Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success, but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit, just working in your business and start working on it, join us here, where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva, really excited to bring my very special guest today.
Now, if there is one thing I put off for way too long in my business, it’s finding the right CPA. And not just any CPA, because I’ve always had a CPA in my business, but the right one changes everything. By the right one, I mean, somebody who knows and understands your industry, has your best interest at heart, and can give you super solid advice no matter what situation you’re in.
When Michelle Cook reached out to me and said, “Hey, Britt, I would love to come on your show and talk a little bit about the pandemic financial management, PPP, EIDL,” all sorts of financial decisions that are weighing heavy on our plates right now, I said, “Heck yes.”
The reason I chose Michelle is because she and I are so like-minded about the way we see our industry. I think she’s incredibly savvy and I’m so excited to bring her here to you today, so let’s tune in.
Michelle. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here today. We had a little chat pre-recording, and I just know my audience is going to eat you up with a spoon, so thank you so much for taking the time.
Can you tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and why we as beauty professionals should be so excited that you’re here.
Michelle Cook: Hi, Britt, thanks so much for having me on. I’m so excited. So I am a licensed CPA in the state of Utah. I specialize in working with hair stylists and salons. I actually went to beauty school when I was in high school and I graduated, and I just realized I didn’t feel like I had the skills to run a business.
So I went in to go get my bachelor’s degree, ended up changing over to accounting, and my whole course changed. And yet when I went out on my own, I realized that I could really make a big impact in this industry, knowing exactly how salon owners and stylists feel, where you didn’t get that education for the financial side and beauty school. So that’s my passion in life: helping stylists bridge that gap between their craft and their skills, and then being able to run a beautiful financially secure business.
Britt: I love it. And our paths are so similar. I went into beauty school because I love the industry. However, it was very much not my path. It wasn’t my craft, but I love the people that the industry attracts and, and the business as a whole. And I too saw this tremendous gap in, oh my gosh, there’s these incredibly talented people doing these beautiful things, but they are lacking in the business structure to support that growth so I am just so thankful that our paths have crossed.
So are you mostly helping individual booth renters, stylists, commission stylists salon owners? What is your clientele look like? Generally speaking.
Michelle: Yeah, I would say the vast majority of my clients are either booth renters or both salon owners.
Britt: Okay. So more of the independent kind, one way or another.
How does somebody usually find you? Are they in a spot where nobody’s been handling their accounting at all until this point? They’ve been DIY-ing it or have they been working with an accountant that maybe didn’t quite understand how our industry works?
Michelle: It’s a little bit of both. Sometimes when you’re first starting out, these kinds of expenses — like legal or accounting — they just feel too much, but then once you get in a couple of years, you start making more money and you’re more stable financially and you feel like you can afford to remove some of that stress from your life. That’s a lot of times I will come in at that point and help out with bookkeeping and taxes.
And then other times, it’s a transition in life, whether that be like a divorce or they’ve moved, or something’s changed in their life and they’re just ready for something new.
I think a lot of what I find is stylists go to a CPA and they don’t really totally understand the business because this industry is divided. It’s not one business model and I think that a lot of CPAs don’t really understand the dynamics of the different types of business models that exist within the industry. It’’s nice to be able to talk to their CPA and their CPA knows what backbar expenses are. It’s nice to have someone who just understands what’s going on.
Britt: Oh, you’re speaking to my soul right now because I hear from so many stylists and salon owners is the other CPAs or bookkeepers they’re working with don’t understand them. It’s like they’re this unicorn that just is so misunderstood and I just love that you’ve doubled down on an industry that needs you so deeply.
One of the things for me– I’m a DIY or at heart. I’m a research queen. I can do it all myself. And I remember when I first started paying the expense of a CPA, I was nervous. It almost felt like I was going to be wasting money and I am here to say now I have saved so much money like you said, so much stress, so much sanity because I now have somebody who really has my financial back. And so I just think you’re such a gift to our industry, and I’m really excited to share your knowledge.
Let’s speak to the time for just a second. One of the things that Michelle volunteered to kind of talk with us a bit about today was about the pandemic and the financial resources that are becoming available to us and the confusion surrounding a lot of it.
One of the questions I get asked a lot by independent stylists and salon owners, Michelle, is if they should take the PPP, how to know if they qualify, and how to know that they’re using it correctly. Can you explain to us what PPP is? And then we can kind of dive into all the nuances?
Michelle: Absolutely. So the PPP is the Paycheck Protection Program. It was specifically made to help employees or companies maintain their employees, regardless of the financial impacts of COVID-19 and the salon industry, it’s been a little bit different from other industries in that other companies have still been able to run. And so it’s made a lot more sense from the PPP standpoint, you know, let’s keep all of our employees and use the PPP. From the salon standpoint, it’s like, “Well, we can’t run, so what do we do with our PPP?” Things are opening up again and so some areas in the country are able to open, so that changes the dynamic. But yeah, there’ve been a lot of questions and confusion about that.
Britt: One of the questions that I’ve gotten is, “Okay, so great. I qualified for the PPP. I’m so excited. Should I use this to pay my cost of color over the next year?” I think there’s this misconception that it’s almost just like free money and that is not the case, correct?
Michelle: That’s correct. Like I say, it’s the Paycheck Protection Program and there are only a very few limited things that you can use your PPP funds for. You can use it to pay payroll for your employees. If you are an independent, you don’t necessarily run formal payroll, but you’re able to take the net income from your tax return and use that as the calculation for figuring out what your payroll is.
So you can pay yourself as an independent with those PPP funds, you can pay utilities — that would be your phone bill, electricity, gas, water, uh, just any kind of normal utility and then rent. And also if you own the building, then you can use it to pay the mortgage interest on the commercial loan. But for most people it’s just rent.
Britt: Okay. You brought up a point for me. So could a booth renter use those PPP funds to continue paying rent to the salon owner?
Michelle: Yes, they can.
Britt: It’d be amazing if they would. One of the things we talked about heading into this interview is the fact tha salons are this really interesting microclimate in a way that a lot of businesses are not. In that if booth renters do not pay their rent, salon owners cannot pay the mortgage or the lease, and the entire ship can crumble really fast.
And I fully understand the dynamic of booth renters feeling like it’s not fair or whatever word they want to sub in for having to pay rent when they’re not able to take clients, but I think that this PPP opportunity is a really wonderful way for stylists to continue to make that payment so that salons can keep their doors open.
Michelle: Yeah, exactly. I think sometimes as stylists, you look around and — we’ll make the math easy — and you just say you pay $500 a month for your booth rent and you look around, you’re like, “Okay, well there’s six stylists here, so my salon owners making three grand, like that’s a lot of money,” but then you don’t know what the bills are. You don’t know what the costs are.
I can tell you from experience that most booth rental salons I know are barely break even or not break even.
So when this pandemic came, those salon owners were put in a really tight bind because the renters don’t want to pay rent because they don’t feel like they’re getting any value for that money because they can’t actually be there. But they still have their monthly rent to the landlord.
And they’re also not able to work at one of the booths to be able to supplement.
I’m really compassionate and empathetic about everyone’s situation. It’s not like any of us asked for this and we certainly wouldn’t wish it. And yet, you know, it’s been really hard on everyone.
Britt: You brought up so many good points. Is there anybody who you would suggest not take the PPP? I know some people get approved for the funding and then think, “Wait a minute, is this really something I should be doing?” Are there any — I don’t know if red flags is the right word, but are there any circumstances where you’d say, “You know what, probably shouldn’t take it?”
Michelle: Yeah, I think — well, first off let’s talk about qualifying. I would say that pretty much any business owner within the beauty industry is going to be qualifying because you just have to have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. I think that’s pretty clear that anyone in the beauty industry has been negatively impacted. I would pretty much say anyone would be able to qualify and apply.
Whether or not you should apply as it is a different question. I think that really depends a lot on how much were you making before COVID-19, and what I mean “making,” is how much were you netting?
Because most of the time when I ask people, “How much did you make last year?” they say, “Oh, well, I made a hundred thousand dollars.” And I was like, “okay, what was that sales to your clients? Or like what you actually took home to your bank account?” Because most independents take home about 50% of what their sales are. Really it’s that net number is 30 grand or less.
You’re going to be better off collecting unemployment during this time. You’re going to make more money collecting unemployment.
From there you can decide, “Well, if I have a few extra funds from collecting unemployment, should I pay rent to my ‘stylist, landlord’?” That’s up to your discretion as to how you want to use those funds.
And then some states are back to work. Let’s say you did collect unemployment, but now you’re back to work so you can’t collect unemployment anymore. Now you can apply for the PPP and it would be a good idea for you to because you can have PPP funds and be working at the same time.
I think sometimes people thought, “This doesn’t make sense. How do I get paid from PPP and I’m making money?” They felt like that was a double dipping situation and it’s not. People are welcome to do that.
If you’re netting a lot more than $30,000 a year, then the PPP probably is your best shot at keeping things afloat before you’re able to get back into the salon.
Britt: Can I just tell you, I loved when you said paying your landlord? And I know it was not like a flub, but it’s traditional verbiage that we wouldn’t use. We would say to your salon owner, but the reality is they are your landlord, but we’re in this funny position where it’s like, “Well, my salon owner is my friend,” or “My salon owner’s my coworker.”
No, they’re not. If you get some of those things as a bonus part of the relationship, maybe that’s a wonderful thing, but they are your landlord. And we shouldn’t forget that because that truly is the dynamic for the most part at the end of the day if we’re an independent.
I want to talk about tracking the spend of the PPP funds. Should these stylists or salon owners allow those funds to just roll into their personal or business checking account and spend at will or what is the best way to use them?
Michelle: Yeah, so the ideal way is to set up a wholly new checking account and have those funds get deposited into that account. The reason why is because it just makes everything a lot cleaner for you instead of having to give your bank statements from your business or personal account, where you have all these other transactions mixed in, and it’s hard for them to really track what the money was spent on.
Instead, you’ve got this separate bank account here, PPP funds are in there, you’re writing out checks to your employees, or you’re writing out checks to yourself for your payroll. It’s just very clear this is how the money was used. This is my utility payment. This was my rent payment.
Then by the end of the eight weeks, there are probably only a handful of transactions in there because are only a few expenses that you can even use the money on. It’s just going to be a lot easier for you to know how you spent the money, what documentation you need to give over to the bank, and it’s going to be a lot easier for the bank to see that all the money was spent appropriately.
Britt: Oh my gosh, I breathed a sigh of relief hearing you explain that explanation. I think a lot of the listeners did as well. Just makes it sound so clean, and so easy, and stress free hopefully at the end of the year.
Something we were talking about before we hopped on this morning was the fact that the rules and guidelines and the program in general is still in motion. It’s almost still fluid in ways and layers are being added on., and all of these additional nuances.
You mentioned something to me this morning that I didn’t even realize was in the works. What are some of the things you hear cooking and how do you know if something is actually officially official or if it’s just talk right now.
Michelle: This is an amazing question. Right now, the really big thing that they’re talking about is extending the forgiveness period.
So right now you have eight weeks to spend the money and then after that eight week period is up, any funds that weren’t used appropriately turned into a loan.
Well now, they’re talking, maybe they’re going to make that a 12-week period or a 24-week period. It could be a lot longer and that could be huge. They’re talking about loosening up the rules for 75% of the money having to be spent on payroll or having to use some of that money for PPE, especially in our industry. A lot of money is being spent on extra capes, extra cleaning equipment, all of those things to get ready.
That’s a discussion of potentially being forgivable right now. It’s just in the conversation point. You can watch the news, and see what’s going on and see what they’re talking about.
But for it to actually become official, a lot has to be passed both in the Senate and the House, and it has to be signed by the president. So you’ve got to get it through all of the levels before everything is official.
My advice to people at this point is follow the laws that are currently in place that are signed into law, because anything else is simply speculation and you can’t start spending money based on speculation, hoping that it’s going to end up being forgivable later.
At this point, continue to spend the money and the way that it’s laid out. If in a few weeks, we ended up finding out that they’ve made some updates, that’s great. And then you can expand your spending to include PPP, PPE, or other things. But for now just stick with what the current law says. That’s how you’re going to be safe and make sure that everything’s forgiven.
Britt: I love that. Such solid advice. Can we talk about EIDL for a minute?
Michelle: Absolutely.
Britt: Okay. I’m getting a lot of questions right now about EIDL and how, and when those funds should be used, which is very different funding than the PPP. Some stylists are saying, “Well, this is so great. Should I use this to pay down my mortgage? Can I use this to pay off my car?” And then again, starts to feel like maybe a low interest loan and how should we use it?
So what is the idea? What is your take on it? And when should we be considering that?
Michelle: Right. So one thing to know is that the SBA stopped taking additional EIDL loans as of April 15th. They were just so completely flooded. They knew that they wouldn’t be able to address anymore after that. So don’t think when you’re listening to this, “Oh, I should go apply.” Know that you should have already applied for it.
The EIDL is a combination of a loan and a grant, and the loan amount is — it’s complicated, but you could potentially roll that into a PPP loan if you would want it to.
I actually don’t know that many people that have gotten the EIDL loans. I know a lot of people who have gotten the grants because they were awarding the grants first, and then they were going to tell you whether or not you got the loan later.
I think they’re just still backlogged, that a lot of people haven’t actually seen the fruits of those loans, but the EIDL alone is a 3.75% interest rate. So it’s very attractive and it’s a lot more flexible than the PPP.
By contrast, the PPP loan is a 1% loan. It’s a much lower interest rate and the loan is forgivable with the PPP. What’s beautiful about it is if you use your PPP funds, you could end up paying none of it back. That’s, what’s really, really beautiful about the PPP.
The EIDL is not forgivable. It is alone. You have 30 years to pay it back. It’s a very, very long term and you can use it for business expenses and [business] expenses that were in place prior to COVID-19.
Let’s say, you had some rent due or you had supplies, like maybe you weren’t able to get color or retail or different things like that because everything got messed up with shipping or different things. Those kinds of losses, the EIDL loan can come in and help out with those.
I think you’re pretty safe as long as you’re spending them on a business expenses and, reasonable ones. But you can’t use it to expand a salon. So if you’re going to be buying a bunch of new equipment that isn’t related to COVID-19, and maybe you just wanted to upgrade your plumbing or do something nice, that’s not going to be acceptable. But it’s really just to keep things intact for the way they were prior to the pandemic.
Britt: Okay. This is huge because I was speaking to a stylist — and to what you said — who had applied for the EIDL, got her grant in April, and just last week, noticed that she technically qualified for the loan if she wants to take it.
Her question was, “Should I install new shampoo bowls?” So you’re saying, would that be a covered expense or would that not be a covered expense? She has a lease on the salon space, but this plumbing work expanding her shampoo bar and installing new shampoo bowls would be a new project.
Michelle: Yeah, you get into a little more gray area because, I don’t know what, if you’re installing something in a way to keep people more safe after COVID — maybe you’re installing plexi glass or I’m not sure.
If you’re just trying to do some kind of salon expansion that is going to make your salon nicer than it was prior to the pandemic, then no, that’s not appropriate. If you’re doing something that’s in response to the pandemic and trying to keep things safe, well, yeah, that probably would be okay.
Britt: Mm, that’s so good.
Okay, what about if I have been a booth rental stylist and I’m just not so sure I’m crazy about my owner, so I’m going to go ahead and move into a studio suite and I need about 10 grand to get that suite set up. Could I use EIDL funds to do that?
Michelle: Yeah, definitely not. That’s a wholly new expansion. If you need funds to expand, the SBA does offer a loan called the 7A loan, and you might look into that. It’s usually very low interest, very reasonable terms as well, but that is specifically made for expansion. So I know that there are other options out there; just don’t use the economic injury disaster loan for expansion.
Britt: You’re just a wealth of knowledge, Michelle. Oh my goodness. Okay, so I have another question for you. I’m hearing from a lot of booth renters and even salon owners who were like, “You know what? On the flip side of this, I’m thinking I’m going to go back to being a commission stylist, because as it turns out being an employee has its perks.” What do you know?
What is your financial advice for somebody who’s thinking that way? Would you encourage them to go commission? Would you encourage them to really think things through what would be your advice?
Michelle: You know, it’s so funny. I usually get like the opposite question of “I’ve been an employee, should I go off on my own?” and my advice almost turns into nonfinancial because there are so many extra stresses with being a business owner and sometimes the money ends up being pretty close to the same.
At the end of the day, it’s just more as to whether or not you want the additional freedoms that come with owning, but with freedoms come additional responsibilities and risks. I would say if that’s something that you decide that you don’t want to take on those risks anymore, there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t love the idea that you might be a lesser stylist because you’re an employee versus out on your own. Your craft and your skills are going to be amazing, no matter which way you go.
So it’s not about whether you’re better as a stylist one way or the other. My advice financially if you want to make this switchover is reach out to salon owners right now. There are a lot of stylists who aren’t returning to work because they want to stay on unemployment and these salon owners received PPP funds. They need to use them within this eight week period so they’re a little bit in a bind as well. If you can come in in this moment and, in a way, rescue them when they need more staff, this could be a great win/win situation for both of you guys.
Britt: I love that you just said that. I’ve been saying we’re on the cusp of this revolution and our industry is going through pain right now. I mean, inarguably it’s painful and we’re going through probably the hardest season we’ve ever experienced. However, it’s a time of great opportunity.
And to what you just said, I think there are some salon teams who are going to come back way stronger on the flip side of this. It’s going to be interesting to see these salon dynamics shift.
The other thing you spoke to, and I want to just talk about it for a moment is stylists who are receiving these big, beautiful unemployment checks, and they’re thinking, “Well, this, this is kind of great. I’m able to stay home and sometimes I’m making more than I was making in the salon.” What is your advice to that stylist who’s like, “The unemployment check has taken good care of me. I might just do this for a little while”? What is your take on that?
Michelle: My advice is don’t make a long term decision for a short term gain right now. That unemployment only lasts through July 31st and guess who wants to make more money? You and everyone else on unemployment.
Come August 1st, everyone’s going to be hitting the pavement trying to find a job. You might make a little bit of extra money for a couple months, but you’re going to have a lot harder time finding a job when everything comes open because everyone else is too.
I just don’t see, from a long term perspective, why you would damage the relationship with your salon owner.
I should back up and say I totally understand if you’re caring for someone who is sick, if you have children in the home that you don’t have childcare for, there are certainly reasons why people can’t go back to work, and I’m certainly sympathetic to those.
But if that’s not your situation, in the long run, you’re going to be better off going back to work now. Because you have to consider if you don’t go back to work, your salon owner is going to hire someone else. That job is not going to be there in two months. Your salon owner needs to pay her rent now so when you try and get a job in two months, it might take you a month or two to get the job. And then you might end up negative over all of this financially.
I just think you’re a lot better off just going back to work when you’re able.
On a totally separate side note, people should also realize that if your salon owner does call you back to work, unless you have a reason like childcare or you’re caring for someone who is sick, when you deny the job offer, your unemployment actually is gone as well. You’re not allowed to keep collecting unemployment if you have a job offer and you don’t have another legitimate reason for not going back. Sometimes people aren’t really realizing that as well.
Britt: I had actually never heard that before. You just blew my mind a little bit. Logically, it completely makes sense, but I didn’t realize it, and it’s not something that people are talking about.
You are speaking to my soul right now, Michelle, you have no idea. I’m sitting here nodding along. You are just brilliant.
Michelle: One more thing. There has — because this is not just within the salon industry, this has been a really big problem in our country in general — and there has been talk amongst the states that as they’re reopening, they might consider not allowing people to collect unemployment once their industries are back open, because so many people are trying to collect unemployment for as long as possible.
In hindsight, maybe it would have been better to have the law say extra $600 a week, but capped at what your previous earnings were so that there wasn’t this incentive to not go back to work.
But anyways, I just know that the states are talking about possibly pulling unemployment for people whose industries there are able to get back to work.
So you might say, “Oh, well, I’m just going to collect for two more months,” but maybe your state can change things up and say, “Oh, actually not anymore.” Just be aware that those things are being discussed,
Britt: Which, as you explain it again, makes complete logical sense because if the long term goal is to get the economy back up and running, and strong again, we have to get people back to work. Like you said, there could not be an incentive to stay home. It has to flip at some point here.
Okay, beyond COVID-19, beyond the pandemic, what are some of the biggest financial mistakes that you see stylists and salon owners making?
Michelle: The biggest one I see is discounting. I guess you said, but beyond the pandemic, but right now, I think I’m seeing a lot of discounting of retail or especially gift cards.
Britt: Oh my gosh. Can we please talk gift cards? Michelle, tell me your take on that. Let’s go there.
Michelle: Oh, geez. Alright. Hot topic.
Britt: Hot topic. I know it. Let’s do it.
Michelle: My position is that I don’t love gift cards as a way to get through this because you’re just selling your future time. And unless you are being really fastidious with your money — let’s say you sold a $100 gift card –unless you have the ability to say, “I’m only going to spend 50 now, and I’m going to save that other 50 for when I actually perform the service so that I can get some income,” then you’re just creating a problem for yourself in the future.
