113 | Is Your Business Actually Profitable—Or Just Busy? Using Profit Pillars for Online Business Success

Are you unclear on your numbers in your business? 

In this episode, I break down the Profit Pillars Book by Parker Charles Stevenson and share how to assess your business finances in a way that feels nourishing to your body, soul, and business growth. We’ll also explore how financial clarity supports a healthier money mindset, nervous system regulation, and sustainable financial planning.

Key Takeaways:

• How to evaluate your labor expenses to ensure your team fuels growth
• Tracking lead and conversion costs to maximize marketing ROI
• Understanding offer delivery costs and their impact on profit margins
• Keeping operating expenses aligned with your business needs
• Using this framework to gain clarity and confidence in your financial planning
• Recognizing and addressing money mindset blocks that may hold you back

Want to learn more? Here are your next steps:

Step 1: Join my FREE Facebook Community.

Connect, share, and learn how to master your money with other women just like you.

➡️ Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/941450038160915

Step 2: Grab your FREE Human Design chart

Curious what your Human Design chart reveals about how you're uniquely designed to make aligned financial decisions?

➡️ Get your chart here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/receive-your-human-design-chart

Step 3: Ready to transform your relationship with money and build true financial confidence?

Let’s create a strategy that feels aligned, intentional, and empowering—just for you.

➡️ Schedule your 1-hour Money Mastery Call here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/11-support

Money doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Let's create a strategy that feels nurturing and custom to you.

From my soul to yours,

Erin

Chapters

• 1:41 Breaking Down the 4 Profit Pillars
• 5:53 Understanding Labor and Marketing Expenses
• 7:58 Offer Delivery and Operating Costs
• 9:20 Reflection Questions and Money Blocks
• 10:00 Community Invitation and Call to Action

Transcript

Erin Gray: 0:00

Everything that I'm going to talk about today comes directly from the book. I highly recommend this book for multiple reasons that I'll get into in this podcast, and I'm really going to give you my take on how to use these pillars in a way that actually feels nourishing to your body, your soul and your business. So if you're ready to start feeling more grounded and clear and confident about your money and in your business, this one's for you. Do you want to create a system to stop avoiding your money? Maybe you're feeling guilt and shame when it comes to your finances. Welcome to your Money, your Rules. I'm Erin, a former certified financial planner and CFO, and yet I used to avoid my money and had fear, no matter how much we had. I can't wait to teach you how I overcame my money avoidance and started consistently managing my finances in a really simple way. It's time to get comfortable with money Before we dive in. I want to offer that if the backend of your business feels a little messy, like maybe you're having, or you do have, inconsistent, you're looking at your books inconsistently, you are unclear on your cashflow or maybe you just feel this nagging sense that you're missing something I want you to know that I've got you. You don't have to keep avoiding it and you don't have to figure this out alone. I'm going to help you get clear, get organized and fully grounded in your numbers so that you and your business can feel steady and spacious In our one-on-one session. Together, we're going to work through your business finances, create a plan that actually works for you, one that supports your nervous system and your goals and your growth. I invite you, let's get squared away. You can head over to my website, generatealifewelllivedcom and schedule your session. Today. I am breaking down the book called Profit Pillars A Proven System to Maximize the Bottom Line in your Online Business, by Parker Charles Stevenson. Everything that I'm going to talk about today comes directly from the book. I highly recommend this book for multiple reasons that I'll get into in this podcast, and I'm really going to give you my take on how to use these pillars in a way that actually feels nourishing to your body, your soul and your business. Okay, so there's four pillars and the first pillar and it's in no specific order, but what he does is he breaks it down into four pillars and then the percentages that he has seen in online businesses, which are like what is a good percentage, profitability wise, what's an okay, and then what's kind of on the excess or the outer. You know where you might want to start looking at. Hmm, maybe I'm, uh, might be spending a little bit too much in that area.

Erin Gray: 2:47

So the labor expense is one of the pillars and this includes, like your contractors, so like your VA, copywriter, customer service, ops manager, podcast person that produces if you do have a podcast social media manager, tech support just all of your contractors that you employ, and I shouldn't say employee, because a 1099 is not someone, it's not an employee. But you get what I'm, what I mean If you do have employees. This also takes into account your owner pay, as well as any type of payroll taxes, anything of that sort. Team morale. You know, understanding your labor expenses, you really get to see like, are all of the people that are on my team really supporting the growth of my business in the best way? You know if you are throwing spaghetti at the wall and you're hiring without a strategy, sometimes that can lead to leaky spots. So it really you get to get clear on what are my labor expenses.

