OWN YOUR BRAND SHOW with Victoria Odekomaya

Over 50% of Entrepreneurs Don’t Pay Themselves. Are You One of Them? | Epi 77

• Victoria Odekomaya | LiMStudios Network • Episode 77

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In this episode of The Own Your Brand Show, we sit down with financial advisor and business owner Shawnda Sparks to talk about a money truth too many entrepreneurs avoid. More than 50 percent of business owners are not paying themselves a consistent income. That decision impacts everything from day to day cash flow to long term retirement planning. Shawnda breaks down why so many women entrepreneurs underpay themselves, how to reverse engineer pricing so your business can actually support your life, and what options exist beyond the traditional 401k. We also discuss common money myths, fee transparency, transitioning from corporate to entrepreneurship, and how compounding interest can work in your favor when you start early. This episode is a must listen for women business owners who want to build wealth intentionally, pay themselves with confidence, and plan for the future without overwhelm.

If you are a female entrepreneur thinking about retirement, paying yourself consistently, or finding a financial advisor who understands your business and your life, this conversation will give you practical next steps you can apply right now.

Connect with Shawnda Sparks & Perspective Financial Group:
🌐 Website: https://www.perspectivefin.com/
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnda-sparks-crpc/

Learn more about the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO):
🌐 Website: https://nawboindy.org/

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ABOUT

Victoria Odekomaya is a Nigerian American entrepreneur, speaker, and content marketing strategist on a mission to help business owners grow their business, brand, and legacy through the power of storytelling and strategic content marketing.

She’s the founder of LiMStudios, a full-service creative agency and state-of-the-art content studio in Indianapolis where strategy and storytelling come together through high-quality content production and marketing implementation. She’s also the creator of Boss Ladies Magazine and host of The Own Your Brand Show, a video podcast to help business owners grow their business, brand, and legacy through strategic content marketing and authentic conversations about the entrepreneurial journey.

To learn more, follow her journey through LiMStudios, Boss Ladies Magazine, and The Own Your Brand Show and join the movement to amplify voices, build legacy, and make impact.

Work with Victoria: https://f.mtr.cool/qmicsevjhv

📩 For Guest, sponsorship or inquiries:
mtr.bio/limstudios | hello@thelimstudios.com | Text 260-777-7211

Shawnda Sparks:

Over 50% of entrepreneurs that do not pay themselves a wage. They might be taking distributions. They're making the money, but they're not paying themselves a regular income. Whatever that looks like, whether it's salary, $10.99, however they structure it, but over half of entrepreneurs are not doing that. And so how do you plan for retirement? Or even how do you plan to pay your monthly bills if you don't have a regular income? I think we, especially women, tend to not know our worth, right? And we question ourselves constantly. Should I be paying myself? Should I be paying myself first in a retirement plan? Can I afford to do that? How can I justify charging this amount? I I don't have that much experience, or what am I bringing to that client? When the reality is, if you set your fees too high, you're gonna know it really quickly. Right because your clients are gonna say no, your prospects are gonna say no. Right. And they're gonna go on to the next person. And if that's a trend, then you're gonna know that your services are too costly. Right. And then you have to reverse engineer what you're billing for, right? The sooner you can get started, the better off you will be in your future. Your your financial health will benefit from it drastically. Compounding interest is a very powerful tool. And so the sooner you can get started with saving and investing, the better off you will be down the road. And you're right, it doesn't matter how much you have to start with, it's getting started that's important.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the On Your Brand Show. I am excited for today's Behind the Brand series. I get to interview and talk to Shawnda Sparks. She was one of the ladies featured in the novel edition of the Boss Ladies magazine. So if you haven't seen that or read that, you need to go read that. But today we're gonna be diving into a background, how she's building her brand and helping female entrepreneurs manage their money effectively. We're gonna talk about, you know, some of the money meets that we think we have, how to handle our 401k. Because a lot of us that are business owners, oh my God, that's a one big question. Like, what am I gonna do when you're transitioning? She's gonna break down all of that and give us some powerful tips that we can implement right now to start building our financial future. So without much ado, let's get into it. Hi Shawnda, how are you doing? I'm good, Victoria. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. Thank you so much again for coming on. So, for those that don't know who you are, can you just give us a you know quick introduction of you and your business?

Shawnda Sparks:

Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. Um, so my name is Shawnda Sparks. I am the co-founder of Perspective Financial Group. We've been in business for six years. We started in 2019. Um, my partner, Chris Keene and I, we have known each other for 18 years, and uh collectively we've been in this industry for almost 43 years. So um we started together as advisors and worked on the team together for a while, and then we decided that it was time to step out, go independent, and start our own practice. That's interesting.

Victoria Odekomaya:

So I know you've known him for so long, but like when you were doing when that transitioning was happening, like what were some of the things that you were thinking? Did you know that you were gonna go in partnership or you didn't want to go on your own?

Shawnda Sparks:

So actually, um, we were just working at another um firm and I had walked in to his office and expressed some unhappiness, and uh I was uncertain what was next for me, but I knew that where we were was not my home, and I was looking for a place to call home.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yeah.

Shawnda Sparks:

And so out of that conversation, we developed Perspective Financial Group and the vision behind it.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Wow. And I know you focus a lot on empowering female entrepreneurs. So why did you choose that in particular?

Shawnda Sparks:

Well, myself specifically, um, I know it's hard to climb that ladder as a female.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yes.

Shawnda Sparks:

Right? Whether you're trying to break into an executive level position, whether you're trying to be an owner, whether you're just trying to manage finances, like it's almost this uh a stigma that we don't women don't manage money. Yeah, we know, right? Whether it yeah, whether it be business or whether it be personal. It's like I I hear all the time, oh my husband handles that. And okay, but you need to know about it, right? So um just from a personal standpoint, seeing the the challenges behind being a woman, um, being a woman who understood finances, yeah, and the challenges that I saw women around me experiencing.

Victoria Odekomaya:

That's really good. Because speaking of myth, you know, like you just give an example, there's so many myths that we have, you know, like that parents have taught us or we've picked up over the years, you know, like what is one beyond besides the one you just shared right now that is something that we still carry along and we believe and holds us back?

Shawnda Sparks:

Great question. Um, one of my favorite myths to debunk is that I can't afford to work with an advisor. Oh my God, yes.

Victoria Odekomaya:

So I have to tell you this. I always thought, I always thought you had to be like a millionaire, had a lot of money in the bank, but yeah.

Shawnda Sparks:

Yeah, I mean, there are advisors out there that have minimums. Um, but there are plenty of advisors out there that will work with even people who are just getting started, right? Um we have a belief at our firm that everyone deserves access to quality financial advice. And so there is no reason why anyone, even someone who's looking to just get started and make their very first investment, shouldn't start talking to financial advisors because I don't know the exact statistic, but there are tons of statistics out there that will show you that your average return on your investment will go up if you're working with an advisor and you've got some guidance. Not only that, but advisors will help you put a plan in place. Yeah. Like how much can I afford? How much should I be saving? They're gonna give you guidance along the way. And per that guidance, you're gonna end up saving more, which means you'll have a much better success rate of retiring when you want to.

Victoria Odekomaya:

You know, I was thinking about that because it's like if we don't start early or even have a plan, then if the idea of, oh, I have to be a million dollars before I can use, like I can have financial advice, then we'll never get there because we never even have a plan to get to a million dollars to start off with. So I like that you, you know, touched on that because I think it's definitely important that we start early and start with someone that we trust and understand female entrepreneurs enough to give us solid advice. Because I imagine that the advice that you give people are different depending on their situation, right?

Shawnda Sparks:

Absolutely. There is no two clients of mine that are the same. So all of the advice that I am giving is very customized and personalized to the individual or the company that I'm working with. Even when we're working with our corporate retirement plans and their participants, we are providing individual customized advice to those participants. Everybody's dreams are different. And so we want to help everybody create a plan so that dream can become a reality. That's good.

Victoria Odekomaya:

So I know you have a lot of examples, and particularly of this lady that you helped. Tell us about how you helped out with our 401k when she was like, didn't even know what to do. Because that's a big one for a lot of people that are transitioning from corporate to owning a business. Like, we're like, what do I do with this money? How do I because we still want to stay for our 401k in the future, right? Otherwise, you know, we're screwed in the log, you know. Yeah. So tell us about that story and what was the big takeaway from that?

Shawnda Sparks:

Yeah, absolutely. So I um worked with an individual who was really just a friend of mine, and she was leaving her corporate job and starting her own company. And the advisor on the plan was not responsive, um, was not helping her, not giving her guidance.

Victoria Odekomaya:

This advisor was the one that worked with the company, right? For the I know how that goes, right? The company hires someone and we get get access to them, but do we really get access to them?

