Shownotes
If you’re like most of the business owner’s we work with, you’re so used to thinking no more than a quarter in advance in your business and life and haven’t gotten the chance to step out of the weeds of the day-to-day to have a bird’s eye view of your financial future.
You think you don’t make enough to think about a legacy yet or that it’s better to reinvest everything back into the business.
But there’s a lot more to wealth than just making the money — what do you do with what you’ve built?
Today on the podcast, a long time client turned friend, Maya Elious shares exactly how she started thinking about creating a legacy for 3 generations in her family and how she brought her parents along in the process where they all created estate plans. She’s now a trust fund baby and embodying her true rich auntie energy.
02:18 — Creating an estate plan to care for 3 generations so the business becomes a true legacy
06:08 — How growing up in a "you have everything you need" household shaped how Maya wanted to create and protect her own wealth
10:25 — When Maya started to prioritize legacy goals and how she defined what that would look like for her
15:04 — Having the realization that protecting your wealth is just as important as building it
16:32 — Why starting small is how you'll make your business the vehicle to build your legacy
22:34 — What an estate plan entails and why everyone should have one regardless of your net worth
“It's the overthinking and the ego of not wanting to start small that can hold us back from building wealth. So if you can shift your mindset into "it's not that hard and I can start small to create something big, you're going to see a lot of success when it comes to our wealth building journey.”
👋 CONNECT WITH MAYA ELIOUS (SHE/HER)
Maya Elious is an award-winning business coach, personal branding strategist, and the go-to expert when it comes to clarifying your message and attracting high-end clients.
She currently leads a team of brilliant women as the CEO of Built To Impact, a coaching and consulting company that teaches overlooked experts how to build a profitable online business in their zone of genius.
Through her programs and live events, she’s helped thousands of clients and customers get clear on their message, launch high-end services, and build six-figure businesses.
🎉Enter the Harmonious Wealth Hour Giveaway!
3 people will win a 1:1 Harmonious Wealth Hour call where we will identify your biggest financial goal for the next 12 months and create a plan for you to achieve it!
- Subscribe to Harmonious Wealth on YouTube and your favorite podcast app
- Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
- Take a screenshot of the review and submit in the Review Form here so we can email you if you win
You have until Thursday, April 25th to enter and we'll select three winners, who will be notified by email!
💸Register for the Free Webinar: Your Revenue Goals Don't Matter If You Don't Have the Lifestyle and Legacy Plan to Show for It
lovelyfinancials.com/openhouse
---
Email Series - Heal your relationship with money and grow wealth through your business. Each week you'll receive tips on how to face your money, improve your profit, manage the money you have and, more importnately, harness the wealth within through your faith.
Bookkeeping - Receive bookkeeping with NO tax surprises
Profit Planning Intensive - Increase your profit by 25%
---
Connect with Iyanna:
Transcripts
When I started thinking about estate planning, I wasn't thinking so much in
Speaker:numbers of what I want for retirement, but I was thinking about my nieces, my nephew.
Speaker:God forbid I go before my parents, what would they have?
Speaker:My sister and my brother in law.
Speaker:So I was thinking about all of those things.
Speaker:I just want to be so wealthy and just put it in an account where I could
Speaker:just make as much money as possible.
Speaker:So I don't have to Feel limited.
Speaker:I just wanted to make sure that I had things in place that could give me a
Speaker:sense of freedom instead of a sense of anxiety about what I had or didn't have.
Speaker:This is the Harmonious Wealth Podcast, where we're breaking online business
Speaker:owners free from chasing every next revenue milestone and instead prioritizing
Speaker:lifestyle and legacy goals so you can finally have the personal wealth
Speaker:to show for your business success.
Speaker:I'm your host, Iyanna Vaughn, fractional CFO and bookkeeper here to guide you.
Speaker:Now let's start building your financial legacy.
Speaker:welcome to another episode of Harmonious Wealth.
Speaker:My name is Ayanna Vaughn, and I have an incredibly special guest,
Speaker:none other than Maya Elias.
Speaker:She is the messaging queen.
Speaker:She helps women of faith master their message so that they
Speaker:can monetize their expertise.
Speaker:Thank you so much for coming on, Maya.
Speaker:I'm excited.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:If anyone lives under a rock and doesn't know about you tell the
Speaker:people a little bit about yourself.
Speaker:First of all, I'm going to describe myself as a client of lovely financials.
Speaker:For the past, what, seven years.
Speaker:And you've been in business for eight years.
Speaker:So pretty much since your beginning.
Speaker:And it's such a pleasure to talk to you and not talk about money right now.
Speaker:And do you remember the first few years I hated talking to you because
Speaker:it meant we had to dissect the money.
Speaker:I'm so grateful, but professionally, I am a business coach, a brand
Speaker:strategist, and the CEO of Built to Impact, which is a coaching company
Speaker:that helps women of faith package up their expertise and build a six figure
Speaker:business as efficiently as possible.
