We recently connected with Carrie Cook and have shared our conversation below.

Carrie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge to profitability in every small business is business growth while building clients, maintaining infrastructure and growing profits. It is such a huge balancing act. For me, understanding my selling seasons is key to this balance. Each offering of my business is seasonally different and I need to read and take advantage of that information so that cash flow is steady to growing and the ebb and flow of my work allows for operational growth.

To ensure as much profitability as possible, I am attempting to standardize my systems, which include software programs, spreadsheets, and a great calendar! I have hired help and am teaching him everything that I can. I am not always timely or forthcoming with my knowledge; as entrepreneurs, we have always relied on ourselves so it is strange to think of how to train others to do your work. Not being able to communicate due to time or distraction, really has slowed our productivity so we have adjusted our expectations. Having someone to help has opened my time up to higher revenue generating opportunities, which also means more brain expansion, which means a great challenge! It feels good to expand. I actually am working less hours now that I have help. I wouldn’t call it burn out but the expansion of energy is similar in a positive way.

As my business was growing, my client time consumption would increase. My invoices to them didn’t. With automation, I can get more done with less time. It is helping a lot. I am also charging for my extra time without pushback, which increases profitability. Once you figure out the rhythm of your business, you can grow its infrastructure and produce good profitability to match.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a visionary entrepreneur and wealth strategist passionate about empowering business owners to financially maximize their business lives. As the founder of multiple ventures, I thrive on creating opportunities that blend innovation, community, and personal growth. My mission is to help others achieve financial clarity and confidence, unlocking their potential for extraordinary success.

I have three businesses. A Fractional CFO company that focuses on business profitability called Revive Financials, www.revivefinancials.com. I have a small bookkeeping company called Clean Simple Books www.cleansimplebooks.com. I have a money mindset and fiscal literacy company called Souverainé Wealth www.souverainewealth.com. I also put on an Entrepreneur Fair www.entrepreneurfair.info every year in April. I host both Network and Nourish as an intimate networking group of women entrepreneurs held in my home and Feast On This as a monthly accountability group held at a local restaurant.

How did I get here? I failed gloriously in business and had nothing left to lean on. I returned to school to learn about what I had done wrong to only hear that although I had a business, I didn’t have the fiscal education for it to succeed. What an eye opener! At 50, I graduated with an MBA in Finance and dedicated my remaining career to helping other entrepreneurs win.

My offering is simple. I offer help in the form of kindness, trust, experience and fiscal brainpower. I talk to a lot of people about money and how to apply it to their business in many different forms. I talk to people about their money beliefs and how those beliefs impact their business profitability. I teach people about finance simply so it is understandable at any level so that people see the value of understanding it and it can be applied to their own business. I think this is what sets me apart. I invest myself in your business. I invest myself in your success. It is very personal.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn my money education and learn about money all over again.

As a young girl, I was taught to go to my Dad for all of my fiscal needs instead of being taught how to handle my own money. It worked. I got what I wanted when I wanted it. I just needed to smile, say thank you and behave for a while. This was GOOD Girl Money! It was easy. As I matured, I got into fiscal jams and Daddy got me out. This was his generational behavior born out of the depression and depression era parents.

My Dad was followed by a couple of boyfriends and a new husband. They all may have wanted me to stand on my own two feet but I still did not have the knowledge to do it nor myself together enough to want that too. It was easy leaning on others.

I really only learned about money when I had to lean on myself for the first time. Running a business is hard! The highs and lows and ups and downs of those first couple of years were strung together by a wing and a prayer. But somehow I made it. It was all going well into the seventh year when an industry change made the bottom fall out of my business as well as others. The bottom fell out of mine because I didn’t understand money, how to use it, how to save it, how to read my reports, how to handle my cash flow, and on and on.

Once all had turned very dark and there was nothing left, I found the strength to help myself. I wanted the education and skillset to help myself and others NEVER to find themselves in this kind of a detrimental position again. I didn’t rebuild overnight. It took several years to believe in myself again but I can stand before you today and know that I am different.

What lessons did I learn? I learned that Profit and Loss (P&L) is a lot like a trip to Target. You walk in with money and a list, shop for what you need and end up with a couple of shiny things that you don’t, and walk out with some change, a receipt and a bag or two of goods. A profit and loss is a record of the money you have earned in a particular timeframe (that’s the money you are bringing in to Target.) It then shows you the Cost of Goods Sold or COGS, which is the materials it will take you to build what you sell, not unlike putting a room together with sheets and pillows, a lamp and maybe a rug and dresser. COGS is what it takes to make a whole. Expenses on a P&L shows what it costs to keep your business operating. Think of this like the coffee you buy at Starbucks before you start the shop, the sparkly dollar bins located next to the carts, the wonderful long isles of color and the little specialty shops like Joanna Gaines spot, the pharmacy or optical shop. It is the experience. It isn’t the short cut or quick trip. It is all of it and that is what your expenses are on your P&L. If you keep your wits about you in Target, you may end up walking out with money. That money is your Net Profit; one of the last lines on your P&L.

So once you get it, you can make it more relatable. I learned that the profit on the P&L moves over to the Balance Sheet. Huh? Yes. And you will find it hard at work paying down your credit cards. A balance sheet could be thought of as your mortgage. Your mortgage is what you owe on your home, which is your greatest fiscal asset in general, aside from your investments. Thinking about your home, you know that you have a deed, or your business license. The Balance sheet tells you all about the value of your deed at a particular moment in time. It shows you the value of your money in your checking, savings and investments. It shows you your loans and your credit cards. What is cool about this information is that the top half, or the assets half equals the bottom half or the Liabilities and Equity.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe my reputation has been built one relationship at a time. I have been building sincere and honest relationships since I began my business five years ago. I have gone to free networking, I have gone to paid networking. I believe that you have to pick your own networking after you have tried a few on. The one constant has been being myself. If it doesn’t fit, I find the courage to say so and move on. If it fits, I bring my friends.

Building an accountability group has been huge. If you aren’t a part of one, build it yourself. I found that building an accountability group with people experiencing the same issues is the most helpful. If my business is four and a half years old and yours is five, we are experiencing the same or nearly the same things and can really help each other out with wisdom. It is really nice to have maybe eight people to share this with. As they get to know you and your struggles and you get to know theirs, a special bond develops. It makes business flow in the form of opportunities. By being vulnerable to this small group, you are really opening up your gifts to be seen at such a deep level and people want to share your riches with others. You are building your reputation.

Getting to know your niche is important as well. Develop tools that are missing from the tool box to help your ideal client. By bringing the tools, you have customized your process and are delivering service unlike your competition. That stands out. Your clients will talk about that with their network and business begins to flow from another funnel.

I host a fair annually. I invite vendors, who I have worked with or know very well, to promote their products or services to a public that I invite. For the vendors, it is 150-200 face to face sales opportunities. For the guest, they are in a room full of 35-50 vendors selling services specifically for entrepreneurial needs. You can talk about Marketing, Organizational or Financial services, which are the three pillars of business, but you can’t talk about makeup, wardrobe or cleaning cloths. I use high top tables so conversations can be eye to eye to begin a trusting relationship. I honor my vendors with great communication and event marketing to highlight their business independently. I invest in them. The room is filled with laughter and joy. People leave talking about what a great event it is. And people know my name.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.revivefinancials.com www.cleansimplebooks.com www. souverainewealth.com www.entrepreneurfair.info
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriecook/