Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, BA fam, it's Mandra back for another week
Speaker 1: of B A q n A. Thank y'all so much
Speaker 1: for your support of the show. If y'all really want
Speaker 1: to support the show, why don't you hop over to
Speaker 1: iTunes right now and leave us a five star review.
Speaker 1: We actually do a brand new highlight every Friday if
Speaker 1: you go to Instagram at Brand and Mission podcast where
Speaker 1: we are actually shouting out some of our listeners who
Speaker 1: have taken the time to leave us a review. So
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss that BA fan spotlight on Friday.
Speaker 1: And if you want to have a chance at being
Speaker 1: shouted out by the show on IG, definitely go to
Speaker 1: iTunes leave us a five star review, Tell a friend,
Speaker 1: tell a friend, take a screenshot of the show, post
Speaker 1: it on ig and tag us at Brand and Mission Podcast.
Speaker 1: You can also tag me at Mandy Money. It really
Speaker 1: helps get the word out about the show and just
Speaker 1: lets everyone know that you are a part of the
Speaker 1: BA fan. All right, so let's shake up this mail
Speaker 1: bag and see what kind of questions y'all have this week.
Speaker 1: I've got a really interesting mix. I'm loving all the
Speaker 1: career questions y'all, keep them coming. Also got a question
Speaker 1: about when's the right time to use credit unions. Got
Speaker 1: a question from a listener who's in the process of
Speaker 1: adopting a family member's child. So very interesting stuff this
Speaker 1: week again. If y'all want to send us a question,
Speaker 1: hit us up at Brandambisson Podcast at gmail dot com
Speaker 1: or go directly to IG at Brand Ambition Podcast and
Speaker 1: you can send us a DM with your question there.
Speaker 1: Our first question comes from listener Ashley from the Gram.
Speaker 1: She says, Mandy, how do you manage new job jitters
Speaker 1: when you're moving into a corporate space as a career changer.
Speaker 1: What rituals have you developed to manage imposter syndrome? All right, Ashley?
Speaker 1: I feel this because I think anyone who's starting a
Speaker 1: new job, especially if you're starting a new job and
Speaker 1: you've switched career paths, or you're in a different industry,
Speaker 1: or even just joining a new company, it can be stressful.
Speaker 1: But what I like to do is kind of turn
Speaker 1: it on its head and look at it this way.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows anything about Ashley. They don't know where you've been,
Speaker 1: they don't really know what you've done. They are getting
Speaker 1: the first impression of you right now, So really take
Speaker 1: that as like an opportunity, an opportunity for a fresh start,
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do things a little bit differently than
Speaker 1: you did at your previous job. So sitting down and
Speaker 1: thinking through, you know, what are some of the things
Speaker 1: that I wish I had done at my previous job
Speaker 1: that I kind of want to do differently here. For me,
Speaker 1: a big one was boundaries. So setting boundaries when I
Speaker 1: started a new job, the first thirty days of your
Speaker 1: new job, that's when you really tell people, you know,
Speaker 1: here's how I like to work. Here is where I
Speaker 1: keep my boundaries. And when I say boundaries, I mean
Speaker 1: are you going to be the person who's available at
Speaker 1: nine pm to answer emails or even later? Are you
Speaker 1: going to be the person who's you know, awake in
Speaker 1: the morning at five am and they're going to get
Speaker 1: a response from you. Those are little signals that you
Speaker 1: can send to your manager or your colleagues that's going
Speaker 1: to tell them, oh, you know, actually is available all
Speaker 1: the time. So I should not feel any kind of
Speaker 1: way about hitting her up on Slack or texting her
Speaker 1: or sending her an email, you know, with an urgent,
Speaker 1: quote unquote urgent question. Whenever I want to so in
Speaker 1: those first thirty days, think about how you want to
Speaker 1: work and what kind of boundaries do you want to
Speaker 1: set for me. It was really important to you know,
Speaker 1: establish Okay, I'm going to be available online between the
Speaker 1: hours of nine to let's say four thirty when that's
Speaker 1: my cutoff time for when I have to go pick
Speaker 1: up my kid, and making sure that everyone knows that
Speaker 1: and if I want to, you know, set aside an
Speaker 1: hour or two once the baby is down to answer
Speaker 1: some emails. That's fine, but really be careful about what
Speaker 1: signals you're sending to people in terms of how they
Speaker 1: can communicate to you when you're starting a new job. Now,
