Mama Bear Money Management with Erin Reece

Erin Reece: Part of the Aught community is that we are collaboration over competition, right? So let's, let's all embody that a little more and remember that the person who's being treated as a cog is still a person.

Chris Hill: Welcome to We Built this brand, the podcast where we talk to the creators and collaborators behind brands, and provide you with practical insights that you can use in growing your own business.

Today we're talking with Erin Reece. The founder of Bear Financial Solutions. Her company is a cloud based outsourced accounting firm with a focus on the business owner, as well as the business. As you'll see in this interview, Erin really does think about the business owner first. We talk a lot about how she got the business started and how her brand came to be.

We also do a deep dive into the challenges with financial anxiety and where having someone like Bear Financial Solutions can be a huge help to entrepreneurs. Also, just before we dive in, just a quick reminder to go ahead and hit that follow button on your podcast player or subscribe on YouTube to make sure you're kept up to date on the latest episodes.

So, without further ado, here's my conversation with Erin Reece of Bear Financial Services.

Well, welcome everybody. Erin, it is a pleasure to have you with us today.

Erin Reece: Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Chris Hill: Yeah. I'm here today to talk to you about your company, Bear Financial Solutions.

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: And I'm really just excited to learn more about what you do, what you provide. And honestly, I'm really curious about the branding, the motif, the design, everything that you've done there.

So let's just dive into it. Tell me, tell me where you got your start.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Back in 2019, I was just saying before we started recording that this is, as we're recording this, it's May in 2024, so we are celebrating five years in business this year.

Chris Hill: Woo-hoo!

Erin Reece: So in May of 2019, I was sitting at my kitchen table panicking about going to work on Monday.

I had sort of surpassed the "Sunday Scaries" to I was physically ill. Getting ready to go to work on Mondays. And I worked from home, so it's silly even saying it, but my work environment was just so unhealthy. And I just, I was like, I have to do something different. So I sat at my kitchen table, my husband and I, and we, uh, we formed an LLC and, and here we are today.

And so it really was born out of necessity, but I saw an opportunity to build something that was healthier for myself and for my clients.

Chris Hill: Yeah, I can, I can understand. I mean, part of how I got into entrepreneurship was working for other people and being like, I don't want to do this anymore. This is making me sick.

It's making me tired. It's stressing me out. So yeah, it's good that you recognize that and we're able to take that next step.

Erin Reece: Yeah. And my, my daughter at the time was young and we didn't even have the twins, but it was like, I knew I was missing out on so much with her. And like I said, even though it was working from home, I was still working 60+ hours a week.

It just was, yeah, it was a lot. And I knew, I just, I knew it was not sustainable.

Chris Hill: Yeah. And you were an accountant at the time, is that right?

Erin Reece: Right. In the industry of accounting, there's some understanding that your right of passage comes from paying your dues in the early years of accounting. So you will work.

You know, if you, if you work in public accounting, you will work 70, 80 hours a week in busy season. Not only will you work those long hours, but that is just the, the, like, minimum, like that is the expectation. There is no discussion about work life balance period for young accountants and in the industry, in the accounting industry in particular, there's a lot of discussions now where we are seeing as an industry, we're hurting people.

Incoming accountants, we are harming the current CPAs and accountants that we have in industry. We've really got to do better. So I'm grateful to be part of that part of the story that we are, we're creating environments where we can do work that we love because accountants oftentimes are very passionate about their work, but it's not killing us in the process.

Chris Hill: Yeah. I, one of my early internships in college, even though I was a marketing major, was at an accounting firm and I was helping with their marketing department and things. And I remember it being like hazing almost what the new people went through. And I was like, well, I don't think I want to be an accountant.

I'm glad I chose marketing.

Erin Reece: Yeah. It's not, it's not an attractive field for sure. Particularly not for women. So.

Chris Hill: What really got me interested in accounting, just from a business side though, was taking some financial reporting classes and stuff. And I realized, Oh, this is what accounting does. This is where it's fun, so...

Erin Reece: Yep! Yep!

Chris Hill: There are some cool things.

Erin Reece: You know, there's like, people are like, "Oh, the bookkeeping. That's like not the sexiest part of accounting. I want to read my P&L. I want to read my balance sheet." Well, okay, but you have to do some of these other things to, to produce those like charts and graphs and things we'd love to look at.

There's some foundational work we have to do to get there. So, but that is for me, that's the fun part. That's why I like, I like to produce the statements.

Chris Hill: Yeah, yeah. It's fun to be able to look at and to have deeper understanding of your business at the same time.

Erin Reece: Yeah, and it's, it's one of those things. I think it's a learned practice, right?

So you don't love it at first. In fact, in the beginning a lot of people hate it.

Chris Hill: Yeah.

Erin Reece: Like, "I don't want to I don't want to look at my statements every month." But you learn and you get better and it starts to be something you enjoy.

Chris Hill: Even to this day I still have anxiety sometimes looking at the bank account and going through my finances because it's just, it's nerve wracking. It's like well, do I have what I need in there?

You know you do intellectually, but there's just always that fear. Something's gone wrong. You hadn't expected something. So yeah, learning, learning to make it more of a habit to be better financial stuff is something I'm on a personal quest for just outside of even this conversation.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Yeah. Always. We should, we're always in progress.

Chris Hill: Yeah, absolutely. We are.

So Bear Financial Services. So you started the business, you created the LLC, I assume bear financial services. Was that the name when you started the company?

Erin Reece: So, originally the company was called Bear Accounting and Financial Solutions.

Chris Hill: Okay.

Erin Reece: In 2022, I dropped accounting from the name for a couple reasons, but I knew I was going to move out of tax practice.

And when people hear accountant, they think, "That person could do my taxes." And that coupled with just our other offerings, we just do so much, and I felt like accounting was really siloing us. And again, associating it with the accounting industry as a whole hurt the brand because, because we see it that way.

It was hard for me to hire. I couldn't find good talent because I was like, I, I don't want them to think they're coming into a hard, you know, a hard, public accounting environment.

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: So I dropped it, I dropped accounting from the name, but the, but there, so when my husband and I started working on the, the name, we were, I sat down to form the LLC, and I was like, what should we call it?

And my husband and I, before we were married, our initials were E-B-A-R. When we moved and had all of our boxes and things, we had multiple things in the house, uh, that were, that were coming to our new house and some of the things that were going to stay. So, so everything that was ours said Bear on it, because those were, you know, our initials at the time.

That's kind of where the name started from. And then, you know, it just became as, especially because I'm a mom, I have three girls. And so I kind of have taken on this very mama bear persona as a business owner and it's just really stuck. And I, yeah, I love it. I'm, I, I mean, obviously I can't look into the future, but I, I can't imagine that I would ever change it.

It's really become part of how we show up, and of course, this is kind of how people, how they recognize us now.

Chris Hill: Yeah. Well, what I like about it is it's not just a, I mean, it's very personal, which I like, I like that there's that very personal touch to it, but it's also like, it's East Tennessee without being East Tennessee.

Erin Reece: Yeah, exactly.

Chris Hill: You know what I'm saying?

Erin Reece: Well, and that is the other thing too, is that it, yes, of course, like the Black Bear, right? Like we're in Tennessee. We love the Smoky Mountains. And then the other thing was, you know, accounting, accounting firms, legal firms, typically you see the owner's last names.

Every accounting firm, every legal firm you know of, it's, it's the partner's last names, and I knew I was not doing that. You know, I was not going to put my last name on it. Because that would, again, moving away from that traditional model. Uh, but you're right. It is very East Tennessee without being East Tennessee, but it is very personal and does incorporate our family's names.

So, I love that.

Chris Hill: Yeah. Yeah. And then, so the design itself for the logo and the branding, like I'm, I'm also a big fan of that. And I just want to know how that came to be because like, When I see the logo, it's for those who haven't seen it yet. Although if you're listening or watching, you've probably seen some graphics.

It is a bear. It's a cute bear with glasses on that look exactly like yours.

Erin Reece: Yes. Yeah. Originally I, so when we started and I had to have a logo, like right away, I bought one on Fiverr. I just got like a, it was just, I'll, I'll have to show it to you so you can show it, but it's a, I'll be sharing it a lot now as I talk about our journey to five years, but it was just, you know, simple.

