433 | Profitable but Still Stressed The Hidden Leaks Draining Your Business, ft Emily Bowie

You work hard, the money comes in, or it doesn't, but somehow either way it feels like there's never enough. Enough margin, enough peace, enough clarity. But what if the problem isn't that you aren't making enough? But that you're flying blind. In today's conversation, my friend Emily and I talk about why stewardship begins with visibility, and why some of the biggest leaks in your business may not be financial at all, aka their time leaks. Because you can't steward what you're unwilling to look at. So whether it's your money, your time, your calling, awareness is the first step toward making wise faith-filled decisions. And sometimes the most powerful next step isn't more of anything. It's simply pushing pause railerly to see more clearly. So, press play on this conversation to discover the three key numbers that you need to see more clearly as a CEO. If you're tired of feeling busy, but not actually getting results in your business, and you know, there has to be a better way than just managing your time, you're in the right place. Hi, I'm Lissa, a Christ-centered time strategist, helping Christian women entrepreneurs go from business owner to CEO, by stewarding their time with God at the center. Around here, we don't just manage time, we multiply it. So that way, you can supernaturally scale your time, your focus, your impact, and your revenue without working more hours. So, grab your CEO journal and let's get to work with God. Oh, welcome back to the Redeem Core Time Podcast. We're here to ask the question, are you profitable but still stressed? I can't wait to dive into this conversation with my friend Emily. Because so often, I think we have hidden leaks that are draining our business growth. And what's so interesting, Emily and I were talking before we hit record, is that when we're not, you know, seen things, it's really hard to make strategic decisions that are faith-led, because we're just looking for the neck, where do I need to go next? Right? And so, we're going to look at maybe some things that you're avoiding in your business that may be costing you more than money, because your stewardship, whether it's of your money or your time, always begins with an awareness and always begins with visibility. So, Emily, I'm so excited to welcome you to the Redeem Core Time Podcast. Start, but just tell us about you. What does life look like in this season when you're balancing motherhood and business and ministry and what you do through financial stewardship? For sure. Thank you for having me here. I'm so excited to be able to talk to you about this. Background, I am a mother to three, seven, five, and almost four. So like we have been in those cases. You see a season? Luckily for me, I got into the entrepreneurial world about five years before I started having babies. So I felt like I could do it. And then I realized quickly how humbly I need God in every aspect of what I do in all the ways. And so background on what I, where I have come from what I do, I came out of big four accounting. And I just, I really enjoyed what I did. I knew I had a technical skill. And I knew God had blessed me with disability to understand things, but I was just not getting the fulfillment that I wanted. I was an audit. People don't like auditors. So. I'm trying to avoid you. I felt like there had to be more. And I just kind of humbly let him lead me. And I stepped away from that career. And it has been an evolution in the online space, what, where I've been and what I've done. I started out in health and fitness. And though I had a passion for helping people. And I think that helped me hone in that that's where I needed to like live. I wasn't super passionate about out working out and doing all that. I love to do it for myself. Wasn't necessarily like my thing. And then I started helping people get out of debt because we had. And then from there I realized I was helping mostly business owners. And then I was teaching them how to build a business while. And so that slowly evolved into like fractional CFO work, which landed me here, where I am a partner at Thorn Advisors, where we help people find cash. And their profitability and help them keep it through tax strategy. And so that has been the evolution of that. But then at the same time, God called me to run a financial ministry at church. And I have been doing that for six years. And he has been nudging me to go ahead and create my own curriculum. Because I was supplementing other people's curriculum so much. And it took me about a year to be obedient. And then, but in his perfect timing, he provided exactly what I needed when. And so we're in the middle of like my beta launch where you know, we're building the plane as we fly it. Welcome back to for New York ship, right? Exactly. It has been humbling and just God is so kind. And so it has really been a journey. So that's how I have landed here. I love it. And even still you're not fully landed, right? Because you're taking it off into this new thing. And this, this is the journey of entrepreneurship. I feel like it's just this personal and spiritual growth journey. As we start leaning into, you know, the things that God's laid on our hearts and start really listening to him and listening to others and seeing how those things intersect. And I love it. I start off in health and wellness too. And I would often follow up with a client about some, you know, habits or change that we were talking about. And guess what I heard most often. I haven't done that. I didn't have time. Right. So yeah, that's how I got into the time side of things. I thought there's got to be a better way than just being busy all the time and running around like I don't have time. So yeah, I love that you're helping women, you know, better understand their numbers, you know, strengthen their profitability