Hey, hey ba fam. It is one of the best days of the week time for a hallaback Monday. So whether you are a new fan of the show or you are someone who has been listening for the past nine years we have been on the air and you just want to revisit some of your faves. Monday episodes are for you because we dig into our archives and find one of our oldie but goodie episodes to share
with you, and today's is super special. This was an episode when I was joined by a special guest and friend, Delianne Barros, a Brazilian born attorney turned investing coach who is empowering people across the country and globe to be honest,
to learn how to invest and build wealth. So Delianne is going to talk about her investing strategy, how she transitioned from the legal field into becoming an investing coach, and how she actually packed up and moved her entire life to Portugal to get her own version of retiring early. Give it a listen and enjoy, Hey ba Fam. Mandy, here I am solo. This week Tiffany left me y'all no, in all seriousness, Tiffany got an extraordinary opportunity and we
love those here. I mean, we don't call it Brown Ambition for nothing. So Tiffany is off doing her thing this week, and I have been saved by the one and only stock market slayer herself, delian the money Coach. You guys, I cannot wait for you to meet Delianne. In fact, selfishly, I'm kind of excited about this because with Tiffany being gone this week, it gave me a chance to reach out to delian and connect with her on ig. I just shot my shot and I said,
I love your content, I love what you're doing. You're blowing up. I want you to come on Brown Ambition and share your story with our audience. And on top of that, it is Hispanic Heritage Month and it really meant a lot to me that we could showcase one of the baddest ass bad asses. I don't know how to say that, one of the best Latinas in the
game right now. And the fact that there even is a huge influencer space now for Latina money coaches and money influencers, y'all, it has been a long time coming. I am a huge fan of Delianne. I know you guys will be too. When you hear from her. But let me do a quick intro. So if you don't know about Delianne, she is a Latina money expert and ex employment law attorney. Yeah, she was an entire attorney
y'all before she pivoted. And she is going to talk about how she just quit her job less than what six months ago, and how she's now on track to retire by age forty five and move to where, of course, to Portugal like everybody else, it seems. Through her business, delian the Money Coach, Delianne has a goal to show investors that they don't need to wait to become debt free or earn six figures in order to reach financial freedom.
Over twenty five hundred students have enrolled in her Sleigh the Stock Market course, which you can find at the link in the show notes, and Delian's been featured everywhere CNN, Time Business Insider, all highlighting her work in support of financial literacy, and of course check out the show notes to follow her on Instagram and TikTok under her handle delian the Money Coach. Now let me get out of my own way, Tiffany, we hope you are slaying over
in La doing your thing. In the meantime, I'm so excited to introduce you guys to delian So here is our conversation and be sure to come back Friday when we air our Baq and A episode. Delianne stuck around and she helps me tackle y'all's questions this week. All right, here we go, here's the show. All right, delian thank you so much for joining Brown Ambition. Thanks for saving my butt on.
I am honored. You can call me anytime and I'll be here.
Just slid into your DMS. Well, listen, you are I mean, we don't have we don't have co hosts that often. We did have a few this past summer. And one of my favorite things about inviting someone to sit in the chair, the virtual chair across from me, is genuinely every story is so unique, and yours is definitely one that I have been following. It feels like for the past year you've just blown up and I'm like, what is she doing? She's got this, You've got this amazing platform.
You are empowering Latina women, especially to take charge not just of their finances but of the stock market, which is just something that until a couple of years ago there just wasn't really anybody I feel like representing that space. So thank God, thank Goodness for you and others like you, and thank you for joining Brown Ambition.
Of course, thank you for having me. I'm always flattered and I love spreading this idea that things are changing, like the conversation around money's changing, the people who are talking about it are changing, and I'm like so honored to be part of that movement.
Yeah, I mean when you so your background, I mean, first of all, you've got you've had a bunch of different lives, it feels like professionally, but you were an attorney and then you transition from being a badass attorney to an editor for like a legal publication, right, and then you quit entirely and now you are delhi Enbado
Slay the stock market, teaching investing courses online. But let's back it up, because I've been reading up on you and I didn't realize you're originally from Brazil, And is it true that you came to the US and for a long time you were actually undocumented. So tell me about that, tell me about your origin story and sort of how you have gotten to where you are today, because that is such an incredible and unique story that I don't think many people know about you.
Yeah. I mean it's funny because it doesn't seem like that long ago, but I'm like, wow, it's been a lifetime. So, yeah, my father got laid off in Brazil and there aren't that many opportunities where we're from, so he packed us up brought us to the US. I was eight years old, my sister was four, and we moved to Miami and that's pretty much like where I grew up from eight
to twenty one. And yeah, we were on documented, all of us, so we were pretty much coached by our parents, like stay out of trouble, go to school, you know, like, don't misbehave, don't act out, because we can't bring attention to ourselves, right, Like, every moment could be a risk for one of us being sent back. So growing up with that fear looming over you is something that you don't ever really let go of, right. It's something that
is still a part of me today. Anything having to do with immigration still gets me like sweating, even when I go to the airport and you have to go through immigration. Here I'm standing here with my American passport, which I've wanted my entire life, and I didn't get till what three four years ago. I became a citizen and I still get like the sweats. So yeah, we were documented because we came over as tourists. We overstayed our visa, you know, not something that was I was
consulted about. I was eight years old and.
I haven't none spoke English. None of you spoke English either, okay.
And so we all learned, you know, tray by fire. I was an esaul. I was bullied during school, you know, typical treatments that you get when you're a foreigner, when you're different, right, and when you're growing up in elementary high school, if you're different at all, you're gonna get bullied. So this was part of that. But thankfully I was in Miami. I definitely wasn't the only one, but growing
up there was a little claustrophobic. So finally I did get my papers, I did become a resident, and I just immediately enrolled in college, put myself through law school. I paid all my student loan offs last year, which was a whole one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Let's just pause there for a second, because it was a hundred and you're making it sound like, yeah, I just did this, I got my papers. Yeah whatever, Well just checking the boxes one hundred and fifty k. Yeah, everyone can do that. Uh huh. Now I'm going to retire in Portugal. But let me slow it down. Okay, law school? Why law school? Why was that where? Why was that sort of your your profession of choice? And talk to me about the I mean, this thread of
the mental toll of that fear. You know, I don't know if your parents are citizens now or what their status is, but tell me about that year and how that sort of led you into your decision making when you were when you were figuring out school and your career.
Yeah, it was terrifying because and it was also heartbreaking because I saw all my classmates making big plans to go to these colleges. They were getting scholarships, they were getting financial aid. I didn't qualify for any of those things. Right, So I'm graduating at the top of my class in high school and I'm stuck. I'm pretty much frozen. There is no assistance for anybody like me. I would go to the school counselor, I would talk to the principal.
There's like, there's nothing we can do. So I was basically on my own until I figured out the immigration situation on my own. But once that got resolved, I'm like, Okay, I could start living my life because I literally felt like my life was on pause. And why did I choose law school? Well, it was either that or medical school because like any other immigrant, I'm like, I have to overcompensate for all of my parents, you know, shortcomings, And so I'm like, which one is it going to be?
I always knew I wanted to help people. Math completely terrified me, even though I took calculus. Well whatever, I decided, let's go to law school, no math. And then I was deciding whether I was going to do immigration or employment law. So I did my internship and immigration and I tested that out, and I don't know, maybe it was a little too close to home. It was just too emotional for me. But I'm like, how can I
still help this population through another way? And so I chose employment law and I did plain of side employment law. So I represented employees in discrimination cases, wage in hour cases, contract negotiations, you name it, right, I was doing those type of cases. And I did that for seven years litigation, and it was rewarding work. But if you've talked to
any attorney, being an attorney is extremely stressful. You're getting stressed from all different levels, the partners, the clients, the your coworkers, everywhere, right, And it's just this constant stress and very little support, especially for people of color, especially for women of color. And so I felt very isolated and I felt overwhelmed, and I felt like I chose a profession again because I was trying to prove a point instead of really following my heart, you know. And
so and also because I wanted financial security. God, I desperately want it. I was, you know, we were poor. I was living in Miami. I was living in an apartment. I tell people, I'm like, I used to live a broom by the door because I would come in and have to kill the cockroaches because it was like a little kitchenette, and it was there was no sink in the bathroom. I had to like brush my teeth in the shower. It was, you know, not a good situation.
And so for me, education meant lifting myself out of poverty. Like I needed education to be that ladder for me out and it did. It did become that ladder, but it also trapped me in this capital less game that I didn't realize I was now part of. And so walking away from my legal career took a huge mindset chef for me to have.
That was because that wasn't even that long ago, was it. I mean we're talking about.
I mean I literally quit in March of this year.
Wait, just this past march?
Yeah, wow, March twenty twenty one, what I put in my notice.
So that's a big milestone, especially for anyone who's like you. For example, you discovered the Fire movement, financial independence, retire early. When was that a couple of years ago? Or so when you discovered that movie?
Yeah, twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen years soon, I'm heard of more aware, Like I discover something, I go all in.
I'm finding that out. I'm like, good lord, we've been doing this show for six years anyway, So tell me, I mean, you discovered the fire movement, You're you quit your job less than a year ago. How has the what are your what do your parents think? What do your parents think of what you're doing?
Yeah? I mean I unfortunately my dad's not in my life. But my mom is she lives in Brazil. She was just wrapping her head around the fact that I was an attorney. She's like, I'm starting to understand what I did and now I'm like, oh, I'm not that doing that anymore. Mom, I teach people about investing in the stock market. She's like what. But she's very supportive. She's like, she just wants to see us all happy and healthy,
taken care of. So, yeah, we have this distant relationship because she's been living in Brazil for the last what twelve thirteen years?
Oh so she went back when you were still, yeah, in your twenties or so, and you so you have a little sister.
I have two little sisters, one that lives in Hawaii and one that lives in Colorado.
So you guys take care I have siblings and where I feel you because my siblings live in different states too. And it's crazy because I feel like I spent my twenties just not really caring about the distance. But now that I'm in my mid thirties and I got a baby, I'm like, wait, why do you guys live so far away? But how important are you are those relationships to you.
No, absolutely, And so my sister now lives in Hawaii, which is the closest we've been geographically in forever because she's live in Singapore. So now it feels like she's right there all of a sudden, but she'll probably be moving again. Yeah. Same as I've gotten older, I felt that having that physical proximity to your family is really really important. So my hope is to retire in Portugal and bring my mom. I want to like bring the
nucleus back together. I'm trying to convince my sister to move there, my mom, and I'm like, let's get the family back together.
Why Portugal? It seems like everyone's moving to Portugal. Portugal's got some like serious shine on it right now? What is in the water over there? Yeah, tell me about it. How did you arrive at that decision and what drew you to it?
I can't speak to for everyone else. I'm Brazilian, so for me, the connection is natural. I see Portuguese, although the Portuguese there is I visited two three years ago. God, everything's jumbled now, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I've always loved Europe, Spain, Italy, France. But when I visited Portugal. It felt like home, Like the people were lovely. It just it was safe, it was calm. Right, I'm just coming from New York because I lived in New
York City for fifteen years. It was just a different vibe. And when i started putting together my financial independence plan, and I'm like, Wow, it's gonna be difficult to swing this here in the States, right, especially now that I'm living California. But I'm like, what if I moved abroad? Right? But then the again, the immigration thing came up, the fears. I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna deal with immigration again. I just became a citizen. Now I'm gonna I don't know.
I felt like I was risking it. But then I realized that becoming a citizen in Portugal is actually quite simple, quite easy to move there to become a resident.
Of being welcoming to immigrants.
Yes, right, how odd? And so they have something that's called the D seven visa, which is basically, if you have any kind of passive income, there's like a threshold that you have to meet. You meet that threshold, you can come live there and you can become a citizen after five years done and That gives me a lot of peace of mind, not only for myself but for my mom because I'm going to be taking care of her.
So even though I don't have kids, I am taking care of a generation above me, right, and so I want to make sure that she's taken care of that she has health, insurance, access to all of that. And it was important when I was choosing which country that I could check those boxes.
