Ep 240 Let's talk about Money in your Business with guest Angela Duncan
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Sara Mayer: [00:00:00] Welcome to the bold goal crusher podcast for anyone looking to stop letting life get in the way and start crushing bold goals. I'm your host, Sara Mayer, and I'm thrilled to navigate this journey with you because it's time to start boldly achieving without working double time. So let's dive in.
Sara Mayer: Hello, bold goal crushers. I'm very excited about this episode. I think it's going to be a great continuation to our conversation about business. And I want to introduce you to my guests today from section eight, housing and welfare to serial entrepreneur, Angela defied the odds and conquered a childhood of abuse and poverty.[00:01:00]
Sara Mayer: She is a force in the personal In personal finance with over 25 years of experience and a heart for empowering women, Angela has a diverse career in banking, financial advising, owning a top 10 REMAX office for five straight years with over 2 billion, yes, you heard that correct billion in sales and establishing and selling an insurance agency today, she helps entrepreneurs to successfully launch their own podcasts And create more income in their business.
Sara Mayer: Angela, I am so excited to have you on the show and so excited to talk about your story. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me today. I appreciate it. Yeah. Wow. I, when I read your bio, I instantly knew I needed to have you on the show, but I really knew that there was a lot more to this story. Obviously you went through a lot to get from where you were to where you are.
Sara Mayer: And I'd love if you would share a [00:02:00] little bit of that before we jump into the topic of money and business. Yeah. You shared a little bit of it. I am a survivor of childhood abuse and poverty. We moved around a ton and I absolutely knew nothing about money other than we didn't have it. So there were a lot of times in my childhood where I feel like money would have helped with a lot of things, but it also has made me very empathetic towards people.
Sara Mayer: And understanding that no matter where you are in life with money, there's always an opportunity for you to change, but it really falls upon you. And doing some really hard work to, create abundance in your life and just change your money mindset. Yeah, I bet. And so what was, what are some of the steps you suggest for people to do some of that work?
Sara Mayer: Yeah. So first we want to look at and so I think about your childhood because what you were taught in your childhood, whether or not you believe it, it's still going to be in your subconscious and so thinking back to your childhood and what maybe your parents or your environment or [00:03:00] what was it that you learned and jotting that down and then thinking about, is that my truth today and if it's not your truth today, then you really do have to work on changing it and it does take work for me, I don't think that what you learn in your childhood ever really goes away, I think.
Sara Mayer: But it's going to be your initial reaction to a lot of things that you do in your life. So as a business owner, you can say, I want to create lots of income or abundance in my life. But if you still have those early childhood thoughts that you haven't addressed and worked on then it's going to keep popping up in your life and you're really not going to create the abundance that you want.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. And many times people have avoided having conversations about money. It gets uncomfortable. It's always a thing. So how does one maybe make that open that door a little bit? Yeah. So after we talk about the childhood, it's really important for you to look at where your goals are today. And I'm a visual person.
Sara Mayer: You can see on the background, I'm always focused on how do [00:04:00] I create wealth for myself. And it's not me being selfish, but the way that I look at it is if we're creating more wealth, then we're able to share it with the people around us. So making sure that your goals are visual, you're And understanding as a woman, we're very heart centered, right?
Sara Mayer: I like to have photos with my goals. I have a goal board on the other side of me here that shows short, mid, and long term goals, but there's photos attached with it. For example, say your goal is to own a house. Put, print a photo of a house and put it there so that you have that emotional attachment to that goal as well.
Sara Mayer: And also it's really important for you to understand your own financial picture. What does that mean? It means what is your income? What are your expenses? What do you have left over at the end of the day so that you can put towards those goals? But so many times people just have no idea where their money goes.
Sara Mayer: And so you gotta pay attention to that too. Netflix and whatever else if you are watching on YouTube, you will notice. And I was going to ask you about your [00:05:00] background. You will notice that Angela has some money hanging up on the wall in a frame on her background. And I was going to ask you about that.
Sara Mayer: What. What does that simplify for you? Two things. One, I'm removing the emotional piece of money, right? It's just a piece of paper. It's a tool that I'm going to use to help me accomplish goals. And so when you remove that emotional piece from it, then you realize it's a tool, just like your car, just like my pen right here.
Sara Mayer: These are all tools and they're in my toolbox and I'm going to use them for things that I need in my life. Two, I'm also a currency collector that doesn't surprise most people. I talk about money. I teach money. I'm also a collector of early United States dollars. And so I have it on a frame just to remind myself that, it doesn't matter where I started in my life.
