July 2, 2025 • 19 mins
Think slashing expenses is the fastest way to profit? Not always.
In this episode of Creative Minds Smart Money, we’re talking about the urge to cut costs when things get tight and why that knee-jerk reaction could actually be slowing your growth.
We’ve all been there. Panic creeps in, cash flow feels uncertain, and suddenly everything feels like it needs to go. But before you cancel your support systems and scale back your business tools, let’s talk strategy.
In this episode, we cover:
✅ The emotional traps behind cutting costs (fear, shame, survival mode)
✅ Why cutting isn’t a sustainable strategy
✅ The difference between reactive vs. strategic cost-cutting
✅ How to evaluate if an expense is actually a high ROI investment
✅ What to do instead of slashing your support systems
✅ Financial moves that actually help you grow intentionally
✅ 4 steps to take before you cut anything in your business
✅ How to shift from a scarcity mindset to a profit-building one
Whether you’re in a tight season or just looking to grow your bottom line, this episode gives you the mindset and the strategy to make empowered financial decisions not fearful ones.
🎧 Press play and find out why staying small isn't the move and how to grow smart instead.
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, of course, as always, I'm soexcited to talk about all the things.
I've been talking a lot lately abouton threads, about how I just struggle
(00:48):
so hard with getting things out intowords and which is why I love my podcast
because my podcast is literally the placewhere I can come and just like talk.
I have an outline for the episode.
I have a vision for the episode,and I just talk and I guess it not
(01:08):
really makes sense, but it all justflows really well because I already
know what I wanna talk about.
Whereas with my, emails and allof my writing and things like
that, it always seems super hardfor me to get the point across.
So if you're here, thank you forlistening and know that I'm always
here to provide value and education,but I also wanna help you out as a
(01:33):
bookkeeper, as a professional CFO, Iwant you to understand your numbers.
And I've said this before, butI want you to beat statistics.
So today we're gonna talk about whypenny pinching, or cutting costs
isn't always a way to boost profits.
Now, we've talked a lot about in thepast about things we need to cut, like
(01:53):
subscription costs or when we're ina recession, you need to cut things.
But I wanna focus on the oppositeside of this, and talk about why
cutting things isn't necessarily thebest business strategy especially if
things are already working for you.
It's so important to really talk aboutthis because I think that there are
(02:16):
too many times when we assume that.
If we are running our businessesand things are getting tight, the
only thing to do is cut everything.
And by cutting everything, I literallymean cutting everything, which just, it's
not the best strategy and it's not reallya strategy period, because if you're going
(02:39):
to cut everything, you're gonna take backtime that you might have already gained.
When your expenses creep up and you'relooking at your profit and loss and
you panic, and your first instinct isto cancel everything, whether that's a
bookkeeper, a virtual assistant, yoursocial media manager, something like that.
(03:01):
Because what we've been taught.
As a society and as individuals isthat the solution when things get tight
is to cut back, which is realistic,especially in like a personal sense.
But when you're thinking of a businessmindset and we're thinking of that from
a business sense, it's a lot tougher tocut back because when we cut back, it's
(03:25):
what keeps us small, because as businessowners we only have so much capacity,
and in reality we are the bottleneck.
For example, I own, I run my business,and I understand that because I'm
the only person in my business, Iam the bottleneck to everything.
If someone needs to speak withme, if they need financials, if
they need to ask me questions.
(03:46):
I'm the bottleneck, but if I hadsupport or help in certain areas,
that bottleneck is eliminated.
So that is why I'm saying bycutting, it keeps you small.
So let's really dig into this topic andtalk about it and how we wanna shift
from being defensive about our financesto being more offensive and really
(04:09):
focusing on what's going to drive ourbusiness forward, not drive it backwards.
When we really, really think about where.
The fear or the feeling of pennypension comes from, or the feeling
of cutting costs comes from.
There's really three important things thatwe wanna think about when we think of,
okay, where am I focusing on cost for?
(04:31):
Obviously, the first one is fear.
So you're scared.
You are scared that you'regonna run out of money.
You are scared that you're not gonnabe able to provide for your family.
You're scared that yourbusiness is gonna go over.
Under.
It's all rooted in emotion.
The other one is shame.
You know, you are ashamed that youcan't afford something or someone you're
(04:53):
ashamed that something's happening.
Now, I don't want this to be a thingwhere you're like, okay, Samantha, so
you're telling me , I should just keepeverything, even if I can't afford it.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying I want you to think criticallywhen you are in a, emotional state
of fear or shame or even survivalmode where you're like, I need to
cut costs in order to save money.
(05:14):
And I want you to think critically andreally analyze where you cut costs.
Because if you've gained, I dunno,let's say five hours back in time from
handing off your bookkeeping and itsaved you over $3,000 because you've
managed to cut subscriptions youdidn't need, or something like that.
(05:35):
The question then you wanna askyourself is, will cutting my
bookkeeper help me or is it goingto actually hurt me in my business?
When we cut things, it feels reallyproductive 'cause we're like, Hey,
I have more money in my pocket.
This is fantastic.
But what happens is it often createsthis false sense of control because now
you know you've cut that bookkeeper,now you have the bookkeeping back
(05:57):
into your lap and it's back there,and now you have to deal with that.
So there's just so many common traps thatwe find when we end up penny pinching,
like cutting, coaching, slashing tools.
Avoiding hiring, and just DIYing becauseyou don't want someone to take over
for you or something else is happening.
(06:20):
You can be frugal, but I will justsay this part, like straight up.
You can't frugal your wayinto financial freedom.
There is a strategic way to getthere, and then there's a really,
really tight way to get there.
Now, I, that's not me saying don'thire people or cut everything.
(06:40):
Again, I wanna make surethat we're just being really
intentional, like you guys know.
I'm very intentional about that.
So when we talk about cutting costs.
It doesn't necessarily, again, meanthat it's going to bring you more
revenue or bring you more profit,because cutting costs is not always
the way to bring you more profit.
(07:01):
Again, if you had a bookkeeper andthey save you five hours a month,
that's five hours that you could bespending on sales generating activities.
So when you think of cutting thingsor you think of letting go of people,
you really want to be criticalof what you're letting go and why
.When you cut costs, like what does it actually cost you?
(07:21):
You're probably looking at me andbeing like, okay, so what Samantha?
I cut my bookkeeper, I cut my coach.
What is it gonna cost me?
Well, there's a few things andit really helps emotionally like.
Especially, you're gonnahave that lost momentum.
Imagine you have a coach who justfires you up and burns you up inside.
It's like, yeah, this coach is amazing.
I love this person.
(07:41):
They just get me going andyou're like, you know what?
My costs are too tight.
I have to cut them.
It's a loss of momentum because nowyou just you don't have them anymore.
You don't have that same support.
You don't have that same backing.
And now when you make decisions,you have no one you can go to.
It also gives you a sense of decisionfatigue because when you're really
(08:07):
thinking about what costs to cut andyou know, you're having to decide
between all these different things,it's gonna just give you that like
fatigue and it's gonna take and zapthat excitement out of your business.
And similar to that, alongthat same vein is burnout.
Because if you're just cutting everythingand you are putting everything back
onto your plate, you're gonna burn out.
Now, I know that everybody lovesto live the solopreneur life,
(08:31):
they love to be a solopreneur.
And there's nothing wrongwith being a solopreneur.
However, a solopreneur does notnecessarily mean that nobody is
ever involved in your business.
Human beings are really good at certainthings, and even as business owners,
our zone of genius is certain things.
So if you're a website designer, yourzone of genius is designing websites.
(08:53):
Now, if your zone of geniusis also numbers, fantastic.
But that's what kind ofwhat I'm talking about.
If you're focusing on numbers and youabsolutely hate them, and you handed it
off to your bookkeeper, and now you takeit back, you're going to burn yourself
out because that was something that youpassed off and you just couldn't handle.
Now again, I want.
I just wanna make this clear.
It's not if you are in desperate need ofmoney and you need money to support your
(09:18):
family, I'm not saying don't cut things.
This is more of that occasion whenyou have money, you are able to
provide for your family, but you arelooking at your business and you're
like, I want more in my pocket.
Which isn't necessarily always agood, like it is a good thing, but
the way to getting more in your pocketis not necessarily cutting costs.
(09:42):
It could just be addingrevenue, if that makes sense.
We always think of, cuttingwhen we have a scarcity mindset.
Again, that's where I'm talking aboutthis is comes from that scarcity
mindset where we're cutting becausewe just wanna see more internet
income right now right at this moment.
We wanna see that percentage.
Sometimes it takes a while tobuild up to that net income.
(10:03):
And by cutting things and cuttingfrom scarcity, you play into this
cycle of being small because you'relike, okay, I just wanna see my
bottom line grow bigger right now.
But businesses don't growtheir bottom line overnight.
Their bottom line takes a lot oftime and a lot of people, and a lot
of help and a lot of assistance.
(10:23):
So again, that's gonna show upnot just in your business, but
in your books, because it's gonnacause some sort of delayed growth.
You're gonna have stagnant revenue becauseyou know you're focusing now just on the
parts of your business that you were notfocusing on now, and then of course it's
gonna cause that unpredictable cash flow.
(10:43):
'cause you do have that stagnant revenue.
So now you're, telling me, okaySamantha, so you've gone on and on about
cutting costs, but what works instead?
Like, what can I do instead of cuttingcosts that will help my business?
So first of all, the key here is goingon the offense with your numbers.
(11:04):
And that sounds like a,a sports term I know.
But let me go a little bit deeper.
The first thing is understanding what'sactually profitable in your business.
So when I'm saying that, whatI'm saying is if you are looking
at your business and you have.
Let's just throw out anumber, 50 different offers.
As a service provider, youhave 50 different offers.
(11:26):
25 of them are digital, 15 of them aregroup, 10 of them are one-to-one programs.
Whatever that is.
Maybe you have just like thismassive business, what of those
offers is actually profitable?
And if you're looking and you'resaying, okay, only 10 of these offers
are actually profitable, like only fiveof these group offers two of these,
one-to-one offers, and three of thesedigital products are actually profitable.
(11:49):
First of all, the first thing you needto do is cut all of the other offers.
Like, don't focus on the non-profitableoffers and focus on the profitable offers.
What about them works?
What about them is bringing you inmoney and how can you make more?
I. And then of course we have using KPIs.
So this is very CFO level mindset.
(12:12):
This is not something a lot of peoplereally think about, but it's your
profit per service, your cost per,client acquisition, and that's where
you really start to dive into yourdirect costs, your indirect costs, and
understanding kind of what goes into allof the cost of service so that you can
make your business a little bit better.
And then, of course,looking at where to invest.
Not just where to cut.
(12:34):
So if you're cutting somethingfor a reason, maybe you're
looking to invest elsewhere.
Like just as an example, again, ifyou're looking to cut bookkeeping,
maybe you're, it's because you'relooking to invest in funnel building.
Or if you're cutting funnel buildingor social media, maybe it's because
you're looking to invest in bookkeepingso that you can raise your profits
or just something like that.
(12:57):
So I wanna give you just a clearlist of profitable business moves
that will help you when you're inthis mindset of cutting things.
So the first thing isinvesting in client retention.
So the clients you have, the currentclients you have, or the clients
that you've worked with in thepast already know you and trust
you, and you've built that trust.
(13:18):
So investing in something that's goingto retain them and help them just be.
Consistent clients is always goingto be the best thing for you.
Whether that is building a retainer,whether that is building out your
client journey and your back, likethe background of your business.
Building recurring revenue.
(13:40):
That's always something that's good,especially when you have that monthly
recurring revenue 'cause that'sgonna help you build your business.
And then of course, gettingfinancial strategy support because.
