A conversation with Anna Wolfman, Founder and CEO of Femunify Skill Exchange. Femunify is an online community and platform for female solopreneurs, coaches, and service providers where they exchange their services and expertise to help each other build and grow their online businesses.
Anna is the Founder and Community Curator of the Femunify Skill Exchange, where female entrepreneurs, coaches and service providers exchange their services and expertise to help each other build and grow their online businesses. Before Femunify, Anna spent over a decade building a successful corporate career in several multimillion-dollar companies, where she managed large teams, led key strategic projects, and was a trusted advisor to many executives. Anna has taken her years of experience in business strategy and growth, operations, people management, and powerful networking, and is now blazing her own trail as an entrepreneur, while helping other women do the same.
Anna shares her journey from a stable corporate career to becoming an entrepreneur focused on building a community for female entrepreneurs. She discusses how growing up with financial instability shaped her risk-averse mindset, leading her to a career in accounting. However, she eventually pivoted toward entrepreneurship after feeling unfulfilled in the corporate world.
Anna describes how she launched Femunify, a platform where female entrepreneurs exchange services and expertise to grow their businesses. She highlights the challenges women in business face, such as fluctuating incomes and balancing roles, and describes how collaboration through skill exchange can grow a brand and expand a business without the need to pay out of pocket.
“All of these challenges really brought me back to okay, why don't we do this in a more communal, supportive team type way and go back to the basics of essentially bartering and exchanging skills and leaning into? Every single person has their zone of genius, has their areas of expertise, has something valuable that they could offer. What if we lean into that and leverage that and use that to then access help from other experts that could help us in our business?” - Anna Wolfman
Key takeaways:
-Notice when you are being called to expose yourself to new things. Anna was looking forward to returning to work after an extended maternity leave. She began to listen to podcasts about mindset and success, which she had never done before, in order to give her a renewed sense of energy.
-Recognize that change takes time. After Anna became exposed to these podcasts, she began a pivot and a shift and a very slow evaluation, as she put it. She asked herself if she was having the impact she’d like to have or was she operating out of fear? Still it took her several years until she actually acted on making a shift and left her corporate career to start her own business, during which time she did some financial planning and made sure her family was on strong financial footing.
-You never know when, what we put out there might resonate with the right person who is meant to hear it at that moment in time, said Anna. Referring to a podcast with Robin Sharma she had heard, it motivated her to consider leaving the corporate world and starting her own business. Had she heard it earlier, she doesn’t know if it would have landed with her in the same way.
-You might need the space to step away from your day-to-day routine and reflect before a big change. Anna noted that something life changing, like having children, helps put certain things in perspective. It could make you more fearful but, in her case, it motivated her to push past her fear, take a risk and be a role model for her children.
About the Guest:
Anna Wolfman is the Founder & Community Curator of the Femunify Skill Exchange, where female entrepreneurs, coaches, and service providers exchange their services and expertise to help each other build and grow their online businesses.
She spent over 13 years building a successful corporate career where she managed large teams and was a trusted advisor to many executives. She’s taken her years of experience in business strategy, operations, people management, and networking, and is now blazing her own trail as an entrepreneur.
Today she leads a collaborative community that helps female entrepreneurs build the businesses of their dreams – faster, smarter, together.
Website: https://www.femunify.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-wolfman/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anna.wolfman.femunify/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/femunify/
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Anna Wolfman
All of these challenges really brought me back to, okay, why don't we do this in a more communal, supportive team type way and go back to the basics of essentially bartering and exchanging skills and leaning into every single person has their zone of genius, has their areas of expertise, has something valuable that they could offer.
What if we lean into that and leverage that and use that to then access help from other experts that that could help us in our business.
Narrator
Welcome to making change with your money, a podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves.
Now here's your host certified financial planner. Laura Rotter.
Laura Rotter
I am so excited to have as my guest today, Anna Wolfman. Anna is the founder and community curator of the FemUnify Skill Exchange, where female entrepreneurs, coaches, and service providers exchange their services and expertise to help each other build and grow their online businesses.
After a successful corporate career where she managed large teams and was a trusted advisor to many executives, She now leads a collaborative community that helps female entrepreneurs build the businesses of their dreams faster, smarter, and together. So welcome Anna to the Making Change With Your Money podcast.
Anna Wolfman
Thank you, Laura. Thank you so much for having me.
Laura Rotter
I'm excited to get to know you through our conversation. So Anna, as you know, my first question is what was money like in your family growing up?
Anna Wolfman
Yeah, great question. Money was tough to be honest. Money was tough and money was tight. My parents went through two immigrations and every time it was a new country, a new language, kind of getting back up on their feet.
And so by the time we had Moved to Canada. I was 12 years old and they were off to a pretty good start. Within the first six months, they found a job in their careers, but both of them were like in the high tech industry and in around 2000 when there was the high tech boom and like the dip that happened, they both got laid off from their jobs within a month of each other.
