333: Why expertise alone doesn't grow your business | Nancy Benet

Think being brilliant at what you do is enough to grow your business?

Same. That's what most of us think, until the phone stops ringing.

So we have Nancy Benet on ep 333 of The Content Queen Podcast to help you understand why visibility and marketing aren't optional, even when you're the expert in the room.

Nancy is a licensed CPA, entrepreneur and CEO of Fix-It Accounting and Success Your Way. After a divorce left her with four kids, no job and over $650K in debt, she rebuilt everything from scratch and built two thriving businesses along the way. If you've ever hidden behind your expertise instead of putting yourself out there, this one's for you.

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah and @success.your.way.

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ Why nobody cares about your business ringing off the hook as much as you do

✨ How niching down actually makes marketing easier, not harder

✨ Why your money mindset directly impacts how you price, market and show up online

✨ Why listening to your own intuition matters more than doing what everyone tells you to do

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

ABOUT THE GUEST

Nancy Benet is a licensed CPA, entrepreneur and CEO of Fix-It Accounting and Success Your Way, an online education platform that empowers women to start and grow businesses aligned with their deepest desires. After a divorce left her with four children, no job and over $650K in debt, Nancy rebuilt her life from the ground up. Through resilience, smart money habits and a powerful mindset shift, she transformed her circumstances and built two thriving businesses. Today, she's passionate about helping women take control of their finances, shift their relationship with money and build businesses with confidence, clarity and purpose.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 333, and we're talking all about why expertise alone doesn't grow your business with Nancy Benay. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur, storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content Bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen, with over 10 years experience in marketing.

This podcast is here to help you create your perfect content marketing plan by blending storytelling and strategy. So let's get into it. Hello, gang. No recording this from my walk to Pilates for this guest episode. If you can see my podcast on Spotify, you would've seen my, uh, video bomber in the episode which was actually so funny.

If you're listening on iTunes, for context, this is video, so you can watch on YouTube, you can watch on Spotify. I'm sure Apple will bring out video at some stage. And I was filming it on the walk to Pilates, along this nice beautiful walk, and someone appeared in the back of my video giving the peace sign.

So that was a vibe. It means, you know, [00:01:00] you've got to get out of your comfort zone and film everywhere and anywhere, 'cause you just don't know where you're gonna be pushed to your limits. But anyway, today we have a guest episode, of course, and we're talking to Nancy. So Nancy is a licensed CPA, entrepreneur, and CEO of Fixit Marketing and Success Your Way, which is an online education platform to empower women to start and grow their businesses aligned with their deepest desires.

Her story is as real as it gets. After her divorce, she was left with four children, no job, and over $650,000 in debt. Nancy rebuilt her life from the ground up. Through resilience, smart money habits, and a powerful mindset, she transformed her circumstance and built two thriving businesses. Today, Nancy is passionate about helping women take control of their finances, shift their relationship with money, and build a business with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

Now, Nancy's in the finance world, right? So [00:02:00] marketing, content marketing, social media, showing up online may not be supernatural for her being very left brain. So we're gonna talk about that and why she's a really big believer in showing up, marketing, and not just relying on your expertise, but also relying on your presence.

So let's chitty chat with Nancy. Amazing. Okay, Nancy, thank you so much for coming on to the Content Queen podcast. Before we get into all... We've already had a conversation, and I- ... am really excited for what you can share with us today. Can you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do?

Nancy: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I am a failure. I have failed at so many businesses. I failed at five businesses and woke up when I was 45 years old as a single mom with four children, um, no job, no income, $100 a week in child support, and $650,000 in debt from the business failures. So, um, I, I've learned a lot through those failures, I would tell you.

And I, I'm here to [00:03:00] share because I think there's so much value in that. And, and now I have a very successful CPA firm, so we deal with small business owners on a daily basis and I, I think, um, I've got a lot to talk about to keep you- Yeah ... from failing five times. 

Mariah: Yeah. Amazing. Well, yeah, how did you... Tell us a little bit more about your story.

What, what's some of the businesses that you've done? What's your origin story? How... You sort of alluded to how you got to where you are today but, um, yeah, tell us a little bit more about your story and where you've been. 

Nancy: Well, so it's really funny because I wanted to be a CPA from when I was very young, and I didn't even know what that was.

I just knew that my parents were very poor, and their friend, who was a CPA, had a really nice lifestyle for his family. And so I just set my s- my sight on that. That's what I'm gonna do. I want that nice life, right? So I did all the things that you do. I went to school, got good grades so I could get educa- get a good education and [00:04:00] get a good job and then start my own practice.

But by the time I got to the good job, ooh, I hated it. It was, it was so awful. So um, I jumped ship from the CPA firm that I was working at, and I went to work for a client as the corporate controller and I thought, "Yeah, this'll be better. It's gonna be good." And it wasn't. It was even worse. And so I just, like, threw out all of my pre-planned career goals in favor of being a stay-at-home mom and starting a unrelated to accounting and tax business with my husband.

