Hi everyone. It's Anne Duffy and welcome to Dental Entrepreneur Woman's Podcast. Just DeW It. I have a very special guest for you today and I'm so happy you're here. Let me tell you a little bit about her before we get started. Donna Kendrick is the owner and founder of Sephton Financial, where she provides financial planning for families in transition, widowhood, divorce, and blended families.
Anne: I met Donna golly, a year and a half ago in Chicago. And here we are today. Donna,
Donna: welcome. Oh, and thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I'm excited to spend some time with you.
Anne: I am too. And not only did we meet in person, but I've been recommended. To you by other women in our organization. So you obviously are doing something, right?
Your reputation precedes you andreally happy to have you. Knowing you just a little bit and your story, I am so curious about your entrepreneurial journey. Our members, it turns out, we've acquired so many women that are starting their entrepreneurial journey. So tell us a little bit about how you got started and walk us through that amazing journey that you were in and still doing right now.
Oh, thank you
Donna: so much. So yeah, a little bit of a background. For the listeners, I am from Philadelphia. So if I say words without the G on the end, so sorry, it's just what we do. And I talk fast. So here we go. But no, so married my husband, born and raised both of us in Philadelphia, PA.
Followed our careers. We were what we called yuppies in the 80s, And then gave up my career to follow him abroad. He was working for Homeland Security at that time, and he was given a position in the embassy in Rome. So wonderful position. Great for his career. We had three little kids at the time and we started living what was felt like a military life, So we did like five years straight over in Rome, which was beautiful. Beautiful came back stateside and then came back to the Philadelphia area in 2013. And then he passed away suddenly. And my kids were eight, 11 and 12. I was making 17, 000 a year working part time in their school. And I was like, Oh my God.
What am I going to do now? How's this going to work? Spent the first two years kind of letting the dust settle, making sure my kids were good in school. We just moved to the area. They were speaking English in school And I had the help of a financial advisor back then who really, helped me slow my roll.
Helped me identify what my priorities were. What my financial snapshot looked like and then what past I had for the future because truly whatever I wanted for my goals two weeks after Greg passed is when I sat with my financial advisor. The goals felt very different. They felt different three months later, six months later, a year later.
So two years later, you know when I knew the kids were going to be okay. And we had the finances set. I know I could keep my house and I knew I had a little bit of money saved help cover the everyday bills if I wanted to pivot my career or go back to my old career, which was financial forecasting and pharmaceutical industry.
And I went to my financial advisor and said, I want to do what you did for me for other people. How do I do that. And he pretty much created outline, what education do I need? How do I do it? And I worked under his umbrella for a few years, probably about three years. And then in 2020 pandemic hit, right?
And here comes the calling that so many of us had. And I was like, Oh, I really need to niche or niche this market. I really want to serve these families and transitions exclusively pivoted and founded my own practice. So Sephton is my maiden name, that's Sephton Financial. And that is when the journey of entrepreneurship came on.
Because when I was working under someone else's umbrella, I didn't know how to set up a website. I didn't know how to balance my books. I knew how to be a financial planner by then, had a great mentor. I didn't know how to run a business, and so that's where I leave you for the beginning of my entrepreneurial story.
Anne: Wow. Talk about being thrown in the lion's den trying to navigate your own grief and then taking care of those three, beautiful children in pivotal points of their uh, Right?
Donna: Yeah.
Anne: I'm enamored with the fact that you put them first and gave yourself the gift of healing so that you could actually.
open up and see, what is it that I feel called to do or feel like I want to do?
Donna: That was so big. Cause I always say that, you know, life gave me lemons right then, when you look back on it, you're like, it's just a pivotal blessing. But then I felt like there were lemons, and I just needed to make some lemonade. I needed to do something of value. I needed to turn that situation into the gold it is.
Anne: the gentleman that hired you and mentored you in our language is a dude, a man that is supporting a woman in their job career.
We say supporting a woman in dentistry. That was a blessing for you, but you actually soaked it all in. You could have put your head in the sand or, gone back to teaching or try to make another path. I like that you actually went into something that you already knew a little bit about and you were passionate about.
When you said you're calling, did you quit and start your own? Was that how that happened?
Donna: How kind of works when you are a financial advisor. So I say I worked under his umbrella.
So I was a financial advisor. working independently. So I still was my own person, right? I wasn't an s-corp, but all of my profit ran through me. And I was able to pretty much work under him for mentorship. So I am a CFP, a certified financial planner to be a certified financial planner. You need to have X number of years experience or work two years exclusively in mentorship, which is exactly what I did.
Okay. And that's what he provided for me was that. So at the end of three years, it was a point of, do I want to stay under his umbrella or we call it hang my own shingle? So me and my clients have literally shift from under his company over to my company
and continued servicing my existing clients as Is and then was able to rebrand, remarket, set my own website, bring my own social media out there. And became an S corp so that everything ran strictly under me and my practice. Does that make sense?
Anne: Yeah, it does. It I have a question because we have this happen in dentistry. Donna, tell me was he okay with that? How was the departure? Was he fine? Because there's so many non competes now that I just wondered how that works. It sounds like a national progression.
Donna: Yeah, we had a contract together for three years. So that contract had expired.
And so the opportunity to shift. Happened. And he knew at that point in time, all right, so now we're going to go personal at that point in time, two weeks before the pandemic hit my current husband, Jim now, and I blended families. We weren't married at that time, but we moved under one roof. So I have three kids, three older, he's a little younger.
He has three kids on his side. So two weeks for the pandemic, we start living together. all of a sudden we have six kids under one roof. And so when the pandemic hit, all of a sudden, my two big kids came back from college. His three kids are there, like picked them up from school the day they shut it down.
And we're all trying to live life together. Everyone virtual, everyone at home. That was really the catalyst for me to say, I. got to do something different, I always knew I wanted to niche my market that I wanted to serve just a very specific class of people. But that push that, wait a second, it was 45 minutes to an hour away.
I would commute every day to the office when it opened back up. I wanted to be close to home. So I literally, when I made this pivot, it was, I need to be able to serve my kids. We don't know how long this pandemic is going to last. And so I got a small office space walkable to my house, and I would run home on lunches to make sure the kids were okay.
I was using my own internet stream. Ours was really slow at home. I was plucking whatever kids weren't cooperating out to come to my office to do their school. But those are. The pivotal moments, right? And that is really the catalyst for me saying, I can't do this, right? I need to have my own schedule.
I need to be able to serve my kids as well as my passion for this business. 2020 changed many of us, to say, I'm not going to do it the traditional old way. I'm going to give it a try a different way. and we are now married and we do have All six kids full time under one roof.
They go from 14 to 22. So to have that catalyst of my kids, don't know the difference between me not being a business owner and being a mom. And that's why I love entrepreneurship because I get to set that balance, and I get to share that balance with my clients. So they're aware. So they know that when they support my business, they're supporting these six beautiful kids.
Anne: Oh my gosh, there's so much meaning behind all of that. And the other thing that struck me is like, you finally get to have something that's all yours, your brand, your culture. and the little bit that knew before we got on these phone calls Catherine Eitel had introduced me and recommended you to me, was that you really specifically wanted to lead with love.
Donna: that was something that separated you from the traditional financial planning to the financial planning company that you've built on love. Tell me where did that come from and why? I'll give statistics out there. So when I entered the industry for CFPs, 10 percent were women.
We have increased that since then. And I don't believe that it's a like male dominated industry that women can't break into. We can and we can create a successful businesses as our male counterparts. I think it's an opportunity that we need to provide to younger women to know that this is a beautiful career.
Takes time, takes effort, but you can balance. family and life. And if you get in early and you get the right mentorship, wow, can really fly. So I think that's a lot of what we need to do for education to bring women into this industry. because it is a traditional industry of Men. remember the movie Wolf of Wall Street, that is not what my, it is not what my, feeling about this industry is, but there are a lot of those feelings out there.
And so there's a lot of intimidation for women who are on their own making financial decisions to seek out. The help of a financial advisor. They think it is Wolf of Wall Street out there, when you're actually projecting yourself out there I do a lot of education between my social media through the books that I write.
I just want people to have a little bit of power and education to make the right decision
Anne: Women can be successful. They just have to get the right mentorship and the right education. because we have a lot of women in dentistry that would like to go down this route. So what do you have to have from an education standpoint before you start into the financial certifications? Sure. So you talking about specifically my industry can you go from high school to get the CFP it's calledWell, That was
Donna: exactly when I sat with my financial advisor and was like, I want to do what you do, but for families and transition.
And the roadmap he gave me was the roadmap of what educational pieces do you need? things have changed since back then, even then. So you would need what would be called an SIE. That's the first test that you want to study for. we call it sponsorship. You don't have to be sponsored by a broker dealer or a different financial industry.
Cause remember you're coming in with. No book of business, no clients and pretty much probably no experience, right? So you need someone to agree to mentor you, to help you with the systems until maybe your business gets to a certain number, right? A certain profitability. So you take the SIE.
You don't need sponsorship for that. And that's a great place to start. That could probably be like a week intensive class online. And if you're a good study bug, you can test the very next week.
Anne: So let me ask you this. your college education was in finance. Yeah. My college education was in business statistics.
what if you're a hygienist you've got your degree, but you decide you want to do this. Can you go right into studying for this and then becoming a financial? Okay. That's what I was. going with, there's
Donna: other parts that you do need to have a college education for.
So I always say Go on the SEC website, the FINRA website and see what do you need. So you would need the SIE. You need a series seven, which is a longer study session for that. Many of times you need your license and health and life insurance. Sometimes if you want to be a CFT, P it changes things.
Then you need, but that's either card series 63, 65, 66. And that's almost like a securities licensing test. So very heavy in what you would need. And each of those tests can say high school education can take this college education can take this. Okay. That's what I was curious about with the CFP. You need to have the college education.
So once you have that college education, once you have that mentorship, once you have that experience you need to study for a very long test. It's a good eight hour one. Like you, wow. You are fried at the end of it. I will say. And I would say I took about three months, quote unquote, out of my life to sit and study for that.
No social life. Maybe I just needed some more time, but no weekends out listening to tapes while I fell asleep at night, just trying to get it all done. But I think a lot of that is because I tested for the CFP with only two years of experience. So I was missing a lot of that lifetime of experience.
So I had to study a little more to get that. I actually took a nine month course about being a CFP before I even decided to switch my career because I knew that that was the designation I wanted. I knew I had to put certain things like the mentorship in place. I knew I had to have a sponsor for my series seven and for my CFP, right?
So I needed to align myself with the broker dealer. How was I going to do that? That was a role that my mentor, my old advisor helped me with. But I did that nine month course on my own, out of my own pocket, time away from my kids to study at night while they were sleeping. not time away from them, time away from sleep, but I did that to make sure if I was pivoting my career is exactly what I wanted to do.
And I felt like that nine month course would tell me is this or is it not? And I was fine with putting nine months into that course and saying eight for me, it was like that aha moment. This works.
Anne: That was very helpful, and I love that because I'm sure in the course of taking that course, you found out that you were good at it, that you were understanding it, and you were always looking for more information, more information instead of just like dreading everything, right?
that's so important because you land in a, career that you like, and you're good at and you can make lovely living on plus have the balance because you own your own business.
you're in the money business.
So Most of our audience are entrepreneurial in some measure. as you and I both know, women are entrepreneurial anyway, because we spin a lot of plates. I swear that we can do that. And that's the epitome of a, entrepreneur is you find a, problem and you got to solve it and you figure out a way to do it.
No matter how many, Plates you're spinning at one time. So what are some of the best money tips for entrepreneurs as they create their business?
Donna: I'll give you three. How's that? Okay. The first one is cash reserve. I always say for even when I do financial planning for, My clients, If it's a couple that has two streams of income, three months of what it costs you to be you, not your lifestyle, what it costs you to cover your mortgage, cover your bills, not go into credit cards, have that put aside.
If it's someone like myself, widowhood Or someone who only has one income coming in have six months of that. And why do I always say for the cash reserve? Because I always feel, especially women, because we are balancing so many plates, right? And we have I call it shifts of responsibility, Between our business, between our kids, between our house, our mortgage. All of that. And we're constantly thinking about them They all intertwined when we have that little nest egg, that rainy day fund, we are more apt to take a risk with our business or take an opportunity.
Shouldn't say risk, make an opportunity for our business. might be a little bit setback financially because we know we have that covered. So by having the cash reserve, I think it gives us the freedom to say, For our business, when you're first setting off, what do you think is going to cost you to run your website or maybe have a media person, Website creator, what does it cost you for the rent of your office space? If that's what you're doing, so many virtual offices that are impressive, maybe a shared conference room space, what will cost you for your licensing? Look at that bare number. If you have staff multiply that times three, at least, and have that aside.
So again, if it's a quote unquote down month or the pandemic hits again, and everything kind of shuts down, you can keep your business running. And I know that's a hard number when you're thinking about being an entrepreneur, but if you can have the patience and the diligence and the discipline to save that number before you even launch the company, that's a great foundation.
Okay. Second tip, know your cashflow, I tend to, in the past, I called ostrich things, stick my head in the ground. The world is spinning around me, but I'm okay. I'm not paying attention. And because I had that three month of cash reserve, I didn't have to pay too much attention. Well, That was. a mistake.
if you're not willing to do it, I love the book Who Not How by Daniel Sullivan. Find someone who can do it for you. Find a bookkeeper, right? Someone who's just going to keep you accountable once a month for where the cash flow is, Maybe you're taking too many clients out to eat.
And the budget's too tight. The spend, I don't like the word budget, like the word spend. And then my third part is always put 10 percent aside to develop yourself as an entrepreneur. The best investments I've ever made is for business coaching. Because I know what I'm doing after all this time in financial planning.
It's a thrill. It's a drive. I seek that education. I need the education to be ethically compliant with my CFB. But for the business side, I didn't know how to run a business. I didn't know what an S clerk was. I didn't know what I had to pay or sign up for insurance legally in my township. I had no clue, right. and to find a business coach for those systems to how to bring on team, money so well spent. I have increased my business significantly every year. I've had a business coach on my side.
Anne: Wow. that is so powerful. Isn't it? And it's a leap because a lot of times, we think we can do it on our own and it's just like any other coach that we have.
Yeah. We're always going to be better if we're coachable and we can find that person that is willing to be that person for us to coaches, up, So how'd you find your first business coach?
Donna: social media, social media.
I started following other advisors that I have found to be very impressive. Okay. And then I found who they were following and you can see who's commenting maybe with the same coach. And I'm like, Ooh, each of these female advisors have one common theme. They all follow this person. Let me follow. And then I learned that either they graduates of her program and onto a different business coach, or they were part of it.
And so right then and there, it was almost an easy decision, it's amazing how I will just say for ladies in general, we will help one another in the industry. I have reached out to some people privately on messenger being like, Hey, I see that you graduated from so and so's business coaching program.
It's made specifically for female financial advisors making under blank amount. Is that true? Will this help me? And they'll call. Like, They don't know you from anyone, but they'll, share a phone call. Don't be afraid to reach out the most someone will say was no or ignore your message.
You didn't lose anything. Right. Reach out. And so that's how I found them first. Yep. Finding and following people that I respected in the industry and to seeing who was in their wheelhouse.
Anne: That's so wise. And it's so easy. And it is so fun. Female. Because we do love communities. We do love sharing.
We love helping each other. we always say, if you get stuck you have a question or problem call a do this is very smart. Also on your part, Donna is you called somebody in your. career lane. Yeah, your peer group. And that will also lead to people referring you.
this isn't a right fit for me, well, I just know Donna from this group and I think she would be a good fit for you. You know what I mean? It's a referral base. Women love referring to each other and that's the best kind of marketing you can ever gain, I think.
So very smart on your part. what's been the best resource? Been for you, because that sounds like coaching. And, you're a learner. and know you from another coaching program. What's been the best resource to expand your business?
Okay, I'm gonna get a little woo
Donna: here. . Okay. So I don't often share the woo of my life. Recently, God, after I call it like the hard years, Of, being in that widowhood, raising the kids checkbox, hope they're good. Gave them the moral foundation, keep nurturing them the whole way through blending our families, getting this business set.
I really had to say like, What's going to continue to drive me here, right? And so I really turned into a lot of teaching from people that talked from the law of abundance, the law of attraction. And really about our ability to be spirits and add value to each and every day that we are on this earth.
I meditate twice a day. I do visualizations. I have a gratitude journal and I know I've seen commercials like, I just did my gratitude journal for like some insurance company. I'm like, I don't care. It works. And so that would probably be the biggest thing for me. One of my later business coaches kind of introduced me to this world.
And I am a girl from the south. Northeast Philly. And that is woo woo. And that is junk in my mind. And it is not. It works. So that has been pretty much for the last three years, what's changed me as a business owner, as a mom. Because if you're doing everything every day to make this earth a better place, people are going to feel it.
And have that agenda.
Anne: Law of attraction, law of abundance. we can all have that. If we just open our hearts up, and then you find good people and it's like, This is one of the reasons, honestly, why I started do Donna, because I was in a company that was about leadership and personal development.
And I didn't even know half of that. I was like, wow, I get to actually do something for myself and it's good for me and for the people around me. Right. It just, felt somehow selfish. Like I really don't need to go down that path, but you realize. That That path is a beautiful journey to bring out the best in you so you can bring out the best in others.
And that journey never ends now. Once you get on that path it's a forever path, isn't it?
Donna: Oh. And I love seeing your face light up when you're talking about it. Like it is. It does. It brings so much value to The why behind the business, the love to bring back into financial planning.
It comes from me. It comes from the people that are on my team. They share that same core value. And it's not even talked about all the time. It's shown in action. I love it.
Anne: Action is everything really. I think, you can talk, talk, but it's how you live your life and how you open the door and the people that you surround yourself with in your business, which is beautiful.
And you exude that as well. So just beautiful. And Life is hard and, we're not finished with the hard things, but when you can get through some of big things and then get on the other side of it and be able to share that with others. I mean, The gift that you can give women, I know that you, widowhood, transition, divorce, blended families, you've walked those walks.
And that's so valuable to be able to help others and to do it with love first. And you don't really hear that very often in financial planning. we even say this with dental offices, Donna, if your business is sound, you can provide the kind of dentistry that you want, that is good.
the same thing with your household. I mean, If you've got that. Monkey off your back and you've got the security that you've done the right things and you've lived within your means and you've saved enough you can say yes, instead of no. then we're in our 80s and you look back and you're like well, dang, it's never too late to start that journey. And it's never too early.
Donna: Agreed.
Anne: Enjoy each day of the journey.
You're so lovely. And your hubby's lucky and your kids are lucky to have you at the helm of that beautiful family. how does our audience get in touch with you?
We'll have it in the show notes, but tell us how we get in touch with you, get to know you a little bit better. And. I'm sure you can help us with our finances. Cause you know we talk about this a lot in our community. Women do put their heads in the sand. We don't want to know.
We were like la, la, la, la, la. Cause it's hard to understand it sometimes. And it's, scary. But once you get that plan, then all of a sudden he's like, Oh, it's not near as bad as I thought it was. I'm going to be okay. Right. And
Donna: so much of it too, is like for couples. Right. So yeah, I have families in transition.
Right. Naturally, I've gotten referred back to couples who are really trying to open some transparency in their relationship. They might not be a blended family, but their kids are about to graduate college and they're looking back at one another and being like, hon, what did we do? they've got a majority of the mortgage paid off.
The kids are educated. Like What now? And they have to find a new way to talk about these future dreams and how do we afford them? So we talk a lot about the transparency and conversations between couples because again, One of us is probably running the daily bills and one of us is probably running the bigger picture.
The two both have to at least communicate on a quarterly basis. So I bring that up because to get in touch with me you can watch Jim and I now have a podcast together on YouTube and it is called wisdom and wealth. And it's about having these conversations as couples. So he has seen me while I was a widow.
We were not dating. It was like a separate, we just knew one another for years. He saw me go back to school. He saw me create my business. And then we got together as a couple. So who better to sit and have this conversation about money and business. And we look at it very differently, right? So you have like a carpenter's point of view and a financial advisor's point of view.
So that's called the wisdom and wealth. And that's a great podcast. You can follow me on social media at Sephton financial or get onto my website and find out more about us. Our stories are there links to all the social media and that's Sephton S E P H T O N financial. com.
Anne: thank you very much for that. But also tell me about the book that's coming out. It's your second book, I think, right? Okay. So tell us about that because. We want to hear about it. We want to get it off on Amazon and get you to the top percentage of authors in the country. Oh,
Oh,
Donna: well, And thank you so much for bringing that up because I'm like unless you follow social media, you don't know.
My first book was a guide to widowhood, navigating the first three years with your heart, soul, and finances intact, and now we're having a series. So the second part is going to be the blended family. And we're going to be talking about the transitions. Of the blend and finances, the topic of mine, yours, ours, there's, Oh, How do we do this with two adults with a lot of history in the background from our own experience, as well as. my experience from a financial advisor. So we are really excited for that. It's probably going to be coming out this fall. And you can follow along on social media for all of those launches.
And I would appreciate anyone's support when we come to launch that book out. So we're going to relaunch the widow and wisdom a guide to widowhood. And then we're going to move back to our clarity for blended families.
Anne: Oh my gosh, that is absolutely beautiful. I have so many people including myself that will be looking for that when it launches and we'd love to help you with that.
So you've been delightful. I'm so glad that we got to reconnect. Thank you so much for your time today. And all of you that are listening today. Just remember, Most importantly to keep doing you thanks for joining me and I'll see you the next time. Bye everybody. Bye Donna Thank you. Thank you so much in