Speaker:So I'm really excited to be here.
Speaker:Thank you so much for coming on and gracing the people.
Speaker:So we're going to talk about something a little bit different.
Speaker:Maya was saying, not about the money, but about a money story that I think
Speaker:all of us can really learn from, because I like to think as a first generation
Speaker:entrepreneur, You're really vouching for three generations in your family,
Speaker:like the people behind you, your parents, yourself, and then the future
Speaker:generations, like the children coming up.
Speaker:What I do love about you, Maya, is that you came equipped with Not having
Speaker:a lot of negative money mindset.
Speaker:There was a little bit of avoidance with the numbers, like looking at it, but
Speaker:overall you were really clear on where you wanted your business to go and grow.
Speaker:And then also being comfortable with your numbers so that you can empower
Speaker:yourself to create the business that you have for yourself and the
Speaker:wealth that you have for yourself.
Speaker:And a story that I want, us to talk about is how you created
Speaker:a legacy plan for your family.
Speaker:How did that go for you?
Speaker:Right,
Speaker:my
Speaker:family and I, we got our estate planning done.
Speaker:I paid for mine and then I paid for my parents and it was something that
Speaker:my mom was always like down for.
Speaker:But I think my dad was just, an African father who just wants to
Speaker:take things into his own hands and thinks that he knows everything.
Speaker:And it's sir, writing down what you want to leave behind on a napkin is not a will.
Speaker:And we.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like, Bro, come on.
Speaker:And Even with a will it like you still have to, go through the probate process
Speaker:and all of that and so when I had talked to an estate planning lawyer,
Speaker:she was like, here's what it looks like if we can set up your estate.
Speaker:Typically what I like to do in order to convince either one of my parents that,
Speaker:to do something or to make them feel more comfortable is I do it for myself
Speaker:first, or I say, this is what I'm doing.
Speaker:And I think that's with almost everything that we do in life.
Speaker:It's if I can normalize it in one area and they see that it's normal and not harmful,
Speaker:then it makes them feel safe to do it.
Speaker:Once they knew I signed up for myself, my dad, actually, I had him on the call
Speaker:with me with my estate planning lawyer.
Speaker:When we went over all of the things in my estate plan stuff
Speaker:that like my health directives, like who has access to my health.
Speaker:And if you were brain dead, but you were pregnant, what would you have to do?
Speaker:And so he got to see the intricacies of what it really looks like to
Speaker:plan your life and do it in a way that is like really meaningful.
Speaker:So I'm really glad that he was able to see that.
Speaker:And then we all got it done.
Speaker:That's beautiful because it's rarely talked about overall, especially
Speaker:As entrepreneurs, and especially as black women of color entrepreneurs,
Speaker:because we don't talk about that.
Speaker:We don't talk about death.
Speaker:Why would we talk about that, right?
Speaker:But if we plan for the future and just switch the language, like
Speaker:how you were saying, it's really solidifying your legacy for the future.
Speaker:And how does your family benefit from what you've worked so
Speaker:hard to do in your business?
Speaker:Yeah, and I think it's so interesting, you know the things that we If you
Speaker:create your estate plan, it doesn't mean you're going to die any sooner.
Speaker:But remember, like it doesn't
Speaker:Right,
Speaker:ensure specific things.
Speaker:If you are a control person, this is the perfect thing for you to do because
Speaker:you actually get to now, not only do you get to control things while you're
Speaker:alive, but you get to control things.
Speaker:Once, once you pass on.
Speaker:So I love it.
Speaker:And I heard this pastor years ago.
Speaker:I don't even remember who it was.
Speaker:If I heard it online, if I heard it in person, it might've been Myles Monroe,
Speaker:but he said one in one people die.
Speaker:And it was just clear.
Speaker:And it was like, I'm going to die anyway.
Speaker:I might as well figure out what I want to happen once I'm gone.
Speaker:So that ain't nothing afraid of, at least we know who we going to.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And once you mentioned that, I was thinking of the book of Ecclesiastes and
Speaker:the Bible and King Solomon was talking about like, all this is worthless.
Speaker:When you make your riches, it goes to someone else.
Speaker:But if you have an estate plan,
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:if you have an estate plan, you're able to like control where that goes.
Speaker:Right, Exactly.
Speaker:So it's like, oh, it's kind of sort of worthless unless
Speaker:Right, unless there's an estate
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And speaking of family, how did you feel about money growing up?
Speaker:How was like money discussed in your family as you were coming along?
Speaker:Honestly, it wasn't discussed that much.
Speaker:But I think it wasn't discussed in a way that it was a benefit to me.
Speaker:Like I think when I have kids, I'll probably want to talk
Speaker:to them more about money.
Speaker:But I think the beauty is we didn't have to talk about money in terms of lack
Speaker:because seemed like we always had it.
Speaker:I've never really seen my parents struggle.
Speaker:The only money conversation I can ever remember is I wanted to go
Speaker:to the movies with my friends in like middle school or high school.
