How to Make an Impact With Your Finances with Stephanie Skryzowski

Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:00:00]   All right. Hey there and welcome to episode six of We Can Do This. My name is Sean Pritzkau, your host and today I'm excited to have an interview with Stephanie Skryzowski. Stephanie is actually my sister-in-law so we've known each other for a while. Stephanie is the founder and CEO of 100 Degrees Consulting, which provides financial strategy and bookkeeping services to businesses and nonprofits around the world. She also runs The Entrepreneur's CFO Corner, a membership to empower entrepreneurs to master their own finances.

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[00:00:34] So I know whatever stage that you're  in your business this is such an important topic to have a proper mindset around our money, as well as the tools that we need to actually manage our finances and set us up well for the future. So this is going to be a really great episode. So I hope you enjoy my conversation with Stephanie Skryzowski.

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[00:01:10]All right. Welcome to the podcast today.  I am with Stephanie Skryzowski. Stephanie is a visionary Chief Financial Officer that helps purpose-driven leaders better understand and use their numbers to make smart decisions to grow their bottom line and their impact.

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[00:01:22]She is the founder and CEO of 100 Degrees Consulting which provides financial strategy and bookkeeping services to businesses and nonprofits around the globe. Stephanie is passionate about educating leaders to understand, use, and communicate their numbers, to create financial sustainability, and increase their impact on the world.

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[00:01:38] She runs the Entrepreneur's CFO Corner, a membership to empower entrepreneurs, to master their own finances. When she is not crunching numbers, Stephanie is exploring with her husband and her two young daughters, which happen to be my nieces. And it's strange that we don't see other family members in that bio, like her sister and her brother-in-law.

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[00:01:58]But Stephanie we'll forgive you.  Welcome to the podcast today.

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[00:02:01]Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:02:01] Hey, thanks so much for having me, Sean, I'm super excited to talk today.

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[00:02:04]Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:02:04] Stephanie is my wife's sister, so we've known each other for quite a while now and it's ironic that we both own our own businesses and work in kind of similar fields. 

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[00:02:13]So the reason I wanted to have you kind of in some of these first few episodes is I talked to a lot of people who find themselves in entrepreneurship and they, are kind of like accidental entrepreneurs. I would describe myself in the same way that if you asked me 10, 15 years ago where I would be, I don't think I would tell you that I was running my own business.

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[00:02:30]So I don't know if I've ever asked you, did you anticipate starting your own business?

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[00:02:33]Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:02:33] No you know, I was one of those kids. That was very entrepreneurial. I was the kid like putting flyers in your mailbox, advertising that I could do odd jobs for you and walking the neighbor's dogs and babysitting the neighborhood kids and, you know, setting up little stands, selling lemonade and other little crafts at the end of my driveway.

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[00:02:54] So I was very much the entrepreneurial kid, but. I thought I was going to be a lawyer ever since I was like 13 years old. That was all I wanted to do. And so I thought  I was going to be that corporate professional woman working in a high rise building in New York City.  And So that is exactly what I did right out of college.

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[00:03:15] I got a job at a gigantic international law firm in Manhattan. And I was, I thought like living the dream  in Times Square New York City. But less than a year into that, I very quickly realized that it was not for me, corporate law was not for me. I was working with companies that their values really did not align with mine. I was working  long hours and it felt like just sort of pushing paper, working for these super, super wealthy corporations. So that didn't align. I was ready to get out, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I did have the privilege while I was working at the law firm to get assigned to work with this nonprofit.

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[00:03:56] And they were sort of like a pro bono client of the firm and they were helping farmers in Afghanistan to revitalize their land and build their farm businesses, so they could make money for their families, for their children. And it kind of all clicked in that experience.

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[00:04:13] I decided, okay. Law is definitely not for me, but I think I want to work for this non-profit so that kind of set my career off on this trajectory where I was doing, you know, financial management, bookkeeping, accounting and analysis for nonprofit organizations. And I loved it. It was like, I finally felt that light bulb moment where I was like, okay, my skills and something I'm passionate about can really make even a small impact on the world. This is what I want to do. 

