Erica Whatley with Twenty20 Financial Group

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Twenty20 Financial, Group Erica Whatley. How are you?

Erica Whatley: I am great, Stone, how are you?

Stone Payton: I am doing well. Really been looking forward to this conversation. Got a ton of questions. Erica. We probably won’t get to them all, but I would love it if you could just kind of share an overview with us briefly. Mission. Purpose. What? What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Erica Whatley: So we are trying to save people on their taxes in everyday life, whether that’s business or personal, where full service accounting firms. So we provide everything from your annual tax preparation to monthly accounting services as well as CFO services.

Stone Payton: So CFO services. That kind of caught my eye as I was reading through my notes earlier today. What would be an example of things that a CFO might do for your client?

Erica Whatley: So we help analyze the financials financial data. So we’re looking at your patterns, your risks, your opportunities. We make sure that your analysis aligns with the company’s operational processes. And we also set up a lot of growth strategy strategies and sessions to make sure the business owner is making informed decisions, whether it’s cash flow growth initiatives or just improving profitability.

Stone Payton: I would think that that would not only be really important in the day to day running of a business, but also if an owner is kind of in the early stages of preparing for their exit, maybe they’re even there a few years out to to have someone like you come in and get those ducks in a row, as it were. That’s that’s probably a very important step, isn’t it?

Erica Whatley: It is. It is very important.

Stone Payton: So what is the backstory? How did you get into this line of work?

Erica Whatley: So I’ve always been interested in numbers. Um, I remember I was about eight years old, went with my mother to H&R block, and I was just watching the guy. And I remember asking him, do you have to go to school to do this? And he was like, yes. And I remember every tax season I would go with my mom to a library and I would pick up the tax booklets. I’m kind of telling my age, but back then you could go to the library, pick up the little book and do your taxes by hand. And I would just flip through it and play around with the numbers and what was in the book, and I just built from there. I started as just tax preparation. Um, went to school and grew it. It was my purpose and my passion.

Stone Payton: Well, I can tell. I can hear in your voice. So I have a nephew in the financial services arena. You know, the wealth building arena. And he mentioned the other day that sometimes he feels like it’s almost. Especially if he’s working with a couple, uh, or partners, whether they’re a married couple or not, a business partners that it’s sometimes it’s almost like therapy. Like, do you ever consider yourself, like doing financial therapy?

Erica Whatley: 1,000%. 1,000%? Um, a lot of my clients have even told me, okay, you’re my financial therapist, because when you’re working with numbers, you’re looking at not just emotional, but also psychological and how that affects the decision making. It’s just like sitting in a regular therapist’s office and just laying everything out. We help you to get a bigger picture. And yes, he is definitely a financial therapist, especially working with wealth management.

Stone Payton: Well, it sounds like it would be incredibly rewarding work. What what’s the most fun about it at this point in your career? What do you enjoy the most?

Erica Whatley: Um, seeing the light bulb go off for business owners, seeing them finally understand why they were making the decisions they made previously, and how those decisions can help them or harm them in their business. Making sure that the the decision owner or I’m sorry, the decision maker or the business owner understands how their vision needs to tie to their actions. That for me, once that clicks, it’s like, okay, we’re over the financial trauma. We’re not making impulse decisions. We’re not making decisions based on anxiety. At that point, I know we’re where we’re supposed to be, and I’m doing exactly what I was put here to do.

Stone Payton: So I’m probably not very quick to admit it, but I but and I am a business owner, I own 40% of the business radio X network. I own 100% of one of our studios. And I would like to think that it’s not true, but I gotta believe it is. Uh, a lot of my decisions, period, maybe, but certainly financial decisions. Certainly. They must have an emotional component to them. Huh?

Erica Whatley: Absolutely, absolutely. Um, I tell everyone, money isn’t just the numbers. It’s deeply, deeply personal. Whether it’s a business account or a personal account. And it’s tied to emotional emotions like your security, or if you’re fearful or your confidence in the decision that you’re making. Once you can understand the decisions, it kind of helps pull back the anxiety and you can think through, why do I need to do this? How does it help my business long term? Or would this even be needed long term?

Stone Payton: All right. So let’s let’s dive into the work a little bit. And you may want to share a specific use case. Or if you want to use stone and Business RadioX or Stone and Cherokee Business Radio as a, as a use case, like how does the relationship begin and what are we sitting down and just having a conversation? Walk us through the the actual work a little bit.

