Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, hey guys, It's me Tiffany and it's Manjo.
Speaker 1: We just want to say thank you guys. You guys
Speaker 1: are amazing thanks to you. Since we started our podcast,
Speaker 1: it was just me and Mandy listening to ourselves to
Speaker 1: now we get over one hundred thousand downloads a month,
Speaker 1: and I know it seems like that's awesome, but we
Speaker 1: can do even better.
Speaker 2: And we have a favor to ask, just.
Speaker 3: A tiny favor, if you could please share our show.
Speaker 3: Share it on your social media. You can tag us
Speaker 3: at Brown Ambition Podcast. Take a screenshot of the show
Speaker 3: that you're listening to and share it on Twitter, on Insta,
Speaker 3: on Facebook, tell a friend to tell a friend. You
Speaker 3: can tag us on social media. We're at Brown Ambition
Speaker 3: Podcast on Insta, at the BA Podcast on Twitter, and
Speaker 3: of course our Facebook group. You can find us under
Speaker 3: Brown Ambition. Don't forget to tag our personal handles too.
Speaker 3: On Insta. I'm at Mandy Money, Mandy with an Eye,
Speaker 3: and Tiffany is at the Budget Nista. When you tag us,
Speaker 3: we will share your post and help amplify it even further.
Speaker 3: Thank y'all for all the love this is just going
Speaker 3: to help us give us that little extra brown boost.
Speaker 1: Hey, hey Hazy, hey hey, he switched it up for you.
Speaker 2: You know, I said, let me bring it back to
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 3: It's summer. It was ninety degrees today, so you know what,
Speaker 3: why not we need some easy up in here.
Speaker 2: I know, Hey, Mandra, how are you?
Speaker 4: Hey?
Speaker 3: I am doing well, so excited about today's show?
Speaker 4: Me.
Speaker 2: Does you see what I did there?
Speaker 3: I did Yo and tiendo Moibean. We have an amazing
Speaker 3: guest on today show. You want to talk about this, Sandy?
Speaker 1: Yes, Honestly, I think I'm trying to think where did
Speaker 1: I meet Sandy? I think I met Sandy when I
Speaker 1: met I think I'm met her online first, but then
Speaker 1: I went to my first you know conference as shall
Speaker 1: but I'll not be named, like six or seven years ago,
Speaker 1: and she was there, one of the few brown faces,
Speaker 1: and she was just warm and welcoming and Sandy. I
Speaker 1: don't know that.
Speaker 2: I honestly don't know anyone that doesn't like love Sandy.
Speaker 3: She has such a good energy, gives yet hugs, which
Speaker 3: I know you probably don't love about her, but I
Speaker 3: personally love a good Sandy hug.
Speaker 2: She is just so giving. I don't know that I've
Speaker 2: ever asked anything of Sandy and she hasn't said sure girl.
Speaker 1: And so Sandy, I originally met her through her brand,
Speaker 1: Yes I Am Cheap, which is the brand she still has.
Speaker 1: You know, it's all about frugalness and living simply, but
Speaker 1: she has since evolved into a couple of other things.
Speaker 1: She is like the go to for all things side hustle.
Speaker 1: Literally we call her side Hustle with Sandy because my
Speaker 1: dreamcatchers love Sandy and when she comes to teach them
Speaker 1: about working from home making extra money, Sandy also gives
Speaker 1: great advice about how to make extra money at your
Speaker 1: current job. And then two we talked about Sandy. I
Speaker 1: think last episode about her Elevate conference, which is specifically
Speaker 1: for black and brown financial educators and podcasters and bloggers
Speaker 1: to have a safe space to share, you know, their
Speaker 1: experiences teaching their community. So Sandy's just all around amazing.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited she's a guest on the show.
Speaker 3: I feel like we manifested her because as soon as
Speaker 3: that show wrapped, I was like, Sandy, you fro ant
Speaker 3: ambition now she said, okay, finally she was ready. We
Speaker 3: were ready. Love it. Well, that interview is coming up
Speaker 3: later on the show. Y'all, can we talk about the
Speaker 3: stock market real, real quick like because I feel like
Speaker 3: blah blah blah. Another record high for the S and
Speaker 3: P five hundred today. I was looking at my four
Speaker 3: and one K, which I try not to do. I
Speaker 3: don't want to like jinx anything. But I was looking
Speaker 3: at my four one K and I'm in my separate
Speaker 3: Broke Ridge account, and I'm like, hell, yes, y'all, just
Speaker 3: stay the freaking course. I'm so glad. Even Homeboy you
Speaker 3: hear Rio, he's very excited for mommy. He's like, yes, Mommy,
Speaker 3: I want to go to a very good college. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm just feeling like, you know, people were so scared
Speaker 3: because it was quite scary. I mean, my my investments
Speaker 3: were down because I'm still like really really like ninety
Speaker 3: percent in the market with all my investments. I'm a
Speaker 3: frugal saver, but I'm a I like to aggressive investor
Speaker 3: because I know, I just I don't know I had
Speaker 3: the stomach for it. I guess I built the stomach.
Speaker 3: But yeah, things were down thirty percent. I was like
Speaker 3: I had to tell Husby, stop stop looking at your
Speaker 3: stop looking at your selling.
Speaker 2: I remember that there was like March, was that March
Speaker 2: when things were down?
Speaker 3: Yeah, March April was when things really hit it. But
Speaker 3: I actually, I think I was contributing ten percent. This
Speaker 3: is just my four one k. I was contributing ten
Speaker 3: percent from.
Speaker 2: Each pay period.
Speaker 3: And then when I realized what I was saving by
Speaker 3: not commuting, not eating out every day, I went in
Speaker 3: and I was like, I can afford to double my savings.
Speaker 3: So I started kicking in twenty percent of my paycheck
Speaker 3: into my retirement and then I was like, this feels great.
Speaker 3: This is the right thing to do. It's so hard
Speaker 3: emotionally to tell yourself what to do because you know,
Speaker 3: on paper it's like buy low and sell hi.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 3: And I was like, just listen to your own advice, Mandy,
Speaker 3: Like this is a clearance sale. You got to get
Speaker 3: in and get that clearance. But it's it's now that
Speaker 3: the market's you know, bounce back, and then some I'm
Speaker 3: so I'm feeling kind I'm kind of feeling myself.
Speaker 2: I don't know, like I hope that is.
Speaker 1: I mean, and I know there's some people who are
Speaker 1: like because a lot of my friends invest in individual
Speaker 1: stocks and that can seem scary for some of y'all,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to, Like, you can literally invest
Speaker 1: in the market via an index fund. So they're like
Speaker 1: S and P five hundred. There's there are ETFs which
Speaker 1: are like they're like a basket of stocks that you
Speaker 1: can trade on the market. Or you can use a
Speaker 1: mutual fund where you could just say, oh, I'm going
Speaker 1: to put two hundred bucks a month into this mutual
Speaker 1: fund that mirrors the market, which is an index fund,
Speaker 1: so you can find so you can say S and
Speaker 1: P five hundred ETF symbol or mutual fund s and
Speaker 1: P five hundred, and you can literally just invest in
Speaker 1: in that index. And what's so awesome about it is
Speaker 1: that the S and P five hundred is the top
Speaker 1: five hundred companies that are traded in the United States.
Speaker 1: So when things are up, like Mandy said, your money
Speaker 1: is up, and when things are not so up, the
Speaker 1: truth is you can actually just put more money in
Speaker 1: because over time, history has shown us that the market
Speaker 1: goes up over time. Even if it dips, it eventually
Speaker 1: finds its way back up again. So those are two
Speaker 1: easy ways mutual funds and ETFs to start investing without
Speaker 1: having to pick individual fots, which most people are not
Speaker 1: good at anyway.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I feel like we always get and personally,
Speaker 3: I don't have my Teani and I talk about our
Speaker 3: little robinhood accounts. You know I do have. I think
Speaker 3: I have some stock in Chewy dot com because I
Speaker 3: love Chewy dot com personally for my dog stuff. If
Speaker 3: you have a pet, you probably know Chewy. But anyway,
Speaker 3: that's not the main That's not where I put most
Speaker 3: of my investments. My main investments consisted of like a
Speaker 3: target date fund that I got way back in like
Speaker 3: twenty thirteen, which I've since traded into. Just I just
Speaker 3: selected my own index funds. But I am an index
Speaker 3: fund girl all the way. And my husband and I
Speaker 3: were arguing back and forth about the difference between ETFs
Speaker 3: exchange traded funds and mutual funds, and it was so
Speaker 3: funny we're both saying the same thing. But Tiffany, you
Speaker 3: nailed that. The big difference is an ETF you can
Speaker 3: trade it during the day, so if you have time
Speaker 3: and you want to trade one TF for another, you
Speaker 3: can do that. But with a mutual fund or an
Speaker 3: index fund, you can only you only going to be
Speaker 3: able to sell that index fund for the price it
Speaker 3: hits at the market closes. But that's fine because for
Speaker 3: most index funds savers, you know, we're not in this
Speaker 3: for the daily ups and downs of the market. We're
Speaker 3: in it for the long haul. Like if the market
Speaker 3: goes up or down, I'm not selling my funds. And
Speaker 3: that for me is my strategy. It's a long, long
Speaker 3: term strategy. You know, I understand if people want to
Speaker 3: be selling, you know, buying and selling stocks or ETFs
Speaker 3: during the day, if that's what you're into and you
Speaker 3: got the time, cool cool cool. But for me, you know,
Speaker 3: and I think a lot of you know, long term investors,
Speaker 3: index funds are cheap, they're very easy, and you can
Speaker 3: get them through any from many, many different brokerage accounts.
Speaker 3: We talked about Vanguard Fidelity, Charles Schwab. I mean even
Speaker 3: on Robinhood you can you can.
Speaker 2: Do not mutual funds on Robinhood ETFs.
Speaker 3: And I was looking recently. You know, Tiff and I
Speaker 3: are fans of Ally. We talked about they have they
Speaker 3: are all these you know, a lot of banks are
Speaker 3: now getting into investments, and you know, you can invest
Speaker 3: through Ally, but I saw that they charge they do offer.
Speaker 3: You can buy you can commission free trades for stocks
Speaker 3: and ETFs, but nine ninety five to trade mutual funds.
Speaker 3: So no, thank you, ma'am. Yeah, no, you want to
Speaker 3: look for Yeah, you want to look for brokerage accounts
Speaker 3: that have lower no commissions if you plan on trading,
Speaker 3: you know, even a little bit, and especially if you
Speaker 3: plan on trading frequently, and then look for you know,
Speaker 3: shop around and look and see which brokerage account you
Speaker 3: know you think appeals most to the way that you like. Honestly,
Speaker 3: it really comes down to the look, feel and the
Speaker 3: brand because they're very similar at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: I've used Vanguard and the and the price.
Speaker 1: And because you want to look for that that expense ratio,
Speaker 1: which is really just the pride the feed that they're
Speaker 1: charging you on your on your on your total portfolio.
Speaker 1: So if you like, for example, vanguards like point zero
Speaker 1: zero nine percent, point zero nine percent or something like that,
Speaker 1: child Shwaw might be point zero seven, somebody else might
Speaker 1: be point might be one point five.
Speaker 2: We don't like those.
Speaker 1: So you're you're gonna want to look for an expense
Speaker 1: ratio that is low. It means the percentage they're going
Speaker 1: to charge you on what you've invested with them, So
Speaker 1: obviously the lower the better. Now, being mindful that if
Speaker 1: something is actively if someone has an active or a
Speaker 1: fund has an active manager, meaning someone a person that
Speaker 1: is picking stocks and manipulating stocks and picking bonds or
Speaker 1: whatever it is that's in the fund for you, know
Speaker 1: that the expense ratio is going to be higher because
Speaker 1: the purpose of that fund is to beat the market,
Speaker 1: although statistics show rarely does fund fund managers beat the
Speaker 1: market on a consistent basis, But just know that that
Speaker 1: that the purpose of that is to beat the market.
Speaker 1: An index fund is different. The index fund is literally
Speaker 1: there to match the market. It's supposed to say that
Speaker 1: S and P. Five hundred, the top five hundred companies
Speaker 1: went up to, your fund went up to, it went
Speaker 1: down to your fund went down to. So some people
Speaker 1: like to pay the extra money for an actively managed
Speaker 1: fund because they're hoping to beat the market. But like
Speaker 1: I said, you know, studies and statistics have shown that
Speaker 1: rarely do fund managers beat the market consistently year after
Speaker 1: year after year after year after year. That for me,
Speaker 1: I just like index funds because I'm like I'll just
Speaker 1: match the market. Let the market go up and I
Speaker 1: go up, and when it goes down, I go down.
Speaker 1: But over time, I know I go.
Speaker 3: Up, yeah, one thousand percent. And remember're talking to Sandy
Speaker 3: a little bit later about side hustles and additional sources
Speaker 3: of income in order to build wealth. But you know,
Speaker 3: for me, nothing beats that stock market. I love it
Speaker 3: and it's so fun. I mean, time is the only
Speaker 3: thing you have to you have to accept like it's
Speaker 3: going to take time to see gains and to see
Speaker 3: yourself bounce back from any lows. But you know, I've
Speaker 3: got a decade where I've been in the market now
Speaker 3: a little under a decade, and I've I've gone through
Speaker 3: two recessions now, I mean the Great Recession and then this.
Speaker 4: Can are we calling it a recession?
Speaker 2: What is this?
Speaker 3: It's like a crisis, but not a crisis because the
Speaker 3: market is oh.
Speaker 1: It is technically, I mean now the markets up, but
Speaker 1: it is even though the market is up, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that the economy is up.
Speaker 2: It's two separate things.
Speaker 1: So we are still technically in a recession because we
Speaker 1: still have seen slow down and job growth in exports,
Speaker 1: not exports, but like, uh, the economy has been down
Speaker 1: in JDP it has been yeah, our GDP, so.
Speaker 2: So yes, we are still.
Speaker 1: We are technically in a session, even though the market
Speaker 1: would not suggest it. And that's what confuses people because
Speaker 1: they're like, well, we're doing good. It's like economy is down,
Speaker 1: market is up. Because the economy is based upon actual
Speaker 1: money and jobs and things flowing out or in to
Speaker 1: this country.
Speaker 3: Reality.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was going to.
Speaker 1: Say, it's based on facts, no printer, whereas the market
Speaker 1: it's all emotion. It's just I feel a thing, I
Speaker 1: buy a thing, I react to a thing. So I
Speaker 1: don't want you to look at the stock market and
Speaker 1: think everything is amazing. That's just feelings. The economy is facts,
Speaker 1: and the facts show I think I was being statistics
Speaker 1: like it was like one in four people basically are
Speaker 1: defunct on their mortgage, you know, like they were like
Speaker 1: they applied for that mortgage assistance, so they have not
Speaker 1: paid since the Cares Act was passed. And so with
Speaker 1: that being said, that's the worry because it's like, well,
Speaker 1: if people are not paying their mortgage, if people are
Speaker 1: still have not gone back to work, if people are
Speaker 1: still not making the income they were making before. That's
Speaker 1: the economy, that's the real meat and potatoes. And although
Speaker 1: the stock market, which is great, which is the dessert,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really tell the full picture. So you just
Speaker 1: want to be mindful how you navigate, and that you
Speaker 1: still want to be mindful that we are still in
Speaker 1: a recession and we still could see potentially the ripple
Speaker 1: effects of like people not working and not paying for
Speaker 1: things like their mortgage, and that what is that going
Speaker 1: to look like a year or two years from now?
Speaker 2: Are we going to have a whole bunch of people
Speaker 2: who are.
Speaker 1: Foreclosing or is the you know, our our federally back
Speaker 1: mortgage is going to come up with another program to
Speaker 1: help people. I don't know, but you know, don't be
Speaker 1: fooled by just the market. That's you know, that's the
Speaker 1: long flowing hair, but that hair is a weave, it's
Speaker 1: not her.
