August 16, 2024 • 35 mins
In this episode of the Beyond Normal Podcast, join us as we delve into the transformative journey of Leah Young, co-founder of Impact the Culture Financial Group. Discover how her unique path from aspiring filmmaker to financial services innovator is shaping the financial futures of communities.
Leah shares her inspiring switch from creative pursuits to focusing on legacy and community impact through financial education. Learn about the pivotal moments that motivated her shift, including the influence of figures like Nipsey Hussle and the desire to empower her neighborhood in Greensboro, NC.
Tune in to uncover how Leah’s approach to financial services is breaking the mold, offering tailored advice that helps individuals and families build generational wealth and achieve financial freedom.
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Connect with Leah and learn more about her financial service solutions at @leahmy_impact on IG
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:02):
Uh music.
Kenny (00:11):
Welcome, welcome everybody to another great
episode of the beyond normalpodcast.
I'm your host, Kenny groom.
I have a very special guest thatI want to bring to the stage
specializing in financialservices.
As you all know, this season, weare focusing on local, business
owners, founders in theCharlotte area and just,
(00:32):
different, regions that support.
Diverse founders, blackfounders.
And so I'm very excited to havewith us today, Leah young co
founder of impact, the culturefinancial group.
But without further ado, let'sbring, Leah to the stage.
Oh, wait, like where I just wantyou all to remember we're doing
episodes in person.
(00:53):
At times it's going to take mejust a second to get adjusted to
having the guests here live withme.
But without further ado, Leah,how are you doing today?
How are you?
I'm doing great.
Yeah, I just want to.
Thank you so much for hopping onseason six.
We're on season six.
(01:13):
We just released our firstepisode.
if you all are, on your favoritestreaming platform, make sure if
you're listening to this, you goback to that first episode of
the season.
And just while you're at it,listen to all our episodes, We
want to make sure that all theincredible, black founders that
are on our platform, get yourear, for a second.
But yeah, I want to spend alittle bit of time letting folks
(01:36):
know about what you're doing.
In the financial services space.
Maybe we can start things off byjust letting folks know what's
your background prior to youstarting this incredible
company?
Leah (01:48):
Sure.
Before I even, get into that,Kenny, thank you for having me
on your podcast.
I'm super excited.
It's my first podcast.
Let's hope this goes well.
This goes well.
But, yeah.
And congratulations on sixseasons.
That's awesome.
So how did I, what is mybackground?
It definitely is not in thefinancial services space.
(02:08):
Growing up, I actually wanted tobe a writer.
So I, was writing, short storiesand, had the beginnings of a
novel.
And then I got really interestedin, film writing.
and, making movies.
And I, did a semester at theSeattle Film Institute.
So I really thought I was goingto be like Issa Rae, Ava
DuVernay.
That was really my goal.
(02:30):
At that time I was reallystarting to think about, it was
probably like 2019.
Right after Nipsey passed andjust learning, about what he was
doing in his community.
I'm from a small neighborhood inGreensboro North Carolina, and,
both my parents are from thisneighborhood and my
grandparents, on both sides arefrom this neighborhood.
(02:50):
So I was really starting to.
Think about legacy and, tryingto, follow his blueprint on
putting my neighborhood on themap.
So when financial services cameinto or just fell in my lap, it
was like, Oh, I see what you'redoing there, God.
Because I really thought I wasabout to go, move to an island.
Take pictures and read books andwrite and I, pretty much, focus
(03:15):
on me, what I wanted to do.
And God has this, unique way ofpivoting us so that we are not
self seeking, but, doingservice.
So that's really how I came intothe industry.
That's a little bit about mybackground.
I also, work admin corporate anddifferent things like that, but,
That's how I came into theindustry.
My co founder business partner,she was recruited and I was
(03:39):
starting to listen to, the waythat, these young people of
color were talking about moneyand wealth.
And again, just this legacybuilding.
And I was like, let me reallystart to listen.
And then I actually, heard Godsay, Leah really listened to
what's going on here.
This is what's going to set yourfamily free.
So that's how I came into theindustry and a little bit about
(04:00):
my background.
Kenny (04:01):
Yeah, I love it.
There's a couple of things that,stood out as you were talking,
your knack for storytelling,wanting to be a writer.
I think that's really cool.
That's a skill set where it'sone of those things where once
you tell somebody that they'relike, Oh, you can just go write
books.
And it's not not necessarilylike you can really craft
(04:21):
stories as a business owner,right?
No matter the industry.
And so you going into financialservices, I think that's really
cool.
Because we need better stories.
We need new stories to be toldin that space.
And then the piece on aroundNipsey just, like seeing seeing
his business.
Mentality his acumen grow andwhat he was building during that
(04:44):
time I think that was definitelymotivational to a lot of people.
So it's really cool that youtook that motivation You know
using Nipsey as somewhat of amuse right for you for your
business Undertakings, I thinkthat's a that's a way that we
don't think about ourentertainers a lot of times like
we just see them
Leah (05:05):
that we can think of like that.
So
Kenny (05:07):
yeah, that's
Leah (05:11):
a
Kenny (05:13):
hot topic.
But what he was doing, tellinghis own story.
You being a story in the tellingyour own stories, like what
about financial services, likewhat part of the story was
missing for you?
We all know that when we go to amovie, there's a beginning,
there's some type of setup,there's some some climax,
(05:35):
there's some moments ofdiscomfort.
And then there's usually thattriumph at the end.
So I'm curious like where from afinancial services perspective,
are you inserting?
Your pen at this moment.
Leah (05:47):
Yeah.
So I guess the beginning is, weall have a money blueprint, and
it's usually passed down to usfrom our parents or grandparents
or, just someone else.
And for me, it was, Graduatinghigh school, my father telling
me two things.
He said, Leah, save your moneyand protect your credit.
So that was the beginning or thesort of the foundations of my,
(06:10):
money blueprint.
Granted, that was all he knew totell me.
But it was a start.
Of course I get a, bank account,I'm saving money.
And, I'm hearing this thingcalled interest and I'm
wondering, okay, I'm going tostart to see my money grow in
the bank, and credit.
Okay.
I'm on campus and their creditcards everywhere.
So I get a couple of creditcards.
(06:30):
But I don't know anything aboutthese things, these products,
right?
So of course, if we're tellingthe story, it's okay, that's the
beginning.
And then you start to accumulatethese, this debt, right?
Not even, just from the cards,but even from my, student loans,
just going to college.
So now I'm accumulating debt.
But again, I don't have anyeducation behind what these
(06:53):
products are supposed to do, howto utilize them properly.
So I'm just out here, bawling,you.
I'm just spending we all
Kenny (07:00):
we all, we've all been there, right?
Yeah.
We all, who gone college havegot that check, that refund
check, right?
Or just a lump sum of money.
Maybe you got some scholarshipmoney here and there.
You just got that lump sum ofmoney in your accountant, like
you said, is.
Leah (07:14):
telling you what to do with this money, right?
No one is saying, Hey, save, ormaybe you can invest or someone
Kenny (07:21):
is telling us what to do.
McDonald's cookout here.
If you're in the North Carolinaarea all the department stores,
they're telling us what to dowith that money.
Leah (07:33):
So I quickly became a consumer.
A spender and that was, I wouldsay my trajectory for many years
ups, downs, all of that.
And it really wasn't until I gotinto the industry and I had,
coaches and mentors and otherpeople that were, like minded
that were able to educate me.
(07:53):
So the first time I actuallyheard, and again, I had gone to
college Worked in corporateAmerica.
I, I, but no one was teaching meabout money.
I didn't even have lifeinsurance at the time.
Just coming into the industry,being around like minded people
that really wanted to educate mefirst and foremost, tell me
about these products, tell mehow, how I could set my family
(08:15):
up.
