Since this Saturday, September 21st is World Gratitude Day, I wanted to take a quick moment and thank you all! Thank you for being a purpose-driven leader who is creating good in the world and making a positive impact on people around the globe. Thank you for being a part of this little tribe of leaders who care about financial sustainability and understand that knowing your numbers is the only way you’ll still be around in a decade. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting this business of mine.

Well then. Excuse me while I wipe away my tears of gratitude.

A couple weeks ago I shared a primer on building a forecast for Q4. As October 1st looms closer, I want to make sure you’re set up for success, especially if you’re feeling a little stuck. So I thought I’d pop in and give a couple more tips on forecasting.

1. Stop striving for perfection. Don’t worry about trying to accurately predict, to the penny, what’s going to happen in Q4. One of my favorite goal-setting gurus, Lara Casey at Cultivate What Matters, always says: Progress not perfection. And in this case, put some educated numbers on paper and then get hustling!

2. Recruit the team. If you have a team leading different functions of your organization, recruit them to create your forecast. We do this with one nonprofit client of ours – each quarter, the department heads all review their own budgets, create their quarterly forecasts, and then we compile everything together. Recruiting your team ensures greater accuracy and buy-in.

3. Use a consistent model. In other words, don’t reinvent the wheel with a brand new spreadsheet. Use the same template as your financial statements or budget and make this process easy on yourself.

I love forecasting because it gives us an opportunity each month or quarter to relook at

our goals and start fresh. Go forth and conquer Q4!

I just got back from a two day solo business retreat and it brought so much clarity to my business that I wanted to share exactly how I did it.

A bit of background: I have a team of people that help with client work, marketing, and administration of my business. I don’t have a business partner or anyone who helps create the future vision for my business though; that’s all on me as the Founder & CEO.

The intention behind the retreat was to get me out of my day-to-day work mode to be able to think bigger, strategize, and work on big projects that are more difficult to accomplish in the typical 2-3 hour chunks of time I have in my regular schedule.

I surprisingly found myself with two whole days without client meetings, big projects or deadlines, or major family responsibilities, so I decided it was the perfect time to get away. Here’s exactly how I carved out 48 hours for myself and my business AND came home feeling re-energized and productive so that you can give yourself and your business the same gift.

When: It’s important that you have no obligations during the time you want to get away. Even just one client meeting or call or project is going to take away from the creative, strategic, big picture headspace you’re trying to create, so clear that calendar!

Where: I know entrepreneurs who fly themselves halfway around the world for a solo retreat, but I wanted to make the absolute most of my time away and not spend it traveling, so I chose somewhere close to home. My criteria were that the space had to be wildly inspiring and outside of my norm – so, like, a Hilton Garden Inn wouldn’t cut it for me.

I started looking up AirBnbs within a two hour drive and Toronto had tons of gorgeous apartments available on my dates, so Toronto it was. The drive was the perfect amount of time to digest a few business podcasts I’d been saving, but not long enough I’d have to stop for gas or the bathroom or waste half a day in the car.

I also wanted to make sure I found somewhere with lots of conveniences. For me, that’s mostly centered around parking and food delivery! I didn’t want to deal with annoying street parking or cooking, so as long as off-street parking and UberEats were available, I was good. I literally had every single meal delivered directly for my door for two whole days and it was awesome.

What to Do: About a week before my trip, I opened a Google Doc and started listing out every single thing I might want to get done while there. The list had everything from “relax, read, journal” to goal setting, review metrics, do intensives with my team, write 5 months of emails, update my online course, plan two launches, etc. I held nothing back and listed out every possible BIG task I could think of.

I started to cull it down by thinking about my typical work week, schedule, habits, and how I work best. Anything that was easily doable during my regular week was cut (e.g. team meetings).

Then I prioritized what was left into A and B categories.

Here’s what made the cut!

Priority A

1. Goal setting – September, then 2020, then 5 year goals
2. Write September through January content
3. Plan coaching program January launch
4. Record masterclass for Master Your Nonprofit Numbers funnel
5. Make big website updates (adding calls to action, rewriting content, adjusting pages)

Priority B

1. Plan Master Your Nonprofit Numbers launch
2. Revamp Master Your Nonprofit Numbers course
3. Records videos for MYNN launch

How to Get it Done: I arrived to the AirBnb on Sunday evening and after I placed my dinner order, I dove right into goal setting. I sat out on the balcony, enjoyed the fresh air and started planning September using my PowerSheets. Pro tip: don’t burn yourself out too early into your retreat! I spent the rest of the night relaxing and organizing myself for the morning.

