In this episode of the Bakersfield Business Mastermind, we talk about the changing landscape of workplace culture and finances.
Join Dr.’s Juanita Webb, Scott Thor, and Justin Hiebert as we discuss how workplace culture and finances impact important things like employee satisfaction, the bottom line of your business, and what you can do to improve morale.
Dr. Scott Thor
Dr. Scott Thor has over 20 years of experience helping leaders get more from their organizations, and individuals eliminate crippling debt from their lives. Scott’s clients have implemented 1,000+ improvements that have led to $150M+ in savings and eliminated over 500,000 hours of unnecessary work. Scott is a Dave Ramsey Preferred Financial coach, certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and has a Doctorate of Management degree from George Fox University.
Questions?
Do you know your biggest workplace culture and finance issues? If you don’t reach out to Scott Thor or Justin Hiebert to talk about what steps you can implement for sustained growth.
Connect with Justin and the #NextSteps Community
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We’re continuing our series on Marcus Whitney’s book Create and Orchestrate, and his eight core concepts to successfully run your business. In today’s post, we’re examining how to have a strong financial plan.
Financial Planning: An Introduction
It seems self-explanatory that a business needs to have a handle on its finances. Yet most new entrepreneurs don’t understand the importance of finance in their business. In my experience, finance is the aspect of business that most new entrepreneurs are weakest in. Understanding finance is critical to ensuring the sustainability of your business.*
Whitney’s assessment has been true not only of my own entrepreneurial journey but of many of the businesses I have coached and partnered with along the way.
I’ll never forget the first month I “made money” as a coach. Someone had actually written me a check, I was profitable … right?
Not so fast. There were the marketing bills I had to pay, the time spend on social media engagement, the debt collected by getting more education, the operations costs, and other bills to pay. All I had really done was gone slightly less in debt that month.
The next month, more people wrote checks. In the following months, there were a few more. Eventually, I was making more from my part-time hustle than I was from my full-time gig. That was when the profit started to happen.
Whitney highlights six key financial components every entrepreneur needs to be aware of in order to have a strong financial plan. These include:
For us, it’s enough to note them and talk about the implications from a coaching perspective.
The Benefits of a Strong Financial Plan
When I first began coaching, I spent my time focusing on leadership health and burnout. Immersing myself in the material and understanding the causes and symptoms, led me to coach my clients through what I call the “health and integrity pyramid.” We examine seven core aspects of everyone’s life and how they need to address pain points and growth opportunities in each of these areas.
The capstone project of the pyramid is financial freedom. This is important because it not only addresses personal and business financial components but to the ultimate goal of purpose-driven entrepreneurs: generosity.
Leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs are almost always on a mission. The work they do is to give their life meaning, but to extend that meaning and purpose to others. Leaders who are clear on their calling (the what and why of the work they do) almost always come out with a need to give back.
To be generous.
They want to bless others.
The journey they started on is ultimately not about them, it is about the people they get to help.
And along the way, if you’re focused on your debt, your limited finances, or your inability to get out of the red, you will be limited in the effect you can have on others.
First, we get their personal finances in order.
Then we get their business finances in order.
Finally, we get them to live a life of total generosity.
Total Generosity
Clients can always tell when it’s about the money. I learned this a long time ago. If I subconsciously bring to a relationship the need for a sale to pay my electric bill this month, my clients can pick up on that. Time and time again, I’ve seen this play out, not only in my own life but in those of my clients. When you have more “month than money” you can only do so much good in the world. However, when my finances are in order, I can multiply the effectiveness of my money and the blessing that I am to others.
If I’m focused on my own needs, I cannot serve those around me. It is only by being financially free that I can ultimately leave a legacy of influence and impact.
That’s why we focus on total generosity. This encompasses a strong financial plan that is free of debt, structured for profit, and able to give back freely.
* Whitney, Marcus. Create and Orchestrate: The Path to Claiming Your Creative Power from an Unlikely Entrepreneur (p. 61). Creative Power. Kindle Edition.
Welcome to the Leaderquest Podcast. This season will consist of interviews conducted for the Building With Purpose Conference I held back in May. This is Episode 15 – Interview with Dr. Thor.
If you failed to register for the full course, stay tuned for the rest of season two! I’ve got interviews coming up with each of the contributors. You’ll be able to glean wisdom from them and apply them in ways to grow yourself and your business.
For the conference, I assembled a diverse team of business professionals to examine the stay at home order and how we can achieve maximum productivity and success while in quarantine. The original conference was designed on the front of a newly issued stay-at-home order. Now, four months later, it seems all the more timely as the economy is looking to reopen.
This is Episode 15 – Interview with Dr. Thor.
My Interview with Dr. Scott Thor
In this episode, I’m having a conversation with Dr. Scott Thor. He is a personal finance coach, helping individuals get out of debt and transform their lives through smart money management. He brings decades of experience as a coach and consultant in both the private practice and business coaching as a Lean Six Sigma black belt.
Be sure to subscribe, leave a comment, and share with someone who could benefit.
What’s one takeaway you have from Episode 15 and my interview with Dr. Thor from the Building With Purpose Conference? How will you take control of your financial planning?
I’m amazed at the knowledge he brings to the table. In the midst of COVID, many of us are struggling financially. This episode was originally recorded before the first stimulus checks and is rereleased here, as the government is now debating a second round. Many of us need help effectively using our money.