because, you know, revenue is one thing. But profit is a whole another thing. And I think way too many what I call busyness owners. They're poor in time because they're filling their calendar with things that are just spending their time not in, you know, getting a good return. And so many of them are not really seeing the profitability. They may be making, you know, revenue. But then so much of that is going out the door for various things, you know, whether it's the back end things or taxes or all of that. So yeah, there has to be this like wake up moment of like, wait, where am I? And how do I make a wise financial decision? And also you and I had this conversation for we record too. Like when we understand the fact that we don't own it. And none of this is going with us when we are done here on this earth. And so how do we be good stewards in the already not yet this in between part. And use it wisely to build the kingdom and care for those that God has called us to. So I love that. And one thing I appreciate about your approach. I noticed is that you focus on education instead of intimidation. So tell me like, why is that such an important part of helping women gain confidence around this really important resource of money? I feel like financial literacy is just not a priority when we're growing up in the educational space like in general. And I think most of it is because most people just don't really know the ins and outs of it. And those that do don't know how to explain it. And so I get really passionate about it because I think education builds confidence just first and foremost. But then also when you really have a handle on your finances, you can be a good steward with them. You can think strategically. You're actually able to make a bigger impact if you understand what you're doing. Now you don't need to know it to the degree to go run and do the numbers yourself. But you have to understand where the numbers are coming from, what they mean. And then it informs those strategic decisions versus making like willing, willing decisions. Yeah, and it's so important, you know, nobody doesn't take the time or shouldn't take not take the time to look at their numbers when it comes to their finances and go, what is the return on the investment? What is coming in such as a business owner, you should know what's coming in and what's going out and what is that profit margin that you have. And if you don't know that number, it's okay. We're going to have this conversation today around visibility around that, why that matters. And I think the same thing is true on our time, except time is nothing that's not as tangible. And so I think it's easy for us to just focus on the next thing I'm going to spend time on without looking back at where it's actually brought us. So I love that there's so many parallels between time and money, right. So as we're pulling this together, you know, like I find so many women that I work with, they are working really hard. Most of my women are not, you know, binging Netflix and Hakan Das on the couch there, you know, they're working there out there doing what they think they should be doing. Maybe they're bringing in a good level of revenue, but, you know, maybe not, but they're feeling this financial pressure, right. And it's so interesting because I just recently had a conversation with somebody who, you know, she had reached, she had surpassed a pretty big mile marker in business and yet still felt like there was this financial pressure behind the scenes. So why do you think so many business owners maybe can look successful on paper? You know, I mean, let's be honest, we scroll Instagram, it looks like everybody's got everything and we're just sitting there going, no, we're not right. But really on the back end, they're probably still stressed and reactive or maybe even uncertain with their finances. Why do you think that how can that dichotomy happen at the same time. I think so there's a couple things is awareness. I think honestly the reason people gain success in their revenue and maybe not their profit is because they're not actually looking where their money goes. They're very focused on how it's coming in. And so I think that is a trap that a lot of business owners will fall into and then they don't recognize how how hard it is to get more. when you can make more of what you have. And you know, that's that parallel with time is like, are we really prioritizing the things that matter? If the money's coming in and going straight out, are we actually doing what we're being called to do, which is to steward our money well? And so I think awareness is the first thing. And then I think it's the education piece. You know, we have this tendency to either avoid or we kind of, and in that avoidance, we either don't look at it at all, or we say it's somebody else's job. (laughing) And I, please, I don't wanna see it, right? Yeah. I think there's gotta be an ownership piece to it. And you know, I often will do an accounting 101 with people because I'm like, okay, this is your income statement. This is your balance sheet. This is what your income statement tells you, and this is what your balance sheet tells you because I think with business owners, even if they're season, they tend to live on the income statement because all the strategists and all the coaches are like top line revenue, top line revenue. Right. And there's helpful information which your expense is, but also we just need to know what the business is worth. And that's everything that's on that balance sheet. Right. I mean, it's so important, you know, and I'm just thinking it's so easy to stick our head in the sand, especially if we don't think we're going to like what we're going to see. We tend to avoid those things because I don't want to have to see it in black and white and then of course all the emotion that comes with that, but it obviously doesn't help us. So