Speaker 1: as far as imposter syndrome, no one really knows what's
Speaker 1: going on inside your head, which can kind of be
Speaker 1: some comfort. So when you show up, you know, no
Speaker 1: one is thinking, oh, Ashley is nervous. You know, Ashley
Speaker 1: is not sure if she can do this job. It's
Speaker 1: fine and it is normal to have those feelings of oh, crap,
Speaker 1: I'm in a new role. Am I actually gonna be
Speaker 1: able to do this? Or is someone gonna tap me
Speaker 1: on the shoulder in a week and be like ooh, Ashley,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's a good fit. That's probably
Speaker 1: not gonna happen. But I just want to normalize this
Speaker 1: idea of having imposter syndrome, and I would love to
Speaker 1: take this opportunity to If you guys haven't checked out
Speaker 1: this article in the Harvard Business Review, it is called
Speaker 1: why we have to stop telling women that they have
Speaker 1: imposter syndrome. This is a wonderful article. It's actually the
Speaker 1: number one or one of the number one read articles
Speaker 1: in all of twenty twenty one for the Harvard Business Review.
Speaker 1: And I'm also gonna do a shout out for the author,
Speaker 1: one of the co authors, Rashika Tulshian, because she's actually
Speaker 1: joining Brown Ambission later this month and we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: all about this. So this is a little preview, but
Speaker 1: I forget. I love this article, y'all because, first of all,
Speaker 1: it just sort of normalizes imposter syndrome, and it also
Speaker 1: turns it on its head because as women like, if
Speaker 1: you've ever gone to a women's focused event or a
Speaker 1: women's career event or a leadership conference, I guaran freaking
Speaker 1: to you that there was a session on imposter syndrome.
Speaker 1: But if you go to a conference like a general
Speaker 1: business conference or a corporate conference where it's majority you know, guys,
Speaker 1: because that's just how the world works. I doubt there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a session on imposter syndrome, or if there
Speaker 1: is one, it's probably gonna have pink and purple colors
Speaker 1: and be targeting women. The fact of the matter is
Speaker 1: that both men and women have imposter syndrome because it's
Speaker 1: a freaking human response. It's a human response to being
Speaker 1: put into a new situation that you haven't proven yourself
Speaker 1: in yet and just kind of wondering, you know, can
Speaker 1: I do this? So, first and foremost, imposter syndrome very
Speaker 1: normal women and men can deal with it, but you
Speaker 1: ask me, you know, what rituals have you developed to
Speaker 1: manage it? First and foremost, just acknowledge this as a
Speaker 1: normal set of emotion. I'm feeling this way because I
Speaker 1: am challenging myself and that is a good thing. If
Speaker 1: it is terrifying to show up to work on your
Speaker 1: first day because you are making a big leap or
Speaker 1: you have moved up into a new, more senior role,
Speaker 1: that's how it's supposed to be. You know, you haven't
Speaker 1: been tested yet, so you're gonna feel a little bit nervous.
Speaker 1: One of my strategies for not so much getting rid
Speaker 1: of it, because like I said, you just have to
Speaker 1: learn to live with it. But kind of easing that
Speaker 1: is having sponsors, slash allies that I can turn to
Speaker 1: for advice. So if there was a hiring manager that
Speaker 1: brought you into the company, they obviously see potential in
Speaker 1: you and they wanted you for a reason. So remind
Speaker 1: yourself that even if I don't know if I can
Speaker 1: do this, you know, Janis or whoever hired you, Richard,
Speaker 1: they believe in me. They think that I belong here,
Speaker 1: So let me go to them and ask questions. Asking
Speaker 1: questions is another really good tool to use and one
Speaker 1: that you may be afraid to actually do because you're worried. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: if I'm asking questions and people may not think that
Speaker 1: I'm ready to do this, but your first thirty days
Speaker 1: in a job like this is that honeymoon phase when
Speaker 1: you can you can ask those questions. You can you know,
Speaker 1: make sure you know where the bathroom is, and on
Speaker 1: a larger scale, make sure you know how this system
Speaker 1: works or how that tool works. Ask all your questions,
Speaker 1: ask all the questions. The worst thing you can do
Speaker 1: is walk into this role and pretend like you already
Speaker 1: know what's going on, and then just suffer in silence
Speaker 1: because you're like, oh, crap, I have no idea what
Speaker 1: anyone's talking about. I don't know what those acronyms mean.
