Waiting until you hit consistent income to set up your money systems feels responsible but it's one of the most expensive decisions you can make. In this episode, Aimee Cerka breaks down why the "I'll do it later" story isn't logic, it's protection, and what it's actually costing you right now.

For the entrepreneur who keeps telling herself the foundation can wait.

Breaking the Money Cycle - https://aimeecerka.com/moneycycle

For the full transcript and all links mentioned, see the blog post: https://aimeecerka.com/258

Ready To Take Action: https://aimeecerka.com/podcastlinks

Have you ever told yourself, "I'll get the LLC set up when I hit consistent

10K months. I'll do the bookkeeping when there's more to track. I'll set up

the software when I actually need it"?

It all makes sense.

It sounds responsible even, like you're being realistic

about where you are, right?

But here's what the logic is actually doing.

It's keeping you from the very thing that gets you to where you wanna be.

So today, we're gonna talk about why the I'll set it up later story is one

of the most expensive decisions that you're making right now, what your money

systems actually do for your income, and it's not like the correlation that

you think it is, the real reason why waiting feels logical and what's truly

underneath it, and then what it looks like to start before you feel ready, 'cause

that can be a little uncertain, right?

So if you've been putting the money foundation off until things feel more

stable, this one's gonna be for you.

It's not about being behind.

It's about understanding what's actually in the way.

So let's get to it

This is Money Simplified, the podcast where I help female

entrepreneurs go from stress and struggle to unstoppable with money.

Money is more than just budgeting and P&Ls, and we're gonna

take you through all of it.

Here, we blend proven financial strategy with mindset work and energetic alignment

so you can create unstoppable finances, build an unstoppable business, and

truly enjoy your unstoppable life.

It's time to take my wisdom, my expertise, to help you simplify

money and go beyond the numbers.

I'm your host, Aimee Cerka.

Welcome, I'm so glad you're here

Welcome back to Money Simplified.

Before we dive into this episode, if you have been telling yourself

you will deal with the money later, I made something just for you.

It's a free private podcast called Breaking the Money Cycle.

It's got six episodes.

It's gonna show you exactly why the waiting is keeping you to stu- keeping

you stuck, and what to do instead.

Go to aimeecerka.com/moneycycle to grab , your access to the private podcast.

And of course, that link is in the show notes for you as well.

So let's get to it.

Where does the wait until I'm ready story come from, right?

Like, I'm gonna wait until I hit this.

It's not out of, like, a carelessness or…

Lazy is not the right word.

Like, again, it seems logical, right?

But for most of us, what is actually going on is it's protection.

We can logically justify this is what we need to do.

This is why it's not important yet.

This is why that.

But we're protecting ourselves from the thing that we are afraid of,

the thing that we don't wanna see, the thing that we don't wanna know.

We don't know what it's gonna mean about us.

Like, it, it stacks up, right?

And on top of it all, we've, like, built this layer of, "Oh, I'm just not a numbers

person. Oh, it's just not time yet." And we do it from the space of, like, we

feel like that's the right thing, right?

Like, it seems so logical, but it's not logic that's making that decision.

So here's the thing.

When we do this, when we wait to get our ducks in a row, when we're not setting

up our LLC, when we're not keeping our books, when we don't know what

our numbers are, we are running blind

The numbers themselves is what creates clarity.

The thing that we're running away from is all the meaning

that we've put on the numbers.

If you don't have a personal budget, you don't know what your

business actually needs to generate to take care of your family.

If you don't have a business budget, you don't know what

your business actually needs.

You could be making a tremendous amount more than you think that you do, but

we're looking at the bank account thinking, "Oh, okay, I don't have enough."

Our bank account is not our budget, right?

If you're not doing your bookkeeping, you're flying blind.

You don't know what's profitable.

You don't know what's going in.

And I would also look at, like, even if you have a bookkeeper, the

bookkeeper is recording the numbers.

You still have to be hands-on.

You still have to know what's going on because let's say

I'm your bookkeeper, right?

I'm recording numbers.

I don't know that you canceled this one subscription, but I've seen it come in.

We'll say Vimeo, right?

Okay, you're paying Vimeo every single month, every single

month, so it's a known thing.

I see it all the time.

So you've canceled Vimeo, but I'm not aware, so I don't flag it as something

that we need to like, "Hey, we're not supposed to be paying for this anymore,"

or it's something you've forgotten about.

And part of what I do with my bookkeeping clients is we have a quarterly private

coaching call, and we can go over some of these things that I help you identify,

okay, what are we double paying for?

But again, that only works if we're actually looking at the numbers, if we

have the clarity of what the numbers are.

Now, if you listened to episode 252 where we talked about, like, , if

you've been in the survival mode for so long and coming back after that

survival mode, you probably know why you can't execute, and then 253 as

well was, like, a follow-up for that.

So if you missed those two episodes, go listen to those two.

You can finish this one first.

That works, right?

But those two were really key episodes

Where we started talking about the pattern that's going on

underneath, because these patterns are running the show subconsciously.

So we are looking at, like, "Hey, this is what's going on at a surface

level," but all the decisions, all of the things that's going on that's

causing you to want to do those things, those patterns are all subconscious.

And again, that's really what we dive into inside Breaking the Money Cycle.

