Working for Yourself with Michelle and Luke Ward
Working for Yourself with Michelle and Luke Ward
On this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Michelle Ward, Financial Gym Client, and she is joined by her husband, Luke.
Podcast Notes
Michelle and Luke have been Financial Gym clients for over a year, and their Trainer is Georgina.
Michelle has a business that helps creative women launch and build their businesses. It is called When I Grow Up Coach. Her 90-day business launch program is now live. She is also hosting a webinar called How to Launch Your Business in Uncertain Times.
Michelle is an entrepreneur and Luke is a freelance writer. There are similarities between entrepreneurs and freelancers, but Luke considers himself a hired gun. He isn’t looking for new ways to expand his business, but he will do the job that is asked. Michelle is always looking for ways to grow and expand her business.
Michelle is the breadwinner and Luke is the supplementer. Michelle has had her business for 12 years and has worked at it full time for 10 years. Luke is now the primary caretaker of their daughter, especially since schools have closed.
In 2007, Michelle was unhappy with her career in musical theater. She had been doing that since she was six years old. She was in her late 20’s and took a lot of time to figure out what she actually wanted to do. Michelle told Luke she wanted to be a life coach.
At the time, Luke had a full time office job. Michelle took a course on career options and it wasn’t a light decision. Michelle spent the next few years getting certified as a life coach and finding clients, while working a full-time job as an executive assistant for a financial consultancy company.
It took Michelle two years and seven months. She got her certification, they got engaged and then married. Michelle graduated in June 2009 and that is when she decided to fully step into being a business owner. In December 2009, she realized she was able to leave her job after she received a bonus from her job in March 2010.
It was in the middle of the recession when she left her job, and she was only making $1,000 a month from her business. Within three or four months of being in business full time, she was able to make $4,000 a month. In the first calendar year, she made the same amount in her business as she did as an executive assistant.
Before Luke left his job, they figured out how much money they needed him to make, and his first day of being a freelancer was April 1, 2013. In November 2011, Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she finished her treatments in 2012. Luke had great health insurance and they waited until her treatments were over before he left his job.
The only way this worked is because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They now pay $1,200 a month for the insurance premium for the three of them, but it would have been more prior to the ACA, and Michelle would have had a pre-existing condition.
They needed to do some general math and planning for this to work.
In June 2014, they adopted their daughter, and the tides had shifted to where Michelle was making more than Luke.
In 2016, Michelle was in her business for six years and they were able to buy a house in Montclair, New Jersey.
They had a vague outlook of what was coming in and what was going, but it took an outside look from The Financial Gym to realize what was happening. On paper, they were making more money than they ever had, but they didn’t know where it was going.
Financially, they felt like they were always yo-yo dieting. Either they were flush with money or they didn’t know what they were going to do. Now, whether it is a lean month or flush month, they put the money they make into a business account and pay themselves the same amount every two weeks.
Luke likes the flexibility that freelancing gives him. He likes the book, The World According to Garp, because it reminds him of his life. Making stability out of their financials has been helpful.
They now have five different savings accounts with Marcus for their goals and needs, which includes an emergency fund. They also have weekly finance meetings, which helps them put out way fewer fires.
They invested in an accountant who creates Michelle’s profit and loss statements each month. It is the best $185 she spends each month. They also have a professional accountant file their taxes.
Having Georgina and The Financial Gym with them from month to month has helped them. At a minimum, you need to look at your financial situation biweekly, so you know what is going on.
Resources Mentioned
Michelle’s Website: whenigrowupcoach.com
Michelle’s Course: 90-day Business Launch
Luke’s Website: lukeward.com
Instagram: @whenigrowupcoach @sirlukeward
From Michelle’s site: