 Hey guys, I am Ken Ross here. I'm a business consultant that specializes in reducing costs for businesses by looking at their essential expenses And today I am so excited today because I get to continue my series on financial times, right where I speak to Experts in the industry for financial health for businesses and Kelly is no exception. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Ken. How about yourself? I'm doing awesome Really, thank you. Thank you and appreciate the time we can have today. You are a I would say HR specialist But I'm gonna kind of let you tell me more about yourself. Tell me how long you've been in the industry and what it is that you do Absolutely, I've been in the industry for 23 years and that is human resource services and Hero HRIS software for organizations Awesome awesome and and tell me a little bit more about that right you said HRS Now that's something I'm definitely familiar with but but maybe some of my audience is in I'd like to like to kind of break down What that is, right? What's the accurate? Absolutely, so human resources is covering everything from the minute you have a job opening to Hosting that a job opening sourcing candidates interviewing hiring Along with hiring onboarding and with onboarding comes the employee handbook the necessary forms that you have to have on your filing system for compliance reasons such as the W4 and the i9 and management so management of that employees lifecycle at the organization, which would be I would imagine training training as part of that too, right? Absolutely. So training onboarding reviews 30 60 90 depending on what kind of reviews your organization does any sort of performance review for raise or a merit increase, etc to really fully offering benefits to the employee and workplace perks and and then one day retirement or maybe it's to promotion so really I go into an organization and help them with every step along that way and HR services is a really critical part every step along the way of the employee lifecycle Now more than ever especially with the great recession and so much changing on a daily basis in each state with compliance and the trainings that have to be deployed for employees in organizations and ensuring not only the organization's safety, but also the employee's safety and livelihood Yeah, absolutely. And I can imagine with as much change like you said that's been in this industry with a lot of people working remotely A lot of people deciding their own destiny and saying, hey, look, I don't want to do this job anymore. I want to do this HR services is definitely something you could you could spend a lot of money on But what you're offering is something I think really would help a business owner do business, right? And so that kind of leads me to my next question Financial health is something I always value What are some of your philosophies to stay on how to stay on the good side of financial health? When running an organization just staying on top of compliance is first and foremost because even the smallest compliance reach can really cost an organization a lot of money even the What seems like the smallest lawsuit can cause an organization a lot of money So ensuring that you're working with a partner a trusted partner like a sure To help manage the steps along the way Hey, here's what we need to stay in compliance with for payroll and payroll taxes For example, you just mentioned employees, you know, the way they're working is different today and a lot of employees are working from home It's a hybrid workforce or they're in another state With that being in another state brings along more compliance and different compliance than where the organization is located So ensuring that as a business owner or as an individual running a corporation you have compliance metrics in place for Everywhere that you're located Multi-state you call multi-state jurisdiction not only on the tax and payroll standpoint From an HR standpoint, it's you know as well. For example, if you hire employees and have them working in california new york There's some mandatory first day of hire training that need to be done such such as sexual harassment And with that we can um fill that gap or that void For the employees by bringing in our people. We could also help You know recruit and hire four positions that are open here at assure So so that is financial help to me as knowing here are the laws Here's what we need to make sure we have covered And you know getting those things in place even the HR handbook Awesome and and it sounds it sounds like you're delivering that expertise in this area and you've done it for quite some time So you you're definitely aware of that and I would think as a as a business owner Even if you're aware of certain aspects of HR you're not aware of all these My new details, especially when you mentioned the multi-state thing. I think that's that's really important, especially in this time um, and yeah, I love it. I think I think I I I can't think enough Right now to to even say look, I have a good handle on it Which is why I would think someone like yourself would be valuable to a to my team, right if I ever Wanted to be a global brand. I I definitely would have to have Uh a team of people could be a part of that and it sounds the biggest thing that I have access to our resources So do I know everything? No way Yeah, do I have resources that are studying employment? And the rules of the road with employment every day? Absolutely And for example our HR consultants here at assure all of them have over 15 years experience in HR And they're all shirms certified And have worked in the industry for a long period of time and are constantly staying current on what they need to know and keeping up with their You know quarterly and annual curriculums our tax managers are also in the same boat with the same amount of tenure The same amount of experience and also continuing to study We do as a firm have access to You know our own right legal counsel. So we know Okay, here are the rules we must follow and then as a consultant for sure And a sales really a sales executive I constantly go through trainings and educate myself as well And stay current with what I need to stay current with to bring my Clients piece of mind that I'm continuing my education. So like you mentioned earlier, let the business owner focus on I'll use the word strategic initiatives while we take care of some of those more tactical and very time consuming laws It also sounds like you're doing a little bit of consulting too, right? Can you talk a little bit more about that and you really give me a good background on what assure is Which was my next question, but I'm going to kind of get a little bit more into just give me a little bit about the consulting part Absolutely. I think that's my Intuitive approach to it. I've been doing this role for 23 years And with that, I've always looked at myself as taking a very consultative approach