Speaker 1: Hey, ba fan, Mandy here or Mandra, you can call
Speaker 1: me Mandra, that's fine. I have a simple request for you, guys.
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Speaker 2: Hey hey, hey, I always forget this is not the budget, Like, wait,
Speaker 2: we're back, We're blacken arownd.
Speaker 1: Hey Mandra, Hey, I feel weird that I was just like.
Speaker 2: Dude, I know, Mandra came to my house and you
Speaker 2: got to meet my Niecy Pooh and my nephew, my
Speaker 2: nephew Pooh.
Speaker 1: I did well. First of all, it was so good
Speaker 1: to see you in person, it really was. And even
Speaker 1: with your gimpy shoulder. I you know, I forgot about
Speaker 1: your gimpy shoulder, but I was like even before that,
Speaker 1: I was like, don't squeeze her too hard. But it
Speaker 1: was really really good to see you. It fed my
Speaker 1: soul to see and you guys will see that what
Speaker 1: we were up to. It's been almost six years and
Speaker 1: we have not had a fresh new luke, as they say,
Speaker 1: in almost six years for the podcast. So we were
Speaker 1: getting some new picks taken.
Speaker 3: Yes, and honestly they were. They look fire.
Speaker 2: I'm just really excited because no, they do. Because well,
Speaker 2: one I brought in my makeup artist, Leela Nima. Shout
Speaker 2: out to you, Mala, She's l I.
Speaker 3: L I l A n E E M A on.
Speaker 2: Honestly, she's great because she's fast, she's professional and like,
Speaker 2: you know, Mandy and I could not look more different,
Speaker 2: and yet the sleigh was was available and attainable for
Speaker 2: us both, you.
Speaker 1: Know, and I trusted her fully. I was like, because
Speaker 1: I had to go, you know, I was. I live
Speaker 1: about an hour away from tiff and so I didn't
Speaker 1: know anybody locally. So I was like, but I've seen Tiffany,
Speaker 1: especially lately, and I'm like, she looks good, so I
Speaker 1: will trust you. Ever has been doing her face, So
Speaker 1: Leila did it, and she's she's a true artist. And
Speaker 1: I don't take makeup artists for granted, but she yeah,
Speaker 1: like you were saying, I mean, she knows exactly what
Speaker 1: medium you're using and how to make your face up
Speaker 1: for that medium. And yeah, six years ago, I did
Speaker 1: not have Alila. I did not have money for Alila.
Speaker 4: I had.
Speaker 1: I had my sad little drug store makeup and make
Speaker 1: up on the train on the way to Tiffany's apartment
Speaker 1: is how, you know.
Speaker 2: And I looked at I looked at the picture because
Speaker 2: I was like, did I get makeup done professionally?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Because I know that eyelighter. That is a Tiffany special.
Speaker 2: I was looking at it.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god, that's my birds p's
Speaker 3: lip gloss and that's the eyelighter.
Speaker 2: I know. I was like that I noticed me. So yeah,
Speaker 2: neither one of us had professional makeup. And honestly, what
Speaker 2: I love about Leilah because you don't we don't look
Speaker 2: because you know, she knew we wanted to look natural,
Speaker 2: but it just honestly, they just look really great the pictures,
Speaker 2: every picture. And then Tanta, I mean, you just she's
Speaker 2: an amazing photographer.
Speaker 1: So yeah, black girl magic all the way up down,
Speaker 1: all the way. I mean, whenever you're around you can't.
Speaker 1: It was like whenever you're around you and the people
Speaker 1: us surround world, it's just all black girl magic. So
Speaker 1: your sister, I'm at Tracy, Tracy el PR publicist.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was me, and I'm sur because honestly, my
Speaker 2: niece and my nephew they don't like people. The fact
Speaker 2: that like we always showing me Mandy around the house
Speaker 2: and they were going room to room and they're the
Speaker 2: time to be like, oh there's someone on foot, let
Speaker 2: me go hide in the corner. And they were just
Speaker 2: like in there like, hey, hey lady, I'm like, they
Speaker 2: must know me rio on you because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: so like you like miss Mandy because y'all don't like nobody.
Speaker 1: She looked like she got snacks.
Speaker 2: So that was really fun. We just honestly, I just it.
Speaker 2: Plus it was just so empowering because I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: Those pictures look so gorgeous, you know you Normally I'm
Speaker 2: just at home looking like how I'm looking, you know,
Speaker 2: And so when you get to take a photo and
Speaker 2: you know, with like the best makeup with this amazing photographer,
Speaker 2: and you look at every picture these are untouched pictures
Speaker 2: and You're like, is that wah? I mean, I hope
Speaker 2: Mandy posted one picture that she has. It's like, I'm like,
Speaker 2: where is the lauriot? Where are where is? I don't
Speaker 2: even know, like who makes makeup anymore? It looks like
Speaker 2: for real? I was like no, but meaning like it
Speaker 2: looked like an ad. You look so beautiful.
Speaker 1: It was like it was coming from the inside. It
Speaker 1: was the joy I really and I was really down
Speaker 1: when we when when I showed up, it was not
Speaker 1: the day in my life when it necessarily would have
Speaker 1: chosen to have an entire photo shoot and had to
Speaker 1: put myself on camera like I was, you know, ladies.
Speaker 1: You know, it was that time of the month, and
Speaker 1: I was like, why did I plan? But by the
Speaker 1: time I was by the time I had like my
Speaker 1: girl Stacy didn't got my curls right in the morning
Speaker 1: and she lifted me all the way up. I was
Speaker 1: like a pile of mud in her in her chair
Speaker 1: and I just shout out to to Stacy for real,
Speaker 1: because she she started my journey back to myself. And
Speaker 1: then by the time you get with Tiffany and Tanta
Speaker 1: with her photography and then Leela with the makeup and
Speaker 1: all the good vibes, it really came from within and
Speaker 1: it was, uh yeah, it was just the joy I
Speaker 1: think of and also just being back together. You have
Speaker 1: that giddiness of like socializing again.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 1: It was good and I'm really glad that we we
Speaker 1: captured ourselves. It's been a long time. We've been talking
Speaker 1: about doing this for months and months and months, and
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I used to be like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: don't really need to do Pansioner because like I've put
Speaker 1: on some weight since we did the first one. But
Speaker 1: you know, what screw it. Like I think at a
Speaker 1: certain point you just have to accept yourself in the
Speaker 1: in the space that you are. And I think my
Speaker 1: mind was really in a good place, which made it
Speaker 1: even more fun. So I can't wait to see for
Speaker 1: y'all to see the the picks and all the fun
Speaker 1: stuff we have coming up.
Speaker 2: Yes, speaking of minds and my mindset, so literally I
Speaker 2: have been really like you know how like you hear
Speaker 2: all the like mumbo it seems like mumbo jump up,
Speaker 2: like mindset, change your mind set, change your life, and
Speaker 2: you're like yah, yeah, yeah, YadA YadA yadasmaa, right, because
Speaker 2: that's usually what I think. And I'm like, I mean,
Speaker 2: I I know it, like I do believe, like you know,
Speaker 2: in the general principle of course, if you're always thinking negatively,
Speaker 2: negative things come about. But I have been like, that's
Speaker 2: that's like kind of been the next wave. So y'all know,
Speaker 2: I'll have a Zion who's my executive business coach. But
Speaker 2: I also have doctor Green who's who's my professional coach,
Speaker 2: and she's also a.
Speaker 1: Therapist, and so you're still working with a business coach.
Speaker 2: Som hm. So we have a year contract. So it's
Speaker 2: up in November. If we decide to move forward, then
Speaker 2: we will. So I meet with him every other week,
Speaker 2: and I meet with the same thing. I meet with
Speaker 2: doctor Green every other week as well. So one of
Speaker 2: the things that we've been working on, because if we've
Speaker 2: worked on so many different things, and you know, like
Speaker 2: me feeling more like in charge of my life and
Speaker 2: having the hard conversations and me, I've been making progress
Speaker 2: if I do say so myself, and I do say
Speaker 2: so myself. So, but then the next kind of step
Speaker 2: is I've always known, not always known, but you know
Speaker 2: how you know you have Like I knew I had
Speaker 2: a limiting my said, because sometimes I just can't see
Speaker 2: a thing even though like for example, when we had
Speaker 2: Imman and.
Speaker 3: Christina on oh Yeah, Christina, Yeah Arbager.
Speaker 2: Remember that level of joy that they just exuded, and
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't think I could get there,
Speaker 2: because how do you get there? It's like sometimes it's
Speaker 2: like my mind used to really block that in order
Speaker 2: to be successful. I had told myself because this is
Speaker 2: what the world tells you, that you have to work
Speaker 2: really hard. But then if you want to go to
Speaker 2: the next level of success, my assumption is like let's
Speaker 2: just say, like I told you all, last year, my
Speaker 2: company crossed over the ten million mark, and I was like,
Speaker 2: and then someone was like, what, You're gonna go to
Speaker 2: twenty million this year? And I honestly was like, I
Speaker 2: don't want to because in my mind, it was so
Speaker 2: much work to get to the ten. The assumption for
Speaker 2: me was I have to do double the amount of
Speaker 2: work to get to the twenty. And honestly, Mandy, I
Speaker 2: have purposely not been doing the work. And if I
Speaker 2: really look back at it, I remember even when the
Speaker 2: first time I got all a's in like third grade
Speaker 2: or something like that, and then my dad was like, great,
Speaker 2: you could keep this up, and I remember thinking like,
Speaker 2: I don't want to do the work required in order
Speaker 2: to do it, because I convinced myself that the more success,
Speaker 2: the more work involved. And so I've been trying to
Speaker 2: undo that thinking, and it's been really hard, because the
Speaker 2: truth is, with the right foundation, I've been relearning that
Speaker 2: money is not hard to manage or make. It sounds
Speaker 2: like so crazy and like, of course it's hard to make,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, no, that's not true, Tiffany. If jay
Speaker 2: Z wanted to make a million dollars. Today, he can
Speaker 2: likely just pick up a call and do some sort
Speaker 2: of partnership and it would be worth a million dollars
Speaker 2: or more. Money With the right foundation, is not hard
Speaker 2: to make. And even you might think like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: of course that's jay z no no. But even me,
Speaker 2: I remember one time, like this is maybe like four
Speaker 2: or five years ago, we had partnered with this financial
Speaker 2: brand that I really liked, and they said, we're doing
Speaker 2: free investment plans and they said for every person dream
Speaker 2: that gets a free investment plan, will give you twenty
Speaker 2: five bucks. And I was like, okay. I went through
Speaker 2: and I did the investment plan myself because I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm not sharing that with drink Catches unless I like it.
