Luisa Built People First Finance to Help Service-Based Entrepreneurs Thrive With Clarity and Confidence

Please share a brief introduction and your business

I'm Luisa, Founder and CEO of People First Finance. We are a women-led team of finance experts providing bookkeeping and tax services for service business owners. I'm Bay Area based, and also run a local membership community of entrepreneurs called Kindredly (http://thekindredly.com/).

 I started my financial services agency in 2021 to make the financial side of business less burdensome for small business owners. While I don't have a traditional accounting background, I leverage experience and insights from operating multiple service businesses over the past 2 decades to help my clients stay informed and avoid costly mistakes.

 My mission is to help hundreds of self employed experts thrive by providing the clarity they need to key strategic decisions that lead to long term financial stability.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I realized that I wanted to be an entrepreneur in my first business class almost 20 years ago, when the instructor defined what an entrepreneur is. So many things about my life immediately made more sense.

Take us back to when you launched? What was your marketing strategy?

I emailed everyone I knew and asked for trades. I also started with a small, introductory coaching offer. I got a fair amount of leads in the beginning because I was connecting with people who already knew, liked or trusted me.

‍What accomplishments are you the most proud of to date in your business?

The team that I've built. I am out of client delivery and have learned how to effectively delegate the doing to experts who are more qualified than I am in very specific areas of my business. My team has enabled me to scale with ease, take time off and protect my peace while serving our clients well.

What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your Entreprenista journey?

I wish I had known that so much of business is mindset

When hiring, what is your go-to interview question?

Are you clear on what success looks like in this role? We have a 2 week hiring system that includes a test project. I highly recommend doing a test project for your top 2 candidates!

What did you go before starting your own business?

I have been a business finance coach and consultant for over a decade, and operated my own brick and mortar juice shop for 6 years prior to that. I also worked with values-driven start ups like Blue Bottle Coffee and Good Eggs in the very early days.

What made you take the leap to start your own business?

I wanted to make money on my own terms, working from home.

Do you have any recent wins?

I adjusted my services to scale, meaning we have repeatable systems that deliver consistent results and enable us to serve more clients with less effort. This means we can focus on providing even more value, and serving even more business owners, because our infrastructure is solid.

What's one app on your phone that you cannot live without?

WhatsApp because my closest friends live all around the world and voice notes keep us tight

Who are your customers?

Service-based business owners, service professionals and small agencies

What's your top productivity tip?

Give yourself the hard rule of achieving ONE specific goal at a time for your business

What's your favorite business tool?

Slack! I love that you can set up Zaps to channels that track things like tasks completed, new client applications, contracts signed, etc.

What's your approach to work-life balance?

At my agency, we don't work on Fridays. I also set Mondays and Wednesdays as "no call days". I have to prioritize my physical well being and work on my business first. Everything else has to fill in around those priorities.

How do you avoid burn-out?

I set aside 1-3 weeks completely offline every quarter and only spend my time on the most needle moving tasks‍

What advice do you have for aspiring Entreprenistas?

Don't overcomplicate things. If you want more clients, send emails telling people what you're selling instead of debating whether you should post on Instagram or Tik Tok.

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