Tonight on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories, we sit down with CFO Amanda Stickel, author of The Regulated Wealthy Woman, to learn the secret to year-round financial leadership.

And at Pathways to Education Kingston, the belief is unwavering in the strength and potential of young people and the communities that stand behind them.

Also, what the Jefferson County Water and Soil Conservation District is doing to keep our waters safe.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on WPBS Weekly, Inside the Stories.

Funding for WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories is provided by the Statewide Community Re-Grants Program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council.

Carthage Savings, founded in 1888, offering VA, FHA, seasonal, and rural development mortgage products, providing financial services to Northern New York from offices in Carthage, Clayton, Croghan, and Watertown.

Online at carthagesavings.com.

Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

We kick things off tonight with a talk about managing finances.

It's something Amanda Stickel has helped many of her own clients manage as a tax strategist and fractional CFO.

Her goal for anyone she works with is to help them focus on year-round financial leadership.

Now, she's aiming to do that through her book, The Regulated Wealthy Woman.

Tonight, she joins Luke Smith in the studio to discuss the secrets to financial success for entrepreneurs and the everyday person.

Thank you, Michael.

Joining me in the studio now is Amanda Stickel.

First of all, Amanda, welcome to the studio.

Thank you so much for having me.

And you are a tax strategist, a fractional CFO, and recently the author of The Regulated Wealthy Woman: Five Financial Pillars for a Profitable, Peaceful Business.

And we're going to talk about that in a little bit.

But something that stuck out to me when we initially started setting this up is you s - you focus mostly on year-round financial leadership.

Tell me a little bit about what that means.

Yeah.

So I have almost 16 years experience in the accounting industry, and every time I meet with somebody, it's a similar experience where they're overwhelmed with taxes.

It's a, it's a scare.

Like they, at the end of the year, they're scared of it.

It's unexpected and they don't know what to do.

And what I have found the most beneficial is working with business owners throughout the year in order to plan and put systems in place, to be prepared for taxes, but also to realize that taxes are just a piece of the puzzle.

There's a lot of moving parts as far as cashflow and business decisions that need to have some sort of financial leadership in place throughout the year.

So that way you can have a profitable and peaceful business that is aligned to how you want to be living your life.

And with 16 years of doing this, you've definitely got a strong background on doing stuff like this.

I got to know, what are some of those tips you share with either clients that aren't doing their own business or those that are coming around January like, "Hey, I need to do my taxes.

What do I do?"

Yeah.

Biggest one is to plan for taxes throughout the year.

So having a system in place.

So what that means is like a bookkeeping software, QuickBooks Online, there's way of accounting, Xero.

There's so many different options out there.

Even Google Sheets is really helpful.

But tracking your income, tracking your expenses, and being aware of what's actually happening in your business so that way you can plan for taxes.

So when you have those systems in place, then you could set aside, say, 30% of your profit every month into a high yield savings account.

So that way your money's working more strategically for you instead of giving the, the government an interest-free loan.

So when people are calculating their taxes, something I, when we were getting this interview set up, I was running into a lot of these TikToks and Instagram posts of people that are like, "The IRS knows what your income is, but it's really a gamble.

You have to go in and put it in, and if the IRS doesn't agree with it or like it, they're going to send you to jail."

So can you debunk that mystery for me out of cur - just for curiosity's sake?

Yeah.

I think there's two, two parts in this.

The first part is usually the IRS does know your income.

But that's where a lot of the strategy comes into play because as a business owner, they're aware of your income, but they're not aware of all your expenses that go into operating your business.

And that's, that's where the fun part gets to be, where you can be strategic with your spending.

They do have to be ordinary and necessary expenses for your business.

But there's, there's lots of strategies that you can play with to kind of shift your, like, spending habits that you're already doing to be business deductible.

But you have to be proactive and you have to have documentation in place.

But that's where you, you have control with the IRS.

And then the second part is that you won't automatically go to jail if you get something wrong.

I mean, that is a big fear for people, and it's totally understandable because I don't want to go to jail either.

But what will happen if they do find something that's not matching their records, they're just going to send you a letter and just asking for some verification.

And that's where the documentation comes into place and just respond to the letter and you'll be, you'll be okay.

You must also have a bunch of freelancers who come to you and help and ask for tax help.

Am I correct in that?

Yes.

Yeah.

So when you, when you see those like first time freelancers who come in and have never run a business before, have never managed cashflow, what are some of the common early mistakes you see them making?

Yeah.

The, the first one I want to say is that they, they don't think they have a business because they're not taking themselves seriously.

So that's a, it's a mindset thing and it's hard, it's a hard shift too coming from employee to then being employ - I mean, basically you're your employer, you're being a business owner, you're responsible for your taxes and keeping all the documentation and getting the clients.

Some people start off like thinking they just have like a hobby, but really it's, it is a business.

So first recognizing that and acknowledging that you are a business owner.

And the second thing is that they, they put their, all the money stuff on the back burner because it scares them.

It's overwhelming.

They might not have that foundational understanding of, of how taxes work and like what can, what they can deduct and how it's reported.

Or how tax, like how, how much their taxes are going to be.

So all of that is very overwhelming and stressful.

So instead they kind of, they put it on the back burner and like, "I'll figure it out later."

And then they never get to it.

So those are the, the two biggest mistakes.

Ignoring it, not having the systems in place and not tracking for taxes.

You mentioned something earlier that I wanted to get back to about deductions.

Those are usually, those must feel like sometimes like the cheat code to be like, "I can get my, I can get my tax refund or whatever I owe down a little bit."

But you can't deduct everything.

Like I can't deduct my dog or cat, like if I wanted to.

Right.

So what's, what are some common or uncommon deductions that you see or would recommend?

Yeah, common ones are your supplies.

So as like a videographer, your equipment, your camera software, those things are very common in, in multiple different businesses.

Some uncommon things are things that people don't think of as tax deductions or, or remember that they actually do use it for business is a portion of your cell phone.

We use our cell phones all the time, especially for social media.

That's how we're marketing our business and talking to our clients.

So you can take a portion of your cell phone.

And a home office deduction is a big one that's, that's missed and people are often kind of freaked out about because they feel like they're going to get audited and like they're going to get things taken away and get in trouble.

But it can definitely be a legit write-off if you're using a space in your home as an exclusive space that you use for your business regularly.

And it's a great write off to have some of those personal expenses be a business deduction.

Covering a lot of good ground, but I want to ask you, what sticks out to me about your book is your subtitle here, the five, the Five Financial Pillars for a Profitable and Peaceful Business.

For people thinking about starting a business or freelancers who are like starting to think about running a business, what are those five financial pillars without spoiling the book?

Yeah, no.

Happy to, happy to share.

Pillar one is to have separation.

Pillar two is to have systems that work for you.

Pillar three is to pay yourself intentionally.

Pillar four is to plan for taxes throughout the year, like we've been talking about.

And pillar five is to be planning for your cash flow in the future.

I like to say the phrase cash is queen because I work with a lot of women.

So cash is, cash is queen in the business.

I want to ask you this.

Why is hiring a CFO important, not just for tax season, but all year round?

Yeah.

Because business and taxes happen throughout the year.

It's not something that just happens at the end of the year.

And there's a lot of opportunity to plan for taxes and be strategic with taxes, so to keep more cash in your pocket.

And that happens through intentional strategy throughout the year.

In addition, it's hard to run a business.

Business is hard.

We can't do everything on our own.

And having an expert on your side to manage your systems and give you key information that you might not know exactly how to interpret, I'm giving you the bits that you need to know so that way you can make strategic financial decisions.

I think one of my last questions that I have for you tonight is, what would you define as financial success?

Just for anybody.

So I think that's very subjective.

And that's one of the things that I like to talk about is that you have to figure out what success means to you and not focus on what everybody else is talking about.

Because everybody else has different goals and different lifestyles, different family structures.

To me, it's about having the time flexibility to spend with my kids, to go to all the sports things, to do community things.