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[00:04:42] So. I kind of thought that, you know, eventually one day maybe I would lead a nonprofit, like be the CEO of a nonprofit or,  maybe be living in Africa or running an organization there. I never really thought about being an entrepreneur until it was time to start a family.

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[00:04:58] And then I was like, you know, the thing I want, most of all is freedom. I always think about this. I never want to have to ask permission to someone else to go to a doctor's appointment or, you know, do something with my daughters. And so that was really the sort of catalyst for me starting my business.

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[00:05:19] I saw a need for small businesses and nonprofits to have better financial management and sort of like an outsourced capacity and combined with my desire for my own freedom and you know, not really having to ask permission to do what I want to do in my life. And so that's how the business was born.

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[00:05:36]Awesome. Yeah. So that's, so interesting. I mean, I think there's probably a lot of people, maybe even listening today, that might find themselves in similar spots where maybe growing up and through education, they were always told or asked what they wanted to do. And it really wasn't until they took some significant steps towards maybe these different.

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[00:05:54] Trajectories and realized, Hey, my values are actually developing and that's really important to what I do. And my interest and skills that I'm learning. And then once you said, like you start a family and then you're like, Hey, now I know a whole lot more about what I want to do with my life. I know a lot more about the lifestyle I want to live and the career that upholds that it's really important.

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[00:06:12]So thanks for sharing that. And I don't think I knew a lot about like your entrepreneurial efforts as a young person growing up. So super interesting. 

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[00:06:18]You can ask my sister all about it.  

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[00:06:20] Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:06:20] So I've heard little, little tidbits but like didn't hear about lemonade stands and going door door  and things like this. 

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[00:06:26]It's funny, growing up at one point I. Quit, my part-time jobs in college and started teaching guitar lessons. And I remember I ended up making so much money teaching guitar and  to this day, I'm like, why don't I just open a music school and do that. Because there's so many opportunities wherever you look. 

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[00:06:39]But yeah, so for people who might be like us, maybe. I mean, you were extremely knowledgeable and had an expertise in finance in a lot of ways. And I know a lot of people might not have that experience.

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[00:06:52] For example, when I started my business, money was like probably the last thing I was thinking about. And then I realized, you know, a year later into it,  I'm like I really got to get a grasp on my finances or this business probably isn't going to continue next year. And the year after that, and a lot of people listening today might be in the same spot.

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[00:07:09] They might just be, you know, a bad quarter away from having to find another career path. Or maybe getting a corporate job and leaving behind their dream job. Right. So. What would you say are some of the things that are really important around our mindset around our money?

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[00:07:23] Like what are the things that we need to change the way we think in order to really organize our finances and our business?

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[00:07:30]Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:07:30] You know, I think that so much of our mindset around money really stems from our childhood our upbringing and our experiences. Like we all have sort of preconceived notions about money that have, you know, kind of carried with us throughout our lives. And they, have come from lots of different places.

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[00:07:51]But I think really the first step is kind of recognizing , "How do I feel about money because sure we all want more of it. But underneath that, I feel like there's definitely some underlying feelings. So thinking about scarcity versus abundance you know, maybe we heard growing up  money doesn't grow on trees, or we can't afford that.

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[00:08:13] Or we don't have enough money for that this month. That is a mindset  that money is a limited resource and there's not enough to go around. So maybe you're carrying that into your entrepreneurial journey when in reality our potential to make money is limitless.  Money is a limitless resource. It is abundant. 

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[00:08:32]And I know myself I've often gotten caught in that scarcity trap. Like if I don't land that one client, well, I guess that means no more clients are coming. And, you know,  not enough for me and I should just burn the whole business to the ground.

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[00:08:45]That's very scarcity mind thinking. And so I think identifying kind of where you fall that in particular is really helpful. I also think, you know, a lot of people tell ourselves this story about money that  I'm not good at math. I'm not good at numbers. So I can't manage my money.

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[00:09:02] I'm really bad at managing money. I'm not a good saver. These are stories that we tell ourselves that again, came from, who knows where at some point in our lives, but in truth, you don't have to be a math whiz to manage your money in your business and to do it really simply like you don't have to be an accountant to do that.

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[00:09:23] And so I think that's another mindset where we tell ourselves Oh, we're no good at money. So we might as well just not even think about it. And then the third money mindset piece that I really think of is, you know, a lot of us think that people with money or money in general is evil, money is bad because there are really wealthy people out there that do really terrible things.

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[00:09:42] And so we kind of associate those terrible things with the money. And the flip side of that is thinking that the more money I have, the more impact I can have with that, the more generous that I can be, the more I can give. And so  thinking about it from that perspective is really important because a lot of times we're kind of sending out the vibe. Like, okay, well, money is evil, so I don't want more of it. So it's not going to come to you. So I think it's really thinking about the impact that you can have with the money as well. And so, the key is understanding how do I feel about money?

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[00:10:16] Does money make me feel good or not so good. Do I avoid looking at my bank balance? Or am I excited to see. How much money is in the bank. So I think identifying where you stand right now and then trying to flip the script, if you need to, and think about how you can think about money, the opposite way.

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[00:10:35] Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:10:35] That's so good. And those three things you shared are so true. And so real money is such an emotional thing. How we feel about finance and especially numbers. Like growing up, I was not a numbers person  once they started adding letters and stuff in the math.   I really checked  out, but you know you're my sister-in-law right. But. I've also been able to, work with you in some level, we've done some projects together and I'm in the course that you have  which I'm sure you'll talk about later.

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[00:11:01] But one of the things that I really pulled from some of the teaching that you have is, like you said, it's not really about being a skilled numbers or math person.  What I really learned from you is that it's really about having good habits around your finances that will really set you up for success.

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[00:11:16] Do you want to share with us a little bit of like what habits are really required to get our numbers straight in our business? 

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[00:11:22] Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:11:22] Yeah, I love that you, kind of boil that down. It really is. It's about habits and tools. If you've got the habits and tools your skill set or ability  when it comes to numbers, literally does not matter. So I would say habits are to make your money a priority at some level of frequency.

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[00:11:42] So for some people that means looking at your bank balance every single week  and so I know what's in there. I know it's going out and  I don't spend a lot of time on it you don't have to overthink it. I think it's just like looking once a week at how much money you have in your bank.

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[00:11:56]The next habit that I think is super important is setting some time every single month to do a little bit more of a deep dive with your numbers. And so as an entrepreneur, making sure that you are tracking, somewhere, everything coming in to your business and everything going out of your business.

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[00:12:13]So for some people it's easiest if they're like, honestly, I just want a spreadsheet. That's fine. As long as you're going to be consistent with it and use it a spreadsheet is fine. I like QuickBooks because you can link it to your bank account so you never have to remember  to add things into the spreadsheet because QuickBooks kind of does that for you. But there's plenty of other softwares and tools out there that you can use. So whatever it is, just make sure that you are tracking what's coming in and what's going out every single month. 

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[00:12:42] And then the third piece is really sitting on a monthly basis as well. And kind of looking at those numbers from both a detail level. Like, let's make sure we're not paying for things that we don't be paying for anymore and make sure the numbers are right, but more of like a 30,000 foot view. So thinking, okay , how has my revenue been trending over the last 3 months, 6 months, 12 months? Let's look for some patterns here.

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[00:13:06] Let's look at our expenses. How much are we spending each month? Are we bringing in enough every month to cover those expenses are our total expenses kind of going up and  oh, we didn't realize that what can we do to adjust? So I think that those are really the key things looking at that bank balance or your numbers in some way, shape or form on a weekly basis.

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[00:13:29] Making sure that you're tracking all of your revenue, all of your expenses, and then kind of doing a little bit of a deep dive into your numbers once a month are just some really basic habits that again, you do not need to have any sort of math, you know, affinity to be able to do that.

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[00:13:45] Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:13:45] Hmm, those are so good. Yeah. And when you shared these, with me, I started implementing some of these things. I was definitely like an everyday bank checker. I would look and I have a few accounts. And I'm like, how do I feel about how much money I have today? Do I feel like I'm allowed to spend money on this thing or, you know, make this higher or subscribe to that software. I would make emotional decisions based on being in the weeds of that moment in my bank accounts. And it wasn't really, until I stepped back and said, let's actually not look at the numbers for a week and then let's see how I feel about that week. Or those two weeks or that month.

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[00:14:17]And  so good. True. What you're saying is when you step back, you can actually make much better decisions when you're a little bit less emotionally attached to it.  It's not right before you are opening your account to actually make a payment. Right. You're just looking. Not with the intentions of spending something in the moment, but looking back and seeing, Hey, what are the trends this month?

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[00:14:34] Am I in a good spot this month compared to last month or this time last year? And that just allows you to make much better decisions. So you mentioned a little bit about tools and I know there's probably a million different software.  options, right? When it comes to finances, QuickBooks is definitely one of the popular ones.

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[00:14:52]  Do you have any recommendations for us around software or tools? Both for budgeting, but also, invoicing and those kinds of things that are related to the kind of businesses that people might be running when they listen to the show.

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[00:15:04] Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:15:04] Yeah. There are so many options. And honestly you probably know all the cool ones. I know, the traditional ones, you know, all the cool ones that

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[00:15:13] Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:15:13] You know, the tried and true ones.

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[00:15:15]Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:15:15] Yes. 

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[00:15:15] I know the tried and true, old people once and you know, all the new trend new one. So I'll tell you the old people now.

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[00:15:23]So, QuickBooks online, I feel like it's kind of gold standard for your just basic accounting and bookkeeping system. It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. So if you are a newbie, just starting out, it is perfect for you.

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[00:15:37] If you are,  a $5 million business, it's also perfect for you. And we have clients that span the gamut and they all use QuickBooks. So. I love QuickBooks because it also links to your bank account. So anything that comes into or out of your bank account it's automatically populated in QuickBooks, then you just have to tell it what type of expense or what type of revenue it is.

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[00:15:58] And then boom, you've got your P and L very simple and straightforward. So I love that. And if we're trying to keep things simple you can invoice your clients through QuickBooks as well. So again, it's kind of all housed in one place, which is really nice. 

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[00:16:11] It  automatically deposits into your bank account very, very straightforward. When it comes to payroll or paying contractors. So if you are a W2 employee, employee of your own business or you have other W2 employees. I love Gusto. Gusto also talks to QuickBooks, but they do all of your payroll and your tax filings and all of the administrative legal type stuff that you hate doing for your business, but you really have to, if you want to be legit Gusto takes care of all of that for you. And especially 10 99 contractors.  

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[00:16:43] Another software that I really like to use for some of our clients that have a lot of bills to pay and really wanting to keep all of your bills in one place.

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[00:16:53] There's an add on tool to QuickBooks called  M E L I O. And. As of right now, it's still free. But you can set it up to pay all of your bills and keep all of that in one place, which is really nice. When you're getting, invoices and having to pay things from all different sources, that's kind of nice.

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[00:17:11] And then the last thing I will say is I think the other piece of. Managing your money is really around looking forward. So when we were talking about habits, I was really thinking about  looking at what's already happened, right? Like when you're checking your bank balance, that's ancient history.

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[00:17:27] That's, what's already happened. You can't change. If something has left your bank account, it's gone. and when we're looking at our. P and L our profit and loss statement from last month,  that's looking at what has already happened. We can't change that. What I think is a huge piece for entrepreneurs and one that is really going to help you get from where you are to where you want to be in terms of how much money you're making.

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[00:17:49]Is having a forecast.  I  actually, have a profit playbook, so shameless plug, but I have a template that really helps you build a forecast. And so this is like looking into the future, mapping out your revenue, your expenses, your cashflow. So basically it helps you be able to see, okay. If I made a decision today to invest.

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[00:18:11] In a business coach, what is that going to do to my bank balance three months from now? And I think  it kind of goes back to looking at your bank balance and making decisions based on how you feel about that amount of money. And, we don't really want to be making decisions based on how much money is in the bank, because what that's not taking into consideration is the expenses that you have coming tomorrow or next week

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[00:18:36] If you've got $5,000 in your account today and you go  invest in a $3,000 coaching program, but you forget I have $4,000 in other payments that are coming out a month from now. You've kind of put yourself in a tough situation. So having a forecast really allows you to see any  cash crunches before they become a crunch.

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[00:18:55] And so you can make better decisions because you've got this visibility into the future that you didn't have before. So I would say that's the other tool to really make sure you've got some visibility into the future of your money.

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[00:19:07] Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:19:07] Oh, that's so good. Like you said, there's, those are really good tools to use. There's probably a bunch out there, but it seems like the important thing is just have a system and stick to the system and allow this to kind of be a tool in your tool belt and really manage your money. Well and for the profit playbook, I've downloaded that last year.

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[00:19:24]And. Been really trying to stick to that playbook so if you're listening, definitely download the profit playbook on Stephanie's website. 

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[00:19:31] Thank you so much for sharing that you have tools here that you can use to manage your finances, pay your contractors pay your bills if you need to. And then you have your profit playbook where you can look and begin to forecast.

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[00:19:43]Now I can really show what's ahead and begin to plan and prepare and actually run my business to achieve those goals and the numbers that you're forecasting. So. You shared with us a lot about how to man manage our own finances. But some of us might get to a point where we say this is actually such a taxing part and my business. And it's such a headache for me to manage my own finances that I imagine some people get to a point where they're like, I just need someone else to manage this for me.

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[00:20:11]Is there a appropriate time to kinda move some of that stuff off your plate?

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[00:20:16]Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:20:16] Yes. I love that. It's so true. And, I think it's really important in almost all aspects of our business to do the work ourselves a little bit, at least for a little while first so that we know the right questions to ask when we are going to hire somebody else. So I would never recommend like, Oh, I have a business idea.

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[00:20:36] Let me hire a bookkeeper from day one, because I don't want to ever think about this. Ever. So I love the idea of  I'm going to get things set up. I'm going to do it  for myself a little while. And then, . I want to hire somebody. I would say your first hire definitely should be a bookkeeper.

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[00:20:49]Making sure that your numbers are accurate. They are reconciled. They are coded properly and they're done on a timely basis. Not having to catch up a year's worth of bookkeeping. Making sure that you've got somebody to do that for you, I think is an amazing first step because all of those pieces are really the foundation.

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[00:21:11]I think we've all heard the term garbage in garbage out. Right. So if we have terrible data going into QuickBooks, or  sitting in QuickBooks or, it hasn't been looked at or reconciled in a year, we're not going to be able to analyze that or to forecast because we, we just have garbage to work with.

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[00:21:27]So I would say the first hire, it would definitely be a bookkeeper. And I always liked to share the difference between a bookkeeper. A tax accountant and a CFO. And we'll just throw in like , a certified financial planner. So there's  four different finance people that you might have heard of.

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[00:21:46] And a lot of times you think you're getting one, but you're really not. You're getting somebody else. And so. A bookkeeper, that's the person who's going to be in QuickBooks or zero or whatever accounting system you're using. And they're the one that is going to be sort of in the like line item, detail of your numbers, making sure things are coded and reconciled your tax accountant.

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[00:22:07] It's going to be that person that files your taxes. They're going to tell you how you should be structured as a business. Maybe they'll help you file whatever structure you need for your business. And they know like taxes, tax laws inside and out. So they're going to ask you for your financials in order to do your taxes.

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[00:22:25] And so your bookkeeper usually provides your tax accountant with financial statements to be able to prepare your taxes. And when I see a lot, is that. You hire, you hire a tax accountant. Cause you're like, okay, well somebody's got to file on taxes and you want them to be able to give you some strategy and help on, okay, well what should I be spending my money on?

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[00:22:44]You know, can I afford to hire this person on my team? That's not what their job is. That's not what they're here to do. And have found a lot of like, our clients are like, wait, I'm not getting that type of support from my tax accountant. I'm like, well, that's not really their job. So that's your tax accountant and then the CFO.

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[00:23:00] Is really helping you have that sort of 30,000 foot view of your numbers, analyze them, make smart decisions based on your numbers, forecasting, more of that, sort of partnership with the CEO as a strategist and then a financial planner,  they're really looking at  wealth planning and investments and things like that.

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[00:23:20] So hopefully that was helpful to kind of differentiate between the four different finance professionals. Cause it's something, it's a question I get all the time, but I would say. You're starting out. You've managed your numbers for a little bit. It's not your thing. You're spending way too much time and energy there.

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[00:23:35] Your first person should definitely be a bookkeeper.

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[00:23:38]Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:23:38] That's fantastic. I think once you get to the point where you're ready to really invest into your business in that way, by hiring someone to help with the finances, I think it's really important that you know what you're getting, and that's probably not the clearest thing for a lot of people.

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[00:23:52] So really, really good to know. And first hire financial hire, bookkeeper. It's so good. Awesome. Well is there anything else that you want to add before we close 

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[00:24:01] Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:24:02] I would just say that, you know, managing your numbers does not need to be hard. You don't need to be an accountant or have aspirations to be an accountant to manage your numbers. And I really love the saying that what you focus on expands. And so by giving your numbers some attention every single week, every single month, you are going to find your mindset and your bank account expanding in turn.

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[00:24:27] So I would just encourage you to start making time for that in your, in your week, in your month, if you are not already.

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[00:24:34]Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:24:34] So good. What you focus on expands? I love that. And like you mentioned in the beginning,  when it comes to our mindset around money, if we have a proper mindset around money and we learned that money, isn't. Limited, but it can expand and allow us to have more impact 

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[00:24:48] I think that's really important and really good. Awesome. Well, where else can we find you online? If someone's interested in downloading your profit playbook, if someone's interested, maybe the services that 100 degrees consulting provides, where can we find you?

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[00:25:03] Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

00:25:03] Yeah. So I am over at 100 degrees. [consulting.com/profit is where you can download the free profit playbook. That's the template that we were talking about. That'll help you build a forecast. 100 degrees consulting.com/profit. And then I am over on Instagram. I would say that's where I hang out the most at Stephanie dot S K R Y.

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[00:25:24] So shoot me a note and I would love to chat over there.

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[00:25:27] Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:25:27] Awesome. Well, Stephanie, it was so fun to chat with you today. I'll probably see you pretty soon. But listeners of the podcast definitely check out Stephanie and her company online, download the Profit Playbook. If you have any questions really around making a financial hire or getting your numbers straight in your business, I can't think of anyone better to go to.

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[00:25:46] So make sure to do that. And any links that we referenced in the podcast today for QuickBooks and Gusto and some of these services Stephanie's Profit Playbook will all be in the show notes so you can find them there. And that should be it. Stephanie, thank you so much.

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[00:25:59]Stephanie Skyrzowski: 

[00:25:59] Yeah, thanks for having me, Sean.

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[00:26:01] 

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[00:26:15]Sean Pritzkau: 

[00:26:15] All right. Well, that's it for this week's episode, I hope you were able to take away something from this episode, whether it is just getting a proper mindset around your money or developing some habits that you can begin to instill into your daily or weekly or monthly rhythms around your finances.

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[00:26:33]Or if it's just finding the right tool to actually manage the income that is coming into your business, the expenses and categorizing those things, and really just setting yourself up for the future so that you have the data that you need to really make good decisions around your business. So I know I took away a lot from this conversation.

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[00:26:51] I hope you did. So we've included some links in the show notes for some of these tools, as well as The Profit Playbook that Stephanie talked about. Like I said, that's something that I personally use in my own business and have found really helpful.

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[00:27:06] Yeah. In understanding, kind of money is coming in, what kind of money is going out and. Preparing and looking ahead to what to expect for the future has been really invaluable. And she also has programs that go beyond this playbook.

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[00:27:20] If you're looking to really take seriously how you manage your finances. So thanks again for tuning this episode. Of We Can Do This. 

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[00:27:29] So, if you want to connect with us beyond the show, you can follow us on Instagram at @wecandothisco. And if you found this episode helpful and you know, someone else that maybe has a small business or could benefit from this episode, feel free to send the link to them and hope this show is helpful for them too.

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[00:27:49] So thanks again and see you next week.

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[00:27:51] 

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[00:28:27]