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People ask me what a fractional CFO actually does. The honest answer is: it depends. I used to hate that answer. Now it’s the whole point.

This week I walk through what the first thirty days at a new client look like. I do have a first pass: tax returns next to the books, the balance sheet (where the big issues tend to hide), and cash, including what’s due in the next thirty days... but that’s a physical exam, not a template. The checks are the same and the answers never are.

Then the part I didn’t plan on. The same thing is true at home. Sharing is a lot tougher to teach the second kid, I tracked everything about the first one down to the decimal point, and the second one is “they’ll live.” Plus, what a kid who just wasn’t tired at eight o’clock was really telling me, and why I’m literally recording an episode about this and it still got me.

If you’ve ever been handed a framework and a feeling that it wasn’t quite for you, this one’s for you.

New episodes every Tuesday.

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Email: Jason@TantlingerABS.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-tantlinger-mba

This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Views expressed are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any organization I'm affiliated with.

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My kid asked me why a muffin costs $4. I started to answer... and then I realized I was about to explain something most business owners get wrong too.

This week we break down what a muffin actually costs once you count the labor, the rent, the oven, and the card fee. Then the harder question: how do you split one rent payment across a muffin, a latte, and a breakfast sandwich? There's no single right answer, and that one choice can turn your best seller into your worst product on paper.

Plus, what a write-off really is. It's not the day the problem happened. It's the day you finally counted. And yes, there's a banana example, and yes, the raccoons get involved.

In the middle, our very first guest. Alec Borlin is a Cleveland east side guy, Solon grad, and fellow OU Bobcat Alum. He's a CPA who left public accounting for executive search, spent years watching which finance careers took off and which ones quietly stalled, then bet on himself and started his own firm. Today he works with fractional CFOs and Financial Leaders including building a presence on LinkedIn. We talk about the jumps, what recruiting taught him, and what a long bet on yourself actually looks like.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Find Alec on LinkedIn: Alec Borlin, CPA | LinkedIn

Email Alec: aborlin@bgcsearch.com

TFD Disclaimer

Support the show

Connect with me:

Email: Jason@TantlingerABS.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-tantlinger-mba

This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Views expressed are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any organization I'm affiliated with.

Send us Fan Mail

A Hall of Fame hitter fails two out of every three times he walks to the plate. Two out of three. And we put him in a museum for it.

This one is about patience, and the argument that it's really three different problems wearing the same word.

Patience with clients, where you can see what's broken in two weeks and it still takes eight months, because the people who've run that process for years need to trust you before you flip it on its head.

Patience with the grind of finding new work, which is where the baseball comes in. You can do everything right and line out to the shortstop. Five conversations is not a sample size. And nobody rebuilds their swing in the middle of a slump, though I've absolutely done the business version of that after four bad calls.

And patience with your kids, which is the hardest one on the list and it isn't close. I think I finally figured out why: work gives you a scoreboard. Parenting gives you nothing except the fact that Tuesday ended.

Plus a no that turned into a yes, a week that ended with a toy in a basket, and an action figure jammed into a garbage truck that I should have let them get out themselves.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Drop a comment or see the contact info below to connect.

TFD Disclaimer

Support the show

Connect with me:

Email: Jason@TantlingerABS.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-tantlinger-mba

This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Views expressed are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any organization I'm affiliated with.