Female Founders: Shari Mattingly Bevan On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
You can’t be everything in your company — When I was starting out, I believed I could take up every role and cut costs. It backfired badly, and I ended up burned out and unproductive. Whenever you can, delegate everything and focus on your core strengths.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shari Mattingly Bevan.
Shari Mattingly Bevan is an estate planner who doubles up as a wealth advisor. Bevan has helped clients manage millions of dollars in wealth and with a high degree of success in her career. Bevan’s success has a lot to do with her strong skills in finance. She is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), and has been practicing for the last 22-years. Besides her proficiency in finance, Bevan is also a trained lawyer. One of her career highlights is helping a lady who had been defrauded $2 million by a close relative. By leveraging her skills and decades of experience, Bevan continues to help clients make the most of their wealth while ensuring that it is done within the confines of set laws and regulations. Besides having a pretty successful career, Bevan is also into philanthropy. Over the years, she has given thousands of dollars to Samaritan Purse, an initiative that helps feed and educate the vulnerable in society. Bevan also believes in the kind treatment of animals and is an active contributor to Greenville County Animal Care, a charity that advocates for the humane treatment of animals.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I am Shari Mattingly Bevan. I always knew that I wanted to work in the legal field from a young age. I developed my passion for law during my formative years, and I would watch all the legal shows that came on TV. I started my career as a retirement planner and offered various insurance-related services. As I gained more experience in the field, I realized that estate planning was a perfect fit for me. It merged both the areas of law and finance, which I was familiar with and interested in. After completing my law degree, I decided to move to South Carolina and pursue a career as a wealth advisor. The rest, as they say, is history.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
A lot of interesting things have happened to me since I started. The most interesting one would be realizing that wealth disputes can interfere with wealth generation and growth without proper planning and communication. At one time, I dealt with a $2 million fraud case involving very close relatives. I have also seen cases where family members set out to build wealth together, but it all goes the drain when it comes to managing it in a way that can serve the interests of those involved. This has made me realize that wealth advisors like myself are integral to the delicate balance between wealth creation, propagation, and family ties.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I’m not sure it’s funny, but I assumed that certain time-tested investment strategies will always work the way they should. This shocked me when they failed, and I had to frantically go back to the drawing board and find ways of saving face with the few clients I had acquired at the time. The biggest lesson I learned is that you have to constantly innovate and rely more on real-time data in decision-making. I also learned to always involve my clients in every step. It may sound crazy, but most people who seek wealth advisory services are pretty well-versed on matters of finance. As such, by engaging them closely, you can learn a lot. It becomes a symbiotic relationship where you all learn from each other.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Honestly, I have been helped by so many people in my journey, and I wish there was a way to honor them all. However, one person who I will forever be thankful to is my mom. She has always been a pillar since my childhood days. Even when I was at my lowest points, she would push me to get back and fight for success. This has been instrumental in making me the person I am today. Thanks to mom, I never quite, no matter what. I believe the principles instilled in me in youth have got me where I am today.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
A McKinsey report from 2019 showed that women tend to be assessed based on past performance in the workplace, while men are evaluated based on their potential going into the future. The report cited this as a reason why fewer women than men get into entry-level management positions in S&P 500 companies, and ultimately, fewer of them make it to become CEOs. I believe the same dynamics play out in the world of entrepreneurship. Founding a company requires capital, and if the owners of capital want to see what a woman has accomplished in the past, then quite expected, there will be fewer women founders than men. I also believe social responsibilities that society puts on women compared to men has a role to play. Society is still largely patriarchal, and once in the family way, a woman has to stay off work more than a man until children are of a certain age. The result is that men have more time to build themselves and look more competitive in the eyes of venture capital than women. It’s a complexity of issues, but luckily, more women are becoming founders against all odds.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
I believe it will take collective effort between individuals, society, and the government to help achieve gender parity in the entrepreneurship space. For instance, at an individual level, women have to understand that despite the odds, if you become the best at what you do, you will attract capital. As a society, everyone needs to understand that the more women are able to accomplish their true potential, the better. Imagine that there is a woman somewhere who has an idea that can change society in ways never seen before but can’t access funding due to her gender; it would be a waste, right? At the government level, I believe policies and laws that encourage venture capital firms to fund more women entrepreneurs would go a long way in helping society achieve gender parity.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
There are lots of reasons but the biggest one is independence. If you are aggressive enough, you will ultimately achieve financial success as a company founder. This means you get to live your life on your own terms, and that’s a beautiful thing. For instance, if you love philanthropy and would love to empower other women to become like you, you can easily do it when you are the boss of your own company.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
One of the biggest myths about being a founder or entrepreneurship is about reckless risk-taking. There is this notion that a founder is someone who is so obsessed with an idea to the extent that they are willing to lose it all for it. This can’t be further from the truth. Most founders are people who see an opportunity and are smart enough to take a calculated risk to mitigate the risk of loss. If you go all in blindly driven by the myth of reckless belief in an idea, you can easily find yourself homeless and never recover. Things are not always as romanticized in movies.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I can confidently say that not everyone is cut out to be a founder. Most company founders are people who hate routine and are curious to find out why things work the way they do. They also tend to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, including going without a regular income. If you possess these skills, you are cut out to be a founder. However, if you find that you are comfortable with routine, never care for what happens outside your department, and hate the idea of losing your regular income, then you are likely to be happier working a regular job. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, though. We can’t all be entrepreneurs.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
You can’t be everything in your company — When I was starting out, I believed I could take up every role and cut costs. It backfired badly, and I ended up burned out and unproductive. Whenever you can, delegate everything and focus on your core strengths.
Work with mentors — When starting out, you always feel that you know everything. This is a recipe for failure. I had this know-it-all attitude when starting and it almost cost me a client due to a very silly mistake. Always work closely with those who have been in your industry longer, and take their advice seriously.
Work with people who share your vision — When I first started my firm, I was only focused on hiring for skills. However, it dawned on me that you need to work with people who also share your vision. This plays a big role in driving momentum towards actualizing whatever goals you set.
Pay no attention to naysayers — When you are just getting into business, you will quickly realize that motivation doesn’t come easy. In my case, I had many people, including friends, who told me to take up a corporate job instead of struggling so hard trying to get clients. I ignored them, and here I am today, a success!
Be ready to change constantly — Unlike when employed, entrepreneurship involves constant change, which can be uncomfortable. In my case, I was constantly unlearning what I had learned in school. However, when I finally changed my mindset to take change as a constant, things got better, and growth came faster.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Yes. I am involved in multiple philanthropic activities, and I believe that I am making the world a better place in my small way. One initiative closest to my heart is the Greenville County Animal Care. It advocates for the humane treatment of animals, and for me, that’s a big deal. I am also actively involved with Samaritan Purse, an organization involved in feeding the vulnerable in our society, among other courses.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Not sure if this cuts it, but that would be to improve the quality of education in the inner cities of major metropolises. There are many kids who would probably change society in a big way, but due to systemic issues that lead to low-quality education, they never amount to much.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I would love a private lunch with Elon Musk. The guy has founded multiple companies and they have all attained multi-billion market cap status. I would love to know how he does it and how he manages to stay sane, given how tiresome running a business can be.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Female Founders: Shari Mattingly Bevan On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.