This is Waste to Wealth, a podcast about turning your waste hauling business into a profitable, scalable cash flowing machine. And now, here's your host, Michael No, it's not a secret. So I came to the States when I turned nine. So right after turning nine, I came to the States. kind of like not knowing you're kind of when you're a kid you're just like all right whatever my parents take me that's you know to me was like very unknown and foreign like i had no idea we're like oh we're moving i didn't know we were moving to like a whole country that i didn't that i didn't even know how to say hi like that's a good that's a good point because we didn't know anything we moved our It's never another country. It's just, all right, we're going to go to a different town or Yep. So most of my adult childhood life, I grew up in upstate New York, which it was It's definitely different. I mean, along the weather in Cuba, it's like hot and humid in New York. There's snow, it's hot. The people are just different. Not a lot of Spanish speaking, you No, downstate, like towards New York City, there's every culture there, but not in upstate New York. Although I grew up on a farm in upstate New York, and I knew a as I was getting older, like, it's hard to find Americans that want to work on the farm. And my dad, he was a farm. He was, I guess, a manager at a farm. And yeah, that's what he would do is he would train the Mexicans and Guatemalans. They would speak no English at And he would just show them what to do. And right or wrong. That's what they did forever. They You just, all right, that's what I learned how to do. This is how I milk the cows. So you had to make sure you train them correctly the Right. No, absolutely. I definitely agree with that. And I feel like they're very hardworking. And it was, the Mexicans would say, Gotta watch out for those Guatemalans. Gotta be careful of them. And then the Guatemalans would say, those Mexicans, you can't trust those guys. So they had very tribalism. To us, they were all the same. We're like, yeah, our Yeah, they just give each other, it was like fun I remember this one guy, he would just watch all these movies. Like he would watch Bruce Lee and like action movies. I don't know if he just loved them or when he got to America, he just decided to binge as much media content as Because when I came to the States, I didn't know any English, right? Not a word. So what my family told me is like, just turn the English channels on and just watch that every day and you will slowly learn and pick things up. Like, wait, they're doing this and I should do that to learn Spanish. Yeah, it will help because not only can you hear the things that they're saying, Exactly. So I did that myself to better Well, it worked great. Yeah, I hope so. Do you have any opportunities to Oh, absolutely. Every day with my parents. So that's Yeah. Thank you. And yeah, I, um, I talk Spanish to her every day and then also to my dad. And then soon we'll So, um, it's interesting now because we live in Raleigh. how fast it's growing. And so there is a lot of construction. There is a lot of blue collar business, which is what I enjoy that the most growing up in a blue collar background. So yeah, we'll probably have a lot more interaction with Spanish-speaking clients. Well, I said hi in English and they just waved. They didn't say hello. But they were talking to each other and I had no idea what they were saying. I figured you could Oh, yeah. And even like other dialects, I could pick it up Well, let's do another question. So I didn't actually kick off the beginning. So I should probably do that. Um, cause I didn't, I don't know if I've ever explained the podcast fully to you. So this is, this is waste to wealth. And the reason why we call it that is because we're specifically trying to help out waste hauling, business owners, um, junk haulers, dumpster rental companies, trash collectors. It's useful for any business owner, but you know, we want to, want to specifically speak to their needs. Um, and every business owner needs accounting. and you're a member of the team. And so we wanted to talk to you today, Sandra, about what you do, how you got into it, what you like about it, maybe some stories along the way. So before we get into the accounting stuff and business stuff, my first thought is I'm curious, because we live in an area that's close to both the mountains and the ocean. If you wanted to go to either of those things, you could go today. Which one do you I just love that peace and calm that it brings to me personally, right? Just like hearing the ocean and the waves and just laying out at, you know, at the beach by the sand. I think it's, to me, that's so peaceful. It's just like, okay, this is, if I ever go on vacation anywhere, Now, can you have that same sense of relaxation if you have your kids with you? Or is it It's a little definitely more challenging, but thankfully my husband helps out. So I'm like, all right, we take turns. Like you relax for a little bit while I watch the kids. And now I Well, Adam's an active guy. So I imagine that he would probably play Cause that's what I do. So I enjoy laying on the beach when I'm tired, which is after I've jumped in the waves and thrown the ball around. Oh yeah, he's extremely active. So yeah, he's always running around chasing Not necessarily a book reader, but I definitely do like to either listen to other podcasts or listen to my favorite influencers share their stories. I definitely, you know, go So, uh, because we used to have the dumpster rental company at the beach, that's how I would have my coffee. You know, I'd, I'd get the guy started in the yard. And then if, if I didn't need to be in a truck, which was most of the time, and I didn't have a big project or even if it did have a big project, the first thing I would do is drive to the beach, have a cup of That sounds like my perfect way to start a Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. And then after a couple hours of that, then I would go to the yard and I'd do some like painting or welding or work on something broken. But I wasn't very good at fixing things. So it was more, all right, Yeah, yeah. And I would just pick up things on the way. But Yeah, so follow up