When you hear the word, "budget" how do you feel? Does it instantly bring up feelings of restriction? Does it sound boring and like it will put a damper on your everyday business activities?

Have you been putting off even having a budget for your business? Are you stressing about money because you have no idea when the next client is coming in and you don't even know where to put the money you've earned in the first place?

Too many people feel this way and it just isn't right! You created a business because you wanted time and financial freedom more than likely, so that's why it's so important to have a new perspective on the word budget (because it's going to give you that freedom you've been searching for) and Katie Scott is the absolute best person to set this word, "budget" straight.

Katie is a former-accountant turned entrepreneur who gets over-excited about money management systems and business strategy. She teaches women entrepreneurs how to achieve personal and business financial wellness so they're truly free to pursue their passions, not their next paycheck

Grab Katie’s freebie, The CFO Starter Kit: https://cfokit.morewithmoney.com/

[00:00:00] Lindsay: Katie. Thank you so much for being on the book, your dream clients podcast. I'm super excited to have you on this. Thank 

[00:00:42] Katie: you so much for having me. 

[00:00:44] Lindsay: I love what Katie does. And she was also so generous to be a part of a training in The Confident Coach Club. So I know all about what she does. You might not know.

[00:00:53] So I'm going to let Katie go ahead and introduce herself and we'll take it from there. 

[00:00:59] Katie: All right. So I am Katie Scott, and I am obsessed with budgeting and with changing people's minds about budgeting and making it so that the B word is no longer about word for them. I specifically love the area of proactive money management, where what I do is informed by accounting and taxes and bookkeeping.

[00:01:22] It is definitely more than that. And I think a lot of people. Especially in the entrepreneurial world, think that because they have a bookkeeper or a tax preparer, they're checking off all their boxes, but I am here to help change your mind to help you see that you can do so much more. And with the process of prioritization and with planning your money, you are able to just have such a larger impact on your business, but also on your personal life and how your business can serve you in that way.

[00:01:52] So that is definitely the area. That I am passionate about. And then I love to talk about and how I love to serve people. Cool. 

[00:01:59] Lindsay: I love it. I like that. You try to rearrange how we feel about the word budget. I remember when you did the training with us and you talked about that and the word budget to me, it brings up like, oh my gosh.

[00:02:11] Now I have to clip a bunch of coupons and I can have this and I can't do that. And I'm restricted. Why do you think we have that mindset towards that word? 

[00:02:21] Katie: I think from just a long history of people, budgeting and ineffective ways, and people only want to start cleaning up the mess when things get really, really messy, right?

[00:02:33] So people hit this breaking point with their finances and so they go and they start searching for how to budget and they see all this superficial advice about how to do so. And it just has become such a culture around limitation and restriction. And this budget in world where you hear phrases like, oh, I can't do that because I'm on a budget.

[00:02:54] You'll remember from the training is one of my least favorite things in the world. That's a sentence that doesn't make sense because of a budget is a plan. It doesn't inherently mean that you're limiting yourself. In fact, I teach people to budget in a way that is about giving yourself permission to use your money in certain ways, even.

[00:03:12] It's just for fun. Right? You can still budget to have fun. You can budget to spend money. So this idea that I can't do, because I'm on a budget, just doesn't work in my world and we definitely need to get rid of that because that's what gets people in this mindset. Budgeting is this negative experience it's restriction.

[00:03:33] It's like those ineffective diets, the same exact concept where it's just about what you can't have, and that's not what it's for. And that's not what it's. 

[00:03:44] Lindsay: Like I compared it to that, to dieting top feeling like you can't have anything and you just walk around with miseries surrounding you, because I can't do this.

[00:03:54] I can't do that. I can't have this and that's not what it's about, but when people are just starting their business or, you know, they're making. A little bit, because they brought on a new client and they have to start budgeting for the little money that's coming in. That was always a big concern for me.

[00:04:13] I always thought, well, why is that of a financial plan? Why set up a budget if I'm not making any money or barely any. So why is it important to start then? And not when you're bringing in, you know, a couple thousand a month? 

