Permission To... Get Financially Savvy with Erin Reece

7 hours driving on the highway, far away, far away, far away. Every moment I was spending on regrets was such a waste.

Such a—

they say fortune favors the bold. So what are you waiting for? The right time? The right sign? The right guide? The thing is, Movement Maker, you were never meant to follow anyone else. You were destined for something bolder and braver and truer, and you know it. It's time for you to write your own damn permission slip. You have permission to dream big. Not that you need it from us. Fortune favors the bold. So what are you waiting for? They say fortune favors the bold.

Sally's our dance guru. It's not as easy, um, when she's not here. Hello, hello! Happy whatever today is, um, except that I know it is Permission Slip Podcast day, and we have got our guest Erin Reese, financial therapist, here with us.

Yay!

Round of applause!

Hello, hello!

Erin, can you do a quick intro on who you are and what you do?

Yes, my name is Erin Reese. I am a financial therapist. I own Fair Financial Solutions where we help businesses build healthy financial foundations so they can increase profit and maximize impact. I help businesses run their back office, my firm helps businesses run their back office, and I help business owners get healthy so they can have healthy businesses.

Awesome. So every time I hear you introduce yourself as a financial therapist, at least one person's like, I'm sorry, what was that? And then they go, that's a really cool title. Tell me more about that. So what is a financial therapist? Because it's a real thing.

Yes. And I don't like to throw the word therapist around. Okay. So I am in the process of getting certified. So I am not at this moment in time a certified financial therapist. But I will be very soon. So financial therapy combines two disciplines. So it combines a financial discipline, which is a very extensive knowledge in either personal finance, corporate finance, business finance. You have to have at least a four-year degree in a finance field to enter certification. So you have— or, or you have a four-year degree in psychology. So it brings the two disciplines together, finance and psychology. Um, and, uh, essentially what I do is I help business owners specifically to identify their financial trauma and abuse, if they have that, and, um, kind of work through that and, and develop healthier coping mechanisms so that they don't bring those unhealthy habits and behaviors into their business.

Yeah, absolutely. So full disclosure, Erin and I know each other very well, going on 5-ish years, and we have spent a lot of time together. There has been a lot of unofficial therapy happening between the two of us. But what I know is that you come from a very traditional background. In, in your work life. So how do you go from working for a financial firm to not only founding your own firm, but then even making this additional step with your, with your personal business where you've added on this, this new financial therapy?

Yeah, so it kind of very organically happened, right? So I was in public accounting. I've got a history in public accounting, got 2 degrees in financial things. Um, uh, that was kind of my, my path in life, and I followed it very closely, uh, and I love it. I love it. I always like to tell people that, like, you know, that part of my work just makes me so happy. I love numbers, I love spreadsheets, um, it just is my vibe. I just love it so much. But, um, so when I started my firm, it really was born out of need for, like, I was watching my colleagues burn, just burn completely out with no resources available to them. And then I was watching my clients do the same thing, like they were burning out, they were exhausted trying to get the financial help that they needed, um, you know, from all these burnt-out accountants. And so when I started, the idea was I've got to create a work environment that serves these employees very well and serves these clients very well.. And so that's kind of how the whole thing was born. And naturally it just kind of, as I started working with more clients and as I started serving them, I honestly just went right to my client base and I was like, hey, um, can you tell me what it is that, that led you to choose working with us versus working with any other CPA or bookkeeper? Because I mean, they're everywhere, right? There's a lot of firms out there that can serve people. And every single client that I asked, used specifically the word therapy. They were like, I feel like you're my therapist. In addition to doing my bookkeeping, which I need, in addition to providing me financial statements, which I need, I feel like you're helping me be healthy. And it was— that was just very organic. Like before I even knew financial therapy was a thing, I was hearing that from my audience and I was like, okay. So one day I just Googled it. I was like, financial therapy. I just wanted to see like what there was. But then I learned there is a Financial Therapy Association. There are other financial therapists, um, in this area of practice who are doing this. They're coupling their— either they are therapists and they are learning the financial side, or they are financial practitioners and they are learning the psychology side. They are just pulling these two critical areas. And a lot of clients that I work with now come to me from therapists who are like, this client that I'm working with has a specific financial abuse or trauma story that they need help unpacking. The practices, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy or internal family systems models of learning about parts of the individual, those, those translate across, but specifically financial. For some reason, this particular area shows up for individuals very similar to sexual abuse and trauma. And here's why. I think that for some reason— I have a lot of theories on why— but people are very ashamed of their financial story, of their financial mistakes, particularly women. A lot of times I see this when a woman has like walked through a divorce or something. She's just so completely apart from herself because of this situation, and the shame is so overwhelming it almost has this sort of like, I don't know, people describe it to me as if they're standing naked in front of me, right? I have to really bare my soul to you to talk about this financial thing. Yeah. So, and, and I'm an Enneagram 2, right? That's just who I am naturally. So this area of discipline came to me so naturally anyway. I was telling you, Erica, recently my, my best friend called me aggravatingly friendly. She was like, I hate it when I'm around you when we're around other people because I feel like such a jerk because you're so friendly. Um, this is just something like, I just love people so much that this comes very naturally for me. So, uh, being able to bring that piece of like, I hold space really well for other individuals and I get to do the math and spreadsheets that I really love, it's just like, I mean, for me this is just magic, right? It's just like the magic work I to do.

