“It is confidence in our bodies, minds, and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures.”- Oprah Winfrey
As women, we are mothers, wives, sisters, aunties, and everything to everyone. We wear our SHERO cape with grace for those who need us while feeling defeated in our personal fight. We have been known to put everyone else first and ourselves last in order to take care of our families and communities. This reality has caused us to become mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and financially exhausted. Our exhaustion affects several aspects of our lives and we have not been able to connect the dots. Self-confidence happens to be one of those things.
When we hear about self-confidence, we immediately think of our outward appearance. However, this is not always the case for some of us. Some women who bear the burden of being single mothers, the head of household or caregivers to family members also suffer from the lack of financial confidence. Simultaneously, these issues are exacerbated by the racial and gender wage gap that heavily contributes to our self-doubt, fear, and lack of trust in the overall economic system. Ultimately we become hesitant of financial experts and their advice for our personal finances which then spills over into every other area of our business.
We are going to walk you through a few key steps to help manage your financial anxiety so that you can confidently manage and multiply your financial portfolio to create wealth.
Step One: The first step begins with a period of self-reflection. Some women are able to do this in a day and others may need a bit more time. During this initiation phase, you want to give yourself grace as you set the stage for this new chapter. Everything that you discover about yourself, your past decisions, and your family history will lay the foundation for your financial journey. I encourage you to document your thoughts, emotions, and deepest desires. In this step, you should include your top ten reasons why you are in business and why building wealth is important to you. If you’ve struggled with its significance in your life, maybe you should start with what you believe wealth could do for you and your family. Over time these things may change and that’s okay. The most important factor is that you are transparent. If you cannot be honest with yourself in your reflections, it will be difficult for you to enlist the assistance you need and even more difficult for you to fully show up in those conversations.
Step Two: The next step of your reflection phase is a personal SWOT analysis. Exploring your financial strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats allow you to understand the starting point in your journey. This is a great time to scan your bank statements to take note of your spending habits. In this analysis, be very specific about what you notice. A weakness that may be more common for us to identify is the struggle to save money. Instead of stopping there, consider why it may be challenging to save money. What factors contribute to that weakness, is it internally controllable or external? When we magnify the source of our challenges, we can be solution-oriented in our approach to addressing the issue. This will help you to set realistic expectations for yourself and your business.
Step Three: As you reflect on why and how you personally show up in your finances, you will also uncover those areas in which you need support. In this planning phase, you are encouraged to build a financial dream team. These are your key partners that assist you along your journey. They can include your accountant, attorney, insurance agent, personal/business banker, and financial advisor. Every wealthy person that we meet has a team of experts who helped them get there. Too often we try to tackle everything alone and we cap ourselves at what we know. A business partner of mine reminded me that “if it’s not your forte, you must pay.” - We have to make an intentional effort to invest in ourselves by putting together a good team that can fill in the gap where you fall short. When you feel supported, it makes room for you to feel more confident in your journey. The best partners are those with the heart of an educator. This separates those experts who desire to do the work to receive their compensation and those who support you in their area of expertise but also educate you along the way. The end result isn’t for you to become self-sufficient in those areas but for you to have the foundational knowledge to stand firm in your role as a leader of your family and business.
Step Four: Now that you have a team of experts who you trust to build with you, it is time to form a blueprint that you can be comfortable executing. This step requires you to create financial SMART goals. It is important to include your team of experts in these conversations, they help you to eliminate emotional planning and redirect you back to the data. It is imperative that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Since this is your personal journey, you can create new milestones however often you’d like. As a growing entrepreneur, you want to at minimum set goals each year and break them down by quarter. When you have goals that you are actively pursuing and you have a clear direction of how to get there, it is easier to eliminate distractions. A woman with a team and a plan to achieve her goals is a woman with confidence. Everyone around you will see that your self-worth, value, and price tag just went up!
Step Five: The journey may seem long but it is absolutely worth it. It will ultimately guide you to creating and living a wealth mindset. This lifestyle comes with financial confidence that can literally change your life and the lives that you touch. The final step in our approach is simple, keep learning. As you continue to develop yourself, your goals get bigger, your bank accounts get bigger, and your LEGACY for your family becomes more profound.
If you are ready but still unsure of how to start your journey, find a community of like-minded women who can support you. It doesn’t just take a village to raise children; it takes a village to create and grow businesses, and to change an economy!
Be well sis!
Meet our contributing author, Lyndsae' Peele!
Lyndsae' Peele, MBA, PMEC™ is a strategic banking consultant and financial wellness coach. She is known as a disruptor of systemic racial disparities in wealth creation, homeownership, and entrepreneurship for people of color. She is an alumna of the illustrious Howard University and received her Master's in Business Administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus. Lyndsae' combined her years of banking experience and her passion for economic development to birth Kingdom Vision Consulting.
Kingdom Vision Consulting is a financial services firm that educates and empowers entrepreneurs of color to build generational wealth using 5 key pillars known as C.L.A.S.S; Credit Worthiness, Long Term Wealth, Asset Protection, Strategic Banking Relationships & Strategic Asset Accumulation. As a second-generation entrepreneur, she believes that the key to building a solid foundation for any business is through strategic financial decision-making and meaningful partnerships.
“Black & brown families deserve to inherit a legacy of wealth and tangible assets." –Lyndsae’ Peele
Greater Baltimore Black Chamber of Commerce is a 501(c) 6 and 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. 1325 Bedford Avenue, Suite 5941; Pikesville, MD 21282-7510
