Women's World: Qualified Pension Services

In 10 years, the company has grown tenfold from about 30 clients to 300. But owners Faith Irmen and Susan Worley still vividly remember the day – and the moment – when they decided to go into the male-dominated retirement plan field, a terrifying gamble that has paid off handsomely.

Irmen was forced into starting the company in 1997, then called FGI Pension Services Inc. She had been managing retirement planning for a local estate-planning firm, and when the firm suddenly closed, Irmen was left holding the pension clients.

So she started working out of her basement.

Through a mutual client, she met Worley, who was doing similar work for a local accounting firm.

“There’s not that many people in Springfield who do what we do, so we got to talking,” Worley recalls. “It was nice to meet someone who spoke the same language.”

Irmen agrees: “My family still doesn’t understand what I do.”

The two women started meeting for lunch and became friends.

One day in January 1998, the two met at Chili’s. Earlier that day, Irmen had landed a big client.

So when Worley, who’d had a particularly frustrating day at work, mentioned that she just wanted to own her own business, Irmen asked her exactly how serious she was about that.

They talked, and the idea of becoming partners seemed more and more plausible.

“We were shaking,” Irmen remembers.

“By the end of that lunch, I went back and gave my notice,” Worley says.

Earning respect

Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing from there.

After all, they were two women who had to prove themselves in a field that’s traditionally dominated by men. It was especially challenging when the women were a little younger and the firm was a little newer.

They both remember prospective clients – particularly prospective male clients – who were initially skeptical of their abilities.

“But by the time we’re done (with our presentation), they are begging us to help them. Pretty soon, they don’t care that you’re a woman,” Irmen says. “When you walk in, you have to earn their respect. When you walk out, you have their respect.”

Their experience is not unusual, according to Janice Bowman, a business development specialist for the U.S. Small Business Administration in Springfield.

“Women still have problems being taken seriously,” Bowman said. “There are definitely still barriers.”

Last year, only about 16 percent – 70 out of a total 430 – of the loans made by the Springfield SBA went to companies that were at least 51 percent women-owned. This mirrors national trends, Bowman says.

At the same time, “women-owned businesses are the fastest-growing segment of all small businesses, growing by 23 percent between 1997 and 2004, compared to 9 percent” overall for U.S. businesses, Bowman adds.

Set apart

For Irmen and Worley, being women-owned has set apart their company from traditional financial services firms.

They are more flexible in terms of time off for family issues. They run an informal office where they often wear slippers for the sake of comfort. They take lots of holidays and, during the slow season, often take Fridays off too. They consider their five employees almost like family.

That attitude has paid off in a very obvious way: In almost 10 years in business, no employee has ever willingly left QPS. (Irmen and Worley have fired a few people, however.) That’s particularly valuable in an industry where it takes about three years for an employee to become fully versed in the details.

And, of course, Irmen and Worley have seen their efforts pay off in QPS’ success. Since it opened, the company has experienced double-digit growth every year.

In 2004, Irmen and Worley decided to move out of a 1,200-square-foot, windowless strip-mall office. They built a $600,000, 3,800-square-foot building in Chesterfield Village.

“We were tired of paying someone else’s mortgage,” Irmen says. “Now it doesn’t hurt so bad to write those big checks every month.”

Niche Market

QPS designs and administers 401(k) and retirement plans for small companies, which are often overlooked by larger retirement plan companies. The vast majority of QPS’ clients employ fewer than 100 people and some have only one employee. Though most of its clients are in southwest Missouri, QPS has clients in eight states in the financial, grocery, health care and manufacturing industries.

Qualified Pension Services

Owners: Faith Irmen and Susan Worley

Founded: 1997

Address: 3859 S. Cox Ave. (Chesterfield Village), Springfield, MO 65807

Phone: (417) 522-7526

Fax: (417) 522-7527

Services: Legal expertise in drafting and administrating 401(k) and other retirement plans

Employees: 7