And this was within a month of them. Ha just buying a house. So it was a really big change. And honestly, I wish I could say that they have recovered since then. And they have to some degree, but never really quite to the same level of what it was before. And I remember we moved into that house and we were being really, really mindful.
I remember my sister and I were walking around turning off lights behind us. And just being really mindful about, you know, the consumption around the house and just, uh, really trying to help out where we could, like, when we were 13 years old, we started walking around in the neighborhood, knocking on doors, seeing if anybody would take us for a job.
So, you know, it certainly was a lesson in resilience. And my parents eventually found some different side gigs, but nothing really in their career, which was a little bit heartbreaking for us to see because they were highly educated and they came with a lot of experience, but they really struggled to find their footing here in Canada.
And so money was tight and eventually they ended up selling that house and we moved into a rental and then a smaller rental, and then it's, Smaller rental. And so up until the point where my sister and I were even sharing a room together, even where we were in our twenties and up until the point where I had moved out, basically with my that time boyfriend, who is now my husband.
So even living and sharing a bedroom with my sister and like a single bed when I was in my mid twenties. So, you know, but we, we may do, but I will say that the way that it had influenced me was that. It made me kind of scared of the insecurity and the lack of stability. And so it really made me a little bit more risk averse at that time.
It made me really want to make sure that I have a stable lifestyle because I didn't want to go through all those ups and downs that I saw my parents and our family go through and maybe have a lot of fears and reservations about money. To be honest. which had then taken me years to unpack and, and, and heal from.
But yeah, I, I started my career in accounting actually largely because of that, because I really was sort of drawn to a career trajectory that was financially stable, that I trusted would provide me a good income and be A relatively stable job. And that kind of really motivated me to go into something like accounting at the beginning, even though that wasn't necessarily my passion.
So that's kind of how it started.
Laura Rotter
I could see having growing up with what you just described happened to your parents would certainly make anyone feel pretty risk averse would make security the number one thing that you're going after and very understandable not to pursue a passion, even. If one was obvious to you and not everyone is aware when they're young what they're passionate about.
I'm curious, I know education isn't as expensive in Canada, higher education as it is in the States. What was your family's attitude towards education having watched two highly educated parents flounder financially?
Anna Wolfman
Yeah. So education was always important, but my parents come from like a strict Soviet background where education, education was always instilled in them.
And there was a lot of this like high achieving mentality and expectations to perform really well academically. So that was definitely something that was ingrained in me. That being said, I also knew that going into education, I was on my own. So. My parents were not in any position to support me, and I don't think I even expected it at that point.
I didn't even think that that was a possibility for any parents to even pay for their child's education. It sort of didn't occur to me, and I knew that it was kind of up to me to figure out, and it was a combination of You know, I was aware of different scholarships that I could be eligible for, and I was working really hard in high school towards those scholarships to make sure that I met the criteria and the requirements to to get that additional assistance and otherwise had to rely on the student loans that I knew would be on me to pay back.
And, you know, that's kind of how I made it happen, but it was definitely a big priority to pursue higher education for sure.
Laura Rotter
Thank you so much for sharing that, Anna. And did you go to school in Canada?
Anna Wolfman
I did. Yes. I went, I went to a business school in Canada to the Schulich school business, and then I wanted to pursue higher education.
And again, one of the reasons why I was drawn to the accounting field is because what was unique about. Accounting and specifically the CPA Chartered Professional Accountant designation in Canada was that when you work for some of the designated companies, like the big four, in my case, it was with Ernst Young, they support you with achieving that additional designation.
And by support, I mean, they not only pay for it, but they give you the time, some oftentimes even paid time off to study for the exam. And they provide the resources To assist their staff members essentially to to pass those exams and so to me that was being the risk averse person that I was at that stage and you know thinking about finances and how tight they were to me that was very appealing to have to to choose a path that would allow me to pursue higher education and certification and a designation where.
The company would have paid for it and would also have paid me to work while I earn it. That was one of the other reasons that really appealed to me.
Laura Rotter
Was there anything, obviously you've been on a journey away from the CPA designation and away from being an accountant, but what did you enjoy about accounting other than whatever security it provided for you?
And as you explain that, you know, what skills did you bring that led to…
Anna Wolfman
Yeah, don't, don't get me wrong. Even though I left that designation, I still chose it at that time and was fully committed and saw myself and, you know, wanting to build a career in accounting. And that time I, I actually quite enjoyed found it challenging.
I found it really interesting. I really appreciated kind of like the analytical mindset that went into, into accounting and, and auditing and taxes. I found it quite interesting to be honest. And. When I worked with Ernst Young, I mean, my favorite part, to be honest, was the people. It was working with different clients and working with the team members and just kind of building those relationships.