Very basic. Had a, it had a bare outline and it said bear on it, but it was like not. And so probably, I guess it was two years in, I started thinking like, I really want to decide what the branding is going to look like. And it was, the original branding was pretty masculine, very straight lines, very dark colors.

Uh, and I was like, I'm not really sure if I like this. I actually sat down with Victory at The Social Brand and I kind of told her, I didn't even have an idea. I had no idea what I wanted to look like. I just, I just thought maybe I wanted more. I wanted it to be a little more feminine. And she came back to me originally with some amazing, these like, she just really envisioned this like hand drawn, illustrated kind of bear, uh, persona. And it just, I mean, it was so cute. So the first one that she, the first kind of iteration that she sent me, we sort of modeled it after the Charmin bear, you know, from the toilet paper? The mom, the mom bear, because the, the first bear kind of image that she and I worked on together was really round in the face and like, just, it almost did have like a masculine, so I sent her a picture of the mom Charmin bear and it was pull her face in give her this more feminine look.

So, I mean, we spent some time and she had, you know, she just did a great job capturing the sort of whimsical idea that I had for this. That was like, I want people to take it seriously, but I want it to have this kind of feminine flair. And it obviously, like, it just says, home run, it's perfect. You know, again, something I can't imagine I would ever change.

Chris Hill: That's really cool. So you mentioned being your fifth year.

Erin Reece: Yes.

Chris Hill: So what, what lessons have you learned along the way? I mean, this is, we built this brand.

Erin Reece: Yeah. So from a branding perspective, it has, I've learned a tremendous amount, you know, things like your fonts. Like you just, I just don't know that I ever thought, "This font is really going to matter." And it really does. And as a consumer of content, I recognize like when I see certain fonts, I can absolutely associate that font with a certain brand. So things like that, as we kind of went along, and we developed the current branding that we have with the flourishes and the, and the right fonts and things.

It was like all of a sudden it started to come together that people could associate us with these colors, with these fonts. Things I just never really thought about because I'm an accountant, right? I'm not a marketer.

Chris Hill: Right. Right.

Erin Reece: Um, and so I learned how to have more sticky associative branding that I had. I just, that is just not anything I knew anything about.

You know, and I had, somewhere along the journey, we just, I had to make a change. We had orig- in the beginning days, I was really in an effort to protect my business. And we talked about this just briefly, but early on, when I started my business, I got sued.

Chris Hill: Oh.

Erin Reece: And that was the least fun thing I've ever done.

But in the beginning, because that was happening, I, I really felt like I needed to lay low. I was trying to just like get through it. I, I was very hesitant to even have any type of branding cause I almost didn't I didn't even want to be associated with. Like I was just trying to figure out my way through that.

And that took three years. And so...

Chris Hill: Golly.

Erin Reece: You know, it was like for a long time, I just was like, I don't even want to learn anything about branding. I just, you know, I just need to insulate this, but as I sort of got past the fear of that and moved through it and did things, it started to be something where I would go to the Women in Entrepreneurship Networking Group and, and I wouldn't necessarily know everyone there, but they would see my cup or my name badge and they'd be like, "Oh!

Oh, that's that Bear girl!" You know, like they started to, and I thought, "Okay, well maybe this is like working," you know, this is kind of making sense how the branding incorporates the whole thing. And of course, we, we have been in business for five years. So like ask me the lessons I've learned. I could talk for days of all the lessons I have learned about how to, how to be in business and how to stay in business for five years.

There's definitely some, some learning curves, uh, at every level, at every step, I would say.

Chris Hill: What would you say are some of those top things you've learned in the last five years about your business?

Erin Reece: Yeah. I mean, the first thing is I would say I always wanted to start my organization and run my organization as a people first organization.

So whether that's client facing or internal with my employees, like that's just what I am about. And even as a practitioner, when I'm working with someone, I really, really, I want to see them as a whole person and their business as an extension of them. In the beginning, it was like I had come from a corporate environment.

So, I would say my beginning stages, I ran it like that, even though I wanted to do differently, that's what I knew. But I learned how to slow down. I learned how to do it better. You know, our tagline in business is that, "We help businesses build healthy financial foundations". So if I'm not, I really have over multiple iterations of the business, kind of taking it down to the foundation, where are we at today and how do we build it better? And I think that's something we as entrepreneurs do a lot. We have to look at the whole picture. We have to look at the foundation and the pieces. Is it, is it where we want it?

