Hot Girl CFO Energy with Meaghan Wall: Cash Flow, Profit First, and CEO-Level Money Moves

Foreign. This is Busy Getting Better, the podcast for women who are committed to prioritizing their own personal growth. I'm your host, Madison Day, a mindset and money coach, a first generation wealth builder and a woman on a mission to help you master your finances and live your best life. Money is not all we are covering though, because in order to live your best life, you have to become your best self. So we are diving deep into all things personal development and bringing you the mindset that shifts money, tips and inspiration. You need to go out there, be bold, and build the life you can't stop daydreaming about. It's time to get busy, babe. Busy getting better. What is up you guys? Welcome back to the podcast. Today we are getting hot and bothered all about finances. We have Megan Wall or better known as the hot girl CFO online on the podcast today. And I am so excited to have this conversation with you because I feel like we need more hot girl and money combos and really stepping away from like the crusty, dusty, as you say, old white men that are just telling us how to manage our money. Like, let's add some hot girl energy to that. So, Megan, welcome to Busy Getting Better.

Thank you. Madison, you have such like a radio voice. I love it.

Low key in my DNA. So my dad is a radio morning show host. I actually don't know if I've ever said that on this show before, but I grew up in the radio station so I guess via exposure maybe I picked up on some of that.

Yeah, you, when you started, I was like, okay, I'm on a, I'm on a radio show right now. That was great.

We are here. How funny. I'll have to give him a shout out. Maybe he's listening. Shout out, dad, for that radio DNA voice I got. Megan, thank you for being here. Let's just dive into how did you first name hot girl cfo? Because I think it's so spicy, so fun and like, we obviously love to work with hot girls, but like, can you just give us a quick BTS story on your brand that you built and why you feel like it is so needed in this money world?

Yeah, well, honestly came to me in a dream. The hot girl cfo. I literally grabbed the handle not knowing what I was going to do with it. Whether it was going to be just like a special interest page or like an influencer page. Influencer is kind of what I was going for at the time, just to talk about money and stuff. But yeah, it, it very much quickly turned into a Full fledged brand. And once I decided to actually full on go a hundred percent in, it was very intentional. The branding that I decided to go with from the beginning was always blazer and a corset. Like very, very business cfo, but like sexy and, you know, spicy underneath.

So yeah, we need that hot girl action. There's enough Patagonia vest, as you say, in exactly the world of finance. We gotta spice it up a little bit.

And don't get me wrong, I have several Patagonia vests. But just like, you know, it's a, it's a very clear, you can picture it when you, when you think of the Patagonia vested dudes that are telling you what to do with your money. And I'm just like, if one more person says that I need to stop buying lattes every day and I can become, become rich, I might throw my computer into the ocean.

So, yeah, yeah, we don't need any more Chad and Brad finance advice out here. And I also, I like, I love the direction of just having more women in this space because women control so much when it comes to consumer spending, when it comes to finances. Like, we're obviously going through like a big wealth migration right now. Like, women are having more and more control of money than ever. And like, we're just, I don't know, women are, why are different? I feel like I've been thinking a lot about just like the feminine masculine energy when it comes to money. And just like women have such a different intuition. Like, we have such a different vibe. I feel like all the advice is like very shame ridden around women and our traditional things. I remember one big thing. For me, it wasn't necessarily lattes, but it was like getting my nails done. And I'm just like, listen, I'm just a bitch who likes to have her nails done. Like, don't come for my nail budget, okay? I feel like I'm a better version of myself with my nails done. Like, that's not the solution. So let's figure something else out. But for some reason it's always coming for like the feminine things, like, stop spending so much money on this. But that's who you want to be and that's how you want to spend your money. Like, that doesn't need to be the advice that is being dished out all the time, 100%.

My business really tries to give permission to the CEOs out there who want to be unapologetically feminine. And unapologetically, you know, that rich taste. I love seeing those memes around that are like, I, unfortunately I can't budget. I just need to make more money because my taste is so expensive or whatever the, the saying. And I think that's so funny. And like, that's everything the hot girl CFO stands for as well, is just like that CEO awareness of your numbers and what's going on, the in and outs and everything like that. And also prioritizing the fact that like, businesses are for us. Like, I built my business for me. It's a common question to ask, you know, why did you build your business? Who was it for? That kind of thing. I built my business for me and to support me and myself and my husband and the life that we want. And yes, like by, you know, the ripple effect will ripple out into everyone that I speak to and touch and influence, but it's for me and my life first business. So that's, that's where we prioritize.

I love that. I think odd when we get into this, there's a servant, like, I love that you mentioned that. Cause it's like, yes, I am building something as well that is positively impacting so many other people's lives. But like, I'm also doing it because it's giving me the life that I want. It's giving me the opportunity to work on things that I want. And I always, I'm like, so honest about the fact that like, I'm a very money, money motivated person. Like, that's, that's just facts. And I don't know why that needs to be so taboo. I like the idea of accumulating more money so I can live a bigger life, so I can go out and do things and like, again, the tabooness in this world or the shame of just saying, like, I'm building this business for me, I'm making this money for me, for my family, for my life. Of course I want to positively impact other people, but like, you get to just be at the center of that too, you know?

