Take the Stress off Money with Carolina Martinez

Want to connect with Carolina? Follow her on Instagram @‌cashflowwithcarolina

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Summary

In this conversation, Christa and Carolina Martinez discuss the importance of financial coaching for photographers and entrepreneurs. They explore basic financial tips, the significance of separating personal and business finances, and the impact of mindset on financial success. Carolina shares insights on managing fluctuating income, setting financial goals, and the importance of community support in achieving financial stability. The discussion emphasizes the value of simplicity in building wealth and the need for a healthy relationship with money.

Takeaways

• Money is personal and requires a supportive approach.
• Separating business and personal finances is crucial.
• Establishing a business structure early can prevent headaches later.
• Managing fluctuating income is essential for financial stability.
• Setting clear financial goals helps guide decision-making.
• Simplicity in financial habits leads to sustainable wealth.
• Community support can alleviate financial pressures.
• Rest and reflection are important for productivity.
• Understanding the purpose behind financial goals is key.
• Wealth building is about consistent, simple habits.

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Transcript

Christa (00:01.669)
Okay, guys, today on the podcast, you're actually going to hear from one of my coaches, which I always tell my listeners, like, I always invest in coaching because like, I'm taking y'all with me, like all my students. so, Carolina Martinez is here. She is on Instagram, Cash Flow with Carolina. And she is a financial coach and I invited her in.

Just to y'all give us just some basic, some mindset work that comes around money. And I'm excited to share just the things that she's taught me. Welcome Carolina.

Carolina Martinez (00:33.258)
Hi Krista, thank you so much for having me.

Christa (00:36.413)
I love having you here and I have to remind myself like this isn't one of our coaching calls. Don't just jump in and cry or share what's going on. But Carolina, we connected. I connected with you through a friend, Lauren Goldman, who's our ads coach in Inner Circle. She connected me with you this year and you've just been such a blessing to me and helped me so much just to really understand money that I was like the people need more of her.

Carolina Martinez (00:40.374)
I know.

Carolina Martinez (00:47.707)
you

Carolina Martinez (01:00.888)
You're so sweet. just, I just want to support you and like the growth that you're having in your business. And sometimes we just need like a third party to kind of give you a different perspective.

Christa (01:10.971)
Yeah, absolutely. And money is something that as a business owner, it is so personal. And you know more about my finances than my best friend, because it's just something that it's so personal, especially y'all as a business owner. So I'm excited for us to have this conversation because, know, for our listener, Carolina, for you out there, the photographer that's established, you're making some money and just kind of lacking clarity. Like this is for you. So

Carolina, I'd love if you just shared a bit, just about some easy tips for photographers to really keep things organized with their finances.

Carolina Martinez (01:50.444)
Yeah, well first of all, I just want to say like you are such a gift too to even open up like that and tell people that because I think people will think that when you're in business for so long, like you have it all figured out and you don't, you're just figuring it out little by little as we go. So I just want to commend you for that. But without overwhelming your audience, there's so many things to do, but like let's just bring it back to the basics. Cause I think we would be surprised when

Maybe a lot of photographers like pick up a camera for the first time and they're excited and they just go, right? And they just book sessions. But the biggest mistake I see is just not separating your business and personal finances. It just creates a headache. It creates tax issues. I always say like your business is there to serve your personal life, but your finances should also be separate. Like treat your business like a business and not a hobby, right?

So the first thing is if you haven't already, please open up a business checking account and then the business savings account because you have to start saving for taxes off the bat. I know it's no fun, but that's the part of entrepreneurship that if we have a handle from that from the beginning, money wouldn't scare us so much. And as a believer too, I think that if you can learn how to manage your money with a little bit,

Christa (03:07.751)
Yeah, absolutely.

Carolina Martinez (03:15.47)
You'll learn how to manage it when you have a lot of it too. that's the first thing. I think you'd be surprised how many people just avoid that at all costs.

Christa (03:23.675)
It is surprising to my to the best of my knowledge, Carolina, you can just hope anyone can open a DBA doing business as account, even if you just need to get it open and don't have all of the taxi and stuff set up yet.

