Audit Finances-The ABCs of Finance with Valaise Smith

Deneen L. Garrett  0:02 

Welcome to another episode of an intimate conversation with women of color. I am your host Deneen L. Garrett. And today's guest is special because she is my tax preparer extraordinaire, belay Smith, she's a financial literacy expert. She is the CEO of tried and true financial services. She's a speaker and an enrolled agent. But ladies, tell us more about you.

Valaise Smith  0:30 

Well, thank you so much. First of all Deneen for having me on the show intimate conversations with women of color, I'll tell you, when I received the invitation for this, my heart just smile because as women of color we go through so much we do so much we deal with so much. And so to sit down and have this intimate conversation with you about the things that affect women of color, especially when it comes to business ownership is very important and near and dear to my heart, as we are both women of color in business. And so a little bit about me and my journey and how I got started. I mean, I just love all things finance, right when I was growing up, my parents taught me to go to school, get a good job, good, good grades, so that I could get a good job. And so that's what I did. And I think I achieved that goal. However, somewhere along the way, I got bit by the entrepreneurial book. And that's how I started on my journey into entrepreneurship, because there's so much happening is so much that the world can offer. And I just want to make sure that I got empty. My goal is to hear guys say well done, good and faithful servant. And so I am trying to make sure that I share all of my gifts and talents with people as I come across them. And my target market is special because I target women of color. And my business. My target audience is women of color now help everybody I'll help anybody but my focus, my heart is on women of color, because I am one. And so I can very easily speak to that audience because because I live it I breathe it i i am an immersed in it each and every day. And so I'm happy to serve in that capacity. I have an undergraduate degree in finance, pursued a Bachelors of Business Administration in finance. And then that transitioned me into the world of finance worked in corporate for over two decades before I decided to take the leap of faith and transition over into entrepreneurship. I am a mother of a young woman. She is a young woman of color. My daughter is 34 years old. She's graduated from Howard University has her undergrad in in finance as well. So I always say my return on investment is on Felipe because she is doing her thing. Grandmother to a five year old rambunctious little boy. And I'm one another little known fact about me that a lot of people are surprised to hear is that I like riding motorcycles. So I'm I'm a biker chick.

Deneen L. Garrett  3:22 

Okay, I think I might remember that from last year. Yeah, that's exciting. So you know, I love that I love that your daughter followed in your footsteps, right? So it was obvious that you lived a life where you, you know, you lead by example you showed them through. And she saw that that was something she was interested in and pursued that. So that's beautiful, right? That's a beautiful testament to you, and in how you're living your life. So let's talk about how to build business credit, business credit lines, to ensure access to capital to grow business.

