0:34

Welcome in everyone and thank you

0:36

so much for joining me again this week

0:38

. This week , we're going

0:40

to talk about money , power and numbers . I

0:42

know that I know everybody's thinking oh gosh

0:45

, this gives me chest pain . No , no , no , no , no , you

0:47

do not want to miss this . My

0:50

guest this week is Kendra James Anderson

0:52

. She is the CEO of the Finance

0:55

Femme as well as a co-founder

0:57

of Minted Lanes . These

0:59

businesses are designed to fill a

1:01

need for founders , especially

1:03

a special place in our heart for

1:05

female founders . She's

1:07

going to talk to us again about money and

1:10

finding your peace . It

1:12

is my pleasure and my honor to introduce

1:14

to you Kendra . Kendra , thank you so

1:17

much for being here and welcome to the show

1:19

.

1:19

Thank you , Adra . I appreciate you having me here

1:22

and definitely look forward to the conversation .

1:24

I look forward to our conversation , as well as

1:26

at the intro , I mentioned that we're going

1:28

to talk about money , power

1:30

, influence and peace

1:33

. Yes , none of those seem to

1:35

go together . I know , I know .

1:39

It usually doesn't . Usually , when

1:41

folks are talking money and power and

1:43

entrepreneurship and business , it's usually

1:45

very black and white , very heavy on

1:47

the numbers , very much about profit . I

1:49

admit I was there . I was very much that

1:52

way as well . And

1:55

then life happens and

1:57

babies happen and

1:59

it has a way of shifting your perspective

2:01

on things . It

2:03

does go together , but it feels like it doesn't

2:06

initially .

2:07

Let's start where you were initially . You

2:09

were in . First of all , you're

2:12

brilliant . You

2:14

have a degree from Clemson , which means

2:17

that you were extraordinary . Let's

2:19

face it you are extraordinary . You

2:21

have a degree in corporate finance

2:23

and accounting and you went on that

2:25

path . You went down that

2:27

well-worn corporate

2:30

path .

2:31

Yes .

2:31

What did you find there ?

2:34

Actually , I loved it . I loved it . I've

2:37

always been a numbers person , though my mom

2:39

was an accountant , my dad's an engineer , so I

2:41

feel like it was in my brain even just

2:43

growing up . I helped my mom put the grocery list

2:46

together in Excel when I was a little

2:48

girl . For me , finance

2:50

and accounting . As far as schooling

2:53

and even in my corporate life , I

2:55

loved it . I learned a lot

2:57

about business and entrepreneurship

2:59

well , not necessarily entrepreneurship , but a lot about business

3:02

and a lot about the relationship between CEOs

3:04

and CFOs of these large companies and

3:06

how they communicate and how

3:08

they work together to push

3:10

the needle forward in a business . My

3:14

corporate experience was amazing

3:16

and I had no idea that

3:18

entrepreneurship was even going to be a

3:20

thing for me .

3:23

It was an accident . You're an accidental entrepreneur

3:26

100% , 100%

3:28

.

3:31

I was perfectly confident in

3:33

that corporate world and had the vision

3:35

of climbing the corporate ladder and getting that

3:37

huge office with the all

3:40

glass and all windows and just

3:42

kicking my feet up . That was the vision

3:44

. At the same time , though , I had

3:46

friends that were starting businesses

3:48

maybe even a few years in business and they

3:50

were doing very well . They were making multi-six

3:53

figures , some of them making millions a year in their

3:55

business , but they weren't happy

3:57

. They were struggling

3:59

to feel like they were making

4:02

money . It was baffling to

4:04

me , because I'm like you're making all of this money

4:06

. What's the problem

4:08

? Let me talk to your accountant . Let

4:10

me talk to your accountant and let's see what's going on . I

4:13

found out , audra , that they didn't have accountants

4:15

. They didn't even have accountants . I'm like how are you making $2

4:18

million a year in your business and saying you don't have

4:20

anyone looking at your numbers ? That's when

4:22

this all started , because I started

4:24

then supporting those friends and getting

4:27

their finances in order , understanding their

4:29

business books , still just thought

4:31

it was just me helping out friends . Never dawned on

4:33

me that it would be a whole business . Until after

4:35

a few months of doing that probably about six months of

4:37

doing that I noticed the change

4:39

in their business and which meant a change in

4:41

their life , because now they're lighter

4:43

, they're like , oh , they

4:45

can see their profits and feel their profits . That's

4:48

when the light bulb went off for me and it was very

4:50

clear that , while I loved

4:53

my corporate career , it was really just paid

4:55

training to go and do this for

4:57

a living and for the rest of my life . I

5:00

quit . After about six months of

5:02

doing that , I decided I was going to quit and I've been in it full-time

5:04

.

5:05

You went and changed their

5:07

lives by making organization

5:11

of their finances , of knowing

5:14

what their returns have been , what their

5:16

account payable have been , account receivable

5:18

. All of that suddenly making sense

5:20

of all the noise and the

5:22

chaos . Is

5:25

that where you introduced peace into

5:27

this whole money , numbers , power , influence

5:30

, or did that come later ? That

5:32

sounds like a lot of peace to me . You have peace

5:34

of mind , that you know where all

5:36

the numbers are and know where everything's going

5:38

. That , as a woman

5:41

, gives me comfort . I

5:43

don't know that might be the same for the

5:45

people you were serving .

