294 | From Corporate Muzzle to Invested Development | Amanda Holden The Dumpster Doggy | ChooseFI podcast

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Episode description

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Episode description

Amanda Holden's approach to educating others includes laughter and shenanigans to democratize information and get it to stick.

Amanda worked in corporate America at an investment management firm, but helping rich men get richer wasn't her calling. She hated the job and decided to establish a set of rules that we allow her to quit in six months and go travel.

She chose to supplement her bare-bones spending by living off the excess of others. That including asking for leftover uneaten lunches which earned her the nickname, Dumpster Dog.

Pulling burritos out of the trash and drastically cutting her spending worked. Amanda's savings enabled her to leave the job she hated and travel for a year.

Dumpster Doggy has now become her identity, showing others how they can make it work even if they don't have a lot.

Being privileged enough to live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world also means that we take it for granted and are surrounded by vast amounts of waste. Are we throwing so much away that we are sabotaging our chance to get what we really want?

While each day she felt like she was trying just keep putting one foot in front of the other, at the time, she didn't think of it the changes she was making to leave a toxic work environment as a metamorphosis.

She hated the job so much that she felt like the only option was to quit and start over from zero. Hating it that much allowed her to take a risk on doing something that aligned better with who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do.

Her advice to anyone who doesn't dislike what they are doing quite as much as she did is to start saving and doing what they want to do on the side. Then assess once there is momentum to decide if you want to take it further.

Amanda acknowledges that she was privileged with a level of comfort and security when taking her leap as she had a family to fall back on for help if needed.

She isn't trying to sell entrepreneurship to everyone. It makes sense for some people but there are aspects of it that she doesn't love. It won't be the right fit for everybody.

What worked for Amanda was starting by giving her service away for free and collecting as much feedback as she could. While she has the blog, For her business, she started out cold calling on sororities. She asked to come in to teach them about investing and then collecting their feedback.

After building this foundation, she began to explore what the sticking points were for people and how she could begin to charge for her services.

Amanda says it's all about connections, so utilize your network to get your information into the hands of whoever can help get you in the door.

Amanda wants women to be in the conversation because when they have a seat at the table, they have wealth and the world is a better place.

To reach women and make the material accessible, Amanda avoids jargon and uses comedy as an educational tool. For instance, she leads with equating a 401K or a Roth IRA with a Caboodle, which is just a fancy place for you to store your treasures.

Amanda also uses a shame-free approach to money. Women are constantly feeling shamed about money, whether it's for making too much or too little, or for how they choose to spend it. She trusts you to be grown up enough to make spending decisions for yourself.

Everyone deserves to be able to spend a little bit of money on themselves and have some fun. Living paycheck to paycheck might be a problem of spending too much or it might be not earning enough. Saving and investing can be automated if spending is the problem, while a conversation about earning might be warranted if income is the problem.

In addition to removing the shame associated with money, Amanda says you don't have to be perfect. She uses her own mistake stories to help bring people in.

While building her business, Amanda worked as a bartender and freelance writer. She still freelances for the regular income but she also puts on personal events that are more fun than the corporate speaking events where she feels muzzled.

Amanda was teaching investing courses on Zoom well before Zoom became a thing. She's been able to scale the course by putting it on video.

The first thing she tells people is that investing is absolutely in their capacity and that if you take a set it and forget it approach, you'll probably do better than the investing experts.

Course information can be found on her Instagram page. If interested in contacting her for a speaking event, reach out to her on Instagram or by email.

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