Speaker 1: What do you look for when deciding who to open
Speaker 1: and account with? What are red flags that let me
Speaker 1: know who not to bank with.
Speaker 2: Some of the things you want to think about. You
Speaker 2: want to make sure as a business owner that your
Speaker 2: money is separated from your personal income. You don't want
Speaker 2: to be merging them together, even if you feel like
Speaker 2: you're not making too much money right now. I think
Speaker 2: it's critical to do it now.
Speaker 3: If you are somebody whose business deals with a lot
Speaker 3: of cash transactions, you probably want to have a physical
Speaker 3: bank branch location that you can go to and you
Speaker 3: can deposit those cash payments rather than having to put
Speaker 3: it in an envelope and mail it to a digital bank.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't personally feel comfortable doing that.
Speaker 1: Hey, hey va fan, welcome to the BAQA. I feel
Speaker 1: like it's been a minute since we've had a straight
Speaker 1: up BAQA. I have my lovely co hosts who have
Speaker 1: stuck around to help me answer this question from y'all.
Speaker 1: I have yan Elli Espinal, the director of financial Education
Speaker 1: for next Gen PF Next Gen Personal Finance and also
Speaker 1: mis Be Helpful, which is her personal brand, and she
Speaker 1: is the author of the personal finance book Mind You Money. Hey, Nelly,
Speaker 1: what's up?
Speaker 4: Glad to be back, and.
Speaker 1: We have Mark Russell of Better Wallet Fame. Hello, Mark,
Speaker 1: Welcome again to the BAQA. Now I think by Mark
Speaker 1: aka say it no. If you say Chris, then it's
Speaker 1: gonna like do the whole thing and I'm gonna mess
Speaker 1: it up again. You guys couldn't be more different, so
Speaker 1: I'm sorry it was a Freudian slip. All right, Mark,
Speaker 1: not Chris. Let's get into the question for today. Oh
Speaker 1: we had a question from Amber, who sent us an email.
Speaker 1: So old fashioned either way. If you want to submit
Speaker 1: your questions personal finance, business related relationship, will take them all.
Speaker 1: You can email me Brandambition Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: You can also contact me on ig at Brand Ambition
Speaker 1: Podcast on the Gram. Amber wants to know Mark and
Speaker 1: ya Nellie. She says, I'm not sure if you've covered
Speaker 1: this already, but I was listening to a recent episode
Speaker 1: about credit cards and y'all touched on credit cards for
Speaker 1: business a little bit. My question is what about business
Speaker 1: bank accounts. I'm planning on starting my own business soon,
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure where to open a business account
Speaker 1: or what benefits I should be looking for in a
Speaker 1: bank what do you look for when deciding who to
Speaker 1: open an account with? What are red flags that let
Speaker 1: me know who not to bank with? Thank you for everything.
Speaker 1: You're amazing love this question. Thank you Amber. That's a
Speaker 1: great question.
Speaker 4: It really is. Let's set up these business bank accounts.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious to know where you guys bank.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'll start. So I mentioned P and C.
Speaker 2: I've been with P and C since I was seventeen,
Speaker 2: and naturally when I was looking to open up a
Speaker 2: business bank account, I use P and C for that.
Speaker 2: In terms of what I was looking for was an
Speaker 2: established relationship. Obviously, security is really important, the intuitive design
Speaker 2: on the website, having an app, all the things I
Speaker 2: think all that's really important. The ability to move money
Speaker 2: from the business bank account to the personal account, move
Speaker 2: from the check into this savings, right, I have to
Speaker 2: be able to do that pretty easily. In terms of
Speaker 2: companies that I personally wouldn't use, do you have the
Speaker 2: well as Fargos of the world, for all the reasons
Speaker 2: that we all know and don't love Bank of America,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't use them either. Personally. These are all personal
Speaker 2: I just never but for me, the boxes that would
Speaker 2: want to check is. I want to have an established relationship.