Because again, I'm thinkinglegacy, my grandmother, she just
turned a hundred, God bless her.
I was really starting to thinkokay, when she's no longer here,
who steps up as the matriarch ofour family and is able to pass
down all the lessons that,myself and my cousins, my age,
we're able to glean from her.
(08:37):
Who's going to pass that downto, their kids and their kids,
so I really just wanted to besomeone who could not only
educate my family, but thenstart to educate my community.
But if I first had to learn itmyself, so that, that would be
the what do they call that?
The story of how I came into theindustry and what it means to me
(08:58):
and when you think about how, asa creative, we're always, even
if we don't have, we're notworking in art or being
creative, we're doing our nineto five or whatever.
We're always looking for waysto, to use that side of our
brain.
And in our industry, we'realways saying, Facts, tell
stories, sell or facts, sellstories, tell one of the, one of
(09:20):
the two, I might be getting itbackwards, but needless to say,
when you're telling a story tosomeone, that is what's really
going to pull them in.
And when it comes to our moneyand financial services and what
we want to be able to do our, dofor our families you can tell a
lot of stories.
There are a lot of stories wherepeople got it right.
There are unfortunately morestories where people got it
(09:43):
wrong.
But again, there is that turningpoint where it's like, Hey, now
I'm learning so I can go fromnot knowing to starting to learn
and implement and then beingable to change that narrative
for my family.
Kenny (09:58):
Yeah, I love that.
Leah (09:59):
Thank you.
Kenny (10:00):
Thank you so much for sharing how you think about the
story that you're trying totell.
I'm curious.
I want to dig into the story ofyou as a co founder or you do
have somebody else that you'rebuilding the business with in
terms of the story arc for a cofounder, right?
There's definitely more than onemoment.
Most of the time for founderswhere you hit your head against
(10:24):
the wall, there's a some trialsand tribulations.
So I'm curious if you can sharea little bit about for your
specific story what are sometrials and tribulations that
you've had to overcome in your,your storyline to becoming the
co founder that you are now?
Leah (10:43):
Question.
And there's so many because itwas so new to me I had never
really been in anentrepreneurial space before and
again, being a creative I tendto work just I don't want to say
lackadaisical, as inspirationcomes, then you flush it out.
And that, that kind of workethic, so to speak.
(11:05):
So the biggest challenge I wouldsay Was just the discipline of
it, the discipline, theconsistency and with my co
founder it was new to her aswell.
So not only are we, learning abusiness, very new business and
then again, when you're talkingabout money, it's one of those
things that you're, first ofall, we don't grow up in houses
(11:27):
where we talk about money.
And now we're going into otherpeople's homes and trying to
educate them about money.
So there's a little bit of likeimposter syndrome there.
I would say a little bit for me.
I don't know what I'm doing, Iknow that there's a
presentation.
I know, I know what I'm talkingabout.
I've been coached.
(11:48):
I have great mentors.
I go to training.
I'm prepared to go to work.
To educate somebody else.
But then there's still thatlittle, like you, you just
started this, how did, how do gointo, and then the financial
industry just doesn't look likeme either typically.
So there's that part of it too,where it's okay I don't, I don't
look like your average, ortypical or traditional insurance
(12:10):
agent.
And that was the beautiful thingabout the agency that I came in.
Under as well.
It was really diverse andgetting away from that
traditional white male, older,demographic when it came to an
agent.
So first getting over, buildingthe confidence, getting over
that sort of imposter syndrome,and then Once, once you have, or
(12:30):
once I had the skillset, whichis always ever, ever growing and
you're always learning, but onceI felt comfortable with the
skillset, then it became thediscipline and the consist,
consistency of building abusiness, building a team,
leading other agents, being ableto help them also grow their
agencies as well.
So it was a lot of.
(12:52):
Moving pieces.
But the biggest one was just thework ethic, just fine tuning
that.
And I'm still a work inprogress.
They're getting like I'm still,have that, art creative mind
where it's like, Oh, I just wantto, sit back and read and do
this and work on this.
And, Oh, I have this idea.
And, but really just trying tounderstand that this is where I
(13:13):
am at and being present.
And focusing on, the growth ofmy business.
Kenny (13:19):
No, that makes sense.
And I think that what you're, itsounds like what you're alluding
to.
We know some people if you givethem a coloring book, for
example, and they're set linesthey still figure out a way to
make it their own.
Versus some of us, we think of,if we see a picture of, a
character we all know, sayMickey Mouse, for example.
(13:43):
Some of us are going to say.
Mickey Mouse has black skin, redpants, yellow button, right?
White gloves.
But some of us will say like mydaughter, she may say, nah, he's
going to be purple today.
You know what I mean?
And that's okay.
And so figuring out how And anycircumstance, whatever that
(14:04):
coloring book is, like youfigure out how to color your own
way.
I think that's okay.
Leah (14:08):
Yeah.
Especially if you have thesupport that allows that, and
fortunately for us, we do whereit isn't just strict.
Hey, this is, our rules, this isour system.
Granted, we do have a system andit's, founded and all of that,
but there is room for thatcreativity.
There's room for you to brandyourself.
There's room for you to, justput your own stamp in on your
(14:30):
own Flavor on the financialservices industry.
It doesn't have to be thisstuffy, thing that people don't
want to talk about.
If we can make it interesting,we can make it fun.
If we can, bring ourselves inour own personalities into it to
connect with the families,because ultimately that's really
what it's about.
If I'm sitting down at a kitchentable with a family, I need to
be able to connect with them.
(14:50):
And they want to be able toconnect with me because we were
talking about their legacy.
We're talking about theirretirement, possibly, they want
to be able to know that I'm ahuman being.
I, I want to be able to tell mystory and we want to connect
that way.
Yeah.
Kenny (15:04):
I love it.
So talk a little bit about, likejust the structure of your
business and then obviouslythere's some infrastructure that
helps you run your businessright in terms of the company
that you partner with.
This is typically not thefounder that we have highlighted
(15:24):
on our platform, but I just saythat to say our listeners may
not necessarily be familiar withthese type of stories on beyond
normal.
So tell folks a little bit abouthow you're.
Like the agreement is structuredand then just overall, like what
the business dynamics arebetween you and your co founder
and the entities that aresupporting you.
Leah (15:45):
Gotcha.
Impact the culture financialgroup is part of an FMO, a
financial mortgage, financialmarketing organization, which
just means I have a parentcompany.
When you think of.
Financial services, you mightthink of, or life insurance or
insurance in general, you mightthink of state farm, and state
farm, that name, but when yougo, drive around the city, you
(16:05):
might see, Kenny's state farmor, Mark's state farm or, John's
state farm.
So each of those businesses aretheir own entity, but they, they
partner with state farm, becausethe state farm is the bigger
name.
So it's very similar to thatimpact.
The culture is our business, butwe've partnered with a parent
company.
That way they take care of allof the legal, the, C suite
(16:28):
execs, the commissions, makingsure we get contracted and
appointed with the differentinsurance companies.
So I don't have to take care ofwhen I think one of the things
that.
Prevents a lot of people fromgoing into entrepreneurship is
the magnitude of what starting abusiness could be, right?
(16:48):
How do I get, my LLC and taxesand, all of these things pay my
employees, right?
For me, I found it veryseamless.
to transition intoentrepreneurship because someone
else was going to take care ofthat part for me.
All I had to do is focus on,okay, learning the business,
learning about the products andservices, learning how to be a
(17:11):
leader, how to, because that's abig part of, who we, who we are,
especially when you're.
being a founder or leading otherpeople or building a team you
step into that role.
So if you haven't been there youwant to take time to learn that
personally developing, readingthe books and all of that stuff.
So for me, it was just aseamless transition to go into
(17:34):
it that way without having toworry about all of the extra
stuff.
So they take care of that partfor me.
I get to focus on, serving mycommunity.
Kenny (17:42):
Yeah, I think that one of the a lot of the founders that
we've had on they talk about, Iasked him a question similar to
what I just asked you and theytalk about a lot of times,
removing the things.
Keep them from enjoying whatthey do.
A lot of times it's about, Hey,how do I interact with my
community?
(18:03):
So the products and build thesolutions and software and
things like that, that mycommunity needs so I can
ultimately deliver value.
And.
Being proficient in things liketaxes and lunch services and all
the other things that, that gowith running a business, leading
a team it can be reallyoverwhelming for sure.
(18:26):
You mentioned, just creatingyour LLC, I had so many panic
attacks, when it comes to taxes,cause I'm like, all right, did I
do my LLC right?
And things like that.
I'm more of the person that'llsit there and, at least do
initial pass of it before Ifigure out how to pay somebody
to do it.
But that hasn't always led me todoing it correctly.
(18:50):
So I will say that I respectyour perspective as well.
Because
Leah (18:56):
I know that, even in the industry, I sat on a panel a few
months ago with other insuranceagency owners.
that had, gone a moretraditional route, I guess I'll
say.
And just talking about what theygo through as far as growing
their businesses and, reachingout to other carriers and
different things like that.
It was something I couldn'tnecessarily relate to because I
(19:18):
didn't have to have thosestruggles.
Now there are still struggles.
But I didn't have thoseparticular ones.
And again, being someone thatwas new to entrepreneurship, I,
math and business, those are notmy strong suits.
I, I majored in psychologyagain.
I told you I'm a creative.
So when you start talkingnumbers and spreadsheets, I get
(19:39):
lost.
So this was a perfect path forme.
God knew exactly what he
Kenny (19:43):
was doing.
Yeah, that's dope.
That's dope.
So you just touched on being onthat panel.
I'm curious.
You have a co founder.
So tell me a little bit aroundsome of the learnings, not
necessarily in a panel setting,but just some of the learnings
(20:03):
you and your co founder havegone through cause I think
there's a, there's definitelyalways going to be a debate.
People say, should I go intosomething on my own?
Should I have a co founder?
Should I go with somebody Iknow?
So I'm curious, like what's thatdynamic with you and your co
founder?
Leah (20:22):
It was.
Again, new for both of us,right?
So we were, we bumped heads alot because our personalities
are also very different.
So for us, it was really amatter of finding, okay, who's
going to do what?
And that's in, in our sort ofindustry or in our agency when
you have two people workingtogether, it really does come
(20:45):
down to, okay who's, stronger inthis or, prospecting or maybe
You know, running this type ofappointment or, you just find
your strengths, right?
And then you communication was abig one, learning to and for me,
I'm an introvert.
So I don't naturally, I'm notnaturally inclined to speak up
or, just, insert myself or beassertive.
(21:07):
That's another thing I, tend towant to work on right now.
But just learning how tocommunicate.
I was just on a call with one ofmy mentors and that question
was, asked how do we do that?
How do we work together?
And his answer was first andforemost, there has to be
respect, right?
You have to start there.
(21:28):
So for us, it was finding thatrhythm, that, that line of
communication where there was,mutual respect and then figuring
out who's.
Stronger in certain areas andthen not crossing that, that
line.
If that's what you're going todo and that's what you said
you're going to do, okay, thenI'm not going to necessarily,
(21:49):
encroach on that.
I'm going to let you do yourthing and she's going to let me
do my thing.
And that's how we, Managed to dothis thing for years.
But there have been some bumpingheads and arguments and walking
away and coming back and all ofthat good stuff.
Kenny (22:06):
It's a relationship at the end of the day.
So there's no surprise thatthere's some some difficult
moments some moments with sometension, that's going to be
expected, right?
Leah (22:17):
Yes, like that's part of the five dysfunctions of a team,
right there.
You got to know how to doconflict, right?
Trust and all of those things.
Yeah.
Kenny (22:27):
So you mentioned You mentioned your knack for
reading.
You did come in with a book thatyou're reading, right?
And what's a book that you'veread lately?
This is all off of the cuff,right?
What's a book that you've readlately that you've been able to
incorporate into your yourbusiness strategy.
Leah (22:51):
Okay.
So the last one, So the one thatI really enjoyed was Pinky
Cole's, I hope you fail.
Just hearing her story, herjourney, how she even got into
entrepreneurship, how shestarted out as a creative as
well.
She was in TV production.
I hope this wrong.
Her.
Story wrong, but she started offon TV production and and then
(23:11):
she had the idea for restaurantsand, just how she, she talks so
much about not just her journey,but the mistakes she made, the
things she would do differently.
And it was just so fun and downto earth.
It was just a great read for me.
And a lot of what I'm focusingon right now in my business, as
(23:33):
I mentioned, is, just buildingmy confidence, working on my
identity as an entrepreneur, asa business owner, walking
confidently in that.
role.
I'd like to read a lot ofmemoirs from people that are, it
had that same trajectory.
Maybe they didn't really thinkthey were going to be an
entrepreneur.
They, it wasn't really alwayssomething they thought they
(23:54):
would do, especially insomething that's completely
foreign to them, right?
Yeah, I would say her book isawesome.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Kenny (24:01):
Yeah.
All right.
Check that one out.
And you're a reader.
I can tell again, she came inwith a book.
So I have to ask people who arereaders.
Like when, what's so interesting
Leah (24:11):
right now is by Yvonne orgy bamboozled by Jesus.
So again, she's talking abouther journey from, being a
Nigerian American, having thatpath of, becoming a doctor and
then God pivoting her.
And to entertainment.
Just being able to hear andrelate and to, to those types of
(24:32):
stories, it really is helpfulfor me because it's like, one,
you're not alone.
And then, everybody's goesthrough these similar struggles
when they're trying to achieve agoal and, working on that
discipline and the consistencyand believing in yourself, all
of these things, factor intobecoming, or being an
entrepreneur or reaching a goalor anything like that, that
(24:53):
you're trying to do.
Kenny (24:54):
Got it.
I love it.
I love it.
I'm an audiobook person.
Does that count too?
Yeah,
Leah (24:58):
I think it does.
And I used to be one of thosereaders that was like, no, you
got to give me a book.
I need pages.
I'm building a library.
But recently I've, startedlistening to audios.
I do Kindles, because I don'talways necessarily, want to
bring a I usually have a book.
Yeah.
In the car I'm not, listening tomusic as much.
(25:21):
I'm, popping into audio book.
And then at nighttime, sometimeswhen I wake up just randomly, I
don't necessarily want to turnon the light and read, but then,
I've got my little Kindle there.
So now I can, get some, a coupleof 20, 30 minutes of reading,
fall back asleep.
So I use all three.
I'm physical Kindle orelectronic device.
(25:44):
I don't know if I'm supposed torep any brands, electronic
device.
And then of course,
Kenny (25:50):
yeah, I love it.
Let's talk a little bit aboutYour customer experience.
We talked a lot about storiesand the care and the focus that
you put into narratives andthings like that on this call.
Tell me tell our listeners whatis the experience like?
From the initial kind ofinteraction with you or your co
(26:12):
founder when they're looking tobuy services or product from
your business, walk us a littlebit through that.
Leah (26:18):
Sure.
So impact is actually anacronym.
Okay.
So it stands for inspire.
Motivate, protect, ascend andconnect the culture.
So that's what impact that's ourmission essentially.
So when you think about familiesthat we want to serve first, it
starts with how can I inspirethem to want to even, think
(26:40):
differently about theirfinancial situation?
Because sometimes it can be veryoverwhelming, especially if you
feel like you've made a lot ofmistakes, and you don't think
that there's anything that youcan do differently, or maybe.
You're older and you think it'stoo late to do anything
differently.
So we just want to first sitdown when we're thinking about
how can we reach the family?
How we want to inspire them.
(27:01):
Then we want to educate them.
We want to be able to, andthrough that education, motivate
them to Say, okay, I think I cando this.
I think I can, I really want tostart thinking about
generational wealth.
This is something that I hadn't,really considered, I do have
young children.
I do want to be able to dosomething differently for them.
So we start with that first andthen it's okay let's come up
(27:21):
with a strategy.
Tell me what your goals are whenit comes to, your financial
future.
What is it that you want to do?
Do you want to be able to buy ahome?
Do you want to get better atsaving?
Do you want to?
Think, start thinking about,retirement.
What are those things you wantto say for your kids education?
What are your goals and thenbased on those goals we come up
with a strategy becausefinancial Education or life
(27:45):
insurance for us is not a onesize fits all Sure, you can go
on the internet and purchase apolicy But it really you really
do want to have that personalinteraction and that personal
education when it comes to myfinancial future and protecting
my legacy or protecting myretirement income, I don't want
to just do that, over the phoneor, through my computer.
(28:07):
I would prefer to have someonesit down and walk me through the
process.
So that's what we do.
So we find out the best strategybecause we're brokers.
We get to work with severaldifferent insurance companies,
not just one.
So it's not just a one size fitsall kind of product.
That we offer.
And from there we determine,Hey, how much insurance you
need?
(28:27):
Because a lot of people come tous and they are underinsured,
which means maybe they're just,relying on their work policy.
Maybe they have nothing at all,so to first determine after the
education is how much insurancedo you actually need?
A lot of times, and we do edifywhatever a family has.
So if you do come and like, Oh,I've got, a hundred thousand
dollars in.
Sweet.
(28:47):
You have something that'sawesome, but you also have a
mortgage that you're stillpaying on.
You have two small kids, yourincome, and our policies, we
offer living benefits.
So that means we're trying toalso change the narrative around
life insurance where we're notjust thinking about this is
something that I use when I'm nolonger here, but how can I
(29:08):
actually.
Utilize this product while I'mstill alive.
So we figure out how muchinsurance you need.
And then because we want you tothink of this as an asset, not
another bill, we want to makesure it's affordable for you,
right?
So that you protect it, like youwould protect your home or your
car or your stocks or anythinglike that.
We want to make sure that it'saffordable.
(29:29):
So you take it seriously.
And we don't want you to be in asituation where, okay, I got to,
Figure out if I'm going to paymy life insurance or my car
payment, we don't want that.
So we want to make sure it'saffordable.
So we look at your discretionaryincome, right?
What, after everything else ispaid, what is left over.
And that's where we also find alot of families are upside down
in their finances.
(29:49):
So we do, a small budget or afinancial analysis just to
figure out where the family isand where we can help them
achieve that goal.
Kenny (29:58):
Got it.
I love that.
So I would say in our household,we are like insurance crazy,
mainly because my wife we haveso much insurance.
It's ridiculous.
So I understand the need for it.
Yes.
Thinking about business ownersthat are out there, maybe
they're a startup founder.
Maybe there's somebody who'slike bootstrapping their
(30:18):
business.
It may not necessarily always bein the best financial
situations.
I'm curious are there.
Are there some really importantfirst steps for them to take?
That you give advice on forthose founders, business owners
that are out there who are likebootstrapping their business.
And, there's just not a lot ofresources readily available for
(30:43):
them to throw into the wholegambit Of services that you have
to offer.
Yeah.
Leah (30:47):
So it's really just a matter of meeting.
The client, the family, thebusiness owner, right?
Everybody is not, looking for aproduct that they can, put 50,
000 into and start it up and letit grow and sit.
And not everybody's situation.
But we want to meet.
Who, at whomever it is, wherethey are.
So I would say first start withthe education, just get
(31:10):
educated, right?
Know available, know what's outthere.
And then, when we do thatfinancial analysis, we're going
to make sure that it isappropriate and that it fits
where you are now.
A lot of times, people getexcited about the possibilities,
of when you think about stocksand, all of these things.
Oh yes, I can get into this andI can see my money grow very
(31:33):
quickly.
But we, that might not be whereyou are right now.
That's something you can aspireto for sure.
And we can make sure that, weset you on a path to get there.
But.
We're going to meet you whereyou are.
So if that's just a, 15, 20 termright now, then that's what
we're going to do, right?
If you have, different resourcesand you want to, expand on that,
(31:54):
then we can have thatconversation as well.
So we work with everybody.
We're not leaving anybody behindin this
Kenny (31:59):
situation.
I think that part is reallycool.
I've been talking to a lot offounders.
Who are like in the B2B space.
and I think there's plenty ofopportunity.
And I think through this,through your services,
definitely there's probably alot of B2C and what you're
doing, but then there's alsothat B2B component for the
business founders, there'sfounders that are out there that
(32:21):
are just trying to make surethat their family is whole.
They have to take that intoaccount when they're there.
Looking at their businesstrajectory.
And so talking to somebody you,they're securing their family,
which ultimately is going to,that's going to secure their
business.
They're going to feel reallycomfortable moving forward with
their business, knowing thattheir home front is taken care
of.
Leah (32:40):
And then if you're working with a partner, cause I know we
touched on that a little bit,making sure that you may need
some key person type insurance,or, just something that, again.
Making sure your business iswhole.
If anything were to happen,that's the space that we're in
we're trying to give you thatpeace of mind that, Hey we've
taken care of the foundation,we've taken care of, Hey, if
(33:02):
anything happens here, we'regoing to be okay.
If anything happens at home,we're going to be okay.
We just want to give people thatpeace of mind.
Kenny (33:08):
Got it.
So how can folks reach out?
What's the best way for them tomake sure they're tapping in
with the brain?
Leah (33:15):
IG.
That's a good space.
a good platform.
I can drop it here.
Yeah, go ahead and drop it.
Yeah, so it's Leah, L E A H M Y.
underscore impact on Instagram.
There's a Calendly link there aswell.
So you can just click on thatlink and schedule your free
wealth consultation.
It's usually about a 30 minuteconversation.
(33:37):
Like I said, where we talk aboutyour goals do some basic
financial literacy educationand, come up with a strategy to
help you achieve that goal.
Kenny (33:45):
Appreciate that.
You have you've dropped so manygems on this conversation.
In terms, I really, it reallystood out to me, you coming in
with the book, you letting meknow, like how you think from
the very first kind of wordsthat we've had, I can really
tell, like how the gears areworking.
So it's really cool to see youbuild your business your way.
(34:07):
You have a co founder.
And so I'm always interested tosee how co founder tandems are
figuring things out because Idon't have a co founder maybe
one day.
It sounds like it's amazing, butI know the grass always seems
greener.
When you compare, you startcomparing things, but I
appreciate you coming on theplatform.
I'm definitely going to makesure that we put that social
media call out in our notes.
(34:28):
So folks can tap in.
Lastly, I'll leave it to you.
Is there anything you want toleave our listeners with as we
close out the conversation?
Leah (34:37):
Let me think about that.
So I think if I wanted anybodyto take, or what I want people
to take away from thisconversation is that with the
right education and we are a bigcomponent of education, with the
right education, Anyone canbecome the generational hero of
(34:57):
their family and change thegenerational, trajectory of
their family legacy.
If they know better, people willdo better.
And that's where we focus.
We just want you to have theinformation because a lot of
times, we feel like we don't orwe didn't learn this or how is
it that I got to 38 and no onetaught me this?
We want to be that resourceimpact.
The culture want to be, wants tobe that resource.
(35:20):
And we want you to know that.
Once you know better, we'll helpyou do better.
Kenny (35:24):
Perfect way to end.
Thanks for tuning in to anothergreat episode of Beyond Normal
podcast.
Uh music.
Kenny (00:11):
Welcome, welcome everybody to another great
episode of the beyond normalpodcast.
I'm your host, Kenny groom.
I have a very special guest thatI want to bring to the stage
specializing in financialservices.
As you all know, this season, weare focusing on local, business
owners, founders in theCharlotte area and just,
(00:32):
different, regions that support.
Diverse founders, blackfounders.
And so I'm very excited to havewith us today, Leah young co
founder of impact, the culturefinancial group.
But without further ado, let'sbring, Leah to the stage.
Oh, wait, like where I just wantyou all to remember we're doing
episodes in person.
(00:53):
At times it's going to take mejust a second to get adjusted to
having the guests here live withme.
But without further ado, Leah,how are you doing today?
How are you?
I'm doing great.
Yeah, I just want to.
Thank you so much for hopping onseason six.
We're on season six.
(01:13):
We just released our firstepisode.
if you all are, on your favoritestreaming platform, make sure if
you're listening to this, you goback to that first episode of
the season.
And just while you're at it,listen to all our episodes, We
want to make sure that all theincredible, black founders that
are on our platform, get yourear, for a second.
But yeah, I want to spend alittle bit of time letting folks
(01:36):
know about what you're doing.
In the financial services space.
Maybe we can start things off byjust letting folks know what's
your background prior to youstarting this incredible
company?
Leah (01:48):
Sure.
Before I even, get into that,Kenny, thank you for having me
on your podcast.
I'm super excited.
It's my first podcast.
Let's hope this goes well.
This goes well.
But, yeah.
And congratulations on sixseasons.
That's awesome.
So how did I, what is mybackground?
It definitely is not in thefinancial services space.
(02:08):
Growing up, I actually wanted tobe a writer.
So I, was writing, short storiesand, had the beginnings of a
novel.
And then I got really interestedin, film writing.
and, making movies.
And I, did a semester at theSeattle Film Institute.
So I really thought I was goingto be like Issa Rae, Ava
DuVernay.
That was really my goal.
(02:30):
At that time I was reallystarting to think about, it was
probably like 2019.
Right after Nipsey passed andjust learning, about what he was
doing in his community.
I'm from a small neighborhood inGreensboro North Carolina, and,
both my parents are from thisneighborhood and my
grandparents, on both sides arefrom this neighborhood.
(02:50):
So I was really starting to.
Think about legacy and, tryingto, follow his blueprint on
putting my neighborhood on themap.
So when financial services cameinto or just fell in my lap, it
was like, Oh, I see what you'redoing there, God.
Because I really thought I wasabout to go, move to an island.
Take pictures and read books andwrite and I, pretty much, focus
(03:15):
on me, what I wanted to do.
And God has this, unique way ofpivoting us so that we are not
self seeking, but, doingservice.
So that's really how I came intothe industry.
That's a little bit about mybackground.
I also, work admin corporate anddifferent things like that, but,
That's how I came into theindustry.
My co founder business partner,she was recruited and I was
(03:39):
starting to listen to, the waythat, these young people of
color were talking about moneyand wealth.
And again, just this legacybuilding.
And I was like, let me reallystart to listen.
And then I actually, heard Godsay, Leah really listened to
what's going on here.
This is what's going to set yourfamily free.
So that's how I came into theindustry and a little bit about
(04:00):
my background.
Kenny (04:01):
Yeah, I love it.
There's a couple of things that,stood out as you were talking,
your knack for storytelling,wanting to be a writer.
I think that's really cool.
That's a skill set where it'sone of those things where once
you tell somebody that they'relike, Oh, you can just go write
books.
And it's not not necessarilylike you can really craft
(04:21):
stories as a business owner,right?
No matter the industry.
And so you going into financialservices, I think that's really
cool.
Because we need better stories.
We need new stories to be toldin that space.
And then the piece on aroundNipsey just, like seeing seeing
his business.
Mentality his acumen grow andwhat he was building during that
(04:44):
time I think that was definitelymotivational to a lot of people.
So it's really cool that youtook that motivation You know
using Nipsey as somewhat of amuse right for you for your
business Undertakings, I thinkthat's a that's a way that we
don't think about ourentertainers a lot of times like
we just see them
Leah (05:05):
that we can think of like that.
So
Kenny (05:07):
yeah, that's
Leah (05:11):
a
Kenny (05:13):
hot topic.
But what he was doing, tellinghis own story.
You being a story in the tellingyour own stories, like what
about financial services, likewhat part of the story was
missing for you?
We all know that when we go to amovie, there's a beginning,
there's some type of setup,there's some some climax,
(05:35):
there's some moments ofdiscomfort.
And then there's usually thattriumph at the end.
So I'm curious like where from afinancial services perspective,
are you inserting?
Your pen at this moment.
Leah (05:47):
Yeah.
So I guess the beginning is, weall have a money blueprint, and
it's usually passed down to usfrom our parents or grandparents
or, just someone else.
And for me, it was, Graduatinghigh school, my father telling
me two things.
He said, Leah, save your moneyand protect your credit.
So that was the beginning or thesort of the foundations of my,
(06:10):
money blueprint.
Granted, that was all he knew totell me.
But it was a start.
Of course I get a, bank account,I'm saving money.
And, I'm hearing this thingcalled interest and I'm
wondering, okay, I'm going tostart to see my money grow in
the bank, and credit.
Okay.
I'm on campus and their creditcards everywhere.
So I get a couple of creditcards.
(06:30):
But I don't know anything aboutthese things, these products,
right?
So of course, if we're tellingthe story, it's okay, that's the
beginning.
And then you start to accumulatethese, this debt, right?
Not even, just from the cards,but even from my, student loans,
just going to college.
So now I'm accumulating debt.
But again, I don't have anyeducation behind what these
(06:53):
products are supposed to do, howto utilize them properly.
So I'm just out here, bawling,you.
I'm just spending we all
Kenny (07:00):
we all, we've all been there, right?
Yeah.
We all, who gone college havegot that check, that refund
check, right?
Or just a lump sum of money.
Maybe you got some scholarshipmoney here and there.
You just got that lump sum ofmoney in your accountant, like
you said, is.
Leah (07:14):
telling you what to do with this money, right?
No one is saying, Hey, save, ormaybe you can invest or someone
Kenny (07:21):
is telling us what to do.
McDonald's cookout here.
If you're in the North Carolinaarea all the department stores,
they're telling us what to dowith that money.
Leah (07:33):
So I quickly became a consumer.
A spender and that was, I wouldsay my trajectory for many years
ups, downs, all of that.
And it really wasn't until I gotinto the industry and I had,
coaches and mentors and otherpeople that were, like minded
that were able to educate me.
(07:53):
So the first time I actuallyheard, and again, I had gone to
college Worked in corporateAmerica.
I, I, but no one was teaching meabout money.
I didn't even have lifeinsurance at the time.
Just coming into the industry,being around like minded people
that really wanted to educate mefirst and foremost, tell me
about these products, tell mehow, how I could set my family
(08:15):
up.
Because again, I'm thinkinglegacy, my grandmother, she just
turned a hundred, God bless her.
I was really starting to thinkokay, when she's no longer here,
who steps up as the matriarch ofour family and is able to pass
down all the lessons that,myself and my cousins, my age,
we're able to glean from her.