Speaker:And my parents didn't give me like the 10 to go.
Speaker:And I was so pissed off.because you know how dramatic 14 and 16 year olds are.
Speaker:And I'm like, are we poor?
Speaker:Do we know how offended and I can understand why, little girl, you
Speaker:got me messed up because the fact that we came to this country to
Speaker:give your raggedy behind a good life and you could ask us if we're poor?
Speaker:Ma'am, we live in a six figure house where you don't pay any bills, you
Speaker:don't have to worry about food, you have the clothes that you need, you have
Speaker:your own what do you mean are we poor?
Speaker:That was the only time money was ever mentioned and I
Speaker:ain't even try it ever again.
Speaker:That is so funny.
Speaker:Of course, We all experienced like a portion of that.
Speaker:Don't count my pockets.
Speaker:So you'll get what you need.
Speaker:Do you ask for anything?
Speaker:Do you need for anything?
Speaker:No, hush your mouth.
Speaker:right.
Speaker:And I think that goes into an adulthood is you've been told to
Speaker:hush, stay in a child's place.
Speaker:How do you really understand how to navigate money as an adult?
Speaker:Because they weren't taught that we weren't taught that as much.
Speaker:And they Dang sure don't teach that in school.
Speaker:How has your money mindset shifted into adulthood as you were growing up?
Speaker:I mean I think it has shifted a lot.
Speaker:I think there were sparingly money conversations, like now that it's
Speaker:starting to come to me a little bit.
Speaker:I remember being really young, like six years old and this little
Speaker:kid being like, do you know that a hundred dollars isn't a lot of money?
Speaker:And I was like, what, really?
Speaker:And it was crazy when you think a hundred dollars means rich, which is
Speaker:mind blowing because a hundred thousand dollars is barely cutting it these
Speaker:days, the way inflation is set up.
Speaker:But so just learning about money from like random places.
Speaker:But I do remember one time.
Speaker:In high school, I think maybe I was considering like college
Speaker:or something like that.
Speaker:And I remember my dad saying something like 23 to 25 an
Speaker:hour was not a lot of money.
Speaker:And in my mind, I was making Maybe 8 an hour.
Speaker:And to me, like I was on the high end of being in high school.
Speaker:And it's just so interesting.
Speaker:Our relation to how we perceive money, like 14 year old, my making 8 an hour.
Speaker:It's you can't tell me nothing.
Speaker:That's a lot of money.
Speaker:I remember seeing this meme one time that was like, it don't
Speaker:take no hour to make no 12.
Speaker:Like I'm going to quit.
Speaker:I'm like, yo, that's so real.
Speaker:That's.
Speaker:Wild.
Speaker:A whole 16 minutes to create 12
Speaker:right?
Speaker:We thought we were lit back then too in high school!
Speaker:right?
Speaker:And I'm like, don't let it have been 16-year-old mind making $12 an hour.
Speaker:But I remember when my dad said that, and I'm like, dang,
Speaker:how much is this guy making?
Speaker:$23 isn't a lot of money?
Speaker:And he was making a comparison of when you get a degree, you'll
Speaker:make more money or whatever.
Speaker:I think I had a high standard of what I wanted to make based
Speaker:on how I saw my parents living and how I saw, my dad working.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:you had positive role models growing up and that turned into you having a
Speaker:more secure relationship with money.
Speaker:I like to relate like our relationship with money to how
Speaker:we show up in relationships.
Speaker:And if anything like me, my attachment style was very disorganized and it
Speaker:showed up in how I manage my money.
Speaker:In my twenties, right?
Speaker:Because it was give or take, I knew it, but I took it away.
Speaker:And it's how I showed up and having a secure attachment style allows
Speaker:you to be able to grow into wealth and you're from your business and
Speaker:for your personal life as well.
Speaker:That is so good.
Speaker:I feel like I referenced that a little bit too at Impact Weekend, where no one
Speaker:cares how to be secure with your money.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:I need to be clingy to me.
Speaker:I want my man to be clinging on to me.
Speaker:So that's how I want my money to be.
Speaker:exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So when you started your business.
Speaker:Did you have a legacy goal or what comes to mind when it
Speaker:comes to like legacy planning?
Speaker:When I started my business, I didn't really have any goals.
Speaker:I thought that it was cool that people were willing to pay me to do what I
Speaker:was already doing for fun and for free.
Speaker:And then I think it probably wasn't until maybe four to five years into
Speaker:my business when I'm like, Ooh, I want to have a six figure business.
Speaker:And, trying to figure out what does that even look like?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:8, 333.
Speaker:How am I going to make that money?
Speaker:And then it wasn't until years after that I'm like, I really made up in my mind.
Speaker:No way I want to have a seven figure business.
Speaker:I'm like, how on earth am I going to make 83, 333?
