Speaker 1: Hey Brown Ambition fam Happy Brown Ambition Tuesday. This is Mandy.
Speaker 1: I wanted to share a very special episode today. This
Speaker 1: is actually originally aired last Thanksgiving and it's one of
Speaker 1: our most popular episodes to date. So as Tiffany and
Speaker 1: I enjoy a little bit of a summer break this week,
Speaker 1: please enjoy our interview with Patrese C.
Speaker 2: Washington.
Speaker 1: Just seven years ago, Patrese was scraping up all the
Speaker 1: change in her purse to buy baby formula for her
Speaker 1: newborn daughter. Now, Patrese is a best selling author and
Speaker 1: founder and CEO of Sikh Wisdom find Wealth, a boutique
Speaker 1: personal finance consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Patrese joined
Speaker 1: us on the show to talk about hitting rock bottom
Speaker 1: and how she clawed her way back to the top.
Speaker 1: She also talked about her new book, Real Money Answers
Speaker 1: for Everyday Women, which you can still find online and
Speaker 1: in bookstores nationwide. So, without further ado, here's our interview
Speaker 1: with Patrese.
Speaker 2: Okay, guys, we have a very special guest today.
Speaker 3: I'm super excited.
Speaker 4: Probably like our top five favorite people in the personal
Speaker 4: finance space today.
Speaker 3: I'd say top three, but whatever, top three.
Speaker 2: Top two to our top one person.
Speaker 5: We have the.
Speaker 4: Brilliant, the beautiful, amazing, the amazing, wonderful Patrise. C. Washington
Speaker 4: got to get the CEA in there and then now
Speaker 4: goes wild.
Speaker 6: You guys are in such like in for such a tree. Honestly,
Speaker 6: I've been following for Trees on her journey since I
Speaker 6: don't know, I think maybe since like twenty ten is when.
Speaker 2: It's gone to add it for what over a decade now, Patrise? Right?
Speaker 7: Oh gosh, yes not to You know, you have an
Speaker 7: amazing history since two thousand and three, you've been a
Speaker 7: You're a nationally recognized best selling author of the book
Speaker 7: series Real Money Answers and which is amazing.
Speaker 4: You also have a recurring segment on none other than
Speaker 4: the Steve Harvey Show.
Speaker 2: Check check might have heard about it. Yeah, just a
Speaker 2: little shout so radio and on on the TV show,
Speaker 2: right Patrese yep right, Yeah.
Speaker 4: It featured pretty much on the every media outlet out there, NBC,
Speaker 4: Black Enterprise, Huffing and Post upscale and to get on
Speaker 4: the Steve Harvey Show. So we could not be happier
Speaker 4: to have you here, Patrise, thanks so much for coming
Speaker 4: on Brown ambish.
Speaker 5: Thank you, You're so excited. I'm so excited.
Speaker 8: And it feels good to move up from like top
Speaker 8: ten to top five, the top three, all in one conversation,
Speaker 8: all right, in a matter of seconds, like I'm winning today.
Speaker 5: Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 4: So what I loved about you I heard you'd give
Speaker 4: a talk a couple of years ago where you talked
Speaker 4: about how you weren't always the money Maven. Yeah, you
Speaker 4: had some pretty humble beginning when it came to dealing
Speaker 4: with your finances. So I wanted to start off by
Speaker 4: just asking you to talk about that, you know, your
Speaker 4: early days and some of the mistakes you made.
Speaker 5: Oh gosh, just some of the mistakes I don't even
Speaker 5: want to work to start. Well.
Speaker 8: You know, I always say that all those accolades are great,
Speaker 8: and I really appreciate them. It's been a real blessing
Speaker 8: to be able to share my message because my hope
Speaker 8: is really to move the masses.
Speaker 5: From debt management to money mastery.
Speaker 8: And as I go out speaking all over the country
Speaker 8: and doing all these interviews and you know, just getting
Speaker 8: to do what I do, what I love to do,
Speaker 8: I always meet people who say, but you don't understand
Speaker 8: what it's like, or you don't understand what it means
Speaker 8: to choose between you know, having to pay your life
Speaker 8: bill and wanting to save or wanting to invest.
Speaker 5: And I'm like, I don't know, no, sweetie, I know
Speaker 5: very well.
Speaker 8: Let me tell you a little story. And so, really,
Speaker 8: I mean, I didn't grow up hearing about money. I've
Speaker 8: heard Tiffany share her story and I'm always so impressed
Speaker 8: by her dad and what he imparted to her.
Speaker 5: But I didn't have any of that.
Speaker 8: And so but was still able to go on to
Speaker 8: college and started in real estate at nineteen years old
Speaker 8: as a sophomore in college. Became a real estate and
Speaker 8: mortgage broker at twenty one as a senior in college.
Speaker 5: Actually started my business while in school, which has its
Speaker 5: pros and.
Speaker 8: Cons, but that's another story. If you have financial aide,
Speaker 8: there's a con there. But started this really great business
Speaker 8: during my senior year in college, and it was a
Speaker 8: real estate and mortgage company. Loved you know, helping people
Speaker 8: budget and get their credit in order and all those
Speaker 8: things because it was going to move them towards purchasing
Speaker 8: a home, which is how I could make money. So
Speaker 8: of course I was super passionate about getting people.
Speaker 5: You know, on the path.
Speaker 8: But at the same time, there were pieces to that
Speaker 8: puzzle beyond budgeting and credit that I really didn't know about.