So I learned how to definitely do that over and over, a constant reiteration. And I think when I started, when I think about year one versus year five, I think when I would, if you had asked me in year one, "Where will you be at year five?" I obviously could, like, not be here. I would not say this is where I was at.

I would have thought. I, maybe because of just like the online world or whatever, but I would have thought by year five, I would have like 50 employees and I was running a multi million dollar business. And I think I had this idea that I was just going to like kick it off and go and it was going to be so successful.

And it's not that that's not the case, but it's, it's just, it's not like that. It's not how it looks when we look at someone's highlight reel of their business. And I, I of course, serve. clients who are entrepreneurs. So the more that I learned about other businesses as well as my own, I was like, yeah, this is not it.

You know, I'm looking at this, these things online and I'm either one, these people are lying or they're just super lucky, you know, but the people that I actually work with on a day to day basis who are building their businesses are in the trenches, learning the financial statements, learning how to, how to do it better, do it healthy.

And it's a process. Everything is a process. It's not just like all of a sudden you're good at it. And so I learned how to, I learned how to always be in progress.

Chris Hill: Yes.

And I think, I think that's a very important skill to, to learn is to be like, whatever I decide today doesn't mean it's going to be where I'm going to be in five years.

Erin Reece: Right. And I think, yes, you're right. You could, you could set goals for yourself say in January or set your goals for the year and you get to December and you're like, "I'm nowhere near. I thought I would be in January," but in reality it's just, it's, it's just going with the flow of the thing.

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: Let it be what it is and help it. The business has its own kind of persona. We help it along.

Chris Hill: Personally, in my business, I follow like the true North model. So I have this, I want this in 30 years for my business. How am I going to get there within the next year? And when it doesn't work, I go back and say, what didn't work and how can I improve?

So very, very true.

Erin Reece: I think it's, you know, the true North or, you know, a lot of people will say, "Are you rooted in your why statement? What is the purpose? What was the reason you came to this?" For me, it comes a lot from, uh, parental freedom, right? So I have three children who are young, and I don't want to miss. that. I don't want to miss them being young.

And that's, this is the constant struggle. "Are you a, are you a working parent?" "Are you a, are you a stay at home parent?" You know, like, "Are you, are you one or the other?" Can you not be both? My gosh. Um, you know, this is 2024, but it's like, okay, yes, I have my true north. I have my why that I'm always pointing to.

Well, I've gotten to this stage of my business and I don't know that this iteration of the business is pointing back to my "why." So then I go back to the drawing board, see where changes need to be made, and recenter on that why or the true north. You know, I'm heading in the direction I want to go

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: On a macro level.

Uh, even though along the way, of course, there's just movements.

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Yeah. Some things you can't control, like a global pandemic that comes along.

Erin Reece: Exactly, right?

Chris Hill: Right after you start your business.

Erin Reece: Right, right. I mean, that, yeah, 2020 was wild, right? And for us, it was, you know, Really, that was a thriving year for us because of course we were helping with PPP.

You know, some things that the IRS were doing needed interpretation. They needed content put out so people could understand. And we were all not understanding either. You know, it was just like constantly trying. So it's just a, it's always in progress. You know, we are, and our businesses are always in progress and learning.

Chris Hill: Absolutely.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: So you mentioned getting sued.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: And I think you wanted to talk about that, correct?

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Okay. Just making sure.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, obviously it is what it is. And obviously I'm very grateful today as, as we're recording this, we have just recently, the U.S. has banned non-compete

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: agreements in the United States for non, obviously non-executive level people.

And I'm so here for that, right? Like let's not prevent people from doing the thing that they're good at or that they. Or whatever. Let's not tell them they can't do it just because we want to hoard them for ourselves. So it really, especially, you know, in accounting, it's like this, and there are other industries, tech is a big one too, that's like this, where the people who do the functions of the, you know, I would even consider them like cogs in the wheel.

They're treated like cogs. Not only are they are people. Disposable, but also you can't do anything else. Like, we, we want the right to throw you away, but we don't want you to be able to make that choice on your own. No thank you. You know, like, no. Let's not keep people from doing the thing that they're good at.

