Made for Mothers
25. The Power of “Not Right Now” w/ Annie Hillman, Founder of 1428 Financial
Annie and I see business SO similarly and today’s episode filled my cup to the brim. Annie has such a steadiness about her and that is so felt in this conversation.
Allow me to introduce Annie Hillman, a mother of one and the CEO and founder of 1428 Financial. Annie's journey embodies the essence of accidental entrepreneurship, a path familiar to many of us. Driven by a persistent sense of divine calling to aid others in managing their finances, Annie eventually made the bold decision to depart from her full-time accounting job and fully commit to 1428 Financial. Today, Annie and her team provide bookkeeping and CFO partnerships designed to empower women, particularly mothers, in gaining a genuine understanding of their finances. She advocates that finances need not be a source of stress; rather, they can serve as a valuable tool for business owners to operate with confidence and profitability.
In our discussion today, Annie and I explore the delicate balance between motherhood and entrepreneurship, and what it truly means to 'do less better'. We navigate the complexities of running a business, as well as the joys and challenges of juggling family life. Annie shares her journey from accidental entrepreneurship to refining financial services for mothers. Additionally, we delve into the empowering realm of financial literacy, the importance of trademarking business names (thanks to our good friend Berkley), the elegance of simplicity in marketing, and the indispensable support necessary for success in both motherhood and business.
Annie and I are deeply passionate about supporting moms in business - we're all about Moms for Moms! I love the straightforward and practical methods she employs to assist mothers with their finances. Managing the numbers in your business shouldn’t be stressful, overwhelming, or avoided altogether. I'm certain you'll thoroughly enjoy this episode, brimming with anecdotes, reflections, and invaluable insights!
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Connect with Annie on Instagram @1428financial
Learn more about working with Annie by visiting her website
Also mentioned in episode: Connect with Berkley Sweetapple on Instagram @berkleysweetapple
Connect with me on Instagram
Learn more about booking a Biz Therapy session and working together by visiting my website
Annie and I see business SO similarly and today’s episode filled my cup to the brim. Annie has such a steadiness about her and that is so felt in this conversation.
Allow me to introduce Annie Hillman, a mother of one and the CEO and founder of 1428 Financial. Annie's journey embodies the essence of accidental entrepreneurship, a path familiar to many of us. Driven by a persistent sense of divine calling to aid others in managing their finances, Annie eventually made the bold decision to depart from her full-time accounting job and fully commit to 1428 Financial. Today, Annie and her team provide bookkeeping and CFO partnerships designed to empower women, particularly mothers, in gaining a genuine understanding of their finances. She advocates that finances need not be a source of stress; rather, they can serve as a valuable tool for business owners to operate with confidence and profitability.
In our discussion today, Annie and I explore the delicate balance between motherhood and entrepreneurship, and what it truly means to 'do less better'. We navigate the complexities of running a business, as well as the joys and challenges of juggling family life. Annie shares her journey from accidental entrepreneurship to refining financial services for mothers. Additionally, we delve into the empowering realm of financial literacy, the importance of trademarking business names (thanks to our good friend Berkley), the elegance of simplicity in marketing, and the indispensable support necessary for success in both motherhood and business.
Annie and I are deeply passionate about supporting moms in business - we're all about Moms for Moms! I love the straightforward and practical methods she employs to assist mothers with their finances. Managing the numbers in your business shouldn’t be stressful, overwhelming, or avoided altogether. I'm certain you'll thoroughly enjoy this episode, brimming with anecdotes, reflections, and invaluable insights!
____
Connect with Annie on Instagram @1428financial
Learn more about working with Annie by visiting her website
Also mentioned in episode: Connect with Berkley Sweetapple on Instagram @berkleysweetapple
Connect with me on Instagram
Learn more about booking a Biz Therapy session and working together by visiting my website
Hi, I'm Annie Hillman. I'm a mom of one and CEO of 1428 Financial, where we offer bookkeeping and CFO partnerships. What I really want to be known for is helping others moms especially to understand their finances and how useful they are. I want women to know that finances do not have to be stressful and that business owners can treat their numbers like a tool, not a threat, so that they can run empowered and profitable businesses with calm confidence.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the Made for Mothers podcast, your one-stop shop for candid and relatable conversations about motherhood and entrepreneurship. Think of the 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, maria 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. Grab your headphones, reheat that coffee and let's go.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, hello and welcome to another episode of the Made for Mothers podcast. I am your host, maria Stockman, boy mom and business therapist to moms in business, and I'm so excited to have Annie Hillman with me today. Hi, annie, hi, I'm so happy to be here. Okay, so fun fact about moms for moms. Let's just talk about this. Annie and I have had to reschedule this podcast so many times, but I love it because it's like oh, my husband's traveling. Oh, my kid's sick.
Speaker 2:And I like almost needed to reschedule today and I was like no, I can't, like I gotta get with Annie, like no, we can't drag this out. However, I love this is like the part of working with and for and alongside moms is like just that naturally baked in like mom grace, where you're like I got you girl, like don't even worry about it. Actually, like thanks for canceling. It feels good to have more space on my calendar.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. I know I almost had to reschedule today as well and I was like you know what, If I do have to, I know Mariah is not going to care, but I am dead set on not canceling.
Speaker 2:We're here, we're committed. So Annie is the CEO of 1428 Financial. She does bookkeeping and CFO services for moms, specifically moms. We actually just laughed because we also have clients who aren't moms. Don't tell anybody, but it's this funny little trade secret.
