We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Frances Williams . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Frances below.

Frances , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents did a lot of things right that have helped me in my life and career. Majority of my childhood, I was raised by my mother with the help of my grandmother. My dad became an active part of my life in my adult years. The biggest lesson I learned during my childhood was how to be an independent thinker. I remember being thirteen years old walking into the grocery store for the first time alone with a list of items my mom needed along with the money to purchase the items. She would wait in the car as I walked around the store to locate and purchase items on her list. The first few times I went grocery shopping alone, I didn’t have enough money and left a few items off the list. She used to take those moments and turn them into a lesson to teach me about money management. So the first couple of I went grocery shopping and did not get everything on her list she would take back into the store. She then helped me return the name brand items and exchange them for the less expensive store brand items. After a few trips to the grocery store I got the hang of things, I was doing the grocery shopping trips all on my own. I was even able to grab some candy at the checkout line for my brothers and I with the extra money I had left over. From that experience alone, I was able to understand the basics of money management and how important it is at a young age. As an adult, I realized that personal finance is an important lesson that many people do not get the opportunity to learn from their parents like I did. So personal finance is one of the topics I teach my students about in the 123 Credit Academy.

Frances , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Frances B. better known as @hellofrancesb on all social media platforms. I teach people the fastest way to pay off debt, save, and build their personal plus business credit. I offer expertise through my consulting company, 123 Credit Consultants, and through my online learning program, 123 Credit Academy. My program helps everyday Americans understand everything they did not learn in high school or college about personal finance, personal credit, and business credit. I am from Shreveport, Louisiana and I currently live in Houston, Texas. Outside of credit I love traveling, fashion, and yoga. My favorite thing to do outside of work is read audio books about personal development and understanding human nature.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding is always the topic of conversation when you talk about business. You can not make any money in business if you do not have any start up capital. When I started my first company, 123 Credit Consultants, I started it using my personal savings and my personal credit. I opened personal credit cards to cover my business’ start-up cost and the first year of operating expenses. Then when those credit cards were maxed out, I started using funds from my personal savings account. When I made money in my business I didn’t pay myself, I kept reinvesting the money back into the business. The money would be spent on a new learning course, conference, updated equipment, and hiring an assistant. and etc. Well when you operate a business using your personal finances and do not pay yourself, you start depleting your savings then ruining your own personal credit. I was maybe two and half years in business when a business mentor I hired told me about business credit. I never heard of that before. I started building business credit and then put myself on a small salary. From there things started looking great for me again until I realized that business credit affects your personal credit. I didn’t understand that you had to properly separate personal and business credit profiles. Because of this critical mistake, I started seeing my personal credit score decrease while my business credit scores were soaring. Being misinformed about business credit is a costly error that I help business owners avoid through 123 Credit Academy. In the “How to Build Business Credit” module I teach business owners and entrepreneurs how to properly build business credit without using their personal social security number. You can check out the program at www.123creditacademy.com

Any advice for managing a team?

The best advice I have for someone managing a team is to have a metrics system in place to measure performance of each team member. The first benefit is that each team member will get feedback from you that lets him/her know how they are doing. Providing feedback regularly is critical as it provides encouragement and constructive criticism should he/she need to improve on something. The second benefit is that it allows management to understand what needs to be improved on as a company. If each member on your team is struggling with the same thing that means that the issue may lie within your company.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.123creditconsultants.com; www.123creditacademy.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hellofrancesb
• Linkedin: Frances Williams
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hellofrancesb
• Youtube: 123 Credit Tea
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hellofrancesb