Latest / WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas / 15. The 5 Financial Pitfalls to Avoid in the Coaching and Consulting Industry with Parker Stevenson

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15. The 5 Financial Pitfalls to Avoid in the Coaching and Consulting Industry with Parker Stevenson · WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Numbers don't lie.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: And don't worry.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: Numbers don't define you.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: But they do tell you where you're at based off of your past actions and what you can do to change your future.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: So I have my own bookkeeper, Parker Stevenson of Evolved Finance, who's here to talk with you about the five financial pitfalls you want to avoid as a business owner.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: We also talk about the financial state of the coaching and consulting industry for 2022.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know this may be an episode where it's numbers heavy, but don't be overwhelmed.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: I also share vulnerable stories of when I was in 55K in debt and how I created a better relationship with my money and how you can too.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: What I do want to say is I appreciate what Parker and the evolved finance team are doing.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: They're focused on allyship by focusing on financial inclusivity and integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's drop the beat.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: So you most likely have a successful career you've built, right?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: A great career or business, but what you've built may no longer feel aligned.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: And in the Color Your Dreams podcast, I'm here, as well as my guest, to support women of color and allies like you to purposely pivot their business and career while collectively creating a sustainable and equitable future.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: We'll have real talk on the deep inner work to create lasting transformation and the tactical strategies to create a sustainable business and career while truly enjoying your life.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: We both know you have a vision, roots you're proud of, and a legacy to create.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Now it's time to do things your own way, on your own terms.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: So let's get started.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Go grab your coffee, tea, andor boba, and let's call your dreams to create your legacy.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Hey legacy makers, I am so excited to have my bookkeeper who rejected me.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: I'll share that story quickly the first time.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: Parker, who is half of Evolved Finance, the bookkeeping service for online businesses.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why I share that in terms of why he rejected me when I first met him, um, I've shared this in other podcasts, but I was 55k in debt, and Parker does not take anyone until they generate 100K in revenue.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: So I was kind of close or probably did surpass it.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: But he was like, nope, we have things to work on.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh, fine.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: So then I worked on stuff and then he accepted me.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: And now we've worked for I don't know how many years now.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: I think three, four years.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're getting close to two or three.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: That's for sure.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm here.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: I basically went to interview him because just from you know, wanting to let people know I heal from rejections.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: And I hope you enjoyed your introduction.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: That's probably the most interesting introduction you've had at a podcast.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: But Parker, besides that, can you please share who you are, what you do?
4:09
SPEAKER_01: And Parker works with big names in this industry, but that's not why I work with him.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's so nice to work with someone that understands the industry I'm in.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's important to hire someone who understands your industry.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: But Parker, go ahead, brag about yourself, besides rejecting for the first time.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I promise I'm not as judgmental as that intro just made me uh sound, but that is definitely a good way to capture people's uh attention.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but no, Elaine, like Elaine said, I am uh co-owner chief business officer at Evol Finance.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: We're a bookkeeping firm specifically for online businesses.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: We've been doing this since about 2010.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, the unique perspective I've been able to develop is getting to see behind the scenes and all the little dirty secrets of uh online businesses all over the country and uh get to have awesome conversations about numbers and helping our clients just be more profitable, right?
5:01
SPEAKER_00: Like our clients are amazing at generating revenue.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: So, our our job as a company is to make sure they have the data they need and their financial data being organized in a way that they can make sure they're also making decisions to keep their businesses super profitable so they can make sure they're getting paid as the business owners.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: And for those that can't visually see right now, but I also want to let people know because I know this podcast is for women of color and allies, but Parker is an incredible ally and small world.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: We were just talking about how he's working with my DI coaches, Erica and India from Pause on the Play.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to share with you how grateful I am that you are doing that work as an ally.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: They're very easy to work with.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we were just kind of talking about how awesome they are.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: They were talking about how awesome you are.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: It was just a lot of people uh saying nice things about each other pretty much earlier.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the thing that I would have to worry about is you know, if someone says anything bad.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: But knowing knowing our relationship, it's about being direct and giving the feedback on how to improve.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: So today's episode is focused on five financial pitfalls to avoid and the state of the coaching and consulting industry for 2022.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: So Parker, go take it away and I'm just gonna ask questions.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: And Parker and I were joking around that the only problem we have whenever we get on an interview or conversation is we just talk too much.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: So don't worry, I got my eyes on the time.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: So Parker, okay.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll we're gonna we're gonna get through everything we need to with even time to just wrap it up at the end, I promise.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I think with the, you know, depending on where you're at in your business, and this is something that it almost doesn't matter where you're at.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I know that when you're starting a business, it always feels like you can make a lot of like there's just I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm gonna make mistakes.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: And there is some truth to that.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: But I think finance is a little different that no matter where you're you're at, it it you don't know what you don't know when it comes to finance.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: And we've seen small businesses and big businesses make some mistakes that again, just no one told them to be aware of.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: There's just stuff that for whatever reason, their previous accountant or bookkeeper or whoever just didn't let them know that these are kind of some best practices uh when running a small business in terms of just having good financial systems and making better financial decisions.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: So the first one is just keeping your business and personal finances separate.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: It's a really simple one, aside from making it easier for your accountant and bookkeeper to track what's going on in your business, which is a whole other conversation we could have.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think the mindset piece of it is really important, especially for newer business owners, to be thinking about the fact that, like, hey, I don't just have my personal finances to manage now.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: I now have this other business entity that I have to be responsible for.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: And in order for my personal finances to thrive, I have to make sure my business's finances are thriving.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: And having the visibility into both things separately, I think is really important for looking at yourself as a business owner and understanding that you just have an extra responsibility.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: If you want your finances to be easy, go work for someone else.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, as business owners, we just have to understand that we got to now manage a business and manage our personal finances.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: And trying to do that at the same time in the same bank accounts, using the same credit cards, just makes everything super messy.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we've seen big businesses come to us where, like, again, no one told them to keep it separate and we kind of go through the process of helping them separate that.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, but especially if, you know, I don't care if your business you opened it up yesterday, getting dedicated bank account, credit card, PayPal account specifically for your business just to run business transactions through is going to make your financial foundation so much cleaner and so much easier for your finance team as you hire them down the road to make sure that they can keep track of everything going on in your business.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious, so like, did you kind of go through that period yourself when you kind of had to make the decision on when to maybe separate things, or did you separate things pretty quickly?
9:02
SPEAKER_01: No, so good question.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: I had it separate, and also we want to let you know, go talk to like a tax accountant, a CPA and lawyer when making the decision of TBA and LLC and S Corp and all that.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're gonna open a business entity for sure.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, open up a business entity, but I start off with a DBA and I kept it separate.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, as Biggie would say, more money, more problems.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: I made a lot more money and open and then created an LLC and S corp.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: But I think not just in terms of the making sure your bookkeepers and accountants don't have headaches, but also when you separate your personal business, you also need to remember in terms of yourself that you are separate from your business, just in terms of like mental health and emotionally, that you are a separate entity, not just legally, but just a separate entity from your business.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And that's really important to create those boundaries, especially since a lot of us work from home, right?
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, I am I am in a privileged place where I have my own office, which is separate from my bedroom.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: So just keeping things separate is really important.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and just and just so everyone knows you don't have to have a business entity to separate things.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: It might be just a matter of having a second personal checking account or having a separate credit card that you use just for business transactions, right?
10:21
SPEAKER_00: I you can do it without having to go create an LLC or an S-corp.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: But like Elaine said, um, really a business lawyer is the person to talk to about if when the right time is to open an LLC or an S-corp, but you don't have to have an entity to separate your finances between yourself and your business, which I think, uh, like you said, Elaine, I think is is really smart.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Like kind of like mental health boundaries with your business and yourself to go, here's where my business starts and ends, here's where me as a person starts and ends, right?
10:50
SPEAKER_00: The second thing we see a lot of business owners kind of not realize they need to do is just tracking their business's finances to begin with.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: Um the analogy I like to give is if I gave you a car and it had no dashboard, right?
11:05
SPEAKER_00: So you can't see how much gas is in there, you don't know how fast you're going, you don't know if the tire pressure gauge is on, but you can still stick the key in and run, right?
11:13
SPEAKER_00: Like you can turn it on.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you're someone like me who's probably neurotic and anal retentive, I'm gonna be like, uh, I'm gonna be at the gas station all the time because I don't want to run out of gas.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be taking it to the mechanic way more than I need to.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna be spending tons more money than I need to, and I'm gonna be wasting a bunch of time because I'm gonna be like trying to maintain this car because I'm just so terrified it's gonna break down one day.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: Other people will just be like, well, I don't know what's going on, so I'm just gonna run this sucker into the ground.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: And then you're wasting time getting towed, wasting time at the mechanic getting fixed.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Your car might be out for weeks because you're just kind of like driving it recklessly, just going, well, whatever happens, happens.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's obviously a very stressful way to drive.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Does your car work?
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: It still turns on, but it's just gonna be so anxiety-inducing to try to keep this thing moving without knowing what's going on.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: It's the same in our businesses.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: And the bigger your business becomes, the more, the more your business has information it needs to tell you to make the decision-making process easier.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, but if we don't have some sort of financial tracking in place, which starts with bookkeeping, whether you're doing the bookkeeping yourself in a spreadsheet or you're hiring someone like our team to do the bookkeeping for you, we need to have some sort of visibility into how much money is coming in, what offers are we making the money from, where's money going out of the business?
12:30
SPEAKER_00: What are we spending our money on?
12:32
SPEAKER_00: And how much profit do we have left over?
12:34
SPEAKER_00: This is the type of information we need in order to make some of the decisions that we have to make as entrepreneurs that if we don't have any visibility into our finances, you're just kind of using instincts and your gut and guessing, which is not a very comfortable place to be making decisions from.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: And if we're going to scale and up level in our businesses, uh, we need information and we need data, not just in our finances, but in our marketing.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: We want to make decisions from tangible information and not just from emotions.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: And I know for you, Elaine, having, you know, obviously had your books cleaned up and having that financial information.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, like for you, how you felt now having more visibility into the cash flow in your business.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's helpful.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: It helps me make decisions.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've mentioned this before.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, so right before we hit record, I was telling Parker, hey, you should just like a child, right?
13:23
SPEAKER_01: You should be proud of me, dad, about what I did.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Like I am no longer, I'm I'm taking out my mastermind.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: There's a career group coaching program I have, and now it's just focused on one thing.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: And I forgot what the stat was, but if you can remind us, um, I know there is an ideal number.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: I think 70% of your revenue should be coming from one thing.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: Right?