Speaker 2:But I love that you serve moms. I also serve moms in our businesses and I'm excited to just hear your approach to your business, how your business shifted when you had a child Mom of one I'm a mom of one as well and just sort of like what that transformation was like for you, but also the transformations that you help women moms go through when they are feeling more empowered with their numbers, feeling more empowered with their finances. Know, feeling more empowered with their numbers, feeling more empowered with their finances Moms women are statistically underrepresented in financial systems and here you are, like filling this gap for so many of us, where the numbers piece is often so overwhelming and so stressful just because we really weren't taught it anywhere. Like you know, we all make that joke like why didn't we learn how to balance a checkbook in high school? Like I'm so glad I know what a what's that? The parallelogram have you?
Speaker 1:seen that joke. I don't even know what the shape is it's like.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad I know what a trapezoid is and I don't know how to balance a book Life skills, life skills. So welcome Annie, and if you want to just start just sharing, like you know who you are and what you're all about and you know all of that fun stuff, yeah, so I, like you said, I'm a mom of one.
Speaker 1:My daughter is almost two, so that keeps me pretty busy a lot of days, but I started my business about four years ago and it's really cool. I feel really lucky that I started my business before having a child, because I know several people who started their business after having a child and after being newly postpartum yeah.
Speaker 1:I commend those people because it's just all that that comes with being postpartum, having a newborn and also starting a business. That would just be so chaotic. So when I started my business, I was my husband and I were living in Napa, california. I worked at a winery doing accounting there, which is Wait stop.
Speaker 2:Really, do you know I'm from Santa Cruz. Have we talked about this? I didn't know that. That's where I'm, like, born and raised. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. It's so funny because when people think about Napa, they totally think like one thing, and I love that you've actually lived there and been there and understand. It's like so rural and like in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1:And it is yeah, yeah, oh, my gosh, I love Napa, we. I was. My heart broke a little when we left, but it was it was. We lived there, I think four years actually met my husband there. We got married while we lived. We got married in Santa Barbara, but we got married while we yeah.
Speaker 1:And it has a place in my heart. We still have family there, so we still get to go visit. But yeah, I was doing accounting at a winery, which is a really unique job, really fun, but not a lot of flexibility. So I was at my desk for 10 hours a day and I remember there was this one day where I went to work and it was dark outside and I left work and it was dark outside and I was like, Ooh, this is not really how I want to live my life.
Speaker 1:Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? And that got the wheels turning. And then what was really cool was what got my business started was a friend of my husband's asked me to do his books on the side, just for a little extra cash. And I was like, yeah, sure, that's easy. And then once I got going with that, I was like, wait a minute, I could really do this. I could help small business owners. This is so fun. And so that's when I was like I'm starting a business and I didn't quit my job for another six months. But when I quit my job, I just really realized that while that job was fun and really unique, it didn't fit with the life goals that I had. I wanted to be able to spend more time with my child. When we got to that point of having children and starting my business is what aligned with those goals. So that's kind of the origin story.
Speaker 2:I love this whole idea and it's so true for so so many of us of this. Like accidental entrepreneur, I feel like so many people stumble into a business and then they realize like they're like, oh, do I have like the grit?
Speaker 2:to kind of like make it work. I was working at a nonprofit and I had a friend who opened this like eco, this like sustainability, cool, like really cool retail store. It was like this cool sustainability store. It was like bamboo kids pajamas and it was really like bougie, bougie bamboo stuff. It was beautiful, bougie bamboo stuff, it was beautiful.
Speaker 2:And I was doing marketing and fundraising for nonprofits and she was like, hey, can you help me a little bit with some like social media strategy? And I was like, oh my gosh, yeah, like in my sleep I'd been doing this large scale for like over a decade. And she was like, man, can you just manage it, I'll just like pay you. It was like something like $500 a month or something. And I remember thinking, I remember telling my now husband can you believe she's paying me like $500 a month, like at the time it felt like so much you know, and I kept managing her social for her.
Speaker 2:We got married, we moved, I moved to the East coast and I slowly just started adding on more and more social media clients and I fully, fully, accidentally grew like a large scale, a large scale social media agency management agency with like a full team. But that business ended up like eating me alive, like I literally think of this business, like crumbling down on me and it was like the worst, but yeah, I was so accidental in that season. Worst, but yeah, it was so accidental in that season. And I just laugh at.
Speaker 2:I just laugh at this idea of you sitting in this like winery cave office and I can almost like smell it, because I know what those places like smell like dirt wine grape that's a unique smell, bust like like real damp, and you're just like doing these books like for like 10 hours a day and then coming home and being like I guess I'll just do this side project because, like, why not? This is my totally, this is totally consumed my life one way or the other. But then the freedom and the liberation and like the flexibility that you probably felt like in your mind and in your heart and in your soul, like wow, I could probably really do this and go out on my own. And it's amazing to see like that was four years ago, like that was just four years ago and look where your business is today.
Speaker 1:It's pretty rad. Yeah, it is really cool to think back on those early days of the business because it was scary. Like anytime you start a new business, right, there's risk involved. Yes, we had safety nets and yes, I hadn't quit my job or anything yet, but it was like, wow, this could really change our lives, and it has changed our lives.
Speaker 2:Do you owe a lot of that to the sheer, like access of social media and being able to market yourself, because that's what I? I owe a lot of it to that.