And so that was a, um, that was a screen printing business, and it was an epic failure. And we had had a pet sitting business before that. That was an epic failure. Both of those, by the way, is because we did not have good marketing and mentorship. Just none, by the way. Um, we also had a consulting business.

We had a car lot selling used cars, and we had a real [00:05:00] estate investing business. So all of those failed, and I ended up back into the CPA world because I was penniless, basically, and I was so ashamed, being a financial professional and ending up in this horrible spot. I was so ashamed. So, um, I was complaining to somebody, and she introduced me to a gentleman from her church that, um, was, had a tax practice he wanted to sell.

So it was just a very small tax pr- company. And so he was gonna finance it for me, and I was like, "Well, I'm, I'm really bad at business, but I don't have any other choices." This was during the recession, so I, I did, I had to support my children. And so I just, I said yes, and I kind of got excited about it again.

"Hey, you know, maybe I can do this because I'm buying somebody else's business, and I don't, I'm not starting from zero." So I went out and leased a building to put our new business in, and the [00:06:00] day after I did that, he backed out of our agreement and gave the business to his daughter So there I was, not only with, you know, no income, all these kids, and $650,000 in debt.

Now I had a lease payment, and that was a little difficult. But, uh, we made it through that. I just made this decision, and, uh, it was a momentous event, and I think we as business owners have to do this sometimes. We have to go all in. It's like burning your boats. I had no other options, and I just said, "I'm going to make this work."

And when you get to that position, you have no choice but to go forward. You can't retreat. You can't go, "Oh, that's not working. I'm gonna go do something else." There was nothing else, so I said, "This is what I'm doing." And I, I started, like, practicing and, like, doing different things to see if something would work because I live in a really small town, and there was just no business to go get here.

So I had to think outside the box, and it was super successful. The first one or two [00:07:00] things I did didn't work, but the next one did. I kept going. I didn't quit. The next one worked, and it was marketing to people who have tax liens. And I just sent them, like, this beautiful wedding invitation-looking letter to people who had liens filed in my county and the surrounding counties, and it, it worked.

And pretty soon we were doing the whole state So that's just a testament to really be all in on your business. Don't quit. Keep going. Figure out what works. Keep pivoting and, and finding that right spot for you. And since then we've had to pivot several times, and we don't do those kinds of things anymore, but we do different things.

And so all of this turns into I'm, I'm saying the same things all day every day in the CPA firm. And so I thought, "Well, to get this out to more people, I'll just make a class, an online class that can be accessed on demand." And that's what we did, and that's how we ended up here in Success [00:08:00] Your Way. And we do online classes for entrepreneurs to help them get started and to manage their money, and now we're doing one to start an accounting firm.

Um, and it's been super fun, but I have to step outside my comfort zone every single day. 

Mariah: Mm. Oh my gosh, I love that. And I, I really like what you said about sort of, you know, trying different things to see what resonated with people. I mean- Mm-hmm ... sounds like you had a really stressful start to your business journey but, as you say, like, I think everything is lessons, and it helps you kind of...

I'm sure there's things you gathered from all the businesses that didn't work. There were sort- sort of things that did, and it helped you, you know, create something. I have a client very similar. She's had the same sort of businesses that haven't worked, and now she's landed on her, her ideal business. I think for everyone it's kind of like, um, you know, finding a relationship or a partner

The first few might not always work . 

Nancy: Yes . That's a good analogy. 

Mariah: But that's okay. [00:09:00] Um, and I, I like that you said... I mean, it's so interesting that you said about the mail outs, um, marketing strategy. I had a... did a workshop two weeks ago, and one of the accountants in there told me, 'cause in Australia you can do something where, and it must, might be similar in the States, where you, you go to the...

We have Australia Post. That's what it's called. It's, you know- Mm ... very easy to remember. And, um, you go there, and they'll give you access to, like, mail outs, and then you give 'em your flyer, and it's, like, quite cost-effective. It's not super expensive when we're talking about, like, paid marketing. And she said how successful that was to her, 'cause she sent this, like, nice flyer out to, um, clients, and she said she's got some of her biggest clients that way.

And, and that's a really interesting lens on when I was doing this workshop. My whole purpose of the workshop was, like, you know, you could always think outside the box. It's not always social media. It's not always- Paid Facebook ads. Like it can be something so unique and different, even though maybe back then that wasn't unique and different, [00:10:00] that was like what everyone did.

Now it's like, oh, mail outs, that's random. Like- ... who would do that? But I mean, you know, um, even five, 10 years ago people would've been doing that. Now not so much, but maybe that's the thing that people need to try. Like, I think we dismiss certain marketing tools 'cause we think, oh, well it's all online now, why would I do something traditional?

Um, so I think that's really interesting. But I wanna go back to- You know, you came from an accounting background, so obviously numbers and, and, and probably more, um, left brain activities. I mean, accountants that I work with, everything is very left brain, and I always try and work on the right brain and bring out creativity, especially for organic marketing.

How was marketing for you when you first started? Was it something that sort of, um... What was your relationship like? Maybe it was didn't come naturally to you, or was it like, "Oh, you know, I kind of worked it out 'cause I am quite creative." I know there are obviously lots of accountants out there that are very right brained as well as left brain.

But I'm curious to know how you [00:11:00] found marketing when you first started your accounting business and h- coming into it with, you know, quote unquote, "no experience in marketing" or feeling like you had all these failed businesses. So I imagine in your mind you're going, "Well, I'm not very good at owning a business.

I'm not very good at marketing." Like, how was that for you back then? 

Nancy: I actually did say that, "I'm not very good at this." But, you know, you can learn new things. Even old dogs can learn new tricks. So that, that's the approach I took. I'm going to make this work, so I've got to figure something out. So it, it ma- makes your creative brain kick in.

One of the things that I used for the CPA firm when I first started, um, most accountants here in the US anyway do networking to try to get referrals and all of that. I'm... I like to be in my office. I don't want to go to networking events. It's not a comfortable place for me. So I just decided I would do online marketing in addition to those letters we were sending.

We... I just decided to build the online marketing part of it. That has been incredibly successful. I [00:12:00] never could have imagined, but I knew that the internet was a thing because this was 15 years ago when I started this. I knew the internet was a, a thing, and like, oh, we've got this online thing. What if we built out this platform and the search engine optimization and all the things?

What if we did that? Can we get clients that way? I didn't know anybody who had gotten clients that way, but I, I said, "I'm uncomfortable with going to networking. It's a small town. It's not gonna do me much good. Maybe I could expand my reach a little bit by doing the internet marketing thing." And it was super successful, and even today we utilize that so much.

We have a franchising and licensing piece of the Fix It Accounting puzzle because of the online marketing is so successful because our phone rings off the hook. Mm-hmm. And who would have thought? I don't know. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. I just love this because, you know, every business owner has their own unique way of marketing, and I think we forget that because you only have to go on TikTok or Instagram and be like, "You should be [00:13:00] doing this.

You should be doing that." Mm-hmm. Whereas, like, for other people, networking comes more naturally. Yeah. But I love that you share your own experience because I think it's a really good reminder, and this is what I said in this workshop, like- What works for this person over here who is a wine- owns a wine bar versus the accountant, there was a lawyer in the room, there was a yoga teacher, a Pilates teacher/um, energy healer.

Like, everyone is going to have things that work differently for them based on industry and also personality. I think, yeah, if... What was the point of forcing you to go... I might have said, "Oh, Nancy, you know, like, post-COVID networking is so good. People want human connection." And I say this stuff on the podcast.

You could do this, you could do that, but one of the things I'll always remind people is like, yeah, but just because it may work for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you, and I think we often get, not brainwashed, but we see so much of like, you know, "I tried this and I got thousands of new leads, and I did this and I..."

And everyone's like, "Okay, I'll do [00:14:00] this. Oh, but this person said to do this." And then we end up in this loop. How did you sort of get to that point where you knew what worked for you based on you, or was it more like, "Oh, well, let's try something different because someone's told us to try it"? How did you really learn to trust yourself in that process?

Nancy: Well, it started with my... The person I was working with on marketing was like, "Here, you, you need to do this. Like, go, go to these network. Go here." You know, everybody was telling me, "You've got to do this," and I just didn't. And like n- I just couldn't make myself. And so you ha- if you can't do that, you have to find something else, and that's when I learned to start listening to my own intuition.

Because if I'm not gonna do it, it's not gonna work, and so I gotta find something else that does work for me. And my own intuition said, "Don't do that. Here, build this." And when you can learn to listen to yourself, not the outside messages coming in but the inside messages, because we've learned to turn that off.[00:15:00] 

We have learned to shut it down and go, "Nope, that doesn't make any sense. I gotta listen to what other people tell me to do. I don't trust myself." I- so I'm glad you asked me that, because that is a huge part of being a successful business owner, is learning to trust your own instincts about what's right for you and figuring out what, what you want in your own heart, not what your mother wants for you or your neighbor thinks you should do or your boyfriend says to do.

It's, it's gotta come from within, and when you learn to listen to that, which I have over the last 15 years, life gets a lot easier. Yeah. Not to say that, you know, you should just run off doing something risky, but it means really tuning in to who you are and what you want from your life and building your business around that.

Mariah: Mm. So interesting, 'cause I, I talked about this. I think at the end of the day we forget that we're with the client all the time. So you are actively speaking with your clients or [00:16:00] customers frequently. Mm-hmm. But then you'll go onto TikTok or Instagram and you'll see someone telling you to do something that has zero idea who your audience is, has zero idea who you are, and I think we've learnt to think, "Oh, well, I'm not the expert in marketing."

And yes, of course you get external help, all the things, like, but at the end of the day I think a lot of us build things based on what other people think we sh- I mean, if I had a dollar for every client that went out for a coffee date with, you know, like, um, a business mentor or a business friend and they come back and they're like, "So such and such said maybe we should try YouTube" And I go, "Yeah, great.

This, this is the time that it takes. This is the... You know, do you wanna commit to that? I know you're not really, like, you don't really love doing video." They're, "Oh, oh yeah, no, no, no, don't worry about it." Like, honestly, I, I have that happen all the time with clients that, um, have, you know, people in their ear, and I think that's just what happens.

But you're right, we do forget to listen to us as the inner expert of our [00:17:00] business. I think, yes, it... I think it's, it's natural to go, "Oh, a beginner's mindset, like, I don't know everything, so I'm keen to learn." But also at the same time, when you're actively, like, in front of your clients, they're sort of giving you the answers, and I've seen it.

I saw a business owner that started a Facebook group. It got to, like, 100,000 people, and now she's like, "I never wish I started this thing 'cause now I've gotta maintain it. I've gotta keep it active. It's too much to..." You know, so sometimes you can actually create something, but it's not right for you or what you want to achieve in your business.

So I love that you said that because I think, yeah, we, we do learn to ignore what we want and what our vision is for our business. We, we sort of... You know, yeah, there's some great ideas out there, but doesn't mean we have to do it 

Nancy: You have to live with your business. Just like the woman with the Facebook group.

You have to live with your business, and if, if you don't like it, wow, let's choose something else because that's almost a 24/7 thing. Yeah, I turn off my email, and I turn off my phone when I go home, but [00:18:00] I'm always thinking about it. You know what I mean? Mm. I think all of us have that. It... When we're so invested as to own the business, it, it creates this atmosphere where you're constantly mulling and pondering.

And so if it's not something you like, do something different. Like, really try to change and pivot to where you can have a happy life, 'cause really, what's the point if you're miserable? 

Mariah: Mm. Yeah, um, that, that's so true. I think a lot of the times we... And I think you have to learn that lesson, too. You might try something and then you go, "Oh no, this isn't for me," and, and that's probably your own experience with the networking of like, okay, cool, people telling me to network.

Sounds like a great idea in theory. I understand. Yep, cool. And then, like, you either couldn't go, or maybe you'd go and you're like, "Why am I, why am I here? There's so much resistance to this." And I think often, you know, sometimes we, we push through it, and then in the end it doesn't work anyway, so there's so many lessons in that.

What are some of the other, um, lessons that you've experienced with [00:19:00] marketing? 'Cause I know, um, as you're saying, like, being in... I found when I had to start my company, so I went from a so- in Australia we have sole trader, and then we hit- Mm ... convert to a company when you wanna start paying yourself, like, an actual wage where you pay your, your tax.

You don't just, like, draw a wage from the business or take money from the business. And this was last year, and it took me so long to do it because numbers are just, like, not so much my thing versus- Yeah. ... um, marketing. And it gave me a really good taste of my own medicine when I say to clients, you know, like, um, these are some of the things that you could do.

It's like, it, it doesn't, shouldn't take you too long, and then it takes them three hours, and they're like, "You told me it wasn't gonna take too long." What are some of the things, you know, obviously having to switch from being analytical accountant, um, or what we see. I mean, I know a lot of accountants that do bring in a lot of, like, creativity, and so I don't think, I think it's just a perception that we have, right?

But was there a [00:20:00] big shift from going, okay, like, I'm the accountant versus, okay, I'm the marketer of my business. What are some of the lessons that you learnt along trying to switch between the two? 

Nancy: Yeah. You know, I, the first thing I learned is that nobody cares about your business and your marketing and your phone ringing as much as you do.

Mm. And so even though I have outside people that help me with the marketing, it's still, that is my main job is to make the phone ring, 'cause I've got 13 employees here that need work. So that's my job, make the phone ring. And that was a big transition for me from doing actual accounting work. Now it's my job to give work to other people, and I, um, I actually embrace that really well.

I, I like the creative aspect of it and looking... But it's also numbers too. When you're looking at your marketing, like you have to figure out your return on investment. Like, is this working? Because I used to pay a lot of money for ads and I, I'm like, "There's no return here. I don't [00:21:00] understand." And but once we started tweaking it and tweaking it and tweaking it- It's okay

sorry about that, um, we, we learned that certain things work and certain things don't. So you really have to watch that. Mm. Watch your marketing, watch your numbers, make sure that the thing you are choosing to market with is working for you. Because if you take, for instance, we have the Fixed It Accounting brand, which is the CPA firm.

Online, like social media marketing does not work there. It does not draw the kind of clients that we want, because we work with bigger businesses that need advisory services, fractional CFO services, accounting services on a larger scale. So that's who we're working with. And that doesn't work on social media.

But then when you transfer and you go, "Oh, we're marketing these classes for Success Your Way," yes, that works on social media. So I had to like make that switch and go from no, we don't do social media, to okay, we're gonna do social media over here. And I come from a generation where you're [00:22:00] not in front of the camera all the time.