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we yeah, at least for us, for our clients, it's at least 50, but I'd rather it be 70 to 80 percent of your revenue.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm at 70, 70 with my inner circle, and I was just noticing that.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: And just know with each program or each service you have is different systems.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: So by looking at the numbers, how it comes, and it's like, okay, this is what I need to focus on.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: I need to focus on this, or even tracking how you get leads.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, to be transparent to this community, there's two reasons why I love this podcast.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: One, it's my way to give back to my community.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have the funds to work with me, this is my way to give back.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: And second, there's a couple of you that do want to work with me.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: And I realize that those who take time to intentionally understand me are my most ideal clients.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I want to go back to your car example or metaphor because I actually use my car, that car metaphor that you described.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Because so often as business owners, we love the driving of the car, like the servicing, right?
14:48
SPEAKER_01: Driving that dream car, we love coaching our clients, providing the service.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: But we're never like, oh, I have to go put gas.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, especially right now because it's so expensive, or I have to change the oil.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: We're never like, I want to be a business owner because I want to, I want to drive this car because I want to put gas.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: I really love doing the maintenance every 5,000.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: We never do it for that, but just understanding that in order to be a successful business owner, it's both.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: It's creating an amazing service, but also tracking the numbers to see what's working, what's not, because that actually helps with the maintenance of your service to make it even better.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: I joke around like be like Toyota and Honda, last forever.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I I agree.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and again, it's no fun to be in a place of making decisions feeling like you're you're blindfolded, right?
15:40
SPEAKER_00: And you're just kind of reaching out in the darkness to try to figure out uh where you're at, where you want to go.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, especially as you uplevel your marketing, you up-level your finances, that maintenance really has a lot of value to it and will actually make things less stressful and more fun down the road.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Because if you you have visibility into your finances, then it means you can have more visibility into how much money you can make from the great work that you do within your own business, right?
16:08
SPEAKER_00: So there it while it is, it can feel like maintenance.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, I it's amazing just with our clients how much they kind of fall in love with, like, oh, this is kind of like a game.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: I kind of see how these numbers are working.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: And like it empowers them to go out and be more confident with the decisions they make because they start to see how it affects their numbers in a positive way.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: And and it makes your business a little more fun, it makes a little more predictable, it makes it a little less stressful.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's ultimately what we want from our business.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: I was I was doing another podcast interview with my CFO who you know, Catherine, and I was like, it's it's like gamification.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: It's for those that have a Peloton or for those that have an Apple Watch when you're tracking your steps, or like, I need to stay in this zone, hit it.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: And it shows you that.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: And also, let's say you don't have a number you like, right?
16:54
SPEAKER_01: You're trying a new service or trying a new way to get leads, and you look at the numbers and you've tried it for three months and you realize it's not working.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, then the numbers back it up as opposed to you just literally burning money on something you're trying that's new, but you're not even looking at the numbers.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm I'm constantly looking at, let me look at my email open rates, let me look at my podcast, what's resonating, what are the topics that people are opening up the most?
17:20
SPEAKER_01: That allows me to make easier business decisions.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Not saying emotions aren't important, but when you have that intuition, numbers actually validate and confirm it to do what necessary changes you need to do.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: We don't get better in any facet of our lives without feedback.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: And your numbers are the feedback on are you making the right decisions in your business or are there decisions we need to start rethinking so we can make better ones in the future?
17:45
SPEAKER_00: So um that's how I look at um, you know, the financial reports we provide our clients.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: That's the way I kind of look at the numbers side of a business.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: It's the feedback we need in order to uh continue to improve or to go, hey, keep doing good stuff.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Like this is working.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: Do more of the things that are working.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: The other thing here, um, one of the other things I think a lot of entrepreneurs do with their numbers and their finances, that they think they need to do it alone.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: And they try to do everything themselves, whether it's to save money or um just because they don't know where to start to find the people they need support with.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I think that's a really dangerous route to go, especially with something like uh finance, whether it's your accounting, your bookkeeping.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because unless you're a lawyer, no one's gonna go out and try to do their own legal work in their business.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: I know you can go and download templates, but but that's still going out and getting legal support.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna probably write up your own contracts yourself if you've never written a contract.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna either pay for a template or you're gonna work with a lawyer.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, but and a lot of bookkeeping software is out there are gonna try to convince you, oh, you can do your own booking or bookkeeping yourself, use QuickBooks Online or Zero or whatever.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's we've just seen business owners make more of a mess using that than actually helping.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and don't get me started on business owners who try to do their own taxes and go, oh, I'll file my taxes on my own.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: That's where we've seen some really um unfortunate situations kind of come about where business owners get themselves in really crappy situations because uh they tried to do it themselves or they trusted someone else who shouldn't be doing it themselves.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where it's like, again, when you're starting your business, you kind of have to wear many hats and maybe you do your bookkeeping in a spreadsheet and keep it simple because your transactions and your business are really simple right now.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, but getting the right people in your business, hiring an accountant to file your taxes, getting a bookkeeper to start organizing your finances for you.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, or even, you know, eventually if you're making so much money from your business, getting a certified financial planner to help you make better decisions with your personal finances, right?
19:35
SPEAKER_00: Like I think money in finance is not something we inherently just know about.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Someone has to teach us.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and there's certain levels of expertise where it's just might not be a good use of your time to try to figure out the nitty-gritty details of your tax return or your bookkeeping.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: And that's where bringing in people to help you with that, I think, is is something that as entrepreneurs you have to learn how to do.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: You have to learn how to bring people in to support you because you just can't do it all yourself.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: And I know you've uh done a lot of work, Elaine, to bring in a great accountant, bring in our team and work with a CFO, right?
