Dashboard: Zip It And Do Your Job!

[Music] welcome to another 21 hats dashboard I'm Lauren Feldman I'm here with Jean Marks to talk about issues we think business owners should be following this week welcome Jean Happy Thanksgiving week Happy Thanksgiving week great to have you here yeah what are you doing for Thanksgiving Lauren I'm hanging out with family here not traveling I I love Thanksgiving I hate traveling over Thanksgiving yeah how about you yeah it's the first it's the first Thanksgiving in a couple years that's like relatively normal you know right um because and all of that so uh whenever I talk to people I think that they're well we're not going completely normal but yeah well yeah I mean in all respect to families I'm sure there's never completely normal but it is nice to have like something back with you know um you know you know like you all the family back around again without all those concerns absolutely that's good new absolutely with some of those concerns in our case some of okay uh as usual Jean you've been writing about stuff that matters to business owners uh including a a recent piece that's I would say it's kind of a warning to employees that it's time to get to work let me quote you you wrote enough with the Quiet quitting stop doing your side gig on your side gig on your employer time scale back your work from home demands reconsider that big push to unionize your office don't criticize your company on social media wear the uniform come to work on time be available when needed go the extra mile make the extra effort work the extra hours zip it do it and do it now why because if you don't do these things you're going to be the first to lose your job and sooner than you think amen who wrote that that guy's a Genus it's well written it's well written she did you do you think your own employees needed to hear that message no actually I don't think they did because you have a different culture uh I know we're going to talk about you know Eli musk at some point but uh you know different companies of different cultures my company is a culture where people know who I am and what I'm about and you know uh you know what what I expect from people and I expect them to do everything that you just read uh you know out there uh there is uh listen we've gone through quite a few years right now of employees sort of rolling the roost and calling the shots and uh I know for a fact because I go to clients and I've been traveling around and talking to people working at companies and they're getting a little nudgy there because they're hearing and seeing layoffs all over the place that's starting with construction and financial services in Tech and uh you know there are a lot of big brands that are uh starting to prep for some layoffs as well this is the time to cut the fat and I know for a fact Lauren that a lot of the big companies that I work with clients and whatnot there are some great people that worked there and there are people that really are just along for the ride and um they're the first ones are going to go so you know it is it is time if you are an employee to zip it and do your job and put your head down work hard you're being compensated just fine I am sure you're able to work from home plenty enough just do your [ __ ] job otherwise uh you are you're really going to potentially find yourself in trouble over the next few months as uh employers are looking to lay people off it's it's it's happening right now you know as as much as I love to argue with you I I I can't fault you for any of the specific things you're suggesting I mean if you're supposed to wear a uniform you should wear the uniform um if you if it's important that you be there on time you should be there on time these things are non-negotiable yep I guess I would question you about the tone a little bit I think it I I I'm not sure you know I'm gonna tell you something that's funny that you said that I was talking with a company today that wants me they're a software company and they they hired me to write a short piece about their uh encouraging their clients their customers to move to the cloud right because they're still using like a lot of this softare that's like on their desktop right and I'm like okay well I just before we go further you're okay with me having a bit of a tone because it's tough maybe it's tough love but when I hear companies you know C you know companies are still not embracing the cloud at this point I feel like shaking them and smacking them across the face and I feel it's the same way with employees listen I said this I gave the same lecture to my kids as well you know Lauren like listen It's just tough love like guys you you you you've made a this doesn't sound like tough love to me it sounds like tough something else employees have made a lot of gains over the past you know number of years they're you know workplace never is it going to be perfect but workplace conditions are pretty darn good compensation levels are pretty darn good you know there are a lot of Bad Bosses out there there are you know I I don't know if a lot or not if you're not happy with your boss then you know that's another situation you're going to have to deal with I was about to say change jobs but that's not going to be such an easy thing to do nowadays as companies are laying people off um I guess my point it's just my point is that um you know it's time to stop with all the demands and and it's time to do your job to do what your Pap because if you really want to succeed in your career and you really want to get ahead and you really want to make money um the best way to do it is to deliver what you say you're going to deliver um and do it in a in a professional respectful way um and if you're not doing that you're you're you're G to be gone that's just that's just what's going to happen I'm all in favor of people behaving in a professional way I I do worry about you encouraging owners to I don't know to to to be as angry as you sound in this and I'm not surprised that you don't feel that your employees need this message um and I think a lot of business owners who would read this um might feel the same way you know for one thing I'm not clearly we may be heading into recession and things have changed and employees do not have the leverage today that they did three four five months ago but it's not going all the way back to the way it was I don't think I mean we we're going to come through this recession there's still there was a labor shortage before uh we hit the pandemic the labor shortage may hang around especially in certain industries employees are still going to have some leverage and I think employers have to be aware of that yeah but Lauren what are you saying I mean you saying don't do a good job don't show up to work on time is that what you're saying I'm saying don't tell your employees to zip it and get back to work look let's talk about quiet quitting wait so so we should tell our employees don't you know keep complaining and don't do work is is that what you're saying I mean I don't no no let's talk about quiet quitting I mean that's I don't know how anybody can defend you know getting paid not to do a job and I'm certainly not here to do that but they're different definitions of quiet quitting what what are you referring to when you use the term well quiet quitting is what I've written about before and you kind of defined it pretty well it's people that are are doing the bare minimum if that to get by while still collecting a paycheck and looking for other opportunities um I think the best example of quiet quitting is the fact that over the past three years there been almost 15 million new startup applications filed uh the grand majority by all those work from home employees that were so busy in the office that don't seem to be as busy working from home you know anymore um so they're doing side gigs during the during the day there are there are stories all over the Internet about employees that are like patting themselves in the back because they're collecting a paycheck while at the same time starting their own business and doing work on their employer's time that's like you know quietly quitting because they're not telling their employers are doing that and they act as if their employers don't know or aren't going to figure this out they they know employers aren't idiots do you think they don't yeah I do I think I think smart employers can figure out if somebody's being productive or not or not working up to the level that they should be and if you think you're getting away with something you're not and you're gonna get I think some people are taking advantage of working remotely to you know keep up enough work so that they're not uh found out by their employers while doing the side gig that's that's different from just if you're not doing the job you're just not doing the job and that's that's not going to fly um for long anyway yeah but you know you know what I always think about with the implo it it you my clients are like small and mid-size businesses and I can I can say to every single one of them the owners of those businesses are desperate for somebody that will work in their company that has skin in the game that will that that could be their future manager their future successor to their company you know they're they're always like they you business owners themselves constantly feel like they're on their own they they're dealing with all the pressures they're looking for people to really share the burden with them and and and you know and grow with them and succeed with them and you know there these people seem to be so few and far between and there's so many opportunities to do that if you work for a smaller company um if you have the right attitude great work you going above Beyond you know you're spending the extra time showing up to work on time staying late getting your work done above your job description I mean that's what successful people do you know so you don't want to be successful do the opposite you'll get fired agreed I guess I think I think the nub of where I disagree a little bit is how do you get employees to do that and I think you know I'll tell you offering you can't telling them to zip it and get back to work I don't think is the way you get them to go above and beyond and think of their current employer as a place where they can build a career you are right there are some people in this world that you could put a gun against their head and they're just going to do what they're going to do you know uh maybe for me as an outsider that's I'm not I'm not the people reading my stuff are you know I'm not their boss so instead of their boss having to be the bad guy let me be the bad guy let me tell the reader if you're reading this and you're a [ __ ] employee you're going to lose your job so maybe it won't come across the same way if your employer is telling you this but I'm telling you this do a better job work harder go the extra mile wear the uniform stop with the Quiet quitting you know I mean if you do that you will be appreciated by your employer or big or small and you will succeed unless you don't want to succeed if you don't want to succeed then you know fair enough well it's not a question of not wanting to succeed it it may be that they don't see it as a calling it's like they they want to put in their hours they want to do what's expected but it's it's not what they want to build their life around and that can work in certain situations that you know that's one definition of quiet quitting where someone is actually meeting expectations but not exceeding them okay and that and I think in in certain circumstances that can work that's that that's enough for for some owners some bosses not for all yep I mean I think as a as an owner of a business with with 10 employees I'm not expecting any my you know my employees don't have to be Superstars you know Rising above and beyond and you know and carrying all the weight but I I don't know my expectation is that they will do at the very least their job responsibilities and hopefully a little bit more than that so yeah but that's up to the employ to decide all right so somewhat along these lines what did you think of Elon musk's hardcore ultimate uh it's seems to me to be somewhat in the ballpark of what you're saying he told his employees in an email if you're not ready to be extremely hardcore you should resign thoughts so first of all Elon Musk is a genius um yeah and we know he's not from this planet by now um he