Ep 227: The #1 Cash Flow Mistake That Kills Good Businesses with Financial Strategist Chidi Egbujie

In this episode of the Online Business Launchpad podcast, host Trudy Rankin sits down with accountant and financial strategist Chidi Egbujie to unpack the #1 cash flow mistake that silently sinks good businesses—and how to avoid it.

“Every number has a story,” Chidi says.  And he goes on to add that if you’re only talking to your accountant at tax time, you’re missing the plot.

Chidi brings years of corporate finance experience.  And now, as founder of Virtual Focus Accountants, he helps small business owners use their financial data not just to survive, but to grow strategically. From fixing your over reliance on your bank balance numbers to designing a business that supports your life (not the other way around), this episode is packed with practical insights for service-based entrepreneurs ready to get out of the weeds.

If you’re tired of hustling without clarity, this one’s for you.

If your business brings in revenue but still feels like it’s gasping for air, you’re not alone. My newsletter is for founders and business owners who didn’t sign up for 80-hour weeks and client emails at midnight. If that sounds like you, join me for free, here.

We Also Talked About:

• Why most small business owners overlook the real power of financial data
• How using QuickBooks or Xero properly can change your business trajectory
• A client turnaround story that started with confusion and ended in clarity (and profits)
• Why goals based on your personal life vision make better business targets
• What every business owner should be doing—but most aren’t—when it comes to planning
• Preparing your business for sale (or scale) and why you should start now
• Why “knowing your numbers” is more than just bookkeeping—it’s strategic survival
• The single most misunderstood concept in business finance: cash flow
  How to choose the right technology—and avoid drowning in it
• His thoughts on AI, where it works, and where it’s not quite there yet 

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• QuickBooks:  quickbooks.intuit.com 
• Xero:  xero.com 
• Virtual Focus Accountants: https://virtualfocusaccountants.co.uk
• Connect with Chidi on LinkedIn: Chidi Egbujie
  

👉  Want regular access to tips, techniques, and advice from experts about growing your business?  My newsletter is for business owners who miss having weekends … and sanity.  If that’s you, sign up here.

_____________

Trudy Rankin is the host of the Online Business Launchpad Podcast, Director of West Island Digital and the founder of the Online Business Lift-Off program.

Affiliate Disclaimer: If you click on links on this page and then make a purchase, I may earn a commission (at no extra cost to you).  I am a proud affiliate of these resources because I use them in my own life and business.

TRANSCRIPT

Episode 227: The #1 Cash Flow Mistake That Kills Good Businesses with Financial Strategist Chidi Egbujie

Or are you just hoping the numbers will somehow magically work themselves out?

In this episode, I chat with Chidi Egbujie, a qualified accountant who helps business owners stop flying blind by showing them how to use the financial data they’ve already collected, but often ignore to make strategic decisions. We explore the difference between simply filing taxes and actually using accounting tools to power your growth.

We cover cash flow, and why it’s not the same as profit setting financial goals and how technology like Zero or QuickBooks can be your best friend [00:01:00] or your biggest waste of money if you use it wrong. And we look at how starting with your personal goals, not just your business goals, can be a game changer.

Chidi brings a refreshingly practical perspective to finances. With a background in financial services and big data, he’s helped countless entrepreneurs, especially tech savvy and service-based businesses, transform their accounting from a yearly headache into a strategic tool.

And his ability to translate financial speak into everyday language makes him the perfect guest.

Trudy Rankin: Welcome to the Online Business Launchpad podcast. I’m Trudy Rankin, and this podcast is for business owners who want to hear stories, tips, and advice from online entrepreneurs who have overcome problems and challenges to get to success because if they’ve done it, so can you. 

[00:02:00] Welcome Chidi. 

Chidi Egbujie: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Trudy. 

Trudy Rankin: So let’s go ahead and start as I usually do by just asking you to share a little bit about you, what’s your background, and how did you get to the place where you do know so much about finances?

Chidi Egbujie: So I’m an accountant as a start, so I’m a qualified accountant, but before that I was always curious about numbers. So I’d always had this interest with numbers. Even when I studied business at university and I chose the more number focused modules, should I say. And then it was after university was really just to try and get a job, just try and find a safe job.

And I decided at the time when I started working just in a, in an office, in a motor dealership, I decided I wanted to become a qualified accountant purely for security, just so I could have something that would always mean that I have good wage, I earn a good wage. But over the time I’ve pushed [00:03:00] myself and I’ve strived, I worked in a lot of financial services, a lot of the big banks.

And I learned a bit about data, the way they use data, the way they use figures to drive decision making and that’s really awakened this little beast in me and pushed me towards setting up an accounting practice, which is what I run today. 

Trudy Rankin: That’s fascinating because you talk about using the data to help make decisions, strategic decisions about whether or not that, lots of things. Will they loan money to specific types of businesses? What are they going to do in terms of their own investments and things like that? And it’s one of the things that I think a lot of small businesses never have the privilege, pleasure, I don’t know what you would call it maybe despairing them, the pain, I’m not sure, of having somebody who can actually Take those numbers and use them in a very strategic way to make strategic decisions.

It’s something that most small business owners don’t get the opportunity to even think about or try. [00:04:00] So in terms of your accounting practice that you have, typically, what kind of businesses do you work with, or what kind of organizations, or even maybe they’re just, is it B2B or B2C, business to business, or business to just commercial, or just to people?

Chidi Egbujie: I think, Initially, you just try and help every business owner, especially startups trying to help them on their journey, try and give them financial exercises and a blueprint that they will run with and guarantee them success. But over time, what I’ve found is that people who are open to data.

Which essentially is not so much data, but people who are open to technology, people who are non cash businesses, we kind of align because I can really help them and the information I give them can really really light their pathway towards success. So that’s really it in terms of the people I work with.

Trudy Rankin: So [00:05:00] total focus on tech businesses? SaaS or software as a service startups or …

Chidi Egbujie: I think that’s the sweet spot, but along the line, there’s agencies and there are people who actually also fit the bill in the sense that they’re businesses that you can see, because there’s always something when you talk to somebody and you try and introduce a bit of technology, which is really the world we’re in today, technology for them and they’re not interested.

So it’s really from tech. And scaring out to business owners who are open because really there’s so much, there’s so much power in our data. And I think there’s one thing talking about business owners or businesses that use the data, but a lot of businesses don’t even have it. So they would have an accountant and they will bring a bank statement and they would get the, they will get the accounts and taxes filed.

But they don’t have any data that they can call on and use in making their [00:06:00] decisions. So that’s really, it’s really key for us. 

Trudy Rankin: That’s interesting. And that’s a really good distinction between focusing on technology based businesses, software as a service type businesses, versus the kind of people that you’re talking about, which are small businesses who could be using technology in us, and the data that it produces in smarter ways to actually help make smarter decisions around their business.

Can you give us a bit of an example of someone that you’ve worked with where this has made a bit of a difference? 

Chidi Egbujie: No because, there are a lot of things that big businesses used to do. It’s normal to imagine a big business where they will, they’re about to make a decision and they sit around a table and someone brings some reports in and they go through it and then make a decision.

But small businesses don’t see themselves, a lot of small businesses don’t see themselves in that way. And it’s really getting them used to doing that. We, [00:07:00] I’ll give you an example of a client of ours, and we noticed he was struggling with his GST, you call it, we call it VAT. He was struggling with his payments.

And then we, He was already using QuickBooks, but not using it in that way. QuickBooks being your accounting software. So he had the data, but he wasn’t using it. So I sat down with him and he’s really trying to help him solve that situation and starting to use his data to try and understand his, where his revenue is coming from, where his costs, what kind of costs.

And then the more you start to delve into it, you just think, okay, who is he hiring? Where does he get his leads from? How is his pricing? And we were able to turn over a few months, obviously we’re able to turn his business around, but we couldn’t have done that as easily without him having that data.

Trudy Rankin: That’s interesting because that’s a good, that’s a good example. It’s also in terms of [00:08:00] thinking about. Once again, from a small business perspective, thinking about the typical way that most people would use their accountants. It is just about, Hey, help me file my taxes.

I don’t understand the complexity, but you’re talking about something that’s far beyond that, which is basically, as you said, taking the data, asking it questions, looking or looking for answers to questions, and then basically using it to make business decisions that you would, a lot of people would actually assign more to a marketing person.

Where’s what, where are our leads coming from? Who’s paying the most, what are our best customers, those sorts of things. How would, how did you go about, or how do you go about actually let, this is, let’s just assume you’ve got a new client in and how do you go about actually, stepping them through that process that you use to actually come out with an outcome that makes it better for them than where they are at the moment financially.