Speaker 2: They know who I am, they I've been working with
Speaker 2: them for a while. I want to make sure they
Speaker 2: have an app. Security is really important. Ability to connect.
Speaker 2: I literally log into my account. I have my personal
Speaker 2: account and I have my multiple business accounts. So the
Speaker 2: ability to be able to set up all those accounts,
Speaker 2: because I even have one for taxes as well, so
Speaker 2: all that's extremely important. I probably wouldn't, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: go with a credit union because I think credit unis
Speaker 2: are Credit unions are great for getting out loans and
Speaker 2: getting low interest loans and all that, but I don't
Speaker 2: think they have the security or the technology that I
Speaker 2: feel comfortable with with my business information. And for anyone
Speaker 2: who's like, why would I get a business bank account,
Speaker 2: some of the things you want to think about. You
Speaker 2: want to make sure as a business owner that your
Speaker 2: money is separated from your personal income. You don't want
Speaker 2: to be merging them together. And even if you feel
Speaker 2: like you're not making too much money right now, I
Speaker 2: think it's critical to do it now because eventually you will.
Speaker 2: Right I'm a manifested for you, I'm sure manifesting for yourself,
Speaker 2: and the worst thing you can ever possibly do is
Speaker 2: try to figure out, okay, what should be paying taxes
Speaker 2: on versus what is already text for my nine to
Speaker 2: five job. So having that separate, having that business bank
Speaker 2: account makes your accounting way more easier. And if you're
Speaker 2: doing your own accounting right now, it will be a
Speaker 2: headache if you had the two combined, and your accountant
Speaker 2: will hate if you have an account or a CPA
Speaker 2: if they are combined. So I would say sooner rather
Speaker 2: than later, make sure that they are separate, open up
Speaker 2: an account, and kind of use that checklist to figure
Speaker 2: out what kind of company you want to go with.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that, and also think about what kind
Speaker 3: of business you have amber Because my business is fully digital,
Speaker 3: it's all online. I never really accept cash payments at
Speaker 3: all ever, so I don't need to worry about coming
Speaker 3: to a bank branch with a bunch of cash to deposit.
Speaker 3: So that's not even something I would consider. Whereas my
Speaker 3: family has a small business that's a restaurant, actually not
Speaker 3: so small anymore. They're doing really great with this in
Speaker 3: New York. There's a Dominican restaurant in stant Island. If
Speaker 3: you're ever there. It's called Boy your restaurant and bar
Speaker 3: excellent Food. It's some of my family members have been
Speaker 3: growing that business for so long, and it's a cash
Speaker 3: flow and business's cash.
Speaker 1: Have you like a lot of people come in family restaurant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my sister and her husband own it, and they obviously,
Speaker 3: you know, have a lot of cash coming in and
Speaker 3: out of the restaurant, right cash. Restaurants are cash heavy businesses.
Speaker 3: You know, you come in, you buy lunch, pay seven
Speaker 3: dollars for a plate. You know, you give cash usually.
Speaker 3: So that is a very different business banking need versus
Speaker 3: my business banking needs as a digital business more primarily
Speaker 3: so for me, it was I wanted a digital bank,
Speaker 3: and I wanted one that would that would have low
Speaker 3: fees or no fees at all. Ideally one that would
Speaker 3: allow me to use the software that I use for
Speaker 3: my taxes and accounting, which is quick Books.
Speaker 4: I wanted it to automatically sink with quick Books.
Speaker 3: So I started researching, Okay, what banks, what business banks
Speaker 3: automatically have automatic sinking with QuickBooks and also allow me
Speaker 3: to just pull data really easily between them and Blue
Speaker 3: Vine is the one that came up for me. I've
Speaker 3: been using blue Vine scent for years now, and like
Speaker 3: super easy. I put all my payes in there. So
Speaker 3: whenever I do business with somebody of ten eighty nine
Speaker 3: contractor somebody who's editing my videos, somebody who's doing whatever partnerships,
Speaker 3: I automatically add them into pay send them their payment.