So my question is, and our friend Shelby is in here, um, who is a business owner, and she's saying yes, yes, yes, basically this is— this all makes sense. So what do you see from, um, the 30,000-foot view? So yes, there are people who are— individuals are bringing in trauma and background, etc., their stories, but just in general for business owners, like, what do you see as some of the really pervasive red flags or what they just are not paying attention to that they should be.

Shelby, I agree with you. I told Erica I was aggravatingly friendly. It's my equivalent of aggressively helpful. I'm sorry, Erica, can you ask me that one more time?

Yeah, it's fine. She was reading about t-shirts. Um, what do you see, just 30,000-foot view, so not necessarily what individuals are bringing in or what their individual stories are, but What are kind of the red flags that most entrepreneurs are ignoring when it comes to starting or running their business?

So two things I will say about this. Number one, I think there is a lot of misconception or just misinformation maybe about starting a business and what it's going to cost. There are types of businesses, for instance, if you're a professional services provider or a coach, a lot of times those businesses have a low startup cost because you may be the only cost right in the beginning, right? You are the sole practitioner, you're doing the thing. But most businesses who sell products are not like that. They have to have some kind of capital investment. So, so I think there is this idea that you are— you have either no choice but to bootstrap your business and make your own investment into your business, or you have to take on a a tremendous amount of lending. Um, and to me, there's, there's a right path for every type of business. Um, and honestly, what you do is what you do, right? Once you do it and then you realize it maybe wasn't right, we have to go back and try to work on that. But to me, it's a really big red flag when a business owner is not raising their hand and saying, hey, I'm not sure what my— what I should do for startup capital. I don't know how much I need. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what to do next. Um, I think there's certainly a lot of question around how do I get help. A lot of business owners think that they can't right out the gate hire an attorney or hire a CPA because they're very expensive. But to me, this is just like, don't spend any money until you get these two things right. Talk to an accountant, talk to an attorney, because there are just things you don't know that they know. For instance, here's a big one. Um, people will be like, oh, I'm gonna go into business with my best friend and we're gonna have a partnership. Don't do that. Don't do that. That's a mistake. And I know, right, because I have seen this time and time and time and time again. Your attorney has seen this time and time and time and time again. We are looking at things that fail consistently, and we know what those red flags are. So when you, when you sort of put a wall up for yourself and you're like, no, I'm going to spend $3,000 on a website bill, but I'm not going to spend $400 an hour for an attorney or CPA. Like, it's a misallocation of resources. I honestly think it's just, it's just a, um, it's a knowledge gap in some cases. So I try to, in my practice, I try to do this a lot. I want to do a lot of client education around like, here are some things you just can't miss, and especially in the beginning, because by the time they're 2 or 3 or 4 years into business, they're 3 years behind on tax returns. They're, they know they're in a mess at that point. Well, now the cost it's going to take to fix that is more, you know.

And same advice I give everybody, um, I say open a bank account and minimally meet with a lawyer, like use one of their free 30-minute meetings or whatever with a lawyer, with an accountant. Um, yes, I firmly behind you on that.