Speaker 8: And so while I was helping everyone else, the recession
Speaker 8: hit around circa like two thousand and seven, two thousand
Speaker 8: and eight, and I lost everything.
Speaker 5: I lost everything.
Speaker 8: So here I am, the little girl from south central
Speaker 8: Los Angeles, went to college, started a business.
Speaker 5: Thought.
Speaker 8: I did everything the right way and still found myself
Speaker 8: flat broke with everybody else.
Speaker 2: And you should say I had the time to right.
Speaker 2: It wasn't just you, It wasn't just me.
Speaker 5: I had just gotten married. I had spent ten weeks
Speaker 5: in the hospital on bet rest to have my daughter, who.
Speaker 8: Was still born ten weeks prematurely, which is a big deal.
Speaker 5: You know for those of us who are mothers out there,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 8: That every week counts, and so my daughter was born
Speaker 8: at thirty weeks, which is extremely early. And so in
Speaker 8: the process of all of that, the real estate market
Speaker 8: was crashing. You know, I had tenants in my income
Speaker 8: properties that weren't paying rent. I owed all this money,
Speaker 8: and at the same time I was racking up a
Speaker 8: four hundred thousand dollars medical bill, and by the time
Speaker 8: I got out of the hospital, everything around me had changed.
Speaker 5: It's like the whole world changed.
Speaker 8: A matter of about nine to ten weeks. And I
Speaker 8: had a decision to make. Am I going to worry
Speaker 8: about car notes and mortgages or am I going to
Speaker 8: take care of this baby who's ten weeks early, who
Speaker 8: needs my undivided attention at this point? And you know,
Speaker 8: and I chose. I chose my family.
Speaker 6: And I'm telling a story about how at one point
Speaker 6: your rock rock bottom was when you were counting out
Speaker 6: change to buy milk for your daughter.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I had built a seven figure business, and like
Speaker 8: it seemed like overnight I was scraping up change to
Speaker 8: feed my daughter.
Speaker 2: Are you and your husband in the business together?
Speaker 5: We were?
Speaker 8: We were so everything you had was tied up everything.
Speaker 8: You know when people say like, don't put all your
Speaker 8: eggs in one basket, right, So we always thought like, oh, well,
Speaker 8: we own investment property, and we flip homes, and we
Speaker 8: have this company, and we have an escro company, and
Speaker 8: we do.
Speaker 5: This and we do that. But all of it was
Speaker 5: connected to real estate. And so when that bubble burst,
Speaker 5: we felt it on every level, and it was only
Speaker 5: so long that we could juggle. We tried to juggle
Speaker 5: for about a.
Speaker 8: Year, you know, Robin Peter to pay Paul and you
Speaker 8: know that expression and just trying to shift things and okay,
Speaker 8: I made it just in time. And you guys, honestly,
Speaker 8: it was exhausting. It got exhausting. Here I have this
Speaker 8: little baby I'm trying to take care of and figure
Speaker 8: out this whole motherhood thing. And then I went through
Speaker 8: like a period of postpartum depression. So as much as
Speaker 8: I loved my baby, I went through this phase where
Speaker 8: I was like, what am I supposed to do with her?
Speaker 5: Like what is you know?
Speaker 8: Like I prayed for her and I waited for her,
Speaker 8: and I you know, but it didn't come naturally to
Speaker 8: me to be the doting mother.
Speaker 5: It just didn't. And so there was so many different
Speaker 5: things going on.
Speaker 8: And I know, like when people have their back up
Speaker 8: against the wall with finances, it's not just that, Like,
Speaker 8: there's so many other things in life that happened, and
Speaker 8: I was just overwhelmed when.
Speaker 3: I turned the corner, like when did it finally? Let Yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Just found myself.
Speaker 8: Literally we had moved from California to New Orleans, Louisiana,
Speaker 8: to rehab the last of the properties that we owned,
Speaker 8: hoping that we could squeeze some money out of those. Well,
Speaker 8: the market kept tanking and we didn't squeeze anything out
Speaker 8: of that.
Speaker 5: But I ended up in a strange.
Speaker 8: City, in a foreign city to me, with no friends
Speaker 8: and no family and a little bitty baby and just
Speaker 8: the three of us, my husband and Reagan and I
Speaker 8: and I just found myself on the bathroom floor crying,
Speaker 8: literally crying, bawling, ugly.
Speaker 5: Sobbing, like what did I do? Why? Why? Why? Like
Speaker 5: what am I supposed to do with this?
Speaker 8: And I always say, like I tell people, I reach
Speaker 8: for my Bible and I opened it to this scripture
Speaker 8: like that I had read several times before, but you know,
Speaker 8: you know, things hit you a.
Speaker 5: Different way at a different time, you know.
Speaker 8: So I had seen it before, but it didn't mean
Speaker 8: anything to me. And it was probably seventeen sixteen and
Speaker 8: basically said what good is money in the hands of
Speaker 8: a fool if they have no desire to seek wisdom?
Speaker 8: And for the first time for me, what hit me
Speaker 8: was I did really well, really early, which leads you
Speaker 8: to believe that you're actually smart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, because you're in your early twenties at this point, right, yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine.
Speaker 4: All that responsibility on your shoulders and then to see
Speaker 4: it all crash.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 8: You know, I have a business with sixteen employees, I
Speaker 8: own thirteen pieces of property.
