Episode 426: Canna Campbell of SugarMamma
In this episode, Fiona chats with Canna Campbell about her journey into the financial world. Canna shares her insights on personal finance, investing, and how to manage both personal and business finances effectively. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
The importance of taking breaks and managing stress
Starting and growing her business
Challenges of being a young female in a male-dominated industry
Inspiration and challenges of starting a YouTube channel
Canna's personal experiences with ADHD
Balancing multiple projects and maintaining productivity
The importance of financial independence
The importance of understanding and managing superannuation
Strategies for personal and business financial management
Lack of financial education
Strategies for paying down debt and debt recycling
Investment through equity in homeownership
Importance of professional financial advice
Financial literacy and its impact on wealth building
Teaching children about finances
Budgeting and cash flow management
Challenges in creating and sticking to a budget
Identifying and reducing wasteful spending
Financial tools and apps for budgeting
Get in touch with My Daily Business
Connect and get in touch with My Daily Business:
Thinking about your finances is so important. And as a business owner, you can get stuck in just the business and you forget about your personal finances. Your business and your personal finances are two very different things, and they need equal tender loving care. That awareness, or if you've been focused on your business and growing your business to come back and go, what's going in my life personally? Is my mortgage coming down? Have I been putting money aside for my superannuation? Have I been staying on top of my responsibilities? That awareness is important. Don't neglect it. Don't let it fall down the bottom of the list. That's my number one starting point.
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Welcome to episode 426 of the My Daily Business Podcast. Today is an interview episode with somebody who has had such a massive impact on my own understanding of finances, and my financial literacy, both in my personal life and professional life. I know it's going to be so helpful for you, particularly if you're somebody who maybe hasn't always managed your money in the best way. Before we get stuck into that, I of course want to acknowledge where I'm coming from and pay my respects to the traditional owners and custodians of these lands, which for me in North Warrandyte is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
The other thing I wanted to let is that Group Coaching is officially open. If you're interested, please head on over to mydailybusiness.com/groupcoaching and apply as soon as you can because we do the interviews on a first come first serve basis. Let's get into today's interview episode.
Today is my absolute pleasure to bring you an interview episode that I did recently with the wonderful Canna Campbell, also known as SugarMamma. I started my business at the very end of 2015, the start of 2016. In 2016, I came across SugarMamma TV, on YouTube, and I began religiously watching every single video that she put out. And I have to say she was instrumental in my financial literacy. Understanding things like shares from the practical, like how do you buy a share through to what to look out for, how to grow your portfolio through saving what does it look like long term? And looking at wealth creation outside of what you just get paid in like a job or in your business. Canna is also an incredible content creator and has been able to build her business and her brand authority through channels like YouTube.
But she also has two books that have been Bestsellers Mindful Money and The $1000 Project. She also has two incredible podcasts that are super helpful and I'm often recommending, How Do They Afford That? and Financial Fireplay. I won't spend any more time talking about how amazing she is. I will just let Canna speak for herself because honestly in this interview she gives so many tips and insights and I just know that so many people are going to get so much out of this. We will be linking to everything that Canna mentions in the show notes, which for this episode you'll find at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/426. Here is my interview with the wonderful Canna Campbell of SugarMamma.
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Welcome to the podcast Canna. How are you feeling about life right now?
I have three kids, two of which are completely wild. You could say I'm a little bit tired, to say the least.
I hope. And then you're going to have school holidays soon as well. Do you have anything exciting planned for that?
I don't, and I'm trying, I'm burying my head in the sand trying to pretend school holidays are not approaching, which is not very responsible.
I find this school holiday for us. We are doing nothing. And everyone said you're going away. Are you doing anything? I'm like, No. And I reached out to my mother-in-law and asked for a bunch of help. I think sometimes you just have to lay low and just see how life goes.
I think it's good for the soul as well.
Yes, it is. Sometimes it's just nice to potter around the house, go to the zoo or do something low-key. I talked in the intro about how I came to find you and worked with you very long ago. I don't even know if you'll know this, but you used to have ad hoc sessions and I did one with SaaS Financial and you years and years ago, and then obviously worked with you more recently on your amazing budgeting course. But can you tell us how you first got into the financial world? Were you super into money growing up? Did you always know that you were going to become a financial advisor? And everything you're saying here is general as well. I should point that out but what were you like growing up and was this always your career path?
