Crystal's Blog

Ben was sitting on $20k in inventory and couldn't pay his rent.

He ran an online supplements company; protein powders, collagen blends, vitamin stacks. The formulas were solid and his audience truste...

Maria made beautiful candles. Her customers raved about the scents, the packaging, the experience. Her sales were steady, and her shelves were always stocked. She charged $18 per candle, thinking she ...

“I made over $200,000 last year.” Laura said this to me with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Then she looked at the floor.

“But… I still can’t figure out how to pay myself consistently.”
“I’m alwa...

Edward runs a small printing shop. Custom orders, quick turnarounds, solid craftsmanship. He’s been in business just over a year and hustles hard to keep clients happy. When we first met, he told me, ...

Shiela was working 16-hour days and felt like her world was falling apart.

While her business was growing and her clients were happy about her always being available, her house felt like a war zone. ...

Logan thought everything was going fine, until we found a $17,000 mistake.

He owned a small but growing video production company. He didn’t have a bookkeeper. He had spreadsheets. A Stripe account. A...

I didn’t just struggle with calculus. I failed it. Big, red “F,” and had to retake the class to get my degree.

It wrecked me because I thought that grade meant I wasn’t smart enough to run a business...

Melissa hired a CPA and thought her financials were covered. She was running a busy e-commerce skincare brand, doing close to $500K in annual sales. Her accountant handled her taxes, sent her a neat l...

One random day, without a dramatic moment or a big breakthrough, I simply decided:
I was done dimming my light to make other people comfortable.

I had spent years shrinking.
Keeping my ideas to mysel...

I may not be the smartest person in the room,
but I’ve got grit for days.

I didn’t build my life on easy steps, filled with sunshine and rainbows.
I didn’t have a financial safety net or magical timi...

Eric didn’t think much about his bookkeeping, he never looked at his books but everything started slipping.

He ran a successful landscaping company with 8 employees, 6 trucks, and steady revenue. On ...