WEBVTT - BA Q&A: Did I Just Join A Pyramid Scheme? 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:10.160 Is that time again. It's time for the b a 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:14.120 q a, the b a q a, the b a 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.320 q a, the b a q a. Okay, it's time 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.560 for brown ambition question and answers. You have questions, we 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.799 have answers. Ish If you're not your mama, We're not 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.960 your financial advisor, we're not your doctor, your therapist. We 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:30.520 just two brown girls on the Internet doing the best 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:31.440 we can. Okay. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:33.920 I don't want to be served with a lawsuit in 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.559 the middle of Wegmans, y'all. Nah no, no, no, no, 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.440 no no. These are answers with the side of t 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:43.760 just coming from you know, your financial besties who have 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.720 ideas but not all of your information. So take it 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.000 with a giant grain of salt. But we got some 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:54.240 juicy business questions today, potentially a baby pyramid scheme. We 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.480 have to save some from someone from So let's do it. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:58.720 Where should we start? 0:00:59.120 --> 0:00:59.520 All right? 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.160 This from a listener who wants to remain anonymous, And 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.360 they say, I took out a five thousand dollars loan 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.959 to help with startup costs of a new business venture. 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.160 The payments are one hundred dollars a month for five 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.399 or six years. I'm expecting to profit two hundred to 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.480 three hundred dollars a month initially from my business. My 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.240 question is should I use those profits to pay off 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.160 the loan or should I use my nine to five 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.160 income to pay off the loan and use the profits 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.240 to continue to grow slash expand this new business. Thanks 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.319 in advance for exclamation marks. 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.560 Well Annie aka anonymous, Honestly, me and Andy were like 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.520 potato patato. I mean, well, I guess on the if 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:45.960 we're being super techy technical right technical Tuesday, I would say, 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.560 because you want to make sure ideally that the business 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.720 is looping in the business. But everyone knows in the beginning. 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.720 You know that it's you personally and your job likely 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.080 or whatever side husele you have that is funding the business. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.480 But if your business is able to pay off the 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.720 loan that you took, certainly you can do so. But 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:08.400 you paying it off with your nine to five it 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:10.800 doesn't really I just say all that to say it doesn't. 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.880 I want to say it doesn't matter because you personally 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:15.800 took off the loan out the loan, not the business, 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:16.680 so you owe it. 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:17.280 Yeah. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:18.880 But if it was me, honestly, I probably would just 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.040 say I took out the loan, I'll pay it back. 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.280 I'll use my money to invest back in my business. 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.160 Because I'm working, I don't necessarily need the business funds 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.960 just yet, so instead I'll just reinvest. That's likely what 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.280 I would do. But if you don't do that, it's 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.720 not wrong technically, I don't think. What do you think, Mandra, Yeah, 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:35.400 I mean I don't. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:37.400 I'm not mad at the idea of thinking of your 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.640 business and personal expenses differently. Yes, I wish, even in 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:42.640 my first year of business, and I know this. I 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:44.760 know that you it's better off. You're better off just 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.760 keeping everything simple. But sometimes I would run out of 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.360 checks from my personal account and then just like, let 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.240 me get these MANDI money checks real quick. I saw 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.480 so maybe the landscaper got a check from my business 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:55.959 last week. 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:56.560 Maybe he did. 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.520 And it's fine. But I like the idea of putting 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.800 it in two different buckets because you know, and it 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.400 also it's like what we say to name your savings accounts, 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.960 almost like give that money a job. And if you 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.560 tell yourself, oh, this is my business profit, you're more 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:11.840 likely to probably use it for those business expenses and 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.519 maybe keep it separate and not dip into it when 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.079 you know you run out of checks in your landscaper 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:18.959 is like knock, knock my money. 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.760 In the beginning of businesses, it's really messy. You try 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.720 it to be. It's like high school. You know you're 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.519 gonna be messy girls high school, but try not to 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.600 be as messy. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.600 Trying, but I keep doing. It's not about me, it's about. 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.480 Yeah, so like yeah, so, like, like Bettie said, if 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.680 you could keep it separating clean, that's ideal. One thing 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:40.040 I will say. I was just telling what this one 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.120 to my one of my mentees, and I was telling 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:45.160 her because her finances she's like year two and a 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:48.400 half and her taxes were just a mess. And I 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.960 had told her in the very beginning, look into maybe 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.560 having a bookkeeper, because you know, although she has a 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:58.280 financial background, she's got her degree in finance, still running, 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.640 you know, doing your business finance on top of everything else. 