That, to me, was one of my favorite things and it was still, you know, it was, it was very receptive. It was, uh, it was a great experience that I've had. I've, I've gained so much, so many skills and so much knowledge from it. I got very comfortable with the basics of accounting with understanding financial numbers with understanding, you know, unit economics and management accounting, and it's things that.
That even though I don't actively practice today, I certainly have taken that and carry that over into every other career that I've been a part of, including my current business. So definitely gained a lot of value from it and I would never look back in any kind of regret. Just, yeah, just a slightly different motivation kind of that led me to it, but still walked away with everything.
I was hoping to walk away with it more.
Laura Rotter
Oh, that's great. So, you mentioned, Anna, the many careers, including what you're doing now. So, can you please share with us? Me and our listeners, what your journey has been, what caused you to leave accounting and ultimately to where you are today?
Anna Wolfman
Yeah, You know, there was something about accounting that I could see where the longer and I was an audit in particular.
So, and especially at a big firm when you're still relatively junior. You tend to be part of a much larger team and you sort of see like a slightly more narrow part of the bigger picture, right? Because you really need to be much more senior to see like the more holistic view. I actually got lucky later in my accounting career where I got a chance to get onto some smaller clients that really gave me.
That end to end view of the entire ecosystem of the client's business. Not really excited me really seeing how all the different parts come together, as opposed to like just one, you know, part of the financial statements really gave me this perspective, this more holistic perspective and really excited me.
And so I also saw that I found that the longer people are staying specifically in the audit and the professional services space, The harder it was for them to later transition into a completely different role, because this is kind of like you become such a niche expert in certain things. Like, for example, I was on mining clients, right?
And I could see partners and directors who were on mining clients for years, and it becomes such a niche area of expertise. which is excellent, you know, but, but it's also harder to then move away and try to find a footing in a completely different space. And so I realized that I didn't really want to be pigeonholed.
I didn't really see myself going down to like the partner career path in an accounting firm. And so I realized I need to get outside of that. Sooner than later, if I want to expand my horizons. And so I did that and I jumped out of there into a fairly broad role that allowed me to kind of be a Jack of all trades, which is what I was craving a little bit.
And I was, I went to like a smaller startup company and was an operations director, which was a keyword for basically doing everything and anything outside of marketing directly. And even that I ended up touching, but. It was exactly what I needed. It was exactly what I needed because it allowed me to roll up my sleeves and to help this company that was in the education space.
And they were building online education programs in Canada and in Toronto. They were pretty, they had a really big presence in the UK and they were starting a separate operation here. That was really exciting for me because I could help them grow from the ground up. And I felt the direct impact of the What I was putting in and into the result that it was doing in the company.
So much more direct impact than what I saw working in a really big firm. And I kind of touched and wore a whole bunch of different hats, which was very exciting. And then from there on, after several years…
Laura Rotter
I have a quick question before you, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Anna, which is right. We started off in hearing how risk averse you are and your need for security.
Any change can bring up anxiety. What was it, what was the catalyst that had you change or did you go from employment to employment then? So that's satisfied your need for security.
Anna Wolfman
Yeah, great question. So the change happened later on in my career and, and I'll share, I'll share quickly how I got there, but before I jump there, I just, to answer your question, um, It was because I was still going to another employment opportunity.
It's because I still had my benefits, I still had my salary, my guaranteed, well, nothing's ever guaranteed, right? But I still had my set salary. So, so for all intents and purposes, I had achieved my CPA designation. So I had that in my toolbox. I was moving on to a higher position. Higher pay more benefits.
I was expanding my experience, so it's still satisfied my sense of security, and it was me just expanding my career trajectory, so to speak. But while still hitting all the checkbox on paper, hitting all the checkbox on paper of safety and security, right? Perfect. Thank you. But I moved on from there to, I went back to a large corporation.
Again, I was sort of missing, I felt like I had kind of maximized my potential in that smaller startup. And so I was craving a role that was really strategic in nature. And so I found a position where I was almost like an internal management consulting, essentially being part of a strategy team in a big telecom and Canada's biggest telecom company.
And what really excited me there is, and again, employment, right. And a more expansive position and more expansive opportunities because it was a larger scale role. And, but it was, it was really exciting because I got exposed. to strategy development and really influencing and working very closely with C level executives to define the strategy for their departments and to define the roadmap and the priorities and just having a lot of influence and camaraderie with working very, very closely with C level executives, which was very exciting for me.
And an amazing opportunity and spent a few years doing that. And then the turning point for me a little bit was at one of the points I went on maternity leave with my, with my first son. And I think, and when I was on maternity leave, I had actually lost my role that I was a part of before. And Knew that I needed to find something different coming back to the company in Canada, they have an obligation to take you back regardless, but there's no guarantee exactly which role it's supposed to be comparable.
So I spent much of my maternity leave trying to actually figure out what that next role was going to be like. And in that process, I found myself and with the excitement of coming back after a year of being on maternity leave in Canada, we're very generous. We get, we get quite a bit of time.
