Learning Lessons For 2024 (BA Q&A)

you know knows a thing or two. But you're gonna take my advice with the smallest grain of salt, and you are going to ask somebody else to take you on the finish line. Okay, AKA Sue your grandma, not me. All right, So today's b a q A it's gonna be a little different. I'm gonna answer like just a general question I've been getting about setting intention for the new year, and then I'm going to share a business answer or a business scenario, a mistake that I made

and how I've been able to navigate through it. Okay, So that way you get a little money baqa, you get a little business baqa. Okay, So one setting your intention for the new year. Right. So we're in twenty twenty four, and it can be very easy to fall into the same old habits and we don't want it. We don't want it. So in order to have your life look different at the end, you have to do

something differently. So I'd like to do something called dreamscaping. Okay, I don't know if I made up that word or not, but honey, I'm using it. So what is dreamscaping? Dreamscaping is when you dream across the landscape of your mind. Right, So I want you to think of like your mind as this big open field and rolling hills and blue skies and clouds, and it's it's like this open expanse

of space. So I always like to think, like what Montana must look like like open, like they call a big sky country where all you see is sky and flat green land. That is where I want you to

position your mind. If you're driving, cys focused on driving, but if you're sitting or walking or doing dishes or laundry, take a moment to close your eyes and imagine this big, open, wide space where the sky is blue, the clouds are puffing, the grass is green, and it's empty, and you get to add whatever you want into this beautiful, expansive space. It is important that the space feels expansive. If you

cannot visualize it, Google is your guru. Go ahead on a Google Montana, big sky country, or big open space. You know, maybe you know that's a visual that doesn't help for you. Maybe you need to see the desert, maybe you need to see ocean. Whatever feels expansive to you. I want you to to visualize that and imagine that, and then I want you to start thinking about how you just start to fill this space with the things that you want to see by the end of the year.

It is important that sometimes we dreamscape and we say what I want in five years or ten years or two months. That's great, but we're not doing that now. We're talking about how and who do I want to be December thirty first, twenty twenty four. That's the person we're looking at right now, right so you can use this dreamscaping for whatever, but for like for these purposes now at the beginning of the year, that's what we're

looking at. I want you to imagine as you start to identify categories in your life, who and how do I want to be? So one question you can ask yourself. You can get yourself a notebook or like one of those those big like poster boards or you know they have like you ever see the paper that's like the chart paper or whatever, you know, and start to write down some categories that you want to add to the big expanse of space. So, categories include health, It might

include partnership or relationships. It might include business or career. It might include So I want you to think of big, big, big, high level categories. I'm trying to think some of the ones. I might include adventure, that's what I have on mind. It might include finances, you know, hello hello, Right, So I want you to think of anywhere from three to

six things. You know, if it's more, that's fine because we're not here to limit nobody, but at least three big expansive categories that you're going to start to fill this expansive space with. Right, So you have these things written down, you know, you can visualize them. I'm closing my eyes as well too, into this big, expansive big

sky country. And then under each of these categories, I start to get a little bit more specific of Okay, how do I want to show up in this space by December thirty first, twenty twenty four or a year from now. So let's just say in the health space, for me, it might be like, Okay, in the health space, there might be a size I want to maintain, Like right now, your girl's a good nine ten, you know

what I mean. I like, I think it's cute, you know, because I'm a woman of a certain Areas'm forty four and so like, you know, a four at least for my build is not cute. You know, for your bill it might be. But for me, like all through when I was younger, I was like a six, and honestly, a six for me was really skinny, just because the way I'm built, I'm tallest, like five seven, almost five

to eight. You know, your girl got booty, and so at the age I am now, I find that an eight is a little too small for how I like to present physically. But like a nine ten, it's real cute. I look snatched. You know, you guys be compliment to me, like, gir you look good. I'm like, I know, I know anyway. Right, So for the health component, it might be I want

to maintain a ten. But also for the health component, it might be I want to regularly visit, you know, keep my doctor's appointments because your girl ain't been going, you know all. So for the health component, I want to maintain my walking schedule and bump it up. So I started to do the five k training that I talked about last year late last year. Thank you guys

for the app. I'm using the couch to five k app, which is awesome, and so like the you know that, I want to maintain and maybe even run a five k. I want to start strength training again. So these are some of the things under my health category. And so I'm in that space, I visualize myself what a strength strength training look like. I'm walking through the field. I see myself in the big expansive space using free rates, you know, I see myself in the big expansive place

like for health for myself too. A friend of mine gets like vitamin drips every once in a while, every quarter, and she said it makes her feel amazing. And I kind of want to try a vitamin drip because I'm not gonna lie your girl don't take a vitamins like she should. And I'm like, I wonder if once a quarter, because I get sick every fall. It's even if I just do it once a year, right before I get sick in the fall. What does maybe vitamin C drip? What can that? Do? You know? For health? You know?