Speaker 1:I would say, yes, I would say a lot of that, but also a lot of word of mouth and referrals, just because that's especially in the beginning.
Speaker 1:In the beginning, exactly, a lot of my business came from referrals. But I just also have to give a quick shout out to my husband, because A lot of my business came from referrals. But I just also have to give a quick shout out to my husband because he was there from the beginning and he's like the most encouraging yeah, and I don't think I could have done it without him either, just supporting me through it. Because when we I had a goal Okay, I will leave my job when I match my salary that didn't happen. I was like I was crumbling. I was like like you, I was crumbling. I was like, okay, I'm, this business is growing, but also like I haven't matched my salary. So there was a leap of faith there.
Speaker 2:And I don't think. I could have done that without him. Yeah, oh, I love that. My husband's the same way. He's just like oh, you want to?
Speaker 1:go, do this, let's go.
Speaker 2:Like let's, he has like a unique language. Yes, totally Of terror, solo parenting, but also having he's also very like a strong foundation of for me to be confidently risky. I guess, like I can have like my self-esteem and my business decisions, feels like it's really great. Because I am being told, like I'm constantly being told like just do it, just do the bigger thing, Just go for it, just like quit that, leave that client, just do this. Things that I naturally would not want to gravitate Like what do you mean? I can't, I can't fire a client. I can't fire a client Like that's good money, I can't fire them. And he's like you don't like them and I'm like oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I can't do that, oh yeah, this is my business, I'm the boss, I report to me, but you know what I mean. I'm being like you know, cheeky, but you know it's it's that. It's that like, oh yeah, I can do what I need to do to be like happy healthy whole in my business. Okay, so you ended up growing this business. Was it always 1428? Also, what's 1428 mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it was not always 1428. When I started my business, I wish I would have kept this piece of paper. But I had a piece of paper just filled with notes when I was trying to pick my name and I settled on Atlas Financial and I just like the idea of it being like we're your guide to figure out finances. So I went to Trade Market with Berkeley, who you know.
Speaker 2:Oh stop. I forgot about that Shout out to Berkeley.
Speaker 1:She's my.
Speaker 2:Trade Market attorney, so I went to Trade Market with her. Can we just stop for a second, can we just? Can we have a moment on Berkeley, just for?
Speaker 1:two seconds.
Speaker 2:Yes, please, if anyone is listening, I'm going to actually tag Berkeley Sweetwater in the show notes. Okay, I don't know how to say this, but I can say it because I just DM this to her. I was like Berkeley, I am a marketer, I'm someone who does marketing for living. I was like your marketing is next level, it is. She's amazing. She just never stops selling her services.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I'm talking about? Absolutely, and I think it's a testament to her believing in what she does, because I feel like it's easy to share when you're like, oh my gosh, she's amazing. Plus, I feel like I just she's super woman. I don't know how she gets it all done and she has twins and I know that she has.
Speaker 2:I know that she has like marketing support and stuff like that. However, the thing about her marketing that I think that I want everyone to like look at is she has, like let's just say she has like three offers like very simple. Her messaging is so simple because she only talks about the pain point, like don't let someone come after your business. It's going to be way more expensive to rebrand in five years and to turn everything you've built over if someone else tries to take it from you and basically own your entity.
Speaker 2:Own it you want it to be yours. And then she has these three services and she's never not talking about them. But it does not feel cringey no, not at all.
Speaker 2:It does not feel cringy at all, and I'm someone who, like, instantly I didn't even know you worked with her before I booked with her, but I was like, oh yeah, I totally want you to, I want to hire you as my lawyer Like boom. And then, now that I see her, I literally just damned her and I was like I love your marketing. You make me feel like I just had to have a moment for her, because I was like, you know, because so many of us, particularly women in business, are constantly feeling like, well, I just did a sales piece.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be too salesy, I just, I just promoted.
Speaker 2:I did send an email promoting my service one time and no one bought and I'm like. Well, what if we all took a page out of Berkeley's book?
Speaker 1:Absolutely 45 times Anyways, okay, so keep going. So you went to Trademark Atlas, I went to Trademark and yeah, so I was like one month postpartum in that newborn bubble and she gave me great advice and was like you know, it's high risk and I was like, well, let's try it anyway.
Speaker 2:It was not thinking, sleep deprived, just wasn't thinking for sure you're like, I just want to get it done, girl.
Speaker 1:I just want to get it done and of course it came back and it was declined and I was like, oh, okay, so we have to choose a new name. Um, which was really, really. I was like heartbroken because I was like you know, that's the name that I literally like sat at my kitchen counter and like, yeah, that was in like brainstorm, like that was the start of this dream, like, and that was hard, um, but like if someone took made from others, like we're not in the trade, we're not we.
Speaker 2:I'm not trademark approved yet we're in the process of it and if I, if I had to re yeah, it would be I can. I understand, like I could feel my other business names I wouldn't have cared, but this business it's like I understand how that would feel. You're like, this is like an identity I've really built up and it's like a part of me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. But then I was like, well, you know what the cool part of this is? This is really like the business at that point it had. We were two, three years into the business no, two years. And so I was like you know what? We have changed it a little bit, we've shifted a little bit.
Speaker 1:This is really a time to dig deep and figure out what do we want our name to be for the rest of eternity, because we are bookmarking or we are trademarking it right away and no one's taking it. So that was really cool. We were able to kind of it took me forever, I went through three almost names and then finally I landed on 1428, financial, and for what the meaning behind that is? It's actually comes from a Bible verse, and the Bible verse is about sitting down and planning, you know, planning out where your money goes before you start just going different places, spending and everything. And I like the oh, that's beautiful, yeah, and I like the meaning. It's Luke 1428, if anyone wants to look it up. But I love the meaning behind that because we don't just spend our money willy-nilly, we have a plan and a big part of what we do at 1428 is helping you create that plan and just really be intentional with where all of our dollars go.
Speaker 2:And also clearly, if you're, if that's the meaning of your name and it has this like faith-based undertone, right, it clearly is a value to you. So anyone who asks you what the name means, it already opens up these like beautiful conversations, for you to share your company values and your personal values like so effortlessly, and I feel like for you, that's probably like a really quick path to finding alignment within other clients. Moms, people share the same types of values as you, which is like hello.
Speaker 2:being like a values driven company is me, is the goal, like is. Is the goal right? Yeah Well, that's cool. So then what?
Speaker 1:happened, yeah, so we got the trademark. It's in the process still now, but it's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause it takes like 111 years.
Speaker 1:Yes, it really does. But it was low risk. So I think we're good to go. And that's when I was like Berkeley, do you think it'd be okay if I like change the name now? And she's like it's low risk, I think you're good.
Speaker 1:So we've picked the name, changed it, and so it was really cool too, because it also gave us a chance to kind of dig deep on who we serve what we do and just kind of, really I feel like there's so I mean, you understand, like in the online space, they're so like, oh, I want to do this, I want to do this.
Speaker 1:I just have the squirrel brain of things I want to do and I feel passionate about them because I love helping people and I love helping mothers and I know what it's like to be a mom and be dragged in so many places and I want to be able to help everyone I can. But so simplifying like along with changing the name, simplifying into like this is what we do, these are our offerings has been really, really nice to just get clear on that and, I think, get clear for our customers too, because you know, as the mom because we do serve a lot of moms you're pulled in so many different directions. It's nice to, like we were talking about before, with. Something that's important to me with our marketing is that it's clear and simple and calm and calm.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's important to me because, as moms, we're overstimulated enough. We don't need more of that this regulation.
Speaker 2:I want to like if I had like a cooler podcast like setup. Do you ever listen to the armchair expert? Oh, yes, yes, with dax shepherd. Yeah, he has like all these little like chimes and and little like. You know. He has all these like little music pieces on different segments like that, just kind of like. I feel like the word dysregulation comes up so much in this show on like every episode that I feel like every time someone says it I wish there was like a music, like a like a dysregulation like theme song.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, we need to find that.
Speaker 2:Because it's so true and it's. It is really overstimulating and I do think that when you go in to look at your books and to look at your finances, I think it just gets pushed to the bottom of the list because it has to do with your business versus your client's work, and it's not like the prettiest part of the job, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know going in and creating new graphics for social media, or like updating copy on your website or building out something new. And also, you know, there is a there is like an adrenaline junkie piece to entrepreneurship where we're constantly wanting to launch new products, create new things, create new services, expand, grow, and I think it can be a beautiful part of this journey, for sure, to be so creative and curious and excited and passionate and just like bold, like, oh, I'm just gonna go like launch. Oh, I'm just going to go like launch this membership or I'm going to, I'm going to start a podcast. I have no idea what I'm doing or who cares?
Speaker 2:I really want to do a podcast and like where else in the world can you just go out and just take something that doesn't exist and like make it exist into the world? Like that is entrepreneurship, that's like a beautiful, beautiful gift. So on the other side of that is I think there is a message in the online space where to have like a profitable business, you have to be doing all those things, right. So I love what you just said about okay, we do three things and we do those things. For me, it sounds like we do three things and we do those things really well, full circle. Berkeley does this too.
Speaker 1:We're going to have to send this to her.
Speaker 2:Just mentioned this. Yeah, you know, if you do these three things and you do them really well, then you are also decreasing that like decision fatigue and that marketing fatigue that your ideal client typically goes through of like wait, what did they do? I'll never forget when someone sent me a DM Three or four years ago. They sent me a DM and they were like do you know who offers social media management? I was like laughing. I wrote back, I was like wow, I'm doing like a really bad job. But you know, it was also. I was also sort of phasing out a little bit at that time so I was feeling maybe I wasn't talking about it.
Speaker 2:You know, very people still ask me what I do and I'm like, okay, it's getting clearer. I'm I'm trademarking it's getting clearer, yeah, but yeah, I love this. Anyway, just like I love this idea of doing less better. Yes, absolutely For you as a mom and then for the moms you serve, but also having space for the moms you serve who want to do more and more and more and more and more, because I'm sure so many of your clients I mean, do you come across most of my clients that I work with in biz therapy, which is like my one-on-one coaching service most of them all want to launch something new.
Speaker 2:And so you do come across that, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely All the time, and seeing because we get a look at the financial side of things like that's things that those are discussions we have with our clients. My biggest takeaway since becoming a mom, and something that I've passed on to several of my clients, is it's great that we have all of these ideas. But the thing that gives me the most calm and gives me peace is I literally have it written on a sticky note. It's not right now and it's not saying we can't start a podcast ever. We can't do that YouTube channel we want to do ever. We can't do that membership ever.
Speaker 1:Is now the right time for it? Probably not, but we can do it down the road and that just gives me so much peace and, like I said when I pass it on to my clients, I think that it's been very helpful for them too. This season, when you're in the thick of it with having small kids, might not be the season to do X, y, z, and that's okay. If we focus on those other things that we're doing right now and really hone in on those and get amazing at those, build that foundation, then when the kids are older, when we have more time, maybe when they're going to school. Then we can focus on those other things that we want to do.
Speaker 2:And I think the idea of waiting is really uncomfortable, Absolutely. I just think being in a season of waiting for moms because, don't you do? You guys want more kids Not to put you on the spot, yeah, okay. Us too.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Woo Glad we got that out of the way.
Speaker 2:That could have been an edit. Okay, so the season of waiting? Right? Do you feel like, okay, my son is too, your daughter's almost gonna be too soon? Right? Like, okay, I want another baby. Okay, annie also wants another baby? Yeah, the season of waiting is really like a mind. Oh, my god, your face right now is like so priceless. Yes, because don't you feel like you're like when is the best time for me to be like fully taken out of the game? Basically like when, when am I going to push pause on everything? Me personally, I'm in like massive growth mode.
Speaker 2:I don't know, why I did it with a toddler. But I did it, whatever a massive growth. I'm in massive growth mode and I have this conversation with my husband all the time like there is no good time, there's never going to be a good time, and then I just keep thinking if and when we're like blessed to get pregnant again and have another baby, it's going to be more waiting, it's going to be like that pause and that postpartum, which is beautiful, but like wanting to be a good steward of the business that I built, which is beautiful, but like wanting to be a good steward of the business that I built right.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, waiting is so wildly hard. It's so hard and it's not. It's the, I think for people like us, who are very driven by our businesses, by you know, the goals that we set, the things that we're doing, especially when we're doing something that we care so deeply about, it's so incredibly hard to wait because it's like we want we care so deeply about. It's so incredibly hard to wait because it's like we want, we care so much about those things, but we also have this dream of, like having more kids and being able to spend intentional time with them. It's so hard. Yeah, I wish, I wish I had the secret answer. I don't think anybody would do that.
Speaker 2:I don't think there is a secret answer. I think it's just more comforting to share like the season of waiting isn't, you know, acknowledged enough of like there is a tax on moms that is placed, or having to start and stop in your creative entrepreneurial seasons, and that can feel in certain moments really unfair. And I'm like careful how I talk about that a little bit, just because I think being a mom is like the greatest gift of all time. And if I could have like three more children, if I could not be 38. If we could have just started a little earlier, if I knew how cool it was gonna be like. If you're a young.
Speaker 2:If you're like a young entrepreneurial female listening to this and you're like thinking about just start earlier. Momhood is fun.
Speaker 2:Like it's way more fun than I ever thought it was going to be, and I'm like a little bummed that we just like didn't start a little earlier so we could have like as many kids as we like truly, truly want, because I personally just don't want to be like a 45 year old mom. Like that just sounds terrible. And it's true that we are the ones who kind of take on that, like we both said, no matter how supportive our husbands, no matter how great of dads they are. But actually that's interesting because I'm sure in your work you probably help moms figure out their maternity leave numbers. Do you ever work on that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do. We actually just did this with a client. She is one of our CFO clients. She went out in maternity leave beginning of March and had her beautiful little baby girl and leading up to that, we worked through her numbers and just looked at, like, okay, she has a team, which obviously is helpful in order to kind of shift the work onto that. But we took a really deep dive on like, okay, this is our clientele right now. This is what we're expecting to grow in the next six months.
Speaker 1:We planned a three month maternity leave for her and then the coolest thing was we're sitting in person. She's local to me, so we were able to meet in person. We were sitting there in the meeting and not only did we solidify all of our plans, we were able to give her a raise right before going out on maternity leave. It was so cool and I was like, oh, this is just such a moment that I won't forget, because it's like having a newborn there's lots of expenses, right, yeah, not Because it's like having a newborn there's lots of expenses, right, yeah. Not to mention those like, middle of the night, amazon orders to try to get this product that you would think might make the baby start crying.
Speaker 2:Solve problems, solve problems, yeah.
Speaker 1:I remember there was one night. In the middle of the night, my daughter was a couple weeks old and I was ordering like every swaddle I could on Amazon.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Yeah, just to try to help something. Wait, hold on. I have to tell you this story. Somewhere in my like pre-birth, someone told me pacifiers are aren't good. Okay, okay, so someone just I read this, I read this, I read this thing. The internet is the wild wild west for new moms. It's terrible okay, so.
Speaker 2:Okay. So I have my son Henry, and then I even have this postpartum nurse, tell me, this lactation consultant in the hospital Tell me, well, don't give your son a pacifier until he's like over six weeks. And I was like, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I read that, yeah, okay, for, like you know, nipple confusion.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:For for breastfeeding. Okay, that's what it was. We go home, literally. We're home from like 13 hours and I door dashed a pacifier from. Walgreens. Let me tell you that pacifier was like $47. And worth it, worth every penny. And it was like and he was never a pacifier kid Like he used it for the first like maybe month. You like that was it and he never had like some weird, not weird he was.
Speaker 1:We never had to wean him like there was just no, he was not really into it but it was absolutely what we needed that first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like couple days, like it absolutely suits him, and I will just never forget like being, like messaging the door dash person, like so frantically like just buy whatever they have if they don't have the smoothies one. Like please don't not come to my house with a pacifier.
Speaker 1:I am dying laughing because we had a very similar journey with the pacifier. And isn't it so funny in motherhood, how many things that there. There's so many things that I said all wood toys do this.
