Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, Hey, you know I add a little extra,
Speaker 1: you know, because you know.
Speaker 2: Tiffany.
Speaker 3: Hey, guys, Happy Brian and Vision Wednesday. Officially it's Mandy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh anything new coming up? Oh you're gonna miss
Speaker 1: me in a minute, Mandy, I'm gonna be gone for
Speaker 1: two whole weeks.
Speaker 2: How would you deal?
Speaker 3: I know, I think that we're going to be okay.
Speaker 3: I mean, we love you and the show would be
Speaker 3: nothing without you obviously, But like I said, we've got
Speaker 3: some really good guests lined up for the next couple
Speaker 3: of weeks. Next week, we're going to have our fairy
Speaker 3: fairy money godmother herself, Lynette Califani Cox joining the show
Speaker 3: and we'll talk about all kinds of fun stuff. I
Speaker 3: think her biggest episode with us so far has been
Speaker 3: about the power negotiating and she gets real real like
Speaker 3: first of all, like talk about life experience. She has
Speaker 3: the most amazing stories about actual times she has gotten
Speaker 3: more of herself, not to mention launching, you know, running
Speaker 3: this huge business that she has as the money coach,
Speaker 3: which she's had for like a decade now or more so.
Speaker 3: Lynette will be on next week, and then we have
Speaker 3: our fave Sandy Smith from Yes I Am Cheap joining
Speaker 3: the show, and Sandy has made a name for herself
Speaker 3: with all the side hustles and showing how you can
Speaker 3: you can have a stable life, stable nine to five
Speaker 3: and then also bring inside income. And I'm really excited
Speaker 3: to have her on Social Beyond next next week.
Speaker 1: I love them both, honestly, they're so dope. Speaking of
Speaker 1: like Lynette, you know, she was like one of my
Speaker 1: very first mentors in the space. And actually, you know,
Speaker 1: it's only recently like that folks have been talking about
Speaker 1: the difference between mentor and sponsor. Have you been like
Speaker 1: listening to kind of like that not debate, but that
Speaker 1: kind of that discussion.
Speaker 3: No sponsor, like I just thought of like alcoholics anonymous
Speaker 3: or something.
Speaker 1: No, So apparently like your mentor is a person that
Speaker 1: kind of like gives you advice, like, hey girl, don't
Speaker 1: worry that you look crazy. You know, Hey girl, don't
Speaker 1: talk to boss like that you're going to get fired,
Speaker 1: you know. But your sponsor is like, I'm in the room,
Speaker 1: and I really think that Mandy deserves this race, Mandy,
Speaker 1: you know, like, for example, Lynette, I didn't realize I
Speaker 1: used to call Lynette my mentor, but honestly, she was
Speaker 1: like both a mentor and a sponsor. I remember when
Speaker 1: I first met Lynnette. I was at this Black Enterprise event.
Speaker 1: It had to be like seven years ago.
Speaker 2: She was so nice.
Speaker 1: We were following each other on Twitter, but I didn't
Speaker 1: know what she looked like. I mean, well, he's not
Speaker 1: in person, so I didn't recognize her. Meanwhile, my cheeky
Speaker 1: self asked her to take a picture of me and
Speaker 1: Sola Dad O'Brien. I was like, oh, hey, lady, don't
Speaker 1: know who you are. Can't get the picture of me.
Speaker 2: She was so nice, and then afterwards she's like I
Speaker 2: tipped me. I was like, oh, hey, you know my name?
Speaker 1: Because I stood up like you could ask like a
Speaker 1: question to like Sola Dad. There was like a panel
Speaker 1: and I stood up. I said, Hi, I'm Tiffany. You
Speaker 1: have a business called the Budgeanisa. So that's told she
Speaker 1: knew because she didn't know what I looked like either.
Speaker 1: So she came over. She's like, hey, Tiffany, you know
Speaker 1: you're the Bunchanisa.
Speaker 2: I was like yes.
Speaker 1: I was like, look, someone recognizes me. Meanwhile, I stood
Speaker 1: up and said I am Sifney the bunch of sa
Speaker 1: and so she was like, oh, I'm Lynette cor fiddy car.
Speaker 1: I melted on the floor. I was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry. I asked you to take a picture
Speaker 2: with her.
Speaker 1: Because like, so that a browny was cool, but like
Speaker 1: I stand for Lynette, like you know, she was just
Speaker 1: so nice to via Twitter. She was just so knowledgeable,
Speaker 1: and so that day she Lynette. She since moved, but
Speaker 1: she used to live in Mountainside, New Jersey, which is
Speaker 1: like right next to the city where my parents lived
Speaker 1: on Westfield, And she was going headed back to Jersey
Speaker 1: and she said, you know, how'd you get out here?
Speaker 1: I said the train? She said, you want to ride back?
Speaker 1: And I was like what, uh yeah, And so we
Speaker 1: drove back. There was so much traffic. What would have
Speaker 1: been a forty five minute drive ended up being like
Speaker 1: a two hour drive. And she proceeded to poor, I mean,
Speaker 1: everything into me so much, so I took out a
Speaker 1: notebook so much so. So that's mentoring, right, yeahic advice.
Speaker 1: But what she did that was even more amazing. She said,
Speaker 1: have you ever been on TV? And I was like no.
Speaker 2: She's like, do you want to be?
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, She made a phone call right
Speaker 1: there in the car to pix eleven News, which is
Speaker 1: a local New York Like you know, pix eleven local
Speaker 1: New York kind of like I guess try state area, right,
Speaker 1: would you say pix eleven is Mandy?
Speaker 2: Have you ever watched pix eleven News.
Speaker 3: I've done pix eleven. I don't know where they broadcast.
Speaker 3: I don't assume they broadcast it somewhere I never checked.
Speaker 4: I think sounds about.
Speaker 1: New York, right, It's all like pretty local, but still
Speaker 1: like I mean, still a huge deal to me because
Speaker 1: I grew up watching pick eleven. And so she was
Speaker 1: like she called the producers and said, you know how
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to fawn next week? I have somebody else
Speaker 1: I would I think it should come on. She gave
Speaker 1: me her spot, Mandra, and I was like looking at
Speaker 1: her like, ma'am, I.
Speaker 3: Don't buppity boop to stare that money godmother real.
Speaker 1: And that's a sponsor. A spot gives you more than advice,
Speaker 1: you know what it is. A sponsor gives you opportunity,
Speaker 1: real opportunity. And it wasn't just she just said, hey,
Speaker 1: take my spot. Because Lynette is so confident like, girl,
Speaker 1: they will have me back whenever I want. She was like,
Speaker 1: right before you go on, I'll do some media training
Speaker 1: with you. Oh okay, stranger lady from Twitter.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it. She did.
Speaker 1: She she coached me so well, ended up doing well,
Speaker 1: and ended up going on fairly regularly. You know, once
Speaker 1: when Lynette was.
Speaker 2: Free was not free.
Speaker 1: They're like, girl, you cute, but we want Linette. I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm fine with that. But yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: not easy to find. Have you ever had like a
Speaker 1: sponsor sponsor.
Speaker 4: Like, no, no one or supports me like, oh man,
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: You know, sometimes there's there may be people, and I
Speaker 3: feel like to get where I am now, I must have.
Speaker 3: But I feel like sometimes it's people who do things
Speaker 3: on your to your benefit that don't necessarily shout about
Speaker 3: it or don't tell you like, hey, I vouched for you.
Speaker 3: I get the sense that I've definitely in the past
Speaker 3: couple of years had a specific exp who's always kind
Speaker 3: of looking out for me. But it's been like an
Speaker 3: unspoken thing. But I've never been trapped in the car
Speaker 3: with Lynette. That would be nice.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Randy, when I tell you I literally
Speaker 1: had pages and pages. I've never met someone who was
Speaker 1: so I mean, I still aspire to that level of giving,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like Lynette is someone who
Speaker 1: I actually model, like my not just like my business after,
Speaker 1: but like my life after. Lynette is so confident and
Speaker 1: just kind. But it's not just me. You're like, oh it, Tim,
Speaker 1: because you're so special. No, everyone has their Lynette is
Speaker 1: so kind to me. Story like she just everyone, whether
Speaker 1: you just started yesterday or your seasoned. She Like, there's
Speaker 1: certain people in my life who I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: if I could get it's close to them as far
Speaker 1: as personality wise as possible. Lynette is one of them.
Speaker 2: And I'm yeah.
Speaker 1: I was watching this video about like how do you
Speaker 1: get a sponsor, and it's like two parts. You get
Speaker 1: a sponsor through your work, right or through relationships, meaning
Speaker 1: like so one if you're just killing it, like oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, you know someone's like yo, I like Mandy,
Speaker 1: Like like I suspect that your sponsors, Like Mandy works
Speaker 1: really hard, Mandy's super smart, she's ambitious, she's killing it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put her on when I get into this room.
Speaker 1: So that like that's one way and the other way
Speaker 1: is through relationships, so meaning like you know, like I
Speaker 1: used to, like almost everyone typically has like a work mom.
Speaker 1: I remember when I was like getting my internships, I
Speaker 1: had a work mom, and so she and I became
Speaker 1: really close, and so she used to put me on
Speaker 1: because she we had a relationship. Not that I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, some amazing intern. I mean, I guess I
Speaker 1: was fine, but because she actually liked me and we
Speaker 1: had developed a true relationship, then like you know, she
Speaker 1: she was the executive assistant to the CEO where I
Speaker 1: was interning, and so she would be like Tifnany's amazing,
Speaker 1: She's so great, blah blah blah. But that's because of
Speaker 1: our relationships. Because people ask me all the time, how
Speaker 1: do you get a sponsor? And it's not like something
Speaker 1: that you know, just like I haven't had a sponsor
Speaker 1: from what I could tell, well, at least the sponsor
Speaker 1: like Lynette. I mean, I'm sure there's people behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: And so Lynette's was more relationship based because I mean
Speaker 1: she didn't know if I was going to be good
Speaker 1: on TV. And the other sponsors that I've probably had
Speaker 1: behind the scenes are more work work based. So I
Speaker 1: just think that's just the interesting content mentor versus sponsor,
Speaker 1: and how do you attract both.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and especially if you're like in corporate America, you're
Speaker 3: working for a company that I don't know has more
Speaker 3: than fifty people, and you don't feel like there's anyone.
Speaker 3: I don't know, let's say you're middle management or senior management,
Speaker 3: and there's not someone because you're you have you're managing
Speaker 3: people and you don't necessarily want to talk to them about,
Speaker 3: you know, your career ambitions or how to move up
Speaker 3: in the company, and it may not be clear to you,
Speaker 3: you know, who what your company you can talk to.
Speaker 3: That's that's one of the challenges I think I've encountered,
Speaker 3: and then I've heard from other people, is not really
Speaker 3: knowing who to go to and if you're especially if
Speaker 3: you don't have a Some HR organizations do a really
Speaker 3: good job where they have in company mentoring programs, and
Speaker 3: I guess it's a form of sponsorship, but where you
Speaker 3: match sort of some employees with with people who can
Speaker 3: who have been at the company for a long time,
Speaker 3: maybe in a like a level or two higher or
Speaker 3: on parity with them, and just say, you know, this
Speaker 3: is your buddy. This is a person who you can
Speaker 3: check in with who is not your boss, not your
Speaker 3: direct report, just sort of an objective person.
