Why keeping track of your expenses as a business owner is crucial with mil spouse and bookkeeper Megan

[00:00:00] Welcome to today's show. We're talking to Megan and Megan and I connected on Instagram because Megan is a bookkeeper.

[00:00:06] And if you don't follow her on Instagram it's numbers. By Megan, right? Is that your Instagram handle? 

[00:00:12] Okay. By Megan. Yeah. It's tricky. Cause it numbers underscore by underscore Megan. Oh, 

[00:00:18] underscores. Yeah. Those are important. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, I'll make sure that I link it in the show notes for sure.

[00:00:23] You need to follow her because she she's very good at putting out content and she does a lot of reels and they're funny. So that's how she caught my attention. I was like, Hey, who. Girl, that's kind of funny. And then it's like bookkeeping, bookkeeping. What, what do we need to know about bookkeeping?

[00:00:37] So I wanted to bring her on the show so we can kind of get to know her a little bit. And then we're gonna dig into bookkeeping. Why is it important? There's so many mill spouse entrepreneurs. What do we need to know?

[00:00:48] What things do we need to look out for? So without further ado, Megan, welcome to this show. I'm so happy to have you here. 

[00:00:54] Thank you so much for having me. 

[00:00:55] Yeah, for sure. Okay. So I always like to start off the interviews with kind of a, you know, a general, what does your military life look like so far? Like the moves and the, you know, just kind of like the big, like milestone things.

[00:01:08] Well, we've been in the military for 13 years. My husband and I were dating six months when he joined and he didn't tell me he was joining. But I would've talked him out of it. So I'm thankful that we've made the process. What we have. We are from the Pacific Northwest in Washington and our first base was in Arkansas.

[00:01:27] We are air force. And so it was the first time that we moved away from home. We were young, we were 21. And it was probably the best thing we could have done in the beginning of our marriage was to move. Okay. So we, he was in he was a maintainer for six years and worked on the C one 30 S then after Arkansas, we moved back to Washington to west Eastern, Eastern Washington.

[00:01:52] And he. Went into a new, we retrained into a new career field that had a pretty intense training process. The it's a six month training and the first six months he didn't quite finish mm-hmm so we had to repeat it again. And that was a, a trying time to understand if this is the path that we're supposed to do.

[00:02:11] Why are we here? And ultimately we decided there's a reason we're here. We need to try again. So he tried that next time made that next round of training mm-hmm and then we were in. Eastern Washington for five or six years. And then we moved again recently to Las Vegas. So we've only done three bases in those 13 years.

[00:02:34] This base is currently the busiest. I feel like he's gone a lot more. It's a lot more time commitment that he has to put in which it has it up and downs for the family. We have three little ones, so he's gone and I'm left to. Take care of the pieces, keep the kids going. It's a lot. But honestly, I I'm so thankful that he joined.

[00:02:57] Even if I would've talked him out of it 13 years ago I'm thankful he joined because the community that we've been able to meet people we would've never been connected with in this process, in this journey. And there's just something about military spouses that you just connect on a different level.

[00:03:13] Mm-hmm and I, would've never experienced that if we. Try. So, 

[00:03:17] yeah. That's awesome. . But I'm just curious. So I'm sure other people are curious too. Yeah. When he decided that he was gonna join you guys weren't married at the time you were just dating.

[00:03:26] Yeah. Yeah. Just dating. So what made him be like I'm, I'm just gonna do it and not tell you about it. Did he tell you what the reason was behind? He knew I 

[00:03:34] would talk him 

[00:03:34] out of it. Oh, okay. And is it, and is it, is he just like SU what made him be like, this is what I wanna do. I really wanna do this. 

[00:03:42] His older brother had joined like three months before and gotcha.

[00:03:45] He knew that he wanted to marry me at some point and he, he knew that we needed some kind of stability to do so. Sure. So he had tried a couple other things, but this just ultimately was the direction that we. 

[00:03:58] Yeah. I, I feel that a thousand percent cuz my, my husband was he was enlisted for four years and then he got out, used his GI bill to get his degree.

