Hello, folks, and welcome back to the Talk of All Trades podcast, where we talk to various guests who work in the trades and or own small businesses. Today, our guest is Alexis, CEO and sales team leader of the Accounting Therapy Group based here in San Pedro, California. She is an experienced bookkeeper, among other things, who will give us a little insight into that line of work as well as her involvement with small and large businesses. Thanks for joining us, Alexis. Happy to be here.
So I want to get into sort of the genesis of how you got into this. Tell us a little bit about your approach to why you became interested in this line of work and sort of the pathway that follows to it. So to be honest, it wasn't an interest. I was 16. My mom started the business and at 17, I wanted some extra cash and just started doing some basic data entry and reconciliations for her and fell in love with it. I loved dealing with the numbers and seeing the story that the financials told
within people's businesses. And it just fascinated me. And, you know, 25 some years later, I'm still gone. And this is the only line of work you've been in. It's really been a true passion of yours, huh? It really has. I had a moment in time in my very early 20s where I decided that I did not want to work with my parents because they didn't know how to run a business and went out to corporate America.
And I did that for a year and I hated it. And so I decided to come back and build accounting therapy with my mom. So let's rewind a little bit here and go back in time. What did your parents do for work and sort of what made you get involved with what they did? So my mom has been an entrepreneur. She was in the banking industry for my early childhood. And then probably around maybe nine or 10, she started her entrepreneurial journey.
She was a broker for a while. She worked in lending and whatnot. I don't really know what she did. I was young, but and then she. My dad actually opened up a computer store, and she did that with him. She was his back office, basically. And then decided that she really liked what she was doing for my dad and decided she was going to do it for other people. So that's kind of how accounting therapy was born.
And all this, you grew up in the Valley, correct? I grew up in the Valley, and I moved to Torrance when I was in seventh grade. So this happened here in Torrance. So in a way, you're a fixture of the South Bay. You've been here long. You've seen it change to what it has become today. And you're based here in San Pedro, at least your company, correct? Correct. Now, tell us a little bit about who you work for, or at least the companies you help.
Are you mainly local or is it all of California, national? Kind of get into that. So we started out, when we first started out, we were doing on-site bookkeeping. That was kind of the way it was in the days, if you will. And then a little bit before COVID, we started doing remote services for people. And then COVID hit and we realized, you know, we could do what we do, you know, for anybody in the United States. The only difference is we're not
breathing down their necks while we're working. Right. You know, it's all the same services. We can do all the same things and have all the same data, have the same conversations. We're just not sitting in their office. So. Yeah. Well, that's good to hear. I want to get your take on this. And I've been asking a lot of our guests that have come on. How has COVID really changed the landscape of what you work in? I mean, you mentioned it, but let's really get into it.
Oh man COVID it was really scary at first because obviously nobody knew what was happening with businesses and you were hearing all the things about you know having to shut down and whatnot so we were we were really worried about our customer base and what was going to happen and whatnot but then those PPP loans came out and everybody needed good financials and we just blew up I mean we nailed down our processes like everything has just slowly but surely been kind perfected since
2020 because we've grown so fast that it's just like we need to get. We need to get everything nailed down so we can provide the best services that we can. You know what I mean? So COVID really like elevated our efficiencies and all that. And we can serve more people because we're not driving to their location. So where we could maybe service two clients in a day, we can now do eight, you know, one hour meetings. And that makes a big difference, especially on the bottom line.
Sure. Yeah. Now, I always say this with a lot of people that own their own business. Especially with something like COVID that was, that affected everybody is, you know, if you can, I don't want to say take advantage of it, but, you know. See, see something very detrimental to society and the world as a whole and strive through it and become a better person. I mean, it's, I mean, that's a success story like no other. And a lot of people were able to do that. Yeah. And not everybody, of course.
But no, I always love to hear that when it's like, you know, you get a slap in the face from the world and it's like, well, I got to pick up my I got to pick myself up by my bootstraps and figure it out. Yeah. That's how it works. Yeah. But what did I want to go for? So you're an experienced bookkeeper. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about every single thing you are an expert in. I want to know. Every single thing. OK. Okay. And this is hobbies and otherwise. I want to get to know you. Okay.
What am I an expert in? I'm an expert in talking about business. I definitely am. I have a lot of groups that I work with just literally doing just this, talking about business, how to improve business, ways to make things more efficient, whatever it might be. I would say I'm an expert bookkeeper, but to be honest, I've brought in so many amazing team members that I feel have exceeded, you know, my abilities as, you know, I'm in this new CEO role. So. And how long have you been a CEO?
Since 21 it was. 21. Yeah. So I've been the CEO since 2021. That's when we started the retirement or succession planning with my mom. So she's actually set to retire December of next year. Wow. How old is your mother? She is She's 61, 60. No, she's 65. She's 65. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And they still live down here in Torrance? No, mom moved to Palm Springs and dad moved to Hermosa. I feel like Hermosa. Yeah. That's interesting. No, that is the normal trajectory of the California parents.
They go out to the desert eventually. Florida. Well, Florida. Yeah, my parents actually, they're in Florida. However, I'm not from California. I'm from Southern Ohio originally. I've been out here about a year and a half now, but I have family out here anyway. What I want to get into, I did see mentioned, and maybe you can explain this to me. What is a value-added reseller? What does that mean? So a value-added reseller is somebody that not only is selling a product.
So for example, I sell QuickBooks. So I don't only sell QuickBooks, but I also add value to it by providing, you know, workarounds for the products or implementing apps that are integrated with it, or even just training the customer on how to utilize it. We're just basically adding value to the product that we're giving them. It's not just handing them a box and going, go install this software and you're free to do your thing. Yeah, you have to explain things to people, right?
It's the best way to get it done right. Yeah. No, I think that's lost in today's society. I have a big problem with the lack of humanity between transactions, between other humans.
I think that and this isn't a philosophical podcast at all but no I mean there's really in 2024 there's such a lack of you know human interaction at this point we're all stuck on our phones we can talk to anybody we want to in the world yeah however you know you're in the same room as I and we can see each other look or look each other in the face and realize that you know, that there's something there to having that interaction. And I appreciate that as someone who owns a small business.
That's why I like being a handyman. And that's why I imagine you might like doing what you do. A hundred percent. It's all about the people. Right. Now tell us other reasons why you kind of like what you do, right? So, I mean, not only are you an expert in your field. You're the CEO of accounting therapy, but what keeps you, you know, going? What keeps you wanting to do it?
I used to tell people that the best part about my job was walking in the door and seeing the smiles on the business owner spaces because they knew that they were going to have answers to their questions by the time I left. You know, they would have that, whatever it might be, whatever their revenue is, their expenses, whatever it might be, like they were going to get answers that they didn't have when I walked in the door.
It's a little bit different now because I don't necessarily walk in the door but what really keeps me going in you know this technology generation I guess is just having those conversations with clients where they're telling me that you know if it wasn't for you doing this one little thing just this tiny little thing they wouldn't have the ability to make this decision or purchase this thing or hire a new employee, whatever it might be.
