Episode 010
Audra Smith
Do you feel like you have to change who you are to succeed in a male-dominated industry? In this episode of Women’s Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang sits down with Audra Smith, Regional Sales Manager for Principal Financial Group and a 30-year veteran of the financial industry.
Audra shares her powerful “Heads Up, Heels Down” philosophy—a lesson from horse riding that she applies to navigating business opportunities and staying grounded during challenges. She also opens up about her journey from trying to be “one of the boys” to realizing that her best self is her authentic self.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
-The “Heads Up, Heels Down” mantra for staying aware and avoiding failure.
-Why you should never be afraid to bring in experts who are smarter than you.
-How to balance facts, data, and logic with “gut reaction” in high-stakes decisions.
-Why failing is actually an essential part of getting it right.
"I used to think I had to be one of the guys, but I learned that to be my best self, I had to get really comfortable with being myself."
[00:00:00] Welcome to women’s million dollar conversations with Alice Tang, where we share stories from successful business women who have saved, earn or sold over a million dollars and discuss how they build their success and insights to help you achieve your goals. Now let’s join the conversation.
[00:00:20] Alice Tang: We are very happy to have Audra Smith. One of my good friends with us on women’s million dollar conversation. Welcome, Audra.
[00:00:29] Audra Smith: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.
[00:00:32] Alice Tang: Audra. Tell us about your background.
[00:00:35] Audra Smith: Absolutely. So again, my name is Audra Smith and I am in the financial industry and I focus specifically on employee benefits and business owners.
[00:00:46] Alice Tang: Very good. And how long have you been in the industry?
[00:00:49] Audra Smith: Oh my gosh. I’ve been in the industry for more than 30 years. I started out as a part-time job while still going to college.
[00:00:59] Alice Tang: Excellent.
[00:01:00] Excellent. So how long does it take for you to get to that million dollar?
[00:01:03] Audra Smith: It was honestly, it was a slow role is what I would like to say. And I really thought about that and probably a good 26 years.
[00:01:15] Alice Tang: Wow. Wow. That’s a lot of hard work. Having a marriage, having a child, I know, and building your career, moving from one state to another couple times, at least.
[00:01:25] Audra Smith: And not really starting in the financial like planning world. So learning about the industry, learning about this wonderful again, industry that we’re in and then choosing, making these very specific decisions to choose a path that could get me on the path to become very financially successful.
[00:01:49] Alice Tang: And you are very successful in my eyes. I look up to you all the time, Audra. All right. Let’s check a little bit about the feeling. If you recall when you hit that million dollar how did it make you [00:02:00] feel?
[00:02:01] Audra Smith: Yeah. I remember, you look at your, whether it’s your 401k or your savings or doing your taxes.
And I just remember that moment of there was a sigh relief a little bit, because I think that is that first touch point of saying, okay, you’ve got this. And then for me, the second feeling was like, okay, how do you duplicate this? So it was a sigh of relief, but also enthusiasm to try and do it again and maybe at a faster or shorter time period.
[00:02:36] Alice Tang: Awesome. Awesome. One of our guests many interviews ago have said that he, that million reframe what is possible. I think probably that’s what you meant. You want to double, how do I double it?
[00:02:47] Audra Smith: Right!
[00:02:49] Alice Tang: Sooner than 26 years. Yes. And of course you have the experience, you have the skills, so you don’t need to repeat trial and error on some of the things that you’ve done in the first [00:03:00] 26 years to get there.
[00:03:01] Audra Smith: Right.
Play How Long Does It Take for You To Get to that Million Dollars
[00:03:03] Alice Tang: What is the biggest bias you ever have faced? And a lot of people would think that I meant gender. I don’t mean gender or anything. I’m open. It could be a gender bias. Could be some crazyness. That is a bias against you.
[00:03:20] Audra Smith: And mine is going to be a little bit of a mix. So part of it was my own bias on myself, my own self-limiting beliefs of, can I do this? I can’t do this. You’re not good enough. And it, that sounds. A little bit cheesy, but you really do have that self doubt.
In addition to that, I did run into some biases, being a female leader in a more sales leadership, dominated industry. Being one female amongst 16 male leaders. There’s some uniqueness going on there. And is there bias? I don’t know. We could, maybe [00:04:00] we need to interview all of them as well. To get that true answer.
[00:04:02] Alice Tang: I’m sure that you get to board meetings or team meeting with the other 15 wonderful man in the room. I just want you to share with the audience how do you prepare your mindset when you walk in that room?
Whether it is virtual or physical.
[00:04:20] Audra Smith: So I’m gonna tell you how I did it in the past. And it was the wrong way. And it was also a very old thought process that I think a lot of women had, which was I needed to be one of the guys I needed to be one of the boys. And what I learned was that no, my best self is who I am. So stop, pretending and get really comfortable with being myself and who I am and walk into that room with your head held high.
[00:04:54] Alice Tang: Walk into that room with your head held high. Because your best self is [00:05:00] yourself. Wow. That’s powerful. In your journey, success, of course you have had many big decision you got to make. How do you process a huge decision, especially when the stacks are really high, you share with our audience?
[00:05:17] Audra Smith: Sure. I think you always have to start with the facts data and logic, but don’t forget the emotional intelligence side of the decision making process as well. So don’t just look at whether or not it’s the right decision on paper.
Let your gut also be part of that whether it’s a business decision, personal decision. I think those two things balancing those two are just as critical in the importance of evaluating, whether you take on a new industry, whether you move across the country, like I did in order to better myself in my roles.
Or to move back after 20 years, there’s a lot of big decisions. And then from a business [00:06:00] standpoint, probably a little more leaning towards the fact data, logic, financials strategy, looking at the bigger picture, but there’s still a little bit of that gut reaction that comes into business as well.
So again, don’t be so headstrong and thinking that it has to be one path or the other. Be able to take a step back, really look at every angle and solutions where, if you’re in sales or really, if you’re just a problem solver in general. You’re looking at what needs to be solved and make sure you’re looking at it from everybody’s perspective. I think if we slow down enough to do that and get everyone’s perspective, you’re gonna make a really good decision.
[00:06:40] Alice Tang: How do you slow yourself down? I know you drive a million miles in a Ferrari every day, knowing what you do.
[00:06:50] Audra Smith: Ah I wish I had that Ferrari. Maybe that’s where that…
[00:06:53] Alice Tang: But emotionally you have the emotional Ferrari who is like from the GetGo in the morning from 4:30 is it, [00:07:00] boom boom. Go.
[00:07:00] Audra Smith: Sure. I, now I do drive a convertible in Arizona, which is a lot of fun. I’m not gonna lie, but it’s not the Ferrari. Yeah, I think again, being very mindful set the time, if it’s a really big decision, if it’s a life changing decision, you better slow that calendar down and you better block off some time to really think things through.
If it’s more of that business decision, some business decisions as, have to come very quickly and I think from a business side of the house, it would be more of just getting all of the extra noise out of the way. So you can laser focus on the issue. And then again, if you have the luxury of blocking out some time and bringing in experts, that’s the other thing don’t be so fearful of others that may be smarter than you. Bring them in. If they’re an expert financially, if they’re an expert from an underwriting standpoint or they’re an expert, whatever in life in [00:08:00] general, bring those experts in, be humble enough to say I’m not an expert in this area, but I have to make a really tough decision. So together let’s figure this out.
[00:08:12] Alice Tang: Be humble and bring the experts in what I heard. Now, perhaps you have already touched upon our, one of our next questions is what is the number one piece of advice for women who aspire to be an Audra, want to get there just like you do. Want to get to their million dollar.
[00:08:30] Audra Smith: Oh wow. I think there’s quite a few things, but the basics are still going to come down to work hard. Absolutely be yourself. And then there’s this saying of, that actually has to do with horses, believe it or not, but I’ve adopted it for business. And it is, head up heals down. So you’ll hear me reference that a lot.
So when you’re riding a horse, it’s you need to keep your head up so you can look all around, see what’s going
[00:09:00] on. So you don’t fall off heels down with a horse. Same thing. If that horse comes to a complete stop, you don’t wanna go head over heel and fall so keep your heels down.
So I love that for being a female leader is heads up, keep your head up, look all around. What’s going around you? Be very aware of that, right? And then heels down you, or you already know. I love shoes. So let’s put those heels down on the ground. Let’s hustle hit the streets. Let’s you know, again, it’s about working hard, but being very aware of your surroundings as well as your opportunities, don’t be afraid to fall. Don’t be afraid to fail. Get back up, do it again until you get it right.
I’ve fallen and I’ve failed many times, but I’m so much better for it and I’m gonna keep doing it. I’m gonna keep falling. I’m gonna keep failing in hopefully small ways in order to learn.
[00:09:55] Alice Tang: Keep failing forward, and I will make it way [00:10:00] better. And getting closer to that million dollars we are talking about. Wonderful.
I’m sure in your 30 years of successful journey you have very tough situation where you say, God, I can’t do this anymore. I really want to quit. What makes you keep going?
[00:10:23] Audra Smith: That’s a really good question. But it’s still that drive. It’s still that drive to succeed. It’s still what’s in front of me. What have I not reached yet? And if that means I need to take a step back because maybe those goals I set for myself need to be adjusted or changed or completely turned down a different path.
That’s okay. But evaluate that. Set new goals, set new things that you wanna do. And that can be work-life balance. It doesn’t have to be a financial goal or the next promotion within a company. It can be a personal goal, more [00:11:00] time with your family. What have you, but adjust. And just get reengaged. I, I don’t know.
It’s just a lot of positive affirmation about what you wanna do will keep me going. If I’ve had a day or two of a slump, but usually it’s not more than that. So yeah.
[00:11:18] Alice Tang: Well, you touch upon balance a couple of times. I want to just share and I’m crazy about building wealth, but it’s not necessarily the wealth of money. Of course, nobody can live without money, but it could be a wealth of time. Like you said, spend more time with family. That’s what money can buy wealth of health, wealth of community, wealth of spiritual experience. Anything that we could think of wealth relationship with the append word.
I’m still playing between the two, but I just felt that you spoke to my heart.
[00:11:55] Audra Smith: Yeah. Yeah. The balance is really important. As you know, Alice, I just [00:12:00] made a really big change. After spending 20 years in the Pacific Northwest, I made a choice along with my husband. We made a choice together that we would go ahead and move back to the valley of the sun, Phoenix and our family is here.
That was a big choice. It was a choice financially. It was a choice for my career, but it was also a personal choice to be able to spend more time with family. So it, those decisions have to be made all encompassing
[00:12:34] Alice Tang: Very well said. So last question. What is one piece of very good advice or very bad advice that had impacted you in a very big way in your life. And, do you mind sharing?
[00:12:46] Audra Smith: Yeah. And I’m gonna give you two answers. I’m gonna give you a bad and a future good. How’s that? So the bad one was and I think everybody has this person probably in their life where it is [00:13:00] all about money. So the bad advice is I, you know, sort of that movie show me the money, is you know, it’s all about money. It’s not. So this particular person in my life, no matter whether it’s a promotion or something good is happening, the response always is, oh I hope you got a big bonus for that. Oh, I hope you got paid for that. Everything is related to money for this particular person. It’s that friend or person, Wants to tell you how much they spent on everything. Right? . Again, I talked about I love shoes, whether you pay a, a really high amount for a pair of shoes or you fight ’em on sale at target, it doesn’t matter. It’s a cute pair of shoes. It doesn’t matter about the money from that standpoint for my quick little analogy there.
So the bad advice is it’s not all about money and if that’s all you’re focused on and that’s all you talk about in a way that it’s more materialistic. Versus[00:14:00] planning and good planning, things like that. Then that’s bad advice. It’s not all about money. It’s about freedom and choice. Money can help you have more choices in life. And I think that’s what most of us strive for is to be able to have the flexibility, to make choices when we need to and want to.
[00:14:19] Alice Tang: So that sounds like freedom is the value of money for you.
[00:14:24] Audra Smith: It is for me, the value of money is it opens up choice and opportunity.
[00:14:30] Alice Tang: Well, here is a good place for us to actually close this conversation by saying perhaps about 10 years ago, we met through financial services membership. We kept in touch despite of the fact that many things happen. Good, bad challenges, difficulty we’ve never failed to connect.
Sometimes we didn’t see each other for a year, but most of the time I think we have a happy hour, a tea or something, or these days it’s zoom. We are living in different states. It’s really that [00:15:00] mastermind without us knowing we are masterminding.
[00:15:04] Audra Smith: True. It’s a chance to catch up as friends and yet. We are so fulfilled, I think when we leave and inspired and that’s what you bring to people, Alice. So again it’s been an incredible 10 years and I look forward to the next 10 years.
[00:15:22] Alice Tang: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much Audra for spending, your time with us. Your friend better buy that time is money, but you are gifting that time not only to me, so that I learn more about how you think and be able to copy catch you, cuz always borrow other people’s experience better than I spent three years to learn it. And I think that a lot of people will benefit from your advice.
[00:15:46] Audra Smith: I hope so. And again, thank you. All right. See you soon.
Audra is the Regional Sales Manager, Group Employee Benefits for the Principal Financial Group.
Audra has more than 30 years in both Underwriting and Sales in the employee benefit financial services industry. She manages the Phoenix region. She and her team partner with Employee Benefit Consultants and Employers in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Las Vegas & El Paso.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies from Arizona State University and has her Disability Income Fellowship Designation. She holds present and past board positions with Association of Health Underwriters, Women in Financial Services and Rotary International.
Audra’s recent Awards include Principal’s 2018 Corporate Advocacy for Women Award and most recently, the “Better Together for Financial Literacy” – teaching Junior Achievement Students about the importance of saving for their futures.
She is enjoying her recent move from the Pacific Northwest for the past 20 years to the Valley of the Sun where she is golfing, riding horses, and spending time her husband, son and two dogs: “Chief and Major”.