If you're someone who doesn't thinkin the mindset of numbers, like
KPIs, what's actually profitable,all those things, it's really hard to
understand where you need to go nextbecause you can be making these six
(14:02):
figure incomes and not even understandwhat's going on in your business.
So that's where we come inwith that intentionality.
And then of course, raising pricesintentionally, not reactively.
So if you have had the experiencefor six or seven years now, and your
prices are on the low end, but youknow, for your experience, your prices
should be up here looking at that andsaying, okay, like how do I raise my
(14:26):
prices so I can cover my bottom line?
Things like that because cutting is not,again, cutting is not always the solution.
There's just a multitude of otherthings that it could be that could
help you not cut and help you growyour business with even more intention.
Just as a kind of reframe, I wantto analyze and give you some steps
(14:48):
of what to do when you get the urgeto cut everything, because honestly,
it does happen more often than not.
There's days where you're like, Ijust wanna burn everything down.
I don't wanna deal with this anymore.
So these are the four stepsthat I want you to take.
If you're ever in that head space whereyou're like, I just wanna cut everything.
I can't afford this, Idon't wanna do this anymore.
(15:08):
So first of all, stop.
Pause the panic and sit with it for,you know, 25 hours or 25, 24 hours.
There's only 24 hours in a day.
Sit with it for a full day.
Don't cut immediately.
Like, you know what I mean?
Don't get the urge to cut and thenjust be like, oh, I'm gonna cut things.
Pause it, sit with it for 24 hours, sitwith it for 48 hours, however long you
(15:33):
need to like run through those emotions.
And this is emotional intelligence we'retalking about because a lot of times.
Finances are tied to emotion, and thatbrings in that emotional intelligence
because as business owners, whenwe just go off of our emotions,
it can lead to a lot of differentthings happening in our business
that aren't necessarily favorable.
(15:53):
The second thing I want you to dois look at your cashflow forecast.
And if you don't have fun, that'ssomething you definitely need
to start looking at and not justlike a basic cash flow forecast.
When we do cashflow forecasts, welook at analyzing what could happen
if you grow, what could happen withthings there, and things like that.
So looking at your cashflow forecast,seeing where your income is coming.
(16:16):
Do you have income coming in?
Do you have things going out?
Just analyzing everythingin your cash flow forecast.
Identify your high ROI expenses.
So looking at your expensesand saying, okay, so what is.
Giving me a high return on investment.
So again, as an example, if yourbookkeeper is giving you a high
(16:37):
return on investment, they'resaving you time, they're saving you
money, they give you clear insightson what to do with your business.
It's a high ROI expense, right?
Because you understand it.
So if I don't know, as anexample, let's just say.
Canva.
I know Canva's usually has a highROI, but let's just say Canva.
(17:00):
You're using Canva and you feel likeit's giving you just the crappiest ROI,
because you're not, you're never using it.
You don't use the templates.
Why would you even bother with it?
That's a low ROI expense.
The fourth thing is considering temporaryslowdowns with strategy, not gut-based
slashing, because again, when you gowith your gut and you're just like, I'm
just gonna cut everything, usually youcut things that are helping you build
(17:23):
your business and not helping you.
, Usually you cut things that arehelping you build your business, not
things that are not helping you build.
So sometimes the power move foryour business is holding the line
where you are and not yanking theplug out when we really want to.
I understand type months are a part of thecycle, but realistically how you respond
(17:47):
to them and how you react to them reallydefines how you get to your next level.
Again, I wanna be clear that.
If you are in desperatefinancial situations, cutting
is a hundred percent an option.
But if you are someone who is wantingto grow your business with intention,
you do have room in your bottomline, and there's just ways that
(18:09):
you're looking to grow your business.
Cutting is always not always the way.
You don't need to go lean.
You just need to become financiallyliterate and understand what's
going on with your business.
If that's you and you're like,okay, Samantha, I just really need
some help with that, I'm available.
I provide that cash flow support.
I provide strategy calls.
It's not necessary, but I'm alwaysthere to help you with that, if that's
(18:33):
something that you're looking at orsomething that you're going through.
Even if you just wanna talk.
I never charge for just talking.
So if you guys wanna email me, hit me upon Instagram, wherever it is, and just
talk through something, I'm there for you.
Okay.
If you enjoyed this video, make sure toshare it with a friend who might think
that cutting is always the best solution.
(18:54):
And as always, if you have anysuggestions for future episodes,
leave a suggestion in the using theform in the description box below.
Always remember to rate the episodeand share as it helps people find
the podcast wherever they may be.
I appreciate you so much forspending time with me today.
As always, we'll see you next week.
(19:14):
Farewell fellow Traveler.
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, of course, as always, I'm soexcited to talk about all the things.
I've been talking a lot lately abouton threads, about how I just struggle
(00:48):
so hard with getting things out intowords and which is why I love my podcast
because my podcast is literally the placewhere I can come and just like talk.
I have an outline for the episode.
I have a vision for the episode,and I just talk and I guess it not
(01:08):
really makes sense, but it all justflows really well because I already
know what I wanna talk about.
Whereas with my, emails and allof my writing and things like
that, it always seems super hardfor me to get the point across.
So if you're here, thank you forlistening and know that I'm always
here to provide value and education,but I also wanna help you out as a
(01:33):
bookkeeper, as a professional CFO, Iwant you to understand your numbers.
And I've said this before, butI want you to beat statistics.
So today we're gonna talk about whypenny pinching, or cutting costs
isn't always a way to boost profits.
Now, we've talked a lot about in thepast about things we need to cut, like
(01:53):
subscription costs or when we're ina recession, you need to cut things.
But I wanna focus on the oppositeside of this, and talk about why
cutting things isn't necessarily thebest business strategy especially if
things are already working for you.
It's so important to really talk aboutthis because I think that there are
(02:16):
too many times when we assume that.
If we are running our businessesand things are getting tight, the
only thing to do is cut everything.
And by cutting everything, I literallymean cutting everything, which just, it's
not the best strategy and it's not reallya strategy period, because if you're going
(02:39):
to cut everything, you're gonna take backtime that you might have already gained.
When your expenses creep up and you'relooking at your profit and loss and
you panic, and your first instinct isto cancel everything, whether that's a
bookkeeper, a virtual assistant, yoursocial media manager, something like that.
(03:01):
Because what we've been taught.
As a society and as individuals isthat the solution when things get tight
is to cut back, which is realistic,especially in like a personal sense.
But when you're thinking of a businessmindset and we're thinking of that from
a business sense, it's a lot tougher tocut back because when we cut back, it's
(03:25):
what keeps us small, because as businessowners we only have so much capacity,
and in reality we are the bottleneck.
For example, I own, I run my business,and I understand that because I'm
the only person in my business, Iam the bottleneck to everything.
If someone needs to speak withme, if they need financials, if
they need to ask me questions.
(03:46):
I'm the bottleneck, but if I hadsupport or help in certain areas,
that bottleneck is eliminated.
So that is why I'm saying bycutting, it keeps you small.
So let's really dig into this topic andtalk about it and how we wanna shift
from being defensive about our financesto being more offensive and really
(04:09):
focusing on what's going to drive ourbusiness forward, not drive it backwards.
When we really, really think about where.
The fear or the feeling of pennypension comes from, or the feeling
of cutting costs comes from.
There's really three important things thatwe wanna think about when we think of,
okay, where am I focusing on cost for?
(04:31):
Obviously, the first one is fear.
So you're scared.
You are scared that you'regonna run out of money.
You are scared that you're not gonnabe able to provide for your family.
You're scared that yourbusiness is gonna go over.
Under.
It's all rooted in emotion.
The other one is shame.
You know, you are ashamed that youcan't afford something or someone you're
(04:53):
ashamed that something's happening.
Now, I don't want this to be a thingwhere you're like, okay, Samantha, so
you're telling me , I should just keepeverything, even if I can't afford it.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying I want you to think criticallywhen you are in a, emotional state
of fear or shame or even survivalmode where you're like, I need to
cut costs in order to save money.
