Why You Need a Fractional CFO

Speaker 1: [Music] hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the she builted experience with Melanie you're here because you want to experience the life and business that you crave join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech innovation magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in Kathy 1tina is the founder of Newcastle finance a company offering fractional CFO services to women-owned businesses during her 14 years as a senior level financial planner and analyst for Fortune 500 companies she saw firsthand how large companies used financial information to drive their companies forward Kathy started Newcastle Finance because she wanted to offer that same powerful Financial insight to women owned businesses she helps business owners as a financial puzzle solver to get clear on their financial strategies so that they can feel confident to make decisions that drive results and create a thriving business I'm so thrilled to welcome you

Speaker 2: Kathy I'm so glad to be here Melanie

Speaker 1: please tell us about your time as a financial planner and the successes that you saw Fortune 500 companies

Speaker 2: experience financial planning for businesses is very different than financial planning for individuals so when people hear financial planning the first thing that comes to mind is 401ks is Investments and stocks right and that is very different in the business sphere because Financial Planning in the business is looking at the company's resources their cash their Human Resources their equipment and you're planning for the future so you're taking all of the resources that the company has and you're looking at the industry you're looking at the economy you're looking at the trends and you're trying to make sure that the resources that the company has available are being used wisely in the future I was in the billion dooll companies and doing Financial Planning and strategy for them for 14 years and I was in different Industries so one of the things that I've noticed is that they do a lot of decision based on the data so they do need a lot of people to support that as you can imagine so one project that comes to mind when we were really like using the data is that one company that I was with before actually did a lot of transaction manual work so what we were trying to figure out how do we get away from that because when you do a lot of manual and transactional piece work you have to have a lot of resources you have to have a lot of people so we were trying to figure out how we can get away from that and actually automate it and use the people that we have to not do so much much of the manual work but to actually do value provided work looking

Speaker 1: at the processes that they were doing looking at it holistically we were actually able to reduce the cost of people by 50% and we were deploying them into different organizations because it was a conglomerate company and the savings were just through the roof so when you're looking at the big companies like this this is not unusual for them that's what they do on a daily basis they look at the processes they look at their finances and they look at the resources how they can deploy them better but when you come to the smaller businesses no one's really doing that and it's really disheartening for me to see that and to look at that and that's where I decided you know what I really want to help small businesses get a better handle on

Speaker 2: this I love that you take such a holistic approach can you share with us who an ideal client would be and what

Speaker 1: that might look like for you yeah so an ideal client for me is a business that's between a million doll in sales to 10 million because those are the ones that already achieved a lot of traction in the sales and they have the clients and they have the customers but they're starting to be more complex when you think about a business that it's 35 million in sales versus a business that's doing 500 200,000 so there's a lot more that needs to go into looking at the business not just from a financial perspective but also from a holistic persp perspective of how are you bringing all the sales all the marketing into it and how does that reflect the finances so the businesses that I work with are between a million and 10 in Revenue because those are the ones that really need the help to get them and to propel them in their growth forward so that they can grow if they want to or if they don't want to do that and that's okay because some don't but they're actually healthy and sustainable and I'm very much in the healthy and sustainable business the clients that I want to work with are those are really keeping that in mind and really have that as a goal as a healthy and

Speaker 2: sustainable business it also seems like you have a passion for supporting women and women owned and led and operated

Speaker 1: businesses yes and that comes again from my corporate uh time as well because I was in finance and that is such a malale dominated world and I noticed the higher you go into the ranks in the companies when it comes to leadership majority of it is men so and it really bothered me too because I mean women have so much to offer and we're like 50% of the population but why are we that included in these conversations right so I said you know what how about we actually start making our own businesses and get into the leadership positions by ourselves and the way to do that is to actually grow through the finances and be really financially Savvy and that's when I said I can really contribute that for women to get into those leadership positions by being financially Savvy I

Speaker 2: love that and love that you're supporting women in that way what gave

Speaker 1: you the courage to say I'm going to make this leap in my career and my life and I'm going to start Newcastle Finance I would lie if I would say that it was easy because it was not especially when you're when in corporate for so long you kind of get embedded into this view of I want to climb the corporate ladder I want to go f further but when I left my previous job I I was thinking you know what is it that really feeds my soul and what is it that I really want to be doing because I can always get another job at the corporate level and I come from a family of entrepreneurs unfortunately a lot of them actually had failed businesses and the reason why they had failed businesses is because they really weren't financially Savvy that kind of planted in the back of my head maybe I want to try the entrepreneurship rout by myself when I left my previous job that's where the that idea sparked again this is something that you should be looking at and not only from my own perspective like I said but also for helping other businesses so that they don't have to struggle what my family had to struggle to with these failed businesses because there was wrong pricing people were stealing from them I mean there were a lot of issues and I really really wanted to help people to not have to go through it and the financial side of it is everything you have to have the sales you have to manage the finances for the business going forward in order to scale and in

