When I first started working with January Donovan, I thought I knew what I needed. I had a clear picture of the skills I wanted to grow in, both professionally and personally. What I didn’t expect was how much the process would reveal. The more I learned, the more I realized there were skills I hadn’t even known to look for, skills I would need to show up well for my family, my clients, and the people around me.
That experience is a big part of why I was so excited to co-host this episode of the Wealth and Purpose Podcast with Brady and to sit down with January again. January is the founder of The Woman School, a bestselling author, and a mother of eight. Her work centers on helping women develop the mindset, skills, and formation to live an integrated, flourishing life. As a Family Wealth Strategist at TFO, I spend much of my time thinking about how women are building, leading, and stewarding wealth. Some estimates suggest more than $120 trillion1 will change hands in America over the next two decades, and women will play an extraordinary role in how that unfolds. This conversation reminded me why preparing the woman matters just as much as preparing the wealth.
What I Learned When I Stopped Trying to Fix Everything
One of the ideas January shared with our team at TFO has stayed with all of us: we have to stop fixing problems and start forming people. In the episode, she explained that our culture tends to focus on fixing women after something breaks, rather than forming them before the pressure arrives. Many women I know, myself included, have lived in fix-it mode. We solve the next problem at work, the next need at home, the next crisis in the family, and we rarely step back to ask who we are becoming along the way.
January’s point is that the purpose of wealth is to bring forth good. But if the woman stewarding it is exhausted, anxious, or unsure of her own worth, that good gets harder to realize. This is true whether a woman has built a business, is growing her retirement savings, or is helping her family plan for what comes next. The size of the balance sheet matters less than the readiness of the person managing it.
Knowing About Money Is Not the Same as Being Ready for It
When Brady asked January about the difference between information and formation, she offered an analogy I’ve since repeated to clients. If you wanted to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming and read every book on the subject but never got in the pool, you would never become Michael Phelps. Knowledge alone doesn’t produce the result. Training does.
In my work, I see how much information families already have. They have plans, documents, and account statements. What January calls formation is the daily practice of actually using it: practicing budgeting, practicing planning, and learning to manage our emotions so we don’t make reactive decisions with money. It is the difference between knowing something and becoming someone who lives it. For women at every stage of building wealth, that practice is what turns information into confidence.
A Language for the Whole Woman
During my time working with January, one of the most helpful tools she taught me was her framework of eight arenas: self-image, health, friendship, marriage, contribution, environment, wealth, and family life. What I love about it is that it gives women a shared language. When something in life feels off, it’s hard to fix it until you can name where it’s coming from. The arenas give you a way to find the source.
I asked January to describe what a well-formed woman looks like, and her answer started with self-worth. A woman who knows her value isn’t defined by how much money she makes, what she wears, or what she achieves, and every decision flows from that foundation. Just as important, she said the goal isn’t perfect balance. Some arenas will run lower in certain seasons, like when you’re caring for aging parents or raising young children. The goal is paying attention to every part of your life and having the skills to recalibrate. I also appreciated how she defines wealth itself, as time, treasure, and talent used for contribution. That definition reaches far beyond any account balance.
Capable Is Not the Same as Called
One question I was especially eager to ask January was about the woman in the middle of everything. She’s raising children, caring for her parents, and pursuing a meaningful career, all at once. She is incredibly capable. But just because she can do it all doesn’t mean she’s called to carry it all. Brady and I have written about this season before, the person squeezed in the middle and pulled in every direction, and I see it constantly in the women we serve.
January named the real temptation in this season: exhaustion. Capable women are pushed personally and professionally, and it’s easy to forget what our bodies, minds, and spirits need. Her advice was to become very clear on saying no to the good in order to say yes to the great. That phrase has become a filter I use in my own life. Formation gives women the skills to prioritize what matters most, so these demanding years are lived fully instead of simply survived.
Every Season Asks Something New of Us
Throughout the episode, we walked through different seasons of a woman’s life, and January’s message was consistent: formation is a lifelong journey. For a 16 year old, it means building clarity that she is here to create and contribute, along with practical skills like managing her mind, her emotions, and her routines. January reminded us that confidence comes from competence. Every skill we help a young woman build prepares her for what’s ahead.
For the woman at 30, formation means intentionally designing each arena of her life rather than letting a busy season pass in a blur. And for women in their later years, January spoke about something I found deeply moving. Many women in this season underestimate their wisdom because they look back with eyes of failure instead of eyes of wisdom. She encouraged them to see their wounds as a compass pointing toward their greatest contribution. It’s not the end of the story. It’s the beginning of a new season, one where wealth, wisdom, and experience can become a powerful force for good.
What This Means for the Women and Families We Serve
At the end of our conversation, I asked January what she would tell a family who has worked hard, built significant wealth, and wants to know the single best thing they can do to prepare the next generation. Her answer was simple: form them very intentionally. Don’t just hand someone wealth. Form them so they can build a life that is rich far beyond money. As January put it, generational flourishing can only come from generational formation.
That is the heart of what I want to help women and families do at TFO. Whether you’ve built a business, are steadily growing your savings, or are preparing someone you love for the responsibility ahead, the same truth applies. The plan and the portfolio matter. But the person stewarding them matters most. If you’d like to talk about what that preparation could look like for you or your family, I would love to have that conversation.