[00:04:26] Katie: Yeah. So number one, It's easier to learn how, when you have a little bit less to work with and things aren't quite as complicated.

[00:04:33] So that's probably the first thing that I would say. But the biggest thing is actually if you're picturing a funnel and you have a funnel that has a crack in it, and you're just trying to pour more on the top, it's not exactly going to help whatever you're pouring in, get to where it needs to go, because there's a leak.

[00:04:50] Right. And so it's the same idea that you can't. Necessarily out earn poor financial management, if that is a part of your foundation. And so if you're struggling with knowing what to do with your money, when you have a hundred dollars, It's not exactly going to change. If you have a million dollars the problems, in fact, we'll just get better because what you need to do in a business to sustain that level of revenue adds more complexity and adds more responsibility.

[00:05:20] If you have a team and now you're responsible for other people's paychecks, there's a much larger responsibility to make sure that your money is going in, the places that it needs to go. And so. Building in the practice now of capturing that money, not only helps with the complexity later on, but it will help you to leverage the money that you do have so much more when you're able to be intentional with every dollar that you have.

[00:05:46] And so what I encourage people to do is don't get too lost in, I don't even have enough money to be able to do X, Y, or Z. Just focus on what you have, what are you going to do with what you have? And, you know, I. A client one time that came to me with like six or $7 in the bank account. And they're like, how can we start a budget off of this?

[00:06:06] And I'm like, well, where's that $6 going to go to? And that just gives you a starting point. It's a little baby stuff like that. And from there, as far as how to make those decisions, It's it really is taking it one step at a time and putting that money towards whatever's coming up next whatever's most important.

[00:06:23] And when you're intentional with that, then when more money comes in, you'll know what to do with that. And it really does snowball that effect of just the positive practice. It does have that snowball effect. And so you'll what you'll find is that as your income grows and actually feels like it grows exponentially more than if you're just focusing on pouring more money into the top of that leaky funnel.

[00:06:49] If you have that intention for every dollar that you're earning, it's going to just become so much more, so much faster. 

[00:06:57] Lindsay: I'm going to say something that I think a lot of people. I dunno if you'll just, I don't know if you all agree with me or disagree, but nobody talks about what you're talking about Katie, because it's not as glamorous.

[00:07:08] Right? We suddenly all these people online talking about how to manifest all this money and they're pictures of, you know, beautiful women holding, you know, wine glasses and cash all around them. And you know, all I have to do is think about it and it appears to me. And that's so attractive to people who have no clue that that doesn't really work, that doesn't work that way.

[00:07:30] And you see way more people talking about how you could manifest a thousand dollars in 21 days kind of. I'm sorry, but it's just BS. And, but you don't hear anybody talking about what you're talking about because it's actual reality. How do you feel about that? 

[00:07:46] Katie: Oh, it's a struggle sometimes. I mean the day that I hire someone to help me with marketing, they're going to have their work cut out for them because it's hard, it's hard to put things in a language that makes it as appealing.

[00:07:58] Right. And I've got that stubborn side of me that doesn't want to get rid of the word budget. You know, there's a lot of financial coaches out there and I'm not shaming them for this at all, but there's a lot of financial experts who don't use the word budget because they know that it turns people off.

[00:08:12] But I'm just being really stubborn and I'm like, no, I want you to get excited when you hear the word budget. So that also doesn't help. But aside from just the marketing of it all, I think that's a hundred percent true. And that's just kinda where my determination comes into play, where I'm determined to change people's minds and it might not be as glamorous, but it's so much more impactful.

[00:08:33] And whenever I get just that message from whoever, I mean sometimes complete stranger who just. Pawn my Instagram account that I haven't even really used that consistently recently, but it has the old content on there, or someone who found me through a training, like what I did with the competent coach blog or a summit or anything like that.

[00:08:53] I'll just get a little message that goes, wow. This made sense to me for the first time. And that right there tells me that as soon as you see it differently, just that one time you'll never. And so even if they don't keep following me, even if they don't use the tool that I talk about, or the systems that I like to teach, even if it's just that one moment that they had where their mind was changed, they, they kind of had the glasses lifted off where they could see it.

