Confessions of an Interior Designer Turned Fractional CFO

Ok, this is a vulnerable post to write!

But I feel it’s important to share my story to show you that I’ve “been there, done that”... meaning I can totally relate to the business money stress you’re feeling. Soooo… here we go…

I learned the ins-and-outs of business finance over the last decade — and not always the easy way! 

On the surface, my career has looked like a fun ride. I’ve tried out many things, some much more interesting than the next, from starting out as an Interior Designer, then launching a prepared meal delivery business (before they were popular), to moving across the country and working at a yoga studio while volunteering to teach university students how to cook.

Another move led me to the West coast of Canada, where I worked at a juice startup and then a leadership development startup, and later became the co-founder of an accounting firm (total left turn right?!). To now, becoming the founder of Koddo & Co., where I work with creative-brained agency and firm owners to shed light on the black hole of biz finances so they can take control and sleep better at night.

Sounds pretty impressive, right?

Well, here’s what was going on under the surface from a money perspective...

I moved from my hometown of Calgary to Toronto, where I knew almost no one, right after graduating from college in 2006 with my Interior Design degree. I promptly dug myself into personal credit card debt that was with me for 10+ years off and on. I got laid off from my job and then I started that first meal delivery business with thousands of dollars in debt and less than $1,000 in my bank account. I was scared of spending any money and had too small of a support network, because I was terrified of the concept of networking and only had a handful of good friends there.

I moved back home to Calgary to recuperate (I was Burned.Out. And it wouldn’t be the last time), moved in with my mom, worked at that yoga studio and finally learned how to live within my means (for a little while). I plugged away at my debt (slowly!) and worked directly with the owner of the yoga studio, which was the BEST education I could’ve gotten to see some parts of how a business really works.

A windfall came my way from an unexpected inheritance and I used that money to pay off all my debt (not for the last time) and move out west to Vancouver. There, instead of getting a solid part time job, I did a bit of cater waitering here and there, and used some of the inheritance to support myself as I explored my next business idea. I ended up joining that juice startup which led to my second burnout (like, wanting-to-drive-into-traffic-on-my-way-to-work kind of burnout…not good). 

So I quit and dove back into an entrepreneurial idea. That was all fine and dandy, until the money ran out and I decided I needed to get a “real job” because I needed money faster than my new business idea would get it to me. So, I cashed out the rest of the inheritance to pay off (most of) my debt once again (I’m sure my investment advisor cringed at my cavalier approach to that money).

When I started that “real job”, one of my best friends introduced me to a personal budgeting app that finally taught me how to budget and watch my money from a personal perspective. I started living within my means and made a solid dent in paying down the rest of my debt. I got laid off (a second time) from that startup only 13 months in and decided to become a freelancer and utilize the line of credit I’d almost paid down to support myself as I built my next solo business, a bookkeeping business. 

I was barely scraping by when I decided to take 4 weeks to travel and came back to crickets (aka no work. Nada. Nothing.) I remember making a call to one of my (now) co-founders (of that accounting firm) to give me any project (no matter how small). I lived off my credit cards (again!) and we started to build that accounting/professional services firm. Through the course of getting it up and running, I worked on several of our bookkeeping clients which led to burnout #3. I caught this one a tiny bit earlier than the previous one, so, progress?! I hung back from the client work for a bit and solely focused on building the firm with my co-founders.

The firm got up and running and I was finally making good money. I started paying my debts down (again) and then decided I wanted to dive back into my genius zone working with women- & creative-led, service-based Canadian businesses. It was scary to step back into the solopreneur seat again. I don’t have business partners to bounce ideas off of and I’m the one who has to make all the decisions.

And, if I can let you in on a little secret, it doesn’t get any less scary, no matter how many businesses I’ve launched. There’s still fear and imposter syndrome.

But, what is easier now as I’m building Koddo & Co., is that I have a fuller set of money smarts and a commitment to myself to make this business work more than I ever have, bring in money to cash flow my business from actual client work (instead of credit cards) and leverage grants and a business line of credit to build my business.

Now, my goal is to reduce any stress and shame you as a business owner might be experiencing around the financial side of your business…‘cause I sure experienced A TON of that in those early entrepreneurial days.

Applying all these learnings gives me the privilege of working with creative agency and firm owners to:

• Take control of your cashflow

• Bring your numbers into focus (instead of avoid, avoid, avoid!)

• Utilize those numbers to make decisions about where to grow your businesses in line with your vision (instead of chasing after anything that looks like it might pay the bills)

• Know there is enough cash in the bank (instead of stressing more by NOT looking at the numbers and then wondering if there’s enough cash in the bank)

• Tweak your business so that it becomes (and stays) profitable…Yes, it’s NOT the only thing driving you or me but, at the end of the day, having a little (or a lot of) extra money lying around wouldn’t hurt, amIright?!

I can honestly say that I’ve lived this rollercoaster entrepreneurial journey and that it never stops. But it does get easier to recognize the down moments in order to pull ourselves out of a downward burnout spiral faster.

And, it becomes easier to recognize when to seek advice, guidance or simply a friendly ear on a hard day.

There are a couple of ways I can support you avoid the money mistakes I made as a business owner.

Check out my resources or Fractional CFO services for agency and firm owners.

If you’re so ready to shed the cash flow uncertainty and instead feel empowered, confident and clear about the financial side of your agency or firm, let’s chat!

~Jacinthe