BA Q&A: How Will I Make Money?

want to give. Anyway, We're gonna focus. Okay. I have therapy today, so I'm feeling very zen. Okay, do you guys go to therapy. I feel like if you're black, you need to. I feel like everyone needs therapy, but especially black and brown people. My therapist is awesome, Doctor Green, She's awesome. I recommend therapy because it will help if you are one place. Therapy is like mentorship, right or like you know, being like a having a teacher, because it will help you get to from the place you

are to the place you want to be. In a more concise way because oftentimes I've done a lot of

self work. Like many of you listening, I'm sure you've done a lot of self work, but I cannot tell you how much faster I've been able to get to some of my internal mental emotional goals as a result of therapy that maybe it would have taken me years to kind of figure out on my own, because you know, you're trying and failing, trying and failing, and so a really good therapist helps to give you shortcuts to the place that you want to be internally, and it's top tier, Okay,

top tier. I could not have made it through grief without therapy, and there's just other things I've worked on. I mean, I'm just a I don't even recognize the person that I am. I mean outside of the grief. I was doing therapy before that. And so I just recommend this. You know, this not be a key, but it is really because it's like it's a question some of you guys ask me sometimes, and I just highly, highly highly recommend it. You might have to go through

a few therapists before you find the right one. You want to feel super comfortable, you want to not feel I'm judged or afraid. You get to decide. Like for some people, let's just say you didn't have a mother figure, so you might want a therapist that kind of fulfills that energy for you. You know, for me, I kind of wanted a therapist. I specifically wanted a black woman who was around my age because I needed like a

homegirl esque feel when talking to my therapist. You know, that's the energy that I needed for where I am in my life. Now. I know a friend of mine, his dad is not super present, and he needed He loves the fact that his therapist is an older black man. My friend is a young black man, and you know, he said, because it kind of is like I get to lean into that component that I've been missing. So anyway, I just say all that to say, get you some therapy groom, right Doctor Joy, who we've had on the

show before. Oh you guys have heard of her on the show before. She has a book called out called Supporting Your Sisters. I believe, hey, doctor Joy, but doctor Joy also is the founder of Blackgirltherapy dot com. And I don't believe you have to be just a woman, but I mean, and it's full of therapists who were both men and women. So it's just a great place to start if you're looking, all right, if you're looking for love, I see what eve seen. All right, we're

gonna start with a money question. Then we're gonna do a business question. Okay, okay, all right. So this question came in from the emails, Hi ladies. It was just me, Hey, ladies, why is it you can't go? I'll be cutting up my man, he's not here. I started listening to your podcast late last year and I find it very informative. Thanks. Girl. I turned fifty years old last December twenty twenty. I'm a single mom of a seven year old daughter. Yep.

I'm a late bloomer and a sole financial provider. Okay, so you had your baby when you were forty three, which you know. Oh girl, that's cute, because I'm forty three. Okay. I'm looking for ideas and best options to optimize, slash invest the excess income from my regular job to generate passive income that can help boost my retirement income. Okay.

So she has job, she has excess income left over after paying bills and everything else, and she wants it to She wants her money to make money, so that way she can be ready for retirement. Got you. I'm thinking to retire at about twenty I mean at about sixty two slash sixty three years old, okay, when my daughter finishes high school. That's cute, love that. But I would work a part time for benefits until social Security if there is any to get and Medicare kicks in.

I don't know what Barista fire, but I know what fire stands or fire stands for financial independence retire early, but I don't know what Barista fire is, if I'm being honest. That's what she wrote here. So she wants to retire early because typically retirement age starts about sixty five. She wants to retire early, but she might work a little part time, you know, in the meantime untwil you know, so she can have her benefits. I'm assuming wherever you work,

you won't be able to take your benefits with you. Okay, she says, I own my own house outright, yes, girl, So I only pay taxes, insurance, and HOA utilities monthly. Okay. I have no debt, yes, queen, I stand you. My retirement account is decent and I contribute about sixteen percent of my salary, but not at the catchup max contribution limit. Okay, So just so you know, I believe if you oh my goodness, let's see. Let me remind myself, when can

you start doing retirement catch up? Because you know my memory, there is catch up age you can start, okay, so catch up contributions. You can start doing ketchup contributions when you're fifty. That just me. And there is typically a max that you can contribute to a retirement account like an individual retirement account or a Wroth individual retirement account. So these are just retirement accounts that you have, right, So there are limits. So let's just say the limit

is normally six thousand dollars for the catchup contribution. It might be actually, let's not even guess. Let's look at what it currently is right right about knee, how about now, because I'm up right now? Okay. So so for example, for an IRA contribution for those fifty and older, it's seventy five hundred dollars, which is an additional thousand dollars. Because for everybody else like me, I'm forty three, I can max out in my IRA, my individual retirement account.

