Evolved Finance

Can you freaking believe it’s December already? December and January are when things really pick up for us at Evolved Finance. Between submitting 1099s and sending bookkeeping files over to our clients’ accountants, it’s definitely the busiest time of year for us. It’s also the time of year where a lot of entrepreneurs start to panic about their bookkeeping and taxes. That’s why the timing was so perfect for this month’s guest. Her name is Keila Hill-Trawick and she is the owner of Little Fish Accounting. Our conversation is the kick in the pants many online business owners will need to start taking their tax situation more seriously, so you will not want to miss it. In this episode, Keila and I discuss: Why you shouldn’t attempt to file your own tax return Why so many online businesses struggle to find a good accountant The role a good accountant plays in your business Why your accountant’s operations and systems are so important for getting a quality experience as a client What you should be looki

If you’re a big fan of Marie Forleo, who is arguably one of the most successful business coaches and course creators in the world, then you’ve probably heard that she is not going to be working with affiliate partners next year to sell B-School. If you aren’t familiar with Marie, this is a pretty big deal. Mainly because she is the QUEEN of affiliate launches. So much so that she built her entire business model around doing one GIGANTIC affiliate launch every year and made millions of dollars as a result of it. But she’s not the only big name moving away from affiliate launches. So why the sudden change of heart around affiliate marketing? That’s exactly what we discuss in this week’s episode. How affiliate marketing got to be so popular over the past 7-8 years Why I’ve been telling our clients for the last 5 years to move away from affiliate launches When it still makes sense to use affiliate marketing as a sales strategy Why it’s hard to build a profitable business that solely relies on affiliate ma

The holidays can be a complicated time for online businesses. While the holiday season can make or break retail, manufacturing, and e-commerce businesses, it seems to have a smaller effect on coaching and info-based online businesses (the types of businesses we serve at Evolved Finance). Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of takes from different business experts about what online businesses should do during the holiday season. That’s why for this episode, we discuss: What we’ve seen with our clients’ numbers during the holidays Why it’s crucial for you to understand if there is seasonality in your business What you should be aware of when advertising in November and December Any misconceptions entrepreneurs have about how the holidays might affect their online businesses Why your numbers can help you better understand what the right decision is for your own online business

Entrepreneurship is inherently risky. Period. That being said, it doesn’t HAVE TO be any riskier than working for someone else. It’s up to you as a business owner to be aware of any vulnerabilities your business might have and get in front of them as soon as possible. As your business grows, new vulnerabilities will come into play, but you will also have more resources available to you to make those vulnerabilities a non-factor. So for this episode, we discuss: The risks new online businesses have to deal with versus the risks more established online businesses have to deal with How a business’s savings can go a long way towards making your business less vulnerable to financial risk How legal vulnerabilities can grow as your business grows How systems and processes make your business less threatened when team members leave How diversifying your marketing channels as you grow makes your revenue generation less risky Links to past episodes referenced during this podcast: TBL Episode 69: Keeping i

One of the most attractive parts of running an online business is the fact you can do so much on your own. In fact, most of the smaller businesses ($100k-$250k a year) we work with barely have any team at all. But what every single entrepreneur we work with quickly realizes is that they can only get so far on their own. Whether you are hiring your first virtual assistant or hiring your first full-time employee, the task can seem daunting. Especially because contractors and employees are some of the biggest financial investments we make in our businesses.  That’s why I was so excited to talk to hiring expert Megan Baker about how you can get better at hiring the right people for your online business. During my conversation with Megan, we discuss: Why you want to hire people who DO NOT think like you Why hiring for your small online businesses is not liking hiring at a large corporation Why self-awareness is so crucial for successfully managing new team members What to look out for when posting a job fo

Nobody can be good at EVERYTHING in their business. At the same time, it’s not reasonable to only focus on the aspects of your business that you like and completely ignore everything else. When you start a business, you’re accepting that you don’t get to ONLY be a specialist anymore. Business owners have to be leaders, problem solvers, sales reps, strategists…the list just gets longer the fewer people you have on your team! That’s why in this episode, we discuss: What one of our Evolved Finance clients is doing to take extreme ownership of their business that has completely blown me away Why you can’t expect to just “outsource” all your problems away Why the more deeply you understand your business, the easier it is to hold your team members accountable Why you don’t need to have an MBA in finance to understand your numbers and take full ownership of your business Why resourcefulness is so crucial for success as a business owner  Why nobody will ever know your online business better than you If

One of the biggest reasons people have for starting their own business is that they want to be their own boss. What many new entrepreneurs quickly realize, however, is that the boss doesn’t always get paid that much in the beginning. As any business grows, there becomes more cash flow left over each month. But how do you know when the time is right to give yourself a raise? When should you be investing in a different area of the business to help it grow even more? That’s why for this episode, we discuss: The system we teach our clients for how to pay themselves responsibly Why your personal finances play a huge factor for your salary Why it’s almost impossible to decide on your monthly salary without a Profit and Loss statement How a forecast and budget can make adjusting your salary a much easier decision to make Why your goals for growth play a huge part in your ability to increase your salary You can find the budgeting tools mentioned during this episode here: https://evolvedfinance.com/webinar