(08:37):
Who's going to pass that downto, their kids and their kids,
so I really just wanted to besomeone who could not only
educate my family, but thenstart to educate my community.
But if I first had to learn itmyself, so that, that would be
the what do they call that?
The story of how I came into theindustry and what it means to me
(08:58):
and when you think about how, asa creative, we're always, even
if we don't have, we're notworking in art or being
creative, we're doing our nineto five or whatever.
We're always looking for waysto, to use that side of our
brain.
And in our industry, we'realways saying, Facts, tell
stories, sell or facts, sellstories, tell one of the, one of
(09:20):
the two, I might be getting itbackwards, but needless to say,
when you're telling a story tosomeone, that is what's really
going to pull them in.
And when it comes to our moneyand financial services and what
we want to be able to do our, dofor our families you can tell a
lot of stories.
There are a lot of stories wherepeople got it right.
There are unfortunately morestories where people got it
(09:43):
wrong.
But again, there is that turningpoint where it's like, Hey, now
I'm learning so I can go fromnot knowing to starting to learn
and implement and then beingable to change that narrative
for my family.
Kenny (09:58):
Yeah, I love that.
Leah (09:59):
Thank you.
Kenny (10:00):
Thank you so much for sharing how you think about the
story that you're trying totell.
I'm curious.
I want to dig into the story ofyou as a co founder or you do
have somebody else that you'rebuilding the business with in
terms of the story arc for a cofounder, right?
There's definitely more than onemoment.
Most of the time for founderswhere you hit your head against
(10:24):
the wall, there's a some trialsand tribulations.
So I'm curious if you can sharea little bit about for your
specific story what are sometrials and tribulations that
you've had to overcome in your,your storyline to becoming the
co founder that you are now?
Leah (10:43):
Question.
And there's so many because itwas so new to me I had never
really been in anentrepreneurial space before and
again, being a creative I tendto work just I don't want to say
lackadaisical, as inspirationcomes, then you flush it out.
And that, that kind of workethic, so to speak.
(11:05):
So the biggest challenge I wouldsay Was just the discipline of
it, the discipline, theconsistency and with my co
founder it was new to her aswell.
So not only are we, learning abusiness, very new business and
then again, when you're talkingabout money, it's one of those
things that you're, first ofall, we don't grow up in houses
(11:27):
where we talk about money.
And now we're going into otherpeople's homes and trying to
educate them about money.
So there's a little bit of likeimposter syndrome there.
I would say a little bit for me.
I don't know what I'm doing, Iknow that there's a
presentation.
I know, I know what I'm talkingabout.
I've been coached.
(11:48):
I have great mentors.
I go to training.
I'm prepared to go to work.
To educate somebody else.
But then there's still thatlittle, like you, you just
started this, how did, how do gointo, and then the financial
industry just doesn't look likeme either typically.
So there's that part of it too,where it's okay I don't, I don't
look like your average, ortypical or traditional insurance
(12:10):
agent.
And that was the beautiful thingabout the agency that I came in.
Under as well.
It was really diverse andgetting away from that
traditional white male, older,demographic when it came to an
agent.
So first getting over, buildingthe confidence, getting over
that sort of imposter syndrome,and then Once, once you have, or
(12:30):
once I had the skillset, whichis always ever, ever growing and
you're always learning, but onceI felt comfortable with the
skillset, then it became thediscipline and the consist,
consistency of building abusiness, building a team,
leading other agents, being ableto help them also grow their
agencies as well.
So it was a lot of.
(12:52):
Moving pieces.
But the biggest one was just thework ethic, just fine tuning
that.
And I'm still a work inprogress.
They're getting like I'm still,have that, art creative mind
where it's like, Oh, I just wantto, sit back and read and do
this and work on this.
And, Oh, I have this idea.
And, but really just trying tounderstand that this is where I
(13:13):
am at and being present.
And focusing on, the growth ofmy business.
Kenny (13:19):
No, that makes sense.
And I think that what you're, itsounds like what you're alluding
to.
We know some people if you givethem a coloring book, for
example, and they're set linesthey still figure out a way to
make it their own.
Versus some of us, we think of,if we see a picture of, a
character we all know, sayMickey Mouse, for example.
(13:43):
Some of us are going to say.
Mickey Mouse has black skin, redpants, yellow button, right?
White gloves.
But some of us will say like mydaughter, she may say, nah, he's
going to be purple today.
You know what I mean?
And that's okay.
And so figuring out how And anycircumstance, whatever that
(14:04):
coloring book is, like youfigure out how to color your own
way.
I think that's okay.
Leah (14:08):
Yeah.
Especially if you have thesupport that allows that, and
fortunately for us, we do whereit isn't just strict.
Hey, this is, our rules, this isour system.
Granted, we do have a system andit's, founded and all of that,
but there is room for thatcreativity.
There's room for you to brandyourself.
There's room for you to, justput your own stamp in on your
(14:30):
own Flavor on the financialservices industry.
It doesn't have to be thisstuffy, thing that people don't
want to talk about.
If we can make it interesting,we can make it fun.
If we can, bring ourselves inour own personalities into it to
connect with the families,because ultimately that's really
what it's about.
If I'm sitting down at a kitchentable with a family, I need to
be able to connect with them.
(14:50):
And they want to be able toconnect with me because we were
talking about their legacy.
We're talking about theirretirement, possibly, they want
to be able to know that I'm ahuman being.
I, I want to be able to tell mystory and we want to connect
that way.
Yeah.
Kenny (15:04):
I love it.
So talk a little bit about, likejust the structure of your
business and then obviouslythere's some infrastructure that
helps you run your businessright in terms of the company
that you partner with.
This is typically not thefounder that we have highlighted
(15:24):
on our platform, but I just saythat to say our listeners may
not necessarily be familiar withthese type of stories on beyond
normal.
So tell folks a little bit abouthow you're.
Like the agreement is structuredand then just overall, like what
the business dynamics arebetween you and your co founder
and the entities that aresupporting you.
Leah (15:45):
Gotcha.
Impact the culture financialgroup is part of an FMO, a
financial mortgage, financialmarketing organization, which
just means I have a parentcompany.
When you think of.
Financial services, you mightthink of, or life insurance or
insurance in general, you mightthink of state farm, and state
farm, that name, but when yougo, drive around the city, you
(16:05):
might see, Kenny's state farmor, Mark's state farm or, John's
state farm.
So each of those businesses aretheir own entity, but they, they
partner with state farm, becausethe state farm is the bigger
name.
So it's very similar to thatimpact.
The culture is our business, butwe've partnered with a parent
company.
That way they take care of allof the legal, the, C suite
(16:28):
execs, the commissions, makingsure we get contracted and
appointed with the differentinsurance companies.
So I don't have to take care ofwhen I think one of the things
that.
Prevents a lot of people fromgoing into entrepreneurship is
the magnitude of what starting abusiness could be, right?
(16:48):
How do I get, my LLC and taxesand, all of these things pay my
employees, right?
For me, I found it veryseamless.
to transition intoentrepreneurship because someone
else was going to take care ofthat part for me.
All I had to do is focus on,okay, learning the business,
learning about the products andservices, learning how to be a
(17:11):
leader, how to, because that's abig part of, who we, who we are,
especially when you're.
being a founder or leading otherpeople or building a team you
step into that role.
So if you haven't been there youwant to take time to learn that
personally developing, readingthe books and all of that stuff.
So for me, it was just aseamless transition to go into
(17:34):
it that way without having toworry about all of the extra
stuff.
So they take care of that partfor me.
I get to focus on, serving mycommunity.
Kenny (17:42):
Yeah, I think that one of the a lot of the founders that
we've had on they talk about, Iasked him a question similar to
what I just asked you and theytalk about a lot of times,
removing the things.
