Leah Gervais: Hi visionaries. Welcome back to the Your Biggest Vision. I am your host Leah Gervais and today we are in for a treat. We have event out of voice. She is, I have so many words for you- is a friend of mine. She has been a client of mine. She is honestly one of the most bad-ass female entrepreneurs I know personally, so we are very, uh, lucky to have her. She has helped so many small businesses and women in particular become empowered with their taxes, with their business finances, and really helps creatives of all kinds or even just business owners be at the table of what it means to also be an empowered women and empowered, empowered woman and empowered with your finances. So she’s here to talk to us today about her journey through entrepreneurship, as well as, um, give us some tax deduction tips. So welcome and thank you for being here. 

Yvette Sadovoy: I’m blushing Leah, stop it.

Leah Gervais: It is all you. Is there anything that I left out that you want people to know about what you do now, before we rewind? 

Yvette Sadovoy: No, I mean, you said so much already. 

Leah Gervais: Okay. All right. Well then let’s go ahead and dive in. So, you know, you know, me, you know, that I like to highlight that behind the scenes of entrepreneurship. So I’d love to hear a little bit about, um, how you got started in your career in the tax profession. And then I’d love to hear how you decided to kind of start doing it your way. Cause I think you did a beautiful job of that.

Yvette Sadovoy: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I’d be happy to share that. It’s a very definitely interesting journey. I really didn’t think that I would end up back here. Um, so I have a family, my father is an accountant and I started working in his firm when I was like 12 or 13 as a part-time job. Like that was, yeah, that was like my first part-time job ever. And by the time I was like 18, I already could do personal tax returns, like with my eyes close. And, but of course at 18 you don’t really find that job exciting, you know, nobody dreams of being an accountant. So I wanted to kind of, but moreover, I think I didn’t love it so much because I just felt that like the ambience wasn’t for me, the environment wasn’t for me, that the culture wasn’t for me, I was a very, and I still am a very social person and I always wanted to go into PR or marketing- I love traveling. 

So I always kind of envisioned myself somewhere differently. Um, and I always kind of thought of this as just like on the back burner, like yeah, I guess I can come back to it, even though I really loved my Dad’s clients because I ended up growing up with them and they’ve seen me grow and I developed a good relationship with them as if they were my own clients. So on the one hand, I didn’t want to do it anymore, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to not see them anymore because I love seeing them every year. Um, so when I graduated college, uh, that was the, when the market crashed back in 2010 and all the corporations were having, you know, job freezes, it was really nowhere to go. And I kind of got a little bit intimidated.

So I figured, you know, I know accounting, I know tax prep. Um, it’s almost like a waste of a talent, especially since I was so good at it, um, to not do it. So I went back and I started working with my father for a few more years and it, it just clicked in my mind, I think a few years ago when I started as a hobby, a travel blog, and I realized how much I love doing that, but how much it’s not profitable, you know, you always have to be thinking money-wise right. 

So when I realized I can combine the two, it was a complete game changer for me because I thought to myself, wait, I can be an accountant, but like my own way, you know, I didn’t think that was a possibility. I thought, like, who would be interested in that?

Who would, who would that attract? Like what kind of person does that? It, it, it almost didn’t even make sense in my mind because it’s such conflicting personalities. Um, but somehow I just merged the two and that’s how Savvy and Suite came to me because I realized that I can’t be the only person, obviously like me in the world. There are other young professionals, there are other young people who, you know, want to be their own boss and don’t want to work nine to five, but they want to have their own life, you know, and we see it more and more, you know, entrepreneurs working by the pool in Miami. 

I see you do it all the time. You know, like, you know, people traveling and they’re working from Bali and they’re working from Spain and they’re working from poolsides and beach sides and, you know, beach fronts. And I thought to myself, those are my kind of people I can relate to them and I can help them grow and I can help them, you know, and I can help other entrepreneurs realize that that type of lifestyle is attainable and that’s kind of how savvy and Suite was born.

Leah Gervais: Amazing. So when you first started, so you’re, you know, you’re working as an account and you’re working in the family business and do you start your travel blog kind of as a separate entity and then eventually merge them? Or did you have sort of a, a vision, even if it wasn’t very clear from day one that you were going to be like an entrepreneur in the tax space.

Yvette Sadovoy: Yeah. Was completely separate. I think that a part of me wanted, so I think at that point, when I started the blog in 2017, I was still on the fence where, you know, I was an accountant and preparing tax returns and I was doing great work and I loved the service and the value that I was providing, but I still kind of felt deep down, like I wanted to get away because in that everyday life, I wasn’t living that life that I wanted. So that, so the, I had a completely separate blog. It was called Red Lens Lifestyle. Red from my hair and lens for my husband’s camera lens. And it was just like our lifestyle. Um, and I did that for like two years and, you know, we traveled a lot and we saw, and I was just exposed to so many different cultures and different people.

And I realized that everyone is almost stuck in their own life, you know, because we were brought up and were raised and most people don’t really move around or travel around much. So, you know, they live in the, in the bubble, in the environment that they grew up in, you know, so you don’t really see anything different. And when I realized that I could combine the two and I realized I was meeting people in my travels who were also traveling, but working remotely, doing these things, and yet I still have something in common with them. I realized that my interests are parallel to other people’s interests, you know, like me. And that’s when I kind of dropped Red Lens lifestyle and came up with Savvy and Suite, you know, uh, for the savvy business owner who wants to live the sweet life.

Leah Gervais: It’s perfect. It’s so perfect. Can you tell us about your red hair for people that are not watching the video?

