if you're making a good amount of money, he was making a good amount of money. So when you when you're making already a million, 2 million, a lot of people are just saying, well, it looks good right.

00;12;27;00 - 00;12;45;08

Unknown

Until it's not. Yeah. So you're like, okay, I'm making $2 million a year. 3 million, whatever. I think he was almost he was like in 5 million at that point but didn't really know. Like, okay, so what if I do want to grow? What if I do want to hire another person? What if I want to expand to another area, which he did end up doing?

00;12;45;09 - 00;13;04;19

Unknown

What does that look like? What if I want to start a new business or do another venture? So these type of questions are questions that owners don't really think about. They just see the money coming in and then like slowly starts to dwindle, like your net 100,001 month and then the next month you're netting 80. Still looks good right?

00;13;04;19 - 00;13;29;03

Unknown

So you're like, okay, that sounds good. Three months later you're netting 50. I can still pay my bills. I can still pay myself. Looks good. Three months later, you notice you're breaking even. So those trends that they just don't realize and don't look deep enough to know, okay, this is really hurting the business. They and they don't know, like, what to uncover and pull back because they need to know exactly what's going on in their business.

00;13;29;03 - 00;13;47;29

Unknown

So that's what CFO does. Like I do that, I dig into exactly what's causing the issue and then give them those steps to actually turn that around, because you can focus on five different things. And, you know, as an owner, we've talked about this. There may be five things that are wrong in your business, but not all five of those are equally important.

00;13;47;29 - 00;14;06;04

Unknown

So you can't as one person or with a good team, attack all five of those. So then figuring out which one has the biggest impact on the business, some attack. The thing that has the biggest impact is going to turn my business around for what I'm looking for in my goals. So my specific goals for the next year or two.

00;14;06;05 - 00;14;24;12

Unknown

I'm going to want to attack that problem that's going to get me closer to my goals. So that's what he likes. He likes to check ins. He likes me. Really. Digging into numbers budget to actual. We put the budget, you know a lot of people budget just to say they budget, but they don't actually compare what they did to their budget.

00;14;24;12 - 00;14;43;27

Unknown

And then or they just say, okay, I went over budget, I went under budget. But what does that mean? Why are we not fixing it? If you're if you're going to measure it, why are you not making the steps to fix it? So I think he wants he wants that feedback. And he loves the fact that we meet all the time and look at those numbers and peel back those numbers.

00;14;43;27 - 00;15;03;03

Unknown

And he actually just started a new business too. So we're now I've helped him build that business and get it up and running and trying to make moves to when to hire someone. What is a hiring expense? What does it look like? Or he wouldn't have those numbers just by running a bunch of stuff or write a typical what?

00;15;03;04 - 00;15;21;17

Unknown

Yeah. Looking at the financials, looking at what just happened over the last month or what a typical person does where as the CFO, you're really driving offense and defense. Like what's the real issue here? Because you're asking the right questions. And a lot of people just don't have this person in their life. And they're always wondering, why can't I really scratch that itch?

00;15;21;18 - 00;15;36;28

Unknown

Like, I feel like I'm doing lots of deals. I feel like lots of money is coming in. But like you said, it's like we're making money this month. We made money a couple of months ago. We made money, but it keeps going down. And then why are we breaking even? Like, what's going on? Why is there less cash even though I'm doing more deals right now?

00;15;36;28 - 00;16;13;03

Unknown

So you're really attacking the real issues and helping them and just say, okay, here's what it is. Here's what we need to focus on, here's how to get us back on track and like helping and giving them that guidance, which is incredible. And I do have a question that arose from hearing that story. What do you think is a very common money lie that most business owners or real estate investors especially, tell themselves that just keeps them in that broke cycle, that the next deal will give them more cash and they can end up turning it around.

00;16;13;05 - 00;16;35;21

Unknown

They think the more deals they get in the door. They'll eventually get cash and they'll turn it around. But if it's not managed right, they're not looking at the right numbers and not being proactive about what needs to change. They're just going to continue that cycle. Yeah, I wish I had Christina, what, 12, ten, 12 years ago in that other business, we were doing 25 deals a month, but spending 26 worth of deals out the door.

