July 16, 2025 • 17 mins
You hit six figures… but now what?
In this episode of Creative Minds Smart Money, we’re talking about what really happens after you cross the six-figure mark and why making money is just the beginning. You’ll learn how to shift from reactive, DIY mode to strategic CEO mode so you can lead your business with clarity, not chaos.
This episode walks you through what happens after six figures and how to create a business that actually feels profitable, sustainable, and aligned with the way you want to live and lead.
In this episode, we cover:
✅ Why six-figure businesses still feel unstable behind the scenes
✅ The “success hangover” and how to name what you’re feeling
✅ How to tell if you’re ready to hire (or raise your prices)
✅ Why you're making more but feeling cash-poor
✅ The 4 key seasons of post-6-figure growth: Stabilize, Sustain, Scale, Strategize
✅ CFO-level moves that help you make decisions with confidence
✅ How to shift from panic-mode decisions to intentional growth
Whether you’re newly six figures or multiple years in, this episode is packed with strategy, encouragement, and grounded financial wisdom. You’re not doing anything wrong you’re just playing a new game with new rules. Let’s get you the clarity and tools to win it.
🎧 Press play and step into your CEO era with confidence.
Connect with Samantha:
Website: https://www.firestormfinance.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firestormfinance/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@firestormfinance?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-e-8796b6176/
Newsletter: https://firestormfinance.myflodesk.com/ajmiv1kyt1
📢 Love this episode? Share it with a friend and leave a review to help more business owners get smart about their finances.
Have a suggestion for something or someone you'd like to see on this podcast? Fill out this form here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
samantha-eck_2_02-20-2025_120206:
Welcome to the Creative Minds Smart (00:01):
undefined
Money Podcast, where we turn financialconfusion into creative confidence.
I'm Samantha Eck, bookkeeper andfractional CFO for creative entrepreneurs.
Each week I'm sharing myfinancial expertise and actionable
strategies to help you builda thriving creative business.
Plus, you'll hear from industry expertswho bring fresh perspectives on growing
(00:23):
your business beyond the numbers.
Because building a successfulcreative business starts with
strong financial foundations.
Your next chapter starts now.
You are listening to the CreativeMinds Smart Money Podcast, and today
we're talking about what comes aftersix figures and why hitting this
(00:48):
milestone is only the beginning becauseyou need to know how to lead your
business after the confetti clears.
Of course hitting six figures is ahuge milestone, and so many people
talk about how they hit six figures.
Now when I'm talking about six figures,I'm generally talking about revenue.
But so many people talk about sixfigures and how they hit six figures in
(01:12):
revenue, but nobody really talks aboutwhat comes after you hit six figures.
Like what happens?
Like what happens when you'vehit six figures and now things
just get so much more unclear?
(01:32):
Can I actually afford to hire?
Is there room in my budget for thisconference that I want to go to?
Can I purchase a new computer?
Because of course, hittingsix figures is the easy part.
Knowing how to makemoney is the easy part.
The hard part is alwaysand always will be.
Does it actually make sense?
(01:54):
So
nobody really prepares you for.
What comes after six figures?
You're, you should be thrilled when youhit that number, but it feels really
weird, like really unstable, because ofcourse you're making money, but you're
(02:14):
also thinking like, am I making mistakes?
Because maybe your netincome is really low.
Maybe you feel like yourexpenses are high, whatever it
is, whatever you're feeling.
It's not failure, it's just you'vereached a different threshold.
You've scaled past that pointof DIYing things, and now it
(02:36):
looks completely different.
So this episode is here to helpyou just name that feeling,
normalize it, and navigate itwith clear and defined strategy.
I wanna be clear that sixfigures is not a finish line.
Once you hit six figures,it's not the end game.
The end game comes afteryou hit six figures.
(02:57):
It comes after everything has happenedand after you've really thought about it.
It is a new game with new rules.
Now, you might be someone who'slike, Samantha, I've never been that
ambitious to hit six figures, buthonestly, sometimes it just happens.
You are working on your business,you're doing so well, you're growing.