Speaker 2:All good toys, yes.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna do this. She's never gonna get screen time. We're never going to get past the fire, all these things that go out the way. It's such a humbling experience.
Speaker 2:It's so humbling. Oh my gosh, those things go right out the window. And just like picking your good and picking your bad, like there is a lot of studies on X amount of exposure to screen time takes away X amount of words. And so there are all of these pieces like, oh, I don't want my son to have sugar. And it's like, yeah, but my son is too. And when it's Uncle Johnny's birthday and everyone's having cake. Like you should see my son when he takes a bite of cake. Yeah, it's like the best moment.
Speaker 2:Oh, I get it Watching him just be like oh my gosh, it's a good thing, you moment oh, I get it watching him, just be like, oh my gosh, it's like yes, you know, and of course it's like three bites, you know yeah, um, anyways, not gonna ruin their lives and just finding yeah, just finding that that those moments of, of, like balance, of well, what's actually our family culture, of what do we actually value versus like what is the internet yelling at me to do?
Speaker 1:I think it's also helped me to becoming a mom, has helped me to be so much more confident in my business decisions, because you know you have to make those decisions like that Like, yeah, I'm not going to deprive my kid of a bite of cake, you know when everybody else is having it. And then you have to make that split second decision. And it's made me so much better at making decisions in my business Because it's like you have your core values, like you said. You have this is what I want, my family and same with my business. So it's like when you have that, then it's so much easier to make those decisions.
Speaker 2:And your limited time and capacity too. Do you ever just think back about the business you had before you had a kid and you're just like what the heck was I doing with all my time?
Speaker 1:All the time.
Speaker 2:What was? How was I spending my time? Like I don't even remember like how I would spend my time, probably just doing way too many things that like weren't moving the needle. I feel like when I became a mom in my business, because like.
Speaker 2:I mentioned earlier, like you, I was a you know business owner and then you know, then had a baby. I feel like I know I have X amount of childcare, so I have to get X amount of things done, and so my ability to really prioritize things that move the needle in big ways has been like sharpen, sharpen, sharpen, sharpen. And I think that that's but also think about it in what you do. If people don't know what moves the needle, then how are they right? Like, how are they going to know? Absolutely?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's this book called Essentialism. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. And I follow this health and fitness coach, annie Miller, and she said parenthood is the greatest form of essentialism and basically the idea of it is that you only do the things that are essential, that move the needle. And that quote has stuck with me because it's so true.
Speaker 1:We can't afford as parents, as moms, to not do what's essential and what moves the needle Because, like you said, all those random tasks that we were doing before, that, like before we became moms, like whatever they were we don't have time for them and, to be fair, like when you start a business, you don't, like you said, you don't necessarily know what those essential things are, but as time goes on like becoming a parent and a mother really helps you figure out what those things are Really quick.
Speaker 2:So how do people work with you then? Like, what are your key services and how are you really helping them to understand? Okay, I want to launch a membership and I want this membership to take over this X amount of like one-on-one revenue or something like that. Like Annie, I want to get away from one-on-one work, or Annie, I want to work one-to-many or I don't want to work one-to-many, I only want to work one-on-one.
Speaker 2:Or I want to get away from one-on-one work. Or, annie, I want to work one-to-many. Or I don't want to work one-to-many, I only want to work one-on-one, or I want to increase my prices. There's a lot of fear and money mindset. That is just entrenched in these topics for sure, and it comes up in sessions with the moms I work with every single session. Yeah comes up in sessions with the moms. I work with every single session. It is the coolest experience to actually run the numbers. I'm not a bookkeeper.
Speaker 1:I'm not an accountant.
Speaker 2:I love numbers, though, and I love revenue generating conversations, and I love really looking at the true cost of your energy and your time versus what you're profiting. Okay, yeah, that's somewhere I love to hang out. Okay, but most of my clients don't even know how to take. Like, okay, so you charge $200 for this home organizing service. Well, take away your overhead, take away your savings for taxes, like now, divide them out. The true amount of time that you're spending on the service. Wow, you're only making $35 an hour, and you've already expressed to me that you're burnt out and overwhelmed and stressed. It's like, well, you're not charging enough. Like you're not, there's no, there's no real profit. If you want to make $35 an hour, go work for someone else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly it's a lot less stress.
Speaker 2:Well, there's just a lot less unpaid time. When you work $35 an hour for someone else, all of your hours are covered, versus working $35 an hour for a client. There's like 100 hours there that you also have to put into your business that maybe a client's not paying you because you haven't figured out those systems.
Speaker 2:So my question is is like I love those conversations Sorry, I'm getting to the question. I promise I love those conversations where you're like well, if you just charge $400 for that service, now you're making 80, you know what I mean Like I love those like kind of mind blown aha, like yeah, I can do that kind of moments with pricing because pricing is so personal, it's such a personal experience for a business owner and it's so like tied into self-worth and what will they think of me? And oh my gosh, but those other home organizers, they're not charging that much and I'm like well, they're getting paid either.
