#awinewith Amanda Thompson
MEET Amanda, founder of Endurance Financial.
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Amanda, welcome to Spark tv.
Amanda Thompson (00:10):
Thank you for having me. I'm a little bit excited by this podcast and TV show.
Danielle Lewis (00:15):
I know, me too. It's for all I did was talk to amazing women in business like you as a job. I would be so happy.
Amanda Thompson (00:25):
Yeah, you'd be pretty boring of me though, so let's see how we do.
Danielle Lewis (00:30):
Well, let's kick off there. Let's tell everyone who you are and what you do.
Amanda Thompson (00:35):
So my name is Amanda Thompson and I'm the founder of Endurance Financial, which is a financial planning and financial mentoring service that is really designed to make financial advice both accessible and affordable in particular to women to try and bridge the gaps that we all know exists or exists. And I do that by leading by example. I'm a single mom of two girls and run my own business. So I try to share and be as transparent as I can in everyone else's journey as well. I
Danielle Lewis (01:13):
Love it so much because I don't think I was really aware about money things until I started a business and it was just a rude shock. It's really interesting. And now I kind of reflect looking back and I think about my mom, who I am sure has no idea about the finances. Every time she says something it's like, oh, dad looks after all of that. And then it's been, as I said, rude shock, going through business, having to learn. I did accounting in high school and I still was like, I have no idea what I'm even looking at here. I don't know, I just feel like it's money is, we need it for everything in life, but it's so mysterious. Why on earth is this the case?
Amanda Thompson (02:00):
There's so many different avenues we could take on this and I'll start and I'm sure we'll go down plenty. First of all, there's this thing when it comes to finances or seeking advice is probably more important, not just finances, is because we, or as a community or actually as a society feel that financial planning or financial advice is purely there for the wealthy. And so we will put off, I don't need a financial planner. I'm not in that state. I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready. But the key thing when it comes to finances, it's either emotionally driven by a fear that we have no idea what we're doing or emotionally driven by a fear that, okay, something's just triggered in me. I'm not going to have enough for retirement or I'm just making ends meet. And there is nothing associated with that emotion of fear that has any need for an asset base or even an income earning capacity.
(03:07):
So we even start with this misconception of why would I go to someone like Amanda yet I'm just starting my business. I'm not ready. So that's one avenue. The second avenue is as women in particular, and we'll drill down on the women and let's drill one step further. Women in business. Yes. Okay. So there's something we do to ourselves. Yes, society helps it along sometimes, but because we've taken this leap into our businesses, we've taken the big breath and we've done it. And often many of us are moms. So we're trying to do both things. We're so determined for everyone else not to think it's just a hobby or a side hustle that we convince ourselves that we have to be absolutely perfect at everything. And when we're not, we'll tend to just close our eyes, put the wool over our eyes and go, okay, I'll deal with that later.
(04:11):
My perfect example is social media. Putting myself out there, it terrifies me because one, my girls will tell you, mom can't take a photo to save myself, let alone a selfie out of the mouth of babes. And so I don't do it. And then I think, oh, can I afford to get someone to do my social media? Do I need social media? And then I take myself down into this black hole, reverse that. And so many people are so scared and convinced themselves that they're not good at finances, that they're too embarrassed to go and ask for help in it as well.
Danielle Lewis (04:53):
I love that you said that because I even just think personally. So I've been in business for 12 years and in 2020 I started another business and 2020 was a bit of a time. And I remember at one point I was like, holy bleep word. I haven't done my tax return for this new business. And I was so ashamed. I was like, if I tell anyone I'm going to prison, I was so ashamed it took me so I put it off and put it off. It took me so long to reach out to an accountant for help because I was like, if I tell them what I've done, they're going to be like, oh my God, you're such an idiot. They were literally the nicest person on the planet and accountants are there to help you and empower you. And they're like, oh, that's easy. We'll take care of that and then we can talk about all these other things. I was like, oh, so you didn't make me feel like an idiot. You can just take care of all of my issues and you're going to set me up to do things better in the future. Why did I stress myself out about this for so long? It was just insane.