Speaker 3: And one last notice, you know, I talk about staying
Speaker 3: the course, but it's really about staying your course. Like
Speaker 3: you are the only person who knows your own circumstances,
Speaker 3: your own goals, your own time horizons. So if you're
Speaker 3: listening right now and you're nearing retirement, I mean I
Speaker 3: personally am fine being you know, like ninety percent in
Speaker 3: the market right now. Because I'm thirty three years old,
Speaker 3: I imagine I'll be working for at least another twenty,
Speaker 3: you know, years, and I've got time to recover from
Speaker 3: a dip. But if you haven't been rebalancing, you know,
Speaker 3: we talked to this before. The people who truly get
Speaker 3: slammed during times like this and hurt, like, you know,
Speaker 3: really hurt sonistic is when they don't rebalance your portfolio
Speaker 3: to be a little bit less risky so that when
Speaker 3: there's these big dips in the market, they're not getting
Speaker 3: hit because you know, you've got your investments more in
Speaker 3: conservative things like bonds, which you can also get bond
Speaker 3: ETFs and mutual funds and all that. So definitely, like
Speaker 3: if you're if you're listening to us, like we are
Speaker 3: excited because you know we've got some time we're in
Speaker 3: the market, et cetera. But you've got to do what
Speaker 3: works for you. You would definitely consult the financial advisor
Speaker 3: a financial planner if you need that extra help figuring
Speaker 3: out what your strategy is. But I say, once you've
Speaker 3: got it, just just stick to the course and that's
Speaker 3: the best. You know that you can do.
Speaker 1: Yes, And so you're not gonna hear Stu wins at
Speaker 1: the end because, quite honestly, the fact that we have
Speaker 1: Sandy on the show, that's our win.
Speaker 3: That is the win. You're welcome. Well, let's take a
Speaker 3: break now and we will come back with our interview
Speaker 3: with Sandy Smith, the side hustle Queen. She's going to
Speaker 3: talk about not just great side hustles anyone can do
Speaker 3: while working at home these days, but also how to
Speaker 3: do it realistically, how to treat it like a business,
Speaker 3: and how to actually market the products and get people
Speaker 3: to buy them. So stay tuned for our interview with Sandy.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited, You're excited, Mansard's excited.
Speaker 1: We're all excited because we have the one, the only
Speaker 1: Sandy Smith. Formerly are currently of Yes I Am Cheap,
Speaker 1: but more importantly of side hustles with Sandy. We have
Speaker 1: been teasing you with Sandy since the very beginning of
Speaker 1: the podcast, and we finally wrangled her in today to
Speaker 1: talk to you all about ways that you can make
Speaker 1: money working from home. Honestly, Sandy's just a delight. She
Speaker 1: does so many things. She is If you guys ever
Speaker 1: watched Clarence or The Godfather on Netflix. That's what she
Speaker 1: is too, black and brown finance, so she is our
Speaker 1: go to. She is the creator of Elevate, which is
Speaker 1: a group of black and brown financial educators and writers
Speaker 1: and bloggers. And Sandy's just amazing, So we're happy to
Speaker 1: have her.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been here every episode because I'm
Speaker 1: always playing guys in the car. I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: sitting here with you and Mandy having a whole kiky
Speaker 1: going on. So I'm like, oh, this is my like,
Speaker 1: you know, fiftieth appearance.
Speaker 3: I mean, Sandy, you were there from the very beginning
Speaker 3: when tiff and I met it at fin Con. I
Speaker 3: remember that was the first time I realized that that
Speaker 3: was the beginning of Elevate, right.
Speaker 1: It was the expansion of Elevate. Eleva had been around
Speaker 1: for like a year or two before that, but it
Speaker 1: definitely expanded.
Speaker 2: Then.
Speaker 1: That's when it really formalized in my head what I
Speaker 1: really wanted to do.
Speaker 3: Well, what I love most about you, Sandy. And this
Speaker 3: is something Tiffany and I have been talking a lot
Speaker 3: more lately. It's about how to get past that stage
Speaker 3: of saving and scrimping and paying down things and really
Speaker 3: get into more of a phase of building wealth. And
Speaker 3: what I love about you especially is that you know,
Speaker 3: you talk about side hustles, but you don't talk about
Speaker 3: it like, you know, come home from you nine to five,
Speaker 3: work a side hustle, stress out, you know, just like
Speaker 3: you're really into the idea of encouraging and helping people
Speaker 3: build wealth and building it through passive income streams. So
Speaker 3: I just want to dive right in. Can you tell
Speaker 3: us about your journey, Like, what were some of the
Speaker 3: early side hustles you as Sandy Smith. What was the
Speaker 3: first time you started to realize, oh, I could make
Speaker 3: some money on the side with very you know, with
Speaker 3: some upfront costs, but you know, have passive income. And yeah,
Speaker 3: tell us how that all.
Speaker 4: Started for you.
Speaker 1: So huge disclaimer, I'm Jamaican, so you know, okay, you
Speaker 1: always have to have tree jobs at least, right, So
Speaker 1: my first job, as always your parents will tell you
Speaker 1: if you are from the Caribbean or if you're from Africa,
Speaker 1: your first job is being a student, right, one hundred
Speaker 1: and ten percent being a student.
Speaker 2: And then so it started for.
Speaker 1: Me actually while I was in college because my mom
Speaker 1: had filed bankruptcy the year that I was going to college,
Speaker 1: and I had a full academic scholarship to go to
Speaker 1: Xavier University, but I couldn't afford to take out enough
Speaker 1: laws to pay for my room on board. So the
Speaker 1: first year, my aunt helped me out with that, and
Speaker 1: then afterwards I was like, I had to give up
Speaker 1: the scholarship because I couldn't afford the rooman board. So
Speaker 1: I came back to New York and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: tuition's actually a lot of money and I needed to
Speaker 1: supplement my income. So it actually started way back in
Speaker 1: the ice age in the nineties. Side mustling for me,
Speaker 1: So time.
Speaker 3: To go, well, pre internet kind of okay, how old
Speaker 3: do you think I am?
Speaker 4: I mean, you know.
Speaker 3: The internet was around, but it wasn't like in every household.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't because it wasn't the So Sandy, what
Speaker 1: is your I mean, I know, but I think the
Speaker 1: audience would love to know what's your biggest like side
Speaker 1: hustle claim to fame, Like when you made like the
Speaker 1: biggest bucks.
Speaker 2: In the shortest period of time? What was that and
Speaker 2: how much was it?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: That was definitely when I was on Amazon really really heavy,
Speaker 1: and a couple of my products went viral. I was
Speaker 1: doing coffee munths at the time, which is like the
Speaker 1: most mundane thing, right, and I ended up taking all
Speaker 1: of my vacation time to fulfill my orders. So you know,
Speaker 1: I had a regular job and still had to do that.
Speaker 1: And I think it was I made like sixty seventy
Speaker 1: thousand dollars that month selling these coffee bunks. We could
Speaker 1: not keep up with the orders. So that was like
Speaker 1: my aha.
Speaker 4: But but I still didn't quit my job.
Speaker 1: I wasn't crazy. I still had my job and this
Speaker 1: was a side thing. So imagine making that much money
Speaker 1: on the side.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: Man, I paid off.
Speaker 4: I paid off everything.
Speaker 3: So this was so to talk about how the internet
Speaker 3: because everythink I think that they're you know, another thing
Speaker 3: that is great about Sandy as you acknowledge the fact
Speaker 3: that there are some like Scammy. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: work from home, like there's so much and they often
Speaker 3: target black and brown communities especially.
Speaker 1: I found them when I was like eighteen, nineteen, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. I felt for a lot of them. So
Speaker 1: I say, I've been the guinea pig so that you
Speaker 1: don't have to make the same mistakes that I've made,
Speaker 1: because now I can smell a scam ten miles away
Speaker 1: because I've fallen for them before, right, and everything old
Speaker 1: is new again. So I think some of the most
Speaker 1: popular ones right now, especially because there's so many people
Speaker 1: out of work, is the fake, definitely work from home scam.
Speaker 1: And the most dangerous one that I can think up
Speaker 1: off the top of my head that I've warned people
Speaker 1: about a million times is the one where they pretend
Speaker 1: you're getting a legitimate jobs. Of course you send all
Speaker 1: this personal data, right, and that's like a big thing.
Speaker 1: But the second part that's really dangerous is where they
Speaker 1: start sending you packages and you're supposed to be like
Speaker 1: quality control or you're repackaging the things and shipping them
Speaker 1: somewhere else, and clearly those products are from stolen gains.
Speaker 1: Usually sometimes they may contain illegal items, but most of
Speaker 1: the time it's from somebody else who scammed somebody, and
Speaker 1: they're washing the money by buying products laptops, electronics, sending it.
Speaker 4: To your address.
Speaker 1: You're repackaging, and you're sending it to like a drop
Speaker 1: box or something, you know, someplace else. You think you're
Speaker 1: doing a job a real job that you're can get
Speaker 1: paid for and now you're out of your personal identification
Speaker 1: and the postal police are probably going to knock on
Speaker 1: your door very quickly.