Speaker 2: That's good.
Speaker 4: And Yeah, it's the thing that.
Speaker 3: I feel like a lot of a lot of people
Speaker 3: could benefit from. And and especially because like it's it's
Speaker 3: one thing having a sponsor maybe you know more generally
Speaker 3: who's not necessarily doing your job or not working at
Speaker 3: your company, But to have someone in the place where
Speaker 3: you're working, especially if you see yourself being there for
Speaker 3: a long time, who can help you maneuver, I mean,
Speaker 3: for better or for worse.
Speaker 4: There is some.
Speaker 3: Maneuvering in corporate and and and you know in corporations
Speaker 3: and stuff, so to how do how do you move around?
Speaker 4: How do you remove roadblocks? To have someone like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that be really have you ever been a sponsor
Speaker 2: for someone?
Speaker 3: I mean, now that you're saying it, I'm one. I
Speaker 3: feel like I'm at the Academy Awards and I'm not
Speaker 3: doing a good job thinking of who I should think.
Speaker 4: I'm like, damn, someone's gonna listen to this.
Speaker 2: For myself, I'm like, I've.
Speaker 3: Definitely I've definitely gone to bat. I was in my
Speaker 3: review of my performance review this time around, well good
Speaker 3: and bade. One of the things was you care so
Speaker 3: much about your people, like you're constantly defending that not defending,
Speaker 3: but like going to bat for them and I And
Speaker 3: as a manager, I've learned like if you don't ask
Speaker 3: for things like promotions and raises and stay the hell
Speaker 3: on your HR team, like it may not happen for
Speaker 3: that person. And I've learned how to really advocate and
Speaker 3: be a loud, squeaky wheel when it comes to getting
Speaker 3: those types of things from my people, especially in leaner times,
Speaker 3: like when a company's not thrown around money, it can
Speaker 3: be even more challenging. So I take that upon myself
Speaker 3: because one I want people.
Speaker 2: To be appostorship.
Speaker 3: So you've been yeah, yeah, you know, I certainly feel
Speaker 3: like for someone to say, hey, hello, you know, reporter,
Speaker 3: you should definitely come run a whole content team. That
Speaker 3: is a form of sponsorship, like seeing potential in someone
Speaker 3: even if they don't have a proven track record. And
Speaker 3: that's something that like, So for example, I'm recruiting, I'm
Speaker 3: always recruiting. I'm always hiring different roles and stuff. It
Speaker 3: seems like when I'm reviewing resumes, I think because of
Speaker 3: what I have been given, which is an opportunity to
Speaker 3: prove myself in a way that maybe my resume didn't
Speaker 3: show that I was prepared for. I when I'm looking
Speaker 3: at resumes, I'm looking at them differently, you know, especially
Speaker 3: for roles that are maybe more entry level or maybe
Speaker 3: it would be a step up for someone even if
Speaker 3: their resume doesn't say they've had X number of years
Speaker 3: experience and this is why you should apply for jobs.
Speaker 3: I think that you don't have the number of you know,
Speaker 3: stated experience years that they want.
Speaker 4: I'm thinking, like, okay.
Speaker 3: This is a I literally have a label on the
Speaker 3: way that I organize my red recruiting, as I have labels,
Speaker 3: and I'll put wildcard by some people if I think,
Speaker 3: if I think there's something about this person, they don't
Speaker 3: have it's not on paper, but let's give them this test.
Speaker 3: Let's have them come in, let's see what they have
Speaker 3: to give, and.
Speaker 2: I literally get that card.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I've given people. I've given people second stabs
Speaker 3: at a test. So you know, if I'm testing editors
Speaker 3: or writers, I've given people a second go round. If
Speaker 3: I felt like the first go round wasn't good, I've
Speaker 3: annihilated them in my remarks to them and told them
Speaker 3: how poor it was, just to see how they would
Speaker 3: react and then give them another chance.
Speaker 4: And I don't know.
Speaker 3: I so I think in that way, I try to sponsor,
Speaker 3: try and get people the benefit of the doubt and
Speaker 3: a chance, the chance to kind of prove themselves.
Speaker 2: Awesome. I feel like you did. So.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's not that you necessarily have this
Speaker 1: one core person that you're like, I'm always sponsoring, but
Speaker 1: it's like when the when the situation arises, you know
Speaker 1: where you're like, Okay, this situation requires sponsorship if I
Speaker 1: really want to see this person get this raise or
Speaker 1: you know, help navigate or remove a roadblock.
Speaker 2: No, So that's honestly, you're in a you're in a position.
Speaker 1: Of power, I mean, for lack of a better word.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, that's it's good to know.
Speaker 1: And so I'm thinking about, like, you know, just this
Speaker 1: conversation just has to be thinking like how I can
Speaker 1: do a better job, because it's different in my company
Speaker 1: because I'm the CEO, so I'm you know, I try
Speaker 1: to be conscious and I actually encourage my team members
Speaker 1: to sponsor each other because there are certain people that
Speaker 1: I work with all the time, like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: Logan is killing a Tamra's killing it, Karen's killing it.
Speaker 1: But that's my lead team. Rachel's killing it. I might
Speaker 1: not know that Comeone, who works on customer success and
Speaker 1: customer support, she's been killing it because she works on
Speaker 1: Tamra's team. So Tamor is her lead, and so you know,
Speaker 1: Tamor might have to be like, uh, just so you know,
Speaker 1: Comeone has been killing these last couple of weeks. So
Speaker 1: I really encourage that because I don't want to miss
Speaker 1: someone's excellence because we don't connect on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: That's not your fault.
Speaker 1: You didn't do anything wrong because we don't because I'm
Speaker 1: not watching you work because you already have your team lead.
Speaker 1: And so I don't necessarily think a sponsorship in my company,
Speaker 1: but I do try to think of like, well, what
Speaker 1: can I do with like other people, especially in the
Speaker 1: brown financial space, you know, like how can I put
Speaker 1: folks on? Yeah, because I we're all just so dope.
Speaker 2: So I know.
Speaker 1: One of the things is like with the Literature Academy,
Speaker 1: if I see someone who's really dope, like I try
Speaker 1: to be like Hey, you want to teach a class,
Speaker 1: because yes, the students benefit, but honestly, like the members,
Speaker 1: these members have been like raised and molded for like
Speaker 1: the last some of them for like the last seven years,
Speaker 1: and they are primed and ready to invest further.
Speaker 2: And so you come on.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've had people make you know, in a
Speaker 1: month from the people in my online school in like
Speaker 1: a one of my friends teaches people how to take
Speaker 1: their invention from idea to the shelves of like Walmart
Speaker 1: and Target. I've had she made like sixty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: from people who then invested further into her business, like
Speaker 1: as far as like you know, hiring her to do
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you know, like whatever her service
Speaker 1: or whatever is. And so that's kind of like my
Speaker 1: way to be like because I want I want them,
Speaker 1: the people that we serve, the dream catchers and dream builders,
Speaker 1: to have access to like top tier folks that look
Speaker 1: like them. And then this is my opportunity to put
Speaker 1: on top tier folks that you might they might not
Speaker 1: otherwise run into you, you know, So like kind of
Speaker 1: like that's that's what I do for now, But I
Speaker 1: feel like I don't know, like I want to be
Speaker 1: more pointed with it, like that's pretty appointed.
Speaker 3: You're putting them in front of your vast audience. Is
Speaker 3: a is a gift? You're like a little see your
Speaker 3: fairy godmother too.
Speaker 1: No, but I feel like there's some people, like, for example,
Speaker 1: I love Tila holcome right, I'm like, what can I
Speaker 1: do for Tila? I just love just so you know,
Speaker 1: so like when things come up, I'm like, like, I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to do the speaking tour and I feel
Speaker 1: so bad, and you know what, they ended up asking Tila.
Speaker 1: And because I'm like, I can't do it, and I
Speaker 1: talk to myself, why did I talk them about Tila?
Speaker 1: Like I should have? Like, you know, cause that's something
Speaker 1: that Patrice taught me. Patrise Washington. You know we all
Speaker 1: love her. She was one of our guests. So Patrice
Speaker 1: taught me that, and I forgot. She was like that
Speaker 1: when she can't do something, someone reaches out and said, hey,
Speaker 1: we love for you to do this. She never let
Speaker 1: that that opportunity leave without making a suggestion that sponsorship.
Speaker 2: And I was kicking myself.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that I ended up reaching out to Tila,
Speaker 1: but I was kicking myself and like all I said
Speaker 1: basically was like, oh, I'm unable to do is so sorry,
Speaker 1: I have a conflict. It should have been like, but
Speaker 1: I have somebody amazing who could take my place, And
Speaker 1: that's something I'm trying to remember that if I can't
Speaker 1: do that, that's like the Patris rule.
Speaker 2: If you can't do a girl, don't.
Speaker 1: Let them leave with that at least looking into someone
Speaker 1: that you know that it's dull, so you could put
Speaker 1: someone else on.
Speaker 4: You know, what would Patrice slash Lynette do exactly?
Speaker 2: Touch? Don't people that we know?
Speaker 3: Yeah, for real, there's so few and you know, personal
Speaker 3: finance journalism too, is not the most diverse field. But
Speaker 3: I recently got I didn't realize there was this this.
Speaker 3: I must have known in the back of my mind
Speaker 3: that something like this must have existed. But there's like
Speaker 3: a network of black financial journalists. And I finally got
Speaker 3: the top of my shoulder to join the email chain
Speaker 3: to me up with these you know, other black financial journalists.
Speaker 3: So I'm excited about about that because you know, I've
Speaker 3: I've tried to recruit a very as diverse a team
Speaker 3: as I can, but still it's a small it's a
Speaker 3: small little world.
Speaker 4: Out here.
Speaker 3: But if you don't have to like sponsor in big ways,
Speaker 3: you know, if it doesn't have to you know, you
Speaker 3: don't have to feel like, oh I can't give you
Speaker 3: a job or like a monetary opportunity. But just like
Speaker 3: what I love about my team is we're constantly doing
Speaker 3: shout outs, like like it's like you said, when you
Speaker 3: don't when your team is growing and getting bigger and
Speaker 3: you've got layers of management in between you and the
Speaker 3: and and people who are working for you, you may not
Speaker 3: understand who the rock stars are and you need that
Speaker 3: feedback from you know, your middle management to to tell
Speaker 3: you and so to make that part of their daily
Speaker 3: goal and expectation, like you tell me how everyone's doing
Speaker 3: and who the who's doing very well, so that you're
Speaker 3: having a sense of where the star performers are at
Speaker 3: on the team without.
Speaker 1: I feel like if y'all could tweet us right, what's
Speaker 1: our twitter?
Speaker 2: We? I feel like we have a been so long at.
Speaker 1: The b A podcast, so honestly tweet as do you
Speaker 1: have you ever been sponsored? Do you sponsor? Have you
Speaker 1: ever been mentored? Do you mentor?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: We I just love to, like, you know, at the
Speaker 1: BA podcast, just send us a quick tweet and you know,
Speaker 1: and just like, I'd love your feedback of like what
Speaker 1: that's looked like in your life and how someone sponsorship
Speaker 1: or mentorship has really helped to take you to the
Speaker 1: next level. I think there'll be some interesting responses.
Speaker 3: Yes, and sorry if I forgot to mention anyone who's
Speaker 3: ever helped me out and they're listening, it's very rude.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 4: So many. I think, my Mama, God, the universe.
Speaker 3: Let's let's look at a couple of headlines real quick.
Speaker 3: I've everyone's been following the college I can't wait to
Speaker 3: talk about this college aid scandal with Lynette next week.
Speaker 3: But the most recent thing is, you know how like
Speaker 3: you know, everyone's making fun of some people because they
Speaker 3: did it.
Speaker 4: You know they're in the wrong.
Speaker 3: All these all these parents who you know, paid billions
Speaker 3: of dollars to get their kids into colleges like USC.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's fun to wag fingers at them,
Speaker 3: but think before you post, look at your own history.
Speaker 3: Because doctor dre got himself in a little bit of
Speaker 3: an embarrassing situation because his daughter got into USC and
Speaker 3: he decided to post a photo on Instagram with the
Speaker 3: caption my daughter got accepted into USC All on her own.
Speaker 4: No jail time.
Speaker 2: Ha ha ha.
Speaker 4: Well, people quickly.
Speaker 3: Reminded him that just a few years ago, he himself,
Speaker 3: with Jimmy Ivine, donated some seventy million dollars to USC
Speaker 3: to start a new academy for arts and evasion like that,
Speaker 3: which is great, which is awesome, but that's more of
Speaker 3: like the sanctioned way to get your kid into college.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because are they really going to tell you, hey,
Speaker 1: thank you for your seventy million, but your daughter can't.
Speaker 3: Come here, right, I mean, that was an investment in
Speaker 3: his daughter's education, I might say, yeah. And then apparently,
Speaker 3: like the Internet found an old post from his daughter
Speaker 3: that said that then she was complaining about her dad
Speaker 3: pushing her to apply to USC and she didn't really
Speaker 3: want to go.
Speaker 1: Like, come on, guys, yo, Honestly, the Internet is undefeated.
Speaker 1: Like the FBI could sit back and just take lessons,
Speaker 1: Like they know who shot AFK black Twitter? They're like,
Speaker 1: girl by like Twitter undefeated. If you borked on Twitter
Speaker 1: ten years ago, they're like, oh, you know, Burke, are
Speaker 1: you sure?
Speaker 2: Screenshot?
Speaker 4: What would MLK have tweeted?
Speaker 1: About I know, Oh my gosh, it's just it's very
Speaker 1: hard to live your life out loud. So just be mindful, folks.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I feel you, doctor today. But yees,
Speaker 1: seventy thousand dollars is I don't think.
Speaker 4: It was million?
Speaker 2: Million? Oh yeah, million. Now you know, I'm not calling
Speaker 2: it a bride, but it's a bride.
Speaker 1: No, but but yeah, either way, congrats see your daughter.
Speaker 2: That's cute. But you know they weren't going to tell her.
Speaker 3: Now That's why I love Lynette because she's like, you know,
Speaker 3: for for regular parents, she has the best advice on
Speaker 3: how to get just She's gotten her kids like hundreds
Speaker 3: of thousands of dollars in grant and scholarship money and
Speaker 3: aid money for colleges and her kids. Her kids go
Speaker 3: to awesome schools without the uh, the shadiness.
Speaker 4: So sit down, doctor dre please.
Speaker 3: And then I think we were talking a little bit
Speaker 3: like a while ago about you know, both of us
Speaker 3: are thinking about motherhood and and especially for people in
Speaker 3: the workforce, there's that constant question when is the right
Speaker 3: time to leave the workforce? And then what's going to
Speaker 3: happen to my career if I leave the workforce. This
Speaker 3: is one of the reasons I'm excited we're going to
Speaker 3: have for a new Sturabbie on the show in a
Speaker 3: few weeks from now to talk about the motherhood penalty
Speaker 3: as it were, and what happens when you leave. But
Speaker 3: just just to you know, get us all excited about
Speaker 3: that episode.
Speaker 4: Here is a recent.
Speaker 3: Stat that I read about really the cost of having
Speaker 3: a child in the workforce today, So it can cost
Speaker 3: sixteen thousand dollars a year and lost wages for mother
Speaker 3: working mothers. And that's according to census data that was
Speaker 3: recently analyzed by the National Women's Law Center. And also
Speaker 3: we all know about like the wage gap, but I
Speaker 3: never thought about the mother wage gap. And so women,
Speaker 3: I think, where we at eighty cents or ninety cents
Speaker 3: to the dollar a man makes.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, if you're not a woman of color, but yeah.
Speaker 3: Yes, women in general, mothers are at seventy one cents
Speaker 3: for every dollar through male counterparts make.
Speaker 2: And can you imagine if you're a brown mother.
Speaker 3: Right exactly, it's like the double penalty. And it's not
Speaker 3: just the fact that you lose your wages, and you know,
Speaker 3: and people say, what does that mean you know, losing
Speaker 3: sixteen thousand dollars earning less. I think it comes down
Speaker 3: to a couple of different factors, one of which is
Speaker 3: accounting for the time away from work and the reduction
Speaker 3: and wages from that. So, if you're not a salaried
Speaker 3: employee and you're you know, you're earning an hourly wage,
Speaker 3: you're missing out on your payment while you're you know,
Speaker 3: on maternity leave. And then in some cases, even if
Speaker 3: you are salary, you're not getting paid one hundred percent
Speaker 3: of your salary like to be on maternity leave. It's
Speaker 3: it's like you either get disability or you get like
Speaker 3: a fraction of your salary if you get paid at
Speaker 3: all to be off. Yeah, and on top of that,
Speaker 3: it's like, you know, I've had girlfriends even now who
Speaker 3: have decided to leave their job because they couldn't, you know,
Speaker 3: either childcare was so expensive and they weren't getting paid
Speaker 3: enough to really make the math work out, or just
Speaker 3: couldn't justify working someplace where they weren't feeling fulfilled and
Speaker 3: the payment was off and decided to just you know,
Speaker 3: set their career aside for a while while they took care.
Speaker 4: Of their children.
Speaker 3: Like those are real choices, Yeah, choices that people are
Speaker 3: making in this day and age.
Speaker 1: And I just feel like, I mean, one of the
Speaker 1: things I wish I would have thought of of like earlier,
Speaker 1: is that like and this is like something I'm telling
Speaker 1: like my younger sisters. Is that like, because you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you're like, I don't know if I want to
Speaker 1: have kids. That's what I remember. When we first started
Speaker 1: Brown Ambition, I was very like fifty fifty.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It has been years since then, though, like we've.
Speaker 1: Loved yeah, you know, but I wish even then, I
Speaker 1: wish I would have liked you know, but I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: even if there's an inkling.
Speaker 2: Like what would that look like? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Because there's so much pre prep work if you're wanting to,
Speaker 1: you know, make sure that you can maintain your income,
Speaker 1: if you're you know, like to just even just physically
Speaker 1: to make sure am I even able? Should I freeze
Speaker 1: my eggs? There's so much There are so many financial
Speaker 1: decisions and just deciding if you want to and so
Speaker 1: like what I would have told like Tiffany, like you know,
Speaker 1: early Brown Ambition days is you know, well, even if
Speaker 1: you're not sure, like if you are sure, like, you
Speaker 1: know how like Jenny mie On on the Real if
Speaker 1: you guys watch, she's very adamant. She doesn't want it,
Speaker 1: like she's like, I'm very clear, I always have always
Speaker 1: known that. Then that's one thing.
Speaker 2: But if you're kind of like, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 2: so then like.
Speaker 1: Really asking yourself and start looking at what would need
Speaker 1: to be done financially and otherwise it's if you did,
Speaker 1: because there's just so much I mean, there's so much
Speaker 1: pre work that I've done, and I'm like, dang, I
Speaker 1: wish I would have at least looked into the pre
Speaker 1: work earlier, just because I you know, I was never
Speaker 1: a definite no, and I wasn't not one hundred percent
Speaker 1: yes until like recently, you know that I wish I
Speaker 1: would have done that a little bit earlier, because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's so many things like like working for myself. I
Speaker 1: you know, I was like, wait, so wait, how am
Speaker 1: I gonna pay for a baby? If I am the
Speaker 1: Budgeanista and the Budgeanisa is a speaker, and if I was,
Speaker 1: I don't eat and so like, you know, so that
Speaker 1: was something, you know, It's one of the reasons, honestly,
Speaker 1: that it forced me to or push me to start
Speaker 1: the Live Richer Academy because I said, I still want
Speaker 1: to teach, I still want to help, but I want
Speaker 1: I have to create an avenue where I could do
Speaker 1: this without having to get on a plane and be somewhere.
Speaker 1: And so the Literature Academy is born in some other
Speaker 1: kind of like side businesses. But yeah, that's what I
Speaker 1: would suggest now that if you are, you know, in
Speaker 1: your twenties, in your thirties, and you're just like, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure, I'm kind of ambivalent, at least look into
Speaker 1: it so that way, when you do make a decision,
Speaker 1: you're ready either way one way or the other, almost
Speaker 1: like you have to make your teach art. Like if
Speaker 1: I do have a kid, what does that look like?
Speaker 1: You know, do I have insurance?
Speaker 2: Do I have this? Do I have that?
Speaker 1: Should I freeze my eggs? Because I'm thirty two and
Speaker 1: I might not. You know, I'm not with anyone seriously
Speaker 1: that i'd want to have a kid with, or you
Speaker 1: know whatever that kind of looks like, you know, do
Speaker 1: your prep work because that work is going to have
Speaker 1: to be done anyway. And if you do decide that
Speaker 1: you do want to have children. You're going to wish
Speaker 1: she started that sooner, because I know I did, no.
Speaker 3: One hundred percent. I mean, and as far as like
Speaker 3: people who are working nine to five are working for
Speaker 3: other people. It also impedes your decisions like around or
Speaker 3: influence your decision around will you leave your job if
Speaker 3: you're unhappy? You know, will can you start a new
Speaker 3: job and then become pregnant quickly after that? And the
Speaker 3: fear around being judged or being perceived as less of
Speaker 3: a hard working individual or as a liability. I mean,
Speaker 3: as much as companies will say that they don't discriminate
Speaker 3: against working mothers, it happens.
Speaker 4: All the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean it's the smallest things from
Speaker 3: having inflexible work schedules, from not offering you know, working
Speaker 3: mothers things like work from home privileges if they need
Speaker 3: to ease back into you know, work life even after
Speaker 3: maternity leaves over. I was talking to a friend of
Speaker 3: mine from a former place I worked at, and I
Speaker 3: was so surprised she was, you know, she came back
Speaker 3: from maternity leave and they you know, granted they have
Speaker 3: a generous policy of like sixteen weeks paid maternity, but
Speaker 3: you know, even she was realizing how difficult it was
Speaker 3: to leave her child at forem months to go back
Speaker 3: to work, and she felt so afraid to ask her
Speaker 3: manager for time for you know, a different schedule where
Speaker 3: she could come in earlier and leave earlier. And I
Speaker 3: was like, how can this be, Like, just go ask,
Speaker 3: But it was the fear around the perception, and when
Speaker 3: I was this is the same company, I think it's
Speaker 3: just a wider culture there. When I worked there, you know,
Speaker 3: several years ago, there was a perception that if you
Speaker 3: were male and had children, that they would be likely
Speaker 3: they would be not penalized socially if they were to
Speaker 3: ask off because of a sick kid, but that the
Speaker 3: mothers on my team would complain that they felt like
Speaker 3: they were judged more harshly when they asked to leave
Speaker 3: early or take time off for a sick kid. So
Speaker 3: it's like not just a financial impact, it's also the
Speaker 3: workplace experiment.
Speaker 1: Yes, And it's crazy because like I looked like one
Speaker 1: like my sister she just had a baby, well, yes,
Speaker 1: Lily is six months and you know she had her
Speaker 1: maternity lead and it just made her look at her
Speaker 1: job like you know what, this is not really a thing,
Speaker 1: you know, like it really opens up my My sister
Speaker 1: is like a genius. She has a whole how to
Speaker 1: get a job system. She actually I had her teacher
Speaker 1: class in the academy because she had this whole like
Speaker 1: like she has. She's super organized, like the opposite of me.
Speaker 1: And she has this whole intricate how to interview and
Speaker 1: get the job and find the right job. And she's
Speaker 1: never she's never gone from level to level. She either
Speaker 1: super levels up or at minimum is getting like a
Speaker 1: five to ten thousand dollars raise, you know, from job
Speaker 1: to job. So she it made her really look at
Speaker 1: her current job. She just hit me the other day
Speaker 1: and she was like we were just talking like, oh,
Speaker 1: how's Lily. She said good, Oh, she said, did I
Speaker 1: tell you have a new job. I'm like, of course
Speaker 1: you do, because that's what you do. And she was like, yep,
Speaker 1: it's closer to the house. The hours are more flexible
Speaker 1: because they were not trying to I guess wherever her
Speaker 1: whole place was was not an alignment. And she was like,
Speaker 1: and I think it's like, you know, it's a significant raise,
Speaker 1: like you know, a five figure raise on top of
Speaker 1: what she was already getting paid, and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: only you and so so. But but the thing is
Speaker 1: she had prepared because I guess, you know, you don't
Speaker 1: get your insurance right away, you know, like there's like
Speaker 1: that like moment where you're on Cobra or whatever, you're
Speaker 1: kind of like gap insurances. So she had saved for that,
Speaker 1: and so there's like I said, that's that pre kind
Speaker 1: of planning. But now she's like, I'm happier. I feel
Speaker 1: like this job is more in alignment with where I
Speaker 1: want to go, you know, in my career, but in
Speaker 1: alignment with who I want to be as a mom.
Speaker 2: And I'm making more.
Speaker 1: And so it's just you know, those opportunities are out there,
Speaker 1: just might not be at your current job.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I definitely felt the pressure to move into
Speaker 3: Like so for example, where I am now, I feel
Speaker 3: in a really good position to start a family here.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think, like anyone in my business
Speaker 3: right now, there's just so many jobs out there. I'm
Speaker 3: always recruiting for a reason. People are coming from my people,
Speaker 3: They're coming to poach them. We're all approaching each other's people,
Speaker 3: which is good because it means you know, the job
Speaker 3: market's really hot, and if you're you know, in my business,
Speaker 3: then you are.
Speaker 4: It's more competitive.
Speaker 3: It drives up wages, it drives up salaries, all that
Speaker 3: good stuff. But it's definitely made me question is now
Speaker 3: the right time to leave? Because of the I'm planning
Speaker 3: a family. I decided no, I'm gonna stay put for
Speaker 3: a while, you know, even if and I have to think, well,
Speaker 3: so far, it hasn't been like a huge opportunity come
Speaker 3: my way that I was.
Speaker 4: Really I think if.
Speaker 3: It were the huge opportunity with lots of upside, it
Speaker 3: would be hard to like turn it down. But I
Speaker 3: would have to give myself pause, I think, like anyone else,
Speaker 3: and just really question is this the right thing? You know,
Speaker 3: starting a new job when you have a child too,
Speaker 3: it's like of all that, like you have so much
Speaker 3: new in your life to also change your employer.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a lot.
Speaker 1: I have people though, I will say this, and I
Speaker 1: wish somebody would have told me this, and I guess
Speaker 1: they probably did, but I wasn't listening. That you can
Speaker 1: you can always as a woman, can always have a business,
Speaker 1: You can always have a job, but you can't always
Speaker 1: have a baby. There are physical limitations to giving birth.
Speaker 1: Now you can adopt, you know, at any age obviously,
Speaker 1: but I mean physically giving birth, you are limited at
Speaker 1: a woman of when that can happen, and so you
Speaker 1: know that to be mindful of that because I really wasn't.
Speaker 2: I was like, ah, I had it out. I mean,
Speaker 2: people getting knocked.
Speaker 1: Up every day, and I'm like, yikes, you know, like
Speaker 1: all the fertility trouble that you know I've been having.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I mean, who knows.
Speaker 1: I mean I might have had fertility trouble when I
Speaker 1: was twenty one, you know, I don't know, because it's
Speaker 1: not like I was checking trying to have a kid.
Speaker 1: But it's just I'm just being mindful of that now,
Speaker 1: Like Okay, that like that's why now I'm not playing.
Speaker 1: I mean I've been turning now. I just turned down
Speaker 1: like a very lucrative contract because I was like, no,
Speaker 1: just kind of interfere with my with my you know,
Speaker 1: like all that I'm doing to have a baby, and
Speaker 1: they're i mean, like you know, even just like big
Speaker 1: like media stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, I'm not flying out.
Speaker 1: Nope, nope, nope, Like you really are not going to
Speaker 1: catch me like on like a plane, you know, unless
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, a family thing or whatever. But
Speaker 1: this year it's just not happening because everybody get kick rocks.
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to look back and be fifty
Speaker 1: and be like I'm so good but out of Colorado
Speaker 1: just peak at that thing, and then it's that's a
Speaker 1: whole white man. But you know, no baby for me,
Speaker 1: there's no way. I don't care people. I mean there
Speaker 1: are people who are let upset with me, like Tiffany,
Speaker 1: but we really wanted you to come. I mean actually
Speaker 1: canceled the tour and I was like, yeah, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: I did the first leg, but I'm not doing the rest.
Speaker 1: What I'm like, yeah, keep your mindy, I can't even
Speaker 1: refund the first money. It's that's how important it is
Speaker 1: to me that I'm making it priority number one, two, three, four,
Speaker 1: am five. Everything else means nothing because I don't want
Speaker 1: to look back and be like, you didn't even really
Speaker 1: give it a try.
Speaker 2: I can always work.
Speaker 1: Always it's not going anywhere, but I cannot always give birth.
Speaker 1: And so like I'm making that like my super priority,
Speaker 1: like my team. As I know they listen, hey guys,
Speaker 1: they're like they even they know, they're like Tiffany, it's
Speaker 1: like operation give Tiffany's base to have baby. Everybody knows,
Speaker 1: like you know, like it's just that, you know, taking
Speaker 1: things off my plate, and I'm usually like, for ten
Speaker 1: years I've been doing a budgetista and I actually enjoy working. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm a workaholic, but I in a way that like
Speaker 1: I love it. I love waking up early, I love
Speaker 1: going to bed late, I love putting in the work.
Speaker 1: But like in the last couple of months, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't love it anymore because hindering me from like
Speaker 1: what I truly want because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you know, I want a family, and so just being
Speaker 1: mindful of that, which I would have thought of that,
Speaker 1: like I said earlier, but I mean, you know, hindsight
Speaker 1: is twenty twenty. But yeah, it's just so you know,
Speaker 1: when y'all hit me up and you're like, how come
Speaker 1: you're not at the such and such because I'm home having.
Speaker 3: A baby, I'm grateful for your candor because I feel
Speaker 3: like you and then you're not the only person who
Speaker 3: has been older than me and told me the exact
Speaker 3: same thing. So that's honestly how I got over myself
Speaker 3: and my you know babies. That's so you know, I'm
Speaker 3: so above that right now, not starting a family. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean so, yeah, thanks for being honest about that,
Speaker 3: because I think it's something that people in their mid twenties,
Speaker 3: because you have time to start planning ahead.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Well, of course there's like the stigma of a woman
Speaker 3: trying to plan ahead for her, you know, having a child.
Speaker 3: Someday people want to call that woman desperate, or call
Speaker 3: her you know, you know, I don't know, just just
Speaker 3: someone who has no career and has no career ambitions. No,
Speaker 3: that's just a smart ass woman. Yes, it is like
Speaker 3: you would plan ahead to say, for a wedding, you know,
Speaker 3: or for your retirement. I think parenthood is also something
Speaker 3: that you should start thinking about when you're laying the
Speaker 3: steps in the groundwork for your career in your mid twenties,
Speaker 3: you know, for you're going to be five years from
Speaker 3: now when you might want to have a child, and
Speaker 3: then setting yourself up to be in a place where
Speaker 3: that can be something that is not as hard.
Speaker 2: Also, so I just think that we.
Speaker 1: I know so many people who are doing really well professionally,
Speaker 1: you know, great business, great career, great, job, great, whatever
Speaker 1: that does not. Professional success is not personal success, and
Speaker 1: it takes people a long time to realize that. Even me,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, okay, you know, you work so
Speaker 1: hard you don't even think about it, and then one
Speaker 1: day you quote unquote kind of arrive. And I feel
Speaker 1: like lately I felt like like this sense of arrival
Speaker 1: ten years in and I'm like, oh wow, like it's
Speaker 1: not a matter of me asking for opportunities. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're being I can't even I can't even hold the
Speaker 1: opportunities that are coming my way. So there's a sense
Speaker 1: of like, you did it, bitch, you did You don't
Speaker 1: even curse like that, right, But and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: like you know, I guess you know, you work so
Speaker 1: hard and not that I thought that success was going
Speaker 1: to bring this like sense of like euphoric automatic like happiness,
Speaker 1: you know. But you know, I guess just like you know,
Speaker 1: you think to yourself, like, you know, once I arrived,
Speaker 1: that's all my dreams. And I realized that's not all
Speaker 1: my dreams. Like I'm super gassed and geeked. Yes, I
Speaker 1: professionally have felt like I.
Speaker 2: Arrived, but.