Speaker 1: Ask a lot of questions, and if you don't feel
Speaker 1: comfortable speaking out in you know, semi public settings like
Speaker 1: in a group meeting, that's when you turn to that sponsor,
Speaker 1: that mentor, that ally, the person who brought you in,
Speaker 1: the person who referred you, or your directs, your direk supervisor,
Speaker 1: and just ask them, hey, I've actually I've been here
Speaker 1: a few days and I've come up with a list
Speaker 1: of questions I would love to grab, you know, half
Speaker 1: an hour of your time and just walk through these
Speaker 1: questions so that I feel more prepared to do the
Speaker 1: job that I'm here to do. Largely in companies, you
Speaker 1: know you're going to have a team there who's gonna
Speaker 1: want you to succeed, because if you don't succeed, then
Speaker 1: it makes them look bad. And you know people don't
Speaker 1: like to look bad, right, so they're going to want
Speaker 1: to help you. Ask for help, Ask questions. Recognize that
Speaker 1: if you're feeling like a bit of an imposter, that's
Speaker 1: just a sign, girlfriend, that you are doing the right thing,
Speaker 1: that you are probably in the right place for yourself
Speaker 1: because you are growing. Okay, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your question, Ashley. I'm going to put a link to
Speaker 1: that article I want you out. It's maybe it's some
Speaker 1: homework before we get Rashika on the show. The co
Speaker 1: author of that article why we have to tell, why
Speaker 1: we have to stop telling women they have imposter syndrome.
Speaker 1: I'm going to post a link to that article from
Speaker 1: the Harvard Business Review in the show notes, and I
Speaker 1: cannot wait to have Rashika on later this month. Okay,
Speaker 1: next question, it comes from listener Kamiko. I love that name,
Speaker 1: so beautiful. Kamiko wants to know. I want to to
Speaker 1: know what online counseling platform supports you guys. I've been
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out and my brain is just
Speaker 1: not recalling it. Okay, Kamiko, this is fine. Our show
Speaker 1: is supported by an online counseling service called Betterhelp b
Speaker 1: E T T E r h E l P. And
Speaker 1: what we love about Betterhelp and this is free advertising
Speaker 1: for them I guess right now, which is fine. But
Speaker 1: Betterhelp is an online counseling platform and I genuinely love
Speaker 1: this platform. And I love that online therapy has become
Speaker 1: so normalized in the wake of the pandemic because we
Speaker 1: haven't been able to go and do the traditional you know,
Speaker 1: knock on a door in an office and awkwardly try
Speaker 1: not to make eye contact with other people in the
Speaker 1: waiting room and try not to think about what they
Speaker 1: think you're in there for, and set it calls from
Speaker 1: someone you know in a whole different space. Now we
Speaker 1: can do it from the comfort of our home. I
Speaker 1: actually switched to online therapy, although I found my therapist
Speaker 1: several years ago and she specialized in new moms because
Speaker 1: I found the therapist because I is like, let me
Speaker 1: get my together before I had this kid, because I
Speaker 1: don't want my shit to hurt, to like, you know,
Speaker 1: roll down and to hinder him. But anyway, I love
Speaker 1: online therapy. Betterhelp is the service go to betterhelp dot
Speaker 1: com slash brown Ambition, and we have some kind of
Speaker 1: promo with them right now, but I really encourage it.
