85: {Interview} Managing Cash Flow: A Key to Business Success with Barbara LaPolla, CPA

Are you being strategic when it comes to the numbers in your business? Just like anything else, if you don't have a strategy when it comes to the finances growing and scaling your business will be difficult. Today I have Barbara LaPolla, CPA with me. 

Barbara shares her journey from working in public accounting to starting her own firm catering to female entrepreneurs. She discusses the challenges and successes she has faced as an entrepreneur, the importance of networking, and the significance of cash flow in business. Barbara also provides advice on when to outsource accounting and how to find a trustworthy bookkeeper. She emphasizes the value of understanding and managing your numbers as a crucial aspect of business success.

Takeaways

• Starting your own business requires taking risks and making tough decisions.
• Networking and building relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs can lead to valuable connections and support.
• Understanding and managing cash flow is essential for the success of a business.
• Outsourcing accounting can save time and ensure accurate financial records.
• Finding a trustworthy bookkeeper requires referrals, research, and checking credentials.

More on Jase Accounting Solutions HERE and you can connect with her on LinkedIn HERE

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Transcript

Caroline (00:00.542)
Welcome, Barbara.

Barbara LaPolla (00:02.361)
Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be on here.

Caroline (00:07.326)
So I'd love to hear from you. You started your career in public accounting. You worked your way up the corporate ladder, your last corporate job, you were even a partner. And then two and a half years ago, you decided to go on your own as a full -time entrepreneur. So I'd love to hear your story.

Barbara LaPolla (00:22.703)
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, about 15 years ago, I started out in public accounting, climbed the ladder there and then went into what I call like industry accounting, where I'm going in and working at one company. Then I joined forces with a couple of former colleagues and we created a business similar to what I have currently and where we're providing bookkeeping, CFO services and all the things to entrepreneurs. So then about, let's see, about two and a half years

I ended up leaving that partnership and starting my own firm. And so my firm is catering to female entrepreneurs and I provide, like I said, everything from payroll bookkeeping to CFO services.

Caroline (01:07.572)
So how did that go down? I'm just thinking this through right now. I mean, you're in a partnership, you are working with other partners and you have to make a decision, okay, this isn't working for me anymore. I'm ready to go on my own. What prompted you to do that?

Barbara LaPolla (01:22.221)
Yeah, it's so interestingly enough, I before I left my corporate job prior to joining that partnership, I had this feeling I wanted to start my own firm and it was a little daunting and we talked earlier about how there's this this evolution of the idea of like, I want to do this, but I can't because of excuse, excuse, excuse, right? Like at that time, I honestly I just had my third baby and so I was like, this isn't probably the right time. But honestly, sometimes and I came to this conclusion that I was like, actually, this is

perfect time, I don't want to put her in full -time daycare. So what do I need to do to make this work for my desires for personally? So that really gave me the ammo to say like, I'm going to go induce, I'm going to go start my own firm. But then a friend and former colleague was like, Hey, we just started one like a few months prior. Do you want to join us?

I, you know, funny enough, was hesitant, but I was like, you know what, the logical side of me was like, this is a no brainer. I can learn a lot from here. can then, you know, see if I really do want to actually have my own firm. And if not, like if this goes well, then I could become a partner in this firm. So I just felt like I had nothing to lose. So it wasn't until I got in there that, and it was good. I think it was a good experience, probably the first six months. And then I kind

I learned everything that I was gonna learn from a technical perspective, but like accounting technical, like what is bookkeeping, how does that look? Because that was definitely different from my prior jobs. you know, then it became just having partners having, you know how they say like too many cooks in the kitchen? I think there was a situation like that where it was just too many cooks in the kitchen and we literally all had three different visions for the company.

Two of us were fairly similar and then one was like, whoa out there. Like his vision was just wildly different. So it was the pivotal moment for me was about, I guess it was about two years into that partnership, we hired an outside coach. And all of these ideas that I had been bringing to my partners over the like several months prior and even like the year prior, always kind of fell on deaf ears, I felt like. And so,

Barbara LaPolla (03:35.385)
Having that coach come in though and basically say my same ideas, not that I had told her my ideas or anything. She just was like, hey, this is how this should play out. Was just reaffirming to me that, my goodness, my ideas are not crazy. My ideas are actually pretty good and I could actually run my own firm and do it the way I wanna do and maybe not have some of these headaches that I experienced working with two other partners. So ultimately I took the leap and let them know like, well.

