More Money Podcast - 023 How to Become a Successful Girl Boss - Carrie Smith from Careful Cents

Episode Date: October 21, 2015

In this episode, I interview Carrie Smith from Careful Cents about how she paid off $14,000 in consumer debt and was able to leave her stressful 9 to 5 to become a top business coach for freelancers and entrepreneurs. Long episode description: As Carrie and I mentioned at the start of this episode, we met in person over a year ago at FinCon 2014 in New Orleans and totally hit it off. It was actually Carrie, myself and Cait from Blonde on the Budget that hung out quite a bit at that conference, and I am really looking forward to doing it again at FinCon 2016 in San Diego. Speaking of FinCon, a huge congratulations to Carrie for winning Best Entrepreneurship Blog at the 2015 Plutus Awards this past September. Way to go girl! Carrie has a really interesting story all about overcoming huge financial challenges and taking some big risks to live the life she knew she deserved. She went into debt, she went through a divorce and she had a really stressful accounting job that turned her into a workaholic. But she saw the light at the end of the tunnel and worked her butt off to get to where she is today. If you’re looking for some mid-week motivation, this podcast episode is it! Notable Blog Posts by Carrie Solopreneur Success: How I Built a Community of 3,000 Loyal Subscribers From Employee to Business Owner: How I Overcame My Biggest Business Challenge A Guaranteed Plan of Action for Achieving Your Financial Goals Useful Resources for Freelancers The Best Freelance Business Tools Digital Workships Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to Episode 23 of the Mo Money Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you so much for joining me on this lovely Wednesday day. I am thrilled to interview my next guest, Keri from Careful Sense. She's been in the personal finance blogging game a long time and actually got the chance to meet her at FinCon last year in 2014. So I'm super pumped to talk to her about her personal finance journey and how she was able to create her own business. Now she was able to quit her full-time job as an accountant and start her own business. And part of her business is helping other people create their own businesses, which is super, super cool. So without further ado, let's start the show. Thanks, Keri, for joining me on the program today.

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to chat. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely wanted you on the show after I met you at FinCon last year, and we had a really great time. So after kind of getting to know your story, I knew I had to contact you and talk to you about everything. Yeah, I was gonna say, if no one else knows, we've already met in person and we totally did. We did. We had a great time. So let's kind of jump in. What, you know, where did this fascination and interest in personal finance start with you? Well, I kind of feel like I've always been the, the geeky person with that.

I've always enjoyed money. I've always, you know, been drawn to like numbers and accounting and stuff like that. And there was a time in my high school years where I could either have gone the artist route, like literally become a painter or become the accountant, which I eventually chose that path because of a bunch of stuff that happened in my life. And I lost my mom when I was 15 to cancer. And so a bunch of different stuff happened. So I chose the safe route, you know, to be in the accountant and that would be the way to make money and make a good career. So right out of high school, I became an accounting assistant and I worked my way up to a certified bookkeeper, a tax professional specializing in small business taxes, small business accounting, all that stuff. So that was, you know, several years out of high school, and then I worked at a firm that handled a bunch of oil and gas businesses here in Texas for over a decade.

So I basically have been in that industry my whole adult life. And so a lot of it stemmed from that, being able to work with other small business owners, other self-employed people, and seeing a lot of the conflicts and problems and areas that stumped them up with owning a business. And being able to help them with my knowledge and past experience. So that's how my blog was born born was more of a personal finance angle. And then as the years progressed, and I decided that personal finances was way boring. Or it could be, you know, like, I was more interested in the entrepreneurship and the small business angle. Anyway, so I decided to sort of let that part of it take off more. And that's definitely been much more of a passion project of mine. Just being able to share my struggles as someone who's self-employed now going from working at the accounting job and eventually quitting and then being my own boss now and helping other people basically do the same thing with the financial part in mind. So that's basically what I do is help and coach other freelancers and people who want to become self-employed through the whole, you know, how much money do I need to save and how do I deal with taxes and what do I do with retirement and those sort of financial obstacles.

