Jessica Osborn [00:00:00]:
You're listening to she's the business podcast. Business finance is something that often falls down your priority list, even if you have the best intentions. It's kind of like it's there, but I'm focusing on some other stuff there and I'll get to it soon. Well, if that's you, absolutely no shame. There's always a lot of things to be done, and sometimes the finance piece is not the most fun or fighting, and it is really easy to put it aside. So today we're diving into how to shift out of that place of feeling like the finances are in the too hard basket or not interesting, and how to actually make them a bit more easy, bit more fun, and really put you into the driver's seat of your business, where you're completely on top of them and actually able to leverage that financial situation to help you more in your business.
Regan Bashara [00:00:54]:
Right.
Jessica Osborn [00:00:54]:
This sounds awesome. So stay tuned. Episode is coming right up. Hi, I'm your host, Jessica Osborne. And in my 23 years of business and marketing, I've built many brands to become multibillion dollar companies. And just in the last ten years, I've built two online businesses of my own. From my dining room table with two little babies running around at my feet, I've made it my mission to inspire you to get out of your own way and become the successful business owner who's living the lifestyle you really desire without all the hustle. This is she's the business podcast made by women for women.
Jessica Osborn [00:01:36]:
This is your weekly dose of motivation and inspiration. Today I'm bringing you my special guest, Reagan Basharo, who is founder of all ease Accounting. She is an accountant, a bookkeeper, and has a really refreshing view on entrepreneurship, on financial management. And I'm sure you're going to find her as much of a delight as I did when we connected to record this one. So listen in, hear what she has to say about how you can step out of some maybe old financial mindset that we might have brought with us from our earlier life, maybe from when we were an employee or just some stuff that we've potentially just grown up with, and how we can shift that mind into the business owner shoes, like, really into that role of the CEO of your business. Even if you're a solopreneur, even if you're just starting out and it's a business of one, it doesn't matter. You're wearing all of the hats, right? And one of those is the hat of the CEO. And it is your role to be present to and thinking about the finances of your business.
Jessica Osborn [00:02:48]:
But let's make that more fun, more exciting, more rewarding. And Reagan is here to tell us and show us exactly how to do that. So without further ado, let me play this interview for you. Hi, I'm here with Reagan Bashara. Welcome, Reagan. All ease accounting. So you must be an accountant and can't wait to dive into this topic today because I think so often we come into business having been an employee, and we often probably have an employee mindset about business. And you're going to help us sort of understand what we really need to be thinking about to be a business owner who's financially savvy, which is certainly important.
Jessica Osborn [00:03:34]:
So welcome to the podcast. Really keen to chat you today.
Regan Bashara [00:03:38]:
Thanks so much for having me on. I'm excited to talk about, yes, I am an accountant. So accounting, bookkeeping, business, finance, just any of those things.
Jessica Osborn [00:03:47]:
Yeah. So good. So let me know a little bit more about your business. Aside from it being accounting, bookkeeping and things, who do you serve? What is your premise for your business?
Regan Bashara [00:04:01]:
Yeah, so I started my business, which is a virtual bookkeeping firm. I'm based in the United States, and I started in May of 2022. I had worked at an accounting firm for about seven years since I had graduated from college, and I just really felt like it was time to strike out on my own. I wanted to kind of be more in control of my schedule and how much I make and who I get to work with, what I get to do. So I opened my virtual bookkeeping firm, and I mainly serve clients who are either just starting up a business and really need kind of that handholding from the beginning because they have no idea what to do, how to start, what do they need to do as far as taxes? And then I also help business owners that have been operating a business for a while that are in a little bit of chaos and need that kind of organization, even though they've been doing stuff for however long.
Jessica Osborn [00:04:59]:
Sounds great. So what are the biggest mistakes that people make? Because I think a lot of business owners, myself included, even though I studied accounting at university, I'm nowhere near an expert in accounting. It always baffled me. The balance sheet. I'll just add something on the other side. But what do you think are the biggest mistakes or misconceptions that you see the entrepreneurs who don't have your background doing when they step into business?
