Episode 55: Standing out in a Saturated Market

What if your calling isn’t somewhere new, it’s right where you are?

Today, Jennifer sits down with Shari K. Hooper, a Grand Rapids financial advisor who literally grew up in the industry alongside her trailblazing mom. Shari shares how she nearly left finance (hello, Chick-fil-A application!) before choosing to persevere—and how she now stands out in a “saturated” market by serving clients like family, creating community, and teaching women to confidently take a seat at the financial table.

We talk about:

• Building a career in a male-dominated industry (and what’s changed)
• Faith-led decision making when you’re at a crossroads
• Why service, follow-through, and relationships are her true differentiator
• Positive declarations and mindset habits that keep you moving and so much more. 

If you feel like business feels hard, this episode is for you. Shari’s story is your nudge to keep going, serve first, and trust the door that opens.

Meet our Guest: 

Shari Hooper has nearly 35 years of experience in the financial industry and has been a member of the Summit Wealth Partners team since Spring of 2020. Her experience began during high school, continued through college summers, and then full time while working with her mom, Valerie, one of the leading financial advisors in her time. 

mysummitwealth.com

shooper@mysummitwealth.com

https://www.facebook.com/shari.kaye.hooper

Podcast Host:  Women & the Businesses they own

Learn about Shari's monthly Women & Wealth Cocktails meet up: https://www.facebook.com/share/19ngbjP2ik/

Meet Your Host:

Jennifer Kok has been a business owner for over 25 years and is now a business coach. She turned her first business into a franchise and successfully sold it 20 years later.  She was passionate about building a business and a family at the same time.

I support women entrepreneurs in their second year and beyond as they build businesses and families, helping them achieve Clarity, Confidence, and Consistent Profits.  The reality is, you’ve built a Business You’re Proud Of— but it’s time for it to work for you.

You’re still wearing all the hats, working long hours, and not paying yourself what you deserve. You know there’s more possible—more profit, more clarity, and more freedom to enjoy the life you’re building.

The Earn More Stress Less 9-Pillar Blueprint helps women entrepreneurs with families create profitable, sustainable businesses that finally pay them back — in money, time, and peace of mind.

Join me for a Free Online Workshop:
3 Steps to Boost Profitability: Strategic Shifts to Help Small Business Owners Make More Money.   If you want more profits follow this link to register. 

https://nextwavebusinesscoaching.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextwavewithjen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextwavewithjen/

If this episode filled your bucket, share it with one business owner who needs a boost today. And if you’re local, come say hi at Women & Wealth Cocktails—bring a friend and your money questions

You’ve Built a Business You’re Proud Of -But It’s Time for It to Work for You. You’re still wearing all the hats, working long hours, and not paying yourself what you deserve. You know there’s more possible. More profit, more clarity, and more freedom to enjoy the life you’re building.  The Earn More Stress Less 9-Pillar Blueprint helps women entrepreneurs with families create profitable businesses that finally pay them back. 

Transcript

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Jennifer Kok: Recording.

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Jennifer Kok: Sherry Hooper! I am so excited to have you on Main Street Success Stories today.

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Shari K. Hooper: I'm honored to be here. Thanks, Jen.

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Jennifer Kok: You know, Sherry, you and I have known each other a while. We're both in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, and we met years ago through a referral, and you have been a financial advisor, is that what your official title is, for over 35 years? You have a wealth of experience.

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Shari K. Hooper: Yes, I have. Now, I would say I can't claim all the way back 30 to 35 years as an advisor, because I started right from the ground level, and I was the receptionist, and just kind of worked my way up through junior partner, and partner, and a lot of things in between, but has been a long career in finance.

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Jennifer Kok: And I use the word wealth as a pun on words, because not only are you a wealth of information, you also help people with their wealth. How did you get into this, then, if you started out… was it just a part-time job you applied for and had no idea what they were doing, or how did you get into this?

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Shari K. Hooper: Well, I got into this business because my mom was a financial advisor.

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Jennifer Kok: Oh, okay.

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Shari K. Hooper: We had started as a tax advisor first, and then, way back when, we could give $2,000 as an IRA contribution.