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Fill in some of those gaps where it's just not a good use of your time to be trying to figure some of this stuff out.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: It is.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'll just speak like as a woman of color, money gets emotional for me and it could be very triggering.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: So I do want people to kind of hold that space to look at things.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: And the benefit of working with your team out of all finance is you understand this industry.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: You could share with me what I probably need to work on.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Or I remember we were talking about who the next hire is, or I'm spending too much on this.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: I remember many times you've told me you're spending a lot on coaching.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: And I mean for my own coaching and mentorship, like we need more people to help you integrate and implement.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: And I get it because I remember I was in the thick of paying off my debt.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, finally, Parker accepted me to be to be his client.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: But it it was really hard, I'm like, it doesn't make sense.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: I have to pay off this debt.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: I should pay off my debt, then work with him.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, hold on, this is an expert.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: It makes more sense to hire experts to help me pay this off and make revenue, right?
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Because I think so often we think about the negative what's getting out as opposed to what can be added in.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: So by having a vault finance do that, I also have a CFO and tax accountant.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: I also have a financial planner, I have a huge financial team.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: Guys, it takes a village, and this girl needs a lot of work to reach my goals.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: And I'm happy to do it, but it saves me time.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: And the most important asset is your time and where should it be?
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: And so often we think about, we hear it's about making those money making activities, as well as focus on your zone of genius and just eat some humble pie, take the ego out, and realize experts could help me do this.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: And I think you've come such a far, you know, such a long way.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: And I think originally when you reached out to us, your debt wasn't the issue, it was more about let's give Your business to the point where the investment with us really makes sense.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: It isn't a hindrance.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And when you came back to us, you were ready.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: We're ready to take on the extra expense of a bookkeeper.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you had done some of the homework we needed you to do to get your business in a better place.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, your business has just got, you know, come leaps and bounds.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe where you're at.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: I doubled in 2020 short amount of time.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: It's it's unreal, right?
22:24
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of that is looking at the parts of our businesses where, you know, this isn't my strength, or this is something where I do need an expert.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, if I if I don't have an expert doing this, I'm putting my business in financial risk, in legal risk, HR risk, whatever it is, right?
22:39
SPEAKER_00: And those risks come in different at different times depending on the size of your business and the scope of your business.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but ultimately, I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we feel like we got to do everything ourselves and we're kind of alone in this.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: And with your finances, that's just far from the case.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, a bookkeeper, an accountant, financial planner, um, you know, a financial consultant for your business.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: There's there's all kinds of people out there that want to help you with it if you go out and find them.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing, too, is um, I think as entrepreneurs, we don't plan ahead enough.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: And that's another pitfall we see.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy to get into the day-to-day of your business.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: And even Corey and I fall into this sometimes, right?
23:17
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to carve out time to think ahead, be strategic.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: And with a lot of business owners, we're just kind of thinking about today and maybe tomorrow and maybe the week after that.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, that we don't always do as good of a job of like, let's map out a plan for where I'm trying to get to.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: So, so for instance, I I think uh a lot of entrepreneurs right now listening might not have a like a clear revenue goal for this year.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: How much money are we gonna make in 2022?
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the sales target we want to hit?
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, because saying, well, I'm just gonna make as much money as I can this month, I'm just gonna bring on as many clients as I can or as many customers as I can.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, we all want to just get as many customers and clients as we can, um, but it doesn't give you much to focus on.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't give you a clear goal or a clear path to try to go on.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of entrepreneurs don't always realize how powerful sending financial targets for your business can really help to plan ahead and give yourself tangible goals to try to reach.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: When I was in the corporate world, I worked for uh Adidas America for about five years and I worked in the golf division.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And um, at the time, Adidas owned a golf company called Taylor Made.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, Taylor Made made the golf clubs and Adidas did all the golf apparel.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: And I the sales reps between these two companies were unbelievable, world-class sales professionals.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: And I learned a lot seeing them each uh season, you know, each fashion season.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh weirdly enough, golf, golf apparel apparently is fashion as well.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't think it, but it was fashion.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: And so for each season, um, the sales team would sit down with their sales managers and they go, All right, we need to see 7% growth, 10% growth, 12% growth from your territory.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Let's work our way back to figure out how we're gonna get there.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, yeah, it may seem like, yeah, you need to increase your sales by 10% this year over what you did last year.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: But when they did the work of going backwards, of like, okay, maybe we can sell in a little more to each customer, or maybe there's that's bigger customer we can expand the relationship with, right?
25:12
SPEAKER_00: They it builds a plan.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where a lot of entrepreneurs miss out on the ability to have a clear sort of roadmap because they just go, I'm gonna make as much money as I can, versus like, what is like a goal that's gonna push you, but is also realistic?
25:25
SPEAKER_00: And then how do you work backwards from that to go, okay, then that means I got to make X amount of sales each month and give you something to have these reachable, tangible goals uh that you work towards.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: And there's something about putting those goals on a in a spreadsheet or in a document, you know, writing them down and going each month, I want to make X amount of dollars that just makes it more real and feel more achievable, more tangible is the word I think I used earlier.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's just a really underrated tool to use to keep us focused, to keep us motivated, and to make sure that we're keeping ourselves in check in terms of the things we're working on in our business are pushing us towards that goal.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: And those things aren't distracting us from reaching that goal, which I think is something that's very easy to happen as entrepreneurs, is we get distracted by things that aren't really gonna help us move the needle.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: So whether you're sitting down and doing some forecasting or adding a budget to it, where you actually plan out your expenses with how much revenue you think you're gonna make, doing anything to just write some numbers down in a spreadsheet on a piece of paper to kind of map out what you think the year might look like is a really powerful exercise to go through to keep you a little more focused and clear on what you're trying to achieve.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: And to my fellow intuitives and those people that are spiritual, you're probably like, oh my God, this is too masculine for me.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: But there is a magic in measuring and kind of like law of attraction, you know, that when you're thinking about the dream car you want and you're driving in the freeway and you realize, oh, there's my dream car.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: There's three of them right in front of me.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: But there's something beautiful when you are tracking things, like, oh yeah, this is my goal.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: I actually have three sales calls scheduled today.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: Or okay, this is how many people I wanted to convert.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: And it becomes fun.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: Or if you don't get some an outcome you don't like, why didn't this person convert?
27:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they were not an ideal client.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: So then that means there's something broken and you fix it.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I have to put a questionnaire to make sure that the person I'm talking to is an ideal client.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: If numbers don't show the way you want it to, you examine, well, how can I make sure it's the numbers that it shows up to?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a really key point, Elaine, because again, we were talking about feedback before, right?
27:33
SPEAKER_00: We we need some sort of financial clarity around are the decisions I'm making shaping the financial outlook of the business in a gonna in a good way, right?
27:43
SPEAKER_00: Is the business profitable with the are we making profitable decisions?
27:47
SPEAKER_00: And I think with the goal setting, it's another form of feedback.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Like you just said, if it's like, okay, I want to hit three clients a month, and if I do three clients a month for the whole year, that gets me to this target.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Well, the last two months I haven't hit three clients.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Right.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Versus if you're just like, well, we'll just see what happens.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: I had one last month, two this month, setting that goal and then seeing if we're hitting that goal is a form of feedback that allows us to go, is there something about my sales pitch that isn't working?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Is the offer not resonating with the client?
28:16
SPEAKER_00: It allows you to start asking the questions that are necessary to tweak, to adjust, to evolve the way we run our businesses.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: And that sort of feedback, again, is just really important because you know your business is always going to be in a sort of state of evolving and changing and growing, uh, that to be asking the right questions along the way is really important.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: And again, having goals that we can compare our performance to is really important.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: And I say that as a as someone who's I was a musician in my early 20s.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: I was a creative.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: I never thought I'd be thinking about numbers and thinking about this kind of stuff.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, but even as someone who's very creative and loves building a business and looks at building involved finance as a creative endeavor, um, numbers are just a great way to sort of keep that creativity focused and keep that creativity moving us in the direction that's actually gonna help myself, help my business partner, and help our team.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: So I really hope that anyone listening who maybe isn't as comfortable with numbers yet can understand.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Like I was a musician thinking I was gonna be a rock star, never thought I'd get into finance.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: And here I am on a podcast talking about numbers and how it can really change the game.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: So again, I'm not saying everyone has to hear, go build a complicated spreadsheet, but start to make your vision and dream for your business more tangible by connecting numbers to it in whatever way feels comfortable for you.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: And and I I promise you, it will start to make your business feel more real and start to make your goals feel more achievable.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, I want to share with everyone when you track it and you figure out what to hit.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: I want that might seem all complicated, but when you track it, you figure out how simple it is because the numbers I want to hit for this year, my how many sales I want per month at minimum two.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: I just need to hit two sales per month and you sales minimum two, four is max in terms of like onboarding with my team, but two, and I double my revenue from last year.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: The numbers can be so simple, but so powerful and so mind-blowing because we get we start to think of our businesses as one giant thing, and it gets so murky and cloudy and confusing that when we can take something as simple as like, all I'm trying to do in my business is help two people a month, two new people a month, all of a sudden you go, Well, I can do that.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: We can get to two people.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: And then this isn't a new concept.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Other business coaches like to uh teach this idea, but I'm from a financial perspective, for what we see with our clients, our clients who have a clear vision.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: And we work primarily with women.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: So I would argue that I don't think this is a masculine perspective because we work with really successful female entrepreneurs, and the ones that are the most successful on average are going to have a clearer vision of what they're trying to achieve.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: And there's no way to get clear than to put some simple numbers down, as easy as I want one client a month, three clients a month, 10 course sales a month, whatever we're trying to sell, just getting better at being more specific with what we're trying to achieve.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be vulnerable.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: As I was sharing in this in this episode last year, yeah, I always increased revenue every year, but I'll be honest, my profit margins wasn't what I wanted it to be because I had so many different programs.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: And right now I'm simplifying, which is interesting because I coach my clients to focus on the one thing.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: And I know I'm a high-end service, I'm a luxury service.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: So there's only two ways to work with me.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: It's either through my inner circle, if you're a scaling entrepreneur or one or two, it's one to one.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: Simple.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: I always kind of joke around, it's kind of like when you go to In N Out, right?
31:49
SPEAKER_01: That's a number one cheese hamburger, number two, cheeseburger, number three, double double.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: They don't sell pizzas there, it's just a burger.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: It's it and it makes everything, everything operationally behind that business becomes dramatically simpler because of it.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: And I can assure you, In N Out is a very profitable company because of that.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: So there's a ton of benefit to that.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: But again, I if there's anything I could just encourage people to do, think about the next three months or the rest of the year.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do from a sales perspective each month?
