An Entrepreneurship's Journey

By: Amy Irvine, CFP®, EA, MPAS®, CCFC 

Five Years of Independence and Entrepreneurship!
June 1, 2020 celebrated FIVE years of independence and becoming an entrepreneur.  I can hardly believe it's been that long.  It's been an interesting journey to say the least.  For those of you that were with me at the start of the journey, the words, "thank you" don't seem sufficient enough words.  For those of you have have joined us along the way, we are so honored you've selected us.  

Starting your own business is hard work, I new it would be when I set off on the journey.  Typical to my personality, I planned for "what could go wrong" and worried about it all the time.  I will admit, it certainly started out a little rocky with significant challenges, as some of you may remember the flash crash of August 2015. 

This was then followed by a decision in early 2016 to create Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies (spinning off from the partnership I had started initially)  This was a hard decision, but was one of the best pivots I made early on and 2016 and 2017 were major growth years for the business, moving from 66 clients at the end of 2016 to 118 clients at the end of 2017.  Yes, that is a 44% growth rate in one year.  I remember being on a podcast and being asked how other's could replicate my "success" and my response was "don't."  That was too much growth and all I did was work VERY long days.

It was also in 2016 that "Monday Morning Quarter-Buck" was "born."  Yes we have over 4-years worth of blogs out in the world, for which I'm very excited and never would have thought possible.

In 2017, we launched the Wine and Dime Podcast, with the first episode releasing on September 22!  It was an episode with my mom.  We've come a long way from those early episodes and with the release of episode 116 this past Friday (see below).  

That's why 2018 was a big hiring year, with the first addition being Kate Welker in February of 2018.  I'm sure Kate would have some funny "stories" about those early days!  As would  Becky Eason who joined us shortly thereafter in April of 2018, and then Kerrie Beene in August of 2018.  Hiring people is one of the most stressful parts of running a company, the realization that their success is dependent on my success.  It's one thing to be a financial planner and understand how clients are leaning on you for guidance and advice, but when you put that business owner's hat on, it's a completely different grape you are tasting (yes, I had to get at least one wine related metaphor in here).  But, helping develop people certainly has made some awesome wine (okay two metaphors).

With the expansion of the team in 2018, we decided to re-brand in 2019 and Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies began doing business as Rooted Planning Group.  If you are a small business and ever want to re-brand, give us a call, we will tell what not to do!  We thought it was going to be an "easy" process.  We were WRONG.   Our growth in 2019 slowed a bit, growing at about 6% for a total client count of 137 at the end of the year.  However, the later part of 2019 was really picking up momentum and both Kerrie Beene and Kate Welker attained their CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER designation.

Then came 2020.  When I said I planned for what could go "wrong," I left out a pandemic scenario, a major economic correction, one major Act from Congress (but 4 in total, so far), all in the first 5-months of ONE year.  Thank goodness we had the ability to work remotely already, as I can't image trying to figure that out too.   To add "drama" to all this going on, Becky Eason sat for Certified Financial Planner exam in March (which turned out to be the day before they shut down testing) and successfully passed the exam.  It was a bit of a Hallmark ending in my opinion.   We are also thrilled to have added Rachel to the team earlier this year too, and many of you have started to receive meeting reminders from her already.  

Here's the one thing I hope anyone reading this understands, I planned for what could go wrong and I think that is important, but it was a recent podcast guest that got me thinking, what if I had approached this with "What if I Fly" instead.  So in 2020, we want to plan more for "flying" with all of you.  It has been an amazing journey, we are honored to be part of your lives.  Thank you for being the critical part of our success journey and for giving us the wings that will now give us the ability to fly.

Women Rocking Business

March is women’s history month and we want to take some of our space this month to recognize that. I love working with small business owners so I wanted to share some thoughts on women as business owners. Rooted Planning Group is owned by women so this is certainly special to us. 

by Kate Welker, CFP®

What are the traits that help women succeed in business? I thought back on some conferences I’ve attended, drew on personal experience, and looked at our team to see how the ways we think or act differently can be beneficial.

Women tend to be more emotionally intelligent, this makes us more attuned to social cues and emotions. This article from Forbes refers to a study listing all the various categories where women outscore men. This can help a woman read a room to pick up on what’s not being said. When working with a client you might better pick up on something that is causing an emotional response. Being able to understand and empathize with employees makes for a better work environment.

As women many of us have had to face hurdles in our careers because of the fact we were women, and to push through that builds determination. Running a business comes with many challenges that are going to be aided because of that. By overcoming the different walls and barriers thrown at us we are cultivating the traits that help to be good leaders- tenacity, resolve, and maybe a little stubbornness. 

In the business world women tend to be better collaborators, aka “team players.” We are not afraid to share ideas and work together to build something better. This also tends to mean women are more often open to mentoring opportunities, to pass on their knowledge, and encourage others. 

Of course the pendulum swings the other way too and there are some traits we need to be aware of that can impede success.

Women tend to be more nurturing and can have the feeling we need to take care of things. This can lead to burnout. Sometimes I think women can be worse at delegating because we want to just handle everything and make sure it’s taken care of or we don’t want it to look like we’re not doing enough. Self care is a buzzword, but it really is essential.  Evaluating where you tend to take on too much or get too involved and focus on ways to manage that is going to be a healthy step for you and your business.

Impostor Syndrome, that feeling that you don’t know enough or aren’t competent. You might doubt yourself and your accomplishments. Both men and women can associate with this, but I hear it more from women. Acknowledging this is important, that way when it's happening you can face it and deal with those feelings. Remind yourself of how far you have come and how much knowledge and experience you have. I once had a very respected person in my industry with lots of letters and designations after their name tell me they sometimes walk into a meeting and still feel like it’s their first day on the job. When I feel this way I like to repeat the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it,” paste on a smile and go in with confidence, because here’s the secret- you’re not really faking it. You ARE the person with the expertise, you just need to remind that little part of your brain of that.

Fun History Fact: In Holland women were treated more equally than in other countries in the 17th century and this carried to New Amsterdam (roughly modern Manhattan). For years women held more rights than in other parts of the country and many owned businesses. They were referred to as she-merchants.*

*Summarized from womenhistoryblog.com