5:47

Yes , absolutely Ironically

5:50

, that's where peace for clients started to come in , and

5:52

I can share with you later where peace for me actually

5:54

started to come in , because it actually was two different points

5:56

. Yes , for

5:58

clients , definitely I think it's

6:00

the clarity , because

6:02

, really , what the numbers ? What I often find is it's

6:05

the fear of the unknown and

6:07

a little bit of like fear of judgment as

6:09

well . There's , okay

6:11

, I don't know what my numbers are , and then the seconds

6:13

I start looking at them . Maybe it's going to expose something

6:15

that I don't want to know . And then it's like ripping

6:18

down and building back up a house . You don't know what's behind

6:20

the walls and you're kind of like , let's just keep it behind

6:22

the walls . But once you start to get

6:24

the clarity around it , then you can actually start

6:27

to make the changes for the better

6:29

, you can start

6:31

to implement things that's going to make your life

6:33

easier and your business runs smoother . Peace

6:36

definitely sets in once you

6:38

just get a little bit of that clarity around

6:40

what's going on and you can get some assistance

6:43

in and understanding what strategies to use

6:45

to move forward in your business as

6:47

well . But absolutely , peace definitely

6:49

comes with the clarity in your

6:52

numbers .

6:53

I mean no one wants to admit that they're not

6:55

great at budgeting or financial

6:57

planning , but not everybody can be good

6:59

at that .

7:01

Well , and also in business

7:03

. It's just different . You

7:05

can be amazing at managing your household or

7:07

not . Honestly , maybe you're not going to be amazing

7:09

at managing budgeting in your household . It's also

7:12

just not something that everyone

7:14

thrives in . I can't paint

7:16

or draw to save my life

7:18

, but there are people out there who are so artistic

7:20

and can see the vision and can make it come to fruition

7:23

. So we all have our own skills and

7:25

gifts , and I think , though , with money

7:27

, just one of those things where folks

7:30

feel like they should just already know certain

7:32

things , but it doesn't always translate

7:34

. Personal doesn't always translate to business

7:36

. You might be able to run

7:38

an amazing household and not be able to balance

7:41

the books in your business Perfectly

7:43

normal . We

7:45

don't learn this stuff in school , and even if you go

7:47

to business school and you learn to take some finance

7:49

and accounting classes , it's not practical

7:52

, real experience . So

7:56

definitely don't feel ashamed

7:58

for it . A lot easier said than done . I

8:00

understand , but try not to feel

8:02

that shame over it .

8:03

So when you started stepping in and you

8:06

started building your own business , what

8:09

did you see were the results

8:11

that were unexpected for you

8:13

.

8:16

I think for me it was

8:18

the

8:21

connection . I

8:23

got to have connection with the actual business

8:25

women , with the owners , in a deeper

8:27

way than I had initially anticipated Because

8:30

, at least for me when I was incorporated , it was very

8:32

just transactional

8:35

. We're running the campaign , we want to see the numbers

8:37

, see how it worked , do a little post-mortem

8:39

on the project to improve it for the next time

8:41

around . It's very we're going

8:43

through the process of emotion

8:45

lists but when you are

8:48

working with someone in their

8:50

business , your business is your livelihood

8:52

, like it is . If it's doing really

8:54

, really well , you're likely doing

8:57

a little happier in the mornings when you wake up . If

9:00

you're struggling to pay your team and

9:02

to cut payroll , you might have some

9:04

sleepless nights . And so I

9:06

think when I

9:09

started working with business owners and seeing that

9:11

change in their business and that change in

9:13

them , it changed

9:15

me Because I saw that there's

9:17

this really emotional and personal

9:20

relationship that develops when

9:22

you're advising folks when it comes to their money

9:24

and their businesses . And I was

9:26

not expecting that . I

9:28

was not expecting that , but I'm thrilled , like now

9:30

, years later . I'm thrilled and some of

9:32

my clients are actually some of my closest friends

9:35

.

9:36

So you now have this personal

9:38

emotional investment in

9:40

your client's businesses . Yes

9:43

, there's a flip side to that . That also sounds

9:45

like there's a lot of pressure there and

9:47

that it might take a personal

9:49

toll on you . I know that

9:51

that might have happened to you as well

9:53

, so I'm

9:55

alluding to the piece that you went

9:58

finding for yourself personally , but

10:01

I want to just there .

10:03

For sure , because

10:06

so you do get really invested

10:08

into your client's businesses , and

10:12

sometimes you

10:14

get so caught up into

10:16

the work and what you're doing that you forget

10:18

for yourself what you need . And

10:20

so , yes , exactly about three

10:22

years ago , I had my

10:24

son first child , and

10:27

it just so happened to be in 2020

10:29

, during the height of the pandemic . And

10:34

so here I am , new mom , still

10:36

carrying on calls with clients

10:39

. I told myself I was going to have like a quote

10:41

unquote maternity leave and I'm still like

10:43

taking client calls , I'm nursing

10:45

my son while bouncing on a yoga ball

10:47

and carrying out client calls , and

10:49

it was a struggle . And that's when

10:51

I realized , over that time

10:54

period , that this no

10:56

longer works Like . I still want

10:58

to be able to do what I'm doing , serve how I'm

11:00

serving and who I'm serving , but it has to

11:02

be a shift , and that is

11:04

when the tipping point happened

11:06

for me , where prior to that , I was about

11:08

profits and ensuring that there's

11:11

enough profit and margin to be able

11:13

to sustain and scale a business

11:15

. It shifted and it was about

11:17

peace and profits , like

11:19

equal parts peace and profits

11:21

, not profits with a little bit of peace . You have to

11:23

figure out how to really balance the two , and

11:26

that's when you start to have sustainability . And

11:30

that's exactly the point in time when I made

11:32

that shift and focused on

11:34

peace in addition to profits .