Yeah.

So as a, as an entrepreneur, I think we oftentimes are in situations where we feel like we should know certain things and we should be able to certain things. And the reality is there's probably a reason you're an entrepreneur and not an accountant. Generally speaking, there's probably a reason you're not an accountant. So what do you feel like the minimal or minimum attention is that a business owner should be paying to their, to their finances? So let's say they've hired a bookkeeper. And they have given that responsibility over. But what should they still be paying attention to or making sure they have their hands in?

Yeah. So if you've hired a bookkeeper, that's a great step. But at a minimum, you need to be getting your monthly financial reports from that bookkeeper. There are some bookkeeping programs that do your books quarterly. And honestly, depending on your business, that might be okay for you. If that's the case and they're only giving you reports quarterly, you still at a minimum on a monthly basis have to know two things: what was my revenue and what is my profit? If you don't know those two things every single month in your business, you're not moving forward. Even if from month A to month B your revenue decreases or your profit decreases, you have to know that information. And here's what I see: people know they need to know and they literally hide from it. Like they are intentional about not looking at that bank statement. They are intentional about not looking at that financial statement because they're afraid or they know they have like a feeling, right? Maybe it wasn't a good month or they just don't want to know the answer. And that's a lot of the therapy side, right? Like we really have to address that. And, and like you mentioned in the beginning, you were like, well, a lot of people feel like they should know. Or they, you know, like, you really have to let that stuff go. You have to say, I maybe should know, but I don't know. I accept that I don't know. And here's how I'm going to find the answer. It's not enough to just say, I don't know. There has to be one more. You have to take one more step. I don't know. And I want to learn. And then from there, you can start to figure out how you're going to do that. But just to hide from it, or like not do it is not it. Um, that will never give you the space and opportunity you need to grow.

And I do— I think even just tactically, um, you come into it and somebody's like, what's, what's your P&L look like? Or is it top line or below the line? Or there's just some like very basic, um, phrases and/or documents. Um, and those are things you likely don't know as you're coming in. But doing a quick 15-minute or 30-minute call with a bookkeeper or paying for an hour or two of their time, like, those are easy things to learn. You just need to take the step, give yourself permission to, like, not know the things, but also to go out and learn. So on that word permission, Erin was one of the attendees at our event last year. She was a sponsor last year, is coming back this year as a sponsor. What is it about the conference that you took away? Because I know this was kind of starting to happen before the conference, but then it really— you really took the steps, started building it, have launched some new programs since the conference. So what was it about that experience that kind of made some impact?

Yeah, I mean, I You know, I, I remember, so I remember I posted a lot on Instagram like the day of, the day after, um, you know, just like sharing with my audience what was going on, how things were going, who was speaking, what they were saying. It was just like so vibey. Uh, and I remember at the beginning of December I had just like really wanted to, to see like what is in alignment for me and what is not. And that was new for me. I had never really thought about like, is this aligned? I'd never really used that verbiage before, but I was learning it. And then at PSC, um, you know, Judy especially was just like, just served it right up that way, right? Like, she was like, this is it. If this is your— is this— if this is in alignment, this is what you must do. Um, you know, and I think that I left and I posted this on Instagram and I said, the version of me that was willing to accept any effort, energy anything that you're willing to offer is gone. It's the best or it's nothing. And then I said, adjust accordingly.

Um, yeah, you did.

I did. And I, I stand by that. I stand by that to this day. Like, and that is the energy that I show up with anymore. And that, that's what I— I mean, that's the energy I expect from my clients. Like, it's not enough for you to come to me and say, I don't know what I'm doing. Okay, it's okay that you don't know because I can help you. But if you're not willing to take the next step and say, I want to learn, that is not your best energy. That's not in alignment for you because you can't move on if you're not going to move on from that. So for me, I think the conference really just like catapulted me into this like next level of like energy, right?

I—

this is it or it's nothing. It's the best or it's nothing. Um, and I think like, you know, I hear, you hear, we have all heard, like, 2024 has been a difficult year for small businesses. And, um, it's, it's one of those things where, like, this is like, you just gotta have this. You have to have this resilience and this energy to say, nope, better. I have to do better. I want to do better. Um, I'm going to do the best that I can, and I'm not going to wallow in this thing that's not working. Yeah.