is also on the Spectrum uh you so whatever his his delivery is the way he behaves he's not a very he's a socially awkward person uh you know sleeps in his friend's couch you know he's so you know he his his the way that he is making changes at Twitter is being done very publicly he's seeming he's having a great time doing it you know on Twitter he like having a ball um I wouldn't recommend that I mean I don't you know he he's having a great time doing it and he's maybe or he's putting up a front yeah maybe but he seems like he's having a good time doing it and and you know I I I just if you're going to make changes at a company um and change the culture and and all of that um you know most good competent CEOs will do that in their own way without it being you know completely displayed in public for the world to see and criticize that's the first point second point is though is that he's doing nothing different than what I my own s when I left I was at KPMG for nine years and then I left and I became a controller at a at a publicly ELD company outside of Philly right and I inherited an accounting staff of five people and the guy that left they loved him um and he was just a personality than me um so I you just I won't go into any more details than that um and within a year four of the five accounting staff had been replaced right I mean you know they just that's not uncommon when a new manager comes on board a sales manager an HR Manager they take over a team it is it is not uncommon to say okay there's a new sheriff in town and this is the way that I run my game and you know you're either with me or you're without me I think this is a pretty extreme example of that at Twitter it's just a bigger example it's just a bigger not bigger extreme um it's a bigger example it's bigger but so he it's extreme because he's doing it publicly we know about this because he's fighting this out in the media you know you know when he comes and he says this is the way it's going to be that could have been all internal without the media knowing about it he could have done it over a longer period of time but in the end you know it's it's the ends that deserve the you know you the means deserves the end he is trying to do those employees that do not want to be on his train a favor by giving them a chance to get out and get three months Severance and by the way um there's reported you know throughout the weekend that you know hundreds of employees are you know are taking him up on that and have left Twitter all right well he you know Twitter is close to 8,000 employees so if he's going to shed 10% of his Workforce to cut the fat and have the people remaining with them that are I think he already did that well he is so this is what's remaining he is he is wants to make sure that the people that are going to be part of his team going forward are going to be aligned with the kind of culture and vision that he wants his company privately held to have and you know this is this is what he's asking of his people and like I said I think he's doing his employees a favor because he's telling them in advance this is what my expectations are if you don't want to be part of this leave and and the employees themselves are doing him a favor by leaving so they don't have to quietly quit or or you know give him headaches because they're not performing the way they need to perform so again I don't think is doing anything different than anybody that takes over a team does he's just doing it publicly and in the media eye right now and he seems like he's having a ball doing it but that's why we all know about it interesting all right uh let me just ask you this you're pretty active on Twitter are you thinking about changing your Twitter habits at all I'm so excited about Twitter I can't wait till he makes the changes um I have a blue check after my name if he's going to charge me eight bucks a month I have no problem doing that whatsoever I have I have like 110,000 followers Lauren and I am sure I I can guarantee you half of them are bots so my my expectation is it's going to cut everybody's followers down to actual real followers um and I think he's going to restore credibility to the platform I like what he's going to do with it going forward and his plan is to make it into a WeChat like they have in China I mean it's going to be a payments platform um a communication and a collaboration platform he's got big plans for it uh remember this the guy that he you know he started his business career with p he found that you know you know and he had a whole model built around for PayPal to do just what what he's planning on doing right now with Twitter so I think it's very exciting what he is gonna do and um I'm looking forward to it Twitter is a hot mess up until now it's terrible well that is an interesting perspective on Twitter um I appreciate you're sharing it and we'll probably come back to that at some point oh yeah well Twitter's going to be a big part of my business and it's a big part of a lot of people's businesses so it will be uh you know this this conversation impacts a lot of small businesses so well that's an interesting point um do you have a lot of your clients on Twitter no uh that most of my clients are B2B people that are they've got better things to do than be tweeting during the day you know so what were you referring to in terms of businesses who are active on Twitter a lot of Freelancers a lot of people in the media you know I mean that are themselves business owners a lot of people in public relations a lot of people in certain service firms you know people Financial professionals there are plenty of individuals and business besides Brands themselves that use Twitter you know as a way to communicate and collaborate and get their message out so um so it does impact a lot of businesses not my clients per se because of the nature that they are um but a lot of other businesses it does impact I see well I do use Twitter I I've never been a Twitter Basher I feel like I use it to get information and there are smart ways to do that and if you use them it can be an extremely useful tool uh I hope it sticks around and I hope it does improve along the lines of of what you're suggesting I I haven't seen a lot of evidence of that that's where it's headed yet but but you could be right and I hope you are yeah Lauren it's been a couple of weeks and you fa meing was written on MSNBC so let's just you know let everybody calm down like let's give the man like a year or two to do what he's got to do it's not going to happen overnight for goodness sake I would just like to see some positive steps but uh okay you'll see them last topic CNBC recently warned that business owners face a potential tax nightmare that they may not realize is coming it's related to if they took uh advantage of some pandemic related changes that allow them to defer Social Security payments what do business owners need to know about this yeah so if you took ad and I did not have a many clients that that did take advantage of this but during the the very outside of the pandemic when the original uh uh now escaping me the name of the first big you know pandemic bill with PPP and everything came out um it was there was one of the provisions was that that it allowed business owners to defer their employer taxes they could defer like 50% of them to the end of 2021 and then the other 50% of them to the end of 2022 it's like a financing move so you know the IRS is basically listen we know you owe these employer taxes but you don't have to pay them now because there's a pandemic going on so you can keep the cash and use it for other purposes and it was like an interest free loan for a couple years well the second half of that payment is coming too on January 3rd so if you took part of that program and you back in 2020 didn't pay you know half of your payroll taxes you know one for a quarter or two um don't forget that that money is still owed and and that bill is coming due on January 3rd um you and I were talking before we went started recording this you know most business owners aren't unfamiliar with the fact that tax payments are you are due in January there's a final estimated payment uh for almost final uh for 20 you know 22 will be made in January um and that you know if you're a business owner it's likely you've got some kind of pass through company that you know you know an S corporation or LLC so you're probably making an estimated tax payment in January anywhere that's separate from you know this payroll tax deferral so you might be gearing up to make that tax payment in January as usual and then you also owe these payroll taxes as well if you if you chose to defer them back in 2020 any other last minute tax tips on your mind I have a couple that I I thought I would share and I'm going to be doing a few of these things in the media over the next month but um wash sales of stock guys if you're individual uh if you want to if you know like everybody all of our stocks have gone down this year if if you sell your stock at a loss you can offset it against any gains from stocks that you sell and if you have an additional 3,000 in loss you can actually offset it against your ordinary income too so in a down year um that's a good you know that's a good thing to do if you really like a stock like Amazon is down but I you know I like Amazon I mean I want to hold on to my stock I could sell it and take that loss and then and then wait 30 days and then just buy the stock again and I'm in compliance with the IRS rules it's called a wash sale of stock otherwise and that way um I get that that loss benefit and then get back into the stock after 30 days uh you know I don't know if the Stock's going to go up so much in the next 30 days so that's number one and then the second advice that I have for a lot of people is um if you have a regular Ira like a retirement savings account you might want to consider converting that to a Roth IRA this year when you cast out of your regular Ira you are going to owe taxes but because stock values are down you know you'll owe less taxes than you might have owed a year or two ago so cash out put it into a raw IRA and then when it grows and going forward you won't pay any taxes on the growth so it's kind of like you're you know you're buying low and selling high as it is from a tax perspective and that's a good move that you can make this year if you if you're eligible does that make sense that does make sense um I guess typically the thought is with an IRA is that when you withdraw the money later in life you're less likely to have a lot of income and you're going to pay less taxes on it than anyway but this is a way to do even better than that correct even better because uh you know you pay the taxes now and then again you know because the asset values have gone down and then it can uh as it goes up hopefully the markets will recover and go out that's what markets usually do and uh you won't pay any taxes on that whole recovery which is good one final thing on the tax side Lauren um I'm seeing a lot of clients do sale leasebacks as well because even though you know real estate you know not had a pretty tough year property values are still up a lot and um I'm so I'm seeing some of my clients cash out of their properties and then you know sell it to a a corporation or an individual that then turns around and gives them a long-term lease so they're still in the building but they can you know get cash out of their out of their property while you know asset vies are still you know relatively higher um and then um then when you pay the lease payment you a full tax deduction for doing that so that's another another thing to consider interesting all right G marks is a CPA everybody everybody's asleep at this point right we lost them all no I don't think so let's go back to arguing about employees employees and taxes are topics that keep people awake for sure uh Gan marks is a CPA who writes weekly on small business for the guardian the hill the Philadelphia chir the Washington Times Forbes and entrepreneur you can also hear them on ABC radio's eye on the world with John Bachelor Jean host two small business podcasts with paychecks Corporation and the Hartford thank you Jean have a great Thanksgiving week and we will talk again soon although not this coming uh week will be the Monday after Thanksgiving we will be taking a break sounds good sounds good okay everybody have a Happy Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving everybody [Music]