We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiffany Whitaker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tiffany, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea to go into business for myself as a life insurance business owner has two parts: 1) I found myself needing a higher income when I became a single parent. 2) My career as an oncology nurse made me really passionate about teaching financial literacy to my peers and anyone who has the potential to be a future patient- everyone! As I sat there in my new apartment with my then 2-yr old son, I was putting a new budget together as a one-income household. I was attempting to plan for future expenses like a home, private school and athletic programs for my son. I not only wanted to keep up with bills, but I wanted to make sure that I was not sacrificing my savings and retirement contributions for the future; However, I kept coming up short. I debated what raise I would need to ask my boss for and how many annual raises I would need in order to meet my goals. That’s when I thought about my best friend’s successful business in life insurance. I reached out to her and the rest is history. I transferred job locations and moved to Dallas. While the industry has been around for over two-thousand years, there are still many people who are not covered and are not educated in how it has evolved. I represent a demographic who is less likely to be adequately insured and I have a unique perspective coming from healthcare and working with cancer patients for so many years. I also am successful in a decent paying industry, but still felt the financial squeeze that I know so many are. With my position as a nurse manager, I know there isn’t much higher that my salary will go and it is up to me to take financial charge of my life, for my son. Being able to not only educate people about money, but show them how to make money too, is what truly excites me about building in financial services in a network marketing model!
Tiffany, 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?
Much of the first part is answered in the previous. As a licensed agent, I provide education and help families prepare for unexpected healthcare expenses, unexpected loss and retirement savings. As a business owner, I also help others to make money, whether part time or full time. I bring families peace by having a plan in place for the unexpected and bring them clarity when helping them plan for the future. I also help stop the financial bleeding of retirement savings and help individuals keep what they have worked so hard for and maintaining dignity and quality while in retirement. I help families initiate generational wealth as well as education because what good is having money if you do not know how to keep it? My brand as the MoneySmartNurse tells about my background and where I am going, my journey from Healthcare to Wealthcare.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Last year, I ended up tearing my ACL and meniscus while playing basketball.. While I was scheduled for surgery, I did not stop going to work or running my business. In fact, I attended a local business event, and while crossing the stage for an award, I developed severe shortness of breath and started sweating. I had my social media manager with me and asked her to take me to the ER. I was subsequently diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and transferred to the ICU. If anyone knows about pulmonary emboli, a blood clot in the lung, they can result in instant death. It was a scary time, but I can tell you that being in this life insurance industry and believer of my own product, I had peace that my son would inherit far beyond my income replacement and generational wealth. I was discharged about 4 days later and continued my crusade, now with my own personal story and fired up more than ever!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I did not grow up surrounded by entrepreneurs. In fact, the majority of my family are nurses and military. Working hard and having a decent job is what I knew and what I was okay with. I also had no beliefs that I could be rich. It was not until being exposed to this business and seeing the success that my best friend has, someone who I grew up. Why not me? I think I was the pure definition of “good is the enemy of great”. I was content with making an impact while making a decent living. Now I strive for the millionaire life and making an impact on a much larger scale, I don’t just want to give my son a good life, but I want him to have the best!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @moneysmartnurse
- Facebook: MoneySmartNurse- Tiffany Whitaker
- Linkedin: Tiffany Whitaker