Right. And it almost pisses me off that we have to make the qualifier of like, of course, like, this is for impacting my community. Da, da, da, da. Because women can't just want money for the sake of wanting money and that just be okay. And that just be the end of the sentence. We have to always be like, you know, make the statement about our kids or our families or our communities or whatever. And I'm very much like unapologetically, like you said, money driven. And I love that.

Yeah, I love that. More money motivation here. Okay. I want to talk about. Obviously, you are in the cfo, you're in the bookkeeping world. I'd love to hear a little bit about how you got into that and how you picked this as like, the place you were going to start. Or like, why do you love bookkeeping CFO work so much? Like, what's been so enjoyable about getting to partner with business owners and really help them solidify their books? Because we know it's important. But I want to know, why do you love it so much?

Yeah, so, I mean, I've been in Finance for 15 years at this point. Started literally after I failed chemistry three times when I thought I was going to be a biology major and be literally like a csi, like crime scene investigator, you know, and do the whole.

Wait, why was that a dream I had at one point too? I literally did like a blood splatter analysis CSI class, and I was like, this is the coolest shit ever. Like, this is what I want to do.

Literally did a blood splatter, a science project in like, what, 8th or 9th grade and fully got a failing grade on it and didn't let it stop me, apparently, because then I was like, no, we're gonna go to college for this too. Anyway, so once I failed more classes than I passed my first year in a science degree, I was like, maybe I should pivot. So my mom was a bookkeeper, my aunt was a bookkeeper. So it just seemed like the thing to do. And then I got my first job as my dad's bookkeeper at his manufacturing firm while I was still in school. And, you know, the rest is history, kind of. I. Whenever I got fired from my last job at a CPA firm in Manhattan, it was very much like I could choose to go back and get another job, or I could, you know, build my own business and do my own thing. And I'd kind of already started freelancing a little bit and dabbling in helping the yoga teachers that I followed on Instagram with their bookkeeping, which, like, Instagram was such a different landscape back in 2018. You could like jump into somebody's DMs and be like, hey, do you need a bookkeeper? And it wasn't sleazy. People didn't like, you know, get mad at you for like, cold selling or whatever. So that's how I got my first several clients, was literally just cold Dming a bunch of people that I follow and seeing if they needed bookkeepers. And I realized that, like, having the one on one relationships with those CEOs at the time was like the most fulfilling thing ever. And like, having a bestie as a client is like exactly what I want. I literally probably talk to my clients every other day, if not every single day. Even though, like, I'm maybe doing work for them the first couple weeks of the month and then we just kind of, you know, if they need anything throughout their, the rest of the month, I'm here for them. You know, the service that I provide is truly a white love service where I'll do pretty much anything for you as far as, like, I'll represent you to like, stripe support if you need to get a bank charge refunded or whatever it is. Like, I'm, I'm doing things for my client all throughout the month. So it's definitely about the relationship.

Yeah. And in the weeds. I would imagine that it's a lot too, because I feel like, obviously, and I know you have a background as well as from a coaching perspective too, but just being able to, like, make the numbers make sense and like, make people feel confident with the decisions that they're making to expand and grow their businesses. Because I know you work with very established businesses too. So it's like, hey, how can we, you know, make this next expansion? How can you make this possible? And how can you feel like you're making this decision from like a confident, grounded place? Like, I don't know about you, but it's so fun to kind of see that in the client's eyes where it's like, oh my God, I actually can make this work. And it's like, yes, you can. You know, and then they get to go on and live their dreams out.

Yeah, exactly. And from where I started in my business to working with lower revenue clients who were in the first year or so of their business, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that there tended to be a lot more turnover over and most businesses fail. And so the people that make it past three, five, six years are the ones who are going to stick around for the long haul. And so I tend to prefer to work with people who are very much in their, like you said, established phase at least three to five years in. That's not to say that I don't work with new businesses. I have several amazing brand new businesses who are prioritizing their money landscape right off the bat. And those are my people who come to me immediately and they're like, Megan, I just started making pretty good money. Like, I need your help to like, make sure that I continue that, you know, they don't wait until they're at the 500k mark to be like, oh, maybe I need a bookkeeper.

They're starting to think ahead. Yeah. Okay, you mentioned it. So let's talk about it. 82% of small businesses fail because of cash flow reasons. That is not a small number. That is like a very, very high stat. So I'm so curious, from your perspective, what are some of the biggest issues that you see these businesses run into? Right. Like, what are the biggest, I guess, determining things that might be impacting people's cash flow that business owners might not even be thinking about. Or maybe they're thinking about it, like, every waking minute, but they don't know what to do about it. Like, what are the commonalities that you see within those businesses that maybe don't. Don't make it past that. That milestone marker?

