Day 6 Transcript
NOTE: Today’s transcript is followed by an AI prompt that can be used with your AI provider of choice. Just copy and paste it into ChatGPT or Perplexity and it will help you answer today’s questions for your specific side hustle… the way a human teaching assistant would help you in an Ivy League university. If you’re eager for more on today’s topic, I’ve included a Secret Dessert Course at the very end — a bonus section that isn’t directly covered in today’s video but has a lot of value practical, hands-on value. That dessert also comes with its own AI prompt.
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Part 1: Set Up Business Banking
A hustle without a bank account is just a hobby with receipts.
Ok. Welcome to Day 6 of starting your side hustle! We’re taking 28 Days-- 28 small steps-- to build a business that’s meaningful, impactful, and profitable. Today’s focus is on financial foundations — boring stuff like opening a business bank account, setting up accounting tools, exploring funding options. The goal today is to finish up the administrator basics we started yesterday when we talked about Legal setup.
Getting your finances right from day one is what separates the noobs from the vets. My boys are gamers, like their Dad. So… today’s lesson isn’t about some clutch moment but it is a great way for others– like investors, partners, clients– to figure out who’s cracked and who’s not.
Back to plain English. Why does this all matter? Because if you don’t get your finances in order early, it can snowball into chaos later. A solid financial setup keeps your hustle organized, compliant, and by everyone else’s standards– ready for growth. Plus, it helps you separate personal and business expenses—which is critical for tracking profitability and protecting yourself legally– what we talked about yesterday.
Real life example: let’s talk about how Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut handled his company’s early finances. When Mailchimp was just a side project, Ben and his partner bootstrapped everything—no outside investors, no fancy accounting team, just a relentless focus on keeping business and personal finances separate. They opened a business bank account on day one, tracked every penny, and reinvested profits instead of taking on debt. That discipline not only kept them organized for taxes, but also helped Mailchimp grow into a $12 billion company—all without ever raising venture capital. Ben’s story is kinda cool because it tells you that you don’t need a huge budget or outside funding to build something massive; you just need smart, simple financial habits from the start.
Ok. Let’s dive into today’s key questions:
- Do you need a business bank account? Let me answer that here: YES! So the better question would be how do you choose the right one for your hustle? And let’s expand that to the same question with accounting tools that will help you track income, expenses, and taxes.
- Should you explore funding options like bootstrapping, loans, or investors—and what’s the best fit for your goals?
Some of Professor Nutkin’s questions are easier than others. I telegraphed the punchline so you already know you need a business bank account. Easy to answer but don’t go lazy on admin stuff like this. Even if you’re just starting out as a sole proprietor, separating your personal and business finances is super important. It simplifies bookkeeping, makes tax season less painful, and gives your hustle a professional edge.
If you’ve never had a business banking account, when you’re doing your research for which bank to use… just look for features like:
- Low or no monthly fees
- Easy integration with accounting software (like QuickBooks)
- Online banking tools for convenience
- Access to small business loans or credit lines
I can tell you from experience that you’ll probably just use the same bank that you use for your personal account. Which is fine. Just create that separation.
Don’t overthink the choice—what matters most is having a clean, dedicated space for your business money to live and grow.
If you’re that rare kind of person that actually compares banking services, some great options include online banks– which I’m not going to name because I’m not trying to sell you anything– but you should know that online banks are designed specifically for small businesses and side hustlers. If you prefer a traditional bank they’re more likely to have lower money movement fees (because of something called the Durbin Amendment in something else Dodd-Frank– which I really don’t want to explain because zzzzzz). The point is that online banks will serve you better but bigger banks might actually cost you less and have better nationwide access. Look– whatever you choose, just make sure it fits your needs without adding unnecessary costs.
Part 2: Select Accounting Tools
Day 6, Part 2. Let’s jump to accounting tools… and again, you want to keep it simple while tracking income, expenses, and taxes. You don’t need fancy software to start—just something that keeps your hustle organized. There are three big players. Not going to mention any names but you definitely have heard of at least one… and unfortunately, it's not the one that’s free.
If bookkeeping isn’t your thing, one of those three popular services pairs you with a real human bookkeeper who handles everything for you—ideal if you want to outsource this task entirely. And I wouldn’t blame you.
The goal here isn’t perfection—it’s progress. Choose a tool that fits your current needs and scale up as your hustle grows.
Let’s get to the more interesting question. And before I throw up the picture, a warning about how sometimes AI takes your request for an image literally.
Ok. Funding Options: Should you bootstrap or should you go looking for loans, or investors—and what’s the best fit for your goals? Unfortunately, this depends entirely on the nature of your hustle and how fast you want to grow.
Let me do a quick high-level explain and then I’ll give you my personal slant on what to use when.
1. Bootstrapping: Using personal savings or reinvesting profits back into the business. This is low-risk but requires patience—it’s perfect if your hustle doesn’t need big upfront investments.
2. Small Business Loans: Banks like Chase or online lenders like Kabbage offer loans tailored to small businesses. This can help with larger expenses like inventory or equipment but requires strong credit and repayment discipline.
3. Investors: If your hustle has high growth potential (think tech startups), attracting angel investors or venture capital might be worth exploring. Just remember—you’ll likely give up equity in exchange for funding.
I personally don’t think of them as either/or choices. If you’re new to the side-hustle, I’d first remind you that it's called a side-hustle because you still have a day job. Which means you have some ability to bankroll yourself. So I’d suggest that you think about the three options as progressions. You start with bootstrapping. Grow, grow, grow. You move to small business loans. Grow, grow, grow. You look for investors.
It’s not sexy to say but for most side hustlers just starting out, bootstrapping is the way to go—it keeps things simple and puts you in full control of your business. The good news is that the discipline you build by bootstrapping serves you well, even if you decide to seek outside funding later.
Ok. Take a moment and try to answer the Day 6 questions for your hustle without AI and before you listen to the next section-- the 28-Day Ivy League MBA. I personally think it's useful to try to answer questions without AI first, but if you'd rather do that: The AI teaching assistant prompt will drop with today's case study... in a couple of hours. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out Lunch Break Millionaire Day Zero... or go over to superserious.com where I’m posting daily transcripts. The AI prompts are there too. That's it. Hustle smarter.
Part 3: 💼 Model Your Unit Economics: Today's Ivy League MBA Skill
Day 6, Part 3 of Lunch Break Millionaire. It’s Saturday. We don’t really have lunch breaks on the weekend and it's already a week too late to change the series name to Brunching Billionaire. So let’s just make due with what we have and we turn your starchicidal pancake brunch into an Ivy League MBA degree. Let’s talk about unit economics modeling.
If you want to know whether your hustle is going to make you money or just keep you busy, you’ve got to get your head around unit economics. Don’t let the term scare you off. Unit economics is just a fancy way of asking, “Do I make more on every sale than it costs me to deliver?” That’s it. If you’re spending $5 to make a product, you better be selling it for more than $5. Otherwise, you’re not building a business—you’re building a money pit.
So, let’s make this real. Every side hustle, every business, comes down to units. A unit could be a single product, a subscription, a service—whatever you sell, that’s your unit. The magic is in figuring out, for each unit you sell, how much cash actually sticks to your fingers after you pay for everything it takes to deliver that unit. That means your cost of goods sold (COGS), your shipping, your packaging, your payment processing fees—every nickel that leaves your pocket just to get the thing into your customer’s hands. Subtract all that from your selling price, and what you’ve got left is your unit margin.
Now, here’s where most first-time hustlers mess up. They look at the money coming in and forget about all the little costs that nibble away at their profits. Maybe you’re selling a t-shirt for $25, but after you pay $10 to print it, $5 to ship it, $2 in payment fees, and $1 for the fancy packaging, you’re actually only making $7 per shirt. That’s your unit economics. And if you’re running ads or giving discounts, you’ve got to factor those in too. Because at the end of the day, if your margin isn’t big enough, you’re going to have to sell a mountain of shirts just to cover your rent.
Let’s tie this back to today’s questions. When you’re setting up your business bank account and picking your accounting tools, you’re laying the groundwork for tracking these numbers. And when you’re thinking about funding—bootstrapping, loans, or investors—unit economics is what tells you if your hustle is actually sustainable. If you can show that every customer is profitable, you’ll have a much easier time convincing yourself (and anyone else) that your business is worth investing in.
Take a sec and do the math for your own hustle. Write down exactly what it costs you to deliver it. Be brutally honest. Don’t forget the little stuff: shipping, transaction fees, packaging, even the cost of your time if you want to get fancy. Then, write down what you charge. Subtract your total cost from your selling price. That’s your unit margin. If it’s positive—great, you’re on the right track. If it’s negative, you’ve got some work to do. Maybe you need to raise your price, lower your costs, or rethink the hustle.
Keep telling yourself, this isn’t about making every dollar perfect from day one. It’s about knowing your numbers so you can make smart decisions as you grow. The hustlers who last aren’t the ones with the flashiest ideas—they’re the ones who know, down to the penny, what it takes to make a buck. That’s how you hustle smarter.
