Quinn Driscoll is a money coach helping female entrepreneurs learn more about their money and themselves

Learn more about Quinn on her website
https://www.thevaluegal.com/

YouTube Video

Podcast Transcription

Jasna Burza 0:00
Exciting Quinn, welcome to Business Spotlight.

Quinn Driscoll 0:04
Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited.

Jasna Burza 0:06
Oh, it’s such a pleasure. I have really Wednesdays are my hype days? After a while people ask me like, What have you had earlier? Like, I just talked to amazing humans on planet Earth, the most amazing humans. I’m excited because you’re a fellow coach, and fellow coach who has a very specific niche. So I will, you know, we’ll get into why important it is. But you really have you your background is in accounting. So you’ve been your own business owner for many years supporting business owners in that way, and then transitioned into a business coaching. So tell us about how did you get to make that transition? And why the this particular niche around money?

Quinn Driscoll 0:54
Yeah, so I am a business coach and money mentor, I help small business owners with money skills and strategy. And as you said, I have been working with business owners in the financial services area for about 15 years. So I spent about 10 of those years working as an expert witness with business owners who were going through legal issues. So helping them understand the financial impacts of what was happening, and all those types of things. So as you can imagine, it was very interesting and stressful and crazy. And after, you know, 10 good years, I just knew that it wasn’t another 30 years for me in that area. So started thinking about, you know, how do I use my specialized skills, working with business owners on the money side, to help the smallest teeniest tiniest businesses who don’t, you know, who don’t have people really catering to them, and especially women in business, who, you know, who just don’t often feel welcome in the financial conversations,

Jasna Burza 2:24
that, you know, that’s a theme that I very, very often hear I have a dear friend who is a financial advisor, Jane l guard, from elecard wealth, and she really stresses this idea of women needing to be at the tables when we’re talking about money, business or not business, but they need to take responsibility. So um, you know, you consider you give yourself a name of the value gal. And I love that. So what is it that people you know, work with you on? Why do they reach out to you and just give me an example of what are some of the things that women are primarily women are struggling with when it comes to money in their business?

Quinn Driscoll 3:07
Yes. So I think it is helpful for me to kind of give a little, a little background on the different types of people who might help you with money in your business. Because I think sometimes it’s just like my accountant or my financial person. And it’s really helpful to think about the different roles that you want to have helping and then that gets, it’s easier to understand kind of how I can help business owners. So the first one is going to be a bookkeeper.

So this is a person who is you know, helping you with QuickBooks, helping keep things organized with the transactions that are happening in your business. So they are going to be focused on reporting. The second person is going to be a tax preparer. So that person is going to be you know, filing your tax returns, helping you figure out if you have to make estimated tax payments as a business owner, you know, they’re probably the person who’s telling you to keep your receipts, and they are going to be focused on compliance. So making sure that you are doing the right things that you’re not going to get yourself into trouble with the IRS,

Jasna Burza 4:24
God bless them.

Quinn Driscoll 4:27
So those are two like you need to have those if you don’t have them, just get one tomorrow, because they are so important. And then the third one is a CFO or a chief financial officer type of role. So this is going to be the person who is helping with strategy. So in a in a super small business, you know, in a in a large company, you would have all of these roles like within departments, right? But as a small business owner, you kind of have to assess assemble this team of people yourself. So a lot of people never really get to that point where they are having someone help them strategically with their money.

So with a small business, this, this person should be asking you, are you paying yourself? And are you profitable? Those are the two things right away that if you don’t know the answer to those questions, you need somebody to be helping you out with that. And then the third thing is a valuation advisor. So this person is going to be focused on the future, the long term vision, and really, how do you if you want to see the future of your business without you in it? How are you going to make that happen? So how do you structure things so that if you want to sell it one day, you’re able to do that? Or you know, so that if you want to change your role and step back as the, you know, the face of the company?

How are you going to be able to do that. So the CFO and valuation advisor roles are really what my coaching is focused on. And the reason why I have the, the name of my business is the value gal is because that valuation piece is really my specialty that I spent a lot of my career working in. And it’s a very male dominated field. It’s a very, you know, sort of old school stuffy kind of thing. So I picked the name on purpose as like, Hey, I’m the gal. I’m the one gal you’re gonna find in

Jasna Burza 6:37
life into this industry. It’s it’s really beautiful to see women in traditionally male industries bring this the pop of light and and approachability that we haven’t seen in a really long time. Because from from talking to Jane, which is so interesting, I love I love this conversation. It really never occurred to me, I’ve always been in charge of my own finances, I’ve always wanted to know I am the person who does all the finance for our house. But not knowing the majority of women specifically, are the ones who completely retrieved from family and business affairs.

We just kind of like I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to know. And that is, you know, you’re saying that’s a really big mistake, especially when running a business. Yes. Okay. So when this is an interesting concept, CFO for small business, what about solopreneurs? The, you know, there’s, for example, a lot of my clients will say, Well, yes, I don’t need a CFO, I’m making $100,000, I am just by myself doing massage, or coaching or, you know, whatever else, why do I need to see a full?

Quinn Driscoll 7:51
Yes, and the reason is because it helps you get strategic with what you’re doing. So if you know a lot of people that I talked to, to your point on your previous question, it’s it’s kind of like the the culture right now, with solopreneurs, especially is, the more more and more like, you want to hit 10k a month in revenue, you want to hit a million in revenue, you want to do more and more and more and more revenue. And, you know, nobody’s asking you, is that really what you want? Like? How do you kind of stop and think about how are things going right now? asking those two questions? Are you profitable? And are you paying yourself and kind of getting that getting the lay of the land where you are now, before you start trying to, to grow or to take on a new service line, or even to slow down?

You know, to just have that person who’s helping you think through those things? And, you know, not necessarily that it’s going to be some super complicated decision making or process like you would think of with a with the CFO of a large company. But it’s really the strategic piece of figuring out is what you’re doing working? Is that what you want to be doing? What do you want to be different? And how do you make that happen?

Jasna Burza 9:19
And that’s the missing piece because you on your website, you say I help accidental creatives and entrepreneurs and that I think that there’s a key aspect so many of us just stumble into the business like, I just want to help others and all of a sudden we feel like we have a business and we don’t have a strategy or you know, a long term plan. I used to say a five year plan now we know that that’s out the window because of the world is changing. Now it’s like 18 months at best, which I really love it and there was something else that you said there was there was really interesting is that you can make smart plans or solid strategies without reliable numbers.

So if you’re an accountant DIY, or you’re probably we’re probably not the right fit right now, which is very interesting, because most people are like, just like, oh, you asked me here, here’s a list of my, here’s a list of my receipts right here. And it is like jumbled mess, right? So ideally, someone who comes to you should be a little bit more organized. And then they’re willing to go to the next next level, is there a revenue mark or a benchmark of when you say, I don’t work with people as making less than $50,000? or anything like that?

Quinn Driscoll 10:33
No, there’s not a revenue mark. So what I kind of like to give the analogy, I don’t know if you are you a fan of the home edit, or like get organized with the home edit.

Jasna Burza 10:45
I don’t know what that is. And I’ll okay. So it’s

Quinn Driscoll 10:50
these women who have a business and they just organize things like the most insane organization you’ve ever seen. So the craziest room ever, and they take everything out and get rid of stuff and like put everything in beautiful containers in rainbow order. And when they’re done with it, the room is just like the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. Now, they I think they’re out of Nashville. But they have a show at Netflix, where it’s like, so satisfying to just watch this.

Jasna Burza 11:23
I don’t watch much TV. So part of living under a rock. Thank you for educating me and educating us. So you are kind of like the home edits.

Quinn Driscoll 11:32
Yeah. So I think of it like having that bookkeeper. And tax preparer is like having that organizational person. So you don’t have to go in and straighten out your closet and put all your shoes back together in the right spot. So you know where you are, you have that bookkeeper, tax preparer who are keeping things organized for you, then you have the information that you need to go forward. So I think of it like once you have the closet organized, then you can have like the stylist come in? Who’s going to be like, Okay, what’s your event? What do you have? Or like, Why do you have five black T shirts, you know?

So that’s kind of how I think of it is that once you have, once you recognize the value of having someone keeping everything organized for you, it’s a weight off your shoulders, you don’t have to worry about it anymore, like everyone I talked to was like, I did not start a business to spend eight hours a day in QuickBooks, you know, so you don’t have to have somebody else do that. And then you have the information you need to really understand, like, what is the most important thing that’s driving the success of your business? What are the things that you can cut out that aren’t making a big difference, whether that’s expenses or rent, you know, revenue streams, products that are just more work than they’re worth? And so that’s why I say if you’re an accounting DIY, or like if you are a professional accountant, or you really love to do it, that is one thing, but if you really don’t feel comfortable that you have good numbers to work from, that is a step one that I just recommend everybody do because it’s it’s just such a game changer.

Jasna Burza 13:20
And I assume that you have wonderful people to recommend when people work with you. Yes, yeah. Okay, I love that. So how do people get get to work with you? They go to the website, which is the value gal? And the you know, is it just a one on one? Is it a prolonged engagement? Or do you have other things that that you offer? That can be a point of engagement for folks?

Quinn Driscoll 13:43
Yeah, so I focus on one on one coaching. So those are coaching programs that are three months long, they’re very personalized, they are in depth, where we really work together to, you know, to figure out what is important in the financial success of your business. So that is my, the main way to work with me, every engagement that I have starts with a free strategy session.

So that’s a great place to start is on my website. You can just schedule it’s a 30 minute Strategy Session. answer a few questions beforehand, so that I kind of get the lay of the land before we talk to each other. But then we can just talk through, it’s like a mini coaching session, the things that are you know, the biggest problems and stressors, and I’ll give you my thoughts and that’s a great way to figure out you know, are we a good fit? Is this something that you’re interested in and then we can go from there.

Jasna Burza 14:43
I love this if you’re listening to his phone because the first thing you need to do is you need to take charge of your numbers. You need to get us right bookkeeper and accountant or tax preparer and then you need to get a hold of coin and see what’s next for for your business.

Quinn Driscoll 14:59
Yes

Jasna Burza 15:00
I love that. Well, Quinn, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I really love this concept because it is one of those really underappreciated things in business. I’ve recently had the pleasure of talking to someone who is very, very brilliant around processes. And he said, you know, most people go into entrepreneurship, they just want to do and they’re not organized, but having to do processes in terms of actual business. And those are the things that take time. They’re knowing we don’t like doing them, but they’re just so impactful, just like your work. So I’m so glad that we got to share this with the people of the world. That’s why

Quinn Driscoll 15:41
you have to have a friend to help you. Organize Your Closet or organize your money. Folks are

Jasna Burza 15:48
gonna have a Quinn’s website here up on top, if you’re on Facebook or LinkedIn or on the website or YouTube down below, wherever the links are, make sure that you reach out to Quinn and find a way to worker Quinn, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you. Such a pleasure. Bye