Just giving them the knowledge to make better decisions in their business is what really keeps me going. It's just that, you know, making them just a little bit better, you know? No, I totally understand. I feel the same way about, you know, client expectations when I do work for other people. So you work or you help a lot of people in a lot of different industries. We could get into that. Do you, is there a main industry that you sort of do work with or are you just generally scattered?
We're pretty scattered, but honestly, our favorite people to work with are e-commerce people. They just, they think very differently than the business owner who's providing a service or, you know, maybe has a storefront or something like that. They have a there's a there's a different way of business that they think through, I guess, if that's the right way to say it. But they just have a different way of thinking about business.
And they're really quick to pick up on technology. And we're a technology-driven company, so it makes our life a little bit easier. But it's a lot of fun, like solving the problems of all those e-commerce channels out there and trying to get them into one, you know, QuickBooks or one financial file. It's, you know, it could be a nightmare, but it's like a big puzzle. We love that stuff. Yeah. And so I guess my next question is this.
Is that the the largest portion of people you work with are e-commerce e-commerce sellers or just your favorite? Yeah. I don't know if it's the, it's probably not the largest. Do you, I mean, do you have a largest category? That's really hard. Maybe it is the largest. I don't know. I haven't like evaluated my client type in a hot minute. So we have a lot of them. If I had to pick a most, you know, it would probably be e-commerce. I don't know if that's true though. Well, let me rephrase it.
Who are you working with most these days or the past six months to a year?
Or at least you're six months who have you onboarded as new clients yeah the last six months or so it's been mostly e-commerce but historically it's you've been all over the place all over the place yeah you couldn't pinpoint so where who did you first start working with and how did you expand from that category let's say so the first industry that we worked with was real estate actually and our thing was and we only worked with real estate and our thing was basically helping property managers
and landlords come up with rent rolls and those kinds of things like the way that the system was built was almost where they needed it but we would come in and kind of manipulate the lists and the reports and whatnot to give them a clean rent roll so that's really where it started was with with them i imagine that was probably local that was yeah that was very local yeah definitely and then i didn't mean to interrupt But how did you expand from there?
From there, it was actually a friend of my dad's who had a business. And my mom and dad were having a conversation. They're like, oh, I can help Judy out. Like, no problem. Yeah, let's just see what happens. That was a totally different industry. That was somebody who resold or who sold like vitamins and supplements. You know, so that was we went from real estate to vitamins and supplements. Yeah. So that's kind of when we realized, like, we could probably do this for many industries.
And then from there, I can't tell you the third one. I don't quite remember. But just kind of, I mean, it just kind of grew from there. And most of our customers have been referrals. You know, it's just, hey, my friend Bob's got a construction company or, you know, Susie sells candles on the sidewalk or what, you know, whatever it might be, you know, you know.
I got to wonder, what are some of the strangest people you've come across when it comes to that because i'm sure you got some stories i have a few especially in a place like la but i mean and that's i mean that's being local we can go national it's whoever you know strangest we have done adult stores i know a couple in torrents haven't been in them but i i mean they stick out like a sore thumb they do and one of us in torrent yeah i probably it's on sepulveda maybe.
I've seen it. I don't know how, you know, parents are taking their kids to school or whatever. There's like two, at least on a main road. And I'm like, you know, I do a lot of work in Torrance and I'll pass these guys. I'm like, you know, maybe be in the back of the mini mall. I don't know why we need to be on Western. Yeah, we can have adult stores, but we can't have tattoo shops in Torrance. Really? Why is that? I don't know. I don't know.
I mean, that was what may have changed in the last, I don't know, five years or whatever. But for a long time, that was a thing. There was no tattoo shops. Because growing up there, I was like, I want to get a tattoo. And we had to go to Venice Beach. Yeah. I don't know if I get a tattoo on Venice Beach these days. I was 18. That was a while ago. Yeah. Well, yeah, it was a little different. It was probably worse than. Probably. I don't know.
So I want to get into a little bit of local history because I've only been here about a year and a half. I've seen LA at its worst because now is the time. How have you seen, you know, this area change? I mean, you've been here for such a long time. What do you see for its future? What do you wish would come back from its past?
Oh, that's a really good question. One thing I've seen a lot of, and this is probably more recently it kind of went away but it's coming back is small businesses like the store it's it's really nice to see the storefronts popping up and you know having product in there or services in there or whatever it might be this the small businesses are coming back a lot of the corporate like toyota was here not here but in torrance they up and left and it's just i
feel like the the big businesses are you know well they're not leaving they're they just realize it's better to be out of california yeah and so you have this void here where people i mean obviously you know these cities or areas in la or california in general realize you know our economy is going to die unless we need you know we get people to open their own business or get business to businesses to come here obviously i i don't think it's going to change where.
Large corporations start flooding back into California, and I think that's okay. I mean, you need some of them, right? I'm a big proponent of small business. At the same time, I don't think small business... As a whole, you know, will keep the economy growing and strong. How about that? I tend to disagree with that. You think so? In a city this big? I think small, I mean, okay, so let's assume that people are supporting their small businesses. I mean, I totally get that.
But even with that in place, do you think that that's a good business model for the second largest city in the United States? And the largest county in the United States to be run for no corporations to be here, just all small businesses. I think. I think it's a pipe dream of, you know, like maybe I wish that would work, you know, but to me, I don't think it would. But I'd like to hear your viewpoint. I think that having small businesses keeps the money in the local economy.
It's not it's not going anywhere else. It's not going in some guy's pocket who's up at the top of the hill that's got no room for any more bills in his pocket kind of thing. I think if people are opening small businesses, people are supporting small businesses, I think the money is going to be earned in this community or any community for that matter. And it's going to be spent in this community, which means the shop owner is going to earn that money. And it's just going to keep cycling.
I do think that small businesses could support a local economy if people supported it. Now, you try and compete with the Amazons and the Walmarts and the Santa's Clubs. That's not go for work. That's true. No, yeah. Those are big corporations that do keep the money flowing in this economy. But no, I definitely, I like your viewpoint. And I, I don't, you know, you just don't agree. No, it's not that I, it's not that I disagree. I just haven't seen it work.
I need an example of it working. Right. Yeah. And I'm not, this is too extreme of an example to, or too extreme of a comparison, but it's like, it's like somebody telling you that's like communism is great. It could work. And it's like, I haven't seen it work anywhere. I've seen it. In fact, it's decimated. Yeah.
Community so so i mean and i'm not that's too extreme but you know i i just i'm one of those guys where i'm very like i need i need a pragmatic approach to everything where it's like and listen the guy who invented the wheel i probably would have been skeptical about it right of course but at the same time you know it's just these days everything's been tried and done for the most part for the most part i mean you know with with the digital era i mean there's a lot of stuff that can be tried.
I did want to sort of pertain some, the conversation, and I'm going to sound like a broken record to our listeners, but we had, I had such a great conversation with our Longshoreman guests last, it wasn't even last week, it was actually just a couple of days ago. And he works at, you know, Port of LA, Port of Long Beach, been there about 20 years, fourth generation. He's been every, you know, his dad did it, his dad, one of the, I mean, and he's a San Pedro native, really cool guy.
And I mean, really against automation. And, you know, I, I didn't, I didn't really understand why. Right. But he was telling me, you know, when you look at it from an economy aspect, you know, it's like these, these automated machines are not putting any money back into the economy. And, you know, with that said, oh, that's that's what's good about small business.
Going back to that, you need you need there to be a cycle and and small business can do that and it will do that as long as people support them. So I want to move on from that conversation. I want to talk about, you sort of talked about adapting to today's world. I want to go a little bit back into sort of education and all that. So let's say I'm somebody interested in, you know, wanting to do what you do. What path would I want to go down? Okay. So where, you know, where would I get started?
Yeah, for sure. For sure. So the reason why I hesitate is because I have a high school diploma. I don't have a college degree. I, you know, I've done tons of certifications, you know, and I've- You went to El Camino College, though, no? I did, but I didn't graduate. You know, I was a young kid. I was taking ceramics class and, you know, gym class. I mean, I got a ton of credits. You know, my husband always gives me a hard time because I have enough credits
to get a degree, but I don't technically have one. But I didn't study accounting. I didn't- Actually, that's not true. I took one accounting class and it was only because I needed it for for my generals or whatever. But, you know, you have somebody like me who has a high school degree or high school diploma and that's it. You know, I've learned 100 percent through experience and I think I'm pretty damn good at what I do.
But I also have team members who did it the way, you know, a lot of other people think you should do it. And that's going to college, getting an accounting degree. and one of my team members got a master before she decided to look for a job. But there's... It just takes a desire. If you want to do it, you can go the college route or you can just work your ass off and get it and get it done.
Just learn and do it. In terms of my own small business, I've definitely taken the road less travel approach as well. If that's what I'm calling it. I don't have any degree in being a general handyman. I don't think you can get one. That'd be a cool degree. But, I mean, I have my associate's degree in paramedic science, but that's, you know, you need that for emergency health care. But, no, I love talking to people that just say, I want to do this. I'll figure it out.
And, you know, I'm hell-bent on making it happen. Those are my favorite kind of people. Those are small business owners. That's what they are. They're like, you know what? I got this widget, and I love it, and I know the world is going to love it, and I'm going to sell it. or I have this awesome service or I want to do this awesome service and I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to figure it out. You a big Shark Tank fan? Oh, man, I love Shark Tank. You and my mother.
I'll come over and it's on. It's on already. I think it's on tonight, actually. I don't know. They're still doing it. All of those guys got so involved in this last election. Okay, notice. Cuban did. Cuban, very liberal.
And then who's the the mr wonderful guy he's oh he's very conservative david o'leary yeah yeah david maybe i don't know so they were kind of button heads i guess i don't know i don't know i just noticed that but what did i want to talk on so yeah when it when it comes to small business owners maybe maybe we could get into that what would you recommend sort of they do i mean let's say I have an invention, you know, let's say I have something, a showerhead that does things and no other
showerhead does, for instance, how would I go about marketing it, trying to sell it? I mean, obviously, this is not something you do specifically, but you've seen a bird's eye view. Maybe we could get into that. I think it depends on the approach you want to take. There are some people that are like, I have this widget and I just want to sell it locally. And I just want to make enough money to, you know, go on vacation once a year, you know.
Or there's also those other people that have that widget and they're like, I am going to sell this to the whole dang world. And, you know, I'm going to be a bajillionaire and living up on the hill, you know. I'm somewhere in the middle. It's like maybe I just want a house in South Bay at some point. Yeah. Yeah. And this could do it. Yeah, exactly. to just buy. Yeah. But I mean, my biggest thing when I'm talking to small business owners is you have to make a plan.
You have to sit down, you have to decide what you want. Sometimes when I sit down with people, I'll have them sit down and say, okay, take business out of the mix completely. Okay. Look at yourself in 20 years, 30 years, however old you are, you know, when you retire, what does your life look like?
Are you sitting on a porch staring at, you know, the ocean drinking us coffee are you backpacking across the himalayans are you you know in a little tiny house a bungalow house in san pedro hanging with your grandkids like what is it that you need or what is it that you want and then what do you need to get there do you need 10 million dollars or you just need a hundred thousand dollars you know and then from there kind of
back out like okay if i need to get to 10 million dollars how many of these widgets do i need to sell over the next you know 30 years or whatever it might be it's i'm a i'm a big fan of like take your dream write it down figure out what it is and go backwards. That's kind of the way that I look at the business. I've done some of that type of approach. I got to wonder though, I mean, it sounds like you've seen both sides of the coin.
How do you sort of separate people with, let's say they want 10 to $20 million, or they want just, you know, a nice house in San Pedro. I mean. How do you sort of set the realism into place, right? And obviously, it depends on the product. It depends on a lot of things. Depends on the person. I'm sure you deal with a lot of people with delusions of grandeur. How do you get through to these people? I don't. That's not my job.
My job is to make sure. I mean, if it's a good enough product, why not try? Because they might not be wrong. They might not be wrong to try and sell it to everybody kind of thing. Pretty much, right? Yeah. I mean, if it's what they want, we're going to do what we can in our world, obviously, because we're in the accounting world.
So we're going to do whatever we can to get them there, whether it's creating a foundation in their file to be able to, you know, track their sales by, you know, what channel they're selling it on or by location or, you know, anything that's going to give them the information. That's that's the way that I'm going to set up, you know, their financial file. I'm not going to be the one that tells them, dude, you're crazy.
Like, you're you're never going to get this. You know, that's not that's not my thing. If I see something that is completely like extreme, I I will say something. But a lot of the time, have you had have you had any of that? I'm curious. Yes. Yes. Yes, I have. Yeah. Actually, just last year it was. You don't have to name Nick's. No, I will not. It just makes for juicy content. You're right. It was a storefront. They had a location on a crime street.
They were paying a lot of money in rent and they were just collecting inventory. I'm going to buy this. I'm going to buy this. You know, we're going to be able to sell all these things. And they weren't selling anything. And they just kept buying inventory, you know. And it was, you know, sometimes it was just, you know, branded T-shirts, but you don't need a thousand of them if you haven't had a hundred people walk in the door yet, you know, things like that.
So we've had to have those hard conversations where it's like, you know, your cost of goods or your inventory value is, you know, 10 times what your revenue is. Like, you know, you should probably dial it back because you can't pay any of your bills. Yeah, it sounds like a supply and demand issue that people can't really digest. A lot of retail has that problem. Yeah, that's really hard, especially retail right now. Not a lot of people are, you know, going into stores the way that they used to.