[00:09:21] Finally, that is going to change the rest of their lives. And just the ripple effect will never be able to measure it. And that is so fulfilling to me. So it's worth it. And I'm just going to continue to throw the word budget out there until people stop shutting down when they hear it, 

[00:09:37] Lindsay: please do, because I think it's so important for people to know where their money should go.

[00:09:43] Because I don't know, we weren't taught that in school. Right. We're taught like how to write a check-out and I mean, I, I graduated in 2002, so I probably dating myself. We were taught how to write out a check and that was it. So there, and then you're sent out into the real world expecting to know how to do all of these things.

[00:10:02] And if you're not. Seeking guidance yourself. I remember when I first started my business 10 years ago, all I listened to was Dave Ramsey on iHeart radio because I was like, wow, this is, this makes so much sense. And it's not complicated. He's he's telling me if I just did this and this and this with the money that's coming in, then.

[00:10:23] I'll I'll, I'll I'll accumulate money, right? We weren't even taught how to save money. If you're, if you weren't brought up that way or you didn't learn that in school, once you start bringing in money from your job and then your business, you're kind of lost as to what should I do with this money. And that, of course, it's a good problem to have, right?

[00:10:41] What should I do with all this money? Come time where you're paying for things and you have to be responsible and all of that fun stuff, it, it comes into play. And I, I remember sharing with my husband after I was we got off the training with you and I said, I love how she broke it down for everybody, because I think we see you mentioned the profit first book and a lot of people have read it or, you know, kind of skimmed over it or whatever.

[00:11:05] But nobody is nobody probably implemented, like you probably did. And then you took it a step further and you made it your own. Can you talk about that? 

[00:11:15] Katie: Yeah. And first I wanna just also validate that we are not hospice. I I'm the same way I grew up with, I mean, even parents who did well with their money I still never really learned it because I had a hard time understanding how money worked and wrapping my head around it growing up.

[00:11:32] So I struggled with that as well. But then I went on, I also found Dave Ramsey and that was kind of my starter to start to understand. About money. But I have an accounting degree technically accounting and finance and I was an accountant and I was doing bookkeeping and taxes and all of this payroll and all those, you know, things that are supposed to be the pinnacle of someone who knows about money.

[00:11:55] And I did not know how to manage. I didn't learn this from my accounting background. And you would think that accountants would know how to manage money, but really they don't. And so it's just, it's not taught, I don't a hundred percent know why. I mean, I could sit here and theorize, but just the fact of the matter is like, you have to learn this just like any other skill.

[00:12:13] And so there's no shame for people not knowing. So that said the profit first system and how that looks. Yeah. I mean, profit first is. A great system that scares people off because there are nuances to it to make it more ingrained in a business to make it more effective. And it's originally written in targeted towards, because it is a book it's originally written and targeted towards more traditional businesses.

[00:12:38] And so when we go into the online business world and service providers and coaches and all of that it doesn't necessarily feel like it fully applies and people don't know how to apply it. And so the way that I explain profit first, which is a system that I love, even though I just bashed a little bit the way that I explain it, At its core, it really is just a system that tells you to make a plan for and set aside the money that is most important in your business.

[00:13:02] As soon as you earn it. And before you spend it, That, that is really all that is coming into play there, which kind of goes off of my philosophy of managing the money that you have and not worrying about projecting the money that might come in and trying to make a plan off of that. So we're just talking about here's the money that I have in my bank.

[00:13:21] What do I do with it? Profit first follows that same philosophy where you've just earned some money. And now what you're going to do is you're going to split it. And set aside the profit items first, and then you get to spend whatever's leftover and that's where it gets. Its name is the, the accounting formula income minus expenses equals.

[00:13:41] What Mike McCalla what's the author of the book wants to do is to walk that around to where it's income minus profit equals expenses, that's where it gets its name. And that's just the idea, again, of setting aside your profit first, and then whatever's left over. That's what you then try to run your business off of.

[00:13:56] That's where you make those decisions as CEO and CFO of your business. And so what that looks like is you've earned the income and then you're going to set aside. A small percentage for just the profit, just the savings, the cash cushion. And then you're going to set aside what you need for taxes.