on the beach versus mountains. Would you Yeah, so I did live by the beach for Actually, in California too, but here in North Carolina, we're about 10 minutes Yeah. So 10 minutes, maybe 10 minutes. So it's considered beach town, the part where I lived. And I mean, I loved it because we would go to the beach pretty often. But I guess to me having, you know, your needs like hospital, grocery store nearby, those are my priorities when I have kids. So it's like, okay, I love the beach. I enjoyed my two years there, but I'm happier to be like in a bigger city. with more things to do Yeah, I probably, I'm adaptable, so I guess I can relate to that. I like every place that I'm at. If I'm in the mountains, I'll enjoy it there, but the kids, you're right, they need things I agree, yeah. They love the beach because they're like a little fish in the ocean. They love it, but I think this is more family-friendly So with Seeds Fairy, that's where you did accounting there. Was that the first place you did accounting at? So that is where I pretty much started my journey in the accounting and taxes world. I was thinking to myself, you know, I want to go back to the workforce. I want to, you know, work in what I went to school for originally. And I thought to myself, you know, I went to school for accounting. And at that time I didn't, I hadn't my career finished. I didn't have my bachelor's just yet because I put my whole life on hold, you know, to be married to an active duty Marine. Absolutely. So, you know what, I saw a sign that said we're hiring and I'm like, you know what, I'm going to apply. I'm going to check it out. You know, I have nothing to lose. So. Yeah. I applied and that same day I got a phone call. I was like, you know, I had an interview. I told him I had background in accounting. That's what I went to school for. And Nice. So it's probably better than what most people walk in with. Like, hey, I've never done this before. Can I have a It is. Yeah. And like good ones and reliable. I do think that's hard. So yeah, I, my journey there, I remember them telling me like, Hey, you do have to take four exams and you do have to pass them in order to They were in-house exams and they had to do like with accounting, like current tax law. So it was like four different parts of accounting. That's a good idea. We should do that. Yeah. We didn't make you take tests. I know, you didn't. So, I mean, I studied for those tests and there were four different parts and they all, you know, had different things covered in those exams. But I was really happy. I was like, okay, I passed them. The job is mine. That's kind of where my journey started of the accounting world. And then most of the clients that I helped with there were military. So I would say about 80% because we were so close to the military base. Most of them were either active duty Marines or they were retired veterans. Oh, that makes sense. That I was helping. So that was kind of like, you know, my first experience and like doing taxes and Over and over, yes. It was very specific to that town. It was kind of like, hey, this is mainly what we have here. So that was kind of like my expertise there, like helping military couples and helping military families. That was kind of what I focused on there. But shortly after that, I was like, you know what, I kind of want to just keep growing. And I knew eventually we would have to move again. And I kind of want to find either a tax or accounting job where I can move and then the job could go with me. I feel like for me, that was really important. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna apply it into it. That's where my Intuit journey began, where I got the job and I started doing taxes there and helping clients out from Oh no, you don't. Not only are you helping, I was no longer helping just a very small military community, now I'm helping people from every state with all sorts of problems, all sorts of letters from the IRS, all these things. I feel like to me that was, kind of like an awakening Exactly, yes. I definitely would use that word, infinite. Especially like helping not only people in your community, it's like now I'm helping people in Yeah, because we're in North Carolina and we have special rules here just for our state. We deal a little bit with the neighboring states, but when somebody in like Oregon asks us a question, like we got to look up those laws to make sure we get it precise. And I don't know them off the Exactly. That's when we would have to do our research and like, okay, you know, I don't know the state's law or I don't know this thing. So then we would have to spend some time, you know, doing our research for the clients to I think I have touched every state at this point, except for, I Yeah, I actually have, which is funny because when I was dealing with it, I was like, wow, this is, I mean, you just get to help people like from all over, Just, well, just like helping not only people from, you know, your same state, but just like all over. And then you just meet so many people. Like I met other Cubans with very similar stories to mine. And I feel like, I would say those ones definitely touched me the most. I'm like, wow, this is like my same story. But I'm helping someone with very similar stories. So I love that experience there. And that kind of brings me back to North Carolina where We had to move again because my husband's active duty. And then we moved to the Raleigh area. And after taking some time to just settle into a new home and the kids settle into school, I was like, you know what? I want to get back to work again. So that's when I applied at another accounting firm and started my journey there into business tax and payroll and You seem to be on like a, you seem to be okay with learning new things and getting new skills. Like on a quest. Like That's a good way to put it. I do feel like. I feel like I learn something new every day. Especially here at Buffalo Finance with helping our clients, I'm always learning. Yeah, absolutely. We see a lot. I absolutely love that about our job. I didn't see that. Yeah. Not only are we helping clients, but I'm like, hey, I didn't know that. I just learned something brand new from a different state or whatever it may