MoneyWiseWomen

Making Time for What You Want in the New Year

Most people in today’s working world are feeling the pressures of having too much to do and too little time to do it. The stress of trying to do more with less is beginning to take its toll on my productivity and of most of the people I know.  The illnesses, mistakes and even accidents resulting from lack of sleep and extreme stress cost us more than what we are attempting to gain by doing too much. The realization that both time and energy are finite has prompted me to take a deeper look. This year, the buck stops here.

Is Occupy Wall Street The Answer To Your Money Problems?

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a resistance movement of people who want Wall Street, the government and corporations to realize that individuals have the power to create change from the bottom-up. Yet the language of OWS concerns me, because it’s the language of war, instead of the language of collaboration and integration.

OWS doesn’t have an official website, just an unofficial de facto online resource (as it calls itself). It describes itself as leaderless resistance movement. Occupy Wall Street states it is composed of the We Are The 99%, and that they will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. On its website, it states they are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactics and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants (Hmmm . . . ).

It’s exciting to see Occupy Wall Street all over the country deliver a message that transcends government and party politics. I am interested to see how OWS takes part in the conversation of change. Yet I can’t help but wonder if the language that is being used in OWS isn’t what got us into this mess in the first place.

There is no place to go and see the accomplishments of OWS to date, which makes it similar to our experience with war in Iraq; is anything really getting done, or are we being swept away by propaganda? There is a lot of talk, but what kind of results or payoff can we identify? Is our most effective target for occupation really Wall Street, or is something else?

Why Entrepreneurs Should Embrace Bank Transfer Day

In the first few months of working with me, clients get this advice: “move your banking to a small bank and develop a relationship with your banker.” Unfortunately, clients rarely take the advice. The reasons I’m given are everything from the obvious “I like the convenience of ATMs everywhere” to the inane “but I’ve been banking with them since high school.” Yes, you’ve been banking with them since high school, and you’ve had a business account with them for 20 years. Does anyone there ever talk to you? Help you? Advise you? I didn’t think so.

When I started seeing momentum building around Bank Transfer Day, I was excited. Not because I embrace the philosophy behind the movement, though I do, but because I knew that one outcome of the movement would be that thousands of entrepreneurs would end up in stronger, more supportive banking relationships.

Big banks do not support small business owners. They just don’t.

Whenever I see banking slogans, I imagine myself in a conversation with the president of the bank. So, Mr. Brian Moynihan, how is it that through banking with Bank of America, my service-based client with annual revenues under $500,000 will “get just what [he] needs for [his] business?“ And, Mr. John Stumpf, how is it that Wells Fargo will help my small not-for-profit client who is “working to build a successful business?“ When you go to Chase.com, they clearly delineate the playing field for you. Business banking is for those with revenues up to $10,000,000. Is your business nearing $10,000,000? If so, that’s great. Perhaps you should be banking at a big bank. But for the rest of us, the 99% of business owners if you will, we’ll be ecstatic when our revenues reach $1,000,000, or even $500,000. And until your business starts to approach those million dollar numbers, your banker is not likely to spend much time thinking about you, or even bothering to remember your name.

That is just one small reason I’m a huge fan of local banks and credit unions. My other three favorite reasons are:

• Big banks have a revolving door for employees. Just when you get to know your bank manager, she’s promoted to some bigger branch or department and you’re left building another new banking relationship with another green bank manager.
• Employees at small banks are given the latitude to make decisions and use their judgment. Employees at big banks rarely have the ability to override bank policies and procedures, even the most minor ones.
• You matter. Even if your business is very small, a small business bank values you as a customer. There is almost always going to be an actual human being who truly wants your business.

The turning point for me, the moment that I became clear that all small businesses should be with a small bank, was when I learned first hand what my favorite Manager at PriceWaterhouseCoopers once told me: “Being a bank manager at a big bank is akin to being a manager at McDonalds. You have very firm policies and procedures, and it is your job to ensure that they are followed. There is no room for judgment or reason.”

I had seen this play out with clients in my first few years of advising small business owners. I’d have conversations with their bank managers about some decision that didn’t make sense, one that was hurting my client’s cash flow or ability to borrow. There was always a policy behind the decision. It was annoying, but I’m a big fan of systems so it generally made sense and I learned in those first few years that you can’t budge a big bank.

And then something happened with my business at my big bank. I made a mistake. I deposited a very large check into the ATM. I knew better. I was in a hurry and wasn’t thinking. And the minute that happened the time clock went off on a 14 day hold. But I needed the cash in 7 days. It was the experience of talking to the branch manager and department heads who could have reversed the hold (they knew the check had cleared) that implanted in my mind, I will never bank at a big bank again.

