513 Tracey Bissett:

What is your money story? Most of us have deeply embedded subconscious stories about money we absorbed as young children. Perhaps you were told money doesn’t grow on trees; perhaps your parents were always arguing about money and you blamed money for the distress. Maybe you were told money was the root of all evil.

MELINDA

I’m Melinda Wittstock and today on Wings of Inspired Business we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who is on a mission to help entrepreneurs let go of limiting money stories … and redefine the future of the world by improving the financial literacy of entrepreneurs.

Tracey Bissett works with entrepreneurs and small business owners to increase their financial acumen so they can make decisions and run their businesses with confidence.

Today we talk about how to overcome limiting beliefs about money, learn how to love and leverage it as a tool to grow and scale a successful business – and the traps many women entrepreneurs fall into when it comes to landing sales or managing money.

Tracey Bissett is the President and Chief Financial Fitness Trainer of Bissett Financial Fitness Inc., where she educates and empowers entrepreneurs to take control of and live their financial lives with confidence.

As a former executive at TD Bank, one of Canada’s Big 5 Banks, Tracey has worked with and in support of thousands of entrepreneurs to secure the financing they needed to grow their businesses.  Then Tracey made the leap from corporate into entrepreneurship, leveraging her hands-on banking experience with her MBA and Chartered Financial Analyst designation, to coach entrepreneurs about all things money, finance and investing.

Tracey is also host of the Young Money podcast all focused on increasing financial fitness. And speaking of podcasts…

OK time to talk numbers.

Tracey Bissett is here in a minute to share all her insights and practical advice about entrepreneurial financial literacy and more.

We talk about why you need to know and watch your numbers as an entrepreneur, and we dig deep into what’s going on when a woman lands a big sale and “forgets” to send the invoice, or spends hours planning the sale and never asking for it, or shies away from hiring because she’s worried about the expense rather than seeing it as an investment.

Let’s put on our Wings and fly with Tracey Bissett.

Melinda Wittstock:       Tracey, welcome to Wings.

Tracey Bissett:              Thank you, Melinda. I’m so excited to be here today.

Melinda Wittstock:       I am excited to talk numbers, money, financing, all those good things that every entrepreneur needs to know about. And I want to start though with your leap from corporate, from banking to entrepreneurship. That’s a tough one. What made you take the entrepreneurial leap to begin with?

Tracey Bissett:              Well, it’s interesting. It wouldn’t have necessarily been by design. I worked for TD Bank, which is a large Canadian bank, also large in the US now, in the areas of commercial lending where I was working with entrepreneurs to help them get money that they needed. And then I worked in risk management for many years, so approving loans for entrepreneurs, and I loved it. But we got to a place where they wanted to do some cost cutting. And so, my job was eliminated.

Tracey Bissett:              And after being with the organization for a long time, I received a really fair settlement to go and my job being eliminated. So, I really took that opportunity to think about what would I like, and what might be good for me because I still have quite a few years to work, and I wanted to make sure I could try to control it a little bit more. So, I started thinking about when I was younger, I used to have quite an entrepreneurial streak in my teenage years.

Tracey Bissett:              I would make up little businesses. I would sell stuff. I joined Junior Achievement, which is a fantastic place to learn about business. And my dad suggested, “Why don’t you start your own business?” So, I gave that some thought, and I could’ve got a job really easily. A lot of banks were calling, they needed people in risk management, and I purposely didn’t get my resume together so I could say, “Oh, I don’t have that. Just let me be. I’m figuring out what I’m doing.” So then, I thought about what is it that I like to do?

Tracey Bissett:              And throughout my whole life, I really like to help people. And so, I’ve always been passionate about helping people learn about money. I’ve loved working with young people. I’ve loved working with entrepreneurs. That’s been a huge part of my life. So, I started Bissett Financial, which is really a financial education, and learning company. Do some consulting geared towards helping young adults as well as entrepreneurs. And sometimes, those two markets intersect, which is wonderful. And so, that’s been that fun since I started that in 2016.

Melinda Wittstock:       When we look back on our lives, we can connect the dots looking backwards. So, there you are, you’re a kid, and you’re really entrepreneurial. But then in corporate, you got all this expertise that when you merge them together, the magic happens, right? It’s like a convergence.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely. And so, I want to put it out there because it’s an important part of me, and I’m not shy about it, but I love money, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing to say. I love what money can do, how you can use it. And I think the more people who grow to love money as opposed to fear money, or be scared of money, or don’t want to talk about money, I think it takes some of that mystique away from it. So, I like to tell people that I love money, and what it can do. Not that I’m sitting here hoarding money in piles, but it’s what I can do with it.

Melinda Wittstock:       I love that. Not enough people, and women in particular have that attitude. Most people have these money stories, and they’re usually pretty negative because somewhere, sometimes someone told them that having money meant you were greedy, or bad, or that money doesn’t grow on trees. Or like, we’ve heard all these different stories, and I think we carry a round all this stuff subconsciously.

Tracey Bissett:              For sure. I totally agree. I’ve done a lot of volunteer work with young children, so I’ve had a five-year-old girl and the girl guide program, Sparks, told me that money is evil.

Melinda Wittstock:       She’s five.

Tracey Bissett:              Money is evil. So, she’s five years old. So, just imagine what’s going on in her house that makes her feel that way. There’s probably yelling, there’s probably crying. There’s probably upset maybe when the mail is coming with the bills. Maybe people are calling, and nobody is answering the phone. There could be all kinds of things like that. I’ve seen other kids upset because they know when their parents use the credit card, they don’t really know what the credit card is, but they know that tears are going to come after the fact.

Tracey Bissett:              So, as soon as we’re born, we start observing these things, and unconsciously take them in, and that forms our views in the way we react, and feel about money our whole lives. So, it’s already shaped before we can even probably have a rational thought about it.

Melinda Wittstock:       We’re often not aware of them, but you can see it in the result of the actions people take. I know so many women that I’ve mentored do a great job, land the sale, but then never send the invoice, or do really well, and spend it all, right? Like, money, they attract money, but they let go of it just as fast, or just cannot ask for the sale. Get stuck in a planning cycle.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely, yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:       Planning to make money, but never really taking the action to make money.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely. And people, it all comes back to their worth, the way they feel about themselves, all those things. We talked about their views, and majority of people out there have a scarcity mindset when they think about money. There’s never going to be enough. I won’t have enough. If somebody gets some, I can’t get some, and that’s the majority of the population. But the great news about that is that you can actually change it. You can change to this feeling of abundance, where you feel like you deserve things.

Tracey Bissett:              Where if you having something doesn’t mean somebody else doesn’t, and you can be proud of it, not be jealous of other people when they have success with money. So, it’s all in training yourself first of all, to observe what am I thinking, what am I feeling? And just notice it. And then over time, certainly try practicing gratitude to think about, I got out of bed today. I have food. I can take a shower. I have a job, or I have my business. I have great friends. And by focusing on the positive, those feelings are going to shift a little bit.

Tracey Bissett:              It’s also around, like we talked about, if we think about the people we surround ourselves with, if we spend time with people who are feeling more abundant, more positive, that’s going to rub off on us. So certainly, we can change the way that we feel, and I don’t want to diminish the way anybody feels because it certainly will take time to change that. But you can if you want to.

Melinda Wittstock:       So true. So, in your experience, is there a difference between the way… I know this is a generalization, but between the way men think about, and deal with money, and the way women do?

Tracey Bissett:              Not necessarily the way they think about it, but I think when it comes to running a, there is a little bit of a difference. Because I see so many women start businesses because they want to help someone. That’s the primary goal. And so, then they get into a lot of those challenges you were talking about. Don’t invoice, don’t want to make the sale, or unable to ask for the sale. And so, they’re trying to do this thing, but they’re not actually making any money. And until you make money, you cannot help people because first of all, you need to be able to support you, your family, your lifestyle.

Tracey Bissett:              Then you can grow your business, and then you can also help people whether it’s with your dollars, or your time. But I don’t see men making that same mistake. They go for as much profit as they can make, whether they have a purpose-driven mission or not. Women start off generally with some desire to help people, but then without the money, it’s really hard to make the impact you want in the world.

Melinda Wittstock:       Exactly. It’s all about leverage. I mean, money is a tool. With more of it, you can help more people.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely. That’s what I think, and that’s why I think it’s not a bad thing to love money. I love it because it gives me the freedom and flexibility that I can set my schedule that on Fridays, I go and volunteer with my dog, Rosie. We do therapy dog visits with seniors, and I can do that because I have my own business. It doesn’t mean I don’t work on Saturday and Sunday, but now I’ve got a bit more flexibility, and I’m not chasing clients to the point where I can’t lock that in my schedule. So, it’s great.

Melinda Wittstock:       I love that. That’s great. I used to volunteer with my dog. Several golden retrievers ago-

Tracey Bissett:              Mine is a golden too.

Melinda Wittstock:       I remember taking my golden retriever, Pundit, to visit my dad who in Toronto was in an old age home, or whatever. And it was amazing, the impact that the dogs had on these old people. I remember there was a woman who was in her, like she was 102 or something.

Melinda Wittstock:       And she hadn’t spoken to anyone in, I don’t know, 10 years or something like that. And she saw Pundit, and she started speaking to him. I know that just brings so much joy to people. It’s lovely you do that.

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah. I mean, when I take Rosie there, she’s a golden, and she just prances around the halls like she’s the queen of the long-term care facility, and the people love her. And so, it’s really fun, but I couldn’t do that if I was still in my corporate job, and I couldn’t do that if I was not making money in my business because I couldn’t carve out that time to do that.

Tracey Bissett:              That’s important to me. As I said, I’m still working all kinds of other times, but I can have more flexibility because I am making money in my business, and I can still make an impact to my community. Not with money, but with my time if I-

Melinda Wittstock:       Absolutely. Absolutely. So, when you think of all the mistakes that entrepreneurs make at various stages of the growth cycle, like from startup to now, a little bit of revenue and now, “Oh, my goodness, it’s time to think about scaling or whatever.” What are the mistakes that most people make?

Tracey Bissett:              Well, to start off, and this can actually be anybody across all three of those stages. It’s just an aversion, a fear, hatred for the numbers. And so, I don’t believe you can ultimately be extremely successful with your business until you embrace the financial side of the business. Most entrepreneurs start the business because they’re extremely passionate and good at something. It is generally not numbers.

Tracey Bissett:              And so, you’ve got to embrace the number side. That doesn’t mean that you need to do it alone. You should get a bookkeeper, have an accountant, but you need to own, and be accountable for that part of your business. And it’s not that you do the day-to-day entering of the data, but you need to review it regularly. And I highly encourage entrepreneurs to have a money meeting with themselves at a minimum, monthly, but certainly weekly is better so that you can make sure you’re focusing on what’s going on here.

Tracey Bissett:              Do I understand it? Do I need to ask some questions? Thinking about the jobs that you’re going to take on, or the projects, will I have enough cash to get me through? So, first thing is taking that big step to embrace the numbers, and finding somebody who can talk to you in a way that you understand to help you do it. So, it’s not doing it alone.

Melinda Wittstock:       Yeah. I mean, the numbers, gosh, they really do tell the story. I know even just in creating a product, and figuring out what the price is, a lot of people seem to just pick a price out of the sky without really thinking about, “Okay, well, what does it actually cost to deliver, and how many can I deliver?” Whether it’s an online funnel that’s inherently scalable, it’s even like, “Oh well, okay, we’ll sell a thousand of these, and so we’ll make X amount.” It’s like, “Okay, well, that’s great. So, what’s your conversion rate?”

Tracey Bissett:              What are you saying? Oh, my gosh.

Melinda Wittstock:       It’s like, “Oh man. So, if you want to sell a thousand, do you have to touch 10,000 people, 50,000 people, 100,000 people. And what’s the cost of doing that?” Right? And I mean, these basic things often are not thought out, or if you’re a service based, or a coach, or somebody, I find a lot of women price too low.

Tracey Bissett:              Oh yeah. So, that when I start working with clients, and I work with clients in all industries, I do work with men and women. So, the things that I walk them through is cashflow planning because that’s often not something that’s on their radar. And cashflow planning doesn’t mean just looking at your bank account. Cashflow planning is how much money do I think will come into my bank account this month?

Tracey Bissett:              How much is going to go out? What’s the time that it’s going to happen? Am I going to have enough money to pay my bills on the day that they’re due? And so, it’s not overly complex, but it does require some attention, and regular review, and planning. The other thing we do is we review the price, and the costs of their product, or service. And the majority of entrepreneurs are not charging enough. They’re actually losing money on whatever they’re doing.

Melinda Wittstock:       Because they’re not-

Tracey Bissett:              Also, taking into account the overheads, but just the cost to run the business, let alone produce that product or service.

Melinda Wittstock:       Well, there’s so much attention. I mean, you see this all over Facebook, and stuff too where people are really focused on their top line revenue numbers, but not how to get to revenue profitably.

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah. I tell people to stop focusing on the top line. The bottom line is where it’s at. You can actually sometimes shift your product or service mix, do less and make more money if you’re making a better margin on the pivot. So, I encourage people to focus on the bottom line, which you can’t do if you don’t have accurate records, if you don’t have numbers that you can look to regularly. So really, key to get those professionals in place to help you, but not taking away the accountability.

Tracey Bissett:              I see so many entrepreneurs are super stressed. They’re not sleeping, they’re anxious. They’re not giving then their full attention to their business because they’re wondering how am I going to make payroll? They do this transferring back and forth personal account to business accounts without knowing, is that putting me in a bad spot? But that’s just a reaction for today to solve the immediate needs.

Melinda Wittstock:       Oh, my goodness, I’ve been there. and it’s a terrible situation that can continue along that path with just more zeros around it if you’re not careful. I think of it as there’s almost like three columns here. There’s your personal, what you need personally, and then there’s your business, and what your business needs. And all too often, folks get caught in this circle, right? Taking money from their business for their personal, and then funding their business with their personal.

Melinda Wittstock:       But never at any time building a third column over here, which is their assets. And so, there’s so much entrepreneurial poverty, where you put everything into your business, and then as your business grows, your lifestyle increases. So, your personal expenses increase. But I see so many people. I see even women with eight-figure businesses that can’t stop because they never created an asset.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely. That is so critical. A lot of business owners that have been in business for a while, they have nothing saved for retirement. They’re counting on being able to sell their business for a lot of money because they have no other way to retire. And that’s not feasible necessarily. It depends on your business. Not all businesses can be sold for very much money. So, you have to be very disciplined over the years to not just take money for the vacation, for the house, for whatever, but to put some away for the future. And that’s another thing I regularly see.

Melinda Wittstock:       Yeah. I mean, I see a lot of people in the info-products space where it’s a constant cycle of marketing, and Facebook ads, and funnels, and these sorts of things. But there’s no real asset, unless there’s a real community, or there’s some technology,

Melinda Wittstock:       What would you recommend someone who’s in that space? Say, they start out as a coach, and then they create their online program, and so now, they have something a little more scalable, something a bit more reoccurring, which is good.

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah. Anytime you can have regular consistent cashflow, that is key, and being able to almost have something where anytime you waive your cash trigger wand, you can make money come in on command. Having something that can do that.

Melinda Wittstock:       Absolutely. But when it comes to the salability of that business though, where’s the asset in that?

Tracey Bissett:              Certainly, you can build up the IP, so the intellectual property. So, if you’ve got curriculum that goes with that that somebody else can take on, somebody else can continue on with, there’s a lot of value in that. A lot of entrepreneurs don’t take the time to take the stuff out of their head that they’re verbally conveying all the time to create it into something a little bit more saleable in a package like that.

