Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Mittman Besnoff

Samantha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

September 2024 will be eleven years in business for myself. I have always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but it took a windy path to get to where I am today. Since high school, I knew I wanted to be in the accounting field and to have my Certified Public Accountants (CPA) license. When I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, I didn’t have the typical accounting job that most of my friends did. I didn’t get to go into the big six accounting world. I ended up auditing for the Auditor General, for the state of PA, auditing school districts. And I did that for a couple of years and then wanted to get into public accounting. And I did that for a couple of years and into corporate and tax accounting and then into the nonprofit world. And when I was in the nonprofit world, I just started to really want to work for myself and I made the decision after six years of being an executive director at a nonprofit that it was time to move on and do things for myself, and that’s how I went into doing accounting and tax for individuals and small businesses.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

I think most entrepreneurs will tell you that It isn’t easy. There are good days. And there are bad days running your own business. But if you have the passion as I do for what I do. Then those days where you’re down or it’s tough you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, when you get to the end of that tunnel, it might look different for you as a business owner, but there’s always that light.

I think over the last 11 years my biggest challenge or struggle has been getting the clients, getting the people to come into the door and pay me to help them with their accounting and their tax work. Marketing is definitely not my strong suit, nor is networking, but I work at it every single day.

We’ve been impressed with Your Financial Maven LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

Your Financial Maven provides clients a holistic approach to financial well-being encompassing business acumen, accounting, tax services, financial education, and life insurance expertise for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses. I recently shifted from doing both individual tax work to more small business consulting. I still handle the individual side, but I absolutely love helping out my fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners understand their business from the financial side of things. I am not the typical accountant that you think of. I pride myself on talking with my clients and not above my clients. Yes, I must use accounting and tax terms at times, but I educate, and I empower my clients. I talk to them about anything as it relates to their business when it comes to tax or accounting, you know, understanding their financial reports, things like that. And in addition, I love, love, love financial literacy. I think especially young adults and women need to. Have an outlet to learn and understand their money. That’s kind of where I started and created my Your Financial Maven podcast. I also have done some webinars with college students talking to them about Basic Taxes 101. And I just have such a passion for educating others in this arena.

Any big plans?

As I mentioned, I have begun to shift to more small business and entrepreneurial accounting and tax. Helping those who have their own businesses understand the financial side of things. I want to Engage, Strategize, Educate, and Empower others.

I am also working on and planning to do workshops and seminars throughout the country. It’s something I have a passion for and I would love to get onto more college campuses to do my Basic Taxes 101 seminar and even just talking about understanding money.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bio.site/smbcpayfm (this has all of my social media handles and podcast info)