Who Are We? Meet Doug, Emily, and Matt

There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript.

Doug Lewis: Well. We're back. We are back, ladies and gentlemen. I can't pluralize that, I guess, on this. So here we are. Uh. Now this. Now, Emily, correct me if I'm wrong. All right, which I've. Which I will correct you. I've never been wrong. So you'd be the first to ever catch me. But from what I understand, there's there's people who've been approached. I know I've been approached in person [00:00:30] at various events, conferences, all that fun stuff going, why are you doing this? How did the three of you kind of come together? Who are you? Uh, we're talking about Sage Intacct and everything. Accounting and technology and all this fun stuff. But who who are you guys? And I think, Emily, you've received some similar feedback from, not mistaken.

Emily Madere: Yeah, I've gotten some fan mail.

Doug Lewis: Um, fan mail.

Emily Madere: People. People want to know. Want to know about us. They want to know about our hobbies. They they love how we we talk about intact. And we bring on gas, but they want [00:01:00] to kind of go behind the mic, if you will.

Doug Lewis: I think they want to know more about you and me, Emily.

Emily Madere: Obviously, yes.

Doug Lewis: Not so.

Emily Madere: Much.

Matt Lescault: I didn't get any fan mail. Honestly, no. Yeah.

Doug Lewis: No. Well, that makes sense. I mean, let's let's let's be honest here. Uh, we, uh, we know who the who the real star is. It's Emily in this. In this case. So. So I think the the plan today, instead of bringing on a guest and going down the technology, accounting and tech rabbit hole. We're just going to kind [00:01:30] of chat about each other, if that makes sense. Because people are asking. They're like, who are you guys? Why are the three of you doing this thing? What is this all coming together behind the scenes? So, you know, if it's all right with the two of you, I'd like to get to know the two of you. Even a little bit better. I know Matt a little bit, Emily a little bit. But I think there's a lot more than than most people can kind of guess here. So if it's all right with you guys, I'd like to catch up and first. Matt, uh, if for anyone questioning when we're recording this, it's directly following the 4th of July, and I'm looking at [00:02:00] Matt and all I see is his pasty white complexion still.

Matt Lescault: We're going here. We're going to start.

Doug Lewis: We're going right here. We're diving right into it. How how did you get through the fourth being outside yet still being so pasty?

Matt Lescault: Um, you know, I believe in skin health and skincare. So a lot of sunscreen. I did go outside. I know you don't believe that. Um, but as I've always said in my life, I go from white to red to peeling. There's no in between, and there's no tanning for me. Um, so I'm [00:02:30] sorry to disappoint, but this is what you get.

Doug Lewis: You're not disappointing me. You're disappointing everybody else. Yeah. Everyone else. I think you're disappointing in that case.

Emily Madere: And you're really not helping your case either, because you're wearing a white shirt. It's kind of like blending in.

Matt Lescault: Actually, I figured the white made me look a little less white.

Doug Lewis: Mhm.

Doug Lewis: Classic mistake. Yeah.

Matt Lescault: Better than an orange shirt on me. That's something I stay away from.

Doug Lewis: That's right. This is like the two weeks of the year where I'm not super pasty like [00:03:00] you, so I just have to really. I have to get up on the highest horse you can imagine right now. Just. And it feels. It feels.

Matt Lescault: We all need you. We all know you need a high horse there.

Doug Lewis: I do, because I'm only six two. But I like to be even taller than that.

Matt Lescault: I thought it was just the billboard that you guys, uh, had made. That was six two, and you're actually, like, five two.

Doug Lewis: Uh, I did have a cardboard cutout of myself made at one point in time. It was a six foot, uh, not six two, because they only came in five and six feet. Uh, and [00:03:30] the five foot one was just utterly depressing. So I had to, you know, I had to I had to give myself just, you know, a little bit of, a little bit of bump upwards, but regardless. So what did, uh, since we are fresh out of the fourth year, what did the two of you end up doing for the holiday?

Matt Lescault: Emily. You first.

Emily Madere: Yeah, it was death. It was deathly hot in Louisiana, so, uh, I did nothing, I stayed inside. So a little fun fact about me is I like to, like, redo furniture [00:04:00] and things like furniture. Like outdoor stuff. And, um, I, I got a metal birdbath and I've been redoing it. So that's what I've been doing over the holiday.

Matt Lescault: So one of your major hobbies is refurbishing birdbaths.

Emily Madere: Well, like like furniture and birdbaths and like other things. Yeah.

Doug Lewis: I was going to guess that. Yeah, I was going to.

Matt Lescault: I only I only hear birdbaths. And I'm just imagining her front yard having like, 30 birdbaths in it. [00:04:30]

Emily Madere: Yeah. In fact, in fact, um, this acronym, the spray paints probably dries, so I gotta go flip it over and spray paint the other side.

Matt Lescault: All right, all right, I like it.

Doug Lewis: You did seem like someone.

Emily Madere: Probably someone can relate to that as well.

Doug Lewis: I love how you're like. You're hoping you're like, yeah, maybe someone relate to that.

Emily Madere: Someone is listening. Like, bro, I'm redoing a birdbath right now as well.

Doug Lewis: Yeah.

Matt Lescault: So is this like antiquing though? Do you find like, old furniture [00:05:00] and old things refurbish, or is it like anything?

Emily Madere: Yeah, yeah, I like, I like doing, like antiquing. I go to thrift stores, estate sales, that type of thing. Um, my house was built in the 80s, so you can imagine I've done a lot of, um, stuff to it, like buy things on sale too. So if anyone listening, like, loves having a really good sale on, like their ceiling lights, I'm in it like I really am.

Matt Lescault: All right.

Doug Lewis: Like, I like how you think 80s is old for a house, by the way. I [00:05:30] like.

Emily Madere: Yeah.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, I'm on a 59.

Matt Lescault: I wasn't going to touch that.

Emily Madere: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yeah, but no.

Doug Lewis: It's okay. I'm on a 59 build, so it's, uh. I know, I know my way around some retrofitting in the house. Uh, there's no question about that. Matt, would you end up doing for the fourth?

Matt Lescault: Well, I did, I did a handful of things. So leading up to the fourth hour, our club has, uh, fireworks. So on Wednesday, I went with the family and some friends and [00:06:00] had drinks and food and watched fireworks. And it was actually not a super hot day. So it was very nice to, uh, to be outside and the weather, uh, didn't rain, which was really nice. Um, took Thursday kind of easy. Friday, which was, uh, the 4th of July, went to the pool for a buddy of mine's, uh, kids nine, uh, ninth birthday party. So did that and and hung out and then, uh, on Sunday went to another friend's house and, uh, did a barbecue [00:06:30] and, uh, and had some drinks and some fun, so, you know, got around a little bit.

Doug Lewis: Well, that's not bad. That's, uh, was it ungodly hot by you as well?

Matt Lescault: No, actually, uh, Sunday was the worst day, but the rest of it, we were like, low 80s. I was, I was pretty, I was pretty happy about it. Now, what about you?

Doug Lewis: Uh, I interesting, so I spent the week up, uh, in central Wisconsin, uh, on on a lake, which is really nice. Uh, a lot [00:07:00] of family came up, which was great, chasing my my one and a half year old around, which was just a handful. Um, he loves parks now, so we have to always take him to a park every day. Uh, usually in the morning when that sun is really just starting to just pierce on you. So. Got a lot of sun. Much more than I'd ever like to, uh, over the last week or so. Um, but it was fun. You mentioned no rain to, uh, where I was, uh, forth was on a Friday, and the big fireworks show for the area was on a Saturday. So Saturday night comes around, everyone's getting all excited. You know, [00:07:30] we're sitting out there on a on a pontoon boat under a Bimini top, right? Just, you know, just in case it starts raining. Lo and behold, torrential downpour just immediately as fireworks start off this barge. Right. And, uh, you know, everyone's like, ah, this just like, are we gonna. First off, it's miserable. You're it's it's like freezing. You're getting mosquitoes. You're it's rain. Whatever. But you're like, I'm gonna tough it out. Fireworks. 4th of July. So the fireworks show continued through this torrential downpour. Somehow, I don't know how they did it. Um, [00:08:00] and and it got, like, weirdly cold at the same time. So fog started just mixing with all the smoke, and they started shooting fireworks up. It honestly looked like we were getting like we were in a war zone. You couldn't see it. The sky was just lighting up, like, all the same color. There's fog, there's smoke. You couldn't see anything. Very weird experience. Uh, but fun nonetheless. Memorable. One could say.

Doug Lewis: All right.

Matt Lescault: But you're there with a lot of family. It sounds like, uh, you had fun. [00:08:30] You had some extra people to watch your kids so you could, you know, not have to.

Doug Lewis: Very true, very true. It's, uh, it's exciting stuff. Uh, moving into a little bit of professional zone, though, because we have to touch on professional things a little bit. Uh, Matt. Emily, you guys have been traveling a little bit, hitting the conference circuit, meeting with clients, all that fun stuff, if I'm not mistaken. What's left kind of coming in the back half of the year on the professional schedule for you guys?

Matt Lescault: Emily, you want to take this first?

Emily Madere: Uh, yeah. Yeah. [00:09:00] So, okay. So this year, I've gone to a lot of places, like, met some great and amazing people. And Atlanta for Sage future. But this past two weeks ago, I was in Minneapolis for a speaking engagement. Um, going forward, I'm actually coming to Chicago in September.

Doug Lewis: Well that's exciting. What, for.

Emily Madere: A speaking engagement? It's I'm going to go to, um, City of Chicago, but then I'm going to go to I think I'm pronouncing it Elgin.

Doug Lewis: Elgin. [00:09:30] Elgin. Elgin. No, no. Go with Elgin. Yeah, I like Elgin better.

Emily Madere: I was like, I knew I'm going to butcher it. Um, and then there is an event for Sage in November. Right. Matt and Laura.

Matt Lescault: Yeah. So, uh, there's actually a couple that I'm doing. So in, uh, end of July, I'll be in Toronto. We're hosting, um, a quarterly get together for Sage Intacct accountants in Canada. [00:10:00] Uh, so we'll be there at the end of July. I'm headed to South Africa at the end of August for three weeks, uh, to see my team, uh, in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Uh, Barcelona will be Sage future for, uh, the Europe and Africa middle East. And that'll be the first week of November. And then I'll fly to Florida and see you in, uh, see you for the Partner Summit, uh, in Fort Lauderdale. Um, I thinking that's the rest of my travel [00:10:30] now.

Doug Lewis: Is it? I know everyone says Barcelona, but isn't it Barcelona?

Matt Lescault: Uh.

Doug Lewis: I can't even I can't even say it properly when I'm trying to make fun of how you're supposed to say it. Uh, which which is fun. Oh, it just started absolutely pouring where I am, too. So that's also enjoyable.

Matt Lescault: But we're working on we're, you know, Emily, we're.

Matt Lescault: Working, uh, with, uh, the team at, at Sage to see if we can't do some recordings in Barcelona and in Fort Lauderdale, and then maybe you'll be joining me as well.

Doug Lewis: What [00:11:00] a party. I can't imagine, actually, there's a lot of good feedback from from the, the future, uh, you know, content that you guys were able to get down there. So, um, I know that's kind of where the the genesis of this conversation came from, but we'll move forward a little bit to, to just kind of how we even got here, because I get that question a lot, like, why, why are you at all in the same room together? How did this thing come to be, all that fun stuff? Um, Emily, do you want to maybe kick off? Kind of. What? Just like.

Emily Madere: No. Why are you here, Doug? These people [00:11:30] want to listen to you. Like what? What got you.

Doug Lewis: Uh, I actually, I remember that very well. Uh, professionally, there's a whole separate story of how I ended up at this company, but that's a story for, I think, a bit of a different day. But I actually remember, um, I was on, uh, what do they call it? Uh, the last trip you take before you have a kid? Uh, I'm blanking on the name. There's a.

Emily Madere: Baby moon.

Doug Lewis: Baby moon? That was it. I was on a baby moon down in, uh, the Florida Keys. And, uh, I got a random call from [00:12:00] Mr. Matthew Lesko, and, uh, he's like, hey, you know, I'm thinking about doing this, uh, unofficial Sage Intacct podcast, you know, is this something that you think would be be interested in doing and kind of jumping on board with and seeing what we can do with this thing? And, uh, that was literally it. I gave it almost no thought. I'm like, sure, that sounds like a fun time. If nothing else, it'll give me a break in the day every once in a while to chat with you guys and come up with some fun things and talk to some some pretty interesting people. So, [00:12:30] you know, I wish it was like more complicated. There was like a weird story back, but no, I got a random call one day from Matt and he's like, hey.

Emily Madere: How do you.

Doug Lewis: Know that one thing? So, Matt, I think years ago, one of my employees at the time contacted you about selling your firm to a different client of mine that was got to be at least 5 or 6 years ago at this point. I mean, it's got to be a while back.

Matt Lescault: I would say 4 or 5 years at least.

Matt Lescault: Yeah.

Doug Lewis: Okay. So we'll meet [00:13:00] in the middle and say five years. Uh, that actually had some legs at the time. Didn't end up working out, which is fine. You know, we started looking at some deals together after that to bring into Matt's organization. And then he got all distracted with this whole South Africa operation, which turned out to be great. But, you know, at the time was an absolute headache. And we just kind of have been in similar circles knowing some of the similar people on the finance lending side over the years. And, uh, you know, that's that's why I was excited. I got a call like, you know, it sounds like fun. [00:13:30] Why not? If if nothing else, it'll give me the opportunity to regularly. Poke fun at Matt and I. That was impossible to turn down.

Emily Madere: I agree 100% agree.

Matt Lescault: It's an actual, complete, accurate story to it and it is really his. His real joy in life is poking fun at me.

Doug Lewis: That's it.

Emily Madere: That's that's why he does what he does.

Matt Lescault: That's why that's that's the only reason why I think I just have that kind of aura to me, because I think a lot of people poke fun at me. But I like it easy. [00:14:00] It's it's it's I'm just.

Doug Lewis: It's just easy. Ouch. Ouch. What a segue into Emily. How how did you get roped into this? You give us a little bit of background on how we even got here today.

Emily Madere: Yeah. So. Okay, so this Sage Intacct working for what was in now is, like my big girl job. I graduated college, and I started working for BNN, and I [00:14:30] immediately jumped into Sage Intacct. And my first conference was the one in Orlando, and it was like for three years ago, and that was at the time I was doing LinkedIn TikTok inspired videos. So I would post like TikTok inspired videos on LinkedIn talking about Sage Intacct. They'd be funny, they'd be informational, whatever it was. Um, but that's where I met the earmark guys. Um, and for those, you know [00:15:00] who don't know, the earmark guys are actually the ones who host The Accounting Podcast. And they walked up to me and I told them a little bit what I was doing, and they they took my name down. And two years later, they were like, we have a podcast. Why won't you be on the Host?

Matt Lescault: Huh?

Emily Madere: And so it was kind of like, um, sure. Like I'll do it. I, you know, I know a little bit about Sage Intacct and I think I know how to talk to people, so we'll make this work. And then that's when, um, I started having a conversation with them, and they brought in Matt, and Matt brought in Doug, and that's how I got here.

Doug Lewis: So [00:15:30] we we flew by that one, Matt. How did how did that connection happen then on your end?