Erin Gray: 3:31

So the second pillar is lead and conversion costs and this is, you know, what does it actually take as a whole? You know what am I spending to get clients. So these pillars include like advertising, if you're paying for. You know social media advertising, like Facebook, um, any type of affiliate fees or marketing costs. You know merchant fees. So, like your payment processor, like Stripe or whoever you use as your um merchant fees. So this pillar helps you evaluate you know if your marketing investments are actually turning a profit. You know, sometimes we will invest in advertising, but if we aren't clear on our message, it doesn't matter how much money we're pouring in to our marketing. If our message isn't clear, no amount of fuel to the fire is going to create the client right. So it really gets you to see. You know where. What is my cost for. You know getting clients and is this going to be a sustainable long-term strategy.

Erin Gray: 4:38

The third pillar is any type of offer delivery expenses. So, like, what does this actually cost or take to deliver my service? So this pillar includes, like, if you are, if you have a group program, like, and you have teachers or coaches or instructors inside or guest speakers, um, any type like if you're doing some in-person event, like event expenses, any type of printing costs or product fulfillment, like if you're mailing out workbooks or whatever. So you really just get to see, you know how much does it cost to deliver on the promise that you make, you know. And so if this pillar, if the percentage, is too high, then obviously it's going to impact the overall profitability right of your business. So just taking a look and seeing, like okay, I have priced it at this, but my profit margin is X, is that in, is that in alignment, you know, with the percentages, or am I too high to you know? Am I really running lean? Like what does that look like? So it really you get really clear.

Erin Gray: 5:39

And then the last one is operating expenses, right, so this is all the backend stuff, like what I think about, like what, what goes on, regardless right Of how many clients you have, um, what keeps the business running right. So this pillar includes, like legal and tax insurance, any type of professional fees that you might have, office supplies, um technology, any type of travel, computer expenses, bank charges or annual fees for credit cards, things like that. And so these are just your general operating costs that are necessary to keep your business running smoothly. And so really keeping these, looking at them, first of all knowing what percentage you're at and this is all going to be a percentage of your total income, right? So what are these costs in relation to your total income generated? And so you really get to see. You know where. Where am I doing? Well, what could I maybe improve on?

Erin Gray: 6:39

And, and I think more than anything, you know when we get clear on our numbers and then we we start making decisions from that place. Like, like I said, if you are trying to throw money at marketing but you aren't clear on your message, let's just use that as an example. You might be throwing money that isn't actually going to be an ROI for you, because really, what you need to look at is is my message clear? And I just use that as an example. But I think a lot of times we think or maybe we need to be doing more organic marketing instead of paid. So you just really get to be really clear, and I think it's a much better system for people with an online business than a brick and mortar.

Erin Gray: 7:23

And so questions that will let me recap, you know. So the four pillars are your labor expenses, your lead and conversion costs, your offer delivery expenses and your operating expenses. And, like I said, when you go buy the book, he breaks down everything for you. So either you or, if you have a bookkeeper, you can literally change this all in QuickBooks or whatever your accounting software is, so that when you pull your P and L, you'll be able to see exactly what those percentages are, which is amazing Like you can gain such clarity in probably an hour, hour and a half of implementing this.

Erin Gray: 8:01

So some reflection questions that you can ask yourself is how do I want to make my spending decision in each pillar more intentional and more aligned with my goals? Like, first and foremost, like anything right, awareness is key, getting really clear on where you are and then moving forward Once you know what your percentages are. Okay, how do I want to, you know, make sure that those decisions that I'm making are in alignment with my goals? And maybe you might have, like, what are some of my money blocks when it comes to labor? Like, if your labor is really low and you're feeling burnt out and you're doing it all yourself, okay, why haven't you hired someone? What is going on from a belief system standpoint, that is, create, that is, you know, not allowing you to hire or you're choosing not to hire someone. What are some of those mindset shifts that you might need to make in order to hire someone out? So it may not be just with you know labor, but do you have any blocks when it comes to these pillars right, lead conversion or offer delivery or operating expenses or labor and really getting clear, like, where are, where do you stand, what are your numbers and where are some of your limiting beliefs? Okay, that's what I've got for you today.

Erin Gray: 9:18

If you want a space to explore money and mindset and business in a way that honors who you are and where you're going, I would love to invite you to join my free Facebook group Money Mindset Tips for Women in Business. It's a space where we talk about money, financial strategies, nervous system regulation and what it really takes to build wealth as a woman in business. No, you don't have to do this alone. Come be with us in a community with other women who are really rewriting their money stories. You can search on Facebook just money mindset tips for women in business, or you can click the link in the show notes and you can join there. I would love to welcome you there and I look forward to seeing you.

Erin Gray: 10:03

Okay, until next time. I'll see you in the next episode. I would love it if you would leave a review for this podcast. It helps the show grow and I love hearing from you. And if this episode resonated with you and you have a business bestie who is also avoiding her money, will you share this episode with her? My mission is to help more female entrepreneurs feel safe and empowered with their money. Okay, I'll see you in the next episode.