Since I had gone to bed at 9pm the night before, I was up at 6am and ready to roll. Because I already had a document that listed out my major priorities for my time away, I was easily able to dive in without getting distracted by email or wasting time figuring out where I should start.

That being said, I was flexible with myself. I didn’t feel like recording a masterclass first thing so I wrote email content for several hours before busting out the camera to record the masterclass.

What If I Don’t Finish?: If you’re anything like me, you might be worried that you will walk away not having finished everything or perhaps with MORE on your to-do list from all of your brilliant brainstorming. Both were the case for me! I didn’t get to anything on my Priority B list and added at least three things to my to-do list.

Give yourself grace! I walked away refreshed and rejuvenated, with a clear plan on my focus for the rest of this year and 2020. And part of that clarity included actually NOT pursuing anything on my B list right now. So, I’m glad I didn’t waste the time on it!

What About the Fam?: I am very lucky to have regular childcare for my girl on Mondays and Tuesdays which is why it was an ideal time to go away. I didn’t have to worry about finding coverage for those days since they were already taken care of. My husband wasn’t traveling, so he just had to cover dinner and bedtime duty solo. I am wildly grateful for a support system that allows this!

What’s Next?: I certainly plan on doing another solo business retreat next year, but for now, I have the clarity I need to really focus my efforts on what will bring the greatest return for me personally and for my business, so I’m off and running!

What do you think? How would getting away for a couple days to work on your business change things for you?

(Need a tool to help you map out your revenue and expenses while you’re on your business retreat? Grab our Profit Playbook here!>>>)

In my last few posts I’ve opened up and shared my story about how I felt completely torn between my career and motherhood, how it was really hard for me to accept help, and how I feel like I’ve (finally!) found the perfect balance for my family, my business, and myself.

You saw, though, that it wasn’t an overnight fix. It wasn’t easy to grow my revenue, spend less time on nitty-gritty client work, and more quality time with my family.

I attribute where I am today to just two things: hiring a coach and putting in the work.

I’m SO thrilled to share with you today something I’ve been dreaming up for months:Amplify Your Accounting Agency

Amplify is a six month coaching intensive for high-achieving business owners who want to scale their service business by building an agency and expanding their services, so that they can earn more on a schedule that gives them the freedom they crave.

If you want to build a predictably profitable business that fulfills you and sustains your family, you need a proven, straightforward plan and high-touch feedback from someone who has been there, done that.

Hint: that someone is ME!

​If you’ve built a solid service-based business that has a process or funnel to consistently bring in clients, systems in place to execute the work, and are ready to relinquish a little control to hand work off to a team, then you might be a perfect fit for Amplify.

During our six months together, we will:

1. Clearly define your goals and create an achievable road map to accomplishment. I’m an Enneagram 3, so achieving goals is totally my jam.
2. Define your role as CEO of your company. Maybe you started as a freelancer but in order to achieve your big vision of growing your company, increasing your revenue, and ensuring you don’t work round-the-clock, you need to step into the CEO role. I’ll show you how.
3. Lay out clearly defined action steps. Many entrepreneurs I know have big dreams but aren’t sure which steps to take when. This coaching program has a flexible but defined structure intended for you to get from point A to point B.
4. Provide accountability. We will check in regularly to make sure you’re handling your current portfolio of work and setting in place the building blocks to AMPLIFY!

​Does this sound even the slightest bit interesting?

>> Head here to fill out the application!

I can’t WAIT to help you AMPLIFY!

In the past four years, I’ve built a business from absolutely nothing to serving dozens of clients around the globe every month and creating a sustainable lifestyle and income for my growing family. 

It hasn’t always been easy and I haven’t done it alone. As a Type A, Enneagram 3 (“The Achiever”) it’s hard for me to ask for or accept any type of help. I’m fiercely independent and my natural instinct is to go it alone (true story: I asked multiple college professors to do group projects by myself, citing a myriad of reasons but mostly just preferring to work alone). 

When my daughter was a newborn, I hated accepting meals from family and friends (like, I can’t handle feeding myself?) but learned that I needed the help and couldn’t have been more grateful to have hot, homemade meals available when I was so exhausted. I felt weird about hiring a biweekly cleaning service for my home because I physically CAN clean my own house, but the relief I felt at not seeing my dog’s hair tumbleweed-ing across my kitchen floor every day and not spending my precious limited hours doing it myself are invaluable.

I cannot run a balanced life or business alone.

But the absolute biggest game-changer for me has been hiring a coach.

