How Do I Know If I'm Running My Business The Right Way?
How to make business easier (yes, really).
If you’ve ever felt like you’re working all the time but still not making the money you want — or like you’re constantly justifying your prices to your clients — this episode is for you.
Fi dives into the real reason things feel hard: your business model. She shares practical prompts and mindset shifts to help you create a simpler, more profitable, and better-aligned business. No jargon. No pressure. Just clarity and calm.
Listen now if you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start building a business that works for you.
Our Business Model Design Mini-Program is now open, and it’s just $495 until 30 June 2025.
Live training happens on 22 July 2025, and you’ll walk away with:
✔ A validated business model that’s designed to work
✔ Clarity about where to spend your time, energy, and focus
✔ Products and services your customers actually want
✔ An optimised marketing message that lands with the right people
✔ The confidence to raise your prices and attract better-fit clients
✔ Clear product–market fit for what you offer
✔ A more profitable, sustainable business — built on purpose
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Feeling underpaid and overworked isn’t a personal failing — it’s usually a business model issue. When your pricing, clients, and capacity aren’t aligned, the work gets harder and the results get smaller.
Your business model holds the answers. From who you serve to how you deliver your offers, a good model helps you confidently charge more, set better boundaries, and stop attracting the wrong clients.
Marketing isn’t the starting point. If you’re unclear on your value or audience, no Instagram strategy or email funnel will fix it — the real work starts under the surface.
Your capacity matters. How many hours you actually have to work (and how much you need to earn) are central to your model, not details to work out later.
You don’t have to do it all yourself. From bookkeepers to brand strategists, your model should include the support you’ll need to grow — and the cost of that support too.
Costs and cash flow are part of the puzzle. Especially for product-based businesses, understanding what it takes to fund your business is key to making it sustainable.
Your business model should be designed around you, not around industry trends, corporate templates, or what others are doing. You get to decide what success looks like — and build a model that supports that vision.
Transcript: How Do I Know If I’m Running My Business the Right Way?
Introduction
We’ve made a lot of progress as a society in the areas we needed to. But one thing that hasn’t changed enough is money. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, we need to understand the secrets to making money in small business.
My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people — specifically good business people like you. This is Money Secrets — the place to learn how successful small business owners think about money.
I believe small business can change the world. And to do that, we need to be making lots of money.
The Question I Hear All the Time
I meet small business owners all the time who ask me,
“How do I know if I’m doing things the right way?”
Sometimes it shows up in other ways, like:
“I feel like I have to constantly justify my prices.”
“I’m working all the time but not making enough money.”
These are signs that your business model isn’t working for you.
Your Business Model Underpins Everything
If you want to make more money, your business model is where we start.
Ask yourself:
What’s different or valuable about the way I deliver my work?
What do my best clients love about how I do things?
Who is the client that values what I do most?
Your business model includes:
Who you serve
What you offer them
How you deliver it
Why it’s valuable
How much it costs (to them and to you)
When this is unclear, you get mismatched clients and inconsistent income.
Am I Doing It Right?
There’s no single “right way” to run a business. But there is a way that’s right for you.
If you’ve been doing things on autopilot — reacting, tweaking, adjusting your prices or offers without stepping back — it’s time to pause and really look at your model.
Ask:
What are the 2–3 things my business needs to do really well to thrive?
What do my clients need to experience to become raving fans?
What makes my business different from others in the same space?
If You’re Working All the Time and Still Not Making Enough…
That’s a business model problem — not a personal failure.
We often need to look at:
Your capacity (how many hours or products you can deliver)
Your pricing (is it aligned with your time and skills?)
Your boundaries and scope (are you overdelivering?)
Your resourcing (are you doing it all alone or building a team?)
Your cash flow (especially for product businesses)
Growing often means needing more upfront cash for things like stock or support — is your pricing and model designed to accommodate that?
Who’s On Your Team?
You don’t have to do it alone.
Think about the people who support your business:
Designers, developers, photographers, brand strategists
Accountants, bookkeepers, money coaches
Manufacturers, suppliers, printers (if product-based)
Your business model should include space (and pricing) to cover the cost of getting help when you need it.
You’re Not Broken. Your Model Just Needs an Update.
If you’ve ever felt like:
You’re constantly explaining your value
You’re always negotiating on price
You’re stretched too thin
…it’s not because you’re not good at business. It’s because your business model wasn’t designed to support the kind of business you really want.
Business Model Design Program
If this is resonating, check out the Business Model Design Mini-Program.
It’s open now for just $495 (until 30 June 2025) and includes:
On-demand modules
Practical tools to build your 12-month plan
A live session with me on 22 July to answer your questions and review your model together
This program is designed to help you stop winging it and start making intentional, strategic decisions about your business structure, pricing, and offers — so things feel easier and more profitable.
You can learn more and sign up at peachbm.com.au
Final Thoughts
If you’ve never worked on your business model — or didn’t even realise it was something you could work on — now is the perfect time.
You deserve a business that feels clear, sustainable, and aligned with your values.
And the first step is getting clear on your model.
Thanks so much for listening to Money Secrets.
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a review — it makes a big difference.
Outro
Thank you for listening to Money Secrets. If you loved this episode, please subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a review. Your support helps us get these conversations into the hands of more good people who deserve to thrive in business.
We’ve come so far as a society in many ways, but money is one of the areas where progress hasn’t been enough. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, it starts with understanding the secret: money in small business.
In this podcast, Money Secrets, host Fiona (Fi) Johnston—Chartered Accountant, small business advocate, and impact enthusiast—dives into the conversations we need to have about money. The secrets that once stayed behind closed doors (or on the golf course) are finally out in the open.
Fi’s mission? To get more money into the hands of good people, like you. She believes small businesses have the power to change the world, and the key to making a bigger impact is to make—and manage—more money.
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Thank you to everyone involved for bringing this podcast together. We are excited to hear from you with any questions, feedback or suggestions for future episodes that you might have. Send a Direct Message to @peach.business
If you are excited for what’s to come, please like this episode, follow the podcast and share it with your friends. We are thrilled you're here.
Want to find out more about Good Money Club? It's for female and non-binary business owners ready to make more money and impact. Join us?
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This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and I'd like to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work and play on. I'd like to pay respect to elders both past and present, and note that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
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