[00:04:09] And then he's like trying this and trying this and trying this and he's like, yeah, that doesn't feel right. No, that doesn't feel right. That doesn't feel right. And then. He ultimately ended up going back in because it was, you know, that stability, he already knew it. Yeah. It just, you know, it's, it's comfortable.

[00:04:23] I get that for sure. So when you guys, you said that so you're both from Pacific Northwest and like, did you see yourself, like when you were growing up, did you see yourself staying there? Like your whole life, like, is that something that you, you like, you just, I don't know. 

[00:04:36] I think if we had stayed there probably, but now I have zero desire to make that home base, like that's where our families are.

[00:04:45] Yeah. And we'll visit, but I don't desire to live there when we're done. Really. 

[00:04:51] Yeah. That's so interesting. Okay. Cool. And, and so where in the Pacific north, where were you guys at? Where did you grow up? We were cross water from Seattle. Okay. So you were on the peninsula. So kind of by like the sub base and everything right over in banger.

[00:05:06] Yeah. Yeah. Cuz that's where we were before we came here. Yeah. I think we were talking about that. We were investigating each other back and forth. Yeah. I, I can see that actually. Michael and I were just having a conversation the other night and and he said, That cuz we're ultimately gonna retire in Virginia.

[00:05:20] And the reason is, is because all of our family is in the greater Maryland area. Yeah. And we just wanna be close to family and seasons. Yeah. And like, you know, all that other stuff. But he said that he's really surprised that I didn't say I really wanna retire in the Pacific Northwest because yeah. I really liked it there a lot.

[00:05:37] Yeah. But there's, there's good. And, and I think that's how it is with any place you live. Right. There's good and bad about all of it. Yeah. Like the summer's there. You cannot like you, you just can't beat that. Mm-hmm like, it just can't be beat. And for me, I have discovered that, well, I love the ocean, but I also love being in the woods.

[00:05:56] And you get both of 'em there. Right? I mean, the water's right there, but you also have the, I just love being in the trees and just the, yeah, the shade and the quiet and the peace and the nature like that. Just. Feeds my soul so like, I, I get it really, really. Yeah. So I really, really like that. So then so back to you, sorry that , it's fun to share though sometimes.

[00:06:17] So you said that when you moved to Arkansas, what about that was like you, you know, like that kind of changed everything for you. What about that was changed for you? 

[00:06:26] Just that we had to depend on each other. We no longer had. Like we weren't in our, our comfort zone. We were, we didn't have our family close by.

[00:06:35] We didn't have any friends close by. All we had was each other. So we had to depend on each other and grow in a relationship that way. And I think if we had stayed, gotten married and stayed where we were, it just would've been a different story. You know, like I think we really needed that growth and that development time for our relationship to continue to where we are.

[00:06:56] Yeah, 

[00:06:57] I get that. I get that a hundred percent. So you said you have three young kids. Where did those kids happen along the way? Were those, did you have, did you start your family right away or did you wait a little while? 

[00:07:06] I had my first one, I was 25, so we were been married like almost four years.

[00:07:11] Okay. And she was born in Arkansas and then my next one was born in when I was 28 and I was in Eastern Washington. And then. In 2020, we had another one, so, okay, nice. They've kind of Yeah, just a little bit of gap in between each of them. Yeah. 

[00:07:30] That's not a bad thing. My girls are 14 months apart. oh, wow.

[00:07:35] So that's, that's a whole nother thing. That's like a, that's a whole nother B. So I think there's like, I, I think just like with anything there's pluses and minuses to both with giving yourself some time to kind of adapt and get used to something and then. You know, it's and I feel like when you have kids so close together, it's incredibly overwhelming.

[00:07:53] Yeah. But it's the same thing as being a military spouse is like, you just do it, like there's you just figure it out and you, right. Like you just make it happen. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I feel 

[00:08:01] like people ask me all the time, like, how do you do it? Like, how do you do three kids? I'm like, I don't have any choice not to.

[00:08:07] I do exactly. Like I can't just not take care of my kids. Hundred percent of your kids. Yes. Right. It's exhausting. Yes. It's tiring. Yes. I wish I had support sometimes, but right. What can you do? You can't do anything, but move forward and do what you can. Yeah. 

[00:08:24] A hundred percent. I love that. 

[00:08:26] Now that you're in. In Las Vegas, how do you like being in Vegas? I 

[00:08:31] love it. yeah, I, I requested sunshine and Palm trees. And even though this isn't the ocean, this is a very close second. So yeah. 

[00:08:41] Wells, what like a two hour drive away? Like you could be at the beach and fast that way. Yeah. Or no, maybe it's than two hours.

[00:08:48] Yeah, I was supposed say might be a little bit more. I'm never remembering correctly, but 

[00:08:52] it's OK. We've definitely made 

[00:08:53] the. Yeah. And do you guys live on post or do you live off base? We are currently on 

[00:08:59] base. 

[00:08:59] On base. Okay. And how is that for you? Have you lived on base everywhere? You've gone. Have you lived off base?

[00:09:04] What both? 

[00:09:05] So both. So our first year we lived, when we were in Arkansas, we lived on base. Because, you know, newly weds, new environment, all the new things. Sure. And then we bought property at all of our other places. Okay. And that's usually the route that we go. Okay. But this time we just felt like the base was where we should start.

[00:09:23] And we thought after a year we would move off, but we've kind of just gotten comfortable. And we have my daughter rides her bike to school and it's right around the corner. She comes home on her bike. Like I don't have to sit in the car pickup line. We have a community pool. Five minutes the other way.

[00:09:40] So we're just kind of in a, like a prime location, really nice house. So for now I think this is where we're gonna be. 

[00:09:47] It works. Yeah, for sure. I, I feel like we're, we've kind of been in the same boat. We've done both. I wanna say we've so we've moved significantly more than you guys have. So we've been, have we?

[00:09:59] Yeah, we've been in for 20 years and we've moved eight. Wow. And so I think we've only lived on base twice. Yeah. Only twice. So and I, and it just is kind of just the nature of the environment. And, and I think that. It just, you know, sometimes it just makes more sense to, to do that. Yeah. And then so for you guys, your husband is there on, on base too, right?

[00:10:22] So if he's got like a high op tempo and at work all the time, mm-hmm, , it's kind of nice, right. For him to be so close to home, right? Yeah. 

[00:10:29] Yeah. And actually he, he rides a bicycle to work, so really he. We lived off base. He wouldn't be able to ride his bike, so we'd have to have another car and all those pieces.

[00:10:40] Yeah. So it's just for now, it's just in the season that we're in, we feel like this is the right answer. 

[00:10:45] Yeah, for sure. I get that a hundred percent. Okay. So so let's talk about, so you guys have been in for 13 years, you've lived in a couple different places. You've got three young kids. So what has your career looked like?

[00:10:56] How has 

[00:10:57] that Evolv. Career as in air force or career as in me, no 

[00:11:00] career as in Megan career career, as in you. Yeah. So, so outside of like, I mean, did you, did you go to college? What did you go to school for? Like what did you see yourself doing? Where, where have I know there's pivots because there always, like where have the pivots come for you to land you where you are.

[00:11:18] Yeah. So I did go to school. I start was in school. I did community college and then I did one year at university and we got married. So then I finished at another university mm-hmm and I was going to school to be a teacher and just probably like a PE teacher elementary. And then as I was in the program, I was realizing.

[00:11:39] I like working with like a group of four to five kids, not a classroom mm-hmm and so I started to get like, overwhelmed and like, this is probably not the route for me. Mm-hmm and honestly, like if you had asked me then what do you wanna be? I would just say, I want my piece of paper to say that I finished school.

[00:11:54] Yeah. And I wanna be a mom. Those were my goals. Mm-hmm so I finished my degree. I worked at a bank until I had my first daughter and I had full intention. Well, I was going to go back and I didn't want to, but I was going to right. And then it finally like hit me. Like I wasn't looking for childcare. I wasn't, I really wanted to be home.

