In this episode of Your Dream Business Podcast, I’m joined by the brilliant Jo Simpson, a financial educator and founder of the Financial Growth Academy. Together, we dive into the essential world of business finance—breaking down key financial terms like revenue, gross profit, and net profit in a way that’s practical and easy to understand.

Jo shares her own candid money journey and introduces the Profit First methodology, a revolutionary approach that flips the traditional model by encouraging entrepreneurs to pay themselves first. We also explore how to turn business income into personal wealth, manage costs strategically, and plan for long-term financial success.

If you're ready to take control of your numbers and build a more profitable, sustainable business, this episode is packed with insight and encouragement.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

1. Knowing your numbers builds business confidence.
   – Understanding financial terms like revenue, gross profit, and net profit is essential for making smart business decisions.


2. Profit First helps you pay yourself first.
   – Jo explains how this method ensures your business supports your life—not the other way around.


3. Strategic expense management protects your bottom line.
   – Learn how to manage business costs wisely and plan for growth with retained profit.


4. Personal wealth starts with business discipline.
   – Discover how to convert your business income into lasting personal wealth and financial freedom.


5. Money mindset matters.
   – Jo opens up about the emotional impact of finances and how reframing your approach can empower better choices.

 

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

 

Connect with Jo on Website, Instagram

Connect with Teresa on Website, (Grow, Launch, Sell), Sign up to Teresa's email list,  Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook

 

Transcript

Teresa: One of the things that can make or break your business is the finance. If you're not making enough money, if you're making the money, but it's going out the door as fast as it's coming in, or if you just don't know how to manage cash flow, there's no judgment here, by the way, because just because we have businesses doesn't mean that we automatically know about this stuff, which is why this episode is so important for anybody in business.

Jo Simpson and I go right back to basics in terms of the finance of our business. How to make sure that we not only make money in our business, but we keep the money. Welcome to the Your Dream Business podcast. I'm your host Teresa Heath Wareing an international bestselling author, award-winning speaker, TEDx speaker, certified coach, and the host of this number one ranked podcast.

I am so excited to guide you on the journey of creating a business and life that you not only love, but one that perfectly aligns with you and the season of life that. In [00:01:00 ] each episode, I'll share with you easy, actionable, and insightful strategies to grow your online business. Plus we'll be diving into some mindset, tools and strategies that keep you focused, motivated, and are going to stop you from getting in your own way.

So if you're a course creator, membership owner, or coach, you are in the right place. Let's get started. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. As always, I am your host Teresa Heath Wareing, and I hope, you are good. So this week we have an interview and it's a subject that I am learning to love.

Okay. One of the things I am rubbish at in my business is the finance side, which can I just be honest here? I think sometimes when we start a business, we expect from ourselves that we should be brilliant at all of the various bits. The finance, the marketing, the selling, the content creating the all the stuff, right?

And. [00:02:00 ] The truth is we are not. 'cause if I was really good at that stuff, I probably would've gone into business doing that thing and I went into business doing marketing because that's what I'm really good at. So I've tried not to beat myself up anymore that I'm not great at the finance thing, but I have also owned the fact that I have to be good at it or I not even good at it.

I have to be able to manage it. One of the big problems I have in my business is, or one of the big problems I have generally in running a business is that in the past I've seen money in my account and gone brilliant and have not thought, well, what's coming in in the next 2, 3, 4 months? As I've talked very openly in the past, when I got sober in 2023, I basically kept my business at the level.

It was from an expenses point of view, but I didn't have the money coming in that I should have, and I got myself into a bit of trouble, not serious trouble, just not in a place that I wanted to be. So that's why I wanted to. Really focus on [00:03:00 ] learning the finance side, understanding the finance side, knowing what it I've gotta do with it so that I can get much better at this.

And one of the things that I did to do this was enter the world of Jo Simpson. Let me read her bio and then I'll tell you why and how I got into the world with Jo. So since setting up her business consultancy and accounting practice back in 2002, Jo has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs create and scale their businesses.

Jo's passion to support ambitious entrepreneurs to build businesses that are profitable. That was in all capitals, FYI. All whilst living a life they love as an accredited profit, first professional, and a multi-business owner, Jo has taken all of her knowledge and expertise and created a range of courses and memberships and Bespoke Mastermind and launched these to the online world in 2016 in the form of the Financial Growth Academy.

Since then, Jo has worked with some of the fastest scaling highest net worth online entrepreneurs in the uk, and that has allowed her to bring more value to her program. Jo's mission [00:04:00 ] is simple. She wants to help thousands of entrepreneurs overcome their fear of finance and become the most profitable version they can be.

That should half explain why I entered Jo's world. But basically, as Jo says in her bio, she is in the online world. She understands the online world. She works with people in the online world. And also the other thing that you're going to hear in this interview is Jo is very honest about her own relationship with money and her own finance journey.

And I think when someone is excellent at something, it's really good to hear when they're not excellent at something, if you know what I mean. Like when. So, for instance, I am good at marketing. That's what I do. But sometimes my own marketing can be terrible and I don't post on social media consistently or whatever it might be.

And sometimes it's good to hear that even the people who get paid to help with these things can also struggle themselves, especially when it comes to money and finance, because I also think it's a very, it's a very emotive subject and not one that we are [00:05:00 ] taught to talk about a lot. I get Jo to take us right back to basics, so. This is for you if A, you need to know the basics, which I think even if you do need to know them or even if you do know them, I think it's a great reminder for those who know them as to what they are actually are. And then some of the ways in which she's helping people get super confidence with money, but also encouraging people to be happy about paying tax.

And I know that might sound a bit jarring, but listen to what Jo has to say. It's super, super interesting. I said I went into her world 'cause I knew she would be the person to help me get a grip of the money side, but also she is as ambitious. Herself and for m