[00:14:13] And then you're going to set aside what you're going to pay yourself, everything leftovers expenses. That really all is all there is to it. But there's just a lot of complications as far as how it gets implemented. And so I don't know which direction do you like a 

[00:14:25] Lindsay: little, can we, can we do like a little The problem.

[00:14:27] So let's say we made a hundred dollars. And so if we grab a piece of paper, can we kind of make some buckets just to show them what this would look like? How to divvy it up? Would that be okay with you? Yes, but I have a piece of paper to second. Draw it to, 

[00:14:43] Katie: I'm going to make sure I have a calculator open.

[00:14:47] And famously bad at mental math. And so I take no chances to something like this. Okay. So even though it was a hundred dollars, I should be able to do this. And so what profits first, the, there are percentages, right? So it's the, what you're setting aside is a percentage of your gross revenue which is a little bit different than what, like accountants I'll often teach is they'll teach you to set aside a percentage of the net price.

[00:15:11] For paying yourself and for paying taxes, but with profit first, we're going to set it aside first. Right. And so there are benchmark percentages provided based on your revenue level. And so the ones that applies to most of us, it's like under $250,000 a year, I think. The range for it. Our 5% for profit and savings.

[00:15:34] That's a cash cushion. It's 15% for taxes, 50%. So half of your revenue for paying yourself for owner's pay and then the remaining 30% is what goes into your expenses. And so if you had a hundred dollars that you just earned the beauty with. The percentages is it doesn't matter if you aren't a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars or $10, you can still allocate your money for the purposes.

[00:16:03] And something that I like to tell people is that my, my first paycheck to myself was like 67 cents or something ridiculous like that. It was so small, but it was a start and it was exciting. And I love to remember that time. So if we, if we just learned that a hundred dollars and we want to set aside hours, Is it $50?

[00:16:24] No $5. It's $5 for our 5% of profit. Okay. And then it's our $150 for taxes. $500 for owner's pay. And the remaining $300 is our expense budget for spending. 

[00:16:40] Lindsay: I am doing the math right now. So I have, if we made a hundred dollars, so we, that we would put $30 in for expenses, 

[00:16:49] Katie: you know, it might be $50. 

[00:16:50] Lindsay: So I do that wrong.

[00:16:51] So I think I'm thinking of a thousand dollars, $30 for expenses. $50 to pay yourself $15 for taxes and then $5 before your profit first. So your profit bucket is kind of like your savings account then, right? Pretty much. You're right. So 

[00:17:08] Katie: 5 50, 50. Okay. So let's move that around for me.

[00:17:18] When I do it mentally, when I use, when I do it mentally, I usually use a thousand and I switched. 

[00:17:22] Lindsay: Okay. I'll let you go with them 

[00:17:24] Katie: so I can use a hundred. I can use a hundred, if that feels better. Okay. So with a hundred dollars. I'm going to 

[00:17:33] Lindsay: call myself down there. You guys we're not 

[00:17:35] Katie: perfect. No, definitely not.

[00:17:37] Okay. So with our a hundred dollars, you're right. $5 to profit, $15. So taxes I'm now I'm so nervous, $50 to owners pay and $30 for our expenses. And then from that point, I mean, it sounds like $30. What am I going to do with that? But this is just the allocation of the money as you're earning it. So now I know that I have $30 to go towards whatever my next expense is.

[00:18:01] And I love to organize my expenses as far as making that plan for my expense budget, which profit first, the book and the system doesn't really cover. Digging deeper into a budget for your expense pool. It just talks about that lump sum. I will tell you to then make a plan for what is that money going to go to?

[00:18:19] And so I will, I have organized in my budget, my spending plan, whatever you want to call it. Like my subscriptions with the date that they're due every month in chronological order so that I can make sure that those are paid because they're already coming out unless I cancel my subscription. And then from there you can prioritize the more variable expenses like office supplies or things that change and things that you have a little bit more control.

