ep. 028 • Why I Chose to Hire a Financial Coach

Chelsea: Welcome to the Hennapreneur podcast – the exclusive podcast of its kind dedicated to giving you an honest look at the realities of making a living as a henna professional.

I'm your host, Chelsea Stevenson, a tea-loving, shoe-collecting mother of three in constant search for the most popping pair of earrings and the perfect shade of red lipstick.

I'm also a professional henna artist and business strategist who went from barely being able to piece together a fluid design to being the owner of the most celebrated henna boutique in my city.

I'm on a mission to help henna professionals, to harness their skills and grow vibrant, profitable businesses that they absolutely love.

If you want to make more money with your art, you are definitely in the right place. Let's get to it!

Hey hey hennapreneurs! So, today I am sharing with you about my experience with money specifically through the lens of a big investment that I made last year. I decided towards the... what was.... it would have been the third quarter. Yeah. So it was towards the end of the year. It was in the third quarter of 2020.

I made the decision to invest in hiring a financial coach. And this was something that if you would have asked me if I'd ever consider hiring a financial coach, I probably would have laughed you out of town. Like, that's not something that had ever been on the horizon for me. It's not something that I'd even really given much thought to until last year.

And so I want to kind of share with you guys about what that experience was like for me and what got me there and how things are with that now after having completed my program with her. And then... Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of maybe golden nuggets in this little chat.

So, let me kind of set the stage for you, okay? So that we're all having this clear baseline of how I even got here, okay. So, prior to—. So, you guys know I've been in business since 2011.I went full-time in 2014. And I always to be com—. To be honest, I've always felt confident in my bookkeeping skills for my business.

As it relates to the business itself, I have never wavered. Like, I've never felt like, ooh, I don't know what I'm doing. That part has always been clutch. But I've never felt—oh gosh, this is so vulnerable—I've never felt that same sense of confidence as it relates to my personal finances, okay.

So, for context,  my professional experience prior to opening a business was in social work. But what many people don't know about me is that before I was a social worker, I actually worked in the restaurant industry. I managed a restaurant. I was the GM for a particular restaurant for some years.

And, my experience, my professional experiences, meant that I was very familiar with cashflow, with sales reporting, with expense management, with inventory, with, you know, having a profit and loss. Like, those were things that were constantly a part of my workload, right? And so I was responsible for how well my restaurant did financially. And that meant maintaining payroll and like, all of the things, all of the things that are relative to how a business operates from a financial perspective. My eyes were on those numbers because I was personally responsible for those numbers.

And at the end of each month, I would have a meeting with the supervisor, or in some cases, I'd have a meeting with the owner, where I would have to go over those numbers line item by line item and explain what happened here or what's going on there and how I might have a suggestion for something that we can do differently or where I dropped the ball, perhaps, and how I was going to fix it.

I was very, very familiar with cashflow and I was very, very familiar with money and finance as it relates to business. But I did not have experience like that in my personal life at all.

So for me, in my personal experience as I stepped into adulthood, and I should preface this by saying I graduated high school, like two... Basically, I was 14. I turned 15, like two weeks before I graduated. And so because I graduated high school so early, while I was in my senior year I also was dual-enrolled in university. So like, I'm doing high school and I'm doing university and then I graduate and then I go into university full-time. I'm in university and I'm running the restaurant. And I ran the restaurant for—. I was in restaurant management for years. But it started from that actually being my first job.

I started working in the restaurant at 14 and just quickly made my way up through the ranks until I got into upper management because I was an over performer. I was the top performer. I've always had that characteristic about me. And so, yeah.

So, to give you some context, I came out of high school, went into university, and started managing these restaurants. I'm in university and as I was approaching my 18th birthday, my family moves. And so at that point now I'm totally financially independent. And I didn't have a clue what I was doing. 

Prior to that, I had kind of a weird sort of experience around money. My eldest son's father and I had somewhat shared finances. We rented a room and we maintained ourselves in that way. And then when my family left, my mother owned a home. And so when she left, she left the home to me to rent. And so we moved from the other place that we were renting and we moved over to my mother's home and rented that from her. And it was not a good experience. Like, it was not a good experience.

I did not have personal financial literacy. And I was getting paid good money at the time. Like, for someone of my age with no children and with no real responsibility, the salary that I was making as a GM should have been enough to cover all of the things and I should not have been experiencing the difficulty that I was having, but I just didn't know. I literally didn't know.

And so as I moved on in life and, you know, I obviously moved on to get married to my now-husband, went on to have kids, moved from the restaurant industry into the social work, and then into owning my own business. Like, my experiences grew. And from a business perspective, I felt really comfortable. Like, I never had a time or a space inside of my business—. Even, literally, when I first started my business, I started my business, and like, I hit profit. I was bringing money in. I was in the black immediately because I knew how to work those numbers in that arena.

But from a personal side, on the personal side, I did not feel at all that I was capable. I was totally un-confident I didn't know the things, right? I didn't know the things. And so I was making this money and like, kind of floating with it. Like, I was making this money and I was maintaining my business and I was maintaining my bills for the household and like, that was fine. I wasn't short. I was like, things were working, cashflow was working because I understood those sorts of pieces, but I just never had savings. I constantly felt like I had to check my account before making a purchase. Like,I just didn't have the know-how on the personal side.

And so, basically what happened is that last year I reached a place where I was like, I can't keep faking this. Like, I need some guidance. And I had to be really nonjudgmental with myself because, for me, I felt like I was living two separate identities inside of my business. I'm having this great success and my business is making this wonderful revenue and things are going great. And then on the personal side, I'm like looking at my accounts. I'm like, where's it going? Like, literally, that's exactly what I was dealing with.

I realized last year, 2020, I realized that I was making more money than I had ever made before. My business was performing beautifully. But I felt like if I moved any amount of that money over into my personal accounts, it would just disappear. Like, it would just vanish into thin air. And I didn't know why or how. Like, I couldn't find a rhyme or reason to it. And I didn't know how to make the connection.

I feel like this was the other piece. I didn't feel like I knew how to make the connection between my business's finances and my personal finances in a healthy way. Like, I didn't know what to do with the money. Once I paid myself out of my business—. Which, that's a whole 'nother thing. Like, you really should; as you're building your business,  you want to build it in such a way that you're paying yourself a salary and all of those things. Like, that's super important.

But, for me, there I was like, I'm paying myself and then it was gone. Like, then what? Right? And so what it came down to was, I ran a report. So, obviously, for the beginning portion of 2020, my business was closed down just with the coronavirus lockdowns and so forth. And when I reopened, I reopened with a massive boom. Like, it was a boom and I wasn't expecting that. And I had my first 5-figure months, plural, inside of the pandemic after reopening my business.

And at that point, when I ran the numbers and I saw them for what they were, I was super excited. First. Obviously, I'm super excited. I'm like, yes! I'm making bank! I was also terrified because I literally would have the money from this revenue that I was generating inside of my business and I would just leave it in the account. Like, I would just leave it in my business accounts because I'm like, I don't want to transfer that over to my personal.  Like, I don't trust myself to know what to do with this. And that's what it came down to. I didn't know what I didn't know. And I had to coach myself through why that was okay, right?

What happened is that there was an instance where I was homeschooling my daughter. I was working on a particular activity with my daughter—my middle daughter, my six-year-old—and, she was struggling with some reading. Like, these concepts in some reading that we were doing. And my daughter is very much like me. That one specifically, she's like me times 10, both in the best traits about me and the worst traits about me. This one is not one of the greatest.

She's very proud. Which is a great thing. I love for her to be proud in herself and of herself. But of course, pride can sometimes also be a deterrent, right? It can cause us to get in our own ways because our pride will keep us from asking for the help that we need.

And so I can see that she's having this challenge reading and at the same time, she doesn't want to ask for help because of her pride. And I don't want to overstep boundaries and hurt her pride and then cause her to shut down further, right?