be. But I And we're trying to solve problems that people have. They say, I had this nightmare. I don't know what to do with it. Keep me up at night. And we're like, oh, we'll take that nightmare from you. And it'll be a fun puzzle for us. Let's Exactly. And I feel like the way you worded that about solving a puzzle, I love that because that's how I see it. I'm like, I'm going to solve I'm like, this is a project that I'm going to take it head on. To me, I feel like I love those challenges of like, I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to solve it. Like, I will take it from start to finish and, you know, own whatever problem Yeah, you do have in that sense. You do have extreme ownership. Luckily, here we have a lot of collaboration. Yeah, absolutely. Which is common among accountants, where we want each other I agree. I definitely love that. You know, when I got the job here, you know, I was so happy to be on the team. And I feel like I love all my co-workers here. You really are. I truly mean that. I feel like my experiences at all different firms and jobs, I feel like you have like values that I wanted in a boss and you embodied what I look up to. I'm like, wow, this is someone I look up to as a boss and as a friend. I'm On a regular basis. So I'm sure that culture is going to keep expanding. Well, part of that comes from just thinking through, you know, Because we've all been underneath a boss or an And we try to get out of that as fast as you can. But you know, how do you balance stability and you know, what's Like what's, what's the right way to do that? So I decided a while ago to take the leap to, to be the leader. And it was very scary. Um, and I had really different ideas about what that was going to look like. But now I just asked myself, you know, if Jesus was running a company, what decisions would he make? And it's, it's like, it's striving for perfection, which you're never going to get to, but just taking steps towards it. And I think that he would, he would run an organization that would focus on the customers. in a way that was healthy for the workers. And that can play out like a bazillion different ways. But it would also empower the team members to do what they feel led to do. So what we want is every team member to be able to do what they feel called to do. And if it's to do accounting and help clients with accounting, this is the spot. And if it's not accounting, then we want to help identify that and say, hey, go do this thing that you're passionate about. Yeah. And I love that. I love helping people like solve their problems. And like, especially in the accounting field or, you know, they get a letter in the mail from the IRS or anything. It's like, okay, Well, Jesus did say to pay your taxes. Right. So we do, we do, we are proponents of paying your taxes, which is how So speaking about customer experiences, do you want to jump to one of those questions about a story Absolutely. So I have so many stories, but one that I can definitely think of that I actually saved the taxpayer a good amount of money, actually. To be exact, it was about $19,000. Wow. Holy cow. Yeah. They received a letter from the IRS, and they're like, What do I do with this letter?" They actually reached out to us to say, like, hey, I got this letter. What should I do? And then we took a look at it together. You and I did, actually. And we discovered that their cost basis was missing from the Exactly. It was non covered. Yep. So it was not reported to the IRS. So of course he received a letter saying, Hey, you owe $19,000, you know, in this capital gain. So we reached out to the IRS and wrote a professional letter to them and explained the whole situation, send the tax return, send them the cost basis. And a month later he got a letter saying Yeah, it was 19 grand. So he went from freaking out like, oh my gosh, how do I owe $19,000 to getting a letter saying you don't owe us anything? I mean, I don't know what a better feeling than that, than getting a letter back from the IRS saying, actually, no, you're It does make a difference when the accountant writes the letter. the IRS agents, they don't always interpret That's definitely one of my favorite stories. Anytime I can connect with the clients, help them save money or help them explain things to them because I get it. Taxes are complex and they're always changing the laws and there's always new things. So I love explaining things to clients and breaking it down a way that they can understand it Yeah. And those, and that letter, that letter you're talking about, I have seen a lot of business owners. Well, actually just taxpayers, anybody get a letter like that and just throw it away. Like I, or, or, or put it in the drawer. Don't look at it. Like it's too scary. I don't want to deal with it. And that's like the wrong thing to do. And the reason why we are Buffalo finances is because we want to face our storms like the Buffaloes do. And so when we get a scary letter, we don't want to ignore it. We want to charge at it directly. Like, And we're going to call the IRS. We're going to figure out what they're talking about, because maybe they're right, and we don't know something. But they're probably misguided Yes. I have definitely seen that in other cases, helping other clients, that they have received letters. And when I've contacted the IRS, they're like, oh, that was actually an error on our part. So I'm like, even they make errors. Even the IRS can make mistakes. So I think it's always good to take those letters head on, If they think something's wrong, they're going to charge penalties and interest and And it keeps accumulating. If you just, if you look away, next thing you know, you know, time has gone by. Now those penalties and interest. Yeah. We had this poor gentleman that came to us and he'd been trying to solve this issue forever. And, um, what happened is like back in 2017, like seven years ago, he, he, something didn't get filed, um, the way the IRS thought it should get filed and they didn't catch it in 2017. They caught it in like 2022. So like five years later, they hit him with this huge penalty, like a $5,000 penalty. Not cause that's how extreme it was. Cause it was actually very small. Um, it was less but they