00;16;35;21 - 00;16;54;06

Unknown

It's like, why are we doing this? Well, we have that syndrome. So I definitely resonate with that. We just thought more deals was going to get us out of all these situations, more revenue and add let's add another zero. Like that's what we thought would fix it. And it never did. It never did in that business. And that's where a lot of people get stuck there.

00;16;54;06 - 00;17;10;01

Unknown

And that's yeah, I think a lot of people end up telling themselves that. And then they're wondering why? Why don't we have money? Where where did it all go? Do you want to talk to them? Yeah. Like it's a win. So like if they can get a deal on it, I'm like, oh look, look what I can do.

00;17;10;02 - 00;17;29;23

Unknown

They don't know if they negotiate it correctly. I don't know if it's going to sell in time. They don't calculate holding costs. It's it's a lot more goes into it then. Yeah. Look I can close the deal. Good for me. Right. Or the syndrome of like they close that deal and and it's. Was this a deal that you just felt like you needed to close.

00;17;29;23 - 00;17;49;15

Unknown

Just to close a deal versus was this like you said, something that you really analyzed, which we're such we're such deal junkies, us visionary entrepreneur people. We want to go out there, we want to make things happen, and we do make things happen. But sometimes they're bad things. So it's like we got to make sure we have someone pointing us more towards the good stuff.

00;17;49;15 - 00;18;10;09

Unknown

And I like what you said to that. He likes to meet on that regular basis because that A provides that accountability, helps him be responsible with the business, but get a different perspective other than let's go do a million deals. It's like, okay, we could do a million deals, but this is what it'll mean. Like, do you have the business, the infrastructure, do you have the net profit that you really want from this and all that?

00;18;10;10 - 00;18;37;01

Unknown

The right question. So now that was that was awesome. Thank you for taking us through John and Alex. What about the other review like Joe and his team, Joe is very vocal about when it comes to us, which Iowa as a business owner. So do you want to tell Joe's story like from your perspective? Because we hear Joe's and Joe goes on other podcasts and Joe writes reviews, but we need to hear Kristina's side of things and like, as the CFO, like, what's your perspective?

00;18;37;01 - 00;18;58;29

Unknown

And I'd love to hear, like, that relationship that you've built over these years with him. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Joe is one of my favorite people. I will say that he is he is a great person to work with and all the flaws. Right? We all have flaws. And he's he's just funny. He's fun to work with. But he originally came the simple CFO because he had a partner that he wanted to buy out.

00;18;58;29 - 00;19;16;15

Unknown

I don't know if you remember that, but I remember a little bit that made for his wife. So he just he wanted to buy out his partner and he didn't know where to begin, what to do. So I helped him with the buyout of his partner, how to pay him back, what it looked like in the books, setting up and a profit first account for to pay him back.

00;19;16;18 - 00;19;35;13

Unknown

And actually I will add this to he just paid the last payment to him, which is like an amazing thing to watch, I bet. So four and a half years or so that we've been working together. So him being able to do that was that's a huge win. That's so Riddle and milestone stuff. And he's he's come a long way.

00;19;35;13 - 00;19;56;26

Unknown

And I know he enjoys the accountability that I give him. So we meet we meet every week constantly. Now I meet with his team I meet with his marketing team his rehab team. He's moved directions a couple times. He's got big dreams. He's got things he wants to do. He doesn't want to be the go to in the business, but then he doesn't know what it feels like to not be the go to.

00;19;56;27 - 00;20;15;09

Unknown

So I feel like that's a big thing with owners. You, you, you want to make more money. And then when you make money, you don't know what to do with it. And you don't know how to feel about making the money or you you don't want to be so involved to where everybody comes to you, right? Because that can be a bottleneck.

