THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON THE NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL BLOG

One of my biggest passions in life is to help other women succeed in business. I’m on a mission to bridge the gap between the world of money and creative entrepreneurship so you can feel confident in your finances, clarity in your direction, and freedom to go on creating just as long as your heart desires!

After seeing first-hand how women entrepreneurs were spinning their wheels—hustling day and night to get their businesses up and running, but never having much to show for their efforts—I came to realize that is a common characteristic of most creative startups such as: wedding photographers, floral designers, interior designers, and artists.

These women love what they do and are so good at it. But they don’t know how to turn their creative passion into successful businesses.

After five-years experience as a Fortune 100 financial advisor and as a controller at a small design firm I was able to see a need for bridging the gap between money and creative entrepreneurship. In order to love your business and succeed there are three things you must know.

1.

Value your time correctly

Do you know what it really takes to get your product or service out the door? Entrepreneurs are pretty good at understanding their up-front material costs, but often underestimate the value of their time. That’s why, when I start working with a client, the first thing I do is have them start tracking their time for each project or engagement.

It’s an eye-opening exercise; they often find out they’re netting out at about $5 an hour. No wonder many of these women feel overworked and underpaid. But once you do the math and see what it actually costs to produce your goods, you can shift from setting prices based on emotion — that ‘pay me what you can’ mentality — and start charging an appropriate amount.

2.

Account for other costs

In addition to being fairly compensated for your time, you also need to cover other overhead expenses such as income tax, liability insurance, licensing (if necessary) and professional services from an accountant or attorney.

It’s very easy to overlook these costs, especially if you’re a sole proprietor who’s set up shop in the spare bedroom or the basement. But these costs can eat away at profits pretty quickly if you don’t account for them in your pricing.

3.

Manage cash flow with a spending plan

I once worked with a floral designer who brought in multiple six figures, but didn’t know how to hold on to it and couldn’t even pay herself a salary. Admittedly, it’s hard to manage cash flow when there can be wild fluctuations in income from one month to the next. And unfortunately, many budgeting tools don’t really work for entrepreneurs because they’re built on the assumption that you have a steady, predictable source of income that gets divvied up every month across categories of saving, spending and investing.

Entrepreneurs need to create a spending plan based not on what you know is coming in (since you don’t always know it), but on what you need. How much do you need this month or this year to cover your costs, pay yourself a salary, put something away for retirement and generate a profit? From there, work backward to determine how many clients you need to take on (or how many products you need to sell) and, more importantly, how much you can spend from each sale or engagement and still have money in the bank.

That’s one of the things I learned when I was at Northwestern Mutual, and something that’s so relevant for entrepreneurs: Wealth is not about how much money you make. It’s about how you spend the money you make.

Do yourself a favor. Or three.

When you have a spending plan (and stick to it), you’ll be able to overcome the big fear most entrepreneurs have: Running out of money.

Imagine how much better you’ll sleep at night knowing exactly what you need and where your money is going. And when you feel more confident about your financial situation, you may also free yourself to spend. That’s something entrepreneurs sometimes have a hard time doing.

You may also find that as you begin to treat your entrepreneurship less like a hobby and more like a business, you’ll live a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Related: Read success stories from women who turned their creative passion into successful businesses using these exact tips.

So many women I work with sacrificed much of their time with family because they thought they needed to hustle all hours of the day and night to build a profitable business. But trust me, you don’t need to be answering the phone at 8 p.m. or writing proposals on Saturday. You just needed to get a better handle on your costs, price appropriately and follow a spending plan.

Work smarter, not harder — so you can spend less time making a living and more time making a life.

Are you ready to turn your passion into profit? Then this is the blueprint for you! Click here to join the Blueprint Model waitlist and make this dream a reality.

YOUR TURN!

Have you ever felt the pain of hustle or trying to do all the things that you lose your passion for something you love? Or even worse, end up working harder, not smarter and working your life away instead of living it? Comment below if you’ve ever felt this way and how I can help you through this season in your business.