Speaker 5: You know, I've been in the hospital. I have this baby,
Speaker 5: this newborn baby who's teeny tiny. I mean, my daughter
Speaker 5: was three pounds. You know. People would see her and like, oh,
Speaker 5: is that a doll in there? We're like, no, that's
Speaker 5: a child. She's alive.
Speaker 3: She's so beautiful.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 3: I love seeing your pictures on Facebook.
Speaker 5: Oh thank you. Yeah, she's eight years old now, love
Speaker 5: of my life.
Speaker 8: But you know, during that time, it's like, man, it
Speaker 8: hit me like you thought you were too smart to
Speaker 8: ask for help. And that has been the thing that
Speaker 8: has been the biggest lesson to me, Like I like
Speaker 8: to understand that you need coaching, you need men, you
Speaker 8: need help, You need to talk to people who have
Speaker 8: been there, done that, who are transparent enough to share
Speaker 8: their journey and.
Speaker 5: Be real about it, you know. And I never sought
Speaker 5: that out.
Speaker 8: I didn't even realize that that was a thing until
Speaker 8: reading that Verse in that moment, and so a couple
Speaker 8: weeks later, it came to me that, you know, just
Speaker 8: because I lost all my money, my mind wasn't bad.
Speaker 8: You know, like what I did to get it, I
Speaker 8: just knew I could do it again. So I said,
Speaker 8: you know what, God, I dedicate you know, my life
Speaker 8: to you. And I'm like, this mission for me is
Speaker 8: to help people, not do what I did. So I
Speaker 8: created Seek Wisdom Find Wealth, which is my company today
Speaker 8: in two thousand and nine. And Seek Wisdom Find Wealth
Speaker 8: is all about helping people not just budget and credit
Speaker 8: and all that stuff, because it's great, but you need
Speaker 8: the wisdom to maintain it.
Speaker 5: And wisdom comes from.
Speaker 8: Being able to just talk to people to Wisdom comes
Speaker 8: from being able to sit and listen to something like
Speaker 8: brown ambition and like learning you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 8: and learning from other people's mistakes.
Speaker 4: Who were some of the people you reached out to
Speaker 4: in the beginning You said that you sought wisdom first
Speaker 4: from mentors and other people that you looked up to.
Speaker 4: Who were some of those people that were helpful to you?
Speaker 8: Oh, let's see, at that time, there were a lot
Speaker 8: of more So like my pastors, like people back home
Speaker 8: that used to be my pastors. I had a great
Speaker 8: mentor named George Thompson, and he was actually the minister
Speaker 8: of storship at the church that I attended, and so
Speaker 8: he was the first person that I saw do what
Speaker 8: I do today, like stand up and talk about money
Speaker 8: at a church service, and I had never seen anything
Speaker 8: like that. I was about twenty two years old, and
Speaker 8: I reached out to him. I'm like, you know, I
Speaker 8: had to humble myself because all everyone knew was that
Speaker 8: Gerald and I, my husband and I had built this
Speaker 8: real estate empire and everything was roses.
Speaker 5: But then you know, everything hit.
Speaker 8: Rock bottom and we like got ghosts. You know, you're
Speaker 8: not out at parties anymore.
Speaker 5: I mean gas or lights.
Speaker 8: You know, it's like no gas to go cross town,
Speaker 8: not about to do that, you know. So we just
Speaker 8: disappeared and people didn't know to where. They didn't know
Speaker 8: what happened with Reagan. You know, no one knew anything.
Speaker 8: And so I started to reach out to just the
Speaker 8: people like George Thompson who had blessed me at different
Speaker 8: points in my life, reaching out to my pastor. You know,
Speaker 8: Steve Harvey has been a mentor of mine since I
Speaker 8: was in college. I used to work for him as well,
Speaker 8: around the same time I was in real estate. I
Speaker 8: also worked on his radio show when it was Just
Speaker 8: in LA And so.
Speaker 2: That's that connection. Let's talk about Steve.
Speaker 4: Yeah, how does one wind up as Steve's go to
Speaker 4: money Maven money Expert? Because that's amazing you're doing. You're
Speaker 4: speaking to such a people that I think really could
Speaker 4: use someone like you telling them, you know, inspiring them
Speaker 4: to manage your finances.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, I mean it's all been so random,
Speaker 8: Like that's the best time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like, it's all been so random.
Speaker 8: So I'll tell you, guys, I really quickly when I
Speaker 8: even met him when.
Speaker 5: I was in college.
Speaker 8: It was because I heard him on the radio and
Speaker 8: literally to myself, I was I was a vice president
Speaker 8: of Black Student Union at USC, and I said to myself, like,
Speaker 8: he sounds like he has money.
Speaker 5: Like I'm going to go.
Speaker 8: They said, do you want to come to the live
Speaker 8: studio audience? So I was like, yeah, I'm going to
Speaker 8: the live studio audience and I'm going to ask Steve
Speaker 8: Harvey for some money for Black Student Union at USC.
Speaker 5: He didn't go there, but of course he cares.
Speaker 8: You know whatever nineteen year old logic I had at
Speaker 8: the time, and I wrote.
Speaker 5: This letter on Oh no, actually you had to fax.
Speaker 8: In if you wanted to come. You guys, I've jammed
Speaker 8: their fax machine. Wow, I faxed like seventy times.
Speaker 5: This is fact today, right, and guy and like you
Speaker 5: feel me?
Speaker 8: Like the guy called and he was like, well, you
Speaker 8: have to come because you jammed the fax machine.
Speaker 5: Like he was so mad at me.
