The Kenza Pod

We set out to interview Paul Minors, Productivity Blogger and Virtual Consultant, to pick his brain about his best productivity tips for busy parent entrepreneurs. What we ended up getting was a whole lot more! This episode is full of all kinds of helpful stories, tips, and advice specifically for parents who are freelancers or consultants, or who are thinking of taking that leap.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Paul built his consulting business while working full time, and when he knew it was time to take the leap.
• How he evaluated his corporate experience to figure out what services he could offer, and how he then validated that he could actually get paying clients before he got too far into it.
• How he uses Time Blocking to plan out his days and seamlessly integrate his work life and family life.
• Why he uses content marketing to get clients, and how he splits his time between his podcast, blog, YouTube channel, and client work.
• How his consulting business has evolved over time, especially once he had his son in 2018.

...And tons of other super helpful tips and advice for parent-entrepreneurs!

It’s that time of year, folks: Time to start gathering and organizing your records for taxes!

Upwork is a platform where freelancers can create a free profile to connect with potential clients looking for their skillset. They also provide benefits like using their platform to communicate with your clients, providing a clear and safe way to receive payment, ways for your clients to provide testimonials, and much more.

In this episode, Upwork expert Leah Meyers walks us through how you can use Upwork to kickstart your freelance business - whether you’re looking for a side hustle, or ready to jump in full time! We cover the following topics:

• How Leah built a business using Upwork and currently has a roster of 30 clients from all over the US and the world. She also shares what her day to day looks like as a mother of a 12 and 15 year old, plus a new puppy!
• How to set yourself apart on Upwork through an awesome profile and custom cover letter
• The features and benefits (and a few downsides) of using Upwork
• What you can expect once you publish a profile
• Leah’s 4 Pillars of Finding Work on Upwork
• How you can access her free Getting Started Guide

If you are transitioning out of the traditional workforce and feeling unsure of how to leverage your corporate skills and experience to start your own consulting business, this is a must-listen episode.

An Online Business Manager helps companies make sure that the right things get done by the right people at the right time. They do it all from the comfort of their own home and on their own schedule, all while making at least $65/hour.

As a certified OBM, you have access to a member directory to help you find clients, online communities for support, and an entire world full of businesses who need your help in organizing their customers, employees, and internal operations. If you like systems, efficiency, details, and productivity, then this might be just right for you.

In this episode, we’ll dig into what types of clients OBMs work with, hear what your day to day looks like juggling clients and kids, share how much money you can make, and outline what your next steps are if this is something that interests you!

Welcome to another episode of Finance Friday with your hosts Beth Gummere and Tiffany Jones! 

In this episode, Beth explains to us why it's important for business owners to create and maintain a cash reserve. Beth has seen it all during her 20+ year career, and there are two tasks always starts with when she comes in to do a turnaround on a business: Getting a cash flow projection established, and starting a cash reserve.  Tiffany and Beth discuss practical steps you can take right now to start this process, how to maintain the reserve, and what your options are if you need cash now and don't have a reserve. Plus, Beth shares something that you should "never, ever, ever, ever, please don't ever do...". 

Also, we released a big announcement in this episode!!

The Kenza Collective is working on publishing our very first course! It's called You Can Do This: A course for busy parents to learn the basics of starting their own freelance or consulting business. 

If you’ve been on the fence about going out on your own, nervous about how to actually run the business and operations side of things, or not sure how you’ll find clients, price yourself, and juggle it all, now’s the time to educate yourself and get out there! This course will teach you how to:

✓ Figure out what service(s) you’ll offer to potential clients.

✓ Price yourself based on value, not on an hourly rate.

✓ Find clients and dispel the myth that you’ll always be hustling for business.

✓ Understand and set up a streamlined financial structure.

✓ Pay taxes and know when it’s time to get expert help.

✓ Get your online presence cleaned up and ready to go.

We’re also including multiple templates, additional downloads, podcast episodes and more, so that you can go deeper on any topic.

Plus, you will get free access to our online community of other parent entrepreneurs just like you!

Ah, the proposal writing process. Love it or hate it, we all gotta do it. But what if we told you there's a way to not only write more accurate and better proposals that don't go over time and budget, but that you can also get paid to do it?! Check out this quick episode to learn how!

Tiffany taps into her experience as a Producer at various creative agencies to share with you 3 small behavior and mindset changes you can make right away to start to run your freelancing or consulting business more like an agency.

Mentioned in the episode: 

Ever thought of starting a nonprofit, but not really sure what that actually takes or looks like? Perhaps you're considering a career change or pivot, and starting a nonprofit is something that you're curious about. ⁠

Wonder no more! ⁠

Beth has decades of experience working for and with nonprofits, and in this episode, she offers a ton of practical advice for you to consider as you embark on this journey.

In this episode, Beth answers questions like: ⁠

• What are the various types of nonprofits that one can start?⁠
• Can you make money working for a nonprofit? ⁠
• What are some common pitfalls you should try to avoid? ⁠
• What kind of team do you need? ⁠
• What kind of time commitment will this take?⁠
• What are your next steps if you think you have a good idea?⁠

.... and much more!⁠

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

If you need a hit of encouragement, inspiration, and real talk from a parent who is juggling running a business, homeschooling her two young children, and supporting a partner who is working full time from home, this is the episode for you! ⁠

Our CFO, Beth Gummere, has 20+ years of experience cleaning up small business finances. To say that she’s seen a lot over the years would be an understatement.

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that one of our main goals is to help you avoid painful, stressful, costly mistakes that can be prevented with education and discipline. So for this episode of the Kenza Pod, Beth pulled together the top 10 mistakes that she has seen small businesses make time and time again with the goal of helping you to avoid them!

Ultimately, our hope for you is that you can stay focused on selling whatever great skill or product you have, and not have to hire someone like Beth to come clean up mistakes that could have been prevented.

Links from the show:

Ever since Kevin was in 8th grade, he has dreamed about becoming a Real Estate Agent. When his first child was born, he knew it was time to take the plunge into working for himself so that he could create the flexible lifestyle & schedule that his family needed.

In this episode, we dispel the myth that you have to go “all in” on working for yourself - quit your job, take a huge risk, and just DO IT. For some people, that might work. But for others, that’s just not necessary. Kevin shares with us how he worked with his employer to go part time while he built up his real estate business. He was able to provide health insurance and extra cash for his family, while also pursuing his dreams - win/win!

Kevin’s story is one of inspiration for anyone who is nervous to take the full plunge into entrepreneurship and is looking for a way to ease into it. We hope you enjoy hearing his story...we sure did!

Topics covered include:

• How Kevin got creative by working with his employer to go part-time while pursuing his dreams.
• What the process was like to take classes and get licensed all while juggling his responsibilities as a husband and new parent.
• The 2 things he wished someone had told him in the beginning.
• How he sets boundaries with his clients to protect his family time.
• How he gets his two daughters involved in his business.
• Why he decided to partner with a friend and how that relationship has grown over the years.
• Plus, he provides his contact info for anyone interested in reaching out to learn more!

In this week’s Finance Friday, we sit down with Kirstin Smith, Enrolled Agent and small business tax expert, as well as Beth Gummere, Kenza’s CFO, about the when and why of incorporating. We answer questions like:

• What does it even mean to incorporate and why should I consider it?
• Should I consider incorporating before even getting started?
• Who do I talk to for help with understanding the benefits of this?
• How much money could this save me?
• What's involved in incorporating?
• What are some advantages and disadvantages?

As with any finance-related advice you get here at Kenza, please be sure to consult with a local expert in your area before doing anything major. These episodes are intended for informational and educational use only.

The goal of the "So ya wanna be a…" Kenza Pod series is to hear stories from other parents like you who have started their own businesses while raising a family. ⁠

We’ll explore both well-known and lesser-known freelance jobs, discuss how and why they got started, what skills they had that served them well, what skills they needed to learn, what the journey has been like as they’ve juggled working and parenting, and any pro-tips they may have if you’re considering a similar path. ⁠⁠

Our very first Soyawannabea episode is with Sarah Cook from SustainableCooks.com - a blog dedicated to budget-friendly sustainable recipes and balanced living.⁠Go follow her; you won't regret it!

We cover so many great topics in this episode including:

• How & when she decided to take the leap into full time blogging. ⁠
• What kind of training she needed to pay for and research to make this work. ⁠
• How many hours per week she works as she juggles two young children at home and a husband with a full time job as a firefighter.⁠
• How the pandemic has effected her business.
• How she's made this a sustainable revenue source for her family.⁠

⁠...and lots more!!⁠

If you’ve ever considered blogging, this is the episode for you!⁠

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Where to find Sarah:

Tiffany taps into her experience running a super busy design agency and shares her top 3 tips for managing jam-packed days with lots of moving parts. These are strategies you can put into place right away that will help you be as productive as possible with kids at home. Got an unexpected 15-minute window to knock something out? Learn how to be prepared for that! Your plans shifted for the day? Know exactly how to pivot and make a new plan. 

We've all heard about Business Plans and there are a tonnnnnnn of different opinions and strategies out there about what this should be and whether or not you even need one.⁠ In this episode we dive into why we think it's absolutely crucial for you to sit down and think through your business plan. We'll pose some questions for you to consider, and spend time unpacking how this is more than just a document - it's a tool that you can use to really think through what it is you're actually trying to do, and how you plan to make it work. ⁠

We hope this is helpful!⁠

Today, we’re talking about one of the most challenging aspects of freelancing: getting paid on time.

This is something that can be frustrating, scary, and cause a lot of stress for you. Just like any story, there are two sides to this. In this episode of Finance Friday, we’ll be hearing from Beth about what goes on behind the scenes when you send an invoice to your client. We’ll walk through the entire journey, from setting up your payment terms, to submitting paperwork, to how to properly format your invoices, and more. Our goal is to help you do everything in your power to increase your chances of getting paid on time.

It’s really important to remember that most of the time, late payments on your invoices aren’t personal. As we'll learn from Beth, it’s usually a cash flow issue, a lack of good internal processes on the client’s side, misaligned expectations, or some other internal issue going on that’s out of your control.

While you usually can’t do much to fix internal process issues for your client, it does help to understand what’s going on, learn how to ask the right questions from the beginning, and adjust your expectations, so that this situation can be improved.

Sometimes, you're just over it, amiright?

Whether it's a high-maintenance client, the work has become boring, or you're just ready for a bit more time in your schedule, there comes a time when it's good to know how to graciously exit (or "transition" as Beth would say) out of a client relationship. 

In this episode, we'll talk about why you'd want to do this, when the best time to do it is, and share 3 steps to actually doing this with grace and professionalism.  

Beth is Kenza's CFO as well as our Content Creator and Curator for the Kenza Business channel. In this episode, you'll hear about her background, why she's passionate about empowering parents to be their own bosses, and how she plans to empower you to fully understand the financial side of running your freelance business. She is super smart, down to earth, and has a heart of gold. We are so excited to be working with her!

In our very first episode, you will hear from Tiffany Jones, the Founder of Kenza Collective, about her journey from working for the man to freelancing, what she hopes to accomplish with Kenza Collective, and how you can be a part of that.