Episode 110: Badass Business Budgeting – An interview with Ary Michele

In this episode of Lean the F*ck Out, Gretchen and Tera talk with Ary, the Badass Budget Babe and Virtual CFO. Ary tells about her journey toward loving finance and budgeting, and gives tips on her can go from business budgeting to badass business budgeting. This episode is chocked full of tips and tricks you don’t want to miss.

Business Budgeting Episode Highlights:

• Ary helps business owners learn about cash flow, looking at books over time not just at tax times.
• Cash is your insurance policy as a business owner.
• Big issues CEOs come with: paying yourself a salary or growing your salary; having enough to run my bills; effectively leveraging credit vs. I can’t afford this without debt; taxes.
• Shift mindset to “This is what we need.” in your business budget instead of facing what you actually have. 
• A lot of times, not managing money or avoiding it is a mindset issue, not actually a money or number issue. Mindset and numbers are both important to focus on.
• Take yourself on a weekly money date for 15-20 minutes a week, every week. What’s the point of having money if it isn’t fun? Sit down with your numbers and look towards your goals. What are my financial goals? What am I working towards? Use that time for visualization and journaling. Ask yourself ‘what do I need to shift this week?” Use that time to make sure you are on the same track with your partners. Set a timer.
• Stretch your goals and set them regularly. Goals should be a stretch but not bring on disappointment. A good way to manage goal setting is by using markers of 3. If your first goal is to hi $1k this month, maybe $3k is reasonable the next month, etc. 
• Sometimes it is the timeframe that needs to be adjusted, not the goal.
• Extensively each quarter: review what happened with your money. Did you hit your goals, why or why not?
• There are no ‘shoulds’. If you ever feel like you ‘should’ be doing XYZ, then ask yourself who said it and why. 
• If you want to have a job and run your business, give yourself permission to do that.
• Do you what you want, lean into it, feel it out, then get the data and do it.

Ary

Ary is a Virtual CFO who helps 6&7-figure businesses to increase profit margins through better financial management. After graduating from Azusa Pacific University with her accounting degree, she worked as a tax and audit accountant for a CPA firm. After realizing the typical accountant life just wasn’t for her, she stuck out on her own and figured out how to make accounting work for growing entrepreneurs. She’s been fortunate enough to work in many industries, from medical to non-profit, brick and mortar retail to online consulting. This gives her the skills and knows how to grow businesses in both top and bottom line profits.

When she’s not working with numbers, she enjoys reading, traveling around with her family and doing yoga with her cat. 

You can find Ary online at:

Facebook:@badassbudgetbabe or @ary.michele
Instagram: @badassbudgetbabe
Website:badassbudgetbabe.com

If you like the bumper music in each episode, you can hear more from Gretchen’s bands at leanthef-ckout.com/music.