724 - The Hidden Money Leaks Stealing Your Profit (and How to Stop Them) with Vanessa Brown

Earlier this year, I took a trip across to Canada and spoke at an event called High Vibe Women. And on a separate panel, I got to see the beautiful Vanessa Brown speak about money mindset and her journey with money mindset and how she supports women to really move through any blocks that are holding her back. And so when I heard her speak, I was like, I need to have more conversations with this woman. I know that we're going to gel so well. We talk about so many similar things, and I just know it's going to be bring so much gold to the podcast. So I invited the beautiful Vanessa to come and join me on the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Well, I think once I heard you speak, I was like, oh, yes. Like, I was like sitting in the audience, like, nodding my head, like, like, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Absolutely, like, agree with everything you were saying. And I, I felt like it was a really epic conversation. But I feel like there's also this beautiful blend. So we, I learned about you since is that you actually are a CFO as well as working on money mindset. It's such. And you're an NLP trained as well, which is amazing. So it's such a unique combination. Can you tell us a little bit of background about how that came about and then also where mint worthy came about?

Yeah, it's. It's wild because it was literally my own money screw ups that led me here, to be honest. So, like, fresh out of university, I landed my dream job, accounting. Accounting job at PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC. And I thought I had made it, and I spent my money like I had made it. So everything for me was, you know, about the lifestyle, with the appearance. You're an accountant now. You have to look the part, you have to dress the part. You deserve this lifestyle. Even though my starting salary was what, $45,000 Canadian? That doesn't get you very far. And so I. Yeah, no, so I thought I was a millionaire. And so basically what happened was I started this career, I thought I was making money. I got myself into some hot financial mess. I, you know, was renting a condo I could barely afford. I was deep into debt, and I luckily had a mentor who took me under her wings. And one day she pulled me aside and she was like, do you have a budget? I was like, what? The B word? That's not in my vocabulary. And it was in that conversation that, you know, she really made me realize that I wasn't building my money to build wealth. I was just spending my money to live for today. And with her guidance, that's how my whole financial life changed. And so it started with me, you know, getting out of debt. I moved out of the condo. I moved into a basement apartment to save more. And it really was kind of like taking. Taking the step back to take my step forward. And so as the journey started to progress, I was like, oh, my gosh, all the women in my circle need to know about what I'm doing with money, how to change their own financial situation. Because as women, you know, we're hardly taught we have our own blocks about money. And so it started as this passion project where I was just helping women on the side. And as my career progressed, I realized, like, no, this is what I really feel called to do. And so I quit my corporate career. I started Mint Worthy. And when Mint Worthy started, it was just, you know, a personal finance coaching platform. Let's get your money right. Let's budget, budget. Let's get out of debt. Let's save and invest. And what was happening was I was creating these sexy. What I thought they were sexy financial plans for my clients. And within, like, two to three months, they weren't following the plan anymore. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, like, what is going on? Like, you spent this time, you spent money, you invested in this. What is happening? And that's what got me down this whole path of our mindset, and that's what got me into nlp, because I was just curious, like, what's happening in their mind? Like, this isn't an external thing. It's an internal thing. And so I stumbled across the world of nlp. I took my base level certification. I got hooked, and then I went back up my master's because I was like, okay, we have to start with mindset. And in that journey, I was doing a lot of work on myself because no one taught me about my money mindset. I never took a step back and reflected on what I thought or felt about money. And so as I was going down this kind of NLP mindset rabbit hole, I was doing a lot of the deep work on myself and then bringing it into the business to support my clients. So I kind of just stumbled across the mindset world. But how I started the business just because I was a financial hot mess and I needed help in the process. And then just basically what happened over time, I was just attracting a lot of women entrepreneurs into the personal finance coaching programs. And then they Started asking about, well, what about my business finances? What about my profit? And so the accountant and CPA in me was like, okay, I'm geeking out. Like, this is what we have to do on this side. And so that's kind of how the journey has progressed to what midworthy looks like today.

I love it. I love it. We have definitely got some similarities there, because I was obsessed with the money mindset side and really worked on myself first before I brought it into my business too. So I completely get the obsession side. And the exact same thing with nlp. I'm like, what is this thing called neuroscience? And how can I learn more? It's so. It's like, literally become so obsessed with human behavior. It's so good.

Yes. Yeah. It's still fascinating. Yeah, it is.

And then tell us about. Then once you started weaving that into with the clients, like you mentioned, like, with the original budget or the plan, they were like, three months in. They weren't sticking to it. What did you notice once you started implementing the mindset side?

Yeah, such a good question. Obviously, like, they stuck to it. Like, the. The longevity of them sticking to the plan, it almost just became second nature, because when we work on the mindset, we shift the identity. So what was happening before I brought in the mindset? It was like I was creating this sexy plan to the woman who still saw herself as broke, who saw herself as the poor little girl growing up, who saw herself as the woman who needed a financial. Needed a partner to be financially secure. And so you can't. You can't fight against that. Right. Like, you can never outperform your identity. No. No matter how much strategy and how much is delivered to you on a silver platter, you can't outperform your identity. And so once we're able to shift at that identity level, their mindset, they start to see themselves as worthy as well, as worthy of wealth. And so with that, it was like, oh, yeah, like, I'm worthy of this. I could stick to this plan. But also, I think there was also this. This mindset shift. I always say, like, you need a goal that's worth striving for, and that's a easier way to shift the mindset. And the identity is like, if you know what it is that you're going for. Everything else kind of like fizzles and crumbles when you have a goal that's worth striving for, not a goal that society says you should have or Instagram says you should have, but that goal that actually lights you up and makes you get out of bed every day, you're like, this is what I'm doing. For me, that with the mindset shift, I think is what was kind of the trigger to having them then begin to stick to the plans and, you know, get out of debt, buy their first property, like buy a home on their own. Like that for some of the women was like, they couldn't fathom that being a possibility until we did that deeper work.

Oh, love it so much. And do you find as well, like with those goals, and I say this a lot, so I would be fascinated to hear whether you hear this as well, is that most people think they should be motivated by money, but in my opinion, it's not motivating at all. Like, you can set a financial goal, but that's actually not the thing that drives us. And I'd love that you just articulated that around having a goal that's worth striving for. Do you find that as well? Like, when people like, we have to set, like, yes, when being a CEO in our business, we have to set revenue targets and understand the financials in our business, so we are profitable. But setting a financial goal is not the be all and end all when it comes to setting goals. Because I don't find it's really in my.

I agree with you 100%. Like, 100%. Because that can only get you so far. And I don't think it gets you far at all. Like, if the profit is so that you can have a different lifestyle or do this for your family, create experiences for your family, buy that property, that is what actually drives you. Because that is you with that tangible thing or experiencing that tangible thing. Money for us nowadays is not tangible. Like, we don't even touch it these days. And so I agree with you. You know, like, having just a money goal, there's no emotional connection. I think that's what it is. And then when we think about, you know, our money stories, we were never really trained to have this loving relationship with money. And now you want to have a goal of making money, but you already feel the disconnect with it. So how the heck can that go ever motivate you? So I agree, it's. It's the thing that money is going to get you or buy you. That is what actually drives us emotionally.

And it's so fascinating that, like, when you think of it from that perspective and you're like, well, we are actually disconnected. I love how you highlighted that. Like, it's just numbers on a screen. It's just not actually physically touching it much anymore. Yet we can be so triggered by it. Like, I think it's one of those things that as soon as it hits, we hit scarcity. As soon as the money goes below a certain amount in our bank account, it activates our fear response so heavily that it can impact our decisions and impact the way that we show up in our business. What are your thoughts on that? Of, like the, the disconnect, but then also this activation.

Yeah, I love that you just articulated that way because it's. You're so bang on. You're right. It's like we're disconnected. But the minute I don't know what it is, but this, like, sign goes off on our brain and we're like, oh, my gosh, oh my gosh, I'm so scared. I don't have the money. And I feel like my perspective of that is that's just like societal programming. You know, from the day we were born, we understood that money meant something if you had it. Money meant something if you didn't have it. We throw out the words poverty, scarcity, rich, wealthy. And so we have this. I'll say we've created this internal meaning for ourselves of what it means to have money and what it means to not have. And that can go back to childhood conditioning, that can go back to society, societal. And I think that's what creates like, these triggers, is we're just living out of our childhood interpretation of money. We haven't actually sat down to say, hey, I'm wealthy, whether my bank account is zero or not. And it's funny, you're triggering something for me. I read this in a book, and I can't remember what book it was, but the person was saying, like, if you lived in Antarctica and like, you, this is like where you wanted to live. You love the story snow, you love the cold. It was nothing there. But you were just like, this is my dream place to live. You would feel wealthy. Even if you had no money, even if you had no health, no house, you would feel wealthy. And so what the, the book was saying is it's, you know, wealth doesn't have to do with anything about the money, like, at all. It's really like what makes you happy, what drives you, like we were saying. But yeah, I think it's all that societal conditioning of like, oh my gosh, you don't have eczema. You didn't hit six figures, you didn't hit seven figures. And then we internalize that and project that on our Identity and our self worth as well.

So true. And I love that trend that went around on Instagram for a while where it was like, oh, I get to pick my kids up from school and so I'm rich or I get to experience this and so I'm rich. And it had nothing to do with money, it was just the, the richness of life. I actually really love that trend. I thought it really highlighted like it's not about the money. And yes, it's important that we experience and we have money and we're worthy of receiving more of it. I think that's like the other flip side that I love working through with women. I have, I have a lot of women come into my programs and there's this underlying belief that like we should be grateful for what we have and so wanting more is greedy. Do you see this as well?

All the time.

Tell me all the time, what do you.

I say want it all, I say want it all. Who said wanting more is greedy? Like that in itself is a block. That in itself is either a pass down belief, a societal belief. How I view it is the more money you have, the more money you make, the greater impact you can create. And I feel like as women we're always so heart centered, we're always here to serve. Well, you can't serve if your bank account is broke. So how much of an impact do you actually want to create? And so if you say so, I always say, you know, if you say in one breath, well, I want to change the world, I want my business to impact people. And then you say in another breath, well, I don't want to have a lot of money, I'm greedy. There's a disconnect, there's this disconnect between your subconscious identity and your conscious reality. And so I truly believe, you know, there's no greed in wanting more. Especially I feel the women I'm sure you attract and I attract. We're so giving. We're not malicious, we're not bad with money. Like bad in the sense of like know, doing bad things with it. Yeah, yeah. So I do feel like more money in our hands creates the bigger impact that we're actually envisioning. Yeah.