When I was at university, I had two part-time jobs while studying full-time. When I was at university, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but to cut a very long story short, one of my jobs was working at a bar and I made good tips, which was cash. And to cut a very long story, my father found out I had all this money sitting in tip money and he made me go and invest it. And then when I got my first dividend check, it was a huge aha moment when I learned the power of passive income because I didn't earn anything or do anything to earn that money. I was like if I could invest more, earn more, I wouldn't have to work. And that inspired me and I felt incredibly empowered. And then I realised everyone else needs to do this because money is a very emotional subject when not used carefully it can create arguments and physical and mental stress in your career. It does limit our choices. But when we have financial freedom, it opens up a whole world of different ideas and opportunities, one of which we have complete control and choice all over.
Then how did you go from, I worked in a bar and I got tips and my dad said, you should maybe do something with that money to then creating SaaS Financial, which I know you don't have that business now, but you had that business for a long time and then that kicked off. How so many people will know you now with your content and your YouTube channel and your books and all the things and the podcast, but how did you go from Let's Invest and I got my first dividend to I'm going to create a business in this and help people. Also being a woman in a very male-dominated space, when people think about investment, they tend to think of investors as guys in suits, white, and in middle age or older. How did you do that like a young female coming up?
I had this huge awakening and started investing and realised I wanted to help other people. When I was studying at university, I also started to my diploma in advanced financial planning. I was studying full-time, working two jobs and starting to study. I worked for a financial planning firm and I stayed there for I think just under a year. And then I moved across to a large accounting firm that offered financial planning services. Then I went onto a bank as well, I became a financial planner over a couple of years after leaving university, after doing all my studies and gaining education, training and experience. And then after working for the bank for a couple of years, I went out on my own and built this practice for SaaS Financial.
When you were talking about that, I'm going to take it back once you do so much in your business now. And then I'm like, have you ever had a break, I guess when you were just saying then you are working all these jobs, you're studying, you're doing this other stuff. You do a lot. But how did you first get your first clients? Or was it just referrals from all the places you'd worked when you opened SAS Financial?
When I left the bank, I told the clients I was leaving. They all followed me and no one owns you as a client. And St. George Bank at the time knew that, and I had built such great relationships with those clients, it was easy to track me down and find me. I followed all the right legal protocols when clients said, I'm going with Canna because I want to go with Canna. The thing with financial planning, it's such a personal relationship. So much about your clients intimately, their health, the quality of their relationships, what they're worried about, the security and stability of their work, and the satisfaction from their work and their career paths when it comes to someone leaving, it's quite organic to have someone say, where are you going?
Because I want to follow you. I was very lucky that all of my clients walked with me. I was very fortunate in that as soon as I opened up the doors I had people knocking on my door for me to continue looking after them. I've never advertised. It was all word of mouth, it was all referrals. And I ran a small practice. I didn't try and have every client under the sun. I was focused on the relationship of the client, not trying to get as many clients as possible because by having good quality relationships I never needed to ask for referral. They just fell in my lap, which is something I'm very proud of.
I can see how that would happen given even just the quality of the information that you give away on your various content platforms. Which leads me to, when did SugarMamma become a thing. Also, can you tell us about the name?
Chloe Morello is a world-famous makeup and beauty vlogger, I was her financial planner and she said to me, “Canna, you've helped me out so much. If it wasn't for you, I'd be in jail.” We had a bit of a laugh and she's like, you need to launch your own YouTube channel. I'd always armed and art about the idea, but never thought about it too seriously. I thought about the term sugar Daddy and I am all against having a sugar daddy. I think with the power of financial literacy, you can stand on your own two feet financially. If you could do that, why would you ever rely on any person or any institution just to be able to have that freedom and dependence in your life? SugarMamma is a playoff on the term sugar daddy you are your own sugar mama, you are your own trust fund baby. You are your own financial provider and it's focused around independence.