Four years ago, I had never built a business before and had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I wanted someone to help me get on the fast track – to have a full client roster and a full pipeline at all times. My coach has provided practical, strategic advice on business stuff and has helped me get past mental roadblocks too. 

Our relationship has been so much more than a one-and-done course or conference where I forget everything once I get back to real life. 

Coaching has provided…

A community. A coach becomes a tribe to reach out to, no matter how challenging my day, and seek advice, support, or encouragement. She’s been there and done that in a way that my team hasn’t. I’ve been given the confidence and clarity to make the toughest and most important decisions for my business and life with this tribe behind me. My coach has built an intentional network for herself and has generously shared not only her skills but her contacts to help my own business grow. Community over competition.

Accountability. It’s so easy to toss ideas around in our heads while driving to the office or chatting with our spouse, then let the ideas disappear into the ether. My coach has helped me turn those ideas into reality. For example, I’d thought for months about adding to my team but my Type A, control freak nature held me back. Once I told my coach about this idea, she provided the push I needed to make it happen. And she was right there for the virtual high-fives when I reported back that my team had tripled.

Fresh perspective. My coach gave me the permission and ability to think bigger. Left to our own devices, we are all inclined to play small. We move slower than we could and think we can’t do as much as we truly can. Now, I’m not advocating for pushing yourself beyond your natural limits or breaking yourself in the process, but when I envisioned my business model looking the exact same in five years from now, I knew I was playing small. When I think about the value of my coaching investment, I used to try and come up with a dollar amount ROI. I took the amount of money I spent and then think about the value I received. Well, I got a couple clients so that’s X amount, and I was able to launch a course which will make Y amount, so I guess it was a good deal. 

But I realized that my coach has given me something so, so, so invaluable. 

I now have the confidence and skill to think bigger than I ever have, and I’m pretty sure you can’t place a price tag on that. 

1. Are you on the list? In our next email, I’m diving headfirst into the super awesome thing I’m launching starting early August 2019! You REALLY don’t want to miss this.

2. Can’t wait until the next email? Find out more here!

The number one thing I wanted when I was simultaneously growing a business and a baby was balance.

I wanted to have it all.

I wanted to be the best, most present stay-at-home mama to nurture my brand new baby AND I wanted to continue growing in my career.

The problem was, I had no idea what that actually looked like or how to make it happen.

This is probably because if you ask ten different people what work-life balance is, you will get ten different answers including “work-life balance means having it all” and “work-life balance doesn’t exist”. Even if you narrow your pool down to the niche group of entrepreneur moms that roll in the same circles as me, you would likely get a handful of different answers.

I have the answer to what “having it all” means. And it involves pie.

Your life is like a pie. Each slice of the pie is a different part of your life – kids, marriage, family, business, hobbies, fitness, friends, etc – but there is a finite amount of the pie every day. You get to determine how big or small to cut each slice every single day.

Having it all, and achieving that prized balance, is all about being okay (satisfied…happy even!) with the size of each pie piece at any given point in time.

For the first year of my daughter’s life, I focused my time, energy, and attention on her and on my business. I didn’t want to send her to daycare AND my business was at a growth point so I focused on serving my clients and making sure my baby was well taken care of.

That meant that my pie had two giant slices (baby and business) and everything else got crammed into the remaining sliver. My health and fitness were put on the back burner and I didn’t make my friends or hobbies or marriage a top priority because all of my human energy was spent on clients and the baby. There was only so much of me to go around and I made the conscious choice to give that energy primarily to my business and my daughter.

While it worked for me during that season, it wasn’t sustainable and I knew it.

So I made a shift.

I’ve added several talented women to my team to help shoulder the client load and my precious newborn has grown into an active toddler who goes to gym class and preschool and doesn’t need me to snuggle her 24/7 (I wish!) so those pieces of the pie have gotten smaller.

As a result, I’ve had room to grow other important parts of my life while still feeling like I have balance. My husband and I have had more time and energy to focus on our marriage by going on date nights and even getting away for a weekend, I have regular girls’ nights with my friends, and I’ve regained all the fitness I lost during pregnancy by making OrangeTheory classes a huge priority.

Oh, and I sleep 8 hours a night, every night.

My life isn’t perfect, and I’m often riddled with guilt too. Are my three days in the office enough for my clients, my business, and my team? Does my daughter get enough quality time with me? Should my husband and I be doing more date nights?

But when I look at the big picture, I believe I have achieved my ideal balance for this season.

Practically speaking, the most important thing I’ve done for my sanity, inner peace, and leadership ability is to establish a morning and afternoon routine. Our days often start with a whirlwind of activity and before we know it, we’re closing the laptop completely exhausted and ready to drown the stress of the day in a big bowl of pasta. Or maybe that’s just me?