Chidi Egbujie: So that’s a great question, right? A [00:09:00] lot of business owners will go into business with an idea. So they’ve got, this is what I want to do. I’m going to start my own business doing this, or I’ve been working in this field, now I’m going to turn that into a business, or I have this idea, let’s make it happen, and you start it.

But a lot of times that starting position is really what we then follow, right? But we don’t take the time to stop and think, where’s my ultimate destination? And an ultimate destination not limited by what we perceive our current performance level is, if that makes sense. If you ask someone to say, look, you run, let’s say 14 minutes for a hundred meters and they go, what would you like to run?

And you think cause I run 14, maybe 13 and a half because I’m comparing it to where I’m at the moment. So [00:10:00] really. Then if you’re going to run 13 and a half you haven’t really got to make much changes. You haven’t got to tweak much, maybe just add another hour or another few minutes to your runs.

And then you get 13 and a half. But if I said, look, I want to do 10 seconds, then it’s Whoa, maybe you need a coach now. I’m maybe you need to start going to a track. Maybe you need this, maybe you need that. And those are the kinds of things I think about to bring that back into business life is let’s start with our goals.

And when we set those goals, let’s try and remove any shackles as a link to our current perception of our performance, right? Or current performance levels, right? And then You then, that’s when all the data comes in, all the planning comes in to say, to understand what we need and how we need to be operating to get out, to hit our goals.

And that could be money. That could be time, there’s a variation of goals that we, we might want to have, but that’s, for me, that’s normally a starting point because [00:11:00] that really, then it opens up the opportunity. The conversation, and we start immediately, we start thinking strategically, and we start having to implement things that maybe we wouldn’t have thought about if we didn’t have that conversation.

Trudy Rankin: It seems like that the process is very intricately interwoven with. What a lot of businesses don’t do and they should do, and that is regular planning. Basically, what’s our vision? What are our goals? What do we care about? What are we trying to achieve? And I’m curious because I have worked with a lot of very new startups usually solopreneur startups, people who have come out of corporate and they’re wanting to start their own business.

And, one of the things that often will pop up and you ask people, What’s your goal? And people often don’t really know yet what their goal is because they’re too new. How much money would you like to make? I’d like a million dollars. Thank you very much. And do you often get that reaction and how do you work with people to help them [00:12:00] become more realistic?

Chidi Egbujie: I think that when you have a business, it is very hard for a lot of people to just think, okay, how do I want my business to be? Because automatically it links to stress. You think of a business That’s already busy. And then once we say we want more, we want to make this harder. It’s, for me I find that’s not the best way to go about it.

What I normally do is start with the person. So start with the personal goals, right? So it’s, where’d you want to be? Where’d you want to be living? How much you want to spend? How much time you want to have with your family or playing your, with your hobbies. And then, and that’s, it’s easier for people to extract that information, right?

Just without thinking about anything else. And then we didn’t have to then leverage it on the business. It’s not now, what does the business have to [00:13:00] do to be able to give you this life? And then we, then we have a strategy straight away. Because already he’s now screaming if the business has been making more money, then how do we do that?

If the business needs to be freeing up more time for us, then how does the business survive whilst we do that? So all those things, I think it drives decision making. 

Trudy Rankin: Yeah, I’m just, I’m sitting here, I’m thinking that, yeah it’s. It’s a lot more sophisticated, complex, maybe those aren’t the right words, but it’s more involved than a lot of people think.

Because you’re having to take a much more holistic look at the business and the drivers behind the owner of the business and what it is they’re wanting to achieve. Just out of sheer curiosity, and maybe you haven’t, but have you ever worked with people who have, Yeah. said to you, Hey, the ultimate goal is I want to be able to sell this business either tomorrow or, maybe two years or [00:14:00] five years from now.

And if you, I take it from the fact that you’re nodding that you have, you’ve worked with people like that. Yes. 

Chidi Egbujie: Yep. 

Trudy Rankin: Yep. So when you’re working with people who are, have said that’s one of their goals is there a difference in the way that you work with them than you would with working with somebody who’s actually wanting to really expand out their business?

Chidi Egbujie: It’s definitely different because when you’re working with somebody who wants to grow, you’re essentially thinking of a plane on a runway and we need to have everything ready to be able to take off. And we need to be ready for that turbulent period that will go through before the plane takes off.

So having a business that can support that and having the owner being prepared for that. Essentially, ready for sale. It’s more like an inspection. So what we’re saying is we want to get this house in the right order where I’m not the [00:15:00] one that’s cleaning it, but also everything looks good, right?

We have everything working. So it’s getting everything in order and having a system that can operate without key people dependencies. So those are the kinds of things that I think about, but obviously if it’s, whatever makes it more attractive, we think about profitability, we think about revenue, we think about all the assist financial processes in place.

There’s a lot to go through but it’s always, when I get asked that question, I always, first of all, I think it’s a bit late, it’s not too late, but this is, these are the kind of conversations we’re having with startups. But when people start off, they just feel, Oh no, that’s for the big guys.

I don’t need that. But actually, Every business owner should be thinking about it, and it’s a real tragedy, especially when businesses go bust because they just didn’t have the warning signs in [00:16:00] advance. That’s when it’s a real tragedy. 

Trudy Rankin: Yeah. Or they chose to ignore the warning signs. Cause it’s, yeah, it’s really easy to, it’s really easy to just put your head down and try and work through the problems rather than stop.

Chidi Egbujie: Yeah. 

Trudy Rankin: And so in terms of, I’m just going to put a proposed scenario here. So let’s say you’re working with somebody who’s actually starting a business. You were lucky or they were lucky. They realized they needed somebody like you right from the very beginning. And they’ve come to you and said, Hey, I’m getting started.

What can I do to make sure that my business is a I’m going to make it to the time when I might want to sell it and be, get set up so that it’s going to help me achieve my financial goals. What would, what kind of process and what kind of questions do you ask them or do you, how do you get them to help get set up well enough so that they can survive?

Chidi Egbujie: And I think that’s that’s a dream. [00:17:00] There’s a dream scenarios, right? Because when you have someone thinking like that from the beginning, it’s great because what happens then is one, you get to prove your idea, your concept, you get to prove it out because you’d have to, you can do a budget.

You can forecast it based on some realistic assumptions, right? And that gives you the confidence that you’re actually going in the right directions. Then you have. Your clarity on your goals, which would mean that from clarity of your goals, you know where you are heading and from where you are heading.

I I could go as far as five years that could, you can dissect down to three, you could break that down into 12 months. You go down 90, you could three months, 90 days. And that means that this business owner. has now got targets that they’re working through. So they’re not going stagnant in the business.

They’re constantly thriving towards something. And you have that measure [00:18:00] to, to compare where you are in a month, in three months to say, where are we? Are we hitting the target? where the targets that we wanted to set, or do we need to rebase and realign those goals? To make all of that happen, you have your financial systems and processes in place to help you with measurement, to help you with reporting, right?

And beyond all of that is cashflow. You’re able to forecast your cash. So you’re able to understand and see in advance, rather than looking behind. You have seen in advance. and see what dips are coming or what what opportunities you have to save money. 

Trudy Rankin: That’s a really important point because a lot of businesses, when they’re first getting started, they don’t know yet what the cycles are and it might, there might be seasonal variations in terms of what might affect the cashflow.

And I’m just a little bit [00:19:00] curious because I know that for people who are just getting started or people who in their past careers haven’t really had to deal with financial matters in their roles. So could you just very just quickly just define for our listeners the difference between sort of cash flow and, basically the other variations and the finances that come in in terms of how that impacts what they’re doing cash flow. 

Chidi Egbujie: So what happens a lot of times is as a, as people personally, what we’re used to doing is look on the app. Now we could do that. Look on your bank statement app. How much have I got? That’s how much I’ve got.

At some point in my life, I used to have a spreadsheet. I used to track, I used to track my salary and my spending. And so before at the beginning of the month, I already knew roughly how much spare cash I had for [00:20:00] shopping or for hobbies and things like that. But a lot of people don’t have that. You just look in your bank statement or, physically in a cash point or in your bank statement or app and you see how much you have. And personally, that’s probably enough. That’s enough to give you an indication that, look, okay, I’ve got 500 bucks left and I’m still going to get paid in two weeks time. So you okay should we go out?

Maybe I’m not going out today because I know that. But when you apply that same practice in your business, what happens is it’s fine probably for day one, two, three, but as the business starts to ramp up, it becomes impossible, right? And when you look at people who back themselves in the business, I see, and I think is a positive when business owners back themselves.