I can max out at sixty five hundred dollars a year, but if you're fifty and above, you can put seventy five hundred. They do that because they know some people have not might be behind and setting aside for retirement, and so they're letting you add additional thousand dollars a year. So that's what she's saying. She's not maxing out at

her she's not doing the full catchup contribution. She's not doing the seventy five hundred just yet, but she is maxing out on her HSA that's a health savings account, and she started a WROTH in twenty twenty one, but she's leary. A WROTH is another retirement account, type of retirement account, but she's leary of losing money in stocks outside of her four one K, so she's only putting

about half the annual max. She also has a five to twenty nine plan that's a college fund that you can set aside, and there are tax benefits to that for her daughter. And her emergency fund is six months. Is that six months? In about eight to nine months? If she goes on a noodle budget, girl, you are just so you have an emergency fund of six months, but if you noodle budget, it's really like eight to

nine months. I mean, are you my bestie? I feel I could be doing more, but I'm not sure what I'm about to strangle you because you're doing all the things well. I do have some suggestions. Is this the time that I should probably sit with a financial plan or a financial advisor? And which would you recommend? And why? Thanks for your time, thankful South Florida listener. So, as a recap, we had this amazing fifty year old woman

who has daughter who's seven. She wants to retire about the time that her daughter hits high school, which is in about twelve years. But this woman does not have any debt. She does own her own house, so she has to pay the carrying cost, insurance taxes, and things like that. She is contributing to her retirement fund through her four oh one K as well as a roth ira, which is a retirement account that you can do outside of your job. She's not maxing out either one of those.

She has a five twenty nine plan for her daughter which is a college tax beneficial college savings plan, and she has emergency funds of six months and eight to nine months if she had to get down to get her noodle lawn. So, first things first, I pop up anyway. First things first, what I would say, Florida, South Florida listener is you're doing amazing, amazing, amazing. I just want you for a moment to look into the mirror and say,

I am freaking doing amazing. You are at your debt free, you own your home, you're contributing to retirement accounts, you're contributing to a college from, you have emergency saving. You know what a noodle budget. Girl, I need you to pause for the cause. Breathe in, breathe out. I'm awesome. I'm awesome. I need you to say that because this

is amazing. This is goals. Now. I do see some places where before you start thinking about some other place, because she's saying she's basically wants to know they're like there other ways that she can kind of like make her money work for her. And this is what I say. One you did say you're contributing sixteen percent of your salary to your retirement account, but you're not quite up

to the catch up contribution amount. I say, you know, if you have extra money, consider putting more in your four one K if you're allowed to, because you know you haven't quite put the seven you know, seventy five hundred. That's a place where you can put extra money if

you have extra money. Another thing that you mentioned is that you started a wrath and I know you're a leery of losing money in stocks, but you have over ten years before you are set to retire or you desire to retire, and so typically within ten years, ten to thirteen years is a whole how we see thoughts go down and up and down up, so you have time to rebound. So you might want to consider maxing

out your raw ira as well. So like maxing out your four one K and maxing out your raw ira, you know, those are two places that you can put extra money. Because the thing is this the benefit of a four one K. They both give you tax benefits, but two different sides of the tax game. Follow with me. The benefit of a four to one K is that currently,

right now, it will lower your tax burden. So let's just pretend that South Florida listener makes one hundred thousand dollars year, right and of the one hundred thousand she puts, I don't know I'm just making up the number five thousand into her her four one k. The government says, well, you didn't make a hundred thousand. You made one hundred thousand minus the five that you put up for retirement. So we're gonna charge you taxes not on one hundred

but on the ninety five. So you get your tax benefits up front with a four to one k. Yay, and lower our taxes. We like that. That's cute, right. And then when you go to retire and you start to pull money out, you pay taxes on the back end, so you save on tax on the front end, and then you pay taxes on the back end. That's the benefit of a four to one k front end savings leaning. Now, the benefits of a rawrray is that a raw irray is different in that it is money that you put

into a retirement account after you pay your taxes. So you get your one hundred thousand dollars, you get you paid one hundred thousand dollars a year, but not really when it's all said and done, maybe you get seventy right after taxes and everything else. Right, So from that month, money you set aside and you put it in your wrath IRA. Maybe you put you know, I don't know, three thousand dollars into your raw IRA, so the money

has been taxed. They done got their money, because this is money that you're putting into this retirement account after from your take home paycheck. So but when you go to pull that three thousand dollars out that you've been putting every single year, when you go to pull it out, that money most likely has grown, so you don't have to pay taxes on the money you already pay taxes on, and you don't have to pay taxes on the growth.