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.080 So I'm like a bookkeeper girl, you know, twenty thirty 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.200 bucks an hour. You want them to create a profit 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.320 and law statement every month because that's what you'll give 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.520 to your accountant so you're not scrambling at the end 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.160 of the year. Of course, you didn't listen. We never listened, girl. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:13.840 I didn't do my taxes for the first two years 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.159 of having a business. My accountant had to run me 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:20.160 down in Shopwright, which is a major literal. Carlos man 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.960 me down shop right, Carlo, Yes, I saw him in Shopwright, Mandy. 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.880 I tried to make a youth joke. He said, no, 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.279 you come here now. Just imagine it's smaller. 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:33.799 You know, it was baby Budgetissa. She was a shopwright, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:34.480 not Whole. 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.600 Foods for those who don't know. Shop Rights, like on 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.120 the East Coast, is very it's very low cost supermarket. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.200 And so Carlos is our brown and mission accountant too. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:45.240 He's super nice and dope. 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:46.840 Like yeah. 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.440 He was like, Tiffany, I have been called me what 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:50.720 he had been calling a text me And I was 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.400 like la la la la la la la la la la. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.159 So yeah, so just imagine me in Shopwright with the 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.640 big old Shopwright cart, trying to make a quick turn 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.440 down the aisle, and Carlos was like, Tiffany, I was like, 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:02.640 if you know Carlos, He's like, I don't know. I 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.520 won't even say he's short. Sorry Carlos, but he made 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.719 me like might head a little shorter? So he was 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:08.760 like timpany, but he has like the biggest, brightest smile. 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:10.720 He is so friendly, and he was like, what are 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:12.640 you doing. I was like no, no, no. He's like, do 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:14.320 you want to go to jail? I was like I don't, 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:17.719 so he said honestly, he was so nice. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:18.919 He was like, I want to go to jail. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.400 He was like, what are you afraid of? I said, 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.120 I'm afraid of how much I owe. He said how 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:25.640 much do you think you o? And I said thirty 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.159 thousand dollars and he looked at me like did you 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.400 even make thirty thousand? I don't know why I had that. 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:33.240 I don't know why I had that in my mind. 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:35.520 He said, thirty gave me like fifteen k first, girl, 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:36.480 I just had to. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:37.960 My mind it was thirty. I don't know why. And 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.479 then he was like, no, you o eight. I was like, oh, 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.000 he said, but you would have old. I think it 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.280 was like near four. I was like, well what, I oh? Eight? 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:46.599 He said, that's what happens when you don't find your 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.640 taxes in time and you don't pay for two years. 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:53.160 And I was like, okay, okay, that's so from then on, 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.520 you know, I said, no, more of that. So Manny 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.000 and I just sharing these horror stories just so you know. 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.680 And even so you are going to be a little 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.240 messy you're a new business owner, try to be as 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.839 little messy as possible, especially with your finances. Get yourself 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.640 an accountant, get yourself a bookkeeper who can do those 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.320 profit and law statements so you don't scramble. And remember 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.440 that your the money part of your business is literally 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.520 the life's blood, so it needs to flow in order 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.080 for your business to maintain. I don't care how successful 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.840 you are. If the financial part, the taxes, the bookkeeping, 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:27.960 all that stuff is a mess, then your business will 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:29.760 eventually catch up and be a mess too. 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.480 Yeah. I need Carlos to come track me down sometimes 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.120 because I switched to an escortor at the beginning of 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.560 this year, okay, and we did all that, and then 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:40.440 like the year just went by and I was still 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.320 doing things Like you know, when I was just at 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.160 a regular LLC, I would just pay myself, like write 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.760 myself a check basically, and I just kept doing that. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.360 Last week, I had like the most moments at three 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.440 am when I was like ugh, email Carlos and his 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.839 wife Tian, who does my bookkeeping, and I was like, you, guys, 0:06:58.000 --> 0:06:59.880 I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I feel 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:00.680 like someone needs. 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:01.200 To look at me. 