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Shari K. Hooper: And all of her clients, she kept referring them out to make these $2,000 contributions, and finally the gentleman said, you can do this, you know, you can do this yourself. And so when she started, I was in high school, and once she was kind of on her way, I started working at that firm with her, and

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Shari K. Hooper: a dozen men. That's really what it was, but I helped the receptionist wanted to get home to her kids off the bus, so I worked 3 to 5 every day until summer, and then I took over for the receptionist during the summertime, so…

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Jennifer Kok: I bet your mom has a lot of stories, because it probably was a tough, tough field for her back then, in a very male-dominated world.

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Shari K. Hooper: Yeah, there were a lot of stories, and really, I mean, I can tell those stories being right beside her the whole time. I mean, really, her whole career was my career, because she started, like I said, in high school, and there I was. And so, you know, she rose to success, back then. She was considered the number one advisor nationwide for Putnam Mutual Funds at the time.

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Shari K. Hooper: And then she was in the top 10 and on the leaderboard, so to speak, for her broker-dealer at the time, and she remained in those areas for years while she was in business. So, I had the privilege of joining her on different conferences and seeing her get these awards, and it was… it was a different time.

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Shari K. Hooper: And she was very unique, just being a woman.

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Shari K. Hooper: You know, I mean, there's a lot of stereotypes, and they were there. I mean, just the things that you can think of way back on.

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Jennifer Kok: Oh, sure, yeah. So.

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Jennifer Kok: Watching her, you know, scale and have all that success, is that what inspired you to get into financial advising, or were you just, from day one.

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Jennifer Kok: Kind of excited by it and curious with it.

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Shari K. Hooper: Well, so interestingly enough, because I'd worked summers in college, there were two other… so, even with… there were so many men in the firm itself, my mom and two others.

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Shari K. Hooper: were really probably the younger of all of the group, and so those three kind of did more things for their clients than some of the older gentlemen did in terms of technology and wanting

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, a little bit more push for success, and they were in growing stages, where these other guys were kind of a little bit more landing their planes, so to speak, and so…

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Shari K. Hooper: I just remembered that these gentlemen really wanted me to be able to be full-time with them. And so my mom had said, look, this can't come for me. I don't want to sway her decision in any way, but they had called me, I think it was in the winters, March or April of 92,

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Shari K. Hooper: called me when I was at Western Michigan and said, what do you think about doing this full-time? You know, not just the summer, but staying on and working for the three of them and their clientele, and really growing beside them. And that's where my education actually started in the financial field. But before then, I was…

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Shari K. Hooper: I mean, I was planning to be in international business, I'd been taking French classes all through high school, and I just had this dream of…

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Shari K. Hooper: I was gonna have these cool clothes and jet-setting on an airplane, and I didn't even know what it meant to be in international business. I just, you know, I just didn't want to be attached, and I didn't want to…

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Shari K. Hooper: I just wanted to… I felt a lot more independent in my mind than I actually became, I guess.

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Jennifer Kok: Because I accepted, and then I have been there ever since. I've been pretty much doing the same thing, but full-time, I just worked my way up at that point, so…

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Shari K. Hooper: I did a lot of crazy things. I didn't even enjoy maternity. I mean, this job is… it can be very demanding.

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Shari K. Hooper: But there's just… it's… it's hard to find balance, and so you can, because ultimately, you… I mean, I grew into what became my own business, or my mom's own business, and a partner with her, but there's just so much to do all the time, or at least at the level that I like to give, I'll say. Right.

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Jennifer Kok: Okay. Well, here's a fun fact. I started my college career in international business as well.

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Jennifer Kok: I can remember sitting at the table, I'm a little bit older than you, and my dad… my dad was always such a visionary. He worked for Ford Motor Company and designed cars. And he was always ahead of his time. And I can remember sitting at the kitchen table with a book that was about 4 inches thick, where you'd go through and pick your degree, you know, your.

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Shari K. Hooper: 18 years old.

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Jennifer Kok: and you're gonna go pick the rest of your life. And he said to me, you need to go into international business, because the world's gonna get smaller, it's gonna be able to communicate with each other easier. You know, that was before the World Wide Web and AOL and all that stuff.

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Shari K. Hooper: Right?

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Jennifer Kok: And so I said, okay, I'll do that, because like you, oh, I'm gonna fly, I'm gonna travel, I always love to travel. Well, I could not get through Spanish. I walked into sophomore year of college, Spanish 201, walked out, and went right to my advisor and said, help, and that's how I ended up in marketing.