Yvette Sadovoy:  Oh my God. Okay. My hair is like a bright red, but it’s, it’s really funny. I always, this is going to sound so ridiculous, but when I was younger, I always envisioned myself having red hair. Do you remember those little dolls that you could draw on the computer? What were they called? They had different. You don’t talk. Yeah. And I was always a Redhead.

Leah Gervais: Oh my God. That is so funny. 

Yvette Sadovoy:  I was always the redheaded one and I wanted the right hair so bad, but I w I was so insecure. I always felt like that can’t be me. I don’t have the courage to, you know, have this bold red hair. And especially if I want to work corporate, you know, they tell you all the time, you have to be professional and you have to look the same or whatever. And then when my best friend was getting married, I was at her wedding and I saw her mom for the first time. And her mom has this bright red hair. And she works at corporate America. And I thought to myself, I was like, that moment just changed my life. I said, wait a minute. If she can do it, I can do it. And literally, I think within a few months, I colored my hair.

Leah Gervais: Oh my gosh. So how many years has it been red?

Yvette Sadovoy: It’s been read a long time. I’ll tell you. When I got married in 16, I was calling you for at least a year or two before then. So it’s probably been like a good six, seven years already.

Leah Gervais: Wow. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And that really is part of your brand. Do you really give women and professionals the permission to do it their way?

Yvette Sadovoy:  It took so long and so much. It took so much out of me to come to that point of comfort, um, because it is, it’s scary, you know, and I’m not gonna lie. It’s even now sometimes when I meet new people, you know, especially maybe someone older, you know, who’s referred to me as a client, I think to myself, what will they think? You know, like, uh, sometimes I do have that in the back of my mind, like, am I pushing it too far? Am I, you know, am I pushing people away with this? 

But then I always kind of come back to the same thing. Like, no, I’ve never been more comfortable in my own skin and I know what I have to offer and the way I look really shouldn’t matter. It literally makes no difference. Uh, when it comes down to the numbers I’ve produced or the taxes I produce, like, if you never saw me, you wouldn’t care who does your tax return. If you knew this person was qualified and you know, doing a great job, uh, and it really changed my mindset on everything about just how I dress to work. 

How would I expect, uh, you know, my staff and my associates, how they dress to work, the environment that my clients come into and it’s just become a much more comfortable place to be at. And I think it really empowered me to realize that I can that living your own life doesn’t stop you from anything actually. If anything, if anything, it opens the doors to, to the, you know, future life that you want even more.

Leah Gervais: Right. Well, and to your point, I mean, first of all, no, no one should carry it, offended by what you look like, or judge you for what you look like. But perhaps more importantly, think of all the people you’ve given permission to, to do things their way that maybe like you’ve been your best friend’s mom, you know, for so many people now, because you’re like, yeah, I’m a mother which we’ll get into, I’m a business owner, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a tax professional and I have red ass hair.

Yvette Sadovoy: Yeah. I mean, I hope I can only hope I would love for that to be the case. I would love to know if even one person looked at me and said, I can do this too. Or I always wanted this and you know, she’s doing it this way, then I can do it my way. And I mean, that would be amazing. I hope, I hope that’s the case.

Leah Gervais: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I 100% think that it is. I actually could. I am very confident that it is because I think that that comes across from you in so many different ways. You’re all about giving people permission. And I think I really admire you for that because I think a lot of people on the internet and on social media, um, like the sound of that, and they might even preach it, but they are often still chained down by their own fears. And I don’t say that judgmentally. I say that with compassion. 

I say that as someone who’s been there and the fact that you so clearly walk the walk and you put yourself out there and you do things in ways that might, you know, not be the same, everyone wants to do them and you’re successful anyway. That’s what the world needs more of.

Yvette Sadovoy: I think that’s the biggest thing. I think, you know, it’s one of those things where people are afraid to do something until they do it and realize that there’s no consequence to that they only feel better. And then every time I feel my, you know, I find myself in that moment of hesitation, I think back and say, why am I feeling this way? Like, it’s, it’s, it’s, you know, it hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

Leah Gervais: Right. So let’s explore that a little bit more. I’d love to hear, you know, you had, you had, you’ve had this almost like juxtaposition experience where you had a career with your, you know, you’re working in a family business, you’re working in accounting, which is almost notoriously risk averse. Some accountants are almost notoriously risk averse. And then not only do you dye your hair out and everything, but you start a business, you start an online platform, you start putting yourself out there. Entrepreneurship is one of the scariest and in the eyes of the many riskiest things you can do. So where do you get the guts to do that? And what were some of the fears you had to work through during your journey?

Yvette Sadovoy: I mean, if I’m perfectly honest, you definitely gave me the courage to do that.

Truly. I mean, working with you was a game changer for me, because I was definitely in a place in my life where I was stuck. I, I, you know, I had this, uh, successful business in real life, but I, I was having, I mean, we’re obviously moving into the age, you know, into the digital age and clients are probably coming to more and more online because now they don’t have to be just your local area. 

You can find someone professional to work with anywhere. Um, and I was having a really hard time breaking through because I felt like I wasn’t really translating my, my feelings, translating who I am. And, and honestly, it almost scared me a little bit because I think it’s one thing to be who you are around your friends, around people who already know you. And it’s another thing to open yourself up into the online world, where there’s a million millions and millions of people who can judge you.

Um, and that was really scary for me. And I won’t lie. That was a little bit paralyzing for me too. I, I was afraid of judgment. I was afraid of, you know, what, what people think I was afraid it was gonna ruin my career. I was afraid that because, you know, people don’t like it. They can be mean, Oh yeah. You know, and, and I was, I was definitely afraid of all of those things. 

But then I think after I started, after we started working together, you know, and you really pushed me and you really encouraged me and I think you said to me one time, like you have this great talent, and if you don’t put it out there, think of all the people that you’re not helping. And you’re, you know, that you could be helping. They think of those people don’t think of yourself, you know? And I think that was our first meeting. I think that was our very first call you set up, you know, he said something to me along those lines. Um, and that really pushed me to take the leap and kind of, you know, just, I was still afraid, but I did it anyway.

Leah Gervais: Bingo. Good. So what would you go back and tell yourself like a year ago, or even six months ago, because you’ve come so far so quickly, what, what do you think you most needed to hear?

Yvette Sadovoy: I think I needed to hear that it’s okay to be your own person, you know, in a world of, of black suits, you need to be that white power suit. You need to, you know what I mean? I think it’s okay. I think society wants to tell us that it’s not okay because most people don’t fall, I guess, into that bubble. It’s, it’s, you know, I feel like society almost expects people to go into that hamster wheel of corporate America or your nine to five. And that’s what they say

you know, that’s the safety net. And I think even with COVID, that’s proven that that’s not the safety net that anything can happen. And, and I think that was a huge wake up call for many people. 

Leah Gervais: Do you feel safe? 

Yvette Sadovoy: Does anyone ever feel safe?

Leah Gervais: Security is an illusion.

Yvette Sadovoy: It is. But, I think it’s, I think there’s something to it when you’re relying on yourself versus someone else, because I know that when I rely on myself, I have this fire inside that like, I get tunnel vision and, you know, I won’t stop until I get there. And I know that I can be resourceful and I know I can find another way. And you know, to me in my mind, there’s always a way to achieve what you want. If it’s up to you, if you’re dependent on other factors, you know, outside of you, you’re always at risk of something. But if it’s just you, then the risk and the responsibility is all on you. 

Leah Gervais: I totally agree.

Yvette Sadovoy: And I think there, I think there is a little bit of a safety to that, because imagine living your life, depending on somebody else, what if they decide to fire you tomorrow? What did they to say? Or whatever, whatever they decide, who’s they, who is they?

Leah Gervais: Right. Right. And safety comes from knowing you can count on yourself. I think. And like security comes from knowing that you’ll follow through with yourself. And I think that that’s one of the things you’ve most incredibly done over the past six months is you, you, you stepped up, you made a commitment and you’re like, I’m doing this. I’m sick of my own fears. I’m sick of my own, whatever. And I’m going to do this. 

And I think when you prove to yourself, you know, that’s one of the hidden beauties of going for a vision. Like, yes, it’s amazing to watch your dreams come true, but it’s also amazing to see who you become and the purpose and that, and the process and that amount of self-trust, uh, realizing that you don’t abandon yourself. If you want something, you make it happen. That if you have a fear, you can conquer it. That’s really the only security because you’re totally right. The security that like, you know, a huge corporation, that’s, it’s just completely a lie. It’s not that they don’t have the best, your best interests at heart or that-

Yvette Sadovoy: They don’t actually, but they don’t. 

Leah Gervais: Yeah, you’re right.

Yvette Sadovoy: They don’t actually, they don’t, they have their own interests at heart. And as long as, you know, you’re, you’re providing and as long as you’re producing and as long as you’re a top earner or top seller or whatever, you’ll always have a place in corporate America. But as soon as they don’t need you anymore, they don’t need you anymore. Right. It’s a business. It’s nothing personal. It’s just business. And I’ve seen it happen so many times and especially, and I think more so actually, as you get older in life, I see that more and more, you know, once the layoffs come, it’s always the older generation that comes first. So you could have been with your company 20, 30 years. And as soon as time for layups are the first ones to go. Right. And that’s a scary thought.

Leah Gervais: What about, um, so I know you’re married and you’re, um, a mother when I hear about that in a minute, but did you have to have any, was there any conversations with your partner, your husband, um, you know, how, how has that dynamic? I talked to a lot of women who, their husbands, like, I have no idea what you’re doing and what did you have to move through any of that? 

Yvette Sadovoy: You know, I definitely- I didn’t because Steve is, you know, he’s, he’s a partner, he’s part of the business. He’s my creative director. So yeah, if you, if you guys see any of those nice pictures, that’s not me at any time you see a picture that’s meant, that’s probably me trying to override Steve and failing. Um, but you know, we didn’t really have to do it. He’s been always very supportive and he knows he’s, I’ve, I’m definitely very fortunate in that sense. He’s not only supportive. He’s very hands-on. Um, so he knows, you know, what I need to do, and he’s in, he’s there for me. 

So I don’t think we really needed to have a conversation about what that’s gonna look like with business. I think if anything, he was just trying to tell me to maybe slow down and enjoy in the beginning, you know, because the reality is that time, right after you give birth, you know, that maternity leave time as no matter how long or short it is, you’ll never get that time again.

And I did find some peace in it, and I did find something special in kind of actually re you know, re-shifting my focus to family, even if it’s just for a short period of time. So I think he just kind of more pushed me to really enjoy that time, even though, to be perfectly honest, I was working on my blog the whole time. I was, it was starting when I was working eight hours a day on my travel blog. Cause I was, when I still had the travel blog, I was working eight hours a day on my travel blog. I wasn’t traveling, but I was blogging. I was planning my next travel.

