Episode #104 Organising Personal and Professional Budgets

• Cashflow Forecast Spreadsheet
• Podcast – Managing Money in a Small Business
• Podcast – Changing your beliefs about money
• Off The Hook Bookkeeping – Website
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• Off The Hook Bookkeeping – Instagram

Summary keywords: Professional budget help, personal budget, how do you plan for retirement, savings plan, bookkeeper

Organise your personal budget and get professional budget assistance

Angie Martin  0:01 

Good morning, everyone. Hope you're having a wonderful start to your day today. Once again, I am Angie from the savvy team. And thank you for joining us for another episode of The Bookkeepers Voice. Today, I want to do a big shout out before we actually start to Sharon in Casa Grande, who is the owner of passion business advisors, and a savvy member who loves the podcast. And she said this to me the other day, how she feels like she's always with a friend listening to the episodes. Thank you so much. And you know, Sharon's, not the only one who has said this before, this is exactly what we want the podcast to be. We love your support with it. We love getting your feedback and continually improving as we go. This is something that's still relatively new to the company. But we've always wanted to make it like you're just sitting down with a friend and having a chat. So thank you, Sharon, for saying that you said that the other day to me and it made my day. So yes. Now today, I am joined once again by Sharon Smith, the senior bookkeeper and financial advisor of Off he hook bookkeeping. And we are going to just be discussing one of Sharon's favourite topics, the importance of organising your personal budget in professional budgets. Thank you so much for joining me again, Sharon.

Sharon Smith  1:41 

Not a problem. Glad to be here with you.

Angie Martin  1:44 

I'm just thrilled you're here again. I am really excited to do this episode, just like last week. You know, bookkeepers, we often are telling our clients how important budgets are. But I find it hilarious. Ironic, I think it's the better word on how we rarely do our own budgets.

How to plan our a personal budget

Sharon Smith  2:11 

On it's not just bookkeepers, it's I many people that don't look at their own own personal situations, and to be able to budget onto their own money to do what they want. So but you're right, it's very ironic, as a bookkeeper telling your client, you should budget this and not having one set up your own personal finances as well.

Angie Martin  2:37 

It's crazy. And you know, setting personal budgets like this, just even take away the concept of doing it for your business for infinite. But setting personal budgets allow you to be able to create a spending plan, not a budget, let's not say budget, but a spending plan to ensure that there's always enough money for you to do that.

How do you plan for retirement?

Sharon Smith  3:02 

Yeah, you can pay your bills, I have fun, I kind of call it more of a savings plan, not a spending plan. That's how I've done it with my children. And, you know, to make it you know, show how it actually works so well with my son, now 27. But when he moved away to uni, he moved three hours away, but I had set these savings plans up is what I called them with my children from the first time Day event money. So they were 15 their first job. And it was like, right, this is what's happening. And because of that he had $6,000 saved in his account to move away from homeless. So this is this is why you know, you need these savings plans, no matter how old you are in life, whether you're that 15 year old or whether you're in your 40s or 50s. I take your money and have that savings plan. I mean, I'm approaching 50 this year, and like I'm already up in thinking so far ahead for my retirement. Yeah,

Angie Martin  4:09 

I'm already thinking about my return. I'm

Sharon Smith  4:11 

waiting to use it. Yeah. But, you know, let's have that savings plan in progress to, you know, cleared it out to do this or do that. And, you know, I've just recently gone through with my youngest child who's 21 in April. She's about to start her first home and we've gone through that savings plan and then the spending plan as you've called it, yeah. How is she going to leave with a mortgage rather than living at home with mom and dad?

Angie Martin  4:40 

They must love having you there to help them like I'm sure okay, well, okay. Don't be a love and hate relationship.

Sharon Smith  4:48 

Love and hate. Yeah,

Angie Martin  4:50 

it's so many of their friends are in that financial situation, but they're

Sharon Smith  4:54 

actually my middle child who's 25 she's actually Through the budgets and everything I've set up with her, has set her boyfriends and her friends up with the same thing so they can plan. Because, you know, and to me, the important thing is that, you know, how many times do people say, oh, I've got red j this week, and I've got this this week, and it's like, I've got no money, then you know, you know, when you're rich, if you can't do it, you know, when your insurances do, Christmas is coming, oh, my God, how it's never

Angie Martin  5:30 

a surprise, it's on the same day. That's why it

Sharon Smith  5:34 

shouldn't be a surprise to people shouldn't have to be good at it, and this is why we develop our cat yet in our own personal budgets, which I adopted, it's very much what I have for my home is what I do for business. It's all the same. I just treat my my wages that coming from my husband and I as a business income. And then what has to be done from that? Yeah, I love it to that money. Yeah, I love it. I would worry about bills.

Angie Martin  6:04 

That's the thing too, by setting I'm gonna keep using your terms here. Okay. Yeah. Setting realistic saving and spending goals within your business, you can access the management and growth of your business in relation to your overall objectives of having the business. So that means, you know, by knowing where you're at with money, and having your spending and savings section, you know, what kind of implementations you can do for your sales and marketing planning for your cash flow projections for your hiring opportunities. That's correct. Um,

Sharon Smith  6:45 

I look it in a way like looking at personal versus business. Yeah, I always set people up in personal ways with a bills account. So all those bills that you know, you pay, you pay your insurance, telephones, electricity, gas, no foxtel, Netflix, it'll come over subscription, all those subscription things that come out every month, you set that up into a separate account, so you never have to worry and you make sure there's enough money going in there. In the same token, that's what we need to be doing in in business, a GST savings account. So every week, you know how much your sales are, put that money away for GST, you know how much your wages are for the week, get the tax and the super that you've paid on your wages, and put it in that account. So when it comes time to pay in your bass, behind your superannuation, you should never have to worry about it. Because you've been budgeting for that every week, or every fortnight. However, often you do that transfer into that separate bank account. So it shouldn't ever have to be that issue that you need to worry about.

Angie Martin  7:54 

I know it sounds so easy. And I know it's something that we always say to our clients. But to be honest of all the people that I talked to I don't I think like 80% of our clients don't do it.

Sharon Smith  8:06 

Now they don't.

How to create a personal budget as a bookkeeper

Angie Martin  8:07 

You know, and it's it's crazy, like I know, as bookkeepers we know, that's what we're supposed to do, but we just don't do it. So yeah. kind of thinking, yeah, what I was thinking is, you do it, but why do you think so many of us don't?

Sharon Smith  8:27 

Ending habits. And I'm going to use your term spending. A lot of people just, you know, to take that old fashioned term. It's like, I have a big budget, but I have a champagne lifestyle. Oh, yes. So. And that's what it all comes down to, I'm so used to getting this much money in my bank account every week that I just spend it. And then when this bill comes up, you forget all about it. So it comes, which is why I've taught my children from as soon as I got this very first job, you know, this is what we need to do to set you up for your life. And I'm proud to say that I have three children, my youngest is 20, nearly 21. And they all own their own homes. And why is that? Because we've said as we've done it from initially, and businesses need to be able to do this too. And it's to change those spending habits be able to live for the future. And whether that's living personally or living in your business for the future? What are your goals for the future? I know I have clients that have a goal of opening up four separate salons do she need to save for that? You know, and it's changing those spending habits. And whether that's, you know, you need to market a bit more to increase their income. So you've got the money to put aside to

Angie Martin  9:44 

spend some money to have the money to say,

Sharon Smith  9:47 

Yeah, you've got to spend money to make money. So it's you know, to, you've got to look at that goal of what you want and how you're going to achieve it and what do you need, so you need to put that money away to make it happen or it's like If you're in a cash strapped situation, like, what do we need to do? Where can we cut back on our spendings. So we can afford those things that we

When to get professional budget help

Angie Martin  10:10 

have how you know, you can create such great ideas, and I love your term, the spending and the saving and spending plan. I think it's really great. And it really helps you to do multiple things, both personally and professionally. You know, it helps to keep out of debt, both for yourself and for your business, helps you feel more in control of your financial future. I've been talking to a lot of clients lately. And I think as bookkeepers when we don't feel in control of our finances, both personally and professionally, we get really embarrassed and we get really almost humiliated and terrified to say anything. Yeah, and it's really sad. Because just because you're bookkeeper doesn't mean you're great with finances for yourself.

Sharon Smith  11:05 

Well, that's right. And I think also, you kind of need to learn but also be okay with the fact that sometimes it doesn't work.

Angie Martin  11:12 

Yeah, sometimes you're out of control. You know, I'm a mentor, and I can 100% tell you that I don't always do what I tell other people to do. I'm working on it this year. But is

Sharon Smith  11:28 

it knowing to do it? Yes. Yes. A mechanic's car is never fixed. Exactly. Exactly. But like I do pride myself personally on always having finances or hopefully on personal budgets, at least set but in but something always comes up. I mean, yes. Like, it comes up. You know, I have horses. Yes, there it is.

Angie Martin  11:51 

They are so expensive. Can I just say there is

Sharon Smith  11:54 

always an issue? There is I mean, I'm I am trying to find a bubble wrap suit for them.

Angie Martin  12:00 

What do you find it? Can you tell me because my sister's almost sure I'm

Sharon Smith  12:03 

guessing I will be a millionaire once I work this one out. But always something always happens, whether it's personally or in business, you never know. You drive a motor vehicle, you never know that something's going to happen. Oh, my gosh, you know, the tires just blown out. Because just because, you know, so I'm now up for new tires, whether, you know, that's a small expense to some, but in some businesses, find a lot. It can be a lot, you know, personally, it can be a lot. And in small businesses, you just never know what's going to happen. You can be hacked. And I've seen this in a business before where they were hacked. And unfortunately, the security and backups weren't in place. And they lost everything. So, you know, stuff happens, they can't keep, you know, eat yourself up because of it. But at least if you've got a basic plan and budget in mind that's written down and I do really sincerely believe you should have it written down. That's good. I

Angie Martin  13:03 

agree. Yes, to be honest, I love the mentoring part that we have with Amy with our business plan. Every time I get to the section where it's okay, you need to do your budget, your personal and professional budget. It's always a humming and hawing thoughts in my head. I'm like, Yeah, I know. It's in your head. I want to on paper.

Sharon Smith  13:27 

written it has to be on paper. Yes. And and that way, you know, okay, hang on. So whether it's like, personally, I get paid X amount per week. So I know that I'm going to be spending this much money on groceries, this much money on fuel, this much money on bills. So that leaves me this much money that I can go and have fun with. You need to know that you're you need to know that Normally, I would have this much money. But hey, horse ran through a fence. I've got a $500 vet bill to pay for. So where am I going to get that from?

Angie Martin  14:01 

Yeah. And it just lets you feel so much more confident about your business in yourself. You know, if something happens, yeah, if even I know there was a couple of clients that we had that lost big clients last year before COVID happened, not because of COVID. But before COVID happened. And they were like, I don't know what's going to happen. Because I wasn't checking my money because I had this massive client cash flow was into it. She

Sharon Smith  14:31 

didn't you know, we have these big contracts. It was fine. But yeah, let's talk about COVID how I mean, like, I bought a whole other discussion off, you know, but how, how do you survive? I'm like, I and I know that the job keeper is the only thing that's kept businesses alive. Yeah. Zombies and in some it hasn't even been enough. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You've got to have that actually didn't know until the other company. weeks ago speaking to my husband, but there is actually a thing called pandemic insurance. Yes, there is. Yeah, um, who would think to go and get in pandemic insurance out?

Angie Martin  15:11 

I mean, we haven't had a real pandemic in 100 years. Yeah. Like, there's not been this global kind

Sharon Smith  15:20 

of bottleneck and my generation. But the thing is, as far as that's one thing, businesses need to plan for their spendings and savings plans that What if something should happen, particularly if you're a sole trader? And yes, you are the business? Yes. What if something should happen that you are physically well?

Angie Martin  15:42 

What if something happens to you? What if something happens to your child? I know, when my sister got hurt and had a brain injury over 12 years ago, Neither of my parents could stop working. So I did. Yeah,

Sharon Smith  15:58 

please, yes, I am in business, you need to be able to plan for these and, and it's just like, as I say, our car insurance we have for our cars, I don't ever hope to use it. But it's there. And it really helps my car insurance and house insurance every month. And to me, it's like I'm just donating money away to the insurance companies because I never want to use it. But it's something you need to plan for. For that just in case situation that you're a sole trader, and something happens to your wife, something happens to your mother and you can't work for four months,

Angie Martin  16:32 

something happens to you that they like,

Sharon Smith  16:35 

you know, something happens to you. Hopefully you have the insurance out for that. But sometimes you don't think to have insurance because my wife's been put into hospital. My mother is having heart surgery, things like that. And then you go, Well, I'm expanding, you know, like, climate talk about I want to expand and buy a new excavator. Yeah, how are we going to do this? How are you going to afford it? If you're getting Finance? Have you got the cash flow to be able to pay for that finance to expand? Do you have the income coming in? That's going to pay for that to verify you spending a couple $100,000 on new plant machinery? Yes, yeah. And that's why we do these and why we on paper,

Angie Martin  17:15 

I love how it you know, it makes you more confident, but also just improves your overall money mindset. Because a money mindset makes a big difference, as well. And, you know, we have mentioned about money mindset a couple times. So if anyone wants to learn more about actual money mindset, and how budgets can help you do, please feel free to explore and listen to the episodes I did with Melissa from talking money, because we go into more of that we're not going to go so much into the money mindset today. But we'll have those links in our podcasts bio, for you guys in the description. So you can listen to that if you haven't already. But having a positive money mindset does a lot for when you own your own business. Um, you know, like, I'm sure you would have had some clients that you know, have a bad money mindset, if anything, you're

Sharon Smith  18:16 

thinking of not a client, but a friend of mine? Yes.

Angie Martin  18:21 

I'm someone who has a bit bad money mindset. But

Sharon Smith  18:23 

I think this is actually a friend. And this is a friend in business. And it's a friend in business. And he was over a few beers telling me his plans, and I started laughing at him, and I've gone really shine. Yeah, you know, how we, and like, he was, I think it was a bit put off, but at the same time, like, Oh, hang on, I made him think

Angie Martin  18:46 

yes. And you have to be aware if you have a good positive mindset or not. And it's just about being self aware. Even today, you know, we're doing renovations our entire house. And we didn't know this when we moved in, but the previous owners were massive di wires, and they should not have been. And we have found about 20 to $30,000 worth of work that has had to be added on to the construction yet because of these quote unquote amazing DIY efforts. And you know, we have the money like it's fine, but my point of view because I I don't overspend, I hoard the money. They like a negative mindset on cash. And immediately as this has started to come, I've started to get really overwhelmed really nervous and my partner's like, why don't you need to check your money mindset again,

he said it to me actually today he's like, because I've always budgeted and unneeded to He's like, Don't worry, like we have this like we're fine. Don't worry. Every time something comes up, you immediately go into worst case scenario. Yes. And as a bookkeeper, when you do that, if you're like thought and you have a negative mindset, any hiccup, as a bookkeeper can really impact you. Because

Sharon Smith  20:13 

because it actually subconsciously portray to your client, your whatever it is that you don't even know that you're doing it. So

Angie Martin  20:22 

yes, it can make a massive difference. So by having the personal budgets and the spending plans and saving plans for yourself and your business, it can really improve that mindset and have a positive law.

Sharon Smith  20:37 

I definitely believe that, like if I didn't have all this for myself, personally, I would find it a lot harder to be able to put this across across to my clients and have the confidence to say it can work we can do.

Angie Martin  20:54 

Yeah, I definitely agree. I definitely agree. So what I've done for today's episode to help finish this amazing discussion off is I've created six reasons to have a budget. And I wanted to have a quick they're all like really just cute phrases. Really. I made it. I made it fun. I made it up, don't worry.

Sharon Smith  21:17 

I think fun.

Putting together a savings plan

Angie Martin  21:18 

You got to make things fun. But I want to just chat through the reasons because we quickly went through them the other day, and every time I said it, you were like, Oh, yes. Oh, yes, that's a great one. And it's true, it's Yeah, they're real amazing things for why you want to do savings plans and spending plans instead of just forget the word budget, guys, they're saving plans and spending plan plans. So my number one reason is you can keep your eyes on the prize, whatever that price is. It's that new dress or new pair of shoes that house that car,

Sharon Smith  22:00 

whatever, whatever it is,

Angie Martin  22:02 

yeah, what do you do know? And you can go through that in when you're thinking about your business. Every time I mentor anyone, the first thing that we really do is I talk about their vision. What are you wanting to accomplish? Why do you have this business in the first place? For a lot of bookkeepers? It's so they can work about 10 to 15 hours a week but still have a successful business. So they they can do fun things. They can do things with their family.

Sharon Smith  22:28 

Yeah. Family Time, My Time.

Angie Martin  22:31 

Yeah, if that is your prize, having those plans. So spending and saving plans will get you to that prize – it's great. And you're right, you know, if it's house, if it's AI in that car, like you just got a car, it's very exciting. helps you keep the eyes on the prize, and it makes it more exciting because every time you successfully keep going with your plan, then it's you're that much closer. It's great. Yeah, so that's definitely my number one. Number two is forward thinking like you and I both have are doing it leads to a happier retirement.

Sharon Smith  23:11 

Yeah. I mean, like everybody wants to be able to retire on a million dollars a year. I mean, let's face it, who wants to have only a couple of $100 a year to live on? So? Yeah. It's

Angie Martin  23:26 

It's knowing that you're going to be safe, comfortable. And you're not going to be with me. It's you're not going to be a burden to anyone. You want to still be self sufficient. You want to you know, when I retire, I want to be travelling. I want to have

Sharon Smith  23:42 

Oh, yeah, I'm in a planning mine now.

Angie Martin  23:46 

Yeah. Oh, absolutely

Sharon Smith  23:48 

I want to see this wonderful country of ours. Yeah.

Angie Martin  23:52 

It's it. And by doing the simple, simple things of having the savings and spending plans, it allows you to do that. And it keeps you comfortable knowing that you can do that as well.

Sharon Smith  24:04 

Yes. Yes.

Angie Martin  24:06 

My number three reason is it identifies bad habits.

Bad habits,

Sharon Smith  24:16 

can I bring up?

Angie Martin  24:19 

I was gonna say, I was gonna say I'm pretty sure you know, some bad habits. Absolutely you can.

Sharon Smith  24:26 

I went to review my oldest daughter's budget and savings because she wanted to go and get her own home. We went and did all this savings and spending plan. And oh my gosh, we put down for the last four weeks what she actually spent every cent in her bank account what it was spent on. Yeah, gosh, did she buy a lot of McDonald's?

Angie Martin  24:50 

Really good friend. He's a trading of

Sharon Smith  24:58 

bad habits we need If you want to buy a house, we need to get this bad habit of McDonald's. Yeah. Yeah,

Angie Martin  25:06 

KFC, McDonald's coffee. My biggest thing with my friends is then buying coffee every day. You add up, like, let's say my boyfriend, she has about four cups of coffee a day. And she buys them all out. And it's like, have you ever added up how much you were spending per month? On coffee?

Yeah, but you make yourself.

Sharon Smith  25:31 

That's it. I mean, like, It's alright, to go out and have that coffee. Let's not get you know that. But you've got a look at how much you're actually spending. Because when we did this spreadsheet for Jackie, in the end, it was Saturday with takeout. And in the end, I've gone. There's a line for takeout. And there's a line for me. Because I'm seeing a line for McDonald's. Yeah, because like she had so much that she was spending at McDonald's because she was too lazy to cook. And yeah, it does, you can actually see a lot of bad habits.

Angie Martin  26:02 

Yeah. And it's also to like, I have a friend who bless his heart. He's He's great. He actually lives a really healthy lifestyle. But I found out he was spending about in his partner him and his partner about $100 per week on alcohol. Which, you know, when he drinks whiskey, so to be fair, that was like, two bottles. Yeah, it's expensive adds up. Yeah. But does he need to always have that top shelf whiskey? Could he buy the cheap whiskey? So I'm not taking you know, bad habits? We're not saying to stop your habits. But can they be adjusted? Can they instead of McDonald's every single day? Could it be every other day? Or every three days? Or? You know, if you really need to have those sausage with muffins or bacon, make muffins, whatever they do in the morning, can you make it yourself? And this this can come back to your business bad spending habits as well? Yes, exactly. You know,

Sharon Smith  27:03 

do you really need to have that in the fridge in the kitchen for all your stuff? And you do something else? You know, do you really need that subscription?

Angie Martin  27:12 

My thing is subscriptions is a business. As bookkeepers, you need so many subscriptions.

Sharon Smith  27:19 

So they like it's amazing. Yeah.

Angie Martin  27:21 

It becomes to the point that you forget Which ones?

Sharon Smith  27:26 

Yes, that's it. Yeah. So there's a lot of things in business as well that you can look at the spendings and go, Okay, did you realise that you're buying this this pen? Can we need to stop your spending? So let's just go and get a big borrow instead? Because it doesn't do anything. And we're worried about your cash flow? Yes. So there are bad habits in business as well as personally, that we can stop.

Angie Martin  27:50 

Definitely, definitely. So I thought that was a good one. My number four was ensures you don't overspend. And that happens a lot both personally and annually. Yes, like I said, Do you you know, instead of putting it towards the whiskey Do you need to buy at the top of top of the line new computer? Can you buy a list of one things? Not yet. One that's not maybe big name printed? Do you need to buy?

Sharon Smith  28:21 

Do you need that 32 inch screen? Or can you put up with a 24?

Angie Martin  28:26 

It doesn't need to be new. Can you buy us some used ones now are barely use?

Sharon Smith  28:32 

Let's see. Yes. So there's there's a lot of things and and when you actually have your spendings and savings plans on paper, when you forward plan them, you can actually say, Oh, I have been overspending because when I need to be able to pay this bill or account. I'm not going to have enough money there. So I've got a forward plan to make sure I don't overspend to be able to afford to get what I you know, need to spend.

Angie Martin  29:01 

Absolutely, absolutely. So that's a really big one. And it's also one of those things if you have team members if you do a coffee catch up every week. And you pay for all the coffees do they all need to get larges get they get smalls, or can it be something that okay, every single quarter you're gonna be allocated this mini?

Sharon Smith  29:24 

To me, it's like, do you really need to get takeout? Is it cheap, but actually more efficient? One of those are nice shapes in put a machine in the back and coffee beer, rather than getting takeout every week.

Angie Martin  29:36 

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's just doing those changes where like, you can still spend we're not saying don't

Sharon Smith  29:42 

spend but cannot spend more wisely. And particularly if you are in that situation of overspending. You know if your cash flow was just like loadable, then fine, go out and get the large coffees every year, whatever you want. But it's when you actually recognise that you're over. spending that you need to then look at going. Okay, this is a bad habit that we're doing.

Angie Martin  30:05 

Yeah. And I remember, you know, of course we won't name names, but I remember there was one client of off the hooks that Amy, very early on recognise being like you are way. overspending on every day needed to cut down on everything and there was no need. Like, I don't I don't think the business actually felt the difference. After everything was adjusted. Any means it was just they didn't realise how much that cost

Sharon Smith  30:37 

was doing. Yeah. Well, that's the same with my daughter when I visited her McDonald's expenditure. Yeah. She did not notice that because it just was going out of a bank account. Didn't notice. Yeah.

Angie Martin  30:50 

Yeah. So when you write it down, again, we write it down.

Sharon Smith  30:55 

You notice, you notice what's happening? Yeah. Yeah.

Angie Martin  30:59 

So my next one is also one that we've kind of mentioned already. But it prepares you for emergencies.

Sharon Smith  31:07 

Yes.

Angie Martin  31:09 

Last year was a great year for emergencies between the fire and the between the drought. If the fire there's a fire, and then the flooding in different engines. Yes. It was, that was a great one where I think everyone realised we need to manage our emergency funds Better

Sharon Smith  31:33 

yet, or those that didn't have emergency funds.

Angie Martin  31:36 

They had. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. But yeah, definitely, it's by having the savings plan. That's why I love that so much. I'm totally stealing them. I have a savings plan. It allows you to have those rainy day, just in case something in case you never

Sharon Smith  31:59 

know.

Angie Martin  32:00 

I know with my partner, because he has so many employees, he always likes to have three months of wages sitting in the bank, just in case just nothing happens. And it just adds a bit of stress relief for him if a month isn't as busy as we were projecting.

Sharon Smith  32:20 

Well, that's it and especially if you are in a sales environment, unless it's something that you know, is a consumable that everyone's going to buy every day, then you just don't know what the especially, you know, the tourist industry, I mean, oh my gosh, it's so normally Yeah, you would say Easter. Oh my gosh, we're expecting to get crowds and we're going to add squillions of dollars. Yeah, no. Yes. So what do you do?

Angie Martin  32:51 

But then bookkeepers as well, like, when COVID happened? Sadly, a lot of bookkeepers specialised in the you know, retail and tourism industry and

Sharon Smith  33:07 

then also with bookkeepers it's got to be that you know, yep, that's great. I've got this client, but they disappear. What if they disappear? What if they decide that you know what, I've now got a new girlfriend and she's an accounts wizard and she's just going to do for me? You know, you never

Angie Martin  33:24 

once you get hurt like you said earlier what if you're sitting at dinner and what if you get hurt

Sharon Smith  33:29 

you know, as I have that you need to have that backup, what will you do? How will you survive if you do not have this money coming in? Yeah, it's so

Angie Martin  33:37 

important. That's something that I've always I grew up as an accident prone person. So I always keep something to have for a rainy day just in case you know, I grew up and everyone called me wheelchair girl because for like four years in a row, I was in a wheelchair for one reason or another. I fell down a step and broke my ankle like shattered my ankle. What if that happens to me as an adult?

Sharon Smith  34:02 

And I have six horses in my backyard and one of them every year has antifungal chemo. Yes, this has been my therapy.

Angie Martin  34:13 

Well my sister's horse has asthma and has a big asthma mask and

Sharon Smith  34:18 

yeah, whenever people will be looking at a strangely now going you know,

Angie Martin  34:22 

horse life guys first life it's great. Just let your children toy horses when they were little it will give them ideas.

Sharon Smith  34:33 

What is it that I've always been taught? Teach your little girl to love horses. They will never have money to do drugs.

Angie Martin  34:41 

Very accurate. Yes. Very accurate. And neither will you – you know.

Sharon Smith  34:50 

No as a parent No, you don't have money either. Nope.

Angie Martin  34:57 

Yes. No. And you know you always donated yet? Yeah, my reason is it gives you room to breathe. And I put this as number six, because it's almost equally as important as number one. And, you know, it's ghesquiere eyes on the prize, but as business owners and as bookkeepers, and as human beings, you need to let yourself have a moment. And you need to have that space every once in a while where you're like, I'm in a good spot. And having those plans set out, allows you to do that.

Sharon Smith  35:42 

I've got a great example. That actually is number one, and number six, joining together love it. And it's actually my daughter's best friend. She and her husband are now trying to have a baby. So that's the prize. But they need to say, so it gives them room to breathe. Once that prize arrives.

Angie Martin  36:04 

Yes, I always feel so bad for people who when they like a year into them having a baby. They're like, Oh my gosh, money.

Sharon Smith  36:14 

All right. For me, it's like all these baby bonus things people get nowadays when my son was born, we got nothing. Yeah, it was just like, live off the hubby's wage. And that's what I told her is what don't rely on government handouts when I told her you know, cuz her prize is to be able to have that baby. Yeah. And she needs that room to breathe. Once it happens that she doesn't need to worry about income and having to race back to work, enjoy the baby.

Angie Martin  36:44 

financial stress takes such a toll on every aspect of your life. Yep. And when you do allow yourself that little room. It's amazing how much lighter you feel. And it's so interesting, because because I have that mindset about money. I always feel it. As soon as I get myself back on track. It's like, I'm 10 pounds lighter.

Sharon Smith  37:12 

Yep. It's, it's just like this big weight has taken off your shoulders. Like, I can get my

Angie Martin  37:18 

Yeah. And sometimes it's just me realigning my attitude to lose it and looking at my budget and actually going, I'm fine. It's fine.

I'm perfectly fine. This is okay. It's this is, you know, yes. We're not going to be going

Sharon Smith  37:36 

out

Angie Martin  37:37 

spending $1,000 nights, which we don't do anyways. But, you know, it's, you know, that'd

Sharon Smith  37:42 

be a prize.

Angie Martin  37:44 

You know, it's, it's the Yes. You know, we have to be conscious,

Sharon Smith  37:49 

conscious about spending. But you know, you're still,

Angie Martin  37:52 

you're still fine, you're still absolutely fine. And by having those spending and savings plans. It's just amazing on how different they can be.

Sharon Smith  38:06 

That's correct.

Angie Martin  38:07 

Yeah. And it's something that I would love as bookkeepers us to start doing for ourselves.

Sharon Smith  38:12 

Because and once again, grinding up yourself. So easy to give to clients. Yeah. And he can also be

Angie Martin  38:21 

real life. Like, example, like we've done today. Yeah. How much it changes? Because once you can put it into a real life example, always find the clients understanding. Yeah, they understand it so much more. And it's easier to tell them why it's so important when you're doing it yourself.

Sharon Smith  38:43 

Yeah.

Angie Martin  38:45 

Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. So thank you again, Sharon, for joining me. I love how passionate you are about working on, you know, creating those plans. And yeah, you explained

Sharon Smith  39:00 

it so well. I think I've seen both sides of it. Yeah. Having having a poor upbringing myself growing up on the on a farm through the drought of the ad. Sometimes there was never enough money to buy milk. Yeah. You know, and then seeing the other side of it with my husband's family come from not come from money, but what that money. Yes, yeah. And it was when I got closer to a financial position, it was like, rise like this. I can see how it's gonna benefit me and my and I'm just taking it, you know, yeah. Always trying to put it to a personal thing. So when I'm speaking to someone, whether it's a friend or a client, business owner, you know, you can really relate to what

Angie Martin  39:50 

you're just so inspiring about it as well. The other week you and I did a session together about our cash flow for savvy And our sales goals. And to be honest that day after I finished up, I was so inspired by the work that we were doing that I actually went into myself and did the exact same. I worked on my personal budget, and I worked on my businesses budget. And I did the exact same thing that we did. And I was just all excited, just because he was so inspiring. And I got kind of like that weird high.

Sharon Smith  40:28 

And that's it. And that's what gets me sometimes is people make it too hard. And and it really isn't, isn't it? Yeah. And if you do explain it, like I've done like, when we sit down with our session for Sunday, and budgets, it's not hard, it's easy. And make it easy, then people are more inclined to follow. Absolutely be able to get it done.

Angie Martin  40:53 

Absolutely. So just thank you so much. And I hope this inspires our listeners to kind of do the same. And, you know, by no means did we do this session this episode, because I think everyone's bad at it. Most of you are all amazing of it. But there has been questions that people have been wondering, and I thought it would just be a really great opportunity to get excited. And to you say in such a great way, it would be amazing if others can learn how to say it now to their clients to also get their clients excited. Because I know it's always a battle to do the budgets and go through it with clients. And

I think yes, could make everyone's life easier and help their clients.

Sharon Smith  41:39 

And you know, and at the moment, this is the most perfect time to be spending clients. Because of COVID. Like, Hmm, I don't want to be locked down again. I mean, you guys in New South Wales, and everywhere else, we're very, very lucky. But here in Melbourne, having that big lockdown where people know shops or open manufacturing was closed, and unless it was food related, you know, we don't want to get into that situation again. So now is a good time to be speaking to our clients and asking them, what are their financial goals? You know, what, how did COVID affects them? Is there a way that we can help them? In case this happens again? And God forbid, it will not be fine. But

Angie Martin  42:27 

yeah, no. And, you know, it's just, it's so handy to have it. So thank you, again, for coming out and sharing all your expertise. It's really appreciated. And if anyone would like to say hi, Sharon, or you know, even asked her question, please feel free to join our I heart bookkeeping Facebook group, just make sure you do answer all of the questions that we ask. Because if you don't we don't let you in. You have to answer the questions. There was two people that tried to get in I think it was yesterday, and you didn't into the questions. So I didn't do you got to answer them, guys. But all you have to do is, you know, take Sharon, and you can go in and do a post and say anything you'd like she's in there. But you know, it'd be great to just also have you guys part of the meeting.

Sharon Smith  43:24 

Yeah, yes. Yes,

Angie Martin  43:27 

yes. So with this podcast as well, we are going to be doing our usual putting into a blog. So all of the main topics that we've just spoken about will be put into a blog for you so you guys can reference. And we will also have that cash flow product that we were talking about in our last episode, where it's a full template that you can get to help you do cash flows and kind of get inspired again to then do some budgets with your clients or even with yourself. Oh my gosh. So we'll definitely have that available for you. So thank you again, Sharon. Do you have any, any last minute words of wisdom about your savings plans are

Sharon Smith  44:13 

just have fun with it as well, you know, don't be scared to put in your spending plan. Something that you'd really like, you know, in that new pair of shoes, yes. It's

Angie Martin  44:23 

important, you know, what's the point of having money to spend it?

Sharon Smith  44:30 

I do that all the time with my kids and and with the businesses, have fun with the businesses doing all of this, you know, really get in and find out where they want to go and say okay, but you know, you really want to buy that new Land Cruiser for the business. So let's work out how we can do that.

Angie Martin  44:46 

You know, celebrate when they get closer. Like that's right.

Sharon Smith  44:49 

I love celebrate this. Yeah, right. Don't be too bad on the losses. Yeah.

Angie Martin  46:00 

Um, make sure you listen to part two, I will put in the actual Facebook page, part one in part two. So you can watch this in the correct order. Sorry about that. knology I cannot wait to have my office back on telling

Sharon Smith  46:18 

you that won't be long won't be long.

Angie Martin  46:20 

We keep telling ourselves up.

Sharon Smith  46:23 

Yes, yes.

Angie Martin  46:24 

Now, we will get going today. But if anyone has any other topics that you want, Sharon specifically to talk about, please let us know. Because she has a lot of words of wisdom. And I would love to have her back on the show as well. One more episode to do next week. And if there's something else I could reel her in to do again. I think it would be great.

Sharon Smith  46:52 

Yes. Awesome.

Angie Martin  46:53 

Well, thank you again, Sharon. And we will see you guys later.

Sharon Smith  46:58 

Yes.

Angie Martin  46:59 

Well, Happy Thursday.

Sharon Smith  47:00 

Happy Thursday.

Angie Martin  47:04 

Bye, guys.