Here at Healthy Business Finances – we love numbers, we love accounting systems, we love spreadsheets and we love financial reports.

However we know that often this is not necessarily everyone else’s priority or love.

Throughout June, we will be profiling other business owners so that we can share their financial fears, story, journey and wisdom with us!  Through sharing our story, I believe we can break through the financial fears and grow stronger as business owners.

The third in our series across the month sharing her story is Suzanne Chadwick from The Connection Exchange.

I have had the pleasure of speaking at one of Suzanne’s EPIC events earlier this year.  Her infectious laugh and ability to captivate the audience is simply amazing.  Here is Suzanne’s story.

1. Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your fabulous business.

My name is Suzanne Chadwick and I’m the founder of The Connection Exchange and a Business & Branding Strategist, Coach & Mentor.  The Connection Exchange provides coaching, training & events to female entrepreneurs and is focused on connecting, supporting & educating them.  My mission is to provide really practical education around the nuts and bolts of doing business which I know a lot of women struggle with.

I’m also a part-time corporate professional and head up the branding and innovation consulting division for a global talent management business.  I love being involved in anything where I’m looking at new technology, strategies and learning.  As long as I’m learning I’m happy.  I think that’s where The Connection Exchange really came from.  I had friends who were starting up businesses that kept asking me for help and as I had done it a few times before for myself as well in a corporate I was able to give them the support and help they needed on developing the right strategies, branding, message and more.

2. What do you love about your business? The clients, the work, the flexibility, the freedom ?

I love my community.  I think it can be lonely when you’re a business owner to find the right people for you.  You want to connect with others in a trusted environment and surround yourself with those who want to support and help you.  I’ve met so many great people through The Connection Exchange events and coaching and connecting is what I really thrive on, so it’s been great.

Working with clients that are great at what they do but struggle with things like their marketing, branding, strategy, technical areas etc is where I feel I can add the most value. I want to make things easy for them so that they don’t get stuck, frustrated and then give up before their journey has even begun.  So seeing my clients take big leaps into their dream businesses is a pretty awesome thing to watch and be part of.

I’m lucky that in my corporate job as well as in my own business I can work from home.  Being a mum of a 3 and 4 year old is hard going so that flexibility is great and makes life a lot easier.

3. What financial systems did you use when you first started your business (and it is OK to admit perhaps you didn’t use anything – business is a journey !)

I was just using Excel when I started and when I say using – I mean, every now and then adding things in.  I wasn’t consistent and I have to say it’s a love hate relationship.  I love seeing how things are going financially but hate having the manage the spread sheets or data files now.

4. What financial fears did you have? This can include a fear of dealing with the numbers, a fear of seeing what the numbers will say, a fear of dealing with all the invoices and paperwork, a fear of getting it wrong, a fear of failure, a fear of the Tax Office or a fear of simply being overwhelmed by the obligations of being a business owner?

My fears are really around not understanding what I need to know.  Not understanding or know things is always frustrating for me.  I think because I feel so confident in my own areas of business like developing a strategy and building a brand etc, not having an interest in the financial administration is annoying.

With the lack of consistency or just not knowing that what I’m doing is 100% right, obviously brings up fears when it comes to tax time and thinking that I’m going to stuff it all up and then be in big trouble with the tax man.  Even now as it’s June and we’re about to come to the end of the financial year I’m starting to stress a little that everything is in place to a point that I can hand it over with confidence to a tax accountant to get the best return for me as possible.

5. What information would you have loved to have known or understood (from a financial viewpoint) when you first started your business that you now deem invaluable?

I guess when you’re starting out, you don’t know what you don’t know which is hard.  I wish I had started with Xero and had undertaken a full training session on it so that I was able to start with a solid knowledge of how to use it to my advantage and ensure that everything was going in correctly from the start instead of trying to fix things after the fact.  I’m glad I had my session with Healthy Business Finances as that was a good starting point.  Just knowing things like you shouldn’t be charging GST unless you are earning over $75k a year in your business was something I didn’t know

6. What systems do you now use to streamline the financial aspects of your business – programs, apps, resources?

I now use Xero which is great, but need to get better at it.  I’ll be booking in more time with you Stacey so that I can get this in order.  I feel like it’s a big part of business that really needs some attention and I would love to go in 2016 financial year with confidence that I’m doing it right and tracking what I need to.  I’d also love to start to use the reporting more so that I can be more strategic in my business when it comes to allocating money to different area.  I use the Xero app to take photos of my receipts so that I can get rid of them quickly and attach them to my data file – I think that’s pretty cool!

7. What pieces of wisdom can you share with other business owners about overcoming some of those financial fears?

I think as I mentioned above, actually taking the time and investing the money to understand what you need to know as a business owner is so critical.  It can be an expensive mistake if you’re doing things you shouldn’t be doing in your business financially.

There are few key things that I invested in early and I’m glad I did.  Even though I’ve still got a way to go at least I feel like I’m getting better.  Just keep ensuring that you ask the right people for advice and make sure your business is complying where it needs to be.

8. Numbers are a passion for me – but so is travel, food and family. What are you passions outside of your business.

I love travel – it’s my big non negotiable.  Before we had children and even before I got married I travelled a lot for work and for pleasure.  Seeing new placing and doing new things makes me happy.  If I don’t feel free to travel then I know it affects me.  My husband is the same, so after we had our kids we agreed to have a couple of solo trips a year while with friends so that we could have a break and travel with ease.   We’re about to go on a big holiday for a the first time as a family which is exciting as I think we’ll be doing more international travel from now on.

I also love cooking and wine.  During the week cooking isn’t much fun but when I get a chance to have a dinner party and really spend some quality time in the kitchen over great recipes then I’m in my element!   Learning is also key.  I love audible and listen to so many books when I’m walking or driving.  I also LOVE creativelive.com.

Thank you so much Suzanne for sharing your story.

Sometimes facing numbers and financial obligations as a business owner can be daunting and intimidating.  Our aim at Healthy Business Finances in our Financial Coaching Sessions is to reduce the fear, reduce the stress – and heck – we even want to have a few smiles and a bit of fun along the way.

If you are a woman in business and need some guidance, training or coaching to get your business firing on all cylinders, then you can follow and connect with Suzanne via facebook, website or via linkedin.