I moved to Sacramento’s River City Bank. I am a tiny client there, as are a number of my clients. The reason why all entrepreneurs should move to a small local bank or credit union is this: at River City Bank, when one of my clients needs something to happen that is outside of the bank’s policies and procedures, I can pick up the phone and talk to my bank manager. She knows me. She’ll talk to me. She can’t always override a policy, and I wouldn’t expect her to. But she does always explain the reason for the policy, talk through options, and in instances where it has made sense, she’s overridden policies and assisted clients with their banking needs. I have newer client who also banks with River City Bank, but their reserve funds are at ING.com. When I asked why, they said that their bank manager advised them to move their funds to ING.com; that the rates were better at that point in time. River City's bank managers have done, as have other local bank managers, what I have never seen a big bank do: “gotten my clients just what they need for their business“ and “worked with them to build successful businesses.”

That is the kind of service you should expect from your banker. And that is why, political reasons aside, you should make a smart business decision to participate in Bank Transfer Day.

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Stacey Powell builds financial muscles at TheFinanceGym.com, creates financial clarity at CreatingAnswers.com, and shows off Financial Art at Facebook.

Energetic Organization for Piles of Money

You might think it's not worth trying to manage your money if you only have small amounts, but in reality,  you can’t manage large piles of money until you are able to manage SMALL piles of money.  I know some people might think this is self-evident, but this statement reminded me of how getting serious about money management helped me several years ago.

I can remember a time starting out when I wasn’t making very much money, so I just let it all hang out in my checking account.  I thought to myself, “There’s nothing here to manage, so why bother?  When I start making really good money, THEN I’ll get more organized; I’ll start saving for retirement, setting aside money for an estimated tax fund, have money go regularly to my cash reserve . . . but I don’t need to get serious about money management until I have more money to manage.”

So I didn’t get organized and nothing horrible happened; as my business took off I started making more money.  And you know what?  I stayed exactly as unorganized with the money as I had always been.  Eventually, as I learned more and more as a planner and self-employed business owner; I started to sort out, organize and clarify my own finances, but it took years and many experiences to straighten me out (luckily, most people don’t need to be knocked over the head the way I needed to be).

As a side note, it’s a fallacy to think that because financial advisors deal with people’s finances day in and day out that their OWN financial life is in order.  A lot of them have the same attitude I did; they didn’t need to focus on their own finances until they made more money.  And the fact that their job is all about money tends to attract people with their own money hang-ups.

My income dipped again when I sold my traditional planning practice.  This time, however, I had been properly assimilated into organization and I couldn’t go back.  So I still had my tax fund, my cash reserve fund, my retirement savings and small bits of money regularly going into all three.  When I finally started to make more money, I still had the practical systems to accommodate it.

The connection I made when I heard the “piles of money” axiom recently was realizing that organizing yourself to manage small piles of money is actually energetically and emotionally preparing you for the larger piles of money.  Years ago, I would have taken the statement at face value and understood intellectually, that it was a good idea to be organized.  I would have missed the implication that aligns with manifestation principles: that you have to be an energetic match to whatever it is you want to create.

Think about having a baby:  you run around for nine months getting every detail PERFECT to receive this little bundle of joy because you know your life will be different and much busier after s/he arrives.  You never doubt that s/he is coming and you plan accordingly.  You wouldn’t wait until the baby is born and then say, “Wow, I guess I better get the baby stuff organized.”  You would never defend your lack of organization by saying, “Hey, it wasn’t here yet so there was no reason to do anything yet.”

Another analogy might be hosting a party . . . you don’t wait for the guest to show up to plan the menu, go shopping and cook the food.  You’re supposed to be ready for them when they show up.

The point is, you should look at your financial life with no less anticipation than you would the arrival of something very precious or exciting.  Your money should receive a proper welcome, and have a place to live, where it can get settled and make itself comfortable.

If you’re unhappy with the amount of money you’re making, or you think you don’t make enough to “manage” it, get yourself organized.   Set up the systems to manage your money NOW, so that you can accommodate a large influx when it happens—and maybe BECAUSE you are ready, it will happen that much sooner.

Mindy Crary (MBA, CFP® practitioner and financial coach at Creative Money) helps you become a lot more educated (never inundated) about not just your money — but the whackjob behind it.

Throw Your Spending Plan Out The Window

 

In “Entrepreneurship and Making ‘Adult’ Financial Decisions” I Told the Truth about why I wasn’t at the eWomen Network Conference this year. And I outlined a spending strategy I had developed with a client:

 

“One of my favorite clients loves conferences and trainings; she has about $4,000 annually in her spending plan. She wants to spend more, but her business’ budget doesn’t allow for it. We developed a profit-splitting plan that puts a percentage of her business’ net profits into a savings account titled “Business Investments.” She doesn’t have to spend that money, but when a conference pops up that she wants to attend, she no longer has to discuss it with me or agonize over the pros and cons of the decision. If the money is in the reserve account, she goes.”