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Put it on a piece of paper and start there.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Give yourself some visibility into how much money you want this business to make.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: Now, the last thing I wanted to touch upon here is uh the other mistake, and this is in this one's a little um the timing is good because we're sitting here, it's March 17th, uh in the heart of tax season, but just avoid like avoiding your taxes until the last moment.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: I think if there's anything we can just like find the space to accept is that taxes are a part of being a human.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Taxes become a little more complicated when you start a business.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: It's your responsibility, even though you could you're gonna hire an accountant to do it for you.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Your accountant needs support from you, they need information from you in order to file your taxes.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: So that's where understanding that it's gonna hit it's gonna be coming down the pipeline every year.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be a surprise that doing your best to start to prep in October, November.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: And again, I know Elaine working with us, we kind of take the reins on that so we can hand off everything to your accountants so there's not as much prep for you.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, but especially if you're doing your own bookkeeping or or whatever it may be, or even just like connecting with maybe you haven't hired an accountant yet.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Start looking for an accountant in October or November instead of trying to do it in February or March when things are really busy.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: I guess the point is here, we just see a lot of entrepreneurs that don't take the tax side seriously enough because it's intimidating or it's scary or it's stressful.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: I get that, but we have to find the courage as entrepreneurs to do things that we don't always like.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of parts of being an entrepreneur that's not always the most fun.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, so let's not make it worse for ourselves by delaying what we know is going to be inevitable.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: And let's get an accountant, let's prepare, you know, let's talk to our accountant before it's the heart of uh tax season and let's try to get things organized for that accountant sooner than later so we're not scrambling at the last second and just making things more stressful for ourselves than we need to.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me share some horror stories so that it doesn't happen to you.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not talking you, I'm to Parker, but to everyone that's listening because I my clients love it when I share my mistakes.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: But you know, I'm not gonna share names, obviously, but I was working with one tax accountant where didn't track everything as it should.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: And and also I took some blame on it too, because I made the decision to hire this person, and then I was audited to 12K three years later.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: This was not during my coaching program, this was another business I had.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: And then another tax accountant I hired, and this is also my fault because I didn't prepare for it, so it was last minute, and this person called me the week before.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: You owe$20,000.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: What?
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Why are you just telling me this now?
34:53
SPEAKER_01: And I was scrambling, then I hired a new tax accountant who I'm working with.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: And when she did the work, she was like, actually, you don't owe 20, you owe 12.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: No, sorry, 8k.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: So I saved$12,000 by actually hiring someone that was more expensive, right?
35:11
SPEAKER_01: I saved money by hiring that was more expensive, and I saved myself$12,000.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: So, like I said earlier, it I know I get it.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: It's like, nope, I'll take care of my bookkeeping and tax account as but with tax accounting specifically, laws change all the time.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: Do you have time to read legal documents?
35:29
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you do because I don't, and that's not how I want to spend my time.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: I'd rather watch Netflix and watch Inventing Anna for the second time again because I love that show.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: Um but through those lessons, that's why I have a financial team.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: I have Evolved Finance, I have my bookkeeper, I have a CFO because I just don't know everything and things change all the time.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they can help you avoid doing something like your taxes at the end of the year, last second, right?
35:57
SPEAKER_00: Like they can help keep you take care of things and keep things moving at the right time and not doing things at the last second.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And again, we just see so many people at the end of the year scrambling with this stuff versus our clients, like they don't even stress about it.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: It's like they know the books are going to be a good thing.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Up to date, yeah, they're paying quarterly.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: It becomes so much smoother when we again take your taxes seriously, get the accountant, get a good plan in place.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: Again, if if you're taking, if you're serious about your business, then let's get serious about you know, maintaining that business.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: And again, doing that maintenance stuff with the car um analogy and and just like make it as easy for yourself as possible.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: So we're not breaking down on the side of the road and dealing with stressful situations, you know, stranded on the freeway.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: So, do you want to talk about the state of the coaching world?
36:42
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what I'm excited to talk about.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, tell us, well, Parker, if you don't mind, who do you feel comfortable sharing, you know, the clients that you work with so people know how you understand this industry so well?
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: So if you if you went to our website right now, you could see that current and past clients are going to be everyone from like Abigail Emily at the Boss Project, Gabby Bernstein, Daniel Leslie, Hillary Rushford, Rachel Rogers, Layla Martin, Caitlin Batcher.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of uh, you know, while we have clients who are crossing six figures for the first time, we also have uh work with and have worked with a number of multi-seven figure clients.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: We've had some clients hit the 10 million mark now.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: So we know this industry really well.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Almost every client we work with is either selling courses, membership sites, coaching programs, or has an influencer model.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: So we know the world of online education and coaching really, really well.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: So, and I'd say over so I got in involved in this world back in 2014.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: That's when I left um Adidas and partnered up with Corey.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: And when I came into this world, I was like, what is going on here?