I saw you just recently as well, and there was someone on TikTok that did a post, “I'm looking for a man in finance.”
I know. Yes.
It's been turned into all these different, like techno festivals and everything is playing it constantly. But I saw you talking about whether can we get off this bandwagon or this trend that started like, let's just look for a rich man and we don't have to do any of the work ourselves. I agree with you. Then how did you go again? Did you ask Chloe, or how did you then build Sugar Mama into what it is from even your first YouTube video? Do you remember what you did and were you nervous or were you like, this is not I'm not someone who goes on TV or where did you start with the YouTube channel?
It was terrifying. If I look at my first videos, I cringe. I'm so rigid and uptight and it's so awkward. It's embarrassing. The thing is, I just started, and Chloe was supportive of me and encouraging and giving me advice feedback and tips. The more videos I made, the more and more relaxed I became. And now I don't even think twice about standing in front of a camera and talking and even if I'm out in the bat and I do an Instagram story or I'm doing some content creation, yes, I take a moment and look around and go, I look like an idiot. People must be thinking I'm just this narcissistic conceited. But then at the end of the day, I just need to get on and do my job. Whether it be sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen, typing a document out or standing in front of a camera explaining the importance of transference superannuation to save you tens of thousands of dollars in tax at the end of the day, it's my work and it's something I'm passionate about and it's something that I'm able to help a lot of people without them having to pay for it through the power of social media.
It's massive. You have helped me. I know that I first started investing because I looked at your stuff and even more recently after we had a chat, which I'll get to in a second, took it a bit more seriously. And now we're putting money aside every single month, my husband and I to put into our CommSec account and then put into shares. But back when you just started SugarMamma, you also wrote a book about six years ago called The $1000 Project. You've had another book come out Mindful Money. I think you're writing a third book at the moment. Did the book come from YouTube or did you pitch them, or how did that book come out? Because The $1000 Project is still being reprinted and it's like six years later anyway, I see it everywhere. It's still in all the bookshops, it's everywhere. How did that book deal come about? Was it a direct result of YouTube?
There's a bit of a story behind it. I had a publisher reach out to me, would've been seven years ago, and they said to me, “We want you to write a book.” And they put together the advance and the contract, and then all of a sudden they reneged and said, “We realised we can't do this because the financial book market is saturated.” I was so devastated. I was heartbroken. I remember being with one of my best friends and we had like a weekend away and she hugged me and she's like, it's okay. I was so excited. She said something's better behind this. I do believe there is something behind every setback, challenge or obstacle. She was right because about nine months later, the tables turned and I ended up with I think three publishers arguing and fighting over a book contract.
It got down to two major publishers and they ended up in a bidding war to get my book to deal over the line. And that was the thousand-dollar project. I signed that contract thinking, I've just signed a book contract, I had no idea what I was going to write about. The publisher that I was working with at the time was brilliant. She's like, “Okay, talk to me”, and I kind of in passing The $1000 Project as to what I was doing myself personally. She's like, “What's that? Tell me about it. I want to know everything.” She's like, there's our book. That's what you're going to write about. I wrote that book in 10 weeks. We had a tight deadline, but she just knew how to work with me. We had this incredible routine. It was all about momentum and maintaining that momentum so that I didn't take a break and lose rhythm. I just would write and write and then we'd catch up on Monday morning, I'd submit that chapter and talk about what am I going to write in the next chapter. And off I'd go. The $1000 Project is great for anyone who wants to start making better inroads with their money but just wants to start slowly and gradually in baby steps.
I should point out, and I hope it's okay to point out and we can edit it out if it's not but when I read The $1000 Project, I know your lifestyle has changed now, but you are a single mom as well. I feel like one of the things that I loved when I read it was it wasn't like, she's got somebody else there that's paying for everything and she can do all of these things. It was like, I'm doing this, plus I'm getting these a thousand dollars chunks outside of my work money. I'm finding other ways, and you're so good at this, like selling things that you already own or finding focus groups that will pay you for your time. Or finding these other nuggets of wealth creation that people don't usually think about.