Speaker 3: Ten ninety nine are really easy in quick books, So
Speaker 3: in terms of like accounting plus banking, I really love
Speaker 3: that like synergy between them, and I also so just
Speaker 3: love the fact that, like the money moves very quickly.
Speaker 3: I don't have to wait seven business days for people
Speaker 3: to get paid or for me to get paid.
Speaker 4: So those are things I chose to prioritize.
Speaker 3: But again I recognize it as a fully digital business,
Speaker 3: I don't necessarily have to worry too much about cash.
Speaker 3: So if you are somebody whose business deals with a
Speaker 3: lot of cash transactions, you probably want to have a
Speaker 3: physical bank branch location that you can go to and
Speaker 3: you can deposit those cash payments. That just makes your
Speaker 3: life a lot easier, right, rather than having to put
Speaker 3: it in an envelope and mail it to a digital bank.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't personally feel comfortable doing that. So those are
Speaker 3: some things I would add to Mark's list in terms
Speaker 3: of like what you want to consider to go shop
Speaker 3: for a good business bank account, and then also there's
Speaker 3: suite of products because a business bank account is really
Speaker 3: just the first step. You might also want to set
Speaker 3: up a business investment acount. You might also want to
Speaker 3: set up a solo for one K. You might also
Speaker 3: want to get a business credit card or get a
Speaker 3: business loan like Mark was talking about earlier. Hopefully they
Speaker 3: don't deny you like PNC was trying to play him,
Speaker 3: But you can kind of look at, like what are
Speaker 3: the full suite of offerings for small businesses, and that
Speaker 3: way you can kind of pick a good one from
Speaker 3: the get go that has a whole ecosystem of products
Speaker 3: and services that you might eventually grow into even if
Speaker 3: you don't need it just yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I would say, yeah, it comes down to
Speaker 2: personal preference because even in that example, like I couldn't
Speaker 2: imagine going and having like a virtual bank, because there
Speaker 2: are times where I have to give them a check
Speaker 2: for a large amount that I can't go in to
Speaker 2: pause in my ATM, or if I have to send
Speaker 2: a wire for a higher amount, like I don't want
Speaker 2: to do that over the phone. I wouldn't go and
Speaker 2: talk to someone and have a personal banker that could
Speaker 2: go and do it within a minute. So really it's
Speaker 2: just a personal preference where I want to go in there.
Speaker 2: So another item that would put in my checkbox is
Speaker 2: that I need to have locations that are national. PNC
Speaker 2: happens to be out at Pittsburgh when I was in Philly.
Speaker 2: They're all over the place, and they're a little more
Speaker 2: spread out here in Georgia, but we have three or
Speaker 2: four locations within ten miles, so I can just drive
Speaker 2: over there talk to my personal banker. They could take
Speaker 2: care of everything for me. I couldn't imagine having someone
Speaker 2: who's like virtual. But that comes down to personal preference
Speaker 2: and then how your business is structured.
Speaker 4: Yep, for sure, what what you need to go in
Speaker 4: person for transfer.
Speaker 2: Wire transfers and bigger checks over over ten thousand.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he make a money like that. It's gonna say,
Speaker 1: I'm definitely deposited like a big like a deposited checks.
Speaker 1: But again, like you know, when I think when I
Speaker 1: first joined iHeart, actually my first quarterly payment was a
Speaker 1: check and I was like, we I'm about to do
Speaker 1: what it is why are we doing checks? Because every
Speaker 1: everyone else just wires that are you know, sends it
Speaker 1: directly and happens. Yeah, it sends me. Really have to
Speaker 1: go take the P and C. I won't show you
Speaker 1: guys because you guys would take the numbers, but uh
Speaker 1: I would love. Maybe I just need to be getting
Speaker 1: more checks. Maybe if I was on that mark better
Speaker 1: while at level, I should get more checks. They come
Speaker 1: work for me, you know what. That's what I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you. Actually, Marcus like has no no, no, no.
Speaker 1: Would you say work with you? Because never he.
Speaker 4: Said work for you?
Speaker 3: Work for That's what you miss girl, You missed that job.
Speaker 1: Would you give me? What? What would you? What would
Speaker 1: I do for you? Chief? Humble? Humble, officer in chief,
Speaker 1: Keep you humble, Remind you when you say something.
Speaker 4: It's a unique skill set. So you got to think
Speaker 4: about that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll need your resume.
Speaker 1: My people will talk to her. Thanks. Hey, ba fam,
Speaker 1: we got to take a quick break, pay some bills,
Speaker 1: and we'll be right back. All right, ba fam, We're back.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in an episode of Fear Factor.
Speaker 1: I'm like trapped in this little office. My kid has
Speaker 1: a dirty diaper. I have to change it, and I
Speaker 1: just like there's no ventilation and I have to get
Speaker 1: out of here. But I'm committed to the bitch. No,
Speaker 1: it's a whole thing. I gotta go upstairs. Diapers upstairs.
Speaker 1: Now he's two. Now, it's not an easy diaper change situation.
Speaker 1: It's going to be fighting. I'll need a hose homes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's fine. No, but I did want about moving to
Speaker 1: Atlanta because if you listen to the episode this week,
Speaker 1: y'all at the Brown Table, I mentioned I want to
Speaker 1: move back to Atlanta, and I am. I feel like
Speaker 1: my business would only thrive with me being in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I just look, there's so many more opportunities or so
Speaker 1: many great brands that want to that already work with
Speaker 1: Atlanta creators and creatives. And yeah, I just I just
Speaker 1: feel like this is the kind of place where a
Speaker 1: brand like Brown Ambition and Mandy Money we could thrive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's powerful. I mean any conference I go to,
Speaker 2: I end up meeting people who either become business partners
Speaker 2: or clients because you have a lot of people who
Speaker 2: are inspiring to do, aspiring to do the things that
Speaker 2: you're currently doing, or they are trying to partner because
Speaker 2: I mean, we really believe in collaboration for competition. A
Speaker 2: lot of my friends are financial creators that are in
Speaker 2: the different niches within personal finance, and we're always constantly
Speaker 2: trying to find ways that we could boost each other's businesses.
Speaker 2: And a lot of them.
Speaker 4: Look like us.
Speaker 2: So it's way more powerful than when I was in Philly,
Speaker 2: where I fel like there were only so many financial creators,
Speaker 2: and frankly even when I would go up to New York.
Speaker 2: So I think if you're an established business coming into Atlanta,
Speaker 2: it's a great thing. But if you're trying to get
Speaker 2: into entrepreneurship and you're not really sure what your niche
Speaker 2: is going to be, it could be a distraction and
Speaker 2: you could find yourself losing a lot of money pretty quickly,
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of people who, unfortunately try to
Speaker 2: exploit folks that are trying to get rich quickly here
Speaker 2: in Atlanta. But if you know the direction that you're
Speaker 2: going in, you know what conferences you need to be at,
Speaker 2: what groups you need to be a part of, who
Speaker 2: you need to talk to, and folks are more willing
Speaker 2: to introduce everyone to whoever referrals are big. Everyone that
Speaker 2: is on my team that's from Atlanta was a referral
Speaker 2: from someone else, or I just happened to be at
Speaker 2: a conference. I'm like, you're great at videos, can we
Speaker 2: like work together? I have something coming up here in
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks, And they're like, yeah, sure, no problem.
Speaker 2: So that's a big deal at least for me and
Speaker 2: for the brand.
Speaker 4: Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: Ooh, so when I come, I have an instant plug
Speaker 1: like you can connect me to.
Speaker 4: That's what he's saying.
Speaker 1: That's what I heard. That's what I heard, and I
Speaker 1: do feel like I have Yeah. I mean, just being
Speaker 1: from here, I have so many friends and it's just
Speaker 1: just come come on home, Mandy, is what it's saying
Speaker 1: to me. Hey, ba fam, we got to take a
Speaker 1: quick break, pay some bills, and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1: All right, ba fam, We're back my business checking. I
Speaker 1: also have Bluevine. I like an online only bank. I
Speaker 1: don't mind the inconvenience of not talking to humans. In fact,
Speaker 1: I prefer to not speak to them. But to your point,
Speaker 1: Mark about financing, though, I do think having a relationship
Speaker 1: with a local community bank and the best thing about
Speaker 1: I think you mentioned I was distracted by my kid.
Speaker 1: I think you mentioned something about how you know you
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily work with a credit union, But there are
Speaker 1: some local community banks and credit unions that are really
Speaker 1: like the point of them, or the core of what
Speaker 1: they do in communities is support local businesses. So if
Speaker 1: you're someone who's opening a local business, maybe a brick
Speaker 1: and mortar business, like, and you're going to be a
Speaker 1: part of that community, you might find it really beneficial
Speaker 1: to establish a relationship with the local bank or credit union,
Speaker 1: and you know they have a vested interest in banks
Speaker 1: in your community, and they may look more favorably upon
Speaker 1: you than like a big lender who's like, who are
Speaker 1: you totally agree?
Speaker 2: I'm a part of Like on the personal side, like
Speaker 2: I have many of credit unions from my alumni association
Speaker 2: to even where my high school was, where I have
Speaker 2: that personal connection. If I really need a loan, I
Speaker 2: can get to them. But from a business standpoint, yeah,
Speaker 2: it is much tougher to go after these bigger companies
Speaker 2: that you're just the number in their head, even though
Speaker 2: that's where it brought them more than seven figures.
Speaker 3: It's like right, right, well that's a good thing about
Speaker 3: online banks though, because I will tell you one of
Speaker 3: the cool things I have with Bluevine. I have a
Speaker 3: Bluevine Business line of credit, so I can spend up
Speaker 3: two one hundred thousand dollars at any given point. It's
Speaker 3: a pretty low rate, like seven point tenty percent, which
Speaker 3: I mean is high generally, but like for business, not bad,
Speaker 3: and I could pay it back monthly if I ever
Speaker 3: do borrow from it. So it's it's similar to a
Speaker 3: credit card and how that works for your personal spending,
Speaker 3: but it's for the business, and that line of credit
Speaker 3: is revolving, so like if I pay it back, it's
Speaker 3: available again onlike a personal loan, which you know, you
Speaker 3: pay it down and then at zero and then you
Speaker 3: have to apply for a new loan if you want
Speaker 3: a new one. So I really liked the Bluevine business
Speaker 3: line of credit. And also the fact that they are
Speaker 3: a digital bank means that they're a lot more friendly
Speaker 3: and open to digital businesses.
Speaker 1: So that's something Yeah, I've never considered. The problem is
Speaker 1: getting approved for stuff with blue I've never done a
Speaker 1: line of credit, but I know with my credit card
Speaker 1: I had no problem yep, opening up. I opened up too.
Speaker 1: I have two different business bank accounts with them. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're great and honestly pretty responsive.
Speaker 3: Because the other day I had to I was bringing
Speaker 3: on a new client doing a partnership with them, and
Speaker 3: they needed the bank account information. So I sent them
Speaker 3: a document that had it and they were like, no, no,
Speaker 3: we need a letter from the bank. So I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: so I had to contacte. I literally just sent a
Speaker 3: quick email in the in the online account and I said, hey,
Speaker 3: I need a letter, like a verification letter from the
Speaker 3: bank saying that I have my business bank account here
Speaker 3: less than twenty hours, like not even the whole day already, girl,
Speaker 3: I already had it.
Speaker 4: In my email.
Speaker 3: They sent it to me as a pit of attachment.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, look at that boom. So in
Speaker 3: terms of responsiveness, has been really great, even though you
Speaker 3: don't really talk to a person, but they still are
Speaker 3: really responsive.
Speaker 4: And look at that. I could have just downloaded it
Speaker 4: from my account. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, and you could also have you
Speaker 2: could also have two, Like there's no limit on how.
Speaker 4: Many, right, That's so true.
Speaker 1: That is so true bank accounts you have.
Speaker 2: Even having this conversation, I'm like, maybe I should have
Speaker 2: this virtual one where the majority of the money won't
Speaker 2: go through there. But maybe if I create another product
Speaker 2: or whatever, it might be a separate business, then that
Speaker 2: could be routed through blue Vine.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and to her to Amber's question about like
Speaker 1: what to look out for, I was the big thing
Speaker 1: for me or fees. So there's no fees with blue Vine.
Speaker 1: I'm not paying a I had worked with a big
Speaker 1: bank before and it was like a five dollars a
Speaker 1: month fee unless you had a minimum you know, those
Speaker 1: stupid minimum balance requirements per month. Fees are a big one.
Speaker 1: And the ability to do to pay people through your account.
Speaker 1: So I like jan Ellie, I use a lot of
Speaker 1: contractors and you can set them up as clients in
Speaker 1: your portal on Bluevine and pay them. And if there
Speaker 1: is a fee, it's very nominal. It's like one percent
Speaker 1: or something. And I feel like PayPal, quick books fees
Speaker 1: and the fees of sending. So whatever the thing is
Speaker 1: you do in your business the most, whether you're accepting
Speaker 1: payments virtually or sending payments virtually, like what is the
Speaker 1: cost of those fees and how well it integrates with
Speaker 1: the other platforms that you might use, like Gusto or
Speaker 1: quick Books yep, things like that. Yeah, and just keep
Speaker 1: asking your friends. I mean, we're your friends in your head,
Speaker 1: but if you have other friends who are business owners,
Speaker 1: ask them what they use, and then you make the
Speaker 1: best choice based on what you need and what's right
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and just quickly look up like what are the
Speaker 3: best business bake a concert twenty twenty five based on
Speaker 3: online reviews? Based on things like that. I mean, I
Speaker 3: chose Bluevine because it can coming up, but there were
Speaker 3: quite a few other ones, like the MX Business Bank
Speaker 3: account came up quite a bit in my research, and
Speaker 3: Capitol One TD Bank like those came up for me too.
Speaker 4: I just ultimately went with Blue Vine.
Speaker 3: But if you just start doing a little bit of digging,
Speaker 3: you'll see the same accounts coming up again and again
Speaker 3: from reputable sources. And then you're like, okay, so, like
Speaker 3: there's a pattern people really like this account, So that's
Speaker 3: one that I might want to look into.
Speaker 1: All right, y'all, that's gonna wrap up. B a q
Speaker 1: A let me rue, could you say bye bye? Brown Ambition.
Speaker 4: Boundaries.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm going to send you my W nine
Speaker 1: and then I, yeah, say bye bye. Brown Ambition. Bye
Speaker 1: bye bye bye. See your next week. Be a fan.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Chris, you did it again.
Speaker 3: No, she's literally is just programmed to say Chris and Andy.
Speaker 1: It's so crazy on Ellie, You're right. It's like mar
Speaker 1: do not bite me. He's a bier. All right, Bye, guys.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to try to say names again. DA
Speaker 1: sorry about that, you guys. Bye bye, okay va fam,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to this week's show.
Speaker 1: I want to shout out to our production team, Courtney,
Speaker 1: our editor, Carla, our fearless leader for idea to launch productions.
Speaker 1: I want to shout out my assistant Lauda Escalante and
Speaker 1: Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
Speaker 1: is not a one person project, as much as I
Speaker 1: have tried to make it so these past ten years.
Speaker 1: I need help, y'all, and thank goodness I've been able
Speaker 1: to put this team around me to support me on
Speaker 1: this journey and to y'all be a fam. I love
Speaker 1: you so so so so much. Please rate, review, subscribe,
Speaker 1: make sure you're signed up to the newsletter to get
Speaker 1: all the latest updates on upcoming episode modes. Our tenth
Speaker 1: your anniversary celebrations to come, and until next time, talk
Speaker 1: to you. Soon be a bye.