Between Wall and Main

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Zoom In Between Wall and Main with Expensify 2016-02-12

This time we looked at Expensify, and we had Matt Donaldson on to show us the product, and give us a little history on the product. I hope you enjoy and learn something.

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This week’s Market Outlook

The Dow closed up over 300 points on Friday, with all indicators seeming to point to the economy heading for a recession. The market has been up and down, but the overall trend seems to be down. 

In Health and Fitness Fitbit has taken a beating since the holidays, and that's to be expected. This could be a good time to buy, as people will begin to think about getting into shape, as we draw closer to the spring. 

Debt An article I saw in the WSJ suggests that more that in the past, people over 50 are carrying debt. The average 65-year-old borrower has 47% more mortgage debt and 29% more auto debt than 65-year-olds had in 2003, after adjusting for inflation, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Friday. Read more here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-fed-finds-large-increase-in-debts-held-by-those-over-age-50-1455289257 

Do you have a plan for getting your debt paid off? I have gotten myself virtually debt free. I say virtually, because I still have the note on my house, but that’s it. The way I did it was simple. I stopped using my credit cards, and made steady monthly payments. Included in that plan was a monthly payment to myself. Then I kept working my you know what off, to keep increasing my income. Eventually I paid off the last of my debt in a big chunk, lump sum payment. It felt so good. 

You won’t get rid of your debt over night, but you can start. The only way this works is you have to have a plan. 

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Avalara and Sales Tax

Get a pen and paper! You’re going to want to take notes on this one!

There are many things you probably don’t realize about sales tax. The truth is, that there are so many rules, and they are frequently changing. Each state has different rules, and if you sell in those states, you may have “nexus” which means you are required to collect and pay sales taxes in that state.

Think just because you are selling out of state, you get out of it? Think again! This is changing, and it may already not be true.

This was a fascinating talk with Jesse Powell of Avalara. 

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Wall Street Outlook - Main Street Looking Back

The world looks grim if you’re reading the news about the financial markets. Some are saying it’s a repeat of 2008, others are saying that our banking system is much more stable than it was then.

The fed increased our rates, as the ECB did theirs. China’s economy seems to be in the toilet.

The good news is that ADP reports January hiring was strong in our country. Does this mean that Main Street is fighting back against Wall Street?

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, 

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected an increase of 190,000. The December increase was revised higher by 10,000 to 267,000.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/adp-reports-stronger-than-expected-january-payrolls-1454506666

Then the Investor’s business daily says that layoffs hit a 6 month high, in a productivity slump, so which is it? Are we hiring and firing at the same time? 

Who’s getting hired, and who’s getting fired?

The IBD says that hiring did pick up, but due to decreased productivity in the workforce, layoffs increased right at the same time as hiring did. The IBD goes on to say that in December, layoffs were slow. Maybe companies didn’t want to give people the bad news until after the holidays.

The retail, energy, and tech sectors are all cutting jobs. We know Walmart is closing a bunch of stores, and apparently Macy’s is cutting jobs too. 

So who is getting hired?

It looks like most of the hiring is happening in the service sector, which represents most of the economy’s jobs. 

The Millennials are tired of waiting for jobs to open up, so they’re starting their own thing. Good for them! The gig economy is taking off, and I say that’s a good thing. I would much rather see a work force filled with independents. This way everyone is accountable for themselves. No more punching a clock, and taking a paycheck. If you want to earn you have to work for it. Period.

Are you hiring? Should you be?

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Hubdocs - Interview with Jamie McDonald

Last week we had a great ZIBWAM (Zoom In Between Wall and Main) with none other than Jamie McDonald himself! Jamie gave us a great look into the background of Hubdoc, where it came from, and why. Did I hear him right? Did he say he hated his bookkeeper? I guess you’ll have to watch to find out :)

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17Hats.com

On Friday Jan 22, 2016 we had Ryan Groves from 17Hats.com give is a walk through of 17hats. This is a work flow management tool that lets you substantially automate processes, such as on boarding clients. 

These guys are doing amazing things, and I think you’ll be very impressed with this one!

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Hey Sugar Lookin' Good - Gilly's Organics - Interview with Gillian Garrett

Gillian Garret is the Founder of Gilly’s Organics.

Here is a rough summary and outline of what we discussed. Of course the best thing to do is watch the video, however some resources were mentioned, which are linked below.

Gilly: You have to put yourself first, and this is not selfish.

Sometimes it’s a workout

Sometimes it’s meditating.

Company started about a decade ago.

Was a freelance writer for Estee Lauder

Some days I worked an hour, and some days 10.

Seth: How did you get into the writing gig?

