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profit first for real estate investors

  • David Talks with Brandy Best

The Hidden Money Leaks a Good CFO Will Catch

August 24, 2026

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Show Notes

Brandy Best spent 15 years climbing the corporate finance ladder at Fortune 500 companies, aiming for VP of Finance, before a late night that left her son asleep on her office floor made her rethink everything. She left to start Best Fit CFO, a boutique fractional CFO firm, and now brings that corporate FP&A rigor to small real estate businesses.

In this episode Brandy breaks down the pyramid of bookkeeper, CPA, and CFO and why they're not interchangeable, when a business actually needs each one, and the corporate cash flow habits any owner can steal. She and David cover forecasting that prevents cash crunches, cost segregation for real estate investors, and why looking forward beats staring in the rearview mirror. If you make good money but have no idea where it goes, this one is for you.

Timeline Summary

[1:56] – Brandy's 15 years in corporate accounting, tax, and finance chasing a VP of Finance role

[2:42] – Questioning how many zeros would make the corporate grind worth it

[3:23] – The turning-point night her eight-year-old fell asleep on her office floor

[4:16] – Leaving without a major plan, betting on herself to figure it out

[5:04] – The shock that people can make a million dollars and not read a financial statement

[6:21] – Whether owners think bookkeeper, CPA, and CFO are all interchangeable

[6:57] – The finance pyramid: bookkeeping as the foundation, CPA as compliance, CFO as strategy

[8:38] – Guidelines for when a growing business needs each role

[10:19] – Why the decision is often psychological readiness, not just revenue

[10:53] – The biggest mistake: skipping or going cheap on a bookkeeper

[11:31] – How bad books cost you far more on the back end to fix

[13:10] – The universal refrain: making money but no idea where it's going

[15:05] – Building a cash reserve strategy without choking growth through forecasting

[16:51] – Corporate cash flow habits owners can steal, including the budget-to-actuals walk

[19:08] – Designing bonus structures that don't drive the wrong behaviors

[21:15] – Cost segregation explained as front-loading depreciation to offset income

[23:37] – How a CFO catches leaks like runaway merchant processor fees

[24:33] – Why strategy is like masterminding, punching holes in ideas and checking fulfillment costs

[26:50] – Her one takeaway: look forward, because bookkeeping and tax are the rearview mirror

Closing Remarks

If Brandy's finance pyramid finally made the bookkeeper, CPA, and CFO distinction click for you, that clarity alone can change how you build your team. Share this episode with an owner who's asking their bookkeeper for strategy they'll never get, and follow the show and leave a rating and review so more real estate investors can learn to make data-driven decisions.

Key Takeaways

1. Bookkeeper, CPA, And CFO Are Different Roles — Think of a pyramid: bookkeeping is the foundation, the CPA handles compliance, and the CFO drives strategy. Expecting one person to do all three sets you up to fail.

2. Don't Go Cheap On Bookkeeping — Skimping on the foundation costs far more later. Messy books mean bad decisions, higher taxes, and thousands spent unwinding the mess before you can move forward.

3. Forecast Forward, Not Just Backward — A good 6 to 12 month forecast flags a cash crunch before it hits so you can adjust. Bank account math after the fact isn't a strategy.

4. Steal The Corporate Budget Walk — Compare forecast to actuals and identify what drove each variance. That simple discipline from the corporate world brings order to entrepreneurial chaos.

5. A CFO Finds Hidden Money — Beyond compliance, a CFO spots leaks like runaway merchant fees and forgotten subscriptions, and brings a second high-level thinker to pressure-test your growth decisions.

Transcript

00;00;09;21 - 00;00;35;14

Unknown

Welcome to the Profit First for Real Estate Investing podcast. Every week we bring you top investors and experts sharing how they create clarity, cash flow and consistent profit. This episode is brought to you by simple CFO. Profit first. Profit always. Let's go. Today on the Profit First RIAA podcast, we have a very special guest, Brandi Best, who is also in the CFO field in the accounting field, but she understands business owner.


00;00;35;14 - 00;00;54;22

Unknown

She came from a corporate background and is now working with small businesses, and she understands the cash flow, struggles, the things going through your mind, not knowing where the money is going, all that stuff that she encounters every day with the clients she works with. I wanted to give you a different perspective than what most people have to offer on the podcast.


00;00;54;22 - 00;01;13;29

Unknown

This is someone in our field that I respect a whole lot, and I know she can help you. And a lot of the things we talk about today is really helping you as the business owner, understand what really matters in your business, so that way you can ultimately take more home, live your purpose, be able to do the things you really want to do as the business business owner.


00;01;13;29 - 00;01;36;03

Unknown

Enjoy the episode. Thanks for listening. Welcome back to the Profit First Real podcast. I have a good friend of mine, Brandi Best, who is also in the CFO accounting. This whole numbers world that we're inside every single day. Brandi, thanks for being on the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah. And I will say you've got a very cool website and I like your intro video to yourself.


00;01;36;03 - 00;01;56;10

Unknown

I was watching that. I'm like, wow, I didn't know you lift it. And like, you're a hockey mom and like, all this stuff, this was like, this is very cool. I'm getting to learn more about Brandi here, but it seems like you have always loved the numbers. It seems like that because you spent years in corporate accounting first, and then before becoming a fractional CFO or starting Best Fit CFO.


00;01;56;10 - 00;02;13;06

Unknown

So I did want to ask what I want a little bit of background there, but like, what was the decision that you finally said, yes, I want to go full time. I want to invest in myself. I don't want to be just in corporate finance the rest of my life. Yeah, I think so. There's a couple of key things.


00;02;13;06 - 00;02;42;12

Unknown

So I had been in. Yeah, corporate accounting, tax and finance for like 15 years. I was climbing that corporate ladder doing well. Had goals to be a vice president of finance. And I was at large fortune 500 companies. And, you know, I was working that path. But then the more I watched some of that and as my kids started getting older, I was looking and saying, like, is it really worth like how many zeros really make it worth that?


00;02;42;17 - 00;03;04;26

Unknown

And I started to say, like, I don't think it is really what I want. And so trying to decide, you know, what was some different paths? I knew I could always believe in myself and then what really like I started thinking about it, but then like, what really kicked it into high gear was just Covid. And when we all got sent home to work, I used to have the model, like, work hard, play hard, and then then you go home and you're like isolated.


00;03;04;26 - 00;03;23;01

Unknown

And it would just work hard. And it was work really hard. We were forecasting like the end of the world, you know. Right. And it was it was no longer fun. And there was like a turning moment that I had, I was working, trying to get a board deck out. And my son, that's 2000 and probably 21. No.


00;03;23;02 - 00;03;38;09

Unknown

20. So he was eight. Was kept wanting me to tuck him into bed. And it's 9:00 at night. He comes down and like, I'll be there, I'll be there, I'll be there. And he comes down with a blanket. A pill on lays next to me in my office. And I'm like, I just got to finish this board deck, you know, for this, you know, board of directors.


00;03;38;09 - 00;03;53;26

Unknown

Really important, right? And all of a sudden, I realized it's 11:00 and still work, and I look and my kids sleep on the floor right there. And I was like, I just totally ignored him for all that time. And I got to make a change. So that's when I started really kind of, you know, what does this look like?


00;03;53;26 - 00;04;15;26

Unknown

I knew again, I believed in myself. I had some connections that I could start out in the tax world with some clients, and that's how I started and then quickly evolved to more CFO focused after that. But that's really how I jumped. Without a major plan. I had a little bit of a plan and knew I couldn't work, and knew I believed it myself and that I'd figure it out.


00;04;16;01 - 00;04;34;05

Unknown

Sounds like it was very purpose driven that, you know, leaving corporate America and then going, and I like what you said you believed in yourself. I mean, there's I think for every entrepreneur that's ever done that there has to be some measure of that. But I like that you equated that to like, this is the purpose. And like, I have to believe in myself because I don't want this.


00;04;34;05 - 00;05;04;21

Unknown

I don't want a weapon o'clock pitch tax, you know, going out there all the time and being able to to spend time with the people in your life that really matters. So now I love that because obviously that resonates with me. So I did want to ask you work with a lot of people in the business world now as entrepreneurs and, you know, an entrepreneur yourself, do you see if there's a big misconception in small business, have about corporate level finance and how you had to translate those concepts to your clients?