All of a sudden you're there and it's justa different, it's a completely different
(03:20):
game, completely different rules, andyou just need someone to help you make
sense of it all, because it's a lot.
I had a client last year who hit herfirst six figure year, and she came
to me with completely messy books.
She was overwhelmed.
She really didn't understandif she could hire someone.
(03:41):
She didn't understand.
If she like, you knowwhat I was talking about?
If she could understand if shecould afford a new computer.
She didn't understand if she could goto this conference that she's always
wanted to go to, but she told herself shewouldn't go to unless she hit six figures.
But she's looking at her bottom lineand she's saying, Samantha, I really
don't think I have the money for this.
(04:02):
And I don't know.
Her first emotion wasn't joy.
It was pressure because now she's like,okay, I'm making six figures, but.
Like, what do I do with the six figures?
Like how do I manage it?
What do I need to continueto do to grow my business?
Things like that.
Of course, now of course,she did feel joyful because.
(04:23):
That's a huge milestone, but it's alsosomething that was intensely scary and
intensely pressure filled because a lotof people think that once you hit six
figures, you're in this sort of likefinancial safety zone, like automatically
making more money is gonna make you feelsecure and make you feel better and make
you feel really good about your business.
(04:44):
But it's a lie.
It's a lie sold by a lot ofInstagram coaches and online summits.
'cause they're like, once you getto a six figure biggest nest, you
know you have freedom, you havetime to do whatever you want.
You can walk away from your business.
But it's a lie because there'sso much more that goes into that
than just making six figures.
(05:05):
Six figures does not equalfinancial safety and it does
not equal freedom and just.
Overall joy and excitement because onceyou layer in everything that comes with
that, you're gonna get that your expenseslikely grew faster than your margins.
So you know, you wanna make sure thatyou're actually making a bottom line.
I've talked about this before, but whenyou see all those coaches online who are
(05:26):
like, Hey, I made six figures last year.
I made 200,000, 250 K, they cansay they make 250 K all dang day.
If they don't show you your bottom line.
And I, I'm not necessarily saying theyneed to show you your bottom line, but
if they can't tell you that they areactually profitable, then you should not
(05:47):
be listening to them because they're notactually like they can make 250 K, but
if they're $50,000 in debt, they're notthe person you wanna be listening to,
nor the person who should be guiding youto grow your business because you could
end up in the same place as they are.
The other thing is you'reworking more, not less.
(06:07):
So you know, you're startingto make a lot more money.
You start to work a lot more.
You have a lot more things thatare going on in your business now.
You have to delegate things.
You have to do this or youhaven't delegated anything.
And then of course, suddenly nowthat you're making these six figures,
especially if you're a solo entrepreneur,you are the boss, you're the owner of your
business, and you are the bottleneck, likeI said in the last episode, and I know.
(06:33):
Exactly what I'm like mean with that.
You are the bottleneck in your business.
You will always be the bottleneckin your business because you are the
business owner and you can only see sofar as what's in front of your eyes.
You can't see past what's in front of you.
Because technically as businessowners, we have blinders on, right?
Like we're looking atwhat's right in front of us.
(06:53):
We're looking at the smaller picture.
We're not looking at the big picture.
We're not looking at years from now.
We're not looking at six months from now.
We're looking at what's happeningin our business right now.
How can I bring in money right now?
How can I.
Grow my business.
So you're spending money, you'remaking money, but you're not actually
understanding things, and that is whyyou are the bottleneck in your business.
(07:14):
Again, you're not ungrateful thatyou've reached this six figure
milestone, but you're just exhaustedfrom carrying a business that you
were never meant to run alone.
And that's okay because it happens.
Again, you're not in thisspace where you're lost.
It's not some sort of maze.
It's just that we don't have the resourcesto figure out what happens after we
(07:34):
hit six figures because of course,there's all these resources out there
about how to make money, but there's nosolutions out there for what comes after
we make money because there are a lotof symptoms when we reach to the stage.
Again, you.
Don't know if you can afford tohire help, like can you hire help?
'cause you're done being the bottleneckand you're like, I need to outsource
things, but can you afford it?
And you don't understand that you areafraid to raise your prices because
(07:58):
you're like, well, I'm making six figures.
I don't know if I reallyneed to raise my prices.
But I'll honestly be a hundredpercent honest with you, if you are
not uncomfortable with the pricethat you have, you're probably
charging too little because.
If some, if you talk to someone andyou're, let's just say you're a copywriter
(08:19):
and you offer them $30 an hour forthis copywriting project, again, I
don't ever advise you to do hourly.
I always advise you to do value-basedpricing, but if you're someone who's
like, Hey, I'm gonna charge you $30 anhour for this, but, and they're instantly
like, yeah, that's great, let's go.
You're probably pricing a littlebit lower than you should be.
And then of course, you know you'remaking more money than ever than
(08:42):
you've ever have in your entirebusiness, but you feel cash poor.
And by that I mean like you're lookingat your bank account at the end of the
day, and you still only have $2 in yourbank account, even though your profit
loss shows that you've made $600,000or however much that you've made.
You are still making thosegut-based calls and you're not
(09:03):
making them out of strategy.
So when we talked about cutting inthe last episode, you are really doing
things based off of what's in your gut.
So you see an expense and you'relike, okay, I can just cut that
so that I can, up my bottom line.
But you're not thinking aboutthings strategically anymore.
You're just thinkingabout like, what can I do?
And then not really thinkingabout it, just doing it.
(09:25):
Because once you get to that pointwhere you are at six figures and
we're talking about those differentrules, now you really need to
be strategic about your money.
If you wanna stay where you are,if you're like, nah, I'm okay
if I go but back to where I was.
Usually you're not though.
Usually you're like, my businessis successful, I want to grow it.
I wanna understand it.
So that's where you need to,you know, start looking at
(09:47):
making more strategic calls.
And of course the next step is youwant support, but you just don't know.
What kind of support you reallyneed, or if you even need support.
So that's what we call thesuccess hangover effect.
So after a major revenue milestone,like six figures or something like
(10:07):
that, you start to feel maybe unworthybecause you're like, I don't know,
half this stuff that I can do now.
Like, I'm cash poor, I can't afforddo, can I even afford to hire help?
Do I need to raise my prices?
You feel unsteady because you're like,okay, I'm making money, but like.
Am I making money?
You know what I mean?
You're making money, butare you really making money?
(10:28):
And of course that's where youget to that point where you're
unsure what to prioritize.
So it's like building that two storyhouse on the foundation of a tent.
It's going to collapse.
So of course it, it happens though.
Your brain can't focus because youdon't just need better productivity.
You just need a better financial compassand a better understanding because six
(10:51):
figures is a lot more money than fivefigures, or four figures or three figures.
It's a completely different game plan.
Obviously your season andthe season that you're in is
gonna determine your strategy.
But I have four placesthat we wanna focus on.
And this is going to be like where welead off of and where you think about.
So the first one is you wanna stabilize.
(11:13):
So if you've gotten to six figures andyou've never touched your books or you've
never done bookkeeping, the first thingyou're gonna wanna do is clean them up.
Get accurate reports.
Know your burn rate.
Understand if you are actuallymaking money, or if you are
not actually making money.
That's what the first stepis called stabilizing.
So stabilize your business.
Once you get to that six figure point,the second step is where we wanna sustain.
(11:36):
So we want to build systemsthat reduce manual labor and
make your income predictable.
So monthly recurring revenue,hiring out contractors if you can.
And then of course beginning forecastingbecause now you're at six figures.
You want to understand your businessand you want to be able to forecast.
And a lot of times, when you're a reallysuccessful growing business, what we'll do
(11:58):
is we'll look and say, okay, historically,you've grown 10% month over month.
We're gonna forecast that.
That's go trend is going to continue.
How is that going to continue to impactyour bottom line as we continue to grow?
And that's where youlook at that forecasting.
Again, that's very CFO level mindset,so sorry if that's right over your head.
But of course, again, that's where we'retalking about sustaining the third step.
(12:21):
Or a season is scaling.
So getting strategic with your hiring.
Maybe you've only hired contractors,maybe you need to hire employees now.
Pricing decisions backed by margin data.
So you've really analyzed your marginand you understand that your pricing
needs to go up X amount because.
In order to protect your margin,your pricing needs to be here.
And then of course, cashflow planningis gonna become a non-negotiable
(12:44):
in this season, especially ifyou already have bookkeeping.
You've already done everything,you're just ready to scale, so you
really need to focus on that cashflow.
Planning.
The fourth season is strategizing.
So now is the time when your past sixfigures where A CFO is really helpful
because not only are they going to helpyou track KPIs, they're gonna help you
(13:04):
analyze profitability, plan your growth.
And I wanna just take a momentto describe what A CFO really is.
A CFO is very similar in essence,to a coach, but we do it backed
by a lot of financial data.
We're not just looking at , howcan we grow your business with
social media, things like that.
We're really looking atyour finances and analyzing.
(13:27):
Okay, so for example, let's saythat you have an item and you're
like, okay, Samantha, like, howdo I make this more profitable?
We're looking at that and we'reanalyzing it, and we're saying,
okay, what is your margin on it?
Okay.
Is there a way we can make themargin tighter if there's not a
way we can make the margin tighter?
Can we raise the price?
(13:48):
If we can't raise the price?
Do we need the product?
Is it profitable?
Really looking and asking all thosequestions, because that's how you
really think about and plan yourgrowth and strategize is when
you have someone on your team whothinks with that financial mindset.
Of course, strategizing again, isjust optimizing, not just surviving.
So now we're optimizing ourbusiness to really get to the point.
(14:11):
So those are the four seasons thathappen after you reach your post six
figure growth, you are stabilizing,you are sustaining, you're scaling,
and then you're strategizing.
So again, just to do a quick littlerecap, stabilizing by getting your
books in order, getting your reports,knowing what your business is doing,
sustaining by starting to build systems.
(14:33):
Making income predictable, forecasting,scaling by hiring, raising your
prices, starting to cashflow plan'cause it's a non-negotiable.
And then strategizing by starting toanalyze everything and really grow
your business with profitabilityand KPIs and optimizing.
So again, it's not about doing morein your business, it's just about.
(14:54):
Seeing things on a clear level.
So there's new skills that come with,of course, having post six figures.
After you get to six figures.
It's making decisions with yournumbers, not just because you
want to make those decisions.
Because once you have a team topay, once you have people, that are
backing you up, once you have thingsthat are going on, now you need to
(15:17):
make decisions based off of cash inyour bank account, not just based
off of what you think you can afford.
Trusting team support, trusting yourteam and giving them the tools to
success without worrying about it.
And then knowing your offersare profitable before a launch.
So making sure that your marginsare there and being like, yep, I've
(15:37):
got my margin already in there.
We're good to go.
Let's launch this offer.
Let's launch this product, whatever itis, and knowing that you're profitable.
And then shifting from urgency.
So running your business out of urgencyto running with intentionality because.
Once you've gotten to six figures,usually you're making enough money that
you're able to support your family.
But now it's like, how do I grow mybusiness without stressing myself out?
(15:58):
So that's something thatwe really wanna focus on.
I know I've talked a lot aboutwhat happens when you hit six
figures, but it's so important.
The milestone isn't the summit.
So hitting six figures is notthe summit of the mountain.
It's really just the base.
It's a new base.
You didn't do anything wrong to get here.
You, in fact, you were amazing.
(16:19):
You hit six figures.
You've just , graduated from makingmoney into managing it, and that's
a skill you were never taught.
If you're ever like Samantha, I'm atthat point where I'm past six figures.
I just need help.
Please reach out.
I'm here to help you.
You can book a strategy call.
We have a free discovery call.
We can talk about thingsand really just get into it.
(16:39):
Or I can even talk with you andpoint you into one of the four
stages that you might be in.
Especially if you're over six figuresand you're not sure where you're at.
You're like, I don't know ifI can hire whatever it is.
I can help you figure outwhat season you're in.
That way you can start tofocus on what you need to.
Again, that's always free.
Feel free to message me.
I'm here to help you out.
As always, if you enjoyed thisepisode, please share it with a friend.
(17:02):
Leave her of you comment.
And let me know what you wannasee more of using the form
in the description box below.
Of course, don't forget toshare and leave a review.
It helps other people to find thepodcast and learn more and grow more.
. And as always, I hope you learnedsomething today and that you feel
really good about your businessbecause what you're doing is amazing
(17:24):
and you deserve to feel good about it.
We're just here to make sure that youget the strategy and the confidence you
need to grow your business intentionally.
As always, I wish you the most amazingweek, and we'll see you next week.
Farewell fellow travelers.
undefined
Money Podcast, where we turn financialconfusion into creative confidence.
I'm Samantha Eck, bookkeeper andfractional CFO for creative entrepreneurs.
Each week I'm sharing myfinancial expertise and actionable
strategies to help you builda thriving creative business.
Plus, you'll hear from industry expertswho bring fresh perspectives on growing
(00:23):
your business beyond the numbers.
Because building a successfulcreative business starts with
strong financial foundations.
Your next chapter starts now.
You are listening to the CreativeMinds Smart Money Podcast, and today
we're talking about what comes aftersix figures and why hitting this
(00:48):
milestone is only the beginning becauseyou need to know how to lead your
business after the confetti clears.
Of course hitting six figures is ahuge milestone, and so many people
talk about how they hit six figures.
Now when I'm talking about six figures,I'm generally talking about revenue.
But so many people talk about sixfigures and how they hit six figures in
(01:12):
revenue, but nobody really talks aboutwhat comes after you hit six figures.
Like what happens?
Like what happens when you'vehit six figures and now things
just get so much more unclear?
(01:32):
Can I actually afford to hire?
Is there room in my budget for thisconference that I want to go to?
Can I purchase a new computer?
Because of course, hittingsix figures is the easy part.
Knowing how to makemoney is the easy part.
The hard part is alwaysand always will be.
Does it actually make sense?
(01:54):
So
nobody really prepares you for.
What comes after six figures?
You're, you should be thrilled when youhit that number, but it feels really
weird, like really unstable, because ofcourse you're making money, but you're
(02:14):
also thinking like, am I making mistakes?
Because maybe your netincome is really low.
Maybe you feel like yourexpenses are high, whatever it
is, whatever you're feeling.
It's not failure, it's just you'vereached a different threshold.
You've scaled past that pointof DIYing things, and now it
(02:36):
looks completely different.
So this episode is here to helpyou just name that feeling,
normalize it, and navigate itwith clear and defined strategy.
I wanna be clear that sixfigures is not a finish line.
Once you hit six figures,it's not the end game.
The end game comes afteryou hit six figures.
(02:57):
It comes after everything has happenedand after you've really thought about it.
It is a new game with new rules.
Now, you might be someone who'slike, Samantha, I've never been that
ambitious to hit six figures, buthonestly, sometimes it just happens.
You are working on your business,you're doing so well, you're growing.
All of a sudden you're there and it's justa different, it's a completely different
(03:20):
game, completely different rules, andyou just need someone to help you make
sense of it all, because it's a lot.
I had a client last year who hit herfirst six figure year, and she came
to me with completely messy books.
She was overwhelmed.
She really didn't understandif she could hire someone.
(03:41):
She didn't understand.
If she like, you knowwhat I was talking about?
If she could understand if shecould afford a new computer.
She didn't understand if she could goto this conference that she's always
wanted to go to, but she told herself shewouldn't go to unless she hit six figures.
But she's looking at her bottom lineand she's saying, Samantha, I really
don't think I have the money for this.
(04:02):
And I don't know.
Her first emotion wasn't joy.
It was pressure because now she's like,okay, I'm making six figures, but.
Like, what do I do with the six figures?
Like how do I manage it?
What do I need to continueto do to grow my business?
Things like that.
Of course, now of course,she did feel joyful because.
(04:23):
That's a huge milestone, but it's alsosomething that was intensely scary and
intensely pressure filled because a lotof people think that once you hit six
figures, you're in this sort of likefinancial safety zone, like automatically
making more money is gonna make you feelsecure and make you feel better and make
you feel really good about your business.
(04:44):
But it's a lie.
It's a lie sold by a lot ofInstagram coaches and online summits.
'cause they're like, once you getto a six figure biggest nest, you
know you have freedom, you havetime to do whatever you want.
You can walk away from your business.
But it's a lie because there'sso much more that goes into that
than just making six figures.
(05:05):
Six figures does not equalfinancial safety and it does
not equal freedom and just.
Overall joy and excitement because onceyou layer in everything that comes with
that, you're gonna get that your expenseslikely grew faster than your margins.
So you know, you wanna make sure thatyou're actually making a bottom line.
I've talked about this before, but whenyou see all those coaches online who are
(05:26):
like, Hey, I made six figures last year.
I made 200,000, 250 K, they cansay they make 250 K all dang day.
If they don't show you your bottom line.
And I, I'm not necessarily saying theyneed to show you your bottom line, but
if they can't tell you that they areactually profitable, then you should not
(05:47):
be listening to them because they're notactually like they can make 250 K, but
if they're $50,000 in debt, they're notthe person you wanna be listening to,
nor the person who should be guiding youto grow your business because you could
end up in the same place as they are.
The other thing is you'reworking more, not less.
(06:07):
So you know, you're startingto make a lot more money.
You start to work a lot more.
You have a lot more things thatare going on in your business now.
You have to delegate things.
You have to do this or youhaven't delegated anything.
And then of course, suddenly nowthat you're making these six figures,
especially if you're a solo entrepreneur,you are the boss, you're the owner of your
business, and you are the bottleneck, likeI said in the last episode, and I know.
(06:33):
Exactly what I'm like mean with that.
You are the bottleneck in your business.
You will always be the bottleneckin your business because you are the
business owner and you can only see sofar as what's in front of your eyes.
You can't see past what's in front of you.
Because technically as businessowners, we have blinders on, right?
Like we're looking atwhat's right in front of us.
(06:53):
We're looking at the smaller picture.
We're not looking at the big picture.
We're not looking at years from now.
We're not looking at six months from now.
We're looking at what's happeningin our business right now.
How can I bring in money right now?
How can I.
Grow my business.
So you're spending money, you'remaking money, but you're not actually
understanding things, and that is whyyou are the bottleneck in your business.
(07:14):
Again, you're not ungrateful thatyou've reached this six figure
milestone, but you're just exhaustedfrom carrying a business that you
were never meant to run alone.
And that's okay because it happens.
Again, you're not in thisspace where you're lost.
It's not some sort of maze.
It's just that we don't have the resourcesto figure out what happens after we
(07:34):
hit six figures because of course,there's all these resources out there
about how to make money, but there's nosolutions out there for what comes after
we make money because there are a lotof symptoms when we reach to the stage.
Again, you.
Don't know if you can afford tohire help, like can you hire help?
'cause you're done being the bottleneckand you're like, I need to outsource
things, but can you afford it?
And you don't understand that you areafraid to raise your prices because
(07:58):
you're like, well, I'm making six figures.
I don't know if I reallyneed to raise my prices.
But I'll honestly be a hundredpercent honest with you, if you are
not uncomfortable with the pricethat you have, you're probably
charging too little because.
If some, if you talk to someone andyou're, let's just say you're a copywriter
(08:19):
and you offer them $30 an hour forthis copywriting project, again, I
don't ever advise you to do hourly.
I always advise you to do value-basedpricing, but if you're someone who's
like, Hey, I'm gonna charge you $30 anhour for this, but, and they're instantly
like, yeah, that's great, let's go.
You're probably pricing a littlebit lower than you should be.
And then of course, you know you'remaking more money than ever than
(08:42):
you've ever have in your entirebusiness, but you feel cash poor.
And by that I mean like you're lookingat your bank account at the end of the
day, and you still only have $2 in yourbank account, even though your profit
loss shows that you've made $600,000or however much that you've made.
You are still making thosegut-based calls and you're not
(09:03):
making them out of strategy.
So when we talked about cutting inthe last episode, you are really doing
things based off of what's in your gut.
So you see an expense and you'relike, okay, I can just cut that
so that I can, up my bottom line.
But you're not thinking aboutthings strategically anymore.
You're just thinkingabout like, what can I do?
And then not really thinkingabout it, just doing it.
(09:25):
Because once you get to that pointwhere you are at six figures and
we're talking about those differentrules, now you really need to
be strategic about your money.
If you wanna stay where you are,if you're like, nah, I'm okay
if I go but back to where I was.
Usually you're not though.
Usually you're like, my businessis successful, I want to grow it.
I wanna understand it.
So that's where you need to,you know, start looking at
(09:47):
making more strategic calls.
And of course the next step is youwant support, but you just don't know.
What kind of support you reallyneed, or if you even need support.
So that's what we call thesuccess hangover effect.
So after a major revenue milestone,like six figures or something like
(10:07):
that, you start to feel maybe unworthybecause you're like, I don't know,
half this stuff that I can do now.
Like, I'm cash poor, I can't afforddo, can I even afford to hire help?
Do I need to raise my prices?
You feel unsteady because you're like,okay, I'm making money, but like.
Am I making money?
You know what I mean?
You're making money, butare you really making money?
(10:28):
And of course that's where youget to that point where you're
unsure what to prioritize.
So it's like building that two storyhouse on the foundation of a tent.
It's going to collapse.
So of course it, it happens though.
Your brain can't focus because youdon't just need better productivity.
You just need a better financial compassand a better understanding because six
(10:51):
figures is a lot more money than fivefigures, or four figures or three figures.
It's a completely different game plan.
Obviously your season andthe season that you're in is
gonna determine your strategy.
But I have four placesthat we wanna focus on.
And this is going to be like where welead off of and where you think about.
So the first one is you wanna stabilize.
(11:13):
So if you've gotten to six figures andyou've never touched your books or you've
never done bookkeeping, the first thingyou're gonna wanna do is clean them up.
Get accurate reports.
Know your burn rate.
Understand if you are actuallymaking money, or if you are
not actually making money.
That's what the first stepis called stabilizing.
So stabilize your business.
Once you get to that six figure point,the second step is where we wanna sustain.
(11:36):
So we want to build systemsthat reduce manual labor and
make your income predictable.
So monthly recurring revenue,hiring out contractors if you can.
And then of course beginning forecastingbecause now you're at six figures.
You want to understand your businessand you want to be able to forecast.
And a lot of times, when you're a reallysuccessful growing business, what we'll do
(11:58):
is we'll look and say, okay, historically,you've grown 10% month over month.
We're gonna forecast that.
That's go trend is going to continue.
How is that going to continue to impactyour bottom line as we continue to grow?
And that's where youlook at that forecasting.
Again, that's very CFO level mindset,so sorry if that's right over your head.
But of course, again, that's where we'retalking about sustaining the third step.
(12:21):
Or a season is scaling.
So getting strategic with your hiring.
Maybe you've only hired contractors,maybe you need to hire employees now.
Pricing decisions backed by margin data.
So you've really analyzed your marginand you understand that your pricing
needs to go up X amount because.
In order to protect your margin,your pricing needs to be here.
And then of course, cashflow planningis gonna become a non-negotiable
(12:44):
in this season, especially ifyou already have bookkeeping.
You've already done everything,you're just ready to scale, so you
really need to focus on that cashflow.
Planning.
The fourth season is strategizing.
So now is the time when your past sixfigures where A CFO is really helpful
because not only are they going to helpyou track KPIs, they're gonna help you
(13:04):
analyze profitability, plan your growth.
And I wanna just take a momentto describe what A CFO really is.
A CFO is very similar in essence,to a coach, but we do it backed
by a lot of financial data.
We're not just looking at , howcan we grow your business with
social media, things like that.
We're really looking atyour finances and analyzing.
(13:27):
Okay, so for example, let's saythat you have an item and you're
like, okay, Samantha, like, howdo I make this more profitable?
We're looking at that and we'reanalyzing it, and we're saying,
okay, what is your margin on it?
Okay.
Is there a way we can make themargin tighter if there's not a
way we can make the margin tighter?
Can we raise the price?
(13:48):
If we can't raise the price?
Do we need the product?
Is it profitable?
Really looking and asking all thosequestions, because that's how you
really think about and plan yourgrowth and strategize is when
you have someone on your team whothinks with that financial mindset.
Of course, strategizing again, isjust optimizing, not just surviving.
So now we're optimizing ourbusiness to really get to the point.
(14:11):
So those are the four seasons thathappen after you reach your post six
figure growth, you are stabilizing,you are sustaining, you're scaling,
and then you're strategizing.
So again, just to do a quick littlerecap, stabilizing by getting your
books in order, getting your reports,knowing what your business is doing,
sustaining by starting to build systems.
(14:33):
Making income predictable, forecasting,scaling by hiring, raising your
prices, starting to cashflow plan'cause it's a non-negotiable.
And then strategizing by starting toanalyze everything and really grow
your business with profitabilityand KPIs and optimizing.
So again, it's not about doing morein your business, it's just about.
(14:54):
Seeing things on a clear level.
So there's new skills that come with,of course, having post six figures.
After you get to six figures.
It's making decisions with yournumbers, not just because you
want to make those decisions.
Because once you have a team topay, once you have people, that are
backing you up, once you have thingsthat are going on, now you need to
(15:17):
make decisions based off of cash inyour bank account, not just based
off of what you think you can afford.
Trusting team support, trusting yourteam and giving them the tools to
success without worrying about it.
And then knowing your offersare profitable before a launch.
So making sure that your marginsare there and being like, yep, I've
(15:37):
got my margin already in there.
We're good to go.
Let's launch this offer.
Let's launch this product, whatever itis, and knowing that you're profitable.
And then shifting from urgency.
So running your business out of urgencyto running with intentionality because.
Once you've gotten to six figures,usually you're making enough money that
you're able to support your family.
But now it's like, how do I grow mybusiness without stressing myself out?
(15:58):
So that's something thatwe really wanna focus on.
I know I've talked a lot aboutwhat happens when you hit six
figures, but it's so important.
The milestone isn't the summit.
So hitting six figures is notthe summit of the mountain.
It's really just the base.
It's a new base.
You didn't do anything wrong to get here.
You, in fact, you were amazing.
(16:19):
You hit six figures.
You've just , graduated from makingmoney into managing it, and that's
a skill you were never taught.
If you're ever like Samantha, I'm atthat point where I'm past six figures.
I just need help.
Please reach out.
I'm here to help you.
You can book a strategy call.
We have a free discovery call.
We can talk about thingsand really just get into it.
(16:39):
Or I can even talk with you andpoint you into one of the four
stages that you might be in.
Especially if you're over six figuresand you're not sure where you're at.
You're like, I don't know ifI can hire whatever it is.
I can help you figure outwhat season you're in.
That way you can start tofocus on what you need to.
Again, that's always free.
Feel free to message me.
I'm here to help you out.
As always, if you enjoyed thisepisode, please share it with a friend.
(17:02):
Leave her of you comment.
And let me know what you wannasee more of using the form
in the description box below.
Of course, don't forget toshare and leave a review.
It helps other people to find thepodcast and learn more and grow more.
. And as always, I hope you learnedsomething today and that you feel
really good about your businessbecause what you're doing is amazing
(17:24):
and you deserve to feel good about it.
We're just here to make sure that youget the strategy and the confidence you
need to grow your business intentionally.
As always, I wish you the most amazingweek, and we'll see you next week.
Farewell fellow travelers.
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