It's kind of funny how it actually went down. was a, I honestly, I prayed about it and I got an email on a Saturday evening saying, hey, would you be interested in us buying your shares out or one of the partners is gonna buy my interest out? And I was like, yes, absolutely. I was like, this is an answer to prayer. I didn't even have to think long. Like I literally responded within like 30 minutes. Cause I had already been talking to my husband about this. Like this had been in the works.

So it just is so awesome how it came to like, we came to the same conclusion without there being this like out for blood situation or anything like that. So we just, know, a few months later I transitioned out and I literally started my firm like the next day, essentially.

Caroline (04:46.42)
Okay, thank you for sharing that story because I am glad you got juicy there because sometimes people are like, yeah, the partnership just broke up or didn't work out or whatever. You went service level, but you went deeper in. So thank you for sharing that. And everything does happen for a reason. So I want to talk about this more and you not talked about this before we jumped on this podcast. When you're first starting out your business, you've got everybody looking at you. You've got a ton of visibility, your family, your friends,

Barbara LaPolla (05:00.877)
Yes, I agree.

Caroline (05:14.982)
ex -co -workers, your ex -bosses, everybody's watching you. In the beginning, a lot of times it's like, how's your little business going? Or how's whatever, fill in the blank, going? It's kind of like a condescending conversation. How did you overcome that?

Barbara LaPolla (05:31.907)
Yeah, so, you know, for me initially, when I left and did my own firm, I was a little bit hesitant. I started it with one client and I was like, maybe I will just play small. Maybe I'll be like a very, very boutique firm. And after a year, I actually got another client through referral. And then after a year, I was like, you know what? No, I set out several years ago. I said I wanted to do this and I'm going to take my shot and however it lands,

Caroline (05:58.215)
Okay.

Barbara LaPolla (06:00.939)
we'll deal with it. And so when people would ask me initially, I think I almost played into the, yeah, it's just like this little side gig, you know, even though I was doing well for myself and it was supporting me and my family. I think I honestly minimize myself until I had that, okay, I'm ready to do this. Like about nine months later, I was like, no, I'm going to actually seek out new clients. I'm going to grow this. I'm going to add to my team, all the things.

Once I did that, now I try not to take too much offense to it, but some people will be like, are you still doing that bookkeeping thing or whatever? And I'm just like, yes, I am. And so if they ask more probing questions, then they get to understand like, wow, this is really serious. This isn't just a side gig, a side hustle or anything. But I personally just try not to take offense. And I will say though, honestly, I've had a lot of support. My family's been very supportive.

So I haven't really dealt with like adversity when it comes to talking about my business.

Caroline (07:03.87)
I love that and I'd love to hear from you one success story with your business and then one example of a challenge you've dealt with as an entrepreneur.

Barbara LaPolla (07:14.477)
Yeah, let's see. Let's say I've had a lot of challenges because even though I was like a partner in another firm, like it doesn't mean that I was immune. I mean, I will say that I got to witness what we dealt with at my old firm that I could be like not going to do that, not going to do this. But I will say the challenge for me has been finding talent

releasing control, right? And I've always have told myself, because even in corporate, I had people underneath me. I had to train like five people, like in a week's time and it's like simultaneously and all these things. And so I had experience doing that, but it's different when it's your own company. And so I, all of a sudden, like this queen delegator, I was like, I'm so good at delegating. All of a sudden I was like finding myself like clutching the, you know, the controls. And

Caroline (08:00.446)
All of a sudden I was like, I'm gonna die.

Barbara LaPolla (08:06.511)
I think that's been my biggest challenge is finding good talent and releasing the controls. have been blessed and finding a former colleague actually works with me now. And so she helps me out and that's helped me be like, okay, I can totally trust you. I've worked with you for 10 years. I know your work, like all the things. So that's been also, I guess, the part of the success.

But as I continue to grow and I'm trying to get you know more staff level people there is that concern of like okay Can I trust them to do this and more also because we are dealing with sensitive information as well? So there's that piece too, and I think I think success like so I kind of use that for both like challenge and success, but if I had to say For success what has been something that's been very successful. I mean honestly I think getting in the rooms

And it's funny, like I initially was, I was like, okay, how am going to market my business? So I hired a social media management team and that was good to get me like going on Instagram. But then I was like, you know what, I need to take this to the next level. I need to get into the room. And I feel like I'm outgoing, but also not some like I'm more introverted when it's like in a big room. I'm more outgoing one on one with people versus like in front of a group of people.

So I was a little bit hesitant, but I will say that getting in those rooms and getting myself out of the comfort zone has brought me a lot of success in landing new clients, getting some great referrals, and just meeting other like -minded entrepreneurs. I didn't realize, I went in probably more of a, can I find my ideal client, right? Can I land a discovery call that then becomes my client? But I didn't realize that the relationships I built...

built with other female entrepreneurs has been like the most invaluable piece of it that I was just like, my goodness, I wasn't even seeking this. And this is amazing because we can totally relate. Like you talk about like how your family and families and friends perceive you as an entrepreneur. It's just all of us know it's a different ball game when you're talking entrepreneur and entrepreneur. It's like we have this unspoken, like we understand, we don't have to like, we just automatically start at a comfort level higher than just some random person off the street or even

Barbara LaPolla (10:20.835)
in that regard, like with our family, you know, it's like, I don't talk business with them. So anyway, that's been a huge success. And so I encourage everyone to get out there, get in the room, network, and see if it brings your business some success as well.

Caroline (10:34.644)
love that you went there. I want to talk about that more because number one, that topic lights me up. Number two, I think it is such a game changer. And I think for anyone listening to this podcast right now, they might be thinking, okay, well, what rooms are you talking about and how do I get there? And so tell me kind of what your experience has been there and are you going to networking things for free? Are you paying to get in the rooms? Kind of what does that look like?

Barbara LaPolla (10:58.511)
Yeah, so I plugged into, I actually, just moved from Colorado. So when I was in Colorado, I joined a local networking group and it was very inexpensive. I feel like it was maybe $50 a month and we would get together twice a month. Usually there was like a workshop where we would learn from other entrepreneurs great things too, like how to optimize your SEO optimization, how to do a marketing email marketing campaign, like just things that were actually very tactical, practical things. And then they would also do

Hey, just like coffee, like let's all get together and as a group of women. And then I've also have paid higher premiums to get into rooms. That's where I'm like flying out to different retreats. And how I have heard about them really is being on Instagram and seeing like, where's everyone else going? Cause I'm watching for my ideal clients. I'm following my ideal clients. Okay, look, there's three of them going to this event. I want to go too. So,

I think though, like you can over, you can overdo it too. So I say like if you are looking for a networking group or looking to attend an event, just make sure you go in there with like very set intentions and make sure, you know, hold yourself accountable to like, am I coming here for? And what am I going to do for the follow up? Am I going to reach out to them and say, Hey, it was great meeting you. Can we hop on a coffee, you know, coffee date, zoom date, whatever. Or can we go if you're local, hey, you want to go grab lunch or something. So I think,

Yeah, that's how I've done it and I think it's been great.

Caroline (12:26.068)
think networking is so crucial when it comes to growing a business. And even if you're an introvert listening to this, Barbara said she was an introvert in the beginning of this conversation. You've got to do it and it's uncomfortable even for us extroverts to do because you don't know anybody. It's what do you talk about? How do you get the conversation started? But the faster that you can get over that, flex that muscle, the quicker you can build it.

Caroline (12:52.836)
So let me ask you this, you're an entrepreneur now full time, you've been building and scaling your business. How do you juggle it? You've got a husband, you've got kids, you've got family. I mean, what does that look like for you?

Barbara LaPolla (13:04.919)
Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I would love to say I have it all figured out. So I have four kiddos and they're nine and under. So we're in like the thick of elementary, got one kid in pre -K. So it's like, we've got kids that are very, some of them are independent in some respects and not so much in other respects. So it's something that I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never have it all figured

and it goes in seasons. And so I have some seasons, have a nanny that's helping me more hours a week than others. Sometimes it's me just working later in the evenings. So I'm kind of, I'm constantly trying to figure out what works for our family and the season that we're in. And I think I've also just come to terms with...

the fact that as an entrepreneur, it's very hard. The benefit of being flexible, right? Entrepreneurship gives us all this flexibility. But what I realized with it, it means that we also have to be very, I guess, selfish, if you will, with our time so that it doesn't bleed over to family time. And so I've had

Caroline (14:02.11)
the smallest flexibility. But what I realized later, I could also come to a whole new area of self -discipline and learn from that.

Barbara LaPolla (14:14.763)
because there's so many times my office is in my house. So I could easily just pop in here and start working. And so I have to stop myself and say, no, this is family time. So those lines get blurred. And so I have to be disciplined to say, it's work time, get in there and let's work. Okay, it's family time. It's time to shut off the brain for work and let's enjoy and be present with the family. So I would love to say I have it all figured out, but I definitely have help and that's how I manage. And that help, just the level of help just kind of fluctuates based off the season.

Caroline (14:44.212)
I'm with you on that because my husband recently moved his office from downtown to home and I am upstairs now at home. I wanted to put it back to your business. Okay. You're a CPA. You've got extensive background in accounting. You've even got auditing, auditing in your background. I saw on your LinkedIn profile. So you've got, you're hitting all the bullets there. Okay. As a fellow business owner,

Barbara LaPolla (14:51.511)
Yeah. Yeah.

Caroline (15:11.496)
Why is it super important for you to pay attention to cashflow?

Barbara LaPolla (15:15.391)
yeah, very important. If you're not cognizant of cash flow, let's just think about it. Especially when you're just starting out, cash is king. So if we don't have a good pulse on our cash, then things can go sideways really quick. So it's super important to understand not only the income and expenses, but the timing of those. And so that's where cash flow, because it's one thing to

to know like here's my net income number, but you really need to understand when is the income hitting? Is my business cyclical, seasonal? Is there some months where it's know, famine or is there some, there's some months where the money's just rolling in and having a pulse on your cashflow, you can plan for those more, you know, drier seasons like I like to call them and just make sure that you've got that cash reserve built up to also help.

There's so many aspects of it that I just, you if you're just listening or, know, you're just starting out, say, make sure you understand your numbers. Cashflow is crucial and that will come in. And it's very, I actually have a cashflow tool that you can download and that can actually get you going on it. Cause I know it's like, you sit here, cashflow, you're like, my goodness, that sounds so accountant -y. I just made up a word, but so I just want to encourage people that there's a tool out there. It's not that scary.

Caroline (16:31.405)
you.

Barbara LaPolla (16:37.869)
and can manage your own cash flow. don't need an accountant from day one to do that on your

Caroline (16:43.792)
So I'm gonna make a confession right now. I have done a lot of things for my business, Chilvino, and then my coaching business. And the one thing that I have not figured out how to do is accounting. And so that's the one thing I had to outsource. So what advice would you give? I tried to learn QuickBooks in the beginning. I tried it all. And I don't know why, my brain just does not work that way. I had to hire a tutor in college for accounting. like, give me marketing

Barbara LaPolla (16:59.214)
Yes.

Caroline (17:11.95)
sales or anything else and like I can do it all day but accounting is not clicking for me.

Barbara LaPolla (17:14.615)
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Okay.

Caroline (17:18.566)
So any advice, my question for you is when do know that you need to outsource accounting?

Barbara LaPolla (17:25.699)
Yeah, so this is kind of, it's going to vary based off who you are really. It's because there are some people who are like, I'm going to go DIY and I'm going to learn QuickBooks. That's great. If that's how, if you are, if you feel the desire to do that and you feel capable of doing that, then that's awesome. I say save the expense and just do it yourself. If you though are someone who's like, that is not my zone of genius. I don't enjoy doing it. So therefore I'm not going to do it. And I'm not going to look at my numbers.

then I would say you need a bookkeeper sooner than later. The other thing to note too is that when tax time comes, your tax accountant is expecting a clean set of books, meaning they want everything categorized appropriately, and that way they can just literally plug your numbers into a tax return. And

Caroline (17:59.396)
that has been fully funded by Texas. So, need some money.

Barbara LaPolla (18:14.639)
If you are not maintaining that throughout the year, then you essentially have to pay your tax accountant to do it for you during their busiest time and therefore they're going to usually charge you a premium to do that for you to do bookkeeping plus file your tax return. So I tell people, why don't you do yourself a favor, hire it out throughout the year, get that benefit of knowing your numbers month to month so that you can pivot. If something didn't work last month, you can pivot and you don't have to wait for a year later to realize, I should have pivoted.

But anyway, in that way, you're still spending maybe the same amount of money. You're just getting the benefit year round versus once a year and after the fact really.

Caroline (18:53.478)
So I'm going to ask you a question because I've seen this scenario happen recently to a friend of mine who owns a business and they hired a bookkeeper and the bookkeeper stole a bunch of money from them. So how do you know if you're hiring a bookkeeper? mean, this person is in the crevices of the finances of your business. How do you know you're hiring someone trustworthy if you're just hiring someone off the street?

Barbara LaPolla (19:15.863)
No, that's a great question. So I actually had a, I have a current client who was embezzled by their old accountant, two accountants before me. And that's just awful. what I recommend is you need to find, I say definitely refer, use your network. Who is, who's using who? Can they vouch for this person?

You should also go with like, for example, I have a CPA license. You can go onto the Secretary of State's website for I'm licensed in Colorado. You can go there and you can look me up and see if like I have any violations. I will say that not all bookkeepers are created equally. So if you are looking for someone like who's a CPA licensed CPA who has the experience and you can obviously look up my credentials, I can give you referrals, then you can,

Barbara LaPolla (20:11.885)
I'm gonna pause. I don't know if you're gonna have to edit that out. I just like lost my train of thought. Sorry. Anyway, what was I saying? Let me think. I'll tell you when I'm ready.

Caroline (20:13.987)
Okay, it's fine.

Caroline (20:22.843)
the opportunity to hire a bookkeeper versus a CPA.

Barbara LaPolla (20:26.765)
Yeah, and I can't hear you that well either. It all of sudden went out. I can hear you. I think I can hear you well enough. Say something.

Caroline (20:31.01)
the mic's turned down. Better now?

Caroline (20:37.005)
All right, is it better now?

Barbara LaPolla (20:40.749)
Yes, that's better. Okay, that's much better. Okay. So I'm ready again. Okay, so you can look up people online. You can look someone up like myself up online.

Caroline (20:44.687)
Thanks.

Barbara LaPolla (20:59.255)
So I highly recommend you ask for referrals. hey, can I talk to a current client? Can I look at their testimonials if they post that? Look at their license if they are a licensed CPA. Reach out to friends that and ask for network, essentially. Hey, who do you work with? Who can you vouch for? So that's key. But then also just keeping in mind that not all bookkeepers and accountants are created the same. so there are some big box bookkeeping companies.

I don't know what their work output is going to look like. I've heard some stories, but there's also some people who are not CPAs and who do good bookkeeping. But I will say that, for example, for me, I went to school for accounting and I've had almost 15 years of experience in accounting, so I'm very well -versed in all things accounting. So think just making sure you understand their experience level too, and that's what you kind of get what you pay for.

Caroline (21:56.873)
That's really good advice. So what is lining you up with the clients that you're working with right now?

Barbara LaPolla (22:03.447)
Well, I just love I work with mostly female entrepreneurs. so honestly, I just get excited when I see other women having success and then being a part of that success and being able to like bring their dreams to life. Because like what I do as a CFO is I listen to what they want, what they want personally and what they want from their business. And then I basically add the numbers to it and say, OK, well, to get this, then this is what we need. This is what revenue you need. OK, to get that revenue, what do we need to price your

that. So we kind of do this like reverse engineering. So I really just enjoy seeing my clients revenue increasing each year and then them just being happier in their personal and their professional life because they've got this part of the puzzle figured out because like numbers are huge like they're everything and I think so many people want to and I think everything's important. I think having a coach

is valuable to I think having branding and having a website like there's all these things that are very important but I also think that sometimes accounting people find it hard to see the value in that and and so they can basically put that on the back burner that's like the last thing they're gonna pay for and I I just recommend I just highly recommend people

make that one of your earlier investments. so you can be some of my clients that have that success. And I mean, they're have thriving businesses. So yeah, that's what lights me

Caroline (23:30.101)
And I'll second that because that, mean, you have nothing if you don't know your numbers at all. you have, and if you, can get stuck really quickly. I mean, I have with my company and children, know, having inventory calls and all these upfront calls first, especially with cashflow. And so yes, an accountant is a super important hire. So how can I listeners find you?

Barbara LaPolla (23:43.896)
Yes.

Barbara LaPolla (23:50.36)
Yes.

Yeah. So you can find me on Instagram at Jace Accounting. You can find me at my website, www .jaceaccounting .com. And you can click, there's a link that you can click. It's called work with us. You can schedule a free discovery call. We can hop on a call and there's no obligations. 30 minutes. You can just pick my brain. I've had people get on there with me and they just ask me questions. And they're not quite ready for an accountant, but I say take it, you know, use it to your advantage. Or if you're interested in like bookkeeping services or CFO services,

We can always just chat about that too. So that's where you can find me.

Caroline (24:27.659)
and I'll put all the links in the show notes. Thanks, Barbara.

Barbara LaPolla (24:30.625)
Thank you.