And let's not tell them that they can't. Thrive in their environment, whatever that means. And of course we, we're, as we're recording this at the OTT location, part of the OTT community is that we are collaboration over competition, right? So let's, let's all embody that a little more. And remember that the person who's being treated as a cog is still a person.

Even if you're in a service based business where that is what brings your product to market, they're still humans, they're still people, and that just is, I'm grateful that the U.S. has decided that and that, you know, businesses moving forward are going to have to coalesce.

Chris Hill: Yeah. I mean, it'll definitely make a shift, I think, for some businesses that have kept people for too long in tough environments that want to get out there and do other things.

Erin Reece: Well, and it's going to hopefully eliminate some of the fear that those employees

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: have of like, okay, well, if I go and try to do something else, even if they want to do like, even if they don't want to go out on their own as an entrepreneur, if they want to go work somewhere else, are they going to risk the pursuit of, of that? And where are they going to, are they going to risk their livelihood just to get out of a situation that's not good for them? You know, like, yeah, um, good job, good job. We're coming into the right era of getting rid of that.

Chris Hill: Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure the being sued part of it for you was probably a big challenge.

Like you mentioned, like the challenge of getting over that hurdle of like, "Oh gosh, I'm, I don't even know what I can do, what I can't say, like where I'm in trouble," and all that stuff.

Erin Reece: Yeah. And, and, you know, It's, it is what it is, uh, it is. It was lengthy and expensive. I essentially took on a massive expenditure for the business in the first three years that I wasn't planning on.

All of that is just like part of the challenge, but I will say as I sit here today, like I'm not grateful for the experience, but it has taught me some things and it actually has allowed me to serve my clients better. Having been through that, I think I have just a deeper empathy for some of the struggles that we, that we do, that we go through.

Chris Hill: Yeah, cause there are entrepreneurs out there that may decide to leave and be caught in some messy, like, gray area situation. Even though these non compete things are happening,

Erin Reece: Right.

Chris Hill: you still don't know how

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: all that's gonna shake out

Erin Reece: Right.

Chris Hill: at the state level.

Erin Reece: Right.

Chris Hill: And so there could be all kinds of interesting things

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: Still to play so,

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: it's good that you've had the experience with this.

Erin Reece: Yes.

Chris Hill: For better or worse.

Erin Reece: And maybe eventually I'll be grateful for it. That day is not today.

Chris Hill: Understood. Understood.

So you mentioned that was the first three years of your business. There was a lot going on at that time as well. You were growing. When was that moment of like validation in the business where you were like, yes, this is a real thing.

It's not just something I'm doing until I find another job.

Erin Reece: I'm really glad that you asked that. I'm going to share an example and the person I'm going to talk about, I, she knows I'm going to share this story, but I'm I had a client who had a tax emergency. The first time I ever spoke to this person was like on April 14th.

She was panicking. She had, she needed her taxes done, you know, like the next day it was, it was a thing and, and mutual connection of ours. Gave her my phone number. She called me and I remember talking to her like while I was doing laundry and stuff. I was like, okay, we'll get this figured out. We'll get it figured out tomorrow.

And I had an opportunity within that same week to sit down with her and talk, and she sat down across from me and she said, "I overdrafted my bank account today, and I've never told anyone that before." And she, of course, you know started to cry as she was sitting with me and I think in that moment I was like "Okay, this is like what I was born to do."

To allow this space for this person to have this very normal human feeling that's going on, particularly around finances, and give them an opportunity to, to work through it and, and like thrive. So I think for me, That seems like a, really? That's the story? Um, but it was, I think, I always knew from a very young age I wanted to be an accountant.

Like, which is a silly thing to say too, but I always knew I was going to work in finance, always. And I never wavered from that. Like, I was like, this is what I'm doing. I did a budget project in the seventh grade and that, that was it for me. My, my teacher was like, "I think you would like to be an accountant."

I was like, "Great, that's what I'm going to do." And here we are today. So having all of that knowing, and knowing my whole young adult life, my adult life, like, I'm gonna be an accountant is what I'm doing and never really wavering from that, and knowing that I was so passionate about that side, that's a very left brain thing.