I hustled my little heart out. Even when I met Tom, I was still financially independent from him. We were boyfriend and girlfriend. I wasn't leaning on him for financial support and still don't today. But I left no stone unturned and the moment I had a thousand dollars saved up from doing all these creative things, it was instantly invested. And that was the keys. I got it into the market before I got the temptation to spend it.
Yes. On that, even just hearing you now, like writing a book in 10 weeks, it sounds like you're a supportive publisher as well that would do that work with you as well. But you do get a lot done and you talk a lot also about your health and your fitness and you're always going for walks with your dogs and at the beach, and you also have these young children and you have two different podcasts. Do you have another one that I've forgotten about?
No, just the two.
That's huge. And you also have your YouTube channel and your third book you're writing on, plus the relationship, plus you're constantly helping other people. And I couldn't believe how much help you gave from the budget course as well. And just like, how does it all happen? Because you've gotta create content, You've gotta do these brand deals as well, which I haven't even mentioned. How does it all happen? Do you have an incredible system? Do you have like a million scheduling tools? Like how does it all happen?
I have help I have two staff members that help me and they understand how my brain works and it what's an efficient way. I'm constantly saying, let's not work harder, let's work smarter. What is the best way of doing this? When it comes to creating content, we do a lot of batching. I'll have a Thursday is normally my day where I focus on Instagram content and short-form content. Whereas Mondays it's focused purely on YouTube creation and content creation. Then on Tuesdays, it's often over at Nova recording podcasts. We focus on what we can do efficiently and I delegate a lot and I outsource, like I have two staff members, but I also when the, the workload is overwhelming I have a contractor that I say, “Hey, can you help us out? We're drowning here.”
I try and think about overall efficiency. I also mean like I have ADHD so for me to switch off is impossible. The only time I can watch a movie is if I'm sitting on an aeroplane on my own. I can't watch television at home. I struggle to sit still. It’s a curse, but also gets a huge amount done. I try and live a reasonably distraction-free, colour-free life so that I don't get distracted, I can get stuff done, but there are definitely days where I'm completely overwhelmed and I have a meltdown like I had this morning and when things don't go to plan, but I just try and keep my chin up and keep fighting and pushing through.
Yes. I think that ADHD you're so open about it, which is great because then I think other people I always think we've had lots of people on here who have autism or ADHD or other things going on. I have an incredible client who's autistic and talks a lot about running a business as an autistic business owner. I just think the more that people can talk about this the better. I know particularly for women, a lot of women are diagnosed much later in life and it makes things make sense. Did you feel that it made more sense for you and your life or, I don't know when you were diagnosed, but do you feel like it's, you said it's a curse and a blessing, but do you feel like it's been helpful for you to understand that about yourself?
Huge. Their diagnosis was a huge relief and things just started to make sense and I was able to then understand what that diagnosis meant and, and how to manage it better. It's been a huge turnaround in my life and in many different ways, but particularly emotionally because I would struggle so much as to why my brain would work in this way and I'd feel very, I wouldn't say depressed, but I feel like I was different and also a little bit broken that I didn't function like normal people do. And hearing that diagnosis, I'm like, “Okay, that's what it is.” It enabled me to then go and learn more about ADHD and understand why my brain works in the way I do. And going on medication was huge for me because all the negative self-talk that was going on because of the ADHD stopped and this very calm, rational, methodical inner talk took over and could see things for what they are and not take things personally. Also, understand when I was putting unrealistic expectations on myself as to what could be done in one day and what was the smart thing to say, you can't do that, so don't say yes to it or let's get this person to help you do that. It gets done on time. It was quite a transformation in my personal head space and in the book.
Thank you for sharing that. I know it'll be helpful for people and I think as I said, the more people that can talk about this and talk about it openly, the better for everyone. One of the things that is so good about the way that you talk about finance is that you bring it back to the personal. You're always like, it doesn't matter what you spend your money on if that makes you happy but look at this and this. And you do show a lot of your personal life as well as your family life and your wardrobe and everything. As someone who's like super committed to helping people create that financial independence and security and be their own sugar mama and their own trust fund and all of that, are there some fundamental principles and strategies you think that small business owners should employ to improve their financial wellbeing? If someone's listening to this, what would just be the foundation starting point for them to think about their finances?