Regan Bashara [00:05:37]:
Yeah, I actually don't have an accounting degree. I've never taken an accounting class. I have a math and physics degree, and I just like numbers and data. So I got a job working for an accounting firm in college and just decided I liked it. And I wanted to kind of explore that afterwards. So for the folks out there that are running a business and needing to do their own bookkeeping and are like, I just have no idea what I'm doing. I think the biggest mistake is assuming that accounting is hard or mysterious or not accessible to everybody. My role that I see in showing up for my clients and showing up to my audience of social media, following people on my email list, is helping make business finances relatable to them.
Regan Bashara [00:06:22]:
Because you're the one transacting in your business. You're making the money, you're spending the money. You do have a relationship with the transactions, and the client is the authority that I go to to find out how to categorize something. So most people are capable of doing bookkeeping. I think that they make the mistake of assuming that they wouldn't be able to figure it out or have a system that worked for them. And to that, I say we've all developed some sort of habit. Every one of us gets up and brushes our teeth in the morning, hopefully puts on deodorant. We can develop the habit of staying financially organized.
Regan Bashara [00:07:01]:
It is a skill that I think everybody can learn. And the mistake that I see most people make is like not having a system set up from the beginning and it quickly snowballs out of control. They get in over their head with the amount of data that they have not kept up with, and then it becomes an insurmountable task.
Jessica Osborn [00:07:19]:
Right.
Regan Bashara [00:07:20]:
So have a system from the beginning, even if it's like shoebox, that you put your receipts in, like something to keep your data in one place, keep your information secure and accessible to you.
Jessica Osborn [00:07:33]:
Yeah, I think that's probably one of the things, is it can get out of control quickly, especially when you're ignoring it. You're putting it over there in the too hard basket and thinking, I'll get to that later. But then it becomes like this giant problem probably when you get to tax time and you've got to do all of your tax going back and trying to remember it. Yeah, I think that's awesome. What if you've already done that? What if you are the person who has no system in place right now and you're like, oh, my God, that's me. I have just been thinking, I'll figure that out later. Like, that's not a problem for today, it's a problem for another day.
Regan Bashara [00:08:14]:
Right.
Jessica Osborn [00:08:15]:
Which I'm sure happens, right. That otherwise we wouldn't be all relating to this scenario. What do you.
Regan Bashara [00:08:23]:
Yeah, it's unfortunate that so many people do relate to that, but I do think that it is just like, not feeling confident, like that self confidence that people need to at least sit down and try to work out a system. But if you've been doing things for a while and you're like, I feel in over my head. Like, I don't feel like I have the resources that I need to keep it organized. I would say if you've got a backlog, whether it's a couple of months, a couple of years, I have people come to me that are like seven years behind, and I'm like, okay, well, we can do this. We have your bank statements. We have the data. We can create a set of bookkeeping. It's just going to take some time.
Regan Bashara [00:09:04]:
But regardless of all that, if you've kind of got a situation that might feel a little out of control, you can just start today. You can just say, today I am going to save my receipt, take a picture of it on my phone, and have a folder on my phone labeled receipts, and I just put it there, or I'm going to go in and download my bank statement for the last month and kind of look over my transactions. You can take little steps starting today, and then we need to develop some consistency and keep you coming back in order to create that habit. So I also like to encourage folks to think about a way to chain that task to something else that you're already doing on a habitual basis on a routine. See if we can link some of these things together that you're already doing in your business. So that we associate a task that needs to be done with something that's already being done and hack your brain that way. Let's get creative about how we can set up a system to work for you because it is doable. And then we can worry about the other stuff, the backlog later that is going to be there.
Jessica Osborn [00:10:12]:
Right.
Regan Bashara [00:10:13]:
But it's good to start today and to know that there are things that you can do today that are small steps that will get you on a schedule, on a routine that works.