called it, I don't remember the exact name of it, but like, like fraudulent, basically that he misreported on purpose and they were going to hit him really hard for that. And there was no, like the only way to get out of that was to pay it and then explain why it wasn't intentional because they thought he was trying to break the law like a criminal. He's like, no, I just, I set the form in the way I thought I was supposed to. I used TurboTax and filled out their form and he just didn't fill it out right. He did owe Right. And I feel like a lot of people that want to save and they think like, well, I'm going to save on taxes and spend money somewhere else. Like, yeah, I'll do it myself, or I'll do this. It's like, sometimes they don't realize they're making a mistake doing it themselves. They're like, like, well, the software is doing everything like, well, you don't understand what you're doing, right? That's how you can make mistakes and get letters from the IRS. So that's why you need a good accountant and a good team, you know, helping you do your taxes. And right, well, it depends on your situation, too. So I'm I'm fine with people using the do-it-yourself software. We encourage people that have simple situations. You have a really basic scenario. But if you get into something with complicated transactions or anything that's like a side hustle or business, those softwares do not hold your hand for you to get it in there. I remember when when cryptocurrency first came out, there was no way to enter transactions correctly. You really had to do it yourself and attach it, the tax return. Now it's better, but the cutting edge things, it's Well, we got more questions. I can't see them. I have to turn my head. So we talked about customers. You mentioned obstacle in your journey. So can we go back to that one? So we're all on a journey. So it sounds like at one point, accounting was, you wanted to do accounting, you finally got a job in accounting, and then you want it to be more than a job. Like, hey, I don't want it just to do this one thing. I want to grow and really sounds like you wanted That's how I think of it. Yeah, I definitely do. But before even, you know, getting to where I am now, I definitely had my fair share of struggles. And I guess a personal struggle is when I'm married to an active duty Marine that every three years is like, all right, the time is ticking. We have to get up, sell our house, we have to move. And I feel like for me, once, you know, after getting married to him and having her first daughter, that I kind of put my life on hold. I'm like, well, I'm only 11 classes away from getting my accounting degree, but let me follow your journey and your dreams because, you know, I knew from the beginning how much the military meant for him. And I knew he wanted to do it all the way to retirement. So he wanted to do 20 years since the moment I met him. So I didn't want to be selfish and take that away from him. So I put my life, you know, my personal and, professional career on hold to Yeah, it was a tough decision because, like I said, I was 11 classes away and then I had to drop, essentially drop out of Brockport University Yeah, to move to California. Too close to Canada. I No, I mean, it's like not super far away, but yeah. So yeah, I had to put my, you know, my life on hold, stop going to school, you know, move away from friends and family to a new territory in California, which Yep, for a period of our time, we were in Malibu, but as soon as we moved to I was there by myself. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to finish my degree. I even applied to San Diego University and got in and everything, but I'm like, who am I kidding? I can't be a full-time student right now. My husband's deployed. and I have a one-year-old. So I was like, you know what? When the time is right, I will go back to school and finish this. So I just focused on being a mom and a wife for a very long time until I was like, I'm ready to go back to the work field and I'm ready to Yeah, but I think that's noble. So because it's like our society for some reason wants every Teach your kids stuff and you have to be a good spouse and you have to be a great career, career woman too. You gotta do all the It is definitely hard to try to juggle all those three things that you mentioned, but yeah, you know, I got to a point where I was like, all right, you know, I've given all my time to my family, to my kids. So once they started school, that's when I was like, okay, I had a boy and a girl. They're both, you know, in school So yeah, then you can switch gears. Now I'm going to Yeah. So then I decided, I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go back to school. I enrolled I like that. I went to a Christian school too. Oh, really? Yeah. So even though I couldn't go on campus because, hello, I'm a busy mom as well. So I decided, I'm like, I'll just finish it at this Christian university online and then just at least get my degree, finish what I started because I always had that urine of like, I want to get my accounting degree and like continue the path that I was meant to be on. That's kind Absolutely. Yeah. It definitely took some time to get there, but yeah, I mean, I already have, you know, some of my next goals, which are definitely to start studying for the EA exam. That's definitely one of my next goals to, you know, keep like leveling up and just being better and offering more knowledge to And they're like pretty long, each part, each I believe it's three separate tests. There's individual business and To look ahead for your next challenge. So that's Yeah. I am curious where you imagine taking Talk about our structure. We're trying to create Um, enough structure. So you can step all there's always a level of step two, which involves training team members to, so that we, we round every team out. We operate in pods. So we want to have a full pod. of people working together. And Right, absolutely. So I definitely want to have the right skill Good luck. Manage it out. No, right, I want to make sure I have the correct skill sets so that I can be successful managing a So is that what you want to do? You want to just keep having I do. Yes, absolutely. And then hopefully we can maybe