Speaker 1: And I've got several friends and some close family members
Speaker 1: of mine who have been using online therapy services like Betterhelp,
Speaker 1: and they are loving it. You get to log in
Speaker 1: from home, they match you with a therapist the same
Speaker 1: way that I was selective when I chose my therapist
Speaker 1: to be sure that I got a woman who was
Speaker 1: really comfortable and experienced working with new moms, new career
Speaker 1: driven moms. That was really important to me. And you
Speaker 1: can actually filter and make sure that you specify. You
Speaker 1: know what kind of therapist you're looking for, male, female,
Speaker 1: you know if they're LGBTQIA, plus all these different factors
Speaker 1: so that you feel comfortable. So thank you for your question, Kimiko,
Speaker 1: and I hope that you are on the journey toward
Speaker 1: better mental health. I mean, that's what twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: should be all about. Right, we've all gone through the
Speaker 1: crap of the pandemic is still happening. It's time for
Speaker 1: us to take care of ourselves inside as well as outside.
Speaker 1: All Right, I'm just gonna take a little breaky break,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get a sip of coffee, and I'll be
Speaker 1: right back with more of your questions. This is brown ambition, Okay,
Speaker 1: Hey va, fam, I am back with our third and
Speaker 1: final question. Thank you so much for sending these in.
Speaker 1: This question comes from listener Amelia, who spells it with
Speaker 1: an AA, which I secretly love. All Right, Google is
Speaker 1: doing a twenty to one stock split in July. I
Speaker 1: want to start investing for my three year old to
Speaker 1: start his stock portfolio as a part of his financial
Speaker 1: literacy journey. Which custodial account would you recommend? Okay, So
Speaker 1: I thought for a second you were going to ask
Speaker 1: me what I think about the twenty to one stock
Speaker 1: split happening in July from Google, But really you're just
Speaker 1: asking basically like, how do I get my three year
Speaker 1: old started investing? And I love that. I'm going to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Google because I think it's
Speaker 1: really exciting. I mean, a stock split basically makes it
Speaker 1: more possible because Google, what is Google stock? I don't
Speaker 1: even know. It's really really expensive. So if you're someone
Speaker 1: who wants to buy a share of Google and you
Speaker 1: don't have enough money for a single share, unless you're
Speaker 1: using an app that allows or a tool or platform
Speaker 1: that allows you to invest in fractional shares, and a
Speaker 1: fractional share is exactly what it sounds like. They're basically saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: if you don't have a thousand bucks to buy one
Speaker 1: single share of this company stock, We'll let you give
Speaker 1: us your little, you know, fifty bucks and we'll give
Speaker 1: you whatever percentage of that stock you know that amounts to,
Speaker 1: which is becoming more and more popular, which is kind
Speaker 1: of great. But some companies, because their stock or one
Speaker 1: of the reasons they're doing this is because their stock
Speaker 1: has gotten you know, really really expensive, and they want
Speaker 1: to make it possible for more people to invest in
Speaker 1: their shares, they will do a stock split. We actually
Speaker 1: saw this happen earlier this year with Tesla as well,
Speaker 1: or actually last year with Tesla as well, which allowed
Speaker 1: people to get some stock in that company. But when
Speaker 1: it comes to investing for your little one individual stock investing,
Speaker 1: whether it's for yourself or for children, I mean, if
Speaker 1: you listen to the show, y'all know how I kind
Speaker 1: of feel about that. I think it's great if you've
Speaker 1: got the time to do the research and you've got
Speaker 1: the time to dedicate to making your trades and really
Speaker 1: deeply understanding the companies that you're investing in. But listen,
Speaker 1: you're a busy mom, and I'm a busy mom, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess that you ain't got all the time
Speaker 1: for that. Okay, doesn't mean that you can't buy your son,
Speaker 1: you know, some shares in Google after they do their
Speaker 1: stock split in July. That absolutely is possible. But I
Speaker 1: actually recommend opening up a custodial account for your sons.
Speaker 1: You can do this through any brokerage firm. I personally
Speaker 1: went to the same brokerage firm where I hold my investments, Vanguard,
Speaker 1: and opened a brokerage account. And it's a custodial account.
Speaker 1: Just means that you know, I the parent a managing
Speaker 1: it until I give over control of it to my
Speaker 1: kid after I have you know, coached him on how
Speaker 1: to handle it responsibly and all of that. And so
Speaker 1: what I actually invest in are mutual funds and index funds,
Speaker 1: so I don't actually pick any one particular stock. And
Speaker 1: in fact, the account that I have for my son,
Speaker 1: they had an investment fund just called Socially Responsible Investing,
Speaker 1: and it's a mutual fund that basically has a bunch
Speaker 1: of different funds within it that are investing in companies
Speaker 1: that have you know, met some sort of like standard
Speaker 1: for social responsibility. And it's a pretty aggressive fund because
Speaker 1: he's so young, and I know he's got time. And
Speaker 1: when I say aggressive, I just mean it's more heavily
Speaker 1: invested in stocks than things like cash and bonds because
Speaker 1: he's young, he's a baby, he's two years old. He's
Speaker 1: got time to bounce back, you know, if his stocks
Speaker 1: go down. So that's what I invest in. I opened
Speaker 1: up that account, and I think we could just contribute
Speaker 1: the same dollar amount, all know. I am all about
Speaker 1: that automation. So I have an automatic debit from my
Speaker 1: checking account going directly into his brokerage account every month.
Speaker 1: So I truly set it and forget it, and I
Speaker 1: just recently checked it. I try it to check it
Speaker 1: too often, because again, I'm not like, I'm not trading.
Speaker 1: I just set it and forget it, right, But I
Speaker 1: recently checked it, and I was just like, damn, this
Speaker 1: kid is so far ahead of where I was geez.
Speaker 1: I mean even fifteen years ago, let alone when I
Speaker 1: was a baby. So it made me feel really good
Speaker 1: as a parent that I am giving him this foundation
Speaker 1: of financial success. And I think that's why it's such
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing, Amelia that you're considering doing for your son,
Speaker 1: because it's just going to make you feel like, especially
Speaker 1: those times when you're screaming at me because he wants
Speaker 1: the red popsicle and we only have orange and purple
Speaker 1: ones left, and he's really pissed off and he's screaming
Speaker 1: and the world is ending, and I want to clow
Speaker 1: my eyeballs out and go hide in the bathroom with
Speaker 1: a bottle of wine and myself to death. It helps
Speaker 1: me think, Okay, listen, he's going to be okay, and
Speaker 1: he's going to be so grateful one day because at
Speaker 1: least I did this one thing right for him. Okay,
Speaker 1: I may not have the red popsicles when I have
Speaker 1: to have the red popsicles, but by god, this kid
Speaker 1: is going to have some investments. You know, he's going
Speaker 1: to have a little nest eck that he can start
Speaker 1: building wealth upon when he's old enough and ready to
Speaker 1: get started. And I think that's just wonderful that you're
Speaker 1: going to give your son that same, you know, financial foundation.
Speaker 1: So I hope this was helpful as far as which
Speaker 1: accounts specifically, Like I said, I went to the same
Speaker 1: brokerage fund that I use, so Vanguard I've used ally
Speaker 1: invest in the past. I know there's people who've used
Speaker 1: Charles Schwab Fidelity. I mean, there's all these options out there,
Speaker 1: but if you're happy with wherever you have your investments,
Speaker 1: you know, just for ease of only having one login
Speaker 1: to remember, you know, you could just start there. But
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of those funds that are sort
Speaker 1: of pre selected and still at a relatively low cost.
Speaker 1: They don't have a ton of fees, but they're pre selected.
Speaker 1: All you gotta do is automatically deposit your money into
Speaker 1: it each month and you just let it rock from there.
Speaker 1: So hopefully that was helpful. Thank you again so much,
Speaker 1: Amelia for your questions. Thank you all for your questions.
Speaker 1: Keep them coming. Hit us up Brownambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com, hit us up by email there, or go
Speaker 1: to at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig and slide into
Speaker 1: our DMS with your money questions. Don't forget to ask
Speaker 1: if you can be anonymous if you don't want your
Speaker 1: name out there, Otherwise I will put your name out there,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to get anyone in trouble, so
Speaker 1: definitely hit us up. Thank you again for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to tell a friend about the show. Like
Speaker 1: I said at the top, take a picture, take a
Speaker 1: screenshot of this episode. Let people know that you're listening.
Speaker 1: Tag us at Brand Ambission podcast on Instagram. You can
Speaker 1: also tag me I'm at Mandy Money. That's Mandy with
Speaker 1: an I on ig as well, and thank y'all again.
Speaker 1: I will y'all next week for more B a Q
Speaker 1: and a