We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monique YeeFoon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monique below.
Monique, appreciate you joining us today. Is your team able to work remotely? If so, how have you made it work? What, if any, have been the pitfalls? What have been the non-obvious benefits?
I started out being remote. When I launched my business back in 2018, having a brick and mortar store front was not financially feasible for me and I am a big techie so it made sense to utilize my tech resources as much as possible, I also referred my clients to utilize cloud based products that would allow me access without having to meet as much in person. In today’s environment people are busy with life and rarely can manage an in person meeting. So virtual meetings work for my clients. When the pandemic hit I didn’t miss a beat because I was already established working virtual and remotely.
Monique, 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?
My background has been in finance mostly in mortgage ( loss mitigation) and IT. I went back to school to get my Bachelors in Business Accounting and then started my own company. I’ve been in business for 5 years and my business is steadily growing.
What I offer is Tax Accounting, Financial Consulting, Business Formation Registration and Financial Literacy classes.
My brand encompasses a lot of things from hosting a podcast to creating an organization that host conferences for Black female entrepreneurs. The organization “Intentional Networking Dallas”, is designed to help Black female entrepreneurs obtain resources and connections that help them grow their business. My podcast “i to i” is about educating the Black community, my community on topics such as the healthcare system, constitution and the law, building the community through voting, how the NAACP local chapters work along with other social topics going on. I love empowering people and seeing them win. To me that’s the mark of a great accountant/ consultant when your clients win you win.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I worked in Corporate America, I had developed a mindset that my value and worth was tied to what I was allowed to do. Example. I was hired to be a customer service representative, I would meet with my supervisor regularly to discuss my career goals and where I wanted to be. However, the discussion would always be a a discussion. It was rarely an active move to reach those goals. This was not because I didn’t want to obtain the goal, but, because my supervisors placed my value based on the needs of the business. This made me believe I wasn’t valuable anywhere else. It wasn’t until I started listening to Oprah’s story of her journey that I was like,”I want more” and I went after it. The last corporate job I had I was laid off which is normal in the mortgage business. I used that opportunity to sit down, dig deep, set up a plan. I surrounded myself around people who would help me to achieve my goals and execute my plan. I want to make this clear for whoever needs to hear this, who you hang around and take advice from matters. Who you listen to, what you read and who you talk to matters. If it’s not building you up and helping you to create then you have to let it go and find new people. I ended up learning my value is not determined by others, or a company, or by a customer. I place the value on myself. I had to leave Corporate America to learn that lesson.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Life is about pivoting consistently changing for the betterment of yourself and sometimes those around you. My first real awareness of pivoting was when I started my company and in my planning period I decided that I was going to offer certain services and be fair in pricing. When I realized that some of the services I was offering my clients didn’t need or they were not benefiting from them I quickly went to the white board and started to develop something that would be mutually beneficial and edifying to my clients. Pivoting is not a bad thing. You have to listen to your clients and you have to watch what your market place is doing to be competitive. Pivoting is one of the ways you grow as a business and as an owner. It’s how you stay relevant and fresh.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://bit.ly/2t6DLx
- Instagram: Yeefoonassociates
- Facebook: Yeefoon & Associates
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/monique-yeefoon-a7aaa989
- Other: Link tree for YeeFoon & Associates https://linktr.ee/yeefoonm i to i podcast on all podcast platforms Intentional Networking Dallas on IG, and FB
Image Credits
Amber Robinson Photography Zanadi Offord Images