Speaker 8: He's my friend now, but it's like he was so
Speaker 8: mad at me at that time. So I made it
Speaker 8: into the live studio audience and as soon as I
Speaker 8: walked in, they were like, no soliciting.
Speaker 5: And I'm like, they must be talking to these other
Speaker 5: thirty or so people.
Speaker 8: Because I came here to get this money. I leave
Speaker 8: it without it, and I'm very.
Speaker 5: Clear about that. So at the end, people kept like
Speaker 5: leaving and I.
Speaker 8: Kept letting them go in front of me like oh no,
Speaker 8: you go ahead, I'm good and taking a step back
Speaker 8: and taking a step back and taking a step back.
Speaker 8: And then finally the guy who was over the audience
Speaker 8: was like, you know, what are you doing? Like why
Speaker 8: are you still here? Are you trying to ask for something?
Speaker 8: Are you?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 8: He said, are you soliciting? And I'm like, I wouldn't
Speaker 8: call it solictening. Let me tell you who I am.
Speaker 8: And I started on this whole thing and told him
Speaker 8: that I went to sc and he goes, oh, I
Speaker 8: used to be the Chicano student union president at USC.
Speaker 8: Hold on, let me let me see what I can do.
Speaker 8: Like I was blowing, my girl who was the president
Speaker 8: left like I was the vice president.
Speaker 5: She was president and she got scared and walked.
Speaker 3: Out here and she needed to be impeached.
Speaker 2: Well, she maybe had more to lose.
Speaker 5: So she left.
Speaker 8: So I'm up there, and long story short, it ended
Speaker 8: up being there, ended up being a relationship there. They
Speaker 8: just thought I was funny, like this girl. It was
Speaker 8: crazy because I kept coming back asking for money, and
Speaker 8: eventually I asked for five hundred. They gave me two thousand.
Speaker 8: Then started the relationship.
Speaker 5: And then they asked if I wanted to be an intern,
Speaker 5: which I turned down because it was unpaid, but then
Speaker 5: got bored and needed something due, so I said, okay.
Speaker 8: I'll do it my sophomore year in college. And so
Speaker 8: that started a fifteen year relationship that I have with
Speaker 8: Steve Harvey. Now, now how I got put on as
Speaker 8: his money expert for everything really because he watched me
Speaker 8: do the work, you know, he called me he had.
Speaker 8: The producer of the radio show reached out to me
Speaker 8: about two months before Real Money Answers for every Woman
Speaker 8: came out the first time when I self published in
Speaker 8: twenty fourteen. She reached out to me around November of
Speaker 8: twenty thirteen and said, hey, when does your book come out?
Speaker 8: And I told her the date, like January eighth, I
Speaker 8: think it was, and she said, oh, okay, And I
Speaker 8: was like, well, that was strange and didn't think I mean,
Speaker 8: you know, they're strange people over there, so I didn't
Speaker 8: think anything of it. No, they're all like family, but
Speaker 8: so I didn't think anything of it. I was like whatever.
Speaker 8: And then she calls back, maybe a couple hours later,
Speaker 8: she says, Harvey wants to help you debut the book.
Speaker 8: And I just I was like, oh my gosh, like
Speaker 8: I've never asked for anything except for that five hundred
Speaker 8: dollars early on. I hadn't asked for anything ever. And
Speaker 8: so I went on the first time. The day the
Speaker 8: book came out, you know, we instantly made it an
Speaker 8: Amazon bestseller. I was so you know, just throw with
Speaker 8: the opportunity. I was more than grateful over the moon
Speaker 8: and didn't think anything of it. And then they said,
Speaker 8: we got eight hundred plus emails from people who wanted
Speaker 8: to know your name or the name of the book
Speaker 8: or asking questions, so you have to come back. And
Speaker 8: I went back about three weeks later, same response. And
Speaker 8: then I went back maybe two weeks after that, same response,
Speaker 8: and then he said, oh, hell, just do it every week.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 6: But you know, you said something so so so powerful
Speaker 6: because someone could look at you and.
Speaker 2: Be like, well, yeah, she's gorgeous.
Speaker 3: And she's this, and she's no.
Speaker 6: You said that you did the work, and that's like
Speaker 6: a such an important thing I think, to just really
Speaker 6: impress upon that you did the work. This is a
Speaker 6: fifteen year relationship. This wasn't just some fluke, you know,
Speaker 6: ri success.
Speaker 5: And you know what is really important for me to.
Speaker 8: Let people know as well, because they think, like, oh, well,
Speaker 8: you know Steve Harvey. So clearly no, not at all.
Speaker 8: Lots of people know Steve Harvey.
Speaker 5: Well no, folks.
Speaker 8: But the thing is, he told me on a commercial
Speaker 8: break that second time I was on, he said, you
Speaker 8: know why I would always help you. And I was like, no, sir,
Speaker 8: you know, like, why is that? He said, because you
Speaker 8: never asked? He said, you never asked. People come in
Speaker 8: and ask. They don't have their stuff together, they're not
Speaker 8: on their social media, they haven't written something of quality,
Speaker 8: they're not doing videos, they're not out there speaking, they're
Speaker 8: not doing anything, and they want me to put them
Speaker 8: on and.
Speaker 5: Create some type of Oprah effect. It means nothing.
Speaker 8: If you get the opportunity, but you haven't built a
Speaker 8: strong foundation, none.
Speaker 5: Of that means anything.
Speaker 8: So before even the Steve Harvey opportunity came, I was already.