Valaise Smith  3:56 

Yes. Well, again, that's a subject that's near and dear to my heart, because tried and true is established to help entrepreneurs with the ABCs of Finance to simplify their accounting, budgeting and credit processes. So in the credit space, we help entrepreneurs build business credit, I say all the time, cash is king, and credit is queen, and you need both to win. And so I always tell entrepreneurs, that you want to make sure that you go ahead and start building your business credit for your business in the beginning, even from a startup, very foundational, because the same way we give our business its own name. The same way we get an EIN number that's like our social security number for our business. It has its own PID, and it has its own bank account, separate from ours. It needs to have its own credit. A lot of times small business owners end up bootstrapping, right using their own finances to build their businesses and nothing wrong with that. Or a lot of times As they're, you know, trying to get funding or grants or different things like that. But building business credit from a very foundational level will help us get access to crap capital, that we need to grow our business so that you don't have to use your own money so that you don't have to ruin your own personal credit, because you're running up your credit line, you know, much higher than you would normally from a personal perspective. So when you start building business credit, and the very beginning, even if you have to use a personal guarantee, you want to make sure that you have good personal credit, because you may have to guarantee your business credit in the beginning stages, but you want to ultimately build business credit. So you can create that separation from your personal life and what you're doing from your business life and what's happening over in the business world. So to create that separation, so that your LLC or whatever type of corporate liability protection you have in place is effective, right? Because if you you're constantly commingling, then that's gonna give rise to that there's no separation between you and your business. And so the main thing about building business credit is you want to build a foundation where you can show that your business can make its payments, that your business is profitable, that you have income coming in, and that you can pay back your payment history is the number one thing when it comes to building business credit. So I have a program, our building business credit consulting program, I typically ask my clients for a 12 month commitment, because it does take time, there's no such thing as a magic, why, a lot of times you hear people out here saying that they can get your business credit in 3060 90 days. You know, it doesn't happen like that, it takes time. And so I asked for a 12 month commitment, I take them through a six month coaching program, where we go through six steps, the first two steps are very foundational steps where we make sure that the foundation is there, we make sure that you have your business name, make sure that you have a business address, we make sure that you have a business telephone number one that can be listed with 411, that you have a website that you're showing your business as reputable out in the marketplace. Because anybody have you come in asked me to borrow some money. And I know you don't have no job. I'm biller How you gonna pay me back. Where's it come, you know, some of the vendors that's lending the lenders, they want to know where the money is coming from, they want to know that you're going to be able to repay on the obligation as promised. And so you have to make sure that you're running a profitable business. But you also want to make sure that you have all of your I's dotted and your T's crossed, as it pertains to showing up as a legit business. And then the that's the, you know, those two foundational steps. And then the other four steps are really just digging in and getting accounts with vendors that we know that we've vetted, that actually report to the credit reporting agencies, because business credit is a little bit different than personal credit, the personal your personal credit is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Business credit is not the FCRA. And basically what that means when personal credit is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you know, if you apply for credit, and they deny you for whatever reason, you always get the letter in the mail saying, hey, unfortunately, we couldn't extend credit to you because of XY and Z. And they have to tell you why we're on the business credit side. Business credit is not regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. So if you apply for business credit, and they deny you, they don't have to tell you. So you don't know you have no idea. Maybe it's because there's some missing links in that in those first two foundational steps. Or it may be because you have credit with a vendor that is not reporting to the credit reporting agencies, and you have no idea as to why. And so it's very important to understand and know those little nuances, those little nuggets as you're building business credit, that ultimately even if they do ask for personal guarantee, it's not the end of the world. Right? Because at the end of the day we are promoting a responsible use of credit is going out trying to get credit that they're not going to pay. So was it going to hurt for you to offer a personal guarantee is not going to show up on your personal credit. And unless you deeper, and we're not, we're not defaulting, because we're running profitable, multimillion dollar companies that we're not there. That's what we're on our way to wealth. But it's very important because you can get higher, higher limits, you know, and it's separate is not going to run up your utilization on your personal credit when you have business credit is totally separate. So creating that separation is critically important, in my opinion.

Deneen L. Garrett  10:30 

And so for small business owner, a small woman of color black on business, would you say the main two reasons to have business credit is one to have a higher limit? And really, I guess that was probably what is that the main one is to have a larger credit, access to?

Valaise Smith  10:53 

Definitely, hmm, that is definitely one of the critical elements. Of course, you know, creating that separation is very key in my book, because I know a lot of times, I see a lot of commingling and I try to encourage people to stop the commingling as much as possible. But definitely you are afforded that because they understand and know that you're a business and businesses need larger lines of credit. And so you're likely to get higher lines of credit through business funding than you are on the personal side. Absolutely.

Deneen L. Garrett  11:29 

Okay. So you know, the the podcast is about elevating the voices of women of color, empowering us. So just the work that you do having that foundation, having that established business credit, how can this impact women of color tapping into their power and voice?

Valaise Smith  11:49 

Yes, this this is huge, because what it does is it's gonna move us forward, faster. Right, it's gonna move us forward faster, all of the dreams and hopes and aspirations and ideals and visions that we have in our mind and our thought process that we want to get out. A lot of times where our growth is stunted, because we don't have the capital to move those agendas forward to move those ideas forward. So business credit definitely ties directly into it. And it just is so important to manage your finances well, overall, which is why we are laser focused on the ABCs of finance, the accounting, the budgeting, the bookkeeping, and the credit, because all of those three goals go hand in hand, you want to make sure that you're staying compliant with your tax filing, you want to make sure that you're maximizing your deductions getting, you know, paying the least amount of tax possible, you want to make sure that your budget is tight, and that your bookkeeping system is in place, so that when you do go to get funding, you have the critical financial documents that they're asking for, you're up to date on your tax file once you have your financials, so you can give them the information that they need. So that the answer is yes. Not, not right now. Not No, not, you gotta go back and do anything. You want to be proactive and put those things in place so that you can continue to move forward because it's nothing like a setback. I mean, of course, we can overcome those obstacles when we encountered them. But at the end of the day, and we're more proactive, as opposed to reactive, we can go so much further and let our voices be heard. And women of color are starting businesses at exponential rates. And I know you've heard it said that a lot of times small businesses fall within the first five years and one of the main reasons is poor cash flow management or access to capital. And I'm here we are established tried and true financial services, to mitigate that, to minimize that, to abolish that so that we can continue to move forward with the gifts and talents that we have on the inside of us so that we can impact the world. We're world changers.

Deneen L. Garrett  14:09 

I love that I love Yes, we are world changers. Yes. So you know you've dropped a lot of knowledge and I want to make sure that people know that that you know they can access you so in the show notes will be always to reach blaze the reach tried and true. So rest assure you'll be able to connect with her and, you know, build relations relationships. So I want to pivot a bit I honor my late sister, author and poet Sol true by asking about dreams deferred, which is a title of one of her books, please share a dreams deferred moment. Oh

Valaise Smith  14:47 

wow. So I'm trying to make this long story short. But I want to say that one of my dreams the power moment is definitely tied to tried and true financial services. I mentioned earlier that my parents raised me to go to school, get good grades so that I can get a good job. So entrepreneurship was never really on my radar, I picked that nugget up along the way. So I always worked in corporate when I got my undergraduate degree, I went, I was already in corporate, but I just continued in building, you know, my corporate resume, if you will. Well, a company that I was working for I had been working with them for over a decade, ended up going out of business. And I had been with them, like I said, over a decade, I was very comfortable, I was very spoiled, they took really good care of me, if they were still open today, I still be there. But God knows what we need and when we need it. And so they ended up going out of business. And I was sports, I couldn't see myself brushing up my resume going out to look for another job. So I didn't, I had and I had already been, you know, I love all things finance, right. So I had already been doing income tax preparation on the side, just as a little side hustle for friends and family because I wanted to learn more about taxes. So I went and took the Income Tax Course, that led into a part time seasonal job, I was doing that for a little while and then just was doing it for friends and family. I was not promoting it, it was not a business. I was doing it for love offering, just love doing it. And so I was I was working in corporate, I was working for this financial services company, and I was doing their back office reconciliation for a book of investment portfolio in excess of a billion dollars. And so when they went out of business, and I couldn't see myself rushing, going out to get another job brushing up my resume to go out and get another job I didn't. I launched try to true financial services. And I married the income tax skill set that I had with the portfolio reconciliation that I was doing for corporate. And I married the two of those. And I launched trying to true financial services in the beginning, just offering taxes and bookkeeping. Over the years, I've expanded to tax planning and credit those types of things. But I had I lost trying to show financial services in January of 2015. And then a friend of mine knew what was going on with the company that was going out of business can tap me on the shoulder, I was like, Hey, I know about this opportunity this company, and they need, they need your skill set. And I think you will be a great fit, you should check it out. So I went ahead and I interview for the position. They love me, they extended me an offer, I accepted it. And within 30 days of me launching my business, I went back into corporate Long story short, my dream was deferred. Because I was on the path to entrepreneurship, I let fear setting and forced me into corporate partnership. And so for the first seven years have tried to choke financial services inception, I operated as a corporate partner, working a full time job during the business on evenings and weekends. And that was my dream deferred moment, because instead of me giving tried and true 110% for the first seven years, I was given my corporate job 100% and tried and true was getting the leftover, and my dream was a fire. But in 2022, the great recession came along and I decided to participate and I no longer wanted to let my dream lie dormant or, you know, on the sidelines. And so I told I told corporate goodbye. And now I'm working full time in the business and I love it. And so now my dream is flourishing is no longer deferred.

