00;00;05;21 - 00;00;26;01

Unknown

You're listening to the Profit First for Real Estate Investors podcast. This show is all about helping real estate investors and entrepreneurs bring clarity and structure to the financial side of their business. In these sole episodes, we focus on practical financial strategies that real estate investors and business owners can actually implement, whether it's profit, cash flow, forecasting or mindset.

00;00;26;02 - 00;00;44;27

Unknown

The goal is simple to help you run your business with more confidence and less financial stress. Enjoy the episode. I want to give you some tips on how to make your relationship with your CFO the best right off the bat. So what can you do to make that the best relationship? We've already talked about what a CFO is and how you choose the best CFL.

00;00;44;28 - 00;01;08;21

Unknown

But then how do you actually get onboarded? Meaning what are things you could bring to the table and then what should we or what should ACF be bringing to the table as well to make the relationship successful? I will say number one. Be very open and honest through that whole entire onboarding process. Make sure that you tell what are your deepest things that you want out of this relationship.

00;01;08;21 - 00;01;26;09

Unknown

Because a CFO relationship is like no other relationship you've had with a money person. A bookkeeper is really about the transactions in and out. Usually CPAs are more about the taxes and like tax strategy, which is great, but the CFO are more about how is the money affecting you? How much do you want to put in your pocket?

00;01;26;10 - 00;01;47;21

Unknown

Are there any money mindsets we need to break through that you feel about money that we need to push through? So you are successful with money? We have lots of clients that come on board, and let's just say we've got some spouse teams that come on and one is super on board and they show up to the first cause and they're like, yes, the other one's not even showing up to calls and they don't want to be there.

00;01;47;21 - 00;02;05;00

Unknown

And they're like, hey, you get through this. And but in order to have that best relationship, all the relevant people need to be on that call, those calls up front. And you need to be very honest of why wouldn't you want to show up on a call? Why don't you want to talk about the money? What have you tried up until now?

00;02;05;01 - 00;02;24;20

Unknown

Like being very open with your relationship with money will really help. And there's some good books to that. I would recommend that you read if you're having struggles with that. Morgan Hazel is one of my favorite authors when it comes to money mindset. He wrote The Psychology of Money and the Art of Spending Money. I would highly recommend those if you're just oh my gosh, what's going on here?

00;02;24;21 - 00;02;59;23

Unknown

There's another great book too that I'll just throw out there if you want some bonus points. It's accounting for the number phobic. So if you're afraid of numbers, this one puts it on the bottom shelf of like pals balance sheets and just understanding what you can know as the CEO. So if you come into a relationship, especially like a CFO type relationship, having some of that foundation, it will help you get onboarded faster, meaning there won't have to be as much foundation laid if you're putting some of that effort in yourself of saying, I should know, like, what's a balance sheet?

00;02;59;23 - 00;03;16;28

Unknown

What's a PNL, what's a cash flow statement? How do I make sure that I get on board correctly? How do I make sure that you know what's profit first? Did you read the book? You know, if that's what one of your CFOs is going to implement, this is I want you to be as successful as possible. So number one, be honest with where you are.

00;03;17;02 - 00;03;38;10

Unknown

Number two, maybe read one of those books like I was recommending, whether it's psychology or money, if you've got some money issues or money mindsets that are keeping you back from what you could really do, or reading the accounting for number phobic, obviously if they're implementing profit first with you, I would highly recommend reading that for your sake and for the relationship sake as well too.

00;03;38;11 - 00;03;54;02

Unknown

So doing just a little bit of that groundwork, the other thing you can do, which if you're wanting to get on board and you want to get clarity as fast as possible. Make sure to include the people that you might have on your finance team. If you already have a bookkeeper, they need to be part of this process.

00;03;54;02 - 00;04;16;21

Unknown

If you have a CPA, they need to know what's going on and maybe be introduced to your CFO. This is how to make things very seamless because you are the CEO, you are the orchestra conductor. So making sure that the relevant people have access to the people that they need, the processes, the systems, making sure that everything goes smoothly from there.

00;04;16;21 - 00;04;32;20

Unknown

I would say another thing honorable mention here is show up to calls like if you're the one that you're saying, hey, it's just me. I don't have a spouse that doesn't want to show up to calls. I don't want to show up to calls. If you're the only one running it, and you're the ones that you're the one that is going to be on those calls.

00;04;32;20 - 00;04;54;01

Unknown

I get it. Sometimes you don't want to look at the finances. A lot of times when money is tight money, we are not doing the best. We're feel like we're going backwards. We feel like we're in a hole. We're in a rut. We don't want to look at the money. I totally understand that. This is the time when you first get on board, especially to have the best relationship with your money.

00;04;54;02 - 00;05;10;22

Unknown

Person that cares about you is to tell them those things. Say, this is how I'm thinking about the money. This is how I'm feeling. I don't want to show up for these calls, but I'm here because I want to figure out how to move forward from here. So those are a couple things that you can do on the CFO side.

00;05;10;22 - 00;05;30;18

Unknown

They should be prepping you. They should be starting where you are. They should really be asking good questions of you, of helping you understand where you are. But then them getting a very good perspective of where you are on your financial journey. So on our side or on a CFO side, I would make sure that we're asking good questions of you.

00;05;30;18 - 00;05;47;17

Unknown

So that way we get to know who you really are and what you really value and what will make that a very valuable relationship, because it has to be two sided, can't be just you pouring into it, and it can't just be a CFO pouring into you. It has to be both a yin and yang. It has to be okay, what can I do?

00;05;47;17 - 00;06;05;23

Unknown

And I gave you a couple key points there. What can the CFO do as well. And we need to make sure that relationship is is the best possible because you want to keep more money at the end of the day. How do you do that? We face hard things. We look at the money, we make better decisions. So once we have that clarity, we can make those better decisions.

00;06;05;23 - 00;06;39;08

Unknown

And it starts with being very open and honest, working on ourselves, showing up to the meetings, building the reserves, putting these systems in place and having the best relationship possible with the person who cares about our financial situation the most. Thanks for spending time with me today. If this episode gave you clarity or a new perspective. Be sure to like, subscribe, and comment below if you're ready to apply what we talked about today with real guidance and accountability, visit Profit Raycom to schedule a free discovery, call with us to create your path to financial clarity and freedom.