 

Best laid plans. While she was away at the eWomen Network Conference I received a text from her:

 

 

There are a lot of gurus out there selling marketing, sales and mindset training/coaching programs. Entrepreneurs invest hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands in these programs. The potential and possibility of learning from someone like Lisa Sasevich can be irresistible, and in the moment of making the buying decision, it’s challenging at best to separate logic from emotion.

Learning from the Experts

 
Nine years ago – on August 2, 2002 I stepped outside my comfort zone and took early retirement from my Public Relations job with the Social Security Administration after reading the quote “Our purpose is life is find our gift, perfect it and give it back to others”. My gift was founding Money Wise Women to educate and empower women to live financially healthy. In the past nine years I’ve hosted 66 Money Wise Women conferences, wrote and published The Money Therapist: A Woman’s Guide to Creating a Healthy Financial Life, created the Money Wise Women blog, and began hosting Money Wise Women Get Smart Teleseminars. Since I worked for the Federal government for 26 years starting my own business and a non-profit organization was definitely a stretch outside my comfort zone. I learned how to build a successful business from professional experts. Today many of these women are my mentors, colleagues and friends.

Women often think they have to do it alone (whatever IT is), but it’s a myth. There are a ton of resources available on every topic under the sun. Money Wise Women Get Smart Teleseminars are a free resource sponsored by the Direct Selling Education Foundation. In the past several months I’ve interviewed extraordinary professional experts. These amazing and talented women freely shared their wisdom and expertise. I know everyone who listened to the interviews benefited from the tips, suggestions, ideas and resources shared. Below are just a few of the tips:

Entrepreneurship and Making ‘Adult’ Financial Decisions

When I launched on Forbes.com I promised myself that I was going to start Telling the Truth. It’s easy to be a financial guru, talk at people, and tell them, “This Is How You Should Handle Your Money.” It takes more courage to be transparent and share stories not just from our clients, but from ourselves, and even more courage to share not just from our past, but from our present. So here I am, being courageous.

 

Every summer I head to Dallas for the annual eWomen Network Conference. I look forward to it all year long. It’s the largest business women’s conference in North America, and an amazing place to learn, connect and be inspired. Sandra Yancey, CEO of eWomen Network, provides the incredible opportunity to learn from a long list of business rock stars: Michael Gerber, Tony Hsieh (zappos), Robert Stephens (Geek Squad), Lisa Nichols, Zig Ziglar and the list goes on. This summer, I’m not going.

 

What’s an ‘Adult Financial Decision’?

 

Adult financial decisions are logical decisions—ones we intuitively know are good decisions even though every other part of our being disagrees. When we make adult financial decisions, our inner child screams, “But I wanted that!” or our lips pout or our hearts feel heavy. Last month I made the adult financial decision that my team was not going to the conference this year. As a result, I’ve been walking around pouting and having a heavy heart. And then I heard a voice shout: “Stacey, how many hundreds of times have you advised people who were conflicted about when and how much to spend on professional development??? Stop being a weenie and write a blog.”

 

Entrepreneurs make the assumption that they are the only ones making emotional spending decisions. “If I just ran my business more like a business owner, I don’t think I’d have these cash flow issues.” The truth is that entrepreneurs are human beings, and most of us humans make emotionally-based financial decisions. That’s not a bad thing. It’s when we don’t balance emotionally-based decisions with logical ones that imbalance can capsize our ship. Over the past year, my business has made a number of bold spending decisions, some logical, some emotionally-based. We’ve also pruned our client tree (let a few clients go who were no longer a good fit). The end result is that our reserves are at low tide.

 

Could we go to the conference? Yes. Do we have the cash? Yes. Would there be consequences? Yes. Is it worth the consequences? Logically, no.

 

3 Words to Small Business Success: Easy, Fun and Popular

What’s the attitude you show up to in your business each day?

Are you having fun?

Does it lift your spirit to connect with those you need to connect with to be successful in your business?

 

In my blog Community Service, Leadership and Small Businesses, I told the story of how my best friend Tina Reynolds, long-time small business owner of Uptown Studios, uses her love of community service to drive the marketing for her business. I met Tina 15 years ago, when she was doing volunteer work for a local HIV/AIDS service organization, and through the years I cannot begin to recall how many organizations, actions and activities she has led or been part of. Her dedication and stamina for community service are unparalleled, and as a result she frequently receives awards, honors and nominations.

