Financial Empowerment with Magda Schappert

Magda Schappert is a passionate advocate for financial empowerment, dedicated to helping individuals become the best version of themselves, raise their standards, and achieve freedom. Alongside her husband Jason, she successfully built and exited an 8-figure business, gaining invaluable experience in entrepreneurship and business strategy. Now, with Moola, Magda leverages her expertise to empower the next generation through accessible financial education and cutting-edge technology, making complex financial concepts understandable and actionable for everyone.

Magda shares her wisdom from her unique 8-figure business exit journey with her husband, and her passion for the following subjects:

• Balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood.
• Why financial literacy for families and women is crucial in today's society.
• The dynamics of working alongside your spouse.
• Actionable insights and advice for women aspiring to break into entrepreneurship, leadership, and high-level business.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

Transcript

David King (00:10):

Welcome back to Selling Your Business with David King. I'm David King, and today I am joined by Magda Scrapper Magnum.

Magda Schappert (00:21):

Welcome. That's right. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me on the podcast today.

David King (00:26):

Thank you for joining me. I had to practice a few times to be able to say your name properly, but it's great to have you. Let's start with your background. You're from Spain and you are a tennis player?

Magda Schappert (00:42):

That's right. A former professional tennis player. I am from Majorca, Spain, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea and love tennis, and I played as a kid turned pro and then I decided to come to America to pursue the American dream. Went to college, played D two, and then I earned my undergrad, my master's degree and then I started my business.

David King (01:15):

When did you meet your husband, Jason?

Magda Schappert (01:18):

We met at a business conference actually in Tampa. I think You're from Tampa, right?

David King (01:24):

I'm actually from Jacksonville, but my parents and my brother both live in Tampa, so we've got a lot in common that way. And I'm sorry, we will go ahead and acknowledge that the Hurricane Milton has just rolled through the Gulf Coast of Florida,

Magda Schappert (01:41):

But

David King (01:42):

We're glad that it didn't do as much damage as it potentially could have had, and sorry for all the people who have freeze down and damage to their homes and don't have power still. So we're thinking of everyone in Florida right now.

Magda Schappert (01:58):

Yes, yes. A lot of families in need in these times, but we were very blessed and we only got some search damage and we got power, so we are very blessed. We can't complain.

David King (02:15):

Yeah. So tell me about the business that you and Jason built together and sold in an eight figure exit.

Magda Schappert (02:24):

Yeah, so was actually my husband started the business and I was in a completely different industry. When we met, I had my business, he had his own business and we decided to, both businesses were kind of growing and we were so busy pulling in different directions and we said, you know what? It's time to make a decision here. We either pull in different directions or we work towards the same goal. And I was able to transition out of my startup business and I joined the business that he started when he was 17, 18 years old and together I had to learn everything. It was not in my industry at all, nor my expertise or background. So I kind of took over. We had to go through the learning curve of working together. Now you have the working cap on, now you have the wife cap on and kind of work through these challenges and we were not looking to sell David. It was such a blessing.

(03:39):

You never know who is watching. You never know who is following you. So we always operated in the mindset of love your customers. They are family to us. And we were at a trade show and somebody approached us and actually before that, somebody reached out to us, David. We were a mom and pop business. We didn't have the finances ready, we didn't know we were just operating the business as the best of our ability and somebody approached us a year and a half before we actually had the actual buyer, like the private equity that actually bought us. And that first contact with this other private equity, it really helped my husband and I to kind of say, wow, we actually have a sellable business. They were asking us for things that we didn't have together. All the information was in our minds. We had to put everything in paper and everything.

(04:56):

So the first contact with the potential opportunity of selling our business, we spent so much time organizing things, David, getting the financials, getting all the details, everything on paper and organized, and then Covid hit and we kind of took, it wasn't the right time for us. Then that situation got called and then we got approached at a trade show and you never know who is watching you. Never, always, always, we tried to always do our best and that was it. They reached out to us and we were not mentally prepared to sell, but several months before, over a year before we kind of contemplated the thought because of the first private equity that expressed some interest. We never got into the deep negotiations, but just when somebody expresses interest, it gets you thinking, right?

David King (06:08):

Well you were fortunate because I always impress upon people that they need to get the ducks in a row from day one. Get the legal, get the accounting, get the hr, get your sales going. Everything needs to be from the beginning and it's the title of my book is Selling Your Business. Begin With the End in Mind.

Magda Schappert (06:29):

It's brilliant.

David King (06:32):

Someone who just grew up hanging out around the house and then found herself a professional tennis player, it certainly didn't work out like that with your tennis. You had to be working at it for years and years. This is a gift from God the way that it

Magda Schappert (06:49):

Really is.

David King (06:50):

Yeah, but that's great.

Magda Schappert (06:53):

It's great. And you brought out a very good point, David, my husband and I were there. We didn't have all our departments like organizer, we were the departments and everything is here in our mind and we spent months getting organized. So for some small mom and pop or medium sized businesses that today they are not thinking about selling but they build the business, they are growing the business and it's either their retirement plan or they even want to transition it to family or to kids or whatever,

(07:39):

I will encourage them to just follow your advice, David, start with the aunt in mind because get everything ready systems. How do you do it? Right? Everything. Because then it makes the transition so much better. We learned so much throughout the process. It was a long process that due diligence, David, who I don't know percentage, it's no fun. I dunno the percentage of how many businesses actually that they start with a private equity from the moment that they receive a letter of intent, which it doesn't mean much. It gets you all excited, but at the end of the day there is so much journey ahead of you from the letter of intent to actual closing. And I don't know the percentage, but I think it's a very small percentage of the businesses that actually go through make you through all the due diligence. So the more organized you are, the better. And your numbers like Shark Tank. Right.

David King (08:55):

Well another way that you and Jason were fortunate is that the two of you were able to work together successfully because I've seen businesses where either siblings are working together, husband and wife are working together and it can be a highly dysfunctional situation.

Magda Schappert (09:14):

Yes.

David King (09:15):

How did you do it? What would you recommend to a couple that's working together,

Magda Schappert (09:19):

Get organized? David, it was a very long, it took us around less than a year, but several months around eight months. The tough part was not going through due diligence. The difficulty was to operate and run the business at the same time. You built all the documents to go through due diligence. I mean, we worked so many nights because we had to run the business and then when we had wake up at three, four in the morning to start working on documents and numbers and contracts and everything, there is so much involved and the best advice is to get organized and team up. One thing that my husband and I did very well is that we, it's a humbling exercise, but if you are capable and able and willing to say, okay, we got a team up, I cannot make the final decision on everything.

(10:29):

Let's decide what are your strengths and what are my weaknesses? So I have a very mind on details. I love contracts and stuff like that. So I took all the legal side of it. My husband has a brilliant mind with numbers. So he took all the financial, so we had to team up and divide, get very organized. It sounds funny, but when you work with private equity, they normally have so many layers involved between people that their due diligence at different teams, right? Financials or technology or whatever it is. And there is so much back and forth, especially in the legal side of it. So the more organized you can get, the better. Because at the end of the day, if you go back and forth with the same document 20 times, you don't know if you don't get organized, you don't know what's the latest file where the edits are made. And organization was key for my husband and I.

David King (11:39):

Well that sounds like a good takeaway for couples that are working together is one, divide and conquer and then two, stay in your lane, trust that the other person can handle their area and you focus on

Magda Schappert (11:51):

Your own. Yes. And one thing, want to add a piece of advice for couples that work together and go through a situation like this. There are a lot of ups and downs. You get excited and then suddenly you feel like you lose the deal. And then so it's a lot of uncertainty because you are waiting on a decision. So do not take it personally. Remember you are on the same team. Don't go after your spouse because perhaps he or she didn't negotiate an aspect or a part the way you wanted to negotiate it in every single meeting. Go in, we discuss before the meeting what our goals, what do we want, what is our stop? And so you go in the meeting with the same goals and in an alignment you are a team at the end of the day.

David King (12:50):

So your next venture here, Moula, talk about that and all the work that you do for financial education for people and teaching about women and entrepreneurship, motherhood and entrepreneurship. What's making you tick today?

Magda Schappert (13:10):

Wow, so moula, copilot, you can find us on Instagram, on YouTube, any social media platform. So my husband and I had to started from nothing and we had to learn our way around and moola a way, it's a platform, it's an investing platform that will help people with no expertise at all in the financial and investment world to start. Even if they don't, they just have 50 or a hundred dollars to start. So many financial firms, if you don't have 10, 20, $50,000 to invest to start with, they don't even open the door for you. And we were there and we understand this is not possible for many, especially young entrepreneurs that you are busy and you know that you need to start investing because your kids are going to go to college one day. You want to buy your home, you have mortgages, you have goals.

(14:19):

So how do I stop not only leaving paycheck to paycheck, but also how can I have my money make more money for me, put your army to work for you. So we want to make it available for people that were currently are in the shoes that my husband and I were several years ago. We didn't know where to start. We didn't know where to go. And the financial world, especially in the investment side, if you don't know, it's a very tight world that they want to control it. And at the end of the day, once a few key things is not that difficult. It should be open and available to everybody and that's what my husband and I want to do with Moula copilot.

David King (15:08):

So Moula is kind a holistic financial application here. You've got budgeting and planning, but also investing and a variety of different tools. Can it be used both with individual finances and business finances?

Magda Schappert (15:25):

Absolutely, yes. Yes. And also we work from home. We have a four month old baby and my husband loves the learning about the market and he follows it. But honestly David, I don't, it's not my passion

(15:47):

And I am so busy with work and kids and the house and everything that when I have 30 minutes, I'm not going to go read the financial news. I'm going to go maybe read a book or drink a cup of coffee and I told my husband, I said if I didn't have him with his knowledge of how to invest, I would like to have a tool that I will be able to use that the tool that will show me what I need to know. Because when I open, for example, the financial news or the markets, I see so many numbers that I get confused. So I imagine other stay home moms or single moms or young entrepreneurs or parents are super busy and perhaps their passion is not into the investments and finances, but they know they need to invest. So how can we simplify it for them? How can we make it available for them the same way I will love for me to be able to use it without my husband having to show me everything and explain to me everything. So it's such a tool that it's just a blessing. We really want to bring more opportunities. We're supposed to be the head and not the tail. So we want to bring the opportunities to everybody.

David King (17:17):

It really is difficult and complicated for most people today. I mean I was a CPA, I was an accountant before I went to law school. I worked as a lawyer on Wall Street representing investment banks and I practiced corporate law doing mergers and acquisitions and securities work. I help people with their decisions like this. But even for myself, I've got a financial advisor, I have a CPA every year in Washington DC They come up with the latest change to the rules about this program or that program and you're going to stay on top of it and ordinary people don't have enough time to do that. So if you've got a way for people just to get started because it is so crucial, just putting away some money constantly when people ask to say they're not saving for their kids' college, I'm just put in something that you can always afford every month and get ahead like that, at least start getting ahead and then once you're saving something you'll feel better and you'll be able to put more in.

Magda Schappert (18:27):

Absolutely. Absolutely. And then if you should straight time for money, it's a bad investment. So if you think that if you don't start investing today and you feel like you can get ahead well with inflation and everything every day you are going to fall behind and you need to, it's super important for families to start investing and in the right areas. And I understand that there are traditional ways of investing with financial firms and everything and they are great, great tools, great companies and everything, but that is for a specific market. It's for perhaps people that have larger budgets or my husband and I went through an experience that we didn't know what we didn't know and we joined a firm and we gave them our money and then we saw the market that was up a percentage, but our investments, we lost money. Well, because you need to understand about how the fees work and all the layers and all the taxes and everything. So we had to learn the hard way and we want to give people the opportunity to now learn the way we learned. So

David King (19:52):

In addition to the financial package of Moolah is tell me what advice do you have for women with their own children to try to balance motherhood and entrepreneurship?

Magda Schappert (20:08):

Wow, so many. I have heard so many times as of I have a four month old at home, I have heard so many times people telling me asleep when the baby sleeps. Well for me that's not applicable. And because when the baby sleeps, it's your short timeframe to get important tasks done. So the best advice for me is to prioritize what's truly important and what is not important and by priorities and get done by the list. If there are tasks that need your full attention and do them in the morning or whenever you are fresh or whenever the baby takes a nap, right? If there are tasks that need to get done, like pay bills or something like that, but you don't really need a fresh mind, leave them for later when you are tired or the baby's around. So organization for me and prioritize the task, that's a key component.

David King (21:19):

Well if four months is very demanding, that's for sure it maybe get a little bit easier when they're the toddler age and can pour themselves as a glass of juice themselves. Then my kids are now entering those difficult age called teenage years. My son is 15 and my daughter is 13. And it never, the obligations as a parent never stop and it takes a long time to build a successful business. So you've just really got to be able to take good care of yourself and focus on what matters. And sometimes you're going to have to disengage from your business to tend to your kids. Nothing is more important than your family.

Magda Schappert (22:06):

Exactly. And moms listening to this podcast, Hey, you are doing great. If the dishes are not done, it doesn't matter. Go take a nap. Right? Focus on what's important, your health. You cannot give love, give attention, give what your family needs if you are empty. So make sure you take a nap and you build yourself When you have a 30 minute, just grab a cup of coffee and read a book or do whatever fills you up. Right.

David King (22:41):

I asked this earlier, but I'm going to ask it again here. Working with your spouse successfully, I guarantee you that is the exception and you probably know that. When did you know that this is the type of husband that I'm going to be able to both be married to and work with? Did you guys know that you've had just such a good relationship together that you could go through that level of strain that it takes to run a business together?

Magda Schappert (23:10):

It really does. We didn't know at the beginning. That is something that you burn the boats, you try it and hopefully you can adjust. It only works when both have a humble heart and they know that, okay, we are on the same team. My husband and I, were both very driven. We are both very driven and we both had our own businesses. So we were used to whatever we decide that goes. And that doesn't work when you are working with somebody or married. Even in the personal side of it. In the marriage side of it is not always your way.

(24:00):

Working with my husband, we went through a learning curve. You have to really do a self-analysis and say, okay, what are my weaknesses? What are my strengths? And learn to respect each other. Okay, this is your department. I have full trust that you are running your department or running this project the best of your ability because we are on the same team and our goal is to build success for our family and have full trust and always communicate your expectations. If you leave room for unmet expectations, it's not going to go well. Right? So it's a balance. How do you communicate your expectations? Giving love. So that is something that we had to learn. It wasn't pretty at the beginning, but we said we can build something great together with each other's skillset. If we learn to communicate

David King (25:16):

Well, I hope you and Jason know how grateful you should be to have found each other and to have a marriage that can survive building and selling a business together. And is Jason also working on Moula?

Magda Schappert (25:30):

Yes, he is actually. He is just working on, he was his idea at the beginning and I'm very, very thankful for the opportunity that we have in working together and be in alignment and be on the same team.

David King (25:53):

So just generally now, final closing thoughts, what advice would you have? Let me say one or two things for a young person with a business today also trying to manage their own individual finances, what advice would you have for them?

Magda Schappert (26:14):

Wow, the first one is you don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going. Don't feel if you are starting your business, if are in a transition that you are want to build your business, you are currently employed and you want to make a transition, do it. Burn the boats. Because if you don't burn the boats, if you kind of are indecisive, one leg here, one leg here, you are just pulled in a million directions. Get it going, you will get it better over time. But a start, once you start building momentum and this momentum is what's going to get you going. And the second one will be more for topples working together, communication, make sure you communicate your expectations in a way that you give love and in a way that your spouse needs to hear it. So we all have different levels that we want, different styles of communicating. Make sure you understand the styles of your spouse and how they need to communicate and share your feedback in a way that you provide love. Build each other up. It's at the end of the day, businesses don't matter if you don't have a family, if you don't have love, if you don't have your personal life in order because it's going to lead to destruction at the end of the day.

David King (28:06):

Yes, great advice, great advice. Now Magda, it is been an absolute delight to have you on the podcast here. And it's also, it's great to see someone like you and Jason see you succeed and be able to share your good news with other people.

Magda Schappert (28:26):

Thank you. Thank you for having me today and I hope we gave some good advice to anybody that needed to hear or something. And thank you Dave, for your time and for the invite.

David King (28:42):

Oh, it's been a pleasure. And everyone listening, the app is called Moula, M-O-O-L-A. It's excellent. I was looking at it last night and this morning it does look very comprehensive and like I said, a holistic sort of financial planning package. Well thank you for joining us listeners and we'll see you next time on selling your Business with David King