Leah Gervais: Amazing. That’s so great. Well, it’s great. Yeah. I mean, I obviously, you know, I think I love your guys’ relationship. I know how supportive he’s been and that’s great. What about, do you, um, what about investing in me? Did you have fear around spending the money to do that?

Yvette Sadovoy: You know, I think that there’s always a fear of just detaching yourself from your money. Um, but I realized, I knew, and that’s the thing I knew the whole time. I knew that I needed to spend this money. I knew that this was going to accelerate my business, and I knew that I could probably not hire you and not work with you and probably get to the same place anyway. But who knows how long that would take, how many mistakes they would cost me. You know, there’s a famous Russian saying that a smart person will do the job one time a stupid person will do the same job three times, you know, because they won’t want to do it efficiently the first time. So they’ll always try to do it on their own and it’s always gonna be mistakes and they’ll redo it and then they’ll redo it and then they’ll redo it until they finally get it.

Yvette Sadovoy: I knew I was at the point in my life where I didn’t have any more time for that. Right. I just wanted to get there. And I knew that I was just confident. I knew that you can help me, you know, after we spoke, I knew that you can help me cross those hurdles. And when you just need the tools you think to yourself, okay, I’ll, I’ll pay whatever amount of dollars it is, you know, to hire the service, but it’s an investment, right? You’re going to make your money back tenfold either in some type of fashion, it could be financially. It could be mentally, even mentally we’ll help you get financially, you know, down the road. I think that, and as I mentioned to you, I had this for a minute. When, when I first hired you, I thought to myself, I’m going to break six figures in the next three months working with Leah and that.

Yvette Sadovoy: I was so optimistic. I was like, this is happening. But then once we started working, I realized that the value I got was so much more meaningful than just the goal of the six figures cause was like, yeah. You know, getting online and, you know, breaking six figures through a new service or whatever that will happen with time. And I’m not concerned about that. But now I am even more, I don’t want to say confident obviously, cause we already did it, but I’m more proud of myself, I think for just taking that step and realizing it and just biting the bullet and going for it. Because now I know that, you know, once we were finished working, I was like, okay, I’m ready to take the world on like, this is, this is going to happen with or without Leah at this point.

Leah Gervais: Good, good. I, yeah. And I’m so glad you feel that way. I appreciate you sharing that perspective. And I totally agree. I think that wherever our society started placing more value on money than time is I think one of my biggest like critiques of mainstream society, because we can always make more money, but tiny, you absolutely cannot make any more of it. I mean, great. That, that was like, that was your clicking thing.

Yvette Sadovoy: That’s one of my biggest, you know, it’s funny if you know me, um, I’ll never negotiate with someone about, you know, price or fee or whatever. I will always negotiate someone with time. Like I will get my nails done and I will negotiate with my nearly to how long it’s gonna take her to do it. Can you save something?

Leah Gervais: Oh my God, we are soul sisters. I way I am the same way. I always tell Adam like my two least favorite things in the world are number one, snakes. I hate snakes lives. I will not wait in a line. Like if you pay me to wait in the line, I’m so impatient. I always tell patients don’t do my cuticles because I cannot get out fast enough. Even I even go in and I’m like, how long is this gonna take but can we maybe do it a little bit faster? Like you can just not, you can see literally she one time miss polishing the second code for one nail?

Leah Gervais: Oh my God, that is so funny. I’m so happy. We are bonding over this same thing. I’ll get an Uber and I’ll be like, I’m in a hurry. I’m not in a hurry. I don’t want to be in the Uber.

Yvette Sadovoy: Mine is, you know, time is really the essence in my mind. I’m always thinking about what can I be doing with my time? It’s more productive than just sitting here or just doing this or just doing that. So I’m always trying, like I am I almost feel bad, just relaxing, even though I know relaxing. And you have to, and, and guys, I’m not saying not to a hundred percent, I believe in work-life. I definitely unplug when I go on vacation, I work, but I feel like that’s intentional time. You know, that, that I allocate this time for relaxing, whatever. Right. But day-to-day, it’s intentionally optimize every second that you have because you can’t get time back. 

Leah Gervais: I totally agree. Um, and I want to ask you a little bit about speaking of that motherhood and work, and then I want to switch into, I’m going to grill you on some tax deductions. So tell me a little bit about, you know, what it’s been like being an entrepreneur, working full time, having your son and what you want to tell to other mothers or soon to be mothers or want to be mothers that also are entrepreneurs and maybe even the breadwinner in their family.

Yvette Sadovoy: I think that it’s, it’s, it’s definitely scary. I remember I was very afraid, you know, before I gave birth, I was like, what am I gonna do with my job? What if I, what if I don’t have time to work? And I’ll be, as I say, the story, I’ve told you this story before, and I always use this example, one of my very good friends. And again, she didn’t mean anything by this, you know, that was just her experience, but she’s not an entrepreneur. 

She’s not, doesn’t work for herself. So she could doesn’t understand the mindset of someone who does, you know, like you and I. And when I told her that I was so excited to be on maternity leave so that I could, you know, focus more time on my blog because I was always obviously, you know, allocating time for my office job and for taxes and my clients, and then work on my blogs in the evening.

