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VIDEO - DUwHF #709 - Connie Jacox
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AUDIO - DUwHF #709 - Connie Jacox
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Connie has always loved bookkeeping and feels she was born to the profession. She actually maintained a handwritten ledger of her babysitting money when she was a kid.
When not working, she enjoys reading, walking with her yellow lab, or kayaking in the surrounding area. Maintaining a good work/life balance is very important to Connie, and providing a service that allows clients to reach that balance is her goal.
www.blbksolutions.com
Howard Farran: I'm sitting here with Connie Jacox, on the last day of the townie meeting in Caesar's Palace. And Connie does my favorite pet peeve. And that is dentists don't know their numbers. They love to learn fillings, root canals, crowns, bridges, then you ask them any accounting number, and they have no idea.
And Connie started Bottom Line Bookkeeping Solutions. Her website is blbksolutions, so Bottom Line Bookkeeping Solutions. She's a townie, she posts, she lives in Vancouver, Washington. And she helps dentists, do their accounting. Tell them what you do.
Connie Jacox: I provide a virtual bookkeeping service, to where I go in, I provide them bookkeeping as a basic feature, but I also help them with a concept called 'profit first', which is a cash management system that helps them have a better focus on their overhead. And understand that all the money that comes in, isn't free money to spend. That they need to prepare for tax time, they need to be prepared for major purchases and just ... Also that, it helps me to explain to them that the production number doesn't necessarily transfer to a cash number. And that's their biggest area that ... Making them understand that production of a million dollars doesn't mean you have a million dollars cash coming in necessarily.
Howard Farran: Well this is April 22, and I'm ... And every year, thousands of dentists are literally stunned, when their CPA tells them how much they owe the IRS, and they're like: "You gotta be out of your mind."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And I'm sitting here reverse-[inaudible 00:02:07] and, "No, you have to be out of your mind." And it's sad because we go to dental school eight years, and they just keep teaching calculus and physics and geometry, all this stuff that you'll never ever use one time as a dentist. And then something as simple as making payroll, or figuring out your taxes, or paying your taxes quarterly, was never discussed once. But it's something they gotta learn day one.
So what percent of your clients are dentists?
Connie Jacox: About 45 right now-
Howard Farran: Nice.
Connie Jacox: And I'm trying to move more to where I focus strictly in the dental industry.
Howard Farran: I've seen ... When I got out of school 30 years ago, the MD's had 58 specialties, the dentists had nine, but the accountants didn't have a specialty for dentistry.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And I think that is what the market needs. That's why I want to anything to promote you, that's why I'm podcasting you.
Connie Jacox: Thank you.
Howard Farran: I think so many dentists are stressed out, I think a lot of it leads to substance abuse ... Marriage, the top three marriage problems are, money, sex, substance abuse, and a lot of those can all be tied into: "Why is he coming home and drinking 12-pack?" Because he doesn't know how to make payroll tomorrow.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: But he's really busy, and he's got all this money coming it, but he's broke.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And so what do you do for your clients? I mean if one my townies was listening and say: "What would you do for me? What does it cost? How does it work?"
Connie Jacox: Well, first off, I would start with what's called a 'profit assessment'. And in the profit first system, I go in and I look at your historical numbers. I look at your historical production numbers as well as your historical accounting numbers. So that I can get a good sense of what the practice has been doing. Then I show you where you're at, after I've done this analysis. Whether you're at 80% overhead, or you know ... My very first dentist that I did an analysis on, was at 90% overhead. You can't sustain that. It will kill you, like you said. The stress will kill you.
So we look at them, we look at in detail, everything you're spending money on. Is it you know, you have fancy office, your rent is huge, did you buy the latest shiny object that you were sure was gonna have a huge return on investment, and nobody knows how to use it. Is it just little things? Are you taking the staff out every month for lunch, to the tune of a couple a hundred bucks, that you just really don't need to be doing. You know, we go into the details of the overhead and start to look where we can cut, to bring you to a place where you can be profitable. You can't be profitable with 90% overhead. There's no room. Because that overheard isn't typically counting your tax burden, when they think overhead.
Howard Farran: So your website is blbksolutions.com
Connie Jacox: Correct.
Howard Farran: And blbk stands for Bottom Line-
Connie Jacox: Bookkeeping.
Howard Farran: Bottom Line Bookkeeping Solutions. Blbk. Bottom Line Bookkeeping Solutions. If my homies went to your website, what are they going to find?
Connie Jacox: They're going to find just some basic ideas of what 'profit first' is about, how it works. They can also schedule a free 30-minute consult, so we can just talk about where they're at, where they want to be. Company history ... I'm working on starting a blog, which you helped me with my first article. Thank you very much.
Howard Farran: That's how we met, where was it on? On LinkedIn or where-
Connie Jacox: I called you.
Howard Farran: Oh you called me.
Connie Jacox: Yeah.
Howard Farran: Oh that's awesome. Again it's just ... My most biggest pet peeve. I mean I tell Dennis I mean ... "Get your house in order."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: "Get profitable." Then I understand boys love toys-
Connie Jacox: Absolutely.
Howard Farran: And then go decide if you want a boat or a laser.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: If you want a cabin or a CAD/CAM. I don't care.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: What I don't like, is when your house is not in order, and then you're making a bunch of bat shit crazy financial decisions, thinking that that's going to fix your problems. Just get your house in order-
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And then you can decide if you want to take the money, and buy your wife a Gucci purse, a trip to Hawaii, or a laser or a CAD/CAM or a CBCT.
Connie Jacox: Exactly.
Howard Farran: But I want to get more specifics. What do you recommend that they do their accounting on? Are you a QuickBooks, are you a Peachtree?
Connie Jacox: I use QuickBooks online, and I find that to be a fully functional for a dental office. It has all the features that they need, you can do payroll, you can do all your accounting.
Howard Farran: First I know how my homies think. First thing they're thinking, "Is this secure?"
Connie Jacox: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Howard Farran: We don't have to worry about your mother-in-law hacking in and reading all your numbers or?
Connie Jacox: As long as you don't give her your password, you're good.
Howard Farran: But there's no chance they're gonna get to Quicken online and then get into your bank accounts at Wells Fargo or?
Connie Jacox: No. It has as high or higher level of security as your bank.
Howard Farran: So you like QuickBooks online?
Connie Jacox: I do.
Howard Farran: I'm a huge fan of it. The thing that I'll never forget Bill Clinton for, and it wasn't for Monica, I mean I always thought: "Hell if I was married to Hillary, you know I don't know what I would have done."
But Microsoft in Seattle, tried to buy Intuit. Isn't Intuit around-
Connie Jacox: Intuit is the parent company of QuickBooks.
Howard Farran: Yeah, but where are they located?
Connie Jacox: I believe they're in California.
Howard Farran: In California. And you know, Bill Gates, was the smartest visionary as ever ... Basically Microsoft was email, Word and PowerPoint.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And he saw all of these small business and he realized that, the accounting had to be a part of it.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And Bill Clinton blocked a merger on anti-trust, so and I thought: "That is insane!", because ... I mean where I'm from in Kansas, it's the same problem. You have two types of farmers. One farmer sits on a tractor all day, while his wife is at the kitchen table doing all the accounting, the overhead, selling the wheat ahead of time, on the Future's Exchange. Then you got the other farmer, who's wife is Catholic, and raising seven kids, and he has no help or partner, which is what you can be.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Because so many dentists tell me: "Well I don't have any support at home.", and it was like, well that don't matter. I mean the greatest legends in the world, Bill Gates didn't build his company with Melinda.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: I mean, she came later. I mean the greatest legends in the world can do it solo, if they have someone like you supporting them.
Connie Jacox: Exactly.
Howard Farran: You could be the wife at the kitchen table, hammering out these deals, while they're sitting in the operatory drilling filling all day. I mean do your clients, are they able to pick up the phone and talk to you?
Connie Jacox: Absolutely.
Howard Farran: About these numbers?
Connie Jacox: Absolutely. And we schedule either, monthly, quarterly, depending on what they feel they need. Usually if they're really starting out in a bad place, it would be a monthly video chat, till we can talk it through and say: "This is what's happening. This is where we've improved, this is what we're gonna do next."
We create a plan on how to be successful. With the profit first system, we separate your money as it comes in. We put away the tax burden, immediately. It never gets into your overhead account, you can't spend it. We put it away. We put away money for profit at the beginning. Whether we have to start at 1% or 10%, depending on where you begin. We set that profit away as the money comes in, on a bi-monthly basis. And we give you a profit distribution, like you would give a share holder quarterly. So you get a bonus.
The dentist you know, so many of them feel like they're working so hard, working so hard, and they're not making any money, well we're setting it aside, beyond your salary, and quarterly you're gonna get a bonus from that profit account. Because we've set it aside, we've trimmed down your overhead to a smaller plate, so you can't spend that, the money that's not there.
Howard Farran: And when you start with the dentist, what is the average condition? When you meet a new client for the first time, why are they calling you? Where are they at in their head, where are they at in accounting? Why are they calling you? Because right now, podcast is killing radio. These dentists are all commuting to work right now, about 85%, another 10%, maybe they're on a treadmill, stair master, whatever.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And so they're all by themselves, and they're thinking: "Well is this for me?" So tell them, who's calling you? What state of mind are they at? What are their problems and your solutions, you bottom line booking solutions, what problems do they have that your solutions are helping them?
Connie Jacox: The initial reason that they call, is they're overwhelmed. And they have no idea what their numbers are, how to handle the accounting, you know. They don't want to deal with with payroll.
This time of year is often a time I get calls because they've got this big tax bill, and they didn't prepare for it. I don't do taxes, that's an accountant's job, that's not what I do. What I do, is I help them ... First off if they're overwhelmed, I come in, and look at their books. Oftentimes ... You know, the plus and the minus of QuickBooks is it's easy to use, but if you don't understand accounting, you can mess it up.
And so often they mess something up, and they have no idea what they've done. So that's another reason they'll call is: "I don't know what I did to my QuickBooks, can you fix it?", and the answer is: "Yes I can." It may take a while, depending on how well you did.
Howard Farran: And you used it as remotely from home.
Connie Jacox: Absolutely.
Howard Farran: Nice.
Connie Jacox: Yeah.
Howard Farran: So you know, I think dentists don't understand that. A CPA, is really basically for a third-party tax collector.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: I mean they do a profit loss statement, which is a statement of income, which has artificial numbers like: deferred taxes, depreciation, has really nothing to do with managerial economics.
Connie Jacox: Exactly.
Howard Farran: A statement of cash flow, or your check register would have more to do with managerial economics than your CPA. Yet they'll call their CPA for business advice, and say like: "Well do you think I should buy this $150,000 equipment?" Well he's only looking at it as the tax consequences, not managerial economics-
Connie Jacox: And right. And that's a big problem.
Howard Farran: It's the problem.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: It's the problem. They're not business people. I mean you see it in restaurants and farmers. Some restaurants, they know their craft, they know how to cook, but they don't know their numbers.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And restaurants has one of the highest mortality rates-
Connie Jacox: Exactly.
Howard Farran: In free enterprise. And it's because Chef Boyardee, didn't know the difference between a statement of income and balanced state, a statement of cash flow. And I bet you, this is so, this is so pathetic, but I mean today, right now today, 80% of dentists, could not even reconcile their own bank statement.
Connie Jacox: I don't know if that's a good thing.
Howard Farran: No it is-
Connie Jacox: It's probably-
Howard Farran: If it goes under, they put in more money, if they have a balance, they spend more money. They don't know how to reconcile.
Connie Jacox: Yeah.
Howard Farran: And I'll give you some data on this. These national workout fitness chains.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Like Lifetime Fitness. They knew if they get you to sign up, they sign you up on an automatically monthly charge on your debit card. They know the average person quits using their service at about eight months. They know the average person takes 40 months, to be organized enough, to go in there and cancel that automatic monthly payment.
It's the business model of Spotify, music, iTunes, Apple, desperately wants to get out of selling this song for a dollar or 99 cents, or a $1.10. Because they see all these music stations, that spend all their time getting you one time, to sign up for five dollars a month, unlimited music, knowing full well that half the people maybe never use it again-
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: For five years. But they'll reconcile their bank statement, [inaudible 00:16:01] their credit card charge, they'll see this monthly re-occurring charge. So the business model, the best business model with monkeys is to get them to sign a contract, that you can ding their credit card every month. Because whether you're good or bad, they don't have enough organizational skills to get off this.
So that is a ... Netflix.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Netflix is bigger than HBO now. Same model. Once they sign you up for $10 a month, you may have just gone four months without watching a movie, but you're not gonna sit down on your dining room table and go over your bank statements and your credit card charges like: "Hey our family hasn't used Netflix in a half a yeah, why don't we cancel that $10 month charge?"