So it's like am So what you will hear many financial advisors say is that, like, you want to have a retirement strategy that allows you one to take advantage of paying lower taxes now through your four one K and then paying lower taxes later through your raw IRA, And you're doing both, but you haven't maximized both. So that might be something that you want to look into maximizing both if you have extra, okay, and so like other than that, honestly, it sounds like you're doing a

amazing you know, like it does. I don't know if there are so there is a point where I was here South Florida listener where I was doing all the things. I was maxed out on all things, and I kind of had gotten myself to as good as I knew how to get myself. I didn't have any dead you know, I owned a home, all the things, just like you. And that is when I reached out to a financial advisor and I said, I've done this. I've taken myself as far as I can take myself, and I know

I'm solid, But can I do even better? And that's what I sat with my financial advisor, Anjulie, and she kind of walked me through other things, like, for example, you have a seven year old what is your life insurance looking like? You know, do you have a policy that will be able to look after her? God forbid, something should happen to you, you know, like have you

done estate planning so you won't be here forever? Just because that's the nature of being a human being, right, So how do you want Like so, for example, I have a trust, and my trust dictates how my nieces and nephew and my stepdaughter will receive the funds that I've left behind for them over a period of like between now and Today's thirty. You know, like do you want that for your daughter? So a financial advisor, you know, or well, really you want to Certified Financial Planner c FP,

South Florida Listener. That is the gold standard of financial advisors. Almost anyone can be a financial advisor, but a CFP, a certified financial planner, they have to take tests, they have to you know, they got to they have to like keep their license up. They also have to be a fiduciary, which means by law, they got to put you first. They got to put me first. Solutions, I

gotta put me first. Okay, So there's not like a I can't say, oh, I'm gonna recommend Like obviously I love Angelie, but I don't even know if she's taking on clients right now. But so it's not like, oh, I'm going to recommend this particular financial planner. You're gonna have to interview some You're actually gonna go to Get Good with Money dot Com because I have a tool that you're gonna use, you South Florida Listener or anybody else's listening, not Hustle Magazine. What is going on? Get oh,

I say, get good Money? Oh child, You know, if you type in get Good Money dot Com. It takes you a hustle magazine. Ell get Good Money Hustle Mama magazine. That's hilarious. Anyway, you're going to get good with Money dot com. And there's a little green button at the top that says get the GGWM Get Good Money toolkits. You're gonna click on that, not the book club kit, although you can get that if you want it, but you here for the toolkit. Okay? Do you gonna put

your name and email in? The toolkit? Is gonna pop up automatically on whatever on Kai. And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna scroll down to chapter down down down down dun d d d D. You're gonna scrow down the chapter. I believe it's chapter nine. Yes, no, no, it's gonna it's gonna be me. What did I do? Check? Okay? No,

you're gonna financial professional Okay. You're going to scroll down to chapter ten, a ninety percent hole pick your money team, okay, and you're going to click the first link, which is my sole called Financial Life Template. It's just a free template that I created that I could share with potential certified financial planners before interviewing them. That's literally what it says. It says my sole called financial life template. Use this template to create your own and share it with potential

certified financial planners before interviewing them. Click, you're gonna click, and it's going to open to a Google doc for you. And here is what you're gonna fill out before you even start interviewing financial planners. Okay, and so this is just gonna be really helpful because it's really helpful to

find a planner. When you share this with a planner, you can share before even get involved with them, because they'll be able to say, oh, actually I don't some planner as specialize in helping divorce women or families or millennials or whatever. So I love this template because I used it. I must have sent it out to thirty financial advisors and I only interviewed twelve of them because the other ones were like, oh, no, you're actually not

a fit. So instead of me getting on the phone, I just sent them this said, hey, my friend suggested you here's my financial life in a nutshell. Do you think that I'm a fit? And they got to vet themselves, So one you're gonna do that first okay, and then fool okay after you do the end. You will see also under chapter ten of this toolkit, the third bullet says financial advisor search sites. And there's some search sites.

