What Does Work

If you’ve ever avoided opening your business bank account for weeks, felt your stomach drop at the word “invoice,” or found yourself doing literally anything else instead of reconciling your books — you’ve probably also gotten the advice to “just look at your numbers more often.”
For a lot of business owners, that advice works fine. For others, it doesn’t — and it’s not because they lack discipline, intelligence, or business savvy. It’s because the standard advice was never designed with their brain in mind.

The Piece Most Money Advice Misses

Most financial guidance assumes a fairly linear relationship between knowing and doing: learn the budgeting method, apply the budgeting method, feel more in control. But for many business owners — especially those who are neurodivergent, introverted, or simply wired for a lot of internal noise — money avoidance isn’t a knowledge gap. It’s a nervous system response.

When a task is emotionally loaded (and for small business owners, money almost always is — it’s tangled up with worth, survival, and identity), the brain can treat it the same way it treats any other threat: freeze, avoid, or numb out. That’s not a character flaw. It’s biology doing what biology does. The problem is that most financial advice tries to solve a nervous-system problem with a spreadsheet solution.
This matters for every business owner, not just those who identify as neurodivergent. Anyone who’s ever “known better” and still avoided their books has run into this gap between knowing and doing.

Three Shifts That Actually Help

1. Lower the stakes of looking. Most people avoid their numbers because looking feels like a verdict — proof they’re behind, failing, or bad at this. One practical fix: separate looking from deciding. Set a recurring 10-minute “money glance” — not a full review, just a look — where the only job is to observe, not to fix or judge anything. Removing the pressure to immediately act on what you see makes the looking itself much less threatening, and looking regularly is what actually builds financial awareness over time.

2. Match the system to your actual working style, not the “ideal” one. A detailed monthly budget with twelve categories is a great tool — for someone who has the bandwidth to maintain twelve categories. For someone whose attention is already stretched thin running a business, it often becomes one more thing to fail at. A simpler structure — even three broad buckets like operating, taxes, and pay yourself — tracked consistently will outperform an elaborate system abandoned after three weeks. The best financial system is the one you’ll actually use, not the one that looks the most sophisticated on paper.

3. Build in a re-entry ritual after avoidance, not just a prevention plan. Most financial advice focuses entirely on preventing avoidance in the first place. But avoidance happens — an overwhelming season, a health flare, a hard month — and what determines long-term financial health isn’t whether you ever avoid your numbers; it’s how quickly and how gently you return to them. A simple re-entry ritual (a specific day, a specific low-stakes first step, permission to skip the self-blame) shortens the gap between “I fell off” and “I’m back.”

A Composite Example

Consider a hypothetical: a service-based business owner — call her Dana — who ran a profitable consulting business but hadn’t opened her business banking app in six weeks. She wasn’t reckless with money; she was avoidant of a feeling. Every time she thought about logging in, she anticipated dread before she’d even seen a number.

The shift that helped wasn’t a new budgeting app. It was permission to look without deciding anything, on a fixed weekly ten-minute check-in, with a simple written script: “I am just looking. I do not have to fix anything today.” Within a month, the check-ins had gone from a source of dread to a fairly neutral part of her week — and only then was she able to make the bigger structural decisions (adjusting pricing, setting aside quarterly taxes) that had felt impossible while she was still avoiding the account altogether.

What This Means for You

If you’ve tried the standard budgeting advice and it hasn’t stuck, that’s useful information — not evidence that you’re bad with money. It likely means the system was solving the wrong problem. Before adopting a new financial tool, it’s worth asking:

Does this require me to feel calm and resourced before I can use it? (If so, build in a lower-stakes entry point.)

Is this system as simple as I can tolerate on my hardest week, not just my best one?

Do I have a plan for getting back in after I inevitably fall out of the habit — or only a plan for never falling out in the first place?

Financial confidence isn’t built by willpower alone. It’s built by systems that account for how you actually function — including on the weeks when looking at your numbers is the last thing you want to do.

Stephanie Olano is an ADHD-affirming money coach who helps business owners stop avoiding their finances.

Stephanie Olano
CEO & Founder
Awkward Money
stephanie@awkwardmoney.com
www.awkwardmoney.com
LinkedIn

After 15 years as a CRNA in a high-stress hospital setting, Elizabeth Greenfield left to build her own functional medicine practice, expecting entrepreneurship to bring relief. Instead, her stress compounded, and lab testing at age 45 revealed her biological age had climbed to 102, more than double her chronological age. Despite years of teaching clients to listen to their bodies, she found herself overriding her own signals in the name of urgency.

This article traces her journey from burnout to reversing her biological age to 37 (now at 48), and the mindset shift that made it possible: recovery isn’t a reward for finishing the work; it’s part of the strategy. She shares simple, practical “micro-moments” for nervous system recovery: breath awareness, grounding scents, short outdoor breaks, and vagus nerve activation that any business owner can use between meetings, without needing to clear their calendar.

Read More ➤

 

Elizabeth Greenfield MS, RN, IFMCP
Functional Wellness, LLC
(408) 314-7713
lizgreenfield.com
LinkedIn

Congratulations to Maryam Mardkhe, owner, founder of Stirbar Lab, for being selected as a Women of Influence, Silicon Valley

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Women of Influence 2026 >

Dear NAWBO Silicon Valley Members and Friends,

It’s an honor to serve you in this new role as President of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Silicon Valley chapter.

This month, our Board gathered for our annual retreat, generously hosted by Robin Fisher, our Board Secretary. Thank you, Robin, for sharing your beautiful slice of California paradise with us, spending the day together among the Redwoods, which set exactly the right tone for the year ahead.

I’m proud to say we accomplished a great deal, with the full Board present for the day, including our Communications and Marketing Director, Maxine Goulding, CDMP, and Past President, who joined us by Zoom (thank you, Maxine, for making that work!).

A Year in Motion: What’s Coming Up

We have an exciting year of programming taking shape; educational sessions, fun mixers, and corporate-partnered events are all in the works. And if you’ve been to a NAWBO meeting before, get ready: there will be a few new surprises along the way.

This chapter belongs to you, and we want your voice in shaping it. If you have needs, ideas, or ways we can improve and add more value to your membership, please reach out to me or any Board member; we’re listening.

AI has been the defining conversation in Silicon Valley for over a year now, and NAWBO SV will be right in the middle of it. Leslie Murdock and Robin Fisher are already planning programming around this topic, both in-person and virtual, with announcements coming soon. We’re also exploring a Women-Owned Business Expo roughly a year out, and we’re looking for committee members to help shape it.

Interested in getting involved? Let us know!

We Want Your Story

Every one of you is an inspiration, and I want to hear your story. Come prepared to share a few minutes about your business on camera at our meetings with us. We’ll be randomly selecting at least two members (or more) at each gathering to feature. Your story will be included on the SVTAGS.org TV show, airing on 20 stations across the San Francisco Bay Area, including Comcast San Jose.

Thank you for your membership, your time, and your continued trust in this chapter.

Sincerely,

Heather Durham
President, NAWBO Silicon Valley

#NAWBOSV #NAWBO

San Jose, Calif. — June 26, 2026 — Today, the National Association of Women Business Owners-Silicon Valley (NAWBO-SV) announces the installation of the new board on June 30th, 2026, at 5:30 pm. The event will be hosted at the Silicon Valley Station/Ding Ding TV, 3350 Scott Blvd Building 54, Santa Clara, CA 95054 in Santa Clara, California, and the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce offices.

The new Board will be Heather Durham as President of the NAWBO-SV Chapter, Griselda Quezada-Chavez, Corporate Partners & International Affairs Director, Maxine Goulding, Communications Director, Robin Fisher, Secretary, Wendy Roberts, Treasurer, and Maryam Kh. Mardkhe Membership Director.

We also have several members being inducted at the event who have joined: Melissa Chairez, Carol Cunningham, Maria Dominick, Cindy Fairfield, Jyoti Gill, Elizabeth Greenfield, Lynnea Hagen, Ari Mirabedi, Herminia Ojeda, and Aneetha Vijay.

Also, at the June meeting, speaking on the topic of “Innovation Meets Wisdom” will be Brian Weisfeld of The Startup Squad. Innovate Like a Child, Deliver Like an Expert, reminds us that the boldest business breakthroughs often come when we blend imaginative thinking with expert execution. For women leaders navigating an ever-changing landscape, that mindset is everything.

Fortino Vineyard will be hosting a wine tasting at the event. Their Sales VP, Bertha Valenzula, will be on hand to talk about their delicious wine. A buffet will be available for those who want to eat at this evening’s event, and this venue has plenty of parking spaces.

“Women of Influence happened this past week by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and our Maryam Kh. Mardkhe, who has been heading up membership for NAWBO-SV, was honored at the event,” said Heather Durham, and “I just took a tour of her lab, Stirbar Lab in Mountain View. It’s incredible- you can go and make your own natural cosmetics or fragrance for a reasonable fee. We are planning on hosting a mixer there at the end of August… Details on our year-round programs to come soon, but we can share that we are talking with some interesting AI companies for programs and are looking at a women’s business expo as part of our offerings in the next year!