[00:18:42] And once you can kind of start to cover those things for your business, then you can start to think about, you know, those kinds of larger investments. You can put a little bit of money aside a little at a time to build up for investments. If you want to start to kind of force that wedge into your business.

[00:18:56] So you can start to make those and help you grow, but you've got to prioritize the immediate expenses first. Right? So taking that $30 and I see I have a $15 expense, a subscription coming out a week from now. That's where 15 of those dollars are going to go. Where's the next 15 going to go? It's going to go towards the $20 expenses is coming up afterwards.

[00:19:18] And once I earned some more money, the rest of the $5 will be there. Right. It's just that idea of making that plan just kind of on a rolling basis. And I will say for anyone who has read profit first there is the teaching of doing the budget on the 10th and 25th of every month. And that's just meant to make it so you don't have to like do this all the time.

[00:19:34] And if you wanted to do that, you could, I like to. I like to see where the money's going. So I like to go and update my plan more often. So I don't really teach that portion of it, but it's an option for people who know that part of the system. I don't want to deviate without acknowledging it for people who have read the book.

[00:19:52] Lindsay: So well, let's say we went and can you do like. Can a person go back and say, I'm just going to do an analysis of last a month and kind of see where my money is going. And if it's like completely off what they're, what this should be, let's say, let's say their expenses are really high. That means they can lower their expenses obviously.

[00:20:13] But what are their expenses are? You know, they're only spending 5% of what's coming in on their website or whatever it is. So what does that mean? Should your expenses be 30% or can they be low? 

[00:20:26] Katie: A hundred percent they can be lower. I highly encourage everyone to figure out your percentages that make sense.

[00:20:34] Like the 50% owner's pay is another one that, that can, that could vary so much. And really, I think the biggest variables here are owner's pay and expense. It's going to depend on what you want to be able to pay yourself. What season of life you're in, how much you need to be able to pay yourself.

[00:20:53] And then what it takes to run your business. Some people have a very lean model and they don't need a whole bunch. And they would rather that money go towards. Their personal finances and their personal dreams. And that's okay. So finding that balance and finding what works for you. If you take a look at how much you are currently spending, this is where the accounting and the bookkeeping does actually help.

[00:21:14] Because you might have that record. Otherwise you just need to start today and just start tracking it for a little while. So you can get those numbers, but being informed by those numbers is very helpful to then figure out what you actually, what your business actually. So there are, there are times yeah.

[00:21:28] Where people are realizing that they don't quite need all of that money to go towards their expenses. And so you can pay yourself more or you can what you could be doing instead is putting that money towards like business-related savings for larger investments later on or something that you do want you get to make that.

[00:21:44] The, the benchmarks that I provided are simply, so you have an idea of what that pie chart looks like. And so you can kind of keep that in your head, but it's not a hard role. The only thing that you need to be careful of is the tax percentage to make sure that you're saving enough. And unfortunately, that is a little tricky because it depends so much on your personal financial situation as well.

[00:22:05] So that's where I highly recommend every business owner have some. That they can lean on for tax help and support so that someone can help them do a tax projection and find out. How much they're likely to owe based on how you've been doing so far for the year and how much you're likely to need to be able to pay for your taxes next year, we'll help you make sure that you're saving enough and doing that proactively will save you a huge headache when it gets to April.

[00:22:31] Next year tax season 

[00:22:33] Lindsay: is well having enough expenses to deduct on your taxes too. That's a big thing that helps me a lot. When I plugged those in I'm like, okay, good. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. 

[00:22:44] Katie: Yeah, which is why you want to track your expenses. I would never say to add expenses just for the sake of saving on taxes.

[00:22:54] Cause that's where you're spending $10 to save a dollar kind of situation. But being very strategic with the expenses that you have and being very careful to make sure that they are being. You know, I talk about budgeting, but like I just said, bookkeeping is still important. So that you have a record of your income and expenses and you can deduct for your taxes, that will save you a ton of money.

[00:23:15] Lindsay: Yes. So I know you can't give like specific tax advice, but would you say 30% is a good ratio when it comes to tax season for your expense? 

[00:23:26] Katie: Yeah, it is that benchmark percentage. Again, for thinking about the pie chart, it does work out pretty well. And from what I find, unless you are paying just a ridiculous amount to yourself only since you can't deduct what you pay yourself, when you are still reporting your business taxes on your personal tax return.

[00:23:44] So unless you just have like almost no expenses, then you have a special situation. In which case, I would say consult with somebody to make sure, but in most cases, 15% of your gross revenue. Plenty for a lot of people. And again, it depends on your personal situation. If you're married, what your spouse's income would be dependence, other deductions that you have in your personal finances.

[00:24:07] So there's so much else that could be factored in, but as far as just speaking on average, 15% has always been plenty for most of the online business owners that I've talked to. And honestly more than people need. So I see a lot of people who are down to 10% and I had a year that I only needed to save like 8% and I still got, I still had leftover money after taxes were done.

[00:24:29] So it does depend. I know that people forget at first because they, some people know that when you're self-employed you don't have an employer paying that half of your payroll taxes If this needs to be said, I'm speaking for the U S but so in, in that payroll tax percentage, when you're self employed becomes late, it's like 15.3%.

[00:24:48] I think that is 15.3% of your net. And so that is in percentage of a smaller number. So if we're taking that 15% of a much larger number, it's different math. So that's, that's why those numbers are different. But yeah, 15% usually ends up being a decent amount for people. So I would say if you're not sure, start in the 10 to 15% range and then consult with somebody.

[00:25:14] Lindsay: And you don't always have to, for me, I don't always spend the same amount every single month on my expenses. This is what I do. And sometimes you're going to run into a season where you're thinking, okay, I'm going to advertise more in my I'm going to run some ads so they can pull money that you've saved up for your expenses and use it towards marketing in your business.

[00:25:32] So you don't always have to be like the daily things that you run in your business. Think outside of the. How are you marketing? Could you hire somebody to do something for you or whatever it is, like there's all kinds of ways to spend money in your business. And usually at the end of the year, for me, that's kind of what I'm looking at.

[00:25:46] What are your kind of patterns do you like to kind of keep things pretty same every month or what's kind of your favorite style? 

[00:25:53] Katie: I would, well, first I would want to say that, think of all of this as a. I think that makes a difference. So it's not, if you're setting aside 50% of your revenue to pay yourself, that's not putting your money directly into your personal checking though.

[00:26:06] You certainly could. But the real power comes into play thinking of all of these as funds to where that's 50% that went into a fund that I can then draw a consistent salary out of if that's what you wanted to do. So now at least your personal finances get some consistency to it. Right? Same thing with the expenses.

[00:26:23] This. The $30 or the $300 if we're using like a thousand dollars as an example. That money goes towards my expense fund that I can then figure out how I want to arrange what I want to do with it. And it's okay if there's money leftover, but it doesn't mean that you have to spend $300 in your business.

[00:26:40] If that's what you just set aside for expenses. It's okay for that money to sit there. It's okay. Cause then later on there might be an emergency. Maybe you have something in your personal finances and you need to draw from, you know, some buffer room in the business to pay yourself. Why else would you have a business if you couldn't pay yourself?

[00:26:58] Okay. There's some cases where people want that, but regardless it's that I think that idea alone will give you just a lot more freedom and help you to prioritize cash and the power that that gives you. And so, yes, I agree that you're going to kind of take a look at different seasons and different times of your life.

[00:27:18] And you're going to suddenly have a moment where. Somewhat, so-and-so just opened up a program and it's your dream program, and there's going to be this amazing retreat unfold and you would love to be a part of it and it's going to be, you know, an investment. So you're going to take a look to see what your cash is, what your cashflow is.

[00:27:35] But then also just see what your cash reserves look like. And you can make that decision when that opportunity arises. And that's the power that having cash on hand gives you. So Things change things, change, finances are dynamic. And so your money management patterns and your budget needs to be dynamic as well.

[00:27:54] You can change the plan. That's okay. As long as you're making that intentional decision ahead of time and not constantly reacting and putting yourself in a deeper and deeper. 

