The complexities of the creator economy, however, mean that income isn’t always as steady or predictable as your 9-to-5.
Content creators like Randy are faced with the challenge of building, growing, and holding onto the attention of an audience in a competitive industry that’s always moving towards the next “big thing.” This meant the right tools to help manage cash flow highs and lows was key, so Randy could continue to grow a profitable business that he could pass onto his three young kids. Cue Relay, a banking solution that gave Randy the cash flow clarity he needed to run his business with ease, all while knowing exactly where every dollar went.
Inspired by Randy’s dad and his decades-long history as a talented chef and restaurateur,
Made With Lau launched on YouTube in September 2020. “It's all about preserving my dad's Chinese recipes,” he says. “He's cooked Chinese food for 50 years and I grew up spoiled by his food. I wanted to have them for myself and my kids.”
It turned out, however, that the project resonated with a huge community of followers stretching far beyond the Lau family. “We've really taken off. It grew very quickly. We hit a million subscribers a little over two years in,” says Randy, adding that his content, which now publishes across multiple platforms including his own website, recently won two James Beard Awards. “It’s like the Oscars for the food world. I think it's exceeded even my wildest dreams.”
Creator economy meets cash flow control
It may not be immediately obvious, but content creation can come with seasonal income ups and downs. “We can project that Q4 will be strong for most businesses,” says Randy. “But for creators in general, Q4 is when a lot of companies are dumping ad spend into every advertising platform out there. So Q4 is usually pretty strong. Then, for us specifically, a lot of people are more on [the site] during Lunar New Year, which is usually February or March. The summer has historically seen kind of a dearth in viewership.”
Fluctuations in viewership and revenue streams subject to the whims of the algorithm gods make for a challenging economic landscape. Creators in this industry need to be nimble and make money moves that keep them ahead of the cash flow crunch.
Randy, who was also among our 2023 Reasons to be Profitable contest winners, already has his next Made With Lau project lined up: he’s landed a deal to write and produce his first cookbook. “That's our next focus. It's a two year effort [and] a huge creative focus.” The job of juggling cookbook production with content creation, all while being a dad to three young kids, isn’t easy. And of course, Made With Lau is a business—one that Randy is determined to keep profitable. In order to do so, managing his cash flow is one of his top priorities.
The Made With Lau book deal throws additional financial variables into the mix: there’s an advance coming in and production expenses going out. “You really have to manage that process from a logistical financial standpoint while keeping the business that got you there afloat. So that'll be interesting to navigate,” Randy says.
Surfing the variable revenue wave
As so many entrepreneurs know, success doesn’t mean simplicity. And while Randy’s is not exactly a “more money, more problems” situation, he is having to do the work of managing more money from multiple revenue streams while contending with the increasing number of demands that success can bring. As a result, when it comes to budgeting, planning, and providing peace of mind, cash flow clarity is more important to his business than ever.
What Randy wanted from his business banking were the tools to organize his fluctuating income in a way that gave him a big picture view of his financial position. For him, Relay’s small business-centric platform and suite of features work to offer a sense of stability and security while helping him map out a future for his business and his family.
As a Profit First practitioner, Randy says that he appreciates the ability to open up to 20 Relay checking accounts so that he can separate and organize funds in a way that keeps his cash flow under control. “I love the buckets. It's just really helpful to see, like, ‘These are for taxes. This is for owners' compensation…’ and having that awareness of where money is going for all these different situations,” he explains. “Last tax season, because I had money flowing into my tax accounts, I actually covered it. It’s not a persistent fear, but other years I've been in business I'm like, ‘Am I covering taxes this year?’ I don't know. Now I know I am.”
Online ad revenue is one of the biggest variables Randy needs to oversee. “It's been interesting to navigate that,” he says. “Like, how do we make sure that we have enough cash coming in because our revenue is so variable? It's based on algorithms and advertisers and seasonality and viewership.”
With Relay’s banking platform, clients have access to detailed transaction information and clear, simple to understand vendor data that leaves no question about where money is coming from (or where it’s going to). This allows business owners to easily track and monitor multiple revenue streams and see where potential cash crunches could occur. Relay recognizes that business banking shouldn’t bury the lead. The platform is designed to deliver the top-line financial data that many online banking services make their clients dig for. “As far as other banking experiences I've had,” says Randy, “it's one monolithic checking account.”
In our books, that’s grounds for an unfollow.
Automation for the win
For Randy, there’s a sense of security that comes with this level of financial oversight and cash flow clarity that’s reinforced by the feeling that, as a small business owner, Relay has his back. In order to lighten his workload, he takes advantage of Relays' integrated automations that transfer money from one account to another according to rules (based on dollar amounts or percentages) that he decides on.
“I love automation,” he says. “There's a lot of automations I can do to make sure that we have money flowing from the top into all these various accounts. It gives you peace of mind. It's like, ‘Okay, that's one less thing I have to think about.’ Your bases are covered.”
As Randy’s experience illustrates, there’s a big difference between keeping your money top of mind and non-stop worrying about individual banking transactions. Automation isn’t about not knowing or caring where your money is going, it’s about having control over it.
“I used to do all that manually,” says Randy. “Certain weeks I still do, given we've been in cash crunches. But for the most part, I can just rely on the automatic transfers and have it based on percentages. It does the math on your behalf, which is nice. On other platforms I had to do a lot more thinking. You have to watch it more. And as an entrepreneur, you are already dealing with 50 other things.”
Automation and easy-to-set-up auto-categorization for card purchases work to offer an extra layer of cash flow clarity. “It gives you a better bird's eye view of where your cash is at. And not just that, but it'll move money around on your behalf, based on a system that you can set and change when things change for your business.”
Growing family, growing family business
Made With Lau is a family business so, since having his third child, Randy has begun to pay each of them for their involvement. “They're in the videos, so it's justifiable,” he says. “[And] one really nice thing is that you can send checks—Relay will send checks on your behalf.”
Right now, Made with Lau is a three-generation business that draws on the skills and expertise of Randy, his parents, his sister, and his wife and kids (even the family dog, Bernie, gets a shout out on the website). The entire Lau family is invested in the business—and so is their community of viewers and followers. “I want this to persist for decades,” says Randy, “and not just for my kids. What we're doing resonates with so many people.”
Randy cites the emotional feedback he receives from viewers, including stories about how his videos play a role in preserving Chinese culture and building family connections, as being among the core reasons he continues to produce this kind of content.
“If we're not able to be profitable we can't do those things. In order to continue to do the work that we do and scale and tell different types of stories, there's an engine that needs to keep running,” Randy says. “There's a lot that we have to share. So in order to continue sharing these stories, we have to figure out how we do that and how we do it profitably.”
Your invitation to like, share, and subscribe
With Relay, entrepreneurs have what they need to manage their cash flow with unparalleled clarity and control. Relay’s platform offers:
Up to 20 free checking accounts, with no account fee or minimum balance requirements
Auto-transfer rules for Profit First allocations
Free check payments, mobile cheque deposits, ACH and wires
No hidden banking fees
The ability to open an account online in just 10 mins
Safe and secure banking without having to visit a physical branch
Seamless accounting software like Xero and QuickBooks Online
Got ten minutes to spare? Use them to stay on the money with Relay. Sign up for a free business banking account right here.