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Shari K. Hooper: That's awesome. Well, I couldn't get through French, either. I mean, it was the dictation. I could not understand what they were saying back.

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Jennifer Kok: Kind of important in international business, so yeah, I guess we… neither one of us were meant to pursue that path. We're just supposed to travel instead. We're just supposed to travel, but I had a great French car. Okay, what is a French car? I'm so curious.

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Shari K. Hooper: So what's love about Renault.

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Jennifer Kok: Oh, yeah, okay.

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Shari K. Hooper: sexy, it was just random.

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Shari K. Hooper: I was dedicating my life to, like, this is what I was gonna do, but then I couldn't… you know, high school French was way easier.

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Jennifer Kok: Yeah, no kidding. So yeah, that's so funny. Alright, so I really want to dive into… you said, you know, it took a lot of grit, and a lot of times you're working on your vacations, you're going above and beyond, not only because you are… excel at what you do and want to excel at what you do.

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Jennifer Kok: But I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs that are building a business in what I would call a saturated market.

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Jennifer Kok: And when I think of saturated market, the top 3 that come to mind are realtors.

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Jennifer Kok: insurance, and financial planners. You know, we walk into any networking event in town, and you're always going to meet a handful of each one of those.

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Jennifer Kok: So, as you're starting out, how did you, like, push through that, or did you not think of it that way? I'm wondering if it was, you know, in today's world, we think of it as saturated, where back then.

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Jennifer Kok: Maybe you didn't realize it was a saturated market.

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Shari K. Hooper: Well, yeah, back then it didn't seem like it at all, you know, and it was a little bit different. The field was opened up, I guess, in,

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Shari K. Hooper: well, so if I back up, I mean, we were working for a broker-dealer, right? There were some broker-dealers at the time, we were considered registered representatives, it was more of a commission-based business, or you might have heard the term stockbroker, you know, so there was a handful of companies that I think

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Shari K. Hooper: people could probably name back them. So yes, I mean, fast forward, we have bigger names, we have smaller names, we have RIAs, which stands for Registered Investment Advisors, and the difference with an RIA versus working for a broker is going to be the fiduciary responsibility.

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Shari K. Hooper: And so it really opened up the market, I think, you know, to see a lot of, whether you say financial advisor, financial planner, wealth managers, they're all going to be very similar in the context of what they do. They, you know, more of that root, of what we all do, but…

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Shari K. Hooper: I think that you're right. When I… even when I drive down the road, and I can see all the signs, I think that there's more advisors than you realize, because the registered investment advisors might name their business after themselves.

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Shari K. Hooper: It could be something like a Summit Wealth Partners, as an example, and you wouldn't necessarily, you know, necessarily know what that meant. In our… in that name, there's at least wealth.

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Shari K. Hooper: I see in plazas all the time, from city to city, there's always this one company that seems to find their way, and so I can definitely… I can definitely agree with you in that, the market, very similar to those others that you had mentioned. There's a lot of us.

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Jennifer Kok: There is, so… and I don't want to ever deter anybody from starting a business, because I don't… I believe there's business for everybody.

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Jennifer Kok: I believe there's abundance, and whether you are just starting out in real estate, or you're 4 years in, or financial planning, or whatever it is, even business coaching is completely saturated. But we all bring our own unique

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Jennifer Kok: proposition, our unique selling proposition to the party. We all bring our own, you know, experiences and differences. So that's why I never fear that.

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Jennifer Kok: But it can make it feel like a bit of a grind. And so, you know, you say you really built your business because you would be willing to go the extra. You were the person that was going the extra when nobody was looking. So, what do you mean by that?

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Shari K. Hooper: Well, so, I mean, so if I were to think back even, when my mom retired in 2014,

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Shari K. Hooper: There was a little bit of friction back then, you know, because it felt like there was two chiefs

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Shari K. Hooper: in the kitchen, so to speak. I mean, you… not that those years weren't really great with my mom, but you get to a point where she's, again, I'm gonna use the phrase, landing, and I'm ready to take off, and I'm ready to do things differently and newer, and… and so we… we were kind of butting heads a little bit, and to the point where when she did come to me and say, I'm retiring in such a time.