00;20;15;09 - 00;20;33;12

Unknown

But then you also don't want to feel like you're not important enough for people to come to you, like you're losing grip on your business. So it's a weird, like mental dynamic that plays into it too. So I know Joe will say a lot of this, like he's done a lot of things because he's got dreams and he wants to do a lot.

00;20;33;12 - 00;20;50;02

Unknown

And I think one of the biggest things that we do a lot is he talks out things with me and then I process it, and I'm always thinking about what's best for him. So then I'll come back and he always says, I rain on his parade, which is which is funny and I don't mind doing it because I always.

00;20;50;03 - 00;21;08;15

Unknown

So it's got it. Yeah. And I just think through it. I'm. We appreciate someone on the outside thinking through what's in our head. Right. So if we can put it out there, then I always tell them like, okay, does that, does that get us closer to your goal? Because I don't feel like this is the right time, you know, and we'll talk about timing.

00;21;08;15 - 00;21;27;18

Unknown

And I don't want to rain on his parade ever. But the challenging is what's important about a CFO. Like I love when he does great things. I always tell him when he does great things, but I have to challenge his thoughts sometimes of is that something? And this is any client really, you know, is that going to get us closer to our goal or let's, let's, let's think about it.

00;21;27;18 - 00;21;50;05

Unknown

Have we changed our goal? Is there something else that you want to be working on. So there's that that that accountability piece of just having someone to talk to about where your business is going, but dialing in with the numbers too, because if it's going to take $1 million to start a new business, but that's going to get you close to your goal and it's going to create another outlet for you.

00;21;50;07 - 00;22;06;07

Unknown

Maybe it is the right thing to do, but you don't just drop everything and do it. And that's some business owners do that, right? I got a loan, I got an SBA got approved. I could I can buy this business for 3 million and have no idea once they get it, what to do. It just looks pretty on the inside.

00;22;06;08 - 00;22;25;16

Unknown

So building it out and saying, okay, that's great, I love that. That's what we're doing. Let's build it out. Let's. Yeah. And I'm a huge planner. I know you know that. Like I had drive my husband crazy. We're on the road and I'm looking up exits. I'm looking at food. I'm saying exit 28. We can eat this. And this is what we can do at this time.

00;22;25;16 - 00;22;48;08

Unknown

And we're going to get gas use bathroom because we got to do it all at one time, and then we'll still be there by 618. I mean, it is. Yeah. That's great. It's every aspect of my life. But yeah, it enjoys that I, I'm able to do that, hold them accountable with financials, hold marketing, accounting, marketing accountable for their costs and their budget, how to move money.

00;22;48;08 - 00;23;17;26

Unknown

So if your budget is 130,000, where can I move 10,000 of it if it's not working. So I can still maintain budget, but then I can turn faster leads to like I really hold them accountable on moves that they're making in their business. And it's every single week. So we have a conversation all the time so he can text me when he needs things, like we have that relationship that goes, you know, very deep into like accountability and what he actually needs at that moment.

00;23;18;03 - 00;23;41;20

Unknown

A lot of visionaries who are emotional leaders need a logical leaders to make sure that it makes sense that the dollars makes sense, you know, like that you're spending that's going out the door. And it sounds like he's leaned heavily into that, where sometimes people come on board and they're not ready for that. Like they're not ready for the logical leadership even though they think they are.

00;23;41;23 - 00;23;58;10

Unknown

They're like, okay, I need help. They know they need help, but maybe you're not ready because you're not ready to listen to like, hey, this is I know you've done these things these way, but like, this is why you keep getting this result and why you're being your head against the wall of why you feel broke. And so that's where we're just.

00;23;58;12 - 00;24;22;07

Unknown

If you're feeling that way of like, okay, this is crazy. All the things that she's saying is like, yes, that is me to a tee. And I'm just going out there and running and gunning it. We want to help you. So whether it's through this podcast and you're listening to some of the other people and people like Joe or Alex and John, you know, like that are going through this stuff and have gone through it and are still like, growing, you know, like with people like Christina.