Speaker:And so I think it's like, before we can even get to legacy for me, at
Speaker:least there's different iterations and milestones that we have to see
Speaker:of what's possible for us, because To me, when I do think about legacy,
Speaker:I think we have to have created something worth leaving behind, right?
Speaker:If I don't have any kids.
Speaker:I don't own anything.
Speaker:I don't really have assets outside of my little Wachovia account back
Speaker:then turned Wells Fargo account.
Speaker:Unless we can actually build assets that we're genuinely proud of, typically
Speaker:we're not really thinking legacy.
Speaker:No, that's absolutely true.
Speaker:Where was the point in your business where you're like, okay, let me get
Speaker:really clear on where I want my life to be as I got older.because I know you
Speaker:like to work hard, live soft, but you want that future for yourself, right?
Speaker:What was that time where you're like, okay.
Speaker:I made that seven figures in business, or even before you started
Speaker:making seven figures in business, thinking about your future self.
Speaker:I honestly think it was when I had.
Speaker:My highest revenue year and my most profitable year, which were the
Speaker:same year in 2021, because it was also the most challenging year.
Speaker:And I think, stuff gets real clear, when you go through challenging times, right?
Speaker:And so I think maybe for other people, it's I was down to my last dollar and
Speaker:I really needed No, I had all of the money and I was still really stressed
Speaker:out and I was still really angry and I was still really hurt by a lot of the
Speaker:things that were going on in business.
Speaker:And it was at that moment.
Speaker:I realized I might not want to do this ish forever.
Speaker:And I posted a clip about entrepreneurs usually don't think
Speaker:about retirement because they think they want to do it forever.
Speaker:This is my passion.
Speaker:It's my calling.
Speaker:I'm like, and I saw somebody post the other day.
Speaker:In 20 years, will you still be doing the same thing?
Speaker:And I think she was trying to get a gauge of who really loves what they're doing.
Speaker:I'm like, let me tell you who you ain't go see on anybody's webinar in 20 years.
Speaker:They ain't going to be me.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And so I think going through that challenging season, it required me to
Speaker:be much more intentional about, yes, you have proven to yourself that you can
Speaker:make a lot of money in your business.
Speaker:Now what?
Speaker:And that is when I started thinking about the concept of profitable living
Speaker:and having your most profitable year in terms of not just measuring profit in
Speaker:monetary terms, but measuring profit and peace and fulfillment and joy and health.
Speaker:Since then, I've been so much more intentional about
Speaker:is this bringing me peace?
Speaker:Is it creating impact?
Speaker:Is it bringing joy?
Speaker:Because if it's only bringing in money, then it's actually costing me too much.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:As you were going through those hard times and you were thinking, okay, in
Speaker:20 years, I will not be on anyone's webinar, no one's social media, nothing.
Speaker:I'll be laid up.
Speaker:Was there a figure in which like, you're like, okay, if I were to retire
Speaker:or in 20 years have net worth of X, Y, and Z, this is what I want to do.
Speaker:What was that thought process?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:clear concept of what retirement looked like.
Speaker:I started to understand it a little bit more, but then I remember also during
Speaker:that season, or even, I think, honestly, previously I had asked myself if I
Speaker:didn't work for six weeks and I didn't make any more money in my business
Speaker:and things just stayed how they were.
Speaker:And I just went on a six week vacation.
Speaker:Would my business be able to survive?
Speaker:And I remember I was actually having this conversation with George,
Speaker:who you know, I had tweeted it.
Speaker:And then we had talked about it in person and we deemed it like our freedom number.
Speaker:We created this concept called like forecaster freedom, right?
Speaker:If you wanted a six week vacation.
Speaker:What would that need to look like in your bank account where
Speaker:it's not affecting your business?
Speaker:You're still able to pay your team, all of that.
Speaker:And so I didn't know exactly what that number was.
Speaker:I don't even think I had a concept then of how to calculate it, but I knew I
Speaker:wanted to figure out how can I create as much freedom as possible in my business
Speaker:without jeopardizing my business or my.
Speaker:bank account
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:When it comes to creating a legacy goal, of course we have to protect it.
Speaker:How long did it take you to know, okay, let me create a plan for my death.
Speaker:Let me create a plan so that it could impact my family.
Speaker:What was that like?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Now I know what I want for retirement or at least have an idea
Speaker:of what I want it to look like.
Speaker:Now I want to protect what I have had and what I've grown.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, I think when I started thinking about estate planning, I
Speaker:wasn't thinking so much in numbers of what I want for retirement, but I was
Speaker:thinking about my nieces, my nephew.
Speaker:God forbid I go before my parents, what would they have?
Speaker:My sister and my brother in law.
Speaker:So I was thinking about all of those things.
Speaker:And even when it came to the retirement number, I'm like,
Speaker:can I even trust this number?
Speaker:Because the way inflation is set up, this could really like,
Speaker:screw me, we had the pandemic.
Speaker:Then we're in, a time where inflation and everything is so expensive.
Speaker:And so I wanted to just make sure that I had more than enough.
Speaker:I didn't want it to be like, okay, I have this set number and then I'm
Speaker:living off of this budget, which you and I are working on the budgeting, I
Speaker:just want to be so wealthy and just put it in an account where I could
Speaker:just make as much money as possible.
Speaker:So I don't have to Feel limited, and I know the purpose of budgeting and
Speaker:planning, especially for retirement is so you don't have to live with
Speaker:super strict limits, but I just wanted to make sure that I had things in
Speaker:place that could give me a sense of freedom instead of a sense of anxiety
Speaker:about what I had or didn't have.
Speaker:This makes me think of my philosophy of profit focus.
Speaker:You increasing your profit for a particular purpose in a season.
Speaker:I like to say the first one is to at least have at least enough cash flow to maintain
Speaker:operations and then you're able to pay off debt if you have that, pay yourself more,
Speaker:get into retirement, all those things.
Speaker:And you've built that, your business to a point where
Speaker:you're at level five where like.
Speaker:Okay, now I can invest my money because I've accumulated this wealth, this
Speaker:business and maintain profits or really had the foresight to retain profits
Speaker:so that you have healthy cash on hand.
Speaker:How did you get into making your money, make money for you because
Speaker:your business was like the number one vehicle for wealth in your life?
Speaker:I think there were two factors that had me starting to think about it.
Speaker:I had lunch with somebody here in Atlanta.
Speaker:She plays like a mentor figure to a lot of people.
Speaker:And so she and I were having a conversation.
Speaker:She's like, how are things going in business, all of that.
Speaker:And then she asked me about retirement.
Speaker:And I was like, I actually don't even really know how retirement works.
Speaker:I don't know about investing.
Speaker:And I didn't have a concept of.
Speaker:compound interest, I didn't know anything about retirement accounts.
Speaker:I hadn't worked in corporate.
Speaker:I just had no idea how it worked.
Speaker:And so she explained it you put your money in an investment account
Speaker:and then you accrue interest.
Speaker:And then eventually you want to be able to live off of that interest.
Speaker:And I'm like, Oh, wow.
Speaker:I'm mind blown at how, this concept works.
Speaker:And so once I understood that, I'm like clearly I need to start getting
Speaker:my money in some investment accounts.
Speaker:But then I was intimidated because I'm like what brokerage do I go with?
Speaker:And am I like a big deal enough to be able to have this?
Speaker:You just think you have to look a certain way or be a certain thing to do things.
Speaker:And it's no, girl, you just log on and you put money in the account.
Speaker:I ended up downloading the Stash app because it just felt Far less
Speaker:intimidating, Oh, if you don't have enough money to buy a whole
Speaker:stock, you can get partial stock.
Speaker:And I'm like, that seems more my jam.
Speaker:I don't know if I could really do it.
Speaker:And so I remember just auto investing like 25 a week into
Speaker:four to five different companies.
Speaker:And it just kept growing.
Speaker:I looked at it the other day.
Speaker:It's at 50, 000.
Speaker:I was like, look at God,
Speaker:Okay!
Speaker:Okay!
Speaker:Bye!
Speaker:Hee hee
Speaker:I was just so proud to just see it grow because I started it in 2018
Speaker:or 2019 and just left it, right?
Speaker:So I'm like, I honestly don't really know what to do with it
Speaker:besides let it keep growing.
Speaker:And, I continue to self fund.
Speaker:I think I spend 85 a week.
Speaker:Like investing and just seeing like planting that small seed
Speaker:can produce so much fruit.
Speaker:And so I just love it.
Speaker:I'm glad you said planting that small seed because we have a lot of misconception
Speaker:of if you're going to start investing or start your retirement account you
Speaker:have to max out immediately but it's if you don't miss a hundred dollars a
Speaker:month start there if you could just put a little by little the compound interest
Speaker:will One, you could see it grow, but then also you can grow from there.
Speaker:So let's stop this right now.
Speaker:If you're thinking I need to max out everything, I need to have thousands
Speaker:of dollars at once, at least getting in the habit of putting something towards
Speaker:your future will help you so much.
Speaker:And especially it alleviates some of that nervousness of thinking,
Speaker:okay, what happens if I need it?
Speaker:Or what happens.
Speaker:Just being scared to do it at first.
Speaker:I wasn't even putting in enough where it's if I had an emergency, it would
Speaker:make sense to go get that money.
Speaker:It's girl, you better have a legit emergency fund.because this
Speaker:little 85 a week, it ain't going to cover your tires, baby girl.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:So put in money that you're not missed, but be intentional about
Speaker:having a schedule with investing.
Speaker:And that goes into the point of what I love to talk about paying yourself.
Speaker:In your business so that you're not borrowing money here and there,
Speaker:you're like paying yourself a full salary so that you can not only
Speaker:survive, but thrive when it comes to paying yourself from your business.
Speaker:How has that been for you?
Speaker:These paths, of course it changed, right?
Speaker:And you're laughing preemptively because.
Speaker:We know So
Speaker:I just like to keep it real, right?
Speaker:Because it's once you learn money mindset and all that you know all of the answers,
Speaker:and it's you learn as you go, okay?
Speaker:First I would like always underpay myself and you guys would be like
Speaker:you have to pay yourself enough or else you're going to get taxed.
Speaker:What's the term where all y'all be yelling at us like, reasonable pay or whatever?
Speaker:And it's it's reasonable for me, okay?
Speaker:I only want to pay myself 50, 000.
Speaker:Ha ha ha ha.
Speaker:What she's talking about is, she has an LLC taxed as an S corp.
Speaker:So she is an employee of her company.
Speaker:So when we nag her about reasonable compensation, if you're a CEO of
Speaker:your company and you're like the main marketing person, you're not going
Speaker:to be paying yourself 30, 000 a year.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:No, no, no, ma'am.
Speaker:However having an S corp is a great way to leverage the tax code because
Speaker:you can really have a strategy of okay.
Speaker:If I pay myself what I need and do a draw, like a distribution quarterly
Speaker:of a little bit extra for cash, then I can dictate how much I pay in taxes, as
Speaker:long as it's quote unquote reasonable.
Speaker:And how we determine that is for our clients, there's like a survey
Speaker:that we do based on everything that you do in your business, how many
Speaker:hours you work in your business.
Speaker:What is your skill set?
Speaker:How would you rate your skill set?
Speaker:And then it computes like a number for a reasonable compensation and we
Speaker:can have that on our backhand like, Girl, why did you pay yourself this?
Speaker:Because it said so, okay?
Speaker:we've had some times where I've had to learn or like paying myself.
Speaker:I think the beauty is I've had enough money in my company
Speaker:to be able to pay myself.
Speaker:Many times I underpaid myself in terms of it wasn't reasonable pay.
Speaker:Other times I underpaid myself in terms of looking at your personal expenses.
Speaker:It doesn't match what your salary is.
Speaker:So I think the beauty is that the money in the business is there.
Speaker:So we just thank God for that.
Speaker:And we just going to start there.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:As we were saying, you paying yourself from your business and navigating
Speaker:that to now being able to contribute to your retirement, your future
Speaker:self and creating that estate plan.
Speaker:Can you tell us a little bit about what's your estate plan entails
Speaker:so that if anyone's going in there I don't know what that means.
Speaker:I don't know what I would add, but from a consumer standpoint, because it's one
Speaker:thing to hear about it from an attorney, because it's okay, here's this, that,
Speaker:and a third, but from your experience.
Speaker:How it feels to have an estate plan or what are some things that you
Speaker:would recommend someone have in it that they probably didn't consider.
Speaker:I will share like literally what is inside of it, because I knew that
Speaker:I got the estate plan to protect whatever assets that I have, Right
Speaker:now, the first thing that I would look into is, do you know who are the
Speaker:beneficiaries for all of your accounts?
Speaker:When I purchased my home, I got a life insurance plan and they asked
Speaker:me who's the beneficiary if you pass?
Speaker:And that is what started to get me thinking like, Oh wait, like
Speaker:something has to go to somebody.
Speaker:And so knowing okay, my house will go to my oldest niece and she's not around,
Speaker:then it'll go to my youngest niece and I want to have more control of that, right?
Speaker:And the state plan allows you to say okay, if you pass before she's the
Speaker:age of 18, then who does it go to?
Speaker:Or how do you want, money to be released to her or whatever it is?
Speaker:And so there's so many different.
Speaker:things inside of an estate plan that you might not even be considering.
Speaker:my estate planning lawyer just asked a lot of really great questions, but
Speaker:looking at it here, so we have a last will and testament, which is essentially
Speaker:just everything that you would have in Your will just distributing of okay,
Speaker:where do I want all of my property to go?
Speaker:Who do I want to have my assets?
Speaker:What are these things look like?
Speaker:And then you can even put like little stipulations.
Speaker:I think I put something like.
Speaker:If my nieces and nephew are on drugs don't give them more than a
Speaker:thousand dollars a month or something.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:I don't want the money towards their drug habit.
Speaker:Put them in wherever the drug people go.
Speaker:Rehab, you know, little things like that.
Speaker:We have the advanced healthcare directive.
Speaker:Is there anybody that we're allowed to share your health records with?
Speaker:I think I only shared one person, which is my best friend,
Speaker:Christina, and I only shared it because she's in the health space.
Speaker:I need somebody.
Speaker:My records that actually know what hemoglobin means, so just
Speaker:like a a little like that.
Speaker:You know what's a funny story.
Speaker:I'm not sure if you know this about me, but in college, I worked at an
Speaker:emergency room as a medical scribe.
Speaker:I learned so much about medical terminology.
Speaker:All at once, and then college.
Speaker:Ah!
Speaker:hilarious.
Speaker:I might add you to that thing while you play.
Speaker:You're so s things that we've done before business So like, oh that's
Speaker:random, it feels random But it could be transferable, it could be helpful maybe
Speaker:You might just need to know these random terms one day and the rare diseases.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:yeah but just so many different things.
Speaker:And of course, like power of attorney, who actually has access to your accounts.
Speaker:And this is really important Again without your estate plan it's going to go through
Speaker:the courts and people are going to be trying to fight over, who has access
Speaker:to what and you want to just be able to have a level of control over that.
Speaker:And your estate plan isn't just good for if you die, it could be like, God
Speaker:forbid, if you end up in the hospital and you're, you unable to speak for yourself.
Speaker:I needed to feel a level of security that there would be somebody on my
Speaker:side who would handle these things.
Speaker:And I have listed my sister and my mom.
Speaker:I'm like, they make good decisions.
Speaker:They have kids, they've raised humans.
Speaker:They should be able to make good decisions on my behalf.
Speaker:So yeah, those are some examples of what's in there.
Speaker:Thank you so much for sharing.because a lot of us was like, what does that mean?
Speaker:From a consumer standpoint, how you experienced it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So that's good to know.
Speaker:And I want to say you're embodying rich auntie, like literally you are embodying
Speaker:rich auntie, like the definition.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm leaving things for my nieces and nephews,
Speaker:until my own children get here, and even then I might be able to help them.
Speaker:Y'all came after them, so I actually don't know what to tell you.
Speaker:It's above me now.
Speaker:It's in the plan.
Speaker:Okay,
Speaker:That is so funny.
Speaker:Oh, goodness.
Speaker:Makes me excited, too, is that I am now officially a Trust Fund baby,
Speaker:now that I've got their estate plan.
Speaker:After I did it, I hit up my sister.
Speaker:I'm like, we are officially Trust Fund babies.
Speaker:It ain't just your kids through my estate plan.
Speaker:It's us, too.
Speaker:I'm really excited about that.
Speaker:I'm like, okay, I got me a little something.
Speaker:I'm like, Dad, leave that for me.
Speaker:Mom, leave that for me.
Speaker:I know y'all are afraid of death, but I am grateful that, I can mourn
Speaker:you guys and that I also don't have to argue with anybody about mom's
Speaker:jewelry or the house or anything like
Speaker:Not the jewelry.
Speaker:I used to always steal my mom's jewelry growing up, so I know that.
Speaker:saying though,
Speaker:Yes, and then, so them knowing the process that you went through, and then
Speaker:them going through it for themselves, how do they feel after it was all
Speaker:done, after the estate plan was done?
Speaker:I think they felt probably like more empowered.
Speaker:I think my mom felt a sense of relief because I know she had been
Speaker:trying to get my dad to do it.
Speaker:He's so stubborn.
Speaker:And I think my dad probably felt responsible because that's what
Speaker:African fathers want to feel like.
Speaker:So I just love that for him.
Speaker:He had a, I think he had a sense of pride after doing it.
Speaker:So I really love that.
Speaker:And you mentioned something about your future, but then a lot of things
Speaker:that we don't consider is having insurances or things in the now
Speaker:for yourself and your business to protect you if anything happens.
Speaker:Do you have business insurance?
Speaker:On my things to do list.
Speaker:And I meant to ask you about it because you told me to use.
Speaker:And then of course I just, Didn't do it because it was one of those things that
Speaker:I overthought, even how you told me to get a high yield savings account years
Speaker:ago, another friend told me to do years ago, but it's we overthink the little
Speaker:things, even when it came to doing the investment account, like it literally
Speaker:doesn't matter that it's just not that deep, get the business insurance get
Speaker:your brokerage account, get the, whatever it is, the high yield savings account.
Speaker:It don't matter.
Speaker:Just get it.
Speaker:I'm like, I'm going to get it.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:It's a hundred bucks a month.
Speaker:I think that you said that
Speaker:right.
Speaker:It's super minimal.
Speaker:And just for context for everyone, you should have insurances in
Speaker:your business and personal.
Speaker:So say for your business I have an insurance policy.
Speaker:I forget the name, but it covers if anything happens to me, it
Speaker:covers my overhead as well as finding my replacement as CEO.
Speaker:That way the business is protected.
Speaker:If anything happens to me and like any, Season, right?
Speaker:And then on the personal side, I have disability insurance.
Speaker:So again, if anything happens to me of course, it's going to
Speaker:impact the business and personal.
Speaker:There's a way for me to get paid a little some while.
Speaker:I can't work, right?
Speaker:so funny because I remember I run a group coaching programs and it's a five figure
Speaker:investment and I remember Before somebody signed the contract, they were like what
Speaker:happens if something happens to Maya?
Speaker:Basically what happens if this lady dies?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And I was like, nobody has ever asked that before.
Speaker:That should have been why I tried to get the insurance
Speaker:so I could just flex on them.
Speaker:We were covered.
