S10: Episode 7 – Shannon Simmons’ Guidelines and Guardrails for Handling Your Finances

This week’s podcast is an interview with Shannon Simmons, a licensed CPA and the founder and CEO of Fit For Profit. She began her passion for helping small businesses when, as a practicing accountant and bookkeeper, she couldn’t even pay her own tax bill.

We all have things in life that we should never prioritize last, such as family and faith, and that should include money. Shannon wanted to help change the mindset of business owners when it comes to handling their money. Most business owners typically follow the equation revenue/sales – expenses = profit, but Shannon wanted to shift that mindset to revenue – profit = expenses.

Shannon gave an example of Parkinson’s Law, which states that the more resources we have, the more demand we will have for those resources. This principle applies to money as well. If we don’t have a plan for our money and where we’re going to allocate it, we end up spending it all without anything left for savings.

Shannon became passionate about helping business owners and people in general handle their money after experiencing difficulties paying her own tax bill, despite being an accountant and a bookkeeper. She realized that even professionals like her can struggle with money management.

Shannon’s goal is to help business owners, specifically, protect their money from themselves. She advises setting up separate accounts to have a clear plan for your money, being mindful of your spending, and paying yourself profit first before allocating money to other expenses, such as bills. Lastly, she suggests paying bills with whatever is left, even if it means paying them a little late. She even recommends opening two different bank accounts to make it inconvenient to access money from one account, reducing the temptation to spend it easily.

The following important points were discussed in the podcast:

1. Parkinson’s law: The more resources we have, the more demand we will have for those resources.
2. Narrowing the amount of time to complete tasks and proving to yourself that you can still get things done within that timeframe.
3. The importance of having five basic accounts when starting a business: a. Income account: A place for all revenue to come in and sit before being dispersed to the other four accounts. b. Profit account: The first account to allocate money to. c. Owner’s account: Paying yourself as the business owner. d. Tax account: Saving money to cover taxes and alleviate stress. e. Everyday expense account: Used for all other expenses.
4. The importance of putting money in the right places as soon as it comes in.
5. When in doubt, create an account.
6. Removing the temptation by not looking at money that should not be spent.

Listen to this episode of the Overcomer’s Podcast to learn how Shannon Simmons overcame her financial struggles, including her inability to pay her tax bill, and how she now shares her knowledge to help others prioritize their money.

To connect with Shannon Simmons:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Email

For more episodes of the Overcomer’s Podcast, visit our website at overcomerspodcast.com or listen to all of our episodes on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Timestamps:

2:45 – 4:00: Shannon shares an example of Parkinson’s Law.

6:15 – 7:41: Shannon discusses what made her passionate about sharing the right way to handle finances.

8:51 – 10:45: Shannon explains her overall strategy when working with somebody.

15:46 – 16:30: Shannon discusses the reasons for opening five basic accounts.

24:37 – 26:26: Shannon shares the step-by-step process in the coaching they