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: That's not how monkeys roll. They'd rather just run out of money, and then go in and ask their boss for a raise.
Connie Jacox: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Right.
Howard Farran: I just need more ... Like the government. We just need more money, it's always they need more money. They can never go back and say: "We don't have a department of cell phone, we don't have a department of PC's, why do we have a department of agriculture? Are you shitting me?", they've been growing wheat for 15,000 years. Why do we need an agency to manage wheat farmers? When the more important thing, the smartphone, when there's no agency managing that, it's always always, you know, I'm just, I'm speaking to the choir with you.
So then, what percent of these dentists are already on QuickBooks online?
Connie Jacox: A lot of them are on QuickBooks desktop, and it's a very easy conversion, to the online. I in fact ... All the dentists that I have in my practice right now, have gone from desktop version to the online version.
Howard Farran: And how do you technically switch your QuickBooks on your desktop PC, to QuickBooks online?
Connie Jacox: It's very simple. There's a couple of ways. But there's actually a button, in QuickBooks desktop that says: "Would you like to upgrade or change to QuickBooks online?"
Howard Farran: Okay. Now I know how my homies think-
Connie Jacox: Okay.
Howard Farran: I've been on Dental Town four hours a day, since 1998. The things they always think is that, you know, "If I go online, or I get help from you ... ", they know so many people say that. 50% of dentists are being embezzled from, by their front desk staff. So they're sitting there thinking: "Okay if I move this online, are my front desk girl, does this make it easier for them to embezzle?" And I'm sorry to say, it's so rude to say to you, how do I know that I don't give you all my information and I say: "You're embezzling from me."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And I'd rather have a really uneducated girl doing my recall, I'd rather worry about that, than someone like you who's super sophisticated, now has all my information.
Connie Jacox: But I don't. Because you put in your bank information into QuickBooks online. I don't have that information. I don't have access to your bank. I have access to your QuickBooks data. It automatically up-states from your bank, and if you've changed your password, I'm gonna have to call you and say: "Could you update QuickBooks because you've evidently updated your password in your online banking."
Howard Farran: So then how do you embezzle then?
Connie Jacox: I don't.
Howard Farran: Oh come on Connie, tell the truth.
Connie Jacox: No no, I'm a good Catholic girl, I don't embezzle.
Howard Farran: So do you ... Would you ever be able to help the dentist figure that someone is embezzling from him?
Connie Jacox: I would be able to see anomalies, not necessarily ... Part of what ... Yes, I would be able to help with that. Would I always catch it? No I can't say I could always catch it. But since I would get information from both your practice management and your accounting ... And I make sure those two balance every month, the deposit you say you got, ended up in the bank.
Howard Farran: So do you tie in into their practice [inaudible 00:20:06] software too?
Connie Jacox: I don't necessarily tie into it, but I do get reports from it.
Howard Farran: How do you get reports from docs? So he's on QuickBooks desktop. He pushed a button, he calls you, and by the way what is your number, how do they get a hold of you?
Connie Jacox: My number is 360-524-3232.
Howard Farran: So it's 360-524-3232.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And that's blbksolutions. And where do they want to email you?
Connie Jacox: They can email me at connie C-O-N-N-I-E @blbksolutions.com
Howard Farran: Okay so, they call you, they email you, they go to your website, [inaudible 00:20:54], they do the button, they get [inaudible 00:20:55] online, how do they get their reports? Most of them, about 40% are on Henry Schein's Dentrix, about 40% are [inaudible 00:21:04]. How do they get those reports to you?
Connie Jacox: Through a secure file share system, that they can upload them to me.
Howard Farran: Do any of the practice ... What if she's young, and she's working at corporate dentistry, and she's gonna open up her office next year, are there any dental office practice management systems that you've liked more than the others? Or you think the reporting is better for doing what you do?
Connie Jacox: That's hard to say because so much of it is about ... I've heard a lot of good things about Open Dental.
Howard Farran: I know.
Connie Jacox: I don't have a practice that's using it yet.
Howard Farran: I'm switching-
Connie Jacox: Yup.
Howard Farran: Next month. I've been ... My dental office turns 30 year ... I graduate 30 years ago, May 11.
Connie Jacox: Awesome.
Howard Farran: I know what you're thinking, I only look like I'm 21-
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: But I'm actually 54.
Connie Jacox: That's awesome.
Howard Farran: And this is no cosmetic surgery there.
Connie Jacox: What is your routine?
Howard Farran: It's all natural.
Connie Jacox: Perfect I'm on that too.
Howard Farran: But if you go to Dental Town and we have that search bar, and that search bar, I always show it everybody, because that thing cost me, 50 grand from Google. And you don't update the software, you buy a Google Box, so every time I want it even better, I gotta buy a $50,000 box. Then you come to Dental Town, all the servers are black, except the Google appliance is yellow. And if you type in Dentrix, it brings up a hundred threats who are bitching, moaning, complaining. EagleSoft same thing. Open Dental, all raving fans. I've been on Soft Dent since day one. It was owned by [inaudible 00:22:40] Kodak, Care Stream, it has a different owner about every six weeks.
But I'm switching Open dental just because of Dental Town, seeing the raving fans. But the thing I'm hearing, is that the name Open, is because it's open and it interfaces more with other vendors, other data.
Anytime I go into a call center, where a dentist rolls over their to a call center. They said that it's so hard to log down and find the information Dentrix or EagleSoft or whatever, but Open you know, they just love.
Connie Jacox: Oh uh-huh.
Howard Farran: Because it's more open, it's like Apple-
Connie Jacox: User friendly.
Howard Farran: Like Apple is a closed system-
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Whereas Google and Microsoft are more open systems. So anyway, so yeah I wonder if someday, you'll be able to go into Open Dental. And by the they're in Oregon, and you're in Vancouver, Washington, which is right on the Oregon border.
Connie Jacox: I should go down and have a visit.
Howard Farran: You should, and you know what, if you went down there, I'll fly down and meet you there.
Connie Jacox: Perfect.
Howard Farran: Because my goal, my total goal ... Here's the problem in dentistry. [inaudible 00:23:48] dentistry's number one problem is, when you walk into Circle K, and they have Circle K's in Oregon or [crosstalk 00:23:55], because I know some parts, it has like 7-Eleven, Quick Trip, ours is a ... But when you walk into a 7-Eleven, 7-Eleven is selling you bottle of water for a dollar. They know it costs then 80 cents, they know they're selling for a buck, they know they're gonna make 20 cents.
