Some might say I got my career started 'early'... with a mother who owns her bookkeeping company; I was balancing checkbooks while the other kids were learning to skateboard. That may not have made me part of the popular crowd on the yard at school, but it definitely set up my career and personal life for stability.
Part of my personal buy-in to why I'm passionate about this industry actually starts right after that, college years, I did not attend any form of traditional 'higher education'. Right out of high school, I was living and assisting an ailing, elderly family member. I started in this work to help ensure others don't have to go through what my great aunt Sally did. Then we take a step backwards on the clock, and I saw the great recession of '08 hit my family; without other voices of reason in their personal life, my parents left the stock market out of fear. At great loss. A few years later, I was diagnosed with Stage 2, Extra-Nodal, non-hodgekins Lymphoma. It dominated my life for the next 18 months, and the fiscal stresses were severe, not only on myself but on my family. Shortly after, I saw my parents caring for my grandparents, who had no serious plans for that stage of life.
I'm here for them, and others who have found their loved ones in these scenarios,
My professional life at the time was thriving, though. I was with Walmart, and had worked my way up their ladder to positions of local leadership and management. The entirety of my management experience (including 3 years as a teacher in their Academy) was in what we could call a 'Middle Market' space (approx: Orgs with $10MM annual Net Rev up to around $500MM Net Rev). Mostly on the Foods and consumables side, then into E-Commerce, where I operated a nationally top 60 eComm team, and finally into Loss Prevention, where I specialized in identifying and reducing Loss & Shrink trends.
Shifting into finance from corporate was a serious adjustment! But my original industry sponsor, New York Life, took great care of my fledgling period. In that time, I specialized in Corporate Liquidity Risks - Funding Buy/Sell Arrangements, Executive Risk & Retention, etc. Three years and one successful start to a new career later, I was approached by an external mentor of mine. We discussed my goals and aspirations, and I had the privilege of joining his firm at Osaic Wealth, Inc., where I now reside and have built my practice, Solution Smart, into what it is today.
I come from a diverse background of real-world experience, ranging from education to personal to corporate; I run my practice in a warm and relational 'education first' mindset. My goal is your success, so I guess the question left is:
In your life and in your business, have you been Solution Smart?