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.760 Can someone come look at me? Look at I just 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.680 wanted to be babysat. And they're like and he's like, no, no, no, no, 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:08.200 Now you're an escorp. You need to be a W 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.600 two And I'm like, yeah, I know, but shouldn't you 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.360 be doing these things even if you have an accountant, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.000 like they don't always like they're busy. It's taxis and 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.160 all that kind of stuff. So even me, I'm like, okay, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.360 someone needs to I don't know what something's off here, 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.880 but at least me reaching out and hopefully i'll I'll 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.960 start paying myself with it like an actual W two employe. 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.640 I mean you can take owner's draws, you know, like a. 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.280 That's what I've been doing. I just tell myself that. 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.560 I'm like yeah, but it was like, what's this? It 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:37.880 has to look like it? What do you mean? 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.360 Well, meaning like you can't just like make a transfer 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:42.640 from one account to another account. It has to like 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.440 you know, be sent to you as like, oh, this 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.440 is an owner's draw like you know, you get your 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.640 cause I get my regular I'm an escort for both 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.280 of my main companies as well. One of them, though 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.360 I'm considering going to a sea corp. So for those 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.560 of you who are like one of these letters, so an 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.480 LLC from what I remember, is like the way the 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.800 state looks at you as a relation to the way 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.600 you're incorporating, right, and so s corpse are also LLC's. 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.240 And what makes LLC's special is that it's a pass 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.520 through entity. That just means that when you pay taxes, 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.160 the business passes through to you and the tax is 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.880 going your personal tax return. Right, So when you are 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.400 a sole proprietor LLC or say like a partnership LLC, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.040 you are still considered like self employed. When you become 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.960 an es corp. That means Mandy officially is a is 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.440 an employee of her business and she no longer has 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:35.160 to pay self employment tax. That's the benefit from adding 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.800 es corp to your LLC. It's like, ooh, but that 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.040 typically you don't You shouldn't do that probably around maybe 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.680 like one hundred thousand a year mark you though, because 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.560 then it's like, okay, now my self employment tax is 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:50.160 going to be too expensive if you're making under one 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.040 hundred thousand dollars a year. Self employment tax you know, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:54.880 in relation to the other taxes you would pay as 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.880 an es corp, is probably manageable. Once you start to 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.160 make six figures are more considering. You want to talk 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.440 to your attorney, talk to your accountant. They'll help guide 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.600 you and they'll do they'll see taxes as a sole 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.600 proprietor LLC taxes as a as an es corp. And 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:11.640 then you know, they'll let you know where you know 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.200 you'll save. And so you move over to the LLC side. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.560 You are now an employee. So Mandy is no longer 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.720 self employed. She has to pay herself a salary. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:21.640 You know it's the worst. 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:26.079 Yea, Now that's what it starts to get out to 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.400 pay payroll taxes though, because that's where I'm like, damn, 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.440 I'm behind three months on payroll taxes. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.760 Now, yes, I've never ahead. 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:34.880 I'm telling you, like, honestly, I've made so many mistakes. 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.319 I'm not even because first of all, Carlo said it, 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:38.720 I think it's time to become a sea corp. Now, 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:40.520 when you're a sea corp, it is not an LLC. 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.480 It does not pass through onto your personal taxes. And 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.280 when I say passed through on your personal taxes, I 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.240 mean this that your company makes one hundred thousand dollars, 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.000 you spend fifty thousand, and there's fifty thousand left over. 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.000 Maybe of the fifty you give yourself twenty five for payment, 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.560 and then you say, I'm going to save twenty five. Oooh, 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.000 the the government does not care that saved twenty five. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.960 It's money that was earned and not spent on the business, 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.440 so they look at it as your earned income. So 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:10.400 you're going to have to pay taxes on the twenty 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.800 five you received and the twenty five you do not receive. 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.160 I did not know that. In the beginning, I was like, 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.360 why am I? I felt broke. I was paying so 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.120 much in taxes, not realizing that my company should be 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.160 chipping in because some of that money was still left 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.800 over in the company for savings, and so that's just 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.640 the whole thing. But then I switched to I thought 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:30.800 a sea corp. We had felt out the paperwork, didn't 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.200 realize it didn't go through. A sea corp is different 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.640 in that you are now an employee, just like anes corp, 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.439 but except for it's not a pass through the company. 