Yvette Sadovoy: So I was happy to not have to, you know, split my attention between the two. And she said to me, Oh, that’s so cute that you think you can still work. And I was just like, what, why would you present? Like, why would you say that? And I get why she said that because there’s a common misconception, there’s that come in, you know, thing that it’s a, you know, society almost makes you feel like if you’re not busy with your kid 24 seven, you’re not doing it right. You know, so you should be busy and if you’re not busy, then you’re not being a good parent or whatever. And that’s just not true at all. I mean, I love my son. We spend a lot of quality time together. I try to get in, you know, in the early mornings with him, you know, the evenings with him, but your world, and this is just my view-

And again, I love my son to death. It’s it’s being a mom has just always been one of my dreams and having the family that I have has just always been one of the, you know, I was like waiting for this moment, my whole life, but it doesn’t define me. It’s not what I want to rotate my life around. I want to, you know, I choose to rotate my life around me and you know, and my dreams and my visions, because if I’m happier and I’m successful, A) I’m setting an example for my kids B) I’m happier. So I’m happier to be around at home, you know? And I think that that concept of neglecting yourself for your kids is so detrimental to us as women, because it basically tells us that you can’t have a job because then you’re neglecting your kid and you can’t go on a date night, you’re neglecting your kid and you can’t go on girls, date, girls weekends, you’re neglecting your kid.

Yvette Sadovoy: Like that’s not true at all. You know, I’ve been to Paris with my girlfriends for five days when my son was like a year old. And actually my son was like three months old and I went to a bachelor party. I was literally three months old. Um, you know, and I hate that. I hate that people make you feel that way, but it’s just, that’s just not the case. You can definitely work and still be successful. 

Yvette Sadovoy: And I definitely encourage you taking a little bit of time just to kind of do yourself and, you know, to kind of enjoy that moment, because like you said, time is speeding and you’ll never get those memories again. And you’ll never have that opportunity again, you know, with that child. So I definitely advocate to, you know, spend as much or as little time as you can or whatever, you know, in the beginning, but it’s definitely not going to be a hindrance in your professional career. Every working mom, I mean, single moms look at them, you know, they’re working, they’re working three jobs in a kid.

Leah Gervais: They worked their asses off. Totally. No, I think that this is such a powerful message and I really respect and admire you for being so outspoken about it. Because I think that if you want your, like being a motherhood to, or being a mother or motherhood, to be your legacy, it should be your legacy, but you shouldn’t have it be, you shouldn’t be shamed into it being your legacy. And I think that so many women do have a different song to sing, do have a voice still in them. And because of whatever society’s told them or their parents or their parents or their in-laws or whatever, they feel guilted into that. So have you had to deal with mom guilt?

Yvette Sadovoy: You know, honestly, no. You just made the decision zero guilt. I felt zero shame. Like my mom, my mom was a stay at home. Mom, you know, she’d raised four kids. It’s difficult job as to say the least, I don’t even, I never want that job. The job I’ll pass on does not pay well enough, not pay well enough. They grow up to be breaths. The return of investment is not there.

No, I honestly never felt that guilt. And even if people tried to kind of, you know, not make me feel, but you know, let’s say those things, I would, I don’t care. You know, I’m not because that’s the one thing I hate the most. When people start giving you their input on like raising, you know, on how to be with your kids and my answer, my, my rebuttal to everyone was are you going to, Oh, so I’ll see you tonight at midnight. So why would I come in? And what do you mean? You have so many opinions. Don’t know how I’m supposed to be there for my kids. So I assume you want to be there to, Oh, you’re not going to be there. So what do you care? What I’m doing at midnight? Unless you’re blind to participate. I don’t need your 2 cents

Leah Gervais: Or unless you play my pay my bills. 

Yvette Sadovoy: Or unless you pay my bills, but either way, no, you don’t need you to sense it. Honestly, I don’t have any mom guilt. I leave very happily, you know, don’t miss me.

Leah Gervais: Yeah. All, I love it. Well, thank you for sharing all of that and congratulations on your journey and your success. Can I ask you some questions about tax deductions? 

Yvette Sadovoy: Yeah, Of course. Talk dirty to me.

Leah Gervais: Most of our audience are entrepreneurs. Probably location independent like you and I are. Um, tell me a little bit about, let’s start with basics. How can you deduct working from home?

Yvette Sadovoy: So there’s two ways you can do it. Um, if you are depending what type of corporation entity you are, if you’re a, self-employed a sole proprietor or an S Corp, you just take a percentage of all of your home expenses. What I like to do is you need to designate an area in your home for the home office. And I understand everybody takes their laptop. It works on the couch. It works everywhere, but find the largest area. Uh, you know, if you have a two bedroom take the second bedroom, even if it’s not official your office area, whatever. Um, if you have a three floor house, take the basement, that’s your basement office. Take the largest area that you can designate as your office and just take a percentage of all of your home expenses in relation to the size of that area, to your home. 

So that’s one way, um, if you’re a C Corp, you can just pay yourself rent. Actually, it’s actually a little bit more niftier because, um, you can pay yourself rent at the rate of wherever your area you live in. So if you live in a relatively expensive neighborhood and you know, that rent is pretty expensive, you can pay yourself a couple of thousand dollars a month in rent expenses, and that’s just straight cash. You can take out of the business account.

Leah Gervais: Do you? So if you’re a sole proprietor or an S-corp, you just kind of deduct it, like I’m thinking in QuickBooks speak, but like you would create a journal entry. You don’t have to pay yourself that money. Yeah.

Yvette Sadovoy: Yeah. You don’t have to pay yourself. It’s just a journal entry. You basically. Well, so what I always do is I just create an expense report. Um, first of all, I recommend to everyone to always run an expense report and expense report are his charges that you ran through your personal cards that can be related to business. So most people don’t know actually what they can write off, um, what they can deducted to their business. 

