For this week’s edition of FinanciElle “$tatements”, I had the opportunity to Interview Jenny Karlsson, Founder of Financials For Creatives.

Through Financials For Creatives, Jenny works exclusively with creative women entrepreneurs who are in transition in their businesses. She helps creative entrepreneurs stay out of debt, increase profitability, pay themselves, and make money doing what they love by combining soul, mindset, and systems.

Paolina: As someone who works exclusively with creative women entrepreneurs, who are in transition in their businesses, what is the most common finance issue you see with your clients?

Jenny:

Most of the creative women entrepreneurs I work with are tired of feeling intimidated by their numbers, and never having enough.

I teach them how to manage their money with confidence so that they have freedom to create a life and business on their terms. Financial literacy, strategy, and building trust in self are big components that I teach in order to shift fear into empowerment.

Paolina: What are three things that every creative woman entrepreneur should know/learn/understand about finance?

Jenny:

First, finance is the management of money, and money is energy – that means that money in itself is neutral; but, the way we view and behave with money is colored by how we perceive it. Often we perceive it through a very negative lens which directly impacts our overall relationship with money.

Second, we need to identify what is standing in the way of developing a healthy and empowered partnership with money. What stands in our way are often patterns formed in childhood, and how our parents, and grandparents interacted with money. However, it is also influenced by our own journey into adulthood, getting a job, starting a business, and making big life transitions.

Lastly, we all have a unique money story that can change into more ease and abundance by taking a holistic approach to finance. Finance is so much more than just the practical systems and strategies that we put in place. We also have to work on our mindset (the emotions and feelings around money), our behaviors (the actions we take), and the spiritual component of being tuned in to our soul purpose and connection to the universe. That’s the only way to create long-term change.

Paolina: Given you have an MBA in Finance and already had financial knowledge, what has been your hardest experience dealing with your business and finance and what did you learn?

Jenny:

The biggest challenge I’ve faced as a serial entrepreneur is in managing the natural ebb and flow of money that comes with operating a creative business. In order to create sustainability, I applied the principles of Profit First (developed by Mike Michalowicz), and constructed a spending plan in You Need a Budget. Now, each dollar has a purpose and carries me through the unpredictability of knowing when the next client is coming. It allows me to make better decisions, and know how much I can pay myself.

Photo by Red Lotus Photography