Mark: Welcome to Unsuitable on Rea Radio. The unique financial services and business advisory show that challenges your old school business practices and the traditional business and culture. You’ll hear from industry professionals who think from beyond the suit and tie to offer meaningful modern solutions to help you enhance your company’s growth. I’m your host, Mark Van Benschoten.
How many times have you said, “I wish I just had more time”, or, “There aren’t just enough hours in the day”, or, “Where did the week go?” I don’t know about you, but I catch myself saying these phrases at least once a week. Say you did have an extra 24 hours. What would you do with it? This is leap year so it’s almost like we’ve been given an extra day. In this special episode, we’ve asked some of our previous guests to share their thoughts on how they and you might spend this valuable extra day. Here at Rea & Associates we want to encourage you to share your leap year suggestions with us by using #realeapyear on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll of course pass our favorites along. Now, let’s take back the day with these leap year suggestions.
Maribeth, you know that we have February 29th’s coming up here in a little while. It’s an extra day. How would you recommend your clients and friends spend that day?
Maribeth: Well, that was one of the things that we’ve been seeing here talking about not-for-profits. A lot of the times when we talk for not-for-profits we talk about the fact that, you know, we always resolve that around the cash. The resources and the volunteerism is also very important. That might be a day of giving, where maybe you gather your coworkers together or your friends. Maybe you come up with a special project that could help a not-for-profit, maybe for just one day, one year. Obviously it wasn’t between January and April 15th, but one year, the Cambridge office went and painted the Humane Society.
Mark: That’s great.
Maribeth: There are projects around your communities that you could do within one day. It just kind of is a nice team building exercise also.
Mark: Giving back to the community.
Maribeth: You give back to the community.
Mark: Thank you very much Maribeth.
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Mark: Joe, 2016’s going to be here quickly and it’s a leap year. We’re going to get an extra day. What would you recommend to your clients and to your friends? With this extra day we’re going to have for 2016, what would you recommend that they do?
Joe: Mark, I’m going to use mine laying on the beach in the sun. For everybody else …
Mark: There’s one for Joe and there’s one for … I got you.
Joe: Basically, what I would recommend is that you take that day and verify your data backups for completion and accuracy to make sure everything is backed up and safe offsite, and that it’s accurate. In too many instances we run into situations, whether it be a disaster, hardware failure, or some type of malware, where not everything is backed up. That’s when we discover, “Hey, we’re missing something.” Also, accuracy. You want to make sure that you have all of your files. That would be the one thing I would recommend, to take that day just to make sure that everything is accurate and complete.
Mark: Thanks Joe, good point.
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Mark: Steve, 2016’s a leap year, get an extra day. How would you recommend to your friends, clients, colleagues, to spend that extra day? Not just necessarily February 29th, but you know, they have an extra day for 2016. How should they spend that extra day?
Steve: I actually looked at February 29th on the calendar and noticed it was a Monday.
Mark: Boo.
Steve: Here’s my thought is, take the day off. Especially if you are a small business owner. You get so wrapped up in the day to day operations of your business. February 29th would be a great day, take the day off. It might be a little cold out to take …
Mark: Here in Ohio.
Steve: Here in Ohio, might be a little cold out to take a walk. Take a step back from your business and think about some things that maybe you want to do better. Where are you at today? Where do you want to be ten years from now? Do you have the right team assembled right now to get you to where you want to be? Do you need to maybe get an HR person involved with your business? Maybe you need a CFO. Who knows where … What you need to get in place in order to get your company into where you want to be in the future.
Mark: A day in reflection.
Steve: A day of reflection, absolutely. I would advise everybody to take that day off. Let’s make it a national holiday, three day weekend.
Mark: We’ll talk to Lee after this and let’s hope it happens.
Steve: We’ll see if we can get that done.
Mark: Maybe you and I will just be talking to ourselves.
Steve: You know, for the tax professionals, they’re probably looking at it as, “That’s an extra 8 hours I can get some work done.”
Mark: Great, thanks Steve.
Steve: Hey, no problem.
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Mark: Heather, it’s 2016, which is a leap year. We’ve gotten the benefit of having an additional day this year. Some people view it as a benefit, some as a burden. We’re going to view it as a benefit. With your extra day this year during 2016, any advice to your friends or family how you might spend the day? Or how you might suggest people spend this extra day?
Heather: I would say enjoying loved ones or friends or family. Just take that extra day and spend it enjoying the people around you.
Mark: That’s great advice and takes a conscious effort not just to pass that day along, but to make a plan and then go ahead and enjoy yourself with loved ones.
Heather: Exactly.
Mark: Thank you very much.
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Mark: Gene, you know it’s 2016. It’s an election year. It’s also leap year. We’re going to have the benefit of an extra day. We’re just asking everybody some advice they’d give to family and friends as to, not necessarily February 29th, but during 2016 you’re going to have one extra day. What would you suggest people consider when they plan out that extra day?
Gene: That is a great question. I had not thought about that. I would say in light of everything that’s going on in the world today, that we have a family day.
Mark: That’s a great idea.
Gene: Family day and maybe invite your neighbors over.
Mark: That sounds like a lot of fun. Bring people closer together. Plan it out, have a little celebration.
Gene: I just learned that the other day that there was going to be a leap. I would have found out the day before.
Mark: Might have been tough.
Gene: Or when my watch didn’t flip over.
Mark: Thanks Gene.
Gene: Thank you.
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Mark: Mike, it’s 2016. It’s a leap year, so we get an extra day, February 29th. Not suggesting that you have to use your extra day on the 29th, but any suggestions for people how they could spend this extra day this year?
Mike: I thought about these things a little bit, because it is a leap year. The one thing I believe is, people should use that to spend time with their families. In our case our children are both married and both live close to us and we have grandchildren. I think if I have an extra day I’m going to spend it with them.
Mark: That’s great. I hope you get to enjoy it.
Mike: I will.
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Mark: Darlene, it’s 2016 and we get an extra day this year. Leap year, also an election year. We’re asking all of our guests about any advice they would give to family, friends, business people, as to how they would spend the extra day in 2016.
Darlene: That’s a little bit difficult because every four years or so we do have an extra day. We seem to spend it doing whatever we would typically do. I’m not sure that I’m the best person to answer this question.
Mark: I want to hear your answer.
Darlene: I would think that we should spend it doing something that is on our list of things to do. Something that we put off and say, “Oh, someday I’m going to do that.” Something that you enjoy doing but you don’t have time to do. Take that extra day and actually spend the time doing it.
Mark: That’s a great suggestion. What’s on your list?
Darlene: I haven’t made that list yet.
Mark: We’ll get back to you on that.
Darlene: That’s right.
Mark: Thanks Darlene.
Darlene: Thanks.
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Mark: Lesley, we’re in 2016. It means it’s a leap year, we get an extra day.
Lesley: Yes.
Mark: We’re asking our guests as to any advice they would provide to family or friends or business associates how they would spend that extra day given to us during 2016.
Lesley: I’d say if I had a free day I would binge watch The Sopranos. I have never seen the series, and my husband and I just finished the first season. Since we have two young children, we don’t have the opportunity to binge watch anything. That would be what I would do with an extra day.
Mark: That’s a great suggestion. Sounds … I’m not sure it will be relaxing. I’m sure it will be entertaining.
Lesley: It’s entertaining.
Mark: I hope you get to do that and you enjoy your day.
Lesley: Yes, thank you. I hope so too.
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Mark: Since I’ve asked everybody to share their suggestions, I suppose it’s only right to give my opinion as to how one might choose to spend this extra day. Doing this, we’ve heard a lot of interesting things people said about spending time with family, loved ones. I think that’s all so very important. To throw a little new twist, I want to suggest we try something new. This year, maybe not on February 29th, I’m going to spend a day learning how to ride a unicycle or playing the piano, depending on the weather that day. Two things I’ve thought about often, I wished I knew how to do, maybe as a child I had these dreams. That’s how I want to spend my day. Trying something new. Something I never done before. If you see me on a unicycle, please don’t run me over.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these special leap year episodes of Unsuitable. Hopefully you now have a few great ideas for ways you can spend these extra hours. Before we sign off, I want to thank everyone who helped put this episode together over the last few months. Of course, I always want to thank our listeners for subscribing to this podcast, listening regularly, and sharing the information you get here with your friends, associates, and in your business. If you want to learn more about ways to make the best use of your extra day, visit www.reacpa.com/podcast. Of course, check out the additional resources that accompany this episode. Until next time, I’m Mark Van Benschoten for Unsuitable on Rea Radio, encouraging you to loosen up your tie and think outside the box.