Oh my gosh, yes, absolutely. I absolutely have those types of women. So generous, so kind, so giving, so overgiving, over delivering like all the things. And I feel like it's one of those things. It's like, well, the money's not going to make you a bad person. So just because you want more, it doesn't make You a bad person doesn't make you ungrateful. And I think you hit it right on. Like, if you are stuck in scarcity and you're constantly worried about money, it's very hard to show up as the best version of yourself and your business. It's very hard to show up and support other people and really create from creativity's or passion's sake if you're so stressed about money. Because often when you're in that scarcity bubble, you end up making bad decisions for your business. We end up selling from desperation, and that causes such a disconnect as well. You attract the wrong clients. Like, it's such a catalyst for so many negative things. So it's like, let it be okay, that you make plenty of money, plenty overflow of money, and get to, like, lead from that place of wholeness rather than from a place of fear. And yeah, I just love how you articulated that. I'd love for you to share, if you don't mind a mindset block or a piece of conditioning that you've worked through that you identify was impacting your business or the way that you were dealing with money.

Yeah, this is such a great question. So my kind of childhood conditioning was that, like, I'm the poor girl. So I was raised by a single mother. I watched my mother struggle to, you know, raise myself, my brother. And so I knew what it felt like to be in scarcity, and I internalized that. And so when I started my business, it was a lot of unlearning that that's not who I am, that that's not my identity. And especially with the work that I was going into, lot of my blocks was like, well, who am I to teach this? I wasn't built or born with money. I wasn't raised in wealth. Like, who am I to teach other women about this? Like, also as a woman in the financial space, like, it's dominated by men. It's dominated by men that aren't the same race as me. So even just all of that was a lot for me to work through and just realize that, you know my story and my journey. I always feel this for anyone's story in your journey. It's not for you. Like, you're going through these things, these lessons to help someone else, to teach someone else so that they don't have to go through it. And so I had to just unlearn all that I thought of myself around money. I'd never be wealthy. I'll always have to struggle. I'll always be in Scarcity. I'll always have to fight for money. And so a lot of that, especially in the beginning of my business, was really blocking me, putting my, myself out there. It was blocking me. When it came time to sell, you know, I'd have a price in my mind and then I would show up on the call, be like, let's just decrease that a lot, you know, So I had to do a lot of that work starting, like when I first started my business, because I had never done it before. And no one taught me that I had a mindset. No one taught me that my default conditioning was, you're the poor girl. I didn't know that at the time. And I think that's the thing too. You know, when someone doesn't understand or know about their money mindset, they're fighting so much internally, they don't realize it's not your fault. It's just past unconditionings. And it, you can change it, but if you don't know that, it's. It's a. It's an uphill battle. It's hard.

I think people make themselves bad. Like, I think in mindset work in general, like, they make themselves bad for thinking a bad thought or thinking a thought that doesn't serve them. And it's like, no, no, no, that's not the way that we approach it. We want to approach it with compassion and curiosity and be like, oh, isn't that interesting that I think that. I wonder why I think that. And then starting to unpack that, to recognize that, like, exactly what you just said, it's not your fault. And it was conditioning that was passed down to you, whether that was even through parentals or whether it was even through music or movies or tv. Like, our money mindset is so shaped by so many different things that I think that sometimes we just don't acknowledge that what we're consuming our subconscious mind is holding on to. And so even like when we've gone through, you know, challenging economic times over the last few years, really, like, locked in on what the news is telling you about the economy, if you start internalizing that, that impacts your money mindset and that impacts how you show up in your business. So just acknowledging, like, it's always evolving, and I think that's one of the things as well that people don't get. It's like not. It's not like a one and done kind of thing with your money mindset that you just work on it and then all of a sudden you're wealthy. Like, no, it doesn't help.

It doesn't work that way.

You've got to continuously work on it because different forms of cond come up or different forms of just what you're consuming will start to impact how you think and feel about it. So, yeah, I love you explored that. How do you see? I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you see. Female entrepreneurs are getting wrong about money at the moment.

So. Good one. They're hiding and they're in the dark and they're running from it. I think that's the. The biggest thing I would say is a lack of visibility. And again, that goes back to conditioning. It goes back to money stories. It goes back to how someone was socialized and raised around money. But that's the biggest thing. You know, we're building these businesses to create money. We're not building these businesses to be broke. And so, like underline that, like you're.

It'S okay, you've got a business, you're allowed to make money.

Exactly. And so I think with that, you know, it's. I don't know if it's like sometimes the shame or the guilt or just like the misperceptions of what the business is doing, but I find a lot of women are like, neglecting this part of their business. Yes. They want to focus on sales, they want to focus on marketing operations, while if you don't have the money, there's nothing to put into sales marketing operations. And so that lack of visibility, that like putting their head in the sand, I think that's a big miss for a lot of women entrepreneurs. And the other one that I would say is always. It always pops up no matter what is pricing. You know, are we pricing for feelings? Pricing for what? We think the customer is going to say yes to pricing. Because this is sometimes I see a lot of my clients, they'll project their own money blocks on their pricing. So they'll set a price. And they were like, that, that's a little too much. That's a little too expensive. For who? That's your own blocks that you're projecting. And.

Or they go like, oh, I wouldn't pay that.

Yes. Yeah.

Because yes. What you are giving is something that you do naturally. Like, it comes easy to you. That's why you wouldn't pay for it.

Exactly, exactly. And I think that's the missing piece. It's. We're pricing based on feelings, but we're not actually pricing for profit. We're not actually saying, okay, here's what it costs me to deliver this offer. Offer plus, let me bake in an actual profit margin so I'm actually getting paid more for this thing. And that's the piece. Like, they're not baking in enough margin and they're pricing, and then that translates to the entire business not hitting profit targets or not being profitable as well.

Oh, my gosh. A thousand percent. Like, I feel like we need to scream this part from the rooftop. Like, it's. And I think it's such, like, it's all. All comes back to money mindset, really, if you think about it, right? It always comes back to, is it okay for me to charge. Charge that, or is it greedy for me to ask for more? Like, if I increase my profit margin, is that allowed? Like, what are other people charging? Oh, but it's easy for me to do it. Like, it's so fascinating how we always make it mean something about us, right? Like, men don't do that.

Like, no.

The hell yeah.

They're like, oh, this is how much I'm worth. Put some extra zeros after it. And they own it. And they own it. And I think that's the piece. Like, as women, sometimes I think also we're too nice. Like, sometimes my clients will say to me, well, if I charge that amount, I'm taking from the client. There's enough money and abundance forever. Like, you're not taking. So, yeah, it's a lot of unlearning, but I think that's what's really impacting us from really building businesses to the profit levels that we're capable of.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So funny, because actually, one. It came up for me recently, and I. So I have an investment property, and I rent it out, and I have a property manager that manages it, and the lease is about to come up, and he said to me, hey, we could increase the rent by this much a week. And it was like. It was like $50 a week or something. And I was like, that's a lot. Like, that would be not nice for the tenant to do that. Like, dude, I think we should do that. Like, and it was interesting because I sat back and was like, how easy it was for him to be. Like, yeah, yeah, we can. Absolutely. The market. Market shows that you can do this. Absolutely. We can talk. We can increase it by this much. And I was like, oh, that's not nice. I don't think we should do that to the tenant. And I was like, yes came to mind for me as you were sharing. But it's so funny. Like, we are so conscious of, like, what other people are going to think or what it means about us if we were to do that. And yet we need to start to separate the business from who we are and our self worth. We need to absolutely separate that because it's not about you, it's about your customer and it's about the market value and it's about the value of the offer that you're delivering, which I know we can go down into a whole other avenue, but I want to get to the profit conversation because yeah, I know you say this and I think that it's one of those conversations that happens online. Like we see a lot of people talking about their revenue and how much they make online. And I feel like this creates such, I don't know, shame or disappointment or a negative conversation of women in business that they have this, this concept of like, well I should be hitting that and that makes me successful as well as like not knowing the behind the scenes of the business. The same thing with pricing. Like if you see someone else that it set a price, don't just set your price based on that. You don't know whether that's profitable or not. You've got no clue about her P L. Like you've got no clue whether she's actually has is making money off that business. Like she might have completely financial backing. She might have a partner that completely pays everything and she's just doing it as a hobby. Like, like you have no idea. And if you're pricing based on someone else's price, based on what you think their profit is, like you're setting yourself up for disappointment. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on the revenue versus Profit conversation and the way about it and see it.

Oh my gosh. Everything you said, I'm like, yes and amen. I truly feel like society social has just brainwashed women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs in general, to think that, you know, hitting six figures or seven figures in revenue is that ultimate marker of success. And you're absolutely right. I loved how you share that. You know, people or women are internalizing that and they're saying, well, I'm not hitting seven figures or I'm not hitting multiple six figures. So you know, I'm feeling my business isn't successful. But this is the part that no one talks about. That person could be screaming, oh, I had a 20k, a 50k month, 100k month. But if they have nothing left, if they have zero profit, like they're actually not building a true business. As I say, they're running a, a hobby with A sexy name. And so I. Right. And so I think this is what I hope we can start to shift is having more of these profit conversations. Like it does not matter. I've seen clients who are hitting just shy of seven figures with profit of $50,000 and paying themselves only $20,000.

No, like not worth it.

Exactly. And that's the thing, right? You would say, well, not you, but society will say, oh, they have a seven figure business so they must be successful, they must be great. No, And I think that's like the curtain that we need to start to like unveil. It's. It's not about like I don't care how much revenue you make, tell me what your profit is. Like that is where you actually create that freedom. That's where you actually start to create the wealth. That's where you create the possibilities, the opportunities to. It's not with the revenue if it's costing you all of that to actually run the business.

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And I think as well, like I like to also factor in the time it gives you. Like you could have like it's financial freedom, but I think it's time freedom and creative freedom as well. Like the way that you run your business. Because I think sometimes there's so many misconceptions because of social media. 100% agree with you. And I think that someone might look at my business and say that I get to travel and I get to go all these different amazing things, places and they might be like, oh, but that is success. Or that is means that she's like, you know, super wealthy. But actually I don't have kids. So like if you, if you're looking at me and you have kids and you're, and you're funding your kids schooling and you're funding everything that kids need to survive, that's actually financial freedom too.

