We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chloe Moore a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chloe, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started sooner or later?

I’ve been a financial planner throughout my 19-year career and I’ve been self-employed for nine years. When I decided to go out on my own, I was 32 years old, had 10 years of experience in my profession, and had worked with a wide range of clients. Because I only worked for small, independent financial planning firms throughout my career, I was able to witness all aspects of the business in addition to honing my technical skills. I also knew several colleagues who recently started their own firms and was able to hear about their experiences, both good and bad. Don’t get me wrong, I had a steep learning curve when I transitioned from employee to entrepreneur, but I felt like I had a solid base.

Looking back, I believe I started my business at the right time. If I had started before, I might not have had the work and life experience that proved to be so valuable along the way. It also helped that I was single with no children and my only major obligation was a home. I was young enough to pivot if needed and had time to see if this business venture would actually work. If things didn’t work out, my worst-case scenario was going back to work at a financial planning firm. The journey was not easy and it took many years to see the success I have now. I’m grateful for the lessons learned and glad that I stuck it out.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m the founder of Financial Staples, a virtual, fee-only financial planning firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, and serving clients nationwide. I offer both comprehensive financial planning and investment management services to tech employees. With financial planning, I review a client’s entire financial picture. This includes their budget, investments, employee benefits, insurance, taxes, estate plan, and more. From there, I make recommendations and help them make progress toward their goals. If needed, I introduce clients to other professionals like tax preparers, attorneys, and insurance agents and I coordinate with those professionals so we’re all working as a team. With investment management, I educate clients on different types of accounts and investments available to help them reach their financial goals. After we decide on the appropriate strategy, I manage their investment accounts. In my work, I act as a guide that helps clients close the gap between where they are and where they want to be.

I’m most proud of building a successful business that serves first-generation wealth builders. I spent most of my career working with clients who already had wealth or were beneficiaries of generational wealth. In addition, very few of those clients were people of color. When I started my business, my goal was to take the knowledge and experience I gained early in my career and help more women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. It’s been both rewarding and humbling to see clients reach major milestones. Whether they’re buying their first home, securing a dream job, taking a sabbatical, or paying off student loans, each accomplishment my clients achieve is a reminder that the work I do is more meaningful than money.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

What’s that saying, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans? The biggest lesson I had to learn in life and business is to stop expecting things to go exactly as I planned. When I was younger, I had a vision for my life and milestones I wanted to reach by certain ages. When I started my business, I wrote out an extremely detailed business plan and set annual goals with a strategy to accomplish each of them. My life and business look nothing like I originally planned. In so many ways, it’s better than I ever could have imagined and I couldn’t be happier.

With all that said, it’s still important to plan ahead and focus on things you can control. Have a broad vision and direction for your life and develop a plan that allows for flexibility. Learn how to create healthy habits and build resilience. Any missed milestones or failures could actually be valuable lessons that redirect you to a better path.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

In my first job out of college, I was introduced to the book “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber. The owner of the firm I worked for was a big fan of this book and made all of his employees read it. Two major themes stood out to me and I carry those lessons with me today. The first theme was the difference between an entrepreneur, technician, and manger, and how a business needs all three of these roles to operate successfully. I’ve always been a technician first, which means I was a good financial planner who chose to start a business. Understanding this concept helped me discover the skills I either needed to learn or outsource in order to thrive. The second theme was the idea of creating systems for your business, similar to how a franchise has a standard way of operating. Even though I never planned to grow my business to a franchise level, I realized the importance of developing and documenting repeatable processes. This helps me ensure that tasks don’t slip through the cracks and I can easily train others to work in my business as needed. Solid systems and processes can also help you control the quality of your product or service so clients have a consistent experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.financialstaples.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/financialstaples/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloemoore
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/finstaples
• Other: https://www.blxinternship.org/