213. Build Your Business & Exit Rich with Sharon Lechter

Today our expert guest is Sharon Lechter, an internationally recognized financial literacy expert, keynote speaker, and business mentor. She’s a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and has enjoyed a 35-year career as a licensed CPA, in which she’s advised two US Presidents on the topic of financial literacy. She co-authored the international bestseller “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” and 14 other books in the “Rich Dad” series.

Her newest title, “Exit Rich,” is designed to support entrepreneurs as they build value and scalability in their businesses and position them to generate the greatest potential.

Sharon grew up in an entrepreneurial home, but she swore she would never become an entrepreneur, herself. She wanted to be a professional, but at 25, she realized that professional life was not all it was cracked up to be. She accepted an invitation from a client to get into the entrepreneurial world, and that became her turning point. She never looked back.

She went on to start a women’s magazine and the world’s first talking, children’s book. She thought she’d taught her son about money, but when he returned from college with credit card debt, she dedicated the rest of her career to financial literacy and entrepreneurial education.

For anyone who feels like they’re only just getting by on their current earnings, acknowledge that knowing where you are financially is the first step. Even if the picture is bleak, you’ll know your starting position. Then you can start taking action to improve it, one step at a time: reduce your expenses, increase your income, and create additional revenue. It’s a recipe to erase negative feelings surrounding your financial outlook.

When you’re building up financial systems, you have to start with a strong foundation. That’s what “Exit Rich” is all about: providing the roadmap to building a successful business. Even if you’re just starting and haven’t even considered leaving, you want to build in an exit route so that you have the option down the road. 

There are six ‘P’s to check against any business to see how they stack up:

• People
  The business can’t revolve around you. When someone is looking to buy a business, they are also looking at who comes with it.
• Product
  What are you selling?
• Processes
  You want to have the processes in place so that your business can scale.
• Proprietary
  What makes you unique? What gives you a competitive advantage?
• Patrons
  Who are your customers? And do you nurture them?
• Profit
  This is self-explanatory and it should come as a given when you take care of the other five.

Whether you’re planning to exit or not, it’s important to keep the option on the table. A single phone call could change your life and the trajectory of your business forever.

The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway

“You are the CEO of your own life. We are all where we are today because of the choices we made before today. You want something different? You want something better? Start making different choices today.”

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Thank you for joining us on “The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster.” Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.

Resources:

• sharonlechter.com
• Read: “Exit Rich”
• Instagram: @sharonlechter
• Twitter: @sharonlechter
• Read: “Think and Grow Rich for Women”
• Read: “Outwitting the Devil”
• Read: “Three Feet From Gold”

The Daily Helping is produced by Crate Media