EP 44: Let’s Talk Money with Financial Coach Aqura

00:00:00 [Akira]
So preparing ahead of time is all coming down to how you manage your profit.
00:00:06 [Akira]
And this is what most business owners do not understand.

00:00:10 [Alison]
Hey.
00:00:10 [Alison]
I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.

00:00:13 [Melissa]
Hey.
00:00:13 [Melissa]
I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:18 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined 20 set topography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:00:23 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges, and now we want to share our experience with you.
00:00:27 [Alison]
On this podcast.
00:00:28 [Alison]
We’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.
00:00:35 [Alison]
Hey, welcome back to keep it moving today.
00:00:37 [Alison]
We have a little something special for you guys.

00:00:39 [Alison]
We have a guest.
00:00:40 [Alison]
She is the host of the podcast Women Talk Money, so you know where this is going already.
00:00:46 [Alison]
She’s a money coach for small businesses.
00:00:48 [Alison]
Welcome, Akira.
00:00:49 [Alison]
Thank you so much for being here.

00:00:51 [Akira]
Thank you for having super excited to chat with you two today and get all into money.

00:00:56 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:00:57 [Alison]
Let’s talk.

00:00:58 [Melissa]
So Akira and I met at a local networking meetup group here in Charlottesville.
00:01:02 [Melissa]
Shout out to the Boss Babes Seaville Group.
00:01:05 [Melissa]
And it was one of those I loved in her intro that she said she was really focused on getting women comfortable talking about their money.
00:01:11 [Melissa]
And it was funny too because before the end, I think of that meetup, she and I had another photographer like cornered between the two of us trying to get her to

00:01:17 [Akira]
raise her price up.
00:01:19 [Akira]
I love it.
00:01:20 [Akira]
Text is that one.

00:01:21 [Melissa]
I have somebody else in my corner like a money coach.
00:01:24 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:01:24 [Melissa]
You need to be upping your prices and stuff.

00:01:27 [Akira]
Oh, I love it.
00:01:27 [Akira]
So I

00:01:28 [Melissa]
was like, yes.
00:01:28 [Melissa]
This is my type of people.
00:01:29 [Melissa]
So awesome.
00:01:30 [Melissa]
We would love to hear a little bit more about you and what led you to become a money coach for, like, small businesses in particular.

00:01:36 [Akira]
Sure.
00:01:36 [Akira]
So my background is actually an engineer.
00:01:39 [Akira]
So a lot of people are like, how in the world did you become a money coach?
00:01:43 [Akira]
And honestly, numbers just make sense to me.
00:01:46 [Akira]
It’s very easy for me to understand them.

00:01:48 [Akira]
But more importantly, it’s easier for me to break it down to someone because I know what it feels like to be intent by something that you just don’t understand and that you think you’re bad at it.
00:01:59 [Akira]
And it’s not because you’re actually bad at it.
00:02:00 [Akira]
It’s just because you haven’t had it broken down in the way that you can understand it.
00:02:05 [Akira]
That is my strength, I think.
00:02:08 [Akira]
And when I went on my personal finance journey, I had the numbers background, but I didn’t actually know what to do with money.

00:02:17 [Akira]
And so I was learning the other side of money, which was the mindset and, like, the habits.
00:02:22 [Akira]
And why do you say like, why do you do all of these things?
00:02:25 [Akira]
And so it was there for me to put that into the strategy portion.
00:02:31 [Akira]
And like you said, Melissa, I just started talking about money all the time with just people, and people would be scared.
00:02:39 [Akira]
I’m like, why are y’all so scared about this?

00:02:40 [Akira]
Is it why is this a societal thing for us to not talk about money?
00:02:45 [Akira]
It is so weird.
00:02:47 [Akira]
We literally all have to manage money.
00:02:49 [Akira]
We all need to one of us.
00:02:51 [Akira]
Every every literally everyone.

00:02:52 [Alison]
We need to have it or not.

00:02:54 [Akira]
Right.
00:02:54 [Akira]
We need a house.
00:02:56 [Akira]
Like, we need a roof over our head.
00:02:58 [Akira]
Like, we the one thing you will have to do in this lifetime is spend money at some point.
00:03:03 [Akira]
So I just started talking with more women.

00:03:06 [Akira]
They started opening up more.
00:03:08 [Akira]
I started entry to, like, investing and the confidence.
00:03:12 [Akira]
I cannot believe it.
00:03:14 [Akira]
Just the sheer confidence that people had when they learned the why about money.
00:03:20 [Akira]
And not only that, but that they could also do it themselves.

00:03:23 [Akira]
And so that is what put me in the financial realm.
00:03:26 [Akira]
So when I was working a nine to five as an engineer, I would have these conversations with my coworkers and help them negotiate and help tell tell them, like, this is what you should invest in your four zero one k.
00:03:36 [Akira]
And I was just having these money conversations all the time.
00:03:39 [Akira]
And then I was like, I can do this.
00:03:41 [Akira]
Like, I can totally do this.