I'm big in my community.

And also financial freedom.

Like I don't want to have to stress about going on vacation or going back to sports, paying for all the sports equipment.

I want to be able to support my family that way.

Amanda Stickel, thank you so much for joining us.

One more thing before we go.

Where can people go to purchase the regulated wealthy woman?

Yeah.

So this is available on Amazon right now and will also be available in Four Quill.

Four Quills In the Paddock.

Will's Four Quills Bookshop.

Yes.

Shout out to Destiny Wood, by the way, over at, over at Four Quills.

Amanda, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us today.

We appreciate you coming by.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

You can pick up a copy of the Regulated Wealthy Woman on Amazon, Four Quills Bookshop, and Crosstown Local Market.

And to learn more from Amanda, or to book a discovery call with her, you can find her online at stickletex.com.

Well, every young person deserves the chance to graduate from high school, to dream, to grow, and to build a future filled with possibility.

But for many youth in low income communities, that path can be filled with barriers.

Pathways to education, Kingston is determined to remove those barriers by providing resources and a network of support students need to graduate and build the foundation for a successful future.

As our Gail Paquette discovered, they know that lasting change happens when students, families, volunteers, and partners come together to lift one another up.

For many young people, success in school isn't just about hard work.

It's about access and opportunity.

Pathways to Education Kingston is often seen as a tutoring program, but at its core, it's much more than that.

It's a model for educational equity, helping students navigate barriers, build confidence, and find their own path forward.

I did just kind of stumble into this program.

I grew up in the neighborhood, so I came to Kingston with my family.

I was a refugee child, and so I settled in Kingston with my family.

And what I realized in the neighborhood growing up here was that a lot of young people just didn't do well into high school.

So I think about my graduating class, there weren't a lot of, you know, there's about 35 young people in my graduating class in grade eight, and not a lot of those people graduated on time in terms of high school.

And so I was very curious about that my whole life, but as a young person, I really was just looking to get away from the city and, and kind of leave this behind.

And the more and more that I started understanding equity, understanding places that, and spaces that can really support young people, I always had this kind of urge of this call to come back and help.

And so I was able to find my voice when I was about 26 years old and and shared my story.

And, and I think people realize that, oh, it's, you know, the work that you're doing is actually a little bit of yourself.

And so I do kind of think about the students that are in our program, and I do see a little bit about myself in them because I know what it's, what it's like to grow up in a neighborhood that has systematic barriers.

And sometimes you feel like it's, it's your fault that success doesn't happen, but really now that I understand, it's that really a community approach to success.

Roger's story is a reminder that when education isn't equitable, potential can be lost.

That's what drives his work at Pathways, making sure every student has the same chance to succeed.

When we think about equitable success, we're really looking at kind of leveling the playing field, right?

Does everyone have the, the, the things that they need to succeed?

And that has been to be very very unique to the individual, right?

There's no cookie cutter solution, and that's really what's interesting about our program.

It's why we provide such variety of programming, because for some people, it might be a connection through arts that they find their love for science.

It might be the connection through an experiential learning opportunity that they actually realize groups aren't my thing, but I actually really prefer to work by myself.

And understanding that about each other is really important.

So when we think about equity, looking at how we can just give people opportunities, and then take those opportunities and build on their strengths as opposed to looking at what they don't have.

Each student who walks through the door brings their own story, their own challenges, and their own dreams.

Team leads like Petra help them take the driver's seat, guiding their own journey with the right support beside them.

I think that's, for us, the most, one of the most important pieces is, is validating, really hearing the youth voice, whether it's in their one-on-one meeting, because they're guiding the conversation.

They're guiding what that next step is for them in terms of graduating and whether it's you know, going into the workplace, going to post-secondary college.

It's all kind of what, what they want for themselves.

And, and we're just sort of the support team in engaging the schools, parents, the community in, in supporting that.

Four Pathways, the engaging of families and community partners isn't part of their work.

It's what makes the work possible because behind every student's success is a network of people who believe in them.

We tend to make the the assumption that it's just academics that are barriers and, and but it, but it's more, more than that.

And for some of our, our families and some of our, our youth food is a big issue, again, since COVID, right?

And we're seeing higher grocery prices, housing all those, those, those things I think we're all feeling.

So we're lucky to live in a community that we have lots of resources and we're very well connected.

We can access different supports.

And this is a, a very caring community that that wants to, to support our youth.

For Alexis, that support changed everything.

A Pathways graduate, now in her final year of nursing, she looks back on how the program helped her stay focused and believe in what was possible.

I'm in my fourth year of my nursing degree at St.

Lawrence College.

I think it definitely had a big impact on me.

I remember being in grade seven and eight, I went to the Vanier program because my grade school was like a little bit too easy for me.

My French teacher though, so they're like, "Oh, let's put you in French and see how that helps you."

So I had a bit of a challenge then.

And then going into high school, it was like, "Okay, I'll continue with the French immersion program."

But none of my family speaks French and neither of them went to high school, my parents.

So I was like, "Who's going to help me through all my homework?

Who's going to help explain things to me?"

So I was able to come here, and then I had so much more help and so much more support.

I didn't really have a study space at home either.

It was just like my bedroom and like, I don't know, sleeping in my bedroom, hanging out in my bedroom, doing schoolwork in my bedroom.

It's like I'm not getting anywhere productive at all.

So I think the only place that I actually did school stuff was at Pathways, which was definitely really helpful throughout school for sure.

Every student's journey through Pathways looks different, and that's exactly the point because when education meets people where they are, it opens doors, not just to diplomas, but to dignity, confidence, and possibility.

Pathways is very unique because it's only high school students.

And what's unique about that is that we actually get four years, sometimes five years to work with students.

So the longevity of the relationships that we build with students is really, really unique.

And when I think about like what's the secret sauce, like why does our program actually have the results it does?

It's because we get to build strong relationships with students.

But more specifically, each student has a graduation coach that really supports them over four years.

And this is not just education, it's, you know, home life, social life any kind of basic needs that might be met that, that graduation coach really does step in and, and, and build a strong formation and a strong bond that then students will want to work harder, want to achieve more.

And then it's a, a really great kind of stepping stone into the real world of, of adulthood where you need relationships to succeed.

For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

Clean water doesn't just happen.

It takes constant monitoring to protect the rivers, streams, and lakes we rely on every day.

The Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District keeps a close eye on local watersheds, looking for problems like erosion, sediment, and pollution before they become bigger issues.

Now, climate change is adding a new challenge.

More frequent intense storms are sending larger amounts of polluted runoff into local waterways.

We caught up with the conservation district at the Stony Creek Watershed to see how they're working to protect our water.

So today we're sampling the Stony Creek Watershed, taking water samples.

This is our Mill Creek site, but there's eight total sites throughout the whole watershed.

And we'll be sampling twice a month, every month until November.

The Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District has a mission to conserve our natural resources and to keep our waters clean.

On any given day in the spring, summer, or fall, staff can often be found waiting through streams and waterways, collecting samples to monitor the health of local waters.

Jefferson County is home to more than 1800 miles of rivers and streams, along with 256 miles of shoreline along Lake Ontario and the St.

Lawrence River.

With such abundant water resources, maintaining healthy waterways is essential to the environment, local communities, and quality of life.

We're going to take both field samples and lab samples.

So our field samples we'll take with a probe.

It measures dissolved oxygen, pH turbidity.

But then our lab samples will be thing for things like total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total dissolved phosphorus.

It'll give us an indication of our current water quality.

So if there is high levels of turbidity or total dissolved solids, we'll know there's probably an erosion concern upstream.

If there's elevated nutrient levels like phosphorus or nitrogen, we're going to know that that's a problem that needs to be addressed and that there's non-point sources contributing to that.

We're mainly looking for elevated nutrient levels.

That's what we suspect that if we found anything we would find.

But we'll also notice if there's low dissolved oxygen, which would be a problem for fish, or if there's high turbidity.

So there's probably erosion issues upstream if we find that.

The testing results are used to develop a nine-element plan or 9E plan.

Based on a framework created by the Environmental Protection Agency, the plan identifies a community's water quality concerns and outlines actions to address them.

A strong 9E plan can also improve a community's chances of securing grants to fund environmental projects.

That nine element plan, the direction we go on will be based on what we find.

So if there's high nutrient levels the best management practices, the plan suggests are going to target that.

If there's high sedimentation, it'll target that.

And if we don't find any problems, we'll shift as well.

One of our other 9E plans, they had great water quality, so we took it in the direction of climate change and what that will do to affect the watershed in the future.

One issue they're careful to look for is elevated phosphorus levels.

When excess amounts of phosphorus are present in water, it can cause severe ecological and water quality issues, including dead zones where aquatic life can't survive, and harmful alkal blooms that produce toxins dangerous to humans and pets.

Elevated phosphorus is going to lead to more nuisance algae growth in aquatic weeds.

So we want to keep that low but within the normal range so that there's still enough nutrients in the cycle, but not too much throwing things out of whack.

While human activities such as septic system wastewater and fertilizer use are primary sources of excess phosphorus, climate change can significantly worsen the problem.

Storm water is rainwater or snow melt that does not soak into the ground and instead flows over the land into nearby waterways.

As it travels, it can pick up soil, animal waste, road salt, pesticides, fertilizers, oil, debris, and other pollutants.

Climate change is increasing the frequency of intense rainstorms and rapid snow melt events, which produce greater stormwater runoff and flooding.

This fast moving water causes erosion of soil in stream banks, carrying accumulated phosphorus from agricultural and urban areas directly into rivers, streams, and lakes.

2090.

Back in my day when I was in elementary school, we started talking about it in terms of global warming.

But now we've shifted as scientists to using the word climate change because it's about more than just temperature.

But we're also seeing new weather patterns because climate is the average weather in a place.

So we're seeing more intense storm events.

We're seeing droughts in the summer along with those elevated temperatures.

When we get those more intense storm events from climate change, we're getting more runoff.

When we get those really intense storms, the water can't soak into the soil as much.

So we're getting more runoff, carrying nutrients and different pollutants into our streams, and that's why we would see that 10% increase in total phosphorus.

To protect waterways, the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District helps municipalities implement best management practices that prevent, reduce, and reverse water quality issues.

Best management practices, we call them B&P for short.

There's a ton of them that we can do.

Farms can do things like cover cropping, using low till.

Manure injection is one because then you have less runoff if it rains.

Riparian forest buffers are great.

If you live along a lake or a stream, not mowing right up to the stream is great.

If you can leave a buffer of at least vegetation, but trees are even better, they're going to help absorb any nutrients or runoff before it gets in the stream.

We can all help protect our lakes, rivers, and streams.

Plant a rain garden to absorb runoff before it reaches local waterways, reduce or eliminate lawn fertilizer use, and have septic systems pumped out regularly.

Never dump motor oil, paint, grease, or other chemicals into storm grains.

You can also volunteer with organizations such as Save the River to participate in cleanups and habitat restoration projects.

To reduce the consequences of climate change, it's up to us to work together.

We need to work as a community.

We can't just put the blame onto any one sector.

It is coming from all of us.

We all live in a watershed.

Things we do every day are going to contribute nutrients and pollution to our waterways.

That does it for this Tuesday night.

If you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we would love to learn more.

All you need to do is send us an email at WPBSWeekly@ wpstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now.

Join us next time for a fresh look Inside The Stories.

Until then, stay safe and take care.

Funding for WPBS Weekly, Inside the Stories, is provided by the Statewide Community Re-Grants Program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council.

Carthage Savings, founded in 1888, offering VA, FHA, seasonal and rural development mortgage products, providing financial services to Northern New York from offices in Carthage, Clayton, Croghan, and Watertown.

Online at carthagesavings.com.

It's about having the time flexibility to spend with my kids, to go to all the sports things, to do community things.

I'm big in my community.

I want to be able to support my family that way.