how does not having visibility, not actually knowing and awareness around those numbers, how does that lead to more stress and actually keep us from the growth that we probably want, right? For sure. I talk about this a lot. Like the first portion of the curriculum I'm writing right now is all your money mindset, how to partner with God and how you view money and all of that because I think when you just kind of sort of know you don't know at all. And it's really hard to build confidence when you feel like you don't know what's actually going on. And whether or not you think you know, you're either there's two spectrums of it where it's like you're really conservative and you're like, I'm doing great. See this top-line revenue? I can spend all the money I want. And then the other side is like, I have no money and there's a ton there, but because you're not looking at it, you just have this cycle of scarcity and like God doesn't call us to scarcity, it calls us to abundance. And part of what we have to do is actually do the looking, do the conversations that may be difficult because oftentimes awareness just provides a level of confidence that you are lacking and you don't even know you're lacking because truly we are able to simply do better by just looking at it even if we don't know what it means, even if we make assumptions, we still do better by actually seeing it. - Yeah, I mean, this is so key. What I'm thinking right now is just this conversation I often have that when we are always chasing what we don't think we have. So in my world, it's the time I don't think I have. We keep saying, I don't have time if I had time when I have time after the kids go to school or this trip or this project, right, then I'll have time. We're actually missing out on what we, the time we actually do have in front of us. And what I'm, you know, it's kind of seeing here is, yeah, when we don't have that awareness around what's actually going on in our books, we're missing out, like you said, on how can I make the most of what this is versus chasing the next dollar? And I always, you know, I love the fact that you're an auditor and that it shouldn't be a scary thing. It actually should be a really healthy thing to do in audit. I mean, you would never not like take your car and to get, you know, checks once in a while. That's really an audit, right? - Yeah, sure. - I often do with time. I'll tell people like you want to know like how your time is going and what you're doing with it. Open up your phone. Check on the screen time and look and see that number in the last 24 hours. How much time did you give to that device? Now, granted, some of that was really profitable and helpful and, you know, made eternal impact, but probably a lot of it didn't. But it's when women see that number and on average, it's four hours and 37 minutes a day. And yet we say I don't have time. I'm sure you run into the same thing. People are like, you know, I don't have any money and you're like, wait, you have this much coming in, right? So I know you talk, you work a lot with women who are profitable on paper, but still feel broke, right? Or they have the revenue coming in, but then because of all that's going out, you know, they don't have the profit. Why does that happen? And what is it really reveal about the difference between, you know, I'm going for that top line earning number and actually how am I sturdying my this resource well? - Yeah, I feel like there's a couple of things. One thing we do differently is I will often ask like, what do you need home-wise? So often what will happen is their personal finances are chaotic. So in turn, that trickles into the business finances and they don't know what they actually need to bring home. So then it feels like it's never enough. And so they're focused on more and more and more. But really, there's more margin that can be found in the money that is coming in. And then I think there's another piece of it that can be a little difficult to grasp, but like the timing of your cash and as it comes in and goes out. So if you're purchasing on credit cards in that month, you'll get that expense against that revenue. But then your cash doesn't move until you pay off the credit card. So there's that timing difference as well as the fact that your bank account doesn't match a profit and you don't know why. - Yeah, you open it up and you see that number and you're like, oh, look at all the money I have. - Yes. - So since I'm gonna get out. - And if you've taken a loan, that's a great example where that transaction and when you go to pay that, you're only seeing the interest on your income statement. You're not seeing the principal payment that you made. That is all reflected on your balance sheet. So like that timing of money and the difference of the two things can be really overwhelming because you just don't have that handle and grasp on it. So one thing I always recommend to people just to have peace and understanding is really walking through their customer journey from beginning to end. And that's something we do at Thorn when we work with clients is we want to partner with you. But the best way we can partner with you is understanding how it all works. And it's very similar to my audit days because one of the biggest cash leaks for business owners is operational inefficiency. - Like give us some examples 'cause I love to get detangible. I want people listening to go, oh, that's me. - So like for example, a great operational inefficiency is not having policies and procedures. They are thinking from their brain every single time they go do something instead of sitting down and writing out the step-by-step because that simple process of writing it out. It helps solidify those steps and it's reducing the capacity it takes to go do the thing and for you. But then if you go and outsource, that's even better. And so you will then already have something