Yvette Sadovoy: So they end up charging a lot of the stuff to their personal account and completely dismissing it. Like groceries. People don’t even know that you can run out of groceries, you know, as an office expense. Um, probably especially if you eat healthy, if you’re one of the, people’s really conscious about what you eat, I would say probably 80% of your groceries can be deducted to your business. Um, I didn’t know that. Yeah. So, um, basically anything that’s like, um, not frozen or not frozen raw or pre cooked meat, you can deduct. So you were talking about vegetables, fruits, breads, cold cuts, cheeses, milks, juices, sodas, even alcohol. I mean, alcohol is its own category categories, not pantry, but, um-

Leah Gervais: How do you do that? 

Yvette Sadovoy: You just it’s like categorize this. I mean, think back to when you used to work corporate, right. There was, there was a corporate kitchen there, right? So imagine like Google, where it has a super generous corporate pantry. You’ll find everything you need there. Wow. Look into duck that. And so could you, Google is not any more special than you are. That’s another thing people always confuse. They seem to think that all of these tax benefits, when they say, Oh, the corporations are getting tax benefits, that’s not only the fortune 500 corporations. That’s a uni very corporate entity. You can deduct the two. 

Leah Gervais: Right, right. I’m taking notes. 

Yvette Sadovoy: Um, your pantry expenses. Uh, yeah, no. So anything basically, like I said, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, cold cards, cookies, snacks. Um, anything, like I said, anything, that’s not, I, you know, basically in the freezer, so no meats, no frozen foods, no like pre cooked already. Pre-made, you know, like if you go to like those buffet, places, whatever, you can just, you know, buy the pounds of food, none of that stuff, but essentially everything else you can. So anything in the aisles you can. 

Leah Gervais: What about, so like if you, you know, you, um, do have to do a percentage of it, like for you as the business owner?

Yvette Sadovoy: I usually take the same percentage as the home percent that you’re taking a quarter, a quarter of your home as the office space, then a quarter of your groceries you can take, um, for the pantry. Um, so normally what I do is I tell my clients to go through all their personal cars, you know, total up any personal expenses, any expenses that were charged, those cars that they think could be business-related. And that’s like, you know, restaurants, alcohol, even stuff. 

Like if you go to a bakery and you get, you know, uh, a few cupcakes or cookies or pastry box that’s deductible too. So all those things. So if you, if you missed it, do that, and then on a separate on that same Excel, I would calculate your at what, you know, what your home rent is. So let’s say you’re paying $10,000 a year for rent. I had a quarter of it as your home office, a $2,500 is your office expense. You would just add it to your expense report. And then once you have your entire expense report, just do a journal entry against, uh, loans from shareholders.

Leah Gervais: Mm. Okay, love it. And so what about, what if you buy, what do you mean if you buy? So what if you own, do you just deduct your mortgage?

Yvette Sadovoy: Uh, so you can only deduct the mortgage interest. You can deduct the actual principal, but the best part about owning is that you can deduct the depreciation of the home. So depending on how, you know, if your home is eight, 900,000, a million dollars, that’s appreciation is huge. It can be deducting like your home office expense could be anywhere 10 to $15,000, if not more.

Leah Gervais: Oh, you can deduct all the, all the depreciation?

Yvette Sadovoy: All the depreciation. Yeah. And so basically imagine, let’s say you bought your home for a million dollars, right? And then you plus closing costs, you can include that also. So let’s say, what are your house for a million? Then you had another 50 K in closing costs. And then let’s say you did another hundred K in capital improvement, like renovations around the house. You take that entire lump sum, the purchase price, the closing costs that Renault and you find the depreciation value of that. And then you take the percentage of whatever your home office is. So if it’s the third, you took a third of that.

Leah Gervais: You can deduct that. That’s amazing. Okay, great. What other, um, where else can sort of like solo preneur businesses start thinking about what else they could deduct?

Yvette Sadovoy: So here’s the kind of the mindset that I tried to get everybody into is don’t look for deductions, create them. That’s kind of my specialty. Everyone runs their business their own way. For example, you know, you’re a business coach, but you run your business one way and I’m sure, you know, other coaches who run their business a different way, maybe they, they see their vision of their business. 

Different, you know, for example, I’m an accountant, but you can’t compare me to any other account because, you know, I have a travel blog and I try to work with brands. And I say, you know, you’re trying to have more of a media presence, you know? And so obviously my business expenses wouldn’t be the same as someone else. If someone else just has an accounting firm, they wouldn’t be writing off expenses like photo studio rental, travel, they know those things. So what I ask people to do is ask yourself, where does most of your money go and then ask yourself, how can I turn that into a tax deduction? Do I need that? You know, those expenses, why do I need them? How can I make them work for me? And that’s where you kind of, you know, that’s where the juice is really, you know? 

Leah Gervais: And do you have your, do you recommend clients to like, you know, solo, preneurs, maybe it’s like one, two people they’re doing their QuickBooks. They don’t have an account or anything like that, or maybe they have an accountant, but they don’t have like someone who regularly does their bookkeeping. Do you encourage people to do journal entries monthly? Or do you wait until the end of the year? 

Yvette Sadovoy: You just, you just go back and kind of look at everything.

Leah Gervais: Yeah. You just total up for the end of the year. 

Yvette Sadovoy: It’s just, I mean, if you’re doing it monthly, you can do it monthly. I just don’t see the point of that because the general ledger could just be one, you know, for the whole year.

Leah Gervais: Right, right, right. I see. And, um, I saw another one of your Instagram videos. Could you tell, do you have like a tip duducting, um, clothing, non tempted, deducting clothing.