Well let's go to dentistry. Patient's scheduled for two fillings for an hour. Dentist has no idea what it's cost for-
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And then he signed up for 12 different PBO plans, so he's selling it anywhere from $90 to $190.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: So when you go into a business where you're selling something that you don't know what it costs you, for 12 different prices.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: I mean that's why I have no hair! I pulled it all out, I mean it's insanity.
Connie Jacox: It is.
Howard Farran: And then we you get a little bigger like me ... I have an accounting team, I mean I got two Bookkeepers, I got Stacy, they're like you. Stacy used to be a teacher and just fell into bookkeeping 20 years ago for me. Kristi Corly, same thing, she had something else, we got into bookkeeping. So I got two full-time yous to help me run my business.
Connie Jacox: Which is very rare.
Howard Farran: But that's because I got 50 employees. These dentists got five employees. So they don't have enough scale to get sophisticated enough, which is why I'm tell you, you desperately need her. And her, if you're married, could be if you're a woman desk, this could be husband, your male desk could be your wife, but when I look at my dentist friends, it's kinda the 80/20. About 20% of the wives are ... Behind every good man is a successful woman, and now it's reversed, whatever.
But someone's home doing all the numbers, helping, managing all that stuff. But a lot of these dentists got stay at home mom with three kids and they're involved in the church, and all that stuff. They don't have a you.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And I notice it, when I was kid at 10 years with farmers, my dad used to point it out for me, he said: "You know I feel sorry for Chuck because his wife has no idea what's going on in the farm, and he's carrying 15 hats."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Whereas your other friend Greg, his wife is about 12 times smarter than her husband, and she likes the most just sitting on tractor, you know what I mean? Stay out of my kitchen because all the book, all the paper, and her husband didn't even know, that she already sold the wheat on the Chicago [inaudible 00:26:21], because the price was higher, and then when old Greg harvests his at the same time as everyone else's then the price will plummet.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: I mean just all these little things, they don't have a confined, a consigliere, the mafia. The Italian mafia. Always had a Jewish consigliere, outside the family, because if you would have been Roman Catholic and Italian, he would have been drinking the purple Kook-Aid and they always agreed with each other. So they went somewhere else, like different religion, outside the family, to come in and be able to call bullshit.
Connie Jacox: And that's where I think I offer a service that they're not gonna get from an employee. They're not gonna get from their wife. When I say: "Look you can't afford to buy that shiny object today. We can plan for it, and maybe do it six months from now. But you need to fix some of these other issues first. Maybe it's trimming down staffing. Maybe you need to schedule better. There's so many factors that could be your biggest problem."
Often it's just not having the clue, or like you say, mixing the credit card that has 14 recurring charges, but they have no idea what they even are anymore.
Howard Farran: And the other part of this problem is, when you're a doctor, a lot of them suffer the Saddam Hussein syndrome, where no one will stand up to them and tell them no. I mean Saddam Hussein when he would tell his generals: "Well we can beat America right?" If you said no, they're gonna absolutely crush us, he'll kill you.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: You see that in staff meetings. Where a lot of the staff meetings, the doctor does any of the talking, because the staff don't feel safe. The wife at home doesn't feel safe. They need someone that can stand up to them. That's what I told my management team, the minute you can't stand you to me and call bullshit and say: "Howard, that's the stupidest idea, that is totally bad." If you can't stand up to me and call bullshit, then I will have to fire you.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Because I can't surround myself with a bunch of 'yes' people. And dentists will go to a convention and get all excited about $100,000 shiny object, come home, all enthusiastic to his wife and staff, well, who's gonna stand up and say: "Doc, you can't afford that." He's like: "I'm a doctor, I'm doctor, I'm in American, I can do anything." And they quote things like: "If you build it, they will come." It's like dude that was a fictional Disney movie okay? There's no footnotes on that. That's not on Wikipedia, that's in your mind.
They need people to be able to stand up to them and call bullshit. And a lot of dental labs are afraid of it. Because a lot of dental labs tell me: "I can't call up the dentist say, 'This impression sucks. Your prep sucks, everything about it sucks.' And I know if it doesn't fit, you're gonna send it back and want me to do it free."
Some labs have balls and say: "Doc, this sucks. You need to come down here and look at these preps, you need to take a course man, because I'm not gonna re-do your work for free. Because when you need a remake, you think it's my fault. And I see a hundred different dentists, and your crown preps suck, I can't read the margins." Dentists need people to stand up to you.
And that's another thing. They always says successful people are always hungry and humble. They're humble so they listen to their customers, they listen to their staff, they listen to their supply chain, they listen to their vendors, they listen. And dentists ... How many of the American people have I said: "Dentist position lawyer. Humble?"
Connie Jacox: Not likely.
Howard Farran: They say no, arrogant, know it all, conceited, you know they would just say every bad trait you can imagine. So what are you doing in your life, to put out those vibes? I mean my dental [inaudible 00:30:10], since day one. And I'll tell you no one can stand up and call bullshit to me faster than Janet. I mean she doesn't even blink. Because she has trust. I mean she literally has trust, that like I'm like a brother or a dad, a sibling, an uncle, and it's never gonna get personal, it's business. And you need a staff to feel totally from.
When I go to staff meetings, or even the morning huddle, usually the dentist is all the talking. I'm like if that's case then, you should have your staff meetings and your morning huddles without you. You should not go, so your staff can communicate to each other, and work out their problems, and work out the details. And maybe they'll come to you and present a deal. Make them feel safe, but you gotta make them feel safe. You gotta be hungry and humble and you got get a consigliere, I think Connie would be an amazing you. And you gotta get control of your numbers. You can't not know your cost, and then sell it for 12 different prices.
Connie Jacox: Right. Right.
Howard Farran: So what else do you think you can educate them on?
Connie Jacox: Well, first off, don't be ashamed that you don't know your numbers. It's okay, I can teach you to understand them. I can give you the information you're looking for. Often and I think it's a crime that dental training doesn't include some basic accounting. Most of you go to dental school, to own a business. So you need to know how to run one. And if you don't know some basic accounting, you know, even if it's the lowest grade you ever get, you need to know that just because you have this machine and it's an asset, if you owe $100,000 on it, it's really not an asset yet.
Howard Farran: Oh that, I mean they drive me crazy. They'll go in your office ... Right now they're using a $17 impressional, use 3M [inaudible 00:32:15], I've used it for 30 years. And a little sideless premier triple tray. The whole tray and impression probably $17. Then three of them will come to him and say: "Forget 17 bucks, we got a $17,000 optical scanner, so you'll never need to take an impression again." It's like okay, well how many impressions can you take for $17,000? I mean, I'm not Albert Einstein, but I think I can take a thousand impression for $17,000, and the dentists say: "Well it sounds like it's cheaper, to buy this $17,000."
It's like okay, well you don't have any money-
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And you're $20,000 short to pay the IRS.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And now you're standing here telling me, that you'll save money buying a $17,000 oral scanner, I'm gonna need you to pee in this cup, because I want to know if you're stoned on drugs or if you're momma dropped you. I need to know what I'm dealing with. And they never know their math.
Connie Jacox: No.
Howard Farran: They never know their math.
Connie Jacox: They never know the math.
Howard Farran: But the shiny salesman, the shiny object, the optical scanner, they're so damn excited, their heart's racing. What I love the most about dentists? Is every time I spend the night at someone's house, you know when I travel, you know when I go lecture in Poland, I don't want to stay at the Marriott. I want to stay at the dentist's home bringing me, and I want to see how Polish people live. I remember when [inaudible 00:33:39], brought me over to Poland and I got to stay in his house, the coolest thing, the whole deal was being inside a Polish person's house. Have you ever opened up a Polish person's refrigerator?
Connie Jacox: No.
Howard Farran: Looks totally different than every refrigerator you've ever seen in America. It's like all sausages, and tomatoes, all these things you never eat, or boiled eggs. You know it was just so cool. But the thing about staying at a dentists house is, you'll always find a hundred non-fiction books, and then when you're staying the night at someone who's not a dentist, not a physician, not a lawyer, it's all fiction, it's all People magazine, 50 shades of gray, sports stuff, they're very intellectual.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: So I know a lot of my homies right now, I know a lot of them are driving to work thinking: "Well what can I read?" But I want to call you. But I want to learn accounting or whatever. I didn't take that course in school, what could they read to learn accounting, especially it'd be awesome if it applied to QuickBooks online, or to learn the difference between a PNL statement of cash, so a balance sheet. They don't understand debits and credits.
Connie Jacox: Right. And they don't have to.
Howard Farran: And it's so counter intuitive.
Connie Jacox: It is. It's backwards.
Howard Farran: It's backwards. You take everything you learn in math, and accounting just decides, oh we're gonna do it backwards.
Connie Jacox: Yeah.
Howard Farran: But what would be your short list of books to read.
Connie Jacox: Well I'm not sure for an accounting book per say, you know there's always the Four Dummies series, which is usually pretty helpful, I think. You know like a QuickBooks for Dummies.
Howard Farran: So they got a for dummies, for QuickBooks online or accounting, or?
Connie Jacox: They have one for QuickBooks, I would imagine they have one for QuickBooks online, I haven't checked. But the one book I would highly recommend and for understanding just kind of overall, a way to understand your cash management and to get control of it, is Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. And that's the system that I use, when I go in to help them. And it's a cash management system, it works with your natural behavior instead of against it, so-
Howard Farran: What's the name of that book?
Connie Jacox: Profit First.
Howard Farran: Oh you sent me this!
Connie Jacox: I did.
Howard Farran: This is, I got, I had one book ... I just finished Pathways of the Pulp by Stephen Cohen, a dental book, and then I'm on the Heart Attack Gene.
Connie Jacox: Oh.
Howard Farran: And this is the book after, that comes out after that. So this is two down on my list.
Connie Jacox: Perfect.
Howard Farran: So this is Profit First, by Mike-
Connie Jacox: Michalowicz.
Howard Farran: Is he Polish? He's gotta be Polish, Ukrainian or Russian.
Connie Jacox: I believe it's Polish.
Howard Farran: Yeah, okay. And Mike, Michalowicz. Author of the the Pumpkin Plan, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, so what would ... Where would they buy this on?
Connie Jacox: Amazon.
Howard Farran: Amazon.
Connie Jacox: Barnes and Noble.
Howard Farran: We'll talk about a ... And we should get him on the show.
Connie Jacox: And we-
Howard Farran: Right on. But anyway, so hold that book and them what you're gonna learn about Profit First.
Connie Jacox: Well with Profit First, it works with our natural behavior. You know, when we're thinking about money, we login, and we look at the balance in our account, we go online, find the balance on our account. So what Profit First does, is it works with that natural behavior and like I was mentioning earlier, we'd go in and we separate your money as it comes in, in a bi-weekly basis. So all the money comes in-
Howard Farran: Bi-weekly means twice a week?
Connie Jacox: Twice a month.
Howard Farran: Twice a month. Bi-weekly twice a month.
Connie Jacox: So, all the money comes in to an income account, and twice a month, we take that money, and we distribute it over several other accounts. Profit, owners pay, taxes and operating expense. And so, the only place that you can spend money out of, is your operating expense account. So we've right at the start, diminished the amount of money that is available to spend. So when you look at that bank account, you don't have this idea of: "Oh I have $50,000 available." Well you don't. You've only got $30,000, because you've already put money into your profit account. You've already put money in your owners pay account, and you're already set aside your taxes.
So, by doing that, we work with your natural behavior and as that number shrinks, you're gonna become more frugal, you're gonna be more aware. Just as a natural behavior, without any kind of, you know, you have this light item that has this budget amount, and you have this light item in your ... We're not doing that. You're looking at your bank account, and now that's all the money that you have to spend. And it instantly slows you down.
Howard Farran: Now does QuickBooks online, do they have an app, so the doctor can hit that app on a smartphone, and see those numbers and those account balances?
Connie Jacox: Yes. QuickBooks online does have an app for iPhone and Android.
Howard Farran: And do you recommend that they use a bank like Chase that has an app so they could see their accounts on, so they could open up their QuickBooks online, see these accounts you're talking about, and then go to the Chase online and look at those accounts?
Connie Jacox: Well they don't even have to go to the bank because QuickBooks online links with their bank automatically. And it updates-
Howard Farran: And which bank do you think they link with the best, seamlessly?
Connie Jacox: I haven't had trouble with any bank, for QuickBooks [crosstalk 00:39:36]. It's a little bit trickier with some-
Howard Farran: And which ones are-
Connie Jacox: Some credit unions. They're not as-
Howard Farran: Our team, we think the Chase online is far more intuitive. And we think Bank of America is far more ... We almost think like the Chase is an iPhone, an Apple. And the Bank of America is very, it's not intuitive. We've had a lot more ... We just really like the Chase one. [crosstalk 00:40:11].
Connie Jacox: I've heard that they help, they're a good one. When we start to open up these multiple accounts, there's not the fees and stuff, I've heard that the ... Is it Spark or Chase Spark?
Howard Farran: Chase Bank.
Connie Jacox: Bank, yeah.
Howard Farran: That's Jamie Diamond out of Chicago. He was the number two guy, between City Group and Manhattan. And then was gonna be the successor, but rumor has it that he asked out Sandy Wiles' daughter on a date, and he didn't get the date and he was no longer working. Of course you can't find that on Wikipedia, but that's what the rumor is. But I've had dinner Jamie Diamond two or three times, and when he's come to town, and I just think he's an amazing man.
Who was the one that was doing all the illegal stuff? Was that Wells Fargo with all the sham bank accounts or?
Connie Jacox: I'm not sure.
Howard Farran: They were setting up multiple bank accounts and charge fees and all that.
But back to, our two competing was Chase and Bank of America, and I just think that Chase is just a lot easier, because I know, my homies, this isn't their core competency.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: So anything I can get them to do, to just make it a little more easier to understand, and I think the most reason needs to easy to understand because they think their student load and debt is a lot, wait till they get divorced.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And if 1/3 of divorces are over this money ... And you send all these mixed signals to your wife life like: "My God, we did 5000 today."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And then Saturday she's at the mall like: "Oh I'd love to have that Gucci purse, that's only one days work for you." And it's not one days work for you.
Connie Jacox: No.
Howard Farran: You didn't make $5000. You might not make $5000 in two weeks.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And if you're wife, or now you're the woman dentist and your husband ... By the way a lot of male dentists feel bad that their wife makes so much more than them, as a dentist.
Connie Jacox: Oh.
Howard Farran: They say they feel emancipated, and I say: "You know what, just don't think about that while you're vacuuming." But there's a lot of mixed signals, when you're coming home saying I did five grand, and then the spouse thinks: "Oh we have five grand to go to spend at Home Depot tomorrow to start a new bathroom deal." So the more ... And then substance abuse.
There's a huge theory out there, there's a Ted talk called 'The Rat Park', and it said that if you put a bunch of rats in cages, rats or monkeys or whatever, and you give then a choice of say water and drugs, they choose the drugs, until they die. And that was the beginning of addiction disease. It was based on all these studies.
Then finally after everybody agreed with that for 30 years, they said: "Well maybe they drank the drugs because they are in a freaking cage." So they re-did all the experiments, water or water with drugs, but they made a rat park, they had other rats in there, they weren't alone, they had things to play on and wheels and all that stuff, and the rats all went to the water. And none of the rats od'ed on the drugs.
So there's a lot of people ... And a lot of people say: "Oh that's not the cause of the disease." Well no one knows what it is, how do you know that it's not that? And so I think a lot of substance abuse with dentists, is financial stress. They're stressed out of there mind. So what do they do? They come home and do three shots of Fireball, and drink a six pack of beer. And then they're fighting with their spouse because they're like: "I worked all day, and look at this shit you bought while I was a work. Are you kidding me?" And it just spirals out of control.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And again, it's get your house in order.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And get you and your spouse ... I am a firm believer that if you're married, these conversations they have with you, need to be on speakerphone and get the office manager, the doctor, the spouse, you, and get a grasp on these numbers. And it's far more important than learning how to place Sim Plants.
I mean your house is upside down, and what's your best idea? "Oh I'm gonna add sleep apnea." Add sleep apnea? You already have a circus going, you have a three ring circus going on. So you think it will be better with a four ring circus, or a five ring circus? And then you're gonna fly to the Dominical Republic and learn how to place implants and bone graft? If you can't understand your numbers and make money on a cleaning exam and a filling and a crown, you sure as hell ain't gonna make money, learning five more procedures, that again you won't know the cost of.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And you're understanding, your cost gets far more complicated, as your menu increases.
Connie Jacox: Right. Right. And just ... It's a necessary evil for every business. You have to know your numbers. When you're an extremely educated person, what you understand ... Like you said, back to the humble, don't be ashamed to ask someone who understands the numbers, to help you. It's an investment in your future, it's an investment in your practice. You will do better if you have someone who is constantly watching the numbers, making sure they're accurate and informing you whether that next step is doable at this point in time or whether you need to plan for it a little bit longer, prepare for it and you know you're willing to talk to all kinds of coaches, all kinds of other professionals.
Don't be afraid to have a bookkeeper who is going to keep track of your numbers and give you that information regularly.
Howard Farran: And this is dentistry uncensored, so what does this cost?
Connie Jacox: It depends on the size of the practice. I charge a flat rate, once I have a good understanding of what your needs are. And it's just you know, it's anywhere from, depending on the size of the practice again, so it could be anywhere from $750 a month to $1500.
Howard Farran: So $750 to $1500 is about the range you're working with now.
Connie Jacox: About the range. Once we've gone through, cleaned everything up, you know there's the initial setup/cleanup and that sort of thing-
Howard Farran: And what percent of this do you do virtual/online, what percent time do you need to meet in the flesh, go to the office?
Connie Jacox: Probably I would say 98% of it is virtual. And then you know, we can do video chat, so we're meeting that way.
Howard Farran: I always thought that was another weird thing. Right now we got two speakers going on right now. And there's probably 300, 400 in each room, listening to these speakers, but you could go to Dental Town online and see these exact two same speaker right now, and the course would be like, I think like $18 or $36.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: What do you think it costs, to fly down here and stay in a hotel? I mean just the taxi, from the airport to the hotel, cost more than virtual. And that's why Microsoft bought Skype for 8.9 billion. And that's why they just bought LinkedIn because there's so many business people flying around ... There's 27,000 international flights a day, and you know as a cost cutter, how may of those guys are flying all the way to Asia, to have a meeting like this for an hour, where they should have just gone to LinkedIn, buzzed you, hit a window, and what's the difference?
If fact you want me to tell you the funniest story every? So my girlfriends daughter had a baby. And it's seven months old now. But for the first five or six months, she wasn't around me, so I always talked to her over Face Time.
Connie Jacox: Oh uh-huh.
