Episode 92: From “Can I Even Afford You?” to Paying Herself with Mari from Market by Mari

Samantha: Welcome to the Creative Minds Smart Money podcast, where we turn financial confusion into creative confidence. I’m Samantha Eck, bookkeeper and fractional CFO for creative entrepreneurs. Each week, I’m sharing my financial expertise and actionable strategies to help you build a thriving creative business. Plus, you’ll hear from industry experts who bring fresh perspectives on growing your business beyond the numbers. Because building a successful creative business starts with strong financial foundations. Your next chapter starts now.

You’re listening to the Creative Minds Smart Money podcast, and today I’m here with the second of two case studies with Mari from Market by Mari. She is one of my clients and we’ve been working together for quite a while now, but we recently started doing monthly bookkeeping. So we’re here today to hear about her experience and everything like that. Thank you so much for coming on, Mari. How are you today?

Mari: Thanks, I’m doing so good, Samantha, and I’m so excited to share how our relationship has blossomed from — I think 2024 is when we started? Maybe 2023?

Samantha: Yes, absolutely. Okay, so first of all, when we first started working together, we didn’t really fully jump into bookkeeping. We started with my very basic package. And even before that, we were just doing cleanup and then taxes. So the question I have for you is just to explain why we didn’t start working together fully to start off with, and what kind of problems you were trying to solve at the time when we just started working together.

Mari: Yeah, so when we started working together, initially it was just to file taxes. It was my first year on Etsy and I was like, okay, I have a W-2 for my regular job and now I have all this Etsy stuff — I need someone to help me out. Thankfully you messaged me and that’s what started it off. And then 2024 wasn’t really, I would say, the best for my business or anyone in the industry. That’s why I didn’t really start working with Samantha initially, but I still had her clean up my books and stuff like that. And then last year, 2025, I think halfway through or maybe early in the year, I was like, one of my goals is to start working with you — not just in a catch-up, cleanup kind of way. The goal was to start that year, but we kind of split that up and I think we started working together last June on the initial plan. As my business grew, I saw a need to get help on the bookkeeping side because it’s not my forte. And I’d rather work with professionals that love to do this because I don’t love to do it. So I’d rather hire someone and work with someone who’s understanding and can also break it down for me in basic terms.

Samantha: Yeah, absolutely. And I remember when we talked last year, you were still unsure. You were like, I don’t know if I can really afford it. So I think what we started off with was the cleanup, and then you had me look at your books and say, okay, do you think I could afford it? And that’s when we said, yeah, based on what you had last year, you could afford it. And that was just because you were doing so well. You had FAIR going, you had Etsy, you had Shopify — all these things were coming in for you. And that was just so great. Without going too far into the numbers, at the end of last year is when we really shifted into the advisory stage and started getting more into CFO work. We upgraded you to Flames of Ascendancy, which is the mid-tier package — you get that video every month — and then we also added in the cash flow. Since we’ve added those, I know it’s only been a little while, but do you feel like you have even more visibility and insight into your business? I know we’ve already started you paying yourself, but do you feel like you have more clarity into what’s going on?

Mari: Totally. Before we started into this next tier, I was like, alright, if Samantha doesn’t tell me I’m in the negative, I’m cool. And now that you and I work on a weekly basis, I have more insight on what’s coming in and what’s going out. It’s really helpful and it helps me plan — like, okay, I can afford this amount for future launches, or I can afford this amount for photography, or to pay myself too. It has given me more insight into my books and not just, okay, as long as Samantha says I’m good, I’m good. It’s like really going in there and going deep.

Samantha: Yeah. And I think the biggest difference was when we start off with Ignition Point, we do a lot of PDF financials. And while they’re good, if you don’t fully understand what’s going on — and this is for anybody — to you it just looks like a bunch of numbers. And I think you actually told me that at one point. You were like, is that good? Is that okay? And I was like, well, there are ways we could go deeper, which is why we moved into Flames. But you are definitely a testament to the perfect transition into Flames of Ascendancy, because you went from wanting to know a little more about your numbers, to not actually understanding what was going on, to now being able to make real, actionable choices based on what I’m telling you.

Mari: You. Yeah, you. I just have a different level of comfort than I did a year ago when we weren’t working together consistently.

Samantha: Yeah, for sure.

Mari: Even just the videos you do on a weekly basis — that helps me out a lot because I get to see things broken down by month, versus every six months thinking, I guess that’s how it’s going. But now it’s month by month, and even down to weekly, which really helps me see when I should expect all of my profits from FAIR, my profits from Etsy, my profits from Shopify to hit, and then which week I have to pay my credit card so I should expect that to come out. It gives me insight into when my finances ebb and flow. Seeing where I was a year ago to now, I’m like, I have more of a grasp and I know where my money’s going than I did a year ago. So all thanks to Samantha.

Samantha: I love that. So — I don’t know what your plans are for expansion and things like that — but if you planned on maybe hiring help or someone to join your team, or even just help temporarily for an event or something, do you feel like you have the confidence to know whether you can afford that?

Mari: Yeah, definitely. And I think working with you was that test, because we did start off with just a cleanup, and then we upgraded to the basic tier, which is still great — don’t get me wrong, I still learned a lot. And then asking you, can I afford you for the next year? And then we moved on to that tier. So knowing that also helps me know that my business is doing well enough that I can actually hire professionals and staff. I think the true test was you and I moving to the second tier.

Samantha: Yes, absolutely. I love that. So what would you say to someone who might be feeling a little anxious about their numbers — not just in the context of working with me, but in general? What would you say to someone who’s really anxious about their finances?

Mari: I would say definitely invest in a bookkeeper or an accountant. Even if it’s starting off small, invest in it, because I see that as a return into my company. Now I get to see where my money’s going and where it’s coming from. I get more insights. It’s not just going into a bank account and hoping I have enough money at the end of the month. I would say just start off small, invest in your own business, and from there you’ll see the added benefit of working with someone like Samantha. In the future it’ll benefit you and it’ll help your business grow. And then you’ll be able to afford that person on a more consistent basis, or at a different tier. But definitely invest in a bookkeeper. I know it’s scary at first — trust me, I was scared too. I was like, Samantha, I want to hire you but I don’t know if I can afford you. But here I am, literally three years later from when we started. If you would have told me in 2024 that I was going to be working with Samantha on a weekly basis, I would have said you’re kidding. But here we are.

Samantha: No, that’s so great. Well, I really appreciate you coming on today, Mari, and talking through everything. If anybody listening has questions or they wanted to chat with you about working with me, would you be open to speaking with them about our working relationship?

Mari: Yeah, totally. You can always message me on Instagram — it’s @marketbymari. I’m based in San Diego, so I’m in California, but Samantha’s in Texas and we still work really well together. Always feel free to message me. I’m an open book. I’ve actually referred people and I’m always a big cheerleader for Samantha. I’d be like, she’s great, she has helped me out so much. So I’m definitely open to helping others if they have any questions.

Samantha: Amazing. And just so the listeners know, Mari is on the Flames of Ascendancy package with the cash flow add-on. So if you have any questions about either of those, feel free to ask her, feel free to ask me, and I can point you in the right direction too. I appreciate you so much, Mari, for coming on and chatting about your experience. And to you listeners — thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

Mari: Thanks!