And so I kind of pull her aside and I told her, "I don't know if what I'm going to say is helpful to you, but I want to tell you something that maybe you didn't know."

And she's like, "What?" And she's rolling her eyes, the whole nine, you know?

And I told her, "Sometimes when we're learning something new, It can be really scary because we feel like we might look stupid or people might think badly of us or that we're not good enough. Or we can just feel lots of different things. And none of those things, maybe, feel good to us at the time. And so, because we're struggling with learning that new information or those new skills, instead of trying to do it, we just kind of give up and we throw up our hands. But what's interesting is that in order to learn, you must not know. If you're going to learn something, you can't already know it. That is the requirement for learning. That is the definition of learning, right? Going from a place of not knowing to a place of knowing."

 And so, of course, I'm talking to her about this in the context of her reading. And as I was speaking to her, I was hearing my own words and I was like, oh Lord, Chelsea! Like, get your life!

 And so we finish up her schoolwork and whatnot, and I take to my professional networks. And I'm like, who do I know? Who do I know who's either working as a financial coach or has access to a financial coach?

Actually, to be completely honest, that wasn't even the question that I asked. The question that I asked was: I'm looking for someone to help me with my finances and I don't even know what this type of person is. Can someone please tell me what type of person I'm looking for? I need someone who can help me do X, Y, and Z.

I literally, you guys, I'm sharing this with you because—. And this is vulnerable and this is like, you know, risking embarrassment or whatever. I don't care. Because you know what? I didn't come out of the womb knowing everything and, likely, you did not either, right?

I had to put myself out there and be willing to feel embarrassed when asking the question. But I'm like, if I don't ask the question, I'm never going to get the answer.

I didn't even know what type of person I was looking for because I didn't have the knowledge or the context or the knowing, the literacy, to be able to express my needs. That's how far in I was, right? And that's normal. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that.

And I think that it's so important for us to give ourselves grace when we don't know a thing, because when that happens, you have two choices: you can stay there and continue to not know the things, or alternatively, you can choose to continue to learn. You can choose to push yourself. And in pushing yourself, you can find the answers.

So, literally, I go to my professional networks and I reached out to a handful of friends and I reached out to a group of women that I'm connected with, and I said, "Y'all, who am I even looking for? Am I looking for a financial analyst? Am I looking for a strategist of some sort? Am I looking for our money coach? Like, I don't need a bookkeeper. I know that part. I need to find someone who's going to help me clearly understand the financial health of my personal goal, like, my personal accounts, and how to strategize to reach my personal goals. Because right now I'm handling money fine over here inside of my business, but once it comes over into this personal zone, I don't know, I don't know what I don't know."

And in asking that question, which was embarrassing to me at the time to ask, but once I asked that question, I got all sorts of responses and I got all sorts of suggestions. And it was really, really helpful for me, right? And so I spoke to a handful of different people. I interviewed a handful of different people. Finally, I settled on hiring one particular woman who really, she was excellent. My experience with her was really great, but I wouldn't have even gotten there had I not spoken those words to my daughter and had to take, you know, a dose of my own advice that in order to learn, you must not know, right?

So I ultimately made the investment. I chose to work with her. I hired her on. I went through a program with her. And I have to tell you, the results for me have been amazing. Like, I feel so much more in control of my finances than I ever have before, because now I have systems for my money. Investing in getting help meant that I could better make decisions in my finances because I didn't feel like I was kicking around ideas in the dark. Now I know exactly what to do with my money.

It goes through its processes on the business side as normal, but then once it reaches my personal checking account, I now have a plan for what happens to it when it's there too. And this is the first time that I've ever had that experience in my adult life because, again, you know, coming up,  financial literacy was not a thing that was taught to me. And because I became independent very, very early on in my, not even adulthood, in my teens, I didn't have those lessons.

And so I'm learning them, right? There are things that I'm still learning today and that feels really good. Honestly, it feels really good.

Now I feel open. I'm open to what I don't know. Obviously, in working with her, I didn't learn everything there is to know about personal finances, right? Like, I'm still no expert in personal finance, but I also don't claim to be, right? There's still so much to learn and I'm excited to learn it now because I feel confident and capable of navigating those conversations, whereas before I didn't even feel like I spoke the language, you know what I mean?

So like, with this new knowledge and this new sense of empowerment in place, I'm no longer overwhelmed by money. Like, I'm excited by it now and I'm hopeful to make—. Like, I'm shy to even say this here on the podcast, but I'm hopeful to make some pretty significant purchases in 2021 — purchases that I would have not ever dared to think about making this time last year, much less trying, or considering doing that alone. Doing that, you know, without my husband, without a co-signer, without... like, doing that just by myself on the strength of my own personal finances. And I feel excited about that because I know that I'm capable, right?

I know that I now have the resources and I have the support that's available to me to make it happen, that support that I need, and that feels really good.

So why am I sharing all of this with you?

Well, I am opening myself up to all sorts of... I don't know. Like, I have no idea how this is going to land — if there's going to be criticism or if this is going to resonate with you. Hopefully it resonates with you and you can see yourself in my story. If not, that's okay too, but I share this for the person who can see themselves in my story.

And for you, I've got some advice: don't be afraid to invest in the ways that you need to in order to increase your chances of success, okay? I'm going to repeat that. Don't be afraid to invest in the ways that you need in order to increase your chances of success.

I have held for myself a story about my ability to manage money for years, and that story did not serve me. Literally my entire adult life I have felt like I can totally hold it together with the money in my business, but I would be a failure as soon as it hit my personal account and that did not serve me at all. Bringing in someone else's expertise and experience was all it took to help me to unpack that and to rewrite that story. And for the first time in my life, I feel so open and I feel so excited and willing—right?—to receive. And prepared. Prepared — that's an even a better word. I feel so prepared to receive what abundance I am creating for myself through the hard work that I'm doing every single day, right?

And so, for you, as you consider your own experience, I want you to ask yourself where you are holding yourself back when perhaps just investing in the right help that you need is all it would take to yield the breakthrough that you're looking for.

You don't have to have the answers to everything. You don't have to know everything. You just have to know where to go to find those answers. And investing in expert guidance is a great way for you to do that, okay? You are deserving of that. And so I want to encourage you to do it and that's, like, that's the takeaway.

If you hear nothing else from me today, please hear that. You're deserving of it, so invest where it benefits you. Invest in those things that are in alignment with where you want to go and who you want to be because you are worth it. You're deserving of it. All right. I'll talk to you guys next time.

I've got a serious question for you:  are you ready to stop playing small with your art and to take your business to the next level?

Are you tired of feeling like you're doing it all to grow your business, but you just aren't seeing the results and the success that you're looking for?

Perhaps you've got clients here and there, but you know inside that your potential expands far beyond what your business is generating today. You may know that you're a solid artist, but you can't seem to crack the code on the business side of things, and you may find yourself wondering, "What gives?!"

If any of this sounds like you: Listen up! Because I've got some really great news for you.

I've got a free, on-demand masterclass called 5-Figure Foundations where I'll teach you my framework for how to build a profitable henna business. During the masterclass you'll learn how to position your henna business for success -- even if you don't have any background in practical business management. You're going to learn the critical steps you need to take in order to get your budding business started off right or to correct the broken one that's burning you out.  You're going to learn why you need systems, not feelings, to make more money and to expand your business. We're going to get real clear, real fast about how you're likely getting in your own way right now, and how you can remove the frustrations that are holding you back.

I'm also going to share my tried and true framework for establishing a profitable, sustainable business, and I'm going to tell you all about how my students are continuing to grow their businesses and celebrating some pretty big wins in the process, even through those everyday challenges that you might expect, like juggling work and home life, and even those massive challenges that you might've never seen coming, like navigating a pandemic while being a business owner.

At the end of the masterclass, you'll no longer be in the dark. You'll know exactly what to do and what to avoid, to build a solid foundation for your own profitable henna business. To register for the masterclass and to watch it instantly on demand, visit Hennapreneur.com/foundations.