Numbers, black and white, very, very like factual things I get to deal with on a regular basis. All the spreadsheets, stuff I really thrive in. But I found as I started working with more clients, like there was also this really human piece of all of that. There is this finance, there is this black and white, very emotionless part.

Alongside of that is the human being who has to create that, and so I found in my business growth, once that happened, I was like, "Okay, maybe this is like my thing." Maybe I can help people with not only their spreadsheets and their finance, but maybe I can help them emotionally be healthy with this too.

Chris Hill: Yeah.

Erin Reece: That's where we are today.

That led me down the path that I am on, which is to financial therapy. So this is an offering, we're just offering, for the first time this year, in 2024. Officially. I think unofficially I've been offering financial therapy for a long time. But, uh, officially I am working on the certification to become a certified financial therapist

Chris Hill: Oh that's a thing?

Erin Reece: that specializes... it's a thing.

Absolutely.

Chris Hill: Okay.

Erin Reece: It's a thing. And it has a title, like it's a thing. Mm-Hmm. ,

Chris Hill: Wow.

Erin Reece: You know, I'm working on that credential, but, uh, it, it really is... People who are like, "Oh, I don't have financial abuse and trauma." You probably do. Even if it's not, it's almost like everyone, everyone, everywhere has trauma of some kind, you know, there's not like anyone who's exempt from it.

Cause

Chris Hill: Right.

Erin Reece: that's a human condition. Financially we do, and especially entrepreneurs, right? Like we live and breathe by it because we have to make it work. And. You're often running parallels. Your, your, your life and your business finances are both happening. And so how we bring that on onto one platform and do it well and do it healthy is like, this is my thing.

So, I think that that moment was a real turning point for me when I realized I probably could bring both of these things together. I think I knew, even when I was in public accounting, I was like, something is just missing here. We're just not This is just not whole. Um, and so as that happened, and of course, I've had such a, and I, this is something I say all the time in all of my content, but I'm always so, so grateful when someone sits down with me and says something like that, or trusts me with that kind of information of I, I can't, I'm not sure what to do now, but here's how I feel.

And so I've had such a, it's been such a pleasure. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have those moments with other entrepreneurs who just, they just want to do it better, but they don't know how. And the first step is just, I just got to say something out loud. So I love to serve as that place for them.

And I think that's when it started to really click for me. Like this is, there's not only a need for this, but this is like something I can bring into the market really well.

Chris Hill: I, that, I mean, to me, that makes a lot of sense. Cause I feel like a lot of times the people I run my mouth to the most are my bookkeepers.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Hill: They're like, "What's the story behind this purchase? Why did you do this?" And I feel like I have to give an explanation for it.

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: Obviously when things are tight, there's the conversation around, "Hey, can you help me?" Like,

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Make sure I got enough money for this

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: or that.

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: And like, yeah, I mean it's all, I have so many thoughts going through my head because even down to like the core level of financial management of

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: like, you know, one of the number one reasons for divorce in America

Erin Reece: Yep.

Chris Hill: is money.

Erin Reece: Yeah

Chris Hill: So yeah, we all have a very interesting relationship with money that I

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: don't think we address quite often.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: So.

Erin Reece: I mean, yes, it's, it is. Yes, whether you think you do or you don't, you have a relationship with money that is healthy or unhealthy. And you might not even know that it's unhealthy. You know, sometimes it shows up in behaviors like compulsive spending and you're like, "Oh, well, I have money so I'm not compulsive spending."

You are. It's just that you have money so you think it's not a big deal, but in reality, there's still some probably underlying thing here with the spending. Um, and you know, in business it shows up all kinds of ways, but if someone is anxious about sitting down with their P&L once a month in the beginning, you know, it's a very, like, we just have to take one step at a time.

You and I are just going to sit down for 30 minutes and we're just going to talk about this. We're going to address what comes up, but we, this is important. We have to be able to move past this step to get to the next step. I think it's just. Accepting it for what it is and saying, okay, I'm going to address my relationship with money because my business can't survive if I don't.

And you know, you said, you mentioned marriages, you know, falling apart because of, of money, but businesses, same thing.

Chris Hill: Oh yeah.

Erin Reece: Many, many more than half of businesses will fail in their first five years. Uh, and a big, a big problem is, is finances.

Chris Hill: Yeah. Yeah. Someone gets greedy. Someone makes a mistake, overspends, all kinds of things.