00;24;22;07 - 00;24;38;03

Unknown

We just want to, like, give you what, you know, that you're not alone and that that there's lots of people that feel this way and you'll know you're ready when you want to not only say, yes, I need help and raise your hand, because that's a big step to just raising your hand and saying, you know, I need the help.

00;24;38;03 - 00;24;53;00

Unknown

But when you're also mentally ready to say, I don't want to do the same things that got me here either, like, how do I get out of this? That's when we've had some clients recently, Christina, that have come on board where they're just like, I remember one guy signed the thing and he's like, I am ready to be committed to this process, you know?

00;24;53;01 - 00;25;15;08

Unknown

And it's like, we want to get people in the door here that where you really do want to make that change. Change is hard. That's why, especially in the finances, you usually don't have someone like Christina on your team. It's usually a bookkeeper or a CPA, and they're literally just talking to you. Dollars and cents and numbers and decimals where you need someone like Christina in your corner to say, what are you thinking and feeling?

00;25;15;08 - 00;25;33;10

Unknown

And is it really going to get you to where you want to go? And this is how the dollar and sense need to move in order to get you where you want to go? So I'm just going to throw this out there. I can't believe that StreamYard has this now. This is pretty cool. If you want to stop feeling broke and you're on YouTube right now, you can see I put a little QR code there.

00;25;33;10 - 00;25;52;19

Unknown

You can scan that now. So if you're actually if you're not on where you can see me, you can still go to simple CFO. Com. That's our main website. You can click the book of call schedule. Call there if you want to talk to one of us just to see if it's the right timing. But since Christina is going over this, I want to give you the opportunity for like, oh my gosh, I need this in my life.

00;25;52;19 - 00;26;21;01

Unknown

I'm tired of my hair being on fire when it comes to my finances, tired of feeling this way. That's what we want to help you, Christina. This has been great about the clients that you're working with and all that, but I started with the partnership as well too, so I want to just talk about that just briefly and ask you, like you were a part of simple CFO for a few years, and then you told your background and becoming like into the financial world and then helping that first and then helping your husband.

00;26;21;01 - 00;26;45;03

Unknown

And then then you came on board with us, which is its own story. But how did you know it was either the right timing or that you wanted to become partners together? Because that's like a big commitment. And I'd like to hear your thought process on that, not just for myself, but obviously for the people listening to. Oh man, I actually didn't want to at first.

00;26;45;05 - 00;27;06;06

Unknown

That's awesome. I love this answer. All right. So it wasn't you because so, you know, when you said, hey, come and help me. And every time you needed something, you know, I was always the first person, but I did honest. And no matter what the position was, just because it interested me and I wanted to do it. And I was so excited and I respected you.

00;27;06;06 - 00;27;25;11

Unknown

I wanted to work with you more. Like, that's that was really important to me. Like, you know, and and honestly, like you, you're a great person. And I wouldn't be where I am without you. You've helped you. You get to be books. Even doing the outlines where I'm like, I don't have time to read that book. And then I can be like, oh, I actually did an outline on it.

00;27;25;11 - 00;27;47;04

Unknown

I'm like, no, that's amazing. So just I know that you're heavily invested in getting better as well. So it's we share that same, same way of being like just that passion for helping people and growing and getting better. So I knew that I wanted to stay working with you, but it got a lot for me at one point.

00;27;47;04 - 00;28;06;12

Unknown

And when I started thinking about it in mind you, everyone listening, I had a ton of clients on the side too. So this was me taking on too much because I don't know how to say no. My husband used to tell me to go in front of the mirror and just go, no and not practice building, you know, because I had such a problem and all my everyone I worked with was all referrals.

00;28;06;12 - 00;28;21;16

Unknown

I never did any marketing. It was just people coming to me and saying, hey, I heard you were great. I heard this, I heard that, and so I was just yeah, sure, I got it, I got it. Yeah, sure, I'll work with you. And just because I loved it so much. So I overextended myself and I got to the point where it was really bad.

00;28;21;16 - 00;28;38;05

Unknown

And I have the two kids, you know, so they had a lot going on. They were younger, they're still young, but they were a lot younger then. And I just I started getting burned out on my own. And you knew that, you know, you guys knew I did too much. You you warned me and told me constantly, but I didn't want to.

00;28;38;06 - 00;28;59;20

Unknown

So my idea was just to take a step back and not do anything and just take a break. And then I kind of could feel not the worrying on your side, but talking to you. You were very supportive of whatever you need. But then it was almost like, whoa, I remember you saying, what do I need to do to get you to stay?

00;28;59;21 - 00;29;20;27

Unknown

And so I started thinking through it, and I thought, I really want to be close to you, and I really want to either build my own business and set my own boundaries, or build a business with David, and then he'll help me set boundaries. I don't know how to do that. Honestly, I mean, I I'm better about it now, but I had no idea how to set boundaries before.

00;29;20;27 - 00;29;41;23

Unknown

I just felt like I needed to do it all because that's what filled me up, really. And so I started thinking about, you know, what does it look like to be a partner? If I'm going to put this much time in, then we can partner together and then I won't feel like I need to, I, I need to do other things because there's always that thing of like, if this doesn't work out, what else do I have?

00;29;41;24 - 00;29;49;18

Unknown

So my my mindset is always I need to keep. Hence the for jobs. Well I'll take my.

00;29;49;20 - 00;30;10;03

Unknown

But that's just kind of always been my mindset. So then we kind of explored the conversation. And one of my things was is how do I take how do I partner with him for a business that he started? He wrote the book, he did this and it made me feel like I was, I don't know, asking for something that I didn't deserve.

00;30;10;05 - 00;30;29;20

Unknown

And I think that's what bothered me most. So talking through a lot of it with you helped and us being open to it, us being good partners, us getting along so well helped. And then once we start talking about it more, I was like, okay, this is going to be amazing. And so I got more and more used to it, and I thought, I got to get rid of all the clients.

00;30;29;20 - 00;30;44;26

Unknown

I got to figure out what I can do. This is 100% my focus. This is what I'm doing. And so we talked I think we talked about it heavily. And we really got because at first when you started asking me all those questions, I was like, he doesn't want to do this. He's asking me a ton of questions.

00;30;44;26 - 00;30;50;04

Unknown

And then when I went through and I was like, these are good questions.

00;30;50;06 - 00;31;10;07

Unknown

Oh, I honestly on my end of things, it was it. I know you said, well, he's done the book and all that, and I'm thinking like, there's no way I'd be where I am without Christine. You know, like, I am not the greatest executor. I can execute things. But to the scale that you helped and like to put the systems in.

00;31;10;07 - 00;31;27;21

Unknown

And, and I tell people this all the time. So if this is the first time, if you're a listener hearing this, like you need to know this, like my background is not in finances, even though I own simple CFO, like my background is being an entrepreneur, a real estate investor like I love I love the business end of business.

00;31;27;22 - 00;31;47;24

Unknown

Like I love being CEO and like the systems and the big picture and like really understanding what it takes to run a business. And Christina is the day to day, like, how do we make this happen? And so for that, I think that was one of the biggest things. I'm like, yeah, you deserve everything here because it's like you've helped us grow to where we are.

00;31;47;28 - 00;32;07;12

Unknown

So that to me was and then one of the things I'm glad we did was we got a lot of counsel before we went into the partnership. Like we reached out to attorneys, we reached out to other people. I had deep talks with my mentors and people in my life like, what do I need to be asking? One of the guy gave us like, this 21 page document.

00;32;07;17 - 00;32;31;23

Unknown

Like, I don't know, it had like seven major areas that we had to go over. So it was just it was really good. And I appreciate your side of the story. And what would you say going through that process and with where we are now? If someone's considering a partnership like what's a what's a non-negotiable that they should do or like something that they have to do before they enter that partnership, oh my gosh.

00;32;31;23 - 00;32;50;00

Unknown

Well, besides putting it in writing and having an agreement on how everything. Yes. How many people do we talk to? And they don't even have that. Okay. I that that was like a layup and then like a oh my gosh. Yes. If you don't have an agreement, you need an agreement in place of something happens. You know, something happens to to one of you.

00;32;50;00 - 00;33;07;06

Unknown

If something if Barner doesn't want to be in anymore, what do you do? Like you have to think outside of just. We like each other. We're going to be partnering. We need to be working together. There becomes a buyout. There becomes money that you felt earned. What you're putting like, what role do each of you serve in the business?

00;33;07;10 - 00;33;25;10

Unknown

You can't cross each other's path all the time and you can't skip, you know, fall over each other's feet all the time. So you have to have a defined role that you're working on in the business. So you're not constantly going, but you're going to help each other all the time. So we always make decisions together, important decisions.

00;33;25;10 - 00;33;41;29

Unknown

But then there's a role like you sit a lot in the sales and understand marketing. And then I spit a lot in operations and serving the client. That doesn't mean that I can't ask you about a client when I have a question, or you can't ask me a marketing idea, or I can't jump on a sales call. Right.

00;33;42;00 - 00;34;00;16

Unknown

But we understand and we reach out to each other. We ask each other. We don't trip over each other's feet just trying to, because some people do that. You have three partners and they just try to get each other, get stuff done and ones over here, one's over here and they're just, you know, what they're doing. And I will say for me now, which I would have never said this before.

00;34;00;17 - 00;34;27;02

Unknown

A non-negotiable would be to have an iOS system. Oh that's okay. I was even thinking about that. We never imagine never talking about the issues. Imagine never apartment departments. And, you know, having the head and having issues come to you. We would be talking every day. Hey, by the way, did you hear? I mean, we we talk every day, but I'm talking like that's where people get the fires constantly.

00;34;27;06 - 00;34;45;15

Unknown

You honestly, I'm a fire and you're constantly trying to put them out, but then you're creating fires everywhere else while you're trying to put the other ones out because you're not really being open with each other. You're not being honest. You're not sharing issues that are appropriate. You're not sharing them within the leadership team and coming up with a resolution.

00;34;45;16 - 00;35;21;10

Unknown

We can talk for an hour, but if we end the conversation with no resolution, right, then why don't we just fit an hour of our name? Right? And I don't like to waste time. So yeah, yeah, that is on the wall. I know it means a lot to be able to, like, come to you and say things. I would say when I first started here, I wasn't as open and honest, like it was harder for me to share things, like when I was frustrated because I don't want to ever upset people and I don't want to, I don't I don't know how to like, say things sometimes, but I've learned and learned how to come

00;35;21;10 - 00;35;36;28

Unknown

across and say things and learned how to speak, learn how to open up and or even ask the questions. First of this is what I was thinking. What do you think could happen with this? You know to where you know how to learn it, right? So you're not always because you know those people that are like always on the defense.

00;35;36;29 - 00;35;59;20

Unknown

You feel like every time we'll say something like, well, I didn't do that. And you're like, I didn't. I was that was not a personal attack. Oh, what's going on here? No definitely not. That's where I 100% agree with what you just said. Everything. Have it in writing. Talk about the hard stuff before you enter the agreements. And then to to, like, double down on that.

00;35;59;22 - 00;36;21;24

Unknown

Exactly what you said. Having some type of system. IOS is acronym for the Entrepreneurial Operating system from the book Traction by Gino Wickman. So if you have no idea what we're talking about, it's basically the structure and the bones of the business. Like what are our core values? It helps us with the focus. It helps us with, okay, who we really are and who we want to attract.

00;36;21;24 - 00;36;38;16

Unknown

And then it also takes it a step further to say, this is how you run meetings and like how you get on the same page. Like Christine and I have a same page meeting every week, in addition to like our leadership level ten, where the leaders of the business get together. Those are our two most important meetings on my in my head during the whole entire week.

