In this spirited and honest episode of Business by the Books, Danielle Hayden sits down with multi-talented entrepreneur, comedian, host of the popular podcast Self-Helpless, and author of MockTales, Delanie Fischer, for a candid conversation about what sustainable creative entrepreneurship really looks like, and why knowing your break-even point may be the most powerful financial move you can make for your mindset.
Whether you're scaling back, starting over, or simply craving more core value alignment in your business, this conversation offers you permission to slow down, get clear on your enough number, and redefine success on your terms by letting go of traditional success metrics.
Key Takeaways:
- Redefining Entrepreneurial Success: Why Delanie made a conscious choice to step away from the ups and downs of fully self-employed income and instead build a business model that supports her core values and long-term vision.
- Seasonality & Self-Awareness: How embracing "sprint" periods and knowing when to pivot has helped Delanie sustain her creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
- Financial Partnership in Marriage: Delanie opens up about the evolution of her financial relationship with her husband, from keeping money completely separate to managing a joint account with aligned goals.
- Letting Go of Control: Insights on building a money team that includes a financial advisor, CPA, and bookkeeper, and how accepting support and letting experts do what they do best has been a game changer.
- Break-Even Point Clarity – From Metrics to Meaning: Why Delanie no longer chases financial benchmarks for the sake of growth and instead focuses on a break-even number that allows for creativity, her lifestyle, core values, and purpose-driven work.
Topics Discussed:
Delanie’s Entrepreneurial Journey (00:29 – 06:14)
How Delanie Manages the Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship (06:14 – 11:49)
Building a Business Model That Suits Your Lifestyle & Values (11:49 – 15:38)
Redefining Success in Entrepreneurship & Life (15:56 - 19:00)
How Entrepreneurship Affects Delanie’s Personal Life (18:33 - 22:18)
Working with a Financial Advisor and Building a Money Team (22:18 - 26:37)
The Power of Break-Even Analysis (26:37 – 30:48)
In Today’s Episode:
Delanie’s Book: MockTales: 50+ Literary Mocktails Inspired by Classic Works, Banned Books, and More by Lindsey Smith & Delanie Fischer | https://www.delaniefischer.com/
Delanie’s Podcast: Self-Helpless | https://www.selfhelplesspodcast.com/
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Episode Transcript
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:04:17
Danielle Hayden
Delanie, welcome to Business by the Books.
00:00:04:19 - 00:00:11:16
Delanie Fischer
Thank you for letting me be here. I appreciate it. I was gonna say, I love you. I love your whole team. So this is very fun.
00:00:11:20 - 00:00:21:18
Danielle Hayden
Awesome, awesome. That's fantastic. And it, like, warms my heart because what we do is really special. And so when it's making an impact for people, I just-warm and fuzzy.
00:00:21:20 - 00:00:24:15
Delanie Fischer
Yes. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:00:24:17 - 00:00:29:15
Danielle Hayden
All right, well tell us a little bit about yourself and your mission in the world today.
00:00:29:17 - 00:00:56:09
Delanie Fischer
Sure! So I am currently a podcaster and a writer. I host a podcast called Self-Helpless, which is basically like an unfiltered, uncensored personal growth show, I guess you can call it. A variety of topics and stuff there. And then I have a book coming out. So I'm also, coauthored a book called MockTales, which includes over 50, nonalcoholic plant based recipes, all literary inspired.
00:00:56:15 - 00:01:05:10
Delanie Fischer
And we're very excited about it because it's the first ever book of its kind in its category to be both, both alcohol free and 100% plant based. So it's.
00:01:05:10 - 00:01:06:13
Danielle Hayden
Kind of, you know, more.
00:01:06:13 - 00:01:27:03
Delanie Fischer
People are included in this space, including myself, that always felt kind of left out. So I'm excited about that. And then I'm also a creative writer at one of the largest nonprofits in the world, where I help them with ads, like print and video campaigns for their celebrity department. So, yeah, podcaster, writer. But it looks a lot of different ways, which I'm sure we'll get into it.
00:01:27:08 - 00:01:33:13
Delanie Fischer
But that's how I would describe myself, as far as, you know, this year or this, you know, handful of years or decade.
00:01:33:15 - 00:01:34:13
Danielle Hayden
This phase of life.
00:01:34:14 - 00:01:36:22
Delanie Fischer
I like that, but yes, this season. Yes.
00:01:37:00 - 00:01:41:19
Danielle Hayden
All right, what drove you to create that podcast? Because that's a change-
00:01:41:20 - 00:02:00:03
Delanie Fischer
Oh my gosh-for you-Yes. It has been so many changes. I've been doing it for about eight and a half years, I think now. It's been a while. And so what originally started was I, in my past life, I was a stand up comedian for about six and a half years, and I met two of my best friends through doing stand up, Kelsey Cook and Taylor Tomlinson.
00:02:00:05 - 00:02:23:08
Delanie Fischer
And we met actually, we were put together by this manager, and we were actually pitching a TV show together, that we had co-written and all of that stuff. And so while we're going through the pitching process, we really just enjoyed being around each other and as a, as a stand up in that world, it can often be hard to make friends and find people that you click with,
00:02:23:10 - 00:02:44:01
Delanie Fischer
especially in a very, a very like kind of cutthroat industry, very male dominated, and also in a, in an environment where, you know, taking care of yourself is not really the norm in a lot of ways, and it's not really looked at as a, as a good thing. It's almost like the more the happy you are or the healthier you are, the less funny you are.
00:02:44:01 - 00:03:07:09
Delanie Fischer
So the fact that we were all clicking, that we love being creative, we loved, we loved joke writing, we loved all of that. But we also were very interested in self-improvement and taking care of our bodies and trying to figure out this balance. And so we created Self-Helpless as just kind of a side thing to say, well, while we're waiting on this TV show thing to see if that's going to go through, why don't we just do something else together?
00:03:07:15 - 00:03:33:04
Delanie Fischer
And of course, that's the thing that kind of took off, the podcast, where we were just talking about things in personal growth that interested us. So we were reviewing books and talking about what we liked or didn't like, and just getting to know each other as friends on this show. And, yeah. And so since then, you know, we are all very close still, and they've gone on to do amazing things in the standup world.
00:03:33:04 - 00:03:50:03
Delanie Fischer
I have left that part, that, that part of the entertainment industry. But they're, you know, they're full-time comedians and loving it that they did have they had to leave the podcast one at a time once, you know, their tour started picking up. But yeah, we're all good friends. Good for them. Yes.
00:03:50:05 - 00:04:04:13
Danielle Hayden
All right, I want to talk about seasonality and how we're-how you manage finances through seasonality and life changes. But before we do that, tell us about the book. That's super exciting. What drove you to write that book?
00:04:04:15 - 00:04:23:19
Delanie Fischer
Yeah. So it's actually kind of a funny thing. Last year for my birthday, I think it was, I just bought myself a course. I'm really interested. I love gift decks, like when you go to the, I don't know, Urban Outfitters or something. You see all the fun little decks? Yeah, I love oracle decks. I love gift books. I love that.
00:04:23:19 - 00:04:53:14
Delanie Fischer
And so I saw that, there's an entrepreneur that I like, who was, so it was Alex Franzen and Lindsey Smith, their, their company was putting on a, basically how to make your own oracle deck course. And part of it was writing a proposal for your book and all that good stuff. So anyway, I ended up connecting with a literary, my literary agent there, and we ended up pitching this idea together, and ended up getting a book deal, which I was very excited about.
00:04:53:14 - 00:05:17:02
Delanie Fischer
But I just wanted to make something that felt kind of inclusive in the drink recipe space. I'm a non drinker. I've been vegan for, you know, seven years. And so I love those books, but I feel like I always have to modify recipes or, you know, they just don't speak to me completely. And so my coauthor, Lindsay, does not drink alcohol.
00:05:17:06 - 00:05:38:14
Delanie Fischer
And so we kind of were like, we need to make this for ourselves because we love these types of books, but we just don't see this type of thing. And that's how MockTales was born. She is very much in the literary space as an agent and bookstore owner and an author. And I come from entertainment as a script writer and joke writer.
00:05:38:14 - 00:05:41:11
Delanie Fischer
And so you can definitely see how these mashed.
00:05:41:13 - 00:05:42:04
Danielle Hayden
What a complement!
00:05:42:06 - 00:06:07:11
Delanie Fischer
Together to be mocktails. And for those, you know, for mocktails, it's a pun, t-a-l-e-s. So it's mocktail drinks, but it's tales of different classic literature. And there's a lot of puns and delicious recipes and fun facts. And so we basically made it, we saw a gap, and we decided to fill it ourselves instead of kind of wait for it to be filled, which, you know, of course, we can talk about that as a big part of entrepreneurship, but very excited.
00:06:07:11 - 00:06:14:17
Delanie Fischer
It comes out February 25th, but it's available for preorder right now, anywhere you like to get your books. So very excited.
00:06:14:19 - 00:06:42:07
Danielle Hayden
Very cool. Well, congratulations on that. Thank you so much. Well, there's a lot of seasonality to what you do and-Yeah-you know, I think that this is something that, you know, we've worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs now, and there's a fear around as a creative that I don't have this reoccurring revenue. I don't have this stability of regular income into my into my business.
00:06:42:07 - 00:07:02:11
Danielle Hayden
And so therefore, how do I manage to pay myself? How do I manage to manage my funds personally, and how do I make sure that I have enough cash to manage the expenses in the business? So as you've gone through all these changes and waves of entrepreneurship, how have you used your numbers?
00:07:02:13 - 00:07:28:14
Delanie Fischer
My gosh, I was an absolute hot mess. Let’s open up the whole can. Let's do it. I mean, when I came to you guys shortly, like after, I, Amanda, my current financial advisor, put me in touch with you guys, which she's grateful for that. And but when I came to her, I had, I had, like, receipts and drawers and I had like an Excel spreadsheet that I was trying to keep my finances together and just felt so completely lost.
00:07:28:14 - 00:07:47:09
Delanie Fischer
And so, number one, what really helped was getting the right team in place. I wish I would have done it sooner, and I thought that I really had to be more established to have help in the finance department. And so I realized I could have done this as I wish I would have done it as one of my first steps.
00:07:47:09 - 00:08:12:19
Delanie Fischer
I did not, but I was so glad when I did. So obviously, having experts help you because it's their job to know how all this works. I was putting so much pressure on myself to basically give myself this like DIY finance degree on Google university of like, how do I do my taxes? And so just the fact that you guys have my back is huge because I can ask a question and then you just tell me what to do.
00:08:12:19 - 00:08:28:08
Delanie Fischer
Like I don't have to know everything as a business owner, entrepreneur. And that's huge. And I think that was a big, kind of blind spot for me in the beginning, where I really thought that I had to do literally everything in my business myself. So that's was-
00:08:28:10 - 00:08:29:14
Danielle Hayden
Superhero cape. Yeah.
00:08:29:15 - 00:08:48:08
Delanie Fischer
Oh my gosh. Please outsource or get help or barter or do whatever you have to do. But a couple of the things that helped me just internally with that anxiety of seeing my income fluctuate, I would have incredible months where I'd make more in a month than I did an entire year at my corporate job. And it would be, it would floor me.
00:08:48:13 - 00:09:08:02
Delanie Fischer
And then I would have months where I made a few hundred bucks. I'm like, what the hell is this? What is this going to be like? Right. But a couple things I had to start zooming out when looking at my revenue and my income. Because I come from a world, you know, the corporate entertainment world, especially where, yeah, you get your, you get paid every two weeks.
00:09:08:02 - 00:09:28:23
Delanie Fischer
You know exactly how much you're making and you don't have to think about it. But that's not what it's like every two weeks as a business owner. And so at first, I had to start planning things and budgeting by looking at my last three months, that was my very first step. I remember what did I make the last three months, and how can that help me with projections or budgeting for the next few months?
00:09:29:01 - 00:09:49:12
Delanie Fischer
And then, you know, years go by as you're a business owner. You I started looking annually. Okay, what did I make this year versus last year? And so once I said, just zoom out. You cannot look at this every two weeks like you're getting paid by an employer, you know? And that was extremely helpful. I started thinking, okay, it's a good month.
00:09:49:12 - 00:09:52:16
Delanie Fischer
Don't celebrate too much. Don’t celebrate
00:09:52:17 - 00:09:53:03
Danielle Hayden
too much.
00:09:53:05 - 00:09:56:16
Delanie Fischer
Right? Don't go too crazy. Keep it in the bank.
00:09:56:18 - 00:10:12:22
Danielle Hayden
I know, it's like we need to look at the-We need to look at the information monthly. However-Yes, right-We can't make reactions monthly, you know? Exactly. Look at it. But then look at like, what is the last quarter look like? What is the last year look like?
00:10:13:00 - 00:10:32:02
Delanie Fischer
I love it. Absolutely, absolutely. And again, I don't-on a bad month, don't get too sad. Right? It's going to even out, you know. So zooming out was massive for me. And then there was another tip that really helped me that I heard from, an entrepreneur, Rachel Rogers quoted this by somebody else who I forget who it’s by.
00:10:32:06 - 00:11:04:19
Delanie Fischer
She's great. And she said that, I think one of her mentors said, find a new zero for yourself as an entrepreneur. So for me, I was like, if it was a tough time, I would be just watching my bank account kind of dwindle down to, well, what if it gets close to actual zero? And so if your new zero is $500 or $5000 or $10,000, whatever it is for you of like, okay, if my new zero is $5,000 in my business account, that's when I'm in a spring into some action about certain things instead of letting it get down to-
00:11:04:19 - 00:11:06:02
Danielle Hayden
Actually be zero.
00:11:06:04 - 00:11:34:22
Delanie Fischer
Yeah! So that felt like a good little mindset buffer as well that I just did not have in place before. And then the other thing is really just I've always had multiple streams of revenue, and those have shifted over the past decade or so, but I usually have three at a time, and in some seasons it's absolutely because of necessity, because I need all three to kind of make it through and survive as an entrepreneur.
00:11:34:22 - 00:11:49:05
Delanie Fischer
And sometimes it's because I just have that many interests at that time. And although I could focus on one thing and make enough from one of my businesses or whatever it was, I don't want to because I'm excited about this other opportunity as well.
00:11:49:07 - 00:12:08:10
Danielle Hayden
So how do you make, how do you keep that from going more? Because that's, that is one of the things that I, that we do see with clients is, is skipping too fast where I'm interested in something, I'm going to try it. There's not enough people knocking down my door in three months, six months, so now I'm excited about this thing.
00:12:08:10 - 00:12:21:00
Danielle Hayden
So I'm going to go over it again. I'm going to go try that. But it's like, how do you know how long each one should stay with you before you change or keep yourself from ending up with six?
00:12:21:02 - 00:12:48:09
Delanie Fischer
Incredible question. I think for me, I mean, filtering your ideas as a creative is a feat in itself. My poor team. And then business-Yes, that’s how I felt with my team like, oh, I'm so sorry. But okay, so I think there's a couple things, I know for me, it's much, it's much easier for me to make decisions when I see, okay, which which thing is making money? Because I do have to pay my bills.
00:12:48:11 - 00:13:06:00
Delanie Fischer
And which thing is maybe more in the hobby category right now that I can work on more leisurely? That's a whole other filtering process. But in the beginning, when I was like, I have way too many ideas, I have to figure out where I even want to go. Like, what is my compass? You know, I had to think about the lifestyle that I wanted.
00:13:06:00 - 00:13:28:19
Delanie Fischer
I had like eight different ideas, eight things on my plate, eight different paths. And I had to think about, well, what do I want my day to look like? I want to be able to work from home. I want to do something creative. I want to have agency over my time and my schedule. I love the flexibility, and I'd like to do something kind of funny and or meaningful and, and mash that together.
00:13:28:22 - 00:13:43:08
Delanie Fischer
So I looked at these eight different ideas I had, and there was only two things on that list that actually could provide me with that. You know, that's why I left standup comedy. I did all these things that, I don't want to travel all the time for a living. I don't want to be out every night. I'm a homebody.
00:13:43:08 - 00:14:05:04
Delanie Fischer
Right? So the lifestyle that I wanted was really a driving force that helped me cut back first. And that's when I launched a business from my home. I did the podcast, and then I was able to leave my corporate job and do that full-time. So that's number one. Then when things start making money, it gets, I think, a little bit harder for me personally because it's hard to say no to money.
00:14:05:07 - 00:14:29:11
Delanie Fischer
Let's be real. So, I for me, the next kind of big decision was I, I had a product based business, a service based business, and a podcast all at once. All of them were making money. Of course, they were fluctuating, but they were all doing relatively well. So then I had to really think about, oh my gosh, I don't want to give something up, but I have to, for my own sanity here.
00:14:29:13 - 00:14:47:15
Delanie Fischer
And I gave up the product based business, and I did that because it just felt more in line with my values to do a service based business and this like, kind of digital entrepreneurship space, because I'm more of a minimalist. I, I knew I was creating a lot of product in the world that maybe didn't need to be there.
00:14:47:17 - 00:15:03:10
Delanie Fischer
And so that, and that kind of was a big factor. And also, I just really enjoyed working with people 1 to 1 with podcast consulting and things that I was doing. It just felt more simple. So that one was more of like a simplicity kind of, I guess, ethical decision.
00:15:03:10 - 00:15:16:06
Danielle Hayden
In a lot of ways. I like that it aligned with your core values. I don't think we give that enough space in our minds of-Yeah-what really aligns with our core values, and it's okay to say no when it no longer aligns, because we're going to change.
00:15:16:08 - 00:15:35:07
Delanie Fischer
Absolutely. And then honestly, like in my 20s, I felt like I could handle a lot of risk as an entrepreneur where I didn't know what it was going to be month to month. As I got older, as I hit my 30s, really, I realized I don't think I'm a risk, I don't think I'm as welcome, you know, to this anymore.
00:15:35:07 - 00:15:38:23
Delanie Fischer
I don't really want as much risk.
00:15:39:01 - 00:15:56:20
Aubrey Philipp
Before we continue, a quick favor! If you found value in this show and want us to keep growing with bigger guests and more strategies, please rate and review on Apple or Spotify. It really helps. Thanks for listening!
00:15:56:22 - 00:16:23:19
Delanie Fischer
And so I shifted my revenue stream. So now with my three streams I have, I work for this nonprofit that is stability for me and I really enjoy my work. It's a creative role and I know that that’s not going anywhere and it's going to be the same every month. And I can really count on that. My podcast, medium stability, like it's been around for a while, I can kind of expect how much it's going to bring in, and then things like writing a book or other projects,
00:16:24:01 - 00:16:41:01
Delanie Fischer
I don't know what the hell is going to happen with that. That's just kind of a fun thing. So that was a big decision for me, is I, I just don't think I can handle the ebbs and flows as much anymore. But it doesn't mean I don't, I don't want to stop being an entrepreneur. I want to keep being entrepreneurial.
00:16:41:01 - 00:17:03:13
Delanie Fischer
I just need this other income, my third income, to be something a little bit more conventional for my own sanity. So that's kind of another pivot that I made. And I think that's kind of important to talk about to where it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You know, I think, you know, entrepreneurs, like, beat themselves up if they think that they need a little bit, a little something different.
00:17:03:15 - 00:17:16:02
Delanie Fischer
And I think you can feel like you have failed as a business owner, entrepreneur, but I really don't see it that way. I see it as, how can I make this sustainable? So to, like, have a creative job indefinitely and-
00:17:16:02 - 00:17:27:11
Danielle Hayden
You don't have to drop one to take on the other, you know? Yeah. I think that we're seeing a little bit this year, as well. Like, I need some stability. Doesn't mean you have to drop your, your, your business and your creative passion.
00:17:27:13 - 00:17:47:05
Delanie Fischer
You can do both. Absolutely, absolutely you can do both. And it's just okay, might look a little bit different until you find your footing. But I don't know, I was just willing to do that for myself. So for a while, I mean, until I got into this, this role with this nonprofit, where I've been able to kind of make my own schedule and do the, the creative stuff that I like,
00:17:47:07 - 00:17:56:07
Delanie Fischer
I was working there full-time and doing my podcast and writing a book. I was working seven days a week for four months, which is not the kind of lifestyle that I want.
00:17:56:11 - 00:17:57:18
Danielle Hayden
But it's a sprint.
00:17:57:20 - 00:18:15:18
Delanie Fischer
But it's a sprint, and I knew there was an end date. I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel, and so I was willing to do that for a short period of time to get what I have now, which is the flexibility again. And, you know, just kind of a messy transition period. But I just, it’s just what I needed.
00:18:15:18 - 00:18:33:05
Delanie Fischer
It's part of the process. Yeah. Very volatile industry in podcasting. It's very up and down. Yeah. And I was I had a consultancy, but I realized that I really wanted to make my own stuff again. I love helping people with their stuff, but it was important for me to, like, bring my own stuff back into the fold here.
00:18:33:05 - 00:19:00:21
Danielle Hayden
So-Yeah, beautiful. It’s ever evolving. It is ever evolving. Well, let's talk about how it has impacted your personal life. So-Yeah, sure-you know, we find partners who are there along with us on this entrepreneurship journey and whether we like it or not, it impact, the finances, impact our homes. Yeah. So what impact has your business seasonality and fluctuations had on your personal life and your relationships?
00:19:00:23 - 00:19:25:23
Delanie Fischer
Such a good question. I am super grateful that my husband, Cam, has always been supportive. I mean, and I don't know if I can say this on the podcast, my first business was something very, very strange where I painted phallic cartoons, let's just say. And so, you know, a lot of people hear that and like your crazy. And my husband, he was my boyfriend at the time, was just along for the ride.
00:19:25:23 - 00:19:47:09
Delanie Fischer
Thought it was great, fun, and enabled me to leave my day job. So I am grateful in that respect. I know that not every partner is that supportive when it comes to an alternative career path. Overall we have gone back and forth, being the breadwinner. You know, I was and then he was and then I was and he was.
00:19:47:09 - 00:20:09:06
Delanie Fischer
So we're in a place where he is the breadwinner. And so we just look at our finances more as a team. In the beginning of our relationship, I felt like I had to be very separate and very individual to him. And I think that comes a lot with, kind of conditioning that I experienced as a woman of like, you never know what's going to happen,
00:20:09:08 - 00:20:27:23
Delanie Fischer
always have your own money, always like, be careful. And I believe in that 100% always have your own thing. But I think it made me very scared to, like, mesh anything with him, which, you know, we need to talk about these things. We need to be a team. So, we logistically it's looked a million different ways.
00:20:27:23 - 00:20:49:22
Delanie Fischer
We have had completely separate accounts where we just pay half for everything that, you know, we're doing as a couple. Then we had separate accounts and a joint account for our overhead expenses, rent, utilities, all that where we would have like auto payments go to our joint. And now we just have a joint account and I just, I have a business account because I have to keep that separate, obviously.
00:20:49:22 - 00:21:15:02
Delanie Fischer
But, I was somebody I never thought I would have a joint account with my husband because I was so worried that, like, I don't want to see that you're spending like, $80 on potato chips every month. I think that will just annoy me. Like, you know, I don't. I had a lot of a lot of feelings about seeing everything, but now it just it makes the most sense, for our shared goals, you know, we're saving things together.
00:21:15:06 - 00:21:31:20
Delanie Fischer
The way that I make money has changed, where I now have this more conventional job that it makes sense for that money to go into our joint account while keeping my business separate. And, so it's just really looked like, what do we need for us as a couple? Because in the beginning, I it was just like, he's my boyfriend.
00:21:31:20 - 00:21:48:11
Delanie Fischer
I don't want to see what you're spending on, and I just want to make sure our bills are covered and, you know, you can buy gifts for me from your account and vice versa. And that's kind of all we needed. But once we got married and we had shared goals, as a couple, we just needed things to operate a little bit differently.
00:21:48:13 - 00:22:12:02
Delanie Fischer
So yeah, that's kind of how it's looked, you know, financially. And he works in finance, in entertainment finance. So he's, you know, he likes numbers and all that stuff. So he'll end up looking at a lot of that stuff for us. But we have automation. So like, I'm like, you know, the 80 bucks on potato chips doesn't really bother me if I know X amount is being transferred to, you know, our investment or-
00:22:12:05 - 00:22:12:16
Danielle Hayden
Savings.
00:22:12:18 - 00:22:18:12
Delanie Fischer
Savings account with our financial advisor, like all that stuff. So I've had to, like, let go a little bit.
00:22:18:16 - 00:22:41:06
Danielle Hayden
You mentioned, you mentioned financial advisor and I want to, I want to touch on that because I think, people forget, okay, we get so entrenched in living life and running our business, we forget about planning for our financial futures. So you just tell me a little bit about how having a financial advisor has played into how you manage your money.
00:22:41:09 - 00:23:08:01
Delanie Fischer
Oh, gosh. It's, another game changer. I mean, I again, I, I thought that I had to do everything on my own, like, learn about stocks and investments. And I realized I could just have somebody who knows how to do that and can help us. So, she kind of explained herself to me as like, picture me as, like, I'm the quarterback of, like, your, your money team in a way where I can talk to, you know, bookkeeping and I can talk to your CPA.
00:23:08:01 - 00:23:10:19
Delanie Fischer
And she really does-Do all these things. She really does. And she does.
00:23:10:23 - 00:23:12:12
Danielle Hayden
She’s a great partner for us.
00:23:12:14 - 00:23:34:01
Delanie Fischer
Exactly. And so I'm like, okay, she's the quarterback. So she's usually like my first point of reference of like, who do I need to speak to about this? Or how can you help? And, I mean, she, she helps with all of it. I mean, Cam and I meet with her quarterly and talk about where we're at, with, you know, our finances, what our, what our current goals are, what our bigger goals are.
00:23:34:01 - 00:23:52:02
Delanie Fischer
So we're saving for retirement. She's helping me save, like in a business savings account or something. I don't even know. I don't even know what a lot of these are called, I’m gonna be honest. But, to be able to just say this is what we're looking for, and then she is able to say, okay, this is what we need to do with your money is huge.
00:23:52:02 - 00:24:18:04
Delanie Fischer
And again, I thought that I had to be making a crap ton of money to have a financial advisor. And, you know, that's just not-that wasn't the case. So it's been immensely helpful. And I just realized that I need to be able to, I just need to rely on people who know what they're doing. And especially as an entrepreneur, we can have issues with control and and letting go of-Not me!
00:24:18:06 - 00:24:18:22
Danielle Hayden
Right!
00:24:19:00 - 00:24:40:17
Delanie Fischer
And letting people who are experts at their thing, do their thing has been huge for me. And also just when I have different team members letting them do something their way instead of my way. Of course, there's a happy medium, but you have to, you have to relinquish a little bit if you're going to make this lifestyle work for you.
00:24:40:22 - 00:25:04:21
Delanie Fischer
And I had to do that with my husband, too. I'm like, I want to, I want to kind of safeguard a lot of my financial stuff out of fear of like, I have to have all my, my things separate in case something terrible happens or something in my marriage. And just letting him help me, like, like allowing yourself to be supported has been a very big lesson for me.
00:25:04:21 - 00:25:11:03
Delanie Fischer
And allowing him to help me even help myself. So that's been yeah, that's been big and that's-
00:25:11:03 - 00:25:29:05
Danielle Hayden
Allowing your family to help you and then allowing your money team to work together to help you. And you don't have to be the one. I think that's what's hard for me to watch is when clients are trying to communicate between us as their bookkeeper, or to some other CPA, to some financial advisor who doesn't want to talk to us.
00:25:29:07 - 00:25:43:07
Danielle Hayden
Like, guys, we all need to work together, right? Right. Like, this is our shared person who were championing. Like, we want them to be successful. How do we make sure that we're working together to make sure that they feel supported?
00:25:43:09 - 00:25:53:09
Delanie Fischer
And it's great realizing that you don't have to do everything on your own. I really was, I just was fiercely independent, almost like to a fault. Yeah, me too.
00:25:53:09 - 00:25:55:08
Danielle Hayden
Are you the oldest in your family?
00:25:55:09 - 00:26:07:19
Delanie Fischer
I am the oldest of four kids on one side of my family. And then on my mom's side, I'm the only kid. And so I just felt like, yeah, I've always been very independent. Yeah, and I didn't like accepting help very much.
00:26:07:21 - 00:26:08:12
Danielle Hayden
Yeah. But,
00:26:08:12 - 00:26:23:14
Delanie Fischer
now it feels good to know that, you know, I'm supported by my husband. When he needs support, I have him, and our finances can reflect that. You know, sometimes I need to make more money to support him, and vice versa. Like, so, it's taken a while to get here, but I'm glad.
00:26:23:18 - 00:26:36:06
Danielle Hayden
Very cool. All right, well, as you approach the next season of your journey, is there any specific numbers or anything specific that you're going to be looking at? Like this book is going to come out, right?
00:26:36:08 - 00:26:37:09
Delanie Fischer
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:37:09 - 00:26:45:02
Danielle Hayden
What are you going to use to keep your money mindset strong? What are you going to use to look at on a regular basis?
00:26:45:03 - 00:26:52:14
Delanie Fischer
So I got to be honest, I think this is the first time I haven't had a numbers goal or been looking at my numbers frequently.
00:26:52:14 - 00:26:55:00
Danielle Hayden
So totally unattached to the outcome.
00:26:55:02 - 00:27:13:18
Delanie Fischer
I'm very unattached to the outcome. I basically have talked with my husband of like, what is the minimum amount I need to be bringing in every month? And I'll make sure I do that. Other than that, because, you know, again, he's our finance boy. But other than that, it's just I, I'm really able to do the things that I enjoy.
00:27:13:18 - 00:27:34:04
Delanie Fischer
So if, if I'm pitching the next book idea, if that gets picked up, I'm excited to write that. You know, if-Yeah, I'm just kind of going with the flow. And I used to kind of obsess about the numbers and let them make decisions for me in the sense of, you know, I would take money-
00:27:34:04 - 00:27:50:09
Delanie Fischer
I would, I would take money for things that maybe weren't always in alignment with my values, because I got really excited about making money. It was very fun, very fun, especially when you never made it, and then your business really starts to thrive and you're making a good amount. I was freaking stoked.
00:27:50:11 - 00:27:54:03
Danielle Hayden
And you're doing all the things. Yes. And then all of a sudden you're doing all the things.
00:27:54:04 - 00:28:16:01
Delanie Fischer
Exactly. And so I, I'm now looking at does this kind of fit all of my goals? Like a big part of me is, is this some, is this some form of activism in some way where it's helpful to people or animals or the planet? And also, is it fun and is it funny? Like, that's kind of how I'm filtering my projects and streams of revenue.
00:28:16:01 - 00:28:27:16
Delanie Fischer
So, yeah, I kind of just have a minimum amount goal instead of like a goal that I'm hoping to reach. It's just like, what's the bare minimum I got to do so I can play, in a way?
00:28:27:20 - 00:28:48:06
Danielle Hayden
I call that, a break-even analysis. So, I love that you said that. That’s much better. You're like gonna feed right into my next episode. So one of the things that we're talking about is break-even, because there's this whole culture around growing higher, higher, higher, higher. And really, what we see with our clients is that bigger is not more profitable.
00:28:48:08 - 00:29:08:15
Danielle Hayden
The bigger your company is, the more people you need, the layers of management, the software that you need to support it. There's a significant expense that goes to growing a business. And so not all of us want to be there. And so maybe we want to have a smaller, more profitable business. That's awesome. But we need to know exactly what that looks like.
00:29:08:15 - 00:29:27:21
Danielle Hayden
What's our break-even point that-and I mean this both business and personally-so our break-even point is we need to be able to cover our operating expenses in our business, maybe any employees or consultants who work with us on a regular basis, but then our home, like what does our family need from us? And that's included in that break-even number.
00:29:27:23 - 00:29:29:22
Danielle Hayden
And that's your new sales goal.
00:29:30:00 - 00:29:52:07
Delanie Fischer
Yes, exactly. And I did that, Danielle. I, I did the whole, I'm going to-I'm building a team and I'm going to have a bigger business. And then I realized, wait a minute, I really like being more solo entrepreneurial. And I had to experience like the opposite to realize, you know what, I'm going to scale these things back, you know, and I've been a lot happier because of it.
00:29:52:07 - 00:30:11:09
Delanie Fischer
I feel less stress and I feel less pressure because of it. But I wouldn't have known unless I experienced it for myself. Because, you know, I was looking at the numbers. I was looking at my kind of happiness level, and yeah, I just, I don't know, I just like kind of doing my own thing and getting help with things as needed.
00:30:11:09 - 00:30:32:02
Delanie Fischer
But I didn't get into entrepreneurship or creative entrepreneurship to be a manager of people. And I felt like I was very in that role more so than in the creative roles that I enjoy that made me want to be an entrepreneur in the first place. So, you know, it's not as-the numbers are not as sexy. I'll be honest, it's not as sexy as anymore.
00:30:32:02 - 00:30:38:07
Delanie Fischer
But I feel very like, creatively fulfilled. And that's, yeah, that's been the kind of the trade off right now.
00:30:38:09 - 00:30:46:03
Danielle Hayden
Let's find our break-even number that helps us balance our lives and our happiness, our energy levels.
00:30:46:05 - 00:30:48:04
Delanie Fischer
Awesome. Exactly, yes.
00:30:48:06 - 00:30:54:03
Danielle Hayden
All right, well, thank you so much for being here. Where can everyone find you, the podcast, and the book?
00:30:54:05 - 00:30:57:13
Delanie Fischer
Absolutely. DelaneyFischer.com will have everything there.
00:30:57:15 - 00:30:59:04
Danielle Hayden
Thank you. All right. Thank you.
00:30:59:06 - 00:31:01:23
Delanie Fischer
Appreciate it.
00:31:02:01 - 00:31:25:07
Danielle Hayden
If you are a business owner who needs a money team, I invite you to go to KickstartAccountingInc.com or click the link in the show notes, and come and book a discovery call. The Kickstart Accounting, Inc. team and I are here to be a resource for you on your entrepreneurial journey. We want to take bookkeeping off of your plate and help arm you with the information you need to grow and thrive in your business.
00:31:25:07 - 00:31:51:07
Danielle Hayden
Don't wait! Click the link below and let's get started.