Are You Making Enough Money In Your Business? (EP#53)
Learn why so many small business owners undercharge, how your business model shapes your earning capacity, and why your thoughts and beliefs about money directly influence your financial results.
Drawing on 25 years of experience helping small business owners increase their income, improve profitability, and create businesses that support their life and their impact goals, Fi unpacks exactly why these issues show up and the practical steps you can take today to change it.
Listen to Episode 53
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
Why most small business owners undercharge: The myth of needing to be “affordable” is holding you back more than you think.
How your pricing affects everything: A small price change can have a big impact on your profitability.
Why you should raise your prices yearly: Not just for inflation, but because your skills, processes, and client results improve every year.
How unclear billable vs. non-billable time leads to underpricing: If you don’t know what your work really costs, you can’t price it properly.
What your business model actually is: The structure of your products, customers, value, and revenue streams, and why it's the backbone of your strategy.
Why “different” matters more than “better”: Positioning yourself uniquely is more powerful than trying to be the best.
How client type influences your pricing: The right clients expect to pay more, and your price is a signal that attracts (or repels) them.
Why money mindset affects your income: Your beliefs about money influence almost every decision in your business.
How to spot your hidden money beliefs: Your behaviours (discounting, hesitating, undercharging) reveal what you really believe.
Why you can change your money psychology: Once you understand your patterns, you can shift them and change your financial results.
Manifesting Your Money
Money Secrets Podcast – Episode 53
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.
Are You Actually Making Enough Money?
I’m not talking about “yes, I’m surviving.”
I mean:
Are you paying yourself properly?
Are you building profit?
Are you creating the impact you want to have in the world?
If the answer is “not really,” you’re not alone — and you’re not broken.
In my work with business owners over the past decade, the reason someone isn’t making enough money usually comes down to one (or more) of these three things:
Pricing
Business Model
Money Mindset
And the good news?
Every single one of these is fixable.
Let’s walk through them.
1. Pricing: The Lever That Changes Everything
Pricing is the single biggest financial lever inside your business.
And if I had to estimate?
At least 99% of small business owners are undercharging.
Not because they’re inexperienced.
Not because they're not delivering value.
But because they've been taught one of the biggest lies in small business:
“I need to be affordable.”
No, you don’t.
Small businesses are not meant to be accessible to everyone — they are meant to be valuable.
Your clients don’t come to you because you’re the cheapest.
They come because you solve a specific problem in a specialised or personalised way.
And here’s the truth most people forget:
You get better every year
Your experience compounds.
Your judgment strengthens.
Your delivery becomes sharper and more sophisticated.
But many business owners keep charging the same price year after year, even though the actual value of their work is increasing.
So here’s your sign:
If you haven’t increased your prices in the last 12 months, it’s time.
Not because of inflation (though yes, that matters).
But because your work is better, deeper, and more effective than it was last year.
2. Your Business Model: The Foundation You Can’t Skip
Your business model is the blueprint for how your business creates, delivers, and captures value.
And when your business model is misaligned, everything feels harder:
Your services feel messy
You attract clients who aren't the right fit
Your pricing feels “off”
You’re working a lot but earning too little
A simple way to think about your business model is:
Who do you serve?
What makes you uniquely valuable?
And how do you deliver that value in a way that’s profitable and sustainable?
Let’s break this down.
Who are your customers?
Your pricing only makes sense when paired with the right customer segment.
If you're attracting clients who say things like:
“That's too expensive,”
“Can you do a discount?”
“I’m just after something affordable…”
It’s not a pricing problem — it’s a positioning problem.
What makes you different (not “better”)?
There is no universal “best” business.
There is only different.
Maybe your difference is:
your deep expertise in a niche
your communication style
your method or framework
your speed
your obsession with research
your lived experience
your creativity
your team
Your business model needs to highlight that difference clearly and loudly — because people don’t pay for “generic.”
If you want help with this, Peach has an on-demand Business Model Design Mini Program, and it’s one of the most transformative foundations for long-term profitability.
3. Money Mindset: The Invisible Driver of Your Decisions
I usually call this money psychology, because it’s deeper than just mindset.
It’s a mix of:
your beliefs
your behaviour
your emotional responses
your habits
your family stories
your unconscious narratives
Money mindset isn’t fixed — it shifts throughout your life.
The problem is: most people never slow down enough to examine it.
So if you’re thinking:
“I don’t know what my money beliefs even are…”
Start by looking at your behaviour:
What do you do when you pitch your price?
What happens when a client asks for a discount?
How do you act when your bank account is high?
What about when it’s low?
Do you delay looking at your numbers?
Do you rush proposals because you want the client to say yes?
Do you freeze when it’s time to increase your prices?
Your actions reveal your beliefs.
Often those beliefs come from:
a comment someone made when you were a kid
the financial culture you grew up in
the stories you heard in adolescence
your early work experiences
a difficult financial moment that “stuck”
Money psychology is not about quick fixes.
But once you understand the thought → feeling → behaviour → result cycle, you gain power over your financial future.
Bringing It All Together
If you’re not making enough money in your business, start here:
Pricing
When was the last time you raised your prices?
Are you charging for the value you actually deliver?
Business Model
Are you clear on who you serve and what makes you uniquely valuable?
Does your offer suite align with your capacity and financial goals?
Money Mindset
What beliefs or fears are influencing your decisions?
How do you behave with money — and what does that reveal?
All three of these areas can be improved.
All three are learnable.
All three can completely change your business.
Good Money Club
Are you a female or LGBTQIA+ business owner who wants to make more money and create meaningful change? My 6-month program, Good Money Club, is designed to help you do exactly that.
We work on your pricing, positioning, business model, and mindset — so you can build your bank account and your impact. Read more about Good Money Club.
Final Thoughts
You deserve to make good money.
You deserve to feel proud of your pricing.
You deserve clarity, stability, and confidence in your business.
And you can absolutely get there.
I’ll see you next week for another episode of Money Secrets.
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.
________________________________________________________________________
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?
Check out my FREE Pricing Training you need to set your prices for profitability.
________________________________________________________________________
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.
Enjoyed this episode?
Subscribe to Money Secrets on your favourite platform so you never miss an insight:
If this episode helped you shift your thinking, I’d love it if you left a review — it helps more small business owners discover the show, and I read every single one.
Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Send me a DM over at @peach.business on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you.
Ready to take this work further?
Join the Good Money Club — my 6-month experience for business owners ready to earn more and make a bigger impact.