Patty Breeze is the newly appointed president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Kentucky Foundation.
In 1981, Patty Breeze switched from a career teaching about art to a career in personal finance. Since then, she’s helped many entrepreneurs on their financial journey — whether they’re just starting out or determining a succession plan their business. Now, as Breeze looks back on her more than 40-year career and as the newly appointed president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Kentucky Foundation, her focus is on helping other women business owners achieve financial success.
How did you go from being an art teacher to a financial planner?
I was teaching art at Bryan Station High School, and I was also the yearbook advisor ... but I was going through a divorce, and a good friend of mine who had been the yearbook advisor at Henry Clay High School had left teaching to go into sales. She told me she thought I would be very good at sales. I decided to interview with several different companies across the country, but all of them said I would have to relocate. I was going through marital changes and a career change. Adding a third big change, like a physical move to an area where I knew no one and had no connections, was too much. When I went into my insurance agent’s o.ce to deal with a policy, he asked if I’d ever thought about going into insurance sales. I knew I needed to make more money to take care of my mortgage and other things, and with that job, I could stay in Kentucky, so I said ‘yes.’
From there, you went on to dealing with mutual funds, getting a CLU designation and a CSP license, among other certifications, and opened your own financial services company. What is the mission of Breeze Financial LLC?
It’s really to educate people to help them think about investing for their future, for themselves, for their family, for their business, so that they have financial health and wellness.
I particularly wanted to teach women how to take control and at least know what was happening within their family unit. I would meet women who said, ‘Well, my husband handles all that.’ And I’ve had several female clients come to me who were going through divorces and were clueless about where all the money was. I don’t care if you’re single, married, divorced or widowed, we all need to take care of our financial well-being.
What are you telling your clients to be aware of right now?
One of the things that I think will be changing somewhat when we tweak these plans is inflation. On average, the inflation number that we use has been 3%. Now with inflation being 8.5 to 9%, it’s going to be eye-opening for people. Those clients who have the knowledge and wherewithal to realize that you still have to save, even if it’s not putting away as much as they were before, will have to adjust to save for their retirement and future needs.
You’ve just been selected president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Kentucky Foundation. What do you want to accomplish during your term as president?
The National Association of Women Business Owners’ mission is to educate women business owners at all stages of their career. The foundation is the 501(c)3 associated with that. My goal is to market the foundation to other foundations that give money to foundations, so we can grow the pot of money to put on the NAWBO programs and give scholarships to people. Right now, we charge a fee of about $500 for a seven-month class that places women business owners in groups with other women business owners. It becomes a very tight group where the members are helping one another with business decisions but also learning from an instructor.
What do you tell entrepreneurs who come to you for advice?
The thing that an entrepreneur has to realize is that they can be the mastermind of making their widget, but they’re also the person that’s the face of the company. They need to realize that until they have enough financial resources, they also have to be the financial person who looks after the business and keeps an eye on expenses. And they’ve got to be the human resources person and recognize when they need to hire someone to take over some of these things, so they can continue growing and developing the company.
You can run this landscape business and you can go out and plant the trees and shrubs and flowers and stu. like that, but if you’re not taking care of payroll and business expenses, and you’re not hiring the right employees at the right time, the business is not going to succeed.
What is the climate for women business owners right now as entrepreneurs?
I think it has becoming more welcoming, because a lot of companies are focusing on diversity, inclusion and belonging. That means a lot of big companies are aware that they need to not overlook female business owners and hiring women to come into their business. I think a woman can be an entrepreneur if she is strong. And that’s something I think should be taught in our school systems, even as early as middle school.