00:03:44 [Akira]
At the time, I had an Etsy shop where I was making digital planners, like, where you would write down your budget and do all these things on a planner.
00:03:51 [Akira]
But, again, there is an element of coaching to it to build up the confidence Yeah.
00:03:57 [Akira]
To even Yeah.
00:03:58 [Akira]
Keep this up, use it.
00:03:59 [Akira]
And so that’s when I was like, okay.

00:04:01 [Akira]
I think I can do this.
00:04:03 [Akira]
And naturally what I found with entrepreneurs specifically was they were so passionate about their work, but they weren’t as passionate about getting financial stability for them.
00:04:13 [Akira]
So it’s always like a trade off.

00:04:15 [Melissa]
Mhmm.

00:04:16 [Akira]
I can do what I love, but I might not be wealthy or I might not make a lot of money.
00:04:20 [Akira]
And, oh, you can do, but you can make money and you can love what you do, and I’m gonna show him how.
00:04:26 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:04:26 [Alison]
Like, in the military world, it’s I don’t need the money or I don’t need the benefits.
00:04:31 [Alison]
He like,

00:04:31 [Akira]
that was me for seven years.
00:04:33 [Akira]
And, really, a lot of that is you convince yourself that’s true, but, really, at the end of the day, you want the money.
00:04:41 [Akira]
We want the money.

00:04:41 [Melissa]
It’s Yeah.
00:04:42 [Melissa]
I work it.

00:04:42 [Akira]
So I don’t know why people say that.
00:04:44 [Akira]
Like, girl, I

00:04:44 [Melissa]
feel like it’s a stigma.
00:04:45 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:04:46 [Melissa]
It’s like, I should just be doing this because I love it, and I wanna give people beautiful family photos.
00:04:50 [Melissa]
And I’m like, I’m gonna be the person who’s gonna say I like making money.
00:04:53 [Melissa]
I’m sorry.

00:04:54 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:04:54 [Melissa]
I don’t understand why that’s upsetting.

00:04:56 [Alison]
You’re not sorry.

00:04:58 [Akira]
Like, it’s okay.
00:04:59 [Akira]
It’s okay for just being happy with your career not to be enough to fulfill you.
00:05:04 [Akira]
We can also want money.
00:05:05 [Akira]
That’s okay?
00:05:06 [Akira]
Yes.

00:05:06 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:05:06 [Alison]
Freedom.
00:05:07 [Alison]
It’s like here it is.
00:05:08 [Alison]
Exactly.

00:05:10 [Melissa]
So this is, like, why I knew I wanted Akira to be on the podcast because I heard her episode only on overcoming, like, negative cash months in her in your business.

00:05:18 [Akira]
Mhmm.

00:05:18 [Melissa]
And that was, like, September for me.
00:05:20 [Melissa]
And it wasn’t necessarily it was a negative cash month, but I always actually look at my numbers.
00:05:23 [Melissa]
We were down 50% over last year.
00:05:25 [Melissa]
That was huge.
00:05:26 [Melissa]
And I was like, oh, crap.

00:05:28 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:05:28 [Melissa]
I was like, oh, my gosh.
00:05:29 [Melissa]
And I know for photographers and stuff, most of us have just come off the busy season.
00:05:33 [Melissa]
Fall is when all this money comes in.
00:05:35 [Melissa]
If you’re a wedding photographer, you get a lot of bookings in January and February.
00:05:38 [Melissa]
But really, the slow months are gonna be like right now when this episode is airing of, like, January, February time frame where do you still have money left from the fall?

00:05:46 [Melissa]
Probably don’t.
00:05:47 [Melissa]
You definitely don’t have family sessions coming in.
00:05:49 [Melissa]
And, honestly, if you’re booking weddings right now, you should not be spending that money yet.
00:05:53 [Melissa]
So it was definitely one of those things that I was, like, this would be great to talk to her about on, like, how can we as small businesses and photographers, like, prepare ahead of time for, like, whether we’re gonna move our business or just we know that slow season’s coming up.
00:06:06 [Melissa]
And I think too many of us are like, la di da di da, I’m not gonna think about that right now.

00:06:11 [Alison]
No.
00:06:11 [Alison]
You can’t.
00:06:12 [Alison]
You have to plan for that.
00:06:13 [Alison]
Because I know when I moved from Virginia to Hawaii, like, I had no idea when my next income was gonna hit.
00:06:18 [Alison]
It was just like, keep all my money all my dollars very close to my chest because I didn’t have a crystal ball.

00:06:23 [Alison]
I didn’t know when I was gonna get paid again.

00:06:24 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:24 [Melissa]
So what are some ways that

00:06:25 [Akira]
we can prepare ahead of time for that stuff?
00:06:27 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:06:28 [Akira]
This is so good.
00:06:29 [Akira]
And the first thing that I’m gonna say is know your numbers.
00:06:32 [Akira]
Don’t be scared of them.

00:06:33 [Akira]
Let’s actually know what money is coming in and what money is going out.
00:06:38 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:06:38 [Akira]
Not all and don’t stop there.
00:06:40 [Akira]
Why is it going out?
00:06:41 [Akira]
Why are you spending the money that you are spending in your business?