Speaker 5: Writing for Black Enterprise. I was already writing for Huffington Post.
Speaker 5: I was already writing every week for Hello Beautiful for
Speaker 5: like two years. I was already out there speaking. I
Speaker 5: was already doing YouTube.
Speaker 8: Videos like so if he could look and see like, oh,
Speaker 8: Patresa's out here, like she's she's doing her thing, let
Speaker 8: me give.
Speaker 5: Her a hand up and not a handout.
Speaker 6: We just mentioned that last I'm so glad you said that,
Speaker 6: And Andy was was that my brown break?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I was asking for people who want something for you
Speaker 2: without giving.
Speaker 6: You yes, like asking for handout, Like help is different
Speaker 6: from a handout. And I'm sure now, especially with you
Speaker 6: doing you know so well, But sometimes my emails, I'm like,
Speaker 6: come on, have you put an air.
Speaker 8: Girl, Tiffany that we have to talk about that.
Speaker 5: The other day we have to talk about.
Speaker 8: It's like I don't mind And Steve says this, I
Speaker 8: don't mind, you know, teaching you to fish, but I'm
Speaker 8: not gonna hand you a fish sandwich, you know what
Speaker 8: I'm saying, And like people't want you to give them
Speaker 8: a fully cooked, fully prepared, and knock up situation.
Speaker 5: It's like, ma'am, absolutely not.
Speaker 4: You know what about the women out there who maybe
Speaker 4: feel like they are doing the work but don't feel
Speaker 4: like they're getting their recognition. Do you have any advice
Speaker 4: for them or something you could offer and maybe that
Speaker 4: made you different or stand out?
Speaker 8: You know what I look for God winks all along
Speaker 8: the way God I look for godwinks. I look for
Speaker 8: little little notes that just say you're on the right path,
Speaker 8: you're on the right path, you're moving in the right direction.
Speaker 8: And that doesn't always come from huge recognition. You know,
Speaker 8: early on when I first started blogging in two thousand
Speaker 8: and nine twenty ten, like you know, nobody knew who
Speaker 8: I was, and I was I was just blogging and
Speaker 8: hoping that my mama read it.
Speaker 5: And half the time she didn't either. You know. I'd
Speaker 5: be like, did you like what I wrote this week?
Speaker 8: She's like, ah, you know, didn't get a chance to
Speaker 8: go over, you know, And so you know, it was
Speaker 8: one day when I didn't, I was like I felt defeated,
Speaker 8: you know, for like a period, I'm like, I don't
Speaker 8: know what I'm doing, Like I don't even know how
Speaker 8: this blog thing works. I wasn't on social media yet
Speaker 8: and I was just joining Twitter, you know, I.
Speaker 5: Was just trying to figure it out.
Speaker 8: And a random guy emails me and says, I hope
Speaker 8: you're okay. You haven't blogged in a while. And I said,
Speaker 8: oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 5: Don't even know him. Who is he? Where did he
Speaker 5: come from?
Speaker 8: You know, like I had no idea, and just that
Speaker 8: note to me let me know that you're making a difference,
Speaker 8: even if it's for one person. And that was my
Speaker 8: god wing to keep going. And I could tell you today,
Speaker 8: like if he had to email me, I don't know
Speaker 8: where i'd be today because his email encouraged me to keep,
Speaker 8: you know, to keep blogging every week to start sharing
Speaker 8: with other people to read. You know, so I look
Speaker 8: for those little things. It's always it's not always going
Speaker 8: to be the big recognition. You know, now more people
Speaker 8: know me, but five years ago nobody did.
Speaker 5: But that didn't mean that, you know, I could take
Speaker 5: a break.
Speaker 8: I thought it did, like, you know, this is not
Speaker 8: working out, but there's always someone you're blessing and you have,
Speaker 8: you know, I always ask.
Speaker 5: People to like, what are your motives? Like, what are
Speaker 5: your motives for doing what you do?
Speaker 8: Because is it truly to impact the people or is
Speaker 8: it to get the recognition of man? The recognition is great,
Speaker 8: but it's a byproduct of your mission to impact other people.
Speaker 6: Agreed, somebody for somebody out there right now. That's your guidewing.
Speaker 6: Just in case you didn't get it.
Speaker 3: Get it.
Speaker 4: Maybe if you're working really hard and not getting to
Speaker 4: where you want to be, maybe you're not doing it
Speaker 4: for the right reasons.
Speaker 2: That could be a factor.
Speaker 4: Or what you're doing maybe isn't what you really want
Speaker 4: to be doing deep down, or.
Speaker 5: What you should be doing.
Speaker 8: You know, I meet a lot of people who are
Speaker 8: you're an author's speaker, coach because that looks popular because
Speaker 8: everybody is an author's speaker, coach right now, you know,
Speaker 8: like in social media that you see, you know, it's
Speaker 8: like in social media, that's what you see, you know,
Speaker 8: But are you really doing the work that you were
Speaker 8: called to do? People ask me, like, you know, why
Speaker 8: I chose this? I really didn't choose this. I don't
Speaker 8: believe that I chose it. I believe that it's a calling,
Speaker 8: you know, And so sometimes I think we focus on
Speaker 8: what looks popular instead of focusing on what's truly our purpose,
Speaker 8: and then we get lost in trying to do all
Speaker 8: of those other things. Even for those people who feel
Speaker 8: like they're somewhat you know, they found success or they've
Speaker 8: gotten recognition and what they're doing, but they're coveting what
Speaker 8: somebody else has going on, and they want to do
Speaker 8: what somebody else has that might not be your lane.
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8: So you got a question like, am I truly doing
Speaker 8: this because I'm called to do it and because I
Speaker 8: truly care about the people that I serve or am
Speaker 8: I doing it for the recognition?
Speaker 5: And you know, well, I honestly I want.
Speaker 4: To just interrupt, because you do have kind of a
Speaker 4: big deal happening right now. Your book Real Woman or sorry,
Speaker 4: Real Money Answers for Women is coming out. When is
Speaker 4: it coming out?
Speaker 8: Real Money Answers for every Woman comes back out January nineteenth,
Speaker 8: twenty sixteen, and I'm super excited some time for.
Speaker 2: New Year's Resolution.
Speaker 6: Yes, yeah, I'm super super excited because when I saw Patrit,
Speaker 6: I think you posted I don't know if it was
Speaker 6: last year when you got the contract with the major publisher,
Speaker 6: but you bold it like this beautiful story.
Speaker 3: I think it was about your grandmother.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was like clearing up at this in front of
Speaker 3: my computer, like.
Speaker 5: Go ahead, Patria, what Yeah?
Speaker 8: I mean that means so much to me because, you know,
Speaker 8: I always share that my grandmother didn't have a sixth
Speaker 8: grade education and was basically illiterate, and she passed away
Speaker 8: in January twenty thirteen, and it was at the time
Speaker 8: that I was writing Real Money Answers for every Woman,
Speaker 8: And again, it was one of those moments where I
Speaker 8: wanted to I wanted to dwell on my grandmother's passing,
Speaker 8: you know, because I was so busy being busy, and
Speaker 8: I lived out of state and I didn't get to
Speaker 8: spend time with her the way that I wanted to
Speaker 8: like that last year, and so there was a lot
Speaker 8: of guilt and I was just feeling some kind of way.
Speaker 8: And my grandmother came to me in a dream shortly
Speaker 8: after she passed and was yelling at me like she
Speaker 8: often does. I'm Caribbean, I'm Belliegian, myda, yeah, yeah, I'm Belleian.
Speaker 8: And my grandmother was yelling at me with this thick accent,
Speaker 8: like telling me basically to get my life in order.
Speaker 8: And she said all these things and I couldn't quite
Speaker 8: put it together.
Speaker 5: And I talked to someone in our family who interpreted dreams,
Speaker 5: and she.
Speaker 8: Said, basically, she's saying, you need to finish whatever work
Speaker 8: of art or creative.
Speaker 5: Body you're working on. And I was like, work of art,
Speaker 5: what is that creative body? And I'm like, oh, my book.
Speaker 8: And she was telling me in the dream that it
Speaker 8: would change lives and it would change my life. And
Speaker 8: the book came out January the next year, January twenty fourteen,
Speaker 8: a couple of days before her passing. Heard the anniversary
Speaker 8: of her passing, and it did. It totally changed my life.
Speaker 8: It's what you got me to The Steve Harvey Show.
Speaker 8: Which has gotten me to so many other things. Thousands
Speaker 8: of women have reached out to me literally talking, you know,
Speaker 8: telling me about their testimonies and how it's blessed them
Speaker 8: and how it's restored their relationship with siblings or their
Speaker 8: you know, their spouses and all this stuff. I did
Speaker 8: eighteen thousand copies, so self published awesome. And then January
Speaker 8: twenty fifteen, I got the deal with HarperCollins. They reached
Speaker 8: out to me about wanting to re release the book
Speaker 8: under their label and make it available everywhere, making it
Speaker 8: available everywhere books are sold, and so.
Speaker 2: First and the publisher reached out to you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so January is a good month for you.
Speaker 8: You know what, these last few years, since January twenty twelve,
Speaker 8: it has been working out to be a very good
Speaker 8: month for me.
Speaker 5: I look forward to January's.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about the book.
Speaker 4: I think what I love most about the idea of
Speaker 4: the book is that you're not just talking about budgeting,
Speaker 4: well that's important, and how to save money and how
Speaker 4: do you know coupon and stuff. You really emphasize what
Speaker 4: we love talking about with you, gay money, how to make.
Speaker 2: More earn you get.
Speaker 4: More out of life. So talk to us about some
Speaker 4: of the advice you have for women in your book
Speaker 4: and why you're really focusing on building wealth.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, just from a byproduct of being out
Speaker 8: there and speaking and receiving people's questions, I hear like,
Speaker 8: probably eight times out of ten people say, well, I
Speaker 8: don't do that because.
Speaker 5: I don't earn enough.
Speaker 8: And it just came up constantly to the point where
Speaker 8: I was like, you know, when I think about a
Speaker 8: lot of the books that I even read on personal finance,
Speaker 8: there's a lot of information about what to do once
Speaker 8: you have.
Speaker 5: It, but the gap there is well, how do I
Speaker 5: get it? You know?
Speaker 8: And so I dedicated an entire section to earning more
Speaker 8: money in the book. And it's not just about entrepreneurship,
Speaker 8: because I realized that everyone is not called to be
Speaker 8: an entrepreneur.
Speaker 5: And to your earlier question, Mandy, that might be why.
Speaker 8: Some of us are not getting where we want to
Speaker 8: go because this life save.
Speaker 4: For you Booth, thank you for saying real, not everyone's
Speaker 4: meant to have their own business.
Speaker 8: It's okay, you know, it's like it's like a craze,
Speaker 8: you know, and it's you know, I really struggle with
Speaker 8: quote unquote experts who make people feel that if they're
Speaker 8: not out there hustling and you know, doing their own thing,
Speaker 8: that they're doing something wrong.
Speaker 5: Like I employ people.
Speaker 8: I need them to you know what I'm saying, I
Speaker 8: need them to run what I'm trying to do. Everybody
Speaker 8: is not supposed to be their own boss.
Speaker 5: They're just not.
Speaker 8: And that's okay because you can serve in a different
Speaker 8: way and still fulfill your purpose. And so in the
Speaker 8: book I talk about workplace with them.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 8: So if your thing is I need to earn more
Speaker 8: money while I'm you know, on someone else's dime or
Speaker 8: in someone else's job, can we talk about the fact that,
Speaker 8: you know, if you want to raise you should probably
Speaker 8: get to work on time, like cant.
Speaker 5: We Is that too much to No, that's not too
Speaker 5: much to ask to.
Speaker 8: Ask, you know, like or you know you want the promotion,
Speaker 8: you got to ask for it, you know. And it
Speaker 8: can't be an emotional ask, ladies. It can't be like, well,
Speaker 8: I feel like and you know because you see me
Speaker 8: come early.
Speaker 5: You know I leave late.
Speaker 3: You kids, Yeah, I got.
Speaker 8: KIDCA fees, you know, I got bills due. Listen, all
Speaker 8: of that is true, and we hey.
Speaker 5: We support you, we honor you. However, that's not a
Speaker 5: good case to present to your boss or superior or
Speaker 5: supervisor whomever. Right, So in the book, I talk about
Speaker 5: strategies for building your bag folder. You know, what value
Speaker 5: are you bringing to the table.
Speaker 8: It can't just be about what you feel like, you know,
Speaker 8: it has to be about the research. You have to
Speaker 8: quantify what you've been able to do, because at the
Speaker 8: end of the day, business is not all about emotions.
Speaker 8: It's about the bottom line. And are you adding to
Speaker 8: the bottom line? Are you are you saving the company money?
Speaker 5: What are you doing?
Speaker 8: Are you even in the right position? Does it really
Speaker 8: serve you? Are you really doing the work that you
Speaker 8: feel called to do, or do you just have a job.
Speaker 8: There's nothing wrong with having a job, it's do you
Speaker 8: have the right job for you? Because I realize that
Speaker 8: when people are unfulfilled in their careers, usually that leads
Speaker 8: them to mismanage their finances. Because I need so many
Speaker 8: women who are quick to go to the mall on
Speaker 8: a Friday because they're frustrated with everything that they've been
Speaker 8: through all week, you know, And then we get into
Speaker 8: justifying our purchases, like, oh, I work hard I deserve it.
Speaker 8: Oh they don't work me this week. Oh no, that's
Speaker 8: them working you this week. Doesn't justify you buying you know,
Speaker 8: those pumps that you can't afford, you know, like those
Speaker 8: two things don't go together. So instead of trying to
Speaker 8: justify what you don't like about where you are, let's
Speaker 8: work on putting you where you really belong so that
Speaker 8: you can prioritize and then find prosperity.
Speaker 3: So you said, January what day again?
Speaker 5: Nineteenth?
Speaker 6: Ooh January nineteenth, ladies, go and get it honestly. Like,
Speaker 6: so for those of y'all who are listening, you know,
Speaker 6: I'm the budget Lisa, and so many of the women
Speaker 6: that I that work with me or follow me or
Speaker 6: they love them some patrits.
Speaker 3: They're like, do you know, p'tray somebody? You want to
Speaker 3: get you autographed?
Speaker 2: Hold on?
Speaker 6: Yes, I had enough mosbe now. But no, honestly, they
Speaker 6: love you. They're attracted to your You're obviously you know,
Speaker 6: your financial savvy, but also your genuiness.
Speaker 3: Just you're you give it to them straight.
Speaker 6: So I'm so excited for this like second coming of
Speaker 6: this amazing book, and I just know that it's gonna
Speaker 6: do well, and I can't wait for your challenge, so
Speaker 6: this is kind of I guess we can.
Speaker 3: Announce it here even Manny doesn't.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, so for those of you who wait, you
Speaker 2: need to do a setup that breaking, yes, breaking.
Speaker 6: So for anybody who follows me the Budgetista online every January, well,
Speaker 6: starting this January, I do this thing called the Live
Speaker 6: Richer Challenge, and we have about twenty thousand women signed
Speaker 6: up already. We'll have thirty thousand by January. And Patrisa
Speaker 6: and I were just talking last week and she's doing
Speaker 6: her challenge in February. What's the name of your challenge again?
Speaker 5: The Earn More Money Challenge for Women.
Speaker 6: So the Earn More Money Challenge for Women. So we're
Speaker 6: gonna partner because I thought this doesn't make sense. So
Speaker 6: many women need so I'm going to be teaching you
Speaker 6: how to save and how to start collecting more abundance
Speaker 6: and then feed you right into the Earn More Money
Speaker 6: Challenge for Women by for tries. So we're partnering. So
Speaker 6: I just think it'll be awesome.
Speaker 5: I'm so excited, Aya so excited.
Speaker 2: It's like peanut butter and jelly.
Speaker 3: I'm like doing in the theater I wish you could
Speaker 3: see me.
Speaker 6: So yeah, so I just can't wait for you guys
Speaker 6: to see what that kind of like collaboration looks like,
Speaker 6: because it's just really important one for women of color
Speaker 6: to collaborate, you know, Patrecea and I. Although like the
Speaker 6: overarching goal is the same to help women live better,
Speaker 6: that still we do things in different ways and so
Speaker 6: you'll find something differently for me through the Live Richer
Speaker 6: Challenge and something different from for Trees. And I just
Speaker 6: think that there's not enough brown faces in this space,
Speaker 6: and you know, and we and the thing is, we're
Speaker 6: really supportive of each other, but we're trying to shift
Speaker 6: from just being supportive to being strategic. And just like
Speaker 6: even me and Mandy doing the podcast together, this is
Speaker 6: a strategic alliance. So it's not just me saying, oh
Speaker 6: I like them because I've known Mandy what like two.
Speaker 2: Years before this or something for technically.
Speaker 6: That's why we did have a f anniversary and so
Speaker 6: but still, you know, so it's like it's one thing
Speaker 6: to say, oh I like Mandy to being like, oh, well,
Speaker 6: let's do a podcast together, and so, you know, just
Speaker 6: learning that in this space of women of color, like
Speaker 6: how can we do things and in ways that it's strategic,
Speaker 6: so we can, like in just a technical way, move
Speaker 6: each other forward.
Speaker 3: So I'm just really excited to partner and do that.
Speaker 8: So I am too, And I thank you so much
Speaker 8: for your heart, Tiffany, and your willingness to be strategic
Speaker 8: in that way and to partner and to be an
Speaker 8: example to women in every industry, not just in an
Speaker 8: industry where you know, we're you know, few and far between,
Speaker 8: but just in every industry as women, you know, we
Speaker 8: just have to dispel these myths that women don't like women,
Speaker 8: or that women can't work together, that we can't support
Speaker 8: each other and figure it out like that's such a crop.
Speaker 5: I love women like and I.
Speaker 8: Love you know, raw raw ron and cheering you on,
Speaker 8: you know what I'm saying. But we just got to
Speaker 8: do better and I'm glad to be an example of
Speaker 8: that along with you and you guys have been an
Speaker 8: example to me, so I appreciate that as well.
Speaker 4: So exciting care So, where can we send people to
Speaker 4: find out about these challenges?
Speaker 2: Is there like one website where can we send folks?
Speaker 8: Yes, they're going to go to I can Earn More
Speaker 8: dot com.
Speaker 2: I can earn More dot com.
Speaker 6: Okay, and then if you want to sign up for
Speaker 6: the Live Richer Challenge, it's Live Richer Challenge dot com.
Speaker 6: And the good thing is is that as you take
Speaker 6: the challenge, like in my challenge, I'll be pushing you
Speaker 6: toward Patreesa's challenge, and then in her challenge, she'll be
Speaker 6: throwing people back. So even if you miss one, you'll
Speaker 6: be able to take it like it just will be
Speaker 6: a cycle that'll continue throughout the year.
Speaker 2: So let me play the interested listener. Okay, how much
Speaker 2: does it cost?
Speaker 8: Oh, it's free, totally complimentary.
Speaker 2: Not in that that's my favorite pres.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so where can they get your books? So when
Speaker 6: it comes out, where can they get your book? Where
Speaker 6: can they find it?
Speaker 8: Well, I'm so excited to say that you'll be able
Speaker 8: to find the book everywhere books are so so go
Speaker 8: and target and act a fool if you don't get it.
Speaker 5: And I'm kidding no.
Speaker 8: But it'll be available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles. You
Speaker 8: can always go to Real Moneyanswers dot com and they'll
Speaker 8: be a link there and I'll link you to all
Speaker 8: the retailers that I know of. But yeah, it'll be everywhere.
Speaker 8: Books are sold January nineteenth. Oh and if you pre
Speaker 8: order then I have some amazing freebies. I am giving
Speaker 8: away some freebes, more free sum not just the challenge,
Speaker 8: but you'll be able to take my Mindset and Money Masterclass,
Speaker 8: which is a four part class that teaches you a
Speaker 8: lot of the same things.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 8: You will be so financially fierced by the time twenty
Speaker 8: sixteen is over. Like you you don't even understand between
Speaker 8: siventy nine and go on to Yahoo and reading Mandy stuff,
Speaker 8: you'll be so even I'm getting.
Speaker 4: Excited for January. I'm like, on the new year, it's
Speaker 4: just like cold winter time. But now I'm like, maybe
Speaker 4: I'll do something. Let me give me a raise.
Speaker 6: No, but this is just gonna be awesome. So where
Speaker 6: can they find you on social media?
Speaker 8: I am everywhere at Seek Wisdom pc W. That's Seek
Speaker 8: Wisdom PCW. That's on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Periscope.
Speaker 4: Well, we're going to link to all your pages on
Speaker 4: the blog post on Brown Ambition podcast dot com, so
Speaker 4: you'll find notes from her interview, links to her website
Speaker 4: to where you can find the book, where you can
Speaker 4: find her on social Patrese Thank you so much for
Speaker 4: coming on Brown Ambition. It's been amazing chatting with you
Speaker 4: and it.
Speaker 5: Has Thank you guys so much for having me. I
Speaker 5: feel so special. You guys feel like a top rated
Speaker 5: you know podcast.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we're big guy, I'm down there. It's a
Speaker 2: big deal.
Speaker 5: I'm happy to be a part ex