11:37

OK , so this sounds unique , because

11:39

that is not certainly peace

11:41

, and profits are never taught in

11:44

business school , it's not even

11:46

discussed in many corporations

11:49

, and you're doing

11:51

just fine by making peace

11:53

one of your number one priorities

11:55

, absolutely how ?

11:57

did you get there ? It's really

11:59

a matter of once you draw

12:02

the line and decide that this is

12:04

what it is . There's

12:06

really no looking back , honestly , because once you

12:08

get a little taste of being able to have

12:11

both , it's

12:13

very hard to become unbalanced , because the second

12:15

that you start to get out of balance you

12:17

feel it very quickly and you can

12:19

, of course , correct . So it's

12:22

having a consulting

12:25

call with a prospect that you know

12:27

is not the right fit . You can very

12:29

easily say this is not going

12:31

to be a good fit . I can maybe suggest you

12:33

to someone else , whereas beforehand

12:35

I would not have been able to do that or I would have struggled

12:38

to do that . I would have said , ah , this is really

12:40

a smart thing to do in business . But

12:43

once you see the benefits

12:45

of it and for me that

12:47

is being able to pick up my son whenever I

12:49

want to , being able to

12:51

just walk out of

12:53

the office my home office and go take

12:55

a nap if I feel like I need to go take a nap Because

12:57

I'm just drained for that day Once

12:59

you reap those benefits it's very , very hard

13:02

to turn around and go backwards

13:04

. But if it's what you want

13:06

, you first have to allow that for yourself , so that

13:08

you can feel it .

13:10

What I'm hearing is making yourself a

13:12

priority , because which

13:15

is contrary to what we've been taught

13:17

, but what I'm hearing

13:19

is make yourself and what you need

13:21

a priority , so then you can

13:23

show up more equipped

13:25

in everything else you do , absolutely

13:28

.

13:29

And it's far more sustainable that way . Right

13:31

, Because you wake up Every

13:33

day . I don't wake up to rainbows

13:35

and unicorns and glitter . Right

13:38

, Like I said , I have

13:40

a three-year-old . Some days I'm waking

13:42

up at 4 in the morning and it's not my choice

13:44

for my day , but it is what

13:46

it is . But

13:50

I'm able to stomach and take those

13:53

things , take those blows a lot

13:55

easier because I have

13:57

been able to intentionally build a

13:59

day and a work week and a life

14:01

that keeps peace

14:03

and profits at the forefront , and not one over

14:05

the other . And so , yes

14:08

, it is keeping your priorities at the forefront

14:10

, it's being aware of what your priorities are . You're

14:12

going to have your foundational things that are not

14:14

likely to change very often . Right

14:16

, you might have some things that are more

14:18

seasonal , that might shift a little bit here or there

14:21

, but your foundational things are not going to change that

14:23

often and you want to check in with yourself

14:25

to really make sure that you're aware what those

14:27

things are .

14:29

You said something a little while ago that

14:31

I'm sure that some small

14:33

businesses just was

14:36

shaking going . No , I don't know that I have

14:38

the luxury of doing that . And you mentioned

14:40

that you were being very particular about the clients that

14:43

you take on , the ones that you know that

14:45

are going to rob you of your peace . How

14:48

did you get brave enough

14:50

to do that , that you knew that there

14:53

was , I mean , a small business ? Every

14:55

client counts , every single client counts

14:57

. But you had the strength

15:00

of self and the priority

15:03

of making yourself first

15:05

in that relationship and recognizing

15:08

when a potential client

15:10

is not good for you . How

15:12

did you ?