Keep them from enjoying whatthey do.
A lot of times it's about, Hey,how do I interact with my
community?
(18:03):
So the products and build thesolutions and software and
things like that, that mycommunity needs so I can
ultimately deliver value.
And.
Being proficient in things liketaxes and lunch services and all
the other things that, that gowith running a business, leading
a team it can be reallyoverwhelming for sure.
(18:26):
You mentioned, just creatingyour LLC, I had so many panic
attacks, when it comes to taxes,cause I'm like, all right, did I
do my LLC right?
And things like that.
I'm more of the person that'llsit there and, at least do
initial pass of it before Ifigure out how to pay somebody
to do it.
But that hasn't always led me todoing it correctly.
(18:50):
So I will say that I respectyour perspective as well.
Because
Leah (18:56):
I know that, even in the industry, I sat on a panel a few
months ago with other insuranceagency owners.
that had, gone a moretraditional route, I guess I'll
say.
And just talking about what theygo through as far as growing
their businesses and, reachingout to other carriers and
different things like that.
It was something I couldn'tnecessarily relate to because I
(19:18):
didn't have to have thosestruggles.
Now there are still struggles.
But I didn't have thoseparticular ones.
And again, being someone thatwas new to entrepreneurship, I,
math and business, those are notmy strong suits.
I, I majored in psychologyagain.
I told you I'm a creative.
So when you start talkingnumbers and spreadsheets, I get
(19:39):
lost.
So this was a perfect path forme.
God knew exactly what he
Kenny (19:43):
was doing.
Yeah, that's dope.
That's dope.
So you just touched on being onthat panel.
I'm curious.
You have a co founder.
So tell me a little bit aroundsome of the learnings, not
necessarily in a panel setting,but just some of the learnings
(20:03):
you and your co founder havegone through cause I think
there's a, there's definitelyalways going to be a debate.
People say, should I go intosomething on my own?
Should I have a co founder?
Should I go with somebody Iknow?
So I'm curious, like what's thatdynamic with you and your co
founder?
Leah (20:22):
It was.
Again, new for both of us,right?
So we were, we bumped heads alot because our personalities
are also very different.
So for us, it was really amatter of finding, okay, who's
going to do what?
And that's in, in our sort ofindustry or in our agency when
you have two people workingtogether, it really does come
(20:45):
down to, okay who's, stronger inthis or, prospecting or maybe
You know, running this type ofappointment or, you just find
your strengths, right?
And then you communication was abig one, learning to and for me,
I'm an introvert.
So I don't naturally, I'm notnaturally inclined to speak up
or, just, insert myself or beassertive.
(21:07):
That's another thing I, tend towant to work on right now.
But just learning how tocommunicate.
I was just on a call with one ofmy mentors and that question
was, asked how do we do that?
How do we work together?
And his answer was first andforemost, there has to be
respect, right?
You have to start there.
(21:28):
So for us, it was finding thatrhythm, that, that line of
communication where there was,mutual respect and then figuring
out who's.
Stronger in certain areas andthen not crossing that, that
line.
If that's what you're going todo and that's what you said
you're going to do, okay, thenI'm not going to necessarily,
(21:49):
encroach on that.
I'm going to let you do yourthing and she's going to let me
do my thing.
And that's how we, Managed to dothis thing for years.
But there have been some bumpingheads and arguments and walking
away and coming back and all ofthat good stuff.
Kenny (22:06):
It's a relationship at the end of the day.
So there's no surprise thatthere's some some difficult
moments some moments with sometension, that's going to be
expected, right?
Leah (22:17):
Yes, like that's part of the five dysfunctions of a team,
right there.
You got to know how to doconflict, right?
Trust and all of those things.
Yeah.
Kenny (22:27):
So you mentioned You mentioned your knack for
reading.
You did come in with a book thatyou're reading, right?
And what's a book that you'veread lately?
This is all off of the cuff,right?
What's a book that you've readlately that you've been able to
incorporate into your yourbusiness strategy.
Leah (22:51):
Okay.
So the last one, So the one thatI really enjoyed was Pinky
Cole's, I hope you fail.
Just hearing her story, herjourney, how she even got into
entrepreneurship, how shestarted out as a creative as
well.
She was in TV production.
I hope this wrong.
Her.
Story wrong, but she started offon TV production and and then
(23:11):
she had the idea for restaurantsand, just how she, she talks so
much about not just her journey,but the mistakes she made, the
things she would do differently.
And it was just so fun and downto earth.
It was just a great read for me.
And a lot of what I'm focusingon right now in my business, as
(23:33):
I mentioned, is, just buildingmy confidence, working on my
identity as an entrepreneur, asa business owner, walking
confidently in that.
role.
I'd like to read a lot ofmemoirs from people that are, it
had that same trajectory.
Maybe they didn't really thinkthey were going to be an
entrepreneur.
They, it wasn't really alwayssomething they thought they
(23:54):
would do, especially insomething that's completely
foreign to them, right?
Yeah, I would say her book isawesome.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Kenny (24:01):
Yeah.
All right.
Check that one out.
And you're a reader.
I can tell again, she came inwith a book.
So I have to ask people who arereaders.
Like when, what's so interesting
Leah (24:11):
right now is by Yvonne orgy bamboozled by Jesus.
So again, she's talking abouther journey from, being a
Nigerian American, having thatpath of, becoming a doctor and
then God pivoting her.
And to entertainment.
Just being able to hear andrelate and to, to those types of
(24:32):
stories, it really is helpfulfor me because it's like, one,
you're not alone.
And then, everybody's goesthrough these similar struggles
when they're trying to achieve agoal and, working on that
discipline and the consistencyand believing in yourself, all
of these things, factor intobecoming, or being an
entrepreneur or reaching a goalor anything like that, that
(24:53):
you're trying to do.
Kenny (24:54):
Got it.
I love it.
I love it.
I'm an audiobook person.
Does that count too?
Yeah,
Leah (24:58):
I think it does.
And I used to be one of thosereaders that was like, no, you
got to give me a book.
I need pages.
I'm building a library.
But recently I've, startedlistening to audios.
I do Kindles, because I don'talways necessarily, want to
bring a I usually have a book.
Yeah.
In the car I'm not, listening tomusic as much.
(25:21):
I'm, popping into audio book.
And then at nighttime, sometimeswhen I wake up just randomly, I
don't necessarily want to turnon the light and read, but then,
I've got my little Kindle there.
So now I can, get some, a coupleof 20, 30 minutes of reading,
fall back asleep.
So I use all three.
I'm physical Kindle orelectronic device.
(25:44):
I don't know if I'm supposed torep any brands, electronic
device.
And then of course,
Kenny (25:50):
yeah, I love it.
Let's talk a little bit aboutYour customer experience.
We talked a lot about storiesand the care and the focus that
you put into narratives andthings like that on this call.
Tell me tell our listeners whatis the experience like?
From the initial kind ofinteraction with you or your co
(26:12):
founder when they're looking tobuy services or product from
your business, walk us a littlebit through that.
Leah (26:18):
Sure.
So impact is actually anacronym.
Okay.
So it stands for inspire.
Motivate, protect, ascend andconnect the culture.
So that's what impact that's ourmission essentially.
So when you think about familiesthat we want to serve first, it
starts with how can I inspirethem to want to even, think
(26:40):
differently about theirfinancial situation?
Because sometimes it can be veryoverwhelming, especially if you
feel like you've made a lot ofmistakes, and you don't think
that there's anything that youcan do differently, or maybe.
You're older and you think it'stoo late to do anything
differently.
So we just want to first sitdown when we're thinking about
how can we reach the family?
How we want to inspire them.
