What if your impact was something you actually measured? And what does it really mean to be an impact-led business? This episode will help you become more intentional about defining, measuring, and growing your impact.

In this episode of Money Secrets, Fi challenges purpose-led founders to stop using "impact" as a vague buzzword and start defining, measuring, and reporting the change they're trying to create.

Listen to Episode 75

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why every purpose-led business needs to define its impact. Learn why simply calling yourself "purpose-led" isn't enough and why clarity matters.
Why measuring impact is just as important as measuring financial performance. Discover why impact deserves the same attention as revenue, profit, growth, and cash flow.
How to create an impact report for your business. Explore how tracking meaningful metrics can help you better understand the change you're creating.
Why impact looks different for every business. Understand why your impact doesn't need to resemble that of a charity or social enterprise to be valuable.
How to choose the right impact metrics. Learn how to identify the outcomes that genuinely reflect your mission and values.
Impact report revealed. Hear how Fi measures the impact created through clients, education, podcasting, Ripple Festival, supplier spending, charitable giving, and community initiatives.
Why investing in other small businesses creates meaningful impact. Discover how your spending decisions can strengthen the wider small business ecosystem.
How education becomes a powerful form of impact. Learn why sharing knowledge through podcasts, newsletters, masterclasses, and training contributes to long-term positive change.
Why your business decisions shape your impact. Balancing client work, personal wellbeing, and larger purpose-driven projects influences both financial sustainability and social impact.
How to create your own theory of change. Learn how articulating the change you want to create gives your business greater focus, purpose, and direction.
Why making more money helps you create more impact. Financial sustainability allows purpose-led businesses to continue serving their communities and growing their mission.

16 years of impact (EP#75)

Introduction

We've made a lot of progress as a society in many areas, but one thing that hasn’t changed enough is our relationship with 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.

The more we talk about money — especially the secrets that usually stay behind closed doors or on the golf course — the more empowered we become. My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically business owners like you.

Because I believe small business can change the world. And to do that, we need to be making more money.

Acknowledgement of Country

This episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. 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 pay my respects to Elders past and present, and recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

Why Every Purpose-Led Business Needs an Impact Report

What does it actually mean to be a purpose-led business?

It's a phrase that's everywhere. Businesses proudly describe themselves as "purpose-led" or "impact-driven," but far fewer can clearly explain what that purpose is—or how they're measuring whether they're achieving it.

In this episode of Money Secrets, Fi Johnston challenges small business owners to move beyond good intentions and start treating impact as something that deserves the same attention as revenue, profit and cash flow.

Because if your business exists to create positive change, shouldn't you be measuring that too?

Stop Being So Vague About Impact

One of Fi's biggest frustrations is hearing businesses describe themselves as purpose-led without ever defining what that actually means.

While financial metrics are tracked religiously, impact often remains something businesses simply hope they're creating.

The reality is that impact can—and should—be measured.

It might not be as straightforward as reading a profit and loss statement, but it's no less important. Whether you're a social enterprise, a charity or a small business, understanding the change you're trying to create gives your work direction and meaning.

Instead of asking, "Are we purpose-led?" try asking:

What change are we actually trying to create?
How will we know if we're making progress?
What metrics matter to us?

Those answers will look different for every business—and that's exactly the point.

Your Impact Doesn't Have to Look Like Everyone Else's

When Ripple Festival released its first impact report, not everyone agreed with how Fi and co-founder Mia measured their success.

Some people argued that "real" impact should involve things like planting trees, donating to charities or providing meals for vulnerable communities.

But impact isn't one-size-fits-all.

Ripple Festival exists to strengthen Australia's small business community. For Fi and Mia, success looked like:

Investing money back into small businesses.
Paying speakers and suppliers fairly.
Creating opportunities for business owners to be seen.
Sponsoring tickets for people who otherwise couldn't attend.

Those outcomes directly aligned with the mission they set out to achieve.

Your impact should be measured against the change you want to create—not someone else's definition of purpose.

Peach Business 2026 Impact Report

Each financial year, Fi creates an Impact Report for Peach Business to understand how her work contributes to the wider community.

Here are some of the highlights from the 2026 financial year.

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Supporting Small Business

During the year, Peach Business worked with 59 clients, including 50 members of the Good Money Club.

Although this represented fewer one-on-one clients than previous years, it reflected an intentional shift in focus to deliver Ripple Festival.

Looking back, Fi openly shares that reducing her client workload quite so significantly wasn't the right decision for her business—a reminder that even purpose-driven decisions deserve honest reflection.

Investing Back Into Australian Businesses

One of the strongest measures of impact for Peach Business is where its money goes.

Over the financial year:

$65,000 was invested into 19 Australian small businesses.

This included podcast production, administration support, graphic design, studio hire, website development, training and other specialist services.

Rather than trying to do everything herself, Fi intentionally reinvests revenue into other businesses, creating a ripple effect through the small business economy.

Giving Through Philanthropy

Alongside business investments, Peach Business donated $1,800 to charities including Children's Ground and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Fi also dedicated time to peaceful activism, participating in community protests supporting Palestine throughout the year.

While the donation total was lower than previous years due to the demands of Ripple Festival, it remained an important part of the business's broader impact.

Ripple Festival's Growing Ripple Effect

Producing two Ripple Festivals in one financial year was one of the biggest contributors to Peach Business's overall impact.

Across both festivals, the team:

Invested more than $250,000 into Australian small businesses.
Put over 40 small business owners on stage.
Sponsored tickets for people from marginalised communities.
Created an event centred on ethical business, inclusion and collaboration.

It was an enormous undertaking.

Fi openly acknowledges that both her own business and her wellbeing were stretched throughout the process—but despite the challenges, she's incredibly proud of the impact Ripple Festival created.

Education Is Part of the Mission

Impact doesn't only happen through spending money.

Sharing knowledge is another way Fi creates meaningful change.

Throughout the year she:

Delivered business education for organisations including Mums & Co., the City of Sydney, the City of Maribyrnong and Global Sisters.
Published 42 editions of the Peach Weekly newsletter.
Released 43 Money Secrets podcast episodes, downloaded more than 5,000 times around the world.
Created 163 Instagram posts designed to educate and support small business owners.

Every article, podcast episode, email and workshop contributes to Fi's larger mission of helping good business owners become more profitable so they can create even more positive impact.

What's Your Theory of Change?

One concept Fi encourages every purpose-led business owner to develop is a Theory of Change.

In simple terms, it's a statement that explains how your work creates the outcomes you're aiming for.

For Peach Business, it looks something like this:

By providing education, financial knowledge and business strategy to small business owners, they become more profitable—and with greater profitability comes greater capacity to create positive impact.

Your own Theory of Change doesn't need to be complicated.

It simply needs to answer one important question:

How does the work you do make the world a little better?

Once you can answer that, you'll be in a much stronger position to measure whether you're actually achieving it.

Final thoughts

Purpose without measurement is simply intention.

Whether your business supports local communities, champions environmental causes, creates jobs, or helps other businesses thrive, your impact deserves to be recognised, tracked and celebrated.

An Impact Report isn't about proving your worth to others.

It's about holding yourself accountable to the mission you've chosen—and reminding yourself that the work you're doing is making a difference.

Because when good business owners make more money, they gain the capacity to create even greater impact.

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.

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