Gary Heldt's Secrets to Business Growth and Financial Success

Wayne Zell interviews Gary Heldt about his career and founding Small Business Advisors. They discuss client relationships, technology, tax planning, community involvement, financial strategy challenges, embracing discomfort, taking calculated risks, building the right team, and choosing a business coach. Gary shares contact info, mentions his podcast, and offers closing remarks and thanks.

Key Points

• Building a strong financial team with experts like a corporate attorney, CPA, financial advisor, business coach, and insurance broker is crucial for business growth and wealth management.

• Listening to clients and understanding their unique needs is essential for providing tailored financial strategies that drive long-term success and client retention.

• Effective tax planning and strategic financial decisions, such as entity restructuring and cost segregation studies, can significantly reduce tax liabilities and enhance business profitability.

Timestamps

0:10 Introduction and sponsor mention

0:43 Guest introduction and career journey

4:45 Building Small Business Advisors and client relationships

8:11 Services and technology in Small Business Advisors

11:29 Tax planning and community involvement

21:40 Financial strategy challenges and advice for entrepreneurs

26:49 Embracing discomfort and calculated risks

27:44 The right team and choosing a business coach

28:46 Contact information and Gary Heldt's podcast

29:43 Closing remarks and appreciation

Quotes

"Become comfortable being uncomfortable."

- Gary Heldt

"Taking risk means you've thought about it."

- Gary Heldt

"It's gotta be somebody that's gonna push you and make you very uncomfortable, make you answer the questions that you really don't wanna answer."

- Gary Heldt

Transcript

Wayne Zell: Hi. This is Wayne Szell, and welcome to Blueprint for Wealth, your fast paced video blog, videocast that's designed to help you realize your personal dreams of wealth and freedom. It's brought to you by Zelle Law, a law firm located in Reston, Virginia and serving clients all across The United States. If you'd like to know more about us, visit us on the web at zelllaw.com. Today, I'd like to welcome my special guest, Gary Held, who's a CPA, he's an entrepreneur, and he's a financial expert located in Gambrells, Maryland.

Welcome, Gary. Welcome to the show.

Gary Heldt: Thanks, Wayne. I appreciate, you having me on.

Wayne Zell: Absolutely. He's the owner of Small Business Advisors, and his firm influences Maryland, Virginia, and DC, clients all over this area. It's a big area, and we we cover a lot of different businesses. He's got over thirty years of experience, and he authored a book called The Right Team, The Right Plan, a winning approach to growing your business and your wealth, and hosts the Grow Your Business and Grow Your Wealth podcast. First of all, Gary, show us your book because I I think it's, it's kinda cool.

It's cool to write books. I like writing books. Yeah. And you've got number one bestseller status. Tell us about the book real quick.

Gary Heldt: Yeah. So, so what I talk about in the book is, you know, making sure that you pick a financial team, and you're picking the right team to help you implement your plan. And what I've done is I I've done some different interviews, and I've taken those interviews and and have them here in the book. And really talk again, talking about you know, make sure you you you let your team of financial experts talk because that's what's really gonna help you get ahead is by letting all of us talk together about that.

Wayne Zell: Who should be on that team?

Gary Heldt: I, you know, I think that, you know, you're you're corporate attorney. You should have your your CPA, you should have your your financial advisor.

Wayne Zell: You

Gary Heldt: know, I like business coaches. I think you should have a business coach on there.

Wayne Zell: Okay.

Gary Heldt: Your insurance broker is another good one to have on there. And, you know, if you have other people that are that are part of your business and and your internal, executive team, they would also be good to be on there.

Wayne Zell: So that's that's good advice and, maybe even your banker. Who knows?

Gary Heldt: Correct.

Wayne Zell: Some bankers shouldn't be included. Just kidding. Nineteen ninety nine, you started your firm. What who inspired you to to start the firm? What what was your, your background before that?

Gary Heldt: Sure. Going way back, when I first when I was when I was young, I I honestly I I wanted to be an FBI agent, and that's what really got me into the accounting side of things. When I was in high school, one of my football coaches had me take a bookkeeping class that he that he taught. And, I mean, to me, it was like the tricks. I just I saw it, and it just it makes sense to me.

Okay. So because of that, that's the route that that that I took, getting my accounting degree and thought, okay. Hey. I'm I'm going to graduate college. I'll go apply to get an FBI and and and, you know, go out there and catch all the bad guys.

Well, when when I graduated college in in, you know, 1990, the, FBI was on a hiring freeze because they had some, hiring practice problems, at the time. So they they kinda had the hiring freeze on. So at that point, I'm like, well, I need to start my career, work for us very, very small accounting firm, and then work for, a mechanical contractor for a couple years, and then started working for nonprofits and then some for profits. And they got to the point where it was like, okay. I'm helping a lot of people make a lot of money, and I'm not benefiting.

Because, again, it was always the salespeople and people like that that were getting, you know, the big fat bonuses and stuff. And I was the one putting in all the long hours and everything else. So I said, hey. It's it's time time to go out and and and start my own, you know, my own firm.

Wayne Zell: So it's been about twenty five years since you started it. How's it gone?

Gary Heldt: You know, the it's it's interesting when you say you're gonna start. Everybody tells you, oh, I got all these people for you. And then you go out there and you start and, you know, it's kinda crickets. You know, so it it's take it's taken a while to to develop and, my god, I've learned so much, over time and and really, you know, looking at my my team of people that I put together and have just seen the evolution of that because it's changed for me because, you know, I outgrew some of the people. Some of the people decided to to take their careers in a different, direction.

So so it has really changed. And then also, you know, just business in itself, you know, has changed. So, it's it's been a a a it's definitely been a journey, a a great learning experience, and I like the flexibility that it's given me to be able to do some other things, you know, outside of just, you know, the business and and and personal life. So,

Wayne Zell: so You've you've managed to grow small business advisors significantly since you bought it.

Gary Heldt: Yeah.

Wayne Zell: And you have a high client retention rate. Share your approach on building long lasting client relationships and what strategies you believe are the most effective in keeping clients

Gary Heldt: to yourself? Sure. I I think something that that's very important that that, a lot of, you know, CPAs don't get is that we need to live and really listen to what the client is saying that they want and what they need. So many times, we're the CPAs are very quick to just answer the question. Okay.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Out the door. It's like, woah.

It's not a a wash, rinse, and repeat thing. Everybody's situation is different. And it's funny how lots of times CPAs say, okay. Everybody's situation's different, but then they treat everybody the same. I I feel that, you know, you really need to sit and listen to the client, listen to what they are, what they want to accomplish.

Because to me, depending on what they wanna accomplish tells me, you know, how their business should be set up, what type of retirement plan they should have, what kind of benefits should be involved, what type of assets should they be purchasing. So it it it really helps me put together a picture for them to be able to, you know, use what they're saying to help them. Because to me, I wanna help them grow. I wanna see them succeed, because to me, that's something that that's important. Even if it were to be that, hey.

Look. They outgrow me and their service because they need so much more time, and it wouldn't be cost effective for me to to continue doing everything for them. Yes. I continue helping them with the big picture, but but not the necessarily the day to day side of things. So, like I said, I I just think it's important to to listen.

Wayne Zell: That's good advice. Tell me, what services is small business providing small business advisors providing to its clients? Sure.

Gary Heldt: So, you know, we do personal taxes. We do business taxes. We do some small, trust states, on and a few nonprofits. We do, bookkeeping. We'll process payroll for the smaller clients.

We do a lot of tax planning. I think that that's an area that, a lot of people, CPAs say that they do, but they truly don't because they're not putting together a comprehensive plan. They're giving them that that advice at the end of the year. Hey. Go buy a vehicle every £6,000 so you can go write it all off.

And, you know, so we're doing that that more that tax plan. We do bookkeeping, for people and help them, manage that that side. I we we do provide some, I'm gonna say external CFO, you know, services for clients. And and we sit on a couple different boards, you know, for some of our clients also.

Wayne Zell: That's a really wide range of services. So how do you keep on top of all the different things that you're doing, not only in managing all the the client issues, but keeping up to date on the latest and greatest developments?

Gary Heldt: Yeah. So one thing I do is we have, a monthly tax update, you know, that that that we look at, and we make sure that we understand, and then we bring that to the team. And you know, we also, we have a quarterly meeting, you know, with a group of CPAs around the area to talk about latest strategies and developments. And we're constantly on, you know, listening to different podcast, you know, and and reading different articles and things like that to keep on top of things. And I also make sure that I'm out talking to people, like you, Wayne, and and really keeping my ear to the ground as to what's what's happening in the business world.

Wayne Zell: That's smart. And you're a member, I believe, of an organization or maybe a couple that that help you stay on top of all the latest developments.

Gary Heldt: Yeah. So we're a member of the National Association of CPAs. We're also a member of the Small Business Advisors Network. And we're also part of the Maryland Association of CPAs as well. So we have, a lot of great resources through those organizations that that we can tap into and and really help, you know, be on top of things.

Wayne Zell: Awesome. We got got a couple of things going with that.

Wayne Zell: Sounds great. I'm gonna switch gears a little bit, talk about financial strategy and and some of the challenges that your clients and other businesses are facing today. What what are some of the common challenges that you see businesses facing in developing their financial strategies today, and how do we overcome them?

Gary Heldt: Yeah. I I think one of the things that that happened with with COVID and coming out of COVID, money was so cheap. And, you know, you could borrow money. You'd you know, people, you know, were were doing a lot of leveraging and things like that because because money was so cheap. And then now, you know, obviously, rates rates have been been creeping up.

And I think some people overextended themselves, and then now it's kinda come back. So really trying to work with the with the clients on their cash flow and trying to get, you know, debt paid down and stuff like that so they're not, spending spending too much on it. But Was

Wayne Zell: it mostly variable debt where the interest rate was increasing? So now we're over way over five, six, seven percent depending on what kind of debt you've got, and that's really expensive.

Gary Heldt: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Some of some of the people we were lucky because we saw that rates were starting to creep back up, and that they ended up refinancing and got a fixed rate in terms. So they're so they're getting it, you know, getting things paid off.