There's, like, those sh- six episode, those six beliefs that I help you

shift of like, "Hey, this is actually what's been running the show. This is

why we haven't seen the results when you've done all the work, or this

is why you don't wanna do the work."

Um, and again, that's aimeecerka.com/moneycycle, and that

link is in the show notes as well.

That's, that's your next step after this episode today.

Because every single month that goes by, and really I would say like week,

day, week, we can compound it, right?

But every single month, every single year that goes by without creating this

foundation is another month that we're not making decisions from a clear space.

We're still in survival mode, whether that means you're undercharging, whether that

means you're stuck on the feast and, feast and famine rollercoaster, feast or famine.

Feast or famine rollercoaster.

There's like you are just jumping from thing to thing to thing.

You are not grounded in the power

And we're stuck in this cycle.

And what's worse, we make the cycle worse because you know it's

just creating more work for you.

So we keep not showing up fully, we pull back energetically because we

don't really wanna hit those goals, because if we did hit those goals,

all this work would suddenly become important, and I don't wanna handle that.

That's part of why my budgeting systems are set up the way that

they are set up, because it help- it, like, it fixes that, right?

It's a seamless transition between you investing in your business

and you paying yourself from your business, 'cause that's one of the

biggest ones that we see, right?

But if you know it's gonna create more work for you to hit that goal and

you're not ready for the more work, you don't have the plan in place,

you don't have the systems in place, you don't have the things set up.

If you're not set up to take on 10 new clients tomorrow,

guess what's not gonna show up?

10 new clients, because energetically, you know you can't

handle it, so you don't show up.

You close yourself off from the sale.

This is so much of the work that we do because we need to do the numbers, right?

We have to look at the numbers, 'cause the numbers are just the numbers, right?

Numbers themselves, like… Calendar's up there.

You can't see it.

Okay.

Like, those things don't, they don't hurt you, right?

It's the meaning that we put behind everything.

Those patterns, those things that have been running the show-

So we keep delaying the thing that we need to work on, and we feel like, "Oh,

yeah, we're doing great because I'm working on the thing that I need to," but

really we're just perpetrating the cycle

You don't build the boat after it starts raining, right?

We build the boat first

You don't have to have it all together to start.

It's easier to start now

You build the boat now, this analogy is kind of breaking down, but you build the

boat now so that the boat has somewhere, the income has somewhere to land.

So the rising tide can lift your ship.

You're not drowning 'cause you didn't build a boat, ship

You've gotta start.

We have to work on these things because the I'm gonna wait until this is in place,

I'm gonna wait to put the SOPs in place inste- until I hire, I'm gonna wait to

do the bookkeeping, I'm gonna wait to set up my LLC, all of those waiting things

causes so many more problems because we know we're not ready for the next level.

You do the work now so it's prepared.

We've sowed the seeds, right?

We're sitting there… We're gonna cross-reference our analogies real quick.

If you're sitting there praying for rain, this analogy's in the Bible, right?

If you're sitting there praying for rain for your crops, but you haven't planted

the seed, the crops aren't gonna grow.

This work, these systems, these things, this is your seed.

Do the work so that when the rain comes, your efforts are rewarded.

We have to stop putting this off.

You can't plant seed after it rains and expect a harvest, 'cause

then you're running around playing catch-up, and that's exactly what

so many entrepreneurs do because it's like, "I don't need it yet.

I don't need it yet.

I should figure this out myself.

I should be able to handle it myself." Think about this.

It's crazy, like, it's an amazing industry that we're in, especially those

of us in the online service, um, space, like the overhead that we don't have

to handle, but can you imagine, like, a restaurant like, "I'm not gonna buy

plates until I have the customers"?

Like, nobody would go.

We've gotta have the foundations.

You gotta be able to pay people.

We have to have the HR thing.

We have to have all of those pieces in place.

You can't skip it just because you're in an online service-based industry or

e-com, whatever it might be, like, that-

landscaping, ser-, like all of those service industry trades especially.

Like, stop skipping it.

Just because we don't have a physical location doesn't mean

that it's not, not important

We gotta start somewhere.

One system, right?

So if this landed today, I highly encourage you, Breaking the Money

Cycle is where you go next, okay?

It's that free private podcast that takes this conversation, like, further.

You can really see the deeper layers.

I go deep into six different shifts, and it shows you the way out.

So, um, aimeecerka.com/moneycycle.

The link's also in the show notes.

Remember, you've got this, and I've got you.

We'll see you next time.

Bye for now

Thank you so much for listening to Money Simplified.

My favorite place to hang out is on Instagram.

You can find me @aimeecerka to catch all the behind the scenes in my stories.

Send me a message to share your biggest takeaway or just to say hi.

I love hearing from podcast listeners.

When you're ready to take action on your mindset, your money, or the

systems behind it all, I'm here for you.

Whether you're snagging a free resource, exploring a mini course, diving into the

fundamentals with Money Mastery Academy, getting in-depth support inside the

Unstoppable experience, or scheduling a complimentary bookkeeping consult

to finally get hands-on help with your books, your next step is waiting for you.

AimeeCerka.com/podcastlinks has all the information and of course that link is

hanging out in the show notes for you.

We'll see you next time