Kathryn Shirley enjoys being her own boss because of the control over her schedule and her financial success.“The greater my hustle, the greater my earning potential,” Shirley said. “While I don’t ever think about trading it all in for a steady paycheck, I do miss those direct deposits that hit my bank account, without fail, every two weeks.”Shirley is the founder and head of World Management Solutions Inc., a Calabasas business management company with a focus on accounting, bookkeeping, taxation services and consulting.
The firm’s clients are companies, individuals and nonprofit organizations. Its target customer is a small business owner and those in the entertainment industry, including professional athletes, she said.
“However, we also service doctors, lawyers, educators and more,” Shirley added.
The best aspect of running her own business is that she can witness the impact that her work has on the clients and their families. Part of her work helps the client achieve financial freedom, she said.
“It is so gratifying to watch families grow, businesses grow and ultimately watch people retire and enjoy the fruits of their labor,” Shirley said.But the flipside is that of being paid. Shirley said that it is a tough balancing act sometimes while waiting to be paid for services rendered.“It’s a challenge when hard-working Americans, especially in small business, have difficulty making ends meet,” she added. “In turn, my business occasionally bears the burden of having to wait to be compensated.”Apart from not always being paid on time, the biggest challenge faced by Shirley at World Management is there not being enough hours in the day and not being able to help everybody who comes to the firm.
It hurts, Shirley said, to turn away prospective clients.“However, because we surround ourselves with a strong network of trusted advisors, we make referrals,” she said. “Outside of that, we truly have been blessed.”Being an African-American in the financial services industry has benefited her because she feels she gets a better opportunity to serve the underserved, Shirley continued.
“As Judge Learned Hand eloquently said, ‘Anyone may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes,’” she added “As such, it’s my duty to make sure that as many people as possible have that chance to lower their tax burden.”When it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, it has not changed logistically how Shirley operates World Management.
“As long as we have a laptop, the Internet and accounting/tax software, we can work from home or office,” she said. “As such, being on lockdown isn’t a stretch.”Her workload has increased because in order to take advantage of the benefits of the CARES Act passed in the spring, many businesses had to catch up on taxes and begin to keep accurate books and records, Shirley said, adding, “We benefited from that.”
Black ENTREPRENEURS MONTH: Kathryn Shirley World Management Solutions Inc.
