[00:00:00] Welcome to the Smart Credit Experience, the place where financial clarity, strategy and transformation begin. I'm your host, Gerry Toliver, CEO of Smart Credit Solutions and the creator of the Smart Credit method. Every week I break down the truth about credit, funding and building a financially abundant life and business. So if you're ready to learn what lenders actually look for, how to build a fundable business, and how to move forward with confidence and clarity, you're in the right place.
[00:00:30] What if I told you that the most expensive decision that you'll ever make is staying employed forever? Now, before y' all jump on me today, I want to talk to y' all about a decision that I made 10 years ago that without a doubt has completely changed my life. And today that decision is about making the switch from employee to business owner. And I'm not just talking about quitting your job. I'm talking about making a complete identity switch. Right? I'm talking about making a mindset switch, a life switch, a money switch. And by the end of this episode, you're going to learn why making the switch is going to be one of the best financial moves that you can make and how to actually start making those moves today, even if you're still punching the clock. Now, now, let's start with my own story. I mean, a couple days ago I was sharing with my, my audience, my social media, my email squad about how every Wednesday I get a very sweet email notification that, that I love.
[00:01:39] And it's a notification that I get from QuickBooks about my paycheck being ready, my pay stub being ready. And this isn't like a client payment. This isn't some random wire transfer. It's my paycheck as the owner of the company. And I want you to be able to feel what that feels like one day too. Because when you start seeing paychecks coming from your business, legitimate paychecks coming for your business, y', all, it hit different. For real, it really hits different.
[00:02:13] And so what I want to do today is I want to talk to you about why making the switch is worth it. And then I'm going to give you some very practical steps that you can start taking immediately so that you can start even experiencing the benefits of making the switch. Now, some of the benefits that I've already have experience is, number one, making the switch from employee to full blown business owner is I get tax advantages. Everybody always talk about saving money in taxes. And yes, becoming an employee of your business is definitely going to save you money in taxes because here's Think about about it this way. As a W2 employee, taxes are taken out of your check before you even see it, right? People hate it. I, I used to hate it too. Like Uncle Sam is taking my money before it even hits my bank account.
[00:03:07] And it used to make me feel bad, like oh my God, I'm losing $500 a month just to taxes. Sometimes even more. Definitely was more at one point, but it didn't feel good to see my money, you know, seeing somebody skim off the top of my something that I was working very, very hard for. Now as a business owner, it's different. You can legally reduce your self employment tax burden by structuring your pay your business the right way. Now my business, we pay payroll through and my business is taxed as an S corp because we make a pretty significant amount of money. So you shouldn't, you definitely need to talk to an accountant, somebody that you trust when it comes to taxes that can give you the right steps to get this done. But I'm just sharing my own experience with y' all today because it's going to allow you to take the next best step and feel confident about it. Because once I started running payroll, once I upgraded my business to S Corp. I was able to start like splitting my income between salary, like what I'm getting through my paycheck and also separate distributions that taxes doesn't touch as a shareholder of my company. And it saves me thousands of dollars a year, money that stays in my pocket so I get to skim off the top before anybody else sees it. Right at the end of the year is when Uncle Sam sees money from me as a business owner, if they see a check for me at all. Our goal as business owners is to reduce our tax burden as much as we possibly can. And my accountant is really, really good and, and has taught me some really amazing things to help me save money and really take advantage of all the tax benefits that come along with being a business owner. The second benefit is you get verified income. See, one of the biggest issues I would say that most small business owners and entrepreneurs have is they don't have any verifiable income. They're either being paid a 1099 as a contractor or they're paying, getting paid in cash. And they don't have any invoices and so they don't really have any verifiable income that lenders will trust. If you're trying to buy a home or a car or maybe even get into an apartment, they want to see check stubs well, when you get into business for yourself, lenders still want to see this stuff. So banks still want to see it, landlords want to see it. And when you're paid through payroll, as a business owner, you have them, you can actually legitimately supply them. You don't have to do no scammy stuff and creating check stubs out of thin air. First of all, let me tell you, that stuff is a. Is about to be a thing of the past. By the way, I know a lot of people, they love trying to create check stubs and creating things. That's the thing of the past, my friends. Technology is incredibly smart. AI is smart, and lenders are starting to adopt this technology to avoid being taken by people that are not being honest with them. And so you need some verifiable income and you want to do it with integrity. And you can do this by making the switch. So you can have pay stubs, you can have a 100% W2 income as a owner of, of your business. I have pay stubs. I have used it to get an apartment. I have used them to buy cars. I have used them for property. I've used them. And they're legitimate. They are verifiable income.
[00:06:47] Third, I get to contribute to my 401k. See, as a business owner, y', all, you own a company. Have you ever thought, how do companies get 401k set up that they can offer to employees?
[00:07:02] Well, you can do the same thing.
[00:07:04] Your company can do the exact same thing.
[00:07:07] If your company. You can offer 401ks as a benefit. I do. My company offers 401k and my company matches it. So me as a business owner, I have a company sponsor, 401K under Smart Credit Solutions. And every time I run payroll, I take 7% of my paycheck, I put it into my 401k and. And smart credit solutions, it also contributes 7% to my 401k too. So the good thing about this is that you set the retirement plan. You are the one that have the control. You control the percentage that you contribute.
[00:07:44] You could control the percentage that your company matches. Right? It's like you become your best employer ever, basically.
[00:07:54] So you can legitimately, if you're somebody that says, hey, Jerry, I want to be able to retire on my own terms, I want to be able to be comfortable, I want to never have to worry about money again. Well, that starts with putting your money to work with for you, and we're going to talk about that shortly. Right. But you've Got to put your money to work for you. And many small business owners feel stressed out and are stuck in survival mode because they don't have a system put into place within their business financial system that's put in place with, into their business where they're running payroll, they're putting money away from their for their retirement, they're completely separating their business and their personal finances, and they're setting them theirselves up for long term success. See, the reason why I even put this podcast together is because too many business owners are out here blindly growing a business and they're not really financially educated on what it really takes to get to that next level. You, you can be the next Fortune 500 company if you really want it to be. Those benefits that are out here that they're offering, you can offer the same exact thing.
[00:09:00] So we've got to think and dream bigger because you can have it. You can definitely have it. And on top of that, what made this even easier for me to execute on is that I was able to use other people's money to do it. So you can use other people's money. You can use loans, you can use grants, you can use business credit cards, you can, you can use funding to fund your growth and fund your payroll. And this, this is the one that really gets people. Because when your business is structured properly and it has an established credit profile, you can legitimately gain access to capital that is completely separate for your personal finances, business lines, SBA loans, you can fund your operations, you can pay yourself, you can grow, and you can use other people's money to do it legally. One of the biggest constraints for businesses is they have a really hard time growing because growing sucks. A lot of cash, A whole lot of it. And so if you don't have cash to put into hiring help, running payroll taxes, I understand why you, why you feel stuck, but businesses aren't necessarily meant to be run using your personal finances anyway.
[00:10:20] They're, they're, they're. Your personal finances are to be for you to live and take care of your responsibilities. But a business requires a lot more resources and so use other people's money to get it done right. I mean, there's so many more benefits that we could talk about today, but without a doubt, those are the top four that I have. I love. Okay? Being able to save on taxes, being able to have verified income, being able to retire on my own terms, build my 401k and my Nest egg, and use other people's money to do it, Use other People's money to grow legit. It's legal.
[00:11:00] So I want to talk to y' all about how can you really put this into play? How can you really take the next step?
[00:11:10] How can you change the way you see money and grow your business forever?
[00:11:17] Well, I want to write. I want y' all to write something now. Now I'm a reader. If anybody that knows me know I love to read.
[00:11:24] And I. I once read a book I was in my high school days called the Rich. No, I'm sorry. Rich dad, Poor Dad.
[00:11:33] Rich dad, Poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
[00:11:36] And then he also has a companion book to it. It's called the Cash Flow Quadrants.
[00:11:42] And I read both books, and without a doubt, the way it was broken down, how all the income is earned into four categories and how they're represented in four quadrants really changed the way I think about money and growing a business and setting myself up for financial freedom. Now, if you're somebody that has never heard of the cash flow quadrant, I encourage you to Google it while you're watching this or listening to this.
[00:12:11] And you should find a diagram. I'm sure you'll see a diagram somewhere. I'll even leave it below this video if you're. If you're listening to this on our
[email protected] but there's four quadrants, and they're labeled employee, self employed, business owner, and investor.
[00:12:30] Now, most people are employees. This is where most people live. You trade time for money.
[00:12:37] Someone else sets your schedule, your salary, and they cap you. You have a ceiling. Security is what feels good here, but it's mostly borrowed security because, I mean, even recently, over these last few years, since COVID 19, a lot of things have been happening. People have been losing their jobs.
[00:13:00] Artificial intelligence is taking over. And people are feeling like, stuck without a plan, nowhere to go, not really knowing what to do. And so there is no real security.
[00:13:13] And being employed because you're literally just one layoff or maybe one diagnosis or maybe even one quarter away from losing it all. And the taxes, it's the highest in any quadrant. As an employed person, you pay the most taxes.
[00:13:32] As an employee, W2 employee, okay, second quadrant is the self employed quadrant. This is where a lot of entrepreneurs actually get stuck.
[00:13:42] You know, you leave your job. I did this. I got stuck here for like two years. I was like, oh, my God, I'm never gonna grow. And that's when I learned about business credit. That's how I got unstuck. But I left My job only to basically have bought into another job. I was basically a glorified worker. I wasn't a glorified employee. You know, you're, as a self employed person, you're normally a freelancer, maybe you're a consultant, maybe you're a solo entrepreneur, operator. You're working really hard. But if you stop working, if you get sick, if you need a vacation, if you just burnt out and tired, the money stops.
[00:14:27] So in this quadrant, the self employed quadrant, you own a job, you don't own a business. We've all been there. In fact, everybody has to get there. Everybody starts here. That's where you start.
[00:14:40] But the question is, how do you graduate?
[00:14:42] So you've got to graduate from self employed to business owner. And this is what most people want. I talk to a lot of business owners every single day.
[00:14:51] And most people that I talk to, they want a system.
[00:14:55] They want something that can work for them. And honestly, this is where the switch really happens. This is the switch from employee to business owner.
[00:15:07] In this quadrant, you've built a system, you've built teams. Your business is generating income whether you show up or not. So you're not the product. You run the product.
[00:15:17] And see, the thing that most people don't understand is that the business owners in this quadrant pay some of the lowest taxes legally because of how the income is structured. Now that's a whole different topic. And in fact, I'll probably just invite a tax professional here to talk about that.
[00:15:37] But y', all, seriously, I know you don't want to get stuck working your business 24 7, all day, every day, for the rest of your life. I know you don't want to keep being stuck in hustle mode. I know you want to start getting more sleep. I know you want to pay your bills on time. I know you want to take more vacations. I know you want to spend more time with your family.
[00:15:56] I know you do. But that's only really going to happen in the business owner quadrant.
[00:16:04] Seriously, this is where the switch happens.
[00:16:08] This is, this is where we made the switch. Where I made the switch from letter pusher, credit repair person to educator, scaler, team builder, leadership developer. That's what we do here. We certify the new leaders. We're creating a new standard here in the credit education arena, right? So I own a system. If I decide to take a vacation, my business still runs, it still makes money.
[00:16:36] If I needed to take a hiatus, my business, still running, makes money.
[00:16:41] If, you know, if, if I want to take a vacation If I just don't want to do any work, which sometimes I do, I feel that way. Sometimes I feel like, okay, not today, but my business still makes money. And so you want to make the switch from paying the most taxes, you know, having the least amount of freedom and making the least amount of money to taking it to the next level, paying the least amount of taxes, having the most freedom and living your life on your terms.
[00:17:11] But there's another quadrant after the self, the, the business owner quadrant, and it's the investor quadrant.
[00:17:19] This is, this is, I'm, I'm tipping into this one right here. Okay, I've got my feet, I've got my feet in here.
[00:17:27] But this is the end game, right? When your money is making money for you, your assets are generating income. Did you know that your business is an asset?
[00:17:36] Did you know that your credit is an asset? Why?
[00:17:40] Because it grows in value over time. That's the definition of an asset. It grows in value over time.