Carolina Martinez (03:34.678)
Yeah, I have to double check that. I know from my experience, I've always done LLCs. I highly, highly recommend an LLC just because protection with limited liability, it's so easy to do. And again, that could take 10 minutes for you just to start. And then once you get that EIN number, then you can open up your business checking account. So it's just like, I know it's tedious, but it'll save you a headache later on.

I actually have a friend and a client that she has been in business. She's not a photographer, but she's been in business for like a year and a half. She's made over six figures and she just established her LLC and she has told me what a pain it has been for her and that she wishes she just did it from the beginning when she had zero dollars in her business. And yeah, so take it for what it's worth. It does become a bigger headache later on.

Christa (04:30.813)
It does. even like you said at the beginning, even if it feels like a headache now, it's so worth it. Even just Carolina help with cash flow where you can keep everything coming in, coming out. okay, Caroline, you're gonna laugh at this. I remember in college when I was starting to do sessions, I probably shouldn't say this publicly, I would get paid in just cash a lot. And I would literally just keep a lot of cash on my car visor. Like the organization was terrible. Guys, I would pay like second shooters.

Carolina Martinez (04:50.861)
Yeah.

Christa (04:59.377)
just like a handful of cash. The organization was terrible and you're right down the road. That really hurt me where it's like, this money that the client paid in this CRM was linked to the personal account. And then we have to move it over and it's so guys, makes it so easy when you have that separate account, link all of your cards, all your client payments, and then all of the gear you're buying, photo related comes from that one account. There's no crossover. And then Carolina talk about

Carolina Martinez (05:26.743)
Yeah.

Christa (05:28.743)
Talk about like just paying yourself like a normal paycheck. Is that what you usually recommend?

Carolina Martinez (05:33.054)
Yeah, so it depends. tell everyone I'm like, I'm not an accountant and I'm not a bookkeeper, but I've had a lot of experience in business running my family's business as CFO for eight years. And so I've done this a few times. but as an if you're an LLC, so you can file as LLC as like a single member or LLC as an S Corp, which people you might hear. And from a lot of the accountants that I have spoken with, they recommend you do an S Corp once you start

Profiting about 50 to 60 thousand dollars a year. That's just because you have better tax benefits when it comes to payroll So there's kind of like an overview there But when it comes to paying yourself as very single single member LLC and you're just getting started Then you can just pay yourself as a draw you just transfer money from your business checking to your personal checking Maybe once a week twice a month, whatever, but if you're an escort you actually have to have

or actual payroll system, which Krista, you're familiar with. But I people get surprised that you really don't need to make like that much, know, 50, you know, in comparison to like the six figures that people are always referencing, you can make $50,000 in profit and you should be establishing an S corp with payroll to get more of the tax benefits that everyone is always looking to get. So what people also, one other little tidbit is

People will be like, yeah, but my accountant told me I should only pay myself like $25,000 with my S-corp or whatever ridiculous low amount it is. That's just because of the strategy with the taxes. You can actually take more from your business as a draw, like a regular transfer, in addition to the actual payroll. It's a whole little ninja thing, but just know that there are different avenues to take more money for your business to serve your personal life and your personal goals.

Christa (07:28.155)
And I've loved being on just a set payroll system. Like I think that there's a lot of benefits to it. So Carolina has been just even helping me just with like basic budgeting and things. It's so much easier to do when you have a set amount coming in versus like, I'm a little low on money. Let's transfer a couple grand over. And I tell Carolina, my wedding photographers and portrait photographers, you know, I coach some, for instance, I coach some in the senior space. So there's a girl who maybe had a two grand month and a 20 grand month in the same year.

Carolina Martinez (07:53.312)
Mm-hmm.

Christa (07:58.139)
And it really is helpful if you have more consistency in paying yourself where you're not like, do I not need to pay myself? should I pay myself a lot? Like, can you give any tips on just budgeting with having such fluctuating income in the photo space?

Carolina Martinez (07:58.221)
Yeah.

Carolina Martinez (08:12.084)
Yeah, that's a great question. Okay, so yeah, it's like the feast or famine of being an entrepreneur too. And again, I think like an important part of like the stewardship aspect is like knowing how to live off of a little bit. And then when you have those bigger months, it's like, it's just, cool, we have more money. It's not like, my gosh, how am going to pay for my like mortgage this month, right? And I think going back to like something you said too, it's just like, when you

Christa (08:16.838)
Yes.

Carolina Martinez (08:40.436)
The purpose of all this is to like enjoy your business and enjoy your life, right? Cause you probably went into entrepreneurship to break free from someone telling you when and how to work and what hours to work. So the point of this is not to be legalistic, but to give yourself permission and to ease off the stress. So there is purpose behind this, right? So if you have like,

obviously a ridiculous swing like from 2000 to 20,000 is really using that 20,000 to have like a reserve for the future because you are going to have low months. So like when that does happen to expect it to happen and you'd be like, it's cool. I've got it covered. I plan for it. And I think again, like just goes back to having a system, which I will give you some tactical like formulas that I use. It's just having a system so that

your business is a blessing and not a burden. the kind of formula that I've have found that it's really helpful to serve me. And again, this is like high levels that not to do with payroll, but like with your profits is always setting a chunk for taxes, setting a chunk to give is because that's important to me.

And then the other chunk I do is retained earnings. And sometimes that just ranges on percentage. And this could be retained earnings to reinvest back into your business or retained earnings that you should build in somewhat of an emergency fund for your business. I truly think you should do the emergency fund first before you think about investing again in your business. But keeping a reserve in your, in a separate savings account where you have maybe like

two months of expenses just to have as like an crap money is kind of what I call it. And then you can build it to like reinvest. But yeah, I think this just gives you so much permission. And something that I am really trying to shift my clients to look at too is to actually start paying yourself based on the previous month's profits. Because that gives us a lot more wiggle room to be like, wow, okay.

Carolina Martinez (10:57.822)
If I have a bad month, I have cushion to try to make more sales, to try to get more clients, and that'll cover me for the next month. Like you already have this month already covered. And I think it just alleviates a whole different kind of pressure, right? I'll tell you one more thing too. I have a photographer client that I'm actually working with currently, and we were figuring out her cash flow and like looking at her personal budget. And she's like, man, it's kind of tight now that she's like, I...

Christa (11:11.333)
It does.

Carolina Martinez (11:25.23)
She's not finally saving for taxes, right? She's not just taking everything home. And I'm like, okay, this is what you need to do. You need to go and book four more sessions. She's like, for the month? She's like, I'm like, yeah, she goes, that's easy. She came back and she booked like six or seven sessions. But like, once you have like that actual information without burning yourself out, of course, you're like, that's all I gotta do. Got it done. And she can breathe so much easier.

Christa (11:50.225)
Yeah, for sure. like, just to, try to be like transparent with our listeners. So like when Carolina came into my life this year, soon after I had a baby and like I coach a lot of young women. And even if it's not like, no, things are burning down just to give them the permission of being able to take a breath, like for just big life events, you know?

Carolina Martinez (12:11.788)
Yeah. And I think that again, that's the whole point of it too, is because maybe a lot of your photographers that you work with are parents themselves, they're moms themselves, and they want the freedom of being present when they're actually home. And it's just, yeah, that's the whole point. It's like money is supposed to be our tool. It's that, you know, if you're going to be excited about a six figure, you know, business, but then you don't know how you can't pick up your kid from school, like what's worth.

what's that worth to you, you know, so.

Christa (12:43.483)
And you've helped me see that so much. so, just for our listeners, if they've listened, they probably know I'm pretty financially motivated. Like I see a goal. I love to sprint towards it. I love that we're in photography and coaching. Like the sky's the limit with income when you have the right structure. And I love teaching that to photographers and you know, Carolina, like, you know, we hit the season of COVID and there were a lot of unknowns. had friends who legally weren't allowed to go out and pick up their camera. And after that,

I fell really into like a scarcity mode with money and you were so helpful with helping me like organize that and see what was okay and not. And our listeners don't know this, but there was a time last fall, we just turned all of our funnels off where I was like, I need to just breathe and serve my current clients really well. And you were so instrumental in sharing, okay, this is why you have your business. Like you are going to burn out your little guy is a little baby, a few months old, like.

Carolina Martinez (13:17.281)
Mm-hmm.

Christa (13:43.437)
you have the margin to pause and like I wouldn't have done that. Had I not like had you speaking into that? Is that normal? Am I crazy?

Carolina Martinez (13:52.878)
No, think I get it because I like say all these things, but I'm also high achiever, highly motivated, love going for big goals. Like I feel like that's how I was created and you and I are very similar in that. so all I have to say is that it is normal for our personalities for sure, but rest can also be productive. And if you guys know Krista, maybe you've seen like a new spark in her in this last month because

Christa (14:00.295)
Yeah.

Christa (14:20.253)
A new jizener is up in 2026.

Carolina Martinez (14:23.214)
Yeah, because she's just been restored and I think, know, as business owners, we just don't always have to go, go, go. Sure, if you're just getting started, which I don't think a lot of your listeners, maybe they're already established, but like, if you already have margin, you have a couple thousand dollars sitting in your accounts. It's just like pausing and reevaluating. Like, how are you managing that? Like it and it's again, the scarcity of like, I'll talk to some clients and they'll be like,

I really don't have that much money in my account and then I'll open it up and it's like $15,000. I'm like, what do you mean? That's $15,000, you know, that they're not doing anything with that they, you know, again, don't think it's enough. So I was just kind of peeling back the layers of like, where do you want to be now in five years? And then like making a plan with your money behind that and giving it purpose. And noting too that you can always go and make more money.

Christa (15:16.658)
Night.

Carolina Martinez (15:21.39)
So that's also the beauty of what you guys do as well.

Christa (15:24.249)
which I absolutely love. And I wanted to share this because you were so helpful. And even on our call yesterday, I said, Carolina, let's make an income goal for the year. I'm ready. Let's hit it hard. And you were like, OK. And I shot you a number. And you were like in profit. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. I'm just talking about growth. And you're very much like, what do you actually want to make from that? But also, y'all.

Carolina Martinez (15:32.501)
you

Carolina Martinez (15:37.304)
Yeah.

Carolina Martinez (15:45.431)
Yeah.

Christa (15:50.193)
Caroline has been so instrumental in helping me see like but like why Krista Why is this important to you? Like, why do you want to hit that number? Maybe a photographer sitting here. And the buzzword in the photo space is six figures and guys with the right setup, hitting six figures, it's you have to have the right setup doing $300 sessions is going to it's going to be really hard. But like, you know, Caroline, some of the students I'm coaching have a girl just had a four grand sale last week, like it with the right setup, you can get there.

Carolina Martinez (16:16.781)
Yeah.

Christa (16:17.851)
But maybe instead of like holding that to your pinnacle and burning out hitting it, just trying to do more and more and more. Like, I love what you said. It's so important that you see like, but, why are you doing this?

Carolina Martinez (16:30.412)
Yeah, yeah, it's just like, I think the tale is old as time. And again, like as a believer, like if we keep doing that, we're just going to keep worshiping money as an idol instead of like using it to serve the Lord, serve our families well. Like what is the number behind that? What does your life look like because you hit that number? Because, know, again, people can brag about the businesses that they have, but if their life doesn't reflect

the values that they have, then I'm not interested. Like, I just think it's, I think it's a oxymoron. and I'll tell you this, I mean, and you never know what happens with life or with business and COVID hits. And then it's just like securing yourself so like as much as you can foundationally, so that you are prepared for life to hit you in waves, you know, and, and to be there for your family if an emergency were to come up or whatever, you know, like

At the end of our lives, people are not gonna be like, she had a seven figure business. They're gonna be like, how, yeah, how did you show up? I have a client who they had made close to a million dollars in annual revenue over a period of time in the last few years. And it completely got wiped away. And now they're in hundreds of thousand dollars of debt with nothing, no house, no car.

Christa (17:32.903)
Right, right, it's all like.

Yeah!

Carolina Martinez (17:57.738)
Absolutely nothing and they are just like I cannot believe I was so foolish with that money that I made like I didn't have a plan and they're like rebuilding and they're like I'm gonna do things differently now and No one ever thinks that's gonna be me right like or no one ever thinks that's a possibility but the truth like it is life happens and so Learn how to get a system where where it's a feast or famine you're coasted and you're enjoying it and it's serves you well, so

Christa (18:27.677)
And if I, Carolina, would honestly say like based on everything you said, if, our listeners take nothing else from this, you said this at the beginning, it will be easier now, even if you're not making a lot of money than waiting until you're making like a good amount of money to try to like fall into those habits and those frameworks of like living within your means. And I've seen, I feel like it's probably so fascinating for you, but like,

I turned 30 and I think the biggest thing I've seen is that people that I thought had money based on what they drove or the bag they carried or all this stuff, you realize, no, they might spend a lot of money, but they don't actually have a lot of money. And Carolina, I've seen the opposite where I've gotten to know some business owners that I'm like, holy moly, I had no idea the revenue they were bringing in because you would never know. Like the car they drive, their clothes, their thrifting.

Carolina Martinez (18:58.946)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Carolina Martinez (19:18.264)
Yeah.

Christa (19:21.351)
I bet that is just wild for you to see.

Carolina Martinez (19:23.764)
Yeah, and it's funny, I've always like, since, you know, my husband, I went on this whole journey of like paying off our debt and follow Dave Ramsey and read all these books. And it's similar to the millionaire next door book that this Thomas Stanley wrote in the 90s. But it's so true, like people, the flashy people usually don't have a lot of money and they are burying themselves in so much stress that you just don't see behind the scenes.

But it's hard because that's what you see on the outside. Like no one sees behind the scenes. And one principle too is like, it's one thing to make money, it's another thing to keep money. And I, you know, as moms too, is like, have more and more, as I talk about this, I'm like, we have such a responsibility to obliterate that because we are raising kids and they are watching us.

Christa (20:02.044)
Hmm.

Carolina Martinez (20:16.166)
And if we want differently for their lives, then we have to do differently ourselves. You know, and what if our business can, yeah, maybe one day it could be our kids' business or teach them how to be wise entrepreneurs. And that's how legacies are changed. That's how generations are changed with one person, which I really believe moms have so much power because we pour into our kids so much. We're usually like the default parent, right? So like, well, how can we take that as like an honor?

to teach our kids. Yeah.

Christa (20:46.725)
Yeah. Right. And you're not sharing some wild credit card hacking strategy or like take out this HELOC to do this with it. It's just like the simple. was talking to girlfriend about this Carolina, because I've talked about money a lot since hiring you and you just helped me frame it better. Like it's just the simple mundane things, getting in good habits on repeat that like build actual wealth. And I feel like that's sometimes what people like don't want to hear. Kind of the same with growing a business like any type of discipline.

Carolina Martinez (20:52.578)
No.

Carolina Martinez (21:08.899)
Yeah.

Christa (21:14.747)
And I think that's really hard for photographers specifically because we are in such like a visual space, right? Where it's like, you want to show you're successful. And even in the business coaching space, like you want the reel in front of your Ferrari that you, you know, bought or whatever. it's people see that and like flock to that person. And it's like, no, that might, I mean, they might not have any money.

Carolina Martinez (21:21.422)
for sure.

Carolina Martinez (21:37.102)
Yeah, that's so true. And honestly, and you know, going back to like, thank you for bringing that up because I never I tell people I'm like, I'm actually like, kind of like, I call myself a recovering serial spender. I am still a spender a big heart. I don't it's not like I hoard all this money that I make and then I have no fun with it. Like that's not the purpose. Like, again, it's like the life that you're building what's important to you. So like

the tactical piece of advice is just like I tell you to Chris says like, okay, just do a brain dump. Like, what do you want your life to be like? What do you value? And I'm just a big believer too, in the healthy balance of, yes, we save money, we invest money, and then we use our money to live and like, go on vacations with our family. And what's important to you, if you want to buy that designer bag, go for it. But just as long as it's not costing you your peace or your future too. And I think also,

Christa (22:30.855)
Yeah, and you're good.

Carolina Martinez (22:32.898)
People want the fancy hack, but I think simplicity always wins because it's sustainable. And like, you don't have to think, it could just be an automated thing that runs behind the scenes instead of like constantly trying to think how you can outsmart the system.

Christa (22:49.969)
Right, and I've seen that go really poorly for people too. And I appreciate you saying that. And like, I have stood there in the boutique watching the girl split up on the credit cards, the designer dress, you know, and it's just not, you don't want to, you don't want to live that way. And I feel like the older I get, the more I see that. And then like having, like you and I have genuinely become friends and like having relationships with like-minded people.

is so helpful too. like if you're in I have noticed this too, like if you're in a room where everyone's kind of trying to keep up with the Joneses, it's so much harder at least for me to like break the habit of like, but I need to show up in this or like wearing this or whatever. And it's like, yeah, I could afford that. But like, I don't want to spend that versus when I'm in the room with like like minded people that like align with wealth building without being flashy. It just takes so much pressure off of things.

Carolina Martinez (23:24.312)
Mm-hmm.

Carolina Martinez (23:45.062)
Yeah, it's funny you say that too, because I tell people too, like lot of times, like, I don't deliver like a spreadsheet, like I kind of do like a simple formula, like, okay, here's your profit, boom, boom, boom, like we talked about. It's just like a mindset shift and like a belief shift of like, because I think that to your core will change how you want to keep living, not a spreadsheet telling you what to do.

Christa (24:10.907)
Yeah, exactly. let's you can plug that into chat GBT and get it. And like you and I, like you could, you could send me the info we're going to cover on our call, but it's like to just talk about it at that deeper level is and have that relationship is just so helpful. So, I'm just grateful for your support this year and everything. And where can our listeners connect with you if they want to see what you do, or maybe DM you a question, where are you on Instagram?

Carolina Martinez (24:17.965)
Right.

Carolina Martinez (24:36.652)
Yeah, well, I also want to say thank you for trusting me because like you said, money is personal and I don't take that lightly at all. So I just want to say it's always an honor to serve you in this way and just God is good too that we get to be friends from this too.

Christa (24:52.869)
And y'all, when T-Series money is personal...

Carolina Martinez (24:56.11)
You

Christa (24:57.295)
cry on 50 % of our calls, like very unprompted. And it is because, it is just such a deep thing. And I know Carolina, there's some of our listeners out there where some not the case, but some like they're carrying a financial weight of their family and money can be, it can be a heavy topic. And also if you're like me, I just, I try so hard to understand things. And when I don't have clarity,

Carolina Martinez (25:14.498)
Yeah.

Christa (25:25.519)
I just spiral and it's and I could I could spend hours toying over I get very like obsessive. And I think that plays a part in it too. And Carolina, what has just been wonderful just about like reframing that like even if you look at what we accomplished, it's it's nothing earth shattering but like from the mindset wise and just understanding and the piece of like actually understanding money and like what to do with it and why you shouldn't just keep like

a chunk sitting there that's not doing anything. What can you do with it that's wise? And can you take your foot off the gas and a break when you want? Like you've just been so wonderful. So you've been, when I think of my blessings for 2025, like you're at the top. Having that, Carolina.

Carolina Martinez (26:06.894)
Well, Well, and then I'm so excited for what this year is going to bring for you because it's just like, yeah, it's going to be so good. But yeah, if you want to chat more, have some questions, want to work together, Instagram is probably the best place to reach me. It's Cashflow with Carolina. And I don't know. That's what I was going to ask you. I wanted to give your listeners at least a

Christa (26:14.321)
And fun.

Christa (26:29.415)
Share about your course.

Carolina Martinez (26:35.662)
$50 off my investing course. It's investing made simple for Kingdom women. So I'm actually a former licensed financial advisor and I just saw this huge need and people understanding how on earth investing works and again back to Mike one of my core things is keeping it simple Giving you all the information so that you can make the wisest choice and understand how it works Without getting screwed over on someone else doing it

So yeah, you can all have Krista share that link down below for $50 off

Christa (27:08.433)
out the link. Awesome. Well, Carolina, thank you so much for coming and y'all give her a follow on Instagram. If this was helpful, slide into her DMS and thank you. Cashflow with Carolina all C's and we'll link that. But Carolina, I just adore you so much. I'm so grateful for you and your expertise and you taking the time to chat with us today.

Carolina Martinez (27:27.436)
Likewise, my friend.