Earlier this year I established a solid morning routine and by starting my day calmly, in the same way, each day, I am more focused and joyful and have less anxiety, especially around balancing work and family.

Similarly, by closing out my day with a similar routine, I leave my (home) office feeling accomplished, calm, and ready to take on the next day with peace and ease.

Morning

• I get up at the same time each day, early, and before my daughter (Why early? Check this out.)
• I spend at least ten minutes quietly journaling, reading, or meditating
• I don’t touch my phone or computer until I’m done (most of the time!)

Afternoon

• I plan tomorrow’s priorities and ensure they’re aligned with my big picture goals
• I update my to-do list accordingly, then cross at least one thing off
• I clean off my desk. Remove empty cups, stray post-its, and put everything in its place

As busy leaders changing the world and mamas raising our kiddos, we think we don’t have time for luxurious self-care but all it takes is a few intentional actions each day to bring us closer to balance.

1. Are you on the list? In our next email, I’m sharing the number one thing I did to build my business and achieve this balance. You can’t miss this one. (Click here to make sure you don’t!)
2. Want to hear the story live? I shared tons more in several recent guest podcast episodes. Check them out!
3. The 3 Day Workweek Podcast with Cailen Ascher
4. The 6 Figure Mompreneur Podcast
5. The Inspired Entrepreneur
6. TL;DR? I’m launching something awesome, starting early August 2019. Find out everything here!

I have a little secret.

I fell into finance.

I didn’t start out my career intending on being a CFO, an entrepreneur, or a number cruncher. I actually wanted to be a lawyer since I was 12 years old, and I lined up a legal assistant position at a huge law firm in New York City the minute I graduated college. It took me less than a year to realize that I couldn’t stand legal jargon and reading through massive reams of paper, but I felt totally lost as to what I did want to do. I kept pushing, though, and spent an entire summer studying for and taking the LSAT.

Just before law school applications were due, fate handed me an “operations” role at a nonprofit. My nonprofit leader friends chuckle because they know that “operations” means wearing every single hat and doing everything from post office runs and designing event brochures to grant reporting and board management, actually quite similar to entrepreneurship.

Guess what was also one of those things?

Finance.

I learned everything on the job, from budgeting and accounting to audits and tax forms. I did it the hard way. At first, I Googled my way through it all. I spent a lot more time than I had to on finance because I had nowhere else to turn.

Throughout the process, I happened to fall in love with all things financial management, so I supplemented my on the job experience with a Master’s in Public Administration, focusing on nonprofit finance, from New York University. I quickly moved my way up to the CFO of a global nonprofit organization before I turned 30 years old. I worked directly with the CEO and Board of Directors, I was leading a team of a dozen people around the globe, using the knowledge I gained from my Master’s Degree, and feeling incredibly fulfilled in my career. I was constantly learning, being handed more challenging tasks and increasing responsibilities, and truly thriving.

In between jetting off to Nepal, Haiti, and dozens of places in between, I had gotten married and my husband and I were trying to grow our family. After a year with no hint of a pregnancy, we visited a handful of doctors around the country, tried dozens of procedures, including multiple rounds of IVF with no success. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there was nothing wrong with either one of us; we had “unexplained infertility”.

I eventually decided to leave the job I loved so much. The amount of travel and stress I endured each month was surely not helping our struggle to have a baby, and in fact, it was probably holding us back. It was an incredibly difficult decision and I felt wildly torn between two identities as a potential mom and career woman.

I got another job at a local university. It was…fine. The people were nice and the job was easy, but I was unfulfilled, unchallenged, endured a daily two hour commute, and took a massive pay cut.

But just a few months after I changed jobs and significantly reduced my stress levels…I got pregnant! As my pregnancy progressed, I kept imagining what my life would look like after the baby arrived. The thought of bundling my precious little baby up in the cold, dark mornings, dropping her off at daycare, making a grueling commute in traffic to a dreary office where I spent half the day surfing the internet until 5pm because I’d already finished all my work, made me feel sick. Nothing about balancing career and motherhood seemed to make sense.

As I got closer and closer to my due date, I started to brainstorm how I might be able to use my decade of experience to do consulting work, so I could stay home with my little baby but also continue to earn money and do work I enjoyed.

I spent hours Googling how to start a business while I was at my day job but felt lost as ever and decided to hire a coach who’d been there, done that. Together we defined the type of work I could offer, who my ideal clients were, and how I could get them to hire me. During the last three months of my pregnancy, I worked double-time. I came home after my day job and sent dozens of emails to potential clients, refined my website portfolio, and eventually landed not one, not two, but three clients.

