20. Wellness Economy: The Currency of Rest, Balancing Profit, Sabbaticals, and Motherhood w/ Madison Brown

I'm absolutely excited about today's podcast guest, Madison Brown! Madison is the CEO and founder of Madison Dearly Bookkeeping, a fantastic team that helps female brands and online business owners with their finances. We've known each other since our days at marketing summer camp, and it's been incredible watching her journey of growth online!

Madison isn't just all about business - she's also a devoted wife and a mom of two... And, did you know she WON the title of Miss New Mexico? With a background in accounting, Madison thought she had her career path all figured out. But after her second baby, she felt a strong pull for something different. So, she took a brave step into entrepreneurship, and now, she's loving every bit of running her own vibrant business!

During our chat today, Madison and I covered everything from bookkeeping tips for business owners to deeper topics like burnout, taking breaks, and sabbaticals (she recently took her first month-long break!). We also talk about the emerging concept of 'Wellness Profit' and how to keep your business healthy and thriving. Plus, we share some simple tricks to improve your bookkeeping right away.

I want to give a big shoutout to Madison for having the courage to put her own self and well-being first. It's not always easy, especially for moms juggling entrepreneurship, motherhood, and wellness. Asking for help is super important, and Madison's journey is truly inspiring.

If you're in need of bookkeeping help, definitely reach out to Madison and her team. Or, consider joining her membership program to get a handle on your business finances with ease!


Check out Madison’s Business Bookkeeping Club Membership HERE
Connect with Madison on Instagram @madisondearly
Follow Madison on YouTube
Learn more about working with Madison by visiting her website
Check out Xero accounting software for bookkeeping

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Connect with me on Instagram
Learn more about booking a Biz Therapy session and working together by visiting my website

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Made for Mothers podcast, your one-stop shop for candid and relatable conversations about motherhood and entrepreneurship. Think of this show as your new mom friend, where we dive into all things marketing, branding, mindset, money, childcare and growing your business while we all navigate our roles as both CEO and mom. I'm your host, mariah Stockman, and I wear a bunch of hats. I'm a boy mama, I'm serving as a marketing mentor for mothers, I'm running a six-figure marketing agency and, on top of that, I'm the proud founder of the Made for Mothers community. This show is about sharing the real stories and the practical strategies from fellow mother-run businesses. So dive in, grab your headphones, reheat that coffee and let's go.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Made for Mothers podcast. I am your host, mariah Stockman. I'm a boy mom, I'm a marketing and business mentor for moms in business and I am a very proud founder of'm a marketing and business mentor for moms in business, and I am a very proud founder of the Made for Mothers community, which is just growing and growing and growing. So yeah, get on board. I am so excited that I have Madison Brown with me today. Hi, madison, hello, madison is the CEO and founder of Madison Dearly, which is a bookkeeping team serving female brands and business professionals in the online space.

Speaker 1: 1:30

I love everything about Madison Brown. Let me tell you, gosh, gosh, gosh, madison and I met so many years ago. She was a part of my marketing summer camp. She was a part of my marketing summer camp and I have just been able to watch her business grow and pivot and expand in so many cool, beautiful ways in this online space. You now have this niche. You're on YouTube, you're doing this, you have a membership oh my gosh, and you have two kids. So, hi, madison, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2: 2:03

Hello, thank you. Oh my gosh, even when you were just talking, this like growing and expanding and kind of like, I was envisioning like a yoga flow where, like we start at the bottom, we kind of expand, we're stretching, we're building ourselves. It really does feel like my business has done that over the past four years, where it started as something and now it's kind of evolved into like what my body and what my family and what my clients need and it's just been so beautiful. I've loved every second of it as hard as the hard seconds are, yeah, all the hard seconds in between.

Speaker 1: 2:35

I am so excited we're going to talk about a couple of different things today and something that, like a phrase that you've coined, no pun intended bookkeeping funds. It's this concept of wellness profit and this whole conversation around ownership and owning our motherhood, our businesshood, our mental health, our space, our whatever transitions our businesses take, just stepping into it and owning it and having the confidence whether that be the confidence to look at our numbers hello, bookkeeping. The confidence to outsource, the confidence to take time off, the confidence to, you know, be fully in your motherhood. Yeah. So wellness profit before we, like you know, really get into what that means, because I'm sure there's so many women who hear that term and they're like, yes, please sign me up. Tell us about you. Who are you? Who are you in this world? What do you do, what do you love? Tell us about your kids, let's get into it.

Speaker 2: 3:36

Oh my gosh. Okay, Well, let's start about where. Let's start with where I am now.

Speaker 1: 3:41

Yes, let's, let's, let's where I am now.

Speaker 2: 3:44

I'm 32 years old, I'm the mother of Sadie, who is five, and Nolan, who is three. I homeschool them full time, so they're with me all day, every day, and it's been kind of this like how do we want this to look? What is our rhythm in life? I really just wanted to slow down, which is why we made that choice to do that. I wanted life to feel more spacious, so got those two kids.

Speaker 2: 4:09

I've been married to my husband for nine years. We met two-stepping in a country bar, so I just feel like it's a fun little fact. Oh my God, I love that. Love my marriage, love that we get to still cherish date nights. We still like each other.