00;05;04;22 - 00;05;32;04

Unknown

Like, do you see that, like having to bridge that gap? I think I mean, some of it's the same conversations to have with non-family finance people. That's just a lot less zeros on the numbers I'm talking about. Yeah, but I was actually in the beginning, I was just like extremely shocked on how people could, like, pretty easily figure out how to make a million plus dollars and have no idea what they were doing, and like, no idea how to read a financial statement, might not even have any any to speak of.


00;05;32;06 - 00;05;50;04

Unknown

And they're just winging it like they're all pretty good at sales, but the rest of it just kind of falls behind and becomes a mess. And so yeah, that was probably the biggest shock was like, wow, people can make this much money and like really not know what they're doing. Yeah, that that is quite a shock. And yeah, I've seen that over the years.


00;05;50;04 - 00;06;06;04

Unknown

And I love that you say that because sounds like it's that first hurdle of like you actually need something in place. It's not that I need to translate anything for you. It's like, let's, let's get something here. Like, if you busted your butt for this one, but it's not going to help you for the next million. So that's good stuff.


00;06;06;07 - 00;06;21;19

Unknown

Now, have you seen, first of all, ask a yes or no question and then I'll go a little bit deeper and you know, and you can expand on it. But do you see a lot of people that you work with think that bookkeepers, CFO or CPA is all interchangeable or it's like the same thing. Have you seen that?


00;06;21;20 - 00;06;39;26

Unknown

Yes, is my answer. Yeah. Okay. I just wondered because that hinges the rest of my question, because if like, oh no, they they know it's free, then. Okay. Let me go into since you said yes. So can you break down how they're not interchangeable and what those roles actually do and why you would need any or all of those, or one of them or all three.


00;06;40;00 - 00;06;57;13

Unknown

Yeah. I think for one, I think it's a big misconception. People expect that someone's going to do all of those or they're they've been asking their bookkeeper for this stuff and they're not getting it. And so I'm like, well, it's different skill sets. That's one. And then they're different things. So bookkeeping to me, like if you think of a pyramid, bookkeeping is like the foundation.


00;06;57;13 - 00;07;20;22

Unknown

You have to have it where you can do any of the other things, so you need it. And so that's the base. And then that skill set is not as high level as the other ones. Ideally they have some accounting background to be a good bookkeeper. But it's you know, it's not it's not as high level. And then kind of to build on to that, you have the CPA and I look at that as compliance.


00;07;20;22 - 00;07;40;03

Unknown

It's just a necessary evil. Unfortunately it's the way sometimes we get looked at. But so that's the next one is compliance. You have to do it. You have to file your tax returns. And then on top of that is like the top of the pyramid is strategy. So that person helps bring it all together. And then like that's kind of the final piece.


00;07;40;03 - 00;08;01;02

Unknown

And they help drive the strategy. Again. Tie a tie your strategy into how does that fall like the bookkeeping and the tax work with those different providers. And I think that's really a lot a bigger difference. And you know, not I don't know that everybody needs a CFO, not in the very beginning. But it's nice to have all of those different pieces.


00;08;01;02 - 00;08;22;03

Unknown

And that's yeah, a lot of people expect that their bookkeeper is going to provide this information. I've had that conversation with a lot of perspective clients. I'm like, yeah, you're asking for like high level strategy stuff from someone that you're not paying for one, you're not paying for it. And two, they probably don't have that skill set because I would get super bored working in the books every day, like every once in a while.


00;08;22;03 - 00;08;38;19

Unknown

If I want to like a break and to do something different, you know, I might jump in and help out on something. But I couldn't do that all the time. So you wouldn't want me doing that or you doing that or anyone, because our skill set is best used at that higher level strategy and to help kind of tie everything together.


00;08;38;22 - 00;08;59;20

Unknown

So then follow up question to that. Do you have a best guideline for like when should someone either hire a bookkeeper or CPA, a CFO? Like is there a different levels to that, or do you have best practices for people that are listening? Yeah. So feel like the I guess you have to have a CPA or somebody to file your taxes.


