Hello and welcome to episode 144 of Design Curious Podcast.
I'm your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward.
Today on the podcast, I have Audrey Faust as a guest.
Let me tell you a little more about her.
Audrey is an expert CFO and money mindset authority who
helps entrepreneurs create the financial strategies they need
to scale their businesses for increased profit and growth.
Through her unique blend of financial expertise and mindset
coaching, Audrey empowers her clients to master their
financial data with clarity and confidence.
Her signature approach goes beyond numbers, instilling A
strategic money mindset that fuels growth, boosts
profitability, and enables entrepreneurs to make empowered,
forward focused decisions. Audrey's best selling book, She
Grows Rich, further explores these transformative principles,
offering women actionable steps to become financial powerhouses.
We had a really great conversation and I think you're
going to enjoy it, so let's get into it.
You're now listening to Design Curious, a place where you,
Creative one, are here to learn about what it really is like to
be an interior designer. And I'm your host and mentor,
Rebecca Ward. If you're worried about how to
succeed in a creative career, if you're ready to learn your next
steps to become an interior designer, and if you want the
satisfaction of doing something you love every day, you are in
the right place. Grab a coffee, a notebook, and
let's dig into today's episode. Hi Audrey, welcome to Design
Curious podcast. It's great to have you here.
Hi, Rebecca. Thanks so much for having me.
I'm excited to talk to you today.
Yeah, like I was telling you earlier, this is a great topic.
I always love it when we visit this money mindset and just
getting a hold of our finances because I feel like it's a
weakness for creative professionals.
Have you found that out as well? Absolutely, Rebecca.
I work with a lot of creatives and I work with a lot of
interior designers specifically. I like to say we all get into
business because we have a gift and your audience has a gift of
interior design, which I personally do not.
But we, we all have that gift and whatever it may be,
unfortunately the finance stuff comes with it when you're
running your own business and nobody teaches you that.
So that's why I'm here. I work with people one-on-one
and I also have a course so you can understand the financial
pieces of your business so you don't get it wrong or you don't
end up in trouble. Yeah, that's really important
since we talked a lot about careers on this podcast.
Let's touch back on your history and how you got into being a
financial coach and especially for our interior designers.
Sure. I've always been in the finance
world. I have an accounting degree and
an MDA and I worked with small businesses pretty much my whole
career. I really enjoy working with
small businesses. At first, before I got into
coaching, I was doing the Done for You model where I was
fractional CFLI, had an accounting team and we worked
with multi 7 figure businesses. Now just recently I sunsetted
that side of my business and went fully into coaching.
I felt like the universe had its own plan for me to go into fully
into coaching because all of the businesses I was working with on
the done for You side sold their business at the same time.
It was really crazy that that's the goal, right?
And, and I really saw the need in coaching and helping the
smaller businesses, the six figures businesses and
understanding that financial piece, the ones that weren't big
enough to hire a fractional CFO like myself and my team.
And I've really loved helping the smaller ones and helping
them understand and overcome, as we were also talked about, is
the money mindset is so challenging, especially when
you're small, especially your audience when you're just
starting out too, Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. OK, great.
So that's great. You followed all the arrows and
I'm pointing you to hear. So now you can help others and
just focus on that, that piece of it.
So let's talk about. So why is it essential for
designers and creatives to really combine their financial
strategy with mindset to get sustainable business growth?
So yeah, a few years ago I became a certified neuro coach
and I learned all the brain science behind our beliefs.
I took that brain science and and really niche down into the
money mindset. Part of a lot of us were brought
up around things that maybe aren't true to us now.
So for instance, there are things that we would hear our
families say, like money doesn't grow on trees or my mom would
always say I work hard for my money if I ever asked her for
something, yeah, we work hard for our money, She would say
about her and my father. I, before I flipped the switch
on that, interpreted that as you have to work hard from it,
right? And that leads to stress,
burnout, workaholic. That is good for no one.
So until I flip that switch and realize there are other ways you
can bring money in that you don't have to work hard for,
until I flip that switch, I was a serious case of workaholics.
Yeah, yeah. And you didn't even realize that
it was coming from these messages you had in your youth.
Yeah, and and we get all kinds of messages.
Maybe we get messages through the media on this too, that rich
people are greedy, mean, selfish.
There's all kinds of messages we get from our childhood and from
the media. But.
The reason why the childhood messages are the most potent is
because what I learned in the brain science part of my
coaching certification is from age zero to seven, our brains
are wide open. We're of sponges.
They always say children are sponges.
They just take everything in. It's because the subconscious
part of our brain is open at that point in our life because
we're trying to learn so many things, like think how fast we
learn how to walk, talk, all those things.
And those things need to be automated, right?
We don't have to think about the words we say anymore.
Usually. We don't have to think about
brushing our teeth, tying our shoes, all of those things.
It's because they're in our subconscious now.
They just happen. Our brains are lazy, so it wants
to automate everything. And if we hear a lot of things
while that subconscious is open or experience or maybe we have
parents that thought about money, there's all kinds of
things we could have experienced as a child around money because
it's such an emotional topic that we interpret it
differently. And your subconscious runs 95
for you cent of your thoughts every day and you have 8000
thoughts. Wow.
So I like to say it's like you have a 7 year old running, but
unless you consciously make an effort to change those thoughts,
it's going to sabotage you all along the way.
Wow. OK, so we're all guilty of this,
I'm sure. What are some ways then that the
creative professional can overcome these these program
thoughts that we have as our seven-year old selves?
There are a lot of ways. There's not just one way.
If you download my 12 secrets from an Experts CFO, my profit
Accelerator workbook, I have a audio in there that'll ask you a
few questions to identify if you have any limiting beliefs and
then how to change them. So the one way that I like to
teach changing them is by repetition.
Just like learning to tie your shoes, learning to walk,
learning to do anything, you have to do it over and over and
over and over. And then your brain wants to
automate it so you don't have to think about it anymore.
So for instance, when I extend making money is hard, how I flip
the script is first I found evidence of the opposite that
isn't always true. Then I said making money is easy
and I kept say it, write it like on autopilot for 70 days.
So 10 weeks, right? So if you continue to do that,
see it, see it, write it for 10 weeks, you will start
reprogramming the neuro pathways in your brain so it doesn't
believe that making money is hard or whatever you're.
Yeah, right, right. Yeah, Wow, that's really
interesting. OK, So that's a good little
tidbit there. Even if we have already been
able to identify maybe a hang up that we have that we can
reprogram that in that 70 days. So really cool.
OK. So we'll definitely have a link
for your download to make sure that people can access that and
identify what they need help with.
So the interior designer starting out with their business
typically just loves doing the design right?
And so we don't know how to set up our books and make sure that
we're profitable. What are some the first steps
that we should take to bridge this gap of just being the
creative to actually being a successful business owner?
Yeah, great question. Well, the one thing if you're
very first starting out, then I always say is super, super
important is keeping your personal and your business
finances separate. Yes.
A lot of times people will get an LLC for their business.
LLC is legally protecting their personal assets from their
business, but what they do, and they don't realize that's
counteractive to that. It's all of a sudden they'll
start paying their personal stuff out of their business.
And when you start commingling that, you actually nullify the
LLC because now you're saying, oh, well, like my personal, my
business, they're all the same. Yeah.
So that's the legal perspective of why you want to keep it
separate. Yeah.
Have one credit card and one bank account.
You're going to have more than one credit card if you're good
with your credits, but at least have one designated credit card
and one designated bank account for your business that you use.
It's going to make tax time easier.
It's going to make it easier for you to understand the cash flow
of your business. And you may not be to a place
where if you're just starting out, where you're using an
accounting software like QuickBooks, but if you just do
those two simple steps when you're first starting out, have
a separate credit card and a separate bank account, it's
going to make your life so much. Easier.
Yeah, Yeah. That's usually the first thing I
tell people. And don't stick your head in the
sand when it comes to the money that you're spending or
investing. Of course, when you're first
starting out, yes, you're probably not going to have a
profit right away. You're going to be doing a lot
of investing back in your business and things like that.
Make sure you're you're looking at your investments like what
you're investing in. You're looking at your profit
and you don't get yourself into a situation where you're losing
money. Yes, Now that's important.
Yeah. And a lot of times starting out,
people say, oh, sweat equity, like you're just reinvesting all
that money back in and then you're not necessarily seeing
anything come back to you, which can be discouraging.
How long do you think typically you can expect that to run
before people would likely be taking on some money home to see
some benefit of having a you have?
To give it some time, right. So it really depends.
I love to say, believe it or not, two years, in two years you
shouldn't see a significant improvement.
It's not going to happen overnight.
Maybe it'll happen in a year for you if you have a lot of
connections already and you're starting out.
But really for people to get to know who you are and what you do
and you just start building that reputation, I feel like, and you
can, you can correct me if it's wrong.
For Desires, I feel like a good two years is really what you
need to invest in getting a sustainable business.
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business but feeling totally overwhelmed by where to start?
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I agree. I think that's typically what I
tell people too in my mentorship program is like you can't really
expect a lot out of their first two years like for your income,
which is is challenging too for people who are switching
careers, which is common for interior design.
So they're going from being a salaried worker to having their
own business. So often times they are going to
need to supplement that by working somewhere else as
they're building their business. Yeah, yeah.
Or you can always start a side hustle and start, you know, your
interior design business on the side for two years as you're
working another job. That's possible too, as you
build your reputation and build your business.
