Facing Obstacles, Finding Blessings

By Eric Vogen

Successful businesswomen have had a profound impact on me. What is the most valuable lesson they have taught me? A business is successful only when it is rooted in something that stirs your passion and enhances the lives of others.

My business education began with my mom, whose love of music became the catalyst for running her own music instruction studio where she taught voice and piano lessons to hundreds of children for decades. Throughout her marriage, she raised four children, shared one car with my dad, directed the church choir, helped my dad with his work, and completed her master’s degree in education while starting her business.

Now 82, Mom remains a successful entrepreneur. Fueled by an undying passion for what she does, and a confidence in what she believes, she works even as she faces inevitable health issues and challenges.

“My strong faith and enduring vision have been especially been important lately when I wasn’t able to walk due to a foot injury,” she says. “But as long as my health holds out, I am going to keep going for the rest of my life. With age, it’s not always easy, but my faith keeps me grounded to keep going. And the vision I have for lifting up amazingly talented children in music gives me such joy that it outweighs any emotional or physical setbacks related to age.”

In addition to the foundational business lessons from my mom, I have been fortunate to share similar ideas and goals with my wife, Mary Vogen. From the day I met her in 1998, I knew that she had the combination of a loving heart, a zest for life, and a mind for business. What makes Mary unique — and successful — is her ability to meld those three attributes into an enterprise that transforms lives. I have seen Mary go from a hard-working college student to a business leader in financial services, an entrepreneurial catalyst for others, a deep thinker, and a charitable leader (now on the National Leadership Council for World Vision).

Mary is proof that profound personal experiences not only change us personally, but they can transform our professional lives, as well. Mary experienced this firsthand 10 years ago on a trip to a fistula hospital in Kenya with the humanitarian organization, World Vision.

The trip, she says, “gave me the energy to focus on what I’m most passionate about and empowered me to be bold in leading my clients. This also inspired a vision for our company as seeing wealth as a way to change lives; like sending a girl to school and impacting her life so that she is no longer an outcast or at risk of contracting a simple illness and left do die. Doing just a little bit could change their lives enormously and give meaning where there was none. There will always be a reason not to share. But if you wait, the money might not be there.”

The world of financial services remains dominated by men, and the industry’s make-money-at-all-costs reputation reinforces that male-driven perception. What Mary brings to the business is the unique goal of building wealth to enrich the lives of others.

“Around the same time as the vision trip, I become emboldened that we really should pursue growing our own business because we were doing something that really wasn’t being done well in the big institutional, men-dominated, money-focused financial services firms,” Mary says. “That is, a firm that focuses on Christian holistic wealth management and investment management, with a high-touch service model which catered to busy successful women.”

Wealth management and compassion rarely are mentioned in the same breath, but Mary is proof that good choices create more resources with which to change the lives of others. “Yes, we have a dream of an excellent serving culture, fighting for other people’s visions,” Mary says. “A culture that says giving away money, which ignites passions, is just as important as building wealth. This is very contrary to most of the world’s thinking and certainly in the financial services industry.”

Challenges emerge and conflicts arise, Mary adds, but keeping God at the center of every step and every decision puts those challenges in their proper perspective. “This has given us a radical freedom – that is to know that we’ve done our best to serve,” Mary explains. “Each client family that we serve is a gift from God, and whether they continue to be with us or at some point move on to other things, we are blessed and thankful for the time we have been allowed to be in their lives. This gives me great peace.”

I pray that Lord would bless you with great visions for your work and callings, as he has for Mary and me!
Please email me if you would like to share about how the Lord has helped you overcome obstacles or if you would like more information about Mary’s financial services firm, [email protected].

The author is a Certified Financial Planner practitioner and Managing Director of Vision Capital & Management, a registered investment advisory firm at 108 S. Main St., Suite E, in Davidson, NC 28036, (704) 894- 9639. Securities are offered through FSC Securities Corp., member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Vision Capital & Management, an SEC-registered investment advisor, which is independent of FSC Securities Corp. The views expressed are not necessarily the opinion of FSC Securities Corp.