Speaker 2: 4:25

And then I started Madison Dearly Bookkeeping four years ago. I got my first client actually next month, so it'll be four years next month and it has, just, like I said, grown, evolved, shifted, changed. I've added offerings, I've taken away some offerings, so it's been really fun. I keep rephrasing this in my mind. I don't know why this phrase keeps coming up, but I feel like business is just a game that I'm learning how to play better. I'm kind of refining my skills and it's all just kind of this fun game. So I don't know, that's a reframe in my mind that I feel like I've had lately. But yeah, other than where it stands now, my life has been wild. I've lived a full like four lives. I feel like I grew up as a competition dancer. I was Miss New Mexico and competed for Miss America. I went to a performing arts school.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Do you guys hear that? Like how wild, like how wild is that? Can we just take like a moment and say this is the first. You were the first pageant queen on the show, so like welcome, welcome, thanks, honored Keep going.

Speaker 2: 5:32

No, I am really proud of that, but it was so long ago. I was 18 years old. I was a version of myself that is so different from now, who I am as a mom, as a business owner, just really maturing and stepping into this peak season of my life. But yeah, miss America was wild. I got to meet Chris Harrison from the Bachelor. That was super fun. There were so many fond memories of that. I also. My platform was domestic violence awareness. So, as Miss New Mexico, I spent the entire year speaking to hundreds of kids, teens, adults, domestic violence survivors, sharing my story, in hopes that if even one person leaves a toxic relationship and changes their life and changes the course of where, the trajectory of where their life is going, then I did my job as Miss New Mexico. The whole year was worth it, even if it was for one person to say, hey, she did it. Maybe I can too.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Beautiful. So where are we now? I mean no, literally, like let's talk about. Where are we now, though? In your business it starts with an S Sabbatical I don't know why I blinked there for a second.

Speaker 2: 6:49

Yes, I'm on a sabbatical right now. I mean kind of jumping on where I just landed. Yeah, having this trauma. At 17 years old, I feel like I've had this trauma kind of building over time Lots of things happening from the span of 17 to 32 and starting this business, loving it, having this huge like vibrance and sense of creativity. And now, after 2023, being one of the hardest years of my life I realized I just needed to do it. I just needed to sit, I needed to exhale, I needed to cleanse, and I'm doing it. And going back to wellness profit. I needed to exhale, I needed to cleanse, and I'm doing it. And going back to Wellness Prophet.

Speaker 2: 7:28

I built this team for this moment, for this reason to be able to take care of myself, take care of my family. That believes in the work that I do for my children as just as important as the bookkeeping work that I do every single month for our clients, for our team, and we do that for each other. There's very much a push and pull. A lot of my team went through trauma last year or breakups, family things, so much that went on and I stepped in for them too. So there's very much this like dynamic. We are each other's village and when my lead bookkeeper came to me and was, like make a week, two weeks, take a month, just do it. We got this for you, like we will do this for you, and it has been huge to be able to just kind of, like I said, exhale, take time for myself, really focus on self-care.

Speaker 2: 8:23

I I have never, like I have not eaten as clean as I've eaten in the past, like week and a half as I have like all of 2023. So I'm really like focusing on myself, like moving my body, treating myself well, meditating, journaling. These things just haven't happened for me in the past year, and now they are, and it was my chance to really like connect with myself, rediscover who I am, what I love, what the vision is for the next couple of years. So, yeah, sabbatical is going great. I mean, as of this recording, we're halfway through, so I've got the rest of March 2024 to figure out what I want, what my next steps are. Do you feel like?

Speaker 1: 9:02

okay, first of all, just taking a minute to like honor the fact that that must've been a really. I can only imagine that things must've felt so burnt out to get to the place where you said to yourself or someone reflected back and gave you permission to think right, hey, I'm going to take a full month sabbatical. So my guess is is things must. As a mom, as a business owner, as someone who you know, moms, we all it's very typical for us to just like take on the world. We got it, we'll just get whatever needs to get done. We're going to do all the coordinating, all the mental load, all of it, all the business. We're just going to like push through, push through, push through all the mental load, all of it, all the business. We're just going to like push through, push through, push through.

Speaker 1: 9:47

My assumption is is that it must've gotten really, really hard leading up to that decision and burnout is so, so real and like what a courageous moment you had in yourself to be like wait a minute, am I allowed to do this Right? Like this whole concept of permission, of like owning it, of owning the fact that. Am I allowed to just do this like full stop? Like where are we being told that that's okay out in the world, right?

Speaker 2: 10:19

Yeah, when you describe that level of burnout, because it was low. My wellness profit was low. I was not taking care of myself, I wasn't purposefully taking care of my marriage or my family. I was so dry, for lack of a better word. I had nothing left to give. And now, being on sabbatical, I'm not marketing. I'm not on Instagram right now, I'm not writing any emails, I'm not sending invoices, I'm not on sales calls. So my revenue might be lower and my expenses might be higher because my team is taking care of everything. Yeah, but right before we got on this call, maria, what did I say?

Speaker 1: 11:02

I said you're like this is the fullest, best version of Madison you're ever going to get on this call, maria. What did I say? I said you're like this is the fullest, best version of Madison you're ever going to get on this call Like let's go.

Speaker 2: 11:10

Yes, yes, my wellness profit is finally like you can't see me, people, but I'm doing the thing with my hand where, like revenue goes up, like my wellness profit is, like on that chart, it's finally finally starting to like see that incline. And that's what I mean by wellness profit. And they're not always one or the other. Your financial profit is high and your wellness profit is low, or vice versa. They can be both. But the thing about wellness profit is it is so much more important If you are whole, if you are happy, if you are spiritually full, if you are connected to yourself and your purpose and your value and your mission, everything else falls into place after that.