Erica Whatley: So with me, when I first am introduced to a client, I don’t 100% jump into the numbers. I get to know the business owner as well as getting to know the business. I let everyone know my role is to provide clarity. I want to make sense of everything that you have going on. I want you to feel safe. I want you to feel seen. And once we get past that point, we can then start discussing numbers. My favorite saying is everything is fixable. Most business owners come. Owners come to me when they feel like things are chaotic or they can’t make sense of it, or I don’t know what my next steps are. Once we establish that relationship, once I understand what your goals are, we then start putting all the pieces together to build you a roadmap. That roadmap is going to connect your day to day financial decisions, which are overarching goals for your business, and we start working from there.

Stone Payton: So what’s becoming abundantly clear for me through the course of this conversation? I got to confess, I think I’ve, uh, before going into this conversation, sort of framed in my own mind. Your work is highly transactional, and the more I’m hearing the the more grounded in relationship and trust. It would have to be to work with you in that way. And you’re talking about my money and the emotions that are. Relationship is an incredibly important part of your work, isn’t it?

Erica Whatley: 1,000% at this point, I am now your spouse. When we start working together, I am your spouse. We are not going to hide anything from each other. We’re going to be transparent. We’re going to be open, and we’re going to say, hey, if you do this, you’re going to mess up. This could ruin our relationship. And it’s just that comfort. It’s the comfort that lets you know, hey, I really have someone in my corner that has been down this road. They have seen others go down this road and they’re comfortable. I trust them and they understand me.

Stone Payton: That empathy and that genuine concern and taking the time to get to know them and build the trust, I well, thank you for that awakening, Erica.

Speaker4: You’re welcome.

Stone Payton: Uh, just like I have visibly demonstrated, I got to believe that there are some recurring, I don’t know, patterns. So preconceived notions. Maybe it’s a little strong to call them myths, but maybe people come into the initially a relationship with you with some some ideas that are maybe a little off the mark, and you have to kind of educate them and help them understand. Is that true? I guess education is probably an important component of your work.

Erica Whatley: Education is very, very important. Working with me. And one thing I’ve noticed I do a lot is we are retraining what you’ve heard, whether it be on social media or someone telling you misinformation, we’re retraining you to understand how and why you’re going to make the decisions. Let’s say, for instance, an LLC. I’ll have people come to me and say, I’m an LLC. But so many people told me I need to be an S Corp. Okay, well, why do you need to be an S Corp? Well, I don’t know. Okay. So let’s explore. When an S Corp is by definition the compliance that comes with it, your responsibility and how it operates. After we go through that, I can then ask again, are you comfortable becoming an S Corp? Most people will say no because they’re like, oh, I didn’t know about the compliance portion. I can’t afford to pay myself a reasonable salary every month according to IRS rules and regulations. So just in those situations, we educate them to. Yes, you may have heard it, but it’s more to those decision making factors. So education as well as empathy within the education is very, very important.

Stone Payton: There must be a great deal of misinformation or incomplete information out there with so many, um, you know, with the social media platforms and with well-meaning friends and family, there’s.

Erica Whatley: 1,000% it is it is some of these situations that I’ve seen. I was like, no, everything is fixable, but let’s research. Let’s educate ourselves before jumping in feet first into something that could be more harmful to you than it is helpful.

Stone Payton: Now. Have you found yourself gravitating to certain types of individuals or businesses, or are you pretty industry agnostic? Or do you have a niche?

Erica Whatley: So my niche is personal injury attorneys. We do work with service based industries as well. But personal injury attorneys is one of my biggest, um, client base. Absolutely love them. And the complexity that goes into their iolta accounts and helping them grow and helping them understand how their money works because they’re so busy, they’re so tied into the business, and it’s great to kind of automate things with them as well.

Stone Payton: Well, and I’m sure after a few strong use cases under your belt. You become kind of known in that ecosystem. And and and they they know your potential client or your new client knows, hey, Eric has got this thing figured out, and she understands my world.

Erica Whatley: Exactly, absolutely.

Stone Payton: So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours? Like, how do you get the new business?

Erica Whatley: Um, by the grace of God, my business is probably 99% referral based. Oh, amazing. Um, other than that, I do post educational information on my website via a blog. I’m also on LinkedIn and I do have some postings on social sites such as, uh, Instagram. And I’ve been able to pick up clients that way as well. I’ve also spoken at other events and met some clients that way.

Stone Payton: I got to believe in your industry as much, if not more, so than than most of the others. Change has got to be a constant. There’s probably new regulations always coming down. The always coming down the the pike. I guess there’s a big part of your job maybe is, is to stay in front of all that, isn’t it?

Erica Whatley: Yes, 1,000%. So the tax landscape changes all the time. And in most cases it’s creating both opportunities and challenges for businesses. So one thing I tell everyone, whether you’re an annual tax client or you’re a monthly accountant or CFO client, is proactive planning. Stop waiting until tax season. Work with your preparer, your accountant, your bookkeeper year round to make sure your financial operations are structured to minimize tax liability and then maximize your tax savings. That could be reviewing how your company is set up. It could be retirement planning. It could be the timing of your investments. Just always be proactive and not don’t wait till the last minute for everything.

Stone Payton: I know intellectually that’s really good counsel, and I feel like maybe you’ve been reading my mail or spying on me, because sometimes I’m guilty of waiting a little bit longer in the cycle than I should.

Erica Whatley: Yes, proactive. Always be proactive. It will cut down and possibly eliminate the the pop up tax bills, or just not knowing that you may have qualified for this because the law changed in the middle of tax season.

Stone Payton: Oh yeah. So what’s next for for you is are we going to publish the Erica methodology? We’re going to write a book. We’re going to scale the business. We’re going to keep plugging what’s on the horizon for you.

Erica Whatley: So we are working on scaling to be able to take on more clients and onboarding. And a part of that is quarterly. I will start getting on a zoom and just teaching what’s going on in the financial industry. How can you save money? What are we seeing? How to prepare, making sure your books and your numbers are in order? I just want to be able to educate while also scaling the business.

Stone Payton: Yeah, well, congratulations on the momentum. It sounds like you’re getting a lot done quickly and look forward to following your story. I got to know, uh, and I don’t know when or when or how you’d find the time, but when you’re not doing this, uh, interest pursuits, hobbies outside the scope of the work. We’re talking about anything you kind of nerd out about that lets you step away for a little bit and recharge.

Erica Whatley: Um, I will say to help me recharge is probably just going to be reading just a quiet corner of reading or just being out in nature, walking, or just sitting by the river or a lake, or especially the beach. Ah, it helps me decompress. 100%.

Stone Payton: Yeah. Back to therapy, right? That’s good.

Speaker4: Therapy. Exactly.

Erica Whatley: Back to therapy.

Stone Payton: But now doing that, I’ve come to believe. And I. And I’ve been an entrepreneur for several years, that, um, when you do that, you do recharge and you come back that much better equipped to genuinely serve your clients, don’t you?

Erica Whatley: I do. And the clarity that comes from it also helps me with just more ideas for the business or for my client’s business, or things that they can do to incorporate in their business for growth.

Speaker4: Yeah. Yeah.

Erica Whatley: So it’s very important to decompress.

Speaker4: All right.

Stone Payton: Before we wrap up, I’d love to leave our listeners with a couple of actionable pro tips, if we could, something to be thinking about doing, not doing, reading. Let’s leave them with a little something to chew on. But hey. And listen, gang. The number one pro tip is reach out and have a conversation with Erica or somebody on her team. But to to tide them over between now and then. Erica, let’s leave them with a little something.

Erica Whatley: Okay. So I would say today, October 15th, is actually the tax extension deadline. If you have already filed your tax returns and everything is ready and complete for 2023, start prepping for 2024. That’s things such as seeing if your W-4 withholdings are accurate with your employer, making sure if you’re a business owner, all of your books and income and expenses are up to date. If you have employees reviewing their W, I’m sorry, reviewing your w-2s just making sure everything is up to date for the employees, their home address, their email address. So at year end they can receive their W-2 or 1099 forms. Making sure you have all required information for any contractors that work for you. Items that you know are due in January. Start preparing for those now. Um, I do also have a quarterly and annual tax planning checklist. You can obtain that by going to my website, which is 2020 Financial Comm. Once you put in your email address, that will be sent to you and it gives you all the documentation you need to keep track of store in a safe place. So when January 31st hits, you’re ready to rock and roll. You won’t be searching for much.

Stone Payton: What a marvelous resource and what peace of mind must come from having that checklist and staying on top of it in front of it. So you’re not like biting your nails on April the 14th, right?

Erica Whatley: Absolutely, absolutely.

Stone Payton: All right. So one more time. Best way to connect with you. Follow your work. Tap into these resources website whatever. Whatever.

Erica Whatley: Yes. So via social media um, LinkedIn and Instagram, we are 2020 financial and our website is 2020 financial. Com.

Stone Payton: Well, Erica, it has been an absolute delight and a bit of a wake up call to visit with you this afternoon. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, the work that you’re doing to serve businesses large and small as it’s so important. And we sure appreciate you.

Erica Whatley: Thank you. I appreciate you for having me on.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. Alright, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Erica Whatley with 2020 financial Group and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.