And I see that in the financials, they got marketing budgets, they got loans, they got all sorts of, they got staff and all these things they do. It’s great to boost the business. [00:21:00] But what that means is now a flurry of activity, which is separate to your typical income statement, which is revenue less your expenses equals profit.

You now got things, you’re paying loans You’re doing all sorts of stuff. And it’s very hard then to get to a position where you’re comfortable and, in three months what’s happening, we had a client who refused All support and help. And eventually he went bust because he ran out of cash.

And it was very sad because he was making money. He was turning over 200, 000 pounds a year, but he still went bust because he wasn’t able to align his spending to his cash position. 

Trudy Rankin: And that’s a tough one because, at the very guts of it, You’ve got cash, you might have cash coming in 60 days because you’ve already done some work, [00:22:00] but your bills and your creditors want those bills paid right now.

They’re not going to wait 60 days for you to have your money come in and that is something that a lot of people don’t think about. So I want to ask then the next obvious question. Question, at least in my mind, it’s the next obvious question, and that is, is that yes, given the complexity that starts to arise when you know you’ve got, if you’ve got staff, then you’ve got to pay them their wages.

That’s not just their wages, at least here in Australia, you’ve got to, help pay for their superannuation, you’ve got to make a contribution to their superannuation. You’ve got to be putting aside money for tax. That’s taxes at the year, plus it’s also GST or VAT or what might be state sales tax in the US.

There’s a whole bunch of things where. the impact isn’t immediate and obvious. And you look at your bank statement and you go, yeah, I’ve got lots of money here. Let’s go and buy something new. But if you do, oh my. So you talked earlier on about using technology better in businesses to help with it.

That’s the obvious way to do it part of [00:23:00] helping to manage this complexity, but not everybody’s comfortable with technology. Talk us through the process that you use to help bring people to the place where they go. Yes, I need some technology. What do I get? How do I get it set up? How do I use it? 

Chidi Egbujie: I think, and that’s a good question.

I think if you haven’t got a straight, so you have some who, people who are like consultants or, or contractors, as they say, and you have a very straight, very linear path. A business kind of model, right? What that means is you can always say, look, this is my a hundred, this is my a hundred K or 150 k.

Here’s my little few costs, and that’s my profit. Then it’s. It’s a hard sell for someone to be telling you, you need to get this software, you need to get this, you need to get that. But if you’re operating a business that is, [00:24:00] let’s say 10, 20 percent more complex than what I’ve just described, then I think that you need to have a system where.

You’re capturing your business activity, in some kind of application, because what that means is then you have a base that you can compare to the future, and you have a base that you can use to forecast. And you can really plan ahead, even when it comes to just thinking about your tax efficiency by planning ahead, it could save you a lot of money by just understanding where we are, what’s happening before the year runs out.

And so you can plan accordingly. 

Trudy Rankin: All right. That is a very pertinent point because I’m just thinking about my own business. And I use a tool called Xero which I find extremely useful and helpful. And I have to say that one of the best things that it’s done for me is the amount of time that it saves [00:25:00] me when I’m preparing my GST returns.

Because all you do is click a button and all the data is already there, already collated. It’s so easy and if you think about it from that perspective, the amount of time and stress and pain that you save yourself by having a software tool is immense. And it’s, that’s a, that’s something that I don’t think that.

If you don’t have the software, you don’t know the feeling, that’s all I can say. My question to you is, do you work with people who, or what types of software tools are out there that you are familiar with, that your different clients might potentially be using? We’ve mentioned three, but 

Chidi Egbujie: and I, so I think this is it’s a moving feast is a constantly evolving area.

And we can record this. And in a year’s time what we’ve said would be so different because you have a lot of the banks, a lot of smaller banks, they’re having, they’re offering free software. Some of them are already lining themselves up to [00:26:00] penetrate that market. But for me, I stick with the trusted two, which are QuickBooks and Xero, and I just think some business owners will quibble about the costs of it, right?

But for what you get, it’s an absolute no brainer, right? Because starting from making some things really simple, things like your invoicing, checking whether you’ve been paid, making sure your, even when you look at your GST or your VAT. Just making sure you’ve included everything you need to, that can save you money, but it’s just then taking it a step further and just having all of your information in one place and be able to see the story of your business and starting to use it.

It’s absolutely fascinating, I think. 