00;36;38;18 - 00;36;57;11

Unknown

Like, I have to make sure Kristina and I are on the same page. And then from there, we have to make sure that, okay, as a leadership team, are we really tackling the real issues? I'm telling you, I like if I could grab you through this microphone, not you, Christina, but like the listener, our lives have changed to wear what she just said is so true.

00;36;57;12 - 00;37;12;21

Unknown

When we reach out to each other during the week, it is usually not for fires. Like I reached out to her yesterday for an opportunity. You know, like there's this person who wants, you know, like a potential client and like, we're going through fun stuff like that versus like, okay, this this issue came up, how do we want to resolve that?

00;37;12;22 - 00;37;34;28

Unknown

You know why? Because we have systems and people and processes in place to take care of a lot of that. So her and I are more about how do we either keep the business on the right track or how do we grow the business, you know, like because we still deal with issues, but they're not, like she said, the fires that happen every day, it's not those got a minute meetings all the time between each other.

00;37;34;28 - 00;37;57;23

Unknown

So I, I'm just I'm just I'm lit up right now because how many of you sitting there right now would love to buy back your time? Well, Christina's giving you, like, the pathway here. Like, that's why I wanted her to tell about her story at the beginning of, like, how she got to this point, because then that shows, like, you need someone who's got grit and determination, and you need someone that has that understanding, knows entrepreneurs, knows that own journey.

00;37;57;23 - 00;38;30;28

Unknown

But then how she went over her clients and like that whole mindset of like how they were four years ago to where they are today and like about it's really about accountability to what they really want. And how do you get there? You get there by examining the root issues. So I love that you went over that. Then from there I want to talk about the partnership because it's like, this is who that if you want someone on your team, you want people like Christina and like her that have the best interest of everyone in their mind, and being able to say, okay, what are our core values?

00;38;30;28 - 00;38;55;20

Unknown

Do I line with those? Like, we had a lot of those things from EOS before we even went into the partnership too. So it's like some of those were ground, were laying the groundwork for a partnership before we even had the thought of a partnership. So it's like some of this stuff is laying the groundwork. So that way when opportunities present themselves, whether it's internally like it was for this or if it's an external big opportunity, you have meetings and structure in place to say, are we ready to take this on?

00;38;55;21 - 00;39;16;29

Unknown

Do we want to be partners? Well, let's go through our issues list and like let's go through our issues. Let's run a meeting, just you and me, to say, like, what are the issues of a partnership like we did? And that's where if you're sitting there and you're like always burnt out, if you're always struggling with your money, if you're always struggling with just why am I doing this thing or I'm not making enough, that's what we want to help with.

00;39;17;00 - 00;39;34;27

Unknown

So it's like you get people like Christina on your team from simple CFO. I know this is a lot of self-serving talk here, but a lot of people just don't have access to this person or don't know it's out there that there's someone out there that can help you provide logical leadership to your emotional leadership to be that yin to your game.

00;39;34;27 - 00;39;52;18

Unknown

So I'm just going to throw it up there one more time. This QR code. So if you can see this on YouTube or wherever you're watching it, that's the QR code you can scan. Or you could go to simple CFO because you think it's cool, right? Yes, it's a new thing. It's a new on StreamYard. And I'm like, this is the coolest thing ever.

00;39;52;18 - 00;40;08;16

Unknown

So I just keep popping it like, ding ding ding. There we go. I love how I can just make it go and come away. But that's where if you're struggling out there, we want to help you. And you get people like Christine because guess what? Because of iOS and our whole system like it's we have a bunch of Christina's on the team.

00;40;08;17 - 00;40;25;14

Unknown

Not that it's Christina that we've cloned her, but like, the people have the same core values. We serve the same purpose and the same passion. We have people on the team that care, like Christina, like David. So this is where we want to help you. I just yes, I refer to myself in the third person there. This is where I want you as a listener.

00;40;25;14 - 00;40;47;15

Unknown

If you're struggling, we can help you. Christina. Any closing thoughts here? I'm. I'm basically wrapping it up. I know this is your podcast, so I want to make sure I give you the last words here. Yeah. I'll add one more thing, because you always want to find somebody that can help you. So like leadership, even though we're partners and we help each other, we also can't do everything.

00;40;47;15 - 00;41;07;22

Unknown

So you want to elevate those people that can take things off. Because then I'll use a perfect example to close it out. We had a client that had a business degree, had a financial degree, and was an actual accountant, but she wanted to work with someone that wasn't just her, to bounce ideas off of somebody else, to have reports that somebody else could give her insight.

00;41;07;22 - 00;41;25;03

Unknown

And like, you may have everything and say, oh, I can do that. We have clients and say, oh, I do my bookkeeping, I do this. You probably shouldn't. You should run your business. If you started a business and you have a visionary to build a business and take those steps, you shouldn't be doing financials. You shouldn't be doing all the marketing.

00;41;25;03 - 00;41;41;02

Unknown

You shouldn't be doing all the operations. If you're going to form a business, not a hobby, then you're going to want those people in your life that what's that book? It's not who or it's not what, it's who. It's a who, not how. Yeah. Who now some see. Yeah. It's not. It's not like that. Yeah. It's all right.

00;41;41;02 - 00;42;10;04

Unknown

The other one, it'll come out. There you go. You like it. But it's so important that you find those people in your life that can actually elevate you, and you're not the bottleneck and can actually make you more powerful at what you're created to do. We're all created to do something right. And you're I shouldn't I don't want to get all godly, but like, you're not calling because the skills that you're you have, you're given the skills you're called, and then you're provided the skills.

00;42;10;07 - 00;42;26;21

Unknown

So that doesn't mean that you have to go put an ad out there and look for somebody that's going to do x, y, z exactly what you what you want. It means that you find that person that fits right in your life, and you call them to where you need them to be, and they will then get equipped either through you or other forces.

00;42;26;27 - 00;42;50;28

Unknown

You know God giving them those forces, but they'll become that person for you that will create that dynamic to grow the business or to serve other people, whatever your goals are in your life. But just know that you you shouldn't be doing it alone. That's not how we're meant to be. So that's yeah, I could I was fine find those people that are are full.

00;42;50;29 - 00;43;16;18

Unknown

You. Yeah exactly. And have them in your corner. And don't be afraid to start to trust people. A lot of us have trust issues for many, many, many good reasons and different reasons. That's why finding the right people, but knowing who you are, knowing where you want to go, having some of these systems in place, getting profit first for your finances so you stop the hair on fire all the time about your finances, getting some good processes.

00;43;16;18 - 00;43;35;08

Unknown

They're getting good processes for your actual business as well too. So you're not just the issues are just consuming you all the time and you're burning out. This is what we want to help you with, whether it's just these conversations that we're having on this podcast, or if it's if you actually come to us and you want us to guide you and direct you and help you, that's what we're here for.

00;43;35;08 - 00;43;58;26

Unknown

And because, like Christina said, I love this little QR code thing. I'm doing it one more time. So there it is. Stop feeling broke if you want to reach out. It's simple. CFO, we appreciate you listening. And Christina, thank you again for just opening up your story, your thoughts, your and also just how you provide that value and what a CFO actually does and how you can have good success with with a great CFO.

00;43;58;26 - 00;44;22;02

Unknown

So thank you for doing that today on the podcast. Thank you for crashing my podcast. You're welcome I love this. So we'll have to do this again sometime. Thank you for listening. And remember reach out to simple CFO at simple. And here's that QR code one more time. There's about a thousand times there by. Thanks for listening to the simple CFO case files on the Profit First for Real Estate Investors podcast.

00;44;22;05 - 00;44;36;10

Unknown

If you found this helpful, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss our guest interviews featuring other real estate investors and our Profit First chats with David Richter. If you're ready to bring clarity and structure to the finances in your business, visit profit. To apply for a free financial discovery, call with our team.