00;08;59;20 - 00;09;17;22

Unknown

So no matter what you if you have a business you shouldn't be doing TurboTax, you're going to mess something up for sure. But in those first few years, as you're really just starting out, you might not have a bookkeeper yet, and you're probably just keeping track of some stuff on maybe some spreadsheets. Hopefully at least that that you're going to provide to the tax person.


00;09;17;24 - 00;09;34;13

Unknown

Right. And then from there, as you're growing and you're getting more expenses, more, you know, if you're in real estate, more properties, especially more than just like 1 or 2 rentals or anything like that, you probably do need someone to help you out with the bookkeeping. You keep all of that straight. And so that would be kind of that next level.


00;09;34;13 - 00;09;56;14

Unknown

And then CFOs kind of after that, really, when you're getting to a point where you're not being able to make decisions like you're getting reports, but you don't know what to do with them, you need help making decisions from them and guidance that you want to make smart, data driven decisions. And I think there's different. I don't want to put like a dollar number on it per se, because like, you know, it kind of just changes.


00;09;56;14 - 00;10;19;05

Unknown

And it's really are you in that growth mode? Are you trying to make decisions, sound decisions with data and you need some help with that, interpreting that and running analysis. Yeah, I from what I'm hearing from you two, sometimes it's not revenue driven but psychologically driven, like someone might be down the road further because they understand the importance of, you know, having the numbers and having that clarity.


00;10;19;05 - 00;10;35;10

Unknown

And where some people it's like, no, we just yeah, like you said, if they're not doing a spreadsheet or something, we probably don't even have a napkin or receipts, like, we got to get something in there and we got to get there first. So I think that is also a factoring into your answer to it's like it sounds like that's not just dollar amount.


00;10;35;10 - 00;10;53;09

Unknown

It's also what are you ready for mentally on this journey, being a business owner and really understanding all that. So no, that's really good I like that. So then do you see a common mistake then that if a business owner tries to skip one of those, it could be the bookkeeper, it could be the CPA or it could be the CFO, whatever it is.


00;10;53;09 - 00;11;15;27

Unknown

And what do you think? Like what are those biggest mistakes you see? Or if they're asking them to one person to do all three jobs or whatever it might be? Yeah, I think first, skipping the bookkeeper is probably one of the biggest mistakes. Or going cheap on a bookkeeper. Yeah. And hiring internally that, like, doesn't have oversight.


00;11;15;28 - 00;11;31;01

Unknown

Like, it's okay to have, like, an admin or someone doing it as long as you have a CPA or someone that they can ask questions. So I think that's probably the biggest one, because we'll run into just so many messy books and like there, go and cheat there. But it's going to cost them a ton in the back end to get it right.


00;11;31;01 - 00;11;52;28

Unknown

Once they decide you're either spending a ton because you have bad books, that's costing you in tax money, in bad decisions, or you're also you're actually physically spending a ton because one, you need to get it fixed. It's going to be thousands and thousands of dollars to go backwards and fix the mess you have and then do it right going forward, versus just biting the bullet and hiring it from the beginning the right way.


00;11;53;05 - 00;12;12;14

Unknown

Yeah. So make sure you're doing it the right way from the beginning. Don't skip these steps. And I like what you said there. Like even if you have your brother in law or your sister or whoever's doing the books, like have them have someone be a backup to look over what they're doing, especially if they don't have that experience, because you'll end up paying for it sometime.


00;12;12;15 - 00;12;33;18

Unknown

You just don't want to pay ten times what it would have cost at the beginning, when you had less transactions and less things going in. So that's really good advice. I'm Brandy is on here and she is dropping these gold nuggets. I need everyone to listen to this because a lot of times we bring people on. They've they've implemented profit first or they've done this or that in the industry or whatnot.


00;12;33;19 - 00;12;50;16

Unknown

Brandy and I are cut from the same cloth. So like, please listen, for the love of God to what she is saying, because this is what we want. You, we we're looking out for you as the business owner, that so you don't have this hurt and heartache just because you're trying to put stuff off or you don't understand it a lot of times.


00;12;50;16 - 00;13;10;24

Unknown

Brandy, do you see this, that people ask the question or they say, I don't even know what to ask. I don't even know where to start. Do you see that a lot? Yeah, all the time. Yeah. They'll say like I and actually even sometimes even people to finance background, I've worked with clients that have been clients that had some sort of finance background, but they're still like, I just don't really know what to ask.