Trudy Rankin: And that brings me to, the next question, which is, if you [00:27:00] want good data to show up or be available via your software, you have to put good data in. So what would be maybe, a handful, three or four of the best practices when it comes to making sure that you are feeding your technology, your software system, the right kind of data and doing it in a way that’s going to give you the right answers later.

Chidi Egbujie: And Trudy you’ve said it there and the phrase garbage in garbage out comes to mind, right? Because I have clients that with me today, and it was purely because they came to me with a problem. They started off and I, in a way I blame the software providers because they, they have all the marketing that says, Oh yeah, come and use our software, run your business in your pocket and all these things.

But these transactions that you’re putting through an accounting software, you behind them, they’re accounting entries, [00:28:00] which if you don’t understand, you get yourself in a bit of a twist. So the value of a bookkeeper is really underestimated, right? I highly recommend a business owner to get yourself a bookkeeper and start to get everything in the right order, even if it’s just for periods.

So they lay down the foundations and they show you how to run them. But essentially what that means for you would be the data that comes out is accurate. And it’s, it makes sense. 

Trudy Rankin: And it’s so important because if you don’t have accurate data, it can, not only does it have the chance of messing up your cash flow can mess up your business.

It can make your business look a little bit iffy to the tax people and that’s never a place that you want to get into, but it’s, just that whole discipline, especially for people who don’t feel that comfortable with numbers, potentially, that [00:29:00] discipline’s really important. So just out of sheer curiosity, out of the people that you’ve worked with, Do most people feel comfortable with numbers and with the discipline of making sure they’ve got clean data into their system?

Are they comfortable with that or do they have to learn? 

Chidi Egbujie: It, it varies really, but I’d say majority of them have the approach they have. It’s really, it’s like going to a car mechanic and just parking your car. Just just tell me, I hear this noise, just fix it. Tell me when it’s done. I’ll pick it up.

And you’re not really interested in knowing what they did and how they did it. And my, my, my advice and encouragement for business owners is really get to understand what’s happening in your business. Don’t delegate all of your accounting to your accountant and not know what is happening. If it’s too difficult, [00:30:00] Or if you don’t understand it, if someone sends you a report, if you don’t understand it, send it back, get them to understand, to explain it in a way that you can understand.

Because I think that, and I don’t blame some of the accountants, they’ve spent a lot of years studying. And they’re charging you fees and maybe they feel they have to justify it. So there’s all these big words and big acronyms that they’re throwing at you, but it shouldn’t have to be that way.

Just get them to explain it to you in a way that you can understand, because the closer you are to your business, the better the business will be, because there will be some knowledge that the accountant doesn’t have that you have, or you might be in a position to make a, to start a project or sign a deal.

And just having a bit of, a bit more knowledge about the financials behind your business would really empower you to make better decisions. 

Trudy Rankin: Yeah. I’m just thinking in terms [00:31:00] of, the experience that, that I’ve had, and also that talking to other people, Is that having access to somebody who’s got the ability to give you their expertise and stuff you can, I’m just thinking out loud here.

How would for our listeners, how would you like it if you thought you had to pay, let’s just say you had to pay. 1, 000. I’m just, this is really small, but 1, 000 in tax. And you went to your accountants and they went through your work, your data, you’d spent your time during the year trying to make sure that you were very careful and clean.

And they come back to you and said, Hey, nice, clean data. Did you know that according to this rule and what I know about your business, we can actually save you a lot of money. You only need to pay a hundred dollars worth of tax. How many people would really like to have that happen to them? And so I think that the role that the system, the clean data, and the fact that somebody’s who’s a small business owner has gone to the effort to [00:32:00] understand what those numbers are telling them in terms of a story is really important.

And I’m just going to add to that just a little bit because I know so many people who really struggle with that part, turning the numbers into a story that makes sense, that adds to them. Do you have a way that you help people do that? 

Chidi Egbujie: I think one of the phrases I’ve been saying for maybe 20 years now is every number has a story, right?

So you have to have the base to produce the number, but is then trying to understand what those numbers mean. But you have to have, it’s like a dance partner. You put the music on, you need someone to dance with. You have to have someone that’s actually really interested in that, somebody who has the ambition.

And when I started in business, it was, I couldn’t really understand how You could have a business owner because they’ve taken that [00:33:00] brave step. And I admire all business owners to take that brave step, but then actually not have the ambition. And it does happen. You can have people who set up a business, but they just, maybe they set it up because they just didn’t want to go into the office and have that old boss.

They didn’t want no more of that, but they don’t really want. They don’t want no stress. They don’t want to work too hard. And like I mentioned, my analogy about the plane, for plane to take off, there’s a pressure period on the runway, the acceleration, the vibrations, it’s real. And a lot of business businesses need to go through that, come out the other side when it’s calmer in the sky, but maybe that investment.

Oh, that’s the investment level is too much for a lot of business owners. So it’s really having people who are aligned with the same goals, because if you don’t want to move, it’s pointless helping you. It’s pointless feeding you data. If you actually want, if they want to do any of it. [00:34:00] So really, once you find business owners who are, you can offer them ideas and options and they bought into it, then that’s that match that is made where you can really.

Help them, provide them the data, find the time to schedule sessions with them, have a goal setting session with them. From there, we have targets that we then manage and track and discuss periodically to make sure they’re still striving and working towards that goal. 

Trudy Rankin: And that I think is the crux of it because it’s so easy to drift off.

You set your goals, you might have the best intentions in the world, set your goals, but And then it didn’t take long to drift off. Something happens, it, it goes off sideways. I’ve got one more quick question that’s from my, I’m, which I’m curious about myself personally. And that is, is that, do you use AI at all in terms of, and when I say AI, let me be a little bit more clear, generative AI, things like [00:35:00] ChatGPT or Claude or some of the other ones that are around.

Do you use that at all in terms of helping Your clients just basically achieve those financial goals? 

Chidi Egbujie: Oh, I think AI in some ways, it’s absolutely amazing. But in some ways it feels a bit premature, but what I use it as it’s like a partner. I use ChatGPT particularly as a partner where I can bounce ideas off of, it’s like having someone in a room with me and say, Hey, what’d you think about that?

And they send it to me and say, Oh, that looks better. What, this is the kind of person I want it for. How does that look? Or, I’ve got this new client, I’ve written this, and I just want to make it simpler. Help me make it simpler. Because I want, it’s important for me that this doesn’t have too much jargon, and they can understand it.

[00:36:00] It’s things like that. But, things like, Tax rules. It’s not ready yet. So we still have to do this. We have to go the old way, but when, maybe when we’ve done the research on certain rules, ChatGPT can help us summarize it just so it’s all about. easier ingestion on the client side. That’s where we really use it.

But, the thing that Trudy is like, people see AI as ChatGPT, but it’s all over, Microsoft is in all these, it’s all embedded in the way predictive texting and all the things that they use. So we’re all using it really. If that’s the way to put it. 

Trudy Rankin: I think that’s a really good point because it really is, and we’ve all been using it for years and didn’t maybe call it what we, what it’s being called now, but it’s just that now it’s obvious in your face and lots of people are using it in ways that maybe they hadn’t thought about before.

I think it’s fascinating. I think that’s, it’s a watch this [00:37:00] space. So Chidi, it’s been really fascinating talking with you. It’s always really refreshing to talk to somebody who’s, who clearly knows what they’re talking about and especially around a topic that. Most people, although they, desperately know that it’s important, don’t always know what to do, where to go, or how to handle the financial side of the business.

And if you can’t get the financial, there’s sort of two things. You’ve got to get your finances right, you’ve got to get your marketing and sales right. If you can’t get those things right, you don’t have a business. 

I appreciate you being on a podcast, if people wanted to reach out to you maybe just connect with you, or maybe if they want your help, where would they go?

Chidi Egbujie: So I’m on LinkedIn, Chidi Egbujie on LinkedIn. I’m also on my website, virtual focus accountants, also virtual focus accountants on Instagram, alternatively, on email [email protected]. 

Trudy Rankin: Okay, no, that’s fantastic. I’ll put [00:38:00] those in the show notes so that people can get to them if they’re interested.

Once again, thanks Chidi, it’s been great. 

Chidi Egbujie: Thanks for sharing and talking to you Trudy, it’s been fantastic.

Trudy Rankin: I hope you found that conversation with Chidi as interesting as I did. Remember, the difference between a business that struggles and a business that thrives often comes down to how you handle your numbers.

Not just filing taxes, but using your financial data to shape your future. And if you enjoyed today’s episode, make sure to hit that subscribe button so that you never miss an episode. And if you’re feeling generous, I’d love it if you left a review. Your feedback not only helps me, it helps other people discover the podcast and join our community of smart savvy business builders.

Thanks for listening, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.

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