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Shari K. Hooper: here are your options, what do you want to do? Well, it really had discouraged me at that one point, like, oh my gosh, do I really even want to do this?

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Shari K. Hooper: Am I… do I really want to take the reins and make this happen, or should I explore different options? Is this even for me? I mean, I was…

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Shari K. Hooper: felt beaten down, even at the time, and I just… so I really… it was a time that I used for prayer. I did explore different options. I even filled out the Chick-fil-A online, you know, form. Like, I'm like, Chick-fil-A belongs in Grand Rapids!

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Jennifer Kok: Oh my gosh, I bet you're kicking yourself for not doing that!

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Shari K. Hooper: Oh, well, I did, I made it through a couple rounds, but what they said was, we're the ones that determine the market, don't tell us where we should go. Well, I didn't, you know, I was willing to move, potentially, but anyway, another story. So, I guess… so what I… the point is, is…

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Shari K. Hooper: I really felt like during that time, it was, that discovery time that, I really felt like God was telling me this was an area for me. This was what I was meant to do, and so answering your question, yes, we can…

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Shari K. Hooper: Find our niche, so to speak.

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Shari K. Hooper: And I do think I have a niche, I'll come back to that service that you mentioned, but at the same time, I think God gives us talents. He gives us our own uniqueness, our own strengths, and whether that's personality, or whether it's

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Shari K. Hooper: Grit, or, you know, something unique about us, a trust factor.

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Shari K. Hooper: You know, it takes a lot in the finance to be trustworthy, that has to be that. Certainly, people have to like your personality, they have to like your… your style, you know? I mean, I'm very open, I'm very relationship-oriented, I'm very hands-on, you know? I don't really want to call it

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Shari K. Hooper: controlling, but I want to take the worry, the stress off my clients. I want to do as much as I can for you. I want to do… the next level would be with you, you know, let's do it together, let's do a Zoom call, let's do a conference call, let's…

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, whatever it takes, and then if I can't do it or walk beside you, then I'm gonna make sure that it gets done in the best way possible with gentle reminders.

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Shari K. Hooper: There are just certain things in that aspect. So, going the extra mile, of course, means something different for everybody, but I think I spend just as much time on the service element of follow-up.

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Shari K. Hooper: reminders, preparing, and doing the extra things. You know, I have a great network of people that I use, and so if… if we're reaching out and having to do another meeting, I'm trying to organize it, but I always… I make all my own appointments with clients, even today.

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Shari K. Hooper: I do a lot of follow-up today, with those in terms of those appointments. You know, they're hearing from me. They're getting me… I do a lot of events. I want to be in front of my clients. I want to have fun with my clients. I want to give them opportunity for fun.

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Shari K. Hooper: We laugh. We have conversations. I would say most of my clients are…

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Shari K. Hooper: true friends. We hug. I know, if you don't… if you don't want a hug, or you don't want a handshake, or you don't want… I mean, that's just part of it, right? Is you're sitting across the table, but you're asking value systems.

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Shari K. Hooper: You're asking about their childhood a little bit, of, you know, what did that… what did money mean to you? How do… how were you raised? You know, who's important to you today? Or…

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, you start to learn their friendships, their… their family really well, and then you… you're invested, not… they're invested in you, physically, I guess, in a sense. I'm invested in them, in their… in their lives. They're truly important to me. I love knowing

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Shari K. Hooper: that next surgery. If I can show up at the hospital, you know, I might… can I send you something? Can I send you puzzles? Because you're down for a few days, here's something to do, you know? I'm just thinking about you. You know, I'm having a new… I just want to celebrate with my clients in their lives. They are what matters to me, and

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Shari K. Hooper: Yes, the investments are wonderful, but I think every day I get up.

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Shari K. Hooper: And I get a chance to see these people, converse with these people, reach out to them. When I leave at the end of the day, my bucket's full every day.

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Shari K. Hooper: And I'd love to say my kids could do it, I'd love to say my husband can do it, they certainly take part in it, but being able to…

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Shari K. Hooper: Just serve these clients.

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Shari K. Hooper: in the best way, that fills me up at the end of my day. And so, that's what I tell God every day, is that I never was meant for the mission field in Africa. I was like, just steer me clear, don't make me do that calling, but if my clients is how I look at it.

