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33: How to Avoid Investing in an Offer That Doesn’t Deliver Hannah from Waterloo Street
Episode 33 • 13th August 2024 • Know Your Worth • Sydney Conway and Kristen Fedeli
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Have you ever invested in an offer that sounded amazing, only to realize it wasn't what you expected? 

In this episode of the Know Your Worth Podcast, Hannah Samlall, co-founder of Waterloo Street, shares the worst investment she made, and what she learned from it to avoid making that mistake again. 


Sydney, Kristen, and Hannah chat through the type of research you should do before investing in a coach or service provider, the most important thing to validate before you sign up, and how you can use the power of delay to buy smarter. 


Plus, Hannah shares her experience growing a business with repeat customers and the money mindset that’s supported her as a business owner. 


14:07 — The surprising way you can relate researching clothing purchases and business investments 

25:31 — How Hannah has created a “ladder” that creates repeat clients  

26:20 — Hannah's "sexy money goal" and the mindset shift that comes with leveling up your lifestyle 

28:55 — Hannah’s favorite money mindset belief 


CONNECT WITH HANNAH

Hannah Samlall, co-founder of Waterloo Street in Pittsburgh, is a digital marketer turned website designer with a passion for supporting women-owned businesses through the Biz Collective. With expertise in public speaking, social media, and copywriting, Hannah excels in creating visually stunning and functional websites. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring local breweries, watching Gilmore Girls with her cats, and sharing her foodie adventures on Instagram. A Virginia Tech alum, she thrives on connecting with others and is always eager to meet new people and share her diverse interests.


https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahsamlall/

https://www.instagram.com/hannahsamlall/


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👋 CONNECT WITH SYDNEY & KRISTEN 

Website: https://knowyourworthpgh.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knowyourworth_pgh/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3wzOVSDSC-xsmLg8JJ8MJg/

Transcripts

Hannah Samlail:

The crazy thing that that just made me think about

Hannah Samlail:

is the amount of research that I do to buy an item of clothing.

Hannah Samlail:

The way that I read all of the reviews online and I'm like, Okay, like, does,

Hannah Samlail:

is this girl, does she have my body type?

Hannah Samlail:

Like, does, do they fit her the way that, like, they would fit me?

Hannah Samlail:

Like, I do research before I buy clothes online for, like,

Hannah Samlail:

what, like a 60 pair of shorts?

Hannah Samlail:

And I didn't do research when I was buying a $5,000 business coaching package?

Hannah Samlail:

Insane.

Hannah Samlail:

Welcome to the Know Your Worth Show, where we teach you how to think about

Hannah Samlail:

your money differently so that you can achieve your sexy money goals.

Hannah Samlail:

I'm Sydnee your money Maven and owner of Know Your Worth.

Hannah Samlail:

And I'm Kristen Sid's Dimepiece bestie team member and busy mama

Hannah Samlail:

twins here to make sure that those of us without a financial degree can

Hannah Samlail:

still level up with each episode.

Hannah Samlail:

Let's get started on reaching your next goal.

Sydney:

Hello.

Sydney:

Welcome podcast.

Sydney:

I'm one of your hosts, Sydney Conway.

Sydney:

You're a money maven.

Kristen:

And I'm Syd's dime piece bestie, Kristen, her assistant,

Kristen:

and I'm just here for the fun.

Kristen:

Today we have with us one of our favorites.

Kristen:

Her name is Hannah Samlall.

Kristen:

Hi Hannah.

Hannah Samlail:

Hi!

Kristen:

And Hannah is the co founder of Waterloo street in Pittsburgh,

Kristen:

which is a, and she's a digital marketer turned website designer with

Kristen:

a passion for supporting women owned businesses through the biz collective.

Kristen:

With expertise in public speaking, social media, and copywriting,

Kristen:

Hannah excels in creating visually stunning and functional websites.

Kristen:

Outside of work, she enjoys exploring local breweries, watching the Gilmore

Kristen:

Girls with her cats and sharing her foodie adventures on Instagram.

Kristen:

A Virginia Tech alum, she thrives on connecting with others and is

Kristen:

always eager to meet new people and share diverse interests.

Kristen:

Also, Hannah is, has designed the Know Your Worth website, so make

Kristen:

our website beautiful, and yeah!

Sydney:

Heck yes.

Hannah Samlail:

We just posted that yesterday on our Instagram.

Sydney:

I didn't see it.

Sydney:

I gotta go look.

Sydney:

Oh my

Hannah Samlail:

I don't know if I tagged you, or if Rachel tagged you.

Sydney:

Honestly, I have been totally like, no, I haven't been paying

Sydney:

attention to any of like the social media notifications I've gotten for

Sydney:

the past couple of days, so you might have and I just, I have not really

Sydney:

been on social for the past two days.

Hannah Samlail:

She just yelled from the other room.

Hannah Samlail:

She said I did.

Sydney:

Yes.

Sydney:

The best.

Sydney:

The best.

Sydney:

Okay.

Sydney:

So I'm going to go on and I'll share it because it is beautiful.

Sydney:

You guys did a fantastic job.

Hannah Samlail:

Thank you, it's one of our

Sydney:

Yes.

Sydney:

Yes.

Sydney:

Good.

Hannah Samlail:

And I'm not just saying that.

Sydney:

Well, you can if you want to, but it is one of my favorites too.

Kristen:

So let's jump in.

Kristen:

So with your business, can you tell us a little bit about how it started?

Kristen:

How long you've been in business?

Kristen:

Just give us a little synopsis.

Hannah Samlail:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

So I've been in business, Rachel and I have been in business since 2017.

Hannah Samlail:

The biz collective since 2021, obviously post pandemic, like during the

Hannah Samlail:

pandemic, but basically how it started is Rachel and I were both working for

Hannah Samlail:

the same company in New York city.

Hannah Samlail:

We were working for a children's enrichment center

Hannah Samlail:

doing marketing for them.

Hannah Samlail:

And.

Hannah Samlail:

Rachel ended up leaving the company.

Hannah Samlail:

She was like traveling back and forth from Pittsburgh to New

Hannah Samlail:

York City, like once a month.

Hannah Samlail:

And it was just not for her.

Hannah Samlail:

She ended up leaving the company and her and her husband found

Hannah Samlail:

out they were pregnant with their first child like a month later.

Hannah Samlail:

And she was like, well, can't really like go get a job now.

Hannah Samlail:

So she decided to start her own business.

Hannah Samlail:

And for six months, she was in my ear.

Hannah Samlail:

She was like, We could start our own thing, like we both

Hannah Samlail:

have complimentary skill sets.

Hannah Samlail:

So six months later, I was living in New York City at the time, quit my

Hannah Samlail:

job, moved back in with my parents.

Hannah Samlail:

Love that after living in New York City.

Hannah Samlail:

Um, And while we figured things out, I stayed at home for a year.

Hannah Samlail:

And then like a year and a half, probably I moved up to Pittsburgh and we were

Hannah Samlail:

doing all things, digital marketing.

Hannah Samlail:

So social media blogs, we had a roster of clients.

Hannah Samlail:

The pandemic hit, we lost all of our clients majority women,

Hannah Samlail:

small women owned businesses.

Hannah Samlail:

And we had done a few websites for clients who just needed it.

Hannah Samlail:

And we were like, we can figure it out.

Hannah Samlail:

And then realized that we were actually really good at it

Hannah Samlail:

and that we really enjoyed it.

Hannah Samlail:

So during the pandemic, after we lost all of our clients, we transitioned.

Hannah Samlail:

We took all social media off our website.

Hannah Samlail:

We put websites, we're doing website design only.

Hannah Samlail:

Obviously now we've.

Hannah Samlail:

expanded a little bit.

Hannah Samlail:

We do e commerce websites.

Hannah Samlail:

Branding is a new offering that we just put up on our website in

Hannah Samlail:

the past six months and custom websites, semi custom websites.

Hannah Samlail:

And then the Biz Collective is a directory of women owned businesses in Pittsburgh.

Hannah Samlail:

So that came to be after we switched to website design.

Hannah Samlail:

We knew that those women still needed a way to get the word

Hannah Samlail:

out about their business.

Hannah Samlail:

Companies and businesses and they really need the support in that time.

Hannah Samlail:

The Biz Collective as like a low ticket marketing offer.

Hannah Samlail:

And now we're up to over 50 members.

Hannah Samlail:

So yeah.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

That's awesome.

Sydney:

I am a member of the biz collective, so it is prime time and fun events now too.

Sydney:

I mean, like that's, you've started that last year, right?

Sydney:

The uh, in person events.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Fem Fair.

Sydney:

So fun.

Hannah Samlail:

Yep.

Hannah Samlail:

We just got off.

Hannah Samlail:

You guys can be the first to know.

Hannah Samlail:

I don't know when this episode is going to come out, but we just got

Hannah Samlail:

off a call for our next one that we're going to be hosting, details are going

Hannah Samlail:

to be released about that next week.

Sydney:

Yay!

Sydney:

Oh, that's exciting.

Sydney:

We will be there.

Sydney:

Sounds great.

Sydney:

Awesome.

Sydney:

Yeah, you will love it.

Sydney:

You will love it.

Sydney:

They are really fun.

Sydney:

They're really fun.

Kristen:

Syd's the only reason I ever get out and do anything really social.

Kristen:

So just jumping her back seat.

Kristen:

Okay.

Kristen:

So as you've been, revamping and trying new things, what do you think is your

Kristen:

biggest learning experience that you guys had with your business finances?

Hannah Samlail:

Hmm.

Hannah Samlail:

Doing our research before making decisions about spending a lot of money.