Part 4: Explore Funding Options: The 28-Day Case Study
This is Day 6, Part 4 of Lunch Break Millionaire. This is the segment where we #BuildinPublic– where I answer the daily questions from parts 1 and 2– using the MBA skills we just learned in part 3– and showing my work here in part 4– sharing how I’m building my hustle from scratch-no filters, just the real journey. You don't need to actually like or subscribe. I'm not doing this for the clicks. But if you’re leveling up from other creators you follow or know, introduce us. I want to learn from them and help them level up, too. We all deserve better than just making rich people richer.
Ok. I usually reserve this third daily segment for how I did– for my hustle– what I’m suggesting you do in the first two segments.
But… I’m going to go off-format because I want to talk about bootstrapping and building with curiosity. One of the things I love most about my side hustles is that instead of throwing money at every problem, I treat each expense as a chance to teach myself something new. Not because I’m cheap but because I’m greedy… for skills. It’s never been about saving cash for me—it’s always been about becoming a better hustler. The founders I respect the most didn’t start with rich parents or unlimited resources; they started with curiosity and a willingness to figure things out.
Look– I’ll throw some famous names at you in a sec– celebrity founders– but my generation grew up with lots of stories from older generations—about coming over here on a boat, with $2 in your pocket, and building businesses with nothing but grit and determination. They didn’t have access to AI or venture capital or fancy tools. What they had was resourcefulness and an insatiable curiosity to learn what they didn’t know. And guess what? That mindset is still a hustler’s greatest asset today.
You want business celebrities? Fine. Take Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. I mentioned her on Day 1. She started her business with $5,000 in savings and couldn’t afford to hire a patent lawyer. So what did she do? She went to the library, checked out books on how to write patents, and wrote her own.
Founders– hustlers– don’t wait for someone else to solve their problems—they don’t try to buy the answers– they don’t have the money to– they lean into learning. And you should do the same.
You can do what I do– reframe every expense as an opportunity. Keep asking yourself, “Can I learn to do this myself?” And keep reminding yourself: This isn’t about being cheap—it’s about staying curious.
- Need a logo? Don’t hire a designer right away. I now know how to use Canva. My logo work is highly derivative and that’s ok.
- Want to run ads? I watched free YouTube tutorials on Meta’s Ads Manager and I experimented with $10 campaigns to learn what works.
- Need bookkeeping? Know basic arithmetic? You get my point.
The goal isn’t to become an expert at everything—it’s to stretch your curiosity muscles while saving money and building skills that will make you more self-sufficient. You see this play out next week when we devote days to marketing, branding, landing page design, social media and content strategy. You’ll see exactly how bad I am as a marketer. And I would be a whole lot worse had I not tried to learn those skills myself. Had I immediately been like “I need to pay a marketer.” Nuf said.
We all tend to admire business celebrities but find it hard to explain why we admire them… other than “they’re successful.” I’ll tell you why you should. Admire them because they exercise curiosity and determination. They treat every challenge the way you should if you’re going to hustle– as an opportunity to learn something new.
The added bonus of being a learn-it-all is that when you eventually hire experts (for real money) or outsource tasks (for real money), you’ll be well armed to set clear expectations and spot red flags. Curiosity lets you hustle smarter.
Prompt #1 - Finance Setup – Build a Money System That Works for You
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Prompt #1 - Finance Setup – Build a Money System That Works for You ○
Today you’ll set up the financial foundation for your side hustle-so you can keep your business and personal money separate, track your numbers with confidence, and avoid stress at tax time. You’ll be coached by Ivy League faculty whose research is foundational in entrepreneurial finance and small business accounting:
- **Professor Mihir A. Desai, Harvard Business School:** Expert in small business finance, accounting, and demystifying financial best practices.
- **Professor Baruch Lev, NYU Stern (visiting at Wharton):** Authority on accounting systems and recordkeeping for entrepreneurs.
- **Professor Sunil Gupta, Harvard Business School:** Specialist in unit economics and financial modeling for new ventures.
**What Today’s Coaching Will Help You With:**
You’ll choose and set up a business bank account, select accounting tools that fit your style, and learn how to model your “unit economics”-the simple math that tells you if your hustle is actually making money.
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### Step 1: Reflection Questions
Please answer these questions in a few sentences each:
1. **Have you set up a separate business bank account? If not, what’s holding you back?**
- Keeping business and personal money separate is the first step to protecting yourself and simplifying taxes.