Yeah, probably especially with small business. I don't know the last time I bought anything from a small business, to be honest with you. Right? It's not that I can't afford it. I'm a cheapo. I'm like, my dad's pretty cheap, but my grandfather, and I know him pretty well. But, I mean, he lives in Italy, so I don't, growing up, I didn't see him a lot.
Cheapest guy on the planet according to my dad and i i think it skips a generation so i i have that and now it's not like you know doing my laundry in the bathtub but no i you know i'm i pinch pennies i'm right there with you and it drives my husband crazy yeah yeah and i feel like these days in the state the literal state we're in you know i want to say i have no choice but i mean there's there's some give and take i mean i'm not i'm not doing bad but,
Now, I think, you know, the economy is tough right now, and I sort of want to get into that. What do you foresee the next four years, eight years? What does it look like? What do you expect, at least? Well, we kind of talked about this a little bit before we started recording, but I really am seeing the potential for growth. Almost COVID status effect on the financial, on the, on, you know, small businesses and whatnot. I mean, like a total hell freezes over.
I think that, yeah, I have, I, and again, I am not like a finance person. I'm not the stock lady or any of that kind of stuff. I'm not an economist, but I mean, you, you know, from the people you work with, I'm sure you can sort of dip your toes in the water and kind of feel a little bit of the temperature. So that's sort of why I'm asking. Yeah, I have this vibe that it's going to get worse. I think we have a couple of years. I think our dollar value is going to decrease.
I agree. I think it's going to be hard. I think it's going to be hard to pay our bills. I think it's going to be hard to support small businesses. We're going to be shopping at Walmart and Costco So religiously, I mean, I kind of see that's kind of where the world is going. The part that's a super bummer about that is a lot of small businesses are dependent on, you know, where, you know, their community is spending their money.
And if it's not spending, then, you know, then we're going to lose those stores. And then the people who own the property aren't going to be making money. It's just going to be, it's going to be a vicious thing. Do you expect a full-blown recession, or do you expect something close to it? I'm going to say close to it. I don't think it's going to be super bad. We're not talking about depression or anything like that.
But something close. I mean, you said COVID. I think it's something closer to 08. That's kind of where my brain went to, was 08. Because COVID is sort of an extreme example of an outside force taking over the world and then shutting things down because we have to, right? Yeah. To protect people and their safety and health. But no, I mean, if we look at it from a historical perspective, I think that 08 is a closer, probably a closer example. Yeah. What we'll probably see.
And I don't know, like, neither of us are economists, so if you're listening, don't take any of this conversation terribly seriously. Don't judge. But, I mean, you know, the writing's on the wall, so we'll see what happens, yeah. Hopefully we're wrong. All we can hope is we're wrong there, you know, yeah. And there's a lot of factors at play, and, you know, I'm not terribly political. Yeah, me either. So I wouldn't even know where to start to get into that conversation.
But let's talk a little bit about current events. So what has your company been up to? Have you been adapting to the current times? And where do you guys see yourselves in the next five years, let's say? If everything went the way you wanted it to. If everything went the way I wanted it to. Big house in the sky? No, no, no, no. Five years is too soon. I want to build the business. I want at least 10 years. Like we're driving hard to grow. I want a big team.
I want a big, you know, gross revenue, you know. How big would you want to be if the world's your oyster? So the goal is 10 million a year, 54 team members. That's the big, hairy, audacious goal. Yeah. Yeah. But what would you need to do to get there? And you were kind of saying that, but, you know.
So many things. we need more processes like we need to get our processes you know the administrative processes down so you know the team knows how to do you know the administrative type things i think that will keep us more efficient and keep our costs down on the administrative side i need to make more sales and i need to just keep growing team members just getting them in there and training and, you know, letting them solve problems.
Where do you find your team members? I mean, are you looking for people with degrees? And what degree would that be if you had to say? I mean... Yeah, we're a little different in the accounting world, if you couldn't tell by the tie-dye. But we are not chasing CPAs. We are not chasing accounting degrees. We, the very first interview that we do is all about core values. Do they fit within our core values? Are they good people? Do they have humor?
Are they, you know, not stuffy? You know, we have... Great team members that I'll, you know, they just embody that and we're like a little family. So that's our first thing is like all about core values. Then we go into what are your qualifications? What can you do? That kind of stuff. Honestly, if they can do the job, I don't care what degree they have. I don't care where they live. Obviously, they have, not obviously, but they have to be in the United States just for tax and all that stuff.
But yeah, anywhere in the United States, it's got a good attitude and is ready to work and possibly learn a whole lot. I sort of wanted it because you mentioned it. I sort of want to go from there. Would you ever have you ever thought about or would you want to expand to international relationships? The thing with international is that I don't know anything about international taxes. I don't know how it works hiring somebody. You know, is it a contractor? Do you have to 1099 them?
Do you have to file a return in a different country? Like, I don't know those those rules or laws. And I don't think we're at a point where it's worth investing the time and money to figure it out. If you were big enough, though, do you think it'd be? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. If we had the resources to invest the time and whatnot to kind of figure that out and manage that, we would, yeah, I would definitely be open to that.
I mean, we're a nine-man shop right now, so. Right. You know, we're spread pretty thin. Talk about delusions of grandeur here. One day. Well, no, I'm thinking, you know, I mean, what do you, just try, you know, we're talking about goals, right? And where you want to be. I think you're humble. you can, you know, you can go anywhere you want to go. But no, I think what you're saying is fair. But that's interesting. So, I mean, the people you hire, you're not looking
under rocks, though. How do they find you? We utilize an app called WiseHire. And basically, what that app does is it allows you to centralize all of your candidates into a single dashboard. And that dashboard then publishes to, I think it's like 15 different sites. So it's like Indeed and Monster and, you know, all the big names and whatnot. So we utilize this app. And then one of the tricks that we've, you know, shared with a lot of other accounting firms that are hiring is.
As soon as they apply, they get a link to basically a virtual interview. Five questions. None of them are about work. It's like, tell me about yourself. What would be your superpower if you were a superhero? Who's your favorite sports team? I want to hear your answers to some of these questions, to be honest with you. Okay. So you mentioned if you were a superhuman, what would your superpower be?
Yeah. I would definitely freeze time. that would that would that might be mine i would love thinking like an eight-year-old for a second i was like flying would be cool that's what time freezing time would be so much better i always dreamed about that when i was in like middle school because now more because i had like, adhd or whatever and i was you know it always took me too long to like complete the test i always overthought the questions i was like i just freeze time i
could really think about some of these questions. I was the last guide, I think, to finish my SAT. I didn't do badly on it, but yeah, I mean, the time restraints will kill you, or some people at least. But yeah, let's keep going through that list. So that's one of them. Oh, what were the other ones I said? Because they're always random. And it might be something to look out for if you want to be a part of accounting therapy.