Amanda Thompson (05:58):
And then you get this gap, don't you, in this fear of talking about money because we're brought up not to talk about it. And so therefore, if you had have shared that story with other business women at the time, you probably would've heard of a, now I've been there, done that. You're not on your own. Oh, we've all done that, but we don't talk about it.
Danielle Lewis (06:20):
Yep. It's so funny. Do you think you know why? What is wrong with us? Why don't we, because I don't know if men have this same, okay, here's a story. I was sitting at the Formula one a few weekends ago, and literally I was sitting there with my husband and behind me were two guys, two mates, and they were comparing investments and I was listening and I'm like, wow, I've never had a conversation like that with my girlfriends. What the
Amanda Thompson (06:51):
Hell? Were they really boring in the fact that they were talking about that? Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (06:54):
Well that did sound boring, but I was like, it seems like something you should talk about.
Amanda Thompson (06:58):
Although general, it's a thing. Yeah. It comes down to that fake it till you make it concept. And we are generalizing. We are generalizing. I think that men tend to fake it till they make it when they come in money, which then women who tend to be more truthful, open, transparent, then get turned off or taken aback by those type of conversations. And we don't feel like we can say, excuse me, I don't understand what you're saying. Chances are that they may not have understood the first time they opened their mouth and said it either. And I think again, it's this women, we put so much pressure on ourselves and we've got to start like what we're doing now, start the conversation. Because in fact, by human nature, we learn by storytelling, we are more likely to learn by someone else's experience because something in our brain switches on and says, oh, this sounds a little bit like me. I'm going to listen a little bit more intently. Instead of someone just pointing the finger at you and going, rah, rah, rah. So yeah, which makes female financial planners a million times better, generally speaking than men because we lead with emotions as well.
Danielle Lewis (08:16):
I love that so much. So your business as it stands now, what do you offer? I went on the website and I saw a book, which is amazing. And then it also looked like there might be self-guided courses and also one-on-one, but what's the structure of your business?
Amanda Thompson (08:32):
So the structure of my business, there'll be so many people listening that'll want to reach out to me saying, Amanda, you need help. The structure,
(08:42):
It's basically designed to have anyone be able to access me. So yes, there's a book, which should be your entry level. I'm not sure if I need someone, I'm going to spend that $40 on a book with a workbook and doing my own self-guided stuff. There's a course, an evergreen course, which exists. It's great, but you might as well fork out that little bit more and get a real Amanda sitting in front of you and going through it. So I like to do those traditional financial plans when needed. But as I've just said, we're not always in this place where we need to go and spend money on this whole, Amanda, can you go structure my whole rest of my next 10, 15 years to retirement? What we need is I'm in the trenches right now. Can you mentor me and let's go down the path of wherever it leads us to whatever I need to do.
(09:37):
It could be that I talk about revenue and how to get more revenue or how to split revenue or how to understand what's going on in your business. Or it could be an understanding of investments and how to start working through what do I do next, Amanda, pay off my home, invest in shares, put more in super instead of having these unanswered questions, reach out and we'll answer them. That's the way I like to see it. So it's not a one fit all and I get told off for doing that a lot because we know that, but I've always baed the system, hence starting my own business and really getting away from the boys club. That is financial planning.
Danielle Lewis (10:22):
I love it because I think you are right. One of the other things that I think must holds women back is we do all have our own circumstances and we are all struggling with different things in our business. You are right. Some people might be, I just need to make more money or I need to make this more scalable. Or I'm looking at my zero and I'm like, I don't even know what this means. I do actually love that because it kind of makes it a little bit easier and less daunting if you can just have an open conversation with somebody and say, well, what's going on for you? And then you are that mentor, that guide, that person that can help them see through the shame or the challenge or whatever they're going through and get that personalized help.
Amanda Thompson (11:09):
Yeah. Let me tell you a story which is see storytelling. So sometimes when I do speaking gigs, this is exactly how I start. I go, hi, I'm Amanda, single mother, two kids, successful business woman, and I've just had a birthday, so I am 48 years old. My superannuation has had its fair share of Knox because I've taken time out of the workforce to have two children. I've also started my own business. So we all know that it's not something we focus on. However, statistics will say that I'm going to last for, I'm going to live for another 40 odd years, which is six years more than a male. And yet I am going to buy statistics retire with 43% less superannuation. And what that says to me is I've got to make less last longer. And so if I don't do something about it, all this hard work that I'm doing to build a future for myself and teach my kids and lead by example is going to get affected. And then I throw this statistic in, women over the age of 55 in Australia are the fastest growing demographic of homelessness in Australia purely. So I'm 48 years old. If I didn't have my bleep word, I'm going to follow your
(12:38):
My bleep word together. That's not far away from me. And so I can't stress enough that every something I may have said in my little story there could have resonated with someone, but I guarantee my story is not exactly the same as the next person. And so you really need to figure your own bleep out and often get someone to help you do it.
Danielle Lewis (13:07):
You are so spot on. It does blow my mind how much women will also put everybody else first. And that's such a powerful statistic thinking about women and 55 isn't old. Hello, hold up, hold the phone. This is not old. That's like, yeah, that's blowing my mind that that is the fastest growing group in Australia becoming homeless. Like holy shit that is not old and really freaking scary. And also they still have kids potentially at home. That's huge.
Amanda Thompson (13:48):
And we've all heard and seen in the newspapers, the cost of living is increasing. So that is increasing. And I feel that it's probably the best example, as scary as it is at the gap that exists
(14:03):
When it comes to money, because we are chasing generational gaps. We cannot deny that. And I can't, I always get this wrong, but I'm sure it's 1952, maybe it was 1956, the marriage ban was lifted. In other words, I don't know if you know about this, but you weren't allowed to work as a woman if you got married until 1956. And so if you put all that together, you can see that women are still playing catch up. And if we don't start to do something about it now, our kids will still be playing that catch up.
Danielle Lewis (14:42):
Yeah, it's really scary. So how did you get into this?
Amanda Thompson (14:47):
So
Danielle Lewis (14:49):
Was there a career beforehand? How did you go? I am solving this problem. This is so important to me.
Amanda Thompson (14:58):
I was both lucky and unlucky enough to spend 10 of my first years in financial planning at two of the major banks. And it was back in the day where in a national team of 23, I was the only female and 10 years younger than the next person.
Danielle Lewis (15:18):
What a combination. I know.
Amanda Thompson (15:21):
And then I became a single mom. And so there was all of these issues around Amanda being in this group. And then the story gets probably less exciting. I actually had a heart attack at the age of age 34. So not long after I became a single mom, I had a heart attack and spent time in ICU and then in the cardiac ward. And my boss at the time was only worried about getting all of the information that was in my head about all of these clients so that he could keep his revenue flowing in to the business. And I just went, I'm not working for an organization like that. That doesn't value what I value in life. And plus what they decided to do is once I got better, say, well, you don't have capacity to work where you work anymore, took all my clients off me. And I was just like, no, you can go bleep word the hell away from me.
Danielle Lewis (16:26):
Yes, good, I'm glad. Yes.
Amanda Thompson (16:29):
So then I spent time in a couple of boutique practices and one in particular I just loved, but ended up at another one. And true, true story, I have lots of true stories. None of my stories are fake. I had a client who came to me because he was dying. Oh, wow. So he had two young boys, a wife, and he wanted advice on how to set himself up because he knew he had six months to live. He lasted 18. But when I structured everything, the owner of the business I worked at that point in time again, just seemed to be so focused on the revenue that was coming in. And so I went, I can't do, I just cannot do this anymore. I am going to make financial planning the way that Amanda does it. And that client, the wife, she retired this year and I said to her, I'm more excited about you retiring than my mother because we have been on a journey together and I'm still looking after her.
(17:40):
I'm still looking after her kids and she won't be listening to this. Anyway. So when Paul passed away, I visited him in the hospital probably two hours before he passed away. And he said to me, it's been a privilege. I'm so glad you left where you were working and can you please promise to look after my family? And so, oh my God, you'll read this in my book because it's a real pivotal point of me knowing those metrics in life. I know I'm damn good at what I do, and I know I care so much that people who work alongside me are lucky to have me in that sense. So that's the story of my insurance financial was born.
Danielle Lewis (18:27):
Well, you're making me want to cry. So
Amanda Thompson (18:32):
Oh,
Danielle Lewis (18:32):
That's so beautiful, isn't it? And I love that though. It's such a testament to you can run business in a way that is aligned to your values. And look, I appreciate that some of these big wig jobs come with big salaries, but I'm a firm believer that you can exceed those big salaries and still build a business that is impact led, that is values led. I'm just so passionate about that, that you actually love getting out of bed for.
Amanda Thompson (19:06):
Oh, absolutely. And we did not pre talk about this nor practice this. And you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to money because whatever you do with money shouldn't be linked to a money goal. It should actually be linked to how you want to feel. All those personal goals. It's the same thing jumping into your own business. Yes, we know it costs money to live and you do have to work through that, but you are more likely like running a running race here. You are more likely to get to the end if you know exactly the emotion that you are chasing or that personal goal you're chasing, you're more likely to create the habits to get you there. Whereas if it's just a monetary goal and you don't think like that, don't keep the habit.
Danielle Lewis (20:00):
God, that is so true. It's like, yeah, it is not the dollars in the bank. It's what that gives you. Yeah, the freedom, the flexibility. I want to pick up my kids at three o'clock. I want to get them off to school. This is beautiful woman I follow online and she was comparing her business 12 months ago to today, and she's like 12 months ago my daughter was sick and I had all of these Zoom calls booked and I could hear her crying in the next room and my business didn't give me that freedom and flexibility. So she's like, that's the moment that I decided to change the way my business was structured. Fast forward, the daughter was sick and she's sitting there binge watching frozen because that's the business she's built. And neither of those scenarios are money. The money is the vehicle that allows us to live these lives that we want to live.
Amanda Thompson (20:56):
Yeah, absolutely. It's just Fiona Johnson from Peach Business Management. So I'm stealing something from her, so I'm going to credit to her. Someone was telling me once about when she runs seminars, she puts this photo of a shovel up and says, what's that? And what comes up? And people go digging and then she puts a photo of money up and they say, what's that? And use some words to describe that. And she basically says at the end of the day, they're both just tools to get what you want. Yes. And I love that and I love that. So if you don't follow Fiona at peak, she should.
Danielle Lewis (21:36):
I love that. I love that. So what was it like for you then transitioning from other people's businesses to building your own?
Amanda Thompson (21:51):
I planned because I said I was single mom, so I was purely responsible for making ends meet in my house. I couldn't just go, oh yeah, here we go. So I saved, saved. It was a goal. So it was a personal goal that I linked a monetary value to, and basically I had six months worth of what I needed in the bank. I did my business plan, all of those things, and I decided I had six months to make it work. And I proudly my hard work and who I was paid off because clients followed me and I didn't dip into that six months saving once my business survived purely because I backed who I was. And I know not every business is like that, but I didn't just go, I'm going to start my own business and I left. So it took me time and it was hard work to save and make the jump, but I wanted to.
(22:51):
That was again, my choice. I didn't want to do it as a side hustle and very hard to do what I do as a side hustle when I'm already in the industry. But it could mean that you do your side hustle or your transition out of things, but you have to figure out what it is that you need to survive financially so that you don't just jump ship. Because again, when you put all that pressure on yourself, there's so many women I see that have done that, and they'll say, I just need to go get a job now, Amanda. My business is, and we work through it. And sometimes actually you might need to, if you haven't done it properly, it doesn't mean you're failing. It just means that things take time and things take time when you're a service-based business in particular, and cost of living is hard, people aren't necessarily flocking out to go and pay for your services.
Danielle Lewis (23:45):
Yeah, it's such a good point because I remember, so when I first started my other business scrunch a decade plus ago, it was the trend to just dive in to burn the bridge, and there was a lot of rhetoric around being all in and all this stuff, and I just reflect on that and I wouldn't do it. I would never advise anybody to do that. Now, I just think there is nothing wrong with having a safety net, whether that be staying in your job and transitioning to part-time and then a day a week or whatever it might be, or saving the nest egg. So you've got six, 12 plus whatever the runway is for you. I just think that's the best advice because there is no need to put that financial pressure on yourself. And I feel like financial stress is one of the worst.
Amanda Thompson (24:41):
Oh, it is. And it's one of the reasons
Danielle Lewis (24:42):
Paralyzing.
Amanda Thompson (24:43):
Well, couples break up because of it too. So I did it as a single, but if you are going to do this as a couple year, it could be that these conversations, the goals I come back to, it always comes back to goals. If you and your partner don't have an intimate understanding of each other's goals, doesn't mean you have to have every single one of them the same, but you need to have an understanding. It might be that as a partnership you decide that, okay, we're going to give this X amount of time and I'll support the family while you do this. It still comes from conversation transparency and sometimes delving into that difficult part, which is talking about money and who's paying for what or how far can we take this.
Danielle Lewis (25:33):
Yeah, I love that. Do you have any advice if somebody might be struggling to have a money conversation with, whether it be their partner or even maybe a co-founder of a business or anything like that?
Amanda Thompson (25:48):
I do this a lot, and this isn't meant to be a spry for my book at all, but in my book and what I do with clients is I actually go through this goal setting and it said personal goal setting. And if I'm dealing with individuals that are in a partnership, whether it's businesses or things, I say, go away and do your own, go on way and do your own and then come back. Yeah. And talk about them because you may actually find that you do have some that are aligned or you're both striving. If you're a business partners, you could be both striving for something or the same type of feeling. So you've got to find the commonality to then have that easy discussion. And then the other part of money conversations is inclusivity. So it should be if any relationship you're in, for me, it's with my children at the moment. We, it's not me. I have 17 and 21 my girls. So who am I to say, I want this for you now? I want that. It's like we need to, or you really need to use inclusive language when we're talking about money so that we're not poking any bears or hitting any really sore points for people.
Danielle Lewis (27:13):
Oh, I love that. I found that really personally difficult when I got into my current marriage. I was supposed to say that because my husband came with a house and a share portfolio and all of these things, and I felt really like, and he has a job and I have a business. So we kind of come from two different worlds. And I found it really hard to get on onboard the We Train because I felt like I wasn't contributing as much to the partnership. And to his credit, he's amazing. That's why I married him. But one of those people who is, no, it's our house and it's our this and it's we. But I found it so hard to get there because I didn't feel like I was enough or I was bringing enough to the table. But it's interesting, I think even for him, if I think about on my side, me not being willing to have to meet him in the We conversation, that was not great for him either. I'm sure he felt like, why doesn't she feel like this is a partnership? So I kind of feel like we have to set aside maybe the way we feel about our current circumstances.
Amanda Thompson (28:30):
And then if we took you back to that point, can I use your example? Please, please. We took you back to that point again and we went down what your goals and what your needs are at that very moment in time. One of your goals may have actually been, I really want to feel as if I'm contributing to this, or I want to feel less anxious about me. So it may have been that one of your goals was that and had you come to the party, each of you with your own separate goals, and you would've said, that's one of your goals. It'd be like, I'm admitting something here, but it's really important to me that I addressed this because I want my business to meet there or do this. See how there was not a monetary thing attached to that need or that emotion?
Danielle Lewis (29:21):
Yeah. Oh my God, totally. And isn't it hilarious how the not saying it keeps you in that state of contraction and not coming up with a solution versus, and I actually love how you reframe, so I was like, I'm not enough. I feel like I'm not bringing enough to the table. And you're like, you reframed it to, my goal is to feel like this, and it just takes away all the heaviness and all of the self-judgment from it, doesn't it?
Amanda Thompson (29:51):
Yeah, it does. And when I use examples like that, see how we get so drilled into that we have to have money goals, like six figure business, and it's one of my pet hates because you could have a six or seven figure business, but it's what you're doing with the surplus that truly counts or are happy. Are you reaching your personal goals? Because you may have a seven or even eight figure business, and one of your goals is to spend more time with your family. Well, I wonder if you are.
Danielle Lewis (30:27):
Well, and the thing that annoys me about that as well is the profit conversation, how much it's costing people to have these flagship revenue numbers without being really honest about what they're taking home at the end of the day,
Amanda Thompson (30:40):
And again, it comes down to your own goals. So for me, I talk about this as retirement for me or one of my goals. I see myself retiring. I am one of those people that get up every single day loving what I do. But in a perfect world, I would love to be able to pro bono twice a week for domestic violence education, things like that, or women who just can't afford. So I'd love to, but I also have a family that I need to support. So if you look at that want, I would love to do that. Then I put that method in, well, how do I get there? Well, I've got to be able to earn a full-time wage or have enough money to make that passive income to allow me to work three days so I can go give two of my days away.
(31:29):
But that's my own goal. It's not your goal. It's not. And so the other flip side of that is time and flexibility. And then that conversation you have to have of what I deem sacrificial spending, mindful spending, sacrificial spending is what are you willing to not spend on to get what you want? I don't like the word budget because again, I like to BA the system. I was never good at discipline at school. You tell me what to do, I'll probably go the opposite way, but if you put me in control of it, I'm happy. So if you say to me, Amanda, if you want to get to here, you need to find X amount of money as opposed to restricting. Don't spend on alcohol, Amanda. Well, I like alcohol. Amanda likes alcohol, but maybe I don't need to drink four times a week maybe to know I'm joking.
Danielle Lewis (32:31):
Don't worry. It's a safe space.
Amanda Thompson (32:35):
Or maybe I don't need the $70 bottle. I might buy the $30 bottle. But it comes from the mindful understanding of what you're striving for. And if I come full circle, if you know what goal you are trying to achieve, you might go, okay, well, I'm going to save 60 bucks a week by being sacrificing the alcohol.
Danielle Lewis (32:59):
Yep. There's this great quote. It was like, never give up what you want most for what you want right now. But if you don't actually sit down and ask yourself those questions about what the goal is and what you want more of in your daily life or in your business or whatever, you can't get into the tactical of, well, this is what I am willing to give up now, or This is what I am willing to do extra now in the short term to achieve that long term. So I just love that. Ask yourself better questions.
Amanda Thompson (33:32):
Yeah. Yep. And just being kind to yourself does involve getting on top of your finances. Yes. We talk about personal development a lot, and you talked about money being a stressor in life, so it doesn't make sense that getting on top of your money or deleting that stress in life is actually personal development.
Danielle Lewis (33:56):
Totally. I just believe so strongly that when we bury our head in the sand, especially about something like finance, which can be the biggest cause of stress, it's just so detrimental to our health, our relationships, our business, and it's usually worse in our heads than just sitting down punching out the spreadsheet, calling Amanda and saying, Hey, can we go through what's going on in my life? And having someone like you go, you know what? It's cool. It's not that bad. This is how we get on course. What is the long-term vision? How are we going to structure things to move towards that goal? It's usually way worse just sitting in our heads, like taking up space because we just haven't addressed it,
Amanda Thompson (34:49):
Or we're so scared what the answer is going to be, and the right person will never tell you. I'll always be honest, but I won't just stop it. Oh, no, it's not looking so good at the moment too. How do we make it look better?
Danielle Lewis (35:03):
Yes. I love that. Oh, so good. Amanda, you are incredible. Let's leave the Spark community with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business, what would be a piece of advice that you would give another woman in business to help her on her journey?
Amanda Thompson (35:25):
Well, it's easy, an easy one. For me, the true definition of independence is knowing when to ask for help.
Danielle Lewis (35:36):
I love that. That's incredible. I hope that whoever is listening to this right now, ask for help.
Amanda Thompson (35:46):
Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (35:47):
You are amazing. Amanda. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your wisdom and your insights. I know everyone listening in would've gotten a lot of value out of that. So I know I did personally, so I'm stoked to have you here.
Amanda Thompson (36:02):
Thanks for having me. It's always awesome.
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