Yeah. So a lot of businesses, well, I see two main issues. They're either hiring too quickly. You know, they get really excited. They are making probably 5 to 10k a month, and they already have a VA and Pinterest manager. And like, all of these things that are draining their cash flow. And then the other thing that I see is just a. And it is a learned skill, an inability to time their income and expenses well throughout the month. So what that looks like is a lot of. I mean, most online businesses have some sort of cadence in their income, right? So, like, coaches tend to have high spikes of income because they're doing launches, so they're making lots of money at one time. And then they tend to, like, have kind of smaller little blips throughout the month. But at the same time, their expenses are in the opposite cadence of whatever their income is, is coming in at. So it's all about cash flow and timing. Cash flow is queen, but it's also, baby. So, like, you have to babysit it at the same time as, like, you're doing everything in the name of your cash flow. So every business decision you're making, every contract you're signing, every offer you're putting out, you need to have this thought in your mind of, okay, how is this going to affect my cash flow and where does it need to fall within the month?

Yeah, that makes sense. Because I feel like that's like the biggest problem, right, is it's just like this. Unless you get into this model that you have more, more of that consistent income model, regular paycheck, you know, there's so much variation. Like, it really is kind of hard to plan, and you might plan for A launch and it doesn't go that way. And now you're like, oh my gosh, how do. Right. How do I manage this now? So I feel like the inconsistency in the variable, it makes it obviously so much harder to plan for. So what are some, I guess, tips and tricks that you think work for that individual? If they're trying to get into more of a consistent like pay schedule, expense schedule, like how can they start to shift some of that stuff or make it maybe more of a, I don't know, like a baseline number or something like that that can, they can plan better for their, their finances and expenses.

Yeah. So the first thing I want to say is that you don't have to have it all figured out from the very beginning. So I know like a lot of people, a lot of businesses who are very established, they have their launches, they have their spikes, but they also have consistent income coming in from digital products or other offers that are kind of static throughout the month that they sell behind the scenes that don't have anything to do with a live launch or anything. So if you're not at the point yet where you have a lot of consistent income from passive sales and you're worried about these high income spikes not being able to last you throughout the month, I really encourage you to go to whoever you have expenses with and just ask for them to be moved around. Like you can get any expense, almost any expense change to a different point in the month. Now rent, things like, things like that can be hard. They might move it within like the first few days of the month, which would be helpful, like for me specifically. So I get paid. Yes, on the first of. Or my invoices go out on the first of the month, but I don't actually get the bed. The money doesn't hit my bank account until like probably the 4th or the 5th of the month. So it's not feasible for me to have everything coming out on the 1st when I don't get money until the 4th of the 5th. So just shifting those things maybe to the second week of the month to where you actually have the cash flow and the cushion to pay those things out is going to be a huge relief for you. And the other thing is just like, don't be afraid to ask as well as, like, if you're paying contractors, see if you could get them on a weekly payment instead of once a month, especially if they're extremely high payments. If you're paying someone to $2,000 a month, it may be better for Your cash flow to get them on a 500 a week payment instead, just so that you can have the consistent flow to cover those weekly expenses.

I love that. I think that's such a good, tangible step that I think a lot of people don't realize you can do. Right. You can absolutely call. And this goes for any of the bills that you have. Your credit card statements, everything. You can adjust the due date. I feel like sometimes I'll talk to people and they're like, everything's due the same week. And I'm like, okay, we can fix this. This is a. This is a good thing. So you want to. Yeah.

Literally, people are. I didn't even know that was a thing. I'm like, yes, you can get it changed. Almost any. Almost anything.

Almost anything. And it's. I actually just was playing around in my banking app, and I noticed that they've made it extremely visible. There's like a button in there that's like, request due date change. So, like, more on the front face now, before, I feel like you kind of had to call and ask for it and look around, but I just noticed it popped up. I think I saw that earlier this week or last week that you can actually just request it in your app. So check there and feel free to.

That was for your credit card.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Exactly. For your credit card, even. Yes, even your credit card statements. You can get the. The due date changed and.

Yeah, yeah, just can help a lot.

Take it into your own hands, you know, Take the responsibility and. And don't just resign yourself to the. To the ebbs and flows of other people's business. Like, it's. This is your life. This is your business. Like, you get to set the terms.

Yeah. It's so funny. I just said to myself recently, just in another regard of like. Like, I'm gonna exercise my right as an entrepreneur and as an adult woman and just, like, do something different and, like, change the way I'm approaching things. Like, sometimes I think we also forget that we're adults and that we can literally do whatever we want. And also just calling and asking. Like, a lot of these things have flexibility, too. So I love that you said that. Cause I was just joking with myself. I'm like, wait, I'm in charge here. What am I doing? Like, I can change this.

I'll literally see a video on TikTok of someone doing something, and every single time it smacks me in the face. I'm like, I am not using my free will the way I should truly Literally.