Yeah, that's what I did exactly. Yeah, that's kind of the best
way because because you're, I mean, the benefit like I didn't
have a mentor when I was starting out, but the benefit of
having a mentors, you don't have to stumble along as much as
maybe I did for the first two years of figuring.
But you are going to go through this growing process of just
learning the curves of being a business owner.
And there is a lot of learning to be done, regardless if it's
handed to you in a nice PDF or if it's like something that
you're learning the hard way. Often times you can feel
overwhelmed, especially those first two years.
What are some recommendations for mastering their finances?
And it's really taking a look at it and even trying to understand
how to set their pricing and everything for their client.
That's a biggie. That's is a lot of issues.
I worked with a couple of interior designers, one-on-one
who were already in business for a few years.
They were struggling with their pricing.
For instance, the one girl, she was troubling making a profit.
She'd been in business for a long time.
Gosh, I think it was close to, it was over 10 years and she had
a partnership and that meant partners dropped off.
Then it was just her. But what we ended up doing is
what I call my profitability blueprint.
And when we looked at her blueprint and we realized why
wasn't she making money, it had to do a lot with her pricing.
And a lot of times we love to say what I'm worth, right?
Yeah. Well, I don't think I'm worth
that or people aren't going to pay that.
That's what I hear often is my clients making decisions for
their clients of what they think they will or will not pay.
Yeah, Yeah. They're not always wrong, right?
They're not always wrong, but interior designers I've worked
with charge $250 an hour before. They feel like, oh, maybe more
than that might be a little. So I hope this one client go
from, because she had a team as well, we went from an hourly
pricing to a hybrid model. So from what I understand,
interior designers like, especially if you're working
with new construction, it could go on for a long time.
So they need to protect themselves when they're going
with a package deal. So what we developed for her was
the beginning part, the design part before the implementation
and all of that, she had a package price.
And then from that point on, during construction, she had a
retainer where she would do her $250 an hour.
So she was able to increase the design package price and really
create more of an income in that piece while keeping the hourly
rate the same for the rest of it.
And what I often find with the bigger designers that have team
is they're not always factoring in the project management, the
administrative stuff, all the other things that are tied to
what they do and how they help their clients, right?
Yeah, yeah, I think that is hard.
I think that's where a lot of the mindset comes in is that
understanding that you can charge more, people will pay it,
but maybe you wouldn't pay it. You know, it's like coming from
your own economic status or whatever you've had in your
past. I would never pay $100,000 for a
designer to completely furnish my home, you know?
So you as a designer might not value it, but you're asking
other people to value it so that there's like some kind of
disconnect there. Work with people about that,
yeah. Absolutely 100%.
That's every designer I've worked with.
They're like, well, I wouldn't pay what I too much for.
Well, I do, but but they're working with doctors and lawyers
and the wealthy that that can afford that.
That's not even batting an eyelash because they don't want
to deal with the details. Right, right they.
Don't want to handle the stuff. They don't want to go to a
furniture store and pick up their furniture.
They don't want to have to figure all that out.
They just want the finished end product.
They have a lot more money than the desire to.
Yeah. Doesn't matter to them as much.
They're looking at more for convenience and efficiency.
Yeah, and it's important to keep that in mind too when you're
selecting product for your client as well.
Sometimes you're like, I would never pay $5000 for a side
table, but your client might and they might appreciate that you
brought that option to them. So it's not limiting yourself
with your own money hang ups before you present it to your
client because you want to give them a luxury service and luxury
options if that's what they're looking for.
So I have a funny story of a designer I was working with.
He's is there was a guy based in another country actually, and I
was working with them and he learned a lesson the hard ways
in his country. They did it a little different.
So he actually got the contractor right.
So somebody came to him, he was a very prominent designer in his
country and said I want you to design this club.
It was like a nightclub type club that they had in his
country and he was like great. So he was in charge of getting a
contractor. So the contractor would pay him
a 10% Commission. So he designed it.
They were happy, went to the contract to find the contractor.
Contractor comes back with pricing and the designer says,
Oh, my client's never going to pay this, just give me a 5%
Commission and not a 10. So he cut himself out of 5% and
his client did about an eyelash about the price.
He probably. Got you a full time yes.
Like I will never do that again. And I'm like no, don't.
Yeah, yeah. So that's that was, you know, an
exact example where he was making the decision for his
client and he was coming from a total different money mindset
and his client was so. Yeah.
And what about when problems come up in the projects?
And then it's important to be able to have some reserve and
being able to fix the problem if it's, you know, it requires the
desire to use money to fix the problem, to make it go away.
Sometimes, I think sometimes it's hard for a designer to take
ownership, first of all, if it is their fault or if it's just
like nobody's fault and but somebody has to take care of it.
And so have you ever run into that kind of situation with your
clients? I don't really like, I have run
into it, but they've usually make their own decisions.
One of my clients was just like, I'm just going to eat this like,
but there was enough built into her budget that she could or she
could, she actually had a storefront.
So she's like, I'll just take this thing that they don't like
and sell it in my store and get them something different, even
though they picked it out like so.
Oh yeah. You're laughing.
You've experienced it. So like, yeah, so it's like,
well, save face, I guess sometimes you got to like, yeah,
again, that's that's another reason to build some extra into
the budget in case something like that.
For sure. Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
OK, really good. So what are some other takeaways
you'd recommend for people getting started in their
business just to set themselves up for a long term success?
Just don't be afraid of numbers, right?
Know what your numbers are. Know how much you need to quote
UN quote, keep the lights on every month if this is your
business or how much you need to contribute to your family every
month as a business owner and be conscious of that and focus on
that. Don't always focus on just the
revenue, focus on the profit. A lot of tents, we get
distracted because social media is always like 6 figure
business, multi 6 figure, 7 figure business.
They're all talking about the revenue, right?
I've seen 7 figure businesses that have no profit and that
does you no good because you are working really hard for seven
figures, doing a lot of work. And if you don't have a profit,
what are you working for, right? So.
Just be conscious of your numbers.
I always like to say look at your numbers.
The bigger you got, you'll get into a financial software.
Inside my course, I have an Excel spreadsheet that creates a
profit and loss for you. Oh.
Nice, yeah. If you're not to a QuickBooks
financial software yet, but like a lot of times people don't even
look at their numbers till the year is over, right?
And then I like to say whether it's a fairy tale or nightmare,
there's no way to change it. Change your story after the
story is over, right? So by looking at them on a
monthly consistent basis, you're going to be able to change
things immediately. Business owners are 80% more
successful if they look at and understand their financial
reports, meaning profit loss, balance sheets, cash flow
statements. They understand that stuff and
look at it every single month. They're 80% more successful.
That's a good step, yeah. So that should.
Be convincing, look at it and. That's from the Small Business
Administration. So that should be some
encouragement to really like look at a profit loss, create
even a simple profit loss statement for yourself.
That's good advice. OK, that's really good.
And then I see in the background your book She Grows Rich.
Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, so she grows rich.
How to become a financial powerhouse that's available on
Amazon that is all around personal finance and how I grew
my wealth from nothing to multi 7 figure network.
And my journey started very humbly as about 27 years ago
where I had two little ones and I was married.
I'm still married, still married, the same person.
And we brought in $24,000 of income that year and qualified
at that time for what was called an earned income tax credit,
which is when you're at the poverty line and the government
gives you additional money to keep you from being in poverty.
That was my wake up call. I needed to change and that's
actually what ultimately led me to go back and get my accounting
degree because I did not get a degree out of high school and
also just learn more about money and security and building a
financial foundation. So it's a how to and a little
bit of my story as well as I'm doing business financial
coaching primarily now, but I was doing personal financial
coaching and there's a lot of that experiences.
OK. Yeah.
Well and your personal financial history and your business one
kind of go hand in hand like you know if you bring one to the
other. So I think that would be great
for they check out and kind of hear that story and also maybe
help their personal finances or help them to aspire to more in
their personal life and business as far as their financial goals.
So that's great with a link to that as well.
So. They thank you.
Yeah. So besides the the book, where
can people find you? Where do you like to hang out if
they have questions or want to work with you?
So my website is Audrey foustconsulting.com and there's
a bunch of free resources, including the workbook I
discussed. There's a book portal that if
you get the book, you can go to this portal and there's all
kinds of great. There's a money mindset training
inside the portal. There's a calculators that go
with the book and all kinds of great things in their business,
financial literacy on Instagram and Facebook.
And I also have a YouTube channel that you can find all
good things there. Yeah.
Wonderful. Well, thank you, Audrey.
It's been great to talk to you. So much insight and always a
fresh reminder to keep an eye on what we're telling ourselves
that their financial. 100%. Yeah, our hang ups and and what
we're just really believing about ourselves.
So that's great. Well, thank you for coming on
today. Thanks Rebecca.
I've I had a great time. So if you enjoyed what Audrey
had to say today, you might enjoy her book She Grows Rich
and I'm definitely going to check it out.
You can find all of her contact information and links to her
book in the show notes. And don't forget about Launch
Your Business boot camp. We'd love to see you in there
and get your business from zero to launch and ready to go,
designing your heart away by the end of summer.
So let's do this. That's all I have for you this
week. Next week we'll have another
great episode and until then, stay creative.
Thanks for listening. If you love this episode, please
leave a rating and a review. This helps me reach other
curious creatives like you. If you have a topic request or
would like to contact me, simply head over to my website
ourawarddesign.com or e-mail me at podcast@ourawarddesign.com.