2. **What accounting or bookkeeping tool (if any) are you using or considering?**
- Think about what would make it easy for you to track money in and out-spreadsheet, app, or software.
3. **What are your “unit economics”-how much does it cost you to deliver your product or service, and how much do you actually make per sale?**
- If you’re not sure, estimate your average cost per sale and your average revenue per sale.
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### Step 2: MBA Skill – Modeling Unit Economics
Today’s MBA lesson is about “unit economics”-the basic math that shows if your hustle is profitable. Here’s how to break it down:
- **Revenue per unit:** How much do you make on each sale?
- **Cost per unit:** What does it cost you (materials, time, shipping, fees) to deliver each sale?
- **Gross profit per unit:** Revenue minus cost. Is this number positive? If not, what would need to change?
- **Break-even point:** How many sales do you need to cover your fixed costs (website, software, licenses) each month?
Write out your numbers as best you can. If you’re just starting, use estimates-you’ll refine them as you go.
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### Step 3: Coaching & Practical Tips
After you reply, I will use the writings of Professors Desai, Lev, and Gupta to:
- Help you choose a business bank account and accounting tool that fits your needs and budget.
- Guide you in calculating your unit economics and spotting where you might be losing money.
- Offer practical advice for keeping receipts, tracking expenses, and making tax time painless.
- Share a real-world story of a founder who avoided financial chaos by setting up smart systems from day one.
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**How to use this prompt:**
- Respond with your answers to the reflection questions and your first pass at unit economics.
- Your Ivy League coaching panel will help you refine your setup, flag any blind spots, and suggest next steps.
- Remember: The goal is to keep your money organized and your hustle profitable-so you can focus on growth, not paperwork.
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Ready? Share your answers and numbers below. Let’s hustle smarter, one lunch break at a time!
Secret Dessert Course
Huge freakin’ no-no: mixing your personal money and your business money. It’s one of the fastest ways to create a tax-time headache down the road. Plus, you potentially miss out on legit deductions. And if you get it wrong, you potentially put your personal assets at risk. Not cool.
That’s why the prompt allows AI to walk you through a “Personal vs. Business Money Firewall” Checklist. Useful for new entrepreneurs. It’s a step-by-step guide that helps you draw a clear line between your hustle and your everyday life– so you can track every sale, expense, and deposit cleanly from day one.
Just copy and paste this prompt into your favorite AI assistant to enjoy Day 6’s dessert course.
Prompt #2 - Complete Your Plan-to-Action Checklist
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Prompt #2 - Complete Your Plan-to-Action Checklist ○
Today’s focus: building a rock-solid “money firewall” between your personal and business finances. This step-by-step experience helps you avoid tax headaches, protect your assets, and look professional from day one. You’ll be coached by Ivy League experts in entrepreneurial finance and accounting:
- **Professor Mihir A. Desai, Harvard Business School:** Expert in small business finance and demystifying financial best practices.
- **Professor Baruch Lev, NYU Stern (visiting at Wharton):** Authority on accounting systems and recordkeeping for entrepreneurs.
- **Professor Stephen A. Ross (in memoriam), MIT Sloan and visiting at Yale:** Pioneer of financial theory and practical money management for founders.
**What Today’s Coaching Will Help You With:**
You’ll get a concise, interactive checklist for separating personal and business money, with practical tips for tracking expenses, receipts, and taxes-so you never mix funds or miss a deduction.
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### Step 1: Tell Us About Your Setup
Please answer:
1. Have you already set up a business bank account? If not, what’s holding you back?
2. What accounting or bookkeeping tool (if any) are you using or considering?
3. Do you have a system for storing business receipts (paper, digital, app)?
4. (Optional) What type of business are you running (industry, product/service, solo or with partners)?
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### Step 2: Money Firewall Checklist
After you reply, I will use the writings of your Ivy League coaching panel to:
- Provide a step-by-step guide for opening and using a business bank account (including links to recommended banks or credit unions).
- Show you how to set up a simple bookkeeping system for tracking income and expenses.
- Offer tips for organizing receipts and keeping digital/paper records audit-ready.
- Highlight common pitfalls (e.g., using one card for both personal and business, not documenting transfers, or missing quarterly tax payments).
- Suggest tools and habits for keeping your firewall strong all year.
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**How to use this prompt:**
- Respond with your setup details above.
- Your coaching panel will return a personalized checklist and resource links.
- You’ll leave with a clear, actionable plan to keep your personal and business finances totally separate-no confusion, no crossed wires.