Jessica Osborn [00:10:23]:
Yeah, absolutely. I love that you start today from where you are because I think once you've got that system, it's probably so much easier to go back into the backlog and then put the things into the system now that you've got it built. So you just kind of want to have a way of managing it. Start today. Which makes exactly, I think, that makes it feel a lot less daunting for someone who maybe isn't doing it now. For me, I've shared quite a few times in the past that the finance piece was something I definitely outsourced as fast as possible because it wasn't my pet love.
Regan Bashara [00:11:00]:
Yeah.
Jessica Osborn [00:11:01]:
But even before I did that, it was the technology, because I knew that if I had to sit down and enter transactions into a spreadsheet, I was going to end up sticking pins into my eyes.
Regan Bashara [00:11:13]:
I prefer torture.
Jessica Osborn [00:11:16]:
I definitely prefer torture to doing that. And I think it's great because we're in an era, in a time of the world where there is so much technology and so much that can be really easily automated, which I guess if you're new into the game of entrepreneurship, you may not even know that they exist. You might be really using Excel spreadsheets for some reason in your previous life, and there's nothing wrong, but it's kind of like there is that human error.
Regan Bashara [00:11:45]:
Right, with the spreadsheet.
Jessica Osborn [00:11:46]:
Whereas when you use some of the technology, it can save your time and be automated and just be a bit nicer to use, I think, as well. So what are your go to? Do you have some tools or things that you generally prefer to use that you recommend to people to make their life easier and kind of make it feel less like they've got to have paper trail or anything? Yeah.
Regan Bashara [00:12:15]:
If you just hate the idea of a spreadsheet, I mean, don't use that. I want you to use a tool or a resource that you actually do want to use, or at least don't mind using. And you're right, there's so much automation out there right now that can really help us parse through massive amounts of data. If I have a client come to me that needs a big accounting project done, I'm like, yeah, I can totally handle this because I have the tools at my disposal. I'm not sponsored or paid to promote any sort of products by anybody, but I use Quickbooks online for all of my clients. I use it for my business. I find that they have really cornered the market in the industry for accounting software. There are other accounting software options.
Regan Bashara [00:13:00]:
And I just tell folks, like, the bare minimum that you need is to be able to reconcile your accounts. You need to be able to run reports. That's pretty much it. And all these accounting softwares now are on the cutting edge of automating things for you. They want you to use their software to make your life easier. And I think Quickbooks online has gone a long way to help people who do struggle with the data entry and the task initiation. And so a lot of these softwares now have things that allow us to integrate with a third party app. If you have an online store through squarespace or wix or Shopify or something, you can connect those platforms to your accounting software, usually, and automate a lot of that data entry for you.
Regan Bashara [00:13:48]:
That way we really don't need to worry about the day to day getting that data in. There you go. Do what you need to do for your business. The data will be where it needs to be when it's time to sit down and actually look at it.
Jessica Osborn [00:14:00]:
Yeah, I use Quickbooks as well, and I think it's not the only one. There's definitely quite a few different platforms that do the similar thing. But to me, I was like, oh, my goodness, you can just connect up your bank account or your stripe, your paypal to the like automatically brings in all of the transactions. Yes, please.
Regan Bashara [00:14:21]:
It's so nice. And it's an accountant's dream, to be quite honest. Easy for you, easy for me. It's great.
Jessica Osborn [00:14:28]:
Yeah, it is so good. And I think that you're right. It just really helps because all you've got to do is categorize them. And then there's so many cool things, like you can set up a rule because if there's something that comes in regularly, then you can have rules that already deal with it so you don't even have to manually reconcile.
Regan Bashara [00:14:48]:
Exactly. Yeah, I love setting those things up for clients, like when they come on and I'm like, let's go ahead and get you kind of set up so that you tell me what this is going to be most of the time, and let me just set up a rule and both of us save some time. I love the rules function.
Jessica Osborn [00:15:05]:
Yeah, love it. And why not just leverage what we have under already? We've got these tools. They're there. You might even be using them business and not using some of the features. But I love anything that's going to save time and get us away from that computer for sure. What do you think is another thing that you see people and you'd say, well, you're really in the employee zone because of the way you're thinking about it. And we could reframe or switch to, well, this is how you might change how you're thinking or respond to your finances. That would really help you shift into more of that business owner role.