[00:17:48] So if you think of your business and your credit as an asset, then you can keep building on it all the time, forever. And it just gets better over time. It opens up new opportunities for you to live life on your terms. The wealthy live here. And, you know, it's a beautiful thing. You can't get to it first though, without moving to a business owner, because there's a switch that happens mentally that allows you to step into business owner. Because as a business owner, you learn that you can't do everything by yourself. You learn that the best thing that you can do is tap into the power of leverage. And so you can't even get to investor until you've mastered the art of being a business owner.
[00:18:38] And so you've got to make the move to be to the business owner first before you can go to investor. The problem is most people spend their entire lives bouncing between employee and self employed wondering, you know, why they can never get ahead.
[00:18:54] But the answer is you're stuck in the quadrant and you have to make the switch.
[00:18:59] Now let me ask you something.
[00:19:01] Which quadrant are you in right now? You can drop this in the chat if you're watching this on YouTube or if you are, you know, listening this, listening to this, even on our
[email protected] Send me an email. Send us an email at contactsmartcreditcoach.com I want to know, what quadrant are you in right now? And more importantly, which one do you want to be in?
[00:19:24] Which one do you want to be in? Do you want to get stuck hustling all day. Do you want to get stuck barely making any money and barely getting any sleep, but you're going to have to make the switch.
[00:19:36] How do you do it, Jerry? Well, let's get practical because I'm not here to really just inspire you and entertain you. I'm here to give you some steps that you can start making the switch right now. So number one, get smart. I don't mean smart like getting clever, but I mean get smart about your goals. You ever heard about smart goals? Specific, measurable, achievable and relevant time bound goals.
[00:20:02] One thing that my mentor taught me was nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific. Which means stop saying stuff like I want to make more money. Or when I ask, how much funding are you looking for? As much as I can get.
[00:20:15] Too vague. It's too vague. Instead of saying I want to make more money, say I want to generate another $8,000 this month in revenue from my consulting business in 30 days.
[00:20:24] It's specific.
[00:20:26] I want to build my business credit and reach $50,000 in the next six months without using my personal credit.
[00:20:35] See, that's a goal that you can work with.
[00:20:38] The problem that many people find that I find that they don't get specific with their goals. And the reason why people don't get specific with their goals is because then they will have to take responsibility for them not meeting them.
[00:20:50] As long as you stay vague, you will not hold yourself accountable and you won't feel responsible for the outcome.
[00:20:58] So get smart with your goals. Our smart credit method is all about smart goals, actionable, setting, time, relevance, because we know that it works.
[00:21:14] 80% of the people that take our programs pass them, they use them, they complete them. And there's a reason for that, because our method works. So get smart, get specific, stop being vague.
[00:21:30] Especially if you really have dreams of getting funded and growing a business.
[00:21:34] 2. Start thinking like a business owner. Right. Many people are the reason why they get stuck between self employed and an entrepreneur, I mean employee, is because they're still thinking like an employee. You're still thinking like an employee trying to be a business owner, but you can't think like an employee being a business owner. You can think like an employee being self employed because I mean, they're basically the same thing with the exception that you don't have anyone controlling your time or your money.
[00:22:04] But as a business owner, you have to think completely differently than an entrepreneur. Most employees are thinking, how do I get a raise?
[00:22:14] Business owners ask themselves, how do I build another revenue stream?
[00:22:18] Employees protect their time.
[00:22:21] Business owners invest it, start asking different questions and you'll start getting different answers and getting a different result.
[00:22:29] Because what would CEO you do in this situation right now? Right? And if it's hire the professional, take the course, go do it. If it's post the videos, go do it. If it's make some sales calls, go do it. Because you have to start thinking like a business owner. Because how a man thinketh, so is he.
[00:22:54] How a man thinketh, so is he. So if you keep thinking like an employee, you're going to keep getting employee results.
[00:23:03] When you start thinking like a business owner, you get business owner results. How do I start thinking like a business owner, Jerry? Read.
[00:23:13] That's, that's, that's my answer. Read. I cannot stress this enough.
[00:23:17] I cannot stress this enough. Your competition is reading. The people that you want to be like, they're reading, they're studying.
[00:23:25] And if you're not, they're winning by default.
[00:23:30] Winning by default. Some of the best books that I can ever encourage people to read. Rich dad, Poor dad, the Richest man in Babylon. That. That book changed my life too.
