I spent so much time in my car, on my lunch break, crying and journaling and trying to manifest a new life. This can't be it. There's got to be more to life than this. My name is Lisa Prudensio and I am an accredited financial counselor and personal finance expert. My passion is to teach people how to build wealth and level up. I'm speaking to amazing guests from all walks of life about how they found their passion and built something from nothing. Today on Cash Class, we are chatting with Dr. Danielle Richardson, an optometrist, author and the owner of fierce clarity, a holistic wellness company that sparked from her own need to find a better work-life balance. Our interview is sponsored by H&R Blog. Need help with tax prep this season? Online or in-person, no one offers more ways to file. Hi Dr. Danielle Richardson, thank you for being with us today. Thank you so much for having me Lisa. Can you tell us what brought you through this path of becoming a doctor of optometry? When I was younger, kind of felt like you had a few career paths, you could be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, you know. I ended up going to optometry because I worked classes in contacts, it was a great career path, to provide a lot of flexibility, and work-life balance, which is something that was always important to me. Being a doctor, going to any kind of medical school costs a lot of money. How did you navigate paying for that? Thankfully, I have Obama-Air student loans where there are different repayment structures in place. If you keep your FET loans federal, they have a higher interest rate, but they're forgiven after 25 years. The amount for giving is taxed as income. So you can pay your student loans on the front end, or you can pay like a big tax bill on the back end. I chose the latter option, and I decided to invest all of the money that I would be spending on student loan repayment into my business. On that note, tell us about fierce clarity. When I was in optometry school, I was super burned out, and so I decided when I graduated from optometry school, I wanted to go on a yoga retreat. I went to Bali, and while I was there within two weeks of being there, all of my stress-related illnesses cleared up. I was doing really relaxing yoga. I was walking a lot. I was eating a healthy diet, and it really kind of showed me the power of taking a holistic approach. As soon as I came back from Bali, I went to New York, immediately a transformation back into the way I had felt. So in 2016, that's when I started fierce clarity. I began my company as a wellness retreat company to create that experience that I had in Bali for other busy professional women. And then over the years, it's just expanded and grown. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey on making your business profitable? We started as a wellness retreat company, and then obviously during the pandemic, we couldn't offer retreats anymore. So we shifted into online yoga, corporate wellness workshops, corporate yoga classes, and active wear. It's definitely been a journey, but I think the biggest thing was being flexible and understanding that revenue streams can come from different places at different times, and to just double down on the ones that are working and not be like super attached to the ones that are not working. Those are great tips. Here are some additional tips before you start a business. Number one, develop your business idea. Define what problem you're trying to solve. How do you intend to solve it? What sets you apart from what is already in the market? Number two, create a business plan. At first, it doesn't have to be extremely complex, but you generally want to define your business goals and objectives, what resources you have, and how you plan to make money. Number three, do research and talk to people. Find people in your circles or in the specific industry that you're interested in and ask them questions. You can ask people for informational interviews, and if they're willing to give their time, you can ask them about their own journey, their struggles, and their successes. Number four, find business funding. Most businesses require some startup costs. How do you plan to fund the business, and what will the funds be used for? Number five, financially prepare. Not all businesses make a profit in their first few years, sometimes even longer. Think about how you can set up your personal finances in a way that will relieve stress as you get your business up and running. So starting Lean in a business is great, and at some point you want to start outsourcing. Where did you get that idea to start outsourcing for your business? It was definitely my mom. She always taught me to pay for convenience, like she would say, it was in worth the investment to pay to get your apartment clean, so you can use the time to study. So when something becomes too time consuming in the business, that's when it's time to outsource it. I used H&R Block when I was filing my taxes at the beginning of my career, and H&R Block software to kind of help me fill out the forms. And it was really easy to navigate, and the software made it really simple. On that note, here are some signs that you may want to consider utilizing help with your taxes. Number one, your tax situation is complex. The more money you make and the more assets you acquire, your taxes may simply be too much to handle on your own. Number two, you don't keep tabs on tax policies. And why would you? Tax laws are complex. Professionals have knowledge and experience in navigating all those intricacies with the ever-changing tax code. Number three, you don't have time. But keeping, tracking expenses, and filing your taxes are all time consuming. If you want to save your time and energy doing the things you love, it might be time to hire professional help. Number four, you want peace of mind. Number four, you want peace of mind. Not only does having a professional help relieve time and stress when it comes to taxes, but you also know that someone has your back if you ever get audited by the IRS. H&R Block has audit support guarantee. Whether you do your own taxes online or have a tax professional file for you, H&R Block guarantees 100% accuracy and your max refund or your money back. What is next for you and your business? We are expanding. I talk a lot about self care and self care routines. And so really thinking about branching into offering home goods and products that will help support your self care journey. So as fierce clarity, the universe expands. We keep expanding our offerings that we're able to take care of the whole person, mind, body, and spirit. You have dropped so many gems in this conversation. I really appreciate you talking to me today. Thanks for having me. This was such an inspiring conversation and I loved it. Be sure to check out our other Cash Class episodes. See you next time.