Thinking about your finances is so important and as a business owner you can get stuck in just the business and you forget about your own personal finances. Your business and your personal finances are two very different things and they need equal tender loving care. That awareness, or if you've been focused on your business and growing your business to come back and go, what's going in my life personally? Is my mortgage coming down? Have I been putting money aside for my superannuation? Have I been staying on top of my responsibilities? That awareness is important. Don't neglect it, don't let it fall down the bottom of the list. That's my number one starting point.
The second thing would be is to have a look at what's important to you. What do you see financial freedom looking like? It's, it varies from person to person. For someone I might be, I'm happy working, but I want to make sure I can retire at age 60. What's the value behind that? It's freedom. I want to be able to travel, I want to have adventure. I want to be able to help out my family with elderly children or grandchildren. I need to make sure I have enough money for healthcare and any medical needs. Explore what is your plan, what do you want so that you don't waste time and you don't miss those opportunities to get your money working for you. This is where you start to think about, what are the goals. What is it I wanted in my life? Do I?
I want to buy a home. Do I want to buy an investment property? Do I want to start up a share portfolio? And why? Like what does this all represent? Because if you can tap into the mindset, this will mean that you have sustainable focus and dedication. And that's when you see results with your financial journey and educational path. What's the budget? How do I do a budget? What do I do with my superannuation? How do I make sure it's invested correctly? How do I make sure it's working for me as soon as possible so that I maximise the most amount of money in there for when I need to retire? All these things are important and need to be considered sooner rather than later. They're fun conversations. They're exciting. It's like sexy adulting, like taking life seriously, but also being intelligent and going, I'm so glad that when I was 33 or 43, I did something. I still took control. Instead of waking up at 55 saying I wanted to retire in five years, and there's no way I'm going to be able to achieve that goal now because I didn't get my ducks lined up properly.
To that point, and you make it fun, and I've told so many people to go and check out, even like you're manifesting money, manifesting stuff that you do at the start of the year, I don't know, I don't know how you kept up with day after day of doing all of the content for that, but there are ways that it can be enjoyable. It's almost like gamifying your finances in a bit like especially with say superannuation, what could I do here? Or let's get curious when you just said before that you wake up at 55 and you're thinking, I can't do anything. A lot of the people that I work with are in their forties and fifties me of them will say things like, I've never invested, or I don't even know about it and I'm probably too old.
It's like, “No, it's not.” I was just in a group coaching thing the other day looking at a compound calculator online and showing people things and all the stuff that I've probably learned from you over the years . We were looking at how much, I'm 43 and I was like, let's say it's another 17 years until I retire, let's say I do this and each month I'm doing this. And out of the group only one or two, I think one maybe had some shares and everyone else was like, I just don’t know how to do this. Like, how do you open it? And I was like, go and check out Canna Campbell's if she's got everything, but what advice would you have for someone who's maybe thinking of starting this, but they are in their forties or even their fifties and thinking it's too late. I know you've got a mentor, Peter Thornhill, who I think started in his forties, but can you talk to that in case anyone is reading that's in that situation?
Peter started his in his early fifties, but it's never too late. That is the biggest cop out. If you're telling yourself that the thousand-dollar project, as I hustled a thousand dollars at a time. I did start I think nine years ago, but for the last five years I've barely added to it and it's worth $285,000 today. And paying income of around $16,000 a year. That's money that I haven't, it's never come outta savings and it's never come out of my salary. It's literally selling things, renting my house out on Airbnb, tax refunds, selling items that I own, doing market research, doing surveys, taking on extra projects over a weekend or contracting work or freelancing work. It's all these things. I went aggressively for the first four years, but for the last five years, I haven't been involved as much.
I've still been, I've got a very small margin loan attached to it, which I've just been taking care of. But in that last five years, I've had two babies and I've moved house three times. It's interesting to see how much of the growth has been in the last couple of years. And that's because it it's time in the market, not timing the market. You just have to get started and understand about how to use money wisely, how to build money wisely. Everyone freaks out about something like a margin loan. My margin loan is very small in the portfolio. It's currently $39,000. It's a $285,000 portfolio. But at the time when I took it out and I told everyone online this is what I'm doing to build the portfolio, people were furious at me saying, that's irresponsible.