 

At this week’s California Small Business Day, she was honored by California’s Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg as the Capital Region’s Small Business of the Year. Senator Steinberg made an excellent choice. From the vantage point of a best friend I’ve watched Tina’s business grow, and then sputter, and then grow again. I’ve watched her maneuver through the economic challenges of the past few years, always with a positive attitude. 

 

So how exactly do you get to be a Small Business of the Year? What makes Tina and her business stand out as a role model for entrepreneurs? To use Uptown Studios’ tagline, be Easy, Fun and Popular.

 

Easy

In my Forbes Profile I write about blocks I've Been Around: putting $10 of gas in my car because that's all I had.This was years ago, so I’m going to out Tina: she was the one I passed that $10 back and forth with. Sometimes I needed it; sometimes she did. Entrepreneurship isn’t always glamorous. But Tina, no matter how challenging a client project or how tough a business issue she faces, always has a can-do attitude and exudes to her staff and her clients that it’s easy. “Let’s just jump in and get it done.” And to persevere as an entrepreneur while enjoying a personal life, having an “It’s Easy” attitude is vital.

The Top 5 Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Make When Establishing Their Rates

For new entrepreneurs, sometimes it can be difficult to decide what you want to charge for your services, and understand how to bring together your dreams and desires while still making the math work; you have the dream, but where does that break down into cold, hard cash?  Here are 5 pitfalls that I see happen time and again with new entrepreneurs:

They don’t begin with the end in mind.   New entrepreneurs are often so worried about making a living that they don’t consider being selective with their hours or clients.  The set an hourly rate that forces them to reach their income goal through volumes of meetings and work!  This is a perfect way to wear yourself out and begin to feel like you’re just punching a clock again.

They only use their gut to decide what they should be charging.   Checking in with your internal body compass is a great way to assess if you’re on the right track, however, so many people tell themselves “stories” about their money that sometimes this isn’t the most effective method—most new entrepreneurs get a knot in their stomach just from thinking about charging someone, so you have to get past that story before you can objectively look at pricing.

They are starting part-time and defer the decision.   Some new entrepreneurs tell themselves, “I’m transitioning from my existing job and doing this on the side, so I don’t need to start charging what I WANT to charge immediately.”  This just defers the inevitable AND causes you to work at the job you want to leave for that much longer!

They don’t use the right math to figure out how to maintain their existing lifestyle.   Most new entrepreneurs use their salary from their last job to determine what they need to maintain their life, but being an employee and being a self-employed business owner are so different financially that new entrepreneurs lose time and money because of miscalculated assumptions.

They under value the experience they have.   Many new entrepreneurs are paralyzed by the thought that part of their rate is a reflection of experience and mistakenly think “small” when setting their rate.  What new entrepreneurs need to realize is experience is subjective, and the actual game changer is the level of confidence they have in their direction!  Each one of us was put here to offer something unique to others. 

One of the reasons a person decides to become self employed is improving their bottom line, yet sometimes the thinking that caused them to originally be frustrated with their finances will also bring those same issues into their new business. 

When new entrepreneurs only look at what they are comfortable charging, and they don’t figure out what they should be charging, there’s bound to be setbacks.   Avoiding these pitfalls will ensure that the new entrepreneur does not waste time or money when launching their new venture!

How You Do Your Money…

…is how you do the rest of your life.

I was talking to a yoga teacher about a friend of hers who was having money problems. Actually, he had been having money problems for most of his life. She told me that there is a saying in yoga: “How you do yoga is how you do the rest of your life.” In my years of working with others around their money, I’ve found this to be equally true: “How you do your money is how you do the rest of your life.”

If I gave you a list of all of the clients’ businesses and professions that I’ve ever worked with, and asked you to select which one of those clients was, by far, the most at peace with his or her financial past, present and future, you would never select the right one. If I gave you a list of all of their gross revenues, you would never select the right one. If I gave you a list of their net profits, you would never select the right one.

But, if I gave you a list of other attributes of each of these clients, it would be clear to many of you which is most at peace.

Do you have set work hours, take regular vacations, fund your retirement every month, pay yourself a steady salary, don’t draw additional money from your business, have proper insurances in place and utilize appropriate professional advice? In your personal life, do you eat well, exercise, and balance playtime with responsibility time? How do you do the rest of your life? Does it look like how you do your money?

I’ve learned a lot from this client. How did she come to be at peace? Consistency, and years of it. Paying a little extra on her mortgage every month, no matter what. Funding her retirement every year, no matter what. Using business debt very carefully and cautiously.

What could you do, in your life, to be at peace with your money?

 

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Stacey Powell, creating more financial clarity at CreatingAnswers.com, tweeting at @CreatingAnswers and showing off Financial Art at Facebook.