Like maybe your generation grew up with- Mm ... s- cell phone cameras. Mine did not. I had to really get used to that. But it's okay, because I like to talk to people, so I'm like, "Yeah, okay, I can do this. Let, let's talk about what we need to talk about." Um, but you really do have to figure out what works for you, for your business, for your personality, because it's different for everybody.

Mariah: Mm. Yeah. And it's so interesting, I love that you said about like sort of the two different businesses that you run, because I think- Different marketing channels play a different role, right? So for example, for your accounting business it's like, yeah, we just have it so when people search us, we're there, or, you know, if our client is scrolling social media they might see a post or two from us.

Like, I have a, um, a financial advice business where their goal was to build brand and to look professional and to look clean on social media. It's not about leads 'cause leads don't come from there. Leads come from other places. So they focus on where their leads come from, [00:23:00] and we focus on how we make the brand look good when the leads arrive there.

And I think a lot of the times we just assume different channel... Yeah, like, oh, we just assume that social media is where we're gonna get our accounting clients. But no, if we actually think about the audience, that's not how that's going to happen. But if we're marketing to small business owners, yes, that makes the most sense, and I think we just forget that different channels play a different role for any business.

Like, we just assume it all fits in this box, and it's normal because we see it happen all the time. Yeah, cool, there are accounting businesses that do get clients from social media, but it could be totally different. It's not the right client for you. It's not the right fit. So I think it's so interesting to have that realization, and I think the earlier you have it, the better because otherwise you do end up spending a lot of time...

I've had clients that try to make social media work for them in the way that they think it should work, and it's like, hang on, it's just not... It's, it's just a different part of the journey for people for your audience. And I think sometimes our ego gets in the way because we see these people with lots of [00:24:00] followers and lots of likes and lots of comments, and we just assume that we all should get that, and that's not the reality for every business.

Nancy: No. It's, it's definitely not. And one of the things, um- About the marketing too is, I've learned this from my clients at the CPA firm, the more we niche down, the easier it is to market. Mm. Like, if you can really define your audience well, it's easier to find clients for your- Mm ... product or your service.

Because when what is too broad, how do you market that? I think that's, um, a mistake maybe that most- Yeah ... small business owners make is being too broad in their offering and their audience. "Oh, we can sell this to anybody." Well, yeah, you can, but you need to choose somebody that you can market to because otherwise you're gonna spend way too much money, too much time, too much effort, and have much less result.

Mariah: Yeah. That's a great point, because actually... And, and I've had this experience with a beauty therapist when I was talking about, like, [00:25:00] "Who's the person that you wanna market to?" And she's like, "But Mariah, I do, I do men, and I do women, and I do facials-" Mm ... "and I do waxing." And I'm like, "Yeah, which is fine, but, like, who is that person that you love to have in your salon that, um, you know, you talk about life together, they always rebook their appointment as soon as, like, their service is done, they come to the counter.

They've... Or they've got six months of appointments already booked. They talk about you with their friends." Like, it might not necessarily be, like, a specific in terms of, um, they have this, uh, income and this job, but they're like a personality that you wanna market to, because when you know that personality and whether they're a business owner, whether they're not, whether they're this, whether they're that, it is so much easier, and it doesn't mean that you can't attract other people, but as you're saying, your marketing becomes way too broad.

It doesn't talk to what that person... Like, one client, she likes to, you know, service lots of different people, but at the end of the day, she still has that niche of people that like certain [00:26:00] things, that have certain personality types, that give a certain energy. And I said to her, "Start sharing the stories that have come up with your clients."

Even if someone's like, "Oh, no, that's not my specific situation," 'cause it's very niche and very specific, they might relate to, "Oh, well I wonder if she could help me with this specific problem." And it's like, well, yeah, 'cause the, the formula is the same or the framework is the same, it's just put into a different lens.

And I think we get too scared to niche 'cause we think it's gonna box us in, but actually that's what allows us to... It's like there's a, there's... I'm in this small town in, um, in a really small, like, at the bottom of a mountain, and they have a Christmas shop, right? And you'd think, "Oh, well that Christmas shop, like, Christmas is only once a year, like, surely they're not busy."

They have so totally expanded their business. They've now bought out another shop, but a lot of their, um- customers come from online sales, but then also they're so known for Christmas that, like, if you ever want... And I didn't know, there's a whole niche of [00:27:00] people that are, like, totally obsessed with Christmas in terms of, like, have a Christmas tree up all year round.

Mm-hmm. Don't take the Christmas tree down type of Christmas obsessed, which I think is amazing. But yeah, you know, you think, oh, a Christmas shop in a really small town that's, like, touristy, but maybe in the winter it's pretty quiet. Busy all year round. It's wild, right? Like, it's because they know- That's crazy

their people. They really know their people, which I think is, is a great example of what you're saying. 

Nancy: I 

Mariah: just wanna hijack this episode to tell you about something that is g- generally helping and changing the game for business owners that I work with. So if you're sitting there at 5:00 PM scrambling, not sure what to do, what to post, you are not alone, and I have in fact been there, along with many other businesses that I've worked with, getting to my laptop, throwing something together, pushing it out there, throwing spaghetti at the wall, and seeing what sticks.

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Nancy: Check out Boot Camp, Content Boot Camp. I would love to see you 

Mariah: there. You 

Nancy: mentioned 

Mariah: before, um, we recorded about... And you've probably experienced this. I know you do a lot of mindset work with money. How do you find with your clients that their [00:29:00] mindset shifts around money impact the way that they show up- Mm-hmm

in their marketing? 

Nancy: Oh, absolutely. There, because when your money mindset is small, when you have a belief that you don't deserve money, when you don't... You're gonna underprice your services or products. You're gonna, like, work for less. You're gonna have scope creep everywhere, doing much more than you should be in a job.

Um, and it just costs you so, so much. Money mindset's really everything in business, and it took me years to figure this out. Remember, I'm the one that had such a horrible financial situation, uh, because I, I grew up in a home that had a poor mindset. Basically, money didn't grow on trees and money was dirty were the messages that I got.

And no wonder I couldn't price my services properly or, uh, keep any money because it, it, there, that mindset really impacted me. And for many years I really underpriced what [00:30:00] I was doing, what I was offering, and over-delivered. Over- I went over with everything I did. I wanted to really overdo everything and give my clients the greatest, best service, and I didn't charge for that.

And how, I wonder how much that cost me over the years. A lot, a lot, a lot. And when you translate that to your marketing too, because you're marketing at a low, low price or whatever and you're getting customers coming, but is that the customers you want, that don't wanna pay, that don't realize your value because you don't realize your value?

So I, I encourage everybody to work on the money mindset. So we wrote a book, and it's called Tame Your Money Monster, and there's a course that goes deeper into that, trying to get into the emotional position that we have about money. Mm. Because again, my mind was, "Money doesn't grow on trees and money, um, is dirty."

Mm. So what do those tell you? You can't have money because there's always a shortage. It's dirty. You don't [00:31:00] want it really because it's dirty. Ew, who wants that? 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Nancy: So I, I really had to shift my money mindset, and I've seen other people really dramatically shift the way that they think about money and the way, the way that they perceive themselves and their own worth with this work.

Mariah: Mm. And that's sort of interesting to the concept of, you know, like, your expertise. So you, you know what you're doing, say, yeah, you're an accountant or you're a marketer or, um, you create products. You know, you know your industry. You know what you do. But then when it comes to, I guess, like, making the offer or selling or showing up on social media to- Mm

share what you do, that's where your expertise stop. Because yeah, you know... But if no one knows you exist or no one's paying you the right amount of money, your business isn't going to grow, right? Like, you're gonna stay stagnant because you're not, yeah, you're not offering. Like, you've got your expertise, you know what you're doing, but then you're not doing the, the work of selling or the work of marketing to really put yourself out there.[00:32:00] 

Nancy: That's so true. You just can't if you feel so bad about money and don't feel your own worth. So it's just not possible for you from an emotional standpoint to do that. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Nancy: And so we have to really dig into those emotions, and that's hard. That's hard work, and I think people avoid it because who wants to do hard work like that?

But as business owners, we are called to do these things if we wanna be successful, because nobody's born with all the capabilities to do business the right way. We have to learn and fail and grow and change and try, and keep doing those things over and over again. And every bit of my success has been taking baby steps and learning from them.

Little bitty baby steps all the time, whatever I- with whatever I'm doing, even if when it's a money thing. Because I found myself at one point, lots of money was coming in, but I was sending it all back out because money's dirty and it's scarce. And so I couldn't really, didn't know how to have money- Mm

or cash or, you know, larger income. When [00:33:00] it did come out, I sent it back- come in, I sent it right back out, and I think a lot of us do that. I see that with clients all the time. They spend everything they make. And maybe they're spending it on the business, but it's a spend problem. And maybe they're not buying doodads.

Some of them are. Some of them live a lifestyle way above what they can afford, but, you know, I don't recommend that, by the way. Let's don't do that part. But hold some cash. Business requires cash to take advantage of opportunities that come your way, and to be able to, like, expand as needed. Business, you know, and you never know what will happen in business.

One day something might happen so that your sales drop, and if your sales drop, can you withstand that? Can you still make payroll? Can you still pay your bills? Those are questions you need to ask yourself. Keep some cash around. Cash is the lifeblood of a business. 

Mariah: Mm. Yeah, definitely. Cash flow. Cash is king, as they say.

Um- Yes, it 

Nancy: is. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm ... and I think it's just, it's so interesting [00:34:00] because y- you know, you mentioned how, um, I think there's always a mindset around, like, business ownership. So everyone that doesn't own a business, and I think when people go into business they just assume like, "Oh yeah, I'll have all this freedom, I'll have all this money 'cause there's no cap on what I can earn," which is so totally true, right?