Speaker 2: 11:52

So I think that sometimes financial profit can take a hit for a second. If you build yourself up and then naturally everything just falls back into place. You are energetically higher, your creativity is higher. New offerings, if you want them, just falls back into place. You are energetically higher, your creativity is higher. New offerings, if you want them, and naturally you start to just show up from a place of being whole, yeah, and trusting yourself.

Speaker 1: 12:14

Can you define wellness profit for us? We're talking, I mean, we're talking, we're kind of talking about it already, but what, how do you define it for folks?

Speaker 2: 12:24

Sure, I actually never have. It really just has been in this context of conversations where I'm talking to my clients in our quarterly calls and we're looking at their financials and they're realizing their profit is really low. They bring in enough revenue to just cover their expenses, or their expenses might be really high. They might have a big team that they manage or they might have a lot of investments like masterminds or education things that they're investing in right now, and they're looking at their bottom line and it's very low. They don't have much to pay off debt or pay themselves or take home whatever it may look like it's hard to get ahead.

Speaker 2: 13:00

Yes, but my response to them has turned into kind of this wellness profit conversation of, well, did you buy back your time? Like, are you happy, Are you enjoying this? And the answer is always yes Because, as moms which a lot of my clients are moms they're realizing I now have this time to do what I need to do with my kids, or we pulled them out of daycare because I now have that time to be able to be with them. So we're saving money on the home front, Whereas I might be spending a little bit more on the business side, but saving money on the home front. But we're well, like our well is full, and although the business profit may be low, I'm happy. So that was kind of where that conversation started.

Speaker 2: 13:39

If I really had to define it, which I never have, yeah, I would say that wellness profit is kind of the same like equation as business profit. You've got your revenue minus your expenses equals profit. So you're pouring more into your bucket than what you're taking out. So you are, you know, adding to your life. You've got your, your movement, your hydration, your stress management, your nutrition, like all that that's good for you. You're putting more and more into your bucket, in that sense, and taking less out of it when it comes to gosh this is really the first time I've defined this You're taking more out that doesn't matter as much as we think it is, as much as we think it does and giving to things that are aligned with who you want to be as a person.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Yeah, and how do you want to show up in your business, how you want to show up for yourself, how you want to show up in your relationships, how you want to show up in your motherhood? I mean, moms, myself included, we just put ourselves last so much. We're so far down the so hard to get into a routine right, a routine of a concrete lifestyle where we're prioritizing what we need so that way we can show up fully in all of these hats that we have and like all these spinning plates and all these balls in the air. I mean, it's just so much of so much all the time, and without that solid foundation of wellness profit, I love that. Everything else just feels like it's going to like be like a house of cards or it's so fragile or it's going to crumble.

Speaker 1: 15:22

You know when we're not the priority, but I think we're also told that that is selfish. Like it's selfish for me to want to go take, you know, a night with a friend in a hotel and like order room service and watch the Bachelor and like not be on right Bunny ears quotations, like not be on right bunny ears quotations, like not be on all the time. And something you and I talked about, is you know, before we hit record, is you know, as moms, as women, like our hormones are designed so differently for the process of becoming moms and the process through birthing babies like we, we have such internal healing that needs to come and needs to happen, and fatigue is such a common sign from every mom. And if we're not prioritizing, if we're not seeing other people prioritize it, then where are we being told like this is okay, prioritize it. Then where are we being told like this is okay, like where is that permission coming from? So I just I'm so excited to hear that this about this like sabbatical I'm, so I love when someone's like I take up, I did a, I pivoted, I burned down a business, I'm on sabbatical, you know, just doing these things that maybe from the outside might look like, oh, like I've failed, or I took on too much right, I took on too much and I couldn't manage it right, and that's not true.

Speaker 1: 16:51

That's not true. That's not true at all. That's not what happened. What happened was life and business and motherhood are really hard and you did the hardest thing by saying I'm going to stop for a second right. Oh my gosh, madison, wellness, profit, wellness profit. So you're halfway through your sabbatical, so how are you going to take what you're learning and integrate it into your day-to-day life when business kind of starts back up, or will it be? Will it not look like business as usual?

Speaker 2: 17:33

I don't know, and that's just the honest answer. It's only been a week and a half that I've been doing this and I've honestly, up until this point, thought I'm not going to think about that, I'm just going to take care of myself to the best of my ability, more than I ever have for the past year. I was actually laying on my bed, arms stretched, like the kids were in the baths, in their baths, and I looked at my husband or I didn't look at him because my head was back and I said how is business going to come back into that? How is this going to work? Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm thinking and I'm not advised about it. And he was like, don't think about that yet.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Of course I'm like, but I envision I don't know the how yet I will get there but in my mind I envision spaciousness. I envision slowing down, meeting my needs, meeting my kids' needs, and I think I need a little bit of help, because I went from five days a week full-time daycare to zero days a week, right, absolutely full-time daycare to zero days a week Right, absolutely Full-time homeschool, doing lesson planning all of the stuff myself.