Sara Mayer: I have the opportunity. I get the opportunity today. To collect money as part of my investment portfolio and to teach other people about money. And so it's just a constant reminder. [00:06:00] I love it. And I love the 2 bill. I actually have quite a collection of 2 bills in my safe. So awesome. So many of my listeners are sitting in their nine to five jobs in their cubicle and maybe even in their corner office, and they know that they want to start a business.
Sara Mayer: But they may be afraid to walk away from that stability of that paycheck that comes every two weeks. What advice would you give them? Yeah, absolutely. I wouldn't leave the job until your business is up and running and making money. And, a lot of people think I want to start a business, but I don't know what.
Sara Mayer: And so you think about. Your world, what are people asking you about? What are they seeing that you do, or what did they come to you for advice? And that's usually a good indication that's a business that you should be launching, to be able to share your thoughts and your talents with other people through the business.
Sara Mayer: And, I hear a lot of people say, do it on the weekends and at night. And if you can, during your vacation days [00:07:00] and make sure that one, it's a business that people want, right? I can have an idea for an amazing business, launch it, and then figure out that clients don't really want that service or product.
Sara Mayer: Then I've lost my nine to five job with that guaranteed income. So launching it and doing it part time is a good way for you to figure out, is this going to be a business that will be successful? Do people actually want this service or this product? And then doing that before you leave your nine to five is, is.
Sara Mayer: For me, is this like the best piece of advice? Yeah. Somebody shared with me one time, their journey. And I thought this was actually really genius too. She started working on her business and it started to become profitable, but she also had her nine to five and she wasn't really at the point where she could leave, but she knew that in order to grow her business, she needed more time.
Sara Mayer: And so she actually left her nine to five and then she had a side hustle. and her business. And that was able to make up some of the gap until she was able to quit that side hustle. [00:08:00] Yeah. And there's so many side hustles. If you live in a home you can rent out your garage. You can rent out tools.
Sara Mayer: You can rent out your backyard. There's so many ways for you to create an extra income while you're in that transition. So the side hustle idea, I really liked that too. Yeah. Yeah. So she was basically working in her business and doing that together. Now, many business owners will start their business and things that they could invest in or coaching that they need or courses or things like that.
Sara Mayer: How would you advise somebody to set up their like initial budget for their business just so they don't end up over Investing in their business to start. Yeah. First look for the free stuff, just like your podcast here. People can hop on YouTube. They can get the information that they need to invest in their own education first.
Sara Mayer: So I always say like books or ways that you can find free information first, and then second, look around and see who is successful in the field that you are looking to launch. And ask them out to coffee, maybe just to zoom and to pick their brain a little bit [00:09:00] and say, Hey, are you taking on mentor or mentor ease, or are you available for coaching?
Sara Mayer: That's a great way to start. I'm not huge on, conferences and things like that. At the early stage, because that can be a little bit more expensive, but just trying to figure out in your own environment, what's closest to you and reach out to them for information as women. We're so willing to give help that it really just takes someone asking.
Sara Mayer: And I have, with zoom coffees all the time with people looking to talk about money and investing money or starting a podcast. But that is also another great avenue to start advertising your business obviously is to get on podcast as well. Yeah, and I want to go back to you made a comment about women who tend to give a lot, and I also find that sometimes women.
Sara Mayer: Don't charge for a lot of their services. I've been on calls where women are like I'll do that for you for free. And I'm like, actually, no, I will pay you for that. Like I was expecting to pay you. So I think that comes [00:10:00] a little differently for women. Can you talk about maybe why specifically this may be something coming up for women in business?
Sara Mayer: Yeah, and I've seen a lot of studies on this to women. We want to give first and then ask later. Whereas men like to ask first and then give. So I think that, when you realize that you have a service and you have value. And again, we're just trading time for money. It's a tool. So if I'm giving you time in exchange.
Sara Mayer: You should be asking for money, especially if it's your expertise. Now I do a 15 minute zoom myself, but I'm time blocked and I have a calendar link for it, so I only allow for so many people each week to grab that time for me and for me, that's okay. But as you grow in your business, you really have to protect your time, not just for yourself, but for your employees, for your clients, and making sure that you're generating the income so that you can help as many people as possible.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. Yeah. And I think one of the things that I've seen with a lot of women [00:11:00] entrepreneurs is that they maybe think the money will come later Oh, if I help this person now, the money will come later. But what I've learned from working with a lot of my clients is that they provide a lot of free tools and resources to a, to someone.
Sara Mayer: And then later they go hire some other coach and they're like, Oh, I didn't know you did that. Yeah. And that's the thing too. When you have launched your business and you feel like you're so busy with so many clients, that's when you should be asking for a raise, right? And it might weed out some clients and that's okay, I don't want to work, 80 hours a week.
