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Financial confidence is not only about earning more money.
It is about understanding where your money is going, making intentional decisions and creating a plan that allows you to build the life you want.
For Sloane Wilkins, the importance of financial stability became clear at a very young age.
After watching his parents lose a successful business and experience bankruptcy, Sloane went on to spend 30 years working across banking, business finance, financial planning and wealth management.
Today, through Executive Financial Coaching, he helps professionals and business owners close the gap between where they are financially and where they want to be.
Speaking with Antoine Vidal on Your Number 1 Business Podcast, Sloane shared the personal experiences that shaped his career, the lessons he has learned as a business owner and the practical habits that can help people build financial confidence.
At the time of the conversation, Black Friday sales were dominating advertising, inboxes and social media feeds.
For Sloane, these major sales periods provide a clear example of how emotion influences financial decisions.
Most people like to believe they make purchases logically.
However, Sloane explains that emotion often drives the decision first, with logic used afterwards to justify it.
Marketing is designed to create urgency, excitement and fear of missing out.
A discount can make an item feel necessary, even when it was not part of the original plan.
This applies to personal spending, but it can also affect business owners.
A discounted software subscription, office upgrade, marketing package or piece of equipment may look like an opportunity that cannot be missed.
The more important question is whether the purchase is genuinely needed.
A good deal is not automatically a good financial decision.
Before committing, Sloane encourages people to consider whether the purchase supports their goals and whether it could place unnecessary pressure on cash flow.
Sloane began working when he was just 12 and a half years old.
His first role was as a kitchen hand at Big Rooster, the business that later became Red Rooster.
He remained there throughout high school, gaining experience in a fast-paced environment built around procedures, teamwork and customer service.
By the time many teenagers were starting their first job, Sloane had already spent several years in the workforce.
He believes part-time employment can provide young people with valuable skills.
It teaches responsibility, communication, time management and the basics of handling money.
It can also strengthen a résumé and show future employers that someone has already developed experience in a working environment.
For Sloane, however, earning money was connected to something much deeper.
Approximately six months before Sloane began working, his parents experienced bankruptcy.
They had operated a successful business and were attempting to grow by developing additional commercial premises.
However, interest rates and inflation were exceptionally high.
Business lending rates reached approximately 21 or 22 per cent, making the financial position unsustainable.
The business was lost.
The family home was sold.
Several years later, the pressure also contributed to the breakdown of his parents’ marriage.
As a child, Sloane did not understand every financial detail.
He did understand that the life his family had known disappeared quickly.
The experience showed him how financial stress can affect far more than a bank account.
It can damage confidence, mental health, relationships, family stability and a person’s connection with their wider community.
That early experience remained with him and became one of the reasons he developed such a strong interest in money and financial decision-making.
Sloane believes Australians should receive more practical financial education from an early age.
Many people leave school without knowing how to manage a budget, use debt responsibly, understand interest or prepare for unexpected costs.
The purpose of financial education is not to make everyone wealthy.
It is to help people avoid preventable financial stress and make informed decisions.
Money problems often involve shame, embarrassment and self-blame.
Those emotions can make it harder for couples and families to communicate openly.
They can also prevent people from asking for help early.
Sloane believes stronger financial education could reduce some of these pressures before they become overwhelming.
After finishing school, Sloane entered banking and went on to spend approximately 30 years in the financial sector.
His career included roles with organisations such as Suncorp, Westpac, Queensland Teachers Credit Union, QT Mutual Bank and RACQ Bank.
He worked across customer service, personal lending, home lending, business banking, financial planning and wealth management.
Each role gave him a different perspective.
Customer-facing positions taught him how to listen and communicate.
Lending roles helped him understand debt, risk and cash flow.
Business banking allowed him to work with companies at different stages of growth.
Some were mature and highly successful.
Others were new, expanding quickly or struggling through difficult economic conditions.
Those experiences showed Sloane that businesses may share common financial principles, but the challenges they face can vary significantly depending on their industry and stage of development.
While working in financial planning, Sloane became increasingly aware of the gap between traditional advice and the needs of everyday Australians.
The financial planning business he led supported approximately 1,100 relatively affluent clients.
However, the broader organisation had around 1.8 million members.
Many of those members would never become traditional financial planning clients.
They still needed financial education, guidance and confidence.
In 2019, Sloane noticed financial stress increasing even though interest rates were at historically low levels.
He knew rates would eventually rise and that many households would face greater pressure when they did.
This led him to begin exploring financial wellbeing services focused on education and empowerment rather than product sales.
The idea came close to being launched within the organisation, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed priorities and interrupted the project.
The experience nevertheless gave Sloane a clearer sense of purpose.
Sloane had spent much of his life believing he would never start a business.
Watching his parents lose theirs had created a deep fear of business ownership.
Even when he saw other people successfully building companies, he remained reluctant to take the risk himself.
Over time, several factors changed his thinking.
He became more passionate about financial wellbeing and helping people who were not receiving traditional financial advice.
He also began feeling burnt out in the corporate environment and ready for a new chapter.
Working with an executive coach helped him reconnect with his personal experience and recognise that it could be used to help others.
In October 2021, he officially launched Executive Financial Coaching.
Like many founders, Sloane discovered that running a business was very different from working within a large organisation.
He had significant experience in finance and leadership.
However, he still needed to learn how to market, generate leads, define his audience and build the support network around the business.
One of his biggest lessons was that succeeding alone is extremely difficult.
Even a solo business owner needs an ecosystem of people.
Sloane found that community through Business Network International, commonly known as BNI.
The network introduced him to business owners from different industries who could provide advice, referrals and practical services.
It also gave him people he could call when he needed to discuss a challenge.
That support was important for the business and for his mental wellbeing.
Another major lesson involved marketing.
When Sloane launched the business, he was not completely clear about who he was trying to help.
Over time, he identified professionals and business owners as the clients he could serve most effectively.
He believes founders should invest in clear and targeted marketing earlier than many do.
It can be tempting to wait until the business becomes successful before spending money on marketing.
However, without visibility and a clear message, reaching that success becomes much harder.
Sloane describes this as a chicken-and-egg situation.
Good marketing is not something that should begin only after growth.
It can be one of the tools that creates growth.
Sloane also encourages business owners to speak openly about the difficulties they face.
Other entrepreneurs may be in different industries, but they often understand the same pressures.
They can share lessons about marketing, cash flow, staffing, customers and personal resilience.
Keeping every challenge private can make business ownership unnecessarily isolating.
Having honest conversations can provide solutions while also reducing the emotional burden.
As Sloane explains, many founders are effectively building or repairing the plane while flying it.
They do not need to do that without support.
One of Sloane’s most rewarding experiences has been helping clients clear all of their debt apart from their mortgages.
He has worked with people on high incomes as well as more typical household incomes.
The amount earned matters, but habits and decisions are equally important.
Credit cards, personal loans, buy now, pay later services and vehicle finance can claim a large portion of someone’s regular income.
Sloane describes income as the raw material people can use to build their future.
When too much of that income is committed to past spending, there is less available for savings, investment and future goals.
Eliminating unproductive debt creates new choices.
People can direct more of their income towards building financial security rather than servicing decisions they made months or years earlier.
Sloane works closely with clients through regular online conversations.
A typical coaching relationship includes a detailed monthly session, a mid-month check-in and ongoing messaging between meetings.
The purpose is not to catch people making mistakes.
It is to provide accountability, encouragement and support.
Financial change is rarely achieved through one conversation.
It usually requires repeated decisions and the development of new habits.
Sloane sees himself as a coach and cheerleader who helps clients stay focused on the future they are trying to create.
One of the most important systems Sloane discovered while running his own business was the Profit First approach developed by Mike Michalowicz.
Many business owners operate using one main bank account, perhaps with a second account for GST.
When the main account contains a large balance, it can create a false sense of financial comfort.
That feeling may lead to unnecessary purchases or investments.
The Profit First method uses multiple accounts and deliberately allocates a small amount from incoming revenue to profit.
Instead of treating profit as something that may be left over in the future, it becomes a regular habit.
For Sloane, the process created both a structural and psychological change.
It helped him see that the business owner should not always be the last person paid after every other expense has been covered.
He has since shared the approach with other business owners to help them create greater clarity and discipline.
Sloane advises new business owners not to overcommit when they launch.
A business does not need every possible tool, piece of equipment or polished system immediately.
A tradesperson may not need a brand-new vehicle and every available tool on the first day.
A consultant may not need the perfect website before speaking to their first client.
Founders can begin with what is essential and improve as revenue and confidence grow.
Large upfront commitments can create pressure before the business has developed stable cash flow.
Starting steadily gives the owner more flexibility to learn and adapt.
For Sloane, financial freedom means having the ability to live life on your own terms.
That definition will be different for each person.
It may involve working fewer hours, travelling, supporting family, building a business or simply feeling secure enough not to worry about every unexpected expense.
Success is not defined only by numbers.
Sloane believes it must also include physical health, mental wellbeing and the ability to enjoy life.
Exercise, reading, music, time outdoors, meditation and spending time with his dog all help him maintain balance.
Short-term financial wins mean little if they create long-term damage elsewhere.
Business ownership has involved difficult periods, particularly in the early stages when Sloane was trying to build momentum.
What keeps him motivated is the value he can create for clients.
Each successful client outcome builds his confidence in the service and reinforces the reason he started the business.
He also enjoys collaborating with other professionals.
Working with specialists in areas such as property and self-managed super funds allows each person to contribute their expertise while creating more complete support for clients.
For Sloane, business has increasingly become something enjoyable rather than simply a hard slog.
Sloane’s advice is to prepare, have faith and begin.
No one will understand everything before starting.
Much of the learning comes through action.
He believes younger people may have a particular advantage because they have more time to experiment, change direction and apply the lessons from an early venture to whatever comes next.
Even when a business does not become someone’s long-term career, the experience can build character, resilience and commercial awareness.
Those skills also transfer into employment and can help someone become more valuable within another organisation.
The important thing is to avoid trying to create the perfect business immediately.
Start with what is necessary, remain financially disciplined and build a community of people around you.
Sloane’s journey has taken him from witnessing financial devastation as a child to helping others create stability and confidence.
His story shows that financial success is not determined only by income.
It is shaped by habits, systems, awareness and the willingness to make intentional decisions.
Taking control does not require everything to change overnight.
It begins with understanding the current position, identifying the next step and continuing to move forward.
There is always an opportunity to build from where you are today.
In this episode of Your Number 1 Business Podcast, Sloane Wilkins shares more about:
Listen to the full conversation with Sloane Wilkins and discover how stronger financial habits can create greater confidence, freedom and choice.