Speaker 2: order to grow what do you enjoy most

Speaker 1: about what you do now I think the thing that's really enjoyable to me is being my own boss and actually working with people that I really love working with is that I get to be a part of other people's businesses and it's such a privilege to be able to be a part of it to see how they're operating to actually have them it's almost like you're helping them raise a child in a way and you have to have that intimate knowledge they have to trust you in order to share those aspects of their business with you yeah exactly there has to be a lot of trust there because I am there I am essentially holding their hand and and guiding them through this and that's what I really like too I get to be a part of someone else's business I get to help them and you have that relationship with a business owner because they trust you so it's like on a human level it's a really good feeling as well but it's it's such a privilege to be able to do that you're on their team and every entrepreneur great to have people on your team that's helping you scale and helping you move forward and thinking about those innovative ways to help you get to the next level is there a

Speaker 2: memorable story that you can share with

Speaker 1: us about how you helped the client grow their business and reach their goals when businesses come to me they really struggle like I said they've grown already some actually grown really fast especially during Co I mean some businesses are growing exponentially and they're seeing that the sales are growing but the expenses are also growing with it as well so they're at the point where things are starting to spin a little bit out of control and they really don't know what what to do so they go through their accountants they go to their bookkeepers and they asking all these management questions but the problem is that accountants and bookkeepers don't do that they actually do the transactional pieces they'll help them manage the books in a way that everything is recorded that everything that the taxes are done properly but when it comes to planning and figuring out all the management decisions that's what they don't do so luckily some have actually referred them to me to help them with it it's amazing just how much a business can actually transform with putting just basic foundational stuff like putting the budgets together actually understanding what the lovers are in business looking at the profitability reports looking at what type of clients and projects that they're bringing on or even the payment structure are you on a net 30 netet 45 I mean all of these things and when you start putting and implementing these things together you can see the business exponentially grow in a healthy and sustainable way of course or you can see it the cash flow and the cash reserves are just getting bigger and this is really satisfying to watch too because it's almost like a light bulb comes up and everything just falls into place right it's like the puzzle pieces coming together you bring

Speaker 2: up such a good point because you look at a business and you think wow they've grown so much during Co that's so great but with growth comes additional challenges and you have to add more structure to the teams and to your business for that growth and I think people don't always think about that when they see a business start to thrive

Speaker 1: yeah and and that's the piece that often gets forgotten because it's like growing is this Holy Grail but I always ask why are you growing how are you growing a lot of the business says they wanted to grow but there was not a real good reason for it it was almost like it was outside pressure of growing because everyone else is growing I have to grow too and I always ask why are you doing this do are you supporting a certain lifestyle do you want to grow a business because you want to sell it down the road do you want to have the IPO the initial public offering do you want to be a a million billion dollar business down the road I mean all of this is possible Right but it you have to have a def of why you're doing what you're doing otherwise it's like any path will get you there and if you don't have a plan for growth you don't have a plan for the expenses and everything you need to support that growth and on the other hand also it can really damage your reputation because if you're not able to deliver those services to the customers and to the clients that can really take a toll on your brand and thinking in that terms you really have to look at it holistically not just in terms of oh I want to get to 10x of my sales you're so

Speaker 2: right because how can you grow if you don't know where you want to go when you start a business it's always interesting to think about okay how do I want this to end right because my children might not want to take it over if I grow it to so it's so great that you ask those really important questions as far as growing a business and helping someone find and live their Joy because ultimately that's really what it's all about and it's so smart to say do you want to grow because maybe someone is just growing to your point because they feel like they have to CU everybody else is but maybe they're happy in their own sphere of of growth and how they're scaling at that time yeah and there's nothing wrong if you want to stay at a million dollars or even less than that and just be a you know solar provider or just have an employee or two there's absolutely nothing wrong with that and you don't have to be pressured into I have to grow into a 10 20 15 the100 million company there's really no reason for it if it doesn't support you I love that you approach the whole aspect that

Speaker 1: way how has your previous experience as a financial planner helped you in building your business and in what you

Speaker 2: do today a lot of the finance is actually not just in numbers it's also in the psychology behind it as well and looking at the business holistically it's almost like connecting all the different points connecting the different puzzles so to be able to like like see all these different puzzles you have to have a lot of curiosity and you have to be really good with problem solving so I think those are the two things that have really helped me not only with delivering services to my clients but also in my business as well not everything that I've done at the beginning of my business especially in terms of like marketing was was a good decision so having that Curiosity of what is it that I can do better or this is not working what can I do and having that research and actually looking for it like I said holistically even with my own business I'm looking at it from a holistic point of view and and having that mindset it really helped me in my own business but also in how I approach the clients business of how I work with them so curiosity and troubleshooting

Speaker 1: for sure and that's really great because we're not all good at everything figuring out the things that we're not good at and bringing in someone like you if we don't necessarily want to focus on the the finances and you have such a unique perspective because you don't seem to look at just the analytics you look at the business as a whole you see the entire picture what is your strategy for management for staying on task to accomplish what you set out to do as well as motivating your clients and your

Speaker 2: teams and people around you I operate from what is what is a quote give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day and teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever for the rest of his life yes the way I look at this is how do I take that investment upfront to have good processes and systems and the way people

Speaker 1: think and support them so that they can make decisions on their own and and instill that they feel confident in what they're doing and that actually comes as as I see it as guiding and is coaching more than actually telling people this is what you need to do this is what you need to do because if you just tell them what to do they're always just going to wait for your input and a lot of it is just asking the right questions having that consultative approach of this is not working what do you think is the path that we should go down and the same thing with my clients too they are the expert in their business but my job is to ask the right questions and to guide and the same thing with my employees and the people that work for me my contractors provide the expectations but then actually guide them so that they're able to make good decisions and help

Speaker 2: with the business that's great because everybody's business is different and I like that you said you look into how someone thinks so that you can guide them to confidently make those decisions on their own someone might not look that deep they might just say here's the facts go do this but it's so important to dive deeper instead of just following the steps and the normal path yeah and I have a saying that I say cookie cutter approaches are for cookies only I love it that's great how has your business shifted over the last year what obstacles have you been able to overcome and what successes have you had the

Speaker 1: biggest obstacle for me has been face-to-face events so I used to do a lot of that and I used to do presentations face to face so that has been all wiped out but interestingly enough it has actually been almost like a boom to my business because now when I do events online I get to talk to people across the country and I'm able to talk to them via LinkedIn email I mean they find me on on Google and through podcast it's kind of interesting how my reach has actually expanded during Co the way how I do work hasn't changed because I've been virtual and I've been doing it from home I've also seen that a lot of people are really looking for that financial planning support now too because they have to plan more in advance there's seeing that there's a lot of value in being proactive versus reactive so there's a lot of theand yeah I think Co forced us all to slow down and look into ourselves and also our processes for our business how we're going about things Co like you mentioned pushed us all to be a little bit more virtual maybe we wanted to go in a virtual direction we were thinking about it but didn't really make that leap quite yet so I agree with you that part's been really fun yeah and you get to talk and have conversations with people that you normally just would not

Speaker 2: yes Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one tip that you can leave with us today about how you find and live your joy finances are often deemed to be like dry and boring but you take that approach so much further to where a business owner

Speaker 1: listening to you is going to say wow I Want Someone Like You on my side because you're not just going to look the numbers you're going to look deeper than

Speaker 2: that my goal is to make finances as fun as possible definitely make them approachable because what brings me joy is when someone actually starts looking forward to looking at their finances and actually having meetings with me and their accountant because they're really getting it they're getting excited they're seeing the plan laid out for the business they understand what it means and that's really for someone who's been in finance for so long and I wanted to be in finance since I was 12 years old and being able to share that Joy it's a privilege because it helps other people and it makes Finance approachable it's

Speaker 1: so great that you knew what you wanted to do at such a young age I did want to go into Investment Banking but that did not happen so I wented to corporate finance uh instead but it worked out beautifully it worked out really well and it's so great that you take that approach to make Finance enjoyable because I can see anybody running a business wanting to work with you or someone that would would put it in that light and it's such a joy for me because now they're able to look at Finance in a complete different light something that's useful and hopefully brings them a little bit of Joy thank you so much for joining me today can you please tell us how and where we can find you so you

Speaker 2: can find me on LinkedIn under Cathy stina or you can go on my website Newcastle fin .

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