The Benefits of Business Savings

As voiceover entrepreneurs, we face unique challenges, especially when it comes to retirement savings. Join Anne Ganguzza and Danielle Famble, as they share invaluable insights into the power of high-yield business savings accounts. You'll learn how these accounts can act as a safety net during lean months, accrue interest, and instill the discipline required to save consistently. The BOSSES recount their personal experiences to illustrate how a robust savings account can bolster confidence and enable you to take calculated risks in your business ventures. Plus, discover how the evolution of online banks has transformed the ability to manage finances and receive money easily to benefit our businesses. 00:00 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey Boss, listeners Anne Ganguza here. Think about the legacy you want to leave with your voice. It's more than just getting gigs. It's about creating moments that resonate, that shine, that linger in memory. Let's craft those moments together with coaching that's as dedicated to your artistry as you are. Your voice, your legacy, our journey together. Visit anganguz for more information.  00:31 - Intro (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO Boss. Now let's welcome your host, nne Ganguzaa.  00:50 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey everyone, Welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss Money Talk series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am tickled to bring back Danielle Famble to the show.  01:03 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Hey Anne, thanks for having me back. I've been really inspired by your red lipstick, so I'm wearing my own today. It's called Boss Lady.  01:11 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I love it and you are definitely a boss lady. Speaking of being a boss and finances, I of course, check my bank statements all the time.  01:21 And can I just say that I first of all, love my business savings account to the point where I think it's like a must have for anybody in the business to just have a savings account, Because when times are lean and we know that this is a volatile industry sometimes we have good months, sometimes, you know, maybe not so good it's important to talk about having a business savings account. And, by the way, I have a high yield business savings account.  01:48 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Oh, my goodness. Oh, I love high yield savings accounts.  01:52 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That is a thing, and one thing I do want you bosses to know I am not a financial advisor nor is. Danielle, even though we love to talk about money, we are not financial advisors, so that is our disclaimer. We're just giving you our experiences with finances and growing our company, so let that be our disclaimer.  02:11 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yes, this is not financial advice. We're just talking about what we know and what we love and how it's helped us.  02:17 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) There you go, so business savings account.  02:19 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) What are?  02:20 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) your thoughts on business savings accounts.  02:22 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Like you, I love my high-yield savings account. I absolutely love seeing how much interest that it brings into the account every single month. It is amazing when you think about it. But you also need to make sure that you are putting money into your savings account.  02:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) In order to gain that interest, in order to gain that interest.  02:42 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) So really it's not spending or utilizing every dollar that comes into your business, similar to personal finance making sure that you have enough money for the volatility of this industry so that you can pay yourself and pay your assistants or whomever that your business needs to pay in the lean times. It's really important.  03:00 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Now let me ask you high-yield savings account Now. It used to be back in the day when you had a checking account, banks were offering all these incentives and you would get interest, you know, if you kept in a certain amount of money. Same thing with savings account. But it seems like all of a sudden there's high-yield savings account. Or is it just that I didn't pay attention before? Because all of a sudden I know that my money sat in the bank because I have my Bank of America for like ages, because that just was my bank, but yet it wasn't earning a lot of money, it wasn't earning a lot of interest. And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, look at this from American Express, there's a high yield savings account here and wow, look at that interest rate. I should be maybe throwing my money over there because it wasn't making a whole lot of money. Sitting there Is high-yield savings account, just a thing nowadays. Did it just happen where it just became a thing, or was I missing out all those years?  03:51 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) I have to be honest with you. I'm not exactly sure how old or new high-yield savings accounts are. I can tell you that for me, when it came to personal finance, I got clued in into the power of high yield savings accounts and being able to make more money on my money in terms of interest, really, when I started to get serious, which was about six or seven years ago, so it could be relatively new. Typically, these banks are online banks and because they don't have the overhead that brick and mortar banks do, they're able to offer these incentives and offer higher interest. A way to look up a high yield account is really just to go online and Google and try to find one that has a business account, if you can. That's what I have been able to do, me too. Again, I don't know how old or new it is, but I do know that being able to have access to these products it's really important, and being able to have the discipline really to save is actually what fuels the ability to get the money and the interest.  04:47 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And I will say that I was not confident in growing my business or taking risks in growing my business until I had a substantial amount of money in my savings account.  04:57 - Intro (Announcement) And what?  04:58 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) is substantial. I mean for me to feel comfortable that maybe I could pay my rent or pay my mortgage right if I didn't do any business. You know, like they always say, like you want to have as much money in your savings account like accrue three months worth of what it costs you to live in your savings account, and I would say that still holds true. I think that that made me feel comfortable.  05:17 Once I was in voiceover, knowing that if I had a lean month I was okay because I had that money in savings and so it is something that once I was able to accrue that and whatever it took right, I was putting $100 a month away or $50, whatever I could afford at the time.  05:33 And then, as I made more money, I just made sure that I always put into my savings account until I got to that point where I had a good three months. And then I was like it was so freeing and it was so confidence building that I had that good three months. And then I was like it was so freeing and it was so confidence building that I had that money that I could say, hmm, maybe I'll try a new genre, maybe I'll get a new demo or maybe I'll invest in this type of marketing or whatever it is. It allowed me that comfort to invest money to grow my business, and that, I think, is what was so instrumental in having a business savings account. Whether it's high yield or not, right, just having that amount of money aside was what gave me the confidence to grow my business. Other than that, I was living paycheck to paycheck. Who wants to live paycheck to paycheck?  06:19 I mean, that's just not the way to grow your business in voiceover and it's tough and I know a lot of people that might be where they're at and I encourage you to find a way to put a little bit away each month or each week or whatever you can do to grow that savings account.  06:37 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yeah, that's huge. It's a psychological boost too, because you know that if there are lean months which as we know there are there are lean times that you can take care of yourself and the ability to sort of dip your toe into maybe a different genre or do something that makes you feel a little bit more uncomfortable, that your security blanket is this account that can buoy you If it doesn't work out or if it takes a little bit longer. It makes you feel much more confident and secure because you are, because you are the one who is securing yourself. It's a really big deal. It's a big deal to be able to have that and the confidence that it gives you. It was a game changer. Yeah, it's a game changer. A game changer for me.  07:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It really really was, and it catapulted my business into different areas. I mean, everybody knows I've got multiple brands, and so I would not have been able to grow those brands had I not had that comfort or confidence level of having a little bit of cash so that, okay, I could spend more time building up this brand instead of auditioning, or I could invest in a demo, or I could invest in a virtual assistant, right. Again, we just had an episode talking about hiring assistants, right. And so that savings account gave me such a big boost in order to grow, and I continue to make sure that I have money in that. And what's nice is that, even though, let's say, some months I may not be able to put as much into it, right, the one that is a highield savings account is such a bonus, right now because it's accruing a higher interest rate than any of my other accounts, and so I am continuing to get more confidence in putting money in there.  08:16 So the more you make an interest, the more you want to put in it.  08:18 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yeah, the account is helping you out.  08:20 - Intro (Announcement) Exactly.  08:21 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So the high-yield savings account is a boon and again, we're not financial advisors, but look into it. I mean Google. I know that for me. It's really given me even more confidence than I had before. So always, always, really make it a point to have a business savings account and business savings account. I mean it's great to have a savings account your personal but, as we discussed before, right when you're running your business, you really want to separate your accounts, exactly.  08:46 Into business checking and business savings and most banks right. If you're going to open up a business account with them, they're going to have options for you to open a business savings account.  09:01 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yeah, and you really just kind of have between the personal savings and the business savings Because, as Danielle, I have my own personal savings for me and then the business that I'm running has its own savings account that I'm going to be able to utilize that money if I need it for any sort of business expenses, and keeping that separate. Going back to the basics of finance, keeping those two things separate really helps me out when it comes to tax time. It helps me out in the day-to-day running of my personal life and my business. So, yes, keeping them separate, and the same way that you keep your money separate from your business and your personal, keeping your savings account separate as well. And knowing what are you utilizing that savings for? Obviously, it's not meant to be used for everyday purposes, but what are the criteria for when you would need to dip into that savings account? Really just kind of having a plan for your money.  09:53 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Well, yeah, and it also helps in your financial well-being in terms of how banks perceive you. Your FICO score. All of that contributes. Right, these are your assets, right, this is money that you have. And it's one of those things when I spoke to you about making that $500 stock investment in the company that I worked for, right, and I just forgot about it because it was, I considered it my spare change and I'm just going to put it in and, well, I'm going to look at it, but I'm not going to obsess over it and just kind of forget about it. And the nice thing is, when you have it in a bank, that when they want your business, they're going to offer you perks of that, and so high yield savings is one of them, and so that money just grows, right, I can just put it in there and it just grows. And when I look at the monthly statement and I say, whoa, look at how much interest I got this month.  10:39 It makes me want to put more into it. It makes me want to find ways to put more into it. And when you're talking about manifesting abundance and you're talking about positive things that spur you on and having faith and thinking in terms of having abundance, that is really helps. I'll tell you, when you're looking at that account and it keeps growing, that can really be a big mental help to you feeling successful in terms of your business.  11:06 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yeah, it's the evidence right. It's the evidence that what you are doing and what you've been doing is working and that it's growing. So, having that sort of tangible you know the statement to see I put this much money in and this is how much my money made, without really me doing anything other than putting that money into this account, it's evidence that what you're doing is working and to keep going.  11:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And it's not like you're taking a risk like the stock market. You're investing yourself in your business, exactly, so it's a fairly stable. Unless the bank goes under right, it's a fairly stable yeah well, that's a whole nother podcast but it's a fairly stable way to grow your money.  11:41 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Right and also to grow your confidence. I really love that and I think it's really important the distinction of, yes, you're growing your business, but also you're growing your confidence and you're growing your ability in your business to grow and invest and take risks, which helps you potentially grow your business. You're investing in your confidence, not just monetarily, but in that emotional feeling of security that only you can give yourself. It's a big deal.  12:08 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and it doesn't take much.  12:10 I mean, bosses, you're already risk takers, right, because you've decided to get into voiceover, you've decided to become an entrepreneur, you've decided to start a business.  12:18 This is just another aspect of it, and it's an aspect of it that can give you that cushion to weather all types of storms that can happen within your business. There's just so many people I know that are like they gave it all up to invest in voiceover but yet they don't necessarily have savings. And I know as a coach, when I'm talking to students that want to get into this industry, and there's a lot of people during the pandemic right that lost their jobs, that wanted quick money, and I was careful to say that voiceover does require an investment. It's not that you're going to be able to make quick money right away, and we all know that those of us that have been in the industry, this is the same kind of thing, really that you want to make sure that you've taken the risks and now you've got another savings account that can help you survive and weather those storms as you move forward in your business.  13:06 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) It's infrastructure. It's setting up the infrastructure for the what-ifs or what could happen in your business and it's creating sort of more cushion for yourself, just in case things happen. Also, saving maybe totally different, but saving for things that you need to do in your business. Maybe it's setting aside a certain amount of money for taxes, maybe it's setting aside a certain amount of money because you want to attend conferences and you need to travel and take the time away. That can be part of the business savings. But I think making sure that you have the mindset that the money that is coming into your business, not all of it, needs to be spent or used now you do need to put a certain amount of money aside for certain things taxes, education, investing in your business, investing in yourself in the lean times and in the slower times. It's really looking at what is happening in your business and creating the infrastructure for what could happen.  14:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And you know, what else is interesting too is that with some banks, they'll give you more benefits, right, the more you have. So if you open up this type of business savings account, you need to maintain a certain amount of money in there, and when you do that, you'll get free checking, you'll get a lower interest, credit card from them, all types of things, different perks, you'll get 3% back or you'll get money back, and so it behooves you to do that, because they're also offering you incentives to kind of keep money in that savings account, right, and you're not going to just have it to like blow in the first month on a new microphone or a new demo, but to maintain funds in there, right, so that you can keep up the benefits.  14:40 - Intro (Announcement) And so.  14:40 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I like that. There's like a double incentive. Really it's nice to have that cushion and then you'd want to keep it in there, and it's not like we haven't really discussed retirement funds or mutual funds or anything like that, and again, we're not financial advisors. However, they work differently, where, if you keep the money in there for a certain amount of time, or you're required to keep money in there for a certain amount of time or until you reach a certain age as retirement.  15:04 A business savings account is simply just a business savings account where you're not penalized if you have to take money out. So I think it's got like everything in it. You know what I mean? It's got that added cushion security. You get benefits if you keep more in it, but yet you're not penalized if you have to take out of it. Necessarily.  15:21 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yeah, it's access, potentially very quick access to the money that you have that you've put aside for whatever it is that you are saving for. I think it's important to have access to the sort of quick access to the account, so like a business savings account and then other more long-term, like you were discussing you know we're not financial advisors but having access to your money for retirement or things like that. It's really important to have the infrastructure for short-term, medium-term and long-term savings.  15:52 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Well, especially because, as entrepreneurs, you're not necessarily contributing to a pension fund from your own business, right? There's a lot of people that we haven't even really talked. We'll probably have an entire podcast dedicated to retirement, but you probably are not thinking about contributing to a retirement fund, so this can be one step towards money that can go into that Although I do think that's another separate podcast episode that we need to talk about because I'm very lucky because I have a pension coming from my experience in education and my husband has a pension fund coming from a job that he worked for previously. So when we retire, we're going to have that money, and so I'm not necessarily contributing to a quote unquote retirement fund.  16:38 But I do have mutual funds through my financial advisor that I'm investing money in, and I have an independent retirement fund that I basically take $100 a month for that particular account, and I would recommend that as well for anybody that is not necessarily have a retirement fund, because all of a sudden, you're going to be at retirement age and you're going to be like oh, wait, a minute, I don't have. Where's that money? Do I have money in savings? Do I have that money in a fund that can help support me when I'm no longer working and most people say, well, I could work in voiceover forever. But I mean, look, I love voiceover but I'm not going to work in it forever. I mean, at some point my voice will crack and sound old and I'm going to be tired. I'll be happily traveling the world living off my savings slash retirement because I invested.  17:27 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Now so it's something bossy. You're painting a wonderful picture of your life, and I'm just like me too. That's it. That's what I want to do.  17:34 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I'm going to be traveling the world and it's because I'm thinking now about those things, right, and of course, in reality we should have been thinking about it and people tell you all the time, right, Thinking about retirement when you're like 18.  17:47 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) But think about savings.  17:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Best time to save and invest is yesterday and next best time is now and so, in terms of some people were like, well, I just don't have it right To invest in savings. And again, if you are in voiceover and you're living paycheck to paycheck, really consider thinking about that. You know, I mean, and I did it when I first started full-time in voiceover, I had a part-time job.  18:09 I worked my butt off contributing and saving and having a fund so that I could ultimately, when it got to the point where I was making more money doing voiceover, I could ultimately stop that part-time job, but I do encourage all of you if you are living paycheck to paycheck on voiceover, maybe it's time to consider a job that will bring in some steady income that you can put into a savings account.  18:31 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Exactly have something that will help invest, input capital into your life and to your business. This is a long process. Entrepreneurship is a marathon and you have to learn how to pivot as time goes on, and maybe that means that you need to bring in something that will help bring in capital to your life and your business. Maybe that's a part-time job, maybe it's freelancing, maybe it's figuring out how you can pivot to make money elsewhere. Whatever it is being able to have again, the infrastructure of savings around you is incredibly important because it's a long game and there's nothing wrong nothing at all wrong with having outside resources. That's bringing you in money outside of voiceover.  19:17 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Gosh, no, I mean I was just talking to somebody the other day. I always talk about my Chanel lipstick or whatever it is, but I love fashion, right, and so if I love something like that and I'm spending a lot of money on clothes because I recently did lose a little bit of weight, so congratulations.  19:32 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Oh, thank you.  19:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But I mean, what's wrong with finding something that brings me joy? So maybe I'll be an affiliate or I will do some form of my business that will allow companies to maybe send me free clothes or make some money off of the clothes that I buy so I can buy more clothes. So it's that kind of a mentality. And I'm still doing voiceover. I'm still a coach, I'm still, but I happen to love fashion. So I just added that kind of to my alternate. This is what Anne's going to do on her free time. Maybe I can make a couple extra dollars that I can put into that high yield savings account and have fun along the way, right? Yeah, so it really is. I think, up to us as entrepreneurs, right? There's nothing saying you have to do 24-7 of voiceover in order to have a successful business.  20:20 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Absolutely. What can you do and how can you do it that will bring money into your ecosystem, your business, your life, so that you can use that money to fund really everything else about your life. And that means also saving, because saving is really just putting money aside for future you so that future you can benefit. That's right. It's also a discipline too. For me it's been a discipline of looking at the amount of money that I have access to and dedicating some of those funds to my longer term savings maybe retirement or maybe, as you were talking about, mutual funds and investments but also to my business high yield savings account, to my business account, because I know that one day I will need access to that money.  21:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Absolutely, and a lot of times the banks will make it very easy. You can have it $100 or $50 or $25 or $500, whatever it is on a monthly basis, literally just streamed into those accounts, into your savings account, into your retirement fund, whatever it is, it can be done automatically, so you don't even see it. It's like when you worked for my company and they would ultimately take out so much money for retirement or whatever it is, automatically and then match that back in the day when companies did that. Very few companies do that anymore, but it's similar to that. So when it's taken out automatically, you don't necessarily notice it. So try to implement those things right so that you can contribute regularly and consistently to a savings account, so that you can have that money for when you want to go travel or retire from whatever it is you're doing.  21:51 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) I will tell you that automation is the way that I was able to consistently put the money in savings in the first place.  21:57 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It's hard when you manually have to do it, you know.  21:59 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Because it takes away the human element. The human has emotions about money and may not want to put that money in these accounts. Oh, so true. The automation doesn't have that, so it's going to continue to do what you've set it up to do, and actually that's how you get the result that you're wanting when you take away the human element.  22:16 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I love how you said that there's the emotional element to money, and again, we could write a book on that right there's an emotional element to money.  22:24 In so many ways. We have such a connection to it, whether we want to or not, right? I mean, it's how there's a roof over my head, it's how I afford this microphone, it's how I can afford to put clothes on my body and food in my body, and so there is a lot of emotion tied around money. So if you can make that emotion as painless and as easy, and even as possible.  22:48 Yeah, make it invisible, I mean. And they also say that one of the most frequent causes for divorce is financial right Issues and troubles. So if you can make it easy and seamless, why not? And a business savings account for me, having it taken out automatically, having my money grow on a monthly basis and being encouraged and inspired to contribute on a regular basis to it, it's a no brainer. It should be a no brainer, I think, for everybody that wants to run a successful business.  23:16 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yeah, and it's a tool to be able to utilize and run your business successfully. It's just another thing, it's another tool in the tool belt. It's a way to help you feel more confident when times are a little bit tougher, and it's a way to know that you can fund the business that you are running. It's invaluable. I love it.  23:34 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Absolutely. And again, we both decided early on bosses that we could just spend 27 minutes saying I love my high yield savings account.  23:43 - Intro (Announcement) I love my high yield savings account.  23:44 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I love my high yield savings account Again, not that we're trying to push anything on you, but we are not financial advisors. How many times do I have to say that to this time? But no, really, I mean it's the most amazing thing, because I'd been sitting there for years, like literally for years, watching getting pennies, like every month, in my bank account. I'm like what happened? It used to be the banks were like here, we're going to give you so much percent each month for keeping this money in our bank, and it just became a little bit different until, like you said, the online banks who don't have the overhead costs of brick and mortar, can offer those things right and again.  24:16 And my bank has really upped its game too, by the way, because when I told them about my high yield savings account, I said, well, why are you not matching that? And so they actually came up with because I wanted to have a business savings account as well as a high yield business savings account. Right, with them, they upped their game. So it's something you can actually talk to your bank about and say look, why can't you offer me this amount of interest? A lot of times? Banks, if they want your business, they're going to work with you.  24:48 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) So yeah, and also just educating yourself of what is out there. To be completely honest with you, for the longest time and for me, coming from a musical theater background I never, ever, ever considered what I would need to do to have savings for my business. The education for me happened from my personal life, for personal finance and then bringing that into how I'm running my business. But, to be honest with you, for me I wasn't even really thinking about savings because I was just looking at what was coming in. I need this money now, okay.  25:16 It kind of just kept cycling through the moment, but really stopping and taking a look and saying, okay, I can be the person to fund my level of confidence and security when I'm in an industry that is volatile sometimes. That is a complete game changer and it requires thinking about things differently, but it also requires educating yourself of what options are out there for you to be able to do that.  25:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And bosses repeat after us like I love money, right, danielle? I think the two of us could just say I love money, I love money.  25:48 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) I love money.  25:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That is our emotional attachment, right? We just said that there's a lot of emotion attached to it. I love money, and so if I didn't love money, if I hated money, it would not want to come into my life, right? I mean, I can't be hating things that I want to manifest, hating things that I want to manifest, and so I love my relationship with money. And at times, yes, it's tough that it runs the world, it's tough that I have to spend so much on a monthly basis to put the roof over my head or that oh my gosh, you know how much is food these days. It can be frustrating at times, but in reality, my relationship with money is to have a love affair with it so that I can manifest it in abundance.  26:23 - Danielle Famble (Co-host) Yes, and a love affair that is not fear. Yeah, because when you're running away from something, even if it's trying to catch you, then it really seems like it's just chasing after you. So a love affair and being open to it and wanting it, and wanting to learn about it, and wanting to invest the time into it. I love money too, anne. I think we I love money too.  26:43 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That's it. That's it. We can go home High-yield savings account and we love money. There you go, bosses. What a great conversation. Again, we could say this 500 more times, but I think you guys get the point. I'm going to give a great big shout out to our sponsor, ipdtl. You too can connect, network, make money like bosses and find out more at IPDTLcom. There you go, you guys have an amazing week and we will see you next week. Bye.  27:10 - Intro (Announcement) Join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host, anne Ganguza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at VOBosscom and receive exclusive content industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a bosscom and receive exclusive content industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution with permission. Coast-to-coast connectivity via IPD TL.