even bring some Spanish clients. I would love to slowly, you know, bring the Spanish community here too and I'll do all the translating. Right. We definitely want to do that because we believe in small business and we will help any small business, but blue collar is like what we're most Mostly because I think we, our goal is to make it easy. You know, I'll figure this out. Whereas I've, I've been other firms where it's technical and complicated. And the focus is more, Hey, we're going to, we're going to only help really And like, that's a different type of world. Like it's high quality and it's a place for it. Like with the big four and you know, then the next six through 10, like that's what they focus on, but Just easily getting compliance, easily figure out what their numbers say and then make decisions. Hey, how do I make more money so that I can. help the community even more, because that's what I think small business does. If we save money here, we're going to keep it We're not going to send it to like, you know, somewhere else, a different country or something. Yeah. No, I absolutely agree with that. I feel like my personality already is like pretty easygoing and I love, you know, making clients feel that ease of like, Hey, you don't understand. It's fine. I will explain it for you. Like I will take care of it for you. So that's definitely my number one goal to make Well, you like to get on the phone, which is good. Not get stuck No, not stuck. But I feel like my personality is like I could send a really long email or I could just do a quick phone call and just by them hearing my voice and they could hear like how sincere and genuine like I care so much about their concerns and problems and their tax questions or whatever questions they may have. I feel like whatever question it is, like, I want to own that and help them. And they could hear that on the phone, you know, like you could hear someone that truly wants to Absolutely. But people, the blue collar, small business owners, so the plumbers, the electricians, truck drivers, do a lot of truck drivers. They want to be able to make a phone call, get someone on the phone. Probably not going to answer that second, but at least they'll talk to someone and say, this is my And it's better to talk to someone on the phone. I try to call these giant corporations. I just never... Get a hold of someone. Yeah, I never get a hold of someone, or if I do... That's not the right person. They're in India, and I can't understand them. They don't know what I'm talking about, you know? I mean, I like Indians, but they don't, they can't connect with an American. There's a language barrier, right? If you're not understanding someone when you're having a conversation with them, you're like, well, I'm not sure what you said, so how can I feel comfortable determining if And we just opened up text messaging. Oh, I love that. I'm excited about it. Now, it costs money. It's like four cents per text message. But you Yeah. I think clients will definitely appreciate that. The ones that are like, I'm so busy, I can't even have a phone call, but I can send a quick text. Well, people in the construction world and in the trades, they can't open a laptop up. It's hard to do that when You have no time to get on the laptop. You're like, you're go, go, go. Well, there's a saying in the trucking world, which is, if the wheels aren't turning, you ain't earning. So they have to be moving When you have a team, you can stop a little bit more, but still, you don't want to spend all Right. Absolutely not. You want to focus on the business and making money for the business. And then your accountants will, you know, your We'll count the cash and say, this is how much came in, this is how much went out, this Right. So when we talk to our clients, they have all kinds of problems. Are there a few that just keep coming up that you deal with that probably Like mistakes they commonly make that they just Something that I see pretty often is, honestly, it's clients I do see that pretty often. You know, sometimes like, are you sure you didn't get any other forms? You know, did you sell a home? I will try asking. No, Yeah, we need your settlement statement that says how much you got for Exactly. Or that, yeah, when they sell a home, they don't realize that. They're just like, oh, you needed that information? Oh, you needed my cost basis? Like things that, you know, they're not accustomed to. So I just feel like you need someone that's like, all right, I need to make sure I'm asking these, you know, the right questions because So I think it's simple too for them to just be like, Oh, I got 20 different interest tax forms, but I forgot to upload six or I forgot to give you this information. So that happens pretty often than not. I have seen that just simply forgetting some really important forms. Yeah. And then you get a letter from the IRS in a few, in like six months. saying, hey, we adjusted your tax return based on what we knew, which was that you sold a $400,000 house. We just assumed Yes. And you know what a lot of what I've realized that a lot of clients don't know is like the IRS knows. Yes. They're like, how did they know? I'm like, because it also gets reported to them. So I feel like that's something I've had to explain, you know, They could come pretty close. We do have information when it comes to expenses that we incurred that don't get reported, which are in our favor to report. But the IRS knows enough information Right. Especially for the personal returns. And that's where I have seen that happen before. They're like, hey, why did I get those letters? Like, well, you didn't Well, if we're really savvy, it takes more time, and so we like to do taxes as fast as possible. But we could pull people's transcripts when they post, which is probably about this time of year, like in June, is when they should be available for every individual. And if we pull a And they told us they gave us everything. But you're right. If we miss a form like a 1099-S, is it S or S-A? S. S. When they sell a house. When they sell a house, yeah. Right. Now, Corey is very precise. Well, He's right in saying that if you don't get one of those forms, sometimes you don't. You don't have to report it, But