Regan Bashara [00:15:47]:
I find that people are either of an entrepreneurial mindset in their business where they really have a vision of where they want to go. They're willing to kind of grind through some discomfort up front to be able to build something from their vision. And then I find the business owners that are just happy to kind of show up and check off the to do list, and they wanted to start a business, to be self employed or whatever, but they still just want to show up to a job and do the work and go home. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think that the folks that are of the entrepreneurial mindset, who have a vision, who set goals all the time and who are actively taking the steps and the action needed to get to those goals in a massive way, are not afraid to look at their financial reports. The folks that kind of hide from that data do so because it might be a reflection of how they operate their values and what they might not be doing so great in their business that's not going to get them results the way they're doing things. And then the folks that are willing to be uncomfortable, willing to kind of sit through and grind through the hard part in the beginning of setting a goal or even starting a business, are the ones that are willing to sit down with me and really dive deep into their reports, really take an analytical look at the data and use it to get to where they want to be. So I work with clients all over that spectrum, really, and I love all of them.
Regan Bashara [00:17:29]:
If you just want to show up to work, it's a business that you own, but it's still just work that's perfectly fine. And I'm going to call things to your attention that need your attention. But otherwise, they really don't sit down and do an analysis of their data. A couple of times a year, that's really all you need. But the folks that want to be setting the big goals and want me to be kind of partnered with them, helping them step along the way towards that goal, are the folks that are asking me questions about their reports, like, they see something on there and they're like, that doesn't sound right. Can we look at this? And I'm like, yes, please tell me what doesn't look right to you so that we can investigate that together. Or if they have a goal, like, I have one client right now that wants to hire an associate on, and then, like, another employee on their staff. And we took a hard look at their reports and kind of sussed out that maybe they're not ready to do that, even though they really want to.
Regan Bashara [00:18:31]:
Their cash flow is probably not going to support that at this time. And I'm like, okay, well, if that's like a next year goal thing, then you have plenty of time to work on that. But it was disappointing. I mean, she felt disappointed by that kind of realization, but she was willing to take it in, and now she knows what she needs to do to get where she wants to go in her business. So I really appreciate when folks are willing to sit down, look at the data. It's just numbers. It's black and white, right? It's on a piece of paper. There's no emotions that we don't create for ourselves.
Regan Bashara [00:19:08]:
It's just numbers. But being willing to kind of face that reflection, it is kind of like holding up a mirror to yourself, like looking at your financial reports and analyzing it and using that to be like, all right, well, that was a tough look, but I know what I need to do now. So I love working with clients like that.
Jessica Osborn [00:19:26]:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that really shows a difference in you as well, because to have somebody who can look at the numbers and not just sort of go, here are the numbers, and I'm just going to categorize them, and then my job is. But to actually be looking at, well, what does this mean? Where are the opportunities? Why are we spending so much on this? It's a big chunk of money looking at, how can the business be more successful? Where can we grow the profit margin? That is where the real value, I think, is in somebody who can shift out of just treating the business as a way to make income. It's like, but, hey, have you thought about if you can separate the revenue from the profit and look at the business, then you can grow that profit margin. And I think one of the things that I have seen, and I'm interested to hear your thoughts on it because it was a big one. I think for me, I came from being an employee for 20 years. So you bring a lot of stuff with you. And I think it was looking at spending in the business as an expense.
Jessica Osborn [00:20:40]:
So when you're thinking about it as an expense, it's sort of like this is what's going out and you're thinking of it as a cost and as something that is gone, whereas a lot of the expenses that, yes, in our accounting software, they're classified as an expense, are actually investment. And that switch to me was a real game changer in thinking, yes, I might be spending this money on this now, but spending that can actually help grow or bring back in so much more. And I really see that as a huge shift from an employee that's thinking there's an expense and I want to reduce expenses because they've got a very fixed mindset of what the income is to the entrepreneurial business owner mind thinking like, there's infinite potential to grow the income coming in. So it's not about expenses necessarily. It's about making smart investments that are going to help to grow that. So what is your take on that? How do you help people sort of see what are the right things to be spending money on?