Sara Mayer: So when you're in your business and people are just, I don't know. Coming to you and asking for your service. I challenge a lot of people to double their fees, say like charge more and double your fees gives you room for negotiation, which makes it feel like a win for both of us. But if you're not charging enough and you're not able to, grow your company that way, then you have to think about like, why am I really in business?
Sara Mayer: Yeah. I had a client I work with a [00:12:00] lot. With a lot of people who are trying to set goals and as and many times they come up with these big, bold goals, but they haven't run the numbers. And so I have a client that I can use her story with permission that her big, bold goal was to double her revenue in a year.
Sara Mayer: And when we really looked at it, I asked her, so are you willing to work double the hours you worked or are you planning on hiring? And she was like No. And no. Why have you asking me this? I said you charge per hour. So we need to redo your whole pricing structure in order to make this goal realistic.
Sara Mayer: And that was a real light bulb moment for her because. Not only did she realize that there was a flaw in that revenue goal, but she had been doing goal setting wrong all along. She was setting herself up to fail. She would create these big, bold goals and then halfway through the year, she's that never going to meet that goal.
Sara Mayer: So she thought that she wasn't [00:13:00] able to achieve goals. Instead of just charging more. Yeah. So I absolutely believe that too. And another thing too is business owners, especially people who are either solo or smaller companies, is they forget to pay themselves. And so I always tell them when you're doing your budget or your company, you are an expense.
Sara Mayer: It is a line item, just like any other employee that might be working for you. And you have to make sure that you're budgeting for your own salary. You don't expect employees to work for free. So why are you expecting yourself to work for free? So if the numbers don't make sense, then you definitely need to look at increasing your fees to clients so that you can, cover your expenses and be a successful business owner, set money aside for your retirement, making sure that, people in your family are taking care of as well.
Sara Mayer: So I, that, that's such a great point that you pointed out as well. And I think the cool part about that conversation is we were able to rework that goal and It goes back to mindset and you brought this up [00:14:00] where she really thought she had to charge per hour and she was a very skilled designer and she could do logos very quickly.
Sara Mayer: And I was like, so basically because you're charging per hour and because you're very skilled at this, You're actually penalizing yourself for that knowledge. So if we just charge per project, you're actually going to really have more, a little more value to the client as well. The client can't do a logo as quickly and nicely as you can.
Sara Mayer: And that's why they're hiring for expertise. She made the switch and she did not have a single client. Complain. Everybody was like, Oh, that makes so much sense. And yes, we'll pay per project. And it ended up being a much better experience for everybody because then she didn't have to track her hours and the client knew exactly what they were going to pay up front.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. And I like that too, because the client doesn't need to know how long it takes you. They just want the [00:15:00] results at the end of the day. So whether it takes you an hour or three hours charging by the project, as long as you understand, how much do I need to make from this client? How long is it going to take me to finish the product or the service and then putting the price out there.
Sara Mayer: And sometimes you're going to have to test the market. Maybe nobody bites at that price. Maybe you go a little bit lower to start, but starting higher, at least gives you that opportunity to negotiate down. Yeah. Now you've owned, it sounded like in your bio, you owned an insurance agency and sold it. And then obviously you own a REMAX office.
Sara Mayer: How did that come about in your journey? Yeah. So when I was in college, I thought I wanted to be a financial advisor. So that's where my journey started. I joined bank of America. I had some incredible female mentors that, helped me learn the market. And then I went through the tech bubble and I felt awful because I have no control over the stock market.
Sara Mayer: And here I am trying to advise people on where to put their money. So got out of that and got into real estate. Of course, right before [00:16:00] that bubble burst and then, but, I learned the hard way. Like I really had to put in the work to get the education, to help people and figure out how to pivot in a business when the market changes.
Sara Mayer: And I think that's so important as a business owner is that even though we go through cycles, you have to understand that there's an opportunity in every single cycle. But you're going to have to adjust as a business owner, not the market. And after the real estate insurance, just made sense.
Sara Mayer: We had buyers, they needed insurance and I wasn't getting the level of service that I provide as an agent. So then launching the insurance company just went hand in hand with the real estate office. I sold my insurance company last year and a lot of that fell upon me as the leader didn't have the right people in place and I got totally burnt.
Sara Mayer: And again, that's okay as a business owner. Sometimes you have to understand that there is an exit plan and that you should be building that. And so when I sold that last year, I just knew that I still wanted to continue on this education [00:17:00] journey, right? But needed to take some time off cause I definitely burnt myself out as a business owner.