00:06:45 [Akira]
Because that tells you your profit.
00:06:48 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:06:48 [Akira]
So preparing time is all coming down to how you manage your profit.
00:06:54 [Akira]
And this is what most business owners do not understand.
00:06:59 [Akira]
They might know how profitable they are, but they don’t know how to manage that profit.

00:07:03 [Akira]
So within your profit, you gotta think about paying yourself.
00:07:06 [Akira]
You gotta think about setting money aside for taxes.
00:07:08 [Akira]
You gotta think about saving money and paying off debt.
00:07:12 [Akira]
Profit, there’s a lot to do with it.
00:07:14 [Akira]
And so it’s not just about knowing how profitable you are.

00:07:17 [Akira]
It’s about managing that profit.
00:07:19 [Akira]
So, for example, if you know that you’ll be moving, maybe you need to spend a portion of your time saving money instead of debt being your priority.
00:07:27 [Akira]
So you need to know how to prioritize the different things that you do with your profit.
00:07:32 [Akira]
That is how you stay ahead and prepare for some of these slow seasons or, like, a move across country like you said.

00:07:39 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:07:39 [Alison]
A 100%.

00:07:40 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:07:40 [Melissa]
And I know we also have a series, Stabilizing Your Income, guys.
00:07:44 [Melissa]
Episodes eleven, fourteen, nineteen, and twenty are ones where Allison and I have talked about ways to kind of branch that that gap of we’re leaving one, what can you do to continue earning money while you are getting set up in another location.
00:07:57 [Melissa]
So we’ve got a bunch.
00:07:58 [Melissa]
And honestly, even one of them y’all is to get a part time job because sometimes that’s what you gotta do.

00:08:02 [Akira]
Yes.
00:08:03 [Akira]
That’s okay.
00:08:03 [Akira]
Don’t That

00:08:04 [Melissa]
is never

00:08:04 [Akira]
not a part time.
00:08:05 [Akira]
It’s never off the table.
00:08:07 [Akira]
It is never off the table ever.
00:08:09 [Akira]
That means nothing about you as a person.
00:08:11 [Akira]
It means nothing about you as a business owner.

00:08:14 [Akira]
I was just talking to a client.
00:08:15 [Akira]
It just means that you need to fill that gap.
00:08:17 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:08:18 [Akira]
If your gap is to pay your bills and that is how you need to pay your bills, all you are doing is filling that gap.
00:08:23 [Akira]
And that is all it means.

00:08:24 [Akira]
You leave it at the door.
00:08:25 [Akira]
I’m And you’re both work on your business.
00:08:27 [Akira]
That’s Yeah.

00:08:27 [Melissa]
I remember I had a girl that she was like, I don’t know.
00:08:29 [Melissa]
She was like, I think I’m gonna have to get a job.
00:08:30 [Melissa]
And I was like, look, if because she was mentioning she had a daughter.
00:08:32 [Melissa]
She had feet.
00:08:33 [Melissa]
I was like, if you need to put food on the table, like, do not stress about your business.

00:08:38 [Melissa]
It will still be there when you come back to it, and you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
00:08:42 [Melissa]
And remember, a part time job and stuff isn’t permanent.
00:08:45 [Melissa]
You’re not permanently doing this.
00:08:46 [Melissa]
Like you’re just like you said, filling the gap.

00:08:49 [Akira]
Even if

00:08:50 [Alison]
you did it every January to March.
00:08:51 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:08:52 [Melissa]
Right.
00:08:52 [Melissa]
Especially for photographers and stuff.
00:08:53 [Melissa]
You know, you’re gonna be slow, like that can be a great time to do stuff.
00:08:57 [Melissa]
So when you were talking about saving up and things like that, what are some things that we can think about when it comes to setting up an emergency fund?
00:09:03 [Melissa]
And honestly, like, figuring out how much should be in it.

00:09:05 [Melissa]
I have had this comment recently on okay.
00:09:07 [Melissa]
I wanna make sure I have a business emergency fund, but do I need, like, my full scale, like, all the money that’s going out for how many months?
00:09:15 [Melissa]
Because that get that gets overwhelming.
00:09:17 [Melissa]
I’m not I you know, I look at it.
00:09:18 [Melissa]
I’m like, oh my god.

00:09:19 [Melissa]
That’s a lot of money that I gotta save up.
00:09:20 [Melissa]
That’s gonna take

00:09:21 [Akira]
me forever.
00:09:21 [Akira]
And I think maybe I’m overthinking it.
00:09:24 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:09:24 [Akira]
So this is how I first wanna talk about emergency fund.
00:09:28 [Akira]
Awesome.

00:09:28 [Akira]
That word is so loaded.
00:09:30 [Akira]
It is so heavy because people Yeah.
00:09:31 [Akira]
That means I need to save $12,000.
00:09:33 [Akira]
Like, what?
00:09:34 [Akira]
Exactly.

00:09:34 [Akira]
And then you cut it off.
00:09:35 [Akira]
It’s like, yeah.
00:09:35 [Akira]
I can’t do that.
00:09:36 [Akira]
No.

00:09:36 [Alison]
I’m I’m fine.
00:09:37 [Alison]
Right?

00:09:37 [Akira]
I want to shift to the mindset that it is the nature of business for there to be ups and downs.
00:09:47 [Akira]
That means inherently in business, we would consider an emergency.
00:09:52 [Akira]
If this was a personal thing, we would consider that emergency.
00:09:54 [Akira]
So how can we just accept the fact that business is up and down and that is normal?
00:10:00 [Akira]
Because it takes the stress and, like, the load and the weight away from it being an emergency.

00:10:05 [Akira]
No.
00:10:06 [Akira]
It’s just normal.
00:10:06 [Akira]
So that’s the first thing I wanna say.
00:10:08 [Akira]
The second thing your question very specifically is know your cash going out.
00:10:14 [Akira]
That is different from your expenses.

00:10:17 [Akira]
Right?
00:10:17 [Akira]
So you’ve got your expenses.
00:10:19 [Akira]
That is essentially your deductions.
00:10:22 [Akira]
Right?
00:10:22 [Akira]
So what does it cost for you to run your business?

00:10:25 [Akira]
On top of your expenses, you might have some debt payments that are you have to make.
00:10:31 [Akira]
Maybe it’s a minimum debt payment.
00:10:32 [Akira]
Maybe it’s a loan payment.
00:10:33 [Akira]
What are those things that you are obligated to pay, right, in debt?
00:10:37 [Akira]
What is your owner’s pay?

00:10:39 [Akira]
That’s your cash out too.
00:10:40 [Akira]
You need to set aside for taxes.
00:10:42 [Akira]
That’s gonna be based on your profit.
00:10:44 [Akira]
You need to know your cash out, which is different from your expenses.
00:10:49 [Akira]
I cannot enough emphasis on this.

00:10:51 [Alison]
I might need you to say that again.

00:10:52 [Akira]
Okay.
00:10:53 [Akira]
Cash

00:10:53 [Alison]
out is owner’s pay.

00:10:55 [Akira]
Definitely include your owner’s pay.
00:10:56 [Akira]
What is your owner’s pay?
00:10:57 [Akira]
You wanna include your expenses.
00:11:00 [Akira]
You wanna include any debt payments that you are obligated to pay.
00:11:04 [Akira]
Uh-huh.

00:11:04 [Akira]
This is just minimums.
00:11:06 [Akira]
That is not to say that you can’t pay in addition to your minimums, but for this number, cash out just your minimums and any tax savings that you need based on your profit.

00:11:16 [Alison]
Mhmm.
00:11:16 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:11:17 [Akira]
So what I like to do with my clients is we take a look at this in our cash forecast.
00:11:22 [Akira]
This is very important as business owner.

00:11:23 [Melissa]
Oh.
00:11:24 [Melissa]
You

00:11:24 [Akira]
need to understand your cat.
00:11:26 [Akira]
Cash is queen.
00:11:28 [Akira]
Cash is queen.
00:11:29 [Akira]
I say this all the time.
00:11:30 [Akira]
Cash is queen.

00:11:31 [Akira]
What is your cash going out?
00:11:33 [Akira]
And that is what I want you to think about saving.
00:11:36 [Akira]
So in your checking account, I have a podcast episode about I need what is the episode?
00:11:43 [Akira]
I can’t tell a number, but the title is something along the lines of the three counts that you need in your business to manage your money effectively.
00:11:52 [Akira]
And it talks about keeping one month of cash in your checking account.

00:11:55 [Melissa]
Okay.

00:11:56 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:11:56 [Akira]
And I also like to have an overage account.
00:12:00 [Akira]
What I consider an overage to be is anything over one month.
00:12:04 [Akira]
So two months in an overage is great.
00:12:07 [Akira]
And, again, that is your cash out.

00:12:10 [Akira]
So three months is good.
00:12:12 [Akira]
Now if you’re in nature of business in photography where you that you go into seasons and you don’t have cash coming in for three months and this has happened year after year, you might wanna then extend that, right, to maybe four or five months.
00:12:24 [Akira]
So it’s gonna be dependent on your business.
00:12:25 [Akira]
So that’s up to you.
00:12:27 [Akira]
But that’s how I like to think of it.

00:12:28 [Akira]
Can you start the month with one month of cash on hand in your checking account?
00:12:32 [Akira]
Because Melissa and Allison, when you do that, you can just go run your business.
00:12:37 [Akira]
Mhmm.
00:12:37 [Akira]
And all your all everything’s gonna process.
00:12:39 [Akira]
You’re gonna get paid.

00:12:40 [Akira]
Your credit cards are gonna get paid.
00:12:41 [Akira]
Your loans are gonna get paid.
00:12:43 [Akira]
Subscriptions.
00:12:44 [Akira]
Are gonna get paid, and you can just go sell in many.
00:12:47 [Akira]
Right?

00:12:47 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:12:48 [Akira]
It’s so easy.