I did see a lot of people, get the the SBA EIDL loans. And some people thought, oh, well, you know, they're gonna forgive this just like they forgot forgiven everything else. Well, they haven't. Interest rates are really low. So you so, you know, you can't you can't complain too much.

Right. But we're finding that that that some of them are looking at, okay, trying to pay this back, you know, is is significant. And and we're trying to some of it, we're trying to get them to pay off you know, pay make extra payments on it to try to get it down because, obviously, in those first few years, the the interest is high. One of the things I do have to say is anybody who has, you know, the the the idle loans with SBA is because they they aren't really sending out statements saying, hey. This is how much interest you paid us.

So you need to be proactive with your amortization schedule, but you can also reach out to them and ask them for what it is. So just make sure you document it because Can you prepay it? You can prepay it. You know?

Wayne Zell: Without penalty.

Gary Heldt: Without correct.

Wayne Zell: That's important to know.

Gary Heldt: Yeah. So so with with some of the because I've I've had clients, that that I've picked up, you know, in the past six months that when I looked at the their tax return, their corporate tax return, their interest from their, from their loan wasn't on there because they never received anything, never gave it to the CPA. CPA never asked about it.

Wayne Zell: Right.

Gary Heldt: So that that's one of the one of the areas. The other thing is is really looking at the money that you're spending. And the money I'm spending, is it earning any income for me? So when I people are buying assets, is that asset earning income for me? Because so many people, like I said, hey.

Buy that car at the end of the year. It's like, well, what are you gonna do with that car? You already got three. You can't drive all three. What good does it do you?

So it's not let's just not spend money to spend money because you got debt to pay down. We can put money in retirement. There there's a bunch of different things that we can do to reduce the tax bill without just sinking money into an asset that isn't gonna do anything for you.

Wayne Zell: Or that's depreciating. Yeah. Yeah. That's good advice. Looking at

Gary Heldt: tax planning. Planning is something, and that's the big thing I harp on is planning, planning, planning. Because if you plan and things happen, COVID happens or anything else, you lose your key salesperson, whatever it is. If I've done a plan and put it together, I'm able I know where I can change things just like a budget. If you have a budget and, you know, you lose a division or you lose something, I'm easily able to plug in and make the switches or suddenly the the business booms.

I know what I need to do to to to duplicate things.

Wayne Zell: Exactly. Last question for you today. We're talking with Gary Helt, who is the owner, founder, proprietor of, small business advisors in Gambrells, Maryland. And, you know, Gary, you're an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur.

What advice would you give a young aspiring entrepreneur today?

Gary Heldt: Don't be afraid to go out. I mean, step out step outside your comfort. You know, and and I forget who said it. May have been Tony Robbins said it. He said, you know, become comfortable being uncomfortable.

Because if you're uncomfortable, that means you're pushing yourself. Be comfortable doing that because if you're uncomfortable, then then you're starting to challenge yourself, and that's the way to to to get better and and to go out there. Don't be afraid. You know, there there's a difference between, you know, being risky and taking risk. Being risky to me is just throwing hell to the wind and going and not not having a plan, not knowing, you know, where where the safety spots are and stuff like that.

Taking risk means you've thought about it. And I don't want you to to to paralyze yourself by overthinking, but you've thought about it. You put together your plan, and and you're ready to execute it. And you have those stop gaps. You have your team that we talk about, you know, making sure that

Wayne Zell: we've that book again one more time. Where can we get this book, sir?

Gary Heldt: It's the right team. You have it. It's on Amazon. Okay. You know, that that you're able to get in.

I think it's just one of those things. Have the right team. Have the right people helping you. Lots of times, you know, pick that that good business coach. I'm gonna tell you one of the best piece of information somebody gave me years ago was when you pick somebody to be your business coach, or that person that holds you accountable from your business stuff, you know, lots of times people have board of directors to do that Yep.

Is it can't be your mom, it can't be your dad, it can't be your brother, your sister, or your best friend. It's gotta be somebody that's gonna push you and make you very uncomfortable, make you answer the questions that you really don't wanna answer. And that's probably one of the best pieces of advice that that I was given before I went into business.

Wayne Zell: So don't be afraid to take risks, get a good team around you, and get a good business coach to help you achieve your goals and objectives. Gary, if people wanna get in touch with you, how do they how do they find you?

Gary Heldt: Sure. You can you can find us on the web, www.sbadvisers.cc, Charlie Charlie, or you can give us a call here at the office, (410) 721-6000, option number 2. You can also, you know, catch our podcast on, on YouTube. And What's the podcast called? It's called, Grow Your Business, Grow Your Wealth.

And and I think it's got a lot of professionals, good professionals, just like you, Wayne, on on on this show, and and really help educate business owners and and different strategies.

Wayne Zell: Excellent. Thank you for being a special guest on Blueprint for Wealth today. I really appreciate you.

Gary Heldt: I really appreciate, you letting me be on here, Wayne. Thank you.

Wayne Zell: Absolutely. And stay tuned for another special guest on Blueprint for Wealth. Thanks for listening.