 Hey, good afternoon Tom Stewart here. I'm with Liz Trotter. Our guest today is Dene Wolf and this is smart business moves Sorry, we're late everybody. That's on me Sorry, sorry Fashionably late. Yeah It's not like it hasn't happened before. Yeah, but we're gonna make up for it. This is gonna be an awesome show So sometimes it's about quality not quantity. All right, that's good. Well, Dene we had you on before and you knocked it out of the park so I'm I'm looking forward to to today's What what are these podcasts? Just live stream We're multi-channel depends on how you're watching or listening, I guess Hey, all right. So what was the topic Tom? You you said the topic. I thought it was good How to turn your passion into profits Oh, yeah, that's nice. But before we start Dene, you want to share a little bit? What what have you been doing today? Oh So this is exciting. So I actually Spent the day at our local TV station one of the big banks here is Looking to launch a program on local TV station So not like a big one like NBC. Maybe that'll be the next stop But a local channel to do a program on financial literacy So today I spent the day actually filming a pilot and it's gonna go over to the investors on Friday and Hopefully I will be selected as the host the show will happen with or without me But the host has not been picked. So fingers crossed. That's what I'm gonna be doing That is super exciting. Yeah, definitely keeping my fingers across Across no crossed And it sounds fun too, I mean and really just the experience of what you did today, I bet you learned a few things Oh my gosh, it was incredible. I got the best content So I'm gonna be like putting it all over my stories and everything but just getting my oh, hi Dene Hi, just getting mic'd up was really cool. Like I've never worn like a mic back before Using the teleprompter. There's all kinds of prompts behind me. It was just really It's to be in hair and makeup all these lights It was really really really fun. Well, you have the the right presence. I'm sure that they're looking for so Gosh, it seems like you'd be an amazing choice for them. Oh, I like your I like your odds I mean this is local market stuff start, right? Yeah, yeah I hope so. We'll see we'll see. I don't know who how many people have auditioned. I don't like I have no idea so Yeah, this is just a start and you know a year or two from now, we'll be seeing you on national television Yeah To talk to us you won't have time Up to be guests on her show Yeah I said this was my year of just being really focused on Visibility I want to talk on a lot of stages and so far I've booked two stages and I wanted to do a podcast every month And I have done that so far this year. Wow. Good. Good on you Brad financial literacy as much as possible Yeah, that's great. It's a definitely worthwhile pause in our industry especially Who is your who is your audience for financial literacy? Is it business owners? so it's business owners and we did start recently in about the last Year and a half or so also focusing on personal finances and what was really interesting about that is it came about Because of our business owners because a lot of them were coming to us to pay us to do coaching for their employees So I'm putting together a curriculum for our clients employees We started putting together entire personal finance module. So now we actually work with both But it came about because of our clients saying we want to do something for our employees and the first time I heard it I was like, oh, that's different. I don't offer that and then I heard it again And then I heard I was like, okay, so I don't offer it But clearly I need to so give me some time and I will get it together You need to you need to get on that today really I I think there's a heck of a market for that You know because there's a lot of cleaning professionals that Really don't know how to manage their money and there's an employer if you can help them with that Your retention your engagement things get better in a lot of different ways That's exactly what what they were saying. So we just finished the curriculum. Everything is filmed It's just being loaded into the Javi and those modules are going to be out and being announced very soon Let us know when they're available because we'd like to share that with with the world. That's important stuff Yeah, thank you. I'm excited about it. I mean it's everything like credit scores Credit cards how to get a mortgage all of those things personal plan So outside of the typical P&L and balance sheet and taxes that I'm talking about Things that you need to know is just an adult to do adult Yeah, it's just as an adult you want to be insulting the right way. Yes But you know it it's surprising how many people Don't have homes Purely because it seems overwhelming. It's just too overwhelming. I don't know where to start They don't know what to do. They don't know who to talk to I think this is such a gosh a worthwhile endeavor for all of All people but especially the people that work for our companies. I love it. Yeah I'm super excited to it and a lot of very big companies also offer this So like we've got fortune 500 companies or having people like me come in and educate their teams So I think it we're gonna be seeing it a lot more as like an employee Benefits package. Yeah Yeah, I love it. I love it you too You know, the only thing that's really been available up until now that I have known about is We've brought people in For our our morning education But like prudential, right or they do like that Nothing against prudential. I'm not saying anything against them but that Company, I think we've had it them come in like three different times and they just don't have enough depth Coming in and our and having a quick check Program is so much more valuable. Oh, I'm so excited Yeah, it should be good. It should be good. Well, and it's perfect timing too because all everywhere all the time now is if you want to Be able to retain your employees and if you want to have good employees working for you You have to do something different. You have to be providing new opportunities They have to be able to see that working for your company makes more sense better sense than working somewhere else This is huge. Yeah, they have to pick you Every single day and they have to keep choosing you or they're going to choose someone else. Yeah, I like that That they have to choose in every single day It really takes one bad day To lose a great employee. Honestly, we were talking the other day we had a bunch of women on zoom and She was talking about how she literally her boss lost his temper and this situation She was like and I quit and I was like, oh and then did you guys make up and she was like, no I never like I really just left into what sparks her to start her own Company and now she's very conscious of the way she talks to her employees and everything But the moral the story is it was that one bad day She was like I had seen him lose his cool on other people, but it never happened to me All it took was one time and she was like, I'm done. I'm gone So in this same age especially you're not getting a second chance. So it's important that we value them Okay, I love that Ah Okay, so perfect timing. We all agree with that now. When are you actually launching the naked sit inside skinny? What's happening? Yeah, so we are going the next thing we're gonna be doing is our entrepreneurial wealth masterclass That is our free five-day masterclass as a complete Immersion into all things small business finance and money mindset and that's going to be taking place in June and right after that and we kind of get our bearings back We will go into the personal finance launch. So I would guesstimate that's gonna be happening around July or August We move a little bit slower around here in the summer Really like to enjoy our summer and prioritize our families So we're not as like Bam Bam Bam with things. I would say sometime in July or August. Okay So when is the specifically what dates is the masterclass sounds like we need to get people The business owners need to get into that. Yeah, so we are still ironing out the dates for the masterclass But typically it is the third week of the month So the third week going into June or in June would be the third week And the reason why we are still ironing out the dates is I am in the middle of planning a family vacation But it is with extended family members. So it's not just me and my husband So we're working everybody's schedule. So flights have not been bought yet So it's a little bit not solidified just yet, but once the flights are bought We will pull the trigger, but it's looking like it'll be the third week in June Okay, and I think I heard you say it was five days and it is what what's the price? Did I put that price wrong? It is great. I cannot tell you the gift that this masterclass has been to me this year So I had never done a masterclass a lot of coaches Even my coach was saying, you know, people weren't really doing masterclasses anymore But I knew from my experience when I took them just on my own I loved them, but everyone I spoke to was like they're a time suck. They're draining They suck the life at you just nobody really had anything positive to say about it But I was like, yeah But if you get everybody the results because I know how great they've been for me Actually think a lot of good it can come from it So I had a lot of noise about well, they don't really work. They don't convert because let's be real We all know we do our masterclasses and then at the end we hope you know They enroll in our paid program, but you want to go out there and give them as much value for free So I said well if conversion rates are down My greatest resource is time and I know that I'd be distraught if I put blood sweat and tears into this and It doesn't convert. So I said, okay, so I need to remove that from my thinking I don't need to worry about making the sales, but I need to feel That I did something. What did I do? So I'm like, okay Well, we could definitely have people get testimonials or something. I said no, that's not it. And I said, hmm We're going to have them make donations So that even if I don't make a single sale, nobody converts We did something good and our first masterclass We did over $2,000 in charitable donations All over the country, there's just a little bit of people Paying it forward. We talk a lot about in the masterclass about giving And the importance of it. I always say, you know, everybody who says money can't buy happiness Just simply hasn't given enough of it away So I was able to take this masterclass. We're learning but I also know people are Giving they're becoming charitable beings because I believe when we teach someone Financial literacy right when we give them financial education empowerment and freedom It is all going to be for nothing if we don't also teach them how to be charitable Teach them how to pay it forward, right that we want that trickle effect. So by incorporating it into there We I think here at a date we've done over $5,000 in charitable donations this year from Just the entrepreneurial wealth masterclass. So it's it's amazing. I'm so proud of it. Yeah So if I want to know more about that you go to your facebook page. Is that right? Yeah, if you join so it's not our page It's our group if you join the profit factor facebook group also the facebook group is free That is where you'll get all the updates all the information. We stream the class in there Everything will be there now. I do suggest When you register you actually come to the zooms because that's you know, I can see your face We're interactive you can come off mute and ask questions But if you're not a zoom kind of gal or guy you can watch right in the facebook group So all the information about our entrepreneurial wealth masterclass we keep it all in the facebook group All right, so didn't I have to tell you something? I just went to the darren hardy masterclass. This is masterclass Did you see nina coach there? Uh nina Did you meet nina? She was there. I know there's so many people there. Yeah. Yeah So what I was going to say is I did the zoom masterclass, right? Okay, and it was last week And I I just did quick math based on all of the people that were on the different screens, etc Um, the the price the discounted price was 10 grand. I know some people got in for like five So I did the back of the envelope math based on the number of people that were there And I looked like um, he had top line revenue of maybe 17 18 million So I'm thinking some people are still interested in the masterclass Some people And then one more thing that I thought would be interesting to you It was a requirement to be in this Program it was all day three full days And it was a requirement that you keep your camera on the entire day Except for two five minute breaks one in the morning and one in the afternoon And then a 30 minute lunch And if you didn't keep your camera on you're pulled from the broadcast so just um, some information from somebody who Seems to be doing fairly well. Yeah That's amazing I would never think to say that or we're going to kick you out if you don't have your camera Yeah And so you had to you could only have one face in the camera had to be yours You had to keep your camera on the entire time It was they sent out 369 I think it was 12 image One sheet that about How to be On to you can drink no eating No, no Getting like typing or anything you can look down Because that he would expect you to be looking down for writing notes Yeah, a whole big thing around it be in the center of your camera Don't don't look at that screen make sure you hit this one But again Other reason i'm passing it on to you and actually I'll send you the little sheet that he sent to us I'm passing it on to you is he seems to be doing somewhat of a good job with that Says is not working anymore How does he know if you're looking down you're not thumbing through facebook on your phone? Yeah, so you can He would expect you to be looking down at certain times, but there were So many people y'all like Just counting it looked like over 1800 people that were on the on the screens So Yeah, I'm just thinking you It might be a good call Especially I love adding that additional piece of the social responsibility Yeah, right now, right? Everybody wants to feel like they're Doing more with their lives and their time on this And so much of anything in life right comes down to creating habits having rituals And when it comes to giving and being charitable Don't lose sight so much if you sleep over oil and the gave five dollars. It's not about that It's about creating that habit because as your wealth grows You'll obviously give more But if you don't have that habit like if you're not charitable and make a hundred thousand a year You're not going to be charitable just because now you make a million Right. It's all about that habit like I always have people It's the problem if the problem is you right so you have to create and develop And sustain those habits now So so much of what I teach in financial literacy is just getting into that habit That's what I was thinking this goes right along with what you must be teaching about How important it is to follow habits and stay and good keep a good rhythm for for how you're spending your money and Saving it and all those other good things. I can't imagine that does play in a big part yeah So We wanted to uh talk about how to turn your passion into profits I think that we're kind of touching up on that here. I mean you're you're you're living it. You're you're you're doing it with Through example Did you have some thoughts? Yeah, so this is it's just it's something I feel so strongly about because I think a lot of times there is This culture and this buzz of if you're in it for the money you're in it for the wrong reason There is This message that's being sent that almost makes entrepreneurs Scared to talk about anything that has to do with money. Number one They don't want people to think they're in it for the money. Number two, they don't want people to think that They are having any type of a financial hardship going on, right? So they hold back from talking about it or asking any sort of questions When the reality of it is if you are running a for-profit business You absolutely are in it for the money. Okay, so all of the gurus who say if you're in it for the money You're in it for the wrong reason. Well, if they're saying you that but actually turning around and charging you You might want to consider the source, right? Because if they were in this Just because of their heart of hearts They wouldn't have anything generating any revenue. They would truly Just be giving and donating of their time So the first thing I want to throw out there is your first step On your path to profits is first admitting Hey, I am doing this for the money. I'm not running a charity And if you want to run a charity great, you can actually do that and run your business You should do both more power to you But first admit your company the entire reason for being Is to make money Now if you are one of the lucky ones You get To make money doing something you're passionate about That's when the sun the moon and the stars align You have found your calling and you were able To turn your passion into profits, right? And that happens for a select few of us Right, I always say those are the lucky ones that you get to have that happen But you have to first make sure and admit Your why the reason you started Was to make money Bottom line Well, I gotta push back a little bit. I have pushed back a little bit So I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not sure that everybody can agree that their why is because of the money, but I absolutely think it's a huge motivator like people absolutely have to have money And but some people are like This is the only thing I can do to be able to get enough money This is what I need to do and this is a way to do it So I'm not doing it to make money necessarily But I'm doing it because Is a way to make money, but it's maybe not Maybe not the why But it's it's nice Coming in to make money And I'm not saying you don't do it. We're all doing it to make money. We're not charities. Absolutely I guess maybe not the maybe not the motivation behind the reason why we're