00;13;10;24 - 00;13;25;23

Unknown

I wasn't in this area or that area. And a common thing I always hear, or I will tell someone like, hey, this is a good lead. They'll say, hey, I'm making all this money, but I have no idea where it's going. There's none left at the end, right? So they implement profit first sale, at least have some say.


00;13;25;26 - 00;13;50;00

Unknown

But generally they're just like, I have no idea where it's going. And even if they have keeping because nobody's breaking it down to kind of that next level and oversight and having the conversations with them regularly. Yeah. Quick pause from the episode. I've exciting news that's expanding the world of profit. First real estate investors. You may know that years ago I wrote the book Profit First for Real Estate Investing, endorsed by Mike McCormick, that has been read now by thousands of real estate investors.


00;13;50;00 - 00;14;17;21

Unknown

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00;14;17;21 - 00;14;38;26

Unknown

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00;14;38;28 - 00;14;41;16

Unknown

That's.


00;14;41;18 - 00;15;05;29

Unknown

Workbook. Just like profit first for real estate investing free workbook. Com grab whichever matches your business or you can grab all three free workbook. Go get them. Make more profit. All right, back to the episode. Well, actually we'll head right into my next question. So how do you help clients build a cash reserve strategy without feeling like they're starving the business or their growth capital?


00;15;05;29 - 00;15;30;02

Unknown

I just had a call yesterday. It's like, I like I love the concept of profit first, but I'm scared about, you know, you know, choking my growth. So how do you handle those types of conversations. So I mean I've I've had clients some that already were doing some profit first. So we helped support them in that. And then really outside of that it's just a good forecast, a good understanding the next 6 to 12 months what's going on.


00;15;30;02 - 00;15;51;29

Unknown

And so that you're watching and that you're not just doing bank account forecasting like is there money in there? And let me do some, some math that's like, really? Hey, does it is it going to trigger to us and show that cash is going to go negative real quick if we don't make some change either? It's like we need to really turn around these sales or we need to cut expenses or both, or hold off on that higher, or hold off on this.


00;15;52;00 - 00;16;10;27

Unknown

Whatever implementation of this new XYZ, if it's not going to give us an immediate ROI. I love that it's funny sometimes too. There's literally a guy that I've been talking to and he's like, you know, I am on this cash flow roller coaster up and down. And like, I don't know if I need that type of help, that higher level help.


00;16;10;27 - 00;16;29;06

Unknown

He's like, I just think I need a bookkeeper. I'm like, do you think that's going to solve it? Or do you think that, you know, you need some type of systems in place? So I love hearing it from you, where a lot of people just don't understand that it's not just about the profit first system, or that it's like really understanding how to make decisions based on your cash.


00;16;29;06 - 00;16;51;22

Unknown

And what is it telling you now and having someone like you on the team, brandy, where it's like for the future as well to for these next few months or for this next year or like, what do we want to grow to do? We have the resources to grow. What if I want to hire someone? So I love that because you're not just helping them read their PNL or their balance sheet or whatnot, you're helping them actually plan out their cash and what they can do in the business.


00;16;51;22 - 00;17;11;04

Unknown

So that's really good. I did want to ask, because of the corporate background. Again, do you have any cash flow habits that you think small business owners can steal, like from the corporate finance world? Or do you think that, you know, I don't know. Is corporate finance handled differently? I just I was very curious, you know, from that perspective that you can bring to the.


00;17;11;08 - 00;17;30;22

Unknown

Yeah. So I probably present maybe a little differently than some other people. I don't know because I haven't like one else's CFO presentation, but a really strong background. And so I was very used to like here is your when you say what a is for people, for the entrepreneurial world, or even if I don't know exactly what that is.


00;17;30;29 - 00;17;49;17

Unknown

And I want an analysis. There you go. Financial planning and analysis. So you have that big background which is that a license for if people are thinking, or is that just where it's a niche inside of this area of the business. Yeah. So there you go. So far background financial planning and analysis. So sorry I cut you off.