(05:14):
And I want you to think critically andreally analyze where you cut costs.
Because if you've gained, I dunno,let's say five hours back in time from
handing off your bookkeeping and itsaved you over $3,000 because you've
managed to cut subscriptions youdidn't need, or something like that.
(05:35):
The question then you wanna askyourself is, will cutting my
bookkeeper help me or is it goingto actually hurt me in my business?
When we cut things, it feels reallyproductive 'cause we're like, Hey,
I have more money in my pocket.
This is fantastic.
But what happens is it often createsthis false sense of control because now
you know you've cut that bookkeeper,now you have the bookkeeping back
(05:57):
into your lap and it's back there,and now you have to deal with that.
So there's just so many common traps thatwe find when we end up penny pinching,
like cutting, coaching, slashing tools.
Avoiding hiring, and just DIYing becauseyou don't want someone to take over
for you or something else is happening.
(06:20):
You can be frugal, but I will justsay this part, like straight up.
You can't frugal your wayinto financial freedom.
There is a strategic way to getthere, and then there's a really,
really tight way to get there.
Now, I, that's not me saying don'thire people or cut everything.
(06:40):
Again, I wanna make surethat we're just being really
intentional, like you guys know.
I'm very intentional about that.
So when we talk about cutting costs.
It doesn't necessarily, again, meanthat it's going to bring you more
revenue or bring you more profit,because cutting costs is not always
the way to bring you more profit.
(07:01):
Again, if you had a bookkeeper andthey save you five hours a month,
that's five hours that you could bespending on sales generating activities.
So when you think of cutting thingsor you think of letting go of people,
you really want to be criticalof what you're letting go and why
.When you cut costs, like what does it actually cost you?
(07:21):
You're probably looking at me andbeing like, okay, so what Samantha?
I cut my bookkeeper, I cut my coach.
What is it gonna cost me?
Well, there's a few things andit really helps emotionally like.
Especially, you're gonnahave that lost momentum.
Imagine you have a coach who justfires you up and burns you up inside.
It's like, yeah, this coach is amazing.
I love this person.
(07:41):
They just get me going andyou're like, you know what?
My costs are too tight.
I have to cut them.
It's a loss of momentum because nowyou just you don't have them anymore.
You don't have that same support.
You don't have that same backing.
And now when you make decisions,you have no one you can go to.
It also gives you a sense of decisionfatigue because when you're really
(08:07):
thinking about what costs to cut andyou know, you're having to decide
between all these different things,it's gonna just give you that like
fatigue and it's gonna take and zapthat excitement out of your business.
And similar to that, alongthat same vein is burnout.
Because if you're just cutting everythingand you are putting everything back
onto your plate, you're gonna burn out.
Now, I know that everybody lovesto live the solopreneur life,
(08:31):
they love to be a solopreneur.
And there's nothing wrongwith being a solopreneur.
However, a solopreneur does notnecessarily mean that nobody is
ever involved in your business.
Human beings are really good at certainthings, and even as business owners,
our zone of genius is certain things.
So if you're a website designer, yourzone of genius is designing websites.
(08:53):
Now, if your zone of geniusis also numbers, fantastic.
But that's what kind ofwhat I'm talking about.
If you're focusing on numbers and youabsolutely hate them, and you handed it
off to your bookkeeper, and now you takeit back, you're going to burn yourself
out because that was something that youpassed off and you just couldn't handle.
Now again, I want.
I just wanna make this clear.
It's not if you are in desperate need ofmoney and you need money to support your
(09:18):
family, I'm not saying don't cut things.
This is more of that occasion whenyou have money, you are able to
provide for your family, but you arelooking at your business and you're
like, I want more in my pocket.
Which isn't necessarily always agood, like it is a good thing, but
the way to getting more in your pocketis not necessarily cutting costs.
(09:42):
It could just be addingrevenue, if that makes sense.
We always think of, cuttingwhen we have a scarcity mindset.
Again, that's where I'm talking aboutthis is comes from that scarcity
mindset where we're cutting becausewe just wanna see more internet
income right now right at this moment.
