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60: Unlock the Mystery: Financial Planning for Your Small Business with Sylvia Inks

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Only two-thirds of businesses stay in business two years, and only half of small businesses will make it to the five year mark. This can happen even when a business appears to be doing well, if the owner isn't taking a hard, realistic look at their finances and planning accordingly. When margins are slim, it can only take one unexpected expense—or an unfortunate series of small expenses—to derail a business's bank account.

There may not be a foolproof formula for success, but knowing how to manage your money well is definitely an ingredient.

You have to get comfortable with those numbers if you want to survive and thrive in running your small business.

-Sylvia Inks

Maybe you think you're not great with numbers, or you're not sure where to begin when it comes to financial planning for your small business, but the last thing you want to do is avoid dealing with your bottom line.

The good news is, you don't have to be an accounting expert to have the financial skills necessary to maintain a profitable business! This week on the Businessese Influencer Marketing Podcast, business finance coach Sylvia Inks unlocks the mystery around budgeting and other financial considerations for the self employed. During her ten years with one of the world's largest consulting firms, Sylvia worked with Fortune 500 organizations in financial services, insurance, healthcare and technology to improve processes, performance and profitability. Now through her own business, SMI Financial Coaching, she acts as a step-by-step guide to learning the business and financial skills entrepreneurs need for success, so they have the money and time to so what they want, when they want to do it.

In this episode, Sylvia discusses:

  • business expenses many entrepreneurs overlook
  • forming a financial plan when transitioning from a full-time job to running your own business
  • how financial planning for your business differs from planning for your personal life
  • how much business owners should have saved in case of emergency or to make it through a lean season
  • when it makes sense to take on debt when starting your business
  • helpful financial planning tools for small business owners

What are your questions about financial planning for your small business? Let us know in Businessese HQ.

Resources:

Sylvia's websites: SMI Financial Coaching and Small Business Finance Book
SMI Financial Coaching on Facebook and LinkedIn
Sylvia's book: Small Business Finance for the Busy Entrepreneur: Blueprint for Building a Solid, Profitable Business
The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin

You make also want to check out:

Spend or Skip? Where to Invest in Your Influencer Business
Our Top Money Lessons
The Financial Side of Your Online Business with Cathy Derus
How to Handle a Late Client Payment
Tax Tips for Your Online Business

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59: Unlock the Mystery: From 11 Clients to 7-Figure Business with Amanda Tress

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In our “Unlock the Mystery” series, we're opening up the conversation about exactly how people make their money and where they struggle to help you get to the root of your relationship with money and reach your own earning potential.

When you want to make more money from your business, most people start by doing MORE. Taking on more clients. Writing more posts. Finishing more projects.

It's a solid path to generating extra income, but it's also using up more of your time, energy and talent. Spreading yourself too thin and constantly having to hustle can lead to mental and physical exhaustion, causing you to make more mistakes and lose the passion that led you to launch your own business in the first place.

In short, you might be your own boss, but now you're trapped in a J-O-B of your own making.

Once I finally had that a-ha moment, I was able to REALLY scale REALLY big.

-Amanda Tress

Like many fitness trainers, Amanda Tress started her career in the industry trading hours for dollars in the gym. To avoid burning out, while earning a more significant income for her family, she decided to leverage her background as a digital marketing consultant and experience leading in person bootcamps to create her own program of scalable online bootcamps. Amanda launched with only 11 clients; today, the FASTer Way to Fat Loss is a million dollar fitness business helping 10,000 active clients around the world to achieve their fitness goals.

In addition to managing her 7-figure fitness business, Amanda runs a digital marketing agency for female entrepreneurs in the wellness industry, guiding fellow fitness professionals as they scale their own businesses.

Tune in to hear Amanda discuss:

  • how she operates from an abundance mindset
  • growing and scaling her business from 11 clients to $1.2 million per month
  • moving from creating “a job” to generating recurring revenue
  • her biggest stumbling block and plans for the next level
  • the mental shift that led to 10x growth
  • one business decision that always pays off

What mental shift has helped your business grow? Let's compare notes over in our private Facebook group, Businessese HQ.

Resources:
Amanda's websites: AmandaTress.com and FASTerWaytoFatLoss.com
Amanda on Facebook and Instagram @amandatress
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks

You may also like:
How We Are Growing and Scaling Our Business
Hiring and Growing Your Team with Shelli Warren
Achieving True Productivity with Amber De La Garza
Goal Setting and Productivity for Profitability with Brittany Becher and Maggie Patterson

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58: Unlock the Mystery: Using Your Voice and Asking Your Worth with Alexia Vernon

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Unlock the Mystery: Using Your Voice and Asking Your Worth with Alexia Vernon


In our “Unlock the Mystery” series, we're opening up the conversation about exactly how people make their money and where they struggle to help you get to the root of your relationship with money and reach your own earning potential.

When I use my voice I give other people permission to use theirs… when I ask for the money I'm worth I make it easier for other women to ask for the money that they are worth.

-Alexia Vernon

As this week's guest points out during our interview, everything has a communication component. It's a huge advantage to be able to clearly articulate when it comes to any goal— particularly when it comes to finances and negotiation.

Ask for what you want. Get what you're worth.

We're so excited to have Alexia Vernon join us to talk about using your voice, and how it ties into your relationship with money. Alexia is the author of Step into Your Moxie: Amplify Your Voice, Visibility, and Influence in the World and creator of The Spotlight Speaker Accelerator and Spotlight Speakers Collective speaker coaching programs. She was dubbed a “Moxie Maven” by President Obama’s White House Office of Public Engagement for her potent approach to women’s empowerment, and has delivered transformational keynotes and corporate training for Fortune 500 companies and professional associations, spoken at the United Nations, and delivered a TEDx talk on the future of feminism. A sought-after women’s speaking and leadership coach, Alexia teaches her clients how to use public speaking to grow their businesses and amplify their thought leadership, honing in on the “big idea” that is center to their work so they can create their signature talk that garners visibility in front of their ideal clients.

Listen in as Alexia discusses:

  • why women struggle with talking about money and asking for what we want
  • her conversations with her young daughter about using her voice
  • tips for asking your worth during negotiation
  • when it's to your advantage to stay silent
  • the process of signing her book deal for her book
  • how to step into your moxie when it comes to finances as a whole, so that you can achieve a healthy relationship with your money

We need opportunities to flex those disruptive muscles so that when we get into a position where suddenly success is predicated on advocating for our self, advocating for more money, it's not the first time we're trying to do that for ourselves.

How are you enjoying the Unlock the Mystery series? We'd love to hear your feedback! Eagerly awaiting your performance reviews over in our private Facebook group for digital entrepreneurs, Businessese HQ.

Resources:
StepIntoYourMoxie.com
Alexia on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
Alexia's book, Step into Your Moxie: Amplify Your Voice, Visibility, and Influence in the World
Her open Facebook group, the Spotlight Speakers Salon
You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero

Enjoyed this episode? Give these a try:
Handling Difficult Communication with Lara Currie
Invest in Your Self: Mindset Matters with Queirra Fenderson
Mind Your Mindset with Don Jackson
Six Steps for Successful Negotiation

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57: Unlock the Mystery: Monetizing a Hyperlocal Blog with Melissa Wise and Cassie Mascari

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monetizing a hyperlocal blog

In our “Unlock the Mystery” series, we're opening up the conversation about exactly how people make their money and where they struggle to help you get to the root of your relationship with money and reach your own earning potential.

Little Hoboken is a hyperlocal resource for parents, focusing on what local moms want to know: what to do, where to go and who to trust, in and around Hoboken, New Jersey. It was started by Hoboken moms Melissa Wise and Cassie Mascari as a lifestyle blog, but grew quickly into a community driven marketing, advertising, graphic design, photography, event planning and social action media company.

So: how did they get from there to here?

It's really about slow and steady for us, and keeping it meaningful.

-Cassie Mascari

In this installment of the Unlock the Mystery series, we dig into what makes a hyperlocal site successful! Listen in as Jamie fangirls a bit and the ladies of Little Hoboken discuss:

  • their motivation behind starting (and evolving) a hyperlocal site
  • how they manage a successful partnership
  • how they grow their audience
  • the importance of finding the right audience
  • their monetization strategies and sources of income

What do you love (and not love) about the hyperlocal sites in your area? If you run a hyperlocal site, what challenges do you face?

Let's talk it out over in our private Facebook group for digital entrepreneurs, Businessese HQ.

Resources:
Little Hoboken
Little Hoboken on Facebook and Instagram
I Love You More by Laura Duksta

You may also like:
Embracing Your Inner Salesperson with Nikki Rausch
Monetization Tips for Influencers with Jenny Guy
Optimizing Facebook and Cultivating Community with Nicole Culver
Growing Your Business with Social Media with Lisa Lehmann

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56: Unlock the Mystery: Spend or Skip? Where to Invest in Your Influencer Business

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investing in your influencer business

In our new “Unlock the Mystery” series, we're opening up the conversation about exactly how people make their money and where they struggle to help you get to the root of your relationship with money and reach your own earning potential.

You've probably heard the saying, “you've got to spend money to make money.”

But you've probably also heard “don't throw good money after bad.”

The bottom line is, if you want to grow and scale your business you need to invest in your business, but not every investment is a smart one. This is especially in the early stages, when every dollar counts and there's little margin for error.

So where are the best places to spend money in your influencer business? What's most likely to give you the best return on your investment?

Since this is a relatively new and quickly evolving industry, with new tools and platforms emerging all the time, there are no hard and fast rules: you're not going to find a comprehensive, up-to-date guidebook on the best investments for influencer marketing businesses in your local library. We've been working in this space for over a decade, though, and we're always excited to share what we've seen work— and what turned out to be a waste of time and money. (Keeping in mind that when you're running a business, your time can be just as valuable as cash!)

In this episode of the Businessese Influencer Marketing Podcast, we advise you on when to skip or spend (in the style of Eat This, Not That) when it comes to investing in your influencer business. Some of the common spends we address:

  • conferences
  • courses
  • virtual assistance
  • project management systems
  • plugins
  • some popular blogging tools

and more. Tell us what you think and what you've found to be worth investing in over in our private Facebook group, Businessese HQ.

You may also like:
How We Are Growing and Scaling Our Business
Hiring and Growing Your Team with Shelli Warren
Maximizing Your Conference Experience
Working with Independent Contractors