00;17;49;19 - 00;18;08;28

Unknown

And so I guess from that perspective I was always like, when we're talking to those board decks and all that stuff, you're saying, what was the forecast, what were the actuals, and then what were the main drivers and the the timing difference? Is it a hey, it costs more. Is there an error is, you know, where we just wrong in our assumptions like a forecast that's always wrong.


00;18;08;28 - 00;18;27;03

Unknown

So you want to be not as much wrong as you don't want to be less wrong, or you want to know why it's going to be off ahead of time. So I think that's a big part of it is like where like we used to call like walks, we would do a walk, like from what the forecast was to the actuals and what are the big buckets.


00;18;27;03 - 00;19;08;02

Unknown

And okay, it was I mean for most businesses it's salaries marketing and subscriptions. So within those then what was the breakdown like? What drove each of those. So a lot of walks like that I would say. And another thing that I found that I brought to some clients is just definitely don't have any HR background at all, but like helping them come up with different like bonus structures for, you know, incentive plans, looking at kind of what I saw in the corporate world, like for different types of employees, sales guys would be different than like a coup and being careful, helping them, you know, be careful that they're not going to drive, put a bonus


00;19;08;02 - 00;19;25;13

Unknown

structure in place that's going to drive the wrong behaviors. Like do you want them focus like you might want them focused on the bottom line or you might not because then they might, like make stupid decisions to cut expenses that are going to like, then make them do a bunch of work and they're not doing the things they should be doing to drive the top line.


00;19;25;14 - 00;19;54;27

Unknown

So it really just depends on the role. And kind of like if you have those, maybe you have also structures in place that look at revenue as well. So yeah, different different things like that. I think those are some of the biggest things that seems and just how to lead people. Like it's like obviously again, we're I'm finance focused, but I've been in big corporate world and see how, you know, teams are led and just helping them bring processes to things because a lot of entrepreneurs have no processes.


00;19;55;00 - 00;20;12;27

Unknown

Right. It's like it's what makes an entrepreneur great. They go out, they start something. It's a bunch of chaos, but they're like trying to corral all that. But then what you're bringing there is like, well, there needs to be some semblance of order here, and especially with the finances and especially sitting down. I like what you said, even something as simple as that walk like, okay, let's go through.


00;20;12;28 - 00;20;28;12

Unknown

Okay. What was your budget versus actual and like where were we? Can we make this better or not? Some of those practices that are really good that if you go to a corporate environment and it's like standard procedure, they're like, we have to go over these things and it's on a specific day and like, this is who's showing up and this is how we're going to do it.


00;20;28;13 - 00;20;55;19

Unknown

And a lot of I don't know if you see this too, but entrepreneurs usually want to buck against that because like, that's that's what I was trying to escape. Right. And that's why having those systems will help you as the owner eventually be able to escape. You know, like, that's why having those things in place and having someone like Brandi on the team that knows those structures, because those are the structures that get you to where you want to be and not just floundering around out there, you know, flopping around, like saying, what?


00;20;55;19 - 00;21;15;02

Unknown

Where's all the money? Where did all the money go? So that was really good. You also have the perspective from the tax aspect. So do you have any that you can give here like for some specific tax strategies for real estate investors that you might get, I don't know, overlooked or the ones that you say off the top of my head, this would be something.


00;21;15;02 - 00;21;34;14

Unknown

If you're not doing it, please go out there and check it out. Yeah. So I mean, if we're talking real estate at I don't know if it's going to be like the active, you know, they're in an S corp or not. There's different things. So all it's your business. The answer is depends like an a turn. But I think it's a lot of like the common ones.


00;21;34;14 - 00;22;02;12

Unknown

But cost segregation is a big one when they're buying new assets. And what that is, is that you can kind of write more of the property off in that first year. Then instead of having it spread out over 27.5 or 39 years based on the thing. So it's like front loading some expenses to help offset some income. And then if you are, you know, an active real estate investor and you meet kind of all of those rules, you can can take that against your active income.


00;22;02;12 - 00;22;13;25

Unknown

So I think those are some good ones a lot of people have, I think a lot of real estate people, or at least have heard them, they might not know all the way what it means. I know I've heard some of my clients talk about it, but they don't. They definitely don't know all the way what it means.


