Your Financial Wellness with Nina Israel

As studio owners, we're passionate about movement, health, and transforming lives through our practice. But, to make that passion sustainable, we must also be financially savvy. The choices we make regarding pricing, investments, and budgeting directly influence our studio's ability to thrive. It's not just about revenue; it's about creating a business that supports your dreams and helps you make a lasting impact.

My guest, Nina Israel, is the numbers wizard you didn't know you needed! She has a knack for making you comfortable with your financial figures and identifying hidden opportunities for growth in your business.

During this episode, we'll explore the importance of financial well-being for studio owners. We'll discuss how a healthy financial mindset can lead to more informed, confident, and strategic decisions.

Don't miss this opportunity to strengthen the financial backbone of your studio and to explore how your relationship with money can become a strategic asset

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

As a studio owner, you are passionate about movement, health and transforming lives through the movement practice that you share with your clients. But to make that passion sustainable, you must also be financially savvy. The choices that you make regarding pricing and investments and budgeting really does directly influence your studio's ability to scale and thrive. It's not just about revenue. It's about creating a business that supports your dreams and helps you make a lasting impact in your community. In today's episode, I'm joined by a very special guest and we are going to explore the importance of financial well-being for studio owners. We'll discuss how a healthy financial mindset can lead to more informed and confident and strategic decision-making in your studio business. Well, hi there, I'm Sarah. In Glenfield, I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you. If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact, you're in the right place. All you need are a few key strategies, the right mindset and some support along the way. Join me as I share the real life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio.

Speaker 1: 1:23

This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Welcome to another episode of the Pilates Business Podcast, where I'm going to be diving into some strategies around the financial wellness of your studio. Now, financial well-being isn't just about crunching more numbers and balancing budgets. It's also about understanding the financial landscape in your business and the profound impact it can have on your decision-making, both consciously and unconsciously. Yes, your relationship with money and your money mindset plays a crucial role in the journey of your studio's growth. Now, because of how important I think this topic really is, and having worked with hundreds of studio owners around the world, this comes up eventually for everyone. So I invited Nina Israel onto the show. Nina is the money whisperer. She is also the founder of Towering Financial and has been working with small business owners and entrepreneurs for over 25 years to better manage their cash flow, improve efficiencies and increase financial wellness. Today, nina works with Boutique Fitness Studios and I'm so excited to have her on the show. Welcome, nina.

Speaker 2: 2:51

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 2:55

I'm so glad you're here. So a few weeks ago, nina came into my Thrive Group coaching call and we talked all about money with all of the members inside, and there were so many light bulb aha moments that came up for the members inside that they said to me Sarah, we need to have Nina come back and do more of this with us and have more of these conversations, and so I thought you know what? This is probably a conversation we need to have on a larger scale, and so I'm so glad that you've agreed to come on the podcast and share a little bit more about all of your insights and knowledge with us.

Speaker 2: 3:30

Absolutely Happy to be here. Where should we start?

Speaker 1: 3:33

So where should we start? Well, so tell me this. So you've been doing this a long time, right, and you know, when you people come to you and they find you and they say, nina, you're the person I want to work with, knowing what they know about you. What is it that they're looking for typically when they find you, would you say I would say the first thing they're coming to me about would be cash.

Speaker 2: 3:59

It's about their cash flow and that's what they're asking about.

Speaker 1: 4:02

Okay, and give me some examples of specifics about what that would look like for someone.

Speaker 2: 4:07

That would be. I don't know how to manage my money. I don't know where I stand with my money. I don't know what I should be looking for. I don't know if I'm doing this right. I'm scared, I'm intimidated and I'm ashamed because, as a business owner, shouldn't I know this? And my answer is no, of course you shouldn't know this. No, no, hello. Only 26 states even teach about finance in school, and when they do, it's about personal finance. I didn't learn about money in school, did you? No, no. So how are you supposed to know this? Did you come out of the womb knowing how to cook? No, you learned it.

Speaker 1: 4:50

You learned it, absolutely, absolutely. And so when people find you and they're coming to you and they're talking about cash flow, are they saying that they don't have the cash flow in their business? They seeing them, are they aware of how that works? Is it that they're not generating enough revenue? What is it that they are? Are they looking at the bank balance and thinking like, oh my goodness, I need to do something about this?

Speaker 2: 5:11

That's exactly it. They are using their bank balance to manage their cash flow, and that's is it's too much of a vacuum. It's one moment in time. It does not give you the oversight that you need as the CEO of your business.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Right, absolutely, I agree, absolutely. So tell me this. So when you have someone come to you and they say you know, I'm really worried about my cash flow, or I have been, my bank balance is negative, or whatever that might look like for them, where do you begin to help them to perhaps get out of that place and into a place where they feel like they have control and they have, they're knowledgeable, and they feel like this is no longer a problem for them?

Speaker 2: 5:57

So the first thing we do is we laugh, we laugh and laugh because this is far too serious a topic and it's so scary for so many people. And it doesn't have to be Money, does not have to be hard. Finance can be fun and I will prove it to the world, I will. And the thing is, financial wellness is so essential and we don't recognize this. So that's the first thing we do. We laugh and we say and I say I've got you, because the way I describe it is sort of like a financial fungus. You're not getting rid of me.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Once you've got me?

Speaker 2: 6:38

you've not. You're just not getting rid of me. So we look at the whole picture, we take a step back and there is a proven system that we look at and, essentially, when we're only focusing on the cash, we just need to, we need to fix it. We need to take that step back and look at that big picture, right, and then we dive in, because there's certain steps that you follow in your business to achieve financial wellness and we move from financial healthness to financial wellness and we just take it one step at a time.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Awesome, all right, so it does get it. Can it is possible to be able to run your business and actually enjoy looking at the numbers?

Speaker 2: 7:26

Oh my gosh, my people, oh for sure.

Speaker 1: 7:31

Because I think that is one of the biggest you know. I, you know my experience has been and we I talk numbers all the time with my studio owners and in fact that's where we start. You know you can't build a business without knowing your numbers and scale a business without knowing your numbers. And so I focus with about on this a lot with all of my studio owners inside of my programs. You know, and they know their proper margins and they know their projections and they track the KPIs. They do all of these things right. But the very first time someone comes into my programs and says to me and I say to them okay, the first thing we're going to do is take a look at your numbers I would say nine times out of 10. The reaction I get is like, oh my goodness, I hate numbers. Who can? Someone else, I can't, I can't look at it. Someone else needs to do this for me.

Speaker 2: 8:14

And they can't. They can't because at some point, the numbers in your business are going to kick you in the butt. So it's just a question of you getting behind those, so they're not behind you kicking you in the butt. So this is where the first thing, the first step, is always money mindset, always, always. It has to be because we have a relationship with money, and it's one of the oldest relationships in our life starts when we're about five years old. And, yes, you will hear that it comes from your parents and the way your parents were raised or the way they spoke about money. And, yes, there is a lot of generational crap that goes into that. And it's so much more than that because, if you look at circumstances that happen to us as we're growing up, brothers and sisters, siblings, don't necessarily have the same relationship when it comes to money. So what happens is it's all these different things that have to do with, when you graduate, how easy it was to get a job, just different events, these different events that happen in your life, life events that affect your relationship with money. So because of that, we have to look at it, we have to respect it and we have to understand it. And once we understand it, then we work with it, because people who save, save, save, save, save, save, that's not necessarily healthy. And people who use money, who use their net worth, to dictate their personal worth, that's not healthy. So we work through this and the thing is, your relationship with money is your relationship with money. It's not good, it's not bad, it's unique. That's the thing. So no one else on the planet has lived your life in every single moment and has the exact same relationship with money as you, and that's why it's so hard, because we don't share this with anyone else on the planet.

Speaker 2: 10:26

Now you throw in money is one of those taboo subjects to talk about. Are you kidding me? No, we have to be able to talk about it. We have to. Money is energy. Money is energy. It is a unit of measurement. That was established because I wanted to buy a clock. You wanted to sell me a clock, so we had to figure out a way to evaluate what that clock was worth. That's it.

Speaker 1: 10:59

Being aware of that relationship and recognizing, perhaps, that you and people around you have different relationships with money and it means different things. Different people can help. Actually, I think you understand why people behave the way they are in certain scenarios and perhaps the way that way, why you have that reaction. Maybe when someone says, oh, let's have a look at your numbers, right, and it doesn't matter why that happened to you, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1: 11:25

We're not here to place blame on anyone else in the past. What we're here to do is say, okay, well, we know that we're in a situation right now where we kind of have this resistance in some way, shape or form, to numbers and what that means, or to money and what that represents for us, and so it's about getting to a place where that relationship doesn't stop you from growing and building and scaling your business Exactly. And I think that's the goal, right. The goal is to say, okay, we are, we are, we are, we are. But what can we do with? What can we work on? How can we perhaps shift some thoughts we're having and perhaps open us up and perhaps free us from some of these thoughts we didn't maybe even know we were thinking and then help. That, then, sort of feeds into this next, perhaps, phase of growth that might happen for you.

Speaker 2: 12:14

The way I put it is that relationship with money is a thousand percent not your fault. You had nothing to do with what got you here with that relationship with money. However, once you're aware of it, well, now we can fix it. Just because it's not your fault doesn't mean you can't be the one to fix it. So now let's fix it.

Speaker 1: 12:34

Can we just, can you just take a second and share with us, perhaps some of the, an example or two or three of you know specifics of different types of relationships that you've seen? I mean, I know I've seen certain things like I've seen. I've seen some folks resent their clients for having money that they don't have. I've seen some folks have a reluctance to raise their prices because they think what they offer is already too expensive. Right, are these things that you see also? And or what other examples do you see? Absolutely?

Speaker 2: 13:11

So, for example, with the person I worked with, someone where she had difficulty raising her prices. She was training other people, sharing her skillset, watching them charge higher prices than she was, and she could not bring herself to raise her prices. And what we found when we dove into it is that as a child, she constantly heard how there was no money, that they couldn't afford this and that the money wasn't there. So as an adult, she now grew up and what she heard was I'm not worth it. There's no money for me, there's. We can't afford it. Anything she wanted as a kid, we can't afford it.

Speaker 2: 13:58

It's the scarcity mindset. So that translated into her not being able to raise her prices. I've had other studio owners where they have trouble raising their prices and when we dive into it, they grew up in a house where you could not talk about money. We did not talk about money. Well, how the heck are you supposed to have a pricing conversation If your background you've never had a conversation about money? So we start talking about money and we start having those conversations.

Speaker 2: 14:30

One that I see a lot is this is the people who you just described. They come to you and they don't even want to look at their numbers. They are the avoiders. They are like I'd rather put my head in the sand than look at my numbers, I'd rather do anything else. And for that group, what we've, what we'll do, is we create the money ritual, and it is grabbing a beverage of choice and sitting down on a weekly basis, putting the music on and knowing what you are looking for, knowing how to do it, like that's the thing knowing what you're looking for, how to do it, how long it takes and it, it, it. All of a sudden, you have this control and you're empowered by your numbers, because your numbers aren't who you are as a person Like like. Okay, I have a question for you. How tall are you? What does that say about you as a person? Average, absolutely nothing.

Speaker 1: 15:30

It doesn't say anything about your heart or how good you are Five foot four, that's a metric, that's a KPI.

Speaker 2: 15:36

That's a height, is a KPI right? So once we know that these are just metrics, these are just measurements, it's a ruler, we don't get angry at a ruler, that's it. Then we just enjoy this ritual and we create the money habit and then there's no reason to avoid.

Speaker 1: 15:54

Right. I think once you are able to free yourself from the emotional ties that you have to numbers, that's when you can start to actually enjoy looking at them and seeing what that means for your business. But I think for as long as you are tying your character or your success or who you are on a personal level to a number, you will forever be tied to it. It'll be like a ball and chain to that right and you are never going to be free of it. But it takes and takes work to get through these sort of think through and it's a change really in probably a lifelong habit of thinking that certain way. And so when you're making these shifts from a mindset perspective, just like anything that you're changing or looking to change, it's about doing this very consistently and creating it, this habit around how you're thinking and catching yourself.

Speaker 1: 16:45

Perhaps when you see when you're thinking a certain way or when you catch yourself or you're thinking about you know you're resisting, doing something and you kind of see these habits and how they might be keeping you stuck and then taking that, making the effort and it is effort right, but over time it gets easier and those habits get easier and you become, you get to a place where you are free of those thoughts that might have been keeping you stuck and all of a sudden it actually becomes fun.

Speaker 1: 17:12

Right, it actually becomes enjoyable, and that's I'll say it really is. It does take a bit of time and it does take effort, but I tell you, when I see and I'm sure you see to Studio owners go from having this sort of resistance to numbers or resistance to KPIs or resistance such, you know, tracking their data or looking at data, and then when they find that when they switch, they all of a sudden everything in their business becomes lighter and they find it more, it's becomes kind of like a game versus like this, like heaviness it's sort of like well, let's see if I can.

Speaker 1: 17:44

let's see if I can cut these expenses, let's see if I can raise this revenue. I wonder what I can do to do that versus exactly. Oh my goodness, it's just, it's overwhelming and feels oh, oh.

Speaker 2: 17:55

I went from someone. I had one client who came to me and said I don't know anything, I don't look, I don't like like. Once we dove into it she was shocked at her payroll. That's how little she looked at her numbers to. I get. I get into a meeting and she sits down and she's like okay. So I did the analysis of this such and such and such an account and I looked at the variants of I thought I was talking to like a CPA. I was like who are you? And it was beautiful because it was this empowerment. It is this empowerment and now it's. It's her coming to me telling me what the numbers are, saying her saying what, what needs to be done, it is Numbers are power. They really are in your business.

Speaker 1: 18:39

They really really are, they really really do give you power.

Speaker 2: 18:42

What you were saying, with it being a journey and taking time, absolutely because we're talking about financial wellness and there's three areas of that. There is the emotion of money, there is the psychology of money and we spoke about that, you know and then there's then there's the practicality of money, and if you just come in and start trying to tackle the practicality of money without looking at the other two, you're going to hit these limiting beliefs, these roadblocks, right. And the thing is, once you come, you and let's say, you do work through the emotion in the psychology part, okay, now you got to learn the practicality part and it doesn't have to be hard, it doesn't right absolutely.

Speaker 1: 19:31

So tell us once. You kind of we've kind of laughed, we've gotten through some of the mindset, okay, and now we're talking about the practicality. So tell us a little bit about when you're looking at, you know, the financial wellness of a company, of a small business. What is it that you're looking at specifically?

Speaker 2: 19:50

So, when we are starting to look at the practicality part, we are looking at cash, we are looking at financial statements, we are looking at KPIs, or key performance indicators, and we are looking at budgeting and forecasting. We are looking at that, those four areas, and we are looking at them in a very specific order, because a lot of times studio owners will come to me and they will say I need a budget. Yes, absolutely, you need a budget. But if you don't have the cash, the financials and the KPIs all lined up and a solid understanding, your budget is a budget.

Speaker 1: 20:28

Numbers on a spreadsheet that mean nothing, nothing and can get you into trouble if you, if it's not reflective of your business, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 20:36

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I get, we can budget for a hundred new clients in January. But if you have two clients on December 31st and no plan, that's not a budget. That's, that's a wish and that's the thing that is. That is, A budget is simply what you hope will happen. You know a forecast. Now that is when you are sitting there saying this is what I believe will happen, based on what I know right now. So a lot of my clients, we are doing forecasts versus budgets.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Yeah, and you know I get a lot of folks coming to me and they say things like you know, I don't know how much money I should spend on marketing. How much money should I spend on marketing? There's a question I get off very often, you know, and I'll tell you, often from studio owners that I've never met and don't know their business at all. And they'll kind of be like oh, what do I? You know, I'll do a Q&A or something like that and all people will email me and they'll say you know, what should I spend on marketing? And you know I can. I'll say I don't know.

Speaker 2: 21:47

And I don't know, because I don't know what your, what your KPIs look like.

Speaker 1: 21:52

I don't know what your financial statements look like. I don't know what your cash looks like, right. I don't know what your plans are. I don't know what your growth plan is. I don't know what your goals are. I don't know what your vision is. I don't know what your resources are right.

Speaker 1: 22:01

And so we always think, sometimes we think about these things, I think, because like they are in a vacuum and they're really not in a vacuum at all, they are. All of this is kind of part of that business success ecosystem and you can't pull one thing out and be like oh, I think I, how much should I spend on my marketing without being aware of your KPIs or being aware of you know what that spend might get you and return to you what does the return on your investment look like? There's a lot of things that go into that answer that I think it's. I wish there was like one simple quick fix right, like one quick formula or some one quick number that could be like oh yeah, this, this is how much you just spend on your marketing. But it's not that simple, right.

Speaker 2: 22:44

It isn't. It isn't because you bring up a good point is the first step is clarity, and clarity is number one. Clarity is your goal because I will have a studio owners come to me and they'll be like, well, should I spend money on this? I don't know, and that's the thing it's like. If I have a dollar for every time I have to say the word depends right, I would, I would never have to work again, because that's the whole thing. It depends right, because someone who is trying to sell their studio in a year versus someone who is trying to maximize profitability very different goals. You know, someone who is trying to save money on taxes, decrease their tax liability very different goals. So we need clarity. Yes, absolutely, because the goal is going to dictate the rest of the path.

Speaker 1: 23:45

Yeah, absolutely. So tell us a little about what you are seeing right now in the studio owners, with the studios that you're working with and you know we're obviously I think it's safe to say that we've firmly put, obviously, the pandemic behind us. I know, if I'm seeing a lot of studios really being able to grow and scale quite significantly and I'm seeing a lot of folks expanding and adding locations, are you seeing something similar? If yes, what does that look like and what does that mean for the clients that you're working with? And if not, what are you seeing amongst other folks who perhaps aren't getting the or reaching the potential of their business?

Speaker 2: 24:26

I am with you in seeing a lot of people getting back up, if not exceeding, 2019 numbers, which has been really, really, really nice.

Speaker 2: 24:37

A lot of times, the studio owners that I am seeing are more stressed and scared and not necessarily expanding the ones. I do see a couple of them coming with expansions because they'll come to me to say how do I know if I can afford it, which, yay, thank you for doing that versus the ones who show up and say I just opened my second location and I'm struggling. It's being very proactive. What I see with a lot of studio owners and I don't know if it's because I am so money focused is I am seeing where they might have numbers, but they don't know what to do with them, so they don't know. They think that they're where they were, they think they're doing better, but they don't know. But definitely, as the industry as a whole, I am definitely seeing a lot of. Unfortunately, we lost some studios, so I see some of the studios picking up some of those. But it's nice because the studios that do not enjoy doing online classes are now getting rid of that and going full in in person, which has been lovely, absolutely Well.

Speaker 1: 26:16

This was a really wonderful conversation, nina, and so eye-opening to hear the context behind what you look for when you are working with your studio owners and with your businesses that you work with. And I think, like you said, working through that money, mindset, part of it, and then going into the financial statements, the budgeting, the forecasting and the cash flow and the KPIs, that all comes actually often second to working on the way that you think about numbers and money, and it's quite hard to kind of we often want to go to the end of the path first and get that budget number what have you? But there's a kind of a process that precedes that that will really just help you to grow long-term Right.

Speaker 1: 27:06

And give you the skills and the tools that you need to be able to go out and not just perhaps grow your business this year, but perhaps grow your business every year going forward.

Speaker 2: 27:16

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 27:18

So thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on and sharing all that with us, absolutely, thank you. Do you want to share a little bit about where people can find you and learn more from you and about what you do?

Speaker 2: 27:31

Yes, absolutely. You can always go to my website and it is taran T-A-R-Y-N. Financialcom. I will save the story of why it is called that. If my name is Nina for another time you can reach out to me nina at taranfinancialcom. I'm on Instagram at NinaMoneyGal. I'm on LinkedIn, actually the original Nina Israel on LinkedIn. Just be careful, remember, I'm financial fungus, so once you find me, I don't go away. Amazing.

Speaker 1: 28:11

Thank you so much, nina. I really appreciate it again, I really appreciate you.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Thank you, this was so much fun and I love what you are doing for the industry and I love your community you have just done a beautiful job with Thrive.

Speaker 1: 28:24

Thank you, yes, I love everyone inside. They're a great group, appreciate it. So thank you guys for listening in. I hope this is helpful to you as you go about building your boutique fitness business. And if you want to learn more from Nina, I will add to all of her details into the show notes.

Speaker 1: 28:43

Don't forget our goal here at Spring 3 is to help you build a successful, well-rounded and sustainable studio business. That really does include understanding and mastering your financials and your money mindset. Also, if you loved what you heard today, please go to wherever you listen to this and rate and review this podcast. It would mean so much to me and help to share what we talked about today with other folks in the industry, your colleagues and your peers, so that they, too, can feel just as encouraged and supported in their journey as you do. Did you love this episode and want more? Head to Spring 3.com and check out my free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And before you go, one last reminder there is no one way to do what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this. Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.