Speaker 1: I you know, I have partially quite honestly neglected my
Speaker 1: personal success, you know, and I worked really hard, like
Speaker 1: especially the last year, I've worked really hard to like,
Speaker 1: you know, like spend time with friends. I see my
Speaker 1: niece and my nephew all the time, like just the
Speaker 1: like you know, just the babysit, you know, hang out
Speaker 1: with Superman more So, I have really in the last
Speaker 1: year been really conscious of like working on the personal
Speaker 1: success of like you know, like and I hate the redbalance,
Speaker 1: but like harmony in life, Like do I speak to
Speaker 1: my parents regularly?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: When Drina, my best friend, and I talk on the phone,
Speaker 1: are we just talking about because she's my publicist? Are
Speaker 1: we just talking about the budgets? Are we just like
Speaker 1: how's Gabe? That's her her son and my god my godson.
Speaker 1: You know, when's the last time I went to the
Speaker 1: movies with a girlfriend or just walked in the park.
Speaker 1: And so I really I feel like this part of
Speaker 1: my life now, I'm really turning my gaze more so
Speaker 1: towards my personal success because I feel lopsided that like
Speaker 1: there's a statistic it says something like less than one
Speaker 1: percent of women owned businesses will ever make over a
Speaker 1: million dollars a year. I mean we've blown that out
Speaker 1: of the water. I mean, like, you know, probably collectively
Speaker 1: the businesses of one business I have now mixed double that, double,
Speaker 1: nearly triple that. And so it's like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: you reach what less than one percent of women run
Speaker 1: businesses or owned businesses will do. And it's still kind
Speaker 1: of like, okay, so what you know, like I really
Speaker 1: like I cannot. I mean, like, I'm just sharing this
Speaker 1: now because I know there are folks who are listening
Speaker 1: who are giving everything they got to like their professional success.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, don't lose sight that that's not the
Speaker 1: only thing that's going to make you feel fulfilled, you know,
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm at a position where I can
Speaker 1: say every dream that I've ever really kind of had,
Speaker 1: except for the whole you know, sitting on Oprah's couch,
Speaker 1: but other than that, everything that I've ever thought how
Speaker 1: much I want to make being able to help my parents,
Speaker 1: you know, being debt free, owning home, like everything that
Speaker 1: I ever thought kind of like professionally that I've ever
Speaker 1: wanted to do, I've done that.
Speaker 2: Plus some and I'm still.
Speaker 1: Kind of like, uh, I mean, it's cute over here,
Speaker 1: and I know it's because of the personal side that
Speaker 1: I'm like, Tiffany, you have to put the effort into
Speaker 1: that as well. So I'm talking to Tiffany, but I'm
Speaker 1: also talking to you Brown and mission listeners, who from
Speaker 1: someone who came from not having any professional success really
Speaker 1: to like having all of the professional success I could
Speaker 1: ever dream of and and kind of arriving and saying,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess and I'm like, what like or
Speaker 1: I should be geeked, and I'm like, and I know
Speaker 1: why I'm not, But I'm working on the profess the
Speaker 1: personal side, just keeping that in mind. I just you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, I wish, I wish somebody could have
Speaker 1: pulled me to the side, like in your quest for this.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about this piece here. I'm fortunate that I'm young,
Speaker 1: I'm still in my thirties. That you know, I'm turning
Speaker 1: the boat around to say my focus is, yes, I'm
Speaker 1: still recognized the Budgetista and the other businesses and stuff,
Speaker 1: but I'm placing my personal success and I'm giving it
Speaker 1: more more attention than my professional success because you know
Speaker 1: that's what's important to me now preach and people are like, oh, honestly,
Speaker 1: I feel like brown and missing listeners like love when
Speaker 1: we're like super transparent like that. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: want anybody to think like it's timpany, unhappy.
Speaker 2: No, not at all.
Speaker 1: Honestly, it's just very eye opening of like oh, because
Speaker 1: I kept waiting to feel like this, like oh, moment
Speaker 1: you did it, you did it, and I'm like yeah,
Speaker 1: and it feels great. But still I'm like, dang, what's
Speaker 1: the last time i want to date with Superman?
Speaker 2: Poor Superman. I'm always like I'm taking with Mandy, I'm
Speaker 2: doing a live you know.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm part of the problem. Okay, but you.
Speaker 1: Know, but I'm like, I don't want that. You know,
Speaker 1: we were just talking about this morning. I was like, Babe,
Speaker 1: let's have it. I'm actually gonna surprise because we both
Speaker 1: love comedy shows, so like there's like some comic coming
Speaker 1: to like New York. So I'm gonna surprise him with
Speaker 1: tickets because I'm like, Babe, we always said we want
Speaker 1: to have regular dates, and even though we hang out
Speaker 1: a lot at home, we're not like dating each other
Speaker 1: like i'd like to you know, and so like that's
Speaker 1: something that like I'm adding that to my professional my
Speaker 1: personal success. Like, you know, are you going on regular
Speaker 1: dates with Tuberman? Although you guys hang out, you know,
Speaker 1: we talk every day. We like he's, you know, my
Speaker 1: best friend, but you know we weren't like dating, like
Speaker 1: oh you look cute.
Speaker 2: With your alpha on.
Speaker 1: You know, we're like home and like our grungy clothes,
Speaker 1: like so pizza or Chinese, you know, and so like that,
Speaker 1: like you know, like how often am I seeing my.
Speaker 2: Niece and my nephew?
Speaker 1: You know, they acted like up strangers because you know,
Speaker 1: when you when your niece and nephew are like two
Speaker 1: and three, if you're not there enough, they're like who
Speaker 1: are you again?
Speaker 4: That's the worst feeling when they forget who you are.
Speaker 2: You know, Like am I going to see my parents regularly?
Speaker 1: I'm like, I have to go see my dad more
Speaker 1: and like cause my dad is in his seventies, you know,
Speaker 1: and every day is a blessing.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know I was complaining about not being able
Speaker 3: to take a vacation, but it's only because I've used
Speaker 3: all the rest of my points that I have on
Speaker 3: my Chase account for two trips, one to Saint Louis
Speaker 3: to see my mom, my sister, and my brother, and
Speaker 3: then one to go to Atlanta to see my dad
Speaker 3: for his birthday, which I haven't done in Like, I
Speaker 3: don't know if I've been with my dad and his
Speaker 3: birthday in ten years.
Speaker 2: Maybe. Oh, I know he was happy.
Speaker 4: I mean, I guess he'll yeah, he'll probably be happy.
Speaker 2: He'll grumble, Oh, oh you haven't Oh you haven't gone yet.
Speaker 2: Oh you use it?
Speaker 3: That okay now that yeah, coming up in April. So
Speaker 3: that's my Those are my travels.
Speaker 2: No, you're right.
Speaker 4: I mean I think what you're just, what you're just.
Speaker 3: Spouting is the wisdom that comes with you know, being
Speaker 3: in the business for a long time. So, I mean,
Speaker 3: I think that's why people like Gail King and other
Speaker 3: people who are in their sixties and seventies say how
Speaker 3: amazing it is older you get, because everything just becomes
Speaker 3: more clear.
Speaker 2: Yeah you hope. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm happy for you too, because I the way
Speaker 3: that you're talking about everything, it just feels like you've
Speaker 3: got the sense of clarity and then that you know,
Speaker 3: you're a few years ahead of me.
Speaker 4: So I always feel like Tippy's got it.
Speaker 3: Go okay, I'll be fine, and you, I feel like
Speaker 3: you will let me just keep rubbing her shoulder.
Speaker 1: And so you have a good sense of like, I
Speaker 1: feel like you've got a good sense of harmony going on,
Speaker 1: you know, in your life.
Speaker 3: So listen, if my dog makes a really good poop,
Speaker 3: then it's just my whole day is made.
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, the fact you got a dog, that's
Speaker 1: that's the point in your in your your personal success column,
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, when you say.
Speaker 2: You got a dog, I was like, man, that's exactly
Speaker 2: what I mean. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: That has nothing to do with like I got a
Speaker 1: raise or like I'm a new such and such supervisor.
Speaker 2: Like you know, that dog gets a sense of joy
Speaker 2: And I just love think.
Speaker 4: Here who I am. She's like, you got the treats,
Speaker 4: you got the cucules.
Speaker 2: I love that. Ah. So we don't have a clear transition.
Speaker 2: So we just go say, hey, guys, do you have
Speaker 2: any questions for us?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got a couple of good questions. You guys,
Speaker 3: send us your questions. We're hitting springtime is happening?
Speaker 4: What's going on? Wedding season?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man?
Speaker 4: People sending their kids off to college the right way.
Speaker 4: We hope.
Speaker 3: Send us your questions about anything, financials, career, investing, saving, taxes,
Speaker 3: you name it, all of it. Hit us up at
Speaker 3: Brannbision podcast dot com, hit ask us anything, or you
Speaker 3: can email us directly at Brannibision Podcast at gmail dot com. Okay,
Speaker 3: I always say that for people like me who don't
Speaker 3: trust those forms, you know, like, it's my email really
Speaker 3: going to go to you guys.
Speaker 2: So it does.
Speaker 3: Couple of quick questions from our audience, let's see. First
Speaker 3: one from listener Paulettes. I don't know if you heard
Speaker 3: about this new Apple credit card that just launched yesterday.
Speaker 3: Apple is launching its own credit card, and the internet
Speaker 3: was all of us, and listener Paulette wanted to know. First,
Speaker 3: have we heard about it? Yes, we have, well half
Speaker 3: of us has. And what are our initial thoughts? I
Speaker 3: guess I'll share mine along with the same lines as so.
Speaker 3: She's also looking for information about the City Double Cash
Speaker 3: credit card that Mandy has.
Speaker 4: Yes, I have talked about that.
Speaker 3: Card and I love it. Is the City Double Cash
Speaker 3: card better than the Apple card? Worse than the Apple card?
Speaker 3: Just wanted to pick y'all's brains as I continued to
Speaker 3: search for my next credit card.
Speaker 4: Good question.
Speaker 3: So I actually went to the chief credit card industry
Speaker 3: analysts that works on my team here at lending Tree,
Speaker 3: and he's.
Speaker 4: Given this a big meh, meh, meh. Not that exciting.
Speaker 3: You know, Apple's foray into credit cards is kind of
Speaker 3: as underwhelming, I feel like, as all their software and
Speaker 3: hardware updates have been lately. Yes, yeah, this card is
Speaker 3: offering what is it, two percent cash back on Apple
Speaker 3: Pay transactions, three percent cash back if you're making purchases
Speaker 3: on Apple products, and just one percent on purchases made
Speaker 3: with the actual card, which, if you're talking about rewards cards,
Speaker 3: is not that all exciting unless you shop at Apple
Speaker 3: every day, which now they don't have food exactly, no
Speaker 3: or groceries there. So if I were if I were
Speaker 3: between the two options, I would definitely say the City
Speaker 3: Double Cash Card is one of the better cards on
Speaker 3: the market for every day spending. I was a huge
Speaker 3: fan of it, like I said, during the renovation, because
Speaker 3: we were making all these purchases that didn't fall into
Speaker 3: any really lucrative rewards category like travel or restaurants that
Speaker 3: I'm used to. So the way City Double Cash card
Speaker 3: works is it will give you one percent cash back
Speaker 3: on purchases and then another one percent when you actually
Speaker 3: pay your balance off, So it's potentially going to give
Speaker 3: you two percent cash back on all purchases. So this card,
Speaker 3: I would say, beats Apple, which only gives you one
Speaker 3: percent cash back on purchases Apple, you know what. The
Speaker 3: positive side, The Apple card is a no fee, a
Speaker 3: no annual fee card, so good at least if you
Speaker 3: were to get it and say, use it only for
Speaker 3: your Apple products purchasing, then it wouldn't necessarily hurt you
Speaker 3: to have it, but I wouldn't run out and scoop
Speaker 3: it up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because every time you know you you apply for
Speaker 1: a line of credit, you potentially lose points on your score.
Speaker 1: So you're right unless you're an alcoholic where I mean,
Speaker 1: how many computers can you get in a month?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So, yeah, it doesn't sound like it's a even though
Speaker 1: I hadn't heard of it. I've been like under a roilug, but.
Speaker 3: It was only yesterday, don't worry. Okay, it's also the
Speaker 3: fancy it's made out of titanium or something.
Speaker 4: It's like the fans. Everyone's about metal cards now listen, are.
Speaker 2: I do feel fancy? Would I have had my what's
Speaker 2: that Chase go everywhere that you always.
Speaker 4: Chase a good time card?
Speaker 2: My Chase ning car. You're like the Venture or some
Speaker 2: far I don't know it.
Speaker 4: It's the Chase Reserve card.
Speaker 2: Yes, ye, And so that card is metal and I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna lie when I take it out. Someplaces people
Speaker 2: are like, who you.
Speaker 4: Let it click on the table make a noise.
Speaker 3: We actually wrote a whole story about metal cards, and
Speaker 3: if there's anything particularly special about them, it's all about
Speaker 3: that status. Feeling a little bit extra went into it. Meanwhile,
Speaker 3: I totally lost my Chase Reserve card. But thank god
Speaker 3: for Apple Wallet. Do you guys use Apple wallet wallet?
Speaker 3: You don't have an iPhone? I mean yeah, you have
Speaker 3: like an Android?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Is there a version of like a mobile wallet for
Speaker 4: the Android?
Speaker 2: Oh? I don't know. I don't think so, I mean maybe.
Speaker 4: It's well the Apple Wallet.
Speaker 3: I basically loaded my credit cards onto it, and and
Speaker 3: a lot of places now do Apple pay or Android
Speaker 3: pay where you can scan your phone and like through
Speaker 3: your phone pay for stuff. And I honestly lost this card.
Speaker 3: It's not somewhere. People have stolen it clearly, or else
Speaker 3: I would have canceled it. But it's probably in my
Speaker 3: house somewhere. But I haven't had a problem making purchases
Speaker 3: because I just whip out my Apple wallet and just
Speaker 3: pay my phone everywhere. And I'm like, oh, this is
Speaker 3: the future.
Speaker 4: Who need it? There sounds so neat right now. They're like, listen,
Speaker 4: this has been around for years and this is not news.
Speaker 1: You're not repetenting millennials properly or like, you know, like
Speaker 1: if you're for the rare few of you like me
Speaker 1: who still goes to the bank, you know, you can
Speaker 1: like access your money via code and you don't have
Speaker 1: to have your card anymore, which is nice.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, yeah, I haven't been to the ATM, and.
Speaker 1: I know, I was like, I don't even want to
Speaker 1: say that, because I just knew the millennials are like
Speaker 1: a bag, what's that?
Speaker 2: What's the big chat?
Speaker 4: Like, you know, you'd be surprised.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you young millennials and like gen z yeers,
Speaker 3: I think they're the ones who have the big banks
Speaker 3: because it's what their parents use and they just haven't
Speaker 3: come to the level of the older millennial young you
Speaker 3: know gen x Land yet because they're just Yeah. I
Speaker 3: was talking to my editorial assistance. She's, you know, first
Speaker 3: I out of college, and she's like, yeah, I finally
Speaker 3: closed my Wells Fargo account and got an ally account
Speaker 3: because I've been harassing her for a while.
Speaker 4: The youth man must lead.
Speaker 3: Them, alrighty, So thank you for your question, Paula. And
Speaker 3: let's see the second question from listener Enid. I hope
Speaker 3: I said that right. She has a question for Tiffany.
Speaker 3: I heard the tip works at home. Yes, that's that's
Speaker 3: a rumor that we can confirm despite multiple attempts to
Speaker 3: do you pay rent at a coworking facility of some kind?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 4: But I mean yeah, but you were from home.
Speaker 3: So Enan says, I've heard tiff works at home and
Speaker 3: she's massively successful, and I'd like to hear some tips
Speaker 3: on working from home and making it financially viable. Also,
Speaker 3: how do you, Tiffany hire and maintain quality staff who
Speaker 3: work virtually. I am always challenged to get reliable support
Speaker 3: for short, short term projects. Thank you Enan for your question.
Speaker 1: So working from home I mean well, I mean for me,
Speaker 1: I tried to work in an office because at first,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't that productive working at
Speaker 1: home because I was like why.
Speaker 2: Work when you can nast, you know.
Speaker 1: And then I tried to go into the actual office,
Speaker 1: like I have a I share office with my I
Speaker 1: was Drina, but I found it to be really restrictive
Speaker 1: because I don't like to wear pants, and so I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, so what I what I ended up
Speaker 1: doing was like Tiffany, So I had to basically create
Speaker 1: a schedule for myself at home, Like I still had
Speaker 1: to approach working at home as if I was going
Speaker 1: into an office, like I wake up at a certain time,
Speaker 1: you know. In the beginning, like like I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: you wake up, you know, brush your teeth whatever, take
Speaker 1: a shower, and do.
Speaker 2: Yoga whatever is I was going to do in the morning,
Speaker 2: and they eat.
Speaker 1: But then I would have a kind of like start
Speaker 1: at this time type of like a schedule in the beginning. Now,
Speaker 1: like I'm pretty good at self regulating where I don't
Speaker 1: have to have like like really tight strict schedule, but
Speaker 1: I had a schedule like you know, by nine o'clock,
Speaker 1: you're sitting in front of your computer. The first hour
Speaker 1: is emails, the second hours phone calls. So creating like
Speaker 1: a schedule for yourself and scheduling in you know, a walk,
Speaker 1: scheduling in lunch, don't be afraid to like if you're
Speaker 1: cause some times I can get really stagging in at home.
Speaker 1: So I actually ended up buying this like portable what
Speaker 1: is it called. I don't have the battery in front
Speaker 1: of me, but I have this like portable battery. It's
Speaker 1: like the size of a I want to say, like
Speaker 1: a big a really if a if a cell phone
Speaker 1: was like twice as big, and it's that. So I'll
Speaker 1: take it with me and I'll actually like work in
Speaker 1: the park or like sit in the car in the park,
Speaker 1: just to change it up if I because sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: working at home, you're you're not as productive. So I'm
Speaker 1: typically more productive at home, but if I'm feeling just
Speaker 1: really like kind of like stuck, I'll take my portable
Speaker 1: battery with my laptop and I'll find someplace else to work.
Speaker 1: But creating a schedule for yourself until you can kind
Speaker 1: of stuff regulate. So now, because of the way my
Speaker 1: business is run, I've got standing meetings typically like you know,
Speaker 1: like during the week, so it helps to kind of
Speaker 1: regulate me too.
Speaker 2: Like I know, on Tuesday, always have our marketing meeting.
Speaker 2: At ten, I have.
Speaker 1: My meeting with my with one of my not one
Speaker 1: of my my only business owner co owner for one
Speaker 1: of my businesses, Jabrill. That's Tuesday at nine thirty. On Mondays,
Speaker 1: I have my lead team calls individually with a teep
Speaker 1: on the team. So those calls also help to kind
Speaker 1: of like regulate how my day goes. But that's what
Speaker 1: I would just say, create a schedule, stick to it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to get all dressed up. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the benefit of working from home. You can get
Speaker 1: to look crazy. But the kind of like the con
Speaker 1: of working from home. And sometimes I don't know when
Speaker 1: to stop. So you know, like I might have started
Speaker 1: working at like eight or nine, and like at ten,
Speaker 1: I'm still I'm answering email still, So even creating a
Speaker 1: stop time for yourself is really going to be important
Speaker 1: and letting folks know, like Okay, I close my laptop
Speaker 1: of like five or six or whatever, I'm still working
Speaker 1: on that component. I'm just speaking to the clouds on
Speaker 1: that one because I'm not good at that part.
Speaker 2: Because you know, working from home is so convenient.
Speaker 1: It's just really easy to be, like, let me open
Speaker 1: up my laptop one more time. What I think I'm
Speaker 1: actually gonna do is I think I'm actually gonna get
Speaker 1: a second cell phone just for family and friends, because
Speaker 1: what will happen is my best friend, my other best friend,
Speaker 1: Linda will call me, but I'll see I have an email,
Speaker 1: and I look and before you know, and I open
Speaker 1: my laptop back up again. And so I think that
Speaker 1: also having kind of like separate kind of like technology
Speaker 1: for like work and personal will be helpful because it's
Speaker 1: hard for me not to address an issue. You know,
Speaker 1: if I see something on my my laptop might be
Speaker 1: closed with my phone is like it's not even like
Speaker 1: it's a mini computer. And so that's like the next
Speaker 1: kind of like a productivity tool that I'm gonna I
Speaker 1: think I'm just gonna get like a new phone number
Speaker 1: and just get a phone so when I pick it up,
Speaker 1: I'm not reminded of work, which is what's happening now.
Speaker 1: And as far as finding really good people to work
Speaker 1: with you, so it's practice. I mean I was terrible
Speaker 1: at it up until like three years ago, and I've
Speaker 1: been in business for ten years. So for like the
Speaker 1: first five, you know, six seven years, I wasn't that
Speaker 1: good at it, but I was learning. So one of
Speaker 1: the ways that so I found one really good person.
Speaker 1: And once you find someone that's really dope, then it
Speaker 1: sets the tone for like, you know, and that person
Speaker 1: I found I found randomly. I think I posted on
Speaker 1: social media, Hey, looking for interns, and she started off
Speaker 1: as a intern and then I brought her on as
Speaker 1: my admin. But she helped to set the tone. So basically,
Speaker 1: what I just would say is like, kind of you
Speaker 1: have to interview and work with multiple people to see
Speaker 1: like what it is that what does excellence in an
Speaker 1: employee or contractor look like to you? Because I didn't
Speaker 1: know until she came. And then when she came, I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, so she's self directed, she's smart, she's quick,
Speaker 1: she's fun.
Speaker 2: I mean I needed.
Speaker 1: Somebody who were like I was also going to enjoy
Speaker 1: and like working with. So once I found kind of like,
Speaker 1: she became the template and helped me to set the
Speaker 1: tone for now when I interview somebody, I can quickly
Speaker 1: tell if there's gonna be a fit or not. So
Speaker 1: once I found her, then it was easier to like look.
Speaker 1: So I typically we use social media to look for
Speaker 1: folks or what I do is on the team itself,
Speaker 1: because our team is pretty big now for a small
Speaker 1: business is I'll ask team members. So I might say, like,
Speaker 1: for example, we work with this woman named Latrice who
Speaker 1: is a genius.
Speaker 2: La Trese is amazing.
Speaker 1: She's our tech support and Latrese knows how to fix
Speaker 1: and do everything when it relates to like tech. But
Speaker 1: we found Latrese through Tamra. Tamra is our amazing literature
Speaker 1: academy manager. And so I found Tamra through the initial
Speaker 1: person that I've hired, like that first template person, and
Speaker 1: so my template person found Tamra and like, and then
Speaker 1: Tamra is like amazing. And so when I said, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm looking for some a tech person to help us
Speaker 1: on the team, does anyone know anyone? So typically I
Speaker 1: look inward because if you deliver excellence, hopefully the people
Speaker 1: that you know will deliver excellence too. And so they
Speaker 1: all know the company culture and the expectation inside the company.
Speaker 1: So it's important for you as the leader that you
Speaker 1: set the vision of this is how we navigate. And
Speaker 1: so Tamra found Latrese and Latrese was a perfect fit.
Speaker 1: And so I just say all that to say, if
Speaker 1: we need another tech person, I would go to Latrese
Speaker 1: and say, do you know someone you know that you
Speaker 1: know now that you know us as a as a
Speaker 1: team and a family, do you know someone that's going
Speaker 1: to fit. So I just say that you find your
Speaker 1: one template person and you build upon them. But it's
Speaker 1: critical as a leader, you have to set the tone
Speaker 1: and the vision. People work for the budgeties. I mean,
Speaker 1: we pay decent, but I don't pay like amazing. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna like us. We're still growing, you know, but
Speaker 1: they work for the company. And this is just feedback
Speaker 1: for my team because of the mission and the vision.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got an amazing company culture where we
Speaker 1: really look after each other and the fact that we're
Speaker 1: serving other women that are like us. So creating Like
Speaker 1: especially women and I suspect maybe men too, is that
Speaker 1: it's not going to be just money that's going to.
Speaker 2: Attract people to you.
Speaker 1: You have to create a culture that's going to attract
Speaker 1: top tier talent. Like my team goes so hard. There's
Speaker 1: times when I'm like, honestly go to sleep. They're like
Speaker 1: you first, and I'm like, you know what, because they
Speaker 1: go so hard because of the culture that's been created,
Speaker 1: and that is your job. Like if you just make
Speaker 1: your company a job, then that's how they're gonna treat it.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be in and out, give me my money,
Speaker 1: let me go. And then when someone offers them more money.
Speaker 1: People try to poach my team all the time. When
Speaker 1: someone offers them more money, they're gonna be out because
Speaker 1: they're they're just to get a paycheck. People are not
Speaker 1: at the budgetista just to get a paycheck. My team
Speaker 1: is there because of like the energy, like yo, we
Speaker 1: love on our team members, Like they have meetings about me,
Speaker 1: like how do we give Tiffany this opportunity to have
Speaker 1: this baby? Like for real, they always have a secret meeting.
Speaker 1: We're always having like secret. I feel like Logan is overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: What can we do? I feel like Tamlin needs a
Speaker 2: fruit basket, someone send it to her.
Speaker 1: I feel like like we're always it's a family, and
Speaker 1: so create go ahead.
Speaker 3: Ooof that was an epic, Yes, Tiffany, Like sometimes I
Speaker 3: just have to just t bone you to get a
Speaker 3: word in Edgeway. But I wanted to excellent tangent. However,
Speaker 3: so she wants to know about reliable support from virtual workers.
Speaker 3: And I feel like that's also something that I am
Speaker 3: challenged with too, because half my team might feel like
Speaker 3: a staff in the office here, and then I have
Speaker 3: a bunch of people who are full time staff, but
Speaker 3: they are remote for me, like not in my office.
Speaker 3: And then we have like one hundred freelancers who are
Speaker 3: writing and editing for us. So one thing that I've
Speaker 3: been challenged by is how do you judge productivity? And
Speaker 3: then how do you yeah keep tab some people when
Speaker 3: they're all over the place and virtual.
Speaker 2: Well, we use asana, that's a very like a great.
Speaker 4: Foot I love a sauna. We use Trello. I've talked
Speaker 4: about Trello before, Big Fan.
Speaker 1: And that we also use this thing called t sheets.
Speaker 1: Actually we just switched to something else, but that was
Speaker 1: what we were using before. But T sheets is a
Speaker 1: virtual time clock. So someone has to punch in, say,
Speaker 1: I am like when we first started, because all my
Speaker 1: team is virtual, you know, like Sylvia she lives in
Speaker 1: Arkansas and she runs all the Facebook like social media
Speaker 1: platforms for us, and so well most of them, and
Speaker 1: so Sylvia will punch in and be like, you know,
Speaker 1: she might put a little note. Because we have multiple companies,
Speaker 1: so sometimes people work. She might be like working on
Speaker 1: something at the academy side, so she might put a
Speaker 1: note saying, you know, like you know, doing something for
Speaker 1: the literature Academy as she's working. And then if she
Speaker 1: punches out and then punches back in for the BUDGETESTA side,
Speaker 1: she might put a little note. So T sheets helps
Speaker 1: tremendously because with T sheets you can also kind of
Speaker 1: like link that to like your payroll company typically, so
Speaker 1: then you can pay someone, you know, T sheets will
Speaker 1: download and say, Sylvia work ten hours this week and
Speaker 1: her her you know, her pay rate is whatever it is.
Speaker 1: And if you have questions, because sometimes what happens is
Speaker 1: someone will punch into T sheets and forget to punch out,
Speaker 1: So then you can manually override and fix it, you know.
Speaker 1: But that's another tool that we use T sheets to
Speaker 1: kind of keep track of, so of like where people
Speaker 1: kind of like are and are they doing the work.
Speaker 1: And then what happens is as you get to like
Speaker 1: trust people more, then I start offering flat pay. So
Speaker 1: in the beginning, when you first come on everyone's hourly
Speaker 1: you know, you're like, oh, you come on, you're hourly
Speaker 1: punching the T sheet and I know I usually know
Speaker 1: kind of like how how much time something takes.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: We had at one point someone who was taking time.
Speaker 1: We have to look that person go a while ago,
Speaker 1: because it was like, you're punching in but the thing
Speaker 1: you're saying you're doing doesn't take that long. And so
Speaker 1: T sheets helped to alert us to that, and so
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, this person is not a fit.
Speaker 1: And maybe I wouldn't have known that had we not
Speaker 1: had T sheets and asana in place to kind of
Speaker 1: be like, hmm, it's only one task. One task doesn't
Speaker 1: take ten hours.
Speaker 2: Wow, you know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, those are so those are some of the
Speaker 1: but like I said, it's also to creating an amazing
Speaker 1: environment to work in, because if you don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of money to pay people, and even if you
Speaker 1: do have a ton of money, money is not what
Speaker 1: keeps really great employees. And it's not what attracts really
Speaker 1: great employees. I mean likecers.
Speaker 3: Though, that's all they care about. No, you mean sprit persaries.
Speaker 1: Well, yes there are some, cause there are some people
Speaker 1: who we work with are that are just straight freelancers.
Speaker 1: But if you're building like a team team, but like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, Like I feel like this too. If
Speaker 1: you treat people well, you know, we find people that
Speaker 1: will give us like they might be charging another client this,
Speaker 1: but I found a lot of people who are like,
Speaker 1: I want to be part of this team because it's
Speaker 1: so amazing. I'm going to give you like kind of
Speaker 1: like the I want to be a part of the
Speaker 1: team discount. So that's possible, you know, depending on like
Speaker 1: what kind of business you have. So creating that work
Speaker 1: environment but then also having like a clear structure and
Speaker 1: everyone should kind of know, like we love everyone, but
Speaker 1: we're watching. That's what t sheet is and that's what
Speaker 1: asana is, and you know, that's what those regular check
Speaker 1: ins are too. Like you should be checking in weekly
Speaker 1: with the people on your team to make sure that
Speaker 1: they're in alignment with what they're supposed to do, and
Speaker 1: be quick to let folks go when it's not a fit.
Speaker 2: I'm terrible at it.
Speaker 1: I mean I've kept people for years and so if
Speaker 1: it's not a fit and you notice they're taking time
Speaker 1: or you're notice they're not they're not productive then it's
Speaker 1: okay to be like, you know, I'm slow to hire permanently.
Speaker 1: I might give you three months of like, and I'm clear, like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're going to try to test you out for three
Speaker 1: months and see and if we two it's not fitting.
Speaker 1: I'm good at saying it's not fitting now and then
Speaker 1: I'm getting better and letting go much faster when someone's
Speaker 1: not a fit.
Speaker 2: So that's something that you have to work on too.
Speaker 3: It's not easy, yeah, and especially with in my two senses,
Speaker 3: because we do have so many freelancers in our network,
Speaker 3: writers and editors who we constantly need.
Speaker 4: We are our work.
Speaker 3: Our workload tends to fluctuate like any content team, and
Speaker 3: every month isn't always the same, the same amount of
Speaker 3: work isn't always there. But we have we try to
Speaker 3: maintain a good network, in a loyal network, like you said,
Speaker 3: to make that make it nice to work with us
Speaker 3: to you know, pay competitively, but then also you know,
Speaker 3: keep lines of communication open, give them their own Slack channel,
Speaker 3: and give them their own trainings. You know, every month
Speaker 3: will do or every few months will do a training
Speaker 3: with our freelancers to remind them of what our standards
Speaker 3: are and just have interface with them and communicate with them,
Speaker 3: and I think that goes a long way, especially if
Speaker 3: you're looking to staff like ongoing projects where you need
Speaker 3: virtual workers or remote workers freelancers. It helps to have
Speaker 3: those relationships. You can, you know, pull from the person
Speaker 3: that you worked from a few months ago, or have
Speaker 3: someone that you are throwing a few things to each
Speaker 3: month just to keep them warm and just to keep them,
Speaker 3: you know, on your on keep the year, keep yourself
Speaker 3: on their radar so that they are more likely to
Speaker 3: drop everything and maybe come help you out. Because it's
Speaker 3: such a it's so annoying to have to go out
Speaker 3: and recruit for every new project. Yeah, I've been there,
Speaker 3: and it's the same thing like social media LinkedIn I
Speaker 3: and you know, we posted we had three different editor jobs.
Speaker 3: We needed freelance, just part time freelance for a few months,
Speaker 3: and we posted it on our main job site. Five hundred,
Speaker 3: six hundred applications came in.
Speaker 4: It's thrediculs. I feel you.
Speaker 3: And if I didn't have help from staff just to
Speaker 3: go through the resumes and to you know, get referrals
Speaker 3: and stuff, I don't know where we would have been.
Speaker 4: So that's why I worked really hard to not have
Speaker 4: to recruit.
Speaker 3: And just go back to the same freelance team that
Speaker 3: I've built over the last three years and.
Speaker 1: The create like if you are kind of looking and
Speaker 1: you're like getting a flood like we have, we'll say
Speaker 1: something like, you know, send us three sentences and then
Speaker 1: well we'll vet from there, like well if you send
Speaker 1: five or six or seven, you know, it just helps
Speaker 1: to vet. And I like to pull from our audience,
Speaker 1: you know, because I feel like my audience, you know,
Speaker 1: we call them the dream catchers, and I feel like
Speaker 1: that's one less thing I have.
Speaker 2: To explain to you.
Speaker 1: So I would I venture to say eighty five percent
Speaker 1: of the people that work for the team were a
Speaker 1: DreamCatcher or are dream catchers, meaning.
Speaker 2: Like they were in the audience.
Speaker 1: They were like, you know, taking the literature challenge or whatever,
Speaker 1: and so I didn't have to explain this is what
Speaker 1: a DreamCatcher is, this is what the budget needs to do.
Speaker 2: So it makes life. That makes life easier. But not everyone.
Speaker 2: It's gonna come from that pool.
Speaker 1: Like I don't think latse knew what you know, like
Speaker 1: the budget needs to but now she educated herself on it,
Speaker 1: and now she's you know, killing it, But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's really team building is very difficult. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it took me seven years to get it semi right.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm you know, I'm good at it now,
Speaker 1: I'm not great at it, but good at it. But
Speaker 1: you have to actively work on it and really be
Speaker 1: open to critique from your team. And so I really
Speaker 1: try to be like, if I'm doing something wrong, how
Speaker 1: do you guys feel about this? It's it's okay to
Speaker 1: tell me that, Like I'm sucking right now or what?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: What would you have liked if I have done something differently?
Speaker 1: Because you want to get better, you know, you want
Speaker 1: to create a dope environment because a dope environment yields
Speaker 1: to dope results.
Speaker 4: Excellent. That's probably more than you bargained for. I don't know,
Speaker 4: that was awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like right before, right before we went on,
Speaker 1: like Maddy, I was like, I'm so tired.
Speaker 2: Now I'm like, this is what you do.
Speaker 4: Spread the wisdom.
Speaker 3: Thanks for your questions again, you guys, hit us up
Speaker 3: Brandonbision podcast at gmail dot com with your questions or
Speaker 3: go to Brandnibision dot com. Sorry, Brandimission podcast dot com
Speaker 3: and click ask us anything to send your questions to us.
Speaker 2: Yes, stuck out. So now it's time for a booster,
Speaker 2: have break or a boost to have break?
Speaker 4: Slow jam style?
Speaker 2: What you fin to do? Boost to break?
Speaker 4: I don't know what I should boot. I'm gonna call
Speaker 4: it a boost.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna do a boost for adjusting your tax withholdings,
Speaker 3: which is the single most like I don't know, cringe
Speaker 3: worthy sentence ever, because no one wants to look at
Speaker 3: their withholdings and just the word taxes may people want
Speaker 3: to cringe. However, now that people are getting their tax
Speaker 3: returns filed and they're getting the news on whether they
Speaker 3: owe or are getting a refund, I think it's the
Speaker 3: perfect time for you to look back and see how
Speaker 3: you can adjust your withholdings. For twenty nineteen, I personally
Speaker 3: adjusted mine a little bit. I feel like I've been
Speaker 3: calibrating them over the past couple of years since we
Speaker 3: got married and now we have the house and our
Speaker 3: incomes have been changing. So I went in and actually
Speaker 3: changed my allowances this time around because I haven't. I'm
Speaker 3: trying to get to that place where I don't actually
Speaker 3: get a big refund because in my mind that means
Speaker 3: that I'm not giving the government money throughout the year
Speaker 3: that they don't need. And this year we got. Last
Speaker 3: year we were way out of whack. We owed a
Speaker 3: bunch of money.
Speaker 4: This year we net.
Speaker 3: We came out kind of net a little bit even.
Speaker 3: We ended up owing I think net negative three hundred
Speaker 3: dollars to federal when we took into account our refunt
Speaker 3: from state. So I met with my accountant and I
Speaker 3: was like, how do we get this? How do we
Speaker 3: get to a place where we're just like net zero?
Speaker 3: And he had me, you know, do another tweak to
Speaker 3: my withholdings and it literally took me two seconds in
Speaker 3: my you know, in my employers withholding area, and also
Speaker 3: the IRS has a withholding calculator which is it's actually
Speaker 3: pretty simple to use, considering it to IRS. And I'll
Speaker 3: put a link to it in the show notes. So
Speaker 3: if you're wondering, you know, what should my withholdings be
Speaker 3: based on my current situation. It's a really handy little
Speaker 3: tool to use, and it sometimes is the answer to
Speaker 3: whether you're owing or getting too much of a refund
Speaker 3: to how you actually fix it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and oh, these taxes, these taxes, right, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do like equal boost and break, so a boost
Speaker 1: to well. Yes, So for those of y'all, like if
Speaker 1: you follow me and then you don't realize that I've
Speaker 1: been relaunching the Literature Academy. I don't know if it's relaunching,
Speaker 1: but we're like the prices of the Academy are going up,
Speaker 1: so by the time you listen to this, it'll be
Speaker 1: too late. But I just want to share, like the
Speaker 1: level of work that it took to let as many
Speaker 1: people know as possible that we're upgrading the Academy and
Speaker 1: as a result, it's going from nine dollars and ninety
Speaker 1: nine tens a month to twenty nine ninety nine a month.
Speaker 2: But I wanted to make sure that anyone that was wanted.
Speaker 1: To lock themselves in it didn't feel cheated, like what
Speaker 1: if I would have only known my team has been
Speaker 1: going so hard. I'm sure you're sick of seeing my
Speaker 1: fac me timeline. But the boost is just like you know, launching,
Speaker 1: and you just learned so much. It's like all things
Speaker 1: business and like a week and a half span, I
Speaker 1: mean everything from marketing to budgets to just it's been
Speaker 1: an amazing experience.
Speaker 2: But I also a break because it is so exhausted.
Speaker 1: We've been working double digit hour days and so today
Speaker 1: is the last day. By the time you listen to this,
Speaker 1: it'll be too late. So I'm not pushing the academy
Speaker 1: because the registration will have been closed.
Speaker 4: But just like, keep that Drake album.
Speaker 2: What's the Drake album?
Speaker 3: I think, isn't it called if you're listening to this,
Speaker 3: it's too late?
Speaker 2: Yeah, something like that. Ah yeah. So so you know,
Speaker 2: like our one of the.
Speaker 1: Things I like to do for the audience is that,
Speaker 1: like I tell them, you know that if you're investing yourself,
Speaker 1: I'm not penalizing you for you know, being loyal. So
Speaker 1: like if if you lock yourself in at ninety nine,
Speaker 1: if you have locked yourself in at nine nine tens
Speaker 1: a month, that's like where you stay for life. And
Speaker 1: so so Tuesday today was the last day to kind
Speaker 1: of lock that in because we tried our best to
Speaker 1: make sure that everyone within the sound of our.
Speaker 2: Digital voice would know.
Speaker 1: But just like I said, the boost is just whoop
Speaker 1: the team and how successful the launch was and letting
Speaker 1: as many people know as possible. And the break is
Speaker 1: child launching is back break like mentally breaking labor.
Speaker 2: It's so there's so many things, maybe everything.
Speaker 1: The day that we opened the doors of the data
Speaker 1: we kind of like launched, that's the day that Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram were down.
Speaker 2: The whole day. We were like, oh that's great.
Speaker 1: Oh god, yes, And when I tell you, everything that
Speaker 1: we've used has broken. I was doing this business webinar
Speaker 1: where I was like doing kind of like a sneak
Speaker 1: peek into like this is kind of what you get
Speaker 1: into the academy, and we like broke webinar jam or
Speaker 1: whatever we were using. It just was anything that could
Speaker 1: have broken broke. So it's just been a trial to
Speaker 1: not get discouraged. And I'm just really proud of my team.
Speaker 1: They are amazing, Like everyone is deserving.
Speaker 2: Of like you know, just like a bonus rage or
Speaker 2: something like that, you know.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, just I cannot wait to take my
Speaker 1: two weeks of like USA, I see now why Carlos,
Speaker 1: my accountant, after February fourteenth, he always takes like the
Speaker 1: next two weeks off because he's like leave me alone,
Speaker 1: like once I do your taxes, and so I feel
Speaker 1: like this is my tax season that you know, once
Speaker 1: the launch is done, I'm like everyone leave me alone.
Speaker 1: I just want to like lay quietly someplace and just
Speaker 1: like Usa.
Speaker 2: So that's it for me.
Speaker 3: Who sah, it's like champ yess.
Speaker 2: You know, Michael Jackson stole that mama saying Mama Sama makusa.
Speaker 3: I mean I didn't think he made it up. Isn't
Speaker 3: that some sort of African language?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: I think it was like a singer or something like
Speaker 1: that had it. Like I was listening to this other
Speaker 1: podcast and they were talking about IP intellectual property and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff, and it was like some
Speaker 1: other musician. But you know, Michael Jackson was like, Michael Jackson,
Speaker 1: what are they gonna do? Well, they sued him and
Speaker 1: they successfully won.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's just a little We.
Speaker 4: Don't want to end the show on the Michael Jackson past,
Speaker 4: do we, because.
Speaker 2: Thinking about the other I was just thinking of but.
Speaker 3: Like everyone probably is now, just think about Mama, don't
Speaker 3: think about the other.
Speaker 2: Stop.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we're allowed to say that anymore,
Speaker 3: No kidding.
Speaker 1: But yes, I'm gonna miss you guys. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be tuning in. I'll have one without me.
Speaker 3: We'll miss you, but I'm happy for you and you know,
Speaker 3: all of the relaxation. I hope that you actually relax so,
Speaker 3: I know, because otherwise, why are you leaving us for
Speaker 3: if you're not gonna actually relax.
Speaker 1: I have been on the show a social media break too.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to take a social media.
Speaker 4: I don't want to hear from you.
Speaker 3: I don't want to see the Instagram ads.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I do have a team, so you'll likely see like,
Speaker 1: got me here, hey, Sylvia. That's like the social media
Speaker 1: posting team. So if you see that, you know, you
Speaker 1: might see them doing that. But as far as me personally,
Speaker 1: I'm really going to try to take a social media
Speaker 1: break so it won't be like because usually I do a.
Speaker 2: Lot of my social media myself.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm gonna take a break from that because
Speaker 1: the system needs like more naps in her life.
Speaker 3: Yes, and then I like you just started thinking about
Speaker 3: what you'll do in August when I'm also away for
Speaker 3: two weeks, because that is my life goal for this
Speaker 3: year is to not be here when everyone else is
Speaker 3: gone in August.
Speaker 4: Oh all right, well, enjoy your break. Thank you guys
Speaker 4: for listening.
Speaker 3: I'm back next week with Lynette CALIFORNI Cox, ask the
Speaker 3: money coach, send us your question, send questions for Lynette.
Speaker 3: I got to keep her busy. And then the week
Speaker 3: after that we'll have Sandy Smith from Yes I Am Cheap.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a fun couple of weeks, y'all.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed,