Building Financial Foundations and Financial Freedom
Every successful woman should have a plan, as well as a set of goals. That plan and those goals cover a large range of things, depending on the woman…but what every woman’s plan/set of goals should have in common is the finance category. While each strategy will more than likely have a different approach, financial success should be in every woman’s plan. Especially a black woman’s plan. Things are set up differently for us, and being equipped with the right knowledge can go a very long way. It can also save you from the many bumps in the road. No plan comes without pros and cons, nor will it come without the lessons and risks…but having much needed information and strategy is key to success. Vanessa Gant seems to be a major key in getting that knowledge and strategy, and she wants to educate as many black women as she can to help build financial success. That’s why she’s called “The Money Architect”. I got a chance to speak with Vanessa, and here is what she had to say:
FEMI MAGAZINE (Tyrane Hughes):
“Hi Vanessa, it’s nice to finally meet you. Thank you for taking your time out to do this interview.”
Vanessa Gant:
“Hi, Ty. It’s nice to meet you too, and you’re welcome.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“Great. Well, I know you are busy, so I’ll get right into the questions. What made you want to start doing this? Like, what made you want to start this financial journey, and help people with their finances?”
Vanessa Gant:
“My financial journey actually started from a personal standpoint. You know, growing up and coming from a family with a single mom, raising kids on government assistance. We had what we needed, but you know, when you wanted something the resources just weren’t there…and not that I got fascinated with money, but there was this thing that I knew that I needed money to be stable. Just being able to do that across the board, both personal and business…like, you need the money to be stable in both of those areas, right. And I started out from a personal finance standpoint of that it didn’t really matter that you had the six figure job, or if you had the job that was making $25,000 a year. It made you no difference between the two people. It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it. So I was applying that principle to my life and I saw so many others around me, so I started to help them with that. Then as I grew in my career, I got a really big interest in the no financing business. I ended up in the transportation industry, financing business, and transportation. So all of those things were kind of compounds on each other, and my main goal behind it all on both the business and personal side was-It’s not what you make…It’s what you keep, and what you do with what you have.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“That’s the perfect answer. You actually answered one of my other questions, in reference to the trucking industry. I saw that you were helping people in the transportation industry, helping people with trucking businesses as well. I understand the aspects and how it would all gel into what you do, but there were so many other routes that you could take (no pun intended-maybe a little lol)…What made you choose the trucking industry as one of the main focal points?”
Vanessa Gant:
“So my first accounting job was in the industry. My first accounting job was at a freight forwarder’s office, and that’s one of the lanes of transportation. I love numbers and I am intrigued by numbers, the story that numbers tell, how to put everything together. If I was doing a bank reconcile and it was off by a penny, I real life had to find that penny. I couldn’t reconcile it and say, “Oh it’s just a penny.” I saw what was happening, and I was reading all of the documents that came across my desk. I was like, “Oh this is how the freight gets from one place to another, on the truck and in the store.” So I was just really impressed by the process. I was impressed by the process and logistics, and it kind of just grew from there. From that job I went on to another job from an account that I was handling there, and it was very hands-on specifically in trucking. So it was connecting a lot of it for me. I just really got interested in the industry, but always had my core, which was my finances. My core never went anywhere, but I started learning about this entire industry. Which makes me what I like to call, “The best of both worlds” for my clients. You know I have that educational experience part for accounting, but I also have hands-on experience in transportation. Which is really rare to have an accountant that understands the operations, the back office, and the whole chain for transportation and logistics.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“Yes, I would think that it would be rare, that’s why that was one of my questions. Normally when you have someone doing bookkeeping or accounting, you see them with all of the educational backing and resources, but the transportation backing is very interesting. That’s really cool. So of course you help people with debt…when the readers go to read this I want them to see the answer to this next question: What is the worst thing you’ve seen with debt? Like what was your way of solving that issue? I’m asking because I know a lot of people need help financially, but they feel their situation is so lost that they give up, and it just gets worse and worse.
Vanessa Gant:
“It goes back to financial literacy. Just being aware of situations, understanding what debt is, how you get into it, how to approach it, and how to get out of it. Some people don’t understand how they’re getting into debt. Like when we get into the use of credit cards. Some people look at credit cards like free money because they weren’t taught. They weren’t taught that you have to pay those people their money back. Or they weren’t taught the interest rates that are being applied to you when you’re incurring balances. And understanding to get out of debt, you have to own it. You have to own what you did. So I always talk about finances from a mindset point of view. Handling money is 80% mindset, 20% behavior. So you really have to put your mind into a space of recognizing what you’ve gotten yourself into. So when someone comes to the point of recognizing their debt, I would tell them to pull their credit report and see what’s actually on there. Who do you owe, and how much do you owe them? Then you start to create a plan. There are two plans that I like. One is the “Snowball”, and one is an “Avalanche”.The “Snowball” is starting off with your smallest debt, and working your way to your highest. The “Avalanche” starts with your highest interest rate debt, and you start to pay that off.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“I saw on your website that you’re going to have some courses coming up. Can you touch on the courses that you’re going to be offering?”
Vanessa Gant:
“The courses are webinars, and some of my live educational things are going to be coming out. They’re going to be focusing on the areas that I normally cover in my business. Which will be like the corporate level people, my small businesses, and from a personal level. It’s basically going to be on the organization of finances, the mindset, and management. A lot of my clients actually want to know how they can pay the least amount of their money in taxes. Actually everybody wants to know that, right? It’s all about foundation. So starting mindset, financial organization, financial literacy, from the personal standpoint and the business standpoint. I am a strong advocate for entrepreneurs and small businesses… and the way that you handle your personal finances bears on your business. So if you’re messy on the personal side, you’re going to be messy on the business side. So the classes and courses will be both on the business and personal side. My biggest standpoint is to make sure that everyone is educated on their finances. We’re living in such a fast paced world where making money is easy to a certain extent. Like you can take that thing that you’ve been toying around with forever, and turn it into something that’s now going to be an income generating activity for you. And it can become a main income generating activity for you, but if you’re not educated on how to manage your finances you can really put yourself into some big tax trouble-or you can find yourself in lifestyle trouble.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“For someone who wants to get into business and they don’t necessarily have debt, but they don’t have credit either…What advice would you give someone like that, in reference to trying to get a heads up in starting a business?”
Vanessa Gant:
“So if they don’t have the debt, but they’re looking for startup capital for their business, there are some avenues and resources for people who are starting businesses. One of the things they want to do is make sure that their business has been created, and it’s solid. Like you have your business EIN, you have registered with your state, you have an address for your business that is not your home…being able to look at your bank account, and being able to not just see credit or lines of credit that are not associated with your business, but looking for lines of credit that are associated with your business. You want to start there. You want to get to a point where you’re not using your personal credit profile to actually fund your business. You want to make sure that you are setting your business up correctly. The SBA right now (especially after covid) has programs that are geared towards startups, and those are some of the things that they do want to see.
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“ I know we spoke about your course, but you have so much on your website and your Instagram…What are some things that you are excited about and looking forward to with your business?”
Vanessa Gant:
“I’m definitely looking forward to introducing my last series that will start in June. Where I will cover multiple topics as it relates to corporate business and personal finance. I’ll have a couple of guest speakers that are experts in certain areas. They’ll hang out with me, and share some information with my followers. My YouTube channel will be launching in July. One of my most prized trainings that we do at least once a quarter is a training that I do called, “My Money Matters” that’s coming up, and I’m excited about that.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“Okay great. That sounds exciting! So normally I ask this question first, but this time I saved it for last. Can you tell us a little about yourself, your education, and any other details that you’d like to share?”
Vanessa Gant:
“On the educational level I have my Undergrad in Accounting, and my Graduates is an MBA.. I have been the owner of Provision Accounting Solutions for three years. I did the transition from corporate to working full time for myself. What I did in corporate was finances for a small trucking carrier. So I transitioned into what I’d like to call a “lateral move” in providing that same service to what I’d like to call “civilian truckers”, and also helping small businesses. I’m a mom of three, and I’m married. So I’m a wife and a mom (she laughs). I’m a sports mom. This time of the year is getting crazy for me, my middle kid is about to graduate from high school…so I’m gonna cry a little bit.”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“Awwww. Congratulations. I saw on your Instagram that you’re a track mom.”
Vanessa Gant:
“Yes, I’m a track mom. I am definitely going to miss that because we do track from like November to July. I’m definitely going to miss traveling everywhere. In my spare time, I like blue water, so anytime that I can escape and we can get to some clear-blue water-I’m there. I’m a foodie, and I like hanging out with my family!”
FEMI MAGAZINE:
“Well I am glad that we got to get all of these questions answered. Some of the readers, they got like a V.I.P. session. They got a few of your tips without having to do a consultation (we laugh). So thank you. I learned a lot. We try not to make it about color, but we love our people…and our people don’t get many handouts, and we have to work very hard for everything that we have. So we have to have those resources and education, at least a good backing to start…and even further (I don’t like to say down the line) is women. We have to fight (work harder) for people to take us seriously sometimes. So it’s always good to talk to other powerful black women. You’re a wife, a mom, and you wear all of these hats, and you’re successful. So no matter how many hats the woman wears, it’s always great to see it. So thank you. We appreciate your time.”
Vanessa Gant:
“You’re welcome, I think we covered everything. Thank you.”
You can keep up with Vanessa Gant here:
Instagram: iamthemoneyarchitect
Website: Iamvanessagant.com
Follow Us On Social Media!
