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Ask Me Anything! (Celebrating Our 100th Episode Solo Show Style)

APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY Before we dig into today’s show, I want to say THANK YOU! 100 Episodes! Thank you for being a loyal listener, for taking the time to rate and review the show, for your outpouring of encouragement in my inbox and for faithfully showing up week after week to cheer on our incredible guests. […]

Photo of Shanna Skidmore, founder of The Blueprint Model, in cream sweater.

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Hey, I’m Shanna Skidmore. Former Fortune 100 Financial Advisor turned Business Consultant. For the past 15 years I’ve worked in finance helping entrepreneurs around the world make more money and then manage it well. During that time I’ve unlocked the blueprint to building a profitable and sustainable business designed to align with the life you want to live.

Here’s the thing—the "business side of running a business" can be hard, and it’s not everyone’s best skill—but it *is* mine. I would be honored to come alongside you on your business journey.

Shanna Skidmore

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APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

Before we dig into today’s show, I want to say THANK YOU! 100 Episodes! Thank you for being a loyal listener, for taking the time to rate and review the show, for your outpouring of encouragement in my inbox and for faithfully showing up week after week to cheer on our incredible guests.

Two years, three seasons, and 90+ interviews later… What started honestly as a passion project to bring you the real behind the highlight reel, the highs, lows, and messy middle moments I have the privilege to see in my work every single day but I don’t think most entrepreneurs see..

We feel like we’re on an island alone, wondering if we are the only ones dealing with …

Pennies in our bank account
Or making a bad hire
Or struggling to book clients
Or landing on Oprah’s favorites list and selling out inventory in 10 minutes.

Wherever you find yourself on your entrepreneurial journey, I hope this show has encouraged you! Entrepreneurship is beautiful and hard and messy… but once the bug bites you, your bit.

Recently we asked our newsletter subscribers to send in questions you’d like for me to weigh in on and boy did you deliver! Our team pulled five audience submitted questions that I will be answering in this episode. From how to pay yourself to saving for retirement, just me, the mic, and your burning questions. I’m dishing up my best business advice for entrepreneurs!

There’s a first time for everything—today is the day— an “ask me anything” coaching show! Happy 100th episode, here we go!

In this Episode:

Question #1 ❓Hey Shanna, I am 35 and haven’t started saving yet for retirement – starting to feel like a big yikes. Would love your take on how to get started! [1:38]

Question #2 ❓ Hey Shanna, What is the best/ worst investment you’ve ever made as a business owner? [5:57]

Question #3 ❓ HOW do I pay myself? What are the factors to consider? What if the business is not making enough money yet? [10:27]

Question #4 ❓ Knowing what you know now—what are three things you would still have done the same and three things you would have done differently? [17:08]

Question #5 ❓ How did you transition from 1:1 to group and at what point do you recommend scaling. I have “bright shiny object disease” and worry about hopping from one thing to another? [20:00]

Put’em on a Bumper Sticker. These Quotes are Pure Gold.

“Having the financial ability to choose to work or not, to me, is the ultimate goal of retirement savings— or just savings in general.”

“There’s a reason Albert Einstein said, ‘compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world!’ — just get started!”

“I have not always been great at hiring people, I have let being a boss overwhelm me. But after a few years of trial and error, I feel like I found my sweet spot of hiring. Personally I don’t want paying paychecks to feel stressful. I also don’t want to be worried about having enough work for someone to do. I was really intentional about what was working / didn’t work with different hires and now I feel like I’ve found my sweet spot. Also, not being afraid of asking for help and letting the job be the job.”

“I see a lot of people early in business cover their material costs and labor but tend to not factor in their time. So when they need to hire a team or rent a studio, any money they were paying themselves with before goes to paying for these new expenses.”

“Instead of stressing about fluctuating income. I focus on what I can control. And that is understanding my expenses. I want to know exactly how much is going OUT each month and then set goals on my monthly income.”

“Keeping a pulse on how much is coming in each month and how much is going out each month, aka cash flow, is the only way to ensure you can always pay that paycheck.”

“I did 1:1 client work for 3 years officially (4 years unofficially) before creating a scalable product. I once heard a quote that said something like “never scale until your main source of income is secure”. And I think that’s really valid. I see people jump from offer to offer or try to scale too early and it can really slow growth in everything.”

Shanna Skidmore

Shanna Skidmore is a business strategist, financial coach, and international speaker with clients and students in more than 26 countries. Nicknamed the “dream–releaser” by her clients, she’s helped business owners around the world build lives and businesses they love! Her greatest joy in life (besides being a wife and mama), is helping others chase after their dreams.

After working alongside thousands of creative entrepreneurs, Shanna took the most confusing, frustrating, frequently asked (and frequently wine-and-tears accompanied) business concepts—financial planning, strategy, scale, mindset—and simplified them. With a background in finance, psychology, and art she has successfully married the world of business and creativity, and now uses her 15+ years of experience to teach and consult with business owners around the world using her proven strategic growth models.