Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Donner.
Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Right out of college I worked at a big accounting firm where I became a CPA, then I moved through a few smaller businesses across a wide range of industries, always in some kind of financial or accounting role. Even with all of that, I never really had a true plan for my own money.
Things started to shift when my husband and I took a road trip across the county. We listened to a personal finance podcast for most of the drive and it sparked so many money conversations that we had never had before. Not long after, my husband started building his own tree service business and we noticed there wasn’t a lot of guidance on how to figure out what the business should be paying us. So we took some basic personal finance principles and started applying them to the business side of things, adjusting as we went along. I started to come to the realization that no one was really talking about that connection. There are plenty of personal finance voices out there and so many in the business finance world but nobody connecting the two. So that became the thing I decided to build. It started small as a side hustle while I was still working full time and then I had a big change in my employement situation and I am now able to pour more into helping other female founders.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Honestly, it’s been a lot of trial and error, especially in our own buisness and our own finances. But we’ve always tried to make decisions from a place of low stress rather than reacting to pressure. Our finances were really tested when my employment situation changed. That moment showed us the foundation we’d built actually held up, and it’s a big part of why I trust this approach enough to teach it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Emily Donner?
I’m a CPA and financial strategist, and my work sits in the space most financial advice skips over: the connection between your business finances and your personal life. I work with women who run their own businesses to help them figure out what their business actually needs to pay them, so they can stop pulling money out whenever they need it and start paying themselves a real, consistent number. Their life gets funded, and their business isn’t stressed out trying to get there. She’s usually a photographer, coach, or service provider who’s great at what she does but doesn’t have her own pay figured out yet. She’s not bad with money she just has never had anyone sit down with her and connected both sides.
I offer a few ways to work with me, from a single strategy session up through an ongoing quarterly container with lots of support between calls. What sets me apart is the tone as much as the strategy. A lot of financial advice leans on fear or urgency to get you moving, mine doesn’t. I built this brand to feel like a conversation with a friend who happens to be a CPA, no judgement and no such thing as a dumb question. I’m proud that the advice is accurate and grounded, not oversimplified for the sake of sounding catchy, while still being approachable enough that anyone can actually use it. I want readers to know that getting your finances in order doesn’t require a crisis or a personality overhaul. It requires a foundation, built one decision at a time.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For me, success is building a business that lets me show up for my family and actually contribute to our goals, not compete with them. It’s also about my kids. I want them to grow up financially literate and responsible, not by lecturing them, but by watching how we handle money day to day. And I want them to see what’s possible when you build something intentionally.
That’s the same thing I want for my clients. Success isn’t a number on a spreadsheet. It’s a business that supports the life you actually want and gives the people around you something real to learn from.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://emilydonner.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsemilydonner/
