Ep 057: From Passion to Business with Shannon Williams

Ever wonder what success actually means?

How do you get it?

And how do you keep it?

We all want it yet sometimes it feels only some of us get to have it.

Hi, Teresa and Blair here we are to badass entrepreneurs, best selling authors, coaches and business mentors, who have had success, felt success, questioned our own success and reclaimed it. Let's be real for a hot minute. 2020 has been a roller coaster ride, and many of us to start to wonder if they'll lose the things that made them successful. So we got curious, Ron real about what success is truly about?

Can you put it in a box?

How can you get it?

Can people take it away? Or are you the one with the power?

Does it mean the same to all of us? Or are we the ones that create it?

From PGA golf pros to doctors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and spiritual mentors, we get together to meet with successful people from around the globe to dissect success for vibrant conversations and interviews. Make sure you click the subscribe button on the app store because each week we will drop a new episode to bust through the myths around success and dissect its true meaning. Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of dissecting success. We are wildly off to an incredible start here in January 2022. Can you believe it will almost for January already. But that doesn't stop us from having another incredible guest with us. And today I'm so excited to introduce you to Shannon Williams, who is also part of my incredible networking team and I get to hang out with Shannon, every single week. But I'm so excited to introduce her to you. Shannon Williams is a tax and bookkeeping professional with over 22 years of experience. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, and she helps her clients all over the US with their taxes and bookkeeping so they can save on taxes. This is so so important. I can't even like stress this enough. I love that Shannon does that with our company free 60 Integrity, taxes and services. Shannon also helps six figure businesses leverage and scale while using other people's money. Hello, I am so excited to chat with Shannon Shannon, welcome to the pod.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, my God, you're so so welcome. I'm really excited for this conversation and see where this takes us. So tell us, what does success mean to you? Let's start there.

Okay, well, we're thinking about this. what success means to me is that knowing that you are living in your true purpose, your God given purpose and living your truth. Living what you know, in your heart makes you most happy. What you feel like is the gift that you have to give to the world. When you can truly say that and you are 100% confident in that. I think that's what being success being successful is that's what success is to me.

Do you think, Shannon, that that definition is something that came to you and you've lived it or it's evolved?

It has definitely evolved because I haven't always been there. When I initially started in my business, I've been doing taxes for the last 22 years. But about seven years ago, I lost my job that I had been at for three and a half years. And I just felt it was my purpose to truly go into being an entrepreneur full term full time because that's what I had to offer. I was at a job that I was miserable at. And I just didn't feel like I had any truth to offer the world. And so when I decided to, you know, go into this and do it full time, it was what I'd love to do. You know, people say your passion is what you would do without making any money. And that's what doing taxes and helping people get their finances in their numbers in order means to me, I could do this all day long in love every bit of it. So, you know, it's definitely evolved. I haven't always been exactly where I wanted to be or, you know, felt like I was successful at all times. But once I got that more in my heart that I needed to get my message out to the world. That's when it truly started to mean something.

You've been in the tax world for over 22 years have you always been into numbers like as a kid in school? Did you love math class like was numbers always a thing for you? Like how did you land in the world of bookkeeping?

So in typical math, no, because it's it's such a different type of world. But in my senior year of high school, I had to take an elective, and I took an accounting course. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so cool. I just, it just rang true to me. I loved it, I was so passionate about it. I couldn't wait to get to that class every day and see what I could learn. And that's when I really started to learn that this is what you know, my passion was, but I didn't know it. At the time. I didn't even know what accounting was or that that was a career. Because I graduate from high school, join the military, I became a dental tech. And then for so many years, I did it administrative type work. So it wasn't until I had my third child, I have been working in a tax office just kind of learning. But that year, I had him in February, and tax season starts in January. And so when I started to, I said, You know what, I'm just going to help friends and family and that's when it truly took off for me. Knowing that I could do this, I can have a baby at home. But I could still do this and help people and so that's when it truly started for me in 2004

I love this so much Shannon and I really like like feel I feel oh doggies in the background. We don't mind. I love it. Who are we? Who are we talking to you now? You're gonna have to let us know your puppy's name. What's your puppy's name?

His name is Royal. And when anybody comes to the door, he's got to say hello. So royal

had to say hello. Well, hello Royal. Welcome to the dissection success podcast. This is what happens. You know, this is like a real live podcast, we are recording this. We're real people having a conversation. So dogs and child's and, and things like everybody's welcome, essentially, isn't it feel like we've done that like a few times,

whoever shows up is welcome to join the conversation.

But without losing, like the train of thought, yeah, you know, but I what I love about what you said, Shannon, and the passion that I feel from you about doing taxes and bookkeeping, which is such a headache. For so many people. I just think that's brilliant. And I always, you know, admire this with everyone, it's really owning that, you know, there are so many like, fashionable entrepreneur professions out there. You know, and people sometimes feel like they need to be doing something that's trendy or fashionable in their careers even right, and, you know, it's kind of like choosing to become a lawyer, doctor, because the you know, that's what you do, right? Like growing up, like with these like old paradigms, but to really be able to say, Hey, I love numbers. I love bookkeeping, and I love taxes and helping other people with that is my passion. You know, I think that's amazing. And I always say, when you when you do things in your own business, where it's really the passion, like it's what you live in prieve. And if there was things in your business that you don't enjoy doing, and you give them to people that live and prove it and love it, it always creates a more magical outcome. You know, like, it always creates a more magical outcome. And so I think that is brilliant. And I love that it wasn't like this linear path for you to finding that neither.

Right, right. Yes, it's truly it's truly in my heart. Actually. It was 19. Well, I'm doing really dating myself, I think it was like 1999. And there was a sign outside of a tax office. And it said, called learn how to do taxes. And my husband now of 19 years going on 20 years, said to me at the time, he was he was just my boyfriend, and he said, You know, I really think you would be good at that. You should go check that out. And I'm like, really. And I went and I checked it. And that was it. I fell in love. And I had never left. And it just was and he saw that in me. So that's what makes it really cool. Was he saw that I think he would be interested in this. And boy, was he right? So

that's so good. Oh my gosh, you know, nowadays, like, I mean, it's totally normal for anyone to try different careers out. And I love that you've had this passion you discovered it, you know, in high school and then you know, it's reignited and now it's been you've been doing this for over two decades. You know, you're known to help six figure businesses leverage and scale while using other people's money. Should we dive into that for a bit? I'd love to know some tips. Help me Help me do that.

Yes, so what I do. So the other portion of my business is 360 global business and I do that portion with my husband. And what we do is we help six figure businesses be able to do do exactly that leverage and scale with that while using other people's money, who doesn't want to grow their business and not have to use their own money, because that's what so many people do in business is they work, they get a profit, and then they use it to invest, which is great, that's amazing. But if you want to grow quickly, or you want to scale higher, it's difficult to do it that way. So what we do is we help you be able to restore your personal credit to make sure that it's optimal. build business credit, that's the portion that my husband does. And then I help get their businesses financials and taxes together so that they when they walk into a bank, or they go to a lender, they're able to be able to get the funding that they need without having to leave and somebody tell them, Okay, well, now you got to go get your credit, right? Now you have to go find an accountant and do this. Now you've got to get, you know, this fixed on your taxes. So instead of having them run all over the place, and get all these little things done, because so many businesses, what they do is they just say, forget it. I'm too busy, I don't have time, I need to just do my business. Yeah, I need money. But this is just too much of a headache. So forget it, I'm out. So what we tried to do is take that headache away, and we try to prepare them well, we do prepare them in every aspect so that when they go in, and they get that funding, they're prepared. And for some reason, if there's something that's missing, we help them get that together. So they don't have to go run around trying to get the rest of those pieces together. So me being a business, as long as I have I did not know until the last couple years that I actually qualified for business credit. I'm like, what is that? What does that even mean? But that means that I can build my business with my EIN, and my, instead of my social security number and in my business name instead of my personal name, and that I can take all of my personal out of it, it's just business. And there's so many people that don't know that they can do that. But that's what we do to be able to help those businesses go stronger. And one really easy way that I like to explain this that makes sense to people is mostly everybody knows what Shark Tank is. So a business, they go on Shark Tank, they pitch their business to the sharks, and they say, sure you have a great idea, I would love to invest in you. Well, the difference between what we do is we don't take a portion of your company, we help you get the money to be able to grow and leverage to wherever you want to, without having to lose any portion of your business. And so that's a little bit of what we do to kind of, hopefully explain that in detail.

So fun. You know, I think to that, I mean, I can like, geek out on finances a little bit like every now and then I know you and I have these conversations a lot about the importance of finances. And when you share stories that people Vidya sort of, you know, not really like paying attention to it or anything, like I'm always like, what, what, and maybe it's because I've built an eight figure business, and I've been in a large organization, and so finance was such a huge component of it, and, you know, but also have experienced a difficulty of actually getting funding, even when you put, you know, pull in a substantial amount of of revenue and have a lot in place. So having people that a biocide that can really help you and not can, you know, help you also build that credit. I think that's so important, right? Like something what you said, right? Like, it's about having your finances in order, getting your books in order, being able to get ready to actually, you know, pitch and apply to get funding from either private lenders or from banks. But at the same time, too, it's really starting to put yourself on that path where you can do that by actually getting a credit like getting a credit school with your business, which is, you know, interesting. And that there is that difference. So, yeah, I mean, I can see how people are just like, Oh, my God, this is just so much right? Like, why am I doing this, but totally if you can, you know, leverage funding with other people's money and really start to see that that's how you can build wealth, and grow your business faster. I think that's so so important. And I mean, your clients must be like, over the moon once they start actually getting getting funding.

Oh, yes. Once they feel like my scores where I want it to be, I can, you know, if you're, if your score is to the place where you can just go out and do what you want to do. It makes a person over the moon like, they just feel like they have all the leverage in the world. Whether it's your personal personal credit or your business credit, you walk into a dealership and you're like, I know I can get the price that I want. And I can get all the amenities because I know my scores where it is, that person walks in like they're already on cloud nine, because they already know that no one's gonna barter with them. No one's gonna try to talk them down. No one's gonna you know, Hegel, a couple 100 bucks. because their scores where it needs to be, and they're the one that's in control. That's what's pretty amazing.

So what tips do you have for me, like maybe let's talk about maybe 123 tips on what can I do today to get control of my credit score?

Okay, so the number one thing that you should do is first know where you stand. So you should have a credit monitoring service where you can take a look and see what your credit score is. Some people, they just are scared of that score, and so they don't even look at it. So, you know, you might be in a better place than what you realize. So that's the first thing is that you should have a credit monitoring service so that you can take a look what your score is. And then for any credit cards that you have, you want to keep your utilization below 30%. So not only do you want to pay your credit cards on time, but you want to make sure that you're not using them in between the time that you pay them in the grace period, because that's where some people make a mistake, they may pay their credit card, but then you have a seven day grace period, and you use it a day six, well, that just messed up your score right there and put your utilization back up. So you want to pay attention to that you want to make sure that you have that information down, it's better to have utilization under 10. But 30 will really help with your score. And then you want to know when is the best leverage to pay your say, say you have a card that has a balance on it, there's the credit monitoring service that we refer our clients to, will let you know, if you pay this amount by this date, this is where your score could go. So if you're trying to buy a house, you're trying to buy a car, you're trying to do something where your score needs to be at a certain spot. Well, that will tell you exactly what your score needs to be. And when. And so that's a lot of leverage so that you can be able to have control of what you're trying to do. For us personally, when we were trying to buy our house, that was exactly what we did. I had a service that I knew exactly what my score was. So when the mortgage company pulled it up, I had the I could see the exact same thing that they saw, because there's different scores for homes for cars for different things like that. But the monitoring services can really help you with that and tell you exactly, you know what you are a lot of people don't realize that there's a FICO score, and there's a Vanguard score. So like Credit Karma, and a lot of these other companies, they use a Vanguard score, well, when you go to a place to be able to purchase a vehicle or a home, they use a FICO score. And so your score may be different than what they're actually seeing. So you want to make sure that you're on the same page and that you have all the knowledge. And if you have somebody that you're working with, they'll be able to tell you exactly what that looks like. That's what we do. Cordell he works with our clients every month, he tells them what they need to pay when they need to pay it. He knows the goals of what they're trying to reach, so that they can be successful when when they go to, you know, make that final purchase. So I hope that was helpful player that that was able to help out a little bit.

So cool. So know your school? Yes, spend no more than 30% on the credit that's available to you and pay it off. At the ideal time.

Yes, yes.

Which ideal? I would assume is definitely before you start paying interest on it. Definitely, there's obviously but there's obviously a final date, which is really cool. Which I didn't know. But you know, I think this is so you know, one thing that I want to highlight about this, and Shannon, maybe, you know, before we start to wrap up this interview, you can sort of talk a little bit about this, but I feel like for entrepreneurs, but also personally, this is something so important to understand is that you have actually have to use credit to build credit. So some people are like, Oh, I'm really good with money. And I have really good credit because I don't have any loans and credits. But the thing is, you kind of have to use your credit to build credit. So can you talk a little bit about this, because I think people get so hung up with oh, you know, I don't use credit cards, or it's bad to use a loan and all of that. And like that is like a big trigger for people. Like even just a thought of having something hanging on a credit card makes some people are uncomfortable, even if they can pay it off. So can you just talk a little bit about this? Because I feel like that's like a really juicy, juicy topic for so many of us.

Yes, definitely. Well, the biggest thing is that if you're not using credit, people, they don't know who you are. And you know, why would they want to lend to you? Like okay, anybody could walk in the door and say, You know what, I had $10,000 I use all cash, and I pay my bills on time. They're like, great. Well, let's get some proof of that. If you don't have a bank account, that they can see that from in a business bank account of your business. That's huge guys, because so many people, the term commingle your funds, most people know what that means. That means you're using all of your business in your personal account. It's all mixed up a bank is not going to trust you, they're not going to know that they can, you know that you are organized enough to be able to pay back the loan that they're going to give you. And not even if it's a loan, even if it's a cell phone, car insurance, you know, but getting a mortgage or running a home, if you don't have a mortgage, buying a car, whatever it is, they want to know that you're going to pay them. But if you don't have any proof of what you've done in the past, then you're considered high risk. So you want to have a credit card that you pay on time, you want to have bills that show up on your credit report, so that they can see that they can trust you. And that they know that you're going to pay that back, they want to see what that history is, there's even times where a business may get a business loan, and they want you to also take a look at your personal credit, because they want to know, okay, your business may look may look in shape. But they also want to see that on your personal side, if you can pay your bills on your personal side, then they're going to trust you a lot more to be able to pay your bills on the business side of things. So it's really, really important, just to be able to have that leverage out there, like I was talking about earlier. So that they can know that you are worthy candidate, that is the biggest thing.

So valuable. Shannon, thank you so much for sharing that I'm going to let Blair hop in in a second. But just something that I wanted to add here, like a personal note is that, you know, I remember when I started my coaching business almost five years ago now and I went and one of the first things I did was to open a business bank account, and it was like just a sole proprietorship at the time not incorporated yet. But I was like, I'm gonna do it. And I remember having a conversation with a financial advisor at the bank and the bank that I bank with, and he was like, Oh, do you need a credit card? Do you need credit? Alone? Anything? And I'm like, sure. Like, I was like, Sure. at it. And he's like, Yeah, okay, I'll, I'll put it all in. And so he, you know, filed the application and, and I had a very substantial income at the time, I have a mortgage with the bank, like, I have a very good credit score I've always had, because I knew about building my credit score at the time. But so what happened was, I got a substantial amount of business credit on a credit card and a operating loan, which was amazing. And as it's, as my business has evolved, and I incorporated that got moved over to my new bank accounts, they acknowledged that credit. So even though I didn't have, you know, financial statements and proof of revenue to show in what's coming in, I actually was able to leverage that credit. And it's been tremendously helpful the last two years as I was growing my business. And so I really understand because once you're in it, and one's money's going in and out, the bank will have a different perspective, too. Right. So building that is so key. But anyways, that just that's a thought that came up when you were sharing that and yeah, I'll pass it on to Blair.

Well, that's great, though. That's really good. Because that's, I mean, that's great advice for people just to see from the beginning, just do it right, because it will help you. Yeah, and I'm the opposite.

I didn't always do it, right.

So it's interesting. That's okay, too. I didn't either. So and then when it comes to

surfing and change, yeah. And it's interesting. Like, I think this is a whole nother conversation. But like, if you're an entrepreneur, you want to buy a house. Right? That's very different than if you have a career and a salary and you want to buy a house. You know what I've gone through, I've gone I just went through that. And it's interesting, that process, but there's a lot of information out there and you are a wealth of it. So how can people Shannen get in touch with you? How can people learn more about you?

Well, I have been working on putting myself a little bit more out on social media. I've always been in the background behind the scenes, but with great friends and being part of this, the networking that I'm doing, and also my husband, they've pushed me out. And so my information has been out there a little bit more. So I have a lot of information on Facebook. So that part's pretty easy. And I'm eating my way into LinkedIn. And so that more people can get to know me because I know I have a wealth of knowledge. So thank you for saying that. I have so much to be able to offer. And I know that if clients come my way I'll be able to help them. So this is a great opportunity for me to be able to share with you guys because these are the type of things that I'm trying to push myself out there to do more. So I definitely appreciate you guys having me on here so that I could share this information so so Yeah,

amazing. Amazing. So let's wrap it up with your one piece of advice that you want to give to people who are on their path

to success. Okay, what I would say is, um, you know, there's a lot of ideas out there you may have Something inside of you in a business that you want to start. But what I have found to be most important as I have evolved is to find the truth that's inside of you and what you have to offer. We've all been given a gift. And we need to be able to share whatever that gift is and what our true purpose is. So reach inside of you, and whatever gets you excited. Whatever makes you happy, whatever problem you feel like you can solve, that I is what I feel like your true gift is what you have to offer the world. And if you can turn that into a business that's even better, because that you're truly going to touch people, because that's truly what you're passionate about. So look deep inside, find out, you know what you have to offer and share it with the world.

Yes, turn your gift and your passion into a business. How can you empower the world? wise, wise words, Shannon, I love it. And that's what I've done. And that's what Teresa's done. So I support your tips. I love it. Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. Well, I appreciate you. Teresa appreciates you our listeners appreciate you. Thank you so much for being a guest with us today on dissecting success and thank you to our listeners for diving in and dissecting success with myself, Teresa and Shannon. Until next time, peace.

That's a wrap for another episode of dissecting success. enjoyed this episode. Make sure to subscribe to black one Venables and Theresa Lambert's podcast dissecting success on the App Store.