running, but No that I know why do you want the money? What do you want to do and a lot of what I hear with that? Usually we'll have something to do surrounding our greatest resource, which is actually time So usually it'll be well. I wanted to make money, but on my own terms But it's still all started with why did we get into business? to make money Sometimes an added layer of something with work life balance and time But then if we're lucky we got to choose a path that feels in alignment with us You know, if you have a cleaning company You know that you play an integral role in your client's homes That's a bit. I mean like I'm sure you guys have a cleaning like if she was gone tomorrow You'd be like, oh my gosh, like it has a big impact on a family You know So that would make you feel good about yourself and you would feel like you're doing something honorable, right? We're not selling rubber dog poo. We're doing something that we can feel proud of But we're still doing it to make money and if we're lucky We're making money with something we're passionate about but too often We're gonna get stuck in this trap of just thinking Well, if you build it, they will come if I'm just passionate and if I'm not focused on the money The profits will come later. I got a news flash for you. They're not coming. They're not coming because you can't lose sight Of what you're trying to do you are a for-profit business, which means you must be profitable Bottom line. So you want to think of the profit in your business. It's like the queen bee in the beehive, right? They protect her At all costs That's how we have to think about the profit in Our business and it can be that fine line, right? Because when the company is trying to think through the profitability lens With also managing that with the people lens and all the different things that we have to do But at the end of the day, you have to know That if your business does not have profit, you will not have a company There will be nothing to protect your employees will not have a job. You will not have the income So we have to never lose sight of just how important that bottom line is You just try to get approached by entrepreneurs who usually start crying Very early in the conversation because they're overworked and they're Trying to make everybody around them happy And then I say okay, so I hear you're working a ton I hear all the efforts you're putting into your staff into your employees. How's your profit? There's the tears coming so so when So when people say that they're not doing it for the money what they really are saying is and I've seen this that I'm really not making any money, but I'm working really hard So the only way I can rationalize that is by saying I'm doing it for some other reason than the money because If I'm doing it for the money, and I'm not getting any money. I'm working awful hard I'm not getting what it is. I'm supposed to be getting and I think it's always You know as entrepreneurs, we've got this creative spirit. We've got kind of these wild hearts And we always feel like eventually it's going to happen eventually. It's going to happen But I know firsthand if you are stuck in this cycle where you're not making money It's not going to just miraculously get better It's a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping to get A different effect and that's just not going to happen. Right. So we have to come to a point where we say, okay Enough is enough. I'm no longer. Okay with Working working working and not feeling that it's paying off. I'm not making the kind of money that I want to make It is about the money and I'm going to respect that and what would happen If I looked at my company through a different lens What would happen if instead of putting on my rose colored glasses I put on my profit colored glasses What would I say? What am I actually going to see and when you start looking at your business through the lens of Am I as profitable as I can be you would be shocked by what you see I just met with a cleaning company. They're doing about $88,000 a month And she was like, yeah, I don't have to work that much for all intents and purposes very At peace and happy with how everything was going And when we got in and looked at everything I was like, you're leaving a lot of money on the table It's just like, what do you mean? I'm like, well your margins are nowhere near What they should be She's like, yeah, but everything feels fine. That's great. Everything should always feel fine But let me just calculate it out for you and tell you the difference And it was just immediately like Complete shock for her not realizing that she was not running her business thinking like the cfo of her company and somebody's got to be thinking like the cfo when you're running a company If you wanted to have longevity and stability So once we calculated those numbers for her and she realized what was going on She was like, whatever I need to do to fix it whatever I need to do to get that money back into My family's pocket, right? That's a big lifestyle change for her and her family And she just didn't realize it because she didn't look at it through the lens of profitability too Often as entrepreneurs were kind of looking at it through Well, I'm putting some money in my pocket The lights are still on paychecks aren't bouncing Customers seem to be happy. Everything is hunky dory Instead of looking at it through a way. Am I growing am I steadily growing because in business if we're not steadily growing We're slowly dying Right and when we start looking at things and saying What are the numbers telling me because if it doesn't make money, it doesn't make sense That is the reality of entrepreneurship And I think so often people just aren't fixated on it. They're not actually paying attention But our underlying motivator how many people find out for coaching? What are we trying to do? You you work with a lot of cleaning business owners helping them through this process You've been you've been doing this for a while um Have you seen things change since like after pre-covid, you know prices were fairly stable wages were stable