We recently connected with Christian Wilson-Poole and have shared our conversation below.

Christian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The story behind my mission began my freshman year of college, in Boaz, Alabama as a student athlete at Snead State Community College. As a child, I did not realize the true value of having the only parent involved in my life be a CPA. As I matured even through high school, I realized that basic money management, budgeting and credit knowledge was something that not all kids were taught in their households, no matter their demographic. Financial literacy is essential for our country’s youth and their continued success because it underlies every important decision they will make for the rest of their life. From what school you attend, in what you earn your degree, with whom you associate and even whom you marry all have financial implications that are daunting and life changing. Knowing how these decisions impact your earning power and/or income is as necessary as a life skill when you reach young adulthood.

Christian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

At Young FINANCE, we offer financial coaching that effectively gets to the root of financial behaviors and patterns of our members. Through our financial coaching consulting services, members will find it easier to make wise money decisions. At Young FINANCE we help our members reach their goals by teaching money management skills such as how to build a savings, understanding spending habits, credit management, debt management, and LLC formation. Our goal at Young FINANCE is to close the financial literacy gap for ages 10-25 years old. To do this, we are striving every day to make financial literacy readily available to all age groups, no matter the demographic, location, state or school.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Credibility in the Financial world is extremely important and takes time to establish. As a 23-year-old accountant and business owner, I found it extremely important to network with as many people as possible on the front end of establishing the company so that they would know a little bit about my mission and what my overall goal was even before starting my social media platforms. One of my favorite things that we did for the first two years at Young FINANCE was our Young Entrepreneur of the Month newsletter segment. Reaching out and learning about all of these amazing innovative and young entrepreneurs was one of the most fun and organic networking things that we could have done for Young FINANCE. In year 2022 we were also able to partner with Relay Accounting Management. RAM is an outsourced CPA firm that started off in Birmingham, AL with individual tax preparation work. RAM has now expanded to a full-fledged outsourced accounting enterprise with employees in 5 different states, servicing medium to large size corporations all over the United States with their day-to-day accounting needs. This partnership was crucial to the overall mission of what Young FINANCE is! We emphasize to members that we are simply just one of building blocks to our clients overall financial well-being, with partnerships like this, once our clients are fulfilled with our services, we can make sure they work with best Accountants, Financial advisors and attorneys for their business or personal needs in the future.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

As a manager of 3 account managers and 1 accountant, I learned quick that getting involved in your team’s work is crucial. Not only does this show them that you not only trust them with their work, but that you’re engaged with their work and there to help them if they need it. When in doubt, show empathy. Effective leaders demonstrate to their staff that they value them as individuals, not simply as employees. Empathetic leaders offer credit when credit is due, allow for flexibility when it is required, and often check in with team members to see how they are doing. Highlighting your employee accomplishments are a big thing for morale as well, it shows that not only you have been monitoring the employee’s performance but that you acknowledge it. Sometimes, all employees want is a little acknowledgement for the effort that they pour into the company for your well-being and theirs.

Employees are more likely to create higher-quality work when they are happy and have a healthy work-life balance. Workers that are less stressed are more focused, creative, and receptive to new ideas. Embrace transparency. Provide information on corporate developments, team issues, or even what’s going on in your own life on a regular basis. Demonstrating your staff that you, too, are human gives a secure environment for them to express their raw emotions. Request feedback. A proper leader offers chances for candid input and takes it seriously. Seeking feedback, regardless of the 1:1, group, or anonymous setting, may make your staff feel heard. Employees are less inclined to communicate grievances with coworkers in a way that might harm morale.

The general well-being of your staff is just as crucial to their morale as workload and resources. When you commit to assisting your workers in leading healthy and fulfilling lives outside of work, they are more likely to be engaged at work, generating a great work environment for other team members. Work-life balance is critical to the well-being of your workforce. Juggling many deadlines, ill children, and attempting to have a clear head for work the next day is a formula for exhaustion. Employee morale can shift at any time, for a variety of reasons that may or may not be connected to work. Take, for example, the COVID-19 epidemic. Several workers have to substantially alter their daily work patterns in order to transition to remote employment overnight. The pandemic was a huge external stressor over which corporations had little control. This development had a significant impact on how many businesses ran. Several organizations responded to the difficult situation of the pandemic by providing additional benefits and assistance to help their newly remote staff retain morale. Employees who are pleased, engaged, and have a favorable attitude on their organization are less likely to hunt for a new job. Furthermore, satisfied employees are the finest recruiters of fresh talent. Employees who are engaged are more likely to suggest candidates to available positions and to talk well about the organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yfwealth.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yfwealth/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/young-finance-llc-330072208/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpcm42dblGwC4x0J2TxwNLQ
• Other: https://ramfirm.com/

Image Credits
Bold as Lion Studios Genesis and Martez Nalls