I’ve been podcasting for 3 years with my friend Esther but this is the first time I am venturing out on my own and it is a little scary but also super exciting because I get to talk about something I really enjoy talking about, MONEY!!

Some of you are already rolling your eyes or maybe got a little queasy because this is not a fun topic for you but stick with me. Hopefully, I’m going to make this fun for both of us.

So let’s get right into it. Today I’m going to be discussing why I even started this podcast, why it matters, who the heck I am, and why this podcast is called The Prosper Collective.

Why did I start this podcast?

I started this podcast for:

You, The Business Owner

This podcast is for you, to help make your life and business better. To help you get the reward that should come with all that risk you’re taking in owning a business. To make sure you are getting paid, sleeping well at night, and not looking over your shoulder wondering when the creepy tax man is coming for you.

Your Employees and Contractors

We’ve all worked with someone who is eternally stressed out and it’s not fun. For your business to grow in a healthy way you need a rockstar team and you can’t be all there and invested in them if you are worried about how you are going to pay them.

Your Customers

Often times business owners get into business because they are skilled at something, they love helping people, and they have a passion they can’t quench. Just because you are an amazing organizer, for example, doesn’t mean you know how to run a business. And just like you can’t invest in your team while worried about money you also cant give 100% to your clients and customers if all you see are dollar signs when you look at their faces because you have a rent payment due. You didn’t start your business to worry about that bill that’s due on Friday.

Why does this even matter?

Let’s face it, there is no lack of financial advice out there. Between the books, the podcasts, the tv shows, the blogs, youtube channels, social media accounts, and email newsletters you could literally drown in money advice. Not to mention how do you figure out who to trust?

It kinda feels like figuring out what program to use when trying to lose weight. I mean remember when we were kids, butter and eggs were bad for us and now they are good for us. So in this sea of information why do I need to lend my voice to the noise?

Honestly, I feel like I have a different perspective. I’m using this podcast to place my flag in the ground and declare that YOUR MONEY ISN’T ABOUT YOU. Now before you run the other way hear me out.

I live by the unpopular opinion that my life isn’t about me either. I’m not making money to buy a fancy car or fund my McMansion. Of course, I want nice things but at the end of my life I’m not going to look into my husband’s and child’s eyes and say “I’m so glad I bought that Louis Vitton purse.” Life is about so much more.

I’m also not here advocating for you to sell everything and live like a pauper. I don’t think everyone has to live the life of Mother Theresa to make an impact. There’s a balance that can be struck and I’m here for it!

It’s about what I can do to invest in others. What I can do to make someone else’s life better. It’s about building a better community for our children. It’s about feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, and educating the underprivileged.

This all matters because at the end of the day I want to be generous. This podcast is all about generosity. So, if that resonates with you stick around.

Who the heck am I?

Why do I even care about this?

As a Finance and Operations strategist, I have worked one on one with business owners for about 4 years. I started my business out just doing bookkeeping but as I continued I realized each time I met with a client I was doing so much more than bookkeeping. I was helping them strategize their financial and operational decision based on their mission, vision, and values. I quickly changed my offerings to provide both fractional chief financial officer and director of operations services.

Through my work, I’ve seen so many different struggles business owners face and I know firsthand the things that keep them up at night.

I have a heart to help business owners become prosperous and financially steady. By starting this podcast I can reach more people than just what my 1-1 work allows. I can give you hope that things can change. We can laugh and cry together along the way.

Personally, I’ve been married to my husband for 18 years. We met at church during college and even though I rejected him for about 9 months once I finally went out with him I was in love almost immediately. We together have a 14 yr old son that I homeschool. Our son is very much into video games, drums, and making anything long and pointy into a sword. About 4 years ago we adopted our rescue pup Chewie and we are all obsessed. We believe he is a Tibetian Terrier so when his hair grows out he looks very much like Chewbacca!

We are very involved in our church, Radiant Church in Tampa, Florida. Our family had the privilege of helping to launch a new campus a little more than a year ago and we love being on staff there.

We live in Florida but we are originally from Maine and every summer we try to go back for at least a month. Let me just say if you’ve never been to Maine in the summer make sure you add that to your bucket list because it is beautiful!

Why the name?

I named my business Prosper Collective because I wanted to create a community of business owners committed to prospering in service to generosity. Honestly, your life can really change when you surround yourself with the right community. So, I wanted to put out the call for business owners to join me in this quest to create generous, life-giving businesses that bless others and their families. I wanted to create a safe place to not quite know what you are doing and to learn and grow together.

Since every good collective has a manifesto so I of course wrote one. If you find this resonates with you at all you have found the right podcast.

The Prosper Collective Manifesto

In the Prosper Collective, we are generous business owners.

We are generous because we have been blessed, we want to help those in need, and we want to lift others up.

In order to be generous, we steward our businesses well.

We have unique solutions to problems and people need us to show up.

We make healthy, informed decisions.

We are intentional about our business growth and efficiency.

We believe sales is service.

We are not afraid of taxes because we are purposeful savers.

We fulfill all legal expectations because our business’s legitimacy is directly connected to our integrity.

We strive for financial steadiness because out of that flows our ability to be generous.

We are generous to the world because not everyone has been blessed like we have been

We are generous in our community because we believe in helping our neighbors

We are generous to our audiences and our clients because they look to us for value, service, and solutions.

We are generous to our contractors and employees because within their hands lies the success of our businesses.

We endeavor to fill our teams with people smarter than ourselves.

We are generous with our families and ourselves because we’re taking a big risk and our hard work deserves a reward.

We can give generously because we nurture healthy businesses daily.

I hope you stick around for the future episodes as I plan to get more practical about money and business however I believe this introduction offers a solid foundation for what you can expect.

Quotes

“Your money isn’t about you.”

“It is important to create a solid foundation.”

“A safe place to not quite know what you are doing and to learn and grow together.”

WHY WE EXIST AND WHY THIS EVEN MATTERS – Episode 1