Hey, hey, hey, I feel jazzy, like, hey, hey, hey, that's my little baritone. You know I was an alto.
As you can tell, Hi, you're very jazzy. That's two weeks in a row. Last week I was doing jazz hands backing you up.
Right. So this is my an ambition for those of you knew bees.
Out there where you've been spent four years?
No, I know, we've been at the stag at the sang for a minute. That's crazy.
Four years, episode one seventy seven.
We oh, one hundred and seventy seven. My knees are aching.
We're like full House, Like, what's a really long running sitcom or something?
Now? Full houses have to be one four episodes.
Right, Yeah, that's true. They did like allion seasons. Right. We're trying to get that Frands money, right.
That ten year, that ten year money. You know at the seven year that's seven year, itch seven is a divine year.
Let's see if we make it to seven, what would you even? What would we talk? Seven years? It could get I feel like our lives only get more interesting.
Yeah, I believe.
So you'll have twelve.
Well I don't want twelve, just one, maybe two. I heard the Obama's getting a podcast. Did you hear they.
Are just inking deals left in the Obama empire?
Yeah?
What they signed with Spotify's with Netflix. They have so many deals, deals on deals.
I know, it's so crazy, Like you know, you had the you had the foresight, I must give it to you. Podcast was going to be a thank than you know. And I'm like, look at this, like i'd heard of them before. Of course, I'm trying to think, did I even listen to podcasts back then? I think I listened to like one and now like like it's like a thing for me, Like I love a good podcast.
I've been I've been on this like it's you can't have both. Like I've been wanting to read more books, so I took a social media break in May, which really opened up my I was putting down my phone more often, and I was like, let me go to the library and get some books. And now that I've been reading more, I literally listened to a podcast like not even the Daily for the New York Times in
like six weeks now. And I go through these phases, but I do love I love the I know it's trashy, but true crime podcasts are so good.
My heart can't take it, honestly, Like I'm one of those people who are like.
I hate for all the episodes to be there and then you binge them. You don't have to wait, you know, with the anticipation.
Even me, like I will literally pause and like walk around like, oh my gosh, my gosh, it's getting too good. I like shake my hand, I got like shake my body out like I'm like I'm doing exercise, like like I feel like as I get older, I don't my anxiety when like a show gets too good and I'm like, oh my gosh, or like I don't know if this happens to you, but my secondhand embarrassment has been so heightened.
You ever seen like something on TV You're like, I know it's a show, but it's you know, it's supposed to be an embarrassing moment for whoever the character, and I am like dying, like, oh my god, Like at Tiffany's it's a show. I'm like, I know, but it's so embarrassed. I'm like, you know what, no more teaving for you.
We talked about this because you've said before how you really like absorb people's emotions, and that's what they're going through. I was watching Never Been Kissed Last Night, which I think, twenty years later is still an exceptional piece of film, and I but I was so embarrassed. Like I don't know if it's just that I've been reminiscing about my high school and college days lately, but I felt so I felt way more embarrassed for her, and like I
wanted to just hug this character. Yeah, throughout the whole.
Movie, Josie Grossy, Josey Grosy. It's such a good movie.
It was either that I'm like at a hotel, you know, in the middle of Charlotte, like Corporate Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, for work for a couple of days. So I was scrolling through HBO go just wanted some comfort food, you know, in in a free movie form.
Well, my one of my other favors that she's done is ever After. Have you watched that one?
That was the other one I was between or ever After?
Ever ever After is the is the j I probably watched that Gill be Sleeping, super Will be Sleeping, and I'm like, I'm just do a little ever After. I can't.
I love It's, Oh my god, it is so good.
I'm like you, Barrymore, I swear you because yeah, it's just like this awkward like but in the end you win. Anyway, I'm like, it's me, It's me.
It's the best Cinderella story they've done, maybe Brandy's, but still Brady is more like, you know, jelly beans and and candy and just like black, beautiful, amazingness. Whitney Houston, like, come on, I am fantastical and magical, musical. But ever after it was just like my teenage heart.
Yes it's everything. I'm like, how could you cheat? Like the true.
All right, but what's happened in the world? Oh, last week we were talking about so your avocados are safe America.
No, I was gonna say that. Look who little hands has decided to back down.
He didn't back down. He still worked out a plan. This plan wasn't possibly worked out three months ago, but yeah, he came up with a new plan, and tariffs are working, and now Mexico is listening to everything we have to say.
I was like, what are you talking about?
I don't care. As long as my avocados are safe. The five percent tariffs on Mexican imports are not happening.
Yeah, well my as well, Like randomly, I was like looking at you know, I was checking my I use Robinhood the APT just to buy like I don't invest seriously through robin Hood, but just like you know, stock here, stock there, just to kind of see like what my picks are. Like, I'm not gonna lie. I'm doing pretty good. And I bought Beyond Meat and it's doing like great.
Wait a second, because I was just on CNBC.
Just behind me, let me see, hold on, maybe that's not the right.
Maybe you should check because the headline says Beyond Me dives five percent.
No, no, no, it is doing well. It's doing great compared to what I bought it for.
Let me just write, you got in early.
Okay, yeah, I got it like I got it for like sixty bucks and now it's one twenty six. So yes, Beyond Me has as long as it doesn't go on too like sixty bucks that I'm good. That's what I mean. But you're right. I was like, yeah, it is down, trying to think today's highs Yeah, oh yeah, so fifty two weeks high was one eighty six, and but I would have loved to have gotten it at a low when it first opened at twenty five dollars. Can you imagine, Yes, that would have.
Been nice, But how do you know? I mean, you know, I listened. It seems like you're having a good time with Robin Hood. I chickened the hell out with Robin Hood. I think I maybe had a thousand bucks in there with various investments, and then I was just like, let me get my money. Just like I don't know, I have these like moments of anxiety where I'm just like, never mind, I don't have the balls anymore. I don't
want to see you know. Or I was like making money and then I got afraid I was going to lose it risk aversion, you know, however you.
Want, Like like you said, I keep like I have just a like now I've got like a few thousand because I'll do like I'm gonna get two stocks of this, I'm gonna get three stacks of that, you know, And so overall, like I think I've had it for five years now.
You were like from the beginning, Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to think one year.
I have to see like when I signed up, and that's not five years ago. I don't know. But overall, my my full year. Oh since twenty sixteen, so that's not five years, that's like August fifth, twenty sixteen. So but no, thirty five percent I've had my investments have gone.
Up damn so excellent.
I mean, well, to be fair too, a lot of the stocks I haven't even bought a lot of them because I actually used acorns. They're not acorns. I use robin Hood like they're freebie. Like I think I said it in an email, like, hey, here's like, you know, an app that you can like buy stocks individually and track them. And so I put it in an email that people signed up, and I got a ton of
free stocks. I'm not even gonna lie. I probably got like one hundred hundred shit and more than that, probably two with three hundred shares of like random stocks.
Oh well, like they run promos like that every once in a while.
So like, for example, they give groupon away, they give serious way, they give a sprint, and so like these are stocks that I just kind of got for free. So I'm like, okay, not for free, because you know, like like I said, I did have to pay for them, so I guess it is for free. But it was basically, like you know, if you sign up with my app, I get a free stock.
That's even better.
So that's why I haven't really like. That's why I guess why I like it is because I don't really have to put much money in. I'm just kind of like, oh, I get me a free stock, okay. And of course all the ones that they get that they given me, I'm like, they're all doing terrible. That's fine, that's fine. Oh but my Wayfair is doing good. You know what when I really started.
What you know that jingle and then.
Plus you know, because Wayfair that's jos in Maine, and what is it all modern? It's doing good. I bought up for eighty eight it's one fifty six now am So whenever I'm using like a company and I'm like going ham, I'm like, let me look to see their stocks, see how it's doing. It's just because I'm like, you know, if I'm overusing it, maybe other people are too.
So yeah, that's how I read something about how house flipping is on the rise, which could be good for these furnishing companies.
Ooh, true. You know what? I did you ever watch Working Girl?
Like? I finally watch Working Girl. It's on Hulu for those of you, you know, late to the party of millennials. Yeah, it's good. Lily Thompson.
And what's your name? No, No, not that working girl, working girl?
What am I thinking of?
I know what you're talking about. You're thinking about something else. I'm working Girl. It's with Melody Griffin.
No, no, no, I haven't seen that. What am I thinking of that?
Oh?
Working nine to five? That's what I'm thinking of? Another classic?
Oh well, No. The reason why I like working girls because you kind of like it's a great kind of like explanation of like well part of it anyway, like stocks basically and how it all happens and acquisitions. And I was like, oh, and so like she was like reading the newspaper and she made a tie in that, oh, some other industry is rising. So she was like, as a result, this other industry will likely also do well.
And she was right, And so I just was thinking, like what you said that, like, hey, people are flipping houses, so by nature they likely are going to be looking for you know, furniture and whatever and wayfair and those kind of stories will likely get more business and their stock likely will go up. So it's like, you know, That's the thing that's interesting about stocks is that if you can make those kind of connections, that's where you can kind of win. I get this thing every month,
oh were or every every other day. I forget. I think Robinhood says it to me, and I like it. I think it's called like Robin Hood snacks, and I like it because it just kind of gives you like snack bites of like kind of like stocks and what's happening and what's going on. So I really like I've been enjoying it because I'm not someone who's reading like the New York Times Financial section, and so I can just kind of read it and be like, hey, this is cool.
Yeah, well, I'm proud of you for having the guts to woodstand, Robin Hood. I'm just like, for now, I'm a target date, fun girl. That's just my jam. I'm gonna get back in and eventually, eventually I'm gonna do something with my iray just like sitting there. It'd be fun to take or maybe I should get my husband to pick some stuff. I don't know. He you know, he was the one who wanted to go see Hamilton like three months before I hit Broadway. And I was like,
that sounds stupid. I don't think I'm a good judge.
And You're like, oh, did you ever end up going to see it?
Oh? Yeah, we saw it. I loved it more than he did. And I was like, he's like, remember when I wanted to see it, like several months before anyone had ever heard about it, And you were like, eh, history.
Now you're like, so yeah, don't don't.
Don't listen to Mandy Analyst reports, I don't know what I'm talking about. Listen speaking of the New York Times, though I was just reading so we all know the well maybe you don't know, but the World Cup Women's World Cup is happening, and America is in the World
Cup women's team. And alongside the fact that we're you know, fighting for our title in the World Cup, they're also in court women's soccer soccer players battling against their pay and claiming that there's been discrimination because like even though they're the you know versus the men's team, they actually win tournaments, and they've won the World Cup before, the women's team is still paid so much less in them, and like the prizes that they win for their for
their games are a lot less. So they're battling it out in court. So girl power there. But isn't it like depressing? It is that of course they're they're winning more than the guys are. I don't even know if the guys made it to the World Cup this year but or whenever the last one was. I'm testing my soccer knowledge now. But anyway, but women are clearly, you know they and especially since they won the World Cup. I think it was like a few years ago, twenty
fifteen or sixteen. Since then, like women's interest in women's soccer has like ways or passed men's soccer in the US, and it's growing a popularity and there's all this excitement and you know, they're getting bigger numbers and bigger turnouts. I think they're you know, the America's women competing in that World Cup where they won was one of the most watched sports events ever, especially in the soccer world. And yet they are still not being paid as well as.
That's not fair, fair, it's not and so but I'm glad that they're fighting for that because that's I mean, that's the only way you're going to change it.