Sara Mayer: Yeah, and I think it's so important to really keep tabs on those things, but to remember that it's okay to let go of something or to know when to leave. And sometimes that's, we hang on to things for too long because we're afraid of letting them go. Yeah. Yeah. And understanding that it's okay. And not that I felt like I was a failure, but I knew I was not the right leader at that time for the company that I was growing and to give it to someone else that would hopefully, do much better with, the the team that was in place or hire or fire is needed and just give myself grace that it was okay for me to let that go when I knew I was not in the position to, to lead that company.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. And so now you work with entrepreneurs and help them launch their podcast. And I have two shows, so I love podcasting. It's been a great business revenue [00:18:00] generator for me, but also a visibility generator. How did you get into this? Yeah so when I sold my last company, I did get a little bored and I thought I want to continue this education to other people.
Sara Mayer: And I was sitting in a women's group and so we were talking about it and podcasting. I listened to podcasts and I didn't realize all of the steps that needed to go into podcasting. So I did hire, a coach to help me through that. And then once I got it going very similar to what you just said, one, I get to meet incredible women and I get to share their stories.
Sara Mayer: I get to teach people, but now that we've grown the audience, it is a revenue generator, and I think a lot of business owners can easily add a podcast. To their company with the right team in place and they can create more visibility, more credibility, and then just have more people that they talk to.
Sara Mayer: And they interview. Now those are referral sources for me. So it's just like a win because I'm exposing other people and I get the opportunity to work with their clients. But now I [00:19:00] teach people how to launch a podcast to make sure that we. Yeah. Have a plan in place and we got to think of it as a business because we need to generate money.
Sara Mayer: Again, we're exchanging time. So how do we make it into a business is very key as well. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that is where, when I first started my podcast and I've shared this on a couple of episodes, I knew that I, Loved, I love podcasts and I knew that it could be a possible revenue generator and a visibility builder for me, but I also knew I didn't want to spend a lot of time because time is very valuable if there wasn't a return on investment and.
Sara Mayer: When a lot of people start podcasting, they don't think about ways that they can use their podcasts to generate clients, sponsorships. Everyone told me, Oh, you can't get a sponsorship until you have a bajillion downloads. And that's actually not true. I monetize my [00:20:00] podcast with sponsorships by leveraging some of my other digital assets, like my audience, my Facebook group, my email list.
Sara Mayer: And many people just wanted to support me. And now the podcast really does not only help generate clients for my business, but for other people's business. So I think if you think about it from a, going back to what you said earlier in the show of we women tend to like to give and ask later, I started giving and asking at the same time, and it really worked out.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. Yeah. And just getting on other shows too, when you have your own podcast doing podcast swaps, just a great opportunity, especially to meet and learn. It goes back to the first thing that I wrote in my book, empower your money, which is invest in yourself first. The way that I do that too, is I'm learning from you.
Sara Mayer: We're talking about business, but you're sharing stories and I'm hearing more information. So I get to learn and invest my own education through the podcast platform as well. Yeah. Yeah. [00:21:00] Yeah. Obviously you love podcasting. You have a show, right? Yes. It's called empower her money. Say it again.
Sara Mayer: Empower her money. I love it. Empower her money. And so you've probably done a ton of episodes, but can you tell me about one of your favorite episodes or topics that you've discussed? Yeah, I think sometimes I get surprised by people and I learn stuff about money that I actually don't know. And even though I've been studying it forever.
Sara Mayer: So one of my guests is Becca Brazil and she is a music artist, but she also does a lot of investing. And so she was talking about the market in Brazil. And how she does airbnbs there and then so I got the opportunity to learn a different market and hear about investing in South America. So I thought that was really cool.
Sara Mayer: I had another lady that was a clothing designer out of Dubai and she was teaching me that, you think about the home shopping network here in the U S I don't shop from that. It's not products or [00:22:00] anything that I would use, but in some of the Asian countries, that's where they get like the new products or like the name brands are on their version of a home shopping network.
Sara Mayer: So it's just great information that I would not have ever learned because, podcasting, you can reach anyone in the world and now you can interview anyone in the world. And I love listening to different business and culture across the country or across the world. Yeah. How cool is that? I was recording an episode yesterday and she was in Australia, it's, I think that's one of the benefits actually that came out of COVID is that now people are more open to being on zoom and we can connect all across the world.
Sara Mayer: And I know we could do that before COVID, but I don't think our eyes were open as much before COVID to that. Yeah, it's definitely more acceptable today. Cause I know that there have been people doing podcasting for 10, 15 years, and a lot of them did it online before COVID, but now we're like, Oh yeah, COVID no problem.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. Yeah. [00:23:00] Anyway I have a lot of listeners who are thinking about starting their business and you talked a lot about money at the beginning and budgeting. What are the things that. Other than paying yourself that you're like, Oh, this needs to be in your budget or plan for this when you first start that maybe somebody might not be thinking about.
