Ep 196: Why Successful Women Make Money but Don’t Build Wealth — with Michelle Taylor
Building a successful business and building personal wealth are not the same thing.
In this episode of Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast, Dawn McGruer is joined by Michelle Taylor, founder of Women in Wealth, host of Talk Wealthy to Me, and a licensed wealth manager specialising in working with business owners.
Michelle’s own journey into wealth management was anything but conventional. After changing career direction, moving to Italy and experiencing failed business ventures, she eventually discovered that those experiences had uniquely equipped her to help women understand money, investing and wealth creation.
Dawn and Michelle explore one of the biggest financial challenges facing successful founders: how to turn business success into personal wealth.
Michelle explains why your company should never be your entire retirement or wealth-building strategy, why founders need to start building assets outside their businesses from the beginning, and how to think differently about cash once your company becomes profitable.
They also dive into the psychology behind money. Michelle shares how our personal money stories can shape the level of wealth we allow ourselves to create, while Dawn discusses wealth identity, founder conditioning and why increasing your income does not automatically change your financial behaviour.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
Why making more money doesn’t automatically mean you’re building wealth
When founders should start investing outside their business
Why Michelle believes you need an “and” mindset rather than an “or” mindset with business and personal wealth
How to decide when to take money out of your business and deploy it elsewhere
Why successful founders need to understand their operating cash “floor”
How money stories and wealth identity can quietly limit financial growth
Why passive income can completely change the way you think about financial freedom
The growing interest in private credit, private equity and alternative investments
Why women may be holding significantly more cash than they actually need
The three wealth rules Michelle believes every female founder should consider
Why wealthy people learn to treat money as a tool rather than an emotional decision
How compounding can transform both your finances and your behaviour
Why talking openly about money may be one of the simplest ways to improve your financial education
Michelle also shares the uncomfortable moment that changed her relationship with money forever: returning from Italy at 26 and discovering she didn’t have enough money available to buy a $4 magazine. That experience became one of the catalysts behind the work she does today helping women create their own wealth journeys and build generational wealth.
Her final message is simple: talk about money.
Ask questions. Talk to your friends. Find out what other people are learning, investing in and doing with their money. You don’t know what you don’t know — and one conversation could change the financial trajectory of more than one woman.
Connect with Michelle Taylor
Instagram: @itsShellTaylor
Women in Wealth: @women_in_wealth
Podcast: Talk Wealthy to Me
Website: womeninwealth.co
🎧 Subscribe to Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast for conversations around founder psychology, neuroscience, wealth, identity and the thinking behind extraordinary success.
