For the latest edition of FinanciElle “$tatements”, I had the opportunity to interview Julia Slanina, Founder and CEO of Treehouse Digital Health Inc.

She is the Founder and creator of Canada’s 1st digital pediatric health platform — Treehouse Medical. Canada’s 24/7 pediatric service where you can get immediate, accurate, and professional assistance for common childhood illnesses and injuries. Their services include telemedicine capabilities along with comprehensive resources for parents and families. Treehouse Medical is designed to provide users with relevant pediatric content, and guide them with precise and easy to use solutions while giving them and their youngsters peace of mind when they need it most!

Paolina: What has been your hardest experience dealing with your business and finance and what did you learn?

Julia:

Not knowing where to start and what to consider. When you are the founder of a lean startup it’s easy for everything to get overwhelming really quickly. Further to the point of finance, sometimes finding the correct information for the stage that you are at is challenging. Learning to best understand your businesses particular stage and your needs is more important than understanding all the financial jargon.

I’ve learned to be incredibly organized and before I go to meetings or seminars related to finance, I read up on the sessions and do my own homework. When I say “do my own homework”, I mean understand what my needs and faults are and where I need an expert or support to be there for me.

There are a lot of incredibly useful tools and people out there for every stage, you just need to know your business and what you need to make yourself succeed. That could be as simple as writing down 3 key questions and what you are confused about or need that could be enough for an expert to assist you or point you in the right direction.

Paolina: What advice do you wish you had gotten about finance when you were first starting your business?

Julia:

To be honest, I got some fantastic advice throughout the early stages of my business. I asked a lot of questions and that helped me steer myself into what not just what my needs were but also challenges that I was facing. I would say, don’t be afraid if you don’t understand finance, numbers, and all the jargon that gets thrown around. Just like anything, realize you are not an expert in every realm and just ask for clarification and how something can help you and your growing company.

Paolina: What are your current FinanciElle Faves?

• Favourite business/leadership book? Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead (By: Sheryl Sandberg)

• Favourite business/productivity tool? I’m pretty old-fashioned, I love working in sprints with a timer. I try to write down my top 3 goals of the day and then complete them via 90min sprints using my cell phone or watch as a timer. It’s easy to get distracted with emails and phone calls but maintaining a focus on your daily priorities gives you a sense of accomplishment and success for the day, week, or month!

• Favourite piece of media – TED talk, podcast…? Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, I like his discussion with Eric Topol (a brilliant doctor and innovative digital medicine researcher)