And what I mean by that is no two companies are the same and every company is is different from the other Whether it's a matter of culture or whether it's a matter of industry state I'm originally from Chicago And it's very different than Denver and being able to acclimate to the different personalities So with that every company is different. And so I really take a fresh sheet of paper to every appointment I go into with no Preconceived notions or expectations on what their needs are And I get to know what is working really well at the company from a software management standpoint and people management standpoint and then what Could be improved. There are clients of mine that Are all set on payroll and they just need help with HR I'm going to help them with HR and we can do that here Here it is. Sure. We're very out of heart and able to customize our solutions depending on who we're talking to You stole my thunder a little bit I was going to salvo into the the next question Which is why it's so different and and you kind of already clued me into that because I love to save money Right, that's one of the things I help businesses do is save money on their essential expenses but You you seem to to understand that that model very well too like it's an a la carte business for you Kind of explain a little bit more about why you're so different than other HR providers often first and foremost our team is amazing and stellar and I can truly say that um the VP of our HR consulting team is the best I've ever seen In the industry in all 23 years that I've been in it She really takes a nice strategic approach to the organization. She's working with and her team ripples that same demeanor and expertise Therefore, I have a lot of peace of mind when I'm coming up with a solution for my clients and my potential clients Our software is our own software Which means our response times are going to be faster. It's The ability to be more customizable is there for my clients and that's something that in the past I didn't have The luxury of talking about before sure. There's a lot of security behind what we do And so I really love the fact that you know, we have about Maybe a little under a thousand employees Yet we have about 80,000 clients on our platform So our numbers are pretty impressive, especially with how long I've been in the industry to be able to have These numbers to speak of yet Still have that main street feel to the day-to-day communication with my clients and my internal team is Is reassuring Awesome. Yeah, and it does sound like there is Like you like you said the team aspect of this this very passionate group of people that can get together and really serve businesses Um, do you have offices all over because you're based out of out of Denver? Right? That's that's where you're based out of but are there offices in other places too? Yeah, I am in Denver I work with clients, you know all over the u.s. Wherever I am referred And with that our corporate headquarters is in austin taxes and we are located throughout the u.s We are helping a lot of clients around the country with everything from employer retention tax credit audits to You know employer handbooks All the way to multi-seat payroll tax jurisdiction Last thing I want to talk about very quickly here You and I know each other from from various spaces. We've talked a lot. There is no assertive relationship here I don't get any credit for hey Talk to kelly, but how can people reach you and and and what is it that that you're open to for businesses? Because I really feel like my audience and people that that find this on online They should they should talk to a HR specialist They should talk to some some of these things right because these are very much Things that people overlook. I love it and you're right. There is no incentive here Um, it's just you know, a fellow business person talking to another fellow business person. That's what makes it so cool with that I would say that I would talk With someone like myself or myself as soon as possible If you're thinking about running a business if you've opened your doors Even if you've been in business for five years because there are a lot of things out there that you could potentially Save money on or even get some money on like employer retention tax credit Through the carers act employers are able absolutely. That's a really big chunk of change Yeah, really big one. Yes employer retention tax credit. I heard all about it. I told a lot of people So yeah, absolutely. So it's going to be an educational experience and speaking with Myself or someone who works like myself at the end of the day I'm just looking to share some knowledge and be a resource to my clients assure has many free resources for our clients we have a weekly webinar where we have really skilled professionals talking about topics like Affordable care act what's changed um ERTC why you need an employee handbook different topics We store all all these free webinars on our website We have a free blog that you can access on a weekly basis new one each week and we have links to the other states You know important forms that you need to have whether it's State unemployment form that you need to fill out for your organization to ensure you have that number and that experience rate or just an i9 w4 form Staying current with 2022 and these are free resources. So when you talk to me, I'm going to show you where this is I'm going to point you in that direction And I'm absolutely going to ask you some questions about your business But at the end of the day I have a good feeling you're going to walk away with something you didn't know and I know I will too Because I'm going to learn about you Absolutely, and I'm all about education So I'm going to do my best to put in this this video the description of this video ways to contact you Maybe even link to some of those resources before you get a chance to send them to it So I would really appreciate Um the opportunity to do that for for my audience here as well And I really do appreciate you taking the time out today And sitting down with me and talking about finance or health. I think HR services is definitely something People overlook Initially and they think oh, I just got a higher employee. They got to do some some legal things, right? And and we'll move forward. It's a constant education a constant process and someone like you is definitely A valuable asset to any team when you're trying to grow a business. So thank you for your time today Thank you so much. And I to lose share my phone number in my email All right. Well, stay tuned everyone. I have more people like kelly Gear it up for my financial times series Would love for you to stay tuned to this series as well as see any of my other videos if you want to subscribe to my channel I would love it Hit the subscribe button share it with your friends and visit my website I am ken ross calm until I see you next time. I'll see you around. Thanks kelly