Entrepreneurship is a long and unpredictable journey. It is driven by either necessity or lack of opportunity and has the power to influence people’s lives in positive ways. However, it takes courage, grit, and innovation to become successful and create your own career path.
Joshua Sherrard is an unstoppable trailblazer in the entrepreneurial world. As the President and CEO of Strategic Navigators Inc., he thrives on ‘thinking outside the box’. He is driven to take the leap to offer unique and significant value to his clients.
As a change-maker, Joshua strives to deliver exceptional quality in every aspect of his solutions. “You simply cannot be a trailblazer while being messy or careless in your work. Excellence and efficiency are hallmarks of our business,” he adds.
Joshua believes that adding significant value allows you to operate in “blue water” and free yourself from the burden of undue competition. In fact, he also thinks that “if you don’t have a significantly better offering, you can only hope to steal business from someone else.”
This Illinois-based entrepreneur feels that the world of finance is over-crowded with amateurs who claim to offer the ‘next best fix’. However, for him it’s a matter of responsibility to offer genuine and specialized financial services consistently.
He also feels that it’s important for him to shore up operations and return to the basic principles of professionalism to offer first-class service. This was possible due to his strong background in operations which further helped him to understand the value of systems and efficiency.
He believes that true wealth transcends just money. It includes things that are more valuable like respect and time. “Everyone enjoys first-class, so that’s all we deliver. Simply showing up, having integrity, and pressing into the opportunities before you can set you apart from the sea of those who are clamoring for business,” he adds.
Early Entrepreneurial Episodes
Joshua Sherrard had an inclination for business from a young age. In fact, he started his first substantial business at the early age of 12 and was consistently finding ways to offer services throughout his teens and early twenties.
“I was exposed to finance as a teenager when I interned at a large financial company in Honolulu,” he says. While his career began in finance through these internships, he found himself devoting his life for a decade to Christian ministry.
During that time, he led organizations with multi-million-dollar budgets and had the privilege of overseeing hundreds of staff. “Not only was this experience rewarding and enriching, but it also gave me exposure to operations, stewardship and communications,” he says.
Starting His First-Class Advisory
In 2012, Joshua began to explore transitioning from his role as a full-time pastor to businessman and surveyed several entrepreneurs to find out their greatest pain-points.
Later, he identified taxes as a primary concern. This led him on a journey to find ways to help entrepreneurs be as efficient as possible with their taxes.
Today, his company Strategic Navigators Inc. (SNI), provides best-in-class legal, accounting, and financial coaching strategies to empower business owners. An average SNI client saves 40-60% on their income taxes. The money that his company helps to save becomes “found” money that is later deployed for powerful tax-free wealth generation.
“The sophisticated strategies we offer can save a business from being sold, typically empowers the owner to retire comfortably, while being generous and still leaving a significant legacy. This multi-layered approach is something that brings me great joy to present,” he says.
Additionally, his experienced team is dedicated to providing solutions and help achieve both personal and business goals. Moreover, he credits a huge portion of his success to them, “Part of what has allowed me to flourish has been gathering a best-in-class team around me and offering services that are unique to our clientele,” he says.
Succeeding In the Ever-Evolving Landscape
Over the past years, Joshua and his company have expanded their offerings to include nationwide accounting services, in-house estate planning and an in-house financial planning firm.
As the face and voice of the organization with regards to sales, promotion and vision, he found that many of the businesses that he worked with were using antiquated accounting principles and strategies.
“Even though the owners have desperately sought out ways to save money on taxes, when we step into the conversation with them, they are relieved and generally wish they had met us 10 years ago,” he adds candidly.
Currently, Joshua’s role in the company has transformed drastically. Earlier, like most start-ups, he wore several hats and handled everything. But now, he has a team of skilled people that makes running SNI a fun, collaborative and flawless process.
The Trail from Success To Significance
As a Business Family Coaching boutique, Joshua Sherrard has distinguished himself in the financial industry by making integrity as one of his highest values and the only formula for his success.
“We are committed to not overpromising, being conservative in our estimates and simply delivering what we say we will,” he shares.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Joshua brings his rich global experience to the financial industry. He works with wealthy business families and successful business owners – those who take home gross income of over $500,000 a year.
He, then, elevates their success and maximizes it to accommodate tax-free income in retirement, personal financing, lending needs, philanthropic passions, and legacy desires. “Significance is doing all of this while continuing to drive on as an entrepreneur,” he says.
He is continuously inspired to help entrepreneurs make a bigger splash with their family, their friends and their community. As a business coach, he empowers these business owners to save more money, be free from future worries and guide them to follow the rules to be compliant with the IRS.
He also believes that building strong relationships is at the heart of client satisfaction. “Being empathetic as a fellow entrepreneur and identifying the giftedness of each client has helped to maximize a camaraderie with the clientele,” he fondly adds.
Turning Challenges Into Life Lessons
Joshua realizes that the journey of an entrepreneur is a unique rollercoaster ride. It is riddled with challenges – losing sleep every night, waking up with a sense of uncertainty, bearing the burden of making sure salaries are paid and the lights stay on, yet with these challenges he awaits greater joys.
Invariably, he loves the fact that he has the luxury of not working for anyone and gets to enjoy great flexibility after reaching a level of success.
“Being able to identify with these experiences has helped me coach business owners through challenging situations, business sales and business transitions, with the success to significance mantra in mind. Beyond simple relationships, we deliver, period. Do what you say and say what you do,” he concludes.
However, over the course of the years, he had partnerships that went sour and hired individuals that simply didn’t work out. But he takes these experiences as lessons and says, “Hindsight is 20/20 and I don’t like to look back with regret.”
“I believe all of our experiences are baked into us and help render the character and persona that we have. While the journey has been difficult at times, I can’t say that I would trade it for another,” he adds.
He also feels that one of the greatest enemies of success is disrupted focus. As a result, he has tried to keep his eye on the ball, but has admittedly been distracted from time to time. “If I could keep the partnerships at bay, maximize strategic relationships and focus better, I believe SNI would be further along,” he candidly shares.
Listen And Lead With Your Heart
Joshua believes in the many pieces of wisdom that we all hear sporadically —use other people’s money judiciously, don’t spend more than you make and pay yourself first.
In addition to these, he finds that it is important to add proper structure to your business and keep a balanced budget. “There are strategies out there that can be a game-changer as you start to be profitable,” he adds.
He also shares that humility and integrity are rare gems in the finance and tax space. The balance between them, along with aggressive growth and creativity is a sweet spot you should strive to find sooner than later. “I am a big advocate of listening to those who have gone before you,” he says.
Amplifying His Vision for The Future
Joshua’s hope for Strategic Navigators Inc. is to steadily increase his company’s impact. He also plans to shore up and stay efficient. “I feel we have built out our various branches and sister companies, but would like to expand our client base significantly,” he adds.
From the beginning, he envisioned building a non-profit that would be a significant beneficiary of his success. Today, he has built that non-profit and it has had a global impact in the areas of Christian Ministry, Humanitarianism and Education. “My dream is to deploy more and more into these causes in the years to come,” he adds.
He also believes his company is a gift that he has received and hopes that it will flourish during his lifetime and be something that he can pass onto the next generation.
“I plan to be very selective with future hires and partnerships and want to experience maximized joy in the journey. The more I can mitigate the little things that can so easily entangle us, the smoother sailing it will be,” he shares.
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