Can I get massages more regularly? So these are some of the things that are in that I list under that category as I think to myself, how do I want my life to look by December thirty? First? Who do I want to be by December thirty? First? I imagine myself in the field doing these things. So that's step two, right. So step one is that you want to set the categories. Step two you want to start to list how you want to look, feel, taste, all that in those specific categories. And then step three is

what does that look like month to month? So I start to get more specific. So I have a category called relationships, and one of those categories. One of the items in that category are friendships. Right, and so like that big category of relationships, one of the bullets is friendships. I was just talking to my friend Cabrell the other day when he's one of my best friends, and Cabrell is like this amazing foodie. He's got a great palace.

Is always like introducing me to like really great restaurants and things. And there was a restaurant that was closing down. He's like, oh man, this was all my Tiffany Eats list. And I'm like, what's that? He said, I have a list of restaurants Tiffany because we go out to dinner or whatever and where it's like, here's a place that me and Tiffany can eat. And I thought, huh, how

can I be more intentional? So I put down under so category relationships, bullet point friendship goals, like what it looks like monthly is what if on purpose every month Coubrella lie on like the third Friday of every month we go to a new restaurant on the Tiffany Eats list. Because it's one thing to say, like, oh, you know, I'm gonna do this thing. I'm gonna spend more time with my friends. But now I've gotten very specific, not pacific like the ocean. Don't do that. It's a new year.

Some of you I've been saying Happy New Years with an S and it's upset me and my mama. So we're gonna take that s right, and we're gonna put it on specific right, Okay, come on back right, So like now I have it on my list. Okay, this is what it looks like. December thirty one. Tiffany is someone who goes out to dinner with Cabral on purpose, not just really need, like you free, I'm free on purpose every third Friday as long as we're both here,

because he travels a lot to a new restaurant. Honestly, I'm like, well, I'm excited about that. And so my sisters, as you all know because I talk about them all the time, most of them live close to me, except for Karen, the oldest. She lives in Chicago. And so I said, I want to We were supposed to have a sister lunch. And so I was like, you know what relationships write big category under big category of relationships, family, right, that's the bullet and under family sisters. What can I

do to connect with my sisters more regularly? The kids are in school, my sister Carol's kids, So if we do a sister lunch once a month, let's add that. But do you see how all of a sudden, it went from I want my life to be good? What does that even mean? What does that mean? You know? You start to now in that big expanse of space, I see my sisters and I having lunch different places. Or maybe here's the thing. Maybe me and my sisters we have lunch at the same place every month because

it's not about exploring new places, it's about sisterly connection. Actually, now I'm saying that out loud, I'm like, I think I like that because then you become like, oh that those are the fabulous girls that come every third Wednesday? Or I liked that's cute, right, So maybe my sisters and I go to the same place every third Wednesday and me and Cabrell choose a different phrase every third Friday.

Does that make sense? That, like, if you want your life to be different, you want to be intentional about how you're navigating, and you can't be intentional until you get clear. And once you get clear, what does that look like in action form? So now I'm gonna I'm creating this list of action form. Now do I believe I'm going to do it every single thing? Now? But if I have ten action things that I'm gonna do, but delightful action things, right, So like having dinner with

cabrel or lunch my sisters. I mean, we're a crimea river. That's not bad, you know. But if the ten things I do, three of those things I have effectively transformed a part of my life. So December thirty one, Tiffany is a different Tiffany than January first, Tiffany. Does that make sense? And so that is one of the ways I dreamscape and what I suggest for you if you you know, it's so early on in the year, it's a great time to set intentions, you know. I believe

that twenty twenty four is a year of intentions. To be intentional about how you're going to navigate, to be intentional about how you're going to show up. Like for me, I have adventure, and my big bullet under adventure is travel. So it's not enough to say I'm going to travel more. No, I was like, what does that mean? I started to list the places I wanted to see South Africa. I've always wanted to go. Guess what, I booked a trip just the other day. It's South Africa plus South Africa.

It's like Botswana, South Africa's Namimbia. I think it's like four different countries that I'm going to in May with this like Black Girl travel group, which I'm so excited about. I was on the fence. I'm like, who whoa well, you said you wanted travel. You know you got specific. You said South Africa. This place is take me to South Africa and beyond deal with. I also want to see the Northern Lights. I read this study that said that the Northern Lights, which are like this beautiful light

show that happens near like the North Pole. I'm like, so Alaska, Norway, Finland, you could see them there. They're going to be the strongest they've ever been in the next two years. So I want to see them. So I wrote that down. I want to see the Northern Lights, you know, and I should write that exactly where. So but do you see, the more specific you get, you can start to check things off. You know, it's hard to accomplish the thing that you've been vague about you vague.

It's vague too, you know. Connectedness is something else on my list I've been. I got invited to a mastermind in Dubai, and y'all know I don't have a good time Dubai. Last time I went, I was like, I guess girl, it's a little too manufactured for me. But the people go into this mass and I honestly sound awesome. And one of my really good friends is going, and I was like, Tiffany, are you going for Dubai? Are

you going for the connectedness on your dreamscaping chart? I was like, ooh, that's right, So guess what your girl's going to be in Dubai in March to navigate that connectedness. And look what happened. When I said yes, I called my girlfriend who's going. I was like, hey, girl, I heard your senior. You're going to this small Mastermind. It's just like eight of us. And a friend of mine owns a house in Dubai. She lives there and she's hosting us. And she's like yes, and I said, well,

it's only a two day Mastermind. Girl, I'm not flying eighteen hours for two days. Do you want to stay in Dubai a little longer? Even though it's not my fave? And she was like, actually, after Dubai, I wanted to go to Singapore because I've always wanted to go. Do you want to go? I was like girl, it was to list, It's all my list, Neil. I was like, absolutely, I'd love to go. That was part of my connectedness.

I want to connect with more people in the professional space where I am and now look what happened when I open myself up. So I hope that's some encouragement for you. I'm excited about twenty twenty four. As my sister Tracy said, it's gonna be a banner honey, a banner year. And if you are looking for tools and resources to help you with the financial part of your of your list, go to like follow my ig the Budgeanista.

I did the five days of New Year. Literally, I have like on the first day of New Year, Budgeanista gave to me, so every day for five days, so today is the last day, so you should see it. But every day for five days I dropped two resources, one at noon, one at six pm. And you can still get access to all those resources for the next you know, I guess I don't know the next few weeks or whatever. So go hand on over to at

the Budgetista. You will see them all labeled the days of the new year and the tools and resources you need to stay and get on financial track for twenty twenty four. A large part of them, more than half of them, are free guy, because you know your girl got you. I'm going to take a break and come right back with a business life lesson that you could take with you into the new year. So we'll be back in black and it ever. Honey, bye, and I'm back in black and brown. Okay, okay, So okay, we

started with the good stuff. So I wanted to share a lesson that I've learned early on. So I don't typically make a ton of mistakes in business because I try to operate at the highest possible level. Okay, but I made a big mistake. So I had a partnership a little while ago with the organization with the company, and I trying to say what I have saying all things. The way I marketed was not aligned with how they

show up in business. And it wasn't like I didn't do anything like wrong, like you know, you know, but I didn't read the room. I'll just say that. And I just had a call with them not too long ago where they gave me a bit a tongue lashing, which I'm not used to because crying honestly, you know, when you when you partner with the butcher in Neusta, we show up and show out right. So it was the first time in fifteen years I didn't get it right.

And I was so glad that when I got on the phone because there was something there was like a glitch in the system. So I was calling about the glitch, and I was upset about the glitch. But something said, I know you're upset about the glitch, Tiffany, but it's the new year. We're gonna open pleasant, We're gonna you know, we're not gonna We're not gonna come out come in hot because of this glitch. And so you know, we had to call what I thought was gonna be about

the glitch. And I'm so glad I didn't come in hot, like y'all. Y'all had a glitch. You need that fixing, you know, because that was my hoard. But something said, girl, we're not doing all that. I just said, hey, seems like there was a glitch. Let us know what we can do on this end to kind of like work around, and blah blah blah. Child. They was like, girl, yeah, ye about that glitch. You messed up in this way. I was like, say what and I did when I look back on it, and I'm like, wow, it was

not intentional. And the first thing I did was I listened. I took it, and I said, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I see the mistake we made. Here's how we got there. Not to excuse it, but here's how we got there. I didn't blame anybody on my team, as I assumed full responsibility, and I said, here's how that choice was made. But looking back on it now, that was not the best choice. That's and I said that, and I said it was a mistake and it was not intentional, but

you know, still the damage has been done. What can we do? I offered up some solutions about what I can do to remedy that, and it went from he was like, the person we were navigating with was rightfully angry when they first came out. They weren't rude at all, but you could feel the tension and it totally diffused. And he was like, Okay, you know, thank you for that. Basically, and you know what that glitch part. I could see

our role in that. I mean, that was really kind of them to, you know, to to you know, take on some of that that was like, you know, a peace offering, and we navigated what it's going to look like moving forward, and you know, I was embarrassed because it wasn't a mistake because you know, in the moment, I did have second thoughts, but I was like, no,

