Tell us a little bit about your founding story, why did you decide to become a dermatologist?
Dr. Mudgil:
It's kind of a convoluted story, but when I started med school, I actually wanted to be an obstetrician. I wanted to deliver babies. Part of it, I hate to say it was inspired by watching the Cosby Show as a kid. It's almost embarrassing to say now. But it just seemed like an exciting field and something that I really wanted to do. But coming from a family of doctors that was sort of steered against it because it's a tough life to have when you want to have a family and it's a really hard lifestyle being on call and all that sort of stuff. So my family encouraged me to choose another profession, something that would be more conducive to family life and just sort of a normal schedule. And there's an acronym in medical school called the ROAD. And ROAD stands for radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and dermatology. I had no idea what I wanted to do, to be honest with you, but between my second and third year of med school, I took a year off and I did skin cancer research and that kind of sealed the deal for me, and the rest is history.
How did you hear about Bookkeeper360?
Dr. Mudgil:
I had dinner with a friend of mine, who's a very successful entrepreneur. And just kind of talking to him about some of the stuff, some of my goals. I really was at a turning point in my life. Like, what do I want to do? I was 42 and I was thinking to myself what do I want to do for the next 40 years of my life? And that's what we were talking about some of the stuff somewhat some just sort of life issues. I was just talking about some little issues I was having in the office because I wasn't in the offices as much and little things were kind of falling through the cracks, nothing significant. Everything was basically fine and objectively looking from the outside in, everything was great, but there was still little details that were getting missed.
Dr. Mudgil:
One of the things that he suggested to me was you should really consider outsourcing some of the things that are done in the office and to be honest I've never really been thinking about it, but he introduced me to Bookkeeper and said, I've been working with these guys and they've been great. You should talk to them and see if maybe they can help your business out and it was good advice. As my business started to grow, my accountant who was doing all my bookkeeping started to kind of get things started slipping through the cracks. And I realized that I needed some sort of more sophisticated way to keep track of the money and where it was being out here and how it's being spent. I had numerous leases for lasers or my mortgages for my buildings and consolidating rent. And there were a lot of factors that were going into development for the tax returns every year. We'll throw in a business tax return and my personal tax return.
How did you manage your finances and bookkeeping before Bookkeeper360?
Dr. Mudgil:
So I actually started using my accountants. I was paying them, they had an in-house bookkeeper. I had switched accounts at that point to a bigger one for him just to handle things because my business had grown and I was using my accountant's bookkeeper, but it ended up becoming a very cumbersome process using them. And I also learned you kind of learn by doing things, especially when you're a small business owner. I learned that my bookkeeping really should be separate from my accounting, which just sort of adds an extra layer of eyes. And just sort of putting the reports together that you then present to your accountant. So it's sort of a check and balance in the way the finance of the practice works.
How has Bookkeeper360 helped you as a business owner run and manage your business?
Dr. Mudgil:
So, I mean, Bookkeeper360 basically provided a window into my business that I never even knew I needed or had. So it's, we talk every month and we kind of say, okay, this is where you were at 2018, 2019, this is where we're at in 2020, particularly during this time with the pandemic and basically having to shut down my business operations for a quarter, essentially the year, even though I was still working, we actually never physically closed down. We were taking care of patients the whole time, but it was not at the level that typically I had been and really keeping track of every dollar was very, very important at that point. And it's kind of times like that where you realize the importance of having a team, especially a team like a financial team.
When things are great and there's money coming in and money going out, you don't really think about it, because everything is flush and everything is solvent. But when times get tough is when you realize that you really need to have a really strong grasp of your finances and what the expectations are in the last quarter, because the third quarter was basically a wash for everyone this year. So it helped me plan and plan how we're going to come out of the height of the pandemic and hit the ground running, which is what we're doing now and Bookkeeper was a big part of that.
How has Bookkeeper360 helped save you time as a business owner? What do you do with the time added back into your day?
Dr. Mudgil:
Well, I have a two o'clock tea time today. So I would be playing some golf instead of looking at my books. Once you have a good team that you trust and you know is keeping track of the ins and outs on your credit cards and all of the, again, like lease payments and your mortgage payments and you're just managing the flow of income in and out of your practice. my practice or whatever your business may be, it's a huge burden that's relieved. I used to actually look at… I mean I still look at my bank accounts every single day because I'm OCD, but I'm looking at them just kind of say, okay just get a general sense of what's going on, knowing that my team at Bookkeeper is going to really break it down with me when I speak with them every month.
Dr. Mudgil:
And then we really kind of go through every credit card charge, how it should be allocated. Was it a business expense? Was it a personal expense? Managing marketing strategies and how much dollars we're going to allocate to that. So I know what to expect every month when I have that conversation with my bookkeeping team. And it really, I mean, it just relieves a lot of stress and time actually worrying about the flow of dollars through my office.
When did you decide you needed CFO advisory? How has CFO advisory helped you as a business owner?
Dr. Mudgil:
So I never knew I needed a CFO, to be honest with you. And I'm going to the things that my buddy was speaking about earlier, who was the entrepreneur side, he asked me, he's like, "Who's the CFO of your business?" I was basically everything. There's a book called the E-Myth Revisited, which is one of the books that I read way back when I was starting this personal journey of mine back in 2017. And basically in the book, he allocates different roles. The person that's designated in each role, the CFO, the COO, all of the various business positions. And initially when you have your own business, you're fulfilling every single one of those roles. But the truth is I have no idea what a CFO actually does and it's just really helpful.
Dr. Mudgil:
And Terry, when I was speaking with Terry, who's the CEO might've sort of virtual, but real CFO initially we were speaking every month and just so he could get a grasp of the flow of my practice, my ANR, which was very important, which is something that I've really got a better handle on with Terry to keeping an eye on things. And then I realized that I actually didn't need a CFO every single month because month to month, things were pretty much the same.
Dr. Mudgil:
So I check in with Terry once a quarter, or if I have a question he's always available. If I need to just pick his brain if I'm making a decision or thinking about buying something or investing in something, I'll run it by Terry just to see what his thoughts are. He's been very helpful with navigating the PPP and the EIDL loans and how we're going to pay all that stuff back and how those funds are going to be allocated. So it's something I don't have to worry about knowing that I have someone who knows about it.