Take a minute and then go back. One of my favorite things.

I mean, we can wallow for like a day or a couple of days. Yeah.

Well, it's allowed. You just have to eventually not do that. So leading into this question that Sally Koering Zimney has posted, I know a big thing that you do now are your affirmations. And we all know that I am affirmation-phobic, but between Judy and Erin, honestly, I've been brought around. Sally's question was, do you have any specific approaches to entrepreneurial finances like Profit First, etc.? So I think you— I know you have an answer to that question, but I also know that affirmation practice plays a part in it. So let's go. What do you think? What do you feel like?

Um, okay, so, uh, Profit First, just to answer that question specifically. So Profit First is, um, a method of business finance, uh, that has been created and sold by Mike Michalowicz, who is an incredible business mind. He is incredibly knowledgeable, and we love everything he does. Literally everything he does is solid gold. Um, but he— so, so the practice of Profit First essentially gives you a map for how exactly you're going to bring money in and where exactly it's going to go. Very scientific. There is no like gray area. It is this and it is that. And honestly, finance is that way. Like, it is that way. And that's one thing I love about numbers. This, again, for me, this is like why it's so magical for me, because it's like there is this very scientific nature to like A plus B equals C. Like, period. That never changes. It is very black and white. Numbers never lie. Okay, so we love that, but those numbers create in us a feeling we can't quite name sometimes. Sometimes it makes us feel some type of way. So yes, my methodology for finances comes from the black and white nature, right? Make sure you have a bank account, make sure you're transacting correctly, um, and if you have the mental capacity and bandwidth to bring on Profit First to your business, do that because it's a great way to measure your profits.. But if you're already dealing with the hang-ups of just opening that business bank account, because that's a big step for some people, I like to couple the two areas of discipline, right? I like to really bring psychology into the mix when we're talking about the scientific nature of, of math and numbers. Because especially with creative people— now this isn't just like creative makers who sell products, because they're creative too. But coaches, and, um, even, even like very traditional practice coaches, like financial, um, financial, uh, advisors, they have a really like scientific— but they still have a lot of creative energy. And so I think that for me, it's— it starts with number one, how are you talking to yourself, right? Are you talking nicely to yourself? Because here's the reality, if you're not consciously talking nicely to yourself, you are definitely unconsciously consciously talking badly to yourself, like so badly sometimes. Um, and it— I think again with the conference last year, this was something I really— I don't know what exactly about Judy's talk or even, even any of the talks that sort of brought this right to my attention, but all of a sudden it was like right in my face. Like, no wonder other people say mean things because you're saying mean things. When I got to the point where I was no longer willing to tolerate unhealthy talk in my head from myself, it was so much easier for me to not tolerate it from anyone else either. Like, nobody. Um, you know, I mean, big— like, right before the conference, I had— I, I fired my highest paying retainer client because that person was so disrespectful to me for years. And I was just like, it's fine, it's not their fault. Like, I made so many excuses unconsciously. But then when I was— when I started saying like, no, I'm not gonna I'm not going to talk badly to me. It just became so intolerable from anyone else. Like, nobody can talk badly to me anymore because I don't to myself. So my area of practice and what I bring to my clients and what I teach entrepreneurs is like, this starts all of it, all of your financial knowledge, all of your ability to make more money, to generate more profits, to help more people. It starts with you, and it starts with you saying only nice things to yourself, um, and being disciplined in that area. You've got— you've got to get a handle on that, that internal monster.

Yeah, I mean, she's obviously— we interact on the daily, um, and she is so good at pushing— Erin, you're so good at pushing back at me on stuff like that too, especially as I'm navigating a lot of change, um, in my business because it's easy for me to say it to other people to talk nicely to themselves, but then you still have to train yourself that way too. Thank you for how you do that. Okay, I've got 2 more questions for you. The first is, how does permission show up in your business? You've got kiddos, you've got a lot of kiddos.

So many children.

I have watched the changes you've made in your business and the way you approach business. Over the years. Um, with all of that, you've got employees, etc. Um, like, how does permission show up for you on the daily as a business owner?

