The doors to Good Money Club are open right now. You deserve your own Board of Directors, and you'll get that and more inside this community for women business owners.

Business isn’t linear. Neither is money.

In this episode of Money Secrets, Fi challenges one of the most persistent myths in business: that success follows a neat, logical, step-by-step path.

Drawing on 25 years as a Chartered Accountant working closely with small business owners, she explains why real businesses don’t grow in straight lines, and why money decisions rarely come from pure logic. Humans are emotional, messy, and influenced by past experiences, responsibilities, and mental load, especially women who are often carrying far more than just their businesses.

🎧 Tune in to understand why “perfect strategies” fail in the real world, how money behaviour shapes business outcomes, and what actually leads to sustainable profitability.

What you'll learn in this episode:

The “linear success story” is a myth. Popular business narratives often show tidy upward growth, but real businesses move through messy cycles, setbacks, and pivots.
How emotions drive financial decisions. Even experienced founders make money decisions based on instinct, fear, past experiences, and current stress, not just data.
The invisible scaffolding behind many (male) success stories. Fi speaks to the unspoken support enabling some founders to focus fully on business, particularly female unpaid labour.
Perfect plans don’t guarantee results. A flawless strategy won’t work if human behaviour, motivation, and circumstances aren’t aligned with it.
Money beliefs from childhood still influence your business. The messages you absorbed about money can quietly shape pricing, spending, risk tolerance, and decision-making.
Common money behaviours founders fall into. Avoiding finances, overspending, hoarding cash, underpricing, or struggling to receive money, all patterns Fi sees regularly.
Expecting consistency sets you up for disappointment. Business owners don’t show up perfectly every day, and neither does the market. Success comes from navigating the fluctuations.
The difference between strategy and implementation. Plans provide direction, but habits, mindset, and behaviour determine whether those plans actually work.
How profitable businesses reduce life stress. Financial stability can ease the mental load many women carry outside of work, from caregiving to household responsibilities.
Why support and community matter for financial success. Safe spaces to talk about money help business owners unpack limiting beliefs and make clearer decisions.

💡 If this conversation resonates and you want hands-on support, you can work with Fi one-on-one or join Good Money Club, where small business owners learn how to make and manage money with clarity, confidence, and impact.

- Good Money Club (doors are open now)

Say hi: hello@peachbm.com.au

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We’ve come so far as a society in many ways, but money is one of the areas where progress hasn’t been enough. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, it starts with understanding the secret: money in small business.

In this podcast, Money Secrets, host Fiona (Fi) Johnston, Chartered Accountant, small business advocate, and impact enthusiast, dives into the conversations we need to have about money. The secrets that once stayed behind closed doors (or on the golf course) are finally out in the open.

Fi’s mission? To get more money into the hands of good people, like you. She believes small businesses have the power to change the world, and the key to making a bigger impact is to make, and manage, more money.

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Thank you to everyone involved for bringing this podcast together. We are excited to hear from you with any questions, feedback or suggestions for future episodes that you might have. Send a Direct Message to @peach.business

If you are excited for what’s to come, please like this episode, follow the podcast and share it with your friends. We are thrilled you're here.

Check out my FREE Pricing Training you need to set your prices for profitability.

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This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and I'd like to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work and play on. I'd like to pay respect to elders both past and present, and note that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.