Yeah, that's wonderful. So what's your goal? When are you going to be in Portugal? What it does? And when you said, first of all, I'm a victim of my own deadlines all the time, so I'm just I'm I going to ask you this, but I'm also thinking, like, you can move your deadlines anytime, girl, Like it is not that big of a deal. I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but you going to be there.
I'm so glad you said that because that's how I am too. I when I speak something into existence, I feel obligated to make it happen exactly as I said it. And that's such a I don't know if that's a scorpio thing. I don't know if that's an immigrant thing or the type a thing. Yeah, yes, the timeline is about in the next two years.
Two years, okay, holy shit.
And yeah, the only reason for that is because I want to get over there do some scouting, and I haven't been able to because of you know, the panoramic. So once I have a minute to hang over there, do some house shopping, house hunting, feel a little bit better about where we're going to land, then I will probably be escalating those plans.
So what I love about your story too, is that you acknowledge like I was a full a full lawyer, a full attorney at law four blocks away from Wall Street, and even I didn't know how investing work you've said, how investing works you said, or how the stock market worked. So what was that aha moment for you? And I'm even just getting a sense from our conversation so far, I'm sure like you learned it and you were immediately like, Okay, great,
these are the facts. Now I'm going to implement this and four years later you're going to be in Portugal. But walk us back to that moment. What was that like for you? I mean you you even say that you weren't even investing in your four oh one k you know.
Well, I was. I was, actually I was investing it, thank god, from twenty eleven, but without understanding anything what was going on inside of it. Like literally my hr person, which was a woman of color, a black woman, which I'm like, thank god, somebody was looking out came to me and said, excuse me, why aren't you investing in the four one day literally free money? What are you talking about? And I'm thinking, what are you talking about? Why do I need to be thinking about this right now?
I have all these student loans. You want me to think about my life in my sixties, I don't have I'm trying to make life work here in New York City. She's like, no, no, no, you have to sign up for it. Thank god she did that, and so I have had it for the last ten years, and it is the account that I'm most proud of because it's the one that I've put the least amount of money and it's grown the most. So it shows you, like the power of compound interest.
You know, we're like we're stock markets soul sisters. I feel like because I started my four one K and twenty eleven as well, although I was for a year not investing at all, and what I love about your story and actually I was just CNBC recently ran a story that I wrote about my net worth journey, and first of all, the bros at CNBC on their ig page like I can take it, Like what does that mean?
You know, baby, I'm a gangster two. So if you come for me and try to tell me, oh, well, of course you your net worth increased, you know, the stock market's been up for a decade, I'm like, yeah, that's the point. The point is that I started, and that is what so many people struggle with. And that's what I love about your story and mine is that those little tiny baby for one case, they were like a little seedling, you know, and I put my little money in there and it was it's it's beautiful to
see that grow. But it's also like, yeah, give us our give us our flowers for starting something before you. But just like that, that that little like seed of faith that you had that you're going to grow into something larger and the patience and hell's yeah, we can celebrate it, you know, a decade later. I love that.
I love that, I know, and it's such it's so frustrating with the bros because they don't want to give us our props because we were passive investors, were not stock pickers, right, we're not day trading. And so because crypto we can, yeah, we can't, like, you know, sign off on some fancy stock that made us a pajillion
percent return. Somehow that lessons our accomplishment, which is complete bs because at the end of the day, who makes money is the person who did it consistently over time, patiently kept their money in, let it grow, and didn't mess around with it. And this is why women are statistically better investors than men now, so because we know how to do this. And so the only problem with women quote unquote women is that we're not doing it enough. That's it. If we just need to invest more, we
need to participate more. But when we do, we're great investors. So when I found out about financial independence and I started learning about investing, my reaction was anger. To be honest, I was really angry. I was angry that I didn't know this stuff. I'm like, how is it that I'm a professional making six figures, like you said, living in New York City, surrounded by stock market information all day long, and I don't understand the basics of investing. That's how
I knew. I was like, Wow, if the information's not trickling down to me, it's definitely not trickling down other people. Because all I hear everybody talking about is real estate. That's it. You want to build wealth, you got to go buy something. And so that's the message that I was adhering to, hoarding cash in my savings account, chasing New York City real estate, never getting anywhere, and I'm like, I don't understand how are people building their networth? Like
how am I ever going to stop working someday? It seems like it's going to go on forever. And so when I found out about it, that's why I was it was such a quick buy in for me. I mean, obviously I did my research, I looked into it, but I was like, this is it, this is the way out. And then I just started using social media to share my own personal journey, and that's when it started growing into something way more. Yeah.
So that decision that you made, I mean you like you said, is it right that you had this big chunk of change, like one hundred grand that you had set aside for what a home like a down payment and you discovered fire, and what did you decide to do with that money instead?
So I split into three buckets. One was my emergency fund because I need to sleep at night. I need money in the bank, always in forever. And I tell everybody that you do too. And then I sent another big chunk to Navviant. Here, Naviant, take your freaking money. Please get out of my face, okay, because no, this was some Also. This was October twenty nineteen, five months before the pandemic. Yeah, you know, stock market is at all time highs. I don't care. I'm like, I did
my research. I'm in it for the long run. Then I took another fifty thousand dollars and I put it in a brokerage account of Vanguard, five months before the pandemic. So I did the scary thing that everybody's scared to do. Oh my god, what if I put money in and then the market crashes? It? Literally I did it. And guess what that money has recovered and continue to grow? Is them totally fine? The S and P five hundred was at twenty nine hundred when I did that, which
was all time highs. Today it's at forty four hundred.
Yeah, so that's fifty K. What's the value today?
I mean I don't have like the exact number on it, but think about it. It dropped in value forty percent in March, so I was down, like it went into my principle, which is the thing you never want, right, So I lost all my growth and then the money, some of the money that I put in, so it was up to like almost sixty K by the time the market crashed, so I put in fifty it was up till like sixty So I lost the ten that grew, that grew, and then I lost another ten.
So what was your reaction? How did you stick with it? How did you know?
Yeah? I mean it's funny because my reaction is actually documented on Instagram because I remember, I'm in the middle of launching my business. I'm talking about investing, and I'm literally talking everybody else down off a ledge and I'm like, this is the moment we've been waiting for. This is what I've been telling you guys might happen. And so I continue to pay off my student loans, but I also continue to invest. And I'm so glad I did that,
and I did it all throughout twenty twenty. I actually poured one hundred thousand dollars into the market in twenty twenty. Okay, so glad I did.
