In this compelling episode of Money Talk with Tiff, Tiffany Grant sits down with financial expert Hurley Fox to discuss the weighty topic of financial stress among business owners. With the current economic climate, small business owners are under increasing financial pressure, making this conversation particularly timely. Hurley and Tiffany delve into defining financial stress, identifying its signs, and actionable strategies to alleviate it.

From understanding the importance of clean data to building a reliable financial team, Hurley offers invaluable insights applicable to both personal and business finances. Tune in for practical advice and learn how to make your finances work for you, not against you.

Check out the full show notes: https://moneytalkwitht.com/podcast-show-notes/financial-stress-for-owners/

Takeaways

• Financial stress can manifest in various ways, such as sleepless nights and constant anxiety.
• Understanding your financial situation and documenting it can significantly alleviate stress levels.
• It’s crucial for business owners to have a strong financial team for support.
• Personal financial health directly impacts business performance, so they should be aligned.
• Paying yourself first ensures personal financial needs are met and reduces stress.
• Knowledge of accounting basics empowers business owners to make informed decisions.

Resources Mentioned

• Hurley Fox on LinkedIn
• Fox and Partners Official Website: foxandpartners.com

Connect with Tiffany

• Website: Money Talk with Tiff
• Social Media: @MoneyTalkWithT

Support this Podcast

Copyright 2025 Tiffany Grant

You know what it is? That's right. It's time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears.

It's the Money Talk with Tiff podcast.

Hey, everyone. I am so excited because I have Hurley Fox on the line, and Hurley is here to talk to us about financial stress as it relates to business owners.

I was like, this is such a timely, timely, timely conversation because it seems like there's a lot of small business owners, owners that are under financial pressure right now. So. Hey, Hurley, how are you?

I'm great. How are you? Thank you for having me.

Yeah, I'm doing great as well, and thank you so much for coming on. So let's hop right in. For the audience, what is financial stress? Like, what would be defined as financial stress?

Because some people might be listening, they're like, I don't even know what that is.

So financial stress would be any stress, and that impacts everybody a little differently. So for some, it's not being able to sleep at night.

For others, it's feeling very nervous and walking around and, you know, just a lot of nervous energy. Or maybe you're overthinking some things, but it's stress that is caused by something financially related.

And so that might mean upcoming debt payments or the next payroll or where our sale is going to come from next year or any to do with money that is causing you stress would be financial stress.

So, you know, Hurley, that sounds like a lot of small business owners right now. So let's get in some tips or tricks that they can use if they are encountering financial stress right now.

Yeah. So I'd say the first two things that I would do is try to wrap your head around, well, what is it actually? Right. So anxiety and stress.

Love the non specific. So just the general what if or oh, my gosh, it's probably so bad. And so with.

With any clients, when coming on board with us at Fox and Partners, one of the first things we do is we make sure that the data from either the business or the business owner is real and we know what those numbers are and they can tie to them.

So I have so many business owners where when we just do that exercise of let's write down your debt, let's make sure your profit and loss is correct, let's get your personal financials clean and your business financials clean.

Just having clean data and seeing kind of the monster on paper relieves a lot of the stress because instead of it being this imaginary dragon, now it's something real that you can start to plan to conquer. And so that would be the first thing.

And the second thing would be make sure you have people in your corner who really understand that area of, of business.

And so there's a lot of small business owners out there who either don't work with anybody who can do the accounting or who can read financial statements and then help them understand that and break it down, or they're missing one piece of kind of the financial team that every business owner should have.

So, you know, you shouldn't have just one kind of CPA who does everything for you, like business coaching, doing your businesses financials, doing your tax return tax planning and investments, just to name a few.

And so you want to make sure you have a really good team that has experience and can get along, that can help you manage that stress and the problems that come to you, both personally and business wise that are financially related.

Yes, yes.

And you just said a mouthful because that first part with making sure that you get it down, I preach that all the time on the personal side, the personal finance side, because, you know, like you said, sometimes it's just all in our mind.

And I've told my audience before, like whenever I get off track with budgeting, it's like, oh my gosh, the sky is falling until I actually sit down and do it. And I'm like, oh, it's not that bad.

