By RAY QUIROGA
Port Isabel-South Padre PRESS
rayq@portisabelsouthpadre.com
Debra Hadsall
Debra Hadsall is on a crusade to educate as many people as possible on the inner workings of finances.
Taking a cue from her husband, she entered the financial services industry in the 1990s, only to quickly find the already competitive business to be a mostly male dominated club in both the service and clientele end of the dealings.
Feeling that she wasn’t being taken seriously by male and even certain female clients, Hadsall then had an epiphany of sorts while attending a networking sales event hosted by an acquaintance. It was there that she realized that business models utilized by companies such as The Pampered Chef, and Tupperware could be implemented to educate women on finances.
At that point, she began hosting Financial Freedom Parties for Women (FFP). The initial goal, Hadsall said, was to educate women in a no-pressure environment where no sales pitches were made.
“The Financial Freedom Party was created when I found many other women brokers, like myself, were frustrated when women wouldn’t show up at financial seminars. Only three or four women would attend, even though we mailed invitations with plenty of lead time, followed up, and targeted our efforts to women who needed this information, and who were not already working with a financial services processional,” Hadsall said.
By contrast, Hadsall said her friend who hosted a last minute Pampered Chef party had 30 to 40 women attend. “It became clear to me that we needed to change our approach in the financial services industry. From this experience and with the help from three other women brokers, the Financial Freedom Party concept began and the format was developed.”
Discovering success hosting FFPs, Hadsall parlayed that success into a book with the same title. Hadsall, who built her clientele in the Colorado area, familiarized herself with the Laguna Madre area in the 1980s, when her parents relocated here so it was easy to move to area when she had the desire to be closer to her parents.
As well as writing a blog, she’s promoting her book in the hopes that area women will host their own FFPs and “pay it forward,” as they say.
For information on the book, log onto: www.financial freedomparty.com or email info@financialfreedomparty.com. Her blog is available at http://ffptalk.wordpress.com/
Read this story in the March 14 edition of the Port Isabel-South Padre Press, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
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