00:12:49 [Melissa]
This is a lot like Alice and I did an episode on Profit First.
00:12:52 [Melissa]
And one of the things I mentioned is that I run my business a month ahead.

00:12:55 [Akira]
So

00:12:56 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:56 [Melissa]
December 1, all in November stuff, I get paid out on December 1.
00:13:01 [Melissa]
And that gives me thirty days of notice to know if nothing’s coming in.
00:13:05 [Melissa]
I have thirty days to hustle up before I need money for January.
00:13:07 [Melissa]
So I feel like that’s the same type of thing.

00:13:09 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:13:09 [Akira]
Same idea.
00:13:10 [Akira]
The only difference with Profit First is they really emphasize percentages.
00:13:14 [Akira]
Yep.
00:13:15 [Akira]
Makes things very tricky sometimes.

00:13:17 [Akira]
I think it also may be more complicated than it needs to be.
00:13:19 [Akira]
If you can just think about your actual cash, I personally think it’s easier.
00:13:24 [Akira]
But Profit First is great because it forces you to have a profit.
00:13:29 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:13:29 [Akira]
What I think that it’s lacking is it doesn’t really tell you how to manage the profit.

00:13:33 [Akira]
Like, it forces you to have one, but in terms of managing it, it’s like, oh, yeah.
00:13:37 [Akira]
I have a profit, but then what do

00:13:38 [Melissa]
I do?

00:13:38 [Alison]
Do whatever

00:13:39 [Akira]
you want.
00:13:39 [Akira]
Oh, yeah.
00:13:40 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:13:40 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:13:41 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:13:41 [Melissa]
The biggest takeaway I had from Profit First was, like, limiting my expenses.
00:13:44 [Melissa]
I feel as business owners were really great about, I’m gonna take this course and pay for this and pay for that.
00:13:48 [Melissa]
And then at the end of the month, you’re like, well, I don’t need to pay myself.
00:13:50 [Melissa]
And so Profit First told me, like, hey.

00:13:52 [Melissa]
Here’s your like you said, it’s percentages.
00:13:54 [Melissa]
And it helped me go, okay.
00:13:56 [Melissa]
Hey.
00:13:56 [Melissa]
I have, let’s say, $500.
00:13:58 [Melissa]
I can’t spend 1,500 or else I’m not gonna eat.

00:14:01 [Melissa]
So then it’s, like, no.
00:14:02 [Melissa]
You gotta whittle it down.
00:14:03 [Melissa]
So you only you’ve only got 500 to spend.
00:14:05 [Melissa]
After that, you’re out.
00:14:06 [Melissa]
And that was a big change.

00:14:07 [Melissa]
Because before that, I was running my business on, like, expenses got paid first, and I got paid last.
00:14:11 [Melissa]
And sometimes there was nothing left.
00:14:13 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:14:14 [Melissa]
And now it’s flipped.
00:14:15 [Melissa]
Now I get paid first, and sometimes I’m like,

00:14:16 [Alison]
oh, we’re gonna cut the expenses back

00:14:18 [Akira]
because there’s not much there.

00:14:22 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:14:22 [Melissa]
Hey there, photographers.
00:14:23 [Melissa]
Struggling with what to blog about?
00:14:25 [Melissa]
Tired of staring at that blinky cursor, waiting for inspiration to strike?
00:14:29 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:14:29 [Melissa]
We’ve all been there.
00:14:30 [Melissa]
That is why I created the blogging clip.
00:14:32 [Melissa]
Imagine this.
00:14:33 [Melissa]
Every month, you know exactly what to blog.
00:14:36 [Melissa]
No more guessing games or frantic Googling.

00:14:38 [Melissa]
Each month, I’ll walk you through SEO friendly blog post outlines with examples, teach you the latest SEO and marketing tips in a master class, and support you live in a monthly q and a to answer all your blogging questions.
00:14:50 [Melissa]
Plus, we’ve got a community to cheer you on after every post.
00:14:53 [Melissa]
Let’s take the guesswork out of blogging and start driving those dream clients to your site.
00:14:58 [Melissa]
Head to the bloggingclub.com and use code t b c trial to get off your first month and join us today.
00:15:06 [Melissa]
Okay.

00:15:06 [Melissa]
So what habits can photographers develop to better manage their finances in the long term?

00:15:12 [Akira]
Sure.
00:15:12 [Akira]
So I’m gonna break this down for mindset and strategy.
00:15:15 [Akira]
Right?
00:15:16 [Akira]
Because it’s always gonna be the two of those things.
00:15:18 [Akira]
The first one, especially for creatives, is separating your ability to earn money from your actual craft.

00:15:27 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:15:28 [Akira]
Because earning money is about selling.
00:15:31 [Akira]
And selling has nothing necessarily to do with how good you are as a fur.
00:15:35 [Akira]
It is about how good you are with convincing someone that you are the one for them.
00:15:41 [Akira]
Right?
00:15:41 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:15:42 [Melissa]
I feel like I only got

00:15:42 [Alison]
the good on this a couple years ago.
00:15:44 [Alison]
A 100%.
00:15:45 [Alison]
Like, I’m not the best photographer in Hawaii, but I am the best photographer for my clients.
00:15:49 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:15:50 [Alison]
For my families, for families who want it in and out, fast time, done, vibrant style.

