Inspirational Women in Business – Casey

Working with women in business inspires me more than I can even articulate.  The growth, the struggles and the transformation of powerhouse women in business, it’s an absolute privilege to be a part of. And, being a bookkeeper, I get a backstage pass to all of it. I thought it was high time I introduced you to the women who motivate and inspire me! 

First off? Casey from Little Lifelong Learners. From Teacher to a bonafide entrepreneur who retired her husband (just WOW), Casey has bootstrapped, innovated and grown beyond her wildest dreams. Her mindset, determination and belief in her mission shines through every move she makes and being a part of that journey is something I’ll never take for granted! 

Without further ado, let me introduce you to Casey.

What led you to launch your business? What did you do before you launched?

Many years ago, I was teaching Prep which I absolutely loved. I had started a blog where I shared some of the fun things I was getting up to in the classroom and had a few simple printables teachers could purchase on a platform called Teachers Pay Teachers. 

When I fell pregnant with my eldest daughter, I lost my teaching contract and suddenly found myself pregnant and jobless! I decided to put some more hours into my teaching printables while doing a little bit of relief work…and the rest is history!

Over the years, my business has changed and grown in many ways. I still have an incredible audience of classroom teachers and family day care educators who use my resources with their children, but I mostly work with parents these days! I am so passionate about parents being able to slow down and use play as a way to connect with their little learners!

What’s one thing no one tells you about small business life?

I think a lot of the time, you go into starting a business thinking if you just make the thing, people will buy it! But there are so many layers to small business life and I think sometimes you get so bogged down in the other things like keeping track of your finances, marketing, design (to name a few!) that you feel like you never get time for the fun parts of business!

Was there a moment when you felt like you’d made it? 

There have been so many incredible moments throughout my last 10 years in business but the highlight was definitely being able to retire my husband from his safe and secure job in the trade industry! 

When I first set out to turn my little side hobby into a real business, I remember hearing all these wonderful success stories of women in my niche who were turning over thousands of dollars a month selling low ticket digital products and they were always so inspiring! I took so many courses and soaked up all the information I could so that I could keep growing my business and I feel so grateful that it’s sustaining a life we only ever imagined would be possible!

Tell us about one big win and one big learning you’ve had in the last year.

Coming through to the other side of a global pandemic is definitely a big one! It has been an absolutely crazy time for so many small businesses across Australia and to have made it to the other side is definitely something worth celebrating. There were many times over the last few years that we worried about paying bills and being able to sustain staff wages and contractor invoices…but I think being able to take a few steps back and really look at our books and work out what was essential for our business to continue running was such an important part of making it through to the other side. 

Sitting down and thinking about what we wanted our ideal life and business to look like really helped us to make some tough decisions in order to help get our cash flow back on track!

What does your team and cheerleading squad look like?

I think it’s so important for women in business (especially mums!) to surround themselves with a community of cheerleaders who get it! People you can lean on when contractors just aren’t working out or when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the day to day business life. 

Having a support network you can bounce ideas off can make all the difference! I love that I get to work beside my husband but sometimes an outsider’s insight can be so helpful haha!

Right now, we have a beautiful little network of contractors and staff who help us with a lot of behind the scenes things like Pinterest marketing, membership support, website maintenance and bookkeeping (hello team Accounted For You!). it’s hard to imagine doing business without this rockstar team of women by our side!

Why did you choose to work with Accounted For You? 

I remember scrambling and spending almost a week catching up on a whole year’s worth of bookkeeping before meeting with my accountant a few years ago. I had absolutely NO systems in place for tracking sales, expenses and cash flow and had NO idea how things were tracking financially. I had receipts stored everywhere and it all just overwhelmed me so much. I had some good systems in place for saving for tax time but otherwise, I was pretty clueless. 

My accountant gently recommended I chat with Lisa about setting me up on Xero but I decided to just hand all of my Bookkeeping over to team Accounted For You and I haven’t looked back since! 

I can’t tell you just how reassuring it is to be able to log into Xero and immediately see where we’re spending up big and where I might be able to slow my spending down a little haha! I also love that the team will flag any missing invoices each fortnight so I can stay on top of things and not be left with this huge, overwhelming task each tax time. There is nothing more freeing than knowing exactly where you’re at financially at any given time!

Thank you, Casey. What a pleasure it is working alongside you!

Connect with Casey 

Casey is a passionate supporter of parents and early learning educators connecting with children through play. If you love the sound of that (why wouldn’t you?!), follow and support her business!