Podcast Guest: Bookkeeping-The Rhythms and Myths with Eric Johnisee

 

 

Podcast Guest: Bookkeeping-The Rhythms and Myths with Eric Johnisee from Drive Accounting

https://getrichslowpodcast.libsyn.com/1-bookkeeping-the-rhythms-and-myths-with-eric-johnisee

 

Rob Delavan & Adrian Schermer

 

SPEAKERS

Outro, Rob, Intro, Eric, Adrian

Intro

This podcast will include info we wish we knew a decade ago, to get the most out of our financial life, and will provide you with insight into wealth building activities and practices that can expand your net worth exponentially. Get insight from top professionals who will reveal how to build wealth the long way and work smarter, not harder, and identify your financial blind spots. With over 25 + years of experience as licensed real estate professionals, and a long track record of winning for their clients, Rob and Adrian will teach you what it takes to be an everyday real estate millionaire with today’s special guest, Eric Johnisee. Tune-in and let us know what you think! Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

 

 

Adrian

Hello, future millionaires. Thanks for joining us today on the Get Rich, Slow Podcast. I’m joined today by my Co-Host, Robert Delavan. This is Adrian Schermer, and we have a special guest today, Eric Johnisee from Drive Accounting. Thanks so much for joining us giving us your time today. Eric.

 

Eric

Thank you. Appreciate being here.

 

Rob

Morning, Eric. Good to see you.

 

Eric

Likewise.

 

Adrian

Eric has run Drive Accounting since 92′ ?

 

Eric

I’ve used QuickBooks since 92. Started drive in 2000.

 

Adrian

That’s back when you were feeding punch cards into the computer or ??

 

Eric

It’s not quite but that but it was just after . Yeah, it was different. We take technology for granted. I mean, the things we wait for now, and get we’re frustrated with, it used to take forever. So technology is crazy that way.

 

Rob

Well, I’m sorry. You had to go through that, Eric. And thank you on behalf of the rest of us QuickBooks illiterates (laughter). So I love it. Today I wanted to jump right in. We have a few questions for you. We wanted to interview you based on the fact Eric, I’ve worked with you for what seven years now?

 

Eric

There abouts – Yeah.

 

Rob

And we’ve gone through all sorts of different business iterations, you have solved a LOT of problems for me. The interesting thing about your world is tax and financial planning, actually, and frankly, which feeds into lending always starts with accounting and bookkeeping. And if you don’t have that foundation, you’re chasing your tail (the nightmare of every year) the CPA and the box of receipts, right (laughter)? You have personally made that a thing of the past for me. So, I appreciate you for that. Starting us off, the first question I have for you is – Why did you get into your field? And what is your the main driver to improve your craft?

 

Eric

Well, I have to two pieces there. When I got into this, I was raised in a small family business doing real estate and construction, and I spent a lot of time on the job site the rest of the time I spent in the office. We had learned how to you know keep books with Lotus 123 and on Ledger’s; and then Quicken. And then moved over to QuickBooks in 92.’ When that came out and I kinda of fell into that. I loved how easy QuickBooks made it to really pull it all together compared to what it was before. Um, but I kind of did that at the time, because that’s what I knew.

Here’s a little bit of background here – I grew my company to 17 employees before the recession in 2007 and we weren’t paying close enough attention to our numbers. We had this perfect storm of a key employees life falling apart during the recession, with my son being born and I was home more, and I just wasn’t focusing on the business. Then the recession hit and a large number of our clients were real estate and construction related. So, things were dropping like flies. When I got out of the recession, shrinking down to myself and one person with a huge amount of debt, and I had to start digging myself out of that hole. And the reason that we got there is because we weren’t paying close enough attention to our numbers. So, that’s frankly why I do what I do. I mean, it was halfway through this now, 12, 13, 14 years ago and having to dig us out with those mistakes. That really emboldened me and made me passionate about the numbers that we have, because I used to think I could grow this just by working harder, putting more time in and and getting more stuff through. And then I realized I was making the wrong decisions, and I needed to make intentional, informed decisions about my business. And I couldn’t do that without information. And of course, we were able to pull all the information together. It’s just that we we weren’t practicing what we preached. So now I’m methodical about it. It’s one of the reasons I see so many small businesses struggling and it’s because they’re on that treadmill running as fast as they can, hoping that if I just do more, it’ll all take care of itself. But it’s usually that they’re not being proactive about their business. And you see that really in times, like what we’ve experienced this last year, we see a lot of businesses down. I have the vast majority of our clients that are having incredible years, in spite of the pandemic here, and it’s because they’re focusing on their numbers.

Rob

Which is funny, because a lot of the business folks that I’ve talked about talked to say they either gained 15 pounds or the COVID-19, right? (laughter). Conversely, they also basically had banner years, or they had, the worst year ever since they got into business. And it really can come back to – What are the fundamentals of their business? Which is your focus?

Adrian

Who had a good 2020? Eric, what industries are you seeing?

Eric

I can’t say it’s industries in general, because I see people in same industries. One that’s making it and one that’s not. I think the #1 factor that I’ve seen are people who are constantly trying to build a better mousetrap and their business. People who are constantly looking at, okay, this didn’t work, how can I do this better? How can I become more efficient, figuring out where I can trim the fat? That’s when we get into our income statements, our budgets and whatnot, and begin paying attention to where our money is going. But also begin paying attention to where it’s coming from. Begin saying no, to certain things, and really focusing on the most profitable. And again, that’s where I get all the information that I have. The companies that are doing that here, regardless of industry. I’ve even seen restaurants, I know Rob has a client that has a pizza shop, that now gets five times a revenue.

The verbiage I heard from Chris, our Accounting Manager, was that this guy was bringing in money quicker than he could spend it. Which is a great problem to have. The other restaurants may have a lot of people that are resting on the laurels; who were just kind of coasting. And frankly, you can’t do that in business and really succeed. The ones that are making it, are the ones that are finding a better way.

Adrian

Sure, sure. And I think that’s one of our pillars here is the idea that you got to get your ducks in a row. What am I going to do when things get too busy? Not, I’ll deal with that once I’m already too busy to deal with it. I witnessed that, as I analyze financials for people everyday. I see the people who are doing really, really well. And I also see a lot of loss and a lot of missed opportunity. Which sounds goofy when someone’s making great money. But yeah, people want to keep turning the gears themselves and you’ve got to kind of step back. And I think, Rob, what was that term you used to use? You used to fire yourself, every once in a while? You’ve got to get really good at firing yourself from jobs that you’re not gonna be able to…

 

 

Listen and learn more – https://getrichslowpodcast.libsyn.com/1-bookkeeping-the-rhythms-and-myths-with-eric-johnisee