I like to report it to make sure the IRS knows, yep, we did Like if you sell your personal house and you're married, you have half So that is really nice. Yeah. Like for example, I'm working on a current tax return where someone's like, I just sold my house and I have to, you know, ask all these questions like, okay, well, what's the cause basis? Do you have any improvements, you I'm not sure. I'm going to have to dig receipts or information, you know? So I'm like, this isn't, even if it's not kind of how you said, like, even if you don't technically have to report it because it didn't meet the track, you know, like you, if you're married filing jointly, it's 500,000. it's still good to put on your tax return. Me personally, you know, I think it's good that the client sees that like, hey, we didn't miss it. This is on your return. And then the IRS has that information, even if it's not taxable. Right. Yeah. Well, what other questions do we have here? We talked about obstacles. We didn't talk about business beliefs. This one might be a little tougher. you. So I'll ask it in this way. So now that you're into your career, you've been doing accounting for a while, you probably have a really different, you have a much deeper understanding of accounting in the business world than you did when you first started when you were in college. So can you think of something that you expected the business world would be like, the accounting world would be like when you're in college that is Right. I definitely felt like before I had this, you know, I guess preconceived notion thinking like, Oh, accountants are just like number crunchers. They're like, Oh yeah, the door is closed. Like they're not talking to anyone. All they're doing is like doing number stuff all day long. And yeah. I feel like accounting is so much more than that. And that was my conception when I was, you know, young, being in college. I'm like, all right, this is good. I don't have to interact with anybody. I got numbers. And then, you know, I found out I was like, I love talking to clients and I love showing them like, hey, this is where we could save you money or let me break down your financials for you and show them the value of an accounting firm and team. And I feel like I didn't realize that at first. We're not just number crunchers, we're so much more than that. We're helping them make decisions, letting them know where their money went. So I feel like it definitely taught me a valuable lesson. You have this perceived notion Yeah, it's true. The more we talk to clients, the I agree. I feel like there's so much value to offer into having a relationship and explaining things and taking the time to sit with them and explain things to clients go some such a long way. And they trust you like they trust their account and they put so much trust and value in us. I just feel like to me, that's more important than, you know, my thoughts of like, oh, they're just crunching numbers, and We are taking that huge headache of preparing financial statements, preparing tax returns. That has to happen. Of course. But the real benefit is when we get to say, hey, this is how you could influence those results, right? This is how you Yeah. So I want to ask the question back to you. So what are some thoughts that, you know, maybe you think differently now, even being a So many. So actually the way I actually consider it is I am a different person today than I was five years ago, definitely for sure. And what's strange is I can't even remember what it's like to be the old me. And that's true for everybody. I severely discount what it was like to not know something. So just the stuff I know now, I know what I know and I have expertise at finance and at business and specifically waste hauling. And I don't know right now what it's like to not be that person. I can't forget who I am. And so to have someone sitting across from me that doesn't know something and they need my help, I'm just like, how do I get you from where you are, which is stressed out about taxes and finances, and you're just in turmoil to the place where you're at peace about it because it's fine. It's going to be okay. Um, and so through that transformation, I find it very, it's really curious about how we, how God puts us in scenarios where we're gonna learn stuff. And if we, we just attack the obstacle and just let it change our life, how Yeah. So, so to say in summary, um, I've discovered that I really enjoy the unknown and the risk. an adventure that comes along with it. And I used to be terrified of it. I used to be totally terrified of not knowing stuff and I'd get paralyzed by analyzing stuff. And now I'm like, well, why don't we try it and we'll find out and then we'll know for sure. And yeah, we're going to screw it up. We're absolutely going to screw it up. Let's get started. Let's screw it up now. I absolutely love that. I love that mindset that you have. Because I feel like as a leader, which you are, it puts us at ease. I'm like, OK, well, that makes me feel good. He feels like even if we mess up, we're doing our best here. So I It's fun. It's really fun. And it stresses my wife out like crazy. So I don't know. I try not to tell her everything that I'm thinking. And, you know, I have this thing now where But at least you're already putting it out there like, hey, it may not be the best, but let's try it anyway. Let's give it a shot. Yeah, I Well, um, on top of that, I've become a reader. So I read, I read a lot. I'm trying to read a book a week. That's And I'm doing pretty good. I don't know my exact count. Um, and So, um, I've read a lot of good ones and some really bad ones. I have a whole shelf of books here. Some are great and some are horrible, but I bring it up because I like to know if there's anything that you like to read, specifically because you said you listen to books on tape. Do you like storybooks? Do you like nonfiction? Right. I feel like I do, um, I would say nonfiction books as well. And as of right now, I feel like every time I start a book, you know, life gets in the way. I'm like, I'll finish it later. So I feel like maybe one of my goals this year is like finally finished. At least, you know, I think it's been three years now where I start something, like