Sara Mayer: Yeah. The early things, getting your LLC documents are important. So I always recommend hiring an attorney. Have a separate bank account, separate credit card. So you can start building that credit card as well. And then also making sure all your social media is in place, meaning, go grab your name, even if you're not going to be on Tik TOK right now, protect your name and your brand and go grab that right away.
Sara Mayer: And being that I used to own an insurance company. From day one, you at least need liability insurance and it can be really inexpensive. I'm talking like 500 for the year. So budget for that, because you never know. I live in Florida and almost every billboard is an attorney. There's always going to be someone out there that could [00:24:00] potentially see you.
Sara Mayer: So making sure that the insurance is in place from day one is really just a piece of mind that I think a lot of people miss. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you're doing events like we, I have, people are like, Oh, I host a happy hour. What if somebody drinks and drives and has an accident? Yeah. I know.
Sara Mayer: So get that insurance. Yeah. Signing a release saying, Hey, I understand that I'm going to be responsible as an attendee here. I've seen those as well. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Great advice. And your show's all about, money. And I think that there's so many valuable lessons in money.
Sara Mayer: And as women, I think sometimes we've maybe not held the, had the conversations or sought out the education. And it's so great to see women like you really taking the lead on this conversation because it is something that we can figure out. Yeah. It's not some foreign language. It's just a matter of taking the [00:25:00] time and investing in your education.
Sara Mayer: And even if you just get the basics down and hire out the rest, you can hire out a bookkeeper, you can hire out a tax advisor or a financial advisor, but at least have a good understanding of how each of those work. Even if you're not the expert, I'm not an expert at marketing. So I understand basics and I hired it out.
Sara Mayer: I'm not, An expert on electricity, but I know how to flip a switch to turn it on. So you've got to have that foundation so that at least you can see where your money is at all times. Yeah. And to make sure that it's being handled correctly and at least know some of the questions to ask. Yeah. And making sure you're investing in your future, by putting money away from retirement, you can't get a loan for retirement.
Sara Mayer: So making sure that's one of the first things that you invest in and just putting money aside for that rainy day and knowing that it's okay to use that rainy day money when you do need it. Yeah. So speaking of investments, are there things that you suggest [00:26:00] business owners other than retirement really do invest in or consider maybe even personally as well?
Sara Mayer: Yeah. There's so many ways to go about that question. It really depends on their risk tolerance. I'm a huge believer in real estate. I personally help some clients invest in tax liens and in real estate when they get to that level, cause you need to have a certain amount of money to be able to do that.
Sara Mayer: But, at least making sure your savings, for example, you can put it in a 5%. high yield savings account. And that's totally liquid, meaning you can get it at any time, right? So making your money work as hard as possible for you because you work hard for it. So we set aside money for savings, but financial advisors are great for stock market.
Sara Mayer: I have a small piece in the stock market. I can't Say that's like my go to or my first thing other than for retirement planning. But real estate for me over time has been the best investment. Love it. Great advice. And I just love that you're out there [00:27:00] doing the education piece because it's so needed.
Sara Mayer: So if somebody's listening to the show and they want to hear more, where might they find you and what might they expect? Yeah. So if you go to empower her money. com or follow me at empower her money on Instagram, if you are thinking about launching a podcast, I will give you my checklist. This is what I do with my clients.
Sara Mayer: We go by step. I will give it to you for free. So all you need to do is message me on Instagram. Podcast and I'll make sure that email gets out to you because if you think you want to launch a podcast, we want to make sure you're monetizing it. And so that's in the checklist as well, but at least giving you the blueprint so that you can go ahead and work on launching your podcast.
Sara Mayer: If you're not yet ready to hire a coach. Ooh, I love it. All right. Everyone go check out Angela's podcast. I know you're going to love her show and thank you so much for being on the show. I could talk to you all day about money, even though some people may not want to talk about [00:28:00] money. I really enjoyed our conversation.
Sara Mayer: You've dropped a lot of really good gold nuggets. Perfect. Thank you so much. Yeah. All right. Bold gold crushers. It's time to get out there and crush your goals and everything that gets in the way. So you do not have to work double time. So let's get to it.
Sara Mayer: Thank you for tuning into the bold goal crusher podcast where we crush goals and everything that gets in the way. I always love to support my community.
Sara Mayer: I look forward to seeing you crush your goals this year.
