What happens when a time management expert and a financial strategist sit down to talk about building a business that actually supports your life? Magic. I recently joined Kelly Nolan on The Bright Method Podcast to dig into one of my favorite topics: how to price for profit and protect your time as a business owner.

Kelly helps high-achieving women take back control of their schedules. I help them make smart, sustainable decisions with their money. In this conversation, we talked about where time and money boundaries intersect—and how getting clear on your “enough number” can change everything. We also got into why profit matters more than revenue, how to price your services in a way that honors your life (not just your spreadsheet), and why boundaries aren’t selfish—they’re essential.

If you’re a creative entrepreneur looking to align your time, money, and values, this episode is a must-listen.

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Press play for the full interview or keep reading below!

• [02:04]: Introducing guest Shanna Skidmore and the purpose of her appearance
• [03:40]: Shanna’s background – from Fortune 100 to boutique CFO firm founder
• [10:06]: Overview of Shanna’s services: fractional CFO, consulting, and education
• [14:44]: The importance of financial data and using it to align with life goals
• [16:09]: Defining and calculating your “enough” number for sustainable income
• [20:11]: Clarifying that your “enough” number can include dreams and savings
• [23:58]: Addressing the time-money tension: different clients take different amounts of time
• [25:50]: The “Time Bank” exercise for evaluating work hours versus time costs
• [27:45]: Repricing offers based on time usage and improving profitability
• [29:58]: Common example of high-ticket clients getting too much access – need for boundaries
• [33:16]: Strategies for reducing time drain with client communication systems
• [36:52]: Raising prices and limiting clients to preserve time and profitability
• [37:36]: Tiered service levels based on communication frequency
• [39:41]: The “30-minute emergency rule” to prevent overreacting to non-urgent client issues
• [42:23]: Focusing on profitability, not just revenue – systematize before raising rates
• [44:39]: Streamlining business offers and focusing on specialization to increase efficiency
• [46:04]: Letting business be easy – moving away from hustle as a success metric
• [50:45]: Shift from hourly pricing to value-based pricing models

How to Price for Profit and Protect Your Time: Smart Financial Strategies for Business Owners

Running a creative or service-based business isn’t just about passion—it’s about making smart money moves that support your life, not drain it. I recently joined Kelly Nolan on The Bright Method Podcast to dive deep into how business owners can price for profit, set boundaries around their time, and build a sustainable business they love.

Here’s a snapshot of what we covered, designed to give you the key takeaways fast—because I get it, time is precious!

How I Built a Business Helping Entrepreneurs Master Their Finances

I’ve been running my own finance practice for over 12 years, with 19 years total in financial planning and accounting. I started by working with individuals who owned their practices—helping with personal and business financial planning, HR structures, and salary benchmarks. Later, I moved into venture capital, working with startups on pricing, cost modeling, and financial strategy.

Along the way, I noticed many women—especially creative entrepreneurs, but really anyone with a unique skill set and entrepreneurial spirit—struggle with the business side of things, especially pricing and finances. That’s where I stepped in.

In 2013, I launched my boutique accounting firm based in Knoxville, Tennessee. We offer ongoing support as fractional CFOs, one-off consulting, and financial education designed to help business owners create profitable, sustainable models that align with the lives they want to live.

I’ve seen firsthand how many talented business owners get stuck because they don’t have the right financial guidance. It’s not just about tracking numbers—it’s about making those numbers work for you. From pricing services to understanding your “enough number,” I help clients take control of their finances in ways that free up time and reduce stress.

Our Services: CFO Support, Consulting, and Education

We offer three main types of support:

• Fractional CFO Services: Strategic, ongoing financial guidance tailored for small to mid-sized businesses that aren’t ready for a full-time CFO but need expert insight to grow profitably.

• Consulting: One-off projects like reviewing profit and loss statements or optimizing offers to improve profitability and efficiency.

• Education: Simplified financial training for business owners who want to understand their numbers better and build confidence in managing their finances.

Why Understanding Your Money is Key to Sustainable Growth

If you’re feeling overworked, the numbers will usually tell us why. Maybe it’s a pricing issue. Maybe it’s overspending. Our job is to not only set up the systems so you have the data, because many business owners don’t, but also help you interpret it.

Once the data is in place, we might say, “Hey, you could probably increase your prices by 10%, and that alone could make a significant difference in how you feel.” Or maybe we’ll recommend cutting an offer that’s draining your time without delivering returns.

Our goal is to come in and ask, What do you actually want more of in your business and life? Is it time freedom? Great. But we still need to make sure you’re hitting your income goals. So how can we strategically do that?

We also use the numbers to inform your marketing efforts. Now, we’re not a marketing agency—but your financials can guide those decisions. Should you be spending your time making TikTok reels? Or would investing in SEO serve you better?

For example, if you need to reach a thousand customers for an online course, TikTok might make sense. But if you only need ten high-level clients for a premium service, that’s a completely different strategy.

The point is: we help you stop flying blind. Instead of guessing or throwing spaghetti at the wall, we give you data-driven insights so you can make decisions that actually make sense.

Finding Your Enough Number

I love this topic. It’s honestly one of my favorite things to talk about. But surprisingly, for a long time, I was kind of embarrassed to bring it up. Let me give you the backstory.

When I was working in finance, I had a mentor tell me, “If you say you don’t want to make more money, you’re lying to yourself.” And for a long time, I operated under that mindset. I thought success meant constantly striving for more—more recognition, more influence, more money.

But what I came to realize (both for myself and for so many of my clients, and likely many of your listeners), is that we chose the entrepreneurial path because we wanted freedom. And for most of us, that means time freedom, financial freedom… just freedom in general. But how we each define success looks different.

As a bit of an overachiever and perfectionist (and very competitive!), I eventually hit a point where I just needed clarity. I wanted to know: What is enough? What’s the actual dollar amount required to live the life I want—whether that’s a big life or a simple one?

Most people don’t know that number.

So I started creating financial plans, first for myself and then for clients, by asking two key questions:

1. What does it cost to run my life?
   We break this down into tiers: bare-bones living, a comfortable lifestyle (we call it the “lifestyle with ease”—where you can grab coffee whenever you want), and then a “reach-for-the-stars” version.

2. What does it cost to run my business?
   What’s the minimum needed to keep the lights on? What’s the number that includes paying your team and yourself, with room to breathe?

Once you have those two numbers, you can reverse-engineer what you need to sell in order to get there. We call this your “enough number.”

For a while, I worried that talking about this would make me seem lazy. But I’ve learned the opposite is true—knowing your enough number gives you peace of mind. It gives you focus. And that’s what I teach every client and student: if you know nothing else in your business, know this number.

It gives you the power to slow down when needed, but it also allows you to dream big. You can pursue new ideas and offers, but with clarity.

There’s something incredibly powerful about having a focused financial target. If you know, “I need to make a million dollars so everyone gets paid and we can take that boat trip we’ve been dreaming of,” you’re far more likely to hit it. But if the goal is just to do more, you never feel done. You never feel like you can rest.

So that “enough number”? It’s where ambition and contentment meet. It’s not a lazy number—it’s a peace-of-mind number.

And I encourage everyone, even if you think you’re not a numbers person, to just sit down and ask:

• What would it cost me to live the life I want? (That’s your salary.)

• What would it cost to run my business?

• And therefore, how much do I need to sell?

That’s your enough number.

Aligning Time, Pricing, and Profit

It was during my first year in business, and I was totally burned out. I had taken on way too many clients and seriously underestimated how long it would take to deliver everything I had promised.

So we sat down and mapped out what my ideal schedule would look like. And when I say “ideal schedule,” I don’t just mean a 9-to-5 structure—I mean really asking: How many hours do I actually want to give to my business each week? What feels sustainable?

Then, we looked at where all my time was actually going. I started tracking my time. I use a tool called Toggl. Something interesting happens when we become business owners: we often stop tracking it. I started noticing how much time I needed between meetings, how much time transitions were taking, how mentally taxing context-switching was. It really shifted how I saw my schedule.

We started thinking of time in terms of deposits and withdrawals. Your time deposits are what you intend to give to your business—your ideal schedule. Then, there are the time withdrawals: all the things that actually pull time from you—client communication, delivering your services, team management, running payroll, everything.

And honestly, most of us are overdrafting our time—we’re in the red. We’re getting those metaphorical NSF fees, but with our energy and hours.

That’s why I think it’s so powerful to connect time and money in a practical way.

We’ve all heard “time is money,” and while that phrase can feel a little icky or overused, there’s truth to it—especially when you break it down with real math.

For example:
If you want to make $1 million and your current pricing means you’d need to take on 100 clients to do that—but doing so would require working 70 hours a week, and your actual goal is to work 35 hours a week—then the math just doesn’t add up.

So now it becomes a simple equation:

• How much money do you want to make?

• How much time are you willing (or able) to give?

• Therefore, how much do you need to charge per client or per offer to make that happen?

Then we ask:

• Which offers aren’t profitable?

• Which ones are taking up disproportionate time compared to the value they generate?

Now, of course, people say, “Shannon, it’s not that simple.” And they’re right—you can’t just decide to charge $1,000 an hour out of nowhere. You need the track record, the results, the value to support it.

So the next question is: How do we build a package that’s worth $1,000 an hour? What’s the structure, delivery, and transformation that justifies that rate?

That’s where numbers become powerful—not just for budgeting or forecasting, but for shaping your business model, your boundaries, and your offers.

Every minute I stay on a call longer than planned, every client email I reply to outside scope—it’s time I’m taking away from my family, but still needing to earn the same income. That’s why I’ve gotten so focused on boundaries and communication.

At least once a year, if not every six months, I sit down and evaluate my offers:

• Are they still working?

• Am I spending more time on some than I should be based on what I promised?

• Is the impact still aligned with the pricing?

And if I realize I’m overdelivering or underpricing, I adjust. It’s not about reducing the value for the client… it’s about making sure it also makes sense for me.

A Real-World Example: Boundaries in High-End Service Businesses

I often see this happen with people in high-end, luxury service industries—attorneys, physicians, wedding planners. Professionals who are charging a premium hourly rate, yet they end up giving unlimited access to their clients. While generosity feels good, unlimited client access can lead to an overwhelmed schedule quick.

I get why people do it. You want to be generous. You want to feel like you’re overdelivering, and earning the price you charge. The assumption is: “If I give more of my time, my clients will value me more.” But I’ve found that the opposite is often true. Instead of giving unlimited access, it’s more powerful to set clear, compassionate boundaries—and explain them.

Here’s a more concrete example. Let’s say you’re an attorney in a high-stakes case. You know the client is going to have a million questions. Instead of engaging in constant back-and-forth emails—“What does this mean? What about that? My friend said this…”—you can say up front:

“You’re going to have a lot of questions during this process. Please gather them, and we’ll have a dedicated recap call at the end of each month to go over everything.”

That small shift accomplishes two things:

1. It eliminates constant interruptions that are time-consuming but often not billable.

2. It gives your client structure—and a sense of care and control.

Email communication, in particular, is one of the biggest time drains I see. It feels small—just five minutes here and there—but it adds up. And because we often don’t bill for it, it’s an invisible cost.

When you communicate expectations clearly and create a structured system, clients feel even more taken care of. They know someone is paying attention. And interestingly, about 80% of those “urgent” questions? They resolve themselves before the end-of-month call even happens.

So yes, I’ve worked with many luxury service providers to create systems like this—systems that protect their time and enhance the client experience. The client still feels seen, heard, and supported, but you’re no longer letting email chains or random interruptions dictate your schedule.

To me, that’s what it means to create a business that truly values both your client and your time.

Implementing Clear Communication, Smart Boundaries & Systems That Protect Your Time

Setting Clear Client Expectations

It’s amazing how much clients simply want to know what to expect. Sure, some clients might expect unlimited access—but honestly, those probably aren’t the clients you want to build your business around. The majority just want clarity: What’s the process? When will I hear from you? What’s included?

Tiered Communication & Pricing

One thing we do, and something I’d recommend for others, is to offer different levels of communication based on client preference, with pricing that reflects those choices.

For our CFO clients, they can choose to hear from us weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even annually. The level of communication and accessibility directly determines the pricing.

Because you’re absolutely right. If every client has 24/7 access to you and expects quick responses, you either need to increase the size of your team or decrease the number of clients you serve. And either way, your pricing has to reflect that.

If it doesn’t, the math just doesn’t work and you’re not going to be able to sustain your business long term.

Systemize to Save Time & Boost Profit

We’ve also created a lot of internal processes to streamline things with our clients. If there’s anything redundant or repetitive, we try to systemize it. The solution isn’t always just raise your prices, raise your prices, raise your prices. Sometimes the answer is: systemize your processes and save time.

Because at the end of the day, what really matters is profit—not just revenue.

Take this example:
Someone might be charging $450 an hour, but they’re spending one hour in meetings and two hours behind the scenes prepping or following up. Compare that to someone charging $350 an hour, but only spending that one hour—and maybe delegating the rest to a team member. The second person is actually more profitable.

So what we really want to focus on is the profitability of your time and your offers.

And sometimes, the most effective solution is simple: systemize.

If you find yourself repeating something to clients more than twice, turn it into an SOP—a Standard Operating Procedure. Drop it into a Google Doc, create a template, write a canned response. Anything that can be reused instead of recreated saves time and reduces friction.

And here’s something I heard years ago that stuck with me:

“If you’re feeling bitter, it’s usually a boundary issue.”

That hit me. Because most of the time, when we’re frustrated with a client, it’s not that they’re terrible—it’s that something hasn’t been communicated clearly, or a boundary wasn’t set.

Build a Profitable Business on Your Own Terms

At the end of the day, pricing for profit and protecting your time isn’t just about dollars and hours—it’s about designing a business that supports the life you want to live. When you get clear on your “enough number,” align your pricing with your ideal time commitment, and set boundaries with clients through smart communication and systems, you create a sustainable, scalable business that works for you.

You don’t have to sacrifice your sanity or personal time to be successful. Instead, build a business that values your time as much as your expertise. Implement tiered communication options, establish thoughtful boundaries like the 30-minute emergency rule, and systemize repetitive tasks to save time and increase profit.

Remember: mastering your business finances and time management is the foundation for long-term growth and freedom. When your pricing reflects the value you provide and your business systems support your lifestyle, you can finally enjoy the success and balance you’ve been working toward.

Ready to take control of your finances and protect your time? Start by calculating your enough number today, and create the boundaries and systems that make business ownership truly sustainable.