[00:23:41] The E Myth. Revisit it.
[00:23:44] The profit first 100 million offers by Alex Hermosi. I could go on and on. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I can go on and on and on. My library is thick.
[00:23:59] And let me tell you something. A library card is free. Audible is $10 a month. There is no excuse, my friends, no excuse me. To not be feeding your mind.
[00:24:12] Feed your mind. Have a goal to learn something new every single day. Why? Because you have to reprogram yourself.
[00:24:21] We have been programmed in this society to be losers. We have been programmed to be average. We've been programmed to make excuses, to procrastinate, to stay safe.
[00:24:33] That's what we've been programmed to do.
[00:24:36] So you are have to have to put forth some damn good effort to reprogram yourself by reading books, tuning into other entrepreneurs that are reputable in the space, getting educated.
[00:24:50] Because if, if you're not reading books about businesses, if you're not listening to podcasts about business related content, what are you doing? What are you listening to? If you're listening to gossip and you're feeding your mind with a lot of pop the balloon bs, I don't know what to tell you. I really don't.
[00:25:08] So listen in to the content. Read the books. Do it during your commute, your workout, your lunch break. These are learning opportunities. Stop swiping in on your freaking social medias all day. Like delete that off your phone, swap your music for podcast, swap reality TV for a master class. Of course, I'm not saying, like, never relax or have a good time, right? But what I am saying is that you got to get focused. You have to shut off the noise, shut off the distractions, and get real intentional if you really want to make a change. Because if you already had the skill, the knowledge, and the know how to do it, it would have already gotten done.
[00:25:49] It would have already gotten done. Which actually brings me to my last point, which is drop the ego.
[00:25:57] There is nothing worse than a big ego and a small bank account.
[00:26:02] And I have seen this time and time again, people that are too proud to ask for help, too proud to take a course, too proud to admit when they don't know something.
[00:26:14] The most successful business owners that I know, they are the most coachable people in the room. They listen attentively, they take notes, they ask questions, and they take risks.
[00:26:29] So humble yourself, because there's always someone who knows something that you don't. And the funny thing is, when you realize that you really don't know anything, it's quite humbling. Like, when I think about all the things that I think I know are just things that I think I know, right? Like, you really realize you really don't know anything. Everything is just what you think you know.
[00:26:54] So listen, humble yourself, tune in. Because you'll be amazed at how little tidbits and little information that you probably would have missed can change your life. So always be a student. Always be a student in life. All right, so I'm gonna leave y' all with this before we let. Before I let you go today, I just want to leave you with something to carry.
[00:27:19] I listened to. Well, I have listened to a very reputable speaker named Jim Rohn for several years.
[00:27:26] He is one of the greatest personal development teachers who have ever lived. And I remember going to one of his events and him saying, if you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan.
[00:27:45] And guess what they have planned for you?
[00:27:48] Not much.
[00:27:50] And I was like, wow, that's true.
[00:27:53] Because life is.
[00:27:56] Is a gift.
[00:27:57] And you want to plan out your life because it's yours to live in, nobody else's. You're not meant to spend the best years of your life building someone else's dream. You have gifts, you have ideas, and you have value.
[00:28:11] And it's time that you built a vehicle that's worthy of delivering all of that, all of it, so you can build a business that can deliver freedom, it can deliver happiness, it can deliver joy, it could deliver so much just because you've taken that leap. So making the switch, it isn't just about making a financial decision. It's about making a statement. It's you saying, I believe in myself enough to bet on me.
[00:28:41] So if nobody's even told you today, you can do this, the path is not always easy, but it's absolutely worth it.
[00:28:49] So if today's episode lit something up in you and you're ready to take the first step, whether that's getting your business structure, building your business credit, or getting access to funding that actually puts you on payroll and grows your wealth, then my team is Smart Credit. We're. We're ready and we're happy and willing to help you out. You can head over to smartcreditcoach.com and get matched with a Smart Credit certified consultant, and we can help you with getting funding structured and paid in the next few months. So I just want to say thank you for joining me. And until next time, keep building, keep growing, and don't you dare stop your grind. Don't stop what you're doing, don't stop your dream, and just keep growing, y'. All. So I'm Geri, and this has been the Smart Credit Experience podcast. See you next time.
