(upbeat music) - Welcome to Keep What You Earned, your judgment and jargon-free zone for entrepreneurs of all levels. Get ready to learn how to scale your business, save money in taxes, and create a business that grows your wealth. If it feels like the financial side of business is like eating your vegetables, well, then think of this podcast as the ranch dressing to make the process a little more enjoyable. My name is Shannon Weinstein. I'm a CPA and business owner on a mission to simplify money and empower others through knowledge. I hope this episode inspires you to take action, but remember that the information we share is for educational purposes only, and is not individual tax advice. Now that we got that out of the way, let's start the show. (upbeat music) Hey, welcome back. Today on the show, we're continuing our conversation with Justin Bonamo. This is an interview that we started yesterday, so go back and listen to part one if you haven't. Justin is the CEO and founder of Journey to Financial Freedom. His passion is for coaching and consulting business owners, navigating their financial journey. Now, while that may seem broad, he actually takes a really, really cool approach to this. I want you to hear more about how we navigate financial fear in this episode and more information on what Justin and his company do. Let's dive in. So we've talked a lot about, you've mentioned this a few times actually, and the episode is control. I hear the word control popping up a lot, including in your slogans, right? Taking control of your finances and control being a solution. But I think this actually has to be set out loud that people are relinquishing control of their money, willingly, constantly. And I see this with hiring professionals. I see this with, you know, like they hire us as CFOs or they hire a coach or something, and they're like, it's your job to care about this. I'm out, you know what I mean? They like hand you the keys, jump in the trunk, shut the door and like, don't care where we end up. Just take me somewhere. And like, I don't want to look out the window. Yep. I don't want to know where we're going. And that's what most dangerous thing you can do. Let's talk about relinquishing your financial control, what that means and what it can do to you. And what it means to regain financial control, but without having to like, without making it so stressful. Right. I absolutely love that you brought that up because we just had a live event on Friday. And one of the points that we covered with people is like, the only person that has the ability to take control of your finances in a manner that's going to get your best result is you. Right. Not in your accountment, not your CFO, not your financial advisor, not some app, though those things are helpful and needed, right? The only person that has the ability to take full control and responsibility over your finances to get your best results is you, right? And by delegating, right, and out of sight, out of mind, all you're doing is just, it's just an avoidance strategy. Right. And I know, not from my finances, but from my marketing. Right. I did this for years. I didn't like marketing. It was confusing to me. It challenged me. It was just like, there's so much gray area there. And like now I just call it a nine-letter word for test, right? And so I hired this full-blown marketing team, spent so much money on marketing, right? And was wondering why we weren't getting best results. And it's because the person who needed to be involved, not full control, but involved to a high degree, was it? I gave him the keys and hit in the trunk, like you said, right? And so now two, three years later, I'm coming out of that trunk, like, damn, all I did was just spend a lot of money to avoid, you know? And so I think that's the, it's your money. It's your business, right? And money is like oxygen to your business, right? And so you're not gonna hold your breath, right? And avoid oxygen in life and think that you're gonna live, let alone get best results. So why do it with your business, you know? And so I'm 1,000% with you. Utilize the resources, but remember, they're resources, right? You're the person that has the most control and responsibility to get you best results for your finances. - And I mean, like to your point before, it starts with addressing those belief systems and not just, you know, following the orders or doing what people say. I also feel like it's an avoidant strategy because it can allow you to assign blame to others if something doesn't go right. - For sure, for sure. When you first talk about your finances, right, when you're trying to do better, like that first initial conversation, maybe even like the first 90 days, really all you're talking about for the most part is just your inadequacies, which is our conversation for people. That's why I avoid conversations with my wife. You know what I mean around, like, how can I do better? Like, I constantly avoid those because if you think about it, it's just a conversation of your inadequacies, right? - Yeah, it's inviting criticism. - It's exactly what it's doing, right? And it's uncovering old wounds and it's triggering, right? But again, what you resist persists. And so I've definitely found that in many areas in my life. And so you're 1,000% right. And I just tell people, again, like I said earlier, you're serious about financial freedom. These are conversations, right? And tasks and opportunities that you're gonna have to come back and visit at some point. We might as well get it out of the way sooner than later. - Yeah, exactly. But also, like, we don't have to make it sound like it's a root canal. You know, we can, you know, get it out of the way. It's more like, how could we actually start embracing this as an idea of something that's productive and moves us toward our goals as opposed to something that is getting in the way of something else? Like, we should be looking forward to having these conversations, you know? You know, not to be excited about it, like day one, but we wanna be moving in that direction to start associating it with the positive outcomes that it produces and not just the pain of having to go through it or the work that it takes to put in. - For sure, for sure. And on that note, you know, a quote and a love is like, when it comes to finances, you have two options. You have the stress of addressing or the stress of avoiding. You might as well pick the one option as a return on investment, right? And so, you know, it doesn't have to be that hard, either, you know? And I think looking forward to it because of the opportunities that it brings, like you said. And so, we just choose our heart in life, you know? And when it comes to finances, like, once you start to get into it and start to have the conversations, you start to realize what you feared wasn't really actually that big, wasn't really actually that serious. And it gets better as you go. Like, it's not one of those things where it's like, every time you talk about it, it gets worse. It's actually the more you talk about it, the more you address it, the better it gets. And especially if you have a safe, trusted person. I love the quote too as well. I'm over here just quoting all day long, but it helps with finances and it helps with business. And so, the more you talk about the darkness and safe spaces, the less control it has over you, right? The better it gets. And so, I can completely agree with you with what you said it does. It shouldn't be looked at like this big scary task, though, you want to align expectations, but at the same time, it's like, once you have that initial conversation, like it just starts to get better. It's kind of like when we were in college and we just were resisting this essay that we had to write. And then we went to the library and wrote the intro paragraph and we were often running. And we're like, why did I just stress about this for the past two weeks? I should've just sat down and started typing and I'm actually enjoying the progress I'm making now. - Yeah, but like I just gave up two weeks of my life of enjoyment with this thing looming in the back of my ments. It's a total procrastination tactic. And the way I put it to my folks, too, and my memberships and my clients is, you know, when they're struggling with this, like they got, I'll give you an example, we had a client that got a letter from the IRS in the mail. Talk about a trigger, right? Letter from the IRS, like, oh my God. And she got it and I said, can you just like send me a picture of the letter? No, she did. Send me a picture of the closed envelope, the address on it, like not the letter, a picture of the close, I go, what do you think I meant? - Really, how do you think I meant? - Yeah. - And I'm like, I love the literalness of this but, but this isn't helpful. I need the letter and she's like, I don't want to open it. Can I just mail it to you? And I'm like, whoa, okay, here's the thing. And what's so funny about that is like, we're gonna open it together on Zoom. - Yeah. - And it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. A lot of money story stuff going on but here's what's interesting. We opened it up and it was like, we have processed your change of address, thank you. - Wow. - So it was just a simple informational letter. And this person dedicated so much energy, stress, my time, her time, you know, into investing in this thing that was absolutely nothing. And I said, this is what I told her, I said, listen, letter from the IRS, whatever it is, whatever your version of this is, it's like, it's a monster under the bed. - Exactly. - It will always be a monster that lives in your closet or lives under the bed. It will always be that. The noise you hear will always be a monster until you go look at it and you realize it's a mouse. - Yep, exactly. - Or you realize it was just like a board that was swaying or the curtains a certain way. Like when you're a kid, you're afraid of every little thing 'cause what it could be. 'Cause you always go to the worst thing, the scariest thing. And then you realize it's nothing and you're like, oh. - Yeah. - I was like scared of that, that was stupid. - Yeah, yeah. - And that's like every single IRS letter, every single thing is like, it's not a big deal. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And I always say, if you're gonna make up a story, it might as well as be one that serves you. So, yeah, a lot of people spend so much unnecessary time, energy and even money, whether they realize it or not, by avoiding their finances and avoiding what they think is this huge massive mountain when it's just a step or two up a hill. - Yeah, exactly. And here's the thing I wanna correct for is like, we're not minimizing your emotions. - Absolutely not. - Or minimizing or invalidating the fear that you feel. But in reality, it's not invalid, but we're telling you that you can make an alternative choice. - For sure, for sure. Like the emotions and how you feel is, I'm happy you brought that up. We're definitely not being insensitive to that. Like, you know, sometimes with my goals and my clients for the 60 minute meeting, that's all we're talking about are their emotions, right? Because they are valid, but effective, a different conversation. - Right, we can choose to validate the emotions and