[00:00:00]fiona Johnston
e've made a lot of progress as a society in many of the areas that we needed to in the last few hundred years. But one thing that has not changed enough is money. If we want to be able to tip the scales towards the favor of marginalized people, we need to understand the secrets to making money in small business.he more we talk about money and the secrets that usually stay at the golf club, the more likely we are to be able to make money. My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically good business people like you. This is Money Secrets, the place to learn about the money secrets of successful small business owners.Because I believe small business can change the world. And in order to do that, we need to be making a lots of money. Let's go.
[00:00:51]
This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. And I'd like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work, and play on. I'd like to pay respects to elders, both past and present, and note that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was, and always will be. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
[00:01:26]
Hi there, it's Fi Johnston here from Money Secrets, the podcast. Now, a little while ago, I did something that I've never done before. I created a documentary. I invited eight of my clients to a gorgeous Airbnb in Seddon, Melbourne, and I asked them some really spicy questions about money.We turned that into a mini documentary called Lifting the Curtain. I had so much feedback about that documentary from small business owners, especially female small business owners. I thought that this would be the perfect place to kick off the Money Secrets podcast. In today's episode, you are going to be hearing from Jay Heraud.
[00:02:07] Jaye Heraud
My name's Jaye. I'm from Stitch Strategy. I'm the owner and founder and I, I like to help people figure out their digital world. So I help them build their websites. I help them figure out their digital marketing and their operations within their business.
[00:02:23] Fiona
Jay is a very experienced marketing and operations consultant. She has had multiple small businesses in her career and she currently works with small and medium business owners who are looking to enhance their digital marketing. Jay is also a friend, we share a co working space and she's also a member of Good Money Club. I love having her in the community, she always has such insightful things to share and one of the things that Jay talks about a lot in this episode is how she manages to balance being part of the sandwich generation. And I think a lot of people out there will really resonate with this idea that we don't all get to work full time in our business. And Jay has and is finding a way to make that work while still earning a great living for her and her family. I really hope you enjoy this episode and I'm thrilled you're here.
[00:03:28] Fiona
Have you felt judged, silly or ashamed about money?
[00:01:33] Jaye
Uh, I don't, I don't think judged, but maybe ashamed in, in a sense that maybe I earned a lot more at one point in time. And now that I'm running my own business, I am not earning that kind of money, but there's a lot of good trade offs in that. So I, you know, I guess it's one of those like secret shame things where you kind of nobody else knows.Nobody has any idea, but you know.
[00:03:57] Fiona
What is the biggest lie that you were told about money?
[00:04:02] Jaye
One of the lies you're told about money is that working hard will bring you more. That's not always the case.
[00:04:10] Fiona
How do you manage your money and how much money is in your bank account right now?
[00:04:14] Jaye
I manage my money on a weekly basis.
I do it on a Monday morning, first thing. Anything that's come into my income account. I split out into all of my other accounts, I think I've got five different ones. And that shows me my GST, uh, what I've got for my operating expenses, and what I've got for myself and my profit in my business. And Generally, I would pay myself when or whenever I need the money, like I'd transfer it over to my personal account.I know how much is in there as a whole and I know how much is in there for my income and for my operating expenses so that I can know what I can spend on my business.
[00:04:56] Fiona
What does it feel like to ask for money from a client?
[00:05:00] Jaye
I think, look, generally feels okay. I guess there's always that little dance as to whether they can afford where you're at with your, um, with your pricing. And you never know until you actually send that quote off and, and they're on board.
[00:05:14] Fiona
How much money did you expect to make in the first three years?
[00:05:19] Jaye
This one's an interesting one for me because I've, although I've only been in business for like technically a year in this business, I was in business prior to that. And in this business, I expected probably to make around the 50k mark for the first couple of years, mostly because I didn't want to be working too, too much, um, but wanted to be able to build it up to something that I could, uh, rely on later on. In my, in my very first business where I worked for myself, uh, we made next to no money for, for quite a long time.
nd that was really hard. So I had to support that with a part time job to make ends meet.