Speaker 1:You don't, you haven't seen their bookkeeping.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I'm, they're not making. They're not making enough either you know they have a hobby, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm just curious, like what do you do in like when someone first comes to you? How do you determine what the best fit is for your services and how do you help these moms be guided in this more empowered way?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is such a good question and I love that you brought this up, because I actually just did a talk for a group of photographers about pricing for profit and creating sales goals that align with your goals, and so this is something that's like fresh in my mind and it's cool. I wish there was a magic formula I could give everyone that just gave you the ideal pricing. Unfortunately, that's not the case, but I like to say that pricing is such a mix of both art and science, so there's like you can start with okay, yeah, this is my, these are my costs that go into it, these are the hours I put in. Don't forget to factor in your hours, because you don't work for free and you know there's all the overhead. There's the subscriptions you have to buy, there's travel If you're a photographer, you're traveling to a shoot that takes that's your time right there, that's your gas, that's your car that you're using. So there's all of those overhead expenses which end up being a lot more than we expect, and so there's that.
Speaker 1:But you also have to factor in profit because you don't wanna just break even. You want to profit and be able to pay yourself, but where the art side of it comes in is that's a starting point, right? So let's say you figure out what all of your expenses are. Those are your fixed costs. There's also the value, and you have to think about the value that you're providing for that person. To use your example, about the organizing I would pay someone $400 to organize my kitchen because it's not just, they are not just organizing my kitchen. They're giving me my time back doing something that I probably wasn't going to do and they're giving me the mental for me at least I can't do clutter, so they're giving me the mental clarity of opening my pantry and knowing exactly where the snack is that I need to grab for my daughter in a quick minute.
Speaker 2:And also the system they're giving you, the system which then you can maintain and like replicate. And so if you're not charging for the system and you're only charging for the time, then that's where that value I think that missing piece around the value comes in. Yeah, absolutely, I'm not charging for like a marketing plan. I'm charging for like 15 years and like over a thousand clients who've had a thousand different problems. So I can laser sharp focus and like pinpoint how to get your business moving in the right direction like so much faster than you going on YouTube and wasting 25 hours or paying for like a $2,000 course that then you're going to have to like DIY.
Speaker 1:Yes absolutely no, I completely agree. You're you, whoever you are, that I'm speaking to have such a unique set of experiences, knowledge, all these things that led you to where you are in your business, and that's the value you're selling to your clientele. It's them trusting you and all that knowledge that you have to help them, and that's where your value lies. Right, it doesn't lie in hey, I'm charging, like you said, I'm charging for my time. Time, it's so much more than that. This is something that we really dig deep on with our cfo clients because it's it's so important, um, and we do. We do this a little bit with our monthly bookkeeping clients as well. They get, like, when we start working together, they get a 12-month like spend plan. I know it's it's a technically a budget, but I know people hate that word, um, but that's so we do.
Speaker 1:We do do that, but we really dig deep on this with our CFO clients because it's really what's going to take your business to that next level. And, like you said, our CFO clients are clients who know the value of knowing their numbers, want to dig deeper that, want to know more about, like, their profit and how profitable this specific offer is. And hey, you know this one is not doing so hot. Should we focus more on selling it more or should we kind of scale it down? Our CFO clients are clients who want to know those things but also understand that they don't need to be the one doing it. They need a guiding hand and they have things to do instead of trying to, like you said, google that and figure that out. Do you just like love? Do you like love that CFO?
Speaker 2:service.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it, I nerd out on it.
Speaker 2:so much yeah, yeah, my favorite, is there a part of you? That's like. I understand people need bookkeeping, but I wish I could just do like CFO clients.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, and that's why we have such an amazing team here. We have a couple of bookkeepers and we have bookkeepers that can focus on their dialed in. They're amazing at doing the actual bookkeeping, and that allows me to really focus on that analysis, on that CFO level of support, which is just works out really well.
Speaker 2:It's such a cool like diversified model that you've created because I'm sure your bookkeeping clients can naturally be like a lead source into those CFO clients. So, it's kind of nice. It's like you've created a business where you're not going to lose them, you're just going to be able to upgrade your services with them, which is smart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that because we focus so much, one of our core values is education and empowering our client to remove that fear, to not worry about finances and just look at the black and white of it. Look at these numbers are so useful and so it's so cool. I'm thinking of one client in particular who went from that. They came in and they were like I don't want to look at my finances, I hate this so cool. I'm thinking of one client in particular who went from that. They came in and they were like I don't want to look at my finances, I hate this so much. And journeying with them to the point where they're now a CFO client and they love looking at their numbers every month and they love looking at the data and that is just so cool to me.
Speaker 2:I love it. I also feel like so many of us need it and we just like don't really know. So is bookkeeping like the entry level service that you offer? Is that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so well, we have a couple of things. So our kind of our three pillars is we have that CFO partnership. We have monthly bookkeeping, where that's we do your books. You don't have to touch anything. You get reports from us, it's you still get a lot of meaningful data. You get reports. You get reports from us it's you still get a lot of meaningful data. You get reports. You get that help understanding those reports. You get a one on one Slack channel where we can talk about everything. You can ask all your questions. And then our really like really entry level service is we have a membership called the Backpocket Bookkeeper membership and this is very much like I was actually advised by a business coach to kind of get rid of this service, but I just I can't because I, I just love, like I, I in college I wanted to be a teacher and I just have that heart of like wanting to help people.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's a double edged sword, because I know that, yeah, it might be profitable to not put my time to that. I love that having the ability to help someone who is just starting out in their business. It's super low investment. It's $97 a month. You get a monthly group training call with us. You get access to a resource vault. You get unlimited Slack access, so we have a Slack channel where you can ask us any question you have. Who this is really made for is someone who's just starting out and needs that support and knows that it's important to stay on top of their numbers, but doesn't have that option of investing in a bookkeeper yet. So those are kind of our three levels of support.
Speaker 2:Smart when do you host your membership?
Speaker 1:So we just are in the process of moving from Kajabi into ShowIt, and so it was in Kajabi into ShowIt, and so it wasn't Kajabi, and now we're hosting it in ThriveGuard. Oh wait, I knew this we talked about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we DMed about this. I'm like this sounds familiar, okay, smart, smart. Well, we're going to link all of your services in the show notes, and also Berkeley, absolutely, and I guess just you know, I kind of just want to like wrap it up and end on. If you were to give, you know, words of wisdom or advice or encouragement to any mom who's like just starting out in business, or maybe they're eager to leave their corporate job after their maternity leave or they want to pivot, maybe they want to like I don't know, burn a business down and start a new one. I don't know, burn a business down and start a new one, you know, and they are thinking, gosh, but I have my, you know my. I have my family and I have all these juggling plates and I have all these big goals. What could you offer as encouragement or words of wisdom for them to feel you know, heard and seen?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love this question so much. I would just say that you know, you just have to remember that you can do it. It is going to be hard, it's not going to be a walk in the park, but my husband, during labor, my husband kept saying it's pain with a purpose.
Speaker 1:You're doing it for a reason, and I love that so much, and that applies to business as well. It's uncomfortable starting a business, leaving your corporate job, all these things, but you're doing it for a purpose and you have to just remember your reason, like I have my sticky note written on my computer here. Write it, write your reason, write your why on a sticky note. Put it on your computer so that you are constantly reminding yourself what your why is, what your reason is. And the other thing that I like to do too, is think of the example that you're setting for your kids.
Speaker 1:I think so often we tell our kids you can do anything, chase your dreams. And what if one day we come to a point and our kids ask like why didn't you do that mom? Like why didn't you chase your dreams? Like what are you gonna tell them? You know? And maybe your dream that's not to say that your dream has to be starting a business, but I think most of the people listening, that is, if your dream is to be in a corporate job, then I think thinking a lot about like since having my daughter, I've thought a lot about, like my legacy and how she's going to see me, and I just like to remind myself like we're setting an example for her, and like we're setting an example for her, and like the last piece of advice I want to give is just take that advice that you give to your kids, like when you tell your kid you can do this, you're amazing, you can do anything you want to. You can pursue your dreams. Speak to yourself that way too.
Speaker 2:I love that no one's ever said that on this podcast. I say to my son before bed every single night I say you're the best of everything all in one and you're going to be even better tomorrow. And I just, I always say that and there's a part of me that actually wants to get that like printed or something framed or something in some kind of cool way. But speaking to yourself like you would speak to like your, you know, for me at least, my toddler, who's learning and trying new things every single day and he really does just need so much encouragement. You know he's pretty, yeah, he's pretty much like a go-getter already. But, um, but you know we are really intentional with the words we use with him, like super, super intentional and being intentional with yourself in that way, you know kind of just like reminded like mother yourself. You know kind of well, ann, like reminded like mother yourself. You know kind of Well, annie, I just appreciate, I appreciate this like the fluidity of this conversation.
Speaker 2:I appreciate your experiences and how you show up and serve moms. These very like easy digestible, tangible pieces of business advice. Like I've written a couple of things down, like it's not right now, like is it essential pricing for profit. It's okay to be an accidental entrepreneur, like just this idea of like you can do less better and like let us help you and then, when the time is right and you're ready to do more better, we're going to be right here to like upgrade with you or up level with you. I love that. I love that whole value that you are bringing into your, to your business, and I think it's really um inspirational which is one of my least least favorite words inspiration.
Speaker 2:I just think it's really, uh, it makes me have insights to my own business, which that's that's always like a fun place to be like. Oh yeah, like, how am I doing that? You know, that's my podcasts are so fun to listen to because we can be introspective in that way. Yeah, absolutely, where can everyone find you? What's your handle, website, all that?
Speaker 1:fun stuff. Yeah, so our website is 1428financialcom. We're in the middle of, or we're getting ready to, launch our new website, so I'm really excited for that. That is coming soon. Actually, probably by the time this website or this podcast is out, that will be out, so that's really fun. We have some new stuff coming with that. And then I'm on Instagram at 1428financial. That's where you can find me the most. We're also on LinkedIn as well, but we don't. We spend the most time on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always say we live on Instagram. Yeah, definitely check out Annie's Instagram. Look at her marketing. It's so beautiful, it's so well put together, it's inspirational and if you found anything, you know, that was like just like a drop of wisdom and it kind of landed on you or you know, you're thinking man. I really loved when she said that Reach out, send her a DM, let her know that you, you know, heard of her work on this podcast and thank you so much for for this conversation, annie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for having me. I feel like we could have chatted for hours. I know for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:And I'm so glad that all the stars aligned and all the chaotic ways for us to be able to finally record, okay. Well, thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the made for mothers podcast. As always, please subscribe, rate, share, la la la la all the things for this podcast. So honestly though, so that we can share more stories like annie's, who you know she is just a big dreaming mom and you know, I have a feeling, if you're listening, that's who you are as well, and your stories really do matter, because it's sharing and telling other moms that, hey, they can do it, and moms for moms is what we're all about around here. So, all right, well, have a good rest of your day, annie, and thanks again for listening everyone, and we will talk to you soon.
Speaker 2: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 you.