00:15:54 [Alison]
Like, yes.

00:15:55 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:15:56 [Akira]
So that’s the first one.
00:15:57 [Akira]
And then also, this goes back to what I was saying about taking the load off of emergency is, like, your income will fluctuate, and that’s okay.
00:16:04 [Akira]
Because if you go into it and know okay.
00:16:07 [Akira]
I know I have to save because I will have a low cash month, and that’s expected.

00:16:12 [Akira]
It doesn’t mean anything about me as a person, as a business owner, as a photographer.
00:16:16 [Akira]
Right?
00:16:16 [Akira]
It is just the nature of doing business.
00:16:18 [Akira]
Strategy wise, three things.
00:16:21 [Akira]
This will help you build so much, not even just longevity, but stability in a foundation.

00:16:28 [Akira]
Knowing your profit, like I said, you have to know your profit, your cash flow.
00:16:33 [Akira]
So again, after your expenses are paid, what happens to the cash?
00:16:36 [Akira]
It is so important where and what that money is going toward, in what season you’re in, in what season you’re in, and then forecasting.
00:16:47 [Akira]
Because and this goes back to the mindset, your income will fluctuate.
00:16:51 [Akira]
So what does the next three to six months look like?

00:16:54 [Akira]
Do I need to take on more recurring revenue?
00:16:57 [Akira]
Is this a season where minis are very popular and I can have a cash injection that way?
00:17:03 [Akira]
That is what forecasting will allow you to do so that you can plan for the cash you project in.
00:17:10 [Akira]
So those three things, if you got those three things down, you’re good.
00:17:14 [Akira]
Like, your business will be a business and it will pay you consistently.

00:17:19 [Akira]
That is another like, you should be paying yourself consistently.
00:17:23 [Akira]
Mhmm.

00:17:23 [Alison]
But I don’t know.
00:17:24 [Alison]
Again.

00:17:25 [Akira]
So profit, cash flow, and forecasting.
00:17:27 [Akira]
Cash flow.
00:17:27 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:17:28 [Melissa]
And I love the forecasting because I feel like we sit down and we’ll plan out, like, marketing calendars type thing, and it’s just basically planning a calendar for your money of, okay.
00:17:36 [Melissa]
Mhmm.
00:17:36 [Melissa]
I know this is when the money’s coming in.
00:17:38 [Melissa]
I know this when it’s not coming in.
00:17:39 [Melissa]
Same as like with marketing and stuff.

00:17:41 [Melissa]
I’m gonna be busy in these months and this is what I need to like so then I need to back up.
00:17:44 [Melissa]
If I wanna be busy in April, I need to be marketing in like January, February.
00:17:48 [Melissa]
And same thing, if I know I’m gonna have a lot of money coming in in April, then I need to forecast, okay, how can I make sure that’s gonna last me for those other months when things

00:17:56 [Akira]
are slow?

00:17:57 [Alison]
And all of this is really hard when you’re new to an area.
00:17:59 [Alison]
Like, when I was new to Virginia and I didn’t know came from Okinawa where we didn’t really have winters, and then everybody’s hibernating from October to March in Virginia.
00:18:08 [Alison]
I didn’t know the plan for that.
00:18:09 [Alison]
And then you come out here to Hawaii, and it’s the exact opposite again, wherein fluctuations are much more minor.
00:18:14 [Alison]
But Mhmm.

00:18:15 [Alison]
You just don’t know.
00:18:16 [Alison]
And y’all just take notes.
00:18:17 [Alison]
Like, I would say take notes in a in a journal, write notes in Google or in your planner of what’s happening so that you know for next year if you’re new to an area.

00:18:26 [Akira]
That’s a great point.
00:18:27 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:18:27 [Akira]
Another thing I will say is really understand what are you good at?
00:18:32 [Akira]
What makes you unique?
00:18:34 [Akira]
What works for you?

00:18:36 [Akira]
Right?
00:18:36 [Akira]
There are so many photographers, and they’re all extremely talented.
00:18:41 [Akira]
But what does your number say for you?
00:18:44 [Akira]
So if you’re doing weddings and branding and family and all it’s like, what is your thing?
00:18:50 [Akira]
Where is the most of your income coming in from?

00:18:53 [Akira]
Should you just double down on that?
00:18:55 [Akira]
So

00:18:55 [Alison]
Yep.
00:18:55 [Alison]
100%.

00:18:56 [Akira]
Really get curious about what are you good at?
00:18:58 [Akira]
You don’t have to serve everyone.
00:18:59 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:18:59 [Akira]
You should not serve everyone.

00:19:01 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:19:01 [Melissa]
I think that’s the good thing for Allison and I.
00:19:03 [Melissa]
I’ve been in this sixteen years.
00:19:04 [Melissa]
I’ve done all of the different stuff, and now I’m at a point that I do lifestyle newborn.
00:19:08 [Melissa]
And look, I got a bunch of family inquiries and stuff this year.