Right.

I think that some people just have that concept of like, oh, but I don't have that. And that means that I'm not financially free. But maybe you've got time freedom, maybe you get to pick up the kids from school in the afternoon. Afternoon. Maybe you've actually got other forms of financial freedom and you're. The way that you're perceiving it is actually making you feel bad. So just be conscious of that. And so just I think even determining what that term means for you, like what is your finance?

Yes.

Do you want money to give you? And let that be the motivator as well as the marker of success. Right?

Yes, I totally agree. I think I say this all the time. You know, when I say you're worthy of wealth, I'm saying wealth. But that wealth definition is different for all of us. And I don't think we take the time to define it. Like you said, like, what does that mean? Maybe it is just you picking up the kids and having time with the kids. Like, own that. I think sometimes we don't own what we actually want. Especially as women, we don't own what success and wealth means for us. And I think the more we can just own it and say, this is what it is for me, like, shut out the noise. Get your blinders on. Focus on what it means for you. That's when you're happier. That's when you're more abundant. That's when your energy is, like, vibing high. Like, that's when you attract more money. Like, it's that cycle effect that you talked about earlier, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And I love how you keep weaving in the word wealth. Like, I think that I just want to touch on this really quickly because I really want to get to, like, talking about the money leaks in that business and the profit side. But I feel like we've gone this way. So I just want to ask the difference in the term between money and wealth. So recently I excited my clients by saying, like, anytime you think about money, I want you to think about it from a place of wealth. Right? So rather than the word money, because money has such a loaded, like, subconscious association with so many things. And so because of the way that we interact with money. Whereas I think wealthy people don't speak about money the way that we speak about money. And I said to them, like, anytime you're thinking about money or you're thinking about financial freedom or anything that money gives you, I want you to think about wealth. I want you to start to infuse that word to be like, I am wealthy because of this. Look at my wealth in my bank account. Look at. Because I feel like there's a difference in the energy vibration. Do you notice that? I'd love to hear your take on this.

Oh, my gosh. I've never thought of it the way that you just said that. And I'm just. I can literally have chills. I'm like, yes. Like, yes, and amen. You're so right. Like, when I would just even speak for myself but I say the word wealth, it's a totally different vibration. My mindset goes higher. My level of consciousness goes higher. When I say money, it's almost like lower vibration. Yeah. Heavy scarcity. Like, you're absolutely right. I've never seen the kind of disconnect between the two. But I love that. I think when we train ourselves to say wealth, and like you said, I am wealthy, it changes, Shifts your beingness. It shifts your identity. You know, you can never outperform your identity. So I think that's such a powerful way to, like, shift from who you are now or who you were into that. Whatever that wealthy being that you want to step into. I love that.

I love that you actually inspired that thought process because of the way that you spoke about wealth on stage at High Vibe, honestly. Because, oh, my gosh, Talking about it, you really shifted from the conversation around money. You started shifting it to the conversation of wealth. And I made these notes that I came back to this morning before chatting with you that I was like, yeah, it's a complete. It feels different to think about it from a place of wealth. And I think that because of the associations that we have with the term money.

Yes.

Changes our vibration and changes the way that we respond to it. So thank you for inspiring. Appreciate it.

Well, thank you for sharing that because you just inspired me back. So thank you.

So let's talk about the money leaks in businesses because we talked about, like, the being conscious of your profit and, you know, setting your pricing with regards to your profit. What are some of the other money leaks that you notice within someone's business when someone comes to work with you?

Yeah, I love this question. Okay, I'm going to go straight to the one that most entrepreneurs don't look at. Is their offers. As crazy as it is, like, yes, we have all of our offers and we're pushing them and we're selling them. But one of the pieces that I find is always missing, especially when I. When my clients come to me, they don't assess whether an offer is making money or draining money in their business. You could be selling things that are actually draining money. That's one of the biggest profit leaks, I would say, off the bat that I see because sometimes, you know, we're so focused on, let me look at the P. L. Let me see that the entire company is profitable. That's check mark number one. But the second layer to that is then taking apart your offers and making sure each offer is profitable. And I'll share this quick story. I had a client. She came to me because she felt like, you know, I'm working hard, but I just feel like I don't have enough money. And so we tore apart her offers and at the time, I think she was making maybe about 252,75k in revenue, the business was profitable, probably about a 15% profit margin. But she had this one signature offer and it was making about 130k in revenue a year. When we pulled the whole thing apart, it was actually operating at a loss of $30,000.

Whoa.

Yeah, yeah. Because this time, heavy or something time. So how, how the offer worked, it was without giving too much details inside of her business, but she had like a 12 month, I'll say membership. And in this membership, she would ship each student a package. I'll say. So she basically what she did was she teaches people how to like spin yarn. And so every month they would get a package delivered to them which had a different type of yarn or wool from a different breeder. That wool was dyed. It had like a whole kit of how to spin it a certain way. And so one, the shipping costs were crazy because she was shipping from Canada, mainly to the States, which. That's ridiculous, the shipping cost. She then had a part time employee because all the wool would come in. So every month it was a wool from a different breeder. It would have to come in, it would have to get separated, it would have to get dyed, it would have to get packaged and then sent out to each student. So she had a part time employee, like on payroll. So payroll taxes, benefits, all of that. Then because of the quantity that she had to bring in, she had to actually have a studio. So she was renting a studio space to pull out, to actually house everything, to then diet. So she had to buy the dye. Like, wow, all the things. So when we added up, and also like her time to actually run the course, show up every week, when we added all of that up, she was literally draining $30,000 a year from the business. But she couldn't see that because there were other offers that were more profitable and they were covering it. Yeah, yeah. And so I think that's one of the biggest leaks. It's like, okay, yes, it's making revenue. So you might think, oh, 130k revenue, like, this is my superstar offer. But is it actually really making you money?

Yeah.

And so that, that distinction, I would say, is, is often most overlooked by women entrepreneurs. They're not going a little deeper and saying, okay, what does it actually cost me to run this offer and am I making money on the offer? And if you are making money on the offer, the second level, that is, well, how much profit are you making? Are you just making 10%, maybe? You want to actually make 20. So maybe it's, you know, increasing the price or in this client's, the client example I gave. So what we did was we said, well, we're not going to run this anymore. She had just launched it so we couldn't just like shut it down. But we decided we're not going to launch it again next year. And what we decided to do instead was restructure the offer. So instead of her buying all the wool, having the part time employee, having the studio, we cut all that out and we basically made it bring your, like buy your own wool. So she basically would run it and then tell all the students, here's the breeders, you buy the wool, you cover your shipping. If you want to diet, that's on you. So we got rid of the part time employee, we got rid of the studio space, we got rid of the wool cost because she had to buy that cost, ship it to herself. We got rid of all the shipping costs. Yeah, all of that, all of that gone and now boom, the offer's profitable.

Crazy.

Still giving the same delivery.

Yeah, yeah. Funny, isn't it? Like, but I think we can get caught up in like the fun things and the things like I've, I've had that conversation with myself many times like running events and running masterminds. I think sometimes we see what other people are doing. But I think I've always had that conversation of like, and I think it came from like the event space and actually having conversations with Lindsay, Lindsay Marie, around budgeting when it comes to events of like there's the things that, the baseline of like what it costs to like deliver a really great experience versus what are the fun pretty things that make it look good. Right. And I think it's the same thing with like coaching offers or masterminds and things like that. Like you have all the, all the fun stuff but that actually ends up cutting into all of your profit. So being conscious of like at what number can you then increase to have nicer things? Right.

Yes.

So yeah, with events and it's been so beneficial for me because it's like, well, when you hit this number of tickets then you can buy that stuff and when you hit this ticket number then you can have that fun stuff. And it's like only then and let it be an evolution because I think sometimes again social media ruins us and we go see what everyone else is doing and think, oh, I have to have all the bells and whistles for it to be valuable. When really that's exactly where your Value lies.

No, it's so true. And like you were saying earlier, you don't know if that person ran that sexy event and just put, you know, 20k on their credit card. Like, we don't actually know. So, yeah, it's knowing the numbers for yourself. And I love how you said that. Like, setting those benchmark milestones. Okay, only when then I can have this or do that.

Yeah. And there's always. Because I used to. And I learned the hard way, to be honest. Like, I learned the hard way. I remember, like, my first couple of retreats that I ran were not very profitable at all. I pretty much, like, broke even to a certain extent. Extent. For some of them because of that reason. Because I was like, oh, I want this beautiful house, and I want to have it this, and I want to have the chef, and I want to have all these experiences, and I want to have all of this. But really, the most valuable piece that everyone got from those retreats was the connection time with women. The experiences never came in, the feedback. The pretty little gift bag wasn't even mentioned. Like, all that fluff. Exactly what they found valuable with the conversations and then shifts that they had through the breakthroughs of my coaching. And I was. That was a big mindset shift for me. I was like, oh, stop trying to add all these pretty things to make it seem more valuable and actually get to the core of what the value is.

Exactly. Oh, I love that. Oh, I love that so much.

Is there any other money leaks that come to mind that you want to chat about?

Yeah, so that one's a big one. The other one I would say is. I'll say, oh, kind of do it all in one. But doing an expense audit. So sometimes we're not actually auditing our expenses. Please do that. Please do that. Like, is. Is your marketing getting the roi? Like your ad spend? Is it getting the roi? You have a social media manager. Is your social converting? Sometimes I see clients who hold on to team members and employees that are really just draining the bottom line. So is there a way that you can maybe shift, automate tasks, team members to just get a little more juice in your profit? Like, sometimes I find sometimes my clients teams are way too broad. Like, we can streamline, we can cut. I know it's hard conversations, but at the end of the day, it's also your livelihood and your family. So I'd say always doing expense on it. The other kind of piece that I touched on would be that pricing piece. Again, I think sometimes we're not baking in Enough profit margin into our offer. So again, we're pricing based on feelings or what everyone else is doing. Instead of actually saying, okay, what's the cost to run this thing? And then what's the profit margin I actually want? I always say, you know, set your price or determine what it costs to run your offer and then set a profit margin at least 20 to. You can get up to 40% on top.

Because then you're, I'm like 50 minimum. Come on.

Yes, I love that. I love that. Yes, please do that.

The soldiers, businesses like, and especially like you have an online business. That's what I love about online is that, yeah, it can be really high profit, which is great.

Yes, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But bake that in. I think sometimes, you know, we're like, we're missing that piece. We're missing that piece. And then the other thing I would say in terms of the, the leaks is going back to that visibility. We're not reviewing the actual business performance. That's number one. But one of the things I always have my clients do is a three month look forward test. So at the end of every month, if you have, hopefully you have a profit plan and you have a cash flow forecast. So at least look three months forward. Because let's say, you know, we're in December right now. Let's say you're projecting to have a loss in February. Well, there's your leak. It's there, it's red. Well, you can do something about it now instead of waiting to February being like, oh my gosh, like, how do I pay the bills? Well, you know, now you're gonna have a leak. So maybe you're doing something different in the new year to like drive sales. Maybe you're going to capitalize on Galentine's Day, Valentine's Day, and like put some sort of promo together. But that forward thinking, I think sometimes the CEOs were way like, we're too much like reactive versus proactive. And I think if you're more proactive, you can literally plug all your leads before they actually hit your business as well.

A thousand percent. A thousand percent. You speak in my language. If you are projecting to not have income coming in in the new year, like, that's because you've not been doing sales activities now. Or sometimes it's actually because you think that people aren't ready to invest for the new year yet.

Right?

Like, or you're thinking, oh, but I'm busy so I can't do marketing now. Because what if people come in now and they want it right now and I can't say yes to it. No, that just shows that you're great at what you do. And you can actually take a deposit and book them in for February. Like there are so many ways around it. I love some people get so caught up in like just some of the mindset stuff like, no, let's treat this like a business and run it like a business. You've got a forecast and I love forecasting. I love actually look at it very regularly. I'm like, it's so fun that I've got income coming in in June next year already.

So fun. Like it's exactly.

So much more, so much stability. Yes, it does stress about it. So good.

Yeah, yeah.

For if you were chatting to someone who really wanted to scale next year, what would you say? Some of the financial habits they should start doing and embedding immediately? What would you say they would be?

Yeah, I love that. First things first. Have a monthly business money date every month. Yes. I, I truly believe you have to date your business. You at least once a month date your business. And that's for me, that's like the one time that you get to step into cfo. You may not, you know, have all the financial background and stuff, but at least you are being the CFO of your business. Or if you have a fractional cfo, you at least meet with them. But having that monthly business money date one, it's kind of that back looking task and then the forward looking task. You're seeing what the business has done, you're looking at what the performance is. You're doing that three months look forward task. But then also I like to say you're distributing the profit. We like to distribute the profit. Or at least I like to distribute the profit. And so some of the things I always say is, you know, have different buckets and designations for your profit. So one of the accounts that I say you have to have is an FU fund. Every CEO, yes, every CEO needs an FU fund. Because hey, you're building this thing, you need some FU money for you. And this is on top of your salary or your dividends, what you pay yourself, this is a percentage of your profit you set aside in a separate account every month. And if it's once a quarter, mid year, whenever you want, you use that money however you please, it's yours. Think of it like your CEO bonus. Exactly. Your little CEO bonus. Exactly. But if you don't put the money aside for it, then you don't have it. So whether it's you know, allocating to your fu fund in your money date. Whether it's, I always like to do the same thing for like a re. I call it a reinvestment fund, slash a contingency fund. But same thing as a percentage of your profit every month goes into that reinvestment or contingency fund. And you can use that to reinvest into the business to scale. So if that is your priority for next year. Well, you can't scale if you don't have no money to scale. So start to carve out that reinvestment fund. Whether it's, I used to say like 5 to 10% of your profit every month, throw it in that account so that when you're ready to scale, you're like, okay, I have this pocket of money that I can pull from. I'm not pulling from my operating fund. But then also that fund becomes your contingency fund because ish happens. We know that. And so if there is a month where you're short, okay, you've got a little bit of a contingency that you can pull from. So doing those allocations, setting the money aside for taxes, paying yourself, of course, depending on how you pay yourself. But that business money day like that, that is the guiding light. If you are ready to scale, want to scale. The visibility is so important, like managing the cash flow. Looking at your cash flow forecast, you had a great launch this month. Well, you can't ball out if you know cash is going to be tight. But having that business lady, it's going to make sure you're allocating the cash appropriately. So yeah, I would say that would be the biggest thing.

Yeah, love that, love that so much. And I, I feel like there's, even if I'm hearing like listeners listening to this being like 5 to 10%, that's a lot to set aside if I'm not making lots of money. Whereas if you can just start with wherever you're at, like start with 1 2%. Just start. I am such a woo woo believer that when you start doing that money loves that you do that and then it will always show up more. So yeah. To a different bank account and you out of sight. So it's like you can't touch it. I have many, many sitting around there and I'm like, cool. It's setting aside. I'm like looking at it as if it doesn't exist. Right.

Yes.

That small little percentage that goes in there just complete, completely accumulates. But then also other money shows up in your existing business. Account, like, it just shows up. It's so fascinating how it works every single time. And you're like, what? Yeah, so just start with where you're at. If you're listening to Vanessa and you're like, 10% sounds like a lot. I'm just trying to pay my bills. But no, like, be conscious of that, like, differentiation between where you put your money and just start with where you can. I'd love to hear your take on this word budget because I know that a lot of people have some negative connotations around it, but when it comes to running a business, sometimes it can be challenging to work off a budget because your income fluctuates. So what. Can you just describe what, how you support your clients through setting a budget with their business?

Yeah, I agree. From a business perspective, I agree. It's, it's tough to stick to a budget because yes, the income fluctuates, but also like the expenses fluctuate. One day you're like, okay, I actually want to invest in this new coach or I want to do a photo shooting. I didn't plan for that. So I do find it very challenging to like budget on a month to month basis inside the business. I like to kind of do it more on an annual basis. So, you know, what's my annual marketing budget and setting that for the year or you know, maybe I think I am going to do one or two photo shoots. What is that going to look like? And just kind of setting that line item with more of an annual based budget and then working from there. I think it's very difficult to do it month to month unless, you know, you have that recurring, you know, your canva expense. You're this expense that easy. But those bigger things, I like to just, in my like full year profit plan, I like to have a line item for them, but I create an annual budget for them. I think that's a lot easier. And then you could just see how you're tracking towards the year. If you're doing your monthly money date, you can see how you're tracking and then adjust from the year if necessary.

And then what would you say would be a side note of a money mindset activity or a identity shifting activity that supports those behaviors?

Oh, I love that. I'll say, oh, I've got so many ideas. One of the things that I love to do, it's just, I just, I just love it is I create a money manifesto for myself. And so that's just, you know, whether it's either I'm casting The vision for the next 12 months or I'm casting the future vision. It doesn't matter what it is, it just kind of feels what. What feels aligning in the moment. But I'll write out the manifesto. Could be long, could be short. And then I record it. And I recorded in my own voice and I listened to it every morning and every night. And what it does for me, because it's like future casting, it's getting me to literally step into that future identity. And so if I'm someone where I say, you know, I'm a good steward of money, I manage my profit, I manage my cash flow, like just having that every day to ground me in identity, that's very powerful. Another thing that I like to say is when you're doing your money date, like, jazz it up, like, make it a date. Like, when you think of that wealthy version of you, how do they show up to the money date? Are they like, oh my gosh, I'm dreading this. Oh, my goodness, what's the numbers going to say? Are they like, let's bring it on, like, let's see how we did today? But just get yourself into that mindset, in that mind frame before you step into the money date. It's going to shift how you look at the money, how you're going to make decisions. You're going to make it for more of that high level, empowered place versus that scarcity places as well.

I love that. I see, like said it. Get a glass of wine and make it fun. Light a candle.

Yes.

Love it. Amazing. Oh, my gosh. We could keep talking forever. I just know that we could just keep talking so much. What's my final couple of questions I want to ask you? So when it comes to stepping into that next level wealth identity, is there anything else that you are doing specifically, like, I love the manifesto. I love that. Is there anything else that you're working towards over the next couple of years that you're updating your identity to as well?

Yeah, I love this question. I think I'm always updating my identity all the time. One of the things I started to do recently was create like a filter question. And it is, it is a filter question for my husband and I and our family, but it filters for everything that we're creating and the wealth that we're building. And it's basically like, does this, does this move the Bowen Empire forward? And so when I ask myself that question, whether it's like, you know, how I dress today, like, am I dressing in a way that moves the Bowen empire forward. Am I spending money on frivolous things? Well, will this move the Bowen empire forward? No. Am I showing up in the business or am I procrastinating and hiding which one will move the Bowen empire forward? And so that's been really powerful for me of, like, having that filter question because it's literally the. That that lens is getting me to already think about what that future vision is, what that wealth vision is for myself, for my family, and then allowing myself to act as if today by just that one powerful question. And I will take credit for it. I actually took that from. It's a book called be your future self now by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. And he talks about it in there and I just think it's so powerful. World.

Love it. Amazing. I needed a new book for it to listen to over the Christmas break. Amazing. Thank you so much. I would love to know if there was one belief that women in business embodied next year, what would you want it to be?

Oh, my gosh. I'm always going to go back to, you are worthy of wealth. Like, you are worthy. And whatever that is for you. If in the next 12 months, like, you know what that is when you say to yourself, I am worthy of wealth and you think 12 months ahead, you already have a number in your mind of what that is when you say it to yourself. And so I would love for women to be bold enough to shoot for that number. Don't shoot for the number that actually just makes you feel like you're getting by. Like, shoot for that number that you're like, oh, I'm worthy of wealth. And it's whatever that is for each. You shoot for it, believe it and start embodying. Embodying it. Whether it's in your language, whether it is in your thoughts, whether it is in how you show up in your business, whether it's in how you steward your money, how you oversee your P and L. Like, if you could just truly bring that into your beingness that you were worthy of wealth and embody it for the next 12 months. Total shift. Total shift in everything. Your identity, your life, your bank account, your business, all the things.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. A thousand percent. Love that so much. Can you tell us where we can find you, connect with you, work with you, so everyone can connect with you online?

Yeah, well, absolutely. Join me over on Instagram. It's at Knitworthy Co. That's where I share a lot of tips, tricks on your profit, your mindset, all the things to grow and build your business. And then, of course, check out my website, bitworthycode.com that's where you can find all of ways to work with me as well. Whether it's group one on one, fractional cfo, I do all the things.

Amazing. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for joining me today. It's been such a joy chatting with you.

Thank you so much for having me, Christine. This was so great, so much fun.