Laura Rotter
Wow. We got a year. Paid. Yes.
Anna Wolfman
It's not all paid. It's subsidized by the government, and it also depends on your company and where you work and whether or not they top you up and by how much and for how long. So definitely not all paid and not for 100%, at least not in my situation. But, but certainly accommodating in terms of the time that they give you to, to be ready to come back.
You know, I'd only read like Fiction books like I'd never really go outside into like any kind of growth area or development and for the first time I got exposed to it and that was the beginning of a pivot and a shift and a very slow revaluation. Am I happy in my life? Am I happy with what I'm doing?
Am I utilizing my full potential? Am I making the impact that I wish to make? Am I operating out of fear or am I operating with an abundant mindset and the mindset of possibilities and really leaning into my passions and making an impact that I want to make? And so, I started really getting exposed to all of these things and reevaluating where I'm at.
And in all fairness, it took me several years until I actually acted on making a shift and leaving the corporate career behind to start my own business. But that was really the catalyst. That was kind of like the beginning of like the seeds being planted in terms of Just thinking about another trajectory for me and learning to trust myself and where I'm at to not be so scared and so like holding on so tight to the financial security and be able to trust myself to figure something out.
Laura Rotter
I love the fact that something you didn't Quite identify what other than having the time during maternity leave call to you to even start listening to mindset oriented or abundance oriented podcasts, which you had never done before. It was just something intuitively came up inside you that drew you to them.
Was it a friend who mentioned something?
Anna Wolfman
Well, funnily enough, it was, so I had a few entrepreneur friends and they were, they were talking about some exciting podcasts that they were listening. Inspiring for them. And I haven't really like tuned in at that point, but the objective for me to listen to these podcasts was actually from the approach of I'm coming back to the corporate world and reentering the space after a year of being off, I want to hit the ground running.
I want to keep building my career. It was actually very much for the objective of. Thriving in my corporate career and my corporate role and continue to climb the corporate ladder. That was the intent and just coming back with a renewed sense of energy and excitement. And so with that goal in mind and that shift that was happening after I spent a year off, I just reached out to some of my friends and I said, Hey, I remember you were talking about some podcasts that were inspiring and kind of like business related, do you mind just sharing, I wouldn't mind maybe just listening and tuning into something.
It was actually Robin Sharma and his podcast. That was the first one. That I had listened to. And he's just excellent. He was talking all about really honing in your craft and just stepping into your potential and the possibilities. And that was just that just unleashed a whole thing for me that just opened so many doors.
And so while the intent was actually so I could be even better. Show up even better in my corporate role. Eventually it turned into actually realizing that I meant for something greater beyond the corporate world. And I want more for myself and I want to make a greater impact that I believe I could achieve in my own business outside of the corporate world.
So it's interesting how the intense started there, but took me beyond that.
Laura Rotter
Thank you so much for sharing that, Anna, and it just strikes me how, you know, you mentioned Robin Sharma, like people put together podcasts or write books or give speeches and you have no idea, you put it out into the world and you have no idea.
What shift, if any, it makes, and you just named how a podcast you started to listen to really shifted and changed your life. So sort of the butterfly effect, like we never know what we say or do that.
Anna Wolfman
Hasn't exactly, we never know when, what we put out there might just resonate with the right person who is meant to hear it at that moment in time, because I didn't podcasts before, if I would have heard them, I don't know that it would have landed with me as well.
And quite frankly, it wasn't, if I'm being totally frank, it wasn't just him. I think he just opened a little window in my mind that started planting some seeds and ideas. And then, like you said, the butterfly effect, then I was seeking out the next podcast and the next book. And, you know, then it was then the next podcast.
Conversation and then I met an entrepreneur and I suddenly leaned into their experience. It was a bit more curious. It just it opens these these possibilities in our minds and the sense of curiosity and we just open ourselves up to absorbing absorbing a lot more of it. And so I think it was just it was the right.
Moment for me to start that shift. It certainly took more in order for me to feel confident to actually pull the trigger to get started on my own business. But that was really like the pivoting point for me.
Laura Rotter
That's so beautifully said. And so true. I've seen it in my own life that I've started to work with a coach who's mentioned certain things.
And then suddenly something comes into my inbox and. Echoing what she said that I might not have noticed before had she not brought something up and and it starts to feel almost like karmic, right? That things Starts coming to you because you're just looking at the world differently. So As someone again self described as a seeker of security So can can you describe what happened next?
Anna Wolfman
Yeah. So I, I went, I went back to work and I started a different role. It was exciting. I was doing quite well there and enjoyed myself. And then I, I wanted to expand into a slightly different role. And kind of went into product management. So I saw, I saw, I was seeking, again, I think my mind was working towards more entrepreneurial roles within that bigger security of an ecosystem of the corporate world.
And so I saw product management as something really interesting where I could not just do the strategy part, but also own the execution of the strategies and really have an end to end accountability over like a product, almost like your own mini business. within a, within a larger company. So I went into product management in a bank in their credit card department.
And what ended up happening sort of in parallel as well is that my husband and I were, we built a custom home for ourselves and we really enjoyed the process. We were very hands on. We we built a home that We absolutely loved and was so functional and it itself essentially to sell that home at a significantly bigger margin and buy a lot from across the street where we could then build essentially almost not the exact same home because we wouldn't do that but leverage what we had built and in the area that we had built.
To then build something similar. And so we had to jump on that opportunity because it was just an amazing, it was, the market was at a time where we could really capitalize and sort of cash in on our investment while having the opportunity to do this process again, that we so enjoyed and improve on everything that we perhaps, you know, would have wished we could have done better the first time around.
And so we went ahead and took that opportunity. And so then I had this idea one time. I was like, you know, it's a pretty interesting thing we're doing. We're building literally across the street, another custom home. And we have so many people that have been asking us questions about what this journey is like, what this process is like.
And I said, why don't we maybe just document our journey on YouTube? And I'm not at all a social media person. So the fact that this idea even came to me was just kind of out of the box. But I think, I think again, I was yearning for something, a creative outlet. I was yearning for something of my own to kind of own to some degree and manage.
And I thought, You know, there was no bigger objective or agenda behind it other than let's just let's document this and at the very least, it could be a series of videos that we could have for our own kind of like documentation and record keeping. We could share this with our kids, maybe one day our grandkids to show them like what it was like, and it's something that we could add value to other people who are thinking about doing this, and it could just be fun.
And so all of a sudden we had this YouTube channel. That we were growing and I found myself like suddenly starting to learn about YouTube and how to optimize YouTube and how to gain reach and visibility. And I was starting to build like a little personal brand behind our, our YouTube channel. And I started an Instagram.
And again, it was just like me kind of playing around with sort of having something of my own that I was owning and really stepping into and, and was managing. And, um, All of these things slowly, like I was leaning into as I was still in the corporate role. And then I got pregnant with my second baby and was going on to maternity leave.
And this is really the time where I felt pretty certain that I was like, okay, this is the time. Like I've been having, I've been having these thoughts. thoughts and ideas that maybe I should do something. Maybe I should lean into something. This whole YouTube channel has showed me that it's kind of exciting to own your own thing.
And there's so much growth and learning opportunity out there. And I'm like, there's, there's just more out there. Like this is going to be my time to start a business. I'm going to take advantage of this maternity leave. And at that point, Canada got even more generous and offered up to 18 months off of work, again, not, not paid any more, same pay, just, just split over.
But, you know, at that point, I was also in my life, I was in a different position. I, I had worked already and had saved. We had done other investments. I assume you had savings. We had savings. We had, we had built a little bit of a nest egg at that point. We had made a great return on the investment of these homes that we have done.
So that provided an additional stream of income to make me feel supported. And I, and I also think that beyond that, it allowed me to see that I am not just defined by the salary that I am getting in the corporate world. There are other ways. And I trusted that. I will be able to find another job if I need to go back to the corporate world.
I'll be able to find another stream of income if I choose to experiment with something else. I'll be able to figure out a new avenue to build sustainable life for myself. And that trust in myself was really the catalyst and what was so necessary for me to actually let go of these limiting beliefs that the only way for me to feel secure and safe was through the corporate world.
Laura Rotter
So wonderful. First, to even recognize, as you said, and it was a couple of years in coming, the stories you were telling yourself that were really trapping you, perhaps in a life that wasn't necessarily serving you. I do think also both the catalysts you mentioned were maternity leaves and There's a way in which during that time, you had already taken on a different role.
It was temporary, right? You weren't going to be mommy and only mommy forever, though, of course, you are mommy, but you already had walked away from a title, had walked away from a particular role. And perhaps, enabled you to sort of play with, Okay, what does this feel like? And am I okay?
Anna Wolfman
Continuing, I was just going to add, sometimes it's like, you might also just need the space to step away from your day to day routine to reflect on something big.
And life changing like having Children, of course, also helps put certain things in perspective. And while in some ways it made me perhaps be a bit more fearful because now I have bigger commitments, bigger responsibilities, you know, it's, it's scarier to make a decision that could impact the financial health of our family now.
And I have been more expensive to look after kids and ensure their, you know, safety as well and security as well. And at the same time. I think the shit that happened to me with the kids is that, you know, you see these little human beings and you just, you want the world for them. And you want, You want to see them thrive in this world.
You want to support them to pursue whatever dream that they might have. You, you want to be that like supportive being to basically say, reach for the stars, go after your dreams. Right. And I think with that, I was really, it forced me to reflect a mirror to myself and being like, well, am I doing that for myself?
Am I leading by example? Am I stepping into that energy of go after your dreams, you know, do what, do what sets your heart on fire. Right. And I sort of realized that that's, again, like made me give me that time to reflect and realize that. I don't think I'm doing that myself. And I think that I am feeling, if I'm being honest with myself, confined in this corporate space and I'm holding onto it because of the sense of security that I'm getting from a guaranteed paycheck and the benefits and the title, and also the fact that I've invested at this point, 13 years of my life building this career.
So it's, it's scary to walk away from all of that and kind of start from nothing. But I was also confronted with, I think, having kids also inspired me to actually have the courage to take the leap to go after my dreams. And so that was, that was also a bit of a, it made the step that much scarier, but it also gave me that fire to say, There is no other time to do this, right?
Like I have to do this and I must try and and I must believe in myself that I can and at least give it a try. And by doing so mirror to my Children and be a role model to my Children that they too should try and go after something and not be held back by fears.
Laura Rotter
And I really want to commend you, Anna, because, of course, you're not unique in waking up and having that realization, and still, it often happens later, right?
It happened to me that I, you know, ultimately had the balls to step off a career track that I was in for many years, but I was already in my 50s, so, back and my husband became Dr. Mom, when my kids were born, I really didn't get off the treadmill. I took like six weeks maternity leave, eight weeks maternity leave.
So even, and even on maternity leave was sort of working and researching and stuff. So, so I, I commend you back to when you talked about listening to the podcast, that's something about you, even at a younger age, you're ripe to hear a message to start listening to what was truly going on for you. I am curious because you mentioned the additional responsibility of having kids.
Were you, and are you the primary? Breadwinner. And so you felt sort of this urgency or do you share with your husband? How does, how is the income?
Anna Wolfman
So I share with my husband, but it's not always 50 50. So my husband is actually self employed. He's a real estate agent. Now he's also a developer. So back then in some years, I was the primary breadwinner because he might not have had as good of a year.
And so we, we relied on the stability of my secure and guaranteed salary. Years, he far exceeded my salary and was the breadwinner. And again, and I still had a very valuable contribution, but it also gave me this like, wow, you know, he's doing what seemed to me almost the exact same thing and just generating significantly better results that weren't capped at a certain ceiling.
Because if. You know, in the corporate world, the way that works is you could it is much tougher to make those incremental changes in your salary, especially when you're in a pretty large company. Maybe, maybe you have more flexibility in smaller companies, but when you're in a pretty large structured company, like a bank or a telecom company, these jumps.
Are pretty defined. Like you don't just go from being, you know, a manager to a VP in, in a span of a year or two, like you need to climb every single step and every step has a marginal increase that you might be entitled to. And maybe it's, you know, extra 1 percent or extra 2 percent more than the average if you're outperforming, but really nothing that is so marginally different. And so you start feeling like I am working so hard. I am putting my best effort out there. I am trying to shine, trying to outperform, trying to take initiative, doing all this extra. And it's like, it doesn't feel like the reward that you could get for it is necessarily reflective of the incremental level of effort that you were putting in.
And so actually seeing my husband. In some years, be able to double if not triple my salary with with the commission that he was bringing in. It's kind of like, you know, again, opened up my mind that sometimes when you don't have that ceiling, you can actually surpass and go way beyond. But then I also saw the other swings, right?
So, so it took me time to get comfortable with that. And sort of figure out ways of, okay, how could we sustain our lifestyle and continue to support our family? If I was to essentially step away from this career path. And that's another reason that it took a couple of years is because it took some financial planning and really getting ourselves to a place where we felt comfortable and confident that we were in a position for me to step away.
Laura Rotter
I love that you're intentional about understanding as a woman who understands numbers of what you needed to be more comfortable to take the leap. So please share with our listeners, Anna, how you came up with the idea of FemUnify and what exactly it is.
Anna Wolfman
Yeah, thank you. So it was really born out of my own need to be honest.
So when, when I was on maternity leave with my daughter at this point, I was committed to taking up that time that I, by time, of course, I was busy. I was the primary caregiver for my daughter. But at the same time, I didn't have the responsibility of being in the corporate world. And so I had certainly a lot more flexibility and brain capacity, so to speak, to think about what my next step is.
And I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't know what business I wanted to start. And so I said, okay, let's just put myself out there. Let's let's infuse myself and plug into different communities, networks, Facebook groups for women in business. And let me just do some market listening.
Let me see what businesses do they have? How are they serving? How are they making money? What problems are they solving? What problems do they have? And I was just looking for inspiration. And at the same time, I told myself. In the absence of having a clear business idea, let me go back to some learning and trying to acquiring skills, acquire some skills that no matter what I will need in business.
So I was telling myself, let's learn a little bit about digital marketing and branding because I knew that no matter what, like some of that, that skill set and that understanding was going to be really important. And so. In setting myself into these settings, I suddenly became aware of a few challenges that I saw women entrepreneurs and personal brands having.
So the first was that I was completely blown away by how many different parts there are to running a business. And I think that having come from the. Corporate world. I realized that I had taken for granted the fact that I always had cross functional departments supporting me in every single project, right?
You never have to be the marketer, the branding person, the salesperson, the tech support, the customer service. Like you never had to be all of those things at once. There was always different people, you know, the finance, the accounting, the lawyer, like you always have different departments supporting. And I was like, these women are building their businesses on their own and they have to wear every single one of these hats.
Yeah. So that was, that was mind blowing to me how much there is to actually juggle and how big of a struggle it is to try to manage all of that. The next part of it too, was I could see that it's, you know, when you're starting out, you're also, you know, and especially if you're bootstrapping your own business and you're trying to get a little bit of traction, you don't necessarily have the funds and the means to invest in hiring a team to have employees.
Have contractors to do all these things that you don't want to do or don't like doing or can't figure out. Right. And so, and so this resourcing becomes a challenge as well. And also, and I was doing this during COVID because to me, if I was born during COVID, I could see how lonely it could be, right.
Sitting in your desk in your office without a team to brainstorm, bounce ideas off of collaborate, work together. It was very lonely and isolating. And I could see that for myself. And so all of these challenges really brought me back to. Okay, why don't we do this in a more communal, supportive team type way and go back to the basics of essentially bartering and exchanging skills and leaning into every single person has their zone of genius, has their areas of expertise, has something valuable that they could offer.
What if we lean into that and leverage that and use that to then access help from other experts that that could help us? And then we get to conserve our cash and we get to stay in focus on the things that we love to do and kind of use that as a form of, of a resource in order to get help with other parts of our business that we can't afford to necessarily invest in right now.
And we get to do it in a communal way. That's just so much more fun. And that's what brought. The idea and brought brought from unified to life, to be honest. And it was kind of born of me being there and in the same shoes and observing all these challenges that I saw women having and growing their businesses.
Laura Rotter
Such a great idea. I can speak to the fact that, you know, solopreneurs, we wear so many hats and, you know, I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to pay. And I'm, you know, just brought on two new virtual assistants. And there are so many women who are starting businesses that can't. You know, one person might find it fun to put systems in place and another person like You know, no, or you even talked excitedly about YouTube and, you know, I have no interest in social media channels and I'm happy to have someone else do that for me.
So exactly what is the community now? There may be women who are listening or be interested in it. What's the size? How does it work?
Anna Wolfman
Thank you. So, I mean, it started very basic. I'm a very big believer in taking action quickly and testing things out. And, and I have this thing that I really, and I struggle with this too, because I'm still, I call myself a recovering perfectionist, but I really, I really try to embrace the concept of imperfect action over perfect inaction.
And so I'm, I really focus this. So I started just, um, it started as a very. Basic proof of concept of a test where I just put a few posts in a few Facebook groups saying I'm looking to start this type of community, test out this concept. If you're interested, send me a message. I prepared a form that people would have to fill out.
And I started a very kind of like my goal was let's hit 50 people because it was big enough to like try it out with enough of a diverse expertise, but I didn't want it to be so big that it lost the point of it being like a little micro kind of ecosystem. And to my surprise that I got to those 50 people within a span of like 10 days.
And right away when women came in and started filling out their forms, I could see the opportunities I had a social media manager. Love doing social media management, but need needs help with creating a website from a web designer. Then I had a web designer who comes in and she loves doing web design and has years of experience in that, but hates doing social media.
And so I was like, Oh, there's opportunity here, right? And there's connections. And we started again, very basic, free Facebook group and an Excel spreadsheet as our member directory. That was our, our basic, basic stuff. Start and eventually after I had felt that I had proven this out and observed women actually benefiting from it and connecting and taking the time to do these skill exchanges and getting the value out of it and helping them get to a point where they then, you know, are further along in their business and to your point can then charge and hire and things like that.
So. I was eventually we I turned this into a membership and launch this as a membership model. So that was about two years ago. Since then, we have we've created a platform that so we've graduated from our Excel spreadsheet. A proper platform when members come in and they complete a proper member profile that really showcases their strengths or expertise, tells us more about them, links to all their website, social media, all of that fun stuff.
There's a section to demonstrate your areas of expertise. There's about over 40 areas of specialization you could select from as well as. Select the areas of need that you have, because that's kind of like where the magic happens, right? It's what you offer and what you need help with. And then we have a proper, robust member directory that's very user friendly, that really allows you to search across all these different areas.
So if you're looking for an expert, if you're looking for that web designer, you could see who in this community offers web design services. And likewise, if you're a web designer, and you want to see who in this community needs help from a web designer, you could also search. On the other on the other dimension of the areas of need.
And that's kind of like really where it helps to make these connections and these matches. And the one other thing that I'm really proud of that we did in co creating with our members is we created different events to really support them. So as our members were giving me feedback and they were saying, Hey, you know, we'd love to have networking events to get to know each other better, grow our network.
We'd love to have different masterclasses to learn From different experts and one another on a deeper level, you know, we, we'd love to have goal setting sessions to help us stay focused and get clarity in our business. And so all of those things just kind of evolved into what the community really is today.
We have about a hundred or so members across about 40 different areas of expertise and. It's growing. It's a global community, and I'm so proud of the space that it's become and so grateful for all my members that really have. It's not just my baby. It is all over. It is a space for all of us. And I wouldn't, it wouldn't be here without their, you know, their contributions and their engagement.
So thank you.
Laura Rotter
You're so excited as you talk about this. I am certainly going to put your business website in the show notes. You also mentioned that you have a free resource. Do you want to speak to that?
Anna Wolfman
Yeah, sure. I have an ebook. It's about seven proven and actionable ways to accelerate your business growth.
Without breaking the bank, a bit of mouthful, but really the focus is how can we grow faster? And how can we do it in a way that doesn't require us to invest a lot of financial resources? A lot of people think that the only way to grow and invest in that growth is to have to put in money. And of course that is a great way to do it, but in the absence of having unlimited resources, there are ways that you can most certainly expedite your growth and grow faster.
Without that financial burden and without breaking the bank. And so I'm, I'm sharing seven strategies that are proven and also very actionable with steps that you could take right away that are simple to help you get there.
Laura Rotter
Oh, perfect. So as we come to the end of this conversation, I do like to ask, you've been through a lot of different changes financially from the time you're 12 to now, I'm sure your aspirations have shifted.
Anna, what would you say your definition of success is today? And how has that shifted over time?
Anna Wolfman
Right now, the way that I see my definition of success is truly feeling like I am in my highest potential. Like I am leaning into my highest potential and making the greatest impact that I can make. To me, that is the highest definition of success.
And that is in All the parts of my life. I've also learned to expand my definition of success beyond just what my career is because it used to be limited to just what my career is and just what I do in business. And it's beyond that. It's in my relationships. It's with my kids. It's with my husband. It's with my community.
It's am I feeling like I'm stepping into the best version of myself putting making the greatest impact that I can make and just feeling like I'm really utilizing my full potential every day that I can. That's, that's my definition of success.
Laura Rotter
Thank you so much, Anna. Your energy shines through the screen.
I hope everyone listening can feel your passion for what you're doing, and you're clearly not only a very intelligent woman, but a woman with drive and interest and who pursues it. your interests, and that's not an easy thing for anyone to do. We're all pulled in so many directions, and I find your story inspirational.
Before we get off, is there anything else you want to make sure you mention for our listeners?
Anna Wolfman
Yes, I want to thank you, Laura. Thank you so much for having me for this lovely conversation. And thank you for all the incredible work that you do. The way that you spotlight different women, share their stories, really bring out the lessons and golden nuggets and inspiration from them is just amazing.
It's enlightening and it is wonderful. You do beautiful, beautiful work. And I thank you and just the way that you influence and uplift other, you know, other people, anybody who's listening to this and just through the work that you do is really inspiring. And I'm just so grateful for you. So thank you.
Laura Rotter
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Anna Wolfman, founder and CEO of Unified Skill Exchange. And some of my takeaways are. Notice when you're being called to expose yourself to new things. Anna was looking forward to returning to work after an extended maternity leave, she began to listen to podcasts about mindset and success, which she had never done before in order to give her a renewed sense of energy.
And then recognize that change takes time. After Anna became exposed to these podcasts, she began a pivot and a shift, and a very slow evaluation, as she put it. She asked herself if she was having the impact she'd like to have, or was she operating out of fear? Still, it took her several years until she actually acted on making a shift, and left her corporate career to start her own business.
During which time she did some financial planning and made sure her family was on strong financial footing. My third takeaway? You never know when and what we put out there might resonate with the right person. Who is meant to hear it at that moment in time, Anna says, referring to a podcast with Robin Sharma, she had heard it motivated her to consider leaving the corporate world and to start her own business.
Had she heard it earlier, she doesn't know if it would have landed with her in the same way. And finally. You might need the space to step away from your day to day routine and to reflect before a big change. Anna noted that something life changing, like having children, helps put certain things in perspective.
It could make you fearful, but in her case, It motivated her to push past her fear, take a risk, and be a role model for her children. If you are thinking about taking a big leap and making a change in your life, but want to understand all the financial implications and make sure you're prepared, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
And if you're enjoying this podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss the next episode. And if you're loving the show, I'd really appreciate a rating and a review, and it would help others just like you to find it. Thank you. So
Narrator
Thanks for listening to making change with your money. Certified Financial Planner, Laura Rotter specializes in helping people just like you, organized, clarify, change. and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to www. trueabundanceadvisors. com forward slash workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.