So I remember, I remember doing this article at Yahoo where I interviewed. It's not just soccer. There's a lot of women's teams out there that because they're not you know, even just women's basketball players, like so many of them have to go overseas just to get to pick a good pages, you know.
And then my friends did she played overseas? It was like there was no real opportunity here.
Yeah, just like in love and basketball and she asked like, what did you play in Spain?
Yes, or something like that. It's so funny how everything can be. You can find all of your life lessons in a movie.
Yeah, but there's women's football leagues and these women it's not just some women, you know, it's not even about they don't get paid, Like if they injured, they have full time jobs and they're paying. They're playing because it's their passion project and they're basically paying to play and travel.
And then if they get injured, they may not have insurance, they don't get any coverage, and then you know, they may their careers could be over without any kind of without any kind of support or backup because the league does not recognize them as an official league.
Which that's really just like exactly that sucks boom. Have you seen this is not like a new new article. Well it was done in April. I guess I've been seeing this pop up more and more and more that the CNBC has This article, says walk manager colon, buying a home is usually a terrible investment. Here's why.
Yeah, this has become like the equivalent if is coffee good but good for you? Or yeah for you? Headline? It toltally like the personal finance world, right because like, yes you can read. I bet you pop over that story and they're like, well, it can be a good idea if these three things, or a bad idea if these three things.
And honestly two. I mean, I get it. But sometimes for some people, you know, buying a home, it's not just a financial decision. I mean not to say you shouldn't keep you should definitely keep finances obviously like a homelesstelln investment. But I think most people purchase their home not necessarily as a as a fear culture build wealth. I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but I feel like people purchase homes because you know, they're like wanting to
live a specific place. Maybe you wanted to raise a child there, start a family. So you know, to me, if net net you come out even, I get it. Let's just say, like my parents bought their house. I think it was like two fifty when they bought their house in Westfield, and now I think it's like valued at like a seven six fifty seven hundred thousand. But you know they bought it when I was nine. I'm
thirty nine now, so that's thirty years later. But you know, you think about like the work they put in and like property taxes, whatever, So maybe they come out a little bit on top. Maybe they come out you know, net net even. But I mean they wanted us to be raised in Westfield, this beautiful town. We have a beautiful backyard that butts up against the park. It was more than just a It was a financial choice, but
it was more than just that. So I think that sometimes these financial articles don't take into consideration the home ownership is is a financial choice, but it's also an emotional one too.
Yeah, and that's why you can't. I mean, as long as you're going into it with the right perspective. Hey, this house is not my guaranteed nest egg. I'm not going to put all my savings into it and expect it to give me my retirement one day. As long as you're not doing that, you're treating it as like one of the several types of investments that you have, then you know it can't. It can be a good part of a good piece of a balanced investment portfolio
for me. You know, I'll let you know in ten to twenty years if buying a house was a good investment.
I don't know exactly.
It just was what my husband wanted and kept the peace exactly.
And I'm sure you love it now.
I mean it's okay. I our dishwasher, you've got a dog. I do have a dog. Oh, I'd love my Molly. I our dishwasher broke, and it's like ruining our marriage now because my I don't know. This thing is like brand spanking new, top of the line. And the thing is, these fancier dishwashers now give you an aerror code if there's any kind of moisture. And I guess there's a small leak, and of course, like the no, I don't
want to get into it. But the you know, the people they sent out to fix it spent like forty five minutes smelled to high heaven, my god, just like stunk up my whole house and with their body odor and didn't even do anything, and we had to book another appointment. So but in our house, my husband does the dishes and it's a beautiful thing. He decided that
I wasn't worthy. I don't love the dishwasher correctly, and I was more than happy to continue to be bad at it so that he would just take it over.
That's like me, I'm not gonna lie, do not watch the dish.
It's fine, you know, it's hey. He doesn't cook, so you know, it balances things out. But even when they were there, they were like, do you know what setting you guys usually use. I was like, maybe I've opened that thing three times. I couldn't look.
Right, like it's here, but he treads it like a car.
You know, he's over there just like inspecting it and like tinkering with it anyway.
But yeah, like, well, one of the things I did learn about, like you know, for those of you who are and then we'll wrap with the segment, Well, one of the things I'd learned is that like, so I didn't get I got like the everybody was telling me like all the I don't know, techy guys, they were like, make sure you get a warranty or not a warranty, a warranty right on the refriger rate, and for sure most of.
Them come with like a you know, at least a year warranty, like knew about.
They're like it's worth it, Like it's worth the extension because bridges aren'tously expensive to fix, and they almost always especially if you've got like the ice maker and all that kind of stuff, They're like, it's worth a warranty. Literally, every single guy I know that was like, you know, like mechanicy whatever I don't even know the word for it, was like definitely they're like the stove not so much like you know, you can whatever it comes with is
typically fine. They still typically don't break down as much and they're not as expensive to fix. I didn't hear about them, you know, I never even asked about the I'm gonna ask like my mechanicy guy friends like should I like should I get because I didn't get a warranty on the dishwasher, but I definitely got like a
three year one and everybody was like no longer. I'm like, really, they're like I'm telling you the refrigerator at some point, the ice maker is going to stop working, and you're you're it's the expense of like replacing the part and this or that is gonna be that warranty for the year. I'm like, whoa, So I'm actually that's one of like on my to do list is to extend my warranty on my on my on my fridge.
Hmmm. Interesting, I'll have to look into that. I actually don't know. He was also in charge of purchasing the appliances, so I don't know if he did any like extended warranties or anything like that.
Like I said, Like I said, fridge is the one to invest and if you're gonna do it, That's what I've heard from the word on the street.
Well, the people who owned the house before had the same fridge for like thirty years, so they're probably laughing all like laughing at us with her.
We have those new appliances for real, Like I mean, the fridge that just opens with nothing on the outside. Those fridges last longer the people's lives, So like Grandma's not here fridges, but like these new fancy fridges, Oh my gosh, like the door door fridges. Yeah, tap on the front and you can see inside. I mean you could just open it and see inside. So yeah, they're so fancy. Now. It's like cars remember before, Like you didn't have to worry about your car window getting stuck.
It just was a roll. You just roll. Well, you're probably too young, but you used to roll it, remember, but you to.
I might have rolled my two thousand and three Ford tours a couple of times. That was my first car. I thought I was really styling with that Ford Tourist too, till my cousin was like, that's a grandma car.
And You're like, what those are? Just hate all? It takes this one person to say something and you're like your whole perspective of your life changes. You're like, my life is not the same. We gonna take questions.
We will right after this short break stick with us. Oh that was a nice little that was like a news segue. Take a quick break and be right back to answer your questions.
Questions q U E. S. Jones. I don't want to mess with the spelling because I'm not that great of a spower.
Oh okay, I mean at least hear honest about it.
Yes, I can't wait. I heard we have some really good questions.
You know, you guys have been gramming me. I think I'm just gonna stick with the whole Graham thing. Wait are we getting a question live right now? Oh my goodness, I don't know if I can answer that. Thank you guys for sending your questions via Instagram. I guess that's like our thing now. Is that how we're going to communicate? I mean, that's fine. We are at Brown Ambition podcast on Instagram. Again, if you're going to send a question,
just send me a DM directly. Don't tag us in your stories because I always like it's frustrating as people tag us and then I you know, they only have twenty four hours to see it, and then I have no idea what they said. So if they're talking smack, I never know. All right, let's do that. Let's do a question. We haven't done any side hustle questions before. This question comes from Instagram user Alissa Alisa Zilla on Instagram. She says, I just started listening to your podcast be
a stitcher, and I've become a huge fan. I have a question, what are some good side hustle ideas when you have a really busy job. Good question do you want to take? Do you wanna? Uh?
Well, I'm not like I'm not a super side hustler, but I do know Sandy from you know, we had her on right with Sandy here when I was in here.
Listen, we still have not has had Sandy Smith on this show.
I know, I know you guys are gonna love her honestly. Yeah, I well, she's a side hustle clean and she's amazing. So I'm just gonna share some of the stuff. Like you know, this is not my own genius. It's just some like stuff that Sandy. Sandy actually has like this like side hustle sheet. Maybe we could find it like
link and link in the show notes. But I remember one thing she was like, so like, let's just say you live in the city and you happen to have a driveway, you might rent out your driveway for like you know, like like, for example, I live in Newark in one of the houses that I bought is close to a train station, and so we're gonna rent out because it's it's a multi it's gonna be a multi family house. So any so we could potentially rent out a driveway space for that you could rent how attic space.
Sandy made eighty thousand dollars in a year or so on Amazon, selling like, you know, mugs and T shirts and stuff on Amazon. She had a full time job as an HR professional, and so she made the eighty thousand because she wanted to pay off her student loan debt, which she did. So there's always that it doesn't have to be like your full time I think, I mean asking yourself like there's braiding here, there's making cookies, there's babysit.
I used to babysit all the time. I used to tutoring, light lifts.
I mean podcasting. This is a side hustle.
That's true. That's true. No, I never thought about that.
You're right, we'll make it a little some and something.
And there's a young woman I can't remember her name, but like now it's become her full time thing. But she used to she creates really healthy recipes for busy millennials, and I think people pay like ten bucks a month and she sent you recipes for like the month or whatever, and they're like really great. But she's grown a seven
figure business as a result. I was literally just just selling like access to recipes, which I thought was great if you're a teacher, And this is something like I would have done if I was still teaching, is if you have great lesson plans. I know a young woman that sells her lesson plans because she does really detailed lesson plans. And if you've ever been a teacher of
writing lesson plans is that pain in the butt. So she does these detailed lesson plans and then she does like new ones every month for the month, and you know, you do a subscription so you can print them out and you don't have to do lesson plans, and you had you can already know what she's gonna do with your kids for the for the for the month. So
that's another really great one to me. The best side hustles are like intellectual ones, meaning like they don't require physically doing something, you know, because because your time is limited, that's what I'm assuming that you mean by busy. So if there's some sort of knowledge that you can sell that you know, that's always a great side hustle. But yes, Andy had like this whole sheet that I was like,
oh my gosh, I never thought of these things. One of the things I used to do all the time was I used to do studies when I was like a super broke college kid. Well MeOH my life.
My husband used to do those too.
Yeah, okay, so my I've done sleep studies. Well I'm not just sleep studies but his studies in general and focus groups, and so one time I did the sleep study. I didn't want to do it by myself because you actually had to like sleep over at the sleep study place. So my roommate, my college roommate, and I did it. It was twenty five hundred dollars. I forget what they were like looking for or studying, but I've done studies on like soap, where they're like, gave you soap to take home.
You're supposed to wash your face with it, which I was like, not me. I used to wash my hands with it because I was like, you will not be ruining this complexion, but don't be like me, because clearly they were like taking pictures in my face every week, and I did start to feel guilty, like this is not even real. But I've definitely done a ton of focus groups, I remember, which was actually really cool. I did a focus group once on the Wizarding World of
Harry Potter. It was yes, they did. They gave me two hundred and fifty dollars. I went to the city and they wanted me to sit in this room and on the main screen was like a mirror of the computer screen, and they said, pretend like you're booking a vacation to Universal Studios and you want to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. So I think it was just coming out, or I don't know, or they
were just rebuilding the website. So they just wanted to see if the website was like it was easy to navigate. So I would navigate and they'd be like, watch you press that button. I'm like, cause it was right here, I guess because I noticed it because it was red. So they were just like watching how do people naturally
navigate the site? And it was so crazy because maybe a few years later I ended up taking Supergroom, my bonus daughter to Harry Potter, and I was like, oh my gosh, and I was booking it and I was like, I go this site. Glad to see they took my advice. I mean, well, I don't know if there's a but yeah, that's I mean studies. I found a lot of focus groups and studies on Craigslist. Was actually I think focus groups dot com. They still call me to this day.