[00:05:59] Fiona
What has been your biggest money mistake?
[00:06:03] Jaye
I don't, I don't think I've made too many. I'm generally very cautious when it comes to money. I remember being given 20 bucks by my grandmother to play on the pokies and was horrified that, you know, I put that money in and it just disappeared.I think money is something that I've always had to work very hard for and I've watched my family members work very hard for and that definitely Is, um, like a, a risk that I don't want to take with money, so I try. not to make mistakes. And I, you know, I can't really think of one that I've made that's landed me in hot water.
[00:06:38] Fiona
Are you a successful business owner?
[00:06:26] Jaye
Yeah, I think I am. I make money. I think I have good branding. I have a really good sense of what I offer and what I can do for people. And Yeah, I like to think that I'm successful in my own little way. Success can look like so many different things and I've needed that pointed out to me several times because I was so hung up about my previous corporate life and what I was earning there and what I earned in my small business and that. Success now looks different for me to what it did when I was 20. I think you're always on a journey and life's always happening to you. There's things happening all the time. And whatever you're managing to do today is probably the best version you can put forward right now. I'm not trying to conquer the world.
I'm just trying to earn a living and live my life.
[00:07:15]Fiona
What is the best advice that you have been given about money?
[00:07:20] Jaye
The best advice I've been given about money is to save for a rainy day. To always put some aside for the unexpected because the unexpected can and will happen at some point. And the last thing you want to be worrying about is Your money and whether you can, you just wanna have the funds to be able to do that.
[00:07:40] Fiona
What has helped you to take action in your business?
[00:07:44] Jaye
I think that surrounding myself with good people, um, other business owners telling me that I can and I should, they've been really great to help me, you know, go and have that faith in myself to take that extra leap forward. I think that getting good advice is, is always really critical as
well. And. Knowing that when you are in a bit of trouble and maybe you need to take some action and take another leap that you can sort of confide in someone and say I've got this problem and They help you get through it. I think that's really important.
[00:08:18] Fiona
How much money did your business make and how much did you pay yourself last year?
[00:08:23] Jaye
I paid myself about 55 K last year. It was a lot less than I had hoped for, but it was a pretty good first year in a first year business. I'm still figuring out. It's about how I'm presenting myself to the world and exactly what I'm doing and what I like and what I don't like and how that looks. So as I reinvent and reshape things around my very complicated life, I am enjoying that I can bring that money in for myself without having to go and work a shitty job that would pay that kind of money. I have the flexibility around what I can do and I can manage my family life and my aging parents. It's all at the same time.
[00:09:07] Fiona
Something I really love from Jay's episode is how she talked about her definition of success. She talks about the fact that success now looks different from when she was in her 20s. Now as Jay shares in the episode, she is a mum of young children and she also has parents who are aging. She's part of the sandwich generation, like I imagine lots of people who are listening to this podcast. If we want to understand whether or not we are successful in our business, the first thing we need to do is realize success is individual. We all have different goals, different ways that we want to live our lives. We all have different capacity. We have different amounts of hours in the day that we're able to invest in our businesses or in work. And I think it's really important to understand that success is individual to you. Only you can decide what success looks like for you as a small business owner, perhaps as a parent, as a caregiver. It's up to you to decide. you want your business to look and it really doesn't matter whether that matches anybody else's definition of success, because they're living a different life from you. So let's stop this idea that success needs to look like a seven figure business and growth that happens every year.And let's remember that. We're all different. We all have different life circumstances and success for you could be completely different from what it looks like for me. And that's okay. I love that there is room for everybody and every different way of living life as a small business owner.
[00:10:45] Fiona
Thank you so much for listening right up to the end.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Money Secrets. where we talk about the money secrets of successful small business owners. If you enjoyed the episode, I'd love it if you subscribe to the podcast, but leave us a review or share this episode with one of your friends. I hope you learned something. I hope you got a new perspective and I really hope you enjoyed the listening experience.