Speaker 2: Wow, yikes.
Speaker 3: So what are some legitimate work from home? Because you're
Speaker 3: right this at this time in our country, I mean
Speaker 3: this is when I mean your ears must be on fire.
Speaker 3: People must be hitting you up every day because if
Speaker 3: you're not out of work, I think there's this new
Speaker 3: found like vigor and interest in Okay, maybe I maybe
Speaker 3: we we skated by with this recession or for calling
Speaker 3: it a recession, you know, the market downturn, but we
Speaker 3: really need to start thinking about how can we build
Speaker 3: wealth and how can I do that while you know
Speaker 3: with my full time job. So what are some legitimate
Speaker 3: ways you have you yourself, have you know, earned money
Speaker 3: on the side or you feel like, is you know
Speaker 3: something that is accessible to people today who are maybe
Speaker 3: juggling you know, one or two jobs at home plus
Speaker 3: and all this craziness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you might hear my two year old screaming at
Speaker 1: some point. So a couple of months ago I thought
Speaker 1: about this. I was like, you know, this is going
Speaker 1: to run for a long time, and it's going to
Speaker 1: affect a lot of people before it's finally over and done.
Speaker 1: So what can you really do at multiple skill levels
Speaker 1: from home? And I think I can go back now
Speaker 1: and say a couple of the things that I pointed
Speaker 1: out as being big are actually that big.
Speaker 4: So big time.
Speaker 1: We all know tutoring if you have a kid at
Speaker 1: home and you're not everyone's not a teacher, right and
Speaker 1: you might be struggling with your kids homework. I probably
Speaker 1: would struggle with my two year old's homework. Online tutoring
Speaker 1: is huge, huge right now. And along those lines, babysitting
Speaker 1: from home, because there's so many people who you know,
Speaker 1: want to go back to work, but finding childcare is
Speaker 1: really tough or they don't want to send their kid
Speaker 1: to a really big facility. I know I struggle with that.
Speaker 1: And so if you're home and you like taking care
Speaker 1: of kids, people work all shifts. You know, you've got
Speaker 1: nurses that work twelve hour shifts and they might work overnight.
Speaker 1: Who's going to watch their kid? So you know, childcare
Speaker 1: is like another really really big one. And then of
Speaker 1: course I know you guys have heard that Amazon has
Speaker 1: sold like all time highs during the epidemic but they're
Speaker 1: not the only ones target best Buy. A lot of
Speaker 1: these retail retailers are selling a lot, but not just
Speaker 1: the big companies. Small guys like you and I who
Speaker 1: are selling products online are actually making decent money during
Speaker 1: the epidemic because people aren't going into physical retail stores
Speaker 1: and they're buying things online. So even if you just
Speaker 1: sell stuff on eBay, thrifting and now I've like introduced
Speaker 1: a bunch of people to thrifting. You know, going to
Speaker 1: the shop, finding something, cleaning it up, and reselling it
Speaker 1: elsewhere is a legitimate and easy way for you to
Speaker 1: make money.
Speaker 4: And you know, the Internet is.
Speaker 1: A twenty four hours a day, so is eBay, and
Speaker 1: so you can list your products and they sell when
Speaker 1: they sell, and you make your profit. Now, I was
Speaker 1: going to say one of the struggles that I know
Speaker 1: that people have, I know, even for me, I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: what do.
Speaker 2: I get these products to sell?
Speaker 1: So say, if I don't want to, I don't want
Speaker 1: to ship from my house. I don't want to you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to mail things out. You know, how
Speaker 1: do I go about finding things and then selling things?
Speaker 1: So where do I find the like the best, the
Speaker 1: best products I can find at the lowest price and
Speaker 1: the distribution so I don't have to worry about shipping
Speaker 1: them out myself. Yeah, so job shipping has been really huge, huge,
Speaker 1: across all different avenues lately, and all different kinds of products,
Speaker 1: from things for your kids to play with to T shirts,
Speaker 1: which I'm doing myself as well right now, and also
Speaker 1: teaching other people how to do, and all different kinds
Speaker 1: of products, feminine care, et cetera. And the thing is
Speaker 1: you don't have to stock the products, you don't hold
Speaker 1: onto them, you don't keep the inventory, and even better,
Speaker 1: you don't spend the money up front to keep inventory.
Speaker 1: So like when I had my big month on Amazon,
Speaker 1: about a third of it went through drop shipping, and
Speaker 1: two thirds diactually touched. So at some point I shifted
Speaker 1: one hundred percent to drop shipping, and I was mostly
Speaker 1: customer service. But then you know, once my son came along,
Speaker 1: it was really difficult, so I had to kind of
Speaker 1: give it away because I just had too high of
Speaker 1: a volume to be customer service all the time. So
Speaker 1: I would say that drop shipping is a legitimate, legitimate
Speaker 1: way to start a business without a lot of upfront investment,
Speaker 1: without having a whole bunch of products and without you know,
Speaker 1: losing your mind and having to shift things yourself. So
Speaker 1: with that said, once again, I'm going to go back
Speaker 1: to scams. There are a gazillion scams out there, and
Speaker 1: on top of that, don't come for me. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of mlum programs that kind of build themselves
Speaker 1: like this, but they're very, very difficult for you guys
Speaker 1: to make money with them. Usually people try to snatch
Speaker 1: my when I talk about the MLMs.
Speaker 3: They're so protective of them. I don't understand. I mean,
Speaker 3: I do understand fine print. Nobody reads the fine print
Speaker 3: and realize that those people that they talk about when
Speaker 3: they're recruiting you are like the top one percent and
Speaker 3: ninety nine percent of people and MLMs never actually make
Speaker 3: money and they required to disclose this right, but nobody
Speaker 3: ever reads that fine print. And then you get tired
Speaker 3: of your friends, get tired of getting annoyed. But anyway,
Speaker 3: I'm not coming for the MLMs. But if your MLM
Speaker 3: does focus on the product and you love the product,
Speaker 3: and they will ship the product for you without you
Speaker 3: having to have a monthly investment and all these other things,
Speaker 3: fine them all for it.
Speaker 4: Love it. If you love it, I love it.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about actual and drop shipping was a
Speaker 3: term I didn't know existed until I started to follow
Speaker 3: more closely the work that you've been doing recently to
Speaker 3: educate people about side hustles. So it's just that's just
Speaker 3: the name of the process where you're not actually holding merchandise.
Speaker 3: You're like, you're signing up with the company, you're designing
Speaker 3: the merchandise, but they hold the inventory and they ship
Speaker 3: it for you exactly perfect.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 1: And the big part is that you don't you don't
Speaker 1: invest your money in the inventory until it's already been sold.
Speaker 1: So if Mandy, if I'm selling you a pair of earrings, right,
Speaker 1: you buy the earrings for fifteen bucks, and I go,
Speaker 1: there are these companies that sell them for like five
Speaker 1: dollars or whatever. You pay me fifteen dollars for these
Speaker 1: air airrings. Then I go and I order these airrings
Speaker 1: for five dollars. So the ten dollars in between is
Speaker 1: my profit. And I didn't have to hold inventory, and
Speaker 1: I don't have to do anything until after you've already
Speaker 1: ordered it, and then that company is going to package
Speaker 1: it and ship it on my behalf to you, so
Speaker 1: it never has to see me, right?
Speaker 3: Can you name? Like what are if you are just
Speaker 3: getting started, what are some trustworthy I guess you can
Speaker 3: call them drop shipping sites where you would recommend people start?
Speaker 3: And what's hot right now? Like what products? Do do
Speaker 3: people want? Earrings? Do they want? You know, I'm assuming
Speaker 3: no one's making like, you know, custom business card holders anymore.
Speaker 3: But maybe mugs are in our T shirts? Like what's
Speaker 3: hot right now?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: That's mugs are come up a little bit later. T
Speaker 1: shirts are hot, and T shirts are hot for one reason,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you why. All these protests that have
Speaker 1: been occurring all across the country. People have something to say,
Speaker 1: and so they're looking for a shirt that matches and
Speaker 1: expresses their emotions. And so a lot of these shirts
Speaker 1: don't have to be like these intricate, super wonderful designs.
Speaker 1: They're literally words on the shirt. Anyone can do that.
Speaker 1: You can do it. I could do it right. They're
Speaker 1: literally words on a shirt. And what I had told
Speaker 1: my group before was the biggest selling T shirts the
Speaker 1: last few months. You guys can guess what it said.