say, I understand why you have that emotional response. Let's talk about it. And figure out why, 'cause then you can take its power away, like you said. You shine a light on it and it takes away the darkness's power. And you start realizing that when you start putting those reps in with the muscle memory of, well, the last time I opened this letter, it was nothing. So I bet it's nothing again. And now you're kind of conditioning your own belief system to be like, this isn't a big deal. It's never been a big deal. I don't know why I thought it was a big deal. And I don't know, for you, Justin, especially growing up, you know, in the circumstances that you did with your parents, I'm curious, I just think this is so fascinating why everyone thinks the IRS is scary. Like, why do we think this is so scary? - Yeah, a belief by virtue is our truth, right? And if we grow up hearing that the IRS is scary, guess what we're gonna believe, right? Or if we grow up seeing the IRS reprimand the people around us, of course, we're gonna think it's scary, right? But the IRS does not wanna be scary. They don't wanna do anything bad to you. Like, when they have to do something, quote unquote bad to you or reprimand you, like that makes their life hard, right? And so like, they're on your side, right? They're on your side, you know, especially if, you know, I've had a couple of clients get audited and like, yeah, the IRS, you know, they're pretty stern and straight forward at the same time. Like, they're not trying to fish for any problems. They're just trying to validate that like, you did the right thing and that they're just trying to find that justification, right? And so like, they're not big, bad and scary, right? And, you know, if you're just doing the right things, you have nothing to worry about, right? It's like, yeah, you may make a mistake, which is fine, but like, they're not gonna take your house and your children in your eye right before a mistake, right? They're not, like, they don't wanna do those things. They wanna work with you, right? And so if you just, you're doing the right things, right? Most times when you get a letter from the IRS, it is nothing bad, right? They're not bad people, it's not scary yet. Tax is sucking away 'cause you're stishing out a ton of money. And, but again, it's all about how you perceive it, right? Like, I got a massive tax bill in 2022 when our business really took off. And my first thought, I'm so proud of myself for this, I set out loud. It's like, wow, God, trust me with this big of a tax bill. This big of a tax bill is a result of the success that I've had, right? But also, at the same time, I'm like, there might be a little opportunity here to pay a little bit less next year. (laughs) Right, right. And so it's, it's a perspective shift. But again, our beliefs by virtue are our truths. And usually our beliefs are just formed from the experiences that we had in life. And it's kind of like money in totality, right? People, when they say money's bad or evil, it's like, no, it's not. It's a piece of paper or a piece of plastic, right? - Yeah, see, it's meaning you assign to it and what you use it for. - I 1000%. So, yeah, I think that's a great question. You know, it's the IRS, you know, most times when people view them as bad is because them or somebody close to them had a bad run and with the IRS and has nothing to do with the IRS. But instead the person that just didn't do what they were supposed to do, if you will. - Yeah. And I find that, you know, that story kind of carries with them. And then they think it's scary, even though they have no actual personal experience with it. But you know, one of the funniest things was I was on the phone with IRS Asians, like the whole pandemic. And, you know, these are like Midwestern employees working from home with kids screaming in the background, just like you. And they're like, I really don't want to do this. Like, I really don't, they don't have any interest. They want to be flexible with you and they want to work with you. But they want everyone to walk away happy, to some extent. I mean, they're going to take your money. But like, they don't want to do damage to you financially. They want to work with you. They want to come up with payment plans. Like, there's so many options. - Sure. - So I just want people to know that like, as we're talking about this, I know part of that money story is a lot of fear around entities like the IRS. And, you know, the FTB is another story. I'll just claim that one. Like, yeah, kind of afraid of them. But the IRS is actually really flexible. And there's actually a lot of humanity in this as well in money. I think that we're also disassociating, like you said, what you mentioned before, like what the financial industry wants you to believe and why they're gatekeeping this information. I think they also, to some degree, want you to fear them a little bit. Do you agree? - Yeah. Cause if you fear them a little bit, then you're going, I don't say you're going to hire them for their services. But your people are moved and purchased through emotions, right? And the easiest one to elicit is fear, right? I'm going to, maybe I'll go on this rabbit hole here. But if you think about like the church system, the Catholic church, and again, I'm a believer, I love God, I don't want to offend anybody here. But historically, the Catholic church has motivated people through fear. If you do X, Y and Z, you're going to go to hell, right? And that's because it's well through negative outcomes, we can say. Like they've motivated through the negative outcome being the result of a behavior as opposed to like negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement. - Yeah, exactly. And it just gets people to move and move fast and not think twice about swiping a card, you know, like, that makes them think that the urgency is much more heightened than it actually is. And then, you know, they're acquiring the services of the person eliciting that fear into them. - I agree. And it's a bit of even like overall, the financial system overall that we have in our society is built on, well, like you don't understand this. And you never will or that we don't want you to understand it. And therefore it's fear, it's fearful because it's uncertainty. And it's, you know, you have a little bit of curiosity and it's hard to find information, hard to distill information that's accurate. Number one, number two, it's hard to really get access to that information that's easy to understand and implement. And I think that's by design. - Agreed. 1000% agree. And even the stuff that's not by design, the things that do you have people who get intentions in mind, right, is like, there's just so much general and blanket information out there when it comes to finances, right? And could you get decent, maybe good results off of general or blanket information? Maybe. But why in the world would you settle for that when you can get optimal when it comes to your finances? And I think the gap is bridged when you understand unique variables, right? That there's no cookie cutter approach to finances. And every human being and business is a unique entity, a unique person. And because of those unique variables, right? Like what make you differ in your age, where you live, how many kids you have, what you do for living, what are your goals, what are your fears, just to name a few. Those must be considered, right? To then create optimal strategy to get optimal results, right? For somebody when it comes to finances. And so my point in saying that is like, even the good information out there, quote unquote, right? It's still misleading and confusing because it's general and blanket. It's like, dude, you're a 60 year old dude who grew up in a different error than me and you're putting out a YouTube video and there's just no similarities between me and you. But you're giving me this advice and expecting me to implement it. If I even understand it in the first place and then get best results, it doesn't really add up. Yeah. And I've always said to like, there are some things that are good advice, but may not be the best advice for you. Yeah, absolutely. And there's a difference between that. Like there's a lot of good advice out there and I support a lot of these creators. Like I'll give you one example. A lot of creators are saying like the best place to put your money is like low cost index funds. I'm like, that's not a bad idea. It's a low risk strategy. But then I look at, well, what are the cash flow needs of the person? And what should we be really thinking about in terms of priority? Do they have credit card debt? Do they have other needs? Do they have a family? Do they have big bills or any other debt to pay off? And if there's so many other variables that go into, is that a good decision for me, even though that is a good habit, let's say, you know, is the right thing I should be doing spot on. And we always say that with our clients is like, we want to understand not only what goals make sense for you to go after, right? But also cadence have accomplishments. Like meaning like, okay, what should we be going after first, second and third? And what can we run in parallel? You know, for example, like if you've got goals to fix your credit and buy a house, we should probably fix the credit to then optimize the home purchase process. Second, right? If you have goals where you want to make more money and save more money, right? We can maybe run those at the same time. And so you're exactly right, right? Just, yeah, good habit, good strategy. But does that make sense for the unique human and business that's hearing it? Yeah, the who and the when. Yeah, does it make sense for me? Does it make sense for me now? Exactly, because it also could make sense for you. Just not now. Yeah, I thousand percent. So many variables. And this is why financial advice is so hard to teach. This is why we struggle. This is why it's really hard. And this is why you guys hear a disclaimer at the front of every episode. Because it's really hard to give blanketed advice, share information. And I think a lot of finance finance professionals or experts are really hesitant to, excuse me, hesitant to create. Because they're afraid of, well, what if someone implements this and it's not right for them, to some extent, this goes back to your point before Justin, where about being in control of your own decisions and your own finances is you are the only one being able to choose what you want off this buffet of advice. Right. What is good for you? And you might be allergic to a dish on there, even though it's delicious. You know, you have to be, you have to take ownership of being like, I shouldn't have that because I personally know that's not good for me. But I don't expect the chef to know that. Right. It's just the same way. You know, they say like any allergies, anything we got to know about, you don't expect the chef just to know this without you telling them, don't expect your accountant or your financial professional to know your goals unless you've articulated it. For sure. I've never heard that analogy before with the chef, but it's spot on. It's like, it's your responsibility to tell them, because you're the one who knows, and we wouldn't expect them to know otherwise. And I think that is a key area of if you're, I mean, I have a nut allergy. So I know that this is why I use that because I go, I've always had this responsibility to like sit down and go high. I have to tell you something before we move forward, but luckily now people ask. So it's great, but I think even if your financial professional isn't asking, you should be clear on what those goals are and be forthcoming with it because I think that frankly, not enough financial professionals really go deep, like Justin said, and go into those beliefs and into those questions. They just do kind of serve the surface level. And everyone can kind of stay in that avoidance for sure. And that's why companies like your and mine, yours and mine have become so successful because we fill in the blanks, right? And we spend time getting to know the unique human being and we don't settle for good, we want to get optimal. And so we're here to help, you know, but like Shannon is saying, it's like, you have to take control and then leverage these resources like a financial coach, like a CPA, right, like an app, whatever that may look like, right? It's to fill in the blanks, advise, give you your expertise, support and accountability, but they're not going to drive the hard for you. 100%. And speaking of that, I want to give you the opportunity to share more about your business and tell people how they can get in touch with you if they want to learn more about, you know, what it is you do and how you can help them. For sure. Well, thank you for asking. And so my company, like I mentioned, it's called Journey to Financial Freedom. And we do financial coaching and strategy for business owners. And the end goal really is financial freedom. And so our definition of financial freedom is only an asset or assets that make you enough money each month to cover your expenses in your lifestyle, whether you choose the show up or not. And that asset is your business, right? And so we take a four step process. We're step one, we help you implement the right systems for your personal and business finances and start to enhance your mindset or what we call your internal world, your external wealth is just a reflection of your internal wealth. Right. And so when we take that step one after the systems are implemented and we start to enhance the relationship with money, we then move on to step two, which is the strategies, right? Like Shannon and I were talking about, okay, what actually makes sense for you to go after, right? What's the cadence of accomplishments to go after those things in? And then also, what's the fastest, cheapest, most stress-free and trustworthy way as possible for you to attack those goals? A simple way to encapsulate step two is we must come up with a mission for your money, right? And then step three, now it's time to make some more money, right? Because now it makes sense because the right foundations are in place with step one and step two. And so most times our clients, their income is coming from their business. So now it's time to optimize the business to not only increase cash flow, but to make sure that the profit margins are staying where they're at or if not growing, right? Because it's one thing to make a lot of money. It's another thing to see a lot of money at the end of the month, right? Two completely different skill sets, right? And so the first one's almost, you know, unnecessary without the second one. And so in step three is when we optimize the income. And then step four is where we help you become financially unshakeable. We take the increased income and increased profits and we multiply it on the back end, right? In a way where no matter what your business or the economy or the world does, you are financially unshakeable. And so that's kind of the four-step process that we take with our clients. And if you want to connect and learn more about the business, you can go to journey-to-financialfreedom.co. There is no M at the end of that is CO that saved us $3,000 to drop the M. And so it was a great financial decision. And then you can find me on Instagram, Justin_Bewonimo. So it's B as in boy, U as in under, O as in Oscar, N as in Nancy, O as in Oscar, N as in Mary, O as in Oscar. You can tell I have a lot of practice spelling that over the phone or, you know, virtually. And so find me there, shoot me a follow, shoot me a message, and we can connect further on Instagram or find the website and to learn more about the business. Love it. Thank you, Justin, for all that. And thank you for joining me on the show today. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. We realize that CFO services may not necessarily be accessible to everybody. And that's why we have packaged our CFO services into a power session for you with this single purchase session. You'll be able to navigate the financial scorecard with me personally on your business and figure out what constraint you need to unlock next. We're going to give you direction, clarity, and we're going to find ways to increase your profitability, increase your cash flow, and make sure you never run out of money. OK, if you're interested in booking a power session with me, I only do a couple per month, so make sure you jump on quickly and sign up. Check the link in the show us for more information. I can't wait to see you in a power session. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating and review on your podcast platform. This small action goes a long way for podcasters to get our message heard by more business owners just like you. Be sure to check out the show notes for links to information about our gas and ways to get in touch with me. We'll see you on the next episode. [MUSIC]