Absolutely. So were you just kind of tired of the accounting thing? Or yeah, you said you were just more interested in kind of starting your own business. When did that kind of interest in starting your own business start? And how did you kind of make that, you know, big decision to leave your job and start your own, you know, business where you're, you know, you're your own boss. I didn't initially set out to quit my job. And I by no means like advocate that you have to quit your job to be happy. You know, like you can, I was in a very fulfilling career for for almost 11 years. And it did get to the point where through the recession and stuff here in the US that it was very much just like I was doing 10,000 things and I didn't get

hired to do that, you know? Um, so after conversations with my boss and really working with like my, my time was just crazy and I can't work these hours anymore and stuff like that, it eventually came down to an ultimatum of, we need you to work this job or you need to quit and hire someone else. So I just basically said, okay, we'll see you because, you know, throughout the same timeline, I had also gotten married when I was 22 and then gotten divorced three years later. So my workaholic job really cost me my relationship. And so it came to a point like a year or two later that I was struggling with the job taking over my life again. And I was very, you know, like losing a lot of

weight and I was stressed out. And, you know, I had no relationships anymore. And so it was an ultimatum that I was happy to oblige to say, okay, I can't follow this career path anymore. You know, having a lot of money in the bank meant nothing if I lost my marriage and I was losing my hair, you know? Absolutely. One thing you do talk about when your blog was mainly just personal finance focused was that you did have a kind of a chunk of debt there you're chipping away at. Like where did that come from?

And how did you, you know, and you paid it off. So how did you kind of crush it? What did you do? Oh, gosh, yeah. I mean, the debt came from the divorce. So we had bought a house together and two cars, and we had a lot of credit card debt. And so when we split, it was 50-50, and we sold the house. And fortunately, we were fine with that, but we didn't make any any profit really. So we ended up with that each of us and I had $14,000 made up the rest

of my car loan and some credit card debt. Um, so when I moved to a new city to follow, um, a job, a tax professional job, it really was a wake up call because I honestly couldn't afford a nice place. And being in debt really put me in a financial bind. So basically, one night, there was a drive by shooting right outside my second floor window. Yeah, it was like right there. There was a bullet in my car. Yeah. And yeah, that's great. And and yeah all that stuff so I was like I have to get out of here I can't just live paycheck to paycheck anymore and not you know be in this debt and not have financial freedom that I'm looking for especially as somebody who's supposed to be you know responsible with money or tell other people how to be responsible with their money

so um I decided to change my life. And so 14 months later, I paid off all my debt and I had like a plan and I moved out of that apartment and I found a new relationship that I'm in now and I got remarried. And, you know, so it was a process of about a year and a half to two years of really going and slogging through that by myself and changing my life, which is all documented on my blog. Amazing. And I'll include some of your, maybe you let me know some of like the top posts for your story. And I'll include those in the show notes because I think, yeah, that's a pretty, you know, I think a lot of people struggle with debt, but that's a pretty crazy

story. And that's, you know, and it's not any, like, that doesn't sound like a very easy thing to come out of when you are, you know, in that situation and on your own. You just went through this really traumatic experience in your relationship and you're, you know, have to figure out a way out. I mean, sometimes, you know, it'd be hard to, I'd say, find that kind of motivation or, you know, believe that you can do it. Yeah, it was very difficult. And, you know, paying off debt is just sort of one step in the process, which, of course, I only found out after I started going through it, like, oh, this is only part one, you still have a whole nother mountain to climb. So yeah, it was a big journey and a lot of learning. And yeah, I mean, but it is it's good to know that in even those terrible situations, sometimes what you're capable of and if you really put your mind to it and create a plan.

I worked with other people who were in debt too and I talked to them through my blog and readers and stuff like that. And that really helped a lot, people like you and stuff that can relate to hard financial times. And I was able to find the encouragement through that as well. Absolutely. And that's definitely part of the reason I think that I was really drawn to the personal finance community was when I was, you know, fresh out of university, couldn't find a job and was broke. Like, please. And then I found a bunch of people that also had similar stories and, you know, we can help each other so that was really great and I think that was so great about your blog as well but let's kind of uh shift I guess because I am really fascinated by your new business so you kind of morphed careful sense

into more of a a blog still about your personal finance but also helping other people that want to do the same as you and maybe start their own business. Now, one question I do have, because I love the idea of the side hustle. I think I've always had one since I finished school, because I do think it's important to have multiple streams of income just because it's great to have extra money. But I mean, for someone like me who works full time, and I probably will for the foreseeable future, is it harder to kind of start your own business while you already have a job? Or do you kind of recommend that people should kind of, you know, like the goal should be to leave your job to make your business your main job? Or what's your idea on that? Yeah, I actually think, I don't think

anyone's ever asked me that question. I found that I think about it. I just want to know for myself. Yeah, for sure. No, it's, it's a good question. And you know, I would recommend still doing it while you have a job. I feel like the structure of a day job really helped me launch my business. So I had a side hustle for two years, then I quit my job, and it's been full time for two years. So sort of like half and half and being able to do it on top of my day job on weekends, nights, whatever, really gave me the structure and like the work ethic that I needed. And like, for the first year of me being self employed, I promise you, I floundered all over the place. And I had established it for already like two years.

So it's really difficult to create it sort of out of nothing like a routine and the boundaries that you need. And of course, you know, me being a workaholic, I could just work all the time and I'm at home. So it's just like 24-7. I totally agree. I feel and I feel like I mean, I think the only experience I have with that is like once in a while for my day job, I'll work from home. And I do find sometimes I have to really focus a bit more because I'm in this space where I'm comfortable in. And my husband being a freelancer as well, I can see like it's always been a really tough job for him to just because it's just hard for him to find that balance.

I feel like we joke about this all the time. Like, I feel like if I wasn't with him as his wife, he would literally work like 24-7. Because he wouldn't know when to stop. Right. Exactly. And, you know, the steady paycheck is so valuable. You don't realize until you don't have it. And it's just like even if you only make like,

you know, $200 a paycheck or something that consistent, like money is so helpful. And I mean, I still have, I still struggle with it. And I'm like two years into being self-employed and I, you know, blog a lot about cashflow and how to even that out and stuff like that. Cause that's a big pain point for freelancers. And I still have bad months and stuff. So I'd say starting out with a side hustle while you have other jobs and stuff is definitely the way to go. Get groceries delivered across the GTA

from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. So what would, because I was reading your blog and you have, you've created this community, which I think is awesome for people that are serious about going that route. What are some of the, I guess, you know, for people when if they're considering or they're like, I think I might want to try that. What are things that you would tell them that, okay, well, before jumping in, these are things that you should think about

to see if this is actually right for you. Oh, man, I feel like there's a long list. Just like, here's a longer as I do this. But I mean, it's totally doable. It just really does That is a long list. attitude, a positive attitude towards getting it done and a go getter, you know, Ness, then it can totally happen. It just depends on like what your timeline is, you know, are you wanting to reach a certain income goal in six months? Well, you're going to have to work a lot to make that happen. Um, if you want to reach a certain like business goal or career status or something with your business, then what's your timeline for it? And then sort of working those goals back from there. Because I've worked with people that initially came to me and they were like, I'd love to be able to do this in three months. And I'm like, okay, it's totally doable. I've done it. I've helped people do it. But let me tell you, you're gonna have no social

life. You know, so it's like same thing with debt and everything else. Like how quickly are you wanting to achieve this goal? And then, you know, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome while you're trying to do that. But I will say any extra money you have in the bank, so if you wanted to quit your job and launch your own business, any extra money or emergency fund or anything that you have extra will be a huge relief and help in building your business. So basically, the more you have, the more the less risks you have to take, the more comfortable you can be with making decisions and things like that. So I wish that I had saved up a bit more. I saved up like 10k and I thought it was going to be enough. And it was not. Really?

Yeah. Because yeah, that seems like a big chunk of change. Well, it is when you think about it. But then when you think of like, okay, so not only are you paying your personal expenses, you know, so like the $3,000 a month for us, for my husband and I, for our living expenses, but then you also have like,

you know, stuff for business expenses. And if you have, you know, people that you outsource work to, you have recurring stuff for like a cell phone and, you know, all these subscriptions and things to help your business run. It can climb really quickly, especially taxes, you know, like I have to pay 20% of it off the top to taxes. So it goes really quickly. And in like several months, you're like, wow, I just spent my whole lot. Yeah. And I think that's actually an interesting thing that you mentioned because, you know, for instance, starting this podcast, I'm like, oh, sure, I'll start this podcast. It'd be, you know, great fun to try out. But I didn't really realize the business expenses it would cost me. And I actually wrote a blog post about it, comparing it to blogging.

Blogging you can actually do on the cheap, but podcasting you do actually have to put a little bit of money in. And I think that's something that most people, when they're considering a business, they may not realize that you actually have to spend money to make money. I mean, you know, within reason, obviously. Right, exactly. And, you know, as someone who is the boss now, you have to also think about more high level business decisions and tactics. So you're

constantly learning, or at least I am, you know, I'm taking courses and I'm reading books and, and I'm sort of always spending and investing in myself to increase my level of learning for the business that I run, as well as, you know, just the day to day tasks that you have to manage. So it's constantly a balancing act. And once you accept that, though, then you take it on as like a fun challenge. But, you know, there's a lot of things that I would tell people to do. But I think in the beginning, having the biggest financial cushion possible, and then secondarily to a support system. So you know, like a husband or a spouse or a really good entrepreneurial friend or all of the above, which is what I had. Because you need that support for

sure. Absolutely. One thing I did want to talk about, because I think I saw a blog post on your website about retirement. And that's something that I've always been really curious about just because when, I mean, Josh has been freelancing for over eight years. And whenever we talk about retirement, you know, we joke that I'm like, well, I'll, I'll save for retirement for the both of us. Because, you know, I always have like the steady paycheck. What do you, that's always, I find that's one of the things that lots of people that consider, you know, being a freelancer working for themselves, it's kind of like on the bottom of their list.

But I think it's still something important to kind of budget in. What do you kind of, what are your thoughts on like, how do you save for retirement while also putting this money into your business and trying to save and, you know, kind of balancing all of these plates at the same time? For sure. It's a really big point that I try to talk about because like you said, it is on the bottom of everyone's list. And when you step back and really think about it, and this is what I tell people too, it's like, you don't have an employer who's going to put in money towards your match savings. You don't have employer who's going to put in money towards your match savings. You don't have anybody who's going to help you save for retirement.

The government's not going to take care of you. Who's going to do it? Well, you have to because no one else is. And you don't get a paycheck anymore. No one pays half your taxes and part of your health insurance and all that. So these are all things that you have to rely on yourself to provide for you and your family. And it's a really big wake up call not to like discourage that being the boss and self-employed isn't great, but there are realities to it. And retirement is definitely one of those. I will say that I even right now struggle with that sometimes because the cash flow is so all over the place.

And so sometimes I can max it out or some months rather I can max out my savings. And then other months it's only like $100 into my Roth IRA retirement account. So it really – I think the important thing to know is like, just start and work towards putting that in your monthly business expenses. I mean, that's what I put it in as. And even if it's $25 one month, you know, you got to put that, make that the priority as much as possible, because like I said, no one's going to do it for you. And I feel like one of the kind of challenges being your own boss,, because I have like that steady number that I'm going to get every two weeks, I just set a automatic transfers

whenever I go to paycheck, you know, money will automatically go into like my retirement savings and my emergency savings and all that. Do you find it challenging as a freelancer to, you know, kind of mentally, like physically have to, you know, you can't do like the set it and forget it, which is sometimes like, that's how we start saving. That's how, you know, I kind of got into saving for myself, but I find like, it's almost a bit, I don't know, you have to be a little bit more focused and organized to really reach those savings goals and those financial goals. Yes, that's true. It does make it more difficult to get started, which is why, I mean, I use some different tools and things to where it's still automated, but it's like,

seriously, like $14 a week or something really, really tiny, you know, like 10 bucks a week to get started in the beginning, because the more you can put your money on autopilot. And I mean, I pay myself a small weekly salary just so it is like consistent money coming into the household bank account, stuff like that, trying to get that consistent paycheck. That will help. And then having the little bits of money go out every week or every month as much as possible. So, you know, something is better than nothing. And as I've been self-employed for a few years, as I continue, then I've been able to increase those monthly or weekly amounts because my budget has gotten used to it. It's not where I'd want it to be, but it's definitely a lot more

than it was. And another thing I noticed is you are self-employed, you have your own business, but you also have staff or contributors that are like helping you. So I guess they're, you know, sort of like your employees. And that's probably natural for most, you know, small businesses is to have a couple employees. Did that kind of when did that kind of come into the mix? And did that change how you worked? I'm curious. Yeah, I actually was was I hired my first assistant editor when I was still side hustling. Oh, really?

Yeah, because I my time was so limited. And I funded, you know funded it from the small revenue that I was making from my blog and through the clients that I was working with at the time. And that helped me create systems that I still use today, actually, and be able to stretch my time better, manage my time.

And also, so it helped me reevaluate what I was doing. If I wasn't willing to pay someone, you know, $15 or $20 an hour to do this, why am I doing it myself? So a lot of stuff like that, the systems that I put in place, evaluating what I was spending time and money on, and then also having somebody who helped me stay accountable. So it's like, hey, how's this project coming along? I know you mentioned XYZ. I haven't heard about it. Should I be doing it? Having somebody who helped me stay accountable. So it's like, hey, how's this project coming along? I know you mentioned XYZ. I haven't heard about it. Should I be doing it?

You know, like helping me move my business forward and not forget the important things. So all of those have helped me for several years working with, you know, independent contractors. And if you have like real employees for your small business or whatever, I find is really beneficial. Absolutely. I wish I had an assistant. Oh, yeah, for sure. I would love someone to be like, Jessica, you said you do this and you haven't done it. Yeah, yeah. It's actually nice because I get to work with people now who have almost more of a go-getter

attitude than I do. So they're reminding me and they're like offering ideas. And then they're also like, you know, fellow freelancers and stuff. So I can pick their brain and, you know, talk to them and they can give me like, yeah, this is a terrible idea, Carrie, stop that. So and it's nice when you're going out of town or something too, or something pops up an emergency and you can't get to it, you can ask them to do it. Fabulous.

Yeah. One kind of last question for anyone, you know, thinking about doing this, what kind of tools or resources would you suggest for them to kind of, you know, get their feet wet and just kind of educate themselves? Well, number one, I would be carefulsense.com. Of course. Number two, your website. Of course. I mean, the blogging for sure. Any reading any other people's blogs, stuff that you relate to their story and their experience too, you know, that really helped me grow my business and learn new things is like, oh, well, I'm really drawn to this person, not just because they're cool or their personality, but the way that they process their business and the way they market it and what they put out really resonates

with me. So I'm going to try that and see if it resonates with my readers or my clients. So that's, you know, one thing to do. And then, you know, just building, like we talked about my community of freelancers, you know, being able to build your network and connect with other people, building relationships, not networking, but building actual relationships with people. And, you know, just even getting to the point where you can ask them questions or, you know, just shoot them an email or you're having a rough day or, you know, in the private community that I have, we just ask questions all the time and we show each other support. And, you know, no matter if it's like a win or a failure that you've had or something, you can find people that you can connect with and really bounce ideas off of and find what you need, but also that emotional, you know, support that you are looking for as somebody who could be working at home alone and it can get really lonely and discouraging. Yeah. No, I think having a network of people doing what you're doing

that you can talk to on the regular, especially as a freelancer while you're working alone, super important. And I mean, yeah, my husband has the same thing. Really, when we first moved to Toronto, he needed to build up his client base. And so he started going to these industry meetups and he still has like really solid relationships because of that network he created at the beginning. It's important to, yeah, not network, but yeah, have those solid relationships that turn into friendships and so on. Yeah, absolutely. You know, having an accountability buddy or a business coach, I've had a business coach. I S I've had a business. Well,

I had a side hustle coach at the time when I was side hustling and then now a business coach and all of those things have really helped me shape, um, you know, the format of, of my work and my career, because it's nice to, to see, read other people's experiences through their blogs and then also connecting with them on a more personal level. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. One thing I do want to just ask before we go is I'm so excited for your business. Your website is awesome and you have a lot of great resources, materials on there, which I will share in the show notes. But where do you kind of see yourself in the next couple of years?

Because I know your business is still quite new, just two years old, and it's already, you know, doing pretty well. Where do you kind of see yourself in the future? Well, I'm really, really like, I hate to use the word passionate, but I guess we'll say obsessed with like talking to other freelancers and really empowering them to understand that you don't have to let these financial obstacles stand in your way to reach the goals that you want to reach. So I have, you know, with the community that I've started, I also have a small sort of beta group of a service called the Client Connection that connects quality freelancers to really good

clients and those that will pay them well and give them quality work. And, you know, so I'm experimenting with all different kinds of platforms and services that I can offer other small business owners to really level up their business and get past those financial mountains, as I call them, that stumble us up so much. And so hopefully in the next few years, my business will still be a reflection of that and be able to take the community to the next level. And, you know, it's like really hard when you start freelancing because you have to work for like peanuts. And I hate that. And it's so annoying. And the clients want this cheap work. And then it's like, we have to teach our clients how to treat us and then show them the type of work that we can do that can be so much better. So that's basically what I'm on a mission to do. I love it. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, Keri, for joining me on the show today. I really appreciate it. Yeah.

Thank you so much. It was a good talk. And thank you so much for listening to this episode. Again, Keri, her blog, her website is carefulsense.com. And she's got a lot of, I know I mentioned throughout this show that there's so many cool things on her website because there is, there are a lot of freebies, a lot of just cool resources. If you're interested in starting your own business or you just don't, you're just curious, you just kind of want to find out what's going on and what kind of, you know, things you need to know. So definitely encourage you to check out her website. And of course, I will include links to things that we

referred to in the show notes for this episode at momanymohouses.com slash 23. And for all the episodes, of course, you know, to go to momanymohouses.com slash podcast. Before I go, just going to give a few quickunes shout outs to some awesome people that left me some reviews the first one i have is from heather gh she says i'm really enjoying this new personal finance podcast jessica has a great voice to listen to and so far all her interviews have been fun informative and i've really been able to relate to the discussions and found inspiration for my own personal finance journey damn thanks heather, Heather. I love that. Another one I've got is from Jill Freeland. Jessica, the host, is so smart. Plus, she chooses the most interesting people to interview. I learned

so much from these podcasts. Damn. Also, another awesome review. Thanks, Jill. And last but not least, I've got one from mobile home girl um she says really enjoy this podcast just because it's very sincere and honest her style and format is great for anyone looking to learn about personal finance while driving in the car working out at the gym commuting to work or just relaxing at home with every episode she gets right to the point has a wide variety of guests with interesting stories and experiences to share Add this podcast to your listening library today. Well, thank you so much. I love these reviews. I'm sorry, but it's such a cool, awesome ego boost for me because I do put a lot of time and effort into these podcasts.

And it really means a lot to me that people like you are listening and are loving it. So thanks again for listening to this episode. I will see you next Wednesday for episode 24. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.