Erin Reece: Yep. Yep.

Chris Hill: So yeah.

Erin Reece: There's definitely some issues, and, and you know, it's, it's like, a very special type of relationship, right? So you have your business finance relationship, you have your personal financial relationship, and they're not always the same. Learning how to, again, bring it whole, make it whole, and let it be instead of siloing it off as this thing you have to do.

Let it be part of the process.

Chris Hill: Yeah.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: And I think it speaks like to you as a business. I think it's really cool cause it brings that side of it that's not just the calculated mathematical side. It's also the, the mama bear.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Hill: in a way you're protecting your clients

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: or that maternal aspect

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Of like, I'm just trying to look out for you and take care of you too.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Hill: I think that's really cool.

Erin Reece: And that's just like, Me as a person and, and, you know, my staff, like this is something we really, as part of our culture. So we didn't talk about this before in the lessons, but one, um, you know, when I started my business, I had my core values and they were, we were going to be intentional, kind, excellent, and authentic.

Spells "IKEA," in case any of you are like into that kind of thing. I was really proud of it when I, when I put it all together. But then in 2023, I actually changed, uh, "intentional" to "purposeful." I found that intention wasn't it. It wasn't like, "Oh, I'm going to approach this client meeting with intention."

Nope. It's got to be with purpose. This is like, not just a plan and what we're doing, but what you were made to do. We show up in our client engagements like we were made to do it. Like my clients, it's, I am, I am an over helper. I'm like, I really care so deeply about what they're doing and what they're bringing to the world.

And, and I just can't, that's just like what I am as a person, and so I love that my brand has sort of embodied that as well. That this is just how we show up in this part of the market. That, that it's not just bookkeeping for us, right? It's not just these numbers or this. It is, it is all.

Chris Hill: I love it.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: I, I think, I think it's a really neat business model too.

I, I like what you're going for and

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: the more I'm learning about it here today, this is, this is really neat.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Great. Well, Erin, as always, at the end of a conversation, I love to ask this question. What is the brand that you're crushing on right now?

Erin Reece: Yeah, so I'm really, honestly, I'm really loving Stitch Fix right now.

I got this blazer there and all of my blazers and they're so soft and I just, they all, they come in all the right colors and it's just, I've just been really vibing with, with Stitch Fix lately. Yeah.

Chris Hill: Okay.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Okay. And that's a, I guess, obviously a clothing, clothing company.

Erin Reece: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Hill: I think I've heard the name.

Erin Reece: They have like, yeah, I think it's funny they call it a fix because you can, you get like a box.

And someone, a stylist, picks the pieces for you.

Chris Hill: Oh.

Erin Reece: And so then you get to choose. And then, so then once you have like a kind of a style profile, then you can go on and shop and like pick pieces. So I picked my blazers, but only because a stylist sent me my first blazer that I just love so much, I bought them all.

Chris Hill: So, did you actually have a consulting session with a stylist?

Erin Reece: So, no, it's all like on the app. Just fill out the questions and then yeah, the stylists, they, you don't have to meet with them. It's all like kind of generally like a surprise.

Chris Hill: Oh, cool.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Cool. So I guess I, do they do that for men too?

Erin Reece: They do.

Chris Hill: Okay.

Erin Reece: There's men and children.

Chris Hill: Okay. All right. Well, I will have to check that out then. That sounds really neat.

Erin Reece: Yeah.

Chris Hill: Awesome. Well, Erin, thank you so much for coming on today. Where can people find more about you? Where can people find more out about Bear Financial Solutions?

Erin Reece: Yep. Yeah, you can find us on Instagram.

We are at Bear Financial Solutions, and you can find us on our website, bear financial solutions.com. That is someplace you can find us, but we, we really hang out on Instagram. That's where we interact with our audience, so we'd love to, love to chat with you there.

Chris Hill: Alrighty. Well, Erin, thank you so much for your time.

Erin Reece: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Chris Hill: Alrighty. Thanks for checking out this episode of We Build This Brand. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe on your player of choice. You can also keep up with the podcasts on our website at WeBuildThisBrand.com. If you liked this episode, please give the podcast a five star review and make sure to tell all your friends so we can continue to build this brand.