Ask Christina First

In this episode of Ask Christina 1st, we get into the discussion of all things relating to your budget. It would be safe to say that not many entrepreneurs are savvy with numbers and accounting, which can indeed affect how you manage your budget. The first step in breaking down your budget is a list. Create an itemized list of your fixed and variable expenses and put them into the categories of either personal or business. Be sure to clarify which expenses go into what category. For example your car, home and gas can be both depending on what you use these things for. Your personal budget will include groceries, self care products, outings, fast food, child care, etc… Your business budget will include equipment, storage pertaining to your business, employee pay, supplies, advertising/marketing, legal fees, accounting fees, etc…. Getting serious about where your money is going is the first step into creating a budget that is for you and your lifestyle. Furthermore, something to pay attention to is your anxieties attached to money and how they affect your spending habits.


In this episode you will learn:

1. How to categorize your fixed and variable expenses and determine which go in what category, personal or business.

2. How to recognize when your spending habits are attached to your anxieties.

Another great tip is to maintain your budget weekly if you can. Being able to log your weekly spending gives you a solid expense sheet at the end of the month.

In part two of Working Capital and Your Business, Christina dives right into what you need to do in order to reserve at least two weeks of working capital in an account. What can sometimes feel like your business is drowning, is actually just you not having a working capital cushion set aside. The negative emotions that come from poor cash control, a lot of the time, makes business owners feel like their entire business is going down the drain. That is not true. Attaching your emotions to the financial fluctuations is not a good idea. All business no matter how big or small, deal with inconsistency in income. That does not mean that your business is actually failing. If you can maintain a working capital cushion, that will help alleviate the tension and uncertainty you feel about whether your business is going under.

In this episode you will learn:

1. What is a working capital cushion and how to create one?

2. Why it’s not a good idea to attach your emotions to the fluctuations of your income.

In this episode of Ask Christina 1st, Chrisinta focuses on the importance of your Bottom line and working capital. Statistics show that a small business will close its doors just after 3 years because of a main culprit, negative cash flow. Negative cash flow should be the bottom line of any business as it will be the reason your doors remain open. Poor cash management and negative cash flow go hand in hand to a high degree. This could be not charging your clients enough, spending more than what comes in, not keeping track of your expenses and inquiring more debt amongst others. You can calculate if you are in the negative or positive, by adding all of your income and expenses for the year. Being in the negative or positive doesn't just mean the amount of money you have in your account. It can be determining if you made more this year than last year, if you paid off more debt or acquired more, if you have at least a month of income saved or not. A great assignment would be to do this exercise in fining if you are in the negative or positive. You can be in business or years and be in the negative as being negative doesn't always cause you to close your doors, however being in the positive and growing is always the bottom line for a business no matter the size.

In this episode you will learn:

1. If you are in the negative or positive.

2.An exercise to determine where you stand with the capital in your business.

3. How to create habits around your working capital that help.

In Becoming an Expert in Your Field and Stop Hiding, Chrisitna talks about the importance of you understanding how important it is to recognize that you are an expert and leader in your field. Conscious minded business owners relish in the stigma that sales is wrong or unnatural. Chrisinna talks about an approach called natural enrollment where you engage with people based on what you're passionate about. This doesn't require the uncomfortability that arises when you are forcing someone to buy into what you are selling or the service you are providing. Recognizing that you have something to say will help you go towards the things that feel natural and a part of your purpose. If sales isn’t your thing, try approaching people in a different way. Another big part of this is to stop hiding and be seen. Being seen allows you to get out what your passionate about, what your working towards and the things you are accomplishing to make this world a better place even if it’s within a ten mile radius of where you live. All of it matters. A way that you can work on being seen is engangin in social media like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Having a solid website is a must as well as joining podcasts, webinars and forums. All of these platforms will provide you with a space to talk about what you are an expert in.

In this episode you will learn:

1. Ways to stop hiding your expertise.

2. How to understand if you are afraid of sales or not and ways to turn that around.

3.What makes you an expert in your field and why it matters?

Once you overcome the fear that explaining yourself to people is salesly, you’ll begin to realize that what you have to share and offer is a passion that you know is making a difference. Try to approach each new conversation this way and allow others to feel why what you do makes a difference.

How do you convert people to paid? In this episode of Ask Christina 1st, we go through 7 steps that will help you convert people from free to paid. Digging up an article written by Bri Williams, Christina shares both her ideas and Bri’s ideas. One of the first steps is to offer people a free service that they will eventually have to pay for. 3 months is the perfect time frame as it will give you and your clients time to prepare for a service and or product that people are now paying for. Embed a reward system that your future clients can appreciate that will allow them to still feel like your service or products are worth both their time and more importantly their money. Rewarding people for their loyalty gives them the opportunity to see how much you are also invested in them and what they bring you and your business. Exclusivity also holds value however, that should not be the focus or your bottom line unless you are a luxury product. Offer your clients products and services that are different from what you offered them before. Going from free to paid requires an upgrade in services offered. The key to this is differentiating your products so that your clients feel as though their now paid products or services hold more value than what they were receiving for free.

In this episode you will learn:

1. How to convert people from free to paid.

2. Why differentiating your products is a great way to uphold their new investment.

3. How to reward your clients for their loyalty.

Tracking your networking and social media is a great way to form consistency within your business as well as to learn if your methods are working. Attending meetings is the glue in grassroots marketing. Meeting like minded people and professionals in your field will help you poise you as an expert in your field. Attending meetings also adds to your network of people that may also be future clients. The biggest take away from tracking is feedback. Tracking your social media engagement will give you important information that can determine where you are with your marketing and what are some things that need to be changed. It all comes back to review and feedback. If you cant see where you’ve gone how will you see what’s to come? Your homework is to create an actual schedule for yourself including social media and networking. You should be attending at least one meeting a week, including one new meeting a month. Tracking also helps you determine how well your audience is engaging with your assets and post. One strategy could be at the beginning of the month create an asset that can be used by the end of the month. It could be a blog post, podcast, video, article, etc… Keep this pattern consistent for 6-months to a year and review at the end what were some of the things you noticed. Tracking also encourages discipline and accountability, which isn't always easy for an entrepreneur.

In this episode you will learn:

1. Why tracking is so important and how it benefits your business and brand.

2. How to create a social media and networking meeting schedule and how to follow up with potential clients from both.

3. How to organize your new network by tiers and why tiers lead to conversion. c

In this episode of Ask Christina first, we dive into why it’s important to add interviews to your platforms as a way of solidifying your expertise in your field. Interviewing people can help generate an audience you didn’t have previously by simply sharing the thoughts, concepts and feelings of someone who you trust as an expert in their field. You can interview people on various platforms like Go To Meeting, Zoom and more. Capturing audio and visuals are a great way to produce and manage meaningful content. You can use your already existing platforms like your blog, Facebook page, IG TV, Youtube, etc… All of these platforms will give you access to releasing your interviews in which the interviewee will also share allowing their network to also become a part of yours. A great way to become an interviewee is to find blogs, forums, events, meetings, magazines and webinars that are potentially looking for guest speakers. This is a great way to not only introduce yourself to someone new and create a new contact, but it also helps you expand your knowledge on what is out there that you can be a part of.

In this episode you will learn:

1. Why interviewing people is a great way to build your expertise in your desired field.

2. Why being interviewed is another way to create a new network and expand your knowledge in your field.

3. Learning new ways to interview people and how to get it out there into the world.

Creating content with other people is fundamental in expanding both your network and your expertise. Find the people you respect and would like to have a conversation with. Make sure you approach people with a plan and professionalism. Interviews will help you combine your network with theirs, but more importantly it will allow people to view you as an expert in whom they can trust and most importantly hire in the future.

In this episode of Ask Christina 1st, she interviews Aaron Norris who is the Vice President of The Norris Group. He will be presenting at FIBI Pasadena in November on the topic marketing trends and strategies for real estate pros. Chrisitna interviewed Aaron back in 2016. As a real estate pro, do you change with the times or stick to what you know works. With technology progressing almost every facade of business, real estate is no exception to the ever changing way in which people find you and found out who you are. Branding, above all, deserves a lot of your attention as it is the foundation for how your marketing and strategies move you and your company forward. Creating a foundation that you are proud of will give you so much more leverage in allowing people to see and understand the real you. Following current trends, while also engaging in authentic communication is key. Marketing trends and strategies will be different for each person. This signifies the importance of authenticity and already establishing a brand people can trust.

Aaron will be presenting this presentation at FIBI Pasadena Thursday November 21, 2019.

In this episode of Ask Christina 1st, we dig down into the indicators necessary to determine if your product/service is top end or everyday. The biggest factors in determining this is the level of service you deliver and your price point. How much time you spend on each client and what that entails will help you figure this out. Usually a top end product requires more attention to detail, longer hours and additional services, maybe even outsourced services you cannot provide directly. How you interact with your clients on a daily basis is also a good indicator as as we all know, time equals money. If your product is service based, make sure you include your direct hours and your soft hours in your price point. Developing your business into a top end product will require an emphasis on branding and marketing. How the outside world views your product/service will be based on how you market your services, the types of clients you get and your price point.

In this episode you will learn:

1. How to determine whether you are a top end or everyday product?

2. Ways to bring your product or service to a higher level to attract higher paying customers.

3. Why branding and marketing go hand in hand with where your business is.

In this episode of Ask Christina 1st we get into the topic of branding. In reality branding is the totality of who you are. How you handle each element of business is an overall result of you, which is your brand. In the elements of business, each aspect is a vital source for the functionality of your company. How do you treat your customers? How much time and attention do you give into marketing, networking and advertising? All of it boils down to who you are as a person and how much energy you put into each thing. From there you can decide if you are a luxury, high end or low end brand? For homework, write down next to each element of business, how you operate in this field. If your a high end business, you should include things that help explain why this is so. If you are low end, luxury, etc… do the same. Everything that creates your company is your brand, from color to customer service to how you dress. All of these elements create the overall look and feel of your brand. So, what do you do that creates your brand? Is this what you want your brand to be and what are ways you can improve?

In this episode you will learn:

1. The elements of business and how the effect your brand.

2. How to understand the tone and overall feel of your company

3. Ways to help you improve your brands impact.

Again, branding is the totality of who you are and the energy you put into it. The way in which people find you, meet and are introduced to you, sets the tone for how they will react to your brand and business. The first steps into improving your brand, is to identify where you are now and where you want to go.