You don’t have money now. You’re not going to have money in the future either. It’s just a rolling ball, I guess. And so I hated to see stylists trying to sell all these gift cards now, but then in three months get back to work and then not have any income again because everyone’s just redeeming their gift cards.
In general gift cards weren’t my favorite way to handle the pandemic.
Like I said, I’m also really, really sympathetic to people’s situations and a lot of stylists say, “Hey, I have two weeks worth of savings, so I’ve got to do something.”
I’m very sympathetic also to everyone’s different situations and I don’t judge people for whatever decisions they’ve made. You do what you have to do to get through it, but if you have savings, if you’ve prepared yourself, I wouldn’t lean on gift cards.
But then a step further that, I’ve seen stylists discounting gift cards. That one kills me when I see that because what stylists don’t realize is they are basically taking out a loan when they do that and the interest rate is really high.
Let’s say, for example, you sold a $100 gift card for $75. You think to yourself like, “Okay, that’s like 25% off.” Well, here’s the way that interest works. If someone redeems that gift card in a year from now, that’s actually a 33% interest rate, which is insane.
Like when we’re talking about PPP being 1%, we’re talking about EIDL as being 3.75%. You’re talking credit cards that are 20%, but you’re going to pay a 33% interest rate on a gift card. That’s just insane.
But the way interest works is that it’s exponential, and what I mean by that is kind of like the COVID-19 infection rates; they start low and then they jump up really high. So when time decreases the interest rate increases.
A lot of people aren’t going to wait a year to redeem that gift card. It’s going to be six months. Once your gift card is redeemed within six months, it’s not a 33% interest rate. It’s a 77% interest rate and it climbs faster and faster the shorter time period.
I don’t want to get like too heavy into the numbers — I can see people falling asleep — but I just want to shout and say don’t discount gift cards. If anything, do not discount those because you’re just, at the end of the day, providing yourself with a very high interest alone.
Britt: Oh my gosh. Well, I’m here to tell you, I and nobody else is falling asleep. My jaw dropped when you said that because I had been saying when you sell gift cards right now, it’s essentially taking out a loan from your client, but I didn’t realize the huge repercussions and what that really means. Like no one in their right mind would sign up for a 30 or 70% interest rate loan. None of us would in any other circumstance. And here we are as an industry, probably half of us setting ourselves up for that to be our business future and it’s scary.
Michelle: Yeah. I think people just think that short term thing. I need money now, but it’s funny, on the flip side of it is that your clients, like your amazing ideal clients, are so sympathetic to what’s going on with you right now. The clients that are buying your gift cards are the people that want to support you and help you. They didn’t even need the discount as the incentive; they would have been probably happy to help you.
When I saw my local salon doing this discount, my first thought was like, “Oh, that’s a really good discount. I should buy it.” And then I realized, I would feel too guilty buying the discounted gift card knowing what they’re doing. So I didn’t, but yeah.
I just think that your loyal clients want to help you and they will do everything they can to make that happen.
Britt: I think you’re exactly right. And to what you’re saying, I always think about myself as the consumer. Like I’m no longer a stylist, I’m essentially a consumer. I keep saying as soon as I’m able to see my manicurist again, I’m going to give her a $100 tip at the end of the day. And one of our favorite breakfast restaurants — we as a family used to go there every Sunday. It was our routine, the waiters are our people, and they just reopened for takeout. We paid them back for several of the breakfasts we missed because we wanted to take good care of them.
Like you said, we are in a relationship-based industry where our best clients, they truly are good people and they want what’s best for us, with or without discounts. You’re right. It’s like that incentive isn’t needed. They care about us as people. And they want us to bounce back.
Michelle: Exactly.
Britt: Michelle, we could just do this all day. You are amazing. Get ready to get so hit so hard in those DMs because everybody’s going to be coming your way.
Where can we find you? Where should we follow you? And how can we connect?
Michelle: So the best place, if you just want free content or free accounting advice and information is my Instagram, which is @smallbusinessCPA.
If you want to get in contact with me directly, you can email me. It’s [email protected].
Britt: Michelle, you are amazing! Biggest virtual hug. Thank you so much for being here today and I hope we can talk again soon.
Michelle: Thank you so much for having me.
Britt: What did I tell you guys? Isn’t she amazing? We had such a great conversation. Michelle, again, thank you so much for joining me on the show.
If you want to find Michelle and make sure that you head to @smallbusinessCPA on Instagram.
You guys, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