Speaker:We're covered.
Speaker:Actually the way my policy is set up.
Speaker:Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker:So let's stop overthinking everyone.
Speaker:Let's open the thing so that we have protection for both
Speaker:our business and ourselves.
Speaker:Ooh, I have a good one.
Speaker:Is your definition of harmonious wealth?
Speaker:Harmonious wealth.
Speaker:When I think of harmony and something being harmonious, I feel like it's like
Speaker:smooth and there's not turbulence, which I love when it comes to making money,
Speaker:because I'm like, I'm only here for peace.
Speaker:Again, if it costs me my peace, then it costs me too much.
Speaker:So when I think of harmonious wealth, I think of a peaceful,
Speaker:intentional way of building wealth without it causing turbulence in
Speaker:The way you want to live your life.
Speaker:That's beautiful.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And speaking of peace, you have a podcast called Work Hard, Live Soft.
Speaker:How has that experience been with your podcast as you were making it?
Speaker:Because you're embodying what you practice in your business, right?
Speaker:And you're sharing with others how you got there.
Speaker:I think it's been so interesting.
Speaker:It's still really fresh and really new, but I think it's a fun outlet to
Speaker:just talk about how I want to live, I didn't want it to be just a business
Speaker:podcast and we're talking about strategy, but more so leaning into
Speaker:that philosophy again of profitable living, like how can you ensure you are
Speaker:profitable with your money, but also with your impact and your fulfillment,
Speaker:joy and peace and all of that.
Speaker:I love talking about, how I.
Speaker:Spend my day to day and how I live life, but my values, how I even figure out what
Speaker:my values are, like all of those things.
Speaker:I'm just really grateful to be able to have an outlet to
Speaker:just share my ideas on that.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And I listened to the first couple episodes.
Speaker:I had to have my little bubble bath.
Speaker:I'm like, this is fitting to listen.
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:yes, yes.
Speaker:I know we talked about your podcast.
Speaker:How can people get in touch with you after this episode?
Speaker:Definitely listen to the podcast, workhardlivesoft.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:And I'm always on Instagram sharing my workouts, which it doesn't look like
Speaker:the soft life, but it's the body that I want to have while I'm living soft.
Speaker:So that is what like the new episode is going to be about.
Speaker:All of the hard work that you have to do in order to live soft,
Speaker:because like we said, live soft is a result of working hard.
Speaker:But anyhow, follow me on Instagram at Maya Elias and just reply to
Speaker:one of my stories, let's connect.
Speaker:Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker:Thank you so much for coming on Harmonious Wild.
Speaker:You gave us so much information and really helping us understand that
Speaker:it's not so hard to set up our future selves, it's not hard to protect
Speaker:ourselves and making that investment.
Speaker:Is there anything else that you want to share with us before we hop off today?
Speaker:I would say the hardest part about building wealth is just not
Speaker:overthinking the process of it.
Speaker:And I think it's the overthinking and the ego of not wanting to start small that
Speaker:can hold us back from building wealth.
Speaker:So if you can shift your mindset into it's not that hard and I can start
Speaker:small to create something big, you're going to see a lot of success when it
Speaker:comes to our wealth building journey.
Speaker:Ooh, that's a great one.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:That's a great nugget.
Speaker:Hehehehe.
Speaker:so much for having me.
Speaker:It was so great to have Maya come on to share how her business became the
Speaker:number one wealth generator in her life.
Speaker:What is one aspect of implementing your legacy goal that you've been overthinking?
Speaker:Let me know in the comment section if you're watching the YouTube version.
Speaker:So Maya shared that she had to understand that she most definitely did not want
Speaker:to work in her business forever, which prompted her to get serious about
Speaker:planning for retirement and legacy.
Speaker:It first came with her understanding her financials and her business.
Speaker:Entrepreneurs make million dollar decisions based on their money story.
Speaker:If you're ready to make life changing decisions in your business, it's
Speaker:time to create a plan for profit that will allow you to accomplish
Speaker:or better yet create legacy goals.
Speaker:My fractional CFO services help entrepreneurs grow their profit, manage
Speaker:your cashflow so that you can pay yourself well and consistently from your business.
Speaker:Go to lovelyfinancials.
Speaker:com slash CFO to get started.
Speaker:If you're a woman growing your business and family, and you want to
Speaker:heal your relationship with money so that you can create personal wealth
Speaker:and create a legacy, subscribe on either YouTube or or wherever you
Speaker:listen to your favorite podcasts.
Speaker:I'm on a mission to help a hundred women reach at least 1 million in
Speaker:net worth to create generational wealth and break generational curses.
Speaker:If this aligns with you, I would love for you to be a part of the community.
Speaker:So tune in to more episodes on harmonious wealth.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Hey there girlfriend, if you're ready to finally have the lifestyle
Speaker:and legacy to show for your business success, I would love for you to
Speaker:click that subscribe button on your favorite podcast app or YouTube.
