Scholl & Company, LLP - April 2021

Scholl & Company, LLP - April 2021

YOUR FINANCIAL SUCCESS

APRIL 2021

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Regardless of whether you plan to sell your company or want to pass the torch to the next generation, we all wonder what our legacy will be when we finally retire. I know I’ve thought about that. I hope that when I finally close this chapter, what will be left behind is a company that continues to help other businesses thrive and grow. That process has already begun in some ways — even though I’m still committed today — because I want to guarantee that what we’ve built over the years at Scholl & Company has longevity. I often equate what we do to raising children. We typically meet business owners when their companies are fledgling startups, stumbling into the industry. It’s exciting to watch them grow and mature — take some of those first steps, if you will — and we measure our company’s success by the success of those growing businesses. Part of our legacy is seeing their plans come to fruition, helping entrepreneurs live a lifestyle they dreamed about, and embedding continued success into the next generation. The other component is more personal. I believe our legacy is also built on the charity work we do in our community through Scholl Cares. This charitable effort is our way of giving back to the community that nurtured this firm when it was just a startup. My hope is that, as part of our success and legacy, Scholl & Company will continue to be known for giving back. SECURING YOUR LEGACY Plan for Your Company’s Next Chapter — To Protect What You Have Built

legacies and pass them on. Take generational businesses, for example: I would say that only about one-third of our clients are generational businesses or companies that have plans to pass the business on to the next generation after the first one retires. Unfortunately, we have run into an all-too-common issue when the founders want to retire but their children don’t want to take over the business. When plans aren’t put in place prior to the moment you want to retire, it can complicate your legacy and personal relationships. You must talk with your children or loved ones about the legacy and next era of your business, even if you’re far from saying farewell. A lot of issues or concerns can come up regarding obligations, loyalty, and assumptions, so it does help to have a third party involved in these discussions. Family therapists, trusted family friends, and others who can properly disseminate the situation can help you and your loved ones come to an agreeable solution for the next chapter in your business. Regardless of what the outcome of that conversation is, the best way to ensure your legacy is secure is to work on your business rather than in your business. How does your business serve clients, and are the expectations clear? Are your books up to date? Are you properly documenting your actions? All of that mundane “stuff” is vital to protecting your legacy past your tenure at your company. There will come a day when you are no longer the owner of your business. The question you need to ask yourself is if that day were tomorrow, would you be proud of your legacy?

Legacies change from industry to industry and business owner to business owner, but what’s vital is how we build those

BUSINESS IS GREAT AND WE'RE LOOKING FOR MORE.

We hope that you will keep us in mind if the opportunity arises to refer family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Thank you for your continued support.

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What You Can Do Today To Make Tax Season Easier Next Year

Continue your tax prep. Tax season may last from January to April, but that doesn’t mean you should stop thinking about your taxes. No one enjoys taxes, but those who spend the least amount of time doing them — with the fewest issues — address their tax plan multiple times each year. We encourage clients to consider their tax preparation throughout the year, just to ensure everything is moving in the right direction for your company. This is another vital component to examining your process, as mentioned in our first tip. If your process only begins when tax season does, then you’re missing out on crucial moments to make tax season easier on you and your team. Do some research. We are the experts. You come to us to help you manage your financial plan, systems, and tax filings, so we don’t expect you to know every nuanced detail of the tax laws in your state. That’s our job. However, you are the expert on your business. You’re our foremost trusted advisor on the goals and needs of your company, which means we need your take on the situation to understand how laws and regulations will impact you. Prepare for potential changes to tax codes and laws by learning more about proposals or new bills that are introduced in your local legislature and at the federal level. While we are the ones who can do the gritty research for you, having a basic level of understanding will make any changes that could take effect next year more palatable for you. As the experts, we’re here to support you in your tax journey — whatever that looks like. If we can help your team prepare for next year, examine your process, do additional research, or improve anything else related to your tax filing system, please contact us today.

As we near what is traditionally Tax Day, we know that next year’s taxes are perhaps the furthest thing from your mind — but maybe that shouldn’t be the case. Our most-prepared and knowledgeable clients are continually planning for the future rather than waiting for deadlines. Our team of experts at Scholl & Company is dedicated to helping your team every tax season, and that includes helping you prepare months in advance. This year, do yourself a favor and begin thinking about your 2022 filing. What could you do now to make next season easier than ever?