There's three of them that have on here right, and so you can click on any one of them and start to search for a financial advisor in your area. Remember, you're looking for a certified financial planner, and you want fee only. You don't want to pay someone based upon the percentage of money they have invested, because that gets to be very, very very expensive. Want to be able to pay out a pocket. Some places you can just pay for the conversation for the you know, sometimes you

can pay for annually for the year. So if it was me South Florida listener, I don't know that I would sign up for somebody to work with them for the whole year. You might not need to do all that. You might just need to sit with someone, pay for two hours or three hours of their time and say here is my my you know, my soul called financial life, which is basically what you just did in this email, and here's where i'd like to be. What are some suggestions that what I should do? You know, and they

can just make those suggestions. You could do them to yourself. And if you find that there are heavier lift than you think, then you maybe you can hire them to help you do that. Does that make sense? Okay? And right, we're gonna wrap up and do your homework again. Okay, you're gonna go again to get good with money dot com. That is, I wrote a New York Times best selling book. YadA, YadA, YadA. But there's a free toolkit there that you're going to

get instant access to. You can scroll to chapter ten. First bullet, download that life template. Anybody could do this. This is like for everyone listening, right, fill that out. Third bullet. Start using these sites to find a financial advisor. And when you see when you're interested in and you can ask family and friends before you get on the phone,

so you don't waste their time in yours. You're gonna send them your my so called financial life temple that you fill down and let them, you know, let them decide whether you're a fit or not, and then start to interview them. Okay, again, certify financial planners only, fee only kind. There's also a ton of resources here that are all free. Well, yeah, for the most part. Yeah, I mean some of these are like book suggestions, so maybe those are not free, but you know what I mean,

Like my stuff Inta is free. Okay, Okay, wasn't that good or whatever? It was? All right, We're gonna take a break, a pause for the calls, a post for the calls, and ate a pose for the calls. We're gonna take a cause for the cause. That was a great letter. Honestly, I love when you know we have it all together, you know, and I love the fact that you're reaching and wanted to do better and more. But I I just hope you patch yourself on the back.

You're doing incredible in Clintee Black. Hey, all right, we'll be back in a moment. And I'm back and I'm black and I'm brown ambition. Shit, I'm back and I'm black and I'm brown ambition. I'm black and I'm black and I'm brown ambition. Don't you wish we could be friends? Hey? Okay, so we are back for question new it all dose? Sidebar? What do you guys do? Like? I? You know, round these parks. I don't celebrate the fourth because when the fourth of July was conceived, my people who are still

in slang fery. Okay, but I do enjoy that day off to do whatever the hell I want to do. And we went to the shore. I rented a shorehouse and have my family and friends come on through, which was pretty awesome. This is my third year in the road doing it. You know what I really love about kids. They will have doing things that you won't do for yourself,

but you absolutely will do for them. Right. So I started to do the short house because Mimimi and my row Row, my sister's two kids that live closest to me, and I gotta shout out Lily, that's my other niece. She's not booboo too, she just lives in Chicago, so I don't see her as regularly. But my Mimi and my row Row, well, like Auntie, I've never been to a beach, but I saw it on YouTube Can we go? And I was like, not only could we go, I'm

gonna run a house. And I did like two years ago or three years ago or whenever before COVID, and then they enjoyed it so much. They were like, ooh, well, we're gonna go back to your beach house. I was like, it's not my house. They're like girls semantics whenever you're going back. And so last year we went again, and then this year we went again, and it was so much fun and it was like such a blessing, honestly, to be surrounded. That's one of the things I learned

in therapy. Like my my doctor Green always reminds me. She said, Tiffany, you are extremely bused. I am. I am inundated with love. I mean between y'all, because y'all will be low on me hard. Okay. I can't even step out these streets without a black woman coming up to me and pouring good thoughts and love and kindness into me, you know. And then I have amazing family, and even you know, I want even more amazing but amazing friends, you know, and then like I have y'all.

And so when I was at the beach House June twenty eighth, is my was my sixth wedding anniversary, it would have been well, I guess you can still say, I don't know child. So this is my second one without Darrell. And so the first year I didn't want to be with anybody like I had rented like a house in upstate New York. So I can scream and cry by myself, which I did, and this time I wanted to be surrounded by love and I was even even my bonus baby she was there, which is so

nice because you know, she's sixteen, so child. She act like she didn't want to do nothing, but last minute she's like, I think I'm gonna gal. I was like, for reals, she came and she had a really good time too, So it was nice to be surrounded. But I live, so yeah, I just was just sharing like what my you know what my fourth of July or whatever, fifteen days after the Juneteenth as we call around these

parts look like. But I hope you know you are also surrounded by love, you know, because the crazy thing about loss of loss of life is life still goes on. It's like the weirdest thing, you know, because you're like, wait, how come everything has not paused? How come the world has not paused? The world doesn't pause, so life can be lost and life still goes on at the same time, and it is the trippiest, hardest, most just craziest like ride to go on. Some days I'm okay, some days

I'm not okay. But I know one of the things I talk about the grief so much with y'all is because so many of you come up to me and tell me how you lost, like your own partner or your child, or your mom or your dad or your aunt or whoever you love so deeply and dearly, and you say you just appreciate hearing the ups and the downs, and you know, like the truth of what grief looks like here to like not make it this hidden dark secret.

Like no, you know, if you are fortunate enough not to have have gone through an extreme loss, then you know you're really fortunate because it shifts you at the most cellular level. You are no longer the same, you know, and all you can hope is that somehow you can see yourself through, although you carry that thing with you forever, you know, Like, I don't care how many years have passed.

I don't care how many years have passed. Whenever I I was talking to someone the other day, we were talking about business, and he kind of casually mentioned like, oh, yeah, nine years ago, you know, that's when my son was tragically murdered. And I was like what what? I was like, I'm so sorry, And he was taken by surprise and I told him. I was like, you know, I lost

my husband less than two years ago. He was like yeah, And we're both really quiet on the phone for a while, and I was like, I know people might tell you spend nine year. It hasn't like nine minutes, right, He was like yeah, And so you know, I like to take a pause to honor the fact that I don't care if it's been nineteen years, ninety years, or nine minutes. You know, a loss's loss is loss, So you know you are allowed to feel that and lean into it

like a wave. That's what doctor Green teaches me that grief. Once. She taught me that that worked so well that sometimes in the beginning, girl, you just drowning. Go ahead and drown. Just make sure people around you can catch you, because what you're gonna do. But over time I learned that sometimes the wave that normally would drown me in the very beginning, I was bracing as if it was gonna

drown me. But she's like, if you just waited out, you find that the wave actually just hit your ankles and then goes back into the ocean and then get

your knees and go back into you. Like if you just waited out that not every wave knocks you out, and so once I literally started to visually imagine when the wave of emotion and sadness come over me, I would visually imagine it like standing at the edge of the ocean at the shore or Florida or wherever, and then realizing, oh, this is just a temporary this is not this is not a tsunami. This is actually not gonna knock me out. I just have to wait it out.

Sometimes it's moments, sometimes it's you know, minutes, sometimes a seconds. I can little be brushing my teeth and just start hysterically crying and I'm like a cry, go ahead, and then the wave will wash over me and then I'll go back into the sea. And that has helped tremendously. So it's not fighting against it. It's like the wave is gonna wave either way. Just be still in the moment.

So I hope that helps you. So I know that seems random, but it's not random, because I was talking to one of my mentees today that recently just lost his grandmother a couple of days ago, So it just had me thinking about grief all over again. And he has been in business for a couple of years and you know, he's been having a hard time, and he was just asking, like, how do you just even start, Tiffany, you know, like he's it's been like I think, like

five years. He's made a little money here there, you know, and it's like not from this big budget niece to space where like I have an access and knowledge that d da, d DA, how do you just start? And so me answering the question for him. And it's funny because he called me and then I have another mentee who has like a business that you probably know if I say it, but still he was kind of struggling too.

He has a business with his wife, and I was like, I know his wife for a long time, and we were talking on the phone for like an hour, and I was just kind of pouring into him, and I thought, this is going to be a good question to answer, like how how do you how do you start? You know, how do you start to walk towards success in business?

And what both of them, they both have businesses that very much are good for the community, you know, like it's good for our community, Like these are black centric focused businesses that are meant to uplift and uphold and enhance and empower our communities. And so they've been doing that work for a number of years and they're like, but I'm not making sustainable money. And this lesson took me a long time to learn. But you've been a learner to day. You can't go get you a notebook,

Go get you a notebook. So here's a lesson I had to learn because I too have a community based business, that doing a good job with the community side is not the same thing as making money. I know. It's like, what, Okay, you have to have an impact plan if that's what you's so desire, and then a separate income plan. Many of us who start businesses to be of service to our people, we already have the impact plan. We know it's built into our DNA or you out here to help,

right And then like, and I know, you know. It took me four or five years of perfecting my impact plan and wondering why I was still broke before I realized I don't actually have a plan to make money. I just assume if I make the bigger the impact money would come. Is say, lie, maybe every once in a while you get a little lucky. You almost say you hit a lack. But the truth of the matter is that's not actually how it works. Like, that's really actually not how it works. That like you have to

have a separate income plan. Here's a crazy thing. You can have major impact make no money. You can have all this income and not have impact on people in a positive way. That's the crazy part. Like you could if you could literally just have an income plan and have a successful business. But how you want to sleep at night? Because I sleep good, So I like to have an impact and an income plan. Okay, Now how you and yours do in your household, that's up to you.

But what I'm saying is is that you always have to have an income plan. How will I make money separate from the impact? How will I make money? And so I started once I realized that, I started to really look at I'm like, wow, all the things I'm doing to create impact, none of these things make me money. And if I'm being honest, the budget NISA, which is my first business, my first baby, I still struggle with that because my first mind is always impact, impact, impact.

I'll give you an example. I recently did a wealth walk in Maryland, and so my wealth walk went really good. Like the first Wealth walk I had in Jersey, I think like fifty people showed up, which was nice. We just walked and talked about money. The second walk I had a Mayland, about one hundred people showed up, and then this time we went live and four thousand people

showed up live. It went great. But the Wealth Walk is impact and it was such a heavy lift for my team, and it cost me money to fly out there and to get a hotel to hire the photographer and da da da da dah. There was no income men and people keep saying, ooh, can you do a Wealth walk, kreq, I can't afford to do that, And I'm struggling with want to do more Wealth walks because they were It was so amazing because one y'all know, I've been a walking child right since has been getting

snatched right. And I know for our community, especially for black and brown people, but especially for black women, the impact of like of distress and diabetes and high blood pressure and hypertension, all these things we carry in our body, that walking is a great tool that for the majority of us, is not overly taxing. You know, it's a community based activity. It's so good for your legs and your limbs, and also for most people, not everyone. I

know that everyone is not able. But the beautiful part about the Wealth Walk is that we walk and then those who could not walk, we came back anyway to a you know, safe, secure place and then we talk about money. And the last one I did was with the counsel Counselman at large, Will Juando in Maryland, and he talked about how to how to lean into legislation and your polo titians in a way that will impact

your wealth. So it was awesome. I mean, Will was so knowledgeable from how to get money for your businesses to how to purchase a home using the tools available to you in your state. It was just so impactful. No income, all of that awesome. And I know if I do the next one two hundred and the next one three hundred and next one front and no income and I realize, okay, I have to have an income plan. And so some of the things I can do is I can sell T shirts like Wealth Walk T shirts.

I thought about that. Also, I can say, hey brands, hey brands, looking like you always do, why don't you sponsor or Wealth Walk because you get these people in person one hundred, two hundred and three hundred, and then on top of that, you get thousands of people watching the walk the talk part of the Wealth Walk, and so there's like, you know, potential for sponsorship there. So I have not done those things yet. But what I'm saying is that even me a season entrepreneur, teen years

in the game, I still struggle with the income impact component. Okay, And so I was telling my mentees about So here's how I had him start and hopefully these these will help for you. You ready, get shippad down. I know you're probably driving in the car and to pull over to the side of the road, get your pen on. I say, here are the steps. One I always visualize whenever I'm trying to reach your goal. I always visualize a white board, typically a corkboard, and I say, put your numbers on

the board. So I want you to visualize a whiteboard or a corkboard and put a number at the top of the board. And so that number can be a number of people you want to sign up for your email list or whatever. But we're talking about income right now. So we're gonna put an income number on the board and it has to be folk, it has to be

based on something to concrete. So for one of my mentees, it was based upon he was filing some paperwork for his business or whatever, and like he had some lawyer feeslah blah blah, and I was like, add up those feeds so you can get very clear on the number, you know, So for you, you want to get very clear on. So I don't want you to just come up with some random and oh I would love to

make ten thousand, I don't care about all that. What number do you need to make for a specific reason, because it's going to give you purpose to walk toward it. So you might say, honestly, I need to make three thousand, five hundred because that's how much three months worth of rent and the place that I want to rent I don't know, and just make it to them. Or maybe you need to get materials for whatever. The paintings that you sell and the materials you added it all up is

like two hundred, I don't know. Get that number on the board and a timeframe. Numbers are critical, So that's going to go on the top of your board. You can go on a real board or the board in your head. Okay, that goes first on the board. Okay, very clear. So it's the number that you need to hit, specific number based upon a specific goal and a timeframe. Those two numbers go on top. Second on the board. Is that's your I must make number. Second number on

the board is your like to make numbers. So let's just say it's twelve hundred dollars is what you need to make in order to buy the materials to do your paintings. But ideally you would love to make two thousand dollars those in the next three months. So maybe you said to yourself, you know, I want to like, you know, I have three months because I don't know essence fast or invest fast or whatever's coming up, and I need my paintings to be ready by then, you know,

or whatever. I'm just making it up, Like that's why you have the three month timeframe. You needed to make the twelve hundred because you added up how much pain and whatever things you need are going to cost you in twelve hundred is what you need to make. Second number on the board, what I like to make. It would be cute if I could make two thousand. Now, okay, a little boost up, a little reach. So that's the

second number on the board. You with me, Okay, third thing on the board is I want you if you already have been in business, I want you to write down a number of ways you've already made money before. So I'd say, you know, I did sell one painting before, or I did sell a T shirt before, or you know what, my sister's best friend did pay me to make a cake. I need you to write down all

the ways you've made money before. And if you haven't made any money because you're brand new, I need you to write down ways that people have made money in the space that you're in before. I'm not talking about big, big ways. I'm talking about people who are similar size to me. You're like, Yo, my homegirl, you know she sold I don't know, acrylic nails, or she's done retightening of hair or whatever that is. So either ways you've made money before, or ways that you've seen someone who's

about at your level has made money before. Okay, write down as many ways as possible. You're right, you're ready, So remember number one, how many time frame and a specific amount that you want to make within that timeframe based upon specific goals, not just these random things based on specific goals. Two same timeframe, but your stretch goal, add another five hundred to it, and add a thousand

to it. Stretch goal. Three ways that you've already made money in this space already, or ways that you've seen people who are at your level, very beginner level made money in this space. Okay, and so we're doing three now three A is now here? Are here are the ways that? Cause you can't do all the things right. So let's just say you write down ten different ways that you've made money in this way before, or you've seen people who are beginning make money in this way.

You can't chase all of them. So you're gonna write down these four questions you're gonna ask yourself, and it has to say yes to these four for you to decide if maybe you're gonna do it. One you have to ask yourself, like ideally, you know, oh, I think it's three questions really but really r Like I said, have you made money in this way before? Right? Have I made money in this way before? Or have I seen someone who is very beginning make money in this way?

Cause we wanna know is it possible? We're not guessing out here. Now, this is not your life business plan ten year plans for this is a make money now planning the next three months, right or four months or whatever? Have I made money like this before? Have I seen a beginner make money like this before? Yes? Moving along? Two? Can I do this by myself? Because one of my friends he was like, oh, if I only had a team,

I'm like, what that's like saying? If I only had a magic wand duh, if we all have humongous teams, if we only had a million dollars, if we only had no worries, if I only could eat cake, can I get fat? I mean, what are we saying? Of course? But you don't got none of them things? So step two is can I do it without a team? Can I do this by myself? Like I said, this is not a forever plan. This is just in the moment plan so I can get to my first major financial goal.

You know, can I do this by myself? When I first the first six seven years, by Jesus, it was me myself and not that's all I got to the end, and I don't know that. Okay? Can I do it by myself? That's question number two? If you can't do it by yourself. Like, if you're fortunate, then maybe you're your significant others helping and maybe you got assist helping. Great Q for you, but in large part for most of us, can I do this by myself? To start?

Third question, can I is this possible within a time frame? Because sometimes what I will find, especially with a new entrepreneurs so I'll have these huge ideas, but that's a five year plan. Bro were talking about five months from now, Max, Like, don't give me no five year plan. You don't have no money coming in tomorrow, Like you might not be here in five years to see that through. Can I

do this within my time frame? I would not make a time frame more than five months, honestly, I'm looking like three months on the average that timeframe, you know, Like, can I do this within the timeframe? Is that possible? Yes? I can bake a cake and sell a cake within three months? Okay, there you go. And then fourth is do I not have to come out of pocket? Really? Or is it nomenal? Meaning like hmm, like what can I do to keep my cost as low as possible

because I don't have any money? You know, like maybe baking a cake You'm like, oh, I do have to spend a little bit of money to start. Well, what's cheaper than the ca Hey? Are cookies cheaper than cakes? I could sell that instead, you know what I mean? Or can I do pre orders of these cakes instead for people who already eating cakes from me? Can I do it without taking much money out of pocket or zero money out of pocket? You see how you have to be clever. So those are the fourth questions you're

asking Under number three, Have I done this before? Made money? Because you want to? I don't want you guessing, So that is your preliminary I ain't never made no real money. I'm still super new in business. Or you've been in business for a while, but you're not really sure, like you know why you're not making no money? That is a preliminary income plan. Ain't that good job? I'm not gonna lie. I'm smart, you know, but for real, that's

