Shasta Broadus

I've always been an entrepreneur at heart. I started my first business when I was 13 - a babysitter's club straight out of the book - with a couple of my girlfriends in my apartment complex. We put our flyers in the laundry room and got business. That was my first opportunity in entrepreneurship, but it got away from me because my mom wanted me to get a job and take the traditional route. Coming out of high school, I started in the medical field as a medical administrative insurance specialist, which basically meant I did prior authorizations and referrals. As I developed in that, I got my auto and home insurance license, selling auto and home insurance, and then I developed from that to selling life and health insurance. So it's been a journey in the insurance industry this whole time. My last corporate job was as a client relationship manager at Ameriprise, and I started my business coming out of that field because I wanted to help business owners be better stewards of their capital. I started Capital Stewardship of America 9 years ago - it'll be 9 years in December. I have a bachelor's in psychology and my master's is in organizational leadership, and I just happen to be a fiduciary. A lot of my work is following up, reaching out, and I host monthly networking events every second Friday in the Galleria. I don't do any paid leads - I do all organic networking and referrals, and that's how I've been building my business through a warm referral market, which is what I'm teaching other business owners and entrepreneurs how to do as well. I help people where they're at - it's a peer-to-peer thing, so I work with people first, and then we start to work on their business. My most notable professional achievement was getting my first client, a doctor who was an integrative medicine practitioner. She actually paid me for 3 years, I was on her nonprofit board, and I helped her develop 5 entities. I learned a lot consulting with her about what works, what doesn't work, and the type of temperament of people you're dealing with.