We recently connected with Malia Gudenkauf and have shared our conversation below.
Malia , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
It’s funny because while often in life it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when things changed – I absolutely can recall the moment when my life trajectory completely altered course. I was standing in the hallway of the business building looking at a flyer on the bulletin board (feels so 2000s of me haha, but it was 2018!). I had seen this flyer before and it was promoting free financial literacy classes offered on campus by this man Mike Finley who went by “the Crazy Man in the Pink Wig”. I had an epiphany moment as I thought, well gradation is around the corner, I have a job lined up already, but I don’t know much about managing my money beyond that fact that I should save… this also feels like a resource that I wouldn’t find out in the real world, so maybe I should go to these classes, after all they are FREE!
So I showed up to the first class, and I was shocked at the information I was learning. I became addicted to learning more. I thought to myself this is SO IMPORTANT, yet I’m not talking about financial literacy or money anywhere else in my life. I didn’t talk about it at home, I’m not talking about it with my friends, I don’t talk about it at work… heck I even am about to graduate with a degree in Finance and I didn’t learn about PERSONAL finance in school??? WHY? It’s so important!!!
So I went to ALL of these classes on campus and soaked up as much information as I could, then I turned to books, I started talking to my friends and e-mailing my mom and sisters “did you know” fun facts. Not only did I keep educating myself, but I graduated and put into practice the things I was learning. Within 10 months of starting my job after school I had paid off all $20,000 of my student loans. At that moment I thought to myself hmmm, I’m still passionate about talking to others and sharing the information I’m learning, I’m clearly having some success putting it into practice.. how about I google how to start a blog and I’ll use my debt payoff accomplishment as a way to share my passion with others online!
23yr old me, in 2019 thought “there is no young women that are talking about this… when we think of money, we think of financial advisors, which are typically older men in suits, that feels intimidating and often not as relatable… so I’m going to talk about money and I want to make it fun – therefore I’m naming my blog LITTLE MISS FINANCE”
Soon my blog turned into posting on Instagram, and before I knew it other young women were like wow, you’re like me, you’re relatable, you make these topics make sense, can you help me with my situation? This ranged from helping individuals create a budget, create savings goals and systems, developing a debt payoff plan.. and my favorite, helping people get started investing!
As I reflect, I remember always thinking it would be so cool if I could ever make money doing something I am so passionate about, and at the same time I really stumbled upon this business venture of financial coaching (which has now evolved to speaking and content creation). Still today, 4+ years later from my first blog post and 14months later from quitting my full time corp America job (left in Aug 2022) to do this full time, my heartrate still spikes when I get in conversation with people, because I am SO excited and SO passionate about helping them better their life by managing their money.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
See prior answer to how I got into this work.
Social Media has really allowed me to scale and broaden my reach beyond my family and my friends. I decided I would be open and transparent and vulnerable online talking about my own money situation, goals / accomplishments, etc. so that others might be inspired or learn something.
Today I have two main revenue models in my business:
1. First is 1:1 coaching with individuals. This is often via Zoom, and is designed to meet you where you are at in your personal finance journey. (budgeting, debt payoff, saving, investing, building credit, etc.)
2. Is being a speaker for organizations and businesses. Think Employee Resource Groups, Young Professional Groups, Conferences, Lunch & Learns for Professional Development, etc. I offer financial wellness / eduction seminars and workshops on an array of different topics (personal finance foundations, getting started investing, understanding your benefits at work, etc.)
The main thing I want people to know about my work is that I always strive to have JARGON free conversations, I want to make complex financial topics easier for everyone to understand and feel comfortable with. I also want people to know I am not a financial advisor, I don’t have anything to sell, I don’t have any ulterior motives.. I simply want to provide you the education needed to be comfortable and competent in managing your money, and therefore building a life you love!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
People crave realness, vulnerability, and someone who is actually relatable on social media. So find what you are passionate about and show up as your real self to share your message. My social media approach is from an educational perspective. I’m talking about something that is historically taboo to talk about, so people are intrigued and at the end of the day people are nosey and want to see how much someone else, spends / earns/ invest / etc. My best advice is to find something you are passionate and just start posting, see what works and what doesn’t and along the way you will build a community that is invested in YOU
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I hustled on the side of my corportate finance job for 3 years before I left to pursue my business full time. I had always thought I will leave when I can match my corporate income with my side hustle income. Full transparency that never happened. But what I did want to do was give myself the time and space away from corporate to try and get there. The jump from corp america was very scary, but now that I’ve done it I realize it’s not that serious, I can always go back or find another job. Now, I don’t have a family to take care of or a house or pets, I have very little I need to worry about but myself, which is why I decided there is no better time than now. I told myself I can live with myself if I try and fail, what I can’t live with is never trying and always wondering “what if”.
Since my side hustle income was nowhere near my corp salary, I ended up saving about $40k that I knew I could live off for 1 year if I didn’t make a single penny from anything else. This is what provided me the support in making the jump and in turn gave me time to scale and build. I also was debt free and the time and had a good start on investing ($80k between IRA and 401k) so I knew even if I can’t invest for the next couple years as I build my business and try to survive, it’s okay I’ve already got some solid foundations under me!
My financial foundations are what allowed me to make the jump and give me the confidence to do so.
Contact Info:
- Website: thelittlemissfinance.com
- Instagram: @littlemissfinance
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlemissfinance
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/maliagudenkauf
- Other: TikTok: @littlemissfinance