[00:12:18] And so after my maternity leave, I went in for two weeks to give them my two. Because it was right in vacation season and I just felt like I needed to not just disappear. Mm-hmm so I went and did those two weeks and then I've been a stay-at-home. Ever since mm-hmm I have tried a couple om, different companies.

[00:12:38] I feel like that's kinda what you do as a military spouse, a hundred percent. And I just didn't feel aligned with selling. It's just not, it's just not my nature. Like, I can show you items that I like, but I, I'm not gonna pressure you in any way. To buy from me. That's just not me. Yeah. Yeah. So I have always had this desire, numbers are my thing.

[00:13:01] I, I think everybody like has a special gift and numbers are just a gift that I feel like I have, they make sense to me. I like the story they tell, I always tell my husband gimme the numbers so I can understand what you're trying to tell me. Mm-hmm so in 2015, I actually used the, my CAA program.

[00:13:18] Yeah. That the military 

[00:13:19] offers. Oh, cool. I don't think I've talked to anybody. That's used that before. 

[00:13:22] Yeah. So it was just a, it was a small certificate program. Really easy to get access to once I got in mm-hmm and then you just take your courses and I got an accountant technician certification through that program.

[00:13:34] Mm-hmm and I wanted to do bookkeeping, but I've had a lot of like fears holding me back to like actually jump and do it. And then we've had kids and career shift and. life happens. Mm-hmm and I've helped family members and close friends. And then about a year ago, I just got that extra push. Like I had somebody come to me saying that they were ready to have a bookkeeper, but they wanted things like official legal, all that stuff.

[00:13:59] Mm-hmm , which makes sense. So I jumped and started my business last July, 2021. And then. February. I hired a coach to help me kind of keep pushing forward, which I feel like has been a huge confidence booster. Mm-hmm and I feel like I've grown a lot as a person, not just as a business owner now that I am a business owner.

[00:14:21] Mm-hmm so yeah, that's kind of where we are today. I've Just, I have a passion for numbers. I have a passion for putting them together. Mm-hmm I wanna help people to not be so scared when it comes to 

[00:14:31] numbers. Yeah. Cuz I think a lot of people have the tendency to just, Hey, put the blinders on, bury your head in the sand.

[00:14:38] And like it'll, we'll just keep paying our bills and like, you know, but just like kind of going through the motions, but not really understanding like where is your money going? And you know, all those things, which, and my making. 

[00:14:51] Yeah. Like, am I profiting? Like I'm putting all my time and effort. Am I actually gaining anything from this?

[00:14:58] Sure. Yeah. So what is the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant? 

[00:15:04] So an accountant has a, an accounting degree and a pass certification, big, big, long test process. Okay. That says they're legally an accountant. OK. A bookkeeper is kinda in between. OK. I do all the organizing and the preparing to hand it over to the CPA.

[00:15:21] Oh, okay. And generally CPAs, aren't gonna wanna get a messy set of stuff at tax time. They're very, very busy at tax time. They don't want this box. This tennis shoe box full of random things. Sure. And on their desk that that's just gonna get like prolonged and prolonged. Yeah. So I kind of like am that piece in the middle.

[00:15:43] I help business owners along the way every month know what's coming in, what's going out giving clear reports so that way they can see like, okay, this was a good month. Or maybe I need to adjust to fish just my goals this way, this month, because it didn't work this way. Mm-hmm . So I just, I kind of like that bridge in between that gap that helps keep you on track every month.

[00:16:06] Mm-hmm and prepared at tax time. So you're not stressed to like piece it all together or have a CPA try to piece it together. 

[00:16:13] Yeah. So I'm just curious to back up for just a second. Mm-hmm you said that a year ago you hired a coach. So did you hire a coach? Is it like, is it a business coach? Is it more of a personal coach?

[00:16:27] Like what, what does that look 

[00:16:28] like? She is a bookkeeping business coach. Oh, okay. She teaches how to become a bookkeeper and how to use your skills to gain clients. Okay. So she has a couple different programs. Yeah, it was just kind of like having somebody in my back pocket that I could ask the questions to.

[00:16:46] Yeah. Yeah. Cause there is a lot of, like, there is a lot of tricky tax laws that sure. I don't understand all the time. Sure. Cause I am not in the CPA world. But to have somebody just that I can confide in and ask, Hey, how do I do this? Or what do you do here has just been really helpful. 

[00:17:06] Yeah. So almost like a mentor.

[00:17:09] Yeah. Yeah. I think that's great. I wanted to touch on that because I feel like and, and I don't wanna like over generalize, but I feel like as military spouses, we're so used to getting it done, figuring it out, I'll make it work, whatever. And I think that giving yourself the permission to look for help and to, yeah.

[00:17:29] Right. And yeah. And so your business is so much different. after hiring a coach. Yeah. Like, do you feel like you're way further ahead now than you? Right. So I, yeah, I think that that is something that we should. Think about more is mm-hmm is looking for those mentors looking for that help hiring a coach, making that 

[00:17:49] investing in yourself.

[00:17:51] Yes, exactly. That's what I was just, yeah. Investing in yourself is just a huge thing. So I think that's a, a great golden nugget to take forward, for sure. Yeah. Okay. So then as a, so a lot of military spouses end up and, and End up in MLMs, right? End up in that entrepreneurial space because you're in those like, make it work moments.

[00:18:10] How can I make our lifestyle that we have right now work? And virtually is honestly the easiest thing for military spouses. So as a bookkeeper, what are some of the things that. Are there, are there, are there things that you see people struggling with kind of like, this is pretty common. Most people have don't understand this part of it or really struggle with this part of it, or is there any part of any of that like particular towards like mill spouse, entrepreneurs?

[00:18:36] I think just the biggest in general is not taking the time to look at your numbers. Okay. And to putting it off. So, one thing I like to encourage is to take 30 minutes outta your month, usually in the beginning of the month, cuz that's when your bank statement clears for the previous month and just look over your bank statement.

[00:18:54] And your business separate your business from your personal. So that would be another big one that a lot of people don't realize first separate your business and your personal accounts. And then take 30 minutes a month and just look at your bank statement, look, to see like, Hey, did, am I using all these subscriptions that I'm paying for?

[00:19:11] Are they worth it? Or are they just going check for any fraudulent charges? Any charges that you're just like, what is this, what did I pay for? Mm-hmm . Just taking that 30 minutes. It may seem like daunting and a lot, but 30 minutes you could actually tackle a lot and not be so overwhelmed. Mm-hmm by it.

[00:19:31] Mm-hmm so that's one thing. I try to encourage in the beginning of the month to just to look at your stuff in the last month, look what went well, what went didn't go well and make sure. Your money is in the right spot, you know, like, but working for you 

[00:19:45] mm-hmm so just on that, just on that, on that part of it.

[00:19:50] As if you are a new business owner, like I'm just starting a business mm-hmm you might not be making any money initially, right? Yeah. So then you just have stuff out. So I don't know that I would think to open. Like, so when you say you wanna separate your business from your personal, is that like open a business checking account, have a business credit card?

[00:20:11] Like what does that look like? And, and why? If you have a business that might take some time to get off the ground and you're really not making. Initially is that important? 

[00:20:22] So there's a few reasons there. Definitely. I recommend everybody separating your funds as soon as possible. Because when it's time to like put your taxes together or to outsource to a bookkeeper, if you hand over your statements that have everything mixed together, it's gonna take a lot longer to process.

[00:20:40] And to go through and shift and say like, oh, this is personal, this is business. So it's just good to separate it and treat. If you have this desire that your, for your business treat it as a business from the first day, don't treat it as a hobby. Like if you're going into it, that you want this business open a business checking account.

[00:20:59] If you just, if you want a credit card, great open a credit card too, for those bigger expenses. I think it helps shift the mindset a little bit. Like I'm going through this to do this for fun. And maybe you do that for a little while, and then you realize like, this is actually something I really wanna do.

[00:21:14] Maybe that's the time to make that shift to the business checking account. Mm-hmm I understand there are some circumstances where maybe. Keeping in the personal, just as long as you're keeping track of things really well. But I do, I suggest like open that business checking account, just take it seriously and keep everything organized.

[00:21:32] Have all your transactions come in and out of there. Link up your however you're receiving payments to mm-hmm to come into their, that way. When it is tax time, if you don't have a bookkeeper, like you can at least know everything is in one. Yeah. Instead of like fishing and piecing it all together.

[00:21:51] Yeah, I think that, that that's really smart too. In if you are in that newer place in your business, where you're, you, you know, you got some sales coming in here or there, or you have started whatever, a membership or, you know, just kind of keeping track of like, Am I am I profitable? Right? Like how much am I spending on all of these little things, all these subscriptions, and then how much am I making?

[00:22:18] Is this actually like, am I making a profit? And what does that look like? Yeah, I think that that's, I think that that's a big deal. And then I think that's really smart too, because a lot of times, like, you'll. You'll join something or you'll be like, yeah, this is, and then you forget about it. Yeah. And then, and you're getting these bright, you're getting these charges.

[00:22:36] And then if you're, if it's all mixed in and jumbled in with all your personal stuff, you might not notice this, you know, $9 thing that's hitting every month, you know? Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:22:44] It's and it's only $9. What's the big deal. It's only $12. And then all of a sudden, all you're spending monthly more than you're making, because you're not keeping track of all of.

[00:22:54] Right. 

[00:22:55] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's definitely a big deal for sure. So if so if someone wants to work with you, what does that look like? 

[00:23:02] So I have a few different options. First. I wanna just mention if you are newer in business and you're like, I know the importance of having a bookkeeper, but I'm just now feel like I'm financially ready to do so.

[00:23:14] Mm-hmm I do have a bookkeeping template through Google sheets. Mm-hmm and you can go in and that's where you can keep all of your. Income for the month income expenses and then see a, kind of an estimated net profit. And that is only $27. Okay. So that's, that's a great place to start if you're small in business, but you know, the importance of keeping track mm-hmm I offer a check in service.

[00:23:38] So like, if you feel like you're doing great and you want to just have. Trusted eyes to look in on what you're doing. I do offer that as a one time fee mm-hmm and then I have my monthly bookkeeping. So what that looks like is it is $330 a month. And. We go through and I categorize all of your transactions, get everything into the right categories.

[00:24:02] So they're all set and ready for your tax prepare. And I send reports by the 15th of every month. So that way you can see what has actually happened and what you can plan for a little bit in the next month. Mm-hmm But my biggest thing is just taking that stress of books away from you and making sure that you you're knowledgeable in your numbers, you're following along.

[00:24:22] And you're not scared of them anymore. Mm-hmm so it's just a helping bridge that gap between being a business owner, trying to do all the things by yourself and being prepared and knowing exactly what is happening every month in your. Yeah. I also have a a quarterly package if you're kind of in between.

[00:24:41] So that is definitely something that could be asked as well. But yeah, my, my main goal is just to have you focus on what you're passionate about while your numbers are taken care of. And there's clarity, there's clear direction in what you're doing. 

[00:24:56] Yeah, I think that's really smart too, because like, if you're, if you're looking at it, you know, as an entrepreneur and you're trying to grow a business and you're, you know, you're probably pivoting within that framework of yeah.

[00:25:07] You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this little, I'm gonna make this little tweak and see what happens. I'm gonna make this little tweak and see what happens. And if you have someone that's looking at your books and you have those numbers every month, if you make that little tweak, you can look and see, Hey, did.

[00:25:21] Change. Yeah, right? Yeah. Did it work and, oh, that did work. Okay. Can we scale that, right? Yeah. It just, it can, it can just make it that much easier to keep your momentum going, right. Yeah. Because if you're, if you're just trying this, I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna try this. And you're not really looking at like the dollars incentive of everything.

[00:25:41] Yeah. It might be like, well, I don't know. I'm. You know, do something else, you know? Right. And, but another part of that too, is the coaching aspect of it, right. Is, yeah. You know, is someone to say, Hey, you know, try this. Or, or have you thought about this or different ways to, to move your business. So how did you find your coach?

[00:25:58] I got her from a few other people that was falling on Instagram who had already used her and her. I, so I stalked her a little bit to see if that was the right fit for me. Yeah. And then ultimately just felt like it was time and I needed that push to move forward. 

[00:26:15] Yeah. Yeah. I get that for sure. So are you guys or how, how long do you guys think you might be in Vegas?

[00:26:21] I think at least a year and a half more. Yeah. Yeah. But we'll see, you know, military life could change at any time. It can isn't 

[00:26:30] that so much fun. I know, like we're in the weird, like, are we saying, are we going face? Which of course we have no choice. And what, what is so like, I literally don't know where we're living next summer.

[00:26:42] Like, are we still gonna be here? Are we PCSing next summer? I 

[00:26:46] dunno. It's yeah. It's so, and it's only a life that you like understand because you experience it like 

[00:26:54] oh, goodness gracious. Yeah. It's so crazy. So do you guys have any do you have like a dream assignment or place that you'd like to go, do you guys wanna try to go overseas?

[00:27:04] Like do what, what does your military life look like in that. 

[00:27:06] I don't think we wanna go overseas. It's just, it's extra far from home. Mm-hmm , it's nice to still be able to get home at a reasonable distance mm-hmm for if there's any family emergencies. So I just, I don't feel like overseas is on our radar.

[00:27:22] Mm-hmm I would love to experience the beach just so we can say that we've lived near a beach, you know, who doesn't want that goal. Yeah. But not really. Yeah. I even asked him the other day. We don't know where we wanna end up. Yeah. So it's, it's like what is on the radar? Where do we wanna go? So, yeah.

[00:27:41] Yeah. We're still just kinda long for the ride and seeing yeah. Where life 

[00:27:46] takes us. Yeah. We did that for a long time. It was like, well, I don't know. Maybe is it Washington state? Cuz that was like, oh that might be, that might be the place that we wanna be. Is it? Yeah. You know, like, and it's kind of fun to use your military career.

[00:28:01] It's almost like you get to try out mm-hmm all these different places to live. Is this the right place? Is this, do I wanna live here? Do I like, what do, what do I. You right. And you can kinda, it's kind of nice to have that. So it's almost like the military pays for you to figure out, wanna be right. 

[00:28:18] Yeah.

[00:28:19] True. You can, you can look at it that way. I dunno. Sometimes it doesn't feel like that is the, you know, that that's a good thing when you're, you know, moving all over the place all the time. But I, yeah, I think that that's one of the, one of the little side benefits is that you get. Yeah. Experience lots of different places and see, you know, where you might wanna end up.

[00:28:39] I think that's really cool that you kind of got forced outta your comfort zone of staying home in the Pacific Northwest and like, look at you now, like you've lived all these different places and done all these different things and yeah. You know, had all these different experiences and that wouldn't have been the case if you would've stayed where 

[00:28:54] you were.

[00:28:55] Yeah. Yeah. Def definitely a lot of growth has happened by leaving the comfort. 

[00:29:01] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Some of it's painful 

[00:29:06] yeah. It's definitely not easy. 

[00:29:09] Yeah, for sure. Okay. So I always like to end with what is the best advice that you have ever gotten as a military spouse? Oh, 

[00:29:18] that I've gotten, 

[00:29:20] yeah.

[00:29:20] What has been the most helpful for you? 

[00:29:22] I feel like just being like, prepared for anything mm-hmm and hurry up and wait, you just get into a spot where like, it's go, go, go. And you think things are gonna shift, but it's really like a waiting season. So just being prepared for things to not be going quickly or smoothly mm-hmm yeah.

[00:29:44] Taking things 

[00:29:44] as they. Yeah. And that's not easy to do yeah. And it gets wearing as you get older, right? Yeah. Or as you, as you have more time in, it gets cuz we're at 20 years now and I'm like, that's awesome. I've had 

[00:30:01] enough. Yeah. yeah. We're, we're counting down seven more years. We are counting down 

[00:30:06] yeah.

[00:30:07] And it's, it's crazy because like, you know, when we were in Washington where we were before coming here to, to Colorado we were ready to get out. Like that was the, but it was the middle of C. So it was like, is this really the time to get out? Yeah. And. Try and get a job in the private sector. It was really scary.

[00:30:25] So we decided to stay in and then he gets promoted, which is great. But that tax on more years, you know, so then it's like, okay, here we are. We're just, you know, living the dream but it's it's so, it's so crazy. Cuz I feel like you had mentioned before that your husband's opt tempo is really high where you are yeah.

[00:30:44] In, in Las Vegas and he's gone a lot and. I feel you. Yeah, that's what it was like. I don't know if it's like the more time they have in the worse it gets. Like, that's what it seems like to me. Like it's 

[00:30:57] so ours is just the base that we're at. Yeah. So I guess it just depends on the specific squadron and the base that you're with.

[00:31:05] Cause yeah, that's just, ours is training in a high tempo environment, so it just causes a lot more. 

[00:31:13] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Cuz that's when we were, when he was stationed at the sub base in banger his hours were just bananas. I mean he would work. He would work, you know, 18 to 20 hour days sometimes, you know, and just it's ridiculous.

[00:31:28] Yeah. And then here, he doesn't work crazy long days, but he's traveling all the time. Like he is gone yeah. All the time. And it's like, oh my gosh, like it's it's so I'm, you know, I'm by myself, I'm single parenting my girls and. You know, I don't, we've settled in nicely here. We've been here for a year now.

[00:31:46] So I'm, I'm happier here now than I was like this time of year ago. I was like in full panic mode. right. Like, ah, I dunno anybody. And he wasn't here. He had to, we were like, we were like separated for five months while he finished his tour and the, we moved to, so the girls could start school, which, you know, I know a lot of people can, can commiserate with that too.

[00:32:05] And it's just really hard. It's that? The, the isolation and the, you know, just having to handle everything on your own. It's a lot, it's a lot to do for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And then on top of that, trying to build something of your own yeah. Build your own business and yep. Yeah. Definitely wear 

[00:32:21] a lot of hats 

[00:32:22] around here.

[00:32:23] I know, right? Yeah. So that's, that's the military wife way, right? Like you just, yeah, it just gets tough. There's a 

[00:32:30] choice. Like I said, there's no choice, but to move forward, you, you, I can't sit here and be sad about it. Like I need to keep moving forward for myself, for my kids and yeah. Take one day at a time.

[00:32:41] Yeah, for sure. And I, I think that that's yeah, that's great advice. You just, you put one foot in front of the other and you figure it out and you. Try and give yourself as much grace as possible, right? Yeah. Because it's not easy and you, yeah. You know, I find myself losing my patients all the time with the girls and like, as they're getting older, I'm getting more feedback from them and I'm like, oh, okay.

[00:33:06] Mama needs to like, take a minute to . Yeah. I get that. So like get, get myself together so that I can, you know, be the best mom that I wanna be. But that's, that's a lot of pressure to have on yourself too, you know? Yeah. Like it's, it's a lot, it's a lot. So we definitely need to have grace with ourselves, but anyways.

[00:33:23] Okay. So Megan, I really appreciate you being here again. I will definitely link it in the show notes, but numbers by Megan with underscores between each one of the. Yeah. And so you can reach out to Megan if you're looking for a bookkeeper, if you just have questions about what that looks like and definitely follow her on Instagram, if for anything, then she gives lots of fun, little tips and cute, real.

[00:33:43] So, I mean like 

[00:33:44] what's there. It's well, thank you so much. 

[00:33:48] it's just fun. All right, Megan, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate 

[00:33:51] you being here. Thank you so much. All.