They called me maybe like a few weeks ago, saying, hey, would you like to And I was like no, but you know it's typically one hundred dollars or more. But if you're really busy, you might not have the time for that. But like I said, if you know something, see if you can sell it for You can create like a like canva c a n BA instead of canvas with s take off the s. You can make like little PDFs, and you can create things that people
can download. Let's just say, like I said, you're really good, like you got an awesome kid who's like super smart, how to raise kids or whatever it is, and you sell it for under ten bucks anywhere from five bucks, two bucks, three bucks, and you know you're you're you post it on social So to me, like I said, intellectual kind of property is like it's a great way to make money without having to do a whole bunch of work.
Yeah, and I'll just add, especially if you're really busy with the job, Like you know, I said this podcast as a side hustle, and if it weren't something that I genuinely enjoyed, it would be such a pain, even thoughough, even though it's not a huge time suck, do something that you enjoy and like try and take advantage something that you're already good at so that it doesn't feel like additional work. But I take advantage of some like
in this gig economy there I mean, I use. I can just list off at least a handful of gig economy apps that I use every day that make my life easier and could be a great side hustle if
you've got the time. So one of them is my dog walking app wag, which a lot of I do get like a variety of different walkers, and they all have different backgrounds, like their college students and they had the summer off, or like my very favorite dog walker, he just wanted a career change and just decided to as a segue he would do a few side hustles, including being a wagwalker. There's of course, like Uber and Lyft.
There's task Rabbit, which I use all the time, especially like if you run like offices, if we need someone to build furniture or something. We'll use task rabbit. There's a lot of things out there, but I think the best side hustle is one where it's a talent that you have, that you enjoy doing and you can monetize it. Yes, so start from there, because if you don't enjoy driving or using gas and miles, or you don't enjoy dogs, like, that's not going to be this side hustle for you.
Yeah, And like I said, just figuring out what you already had to know and figuring out how do I monetize that. Social media is like so your friend you know you actually you know, and I'll leave you this piece of advice. There are literally side hustle groups on Facebook, so just type in side hustle and see like what kind of comes up. Because you can join those groups and ask and you know, there might be somebody who's rocking out killing it. You're like, well, I never thought
about it that way. So that's definitely because if you are going to want to sell stuff online, you're gonna want to know, well, what website and how do I do this? And those groups can really help guide you because I'll have people in there that are doing it. Already.
Oh that's a great tip. Yeah, side hustle. I mean there's podcasts about side hustles. I almost just blurted out one that I think I've seen before, Side Hustle Nation there. It's just there's tons of resources out there, so good look, it's a good time to be a side hustler.
It is.
Thank you for your question, Eliza Aliscilla if I got that right. And let's see, there was one in here that mentioned my favorite person ever, Dave Ramsey, and that's never mind. I don't even want to go there because y'all come for Dave Ramsey. If you're Dave Ramsey, I know I'm not.
That's boys, I've gotten it before.
I love to like, I love to stir the little hornet's nest. But anyway, let me find this question. Oh y'all, Instagram is not easy to navigate. Okay, here we go. So this question comes from listener Carries. It's a pretty name, all right. She is, Hi, Mandy and Tiffany. I ran across your show from another Instagram user's post. I have
a question about credit scores. I've done Dave Ramsey's financial peace class in the past and understand his perspective about the credit score being less important, and listening to you on your podcast and others in the financial space, I was surprised to see that you guys emphasize credit scores and credit worthiness. Can you explain where you're coming from? Is that meant for those who are trying to do better financially but not as much for those who want
to be financially free? I love the show, Keep giving us the greatness.
Oh is that a little bit of shit in there? Like? I mean for those other folks who don't want be financially pre who's that because you have a credit card you don't want to be financially free?
But that's I mean, you take this one because I know that you've you've gotten this question before and you have some thoughts on like because Dave Ramsey's philosophy is that credit cards are the devil, and the devil is a lie and you should help them up right? That did I sum it up?
Well? Here's the thing. So my personal the way I operate as Tiffany, I actually operate closer to the Dave Ramsey message method than because I don't I don't have any credit card debt, I paid off in four I rarely use my credit card. I pay I even pay for my houses in cash, including my car. Superman bar his car cast So I'm not here to say Dave Ramsey is the worst, because the truth is the way I live my personal life is more in alignment with that. But I am also someone who believes that you have
to meet people where they are. And I don't even believe that there's one way to financial freedom because I didn't always live like that. And truthfully, the reason why I pay for everything in cash, it's not, honestly the healthiest reason is because I'm afraid because I have not gotten over the procession, and I carry too much cash with me. And at one point I had so much that I actually was I had to do something, so I bought a house. That's not healthy, you know. So.
But here's the thing about credit. I used to believe that credit was the devil. It is not. That credit is not just for people who are looking to borrow. So, great you have a house, Great you might have a car. But here's the thing. Like maintaining a decent credit score, it's only helpful. It does not hurt you to maintain
a decent credit score. It doesn't mean that you have to get more credit or you have to borrow whatever, But just being mindful of your credit is going to be helpful because it's not just about you know, you already have your house, you already have your car, because eventually you might want another car, Eventually you might have to rent a car. Eventually, actually might want to get
a job. Yep. That like my mentee was she graduated law school and she was scared that she was not going to be hired because they took her credit score into consideration. There are, like I knew, not just lawyers.
I knew a young woman that didn't get She worked at a truck like a truck driving company, and I forget what role she wanted to play, but she wanted to get a promotion and had she came to my class because they would not give her a promotion until she in order for her to move into this new position, she had to have a credit score of a particular number or better. So credit is not just about borrowing. There are aspects of your life that are affected by credit.
That's why I said just in general, because a woman that told me once, Mandy, that like, let my credit score go to zero. I don't care. I already got my car.
In my house.
I'm like says, So here's the thing. If you know, like I said, if you ever want to get a to rent a car, if you ever want to get another car, certain job. But not just that. But like I know that the PC and G I live in New Jersey, so it's like coneticon in like New York and other places. So that is our energy company they have. They have the ability to actually charge you more poor kill a bot or kill a lot whatever. That that
energy measurement is if you have poor credit. So literally your electric bill could be higher if you have poor credit. So that's why I just share with people that, like, credit is not just about credit cards. Credit is about your ability to pay back. That's what they're judging. They're not judging and saying you got credit cards, They're saying, have you proven that you have the ability to pay back?
Because if you do, that means that there's a certain level of a level of financial integrity that pours into other parts of your life. So we're using that to judge you whether it's right or not. You know, I don't know this is still legal, but I remember at one point, if you had Dad credit, your your car insurance was higher in New Jersey. But I'm not sure if that's still legal. I vaguely remember like there was some law pass saying they couldn't do that, but like
your cornsurance. So I didn't say all that to say that, like, you know, like I I you know, I live in alignment with a lot of Dave Ramsey's principle. Let me not even say Dame Ramsey's principles because he is not Jesus. Like a lot of these principles are just principles that Dave Ramsey is just reiterating. But he didn't invent these principles. These principles have been here. There are literally books that were around before he was born that these principles have
been shared in. And so I never I've not read anything of Dave Ramsey's principles. And and yet the way I live my life, this is what I learned from my dad. He doesn't know who Dave Ramsey is. This is what he learned from his dad. These are just
general principles of life. But I don't want that that you look at credit with your nose turned up, because the truth of The matter is, if you live in the United States of America, oftentimes your credit score is really going it's going to affect more than just your ability to borrow. And so I don't want you to be caught, you know, by asking you might want this amazing new job, and they're like, yeah, well we need to know what your credit score is. It's like, wait, what,
I didn't know. I let it go because I already have the things that I need. And like I said, you don't have to borrow in order to maintain a decent credit score. Just continue paying you know, monitory. You might look at it just a couple of times a year. And yeah, and I don't think we talked The reason why we talked about credit a lot on our show is because people ask, you know, not because I don't think me and Mandy, I mean me and Mandy. I mean you're you're a payer down or like I am.
You know, Mandy can't stand debt either, you know.
So I don't even care of a zero percent that I have learned. I cannot stomach it. I keeps stay up at night and my husband's like, why are you stressing out? I'm like, cause it's there. And like what if X y Z.
Yeah. So I don't think we like tout it right, I feel like we know. I feel we live more in the line with Abrams these principles. But it's just that we understand that there are folks who need who are needing that information, and they ask we're going to answer. Yeah.
I mean, listen, there are people who were in a bad situation and they're already there, So does it help me to tell them, Hey, you should have never done that in the first place. And no, we try to give advice that's realistic for the people and like meet
you guys where you're at. And I think like, if you've managed to maintain a high credit without it, you know, without a credit card, or you haven't used credit cards in a while and it's working for you, or you don't trust yourself with cards and you know better and you want to like keep them away from yourself, that's cool. But yeah, there is a benefit if you can, if
you're responsible with credit. And I think when we talk about credit, it's always about the way to use it, the smart way, so that it's working for you and not against you and you're not actually giving money to you know, major credit card companies or banks and just kind of falling into that that endless debt cycle, which is really terrible. So I like see where the anti
credit card sentiment comes from. But sometimes that's just not where people are at, and you've got to we've got to meet them, meet you guys.
Some like the the when people are like, oh my gosh, you know, teenage just preach abstinence. It's like, right, why they're going to have some sex? Like yes, well some teenagers like adhere to the abstinence, like yeah, but it's not you know, like it's not fair to only say, hey, teens just don't have sex, because the truth is some are going to. So if we don't give them, you know, like the if we don't give them education about it, then they're going to seek it out on their own
and they're almost always going to be wrong. And so it's just like, well, this is happening, and so there should be a well round I don't I believe is there should be a well rounded approach to financial education. I don't believe in extremes because we don't live in extremes. I feel like finding where people are and guiding them towards where they want where they want to be, not where I think they ought to be. That's another thing too.
I really believe in, you know, financial education without the judgment, because I mean, I used to be, because I used to be like financially perfect, like oh I did this, I did that, and then it all fell apart during a recession, and it humbled me real quick, like oh so so the things happen and I could say, I mean, like I said, I use credit what the last trip I went on, the last two trips to me and
my husband went on points? Okay, like those credit card points, like I I mean, because I pay my credit cards off every month, but I use them a lot on purpose, so I could pay them off every month because I'm like, I don't use them a lot for random things, like I use them for things I was going to pay, like I'm gonna pay this bill anyway, put it on a card, pay it off in full automatically, and then why use the points to travel? And we went to Jamaica for free. We've been Mexico for free and it
was awesome and so yeah, so used wisely. But I know most people it's hard to use credit cards bizly for a lot of people. So I do suggest the folks who are not quite ready to manage it wisely to really not use them until they're in a space and a place where they can, you know. And I could say, honestly, I'm I am. I hate to say I'm financially free, because I could stop working now, but it's not where I want to be. So I hear, I'm an example of someone who's used credit cards, who's
messed up, who still uses credit cards. But and if I didn't want work anymore, I could and still maintain the lifestyle that I have now. But I just have I have bigger goals of where I want to be. But I'm technically financially free, and you know, credit cards in my life, so it's possible to do.
Both financially free. Well, we were talking about fire last week, and I feel like financial freedom means something different for every single person you know. For you, For some people that might mean give me an RV trailer and a mountaintop and no expenses, and I got ten bucks to my name, and I'm free. For some people that you know, they might want a house paid off, or you know, other things like you just have to make your own such your own goals and then set your own ways
of getting there and make peace with yourself. So thank you for your question. Hopefully you know we didn't piss off any of Dave Ramsey fans or anti or pro abstinence.
By exactly. I mean, I know people like I don't like it.
Look ichnical, time the babies to have sex.
Like, no, I'm not.
Thank y'all for your questions. Again, we're Brand Ambision Podcasts on Instagram. Send us a d M with your questions. Try to keep them concise and tight and to the point makes my life easier. Or you can hit us up on sorry an email at brand Ambisson podcast at gmail dot com.
God, is it time for boosting a break? Get a boost and a break, Get a booster to break true?
That whatever key that was, I liked, that's the.
Key of t Are you gonna boost? Are you gonna break?
I want to do a boost because I saw this. It was like literally the day after we had our talk last week about the fire movement and trying to explain our takes on it, The New York Times posted this article interviewing which I love. You know, I'm thinking, like, damn,
why did. I signed this story with my writers. But one thing that I think we don't know if we mentioned it straight up, but it was definitely been reading between the lines of what I would saying is that one of the things that drives me nuts about the Fire movement is that's a lot of white dudes, like wealthy white dudes or white dudes you have privileges who are now financially free, and the movement can't isn't always
that accessible to people of color, women and whatnot. And the New York Times that are really great article with the headline for these women a fire that burns two male and two white, and it interviews women of color who are doing their own version of the Fire movement and just kind of talk about like how the browness of the Fire movement can make people feel left out. And I thought that was a great story. So I'm
gonna link to that in our show notes. Check it out and shout out to I think one of the women who was interviewed runs the blog called or They're at Instagram at rich and regular. I love that, Yeah, so check them out and check out the story. And it's just like, yeah, sister's a reminder that like, I think there's room for the bros and every you know, the rest of us to get into this movement together.
But it's just nice to have the spotlight on the fact that not everyone's like I was just saying, not everyone's version of financial freedom is the same. You know, it can and certainly if you're a woman of color, you know, two strikes against you. You're welcome and you've got you've just got hurdles in front of you that
that some people don't have. I thought it was hilarious how one of the people I forget who was who it was who said this, but she was like, listen, I need to factor in the cost to keep maintaining my hair care, you know, into my future expenses. And I was just thinking, yes, the product, I need a product budget. So it's great, check it out.
I'm I'm gonna check it out. Actually I like that because you're right, it does feel very like m so I can't do that, so it should be modified, and that's why it's important to have. It's so funny. I was interviewed by this really big company. I don't want to say it until I get the announcement, but I was interviewed by this really popular, Like I guess it's business magazine. We all know, and I think you behind the scenes, manja. And so it was an Indian woman,
super dope. She was asking all these questions and about like financial wellness and just I was just giving her my two centas she was like afterwards, she was like, Tiffany, this was such a fresh air because she's like, usually, you know, whenever I have to interview somebody finance, there it's a white guy. She said, would you consider writing for the magazine? I'm like, are you kidding me? What? Yeah? And so so yeah, so that might happen, So we'll see.
But I just thought that that was like, you know, that was so crazy that she was like, even after all this time, she still finds herself only interviewing you know, white guys and her as a woman of color, is like, I'm sick of it. There has to be some other, no excuses.
There's so many diverse voices out there right now, you get like, there's so many people of color and personal finance that.
Well, I don't know if she's been assigned. I feel like she was assigned to me, So I don't know how. I don't know how her editor you know, like works so okay, you know what I mean, because because she was kind of like it was so nice. She was like, I was so surprised when they said, this is who you're interviewing, so I don't know, like what type of stuff she normally writes, like and she just writes anything, and they kind of just like we needed to be
this person. But yeah, so it was just really nice. So I was like, okay, yeah, so you never know, you might see my byline and a big old Maggie.
I was trying to tease us, well.
I don't want to say because this case she's like girl, but EDER said no girl, and I'm like, oh okay, so I want to come to I'll let you know, but I want to boost because last night was so cute. So I was in this documentary for Prudential just a few minutes. But it's a dope documentary about Credential and TV one. It's a dope documentary about women, especially Black women, and financial wellness. So what does that look like for us?
It was about forty minutes. They had this NJ pack is like a huge one of the most like it's a really beautiful venue space it's located in Newark, so they had it there and so but it was so nice because they asked me if I wanted to honor my parents because they really were talking about financial legacy as well, and so it was so nice. So I
got to honor my parents and j pack stage. I mean, I've seen Lauren Hill from on the stage and Aley so many amazing people at stage, and then here I was on the stage giving the speech about like how my parents are so amazing and how because they taught me, I've been able to teach hundreds of thousands of other women like me. And then that is their legacy, well one of their many legacies. And then to have my mom get up on stage, you could I'm Sylvie wanted
to take that mike so badly, Mandy. I have to look at her like don't. I had to block it with a gentle block and like turn for pictures. I was like no, man, My dad was so cute because me. Well, I also told my dad like fifteen times you're gonna come up on stage. He looked so shocked. He said, I didn't know I'm gonna come on stage. I'm like, Daddy, I told you, But it was just so cute. I'm gonna post like the pictures later on my IG, so
take a look at them. But it was just, honestly, it was just like I don't know, I just want to do a boost for my parents because I'm not gonna lie. I was not an easy kid raids. I don't know if you could tell us a little wild. And yeah, we butted heads for so long, even even like when I got married, we buttoned heads because they really wanted me to marry Nigerian and so when I
did it, so they were like eh and so. But now, honestly, it's so crazy how good things are now because I was never I was always a hair tiffany goes like everybody else would be like I want Cerea, and I'd be like, not even like food. I'd be like, well, I want paint chips. I was so far left. They were like tip banne, I mean police, like they do something for us that's possible for us to like wrap
our head around. And so they worried so much, and you know, like, of course now you know the budget says, and you know before that it was like what are you doing with your life? And now the Budgetessa is doing well, and so I could just it's really changed their perception of of like how life has to go, because before it was like, you have to be a doctor, lawyer, or a pharmacist, you know, or an engineer, and you have to marry you know, he has to have at
least his masters, he has to be Nigeria. There were all of these kind of rules that they had for a successful life. And they're seeing that I'm making up my own rules, and they're like, and yet Tiffany has a successful life, Like not just what I love is that, yes, they're acknowledging that my professional life is successful. But what I really love more than anything is they're acknowledging that
my personal life is successful. Like the other day, for a Memorial Day weekend, we went to my dad's house and had like a little barbecue because my mom was away taking care of my new niece in Chicago, and so my husband was like, we should go to your dad's house and have a barbecue so we could spend the day with him and bring the kids. Because my
sister Carol has two kids, Rowman and Amelia. They're like two and three, and they're like such a delight and so we all went and we had such a good time, and my dad was calling my sister to thank her, to say thank you so much for coming and for planning it, because Tracey's the planner. And she was like, no, that was superman. That was to his husband, and he was she said, he was silent on the other line
because he gave him a hard way to go. We were getting married, and like my dad called me later, he was like, Tiffany, and you chose the perfect man for you. Like he just was just like, you know, I know that I didn't always see it, but you were right. He is awesome. He is kind, He loves you so much, so much respect for you, and you feel me. He was like, you know, you don't get relationships from people have that level of respect for you.
Because they were like talking when we were at the house, like between themselves, and he was like the way he speaks about you, He was like, you are I don't even know if you realize how fortunate you are. And it just meant the world to me that, like, if you're having a hard time with your parents, hopefully it will all work out. I mean I'm thirty nine now, it's like literally just working out, so you might have thirty eight years to go, but but I don't know.
I just wanted to give a boost to that that like for like my parents and for like our relationship ship like changing and growing, and because honestly, like I like I said, truly, up until maybe like a year ago, it was always slightly contentious. I always loved them obviously, but so it's just nice to be on the other side of like that. I too want cereal and not paint chicks, you know.
Well they I mean, I think that's just a sign that you were strong willed and going to do things your own way no matter what, which is beautiful.
Yeah.
I remember, like even before you when Superman you got engaged, like you were talking about the tension like sometimes with your family, you know, being accepting of him. So it's so nice to hear that things are you know, people do evolve, do I think all the time. You know, when I was fifteen, my sister came out and my family was terrible. Like I look back on it and I'm like, were we those people? Yeah, they were all homophobic and like my sister, yeah, she came out.
I thought you met like when your mother had her like.
Yeah. She came out with a rainbow flag and they were like, no, no, she came out on my junior prom day and I remember I hated her because she was stealing my attention and uh yeah, and we just like and ten years later from the day she came out, we were at her not to the day, but to the year. We were at her wedding, just like partying it up. And when I gave when I gave my speech, I was like, do you guys realize how far we've come.
You just have to you know, with time and perspective. Family, you know, we get it together in the end.
But well most people, you hope so, and sometimes you just got to give people the space to get it together.
Yes.
No, it's easy to just be like, you know, I'm just going to walk away and lead them like whatever, I'll start a new life. And you can. But at the end of the day, you know, I mean, ideally you want your family. So yeah, so little just a little something sweet to head off.
That's beautiful, Well congratulations, thank yeah, what a beautiful gift for them for Mothers and Father's Day.
I know. Actually it was like sidebar. It was really supposed to be for Father's Day. My mother was like, no, you have two parents, I'll be on that stage.
I was say, okay, ma'am, hey listen to her though, because.
You know I did. I didn't want any problems.
She's like, let me take my credit. Yep, beautiful, awesome. Well, speaking of Father's Day, here's your warning. Father's Day is this weekend right coming up.
I didn't get hit. What are you getting?
I don't know. My dad usually texts us with an Amazon link to what he wants and then we hook him up. That's it's usually like a boat accessory.
Mean we look, I'm talking about husband. I'm like, I forgot. I'm like, wait, where's the baby? I was like, I was like, what are you gonna get? But I forgot that you don't have kids just yet.
Yeah, you know, get my I don't know. My dad likes My dad still loves a Visa gift card, so he's he's an easy, easy man to please.
To get superman, I'm like, oh, I didn't even think about it. He's like really sentimental. So one time I didn't get him anything. So I'm like, because he said, I don't give me anything, so I did it. Oh, Mandy. When I tell you I never ordered a like a cause you know, he like a man cave is coming along, so I ordered like like that day, I ran upstairs and ordered one of those like really nice like fridges
for like man cake fridges. I remember, yeah, what And I was like because he was like so the next because I didn't know really until the next day and he was in his feelings, he was like, I really can't believe din't give anything. I was like, what, rob was that you didn't get I'll say, yes, I did, it didn't it didn't come yet. Look at you. You know I was gonna get you something what I paid for like save days. I'm like, whatever, put an extra, don't care. And when it came, he was so happy.
That thing cost me so much money. But I told myself, I will never do that again. That whole I don't need anything is a lie. So yeah, I have to get him something. And I'm like, yanks, what I gonna get.
Him, wife, husband, whatever? It's a lie always gets something. You can never hurt anything by giving your significant other a gift. It's never gonna hurt. It can only hurt you if you don't.
Yeah, s woolshot. I was like whoa. He was like, oh you did.
I was like yes, wiping down the beat of sweat from your bro. All right, well, you guys have been worn. You got a few days Amazon Prime, two days shipping. You can think it happened. Happy Father's Day into any papas who are listening to the podcast, Happy Father's Stay to you. Yes, all right, that's the show until.
Next week, until next week. I did you do?
I to