00;22;13;25 - 00;22;31;23

Unknown

They just don't help them. Yeah. Just why you want someone like Brandi who even knows these words to say, you know, like, who knows the real estate world? That's where you also have to be able to test the people that you're working with. Like, do they know real estate or not? And like, being able to give these types of tips and then help you implement.


00;22;31;23 - 00;22;57;25

Unknown

So now I like that a lot. So but besides filing correctly and, you know, making sure that everything's in line for the IRS or you're not wearing an orange jumpsuit, what would you say if you have those that finance team bookkeeper, CPA, CFO, how does that save them money or help them grow or help them to get to where they want to be, whether it's through taxes or whether it's the rest of the business?


00;22;57;25 - 00;23;15;25

Unknown

Because obviously we don't want them, you know, wearing an orange jumpsuit, and we want them filing at the right time and having that clarity. So what would you say some of the other benefits I think. So there can be savings just because you are actually looking at things and you can plan ahead of time because you, you are making you see where you're going to be.


00;23;15;25 - 00;23;37;24

Unknown

So you can make some decisions early, you know, before 1231 that might affect your your tax outcome. You can't make the changes really after. And other things would be just like it's going to be savings because they're opening up blind spots for you. I can't like a million list of things that I've found for people that they have no idea, like you're leaking money places, right?


00;23;37;24 - 00;23;55;26

Unknown

Or I've found someone like merchant Processors. They just didn't know things were getting cut off because no one was checking that, like, payment plans kept going through and that type of stuff, like. So having someone like, really in your corner watching that, like, not from a compliance perspective. The bookkeepers job is not to do that. The tax versus job is not to do that.


00;23;55;26 - 00;24;15;05

Unknown

They're just compliance getting it ready, preventing. That's when your CFO can look and be like, hey, these trends look off. Like, let's keep digging. Let's dig like, oh, I found this problem. Did you know this? And so they're going to save in different ways either like helping cut spending. So that will increase your bottom line or just make better decisions when you have a forecast there.


00;24;15;05 - 00;24;33;14

Unknown

And you can make the decision and know that it's the right decision to make because you've done it with data, I think that's definitely helpful. Awesome. So then let's just talk about the CFO aspect, because that's my favorite aspect. So let's talk about that. What those are some of the things that it seems like from strategy. What about strategy for making more money.


00;24;33;15 - 00;24;56;01

Unknown

Like do you have anything that you go over with clients that doesn't just focus on the cost cutting or like, you know, reducing expenses, but actually has them bringing more on the top line too? Yeah. So I don't know if I can think I don't want to give any specific examples where if I can hear them, but like it's really just through all those conversations, it's almost like you're masterminding with them because, you know, I've worked with several different businesses.


00;24;56;01 - 00;25;17;12

Unknown

So like you have examples and in the and in like from the corporate world just gathering, they're like, hey, what if you did this or what if like, I'm never afraid to throw an idea, you can just tell them stupid, right. But like just I think just bringing that like other strategic thinker to the table to help them think through those processes or like they might say, hey, this is what I'm thinking.


00;25;17;12 - 00;25;38;17

Unknown

It's going to be like punch holes in it. Or, there might be like, hey, we're going to offer this new product line at this price, and I'm going to look at it and be like, hey, did you look at your fulfillment cost on this? Let's actually doesn't make any sense. So I think it's really that just like that other high level, another high level thinker, because a lot of entrepreneurs don't have that.


00;25;38;20 - 00;25;54;13

Unknown

They might have a team doing some things, but they don't have someone else to just like think bigger with and go through those things. Yeah, a lot of entrepreneurs have doers, not a lot of thinkers on the team. When you first start out, because you got to have someone to take some of that stuff off so you can do the revenue producing stuff.


00;25;54;13 - 00;26;11;09

Unknown

Right. And there's activities. And what I'm hearing from you is like having someone at that higher level is really helping you think, which is giving you either more ideas or saving you money, or saving you the time, or helping you figure out what's the most productive thing to be going after which a lot of people don't usually have that.


00;26;11;10 - 00;26;30;17

Unknown

You even call it a mastermind. And that was a good analogy of like, hey, even if you're going to other masterminds, you're probably not sitting down on a regular basis or someone going over your numbers and your books unless you have someone like this on your team mastermind, right? Yeah. Well that too. So now it's like now it's all on the table.