Yeah, yeah. Or like with debt, debt's another really good example where people think, oh my gosh, it's so much debt, how am I ever going to pay it off?

So therefore let me not write it down. Right, but the writing it down isn't going to change anything in terms of the debt amount.

Right, but you writing it down, debt doesn't increase or decrease. And so just by seeing it and then thinking, okay, well if I could pay $1,000 a month, how long would that take me?

Getting those real numbers starts to relieve some of the stress and you can go from kind of looping on something that is in your head to putting a plan together with something that's on paper. And I work with hundreds of business owners in every type of business, from retail to industrial to real estate. You name it, I've worked with them.

And there are so many similarities between personal finance and business finance. And so most business owners don't have an accounting background or think accounting is too fun. Is that fun?

So what I will typically do is work with them on their personal financials to help them start to understand some accounting concepts. So if you do a budget personally, that's like a business's profit and loss.

And if you have a net worth statement or you write down what you owe and what you own, that's your business. That's like a business's balance sheet. Right.

And so using similar principles in a way that business owners can understand, to connect the two and allow them to start to educate themselves on business financials has been a really helpful exercise to lot of different business owners in terms of understanding how financials work. And then that also relieves some of the stress that builds up with just even looking at your financial statements.

Yes, I completely agree with that.

And it sounds like we both start from the same area, your personal finances, because that is the best way, in my opinion, to figure it out, just like you said. So with that being said, what are some other tips?

So we have, you know, they should get it down, they should reach out to a professional to help them. What else should business owners be doing to reduce financial stress?

Yeah, well, I would say in that vein of personal financials, being a financial, being a business owner, especially in the small business world, your personal financials are your business financials and vice versa. Now we want to make sure there's a clear line between them from a transactional standpoint.

But in terms of stress, if you are personally stressed out over something financial, for example, maybe your kids are going to go to college, you have to pay, you know, figure out how to pay those upcoming bills, or your property tax just got increased by 25% or whatever it is, if you're stressed personally, that stress is going to leak into the business because you are the business's greatest asset. And so if the business's greatest asset is stressed, the business feels that.

And if the business can't pay for what you need, then something has to change.

And so we want to get ahead of that as soon as possible.

And so you may need to change how the business is, is, is doing, you know, taking on revenue or you may need to cut some expenses, or on the personal side, you may need to pick up a second, you know, side hustle while the business is growing.

But you have to be real and kind of cutthroat about the financial reality of this is what you need to put food on the table and for the personal part of you to live. And if the business can't do that, then we need a plan in order to figure that out.

And so I would say, you know, kind of another step is get your personal financials in line and then with the business financials in line, make sure that it can cover those personal financial needs. Because knowing that it can will resolve a lot of the stress.

Typically, business owners pay themselves last, but then the personal and the family suffers, which causes stress, which then does impact the business. And so figure out what you need month to month and put a plan together for the business to afford that relatively stress free.

And if you can't, then we need to figure out other strategies to get there.

Yes, I love that you said that business owners pay their selves last because that is so true. They just look at the profit side and they're like, oh, let me take some money out of here. This is my pay.

However, what I've learned and what I've implemented in business, and it sounds like you're saying as well, but correct me if I'm wrong, is that we should be paying ourselves first. And then that way our personal finances are covered and we're not stressed on that end of things.

And then we can look at, you know, get with a professional like yourself, look at our business finances and say, what can we do better?

Yeah. And you can allow the business to do what the business does. Right.

And on the personal side, why you want to pay yourself first is because you're typically, you're working in the business and so you want to think of yourself as if you're somebody else. So nobody else would go work in the business 40 hours a week and not get paid. Right. But business owners do. Right.

Or nobody else would put in double time or would, you know, kind of go to the ends of the earth without seeing a pay increase. But business owners do. And so if that were somebody else, how would you treat them?

And typically you'd pay them every other week or twice a month, whatever.

Okay, so then pay yourself that and then get the amount that you need from the personal finance side again, if your rent and your food and your car and a couple other things is $5,000 a month, let's say Total, we have to figure out a way for the business to get that to you or for you to make that money in other ways. Because otherwise the you will put so much stress on the business that you can't kind of walk through the proper way of business fundamentals. Right.

Because you're going to want to accelerate things or you're going to be so stressed that you won't do things in the most relaxed state. And so for that reason, it's what do you need? And let's make sure the business can pay that pretty early on.

So if you need $5,000 a month, all right, you're getting $2,500 every other week post tax. And then you as a business owner can also kind of take off the business owner hat when you go home to the family.

So when you go to the home of the family, you can put the family hat on. And because you know what your income is going to be because the business is providing that to you consistently.

And then you can do a family budget and do all your family kind of planning things knowing that there is certainty coming from the business. Without that, you're stressed on both sides.

And then anything over what you need, then you can really start to think, okay, well, can the business use that extra cash to invest in something to make even more kind of cash flow to the business owner? Or do you want to cut that as a distribution or a dividend or increase your payroll to you as the business owner?

But we want to make sure the needs are covered first from the personal side, because otherwise the business, at some point it won't really work because you'll be so stressed or you won't be able to pay for the next month rent that the business will have to stop and you'll have to go figure something else out.

Yes. Yes. And that is such a gym right there.

And I'm just thinking, because I've never liked put all of that together so eloquently as you just did, but I know when it comes to my business, if I start feeling financial stress, I start cutting from the business expenses first. So I don't even cut from my personal first. I cut from business expenses first. And I'm like, okay, how can I save money over here?

Which personally, it's tech. I spend a lot of money on tech. There's usually something that I can cut out.

But anyway, all of that to say, going back to our original point, is that you have to know your numbers and you have to know what you're spending.

Yeah. And knowing it won't change the reality, but it will change your reality in order to put a plan together. Right. And that's a really good first step.

And then you can also kind of realize, okay, hey, you know what? This isn't so bad. And then when you actually know your numbers, you can connect with other people who are in a similar spot as you.

And so then you realize you're not alone. And then you find people who have fixed problems that are the ones that you have. Exactly. And then you put.

Start to put the team together, but it starts with knowing reality and kind of walking through and talking yourself through, okay, this is what it is. Now what do I do about it? And as business owners, we're really good at that. Right? Here's the problem.

All right, let me get my hands dirty and roll up the sleeves. But when it kind of stays in our head and we don't want to tell people or we don't want to even write it down ourselves, it kind of.

It can take on any size because you haven't put it on paper in terms of what the size actually is. Right. And so until, you know, reality, the imagination can run at any size.

So typically that then overwhelms us, which causes a lot of the stress, which then makes us kind of cycle downwards in a lot of different ways. And so putting on paper and understanding the numbers are a really good first step.

And then also, you know, not every business owner needs to be an accountant, but accounting is the language of business.

And so if you don't know kind of the fundamentals about accounting, you're going to be struggling in the business world because everyone else is talking a language that you're not fluent in. And so put people around you who can help either educate you or walk you through what the accounting is for your personal business.

And then start to learn a little bit so you can start speaking that language with everybody else. And so before I started Fox and Partners, I was actually, I went to school for teaching. And so I love teaching, love working with kids.

And so now I've just brought that into the business world of, hey, look, here's your numbers, or here's why profit isn't cash in the bank. How can you be profitable and lose money? Right. A lot of business owners don't understand that.

And so by understanding the concepts that you can start to understand your reality better and then also how to plan better.

I love that. I love that. And I think that we could just leave it right there, because that was like a mic drop.

But Hurley, if people were interested in finding out more about you, learning more about Fox and Partners, where could they find you?

Well, thankfully there's not many Hurley Foxes in the world and so if you just search my name in LinkedIn, I'll come right up. And then you can also visit our website@foxandpartners.com f o x a n d partners.com awesome.

Awesome. And I'll make sure I have all those links in the show notes. You really gave us some gems today, so thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Thanks so much for having me.

Thank you for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with Tiff podcast this week.

You can check Tiff out every Thursday for a new Money Talk podcast, but if you just can't wait until next week, you can listen to previous podcast episodes at Money Talk with t.com or follow TIFF on all social media platforms at Money Talk with T. Until next time. Stay Spend wise by spending less than you make. A word to the money wise is always sufficient.