Yeah, you better think about your superpower. If you're listening, think about it folks yeah but that's a great one i i think in the business world freezing time man yeah that's a really good answer just in general yeah oh my god do you know how much i could get done you're telling me yeah but no yeah so. So you got a lot of questions like that? It's only five, and we try and keep it personal so it's not like... You're looking for... The human.
Yeah, you're unpeeling the human in a way. Yeah. You're trying to find what's underneath. Yeah, because I always tell my team, like, if you guys lived on my street, we would have a barbecue every weekend. Like, I truly... I know this sounds so corny, and I know it because I say it all the time, but I love my team members. Like they're just, you know, some of our, like I have, I have a team member who's a Star Wars fan.
I love Star Wars. We talk about Star Wars, you know, I have another team member who's a big baseball fan. I love baseball, you know, just being able to talk to people about like real stuff and, you know, not just about this client and this P&L and, you know, this payroll system or, you know, whatever. So to be able to have that. Yeah, you need that. You need that in the relationship. I totally get that. Yeah.
So I don't want to mention which street you live on. and you live not terribly far from me. Correct. I want to talk about Pedro a little bit. So you've been here for how long now? We moved here in 18. 2018? Yeah. So a good long time, about six, seven years about. Yeah. Almost seven. And what has changed about Pedro? What do you like about Pedro? What do you wish Pedro had, you know? Well, the number one thing I like about Pedro, and I'll just say love,
is the people. The people here are incredible. It doesn't matter what religious background they are, what color they are, what they do for a living, what kind of car they drive. They are all amazing humans. They're all amazing humans. I just, I love the people here. I totally agree with that. I lived in Long Beach, East Village, for a year. Nobody talked to anybody. I mean, it's kind of a ghetto neighborhood. But it was very like.
The bizarre part of it to me, nobody was neighborly and nobody was really approachable. I mean, you wouldn't wave to anybody, you know? I mean, I would get scared, like, just looking at somebody doing something because it's just, it's like, there's just absolutely no human aspect to it. And I don't want to talk down to Long Beach. There's some great parts of it. And East Village has some great people, I'm sure. But I just didn't, I didn't have a great time there for the year I was there.
And maybe it has something to do with other factors. But the moment I moved here, I mean, you know, I talked to my neighbor who next door, he yells to me, hey, you just moved in. He helped me move in. I mean, he's a really cool guy. You should get to know him. He remodels like VW bugs from the 60s and 70s. Yeah. And even the, what do you call them? Not the trucks, the vans. Sometimes they'll do a van, but he's the guy in Pedro that does that,
which it's very niche. I think, you know, he covers South Bay in general. When you niche, you become an expert. That's for sure. But he's always working. I'm surprised we're not hearing him right now. He's probably out. It's Friday. But no, and that's just one example. I mean, you walk down the street and everybody's just so neighborly. Everybody's so helpful if you need it. Absolutely. And that's what I like about this area.
I mean, I wouldn't say I like, I never want to fall in love with where I'm living because you never know where you're going next, right? You never want to be too attached to something. Yeah. because you might have to head out somewhere. But no, I mean, I want to be here as long as I can. Yeah, me too. It's a cool community, and it doesn't get enough credit for it. Yeah, I'm not leaving Pedro till I leave California.
I will be out of California one day, but I'm going to be in Pedro until that day. Yeah. Well, until we secede, maybe. Actually, the dream is to move to Italy. That's our plan. Really? Yeah. So I mentioned that my grandfather lives in northern Italy. Okay. I'm, my dad's side is Italian where they're all from Southern Italy. Napoli, so Naples area. But where would you want to go? Where would you want to be? We're thinking like the mountains of Abruzzo, like somewhere up in there.
You know, get a country, get a couple acres and have a garden and just live in the sunshine or the clouds, whatever. It's so much, it's just a different pace. And it's so amazing to be able to ride bikes out there. It's a very different environment. Nowadays, at least, I mean, we're living in the most liberal state in the union. And then you have Italy, which is the most conservative country in Europe.
One of them, at least. So, you know, when you get there, that'll come to its fruition, I'm sure. But I recommend to everybody, and I haven't ever been there, but, you know, I have family or ancestry throughout the area, but Sicily is great.
I recommend everybody go there yeah one of my favorite restaurateurs on sixth street has is from sicily and yeah we talked to her about it all the time she's absolutely amazing rita from las sicilianas have you been there las sicilianas is that what it's called the restaurant i haven't been there i've been to like only one of the italian place on six i know there's like 12 but, i don't know what's called las sicilianas is definitely the most authentic it is really it is amazing it
is amazing you will not regret it that's that's the other thing i like about pedro is the the amount of italians here for some reason that's an interesting aspect i didn't even realize when i moved here the only reason i moved it because i still work in long beach i'm a medic there but the only reason i moved to pedro first of all i really liked this apartment and the fact that i could just drive i have i have a driveway and i can park right in front
of my place yeah You're not going to get that anywhere these days. Well, you're lucky you got it in Pedro. I'm lucky I got it in Pedro. And well, even if I had this apartment in West Hollywood, I don't even think I'd like, I couldn't do West Hollywood. I'd say no to it. Yeah, me too. What was I saying? No, the only reason I got out of Long Beach was because I was getting priced out. You know, rent was going up 200 bucks. And it was like, for what reason?
And then they were like, because we want to. And they actually said that, and I was like, okay, well, I'm going to go. And they tried their best to keep me. And I'm like, I don't trust you people anymore. They tried their best to keep you while raising the rent? I said, because, yeah, no. And they were so blatant about, well, we're going to raise the rent. And I'm like, okay, what's the reasoning? Are you going to give me like a new kitchen?
You're going to redo the cabinetry or something? And they're like, no, we're not going to do anything. We just got to raise the rent. See, if that was my customer, I would have given him some advice because that's a pretty bad business practice right there. I like this customer. Therefore, I'm going to charge him more money. No, that's wrong. Yeah. No, I pay. I'm very good about paying rent and everything else. I wasn't a bad renter.
I don't imagine you being. No. I'm in fact, when it comes to my financials, I'm almost a little I get like excited to pay off my credit card. Yes. Like, do I owe some money? I can't pay it off. But, no, they were very, well, partly that and part of sort of what I described earlier about, like, I just sort of felt like a man with no country in Long Beach. I just, you know, I have friends there, of course, and, I mean, I would hang out with them, and I still can. You hit the bridges,
you're there in 10 minutes. Yeah. Less. But, no, it just wasn't a place where I wanted to live any longer, and I'm just glad that I, you know, hopped bridges, came over to the peninsula. Is family what brought you to Pedro? No, I don't have any family here. I have family in South Pasadena and I have family friends in PV Estates. In fact, I'll dox them because they'll love the shout out. But the owner of, because you're from Torrance, you'll know this,
the owner of Stewart Screens. Do you know the factory? She's the owner, her husband, they're family friends of ours. And she lives in Southern in Ohio, mainly. Okay. That's how my parents got to know them, and that's where I'm from. That's where I'm from. Her husband was from here in Torrance, and that's where it's the family business they made. They still, I don't, she sold the company because he passed away from, I think, colon cancer, I think, a decade ago, maybe longer.
She, you know, gained ownership of the company and I think sold it. And so, but they still have their home in PV Estates. I, you know, I'll go out to see them when they're here, but she'll come back and forth. She loves California and she loves Pedro too. Yeah. In fact, she was one of the people that told me that that's where I should go. Because I was like, I love South Bay. A lot of it's unaffordable. I don't know where to look. And she's like, check Petro out.
And I was like, okay. So, or at least one of them. And here you are. Here I am. Yeah. It's great. Except for the dogs barking at night. Yeah, there are a lot of dogs in Petro. What with the dogs in Petro? I have two dogs, but mine, unless another dog is at my back gate, my dogs are pretty good.
Yeah yeah what kind of dogs you got we have a husky american staffy mix and then we have i don't know exactly what she is she's a pit honestly i think she's probably mixed with dane because she's got that long tall body so i i don't know what she is but she's a big meathead. So pretty big dogs two big dogs yeah yeah yeah yeah i like i was sort of mentioning i don't know if it was on air or off.
I would like to get a dog, but both my jobs are... I'm so divorced from being at home other than the mornings and the evenings that I would just feel bad keeping them here unless I had family in the area and I could drop them off or something. That's very responsible of you. Yeah, it doesn't make sense right now. My sister, who works at home, she doesn't have a dog, but she's always telling me to get one for some reason because she wants to...
She thinks I need to get a basset hound, and I'm like, oh, my goodness. I don't, I don't, yeah, well, this is getting into nonsense territory, but, but no, Maddie, it's not happening any time since. So what else did I want to talk about? So we could do a couple things. We have a story segment where we could talk about client stories, if you have any. And I don't even know if I sent you the show notes or even mentioned that.
I don't remember. You may have. It's been a crazy week. You seem like somebody who is just, your mind doesn't stop. You're sort of processing things, and things might slip through the cracks along the way. And listen, I'm not putting you to blame or anything. I don't, because I'm the same way. I don't know if I sent you the show notes or not, but we could get into that if you'd like. Whatever you want, honestly. I'm an open book. Okay. So yeah, I guess let's talk some stories.
Because that's that's our that's our listener favorite thing but it's you're interesting because you're you're sort of you're different from who we usually have which is i mean it's a small business that helps small businesses is what you do but which may give you greater ammo but no i mean people that work in trades and and me being handyman there i've i have lots of stories but it just depends on where we start. So who have you worked with recently? And obviously you don't have to dox them.
That might, you know, might be a funny kind of story. Funny story. Or run in or whatever. Or even, I mean, you mentioned, we've mentioned e-commerce. What are some of the funniest products you've run into? I have a lady that sells a bread box, one bread box on Amazon. What's a bread box? Is that like what my grandmother has where you put the bread? Yes, that's exactly. Instead of the fridge. Exactly. I'll always put it back in the fridge. My grandma's like, no, it goes in the box.
Yeah, she sells a bread box. It's going to last this long. Right. Exactly. But yeah, she sells a bread box, and it's the only product she sells. She brings it in from China. She sells it anywhere here in the States, obviously, through Amazon. She designed it, though? No. Nope. She just buys a box from China and sells it on Amazon, and she made a quarter of a million dollars last year on a bread box. No. She sells for $12.99.
So what is her approach? I mean, is she, can I get this bread box at Ralph's or something? Like, how does she? It's just, honestly, what it is, in my opinion, is she got into, remember a couple years ago where people were like selling the Amazon hacking systems? Like, follow my system for Amazon and you can make, she did that. That's exactly what she did. In fact, I have a friend like this in Southern Ohio, and she sells vintage stuff, like old board games and stuff.
But that's a one-off thing. So she buys one old Monopoly game, and she sells it, right? That's like the reseller model. She's a rain ball. What do you mean the same box? It's one bread, not one, not physically one, but it is the same bread box. So she just sells a single item that she purchases from China. It's not the same actual box. But my disconnect is this.
Why is she the only person who buys this bread box from China instead of, I mean, why couldn't I go on Amazon and get this bread box straight from China? Why is she the only person? You can. It's not that she's the only person. It's that she has mastered the algorithm. She does this thing. She constantly is changing prices. She's constantly changing the name of it. She's really good about asking for reviews and whatnot. So she has a zillion reviews on her items.
She lists it in more than one places for multiple prices.
So she'll have one listed at $12.99 and then she'll have another one listed at $11.50 and somebody will buy the $11.50 because they think they're getting a deal because it's all 50 cheaper she like games the system and she's done a really good job of it yeah my friend's sort of done the same thing and she it's her side gig i mean she works retail but she is good at what she does i mean she's very i mean you know bookkeeping better than anybody but she writes everything
down in terms of like you know what everybody else is selling something for and she's a reseller so it's different but i mean she'll she'll look through every she's more of an ebay person i think but she'll look through how much something sold for and how recent she'll she does a lot of math of like okay the average is thirteen dollars it. This item sold for $11, $11, $12, $15, $14. I'll sell for $13. Yeah. She'll go right in the middle. And she does a lot of math with all that type of thing.
My brother does a lot of that, too. He's the Facebook reseller master. Facebook's a funny place. I got sold a fake AirPods on Facebook one time. Some guy was like, meet me at the... Well, you know, it seemed legit because he's like, meet me at the bank. And I'm like, yeah, that's the only place I would meet you.
Or a fire station or a police station so no we did that i don't know how because i mean they're getting real smart these days this was this was like pre-pandemic though and i mean it had the box and everything sealed up in the plexi and i was like all right here's your 200 and they worked for like a year and they worked well and they registered you know on your iphone as airpods they'd connect as such and it was only until i think the left airpod
got shot like it just stopped working and i went to the apple store and and the guy was like it's like these aren't airpods these the serial number comes up with nothing oh it was unbelievable i was and i was like, well, they lasted a year, I guess, but no, I mean, it's amazing. And maybe you've seen this before, how, how realistic some of these fakes can get with a lot of everyday products that, you know, we ought to know better between the fakes.
And, and I mean, I think it happens a lot with shoots. You notice that with like people that buy, and I'm not a sneaker head, but people that buy lots of like nikes or whatever and people that resell them all that stuff i don't know what that world's about but you'll see videos on tiktok or whatever and they'll know it's like well the stitching is actually you know it shouldn't be you know an eighth of an inch it's actually a sixteenth of an inch per hole or
what and it's like i don't know how you it's the same thing with purses i see it a lot with you know people talking about purses and purses it's in a room more than yeah i mean that's that's almost a that's been around forever you know you go to own industry yeah you'll go up to hollywood boulevard and they're selling louis up there believe me they were all over when i was in rome there were people yeah all especially italy they're selling them on
the street yeah they'll get the carpet out or the rug or whatever and they're selling all the all the brands oh yeah yeah they get away with it too but uh hey i mean at the end of the day, I don't mind it because it's like, if you. Not everyone can tell it's a fake. I mean, if it looks pretty darn real, you might as well buy it for 20 bucks and then you can go around.