Yeah, I mean, it is very much a daily practice, right? So you can't— like, I try at least once a month— I don't always do it once a month, but, um, but once a quarter for sure, I try to sort of do a higher level, 30,000-foot view vision. Where are we going? What are we doing? Um, right? And then that turns into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly tasks, right? But daily, like literally every single day— and I'm a big cycle thinker too, like what's going on with me, what's going on with the moon, and what's going on with the world, right? Those are all important factors for how I'm going to be able to show up that day in particular. So, so it's every single day, it's a discipline of like top 3 things, right? So I do, like you said, I have a lot of children. I have twin 2-year-olds and I have a 9-year-old. So my 9-year-old is in school, so it's like, okay, we're taking her to school, and then I'm with the twins, um, and I'm working, right? So, so it's like, okay, today these are the most important things. And I prioritize the list based on— I don't— I mean, I have a list of triage, like, is it important, is it urgent, right? Like, I use kind of that But does it make money? That is the number one filter I put things through in my business. A lot of times I work with business owners who are like, oh, I have a little on my list today. And I'm like, none of these activities are making money activities. Before you spend X amount of hours on your administrative tasks today, which are important, you've got to do one thing that drives revenue in your business, period. You have to do it because if you're not making money, you cannot increase your impact. Period. And people don't like to hear me say that. They don't like me to say you have to be thinking about making money all the time. You want to grow a business, like, for some reason that— I'm a therapist, I know why it is, but people don't like to hear that. They do not like that. But that is like, if when I'm giving myself permission, that's like thing number one: what is the thing on my list today that makes money? Thing number two is from the urgent important list, right? What's the next most urgent thing that has to be done, you know, that serves a client, right? That, that serves the current revenue that's already here. And then of course the third thing is what serves my team? You know, what can I, what am I doing today that serves my team? Uh, and that's the list, like every single ever-loving morning, what goes through that filter, um, is all that there is for that day. So it's like, I'm not, I know in the course of any given day I'm gonna like do all the things, right? I'm gonna cook all the food. I'm gonna feed all the humans. I'm gonna drive all the carpools. Like, the things are gonna happen. But on the list of like, here's what I have permission to do today, it's those 3 things. Does it make money? Does it serve my clients? Does it serve my team? Um, and those have to happen.

That's awesome. Um, I could quite literally talk to you all day about this, and I believe we have.

Um, let's just talk every day.

But the last question we ask everybody is, what is the next thing that you are giving yourself permission for? What, what— maybe you're in middle of it, or maybe it's on the horizon. I have an answer for you just from, you know, what I know. But, um, what do you think kind of the next thing is on your list?

Oh, I would love to hear your answer. But of course, for me right now, I'm very, very focused on my certification.

That's what's, that's what's next for Yeah, for me, I think you have had so many opportunities to speak, and you've gotten very excited, but then you've hid from them a little bit. So I know that that is something for me. That's what I see you doing is giving yourself permission to start looking at those opportunities. Because can y'all imagine if she was saying these things from a stage, how many people would resonate?

Well, I appreciate that so much. I, um, I, I, you know, it's one of those things where that's kind of like a, that's like a childhood dream of mine, right? Like, I think I've always envisioned myself on a stage, um, because I'm not afraid to speak in front of people and I'm not afraid to be on stage. So it's not like I have to tackle that barrier of like, oh, I feel nervous in front of people. Like, put me in front of so many people and let me talk about my thing because I love it so much.

Yeah, well, anywho, I just know that something is floating around, um, a lot. Um, we love Erin. She has a program— it just closed the doors, but keep your eyes open because it'll reopen again next year, which is a do-it-yourself bookkeeping year-long membership. So keep your eyes open for that. She also does offer full-service accounting and CPA and kind of all that thing in one.

But no tax. I don't do any tax.

She has given herself permission to say no tax clients, but she does have people that she can refer you to. So, and we just really appreciate not only you sharing your info, but also your willingness to support both the conference and all of the members of our community in the way that you do. Erin is great in sharing her knowledge.

I love being here with you guys for the benefit of others.

So, um, all right, well, we're gonna, we're gonna go give ourselves permission to eat lunch. That's what I'm gonna do. So yeah, great, great chatting.

Yeah, same.