Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in finance but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Shaneh Woods, Founder of Prosperity First, Inc., located in Spring Hill, FL, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I'm the founder and CEO of Prosperity First, Inc. I’m based in Florida, US.
I am the fractional CFO for ambitious, driven, and curious entrepreneurs. I’m also the creator of Money DesignTM, which utilizes a unique blend of your personal human design, gene keys, and my 28 years as an accountant and CFO to help my clients 2-3x their business revenue (some of my clients even 10x). I’ve helped clients go from $30–$70K a year to $300–500K and into their first (but not last) million-dollar year.

Simply put, I help my clients get to grips with their money in a way that is spicy, sexy, and fun! As the fractional CFO, my team and I do all the bookkeeping, accounting, and tax work for clients, so they’re never second-guessing their finances or worrying about how to budget, plan, or save for X, Y, or Z. The spicy, sexy, fun part is that I help my clients enhance and optimize their businesses according to their Unique Money DesignTM.

This is my one-of-a-kind approach to human design that I created, and it has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs create wealth and prosperity beyond their most audacious dreams. I help my clients implement only the most aligned tools, tactics, and strategies so they can make even more money and create a path to ultimate prosperity with delight, flow, and genuine ease.

Tell us about yourself

I never had a burning passion for becoming an accountant, let alone an entrepreneurial one! According to a long-running family joke, I came out of the womb counting, and then I happened to be really good at managing my father’s property management portfolio books when I was handed the duty at 12 years old. I honestly didn’t realize I had any other option for a career, and the entrepreneurial thing happened when I realized that no employer would hire a teenage accountant.

I was 19 when I got hired by my first client, a friend of my father, who needed short-term help because it was Q4 and they had more work than they could handle. Just a few months later, I bought the business and found myself running Interior Bookkeeping Services from a tiny office in the basement of a strip mall with 17 clients to my name. I had a potentially highly profitable business, which I soon ran into the ground—not because I didn't know how to do the work, but because I didn't know how to run a business.

I read all the books on business, marketing, and scalability—seriously, all the books. Then I transformed myself into exactly who I thought I "should" be to be a success. I became the stick-up-the-back, black-and-white (credits and debits), suit-wearing accountant. Anyway, after 2+ years of righting the ship, I had 80+ clients, five employees, a small house converted into an office space, and money in the bank, and I hated nearly every minute of it. I held the belief that if I wasn't working 80 or more hours a week, then I hadn't "earned" my success. I couldn’t enjoy it.

Today, I see so many entrepreneurs exactly where I was—following all the experts and doing as they "should," presenting a false front while hating their businesses. I know that this doesn’t need to be the case. You can do whatever you want, in whatever way you want to do it, and this motivates me to keep going today. To demonstrate to other business owners, regardless of where they are in their journeys, that they can be true to themselves while also running a profitable, successful business.

Here is a fun fact about working with me: I am as likely to pull a card, call on crystal energy, or talk about the stars as I am to pull out a profit and loss statement. It took some time, but I now strive every day to be the living embodiment of the idea that you have the freedom to do business YOUR way.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Honestly, it wouldn’t be the money I’ve helped my clients make or the money that I’ve made. My greatest accomplishment is the fact that my first ever client, whom I signed by myself in 1997, was my client until he passed away 25 years later. We grew up together. He saw me through each stage of my business, and I saw him through each stage of his business—from startup to growth and scaling.

It was the biggest honor to take a tiny, local hair salon and help it grow so much. I helped this client expand his salon into further salons in various locations, and this salon went on to become the most popular hair salon in Fairbanks, Alaska, and they won multiple awards. The fact that I was able to develop that level of trust with this client is by far my greatest accomplishment, and it’s a real honor to have so many clients who do stay with me for years, if not decades.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The most challenging thing that comes with being a business owner for me is knowing who to listen to and how to discern what’s for me and what’s not. Often, especially now that the online world is so crowded, a business owner will try to listen to all the big names and gurus simply because they see everyone else doing that. They’ll try to do business by the philosophy of others, even when it doesn’t feel aligned. This leads to burnout.

You feel trapped and alone. I’m speaking from experience! It’s really hard to learn to trust that you know what’s true for you out of all the noise. It's even harder to follow through when you’ve found what works for you, especially when there are so many people telling you to do things this way and that way. Being a rebel is certainly the hardest thing about being a business owner, for sure.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Know yourself. As I said in answer 4, it’s hard with all the noise everywhere, but it is vital. This is what I do with human design and money design; I help people understand who they are, how they were designed, and how they can most easily achieve that higher version of themselves.
  2. Implement profit first. This is a cash management system that gives a job to every single dollar, and it is utterly vital regardless of where you are in your business. With this system, you get paid first because your business is for you. I am no longer available for business owners to be volunteer workers or unpaid interns! Our businesses are here to serve us, and money comes into that. There’s a great quote I love by P.T. Barnum: "Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant."
  3. Get a money person. This one may seem a little self-serving, but it’s true. Get someone who knows money, business, and strategy to guide you. Not just for doing your taxes! You started your business because you have something you desire to share with the world. If you want to do that faster, more easefully, and in greater abundance, then have a money person. It doesn’t have to be me. There are amazing people for everybody. It makes all the difference in the world.

Bonus answer 4 - Find a reason to celebrate every single day. Celebrate every penny paid. Every contract signed every scrap of evidence that the universe has your back. The more you celebrate, the more opportunities the universe will give you to do so again and again.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.prosperityfirst.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shanehsworld/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanehsworld/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prosperityfirst/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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