Business Partner of the Month – Facy & Co.

Meet Jodi Facy from Facy & Co.

We’d love to give a big, warm SA Woman welcome to Jodi Facy from Facy & Co. as she steps into the business spotlight this month. Jodi is just about to celebrate her first biz birthday for Facy & Co., so yes – she did kick off in the midst of a global pandemic! 

Jodi reveals what it was like to birth her Covid-biz-baby and what her biggest challenge has been – and it’s not what you think.

Jess from Jess McEachen Copywriting absolutely loved getting to take five with Jodi. She just kept nodding her head – there were so many ‘Yes!’ moments! From hearing how Jodi loved the process of starting a business, yet had no idea how many decisions she’d face from Day 1. (Right?!) To how Jodi is here to make sure women pay themselves properly in their business, and how there is a fallacy that women are bitchy and tear each other down. Couldn’t be further from the truth! 

This is such an inspiring read, and we are loving having Jodi and Facy & Co. with us in the Business Spotlight for May.

// Thank you for joining us in the Biz Spotlight in May! For those who haven’t come across you yet, can you please introduce us to Facy & Co. and who you love to work with?

Facy & Co. is me, Jodi Facy. I’m a CPA, Virtual CFO, Business Wing-Woman and most importantly, a mother to 2 young kids.

I started Facy & Co. in June last year as a way to use my two decades of senior finance and accounting experience to work with and empower (mostly female) service-based business owners to make really great decisions for their business through understanding their financials, and using them to grow their business in a really strategic way.

// Virtual CFO – I just love your title! What do you feel that your clients (and anyone reading this) can gain from having their own Virtual CFO or calling you in as their Business Wing-Woman?

Having worked in both very large organisations and in accounting and advisory working with very small businesses and NFP over the past 2 decades, I saw a huge gap in the level of financial support and strategic planning that gets done in a large corporates versus small business.

I could see the impact this lack of financial acumen and planning has on the livelihoods and success of small businesses; they are fumbling around trying to wear all of the hats and flying by the seat of their pants.

I strongly believe that strategic planning and being across your profitability and cash flow and having someone to help support you with decision making and planning can completely change the course of your business for the better!

My Virtual CFO services do just this for larger businesses (think those with million+ dollar revenues or plans to hit those figures within the next few years), whilst my 1:1 Business Wing-Woman services are for the solopreneurs, new biz owners or smaller businesses with a few staff who need that extra person to guide their direction.

// Now, we’ve got our party tooters out – because you’re just about to celebrate your first year as Facy & Co in June! What was the ‘crossroads’ moment, or the internal spark that led you to starting Facy & Co

Look, I would like to tell you something a little bit more sexy, but I resigned from a nightmare new job in March 2020 just before the pandemic really hit home here in Adelaide (how’s the timing).

I just loved having the time with my kids, being home more, and walking my son to school (when it was open). I suppose you could say I stepped off the hamster wheel for a while and it made me re-assess the way our family worked and lived.

I made it through to the final two for a few great jobs, but I found myself hoping that I didn’t get the roles.

I just knew that no matter how much a company said they offered flexibility; the reality is that in senior finance roles flexibility just means getting paid 80% of the salary to still be responsible for 100% of the role.

I’ve always been passionate about helping small business owners manage their financials and help guide their strategy, and I have always dreamt about having my own business.

It seemed like this truly was that crossroads moment, and I thought, if not now, then when! I knew I had to go all-in, so I committed and went for it.

I have the most supportive husband, family and friends who have backed me from day 1 which I am so grateful for!

// And also, how has your first year been? Considering you’ve kicked off in the middle of a global pandemic! Can you give us an insight into what your biggest challenges, lessons & highlights have been?

My first year has mostly been amazing. I have LOVED the process of starting my business from the ground up and all the intricacies involved. It is a lot, right? I honestly had no idea just how many decisions need to be made from day 1, and every day since, when starting even this tiny little biz. But in saying that I have thrived on the challenge and variety.

My biggest challenge has been when I realised that my initial vision of having a faceless business where I pretended Facy & Co. had loads of staff and was really this huge business behind the scenes (because; legitimacy?) was not the right path forward.

I realised that I had to show my face and ‘be’ the product of Facy & Co. This was a major mic drop moment and SO uncomfortable. The first time I posted a photo and spoke about myself in a self-promote-y kind of way was sickening.

The biggest lesson? Done is better than perfect, my perfectionistic ways had to be ditched early on or I would still be sitting at my laptop starting at the 1,000,000,000^th iteration of my name and logo! 

The highlight? Being completely booked out within a few months of launching. I was not expecting that!

// Speaking of the pandemic – what have you noticed are the key stumbling blocks or areas of strategy that your clients have needed help with to navigate this time?

I think that cash flow is always the number one stumbling block and the pandemic just exacerbated that.

Some people were lulled into a false sense of security with JobKeeper payments coming in on the reg and so didn’t see the need to continue to grow their business or pivot to find new revenue streams, so it was a big shock when the payments stopped and they had to start from scratch all over again.

This is where having a strategic plan to navigate times like these can be priceless.

// “Revenue is Vanity. Profit is Sanity. Cash is King.” This is such a powerful and juicy quote that you’ve posted about on your socials. Can you let us in on the common misconceptions and pitfalls around chasing 6 or 7 figures as the only goal?

Ugh, I kind of hate this whole thing about online businesses where every second person is trying to sell you a secret to 6 or 7 figures, or the winning strategy to scale to 6 or 7 figures. But you know what, you rarely hear these people talking about the cost of earning those 6 or 7 figures. Those less financially savvy hear someone say they had a $100k month and they just think there is $100k sitting in that person’s bank account.

But the reality is that of that $100k, $40k might need to be put aside for tax, they spent $30k on Facebook ads, $10k on their VA and office space… the list goes on.

The bottom line might be that of that “$100k month”, the person only had $5k profit! It happens for real. OR even worse, they make $100k and then they withdraw it all and spend it on living their best life, and when it comes to paying their bills or tax there is no cash.

So, you can see how the planning and management of how to earn and spend that $100k is super critical here.

I am not here to micro manage every dollar, but I believe that if you plan and manage cash well, you can not only pay for all of the boring stuff, but you can also live your best life!

// Another topic that you’re passionate about is getting paid. What are your thoughts on women with their own businesses paying themselves…and how do you help them to get the point of being paid well? (Because heck yes, we all deserve that!)

Yes! I am so here for women paying themselves properly from their business.

I see a few things that go wrong when women are working hard and literally not paying themselves a living wage.

1. They have no control over their expenses, for example may have 15 subscriptions they don’t use or could be using the free version of (I’m looking at you, Canva).
2. They don’t know if they are making profit OR if the cash in their account is really theirs to use because they don’t have a plan in place for how their money needs to be spent over the coming months and so they leave it sitting there, scared to spend anything.
3. They are not charging properly – OH MY GOD this one is huge and is a topic all on its own. This is almost always linked to mindset and limiting beliefs about how much they can charge, or how worthy they are. If pricing was logical, we would all be rich!

So my process is basically helping work through these things, helping them understand firstly what their cost base is, secondly, if they are profitable and how they need to allocate their cash or change their pricing strategy, and thirdly MINDSET. This is the tricky one because without self-belief or the mindset that you are worth more, or can charge more, you will never take that step!

I highly recommend Denise Duffield-Thomas’s books for a swift reality check around what your limiting beliefs around money might be!

// I noticed on your socials that you’ve got a goal to read 40 books this year – loving that! What have been your fave titles of this year so far that we all need to read? And what areas or authors are you looking forward to reading more about this year?

Yes – I have been a bookworm from way back! So far I’ve read 14 of my 40 goal which I am happy with.

I tend to rotate between twisty thrillers, business books, chick-lit (though I loathe that term) and big meaty literary epics.

• Twisty Thriller – The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – this will make your brain bend and you will want to start from page 1 as soon as you finish it to pick up all the clues you missed.
• Biz Book – Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield-Thomas – this book is beyond excellent for anyone who wants to approach entrepreneurship from an anti-hustle perspective.
• Chick-Lit – The Flat Share by Beth Leary – this book is one of the best of this genre I’ve ever read, and it is set in London which is my favourite rom-com setting. There’s something about that dry British wit.
• Meaty Literary Epics – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee – I love learning about historical events through the lens of fictional characters and this one taught me a lot about Japanese and Korean history and culture.

// It’s so fantastic to have you within our membership! What do you love about being part of the SAW community and what have you gained from it?

Thank you – I love being a part of this community, particularly the private members Facebook group.

I have learnt a lot and I have found some amazing ladies through the group who I have engaged to work with me on everything from copywriting, styling, home renovations & client gifts, It really is a one-stop shop for support, advice, and outsourcing.

There is this fallacy that women are bitchy and tear each other down, but I cannot disagree with this sentiment more.

Amongst my girlfriends, work networks, and within the SA Woman community, I have seen no evidence of women being anything but completely supportive and backing each other every step of the way and I bloody love it! The sisterhood is strong and fiercely supportive in my world.

// Lastly, a question we do love to ask everyone – where are your favourite spots for a delish working lunch?

Being a working mum, I’m always optimising my time between school drop and pick up and honestly, I’m a home-made desk-eater from way back.

BUT, I do love me a coffee/brunch meeting, my fave spots are Local Crowd in Colonel Light Gardens, He Said/She Said on King William Road and Yeah, Nah, Yeah at Mitcham. I like to keep things local.

Thanks for chatting with us Jodi!

Find out more about Facy & Co.:

WIN: Competition T&C’s!

Facebook: Facy & Co.

Instagram: @facyandco

LinkedIn: Jodi Facy

Website: www.facyandco.com.au