[00:28:03] Lindsay: I love that nobody ever says it like that. You're not constantly reacting because it's usually in a neg a negative response.

[00:28:10] Right. So, and I also love, they used to just think of it as different funds. That can completely change your perspective on this whole thing. It's not like I have to do this. I have to do that. It's almost like having five different purses and they all have different amounts of cash in them and you, and however you need to visualize it as envelopes or whatever it is.

[00:28:33] There's so many different ways to do it. But the important thing is, is that you do it. And if you're not even making a thousand dollars a month or even a hundred. Start doing it right now. Katie has an awesome kit that I downloaded over almost a year ago at this time. And I just loved it.

[00:28:50] I love how she broke it down. I'm such a visual person and I love spreadsheets. So when I found this, I was totally in and I wanted to share her with all of you. So can you tell everyone about the CFO? 

[00:29:03] Katie: Yeah. So the CFO starter kit is a kind of a spreadsheet bundle. Pretty much. I sat down, I think like one summer.

[00:29:10] And I was like, what are all the spreadsheets that I can make for people that would help them? And so I that's, what I did is I just made this bundle of all these different resources that I could think of that would help to get people out of the calculation portion and help them to just be able to do.

[00:29:26] Get the numbers they need and make decisions. And at the same time, showing them how it works so they can kind of see what's happening. So there's. The budget and pay calculator, which is what helps you to get your personalized percentages for profit first. There's a revenue goal calculator that sort of flips the equation around to help you see if this is how much you're spending in your business.

[00:29:46] And this is how much you want to be able to pay yourself factoring in profit and taxes. How much do you need to earn? Right. So you can at least establish a goal. There's like pricing calculator in there. There's a spreadsheet to help you start implementing profit first on a really basic level in there.

[00:30:02] A whole bunch of resources and it's all free. I haven't been told so many times that I should be charging for it, but I don't want to, because these are things that I, I want people to have access to this information, and I want people to be able to make these decisions for their businesses, because I just think it's, it's so foundational and it's something that should be taught.

[00:30:22] It should be available to people. And. Don't really believe that I don't love the stigma that's out there. That's a true thing. I should say. Over the finance world about how it feels like finance people keep finance complicated, just so that they can keep collecting a paycheck off of people. Accountants.

[00:30:41] It feels like that you ask your accountant the question and this is not all accounts disclaimer, but you ask an accountant a question and they just go on and they throw out all of these terms that you and you have no idea what any of it means. And you're convinced that it's just so that you have to keep paying them for stuff, right.

[00:30:56] And I don't know, I don't want that. I think it should be demystified. And so that is the mission of the CFO starter kit. And also some of what's inside. Well 

[00:31:05] Lindsay: mission accomplished because I definitely loved the way you put this together. It was so helpful. And you guys will put this link inside the show notes, but it is CFO kit dot more with money.com and it is so helpful.

[00:31:20] Especially at the beginning of the year get your stuff together. If it's not together, this will help you. And then it's going to encourage you to continue doing it. For some reason, Katie had a way of making it actually fun to do, unless I'm just a nerd through and through, but I really love put it plugging in the numbers and you're going to see how well your business is doing.

[00:31:39] Sometimes we're kind of blinded with how well our business is doing because we're not paying attention. And I think this is a really good eye-opener. So again, I'm well done on this and I hope that everyone takes advantage of this. This is such a great tool.  

[00:31:52] Katie: Thank you so much. I'm proud of it.

[00:31:56] Lindsay: You should be. Katie, thank you so much for spending time with us. Please let everyone know how they can find you. 

[00:32:02] Katie: Yeah. So pretty simple morewithmoney.com or on Instagram. I'm at Katie dot more with money. And even if I'm not posting, I do check my messages. So if you want to message me on there, I will respond.

[00:32:14] Lindsay: Yes, she does. I think that's how I connected with you. It was, I was like, oh my gosh, is she doing this still? I hope she is. So Katie, you need to get back on Instagram and show up for everybody because they would love it. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us. It's I love, I love what you do. I respect it very much.

[00:32:32] And everyone go follow Katie on Instagram and go tell her how much you love the episode.