Like you, you can, you're not fixed to like, "This is my nine-to-five wage. I either have to work more to make more," et cetera. But then, like, there's this like belief that, "Yeah, I'll just start a business and..." Um, or, "My friend has a business. They look really rich. They seem to have all this time on their hands."

But they don't see the late nights, the weekend work. Mm. They're always thinking about it. Also then, on the other hand, um, yeah, that money doesn't just come out of nowhere. You've got additional taxes- ... that you have to pay, um, that you didn't know about before. Then you might have an unexpected tax bill that you didn't know was happening.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. All these things. So we always have to be doing personal growth work, and I think we, we just don't even think about that when we start a business. But [00:35:00] what ends up happening, and I, I imagine this was your experience too, Nancy, from what you said, it's like you don't know and then something happens and then you go, "Oh my God, I really need to work on that."

So then you don't work on it until, you know, something goes wrong, which always is not the best way. Yeah. Because, you know, then you've gotta like, "Oh, okay. I wish I had of known that before this happened, but that's fine." What you're saying, like with money mindset, you know, you really had to sit down and work on that because, yeah, you, you were an accountant and everyone would just assume like, "Oh, Nancy's great with money because she works with money," et cetera, et cetera.

But then when it becomes your own business and your own things, there's so much mindset work that needs to go into it. And I've had someone say like the biggest personal growth work you'll ever do is starting a business, because there's so much that comes up with that that no one tells you about, and from the outside it just looks easy.

Nancy: That is so funny, because I say that all the time. The greatest personal growth opportunities you will ever have in your life are starting a business and becoming a parent. 

Mariah: Mm. I haven't done that [00:36:00] one, the second one yet, so. Yeah. 

Nancy: But it's a good one. I, I encourage everybody to do both of those because really w- the work that you're forced to do on yourself is incredible and it really takes you to new places.

Mariah: Mm. And how did you, you know, during your failed businesses I'm curious to know, and sort of the business you have now- Obviously there's always this thing in the back of our minds like, "Oh, I should have already have known that yet," or, "Why didn't I do that before?" How did you work through that to, I guess, give yourself grace for the things that you didn't know until they sort of come up?

Because I know that happens a lot and we... You know, I've had things like client didn't pay me for three months, still owes me four and a half thousand dollars. I'm so annoyed with myself 'cause why didn't I, you know. But I had to learn that lesson to now be really tight on my contracts or really, um, firm with my invoicing, et cetera, or- Mm-hmm

you know, those things that come up because you had that thing happen. How have you been able to give yourself that compassion during this journey? Because, I mean, sounds like you've had a lot of experience in [00:37:00] business over a long period of time, so I imagine there have been moments where you've been kicking yourself 'cause you thought, "Oh, I should have already have known that."

Nancy: Oh, I've kicked myself like that so many times. But what I found when I s- started the CPA firm and started really working with a lot of clients is that all of us, every single one of us feels that way, all business owners. Like, "Oh, I should've known that." And I look at them and go, "Well, how could you have known that?

You never had that experience. You weren't born knowing that. Nobody told you that." You can't know it until you have to deal with it. I can sit here and help you with business all day long, but there's no way I can convey all the things that you need to know as a business owner. You're gonna learn them as you encounter them, as you have these breakdowns with them, the, the problems, the failures, and the things that you think you should've known and, like the person didn't pay you.

Now you've tightened your contracts. Now you know that. You won't let that happen again. [00:38:00] But we can't learn that until we experience it. 

Mariah: Mm. Yeah, it's so true. I think we're, we're always the hardest on ourselves, and I always think, like, "How would I tell a client this?" Like, I would be like, "No," you know, like you're saying, you say to clients all the time, "How are you to know this?

This is not, like, something that you were born knowing." But it usually is for ourselves, we always just, just expect ourselves to know everything or expect ourselves to be on top of things that we, we can't have known. And I think that's really interesting when you circle back to what you're saying about intuition as well, and I think there's, like, those things that come up always strengthen our intuition and our inner knowing, and we sort of get stronger and stronger at it.

And I guess, um, you know, I started my business at 24, so I had, I've, I, I have, like, a long, I've... I'm now 31, so it's like I've had... No, 32. Oh my God, I'm forgetting my age. Um, I, you know, I, I, I started younger, so I was able to learn through that period of time, but then at the same time there's [00:39:00] people that do, say, for example, parenting first, then start a business later.

So I guess it's like you're always having those challenges of life, and whether you become a parent or not is irrelevant, but you always have those, like, big shifts that happen in your life that go, "Oh yeah, this is the character-building stuff that everyone talks about," that I just have to wade through those challenges because there's just no way of avoiding them.

I think a lot of times we, we want to avoid them rather than work through them, but they're, that's where the biggest growth happens- Yeah ... I've found. But, you know, there's always heartache and tears and all the things along the way. 

Nancy: Yeah, it's just part of life, and you just have to accept that. And that's one of the things, too, I've learned to do, is just hard things come, relax through them, work, work my way with baby steps through whatever that is, and just know that, you know, there'll be another one.

We just have to know that this is part of life. This is how we learn and grow and keep going. And when you can have that attitude, I think you have a lot easier time in life. Mm. [00:40:00] Everybody has challenges. I used to think I was the only one with ba- bad financial challenges, because everybody looks good from the outside, right?

You can't tell when they... Somebody might be driving a, a Porsche, and they're, like, got no furniture in their house. They got a beautiful house but no furniture because they can't afford it because they're, like, eating ramen noodles. They, they have no money. Mm. They've just spent everything. But they look good on the outside.

Mariah: Mm. 

Nancy: You just don't know what's inside. I get to see inside all of that, and so I know for sure most people struggle financially. It's, it wasn't just me. Mm. But at the time, I just had that perception. So we all have our perceptions of how other people are living, but you don't get to see inside, so don't compare yourself.

Mm. You know, deal with your own challenges and try to get where you wanna go, but stop the comparison, because that really hurts you. 

Mariah: Yeah. Th- and that's a really, a really good lesson to sort of leave us on. I think it's the same with, like, for example, um, social media world of people have tens and thousands or hundred thousands of followers.

Some of [00:41:00] them don't make any money from their... So, like, they don't- Mm ... they don't convert anyone into their business, and actually, like, their business, y- you'd think from the outside their business is doing great because they've got all these followers and all this engagement, but it doesn't necessarily convert to interest and people buying from them.

And I, I see that from, you know, I've worked with clients in the past, um, have had mil- millions of followers but weren't selling anything um- ... because they didn't have the strategy and they weren't working through that. So it's interesting to, um, see it from your lens from, like, a money perspective. 'Cause I think in any industry that we do, we have that different insight into that particular thing that we talk about, like if you work in energy or if you work in- accounting or, um, you know, with lawyer or you're a lawyer or something, you always see the insides to that particular industry.

And I think from your perspective it's so interesting 'cause it's money and it's what we all, you know, the society we live in, it's just the one thing that we all need to sort of survive. So, um, [00:42:00] yeah, it's, it's a good, it's good confirmation that we're, we're all, we all have something that we struggle with, and it's just trying to work out at one, one issue at a time.

But, um, Nancy, I'm curious to hear about how people, I'm sure people are like, "Okay, cool. I definitely need to work on..." I think we always need to do work on money mindset. I think we feel like we've done the work and then something comes up and you gotta do more work. I think it's an ever- ... evolving thing, and just accepting that that's just what happens until the day you're no longer on this planet.

Um, I, I find the same with marketing, you know, business owners think, "Oh, okay, cool. I'll get this set up and then it'll be fine." But you always have to market your business- ... until you don't have a business anymore. But how can people find you and learn more about your online classes and the, the work that you do?

Nancy: SuccessYourWay.com and on Facebook and Instagram, we're out there. Also, the book called Tame Your Money Monster is available on Amazon. 

Mariah: Oh, cool. Well, we'll put all the links in the show notes so people can- Thank you ... stalk you. But thank you so much, Nancy, for sharing your insights into business and what you experience [00:43:00] as a CPA.

It's been really insightful and I've loved having this conversation. It's always good, um, good to hear people's stories, but then also good to know that, you know, we're all on our own journey and we just have to kind of go through it. Some things are in our fate, so we just have to accept and, and keep going.

Nancy: Well, thanks for having me, Mariah. I so enjoyed it. So much fun talking to you. 

Mariah: Thank you. Amazing. And I'm back. Hello. So I love hearing from different business owners across different industries and different sectors, and when they are team showing up, I am a fan of this. Because it's really good just to hear, like, of course, I can go on my soapbox about how great marketing is, 'cause it's what I do and I, I can see the results, but to hear it from someone in a very different world is so interesting.

So I'd love to hear what you enjoyed about the episode. If you are on Spotify, you can leave a comment, or you can come over to Instagram and tell me @contentqueenmariah. But it's just the perfect example to be a content queen or king and remember that developing [00:44:00] your strategy and your story develops your business.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. You can do this by adding it to your Insta stories and tag me @contentqueenmariah, or just send them the link. Give 'em a little cheeky WhatsApp message or text message. If you rate and review on whatever platform you listen to this on, it does help me get more amazing guests like Nancy.

I've got a whole inbox full of interviews that now I need to set up because we're heading towards the end of the barrel of interviews that I had. But if you keep leaving a rate and review, this really does mean that people will see the podcast, people will love it, enjoy it, but also guests will see it and be like, "I need to get on that show."

So if you want more quality guests, keep doing it. When we film this, we do, you know, work behind the scenes to make this what it is, so if you do leave a rate and review, I'll be grateful. And follow me on socials, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, all the places, and let me know if there's any topics you want me to talk about in the future.

I would love to cover them. I'm going to start planning next few [00:45:00] months of episodes, so hit me up and let me know. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment