Legacy by Design with Jenia Serebrin

0:01Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Marketing Made Simple. Today, we'll be breaking down Legacy by Design. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Jenia Serebrin into EO Fire Studios. Jenia is the founder and CEO of Serebrin Group LLC, an innovative accounting and tax mentoring firm based in LA. She is known as the tax-saving game changer for her unique ability to turn financial frustration into clarity and empowerment. In her best-selling book, Legacy by Design, which is all about how to shift your mindset on taxes and build your legacy.

0:38She shares her ABC blueprints, a transformative approach that makes taxes and finances not only manageable, but empowering. In today's foundation, we will talk about that ABC blueprint. We'll talk about legacy by design. We'll talk about not feeling overwhelmed by bookkeeping and audit fears, overcoming scarcity and limiting beliefs, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Genia and our sponsors. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business startups, and entrepreneurship.

1:19A recent episode discussing the billion-dollar health secret with the founder and CEO of Whoop is a must-listen. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Over 41 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform. Download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning for free at netsuite.com slash fire. Genia, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? Hello, Fire Nation. Well, this is something that I truly believe about becoming successful that I bet that most people disagree with, and it's the following.

2:09I believe that numbers are easy and taxes are fun. And I really stress and focus on the line that says taxes are fun. The reason for that, and let's just think about it for a second. Einstein said, your life is going to turn out the way depending on how you answer the question. Is it a friendly or is it a hostile universe? And based on that, I choose to believe that numbers are so easy, especially for entrepreneurs and taxes are the privilege of being in business. And when you have that mindset, you are unstoppable. And I believe that if you decide and make that choice that you're going to do whatever it takes, especially for your business, and that means get a hold on your finances and that get ready for taxes, you can create such an amazing legacy for yourself, for your community, for your children, and for the generations to come.

3:10Fire Nation, that's why today we're talking about legacy by design, because guess what? You can design your legacy and we're going to help you get there. But I first want to start off by being honest. Zhenya, the title of Tax Saving Game Changer is pretty impressive. How the heck did you earn this title and what does it mean to you? It is impressive. I agree with you. Well, first of all, when I started my career in accounting and taxes, I would help my friends and I would help my clients to prepare their tax returns. And all of them would come back to me And they would say, Zhenia, you saved my life.

3:47I am looking at the taxes differently right now. You are my tax girl. So for a while, I've been your tax girl. And I've been carrying this title proudly until one day I was getting ready for the interview with my dear friend and mentor, Forbes Riley, the queen of pitch. And having spent some time with me, she looked at me before introducing me for her talk show. she looked at me and said, you know, Zhenya, you're so much more than the tax girl. What I've learned about you and the mission you are on, which is inspire and empower women entrepreneurs specifically to change their mindset on taxes, I think you are a game changer.

4:32And you know what, you are the tax saving game changer. And John, that landed for me so deeply internally. internally, and just because of this little line that my friend gave, it kind of like opened up, it opened up so much more internally inside of me. We are changing a lot of things for our children, for ourselves, for our communities as business owners, and it's time to embrace this. So when I'm saying that I'm known as the tax saving game changer, I mean it. My job and my mission to literally show you guys how awesome the taxes, the numbers could be if you utilize them properly, if you set your mindset, that would help you grow your business versus something that you would say taxes are evil, IRS and all that stuff that drags you down.

5:27So I am the tax saving game changer. And I am on a mission to create that amazing future, not just for myself, for my kids, for my family, but for all my clients who are standing up as the game changers in their lives and creating the legacy by design, which is the most fun. So Fire Nation, I really hope you're understanding that you need to create the world around you that you want to live in. I mean, this is your legacy by design. This is a key word. And it's also the title of your book, Xenia. So I wanted to really talk about the inspiration that led you to write this book. Such a good question.

6:12First of all, Legacy by Design, you know, like anyone, we always want to write that book. You know, we were sitting and it's like, okay, this is the time to write the book. And one day it hit me. It's time if I am really that game changer for myself, for my family, It's time for me to start doing something that's bigger, that is more vulnerable, that's more open, that's more brave and bold. And that's how the idea to actually write that book started. Legacy by Design, How to Shift Your Mindset on Taxes and Build Your Legacy. This is not just a book, and it's not specifically about taxes, if you guys are concerned about this.

6:54is my personal journey, how at the age of 14, I was asked the most important question in everyone's life. If you are not familiar with my story and my background, I grew up in Russia. So I was raised in the USSR with everything that entails, gets together with us. So at the age of 14, I was asked a question by my cousin. She said, Zhenia, when you grow up, what do you want to do? What do you want in your life? And I thought for a second and I said, you know what? I want to learn English and I want to live somewhere else. 10 years later, after making that the most important decision in my life, I landed at LAX.

7:45And then when I wrote that book, I looked back at every milestone in my life, I realized every time I made that decision, life changed and I got it. So I have four sisters. I'm the second one, right? So in my life, and if you guys can relate to that, when you're the second, you always get compared to the first one. And my sister is amazing. She's smart. She's beautiful. She's everything. So I got to be faster, right? So when I came to this country. And when I looked at everything, it was like, okay, so I'm here. I don't know also if I mentioned somewhere, I had a huge language barrier, so I couldn't speak.

8:31Just like maybe I comparing that for you guys, my favorite entrepreneurs, you're so scared of taxes, right? That fear, that burden on your shoulders, I can relate to this. Not only I was scared to speak, the only person I would speak was my husband back then. And one day I'm sitting in my room and I realized that if I don't change something, I'm not going to get anywhere. And that was again, my decision and moment to change my thinking on, I need to speak up. There are so many words in my head. I've been studying English for so long. So I decided, okay, I'm going to start small. And John, you wouldn't believe that I started with SpongeBob and Seinfeld and Desperate Housewives.

9:18And then I grew up, right? And so many things changed just because I made a decision. When I wrote that book, the whole idea of this book, in my opinion, behind it is just like there are so many things that are going on around us that we have no control over. However, the only thing we can control is our thoughts and that produce feelings that move us to take some actions and then the result, right? So just like with my sister, she was smarter, I was faster. I realized that if I think different thoughts, I would feel much better. Let's say my universe was always happy. so I would feel better the actions would be amazing and the results would be mind-blowing so I'm inviting you guys to just for a second stop pause leave everything that you're doing right now and decide that this universe is a friendly universe that taxes are a privilege of being in business and that's the only thing you get to do is just to know the rules right the rules.

10:33If there are rules, that could be a game. And if it's a game, games are usually easy and fun. And if you can kind of rub up your brain around it, you can say, okay, so there are rules. Rules are the same for everybody. I can play this game. It's not a rocket science. So decide that for your business, you can design that legacy and you can live it as well. I want to double click on that one point, Fire Nation, that guess what? Paying taxes, man, it may be hard to say and hard to swallow, but at the end of the day, it is a privilege because what is happening? Your business is making money. You are profitable.

11:12You are generating revenue. You're not paying taxes if you're losing money because you're only paying taxes on the money that you are actually making. So listen, now we have to find a way to speak with people like Xenia and learn from her and others so that we can minimize what the taxes that we're paying but don't have a negative attitude around that. And we're going to have a lot more conversations around this and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're a marketer, then you know what it's like to feel like you're moving in a hundred different directions at any given time, like you're spread too thin.

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14:25They can even help with design and styling. So if you've got an extended trip coming up and need a little help hosting while you're away, you could hire a co-host to do the work for you. Find a co-host at airbnb.com slash host. Jenny, we're back and I want to talk about the ABC blueprints. I love steps. I love processes. I love protocols. I love blueprints. How does it help entrepreneurs to achieve financial freedom if they follow this blueprint? I'm with you on that. There should be a procedure, there should be a protocol and steps. So Legacy Body Design book talks about the ABC blueprint that I developed and it's available for everyone and it's super simple like A, B and C.

15:12A stands for getting accountable with your accounting. Accountability guys is the key. First of all, imagine for a second you have clean financials. You understand the financials and by the way guys, as business owners you don't need to go deep into nitty-gritty of that. As long as you get a bigger picture and you can always zoom in and look inside, let's say if you have QuickBooks online, you can go inside and see what's inside of that specific account, you're fine. So being accountable, it's just having that step when you have the system in place, you know that year after year, financials don't change.

15:56They are the same today, tomorrow, and the day after. Ability to manage that, to keep track of it, gives you a very good idea of what happened, what actions you took, and this is the result. Numbers are so neutral, and it has nothing. It's not personal. So what if we just for a second look at it as this? Two plus two is four, and that's it. There is nothing wrong with you if it's two plus two is four. It has nothing wrong with you. So decide one day that you get to take a hold of your finances, that you would look at them. For example, in my boot camp, 90-day boot camp, I teach entrepreneurs, it's just like loving your finances.

16:44You look at your income and you're like, oh my God, I'm so cool. I just earned some money. I provided services. I made someone's life easier. And then when you look at your expense area, right, expenses and categories and all that, you can see how much you paid for received services provided to you. So you have the economy, you have the businesses around you, right? So when you have that lens and mindset around it, you can look at your finances and be happy and proud and excited. So that stands for A. Then the next letter is B. Once you have your financials in place, you can be prepared for taxes.

17:28Guys, taxes don't happen all of a sudden. There is a schedule, right? It's like March 15th for corporations, April 15th for individuals, and there are extensions. So you can put that on a schedule and you can get ready. The most important part is you're ready because your financials are ready, right? You submit it to the tax people. For some of you, it might be unheard of, but we tax preparers, CPAs, and everybody who is in the tax world, we get excited for you knowing that you got a hold of your finances. You have everything ready so we can do our part. We can get creative in terms of like, okay, for us, taxes are a puzzle.

18:14We can play the puzzle. And if you submit your financials on time, we can make things happen in terms of within the law, advice you to the best of our abilities to make sure that you pay the amount of tax that you owe for not a penny more. Right. And then like, John, I so agree with you. If you're paying taxes, that means your business generates some income. You're making a difference. Right. It's fascinating when you look at it from the funds point of view, from the puzzle point of view. And from the point of view, I don't know if you guys have heard Jim Rohn was talking about taxes. When you pay taxes, you feed the golden goose that gives you the golden eggs.

18:57So when you support the economies around you, you are making a difference. So imagine waking up and saying, like, I paid my taxes. I filed my tax returns. Can you feel this power, this excitement? And that brings me to C in my blueprint. C stands for change. Once your numbers are ready and you're so confident, once you file the tax return, you're waking up in the middle of the night, usually in sweat, and realize that everything is done. You're good. And who knows what you're going to, you could have done to your, you know, significant one in this moment, being so excited, right? And your children can see that.

19:42they can feel the change that you're no longer saying, oh my God, IRS is grubbing everything. You are the one who is going to be that game changer, breaking the generational curse and teaching your kids to be responsible, to be accountable, and to be that game changer and legacy builder in their lives as well. Fire Nation, so many takeaways from this blueprint. Thank you for breaking that down for us, Jenia. And I did want to speak about women entrepreneurs specifically because you focus on helping women entrepreneurs overcome scarcity mindsets and limiting beliefs around money. How do you do that?

20:23Nice questions. Well, first of all, I want to understand, guys, I've been there. When I moved to this country, I was lucky that my husband at that time, he has been through this rodeo, so it was not a big deal for him. However, when my family received that notice, my heart went down. I felt the burden. The feeling was so bad, and I felt it. So since that moment, and since my dad also raised me and all my sisters in a way, if you don't understand something, figure it out. Do not let anything or anyone keep you in this unknown state. And that's why I'm bringing all the ladies that we are as mothers and as business owners, we gave birth to this baby.