Hannah Samlail:

That was a lesson that we learned during the pandemic.

Hannah Samlail:

Actually, we spent a lot of money on something that we shouldn't have.

Hannah Samlail:

And it was nobody's fault, but our own, it was something that

Hannah Samlail:

we did not do enough research on.

Hannah Samlail:

And we ended up at the end of what we had paid for.

Hannah Samlail:

We were like, that wasn't really what we thought it was going to be.

Sydney:

I've done that.

Hannah Samlail:

Granted, like, learning experience, absolutely.

Hannah Samlail:

We have not made that mistake since then.

Hannah Samlail:

So, yeah, just failing to do your research before spending money

Hannah Samlail:

on something that costs 5, 000.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

I did the same thing.

Sydney:

And I've said that in a previous podcast too, that like, that's

Sydney:

something that I have checks in place now with our businesses.

Sydney:

Is it really necessary, Sydney?

Sydney:

This is other people telling me this now of like, Hey, I want to buy this software.

Sydney:

I want to do this.

Sydney:

And they're like, Hey, Do you really need that advertising?

Sydney:

Do you really need this new software?

Sydney:

Do you really need this?

Sydney:

Is it really worth that much money because I did the literal same thing.

Sydney:

I was lucky enough that I, I got our money back.

Sydney:

I got the money back because it was a software program.

Sydney:

I proved that I had never logged in, which was nice.

Sydney:

So, they, they, they did refund me the money, but it was like 5, 000.

Sydney:

So, clearly not what I needed.

Hannah Samlail:

And we have spent that money since.

Hannah Samlail:

on things that are very beneficial.

Hannah Samlail:

That was just something that we had to learn and Rachel and I do focus

Hannah Samlail:

on what we're spending our money on because we are very, we've been very

Hannah Samlail:

scrappy about starting our business.

Hannah Samlail:

Like we've done things very low cost to start in terms of all the

Hannah Samlail:

processes that we have in place.

Hannah Samlail:

I mean, we're seven years in now.

Hannah Samlail:

So, now we know the things that we should be spending our money on and the

Hannah Samlail:

things that are probably not necessary.

Hannah Samlail:

And I love that because we give that to our clients.

Hannah Samlail:

We give that knowledge to our clients when they're like, well, somebody I told me,

Hannah Samlail:

told me I needed this, this, and this, and this, and I'm like, I can tell you

Hannah Samlail:

that you don't need half of those things.

Hannah Samlail:

And there may be a day that comes that you do need those things,

Hannah Samlail:

but you don't need them today.

Hannah Samlail:

So,

Sydney:

Yeah.

Kristen:

I

Hannah Samlail:

good lesson to learn.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Absolutely.

Sydney:

That's a good one.

Kristen:

So on the flip side of that, what do you think is the

Kristen:

best investment that the two of you have ever made in your business?

Hannah Samlail:

Oh man, we have purchased a couple of courses

Hannah Samlail:

now from well known website designers in the ShowIt community.

Hannah Samlail:

And ShowIt is just that we're part of the design partner community within ShowIt.

Hannah Samlail:

And there are a lot of very knowledgeable, very successful designers that have

Hannah Samlail:

courses and that are very open to talking about how they run their

Hannah Samlail:

business and Rachel and I have been making this up as we go along.

Hannah Samlail:

And obviously now we know what we're doing, but there are

Hannah Samlail:

still some things that are.

Hannah Samlail:

When you want to get to the next level, you have, there has to be something that

Hannah Samlail:

you're investing in to help you get there.

Hannah Samlail:

And we invested in a designer course that basically talked about all of the.

Hannah Samlail:

Processes and the way that she client experience, the way that she managed her

Hannah Samlail:

clients, the, like how she communicated with her clients, like all of the things

Hannah Samlail:

that are like the backend of her business.

Hannah Samlail:

And that one we bought, I think, I mean, it was, I think it was like 4, 000.

Hannah Samlail:

And that was a couple of years ago.

Hannah Samlail:

And we still like refer to that course for different things.

Hannah Samlail:

And then we purchased another one from a show at design partner

Hannah Samlail:

recently, I think in the past.

Hannah Samlail:

In the past, like, two years that has been maybe last year we purchased that course

Hannah Samlail:

that was focused on website templates, which is also like, obviously, a passive

Hannah Samlail:

income stream that we want to more time and effort into and they have a whole

Hannah Samlail:

course on, like, how to successfully run that template shop in the background

Hannah Samlail:

that you don't have to lift a finger.

Hannah Samlail:

It just runs on its own.

Hannah Samlail:

They give you like the market, like literally go into Flowdesk

Hannah Samlail:

and set your emails up this way and set your lists up this way.

Hannah Samlail:

And here's the workflow that you need to like, they literally hand it to you.

Hannah Samlail:

So, those, I would say have been larger expenses that were absolutely worth

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

that we spent for them.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Can I segue a little bit from that one too?

Sydney:

Because I wanted to point out that that's one of the things that I loved about

Sydney:

your business before I really knew you and Rachel and, love you both immensely.

Sydney:

But with the business, I didn't have enough money at first to do

Sydney:

a full blown like custom website.

Sydney:

So you guys offering the templates was huge because I could have a

Sydney:

really well done in looking website.

Sydney:

That I bought your template and utilized it for the Maverick and our golf academy.

Sydney:

I did that for both.

Sydney:

And I was just so like excited to be able to have something that was

Sydney:

really well done, but that was more accessible for like my price point too.

Sydney:

So how did you start, you started with the custom websites and

Sydney:

then started building templates.

Sydney:

Was it from that class that kind of made you think to do templates or was that

Sydney:

something you guys always wanted to do?

Hannah Samlail:

It was something that, so our very first website that

Hannah Samlail:

we ever built on ShowIt, we purchased a website designer's template.

Hannah Samlail:

And that was before we were doing website design.

Hannah Samlail:

That was us as our own consumer learning what we needed.

Hannah Samlail:

And so obviously looking, we spent a lot of money on that

Hannah Samlail:

template for how long ago it was.

Hannah Samlail:

This was obviously like six, six, seven years ago.

Hannah Samlail:

And I think we spent like 1, 200 on it, which

Sydney:

Wow.

Hannah Samlail:

but it was because she was the only, her name was Megan

Hannah Samlail:

Martin, I don't think she's selling templates anymore, but she was

Hannah Samlail:

the only one doing it at the time.

Hannah Samlail:

And so now, obviously, Everybody's selling templates.

Hannah Samlail:

You can find them on creative market Etsy.

Hannah Samlail:

You can find them everywhere.

Hannah Samlail:

But we knew as a business owner, you get to the point where you're like, I can't

Hannah Samlail:

continue to only make money when I work,

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

have to make passive income.

Hannah Samlail:

And how are we going to do that?

Hannah Samlail:

And that was one of the ways that we decided that we wanted to do that.

Hannah Samlail:

It just made sense, especially because we did have people coming to us

Hannah Samlail:

that didn't, we knew didn't have the budget for a fully custom website.

Hannah Samlail:

So.

Hannah Samlail:

If you want to purchase one of our templates and do it yourself,

Hannah Samlail:

like there's that option.

Hannah Samlail:

If you want to purchase one of our templates and have

Hannah Samlail:

us customize it, we do that.

Hannah Samlail:

Or if, and that's one of the other things that we talk about on the

Hannah Samlail:

discovery call is like, I'm not going to tell you that you need a

Hannah Samlail:

fully custom website if you don't.

Sydney:

yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

there are a lot of people that don't.

Hannah Samlail:

It's like you have your service based business that has your

Hannah Samlail:

three services that you offer.

Hannah Samlail:

You need an about page and you need a contact form.

Hannah Samlail:

Like, I'm not going to tell you that you need a website that offers

Hannah Samlail:

all this constant functionality and integrations and things like that.

Hannah Samlail:

So yeah, it was basically just built off of a need for a want,

Hannah Samlail:

I should say, for passive income.

Sydney:

Yep.

Sydney:

Cool.

Sydney:

I love it.

Sydney:

I love it.

Sydney:

Awesome.

Kristen:

I have a question for both of you, since you both had like a big

Kristen:

learning curve on something that you spent money on, was it like you got

Kristen:

adrenaline about something and you were like, this is going to solve my problems.

Kristen:

And you were just like, swipe.

Kristen:

And then it ended up

Sydney:

yes,

Kristen:

So

Hannah Samlail:

It was really shiny.

Hannah Samlail:

It was really, it was really

Sydney:

always looking for the quickest solution?

Kristen:

So

Sydney:

And I will say my track record is pretty good.

Sydney:

I do filter out things pretty well or like it's not a blunder.

Sydney:

But yeah, that one was.

Sydney:

Yes.

Kristen:

So what would you guys tell like someone who was just starting

Kristen:

out and they're, they're getting distracted by the shiny thing.

Kristen:

Like what kind of research could they do to better invest

Kristen:

their money in the right places?

Hannah Samlail:

So I can tell you in my experience what I spent money on.

Hannah Samlail:

It was a business coach.

Hannah Samlail:

And she was really great.

Hannah Samlail:

She was very infectious.

Hannah Samlail:

And when we got at the end of Amazing Saleswoman, because we

Hannah Samlail:

got to the end of our call and she was like, so are we doing this?

Hannah Samlail:

And we were like, yeah, because she had like pumped us up.

Hannah Samlail:

Like it was, she's a damn good salesperson.

Hannah Samlail:

She was just like, she had pumped us up and we were like, oh

Hannah Samlail:

yeah, we're doing this for sure.

Hannah Samlail:

And then it just, I feel like, I mean, we told her at the end of

Hannah Samlail:

the, our relationship, like our time together, I was like, I don't

Hannah Samlail:

really know what we paid for.

Hannah Samlail:

Me telling her that made me feel sick.

Hannah Samlail:

I was like, I can't not say this to her, but I'm also not that person at all.

Hannah Samlail:

And as a business owner, you have to be able to speak up for what

Hannah Samlail:

you're spending your money on.

Hannah Samlail:

This did not meet my expectations and this is not what I paid for.

Sydney:

Yep.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

a lesson within a lesson.

Hannah Samlail:

That was one of the first times that I ever said it wasn't one

Hannah Samlail:

of those things where it's like, ah, whatever, like moving on.

Hannah Samlail:

It was like, I have to, I have to tell her that this was not worth my money.

Hannah Samlail:

And that was, yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

But the research that I could have done is going to.

Hannah Samlail:

Her website, seeing client success stories.

Hannah Samlail:

I don't think we did any of that.

Hannah Samlail:

I think it was somebody we knew and it was somebody that we were like,

Hannah Samlail:

we trust her, like she talks, like she gets us, you know what I mean?

Hannah Samlail:

But we never looked at any case studies.

Hannah Samlail:

We never looked at any testimonials and like that was on us.

Hannah Samlail:

So,

Sydney:

And what's funny with that too.

Sydney:

I'm, I'm always not surprised because I, I, I trust myself as a bookkeeper

Sydney:

and I know I'm giving a high quality product and I, I know that

Sydney:

there's the value of what I'm doing.

Sydney:

Like, I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe it.

Sydney:

But when people like we're in the sales calls, I'm like, Oh,

Sydney:

so this is what we would do.

Sydney:

And they're like, great, let's get started.

Sydney:

And I'm like, okay, perfect.

Sydney:

Like, we're ready to go.

Sydney:

I'm ready to do this.

Sydney:

But I've only had a few people that have actually come back

Sydney:

and been like, okay, great.

Sydney:

Send me your proposal.

Sydney:

I'll think about it.

Sydney:

And then I only have like, 2 people ever that asked me for references.

Sydney:

And the 1st time I was like, my gosh, they want references.

Sydney:

Oh, my God, like, what is this?

Sydney:

And then after I sent them to them, I'm like, wait, why

Sydney:

wouldn't they want references?

Sydney:

Like, what a good point, ask to make sure the product is quality.

Sydney:

Like that's such a good point, especially with service based

Sydney:

businesses, because you can't look at the product and see what it is.

Sydney:

You don't, if it's all service behind the scenes and you're somebody

Sydney:

that's outside of your area of expertise, it's outside of your

Sydney:

typical like round, what your zone is.

Sydney:

Asking for references is a great way to vet service providers.

Sydney:

Just ask a couple additional questions and like sleeping on it for a day, I think

Sydney:

is a huge, huge tip, or just something that I think that then those people

Sydney:

are the ones that also really value the product that they're getting too.

Hannah Samlail:

The crazy thing that that just made me think about

Hannah Samlail:

is the amount of research that I do to buy an item of clothing.

Hannah Samlail:

The way that I read all of the reviews online and I'm like, Okay, like, does,

Hannah Samlail:

is this girl, does she have my body type?

Hannah Samlail:

Like, does, do they fit her the way that, like, they would fit me?

Hannah Samlail:

Like, I do research before I buy clothes online for, like,

Hannah Samlail:

what, like a 60 pair of shorts?

Hannah Samlail:

And I didn't do research when I was buying a $5,000 business coaching package?

Hannah Samlail:

Insane.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Well, I think it's, I think it goes with the innate trust too.

Sydney:

Like we don't have an innate trust in Amazon and, and the, the sellers there,

Sydney:

but we have an innate trust with service providers and with other businesses.

Sydney:

So that's one thing of like, Be mindful of where you're getting your product

Sydney:

from, but it is so funny though, that we do, we check and check and check

Sydney:

all these other places and we don't do it with certain other things.

Sydney:

That's so funny.

Sydney:

That's so funny.

Sydney:

And I, I mean, I encourage, but also it can go out the other way too, of

Sydney:

like, when you just said that with like reading the reviews and looking at the

Sydney:

pictures, imagining how it would be like.

Sydney:

As the service provider, we should also probably be doing that with the

Sydney:

clients that we're talking to, too.

Sydney:

If you're in a position to, and not everybody's in a position to, and that's

Sydney:

fine, if you're in a position where you need to accept clients to gain funds, to,

Sydney:

to quit your job, to support your family, like, you have to do what you have to do.

Sydney:

But if you're starting to get in a position of, like,

Sydney:

fine tuning your business.

Sydney:

And I'm going through a little bit of a, a client audit on my end,

Sydney:

just not with, not with a lot.

Sydney:

I don't want any of our clients to be worried, but, just like a, where's my

Sydney:

time and where's my values and sitting at.