Yvette Sadovoy: Yes. Yes. So you can actually deduct clothing if you put your company logo anywhere on it. So for example, if you decide to get blouses and put anywhere on the pocket or on the sleeve, you know, LG, even if it’s not visible, it doesn’t have to be visible, even though you can automatically deduct that as uniform. Um, but again, it’s depending what industry you’re in. So for example, and this applies a lot for social media blog, you know, for bloggers, for people who have that online presence, uh, what people don’t really understand is that they look at themselves like, Oh, I’m a blogger or I’m this, but really you’re not a blogger. You’re, you’re a marketing agency and you’re the model, you know? 

And as you know, all of these models, when they go to photo shoots, they get these clothes and the clothes get gives it to them and they can keep it. So if you’re buying clothing specifically for a photo shoot, so let’s say, you know, spent a couple hundred dollars today for a photo shoot in a week, and you can prove that, look, I bought this shirt today and I wore it in the photo shoot a week from now. You can deduct that as wardrobe for photo shoots, too.

Leah Gervais: What if you ever wear it? Can you never wear it again? 

Yvette Sadovoy: You can wear it again. So that’s the thing, it’s the same, it’s the same thing. Like, do you remember the movie? The devil wears Prada? Oh yeah. So do you remember all of those is our new clothes that, that at Hathaway got you don’t think she wore them after that give to them. And did you go on, but you know, but the studio wrote it off as expense because it was a wardrobe expense for them, despite the fact that she can wear that out later. I mean, that’s a common practice in the industry.

Leah Gervais: That’s a great note to make for this audience, because I think photo shoots are really relevant and it is hard to think like, how can I afford to buy new clothes for this or whatever the case may be. But if you buy it specifically for the photo shoot….

Yvette Sadovoy: And you have to be, it has to be obvious, you know, like you can’t say that you bought it three months ago for this photo shoot, but you wore it a hundred times before then. So you would have to be that, you know, you bought a few items. And again, it depends like if you’re a fashion blogger, obviously you’re buying way more wardrobe and that’s fine if you’re not a fashion blogger, but you’re still trying to have that online media presence. And you’re trying to present yourself a certain way. And if you’re constantly showing up to your audience, you know, we’re living in a new world and the reality is the IRS hasn’t really caught up with us yet.

They, so a lot of the times, and I do suspect that in the next few years, that probably there will be more audits and there will be more cases brought up regarding these types of expenses, because the law will have to change, you know, and the same happened with Google before you weren’t able to deduct all of those pantry items or whatever. And, you know, Google went into lawsuit and they, you know, basically they, um, they didn’t agree with the IRS stance that they couldn’t provide all of the, you, those generous corporate pantry for their, for their workers, for their staff. And they eventually won. And the IRS realized that they have to, you know, keep up with the trends and moving time. Um, and I think the blogging industry and social media industry is, is going to have its round.

Leah Gervais: Yeah. That’s amazing. So, in your, in your advice or in your eyes, like as long as you can justify something, we should be deducting it basically, because you feel a lot of people online businesses are missing out on tons of tax deductions.

Yvette Sadovoy: Of course they are. Because again, it’s, it’s a common misconception. The reality is that most people are missing out on deductions because no, one’s educating them on it. A lot of accountants tax preparers, they almost have this barrier up between their clients where they feel like the clients wouldn’t understand and just, I’ll just do it for you. Don’t worry. Just trust me, you know? And it’s like, sure, I trust you, but it’s like, but then I’m not learning anything that I’m not understanding anything. And you’re not really explaining anything to me. I feel that if people were actually taught this or just really simply explained, you know, like, um, and I do this with all my clients. 

Every time I bring in a new client, I have an intake with them and it’s a two hour meeting where I go over everything that they can run. I actually literally did this on Monday or last Friday. I don’t remember. And I had a new client and I was walking him through all these things that you can deduct now. Cause you know, he just opened his own business and I’m explaining everything to him. And when we were done, he said to me, so how aggressive is this? And I looked at him and I said, this is basic.

Leah Gervais: That’s amazing. 

Yvette Sadovoy: And he was shocked. Like, I wish you could see his face. He was like

Leah Gervais: Crazy. So, so how can people learn from you?

Yvette Sadovoy: You can follow my Instagram. Um, I’m always posting topics there. You can read my blog articles. I’m always trying to post really informative information. I really try to dive in on things that are relevant, that could be applicable. So for example, if you’re a blogger, I did do a blog post on, I don’t remember a several items, a list of tax deductions specifically for bloggers that they can use that they probably didn’t think of. Um, I do offer some online courses. I have a free download, a savvy deductions DIY program. It’s pretty simple. It’s straightforward. It’s me explaining in layman’s terms that two hour intake that I do with all my clients explaining to them how they can run their business and what kind of deductions they can, um, you know, expense. I organize that all into a PDF. It’s a downloadable file, it’s super simple to read.

Um, that’s available on my website. Um, if they need, if somebody needs obviously a much more intense or one-on-one I offer one-on-one services doing the same thing, analyzing, I mean, I’m here for anybody who really wants to learn. Um, I’ll always make myself available. I think that the biggest thing for me is that if, once you break down that fear of taking on the tax aspect of your business, it’s all over because you’ll never be an accountant will never be able to get over on you. And I tell my clients all the time, like I don’t care. You know, I mean, I have a very high retention rate and most clients stay with me for years and years. I have probably like over 90% retention rate. But I taught my classes, same thing. Sure. If one day, for whatever reason you decide that you’re not going to work with me, I’m still proud and happy of how far you grown, because I know that the next account that you’re going to work with, well, this won’t slide all of those lazy maneuvers, all of that just, Oh, don’t worry, I got this. Like, that’s not going to slide with you. And they’re going to be held accountable for what they do for you. And I think that’s so powerful.

Leah Gervais: Right? Well, and another thing I love about what you do is well, and just that I think is worth noting, is that a lot of accountants, especially ones that are older, they don’t understand the online business world. They don’t know what it is exactly we do. And the fact that you’re so involved in it is a huge reason. Why anyone, if any of you are listening to this, realizing that like you’re sitting on a goldmine of tax deductions, they should reach out to you because even a smart accountant, if they don’t understand like how photo shoots work or like, why do you need a brand photo shoot or whatever, it’s going to be very hard for them to really be a step ahead of you. So you can try to research it all on your own or they can just pay you. And you will.

Yvette Sadovoy: Can I actually tell you a really creative, um, deduction that I had? So I actually was working with a travel blogger last year and, uh, she’s an adventure blogger. So she’s just really these intense hikes, you know, it’s for these shoes that she gets shops he gets paid to do. It’s just, she’s a big blogger.She’s very popular and as we’re going through it, I realized that she can actually ask, I was like, you know, everything that you’re doing sounds so intensive, how do you like wind down? Do you go to any spas? You get massages? She was like, Oh yeah, I do. You know, like I do get like I did physical therapy. 

Like once every few months I get massages because you don’t have to, you know, it’s very vigorous. Like she goes like in the snow and whatever and I was like, well, you can write that off because that’s part of your job. If you can’t maintain your body, you know, especially for something so fizzy your body is so physical. Imagine like a sports athlete, of course they’re gonna write off massages as part of their, you know, their wellbeing for their job. Right. So if you’re an adventure blogger, um, and you do anything like that, and then you take care of yourself afterwards, those are the deductible.

Leah Gervais: Cool. That is so brilliant.

Yvette Sadovoy: Isn’t that crazy? So fun. Basically. It’s about seeing the link.That’s what I’m saying. Like, it’s, it’s a lot of industries, you know, a lot of expenses for one industry cross with another, if you can see the correlation because in case an IRS auditors as well, you know, no, you can’t write off massage. It’s like, why will athletes do it? And they’re, you know, just playing sports, she’s doing 10 hour hikes up too much repeat Picchu. Like you don’t think that, you know, carrying a hundred pound rucksack, like you don’t think that’s a sport.

Leah Gervais: Right? Right. Absolutely. Well, what I love about your approach is that you bring like almost a cleverness to it. It’s almost like a puzzle and that’s, you know, I have a soft spot in my heart for that because you know, my dad, my late father was, um, an accountant. He was a CPA. And, um, and I, and he grew his firm from the ground up. He started with no clients. And, um, I think the reason he was so successful is because he genuinely loved helping small businesses get creative about how to make the most of it. And it was so much more to him than just tax law or tax code. It was to him like, how does this work in our world? How does this work in, you know, the anthropological perspectives of our world? How does this work sociologically? And, and he loved that. And I, and I love seeing that new to, I obviously love talking to you about that in a way that’s more contemporary to what I do. My dad, I’m sure even he would have been like, I kind of get what you do. But I think that it’s just really refreshing to hear this. And I think it’s going to really excite a lot of people and some people think I never thought I’d be excited about

Yvette Sadovoy: That’s. You know, that’s another thing. I think the whole process of getting your taxes done, it should be an experience. I don’t think it should be here, my paperwork. And then, you know, I’ll pick it up in two days. That’s not an experience that’s you walking in and out and you have no idea what just happened. And not to mention that you just put your name on something that you don’t even understand. And in case of an audit, you’re a hundred percent responsible for it. Like if you think that your account is getting in trouble for it, they’re not. 100% of the time it falls on you. You know? 

So which is why another reason, you know, when, the way I work with my clients is a bit different. You know, we do a zoom call. I do a screen-share. We actually do the tax return together. So they’re completely present. They’re completely involved. They know what’s happening. They understand. And they even see their business in a different way. Afterwards. I’ve heard that 80% of people have told me afterwards, like, wow, I see my business totally different now. Like, well, somebody that travel blogger actually told me, she was like, you were able to phrase what I do so much better than I can. I’m going to literally use that to everyone. Now, when they ask me what I do,

Leah Gervais: That’s amazing. Oh, well, the work you do. I mean, I believe it is so much, but this was amazing to hear. Thank you so much. 

Yvette Sadovoy: No, of course. It’s my pleasure. 

Leah Gervais: So, I know that you give so many helpful tips. Can you just share your Instagram and your website?

Yvette Sadovoy: Yeah. So my Instagram is @YvetteSadovoy and my website is Savvyandsuite.com. The suite is like a hotel suite because that’s the sweet life we’re going for, I love it.

Leah Gervais: Well, thank you so much. You’ve got, this was amazing, you know, I think, yeah.

Yvette Sadovoy: Thanks for having me. This was a fun chat.

Leah Gervais: Yeah, it was very fun. All right, visionaries. I hope you love this. Go check out her website, go check out her Instagram. I myself have gotten so many tips from her. She’s very generous with her free tips on just little things you can deduct and really just kind of makes taxes fun. Believe it or not. And I hope that you love this. You can always see on me. If you listen and hear, we hope that we are helping your biggest vision. We’ll talk to you soon.

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