Shawnda Sparks:

Correct. Yes, that was exactly how it was. And so she was just looking for guidance on what options do I have if I leave this company. What's next for me? Can I take my 401k out? Can I roll it over? Do I leave it? Do I start a new plan? All of the above, right? So she and I sat down and spent about five minutes going over what her options were. It doesn't not a big complicated situation. And then we talked about what options she might have for starting her own. Well, this got me um in the door with that company. Oh, wow. Um, because I had some other friends who worked there and she shared her story. And then I was able to come in and evaluate, do a benchmarking for a said plan. And we saved them double digits for the year on their fees. I bet they fired the other advisors. They did. They did. Um, you know, and that is where um a lot of business owners don't understand their fiduciary responsibility and the liability behind having a retirement plan. They part of that is knowing the fees. Right. And who's getting paid what and how much those fees are. And those are not always transparent to be. They're not. They can be buried. Um, and so that's one of the things that we're very prideful of is fee transparency and making sure that our clients know exactly who's getting paid what. Right, right.

Victoria Odekomaya:

And that's so important because I think that's also maybe the fear that some people have. Like, oh, the financial advisor is just gonna scam me out of my money. Like, what are they really doing or bringing to the table, you know? But like, what do you say to that?

Shawnda Sparks:

Um, I think that that's a valid concern. And there's of course that out there in every industry, right? Right. Um, there are always people who are going to do things that they shouldn't be doing, whether it be unlawful or just unethical, or maybe both. Um, but fee transparency is very important. And if you don't see those charges on your statement or your advisor is not willing to tell you what you're paying, that's a huge red flag. Um, but I know on our statements every month it shows you what charges have been paid. Um anytime a trade is done in an account, it shows you that transaction, what the commission was. And so just being very transparent about fees. Um, had a client review about three months ago, and she said, I don't really understand what the fees are and how they are broken down. And I just made a chart for her.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Wow.

Shawnda Sparks:

You know, this account, this is your fee, and this is currently how much you've paid for the year. This account, this is your fee, and this is currently, and so on and so forth. It's important to me that you know what your fees are. Um, you wouldn't go to the grocery store and go check out and blindly run your credit cards. So true, right? That's right, yeah. You don't go to the mall, maybe you do go to the mall and blindly run your credit card. But I mean, we we tend to know what we're spending our money on, right? Even if it's just in the moment and then we forget it tomorrow. Uh having an advisor should be the same way. You should know what you're paying for and know why you're paying for it.

Victoria Odekomaya:

That's right, yeah. So I imagine that like your friend that you helped, you know, we start our own business. There's a lot of female entrepreneurs out there that now have a business and they're doing okay. Well, are we really paying ourselves? You know, we are like at the point where we're like, we're just trying to survive. So tell us some of the things that we can do because I understand, like you said also, that the more, the sooner you start putting money away, the better for us, right? But it's it's hard, you know. That's the reality. And I know you understand that because you're a female entrepreneur, which is why I love that we're having this conversation. So for those people out there thinking, oh yeah, I don't know, I don't know what about, you know, what can we do? How can we start at least paying ourselves?

Shawnda Sparks:

So I think you're familiar with the statistic of about it's over 50% of entrepreneurs that do not pay themselves a wage. Right. Um, they might be taking distributions, they're making the money, but they're not paying themselves a regular income. Whatever that looks like, whether it's salary, 1099, W-2, however they structure it, but over half of entrepreneurs are not doing that. And so, how do you plan for retirement or even how do you plan to pay your monthly bills if you don't have a regular income? Right. So it's very important to kind of start at that ground level and build yourself a foundation. Um, that foundation starts with regular payments to yourself. And from there, you can really start to build out a true plan. Like if you've got that foundation, this is my income and these are my living expenses, the this is the cost of doing business, then you can really start to build out what that vision is and start to fill in that dream of one day retiring and living out that retirement dream. But has to start with a quality foundation. If we don't have a quality foundation, we can't build out that dream and make it a reality.

Victoria Odekomaya:

And I think in addition to that, I know that uh usually one of the struggles that I find that most entrepreneurs that I work with at the very beginning of their business, they don't even know how much to charge for their services. And I often think of it like you have to work backwards in a way. Like you have bills to pay, you know, you, you know, whatever that bills is, and like you said, pay yourself and maybe even put in your 401k for retirement purposes, and then use that to reverse engineer what your minimum for your services are. And the thing is that if you have the talent, you know, and you're providing really good quality, you know, like it kind of merge, you know, like you shouldn't be worried about, oh, my fees are too high because you're bringing value to the table. And because you're doing that, you can then pay yourself so you can, you know, handle all of the rest of the business, too.