and If you were making money or if there was money in the bank account You might not know why but as long as nothing changed that was okay But you see more companies running into trouble now that inflation and a lot of things are changing Yeah, so what I think covet did Was make a lot of people a lot more financially savvy I do think that was A blessing in disguise. There was definitely a strong percentage of entrepreneurs who realized During covet that they didn't have their numbers together And why did that happen because they couldn't apply for the eidl and they couldn't apply for the ppp Because they didn't have their financials ready. So we definitely see a much bigger emphasis on understanding Numbers and people actually understanding that it's an important part of the business But what we're seeing more More so over six months ago. I would say lately The trend is better, but the big thing we were seeing about six months ago was a big uptick in what we had to spend to recruit Um, definitely would have what I called an employment crisis We were seeing our cost of goods be higher because we were paying cleaners more and we were seeing Regular operational expenses higher because of what we were investing into recruiting I would say in the last two to three months. I am 100 seeing those level off I'm seeing things go back to normal, but that was sort of a temporary challenge There was a while there where that was for sure the biggest challenge we were seeing just recruiting Because everybody wanted their house clean Like kind of when the world went back to normal and wanted their Regularly scheduled programming so to speak and having their house cleaners back Kind of also coincided with the mass exodus from the workforce and Particularly, what did we see the data showed us? It was women who weren't going back to work We the data also tells us the majority of our house cleaners are women So it definitely was something that impacted the industry which made us have to input more money Into those recruiting ads But lately I'm we're doing good. I'm seeing that turn turn a corner. What are you guys seeing with your coaching clients? I haven't seen nearly the staffing issues that we were seeing about six months ago I still have a couple of clients that struggle with staffing um, I was talking with And I have a new client that just potent not a new client. She's a client that's been a client for about You know two years two and a half years. She's never had a problem with employees through all of the stuff that everybody else did And she just was talking about today What the heck I lost five employees in the last two weeks for For you know, kind of legitimate ish reasons And one of them she doesn't want back but the other four was like What the heck so I was kind of a mixed bag. Um for there are There are companies that um spot on and not having any trouble at all I don't have that many clients either. So I mean, let me be clear. We're talking about 84 clients. So um, but I would say those We probably have Are in a better About For the 70% that's better, you know, I don't think there's a lot of people out there that Have more labor than they know what to do with. I mean, they're still out healthy demand Yes Yeah, it's a great time to be in the industry, honestly You know, one of the things that concerns me is that they're They're COVID changed the price structure wages and a lot of markets have gone up a lot and You know, you mentioned, you know, like idle money and ppp and stuff like that some companies, you know Got a meaningful amount of of that money and You know, are there companies out there that have money in the bank and they think things are okay But they're really funding it through, you know, sba funds, but maybe they really aren't Being profitable. They just don't know it yet. Tom. We know people Yeah, I know people. We don't we know people that They don't know where their money went. They thought they were doing great They thought they were just killing it growing their businesses doing all of these things, but they kept their same processes and their same Way of managing their money and when the money was gone They went right back exactly like you were saying, right? Yeah, and I see the opposite too. I see people who come to me and say It's a mess. I don't know what's going on. I'm not making any money and then we're like, uh, you're literally doing amazing This is the best year you've ever had and they're like, oh, I don't know. That's just like my mindset And I'm like, oh my gosh So it's so I say all the time like money is mental It's so mental It's all in the way that you're looking at everything and processing everything But at the end of the day, we have to remember like numbers are very black and white And they tell the story of your business But you have to be reading those books and you have to make sure that you actually know What's going on because at the end of the day you might find that you are leaving money on the table You might be underpriced. You might be overpriced. You might be paying too much For your stuff. You might be paying too little to your stuff, which means you're going to have a turnover issue But everything you need to know about your company is actually in those numbers And I always tell entrepreneurs if you are someone and you know who you are, this is you If you are someone who is having a cash flow problem You genuinely need to be looking at your numbers every single week some of you every single day But if you know that you're not having a cash flow problem, right? You never worry about over drawing everything like that Then you can do it once a month But the point is you need to make the commitment to do it. I call them money meetings You need to get them on your calendar And you need to see what is going on. Look at that entrepreneurial equation, right? It is our revenue minus our business expenses equals our profit That's all it is. It's actually very simplistic And then you need to make sure Revenue is accurately recorded And that your business expenses are accurate accurately reported because guess what that profit Is what you're going to be taxed on So the best way to avoid overpaying in taxes is to make sure that all of your numbers have been tracked appropriately So that you know revenue minus expenses equals profit is legit All of those numbers are correct and once you do that once everything is categorized correctly It really just becomes basic math Making sure that everything's done And you don't even have to be the one that does it Yeah um, so So talking about this topic and then going back to the going back to the title of this um podcast whatever Turning turning Your passion into profits So talk to us about like the passion. Are you saying that the passion is the money? I don't think that's what you're saying Right. No, the passion is what is actually Bringing you joy. What do you actually like to do? We already know we are entrepreneurs to make money That's it. I'll I'll I'll go head to head and argue that with anyone We are entrepreneurs to make money. That's why we became an entrepreneur, right? It's the same reason why you're an employee. It's the same reason why we do a lot of things We need to make money money makes the world go around. Let's just call a spade a spade, right? So we're all doing this to make money but If you're one of the lucky ones, you're able to find something that makes you Feel fulfilled that makes you feel alive And you're then able to turn that into profits So you said something liz that I wanted to touch on because you said some people are like, I'm not necessarily Passionate about this, right? It was just kind of what I knew how to do and that's gonna lead me into this topic so if you are a You know running a cleaning company and maybe you say It wasn't really like I kind of fell into this, right? on it wasn't really something that I necessarily felt passionate about Then I would challenge you to say, okay If your company is running like a well-oiled machine. You are profitable. You're hitting the margins that you want It is okay to start exploring what lights you up What makes you feel passionate and we can do what we call passion projects So I'm going to give you guys some real examples from some cleaning companies So one cleaning company was like listen. I wasn't passionate about cleaning I literally was not going to be able to stay at my job because my schedule was changing and it wasn't going to work with my children so I quit my job on the spot didn't know what to do and Somehow some way met a woman who was like, oh, I'm making six figures. I run a cleaning company and she was like Great, I could do that. I know how to clean sign me out and she was like, I just went down this rabbit hole Turned out. I'm good at it Now that's how I make a living But it wasn't something that really lit me up, but I was making the money So she said what do I want to do and she said well, I would really love to be able to help women understand Just because you lose your or you have to leave your job You know, whatever it is you can still figure out a way to make it Okay, and she actually started getting very involved in a lot of different philanthropic Entities where she lives and she's like that's where I'm getting my passion But for her it actually turns into profits because everywhere she goes she's got her shirt on she's landing account She's getting immersed in the community, but it's also lighting her up Right, so while I call the ones who can turn their passion into profits the lucky few The story is we could all be lucky. We just have to make our own luck and we have to be really Specific about what is going to make us feel fulfilled So for her it was getting involved in those charitable organizations I've had tons of cleaning companies say I just want to help women I was able to create freedom for myself and profitability for myself I want to pay it forward and they start coaching Some of the greatest coaches I've ever met are because they had a business and they realize I have so much on my heart that I want to share that I want to help These are examples of turning our passion into profits And that is really where The magic can happen and it doesn't have to be so black and white where we just say well This is my business. It's doing good But I'm not really passionate about it. Okay. Great. What are you passionate about? How can we how can we wing it off of here? How can we also make sure that you have something that is lighting you up because we know when in our human nature It is proven we constantly need to feel that we are evolving That we are leveling up that there is a next step for us that we are climbing that mountain That's our journey that we're complacency is like a death sentence, right? So we have to make sure that we're constantly staying in touch with what lights you up And then how am I able To make it profitable. So my original early story is that I had restaurants And I discovered financial literacy changed my life changed my company. I was actually getting evicted. It was a whole thing But I was so empowered by what I learned that I was like, I want to go out And teach this so I started volunteering at my local women's business center Just to teach financial literacy, but you know what I would do I would bring my food I would cater at all for free. It was my marketing So now I was turning my passion of teaching and sharing this to profits because it was my marketing I was getting my food into so many people's mouths. I was getting catering gigs It was working But it was fulfilling me in a way that you know, just dollars and coins wasn't going to So when we have those honest conversations with ourselves and say When do I feel alive? When do I feel invincible? What are those things in my life that I just feel confident? No one does this as good as me How can I somehow turn that Into being profitable And that is really when the magic happens and just realizing it's not black and white. I still had my restaurants I still had them But I was volunteering to teach these classes and it was lighting me up and I was growing my business while doing it So earlier you made the comment today that if you're not growing you're you're dying and you know I believe that to be true, but that has a broader connotation than just a financial statement Oh, yeah Yeah, that is so I'll I'll share a personal story. So my husband and I spent Over two years building our dream home All of our blood sweat and tears went into this It was one of the hardest things we've ever done And we moved in and we went through a very weird phase And we couldn't quite put our fingers on it like we didn't know what was going on and we're like We are thankful we are and finally we are on date night one night and my husband was like Do you think that we're just like Now what because i'm kind of thinking now what but I feel like if I say now what It makes it seem like we're not grateful and I was like boom You hit the nail on the head We had this thing that we had been wanting and dreaming and hoping for and then we got it and it was kind of like Wait, I'm ready to go on to the next thing But if I do that does that make me seem ungrateful and it was this weird thing to be in and then we finally just Owned it and you know what I did Launched the entrepreneurial wealth masterclass. That was what I threw myself into and my husband got into real estate So it's that basic human nature that you're always looking to evolve You're always looking to level up and scale to new heights always It's just innately within us You know and we'll see it in our kids too They score their first touchdown they go to the next game like now. I want to score two because you constantly want to be Leveling up. It's a it's a need to be doing that We definitely see that we definitely see that a lot. I I see the spectrum There's a a huge spectrum of people out there. There are I'm thinking of one one of the business owners that you work with I work with as well one of the ones that Is like always thinking it's doomsday, right this week Let me tell you how wonderful and amazing you are I promise you you're doing amazing That's our vibe. Yes. Well, really her her passion is Her family right and and creating this Not not work life balance. Just life. She wants a life outside of and if she can get however However, she has to do it to get the money to do this thing that she really does have passion All right, so I'm also seen on the opposite spectrum Um multiple multiple companies doing this, but the one that I'm thinking of right now We wanted to raise up women and her idea was she wanted to help single women, especially and She she didn't have a profit in her business. Uh, she had two percent profit and She's still in business. She's doing that for At least 15 years and that's that's the thing that she wants to do. She loves it Um, and that's that's like a completely different thing. Her husband funds their family and their life So she doesn't really need to make money per se, but I'm like, but why not? Why not make money too? We could do both You That and make money But there's too many messages that say you can't there's too many messages to say they're doing it for the money You're doing it for the wrong reasons, but that's not the case You have to be passionate about something and make it profitable You just have to make sure that you're reading the data that you know, what's going on with the numbers Are you charging appropriately? Are you making sure that every single penny that comes in the door? And out the door is being tracked and coded and categorized According All right, you have to inspect what you accept We do talk a lot about Well, Tom really has been preaching on this since long before anybody was talking numbers Liz you and I have had discussions hours of discussions about how profit is kind of the life ball out of everything Maybe it's not the purpose It's not the real reason, but nothing good happens if you're not profitable, but if you're profitable Every all the good stuff happens through profit everything you can do it all if you have profit if you don't have profit You you're limited by the amount of profit that you have If you're running a product if you're running a business that's not profitable, you've got bad jobs You're providing bad service and you're miserable running it I mean, it's a lose lose lose if you're not profitable and you're a bad example If you want to be lifting people up and showing them how to do stuff, we'll show them the bad example Right, be be an example of profitability where people can be successful So, uh, yeah There's a reason why the name of my company is core profit builders Because I believe in profit, right? That's not an accident On a t-shirt. I believe in profits. Yeah A t-shirt. It's It's so true and I think people just get stuck On this hamster wheel and they just think well, this is as good as it gets This is what it looks like and I remember when I owned my restaurants and I was not profitable. I was losing money I was telling myself this story of this is just what entrepreneurship looks like This is what it is. I guess you work really hard for barely any money And that's how it works and then I remember I started watching that show like shark tank And they were like, well, if you're not making any money, you don't have a business You have a hobby and I was like, oh my gosh, I have the world's most expensive hobby And how could that happen? Least fun hobby too I was like, how did I let that Happen to myself and I literally had to go in and educate myself and learn the numbers and immediately All the problems in my business Jumps off the page of me So when you guys get your numbers organized and you're able to see Here for every dollar that comes in the door You know 22 cents is going here 50 cents is going here when you can start looking at it through that lens It will completely change the way you see your business and the way you operate your business It changes everything for you But you have to make sure that you're actually looking at the numbers and working with a professional if you need to If you don't know how to interpret the data or if you're even maybe worried the data is wrong Or if you don't have data at all then you need a bookkeeper But you have to make sure that you're paying attention to it Every single week or month in your business. You have to be compiling this You should always know where your margin is. What are your goals? What are you actually streaming achieving to do like it's too often? It's just like status quo of like i'm just trying to keep my head above water Like i'm trying not to let the doors shut and I think people just call victim to it instead of saying wait a minute I can 100 percent take control of this. I can take control of this I have a cool story that y'all are gonna love so I work with a business owner right now that is She is just Looking the trend everybody talks about you know the standard number out there is like 20 profit She's like I am not I am going to have 40 percent profit I am And she runs a cleaning business and people are like you can't because if you do then your employees are gonna suffer You won't pay well enough. You're gonna and she's like i'm doing it. You watch me and Hi, I haven't okay to share her name, but Uh, she's very popular on other sites tiktok and doing a lot of stuff. She's She's like i'm building my brand So that I will be able to Pull in the money that other people can't because I will have 40 profit. She's like And I have other companies so many that are I'm comfortable at eight I'm comfortable at eight percent. I've got I've got enough money I don't want to work any harder. I don't want to do anything different. I like doing it this way It's good enough for me You listen and denay what you're what i'm hearing one of the things i'm hearing you say is it's not necessarily working any harder The money is there. It's it's already there. Yeah Smarter with it when I turned my restaurants around I did not increase revenue Didn't increase revenue I became profitable overnight Because I learned how to read my profit has lost David because I knew exactly what the mistakes were that I was making And I course corrected. That's what we have to be able to do as entrepreneurs And if you can't run on basic margins that are pretty standard within an industry Something's broken operationally. So you might be content where you are But you might not have that stability long term because you're still doing something off Yeah We have tools that make central we show people how you can clean fewer homes and make more money You can work less and still make more money You know who is really good at this too. Um, so we haven't we haven't mentioned him in a while ken carfagnale Right, right Yeah, he is amazing at this. He was polo cleaning school. I think Yeah, he's got a few different things one. I just got a great podcast too I was on the podcast. Yeah boy that man knows like if you're struggling to make profits you are a solopreneur and you're cleaning on your own Man, I highly recommend connecting with ken because he he really He knows what he's talking about right there. What what is what she said? I bought a I bought a new t-shirt That's as happy as the new right. This is the new rich But I do one of the things that I see a lot particularly in the cleaning industry Um when we're not hitting profits we want there is a lot of shiny object syndrome That they need a lot of things or need to pay a certain amount In order to be profitable I try to explain the differences between An expense versus an investment an expense is going to cost you money An investment in your company is going to make you money and I'm all about taking a smaller profit temporarily for a good solid investment But too often We just maintain these operational expenses that are higher than they should be And we just think we need it and I'll tell you The client obviously we don't say names who I just said hey you're leaving money on the table We need to fix it. Um, I said You need to switch to made central and we'll we'll talk offline But she just did she emailed me yesterday and said that she just made the switch Because what her ops cost? It's way too high because they were manually doing so many things That made central is now going to be doing for them So we got stuck in our comfortability of doing things the only way we know how and a lot of times That leads to leaving money on the table So we we just got a someone new coming to you guys She said she just enrolled and I just can't wait to see her profit margin increase because it's going to because we're going to be able to reduce her operational costs Yeah, there's a lot of people to get hung up on making investments and things like technology But if you make the right investments You're going to get a lot more money back than what you're putting into it Exactly. Yeah, I wish we had more time to talk about that because I do think people get really confused about that and That's probably a good worthwhile topic that we can spend almost Yeah, yeah, just talking about the different expenses versus the investments so But we are out of time. It is the top of the hour so Dene if anybody wants to know more about You know your your your workshops and the things that you're doing they go to your your facebook group Uh, the one that i'm showing here drop the link and chat Yes, amazing. Yep the profit factor on facebook Okay I like that name the profit factor easy to remember Keep us posted on when you're Financial literacy goes online and Let us know let us know when you get the good news about your TV show as well A lot of cool stuff You have a lot of good stuff going on. It's exciting. Well, we love to send people over to you Dene I really love that you are Focused in on profit and that you believe in profit and for everybody else too You you help them to actually get there and in a pushy nice way In a pushy nice way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta be pushy sometimes, right? People aren't there. All right, sorry We're gonna call them to take for today because at this top of the hour and we need to move on but Dene Thank you so much for sharing good luck with everything you got going on and We'll have to get you back on the show here Once some more things happen and you can kind of bring us up to speed and I'll be looking forward to that Thanks guys. Bye We'll be back next Wednesday five o'clock. Bye. Bye