Speaker 2: 18:43

And there has to be a little bit of balance. So I'm thinking maybe some type of like part-time nanny or like Mother's Day out once a week, something small, where I can just fill up myself or work on my business if I really need to, or also reminding myself too that just because my kids see me working and I may not have my 100% focus on them, if they are independent, having their independent play, they are witnessing a mom who loves her business and loves herself and loves her kids. That's what they're getting to witness and they're getting to see. They know that they're loved. I never, ever, ever let them feel like this is more important than them or my phone is more important to them. That's super. I'm hyper aware of those things. So juggling both is going to feel, or juggling, I mean not even both.

Speaker 2: 19:36

All three, whatever how many buttons I'm here right now is going to feel chaotic, I'm sure, again at first, but I want to retain this spaciousness and retain back to wellness profit, retain this feeling of taking care of myself, because we've all had that feeling when we look at our bank account and there's $200 in there and we're like, oh my gosh, how did our expenses get so high? How did we spend so much? What are we even spending our money on? That's what my clients come through a lot of like I don't even know where I'm spending, I don't even know what my numbers are. We've had those moments of kind of panic of I just feel like I'm bleeding money right now, and that's the same thing with wellness profit. I don't want to just bleed, give and give and give self-sacrificially. I want to give so much to myself for I mean, oh, it's so cliche now, but I'm really getting it and I'm pouring so much in my bucket that it's just overflowing.

Speaker 2: 20:32

There's plenty in that bank account to give as much as I can to everything else that's demanded of me, that I chose to be demanded of me, right.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Right and you've set yourself up for success. I mean, you outsource, you have a team. Childcare is the best investment I've ever made in my business. We have a nanny. I have 20 hours a week of childcare. It never feels like enough, but it also feels like I get to record this.

Speaker 1: 20:56

Like, for example, I get to record this podcast right now and I'm looking out my window and I have like two acres in front of my window and I'm watching my son run up and down, up and down, up and down this hill with our nanny, julia, who I love so, so, so much. It's like studying marketing. I mean, come on, like that's like the most like amazing thing and she like loves us, she loves my son, she loves our family, we love her. And I just I get to, I get to watch him and I get to record this podcast for an hour. I get to jump out of the office. He gets to. He's always, he always comes in at the end of the podcast. He always knocks on the door and then I get to dip out and I get to, like go outside and play with him and I get to give him lunch. I get to put him down for sleep every single day.

Speaker 1: 21:45

Again, I have a single child, so the juggle is a little less compared to moms with multiples. But this is a choice, right, that investment in that nanny is a part of my wellness profit, because I find myself to be a better mom when I have the time and space to work on my business. I'm a better business owner when I have the time and space to be with my kid. Like, it goes both ways, like I want. I don't want to miss anything and I know that I will miss things. I just I don't want to be forced into a corner of you have to miss this, right, like so people, it's weird.

Speaker 1: 22:13

People ask us all the time like was he going to go to daycare? And I'm like no, like, like is he supposed to? I don't know. I just want him home with me. You know, like eventually he'll go to some like farm preschool. I love that and we want to homeschool too, but it's it's interesting to me that like the level of sacrifice that we've had to make to get to what we have. But it's still. I still feel like I don't have enough time with him. I still like I don't have enough time with my business, and that is just man, that is just. That's just the path, that's the path. But I'm so inspired by this Like so inspired.

Speaker 2: 22:46

Good. Yay. I was even, just as you were talking to us, realizing it's very similar to that point in our business. When you hire a VA and you finally have someone like triaging your inbox for you and maybe even responding to emails for you, what does that do for you as a business owner? That frees up your time to then ideate, create, show up on Instagram, create new offers. It frees up your time to then do revenue generating activities Right. Same thing with a nanny, which is, I'm like preaching to the choir because you know, a couple of minutes ago I was like I think I need a part-time nanny because the more that that is something that's taken care of and I know it's taken care of by someone who loves my children very much the more I can focus on myself and my business. And adding, adding to wellness profit oh my gosh, how many times can I say that word on this Wellness profit? Take us up your family if I say wellness profit, no.

Speaker 1: 23:45

I just, yeah, no, I love it. So bookkeeping you have built this whole business around bookkeeping. Okay, no, but this is you're laughing, but this is. These things connect because women are so afraid of numbers, and I don't mean that in some mass stereotype. There's actually just data. There's data out there that talks about only 2% of women who own businesses will earn a million dollars in the United States. That is an incredibly low number. There's data that shows how misrepresented women are in the stock market versus men. So this is not like a mass generalization, this is actually just like a. These are their statistics. Right? Women tend to take the motherhood hit on finances. We're the ones whose careers are altering or changing or stopping or, you know, are earning potential right In the workplace. Like you know, lots of advocacy boils up in me around working mom issues. So bookkeeping is the foundation of a healthy business, a wellness well business right.

Speaker 1: 24:54

Yes, a business that's steeped in wellness has very clear understanding of numbers right and we're not just bleeding money, we're not in reinvesting in ways where we feel confident, in where we're putting our profit, how we're reinvesting, how we're paying ourselves, how we're setting up our entities, how we are using our numbers to inform bigger strategic decisions Like is this the year to do this? Is this the year to reinvest in a new website? Is this the year that I can outsource? What does that even mean? Why is bookkeeping so scary for so many women, so many moms? What is it? Why don't we like it? I personally love numbers, so this is I'm speaking more theoretically, but what is that?

Speaker 2: 25:43

fear. Money is very emotional. Money is tied to so much in our lives. It's tied to debt or it's tied to how much we have in the bank. That looks like a safety net. It's tied to happiness for some people, where if I have money, I can feel happy, I can have a weight lifted off my shoulders because I know that it's there when I need it. It becomes very emotional and I have always, from the very beginning, recognized that I'm not just a transactional bookkeeper.