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Shari K. Hooper: They're… they're my mission, every day.

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Shari K. Hooper: to serve them well, and share information, and most of the time it's finance, but not always. We get off on some crazy discussions, but that's just what kind of binds us all together.

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Jennifer Kok: Wow, what a beautiful story and testament to… you are really living God's purpose. You know, like you said, in 2014, you were tempted to go a whole different path.

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Jennifer Kok: But you just paused, and prayed, and…

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Jennifer Kok: Probably didn't jump to a decision.

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Shari K. Hooper: No, not right away. It took a little bit, but I think God also calls us to take some actions, and so you can't just sit back.

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Shari K. Hooper: and expect it to hit you in the face, and so I kept putting a foot forward and exploring the other options, and… and just waited for doors to open and doors to close, and that's…

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Shari K. Hooper: that's just the best way I can say it works for me, is I have to do something, right? And so.

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Shari K. Hooper: Even though I explored Chick-fil-A, I explored some other crazy things. I also explored what it would look like to continue in the business, and

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Shari K. Hooper: You know, because it was my mom and I, we served a lot of clients, we had a lot of different companies where we had, thankfully, you know, we were really blessed, where we worked with maybe over 100 different employees in a couple different, companies, and so we would help manage their 401Ks.

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Shari K. Hooper: And… and so… and they talked a lot back then in business, and it was easy to get new referrals on a regular basis. We grew our business, and so it was great, but when my mom retired, we went from 2 to 1. And so I realized, if I'm gonna do this, I have to have some additional support. Beyond… beyond my team, I had a great team of admin.

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Shari K. Hooper: But I didn't have another me.

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Shari K. Hooper: to figure out what that looked like, so I explored options of joining another firm and bringing my clients with me. I explored, having a partner.

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Shari K. Hooper: And what that might look like, but I just knew that I had to, and wanted to, bring more to my clients, and, you know, and that meant

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Shari K. Hooper: maybe adding… at the time, it was adding some performance software so that I could give them some really great reports in terms of

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Shari K. Hooper: How they were doing in the markets, you know, get some historicals going, and kind of really look at what that might be.

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Shari K. Hooper: Maybe even giving them a portal. You know, I really love having the opportunity for my clients to see everything in one place and be able to use these links, you know, link everything up, but I store a lot of documents in there, I want clients to have access to them.

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Shari K. Hooper: again, it just goes to, if you're away from home, how have I provided for my clients that they can grab what they need when they need it? And, so I just took those steps, and really, the opportunity was there for me to join another firm.

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Shari K. Hooper: And there was a couple of options, and when the firm that I had wanted at the time was open to…

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Shari K. Hooper: working with me, I was like, okay, well, everything else is closed. Everything else, I don't, you know… it did. It was really just, like, this one door opened, and so I went through that door and… and had some… I had some really good years for about…

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Shari K. Hooper: for, you know, 4 or 5 years, I had some really good years with that firm, so…

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Jennifer Kok: Okay. You know, what I loved about what you said is a lot of times when we are faced with a challenge in our business, or we feel like we've plateaued, or we're feeling a little, I don't know where I want to go from here.

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Jennifer Kok: A lot of times, our first inclination is to always look for other options. Like you said, Chick-fil-A and all these other options. But I love how you said you also have to visualize you going down the path of, what if I do continue in this business?

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Shari K. Hooper: Because I've had those moments, too, in an online consulting role.

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Jennifer Kok: You know, after I sold my cookie and cupcake business, sometimes I'm like, okay, God, is this where you want me? Is this it? Because sometimes this feels really hard, it's a daily grind, you're showing up all the time, but, you know, where are your people? You can go through all of that and start to doubt yourself. And I really love

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Jennifer Kok: the idea of, what if I do continue down this path? You know, what does that look like? What will it look like in 2 years for me and my family? 3 years, 4 years? And I… I question if we do that enough. I feel like a lot of times we live in

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Jennifer Kok: what's in it for me, and what's next, and, you know, I always say we're all becoming a bunch of, you know, self-diagnosed ADHD people, because of all the information we're bombarded with. So, you know, we'll listen to a podcast, we'll listen to this and go, oh, I'm gonna go do that instead.

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Shari K. Hooper: Right.

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Jennifer Kok: So it's really easy to pivot. So your way of really standing out in a saturated market is you obviously go above and beyond. You have major clients, your friends, I love these events that you do, and you bring in fun. But how do you avoid getting burned out? Do you have some boundaries, or how does that work for you?

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Shari K. Hooper: That's a tough one.

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Shari K. Hooper: You know, when you were just mentioning kind of following this path and going into finance, and staying in finance, you know, I'd already given about 20 years at that point.

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Shari K. Hooper: And so it was a natural to see that through as well, and at least include it as an option, and I got to do it. If I continued, I got to do it alone this time. Like, I was the only chief in the kitchen, and so there's… there was some real benefit to that as well.

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Shari K. Hooper: And so, looking at… fast forward now, gosh, it's already been 11 more years.

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Shari K. Hooper: And my kids are grown, you know, so somehow I was able to balance, you know, my… all my career through that, and be able to be there for my kids.

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Shari K. Hooper: I thought I was doing a pretty good job in that way, you know, and so my whole goal is moderation. One of the things that I teach my clients is moderation.

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Shari K. Hooper: And, you know, I mean, I always will say, you know, look, we have to save for today, or we have to enjoy today, but save for tomorrow, right? And so, one of my… I guess you can call this a pet peeve, one of my pet peeves is when you're working with somebody in their field, and they're the worst at it, or they…

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Shari K. Hooper: might look one of the worst at it. You know, a good example is, like, a gymnastics coach, and they can't do a somersault.

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Jennifer Kok: Right, they can't walk.

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Jennifer Kok: Talk, yeah.

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Shari K. Hooper: yeah, if I'm bringing my kids to you, you better be able to do this with them. And so that was, you know, that's really stuck with me. So that, for me as a financial advisor, I always want to be… I want to be the best financial advisor. I have to do what I do myself, for me, as well as I do it for everybody else, and so that takes me back to

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Shari K. Hooper: excuse me, that takes me back to that moderation, right? And so, trying to… to be able to,

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Shari K. Hooper: be able to live today, and yet save for tomorrow, and so…

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Shari K. Hooper: You know, it was just really important for me to be able to,

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Shari K. Hooper: have that time, but I think you were asking me more about energy.

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Shari K. Hooper: I… you know, I don't know, I think I'm just naturally energetic. I mean, when I… if somebody asks me how I am, I'm perfect, right? I try to say things I want to be, and not necessarily always feeling in the moment, but I'm not going to succumb to… I'm not going to say I'm tired, or I'm…

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, don't feel great today, or, you know, something. I'm always gonna proclaim and project those positive things. I have my declarations, and I don't know if you can see, but I write in them, and I have my little pep book, and I'm really positive and feel good about declaring things that should be in order to become them.

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Shari K. Hooper: You know, after a period of time, a day, a month, a year, or what have you, but it's really important that we have great self-talk.

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Shari K. Hooper: And that we are building ourselves up, and that… I don't know, I just… I don't know where my energy comes from. I mean, I rarely… really… I mean, if I put 10, 12 hours in, I might feel like, yeah, it's time to go do something else, or…

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, sometimes I love, you know, I might leave, and I need to get a walk in, and I'm always…

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Shari K. Hooper: trying to figure out how to run or walk, and managing the daylight, and so… but I always go back to work, so if I leave early, I might get it done and go back to work, but I… I think, honestly, John, the energy comes from… I love what I do.

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Jennifer Kok: I was just gonna say, you're living your passion, and you have the freedom and flexibility to get your walk-in, and then work later, you know, which I just love.

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Shari K. Hooper: Okay.

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Jennifer Kok: Yeah, I love that.

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Shari K. Hooper: I'm thankful for that balance, that moderation, that ability to have flexibility in what I do, because I think it's important that we stay healthy. I'm doing good for my clients if I'm not healthy.

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Jennifer Kok: Right.

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Shari K. Hooper: my family if I'm not healthy, and I love to be able to go out and exercise, and I love the sunshine and being outside, so I do… I was telling my husband this the other day, I'm like, I… I am really particular, I'm really intentional about what I'm putting in my life. I mean, why would I put something in my life I didn't love?

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Shari K. Hooper: And then I'm balancing my relationships with friends and family, and I'm in the… I'm in the outdoors, I'm on my boat, I'm walking, running, and I'm working. And so, I guess going back to that path of when I took over for my mom, and I decided to stay in finance.