a book specifically. And I'm like, oh, there's so many other things on my to-do list at home and, you know, my personal life that I'm like, I'll finish that book later. So I would love to, like, for example, I So I bought it, and I think I read a few pages. I'm like, I'll finish this later. So I feel like I would love to read that one. And then I have other ones that are audiobooks on my phone that I've recently bought. Some are psychology and business ones. So I'm just fascinated by learning new things. Definitely wanting to finish a whole book So to read fast is not that challenging. It's a skill. So there's probably 50 things you can do to read faster. But the number one thing is to take your left hand when you're reading. If you're reading a book, audio book, I don't know how to help you there. But if you're reading a physical book, take your left hand and just use your finger as a pointer. and just follow the words. And because it's your left hand and you use your right brain, right side of your brain to read, there's a That's why I wanted you to use your left hand. And using it as a pointer, And we accidentally read backwards, like 20% of what we read. So you end up reading way, way more than you're That's my first tip. Yeah, I have about a hundred. Well, I Yeah, definitely one of my goals is to finish the hard books that I have at home and also the audiobooks that I've purchased throughout That's good. Yeah. I have Audible and they automatically I just, me personally, I just buy it with my iPhone. I'm like, oh, this one seems Yeah, or my mom, she loves to read, so. Oh, your mom? She always recommends me books, and I'm like, okay, I'll buy that, and Well, let's pull this out, so, because we're talking about it. I remember from this, this is a very good book, Atomic Habits, is that there's four components that make up creating a habit. And you have to just affect those to build the ones you want. And I don't know where it is in here. There's The four laws. It says you It says there's the problem phase and solution phase. So you have a cue. I'll Can you cue me? That triggered me. I am very triggered. Then So what's your, what's, what's a good trigger? We'll try to Yeah. All right. So you have a trigger. Okay. Yeah. So Right. So the trigger is, Hey, when I, when I get behind my wheel, First thing in the morning, I want to go get Starbucks. So then you have a craving. That's the craving. Then you have a response. You drive to Starbucks and then reward. You get your drink. Yay. That's a habit. So you need to, you can affect all these different things. You can have, you can, when something triggers you, then you get a craving. And so you have to change the response to what you want it to be. if Well, and the reward can be very powerful. So this whole book is So if you, if I, I'm trying to think of a, I haven't really implemented this recently. What's a good thing we could actually sink our teeth into? And it's very common for us Americans to want to turn the TV on, sit down on the couch and watch TV like that. And then we're just watching TV. So the cue is walk in the door. The craving is I want to relax responses from the TV on. So those are, that's unhealthy. We need something different. So what if the response was, I So to get that to happen, you just need a good reward. What's the reward that I only get when I go for a walk with my kids? Maybe it's a snack. I can have a snack when I Right. Yeah. Or maybe when you're watching TV, you probably have a favorite drink. So we're just going to take that drink with me I drink Zibia right now. Oh, okay. Which, I don't know if it's healthy. It's not sugarful. It's got this, the But I could drink like 10 of those. So I just grab one healthy thing. That's a good way to balance it Well, I encourage you to read more Atomic Habits. This is like one of the best books right now. It's a really Someone recommended it to me and I'm like, okay, I'm going to buy it. And But now I need to actually, you know, take some time and Like you said, practice the finger movement and yes, reading some time So reading is a habit you want. So you need to set up a trigger that'll get you to read, right? When do you read? What's the reward Do just to just work on this, have a certain number of pages you do like, oh, And after the 10th page, you get to have something. Yeah, I Lately, I've been doing cause I want to cut back and be healthier. I've been doing like fruits, mainly berries and yogurt with Well, you've been biking. So tell me Yeah. So I am doing a hundred day challenge with the Peloton. So before the challenge started, I had already done 23 days nonstop, but Pretty much this takes me to the beginning of September. So I am excited and I'm committed all summer long. So you could do the workouts on the bike, or if you have Yep. You could do. So yeah, so it has a ton of different workouts. You could do weightlifting, so many things with just using the app. So right now I've been doing just biking, but pretty soon I'm going to start doing both. I'm going to do like biking and So what trigger do you have to exercise for the Yeah, so what I've learned the past few months is that when I leave it for the nighttime, I'm just so tired of doing so many things that I'm like, you know what, tomorrow. So now Yeah, so I'm like, you know what, Knowing I have kids and I need to give them time too. So I'm like, I don't want to take time away from the kids. So I'm like, all right, I'm going to wake up early at five. So I've been waking up at five every day. You're a better parent than me because I definitely like, all right, kids, I So I would do that too. But just seeing them like, hey, mom, I want to hang out with you. I'm like, OK. You know what? So that's why I changed it. And now I've been waking up at 5 every The craving is you want Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I do want to go back to sleep. But I know, you know, the health benefits of like, right, working Yeah, it feels good. It's good for you. So I want to be 90 years old one day and be like, Hey, I feel pretty good. And I mean, so right, right. I feel like I'm trying to see long term, like, I need to make good changes and habits now so that I can get to an old age. And actually, my grandma