Speaker 2: And I liked it because I had just paid an
Speaker 2: investment advisor twelve hundred dollars and their plan that I did,
Speaker 2: like online, was so similar to his. I realized I
Speaker 2: wasted twelve hundred dollars. So that's it made me say
Speaker 2: I'm going to share it. So Logan, who's my content writer,
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, Logan, let's share this, and I said,
Speaker 2: share the story how I just paid for a plan
Speaker 2: and it is I would say ninety to ninety five
Speaker 2: percent what I got what I paid twelve hundred dollars
Speaker 2: for this free plan, and we sent out that email
Speaker 2: girl in three days, it generated about one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty dollars.
Speaker 3: One hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: That's fair.
Speaker 2: And that was just you know what I mean, that
Speaker 2: was just one email. And since then, I mean, I've
Speaker 2: done partnerships with people. The last one that we did
Speaker 2: in a weekend, we generated seven hundred thousand dollars. And
Speaker 2: I'm sharing those big numbers because even though we've done
Speaker 2: those things, I still was convincing myself the bigger the success,
Speaker 2: the harder the work, and that's not true because if
Speaker 2: that is so, then I cannot possibly work any harder
Speaker 2: than I'm working. Now, does that mean I'm capped as
Speaker 2: how far? With how far I can take, you know,
Speaker 2: whatever success I seek. So I've been trying to unlearn
Speaker 2: that like pattern, and because I had been afraid to
Speaker 2: dream big because to me, dreaming big met working big,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to work any harder. And so
Speaker 2: I've just been like un learning, like you know that
Speaker 2: that mindset. And I'll give you an example of something
Speaker 2: where I finally realized, like, Okay, I think I'm getting it.
Speaker 2: Like a college reached out to me and said, hey, Tiffany,
Speaker 2: we love get it with money. We bought it for
Speaker 2: our students, like our freshmen or whatever. Do you have
Speaker 2: any corresponding curriculum or course? And I instantly got stressed
Speaker 2: because I was like, oh great, so now after writing
Speaker 2: this book for a year and a half, now I
Speaker 2: got to write a course that's going to take me
Speaker 2: some more time. And I don't have time, and I'm
Speaker 2: so tired. I was already spiraling when doctor Green was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: that is the example of that more success college bis
Speaker 2: the course more work for Tiffany.
Speaker 3: But is that true? Tiffany?
Speaker 2: And I was like, She's like, is there any other
Speaker 2: instance in your life where there's a course that you
Speaker 2: did not have to write? That was like and I
Speaker 2: knew exactly what she was talking about. I was like, Hey, yes,
Speaker 2: So if y'all know, I have my literature challenges. These
Speaker 2: are free courses that I have available to everybody at
Speaker 2: literature challenge dot com. And the last three I hired
Speaker 2: a course writer named Taylor, who's amazing. Taylor has been
Speaker 2: with me for like eight years. Started as an intern.
Speaker 2: Then I taught her how to write you know tale, Yes,
Speaker 2: I taught her how to write courses. I taught her
Speaker 2: write for a London Tree exactly. So Taylor was amazing.
Speaker 2: And then I thought, Tiffany, you already wrote the book.
Speaker 2: Why not just say hey, Taylor, here's the book. Please
Speaker 2: turn it into a course. And I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: so I I just tailor on Facebook. I think Taylor
Speaker 2: lives like in Europe somewhere because she's married now to
Speaker 2: the baby. And I was like, hey, Taylor, because I
Speaker 2: know before she wasn't doing work and she had just
Speaker 2: had the baby. I was like, are you still doing work?
Speaker 2: And she said, yeah, I am now the baby's a
Speaker 2: little older. And I said, I'm thinking about turning the
Speaker 2: book into a course. And then I got what I
Speaker 2: like to call god nod, which is like when you're
Speaker 2: on the right track and you get a little nod,
Speaker 2: a little wink from God or the universe, whatever you
Speaker 2: believe in. And she was like, I already ordered the book.
Speaker 3: I have it already. I was like, oh.
Speaker 2: I was like, can you take a look at it
Speaker 2: and see what you you know, like create a proposal
Speaker 2: to turn into a course. So let's just say this
Speaker 2: college wants to buy the program for one hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 2: and I do ten colleges. That's a million dollars right there,
Speaker 2: And because I already had the foundation. So I'm trying
Speaker 2: to learn that you can grow without doing this extra
Speaker 2: heavy left and I just hope that that lands for
Speaker 2: someone that so many of us dream cheap and small
Speaker 2: because we have thought that like, the more the bigger
Speaker 2: the dream, the more the work. And that's not necessarily true.
Speaker 2: That your dreams honestly should be expansive, expensive and huge,
Speaker 2: because dreams are free to dream. So why are we
Speaker 2: picking up our dreams at the dollar store? Like, no,
Speaker 2: have a huge dream, because you'd be surprised it likely
Speaker 2: is not as much work as you think. And dreaming
Speaker 2: small means that you also live a smaller life. And
Speaker 2: I'm just done with that way of thinking. I want
Speaker 2: to think like big and expansive, like Iman and Christina,
Speaker 2: where you can have all the things. They don't have
Speaker 2: twenty million dollars in their bank account, and yet they're
Speaker 2: living it up and in Portugal with their amazing daughters
Speaker 2: and having this amazing life like their dream didn't cost
Speaker 2: as much as you would think, and here they are
Speaker 2: super happy. Me and Mandy felt their palatable joy on
Speaker 2: our on our I don't remember what episode that was,
Speaker 2: but you guys should look it up. You can actually
Speaker 2: feel their joy over and over the airwaves. So I
Speaker 2: just wanted to share that, like that mindset shift, how
Speaker 2: critical that is.
Speaker 1: And you know, yeah, yeah, I think we've all had
Speaker 1: those times in our lives where we have let the
Speaker 1: fear of failure keep us thinking small. And I mean
Speaker 1: for a lot of for some people, it may just
Speaker 1: be a toxic personality in your life. I was just
Speaker 1: on I just saw something like someone had quoted Lady
Speaker 1: Gaga getting an interview about an ex boyfriend of hers
Speaker 1: who said she would never have a hit song and
Speaker 1: she would never do this, never win a grabby, all
Speaker 1: of her dreams were dumb. And she told that person,
Speaker 1: you know, forget you. I'm gonna one day you're not
Speaker 1: going to be able to go to the gas station
Speaker 1: without hearing one of my songs. And let me, of course,
Speaker 1: look at her now, she's phenomenal. And I think in
Speaker 1: our lives you do have like the fit like sometimes
Speaker 1: it is like an actual person, a parent or a partner,
Speaker 1: or a spouse or a sibling or whoever is like
Speaker 1: your negative nancy and always bringing you down and making
Speaker 1: you feel small. So you have to watch out for them,
Speaker 1: but you also have to wait to watch out for
Speaker 1: I think what tif's talking about, which is your internal dialogue,
Speaker 1: and how you are speaking to your own self about
Speaker 1: your dreams and what the stories that you're telling yourself
Speaker 1: about if you have the ability to achieve what you
Speaker 1: set out to achieve. And I couldn't agree more in
Speaker 1: the sense that you have a lot of control, even
Speaker 1: more control than you think, over your own destiny. But
Speaker 1: you have to look at the fear and understand why
Speaker 1: you feel that way, and also know that you're honestly
Speaker 1: the only person who can change the way that you're
Speaker 1: thinking about, whether it's your career or your relationship or
Speaker 1: the money you have in the bank. There's so much
Speaker 1: that you can control, but there's also like physically that
Speaker 1: you can control. You know what job you have and
Speaker 1: how much you're saving, but it is your mindset and
Speaker 1: what you think is possible. And I'll tell you something
Speaker 1: like I remember, I don't know how many years ago
Speaker 1: was this it was like twenty four fifteen something like that.
Speaker 1: I was like, I was in a lull in in
Speaker 1: my confidence and stuff, and I remember, I don't know
Speaker 1: if this fun remembers what we were on, like a
Speaker 1: nature walk or something like that. And I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm going to write a book that
Speaker 1: just says the pow it's the power. It's caught and
Speaker 1: be called The Power of Mediocrity by Mandy Woodruff. And
Speaker 1: it's going to be a book all about how people
Speaker 1: are so unhappy because they keep trying to like achieve
Speaker 1: these crazy dreams and have the perfect partner and the
Speaker 1: perfect job. What if we just stop trying? And I
Speaker 1: was like really passionate, and this person looked at me
Speaker 1: and he was like, I don't that sounds like good book.
Speaker 1: People are definitely going to buy a book like that.
Speaker 1: But I think it was just and I think about
Speaker 1: that all the time, and I'm like you I was,
Speaker 1: I was. It was indicative of my mindset at the time.
Speaker 1: I would not write that book today because I think
Speaker 1: that was just myself trying to give myself an excuse
Speaker 1: to be to settle for or not settle, but to
Speaker 1: be okay with what I what I had versus what
Speaker 1: I thought I would deserve or what I thought I
Speaker 1: could achieve. I'm not going to say it was like
Speaker 1: a one and done conversation, but it's certainly I'm much
Speaker 1: I'm much smarter about it now. In any time a
Speaker 1: new whether it's a career change, or it's a new
Speaker 1: opportunity with brown ambition, or you know, something that comes
Speaker 1: up in my personal life, if it's new and scary
Speaker 1: and an unknown, I just try to keep a very
Speaker 1: open mind. There's no harm that can come from entertaining
Speaker 1: an idea and letting that idea, you know, being open
Speaker 1: to it. And if you have that energy of being
Speaker 1: open to possibilities, I truly feel like and I don't
Speaker 1: want to get too granola, but you said the universe earlier.