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.280 Will pay its own taxes. It doesn't pass on to 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.280 your personal like for example, Jeff Bezos. Imagine him paying, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.160 you know, taxes on the trillion dollars. You know he 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.200 paid taxes in a copy now, but let's pretend like 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.360 he paid so Sea Corps. As you start to make more, 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.240 you know, maybe like seven figures or maybe multiple six 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:58.480 figures than a Sea corp might make more sense. I 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.160 thought I was a seed court Mandy, and we were 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:01.960 filing taxes for like two or three telling me that 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.440 you were something like that. I was not a Sea corp. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:08.319 Yo. 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.400 When I tell you the amount of undoing, the amount 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.920 of undoing, I was like, say what now? So you 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.040 say what now? I was like, so, I guess we applied, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.280 but you know it didn't go through or whatever happened. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.760 And I saw I'm filing taxes incorrectly when I tell 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.920 you the amount of money because Sea Corps technically lowered 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.120 my tax my tax burden. So they're like, oh, sis, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.080 you wasn't supposed to get them breaks. Not only do 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.080 you owe us, you owe us money on what you 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.560 owed as so I know, I'm just saying all this 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.480 to say, like, child, get your finances in order get 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.160 your finances in order when it comes to your business. 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.160 So good luck. Sorry, I hope we didn't scare you. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:49.920 It's like, it's just a five thousand dollars loan dollars 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:51.400 a month. That's a pretty good that's all. That's a 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.880 nice you know, a monthly payment there. Okay, well, let's 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.000 that was that. That went in the directions that I'm 0:11:58.000 --> 0:11:59.520 so glad it went in. But let's take a quick 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.560 break and we'll come back with your next question for 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:06.800 the BAQA. All right, we are back and let's get 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:11.680 into our second question. This one's interesting from Jessica. Jessica says, 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.560 I met a wonderful girl in a retail store one day. 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.000 She was so nice and invited my boyfriend and I 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.559 for coffee. She was really well put together and was 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.360 excited to leave her corporate job and pursue her passion. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.920 When we got to coffee with her, she started to 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.800 mention a mentorship and being part of a mentorship opportunity 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.679 from wealthy people. In short, I'm pretty sure it was 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:33.880 a pyramid setup. Do you all have a point of 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:35.880 view on these? I don't think it's for me, but 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.000 I would love to know your insights since some people 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:42.840 seem to be successful with it, that story took a turn. 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:44.480 I met a wonderful girl. I was like, oh, it's 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.680 a love story. Oh no, it's a horror story. 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.600 I was thinking. I was like and then it was like, wait, 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:52.680 is this a swinger story? What's happening? Because it's like 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.079 me and my boyfriend, I'm like, I'm confused. Yeah, what 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:56.520 are these? 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.839 Is there a wealthy people offering no bullship as a 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.280 pyramids game? I haven't heard of this. 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:05.080 I well I've heard of so right now. What's really 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.560 big that I've seen is that there are a lot 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.880 of masterminds that that's the new thing and so, but 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.959 not in the not with a pyramid structure. So not 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.000 like you know, you bring somebody in and so the 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.040 pyramid structure. Maybe you want to explain like what like 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.120 you know, like one of these like pyramid structure looks 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:21.680 like and then. 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.680 Blue la row And who's the people that sell the knives? 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:27.200 I don't know. I just know I have to save 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:31.520 several Yeah, So basically it's it's it's think of a pyramid. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.040 You have the people at the very tippy top who 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.240 are actually making money, and then they recruit other people 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.720 to come in and start selling the product or getting 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.960 members into their into their business, and then those members 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.480 bring in other recruits, and then those recruits bring in 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.880 more recruits. And the lower down the pyramid that you get, 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.559 the harder it is to actually make money from it. 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.560 And yeah, they it's also called the multi level marketing 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:59.360 yes MLMs. MLMs, and I feel like there's a very 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:04.240 agressive public relations campaign to try to save face for MLMs, 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.760 and people are like really, you know, they get kind 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:08.920 of upset whenever you talk about them and dog on them, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.760 but they target working home sorry women so often, especially 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.000 women who work from home or who are stay at 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.920 home mothers or parents, like and because of that population, 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.600 because they're coming for us, you know, I just feel 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.120 more like we have to really be careful and be 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.280 aware of what it is. So a mastermind. 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.160 So we'll also say this real quick about MLM. The 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.600 thing about MLM, the marker of it being unsavory is 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.640 that there's less a push for you to actually sell 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.000 the product or service and more push for you to recruit. 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.000 So it's like, wait, you know, like you have like 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.600 Lula Row, like literally it wasn't so much that the 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:51.080 people who were selling Luloo were actually making money selling 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.120 the leggings. It was if I can find a Mandy 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.120 underneath me, then she has a mandatory amouth that she 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.080 has to buy. So it literally wasn't like Mandy's selling us, 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:03.960 She's buying it. And so I get a percentage of 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.560 anything that Mandy has bought or sold. I get a 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.760 percentage of that. And so Mandy's like, well, dang, you know, 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.560 I'm running out of money. Let me sign up my sister. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.520 So then her sister has to buy a certain amount. 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:14.760 So it was less about like, oh, selling this great 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.920 product or service and more about signing people up. So, 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.120 just so we're clear, that's why pyramid schemes and those 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.600 MLMs are so detrimental, because the underlying business is not 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.680 good business. You know, it's just about recruiting people versus 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.560 selling good things. But masterminds typically are different. 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:32.920 You were almost going to join the mastermind or did 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.280 you join the mastermind? You're gonna go to some kind 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.920 of conference. I feel like that, zions you too. 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:40.520 So yes, my business coach environment, it was a lot 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:41.600 of money. I want to say it was like ten 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.400 thousand dollars. You know, for that week or whatever. Yeah, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.440 it's a lot. So but the thing about it is 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.120 is that there's no recruiting, Like it's not like hey, Tippy, 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.400 you bring somebody in, you get money. But it doesn't 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.280 mean that there that their masterminds can't be scams to 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.520 anything can be a scam. So a mastermind, at its core, 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:02.440 when it's good, is a group of people who are 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.320 working toward like whatever success. You know, we could all 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.720 be from different backgrounds, and then and you are supposed 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.840 to share the knowledge that you know and like almost 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.680 into a pot, and then people can kind of pull 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.680 from that pot like, oh, I know marketing, Well that's 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.080 great because I know copywriting. Well that's great because I know, 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.680 and you're supposed to you're supposed to share that. And 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:25.000 then typically there's someone maybe who is for some masterminds, 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.800 it's all peers, and for some masterminds there's like one 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.720 person that might be like the mentor of the mastermind. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.280 And so like, I'm not opposed to masterminds. The only 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.040 thing now they've become so expensive and you wonder, like 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:38.880 what's the return. I certainly have friends who are in 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:40.760 some and they say that you know, it's been great, 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.200 Like it's all these wealthy people teaching other wealthy people 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:45.800 how to be wealthy. I've been to one, like I'm 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.800 went to Vegas. I remember, I can't remember how much 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:49.160 it was, but it was like for people who were 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.520 seven figures trying to be eight figures. And certainly I 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.640 learned a lot, but there was a lot of upselling 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.520 at that mastermind meaning at the end saying you learned 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.280 all of this, you can learn even more for a 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.640 hundred thousand dollars. Literally it was a twenty thousand dollars upsot. 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:09.880 I was like, bruh, I flew a economy here, so yeah, 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:11.400 but would you ever don more? 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:16.000 I don't know. I did invite myself to an informal 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.399 like an informal group of fellow online entrepreneurs and just 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.560 you know who get together on zoom every once in 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:24.920 a while. But it's not like a Paige. It's just 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.280 like a networking group because I'm really trying to want 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.240 I want to like find support and find like among 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.720 my peers and all that anyway, so that to me 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.000 has a value. But I'm not necessarily I don't know 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.320 if I'm I don't know. I'm always open to input. 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.520 And I have worked with a business coach and you know, 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:44.760 and I'm I'm definitely open to that, but I don't know, 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.200 Like I did get in. I did see an ad 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.880 for like a two day sort of one of those 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:51.919 is that what you were saying, like you're at seven figures, 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:53.720 you want to be eight or six figures or seven 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:55.320 or something like that. It was two days and it 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:59.240 was like fifteen thousand dollars and nah, no, I mean, 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.400 I don't think I'm able to invest that much from 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:04.040 what I'm making as a business. Like right now, I'm 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:05.480 kind of looking at the math and I'm like, oh, 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.959 that's a couple months worth of income, and nah, daycare 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.080 is expensive. So yeah, math at math and I at 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:13.760