Speaker 2: 26:18

Nobody on my team is a transactional bookkeeper. We recognize that there is emotion and we hold extra space for that emotion. We know that you need us to come alongside you in this endeavor to do something different for your family than what society tells you. You just need to work a nine to five vie for the corner office. You're doing something different as an entrepreneur and that's difficult, especially if you're a creative too, and you are thinking of new ways to market your brand and web business or new ways to systemize your client. If you're a virtual assistant or an OBM, you're thinking about those things. You did not get into business to just tinker around in QuickBooks. That's not what you got into business for. So, having a bookkeeper and knowing and understanding your numbers, especially for us.

Speaker 2: 27:13

I have quarterly calls with all of my clients, or most of my clients, and what we do on these calls is really talk about where you are spending the most amount of money, where your highest revenue months are, because that's important information too. If you can clearly see a pattern year over year that your highest months are in a certain month of the year or your slower season, we can plan for that to help it not feel as emotionally rollercoaster-y, right? So we're really talking about that. And then also, where can we cut back expenses? Or are you getting an ROI on your expenses? So really, what's that healthy balance of spending in an intentional way that's going to increase your revenue or increase that your time that you're bought back or do you not actually need this expense for your time that you're bought back? Or do you not actually need this expense for your business?

Speaker 2: 28:00

And you needed a third party person to come in and say, hey, is it really something that you need in your business? And you're like, yep, actually, no, you're right, I could totally live without that and increase my profit. So, yeah, bookkeeping really is kind of the backbone, but then when I think about it too. Like bookkeeping on the front is huge as well, too. To understand how much money are you putting into your personal bank account? How much are you spending? Is there anywhere where you can cut back? Are you spending intentionally, like paying for a nanny or paying for a gym membership or whatever that looks like for you? That's increasing your happiness At some point, even just while I'm talking, like, hmm, do I need to start working with people on their personal budgets, because that would be so fun, and then allowing it to be even more like holistic too, like business plus personal.

Speaker 1: 28:48

Yeah, I mean, don't you feel like you should be doing that for every single mom? Like, yes, here's your business budget, but also this directly impacts your home budget. And here's your business budget, but also this directly impacts your home budget. And like here's the process to do that.

Speaker 2: 29:00

Yeah, they're so inextricably linked business and personal. They shouldn't be linked. You should absolutely have like a separate business bank account from your personal bank account.

Speaker 1: 29:10

No co-mingling.

Speaker 2: 29:11

No co-mingling, but they are I love the co-mingles.

Speaker 1: 29:15

I love it. Wait, you're kidding, right? No, I'm like the worst at it. I'm like I'm the worst, I'm the worst co-mingling. When it comes to my finances, I'm like, ah, business, the business. Yeah, I know, I know, don't worry.

Speaker 2: 29:30

If you get audited, the IRS is going to hear this podcast and be like, well, they do it.

Speaker 1: 29:35

No, don't say that, no, I actually have a um. I actually there's a local mom here, jamie Pridmore, and she's runs a bookkeeping company and she's like one of our made for mothers, mamas who does bookkeeping and she's going to do like a bookkeeping strategy session with me and I'm really excited. I actually just hired a new CPA. I'm super excited about that. That was like a huge investment because this is not like some like this is like a heavy hitting CPA. That was a huge decision, huge financial decision to do that.

Speaker 1: 30:06

But I want to get out of the place of like making money to pay taxes to do this. That whole like tax cycle exhaustion that comes in when you, you know, are just hustling and busy like in your business and then all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, it's tax season again. Like how did that just happen? Right? So trying to have some like really high level strategy put in place is going to feel really good.

Speaker 1: 30:31

But it's funny because when I met with her, one of the questions I said to her was or one of the things I said to her I said listen, I really want to hire you, but I'm afraid you're going to tell me that I need to hire a bookkeeper and she laughed and she's like, well, maybe not. No, I was like, okay, I just want to be really clear. This is a big investment for me and I don't know if I'm ready to make another big investment. Another big investment, and I don't think they're like big investments, it's more just for me, it's more the time. It's more the time. If I hire a bookkeeper, I'm going to have to be accountable to that bookkeeper and so I'm going to have to do things that are going to take a little bit more time. So they're done really well and right.

Speaker 2: 31:10

So that way, I'm not you know my bookkeepers, I'm out of me. Well, we'll never be mad at you. But I also want to talk to um. Earlier this year I just launched a membership. We call it the business bookkeeping club. Yeah, I love that name. Like you actually, that don't mind doing their own bookkeeping. They actually really like numbers.

Speaker 1: 31:32

I like it.

Speaker 2: 31:32

Yeah, no, yeah, but just want to know that you're doing it correctly, because there's a point there where you're like everything looks green and happy in my software. I think that I'm doing it correctly, but just to be able to hop on a one-on-one call with me or someone on my team and know that you're doing it right, for us to just look through everything, say okay, this reconciles, this looks good, this looks correctly categorized, nothing weird on your balance sheet or any other places. It's not supposed to be Just to have that peace of mind at a fraction of the cost and what you're paying for done for you. Bookkeeping is exactly why I created that. So, yeah, that's there. Madison dearlycom slash membership.