I mean, especially if you're a teenager or something, I get it from that perspective, but, uh, what about the other perspective though? What if that was your purse that you were, that you designed and paid people to make and manufactured? How would you feel about that person being sold for 20 bucks? I really wouldn't care. I mean, if I was, If I was Louis Vuitton himself, who are we talking about? I mean, I get what you're saying.
And the morality aspect of it being, you know, because you can look at it from Apple's perspective of the story I just sort of relieved you being Apple should be pissed off that there's probably some company in China, you know, slinging all these fake AirPods with the box, the Apple logo. So Alibut's fake. I mean, it's complete copyright infringement. They could sue them if they wanted to. Why haven't they? Right?
They're not going to do it because they don't care. It's a drop in the bucket against their profit. So, and, you know, that's big corporations versus, like we're saying, people that are- The small businesses. Well, not small businesses. I mean, just vendors that are selling knockoffs.
I mean, you know, small businesses generally come up with something that might be close to what a corporation can give you, but it's tweaked just enough to where it's like, well, it not only serves as A, but it can also do B and C. Now you're talking about Shark Tank. Right. Yeah. And that's... I've seen enough of it to know. And that's what's good about small business. It's always, it's not small business, but inventors, I guess.
It's people realizing, well, I could make whatever this product is. I could make it, you know, I could do, I could have it do the same things it's doing, but also give it more capabilities or whatever. And that, you know, and do you consider that copyright infringement? I mean, it depends on how identical the product is and to what end its purpose is. But and we could really get into the weeds on that.
I mean, that's that's quite specific in terms of I'm no lawyer, but, you know, I don't know, though. That's a good question you post of whether or not a corporation should care. I mean, how do you feel? I mean, if it was my product and I put my blood, sweat and tears into that, I'd be pretty bummed out. You know would i go sue somebody that's not my personality but you know how you're steve jobs you you just invented the eye right well think about how much and then android comes along.
Well i don't know if android stole that or whatever maybe they did but i don't know who was first i mean maybe you're john android i i don't know who invented the android but no i mean you have to look at the history of things and you have to understand Like, is it really worth going, well, you mentioned you're against litigation, but would you really feel that bad about something that does almost the same thing? Somebody has a product that does the same thing your product does, right?
But if it's that simple, right? If it's like we talked earlier, where we have Apple AirPods, you can get them at the Apple store. Some guy in a parking lot selling me the same thing. They're fake. Would you be mad if you were Apple? If I was Apple, no, because I would have the bank account to just wipe my tears away.
You know, I wouldn't. Yeah. So if it becomes something a little more personable, like you're someone on Shark Tank, you invented the scrub daddy, and then somebody comes along and does. Mr. Scrubby. Scrub mommy or whatever. Yeah. No, I guess I would understand being mad about that. But, I mean, I don't know. It hurts. Like, I can give you an example. So, our company name is Accounting Therapy. I don't like talking about myself, but I will say that, you know,
we're pretty well— It's a podcast. We love to hear about you. It's weird, though. I just—like you said, I'm humble. I'm probably too humble, but—. So I'm pretty well known in my group, in my industry. You know, a lot of people know accounting therapy. A lot of people know Alexis. You know, I wear tie-dyes everywhere I go. I can't be missed. I'm the tie-dye accountant, if you will. You got like a goth tie-dye. Yeah, it's pretty does today. It's very, it's not too tight.
I think you're pushing it with a little bit of bleach. Yeah. But so there is a member in one of the groups that I'm in.
That has recently rebranded her company and has used the word therapy in her company name, and to me you know it's not accounting therapy but it's accounting therapy is such a unique name in the accounting world you know i meet people i've met hundreds if not thousands of business owners and it's like bob jones cpa company and you know yeah it always is i i like that you actually got creative well yeah i mean that's just who you are you know enough at least i mean
it's there is a lot of guys out there that are just you know bob jones bob jones yeah is there a bob jones probably you're sorry bob you're getting doxxed tonight unfortunately but but no go ahead yeah yeah but you know just having this this person essentially what feels like steal my company name after you know being known as you know the accounting therapist and you know having all these things related to you know we're very on brand on
our websites you know talks a lot about therapy you have a great website but cute i like it better than my my dad's a consultant and he doesn't really do anything with his website what kind of consultant does he he does a lot of. My dad's going to listen to this and be like, you're completely wrong. You don't even know what I do. He's a strategist. Cool. Brand strategy is probably his biggest strength when it comes to consultation that he does.
But his consultation group does an array of things. Okay. Yeah, they've worked with Pepsi, Terminix, a lot of large companies. Party City. I don't know if I'm allowed to mention that. He might still be working with them. So I might have to cut that or I'll bleep it. I have to bleep party city. But no, yeah. Strategy, marketing, branding, you know, and he does, he does some, he does a little bit of M and a too, but M and a mergers. Okay.
But I mean, what, you know, I, if I were to put, if I were to pinpoint what he does specifically, it's strategy. He's the best at that. That sounds fun. I mean, I know I'm in the accounting world and all that stuff. He seems exhausted. So I don't think he... Strategy is a lot of thinking. It's a lot of thinking. Yeah. Yeah. He needs a big glass of wine at the end of the day. He probably deserves it too. He does.
But no, it's tough. I think. I don't know. I know nothing about it. But he works hard. Yeah. But what are we talking about? What were we talking about? Well, we kind of... I mean, we had a story segment that died off, I guess. Had it. I do have another story if you want to hear it. Let's do it. If you want, we'll do another like 15. Okay. And then wrap it up from there. Okay. Yeah. So my favorite story that I have is I started working with a company.
It wasn't even a company yet, actually. It was a kid. He was probably 23 years old, something like that. He was working in the trade industry for another company. And that company decided that they were going to, you know, get rid of one of their divisions. And he was a go-getter man. And he said, can I have that customer list? And the guy said, you can have that customer list, but you can't work here anymore if you're going to have that customer list.
So he took a leap and borrowed some money from his dad and started with a list of probably about 250 clients and three years later he sold his company for 15 million dollars wow yeah can you name the company or do you want to keep i'd rather not yeah that's that's a cool that's a cool story though i wish i had the opportunity to do something well you know even if i did i don't know if i'd i probably wouldn't make out quite like that but no
i love hearing He worked so dang hard. He was really smart. He went into debt getting a good tax advisor and having us as the accountants. And he hired the sales guys that he was paying so much. I couldn't believe how much money he was paying them. He's like, it's going to pay off. It's going to pay off. And then sure enough, it sure did. I mean, he was going to get it. Yeah. It's something we haven't discussed, but sort of the financial gurus of today.