Regan Bashara [00:21:50]:
Yeah, I think that framing it as an investment instead of a cost, which is associated to me, like the word cost, I associate with loss and loss not in accounting terms, but just like something's gone, like it's left. And I love that you want to reframe that as an investment. And I 100% agree with that because when we are operating our businesses in line with our values, we can look at things like we spend money on this thing, but it's something that is really aligned with my business values and how I want to be showing up for my clients and what kind of value I want to give to them. When I'm considering that, it's almost invaluable. I'll do whatever it takes to pay the price that I need to pay to have that thing. I think about like, I'm part of a sales coaching business, coaching community. And I'm like, whatever the cost is, just sign me up, I don't care. Put me in there because I need it.
Regan Bashara [00:22:50]:
I need that support, I need that community, I need the feedback. I want to have that going throughout my business, no matter what. So I'm going to do what it takes to pay that bill every month. And to me that's because it's in line with my business values. I don't think that entrepreneurs should operate in such a silo. I think that when we are sole proprietors, solopreneurs, we take that soul thing very literally. Like, I don't have employees, I work from home. I'm very kind of isolated.
Regan Bashara [00:23:25]:
And unless I intentionally create community with other entrepreneurs, whether that's through a coaching community or like a networking group or something, to me it's important to have community and to build those relationships with other people who are doing that work, too. So I'll do whatever it takes to pay that cost. Like pay that bill every month. So when we're kind of framing it as an investment, like what value is this bringing to my business and is it in alignment with my values? Like my personal values, my beliefs, what do I want to create in my business? Is that in support of that mission? Considering all of those things, then it's just a number that we can play around with numbers all day. We can go out and make more revenue, grow our profits like you said. But to me, I got to have a cell phone, I have to have Internet. I'm a virtual business. I'll do whatever it takes to have those things.
Regan Bashara [00:24:23]:
Those are vital to my business. And so when we're looking at expenses and if we are thinking, I'm not really sure that I am getting the value out of that thing or I don't really see it as pushing me forward in my mission, in my business, then it's okay to say I'm going to decide not to invest in this anymore. So to me, the investment part of it makes a lot of sense. And also bringing in your business values and mission, like where are you going in your business? And kind of combining all that together.
Jessica Osborn [00:24:56]:
Yeah, I love that. It's so true. And it's like one of the things you just mentioned was investing in sort of in yourself and being part of this group. It may not have a direct return on investment specifically attached to that outgoing, but the return is coming tenfold because it's helping you to be a better business owner, to be able to engage clients, to actually bring the business in. It's just that you've got those ones that really have a direct return on investment. Like if you're going to invest in some ads, for example, might invest in ads and know exactly what you've made from those ads coming in. But then there are those ones that there is a longer investment return in it. And even with ads, I actually love to get people thinking, well, it's not always just about making a sale.
Jessica Osborn [00:25:51]:
Sometimes you can do an ad to get in front of people who you might currently reaching. Right. So you can pay to kind of have ads that just expand your exposure. What does that mean? Well, it means that now they're kind of in your community. You can either serve them more ads or you can use other means to reach them and bring them onto your email list. Like that doesn't always result in an instant sale. And I think that's really big misconception people have. But it's still an investment and it's still an investment that actually can have a really positive impact on your business.
Jessica Osborn [00:26:22]:
Because imagine you tried to go out there and be in a room in front of 200,000 people and walk around and kind of show your face to them all. Well, yeah, if you can run some Facebook ads that cost less than a cent, like point something of a cent for someone to watch a video of you and yeah, you're not selling anything, but they're kind of getting an experience of you that is probably worth it. Right. In terms of your time and your energy, it's like not even a cent to do that per person. So you can reach 1000 people really quickly doing that. And so that's the kind of thing, yeah, I think I love to look at in terms of what is a smart investment, what isn't, like you mentioned before, with time saving, is it smart to invest in even things like accounting software? Maybe there's other software that can reduce your time that you're spending, that's taking you away from time that you could be earning. And if you spend a little bit on a bit of technology, it could actually give you back that time to be earning the money in your business. Instead, what are some of the ones that you would look at as well? These types of investments are really smart for online entrepreneurs.
Regan Bashara [00:27:35]:
I don't even know that you have to invest a lot of money in having an email campaign marketing system because right now I use convertkit and I think I get way more value than the dollars that I give them. It is invaluable to be able to grow an email kind of subscription list where I can sell to people, but in between providing value, of course. But for online folks especially, like you're talking about ads, just getting in front of people is the beginning of the know like and trust kind of spectrum that you want to be on. And video allows us to show up in our whole self and personality. And just like whoever we are in the morning while we're drinking coffee and folks get to know us on a more personal level and we can do it like the one to many sort of way. Like you can take one person out to coffee every week and build a network that way and build relationships with folks. And I recommend that as well. Like in person networking, of course.
Regan Bashara [00:28:40]:
But I find, like, I do a lot on TikTok, I like it over there and it's like I just get up every morning and make my coffee and talk to folks. So I don't even know if you have to invest a lot of money in something, but having a great system for whatever it is that you're using, that is something that you're going to actually do. I mean, we've all had things that we pay for and then.
Jessica Osborn [00:29:10]:
Pay the.
Regan Bashara [00:29:10]:
Bill never think about, it's on auto pay, don't use it. I also have a weekly podcast and I use cap show, which is like an AI thing, and it does the transcription for me. It even puts together little show notes. And I'm like, I stopped using it for a long time and I was like, I can just do this myself. And then I was like, no, recently I was like, I'm going to go back to using capture because it is so worth the money to just upload my file and everything is just done like emails, social media, captions, all of that. So play around with different things, I would say. And if you're finding yourself spending a lot of time trying to set up or use a system, obviously that's not saving you time, but finding something that really works to help automate some of the more menial tasks in your business, I think, once again, what do you want for me? Just take my money.
Jessica Osborn [00:30:02]:
It's worth it. That's so true, isn't it? I think that is the thing. There's a lot that you can invest in so many different systems. You can use. It can, I think, balloon out of control pretty quickly. But this is where you can look at it and go, right, what are the core essentials, really, for my business and what am I spending the time on? That is really taking me away from time that I could be using to work with clients and actually earn the money. Right. No brainer investment.
Jessica Osborn [00:30:38]:
Like how much is that piece of AI technology versus worth an hour of your time writing the writing the show notes?
Regan Bashara [00:30:45]:
Exactly.
Jessica Osborn [00:30:46]:
That just makes a lot of sense. And sometimes there's technology and then obviously we can always look at, is it worth investing in a VA or somebody you can outsource some things to, or even like yourself? Like, hey, I don't like doing my accounts. Somebody else can actually do that and you can just worry about it. But you are still prioritizing that thing by investing in it. So it's kind of like it's not out of sight, out of mind. It's more. That is what I'd call that CEO decision to be like, this is something important, which is why I'm investing in a person and maybe technology to do it.
Regan Bashara [00:31:26]:
Yeah, we know you can do it all. You don't have to prove that to us. But is doing it all really in service to you and then in service to your business and your clients or your customers? I'm getting to the point where I hopefully will be able to hire assistants next year, like virtual assistant maybe because I've already got a list of things, and I'm like, I don't need to be doing. Somebody else can just kind of step in. I don't need to use this brain to do these things. Somebody else can do this. And I think people talk about the zone of genius and stuff, and I don't need to use those words. But why does your brain have to be the one? Why do you have to be the one doing these things? Can you hire a bookkeeper, a virtual assistant? Can you get an AI to create show notes for you? The software out there is pretty advanced now.
Jessica Osborn [00:32:18]:
Yeah, just explain.
Regan Bashara [00:32:20]:
Ask yourself, do I have to be the one doing this? Is it me showing up to bring my unique self to this, that it's truly in service of my business and my clients and myself? And if the answer is no, then let's put it on a list and you can delegate that?
Jessica Osborn [00:32:36]:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's such a good one. And it just can save you so much time as well. So, always loving looking at those time saving things. And yes, I think it's so easy. I think when you're a creative person and entrepreneurs are very creative, big vision thinkers, I think things like finance and accounting can sometimes feel like, oh, that's really not the fun stuff I want to be doing, but not fun for.
Regan Bashara [00:33:04]:
Me and my business.
Jessica Osborn [00:33:07]:
Yeah, this is what you're in business, and your business is there. It's an entity. It's a living, breathing thing, but it needs to be healthy. And obviously the finance part is sort of the key, really. It's the lifeblood of your business. So, so important to be present to it, aware of it, investing in it, and like you say, really stepping into those shoes and putting your big girl pants on. I'm going to actually look after the finances in my business. It's not just a game or a hobby that I'm playing anymore.
Jessica Osborn [00:33:46]:
This is a real thing. Yeah. Thank you for sharing all of this. What do you think you had something? I don't know. Maybe it's going back to your past self, or maybe it's a message for others that you see. Do you have something that's kind of present in your mind right now that you would give that advice to that person?
Regan Bashara [00:34:07]:
Anytime somebody says, go back to your past self and give them the advice, I just want to say that my past self was receiving this advice. I wasn't hearing it.
Jessica Osborn [00:34:19]:
I'll be honest about that.
Regan Bashara [00:34:21]:
But when you're starting a business, you need to be comfortable with the visibility thing. Unless you're already a very just known person, I guess. I don't know. A lot of us do have to go through a lot of discomfort being visible and inching ourselves up to more and more visibility. And when you're starting a business and you're showing up and you're asking people to buy into whatever it is that you're offering, that is kind of a nervous system thing that we all need to work on. I know I had to do a lot of work on that. So in the beginning, it was like, just show up. Like, you need to talk about your thing 1 million freaking times before somebody's like, oh, that's right.
Regan Bashara [00:35:02]:
Reagan does accounting. It's been ten years.
Jessica Osborn [00:35:06]:
You all.
Regan Bashara [00:35:08]:
Yeah, but totally keep being visible. It will not always feel so uncomfortable to show up and say, I have a thing, would you like to buy it? It's going to get better, but you have to do it so many times before it does get better, unfortunately. Sorry, everybody. If that is something that you struggle with, like showing up, asking for what you want, asking people to buy into your offer, it will get easier, but it does require you doing it. And I heard that in the beginning.
Jessica Osborn [00:35:44]:
I just was like, you're like, yeah, I'm doing it. But you're like, I don't know.
Regan Bashara [00:35:51]:
I still don't believe you. And now I'm like, I believe you now. Sorry.
Jessica Osborn [00:35:57]:
I think sometimes you can hear something, like, 15 times, and then you're suddenly like, oh, yeah, okay, I've been here.
Regan Bashara [00:36:04]:
But the same is true when you're talking about ads. The same is true for your audience. You have to show up to them, like, 15 to 20 times before they're finally like, oh, she has that thing that she's selling or offering. I didn't know that. You've been saying it. We know you've been saying it. They heard you, but it didn't stick.
Jessica Osborn [00:36:23]:
So.
Regan Bashara [00:36:23]:
Yeah.
Jessica Osborn [00:36:26]:
In the brain yet.
Regan Bashara [00:36:28]:
Yeah. So you can hear advice 20 times before. It's like, oh, that's what that means. So it's the same for your audience and your clients, and the visibility part of it is huge.
Jessica Osborn [00:36:39]:
Yeah, I love that. So true. And that's why it's like, you don't actually need to keep coming up with new, different things to say. Just keep saying the same thing. Maybe you could say it in a slightly different way, and one day it'll actually, for someone, they'll be like, oh, yeah, I've heard you talk about that before.
Regan Bashara [00:36:55]:
They'll say to you, will get sick.
Jessica Osborn [00:36:57]:
Of your own got it.
Regan Bashara [00:36:59]:
You will be so sick of hearing yourself say the same thing over and over again. When you get to that point, keep.
