WEBVTT - Ep. 45 — "Real Money Answers for Everyday Women" 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.279 Hey Brown Ambition fam Happy Brown Ambition Tuesday. This is Mandy. 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.799 I wanted to share a very special episode today. This 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.080 is actually originally aired last Thanksgiving and it's one of 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.479 our most popular episodes to date. So as Tiffany and 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.800 I enjoy a little bit of a summer break this week, 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.120 please enjoy our interview with Patrese C. 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:40.080 Washington. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.280 Just seven years ago, Patrese was scraping up all the 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.839 change in her purse to buy baby formula for her 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.440 newborn daughter. Now, Patrese is a best selling author and 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:53.599 founder and CEO of Sikh Wisdom find Wealth, a boutique 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:58.080 personal finance consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Patrese joined 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.680 us on the show to talk about hitting rock bottom 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.000 and how she clawed her way back to the top. 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.440 She also talked about her new book, Real Money Answers 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.360 for Everyday Women, which you can still find online and 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.520 in bookstores nationwide. So, without further ado, here's our interview 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:14.240 with Patrese. 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:27.800 Okay, guys, we have a very special guest today. 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:28.960 I'm super excited. 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.000 Probably like our top five favorite people in the personal 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:33.200 finance space today. 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.080 I'd say top three, but whatever, top three. 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.319 Top two to our top one person. 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:39.520 We have the. 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:44.399 Brilliant, the beautiful, amazing, the amazing, wonderful Patrise. C. Washington 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.240 got to get the CEA in there and then now 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:47.040 goes wild. 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.720 You guys are in such like in for such a tree. Honestly, 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.880 I've been following for Trees on her journey since I 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.120 don't know, I think maybe since like twenty ten is when. 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.480 It's gone to add it for what over a decade now, Patrise? Right? 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:05.200 Oh gosh, yes not to You know, you have an 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.520 amazing history since two thousand and three, you've been a 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:10.880 You're a nationally recognized best selling author of the book 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.000 series Real Money Answers and which is amazing. 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.160 You also have a recurring segment on none other than 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:17.160 the Steve Harvey Show. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.080 Check check might have heard about it. Yeah, just a 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.839 little shout so radio and on on the TV show, 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:24.760 right Patrese yep right, Yeah. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.919 It featured pretty much on the every media outlet out there, NBC, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.840 Black Enterprise, Huffing and Post upscale and to get on 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:32.960 the Steve Harvey Show. So we could not be happier 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:34.600 to have you here, Patrise, thanks so much for coming 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:35.519 on Brown ambish. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.960 Thank you, You're so excited. I'm so excited. 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:40.880 And it feels good to move up from like top 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.040 ten to top five, the top three, all in one conversation, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.040 all right, in a matter of seconds, like I'm winning today. 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:49.560 Thank you, You're welcome. 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.560 So what I loved about you I heard you'd give 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.919 a talk a couple of years ago where you talked 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.160 about how you weren't always the money Maven. Yeah, you 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.360 had some pretty humble beginning when it came to dealing 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.320 with your finances. So I wanted to start off by 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.040 just asking you to talk about that, you know, your 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.760 early days and some of the mistakes you made. 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.040 Oh gosh, just some of the mistakes I don't even 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.320 want to work to start. Well. 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.680 You know, I always say that all those accolades are great, 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.079 and I really appreciate them. It's been a real blessing 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.520 to be able to share my message because my hope 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:24.040 is really to move the masses. 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.640 From debt management to money mastery. 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.160 And as I go out speaking all over the country 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.880 and doing all these interviews and you know, just getting 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:33.560 to do what I do, what I love to do, 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.520 I always meet people who say, but you don't understand 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:40.280 what it's like, or you don't understand what it means 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.440 to choose between you know, having to pay your life 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.160 bill and wanting to save or wanting to invest. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.720 And I'm like, I don't know, no, sweetie, I know 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:49.320 very well. 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:51.880 Let me tell you a little story. And so, really, 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:53.960 I mean, I didn't grow up hearing about money. I've 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:56.400 heard Tiffany share her story and I'm always so impressed 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:58.960 by her dad and what he imparted to her. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:00.040 But I didn't have any of that. 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.200 And so but was still able to go on to 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.400 college and started in real estate at nineteen years old 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:09.800 as a sophomore in college. Became a real estate and 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.200 mortgage broker at twenty one as a senior in college. 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.720 Actually started my business while in school, which has its 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:17.160 pros and. 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.760 Cons, but that's another story. If you have financial aide, 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.680 there's a con there. But started this really great business 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.640 during my senior year in college, and it was a 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.599 real estate and mortgage company. Loved you know, helping people 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.200 budget and get their credit in order and all those 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.560 things because it was going to move them towards purchasing 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:39.240 a home, which is how I could make money. So 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.280 of course I was super passionate about getting people. 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:43.039 You know, on the path. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.560 But at the same time, there were pieces to that 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.280 puzzle beyond budgeting and credit that I really didn't know about. 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.680 And so while I was helping everyone else, the recession 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.880 hit around circa like two thousand and seven, two thousand 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.720 and eight, and I lost everything. 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:03.240 I lost everything. 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:05.240 So here I am, the little girl from south central 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.600 Los Angeles, went to college, started a business. 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:08.080 Thought. 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.520 I did everything the right way and still found myself 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:12.280 flat broke with everybody else. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:15.360 And you should say I had the time to right. 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.240 It wasn't just you, It wasn't just me. 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.080 I had just gotten married. I had spent ten weeks 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.760 in the hospital on bet rest to have my daughter, who. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.000 Was still born ten weeks prematurely, which is a big deal. 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.479 You know for those of us who are mothers out there, 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:30.640 you know. 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.839 That every week counts, and so my daughter was born 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.560 at thirty weeks, which is extremely early. And so in 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.919 the process of all of that, the real estate market 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.159 was crashing. You know, I had tenants in my income 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.320 properties that weren't paying rent. I owed all this money, 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.240 and at the same time I was racking up a 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.360 four hundred thousand dollars medical bill, and by the time 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.840 I got out of the hospital, everything around me had changed. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:56.719 It's like the whole world changed. 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.280 A matter of about nine to ten weeks. And I 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.760 had a decision to make. Am I going to worry 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.000 about car notes and mortgages or am I going to 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.040 take care of this baby who's ten weeks early, who 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:14.040 needs my undivided attention at this point? And you know, 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:15.799 and I chose. I chose my family. 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.320 And I'm telling a story about how at one point 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.800 your rock rock bottom was when you were counting out 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:23.520 change to buy milk for your daughter. 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:24.039 Yeah. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.840 Yeah, I had built a seven figure business, and like 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.600 it seemed like overnight I was scraping up change to 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:31.320 feed my daughter. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:33.480 Are you and your husband in the business together? 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:34.479 We were? 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.760 We were so everything you had was tied up everything. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.560 You know when people say like, don't put all your 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:45.520 eggs in one basket, right, So we always thought like, oh, well, 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.080 we own investment property, and we flip homes, and we 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.279 have this company, and we have an escro company, and 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:50.600 we do. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.120 This and we do that. But all of it was 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:57.160 connected to real estate. And so when that bubble burst, 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.760 we felt it on every level, and it was only 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.279 so long that we could juggle. We tried to juggle 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:03.960 for about a. 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:07.360 Year, you know, Robin Peter to pay Paul and you 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.800 know that expression and just trying to shift things and okay, 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.200 I made it just in time. And you guys, honestly, 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:17.120 it was exhausting. It got exhausting. Here I have this 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.160 little baby I'm trying to take care of and figure 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.840 out this whole motherhood thing. And then I went through 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.680 like a period of postpartum depression. So as much as 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.720 I loved my baby, I went through this phase where 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.160 I was like, what am I supposed to do with her? 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:32.480 Like what is you know? 