Literally. We kind of just get caught in adulthood sometimes. And then it's like, whoa, wait a second. I saw someone actually also posting recently that like they're trying to make a big expense or a big purchase. And they're like the first thought in their mind is I should ask an adult if I should make this purchase. And then they quickly realize that they are the adult and it's like, when did this happen? I don't know. I want to talk about, obviously you mentioned cash flow's important. I want to talk about this. We see it all the time, right. I feel like it's so heavy right now. And I think you're the perfect person to have this conversation with because you've obviously seen this back end of some really good businesses. But this like lore of the online entrepreneurial space of like all this flex of a hundred K months and all of this craze. Right, but, but we know that a hundred K months, like they're not being necessarily always very clear around what that a hundred k really means. Right. And we know revenue is different than profit is different, all of these things. So I want to just have a conversation about this like lore on the Internet and 100k months. Like what do they really mean? What are you really seeing behind the scenes when someone's saying they're having a hundred K months? And are they as cal as the Internet marketing makes it out to be?

First of all, they do happen. They do happen. They're real. They're not, you know, made up. But I will say that a lot of the people that you see saying they're making consistent 100k months are not telling the truth. Especially because liars. Yes. And not only that, they may be between like 60 and 80k and that that's a huge difference. 60 and 80k to like you and me. Like, like, especially because I'm only at like 10 to 12 right now. So like a difference of 20k a fluctuation between month to month is huge. But 60 to 80k is a normal fluctuation for these high six figure into seven figure businesses. Just because there's so much fluctuation in business to begin with. And I will say that those huge businesses making 180k month have 80k expenses.

Yeah. They're also, they conveniently leave out. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

And you know, I do my best to advise these people on best spending habits, but they're the CEOs. I'm always going to default to their decision. I'm never gonna like second guess them or make them feel like they made a bad decision when I'm there to advise and if they don't take my advice, like, like that's, you know, their prerogative. So I do see that I have several like 800 to 1 million clients who very consistently swing from about 75 to a hundred K every other month or so. And, and they have just as many expenses to go with it.

Yeah. And so we're talking revenue here. Right. So that's like sales coming in. But then what would you say the average profit margin is? Or like let's like cash, collected cash home for that person who's making, you know, 80 to 100k months. What does that actually look like from a take home? Because I just feel like again, the marketing is quite deceiving. Right. So if anyone's listening to this, I just want them to have a better idea of like what does that actually mean? Revenue's great, sales is great. Clearly you figured this game out. And also you're not taking home that much money.

No, no. And I always, I even tell my people that I'm like celebrating my 100k year with, I'm like, yes, that was business revenue. I did not bring home that much. But yeah, it's, it's usually around 15 to 20 pay a month for these people. So they're in like the, still less than $200,000 a year.

I'm not discrediting any of the hard work that goes into this, but also just trying to bring light to the conversation because again, I think, just think it can be kind of deceiving sometimes. You're like, well wait a second, this is crazy. You're making million, you're, you know, all of this, which you are. And also there's so much that goes into that from an expense perspective.

Yeah, I mean I have a few clients who have negative net income right now that are at the $1 million mark. They're still paying themselves 180, 200,000 debt exists. So that's how we're able to still pay yourself 180, 200 and have a negative net. Which at the end of the day is, in my perspective, it's, it's. So a lot of things come out in the wash, especially if like you are paying yourself enough to support yourself and your business has enough money to actually pay its expenses and then at the end of the year you make it up in the last few months or so. That's what I see a lot happen, is that you operate quite aggressively in the first eight to nine months of the year and then you kind of taper off toward the end and you are, you know, holidays and things slow down anyway, so.

Yeah, okay, love that. I want to, I want to talk about profit first because I feel like this is obviously the business cash flow model, right? So from your perspective, I guess, can you go ahead and break down what profit first means? If somebody's listening to this? I feel like if you're a business owner, you've probably heard the term before, but like, what does that really mean? And then if somebody wants to start to set up their finances from a profit first lens, like, where does one start and what are your, what's your advice for them to be able to look at that?

Yeah. Profit first is a system developed by a man named Mike Michalowicz. He wrote a whole book about. Is basically a banking system where you have five main accounts. You'll have your income account, and then based on percentages that you set up, you will distribute your money that comes into your income income account into the four other accounts. So you have your operating expenses, taxes, owner's pay, and your profit account, which is basically just a rainy day fund overflow type of account that pays out every quarter to the owner. I think of it as like a little bonus. If you don't have to dip into that throughout the quarter, then you get it as your little bonus. So it is one of my favorite ways to manage cash flow for my business, for my, for my clients, because in their minds, it's easy, very easy to see the delineation between what dollar belongs to what bucket and what dollar has what jobs. It's really so great for assigning every dollar a purpose. And I think that we are so used to having maybe one or two accounts total. And it's very hard for, for you to look at, you know, $5,000 in a bank account and be like, okay, I need this much, you know, 2,500 sort of give or take for business expenses, but not all at the same time. And it comes out different points of the month. And then I know I need some for taxes and I know I'm going to pay myself as well. So it's just like so much easier to go ahead and split that up from, get the income. One of my favorite services that I offer for my clients is actually maintaining their profit first setup in the bank. I use Relay Bank. I actually have a, an affiliate, you know, link, if anybody's interested in Matt and Madison.

They are the official bank for Profit First. I have a Relay account. I opened it up when I was doing real estate a few years ago, but it's kind of just sat doorman. I think it's. It's not even hooked up to my current business bank account now that I'm thinking about it. But yeah, I'm not currently in the profit first model for my business, but I know I will autom obviously implement that. But Relay is great. They help you open up however many bank accounts that you need. So you can create these different buckets like Megan's talking about. So we'll link her affiliate link in the show notes if anyone wants to check it out. Um, but I. It's like a similar mentality. Like I just got done helping some girls in my debt program hook up high yield savings accounts and it's like the same. Like I explained it similar to you. Let's create different buckets for your savings goals. If you want to pull out money for taxes, as you say, but like for travel fund, for goals you're working towards for kind of like the sinking fund world. Because it's so hard to just look at one savings account, one bucket of money, and then like the mental clutter of trying to. To your point, okay, well, I want to use this. And also it kind of, it removes a lot of guilt or shame or whatever. When you do go to spend that money, it's like, no, this is what this is for, right? Like, oh, should I be doing this? Should I be going on this trip? Should I be reinvesting in my business? Like, you've already decided that that's what that money's for. Like now go have fun with it.

Yeah, exactly. And I've, I've used it for my personal accounts for, I mean, forever, for probably six or seven years now as well. And I have, have, I have, you know, my husband and I, both of our expense accounts, we have our bills account, we have a Spain savings fund because we're trying to move to Spain. And we have several other things that we're saving for as well. Sinking funds, which I never really liked the word sinking fund.

It's never.

It doesn't make sense in my mind. What do you mean sinking fund? Anyway? That's just.

I feel like I always have to explain. I'm like sinking fund, but this is what it is. Or like these, you know, I say the same thing with emergency fund. I hate an emergency fund. Like I'm. I do not call it that. It's a future fund, right? It's money there in the future. Why are we Calling it, Calling in emergencies. Like, that's not cute. That's not hot girl stuff. We want to be planned for it. That's hot girl stuff. But we don't need to call in emergencies, you know?

Right, exactly. And that's why I don't call. I usually don't call the profit account a profit account because the name profit account doesn't make sense in my brain. It doesn't make sense in anybody else's brain when you know what the purpose of it's for. So. Yeah, but my clients tend to love it. I do have one client, when she came on board, she said, do not fucking put me in profit first. I have three accounts and I like it that way. So people have their opinions about it. They love it or they hate it, or they use some sort of hybrid. And that's totally cool.

Yeah, you gotta find something that works for you as long as, like, the mind connects with the plan and it's working. Right. Like, we don't want to fix what's not broken, but yeah, put something in place. So can you list the five buckets and then like, what are the. And I know you can obviously tweak it. Right? That's the whole fun and annoying thing about personal finance. You get to make the plan yourself, but kind of walk through maybe like a traditional percentage for each of those buckets. So when people are starting to think about, okay, I made $5,000, like, how are we divvying that up into those buckets?

Yeah, so the buckets are your income account, owner's pay, operating expenses, taxes, and the profit account, or the overflow, rainy day, whatever you want to call it, account. I highly recommend reading or listening to the book. He actually narrates his own book and kind of gives you a little bit of extra value as he's reading. So that's really cool. But he does recommend for a specific, specific income range. I think it's like 100k to like 350 is 35% to owners pay. I think he says 10 to 15 to taxes and then 50% to operating expenses and whatever is left to the. To the profit account. I can't remember. I think it's like 5%.

Cool. So about 50% of your revenue is going towards business expenses. That's like a good kind of threshold.

Yeah. And the whole thing is, is that you start with your owner's pay, so profit first.

Right.

So you want to. Whatever you want to be taking home, then you kind of like back, you know, deconstruct where the rest of the expenses or the rest of the percentages can be. And he says, you know, if you've paid yourself and you don't have enough for your business expenses, then that's where you need. You cut your business expenses ruthlessly. So, like, we aren't cutting the owner's pay. We're cutting business expenses first so that we can reduce that business expense percentage and actually increase the owner's pay percentage.

Do you feel like when people come to you, this is a very common problem, is that business owners are not paying themselves either consistently, regularly, at all, the right way? Like, is that a pretty consistent theme that you feel like you see?

Yes, absolutely. I mean, we're always the last ones to get any sort of money. Um, and it. It makes sense, right? Because we're trying to grow something, which means we feel like we have to reinvest every single cent into our. Into our businesses. So. And. And even when I was barely making 2k a month, I was still always paying myself and then putting the rest of that back into the business.

Yeah. We've talked about on the podcast before, paying yourself almost is like a spiritual practice. And I know you're definitely into the. Which we love. We love the women that are blending the strategy with the woo. Right. Like, there's. We need more of that as well. But paying yourself first, like, it's such a symbolic, like, energy thing. Right? Making sure that you're actually getting compensated for the work, to your point, even if it's not that much when you're getting started out, like, making sure that you're not just depriving yourself of everything and anything because you've got to come first. Right. Otherwise, what do we. What are we doing here? So I feel like it's like a mindset shift. It's an energy shift of being able to. To step into that role as the CEO and also just, like, be worthy of receiving that paycheck. Like, I'm sure there's a lot of mindset or, like, just that perspective that goes into it as well.

Yeah, absolutely. I love that you said paying yourself as a spiritual practice, it is such a. An affirmation from your business to yourself. And like I said at the beginning, my business is for me. My business is for my family first. And that's how I'm gonna treat it. But I also love seeing it as its own entity that has its own. Own economy, it has its own, you know, ecosystem and everything like that. And I see the money as the blood of the business. And as long as there's blood pumping through the veins. You know, it's still alive and, but, but I get to be alive as well. And that's the most important thing.

I love that. Okay, I want to talk about just like confident CEO money moves. Like what are some hot girl money moves that everyone needs to be making in their business in 2020?

Okay, in 2026, definitely. And this is still something that I see. Even at the high, the high earners table, people are still commingling their funds between personal and business. It is not just the, the low earning or new business owners out there. It is seasoned business owners that are seven, eight years into business making 800 to a million dollars. Like they're still coming their funds and they, all of their llc, whatever S corp, whatever tax or legal entity they have set up is completely null and void. If you are commingling your funds like there's no way in hell that if you get audited and that you go to tax court and that judge sees or your auditor sees that you have personal expenses in there, they're going to be like, there's no way. I know that all of the rest of this is actually business expenses as well. So. So just know that like you are screwing yourself if that's one of the things that you're doing in your business.

Okay. And we say commingling like stop buying personal things with your business credit card.

Yes. And it's not, not as simple as, I mean it's not just that. Cause like sometimes I forget my personal cards at home sometimes and I have to pay with my business card, that's totally fine. But as long as you aren't doing it a hundred times a month, you know, every single month and either even trying to write it off. None of my clients do this because they know. But I have never seen. They would never. But I have seen some of my friends talk about how their clients will be, will tell them, oh well, just, just write it off to software or write it off to like other business expenses or whatever. And it's hard for the, for the bookkeeper to be like, no, I'm not gonna do that actually.

So. Okay, I kind of wanna talk about. You also have a very similar approach to like being bougie. We are bougie over here, right? Like I'm bougie. And building wealth, like that's like the whole thing. Like you don't have to sacrifice live and beans. Like you can spend money on the things that you love and also do this. So what's your take on like being bougie and being a business owner. Like spending money on yourself, like being, but being responsible with it. Right? I'd love to hear your take on it all.

Yeah, well, it's my favorite thing to do to empower women to, like I said at the beginning, know their numbers well enough so that they can be bougie and be a business owner. It all comes down to knowing your numbers and arming yourself with that information so that you can confidently be a bougie ass bitch. Like, I, I, my lashes are one of my non negotiables. I recently did just take a break from my lashes and I went back to my lash, girl. I said, never let me do that again. I'm never leaving ever again. And I mean, it is probably one of the only things that I do. But I do love really nice things. Like, I just bought a coach purse. I just bought $250 Steve Madden boots. Like, these things are important to me. And also, I think knowing your numbers and being that confident CEO that has the information allows you to be so intentional with the money that you do make. And it allows you to be unapologetic with the decisions that you make as well. Because if nobody can say shit about your numbers in your business, like, or your numbers in your personal, like, first of all, nobody should. But if you have the knowledge to back it up, like, like nobody can tell you anything. You know, like there's nothing, there's nothing you can't do. It's unapologetic.

Yeah. And especially when you're like so grounded in like those things. Like, okay, I know. These are the things that I really love. Like, obviously you said your eyelashes. I said nails. There was a time earlier this year that I tried the press on nails because I was like, everyone will not stop yapping about these press on nails. Like, maybe I'll give them a try. Maybe this is an area I can save money in, you know? And we lasted like a month, maybe two months. And I was like, nope, nope, this isn't it for me. This is not going to be an area. Like, I got it. I'm going to keep spending money here. So knowing what those things are for yourself so that you can feel so confident and like you said, maybe stepping away for it for a hot second and then being like, yeah, no, I feel even more, I'm doubling down on the fact that my nail budget can't go anywhere. My eyelash budget can't go anywhere.

Right. And like, how else would you know unless you are actively trying to Save money in different areas like you are. It's all an experiment. And that's one of my favorite things to play around with is money and my spending habits and figure out, okay, what are my non negotiables, what can I live without? And, and what style of lifestyle do I need to make money to support support. And if it's, if that's the bougiest lifestyle you can possibly think of, then like, hell yeah, let's work together to get to that point. I love that.

I'm curious on this. So if you're looking, obviously your job is quite data driven, right? Like you're looking at a lot of numbers and I feel like that is the traditional take on finance is that it is so data and numbers driven. But we also have as we said, like the feminine intuition and like sometimes this pull to do things. So what's your advice if somebody's maybe in a situation where like the data's saying I probably shouldn't make this a financial investment in myself, in my business, but like the gut is telling me like, this is what's taking me to the next level. Like how does one balance, especially in business? Right. I feel like it's, I've noticed this in myself the last couple years of being on the entrepreneurial world and being like so growth driven and all of this. Like sometimes the math ain't math in, but like the gut is saying we've got to jump. And I feel like that's a balance that a lot of business owners can kind of have to figure out how to navigate. Right? Like is this calculated risk or is this just reckless?

Yeah. And I will say that this and this may ruffle some feathers, but I am not anti debt. I am just very pro intentional debt. And so if you know your numbers well enough to be able to wield debt in a confident way and, and obviously that comes with like experience and making the mistakes maybe at first and even like being a seasoned business owner. But I, I think, I don't think there's anything wrong with extending past your means to a certain extent and to make it an investment that you are, that you feel in your soul and your bones is the right one.

I think that sometimes the intuition is like, it can feel so it's like so loud. You're like, okay, the math is not mathing. I said this when I left my corporate job job. Like the math didn't math, right? It didn't make sense. But my gut was like, nah girl, you got to get out of here. And so that's just one example. And I think obviously everyone could probably relate to just making these business expenses or investments in yourself, I should say. Yeah. And like, you do kind of just have to have a level of trust. And I love what you said there. And you and I have had conversations outside of this, just around debt and the shame that comes with that and getting out of it and the confidence that can be built from that and just like removing like letting debt be what it is, like it serves us in a purpose we can learn lessons from. It doesn't mean anything to bad. At the end of the day, it's just a tool and it's all about how you're using it and what the intentionality is behind it. And so I know that you've obviously shared a little bit about that journey for you too. And obviously I've talked often about that on my podcast around debt. But I think that's important, especially in this. Like, are we leveraging it with intention or are we like recklessly shopping on the Internet? Like those two experiences, those are not the same, you know, and, and you.

Know, like, you know intuitively which, which, which you fall under. And I think that there's, that there's a little bit of like, like self gaslighting of like, I don't. How can I say this? Maybe you've made bad decisions. I say bad. I'm so like neutral when it comes to money. So like, yeah, maybe you've made regretful decisions in your mind using debt in the past for personal things. And it scares the shit out of you to use debt for, for business things. So you like, you know, swear up and down for years and years and years and you never use it out of fear. I think that it can be such a beautifully expansive tool. And I used to refer to it as the universal wealth that it's. It's just that, that one step further than your physical reality of money in your bank account that can allow you to step closer to your more aligned business.

Yeah, I love that. Almost like I picturing like literally just reaching out and like grabbing this wealth, grabbing this money. Like it's not quite there, but you're going to tap into like this next level. Like you're kind of taking it from your future self a little bit from a. But like in a. In a positive way. Yeah. And also. Okay, I don't know if you've seen those. The meme where it's like, what's classy when you're rich and trashy when you're poor and it's like, it's like day drinking, speaking two languages, and I'm like in debt, right? Like when, how are, how is wealth built? Like through leverage through debt. Like these companies you look at, like even our government, like, we are so in debt. If anyone wants to feel better about your debt, go look up how much debt the US is in. Like that'll make your number feel a lot smaller, you know, so it's like companies, economies, like they are all built on debt. So like we've just been so shamed. But I think changing the narrative a little bit and like utilizing it and looking at it like this power, this tool that you can just reach out and leverage smart and intentionally is a good mindset.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I'm always like very aware and hesitant to speak about debt in, in a certain way, especially because I know who I am and what I look like in my demographic and like the privilege that I have, especially in the family that I grew up in. I know that I will never be on the street if anything were to happen in that scenario. However, like it says something. If the bank thinks that it can get that money from you, does that make sense? Like they're not gonna extend a line of credit to you that they don't think that they can get back from you?

Yeah, that's a good point because banks are assuming are taking you on. So if they're saying sure, and also they obviously want you to take out more so they can get more interest to make more money off of you, they're not going to take that 100%. Yeah, they're not going to take a bet on you if they think it's. If you're not going to pay it back. So that's a good point out.

Yeah.

Okay, I've got some rapid fire questions. Are you ready? What's your spicy is hot take about business finances?

I hate it when people say, I don't need a budget, I'll just make more money. That really irks me. If you are at the $500,000 million million if, if you are in a position online where you're saying, I don't budget, I just make more money. Usually it's like the higher ticket coaches that I see making those statements, it pisses me off. Like you're doing it wrong. You need a, you need a team. Most of those people don't have teams. They don't have bookkeepers, they don't have CFOs. And I'm sorry, you're doing it wrong.

Yeah, I like we love the hotness of go make more money. But also, you're kind of just being. You got to be a good steward to that money. Money. Otherwise it just leaks through. And I can speak from experience. You go from making not a lot of money. Now you have all this money, you don't have a plan for it. You're absolutely just losing and wasting so much more money than you probably think you are because you're not paying attention to it. And now there's more of it. So of course it's going to keep leaking out. So. Yeah, and they will catch up with you. They really will. Okay, what is one money rule you think most online business advice gets wrong?

I actually saw a bookkeeper the other day say, pay yourself less last. And I was very confused by that.

Interesting take.

Yeah, I was very confused by that. And I. I don't know if she was just being, like, different because she sees, like, everybody else saying, like, pay yourself first. She's only the only person I've ever heard say that, but I was like, I fully 100% disagree with that.

Yeah. That goes against, like, literally our entire conversation today. Pay yourself. Please don't wait till the end. Okay, what's the most unhot financial habit that you think people need to break?

God. Listening to Dave Ramsey.

Oh, my God. My next question was going to ask you your. Your stance on Dave Ramsey.

Yeah, I dislike him. He's the one that's like, stop buying lattes and you'll be rich. Or, like, cut out everything that you've ever loved and you'll be able to buy a house. Like, I don't know. His budgeting tips are stuck in the 1960s. If I am being very direct.

Yeah, yeah. It's all. When I think about, like, the old white van. That advice is all about shame and just telling you to stop spending the way that you want to too. Like, that is the visual in my mind 100%. And listen, like, does it work for people? For sure it does. But, like, we are bougie over here. So, like, that doesn't work for me. You know, there's got to be another way. And also, if you're gonna go ahead. Sorry, I would say his stance to your point of being so outdated, like, pushing the 15 year mortgage. Like, has he done the math that in 2025? Crazy fans. There's just so many things that feel very outdated.

I agree. Yeah. If you're gonna listen to a man, I would say, listen to Ramit Sethi. I love him so much. He's a great personal finance guy. He's got a great podcast. And then there's this other guy on YouTube. I don't know his name. I purposefully don't know his name. My husband sold his, told me his name like probably four times and I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to remember that the next time we talk about this. But he is a dick and I do not like him. He's so mean. Specifically there was this episode that I saw of him basically trashing and tearing down this six figure coach. Her like spending everything about, you know, she's very woo. She comes on his podcast or his YouTube channel or whatever and he's just like giving her this face of like, you're so dumb. Like, what are you talking about? And I was just like, get, get out of here. It just pissed me off. I did not like him.

Yeah, we're so over that. I mean, I think the beauty of the time that we live in is that we have so much more access to information. Right. So we can like discern a little bit better about like who we're taking this information from and yeah. Not have to listen to again, like white men that are just shame ridden. And I just think like the finance industry has been made so confusing intentionally so that women have to outsource their power. People have to outsource their power. And so I just love that we are alive in the time where like that's not the case. Women can absolutely be grounded in that. We don't need to take that advice. We don't need to live in scarcity. And I think we both have like a front row seat to seeing how women having more money and being more powerful, just like the positive impact that that has everywhere. So more women money empowerment, please. And less men yelling at us telling we suck. Yes, please.

And I wish I could find that woman, be like, come over here, come to me. I'll take care of you.

I feel like the best compliment I have gotten is about making money fun. I had one woman on a webinar that was like, that was the first finance conversation that didn't make me want to throw up. And I'm like, that feels like a major win. Like I might get that on a T shirt.

Yeah, finance money conversations that don't make you want to throw up. Literally.

Like, let's not make people feel so bad about things. We're all just out here learning. We're all just trying to develop, develop these skills, you know, like, that's it.

Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

Okay. If someone's listening to this, like, can you talk a bit more about your services, who they're for, how they can find you, and when they know they are ready to hire you as their bookkeeper.

Yes. So I offer fractional CFO and strategic bookkeeping services. Includes the cash flow management that we talked about, managing your profit first, making sure that your books are acute and organized and ready to file for taxes. Especially now at the end of the year if you are ready to like I file taxes as soon as the IRS opens up on January 31st, sweep what you want your reality to be in 2026 and you want to file immediately, come get your books cleaned up. And I've mainly served online service providers, so marketing agencies, coaches, virtual yoga teachers. I have several of those. Like anybody who makes money doing cool shit online, that's who I serve. And even some like, I have some local assist aesthetics businesses who have like brick and mortars, but they are service providers. So think service. When you think of me, I have clients who are making $25,000 a year who are, like I said, prioritizing their, their finances and their bookkeeping first right now. And I also have clients all on into the millions. So if you are unsure if you qualify to work with me or if it's the right time for you, please shoot me a DM. My DMs are always open.

I love it. Okay, yeah, we will link that in the show notes. And also, I just have to point out you said something so hot at that last sentence, which was if you want your reality to be your taxes are filed by January 31, like as someone who filed an extension last year and I feel like I just finished my taxes and now I have to all over again, like, yeah, me and my husband looked at each other, we're like, okay, we are not doing an extension this year because it just got dragged out so long and again now, now we got to go back into tax season. I feel like I just left tax season. And so we are trying to put some distance in tax seasons next year. So I love that. That was so great. Megan, thank you so much for being here. I love anytime I get to just talk about money with someone else is trying to shift up the narrative and help all the girlies be hot and rich and all of those things. So thank you for being here and thank you for sharing all of your knowledge with us. If you guys got anything from this, obviously, please go follow the hot girl cfo. Make sure you put the in there for some reason hot girl doesn't. It doesn't come up in the search string. So the hot girl CFO and then shoot her a message, let her know what landed. Let her know, obviously, if you want to work with her, all of those things. But I will see you guys all on the next episode. And thank you so much for being here, Megan.