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Like people teaching and coaching things I didn't even know you could make money doing, and people were making really good money doing it.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that was back in 2014.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: And I remember having a conversation with Corey.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, I think this is just the start.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, I think I think this industry is really gonna grow.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: And I think what we saw in 2020 was we saw a huge boot as people just went on the internet more and were spending more times online, uh, more time online.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: We saw the industry just explode.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: And so in 2021, we saw a little bit of a maybe a correction overall in terms of okay, maybe people are a little tired of Zoom.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh, people are getting back outside again and not spending as much time on their computers.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: But I think what 2020 did was it opened my eyes in the way I kind of experienced it in 2014, where you're like, oh my gosh, like I didn't know there was like all this education online to learn how to start a business, to learn how to play piano, to learn um how to quilt, to learn how to start a fashion business.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just I'm just like thinking about all of our clients and all the things that they teach, and I just had no idea it was there.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: And I think in 2020, the world kind of went, Oh, there's like all these amazing people teaching all this amazing stuff online that it really opened the door for a lot for just I think the the market as a whole to expand.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: It was already really big.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but now I think there's an even larger customer, both uh customer base both in the US and globally now, of people who are looking to uplevel their mindsets, their mental health, uh, to up level their understanding and and education around business, their their love of hobbies, um, their love of just learning in general, whatever they're trying to kind of up level, learn more about, get more support through.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: Because we have like a lot of clients who who are even uh maybe they're health professionals and they're helping people get their health, you know, learn how to become healthier and stuff like that.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: I think people just are our the customers are starting to realize the wealth of support there is online and our culture is moving towards hey, let's get help for the things that we need help with.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: That we've definitely seen even after the big boom or bubble in 2021, just still seeing so many of our clients' businesses grow.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: And I know you saw the newsletter, Elaine, that we kind of sent out to our clients at the start of the year.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: And our pricing is based on the size of our clients' businesses.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: And I will say that last year, based on feel, we're like, it seems like Facebook ads have been working as well for some of our clients.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: And some of our bigger clients maybe didn't grow as much as the year before.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: But our clients who maybe were at our lowest price package, who were like doing 100,000, 150,000,$200,000 a year, are now doing three or four or 500.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of the our clients that were kind of at the bottom of our tiers went up one or two tiers in 2021 and are seeing still tons of growth.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where, sure, there is a lot more competition than ever before, but I still think there's so much, there's so many customers out there still waiting to get support and and find whatever it is you do to help people.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I still think we're just kind of uh seeing the tip of the iceberg here in terms of more and more of these small online businesses coming up and helping more people while also creating a great financial living for the business owner.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: I love that you shared all of that.
41:10
SPEAKER_01: And obviously that comes from data because my intuition was that, yeah, 2020, my business doubled.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: It was insane.
41:18
SPEAKER_01: And then 2021, it grew again, not quite doubled, but it did grow, I believe like 25%.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: But what I noticed, not in my business, but just observing and not sharing names, that there's some businesses that didn't make it.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: And ultimately it was cash flow.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: Cash flow was the reason and focusing.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: So I think what we're seeing in 2022 now, which is interesting because I'm doing it in my own business and helping others, is really who are you?
41:44
SPEAKER_01: Like staying focused, you know.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: Do you do you play basketball or do you play baseball?
41:49
SPEAKER_01: I love doing the Michael Jordan analogy.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: Like, what is it that you're known for?
41:53
SPEAKER_01: Who do you work with specifically and niching it down?
41:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, the interesting thing about 2020 as well, Lane, is and this is where it's so important to understand your business, understand your market, understand the environment you're working in.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: I think there was a lot of businesses, and I think again, bigger businesses who saw a lot of growth in 2020 and went, oh, this is the new norm.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: When in reality, it's like this isn't a normal environment.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're you're getting extra sales, yes, because you're awesome and your offer is really great, but also because there's just more eyes and people have more time.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: They're at home.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of I think uh businesses scaled up their expenses thinking that they were gonna have the same level of growth in 2021.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: And when sales kind of dipped, they still were making lots of sales, just not as much as they did last year.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: They were now had higher expenses, but were making the same money as last year or a little less, and kind of got caught with their hand in the cookie jar a little bit, versus our clients that kind of looked at 2020 and said, Hey, we had a lot of growth.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: Let's just kind of take a breath here before we start hiring and like expanding tremendously.
43:02
SPEAKER_00: And they were the ones that in 2021 were able to go, okay, like we're still doing good and we're gonna grow.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: It's just not gonna be as fast, but their expenses didn't skyrocket because they weren't expecting to see the same level of revenue growth as they did in 2020.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: And so, and I'll and you know what, we did have clients who grew in 2021 as much as they did in 2020, but it wasn't as normal, right?
43:24
SPEAKER_00: And especially when if you were already a seven-figure business, it's harder to get an exponential growth, right?
43:29
SPEAKER_00: It's harder to double your business when you've already done 2 million, to go to 2 million to 4 million versus a business going from 200,000 to 400,000 isn't as big a deal.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: So that's where it's again understanding where are sales coming from, why are sales increasing, why are sales decreasing?
43:44
SPEAKER_00: Having that level of understanding your business allows you to make better decisions around like, do I really need to scale up or do we just kind of need to get through this little burst of um of extra business and then think of and then let's see where the business is at before we hire seven people for our business.
43:59
SPEAKER_00: So I think that's what we saw.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: A little bit of, and I don't blame anyone who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar because we've never experienced anything like we've experienced in 2021.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: We've never had like a bubble, so to speak, in the online space, but even with that bubble bursting, maybe for a few people, overall, we still saw the industry grow and we still saw the majority, the vast majority of our clients' business still grow and expand in 2021.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: So what I want all of you guys to hear is that there's just so much potential out there.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: And to hit the numbers you want, abundance, the life you want.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: It is, it goes back to what Parker was sharing.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: Track those numbers, see what's working, see what's not.
44:39
SPEAKER_01: And just remember numbers are neutral.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: They just show you where you're at right now.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you can't change it.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: You could change it with actions you take today.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: Numbers aren't judging you, right, Elaine?
44:48
SPEAKER_01: No.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: Even if it's negative, it's interesting.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: My boyfriend's an accountant, so he helped create my budget sheet, which is funny because I don't call it budget sheet, it's called abundance sheet.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: And I share with my clients.
44:59
SPEAKER_01: So it's to look at it.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, I like that.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to share the cash flow.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: But when it's negative, it's red.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: And when he gave me the spreadsheet, I changed it to pink.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: He's like, it's not pink.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: You need to make it red.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yeah, but red, it doesn't make me feel good.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: It makes me feel negative.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: That's what it is.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yeah, but I need to make this feel, you know, good.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna make it pink.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: But it's just hilarious.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: It's just those mind games.
45:22
SPEAKER_01: Parker, I always love ending podcast episodes with what is one reflective question that folks could think about after listening to this, and what is one action item people could do?
45:36
SPEAKER_00: I think the question I would ask kind of ties back into I think it was item four, like Pitfall Four.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: What are you trying to accomplish this year?
45:44
SPEAKER_00: How how many, how much revenue are we trying to make?
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't care how heart-centered your business is, how much you're trying to change the world, we still need businesses that make money.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: If we're not making money, you're not gonna help anybody, right?
45:58
SPEAKER_00: If your business isn't profitable, if you're not making enough sales, then you help no one.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: So what are we trying to accomplish this year?
46:05
SPEAKER_00: How many, how many sales do we want to have?
46:06
SPEAKER_00: How many customers do we want to have?
46:08
SPEAKER_00: And how are we going to put together a plan that's going to get us there?
46:13
SPEAKER_00: Right?
46:14
SPEAKER_00: And then what was the second thing you asked me, Elaine?
46:16
SPEAKER_00: What was the second thing you want me to add on?
46:17
SPEAKER_01: An action item, which sounds like it's both.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty much a little bit of both action.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: So go ask yourself, how much revenue, how many sales do we want to make?
46:27
SPEAKER_00: And then the action item would be, well, then work backwards.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: How are you going to get there?
46:31
SPEAKER_00: What are the if you look at your business and go, what are the things that tend to work for you?
46:36
SPEAKER_00: Probably need to double down on those and do more of those things and figure out how will doing more of those things that are already working help you get to that goal.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
46:47
SPEAKER_01: And if anybody wants to connect with you, possibly wants to work with you.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: Parker is his the whole team in Evolved Finance is amazing.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: I've always been so happy and pleased.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: How can they find out?
47:00
SPEAKER_00: So Evolved Finance, E-V-O-L-V-E-D, Evolvedfinance.com.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: We actually have a great free uh, it's like a private podcast, an audio course that you can download for free.
47:12
SPEAKER_00: One of our values as a company is financial inclusivity, which is something we kind of made up.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, but much like you, Elaine, I think with this podcast, you know, we understand not every business is is going to be ready to work with us yet, you know, with our bookkeeping services right away.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we still have a really strong desire to want to share a lot of the financial information that I don't think it's shared enough where there's a lot of confusion around.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's what that free audio course is going to give you.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: It's called the Financial Foundation's audio course.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: You can download that for free from our website, and it's going to just continue the conversation around what are the things we have to be thinking about as online business owners to keep our businesses profitable and to keep things organized so we can go help more people and go make more money.
47:52
SPEAKER_01: Parker, thank you so much for your time and for what you've done in this industry.
48:00
SPEAKER_01: And the third thing is thank you for your work being an ally.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: Elaine, it's my pleasure.
48:06
SPEAKER_00: I never thought I'd be some numbers dork talking on podcasts about money and all this stuff, but uh I we really love what we do.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: We have a team of people that really love what we do, and it's an honor to get to work with amazing entrepreneurs like yourself that just honestly inspire me and blow my mind every single day around what can be accomplished.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: And I and I just hope everyone listening understands that there's no reason you can't be one of those people too.
48:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and check out that audio course.
48:31
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you doing the financial inclusivity.
48:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, I word vomited at that, but yes.
48:38
SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of syllables going on for one value in our company.
48:42
SPEAKER_00: But I think for us historically, financial information has been hoarded around privileged, you know, people with privilege.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: And um, and so our goal is to share more of that information with with everyone so that it's not like this little secret world of like this is what you do for a business to make sure you're you're making money.
49:02
SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, here it is for everyone to share.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: And hopefully everyone's businesses that grow because of it and and do better because of it, they come work with us and we'll take care of your book.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: So it's a win-win.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Parker.
49:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that was so good.
49:19
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to remind you that this Call Your Dreams podcast is for both women of color and allies.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to give a shout out to Parker and the Evolve Finance team for integrating their work on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
49:39
SPEAKER_01: When we want more financial inclusivity, it's really about working and learning from one another, our mistakes, what we did to get out of it, and being vulnerable.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you check out the Evolved Finance Audio course.
49:58
SPEAKER_01: And if you're an established coach or entrepreneur and you want to learn how to read your numbers, track them, stay focused on creating a business that matches your lifestyle.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: I would love for you to apply to my Call Your Dreams Inner Circle, which is a combination of one-to-one and group coaching with in-person retreats and calls.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: To apply, go to ElaineLew.com forward slash inner circle.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: If you love this call your dreams episode, we would love it if you can leave a rating and review on Apple.
50:42
SPEAKER_01: So more women of color and allies can benefit too.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: And if you have one or two friends that would get so much from this particular episode, please share.
50:54
SPEAKER_01: The intention behind the Color Your Dreams podcast was to contribute and give back to our people.
51:01
SPEAKER_01: All right, we'll see you next Thursday for our newest Call Your Dreams episode.
51:07
SPEAKER_01: And don't forget to Colour Your Dreams too.