Whether you’re new to business or experienced, you’ll probably ask yourself sometimes (or often) where the money will come from next month. Until I started my own business I didn’t fully realise how much peace a regular, monthly pay check gave me.
But along with doing a bunch of work around how I feel, think and talk about money in my business, I’m finding more peace in my business finances now through a very practical model.
In this post, I’ll share how putting together a financial ecosystem helps me feel more peace in my business, hold on to the joy and put less pressure on my services and products.
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Letting go of predictions
Early in my business I attended a workshop on financial goals. I desperately wanted help in this area. I was making little to no money in my business, but knew I wanted to make it work financially.
Having had a regular job all my professional life, I felt clueless about setting financial goals for my business. In the workshop, the host shared a spreadsheet that they used, which had an overview of the products and services they were selling, and goals for each of these.
I diligently started filling in the spreadsheet. I planned to sell X number of 1:1 spots. I launched a small business guide and planned to sell Y number.
I soon became disillusioned with the spreadsheet. It lingered in the corners of my laptop, gathering virtual dust.
See, as well as this spreadsheet worked for the workshop host, it didn’t work for me.
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I was so new in my business, that making predictions about how much I could sell of a certain product or service was guesswork at best.
But even now that I’m more experienced in business, I don’t do predictions. I may hope for a certain number of sales of a product or service, but trying to predict sales makes me feel cramped.
It puts too much pressure on me and what I’m offering.
It takes the joy out, and makes me see potential clients and customers not as amazing humans I want to work with, but as little walking bags of money.
Yet I still like having a structure or overview of some sorts. And especially, I like not having all of my income having to come from one particular service or product.
This is where the idea of the financial ecosystem comes in.
My business financial ecosystem
Thinking of my business income in terms of an ecosystem feels expansive, coherent and organic.
Thinking in terms of a financial ecosystem means having several income streams, and envisioning them all as working together to reach my financial goals.
I like two things in particular about this model of the financial ecosystem.
First, I like that I have more than one thing bringing in money. This wasn’t always the case: before I launched Substack for small business owners, freelancers and creatives in May 2023, and before I started offering paid subscriptions to Female Owned in February 2023, 1:1 mentoring was my only source of income.
Having more than one income stream gives me peace of mind. It puts less pressure on my business and what I offer.
The second thing I like about this model is how all parts work together and build on each other not only financially, but especially in terms of the vision for my business. I see everything I do, from my free newsletter, to paid subscriptions, to my courses, programmes and 1:1 mentoring as part of a scale.
For example, what I offer in my free newsletters is a small sample of what I offer in a more hands-on and personalised way in my 1:1 mentoring.
While not everything I offer is on exactly the same topic, it all fits under the umbrella of slow, gentle and profitable—my key values—which makes selling them feel much more organic to me.
By creating a financial ecosystem, I feel more at peace.
The advantages of having a financial ecosystem
There are a couple of advantages for me to having a financial ecosystem.
Having this ecosystem means that I can add things to my business that can be small and lower-priced, that still bring in some money—not everything has to be big, time-consuming and/or expensive.
It also means that I can focus my energy on different things and follow my creativity.
I deeply love creating courses and programmes like Substack for small business owners, freelancers and creatives, Marketing without social media and Small business newsletter magic. Not only am I good at creating these things, I get to put so much creativity and joy into them—and that’s what I need in my business.
By creating a financial ecosystem, I feel more at peace. There is less pressure on individual services or products. I can focus on the joy and connection, rather than stressing out about whether something is “performing” enough.
And having this ecosystem makes my business more scalable and more robust.
I love the combination of 1:1 mentoring and self-led products that I’ve created. As I took time off earlier this summer, two people bought Substack for small business owners, freelancers and creatives. A handful signed up to my free resource Move your business away from social media. And because of my scheduled newsletters, two people reached out about 1:1 mentoring.
Workshop: creating your business financial ecosystem
If you want to create your own financial ecosystem, I have just the thing for you: a short workshop with worksheets in which I walk you through the nitty-gritty details of my own financial ecosystem and help you create your own.
I’ve designed the workshop to be useful both if you’re just starting out, and if you’re an experienced business owner—creating this ecosystem is also a great way of reviewing our offerings: do they still fit the vision for our business? Do the prices still fit?
The workshop
I’ve created a 25-minute workshop to help you create your own financial ecosystem, or review your existing one—and I’ll give you the nitty-gritty details of my own ecosystem and lots of examples of what yours might look like.
At the end of this workshop you will have created a financial ecosystem or reviewed your existing one. You will feel more empowered and at peace about your income, and see possibilities for changes if necessary.
Take a preview at the workshop 📽️
I’d love to know what resonates with you from this post.
Please feel free to share this post it with business friends, in your newsletter or elsewhere. 💛
I’d love to support you in all phases of your business. Providing clarity, focus and next steps is something that my clients tell me I’m really good at. If you’re curious about how we can work together through 1:1 mentoring, check out what I offer or send me an email–no strings attached. I have payment plans available, and flexible options for mentoring calls.
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