Melinda Wittstock:       Like a system. I know just even, you’re a banker, right? So, you probably know the story of Capital One Bank. Capital One Bank made their sales system proprietary, right?

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:       And their sales system is a key value driver of their business.

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah. Anytime you can systemize something, and make it yours, and create demand that people want it, that’s all going to be valuable, and would bring up the price you can sell the business for.

Melinda Wittstock:       So, when we think about money and other, whether building assets, or making sure you’ve got good cashflow, or things like that, what are some of the systems to put in place?

Tracey Bissett:              Well, it’s such a great point and great question. So, I actually, within my business, I call it financial fitness. So, it’s like physical fitness. You can be taking that first step off the couch, going to walk around the block. You can be learning about bank accounts, or you might be more sophisticated. You’re running marathons cause you’re in such good health, just like more sophisticated investing.

Tracey Bissett:              So, I think everybody should take stock of where they are, and take that first step forward today if you’ve got some things to learn, and to not feel bad about what it is you don’t know, you can only improve each day. So, some of the systems that are really important, especially if it’s a startup, and you’re a solopreneur, if you haven’t yet got incorporated, make sure that you’re separating your accounts.

Tracey Bissett:              You need to have personal accounts, and you need to have business accounts, then you need to keep your records straight. If you are a smaller business, you don’t necessarily need to be moving to an accounting software yet. You can even be keeping track on Excel if that’s where you are, but do something, and keep track of your numbers. From there, you want to get into a regular routine.

Tracey Bissett:              As you grow, you do want to get a bookkeeper, and you want to make sure you’re reconciling those bank statements that you get every month. You want to make sure your sales, and your expenses are accounted for, and all of your assets, and that you’re actually reviewing the numbers. So, as I mentioned earlier, having that regular meeting with yourself is a system.

Tracey Bissett:              You’ve got to have that in your calendar. You’ve got to have that regular process. It gives you time to think, and plan, and be proactive versus all of this reactionary stuff that entrepreneurs are regularly doing. As you continue to want to grow the business, it’s important to think about what are your goals? How would you accomplish them? And even when you’re talking about, Melinda, the funnel, how many people would you need to talk to?

Tracey Bissett:              Well, if we’re going for this sales level, how many staff would need to accomplish this? What is the way that we’re going to do that? And then actually, build a more robust financial projections, and then set smaller targets to help you get there. So, those would be some things that would really help people on the journey.

Melinda Wittstock:       Absolutely. Oh gosh, that’s so true. So, I mean, I think with just getting financial controls, and things like that in place, being able to look at your numbers at least every week, see what’s working, what’s not working, be able to course correct. I mean, it’s all there. And I think maybe just people are, it’s just like the type of people who don’t want to open the bill in the mail, right? Because they think it’ll go away if they don’t open it, but it just gets bigger.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely. And so, a lot of entrepreneurs I talk to, especially women, they stress about, “Oh my gosh, the numbers are so bad I think,” but they haven’t looked at them. So oftentimes, the reality is not as bad as the imaginary, what you’re thinking about in your head, the thing that’s keeping you up at night. I always encourage entrepreneurs, get control, look at the numbers. You may not know what to do yet with them, but you will know exactly what’s the size of the problem or the issue.

Tracey Bissett:              And it’s probably not as bad as you think. And then when you know the actual problem, not the one you’ve dreamed up in your head, you can take concrete actions to change it. So, a lot of people will tell me they can’t afford to hire an assistant or another team member. And I’ll challenge them on that. I’ll say, “Oh, are you sure? Let’s look at your numbers. Well, hey, if you only sell X more of these things, or you cut this expense here, you actually can afford it.”

Tracey Bissett:              And you do need to take that leap of faith to have confidence in yourself, and your abilities to sell, and bring that person on so that when you make those sales, you’re not scrambling because you’re now… don’t have enough support in the company. So oftentimes, we can find the money, or make the money come depending on how you want to grow your business.

Melinda Wittstock:       So when you’re thinking about hiring, what is this person going to do to grow the business? And then it becomes part of their job description, it becomes part of their, I don’t know, monthly or annual review, or what they’re doing, and they have a clear goal of what they’re supposed to be doing. But hiring is like investing.

Melinda Wittstock:       I look at it as an investment because you’re going to be able to grow your business, happier customers, more customers, serve more customers. You can find more customers, all that good stuff.

Tracey Bissett:              I like how you coined it around the investment because the other thing to keep in mind is that as your business grows, it’s really hungry, and that the food you feed it is cash. So, whether that’s case you made as profit, whether that’s money, or from the bank, maybe it’s your savings you’ve invested, but growth is hungry and eats up cash.

Tracey Bissett:              So, it’s not just sufficient enough to make the profit, and then pull out all the profit, and take it to your personal account. If you do want to grow your business, you do have to continue to invest the cash in your business to make those leaps so that you can make the ultimate impact that you want.

Melinda Wittstock:       So, we’ve talked a lot, Tracey, about what people do wrong. What are some of the things that you find that entrepreneurs actually are doing right, but they may not actually realize that they’re doing right, like there’s just no consciousness of… it’s like an accidental success?

Tracey Bissett:              I love that, and when I started working with entrepreneurs, men and women, women especially, they’ll tell me they’re terrible with numbers, and that they don’t know anything. And I challenged them on that too, and I’ll say, “are you sure?” So, we’ll have some conversations, and if you’re running a business, I can guarantee that you know how to manage cashflow. Maybe you don’t know how to manage it perfectly, but you are doing it just by virtue of the fact that you continue to run a business that’s operating.

Tracey Bissett:              And so, I always get people to take stock of here’s where you are actually, you’re not the disaster on earth who’s doing everything wrong. You’re actually over here farther along on the spectrum. What I’m helping you place is maybe the technical terms, the formal terms, the language of finance. Maybe I’m helping you be able to communicate better with financial partners, maybe your account, all that kind of stuff. But you actually need to give yourself some more credit.

Tracey Bissett:              So, anybody who’s out there running a business, you do know how to manage cashflow because if not, you’d already be-

Melinda Wittstock:       You’d be under?

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:       Well, sadly, a lot of them do go that way. But yeah, I mean, so cash always is king. I mean, you’ve got to make sure that whatever you do, you don’t run out of money. And that’s my rule number one, is just don’t run out of money.

Tracey Bissett:              And certainly, being resilient, continuing to pursue things, even if you’ve had some knockdowns. Starting businesses where you know that the idea is something that people want. So, a lot of people will jump into their business. The smart entrepreneurs validate their idea before they go full into it. Because you can always pivot on your idea. But making sure the market is there, and the ones who are so passionate about it, they’ve tested their idea, they’re going to be successful.

Tracey Bissett:              And I see that all the time. Their passion shines through when they’re there working with the clients they’re meant to serve, whether it’s selling a product, or delivering a service, and the clients can see that.

Melinda Wittstock:       So, you got to get up there, and validate it, and do the research.

Tracey Bissett:              And not think you’re a failure when you’re doing it because that’s how businesses evolve. You have to try. So, it’s not about failing, it’s about failing to get the success.

Melinda Wittstock:       Yeah. I really want to destigmatize the idea of failure because that’s just part of the process, and it’s not personal. You’re a scientist, like in a lab. I think it was like Thomas Edison said, “I haven’t failed. I just tried 10,000 times.”

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:       And so, a lot of women struggle with raising capital for their business. So, a lot of folks listen to this podcast who are technology entrepreneurs, and women with inherently scalable companies that actually qualify for venture capital. Only 2% of us get it of qualified companies, i.e. companies that could conceivably become a unicorn, right? Because they have a highly scalable technology or some sort of system.

Melinda Wittstock:       And so, this is an ongoing challenge, and it’s amazing that that 2% number hasn’t really shifted in two decades. Crazy, right? So, what advice do you give women who are out there trying to either raise money from Angels, or venture capital, or family offices, or trying to get alone? I mean, just some sort of financing. What’s the best thing to do?

Tracey Bissett:              So, first of all, because I have a lot of conversations like this with women is just to remember, the banker is not your best friend, or the financier. They’re not your best friend. You don’t talk to them that way. And so, being professional, knowing how to speak the language of money, being clear in your request, and having numbers to support your ask is really the table stakes. That’s number one.

Tracey Bissett:              Number two, if you are trying to raise more money rather than just alone, certainly you do want to expand the sources that you’re looking at. So, I know that you have it in the US, certainly in Canada. SheEO started and Vicki Saunders is the founder, is trying to change the landscape.

Melinda Wittstock:       Yeah. Vicky was on this podcast not so long ago. Yeah.

Tracey Bissett:              And to change the way that the money is given out. And so, I’ve been an active activator in SheEO for four years now. I didn’t know about it the first year. And so, I’m taking my money, and investing it in women-led ventures. And so, that’s great, but there’s not enough for everyone. So, it’s expanding that circle, getting aligned with people who are in communities like that because a lot of times, the women in the SheEO network personally, then go and invest in other companies. So, it’s broadening your horizons beyond the traditional route. But it does start with being prepared, being professional, having everything ready.

Melinda Wittstock:       Absolutely. And so, where do you see your business going now, Tracey? I mean, so you started this up, sounds like you have got a lot of clients who really need what you do. Tell me a little bit more about where your business is at and where you’re taking it.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely. So, I have two components to my business. I work with young adults, as well as entrepreneurs. And so, on the young adult side, I have a podcast, Young Money Podcast that I’ve had for two years. Almost ready to launch a workbook that goes out to that audience. And in the future, I see that being curriculum sold at the post-secondary level. So really, scaling it that way on the young adult side.

Tracey Bissett:              With entrepreneurs, I have a YouTube channel coming this year so I can get more regular, great content out there to help them with their questions. Just short videos so that people can get the information that they need, continue the one-on-one coaching, add group programs, and eventually add a mastermind program so that communities of entrepreneurs can come together, and support each other, and learn from each other, as well as me. So, that’s the bigger vision.

Melinda Wittstock:       Oh, that is wonderful. I’m glad you’re also a podcast. Podcasting is great, isn’t it? I mean, I-

Tracey Bissett:              Yeah. I was very hesitant when I started, and my coach, Eleanor Beaton, that I work with, she encouraged me to do it. And coming out of corporate, especially from risk management as a banker, you don’t necessarily have the most creative juices flowing, I wouldn’t say. But once I got started, I loved it. I can make anything linked to money.

Tracey Bissett:              And even this week as we’re recording, I had an episode for the Super Bowl, and it’s all about Shakira, and J.Lo, and what we can learn about them, they’re going to be the halftime performers. What we can learn about them for money. So, I can make anything fit, and I found it’s increased my creativity, and it’s a great way to have people get to know you.

Melinda Wittstock:       The “know, like, trust”. I can’t think of how many amazing things have happened as a result of doing this podcast. Almost 500 episodes in, and Eleanor Beaton actually was like… I think she was like episode 10 on ways, like way, way back. Yeah. She’s amazing. Fierce feminine leadership, right? That’s her podcast.

Tracey Bissett:              Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:       That’s great. Well, look, how can people find you and work with you?

Tracey Bissett:              Well, absolutely. So, great place to reach me is on LinkedIn, and for everybody listening today because I’ve talked so much about the importance of money, getting to know your numbers, being comfortable with it. I know it can be challenging knowing where to start. So, I’ve got a money meeting agenda for you that you can download. You can go to cashcoach.biz, and it’s a weekly money meeting agenda to start with yourself.

Tracey Bissett:              Go through the questions. If you just get through one of them on your first meeting, that’s great. Next week, do two of them. And so, money meaning agenda at cashcoach.biz, and I would love to hear from anybody who needs some advice, or just wants to chat.

Melinda Wittstock:       Fantastic. I think that is wonderful. Tracey, thank you so much for putting on your wings, and flying with us about all things financial.

Tracey Bissett:              Well, thank you so much, Melinda. It’s been great.

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