So you don't know the exact value, I mean, do you not? Typically I try to not look at my accounts too too often. I try to look at my net worth and that nice round number, and you know, that's what I'm kind of focused on. But how often are you checking your numbers? I think we got a question from someone who was like, I've gotten it through Mandy Money, Just how do I stop checking my accounts? I'm obsessed with watching the progress. What's that relationship been like for you?
I think in the beginning, that's totally normal. If you're brand into investing, of course they're going to be watching it, right. It's something so new, especially if you didn't take a lot of time to learn learn about the history of the stock market. You're kind of learning on the go, so that's why you're so nervous. But trust me, you'll get bored with that because let's will move on. You're gonna get sick of seeing the ups and downs and
people will just move on with their lives. So I think that's actually a normal reaction, and I'm not gonna tell you to not do it, because when you tell people not to do something, then they really want to do it. So it's fine. But I check my accounts every day. But this is my job. Like that's why I look at the market every day. I'm telling everybody, hey, my account, for instance today recording today, the market's down two percent. My brokerage account just fell eight thousand dollars.
Like I know these things because I'm also sharing it with my audience. I'm telling them, hey, I'm in it with you. I'm seeing my account move down. Guess what I just did. I just bought more. Like I'm talking them through it as I'm experiencing too, and I think that that calms people down.
Yeah, okay, now that makes a lot of sense. I try not to look. I don't even pay attention. It was liberating. It's so much more liberating when you feel like, okay, I am I've chosen this lifestyle as a passive investor. The point of it is it's called passive. Like you just float. You know, you're on your little raft and you're just floating and you're just enjoying the scenery and it's all working for you. It's just having that faith.
Let's talk look at my far Okay, sorry, when I look at my phone. Okay, that's what I did. I ignored it for ten years. I'm just now aware of it because I'm painfully aware of everything about investing. But before that, I ignored it for years and guess what, it grew and it did its thing, So.
You don't need to be watching it absolutely. Let's talk about fire. Do you have a fire number? Is there a I know we talked about time earlier in the time when you want to be in Portugal, but is there more than time? Is there like an actual number you want to reach for your net worth or your your portfolio before you know it's time to move.
Yeah, I don't necessarily need to hit fire to move. I used to think that was the case, and it was because I was tied to my nine to five, right, So if I was going to stay in my nine to five, then I had to hit fire before I could quit my job. But I became financial independence sooner because of my business, so things as changed faster than
I expected. But as far as financial independence, and I like to call it financial dependence, relax early because I think retiring just has this connotation that people get allergic to it. They hear it, they're like, oh my god, retiring. That sounds so done over right, And I'm like, it's not that. It's just a moment where now you can pause and decide what do you want your life to look? Like? That's what it is. It gives you all the freedom
to decide. So for me, like I said, financial independence, relax early, I definitely have a number because I'm very goal oriented, so I think it's important to have a number. And so right now that number is one and a half million, and that's just for me. But what I a new term that I think I've coined. I haven't heard anybody else use it is family fire, which it means like, is there anybody else, like extended family or someone outside of your household that you're also saving and
investing for which I am, which is my mom. So our family fire number is actually two million, right so to cover both me and my mom. And this is all assuming that I am withdrawing somewhere between like fifty to seventy thousand dollars a year to cover both my living expences and her living expenses. So that's like where you know, I'm directionally going. Obviously, things can change. That number can go up, that number can go down. And that's the beauty of fires that you're supposed to be
super flexible. Right, things can change, like the market can change, Your plans can change. A lot of people think that like you're locked in and then that's it, or that you're living this pretty miserable, frugal lifestyle, right, pinching pennies, cutting coupons, not enjoying yourself. Totally not true. I travel,
I spend money leggings, I bought a peloton. I you know, the thing is what I've realized is that I've learned how to value what I want to spend my money on, Like what am I going to do to It's like the Marie condo of spending, Like, you know, what is going to bring me the most joy, I'm going to double down on those things and I'm going to cut out all the junk. And you feel a lot more like fulfilled when you do that.
When you talk about family fire, I like that expression because I think especially that is a point of view that isn't typically you know, spoken about, because the people who generally lead conversations about fire are you know, white men, white women, white families, and typically they may not have to take care of a family or take them along
with them because their families are fine already. But especially for you, you know, you're being an immigrant with your with your mom, wanting to take care of her and your your siblings as well. Do you feel like I want to like phrase us the right way because I
got this question when I came clean. I published a story on CNBC about my net worth and how it's grown, and one of my really good friends called me up and he's like, aren't you afraid people are going to be coming with their hands out, you know, trying to
get those coins. And my reaction was just like no, no, I mean it's not in a way where it's I feel obligated to take care of people, but it's like that's the point, the point of breaking you know, generational poverty and generational like lack of knowledge of financial, financial finances and the financial markets is to help them see what's possible in a way, And I wonder there's a flip side though, It's like you'd be surprised how much family doesn't want your advice when you are like the
money person, and so I'm wondering what the dynamic is for you with your siblings, with your mom. Do you feel like they they are coming to you for advice. Are you trying to like show them the way or are you just like, hey, uh, hop on this fire train. Don't worry about how we're getting there, but like, come on, let's go.
That's kind of how I did it with my mom, you know. She my mom basically was the stereotypical Latina mom, where like the man took care of everything, my dad took care of all the money in the household. She just followed it along. She took care of us, you know, that was her job. And so she is just now learning about money herself because she now has a business in Brazil. She has a little pet shop, and so she's learning about money herself. And I send my mom
money every month. She doesn't have to work if she didn't want to, but she likes work. She's the first time that she's like independent, So she's stepping into that and I want to be encouraging of that. But I also want to make sure that my mom's taken care of and I tell her, Mom, I could send you much more, but I want you to know what the plan is so you can see what I'm doing with the money. And so I explained to her that I'm saving and investing for us, that my plan is for
us to move to Portugal. What does she think of that I would like to buy her a home. She's like, yeah, that sounds amazing.
So I was going down, totally down.
So that's with my mom. With my sister, it was a little different. It took me months to be able to show her the power of investing and the stock market and everything. And it's funny because I'm like, dude, it's easier for me to teach strangers on the internet about this stuff than it was with you. And that's the you know how it is with family, Right, you're gonna approach family, it's always going to be there's going
to be more skepticism there. But the funny thing is that we were both coaching each other because my sister's my business coach, and so here I am teaching her about money and she's teaching me about business, and so we were able to build that symbiotic relationship where now she's an investor, she has her solo for one K and everything, and she's helped me with my business, so it's worked out really well.
I can think of a less passive thing than running a business. Like maybe we can be passive investors, but you can't be a passive There's I don't feel like there's a They call it passive income, but it's not really fair because you, dude, you're doing all of your own content. You kill it on the reels and whatever the tiktoks that you're doing, and it's like that work the amount of time to create the content that ain't passive,
you know what I mean? What do you feel like you're working now more than ever to get to fire and it? But is it different because you you know, you're enjoying it more. Tell me what the dynamic is now for you and work.
And I'm very again, I'm very transparent about my journey. I am not one of those people who was like, oh, I was able to do all of the things when I launched my business. You know, I still got my managers and I still got this and I still got to enjoy my life and balance you know, No, okay, there was no balance. I basically launched my business at the height of the pandemic, we were all locked inside.
There was no balance in any of our lives. I think in that time we were all either being overworked, overstressed, overeating, over drinking. We were doing all the things to like self soothe, right, And so for me, I threw myself into my work. I threw myself into my business and so I worked like twelve fourteen hour days, but it didn't feel like work because I was, you know, working on something creative for the first time in my life.
Being an attorney is the opposite of being creative. It's very rules based, right, It's very like, this is how we do this. And so with my business, I got to unlock a whole different side of my brain that I didn't even know was there, and so I was completely consumed with it. I absolutely loved it. And there is a lot of front loading when you start a business. You are going to do a ton of work in the beginning to like rev up and then eventually, if you do it right and you have a good coach,
which I did. She taught me how to build systems right. You got to build systems and you have to start outsourcing things like if you don't start outsourcing things. If you think you can do all of the things on your own, you are going to burn out and your business won't last very long. And I'm like, I want
this to be a sustainable business. Now. I work like ten twelve hours a week, you know, and most of that is creating content and just engaging with my audience on Instagram, which is stuff that I loved that I used to do for free, so now I get to do it as part of my business. So I am living like that their type of like do what you love and you never feel like you work a day. I always thought that would be but it's.
True, except for all the ramp up. So tell me, I'm a baby business owner. I don't know if you have followed Brown Ambition, but I launched. Launch sounds like such an exciting and you know, a spectacular word, but I just you know, I posted on Instagram that I was setting up my own business in May or June, and tips always kind of dropping little business coaching gyms. But you are I feel like, you know, how are you so far ahead? But you're not even that far?
Like you just you just quit your job in March, and I'm just I feel like I'm just kind of accepting the fact that I'm a you know, entrepreneur now, But tell me more, give me more tips. So, yeah, what were the things that what are the things that you're outsourcing that you feel like have helped your business grow and helped you get to a ten hour work week?
Yeah, I mean, first of all, I got a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant. They're in the Philippines. So if you're starting out and you want to philip.
Philippines, they're amazing. Where do you find them through upwork or like.
Yeah, you can find them on fiver on upwork. There's a website that's like, I think it's called Online Assistance dot pH or something like that. Virtual Assistant dot pH. But they are amazing. Do not sleep on Philippine Virtual Assistance and so it's a great way to start. Eventually, I will need a personal assistant here in the States with me so that we can be on the same time zone. But right now it's all working out fine. But basically, what.
Is that What is that VA doing that you find helpful?
Yes, so they're doing a lot of the stuff in the background for me. So things that I used to do, like when I go do my monthly class, i'd have to email the list. I'd have to let everybody know when it's happening. Hey, going live. Now i'd have to do a tracking of who's buying, when they're buying. I have a community that's part of my course, and so I need to track who's still part of the community and whose community access has expired. They're doing all that tracking.
They also upload my videos. Whenever I'm done doing my class, I have to upload the replay and send that out to everybody who attended. I used to do all this stuff manually, so I'd be done with my class and then I would spend another two three hours on my computer, like finalizing everything, uploading videos, editing videos to send that out. And now I literally just turn off my computer and I can go have a drink, you know, And they take care of everything like that. So that's something major
that they do. They met. She manages my community where people's submit questions, so she collects all those questions for me, so at the end of the day, it's all like in a spreadsheet. I can just go in and like
answer them. I coach my students two times a month, and I want to take it to the next level though, where I have an assistant also in my inbox, like answering my email, scheduling my press calls, talking to people about collaborations, Like I'm still doing all of that myself, managing my email, but that's going to be the next level. The one thing that I don't think I'll ever outsource is my social media content. Like that's my face. Obviously I need to be present. That's the way I connect
with my audience. I write all my own captions, I create all my own social media, but I have hired a team to actually like post everything, so I don't have to sit there and post things anymore. Like I have somebody doing them, making sure everything's going through. If there's any glitches on Instagram, they take care of it. So I create all of the creative but I have people doing like the execution part of it. And you think, like, what's the big deal, Like posting something on Instagram takes
two minutes. It doesn't. It takes time.
You who are you telling? And with TikTok too, are you on TikTok? Are you TikTok? Are you the realst girl?
No? I have two hundred thousand followers on TikTok.
Oh shit, Okay, Yes, I feel like I said most of your content ig on ig because TikTok knows me too well and all they do is serve me. Plant content, plants and TLC doctor pimple popper content. Love it, Yes, well,
I love that you're doing your own thing. And I think it's all about what you enjoy doing right, And I think it's doing the work that you enjoy at the parts of your job that you enjoy doing that and doing it unapologetically because I've heard, well, you've got to outsource your social and you've got to do this, and you've got to you know, outsource writing, you know, your articles. I would never have someone ghostwrite for me.
I just I have done it, and I've I've had writers who or have people who have things ghosts written. I don't know. I can't even I'm trying. I have an admin she tried to write an email and even that, I'm like, oh no, no, no, this is how I would say it, Like I have a particular way of talking and speaking, and I'm like, maybe this isn't something
I can outsource. But so I appreciate that it's about you know, but there's some things that I at least can identify that I don't you know that don't need the magic Mandy touch or the magic flair you know, or it's not even magic, just you know that personality, which at the end of the day, is how you're connecting to your community, right it's through they come to see you specifically talking about the topic that you're talking
and using your point of view. How do you feel like, I mean, you're such a strong I mean, you're a strong woman with a strong point of view. I feel like it took me even longer to get to a place because my backgrounds in journalism. I was in the background interviewing the Delhians and the Tiffany's and learning a ton. But it wasn't until the last year where I kind of stood up and said, you know, I have a point of view. I have thoughts, I have I have ideas.
I do have opinions and strong ones at that about how you know you manage your finances in your career and all of that. Where do you think that confidence came from for you? Because I admire it a lot.
Thank you. I think I've always been very focused in my life. Well, I you know, don't put yourself through law school by yourself and pay off one hundred thousand dollars student loans when you don't have like a ton of focus. So I've always been a very focused person in my life. But that being said, I always credit my sister with helping me find my voice. Because when I first started my business, I'm like, should I talk about paying off debt? Should I talk about building credit?
Should I talk about investing? I was trying to go all different directions. She's like, you can't be something for everyone. She's like, no one's going to listen to you if you try to serve too many people. Who can you serve the best? And what are you going to enjoy the most? And let's double down on that. And so when I realized that, yes, payoff debt is super important, managing money is super important. But the thing that I was feeling the most passionate and fired up about, no
pun intended, was financial depenance. Right. It was the journey that I myself was personally going on, and I'm like, gosh, I really want to bring people with me. I don't want to, you know, be alone in this journey. I always also felt kind of alone when I started, and so it was, you know, from a selfish blaze of like not wanting to be by myself and wanting to share, and it's what I was educating and consuming at the moment. I was just reading everything I could touch about this subject.
And so my sister, you know, was like, well, let's do that. Let's focus on financial independence, let's focus on investing. This is what you're you know, it seems to be like your passion project, and let's grow from there. And so having that direction helped to like clear out a lot of noise, and I didn't waste a lot of time because I think with the new entrepreneurs, unfortunately, finding your voice is something where a lot of your like that initial rev up, that initial oh my god, I'm
so motivated, I'm feeling so passionate. You can waste a lot of that good energy just finding your niche. And so if you can kind of clear through that pretty quickly and just get to the point where you're like launching your offer, like what is it that you're going to sell? Just sell it, you will save a lot of headaches, right, And what I always tell people is like, don't worry about the branding. It doesn't matter what your colors are, It doesn't matter what kind of website you have.
I did not just launch a website. I launched my website two months ago. So I hit a million dollars in revenue in my business without a website.
Wow, okay, you don't need a website.
So you need a landing page to sell your product. That's it.
Yeah, so let's talk about that product. Because so you've learned, You've learned the stock market? What is it that? So you have a course, you have a community what? So? Yeah, tell the BA audience where they can find your content and what they can expect when they do.
Sure. So I launched Slay the stock Market a year ago. Actually it was exactly September a year ago, and I reached her class. I think you. I've taught the class live to ten people, and I was ecstatic because I'm like, oh my god, I can't believe ten people showed up for this. Amazing. And so I took all of that content that I created for that class and then I message just like, well, let's turn this into a course. You know, like you did it. You did all the
heavy lifting. You taught it, you created it, Let's turn it into a course. And so I you know, packaged it in a in a digital way where people can like purchase it altogether. And so now it's a digital course that you can purchase, you can watch at your own pace, and coupled with access to me with you know, group coaching. So I go live twice a month and I answer questions and I guide people through the material.
And so that combination of those two things is basically you know, the product, and that's what I've been selling. That's the only offer I have. I have no other products. This is it.
Okay, there's no Delian t shirt, no Delian tote bag.
Nope, there's nothing else. So that's another misconception. People are like, oh, I need multiple products, you know, to have a successful business. Let me do this, let me do that. I barely do sponsored content. I don't even like doing sponsored ads, all right, I don't like it. I'm very picky with it. I've done maybe six or seven collaborations total in the entire time that I've been in business. So for me, I'm very picky about what I you know, who I
collaborate with. And but that's it. The ninety five percent of the money that I've made in my business has come from my course. The other five percent has come from a few sponsorships and from speak engagements. I do do workshops like corporate workshops, so I've done one for Google. I've done one for Hubble, so I do do that as well, but the bulk of it has come from this course.
That's exciting. So I mean, how do you keep that fresh and engaging for yourself? Like? Do you It's only been a year, and again I'm not trying, Like you know, I'm not listen. I have one baby and already people' he's about to turn two. And just this morning, I'm my mom was calling and she's like, no, no, it's never that direct. It's always like today. It was today it was I don't know, man, how are you going to top this kid? I'm like, what do you mean? How am I going to top them?
Well?
When you know it's going to be a tough act to follow when you have the next And I'm like, babe, I don't know, Just like I can't. I'm on the way at the grocery store. I don't want to talk about right now, disconnected, Sorry, but when you think about you're so passionate and especially about educating Latinas in this community, what do you think is next? Is there a next level? Is there something else that you want people to learn about that you're equally passionate about.
I mean, now that I have launched the business from beginning to end, right, I feel like the next progression is helping people to understand social media better because I absolutely love it, and I'm now noticing that people do struggle with creating content and creating social media and understanding, you know, how to create engaging content. For me, it's
something that comes really natural to me. Again, I think we tend to downplay our gifts because because something comes naturally to you doesn't mean that it doesn't have value of you teaching it to someone else. And so that's something that I've done my whole life, is like, oh, I understand this, so everybody else must too, and you
just assume, right. So I'm learning to like not do that, but I think learning, you know, teaching people how to grow on Instagram, on TikTok and and launch their own businesses. I think that will probably be the next progression because I get business questions all the time, and so I love talking about that just as much as investing. So that would probably be the next product, but not for
a while. I'm like, I just feel like with investing, it's incredible to me that people try to do so much when it comes to the personal finance base because I'm like, how I learned something new about investing every day, So you know when people are like, oh, why don't you branch out into this? Why didn't you branch out into this? And I'm like, I feel like I am deeply, you know, involved in investing because it's like there's constantly new laws coming out, new regulations, just like just like
employment law. When I was an employment attorney, I'm like, I couldn't imagine doing any other kind of law because there's constantly new case law coming out and keeping things fresh. And that's how I'm thing is. I mean, Biden is about to pass a ton of new laws that's going to change the game, So I feel like that keeps things really fresh and interesting.
Yeah, and tax codes too. I've never cared so much about the tax code until so much. Yes, God, I wish I could keep talking to you and asking you a million questions, but I do want to get to y'all's questions. You know, you got to tune in for our B a Q and A show on Fridays. But let me let me close with this. I mean, because I think just from the outside looking at obviously, it seems like Delianne, you just got here and you're already
killing the game. And you know, I'm learning a lot just from watching you, and I'm I'm just loving it because it feels like there's more people at the cookout now. It's just it's a party, you know what I mean, Like there's just more voices, and I just I really relate to your content as well. What makes you proudest about your platform and the work that you're doing now thinking about where you've come from and where you are now,
I mean, what what brings you the most story? And you're like, yeah, I did the damn thing.
Yeah, I am just so proud that I'm opening the door for so many people to think about money in a different way. I've been approached by so many people saying, you know, I've heard other people talk about this, talk about investing in the stock market, but I didn't trust them, and I trust you, and I take that really seriously. I'm like, wow, like having somebody's trust. I don't take
that lightly, you know. And so I don't know if that's from me being an attorney or it's just you know, hopefully I could say it's part of my character and my integrity, but I take that really seriously. I think that I'm out there representing our community, and I try to do it, you know, with nobility and with honesty. And I always try to tell my audience like, I'm trying to be as transparent as possible. Probably a little too much. My mom's like, do you need to be
as transparent? Yeah, some people are a little concerned. But I'm really proud of the movement that I'm seeing in the Latino community because I think for a long time we have been fearful of the financial industry with cause like we have been we have been targeted, we have been abused, we have been neglected by the financial community, and so I feel like I'm trying to bridge some of that gap. And I think I'm you know, making
my own little dent in a way. And so whenever I do meet a new Latino Latina who is like, dude, I started investing because of you. Thank you so much for everything that you did. That is that's a huge, huge compliment, and I am honored that anybody is using my content to change their life. It's amazing.
I love that I lied, though, I have another question. I can't stop thinking about what an extraordinary story you have and the fact that you got citizenship just how many years ago? Four or five years ago?
Yeah, I became a citizen in twenty fifteen, so right before the presidential so the Trump was that my first time.
I wanted to ask, what's your relationship? I'm still figuring out and I you know, I feel like Michelle Obama, she got into some hot water. I'm not at all Michelle Obama's level, but whenever anybody tries to be a tiny bit critical of our country, I feel like people get really upset about it. But you know what, Hey, you like your families. I feel like the country is my family, so I can be a little critical. You know, it's Thanksgiving and you come over and it's like, oh,
did you gain weight? Like we can say that, but what is your relationship like with this country? Now? I mean you you came here undocumented at eight years old. You're from Brazil, you you kill yourself in school to become an attorney. You get saddled with six figure debt and by the way, got no financial aid because you weren't you know, a citizen. You you pay that debt off. Now you're teaching people to be stock market investors and empowering women and in the Latin X community, how do
you feel about this country? And you're about to leave us? And I'm kind of like, well, damn, we're losing a good one. But how has that changed? How has your relationship change with America?
Yeah? I mean it's always going to be complex, right, And I think the most beautiful thing about where we live is the fact that just because I'm proud to be here and I fought really hard to become an American citizen and I'm so glad i am, that doesn't mean that I don't have a right to criticize my country like I have every right and I do. You know, I tell people all the time that capitalism is a problematic system, right, but we can't just opt out of it.
So this idea of like, oh, capitalism, you know, is the core of everything. It's the reason why we're in the trouble that we are, So you shouldn't invest, you shouldn't put your money in these companies because that's part of the problem. And I'm like, that's not going to solve the problem. Like taking yourself out of the room, giving up your seat at the table is not going to solve the problem. If anything, I want more seats at the table. I want more voices at the time
so that we can change the conversation. So that's how I see it. I see it as like money is going to give us a voice, because that is what is the loudest in this country, is money, and it's going to give us an opportunity to like say what's important to us, right, like, especially for Latinos, like we are such a force in this country, so we have
to come together and show our voice. So for me, yeah, it's always going to be a complicated relationship with America, especially you know, going through the immigration process like I did. But I will never deny that my life is one hundred times better living here than it would have it would have been if I had stayed in Brazil. For sure. If I had been in Brazil, I think, yeah, my life would have been completely different. I probably would have like three or four kids. By now, this is literally
the life that my cousins are living. They all have three or four kids, their stay at home moms. Not if there's anything wrong with that life, but it wasn't the life that I feel like I was, you know, dea to live. It would have just been the life that you live because of the situation that you're in, Like you, I would have been stripped of any other choices basically, So I'll never deny the opportunities that I've
been given here. But that doesn't mean that there aren't points valid points to criticize.
Yeah, and I feel like you even deserve more opportunities to criticize because, like I was just born here, I needed to try that hard, you know what I mean, Like you had to work for it. So yeah, can we can we hear what Delianne has to say about this country? You know what I mean? So we we didn't take a quick break, and then we're gonna come back and do one of my favorite segments, brown Boost, Brown Break. Are you ready?
I'm so ready?
All right, let's take a quick break, Well a quick break. Will be right back with the beautiful and delightful Delianne Bados. We are back. All right, Delianne, I'm putting you in the hot seat. You have some big budgeties to shoes to fill. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna boost or are you gonna break?
Mmm? So I'm gonna do both because.
I'll allow it.
Yes, So I'm going to boost this meal prep company that I've been using because I needed to take a break from cooking.
All right, Okay, okay.
Cooking was just going it's it was taking over my life, Mandy. I just couldn't do it. I'm like, I especially when you're launching a business, you're gonna end up eating takeout every single day. And I'm like, Okay, something needs to stop. So if I searched far and wide for a company that actually delivers like fresh food to my door, they do it twice a week. It's not like frozen anything like that. It's not I'm not going to say the name of any other companies, but.
You know what I mean, it's not for us to think of them.
It's fresh delivered to my door. It's local to San Diego. And I'm like, that's the trick. When you're gonna find a company that's going to deliver food to your door. It has to be local. It can't be like shipped through the mail. So they deliver it fresh twice a week. It's delicious. It's woman owned. Can I say the name the company?
Absolutely? Yeah, Okay, I'm waiting.
Okay, good. The name of the company's Mikayla's. So if you're in San Diego, highly recommend. And it's been amazing. And now I have all this free time to do all the other things that I do, like making more tiktoks.
Yes, the world needs more tiktoks. Okay, please don't work for yourself. That's awesome. I've tried. Yes, so no, I love that. I think I've tried all of the main I'm going off my microphone. Sorry, Dennis, I'm back. I'm back in the middle. Yeah, I think I've tried all of the same meal kit meal kit things, but especially the ones that come delivered. When I was on maternity leave, it was a it was a lifesaver just to have something I didn't have to think about, but just putting
nutrients in my body. But like the taste soul begin to set, like taste the same, and that's that's awesome. So Mikayla's and it's local to San Diego, so we'll put a link to that in our show notes and shouts out to a woman's own business. Okay, so that's your boost. You said you got a break. What's it gonna be?
Well, that was the break though. The break was I'm not cooking.
So okay, we're taking a break from cooking. Okay, gotcha. And the boost was Mikayla's. I see what you did there. That counts, that counts. It's your first time. I would call that a full boost because it was all positive. But I feel you, I feel you. We missed the break, you know, when you had your breakdown from trying to cook and do your tiktoks at the same time. But it works, it works, it works. I'm gonna do a
boost too, because I'm feeling pretty optimistic today. I don't have regular TV, so I don't watch primetime television anymore, so I didn't watch the Emmys, but thank goodness for IG because I was able to watch the incomparable Debbie Allen's acceptance speech. So, Debbie Allen, are you familiar with her or her work? If you're a graat's anatomy fan. I'm like, you know, stand for the beginning. That is where I became familiar with her as as Catherine, doctor
Catherine Wait while Avery on Gray's Anatomy. But she is so much more than an actress. Debbie Allen is iconic as a dancers, as someone who's created opportunities for black and brown especially youth to become to get a career in dance and to find their way. And she's a director and amazing, amazing, and she won the Spectacular Award
at the Emmys, the Governor's Award or something miraculous. But her speech was just so powerful and I encourage anyone who's listening right now to go find Debbie Allen's speech because to see, just see a black woman who has been doing the work for decades get her flowers. It doesn't get her flowers while she's still here, you know what I mean? Yes, I just feel like it doesn't
happen enough. And her speech was at the very end she goes, you know, I want people to hear this speech from Texas women, to hear young women to hear this speech from Texas all the way to Afghanistan and be inspired. And I just love her so much so, shouts out to Debbie Allen.
I usually don't watch a word show, but I'm like, now I'm gonna have to look that up because that sounds like it was worthy of watching. You know.
I like to just look at the highlights. So what was the best speech? Who looked crazy? You know VMA's or this. I'm just now finishing the VMA's performances, and I know most of the performances this year. I feel like I'm catching up with the youth, and I.
Feel like I'm not. And I'm on TikTok and I'm like, I don't know any of these musics, but I use them because they're trending. They're like, oh, you know the song. I'm like, no, it's trending. But I did catch like the met gala, Like that's always fun to see what nobody's wearing. So I did catch that. And I even made a meme of Kim Kardashian because everybody was.
Me That's where I saw it. Yes, listen, we could spend an entire day about like what did you say? Her outfit was like the debt coming up the stairs to get you or something like that.
I did a few I was like like, her sister was Friday, and then Kim was Sunday Scaries, and then the other one I did was her sister was leaving Corporate America, and then Kim was health insurance.
Because oh yes, can we wait a second, we didn't talk about that. What do you do for health insurance? Yeah?
I pay seven hundred dollars a month.
For Cobra Cobra Okay, yeah, so I could.
Have gone in the marketplace and gotten something cheaper. But again, it was one of those things where I did a cost benefit analysis of like how much do I want to aggravate myself shopping for health insurance so that I could potentially maybe save two hundred dollars a month, which, by the way, I'm not denying that two hundred dollars a month is a lot of money, but for me personally, I'm like, is it worth it for me? And so I made the decision to keep the health insurance that
I had. Again, I'm not planning to stay here forever, how much longer in the country, So by the time my Cobra runs out, hopefully i won't be here and I'll be on that sweet sweet Portugal insurance that is only one hundred dollars a month. Thank you, amen, So I am waiting for that.
I'm so glad you brought that up. People think solopreneur life is so sexy, and it's like, are you trying to have healthcare when you need it? Yeah, like you know what I mean, especially now of all time. So thanks for sharing that. Okay, this has been amazing, Delian. Thank you so much again for saving my as you say, my Kulo and us. Thank you because Tiffany, Tiffany is off on the west I think she's on your side of town. She's on the West coast doing something fabulous
in California. So thank you so much. I'm just loving. Thank you for doing what you're doing. It's so fun to watch you sore and it's so it's just nice to meet you and put a put a voice to the faith and the name that I see so much. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you for having me. This is an absolute honor. I love the show. I'm obsessed. And congratulations on launching your business too.
Thank you. You know I'm doing it. All you gotta do is put it up on Instagram apparently, and you're a business owner. But it's amazing. All right, well, thank y'all for listening. Stick around Delian because we're going to take some questions for Friday's be A, Q and A. But for those of you who don't follow Delian the Money Coach, you have got to follow her. Check the
show notes. We'll have all of her socials there. Find out how you can slay the stock market as well at her website, so definitely scroll on down to the show notes and get all of those links. All right, what a fantastic throwback episode. I love these episodes. It gave us a chance to take a little trip down memory lane and dig up some of our oldies. But goodies, make sure that you check out Brand Ambition every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. See you next time, bapam