Howard Farran: And when I met her in the flesh, she saw me and she cried, and I'm like, you know: "[inaudible 00:48:23] this is grandpa. And she's looking at me like, who is this big gorilla, get out of here." So she Face Timed her, and I Face Time her, she's down there going: "[inaudible 00:48:33] all cool and likes to [inaudible 00:48:35] every day." And then [inaudible 00:48:37] starts noticing. Wait a minute that monkey and I start getting closer and closer, and the baby just kept at the Face Time, looking at me, looking the back of them, and finally took like a minute for her to realize, Oh my god, that's the guy on Face Time.
So there's a difference as completely the opposite ... In history in 305 B.C., Pope so and so, and you know.
So it doesn't really motivate me or work well for me. And my mom ... It's kind of different. I like religion and spirituality which helps me be better today. With examples for my spouse, my kids, my work, my ... You know what I mean?
Connie Jacox: Yeah.
Howard Farran: And she thinks that's pop culture, superficial noise.
Connie Jacox: Yeah.
Howard Farran: So I don't know where your son is on this spectrum. She's in Wichita, well-connected, I mean she knows everybody, from everyone. And they might be the best of friends.
Connie Jacox: They might be.
Howard Farran: Well Connie, I think that this has been an amazing podcast, we've been going for 45 minutes, your email is connie@blbksolutions for BottomLineBookkeepingSolutions.com. You said they could email you connie@blbksolutions, they could call you at 360-524-3232.
Homies, I know, I know you just want to learn about the next, greatest, ninth generation [inaudible 00:50:21], and you can't wait to throw it away and get the 10th generation and the 12th generation but again ... When a new client calls you, what letter grade A B C D F, would you give them, when they call you about their basic understanding of their accounting, their cost, taxes, dues, all that stuff. When they start with you. What letter grade would you give the average dentist.
Connie Jacox: And overall grade would probably be in the C to D range, because they know what's in their bank account. And that's the extent of a lot of their accounting.
Howard Farran: And can you really grow the ultimate dream dental office with a C to D understanding of accounting?
Connie Jacox: Absolutely not. You can't.
Howard Farran: And you what Connie ... So I was born in Wichita, Kansas, and the church we went to ... My Catholic high school, Bishop Carol High School, and there was a lot of church that had feet in there, St. Francis, St. Pat's, you know different ones. But in that little church, was the founders of Pizza Hut, Dan and Beverly Carney, founders of Godfather's pizza, the Shaw family, lots of really successful deals. You know the founder of Sonic Drive In, which my dad, that's where he learned to cut his teeth in business, he had Sonic Drive Ins ... And Dan and Beverley Carney.
You know what all the millionaires I ever met in my life said to me? At one time or another? They go: "The first sign of a millionaire, is that you're hungry and humble. You're gonna work hard, listen to your customers, your vendors. If you're hungry and humble and you're ambitious, you're gonna get there." But the first sign of a multi-millionaire, is that by the time you get your first five employees, two of them, two of the five, are bookkeepers.
Connie Jacox: Wow.
Howard Farran: Because I look at the ... Say you have a construction company and this guy is flipping a house, he's doing a water damage, this one had a small fire in the kitchen, and you gotta have an accounting team that knows how to bid each one. Because they're just shooting for an 8% profit margin. The SMP 500 only has an average of 5% profit margin. These guys all knew their numbers, and the first sign of a disastrous business, is that you go to eight years of college to become a dentist, a physician or a lawyer, and you just come out of school knowing the periodic table and calculus, and they're just disasters.
And trying to turn that ship around, I mean, I just, I can't tell you, how what you do is the most nearest and dearest to my heart, I hope you listen. I hope you're commuting to work, if you're commuting to work with your spouse, and you're the dentist and your husband's the front office and you've had any marital stress over accounting, get a third party consigliere. Get someone that can call bullshit, and neither of you are gonna take it personal.
I gotta tell you about ... You're from Vancouver, Washington, this gives away my age ... I don't know how old you are, but when I was little kid, my mom's oldest brother, uncle Chick, his real name was Vaughn Wilcox, but when he joined the Navy, he was real little, and his best friend was real big, so he called them Big Rooster and Little Chick. So we always called him Uncle Chick. And by the way, what a story, when they bombed Pearl Harbor, Chick and Rooster were 16, and you had to 18 to join the Navy. So they lied and they forged a deal, which evidently according to Chick and Rooster, there was mass lying going on.
Well when they got back, they had to keep the lie forever, because it was big big, penalties and crimes, to lie on those forms. I always thought, "Why didn't Roosevelt or Truman or someone pardon all these lies?" These boys all lied to go risk their life and get shot at and killed. But anyway, Mount Saint Helene's blew, and Chick had, according him, like a foot ash on his roof, and he took a peanut butter and jelly jar, and filled it with ash, and mailed it to me. And I still have it. And I think it was ... Do you have any idea what year that was? I was born in 62.
Connie Jacox: It was 81 I think.
Howard Farran: So I would be a freshman, I would've been a soph-81. So I would have been in college when that thing blew. Is that right?
Connie Jacox: 79 ... Somewhere between 79 and 82.
Howard Farran: I'll say ... So were you alive then, were you living?
Connie Jacox: Oh yes.
Howard Farran: Were you there?
Connie Jacox: I was in [inaudible 00:55:13] sound area at that time. I wasn't in the [crosstalk 00:55:15].
Howard Farran: So that was up by Seattle.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And so, tell us about it.
Connie Jacox: Well, it was very strange because all of a sudden you felt the earthquake type aftershock.
Howard Farran: Did you feel the earthquake?
Connie Jacox: I felt it, yeah. And we got ash, it was very strange, it got dark and you know the ash came floating in, and now in the Vancouver area-
Howard Farran: It was May 18, 1980.
Connie Jacox: 80. Okay. But where I live now, I live in the shadow of Mount St. Helen's. And that ash, is the best stuff for [inaudible 00:55:54].
Howard Farran: For what?
Connie Jacox: [inaudible 00:55:56].
Howard Farran: What's that?
Connie Jacox: A flower.
Howard Farran: Oh okay.
Connie Jacox: I mean we have the hugest [inaudible 00:56:01] in that area, like 5, 6 feet tall. And there's something in the acid, in the mixture, that the plants just love it, but-
Howard Farran: That's why Adam Smith in 1776, he wrote the first Economic Treaties, Wealth And Nations. For examples like that, he goes: "You have to have free and open trade because it's probably better to grow bananas in Jamaica, than Boston."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Volcano erupts and a certain flower grows there better, and we just have to ... That's why free grade is always so much better. Because everybody's different.
So what's your close with these guys? They're listening to you right now, they're commuting to work, what's your close?
Connie Jacox: You went to school for a long time, to be a profitable business owner. Your business is your dental practice. Don't let your lack of education in accounting, keep you from being the success you should be. Find someone who can help you, know your numbers, get you on the right track to be that profitable practice, where you get to be the dentist. You don't have to be the accountant, you don't have to be the front desk, you get to be the dentist. Take the time to make the call.
Howard Farran: And I want to close on a couple of other examples about humility. Humility listens to your staff. Your staff come first. You treat your staff good, they're treat your customers good. Your customers come second. Your customers treat your staff bad, you fire that customer, your staff come first. Humility. Doctors, physicians, dentists, lawyers, you're not a humble group of people. The whole world knows you're arrogant. Everybody knows you're arrogant, except you.
The most successful dentists I know, are the most humble dentists I know. I'll give you an extreme example. Substance abuse. About 85% of in dentistry is alcohol, the other 15% is opioids. Something that even the rock singer Prince was into. But when the DEA comes and knocks on the door of a dentist, the dentist say, raise your hand and say: "I know, I know, I can't quick taking them. I'm addicted, I can't quiet taking them." The DEA is like: "No worries, no worries, no worries." They get you in a program, you gotta pee in a cup for five years, you might have to go to inpatient, outpatient, whatever whatever.
And five years of having to pee in a cup, there's debts are all cleaned up. The asshole that lies says: "No, I'm not doing it. No." And he made four entries in the charts, and oh yeah he's gonna smarter than the DEA and has all the records on Walgreens and CVC, that asshole gets his license taken away, goes to jail, I mean it's like ...
So right now, you don't know your numbers. You don't know your numbers. She says a C or a D, and that's only because she's a very sweet lady. If she was one half of me, she would have given you an F minus, and but you think since you're a doctor, you should know it all, and it's just counter intuitive for you to say: "Hi, I'm Dr. Smith, and I eat Vicodin, I'm an alcoholic, and I don't know what my costs are." It takes a humble man, to raise their hand and get help.
She's adorable, she's sweet. She's not gonna bite you, she's not gonna say mean things. And hopefully, I'm trying to get you as many leads as I can, because I know that will help my homies the most, but I want to follow up on this. I've got Ryan or Zach ... Nathan Sparks of Open Dental, I want to podcast him next week. His brother Jordan is the dentist, but he's really not involved in Open Dental. After I podcast Nathan, and get switched over from Soft Dent, to Open Dental, I would like to ... How long does it take you to drive to open dental from your place?
Connie Jacox: I'm not sure, are they in Portland?
Howard Farran: Salem, Oregon.
Connie Jacox: Okay.
Howard Farran: Where's that?
Connie Jacox: That's south of Portland.
Howard Farran: So if I was gonna go there, I would fly into Portland, or do you think I could fly SouthWest into Salem?
Connie Jacox: I don't think so, I think you'd fly Portland.
Howard Farran: How big a town would be Salem?
Connie Jacox: Salem's actually the capital.
Howard Farran: Oh, so it's a sized town.
Connie Jacox: It's a good sized town.
Howard Farran: So south of [inaudible 01:00:31]. Would you fly there or drive there?
Connie Jacox: I would drive.
Howard Farran: And how long would that take you to drive there?
Connie Jacox: A couple of hours.
Howard Farran: Because again, whenever I go to a call center, when the dentist open 32 hours a week, and there's a 168 hours a week, and the really smart ones, when they go to lunch and then they roll their phone over, so any live person can answer it, and then when that person answers, they say, if it's Open Dental, they can just pull up the schedule, look into all the accounts, know everything about the patients, it's a great thing.
Maybe we can all network together, to get more people, you know getting their accounting open online. So someone like you can look at it, and be their little Jewish consigliere, even though you're Catholic, can you pretend you're a Jewish consigliere?
Connie Jacox: I can pretend.
Howard Farran: Okay. Because that's what these guys need, because as a dentist myself, I know I'd rather pull four wisdom teeth, any day of the week, than look at accounting.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And that's the problem, it's not that you're not smart-
Connie Jacox: No.
Howard Farran: Is that if you're passionate about mowing the lawn, and you hate loading the dishwasher, you just gonna want to be out in your yard, mowing the lawn, and cutting and clipping and planting flowers. I get it. And then when someone says: "You need to go in and clean the kitchen." And you're like [inaudible 01:01:55]. And that's what accounting is.
Connie Jacox: Exactly.
Howard Farran: They want to pull a tooth.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: They want to do a root canal. No one wants to look at their accounting numbers.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And it's your passion.
Connie Jacox: It is, it is. I've been keeping ledgers since I was babysitting.
Howard Farran: Yeah, that's what you told me. You had your babysitting revenue.
Connie Jacox: Yup.
Howard Farran: On a ledger sheet.
Connie Jacox: I did.
Howard Farran: So it's not that you're dumb, it's not that you didn't learn calculus and algebra, it's just that you're not interested in it.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: I went and saw a [inaudible 01:02:25], supposedly the best violinist in the world ... Well the bottom line is, she's been playing violin four hours a day since she was five.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: Okay. I would hate that. If my mom made me ... I mean she drove me to mass every morning, and that was an hour every morning, and if she told me when you come home you gotta play violin for four hours, at point, I would have ran away.
So it's not that the violinist is a genius, and she's not gifted. You know what she's gifted with? The motivation and passion to want to play the violin four hours a day. You know why you don't know your numbers? Because you're not passionate about it.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: It's not like there's something missing in your walnut brain, it just doesn't interest you.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: And these two rooms next door, going on a Saturday morning in Vegas, I mean they're in Vegas, they should be out drinking and gambling, and they're learning about sleep apnea, and loving it. That's passion. You don't have the passion for accounting, if you did, she would've given you an A.
So I want to end a [inaudible 01:03:23] note, he told all the high schools, he says you know, all the high schools, "You got really smart boys, send them to Notre Dame and Harvard and Stanford.:" He said: "You got a bunch of B students, send then to all your state schools. But if you've got a D student, send them to the Bear in Alabama." And he'd take those D students because he knew ... Why were they D students? They weren't there to go to college.
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: There were there to play football. And he [inaudible 01:03:50] the guy. He actually wanted ... He didn't want the guy, he said: "Well I need to get back to the library."
Connie Jacox: Right.
Howard Farran: He wanted wanted the guys who said: "I hate the library, I want to just lift weights, and work out, and be like I'm in the NLF."
Thank you so much for coming on my show.
Connie Jacox: Thank you. Thank you.