Deneen L. Garrett  18:54 

I love that congratulations to you. congrat care, taking that full time step to realize your dream fully. And so that's where we got to pivot. So I empower women of color to live a dream lifestyle. What does living a dream life mean to you? And other than going full time until your business? Um, how are you living a dream life?

Valaise Smith  19:21 

Well, my dream life consists of what I say all the time, relationships are the new currency. Yes, I totally believe yes. Then we have to tap into I believe that called we're coming off, you know, coming on the other side of a national pandemic, something that none of us have seen in our lifetime. And I think that COVID-19 caused all of us to pause and really assess what matters most to us in life because we lost a lot in COVID We've learned a lot and COVID and some of us outlived COVID And for those of us that outlived COVID If you didn't stop and pause to consider what matters most in life, yeah, so that for me, that's it. living my dream is knowing what matters most to me, it's my family, it's my friends that I hold near and dear. And so it's creating those boundaries in life, creating those boundaries around, you know, balancing the business or working, you know, trying to make a living and really pausing stopping, enjoying the moment and spending time with the people that you love the most. And not to mention self care. Self Care is huge. And so we have to make sure that we're taking care of ourselves before COVID. And I'm not gonna get that's a whole nother story. Maybe for another segment, maybe you'll invite me back, maybe your audience. So want to hear more about part of my testimony. But my brand colors started out as blue and gray and white, I ended up popping the pink in there, because I'm a breast cancer survivor. So in 2019, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm here today, what will so I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. And that even was a wake up call for me. But before I could get on my healing journey from that, then COVID happened. And so for the past three, four years, you know, I've had a huge awakening at opening, you know, experience as to what matters most and making sure that I cultivate and nurture the relationships in my squad, they showed up for me, you know what I'm saying, I know, I know, who loved me, and there's a lot of folks is that folks that love me, because they showed up for me, and they care for me, and got me through that tough time. And so I'm just living my dream as making sure that I can spend time with the people that I love, that I know love me, with my daughter with my grandson, my immediate family, my extended family, and I meet wonderful people like you along the way. And I look forward to us continuing to cultivate our relationships because relationships, it is the new currency. Yeah, it

Deneen L. Garrett  22:18 

is definitely I tell my son all the time, I said, it is who you know, and more important importantly, as who knows, you. And so you know that that's, that's deep, it's, you know, you talked about nuances. That is a bit of a nuance, right? Because you can know people, but when they know you and they know, you know that you're a good person, a caring person that you're giving all of those things, you know, that makes a definite difference. So before we wrap, what would you like to leave the audience with?

Valaise Smith  22:50 

What what I would like to leave the audience with is, is that it's really important to make sure that you're taking care of your business is, like I said before, it's important to make sure that you're managing your finances well. It's tax season, make sure that you don't get become a victim of fraud, or negligence. Make sure that you're working with a reputable tax professional, make sure I talk to people all the time, and I'm still hearing that people are submitting tax returns where there's no tax professional listed, the tax professionals are not listing their names, they're not missing their P 10s. That's a red flag. You know, I know taxes is not a sexy subject is not the most popular subject. Nobody wants to talk about taxes. Nobody wants to do their taxes. But it's a very important subject. Make sure you get your IP PN number up on the IRS website so that you can protect yourself, make sure you set up your online account, make sure that you stay accurate and current up to date. Because anytime you have a tax build, the tax burden that comes along with penalties and interest that's accruing on any unpaid balance is higher than the worst credit card that you could have. So don't ignore a no it's not like I said, a fun topic. But just make sure that you embrace it and make sure that you focus on and make sure that you do your due diligence to take care of your finances, because the only way that us as women of color could continue to project our voices and make a mark in this world is to make sure that we're taking care of our finances well so that we can continue because money is just a resource. Absolutely, it's really it's just a resource. And so if we make sure that we're taking care of the things that we need to take care of. So that's not something that we have to think about. We can continue to allow our dreams and our visions to flourish as women of color. That's what I will leave the audience with. Take care of your business, make sure you file your taxes on time.

Deneen L. Garrett  24:57 

I love that. Thank you so much. Let's play smell thank you so much for sharing your voice linear voice on an intimate conversation with women of color and enjoy the rest of your day thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai