Having your own business opens up many opportunities for freedom in your life. Whether that be freedom to make your own schedule, financial freedom, or the freedom to pursue your passions. When you’re first starting out with your business, or if you are considering scaling, there are ways to build #financialfreedom directly into your business model. Today, Natalie Cook, CEO of Copper8 Strategies, LLC, joins host Ben Easter to discuss how to simplify your business, how to scale, when to hire, and how to achieve financial freedom.It is important to determine your contribution margin analysis and then work backwards from there. Once you know how much money you need to spend to make each dollar, then you can use those numbers to make hiring decisions. Knowing your bottom line along with your overall business goal allows you to build that in from the beginning. When making hiring decisions, you can use these numbers to see how each hire will impact your bottom line. Consider bringing on a 1099 contractor at first to ensure the perfect fit for the position.If you are ready to start or scale your business, getting clear on the numbers will be a huge help to making smart decisions. When you know how much you need to make each month in order to cover your expenses and pay yourself market rate, then you can work backwards toward the ultimate goal of financial freedom.Quotes“You should think about a financial adviser whether it's a formal CFO or just somebody who understands finance when you start.” (4:47-4:53 | Natalie)“Let's focus on the bottom line first. What is that supposed to look like? Profit.” (7:55-7:59 | Natalie) “I'd rather grow a business slowly that's profitable, that's a little more conservative in its growth, versus getting on the cover of Forbes because I made all this fantastic growth, but I was miserable and really wasn't taking home as much pay.” (18:31-18:49 | Natalie)“Every hire should impact revenue to some degree, either seen or unseen.” (23:07-23:13 | Natalie)LinksConnect with Natalie Cook:Website: https://www.copper8strategies.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooknatalie/Website: www.financefightclub.comConnect with Ben:Website: https://lucidshiftcoaching.com/Lucid Shift Coaching IG: https://www.instagram.com/lucid_shift_coaching/Project Candlelight: https://airtable.com/shr5p0P2793RtRk2kPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.