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Last week I had the opportunity to visit with Amilya Antonetti at Sheri McConnell’s Smart Women Conference. What an approachable, amazing and inspiring woman! She has owned 11 companies, been on Oprah, and you may recognize her as the woman who founded Soapworks after realizing that chemicals in cleaning products were making her son ill. Amilya now runs a venture capital company.
The most valuable lesson I learned from Amilya is that you won’t know all the steps that you need to take in any endeavor; you just boldly begin, because whatever actually happens will be different from your expectations, and you’ll need to change your original plans anyway. Being a woman that finds comfort in analyzing probabilities and creating structure, this was a huge aha for me in building Financial Woman. I also realized how much this philosophy can be applied to financial goals.
Who could have predicted the enormity of the financial crisis and financial market upheaval that occurred in our country and the world? Of course, the writing was on the wall with all of the loose sub- prime lending and real estate overbuilding, but the enormity of the crisis was a surprise for most of us. This scenario perfectly demonstrated Amilya’s theory you just don’t know what is going to happen, but you get started anyway with the best information you have at the time, and adapt and regroup as necessary as events unfold and give signs of the changes you need to make in your financial plan.
The unknown future definitely calls for some good risk management strategies to be in place, but it never calls for avoidance and procrastination about your financial plan. Stay knowledgeable, nimble, and adaptable. Let Amilya’s example inspire all women to take action and become financially empowered.
