I know we are only halfway through Q4, but in my world things have already shifted over to focusing on Q1 2024. 2024! I actually accidentally wrote 2024 as the date the other day. Perhaps my brain is a little too focused on the future? But, as this post is about how it is important to focus on the future, let’s go ahead and ignore that concern.

If you are a business owner, now is a great time to do some forward thinking brainstorming about the next year. I like to start without a ton of data to back up the brainstorm -- instead, focus on feelings, not specific metrics. If you know how you want to feel, then you are better able to determine which metrics will help you get there. And, from the metrics and the feelings, you are often better equipped to narrow down on appropriate strategies to support that work. 

A few brainstorming questions I like using are: 

• Imagine your perfect work day. What does it look like? Where are you? How long do you work? What kind of things fill your day?

• Think about the impact that your business has on the people closest to you. How do you want them to describe that to others?

• Now think about the impact that your business has on your community. What do you want that to look like? How do you want folks in your community to describe your business? 

The next step is to work backwards from your answers -- if you know what your perfect work day looks like, what do you need to do to make that a reality? Do you need additional support? Different offerings? A new workspace? Of these things, are there any that you can start implementing quickly? Or are some of them things that you can make progress on in the coming year, but not necessarily achieve? Any of those answers are normal and valid! 

If you are not a business owner, or would like to just focus on personal finance for a bit, the same general structure is true. Starting with the big picture helps! 

The reason why starting with your emotions, instead of starting with the data, is helpful, is because it grounds us in the things that actually matter to your daily satisfaction and happiness. Life isn’t about making a certain amount of money, saving a certain amount of money, or spending a certain amount of money. Life is about experiencing the things on a day to day basis that bring us joy, comfort, and help us create positive impacts in the world. By starting on that super high level, you can then better define how your the money that will propel you to that spot. If you start with the money (or the metrics) then you end up focusing on what someone else thinks you should do, or perhaps worse, your goals are pulled from thin air and don’t have the emotional component that will actually keep you motivated to reach them. 

A few brainstorming questions I love to use for personal finance big picture planning are: 

• Imagine your financial worries and stresses are gone. What has changed about how you live your life on a daily basis? What about how you spend your time throughout the year? 

• Imagine your financial worries and stresses are gone. What has changed about your financial reality? Is it that you have more savings? Own property? Have less debt? No debt? Support to help you understand and manage financial admin? Someone who handles your bills? Be specific! 

• Think back to this year -- what financially related things felt really stressful? What would have made them feel less stressful? 

• Think back to this year -- what financially related things felt really good? How can you create more of those moments?

The next step is exactly the same as it was for business finance. Backwards plan to determine what you can start implementing quickly and what will take more time. Determine the supports or inputs that are currently missing in your life that you’ll need to get in order to make your dream a reality. A lot of this work is about determining your end goal and then figuring out what stepping stones make the most sense along the way. Inevitably there will be times when you take a stepping stone that doesn’t work out like you thought and you may need to backtrack or change course. That is okay!

If you want help with this process, reach out! I’d love to chat. You can book a free consultation call on my calendar or fill out the client inquiry form to start the process with me. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

Ripping the Bandaid vs. Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I’ve always been a big fan of ripping the bandaid - both literally and figuratively. Once I make a decision, I want to implement it immediately and then move on. This has been incredibly helpful for much of my life, but has not always been helpful in my financial life. For example, while ripping the bandaid to learn more about my credit card debt in my early adulthood was helpful, I wasn’t able to actually get out of debt quickly -- I needed a slow and steady pace to make that work. 

So, when does it make sense to rip the bandaid? As in, when does it make sense to work really intensively for a short period of time to reach your financial goals? 

• Setting up legal and operational structures for a business 

• Revamping your existing saving and investing systems to fit a new goals or financial realities 

• Implementing new account systems that optimize interest and functionality

The reason these things work at a fast pace is because each of them are, fundamentally, about setting up new systems. The goals are clear and once the systems are set up they are low maintenance to maintain.

What about slow and steady wins the race? When does that work better?

• Eliminating and managing debt

• Creating new spending or saving habits 

• Learning new habits for using financial analysis in your business 

Slow works best for implementing new habits and mindsets. That work is complex, often emotionally charged, and takes some degree of trial and error. Therefore it is important that there is time for that process built into the implementation period. 

