<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Lauren Evans: Weekly Newsletter]]></title><description><![CDATA[Your weekly does of personal stories, business and finance.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/s/weekly-newsletter</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png</url><title>Lauren Evans: Weekly Newsletter</title><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/s/weekly-newsletter</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 08:51:27 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[laurenfinancementor@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[laurenfinancementor@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[laurenfinancementor@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[laurenfinancementor@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[I didn't sign off on that]]></title><description><![CDATA[The $10 errand that quickly escalated - and the trap your business is falling for too.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-didnt-sign-off-on-that</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-didnt-sign-off-on-that</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 23:28:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Took my kids to Coles over the weekend.</p><p>Gave them instructions&#8230;.one bag of lollies each for their sports teams. Should have been a $10 exercise. Sent them in on their own while I waited at the register.</p><p>They came back very happy with themselves.</p><p>Bag of lollies in one hand. <strong>Box of Raffaellos in the other. Each.</strong></p><p>Those boxes are $20 each.</p><p>I&#8217;d just watched a $10 outing quickly turn into a $50 one.</p><p>Me: &#8220;Girls - did you check the price?&#8221;</p><p>Kids: &#8220;Yes Mum, <em>of course</em> we did. They&#8217;re 2 for 1. How could we <strong>not</strong> buy them?&#8221;</p><p>Couldn&#8217;t fault that logic.</p><p>They&#8217;d done the responsible thing - they checked the price. They thought it was a bargain and good value&#8230;so $40 worth of chocolate for $20 for them was a no brainier.</p><p>We had a chat about it on the way home. Good job for checking. But also - <em>just because something is on sale doesn&#8217;t mean you should buy it</em>. That&#8217;s exactly what the sign is hoping you do.</p><p>Here&#8217;s why I&#8217;m telling you this.</p><p>I see the same logic play out in business every single week. Different price tags. Same trap.</p><ul><li><p>The software bundle that&#8217;s &#8220;75% off if you sign up today&#8221;</p></li><li><p>The conference ticket that&#8217;s &#8220;early bird only until Friday&#8221;</p></li><li><p>The agency retainer with a &#8220;discount for 12 months upfront&#8221;</p></li><li><p>The all-in-one tool that&#8217;s &#8220;free this quarter if you bundle three users&#8221;</p></li></ul><p>Smart business owners - good operators - checking the price. Doing the maths. Saying yes.</p><p>And six weeks later they can&#8217;t tell me what the tool actually does. Or they&#8217;re locked into a 12-month retainer they never use. Or they&#8217;ve spent the equivalent of half a month&#8217;s payroll on something that solves a problem they didn&#8217;t have.</p><p><strong>The discount didn&#8217;t save you money. It triggered a purchase you weren&#8217;t going to make.</strong></p><p>The sale isn&#8217;t designed to reward you for being savvy. It&#8217;s designed to compress your decision-making timeline so you stop asking the actual question:</p><p><em>Did I need this in the first place?</em></p><p>That&#8217;s the question your bookkeeper isn&#8217;t asking. Your accountant isn&#8217;t asking. Your inbox certainly isn&#8217;t asking. And in a growing business, where the offers get bigger and the urgency gets louder, no one is asking it for you.</p><p>You have to build the habit yourself.</p><h2>Small Habit, Big Impact</h2><p>This week, before any business purchase - software, subscription, service, &#8220;deal&#8221; - sit with these three questions for 60 seconds:</p><ol><li><p><strong>Would I buy this at full price?</strong> If no, you don&#8217;t want it. You want the discount.</p></li><li><p><strong>What problem does this solve that I have </strong><em><strong>right now</strong></em><strong>?</strong> Not &#8220;might have one day.&#8221; Right now.</p></li><li><p><strong>What&#8217;s the cost if I wait a week?</strong> If the answer is &#8220;nothing&#8221; &#8212; wait a week.</p></li></ol><p>If it survives all three, buy it.</p><p><strong>Better still - check it against your plan.</strong></p><p>If you have a financial plan for the year, this decision becomes a 10-second check, not a 60-second debate. Is this purchase in the plan? Yes or no. If yes, the business can safely afford it - go. If no, the question isn&#8217;t &#8220;is it a good deal&#8221; - it&#8217;s &#8220;what am I taking out of the plan to fit this in?&#8221;</p><p>A plan doesn&#8217;t stop you spending money. It stops you spending money the business hasn&#8217;t decided to spend.</p><p>That&#8217;s the difference between <em>resisting</em> a 2-for-1 and not being susceptible to one in the first place.</p><p>Lauren</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I laughed when Mum said this]]></title><description><![CDATA[The voice in your head is probably lying to you.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-laughed-when-mum-said-this</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-laughed-when-mum-said-this</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 11:50:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was talking to my mum this week and she was giving herself a hard time.</p><p>About what? A household chore. She&#8217;d missed doing it the day before and now had to wait two weeks before she could do it again.</p><p>That was it. And she was down in the dumps about it.</p><p>When she told me, I laughed.</p><p>Not at her - but I had to stop and apologise straight away, because it kind of seemed like I was.</p><p>I said: &#8220;<em>Mum, I&#8217;m not laughing at you. I&#8217;m laughing because what you just said out loud sounds exactly like what goes on in my head all the time.&#8221;</em></p><p>This little voice that tells me why did you do that? Why didn&#8217;t you do that? Over analysing everything.</p><p>All the things that, in the grand scheme of things, do not actually matter.</p><p>All the things that have already happened therefore cannot be changed.</p><p>But my brain still runs them over and over again.</p><p>I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ve done the same thing yourself about your business finances&#8230;</p><p><em>I should be better at this.</em></p><p><em>I should have known that.</em></p><p><em>Why didn&#8217;t I look at my numbers sooner?</em></p><p><em>Other people have this figured out - what am I doing wrong?