lived, my Maybe not, because she was in Cuba, but you know, definitely she Yeah, she was definitely active. You know, didn't really eat any junk food or anything. Pretty healthy for the most part. I'm like, I definitely want to continue in those footsteps. I'm like, I want to be healthy, make the right changes. I think it's easy to just slip up and, you know, go get your Starbucks drink and No. And have the treats you're in there. But I was going every day to Starbucks. So I'm slowly like, okay, once a week or That could be a reward. If you did your exercise, you get this reward. It just has to fit in with your nutrition plan. I'm learning that you need carbs. I used to cut them out a lot and then I'm like, my energy level Back when I lived in California, which means is one day I would do really low carbs and then the next day I would do really high carbs. Oh. And that's probably when I looked my best when I was alternating like one day, like very low, almost no carbs or very minimal carbs. And then the next day would be like a high carb day or then a moderate carb Yeah. So that's how I look in good shape in California because I would do this weekly carb cycle. So yeah, I used to, I think I started it when I was like 18 years old. I've always been very like, so awesome. I've always been very like shy and maybe too girly. So my mom was like, we need a tough. So it was actually her idea. She was like, you know, I think it'll be good for you to do like a sport where, you know, You're punching people in the face? You're punching people and you're doing things like really, really out of your comfort zone. Like for me at first, that was really hard. I'm like, I have to hit people and they have to hit me back. Right, yeah. But I feel like for me, it was just You know, I don't think I could even hit a fly. I was just very like, no, you Oh, gosh, probably horrible because I was I remember the sensei telling me like, all right, Sandra, you need a fight. And just me feeling very like torn. I'm like, I actually have to hit this girl, you know? So I feel like, you know, once the first few times I did it and I was like, okay, I guess I can do this. I guess I can fight people and train. So it's just like a mindset thing. The first few times it was scary and I really didn't want to hit people, but you just kind of got in a routine and we did all different types of things and mixed martial arts, boxing, jiu-jitsu, so That's where most fights end up, like street fights. Yeah, right. Exactly. And he did teach us like a lot of techniques and like, hey, in case anyone, if you're out and about, you know, like pressure points, And I was like, how would you take someone down? now I mean I feel like I am I'm a little bit like I would need to get polished up again because it's been that long but I definitely don't want to give any tricks or tips at the moment but back My daughter did jujitsu and we talked we talked about her training and how you have red and green zones. So a red zone is when you're within striking distance of someone. You don't want somebody to be able to punch you in the face, right? So you want to be, they're too far away, so you're in a, that's green, you can't hit me, you're too far away, so I can keep backing up if you approach me. Or if you get really close, then I need to grapple you. And then that's going Right. No, that makes total sense. I guess they didn't, it was because we were old. They didn't Well, I want to know what my daughter was going to do with these skills. Like, what are you, are you going to hurt someone? And if you, if you're going to use it for defense, No, but she's tough. Like she lifts weights at school every day. She's doing bench press with her friends after school. Like, what's going on here? Oh, we're just bench pressing. No big deal. That is amazing. I love that. I think that's good. That's good for I want her to get into flag football. She loves volleyball. Yeah. So related to our, our, our listeners that are business related business minded people and specifically talking about habits and doing healthy things. Are there any, I wonder if there's any habits that they, we should encourage them to develop, um, that we've seen successful in our lives. So like we're the money people and we're specifically trying to help people gain more. Well, like because I feel like it's easy to cut corners and to be like, well, I won't hire anyone for payroll. I'll just write my own checks and forget to pay withholdings. And you're just getting into a zone where you don't want to be. You don't want to get those letters. I feel like being compliant and doing your best if you want to do it yourself to have really good record keeping. But I personally think If you have a good business, then you need a good accounting team to take that burden away from you. So you can focus on the I think what happens with most small business owners is that they will bring a family member on board, a wife or a sister or a mother. And that person might not be trained. Either they're not trained at accounting or they're just doing it because they got roped into it. They feel bad for their brother or husband or whatever it is, and they're just doing it to help them out, and their heart's in the right spot, but inadvertently, We get so many books, so many people's records, and we're like, this is completely wrong. What do you do with this information? I don't know. I'm supposed to I'm supposed to put it in my QuickBooks account. Yeah, well, it's not useful and we have to undo a whole year's worth of stuff, right? Yeah. No, that makes total sense. Right. Like they're trying to do it themselves, but, you know, it's actually making it harder on them because they're just entering numbers and they're not really sure, like, you know, are they doing it the right way? Or like, why are they even doing it this way? So I feel like to have like someone Thank you for joining us for Waste to Wealth. We hope that you keep thriving. God Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Waste to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you connect with us on social media and subscribe to the show wherever you consume podcasts. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and tell a friend about the show.