Solopreneurship by the numbers.
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Money School helps you feel better about your finances. I'm Mark Butler, and since 2014 I've been the money guy for six- and seven-figure earning life coaches like Brooke Castillo and Jody Moore. What I've learned is that the average person's money struggles are more mental and emotional than technical. I've created Money School to help you figure out your own thoughts and feelings about money so you can confidently earn, spend, save and give.
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When we ask money to change or maintain our emotional state, we make ourselves more less able to change with changes in our circumstances. This episode talks about the non-financial jobs we give our money, the risks that introduces into our lives, and how we can move from an externally-driven emotional state to a more sustainable internally-driven …
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Money School 6: Financial peace in your relationship.
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Money is not a source of contention in a relationship, but we think it is because it exposes the dissonance between us. I know you think money is an issue in your relationship, but I promise it's not the money. The money is simply revealing something about the partnership. The solution starts with 1) honesty about our individual desires and motivat…
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Money School 5: Let's be reasonable about debt.
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There are people who treat money as a religion whose deadliest sin is being in debt. I'm no lover of debt, and I do plan to become and stay debt-free, but I don't think it's anything to shout or shame about. This episode offers a new perspective on debt, including a discussion of the reasons we get into debt (sometimes emotional, others not), the w…
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Money School 4: My strange views on emergency funds and retirement funds.
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I believe there are two reasons we accumulate money in the form of savings and retirement accounts. Our first goal is to keep consumption smooth. Our second goal is to make our income less expensive. Once you realize those are the real reasons we save, you're open to a totally new perspective on financial "safety" and "retirement". Hint: you can be…
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Money School 3: Why I have an "income-first" money philosophy.
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The personal finance world obsesses over expense-cutting and debt-avoidance (and debt elimination). You can only reduce expenses so much; eventually the next dollar cut will meaningfully impact your quality of life. This episode explains why I think income-creation is the most-import, highest-leverage skill in personal finance.…
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Money School 2: Discover what you want and why you want it by studying your spending.
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In 2013 I decided to figure out my financial life. I studied my expenses to figure out how much I was spending, and on what, and most important of all: why. Money School class two will inspire you to open the black box of your spending habits, dig around in it, and find out what really matters to you. The goal is not to cut spending. If you do this…
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Money School 1: Feel Better About Your Finances
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The goal of Money School is to help you feel better about your finances. The negative emotions you feel about money might be coming from other people's beliefs or 'conventional wisdom' about money that's so common we treat it as fact. Money School class #1 was all about identifying and challenging ideas like "need vs want," "afford vs can't afford,…
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Businesses have inertia. That means they're hard to get moving, but it also means it's hard to stop them once they're rolling.Από τον Mark Butler
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I've had multiple conversations with new business owners whose spouses are worried (and occasionally antagonistic) about the time and money they're investing in the new venture. This episode is a note just for that concerned spouse.Από τον Mark Butler
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I stole that line from Seth Godin's new book, "This is Marketing." That one phrase -- "I made this for you. Do you want it?" -- captures so much about what it takes for new (and established) business owners to get out of their heads and into the real work of marketing. Episode 61 talks through the vulnerability and confidence it takes to stop frett…
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EP60: A class for new coaches -- when to hire someone to do work for you, when to do it yourself, and when to hire a coach to guide you.
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I've been teaching some class to new (and new-ish) life coaches. In this episode of the show I pulled a 15-minute segment out of one of the classes where I talked about how new coaches should think about spending time versus spending money versus hiring coaches as they get their business off the ground.…
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Let's talk about the psychology offering discounts, bonuses, or neither in our sales process.Από τον Mark Butler
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How to use goals whose outcome you can control completely to achieve goals you can only influence with your effort.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP57: The market isn't saturated. There isn't too much competition. You're not behind. It's not "too late."
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This is your reminder to ignore anyone (including yourself) who might say "It's too late. The market is saturated. There's too much competition. Everyone who is going to succeed already succeeded."Από τον Mark Butler
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Some of your long term income and savings goals may be false financial finish lines. Episode 56 talks about making sure you're on the right track for the right reasons.Από τον Mark Butler
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I've hired three new team members and they're doing a great job. This is great news, so why am I so anxious?Από τον Mark Butler
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If you show ten different business owners the same set of financials, you'll get ten different opinions about what the numbers mean. This is proof that the numbers are neutral -- they only get their meaning from us. Episode 54 explains why this is such a crucial insight.Από τον Mark Butler
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I went to a six-day life coach training this week. The content was amazing, the connections and conversations were even better. There's nothing like getting into the same physical space as your ideal clients, spending quality time, and building relationships.Από τον Mark Butler
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This week I had the pleasure of a double root canal. During the procedure -- under the influence of all the drugs -- my mind naturally turned to marketing.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP51: Why you should challenge your basic assumptions for the sake of improved client experience.
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Last week I told you to set rules and guidelines for how you deliver your service. This week's message is to keep your mind open and change those rules when you realize they're built on faulty assumptions.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP50: Why the rules and boundaries you put in place for client work protect your clients more than you (and that's a good thing).
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I have a few rules (maybe more like best practices) I use in my service to ensure high quality and limit mistakes. On occasion I've broken those rules with the idea that I'm helping the client out. The reality is when you break the rules that protect the quality of your work, it's the client that suffers.…
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EP49: If you're struggling in your expertise-driven business (ie coaching or consulting), it's probably because you don't have expensive products and services.
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If you're a coach or consultant you need to have a high-four or low-five figure offering for your clients to buy. If you don't, you'll struggle to create sustainable cash flow. Episode 49 explains why.Από τον Mark Butler
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This week I've been listening to a book called 'Work the Process' that reminded me that our lives and businesses are a system of systems. In this episode I share the system I've used to delegate some of the most complicated tasks in my business without any loss of quality or consistency.Από τον Mark Butler
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This is the story of two sprinkler repair guys named Carl and Tyler. Each takes a very different approach to selling, and they get drastically different results.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP46: Would you be willing to do 274 grunt-work projects for the chance to work on one dream project?
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This week I met a film maker who described is career to me as "roughly 800 projects I wasn't very excited about and three dream feature films." That's approximately 274 projects he wasn't excited about for the chance to work on three he loved. Would you be willing to work that kind of ratio in your business?…
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This week I found out I'm not a Visionary, and that's okay.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP44: How to re-focus on the small set of activities that drive the majority of your success.
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It's way too easy to lose sight of (or just plain forget) the few strategies, tactics, and activities that have created disproportionate results in our business. Episode 44 helps us remember and re-focus on what really matters.Από τον Mark Butler
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Sometimes clients tell me they've heard something "isn't working anymore." "People are tired of courses." "Email marketing doesn't work." Episode 43 explains why you need to maintain healthy skepticism when anyone is telling you something does or doesn't work.Από τον Mark Butler
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A friend of mine has been under-pricing his coaching. Instead of just repeating the easiest business advice there is ("Raise your rates!"), we talked through the psychology of under-pricing and the way to right-price his services. Episode 42 recaps that conversation.Από τον Mark Butler
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Your goal (and mine) should be to steadily and profitably increase the amount we spend on marketing. But there's no simple calculation that will tell you exactly what you can afford to spend. Episode 41 talks about how you can use quantitative and qualitative analysis to set your marketing budget with confidence.…
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Usually marketing and business coaches are the ones talking about niche selection, but today it's the CFO who has a few things to say about why pursuing the right niche is so important.Από τον Mark Butler
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Your bank balances give you some important information about your business finances, but they're just a small part of the true picture.Από τον Mark Butler
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Revenue and profit goals set the vision for our businesses, but the key to achieving that vision is identifying and executing your most important daily and weekly inputs. Episode 38 explains how.Από τον Mark Butler
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We're all looking to pay the right person the amount that gets the work done without draining the business's cash. Most of us (me included) overpay our first significant hire. Episode 37 explains why we do this and how to avoid it.Από τον Mark Butler
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Hint: The question is not "who did the amazing photography on your website?"Από τον Mark Butler
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EP35: Bookkeeping 101: Understanding the difference between bookkeepers, CPAs, CFOs, financial advisors, and money coaches.
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Episode 35 walks you through all the different financial service providers that can help you in your business, how they want to help you, and when it's the right time to work with each of them. In this episode I also explain exactly how I benefit my clients and when it might be the right time to hire me.…
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EP34: Bookkeeping 101: Let's talk about contractors vs employees and the what, how, why, and when of 1099 forms.
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Does the government consider your virtual assistant an employee or a contractor? Why does it matter? And what's the deal with 1099 forms, anyway? Episode 34 has the answers.Από τον Mark Butler
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People usually want to talk about whether bookkeeping software has good invoicing or pretty reports, but those aren't the features that will make or break your bookkeeping habit. After thousands of hours of bookkeeping, here are the criteria I use for evaluating financial software.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP32: Bookkeeping 101: How your Balance Sheet gives you a snapshot of your business's financial health.
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Your balance sheet showcases financial strength and exposes financial cracks in your business. Episode 32 walks you through how your balance sheet works and how it helps you.Από τον Mark Butler
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EP31: Bookkeeping 101: How your Profit & Loss statement helps you helps you make financial decisions in your business.
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The Profit & Loss statement (aka P&L, aka Income Statement) is the first of two key financial reports that help you stay in touch with the financial health of your business.Από τον Mark Butler
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Daily bookkeeping will a) keep your financials perfectly accurate and current, b) help you develop fluency in the language of business quickly, and c) maintain your financial stress at an all-time low. And it only take 5-10 minutes per day.Από τον Mark Butler
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When I borrow money to fund my business, how do I track the money into my business? How do I track the payments to the loan? Are the payments a business expense? Let's clear all that up for you.Από τον Mark Butler
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Not all the money that flows into your business is 'revenue,' and not all the money that flows back out is an 'expense.' In this episode I explain the different types of inflows and outflows. Oh, and we also need to cover what happens in your books when money moves around inside the business.Από τον Mark Butler
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This is the first in a multi-part series where I'll teach the fundamentals of bookkeeping with the goal of persuading you that you can (and want to be) your own bookkeeper. In this episode I start with the basic unit of all bookkeeping: a single transaction.Από τον Mark Butler
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Your business is a creative outlet, a passion project...maybe even your life's work. That's why it has to be profitable, and profit is a choice.Από τον Mark Butler
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I've watched my friend Phil grow a company that carried him across the financial finish line. Turns out being 'finished' isn't all it's cracked up to be. Episode 25 talks about crossing the 'freedom line' instead of the 'finish line.'Από τον Mark Butler
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It's too easy to forget how important and value one-on-one connections are in online business. Here are three stories of how I became friends with "powerful online influencers." (Spoiler: everyone is a powerful online influencer.)Από τον Mark Butler
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I thought my target customer for Let's Do the Books was already hyper-specific, but this week I decided to take it even narrower. Makes me a little nervous, but episode 23 explains why I think it'll work out.Από τον Mark Butler
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We all want the big dollars and the big, engaged email lists. We can have them...if let early, important signs of life help us through the lonely, quiet slog of the first few months/years of a project.Από τον Mark Butler
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Have all the products been created? All the newsletters written? All the clients sold? Is there just too much competition?Από τον Mark Butler
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