00;26;30;17 - 00;26;50;05

Unknown

Now you've got someone that's vested in you and in your company. So this is really good stuff. Said like one more question here for you. So if a listener takes away just one thing from today to apply to their business finances this week, what would you want it to be? Yeah, I think it's really making sure you're looking forward.


00;26;50;05 - 00;27;09;10

Unknown

So in understanding that bookkeepers and tax is the review mirror and that what you know David's team brings is CFO is strategy is forward looking. And to take your business forward you need to be looking forward to make those decisions. And you need the other things kind of already in the baseline to be able to do that. Yeah, exactly.


00;27;09;10 - 00;27;24;29

Unknown

You got to have all the things. And that's where we want to make sure that if you're listening to this, that you go out there and you're not just always looking backwards because then you're never going to where you want to go, you got to be looking at the direction. And I don't know if you've ever heard that.


00;27;24;29 - 00;27;40;07

Unknown

Same like wherever your head's turning, that's when the where the car goes, you know, like in your car. So it's the same thing. Like if you're just looking backwards, eventually you're going to crash. So you need to be looking for it. So I love that advice. So whether it's us or Brandy has the service as well to she has a great website.


00;27;40;07 - 00;27;55;11

Unknown

If you look at it it's let me get the banner up here. It's best fit CFO. Com so that's her website. Brandy do you want to talk about that a little bit. Talk about it a little bit I want you to talk about it. Talk about the website or. Well no talk about what you do as the website name.


00;27;55;11 - 00;28;17;27

Unknown

So best fit CFO okay. Yeah. So we do have CFO services and we also, reluctantly start offering some bookkeeping broader we have on locally, but we started offering them a little broader just because we found it was such a gap in the industry that I wasn't finding a good area to send people to, and then we do some tax that is more.


00;28;17;27 - 00;28;39;16

Unknown

I do keep that more local just because I want to stay, not keeping up on all the different states rules because I do have a small team. We're not we're not really large. We are a smaller team with another CPA on the team and a bookkeeper and an administrator. So yeah, we offer fractional CFO services. I call it maybe a little more boutique.


00;28;39;18 - 00;29;08;12

Unknown

And definitely with kind of that business finance background, I will throw out numbers on this one. Like kind of we are looking when we work with people. I wanted to already be doing at least probably a million in revenue and be growing from that, that standpoint. But yeah, then, we help bring it all together. I think as everyone, as the CFO, you bring that background of that accounting background and can help guide those bookkeepers to and talk to the CPAs for you.


00;29;08;14 - 00;29;30;03

Unknown

Well, Brandy is someone that I trust and recommend. So if you need those services. Brandy. Brandy has her website here. It's best let me bring that back up. Best fit CFO. Com so best fit fit CFO like Chief Financial officer we want to make sure to throw that out there. You provided a ton of value here. So people want to go there.


00;29;30;03 - 00;29;55;13

Unknown

They can. And if you are listening to this and you like profit first and you want to get that implemented, or you if especially if you have nothing in place, and if you're under a million and you're like, oh my gosh, I don't even have the napkin and the spreadsheets that David was talking about or that Brandy was mentioning, you could go to our website as well to simple CFO if you're doing more than that, and we're not a good fit, we can ping it to people like Brandy.


00;29;55;13 - 00;30;14;11

Unknown

We have a very good relationship back and forth. So if there's anything that we can't do, like I'll make sure that we send you over to Brandy. Thank you so much, Brandy, for all the wisdom you share today. Is there anything you'd like to share? As one final thought? My final thought. I guess it would just be always make data driven decisions.


00;30;14;11 - 00;30;35;09

Unknown

And that's what our types of teams can help you do. Awesome. So make sure you're making data driven decisions, not just those gut level decisions, because those will eventually run out or they won't pull you in the right direction. So I love that if you're listening to this, remember to make profit a habit in your business. And thank you for listening.


00;30;35;12 - 00;30;47;11

Unknown

That's it for today's show. Be sure to subscribe, review and share this episode. If you're serious about financial systems and keeping more of your profit, visit simple CFO to take your free discovery call today.

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