Speaker 2: Come on, Black Lives Matter, boom one period. That's it.
Speaker 1: So and think of how many different fonts, how many
Speaker 1: ways it's been written. Is it on a black shirt
Speaker 1: with white writ is it on a white shirt with
Speaker 1: black writing?
Speaker 2: Is it pink? Because you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So that's not.
Speaker 1: Even anything that's really difficult for anyone to do. And
Speaker 1: there are a ton of companies out there that will
Speaker 1: allow you to create a store and do it really quickly.
Speaker 1: You can have something up and running within fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: I tell people, you can have a legit drop shipping
Speaker 1: site within fifteen minutes. So printfle is my favorite one
Speaker 1: for that. Printify is another one, and Printify is even
Speaker 1: better in some respects because Printify has a bunch of
Speaker 1: different companies that they work with all across the country.
Speaker 1: And the costs if you're listening to this podcast outside
Speaker 1: of the US as well, outside of the US, so
Speaker 1: does printful. If you're in Europe or Mexico, this could
Speaker 1: be you too. And so those are two of the
Speaker 1: largest ones. You've got Red Bubble Cafe Press, but they're
Speaker 1: a little bit more expensive and they're geared towards retailers.
Speaker 1: But those like four that all legit if you want
Speaker 1: to get into a T shirt business tomorrow and on
Speaker 1: a drop ship basis, you can do that other products.
Speaker 1: You really have to look around what's going on right now. So,
Speaker 1: for example, everything related to sanitization or cleanliness is really
Speaker 1: hot right now. One of the hottest things that I've seen,
Speaker 1: and I do a lot of research on what's going
Speaker 1: on because I just do what. I'm crazy our products
Speaker 1: that help your kids, say like clean because we all know,
Speaker 1: you know, kids, kids are German boxes.
Speaker 3: They nasty, nasty.
Speaker 1: So one of the hottest products that I've seen is
Speaker 1: a wristband that has like anti bacterial gel in it
Speaker 1: that you just snort into the palm and so you know,
Speaker 1: it's like a little jelly wrist band with a little
Speaker 1: like a little repository for some a little bit of
Speaker 1: hand hand sanitizer and escorts into the pump.
Speaker 4: Huge seller right now.
Speaker 1: Huge since your kids are home and Mandy's not there yet,
Speaker 1: but I'm deep in this body training. Those body training
Speaker 1: items and things that keep your kids busy, those are humongous.
Speaker 1: And also, don't forget that we're going into toy season.
Speaker 1: I know it's really too early for you guys. You're
Speaker 1: out there enjoying your eighty ninety degree weather. But mentally,
Speaker 1: a lot of the stores have already shifted into Christmas
Speaker 1: buying and so, you know, toys for kids, especially with
Speaker 1: an educational focus, that's a big one. Clothing is always
Speaker 1: really big. But clothing is very difficult right now, and
Speaker 1: the reason why is that there's so many retailers who
Speaker 1: are either going out of business or are unsure about
Speaker 1: what to stock for inventory coming up, so you would
Speaker 1: actually be competing with your TJ. Maxis and all these
Speaker 1: other stores. It's very very difficult to do unless you
Speaker 1: have a very niche kind of product that you have, like,
Speaker 1: for example, one of the big things where these big
Speaker 1: chunky knit blankets with the huge oversize. Have you guys
Speaker 1: seen these? It's like the yarn was like the yeah,
Speaker 1: business of my arm right, so that was like really
Speaker 1: popular last year. Unless it's like a really popular novelty
Speaker 1: item kind of like that. When it comes to clothing,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit difficult to kind of predict. So
Speaker 1: for me, I kind of have to have my eyes
Speaker 1: and ears on what's going on in pop culture, What
Speaker 1: are people looking for? What are they searching for? I'm
Speaker 1: looking at Google trends and trying to figure out what
Speaker 1: could be big, what has been really big lately? And
Speaker 1: these ladies saw before we started wigs because the beauty
Speaker 1: salons closed.
Speaker 3: How did you get into a wig selling business.
Speaker 1: Everyone's not comfortable rocking their grays and their naturals. Okay,
Speaker 1: I need to look professional out here, and my baby
Speaker 1: slot is still closed. So yes, the whig business has
Speaker 1: been booming for the last few years. And there's so
Speaker 1: many ways to get into the whig business if you
Speaker 1: wanted to. You can go directly Made in China is
Speaker 1: a site that I use. The other one that everybody
Speaker 1: uses is Ali Express and you can literally buy and
Speaker 1: job ship wigs directly from the manufacturers to your customers.
Speaker 1: If you go to Ali Express, it's just know that
Speaker 1: most of it's coming from China or India. It's going
Speaker 1: to take twenty thirty days to get here. Worse, with
Speaker 1: the post office being slow, you can't filter for things
Speaker 1: that are made in the US. It will cost you more,
Speaker 1: but a higher cost basis, but it will get to
Speaker 1: your customers faster.
Speaker 3: So you're not having wigs in your garage. No, I
Speaker 3: mean you're okay, solf right, Okay, So you don't actually
Speaker 3: have to like acquire the wigs. How do you tell
Speaker 3: if they're good quality?
Speaker 1: That's always the question that people ask. And this is
Speaker 1: where I say that you need to do your due diligence,
Speaker 1: and then includes a couple of different things. I always
Speaker 1: make a sample order, and I don't say a sample order,
Speaker 1: because what happens many times is that they will send
Speaker 1: you your best their best quality, right, and I want
Speaker 1: to catch what you're going to send on a regular basis.
Speaker 1: So if you can either request a sample or make
Speaker 1: an order as a customer without you know, saying that
Speaker 1: it's a sample, that you're doing business with them. And
Speaker 1: then I'm always searching the Googles. Let your fingers do
Speaker 1: the walking. See what other people's feedback have been of
Speaker 1: that you know of that company, What reviews do they have,
Speaker 1: what's the most popular complaints. I don't always trust the
Speaker 1: reviews on a company site because they're going to delete
Speaker 1: the negative ones just you know it happens.
Speaker 4: I may look, but I don't always trust it.
Speaker 1: So I'm always searching for what other people have to
Speaker 1: say from sites that I trust about the company before
Speaker 1: I like will do anything. But more often than not,
Speaker 1: I'm just doing like a secret little order myself to
Speaker 1: see what's going to happen. What's my experience going to be?
Speaker 2: Well, what do you have to look out.
Speaker 1: For when it comes to legally, So let's just say
Speaker 1: I don't not for example, Black Lives Matter, I don't
Speaker 1: know that that's trademarked. But so what should people look
Speaker 1: out for if they're wanting to put phrases and things
Speaker 1: on the mugs or T shirts or or just you know,
Speaker 1: like purchasing wigs and making sure people are not like
Speaker 1: your wig gave me alopecia? So what should people look
Speaker 1: out for legally? Yes, so always, in forever, depending on
Speaker 1: what you're doing, Copyright infringement is the thing to look
Speaker 1: out for. It you don't want to infringe on somebody
Speaker 1: else's copyright because you definitely will get a season desist
Speaker 1: or people will just suit you outright. So if you
Speaker 1: think you're going to do anything with any sports authority
Speaker 1: without their permission, express written permission, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 1: And also, if you're selling things on another platform, they
Speaker 1: may decide to take that down. So if you're on
Speaker 1: an Amazon, you're at sea, you're an eBay, whatever it
Speaker 1: may just come down and has to strike against you,
Speaker 1: or you may be banned from the platform, or if
Speaker 1: you're if you're having things that are made print on demand,
Speaker 1: for example, like T shirts, the printing company may not
Speaker 1: print it for you if it's a copywritten.
Speaker 4: Note, phrase, image, et cetera.
Speaker 1: So do try to come up with your own things,
Speaker 1: especially if it's a phrase or something that's going on
Speaker 1: a shirt or something like that, if it's image based.
Speaker 1: I sometimes have hired artists to do things for me,
Speaker 1: and I definitely do searches to say, is this phrase copywritten?
Speaker 4: Does somebody have that?
Speaker 1: So the USPTO is your friend, that's the US Patent
Speaker 1: and Trademark Office, and you can do a search on
Speaker 1: their site. Very you know, it's not use your friendly.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be the first one to tell.
Speaker 3: You no, you're right. It is such a nightmare from
Speaker 3: when we trademarked our show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not use your friendly. So you know, you
Speaker 1: might have to dig in there for a couple of
Speaker 1: days until you're comfortable with the system. But definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: do your searches so that nobody else comes after you
Speaker 1: for a phrases copywritten or an image or something like that. Now,
Speaker 1: when it comes to product quality, especially when it's something
Speaker 1: health related, that's very difficult. So for example, we had
Speaker 1: a ton of these antibacterial things that were recalled, right,
Speaker 1: and they were all over the place and legitimate companies.
Speaker 1: I bought from Costco a hand sanitizer that ended up
Speaker 1: being on a recall list. Sometimes you don't know because
Speaker 1: you're trusting that it has passed quality control and tests.
Speaker 1: The best thing I could tell people is make sure
Speaker 1: you have some kind of insurance because if all you
Speaker 1: need is one person to have a bad experience for
Speaker 1: it to be not so good for you, right, So,
Speaker 1: business liability insurance is one of the things that I
Speaker 1: tell people to go ahead and invest in. Not so expensive,
Speaker 1: but if you're doing like skincare products and it's not
Speaker 1: been tested, that's going to be more expensive for you.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of cottage industry people out there
Speaker 1: now that are mixing things and essential oils and you know, left,
Speaker 1: right and center, and you do have to be careful
Speaker 1: about things like that hasn't been tested? Is it? What's
Speaker 1: the efficacy? Are you representing the product correctly? And so
Speaker 1: for me, when I'm drop shipping things, I tend to
Speaker 1: create a product that won't hurt anybody, hopefully, because that's
Speaker 1: a risk that I don't feel like I would want
Speaker 1: to take on myself, but I understand that other people,
Speaker 1: you know, would, especially if you're making hair products and
Speaker 1: somebody's hair falls not God forbid, you know, so I
Speaker 1: definitely would be very, very careful. I personally stay away
Speaker 1: from those because for me, I just wouldn't sleep very
Speaker 1: well with the liability. But the insurance is out there
Speaker 1: for a reason.
Speaker 3: Well, let's take a question from a listener. You've already
Speaker 3: kind of answered a couple questions that I had waiting
Speaker 3: because you're so good. But here's one on the business aspect.
Speaker 3: Instagram user Ellen Monica says, at what point should you
Speaker 3: make your side hustle into an LLC?
Speaker 1: Why not do it from the beginning? I get that
Speaker 1: question so often. It's probably one of the biggest questions
Speaker 1: that's falling around right now. Why not do it from
Speaker 1: the beginning. It does not cost that much to formalize
Speaker 1: your business from the outset, and then you're not going
Speaker 1: back to do it. The most it will cost you
Speaker 1: is whatever your state is going to charge you for
Speaker 1: the organization. The articles of incorporation and the business filing,
Speaker 1: and then you know, you may have annual requirements that
Speaker 1: you have to fulfill, but honestly, if you don't make
Speaker 1: any sales, you don't have no harm, no foul, basically right.
Speaker 1: So it's there. I tell people, don't go back afterwards
Speaker 1: to do it when you could have done it in
Speaker 1: the beginning. And I think people think of their side
Speaker 1: hustles as not a legitimate business, and they really are.
Speaker 1: Whether you're driving for Uber or you're doing somebody's hair,
Speaker 1: it is a business, especially black women, the kitchen beauticians,
Speaker 1: your side things that you do, your little hustled, your
Speaker 1: little coin that you make on the side, it's a business.
Speaker 1: It's a business. We don't think of it as businesses.
Speaker 1: We may think of it as a hobby, and the
Speaker 1: IRS does to have some things around is it a hobby?
Speaker 4: Is it a business?
Speaker 1: But for the most of us, it really is a business,
Speaker 1: and we just need to shift our thinking around that
Speaker 1: and not be afraid to formalize it at the very beginning,
Speaker 1: because more often than that I hear people say I
Speaker 1: wish I had you know, after the fact.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about the IRS. Taxes like when you
Speaker 3: got hit. When you made that sixty grand in a month,
Speaker 3: that's amazing. But Uncle Sam was probably like, Sandy, can
Speaker 3: I can I get my shirt the whole something? So
Speaker 3: how does that work? What if you don't know it's
Speaker 3: going to be huge and all of a sudden it's like,
Speaker 3: oh crap, how do you plan for that? Do you
Speaker 3: set it aside in advance? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I have separate accounts, so I'm bank with my local bank.
Speaker 1: My local credit union automatically has a savings account when
Speaker 1: you open a business checking account, So for me, when
Speaker 1: I make money that goes into that business checking account,
Speaker 1: I'm putting at least third into the business savings account,
Speaker 1: at least off the top. That's not my money. I'm
Speaker 1: holding up Uncle Sam. And then if you collect sales
Speaker 1: tax as well, because people forget about this, that's not
Speaker 1: your money, that's Uncle Sam's money. You're just collecting it
Speaker 1: on behalf of Uncle Sam. They might give you a
Speaker 1: little hate hold this hold a tiny piece because you
Speaker 1: collected it and you fouled it on time, and then
Speaker 1: giving my money. So I tell people, off the top,
Speaker 1: even if you're driving for Uber and I'm saying the
Speaker 1: Uber or if you're doing door dash, if you're Uber
Speaker 1: eat sing it, if your postmates any of those things,
Speaker 1: that's not all your money. Uncle Sam will want their money.
Speaker 1: I highly advise you to put at least thirty five
Speaker 1: percent away. If you're in a state like New York,
Speaker 1: or you're in New York City where we've got federal, state,
Speaker 1: and city taxes, you want to drop a little bit more,
Speaker 1: sprinkle more on there and put that in your savings account.
Speaker 1: So for me, I knew that sixty grand was in
Speaker 1: my sixty grand. Nope, some of that money legitimately belonged
Speaker 1: to Uncle Sam. And I know we kind of get
Speaker 1: wrapped up for the fact that we're going to owe taxes.
Speaker 1: But you wouldn't owe the taxes if you didn't make
Speaker 1: the money.
Speaker 2: That's right, true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So many of the people in my family who
Speaker 3: have tried to start side hustles, they're always trying to
Speaker 3: figure out way how to get around without paying taxes.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, just pay the taxes. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: kind of the law. They're like, well, wealthy people don't
Speaker 3: do it. I'm like, well, do you have wealthy people's
Speaker 3: money to foreign lawyers who figured.
Speaker 2: And that's not necessarily true.
Speaker 1: I mean, I set aside forty percent see of my
Speaker 1: you know, of my gross because a large part of
Speaker 1: my income comes from what's called the owner's draw and
Speaker 1: that's when not just payroll, but you withdraw from the
Speaker 1: company any excess money, whatever it is that you feel
Speaker 1: like doing. You know, so I set aside forty percent
Speaker 1: full zero and then you know, of course we work toward,
Speaker 1: you know, reducing our tax risk and our tax burden.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I have to
Speaker 1: I still have to pay in one way, shape or form.
Speaker 1: And I've heard some of my friends say, oh girl,
Speaker 1: you got to get you an accounting like mine. He
Speaker 1: was able to dot dot dot. And I'm like, you
Speaker 1: just still want to be careful because what you don't
Speaker 1: want is to end up owing not only the original taxes,
Speaker 1: but any sort of fees and things on top of that, enalties.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you just want to be mindful of that
Speaker 1: because there are legal loopholes, but just make sure that
Speaker 1: they're legal, right, right, And so for me, I am
Speaker 1: all about finding a loophole. I have never filed my
Speaker 1: taxes on time because I'm looking for every single deduction
Speaker 1: that I could possibly potentially take.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna take them.
Speaker 1: Right, So when April fifteenth rolds around, your girl is
Speaker 1: not following her taxes in I'm gonna need a little
Speaker 1: bit of extra time to figure out how.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know I need.
Speaker 1: I need to see every deduction I could possibly take,
Speaker 1: but it's every deduction that falls within the letter of
Speaker 1: the law.
Speaker 4: It is not I'm inventing something, right, but I'm.
Speaker 1: Still putting that money at the very beginning so that
Speaker 1: I can pay them. And the good thing that happens
Speaker 1: is that chances are there I put that money away
Speaker 1: to pay them, and if I do have enough deductions,
Speaker 1: what I put away is going to be too much, right,
Speaker 1: So that's a good part. You just decide, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like tithing. You're tithing to Uncle Sam. It's that
Speaker 1: money didn't belong. It's not even there, just it's not there.
Speaker 1: It's or it's like your full.
Speaker 2: And K money.
Speaker 1: It comes off the top you don't even see it,
Speaker 1: and then you know. So that's how I think about it.
Speaker 3: Do you recommend is there a benefit to opening a
Speaker 3: business account from the start so you're not commingling your
Speaker 3: regular income with additional income.
Speaker 4: Streams always in forever.
Speaker 1: And I have a business account with my local community
Speaker 1: bank here and then I have with a large bank Chase.
Speaker 1: So I always recommend as soon as you set your
Speaker 1: business up, you know, it doesn't take much money. I
Speaker 1: think I opened this latest business account, like a hundred
Speaker 1: bucks or something like that, just to open the account,
Speaker 1: whatever the minimum was, and that's it. You know, I
Speaker 1: open the account, I put the money in there, and
Speaker 1: now it's legit. And what that sets me up for
Speaker 1: in the future is this, It sets me up for
Speaker 1: potentially having business credit because now I have a formalized business,
Speaker 1: I have a business bank account, and now you know,
Speaker 1: once my business has been formalized for eight months a year,
Speaker 1: then I can I've started to build my business credit.
Speaker 1: So the other thing that a lot of black businesses
Speaker 1: suffer from, and I'm speaking directly to the women because
Speaker 1: we do this pretty often, is that we're underfunded and
Speaker 1: we don't grow to our full potential because we don't
Speaker 1: tap resources that are out there for businesses. I'm seeing
Speaker 1: a lot of like scholarships, a lot of funds people
Speaker 1: try to spend money with black businesses, and a lot
Speaker 1: of the requirements so that you had to have already
Speaker 1: been in business, or you had to have been in business.
Speaker 4: For a year.
Speaker 1: If you didn't formalize your business when you first started,
Speaker 1: you may have been in business, but that doesn't count
Speaker 1: because you weren't legitimate at that time.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So even there's a fund like Facebook has a fund
Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars that they're giving out one hundred
Speaker 1: million dollars, not loans grants, And one of the requirements
Speaker 1: is that you have to have been in business for
Speaker 1: a year. If you were out there doing hair every
Speaker 1: week for the last year but you never formalize your business,
Speaker 1: your business does not exist or wouldn't qualify for that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I tell people, register for your business, get
Speaker 1: your business bank account, put a little something in there.
Speaker 1: Separate your money. Do not commingle your money, your individual
Speaker 1: money with your business money. Have it be a separate thing.
Speaker 1: So you want to register and formalize your business account
Speaker 1: so that you can set yourself up to qualify for
Speaker 1: other things in the future. One of the things that
Speaker 1: we don't do very often that we should do, and
Speaker 1: you should do this. Once you're registered and you have
Speaker 1: your bank account and everything is also get certified as
Speaker 1: a minority or you know, black owned business as well,
Speaker 1: and that qualifies you for other things. And you do
Speaker 1: need to have your business account so you know, don't
Speaker 1: cole mingle your funds, have a separate account for everything.
Speaker 1: It helps you later on with your taxes and tracking
Speaker 1: your expenses and all that good stuff as well, which
Speaker 1: makes things easier for you, right, And yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: an easier way to have your business operate.
Speaker 3: I love it well to I know, we've we've there's
Speaker 3: so much more that we can talk to you about,
Speaker 3: and we're definitely going to tell folks where they can.
Speaker 3: I know, you have some courses and you have a
Speaker 3: whole website where you're sharing your tips. You're also doing
Speaker 3: like Facebook lives and everything. But what this sort of
Speaker 3: sounds like, you know when you're talking about and some
Speaker 3: of the questions we've gotten have been about, you know,
Speaker 3: choosing you know, choosing a side hustle. If you're going
Speaker 3: to get into drop shipping, you know, what product do
Speaker 3: you choose? And to me, it kind of sounds like
Speaker 3: in a way you're trying to be educated to your
Speaker 3: due diligence, but kind of time the market. It's one
Speaker 3: of those financial double Dutch situations again, like, okay, when
Speaker 3: do I get in? You know, are there sole protests
Speaker 3: going on? Does it make sense to jump on the
Speaker 3: T shirt? Or has that has that wave you know
Speaker 3: kind of passed already? Can you talk about, you know,
Speaker 3: advice you have for folks who are trying to figure
Speaker 3: out what investment is. I know that there's low risk
Speaker 3: when you're doing drop shipping because you don't hold the inventory.
Speaker 3: You don't sell it till you know someone orders it.
Speaker 3: But what advice do you have for folks who aren't
Speaker 3: really sure you know which product or which which platform
Speaker 3: they want to move forward with first?
Speaker 1: So I like being a consistent one hit wonder, which
Speaker 1: means that I pay attention to pop culture and I
Speaker 1: try to slide in there, like you say, time the market.
Speaker 1: Try to get in there when things are hot, because
Speaker 1: I know there's there's going to be a crescendo at
Speaker 1: some point in ill arch and then go down, and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get in before it goes up and down.
Speaker 1: That's one methodology. The other is to you know, be
Speaker 1: the person that's that it offers commodity items that people
Speaker 1: are going to, you know, want all year round every day.
Speaker 1: So if you're a person who's selling toilet paper, guess
Speaker 1: what people buy a toilet every day?
Speaker 4: You know it will may.
Speaker 1: Not be something that makes you a ton of money,
Speaker 1: but you will have consistent orders. So I think at
Speaker 1: first you have to decide what kind of celler are
Speaker 1: you going to be? What's your strategy? Are you the
Speaker 1: person who wants to always have their nose to the
Speaker 1: ground trying to figure out what's the next thing? Or
Speaker 1: are you the person who wants to be consistent and
Speaker 1: you know, have a steady stream that may not be
Speaker 1: so high so low it maybe it might be cyclical,
Speaker 1: but that's okay. It all depends on how much time
Speaker 1: you want to invest. And then the second thing is
Speaker 1: I think you sell something that's really comfortable for you
Speaker 1: to know and understand. I'm not going to be out
Speaker 1: there selling laptops because then I need to know all
Speaker 1: the components' functions et for those laptop because people who
Speaker 1: are interested in laptops are going to ask me if
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm talking about, They're going to
Speaker 1: be able to sniff that out in two seconds.
Speaker 4: But if you talk to me about some.
Speaker 1: Remy ways, you know, I might be able to talk
Speaker 1: to you about that about bleach knots and you know,
Speaker 1: sixteen inches and not Remy and HD lace, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera, because that's something I legitimately am interested in
Speaker 1: and I know about, so I can talk about it.
Speaker 1: So it makes it easier for me to sell a
Speaker 1: product that I know like and I'm interested in already.
Speaker 1: And I tell people to kind of go with what
Speaker 1: you know. If you can't figure out what to sell,
Speaker 1: go with what you know when you're comfortable with already,
Speaker 1: and that makes it easier for people to get their
Speaker 1: foot in the door. And all you need is at
Speaker 1: first sale that's the hardest one. Then you can kind
Speaker 1: of figure out what went right with that one and
Speaker 1: replicate it. If you're a mom, for example, and you're
Speaker 1: surrounded by baby toys, you might just be an expert
Speaker 1: in baby toys at this point.
Speaker 4: So maybe you don't.
Speaker 1: Love it because they're all making sounds and they're driving
Speaker 1: you crazy. And I'm speaking from experience, but you know
Speaker 1: a lot about these toys. You know it's good for
Speaker 1: a certain age. You know what should be in the
Speaker 1: mouth or it's not in the mouth. What works with
Speaker 1: this toy. What doesn't work with this toy? And then
Speaker 1: maybe that's something that you could think about selling because
Speaker 1: you've had some experience with that, you've worked with that,
Speaker 1: you've touched it, and then you're comfortable with that. So
Speaker 1: you know, don't chasee just the dollar because that's going
Speaker 1: to get very old and tired, very very quickly. Go
Speaker 1: for something you know that's easy, that you can go
Speaker 1: ahead and do research about, that you can talk about
Speaker 1: because you're going to have to sell it, and you
Speaker 1: can't sell something that you don't know.
Speaker 2: That's a good point to make.
Speaker 3: I'm immediately thinking of ways I can create a branded
Speaker 3: pot and pan with a wooden spoon that your little
Speaker 3: one can bying to their hearts content that's been a
Speaker 3: big hit lately.
Speaker 1: And then just one last question, standy, So like just
Speaker 1: maybe some quick marketing tips. It's like, you have this
Speaker 1: great T shirt you know, you're you said you went
Speaker 1: viral a couple of times. Yep, So some quick marketing
Speaker 1: you know, like, hey, you know you might not have
Speaker 1: a big old following or a lot of followers on
Speaker 1: social what's some great ways that people can market It's
Speaker 1: funny because the internet has been in one ways the
Speaker 1: great equalizer in people being able to reach a bigger audience,
Speaker 1: But at the same time it's made it difficult because
Speaker 1: there's so many people doing at the same time. So
Speaker 1: marketing is the toughest part of any of this. The
Speaker 1: first difficult part, I think is identifying the product, and
Speaker 1: the next is marketing. But marketing is even worse. So
Speaker 1: I'm down on MLMs because they force you to go
Speaker 1: to your family and friends and try to market to them,
Speaker 1: and that gets old and tired very quickly. I always say,
Speaker 1: your your family and friends aren't your customers, and if
Speaker 1: they are, they're just being.
Speaker 4: Nice to help you out.
Speaker 2: But you can't.
Speaker 1: You can only sell to them once or twice. You
Speaker 1: can't continuously sell to them, right, So you've got to
Speaker 1: find new new people to sell to. And so that's
Speaker 1: where I think the internet's been really great equalizer. Everyone
Speaker 1: can make a website very quickly, very cheaply, and if
Speaker 1: you can't do it yourself, you can hire somebody who
Speaker 1: could do it for you. Every business needs a website
Speaker 1: because people will google you or your product immediately, so
Speaker 1: that's your first marketing thing, and people don't think of
Speaker 1: it as something that's related to marketing, but it really is.
Speaker 1: It's your business card on the web. So one, have
Speaker 1: a business website or have a website for your product.
Speaker 1: Two is I look for sometimes influencers within the space
Speaker 1: who will allow me to market on their channels. So
Speaker 1: if it's Instagram and if I'm selling if I'm selling
Speaker 1: Mandy's pots and pants or babies, I'm looking for a
Speaker 1: mom or a marketer within the baby space or a
Speaker 1: family space, and then I'll approach because a lot of
Speaker 1: these a lot of the influencers do market products. They'll
Speaker 1: tag oh, I'm working with so and so for this
Speaker 1: product or service. It will cost you some money, but
Speaker 1: if they have a bludge enough following, you're putting your
Speaker 1: product directly in front of a very targeted audience who
Speaker 1: would most likely be interested in your product. So don't
Speaker 1: sleep on influencer marketing. It can be very, very effective
Speaker 1: and very cost effective.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: The next I think are Google and Facebook ads. Everyone's
Speaker 1: all about Facebook, but Google is a behemoth in the room.
Speaker 1: And Google has a whole ad team that will help
Speaker 1: you craft and create your ads, and oftentimes they will
Speaker 1: give you a one hundred dollars ad credit right, So
Speaker 1: free hundred dollars to advertise yourself and they're going to
Speaker 1: help you craft your ad for you to advertise your stuff.
Speaker 1: So every website that you go to that you see
Speaker 1: an add on, it may have come through Google's network
Speaker 1: and so there are you know, so many billions of
Speaker 1: websites across the globe. If you target specifically the website
Speaker 1: that you want to reach, that's a good way too.
Speaker 1: As well as being on Facebook, Facebook has their own
Speaker 1: ad platform and so it will put ads on Facebook
Speaker 1: and on other websites as well, so you can, you know,
Speaker 1: get in a Facebook ad going for not much money
Speaker 1: at all. The only thing with Facebook I think is
Speaker 1: that there is a learning curve and you can throw
Speaker 1: good money after bad if you don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 1: So I definitely would look at facebooks. They have a
Speaker 1: bunch of videos directly on Facebook themselves on how to
Speaker 1: craft and add on Facebook. And then the last thing
Speaker 1: is encouraging if you've got close friends and family people
Speaker 1: who legitimately would like your product or service, I give
Speaker 1: stuff away for free and then be like tell them
Speaker 1: where you got it, and yes, before I forget, don't
Speaker 1: be afraid of putting your product on the larger marketplaces.
Speaker 1: Amazon is one of the biggest sites on the planet
Speaker 1: for a reason. People go there to shop. So even
Speaker 1: though it's a drop shipping product, maybe I'll have one
Speaker 1: or two on hand, but people are going to see
Speaker 1: my product and so maybe I make a smaller margin.
Speaker 1: But it's on a marketplace, whether it's eBay, Amazon, whatever
Speaker 1: the other marketplaces are, it's putting my product in other
Speaker 1: people's eyes. And also those platforms they also have their
Speaker 1: own ad programs as well, so you can advertise on
Speaker 1: their platforms your product to reach other people. So this
Speaker 1: is the case where sometimes you have to spend money
Speaker 1: to make money, and I think we get hung up
Speaker 1: on that a little bit, but I think it's a
Speaker 1: good reason to spend the money. And also it's a
Speaker 1: write off for your business.
Speaker 3: I like by you are a guru, I have a
Speaker 3: million work questions. Were gonna have you on again, yes,
Speaker 3: but just to clarify the Amazon point. So that's like
Speaker 3: a way of legitimizing your business. It's not necessarily the
Speaker 3: best place to, like, you know, bring in cash flow
Speaker 3: because of the volume of people selling on there, but
Speaker 3: you see it as a way to like, oh, Sandy
Speaker 3: Smith Incorporated is selling products there, and if someone's looking
Speaker 3: for something, they might see that and then want to
Speaker 3: know what else you have in your you.
Speaker 2: Know, Amazon products come up on a Google search, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I imagine like how you name your product
Speaker 3: probably matters because of the tyler's searching for the title
Speaker 3: of it.
Speaker 1: Right, The title matters a lot. The title matters a lot.
Speaker 1: And then we can get into Amazon a little bit
Speaker 1: because the Amazon has a whole different program that's perfect
Speaker 1: for Christmas where people that's where people tend to make
Speaker 1: the most money. But yeah, even if you just have
Speaker 1: your products on Amazon, you have a limited you know
Speaker 1: number people when they Google because Amazon pays for ads
Speaker 1: even though you don't pay for ads sometimes and so
Speaker 1: your product may rank high on a Google search just
Speaker 1: for being on Amazon. That's not the strategy. And so
Speaker 1: you know, people can find it, and what people will
Speaker 1: often do is they will look for the site for
Speaker 1: that product. So if you're you're able to put your
Speaker 1: own brand name, now this is going deep. You can
Speaker 1: put your own brand name on Amazon and so people
Speaker 1: will click so look at the you know, the products
Speaker 1: that your brand has, or they'll Google your brand name
Speaker 1: or your company name that you're put on that slot,
Speaker 1: and then they can come over to your site and
Speaker 1: find your product.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Nicky J.
Speaker 2: Smarty.
Speaker 3: Well, there's so much, there's a there's there's a ton
Speaker 3: of information to cover. We don't have a ton a
Speaker 3: ton of time, but Sandy tel folks where they can
Speaker 3: get some resources and learn more from you about creating
Speaker 3: side hustle income and doing it like it should be,
Speaker 3: like a real business.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So my main hub is the Samchap dot com and
Speaker 1: there'll be more stuff coming out on side hustles. You
Speaker 1: want to check out the article top side hustles to
Speaker 1: Booster Income through Quarantine and after where I go through
Speaker 1: a lot and there's also an hour long video there
Speaker 1: as well, So I really cover.
Speaker 4: A lot of side hustles there.
Speaker 1: And then if you're really into it and you want
Speaker 1: to be abound a group of other people who are
Speaker 1: side hustling, because sometimes it feels good to bounce your
Speaker 1: ideas off of other people who are kind of in
Speaker 1: the same headspace. The hustlecrew dot com. It will take
Speaker 1: you to my side hustle group and they're like nineteen
Speaker 1: thousand people in there. So there's bound to be somebody
Speaker 1: who has either tried what you're doing or you know
Speaker 1: before you spend your money, because we've saved a lot
Speaker 1: of people from scams just to even come do some
Speaker 1: market research or figure out.
Speaker 4: Is this legit or knowledge it?
Speaker 3: That's amazing. Hustle Crew is the hustle crew dot com.
Speaker 4: The Hustle Crew all right, it's awesome.
Speaker 3: Check the show notes y'all will have links to all that. Sandy,
Speaker 3: thank you so much. I'm so loudy thank you.