21:14And this is our responsibility to figure out that, okay, so I have literally two options, be scared how to handle this baby, or to do some research, find somebody who can help me and get out of this mindset that it's not going to work, right? So So step number one, just freeze. You are amazing. You are already winning because you started your business. Step number two is make a choice. Are we growing this baby healthy and amazing and wonderful and making a difference? Or are we keeping this baby, and I always refer that in business, in dirty diapers, meaning like disregard bookkeeping, forget about taxes.

21:59And John, statistically, 100 % businesses fail if they don't take control of the finances and if they don't file the tax return. So for women, ladies, you are amazing. You're mothers. You're the creators of your legacies. It's time to step up and choose the thought to think, right? This is where it gets so much fun because literally no control over anything. We can't control our competition if we think there is a competition. We can't control the government. We can't control anything. The only thing we can control is our thoughts and then actions. And actions, if we apply the blueprint, ABC, it's going to take us to the next level that you can only dream of.

22:47I love that message to mothers of creating their own legacy. And I would actually add to that, mothers are also creating future legacies. their children. And so be that example, you know, be that shining light. I know that Kate is doing that for our son, Beau, every single day, and I love seeing that. So I just wanted to add that little part to that, Genia. And I would also love for you to share this now, because I know a lot of individuals, entrepreneurs are listening to this, and they want to learn more from you. They want to connect with you. They want to take that next step. So what is your call to action for Fire nation today?

23:22Listen, guys, it's time for you to make that decision. Where are you going? Are you building the legacy? Or are you killing that legacy that's only in your imagination? And I'm inviting you all, just entertain the idea that it's a friendly universe. Entertain the idea that taxes could be fun if you choose, right? Grab my book. You can find it at legacybydesignbook.com. And there is amazing bonuses for you guys. If you use the code FIRENATION, you can get an amazing access to the Money Mindset online course and so many more. Wednesday, 9, every Wednesday, 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, we have the office hours.

24:12Come talk to me. I can tell you something that you might be thinking about, but you weren't sure about. However, the second you make that decision, everything is going to change into your life. So I'm inviting you all, decide you're going to be that legacy builder. Grab the book, Legacy by Design. You can find it on Amazon. Or if you would like to know more what my community and what our team is doing, legacybydesignbook.com, just join us. Let's create something amazing. Let's stop this idea that taxes are so much to handle. It gets to be fun, right? And we get to learn the rules. And I always say that, you know, nobody goes to play poker without learning the rules.

25:01And the only difference between being in business and playing poker, that in both, you need to know the rules to win and only in poker, you need to keep that poker face. Fire Nation, life is a game. Let's have some fun while we're here. And man, thank you, Xenia, for everything that you shared because we're the average of the five people we spend the most time with. And Fire Nation, you've been hanging out with JS and JLD today, so keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. and just type Genia in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And hey, for anybody who's curious about how you spell that, well, I'll just say that it's J-E-N-I-A.

25:43Pretty simple, so let's go. Genia, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. You're welcome, John. Everybody, let's go. It's time for us to build the legacy and it's our choice. Let's do it. hey fire nation a huge thank you to our sponsors and jenny for sponsoring today's episode and fire nation successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals that's why i created the freedom journal to guide you and accomplishing your number one goal in a hundred days and we're talking step by step visit the freedom journal.com and i'll catch you there or on the flip side success story hosted by scott d clary is brought to you by the hubspot podcast network the audio destination for business professionals.

26:29Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship. A recent episode discussing the billion-dollar health secret with the founder and CEO of Whoop is a must-listen. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Over 41 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, The number one cloud ERP bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at netsuite.com slash fire.