700 Eunicia Peret:

All too often when we’re building a business, we can easily fall into the trap of putting the business – and everyone else we’re paying to build it – ahead of our own personal financial health. Whether we’re not paying ourselves, or at least accruing our earnings on the balance sheet, or not having alternative income sources as we build our businesses, my guest today – the financial expert Eunicia (You-nee-c-a) Peret – says its vital women founders focus on their own wealth-building strategies as they grow our businesses.

MELINDA

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m a 5-time serial entrepreneur who has lived and breathed the ups and downs of starting and growing businesses, currently the game changing social podcast app Podopolo. Wherever you are listening to this, take a moment and join the Wings community over on Podopolo, where we can take the conversation further with your questions, perspectives, experiences, and advice for other female founders at whatever stage of the journey you’re at! Because together we’re stronger, and we soar higher when we fly together.

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who spent years growing the bottom lines of Fortune 500 companies and global brands before launching out on her own to create her own business, the Empowered Financial Planner.

Eunicia (You-nee-c-a) Peret works with successful leaders and business owners who are serious about optimizing their wealth and are looking to take control of their money, minimize tax exposure and are motivated to seek the answers that the financial services industry is holding under lock and key.

Today we’re going to dive deep into different financial strategies and business structures, what stops women from focusing on their own personal wealth building, and how to avoid the mistakes many entrepreneurs make as they build their businesses.

Eunicia (You-nee-c-a) will be here in a moment, and first,

Let me ask you a question: Before you started your business, how much did you think about what your personal wealth building strategy would be? Did you decide not to pay yourself – or underpay yourself – until the business was profitable? Did you think about what other income sources or investments might support you until you built the business to predictable and growing revenue? Did you know your number, that is, what you would want to have accumulated personally – either in cash or asset value – from your business by the time you want to move on or sell it?

Don’t worry or feel bad if you didn’t know – or even think – of any of those things. Most of us don’t. And most of us also tend to prioritize paying our team members and vendors ahead of ourselves.

But here’s the good news; it’s never too late to learn the ways you can build your own personal financial wealth as you build your business.

Eunicia (You-nee-c-a) Peret is the CEO and Founder of the Empowered Financial Planner, advising clients from entrepreneurs just starting out Fortune 500 companies and global brands across multiple industries.

Eunicia (You-nee-c-a) says her passion is to work with successful leaders and business owners who are serious about optimizing their wealth and are looking to take control of their money, minimize tax exposure and are motivated to seek the answers that the financial services industry is holding under lock and key.

That’s why she created the Wealth Freedom Formula as a personalized financial consulting program which elevates the role of a financial partner to a level that historically has only been accessible to the very few.

The strategic consulting approach Eunicia (You-nee-c-a)

and her team employ is focused on bringing all of the client’s financial and strategic partners to the table and ensuring that no stone is left unturned when it comes to money, wealth and legacy planning and optimization. She says true wealth building only happens when financial partners collaborate strategically in truly optimizing every aspect of their client’s portfolio.

Eunicia (You-nee-c-a), who also serves as Atlanta UPWARD Chapter Lead and previously held Chair positions on the Board of Advisors for the Women’s Initiative Networks at Ernst & Young, Booz & Company, and Deloitte, offers important financial advice today you won’t want to miss – at whatever stage of the entrepreneurial journey you’re at.

So, let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Eunicia (You-nee-c-a) Peret, and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

Melinda Wittstock:

Eunicia, welcome to Wings.

Eunicia Peret:

Such a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, Melinda.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, fantastic, because I love talking about money, and it’s one of those things that a lot of women entrepreneurs don’t like talking about. They don’t necessarily want to look at their numbers, or as entrepreneurs, don’t necessarily plan for their own personal financial future. So there’s all kinds of issues there. So let’s start at the beginning. What made you want to tackle this?

Eunicia Peret:

That’s a great question. And before I even go into that, I couldn’t agree with you more on the fact that especially, especially, especially for business women, or women that own their own business, or even, really executives, but for women in general, it’s so much harder, it seems, for us to really carve away what’s in it for us. We’re always all about giving and doing better and competing oftentimes in male dominated industries. And because of that, we put ourselves on the back burner. So why is it that I do what I do, and how did I land in it? Reality is, it was always in a male dominated world. I’ve always been in business world, and so many times I found myself in boardroom meetings with my clients, CEOs and CFOs, and their direct reports. And it was always men and then there was Eunicia.

And what I’ve learned along the way is that, number one, we have to fight for ourselves. Number two, that if we want a chance at success, if we want a chance at truly optimizing our wealth, and I’m not just talking about financial literacy, and let’s all know what’s happening with our money, but to truly understand how is it, feel how our money is moving, feel how our wealth is moving, what we end up doing is we leave all of that to chance.

And I was doing that over and over in my corporate job. I was an executive in corporate America and spent so much time giving to my company, giving to my clients, that I relied on my, at that point in time, financial advisors. And when I finally realized that my own financial advisors were not looking out for me. It was always about the menu of services that they offered. It was always about me doing my homework, because the companies that I worked for were fairly regulated when it came to the types of investments that I could do. I came to the conclusion that nobody really truly has my best interest at heart. They want my money, but they didn’t necessarily want to help me. And I was tired of having that feeling of, why is it that I feel like I’m being sold?

And when my husband and I had the conversation on specifically that, he said, “I won’t negate. That’s the way that it feels, but what should we do?” And it was at that point in time that I said, “You know what? I’m smart enough. I’m going to start geeking out.” And when I started geeking out on it as an already minted financial professional, I’d just never focused on personal finances, or small business finances, and I realized that there’s such a big difference between just handling money, just putting money into 401k investment accounts, savings accounts, the [SWORD 00:03:23], and actually finding wealth, empowerment, success, freedom, et cetera, depending on what it is and how it is that we each individually define it.

Eunicia Peret:

And so the rest is history. I’m here today. And now we work with other successful businesswomen and executives in corporate America that are wanting more of the same and they’re tired of not understanding what is happening with the wealth creation efforts.

Melinda Wittstock:

Money is a really interesting topic, because we all have these money stories, things that we learned when we were little kids, maybe we heard our parents arguing about money, or maybe we associated money somehow with being the root of all evil, or scarcity argument, or that we specifically we’re told not to talk about it. So as we grow into adults, we have all these subconscious beliefs about money. How much of the work that you do is helping people over those money blocks?

Eunicia Peret:

That’s a great question. A lot of my clients will say, “So are we going into deep mindset?” And what I tell them is, “Unfortunately, I’m not that person.” We do work, we do have strategic collaborators and strategic partners. That’s all they do. They just really focus on mind blocks and mind shifts and just the soft side of things, which I don’t… I will never say that it’s not important. For me, however, I’m the kind of person that, when I know that I need to do something to better myself, to better my family’s future, to address a potential block, I’m always asking myself the question of, what is it that I need to do? And then if I need help, the next question is, who do I need to help me with that?

And we take very much a similar approach when we work with our clients. We really are in tune with their specific needs. If someone has that need of, hey, I know that I have some big mental blocks. Maybe I’ve got family issues at home. Maybe I’m having a hard time just keeping up with my business, keeping up with my job, that’s where I will be the first to tell them, here’s where our limitations end, but, but, but we don’t want our clients ever being left alone, because that’s the other thing that happens, is who do we trust? We could go online and ask Google anything, and you’ll get a 101 answers, but what is the right answer for us? And so, one of the big things that we do with our clients even, of course, on the financial side, but especially when it comes to who are the best partners, who are the best individuals for us to refer our clients to? That would very much come into the fold because it is so important.

And some people can just go into it like I am. Just tell me what to do, and we’ll get it done. But other people, because they’re dealing with, perhaps, a lot more, or they’re just having a different way of handling things, neither one of which is wrong, they might need some of that additional support. And that is critical.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so I ask because 700 episodes into Podopolo, as of today, this conversation comes up with so many female founders. Every female entrepreneur has had to overcome this in one way or another. And it manifests in all sorts of different ways like underpricing our goods and services, not looking at the numbers, not asking for the sale, just not being on top of the money or just being a little bit afraid of it in some way. So as you’re working with your clients, particularly entrepreneurs, what are some of the issues that you see coming up again, and again, and again? Where do folks need the most help?

Eunicia Peret:

Well, first of all, before I answer that question, congratulations, it’s so exciting. Well, well done. It takes a lot of persistence and a lot of really amazing interviewees to make it this far in a podcast. So congrats on that.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, thank you. And what’s so amazing about it is there are 700 and many, many more women, all who have built really successful businesses. And when we think of affirming and acclaiming that, I think often we’re succeeding in silence. So that’s the point of this podcast, is that we’re all out there doing these amazing things, but it’s not necessarily grabbing the headlines. But women are doing amazing things and we need to support each other and hear from each other about how we can overcome any of the blocks. Be they about sales, marketing, technology, fundraising, or money, financial planning, like building our own wealth.

Eunicia Peret:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And we can talk about just women empowerment for maybe in another episode, because that’s something I’m very, very passionate on, and it’s just an amazing topic. But to address your question from earlier, in terms of where women sabotaged themselves, specifically when it comes to building businesses, finding that financial empowerment, making sure that they stay not just relevant, but most importantly, competitive in the marketplace. One of the biggest things that I’ve found is we have to, have to, have to be willing and able to invest in ourselves, Melinda. And I’m sure you’ve seen it, and you’ve probably paid hundreds, if not tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in your own growth and success. I’ve done the same. And it just, I’m baffled whenever I hear of individuals looking for the free. Well, but I can go when it comes to financial advisory, I can just go down to Merrill Lynch, I can go down to Chase, or whoever the financial advisor.

That’s exactly where the hundreds and the tens of thousands of dollars are being left on the table without those women, or even business owners in general, men or women alike, not knowing that they’re even doing that. So because of that, because we don’t want to invest in ourselves, because we don’t want to invest in working with experts. We try things on our own. We go out there and we try to do the whole do it yourself, which works in some cases, but only to an extent. The ‘do it yourself’ is not going to get us from where we’re at to maybe where we’ve grown to, all the way to the epitomes of success and to the top of the mountain, because it’s just, no, there’s no way. Why? Because we’re going to start jeopardizing our own mindset.

When we hit a roadblock, we’re going to go backwards versus going forward, because we don’t have that support. So in order to truly be able to get ahead, and more importantly, be successful and truly be competitive, that’s what we need to do, what frankly, a lot of the guys do. It’s who do you have in your network? Who do you associate with that is helping you actively get to the next level of success?

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). The networking thing is so interesting because women are so hardwired to relationship, and yet in business often we can spend so much time just heads down, proving our competency and not really leveraging the things for which we have natural aptitude. I find that ironic.

Eunicia Peret:

Very much so. It is ironic. And I feel it’s probably one of the biggest issues that we’re struggling with. We think we’re so good and that we can figure it all out and we’re going to do it all on our own. And then years later, years down the road, we ask ourselves, well, why didn’t it work better? Why didn’t we get further ahead? I ask myself the same question sometimes, particularly when it comes to wealth optimization. My biggest question is, why in the right mind didn’t I ask those questions earlier? So one of the things that I tell my clients is ask questions, lots of them. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. Especially when we work with our clients, we actually do touch quite a bit on the business side as well, because we’ll see opportunities where clients aren’t optimized on the text front, or clients aren’t optimized with the way that they’re charging for their services. They’re shortchanging themselves because they’re undermining perhaps the value. They know they’re good, but am I that good? We have that imposter syndrome.

So it’s really a matter of asking questions, getting through and just really getting past our limiting beliefs and surrounding ourselves with the proper networks, surrounding ourselves with the proper mentors, with the proper collaborators, and frankly with the teams that can help us achieve that success.

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). So Eunicia, when you’re working with your clients, just getting back to where they really need the most help. I want to focus a little bit on this divide between what you’re doing financially for your business, and what you’re doing financially for yourself, because in the entrepreneur world, and I know I’ve made this mistake over and over again, you put every single penny into your business, but then you’re not really planning, you’re not really creating wealth for yourself at the same time. How much does that come up?

Eunicia Peret:

It comes up very often actually. And we do have some clients that have mastered the, yes, I care about the business and I want the business to succeed. But at the end of the day, it’s me and my financial future and my wealth creation efforts that I truly to care about. And so those individuals leverage the business as the means to get to their personal wealth, because they realize that, hey, the business is going to be there for X amount of time, but there are so many factors that we can’t control. And even if we could, at some point in time, they want to retire, go riding off into the sunset to be able to enjoy life. But then there are also the individuals who, for whom business is everything, and the job is everything.

So if we have any female leaders on the line listening to us, and you are perhaps working for somebody else, and you’ve got to tough leadership position, and it’s all about how can I just make sure that I don’t jeopardize my job, it’s those fears also that are huge, huge factors in our decision process and in where we focus our efforts. We have to be able to take a step back. Here’s the deal. If you’re afraid about losing your job, chances are, if it happens, it doesn’t happen to you, it’ll happen for you, because on the other side of that roadblock is going to be so much bigger of a success.

If we’re business owners and we’re afraid that, oh my gosh, what happens if we’re experiencing hardship, or issues with the business. Guess what? If you are thinking about those hardships through the lens of opportunity, opportunity will show up. My husband and I have this discussion as not necessarily business partners, but each other’s business advocates, we each have our own businesses and we’re very successful at what we do. But oftentimes when those hard times come, even just two days ago, he said, you are thinking small. And I looked at him and I said, no, I’m not. He said, yes, you are. And so us being able to look at ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves, or maybe have somebody that holds us accountable to say, hey, you’re thinking small is huge, because oftentimes we do. And because we do, our wealth creation efforts and our overall success and mindset and just emotional state of being can suffer tremendously.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s so true. So what do you recommend though, for a founder starting out because businesses need a lot of capital to begin with. It’s really important to invest in building a team, you have all kinds of different expenses. So the temptation is put yourself last in that. So what’s the best way for a founder who’s in that early stage of perhaps solopreneuring, or they’re just beginning to build a team, they’re just beginning to get traction, but they still need more are capital than they have. So they’re not paying themselves enough. And they’re potentially, if they’re building a type of business that has equity value, they’re building something towards an exit, but a lot of businesses and the vast majority of them aren’t necessarily ‘exitable’ companies, like big tech companies, that kind of thing. So what do you recommend people do? Is it a scenario of pay yourself first, or is it a scenario of something else? What is the best way? And what’s the best way for different types of business structures?

Eunicia Peret:

Well, I think you hit the nail on its head when you said different types of business structures. I personally like the idea of paying yourself first, personally, and it may, or may not work necessarily in every situation. And that’s where, when personally, when we work with our clients, we sit down to figure out what does that look like? Where does money need to come from? Because it may not necessarily come from that business. It could come from somewhere else. It’s a matter of just figuring out what is happening, because if we don’t focus on our own financials, on our own financial wellbeing, wealth optimization, at some point in time, we’re going to feel the burn, but what happens and what I’ve seen happening with so many clients is when they see the success, as small as it may be, it doesn’t have to be that you start with 10%, paying yourself a 10% out of everything that comes out, even though you might be in the negative, you might be positive on sales, but with all the cost, you might have a loss.

When you start focusing on yourself, even though there might be, the business might have a harder time picking up, at least you’ll know that, hey, worst case scenario, I’ve got something to fall back on. And that feeling of I’ve got something to fall back on is so, so huge, Melinda. And it’s made such a big difference in the lives of so many people, because now instead of going to bed fearful of God forbid, what happens if, they go to bed saying, you know what? I know it’s going to be fine. If it’s not fine, then I’m still going to be fine because I’ve got that cushion.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. I wish I learned that much earlier, because I’m the type of person that only has a plan A, and people have said, well, what’s your plan B? And it’s like, well, I create another plan A. But in my case, what I’ve done because this is a technology business, Podopolo, that I’m running in the podcasting space, but it requires a lot of upfront capital before the business really starts to create significant revenue, let alone profitable revenue, it’s that type of a business.

So, in that case, I’m not paying myself my full whack by any stretch of the imagination. However, I have a very good contract with my own business and I’m accruing, so that the minute, with different triggers, either we soon are to close our series A, for instance, I’m able to get paid. So at least there’s a trail, if you will, of what I’m actually owed. And, of course, I’m a large equity shareholder. So as we build value and as the company really wildly increases its valuation, there’s that, but that’s a paper number until there’s an exit or an IPO.

Eunicia Peret:

And I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s very hard to make those decisions, but I love your approach. It’s an approach that gives you, it gives you a reason to fight for, but then as long as you are going back to it, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little bit. At least you know that, hey, worst case scenario, I’ve got a few months’ worth of money that’s set aside that God forbid, if something was to happen, I’m good. And you don’t, we’re not sweating bullets. I sweat bullets, I’ll be honest with you, after I left corporate America because I left, it was the perfect storm and my husband said, you need a hiatus. You’ve worked really hard, you need a hiatus, so you can clear your mind, so that you can figure out, do you want to stay within corporate America?

I was going through the partnership process at one of the large consulting firms. And he realized that while I was great in what I did, that I had so much more of an opportunity. He had more trust, I guess, in my ability to be a business owner than I did in myself. So I listened to him. He was fully, fully supportive. He said, just take a break. That’s all. Don’t quit. Just take a break. I took a break. All right. And I was sweating bullets, because I was not ready. I did not prepare myself financially, or emotionally for that. And I had to figure out how to make it work. And I’ll tell you, when one of my business coaches, years and years back, said to me, he said it was in a slightly different business venture. He said, how much are you spending in marketing?

And I looked at him, I said, anywhere between five to $10,000. And he said, based on where you’re at, and the trajectory of your company, you need to dump somewhere between $15,000 to $20,000. And I looked at him and I said, are you out of your mind? He said, no, I’m not, but based on your goals and based on the value that you add, Eunicia. And I said, no, I said, here’s the deal. I’m not going to put myself in that situation, rather I’m going to work smart.

And so, what I did is I surrounded myself with amazing individuals, both on our team, but also just being strategic with how we were spending our marketing dollars. And you’re right. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer to get to where you want to get to, but it’s okay to take the slower path. It’s okay if you want to bootstrap and not go out and raise capital, if that’s your choice, wonderful. If you want to raise capital, that’s wonderful as well, just make sure that whatever it is that you do fits with who you are, fits with your goals, fits with the hard work that you’re willing to put forth so that when tough times come, it’s not a hard proposition to endure.

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). And again, getting into the type of businesses. If from day one, your business is a cash generation business. I think of a lot of internet marketing, or e-course businesses, or whatever, where you can start rewarding yourself like, so you have your salary base that you need, but then with each milestone it’s written in that you’re basically getting a bonus for each milestone, but you got to think ahead and at least write it down, or document it. I think that’s really important. And I see women just generally, just all the stats where we tend to, in a corporate context, not ask for, and not get equal pay say, but we often don’t even ask for our worth. The same thing happens in startups where we just pay ourselves less, or we ask for less, or we underprice services. That kind of thing.

Eunicia Peret:

Absolutely. Absolutely. It varies. It varies. And the answer is not the same. It’s not a cookie cutter and there is no silver bullet, is what I found, unfortunately. Unfortunately.

Melinda Wittstock:

So it’s not just pay though, and making sure you’re paying your worth. It’s figuring out things like passive income. I wish this was taught in school, sixth graders should be learning concept of passive income, and it’s just really not taught. So how much do you go into that? Passive income can be everything from just owning stocks or your 401k, but also it’ll be through real estate, basically cashflow living. How do you start and go about creating the assets that you can just start to have regular income coming in while you sleep?

Eunicia Peret:

That’s actually a great question. It’s definitely something that we address with our clients, because a lot of them have not even really thought about it, but it’s something that deep down as we start unpacking their goals, their dreams, their desires, it’s there, but in many cases, they’re either afraid to vocalize it, or they’re afraid of, well, it’s going to be too hard, or I don’t know, I don’t have enough capital to start perhaps another business, or to do another investment, or whatever it may be. And so, one of the things that we do is we peel back the onion and look at what are the different options that are specific to that individual? What are they passionate about? Because they have to be passionate about whatever the venture is. And then the other thing that we do, specifically when it comes to even financial vehicles, unfortunately, most individuals don’t know that they have options.

Historically, they were, sorry to say, sold into some sort of a financial product, be it a 401k, because that’s what the company’s sponsoring, or an IRA, or some sort of a mutual fund, or whatever type of investment it is. And they don’t know that they have other options. The other thing that they don’t realize is that at some point in time, the discussion of income will become so much more relevant, especially as they’re thinking about, hey, I want to, maybe not retire, but no longer want to work for money. I want the money to service me. And if they don’t undertake some of the strategies, then that strategies is built out to help them get to that point, and to help them start generating income from multiple streams. What ends up happening is they’re caught off guard, in some cases a little bit too late in life.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, I was going to ask you that, when is it too late? Because you can get to the point where, obviously if you start saving, you start investing in your twenties, you’re going to be in better shape, but say you find yourself like a lot of women reinventing themselves in their fifties, and there are so many women like the profile of female entrepreneurs is now really trending towards women in their mid to late forties, into their fifties, even sixties after they’ve had kids, or perhaps they’ve been divorced, or there’s been some financial loss as a result of all of that. And here they are reinventing themselves. I think the perfect time to be an entrepreneur for women, women are really, really at their best, I think as entrepreneurs in those age ranges, but they may have been left behind on all the financial planning, perhaps their husbands were doing it for them, or they just weren’t on top of it.

So how late is too late? And what can people do if they’re in that age bracket?

Eunicia Peret:

I don’t think that it’s ever really too late, I think it’s just the strategies really change as we age. And so that’s where we need to have a team that is not, or a support group that is not all about put your money here, put your money there, because that’s what they specifically focus on. But rather being in tune with, again, going back to our goals, and what we’re trying to achieve with what we’ve got. And if what we’ve got and what we’re trying to achieve, do not jive. Then the question becomes, what gives? What do we need to focus on? What is the Delta that we need to make sure is there to address that? What I will tell you though, Melinda, is there are so many individuals that are approaching that retirement timeframe, and they have this fear of the unknown.

One example is, I’ve worked with my financial advisor for the last 20 years. I trust this guy. He’s done amazing for me. And oh, by the way, he tells me that I should not make any changes because he guarantees that I’m not going to be better than what he’s done. And this one particular client literally came to me with a text message from their financial advisor, making these guarantees via text. Now all the while they’re right there at retirement’s gate. They’re in their early seventies and the same strategies that they employed to grow their money are the same strategies that a financial advisor is recommending that they stay in. And when their CPA, because we work very strategically, we’re the quarterback for our clients when it comes to building and optimizing wealth, we jumped on a call with our CPA and their CPA said, guys I’ve been out of these types of financial vehicles that your financial advisor is still pushing on you for the last 10 to 15 years.

He said, I started exiting some of those super risky vehicles 15 years ago. What are you guys still doing 90 some percent still in the market? Guess what? They’re not doing very well right now because we all know what’s happening with the market. And so there are a lot of individuals that kept writing the hype and kept believing one person or another, or looking at what’s happening online versus saying, hey, does this align to my strategy? And being strategic and following a methodology and having the right team, that’s asking the right questions, because it’s not just about investments. It’s not even just about how those investments are going to service us when it comes to streams of income. We have to also ask the question of taxation. How was that money saved? How was that money grown throughout the years? And is that the way that we wanted to service, thus when it comes to how it’s going to be treated from a tax standpoint in the future?

And what we’re finding is that most individuals don’t understand and don’t know, especially high income and high net worth individuals, they don’t understand that they truly have options to how, when and how much they pay in taxes for their money. They just think, especially if we’re dealing with corporate executives, in their minds, this is what I need to pay, because this is how much I make. That was one of the big things, one of the big ‘aha’s’ that even and personally I had, and I was upset with myself for the longest time, because I supported everybody that didn’t want to work, and was paying taxes without having the opportunity to truly optimize them. And when I found out that what I was missing out on and that I could have and should have leveraged the opportunities that were available to me, I decided, you know what? Enough is enough. We need to change the trajectory.

So going back to what you said about streams of income, retirement planning, focusing on when we no longer want to work, it’s a matter of having the strategy. If we don’t have the strategy, we’re taking haphazard action. And we’re hoping that we’re going to reach utopia, but has anybody reached utopia by taking haphazard action?

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, absolutely not. And as business owners, there’s so much flexibility. When you think of, you probably shouldn’t be a W2, do you know what I mean? Because if you have a multi-member LLC structure, for instance, that you’re, depending on your assets and their depreciation, there’s so many different things and details you can get into here of how to be able to reduce your taxes, but you need to, really at the get go, and I think this is where a lot of people make a mistake, is they get out there and they haven’t planned for any of this, because certainly from my own experience with building five startup companies into successful companies, when you’re in that triage at that early stage, there’s so much on your plate. So, it’s easy to procrastinate on, oh, I’ll get to all that stuff when I have a moment. And then, of course, you never have a moment because it’s [crosstalk 00:32:27].

Eunicia Peret:

No, we don’t.

Melinda Wittstock:

There’s no destination in ‘startuplandia’; It’s just constant. So, there’s never the right time in that perspective, but the right time is probably the earliest, I would imagine you would say.

Eunicia Peret:

On a very personal note, somebody was asking me, when is the right time to have children? And I looked at them, I said, here’s the deal, I thought I was [crosstalk 00:32:50].