The reason I needed to move at a slower pace to actually get out of debt was because the reasons I had gotten into debt in the first place were habit and emotionally based. It wasn’t knowledge or a system alone that was going to the fix the problem. I needed to really understand what the emotional reasons were behind my purchase decisions and then use that information to help me make different decisions in the future. That was hard, slow work! 

I think there are seasons for each method in our lives. I also find that sometimes jumpstarting something by working really intensely for a short period of time and then continuing for a longer period of time in a slow and steady fashion works great for a lot of people. It’s the best of both worlds.

If you were to put this in Verdi coaching terms that would mean having 1-3 Sprint Days (3 hour intensives) and then hourly coaching 1-2x/month for a few months after that. Regardless of the speed that works best for you, the goals are the same -- gain the knowledge and skills you need to reach your financial goals. 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,

P.S. LIke the content of this newsletter? The Podcast goes way more in depth on the same topic! You can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

P.P.S. Feeling out of touch with your spending habits and ready to get in alignment? Check out the Verdi Money Diary! It will help you understand your spending habits and create actionable goals to change things that aren’t serving you anymore.

As I’ve shared in the past, my early adulthood financial journey included a whole lot of sticking my head in the sand and trying my darndest to not pay attention to my money (or, often, the lack thereof). And, as I’ve also shared in the past, I think there are times in life when not being as vigilant or aware may be a necessary coping mechanism. And, on top of all of that, very few of us have been taught helpful skills, habits, or even have reasonable real-life examples of what financial health and awareness really look like. 

As such, I never judge anyone who has buried their head in the sand when it comes to their money. It is a totally normal and reasonable reaction to a confusing, often overwhelming and scary part of life. 

AND, my career is dedicated to helping people unbury their heads. I like to think of this work, whether you are doing it with a professional, or on your own as split into two categories: 

1. Your Emotional Reality

2. Your Financial Reality

In an ideal world these two things are perfectly synced, but I think that is incredibly rare -- even if you have a really deep, thorough understanding of your finances! Instead, I like to think about getting those two realities as close as possible to each other. 

I start with #2 and weave in #1 as I go. What this looks like in practice:

• Exploring your key financial numbers so you know where you stand now

• Defining financial goals 

• Matching those goals to accounts (i.e. where will you save for that next business investment? How do you optimize retirement planning?) 

• Exploring current financial habits to determine what works well for you and what needs to change

• Create financial systems that ease stress and help you reach your goals

Throughout this process I weave in the emotional reality by asking questions. SO MANY QUESTIONS. And through the answers I help clients figure out why they’ve struggled with certain financial goals -- is it that they don’t know how to do something or how to create systems? Is it that the goal isn’t truly aligned with their values and desires? Is it that they were taught things and given financial belief systems that hold them back? I find that for almost every client there is a mixture of those three things going on, whether we’re working on business or personal finances (or a combo of the two!). 

Below is a brainstorm exercise that may help you begin to understand your own financial emotions. Try it out!  

• Imagine yourself 5 years in the future. In an ideal world, what are you doing? What are you spending your time doing? Who are you with? What does your home look like?

• Now, ask yourself the exact same question again. 

• And again. 

• Are the answers the same? Did they evolve over time? What things do you hold most dear…most close to your heart?

• Try that same exercise again in a week and compare your answers. 

• If they’re all the same then your financial goals are likely very well aligned with your actual values and desires. If not, you may be striving for something you don’t actually want and THAT is incredibly hard to do. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

When I tell folks that I’m a Financial Coach one of two things usually happen: 

1 - They respond with something along the lines of, “oh my goodness, I desperately need one of those!” followed with a nervous laugh and (sometimes) a quick excuse to get away from me.

Or

2 - They look at me dumbfounded and then ask what the heck that actually means (fair). 

Since I don’t get to see you in person and respond to your confused looks (or politely let you run away from me), I thought I’d take a break from the regularly scheduled programming here and just spell out step by step what it is I do and what it looks like from a client perspective. 

Step 1 = Client Intake/Discovery 

THE GOAL of this step is for me to better understand your financial goals, concerns, and situation. I’ll ask a bunch of questions so that I know if I’m a good fit for you (or, if I’m not, I’ll open my mental rolodex to figure out who to refer you to). You’ll get a chance to ask me questions too! The coaching process is relationship based, so it is important that we BOTH feel good about the decision to move forward.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE →

• A free 20 minute consultation call (book here!) where we chat through what you’re looking for and I answer questions about my work. 

Or

• You fill out the Client Inquiry doc (email me at caroline@verdiadvising.com for a copy of the form) and I respond via email with follow up questions and answer any questions you have. I sometimes respond via Loom video so you can see and hear me!

• After the call/email session I follow up with a proposal that includes: 

• An outline of your coaching goals 

• Proposal for coaching series (i.e. # of hourly sessions or recommendation for Sprint Days) and pricing (did you know my pricing is all public? You can check it out here) 

• A link to schedule your first session 

• If you decide to move forward with the plan (i.e. you book a session) then you move to step 2!

Step 2 = The Pre-Work

THE GOAL of this step is to make sure you are super prepared for our first session! That way we can hit the ground running. 

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE → 

• I will send over a Client Service Agreement for you to sign

• I will share pre-work in our joint Coaching Notes doc and via email. This doc will act as our hub for all of the work we do together. It includes the proposal, pre-work, all coaching session notes, and links to toolkits/spreadsheets/videos we use during coaching. 

• Pre-work usually includes: 

• Answering a few questions about how you feel about specific financial goals or questions (i.e. what do you want your relationship to debt to look/feel like in 5 years? What does financial success mean to you?). These answers help me understand your financial values and idiosyncrasies and make me a better coach.  

• Filling out a spreadsheet with some financial facts (note: I don’t always have folks do this as pre-work since, for some people, it can be overwhelming to do before the first session)

Step 3 = The Work-work!

THE GOAL of our work is to reach your coaching goals! 

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE → 

• If you are doing hourly coaching sessions we will schedule these out in advance. They are usually once a month or once every other week, but that cadence is based on your personality and goals. Most people work with me for ~ 12 hourly sessions and then do quarterly or bi-annual check-ins for a while after we wrap.

• If you are doing Sprint Days those intensive chunks of time are also scheduled ahead of time. They are 3 hour intensives and most folks do 2-4 blocks (i.e. 6-12 hours), depending on the complexity and scale or your goals. 

• For either Sprint Days or Hourly Coaching sessions, the actual time together is very similar. I have our coaching notes doc prepped with the agenda, links to custom made spreadsheets and tools and the plan of action for the session. Most sessions focus on one or two of your coaching goals (i.e. “Revenue Plan & Debt Elimination” or “Business Runway and Emergency Saving”). We work through the plan together with me asking lots of questions, running different financial scenarios and discussing pros and cons of next steps. Sometimes we do action steps together (I actually mailed someone’s s-corp filing docs for them the other day!) and sometimes action steps are homework (i.e. we decide which high yield savings account you’ll get during the session, but you actually open it on your own). 

• I always follow up after sessions with a list of action items, any relevant links (to our coaching notes doc or videos), and reminders about our next sessions. 

• In between sessions you and I both have homework to complete (i.e. opening accounts, answering questions, moving money). I also reach out to check in on your progress, answer any questions you may have, and give you encouragement on next steps. 

Step 4 = The Maintenance Phase (also my fav Podcast)

THE GOAL of this phase is to make sure you maintain new habits, have all on-going questions answered, and help you navigate new financial situations with ease. 

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE →

• Most folks schedule quarterly or bi-annual check-ins after they complete their original coaching series. The sessions look largely like normal hourly coaching sessions. We work through ongoing challenges, answer new financial questions, and help you complete long-term goals. 

Whew. That’s a lot! If you’d like to learn more, schedule a call with me or email me at caroline@verdiadvising.com. If you’re not interested - no worries! It is definitely not for everyone. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

P.S. This is how a recent Sprint Day client described our time together: 

“What you helped me do is take the stuff that is a chronic level of stress that I’m thinking about everyday, but not doing anything about and saying, ‘We’re going to take that chronic stress away. It is not going to be on your mind everyday, it doesn’t need to be on your mind everyday. The time you need to think about it is during this three hour block. During that time we will address those worries. I will help you with a plan and I will set up the plan with you. I’ll hold your hand for as much or as little as you want’” 

Sounds dreamy, right? 💁‍♀️

My job is to make them Empowering

Many of my clients can be put in one of two buckets: 

1 - The “I’ve tried to do this for ages on my own and I just keep getting stuck/overwhelmed/frustrated/off course” bucket

OR

2 - The “I’ve never even tried because numbers and math feel so overwhelming to me” bucket

There is no moral superiority to either bucket. They both are honest places to be starting from and, quite frankly, very understandable places to be. Very few of us are taught about money in ways that are productive or helpful, either from a personal or business finance perspective. Many of us, especially women and those who consider themselves in creative fields, have been told and tell ourselves that we’re not good at math and therefore can’t be good with money. The financial and banking industries have historically benefitted from consumers being in the dark and therefore haven’t tried to make things easier. There are direct and ripple effects from systemic racism, sexism, and classism that mean that some folks are at an extreme advantage and some are at an extreme disadvantage. 

All of that is true and I still firmly believe that everyone can gain confidence with making financial decisions. No one is inherently “bad with money”. Every business owner or nonprofit Executive Director can learn the skills and facts they need to make critical financial decisions for their organization. Every individual can learn the skills and facts they need to make income, spending, saving, and investing decisions that enable them to work towards their goals. Sometimes the answer might be, “that isn’t possible yet or on the timeline you want”. Sometimes the answer is “that isn’t possible at all”, but questions can and should be asked and answered because otherwise we are flying blind and anytime we do that we are much more likely to crash. 

That’s where I come in. Or rather, that’s why my profession exists. I work with folks to first identify their goals, then determine which challenges (whether emotionally based or numbers based, or both!) are creating roadblocks, and, finally, create projections, toolkits, and plans for how to work through the challenges. Basically, I help you look at the numbers in a way that feels empowering and not overwhelming. I structure the numbers so that they tell a story that is actionable and manageable. I narrow in on what inputs impact the goals and work so that we don’t waste our time on things that simply distract us. 

This might look like: 

• Projecting out expenses and income over the next year to create a savings plan for a business runway

• Analyzing inventory and sales trends to create buying and pricing plans that maximize highly profitable sales 

• Creating a debt elimination plan that minimizes emotional stress and interest payments 

• Determining account and bookkeeping systems that enable you to minimize work time related to your administrative tasks while keeping on top of your financial realities 

If you’re interested in becoming a client - and I hope you are! - I have several spots opening up this month and several more opening up next month and I’d love to help you reach your financial goals! To learn more about my coaching services and pricing go here. To schedule a free consultation call with me go here and to chat via email, shoot me a message at caroline@verdiadvising.com. I can’t wait to help you find the joy and empowerment in the numbers! 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO, 

P.S. Curious how people feel about working with me? Here’s a recent testimonial from one client: 

Working with Caroline was exactly what I was looking for: Someone who understood my financial needs & goals - and was willing to take into account my own values and perspectives on money - to help me build solutions that worked for me and my family. With Caroline, I felt like I could be honest and open around a touchy subject and could confide in her without judgment. After several sessions with Caroline, I'm feeling much more in control of my financial system, set up to head out on mat leave, and have a good sense of what my budget will look like over the course of the next few years. I have not hesitated to recommend Caroline to others and am planning to work with her again if I'm coming across another next big life stage change. Thank you so much, Caroline!

- Emma

I recently had a conversation with my business coach, Mel, about the word “empowerment”. I was complaining to her that I really want to use the word because the actual definition is exactly what I strive for in my coaching practice, but it feels overused, or, at least was overused for a period of time and now feels a little passé. She encouraged me to let those worries go and use the word that I actually mean and want to use. 

So, here goes! 

As a coach my ultimate goal is to cultivate financial empowerment for my clients. I want my clients to walk away feeling in complete control of their money and their financial decisions. I want them to feel confident and secure. I want them to feel so confident that they are able to approach financial work with a sense of ease. THAT is success for me! 

The way we get there (and I do mean we -- this is work that I do with my clients, not for them) is multifaceted: 

• We cultivate awareness in financial decision making 

• We uncover the root causes of positive and negative emotional reactions to money experiences 

• We identify skill deficits and fill those gaps with knowledge 

• We use tools (that I make) to compare options and make sound decisions 

And we do all this while keeping track of the big goals that my clients identify at the start of our work together. Sometimes the details of those goals shift over time, but the north stars remain. 

So it IS empowerment. The word might be past its prime, but the meaning is amazing and I’m going to use the term despite my “I-feel-kind-of-lame” misgivings. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO

HOT TIP CORNER

Don’t let old credit cards close automatically! Keeping old cards, even ones you never use, is great for your credit score. Some companies will shut down accounts after a period of no use. Either make sure to use all of your cards at least once a year or call all of the companies and find out their policy.