We wanna see that percentage.
Sometimes it takes a while tobuild up to that net income.
(10:03):
And by cutting things and cuttingfrom scarcity, you play into this
cycle of being small because you'relike, okay, I just wanna see my
bottom line grow bigger right now.
But businesses don't growtheir bottom line overnight.
Their bottom line takes a lot oftime and a lot of people, and a lot
of help and a lot of assistance.
(10:23):
So again, that's gonna show upnot just in your business, but
in your books, because it's gonnacause some sort of delayed growth.
You're gonna have stagnant revenue becauseyou know you're focusing now just on the
parts of your business that you were notfocusing on now, and then of course it's
gonna cause that unpredictable cash flow.
(10:43):
'cause you do have that stagnant revenue.
So now you're, telling me, okaySamantha, so you've gone on and on about
cutting costs, but what works instead?
Like, what can I do instead of cuttingcosts that will help my business?
So first of all, the key here is goingon the offense with your numbers.
(11:04):
And that sounds like a,a sports term I know.
But let me go a little bit deeper.
The first thing is understanding what'sactually profitable in your business.
So when I'm saying that, whatI'm saying is if you are looking
at your business and you have.
Let's just throw out anumber, 50 different offers.
As a service provider, youhave 50 different offers.
(11:26):
25 of them are digital, 15 of them aregroup, 10 of them are one-to-one programs.
Whatever that is.
Maybe you have just like thismassive business, what of those
offers is actually profitable?
And if you're looking and you'resaying, okay, only 10 of these offers
are actually profitable, like only fiveof these group offers two of these,
one-to-one offers, and three of thesedigital products are actually profitable.
(11:49):
First of all, the first thing you needto do is cut all of the other offers.
Like, don't focus on the non-profitableoffers and focus on the profitable offers.
What about them works?
What about them is bringing you inmoney and how can you make more?
I. And then of course we have using KPIs.
So this is very CFO level mindset.
(12:12):
This is not something a lot of peoplereally think about, but it's your
profit per service, your cost per,client acquisition, and that's where
you really start to dive into yourdirect costs, your indirect costs, and
understanding kind of what goes into allof the cost of service so that you can
make your business a little bit better.
And then, of course,looking at where to invest.
Not just where to cut.
(12:34):
So if you're cutting somethingfor a reason, maybe you're
looking to invest elsewhere.
Like just as an example, again, ifyou're looking to cut bookkeeping,
maybe you're, it's because you'relooking to invest in funnel building.
Or if you're cutting funnel buildingor social media, maybe it's because
you're looking to invest in bookkeepingso that you can raise your profits
or just something like that.
(12:57):
So I wanna give you just a clearlist of profitable business moves
that will help you when you're inthis mindset of cutting things.
So the first thing isinvesting in client retention.
So the clients you have, the currentclients you have, or the clients
that you've worked with in thepast already know you and trust
you, and you've built that trust.
(13:18):
So investing in something that's goingto retain them and help them just be.
Consistent clients is always goingto be the best thing for you.
Whether that is building a retainer,whether that is building out your
client journey and your back, likethe background of your business.
Building recurring revenue.
(13:40):
That's always something that's good,especially when you have that monthly
recurring revenue 'cause that'sgonna help you build your business.
And then of course, gettingfinancial strategy support because.
If you're someone who doesn't thinkin the mindset of numbers, like
KPIs, what's actually profitable,all those things, it's really hard to
understand where you need to go nextbecause you can be making these six
(14:02):
figure incomes and not even understandwhat's going on in your business.
So that's where we come inwith that intentionality.
And then of course, raising pricesintentionally, not reactively.
So if you have had the experiencefor six or seven years now, and your
prices are on the low end, but youknow, for your experience, your prices
should be up here looking at that andsaying, okay, like how do I raise my
(14:26):
prices so I can cover my bottom line?
Things like that because cutting is not,again, cutting is not always the solution.
There's just a multitude of otherthings that it could be that could
help you not cut and help you growyour business with even more intention.
Just as a kind of reframe, I wantto analyze and give you some steps
(14:48):
of what to do when you get the urgeto cut everything, because honestly,
it does happen more often than not.
There's days where you're like, Ijust wanna burn everything down.
I don't wanna deal with this anymore.
So these are the four stepsthat I want you to take.
If you're ever in that head space whereyou're like, I just wanna cut everything.
I can't afford this, Idon't wanna do this anymore.
(15:08):
So first of all, stop.
Pause the panic and sit with it for,you know, 25 hours or 25, 24 hours.
There's only 24 hours in a day.
Sit with it for a full day.
Don't cut immediately.
Like, you know what I mean?
Don't get the urge to cut and thenjust be like, oh, I'm gonna cut things.
Pause it, sit with it for 24 hours, sitwith it for 48 hours, however long you
(15:33):
need to like run through those emotions.
And this is emotional intelligence we'retalking about because a lot of times.
Finances are tied to emotion, and thatbrings in that emotional intelligence
because as business owners, whenwe just go off of our emotions,
it can lead to a lot of differentthings happening in our business
that aren't necessarily favorable.
(15:53):
The second thing I want you to dois look at your cashflow forecast.
And if you don't have fun, that'ssomething you definitely need
to start looking at and not justlike a basic cash flow forecast.
When we do cashflow forecasts, welook at analyzing what could happen
if you grow, what could happen withthings there, and things like that.
So looking at your cashflow forecast,seeing where your income is coming.
(16:16):
Do you have income coming in?
Do you have things going out?
Just analyzing everythingin your cash flow forecast.
Identify your high ROI expenses.
So looking at your expensesand saying, okay, so what is.
Giving me a high return on investment.
So again, as an example, if yourbookkeeper is giving you a high
(16:37):
return on investment, they'resaving you time, they're saving you
money, they give you clear insightson what to do with your business.
It's a high ROI expense, right?
Because you understand it.
So if I don't know, as anexample, let's just say.
Canva.
I know Canva's usually has a highROI, but let's just say Canva.
(17:00):
You're using Canva and you feel likeit's giving you just the crappiest ROI,
because you're not, you're never using it.
You don't use the templates.
Why would you even bother with it?
That's a low ROI expense.
The fourth thing is considering temporaryslowdowns with strategy, not gut-based
slashing, because again, when you gowith your gut and you're just like, I'm
just gonna cut everything, usually youcut things that are helping you build
(17:23):
your business and not helping you.
, Usually you cut things that arehelping you build your business, not
things that are not helping you build.
So sometimes the power move foryour business is holding the line
where you are and not yanking theplug out when we really want to.
I understand type months are a part of thecycle, but realistically how you respond
(17:47):
to them and how you react to them reallydefines how you get to your next level.
Again, I wanna be clear that.
If you are in desperatefinancial situations, cutting
is a hundred percent an option.
But if you are someone who is wantingto grow your business with intention,
you do have room in your bottomline, and there's just ways that
(18:09):
you're looking to grow your business.
Cutting is always not always the way.
You don't need to go lean.
You just need to become financiallyliterate and understand what's
going on with your business.
If that's you and you're like,okay, Samantha, I just really need
some help with that, I'm available.
I provide that cash flow support.
I provide strategy calls.
It's not necessary, but I'm alwaysthere to help you with that, if that's
(18:33):
something that you're looking at orsomething that you're going through.
Even if you just wanna talk.
I never charge for just talking.
So if you guys wanna email me, hit me upon Instagram, wherever it is, and just
talk through something, I'm there for you.
Okay.
If you enjoyed this video, make sure toshare it with a friend who might think
that cutting is always the best solution.
(18:54):
And as always, if you have anysuggestions for future episodes,
leave a suggestion in the using theform in the description box below.
Always remember to rate the episodeand share as it helps people find
the podcast wherever they may be.
I appreciate you so much forspending time with me today.
As always, we'll see you next week.
(19:14):
Farewell fellow Traveler.
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