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:36.200 Like I prayed for her and I waited for her, 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.360 and I you know, but it didn't come naturally to 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:40.680 me to be the doting mother. 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.680 It just didn't. And so there was so many different 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:45.480 things going on. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:47.720 And I know, like when people have their back up 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.280 against the wall with finances, it's not just that, Like, 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.160 there's so many other things in life that happened, and 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:55.840 I was just overwhelmed when. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.760 I turned the corner, like when did it finally? Let Yeah, I. 0:07:58.680 --> 0:07:59.840 Just found myself. 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.200 Literally we had moved from California to New Orleans, Louisiana, 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.920 to rehab the last of the properties that we owned, 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.880 hoping that we could squeeze some money out of those. Well, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.560 the market kept tanking and we didn't squeeze anything out 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:12.840 of that. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:14.840 But I ended up in a strange. 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.080 City, in a foreign city to me, with no friends 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.440 and no family and a little bitty baby and just 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.880 the three of us, my husband and Reagan and I 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.760 and I just found myself on the bathroom floor crying, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.080 literally crying, bawling, ugly. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.960 Sobbing, like what did I do? Why? Why? Why? Like 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:34.320 what am I supposed to do with this? 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.080 And I always say, like I tell people, I reach 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.280 for my Bible and I opened it to this scripture 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:44.280 like that I had read several times before, but you know, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:45.640 you know, things hit you a. 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:47.240 Different way at a different time, you know. 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.520 So I had seen it before, but it didn't mean 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.959 anything to me. And it was probably seventeen sixteen and 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.240 basically said what good is money in the hands of 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.079 a fool if they have no desire to seek wisdom? 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:03.040 And for the first time for me, what hit me 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:07.200 was I did really well, really early, which leads you 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:08.959 to believe that you're actually smart. 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:13.760 Yeah, right, because you're in your early twenties at this point, right, yeah, 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.200 I can't even imagine. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.680 All that responsibility on your shoulders and then to see 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:18.520 it all crash. 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:18.920 Yeah. 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:21.760 You know, I have a business with sixteen employees, I 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:23.360 own thirteen pieces of property. 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:25.839 You know, I've been in the hospital. I have this baby, 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.680 this newborn baby who's teeny tiny. I mean, my daughter 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.120 was three pounds. You know. People would see her and like, oh, 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.040 is that a doll in there? We're like, no, that's 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:35.520 a child. She's alive. 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:36.480 She's so beautiful. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:36.640 Now. 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:38.040 I love seeing your pictures on Facebook. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.640 Oh thank you. Yeah, she's eight years old now, love 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:42.240 of my life. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:47.000 But you know, during that time, it's like, man, it 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.880 hit me like you thought you were too smart to 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:54.160 ask for help. And that has been the thing that 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.720 has been the biggest lesson to me, Like I like 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.600 to understand that you need coaching, you need men, you 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.480 need help, You need to talk to people who have 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.280 been there, done that, who are transparent enough to share 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:06.560 their journey and. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.000 Be real about it, you know. And I never sought 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:09.400 that out. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.559 I didn't even realize that that was a thing until 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.760 reading that Verse in that moment, and so a couple 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.199 weeks later, it came to me that, you know, just 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.320 because I lost all my money, my mind wasn't bad. 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.320 You know, like what I did to get it, I 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.680 just knew I could do it again. So I said, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.720 you know what, God, I dedicate you know, my life 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.200 to you. And I'm like, this mission for me is 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.560 to help people, not do what I did. So I 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.720 created Seek Wisdom Find Wealth, which is my company today 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.680 in two thousand and nine. And Seek Wisdom Find Wealth 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.880 is all about helping people not just budget and credit 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:46.960 and all that stuff, because it's great, but you need 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.400 the wisdom to maintain it. 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:49.640 And wisdom comes from. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.160 Being able to just talk to people to Wisdom comes 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.040 from being able to sit and listen to something like 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.760 brown ambition and like learning you know what I'm saying, 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.640 and learning from other people's mistakes. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.559 Who were some of the people you reached out to 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.840 in the beginning You said that you sought wisdom first 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.560 from mentors and other people that you looked up to. 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.480 Who were some of those people that were helpful to you? 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.920 Oh, let's see, at that time, there were a lot 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.559 of more So like my pastors, like people back home 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.880 that used to be my pastors. I had a great 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:21.960 mentor named George Thompson, and he was actually the minister 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.720 of storship at the church that I attended, and so 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.520 he was the first person that I saw do what 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.160 I do today, like stand up and talk about money 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.360 at a church service, and I had never seen anything 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.960 like that. I was about twenty two years old, and 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.320 I reached out to him. I'm like, you know, I 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.800 had to humble myself because all everyone knew was that 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.320 Gerald and I, my husband and I had built this 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.720 real estate empire and everything was roses. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:48.920 But then you know, everything hit. 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.319 Rock bottom and we like got ghosts. You know, you're 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:52.600 not out at parties anymore. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.319 I mean gas or lights. 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.040 You know, it's like no gas to go cross town, 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.240 not about to do that, you know. So we just 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.880 disappeared and people didn't know to where. They didn't know 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.800 what happened with Reagan. You know, no one knew anything. 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:09.680 And so I started to reach out to just the 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.200 people like George Thompson who had blessed me at different 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.400 points in my life, reaching out to my pastor. You know, 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:20.760 Steve Harvey has been a mentor of mine since I 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.760 was in college. I used to work for him as well, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.560 around the same time I was in real estate. I 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.360 also worked on his radio show when it was Just 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.560 in LA And so. 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.240 That's that connection. Let's talk about Steve. 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:34.200 Yeah, how does one wind up as Steve's go to 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.800 money Maven money Expert? Because that's amazing you're doing. You're 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:41.080 speaking to such a people that I think really could 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.040 use someone like you telling them, you know, inspiring them 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:45.200 to manage your finances. 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.680 Yeah, you know, I mean it's all been so random, 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:51.600 Like that's the best time. 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:53.760 Yeah, Like, it's all been so random. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.719 So I'll tell you, guys, I really quickly when I 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:57.559 even met him when. 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:58.359 I was in college. 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:00.800 It was because I heard him on the radio and 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.600 literally to myself, I was I was a vice president 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.840 of Black Student Union at USC, and I said to myself, like, 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:08.360 he sounds like he has money. 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:09.600 Like I'm going to go. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:11.480 They said, do you want to come to the live 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.200 studio audience? So I was like, yeah, I'm going to 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.160 the live studio audience and I'm going to ask Steve 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.199 Harvey for some money for Black Student Union at USC. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.200 He didn't go there, but of course he cares. 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.880 You know whatever nineteen year old logic I had at 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.960 the time, and I wrote. 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.640 This letter on Oh no, actually you had to fax. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.640 In if you wanted to come. You guys, I've jammed 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.840 their fax machine. Wow, I faxed like seventy times. 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.800 This is fact today, right, and guy and like you 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:39.240 feel me? 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.680 Like the guy called and he was like, well, you 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.080 have to come because you jammed the fax machine. 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:45.320 Like he was so mad at me. 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.600 He's my friend now, but it's like he was so 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:49.800 mad at me at that time. So I made it 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.080 into the live studio audience and as soon as I 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:53.880 walked in, they were like, no soliciting. 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.640 And I'm like, they must be talking to these other 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:57.680 thirty or so people. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.400 Because I came here to get this money. I leave 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:01.760 it without it, and I'm very. 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.040 Clear about that. So at the end, people kept like 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:05.040 leaving and I. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:06.840 Kept letting them go in front of me like oh no, 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.080 you go ahead, I'm good and taking a step back 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.240 and taking a step back and taking a step back. 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:13.800 And then finally the guy who was over the audience 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.520 was like, you know, what are you doing? Like why 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.120 are you still here? Are you trying to ask for something? 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:19.920 Are you? 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:20.040 No? 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.080 He said, are you soliciting? And I'm like, I wouldn't 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:23.800 call it solictening. Let me tell you who I am. 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.120 And I started on this whole thing and told him 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.680 that I went to sc and he goes, oh, I 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.640 used to be the Chicano student union president at USC. 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:34.840 Hold on, let me let me see what I can do. 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.240 Like I was blowing, my girl who was the president 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:40.960 left like I was the vice president. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.160 She was president and she got scared and walked. 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:44.520 Out here and she needed to be impeached. 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:48.920 Well, she maybe had more to lose. 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:51.640 So she left. 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.240 So I'm up there, and long story short, it ended 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.080 up being there, ended up being a relationship there. They 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.160 just thought I was funny, like this girl. It was 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.040 crazy because I kept coming back asking for money, and 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.880 eventually I asked for five hundred. They gave me two thousand. 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:08.160 Then started the relationship. 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:11.200 And then they asked if I wanted to be an intern, 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.080 which I turned down because it was unpaid, but then 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:17.920 got bored and needed something due, so I said, okay. 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.720 I'll do it my sophomore year in college. And so 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.440 that started a fifteen year relationship that I have with 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.440 Steve Harvey. Now, now how I got put on as 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:30.480 his money expert for everything really because he watched me 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:35.040 do the work, you know, he called me he had. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.280 The producer of the radio show reached out to me 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.560 about two months before Real Money Answers for every Woman 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.160 came out the first time when I self published in 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.440 twenty fourteen. She reached out to me around November of 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.400 twenty thirteen and said, hey, when does your book come out? 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.080 And I told her the date, like January eighth, I 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.840 think it was, and she said, oh, okay, And I 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.000 was like, well, that was strange and didn't think I mean, 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.000 you know, they're strange people over there, so I didn't 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.200 think anything of it. No, they're all like family, but 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.360 so I didn't think anything of it. I was like whatever. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.080 And then she calls back, maybe a couple hours later, 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.560 she says, Harvey wants to help you debut the book. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.200 And I just I was like, oh my gosh, like 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.680 I've never asked for anything except for that five hundred 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:25.480 dollars early on. I hadn't asked for anything ever. And 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.000 so I went on the first time. The day the 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.560 book came out, you know, we instantly made it an 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.960 Amazon bestseller. I was so you know, just throw with 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.640 the opportunity. I was more than grateful over the moon 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.800 and didn't think anything of it. And then they said, 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:44.240 we got eight hundred plus emails from people who wanted 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.240 to know your name or the name of the book 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:48.960 or asking questions, so you have to come back. And 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.960 I went back about three weeks later, same response. And 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.520 then I went back maybe two weeks after that, same response, 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.800 and then he said, oh, hell, just do it every week. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:16:58.600 I love that. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.400 But you know, you said something so so so powerful 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:02.880 because someone could look at you and. 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.800 Be like, well, yeah, she's gorgeous. 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:07.640 And she's this, and she's no. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.919 You said that you did the work, and that's like 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.840 a such an important thing I think, to just really 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:16.840 impress upon that you did the work. This is a 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.480 fifteen year relationship. This wasn't just some fluke, you know, 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.080 ri success. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.000 And you know what is really important for me to. 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.240 Let people know as well, because they think, like, oh, well, 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.600 you know Steve Harvey. So clearly no, not at all. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.480 Lots of people know Steve Harvey. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:33.560 Well no, folks. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.360 But the thing is, he told me on a commercial 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:38.320 break that second time I was on, he said, you 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.480 know why I would always help you. And I was like, no, sir, 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:44.720 you know, like, why is that? He said, because you 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.280 never asked? He said, you never asked. People come in 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.879 and ask. They don't have their stuff together, they're not 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.360 on their social media, they haven't written something of quality, 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.240 they're not doing videos, they're not out there speaking, they're 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.520 not doing anything, and they want me to put them 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:01.399 on and. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.879