Sydney:

And, if you can't visualize yourself with a client.

Sydney:

What are you charging them?

Sydney:

And is it worth it?

Sydney:

Same thing on the other end.

Sydney:

If you're the, you're the client looking for the service providers, can you,

Sydney:

can you imagine yourself wearing it?

Sydney:

Can you imagine yourself in relationships and talking with these people ongoing?

Sydney:

And then what is the value you're getting back?

Sydney:

That's such a good point.

Sydney:

I really like that.

Sydney:

I'm going to start, I'm going to start using that and saying that

Sydney:

in like my, my client meetings.

Sydney:

That was good.

Kristen:

I know, I love that

Sydney:

Get it on.

Sydney:

Try it out for size.

Sydney:

Make sure there's a return policy.

Hannah Samlail:

Right.

Hannah Samlail:

Read the

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Absolutely.

Sydney:

Absolutely.

Sydney:

That's a good one.

Hannah Samlail:

Wow.

Hannah Samlail:

I'm impressed with myself.

Kristen:

With myself.

Kristen:

You're done for the day.

Kristen:

You can hang up, take the rest of the day off.

Hannah Samlail:

I'm gonna go.

Kristen:

You have done this.

Kristen:

So, okay.

Kristen:

Our next question is, so what's one tool or skill that you and

Kristen:

you and your sister have developed around the business finances that

Kristen:

has made the biggest difference in managing your finances better?

Hannah Samlail:

Well, we're not perfect at it.

Kristen:

No one

Hannah Samlail:

I wouldn't, I wouldn't venture to say we're great at it either.

Hannah Samlail:

Hiring a bookkeeper.

Kristen:

Do.

Hannah Samlail:

If you guys haven't heard of Know Your Worth, she's really great.

Hannah Samlail:

Yeah, just paying attention to where your money's going.

Hannah Samlail:

It's one of those things where it's like, pay the expert.

Hannah Samlail:

If you're not going to pay the expert for social media, if you're not going

Hannah Samlail:

to pay the expert for your website, if you're not going to pay the expert

Hannah Samlail:

for a lot of other things, pay the expert to manage your finances.

Hannah Samlail:

Because I, it's like, you don't know it's for me, it's something that it's

Hannah Samlail:

like, I don't know what I don't know.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

And I have a really great bookkeeper that has been able to

Hannah Samlail:

help educate me when I have questions.

Hannah Samlail:

But I work, I've worked with other people that they're working with

Hannah Samlail:

million dollar businesses and they don't care about a small business and they,

Hannah Samlail:

it's not worth their time to sit and explain to me like what they're doing.

Hannah Samlail:

And that's just a horrible feeling.

Hannah Samlail:

Like.

Hannah Samlail:

Like I said, pay the expert, pay the person that knows what they're doing and

Hannah Samlail:

trust them after doing your research.

Hannah Samlail:

But just being aware, I think has been a big deal for us.

Hannah Samlail:

We're still getting there financially.

Hannah Samlail:

We have a lot of personal finance stuff that we had to overcome and

Hannah Samlail:

teach ourselves over the years.

Hannah Samlail:

So the business thing has been just like building onto that.

Hannah Samlail:

But yeah, just paying attention, I think has helped us.

Sydney:

And not that I want, I don't want to brush over that.

Sydney:

And I don't want to dig deeper than you're willing to go, but having that

Sydney:

like personal finance, like barrier to entry of owning a business that there's

Sydney:

like a whole nother realm of managing finances in addition to managing your

Sydney:

personal finances, I think is a large reason why either a lot of people don't

Sydney:

go into business or they start out tough.

Sydney:

It starts out in the wrong way.

Sydney:

So educating yourself on a personal level for personal finances and

Sydney:

seeing how things work, watching where you're spending your money there, the

Sydney:

concepts are the same or very similar.

Sydney:

So, for you guys to have said that you had, you had to really educate yourself

Sydney:

on a personal finance note or overcome, personal finance issues and things is

Sydney:

even, you guys have learned so much and done so much and just It's been such

Sydney:

great, I think great business owners of, you can do anything you set your minds to.

Sydney:

And that goes for, everybody should know that and, and have the confidence

Sydney:

to do that if it didn't come from your upbringing or from your education or

Sydney:

from, and this is across the board, not just for you guys, obviously, but like

Sydney:

don't be afraid to still go for it.

Hannah Samlail:

and putting in perspective that like I was 23

Hannah Samlail:

when we started this business.

Hannah Samlail:

So like picture your, if you're older or younger, whatever, picture your

Hannah Samlail:

finances and what they looked like at 23.

Hannah Samlail:

Like, that's probably not great as an early twenties.

Hannah Samlail:

Like it's probably not great.

Hannah Samlail:

So that has been, that's like where I started and my finances

Hannah Samlail:

were like obviously a mess at 23.

Hannah Samlail:

And then it was.

Hannah Samlail:

Trying to figure out business finances on top of that.

Hannah Samlail:

So you're right.

Hannah Samlail:

I should pat myself on the back for

Sydney:

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Sydney:

You're managing like two big things like right at once and

Sydney:

just doing it, like just doing it,

Kristen:

I think for both of you, like what I hear from both of you too, is like,

Kristen:

there's no gatekeeping of your success.

Kristen:

Like with Syd, I think I've heard a lot of your clients say, like, you

Kristen:

take the time to explain it to me.

Kristen:

And I've even had that personal experience with you, but you don't brush

Kristen:

me off, like, don't worry about it.

Kristen:

I'm just going to take care of it.

Kristen:

Cause that's what I do.

Kristen:

Or that's what I know.

Kristen:

And Hannah, it sounds like you guys don't do that either.

Kristen:

It's like, you You don't need this.

Kristen:

You do need this.

Kristen:

This is what this means.

Kristen:

This term means this.

Kristen:

Like Syd has sat me down and looked at QuickBooks with me and it looks like

Kristen:

a foreign language and she's patient.

Kristen:

And I think that she, it sounds like both of you do that to help other people

Kristen:

advance, which I think is really awesome.

Kristen:

Yeah,

Sydney:

to learn and I think that most people want to learn,

Sydney:

I don't think there's a lot of people out there, especially I'll

Sydney:

say, so I'll say this to you.

Sydney:

In the entrepreneurial world there are not a lot of people who don't

Sydney:

want to understand what's going on, especially in the beginning.

Sydney:

We're all kind of control freaks for the most part.

Sydney:

That's why we're our own business owners.

Sydney:

That's why we're managing our calendars and schedules and time

Sydney:

and funds and products and efforts.

Sydney:

We want to know what's going on.

Sydney:

We want to have control of what's going on.

Sydney:

So what better way to let people know you're there for them by empowering

Sydney:

them to just take control of their own life and finances and, and be in charge.

Sydney:

Girls call the shots, Hannah.

Sydney:

That's what your hat says, you know?

Sydney:

And, uh, but I mean, I want to know what's going on.

Sydney:

So, and to me, whenever I can see someone's eyes light up or like,

Sydney:

like the, the light bulb go off of like, Oh my God, that makes sense.

Sydney:

I never got that.

Sydney:

I think that's probably like across the board in my life.

Sydney:

What motivates me more than anything.

Sydney:

Cause I get the same satisfaction from teaching golf like, Oh, that's

Sydney:

how I should turn my wrists or hips, and I love doing that, but I think

Sydney:

that That's what people want to, like you want to know what's going on.

Sydney:

We want to eventually get to a point where we don't have to deal with it

Sydney:

and we can pay someone else to do it.

Sydney:

But you want to know it's being handled because you know how it works,

Hannah Samlail:

right.

Hannah Samlail:

At the end of all of our website projects, we do a training with the client on

Hannah Samlail:

like, here's how to edit your website.

Hannah Samlail:

Of course we want them to pay us to make the edits.

Hannah Samlail:

But we also know that there are some people that are like, if I can figure

Hannah Samlail:

it out myself, that's how I am.

Hannah Samlail:

Like, if I can figure it out myself, like, I want to do, I'm going to do it myself.

Sydney:

Mm

Hannah Samlail:

Those, we have had those same people that we have,

Hannah Samlail:

and like, that's like kind of like a thing that some people don't do.

Hannah Samlail:

It's like, why am I going to train you how to do it?

Hannah Samlail:

I'm training myself out of a job, basically.

Hannah Samlail:

But we have had those same people grow in their success and come back

Hannah Samlail:

to us and say, I'm just going to pay you to do it because I'm so busy.

Hannah Samlail:

being successful in my business that I'm ready now to pay the expert.

Hannah Samlail:

And we've had those people come back to us like multiple times.

Hannah Samlail:

We have had business owners that are like, you did my website five

Hannah Samlail:

years ago, come back to us and say, we're ready to level up.

Hannah Samlail:

And so I just think it's, you get what you give, you know what I mean?

Kristen:

true.

Kristen:

All Right, Hannah.

Kristen:

So we ask everybody towards the end of the episode, what is

Kristen:

your sexy money goal right now?

Hannah Samlail:

Oh man.

Hannah Samlail:

Is my sexy money goal right now?

Hannah Samlail:

This is, I want to say it because I want to say it.

Hannah Samlail:

I want to buy a car.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

But also, my car is literally about to be paid off in January.

Sydney:

Oh, that's exciting.

Sydney:

But hey, it doesn't matter what it is.

Sydney:

Sexy money goal.

Sydney:

It doesn't have to make sense.

Hannah Samlail:

Yeah,

Sydney:

financially responsible.

Sydney:

It's fine.

Sydney:

It can be the most audacious goal out there.

Sydney:

It's a sexy money goal because that's what it is.

Hannah Samlail:

I want to buy like a nice SUV.

Hannah Samlail:

I drive a shitty Toyota Corolla right now and there are no rims on my car.

Hannah Samlail:

Like, which like, I've never been a car person.

Hannah Samlail:

Like, something that gets me from point A to point B.

Hannah Samlail:

Like I said, I've been scrappy my whole life with money.

Hannah Samlail:

So like, I'm like, I bought this car.

Hannah Samlail:

I'm paying, like, it's about to be paid off, but also, like,

Hannah Samlail:

I want to drive, like, a nice,

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Kristen:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Yep.

Sydney:

I I get that.

Sydney:

That's one of the sentences from like the first self wellness

Sydney:

help book that I ever read.

Sydney:

Like that is something that will stay with me forever.

Sydney:

It was the Jen Sincero, you're a badass book.

Sydney:

And I think about it all the time where she's like, you get

Sydney:

in your car every single day.

Sydney:

She bought herself like a red Porsche or something like a red

Hannah Samlail:

I remember that.

Hannah Samlail:

I read this.

Hannah Samlail:

I read

Sydney:

And then she's like, you get into this car every single day.

Sydney:

If it's something that will level up your day and will put you in a

Sydney:

different mindset in a different space.

Sydney:

It's, it's not a, it's not a bad thing.

Sydney:

If you have to pay for that, that's okay.

Sydney:

If you're, not going to treat it like that, if you're, if you're going

Sydney:

to like, abuse it or disrespect it, or it's not going to do that for

Sydney:

you, then that's a different story.

Sydney:

But like getting into your car, going from point A to point B

Sydney:

and at the, in something that you're like, Oh, I feel good.

Sydney:

This is great.

Sydney:

Like that's that levels you up.

Sydney:

So I always, I think about that with, I mean, I do that with like

Sydney:

everything, but and it works.

Sydney:

So,

Hannah Samlail:

My best friend Maddie,

Sydney:

sexy money goal.

Hannah Samlail:

my best friend Maddie picked me up in her white

Hannah Samlail:

Audi SUV yesterday, and I was like,

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

me home to my Toyota Corolla.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

I'm also in the process of moving right now.

Hannah Samlail:

So I'm

Sydney:

Yeah.

Hannah Samlail:

move.

Hannah Samlail:

I'm leveling up my space right now.

Sydney:

Very nice.

Sydney:

Very nice.

Sydney:

Very nice.

Hannah Samlail:

things are in the works.

Sydney:

car might go along with it.

Sydney:

So

Hannah Samlail:

would go so well with my new apartment.

Sydney:

love it.

Sydney:

Absolutely.

Sydney:

That's a great sexy money goal.

Kristen:

That is all right.

Kristen:

Last question.

Kristen:

What's one money mindset that you use to keep you in a positive head space about

Kristen:

money or business or anything like that?

Hannah Samlail:

There's more where that came from.

Hannah Samlail:

Like I just think that there's plenty of money to go around and

Hannah Samlail:

not having a scarcity mindset.

Sydney:

Love it.

Sydney:

Love it.

Sydney:

Love it.

Sydney:

You can always make more.

Hannah Samlail:

You can always make more.

Sydney:

I love it.

Sydney:

There's more where that came from.

Sydney:

That's great.

Kristen:

don't

Sydney:

great.

Sydney:

Good one.

Sydney:

Good.

Sydney:

Well, cheers to that.

Hannah Samlail:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Got my coffee.

Sydney:

Awesome.

Kristen:

all different types.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Well, thank you so much, Hannah, for coming on the Know Your Worth podcast.

Sydney:

I love this episode.

Sydney:

This might be one of my favorite

Kristen:

know that was so

Sydney:

and I feel like it was really good.

Sydney:

Yeah.

Sydney:

Good tips.

Sydney:

Good insight.

Sydney:

Good stories.

Sydney:

Good people.

Sydney:

So, absolutely.

Sydney:

And Kristen, where can we find Hannah?

Sydney:

I was

Kristen:

Hannah, where can we find you?

Hannah Samlail:

Literally everywhere.

Sydney:

our intake form, but I couldn't remember.

Hannah Samlail:

My, my friends, my friends would say literally everywhere.

Hannah Samlail:

So.

Sydney:

Yes, that's, I like that.

Sydney:

I like that.

Kristen:

So where on Instagram can people follow you if they

Kristen:

want to reach out about, website design or to have a discovery call?

Kristen:

What's the best place?

Hannah Samlail:

Waterloo street for website design, Biz

Hannah Samlail:

Collective for Biz Collective and Hannah Samwell for my personal.

Sydney:

Yeah, perfect.

Sydney:

All

Kristen:

tag you in everything when the episode airs so people

Kristen:

can just follow right from there.

Sydney:

Cool.

Hannah Samlail:

This was so

Sydney:

you.

Kristen:

Thanks, Hannah.

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