The Journey to Starting a Business, Finance Accountability, and More with Corey Pollard
Mar 15, 2021
Today, we are joined with Corey Pollard who is an educational therapist deeply passionate about helping struggling students close the gap between where they are and their highest potential. Corey has a private practice located in Denver, Colorado that supports students with specific learning disabilities.
After nailing down a system that created MASSIVE results for their students they wanted to share it with educators around the world so they could create a massive impact. Today, not only do they support students in reaching their highest potential, but they also support educators in reaching theirs!
Before we dive right in, let me introduce myself! I’m Katie Ferro, CPA, podcast host, reformed rule follower, creator of Booked Out Bookkeeper, mom to 3 little ones, and Kajabi enthusiast!
This podcast is for entrepreneurs who desire to change their life through their profitable business, and for bookkeepers and accountants who want to escape the 9-5 and start a simple scalable bookkeeping business like I did.
Bookkeeping increases profits and profits change lives. So pop some bubbles and let me show you exactly how!
Today, we are diving right into Corey’s journey on starting a business and how she got to where she is today. For even more juicy details, listen to ALL of episode 15 of the Profits + Prosecco Podcast on your fave streaming platform.
What Corey did before starting her own business.
Corey was working at a Children's Hospital in Colorado doing a lot of the same work she does today. She absolutely loved it and it was a great learning experience for her BUT she started to feel like she could do much more with her skills.
She felt her heart pulling her in a different direction but was scared because she would be leaving a secure financial position.
She felt a lot of guilt for leaving somewhere that kept her fulfilled. She knew at the end of the day, she had to follow her instincts and do what felt right!
She went onto helping students privately through one-on-one tutoring. However, it wasn't her ideal position because she was working from 3-8 and had kids of her own to take care of.
Ultimately, 2 things were holding her back…
- Fear of taking the leap.
- Fear of leaving a secure job.
positive by the time she signed her second client in just month three of BOB.
But what was scarier for her, staying OR going?
Corey says she can't even imagine what her life would be like if she didn't make the decision to leave her job. It’s clear to her now, as they say in hindsight everything is 20/20, and that it had to happen eventually.
The universe was pushing her in a different direction and she wasn't sure why. Regardless - Corey listened to her intuition and took the leap!
At the time it felt like a massive risk but she knew in her heart that this was the right decision.
What her life looks like now compared to her seasons of hustle.
After Corey began to invest money into building her business, she saw her sales increase exponentially. But... as those sales went UP, costs also went UP.
Corey says this got to a point where costs were exceeding profits, which really started to cause panic.
She wasn't bringing home a salary and basically had to rely on her personal account to make sure she could cover her team's salary and her rent. She just kept hoping that the finances would take care of themselves.
Unfortunately, they didn't. At the end of 2019, she was fed up and tired of not profiting so she reached out to me for help.
Corey says that when she brought me in, everything changed! It was a pivotal moment for her and it was time for us to start making data-driven decisions.
Before I came in to help her, she wasn't looking at her balances and she was also accruing credit card debt like crazy.
Here’s a quick rundown of what I do when I’m working with clients to determine their current financial situation:
- Provide a profits and loss statement.
- Put together their balance sheet so that any necessary debt needing to be taken care of is brought to attention.
- Breaking down the difference of sales and costs so they can understand how to accurately set up margins to increase profit.
PRO TIP: Show these reports side by side to your clients! This way, if your client had a great month financially, they can look at it and celebrate the improvement compared to last month and so on.
Seeing results and taking finance accountability.
When Corey’s husband came into the accounting business, things started to take OFF. He was able to take on the books and really provide Corey support.
In 2020, I am proud to share that Corey was able to not only pay off her credit card with the lowest balance, but ALSO the credit card with the highest balance. She was also able to pay off her bank loan in FULL!
Together through our work, we got Corey’s debt to ZERO. It was non-existent!
Now that her debt is paid off and she has the additional support from her husband, there's a massive difference in her life because she's able to show up for her kids and attend meetings when she needs to.
We all experience guilt until we reach the end goal.
Having guilt at certain stages when growing your business is normal! We all experience guilt to a certain degree but as long as we do the best we can, the end goal will be much easier.
The end goal is being and doing the best we can as parents, leaders, and business owners.
Corey's goal is to show her kids that if they are passionate and driven about something and they have that determination, they can do absolutely anything!
The universal sign that pushed Corey into her business: The universe whispers at first and then it shouts.
That is exactly what Corey felt was happening when she was in the corporate world. Things became so uncomfortable to the point where she wasn't fulfilled and satisfied anymore. She didn't feel like she was living her life's purpose.
Can anyone else relate?
Corey had spent so much time applying to jobs and trying to find an alternative. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t landing anything!
To her surprise - it was the universe’s way of redirecting her towards her passion and purpose in life.
When she started listening to the signs and paying attention to the messages, she found her purpose.
Corey knows she was put on this earth to create content and curriculum that impacts kids.
Corey’s advice: for anybody trying to get to that point in their life, just keep pushing and don't give up because it's around the corner for everybody.
The Journey to Starting a Business, Finance Accountability, and More with Corey Pollard: The Bottomline
I hope my conversation with Corey was helpful to anyone who is just starting a business or finds themselves struggling with finance accountability. She is the perfect example of someone who pushed through to find their life purpose. Her shift helped make an impact with students and educators in a time that seemed impossible.
Check out Corey’s incredible private practice, Smarter Invention, here!
Be sure to follow Smarter Invention on Instagram and Facebook as well.
Thank you so much for listening and don’t forget to tune into episode 15 of the Profits + Prosecco Podcast for more details. If you enjoyed the episode, please take a second to rate and review. Each review helps us reach and inspire more entrepreneurs and bookkeepers just like you.
Don’t forget to take a screenshot, share it in your Instagram stories, and tag me at @orderlyaccountingbykatie. Cheers to your inevitable success and I’ll see you in the next episode!