Matt Lescault: Yeah. So I mean, I, I met, uh, the earmark guys myself at it might have been the same conference. It might have been Orlando. Uh, ran into them and had some conversations. And then, uh, my director of marketing, uh, maintained that relationship. And so I think when they reached out to Emily and they said, well, we need another, another host, they they throw out my name as, as a possibility and said, Emily, if you like him, [00:16:00] go with it. If you don't like him, find somebody else. I'm pretty sure is the background to that. But Emily would know more than me, because I think this all sort of centered around her first. And then and then I got roped in and roped you in. Doug.

Emily Madere: So is it kind of crazy? Like, I talked to my husband about this, and I'm like, it's crazy. Like, I'm just a girl talking about it, right? Like, this is crazy. Now we have a podcast and we got to do really cool things at Sage future. People actually listen to us, which is [00:16:30] like nuts.

Doug Lewis: Makes no sense.

Emily Madere: Makes no.

Matt Lescault: Sense.

Emily Madere: But like everyone who's made it this far, like. Thank you.

Matt Lescault: Please keep listening.

Emily Madere: Yeah.

Doug Lewis: No, I like that, I like that. Um, it's kind of give, give a little flavor here. So that's kind of how we all got to where we are today and created this giant mess that we're in right now. I do want to hit because we're at that mid year, 2025, just everything going on in the accounting world, technology [00:17:00] sector, things are continually on fire in both a good and bad way across the board. Uh, Matt, I want to throw you a question just from your perspective. Tide Co Matt Lesko, personal life, whatever. What's something that has just gone phenomenally well for you so far in 2025?

Matt Lescault: Oh, man. Um, look, I really do think that I'm a pretty lucky individual to have the opportunities that I have. And so it's really hard to pinpoint any one thing. If you if you look at [00:17:30] it, uh, I mean, I get to, uh, do this amazing podcast. If anybody hasn't been able to tell, I like to talk, and, uh, I like to to share my thoughts and to whoever will listen. Uh, and I have Emily. He's smirking over there being like, yeah, if I could only get him to be quiet once in a while. And, uh, and then the opportunity to work, uh, so in depth with Sage across multiple regions, opportunity to go to South Africa. Um, I mean, I just I have all [00:18:00] these things that are so I, you know, you said it, Emily. You're like, I'm just a girl talking about, you know, Sage Intacct be.

Emily Madere: A girl to. You're a girl talking about Sage Intacct to.

Matt Lescault: At least in one previous life. Um.

Doug Lewis: But what do you identify as, Matt?

Matt Lescault: I look not the topic. We're going down right now.

Doug Lewis: It's a fun rabbit hole to go down. All right, but sure.

Matt Lescault: Um, but look, I'm just like, I started this company in the attic of a house I rented when I was in in college and [00:18:30] to. And I never, ever imagined, uh, having the opportunities that I have now, uh, growing the company to where I've grown it to at this point. And I always sit back, you know, when you're having those days of of, uh, you know, that are tough where, you know, you're stressed out, high anxiety or something's not going your way. I always like to, like, take a step back and really think about the the path and the journey that that, uh, that I took. So I know it's not exactly the answer, Doug, or the answer to the question that [00:19:00] you asked, but for me, it's not one moment. It's the combination. It's the journey. It's the it's it's where we are today. And I, uh, I can't say enough about, um, how thankful I am.

Doug Lewis: How about you, Emily? That's Matt. Matt took a kind of a holistic view to that, which is, it's nice to hear, but, you know, coming through midway, 2025, is there something that just standing out where you're like, wow, this is just this has gone extremely well, and if there isn't, we can just edit this out.

Emily Madere: Yeah. Um, so I would say [00:19:30] that, um, what's gone extremely well. Birdbaths bird baths, uh, you know.

Doug Lewis: Refurbished birdbath business is.

Emily Madere: Just booming when it gets done.

Doug Lewis: He makes hundreds of dollars.

Emily Madere: Yes, hundreds of thousands of dollars. No. I think what's gone well this year is I think I've put more focus on, like, two areas of my life. One is to spend more time with my friends because I think I [00:20:00] think friends are important and just building on those relationships, because sometimes when you get busy, keeping friendships is hard. So just maintaining my circle. And then another part of that has been more professional. So, um, I've actually we just hired one, a new BDR to work underneath me, and that's been huge. I've never been like a manager before, but now I'm a manager. And, um, for my professional growth, that says a lot. And this podcast, like I never talk about it, but it's freaking cool. Like, this is so cool how we can just connect. We [00:20:30] talk about it. We're talking how we do now. And um, during Sage future, people were actually I was I remember vividly, I was sitting down on this thing talking chair. Chair.

Doug Lewis: Yeah.

Emily Madere: Yeah, it was.

Doug Lewis: Maybe.

Emily Madere: It was like a structure.

Doug Lewis: Furniture.

Emily Madere: Yeah, it was a metal birdbath. And, um, people were coming up to me and I was just talking to to my boss, Karen, and people were coming like, hey, you're Emily. You did the podcast. Like, that was cool. And I just I'm so thankful [00:21:00] and grateful for this opportunity.

Doug Lewis: Well, Matt gets that everywhere he lives, that rock star lifestyle he does.

Matt Lescault: That's so not true.

Doug Lewis: See, that's the trick I still haven't figured out. I, uh, I want to have all of the money of being rich and famous with none of the fame. That's the goal in life. I mean, I don't want anyone to know who I am, And I want all the money in the world. Haven't figured it out yet. Um. And if I do, I probably.

Matt Lescault: Well, you figure out how.

Doug Lewis: To talk to you guys again, but that's okay. You know.

Matt Lescault: You figure out half of it. Nobody [00:21:30] knows who you are.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, but I don't have any money either, so, you know, it's just it's not great. You know, I'm working on it. I work on the that half first. Um, flip it up. Flip it over a little bit, though. Matt, I want to get back to you now. So what's. You're very lucky to be in the situation. You've gone through the past, all the fun stuff. What's been a little tougher, specifically in 2025? Uh, whether it's, you know, an overall industry thing, an internal company thing, something's been a little tougher than you expected it to be this year.

Matt Lescault: Well, [00:22:00] look, I think that this might be an obvious answer. Maybe not an obvious answer, but every business has what I call glass ceilings. I've talked about this in the past. Uh, and the glass ceiling is sort of like a moment in which you have to break through and kind of reinvent yourself as an organization to be able to scale and grow. And this year was was a huge milestone for us. And what we needed to do to really get to, to continue to scale and operate. So it was uh, [00:22:30] it was really, uh, it started late last year, but really, you know, uh, into, into the beginning of this year is when it, when it really started was kind of reorganizing the firm into a true leadership structure. True. Uh, you know, multi-level management structure, uh, making a little bit less flat. And for me, it was a huge learning curve of, uh, of sort of growing up, you know, like, like the next [00:23:00] phase of growing up within, within business. And it and it it challenged me in a lot of ways. It made me had to think about, you know, I think every good leader has a degree of imposter syndrome at moments, you know, can I actually do this? Am I the right person for this? And, you know, I had those moments, uh, at times, uh, this year, uh, luckily, I got past that. I'm not I'm still not feeling that right now. Um, but I've had those moments in the past as well. And I think any, any good leader or any good business [00:23:30] person goes through that. I don't think that anybody that really, uh, that, that really challenges themselves don't have those moments of doubt, uh, especially when you're going into unchartered, uncharted territories. Um, but for me, that was that's been a major, major learning for me. And just a moment in which I had to I had to really buckle in and believe in what we were doing and get through it. And I had moments that were really tough, and I've had moments that were really, really rewarding. So.

Doug Lewis: About [00:24:00] yourself, Emily, something's been a little bit tougher this year on your end than you expected.

Emily Madere: Yeah, it's kind of like sad. Like a hard hitting, like what's been tougher. I, I don't know, it could be.

Doug Lewis: It could be lighthearted. It There could be a regulatory change. They really just screwed you over, I don't know. Yeah. I mean.

Emily Madere: Like, what has been tougher. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna not be, like, hard hitting or sad. I'm gonna be kind of lighthearted, but, um, just [00:24:30] kind of go under the covers a a behind the curtain. But, um, me and my friends play a game called Magic The Gathering. I don't it's like a it's a.

Doug Lewis: It's like a, uh, it's like cards, right? Like.

Emily Madere: Yeah, it's like cards. It's like Dungeons and Dragons kind of format. Yeah. Um, and I lost a game last night, and that was hard for me.

Matt Lescault: So what's funny is the card game magic. When I was in elementary [00:25:00] school and I was living in Paris, I would go to the local comic or card store and I'd buy the magic cards, get through them. You'd find the ones that were were worth more, and I on the bus would sell them. And that was like my first endeavor into entrepreneurship, and I made good money doing it.

Doug Lewis: This was 1962. For anyone wondering.

Matt Lescault: Okay, I was born in the 80s. Um, mouse and, uh, and I used to play magic, uh, through high school. I don't anymore. Emily, [00:25:30] I don't even remember how to play at this point. Um, but, yeah, it was a little blast from the past there.

Emily Madere: Yeah, yeah, I my my friend plays it, and then they taught me and my husband had to play it. Now, like, we have, like, our own decks for anyone. Listen like I play commander. Um, it's pretty cool. And actually. So a couple weeks ago when I went to Raleigh, North Carolina, I had, like a free day, and, um, I actually brought two of my decks with me when playing a card store. It was really fun.

Matt Lescault: So let me ask is, are there [00:26:00] still, like, rare cards that are worth more money and like.

Emily Madere: Yeah. So, um, my husband and I pulled a card, um, that was like $100.

Matt Lescault: Yeah.

Emily Madere: Right now. The big thing is like Final Fantasy Magic The Gathering cards, and there's some of those cards that go for, like there's one called the Chocobo card, and there's different colors. They go for like hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Matt Lescault: I take it you don't have one of those?

Emily Madere: I would not be here. No.

Doug Lewis: My question is, who the hell is buying [00:26:30] that? That's what I want to know. Who is like. You know what? Yeah. 400 grand on the this Magic the Gathering card.

Emily Madere: I don't.

Doug Lewis: Know.

Emily Madere: What a steal. Um, what's his name? Um, Post Malone is in the magic, and he owns a card. Uh, the one ring in Elvish. There's only one of those, and it's like $1 million. You bought it?

Doug Lewis: So he's setting the market on these absurd cards. That makes sense to me. I can wrap my head around that. But just like the everyday, everyday, Joe, like, yeah, 200 grand for that. Sure. [00:27:00]

Doug Lewis: What is the deal? Not not not I don't.

Doug Lewis: I don't need this house. Yeah.

Emily Madere: But that that's kind of crazy, Matt.

Emily Madere: That's good to know.

Matt Lescault: Yeah, I make good money? I'm telling you, I. I didn't really get into playing until after I did that, but I even remember. I shouldn't even say this. I had a friend of mine who, like, people, were skeptical. Like, is Matt selling this for a fair price? So I had a guy that was my validation. He would verify that the price was correct and, and uh, and I would, I would sell the card to the other kids.

Emily Madere: Okay. [00:27:30]

Emily Madere: Wait. It's kind of like that was before internet, right? Yeah. Like now you can kind of just, like, scan your cards and I'll tell you the price.

Matt Lescault: Was that before internet? It might have been dial up. Still, I think there was still internet.

Emily Madere: Um, again?

Doug Lewis: Yeah. 73.

Emily Madere: Yeah, I.

Doug Lewis: Think the.

Doug Lewis: Year. Right.

Doug Lewis: Everything's black and white in my head. Still, when you talk.

Matt Lescault: I like I'll make this easy on people. I turned 42 on July 15th.

Doug Lewis: Ten years ago.

Matt Lescault: July 15th. Which [00:28:00] means, guys, I expected a birthday present from the two of you.

Doug Lewis: 42.

Doug Lewis: That's the most Is meaningless. Who cares at that point?

Matt Lescault: I mean i agree.

Matt Lescault: But I just.

Doug Lewis: You got another eight years before anyone cares. Yeah. You got a while to go here. Like, let's let's pump the brakes here.

Matt Lescault: All right.

Emily Madere: I just turned 26, and I lost my parents health insurance.

Matt Lescault: I have no comment. I have none whatsoever.

Emily Madere: Um, [00:28:30] look, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta.

Matt Lescault: I mean

Doug Lewis: I'm arguably in my mid to late 20s. One could say.

Doug Lewis: I could, I could play a teenager on a Netflix series, though. I think that's like if I did a little shaving maybe. And, you know,

Emily Madere: The teenage on Netflix are like like 35 and they're in high school like it's crazy.

Matt Lescault: Oh it. So side note another funny family since you just said you're off your parents and now you have to get your own health insurance. I remember when I had my own health insurance, I had an individual plan because the company I worked [00:29:00] for didn't actually even offer health insurance because I had a individual plan. Uh. They, they maternity benefit wasn't part of it because. Well, I'm a guy. That's not obvious. Uh, but I had a hernia surgery, and they miscoded it as a pregnancy, and they declined me coverage. And I spent three years trying to get the the derogatory off my credit because I, because they, they miscoded it. [00:29:30] And I'm literally on the phone with the, uh, with the agencies being like, you realize that if I was pregnant, I would not be talking to you. I'd be talking to Oprah. Can we really get through this?

Doug Lewis: Wait so just for clarity purposes for all listeners, you were not, in fact, pregnant.

Matt Lescault: Matt, I was not, in fact, pregnant.

Doug Lewis: Okay, good. Just want to get that on the record. I want everybody to know I would have been I feel like we should have covered that many a time before today if that was actually the case.

Matt Lescault: Again, [00:30:00] I think that I would have other financial independence if that was the case.

Doug Lewis: Oh my God. Yeah, you'd have TV shows, movie rights, book deals. Take your pick.

Matt Lescault: I mean, who remembers the movie with Arnold and Danny DeVito?

Doug Lewis: Twins.

Matt Lescault: Twins. Wasn't. Wasn't Arnold pregnant in that?

Doug Lewis: Wow. Maybe I gotta rewatch that.

Matt Lescault: Oh, maybe no, it wasn't twins. Maybe you're another one.

Doug Lewis: Maybe.

Matt Lescault: They had two different.

Doug Lewis: Right now, I don't know.

Matt Lescault: I need a fact.

Matt Lescault: Hold on.

Doug Lewis: We need. See, [00:30:30] this is why we need. We need someone to fact check everything.

Matt Lescault: Actually, that's a great idea.

Doug Lewis: We don't need that at all whatsoever.

Matt Lescault: Junior.

Doug Lewis: Wow.

Matt Lescault: That's junior.

Doug Lewis: Absolutely no clue. That's a that's a deep cut. And I hope some listener out there knows that and is like, yes, that is the movie. That's my favorite movie because I've never heard of it. Yeah.

Matt Lescault: I mean yeah.

Doug Lewis: No. Well look at that. You learn something new every day. Um, get semi back on track if we could. [00:31:00] I want to close it out with some some positive things, some exciting things coming down the pipe for everybody. Emily, I'm going to lead this one off with you if it works for you. What are you going to do to really just finish off 2025 strong as you possibly can?

Emily Madere: Well, if there's time for a bath, um, that's a good start. Conversation.

Doug Lewis: Mhm.

Emily Madere: Um, I it's pride day so I'm going to order some stuff off Amazon Prime today.

Matt Lescault: What's you.

Emily Madere: And.

Matt Lescault: What's in your cart that you're, that you've been saving.

Emily Madere: Oh okay. [00:31:30] So I, I need a queen bed frame. And Amazon has one right now for sale. So I think I'm going to buy that. Let's see what else. So dog shampoo.

Doug Lewis: Some I mean is there anything exciting that anyone would care about. I mean.

Emily Madere: A stanley Cup. They're on sale right now. There's something really exciting. Some dishwasher and, uh, laundry and a washer cleaner.Uh. [00:32:00]

Matt Lescault: I'm sorry.

Emily Madere: I believe it's some magic.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, I gotta say, like. So you've peaked already in 2025. It sounds like.

Emily Madere: Yeah, yeah.

Doug Lewis: I mean top, but there's nothing to finish strong on.

Emily Madere: I am like, honestly, like, I feel like I'm 26 and like I have, you know, friends who are older than me and I don't have any friends younger than me, but like, what are other people my age like doing? Because, like, I'm not I'm like redoing a metal birdbath and like on Amazon Prime Day, getting excited about dog shampoo that's on sale.

Matt Lescault: And [00:32:30] moving on. I'm just.

Doug Lewis: I gotta say, I got nothing there. I don't even.

Doug Lewis: I don't even know. It seems like there's a lot to unpack and I'm not sure we have time for that but.

Emily Madere: Yeah.That's not this. That's not this one.

Doug Lewis: We'll try.

Doug Lewis: I'll, I'll throw that same question over to you, Matt. How are you going to finish 2025 strong?

Matt Lescault: Well, before I answer that I got a question for Emily. So you're obviously in sales. Do you guys align your your sales targets with Sage's financial year or the calendar year? How how how do you align your targets?

Emily Madere: Are [00:33:00] so, so Sage is financial year. That is a factor. But then we have our own, uh, financing that's different from the fiscal, uh, we're different from the calendar. And then, um, I think we're also still tracking stuff. So we merged into Eisneramper. So, um, we still track some things through, um, fiscal. So it's like we're tracking all different types of ways and all different calendars and months and days.

Matt Lescault: So you [00:33:30] have like.

Matt Lescault: 15 year ends.

Emily Madere: Basically yes.

Emily Madere: Um, so yeah, we track things every, every which way.

Matt Lescault: So what you're saying.

Emily Madere: I have a lot of, um, great people in my pipeline right now who's really going to benefit from using Sage Intacct. So I am excited about that.

Matt Lescault: All right. All right. Well, I guess I have to answer, uh, Doug's question. Um, I've now been inspired to, uh, to refurbish Birdbaths. Um, [00:34:00] so I think I'm not actually going to do that at all. Um. Look, for me, I think, you know, my big, you know, goal for the rest of the 2025, you know, has to do with. You know, aligning our, our, our goals to not goals but our targets into 2026. So you know, we kind of. Have a sprint here for uh third uh, the third quarter uh, ending nine 34th quarter will be planning, uh, and so forth. I really want to hit that strong and, uh, and [00:34:30] make sure that, uh, we know what we're trying to achieve for next year. And so it's more like I have a goal of goals. I want to I want to get to that goal making. And I'd like to see, uh, I'd like to see us win some awards. Uh, so the big push and the reason I asked about aligning to Sage is you're not is because when we're talking about platinum status, we're talking about, you know, partner of the year, we're talking about those kind of things. It all falls into stages. Uh, stages. Uh, fiscal. So a lot of times we run [00:35:00] our own internal fiscal fiscal year. But from a sales target perspective, we, uh, we align to, uh, to Sage. And so the quarter we're in is the most important quarter.

Emily Madere: Yeah.

Emily Madere: And Sage is urine is in September, the end of September, September 30th.

Matt Lescault: Yep. This is this is Q4 for Sage. Um, yeah. Like it's a goal. I mean, my daughter turns eight in October. That's a pretty I think that's a pretty big deal. [00:35:30] I want to make sure I'm, I'm I'm home for that. And so I've made sure that all of my travels are centered are are not going to stop me from that. I actually, if you remember, Emily, that they used to hold, uh, transform at the end of October.

Matt Lescault: Ah.

Matt Lescault: And so I had multiple years where I had to miss my daughter's birthday because I was at a transform. And so.

Emily Madere: You were busy. You were booked and busy at Transform Future.

Matt Lescault: Oh, this year? Well, back then, I wasn't [00:36:00] as much. I was still getting getting my sea legs under me, I guess is the right way.

Doug Lewis: But before he was a rock star, you know.

Matt Lescault: Not a rock star. But I tell you what, future. I had a lot of fun. But I'll tell you the end of that week. I was like, I don't want to walk. For at least three days, I was so tired. But you were busy too, Emily.

Emily Madere: Yeah, yeah, it was busy. And actually, I bruised my tailbone at Sage future.

Matt Lescault: Is there a story behind this?

Doug Lewis: I gotta say, that seems like. [00:36:30] Was this from sitting on a weird thing that wasn't furniture? I don't.

Emily Madere: No.

Emily Madere: So, uh, the first sign of the conference. Sage always does a thing for the partners who were there. Uh, and they had this event at Plant City, and the. It was at the top of the building. It was like a circus themed type event where they had, like, circus Suckers games and they have like a tent with food. And one of the things they had was like a metal slide that you slide down in like a sack. And [00:37:00] so, like, I see this slide. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna slide down it. But the drop off from like the slide to the ground was like really, really tall and I yeah, I hit, I hit hard. The worst thing about it is I have it on video.

Matt Lescault: So I say that she has to post that video along with this, uh, podcast. Everybody can see it as a downloadable. Um, I was gonna ask Emily, did you go and see Metallica while we were in Atlanta? [00:37:30]

Emily Madere: No, but I have one of my clients that did. He he got there a little bit late. He was like, I started seeing all these people in, like, Metallica shirts, and, um, I just looked on my phone and sure enough, there was a there was a concert. So he went and bought a ticket for himself, and he went and saw it one of the nights.

Matt Lescault: Like four of my team members went to Metallica concert. I did not. I had a, uh, I had an event that I needed to go to, uh, to secure one of our partnerships, and I had actually seen Metallica two weeks prior in, in [00:38:00] DC at Commander Stadium. So I was like, I don't need to see it again. I would have it was an amazing show. But, uh, there was a lot of people that, uh, from the conference that ended up going to it.

Emily Madere: Yeah. No, I yeah, he went and a couple of other people I talked to had went that was really cool.

Matt Lescault: So yeah.

Doug Lewis: Exciting stuff. Want to close it off then. Just one piece of advice you can give really give to anybody out there. We'll start with you, Matt. First, who's really just trying to figure out what their next move is. You know, whether it's a personal thing, professional [00:38:30] thing, how to finish out the year strong, you know, to really have a phenomenal second half of 2025. What's one piece of advice that you can give someone that they could maybe use out there.

Matt Lescault: That is so broad?

Doug Lewis: That's the goal.

Matt Lescault: I'm thinking.

Doug Lewis: Oh God, we're going to be here for a while, folks.

Doug Lewis: Are you?

Doug Lewis: Oh, man. He just. He just fell over.

Matt Lescault: Um, look, I think that what [00:39:00] what I have learned over the years is be purposeful. Really understand what your goals are and be purposeful to those goals. I see too many people that that spread too thin or don't really focus on a set of goals. Uh, that, that drive their decision making. And one of the things that that, that we did, uh, I know a lot of organizations do, but that we did this year that was really helpful is [00:39:30] really document those in, uh, for the organization and really create a, a very specific path forward of what we want to do. And so be purposeful.

Doug Lewis: I like that. Emily, how about yourself? Piece of advice for anybody out there trying to figure out what to do next?

Emily Madere: Yeah. Um, just be nice. Be nice people. Nice people around you. Nice yourself. That's.

Doug Lewis: Easy enough. Easy as pie. One could say.

Matt Lescault: Be [00:40:00] nice and hang out with your friends.

Emily Madere: Hang out with your birdbath. Play Magic the gathering order ordered dog shampoo off Amazon. Really? Live a simple life.

Doug Lewis: Find some health insurance. Whatever. You know, take your pick. Yeah,

Emily Madere: Luckily luckily, my my work does give me health insurance so I don't have to go like, in the the privatized world.

Doug Lewis: Nice and easy. Um, so we usually cap everything with just a horrible dad joke, right? And I'll throw the offer out to either one of you again. Just a terrible [00:40:30] joke if you have it. Uh, if not, I'm sure I can come up with something, but I always love to put the offer out there.

Matt Lescault: We always rely on you.

Emily Madere: That one. And you missed it. Doug and I, uh, we did a podcast. You weren't there.

Doug Lewis: And a good one, eh? We had a taker on a dad joke and it was funny.

Emily Madere: Yeah, we had a good joke.

Doug Lewis: It was a good one.

Matt Lescault: Yeah, I apologize, I was, I was feeling I was not, I was under the weather that day and I thought I would be more, uh, distracting than usual.

Emily Madere: No, no.

Emily Madere: It's okay. [00:41:00] What's your joke Doug?

Doug Lewis: Um. All right. About time. Why was the grandfather clock invited to the party? Because he knows how to have a good time.

Matt Lescault: Oh.

Doug Lewis: Oh, God.

Matt Lescault: That was one of the easier soundboard.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, I was just saying no one, even no one even threw out a guess, like, oh, it was time to party. We're nothing. Jeez. Horrible.

Emily Madere: Yeah, because he's [00:41:30] cuckoo clock, but it's fine.

Doug Lewis: So I'll. I'll leave it to the two of you as a challenge for the remaining half of this, uh, this year. Here. Get better at answering these things.

Emily Madere: Uh, yes.

Doug Lewis: Yes, that's a challenge. And I'm going to put in. Put I'm gonna throw the ball to both of you and see if we catch it. All right?

Matt Lescault: Sounds good. Connect the audio to ChatGPT, and it would give us the answer every time.

Doug Lewis: I don't know, we'll see. Time will tell. Hey, if you can figure out how to do that, I would love it, because that would be really interesting to me. But nonetheless, uh, [00:42:00] we can end our rambling here. It's been a great first half of the year. Uh, I think we're all set up strong for the second half of the year. Um, a lot of stuff coming down the pipe here. And it's it's a fun industry that we're in, for whatever reason. I'll use the word fun because it seems to change every week. So this will be great when we do our kind of end of the year recap and see how either horribly right or horribly wrong we were or what we're doing. So thanks for joining again, guys. The, uh, the most official unofficial Sage Intacct podcast out there in the marketplace. And, uh, [00:42:30] we will talk to you guys again next week.