to give to somebody else to go do and it takes the training time down. It gives them a resource and so on and so forth. So like there's so many efficiencies that can be found just in the way you operate. And also like having a rhythm, and I know this, you talk about this a lot, but a rhythm in which you do things also is a way to not leak cash in your business because instead of sitting down and being like, what am I about to do? And having to take 10 to 15 minutes to figure it out or you're in that context switch and then it's even longer because you're like, I didn't play in the next thing. You actually have a rhythm for what you do when it's time to actually sit down and work and you're able to go do those income-producing things right off the bat. - Okay, this is so powerful and I don't know if you planned it this way, but as I'm listening, my radar is going up and I'm like, girl, first of all, I think normally if I were to say, hey, I try to ask one of my audience members, what do you think are some of your cash leaks? She's probably gonna look at, oh, I have the subscription that I'm not really using. She's looking at where is actually money going out. And yes, if you have our pain for things that you're not using, then that is a cash leak. But what I noticed about what you just shared are number one, those aren't things that people are thinking about as being cash leaks. But the reason that they are leaking your cash is because they are actually costing you more time, right? And so our time is valuable. I mean, they say time is money and of course as believers, we have a whole different perspective on what that means, but yeah, I believe time is our most valuable asset. It is the exact vehicle that God lays in front of us every day to do the thing. And so what I'm hearing you say is, hey, when you don't have a process, a procedure, a system for these things, you are wasting time, which means that time can't be spent on the things that would be income producing. And now you're over here picking up, trying to make sense of all the other stuff. And then making it difficult to delegate, which is another way we can get time back, which allows us to invest. So I just, so interesting how, yeah, you're helping us look beyond. I think where most of us would stop because I think a lot of us could tend to be like, oh, okay, well, I've already checked, you know, and I'm not paying for anything I'm not using therefore check the box. I don't have any cash links, but I feel like you just gave us a, yeah, a whole different perspective. Anything else you want to say in that? - Yeah, so I love the operational efficiency piece. I think this is a piece a lot of people miss. and to your point, it's because they're not equating time for money. Yeah. They're not equating that. But then also, there are practical things where you are leaking cash in your business. One is how you're priced. And I have lots to say on that and how to figure out if every time you sell a service, whether or not you're profitable. Okay. But you know, expense audits to your point when you're like looking at the things you're actually spending money on. That's another way that I think a lot of business owners skip because they wait to the last minute to go do the thing. And you know, they get to tax season. It's like April 1st. And I'm like, oh, like what do I need to actually give them? And you're not actually looking through and doing that reflective thing. And so I think there are very practical, tangible ways you are leaking cash. But to your point, I think time is money at the end of the day. So if your service is required, a lot of you, if you lose capacity by doing a thing, you have to think about the opportunity cost of doing the thing. You know, there's so much that I can go into related to that. And I think that's where a lot of financial people sometimes will miss the boat is helping connect those two. And it's possible because they don't see the connection. And I think because I come out of the auditing world and I was able to go in and be dropped into someone's process and then immediately try and help them improve it. That's how I approach things. I'm looking at it. And I'm like, well, can we do a little of this and a little of that? And then that way it's going to help you achieve your goals, but not sacrifice the thing that matters to you. Yeah. And what you said about like not waiting until the quote last minute to look at something. I mean, let's be honest, we all know April 15th comes every single year. It should not be a surprise. And so I tell people that is actually a reoccurring task that you need to do, which means you need a reoccurring rhythm and process around that so that it's not a surprise. You're not scrambling the last minute and then missing things because what happens when we're in a rush, we kind of just throw it all and shove it at our accountant and say, please make some sense of this and hope that they catch everything we want them to. And so I see like that's why stewardship too of like taking time on a regular basis, whether that's weekly or monthly to really look at the numbers, make some strategic decisions, assess some of these things so you don't get to the end of a tax year and go, wait, what did I just do? One of the things, guys, oh, I was just going to say one thing I recommend to business owners as like a practical thing that will help you not end up in that reactive mode is having money, Mondays. And the money Mondays are not only like looking at your financial statements, looking at your sales, like looking at how you're spending your money. It's actually sitting down with like that like checklist of things that you know are relevant to your money. So when you're talking about taxes, maybe it's uploading receipts and you're not even really looking at money that day, but it is just kind of that anchor point where you're saying, okay, on Monday, we