Institute for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial Education Partner
"Always have an outline, a game plan, a strategy." - Stan Boyer
"The older you get, the more you realize the gifts you've been given. My gift is vision." - Lisa Boyer
This morning, we visited Boyer-Sappenfield Investment Advisors in Arcola, to learn what they do and how Lisa Boyer started the business.
Boyer-Sappenfield Investment Advisors' specialty is retirement planning. Stan Boyer says that when you are a smaller firm, "You have to have something that differentiates you from your competitors." Boyer-Sappenfield provides personal updates and accounting to their clients more regularly than the bigger firms.
"Every single client has a different puzzle," says Lisa Boyer, founder of Boyer-Sappenfield. Each client has a different risk tolerance, different goals, different income situations.
Lisa and Stan compare their financial planning business to sports. "It takes a whole team [of employees], because not everyone can do everything," says Stan. But, that's not where the comparison ends.
"This business is very similar to coaching," Lisa says. She encourages and teaches clients, while strategizing their game plan, just like a coach does with their athletes.
In fact, it was a coach that inspired Lisa to become a Certified Financial Planner. One of her summer softball coaches did financial planning, and once told her that she could do the same thing. At that time, she thought she wanted to be a P.E. teacher and a coach; but, she realized there would be more opportunity in financial planning. So, she attended Parkland College studying Business Administration. Classes like accounting and business law have helped her start her own business. Later, she studied Finance at Eastern Illinois University. Since college, she has taken more than 20 tests to achieve the level of professional success she has.
Her advice for us as we finish high school? "You don't have to know what you want to be; just start eliminating what you don't want to be."
So, what was it like for her starting her own business in a rural area in the 1980s? "Very lonely." Lisa was, and still is in a minority of female financial planners; in fact, only 17% of financial planners are female now.
But, she had the support of her husband who just kept telling her that if she liked what she did, and she felt like she was helping people, then she should just keep doing it. So, she did. "You've got to have someone there," Lisa says. Even while raising 3 kids, she grew her business and added a second location in Villa Grove, ran by her brother.
Business decisions were not always easy, though. "You have to hire before you can afford it." But, that's a risk. Still, "It's only going to make you better."
Lisa takes a lot of pride in having one of the "best, youngest professional staff[s]" around. Her eldest son, Stan, now runs the Arcola office now, allowing her to focus on investment strategies for her clients. The rest of the team is also in their 20s and 30s. Jordyn is the first to greet you and handles much of the paperwork. Cole runs the marketing and also helps Stan. John, Lisa's left-hand, is now a CFP handling his own clients.
One other area of business that Lisa touched on was office design. When she bought a former pharmacy in the heart of old downtown Arcola, she needed to do a lot of remodeling to make the building work for her business. She thought through line of sight from her office to reception and the door, and to her assistant's space.
Thank you, Stan and Lisa Boyer and team, for the tour and presentation today at Boyer-Sappenfield Investment Advisors in Arcola! We learned a lot! And at least one of us has thought of more questions and will be stopping by again soon!
#entrepreneur
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