Examine your process. Was everything properly updated, or did you have to scramble? Were your forms submitted on time? Did everyone involved in the process understand their roles? Did anyone slow the process down? In what ways could you have been more prepared? What went well? These questions — and many others — are important to ask yourself the minute your taxes are filed for 2020. We’re willing to bet that this year’s process was more chaotic than in years past, but if there are consistent problems, inefficiencies, and barriers that prevented this tax season from being anything but smooth, you should examine why, then improve the process. The only way to ensure that 2022 is not met with the same frustrations as this year is to learn from experience. That starts once your close the books on 2020.

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EXPERT ADVICE FROM A PLASTERER TURNED

BUSINESSMAN JACK AIELLO RELIES ON SCHOLL & COMPANY AS HE PREPARES FOR RETIREMENT

when he discovered that he loved working hard with his hands, he decided to take all he had learned from his mentor and start his own business.

When Jack Aiello founded Aiello Plastering Inc. in 1987, he was a construction worker by nature — and a businessman because he had to be. Jack began working in the plastering business shortly after high school, and

Aiello Plastering provides custom and upscale interior and exterior plastering needs, backed by Jack’s experience and talent. Yet, even with all of that, Jack soon learned that knowing how to plaster well was only half of the job. “I was a plasterer. I was a hardworking young man not realizing that once you become a businessman, there is a truly hard learning curve,” Jack says. “If I could change anything going back ... I would have sought outside help.” Jack and Aiello Plastering sought help from Scholl & Company about eight years ago when Jack realized he needed assistance planning for the future of his business. He soon learned that he wasn’t the only member of his family who had come to rely on Scholl & Company’s knowledge and expertise. The Aiellos are a well-known family in Monterey, California, because of their ties to the business community. Like Jack, the Aiellos have worked with Scholl & Company for a number of professional and personal needs. Partnering with Scholl & Company proved to be worthwhile as Jack began his long transition out of the business to hand it off to his son, Bert Aiello. This wasn’t always the plan. Jack originally sent Bert to work with

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plasterers, so “he would get his butt to school.” But like father, like son. As Jack says, “Turns out, he likes it.”

For Jack, the prospect of passing on his leadership role of more than 30 years to his son comes with a litany of obligations and preparations to protect himself, the company, and Bert as he transitions into this new role. Today, Scholl & Company helps Aiello Plastering take the necessary steps to ensure that this is a smooth transition. Bert is working tirelessly, taking additional business classes, and immersing himself in everything that takes place behind the scenes at Aiello Plastering. With employees who are committed to their business (Jack says there are three employees who have collectively worked for the company for 90 years), thoughtful marketing strategies, and the support of Scholl & Company (to ensure the business continues to be scalable, transparent, and profitable), Jack says he’s hopeful for the future. “I WOULD ADVISE ANYONE STARTING OUT IN BUSINESS, HALFWAY THROUGH, OR ENDING THEIR BUSINESS — TALK TO SCHOLL & COMPANY. FROM THE VERY FIRST DAY TO THE LAST DAY, YOU NEED HELP. IT CHANGES EVERYTHING.”

“I’m very happy and excited about it,” Jack says. “It’s hard, but Bert has a good work ethic; he’s going to work hard. I want to put all our systems in place where he can manage it much easier than it has been for me … I think there’s a great future for it.” But if he could go back in time, there's one thing Jack would tell himself: Start with professional accounting advice from day one. “I think that if my son gets everything down right, he could expand this business,” Jack says. “I would advise anyone starting out in business, halfway through, or ending their business — talk to Scholl & Company. From the very first day to the last day, you need help. It changes everything.”

You can learn more about Aiello Plastering Inc. by calling them at 831-484-0739.

P.S. Our founder, Bret Scholl, may have an ulterior motive in helping Jack ready himself for retirement. “Jack and I — and our spouses — enjoy vacationing together,” Bret says. “He has to get himself retired at some point so we can get to some of these places!”

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How to Get From ‘Zero to One’ Create and Nurture Original Business Ideas

(which later became PayPal) and invested in startups like Facebook, SpaceX, Lyft, and Airbnb whose ideas were so novel at the start that they were perceived as risky by many. Throughout the book, Thiel shares his wealth of knowledge garnered from a long, successful career of recognizing and acting on original ideas. According to him, and anyone else who has ever tried creating something wholly unique, developing an original idea is no easy task. The difficulty of originality even led Mark Twain to once say “There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.” But in “Zero to One,” Thiel proves that coming up with original ideas is possible, and he provides readers with helpful tips and lessons for how to get there. One such lesson: Stop trying to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg because “if you’re copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.” Thiel uses his favorite interview question to try to identify original thinkers. These are the people who take their businesses from zero to one because they looked at past successes and thought, “I can do it differently, and I can do it better.” If you want to be in that group, then reading Thiel’s advice in “Zero to One” is a great place to start.

“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

That’s entrepreneur and author Peter Thiel’s favorite interview question. To Thiel, a person’s answer to that question provides insight into whether they’ll be able to find success as an entrepreneur. Ideally, if you can answer with something like “Most people believe in X, but the truth is the opposite of X,” then you’re well on your way from zero to one and creating an original business idea. That’s what Thiel explores in his book “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.”

“Zero to One” is all about coming up with and nurturing unique ideas, which are the foundation of game-changing businesses. As a co-founder and investor in a number of companies that have changed the business landscape, Thiel has some authority on this subject. He co-founded Cofinity HAVE A Laugh

More Than 100 Years of Nonalcoholic Beer

And Why It’s Making a Comeback

In the U.S., the 100-year history of nonalcoholic (NA) beer is closely linked to Prohibition and the adoption of the 18th Amendment in 1919. It was illegal to sell, transport, or consume alcoholic beverages, which were defined as any drink with more than 0.5% ABV, or alcohol by volume. Beer with less than 0.5% ABV was considered nonalcoholic and could be consumed, if not enjoyed, by teetotalers. That standard has informed a new and growing wave of NA beer in the U.S., which pulled in about $100 million in 2018. Sales of NA beer worldwide, however, is projected to jump to almost $6 billion by 2023. Millennials

drink less than their Gen Z and baby boomer counterparts, and periods of giving up booze, like Sober October and Dry January, are becoming more popular in general. If you want to see what all the buzz is about without getting buzzed, crack open an NA beer from your favorite local bottle shop.

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Inside This Edition

1.

Are You Proud of Your Legacy?

2. 3.

Prepare Today, Thank Yourself Next Year

Preparing for Retirement? We Can Help You Like We Are Helping Jack Aiello

5.

‘Zero to One’: A Book Review Nonalcoholic Beer, Then and Now

6.

How to Craft the Perfect Follow-Up Email

When it comes to securing leads, the follow-up email is hard to beat. One study found that a 12% response rate from two emails increases to 15%–16% with a third email. If you play your cards right, the success of your email marketing could, in large part, depend on your follow-up emails. So, how do you create ones that maximize positive responses from leads? Know your goals. You should have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish with your email campaign. Which metrics are most important to you? The number of times recipients open your follow- up email? That they click a link in the text? That they reply? Maybe tracking total conversions resulting from follow-up emails is important to you. Whatever the case, knowing your goals is a good first step. Find the ideal number of follow-ups. Obviously, not following up at all is a recipe for abandoning several potential leads. However, sending too many follow-ups can leave potential leads annoyed and unwilling to look into your business. According to several studies, the ideal number of follow-up emails is no less than three, but no more than seven. Time your follow-ups right. You don’t want to space your emails so far apart that leads forget about you, but you also don’t want to spam their Craft the Perfect Follow-Up Email The (Not So) Secret Recipe

email box so often that they get annoyed. A good rule of thumb is to wait at least 48 hours before sending a follow-up email after the initial email. After that, wait 2–4 days before sending another.

Craft appealing content.

This point is worth its own article, but briefly put, your follow- up email content is incredibly important. Create a subject line that will grab readers’ attention. Then, be polite, direct, friendly, and personable in each email. As you send out more follow-ups, become more specific about the deal you’re offering and make it more enticing. Above all, you should constantly tweak your follow-up content and overall strategy as you gain new information. As you continue to create follow-up emails, you’ll learn what works best.

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