He Wiped Out $130k in Debt in 90 Days with Bobby Goodwin

Mel Abraham [00:00:06]:

This is the Affluent Entrepreneur Show for entrepreneurs that want to operate at a high level and achieve financial liberation. I'm your host, Mel Abraham, and I'll be sharing with you what it takes to create success beyond wealth so you can have a richer, more fulfilling lifestyle. In this show, you'll learn how business and money intersect so you can scale your business, scale your money and scale your life while creating a deeper impact and living with complete freedom. Because that's what it really means to be an athlete, entrepreneur. Oh, my God, this episode is epic. This episode, I'm talking with a gentleman. Bobby Goodwin. He came to me as a client. He's and this is a guy who actually was sitting with over half a million dollars in debt just three months ago. And with the little tweaks little things, all of a sudden he's starting to get completely out of debt and he's building wealth at the same time. But here's the thing. You're going to hear a story about someone that had to navigate the demons of building wealth, the demons of money, the stories of money and having the conversations with his wife and what that looks like and what their life is like today to make that happen. So you might be in a situation where you're sitting back saying, I got to figure out what we're going to do with our money. I know I want to build wealth, I know I want financial freedom. How do I do this? But I want to do it as a family. I want to do it as a couple. How do we do this? Because the ideas here is not just about the money. It's really about the richness in life. And we have all these conversations and I actually do some coaching in there because he's got a fair amount of student loans that you'll hear about. So there is a whole lot of goodness in this episode. I'll see you in the episode. Hey there, Bobby. So good to have you on the African entrepreneur show. This one's going to be cool because as I said in the intro for this show, this is one of the first times that I'm bringing someone from the audience on that is on the same journey that each of you are all on. And we're going to talk about Bobby's journey and he still emits the journey. He's not out the other side and nor I think any of us are ever out the other side because financial independence is a journey and it's a lifelong pursuit that as we build, comes on. So, Bobby, thank you for trusting me and being here in this. And so welcome to the show. And for those that probably don't know you, let's get them know you a little bit, maybe give them an idea of where you came from, how we kind of got connected and what's up with you and what we're dealing with and we'll kind of talk through some of that stuff.

Bobby Goodwin [00:03:04]:

All right, sounds good. I was one of those ones where I saw Mel everywhere from years, from different events. I went to all these top online entrepreneurs, and he was the finance guy. I'm like, okay, what does that really mean? And then I became more in the Internet space myself, online course creation. And I helped Spiritually focus coaches really dial in on their really transform from the inside out. You can say short. It would be a spiritually mindset coach. And I was chasing all of the gurus, right? All the flashy stuff, spending so much money on this and in the red. And so at the end of 2021, I found myself in a situation. I did not want to do this again in 2022. And I saw that you had the money. Plan workshop. I signed up for it. I didn't attend. The seven days kind of passed by. I was like, no, I really need to do this. Did it again, resigned up and went through the content and saw enormous wins right away.

Mel Abraham [00:04:15]:

This was just the seven day the Money Plan workshops that we run.

Bobby Goodwin [00:04:19]:

Absolutely. And I've been through a lot of those, obviously. And usually you're waiting for the big pitch at the end. This was so informative. It was transformative. And I found myself in a spot that I was like, well, why do I want to learn about money where my business isn't making money? Why would I want to go invest on learning what to do with it? And I had to flip that script. I had to tell myself that, well, maybe I don't have it because I'm not working on it correctly yet. And so I had my hand in the sand, my head in the sand, like you like to say. And I had to face it, and I thought it was going to be scary, which part of it is uncomfortable? But I found it was scarier avoiding it. And so we saw huge wins personally as a family right at the end of December leading into 2022, just through the free workshop.

Mel Abraham [00:05:12]:

So good to hear. I would love to just go back to December before you were a part of the workshop and really looking at what are the things, what was going on? What was going on in your world, your family, your emotions? Because I think that these are things that are probably more prevalent than we would like to believe.

Bobby Goodwin [00:05:45]:

Absolutely. Truth was that it could sound like a typical story, but I was losing sleep over it. Genuinely was. I put my head to the pillow and I'm thinking about bills. I'm thinking there's so much debt being just automatically withdrawn from my account. Do we have enough in there? I went through the state of like, what would I do if I ran out of money? Because we were at what Mel would call the drowning point. Where the debt was greater than assets along with the expenses was more than the income coming in. And I was at a point where it was hard to even envision escaping it. So those emotions of fear also just guilt. Like what was I doing taking our hard earned income as school teachers of the public school system and putting it into the business and seeing it not come to be. Here I am with a daughter, a young daughter, not even in school yet, and I'm sitting here and I'm like, I could be investing this, I could be doing this, I could be doing something else. So I had a lot of the anxiety around money. Also, again, that guilt and shame and beating myself up for not taking the right approach to my finances. And so again, I had this before signing up for the workshop. I was full of all those emotions that you can imagine, and it was trying to work myself out of it by thinking my way out of it. It just was not leading to where I needed to be.

Mel Abraham [00:07:30]:

And your background, obviously I shouldn't say obviously because it sounds almost insulting, but your background isn't financial. Your background is what, in education?

Bobby Goodwin [00:07:41]:

Okay, yeah, in education I had struggled with money, and I realized that the more I made, it wasn't escaping it because I didn't change habits, I didn't change along with it. So one of the first things we did through the workshop was just put the $1,500 away. And that could sound small or it could sound big, depending on the viewer, but that gave an energy point almost. It gave this certain sense of I did something. That one step is there, and next thing you know, we made some moves where we got out of a car debt, and that was huge. That freed up income. But now we had an older car. We had to put that money into the car because it needed some repairs. But it felt so good not knowing, not having to look if I had the credit card room to be able to do it and to be able to use that money and then replenish it. And so it was pure peace of mind. So we were able to move out of that stage in just a few month period of time through your guidance. Not just through. We ultimately saw the huge investment, the huge value in investing in the Affluence program. And it changed not only mindset, it changed again that energy and the habits behind it because we went from that drowning point, which would be, again, just head in the sand, not paying attention to it, through to the breakthrough point, which you could explain if you want.

Mel Abraham [00:09:21]:

Well, no, and I think people that are listening or watching what we're talking about is the different stages of Affluence that people go through. And the drowning point is typically we're buried under debt we're outliving our income. In other words, we're not living below our means. We're not living within our means. We're living above our means. And the way we're bridging that gap is through debt. Even if it's cheap debt, it's stressful debt. And like you had said, Bobby, you were staying up at night until we balanced that ship, until we do some things. We couldn't get you past that space. But once we're past that space, now, all of a sudden with a little bit of effort, you find yourself breathing better. It's like the oximeter on the oxygen in your blood. All of a sudden, instead of 80%, you're now up in the 90% because now you have that space to be okay for those couples that might be out there. What was the conversation like? Because one of the things that I believe and what I've talked about is that I want couples, I want both people in a couple's relationship to at least be on the same page. They may not be on the same line, they may not be on the same word, but at least be on the same page. What was it that the two of you did to make sure that you were all on the same page?

Bobby Goodwin [00:10:55]:

Right? It started with the communication. And that's actually something that throughout your program, I think both programs is that's homework have that conversation because you see that importance of that. And honestly, it didn't take much because of the spot that we were in. It was kind of like, okay, we know we need to do something. And a lot of it was mel's known for his frameworks and his charts. Honestly, one of the charts that really just shocked me was when you show the different amount of money if you were to invest it, and the top number you show is 1500, just as this example, the top. And I was sitting here, I'm like, we're having more than that being withdrawn from our accounts every month to pay minimums on these debts from the credit cards and the personal loans. It just sent a AHA moment like, I don't want to be paying them. I want to be paying myself. How are we going to dig ourselves out of it? So the first thing we did was that $1,500 and what are some ways that we could up the income? And so you give a list. I'm like looking, I'm like, oh, I could be doing some of these services through apps when I have time delivering whatever it is. And I saw value in the money more. And it wasn't dreading, it was actually exciting. It was like because it's clear then what we did was we got on a cash system, as you recommended, on the expenses that you can. And that was pivotal as well, because not only did my wife and myself get into that, our daughter, and here she is, not even five, and we're creating an spending envelope for her. And she would take some of this money. She would put it in her little purse, and she went and got her first haircut ever. And she walked over, and I saw her on her own. My wife was getting ready to pay for the haircut. She took some I think it was only like $2. She doesn't know. And she walked over and handed it to the lady because she wanted she was, in exchange, like, thank you for the service. Here's money. And we've been doing that for a couple of months, and no joke, we went to a store that sells things up to $5. My wife said, okay, you could get two things. And now she's taking the two items, and she's understanding it, and she's putting items back. She's taking another item. She's handing money to the clerk. And I was like, wow. See, this is the type of effect that I want to be able to have generationally. And it seems small, but just in that short amount of time.

Mel Abraham [00:13:21]:

It'S huge to be able to have conversations. Look, money in society, for some reason, money is a taboo subject. It's impolite. We shouldn't talk about it. Why are you going to talk about it with your kids? But when we teach them value and values at the same time, the difference it'll make in their life is huge. The level of generosity, the level of independence, the level of freedom that they can create over time. And as a parent, I got to tell you, all of a sudden you sit back as she gets older and she becomes more independent and she's self sufficient, she understands, and you go, we're okay. She's not knocking on the door at 35 years old going, I need to take the room in the basement.

Bobby Goodwin [00:14:15]:

Exactly. So it is definitely a worthwhile taking advantage of these opportunities to teach her now. And that cash system was a big piece of that, and it continues to be. It actually makes us feel like we have more money just having the budget, it feels like there's more money. It's not the opposite.

Mel Abraham [00:14:37]:

It's strange, but it's interesting because too often we think that a budget or a cash resource plan, as I call it, is restrictive, but it's actually not. It's instructive. And when we are able to direct specifically what each dollar is meant to do in our lives, for our lives, then we can more readily have the expectation that we will get that out of our lives. And I think that's the thing that's important. I want to explain something for those that maybe haven't been exposed to it and what Bobby's talking about, the $1,500 is the bottom rung of what we call the wealth priority ladder, where I want someone at the very beginning to give you to allow you to have oxygen. I want you to have at least $1,500 or one month's expenses in an account. That way you're not going into debt if something happens. Just like Bobby said, he had a problem with the car, but they had the money. They didn't have to sit back and say, oh, my gosh, do we have the balance on the credit card? Can we do that? To me, that's the very first thing that we all should be doing, to make sure that we can step it up and see what we can make happen. So that's what that $1,500 is. So let's move down the road because let's give a perspective. Do you mind sharing some numbers of where you were at in December?

Bobby Goodwin [00:16:15]:

Absolutely. In December, we were in a spot where, to be 100% honest, we were looking into debt consolidation companies. We were looking into maybe not quite.

Mel Abraham [00:16:25]:

The first three letters of debt. Consolidation is con, so be careful of those. Right?

Bobby Goodwin [00:16:31]:

And that's something I was learning afterwards. It's like, okay, what would this do to us longer term? And why am I feeling like this is the solution? And it turned around really quick, to be honest. We were at probably around $130,000 in consumer debt, which included the car. And one of the first opportunities we were able to do was to get out of the car, and we actually made some cash on it just because of crazy times right now. Right? But that car, we actually had a $750 payment on it. There was multiple cars into our car because we kept rolling over previous balances, needing a new car, and we were able to get into a used car, pay cash. We love the car. Like I said, it needed some basic repairs on it. We had the money for it, and we like it more because we're free from it. And then the credit cards. You talk about the avalanche approach or the snowball approach. I know you have a whole episode on that, right. You know, of how to approach the debt. And I think we took more of the snowball approach because it was just felt more of the preference. Right. Basically, we're taking the smallest debt, start paying them off, and then take that money and take it off. And next thing you know, we use things like the tax refunds, it's coming, and we're able to get out of that debt in a short amount of time. And honestly, even today, I could feel that effect because I'm looking at my account and it still hasn't completely registered, but they're not getting all these massive $300 taken out all of the time, so I could start to feel that energy. And now we're rolling that over into our larger debts, which we are $400,000, as of my wife and I together in student loan debt, pursuing doctorate degrees. And that was something that we, again, haven't been facing, and it's been years of sitting there, and now here comes the May where the bills are coming back. But we now feel prepared for it because we took care of those other monthly expenses. And that was huge because the back of my head, I was like, how are we going to afford another $2,000 in payments? And so when I would sit there and I'd role play all these debts that we had in our head, and it was like, oh my gosh, and the largest ones right now aren't even here. But now, because of the program, we actually have it prepped using your framework, filling out the forms and seeing here it is. And yet we're still in a position to be able to pay for it. But we're also extremely motivated to take that money that's the snowball effect and roll it over and make extra payments on the large one. And just now feeling because we faced it and we have that momentum, we don't have that same sense of fear and anxiety around these loans.

