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Danielle Hayden - Confessions of a Free Spender: Overcoming Your Financial Blind Spots

SEASON: 6 EPISODE: 33

Episode Overview:

Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast designed to help you become the best version of you.

Let’s be honest: most entrepreneurs start a business out of a deep passion for a craft, not a love for spreadsheets. But as your business scales, relying on gut instinct or simply checking your bank balance to see if you're successful becomes a dangerous game. If you’re only looking at your numbers once a year at tax time, you aren't driving your business—you’re just reacting to it.

Our guest today is here to take the fear out of finance. Danielle Hayden went from working behind a salon chair to earning her CPA and stepping into the corporate boardroom as a CFO. Today, she is the founder of Kickstart Accounting Inc., where her team of nearly 50 professionals has helped thousands of small business owners transition from emotional guessing to data-driven confidence.

Whether you are trying to price your services for true profit, looking to make your next big hire, or ready to step into your true power as a CEO, today’s conversation is an essential roadmap for turning financial clarity into a massive competitive advantage. Please join me for my conversation with Danielle Hayden

Guest Bio:

Danielle Hayden started her career behind the salon chair. Working as a hairdresser, she discovered she had a knack for using numbers to help herself and the people around her hit their goals. That instinct sent her back to school, through a CPA and a master’s in accounting, and into the corporate boardroom as a CFO. After more than a decade there, she left to build Kickstart Accounting Inc., where her team is nearly 50 now and has served thousands of small business owners through bookkeeping, CFO services, and tax preparation.

Danielle’s approach starts with the foundation: clean books, the right systems, and a clear picture of cash and profit. From there, she teaches business owners to use their numbers every month, not just at tax time. For owners who have been avoiding their finances or running on gut instinct, she gives them the tools to lead with data.

Resource Links:

Website: https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/
Product Link: https://envisioncfo.org/

Insight Gold Timestamps:

02:38 I left high school with no interest in math or numbers or accounting

05:00 I keep on using the words tool in our toolbox, and I do that very intentionally

07:19 I think you call it 'tax time only accounting'

08:58 My mission is that every single business owner looks at their numbers every single month

10:42 A lot of the bad habits that we have in business, they're probably because we have bad habits personally

12:10 Four key performance indicators that you're looking at every single month

13:59 So I have a confession that I am guilty as well, okay? I am what I call a free spender

15:14 Answer these three questions: What just happened? Why did it happen, and what am I going to do about it?

23:10 Make sure that your bookkeeping is accurate first, and then go play in AI with those accurate financial statements instead of doing it the other direction

24:40 Do not go dump a product line just because it's not profitable

27:29 Why did you make the choices that you made?

29:58 We need to understand what we're spending and why, and then use that same data to properly price ourselves

31:33 Bookkeeping is looking backwards, and CFO is looking forward

34:50 The website is kickstartaccountinginc.com and from there you can get over to the envisioncfo.org.

Connect Socially:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-hayden-kickstartaccounting/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kickstartaccountinginc/

X: https://x.com/kickstartacct

CEO Numbers Network Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ceo-numbers-network-with-danielle-hayden/id1574515604

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kickstartaccounting/

Email: danielle@kickstartaccountinginc.com