Melinda Wittstock:

When they decide they’re coming, I think is the answer [crosstalk 00:32:54].

Eunicia Peret:

Right. Right. Exactly. My husband and I thought, if things didn’t happen until we got all these things aligned and our careers are on their way and all that. And then after our first child was born, I looked at him and I said, oh my gosh, now we’re a little bit older. We should have had children much earlier. And then we would be much younger as grandparents and all of that. And then our son wasn’t born until six years later, and we’re looking at each other, we’re like, oh my gosh, are we starting all over again? And our biggest guidance to parents is planning for a child, there’s no perfect time for a child to arrive, just sometimes the earlier is the better, just peel off the band aid and be done. I think it’s very much the same in just what we’re trying to achieve from a business standpoint, everything in general, just get it done. Don’t procrastinate, prioritize, figure out what’s most important.

The other thing that I tell a lot of new our business owners, is sometimes, and this is because of what we observe, I’ve observed over and over and over again, this fear, this shame, this embarrassment, this feeling that they carry of, maybe I’m not where I need to be. I can’t let somebody else into my mess. Especially for example, when talking about finances. I’m not where I want to be. I don’t make as much money as I should be. So I don’t want to bring the CPA in. I don’t want to bring my financial advisor in. I don’t want to bring the mortgage broker. I don’t want to have these conversations because they’re going to look at me and they’re going to judge me. No, they won’t. That’s where actually having a good team that is helping you grow and succeed is so important, because you will not be judged. They will be right there alongside you to help you grow.

Eunicia Peret:

But the more you procrastinate and the more hide behind that fear, that embarrassment and shame, whatever it is that you call it, the longer it’s going to be for you to actually figure out that, hey, I’m literally leaving money on the table. I could have done so much better if I would’ve just pulled the band aid off and just said, you know what? Here’s me, just like when you go to the doctor, you want to be upfront and honest because otherwise you don’t want to be misdiagnosed is the same thing when it comes to anything that we’re dealing with from a business perspective. And if we have those fears and feelings of anxiety and some level of embarrassment just get past it. We’re all adults. And at the end of the day, we’re going to be so much better for it if we do, but it’s a huge, huge mindset shift. And it’s no one that’s easy to make for sure.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. A hundred percent. Well, I want to make sure, Eunicia, that people have an opportunity to, if they have questions for you that they can do so on the Podopolo app, because in the comments section on Podopolo, if you download the app and follow Wings of Inspired Business there, and if you do too, I can add you as a guest and people can interact with you. So if there are any questions that people have, that they can reach out to you, we can do that and carry on the conversation on the app. So I’d invite you and everybody who’s interested in this particular topic, because we could talk for hours. So let’s keep it going over there. And also in the meantime, I want to make sure that people know how to find you and work with you.

Eunicia Peret:

Absolutely. So yes I will, I just made myself a note. I’m definitely going to go ahead and get the app. And I welcome any questions from individuals. And if at some point in time, it may make sense for us to do some master class. I’m happy to do that as well. As a matter of fact, we do have a master class coming up. So if you are interested, let us know. In the meantime, one of the easiest and best ways for us to stay in touch is, and this is a giveaway to our listeners, is I would welcome you to go out and check out the five biggest financial pitfalls to avoid. Those five biggest financial pitfalls are things in our items that we found in working with hundreds and hundreds of clients, that if we don’t address individuals regardless of income, or financial status, they end up potentially putting themselves in jeopardy, either out of outliving their money in retirement, or needing to adjust lifestyle.

And I’ll let that sink in for a second. We don’t want either one to happen. We don’t want to outlive our money, and we don’t want to adjust our lifestyle. And there have been, I cannot tell you how many people that have done really, really, really well for themselves during their working careers. They acquired properties. They acquired businesses. And when it came time for retirement things went south. Too much money paid in taxes, you name it, has happened. And because of that, they need to adjust. So go check that out. You can easily find it at www.empoweredfinancialplanner.com/pitfalls. Empowerfinancialplanner.com is also our website, and we welcome any interaction with you guys there. And just let us know that you heard about it here on the Wings of Inspired Business podcast.

Melinda Wittstock:

Fantastic. Well Eunicia, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Eunicia Peret:

It’s been awesome. I’ve very much enjoyed it. Thank you for having me, Melinda.