Mel Abraham [00:19:41]:

You're doing the work. And let's face with it, it's not easy. I mean, it's simple, but it's not easy. There's emotions, there's actions, there's behavior changes, there's sacrifices, there's commitments, there's communication. There's so much that goes into this transition, but the skill set that you're creating and handing down and nurturing in that household will serve you for the rest of your lives.

Bobby Goodwin [00:20:12]:

Absolutely. One of the things that we're working on now as well is that the Peace of Mind fund that you recommend, which is his larger savings, you can say that's out of sight, out of mind, but you're still able to get a hold of quickly if needed. I don't want to say it feels like a game, but there is this sense that it is that's, this enjoyment, let's do it. Let's do it. And for the first time in my life, just start to feel, oh my goodness, we're making this progress. And now what you always talk about, too, is that you're able to work out multiple muscles at the same time. So we're taking care of the debt. But sometimes I'm like, well, okay, all I'm looking at is debt. And what I love is you're placing your intention and attention as well on that wealth building tools, on doing the affluent behaviors, you could say. And that is very encouraging to me because we're able to do both at the same time. Oh, this is building over here. This is going up, this is going down. And when this is down now, I can only imagine working on this.

Mel Abraham [00:21:18]:

I love that you recognize and you saw this because a lot of people will say, get out of debt first. The problem with that is it works and it gets you out of debt faster, but you're just constantly trudging through the mud, and you're not seeing the progress. And I believe it's a different muscle group, if you will, to get out of debt than it is to build wealth. And so I rather work both of those at the same time. So I'm glad to hear that you're doing them at the same time. You're working the program, you're working the process and at least you have a process now that's working for you and doing that. Consumer debt is going away, you're building wealth, you've got this albatross that's coming into your home, it's called student loan debt. I mean, like it or not, whether the can gets kicked down the road or not, who knows? But May 1 payments are supposed to start up again and I think, as you said, it's about two grand a month.

Bobby Goodwin [00:22:29]:

Yeah, there might be some options for us to take that down as far as, fortunately, what took place is literally in probably a month time, at one point our credit score went up 90 points and so we're continuing to watch this as we're working through the program too, as our credit score goes up. I'm not looking to get into more consumer debt, however, I know that you recommend that there is beneficial debts. We're looking at possibly being able to refinance these loans. And that's another benefit that there's no chance we would have been able to do. We weren't going to be able to get approved for anything. And now we're looking at we can get consolidate, lower the interest rate and really just being ready to tackle this debt. And with some enthusiasm. Now, it's not saying I would want to increase it or anything like that. I'm not saying I'm happy about it, but there's a different feeling. And again, that's what I like about the program, is that you're keeping your attention and intention still on the idea of affluence. And you're not enlarging your debt, but you're not in denial of it. It's almost like we're going right through it. That's the power of this, it's not denying it, but we're not just looking at it, you are, but you're putting your energy, you're going through it, you.

Mel Abraham [00:23:50]:

Know that it's getting eaten up at a fast pace and we're trying to get it done. Do you know how many loans those are? Student loans?

Bobby Goodwin [00:23:57]:

There's a lot and there's probably like well over ten.

Mel Abraham [00:24:01]:

Really?

Bobby Goodwin [00:24:02]:

Yeah, and she's never really looked at it's so easy to get and we were living off of it at times and it's been well over ten years chasing different degrees and again, this was some of the emotions that I had built up of guilt over it or we made the wrong decision. Now it is what it is, let's just deal with it because I'm going to find the good out of it, I'm going to figure out if the skill sets that I am building that I'm thinking I'm at a different frequency as far as managing this. And so it is what it is. Yes, there's a lot and so probably well over ten, I would say, in the system, loans for both.

Mel Abraham [00:24:52]:

And have you taken the time to evaluate, first off, two things, evaluating what their interest rate structure is, payment structure, and then whether they're federal or private loans.

Bobby Goodwin [00:25:07]:

Right. So they're all federal. Okay, so they're fixed.

Mel Abraham [00:25:12]:

So you know that they're fixed.

Bobby Goodwin [00:25:14]:

Right now, some of them seem like fortunately, I guess in the last couple of years, they haven't been taking interest. So before COVID hit, the last we looked is that there was some structures that we could take where it was based off of income based. However, I think that they take more years. And so as we're getting closer, especially now that my credit score is going up this month and especially next month, and plan for April is to get different rates look from the different options out there to be able to tackle this. Because as you know, student loan debt is that one that is following you.

Mel Abraham [00:25:56]:

It's following you to the grave.

Bobby Goodwin [00:25:59]:

Right. Looking at the different options. Because previously I would have just looked at what's the least amount I can pay. Now I want to see what makes the most sense to be able to pay extra and does that go straight towards the principal? And I'm not sure if those are things that you know as well. Would you take the least amount and make the extra payments or you're setting yourself up for your budget to do like a ten year plan, plans are paying it off less?

Mel Abraham [00:26:26]:

This is really a good question. We'll do a little bit of kind of coaching and they can eavesdrop on this conversation because I think it's an important thing to consider. One is it becomes a mathematical problem associated with all your debt. So we want to get it into the system and start paying it as you're paying the rest of the debt. So we can start to accelerate. Now, are there possibilities to reduce the payments? Yes, you can do an income based plan now that might push it out inordinately and not what we don't want to do is I've heard of some folks with income based plans where they're not paying enough to cover the interest costs. So effectively what's happening is the debt is going up and not going down. And so we don't want to do that because all we're doing is digging deeper in a hole and it feels comfortable because our payments are lower, but it's not going to feel comfortable because our debt is going up. And so we could utilize a payment plan if there isn't extraneous fees or additional interest that would make it even more expensive, even though the payments are lower in a way that as long as I can make prepayments. We roll it into the snowball and we start to pay it down at an accelerated pace as we're knocking down these other debts. These debts, obviously they're the size of a mortgage and they're larger that we're going to need to deal with. Now here's the other side of it. And I happen to know that you're working on building a business and doing that because as entrepreneurs, we get a chance to deal with the expense side of our equation. We can look at what are our costs, what are our needs, or what are our wants, what are our desires, how do we figure those things out? We create the plan. We strip out the wants that are not that impactful in our life. I take those out and I use that to start paying down the debt and moving towards investing the needs. Obviously we need we need the roof over our head. We need transportation, medical, utilities. We got to feed. We got to take care of the kids. We got to do all those things. Those are needs so we can affect that side of the equation. The other side of the equation, which sounds like you're doing a bit of now, is as entrepreneurs and even as employees, you have access to creating additional income streams. And I think in today's world and my dear friend Chris Harder says the same thing in today's world, it's not a luxury to have additional income streams. It's a requirement. When we look at what we've been through from a pandemic standpoint, whether we're an employee or an entrepreneur, if we have one source of survival, if we have one source of income and that source gets choked, reduced, affected, we're done. It's important for us to always look at what are the things that we can take our talent, skills and strengths to start to cash flow. Some other things. By the same token, we talk about richness in life. I don't want someone working 20 hours, days for the rest of their life. That's not a life. Might that happen for a short period of time to get you over a hump? Certainly. But that's when the communication is important. That's when we go with intention. We go with a plan. We know when it begins and when it ends. And that's where you start to create that harmony instead of that balance in life. So that then means as we start to increase income streams and in your world, in the online space, if all of a sudden we can knock a launch out of the way and you get $50,000 that come in, well, we start to look at that and say, all right, here's what we're going to take. We're going to take a slice of it for our living. We're going to take a slice of it for celebration, and we're going to take a slice of it for investing. We're going to take a slice of it to pay down debt. And so it's what I call leapfrog funding. Tendency in a lot of these businesses is whether we're project based or not, we get a windfall or we get a jump in income that might be momentary. And too often we expand our life scope to use. It up instead of sitting back and say, how does this give me more life back? By using it more effectively. So one of the things I want us to continue to work on is where do we ramp up Bobby's income? Where do we start to generate that part of it? How do we make sure that we're continually managing the expenses? Then we look to loans and we sit back and say, we've got federal loans, here's the interest rates, here's the payment plans, here's my alternatives to reduce the monthly cost. Now, if you take a loan that's a ten year loan and extend it out 30 years, you're going to reduce the monthly cost. But over the life of loan you're going to pay a lot more. So I don't like it, but if we have a plan to accelerate the pay down of it, then it may make sense. And so what you're in for is a mathematical problem. At some point we're going to want to put this all on a spreadsheet, start to look at it. And the good news is that you've kind of exercised that muscle looking at the other debts to say, no, we're going to look straight at and know that we're going to look the demon in the eyes and we'll conquer the demon. That's the first steps is really going back and saying, how does this fit into the overall plan? Can we make some reductions in payments without the loan balances going up, the additional costs going up and all that. We're in an environment just talking about where we are as we're recording this, where interest rates may be increasing. Feds just increased a quarter point just a week ago and they're anticipating six more. We've got inflationary times. The possibility is that some interest rates might be going up. Right now you're in a fixed loan program because they're federal loans, whereas it may push you into a variable loan program. I'm not going to want those in a rising interest rate environment for you, right? So even though we might for a time period be able to get a lower interest rate, we may not want to take it. If the adjustment will come sooner than you think, we can pay it off. There may be a couple of those loans that when we carve out a couple of the ten loans and say, this one we're going to focus on first because it's the highest rate or it's the quickest we can get out of debt on and start to prioritize it. But until we put that on paper, if you will, or on a schedule so we can look at all of it, we're not sure exactly how to categorize it. But it goes back to work on the plan that we put in place to make that happen. Knowing and you're staring at if they're going to not kick the can down the road again, you're staring at six weeks so we have some time to do some things, but I'd love to jump on that in the next couple of weeks. So if we're going to do anything with loans, we can start the process before the payments start coming due and see what we can make happen with that. There's talk that they might kick it down the road, but even if they kick it down the road, I'm going to invite you to consider, let's say they kick it down the road another six months.

Bobby Goodwin [00:34:43]:

Right.

Mel Abraham [00:34:44]:

I still want to roll it into the plan and start paying it down because now every dollar is going towards principal and so we can get out of it, but we'll put it in priority based upon the other debts to get you out of it. Does that make sense?

Bobby Goodwin [00:34:58]:

Absolutely, yeah. Like you said, even if they extend it, I'm ready to begin to pay it. I take it as an opportunity and advantage, like you said, all towards principal. But yeah, no, thank you for that because now I realize, okay, now I really need to get on it. And I guess I was waiting for my credit score to go up more, but it's like right approaching over the 700 mark. So I'm hoping that I get qualified for what I need to. It was at like 560 before starting this whole process.

Mel Abraham [00:35:30]:

Wow. And you're close to 700. So there's some things I was just reading of something. The credit reporting companies are actually changing some of the things that they're going to be reporting on going forward, like medical bills and gym memberships. But bottom line is, what they're doing is they're changing the reporting because what they're trying to eliminate is circumstantial credit problems. And what I mean by that is let's just take a medical bill, for instance. You're paying all your payments on a regular basis. Everything's going fine. You get hit with a big medical bill because you had a medical problem and then you're having problems paying that. And it jams up your credit score because they send it to collection, everything. But the reality is that other than this medical bill that was based on a set of circumstances that happened, you're actually not a bad credit risk. So they're trying to take that out of the equation. And so there's things that they're doing that will hopefully ratchet those credit scores up more readily. The other thing you might look at is sometimes, and I don't know if you've done this, but sometimes the credit reporting agencies will actually give you credit for showing that you've done on time payments for all your utilities and things like that. So what you may want to do is reach out to them and say, I want to have this reported on my credit and see if that starts to ratchet up that credit score.

Bobby Goodwin [00:37:13]:

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for that.

Mel Abraham [00:37:16]:

Yeah. And I would say rent, but you don't have rent. For those of you that are listening, bobby's in an unusual set of circumstances. He does have mortgage size debt and student loan debt, but he has a property that they live in that doesn't have a mortgage on it. And one thing I'm going to tell you right up front, I do not want you doing, we're not collateralizing debt with the free and clear home. Does that make sense? We're not going to jeopardize the home by taking debt that is unsecured. Your credit cards are unsecured. Student loan is not necessarily secured and it's not bankruptible and not that you're ever looking at bankruptcy. But I don't want to take unsecured debt and then put it against my house. So that's why I don't like the idea of refinancing taking a home equity line to pay off my credit cards because now I took unsecured debt and made it secured against the house. And now that credit card company, even though it's not a credit card company anymore, it's the home loan company, can take your house if you can't pay it. And so your leverage point, I can sit with a credit card company and say, hey man, I can't pay this. Let's figure out something that works for you and I and let's get this thing taken care of. But if you did that and it was secured against the house, they can look at you and go, that's fine.

Bobby Goodwin [00:38:43]:

We'Ll take your house right now. Thank you for clarifying that because that's obviously the last thing I would want.

Mel Abraham [00:38:49]:

Yeah, so we want to keep you have an asset that's free and clear. Now, some people out there, I'll probably get the trolls that will sit back and say, oh, but he could take money out there's equity there and all that stuff. I get it. And you've been living with a fair amount of debt. We can decide to do that down the road once we get this thing taken care of. Okay. Like you said, I'm not one that says all debt is the devil, but when we use debt to fund our lifestyle, it's devil.

Bobby Goodwin [00:39:24]:

That's a good way of putting it.

Mel Abraham [00:39:26]:

That's kind of the way I look at it. So you're on this journey, you're basically three months into this journey. How does it feel today? What are the conversations that have changed? What is the vision for your tomorrow now?

Bobby Goodwin [00:39:43]:

Right. Honestly, my wife and I have had this conversation a few times, or at least statements like, oh my gosh, how far has it come? Because honestly, I had, like I said, those nights of dread and then it was almost the opposite in such a short of time, probably like a month where I was having a hard time going to sleep because I was actually excited about it. And you should start to see when you put things in motion right. Things start to happen. I think it's both practical. I also think it's spiritual. I mean, everybody has their different views on that, but it's simultaneously and in such a short amount of time, now we're just like, well, what can happen in an entire year? I mean, to be completely honest, we're still going through the drip of your products coming out for your program coming out, meaning we haven't even fully gone through it yet. We're still in phase one. And so now we're excited because we haven't even learned how to invest, but I know it's coming right, and something I've never really known how. And so, again, we have this peace of mind fund that's just building. We have more savings now than we have ever had in such a short amount of time. And now it just brings more meaning to everything, like the value of everything. And so it's also placed us in the present moment because more grateful, more gratitude. So it's just sitting there and just being like, you know what? I'm grateful for what I have. But now it puts us in a receiving mode for even more. And so I'm not afraid of this debt. Of course I don't want it. I'm ready to knock it out as quick as possible. But because now I could see past it, I think that was the thing. And one of the first things in the program, that's what you do is you create clarity. And so now we have a path, we have a plan, we have a vision. And because the numbers are there, we need this amount of money to be able to retire at this amount. Stuff that we never understood the math before, and something that I was always afraid of and confused about. It's fun. And so it's a whole different sense of energy. And that's what's huge, is it's not just about money. It's like you said, it's about the lifestyle. It's funny because one of the things we did, I was like, I put my amount of money I want on travel, and I just took yours. I was like, that sounds good. I want that much. I want to experience life, like you said. I want that richness. I want to be able to give more. Not just financially, absolutely, we're big on that, but also more of me. And so I could show up to a higher degree because I'm not spending that much time, my energy on the financial situation. So, yeah, moving forward, it's exciting for us. Again, thank you for that. And it just started with putting in your name and email actually going through the program, because so many of us have all these email showing up or courses that's bookmarked and going through it, putting in the work. There's times where I would pause it. I'm like, oh, he says, you better do this before you move on. Okay? Just do it. Take out the pen, write it in. And it's still just the beginning of the journey. And we could see that mountaintop. And I'm sure even when we get there, there's going to be another one.

Mel Abraham [00:43:00]:

It's a constant journey and I'm not going anywhere. Be with you the whole way, right?

Bobby Goodwin [00:43:05]:

Absolutely. Love it.

Mel Abraham [00:43:06]:

It's so cool. This is why I love doing what I do, because now I feel like, okay, we're giving a family we're giving Bobby's family a new vision. We're giving his legacy a new vision. We're giving them the tools to make it happen. That's a currency for me as I'm in this season of life. It's huge. If you had a chance to chat with anyone that might be in this situation or they're trying to figure out their money game, whether they're in debt, not in debt, is there anything you would tell them going forward?

Bobby Goodwin [00:44:00]:

Absolutely. I mean, as a coach, oftentimes we hear it get coaches and it could kind of sound cliche because a lot of people just put it out there and I say, absolutely do it because it's not my area of expertise. And we think that we could get out of it ourselves, which it's possible, but we're still thinking from the same box of what got us there. And so again, I saw that you were everywhere, across so many different people that were to me, legit, genuine online entrepreneurs who have a service mindset. So that brought that credibility. And so what's so funny about it is that I saw such a mindset shift by going to the money plan workshop that it had this oh my gosh, what would the value of it be in the actual program? But it's still funny because your own teaching, I was like, is this a want or need? And it was very easy to be like, this is a need, this is a need. And I mean, it brings so much more to your life than just the finances. And so I would recommend getting a coach and not do what I did, where I again had this idea that, well, maybe I need more money. Why do I want to learn about investing or with this? And that's what Mel brings, is he can bring somebody who was in a situation like myself, who was literally more debt than assets, who had more expenses than income coming in and move up that ladder in such a quick period of time that, again, it's not just about finances, it's how you're showing up in life. It's the energy that you're putting up. It's self love, it's self care because you're saying that you're worth it. And so I would 100% recommend that. So get started right away. Don't try figuring it out by yourself. There's some principles that you obviously probably know that you shouldn't be buying this or whatnot, but I have a journey now that's a lifetime. It's not like, oh, I get to it has that A to Z package together. And so to me, it's pure excitement and just know that there's hope with people like Mel. Again, I'm on the spiritual side, like I mentioned in the beginning, but a lot of people talk about law of attraction that's out there. It's a lot, but people also forget this universal law of motion, that you're putting it in motion and you're saying you're serious. It's not wishful thinking that you are actually orienting into this different creator mode and you're taking those steps. And so without a doubt, I would highly recommend getting started with somebody who is genuine, who's passionate about it, not just a shiny flashy thing out there such as obviously Mel. And then put in the work and enjoy it.

Mel Abraham [00:47:09]:

Enjoy the ride because it is a ride and there'll be ebbs and flows. So I appreciate your candor, your honesty and just doing this. Would you be willing to, as you continue this journey, to maybe bring you back on the show and we revisit it and we see where you all are a while longer and just see how things are going 100%?

Bobby Goodwin [00:47:40]:

I would love to be that person to say these are the steps, right. I'm having to put it in and just know that I'm just like you. I don't have education background, got the student loan debt, have a child. Trying to figure out the entrepreneur side and again, the relational side and looking at the financial situation. And here's this journey that I'm going to go through and I'd absolutely love to share it because I can't wait to have this debt gone and look like, oh my gosh, we're building this. We're doing this because I have the clarity.

Mel Abraham [00:48:19]:

So good. Bobby, if people want to connect with you because like you said, you're doing coaching, you've got these other things, where's the best place? Where are the best place that people can connect me? We'll make sure we hook it up in the description and the show notes.

Bobby Goodwin [00:48:34]:

Sounds good, Bobbygoodwin.com. And we're just always looking to serve people right, that's it. And create expansion on this planet. And just like what you're doing, right, that you are dialed in and you're helping people just like myself and so many other people out there. And so yes. Thank you.

Mel Abraham [00:48:56]:

Oh, you got it. Bobby, thank you again for being on and I can't wait to continue on your journey and be there helping you out and see what we can make happen and affect not just your life, but the generations beyond.

Bobby Goodwin [00:49:12]:

Absolutely. Thank you.

Mel Abraham [00:49:14]:

Thanks, Bobby. For those of you that are listening, I hope that you found this a value and that Bobby's journey is a typical journey. You may have more debt, you may have less debt, you have more assets. I don't know. But the financial independence journey is a journey. Financial freedom is a birthright. We need to understand how to go claim it. If you have questions, if you have challenges, have the ability to just reach out. Let me know, just like Bobby did. And let's move you forward. Let's move you past that. And as I say, always at the end of any of my shows, that to always, always strive to live a life that outlives you. I look forward to seeing you all in the next episode.

Bobby Goodwin [00:50:01]:

Cheers.

Mel Abraham [00:50:02]:

Thank you for listening to the affluent entrepreneurship with me, your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the affluent entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to Melabraham.com group and I'll see you there.