Speaker 1: I think you attract stuff to you, you know, when
Speaker 1: you have the good energy and the good vibes, and
Speaker 1: it really does come from within. How do you get there? Tiff?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: How do the people? How do you get there?
Speaker 5: You?
Speaker 1: For example, business coach, your life coach therapist, life coach
Speaker 1: therapist have have helped. Yeah, I think for some like
Speaker 1: what would you say to people who were like I
Speaker 1: just can't get out of this funk, Like, how do
Speaker 1: I so.
Speaker 3: Want to change my mindset?
Speaker 2: My friend Jessica and I think hergy is like, it's
Speaker 2: catch me if you can. So she's the first black
Speaker 2: woman to ever visit every country in the world and yeah,
Speaker 2: it like two years ago.
Speaker 3: She's amazing. So I was talking to.
Speaker 2: Her and I was like, you know, like doing the
Speaker 2: whole Like I don't know.
Speaker 3: She said, Tiffany, You're dope. I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker 2: She's like, girl, what she said, I'm gonna do for
Speaker 2: you what I do for my other friends. She said, girl,
Speaker 2: I am virtually slapping you, like wake up. She's like,
Speaker 2: look to the left and look to the right of youtivity.
Speaker 2: Who do you see nobody. I was like, oh, don't
Speaker 2: say that. She's like, I'm sorry, No, you've created a
Speaker 2: lane for yourself. It doesn't mean that you know that
Speaker 2: other people are not doing amazing, but this is your
Speaker 2: lane that you've created for yourself. What you're doing is amazing.
Speaker 2: Step into that and I was like, I guess and
Speaker 2: she's just like no. She said, you know what you
Speaker 2: forgot how to dream? I want you to do this
Speaker 2: activity And I said, okay, and I want I think
Speaker 2: we should all do it collectively. When I tell you
Speaker 2: it's so good, I was like, okay, So she said,
Speaker 2: I want you to do this activity five to ten minutes.
Speaker 2: I want you to be someplace quiet, you know, beautiful.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's your park, maybe it's your bedom wherever, and
Speaker 2: either on on. You could do it like on in
Speaker 2: a journal piece of paper, or if you're someone who's
Speaker 2: a little bit more verbal, you might want to do
Speaker 2: a voice note and for five to ten minutes. I
Speaker 2: want you to dream without hesitation or limitation, meaning like
Speaker 2: I want to have a house to side with Oprah.
Speaker 2: I want to have, you know, I want to have
Speaker 2: twenty million dollars in my vacaccount. Like like what it
Speaker 2: reminded me of is this weekend. I had my niece
Speaker 2: and my nephew, Rooman and Amelia, and I asked Amelia,
Speaker 2: I said, what do you want to do this weekend?
Speaker 2: And she said, I want to go to the farm.
Speaker 2: I want to go to the zoo. My friend Rihanna
Speaker 2: has like three cats and the dog. She said, I
Speaker 2: want to go to aunt Rihanna's house to pet the
Speaker 2: cats and to see the dog. And then she said
Speaker 2: something that seems so crazy. She said, I want to
Speaker 2: go to outer space and I was like what She said, yes, Mars.
Speaker 3: I'm like, Mars.
Speaker 2: She said yes because it's red, because clearly she must
Speaker 2: have watched whatever on some show and she just decided, ooh,
Speaker 2: that looks cute.
Speaker 3: I want to be on this red planet.
Speaker 2: And I was just like okay, and she said I
Speaker 2: want to take a bubble bath and I want to
Speaker 2: do a picnic. And I was just like, so Amelia
Speaker 2: is well, she have three she's four, but really verbal.
Speaker 2: But I just remember thinking to myself, like that's the
Speaker 2: kind that's when you're doing this exercise, do it with
Speaker 2: like with a million energy. You want to go to
Speaker 2: the park, pet the dog, you know, have a picnic,
Speaker 2: bubble bath, Mars. Everything without hesitation, without limitation. Just let
Speaker 2: your act as if your your your little self, your
Speaker 2: preschool or self that didn't have any limitation. Write it down,
Speaker 2: speak it if that's what works for best for you,
Speaker 2: because we have.
Speaker 3: Forgotten how to dream.
Speaker 2: Dame Dash has his videos that just came up Mandy
Speaker 2: that said sorry. It was like Dame Dash, you know
Speaker 2: jay Z's ex manager. He was like, yo, I'll be
Speaker 2: out here dreaming cheap as a dream costs money, he said, Yo.
Speaker 3: Dreams are free.
Speaker 2: You know that, right, That ten million dollars dream costs
Speaker 2: you the same amount of money to have that one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars dream. So like, why are you going
Speaker 2: cheap on your dream when it's absolutely free? And that's
Speaker 2: what I want. And so that's one of the ways
Speaker 2: to start that, to open up that feeling inside you,
Speaker 2: you know that, like, let me dream big and huge.
Speaker 2: It's not about whether you're gonna get it or out.
Speaker 2: You're just going to say the thing. Because if you
Speaker 2: can't dream the thing, you certainly cannot have the thing.
Speaker 2: It's very difficult to have a thing that you that
Speaker 2: you have not you know, at least thought about. So
Speaker 2: it starts really from there, and it's just such a
Speaker 2: powerful lesson and tool, right because it's just I promise you,
Speaker 2: if you dream small, you live small, because one of
Speaker 2: the things you will start to realize. I was talking
Speaker 2: to a young woman today who asked me to be
Speaker 2: her mentor, and she was was she asking me, She
Speaker 2: was saying, you know, like, well, I don't know if
Speaker 2: I can have that, And I said, you know, has
Speaker 2: anybody else ever gotten that, And she said yes, And
Speaker 2: so I'm gonna cause she was Nigeriana, Nigeria's well and
Speaker 2: actually her name was She's the only other adochi As
Speaker 2: I've ever met. My African name is Adoci and her
Speaker 2: African name's Adoche as well. And she was like, I said,
Speaker 2: you already know, Like what what would a Nigerian tell you?
Speaker 2: She would be like, well, do they have two heads?
Speaker 2: My dad would say that, like if I came home
Speaker 2: with a B and I was happy about it, like
Speaker 2: you're happy about this bee? Did anybody get a? I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: Mandy got a? Oh Mendy got an a? Does Mandy
Speaker 2: have two hits? Because the implication there is unless Mandy
Speaker 2: has two brains, why sho out here gay a's and
Speaker 2: you ain't? Meaning aids were being given, sis go get
Speaker 2: you one, so meaning that like people are making million, sis.
Speaker 1: Go make you some Where's the line though, because we
Speaker 1: I think we I mean, just to be Devil's advocate,
Speaker 1: you can it can backfire in the sense of, you know,
Speaker 1: looking at other people and comparing yourself constantly and never
Speaker 1: being happy with what you've got. And I think the
Speaker 1: the pessimist that I was that you know, not nature walk.
Speaker 1: When I was trying to sell this book idea about mediocrity.
Speaker 1: I think also there's a bit of there's a bit
Speaker 1: of a lesson there in that sometimes it's like you
Speaker 1: want to dream big, but you also have to dream
Speaker 1: dream from a place of like a positive mindset that
Speaker 1: you're happy with what you have, like you're you're it's
Speaker 1: almost like you're you're comfortable and you are content, but
Speaker 1: you're and you're not dreaming because you're not content with
Speaker 1: the core what really matters, like your core, you know
Speaker 1: your core self, like you know who you are, You
Speaker 1: have your family, you have friends, you have a good
Speaker 1: support system. You know what I'm saying, Like we're.
Speaker 3: Not telling dreams are not like that.
Speaker 2: When I said, amiliar, what do you want to do
Speaker 2: this weekend? She didn't say unlike like, well, like my
Speaker 2: my friend from preschool. I know, she's just pulling from
Speaker 2: the experiences she she saw out of Space on whatever
Speaker 2: Netflix things she was watching, was like, that seems cool,
Speaker 2: want to try that? So she she knew that Rihanna
Speaker 2: had a dog and that we've been talking about it.
Speaker 2: That seems cool, want to try that? I think so
Speaker 2: the key with dreaming. It's not that you're looking at
Speaker 2: what Mandy has to say I want it because Mandy
Speaker 2: has it. What you're looking at what Mandy has is
Speaker 2: the evidence that it exists. You see what I mean
Speaker 2: meaning that, wait, there are people that have accomplished this
Speaker 2: that fills me with hope and joy. It's doable, it's doable.
Speaker 1: Or if not that specific thing is doable, something as
Speaker 1: big or your own version, your own version of that,
Speaker 1: Like you're not trying to go move to Portugal, No,
Speaker 1: not at all and have the one anchor garden like
Speaker 1: Christina Aman. Yeah, but you're you're on your own journey
Speaker 1: toward because of what it looks.
Speaker 2: Like to me is I didn't like, I'm not interested
Speaker 2: in moving to Portugal at all. But what I looked
Speaker 2: at Iman and Christina from our rich journey is what
Speaker 2: it made me realize is that it is possible to
Speaker 2: find that level of joy and have done the work
Speaker 2: and to leave it like Tiffy, you don't got to
Speaker 2: keep going if you don't want to, like, joy can
Speaker 2: be found, and I just so it was I looked
Speaker 2: at them as the possibility of living in joy like that,
Speaker 2: not that I wanted like their life, not at all,
Speaker 2: but I wanted to, like they gave me hope, Like
Speaker 2: this level of joy is possible in this crazy you know,
Speaker 2: just like topsy Turvy world, we're overworking, you get a
Speaker 2: badge for doing the most. Here are people who are
Speaker 2: doing exactly what they wanted to do. They're not doing
Speaker 2: the least, they're not doing the most, They're doing there
Speaker 2: just right and are happy with it. So yeah, so
Speaker 2: I want, yes to Mandy to your point, you're not
Speaker 2: using other people to make yourself feel bad. It's more
Speaker 2: so to give you the in the absence of hope,
Speaker 2: looking to say that there is a version of that
Speaker 2: life out there. Here's proof. Wow, it's accessible to.
Speaker 3: Me as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's just like I just you know, wanting that
Speaker 2: for us because I just honestly, I'm more excited because, honestly, Mandy,
Speaker 2: up until now, even though it doesn't seem like it,
Speaker 2: because so much has happened, I really pulled back a lot,
Speaker 2: like meaning that I could, I could have accomplished much more,
Speaker 2: but I purposefully do less because I've attached with accomplishing
Speaker 2: more to working more. So I'm like, no, I'm i
Speaker 2: gonna do a left.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, and even more so now smarter, not harder.
Speaker 2: Exactly, I want to do go deep instead of wide, Like, Tiffany,
Speaker 2: how do I do accomplish more while doing less?
Speaker 3: It is more than possible.
Speaker 2: And now that I've opened up my mindset, all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, many like literally, there are things that have
Speaker 2: been there. I know Taylor eight years. I'm just now
Speaker 2: thinking of her, you know, like, wait, all these solutions
Speaker 2: have been here that I'm just now because I'm shifting
Speaker 2: my mindset. I'm tapping into already existing solutions.
Speaker 3: Like almost all.
Speaker 2: That you're wanting is right there in front of you,
Speaker 2: but because of the state of your mindset, you can't
Speaker 2: see them. Not because they don't exist, not because you
Speaker 2: have to stretch extra far and wide. It's your mindset
Speaker 2: has blinded you to the solutions that are right in
Speaker 2: front of you. And so I'm excited because I don't
Speaker 2: have to do much more, just tap into what's already there.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh my goodness, Tiffany, this has been
Speaker 2: here all this time, all this time.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of smiling because I kind of want to
Speaker 1: break into this one song on Sesame Street that comes
Speaker 1: on all the time, and it's so simple. But I'm
Speaker 1: saying I think Sesame Street is having a very good
Speaker 1: impact on mye. I love that show. I never watched
Speaker 1: it as a kid. I was more into like Barney
Speaker 1: and I don't know Arthur, Power Rangers, whatever, but it
Speaker 1: those messages hit okay, And this one song is it's
Speaker 1: very simple. The lyric it's, God, am I really going
Speaker 1: to sing this? Okay? Fine, I'm that parent, Now do it.
Speaker 1: It's I'm not gonna sing it. But the lyric is
Speaker 1: I wonder what if let's try? That's the hook and
Speaker 1: the messages when you have a problem to solve, what
Speaker 1: do you say? You wonder? I wonder what if let's try?
Speaker 1: And always it's a it's it's a frustrating problem. But
Speaker 1: a lot of people and I think this was in
Speaker 1: your book too. I'm not that you know I read it,
Speaker 1: just you know most of it. So the piece of
Speaker 1: it is like people can get stuck in the in
Speaker 1: the mess, you know, or the problem or the challenge.
Speaker 1: And I think the anecdote is about your mom being
Speaker 1: a paper towel person, like, yeah, there's a mess, but
Speaker 1: let's actually do something. And that message in Sesame Street
Speaker 1: song too, is just it's such a simple message. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure if you had asked someone like an adult,
Speaker 1: what do you do when you have a problem, they'd
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, you'd figure out how to fix it.
Speaker 1: But in the moment, I think, I think the difference
Speaker 1: between people who are successful and then think big and
Speaker 1: achieve big things is that they don't let themselves get
Speaker 1: lost in that misery stew Whenever you know, when there's
Speaker 1: a problem, where there's a challenge, or it seems like
Speaker 1: the stakes are against you, I mean, you've got to
Speaker 1: be You've got to build that mental resilience. You've got
Speaker 1: to And when I say like, I have had some
Speaker 1: of the biggest knocks in my life the past couple
Speaker 1: of years, but I have bounced back like lightning, And
Speaker 1: I look around and I'm like, that's because I have
Speaker 1: been building the infrastructure of mental, physical, and and emotional
Speaker 1: well being and resilience, and through therapy, through focusing on
Speaker 1: my sleep, through physical activity like getting back really into
Speaker 1: good physical shape, through having joy, like spending time getting
Speaker 1: really clear on what I value and spending time doing
Speaker 1: those things, being outside gardening, playing like I play like
Speaker 1: an eight year old child every day because of my kid. Like,
Speaker 1: I know, I was late to the podcast. I was
Speaker 1: walking in the woods, digging in the dirt with my son.
Speaker 2: You're like, I'm in the woods.
Speaker 1: I'm like, this funny, the street lights aren't on yet,
Speaker 1: the where elside playing.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: I'm I just and I think that that was and
Speaker 1: thank god. But I'm like, no matter what, I genuinely
Speaker 1: can feel that now the worst thing can happen and
Speaker 1: it will be terrible, but I will overcome it. And
Speaker 1: that knowledge makes me braver. And I think the choices
Speaker 1: that I've made have gotten bigger and scarier. But I'm
Speaker 1: I know, I'm I know, I have a soft place
Speaker 1: to land because I've got like my you know, I've
Speaker 1: got my survival kit. And it's not money and it's
Speaker 1: not canned food. I mean, those things are nice. Okay, fine,
Speaker 1: that's a lie. I do have my emergency fund, which
Speaker 1: is very very very very nice and important. But I
Speaker 1: also have my husband who gets on my nerves but
Speaker 1: he's always there for me when I'm really down, and
Speaker 1: my my baby, and I have my you know, good
Speaker 1: relationships with my siblings and very quality friendships and of
Speaker 1: course my partnerships like Tiffany. I mean you're also a friend,
Speaker 1: but you're a partner and someone I can you know,
Speaker 1: lean on. And I know that you talk about financial
Speaker 1: wholeness in your book, but that's kind of the message too.
Speaker 1: You know what's in your how how are you becoming
Speaker 1: more resilient to challenges so that when you're facing with
Speaker 1: those challenges and maybe when you're in like a negative
Speaker 1: thought spiral and your mindset's not right, who is it
Speaker 1: that's around you to help you, you know, snap out
Speaker 1: of it and get back to your your place of
Speaker 1: positivity so you can really hit your you know, reach
Speaker 1: your full potential.
Speaker 2: One of the best guests I ever gave to myself. Like,
Speaker 2: so I'm forty one now, but right before my fortieth birthday,
Speaker 2: I said, timpany enough already, and I got rid of
Speaker 2: the very last of my bully friends.
Speaker 3: Remember we talked about that early, you know, MILLI friends.
Speaker 2: That's like you know people who you're like, that's my friend,
Speaker 2: but you're like, they kind of don't treat me that great,
Speaker 2: and you're like, wait, what are they here? I didn't
Speaker 2: know how to stand up for myself. I didn't know
Speaker 2: how to say hey, don't say that to me, don't
Speaker 2: treat me that way. And so I had always since
Speaker 2: elementary school. Not most of all my friends would be great,
Speaker 2: but I always had one friend that I allowed to
Speaker 2: bully me, and it would get worse year after year.
Speaker 3: And finally at forty.
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, you're the last of the Mooheicans
Speaker 2: and you have to go. And it was not easy,
Speaker 2: but it was so liberating. And when I tell you,
Speaker 2: instantly like I felt lighter. I remember I was so
Speaker 2: afraid of like, what's gonna happen? And am I gonna
Speaker 2: miss this person? And I can honestly say I don't like,
Speaker 2: I don't, not even a little bit. Maybe a key
Speaker 2: key here and there, but no, you know, they took way.
Speaker 3: More than they gave.
Speaker 2: It was it was, you know, and I but I
Speaker 2: added to that, you know, unfortunate relationship because I allowed it.
Speaker 3: And so I'm just.
Speaker 2: So so what I have around me now that safe
Speaker 2: space slent every friend, I look like, it's just this
Speaker 2: beautiful soul. I look at my friend Rihanna, the one
Speaker 2: who designed my home. She's just the kindest person heart
Speaker 2: her husband Jermaine, they're like me and my husband's first
Speaker 2: couple friend. You know, we're like the guy actually likes
Speaker 2: a guy, the girl likes a girl, and the guy
Speaker 2: likes a girl. Like literally like all around, we're like
Speaker 2: we love each other. So the first full fledged couple friends.
Speaker 2: And they're amazing and kind and giving. Well, my husband
Speaker 2: you are, you know, it's awesome. Like Mandy got to
Speaker 2: see him and his super tall selle.
Speaker 3: I forgot how Tlly was and he was so happy to.
Speaker 2: See Mandy, like, oh, it's Mandy and so.
Speaker 1: Me and the kid's just following us around.
Speaker 2: That's really and just like but you know, just kind
Speaker 2: and generous and and my friend Cabral same thing. When
Speaker 2: I really look at the reflections of myself that I
Speaker 2: see out there, it's I have the kindest, most generous friends.
Speaker 2: I've always had good relationships with my sisters, thank goodness.
Speaker 2: So that's always been there. But even like probably better
Speaker 2: and tighter now, my parents were in a really.
Speaker 3: Good space and place.
Speaker 2: We didn't always have like the greatest relationships because you know,
Speaker 2: teenage years, woof, it was a lot, if I do
Speaker 2: say so myself, and I do say so myself, and
Speaker 2: even into my twenties it was a lot. And plus
Speaker 2: they were so strict. So but now you know as adults,
Speaker 2: as an adult, you know, I've come to really appreciate
Speaker 2: them and understand some of that strictness and understand why.
Speaker 2: But we have such a great relationship now and so
Speaker 2: myself saved my place to land. Definitely my relationships and
Speaker 2: just how amazing they are. But what I really learned,
Speaker 2: and I had to remember this because I had to
Speaker 2: downpat that I lost them, Like when I first started
Speaker 2: the budgeteast them and did a lot of reading, and
Speaker 2: I was reading some random article about the mindset shift
Speaker 2: from becoming a millionaire to a billionaire.
Speaker 3: Don't ask me how I found this article.
Speaker 2: But I remember being really curious because they found that
Speaker 2: they had interviewed all these billionaires, and they had interviewed
Speaker 2: all these millionaires, and they found that the way billionaires
Speaker 2: dealt with challenges was completely different. They welcomed them and
Speaker 2: were almost joyful by them, like joy filled literally by them.
Speaker 2: And I thought, huh, and I remember actively practicing that.
Speaker 2: And here's why. Because the billionaire saw the challenge as
Speaker 2: a clear indication that they were moving from one place
Speaker 2: to the next, that it wasn't the challenge itself, like dang,
Speaker 2: this really sucks. It was like, wait, am I growing? Yes,
Speaker 2: I'm finally leveling up to the next level, because this
Speaker 2: challenge is an indication of that. And I just remember
Speaker 2: that I used to actively practice that Mandy that like
Speaker 2: the website is down, Yes, that means we have so
Speaker 2: much traffic. We need to level up. You know, we
Speaker 2: need a new email list. Yes, that means we have
Speaker 2: so many people on the email list.
Speaker 3: This no longer works. So I used to it in
Speaker 3: the beginning.
Speaker 2: With a budgetista. I was really good at making that
Speaker 2: connection that, like, you know, a challenge happens, it's a
Speaker 2: good thing because it meant growth. And then somewhere along
Speaker 2: the way I forgot and I started to look at
Speaker 2: every challenge like I normally look at challenges as.
Speaker 3: My life, you know.
Speaker 2: So that's what I would say that I am rediscovering
Speaker 2: that back again to look at challenges as a clear
Speaker 2: marker that you're shifting from where you said, where you
Speaker 2: said that you are to where you're wanting to be,
Speaker 2: and that this is just the challenge, is just this
Speaker 2: little rough patch that's the line of demarcation for growth.
Speaker 2: I was here and now I am here. This is
Speaker 2: super exciting and so like, yeah, those are the things
Speaker 2: that that you know, kind of put a little pep
Speaker 2: in my step.
Speaker 1: I love this conversation and it's an important one to have,
Speaker 1: but also gives me a pep in my stuff these days,
Speaker 1: is that I got my second dose of the vaccine
Speaker 1: and it feels like this pandemonium is finally over. And
Speaker 1: if nothing else, you guys can like build resilience by
Speaker 1: knowing y'all made it almost almost through a pandemic. We
Speaker 1: have all at least got that on our resumes now survived,
Speaker 1: was resilient enough to survive, and you know, make it
Speaker 1: through a pandemic, and that was a huge, huge challenge
Speaker 1: for so many people. So whether you wanted to or not,
Speaker 1: you were challenged this year, and you know, celebrate that
Speaker 1: and get strength from that knowledge because even if you
Speaker 1: didn't quote unquote win the pandemic, you know, by losing
Speaker 1: the thirty pounds and getting whatever, you know, learning your
Speaker 1: languages or you know, knill, learning how to knit or
Speaker 1: whatever activity you were supposed to you know, become a
Speaker 1: cook or baked bread. You know, just making it through
Speaker 1: you have become more resilient and even just trying to
Speaker 1: see the Yeah, flip the mindset. Flip the mindset. It's
Speaker 1: a positive thing. It's not always easy, it's not always easy,
Speaker 1: but the people around you, they will help you get
Speaker 1: there when you are in that negative thought spiral. And
Speaker 1: I will tell you if there are negative people around you,
Speaker 1: they will thrive on that. They will thrive on it,
Speaker 1: and they won't help lift you out of it. So
Speaker 1: really look a look at yes, people around you, also
Speaker 1: the you know, the thoughts in your own head and
Speaker 1: how they may be holding you back. And and just
Speaker 1: know that it's an ongoing process, right, It's not like
Speaker 1: you know when there's a when there is another you know,
Speaker 1: when I lose my confidence, which will probably happen at
Speaker 1: some point you know down the road, I will be
Speaker 1: able to lean on my support team, you know, support
Speaker 1: system to build me back up. So you have to
Speaker 1: you just just anticipate the life rainy day that it's
Speaker 1: going to happen, you know, and really try to make
Speaker 1: yourself ready for that moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, oh this is great.
Speaker 2: This is a little boost, a little booty boosts, a
Speaker 2: little boost to boost.
Speaker 1: Yeah, second vaccine dose and I feel okay, I'm I'm,
Speaker 1: I'm pretending like I didn't get it because I just
Speaker 1: don't want to feel I know, you can feel really
Speaker 1: fatigued and like some people get really actually they feel sick.
Speaker 1: But I'm just like just keep going, going, going, go
Speaker 1: to the park, play pretend like when thing's wrong. But
Speaker 1: I'm really I feel so relieved. Yeah, it feels really good.
Speaker 1: It feels like the start of a new a new year.
Speaker 1: If you got to get help.
Speaker 2: Some other people feel good and take some questions.
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, I was just about to tell you to
Speaker 1: get your vaccine.
Speaker 3: I know, I am going to get my vaccine.
Speaker 2: You're like, no, I am, because I will tell y'all
Speaker 2: like I'm started back with IVF and I just called
Speaker 2: my doctor and I was like, should I get it before?
Speaker 3: She's like, yes, girl, So I oh I do. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to get it in the next couple
Speaker 3: of weeks.
Speaker 2: Because how long do you have to wait between many.
Speaker 1: Like a few weeks. I got mine April fifth, and
Speaker 1: today is April twenty four.
Speaker 2: Nobody's there like a minimum amount of time that you
Speaker 2: wait between vas.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's three weeks. I think twenty one days or
Speaker 1: something like that.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 3: Then I got to hurry up because okay, yeah, so if.
Speaker 1: You're if you're planning like a vacation or something, you
Speaker 1: definitely want to be in the same place for at
Speaker 1: least a few weeks.
Speaker 2: There's something ye yes, no, because I like with like
Speaker 2: it like with like I'm going to cycle right now,
Speaker 2: and like tentatively speaking, there might be implantation like like
Speaker 2: June sixth, So I'm like, I need to get on
Speaker 2: it now because I want to have the vaccine.
Speaker 1: Before, you know, before that all goes down.
Speaker 2: Yes, hm, because I don't you know, I won't be
Speaker 2: able to Okay, well, good to know. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna call tomorrow.
Speaker 3: There's a bunch of places in Newark. I think they
Speaker 3: even just like have you.
Speaker 4: Just go.
Speaker 1: Like it's really easy to get an appointment now, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's what I've heard from different body.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I'm gonna get my first backs latest next
Speaker 2: week because Cis needs to make sure we can put
Speaker 2: this baby ready.
Speaker 1: Okay, but we will get to some questions though. Let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break and be right back with your questions.
Speaker 1: All right, y'all, we are back. Before we get into questions,
Speaker 1: let me just do a quick promo for an event
Speaker 1: that's happening. So this podcast is publishing Wednesday morning, So Thursday,
Speaker 1: we are doing an event with The Nineteenth, which is
Speaker 1: an amazing nonprofit news organization run founded by and run
Speaker 1: by brilliant minds. Brilliant women founded The Nineteenth and they
Speaker 1: report on everything at the intersection of politics, race, the economy.
Speaker 1: They go there and Tiffany and I are joining them
Speaker 1: for a live event on Thursday at one pm I
Speaker 1: believe Eastern time. Check out the link in our show
Speaker 1: notes and register to get your spot at this event.
Speaker 1: We're talking about how you can be financially resilient in
Speaker 1: the face of this pandemic, so definitely check us out
Speaker 1: in support. Let's show them that BA Fam is always
Speaker 1: there to support. Okay, even though you'll hear from us
Speaker 1: every week, it'd be great to show the Nineteenth that
Speaker 1: OURBA Fam shows up for us. So hit up the
Speaker 1: show notes and register and we'll see you all there.
Speaker 3: Plus it's free.
Speaker 1: Did you mention that free ninety nine? Okay, So let's
Speaker 1: get into the questions right now. We have hit up
Speaker 1: our Instagram again, y'all can reach us on ig We
Speaker 1: are at Brown Ambition Podcast. Just shoot us a DM
Speaker 1: with your question or hit us up via email Brown
Speaker 1: Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com, and also call call
Speaker 1: us and leave a voicemail if you'd like. Our number
Speaker 1: where you can call. Our text is in our show notes,
Speaker 1: so check it out there. Alrighty. First question, Hey ladies,
Speaker 1: I just started listening to your podcast and I love
Speaker 1: all the content. Thank you. I want to submit a
Speaker 1: question and hope of getting your input. My fiance and
Speaker 1: I have paid off over sixty thousand dollars of debt
Speaker 1: and have forty thousand dollars left. That's about thirteen thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred dollars of student loans and thirty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: that we have for a truck loan. We want to
Speaker 1: buy a house in about a year, but we haven't
Speaker 1: started the saving process since we've been so focused on
Speaker 1: paying off debt. Do y'all think we should continue to
Speaker 1: get our debt total down before saving or just go
Speaker 1: full on into saving mode? So that's first of all, amazing,
Speaker 1: sixty thousand dollars of debt down doesn't mention having any
Speaker 1: savings at all, so we don't know if there's like
Speaker 1: if they're building on top of a cash cushion. But
Speaker 1: we can make some assumptions, like let's assume they don't
Speaker 1: have anything saved and are wanting to start from scratch,
Speaker 1: saving from a house. But they have two types of
Speaker 1: debt left thirteen K student loans and thirty k for
Speaker 1: a truck loan with an undisclosed APR.
Speaker 3: Gonna say, what's the interest rate? I'm assuming the student loans.
Speaker 2: Let's make the assumption that your student loans are federal,
Speaker 2: so the interest rate is, like, you know.
Speaker 1: Relatively now until September, you don't have to pay Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have to pay student loans. You don't have
Speaker 1: to pay federal student loans or an interest stopped has
Speaker 1: stopped accruing thanks to the Cares Act through the end
Speaker 1: of September, so really no one has to pay loans.
Speaker 1: Let's yeah, we pretend that those are gone. Then it's
Speaker 1: the thirty k for a truck loan.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, you know, you know how it
Speaker 2: is with trucks, I mean, with them car loans. It
Speaker 2: could go either way. She could be double digits, she
Speaker 2: could be three percent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sod, no, you got.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing.
Speaker 2: My stance on debt versus savings. It's never debt versus savings.
Speaker 2: I feel like me and manny Al was like debt
Speaker 2: and savings, you know, because saving especially because it doesn't
Speaker 2: I mean, we don't know what the APR for the
Speaker 2: for the truck loaners APR your annual percentage, your annual
Speaker 2: percentage right sentence read.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm like, this are basically the interest rate that
Speaker 3: you're paying on that truck.
Speaker 2: My assumption is because you don't have a credit card debt,
Speaker 2: which is great, So I'm assuming you don't have crazy
Speaker 2: interest rates. And even if you did, saving, to me
Speaker 2: is your first line of defense. It's like the lock
Speaker 2: on the door, you know, on the screen door at
Speaker 2: that so someone has to bust through the screen door,
Speaker 2: then get to the regular door, then get to the
Speaker 2: chain lock, you know what I mean. And so I
Speaker 2: really I'm a big proponent of having some savings and
Speaker 2: not sacrifice savings just for to get towards that freedom
Speaker 2: that it can happen and should happen at the same time. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're saying that you're wanting to save for paying
Speaker 2: down a house to buy a house, now that's different
Speaker 2: because they're saving for like, you know, like emergencies and
Speaker 2: saving for goal.
Speaker 3: Because here's my worry.
Speaker 2: Let's just say you're like, oh, hey, I'm gonna save
Speaker 2: as we pay down our loan, and then we also
Speaker 2: save for a house and you're able to get a
Speaker 2: you know, a decent loan for the house. So then
Speaker 2: you use your your savings to buy the house. So
Speaker 2: now you're back at no savings again. So that's a
Speaker 2: concern that you should be like set the house to
Speaker 2: the side for a moment. And if you are going
Speaker 2: to save, I want you to concentrate that you're saving
Speaker 2: for emergencies while also paying down your debt. Now anything,
Speaker 2: you know, anything above and beyond that. You can also
Speaker 2: save two for buying a house. But you shouldn't be
Speaker 2: looking at the savings that you're setting aside just for
Speaker 2: the house. You should also have an emergency fund stashed away,
Speaker 2: especially if you get a house. I mean, Maddy and
Speaker 2: I will tell you in a minute how things just
Speaker 2: be going haywy are.
Speaker 3: Like, wait, what do you mean the plumbing? Wait, what
Speaker 3: do you mean?
Speaker 1: Why did you say plumbing? Because that's that's always what
Speaker 1: it is, and it's always before you have a bunch
Speaker 1: of guests over the toilet overflows like it did for
Speaker 1: us that fourth of July last year, the year before that,
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars to get someone to unclog it emergency
Speaker 1: on a holiday. Okay, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2: No, no, go ahead, no, because you know what I mean. So,
Speaker 2: like I think a lot of people forget that there
Speaker 2: are levels to savings. It's not just savings to eventually
Speaker 2: that's like almost like that kind of savings. To me,
Speaker 2: I call it delayed spending. So you save, save, safe, save,
Speaker 2: then you use it all for a thing. Well, you've
Speaker 2: just delayed the spending. You also have to save for
Speaker 2: savings sake, meaning save for This is my first line
Speaker 2: of defense. This is a lock on the screen door
Speaker 2: that someone has to get through before the next door
Speaker 2: can be can be breached and the next thing can
Speaker 2: be breached. Like not enough people have enough money set
Speaker 2: aside for that. And if twenty twenties panting commercial Pandemonium
Speaker 2: taught us nothing is the value of having like that
Speaker 2: first line of defense lined up, No matter how little
Speaker 2: that is, it can give you a little bit of room.
Speaker 1: Panting Commercial that's the name one haven't heard. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say that. You know, if you're not paying your
Speaker 1: student loans anymore, you could divert that payment to savings.
Speaker 1: You know, call it your emergency fund that you're building
Speaker 1: up while you don't have to, while you don't have
Speaker 1: the obligation of paying off your student loans. There's really
Speaker 1: no incentive right now to make payments on federal student loans.
Speaker 1: You're not saving any money on interest because there is none,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to like there's no there's no
Speaker 1: there's actually a cons to paying them. And the con
Speaker 1: is that you know, you could potentially be earning more
Speaker 1: by putting your money elsewhere. Even if it's in a
Speaker 1: really you know, a regular savings account that has very
Speaker 1: little interest, it's still more than zero. And also it's
Speaker 1: giving you that added protection. So if you're going to
Speaker 1: be putting money toward loans that you don't have to,
Speaker 1: that you're not paying interest on and not putting it
Speaker 1: towards savings, that could potentially save you if you, you know,
Speaker 1: have a financial challenge that pops up, it's just smarter
Speaker 1: to put it away in savings. It's going to protect you.
Speaker 1: So you could do that, just divert what you would
Speaker 1: have been paying towards your student loans to savings. And
Speaker 1: I would also point out, you know, if you're thinking
Speaker 1: about taking out a mortgage for your future home and
Speaker 1: you're talking about saving just for the down payment, they're
Speaker 1: not going to want to see that this down payment's
Speaker 1: going to bankrupt you. And they're also going to give
Speaker 1: you a better rate if you have lower debt to
Speaker 1: income ratio, which is, you know, how much your monthly
Speaker 1: debt payments are versus your monthly expenses. So it behooves you,
Speaker 1: sat word, it behooves you to try to pay, you know,
Speaker 1: down some debt. And also we have some cash left behind,
Speaker 1: liquid cash, so that lenders are willing to, you know,
Speaker 1: let you borrow money at all, or even at a
Speaker 1: more affordable rate than others. Something to consider. But it's
Speaker 1: definitely attainable to buy a house, and it sounds like
Speaker 1: you guys are really good at budgeting. I would just say,
Speaker 1: less money throwing it away at debt, and more towards
Speaker 1: that savings fund. Okay, how about this one. We've been
Speaker 1: getting more and more questions about financial advisors, but this
Speaker 1: listener says, do you have any recommendations for financial advisors.
Speaker 1: I started with d R. If you don't know who
Speaker 1: that is, then well whatever, you don't need to know,
Speaker 1: forget about it. For if I financial education but realized
Speaker 1: it helps, but I'm looking for something better. I'm currently
Speaker 1: working with a quote smart vestor pro quote, which is
Speaker 1: basically an advisor that follows DR's principles. Any advice or
Speaker 1: info smart vestor pro.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I think we both liked did where'd you
Speaker 2: find Helen? Did you find here?
Speaker 3: The XY Planning network?
Speaker 1: Is that where you found oh Helen? Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: years ago. I feel like XY Planning is still around.
Speaker 1: At the time, it was very focused on literally generation
Speaker 1: X and Y, and it's a network of fee based
Speaker 1: or it was at the time. Yeah, I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the Yeah. So all the advisors on their network are fiduciaries,
Speaker 1: which means they have to work at your best interest,
Speaker 1: offer virtual services, no commissions. They're not focusing on selling
Speaker 1: you products like insurance. They have a CFP license. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still around, and that's where I found Helen. But
Speaker 1: I actually interviewed I think three My husband and I
Speaker 1: reviewed three different people, and we settled on Helen after
Speaker 1: doing those interviews. But yep, thanks Ye Planning.
Speaker 2: And there's also one called the National Association of Personal
Speaker 2: Financial Advisors. It's like NAPFA. And then there's also this
Speaker 2: fee only network. So if you go this is a
Speaker 2: slight book plug but not really. But if you go
Speaker 2: to a gigao money dot com, there's this a little
Speaker 2: button that says GGWM toolkit. So because inside like chapter ten,
Speaker 2: I talk about picking your money team and how I
Speaker 2: found my financial advisor, So definitely go to xy Planning Network.
Speaker 2: I put that link there the National Association of Personal
Speaker 2: Financial Advisors, and there's also the Fee Only Network, but
Speaker 2: that's not why I want you to go there, because
Speaker 2: you could just go to those websites. I want you
Speaker 2: to go there to click that button because I created
Speaker 2: this work she called the my soul called financial life template,
Speaker 2: and I use the template to create like so how
Speaker 2: I find my financial advisor? Angelin is. I created kind
Speaker 2: of like this template of like my myself, my husband,
Speaker 2: like what our financial life looked like because I found
Speaker 2: myself when I was interviewing people forgetting like oh I
Speaker 2: forgot to tell them this, and I forgot to tell
Speaker 2: them that. But then once I created this kind of
Speaker 2: template for myself. I was able to email it to
Speaker 2: them before we had our talk, so I would not
Speaker 2: forget to say like, oh, by the way, these are
Speaker 2: our goals, this is how much we have saved. It's
Speaker 2: just it was just like such a great like resource.
Speaker 2: So yes, go ahead, And meanwhile, I'm clicking it now
Speaker 2: and I'm like, is it not going Let me just
Speaker 2: tell they no, But.
Speaker 1: That's like a good challenge that you cannot overcome to know.
Speaker 3: But no, but I think that that is Yeah.
Speaker 2: I just I think that it's really it's important to
Speaker 2: have some sort of like I don't know, like I
Speaker 2: wanted to have something in front of me so as
Speaker 2: I interviewed them, they could see one.
Speaker 3: Because it was like twenty.
Speaker 2: People that I reached out to and I gave them
Speaker 2: kind of like that document so they could disqualify themselves
Speaker 2: if I wasn't going to be a fit. And then
Speaker 2: other like twenty people I sent it to, like I
Speaker 2: think like maybe like twelve, we're like, oh yes, And
Speaker 2: then I ended up whittling it down to Angeli. But
Speaker 2: she had so much of the information that she that
Speaker 2: she normally would ask was in that doc and it
Speaker 2: just was so helpful so I suggest that that, yes,
Speaker 2: my soul called financial life it is. It was such
Speaker 2: a like like I said that Doc really.
Speaker 3: Just was everything.
Speaker 1: So check that out. We'll put that link in our
Speaker 1: show notes. Cool. All right, well, thank y'all so much
Speaker 1: for your questions. Hit us up Brandnambission Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com and you can find us all up in
Speaker 1: the socials, but especially on Instagram these days. Brand Ambisson
Speaker 1: Podcast on ig No.
Speaker 4: But okay, and now it's time to boost break or
Speaker 4: boost a break or booze.
Speaker 2: All right, let me look at my little blacumen to
Speaker 2: see what do I have hair? So I wanted to
Speaker 2: did we ever talk about Patriese colors and like the
Speaker 2: trouble that she was having with them? No, we have not,
Speaker 2: So I want to boost for Chese colors. Anyway, She's
Speaker 2: one of the co founders of Black Lives Matter, and
Speaker 2: unfortunately a lot of news outlets, including unfortunately black news outlets,
Speaker 2: were dragging her for having the audacity to earn an income.
Speaker 1: It was truly asine.
Speaker 2: Yes, so I mean, and I mean I'm trying to
Speaker 2: separate because I know Patrice and I have like I
Speaker 2: remember or like a Black Lives Matters had been awarded
Speaker 2: with the Sydney Peace Prize, which is super prestigious peace prize,
Speaker 2: and I went to Australia and I went with her
Speaker 2: to Australia when she was she was accepting it on
Speaker 2: behalf of Black Lives Matter. And when I tell you
Speaker 2: the I don't know that I know anybody that is
Speaker 2: more passionate about black lives, you know than Patrice and
Speaker 2: how she is dedicated literally her life and puts her
Speaker 2: life on the line. Like the number of like death
Speaker 2: threats and the number of just like it's crazy how
Speaker 2: they come for that woman. And so people were mad
Speaker 2: because they're like, what, you have a house in California. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: that's worth I don't remember what it was like, you know,
Speaker 2: five hundred thousand dollars or one point two million dollars.
Speaker 2: I don't think people understand if you don't live on
Speaker 2: the coast, My little rinky dink house in Newark, New
Speaker 2: Jersey is worth about four point fifty.
Speaker 3: It's not something special.
Speaker 2: I mean it's a nice que house, but meaning that
Speaker 2: on the coast, what's one point two million dollars in
Speaker 2: California looks like a regular house. Like I saw that
Speaker 2: house I was like, this is what y'all mad at.
Speaker 2: It's because of where, because of coastal living is.
Speaker 3: Way more expensive.
Speaker 2: You're like, do you understand, Like there are people in
Speaker 2: New York who's literal, you know, one bedroom, two bedroom
Speaker 2: apartment might be six thousand dollars and it doesn't look
Speaker 2: like it looks like a college dorm room. Like, so
Speaker 2: what is relatively expensive to like, you know, in the
Speaker 2: Midwest is not expensive. I mean it is expensive, but
Speaker 2: that you're just not going to get anything less than that,
Speaker 2: especially in California. I mean New York, New Jersey's already bad,
Speaker 2: but California is literally insane. And Patrese is an author.
Speaker 2: Her book I remember when we were because I had
Speaker 2: met her at Essence Fest at first, and I remember
Speaker 2: she had just written a book, When They Call You
Speaker 2: a Terrorist, a New York Times bestseller. It sold tons
Speaker 2: of copies. I can tell you someone who got a
Speaker 2: book deal. I promise you her book there was bigger
Speaker 2: than mine, and mine was just under seven figures me
Speaker 2: with my first like and so Patrice who was huge.
Speaker 2: I mean, she's still huge, but at that time, so
Speaker 2: I can only imagine what her book deal was.
Speaker 3: So let's get that clear too.
Speaker 2: Like Patrese is an artist, she has she's had all
Speaker 2: of these other ways to bring an income for herself,
Speaker 2: we cannot ask the people who serve us to also
Speaker 2: be a martyr for brokeness. Like you already y'all already
Speaker 2: know I'm not with it, Like I'm here to be
Speaker 2: the budgetista to serve my community assists wants to be
Speaker 2: wealthy as well, because like I don't.
Speaker 3: I just like I'm done with that.
Speaker 2: Like when I first started my business, I thought that
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, I don't want to charge and I
Speaker 2: don't want this because I ought not to have because
Speaker 2: if I'm going to be of service, that's garbage. The
Speaker 2: more that I have, I pour from my overflow, the
Speaker 2: more resources that I have, the better I show up
Speaker 2: for y'all.
Speaker 3: Because I'm not broke.
Speaker 2: Is why I'm able to do so much for free,
Speaker 2: because I'm not worried about money, and so I just
Speaker 2: wanted that to be It's almost like a boosty breaky
Speaker 2: a boost for Patrese, but a break for y'all. Tried it,
Speaker 2: not y'all, but y'all, that like asking our leaders to
Speaker 2: suffer in brokeness and then you know some of these
Speaker 2: very outlets putting her address online. I mean she already
Speaker 2: was receiving death threats, putting her life in her family
Speaker 2: at risk. I just when she has already put her
Speaker 2: life on the line in response to Black Lives Matter
Speaker 2: one like, so if you like, there's this great. His
Speaker 2: name is Matt McGrory m A T T mc g
Speaker 2: o O r Y on Instagram, and I love it
Speaker 2: because he posted this letter a statement on false and
Speaker 2: dangerous stories, right so, he he said. The following statement
Speaker 2: is issued by Black Lives Matter Global the Foundation in
Speaker 2: response to the false and defamatory thefamatory the famatory article
Speaker 2: being amplified by right wing media. Patrise Culors is the
Speaker 2: executive director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. She
Speaker 2: serves in this role in a volunteer capacity. This is
Speaker 2: from Global Black Lives Matter does not receive a salary
Speaker 2: or benefits. Patrese has received a total of one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty thousand dollars since the organization's inception in twenty
Speaker 2: thirteen is now twenty twenty one. He wrote this April twelve,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. How many years is that, Mandy?
Speaker 1: That is, when was it founded? Just twenty thirteen seven,
Speaker 1: eight years, eight years.
Speaker 2: So what is one hundred twenty thousand dollars divided by
Speaker 2: eight years?
Speaker 3: Let me let's do to that.
Speaker 1: It's not very much. It's less than ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year.
Speaker 2: I mean. And so if this says for duties such
Speaker 2: as serving as a spokesperson and engaging in political education work,
Speaker 2: Patrese did not receive any compensation after twenty nineteen, stop
Speaker 2: to be abundantly clear, it says as a register of
Speaker 2: four oh one ced three that this organization cannot and
Speaker 2: did not commit any organizational resources towards the purchase of
Speaker 2: personal property by any employer volunteer. I mean, I just
Speaker 2: And he goes on to say Patresa's work for black
Speaker 2: people over the years has made her and others who
Speaker 2: are aligned with the Fight for Black Liberation targets for
Speaker 2: racist violence. So it's just really really because I can
Speaker 2: see in her face because for terrees, honestly, if you
Speaker 2: despite all the bs, she is funny and joyful and lighthearted,
Speaker 2: I mean, she is silly. And to see her like
Speaker 2: fighting for her life on insu like I've messaged her
Speaker 2: several times and just make sure she's okay, but to
Speaker 2: see I can see the fear in her face, and
Speaker 2: I see a little bit of the light dim because
Speaker 2: she's expecting us from the right wing, but from her
Speaker 2: own people coming for her. It's unconscionable and I just
Speaker 2: can't imagine putting my life on the line for the
Speaker 2: very folks who are now putting my life in danger
Speaker 2: because of lies. And so I just wanted to give
Speaker 2: her an extra If you want to read it for yourself,
Speaker 2: I encourage you to do so. Matt m at t
Speaker 2: mc g O r R Y on his Insta It
Speaker 2: was posted on like I think, like I don't know,
Speaker 2: like in April some time, but you can go and
Speaker 2: read that letter. I think it's important for everybody to
Speaker 2: see it, to read it. And yeah, she is just
Speaker 2: an incredible woman who despite all of this still stands
Speaker 2: in service to black people.
Speaker 1: So this story, I mean, I texted you tip when
Speaker 1: I saw it, I was like, what the absolute like
Speaker 1: what it was?
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 1: I'm still so angry on her behalf, because there is
Speaker 1: this expectation, especially if you're a black woman, that you're
Speaker 1: not that you're supposed to give everything but not get anything.
Speaker 1: That the image of you. They want to see is
Speaker 1: someone who is on their knees crying because their son
Speaker 1: or brother or husband or nephew was killed, or you know,
Speaker 1: or with a handout, you know, looking for something they
Speaker 1: don't want to see you succeed. And it is really
Speaker 1: sad proof that there is still a lot of audience
Speaker 1: out there who wants to proliferate this image of black women,
Speaker 1: black people, you know, suffering but not thriving, and especially
Speaker 1: for someone who's given so much. I was. I don't
Speaker 1: even know Patrice, but I was offended on her behalf.
Speaker 1: And so I'm glad you. I'm really glad you brought
Speaker 1: this up. And as a former journalist, I will tell
Speaker 1: you it was the It was the wackiest, thinnest piece
Speaker 1: of internet crap I've like garbage. And as a as
Speaker 1: a as anyone who even has a moticum of journalism
Speaker 1: education would never have published that story. And I'm really
Speaker 1: sad for a black journalists because you know, as any
Speaker 1: black professional, when you're out there in the world, you're
Speaker 1: you have such a razor thin margin margin for error.
Speaker 1: So when one of us, as a black journalist, as
Speaker 1: a black journalist out there posting filth like that and
Speaker 1: nonsense with terrible sourcing or lack of sourcing and no
Speaker 1: story at all, like even a tiny bit of fact
Speaker 1: checking could have found there was no truth to this.
Speaker 1: When you publish that, you you know you're making it
Speaker 1: harder for other black journalists to be taken seriously. And
Speaker 1: so that is what I'm offended by. She made me
Speaker 1: want to like do a talk at the next National
Speaker 1: Association and Black Journalist conference, like we got to do
Speaker 1: better out here, and yeah, it was pure, pure garbage.
Speaker 1: And I hope that a lot of people out there
Speaker 1: are are smart enough to look at where stories like
Speaker 1: that come from on the internet and question it and
Speaker 1: and be critical and think critically about stories that we
Speaker 1: hear about our leadership, because they they when you succeed
Speaker 1: as a black woman, that's when they're most fearful of you,
Speaker 1: and that is when they start putting out lies to
Speaker 1: bring you down. And even though I don't know her,
Speaker 1: I feel like that could be me. That could be
Speaker 1: I'm sure it has been Tiffany. People don't want to
Speaker 1: see Tiffany do well, you know they want they they like,
Speaker 1: especially when it's your peers. I'm sure there's there's people
Speaker 1: who who you know we're talking about earlier, would rather
Speaker 1: see you struggle to make themselves feel better. And anyway,
Speaker 1: I my heart goes out to Patrice. I hope she's okay.
Speaker 1: She has done such good work, and go and get
Speaker 1: your house's girl, get all the houses you every right
Speaker 1: to get your house is how many billionaires? Like do
Speaker 1: you want to talk about? How many billionaires give away
Speaker 1: money to nonprofits and all their philanthropic good deeds and
Speaker 1: then turn around and you know, drive gas guzzling cars
Speaker 1: and have the audacity to go shopping for expensive things
Speaker 1: and have watches and jets and stuff like. Get out
Speaker 1: of here. Like it's just complete and utter nonsense. And
Speaker 1: she did not deserve it for a minute. And I
Speaker 1: hope that she I hope that the light has not
Speaker 1: dimmed for too long because she has done so much
Speaker 1: good work and she needs all the support that she deserves.
Speaker 1: Right now, what was my booth going to be?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 1: I know, hold on my computer just died. I went
Speaker 1: away well really quick, because that was I joined in
Speaker 1: on that one. But I wanted to shout out things.
Speaker 1: I wanted to shout out this young woman, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to shout this out, Tiffany, because I can't stop
Speaker 1: thinking about your nephew Roman and how he just has
Speaker 1: this big kid genius energy, big like I mean, he
Speaker 1: was just fascinating to watch. I could have just I
Speaker 1: didn't want to be weird, but I was just like
Speaker 1: really wanting to observe him. He's a mathematical genius. And
Speaker 1: I saw this story about a young girl who's twelve
Speaker 1: and how she's attending college this year. Her name's Elena Wicker,
Speaker 1: and she's soon to be college student, and she wants
Speaker 1: to be the youngest black woman to ever work for NASA,
Speaker 1: and she was recently featured in People magazine, and I
Speaker 1: just wanted to share this little, this little bit of
Speaker 1: black excellence. And her mother, Diane mccordter, said one of
Speaker 1: the signs that her child was gifted was she would
Speaker 1: always organize legos by color and by size and very strategic,
Speaker 1: and if you took one of her legos out of
Speaker 1: the set, she knew one of them was missing. But
Speaker 1: that she's still goofy and she's always you know, she's
Speaker 1: had a sense of humor, but would like build these
Speaker 1: crazy you know, like the millennium falcon out of legos
Speaker 1: and like all these things. So shout out to Elena
Speaker 1: and Black Girl Excellence, and also shout out to Roman
Speaker 1: because I feel like he might be like people dot
Speaker 1: com Black excellent story one day.
Speaker 2: I always like I used to because you know, teaching
Speaker 2: for so long, I used to always like the joke
Speaker 2: was that ain't no regular baby. That's what I would
Speaker 2: always say him like he was one and a half
Speaker 2: talk about octagon oval. I'm like what I used to
Speaker 2: tell her. I'm like, mm, sis, I ain't no regular baby,
Speaker 2: because you know that was her first and she's like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, don't want in a half year olds
Speaker 2: name all the shapes. I'm like, no, and if they do,
Speaker 2: they certainly don't know octagons from hexagons.
Speaker 3: Sis.
Speaker 2: No, And like even now, like you know, Roman is
Speaker 2: telling time. I didn't not have to tell time until
Speaker 2: I was like in fifth or sixth grade.
Speaker 3: He's five. Yeah, he's telling time.
Speaker 2: He's doing multiplication and addition reading like all these like
Speaker 2: signs like we wu walk down the street. I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, like he's gonna read the first two lines.
Speaker 2: It was like no, it said something like it was
Speaker 2: like a parking site. No, parking police. Try this boy,
Speaker 2: no parking police towing. I'm like, cause he never heard
Speaker 2: of towing. But he's like, I can sound it out
Speaker 2: at five.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: So I always tell her I adn't no regular baby
Speaker 2: because she was worried. Because for you parents, if you
Speaker 2: are not up on number blocks and alpha blocks on Netflix,
Speaker 2: cis you late? It is as a teacher, I'm telling
Speaker 2: you want.
Speaker 1: To feel attacked because I'm still on Sesame Street again
Speaker 1: one more time.
Speaker 2: Number number of blocks and alpha blocks. So it is
Speaker 2: they whoever made it. They are educational geniuses because what
Speaker 2: this show is like so basically they have turned letters
Speaker 2: and numbers into superheroes. You so kids feel like they're
Speaker 2: watching one of these superhero shows, but really they are.
Speaker 2: They are showing you how to count attract. So it
Speaker 2: gets with every episode, it gets more complex. In the beginning,
Speaker 2: you're just doing letters, and then sounds and then words
Speaker 2: and then sentences. So each episode gets more and more complex.
Speaker 2: But they do it in such a way that you
Speaker 2: feel like you're watching like, you know, like Power Rangers,
Speaker 2: because the actual numbers and the letters. So there's two
Speaker 2: separate shows number blocks and then there's an Alpha blocks
Speaker 2: that they they take on the persona of like different
Speaker 2: like I said, superheroes, but it's so well done. And
Speaker 2: the repetitiveness, I mean, I like, I'm I'm picking up
Speaker 2: everything they're putting down. I'm like, ooh, like a million
Speaker 2: when she was three, just like a few months ago.
Speaker 2: Do you know how hard a concept it is for
Speaker 2: a kid to understand zero? Like, think about that many
Speaker 2: Like how do you explain zero to a two year
Speaker 2: old or a three year old?
Speaker 1: And so it's me straight they show you that cookie
Speaker 1: has no cookies.
Speaker 2: I can tell you, and that's so, but it's still
Speaker 2: really harder of a concept because kids understand numbers. And
Speaker 2: so the other day I was saying something and then
Speaker 2: he was like, I'm sad there's zero.
Speaker 3: There's zero left.
Speaker 2: I looked at her, like my sister was like, girl,
Speaker 2: damn alpha black, those damn number blocks. But I just
Speaker 2: I share that that because it's been such a great
Speaker 2: you know, in the world wherever I get it, Like
Speaker 2: my sister used to be really big on like you know,
Speaker 2: not too much screen time a girl pandemic. It was like,
Speaker 2: where are your number blocks?
Speaker 1: Yep?
Speaker 5: Yes, So I was like, you know, tell her to
Speaker 5: check out the guy on YouTube who excavates for a living,
Speaker 5: which is where you just dig up dirt and move
Speaker 5: it to other places hypnotizes my child send me.
Speaker 3: A lake because I will.
Speaker 1: I don't know who it is. I used to roll
Speaker 1: my eyes, but I will walk in the living room
Speaker 1: and my husband always watches this guy and he and
Speaker 1: Rio are on the couch just dead staring watching the
Speaker 1: sky dig up gravel and it goes a full hour.
Speaker 1: My toddler did not move. I don't know if he's
Speaker 1: learning anything, but he likes to. He screams at equipment
Speaker 1: now when he sees it on the side.
Speaker 3: Of the d but that means he's recognizing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, No.
Speaker 2: I just think that, like, there's are some shows that
Speaker 2: are so well done and that is number of blocks
Speaker 2: and alpha blocks there. Like I started following them on
Speaker 2: Insta just to be like, thank you so much all
Speaker 2: that you've taught my niece and nephew. It's just great programming.
Speaker 2: But no, who like.
Speaker 1: It's protect that one. The force is strong with him.
Speaker 2: I tell my sister, my girl, we will all be
Speaker 2: working for his whatever company.
Speaker 1: But Mimi keeps it spicy. She keeps it like you know,
Speaker 1: She's like, dude.
Speaker 2: That's what we call a millia mamie. She keeps it
Speaker 2: allways spicy like girls. She feel like Roman, we're here
Speaker 2: to have fun you and this. She does like Alpha
Speaker 2: blocks too, but she definitely is the He's the Chucky
Speaker 2: and she's the Tommy of a rug Rats, like you know, exploratory,
Speaker 2: having a good time. And Roman's like, oh, I guess,
Speaker 2: and like literally he'll build a thing and she will
Speaker 2: just be like, I'm gonna tip it over, okay.
Speaker 3: Roman, He's like dupe.
Speaker 2: She's like, yeah, exactly, no, But I'm just I'm just honestly,
Speaker 2: it was nice to have like you like here in
Speaker 2: my space. I'm like, oh, just fit right in. It
Speaker 2: was just like nice just to like hang out. I'm
Speaker 2: like on the couch just talking like adults and having
Speaker 2: a good time.
Speaker 1: It was a very warm and beautiful homie. You know,
Speaker 1: I loved it. I feel like, you know, it was
Speaker 1: it filled my cup as they say, filled my cup up.
Speaker 1: And I was really low that day. So thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you again, and to your sister Tracy and just Superman.
Speaker 1: I hope his movie Theater in the Basement is coming
Speaker 1: along well. Excited to hit him up at the twin
Speaker 1: Is that what the speakeasy is called. Yeah, twins place,
Speaker 1: Twins place, Okay, twins place the speak that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I hope we can do. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna see whatever? You guys will see
Speaker 1: the pictures, So I guess I'll see you get in
Speaker 1: six years, Tiffany update another time. All right, y'all, we'll
Speaker 1: take care. Have a good week. Check us out on
Speaker 1: Thursday with the nineteenth hit up our show notes to register,
Speaker 1: It's free, so show up and show out for BA.
Speaker 3: Yes,