a preliminary plan. And when I told it to my two and I've got about three male menties everybody else's like women, and I told it to them, they were like, oh my gosh, I could do that. Right away, they started texting me like, Yo, here's all the fees that I have to pay, and so I know my number thirty eight hundred dollars. I know my number twelve hundred dollars. Okay, in three months, I really have to have it done or this thing expires. Okay, but my stretch numbers, I

would love to make forty five hundred dollars. Okay, here are the three ways that I've made money before. Then we started to look at those ways. Once those ways answer those four questions, Boom, I've made money like this before. I've seen someone do it. Boom, and don't take more money out of pocket or very little Boom. I could do it within a timeframe. Boom, I could do it by myself and answer those questions. Then we started to, like I said, let's put some money, more money on

the board. Once you start to you look at your list of number three, you start to eliminate those things though, don't say yes to those four questions. And then I started to say, okay, you sold merch before we told me that the merch made you two hundred and fifty dollars. Can you put merch down for five hundred? I think if you did two fifty on some old la la la la, I think you do five hundred in three

months if you did two fifty in one month. He was like, yes, So now we're starting to cross things off the board because you want to make three thousand dollars. Okay, you already down like we've already made we can put merch down for five hundred dollars. So now you're down to twenty five hundred dollars that needs to be made. What else I could do speaking? Okay? Because before he was like, oh, I don't know how many speaking engagements

A how I should charge for speaking engagement? But now, bruh, I said, look, if it was me, I'm looking at the board, I'm looking at the people who want me to speak. You let them know I would love to make fifteen hundred, but in your mind you might take six or seven hundred, okay, And so you might even push to say, you know, do you have a budget of two thousand? If they push back to fifteen or at least one thousand a thousand, damn, you already halfway done.

Cause he said, there's some speaking people who have asked him to speak, and he's always been like, oh no, I'm like, get your no less than five hundred, push for at least one thousand dollars, you know, but ask for maybe twenty twenty five hundred. See what they say. So he was already like, yo, okay, march down for five hundred, speaking down for fifteen hundred. Boom, Now we're at two thousand, other three thirty five hundred that you need, boy,

you know, and so slowly but surely. You see how you go from I don't know what I do to boom boom boom boom boom boom boom, let's go. Well that was first ices in that When I was a kid. I'm like, do you remember that song? Boom boom boom, Let's go back to my room. So I was like in second grade anyway. But you see how you go quickly from like here, it's an actuable income plan that I can do today. Is that really helpful? Because then you can start assigning amount that you believe you can make.

That's why asking yourself the question have I made money in this space before? Because then you can say if I was able to make two hundred, maybe I can make four. Or if my friend or someone who I saw do it, you know, I see that they if I can estimate they made about a thousand. Maybe I could do two thousand. You see what I mean. So I hope that was helpful. You know, I love me some personal finance, but I also love some business. So

here's the thing. Here's the thing. When you started a friends, if you want me to mentor you, which you know you do? No, you no, you no, you know you do. I actually have a mentorship program called mymntor Tiffany dot com. We use this platform called Patreon, and it's twenty bucks a month. It's like two sixteen for the year, because I think you get like ten percent off if you pay for the year. And the benefit if you pay for the annual is when I come to your city.

So whenever I go to a city, I try my best to have a mentee dinner with about twenty to twenty five women as much as a restaurant will allow, which usually they cap it at twenty five, and then we have dinner together and we get to like introduce ourselves to each other, share our businesses. I mean, it's just an amazing time. Like in Maryland it was about

twenty two of us. It was awesome. But if you pay annually, I set aside the first half of the tickets for annual members to because it always sells out. I set aside the first half of the tickets that they get to buy first, and then I leave it like I open up to the rest of the mentees. That's the benefit of being an annual member. You get ten percent off and you get access to things before

everybody else because it always always sells out. So yeah, if you want to join you on a twenty bucks a month, my mentor Tiffany dot com, I don't talk about personal finance there. Don't come there like I need. I have to live richer Academy dot com for that. If you want a personal finance you know courses. But my mentor Tiffany is really me mentoring you in business. Okay,

So hopefully that was helpful. I know that was kind of around or word, but I just know that was really helpful for them, and you know, hopefully that was helpful for you. And I will see you at the next b a q a A b a q A wit to say the b a q A with Tiffany the b a q A see your next Friday. All right, bye, y'all, Hey ba fam. We could not do this show without your support or the support of our team behind the scenes. The brown Enviision podcast is produced by Imani Crosby and

Dennis and Plinsky is our in house tech guru. I am your co host Mandy Woodrif Santos, and we will see y'all next week. Ba Fam