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BY JOHN L. SMALLWOOD, CFP ere is a particular kind of entrepreneur that the wealth management industry consistently underser ves. Not the startup founder chasing a single exit or the executive climbing a corporate ladder toward a pension. It's the builder who never stops building, the creative who turns one idea into a brand, that brand into a platform, and that platform into a new set of businesses. Margaret Josephs is that entrepreneur. Long before the cameras of e Real Housewives of New Jersey found her, she was already a decade into building the Macbeth Collection—a global lifestyle brand she launched in 1999 from a creative instinct and a trip to Home Depot. By the time she joined the Bravo cast in 2017, her products were in Walmart, her brand had crossed the $30 million mark in annual sales, and she had established herself, in her own words, as an influencer before there were influencers. Since then she has added Candie Couture, the Soirée mocktail line, a memoir, a podcast, and a growing roster of brand partnerships. The cover of this issue is a celebration of that story. But it asks the question that the most successful builders often forget: is the financial infrastructure underneath all of this growing at the same rate as the businesses on top of it? The Tax Problem Inside Every Great Brand Story Here is what the business press rarely covers when it celebrates entrepreneurs like Margaret Josephs: the tax exposure that accumulates alongside the success. When income arrives from multiple directions simultaneously, the combined tax drag on that income can be extraordinary. Between federal rates, the state's income tax structure, and the absence of meaningful pass-through deduction planning at the entity level, high-income business owners in the Garden State are among the most overtaxed entrepreneurs in the country. Building Enterprise Value Is a Tax Strategy e most important reframe available to a multi-business owner is this: tax reduction is not a year-end exercise. It is a continuous, structural act of enterprise value creation. The way income is classified, entities are organized, compensation is designed, and profits Margaret Josephs built an empire from a metal bucket and a Home Depot run. Learn the strategy every multi-business owner needs to protect what they build next. Caviar Dreams, Real Numbers VUE ON | FINANCE 96 VUENJ.COM

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