</em></p><p>Meanwhile&#8230; you&#8217;re building a real business.</p><p>You&#8217;re delivering for clients.</p><p>Making sales.</p><p>Paying wages.</p><p>Keeping the lights on.</p><p>Doing the thing most people only ever talk about doing.</p><p>You don&#8217;t need to add <em>perfect with money</em> to the list of things you beat yourself up over.</p><p>The voice in your head telling you that you&#8217;re behind, not good enough, or should have figured this out by now?</p><p>Not helpful.</p><p>And definitely not qualified to be your CFO.</p><p>So this week, be a little kinder to yourself.</p><p>You&#8217;re probably doing far better than you think.</p><h2>Small Habit, Big Impact</h2><p>This week, when that voice starts telling you all the things you &#8220;should&#8221; be doing better financially, pause for a minute.</p><p>Write down three things you&#8217;ve already done well in your business this month.</p><p>Sales made.</p><p>Clients served.</p><p>Invoices sent.</p><p>A tough conversation handled.</p><p>A bill paid on time.</p><p>A decision you&#8217;ve been avoiding but finally made.</p><p>Read that list before you open your banking app or look at your numbers.</p><p>Your mindset shapes the story you tell yourself about the numbers before you&#8217;ve even looked at them.</p><p>Talk soon</p><p>Lauren</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Smashed My Car]]></title><description><![CDATA[Stop building habits. Build systems.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-smashed-my-car</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-smashed-my-car</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 01:36:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A few weeks ago; I smashed my car into a pole.</p><p>So annoyed at myself! A pole I drive past all the time. Annoying, expensive, and embarrassing (I promise I am actually an amazing driver!)</p><p>While my car was getting fixed, I drove our other car which I rarely drive - with the blinkers on the <em>left</em>.</p><p>My very first car, the one I drove for the first 15 years of my driving life, also had the blinkers on the left.</p><p>Then for the last 10 years, I&#8217;ve always had them on the right.</p><p>When I got into the car I never drive - the left side blinkers felt easy and natural. I fell back into my original habits so easily.</p><p>When I got back into <em>my</em> car (after only 1.5 weeks) I kept flicking the wipers on instead of the blinkers!</p><p>It just didn&#8217;t make any sense&#8230;although it actually does.</p><p>We fall back into our first learned patterns. They are second nature.</p><p>But trying to change back&#8230;that takes effort.</p><p>Exactly like anything in life...we always fall back easily to the things we know. The thing we learned first.</p><p></p><p>When it comes to Finances everyone always says&#8230;</p><p>&#8220;Just build a habit&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Be consistent&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Check your numbers weekly&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Stay disciplined&#8221;</p><p>And then you miss a week. Life happens. BAS hits. A kid gets sick. A big client drops. And the habit breaks.</p><p>Then the shame kicks in. <em>I&#8217;m hopeless with money. I can&#8217;t stay on top of anything. I&#8217;m the problem.</em></p><p>You&#8217;re not the problem.</p><p>Habits are fragile.</p><p>Habits break sometimes.</p><p>What you do when the habit breaks is what makes the biggest impact.</p><p>And for that, you don&#8217;t need more discipline. You need a <strong>system.</strong></p><p></p><p>What works for you may not work for everyone else.</p><p>I know what works for me&#8230;I have <strong>15 alarms</strong> to get out of bed in the morning. Not one. Fifteen.</p><p>I have a staff member who blocks out a specific slot every afternoon to come and ask me the questions she needs answered. Because I know if there&#8217;s no set time, she&#8217;ll get forgotten.</p><p>I&#8217;ve trained my entire team: if I haven&#8217;t responded to your question, chase me again. And again. It&#8217;s your responsibility to get the job done.</p><p>This doesn&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m bad at my job. What it means is <strong>I&#8217;ve designed systems that ensure my weaknesses are addressed in other ways.</strong></p><p>The goal isn&#8217;t to become someone who never drops the ball. The goal is to build enough infrastructure around yourself that when you drop it - because you will - something catches it before it hits the floor.</p><p><strong>Finance works the exact same way.</strong></p><p>You don&#8217;t need a stronger weekly numbers habit. You need:</p><ul><li><p>A recurring calendar block that reminds you - every week, same time, non-negotiable</p></li><li><p>A bookkeeper who emails you a P&amp;L on the same day each month without being asked</p></li><li><p>A separate Tax bank account that pulls GST out automatically so you can&#8217;t spend it</p></li><li><p>A team member or accountability partner who chases you if you skip a week</p></li><li><p>A dashboard that lands in your inbox so the numbers come to <em>you</em>, not the other way around</p></li></ul><p>Each one of these is part of the system*.* And when you&#8217;ve got enough of these parts in place, breaking a habit doesn&#8217;t break the whole system.</p><p>Stop trying to be the person who never breaks the habit.</p><p>Start building the systems that bring you back when you do.</p><h2>Small Habit, Big Impact</h2><p><strong>This week, choose one fallback.</strong></p><p>Pick the one that&#8217;s most likely to save you:</p><ol><li><p><strong>Automatic tax transfer.</strong> Set up a rule in your bank: every time money lands in your business account, a percentage auto-transfers to a separate tax account. Removes willpower from the equation entirely.</p></li><li><p><strong>Recurring weekly calendar block.</strong> Not just a reminder &#8212; a locked 30 minute block, labelled <em>Numbers Review</em>, every week. Treat it like a meeting with a client who&#8217;s paying you $500/hour to show up.</p></li><li><p><strong>Monthly P&amp;L email from your bookkeeper.</strong> Ask them to send you your P&amp;L on the same day every month, unprompted. If they don&#8217;t currently, make it a condition of staying engaged. You&#8217;re paying for it anyway.</p></li></ol><p>One of these installed this week is worth more than 12 weeks of trying to be disciplined.</p><p>Because the habit will break.</p><p>The system will get you back on track.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Cried Yesterday]]></title><description><![CDATA[Because overwhelm has a way of catching up with you.