think about our money and here are the 15 tasks that I can choose from that makes sense that don't feel like a drag down on my time because I think a lot of people are like, well, I don't want to look at my numbers every single week because like they don't change or you know, it's overwhelming, whatever. But there are so many tasks around your money that you can so intentionally do if you just gave yourself 30 minutes a week to do. Yeah, that's not overwhelming because it's just a little bit at a time. Okay, here's what was really powerful though about what you just shared. I think so many of us we like make the book thing like maybe Friday kind of like, you know, but I love the idea of Monday, Monday, Monday because now like I'm coming into my week and the way I'm about to spend my time with this vision in mind, A, knowing where I am because I'm not putting my head in the sand, but then B, hey, what are my financial goals this week? You know, and again, for those of you listening who you know, we sometimes get in our heads and I'm sure Emily has great resources around our money mindset and things like that as believers. And you know, people will tell me, I'm not doing it to make the money, but I'm doing it to make an impact. I'm like, okay, well, there is a transaction that happens for you to make a deeper impact is when somebody invests in whatever you're offering. So I think by doing it on Monday, it's going to really help us not only with our money that week, but it's going to help us with our time because it's going to be helping us to make strategic decisions around, hey, what did actually come out of my time? What revenue, you know, what was my roadie financially last week? How am I going to make, you know, the same choices this week or new decisions in order to increase that roadie, you know, this week? So that can be super powerful. I agree. I think I, so I'm currently writing a curriculum and I kept putting my curriculum writing days on Fridays. I am not doing anything on Friday. Right. Yeah. We are burnout decision-watties. Yeah. And so I eventually saw the fall in my way and I put it on my Mondays and I think there's a piece of it. It too is like priorities, right? If your priority is impact, you need to generate income. Like that's just the truth of the matter and you need to stew it at well. And so making that strategic choice to do it on Mondays, it gives your fresh on Mondays. It gives you a great start to the week and you're saying, "Hey, God, like I am honoring what you have provided for me." And it is just another way to be able to understand the responsibility of what God has allowed you to stew or to. Wow. And I'm just thinking when you do it at the end of the week or even the end of the day, there's really nothing I can do to change what money came in that day or that week, right? Because at that point, you know, I can only obviously look forward. So I love doing it being in the day or on a Monday because now it's getting me to go, "Okay, and how am I going to actually use the resources that are in front of me?" The opportunity is God brings today, the things that He's put on my heart to move this forward. So yeah, that's really, really helpful. I love that one thing that's dealt to me when I was looking at your work is that you help women to stop flying blind, right? And so by doing this every week, even if you don't think you need to or you don't want to, it helps us to, you know, have visibility. So what are some signs that a business owner doesn't have enough visibility in her finances? And why does that matter so much when it comes to making wise decisions, not just about our money, but also about our time, you know, in that day or week to come? Yeah, I think that's the same thing we were talking about earlier when it's like you kind of sort of know you don't really know. You don't really know. You just don't want to say you don't know. When somebody is like, "Well, I think I pay like 1,500." And like if you do everything in round numbers, I know you don't know that you're talking about. And that's not a judgment. Right. One of those like markers where you're like, "Okay, maybe I need to spend a little bit more time here." I think that's the first thing the other part of it is like not knowing why you're feeling the tension you're feeling. And I think that's another sign that there's work that can be done with your focus and your finances because if you just feel so bogged down anytime, you are doing something as it relates to your business. You don't have a handle on what is actually happening typically. And so I always encourage people that awareness is everything and data and financials are just data. For not your identity, they are, they mean nothing about you. They're just information for you to then look at and then leverage off with your next decision. And so I think a lot of times when we are Christians, we're trying to make sure we're serving the right and the only God. And it can be really difficult sometimes because we don't even really know that that were a slave to the dollar. And you can be a slave to the dollar even if you're not looking at it. And even if you're saying, "I don't need it." Because that's just simply not true. We need money to survive. And again, it goes back to the confidence. Like the education, though, awareness, spending time with it makes it feel normal. You start to recognize that money is everywhere and that it is not going to be scarce for you. It's not something you have to earn with the Lord. Like the Lord has promised us an inheritance and abundance in that inheritance. And so part of this is we just have to do our part. And often it's just looking at it and then making really steward led decisions with it. Yeah. And for somebody who maybe feels uncomfortable with the numbers, I'm just thinking of one of my clients, Danielle. She's been on the podcast before. She helps business owners