Shawnda Sparks:

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I think we, especially women, tend to not know our worth, right? And we question ourselves constantly. Should I should I be paying myself? Should I be paying myself first in a retirement plan? Can I afford to do that? How can I justify charging this amount? I I don't have that much experience, or what am I bringing to that client? When the reality is if you set your fees too high, you're gonna know it really quickly. Right because your clients are gonna say no, your prospects are gonna say no. Right. And they're gonna go on to the next person. And if that's a trend, then you're gonna know that your services are too costly. Right. And then you have to reverse engineer what you're billing for, right? But you have to pay yourself first. And when it comes to like a 401k, a 401k is one of the most simple automated ways to pay yourself first. So once we get past that salary, how am I paying myself a wage? Then the next step is how do I pay myself for my future?

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yes.

Shawnda Sparks:

Because we're so caught up in how do I pay my bills today? But what happens when you're 50, 60, 70 and you don't want to be working anymore? That's right. How are you gonna pay yourself?

Victoria Odekomaya:

Or if something happened, God forbid, you know, and you can't walk anymore at 50. Yes. Yes. How are you gonna pay yourself?

Shawnda Sparks:

And so when you are paying yourself a wage today plus paying yourself a retirement benefit by saving in a 401k or an IRA, or even a non-retirement account, we also have to think outside the box a 401k isn't a great fit for everyone. Or maybe you have a W-2 job, plus you have a side hustle and you want to do something different. Not everything has to be tied to a true retirement plan. Oh wow. There are so many investment vehicles out there. It's what works for you and what is the need. And if a 401k is not it, or maybe there's a need outside of that, we have options. Yeah. And this is where finding someone who can give you that guidance and that advice is invaluable.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yes. I'm beginning to see that too because I know it was one of the things that I was like so worried about like, what am I gonna do with my health insurance and my 401k and you know, all the things. And and I started learning a little bit, you know, about what what other options are out there. There's IRA, there's all kinds of things that I can't even remember what the names are right now. And you know, so that's I think I see the value for sure. When I was walking through that process, but really in hiring someone that not only understands what options are out there, but understands you as a person and understands your business as well.

Shawnda Sparks:

Yes, I think that is incredibly important. Um, we tell all of our clients that even if they were strangers when we got started, they'll be friends in family, but before they know it.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Well, they better be because you're gonna be managing their money for life.

Shawnda Sparks:

Exactly. And money is intimate, right? It is a true relationship. So we have to be friends. We have to be family because life changes. You're gonna call me. Yeah. And I need to know about them. I can't give you quality advice if I don't know about your life events. If you don't call me and tell me that you had a baby, then I can't advise you on what you should be doing or what adjustments we should be making, or a job change, or a death in the family. You know, tragedy happens every day. Right. We try to plan for it on the front side, to be honest. And so prepping from a corporate side is similar in so many ways to prepping an individual.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Right.

Shawnda Sparks:

You need to have the same safeguards in place, you need to have the same plans in place. They're just two different plans. Right. One you're planning for a business, the other you're planning as an individual or as a family. And it's similar, slightly different, but it's similar. And these are all the things that you do, right? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We work with um, I would say our bus business is about 50% corporate, um, whether it be corporate financial planning or corporate investments or corporate retirement plans, but we're pretty split down the middle um working with individuals and business owners. But most of our individuals are business owners.

Victoria Odekomaya:

So I see, I see. That's good. That's good that you have such a wealth of experience. You said 43 years between you and your partner. That's good. Because money is such a big, big deal, you know. Like, I'm like, ooh, do I trust this person? But you know, like, you know, and it's our lively, we depend a lot on it for so many things. So I know you have a women's wealth builder program. Tell us a little bit about that.

Shawnda Sparks:

Oh, I would love to. Uh, that actually came out of my work with NAWBO, the National Association of Women Business Owners. Uh-huh. Um, I saw a need, all of the members are business owners or working for a business. And I saw a need for a I won't say hands off, but a very light administrative retirement plan option. So when we get into the 401k world, there's a lot of administrative work that goes on behind the scenes. Okay. And so if you are a business owner who's a woman who's running around like Crazy, let's be real. Not all of us, but a lot of us. We're wives, we're mothers, we're owners. We wear a lot of hats. Yes, we do. And we are very busy. And so if you are the main executive team within your company, you'll probably don't have much space in your day and much capacity to take on more administrative duties. And so that plan is designed specifically for busy women entrepreneurs who don't have this the capacity to take on more administrative duties. Or they might need to offload some. You can have an existing plan and we can change it over to the Women's Wealth Builder 401k, which helps alleviate a lot of those administrative duties. So it's a pooled plan. It's called a pooled employer plan. Okay. And what that does is it allows any member or corporate partner of Nabo to participate.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Okay.