Speaker 1: 32:14

We will link that in the show notes. That's such an awesome offering for, even for moms maybe, who don't have like complex books. Like you know, there's complexity in my books. That's the thing, that kind of where I get a little bit overwhelmed. There's complexity because I don't have. Sometimes I think to myself man, I wish I made candles. I wish I made candles, like I wish I had this one product that I made and I just like made a whole bunch of them and I sold this one thing.

Speaker 1: 32:45

That's not the setup for most online business owners and it's a best practice to have diversity of revenue, diversity of offerings, diversity. I don't think you should be doing a gazillion different things. You should be focused. But I think it's really good to have some clients on retainer, some one-on-one services, some things in a membership, some things in live events, some things coming in from affiliate marketing, and I think that that's just a safer approach, for the sustainability of your business is to have money coming in from different buckets and I think for someone like me who wants to have another baby, it will be easier for me to go on maternity leave.

Speaker 1: 33:30

If it's not just one-on-one services are my primary revenue, I will be setting my business up for success to have a longer maternity leave in the future, if I am not absolutely, absolutely crucial to the deliverable in every single thing I do in my business, right, but this offering that you have is so smart, especially if someone I just think of, think of like I don't know, like a web designer, right, and they are primarily doing website work, website overhauls, one-on-one work, web design, and you're like, yeah, I have my, maybe my fees are higher, so maybe I, maybe I'm not doing a thousand transactions, maybe I'm just doing two a month or something like that. That seems like a genius offering. Does that describe kind of?

Speaker 2: 34:20

It does. Yeah, that is the perfect person that it was created for. I was thinking, actually, of brand and web designers, who were even copywriters any kind of online service provider that feels like they have a higher fee, like a higher ticket item. Yeah, because on brand and web design, you could be paying $10,000 for a fully custom brand and a fully custom website and you're paying that in like payments, so they get paid in just a couple of payments per month and then a handful of software expenses or bookkeeping is really not that complex. So if that's you, the membership is definitely for you.

Speaker 2: 34:52

And also, you mentioned this too, about saving for maternity leave. I also have a paid maternity leave plan template so you can actually go in, choose how long you have till your baby gets here, how long you want to take off, what your revenue and your expenses usually look like in your business, and it spits out everything that you need to know about how much you need to save per month to be able to take off the amount of time that you need with the amount of money that you usually pay yourself. It's beautiful and it's hot pink, so I'm kind of proud of it, yeah that's very, madison, dearly, just to be very, it's very on brand, okay.

Speaker 1: 35:28

So what? What advice do you have? What tips do you have? What are like three things. If a mom is listening to this, who's just like, oh gosh, my books are a mess, I'm afraid of my numbers. I I don't know where to start. What should I be doing? You know, like, how often a month should you be in your books? What should what should you for sure like? What are like the hard fast rules? Like you, for sure, should have a business bank account, right? Well, we talked a little bit about commingling. What are you know, what are some sort of just like rules that you would say listen, if you're not, if you don't want to get into membership, if you don't want to hire a bookkeeper, if you're not there yet and you want to just get in and own ownership, right, own your numbers, own your books. What are some rules that you could provide any mom in business to, you know, get them feeling like they're at least moving in the right direction and doing the right thing, without knowing for sure the individual situation. Okay.

Speaker 2: 36:19

Disclaimer Totally yes, I am not a certified public accountant. This is not official tax or bookkeeping advice public accountant.

Speaker 2: 36:31

This is not official tax or bookkeeping advice, but I have been religiously posting on my blog and my YouTube over the past year, so I show you exactly how to do it all yourself. If you don't want to pay a dime, you don't have to because it's all there for you. But I will say the probably top three things that you should do. If you're just getting started, you're not sure where to start with bookkeeping. Number one open a separate business account and keep it separate from your personal. That will streamline Co-mingling.

Speaker 1: 36:59

Co-mingling.

Speaker 2: 37:01

Don't co-mingle, please, in case anyone was wondering what that meant. Please don't do that, because what will happen is seeing your business bank account with only clients, client payments coming in, only business expenses coming out. You have now shaved your bookkeeping time in half. If you don't have to sift through Target, chick-fil-a, amazon, like all of your personal things going on, you only see what's happening in your business in your business account, what's happening in your personal and your personal account. So that is huge and I've had people sit on their hands for a long time not doing this and then all of a sudden they open their account, they move everything over and I hear from them and they're like Madison, this was not that hard.

Speaker 2: 37:46

I wish I would have done it sooner and it feels so good. It's like cleaning out your junk drawer in your home. You actually get in there and do it and clean it up and it feels so much better when you do that. So that's a good, very good first place to start. Second place QuickBooks is the known name of software that people just know when it comes to bookkeeping. May I offer up a solution? Xero, spelled X-E-R-O, is a great software at less than half the price, probably like 60% of the price of QuickBooks. I think the basic is like $15 a month.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Yeah, Actually, for the first two months it's only $3.

Speaker 2: 38:28

Yes, correct, you can get like a. Usually they have promos going on. If you sign up you can get first, you know, three months or six months for a dollar a month or something crazy like that. They've got promos all the time. But Xero is intentionally jargon free, so you're not seeing accounts receivable and accounts payable and all these weird accounting words that no one likes to see. Anyway, you don't even want to be in the software. Let's make it as easy as possible.

Speaker 2: 38:53

Two, the design is so. It feels like a nice, calm, meditative. It's easy to look at. The functionality is amazing. Their customer service is top-notch. Every time I'm chatting with someone I know exactly who I'm chatting with. There's a little blip that says, like Jolie's from Colorado, she likes baking sourdough and hanging with her dog. Just the humanity of business. I love Xero. Anywho, check that out If QuickBooks feels overwhelming or if it feels like it's the only option. It's not. All of our clients are on Xero and we love it. So fire up Xero. $15 a month, you can do it in Xero. The learning curve is much shorter in Xero than it is in QuickBooks.

Speaker 2: 39:34

Third thing I would do once you've got your separate bank account, you hook it up to your accounting software, start categorizing things as much as you possibly can. If you have questions, please like send me a DM on Instagram. I'm so happy to help, especially when people are just getting started. I'm perfectly happy to have a back and forth audio message conversation, but once you start to see your report shaping up, look at them once a month. Clear your bank feed, do your little click party, categorize everything in there. And then take the time to pull up your P&L, your profit and loss report from the previous month and just stare at it, analyze it.

Speaker 2: 40:11

How much money did you bring in? How much money did you spend? Where did you spend the most money and did that make sense for your business? Was it intentional? Was it to make you more money or to buy back your time? And then, the most important thing that you can know, the most important number you can know for your business, is your profit. Revenue minus expenses equals profit. So that bottom line number, that's your playground. How much can you pay yourself? How much can you save for taxes? How much can you use to pay off debt? That's really like the number. One thing that you should know is that profit number Cause, like I said it's a playground. How can we widen that playground and have more space to play in Rome? So yeah, those are the three places where I would start, but, like I said, go to my YouTube. I walk through literally everything for anyone. If you don't want to pay me a dime, it's all there for you.

Speaker 1: 41:05

And also just to plug plug, madison is going to come back and talk about your YouTube experience and how you launched your YouTube and what that's been like for your business, because you're a year in.

Speaker 2: 41:15

A year. Right, yeah, into your YouTube.

Speaker 1: 41:18

And you've been so consistent with that and like that's. I can't wait to have that conversation with you later. Question Do you think that it is a good business practice to have a credit card connected to all of your business expenses so you can also be doubling down and getting like points and miles and you know like I love American Express. Please sponsor this podcast. I would love to be sponsored by American Express. By American Express, we're just like a big Delta family. Like my husband travels professionally, so we're like a Marriott Delta American Express family, like those three entities are like the best little travel. I could write a whole blog on how to get travel paid for for free based on American Express and how to leverage it all. But do you think that's a good practice or do you feel like it should just be straight debit card purchases, bank cash, all that?

Speaker 2: 42:12

Yeah, I mean I don't want to attach like good versus bad, especially from person to person. If you're someone that You're meticulous, yes, yes. But if you're playing with fire when it comes to debt like you, are someone who, if you get a business card, you hit the limit immediately and you take forever to pay that off, then you have unnecessary interest expenses and it just doesn't make sense for you and your business and you just need to run on cash. That is okay and you can still take the vacation, you can still have just as much fun, whether it was paid for with points or paid for with cash, that is perfectly fine. But if you are somebody who can have a business-only credit card, you only use this for business expenses and you pay it off with your business checking account twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th.

Speaker 2: 43:05

If you can get into that rhythm, I would say, heck, yes, that is what I do. I don't have a Delta American Express for my business. That we do for personal. I have that same exact credit card, but for business I get cash back rewards. So every now and then I'll have like $30 to $50 that I can just apply to my credit card and it reduces the balance, so I don't have to pay as much. It's so helpful if you can get into that really organized rhythm of I put everything on my business credit card on the first of the month, I'm going, and I'm paying it off. On the 15th of the month I'm going and paying it off. You're reducing it every single time. You can really rack up travel points that way or cash back rewards, whatever floats your boat, whatever you really want more, but I think that's a great idea for the person who feels like they have the capacity to be organized enough. It's the plan, yeah, the discipline, yeah, discipline is my word of the month.

Speaker 1: 43:59

It's been coming up so much for me Having discipline to be responsible with it and not get yourself into a bigger hole or debt around it. I'm a big fan. We're a big fan. We have a particular card that you have to pay it off at the end of the month, and so I love that. I love that it's like a charge card, but the points on that card are phenomenal. And so I have this moment where I'm like I could go buy a Jaguar on this car. There's no limit. There's no limit to this card. You have to pay it off at the end of the month. This is so irresponsible to have, but obviously we are very responsible with it. But I love that you're forced to pay like you can't have a balance rollover. So, oh, I love this conversation.

Speaker 1: 44:48

Madison, I just appreciate you so much. I appreciate your vulnerability, I appreciate your wisdom, I appreciate your insights, your tips and tricks for moms and business. I love, you know, this membership that you're putting out. I think it's so wildly helpful. What's like the price point on that membership per month? In case anyone's thinking, oh yeah, that might be something I want to do.

Speaker 2: 45:08

Yeah, it's $150 a month Awesome. And to put that in comparison, my done for you white glove fully, you don't have to touch your bookkeeping at all is $600 a month. So if you just need something that's a little bit more approachable, but still like, you get one-to-one calls, you get group calls to like keep you accountable to actually doing your bookkeeping, a library of resources, a dedicated Slack channel that is actually popping off. I feel like there are questions in there all the time that we're constantly answering. All three of my bookkeepers are in there answering questions all the time. It's a great, great space. You should definitely join. I love it.

Speaker 1: 45:50

And I'm sure there's's knowing you. I'm sure there's like a community component. I mean I'm sure there's like friendships being made and women rooting for each other and supporting each other. I'm sure there's other things happening in there and I think sometimes we forget that when we join memberships. Sometimes it's like, okay, I'll get in this membership because I want the templates or I want this or I want to be told what to do with this. You know copywriting or whatever. But what matters more sometimes than any of that is just knowing that there's this beautiful, wonderful, like group of women who are eagerly waiting for you to be in that space with them. You and I were recently in Tori Sprinkles Instagram stories challenge and I love Tori Shout out. She was on this podcast. Her episode was romanticizing you know your life. She's a brand designer and how amazing was that Instagram Just chat, like just the chat piece of it, with all those women.

Speaker 2: 46:44

Unreal. I felt like I could always go there and just get like a big internet hug from all those people I loved. It could always go there and just get like a big internet hug from all those people I loved it Right and are you in her? It's a vibe, you're a vibe, yeah, yeah, I'm in there. Oh my gosh, and it is like unreal. We've only had a couple of like group sessions so far but she's crushing it. Shout out Tori, we love you.

Speaker 1: 47:04

I know, I know, love you Tori. I actually have a meeting with her tomorrow and I have been waiting for a meeting with her for like two or three months because that's how booked out she gets. So I'm just, I'm in like a, I'm in big Tori energy this week. I've, I've, I'm so excited to meet with her for a brand consult. But anyways, random side soapbox on that for our listeners who are like, okay, let's get it, just stop talking.

Speaker 1: 47:35

What I was going to say about that Instagram story challenge was that everyone went there to double down on their Instagram story game, but what the underlying outcome of that was this amazing community of women. I feel like, yes, it's a bookkeeping membership, but like the key word there is membership and we're launching, where I'm building out a made for mothers membership right now, like sneak peek into that. I'm so excited I haven't talked much about that so that moms anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world, could be a part of this like made for mothers community, this energy that's growing around mothers and business. But it's not this like transactional thing. It's, it is transformational. I love what you said, that I'm not a transactional bookkeeper, I'm a transformational bookkeeper. I don't want to do anything that's transactional. I don't want this podcast to be transactional. If I wanted this podcast to be transactional, you would be talking only about your services, only about bookkeeping, only about how people can hire you the entire time, and that's not the case. We touched on mental health, we touched on motherhood, we touched on homeschooling, we touched on wellness, we touched on profit, we touched on mindset, like there is such a better way to do business and moms need that. We need that honesty, we need that space, we need that community.

Speaker 1: 48:39

And so if you are someone who wants to get help with your numbers, help with your bookkeeping, I cannot vouch more for Madison and the work that you do and who you are as a human and who you are in the world. You should go work with someone like Madison because her team reflects her values and her team is going to be lifting you up in this community-like environment. I know bookkeepers can be anywhere between $400 a month to $1,200 a month. So $150 a month to know that you are keeping your profit at top of mind and your wellness profit at top of mind. I mean, come on, that seems like a really good situation. So, anyways, that's just me loving on Madison. I love this conversation. Is there anything else you want to close with, anything else you want to add to the good of the conversation?

Speaker 2: 49:38

Just that I'm right there with you, mama. I know what it feels like to feel overwhelmed, to feel like you can't get enough out of your day. You can't squeeze another hour. You wish there were 5,200 hours in a day. But I'm right there with you and learning how to find time for self-care, that self-care is not selfish, that we can do it all if we want to do it all. We can do nothing for a month if we want to do nothing for a month, I'm just. I'm right there with you. I don't have all the answers nothing for a month. I'm just. I'm right there with you. I don't have all the answers, but I'm locking arms with you. I'm walking up this mountain together with you. So I'm a happy, proud member of the Made for Mothers community.

Speaker 1: 50:17

Thanks, madison. Well, you can find her linked in the show notes. And where can they find, you Say, your website again? Say all that again.

Speaker 2: 50:26

Where can they find? You Say your website again. Say all that again. Yes At Madison Dearly. Everywhere. On Instagram, TikTok, MadisonDearlycom. Madison Dearly. Bookkeeping. On YouTube, All the fun things. Madison Dearly everywhere.

Speaker 1: 50:40

I love it. Well, thank you so much for being here, madison. I just adore you so much. And if you found this episode to be helpful, or if you had an aha, or if you feel seen in your business or in your motherhood, please just you know, like I'm always asking for ratings, please rate us, please leave us a review. It really helps. The algorithm in podcasting is a total wild wild west compared to everywhere else. And, more importantly, reach out to her and send her a DM and tell her that you found her through this. You know, space, this community, and that's all we have for today. So thanks for listening and we will talk to you soon. Thanks, madison.

Speaker 2: 51:20

Love you, love you.

Speaker 1: 51:24

Yay, you just finished another episode of the Made for Mothers podcast. As always, you can find more details about today's show in the show notes and be sure to give us a review. Subscribe so you don't miss a chance to grow your biz from fellow moms. Are you wanting more one-on-one support, or are you looking to learn how to market your business in a way so you can spend more time with your family and less time stressing about what to do next? Then follow along on Instagram at Mariah Stockman, or book a one-on-one biz therapy session with yours truly, and let's find that work-mama-hood harmony we all deserve. Until next time, this is your host, mariah Stockman, and thank you so much for tuning in.