Educational events helping women with their businesses are key for our NAWBO-SV Chapter, so annually in October, we have an event hosted at the Bank of America’s Corporate offices near Santa Row. Last year’s event had two panels with Venture Capitalists, AI technologists, and a variety of other women business owners talking about their business successes and how they got there. Check the events page soon for more details on this annual event.
Our Vision & Mission: The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social, and political spheres of power worldwide by: Strengthening the wealth-creating capacity of our members and promoting economic development within the entrepreneurial community; Creating innovative and effective change in the business culture; Building strategic alliances, coalitions, and affiliations; Transforming public policy and influencing opinion makers

Registration for the Tuesday event is still open, so please come check out more information here: https://www.nawbo-sv.org/event/2026-27-board-installation/

For media inquiries or more information, please contact:
Heather Durham NAWBO2026@svtags.org 408-673-8401
Or Maxine Goulding, info@nawbo-sv.org 408-657-7190

PO Box 2696
Santa Clara, CA 95055-2696

Important Links:
https://www.nawbo-sv.org/
https://www.thestartupsquad.com/
https://fortinowinery.com/
https://stirbarlab.com/about/
http://www.dingdingtv.com/

Stage 3 — Refusal of the Call

Entrepreneurship is often framed as a decisive leap, but many overlook the stage that comes before action: hesitation. In The Entrepreneur’s Hero’s Journey: Stage 3 — Refusal of the Call, Dr. MJ Yang explores the moment when fear, doubt, and the desire for stability begin to surface after the initial spark of possibility. Drawing from the Hero’s Journey framework and a Jungian psychological lens, this stage is reframed not as avoidance, but as a meaningful pause. Resistance often reflects a confrontation with the unknown aspects of the self and the real cost of transformation. For entrepreneurs—especially those who are highly reflective and capable—this stage invites deeper awareness. Rather than rushing forward, it encourages thoughtful reflection, helping individuals move from uncertainty toward more intentional and aligned decisions in their professional path.

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Meng-Ju(MJ) Yang, Founder and Licensed Psychologist
Inner Journey Psychology, Inc.
Email: mjyangpsyd@gmail.com
Website: drmjyang.com

A Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) is a detailed document prepared during the sale of a company to present prospective buyers with a comprehensive understanding of the business. It typically includes financial statements, operational details, market positioning, customer data, growth opportunities, and risk factors. The CIM serves as a central resource that allows buyers to evaluate whether the company aligns with their strategic or financial goals, and it helps streamline the due diligence process by presenting information in a structured, transparent format.

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Wendy Roberts
CPA, CEO of NorthStar Strategic Partners, Inc.
Email: wendy@northstar-sp.com
Website: https://northstar-sp.com/

What if the biggest thing holding your business back is your lifetime of experience and the way you’ve been trained to think? Children are often more creative and innovative than adults because they ask more questions, take more risks, and are less afraid of failure. The good news is that adults can reclaim those same skills. By learning to “innovate like a child and deliver like an expert,” business owners can break stale routines, generate stronger ideas, experiment more effectively, and resist the urge to blend into sameness. If your business feels stuck, overly cautious, or too similar to everyone else in your industry, thinking a little more like a 10-year-old may be exactly what you need.

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Brian Weisfeld, Founder
The Startup Squad
brian@brianweisfeld.com
https://www.brianweisfeld.com/

On April 23rd, we proudly brought back the NAWBO Silicon Valley Corporate Partner Luncheon to recognize the corporate partners and community leaders helping us expand our impact and elevate women-owned businesses.

We were honored to welcome Fiona Ma as our keynote speaker. As California State Treasurer, she manages more than $3 trillion for the State of California and shared valuable insights on:

• Economic impact and growth
• The role small businesses play in helping California thrive
• Resources available to help businesses scale and succeed

Her message was inspiring and aligned deeply with NAWBO’s mission to support women entrepreneurs through leadership development, certification education, and strategic partnerships.

Mission-driven organizations are doing important, meaningful work that creates real impact in their communities. But impact alone doesn’t always translate to clarity. Without clear and thoughtful design, even the most powerful work can be overlooked or misunderstood. Strong design helps organizations communicate their mission in a way that builds understanding, trust, and connection with the people they want to reach. In this article, we explore three reasons why mission-driven organizations still need strong design. From improving clarity to capturing attention and helping audiences emotionally connect with the work being done, design plays a critical role in how organizations share their impact. When visuals and messaging work together, organizations can more effectively engage supporters, communicate their value, and inspire people to listen, participate, and support their mission.

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Angela Laines
angela@silveiradesigns.com
Founder & CEO
Silveira Designs
https://www.silveiradesigns.com/