With the release of President Trump’s tax returns in September of this year, there have been a lot of heated discussions online about what his tax returns have revealed about his businesses’ financial health. While I do not want to get into the politics of this, the release of any major politician’s tax returns tends to generate a lot of misinformation and confusion around how taxes work as well as what constitutes a healthy business. While neither I nor Corey are accountants, we do have 16 years of combined experience working with our client’s accountants to file their taxes. We have also looked over thousands of different profit and loss statements over these combined 16 years as well. So what I’m trying to say is, despite not being accountants, we know a little something about how taxes work. That’s why for this episode, we discuss: The different ways our clients reduce their tax bills, legally How your business entity can affect your tax bill Why it’s easier to find more tax loopholes as your business gr

I went to high school in the late ’90s, right when the internet was starting to become popular.  Back then, if you told me to create a website, you might as well have asked me to assemble my own airplane from scratch—I would not have even known where to start. Now, over 20 years later, creating a website is so easy most elementary school kids could figure it out. Companies like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace have made creating a website accessible to the masses. Despite the lower barrier to entry from both a price and technical standpoint, we still see online businesses spending thousands of dollars to create their websites. Is it worth the money? Yes…but also no…it really just depends on how your business works. That’s why in this episode, we discuss: Does every online business even need a website? The various price options online business owners have for creating a website Why you need to think about the return on investment for your website How landing pages have become more important to our clien

If you’ve been in the online business world for long enough, you know how many trends and fads have come and gone in such a short period of time.  When I left the corporate world to partner up with Corey at Evolved Finance, e-books and 1-on-1 coaching were going out of style and courses were coming in hot. Now, membership sites and group coaching programs are all the rage. The reality is, all these online business models can turn into six or seven-figure ventures, but each one also has its unique challenges for scaling up.  Nobody knows this better than Breanne Dyck of the Visionary CEO Academy.  Breanne and her partner, Jill, have been supporting online business owners by transforming their online money-making ventures into sustainable and scalable businesses.  During my conversation with Breanne, we discuss: Why online business has changed and evolved so much over the past 7-8 years What it takes to be successful as an online business owner TODAY The pitfalls of trying to scale any type of online busi

During my time working for adidas America, I quickly learned how important data is to running a successful business. Do we need to order more inventory? Look at the data. Do we need to run a promotion? Look at the data. Do we need to change the pricing of a product? Look at the data. Are we on track to hit our sales targets? Look at the data.  Any major decision I made or was a part of was always based on some sort of financial, inventory, or marketing data. I understand that adidas is a multi-billion-dollar corporation whereas Evolved Finance’s clients are running multi-seven-figure businesses at best, but that doesn’t make data any less important. That’s why in this episode, we discuss: How we used data to make decisions at adidas The role sales data plays in a successful online business The role marketing data plays in a successful online business The role financial data plays in a successful online business Why your business will be more successful when you’re making data-driven decisions instea

Hiring a bookkeeper is a lot like hiring a mechanic. You’re taking a leap of faith that they’re not going to screw you over. After all, unless you know how to fix your own car, how would you even know whether your mechanic is doing a good job or not? The same goes for a bookkeeper. Luckily, you don’t have to be a bookkeeper yourself to know if your bookkeeper is doing quality work. That’s why for this episode, we discuss: The top complaint we hear from our clients about their past bookkeepers Why the way your bookkeeper sets up your P&L matters The missing piece of most bookkeepers’ monthly service that business owners need to demand Why entrepreneurs need to trust their gut if they feel like their books aren’t being managed correctly Why it’s not unreasonable to expect a high level of customer service from your bookkeeper Why you need a bookkeeper that specializes in your industry

I got a surprise text message from my brother-in-law and his long-time girlfriend a few weeks ago. They wanted me to help them put together a personal budget. I was honestly shocked they were asking for help on this. They’re both in their early twenties and finishing up their last year of school, so it would be really easy for them to just “wing it.” I know when I was their age, it was the last thing on my mind—in fact, I avoided it altogether. I waited 5-6 years before I put together my own first personal budget, so I was blown away by their maturity and desire to learn new skills as young adults. I was so blown away, in fact, that it inspired an entire podcast episode! So for this episode, we discuss: Why it was easy to put off looking at my personal financial situation head-on Why we can’t afford to put our heads in the sand around money as entrepreneurs  Why a more disciplined approach to your finances creates more freedom and clarity Why it’s never too late to change the way you think about and r

I’ve probably said this 100 times now, but simply growing your business’s revenue is not enough to build your wealth as the owner. Is a steady stream of sales important for any business? Of course! Does generating more sales create the potential for better cash flow? Absolutely! But if a business does not manage its expenses as the revenue increases, then profitability suffers, which means the business owner can’t increase their own pay. The same goes for your personal finances. It’s hard to build wealth if your lifestyle is so expensive relative to your income that you don’t have any money left over to invest in your future. Few understand this as well as Justin Krane. Justin is a Certified Financial Planner, money strategist, author, and fractional CFO for entrepreneurs.  During my conversation with Justin, we cover: How to handle the uncertainty of 2020 The biggest misunderstanding entrepreneurs have about their business models and cash flow Why cash is so important for any online business owner Ho

In 2019, Corey and I bit the bullet and finally invested in our first coaching program. It was $10k for 8 weeks of support. Outside of our employees, it was the biggest investment we had ever made in our business at one time. Did we get the results we were looking for after the 8 weeks? Kinda. Was it worth it? 100%. Without those very intense eight weeks of analyzing and scrutinizing our business, we would not have been able to handle the last twelve months of growth we experienced. Honestly, it was a game-changing program for us. Although my personal experience with coaching and courses has been positive, I’m still very conservative when it comes to my own continuing education. I’ve only spent $10k in 6 years, after all. On the other hand, we have a number of clients who dive much more deeply into personal and business development, spending tens of thousands of dollars every single year on courses and coaching. That’s why in today’s episode, we discuss: Can you over-invest in your continuing education? W

When I jumped into the online business world six years ago, one of the first concepts I had to wrap my head around was affiliate marketing. As someone who had spent the previous 5 years in the sporting goods industry, it just wasn’t a strategy I was familiar with. But back in 2014, almost all our clients were either running affiliate promotions for their own products or promoting a product for someone else. Over the last 5 years, however, we’ve slowly seen our clients focus less and less on both sides of the affiliate relationship. What’s changed? A lot. That’s why in today’s episode, we discuss: What affiliate marketing means in the online space How the evolution of digital products is making it more difficult to utilize affiliates Why affiliate marketing can be a shaky foundation to build your business upon How much of your revenue you should be spending on Facebook ads Why affiliate marketing tends to burn out entrepreneurs What we prefer our clients to focus on instead of affiliate marketing

When there is an aspect of our business that we don’t understand, we tell ourselves it’s because the subject matter is too confusing or too complicated. While there definitely are areas of expertise like computer programming or law that take a lot of specialized knowledge to understand fully, we can easily outsource this type of work to experts. But when it comes to things like finance, most entrepreneurs overthink and over complicate it because they lack a basic foundational understanding of the role finance plays in their businesses.  Is that because finance is complicated? Nope. It’s just difficult to find financial information that’s specifically applicable to online business owners.  So when an online business is struggling with something like profitability, it’s easy to get overwhelmed about what to do. You might even think that you aren’t capable of fixing the problem yourself. Luckily, the reason that any business struggles to stay profitable only comes down to two very simple factors.  So for this ep

Here are the top two things MOST entrepreneurs love to spend time doing: 1. Marketing 2. Creating products and offers Here are the top two things MOST entrepreneurs hate doing: 1. Dealing with their finances 2. Documenting internal processes We know as well as anyone how much entrepreneurs love to avoid their finances, but when our clients start working with us, they realize they can actually feel empowered when it comes to their money. It turns out Dean Soto from Pro Sulum has the same experience with his clients but with process documentation. I invited Dean onto the podcast because I had never heard of a virtual assistant agency that only focuses on helping business owners to create SOPs (standard operating procedures). It’s a truly genius idea for a service because SOPs are ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL for creating a scalable and sustainable business. So for this episode, I talked with Dean about: How he created his businesses Why he focused on SOP creation as a service Why SOPs are so important for all busin

Part of being a successful online business owner is knowing who you need on your team and what they should be responsible for. Hiring people to manage functions like social media, copywriting, customer service, and graphic design is straight forward: you figure out what job needs to be done and pay someone to do it. But who should be involved in your finances? In my experience, there are four key roles that every online business should have covered, and one role many business owners think they need but probably don’t. That’s why in today’s episode, we discuss: The role of a bookkeeper and their core responsibilities The role of an accountant and their core responsibilities The financial role an operations/business manager should play in your business When you need to talk to a financial advisor as your business starts to create wealth for you The one financial role we think is rarely needed in an online business Why organized and accurate financial data is the key ingredient for a successful finan

Let’s face it…we don’t really know what the next 6 months are going to look like. Honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what has just happened these last 6 months. Surprisingly, we have actually seen the online businesses we work with thrive this year as more people are spending larger amounts of time on the internet. But can we expect this COVID bump to last? I honestly don’t know. That’s why for this episode, we discuss: The inherent risks of running an online business in the US during the next 6 months How to be smart with any bumps in revenue you’ve received these last 2-3 months Why holding onto extra cash in your business could be the most important factor in getting through another potential economic downturn Understanding the balance between keeping money in your business and investing your extra profit The importance of forecasting so you can be prepared for the unknown Why bookkeeping and financial tracking are more crucial than ever