Jessica Osborn [00:37:05]:
Saying, just keep going. I'm so sorry. Entertain you. Go and get a hobby. Just rest. 100% love it makes it easy. Like, you don't have to actually think about what to say anymore. Just keep me.
Jessica Osborn [00:37:22]:
You already know what to say.
Regan Bashara [00:37:24]:
Literally. Literally.
Jessica Osborn [00:37:27]:
I'm loving this. It's like coming from, you're like, bang on with the marketing advice. Absolutely. I mean, I feel like I've been.
Regan Bashara [00:37:35]:
Put through the wringer, so if I.
Jessica Osborn [00:37:36]:
Can give anybody some advice, first of.
Regan Bashara [00:37:39]:
All, do your bookkeeping. Second of all, keep showing up and saying the same thing over and over.
Jessica Osborn [00:37:45]:
That's all you got to do. That's all you got to do. Business 101.
Regan Bashara [00:37:51]:
I should write a book. It's just like two pages.
Jessica Osborn [00:37:55]:
And that is all. Business book. That's wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that, Regan. It's been a really fun chat and I think really good, useful, hopefully insightful. Maybe a reminder or maybe it's for today that you're. Oh, okay. That's finally kind know, spoken to me in a different way.
Jessica Osborn [00:38:18]:
So hopefully that is what's happening with you listening today. Now, if you want to find out more about Reagan and connect with her, get in touch, because she's clearly a really fun, vibrant person. So where can we best find you, Reagan? Where do you hang out?
Regan Bashara [00:38:37]:
Well, like I said, I mostly hang out on TikTok. My handle is at Ray Ray Hammer, and I have a website, allease accounting.com. And like I said, I have a weekly podcast called Money through ease, where we talk about all business, finance, entrepreneurship. And I promise it's not boring. We don't do a lot of math, but maybe.
Jessica Osborn [00:38:59]:
Brilliant. That's so great. Thank you. We will have those all hooked up in the show notes. So just drop down and click on the links and you can go and find her. The TikTok account sounds like a bit of fun. I have to say. I have dabbled in a little bit of TikTok, as in I have an account, and every now and then I post a video.
Jessica Osborn [00:39:20]:
I don't know, I'm not sure if I found my groove there yet. Maybe I just need to throw all caution to the wind and just do some random ones and see what happens.
Regan Bashara [00:39:27]:
You got to find the weird people on there, honestly. And there's a lot. So you got to carve out your little group.
Jessica Osborn [00:39:34]:
Yeah, definitely. I think that's the thing. You just got to put a little bit of focus into something and then that's when it works for you. So thank you so much for sharing.
Regan Bashara [00:39:43]:
Thank you.
Jessica Osborn [00:39:44]:
Great. Lovely to connect and I appreciate your time today.
Regan Bashara [00:39:48]:
Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to be on.
Jessica Osborn [00:39:51]:
Isn't it just so frustrating when you know that out there, there are so many people that actually need your help and there's many actively looking for somebody just like you, yet all you seem to attract are the OD, tire kicker or really uncommitted client that's kind of dabbling and they don't light you up. They really don't get great results. And you're thinking, what does it actually take to attract clients who are committed, who are happy to pay proper prices for what it is that I do and that I can help to have really great results. What is it going to take? Well, it's not in the activity of what you're doing. Here's the thing. It's usually something else that's a bit deeper, and I'm sharing with you what that is in my training, it's called five keys to premium paying clients. And I'm going to share with you what are these five things that you need to have in your strategy so that no matter what tactic or activity you choose to do, it actually works? Like it works. You attract the right clients, the ones who are ready to work with you, the ones who are ready to pay and sign up.
Jessica Osborn [00:41:02]:
So get yourself over to my website now on jessicaosborn.com tmf. Register for this free class and let's dive right in. So once again, that's Jessica osborne.com tmf and the link is below in the show notes as well. I encourage you to register now. Allocate just over an hour of your time, maybe up to an hour and a half, so you can take some notes and really reflect on the things that I share with you in this class. And let's change your year this year. Let's make your business actually turn into your dream business together.