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-cried-yesterday</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-cried-yesterday</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 00:11:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I cried yesterday.</p><p>I&#8217;m not a crier.</p><p>I cried because I felt overwhelmed.</p><p>It was the Mother&#8217;s Day stall. When kids have to bring cash.</p><p>I&#8217;m not a cash carrier. I&#8217;m also a last-minute planner. And I had no idea I needed cash&#8230;for my own present.</p><p>So off we drive to school.</p><p>No cash. No card. Just my phone.</p><p>Drop off turns into 4 stops.</p><p>School drop off. Back home. Servo. School office.</p><p>All this to organise my own present.</p><p>And all I could think was - what is the actual point of this?</p><p>Because if the goal is the present, it&#8217;s a 0 out of 10 from me.</p><p>The present I actually want?</p><p>Less overwhelm.</p><p>Less mental load.</p><p>Less running around trying to hold everything together.</p><p>Not organising my own gift before the school bell.</p><p>And to top it off - one of the kids later that day:</p><p>&#8220;Mum, everything there was a rip-off.&#8221;</p><p>(I guess I&#8217;ve taught her value all too well. &#129315;)</p><p></p><p>That&#8217;s what overwhelm actually looks like.</p><p>Not big dramatic moments.</p><p>Small, unnecessary friction - stacked all day.</p><p>And most business owners are running their finances exactly like this.</p><p>You email your accountant. Wait two weeks. Still unclear.</p><p>You open Xero. Stare at it. Close it again.</p><p>You&#8217;ve got decisions to make - hiring, pricing, investing - and you&#8217;re guessing because there&#8217;s no other way.</p><p>No wonder it feels heavy and overwhelming.</p><p>This is what trying to do it all on your own looks like.</p><p>Most founders don&#8217;t realise there&#8217;s a better way to do it.</p><p>Real support looks different.</p><p>You ask the question when it comes up - not two weeks later.</p><p>You get answers in hours, not days or months.</p><p>You see numbers that actually make sense for <em>your</em> business.</p><p>And no judgement when you ask. Just someone in your corner helping you work it out.</p><p>Clear direction, Confident decision making, Organised finances.</p><p>Now those are the kind of gifts that should be sold at the Mother&#8217;s Day stall.</p><p></p><h2>Mini Challenge this week</h2><p>Look at your to-do list.</p><p>Find the one finance task you keep avoiding because it feels hard.</p><p>Now ask yourself:</p><p><strong>Who could help me get this done faster or better?</strong></p><p>And then actually do it - send the message, ask the question, start the conversation.</p><p>Because avoiding it isn&#8217;t a time issue.</p><p>It&#8217;s a support issue.</p><p>And the longer it sits there&#8230;the heavier it gets.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Easy Fix ]]></title><description><![CDATA[The most expensive problems in business are the ones you put up with.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/the-easy-fix</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/the-easy-fix</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:33:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the last 18 months, my phone has been flying around my car.</p><p>I had a $2 phone holder from who-knows-where. My phone didn&#8217;t actually fit because I have a pop socket. But, even without it, the holder was flimsy. Every corner, every speed bump, every brake - phone on the floor.</p><p>Last week, I finally had enough.</p><p>I ordered a $30 phone holder from Amazon. Arrived the next day. The pop socket slides straight in. The phone doesn&#8217;t move. It&#8217;s amazing.</p><p>And the first thing I thought wasn&#8217;t &#8220;finally.&#8221;</p><p>It was &#8220;why did I put up with that for so long?&#8221;</p><h2>How this relates to business</h2><p>Most of us are running parts of our business like that phone setup.</p><p>We know something isn&#8217;t working.</p><p>We feel the friction every single day.</p><p>But it&#8217;s &#8220;not urgent enough&#8221; to fix.</p><p>So we tolerate it.</p><p>Messy numbers.</p><p>No clear cash flow plan.</p><p>Waiting on an accountant to tell you what already happened.</p><p>Making decisions off a bank balance.</p><p>Nothing is technically broken&#8230; but everything feels harder than it should.</p><p>What does it take to finally have enough?</p><p>What needs to happen before you decide your finances don&#8217;t have to be this hard?</p><p>Because they don&#8217;t.</p><p>The chaos costs you lost profits, slower decisions, more stress, and second-guessing every move you make.</p><p>The fix is rarely complicated. It&#8217;s just overdue.</p><p>(And if you&#8217;re not sure where to start - that&#8217;s literally what Finance Like a Boss is for. We start next Monday 4 May. Reply if you want to know more.)</p><h2>Small Habit, Big Impact</h2><p>This week, write down three things in your business you&#8217;ve been &#8220;putting up with&#8221;.</p><p>Pick one. Fix it this week.</p><p>You won&#8217;t believe how much mental bandwidth it frees up.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Thanks! But…]]></title><description><![CDATA[The deflecting that's slowly killing your financial vibe.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/thanks-but</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/thanks-but</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 02:21:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was at the gym the other day. A woman next to me said, &#8220;I love your nails - that colour is great.&#8221;</p><p>My response? &#8220;Thanks! Oh, they&#8217;re old, I really need to get them redone.&#8221;</p><p>Fifteen minutes later, someone else: &#8220;Your bum looks great in those shorts.&#8221;</p><p>For any woman who lifts, you know this is THE compliment. The one you&#8217;ve been working for.</p><p>My response? &#8220;Yeah these shorts are the best right!&#8221;</p><p>Then it dawned on me.</p><p>Deflection.</p><p>Before my brain even caught up, I&#8217;d already handed the credit somewhere else. The nails. The shorts. Anything but me.</p><p>I refused to own it.</p><p>And then it clicked. That&#8217;s exactly what business owners do when I first sit down with them. Different situation, same instinct - protect yourself from having to own something.</p><p><em>&#8220;I&#8217;m bad with money.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what the reports mean.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;That stuff is too hard for me.&#8221;</em></p><p>At the gym, I was refusing to own what I&#8217;d worked for. In business, they&#8217;re refusing to own the numbers.</p><p>If <em>&#8220;I&#8217;m just bad with money,&#8221;</em> then it&#8217;s not on me to own the outcome of my business finances.</p><p>Your finances can be shit, and it&#8217;s fine&#8230;because you didn&#8217;t look, so it&#8217;s not really your fault, it&#8217;s just <em>how you are with money</em>.</p><p>But the moment you look?</p><p>Game Over.</p><p>Because now you know. And now you have to decide what to do with what you know.</p><p>That&#8217;s the bit that scares people. Not the numbers themselves. The ownership that comes <em>after</em> the numbers.</p><p>It takes a surprising amount of courage to stand up and say: <em>these are my numbers. I have control over them. And I&#8217;m going to do this better.</em></p><p>No more &#8220;I&#8217;m just not a numbers person.&#8221;</p><p>No more &#8220;my accountant handles it.&#8221;</p><p>No more &#8220;I&#8217;ll look at it next quarter.&#8221;</p><p>Just: this is my business. These are my numbers. And I&#8217;m the one who gets to decide what they look like next.</p><p>No more deflecting.</p><p>Just ownership.</p><h2>Mini Challenge - This Week</h2><p>This week, catch yourself in the act.</p><p>The moment you hear yourself say <em>&#8220;I&#8217;m just not good with money&#8221;</em> or <em>&#8220;I&#8217;ll look at that later&#8221;</em> or <em>&#8220;that stuff is too hard for me&#8221;</em> - stop.</p><p>That&#8217;s the deflection. That&#8217;s the out.</p><p>And in that exact moment, say this back to yourself:</p><p><em>I can do better. I have control. And I can do this.</em></p><p>Then open the thing you were about to avoid. The bank account. The P&amp;L. The tax folder. Whatever it was.</p><p>You don&#8217;t have to fix it.</p><p>You don&#8217;t have to solve it.</p><p>But you do need to start.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The LinkedIn Cringe]]></title><description><![CDATA[My LinkedIn feed is full of people linking obscure life events to business learnings. He meant it as a criticism. He was talking about me.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/the-linkedin-cringe</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/the-linkedin-cringe</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:02:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last week I was chatting with a colleague about LinkedIn.</p><p>He said something like: &#8220;My feed is full of people linking obscure life events to business learnings.&#8221;</p><p>It was meant as a criticism.</p><p>I laughed. And said &#8220;Yep! That&#8217;s me!&#8221;</p><p>But here&#8217;s why I love it regardless of who cringes&#8230;</p><ol><li><p>When I share something from my life, anyone who reads it gets to know me a little better. They learn about who I am outside of the numbers. And that matters to me - because I don&#8217;t want to just be &#8220;that lady who talks about finance.&#8221;</p><p>I want to be a person you actually know and trust with your business.</p></li><li><p>Stories are relatable. At least, that&#8217;s my hope.</p><p>When you read one, I want you to see yourself in it.</p><p>I want you to think <em>same.</em></p><p>I want you to feel a little less alone in whatever you&#8217;re navigating - in business, in life, in the bit where the two blur together.</p><p>Because I&#8217;m not special. Sure; I can read a P&amp;L. But I am also a person experiencing the full chaos of life and business, just like you.</p></li><li><p>As a business owner, business <em>is</em> life.</p><p>They&#8217;re not separate. Most things that happen in your world have a direct parallel to how you run your business.</p><p>Because how you do one thing is how you do everything.</p><p>The person who avoids looking at their numbers? Usually also avoiding a conversation they need to have. A decision they keep deferring. A problem they&#8217;re hoping resolves itself.</p><p>The person who has discipline going to the gym everyday will create discipline in their business.</p><p>The person who chooses to show up with a positive attitude and radiating energy will do so at work, at the gym, at home.</p></li></ol><p>So; that&#8217;s why the stories matter to me.</p><p>Not because my weekend is fascinating&#8230;but because you might recognise yourself in it.</p><p>You might use the story as a reason to take that step forward.</p><p>Do the thing you have been putting off.</p><p>Get the courage to try something new.</p><p>Step out of your comfort zone for long enough to achieve an unachievable goal.</p><p>If I can inspire just 1 person to do any of those things - then the cringe is worth it.</p><h2>Mini Challenge</h2><p>Pick the financial task you&#8217;ve been avoiding the longest.</p><p>Open it. Look at it. Don&#8217;t close the tab.</p><p>Take action.</p><h2>Exciting News</h2><p>The next round of Finance Like a Boss kicks off <strong>4 May 2026!</strong></p><p>This round looks a little different. It&#8217;s had a full revamp, and honestly? I think it&#8217;s the best version yet. A cohort model, so everyone starts together, moves through it together, and actually builds something with the other women in the room. No more joining mid-stream and feeling like you missed something.</p><p>I&#8217;m looking for 10 amazing women who are done worrying about ATO bills, done lying awake wondering where the cash is coming from, and ready to actually understand their numbers. If you&#8217;ve been sitting on the fence, if you&#8217;ve been thinking you might need a budget, if there&#8217;s any question mark at all around your finances - this is your invitation to head over to the Finance Like a Boss page and see what&#8217;s waiting for you.</p><p>Check it out here: <a href="https://laurenevans.au/finance-like-a-boss">Finance Like a Boss</a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[It's Never Too Late]]></title><description><![CDATA[She'd had every chance to learn. She always said no. Until this week.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/its-never-too-late</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/its-never-too-late</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My youngest daughter is 9.</p><p>She&#8217;s had every opportunity to learn to ride a bike. We&#8217;ve tried before. She&#8217;s always said no. She watched her sister learn years ago but always refused to join in.</p><p>But; this week, she decided she was ready.</p><p>So, we practiced.</p><p>And practiced.</p><p>And practiced some more.</p><p>She fell; over and over.</p><p>She got frustrated.</p><p>She kept saying &#8220;<em>I can&#8217;t do this; it&#8217;s too hard&#8221;</em></p><p>But&#8217; I have rule in our house&#8230;we do not say &#8220;can&#8217;t&#8221;&#8230;at least not on its own. We say &#8220;can&#8217;t yet&#8221; or &#8220;I&#8217;m learning&#8221;</p><p>So mid meltdown she had to listen to me say - &#8220;YET!&#8221; and &#8220;You are still learning&#8221; and &#8220;it&#8217;s hard because it&#8217;s worth it&#8221;.</p><p>Of course, she rolled her eyes and gave me a death stare.