IAM610- Founder Empowers Business Owners on Financial Health

Natalia began her career in finance in 2012 and worked for several firms before striking out on her own to found Zacharin Consulting. Zacharin Consulting is dedicated to empowering business owners to understand and interpret their financial health to significantly improve the bottom line. Through personal service and expertise, Natalia's goal is to bring her experience and knowledge to clients in a meaningful way.

Whether you have been in business for 1 year or 50, Zacharin Consulting can improve your cash flow, increase cash on hand, and develop plans for growth. Not your typical CFO, Natalia is also the executive director of a non-profit children's scouting organization, a lecturer on ecology, and a nature photographer. A single mom and sole provider, Natalia understands the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and helps other business owners navigate the sometimes murky waters to clarity and entrepreneurial financial freedom.

• CEO Hack: Know your numbers, understand what's going on
• CEO Nugget: There are so many opportunities, learning should never stop, collaborate with people
• CEO Defined: Creating something out of nothing, having a vision, and integrity, and creating a lifestyle for you and your family

Website: http://zacharinconsulting.com/

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/growyourbottomline
Instagram: http://instagram.com/growyourbottomline
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zacharinconsulting

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Natalia Zacharin, Zacharin Consulting. Natalia.

It's awesome to have you on the show.

Natalia Zacharin 0:39

Thank you so much. It's awesome to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

Yeah, super excited to have you on, and before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Natalia so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Natalia began her career in finance in 2012 and worked for several firms before striking out on her own to found Zacharin Consulting. Zacharin Consulting is dedicated to empowering business owners to understand and interpret their financial health to significantly improve the bottom line. Through personal service and expertise. Natalia his goal is to bring her experience and knowledge to clients in a meaningful way.

Whether you have been in business for one year or 50, Zacharin Consulting can improve your cash flow, increase cash on hand, and develop plans for growth. Not your typical CFO Natalia is the executive director of a nonprofit children's scouting organization, and lecturer on ecology and a net a nature photographer, a single mom, and a sole provider. It's how you understand the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and help other business owners navigate the sometimes murky waters to clarify, an entrepreneur or financial entrepreneurial freedom. So Natalia, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Natalia Zacharin 1:45

I am I am very excited to do so.

Gresham Harkless 1:48

Definitely, it would definitely be a great episode. So I wanted to kick everything off with I guess what I can say I usually call kind of like the beginning. I wanted to hear what led you to get started with your business. So, what is your CEO story?

Natalia Zacharin 1:59

So my CEO story is, I think it was just kind of happening all along. I used to a long time ago before I was staying home for a while before that I was in sales. So I was on my own a lot and had a home office. And I really loved it. And I was killing it. I was a stay-at-home mom for a little while. And then when I was going through a divorce, and I had to look for another job, it was actually pretty hard to find a job it was the economy changed dramatically. And I fell into finance.

And I loved it, it was really great. For a long time, until I was getting very comfortable being there, I certainly got frustrated, because I wanted to do a lot more I wanted to just kill it for somebody. And I just felt like I was consistently being pigeonholed. And I wanted to learn a lot more and do a lot more and help people I really enjoy helping people. And the other part of it is that also being a single mom, I wanted to provide a lifestyle that was flexible and was great for my daughter as well. So this allows me to provide for her and also be here for her at the same time. And that was really super important.

Gresham Harkless 3:11

Absolutely, no, I definitely appreciate that. And you know, I think you've kind of talked about and I read in your bio, being able to kind of balance all of those different things. I think sometimes when we're running the business, we forget about that human aspect. And whether it being a son or having a son or a daughter, and you know, sometimes even, taking care of our parents as well, too. There's a lot that we have to manage. And sometimes we try to kind of silo those things, but they're all kind of a part of us in our business and what it is that we do.

Natalia Zacharin 3:40

Yes, that's the whole point of being in business or working is to have a life. And so we all have to understand that we want to we're building a life for ourselves and a lifestyle. So it's very important to have that included in your dream of what you're going to do.

Gresham Harkless 3:53

Yeah, a lot of times people will say not work-life balance or work-life integration so that you understand that they're both aspects. You're not trying to get away from one or the other. They're both kind of hand in hand in lockstep. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about your business. Can you take us through exactly how you work with clients and what exactly you do?

Natalia Zacharin 4:13

Of course. So before I started, on my business, I actually am going we talked about this earlier, I did some market research, and what I did was I reached out to people on LinkedIn and said, Hey, I'm looking to start my own business. If you have a little bit of time, would you mind answering some questions for me and doing a little informational interview? I had a really great response from people. And I got to I had an entire list of questions. And I really got to know what was going on with entrepreneurs and their businesses and what was lacking. And that was extremely helpful. Also, being an entrepreneur myself, I understand a lot of the things that you need to know and the pieces that you need to put together.

So I put together my offering, according to what I heard, were the biggest restraint shins and the biggest areas of lack for business owners. And that includes everything. Well, mostly mainly, what I do is I do monthly stuff, I call it strategic accounting because I don't just do bookkeeping. And I don't just do financial reporting, although that's what I do. But I go a step beyond that. And I really want the entrepreneur want the business owner to understand where their business is, and where they're headed so that they can tell you their goals and where they want to go. But you can't, you don't know that until you really understand your numbers. And that financial data needs to be correct and accurate for you to do so. So some of the other services that I provide stemmed from that, I also do a lot of cleanup.

And that means when someone's been either doing it themselves or maybe even had a bookkeeper or another accountant doing it for them, it's unfortunate that that happens. And I went in, and I noticed that their books were a mess. So the data, the data isn't really accurate. And it's not giving them the information that they really need. So I go in and I clean everything up, I do set up. Also, if anybody has not been set up on an accounting system, I do set up training on several different platforms. I'm a QuickBooks platinum pro advisor, but I also know Xero and NetSuite, the Cavey core, and several other platforms as well.

And I do outsource CFO work, which is really the financial data and the financial analysis. The last thing that I really enjoy doing is a financial roadmap, which means I go in, do a complete overhaul, and really look at every aspect of the business financially, to see if everything is working so that it could be the most profitable so that the AR and AP, even look at the people and interview the people to make sure they have the best training to see what's lacking. I look at your competitors. And I gave you an entire report on how you can do a lot better in your business. And, and then Oh, and one more thing, I do financial coaching as long a six-week program of financial coaching, for those people who really need a little bit of help and some consulting.

Gresham Harkless 7:14

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. And when we did, you know first connect and talk, I loved how everything was started just because so many times, especially with me, when I sit down with a business owner, especially from like a marketing standpoint, I tried to figure out, you know, what makes you unique, like what's your, what's your, what's your avatar, your avatar, who exactly you're trying to target. And in doing that research, and then beginning and doing that market research, as we kind of talked about before, you get to get an idea of not only what you provide, but sometimes how to communicate it to help solve the problems that the business owners are having.

And I think that when you can kind of do that, and you've been able to do that and provide, you know, different ways that people can get those problems solved. I think it helps out so much as far as you being able to build your business, but also helps out the business owners as far as understanding what they're getting, how it's working, and what exactly the value that you're getting as well.

Natalia Zacharin 8:07

Yes, it's been so helpful. I just got on the call with someone, I don't know anything about them. And as soon as I start with the questions, and they start responding to me, I already see the direction that we're heading and what they really need. And that's been really helpful. And it's helped me to even work with my existing clients. Because the more I get with people, and the more I understand what's going on, and their challenges, the more I can help everybody. So it's been a really great way to do things.

Gresham Harkless 8:34

Yeah, it makes so much sense. And that's one of the reasons I always say we're always doing market research, because as soon as you have a client and then even a day longer than you had the client, you start learning more. And that not only helps you out with that client, but it helps you out with the future five, because you start to see trends and things that people were doing. So you can help solve those problems sometimes even before they arise.

Natalia Zacharin 8:54

Exactly, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 8:56

Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for yourself or your business, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Natalia Zacharin 9:03

I think one of the things that set me apart is truly understanding what the financial reporting and the data are supposed to reflect so that the business that I'm working with is the most profitable. So I think that's probably my real secret sauce is that I don't just leave the entrepreneur I partner with them or a business may not I don't only work with sole proprietors, I work with companies as well with partnerships and all kinds of companies but um, so that's part of it is I create a partnership with my client to make sure that whatever they want to do and wherever they see each other and see themselves in the future, their company, and whatever challenges they have that we are constantly working on those and that we are addressing all of those issues.

The other thing is I really maybe this is from my sales background. I feel that customer service and really being there and responsive to my clients is Uber. And I find that that is not the case in the industry as much. So I find that that is truly my secret sauce. And it's been very helpful. And I make great relationships with my clients. And you know, the client retention basically kept every single client I've ever had, I've only lost one. But that's because he went to go work for someone else, he decided not to continue being a business owner, but everybody else, it's been really helpful.

Gresham Harkless 10:28

I appreciate that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an app or a book or habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Natalia Zacharin 10:41

So definitely, the first thing I would say for any CEO is to know your numbers. If you don't know your numbers, you don't have any idea where your business is going. You have to really understand what the financial data that the financial data of your business is basically the language of your business. And then it's how your business is speaking to you. It can answer so many questions for you, it can tell you if your pricing is correct and if your array of products and services is the correct assortment.

If you have the correct clientele, if you are purchasing something like marketing, for instance, and you're getting a return on your investment, if your expenses are too high, if you can afford to hire someone, most businesses seem to hire people, when they just feel like they're too busy to handle it. And they don't really look to see if they can afford it. And I feel that that, um, that they run into that problem a lot. So knowing the numbers is really important. I also think that it's just really important to read a lot and understand what's going on. And that's actually what's gonna be my nugget is the only way to move on to the next one.

Gresham Harkless 11:49

Awesome. So I know you touched on your nuggets. So I wanted to hear your CEO nugget, could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Natalia Zacharin 11:54

So my CEO nugget, I would say is read, read, learn, there are so many opportunities. So when I was growing up, we didn't have the internet. So aging myself, but we didn't have the internet, we didn't have the opportunities that you have today. Or you have webinars and seminars and podcasts, for instance, and books and you can read, you don't even have to read a book, you can listen to Audible.

You can enter Kindle with you, there are so many opportunities to really learn. And I think the most important thing is you never can know enough. You just need to collaborate with people, talk to people read as much as you possibly can, and learn. So the learning never stops, and it never should stop. And you should always just keep learning and being an expert in your field. Whatever you decide to do is super important to be extremely knowledgeable and leave no stone unturned in the knowledge.

Gresham Harkless 12:46

Yeah, absolutely. Nowadays, there are so many stones that are Unturned there's no excuse for not being able to continue to do that and have that perspective. But even that, you know, I used to say that's kind of hand in hand with being curious if you have that curious mindset. You want to know about something you want to know what somebody or how somebody looks at a different problem or solution and you start to delve deeper than that it gets really exciting. Because of that there's a it's an endless trail of information. And that's one of the most exciting parts of, you know, being an expert at your craft and learning from different perspectives.

Natalia Zacharin 13:17

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 13:19

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote, CEOs on the show. So Natalia, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Natalia Zacharin 13:29

To me, being a CEO means creating something out of nothing, having a vision, creating a lifestyle for yourself and your family, but also having integrity, integrity, honesty, empathy, and kindness. You know, you have to be a badass and fierce. But you also have to have integrity and honesty, and kindness and empathy. And that's what I think of CEO is

Gresham Harkless 14:00

Awesome. I absolutely love that. And whatever. For whatever reason, what came to my mind is my favorite one of my favorite books, at least called The Alchemist. And that's essentially what entrepreneurship is, is where you're able to create something out of nothing, a lot of times you're able to kind of paint that picture. But you're absolutely right, you kind of have to have that, that that badass mentality where you're, you're going to go after your goals, you're going to do whatever it is that you're going to make it happen, but at the same time, balance that with being able to be humble, be able to listen and have that customer service and those things that can help make you successful. So I definitely appreciate kind of like that holistic perspective and definition of what it means to be a CEO.

Natalia Zacharin 14:35

Yes, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 14:37

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. It's how you truly appreciate that and appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of me.

Natalia Zacharin 14:49

Sure. The best way that they can get a hold of me is they email me at Natalia at zacharinconsulting.com I am on Facebook under the Zacharin Consulting Facebook page, I have a website, zacharinconsulting.com as well on Instagram and on LinkedIn as grow your bottom line is my handle. So I'm all over social media, I'm trying to actually do a lot more social media, maybe you can teach me. But I'd love to help anybody that I can or collaborate with, or I love to just meet people and learn about what they're doing. And feel free to reach out to me.

Gresham Harkless 15:31

Awesome, awesome, awesome. We'll definitely have the link information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But definitely appreciate it, you know all the awesome things that you're doing and you're helping out so many entrepreneurs and business owners thank you again for your time today and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 15:45

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE And leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening.

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