I mean, it's not even people on TikTok, but, you know, you have your rich dad, poor dad. I don't know. I forgot his name, but your Gary V's out there. Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey's huge. I mean, do you listen to any of these guys? All of them. Really? Yeah. You like them all? I like tidbits of what all of them have to say. You know, I'm a huge cash-only person.
Not literally cash but i i don't use my credit cards unless i absolutely have to you know i'm big cash we have no debt on the company we have never had debt on the company for 20 something years it's it's all about cash it makes me cringe when i see clients have you know 100 grand in the bank and they take out a 50 000 loan it just makes me nuts oh my goodness stupid but yeah no i i i listen well i maybe you could dissect it for me because i've
never understood this guy the rich dad poor dad guy like a or so he claims he's like a hundred million dollars in debt or something.
Yeah how does any of that work yet he's a he's rich or something i don't i don't understand yeah stand any of that to be i needed to explain to me yeah to be i honestly i'm not gonna be the one that's gonna explain it to you because i listen to it and i go bs like i think so too i mean it's got it it's either gonna come crumbling down or he's gonna die with it with the debt so He's basically living. I don't want to talk bad, but he's basically living off of everybody else's, you know, money.
And I haven't read the book. I mean, obviously, it's a bestseller, but, you know, it's more of I don't know. And I have no words there, but I mean, it's an interesting take on I think he's a real estate speculator or whatever. Well, that's what Dave Ramsey tried. If you ever have. My sister loves Ramsey and she's, yeah, she's a huge Ramsey person. Ramsey, I am, I'm sort of like, I'll watch clips or whatever.
I'm one of those guys who is like, I don't feel like I need Ramsey because he just constantly badgers about. It's like, you got to cut up the credit card or whatever. Yeah. It's like, I don't. But also, as you stated, you're a penny pincher. You are the ideal. Well, I'm a credit card guy. Like I. And you pay it off. Yes. The only card I use, if I'm not using cash, is my credit card. And I will pay it off. I love doing it. Like, it's fun for me. That's not the norm, though.
I mean, you know... People my age. Oh, especially with people your age. You're a 26-year-old, a credit card? Mm-mm-mm. Not gonna happen. But here's the thing. I have sort of learned the hard way, because I wasn't always this way. And it only...
Probably it was probably 17 and on i had to transition to like like as soon as i was on my own and out of my parents house you know before that like i would go like i would uh i don't know with what happens when you overdraw your account there's nothing in it i would do that all got it i had to switch banks because they were like we can't do it anymore credit credit score is probably zero i don't even know i had the same thing like when i
my first day on el camino campus actually there was a providian bank pop-up tent got a credit card and i spent all my money on concerts they're still doing that they're just vultures i and i i hate that it's still a thing but no Yeah. I spent all my money on concerts and food. And when I was your age, 26, actually, I sold my 65 Mustang to pay off all of my debt. And that was the lesson. I'm like, I am never doing that again.
Ever. I have a similar story. And I mean, it's not really a story, but what I had to do to pay off the debt I had was I had basically collected over a series of 10 years was about 500 vinyl records. I loved collecting in high school. And I inherited some from my dad. I never sold the ones that my dad had. I still have those.
And he can have them back if he wants, but he doesn't want them. but no i was i collected 500 to 700 i had a ton and i no longer have i don't even have a record player as you can see but i i basically had to sell every record i had to to get out of the debt i was in it wasn't in a ton of debt couple thou nothing bad but no i had to get out of it yeah parents weren't gonna help me yeah they're like good luck you did this you get out of it so and And I think from there on, it's like,
and some people need these lessons. You and I have been through it to where it's like, you're in the hole. Yep. You can dig further if you want, or you can get out. Yep. And I think a lot of America's continually digging. Yes. And I think that's another thing Ramsey mentioned. Actually, he mentioned it in an interview. It wasn't the Ramsey show. He was being interviewed. But the figure was something like the average credit, just credit card debt of an average American is somewhere like $39,000.
Not $3,900, $39,000 right now, today. Yeah. This interview was maybe a month or two ago. And I was like, geez, I mean, that's... That's somebody's annual salary. I mean, maybe not in L.A. or maybe in L.A. I don't know. Not doing too well in L.A. I also heard him mention another stat a couple weeks ago. I saw the video a couple weeks ago, but it could have been a while ago. But it was something like 78% of Americans cannot handle a $300 emergency.
Yeah, $300. $300. It's scary. It's a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck. I get that. But what pisses me off the most, and this is sort of, it's not too far from what we're talking about now, but the check cashing places. Oh, my gosh. I just am so mad. And that's, I mean, it's another thing Ramsey was saying was basically the middle class, they're too smart for that. They will not go to those places. They take advantage of the impoverished. That's it. That's it.
And that's just sick to me that it's, that's a business.
Yes. It's an American business. you're taking you're taking advantage of people that have nothing i mean come on and don't understand what the actual cost is you know i know they truly don't understand the actual not that they're stupid or anything they just they're not they're not whipping out the calculator and they don't have a budget they just that's that's why they're in poverty a lot of them I feel bad saying this for some reason, but it's true.
I mean, and yeah, I mean, somebody sat down and said, how do we take advantage of these people with the checks? You know? Well, there's a lot of that around, you know? Well, it's loan sharking, and you guys know better if you're listening. Yeah, stop doing it. You probably aren't, but that'd be so funny. Somebody said, yeah. Yeah, that was me. You're right. I could stop. Let's close the business. Yeah, let's shut it down. Well, I think we'll wrap up. This was a lot of fun. It would.
If you want, you can plug anything you like, and I'll plug what I have. Okay.
Yeah, go ahead. So the one thing that I do want to plug is on the third Friday of every month, I have a small business shop talk group that gets together at Crafted and we just sit down and we talk about small business and the issues that we're having or how we can, you know, get new clients or market our business or figure out how much we're spending on inventory or all sorts of silly things, even like hiring and stuff like that.
So the third Friday of every month, we meet at Crafted, 10 a.m., come down, hang out with us and let's talk small business. At Crafted? At Crafted. And do you have the address for that? I know where it is. I'll doubt it's on 22nd street across from 22nd street landing. That's all I know. Here in San Pedro, here in San Pedro. Most of our listeners are here in California and the LA area, but it's funny.
I was looking at my, people are listening to this and like Germany for some reason. I'm like, okay. Cause it's a, at the end of the day, we're, we're a pretty local podcast, but the other thing is, is where can people find you?
People can find me at accounting therapy.com. we can basically find all my socials there you can email me if you want to hang out and talk or whatever i love talking business alexis at accounting therapy.com shoot me an email, and i think that's it all right excellent you can follow my business frank of all trades on google yelp next door and instagram if you want to reach out to be a guest you can message me on our instagram account talk of all trades pod
that's talk of all trades p-o-d all one word and as usual Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe for more great content. Thanks again, folks.