Shawnda Sparks:

So if someone is not a member of Nabo, they would not be eligible. So to be eligible, we have to have a common association. Okay. Ours is Nabo.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yes, yes. And this plan, we can also bring our family, our co-walkers into it, right?

Shawnda Sparks:

Any employees. Yep. So it it works just like a 401k, like a traditional 401k, where it would be your company's plan and we would manage it for your company. Okay. And you would be able to any employee that is that would be eligible to participate in your 401k, be eligible to participate in this plan. Okay. Okay, wow. So how can people get in touch with you if they're interested in something like this? Thanks for asking that question. So it's on my website, which is perspectivefin.com. You can find me on LinkedIn. Uh we're on Facebook, Perspective Financial Group. LinkedIn is Shawnda Sparks. Um there's also a link to it on the Nabo website, the Nabo Indie website. Um so it's out there as well under the Affinity Partners. Okay.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Now I'm thinking there's so many people out there thinking, well, I'm not Nabu, at least not yet. We're welcome to that part. We're gonna get you there. Yeah, we're getting you there because it's such an amazing organization, and I've been blessed to be a part of it, gotten a lot out of it. But so they're like, Well, I'm not a member of NAWBO, how can I still get into something similar to this? Do you have an offer for people that are not NAWBO?

Shawnda Sparks:

Absolutely. So what I do with all business owners, even NAWBO members, is we sit down and we talk about what do you need? What do you want? What are your dreams? What are your hopes? What are your desires? What do you have now? And we just look at all the options and we plug in what fits best. Because a 401k may or may not be the best option for you. Right. So we look at how much are you wanting to save, how much are you wanting to spend, what can you afford to do from an individual or from a company standpoint, and then we're plugging in what the best fit is for you and for your company. Right. That's great.

Victoria Odekomaya:

I think my biggest takeaway from today is like start early, find someone that can support you, that understands your business, and no amount is too small.

Shawnda Sparks:

You are absolutely correct. The sooner you can get started, the better off you will be in your future. Your your financial health will benefit from it drastically. Um compounding interest is a very powerful tool. And so the sooner you can get started with saving and investing, the better off you will be down the road. And you're right, it doesn't matter how much you have to start with, it's getting started that's important.

Victoria Odekomaya:

All right, I gotta ask one more question before we close this out. So some people might be like, well, the stock market is not stable, like all of that, you know, stuff. Like, because we're also worried about losing the money that we're working hard for. So, like, what what what is what do you have to say to people that are like, you know, I'm worried about what's gonna happen because things change all the time.

Shawnda Sparks:

You are right, things do change all the time. I see you have an iPhone there. Most people have iPhones, and there is an app on your phone that lets you look at stocks. I encourage you to pull that app up and look at, click on the 10-year number and then look at where the SP 500 is today versus 10 years ago, five years ago. You can look at the entire history of it, and I'm telling you, that chart is skyrockets, right? So, yes, there are dips. No, it is not guaranteed. There are guaranteed products out there that you can purchase if you want to. Um, and if that's a need, then that's where an advisor would plug in and help you and guide you through that process. But the long-term investor will win in the stock market.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yeah.

Shawnda Sparks:

If you pull out your phone and you look at that chart of where the SP 500 has been and where it is today, you'll see it's definitely an upward trend.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yeah, that's good to know. That's very reassuring. Well, I will pull up my phone after we finish this episode, but you can definitely pull that up. I think I strongly encourage you to do so. Thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate just giving us this basic, real good financial tips to help us get started because I think we really need that. Um as always, all the links are gonna be in the show notes. Make sure you connect with Shawnda, ask about how you can get started on your 401k or any plan that is tailored to you that she has. She's had a lot of experience doing that. And if you're a NAWBO member, of course we have something. And it's not just for NAWBO Indie, it's NAWBO National, if you so long as you're NAWBO. And if you're not a NAWBO member, yes, you should check out NAWBO as well. Because why not? Anyway, until next time, make sure you really think about your investment, your future, and put some action to it. Thank you. Bye.

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Victoria Odekomaya

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