15:12

get there . So , audra

15:15

, let me share with you something that I have never actually

15:17

shared before , and

15:19

it was the actual

15:21

moment when I really made this shift

15:23

. So

15:25

I'm always referencing the bouncing on the ball and

15:28

nursing Carter and carrying

15:30

out a client meeting . Well , there was one particular

15:32

time when I was doing just that and a

15:34

client a then client of mine

15:36

who had at the time two small children , two

15:38

children under five , long

15:41

time client , my second highest revenue

15:43

per month client that I had , so big client

15:45

of ours , and I'm on the

15:48

meeting with her , and he just starts getting

15:50

a little bit fussy . And so I was like , let

15:52

me just put you on mute for like a few minutes , I'm

15:54

going to go lay him down , I'll be back . And I did

15:56

just that and I came back and I came

15:58

back to her chewing me out

16:00

about taking time away from

16:03

our call to handle

16:06

my son when

16:08

we had this important meeting

16:10

that's going on . It was a weekly meeting that we had and

16:14

I was like I'm going to go lay him down . I knew in that very

16:16

moment that this relationship

16:18

instantly has to end , that

16:23

this is not the type of support that I

16:25

need to be able to also support her . This is

16:27

just not a good fit . And

16:29

we got off of the call , into the call , you know

16:32

fine . But we got off of the call and I immediately put

16:34

together a presentation to close

16:36

out our contract together . And

16:39

I did that , I sent that over to her

16:41

and I remember , for months

16:44

after she was

16:46

doubling down on her stance , you know

16:48

, kendra , I don't understand why you let us

16:51

go . You know you are the one

16:53

who was unprofessional on the call

16:55

and couldn't handle your sign . I mean

16:57

, I was shocked that

17:00

not only did it happen initially , but

17:02

like it's continuing to happen , from

17:04

a mom of young kids at that , you know

17:06

. And that's when I

17:09

said I have to be very careful of

17:12

who I exchange energy

17:14

with in this business and

17:16

I have the choice . And then

17:19

, very shortly after that happened

17:21

, I had a client . I got a prospect

17:23

who I actually ended up closing

17:25

and converting into a client . More money

17:27

, a fraction

17:30

of the stress and work . And

17:32

still to this day as a client and still to this

17:34

day , on every meeting we'll ask how's Carter

17:37

? How's Carter doing ? It's a completely

17:39

different dynamic . You know the relationship

17:42

with this client and the relationship

17:44

with that client . I let that one go and

17:47

I ended up you know , it's the old adage right , it

17:49

ended up getting something even better

17:51

, and I saw what can happen

17:54

when you know that something is not

17:56

right and you do something to fix it . And

17:59

yeah , that was the exact moment when

18:02

I decided to make that shift .

18:03

So you felt it in your

18:06

gut , you knew oh

18:08

that was

18:10

.

18:11

that was it for me . You know I

18:14

it was okay . This is unacceptable

18:16

. There's absolutely there's nothing

18:18

that is okay about this , and

18:21

so I have to change this .

18:23

First of all , that was incredibly brave

18:25

. You're a small business owner . That

18:28

must have , first of all , must have been very , very scary

18:31

to say . You got to go

18:33

for two reasons . One you don't

18:35

. You don't know if you're going to get another client , just like

18:37

her , Absolutely . And two

18:39

, you picked you . Yeah

18:42

, that's , that's not eat . I'll

18:44

just speak for myself . That's not always easy for me to

18:47

pick me when I know

18:49

that something is good

18:51

for me Because I'm not . I've

18:53

been wired and trained that I'm

18:55

last on the totem pole . And

18:58

for you to jump in and pick

19:01

you , your priorities

19:03

, your business , and then not

19:06

know what's going to happen afterwards , I'm

19:09

, first of all , I feel I

19:11

feel ill for you in that moment . I

19:14

can imagine how you felt . But I'm

19:16

also incredibly proud of you , of how brave

19:18

you were .

19:19

Thank you . Thank you , yeah

19:22

, it was difficult , but you know what

19:24

it's it was

19:26

. It was , I don't know . It's hard to explain

19:28

. It was difficult , but yet it was easy at the same

19:30

time . And I'm not sure if it was also just

19:32

like the post , you know , post baby

19:35

hormones , where I was just like , oh no , this is

19:37

not happening . And it was just , you know . You

19:40

know , I wasn't thinking for clearly either maybe

19:42

at the time , but but

19:44

no , it's . I felt so much lighter

19:47

as well . And sometimes , even

19:49

if your revenue is feeling a little bit lighter , if

19:51

the stress in the weight on you

19:54

is also feeling lighter , sometimes it's worth it

19:56

. You know , sometimes it's worth it . A temporary

19:58

dipping your revenue for a permanent

20:01

dipping your stress levels is going to be worth

20:03

it . The revenue will pick back up .

20:05

Do you think , if you hadn't done

20:07

that and walked away from that client , that you would

20:09

have had the capacity to welcome

20:12

in the even better client

20:14

?

20:14

Absolutely not , Absolutely not , Absolutely

20:17

not . And there you go there , there you go , Like

20:20

that . That's the lesson for you

20:22

right there . You know , I definitely would

20:24

not have had the capacity I don't even know if I would have , you

20:26

know open up the books to even take

20:28

consultations at that time

20:30

had I not let them go . I mean , they were , they

20:33

were second highest revenue , but they were probably the

20:35

highest as far as energy expend

20:37

by the team and so

20:40

, yeah , they just . It

20:42

was unfortunate , but it

20:44

happened for a reason . That

20:46

exact interaction

20:48

happened for a reason , and we would not , the business

20:50

would not be where it is right now If

20:53

that hadn't happened .

20:54

That sounds like a blueprint for

20:56

life , not just business , absolutely

20:59

. And you actually

21:01

practice that and help other

21:03

women do just that is

21:05

to find the balance and find the peace

21:08

and find that happy medium . So

21:10

what is it that you do ? Because when you

21:12

and I first met , you said that

21:15

your top priority is

21:17

for yourself and teaching

21:19

others how to find that balance and how

21:21

to find peace . How

21:23

do you do that ? I mean we're we're slow

21:25

learners . I'm not going to

21:27

, I cannot even sugarcoat

21:30

that we are . We are slow learners because we I

21:32

don't think that we have all realized that we deserve

21:34

that , but I'm

21:38

all ears to hear how to learn to

21:41

find that balance of

21:43

peace .

21:44

Yeah , it really starts with

21:46

figuring out what do you really want

21:48

? What do you really really

21:50

want ? What does your ideal day look like ? What does your ideal

21:52

week , month and year look like ? That

21:56

for me was a big exercise for

21:58

me to even do initially , because I

22:00

never thought about what do you mean ? What's ideal

22:03

for me ? I'm just going through

22:05

the motions . I mean I could create

22:07

my day . So

22:09

just figuring out what is ideal for

22:11

you , what do you want it to look like ? For some people

22:14

, they're in the season of wanting to scale and they're

22:16

fine with working 50-hour work weeks

22:18

as long as they get to a specific goal and they

22:20

can maybe bring on that next team member

22:22

or whatever it is . For others , it

22:24

might be working two days a week

22:26

and gardening the other

22:28

three to five days . So

22:31

it's really getting clear on

22:34

what you want your day to

22:36

look like and what your foundational

22:39

things are

22:41

that you're wanting to accomplish , and then , with

22:43

that , it's okay . Well , how do we support that ? How

22:46

do we actually make that happen ? And with

22:48

business , yes , you have to

22:50

look into your profit and loss statement

22:52

and your balance sheet and your actual financials , but

22:54

a lot of times it's more operational . Financial

22:58

statements are an afterthought , which

23:00

what has already occurred . It's what money have you

23:02

already made and have already spent ? The

23:05

big way to figure out how to get to where

23:07

you're wanting to go is really more on the finance

23:09

side . It's more about the projections . So

23:11

you think about . The first step is

23:13

thinking about what you want your day to look like . Be very

23:15

clear on that . Then the second

23:17

thing to consider is how do we get there ? What

23:21

are the things that can do within business to help

23:23

me actually accomplish that ? And so , as

23:26

an example , for someone who

23:28

wants to spend a lot of

23:30

time with their family and not traveling on the

23:32

road all the time and doing all that , you probably

23:34

don't want to be the next world-class

23:37

speaker that drops a book this year

23:39

that has to go on a book tour , a 20-city

23:41

book tour . You want to align

23:44

what you're doing with what you're actually wanting

23:46

out of life , and I think a lot of times we assume

23:49

the next thing that we're supposed to do , but we don't check

23:51

in with ourselves to see if it's really

23:53

in alignment with where I am right now and what

23:55

I'm wanting to get out of my life .

23:58

So that's being real

24:01

, real honest with yourself which

24:03

isn't always easy , Actually , it's pretty darn

24:05

hard is to get real clear

24:08

of what you want . And

24:10

when you started thinking through this , did

24:12

you really literally have a notebook and

24:15

start thinking through okay , what is it that

24:17

I want ? What is it that I don't want ? That's

24:19

something that I would do . I would write things

24:21

down . I love lists . Yes , I

24:23

love lists . I love crossing

24:25

lists off when I finish things . I

24:29

love this . So , in order for me to think

24:31

about this , I'd have to make a list

24:33

. Did you do the same thing ? Absolutely

24:35

.

24:36

Absolutely have a notebook . I

24:38

actually have a notebook and writing down what

24:41

do you want your days to look like ? Even

24:43

as granular as you're comfortable with

24:45

, some people want to stay a little bit more high level . On

24:48

Tuesdays I want to go to Pilates

24:50

and on Friday I want to go and do

24:53

whatever you can . Just create

24:55

that and I will tell you . I will pause

24:58

here and say I am the least

25:00

woo-woo person that

25:02

you know . I'm extremely

25:04

analytical . However , I will say

25:07

over these past three , four , five

25:09

years , a little bit of the woo has sprinkled

25:11

into my life , because

25:14

I can see the power of

25:16

writing it down . Get it

25:18

out of your head , write it down

25:21

, actually visualize it , because

25:23

the analytical part stepping in here on the woo

25:25

a little bit for me is when you write

25:28

it down and you also have something to hold yourself accountable

25:31

to . So , yes , there's something

25:33

I'm sure to be said about manifestation

25:35

and putting it out into the universe . But also

25:37

, if you are a tactical person that wants to know how

25:39

to spend your days , you spend your days

25:41

in alignment to what you have

25:43

wrote down on that paper and if

25:45

it's not in alignment , you can very quickly say

25:47

I don't want to write a book

25:49

and go on a book tour this year . That

25:51

doesn't fit with this . It makes it very

25:54

easy to say yes or no to things when

25:56

it's clear and clearly written down

25:58

. When things are really

26:00

gray and just kind of floating around

26:02

and you're just not sure , you say yes to

26:04

a lot more than you probably want to say yes to , and

26:07

then we get back into that

26:09

overwhelm and , oh , I'm not getting the results

26:11

that I'm wanting . Well , we don't even know

26:13

what the results that you want really are . We got to be

26:15

clear first .

26:17

That's a really good point that when

26:19

you I mean what you've said was really powerful

26:21

when you're in the middle of the gray and not clear of what

26:23

you want , you say yes to a lot

26:25

and then you're halfway in the middle of it . What did I say

26:27

yes to this ? Why

26:30

did I think I wanted to do this ? Because

26:32

you're in the middle of it and you're like this is terrible , this

26:35

is not for me . Why am I here

26:37

? This is not what I had in mind , but

26:40

you're saying it's because you weren't clear with

26:42

what you wanted in the first place .

26:43

Right , right , and

26:46

some things can shift right . But again , those

26:48

core values , those are usually

26:50

pretty locked in for a while . But some

26:52

of the things might , some of the data , they shift

26:55

. Okay , maybe it's not Pilates on Tuesday , maybe

26:57

it's Pilates every other Friday , whatever Like that

26:59

little stuff . Nuance of that can shift , but

27:01

your core values . Do you want to

27:03

spend time at home with your family , and let's build

27:05

a business around doing that . Do

27:07

you want to travel the

27:09

world when your business is done

27:11

? Let's build a business that can do that and still be profitable

27:14

. But we have to be very clear on

27:16

what that is first .

27:20

Like I said , these are all lessons that , even though

27:22

we're talking specifically about businesses

27:24

and entrepreneurs , and specifically female

27:26

entrepreneurs , this sounds like this could apply

27:28

to every aspect of

27:30

your life . I know that you've applied it

27:32

to specifically your business but

27:35

, have you applied it in other areas of your life too ?

27:38

Oh , absolutely Absolutely . Friendships

27:41

, like going into friendships , like does

27:43

this actually feel ?

27:45

you know , does this actually feel an alignment .

27:47

You just it's that whole , you know , checking

27:49

in with yourself , just check in with yourself , and

27:51

I think one of the benefits that

27:53

we have as women is our

27:56

intuition is really

27:58

, really strong . It's really

28:00

good , and I think that , at

28:02

least for me , it's

28:05

not that I didn't trust it initially , I just didn't

28:07

listen to it enough initially because there was so

28:09

much chaos all the time that I'm in

28:11

. But once I learned to quiet

28:13

that which I'm still learning I think that's going

28:15

to be a forever journey , but learning to quiet

28:18

it , to really check in , I can intentionally check in

28:20

. It almost never serves me wrong

28:22

. And so like leaning

28:24

into the fact that we have this strong

28:26

intuition and

28:29

helping that kind of guide you through

28:32

different scenarios .

28:34

That's the important part is being able to quiet

28:36

the noise and really

28:39

listening to

28:41

yourself , listening to that intuition

28:43

, and not letting yourself talk yourself

28:45

out of it , because

28:47

how many times have you thought this

28:50

is really important ? But then your

28:52

logical brain kicks in and goes

28:54

what are you thinking ? That's silly

28:56

, that's ridiculous . I don't think you

28:58

should do that , or you have responsibilities , or whatever

29:01

.

29:01

Yeah , and to

29:03

that point where we're talking about this

29:05

as business and personal , there's actually been times

29:08

where I've had clients who I

29:11

will come in or they'll suggest

29:13

something in their business and I really want to try X

29:15

, y and Z and they start talking through it

29:17

and it sounds amazing . But I'm running

29:19

the numbers and looking at the data and I'm like , logically

29:23

, the data is showing like

29:25

this and I want to put this in front

29:27

of you so that you have that process

29:30

, this data , like think about it , really sit

29:32

within and think about it , but then still come back

29:34

to me and tell me what your gut is feeling . And that's where

29:36

we'll go and we'll just track you and see how it's

29:38

going , but we'll still go with your gut . So

29:41

there's the intuition and there's the gut , and then

29:43

there's the numbers . I want

29:45

you to have both . I want you to know

29:48

how you feel , but still have the

29:50

numbers . It doesn't mean the numbers trumps the

29:52

intuition . They just let the numbers

29:54

actually give the numbers a chance

29:56

to help inform you . But then

29:59

still go with how you're feeling . And

30:01

most of the time

30:04

, if a client comes to me and they're feeling a certain way

30:06

about something , and I give them the data , if they

30:08

decide to still move forward with it . Most of

30:10

the time it actually does work out . Sure

30:12

, we might have to tweak some things along the way , because

30:14

we're still looking at the data to help us guide . But

30:17

if they have that gut

30:19

instinct about their products and

30:21

their industry , go

30:24

with it , you know . But just let the data

30:26

support you . It doesn't

30:28

have to trump your , you know

30:30

, just have to trump you .

30:32

That is a real . First of all , that's very rare

30:34

coming from someone with an accounting background

30:36

. I did not squash

30:39

Somebody's dream just because

30:41

the numbers don't match . Yeah , I

30:43

think that might be your superpower .

30:46

Well , thank you , thank you , I think it's . I think

30:48

it's it comes from my Um

30:51

like why I'm supporting women and

30:53

and you know , because I know that

30:55

we have this intuition , I know that we have this ability

30:58

. We can do anything . Like we , we

31:00

, we literally can do anything

31:02

. We hold our families together , our relationships together

31:05

, our children together , we , we bear our children

31:07

like we can do anything

31:09

, so we can absolutely run

31:11

and crush a business Hands

31:13

down . We just need to support . We

31:15

just need to support . We need the data , that's all . And

31:17

so I'm not here From

31:19

an accountant or finance perspective

31:22

to tell you how to scale your business

31:24

. I'm here to support you and what you're already

31:26

wanting to do . Let me just give you some

31:28

of the data and metrics to help guide you

31:30

, to help guide where you're wanting

31:32

to go . But the numbers

31:35

, the numbers should not trump

31:37

how you're actually feeling about

31:40

Some type of a launch . Or

31:42

you know the next hire . You know how many

31:44

of us have ever been involved in hiring

31:46

someone or maybe being that hire where

31:48

the resume might look a certain kind of way

31:50

but you just don't quite have the

31:52

feeling that

31:54

it's a good fit , or maybe the inverse maybe

31:56

the resume is not that great , but you really love

31:59

the candidate like you , you , you

32:01

want to lean on your intuition

32:03

as well .

32:04

You know the numbers are great , but you do want to leave your

32:06

intuition like I said , that's

32:08

a superpower , because that

32:10

is literally being somebody's partner

32:12

and going yeah , you can do this , you

32:15

can totally do this and

32:17

Go and go for it . I mean

32:19

there's , statistically Speaking

32:23

, since the pandemic , more

32:25

small businesses have been luck , has been launched

32:27

by women yeah , at an

32:29

extraordinary rate , and

32:31

a lot of them are doing quite well . What

32:35

do you think's behind that ?

32:36

I think that we

32:38

got stuck in our homes

32:41

and you know we

32:43

had time to be

32:45

home and Either

32:48

, you know , maybe we were still working our full-time

32:50

job or maybe we , you know , got furloughed

32:52

, or all sorts of different scenarios , but we were home

32:54

and we have the ability , while

32:56

being home , to get some of

32:58

these creative ideas out and

33:01

say you know what , why not just try

33:03

it ? Why not just see ? Let me just see

33:05

. And I think that that

33:07

served a lot of us well , because

33:09

we had the time . Now , of course

33:11

, you know we also , for some of us , had

33:13

our kids Kids at

33:16

home with us too , which was like chaos , but

33:18

we were still able to because we're living , you know

33:20

we could do anything , we're able to still get

33:22

it together . And it's almost like

33:24

you know the situation

33:26

where we were like an experiment

33:29

right , like we were trapped in our homes , you

33:32

know , unable to really go out and do other things

33:34

, which which limited some

33:36

of the external Stimuli

33:38

around us , and now we could focus

33:41

in our energy in our home offices

33:43

or in our homes , doing whatever we wanted to do , and

33:45

so I think that that helped a lot of women

33:47

have that time and ability to To

33:50

get things started , you know , and

33:52

also it didn't hurt that folks

33:55

were used to doing things on

33:57

zoom now and they were used to doing things virtually

33:59

now and okay , if I have to order something I'm gonna order

34:01

it online now . So it almost set the stage

34:04

for a very Internet

34:07

or online based kind of

34:09

business , and that's how a lot of

34:11

the businesses got started .

34:13

I mean , after all , women are Creators

34:16

. We are literally born to create

34:19

in every aspect . Yeah , there's

34:22

a lot of women listening . I I

34:24

think I have a lot of audience members that

34:26

are like I really would love to

34:28

start this business , but I am

34:30

terrified . What if it doesn't work ? What if it doesn't

34:33

do this ? What if it doesn't do that ? What

34:35

would you say to them ?

34:37

Yeah , if it so , I get it . Your

34:39

, your , your feeling

34:42

is valid and

34:44

you can

34:46

still do it , you know . And if

34:49

it fails , okay , fails is definitely

34:51

like in quotation marks , because Any

34:55

failure we all I'm sure we've all heard

34:57

this any failure is actually a lesson

34:59

. You're learning something and it's

35:01

it's hard to , I'm

35:04

sure , it's hard to really believe that before

35:06

you actually do it , but the second that you actually

35:08

fail , you realize , oh , that there's truth

35:10

there . Okay , like the greatest

35:12

business owners and entrepreneurs have failed so

35:15

many times , but the failures are like

35:17

a drop in the bucket compared to

35:19

where they actually are , what they've accomplished

35:21

. But the failures were needed , there were necessary

35:24

. I mean , what do you consider

35:26

a failure ? Also , like you might , you know

35:28

, launch a marketing campaign that didn't do

35:30

as well as you thought . Was that a failure ? No

35:32

, you still got some lessons out of it . So I

35:35

think , like , practically speaking

35:37

, you know , if you are Nervous

35:40

or scared or worried about starting the business

35:42

, start smaller . You know you don't feel

35:44

like you have to put all of your , your money

35:46

, into something from the very beginning . Start

35:48

smaller and then just build on that

35:51

momentum , but start , because

35:53

there's Probably

35:56

nothing worse than Going

35:58

five , ten , fifteen , twenty years down the line

36:00

and having all these what ifs

36:02

, that whole time , you know , man

36:05

, I wonder if I would have just did that

36:07

, or I wonder if I just started this . And

36:09

then when you do it and you're like man , I should have started

36:11

this 15 years ago , you know , and

36:13

Just

36:16

just start it , just start

36:18

it .

36:19

Just be brave and close your eyes and jump

36:22

yeah .

36:22

I mean because , at the end of the day , you

36:25

know If the jump , the jump can be

36:27

calculated as calculated as your heart needs

36:30

. You know Some can jump with

36:32

, you know pulling ten thousand out

36:34

of their savings and you know taking

36:36

a two-week vacation from their job and

36:38

saying , okay , I'm gonna take this two weeks to go really , really

36:40

hard . This invests ten thousand . For

36:43

some , doing that would be , you

36:45

know , more negative

36:47

than positive . It will cost too much worry . Maybe

36:49

it's only five hundred dollars that you're pulling . Jump

36:52

to the extent that you feel comfortable

36:54

, but jump . You know

36:56

, but jump .

36:58

Listen , listen to your intuition and

37:01

and go for it Absolutely now , before

37:03

we run out of time . I wanted to make sure

37:05

that we let everybody know that you

37:08

also have a podcast . Yes

37:10

, yes , I do what

37:12

is the name of your podcast and what

37:15

do you ? What is your topic

37:17

of discussion on your podcast ?

37:19

Yes , thank you for asking . So the podcast is the

37:21

Kinjenacoll podcast and

37:23

over there we just talk all things business

37:26

strategy , business finance . The

37:30

last couple of years of the podcast

37:32

has really been focused on the business side . So

37:34

some like tactical , tangible

37:36

things , you know what's profit versus revenue

37:38

, like those sorts of things . I do think I'm gonna

37:40

be pivoting a little bit this year to

37:42

actually have

37:44

you know what a forecast , like you want , maybe if

37:46

you , if you would care to join me . I love

37:49

to Love

37:51

to talk a little bit more about . You

37:53

know some of the not so technical

37:55

components of being entrepreneurs starting

37:57

a business and and and everything

37:59

. But yeah , the Kinjenacoll podcast

38:02

is the name of the podcast .

38:04

I mean , that sounds like so much

38:06

fun to be able to listen to you and and

38:09

have you on the

38:11

ready to help encourage these , these

38:13

budding entrepreneurs , to

38:15

maybe get answers to the questions that

38:17

they already have in the back of your mind , because

38:20

Maybe they can't afford a

38:22

fractional CFO right now that

38:24

they can afford 20 minutes to listen

38:26

to you , give them some sage advice .

38:29

Yeah , absolutely Absolutely , and

38:31

I try to make it , you

38:33

know , light so that you know I know accounting and finance

38:35

isn't the most fun topic in the world , but I

38:38

try to give actual , real life examples

38:40

from you know , from clients that we have on the product-based

38:42

side and the service-based side , to

38:44

help it be relatable so that you can actually

38:46

use that information to better

38:49

your business .

38:51

Well , at the beginning I talked , I said that we're going

38:53

to talk about money , power , influence

38:55

and peace , and people probably rolled

38:57

their eyes at me and went what are you talking

38:59

about ? But this entire conversation , we've exactly

39:02

talked about that Power , influence

39:05

, peace and money all

39:07

being able to coexist together Absolutely

39:10

, and I think that the foundation

39:14

of it is trusting yourself and

39:17

being really , really clear at

39:19

what you want Absolutely

39:21

. Is there any other

39:23

little nugget of advice

39:25

that you can give us as we are on

39:28

our journey of trying to marry those

39:30

four things in the same spot

39:33

?

39:34

Yeah , you know , the one thing I will just add to this from

39:36

a money and kind of money management

39:38

standpoint is , you know

39:40

, try to take some of the pressure

39:42

off of yourself when it comes

39:44

to money and money management . As far as , like I know , goal-setting

39:47

is like a big thing and , yes , it's very important

39:49

to know how much money are you wanting to bring in and

39:51

all of that but really

39:54

just kind of focus in on what

39:56

do you want to do , what

39:58

do you want to offer , and then just

40:00

like , start there , you know

40:02

, sell it , see how it feels , tweak it , Because

40:04

oftentimes that first business

40:06

idea that you have isn't

40:09

really where you're going to settle . It's going to maybe be some

40:11

version of that . So

40:13

don't spend too

40:15

much time , energy , effort , money

40:17

in trying to build completely

40:20

this perfect version of what

40:22

you have in your mind before you just start

40:24

, because it's very likely

40:26

that it's going to be iterative and there's going to be different

40:28

versions of it . So you know , don't , don't

40:31

. I guess the advice is just

40:33

, yes , jump and start

40:36

and don't worry too much about it being perfect

40:39

. Quote unquote right , perfect before

40:41

you do it .

40:42

That's very comforting to know

40:44

that I don't know . I don't have to have

40:46

it all right , I don't even need to

40:48

know everything that's going to happen

40:50

, right , maybe ? Just I need to know

40:52

the first two steps , yes , and

40:55

then the rest will figure itself out .

40:57

Because you can have step one through 100 written

41:00

out perfectly , but by the time you get

41:02

to step three , step four through eight

41:04

has changed , which means now nine through 100

41:06

. So you just don't want to go too

41:08

far down the path .

41:11

Yeah , don't wait until it's all perfect , because it'll never

41:13

be perfect ever . Exactly

41:16

, Kendra . If the

41:18

audience wants to reach out to you , where

41:20

can they find you ?

41:22

The best place is the website , so just

41:24

head over to thefinancefimcom

41:27

and you can get all

41:29

the information there as far as our services

41:31

, but then also the podcast is linked there

41:33

.

41:34

Email social media is all there and

41:37

I will make sure all of that information is in the show notes

41:39

. Now , this is my favorite

41:41

part of the show . If

41:44

you've listened before , you know what I'm going to ask

41:46

, but this might

41:48

be a surprise for you . My favorite

41:50

part of the show is when I

41:52

get to back away from the microphone and

41:55

you get a direct , intimate

41:57

moment with the audience to

41:59

share with them anything it is that

42:01

you want to leave with them , have

42:04

it , haunt them and

42:07

make something meaningful in their day . So

42:10

the mic is yours .

42:13

Well , thank you , you know . I

42:15

will just say that the

42:17

only thing that

42:19

is stopping you are the only

42:22

thing between you . Where you are currently

42:24

and where you're wanting to be , the

42:27

biggest thing that's kind of stopping you from being there

42:29

right now is just the noise in

42:31

your head . It's not you

42:33

specifically , it might just be the noise

42:36

that's in your head . And so working

42:38

through that , trying to get your heart

42:40

, is to really quiet that noise , to get clarity

42:42

on what it is that you're really wanting is

42:45

really going to be that

42:47

next big step . And just

42:50

when things get overwhelming

42:52

because they can just always focus

42:54

on that next big step , whatever the next big

42:56

step is , if you've worked through the noise and now

42:58

you kind of feel like you have , you know , some

43:01

guidelines down , then what's the next

43:03

big thing that you have to do ? And just really

43:06

try to put your energy there , because really

43:08

truly two , three , four , five steps down the line

43:10

is is always

43:12

in motion , and so if

43:14

you can just put your head down and really

43:16

think about the next big thing , then

43:20

you know , then I think you'll you'll find

43:22

, looking back three , six months , that you've made

43:24

that progress .

43:26

And if you need more encouragement , go listen to Kendra's

43:28

website or podcast and

43:30

she'll give you a ton of encouragement

43:33

, so I hope that you all go

43:35

and check it out . Kendra , thank

43:37

you so much for being here and making

43:39

money , power

43:41

and influence and peace not sound so scary

43:44

and so impossible , and

43:46

making it sound absolutely achievable

43:48

and that you absolutely

43:50

can make it happen in your life . Yeah

43:52

, absolutely , thank you . Thank you , aja , thank

43:55

you and thank all of you for listening and

43:57

we'll see you again next time .