I was like, you don't think twice about borrowing money to buy a car. And that depreciates in value the moment you drive like the car loan. People don't think twice about credit cards. That interest rate is not of margin loan interest rate. It's almost sometimes triple that interest rate. It's this lack of education that there are lots of opportunities out there to build wealth and that's also contributed to why it is a $285,000 portfolio. In a process at the moment of paying that loan down as part of the overall strategy for the thousand dollars projects, I'm not putting any money into the market. It's more about paying the debt down. But what I'm doing is then using another strategy next year to gear against my home, which is called debt recycling.
That's where people can still own their own home and pay off that mortgage, but they use the equity to borrow and set up a separate investment. You get to invest and you get to pay down your home. It's a high-risk strategy. It's not it's for people who understand all the risks and have the cash flow and it's the right timing and all the right reasons. And they get advice from a mortgage broker and a financial planner to do this. But these are all the things that you and I and everyone else can learn about and find out whether it's right for you. If it's not right for you, that's okay because there are lots of other things you can do. Don't forget your superannuation is an investment portfolio. It's just locked away. Because The government knows we'll spend it.
It's fascinating, and I've had so many conversations with people recently about financial literacy and my son is 11 and a half and I show him when I go and buy the shares each month, I like go and show him like, look, this is the share price and then this is the green line and this is the red. I want him to have that because I feel like my parents did their absolute best. But we never talked about finances except for like, money doesn't grow on trees. I think that financial literacy is the biggest thing that is causing the gap between people, and there's so much free stuff out there. It's not like, only the rich get taught by their parents. You can get taught yourself on YouTube or your books or all of those things.
One of the other things that you're super helpful for people and you've helped so many people, including myself, is to budget for their personal lives. And you have a course on this now and you have a program. What do you think are some of the things that people should be taught earlier in life? As I'm talking about financial literacy and what I can bestow on my son and why do you think we are not taught how to budget properly? Because it seems like such an easy thing that high schools could put into year 10, 11 and 12 maths, but they don't. And we learn about random stuff that you probably never use again after high school finishes unless you go into a mathematics degree. Why do you think people aren't taught about budgets? And then also why do you think so many people find it so hard to make and stick to a budget?
I think it's a problem with our system, our educational system. It just is missing these basic 101 life skills. At a university, you learn how to read a p and l and a balance sheet and all these very important numbers and pyrosis theorem and we are just completely missing the basics, life skills that are essential. Of course, everyone's scratching their head and walking around trying to figure out themselves with not much direction or understanding as to what's the smart way of how to use a credit card to your advantage. Why it's so important that you pay off debt quickly and there are ways of reducing tax legally. I'm not quite sure why people aren't doing this. Knowing that there are tools available now, but is the relief that comes from taking care of your cash flow and doing a budget is huge. It's the starting place where you can start looking at serious, exciting financial goals once you've got your cash flow under control.
Why do you think people don't stick to one? I know when I went through it with you, you had some good tips around when in the week to look at your bank account and just these tips that we've taken on and even just monitoring way more what I'm spending on and I noticed even my husband bought me some Lululemon pants for Mother's Day. And I noticed I already knew that he'd bought them because he used the wrong account. But also two transactions accidentally had come out twice instead of once. catching things like that, I probably would've not even caught that if I wasn't doing this system that you've set up. Why do you think people don't stick to a budget?
Because they haven't been taught how to do it properly. People think a budget is writing down on a piece of paper, your living expenses. My gym membership is $80 a fortnight, my mobile phone is $75 a month. That isn't a budget, that's a flimsy piece of paper with an intention. That's not giving yourself proactive agreed boundaries to spend in that work for you and your value system. It doesn't work, it's useless. What you need is a cash flow system. That's why it's called the Budgeting and Cash Flow Academy because we look at what it is you think you spend and then we go and cross-reference it against your transactions to see the truth and reality of what your life looks like. But then we go, what are the boundaries we can now put in place the amount of people that turn out to a supermarket and just buy their groceries?
