Money is a Reflection of What You Feel You’re Worth with Rachelle Calina
It’s all about money, finances, and recognizing your worth this week, with Rachelle Calina, CPA and Founder of Honest Buck Accounting. Rachelle shares her journey into starting a fantastic early learning accounting and financial metrics firm, and details some financial benchmarks and best practices to be set up for success no matter your size, capacity, or what’s happening in the outside world. Rachelle and Kris talk about how to add value to your customers, measuring your money metrics, and how to use simple math and forecasting tools to drive more profit into your business. Rachelle shines a light on a few critical key indicators you should be measuring to gauge financial success in your business.
Key Takeaways:
[9:01] Rachelle was a CPA for 12 years and focused primarily on early childhood education businesses. Honest Buck works with anything that has to do with education, which could be schools, daycare centers, music programs, etc.
[11:37] Fun fact: Rachelle is a cat mom to four fur babies and even has her very own Simba, just like Kris!
[14:20] Rachelle talks about the financial landscape post-pandemic, and the blessing and curse of government grant money.
[18:29] If you don’t have money in the bank account, you’re not going to make it. Rachelle would say have three months’ worth of expenses in the bank, ideally six months.
[20:07] Rachelle comes across two types of people in the childcare industry: those that know their value, and those that don’t.
[21:59] Rachelle explains why she thinks that it is challenging for childcare owners and leaders to be confident with their money and to have an eyes-wide-open approach versus a head-in-the-sand approach.
[25:44] Rachelle talks about some powerful tools you can use to monitor, report, and forecast your expenses and books, one being FathomHQ.
[29:19] Knowing how much is your fixed expenses is really powerful.
[30:20] Write this down: payroll plus rent needs to be at or below 70% of income revenue.
[40:27] How can we reframe our mindset to be excited to pay taxes?!
[41:08] What should you look for when reviewing monthly financial statements?
Quotes:
- “The thing that people don’t necessarily know about me is that I actually wanted to be a teacher.” — Rachelle [12:13]
- “If you don't have money in the bank account, you're not going to make it.” — Rachelle [18:29]
- “If you're not looking at the value you're creating, you're really not going to be focused on the financial repercussions.” — Rachelle [22:24]
- “Knowing how much your fixed expenses are is really powerful.” — Rachelle [29:19]
Sponsored By:
ChildCare Education Institute (CCEI)
Use code CCSC5 to claim a free course!
Mentioned in This Episode:
The Child Care Success Company