Deborah Harris Interview: Business Financial Flexibility and Covid-19

In this episode, we learn what a CFO does for a company, the misconceptions of hiring CFOs, and how Deborah Harris is as a CFO and strategist for her clients.Deborah also shares with us the challenges her company faced during this pandemic, how they are coping, the different strategies they are implementing for them and their clients, and her passion for social, philanthropic projects.Episode Highlights:Who Deborah Harris is and and what she doesDeborah is the Director and Co-Founder of Grow CFO Co. She leads a team of virtual Chief Financial Officers to find solutions and key strategies to maximise revenue and profit while making sure the cash flow is available to position for growth. Why do you hire a CFO and who are their typical clients?"That's why our name is Grow CFO because we're really positioning those fast-growth companies or the companies that are really positioned to take it to the next level, and then making sure their financial strategy underneath what they do is really sound."Do you have to be big to have a CFO?Deborah shares that their ability to interpret what a small business needs is different from what a big company CFO might require, and they are able to take cross-industry experience and being across multiple countries to allow them to suggest what services they offer work for a specific sector.Deborah's biggest challenge since COVID-19 hit"Our biggest challenge was to work out exactly how we could get our customers pivoting as fast as possible, so that they had a plan in place so that they could continue paying us."This challenge has led Deborah and her team to develop interesting strategies for them and their clients and ways to be paid.One client in the events industry went from almost having their doors shut to having a six-figure month.Another client experienced a three-times valuation rise since October and are listing their education-based company on the New York Stock Exchange towards the end of this year"Remember that even though people are struggling with cash flow, there's no less money in the world. It's actually more money being printed. It's just not flowing. So it's a matter of actually securing that cash and securing that capital.""Never leave anyone that is unhelped. That is part of our core philosophy.""It was fairly obvious to me that we had to have a solution that as long as we had sufficient cash flow ourselves, we would be okay. So let's work out how we can make sure that everybody else has sufficient and not worry about there not being enough."According to Deborah, it is non traditional thinking that she learnt prior to Covid that is helping her and the company for their clients. She mentioned that she has to find a way to not work outside of the system but to make the system work for her, and that the system should work for you, not against you.What is Deborah most proud of what's happened and what has been her biggest achievement?The commitment to give, considering that one of their core values is philanthropy, even in these pandemic times is her biggest achievement.Deborah Harris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahtheentrepreneur/Deborah Harris Website: https://www.growcfoco.com/Grow CFO Co on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-grow-cfo-co/Angela Connell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelatkconnellAngela Connell Website: https://vivacity.com.au/Education in Isolation Website: https://vivacity.com.au/podcast/Send us Fan MailSupport the showThank you for tuning in to the RTO Superhero Podcast! This podcast supports RTOs to operate with clarity and control under the 2025 Standards. Each episode breaks down compliance into practical actions you can apply in your RTO.📘 Want deeper insight into governance under the new Standards?Explore The Governance Shift: https://governance-shift.vivacity.com.au/and the 8 Critical Drivers to RTO Success: https://8-critical-drivers-book.vivacity.com.au/ Stay connected with the RTO Community: RTO Job Board FacebookRTO Job Board LinkedInRTO Community Facebook📌 Don’t forget to:✔ Subscribe so you never miss an episode✔ Share this episode with your RTO network🎙 Listen now and stay ahead of the Standards📢 Want more compliance insights?Subscribe to our EduStream YouTube Channel for FAQ sessions on the 2025 Standards🔗 Subscribe now: EduStream by Vivacity Coaching✉️ Email us at [email protected] 📞 Call us on 1300 729 455🖥️ Visit us at vivacity.au