They wonder why they've got no money before payday. If you go to a supermarket going, we're a family of four or five or six and our weekly grocery budget boundary is $350, you'll walk through that supermarket being a lot more mindful of what you're putting into your trolley and making sure that you come in at that number or under that number because that's what keeps you in your safe boundary. It stops the wastage as well, which is important because we do waste a lot of money. I know everyone's saying, I'm doing it so tight right now, but the truth is if I sat down with that person reading thinking that right now, I guarantee I will find ways that they're wasting money on something they don't truly value.
Yes. Last year, I got scammed on my work card and it was a blessing in disguise because I got the money back, but also, they put a block on the card and I had to get new number and everything. And because I had so many subscriptions coming out, I wasn't even aware of some of the subscriptions we were using in this business that we'd been paying for years for even a few of them we don't use anymore. It was like, why are we paying for this? You can also just become so complacent as well. On that note with all of the technology and all of the different tools there, are there apps or different tools that you think would help people manage their finances more effectively? Or are there any that you use or that you recommend to use?
I do have a budgeting app called the Sugar Budget, which helps you work out those spending boundaries and the cashflow system. But to be honest, I don't believe in tracking your spending. Unless you're helping addict that needs that awareness as to how they're spending and needs to be made accountable, then that's okay. But for you or I, we're running our own businesses, we've got young children, we've got responsibilities, we've got projects, we've got deadlines. That is a huge waste of your time to sit down and write down, at the end of the day or at the end of the weekend. Where did I spend money for the last seven days? And how does that help you? Just basically in your the bolt, I would rather say to you, that your family grocery budget is $350 per week, and your mobile phone membership is this much. Your gym membership is that.
I would rather you do that so we can work out how to ration your money out correctly throughout your pay cycle so that you don't run short, and you have some money left over. Even better, we can look at those goals that you have put down and go, we can use that extra $50 per week towards the home loan and that will save you $7,000 a year in interest. Or we can put that towards your superannuation and help that catch up. That to me is the cashflow management that we need to make it easier to stick to a budget rather than going back and feeling bad about how much money we've just spent. It doesn't empower us at all.
Yes. Interesting in your perspective on this, when you hear so many things out there, you have been like, I know we don't really know each other, but I feel like you've been a money mentor in my life and I'm sure so many people who watch your YouTube and listened to your podcast podcasts also feel like that. Have you had any mentors or influential figures that have helped you shape your approach to finance but also to business? Because you are a businesswoman, you run a very successful business. Who has helped you?
I'd say financially my mentor is Peter Thornhill. For anyone interested in learning about shares and how to invest in shares, well not so much how to invest but learn about the power of shares. I would recommend reading Motivated Money by Peter Thornhill. It's just the most powerful book and it's a huge eye-opener for anyone who thinks it's too late and thinks that there are no options for them because he will show you how wrong you are and how much you can achieve when it comes to business. I find that one hard, but my partner Tom is amazing. He brainstorms with me, he helps me work out, where are you going to be with the business in six months. Where do you sit in three years? Ask those questions that make you explore consider and brainstorm ways of getting there where do you feel inspired to do something, what's an efficient way of building the business and where do you want it to take us? How do you want it to work? How do you want to fit in with the work-life balance and things like that? I'd say my partner is a huge influence.
I love that. What a supportive relationship. With your business, what are you most proud of from everything that you've done to date?
Helping people. People send me messages, particularly on Instagram screenshotting their share portfolio, screenshotting their savings or their superannuation or their mortgage or sending me an email saying, “Because of you I've just put my first place.” That is huge. And that's what makes me feel happy because I'm like, I am making a difference. I am showing people what, how powerful they're and how capable they're, when they apply the principles that I'm showing people and educating people around.
Yes. I mean you have literally thousands and thousands and people who will never reach out to you but have created a totally different life because of it. If people are reading this and are thinking, I want to get into this budget and Cashflow Academy, or I want to somehow connect, where are the best places to connect with you?
Best places? Probably Instagram, my podcast is How Do They Afford That? and SugarMamma’s Financial Fireplay. But if you need to ask me a question, the easiest way to contact me is through Instagram @sugarmammatv or @cannacampbellofficial.
Amazing. We'll link to all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much. I know you're busy so I'll let you go. But thank you so much for your time and also for everything that you've done When I first started my business, when did you start SugarMamma on YouTube? I'm interested.
Nine years ago.
I started my business nine years ago, so I feel like I started watching you very early on and even like the capsule wardrobe ones and like how to buy your design and bag and like what to look for, all these things. I watched it very early. I started my business at the very start of 2016. I locked in some clients at the end of 2015, but in 2016, and 2017 I watched a lot of SugarMamma and it helped. Thank you so much and thank you for coming on the podcast.
Thank you so much for having me and thank you for your kind words. I appreciate that means a lot to me.
Thanks. Bye.
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Honestly, I am so appreciative of everything that Canna puts out, and particularly for her coming on this podcast and sharing so much wisdom and insights and tips for anyone who's either looking to get started in increasing their financial literacy or scaling things or increasing just wealth creation. I think as small business owners, we can get so caught up in the day to day and not looking through to what life do we want to create after this and what does that look like and how much money will we need for those things and what other avenues can we create that income and that investment and wealth outside of just the business. I'm going to pinpoint two things that stood out. Of course, there were so many others and if you want to connect with Canna, you can either go to the YouTube channel, SugarMamma.TV.
You can also find SugarMamma on Instagram. You can also find Canna Campbell there herself as well as on TikTok under Canna Campbell. We'll link to all of those plus her budgeting academy in the show notes, which you'll be able to find for this episode at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/426. What stood out for me most out of today's conversation with Canna, if, honestly, there were so many things, so it's hard to just pinpoint, but the first was when she talked about her book and talked about breaking it down. Firstly talking about not getting the deal as she originally had thought and how crushing that was, but that it opened up the gateways for if something even better to come along and it was better. She had people fighting over the rights to publish her book.
I think there's a massive lesson in that. But the other part of it was just breaking it down and doing it chunk by chunk, but having a methodical way of approaching it. As I know, because I've just received the first advanced copy of my second book, writing a book takes a lot out of you. I love that she talked about, it was hard, but there was a plan and I talked to my publisher every week and we then looked at what we could write and then got it done. I think that same method can be applied to so many things in business. Instead of being overwhelmed by everything, you can just break it down bit by bit, small step by small step by small step. And then you look back and they've all added up so much. That was the first thing.
The second thing that stood out was when she talked about the idea that it's never too late. I think in business we can often tell ourselves that age does matter when it doesn't. And there's so many instances of people starting incredible businesses later in life, and I love that she talked about shares and Peter Thornhill that he started in his fifties. I thought he started in his forties. As somebody in my forties where I'm feel like I'm finally taking this a bit more seriously in terms of shares and investments and building something up for the future, it's amazing to hear that it isn't too late. So if you're listening to this and if you were listening the whole way through thinking, well that's fine. If I was in my thirties or in my twenties, or I should have started younger, the best time to start might have been yesterday.
But the second best is today. And that goes with so many things in business. This podcast, I think we are close to 900,000 downloads. It is listened to people all over the world. Thank you. I deliberated on it for years. I didn't start it, I had all these stupid ideas of why I shouldn't start and I just wish I'd started it sooner. But the thing is, I did start, and I think it's that consistency and showing up regardless of how many people were downloading it, that has helped. You don't want to tell yourself it's too late, I'm too late to this or I can't do this. We're constantly seeing people who start something and it blows up and they do well. Maybe not overnight, but in time a lot of the time with consistency. It helps.
If you're reading this, whether it is about buying your first share, whether it is building something for the future, whether it's starting a YouTube channel like Canna, it's never too late. Please take that away with you. As I said, all of the links to find Canna Campbell SugarMamma and the Budget Academy will be available at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/426. And of course, you can find Canna Campbell on all the social channels and find SugarMamma as well. SugarMamma.TV is the website to find all the things to do with Canna. Thank you so much, Canna for coming on and sharing all your wisdom and I can't wait to hear from you, our listeners, as to what you took away from this episode. Thanks so much. Bye.