</p><p>But she didn&#8217;t give up.</p><p>She kept going.</p><p>And a few days later I can&#8217;t get her off it.</p><p>Here&#8217;s the thing about hard things.</p><p>We don&#8217;t avoid them because we&#8217;re incapable.</p><p>We avoid them because we have a voice inside our heads saying, &#8220;it&#8217;s too hard&#8221; and &#8220;I can&#8217;t do this&#8221;</p><p>I see this every single week with business owners and their finances.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not a numbers person.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s why I have an accountant.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I just leave all of that to them.&#8221;</p><p>And I get it. Finances <em>feel</em> hard. The reports look foreign. The jargon is real. The avoidance is easier.</p><p>But here&#8217;s what that avoidance actually costs you.</p><p>When you hand everything to your bookkeeper or accountant and walk away - you&#8217;re not just delegating a task. You&#8217;re giving away your agency. You&#8217;re outsourcing the understanding of your own business.</p><p>Your accountant can tell you what happened.</p><p>They cannot tell you what decision to make next.</p><p>That part is yours. And you can&#8217;t make it well if you don&#8217;t understand the numbers behind it.</p><p>You don&#8217;t need to become a finance expert. You don&#8217;t need to love spreadsheets.</p><p>You just need to stop saying can&#8217;t - and start saying <em>can&#8217;t yet</em>.</p><p>Because it&#8217;s never too late to understand your own business.</p><p>My daughter didn&#8217;t need to learn to ride a bike at 5 like everyone else.</p><p>She learned when <em>she</em> was ready.</p><p>Your finances work the same way.</p><p>The moment you decide you want to understand them; I&#8217;ll be here waiting for you.</p><p><strong>Small Habit, Big Impact</strong></p><p>This week: open your P&amp;L (profit and loss). Don&#8217;t analyse it. Don&#8217;t fix anything. Just look at it for two minutes.</p><p>Name three numbers you can see. That&#8217;s it.</p><p>You&#8217;re not behind. You&#8217;re just getting started.</p><p>Lauren x</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Date Night]]></title><description><![CDATA[It's easy to build a business and forget to build a life.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/date-night</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/date-night</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:19:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last Saturday night I got to enjoy a rare date night.</p><p>With school-aged kids and no family nearby, it&#8217;s very easy for us to slip into divide-and-conquer mode. One of us with the kids while the other heads out. But this weekend, a milestone birthday meant we actually got organised.</p><p>And it reminded me how easy it is to live in the daily grind.</p><p>School drop-off, work, gym, dinner, cleaning, washing&#8230; repeat.</p><p>No time for connection. You just keep things moving.</p><p>But stepping out of that for a few hours? It hits you.</p><p>This is the point.</p><p>Not the to-do list.</p><p>Not the next target.</p><p>Not just keeping everything running.</p><p>The connections.</p><p>The people.</p><p>Life.</p><p></p><p>I see the same pattern in business (and I do the same!)</p><p>Head down.</p><p>Doing the work.</p><p>Chasing growth.</p><p>Telling yourself the good stuff comes later&#8230;</p><p>when things are more sorted,</p><p>when there&#8217;s more money,</p><p>when things calm down.</p><p>They don&#8217;t.</p><p>Not without intention.</p><p>You can be making good money and still not living the life you actually want.</p><p>Not because you can&#8217;t afford to.</p><p>Because you&#8217;ve never defined what enough looks like &#8212; and your finances aren&#8217;t built to support it.</p><p>So growth just becomes&#8230; more.</p><p>More revenue. More pressure. Same life.</p><p>The goal was never just a bigger number. It was the dinner out. The trip you keep pushing back. The version of your week that doesn&#8217;t feel like survival mode.</p><p>Most business owners I work with aren&#8217;t far off. They just haven&#8217;t built the plan that connects the two.</p><p>That&#8217;s the bit that changes everything.</p><p></p><h2>Mini Challenge This Week</h2><p>Decide one thing you want more of outside the business this year.</p><p>Not vaguely. Specifically.</p><p>A monthly date night. A week away. School pick-ups twice a week. A proper break without your laptop.</p><p>Now put a number next to it.</p><p>What does that actually cost?</p><p>Then ask:</p><p>Is my business currently set up to fund this &#8212; consistently, not occasionally?</p><p>If you don&#8217;t know the answer, that&#8217;s not a money problem. That&#8217;s a planning problem.</p><p></p><h2>Small Habit, Big Impact</h2><p>Open your calendar and lock one of those things in.</p><p>Not &#8220;when things calm down.&#8221;</p><p>Pick a date. Book it. Commit to it.</p><p>Then build your numbers around protecting it.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[When ordinary becomes extraordinary]]></title><description><![CDATA[He asked why his old accountant never showed him this.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/when-ordinary-becomes-extraordinary</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/when-ordinary-becomes-extraordinary</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:01:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I work with numbers every day. Cash flow, profit, KPIs.</p><p>At some point it stopped feeling like work and started feeling like another language I realised I can speak.</p><p>It&#8217;s like watching NCIS and knowing who the killer is within the first five minutes. You can&#8217;t always explain it. You just know.</p><p>Sometimes I forget not everyone experiences it that way.</p><p>Last week I had a new client in the office. Before the meeting, I&#8217;d sent him a simple worksheet - twelve months of actuals, with one task: <em>think about each line and tell me what you expect for the next twelve months.</em></p><p>He walked in and the first thing he said was:</p><p><em>&#8220;That worksheet you sent me - I just wish someone had given me that years ago.&#8221;</em></p><p>As we worked through the plan together, it kept coming.</p><p><em>&#8220;Why didn&#8217;t my old accountant ever explain any of this to me?&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;If I&#8217;d known this earlier, we wouldn&#8217;t be in the situation we&#8217;re now having to fix.&#8221;</em></p><p>Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve realised: most business owners are brilliant at what they do. Genuinely exceptional. And they delegate everything else - including their finances - to people they trust to just&#8230;handle it.</p><p>The problem isn&#8217;t the delegation. It&#8217;s putting your head in the sand. When you stop asking questions, stop seeking to understand, and just trust that someone else has it covered - you hand over the steering wheel of your own business. Every decision you make is informed by your financial position, whether you realise it or not. If you don&#8217;t understand it, you&#8217;re not making fully informed decisions. You just don&#8217;t know it.</p><p>When you can&#8217;t read the manual, you&#8217;re guessing. And the scary part? You don&#8217;t even know you&#8217;re guessing.</p><p>That&#8217;s what made this moment so powerful - not because I showed him something complicated, but because for the first time, someone handed him the manual and asked him to read it with them.</p><p>Once you understand your numbers&#8230;something changes.</p><p>The stress doesn&#8217;t come from knowing. It comes from <em>not</em> knowing.</p><h2>Mini Challenge</h2><p>Pick one number in your business you&#8217;ve been leaving to someone else - and ask them to explain it to you. Not just the figure. What drives it. What it means. What you should do about it.</p><p>If the answer doesn&#8217;t make sense, ask again. You&#8217;re not supposed to just trust it - you&#8217;re supposed to <strong>own it.</strong></p><h2>Upcoming Event</h2><p>If you&#8217;re trying to make decisions about the next stage of your business, but aren&#8217;t sure what the numbers are telling you&#8230;</p><p>Bring your question to Ask a CFO.</p><p>It&#8217;s a live session where you can ask anything about cash flow, hiring, growth, or financial strategy - and get a straight answer.</p><p>Join us live this Thursday!</p><p><a href="https://email.mg.financelikeaboss.com.au/c/eJx8kk2TojgYxz8N3MaCgAYOOWg76Nq6A762XqiQPEIGkmAScHc-_Zbdc5zaa-pf-b88P1YKTvLTOeSFkHg87NfHjyYN9qnPyRQBTrjPtaRCEVlP7kJRxaATLdBKWzthWk7o8FtR6qcCYxvRl-7fHkinGXVCf71zH0iIcRwFOEHYB0lFV0qwltbwipBegrrYX7eSbT62t80qTdfjb9XnZ9o1YHxQozBaSVCO9Ebzgb0M_IbgKE6nLMUVIEB3HESQoCjiKKwCFIdx5QuCAjQLIhShKMQBnlAepinlGCUU8ek09uLgfxp2pHGut14091DmoayjgwEFI1V2QgcPZdS2lN2137HyK7VQDoyiHTmhzPLVuf0IPbRQv7CHFk7JJLqFEpKf9sHl5mF3h6KWi3ohszm2f_H7bq9_XXV69lD292b3z8v14OZdFbHA9tnuAWjjoaxW1SqHLj4fj-a2Wl7XY-z6xTpgFsTj0rzTmYrnNw9lP9LoGcu6lcfmAO-ny_4pxaxrYRts8ff7-yJ_olxG65oV89WrzBTLwEML076N9xkT6dAmfRtHw_cMB1a3Lh9oMs_DZ4F7LcV28yh-7IoT3RRsvcxpZ5p9dbmumBct_U5_IqaL61vfZ9lq1r4t1-k27-9nX4JrNCe0F35v9Cg4GNIB5UwrBcxp4xvyc1C0go5KwcGLg_o17usqvtWDYUA-1_4m7PjtqU0LxneEaVn-EWlHwJVfJLkXnuUfU40E_RcAAP__sR8K0w">Sign up here</a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Round Peg. Square Hole.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why the system might not be the problem - you might just be using the wrong one.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/round-peg-square-hole</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/round-peg-square-hole</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 23:29:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the past four weeks, I&#8217;ve been avoiding something in my business.</p><p>Not ignoring it. <em>Avoiding</em> it.</p><p>I&#8217;d open my laptop, think about it, find something more urgent to do, and close the laptop again.</p><p>I tried last Friday.</p><p>I tried again yesterday.</p><p>Both times I got halfway through and stopped.</p><p>Not because I didn&#8217;t know what to do.</p><p>Because every time I tried, it felt completely wrong.</p><p>Like I was performing - creating a version of myself I don&#8217;t recognise.</p><p>Like I was following a script someone else wrote for a person I&#8217;m not.</p><p>So I made a decision&#8230;I scrapped it.</p><p>The thing that I&#8217;d been taught to do - the thing that I&#8217;d been taught would help grow my business.</p><p>But I decided that I need to stop pushing a round peg into a square hole and I built something simpler.</p><p>Something that actually fits me and aligns with the way I work and show up.</p><p>And within an hour, the thing I&#8217;d been avoiding for four weeks was done.</p><p>Here&#8217;s what that taught me&#8230;</p><p></p><p>Somewhere along the way, most business owners collect a list of things they&#8217;re <em>supposed</em> to do.</p><p>You hear it from a podcast. A course. A consultant. A peer who swears by it.</p><p>And it makes sense on paper - you want the results they had.</p><p>So, you add it to the list.</p><p>But then it sits there. Every week you look at it. Every week you find a reason not to do it. You assume the problem is your discipline. Your consistency. Your mindset.</p><p>Avoidance is feedback.</p><p>When something sits on your to-do list for weeks, one of three things is happening:</p><ol><li><p>It&#8217;s unnecessary</p></li><li><p>It&#8217;s overcomplicated</p></li><li><p>It belongs to someone else</p></li></ol><p></p><p>I see this constantly with finances.</p><p>Someone tells a founder they need a dashboard. They build the dashboard. They look at it twice and never open it again.</p><p>Someone sets up a monthly reporting process. It runs for 2 weeks. Then quietly disappears.</p><p>Someone builds a cash flow forecast for the bank and files it away the moment the loan is approved.</p><p>The tools aren&#8217;t wrong. The <em>fit</em> is wrong. The <em>alignment</em> is wrong.</p><p>A financial system that doesn&#8217;t match how you think, how your business moves, or what decisions you actually need to make won&#8217;t be used. And a system that doesn&#8217;t get used doesn&#8217;t protect you from anything.</p><p>The question worth asking isn&#8217;t &#8220;am I doing this right?&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s &#8220;does this actually work for me?&#8221;</p><p>Because if you&#8217;re pushing something uphill every single week, the problem is rarely your discipline.</p><p>It&#8217;s that you&#8217;re running someone else&#8217;s system inside your business.</p><p>The right financial structure isn&#8217;t the one a template says you need. It&#8217;s the one you&#8217;ll actually use - built around your decisions, your complexity, and how your business actually runs.</p><p>That&#8217;s the version that sticks.</p><p></p><p><strong>Small Habit, Big Impact</strong></p><p>Open your to-do list and find the one thing that&#8217;s been sitting there the longest.</p><p>Ask yourself: is it unnecessary, overcomplicated, or does it belong to someone else?</p><p>Then do something about it today - scrap it, simplify it, or move it on.</p><p></p><h2>Upcoming Event</h2><p>If you&#8217;re trying to make decisions about the next stage of your business, but aren&#8217;t sure what the numbers are telling you&#8230;</p><p>Bring your question to Ask a CFO.</p><p>It&#8217;s a live session where you can ask anything about cash flow, hiring, growth, or financial strategy - and get a straight answer.</p><p>Register here:</p><p><a href="https://email.mg.financelikeaboss.com.au/c/eJx8kk2TojwUhX8N7MYK4dNFFrZKt-23o7zaGyokQYIkYZIAjr_-Le1ZTs321ql7zj33ITmnaHfKPLrnIu5_Hj6O52oMDmOXohCyOKEuVQJzicR1VHKJJWENvzFcKGNGRIkR7v4ocjVIpk3F29z-bhlqFMGWq-85dRny4tiPAQxi4DKBeZMLZgy-sleERV-Drbpsj7flbNcLsdH6j-q1TNmKaZfJnmslBZMWtVrRjjwN3ApB6JdlFBOviDGjwRgH0GdeREBSRFEBgMsRBDACvhdBH8QhGCVhEoOwSApGo6QoqROAf1zYoMra1jj-xIGpA9MGd5pJ1mNpRrhzYIrNDZNSuQ3Jv1NzaZmWuEEnmBr6nt3OXtLvDpfz-hAU1bT-kHDutb9uOhPZTzNzYLq5L6LLLH07OvANjwOghuX099sOL-TeO6e9_5lla-JLB6ZCFGV1bZL4F53Mk7Jng9b1vIewjla18CqZ4jZuvX7tcbm1X2YeFdUnmK5ksFgm9dTvwvdItaf752ayvzswnUS6vQ-q87fhXgyzeTRwE7B6sfzPM9WCkuXjvl7htnJgGj5KnpnNAzw-VWS_xlQN0rObScjGhn-RbHc67pebvePP3Ea94FL7y7Rt0_Q9uk1nH-PVri0zVzBbKYpwy91Wq55TplHDMCVKSkas0q5GdSdxwRosOGVOAK7PWp__cI3qNGHo1fMPbvofg9I3pl37RC7_q59FRIn8r5xbxGz-jVeP4P8BAAD__zDBC3k">Ask a CFO &#8211; Live Q&amp;A</a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[What’s the point?]]></title><description><![CDATA[My 9-year-old asked a question every founder should answer.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/whats-the-point</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/whats-the-point</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 23:43:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the point of life&#8230; if we&#8217;re all going to die?&#8221;</p><p>The question my 9-year-old daughter asked me this week.</p><p>Ok. Thanks, mini philosopher. Straight in with the big questions.</p><p>Not exactly light dinner conversation.</p><p>But I did think&#8230; she&#8217;s not wrong. It&#8217;s logical. Direct.</p><p>A question I probably would have asked as a kid too.</p><p>Then I remembered something she had said earlier that day.</p><p>She told me she&#8217;d had the best day ever.</p><p>We had celebrated her birthday with two close friends and our family.</p><p>So I said to her:</p><p><em>&#8220;Maybe that&#8217;s the point.&#8221;</em></p><p>Having great days.</p><p>Spending time with people you love.</p><p>Enjoying every day.</p><p></p><p><strong>How This Relates to Business</strong></p><p>Most founders are very clear about the next milestone.</p><p>More revenue.</p><p>More clients.</p><p>More growth.</p><p>But very few stop and ask the bigger question:</p><p><strong>What&#8217;s the point of your business?</strong></p><p>Not just for this year.</p><p>But the long-term.</p><p>Because businesses move through different goals at different stages.</p><p>Early on it might be:</p><ul><li><p>Replace your salary</p></li><li><p>Prove the business works</p></li><li><p>Stabilise cash flow</p></li></ul><p>Later it might become:</p><ul><li><p>Hiring a team</p></li><li><p>Scaling revenue</p></li><li><p>Expanding into new markets</p></li></ul><p>And further down the track:</p><ul><li><p>Sell the business</p></li><li><p>Pass it on to your kids</p></li><li><p>Build a company that runs without you</p></li><li><p>Create an asset that generates long-term wealth</p></li><li><p>Earn enough to live the life you want; with flexible hours around your family</p></li></ul><p>None of these are more &#8220;correct&#8221; than the others.</p><p>You can have multiple goals at once - one for now that feeds into one later.</p><p>And the goal doesn&#8217;t have to stay the same forever.</p><p>Your life changes.</p><p>Your priorities change.</p><p>Your business changes.</p><p>What matters is knowing what you&#8217;re building towards right now.</p><p>And occasionally asking:</p><p><em>&#8220;Does the way I&#8217;m running the business today actually support where I want it to go next?&#8221;</em></p><p>Because the decisions you make today quietly shape your future options.</p><p>A business built entirely around the founder is very hard to sell. A business with messy financials struggles to attract investors. A business that never generates consistent profit can&#8217;t buy you freedom.</p><p>This is why financial leadership matters.</p><p>Not just to track what&#8217;s happened - but to make sure your numbers are working toward the outcome you actually want.</p><p>A financial plan isn&#8217;t a tax tool or a bank requirement.</p><p>It&#8217;s the answer to: <em>What am I actually building toward - and can the business I have today get me there?</em></p><p></p><h2>This Week&#8217;s Mini Challenge</h2><p>Take <strong>10 minutes this week</strong> and write down two things:</p><p><strong>1. Your current goal for the business (next 12&#8211;24 months).</strong></p><p>Examples might be:</p><ul><li><p>Replace your salary</p></li><li><p>Stabilise cash flow</p></li><li><p>Hire your first team member</p></li><li><p>Reach $1M revenue</p></li></ul><p><strong>2. One possible long-term outcome.</strong></p><p>For example:</p><ul><li><p>Sell the business</p></li><li><p>Build something that runs without you</p></li><li><p>Create long-term wealth</p></li><li><p>Fund the life you want with flexible hours</p></li></ul><p>Then ask yourself one question:</p><p><strong>Do the decisions I&#8217;m making today actually support that direction?</strong></p><p>Because once you&#8217;re clear on what you&#8217;re building toward, the financial decisions become much easier.</p><p></p><h2>Upcoming Events</h2><p>If you&#8217;re trying to make decisions about the next stage of your business, but aren&#8217;t sure what the numbers are telling you&#8230;</p><p>Bring your question to Ask a CFO.</p><p>It&#8217;s a live session where you can ask anything about cash flow, hiring, growth, or financial strategy &#8212; and get a straight answer.</p><p>Register here:</p><p><a href="https://laurenevans.au/askacfo">Ask a CFO &#8211; Live Q&amp;A</a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Broke the Rule]]></title><description><![CDATA[It is not about doing whatever you want. It&#8217;s about choice.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-broke-the-rule</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-broke-the-rule</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:01:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This week was my daughter&#8217;s birthday.</p><p>We had ice cream cake for breakfast.</p><p>I grew up in a house where that would have been illegal.</p><p>Ice cream or cake was not breakfast. Ever.</p><p>So why did I do it?</p><p>Because I could.</p><p>I read something recently that stuck with me:</p><blockquote><p>Every day holds lessons and gifts.</p><p>Lessons are what we learn from.</p><p>Gifts are what we choose to enjoy.</p></blockquote><p>Ice c&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/i-broke-the-rule">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Weekend project nobody asked for]]></title><description><![CDATA[Turns out I needed it and I fking love it]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/weekend-project-nobody-asked-for</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/weekend-project-nobody-asked-for</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 01:15:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last Weekend I built myself a new website</p><p>I didn&#8217;t plan to.</p><p>It just kind of happened.</p><p>Sunday morning. Coffee in hand.</p><p>By Sunday night&#8230;new website.</p><p>When I told hubby what I&#8217;d been doing all day, his response was:</p><p>&#8220;Why do you need another one?&#8221;</p><p>Fair question.</p><p>But technically, I did not have a website. Not a real one.</p><p>What I had was a collection of landing pages.</p><p>Di&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/weekend-project-nobody-asked-for">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[T-Shirt CEO]]></title><description><![CDATA[The difference between looking confident and actually being in control.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/t-shirt-ceo</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/t-shirt-ceo</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 23:00:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve always loved casual Friday.</p><p>A reminder that tomorrow is the weekend.</p><p>Maybe it&#8217;s a throwback to earlier in my career when I&#8217;d work ridiculous hours all week but rarely on weekends - so Friday was the start of a break (and Friday night drinks!).</p><p>It&#8217;s funny because one of the things I loved about choosing to study accounting was the thought of wearing po&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/t-shirt-ceo">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Replace the Cactus]]></title><description><![CDATA[Swap desk clutter for proof you actually finished something.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/replace-the-cactus</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/replace-the-cactus</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 23:10:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Look at your desk for a second.</p><p>The plant.</p><p>The notebook.</p><p>The mug you don&#8217;t even like that much.</p><p>Now ask yourself - which of those earned its place?</p><p>Most of what ends up on our desks looks nice&#8230;</p><p>But what is it actually telling you?</p><p><strong>Ever heard of a Deal Toy (or Deal Trophy)?</strong></p><p>The concept originated in the late 1970s / early 1980s along with the rise of large M&amp;A t&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/replace-the-cactus">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Pretty Strong]]></title><description><![CDATA[Just do the reps.]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/pretty-strong</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/pretty-strong</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:11:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D3dc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbccba4fd-25a8-41fe-bc4a-0e51b8b8bd20_3239x4857.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You may have seen me post about lifting weights.</p><p>A few people mentioned it this week: &#8220;Oh, I saw that post&#8230; looks like you&#8217;re smashing it.&#8221;</p><p>But, here&#8217;s the thing&#8230;</p><p>I&#8217;m not the strongest.</p><p>And I&#8217;m definitely not the fittest (cardio = &#129326;)</p><p>But that&#8217;s also not why I&#8217;m there.</p><p>At least once a week, mid-workout, a voice says:</p><p><em>I&#8217;m not going to be able to finish this. I &#8230;</em></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/pretty-strong">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Always Empty]]></title><description><![CDATA[Speed Today? Future You is paying for it later...]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/always-empty</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/always-empty</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 27 Jan 2026 05:03:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D3dc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbccba4fd-25a8-41fe-bc4a-0e51b8b8bd20_3239x4857.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In the partner department I can&#8217;t really complain&#8230;he&#8217;s supportive. He picks the kids up every afternoon so I can work late and go to the gym. He doesn&#8217;t complain about <em>much</em>. Sure, he could do some more housework and cooking&#8230;so could we all.</p><p>BUT; seriously&#8230;</p><p>Fill. Up. The. F. Ice. Trays.</p><p>I open the freezer. I&#8217;m looking forward to an ice-cold drink. I pull ou&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/always-empty">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I'm Back]]></title><description><![CDATA[And Apparently, I Can't Turn My Brain Off]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/im-back</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/im-back</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:45:27 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D3dc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbccba4fd-25a8-41fe-bc4a-0e51b8b8bd20_3239x4857.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s been a while since my last newsletter.</p><p>The longest break in 12 months.</p><p>The break wasn&#8217;t planned. I just got swept away in the simplicity of the holiday period, then put my head up and realised it&#8217;s already halfway through January. &#128561;</p><p>Upon my return, I was chatting with a good friend and her words were: &#8220;Sometimes the universe just knows what we need.&#8221;</p><p>&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/im-back">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Control]]></title><description><![CDATA[Small, controllable actions that keep me steady]]></description><link>https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/control</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/control</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lauren Evans]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:58:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m-pr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9489170-d618-48ab-8bfe-2bc00bedf19c_1280x1280.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The heaviness in the air this week is thick.</p><p></p><p>Much thicker than it should be.</p><p></p><p>The world feels loud, chaotic and out of control.</p><p></p><p>So, I ask myself&#8230;what <em>CAN I </em>control.</p><p>I can control how I show up in the world</p><p>I can control how I start my day.</p><p>I can control the small things I pay attention to.</p><p></p><p>I am kind.</p><p>I teach my kids to be kind.</p><p>I wake up and make my bed.</p><p>I hug my &#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://laurenfinancementor.substack.com/p/control">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>