Guide: A time and energy based approach to money in your business

My quarterly guide to support you in your business 💌

I have a confession to make. I love talking about money. I love hearing other people’s money stories. And I love getting a behind-the-scenes look at how other people make their businesses work financially.

It didn’t always use to be this way. When I started my business, money was almost an afterthought. I started my business because I had a vision of the kinds of people I wanted to support, and I wanted more autonomy and space in my life. Underneath this wish for autonomy and space was definitely the desire to make money too. But for the longest time I was afraid of voicing that desire. I can’t remember how I first set prices in my business, but it felt akin to closing my eyes and picking a random number. I just really didn’t know how to go about it.

I heard that I ought to aim for a six-figure business. That I should have a six-figure business. Why didn’t I have a six-figure business in my first year?!? (or, for that matter, in my fourth year as I’m writing this).

I read about needing to set prices low when you get started—even though at that point I’d had over a decade of experience mentoring people as part of previous jobs. I heard that no, I shouldn’t price low in the beginning, because then I’d not be taken seriously.

For years, I avoided most business money talk. It seemed that all the money talk was rooted in hustling and productivity culture and that didn’t sit right with me.

In early 2022, something shifted. A lot of things came together: I started confronting my own money stories more, read a book about money with a friend in our mini-bookclub, and started making a longer-term plan for my business that felt reasonable, rather than plucked out of thin air.

I can’t tell you that since that shift I’ve reached all of my money goals. I haven’t.

But I feel in such a better place financially, both in terms of the prices I set, the money I’m making and the goals I’m setting.

I’ve put everything that I’ve learned in my business around money since together in this quarter’s guide for paid subscribers.

In this guide, I share a time and energy-based approach to money in your business. Before I developed it myself, I’d not seen an approach like this anywhere else. Pretty much all advice about setting money goals starts with either setting prices or with figuring out your expenses. The all-important step that goes before that—knowing how much time and energy you can and want to spend on your business—is left out.

In the guide I’ll help you get clear on money in your business through the money framework that I use myself. Then, I’ll guide you through pricing for space and growth and share the scale that I use myself to determine how much I need, and want, to charge.

I’ve written this guide with the kinds of business owners and freelancers I work with in mind: those who have a service-based business or a product-based business, work freelance in various ways, or are artists.

My quarterly guides are one of the bonuses that paid subscribers receive. These guides are actionable, reassuring and all about helping you create a slow, gentle and profitable business. No hacks, no pressure, I promise.

Paid subscriptions allow me to write all of my newsletters, including the free ones, and powerful bonuses like this one. If my work is useful to you, I’d love to invite you to become a paid subscriber for €5 a month—which is less than we’d spend if we’d have coffee and cake together. If you’d benefit from a paid subscription but are unable to afford it, let me know—I’d be happy to compensate you.

Upgrade your subscription here:

This 20-page guide consists of:

• part I: creating your money framework:

  • determining how much time and energy you have

  • knowing your numbers

  • my experience + examples

  • exercises for you and your business

• part II: pricing for space and growth

  • a quick checklist for setting prices

  • a note on hourly rates

  • pricing for space and growth: developing a scale

  • my experience + examples

  • exercises for you and your business

• further resources to explore

Paid subscribers will find the link to the guide below.