00:19:11 [Melissa]
I’ve gotten some this week, and I’m like, for starters, it is freezing outside.
00:19:14 [Melissa]
It’s like

00:19:15 [Akira]
a high of 40.

00:19:15 [Melissa]
I’m like, no.
00:19:16 [Melissa]
We’re not doing a family session.
00:19:17 [Melissa]
Like, I’m cutting this off.
00:19:18 [Melissa]
I think I actually learned that from Jenna Kutcher.
00:19:21 [Melissa]
She said that she’s at Wisconsin or something, I think, But she stops doing outdoor sessions from, like, November to March, and I was like, I love that.

00:19:28 [Melissa]
That’s my new thing.
00:19:29 [Melissa]
I’m not doing outdoor sessions in Virginia.
00:19:31 [Melissa]
No one’s happy.
00:19:32 [Melissa]
It’s misery.
00:19:33 [Melissa]
It’s not pretty.

00:19:34 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:19:34 [Melissa]
And so it just by at this point too, by giving my by doubling down on what does well for me, what pays well, like, I always tell people too when I’m working with them on their SEO.
00:19:42 [Melissa]
I’m like, when we’re targeting your homepage, I wanna know what’s your favorite genre to shoot and what’s suitable.
00:19:47 [Melissa]
Like, for me, lifestyle newborn, in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day while my kids are at school, it’s the least amount of stress.
00:19:53 [Melissa]
They’re fun.

00:19:54 [Melissa]
Who doesn’t wanna hang out with a baby for an hour?
00:19:56 [Melissa]
Like, I would much rather do that versus when I was doing weddings, like, ten years ago, and I was gone on weekends.
00:20:01 [Melissa]
Yep.

00:20:01 [Akira]
And I’m

00:20:01 [Melissa]
like, I don’t wanna do

00:20:02 [Alison]
that anymore.
00:20:02 [Alison]
For what for relocating too.
00:20:03 [Alison]
Like, you’re not gonna move everything if you do more than one.
00:20:05 [Alison]
We’re gonna do the one that’s gonna relaunch the fastest and most profitable.

00:20:08 [Akira]
Exactly.
00:20:09 [Akira]
And also, no simplify.
00:20:12 [Akira]
Well, he gets so multi passionate.
00:20:13 [Akira]
I’m like, just simplify.
00:20:15 [Akira]
Bring your money in this way.

00:20:17 [Akira]
Make this very profitable before you start going to do something else Because that could just be extra profit.
00:20:22 [Akira]
That should just be flat out profit at that point.
00:20:25 [Akira]
Because you should already be able to pay your expenses and pay yourself with this thing that is not doing.
00:20:30 [Akira]
That’s what you need to work on.
00:20:31 [Akira]
How can that happen with that one offer?

00:20:34 [Akira]
Right?
00:20:34 [Akira]
Yes.
00:20:35 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:20:35 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:20:36 [Melissa]
Even just thinking about adding another genre, but keeping it within your realm.
00:20:40 [Melissa]
So, like, I’ll do newborn, but then I could add on maternity.
00:20:42 [Melissa]
Like, I’m already everything’s already in place.
00:20:44 [Melissa]
The client is technically already in place.
00:20:45 [Melissa]
I’m just trying to get in front of them a little bit earlier now versus, oh, I’m gonna do a little bit of branding.

00:20:50 [Melissa]
But, like, to then all of a sudden pivot into something completely different.
00:20:52 [Melissa]
That’s not what you’re talking.
00:20:53 [Melissa]
You’re talking about, hey.
00:20:54 [Melissa]
This one’s working.
00:20:55 [Melissa]
Let’s just duplicate it over here.

00:20:57 [Melissa]
Don’t decide to add on something completely different.
00:21:00 [Melissa]
Exactly.

00:21:00 [Akira]
If it’s not, why isn’t it?
00:21:02 [Akira]
Yeah.
00:21:02 [Akira]
Why do you wanna add something else?
00:21:04 [Akira]
Do you wanna bring in more money?
00:21:05 [Akira]
Are you spending all the money that you’re making and you’re just running out of money?

00:21:08 [Akira]
So now you wanna add something else because if that’s the fact if that is the case, then we need to talk about spending.
00:21:13 [Akira]
We’re not duplicating some stuff.
00:21:15 [Akira]
We need to figure out why is that thing not working before we

00:21:19 [Melissa]
move on.
00:21:20 [Melissa]
Percent.
00:21:20 [Melissa]
And subscriptions nowadays, like, I told my bookkeeper this year, I was like, I need you to keep me on track with subscriptions.
00:21:25 [Melissa]
I’m like, because it’s gotten out of hand with how many there are.
00:21:27 [Melissa]
Everything’s a subscription now.

00:21:29 [Melissa]
And I was like, it’s so easy to forget about $10 here, 20.
00:21:32 [Melissa]
And I think I added up at one point.
00:21:33 [Melissa]
I had, like, thousand dollars a month in subscriptions, but some of them too are, like, QuickBooks and stuff for clients.
00:21:38 [Melissa]
And then we had some clients that their stuff ended, and I was real quick to go in and cancel those subscriptions because I’m like, we don’t need that anymore.
00:21:45 [Melissa]
I’m not paying you.

00:21:46 [Melissa]
So that’s

00:21:46 [Alison]
a big thing.
00:21:47 [Alison]
100%.

00:21:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:21:48 [Melissa]
With expenses.
00:21:49 [Melissa]
Every quarter, you

00:21:50 [Akira]
should be doing a spending audit Oh.
00:21:51 [Akira]
On your business.
00:21:52 [Akira]
I have a podcast episode.
00:21:54 [Akira]
It’s titled how to master spending in your business.
00:21:57 [Akira]
Oh.

00:21:57 [Akira]
I never recommend doing a annual subscription because business changes so fast.
00:22:02 [Akira]
And if you commit to a year, I might not need that in six months.
00:22:05 [Akira]
So Yep.
00:22:05 [Akira]
I would just pay this monthly fee.
00:22:07 [Akira]
Don’t get overwhelmed by the discount that you might get because you’ll get a discount and then you won’t need it for six months.

00:22:12 [Akira]
So it made more sense for you to just do it monthly.
00:22:14 [Akira]
Yeah.

00:22:14 [Melissa]
We all thought this with Black Friday stuff.
00:22:16 [Melissa]
Allison and I were, like, evaluating.
00:22:18 [Melissa]
Is this something like, we have, our CRM software.
00:22:20 [Melissa]
We both have used it for years.
00:22:22 [Melissa]
So it makes sense to do the URL.

00:22:23 [Melissa]
But then there’s stuff like Zapier that I’m like, we

00:22:27 [Alison]
need to do Session.
00:22:28 [Alison]
Like, that’s seasonal.

00:22:29 [Akira]
Oh,

00:22:29 [Melissa]
yeah.
00:22:29 [Melissa]
Session was one that I used to turn on and off when I had many sessions.
00:22:33 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:22:34 [Melissa]
I was grateful that they did.
00:22:35 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:22:35 [Melissa]
Definitely.
00:22:36 [Melissa]
I love that.
00:22:36 [Melissa]
I’ll have to go we’ll have to look up that episode because I think that’s a great one of doing that quarterly.
00:22:40 [Melissa]
Allison and I do a quarterly, like, check-in on the business on the podcast, but I think that’s a good thing to just Yeah.
00:22:44 [Melissa]
Offline, quarterly, where am I spending money, where can we cut back and stuff like that.

00:22:49 [Melissa]
That’s fantastic.

00:22:50 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:22:50 [Alison]
And if all this feels overwhelming, like, that’s what we’re here for.
00:22:54 [Alison]
Refining, Akira and myself, we are this is our stuff.
00:22:57 [Alison]
Like, refining your business, getting in your into the money, figuring out what is profitable if that overwhelms you, like, I have a download freebie for that.
00:23:04 [Alison]
It’s a simple Google Doc.

00:23:05 [Alison]
Just input numbers and then they’re in.
00:23:07 [Alison]
So yeah.
00:23:07 [Alison]
So, Akira, tell us where can listeners find you.

00:23:10 [Akira]
Sure.
00:23:10 [Akira]
You can find me on my podcast, Women’s Make Money, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
00:23:15 [Akira]
I’m also on Instagram under Akira Nicholson, and my website is also called Akira Nicholson.

00:23:20 [Melissa]
And what is your favorite way to work with small business owners?

00:23:23 [Akira]
I am a one on one person, girlie.
00:23:26 [Akira]
I like diving in one to one with my clients, getting to know you, getting to know your numbers.
00:23:33 [Akira]
So I have a one on one money coaching package for six months.
00:23:36 [Akira]
So this gives you time to not strategy, but also implement the mindset and the habits.
00:23:42 [Akira]
Right?

00:23:42 [Akira]
Because it’s the habits that’s gonna take you long term.
00:23:46 [Akira]
So, yeah, that’s what I do with small business owners, one on one money coaching for six months, and we double your owner’s pay, which means that we do business work because doubling your owner’s pay, again, comes from your profit.
00:23:57 [Akira]
So you have to increase your profit in order to do that.
00:24:00 [Akira]
But then what you want is the financial stability.
00:24:02 [Akira]
Right?

00:24:03 [Akira]
So taking that owner’s pay and say, I can put this straight to savings.
00:24:06 [Akira]
I can put this straight towards debt payoff.
00:24:08 [Akira]
That is the link in business and personal finances.

00:24:11 [Alison]
There it is.

00:24:12 [Akira]
I love

00:24:12 [Alison]
that.
00:24:13 [Alison]
Awesome.
00:24:13 [Alison]
Thank you so much.
00:24:14 [Alison]
Of course, we’ll have all the notes for you in the show notes.
00:24:16 [Alison]
Thanks so much for listening.

00:24:17 [Alison]
Bye bye.

00:24:22 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:24:23 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:24:26 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:24:28 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:24:29 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.

00:24:34 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:24:37 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at alicintog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Perfect Rankings.
00:24:46 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.