Gilly: Was a branding person at USA networks, the Sci Fi channel

Marketing at Citysearch

Manager at Turner Broadcasting

Wanted to go out and get a gig as a freelance writer.

Co-manager said good luck, you’re so young…

Stacy: did you flip him off?

Gillian: I didn’t flip him off, but here’s what I said,

“Well you have a point, but guess what? Corporate America’s gonna take me back IF for whatever reason I don’t succeed so fast.”

Within 2 weeks, landed the gig at Esteee Lauder as a free lance marketing advertiser for more money than Turner, and working in my PJ’s in my apartment.

The wound up writing for Clinique, Jo Malone, Donna Karan, Lauder, Aramis. It was terrific, lucrative, and fun.

Gilly was getting bored of saying the same things, so she started to think about starting her own company. Gilly met her husband at an Organic restaurant.

Gilly: If someone gave me $1,000…

Stacy: Can you introduce me to those people?

Gilly: If I had $1,000 I would spend it on oils at the health food store…

Gilly was always liked mixing things. Liked to cook etc..

What inspired the company was a conversation with her husband. She said she was going to make a product. She was mixing oils and using them for her hair. Then her friends started asking about it, and she gave it to them. Then a friend suggested making a Sugar Scrub.

Seth: What is a sugar scrub?

Gilly shares her screen and starts explaining about the products

It was a hobby for a really long time and then there was a show / charity event at one of Gilly’s daughter’s schools, and she made $800, and gave $200 to charity.

Then she came home and a few days later someone asked for 20 for a wedding, then she got an order for 10.

First Gilly had 2 kids, then 3 under the age of five and a half. 2009 was rough for everybody, and Gilly lost her mom. Steven (Gilly’s husband encouraged her to keep going).

Seth: Wait! The main product is called “Hey Sugar Lookin’ Good”

Gillian: Well I have some brand confusion, because I started making this 100% organic sugar scrub. Then I was making other products. Most are in the high organic percentile (eg 84%) but some were lower, in the 70’s. So I wanted to get away from the organic part of the branding a little.

Gilly’s Organics is the brand umbrella, and Hey Sugar Lookin’ Good is the brand, and the social presence.

After having a business for a bunch of years, I finally started to treat it like a business that I was working for. THAT’s when the magic happened.

Took a course called B School by Marie Forleo.

Stacy: She came on my radar when I resented at Tory Johnson’s Spark and Hustle event. She is great!

The course changed things for Gilly - so she highly recommends that course. Gilly lives in NJ in Bergen County. Great Blogger Bergen Mama was doing a give-a-way with Whole Foods. Gilly gave away some products, and someone from Whole Foods ask here why not have your product in Whole Foods? She sent the ingredients, so they could check it out, and it checked out!

Right now Gilly is local, if all goes well, she will go regional. She spends a lot of time doing demos in Whole Foods.

Seth (me): I’d like to hear more about how you manage and juggle 3 kids, and a husband, house chores etc…

Gilly: Just before the show I was cleaning up legos, to get ready for your show. There are days when I have a housekeeper, but most days I don’t. So I think about my day.

You can work form home and you can make yourself crazy.

So here’s what I do.

I think about my day. What is my priority? What are my non-negotialbles?

You asked me what a sugar scrub is. It’s an exfoliant.

People need to know that oils are not bad for your skin. Oils are great for your skin.

Watch the video for the rest of the goods!!

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Scalus - an Interview with Kristen Koh Goldstein

On Friday January 8, we had a very special guest, Kristen Goldstein from Scalus and also Back ops. She has a really interesting story, as she has lived on both Wall St and Main St. What I find most fascinating about Kristen is that she has the experience of a Wall Street Analyst, looking at software development companies. Then she was able to use that experience to fill a void, and start a software company of her own, Back ops. Then her work with Back ops spawned another void that needed to be filled. Enter Scalus.

I have been using the product myself now, for almost a week, and I am loving it. In fact this morning I set up a task list, to on board a project for a mortgage broker. The client was asking for a call, which I included in the steps, but before we get on the phone I need some items from them. I was able to easily lay out the steps, and who was responsible for which. 

Bottom line. I love this product AND I love the team behind it. 

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Hey Sugar, Lookin’ Good!

Join us this Friday January 15 for what is sure to be an inspiring interview.

Register here:

Zoom In Between Wall and Main Right Here 

Gillian Stollwerk Garrett (aka "Gilly") is a multi-passionate entrepreneur.  A writer, dreamer, inspirer, "mixologist," and wellness advocate, you can find this mother of 3 whipping up batches of sugar scrub (and other splendid goodies for her line of products), or taking care of herself and her family.  Gilly insists we take some time every day to recharge. You can find her indulgent, healing, organic and vegan skincare products at www.heysugarlookingood.com (a Gilly’s Organics company), or at your local (NY/NJ) Whole Foods.  While she is proud of her budding business, she defines success by how much fun her family and her company are having each day, and if she is living and loving in the present moment!