it should be fine. Hey it wasn't fine. Hey it was fine, But I am so glad that And so my on the team, I had a it was like two other women on our team that was on the call that were like kind of participated in this part of the business. And so the thing that I learned is that one, it is so important that even if someone has wronged you, like especially in business, to come in from a neutral place. It's human to be upset, right, but to try your best because one sometimes there's a

bigger story at play here. And I could have really played myself if I was like first of all, second of all, third off that you know, but I didn't, you know. So one, I've learned that lesson time and time again. And honestly, there's a one on my team who taught me that, Sylvia, And don't mind shotting her out,

because Sylvia is excellent. And I remember twice in a row, I thought, Sylvia didn't complete a thing, and we use this thing called slack, and in slack like you know, and like whatever channel that we were navigating, and there's other people in this channel. I said, hey, Sylvia, you didn't do that thing, and she was like I did. She sent me a screenshot of slack and I'm like,

oh my bad. So meanwhile, this is in front of other people, other company people, and then I did it again like the next week, like, hey, Sylvia, I thought, I asked you for this thing, and she was like this other thing, and she's like I did, and I hadn't seen it. And then I realized. I said, you know, publicly, Sylvia, I'm so sorry because you've done the things and I didn't see it, and I'm so sorry. But I thought to myself, you know, it's better than being sorry not

doing it. So it was it was that lesson that happened some years ago, and I told myself, I'm not going to assume a thing was done intentionally wrong or not done that. I'm going to ask more neutral questions like hey, Sylvia or whoever, can you give me an update on the thing do you see because then she could have been like, oh, yeah, it was done. Here's the screenshot. I'm like, oh, okay. Then I'm like, oh, child,

I thought she didn't do it. I was wrong, But I didn't come at her that way because the truth of the matter is, let's just say she didn't do it. Like it's not my intention to shame her in front of the other team, but it could have been that. And now I look stupid because I'm asking you about it in front of everybody, and you did it, you know.

So that was a huge lesson I learned from Sylvia, you know, and navigating with her, because I've since apologized because I believe in that I'm sharing this with you because I don't show up perfectly. I just show up the best I can and always navigating to do and be better. But I learned that navigating with Sylvia those two weeks that like, I don't know, you know, if

the thing was done right or not. So even if it seems so obvious that I am right, come in neutrally and let the situation unfold itself, and then if it turns out they didn't do it, then certainly we could navigate from that space, you know, so you know, that was one of the things I did with this you know, partner, and so I could tell that they were because when I tell you, it diffused all the way down and went from like I could tell it was like it's about to be over, we ain't partner

no more, la la la la, to we really would still like to work with you. I understand how we got here. Thank you for your apology. Let's move forward. So I felt really good. I mean, I'm still a little bit embarrassed by because because I hate making mistakes like that, but it is, these things happen, and all you can do is to try your best is to apologize.

And if they would have said we don't want to work with you anymore, I just would have eaten it and been like I can I totally understand, you know, because what else can I do? And so like I'm sharing that lesson of like, you know, mistakes that I continue to make as I navigate. You know, I don't care how long you've been in business, mistakes are made

all the time. As I share that to be transparent that like you know that even when mistakes are made, I mean, certainly this one worked out because you know, they still want to work with us, but they could have easily said I'm not going to and then all we could have done is take the lesson, you know. And I made sure afterwards to have a recap with the team to say, what are the lessons we learned.

We started off with neutral questioning, so thankfully we didn't have to backpedal and be like, okay, you were right, I said too. We apologize right away as soon as you know, a lot of people after getting kind of like a tongue lashing, like I said, he didn't yell or anything like that, but after getting a tongue lashing rightfully deserved, would have been defensive. I made sure to have no defensiveness in my voice, in my posture anything.

I took the tongue lashing, and I apologized right away and said what does it look like to make amends? And you know, and then I didn't just say that. I made some suggestions which they were like we like this, we like that, and then you know, we just we wrapped and as a result, you know, we still have a partner. So I just you know, I just wanted to share that with you that, like, you know, as

you navigate into the new year. You know, it's not about being perfect, whether we're talking about business, we're talking about your personal finances. It's about just doing and being better. You know. I aim always to if a mistake is made, to learn from it, to grow from it, to show a better That's it. That's all I can ask of

myself and all anyone can ask of me. Well, Happy New Year to you and you and you again if you want the five days of budget me, No five days anyway, Yes, like day five of the new year, Budganessa gave to me on the fifth day of New year, look at me on the fifth day of new year, the BUDGETESA gave to me. I forget what I'm giving you today, but go ahead on to my ig check out all the tools, mostly free tools and resources that

I suggested for all five days. You get to a day and start this year off dreamscaping and then and then having actionable things that you're going to do to fill that beautiful expansive space with the with the amazing dreams that you come up with, and I'd love for you to share them with me. All right, y'all until next week, Bye bye,