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Shari K. Hooper: It was once I accepted that that's the door that God opened for me, and that

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Shari K. Hooper: I knew I was good at it, and I accepted it. It was like, weight just came right off my shoulders.

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Shari K. Hooper: And… and ever since then, I've really… I've rarely doubted myself. There was maybe one other time, you know, working with that company, that I had a setback, a small doubt, but, if I hadn't already accepted that this is what I was supposed to do, I… you know, I had to push through, right? We all have challenges. I pushed through that one.

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Shari K. Hooper: And I'm still… still here today and doing even better than I was, but the energy comes from

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Shari K. Hooper: Knowing I am doing what God has intended me to do.

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Shari K. Hooper: And I think we're in that space, it just… it's just… It's perfect.

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Jennifer Kok: Well, mic drop there. I don't think we can add one more thing to inspiring somebody who's listening today, because

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Jennifer Kok: That is just so inspiring, and I love your journey, and I love the fact that it wasn't perfect.

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Jennifer Kok: And that there were times you questioned it, and there were times you had challenges, and you had to switch, you know, brokers or agencies or whatever, you know, you call them in your financial world. And you just kept persevering, you didn't give up. And I think a lot of that comes from your positivity, and I love how you shared

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Jennifer Kok: That you do the affirmations, and try not to let that self-talk

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Jennifer Kok: get in the way, because I've learned with entrepreneurship, it can be really lonely.

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Jennifer Kok: And we can easily start to succumb to the negative talk that spirals in our brains.

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Jennifer Kok: So take me through… you are very passionate about our community here in Grand Rapids, and you…

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Jennifer Kok: bring… you said you bring events together. I know you do a couple different things. Don't you do something with seniors?

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Shari K. Hooper: I do. I am an educational partner for Grand Rapids Havvy Seniors, and that is just a wonderful… it's a free series, happens mostly the first Tuesday of every month, and it's at the Prince Center there at Calvin.

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Shari K. Hooper: And that is me… like I said, I'm an educational partner, but it's really Laura Kelso from Kelso Homes that puts that on. And she has done a phenomenal job. I've been there from the beginning, but what she is able to provide in terms of resources and educational topics…

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Shari K. Hooper: I mean, I just wouldn't be anywhere else than that series on those first Tuesdays. And, you know, again, these seniors have become friends. I'm not there, you know, a lot of people are there to get business.

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Shari K. Hooper: Obviously, I… I'm mostly there to just love on these seniors, to learn about these resources that I can share then in my client meetings.

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Shari K. Hooper: And to… to just continue to pass that information on, because these seniors come in, it might be their only event of the day, the week, the month.

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, I see them bringing their friends, and maybe getting lunch afterwards, so… but the information is incredible, and the series continues to expand and grow, too, so I… I would…

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Shari K. Hooper: let everybody know. And again, Laura's a business owner, so, you know, it's… it's wonderful, and like you and I had said earlier, you know, getting into business can be really easy, but staying in business is what can be really challenging, and she's another success story, so I'm glad to be a part of that series.

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Jennifer Kok: That's awesome. And you're right, staying in business is what's challenging, and I love how your motto has been serving first. Tell me about Women and Wealth Cocktails. I know it's a monthly get-together, and it's geared towards women, and is it about helping them learn how to be better investors?

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Shari K. Hooper: Yes, well, it's… well, so really, Women in Wealth started as, it was an idea from a client years ago. I wanted to put together a Women in Wealth event.

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Shari K. Hooper: And she had, as I was talking to her, it was her birthday, and she was talking about how her friends get together once a month, and they celebrate that group's birthday, her particular friends, and they follow the alphabet, and they go to a new restaurant every month, and so I'm like, I'm using that! I'm using that!

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Shari K. Hooper: And so, we're on our third time through the alphabet, and so this month we're going to Matchbox Diner. I had to use D for diner. You get a little creative, but when we attend these events, and I rarely have had to duplicate, that's been the beauty of it.

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Jennifer Kok: Oh, yeah.

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Shari K. Hooper: A lot of restaurants in Grand Rapids.

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Shari K. Hooper: And so, when these women come out, the whole goal for me was to be able to get women to stand up to the table, or sit up to the table, in finance, because this would be an area I find that most women would kind of pass off to their spouses.

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Shari K. Hooper: Because we have a lot on our plate, and I understand that. But then when we get to a period of time where, emergencies occur, we're somehow single again, there's a lot of situations that can bring that.

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Shari K. Hooper: they're the ones that are left with not knowing what assets do we have, and where do I find these passwords, and, you know, how to do certain things. I mean, basic things are easy, but they might not always know the values, or how it's owned, or where it's held, and…

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Shari K. Hooper: And there's a lot more women staying single right out of the gate these days, and so…

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Shari K. Hooper: My whole goal was to try to make education fun.

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Shari K. Hooper: to put it into a setting where women can come together every month. You know, it's a drop-in, 4.30 to 6.30, come when you can, leave when you have to, come one month, come two, skip a month, come back.

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Shari K. Hooper: A lot of times it depends on their work schedule and where the venue is, and whether or not they can make it happen, but I want it to be… I wanted it to be unintimidating. No men, so that anybody is gonna get, oh, that's a silly question, or why'd you ask that? I want it to be questions that women will bring, and

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Shari K. Hooper: maybe something came up in conversation, maybe something… maybe employee benefits. I really want women to know and understand their employee benefits. Companies spend a lot of money in providing benefits to each of us.

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Shari K. Hooper: And sometimes we're not using them or maximizing them, and if we really dig in and want to know what they are, sometimes people don't even get their full match.

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Shari K. Hooper: sometimes people don't understand there's a Roth, a tax-free growth option in that 401 . So, I will bring a topic every month, and, I try to share it, and it depends. Sometimes there's 4 people, sometimes there's a dozen of us, sometimes we've been up as, you know, to 25 or so.

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Shari K. Hooper: But we really like the venue options, and so even though I said, what if we just do this in one place every month, because then I can actually talk, or share a topic, or we know we have room.

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Shari K. Hooper: They, you know, so part of the charm is the venues as well, and who can come every month, but that's what it's really meant to be, because I really believe planning for women is different than planning for men, and certainly different than planning for couples.

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Shari K. Hooper: And so my advice is going to be very different, very tailored to each individual, but then, you know, if you're a female, things are going to be a little bit different. We're…

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Shari K. Hooper: you know, I don't want to take away from the female role in any way, but I never want one of my clients stranded in some old car, you know, so…

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Shari K. Hooper: If it means I have to break a rule and we, you know, we are willing to take a look at a lease.

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Shari K. Hooper: it might be that that person just needs to have something reliable, and suitable, it's stable, and… and I'm okay with that. We're gonna make that work, we're gonna figure it out, you know, because…

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Shari K. Hooper: I know we have cell phones today, we can call anybody, but at the same time, I think we've really lacked trust in our communities a lot of times as well, and I need my clients safe.

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Jennifer Kok: Oh, I love your holistic approach to taking care of your clients. So, is Women in Wealth open to anyone, or is it just for your current clients?

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Shari K. Hooper: Nope, it's open to anybody. I do try to put it on Facebook, so you can find the event on Facebook every month as well.

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Jennifer Kok: And I will link, you have a Facebook event for that, correct? That's ongoing? It's on my page, yep, I put it on there every month. Okay, I will make sure I link that in the show notes, so…

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Shari K. Hooper: Okay.

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Jennifer Kok: Sherry, thank you so much for just sharing your story, your testament, your faith.

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Jennifer Kok: It really is very powerful. You have a wonderful story that's very heartwarming and very inspiring, because I know there's a lot of us out there that are building businesses. Some might feel like, oh, is this where you want me today, God? What am I doing? And I just hope they listen to your words and continue to persevere, because I believe

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Jennifer Kok: That, you know, the statistics for small business ownership can be kind of dire. Only 1 out of 2 make it to 5 years.

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Jennifer Kok: I don't believe they fail, I believe they quit. And I believe they quit because of a belief system, or they don't have the right support, or the right people. And that's why I love bringing guests like you on to help fill their… fill their bucket and keep them moving. So, thank you so much for being here today, and I will share all the links to get ahold of Sherry in the show notes.

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Shari K. Hooper: Great. Thank you so much, Jen. This has been a lot of fun. I appreciate it.