(27:01):
Then we want to educate them.
We want to be able to, andthrough that education, motivate
them to Say, okay, I think I cando this.
I think I can, I really want tostart thinking about
generational wealth.
This is something that I hadn't,really considered, I do have
young children.
I do want to be able to dosomething differently for them.
So we start with that first andthen it's okay let's come up
(27:21):
with a strategy.
Tell me what your goals are whenit comes to, your financial
future.
What is it that you want to do?
Do you want to be able to buy ahome?
Do you want to get better atsaving?
Do you want to?
Think, start thinking about,retirement.
What are those things you wantto say for your kids education?
What are your goals and thenbased on those goals we come up
with a strategy becausefinancial Education or life
(27:45):
insurance for us is not a onesize fits all Sure, you can go
on the internet and purchase apolicy But it really you really
do want to have that personalinteraction and that personal
education when it comes to myfinancial future and protecting
my legacy or protecting myretirement income, I don't want
to just do that, over the phoneor, through my computer.
(28:07):
I would prefer to have someonesit down and walk me through the
process.
So that's what we do.
So we find out the best strategybecause we're brokers.
We get to work with severaldifferent insurance companies,
not just one.
So it's not just a one size fitsall kind of product.
That we offer.
And from there we determine,Hey, how much insurance you
need?
(28:27):
Because a lot of people come tous and they are underinsured,
which means maybe they're just,relying on their work policy.
Maybe they have nothing at all,so to first determine after the
education is how much insurancedo you actually need?
A lot of times, and we do edifywhatever a family has.
So if you do come and like, Oh,I've got, a hundred thousand
dollars in.
Sweet.
(28:47):
You have something that'sawesome, but you also have a
mortgage that you're stillpaying on.
You have two small kids, yourincome, and our policies, we
offer living benefits.
So that means we're trying toalso change the narrative around
life insurance where we're notjust thinking about this is
something that I use when I'm nolonger here, but how can I
(29:08):
actually.
Utilize this product while I'mstill alive.
So we figure out how muchinsurance you need.
And then because we want you tothink of this as an asset, not
another bill, we want to makesure it's affordable for you,
right?
So that you protect it, like youwould protect your home or your
car or your stocks or anythinglike that.
We want to make sure that it'saffordable.
(29:29):
So you take it seriously.
And we don't want you to be in asituation where, okay, I got to,
Figure out if I'm going to paymy life insurance or my car
payment, we don't want that.
So we want to make sure it'saffordable.
So we look at your discretionaryincome, right?
What, after everything else ispaid, what is left over.
And that's where we also find alot of families are upside down
in their finances.
(29:49):
So we do, a small budget or afinancial analysis just to
figure out where the family isand where we can help them
achieve that goal.
Kenny (29:58):
Got it.
I love that.
So I would say in our household,we are like insurance crazy,
mainly because my wife we haveso much insurance.
It's ridiculous.
So I understand the need for it.
Yes.
Thinking about business ownersthat are out there, maybe
they're a startup founder.
Maybe there's somebody who'slike bootstrapping their
(30:18):
business.
It may not necessarily always bein the best financial
situations.
I'm curious are there.
Are there some really importantfirst steps for them to take?
That you give advice on forthose founders, business owners
that are out there who are likebootstrapping their business.
And, there's just not a lot ofresources readily available for
(30:43):
them to throw into the wholegambit Of services that you have
to offer.
Yeah.
Leah (30:47):
So it's really just a matter of meeting.
The client, the family, thebusiness owner, right?
Everybody is not, looking for aproduct that they can, put 50,
000 into and start it up and letit grow and sit.
And not everybody's situation.
But we want to meet.
Who, at whomever it is, wherethey are.
So I would say first start withthe education, just get
(31:10):
educated, right?
Know available, know what's outthere.
And then, when we do thatfinancial analysis, we're going
to make sure that it isappropriate and that it fits
where you are now.
A lot of times, people getexcited about the possibilities,
of when you think about stocksand, all of these things.
Oh yes, I can get into this andI can see my money grow very
(31:33):
quickly.
But we, that might not be whereyou are right now.
That's something you can aspireto for sure.
And we can make sure that, weset you on a path to get there.
But.
We're going to meet you whereyou are.
So if that's just a, 15, 20 termright now, then that's what
we're going to do, right?
If you have, different resourcesand you want to, expand on that,
(31:54):
then we can have thatconversation as well.
So we work with everybody.
We're not leaving anybody behindin this
Kenny (31:59):
situation.
I think that part is reallycool.
I've been talking to a lot offounders.
Who are like in the B2B space.
and I think there's plenty ofopportunity.
And I think through this,through your services,
definitely there's probably alot of B2C and what you're
doing, but then there's alsothat B2B component for the
business founders, there'sfounders that are out there that
(32:21):
are just trying to make surethat their family is whole.
They have to take that intoaccount when they're there.
Looking at their businesstrajectory.
And so talking to somebody you,they're securing their family,
which ultimately is going to,that's going to secure their
business.
They're going to feel reallycomfortable moving forward with
their business, knowing thattheir home front is taken care
of.
Leah (32:40):
And then if you're working with a partner, cause I know we
touched on that a little bit,making sure that you may need
some key person type insurance,or, just something that, again.
Making sure your business iswhole.
If anything were to happen,that's the space that we're in
we're trying to give you thatpeace of mind that, Hey we've
taken care of the foundation,we've taken care of, Hey, if
(33:02):
anything happens here, we'regoing to be okay.
If anything happens at home,we're going to be okay.
We just want to give people thatpeace of mind.
Kenny (33:08):
Got it.
So how can folks reach out?
What's the best way for them tomake sure they're tapping in
with the brain?
Leah (33:15):
IG.
That's a good space.
a good platform.
I can drop it here.
Yeah, go ahead and drop it.
Yeah, so it's Leah, L E A H M Y.
underscore impact on Instagram.
There's a Calendly link there aswell.
So you can just click on thatlink and schedule your free
wealth consultation.
It's usually about a 30 minuteconversation.
(33:37):
Like I said, where we talk aboutyour goals do some basic
financial literacy educationand, come up with a strategy to
help you achieve that goal.
Kenny (33:45):
Appreciate that.
You have you've dropped so manygems on this conversation.
In terms, I really, it reallystood out to me, you coming in
with the book, you letting meknow, like how you think from
the very first kind of wordsthat we've had, I can really
tell, like how the gears areworking.
So it's really cool to see youbuild your business your way.
(34:07):
You have a co founder.
And so I'm always interested tosee how co founder tandems are
figuring things out because Idon't have a co founder maybe
one day.
It sounds like it's amazing, butI know the grass always seems
greener.
When you compare, you startcomparing things, but I
appreciate you coming on theplatform.
I'm definitely going to makesure that we put that social
media call out in our notes.
(34:28):
So folks can tap in.
Lastly, I'll leave it to you.
Is there anything you want toleave our listeners with as we
close out the conversation?
Leah (34:37):
Let me think about that.
So I think if I wanted anybodyto take, or what I want people
to take away from thisconversation is that with the
right education and we are a bigcomponent of education, with the
right education, Anyone canbecome the generational hero of
(34:57):
their family and change thegenerational, trajectory of
their family legacy.
If they know better, people willdo better.
And that's where we focus.
We just want you to have theinformation because a lot of
times, we feel like we don't orwe didn't learn this or how is
it that I got to 38 and no onetaught me this?
We want to be that resourceimpact.
The culture want to be, wants tobe that resource.
(35:20):
And we want you to know that.
Once you know better, we'll helpyou do better.
Kenny (35:24):
Perfect way to end.
Thanks for tuning in to anothergreat episode of Beyond Normal
podcast.
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