Knowing that I had three ongoing clients, I had the confidence to leave my current job and cruise into maternity leave with the knowledge that I never had to go back after six or eight weeks like many of my friends.

Since then, I’ve chosen to build my business, grow to multiple six figures in revenue, bring on more clients, and hire a team to help manage them, all while having childcare for my now 2.5 year old daughter just three days a week.

1. Are you on the list? In our next email, I’m pulling back the curtain to share how I’ve achieved the elusive work-life balance. Click here to make sure you receive the next installment to your inbox!
2. Want to hear the story live? I shared tons more in several recent guest podcast episodes. Check them out!
3. ​Influential Motherhood
4. 6 Figure Mompreneur
5. The Inspired Entrepreneur
6. TL;DR? I’m launching something awesome, starting in early August 2019. Find out everything here!

One of the most important things I’ve discovered to building my business is making sure I have the tools, resources, systems, and mindsets in place. These are also things we help our clients with because once we have a solid foundation in place, organizations can grow.

First up? MINDSET.

Are you one of the leaders I know who is trying to grow and create change but simultaneously operating their organization paycheck to paycheck? For a long time, I didn’t understand why people avoided their financials since playing around with numbers is fun for me. I didn’t understand why organizations were operating on a shoestring when there is a world of abundance out there.

But leaders told me again and again: Financials are scary. I haven’t looked at my numbers in months. I’ll feel guilty if I have too much money (for a myriad of reasons).

Why do we keep telling ourselves these things?

First, we are thinking from a place of scarcity. We believe there is a limited pot of resources (money, clients, donations, etc) so we create small goals and try and cram our expenses and impact in.

Second, we lack a growth mindset. Growth is necessary for survival AND impact. I know that every single person who’s made it this far is a purpose-driven leader and without impact, our work is pointless.

So! Here are a few tricks to love your numbers:

1. Stay curious. Nothing good comes when we’re stagnant (thinking about that murky pond of stagnant water I saw on my last hike – infested with buzzing mosquitoes and totally unfit to swim!). Impact doesn’t come from repeating what’s not working.
2. Keep your eyes on the future. “What are you doing today to ensure that you’ll still be here tomorrow? Strategizing and planning for increases, both financially and in terms of capacity, are critical success factors.” I love this because in order to ensure we will be here in 5, 10, 20 years, we need to make sure we have the balance sheet and income statement to support that.
3. Think like a business person. Know how to read your financial statements! Yes, yes, yes! (Want to be super savvy with your financials? Check out my article about insights hiding in your financial statements.)
4. Practice gratitude. This might seem a little woo-woo to some of you, but the simple act of writing down 5 things that you’re grateful for every day is a lovely reminder of how much you have and how much opportunity is available to you.

Are you ready to ditch the scarcity mindset and build your profit plan? Download our Profit Playbook here where you’ll get free budget and cash flow templates to help lay out your financials for the next 12 months!

A couple weeks ago I posted just four things to do each month to practically guarantee you rock your goals this year. Have you implemented your CEO day and these four action items yet?

Today I want to share with you behind the scenes of my own CEO day, so you can get a feel for how easy AND impactful it can be! Let’s crank up the Vivaldi (my get-it-done music of choice) and focus on the numbers.

First up: Complete my bookkeeping. Since I’m a numbers gal, I do all of my own bookkeeping in Quickbooks Online. And since I’m a complete nerd, I usually do my bookkeeping the moment my bank statements are available which is the first of the month.

Next up: Run my reports and update my forecast. (There are actual numbers in mine, don’t worry!) Using this template, I can easily see my revenue and expenses by month AND totaled for the whole year. As of the end of June, I’m still on track to meet my 2019 revenue goals but I’m hoping to decrease my expenses a bit – I made a TON of investments into the business last year and I’d like to increase my profit margin this year. One thing I’m excited about? I’m totally caught up on quarterly tax payments so far this year – last year I delayed them because, ICK, taxes.

Finally: I update my projections for the rest of the year. I’m able to see now that if I want to meet my 2019 revenue goals, I will need to ramp up my revenue starting in July.

And a bonus! I also use this time to look at other metrics in my business, including my number of email subscribers, email open rates, prospect pipeline, and Facebook ad performance. I have set aside this time to focus on the health of my business, and I encourage you to do the same, whatever the most important metrics in your organization may be.

If you need a tool to help you create a CEO day like mine, grab your FREE Profit Playbook here.