to look at their profit so they can be more generous. So instead of just looking at how am I going to pay the bills and pay my team and all of this, when we focus on maybe that bigger, like, I want to be able to give to this ministry. I want to be able to say yes when somebody says, you know, has a need or, you know, just have the margin in our finances. That can really be, you know, sometimes that bigger motivator and all the more reason why we want to know our numbers because we want to have that ability to be generous with what already belongs to him. So let's get a little practical because I always have to get some like practical takeaways because we're not all numbers people. That's like glad we have people like you. So what would you say or maybe like maybe like maybe three to five key numbers that every CEO of a business should understand? Now, you know, around here, we're not CEOs of Fortune 500. So a lot of times we are wearing a lot of hats. We're Christened Powered Operators. This business that God's given us. So even if we don't consider ourselves a numbers person, what are those CEO level, not CPA level numbers that we should be understanding and paying attention to? So very practically that top line revenue, for sure, that is going, if you don't have any money to steward, it's going to be hard to steward it. So we want to look at that right now. revenue. The next number we want to look at is your cost of goods sold. And that's usually typically right under that revenue because that is the number that it cost you to generate that revenue. So it's that direct correlation. So if it is that time for money, typically when you're in a service based business or it's any kind of direct cost and order for you to generate revenue. And so that's numbers really important. The next number is going to be your expense number, but not looking at total expenses. It's your total expenses in relation to your revenue. So often when you look at a financial statement and all these like fun accounting tools have this option. But if you take that total revenue or total expense line in relation to your revenue, you get a percentage. And that percentage is the most helpful percentage you have because it allows you to create predictable margins. And what I mean by that is that that's called your overhead percentage. That is all your indirect costs. It's the cost to turn the light on every day as it relates to how much money you're generating. So when we were talking about pricing, that overhead percentage is key to know if you're pricing well because often when we price, we only consider that cost a good sold, but it actually is a percentage of every dollar that comes in goes to turning the lights on. And so that overhead percentage is going to be key for you to know how you need to be priced or what dollar you're going to have left over at the end of it. And you notice how it like follows the income statement down. And so you're going to be like, "What do you want to do?" I was just going to ask, is there a percentage that you recommend we're shooting for as business owners? Because again, I love the fact that it's a percentage. It's not a number because then it's a sliding scale based on, you know, how much you're bringing in. But what what should we be shooting for? I mean, what would be a good place to be? Honestly, it's about 30% or lower is usually what I like to see there because then you have moved a room to move basically. And then you have that like predictable net income amount. So every time you earn a dollar, if you know 30 cents of it is going to just running the business. And whatever the draw costs are related to it, then you can start like predictably knowing what money you're going to have left over after you pay everything out. Yeah, and that's really helpful because now you can start making some really intentional decisions, which leads me to yeah, what are maybe a couple practical shifts. Once we do, you know, either know these numbers, understand these numbers, look at these numbers. What are some practical ways that now we can then move from just knowing that having that number in front of us to now making some intentional stewardship good decisions. So if we're talking about that like overhead percentage, one very practical tip I mentioned it earlier is an expense audit going through and actually looking at what you're spending your money on. And then also looking at the return you're getting on the things you're spending money on because we all know we have that one membership. That one membership that one subscription that one thing that we pay for it because we're eventually going to use it. And then we got locked into that founders price and we don't want to lose it. And you guys it is that trap. And I think if you have like a really honest conversation with yourself, you are able to reduce that expense numbers so that that overhead number gets where you want it to be because I would say most business owners when I first start working with them that overhead percentages like typically 40% and above. And so we're always constantly working to get that down, especially if it costs a lot for you to like actually generate a dollar. So if that clogs number has to be a higher percentage, we want to make sure that overhead percentage is lower, you know. Yeah, and then you would make some adjustments in your pricing or whatever to helping make that for the right place. So yeah, so good. I love it there are people like you who like this doesn't feel overwhelming. I mean, you know, they're you still don't know what you don't know, but you know, it's really helpful to think about why does this matter and how do I just kind of boil it down to the essentials. And then I think consistent time invested in anything is what leads to, you know, the result. And I always say like the consequence of where you are in any area of your life. So whether it's financially or with your time or your health or with the Lord is always the result of how you've invested up until that point. Which is actually good news because once you like you said you look at those numbers. I always say like like a reporter like just the facts fam. You know, and then that helps you go, OK, so what what now, right, and how do I move forward if I want to see growth. Do I change some investments. Do I stop some things. Do I increase, you know, what does that look like? So when we do this and we're being good stewards. How does having financial clarity help us make better decisions and then what's the impact on not just our bottom line in our bank account. Our time or energy, we've talked about capacity today, just, you know, who we are as, you know, a Christ follower like what's the benefit when we actually take the time to do this. I think well, I know this to be true with financial clarity. It changes the trajectory of your life truly, truly, truly, even if you there isn't a ton of money. So awareness around that money gives you an opportunity to let its stronghold release from you because you just know what's there. And I think the biggest thing that I encourage people is the goals factor and it is actually living the life God has for you versus going to work so you can pay the bill. Sometimes if we're really honest, we will get into seasons like that where we are not focused on eternity. And so I think the biggest thing I want to encourage people is that it is a matter of you walking in your purpose often. If you do not know your finances and your purpose can get distorted. If you have, you just don't have a handle on your finances. And so I really want to encourage everybody to look at it not as money is like the priority because that in itself is not it's a tool. But money being a tool allows us to have bigger impact. It allows us to say no to things that are not value aligned. It allows us a lot of opportunities to walk in the purpose that God has for us because he has a unique purpose for all of us. And so don't cheat yourself out of that by being stuck in something just because you're afraid of what it's going to feel like because I will tell you more people than not feel like they have more money once they look at it, then they realize. And so I think it's interesting. Yeah, it's a big scary thing that we want to shove in the closet or under the bed and pretend like it's not there and maybe it's not as big and hairy and scary as you think it is. And it's so important, you know, and as I'm listening to this conversation, it's just again, it's a reminder that stewardship requires visibility in order for us to do something with it. And I'm, I often go back to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 right in the one guy took what he'd been given, which again we all say like poor guy, he had one talent, that's 20 years wages. And last year times 20, he had a lot, but what did he do? He buried it. There was zero visibility. And guess what, he went on and lived his life like the master wasn't even coming back. You know, and so just as that reminder that that's why he heard, you know, hello, you wicked and lazy servant, you know, because he didn't have right he didn't yes, it didn't get away from him. Nobody came and robbed him. He didn't like, you know, lose it along the road, but because he didn't have visibility on it, he wasn't using it in in alignment with the purpose for which it was given, right, but those other two servants. And here's where I love to what you said, like it wasn't about how much they had the one guy got two talents, the guy got five talents, right. And so that's a big discrepancy between how much they had, but the master's response had nothing to do with what they had has what had what to do with what they did with what they have, which only happened because they had visibility and they had this understanding this doesn't belong to me and I understand the masters intentions. And I'm sure along the way they probably made investments that didn't go well, you know, they probably lost money and you know, but they still paid attention to what they had and said what's my next. And I'm going to have a decision to make so that I can then say the master here's what I did with what you gave me so yeah, we can't wisely steward what we're unwilling to look at and when we're unwilling to acknowledge that responsibility that we have. So as we kind of tie this up together, what would be like that one practical next step right there's so many different things that people could do. They've taken quite a few nuggets out of here, but you know, when someone's listening and they just want like, OK, Emily, I want to get more clarity around my finances, identify by possible cash leaks, which really aka time leaks in our business, what would be one thing practical things she can do. And practical thing that I think everybody needs to do as you walk away is put the money date on your calendar because we all live by our calendars for being honest. And so if we're saying this is a priority and this is something we're going to go focus on and do go put that on your calendar and then write out. Things you can do during that time you don't have to do all of them, but actually writing that down because I think things will come to you as you go you're like, oh, I can put mercy so way or I can actually look at those financial statements or I could go higher bookkeeper, which I. I meant to everybody because I think often we could do it, but are we going to do it the way we need to in order to be able to do it the money while it's like. probably not because we're mission focused. So we're always gonna give our clients more than we give our admin. We'll say. - Yeah, yeah. And most of us come into business not knowing anything about business. We've like you said, we have this mission, this vision, this is the move when I'm supposed to create. Let's do this Lord and then we get caught up in the weeds of all the, yeah, the innocent outs of business. So I love that. I love that. So if somebody's, yeah, wanting to take a next step, maybe they've been avoiding the numbers, maybe they're just ready to kind of be more intentional about what they do with their numbers. What would be a good, you know, next thing where, how can they get support from you to start moving forward? - Sure. If you're a business owner and you are looking for help with cash flow and tax strategy, you can find us at thornadvisors.com, thorn with an eE append. - Wow. - And thorn advisors on Instagram. If you are looking for just a nugget of information that's practical to go apply and do, you can find Andrea, my business partner, and I at on a podcast called Prosper and Get Paid Playbook. And this is where we do very short, very simple steps that you can go and apply and do. And you can find us there. And I, we do this out of the heart of everybody needs to know this information. And I think often it's only when we engage the right financial professional that we get that information. So this is an easy access for people that might not be ready to hire anybody, but they still want to have practical tips that they can feel like they're really managing their money well so they can go steward it. - I love it. And is the curriculum that you're building is that also offered virtually or is that only at your church? Like how do we find out more about that? - So it's all a work in progress, y'all. So you can find me on Instagram at EmilyVBui. And you will be updated frequently. But the idea behind it is I am doing this to be able to license to churches. But as I mentioned before, we're building the plane as it's flying. And so I think eventually there will be an option to be able to do it at the individual level. But I think the full experience is in that small group environment and being with people that can pray with you, cover you as you're doing something. That can feel really hard, but knowing that when the Lord is with you with your finances, like you will not fail. - Right, that's all his anyway, right? He's just lending it to us. So yeah, and speaking of which, not doing this alone, I always invite my listeners into the redeem for time community. And I invite my guests in there too, where we can continue a conversation, right, around stewardship, around visibility about making wise decisions with the resources God's entrusted to us, whether it be our money, whether it be our time, whether it be this calling that we have, so that we can make a kingdom impact and really see a difference. So if you're not already a member, come join us at redeemhertime.com/community. I'll link that in the show notes as long with all of Emily's things that she just mentioned. So that way you guys can find her and follow her and get the support that you need. So thank you so much, Emily, for sharing that you're wisdom with us today. I know this conversation is going to help so many women to go from, I don't know what I don't know, to, okay, like I can look at a number and not be thrown off by it. And, you know, and make a really intentional CEO decision. And I think that's really what's most important. So as in closing, I love to ask my guest this final question right now. It's the middle of July. If you can believe it, we're already at the halfway point, you know, of the year. So when you're thinking about like right now, how would you answer the question, what is it time for in the season of your life or business? And why do you want to see a good return on that time invested? - I think it is a good time to be fully present. I think in the summer, it can be really difficult to be present in any one thing you're doing because there's a million things you could be doing, especially if your kids are home from school. And I think presence is everything. So just where your feet are planted, be there. And do whatever you need to do to be there. And so whether or not it's brain dumping, so you can leave it over to the side so that you can be fully locked in on what they need and all the fun they're having. And like go have some fun for yourself, you know? It's not, we're meant to live this life full of joy and we should go out and do that. - I love it. Well, thank you so much, Emily. And I hope that you have a great summer is your present with your little ones and what God has called you to do. And we're excited to cheer you on as you're building something. Yeah, that God has put in your heart and it's gonna make a big difference. So thanks so much for sharing with us today. And I'm just gonna encourage all of our listeners. First of all, who do you know, a business bestie that needs or wants or should be paying attention to her numbers, share this episode with her and say, "Hey, I heard this today. I thought of you because that's how we help more CEOs, Christ and powered operators to make wise choices, wise decisions with the resources we've been given. And we'll see you guys over inside the community." - Hey, before you go, I hope today's episode blessed you, challenged you and gave you a new way to think about your time. But don't just listen and move on. This is where real change begins. If you're tired of feeling busy, but not seeing results, your next step is to go deeper with me inside my private audio experience. Busy to CEO, the time-scaling experience. I'll walk you through what's actually keeping you stuck and how to start getting real results from the time you already have. You can grab access at redeemhertime.com/hours. And if this episode encouraged you, share it with a business bestie who's been praying for a breakthrough in her time, her focus and her revenue too. Look carefully then how you walk. Not as unwise but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil. Ephesians 5, 15 through 16. See you soon. (upbeat music)