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Preview - Scalus - An Interview with Kristen Koh Goldstein

This Friday, January 8, 2016, we’re going to be speaking with Kristen Koh Goldstein,  CEO of Scalus and Chairwoman of BackOps.  Kristen has more than 20 years of experience in tech and on Wall Street, including at Goldman Sachs and as the founder and chairwoman of BackOps. Scalus is the software that was formed to solve the communication, collaboration, and workflow needs of that remote workforce but ranges much farther in its application. Together, Kristen’s projects are changing the face of tech and SMB operations. In her current role as CEO for Scalus, Kristen is helping define and execute Scalus’ mission of inclusive collaboration for the modern workforce. Prior to Scalus and BackOps, Kristen was an investment analyst for Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse covering the software industry.

Join us this Friday at 8 am Pacific, 11 am Eastern for an interview with someone who has lived on both Wall Street AND Main Street!

Here’s a timely video to give you an idea of what Scalus looks like, and how it can be used.

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ZIBWAM - The Neat Company 2015-12-11

On Friday 12/11/15 we had Matt Toth, Manager, Distribution Channels and Special Markets at Neat join us and give us a demo of what The Neat Company has to offer in terms of receipts tracking and management. Years ago I knew them to be a product. A portable scanner that let’s you scan receipts so they can be stored digitally. Now they have become so much more.

Watch the video and learned what I learned - why this could be a very compelling product AND service to use for your company, and your clients.

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Between Wall and Main Hosts the First ZIBWAM

Every Friday from 8 am to 9 am Pacific, 11 am to 12 pm Eastern, we will have our weekly ZIBWAM. The page with the info about upcoming guests is right here on out tumble site (until we get the main site up). See up top for the Zoom In Between Wall and Main.

Last Friday, December 4, 2015 Between Wall and Main held it’s first ZIBWAM. This was previously billed out as the ABBO (Accountants, Bookkeepers, and Business Owners) Hangout. With my recent departure from schoolofbookkeeping.com I decided to morph our weekly online broadcast into what we’re calling our weekly ZIBWAM.

Since the launch of our Facebook Group, Between Wall and Main, we have seen some acronyms develop. BWAM, our initials of course has resulted in a derivative reference to our group members as BWAMers.

Ever tired of the challenges Google Plus was bringing, I decided to switch the platform to Zoom.us. Google Plus was very unpredictable, and unstable. When it works well, it’s amazing, but too often I would be kicked off of my own hangout, and there were times, when people had a LOT of trouble getting in, or even finding the invite I’d send out.

With Zoom.us, it is proving to be a great move. It is so easy for people to get on, and the quality of the whole experience is amazing.

Last Friday we had Lior Weinstein as our first guest. Lior is the man behind Cognivew, who makes PDF2XL, a powerful product that converts PDF’s to Excel (go figure).

You can watch the video above to see the hangout, and if you have ever watched our previous hangouts, you will instantly see the difference in the quality of the video. Do make sure you enlarge your view to full screen, especially when Lior shares his screen and demo’s the software. This starts at about 25 minutes in. Prior to that, we were having some interesting discussions.

Now that we moved it off of the Google Plus platform, we needed a new name. It was no longer a “Hangout” because it was no longer on the Google Plus Hangouts platform. In thinking about the new tool we’re using, Zoom, it fell together quite perfectly with the whole theme of the new venture. We’re “zooming in” between wall and main, and now, ZIBWAM is born.

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Wall Street Morning Edition Monday Dec 7, 2015

Looks like stocks unexpectedly went up on Friday based on the jobs reports. Also some market leaders are coming out with earnings better than expectations and that always moves the market up.

Chipotle CMG stock is taking a hit because of the E-coli news, but guess what folks! This is when you BUY their stock. They will get the E-coli situation under control soon enough and then the stock will bounce back. They are a strong chain, and they aren't going anywhere. This is where we can profit off of the drama / hype. The people selling are short sighted - the long game is where you win on something like this.

Meanwhile check Morningstar.com for companies who's earnings are coming out. Costco comes out tomorrow. Generally speaking when a company's earnings are better than expectations, the stock goes up. Even if the projected earnings are not great, by themselves, it doesn't matter. It's all about how they do compared with expectations: http://www.morningstar.com/earnings/earnings-calendar.aspx

Let's take a look at some of the market leaders and how they are doing a week after cyber Monday:

Apple AAPL Microsoft MSFT Home Depot HD Ulta Beauty ULTA Alaska Air ALK Fitbit FIT H&R Block HRB

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Cyber Monday - Evening Edition

Sure enough. Mobile sales, mobile sales, and more mobile sales, are what Cyber Monday 2015 was all about. Following with the theme of what happened on Thanksgiving day, more so, even, than Black Friday, online sales were up 18.1% from last year (midnight to 3 pm), according to IBM (source: Cyber Monday Record Sales Projected, Led By Mobile)

Good thing I reminded people early this morning about mobile

Mobile users accounted for 46% of all online traffic!

Remember that Adobe Digital Index I told you about this morning? They predict $2B in online sale for Cyber Monday (it isn't over yet). it will be interesting to see what the final numbers are tomorrow.

**Investors were not as excited as shoppers!** The stock market actually went down 78 points today, but that had nothing to do with the holiday shopping kickoff.

The big question will be answered on Friday - will the Fed raise interest rates. Investors are likely waiting to see what happens here. Also slower IN store sales may have some investors discouraged.

This morning I looked at some stocks in the retail sector: Ebay, Inc. (EBAY) closed up, just a hair today. Walmart (WMT) (Like 'em or not) closed down $1. Target (TGT) down 0.94 Best Buy (BBY) up 0.30 Apple (AAPL) up $0.49 Alibaba (BABA) up 2.70 Amazon (AMZN) down 8.46 - it's $664.80/share, most of us can't afford to buy it anyway!

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Between Wall and Main - Cyber Monday November 30, 2015

It's starting. Cyber Monday should be interesting. Will people prove to have been holding out on Black Friday for Cyber Monday? My guess is yes. We've already seen that online retailers were offering deals on Thanksgiving day, before Black Friday, and online, but especially mobile sales were up on Thanksgiving day.

Watch what happens to major online retail stocks like these: Amazon (AMZN) Alibaba (BABA) Apple (AAPL) Best Buy (BBY) Target (TGT) Walmart (like em or not) (WMT) EBay (EBAY)

Video games are always hot so check out

Gamestop (GME) Nintendo (NTDOY)

Let's look at some indexes and other resources that give us an indicator about what is going on in retail, and how that might impact you or your clients business:

The Adobe Digital Index measures 80% of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. retailers Follow on Twitter: Adobe Digital Index @AdobeIndex

ChannelAdvisor is a firm that helps third parties sell on e-com sites.

Time to look at those stock status reports for your retail business or clients

Remember that it costs money to keep products on the shelves. Old, obsolete inventory is not only costing you money sitting on the shelf, there's an opportunity cost in terms of the inventory that could be sitting there and getting sold.

It's our job as accounting and bookkeeping professionals to guide and advise our clients. Should we be stocking up on inventory/ Should we be beefing up our fulfillment systems to support online sales?

Tech and video games seem like a no brainer.

What special offers do your clients have lined up?

Let's look at a short demo in QuickBooks so we can see how to analyze inventory. Then watch and see what happens today. Then look for the evening edition!

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Hey Small Business Accountants and Bookkeepers! Are you Watching Retail?

Looks like sales on Thanksgiving day were better than black Friday sales. Shopping on Mobile is growing at the fastest rate. With more reports of fights breaking out in malls, and the added convenience of being able to shop at home without the insanity of the crowds, why would you want to go to a store?

Thanksgiving afternoon saw the greatest increase of online sales, especially due to mobile sales.

What does all of this mean for your small business accounting clients? If you serve clients in the retail sector, then you should be consulting with your clients and guiding them to put more emphasis into online sales, and mobile app sales. There is no question about where the future is headed. The only question is, will your retail clients be there? You can help them by making sure they get set up with a great online store (if they don’t already have one). For your clients that have one, have them look at what Target did this weekend, that was very successful. 

Target gave away a $100 gift card with the purchase of an Apple Watch, and $250 gift cards with a purchase of an iPhone 6s.

What can your retail clients be doing along these lines to promote sales while the market is hot?

Consumers said they planned on spending an average of $356 (source: Investors Business Daily Has Black Friday Jumped The Shark? Importance Fading)

60% will go to online retailers who have a brick and mortar presence.

40 % will go to pure online retailers like Amazon, and Alibaba.

Where will your clients or small business be in this mix?

Is it time to beef up, or set up that online store of yours?

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Black Friday Store Sales Take Back Seat To Online

Not really surprising. Who wants to deal with those crowds, when Amazon will have it delivered fast, and in many cases with free shipping for those who have Amazon Prime. And why not get Amazon Prime - if you are going to buy a lot of stuff there, it will more than pay for itself, and quickly.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/business/112715-782746-whats-in-store-for-black-friday-.htm#ixzz3sjmcbXiH Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook