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[00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:12.960] And then what gets me and what gets most people is like those little things that you spend hella money on that you don't need to spend money on, like when you go to Target or you go grocery shopping, or you go.
[00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.080] Listen, I knew you were like, I gotta come for me like this.
[00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:18.720] I knew you were gonna start talking about this.
[00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:30.320] You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your side hustle from passion project to profitable business.
[00:01:30.320 --> 00:01:33.200] And I'm your host, Nikayla Matthews-Okome.
[00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.120] So let's get started.
[00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:40.240] Hey, hey, friends, welcome, welcome back to today's episode.
[00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:44.880] It's Nikayla here, back with another episode with an awesome guest.
[00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:49.120] Today, I'm delighted to bring in someone who I actually knows in real life.
[00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:56.640] That's not always the case, but I had the pleasure of knowing Naseema now for over four years, and she is just awesome.
[00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:02.280] And today's episode took so many different turns because there's so much that we could talk about, right?
[00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:09.080] She's a podcaster, she's actually a podcast mogul's alum, she's also a nurse, and she's a full-time side hustler.
[00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:14.440] She continues to be both a nurse and she's built her own platform, which we'll hear about in the episode.
[00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:19.560] So, let me go ahead and read her official bio so you can learn more about her before we jump into the episode.
[00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:28.200] So, Nassima is a published author and the founder of Financially Intentional, a platform about personal finance and living life intentionally.
[00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:38.920] Nassima discusses how taking control of her finances has enabled her to overcome bankruptcy, divorce, and break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
[00:02:38.920 --> 00:02:45.880] She shares her lessons along her path to help others benefit from the freedoms of financial independence.
[00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:53.720] Outside of encouraging people to get their financial act together, Nassima is a mother, labor, and delivery nurse, and so much more.
[00:02:53.720 --> 00:02:59.880] Though making six figures for years, she actually struggled with money, and I'm sure so many of us can relate to that, right?
[00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:05.080] Finally, she realized that she couldn't out-earn her financial ignorance.
[00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.720] She knew she had to make changes.
[00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:22.200] And by shifting her mindset around money, being consistent and intentional, she has paid off nearly 1 million in debt and grew a six-figure net worth in three years without living in deprivation.
[00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:38.360] So, I thought this episode would be really helpful for those of us who are trying to balance so much and want to make sure that we are setting a good financial foundation for ourselves in the midst of working, in the midst of side hustling, and so much more.
[00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:44.440] So, pull out your notebooks, pull out your iPhone notes, whatever it is, and let's jump right into this episode.
[00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:48.320] All right, all right.
[00:03:48.320 --> 00:03:50.800] Well, welcome, welcome to the guest chair, Nassima.
[00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.520] I'm so happy to have you here at last.
[00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.080] Oh my God, I'm so excited to be here, Nikayla.
[00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:57.600] Like, for real, for real.
[00:03:57.600 --> 00:03:58.960] You know, I'm excited.
[00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.240] And we were talking about this before in the pre-show.
[00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.040] I really thought Nassima was in the guest chair, you guys.
[00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:08.560] I really was just tripping, like, wait, where's her episode?
[00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.600] Why can't I find the Nassima episode?
[00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:24.480] So, this is long overdue because you are someone who I admire, I follow, I consume your content, I learn from, and I want everyone in the side hustle pro land to know about you if they don't already.
[00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:31.360] So, for I've already read your bio, but in your own words, how would you describe what you currently do?
[00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:32.400] You know what?
[00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:41.840] Like, right now, I'm gonna honestly say I'm just a black woman out here, a mama out here trying to survive and make it.
[00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:44.160] Like, I'm just day to day with this.
[00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.920] Like, I'm gonna keep it 100 because that's the only way I know how to be.
[00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:52.320] If you ever like know, if you know me in real life, you know, I'm just real.
[00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:54.400] I'm from West Oakland.
[00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:16.400] I've lived a life, and right now I'm just in a season of, you know, going entering into being a third-time girl mom and exactly like just really leaning into what I need to do in the moment.
[00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:32.280] And in the moment, right now, it's all about preparing for baby number three, but being blessed in the fact that I have set some things in place for the last couple of years that has put me in a position where I can just do what I want to do when I want to do it.
[00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:34.200] Absolutely, I love that.
[00:05:34.200 --> 00:05:34.760] I love that.
[00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:36.360] That's what we strive for here.
[00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:40.120] So, tell us now: when did you get into nursing?
[00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.600] Why did that become your initial career path?
[00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:44.360] Actually, it was my second career.
[00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.360] So, um, and it's heck of funny when I tell you this story, Nikayla.
[00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:49.320] You're gonna crack up.
[00:05:49.320 --> 00:05:52.360] So, um, I always wanted to be in healthcare.
[00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.360] I grew up with a single dad, which is very rare, right?
[00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:08.360] But we were always on this cusp of like having too much money to like qualify for like welfare programs or anything, but like not having enough to like get by, really.
[00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:11.240] So, we were always like in struggle mode.
[00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:16.760] And when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, I had asthma really, really bad.
[00:06:16.760 --> 00:06:22.120] My dad didn't believe in Western medicine, so he would wait until the very last minute.
[00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:37.960] So, I grew up going to Chinatown and doing herbal stuff, but he would wait until the last minute until my asthma exacerbations were really, really bad to take me to a community clinic where then we would have to wait for hours and hours and hours and hours to get medication.
[00:06:37.960 --> 00:06:41.240] Which, if you can't breathe, I have asthma too.
[00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:44.760] So, I'm already just like, I know exactly how you feel.
[00:06:44.760 --> 00:06:46.040] I know exactly how that feels.
[00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:47.560] Exactly.
[00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:51.880] And so, like, I just saw how broken the system was.
[00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:54.040] And I wanted to be a part of that.
[00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:58.280] And as a kid, you don't know all the ranges of options of healthcare.
[00:06:58.280 --> 00:07:03.720] And so, I wanted to be a pediatrician because I was like, okay, a kid's doctor can fix this.
[00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:04.520] Right.
[00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:07.800] And so, I went into USD.
[00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:11.640] I went to the University of Southern California and I started taking my pre-med classes.
[00:07:11.640 --> 00:07:14.680] And then I actually learned what doctors did.
[00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:24.320] And no shade to doctors, but I really wanted to affect the whole healthcare system and how, you know, and enable more access to people who had limited access.
[00:07:24.320 --> 00:07:26.720] And so I was like, that's not really what doctors do.
[00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.280] And I'm really not feeling this organic chemistry.
[00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:34.800] So let me look through the course catalog and see what I could do.
[00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:45.760] And I ended up landing in the healthcare administration, got a master's in healthcare administration, and then, you know, saw the bureaucracy behind the healthcare system and learned all these things.
[00:07:45.760 --> 00:07:47.680] And I wasn't really affecting change.
[00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:56.720] But what happened was I was working with nurses that had so much autonomy and they were really there with the patients.
[00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.640] And I was like, that's what I want to do.
[00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:00.240] And they have so much autonomy.
[00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:01.680] I was like, you know what?
[00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:02.720] I'm single.
[00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:07.120] I'm about to get my nursing degree, move to Dubai, be a princess.
[00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:10.640] Listen, I had this all planned out.
[00:08:10.640 --> 00:08:11.600] Okay, listen.
[00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:18.080] I'm like, I'm about to be like a princess's fourth wife because I feel like the first and second wives have a lot of obligations.
[00:08:18.080 --> 00:08:22.400] The fourth wife, you might have to have like one baby, but you don't really got to do nothing.
[00:08:22.400 --> 00:08:24.320] I can have a driver, a chauffeur, and stuff.
[00:08:24.320 --> 00:08:27.120] And I can still be a nurse and have all this autonomy.
[00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:31.040] Girl, I have all this.
[00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.600] Girl, I had a baby.
[00:08:36.560 --> 00:08:44.080] I ended up working as a nurse in the San Francisco Bay Area where we make more money than most nurses in the world.
[00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:50.000] And so, like, for me to travel to even internationally, it didn't make financial sense.
[00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.000] Then had a baby and kind of settled down and got into this life.
[00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:55.600] And so stayed here.
[00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:56.880] You know, this is my home.
[00:08:56.880 --> 00:08:58.080] My family is here.
[00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.400] Kind of got comfortable, but love nursing.
[00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:01.720] Yep.
[00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:05.800] And so, yeah, so my second career really, really loved it.
[00:09:05.880 --> 00:09:08.520] And I wish I was, I started as a nurse.
[00:09:08.520 --> 00:09:10.600] Like, I told anybody, be a nurse.
[00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:12.280] Yeah, be a nurse.
[00:09:12.280 --> 00:09:18.680] Listen, you need to talk to my mom because she, um, so I'm one of three daughters and it's one son.
[00:09:18.680 --> 00:09:19.720] Fun fact.
[00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:25.320] And she is a nurse and she just tried her hardest to make one of us a nurse.
[00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:27.080] And it just didn't work out.
[00:09:27.800 --> 00:09:29.320] She was like, it's good money.
[00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.320] She was like, it's guaranteed work.
[00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:36.360] Listen, all of y'all who are considering a second career or first career, look into nursing.
[00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:37.240] Yes.
[00:09:37.880 --> 00:09:43.080] Now, you talk a lot about your journey of paying off $1 million in debt.
[00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:49.080] And every time I listen to this and see that headline, I'm like, please break this down for me.
[00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:52.280] Like, how did that amount of debt come to be?
[00:09:52.600 --> 00:10:05.240] You know what's crazy, Nikayla, is that as I was going on this journey of paying off debt, I didn't add up in the back end like how much total I had paid off until I was applying to go to Mile's retreat.
[00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.240] And fun fact, that's where we met for the first time at the My Taught You Retreat.
[00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:11.240] I can't believe it's been four years.
[00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:12.520] Oh, it's been a long time.
[00:10:12.520 --> 00:10:15.400] But this is where the first retreat, because I went to both of them.
[00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:20.600] So I was sitting down and I was like, let me just talk about like my journey a little bit.
[00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:22.040] Let me add up these numbers.
[00:10:22.040 --> 00:10:25.800] And that's when I had finished paying off everything, including my house.
[00:10:25.800 --> 00:10:28.280] And I'll break down what the million dollars in debt was.
[00:10:28.280 --> 00:10:30.760] But I was like, oh, this is damn near a million dollars.
[00:10:30.760 --> 00:10:32.680] This is about to be a hitter headline.
[00:10:32.680 --> 00:10:38.920] You know, but when I'm when I writing this essay?
[00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:41.960] Like, hey, I'm off the looking like, I'm really doing something out here.
[00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:46.240] But how it really started was, you know, I was a single mom.
[00:10:46.800 --> 00:10:54.640] Um, I knew I was going to be a single mom, but a year, like when my daughter was turning a year old, I had been making really good money as a nurse.
[00:10:54.640 --> 00:11:02.640] I had two jobs, I had like a part-time benefited job, and then a full-time, I'm not, and like, and then like a per diem kind of job.
[00:11:02.640 --> 00:11:06.160] And so, I was making like over $200,000 a year.
[00:11:06.160 --> 00:11:12.160] And I've always been that person, Michaela, that everybody thought made it because I always know how to make money.
[00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:21.760] So, I was Instagram popping, you know, I had the brand new house, I have a luxury car, you know, I'm out here doing it, but I know like I'm broke.
[00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:27.360] Like, I had to put 36 windows in my house, and I had to ask my sister for some money.
[00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.320] And I was like, What?
[00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.000] Not 36 windows, but blinds on the windows.
[00:11:32.640 --> 00:11:34.960] Yeah, and I was just like, this don't make no sense.
[00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.760] Like, I make too much money to be broke.
[00:11:37.760 --> 00:11:47.120] But then, I always thought, like, in order to understand finances, you really need to like study finances, like PhD-level study.
[00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:57.840] And because I thought, you know, learning about money was like learning how to trade and like being on the stock market floor, like trading places, you understand all of that.
[00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:58.480] Right, right, right.
[00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:04.080] It really wasn't about that, it's really about being intentional about what's coming in and going out.
[00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.520] But who taught me that?
[00:12:05.520 --> 00:12:06.880] Nobody taught me that.
[00:12:06.880 --> 00:12:10.400] Everybody was always like, you know, do what you need to do by any means necessary.
[00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:13.440] Go to the best school, get that job, whatever.
[00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:18.720] And so, for everybody, it seemed like I had it together, but I knew in my heart I didn't.
[00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:24.080] And so, I was like, hey, Miss Emma, like, for the first time in your life, you're not in school.
[00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.160] So, sit down and actually start learning about finances.
[00:12:28.160 --> 00:12:38.920] And the way that I learned about finances was like, I changed my social media to only follow accounts, like debt-free accounts and things that would inspire me.
[00:12:38.920 --> 00:12:42.360] I listened to personal finance podcasts.
[00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:44.920] I read a ton of personal finance books.
[00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:54.600] But not only did I do that, I took action every day to make sure I was doing something small to change the way I looked at money.
[00:12:54.600 --> 00:13:02.600] And the biggest things that I learned how to do was to learn how to actually budget in advance, like tell my money where to go in advance.
[00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.160] Because before, like, I couldn't tell you what I spent my money on.
[00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.800] Like, I don't know how I was so broke.
[00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.080] You know, so I learned how to tell my money what to do in advance.
[00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:14.760] And then I created the system to strategically pay off my debt.
[00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:18.200] Because, you know, what most of us do is we pay all our bills.
[00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:25.160] And then sometimes if we have something left over at the end of the month, we'll put a little bit of something towards that thing.
[00:13:25.160 --> 00:13:26.280] And usually it's sporadic.
[00:13:26.280 --> 00:13:28.280] It's like whatever the thing that catches up.
[00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.400] And that never works out because like you'll always find something.
[00:13:31.400 --> 00:13:34.120] Your money will always find something to do with itself.
[00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:39.880] So if you're counting on the leftover for your savings, it's just not a good plan.
[00:13:39.880 --> 00:13:40.520] Exactly.
[00:13:40.520 --> 00:13:48.840] So I went from, you know, basically having no savings to being able to pay off like $4,000 to $9,000 a month in debt.
[00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:49.480] Wow.
[00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:50.840] Just because I had a plan.
[00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:54.040] Before you tell us that, what did the debt consist of?
[00:13:54.040 --> 00:13:57.400] So the debt consisted of just your normal things.
[00:13:57.400 --> 00:14:02.600] So it was a loan to put a down payment on a house.
[00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:06.360] So I borrowed against my 403b to put a down payment on my house.
[00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:10.600] It was a car because I lived in the suburbs now and I was driving an hour.
[00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:13.960] So I needed a commuter car on top of my regular car.
[00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:16.480] And then it was just like little small things.
[00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:20.400] And in this process, I'll tell you, I got married and got a divorce.
[00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:25.200] So it was his debts too, because I focused on a debt snowball system.
[00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.320] So it was the smallest debts to the largest debts, and most of it.
[00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:32.080] And then I had $187,000 with student loans.
[00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.040] Because when I decided to become a nurse, leave healthcare administration to be a nurse, I went back to school.
[00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:38.640] And that was the majority of my loans.
[00:14:38.640 --> 00:14:42.160] Because for six years for undergrad and grad, I had like $40,000.
[00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.000] But the way that I went to nursing school, I had a lot of debt.
[00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.040] So it was almost $200,000 in student loan debts.
[00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:51.520] So I put that all in a debt snowball.
[00:14:51.520 --> 00:14:55.840] He had little debts, collections, cars, those things.
[00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:02.080] And then I had like my little debts plus my student loans, which made up the majority of the debt.
[00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.040] And so just working through debt by debt.
[00:15:05.040 --> 00:15:09.520] And the way that the debt snowball works is you focus intentionally on one debt.
[00:15:09.520 --> 00:15:17.760] And if you're really honed in onto one goal and then you meet that goal, it really gives you momentum to go on to the next thing.
[00:15:17.760 --> 00:15:21.280] And the debt snowball really works because it works on emotions.
[00:15:21.280 --> 00:15:25.200] So the whole premise is we don't math our way into debt.
[00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.520] We get into debt based on emotions.
[00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:30.000] And that's the way that we have to get out of debt.
[00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:37.200] And so I would knock out, like focus, throw every single dollar towards one debt while paying the minimum balances on everything else.
[00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:45.440] Once that debt was knocked out, then you go to the next debt and you have now that minimum payment that you used to pay on that to put towards this debt.
[00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.360] So you pay it off faster and faster and faster, and it all snowballs.
[00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.120] Well, like I said, I got married, went through a divorce.
[00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:58.720] And like by the end of like me paying off debt, two things-really big things-happened.
[00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:05.480] Of course, I went through a divorce, and because of the way that I had to file, I ended up owning the IRS $30,000.
[00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:20.920] And because I was a breadwinner in the marriage, and I live in California, which is community property state, even though the reason why I got a divorce because I had an abusive husband that was actually in jail for hidden for abusing me, I still had to pay him.
[00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:28.120] So, at the end, I had about $20,000 left of student loan debt.
[00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:36.520] I had like the IRS debt, and I had his debt that I had to pay to him, and so it was about $50,000 worth of debt.
[00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:44.360] I decided to sell my house because I relocated somewhere else, and so that was about $500,000 left of the debt.
[00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:50.760] And so, all of that added up to $978,000 something, nearly a million dollars in debt.
[00:16:50.760 --> 00:16:52.200] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:58.360] And I mean, yeah, like quickly, if you, you know, sometimes we hype up what a million is, right?
[00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:00.920] A million is an equation, you know.
[00:17:01.560 --> 00:17:11.400] And if you have one loan for 200,000, you have a house loan, you know, mortgage for this amount, like multiple six-figure debts, and boom, there you got it.
[00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:12.120] There you go.
[00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:19.960] So, it's not as crazy as it sounds, but that's why I wanted to break it down because sometimes I could say, like, oh, that will never happen to me.
[00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:22.920] So, how did you get the extra to pay that off?
[00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:26.520] Was that through side hustling or just cutting back?
[00:17:26.520 --> 00:17:38.760] It was really about being intentional, and that's why my platform is called financially intentional because actually, through this process, like I said, it was stuff going down in my life, obviously, you know, like, so.
[00:17:38.760 --> 00:17:49.520] I was working my two jobs, but I still had to navigate between getting married, having a husband, then not having a husband, so not having the support there, and a whole bunch of things.
[00:17:44.760 --> 00:17:51.360] So, I actually did not work more.
[00:17:51.520 --> 00:17:53.280] I did not have a side hustle.
[00:17:53.280 --> 00:18:02.640] I literally just had, yeah, at that time, I literally just had to hone in on my goals and just zero-based budgeting.
[00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:07.200] I'm telling you, just zero-based budgeting and intentionally setting a plan towards my debt.
[00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.360] So, when I created my budget, my debt goal was always at the top.
[00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:13.520] That was the thing that I always wanted to hit first.
[00:18:13.520 --> 00:18:15.920] And I adjusted my budget around that.
[00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:21.600] And that made all the difference for me to be able to pay off my debt really fast.
[00:18:21.600 --> 00:18:23.120] It wasn't any extra income.
[00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:29.600] So, a lot of times, what you need to do is increase the gap between your spending and your earnings.
[00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:36.480] The gap, all I did was widen that gap by being intentional on how I spent my money.
[00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.680] And so, no, I did not earn more at that point.
[00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:48.160] And I did not actually start documenting this journey and start on my side hustle until my journey was almost over.
[00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:48.720] Okay.
[00:18:48.720 --> 00:19:01.600] I think this is so inspiring too, because you, you know, the you guys listening, you may not have a million in debt, but there may be student loan debt or even any amount of debt that's holding you back from doing certain things.
[00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:10.400] You might think, once I pay this off, then I'll invest in my side hustle, or once I do this, then I'll take this trip that I've always wanted to.
[00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:20.720] And I think your story shows that, yes, you can focus on this, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, and you'll be able to start working on these dreams.
[00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.120] I'm not thankfully in any debt.
[00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:29.560] I paid off my student loans a few years ago.
[00:19:29.560 --> 00:19:31.880] Me and my husband both paid off our student loans.
[00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:38.760] And now I'm just trying to optimize what I do with my money, what I tell my money to do.
[00:19:39.080 --> 00:19:42.440] And I know many of us might be in that situation.
[00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:48.280] So when you did start financially intentional, how did you go about it?
[00:19:48.280 --> 00:19:53.720] And what was your goal then once you created an official side hustle?
[00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:56.680] So this side hustle was very unintentional.
[00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:08.600] So what happened was once I was going on this journey of like really understanding finances for the first time in my life, like I said, everybody thought I had it figured out, but I hadn't.
[00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:09.880] I was having like a summer party.
[00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:10.920] So I have a group of friends.
[00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:15.800] We've been friends from like 12 years old, middle school, all of that stuff.
[00:20:15.800 --> 00:20:17.800] So we were just kicking out of my house.
[00:20:17.800 --> 00:20:19.160] We were having a summer party.
[00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:20.120] We have girls.
[00:20:20.120 --> 00:20:21.000] All of us have girls.
[00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.640] There's like a couple of boys sprinkled in there.
[00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:28.760] And I was like, dude, you guys really need to know this information.
[00:20:28.760 --> 00:20:36.040] And so I was like, if I put this like in a public forum, like Instagram just starting really, I was like, will you guys like listen to it?
[00:20:36.040 --> 00:20:37.080] Cause I hate repeating myself.
[00:20:37.080 --> 00:20:41.160] I'm going to just put everything that I'm doing out there and then you guys follow it.
[00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:49.080] So it was just supposed to be like this form that I used to show exactly what I was learning and share it with my friends.
[00:20:49.080 --> 00:20:51.480] And then it just started getting traction.
[00:20:51.480 --> 00:21:02.360] And then, you know, so financially intentional was kind of born as a brand from like people just asking me like, can you help me on this journey very reluctantly?
[00:21:02.360 --> 00:21:08.600] And first, it was just me, like you know, sharing my story on, you know, different media outlets.
[00:21:08.600 --> 00:21:12.440] Like, it got picked up by, you know, different podcasts and different things.
[00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.440] And I was asked to speak at different places.
[00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:20.960] So, then, um, like, so I got receipts all the way back to like 2016 when I first started.
[00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:26.560] And it was just really about sharing and tracking my journey and then having like some accountability around it.
[00:21:26.560 --> 00:21:27.040] Yeah.
[00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:35.600] And then, um, in about 2018, around when I was having my second daughter, I was like, maybe I should monetize this a little bit.
[00:21:35.600 --> 00:21:38.880] And, you know, I'll always listen to your podcast.
[00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:39.520] Oh, thank you.
[00:21:39.520 --> 00:21:40.240] Thank you.
[00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.080] How many years in were you at this point?
[00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:43.680] That was two years in then, right?
[00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:52.000] So that's after I had paid off all my debt and I was more like not part of like debt free, but like discovering financial independence.
[00:21:52.400 --> 00:22:00.080] And so I was transitioning and I was like, okay, so I mean, I have all this debt stuff, budgeting and stuff down.
[00:22:00.080 --> 00:22:09.760] Now I'm going into this world and where I want to start investing and growing my wealth, but I want to share along the way because now I have tackled all these things successfully.
[00:22:09.760 --> 00:22:15.600] So listening to your show, I was like, okay, well, how can I turn this into a business?
[00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:19.760] And then, you know, I reached, I started like taking courses.
[00:22:19.760 --> 00:22:22.960] Like, I started with Danielle Leslie's course from you.
[00:22:23.280 --> 00:22:24.320] And you know what?
[00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:25.200] It's crazy.
[00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.480] She literally lived across the street from me.
[00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:31.840] Did you just rub it to each other?
[00:22:32.320 --> 00:22:35.440] I never ran into her in real life.
[00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.280] She literally lived across the street from me.
[00:22:37.280 --> 00:22:38.800] I'm like, you know, I'm taking your course.
[00:22:38.800 --> 00:22:43.360] But I'm like, literally, like, right across the street, like our windows get like, look at each other.
[00:22:43.360 --> 00:23:00.000] It was like, but anyway, I was like, I started taking courses and started formalizing a business, had a baby, started a podcast, like did all these things and like kind of grew, but knew that, you know, my passion is still in nursing because the entrepreneur side, let me tell you something.
[00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:01.800] This is hard, okay?
[00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:08.120] I can go to work, deliver a baby, have an emergency, get out of bed, back to the OR, do all that kind of stuff.
[00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:10.520] And that check is coming regular.
[00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:17.640] And it's a nice check because if I stay over five minutes, I'm getting paid probably what more than most people get paid in either.
[00:23:17.800 --> 00:23:20.600] You know, like it's a good check.
[00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:22.760] I make a good amount of money as a nurse.
[00:23:22.760 --> 00:23:32.120] So it's really, really hard to want to go into like full-time entrepreneurship, even though I know I could.
[00:23:32.120 --> 00:23:36.360] It's just like, I'm still very passionate about nursing.
[00:23:36.360 --> 00:23:47.320] And so like when people are like on this full-on grind and a lot of nurses are on this thing right now because a lot of burnout and all this kind of stuff right now that's going into nursing, I'm like, hold on, pump your brakes.
[00:23:47.320 --> 00:23:51.560] Like nursing is still really lucrative.
[00:23:51.800 --> 00:23:53.720] There are so many things you can do.
[00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:55.160] You don't have to be at the nurse.
[00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:57.720] I would definitely still be side hustling.
[00:23:57.720 --> 00:23:59.640] I don't think I would leave that nurse.
[00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:01.960] I don't think I would leave that nursing check.
[00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:05.800] But you raise such an important point about side hustling.
[00:24:05.800 --> 00:24:08.040] Like you have options.
[00:24:08.040 --> 00:24:10.760] You have options when you side hustle.
[00:24:10.760 --> 00:24:20.840] Like all this money that you do make can go completely to your investments if you want and completely to all your side projects, building out the business, testing, exploring.
[00:24:20.840 --> 00:24:22.120] I mean, is that how you look at it?
[00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:24.600] Like now that I look at it like that totally.
[00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:31.160] And the thing is, and to keep it real, Nikayla, like a lot of my money that I'm making my business goes back into my business.
[00:24:31.120 --> 00:24:37.320] And I can, and I can make a lot of money, but the thing is, yeah, to run a successful business, there's a lot that has to go into training.
[00:24:37.320 --> 00:24:38.520] I'm not an entrepreneur.
[00:24:38.520 --> 00:24:44.480] So I invest a lot into making sure my systems are good, making sure I understand how to run a business.
[00:24:44.120 --> 00:24:48.960] So, let me tell you something: if I didn't have a side hustle, I'd probably be able to retire.
[00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:56.720] But, but what I have done, I know, has made is making such a great impact.
[00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:58.560] I continue to do it.
[00:24:58.560 --> 00:25:05.920] And so, you know, just the real side to side hustling sometimes is that it's not as like golden as most people think.
[00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:13.760] Like, the entrepreneurial world is really, really hard, but I'm able to learn and grow and explore in ways.
[00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:23.200] And I've been open to so many opportunities just because I opened up this like area that I did not even know existed.
[00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:39.440] And so, I love the fact that I'm a side hustler, you know, because I'm telling you, like the world of opportunity that has been opened to me just because I shared my story and did it imperfectly is like phenomenal.
[00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:40.560] It's amazing.
[00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:50.400] And you raise another important point that I just want to stop and highlight right here, which is sometimes your gifts are multiple.
[00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.960] Like, we are multi-passionate people.
[00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:03.360] And just because you have this talent in this area that you start as a side hustle, it doesn't mean you have to let go of something that is this God-given talent.
[00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.200] You were meant to bless women in the work that you do.
[00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:15.840] I see the work that you do on social media, and you talk about black maternal health and your lens and what you have experienced and what you're able to share.
[00:26:15.320 --> 00:26:20.120] Share sometimes, with lawsuits, you know, as a result.
[00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:24.640] So, so you know, sometimes with consequences, it's going to bless so many people.
[00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:31.800] So, I just hope that you guys are getting what I'm trying to say, which is just basically that sometimes you are meant to be in both places.
[00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:33.000] I don't know for how long.
[00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:37.080] I don't know what that looks like, but your path and your journey will show you that.
[00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:40.200] Yes, yes, most definitely.
[00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:50.600] And the thing is, is that listen, okay, this last like promotion I'm gonna give for nursing, but nursing is the ultimate side hustle.
[00:26:50.600 --> 00:26:58.840] I mean, like, the ultimate job to have if you side hustle and like cheat code because you're always gonna be in demand.
[00:26:58.840 --> 00:27:01.800] AI cannot replace you.
[00:27:02.120 --> 00:27:06.360] Um, there's so many things you can do if you're not passionate about one area.
[00:27:06.360 --> 00:27:09.080] There's so many areas you can explore.
[00:27:09.080 --> 00:27:25.160] And I just feel like you can make it work for you where you can make a good amount of money so that if you want to take three months off and then have, you know, work for three months and then do it again or travel the world or do whatever, use your job to pay you to travel the world.
[00:27:25.560 --> 00:27:26.200] You can.
[00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:42.920] There's so many opportunities if you just explore them that it's almost like one, it's one of those jobs that you don't have to retire from because it can be a passion project, but you just have to be able to be willing to explore that.
[00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:46.040] And a lot of times, some people are always looking for quick fixes.
[00:27:46.040 --> 00:28:03.400] And so they think entrepreneurship, I don't know why they think that's but yeah, like, and the thing is, is that what I have learned, the biggest lesson I've learned about financial independence is that it's not about reaching this number or reaching this ultimate goal.
[00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:18.560] It's like every debt that you pay off, every investment that she makes unlocks a level of freedom in your life to where you take control, that much more control over your life in order to make whatever you're doing to produce income work for you.
[00:28:19.520 --> 00:28:31.280] And it's just about that intentionality and saying that I am going to make a choice to reverse my relationship with money so that money is working for me.
[00:28:31.280 --> 00:28:34.960] That's like, I just saw that little hand behind you.
[00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:41.600] You guys, you have to check out this episode on YouTube because I was like, wait, there's a hand ruining out our heads.
[00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:43.600] No, we have a guest aliens.
[00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:45.440] We have a guest star.
[00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.640] My daughter is always going to be, my little sidekick is always going to be in the background.
[00:28:50.800 --> 00:28:59.200] No matter how long we have before the episode on how she's supposed to act, she does good for a little while.
[00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:00.720] How old is she now?
[00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:02.960] I remember when she was a baby.
[00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:03.600] Oh my gosh.
[00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:04.800] Wow.
[00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:06.800] Time flies.
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[00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:04.960] So, yes, this was the biggest plug show ever for nursing.
[00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:21.680] But one of the things, too, is that no matter if it's nursing or whatever, you have to make sure that you're in a job that is going to allow you to side hustle.
[00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:24.640] If you decide to go on this path, you have to be realistic.
[00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:36.480] One of my friends, we always joke because there was one time I was giving a talk at, you know, our alma mater, and I said something like, Oh, you know, of course, if you want to be a management consultant, you might not be able to side hustle.
[00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:39.360] And she was like, I'm going into management consulting.
[00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:43.760] And I was like, Well, girl, we have to be real about this.
[00:32:43.760 --> 00:32:44.320] All right.
[00:32:44.320 --> 00:32:53.120] You could do that for a few years, but then you got to move over to like a tech job or something where you can have a little more flexibility because the full-time job does matter too.
[00:32:54.240 --> 00:33:00.720] And the last thing I'll say about that is I remember when I was working at my last job before this.
[00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:01.840] Y'all know what it is.
[00:33:01.840 --> 00:33:05.360] I won't mention it because of the nature of this story.
[00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:10.320] But I remember someone, you know, sent me this role, like, oh, we think you'll be great for this.
[00:33:10.320 --> 00:33:12.880] And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, I can't take this role.
[00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:15.600] This role sounds like I'll be doing a lot more work.
[00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:18.720] And like, I'm just trying to lay low and side hustle.
[00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:31.720] So, yeah, you got to sacrifice sometimes and say, all right, I'm not going to, you know, not that you're not giving all you can at work, but you have to do a kind of job that allows you to do all you can and still have some energy for your side hustle.
[00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:38.920] So, let's talk about how you actually worked at that, though, how you actually juggled the two, because it's tough.
[00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:39.640] It's still tough.
[00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:42.520] It's still long hours when you do go into the office.
[00:33:42.520 --> 00:33:45.720] So, how were you able to do that juggle?
[00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:53.800] Well, the thing is, is that with being a nurse, like it's easy to like, once you're off, you're off, right?
[00:33:53.800 --> 00:33:56.840] And so, I don't have to bring that work home with me.
[00:33:57.160 --> 00:34:04.680] And I don't, you know, in all honesty, you know, work-life balance, you know, kind of thing is a farce.
[00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:13.400] You know, I have kids, I'm a single mom, and so, you know, I just make it work and I do what I can.
[00:34:13.720 --> 00:34:24.840] Um, and the thing is, is that it just has worked so far that I schedule just certain days where I do the work and what gets done gets done.
[00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:30.440] What doesn't get done doesn't get done, and I don't put too much pressure on myself to do it.
[00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:41.720] You know, I have time for where I'm like learning, I'm going to um conferences, I'm in masterminds, I do all those things, but I just make it work around my lifestyle.
[00:34:41.720 --> 00:34:51.640] And we all have the same 24 hours in a day, and it's just again about being intentional with your time, but also knowing when there's time to like pull back and rest.
[00:34:51.640 --> 00:34:54.520] Like, I'm totally in that mode right now, yes.
[00:34:54.520 --> 00:34:56.200] But I just, I just make it work.
[00:34:56.200 --> 00:35:02.360] But I think, like, like you said, I have a job where I can totally separate from that when I leave.
[00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:08.680] And so, when I leave, like in my commute, I'm like consuming content so that I can share.
[00:35:08.680 --> 00:35:12.440] A lot of my videos, you'll notice, are in my car.
[00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:14.520] I didn't even notice that.
[00:35:14.520 --> 00:35:16.880] I didn't even notice it was mostly in your car.
[00:35:18.720 --> 00:35:20.240] I thought you were signed stationary.
[00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:20.960] I got to look again.
[00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:23.280] Girl, my car drives itself.
[00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:25.200] So I can put it.
[00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:27.760] I put it in self-driving mode.
[00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.640] And I had such a big comment.
[00:35:30.640 --> 00:35:34.080] I feel like the big, y'all are the most, you know.
[00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:35.120] Oh, yeah.
[00:35:35.200 --> 00:35:38.320] We got the first and the most.
[00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:40.960] I can't even speak correctly, but you know what I mean.
[00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:42.240] Yeah, we're on it.
[00:35:42.240 --> 00:35:48.320] Like, I work in the city where Tesla is graded, like where the Tesla factory is.
[00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:48.960] Of course.
[00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:52.080] At my job parking lot, all you see is Teslas.
[00:35:52.080 --> 00:35:55.520] And so we'd be flexing on our auto drive out here.
[00:35:57.120 --> 00:36:01.120] So your side also started out one way, I feel like from watching and observing your journey.
[00:36:01.120 --> 00:36:06.240] You know, you were talking about the fire movement and it shifted to so much more than that.
[00:36:06.240 --> 00:36:10.640] So tell us a little more about your interpretation of fire movement.
[00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:18.960] So fire is an acronym for financially intentional, financially intentional, financially independent, retire early.
[00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:20.800] I always flip those.
[00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:39.360] And it's less more about the retire early part, but in making work optional and having options right now about how you look at work, but it totally shifts your perspective because I don't know about you, Nikayla, but I'm quite sure because I kind of know your story.
[00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:45.360] But you know, we're taught that, you know, you go to school, you get a job, you work that job forever.
[00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:54.400] It shifts that paradigm to say that you can work, put away a certain amount of money, and now you can do whatever you want to do.
[00:36:54.400 --> 00:37:04.280] You can work on your passion, or you know, you can work, but if somebody is, you know, messing with you, you could throw the deuces at any time.
[00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:07.320] Like, I love to do, right?
[00:37:08.680 --> 00:37:09.240] I love to do that.
[00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:11.240] Those are some of my favorite stories.
[00:37:11.240 --> 00:37:14.920] You gotta go over to her Instagram, Financially Intentional.
[00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:19.880] And she has shared her stories of quitting or having to speak out and get fired.
[00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:20.840] And guess what?
[00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:24.440] She still bounces right back on her feet with another nursing job.
[00:37:24.440 --> 00:37:24.840] Yeah.
[00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:27.400] And it's about that option.
[00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:29.400] And that was a total mindset shift to me.
[00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:31.800] And that didn't come until after I paid off my debt.
[00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:35.000] And I know you're good friends with Jamila Suzanne.
[00:37:35.080 --> 00:37:38.280] And so throughout my journey, we were friends too.
[00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:41.320] And then, you know, she started really talking about the fire content.
[00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:44.440] And I really got into fire because of her.
[00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:46.760] And I was just like, man, like, so what do you mean?
[00:37:46.760 --> 00:37:48.520] Like, I don't have to work forever.
[00:37:48.520 --> 00:37:50.840] Like, I'm not chasing this corporate ladder.
[00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:58.840] Like, I'm just making sure I have enough say and invest it so that, you know, in a couple of years, I don't have to work if I don't want to.
[00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:01.640] Like, that's a whole new paradigm shift for me.
[00:38:01.640 --> 00:38:04.600] And like being able to share that.
[00:38:04.600 --> 00:38:12.440] But what has actually happened is, is that that has freed up a lot of things in me to be able to talk about generational wealth.
[00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:20.840] So I talk about, you know, how my kids are investing and how they learn about money and how like I'm putting them in a financial position.
[00:38:20.840 --> 00:38:24.040] Not to be spoiled, because let me tell you, my kids work hard now.
[00:38:24.040 --> 00:38:25.800] Like they work for me.
[00:38:26.440 --> 00:38:39.720] But so that they can opt out of a lot of the bullshit that we had to go through because we weren't in a financial position or our parents weren't in a financial position for us to do what we or just didn't even know.
[00:38:39.720 --> 00:38:40.360] Exactly.
[00:38:40.360 --> 00:38:42.680] Because a lot of the information was possible.
[00:38:43.160 --> 00:38:57.120] A lot of the information is get kept and breaking it down to a level where my daughter, my nine-year-old daughter will tell you all about investing and she doesn't even understand when adults don't understand how to invest because she's like, it's really that simple.
[00:38:57.120 --> 00:39:01.440] You know, she was, she was picture her saying that.
[00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:02.800] Yeah, she was a clown.
[00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:08.960] Like, she, I'm like, girl, her and my stepmom got into it all the time.
[00:39:09.040 --> 00:39:11.440] She was like, my stepmom's like, you don't understand.
[00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:13.760] Like, you only know this because of your mom.
[00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:17.600] And she's just like, well, I don't just understand why you just don't get it.
[00:39:17.600 --> 00:39:18.000] Right.
[00:39:19.600 --> 00:39:24.320] And I'll be like, girl, like, you know, you know what I'm saying?
[00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:25.920] But that's how they think.
[00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:33.520] But anyway, but setting them up for, you know, building wealth and being in a position to be able to opt out of a lot of stuff.
[00:39:33.520 --> 00:39:59.520] I actually have been fortunate to have a platform where I can speak openly about maternal health issues and speak openly about the things that have happened in my job and that I've witnessed that has affected Black maternal health and like actually giving people viable like solutions, like how do we address this situation and being able to highlight other platforms that help you know black women in this situation.
[00:39:59.520 --> 00:40:10.720] But it has morphed into just an opportunity for me to be able to affect change in a way that I couldn't have done it just as a staff nurse, you know.
[00:40:10.720 --> 00:40:17.440] But because I can speak about these things and not have to worry about my money, I do.
[00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.160] And because I'm one of those people, like I said, I just keep it real.
[00:40:20.160 --> 00:40:25.360] Like, oftentimes, my mouth can get me into trouble that my money can back to me about it.
[00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:26.880] It's needed.
[00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:27.440] It's needed.
[00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:29.440] This information is needed.
[00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:41.720] So, when it comes to fire, so essentially, you're putting money in the investment account where the returns, the percentage returns, which I believe you target 4%, right?
[00:40:42.600 --> 00:40:50.600] Then, you know, once you have a certain amount, the returns that you'll get each year will cover-is it your minimum lifestyle or just your ideal lifestyle?
[00:40:50.600 --> 00:40:53.800] Like, what you've depends on what you're going for, right?
[00:40:54.120 --> 00:41:00.920] So, there are different kinds of fire: there's like fat fire, lean fire, coast fire, um, barista fire.
[00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:08.680] So, I mean, like Google, like, but the thing is, is that it should cover a portion of your expenses right now.
[00:41:08.680 --> 00:41:25.640] So, right now, I'm on maternity leave, so I was very intentional before I went out and like cut my expenses down to be able to like live off of a minimum amount of money without having to worry about bringing in extra money from my business.
[00:41:25.640 --> 00:41:32.520] Because if I don't feel like shooting content for a brand, if I don't feel like putting a podcast out, I don't want to have to do that.
[00:41:32.520 --> 00:41:42.280] And so, it's about like understanding in that moment or in the future what your expenses are going to be at that time and having investments be able to cover that.
[00:41:42.280 --> 00:41:45.960] Investments are sources of income to be able to cover that.
[00:41:45.960 --> 00:41:47.560] So, yeah, that's what it's about.
[00:41:47.560 --> 00:41:55.800] So, traditionally, you want to look at it like this: so, to your fire number is going to be 25 times your expenses.
[00:41:55.800 --> 00:42:03.000] And so, if you know it takes you, like $40,000, we like to use that example because it's easy to multiply by 25.
[00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:14.760] But if you know your expenses, your living expenses, transportation, all that stuff, it's $40,000 a year, you want to have 25 times that, which is a million dollars in investments or savings.
[00:42:15.200 --> 00:42:31.040] And then according to the safe withdrawal rate, which is 4%, you can take $40,000 a year off of those investments to live off of without having to generate any other income.
[00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:34.320] And so that's how fire works.
[00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:36.800] But there's different levels.
[00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:41.760] If you know that you're getting, like, I live in California, so I get state disability.
[00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:50.640] If you know that your state disability is going to be a couple thousand dollars a month, then that's less that you need to put into that number, you know?
[00:42:50.640 --> 00:42:56.080] So, like, it's just different ways to factor into those things.
[00:42:56.080 --> 00:43:12.400] But, and that's to say that you can reach different levels of fire, or you don't have to be completely like at your fire number to be able to unlock levels of freedom in your life where you don't have to necessarily trade time for money.
[00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:18.080] Now, as someone who lives in a very expensive city, I also live in, you know, I live in New York City.
[00:43:18.080 --> 00:43:20.480] You live in San Francisco or Oakland.
[00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:21.360] Which one are you in now?
[00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:21.840] Are you?
[00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:23.760] Well, I live like in a suburb like East.
[00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:24.560] In a suburb.
[00:43:24.720 --> 00:43:25.600] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:29.200] Still the pay, right?
[00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:34.000] What does cutting back look like for you as like someone who's side hustling?
[00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:36.800] You know, you're working full-time as a nurse, but you're also cutting back.
[00:43:36.800 --> 00:43:40.800] What does cutting back look like when you are in an expensive city?
[00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:43.520] Really, it's just like getting your income in check.
[00:43:43.520 --> 00:43:53.680] So the two biggest things that you're going to usually have in your budget is your housing expenses and your transportation expenses.
[00:43:53.680 --> 00:43:55.840] For me, I try to minimize those expenses.
[00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:58.960] So before I went on maternity leave, like I paid off my Tesla.
[00:43:58.960 --> 00:43:59.800] Like, I don't have a car.
[00:43:59.680 --> 00:44:01.240] No, that was $1,100 a month.
[00:44:01.240 --> 00:44:02.200] That's a lot of money, right?
[00:43:59.840 --> 00:44:02.360] Yeah.
[00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:04.920] So that's done, right?
[00:44:04.920 --> 00:44:10.600] I always make it so my housing expenses are way less than 30% of my income.
[00:44:10.600 --> 00:44:14.040] And a lot of people are like, that's impossible in the Bay Area.
[00:44:14.040 --> 00:44:22.600] But what I always do is, even if I'm renting, I always find a place where I have an extra room where I can rent that out if I need to.
[00:44:22.600 --> 00:44:26.200] And I rent it out to travel nurses or nurses that I work with.
[00:44:26.200 --> 00:44:32.840] Because a lot of nurses, even if they're not travel nurses, they're staff nurses, but they live in like Georgia, Florida, Canada, even.
[00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:35.240] They come down here and they want a place to stay.
[00:44:35.240 --> 00:44:37.000] And nurses come and they work.
[00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:37.720] They're quiet.
[00:44:37.720 --> 00:44:38.760] They're background check.
[00:44:38.760 --> 00:44:39.400] They're screened.
[00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:40.520] I have kids in my house.
[00:44:40.520 --> 00:44:41.480] So they don't bother me.
[00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:43.800] Actually, they become part of my family.
[00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:45.480] Oh, that's so smart.
[00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:48.600] Like, is there a website just to rent to travel nurses?
[00:44:48.600 --> 00:44:51.800] Because if I could just do that, I'm like, okay, I trust that.
[00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:52.600] I trust that.
[00:44:52.600 --> 00:44:53.160] Okay.
[00:44:53.160 --> 00:44:54.280] You got to tell us that link.
[00:44:56.040 --> 00:44:57.560] It's furnish finders.
[00:44:57.560 --> 00:44:59.000] So furnish finders.
[00:44:59.160 --> 00:44:59.480] Okay.
[00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:06.360] And then they have like a section just for travel nurses, but also there's like Facebook groups that are just travel nurses looking for housing.
[00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:08.120] And you can post in there.
[00:45:08.120 --> 00:45:19.000] But usually it's word of mouth because once one travel nurse knows, or if somebody, I'm a nurse, so I work if a staff, you know, they need somewhere to stay, they're going to come stay with you.
[00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:21.720] So it's really not that hard to find really reliable people.
[00:45:21.720 --> 00:45:25.960] And like I said, most people stay with me for months or years even.
[00:45:25.960 --> 00:45:26.360] Wow.
[00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:32.200] And so that almost, that's like a third or more of my housing costs.
[00:45:32.200 --> 00:45:33.800] So that's cut down.
[00:45:33.800 --> 00:45:41.400] And then what gets me and what gets most people is like those little things that you spend a hell of money on that you don't need to spend money on.
[00:45:41.400 --> 00:45:44.360] Like when you go to Target or you go grocery shopping, or you go to the money.
[00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:47.360] Listen, I knew you were like trying to come for me like this.
[00:45:44.680 --> 00:45:49.600] I knew you were gonna start talking about this.
[00:45:50.400 --> 00:45:55.760] Listen, like you really have to, like, so I have to put that budget in check.
[00:45:55.760 --> 00:45:57.680] Like, do I need to go to Target?
[00:45:57.680 --> 00:46:01.040] Like, yeah, I'd be like, making up any reason to go to Target.
[00:46:01.040 --> 00:46:02.560] And it's really bad.
[00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:04.800] Like, do I really need to go to Target?
[00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:07.360] Or do we really got to eat out like today?
[00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:09.920] Like, my kids don't even eat, like, for real, for real.
[00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:12.000] So, like, why are we going to this restaurant?
[00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:15.760] Like, so it's just so I could be like, I want to eat something good and spend hella money.
[00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:21.920] Like, it's like checking those expenses and like, really like getting that number.
[00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:24.800] Like, how much does it really take for you to live every month?
[00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:30.720] And the thing is, hey, look, if you ask most people, they really cannot tell you how much they spend every month.
[00:46:30.720 --> 00:46:31.280] And I know that.
[00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:32.320] That's so true.
[00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:33.120] That's so true.
[00:46:33.120 --> 00:46:36.560] I had to get, we had to get ourselves in check with that too.
[00:46:36.560 --> 00:46:40.960] Like, I mean, Moya was always asking me, like, you know, he wants to fill out the spreadsheet.
[00:46:41.040 --> 00:46:42.960] I'm like, nah, leave me alone.
[00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:45.840] Jeff on your channel.
[00:46:46.720 --> 00:46:48.640] Just give you a number.
[00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:51.440] Just like, just give me a number.
[00:46:53.200 --> 00:47:00.880] Because when you face the number, when you face the number, that's when, you know, you really have to come to terms with how much you spend on certain things.
[00:47:01.280 --> 00:47:05.920] But it's good because once you have that, you can then do all these calculations you need, right?
[00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:12.240] Like the, okay, what would 25 times my income look like and all of our expenses and all this other stuff.
[00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:15.040] And the thing is, it's not about deprivation.
[00:47:15.040 --> 00:47:21.920] Like, it's like, I really didn't need those things in Target, but I spend a lot of money on the things that I'm passionate about.
[00:47:21.920 --> 00:47:23.520] Like my car, like my car.
[00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:25.120] Like, I'm very passionate about that.
[00:47:25.120 --> 00:47:27.120] So, I adjust my budget to spend on that.
[00:47:27.120 --> 00:47:28.160] Vacations.
[00:47:28.160 --> 00:47:33.800] Like, my kids have been to Disneyland and Great Wolf Lodge so much, like, we have towers of ears.
[00:47:29.600 --> 00:47:34.440] I love it.
[00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:39.240] Yeah, that's a category that I have to have in my life as well.
[00:47:40.200 --> 00:48:01.080] And, you know, this conversation is definitely taking more of a financial turn than we expected, but I still love it because I feel that a lot of times when we start side hustling and we have this now, this discretionary income, if we're not careful, you can blow that instead of being able to do so much more with it.
[00:48:02.040 --> 00:48:03.960] It's called lifestyle inflation.
[00:48:04.360 --> 00:48:07.560] Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, lifestyle inflation.
[00:48:08.440 --> 00:48:10.120] Yes, keeping that number in check.
[00:48:10.120 --> 00:48:19.640] Like, if you know you can't spend more than $5,000 a month, you figure out what your passion is about to spend that money on, and then you don't feel like you're deprived.
[00:48:19.640 --> 00:48:23.160] So, that's how I, that's how I've done it in different stages of life.
[00:48:23.160 --> 00:48:31.720] And there's times where, yeah, you know, I do ball out, but being able to rein in that money is in that spending is what's important.
[00:48:35.240 --> 00:48:55.000] And before we get into the lightning round, I love if you could touch on disability insurance a little bit more because you had a great episode on it, and I'll link to it where you touch on you might have great insurance and you might have awesome benefits from your job, but never rely solely on what your job gives you for any of these categories.
[00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:57.800] So, you take out, of course, California has state, right?
[00:48:57.800 --> 00:49:00.840] But then you take out your own personal disability insurance.
[00:49:00.840 --> 00:49:02.280] Like, how do you go about that?
[00:49:02.240 --> 00:49:02.800] Yes.
[00:49:02.840 --> 00:49:03.640] Yes.
[00:49:03.960 --> 00:49:10.280] So, it's always important, just like anything else, life insurance, anything, to have your own policies in place.
[00:49:11.080 --> 00:49:16.640] And what I like to do, and let me tell you, there's a lot of scammers in this industry, so be very careful.
[00:49:14.840 --> 00:49:18.720] That's part of what makes it intimidating, honestly.
[00:49:18.880 --> 00:49:20.320] It's like, who do I trust?
[00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:26.480] Who do I trust with sharing what I make and you know, looking inside my books and all this other stuff?
[00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:29.440] That is the thing that intimidates me sometimes.
[00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:33.120] You hear so many horror stories, and you honestly, you don't know these people, right?
[00:49:33.120 --> 00:49:33.840] Right.
[00:49:33.840 --> 00:49:47.680] When you're looking for a financial advisor, somebody who is doing insurance for you, you want to look for somebody who is independent for like, okay, so on my podcast, I work with Aquania S.
[00:49:47.680 --> 00:49:58.240] Garnet, and she's, she's in the personal finance space too, but she is an independent licensed insurance agent, meaning that she's not tied to any one company.
[00:49:58.240 --> 00:50:04.480] So her interest is always going to be to get you the best rate, period.
[00:50:04.480 --> 00:50:16.400] When you look for financial advisors or somebody to help you with your finances, you want to work with somebody that is a fee-only like fiduciary advisor.
[00:50:16.400 --> 00:50:23.760] And fiduciary means that they are only like they are licensed to only work in your best interest.
[00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:28.080] And you would think that all licensed agents are fiduciaries, but they're not.
[00:50:28.080 --> 00:50:38.960] And the fee only just means that, okay, like you're sitting down for a session, you're going to pay them like $300 for a session, and then they're going to put together a plan specifically for you.
[00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:46.800] Oftentimes, you'll get financial advice for free, or somebody will set up an insurance thing policy for you for free.
[00:50:46.800 --> 00:50:48.400] It's not free.
[00:50:48.400 --> 00:50:52.960] Their best interest is getting the highest commission for themselves.
[00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:58.320] And so they'll put you in a policy for them that pays them in the front end.
[00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:07.640] So there's a lot of policies out there that like they're incentivized to sell you because they make a lot of money, almost 50% of the premiums that you put up front.
[00:51:07.800 --> 00:51:08.360] Wow.
[00:51:08.760 --> 00:51:15.640] So like as far as disability insurance, you're guaranteed to get hurt at a job.
[00:51:15.640 --> 00:51:18.360] Like life insurance, like you're going to die, whatever.
[00:51:18.360 --> 00:51:20.040] We're guaranteed to die.
[00:51:20.040 --> 00:51:27.720] But like most people are injured in some kind of way where they can't do their job or they have to go out for a pregnancy or whatever.
[00:51:27.720 --> 00:51:28.360] Right.
[00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:43.480] And so disability insurance is something that you that you can get through your job, but you also want to have a separate policy in place just in case like you lose that job, something happens, they change their benefits every year.
[00:51:43.480 --> 00:51:45.480] You don't know how it applies.
[00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:49.880] And so I have state disability insurance.
[00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:54.120] I have disability insurance, long-term disability insurance through my job.
[00:51:54.120 --> 00:51:58.680] And I also have long-term disability insurance on my own.
[00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:01.560] And I've had that in place for years.
[00:52:01.560 --> 00:52:07.080] And the way that it's working right now with my maternity leave is that I'm high risk.
[00:52:07.080 --> 00:52:08.120] I'm 42.
[00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:10.280] I'll be 42 on Monday.
[00:52:10.280 --> 00:52:13.480] And so I had to go out of work early.
[00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:23.880] So with my long-term disability policy, it kicks in after 90 days to supplement your income in order to make you whole.
[00:52:23.880 --> 00:52:29.320] So short, I have state disability, which starts after 10 days after you're out.
[00:52:29.560 --> 00:52:30.840] So that started.
[00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:41.080] Plus, like then you can use your sick leave and your vacation at your job, and then but that eventually runs out if you're not working.
[00:52:41.080 --> 00:52:41.480] Right.
[00:52:41.800 --> 00:52:56.960] So then after 90 days, your long-term disability policy comes in, kicks in that you know you just get paid a certain benefit to cover your expenses, and it's only going to cover up to 60% of your expenses, but it's pretty not taxed.
[00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:01.200] So sometimes it's actually more than what you bring home.
[00:53:01.200 --> 00:53:07.280] But the incentive is like you can't, it's not going to replace all of your income because then nobody will want to go back to work.
[00:53:07.280 --> 00:53:07.680] Right.
[00:53:08.880 --> 00:53:10.080] That's how it works.
[00:53:10.080 --> 00:53:18.720] But you should always have that policy in place because Lord forbid you be out of work for longer than 90 days.
[00:53:18.720 --> 00:53:25.200] But in that case, you need something to cover your income because you still got bills to pay.
[00:53:25.200 --> 00:53:26.000] Yep.
[00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:26.960] Absolutely.
[00:53:26.960 --> 00:53:36.240] So, and this applies to everyone, all of us, like whether you are side hustler, entrepreneur, full-time corporate job, what have you.
[00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:38.640] I thought this was such an important conversation.
[00:53:38.640 --> 00:53:40.640] It's something that I'm working on right now.
[00:53:41.040 --> 00:53:47.280] Let me know if you guys want me to share more about my journey as I, you know, finalize a plan and all of that good stuff.
[00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:53.360] But I saw an entrepreneur friend who's recently going through an unexpected injury.
[00:53:53.360 --> 00:53:58.000] And, you know, when we work for ourselves, it's something to think about with side hustling.
[00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:00.960] When you work for yourself and you are the business, right?
[00:54:01.920 --> 00:54:03.040] I am the podcaster.
[00:54:03.040 --> 00:54:04.720] I am the content creator.
[00:54:04.720 --> 00:54:07.920] If I'm down and I can't make content, then who's paying me?
[00:54:07.920 --> 00:54:09.440] You know, exactly.
[00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:16.960] And so that's something that we talk about in the last episode I think I did about disability insurance for entrepreneurs.
[00:54:16.960 --> 00:54:18.080] It's is super important.
[00:54:18.080 --> 00:54:28.160] So, in two ways, if you've been an entrepreneur for a while, um, to get a disability policy, they're going to want to see a couple of years of um income so that they can cover you.
[00:54:28.160 --> 00:54:33.640] But if you're side hustling, you use your work income to be able to cover that.
[00:54:29.440 --> 00:54:48.040] Like, so if you're knowing, if you know that you're going to transition like to be a full-time entrepreneur, it's a good time to get a lot of policies in place because it's going to be based off of like the salary that you're making at your job, and it's less things that you have to prove.
[00:54:48.040 --> 00:54:49.400] So, just something to think about.
[00:54:49.400 --> 00:54:56.280] Like, if you really are transitioning into full-time entrepreneurship, like get those things in place now.
[00:54:56.280 --> 00:54:56.680] Nice.
[00:54:56.680 --> 00:54:58.840] That's a yeah, that's a really big tip.
[00:54:58.840 --> 00:55:00.600] That's a really good tip.
[00:55:00.600 --> 00:55:06.760] And you know, something that we forgot to even touch on is you getting into podcasting, right?
[00:55:06.760 --> 00:55:09.160] So, just you know, let's really touch on this.
[00:55:09.160 --> 00:55:12.600] So, you had the platform, you started on Instagram.
[00:55:12.600 --> 00:55:18.600] Why podcasting and what makes you continue to podcast, man?
[00:55:18.920 --> 00:55:33.080] Like, no lie, like, it's where I get my information from, and I really feel like they're in the personal finance space, like, is male, pale, and stale.
[00:55:33.080 --> 00:55:37.480] And I needed to hear voices like me and you know what I'm saying?
[00:55:37.480 --> 00:55:39.560] Like, that's the first time I've heard that.
[00:55:39.560 --> 00:55:41.320] Male, pale, and stale.
[00:55:41.320 --> 00:55:44.280] Okay, that's the that's my girl.
[00:55:44.280 --> 00:55:47.960] She always uses okay, yes.
[00:55:47.960 --> 00:55:54.120] And so, I was like, man, we need to like hear from we need more voices like me.
[00:55:54.440 --> 00:56:03.320] And initially, I was like, Well, there's no lack of like personal finance podcasts out there, so let me just niche down and speak specifically to nurses.
[00:56:03.320 --> 00:56:08.280] And when, of course, when I wanted to do my podcast, of course, I reached out to my girl, Nikayla.
[00:56:08.280 --> 00:56:10.720] Like, oh, yeah, we gotta take this course.
[00:56:11.280 --> 00:56:12.080] Oh, yeah, right.
[00:56:13.760 --> 00:56:15.280] Yes, I'm going to build it.
[00:56:12.680 --> 00:56:17.440] Yes.
[00:56:18.240 --> 00:56:25.040] So, yeah, I started like speaking specifically to nurses and about financial independence and nursing.
[00:56:25.040 --> 00:56:28.400] But I just know that my voice is needed across the board.
[00:56:28.400 --> 00:56:38.480] So recently, in December, I did a rebrand where I just kind of generalized just my audience because I've always had the overarching brand financially intentional.
[00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:42.480] But I just made it and opened it up for everyone because it really was.
[00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:49.440] Like, if you even listen to my old Nurses on Fire podcast, like there's nothing that it was specific to nurses that nobody else could do.
[00:56:49.440 --> 00:56:51.680] But I just thought I needed a niche.
[00:56:51.680 --> 00:56:52.160] Yeah.
[00:56:52.480 --> 00:56:54.480] Sometimes you could overly niche too.
[00:56:54.480 --> 00:56:58.720] Sometimes you can overly niche because it's like, then you always have to find nurses.
[00:56:58.720 --> 00:57:01.440] Then it always has to be around a nurse's story.
[00:57:01.440 --> 00:57:02.960] So I understand the challenge with that.
[00:57:03.280 --> 00:57:04.080] Yes.
[00:57:04.080 --> 00:57:04.640] Yes.
[00:57:04.640 --> 00:57:12.480] But you know, but I just love podcasting because like, like, I really feel like people just need to hear different voices.
[00:57:12.480 --> 00:57:21.200] And there is such a void of voices like ours out there that talk about this information in a digestible way.
[00:57:21.200 --> 00:57:23.920] Plus, there are so many barriers in personal finance.
[00:57:23.920 --> 00:57:39.280] There's so much gatekeeping intentionally and unintentionally in a finance space for really simple concepts and access to things that ways to access things that we didn't even know was possible for us, but it's right in front of us, but we just didn't know was there.
[00:57:39.280 --> 00:57:48.240] And so to hear from somebody who has came from the struggle, who has gone through all those things and who can keep it real with you 100%, I feel what's needed.
[00:57:48.240 --> 00:57:48.720] Yeah.
[00:57:48.720 --> 00:57:49.840] Oh, absolutely.
[00:57:49.840 --> 00:58:06.280] And as it relates to gatekeeping, if I was to even just oversimplify it, you know, take away some of the problematic aspects of it, you know, it comes down to people share with the people they know, and you're more likely to know people who look like you and hang out and you know, have friends.
[00:58:06.600 --> 00:58:13.400] So it's being, um, this information is being circulated in circles that might not look like you because you're not friends with that crew.
[00:58:13.400 --> 00:58:22.600] So you have to find your crew and make sure that if you are that person that has that information that you're realizing that the rest of your crew doesn't have, you need to start sharing that.
[00:58:22.600 --> 00:58:25.480] Like you, you are missing out on a gift.
[00:58:25.480 --> 00:58:30.120] You're missing out on sharing something that you're meant to share because there's a reason why you know it.
[00:58:30.120 --> 00:58:32.360] There's a reason why it comes so easily to you.
[00:58:32.360 --> 00:58:35.720] So I'm just thankful that you have this information.
[00:58:35.720 --> 00:58:39.320] And like before this interview started, I was saying like, can I hit you up?
[00:58:39.320 --> 00:58:44.440] Because like I truly, I need some more support and I need guidance from someone who has done it.
[00:58:44.440 --> 00:58:46.680] And it's just, it's too much.
[00:58:46.680 --> 00:58:48.840] Sometimes people are like, oh, I can just Google that.
[00:58:48.840 --> 00:58:52.360] I don't know about you, but there's a lot of stuff on Google.
[00:58:52.520 --> 00:58:54.040] I don't want to Google anymore.
[00:58:54.040 --> 00:58:55.800] Like, this is why I pay for courses.
[00:58:55.800 --> 00:58:59.240] I want to go to someone and I want to f

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Prompt 5: Context Setup

You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript. 
I will provide you with part 2 of 2 from a podcast transcript. 
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.

Transcript section:
s came from the struggle, who has gone through all those things and who can keep it real with you 100%, I feel what's needed.
[00:57:48.240 --> 00:57:48.720] Yeah.
[00:57:48.720 --> 00:57:49.840] Oh, absolutely.
[00:57:49.840 --> 00:58:06.280] And as it relates to gatekeeping, if I was to even just oversimplify it, you know, take away some of the problematic aspects of it, you know, it comes down to people share with the people they know, and you're more likely to know people who look like you and hang out and you know, have friends.
[00:58:06.600 --> 00:58:13.400] So it's being, um, this information is being circulated in circles that might not look like you because you're not friends with that crew.
[00:58:13.400 --> 00:58:22.600] So you have to find your crew and make sure that if you are that person that has that information that you're realizing that the rest of your crew doesn't have, you need to start sharing that.
[00:58:22.600 --> 00:58:25.480] Like you, you are missing out on a gift.
[00:58:25.480 --> 00:58:30.120] You're missing out on sharing something that you're meant to share because there's a reason why you know it.
[00:58:30.120 --> 00:58:32.360] There's a reason why it comes so easily to you.
[00:58:32.360 --> 00:58:35.720] So I'm just thankful that you have this information.
[00:58:35.720 --> 00:58:39.320] And like before this interview started, I was saying like, can I hit you up?
[00:58:39.320 --> 00:58:44.440] Because like I truly, I need some more support and I need guidance from someone who has done it.
[00:58:44.440 --> 00:58:46.680] And it's just, it's too much.
[00:58:46.680 --> 00:58:48.840] Sometimes people are like, oh, I can just Google that.
[00:58:48.840 --> 00:58:52.360] I don't know about you, but there's a lot of stuff on Google.
[00:58:52.520 --> 00:58:54.040] I don't want to Google anymore.
[00:58:54.040 --> 00:58:55.800] Like, this is why I pay for courses.
[00:58:55.800 --> 00:58:59.240] I want to go to someone and I want to follow your roadmap.
[00:58:59.240 --> 00:59:01.160] I want to just tell me the steps.
[00:59:01.160 --> 00:59:01.560] All right.
[00:59:01.880 --> 00:59:04.520] I'm at a just tell me the steps phase of life.
[00:59:04.520 --> 00:59:04.920] All right.
[00:59:04.920 --> 00:59:06.840] I will follow 100%.
[00:59:06.840 --> 00:59:14.200] But the thing is, and there's the unfortunate thing about this industry is that there's also a lot of room for people to take advantage of you.
[00:59:14.200 --> 00:59:14.680] Yes.
[00:59:14.680 --> 00:59:17.720] And so a lot of people are really leery.
[00:59:17.720 --> 00:59:19.800] And I ain't got no reason to take advantage of you.
[00:59:19.800 --> 00:59:21.480] I'm not a scammer.
[00:59:22.120 --> 00:59:22.440] Right.
[00:59:22.440 --> 00:59:25.240] I mean, you obviously, you have to, what's it called?
[00:59:25.320 --> 00:59:27.800] You have to do your due diligence and research.
[00:59:27.800 --> 00:59:29.800] You can't just throw money at anybody.
[00:59:29.800 --> 00:59:31.320] But once you've done that, yeah.
[00:59:31.640 --> 00:59:32.040] Yeah.
[00:59:32.040 --> 00:59:36.280] You have to be able to trust that people are really have your best interests at heart.
[00:59:36.280 --> 00:59:39.880] And a lot of people, you know, unfortunately can't get past that step.
[00:59:39.880 --> 00:59:49.280] But, you know, unfortunately, you know, for our communities, we have been historically taken advantage of financially, and so there's a lot, a lot of mistrust.
[00:59:44.840 --> 00:59:51.760] So, I get it, and I'm here.
[00:59:52.000 --> 01:00:05.520] And so, a lot of the things that I teach and talk about, I give a lot of free game because I don't want you to think that these are things that you have to pay for, but it is something that you have to be intentional about and actually take action on.
[01:00:06.560 --> 01:00:16.080] As long as you do what you got to do, I don't care if you pay me, I just want you to get the stuff in place for yourself because it's that important for you, right?
[01:00:16.400 --> 01:00:28.560] And that's another hint at why producing content is so helpful because the free game that you share is actually helping people to see that you're qualified and trust you.
[01:00:28.560 --> 01:00:39.200] And they, so it may not come right away, but you know, after a year or two or listening to you, it's worth the wait to have that customer, that client that just is really rides for you.
[01:00:39.200 --> 01:00:44.000] Like, no, Nikayla knows her stuff, Nassima knows her stuff, and that's that.
[01:00:47.200 --> 01:00:48.080] Thank you so much.
[01:00:48.080 --> 01:00:49.680] We're gonna jump into the lightning round.
[01:00:49.680 --> 01:00:55.360] I could go on and on, but clearly, like I said, we need a side conversation with you.
[01:00:55.680 --> 01:00:58.000] Um, so we're gonna jump into a quick lightning round.
[01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:00.400] You know, the deal, just answer the first thing that comes to mind.
[01:01:00.400 --> 01:01:01.200] Are you ready?
[01:01:01.200 --> 01:01:02.160] I'm ready.
[01:01:02.160 --> 01:01:02.800] All right.
[01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:11.040] So, number one: What is a top resource that has helped you in your business that you can share with the Side Hustle Pro audience?
[01:01:11.040 --> 01:01:12.320] Side Hustle Pro.
[01:01:12.320 --> 01:01:13.760] I always turn to Nika.
[01:01:13.760 --> 01:01:16.480] If I need something for her, I got my website started.
[01:01:16.560 --> 01:01:18.480] I got my podcast started.
[01:01:18.480 --> 01:01:20.880] I got my business started from Nikayla.
[01:01:20.880 --> 01:01:21.920] You got it.
[01:01:21.920 --> 01:01:22.800] Yes.
[01:01:22.800 --> 01:01:23.680] Yes.
[01:01:24.040 --> 01:01:31.240] Um, number two: Who is a non-celebrity black woman entrepreneur who you'd want to switch places with for a day and why?
[01:01:31.800 --> 01:01:33.800] You know, I love me some, my leak.
[01:01:33.800 --> 01:01:39.560] Like, she's crazy, relatable content.
[01:01:39.880 --> 01:01:41.560] Yeah, I just love her.
[01:01:41.560 --> 01:01:44.600] I love how she keeps her real, but very smart.
[01:01:44.840 --> 01:01:48.200] She's very, she's very intentionally knowledgeable.
[01:01:48.200 --> 01:01:53.560] Whatever she doesn't know, she like drills in down into it and like gets to know it.
[01:01:53.560 --> 01:01:55.400] She's always chock full of resources.
[01:01:55.400 --> 01:01:59.560] I can't tell you the amount of things that I bought because my leak suggested it.
[01:01:59.560 --> 01:02:01.880] Um, but I love I Love Me Some, My Lique.
[01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:13.720] We're birthday twins, she's a couple of years older than me, but you know, I just feel like she's like one of the few people that black women own just like I love me some relatable content.
[01:02:13.720 --> 01:02:14.760] You know, I feel the same.
[01:02:14.760 --> 01:02:20.040] Number three, um, what's a non-negotiable part of your day these days?
[01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:24.280] Um, if I'm not, don't feel like doing it, I'm not gonna do it.
[01:02:26.840 --> 01:02:29.880] It's a no, it's a solid no, it's a solid no.
[01:02:29.880 --> 01:02:38.040] I love that number four: what's a personal habit about you that you think has significantly helped you in business?
[01:02:38.040 --> 01:02:48.280] I think consistency, um, just being able to just, even if it's just a little bit, um, a little bit is still doing something.
[01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:54.600] So, I'm gonna consistently be doing something and I'm gonna be consistently like working on myself.
[01:02:54.600 --> 01:02:57.960] And so, yes, consistency is where it's at.
[01:02:58.200 --> 01:03:11.960] And finally, number five: what is your parting advice for fellow black women entrepreneurs who want to be their own boss or be a steady side hustler but are worried about losing or compromising a steady paycheck?
[01:03:11.960 --> 01:04:48.920] I think it's about taking action and it's the consistency part again small daily actions are bigger than what you think they add up to like we we overestimate what we can do in a day but we underestimate what we can do in a year by taking small intentional actions so just take those actions dot stop with the analysis paralysis and just do one thing today right now yes just one thing you're so right i'm all i'm so big on the one thing man i'm so big on the one thing because whenever i get overwhelmed i have to bring it back to that i have to say all right what's the one thing i want to accomplish today and and that's it so i'm thinking about doing a one thing a day challenge or something along the lines of that you guys let me know if you're interested in that but with that listen thank you so much for being in the guest chair nassima where can people connect with you and financially intentional after this episode so i'm at most places financially intentional i'm mostly on instagram just hit me a dm me i'm very responsive there um but yeah financially intentional um you can find check out all my resources there financiallyintentional.com and the financially intentional podcast listen out guys it's great all right you guys and there you have it i'll talk to you next week thank you again nissima and you guys will chat next week hey guys thanks for listening to side hustle pro if you like the show be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple podcasts.
[01:04:48.920 --> 01:04:52.680] It helps other side hustlers just like you to find the show.
[01:04:52.680 --> 01:04:57.320] And if you want to hear more from me, you can follow me on Instagram at side hustle Pro.
[01:04:57.320 --> 01:05:04.440] Plus, sign up for my six-foot saturday newsletter at sidehustlepro.co/slash newsletter.
[01:05:04.440 --> 01:05:11.800] When you sign up, you will receive weekly nuggets from me, including what I'm up to, personal lessons, and my business tip of the week.
[01:05:11.800 --> 01:05:16.520] Again, that's sidehustlepro.co/slash newsletter to sign up.
[01:05:16.520 --> 01:05:18.120] Talk to you soon.
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Prompt 6: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 7: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 8: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:05.200] Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void?
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[00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:12.960] And then what gets me and what gets most people is like those little things that you spend hella money on that you don't need to spend money on, like when you go to Target or you go grocery shopping, or you go.
[00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.080] Listen, I knew you were like, I gotta come for me like this.
[00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:18.720] I knew you were gonna start talking about this.
[00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:30.320] You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your side hustle from passion project to profitable business.
[00:01:30.320 --> 00:01:33.200] And I'm your host, Nikayla Matthews-Okome.
[00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.120] So let's get started.
[00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:40.240] Hey, hey, friends, welcome, welcome back to today's episode.
[00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:44.880] It's Nikayla here, back with another episode with an awesome guest.
[00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:49.120] Today, I'm delighted to bring in someone who I actually knows in real life.
[00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:56.640] That's not always the case, but I had the pleasure of knowing Naseema now for over four years, and she is just awesome.
[00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:02.280] And today's episode took so many different turns because there's so much that we could talk about, right?
[00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:09.080] She's a podcaster, she's actually a podcast mogul's alum, she's also a nurse, and she's a full-time side hustler.
[00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:14.440] She continues to be both a nurse and she's built her own platform, which we'll hear about in the episode.
[00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:19.560] So, let me go ahead and read her official bio so you can learn more about her before we jump into the episode.
[00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:28.200] So, Nassima is a published author and the founder of Financially Intentional, a platform about personal finance and living life intentionally.
[00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:38.920] Nassima discusses how taking control of her finances has enabled her to overcome bankruptcy, divorce, and break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
[00:02:38.920 --> 00:02:45.880] She shares her lessons along her path to help others benefit from the freedoms of financial independence.
[00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:53.720] Outside of encouraging people to get their financial act together, Nassima is a mother, labor, and delivery nurse, and so much more.
[00:02:53.720 --> 00:02:59.880] Though making six figures for years, she actually struggled with money, and I'm sure so many of us can relate to that, right?
[00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:05.080] Finally, she realized that she couldn't out-earn her financial ignorance.
[00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.720] She knew she had to make changes.
[00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:22.200] And by shifting her mindset around money, being consistent and intentional, she has paid off nearly 1 million in debt and grew a six-figure net worth in three years without living in deprivation.
[00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:38.360] So, I thought this episode would be really helpful for those of us who are trying to balance so much and want to make sure that we are setting a good financial foundation for ourselves in the midst of working, in the midst of side hustling, and so much more.
[00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:44.440] So, pull out your notebooks, pull out your iPhone notes, whatever it is, and let's jump right into this episode.
[00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:48.320] All right, all right.
[00:03:48.320 --> 00:03:50.800] Well, welcome, welcome to the guest chair, Nassima.
[00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.520] I'm so happy to have you here at last.
[00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.080] Oh my God, I'm so excited to be here, Nikayla.
[00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:57.600] Like, for real, for real.
[00:03:57.600 --> 00:03:58.960] You know, I'm excited.
[00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.240] And we were talking about this before in the pre-show.
[00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.040] I really thought Nassima was in the guest chair, you guys.
[00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:08.560] I really was just tripping, like, wait, where's her episode?
[00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.600] Why can't I find the Nassima episode?
[00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:24.480] So, this is long overdue because you are someone who I admire, I follow, I consume your content, I learn from, and I want everyone in the side hustle pro land to know about you if they don't already.
[00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:31.360] So, for I've already read your bio, but in your own words, how would you describe what you currently do?
[00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:32.400] You know what?
[00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:41.840] Like, right now, I'm gonna honestly say I'm just a black woman out here, a mama out here trying to survive and make it.
[00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:44.160] Like, I'm just day to day with this.
[00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.920] Like, I'm gonna keep it 100 because that's the only way I know how to be.
[00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:52.320] If you ever like know, if you know me in real life, you know, I'm just real.
[00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:54.400] I'm from West Oakland.
[00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:16.400] I've lived a life, and right now I'm just in a season of, you know, going entering into being a third-time girl mom and exactly like just really leaning into what I need to do in the moment.
[00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:32.280] And in the moment, right now, it's all about preparing for baby number three, but being blessed in the fact that I have set some things in place for the last couple of years that has put me in a position where I can just do what I want to do when I want to do it.
[00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:34.200] Absolutely, I love that.
[00:05:34.200 --> 00:05:34.760] I love that.
[00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:36.360] That's what we strive for here.
[00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:40.120] So, tell us now: when did you get into nursing?
[00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.600] Why did that become your initial career path?
[00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:44.360] Actually, it was my second career.
[00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.360] So, um, and it's heck of funny when I tell you this story, Nikayla.
[00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:49.320] You're gonna crack up.
[00:05:49.320 --> 00:05:52.360] So, um, I always wanted to be in healthcare.
[00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.360] I grew up with a single dad, which is very rare, right?
[00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:08.360] But we were always on this cusp of like having too much money to like qualify for like welfare programs or anything, but like not having enough to like get by, really.
[00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:11.240] So, we were always like in struggle mode.
[00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:16.760] And when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, I had asthma really, really bad.
[00:06:16.760 --> 00:06:22.120] My dad didn't believe in Western medicine, so he would wait until the very last minute.
[00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:37.960] So, I grew up going to Chinatown and doing herbal stuff, but he would wait until the last minute until my asthma exacerbations were really, really bad to take me to a community clinic where then we would have to wait for hours and hours and hours and hours to get medication.
[00:06:37.960 --> 00:06:41.240] Which, if you can't breathe, I have asthma too.
[00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:44.760] So, I'm already just like, I know exactly how you feel.
[00:06:44.760 --> 00:06:46.040] I know exactly how that feels.
[00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:47.560] Exactly.
[00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:51.880] And so, like, I just saw how broken the system was.
[00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:54.040] And I wanted to be a part of that.
[00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:58.280] And as a kid, you don't know all the ranges of options of healthcare.
[00:06:58.280 --> 00:07:03.720] And so, I wanted to be a pediatrician because I was like, okay, a kid's doctor can fix this.
[00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:04.520] Right.
[00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:07.800] And so, I went into USD.
[00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:11.640] I went to the University of Southern California and I started taking my pre-med classes.
[00:07:11.640 --> 00:07:14.680] And then I actually learned what doctors did.
[00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:24.320] And no shade to doctors, but I really wanted to affect the whole healthcare system and how, you know, and enable more access to people who had limited access.
[00:07:24.320 --> 00:07:26.720] And so I was like, that's not really what doctors do.
[00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.280] And I'm really not feeling this organic chemistry.
[00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:34.800] So let me look through the course catalog and see what I could do.
[00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:45.760] And I ended up landing in the healthcare administration, got a master's in healthcare administration, and then, you know, saw the bureaucracy behind the healthcare system and learned all these things.
[00:07:45.760 --> 00:07:47.680] And I wasn't really affecting change.
[00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:56.720] But what happened was I was working with nurses that had so much autonomy and they were really there with the patients.
[00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.640] And I was like, that's what I want to do.
[00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:00.240] And they have so much autonomy.
[00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:01.680] I was like, you know what?
[00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:02.720] I'm single.
[00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:07.120] I'm about to get my nursing degree, move to Dubai, be a princess.
[00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:10.640] Listen, I had this all planned out.
[00:08:10.640 --> 00:08:11.600] Okay, listen.
[00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:18.080] I'm like, I'm about to be like a princess's fourth wife because I feel like the first and second wives have a lot of obligations.
[00:08:18.080 --> 00:08:22.400] The fourth wife, you might have to have like one baby, but you don't really got to do nothing.
[00:08:22.400 --> 00:08:24.320] I can have a driver, a chauffeur, and stuff.
[00:08:24.320 --> 00:08:27.120] And I can still be a nurse and have all this autonomy.
[00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:31.040] Girl, I have all this.
[00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.600] Girl, I had a baby.
[00:08:36.560 --> 00:08:44.080] I ended up working as a nurse in the San Francisco Bay Area where we make more money than most nurses in the world.
[00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:50.000] And so, like, for me to travel to even internationally, it didn't make financial sense.
[00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.000] Then had a baby and kind of settled down and got into this life.
[00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:55.600] And so stayed here.
[00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:56.880] You know, this is my home.
[00:08:56.880 --> 00:08:58.080] My family is here.
[00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.400] Kind of got comfortable, but love nursing.
[00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:01.720] Yep.
[00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:05.800] And so, yeah, so my second career really, really loved it.
[00:09:05.880 --> 00:09:08.520] And I wish I was, I started as a nurse.
[00:09:08.520 --> 00:09:10.600] Like, I told anybody, be a nurse.
[00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:12.280] Yeah, be a nurse.
[00:09:12.280 --> 00:09:18.680] Listen, you need to talk to my mom because she, um, so I'm one of three daughters and it's one son.
[00:09:18.680 --> 00:09:19.720] Fun fact.
[00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:25.320] And she is a nurse and she just tried her hardest to make one of us a nurse.
[00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:27.080] And it just didn't work out.
[00:09:27.800 --> 00:09:29.320] She was like, it's good money.
[00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.320] She was like, it's guaranteed work.
[00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:36.360] Listen, all of y'all who are considering a second career or first career, look into nursing.
[00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:37.240] Yes.
[00:09:37.880 --> 00:09:43.080] Now, you talk a lot about your journey of paying off $1 million in debt.
[00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:49.080] And every time I listen to this and see that headline, I'm like, please break this down for me.
[00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:52.280] Like, how did that amount of debt come to be?
[00:09:52.600 --> 00:10:05.240] You know what's crazy, Nikayla, is that as I was going on this journey of paying off debt, I didn't add up in the back end like how much total I had paid off until I was applying to go to Mile's retreat.
[00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.240] And fun fact, that's where we met for the first time at the My Taught You Retreat.
[00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:11.240] I can't believe it's been four years.
[00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:12.520] Oh, it's been a long time.
[00:10:12.520 --> 00:10:15.400] But this is where the first retreat, because I went to both of them.
[00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:20.600] So I was sitting down and I was like, let me just talk about like my journey a little bit.
[00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:22.040] Let me add up these numbers.
[00:10:22.040 --> 00:10:25.800] And that's when I had finished paying off everything, including my house.
[00:10:25.800 --> 00:10:28.280] And I'll break down what the million dollars in debt was.
[00:10:28.280 --> 00:10:30.760] But I was like, oh, this is damn near a million dollars.
[00:10:30.760 --> 00:10:32.680] This is about to be a hitter headline.
[00:10:32.680 --> 00:10:38.920] You know, but when I'm when I writing this essay?
[00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:41.960] Like, hey, I'm off the looking like, I'm really doing something out here.
[00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:46.240] But how it really started was, you know, I was a single mom.
[00:10:46.800 --> 00:10:54.640] Um, I knew I was going to be a single mom, but a year, like when my daughter was turning a year old, I had been making really good money as a nurse.
[00:10:54.640 --> 00:11:02.640] I had two jobs, I had like a part-time benefited job, and then a full-time, I'm not, and like, and then like a per diem kind of job.
[00:11:02.640 --> 00:11:06.160] And so, I was making like over $200,000 a year.
[00:11:06.160 --> 00:11:12.160] And I've always been that person, Michaela, that everybody thought made it because I always know how to make money.
[00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:21.760] So, I was Instagram popping, you know, I had the brand new house, I have a luxury car, you know, I'm out here doing it, but I know like I'm broke.
[00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:27.360] Like, I had to put 36 windows in my house, and I had to ask my sister for some money.
[00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.320] And I was like, What?
[00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.000] Not 36 windows, but blinds on the windows.
[00:11:32.640 --> 00:11:34.960] Yeah, and I was just like, this don't make no sense.
[00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.760] Like, I make too much money to be broke.
[00:11:37.760 --> 00:11:47.120] But then, I always thought, like, in order to understand finances, you really need to like study finances, like PhD-level study.
[00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:57.840] And because I thought, you know, learning about money was like learning how to trade and like being on the stock market floor, like trading places, you understand all of that.
[00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:58.480] Right, right, right.
[00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:04.080] It really wasn't about that, it's really about being intentional about what's coming in and going out.
[00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.520] But who taught me that?
[00:12:05.520 --> 00:12:06.880] Nobody taught me that.
[00:12:06.880 --> 00:12:10.400] Everybody was always like, you know, do what you need to do by any means necessary.
[00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:13.440] Go to the best school, get that job, whatever.
[00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:18.720] And so, for everybody, it seemed like I had it together, but I knew in my heart I didn't.
[00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:24.080] And so, I was like, hey, Miss Emma, like, for the first time in your life, you're not in school.
[00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.160] So, sit down and actually start learning about finances.
[00:12:28.160 --> 00:12:38.920] And the way that I learned about finances was like, I changed my social media to only follow accounts, like debt-free accounts and things that would inspire me.
[00:12:38.920 --> 00:12:42.360] I listened to personal finance podcasts.
[00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:44.920] I read a ton of personal finance books.
[00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:54.600] But not only did I do that, I took action every day to make sure I was doing something small to change the way I looked at money.
[00:12:54.600 --> 00:13:02.600] And the biggest things that I learned how to do was to learn how to actually budget in advance, like tell my money where to go in advance.
[00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.160] Because before, like, I couldn't tell you what I spent my money on.
[00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.800] Like, I don't know how I was so broke.
[00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.080] You know, so I learned how to tell my money what to do in advance.
[00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:14.760] And then I created the system to strategically pay off my debt.
[00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:18.200] Because, you know, what most of us do is we pay all our bills.
[00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:25.160] And then sometimes if we have something left over at the end of the month, we'll put a little bit of something towards that thing.
[00:13:25.160 --> 00:13:26.280] And usually it's sporadic.
[00:13:26.280 --> 00:13:28.280] It's like whatever the thing that catches up.
[00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.400] And that never works out because like you'll always find something.
[00:13:31.400 --> 00:13:34.120] Your money will always find something to do with itself.
[00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:39.880] So if you're counting on the leftover for your savings, it's just not a good plan.
[00:13:39.880 --> 00:13:40.520] Exactly.
[00:13:40.520 --> 00:13:48.840] So I went from, you know, basically having no savings to being able to pay off like $4,000 to $9,000 a month in debt.
[00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:49.480] Wow.
[00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:50.840] Just because I had a plan.
[00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:54.040] Before you tell us that, what did the debt consist of?
[00:13:54.040 --> 00:13:57.400] So the debt consisted of just your normal things.
[00:13:57.400 --> 00:14:02.600] So it was a loan to put a down payment on a house.
[00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:06.360] So I borrowed against my 403b to put a down payment on my house.
[00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:10.600] It was a car because I lived in the suburbs now and I was driving an hour.
[00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:13.960] So I needed a commuter car on top of my regular car.
[00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:16.480] And then it was just like little small things.
[00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:20.400] And in this process, I'll tell you, I got married and got a divorce.
[00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:25.200] So it was his debts too, because I focused on a debt snowball system.
[00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.320] So it was the smallest debts to the largest debts, and most of it.
[00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:32.080] And then I had $187,000 with student loans.
[00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.040] Because when I decided to become a nurse, leave healthcare administration to be a nurse, I went back to school.
[00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:38.640] And that was the majority of my loans.
[00:14:38.640 --> 00:14:42.160] Because for six years for undergrad and grad, I had like $40,000.
[00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.000] But the way that I went to nursing school, I had a lot of debt.
[00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.040] So it was almost $200,000 in student loan debts.
[00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:51.520] So I put that all in a debt snowball.
[00:14:51.520 --> 00:14:55.840] He had little debts, collections, cars, those things.
[00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:02.080] And then I had like my little debts plus my student loans, which made up the majority of the debt.
[00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.040] And so just working through debt by debt.
[00:15:05.040 --> 00:15:09.520] And the way that the debt snowball works is you focus intentionally on one debt.
[00:15:09.520 --> 00:15:17.760] And if you're really honed in onto one goal and then you meet that goal, it really gives you momentum to go on to the next thing.
[00:15:17.760 --> 00:15:21.280] And the debt snowball really works because it works on emotions.
[00:15:21.280 --> 00:15:25.200] So the whole premise is we don't math our way into debt.
[00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.520] We get into debt based on emotions.
[00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:30.000] And that's the way that we have to get out of debt.
[00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:37.200] And so I would knock out, like focus, throw every single dollar towards one debt while paying the minimum balances on everything else.
[00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:45.440] Once that debt was knocked out, then you go to the next debt and you have now that minimum payment that you used to pay on that to put towards this debt.
[00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.360] So you pay it off faster and faster and faster, and it all snowballs.
[00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.120] Well, like I said, I got married, went through a divorce.
[00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:58.720] And like by the end of like me paying off debt, two things-really big things-happened.
[00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:05.480] Of course, I went through a divorce, and because of the way that I had to file, I ended up owning the IRS $30,000.
[00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:20.920] And because I was a breadwinner in the marriage, and I live in California, which is community property state, even though the reason why I got a divorce because I had an abusive husband that was actually in jail for hidden for abusing me, I still had to pay him.
[00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:28.120] So, at the end, I had about $20,000 left of student loan debt.
[00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:36.520] I had like the IRS debt, and I had his debt that I had to pay to him, and so it was about $50,000 worth of debt.
[00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:44.360] I decided to sell my house because I relocated somewhere else, and so that was about $500,000 left of the debt.
[00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:50.760] And so, all of that added up to $978,000 something, nearly a million dollars in debt.
[00:16:50.760 --> 00:16:52.200] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:58.360] And I mean, yeah, like quickly, if you, you know, sometimes we hype up what a million is, right?
[00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:00.920] A million is an equation, you know.
[00:17:01.560 --> 00:17:11.400] And if you have one loan for 200,000, you have a house loan, you know, mortgage for this amount, like multiple six-figure debts, and boom, there you got it.
[00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:12.120] There you go.
[00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:19.960] So, it's not as crazy as it sounds, but that's why I wanted to break it down because sometimes I could say, like, oh, that will never happen to me.
[00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:22.920] So, how did you get the extra to pay that off?
[00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:26.520] Was that through side hustling or just cutting back?
[00:17:26.520 --> 00:17:38.760] It was really about being intentional, and that's why my platform is called financially intentional because actually, through this process, like I said, it was stuff going down in my life, obviously, you know, like, so.
[00:17:38.760 --> 00:17:49.520] I was working my two jobs, but I still had to navigate between getting married, having a husband, then not having a husband, so not having the support there, and a whole bunch of things.
[00:17:44.760 --> 00:17:51.360] So, I actually did not work more.
[00:17:51.520 --> 00:17:53.280] I did not have a side hustle.
[00:17:53.280 --> 00:18:02.640] I literally just had, yeah, at that time, I literally just had to hone in on my goals and just zero-based budgeting.
[00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:07.200] I'm telling you, just zero-based budgeting and intentionally setting a plan towards my debt.
[00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.360] So, when I created my budget, my debt goal was always at the top.
[00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:13.520] That was the thing that I always wanted to hit first.
[00:18:13.520 --> 00:18:15.920] And I adjusted my budget around that.
[00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:21.600] And that made all the difference for me to be able to pay off my debt really fast.
[00:18:21.600 --> 00:18:23.120] It wasn't any extra income.
[00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:29.600] So, a lot of times, what you need to do is increase the gap between your spending and your earnings.
[00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:36.480] The gap, all I did was widen that gap by being intentional on how I spent my money.
[00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.680] And so, no, I did not earn more at that point.
[00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:48.160] And I did not actually start documenting this journey and start on my side hustle until my journey was almost over.
[00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:48.720] Okay.
[00:18:48.720 --> 00:19:01.600] I think this is so inspiring too, because you, you know, the you guys listening, you may not have a million in debt, but there may be student loan debt or even any amount of debt that's holding you back from doing certain things.
[00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:10.400] You might think, once I pay this off, then I'll invest in my side hustle, or once I do this, then I'll take this trip that I've always wanted to.
[00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:20.720] And I think your story shows that, yes, you can focus on this, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, and you'll be able to start working on these dreams.
[00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.120] I'm not thankfully in any debt.
[00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:29.560] I paid off my student loans a few years ago.
[00:19:29.560 --> 00:19:31.880] Me and my husband both paid off our student loans.
[00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:38.760] And now I'm just trying to optimize what I do with my money, what I tell my money to do.
[00:19:39.080 --> 00:19:42.440] And I know many of us might be in that situation.
[00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:48.280] So when you did start financially intentional, how did you go about it?
[00:19:48.280 --> 00:19:53.720] And what was your goal then once you created an official side hustle?
[00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:56.680] So this side hustle was very unintentional.
[00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:08.600] So what happened was once I was going on this journey of like really understanding finances for the first time in my life, like I said, everybody thought I had it figured out, but I hadn't.
[00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:09.880] I was having like a summer party.
[00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:10.920] So I have a group of friends.
[00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:15.800] We've been friends from like 12 years old, middle school, all of that stuff.
[00:20:15.800 --> 00:20:17.800] So we were just kicking out of my house.
[00:20:17.800 --> 00:20:19.160] We were having a summer party.
[00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:20.120] We have girls.
[00:20:20.120 --> 00:20:21.000] All of us have girls.
[00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.640] There's like a couple of boys sprinkled in there.
[00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:28.760] And I was like, dude, you guys really need to know this information.
[00:20:28.760 --> 00:20:36.040] And so I was like, if I put this like in a public forum, like Instagram just starting really, I was like, will you guys like listen to it?
[00:20:36.040 --> 00:20:37.080] Cause I hate repeating myself.
[00:20:37.080 --> 00:20:41.160] I'm going to just put everything that I'm doing out there and then you guys follow it.
[00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:49.080] So it was just supposed to be like this form that I used to show exactly what I was learning and share it with my friends.
[00:20:49.080 --> 00:20:51.480] And then it just started getting traction.
[00:20:51.480 --> 00:21:02.360] And then, you know, so financially intentional was kind of born as a brand from like people just asking me like, can you help me on this journey very reluctantly?
[00:21:02.360 --> 00:21:08.600] And first, it was just me, like you know, sharing my story on, you know, different media outlets.
[00:21:08.600 --> 00:21:12.440] Like, it got picked up by, you know, different podcasts and different things.
[00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.440] And I was asked to speak at different places.
[00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:20.960] So, then, um, like, so I got receipts all the way back to like 2016 when I first started.
[00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:26.560] And it was just really about sharing and tracking my journey and then having like some accountability around it.
[00:21:26.560 --> 00:21:27.040] Yeah.
[00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:35.600] And then, um, in about 2018, around when I was having my second daughter, I was like, maybe I should monetize this a little bit.
[00:21:35.600 --> 00:21:38.880] And, you know, I'll always listen to your podcast.
[00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:39.520] Oh, thank you.
[00:21:39.520 --> 00:21:40.240] Thank you.
[00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.080] How many years in were you at this point?
[00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:43.680] That was two years in then, right?
[00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:52.000] So that's after I had paid off all my debt and I was more like not part of like debt free, but like discovering financial independence.
[00:21:52.400 --> 00:22:00.080] And so I was transitioning and I was like, okay, so I mean, I have all this debt stuff, budgeting and stuff down.
[00:22:00.080 --> 00:22:09.760] Now I'm going into this world and where I want to start investing and growing my wealth, but I want to share along the way because now I have tackled all these things successfully.
[00:22:09.760 --> 00:22:15.600] So listening to your show, I was like, okay, well, how can I turn this into a business?
[00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:19.760] And then, you know, I reached, I started like taking courses.
[00:22:19.760 --> 00:22:22.960] Like, I started with Danielle Leslie's course from you.
[00:22:23.280 --> 00:22:24.320] And you know what?
[00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:25.200] It's crazy.
[00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.480] She literally lived across the street from me.
[00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:31.840] Did you just rub it to each other?
[00:22:32.320 --> 00:22:35.440] I never ran into her in real life.
[00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.280] She literally lived across the street from me.
[00:22:37.280 --> 00:22:38.800] I'm like, you know, I'm taking your course.
[00:22:38.800 --> 00:22:43.360] But I'm like, literally, like, right across the street, like our windows get like, look at each other.
[00:22:43.360 --> 00:23:00.000] It was like, but anyway, I was like, I started taking courses and started formalizing a business, had a baby, started a podcast, like did all these things and like kind of grew, but knew that, you know, my passion is still in nursing because the entrepreneur side, let me tell you something.
[00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:01.800] This is hard, okay?
[00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:08.120] I can go to work, deliver a baby, have an emergency, get out of bed, back to the OR, do all that kind of stuff.
[00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:10.520] And that check is coming regular.
[00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:17.640] And it's a nice check because if I stay over five minutes, I'm getting paid probably what more than most people get paid in either.
[00:23:17.800 --> 00:23:20.600] You know, like it's a good check.
[00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:22.760] I make a good amount of money as a nurse.
[00:23:22.760 --> 00:23:32.120] So it's really, really hard to want to go into like full-time entrepreneurship, even though I know I could.
[00:23:32.120 --> 00:23:36.360] It's just like, I'm still very passionate about nursing.
[00:23:36.360 --> 00:23:47.320] And so like when people are like on this full-on grind and a lot of nurses are on this thing right now because a lot of burnout and all this kind of stuff right now that's going into nursing, I'm like, hold on, pump your brakes.
[00:23:47.320 --> 00:23:51.560] Like nursing is still really lucrative.
[00:23:51.800 --> 00:23:53.720] There are so many things you can do.
[00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:55.160] You don't have to be at the nurse.
[00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:57.720] I would definitely still be side hustling.
[00:23:57.720 --> 00:23:59.640] I don't think I would leave that nurse.
[00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:01.960] I don't think I would leave that nursing check.
[00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:05.800] But you raise such an important point about side hustling.
[00:24:05.800 --> 00:24:08.040] Like you have options.
[00:24:08.040 --> 00:24:10.760] You have options when you side hustle.
[00:24:10.760 --> 00:24:20.840] Like all this money that you do make can go completely to your investments if you want and completely to all your side projects, building out the business, testing, exploring.
[00:24:20.840 --> 00:24:22.120] I mean, is that how you look at it?
[00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:24.600] Like now that I look at it like that totally.
[00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:31.160] And the thing is, and to keep it real, Nikayla, like a lot of my money that I'm making my business goes back into my business.
[00:24:31.120 --> 00:24:37.320] And I can, and I can make a lot of money, but the thing is, yeah, to run a successful business, there's a lot that has to go into training.
[00:24:37.320 --> 00:24:38.520] I'm not an entrepreneur.
[00:24:38.520 --> 00:24:44.480] So I invest a lot into making sure my systems are good, making sure I understand how to run a business.
[00:24:44.120 --> 00:24:48.960] So, let me tell you something: if I didn't have a side hustle, I'd probably be able to retire.
[00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:56.720] But, but what I have done, I know, has made is making such a great impact.
[00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:58.560] I continue to do it.
[00:24:58.560 --> 00:25:05.920] And so, you know, just the real side to side hustling sometimes is that it's not as like golden as most people think.
[00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:13.760] Like, the entrepreneurial world is really, really hard, but I'm able to learn and grow and explore in ways.
[00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:23.200] And I've been open to so many opportunities just because I opened up this like area that I did not even know existed.
[00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:39.440] And so, I love the fact that I'm a side hustler, you know, because I'm telling you, like the world of opportunity that has been opened to me just because I shared my story and did it imperfectly is like phenomenal.
[00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:40.560] It's amazing.
[00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:50.400] And you raise another important point that I just want to stop and highlight right here, which is sometimes your gifts are multiple.
[00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.960] Like, we are multi-passionate people.
[00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:03.360] And just because you have this talent in this area that you start as a side hustle, it doesn't mean you have to let go of something that is this God-given talent.
[00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.200] You were meant to bless women in the work that you do.
[00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:15.840] I see the work that you do on social media, and you talk about black maternal health and your lens and what you have experienced and what you're able to share.
[00:26:15.320 --> 00:26:20.120] Share sometimes, with lawsuits, you know, as a result.
[00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:24.640] So, so you know, sometimes with consequences, it's going to bless so many people.
[00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:31.800] So, I just hope that you guys are getting what I'm trying to say, which is just basically that sometimes you are meant to be in both places.
[00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:33.000] I don't know for how long.
[00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:37.080] I don't know what that looks like, but your path and your journey will show you that.
[00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:40.200] Yes, yes, most definitely.
[00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:50.600] And the thing is, is that listen, okay, this last like promotion I'm gonna give for nursing, but nursing is the ultimate side hustle.
[00:26:50.600 --> 00:26:58.840] I mean, like, the ultimate job to have if you side hustle and like cheat code because you're always gonna be in demand.
[00:26:58.840 --> 00:27:01.800] AI cannot replace you.
[00:27:02.120 --> 00:27:06.360] Um, there's so many things you can do if you're not passionate about one area.
[00:27:06.360 --> 00:27:09.080] There's so many areas you can explore.
[00:27:09.080 --> 00:27:25.160] And I just feel like you can make it work for you where you can make a good amount of money so that if you want to take three months off and then have, you know, work for three months and then do it again or travel the world or do whatever, use your job to pay you to travel the world.
[00:27:25.560 --> 00:27:26.200] You can.
[00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:42.920] There's so many opportunities if you just explore them that it's almost like one, it's one of those jobs that you don't have to retire from because it can be a passion project, but you just have to be able to be willing to explore that.
[00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:46.040] And a lot of times, some people are always looking for quick fixes.
[00:27:46.040 --> 00:28:03.400] And so they think entrepreneurship, I don't know why they think that's but yeah, like, and the thing is, is that what I have learned, the biggest lesson I've learned about financial independence is that it's not about reaching this number or reaching this ultimate goal.
[00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:18.560] It's like every debt that you pay off, every investment that she makes unlocks a level of freedom in your life to where you take control, that much more control over your life in order to make whatever you're doing to produce income work for you.
[00:28:19.520 --> 00:28:31.280] And it's just about that intentionality and saying that I am going to make a choice to reverse my relationship with money so that money is working for me.
[00:28:31.280 --> 00:28:34.960] That's like, I just saw that little hand behind you.
[00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:41.600] You guys, you have to check out this episode on YouTube because I was like, wait, there's a hand ruining out our heads.
[00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:43.600] No, we have a guest aliens.
[00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:45.440] We have a guest star.
[00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.640] My daughter is always going to be, my little sidekick is always going to be in the background.
[00:28:50.800 --> 00:28:59.200] No matter how long we have before the episode on how she's supposed to act, she does good for a little while.
[00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:00.720] How old is she now?
[00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:02.960] I remember when she was a baby.
[00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:03.600] Oh my gosh.
[00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:04.800] Wow.
[00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:06.800] Time flies.
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[00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:04.960] So, yes, this was the biggest plug show ever for nursing.
[00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:21.680] But one of the things, too, is that no matter if it's nursing or whatever, you have to make sure that you're in a job that is going to allow you to side hustle.
[00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:24.640] If you decide to go on this path, you have to be realistic.
[00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:36.480] One of my friends, we always joke because there was one time I was giving a talk at, you know, our alma mater, and I said something like, Oh, you know, of course, if you want to be a management consultant, you might not be able to side hustle.
[00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:39.360] And she was like, I'm going into management consulting.
[00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:43.760] And I was like, Well, girl, we have to be real about this.
[00:32:43.760 --> 00:32:44.320] All right.
[00:32:44.320 --> 00:32:53.120] You could do that for a few years, but then you got to move over to like a tech job or something where you can have a little more flexibility because the full-time job does matter too.
[00:32:54.240 --> 00:33:00.720] And the last thing I'll say about that is I remember when I was working at my last job before this.
[00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:01.840] Y'all know what it is.
[00:33:01.840 --> 00:33:05.360] I won't mention it because of the nature of this story.
[00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:10.320] But I remember someone, you know, sent me this role, like, oh, we think you'll be great for this.
[00:33:10.320 --> 00:33:12.880] And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, I can't take this role.
[00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:15.600] This role sounds like I'll be doing a lot more work.
[00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:18.720] And like, I'm just trying to lay low and side hustle.
[00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:31.720] So, yeah, you got to sacrifice sometimes and say, all right, I'm not going to, you know, not that you're not giving all you can at work, but you have to do a kind of job that allows you to do all you can and still have some energy for your side hustle.
[00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:38.920] So, let's talk about how you actually worked at that, though, how you actually juggled the two, because it's tough.
[00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:39.640] It's still tough.
[00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:42.520] It's still long hours when you do go into the office.
[00:33:42.520 --> 00:33:45.720] So, how were you able to do that juggle?
[00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:53.800] Well, the thing is, is that with being a nurse, like it's easy to like, once you're off, you're off, right?
[00:33:53.800 --> 00:33:56.840] And so, I don't have to bring that work home with me.
[00:33:57.160 --> 00:34:04.680] And I don't, you know, in all honesty, you know, work-life balance, you know, kind of thing is a farce.
[00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:13.400] You know, I have kids, I'm a single mom, and so, you know, I just make it work and I do what I can.
[00:34:13.720 --> 00:34:24.840] Um, and the thing is, is that it just has worked so far that I schedule just certain days where I do the work and what gets done gets done.
[00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:30.440] What doesn't get done doesn't get done, and I don't put too much pressure on myself to do it.
[00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:41.720] You know, I have time for where I'm like learning, I'm going to um conferences, I'm in masterminds, I do all those things, but I just make it work around my lifestyle.
[00:34:41.720 --> 00:34:51.640] And we all have the same 24 hours in a day, and it's just again about being intentional with your time, but also knowing when there's time to like pull back and rest.
[00:34:51.640 --> 00:34:54.520] Like, I'm totally in that mode right now, yes.
[00:34:54.520 --> 00:34:56.200] But I just, I just make it work.
[00:34:56.200 --> 00:35:02.360] But I think, like, like you said, I have a job where I can totally separate from that when I leave.
[00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:08.680] And so, when I leave, like in my commute, I'm like consuming content so that I can share.
[00:35:08.680 --> 00:35:12.440] A lot of my videos, you'll notice, are in my car.
[00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:14.520] I didn't even notice that.
[00:35:14.520 --> 00:35:16.880] I didn't even notice it was mostly in your car.
[00:35:18.720 --> 00:35:20.240] I thought you were signed stationary.
[00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:20.960] I got to look again.
[00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:23.280] Girl, my car drives itself.
[00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:25.200] So I can put it.
[00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:27.760] I put it in self-driving mode.
[00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.640] And I had such a big comment.
[00:35:30.640 --> 00:35:34.080] I feel like the big, y'all are the most, you know.
[00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:35.120] Oh, yeah.
[00:35:35.200 --> 00:35:38.320] We got the first and the most.
[00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:40.960] I can't even speak correctly, but you know what I mean.
[00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:42.240] Yeah, we're on it.
[00:35:42.240 --> 00:35:48.320] Like, I work in the city where Tesla is graded, like where the Tesla factory is.
[00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:48.960] Of course.
[00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:52.080] At my job parking lot, all you see is Teslas.
[00:35:52.080 --> 00:35:55.520] And so we'd be flexing on our auto drive out here.
[00:35:57.120 --> 00:36:01.120] So your side also started out one way, I feel like from watching and observing your journey.
[00:36:01.120 --> 00:36:06.240] You know, you were talking about the fire movement and it shifted to so much more than that.
[00:36:06.240 --> 00:36:10.640] So tell us a little more about your interpretation of fire movement.
[00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:18.960] So fire is an acronym for financially intentional, financially intentional, financially independent, retire early.
[00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:20.800] I always flip those.
[00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:39.360] And it's less more about the retire early part, but in making work optional and having options right now about how you look at work, but it totally shifts your perspective because I don't know about you, Nikayla, but I'm quite sure because I kind of know your story.
[00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:45.360] But you know, we're taught that, you know, you go to school, you get a job, you work that job forever.
[00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:54.400] It shifts that paradigm to say that you can work, put away a certain amount of money, and now you can do whatever you want to do.
[00:36:54.400 --> 00:37:04.280] You can work on your passion, or you know, you can work, but if somebody is, you know, messing with you, you could throw the deuces at any time.
[00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:07.320] Like, I love to do, right?
[00:37:08.680 --> 00:37:09.240] I love to do that.
[00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:11.240] Those are some of my favorite stories.
[00:37:11.240 --> 00:37:14.920] You gotta go over to her Instagram, Financially Intentional.
[00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:19.880] And she has shared her stories of quitting or having to speak out and get fired.
[00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:20.840] And guess what?
[00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:24.440] She still bounces right back on her feet with another nursing job.
[00:37:24.440 --> 00:37:24.840] Yeah.
[00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:27.400] And it's about that option.
[00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:29.400] And that was a total mindset shift to me.
[00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:31.800] And that didn't come until after I paid off my debt.
[00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:35.000] And I know you're good friends with Jamila Suzanne.
[00:37:35.080 --> 00:37:38.280] And so throughout my journey, we were friends too.
[00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:41.320] And then, you know, she started really talking about the fire content.
[00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:44.440] And I really got into fire because of her.
[00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:46.760] And I was just like, man, like, so what do you mean?
[00:37:46.760 --> 00:37:48.520] Like, I don't have to work forever.
[00:37:48.520 --> 00:37:50.840] Like, I'm not chasing this corporate ladder.
[00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:58.840] Like, I'm just making sure I have enough say and invest it so that, you know, in a couple of years, I don't have to work if I don't want to.
[00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:01.640] Like, that's a whole new paradigm shift for me.
[00:38:01.640 --> 00:38:04.600] And like being able to share that.
[00:38:04.600 --> 00:38:12.440] But what has actually happened is, is that that has freed up a lot of things in me to be able to talk about generational wealth.
[00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:20.840] So I talk about, you know, how my kids are investing and how they learn about money and how like I'm putting them in a financial position.
[00:38:20.840 --> 00:38:24.040] Not to be spoiled, because let me tell you, my kids work hard now.
[00:38:24.040 --> 00:38:25.800] Like they work for me.
[00:38:26.440 --> 00:38:39.720] But so that they can opt out of a lot of the bullshit that we had to go through because we weren't in a financial position or our parents weren't in a financial position for us to do what we or just didn't even know.
[00:38:39.720 --> 00:38:40.360] Exactly.
[00:38:40.360 --> 00:38:42.680] Because a lot of the information was possible.
[00:38:43.160 --> 00:38:57.120] A lot of the information is get kept and breaking it down to a level where my daughter, my nine-year-old daughter will tell you all about investing and she doesn't even understand when adults don't understand how to invest because she's like, it's really that simple.
[00:38:57.120 --> 00:39:01.440] You know, she was, she was picture her saying that.
[00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:02.800] Yeah, she was a clown.
[00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:08.960] Like, she, I'm like, girl, her and my stepmom got into it all the time.
[00:39:09.040 --> 00:39:11.440] She was like, my stepmom's like, you don't understand.
[00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:13.760] Like, you only know this because of your mom.
[00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:17.600] And she's just like, well, I don't just understand why you just don't get it.
[00:39:17.600 --> 00:39:18.000] Right.
[00:39:19.600 --> 00:39:24.320] And I'll be like, girl, like, you know, you know what I'm saying?
[00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:25.920] But that's how they think.
[00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:33.520] But anyway, but setting them up for, you know, building wealth and being in a position to be able to opt out of a lot of stuff.
[00:39:33.520 --> 00:39:59.520] I actually have been fortunate to have a platform where I can speak openly about maternal health issues and speak openly about the things that have happened in my job and that I've witnessed that has affected Black maternal health and like actually giving people viable like solutions, like how do we address this situation and being able to highlight other platforms that help you know black women in this situation.
[00:39:59.520 --> 00:40:10.720] But it has morphed into just an opportunity for me to be able to affect change in a way that I couldn't have done it just as a staff nurse, you know.
[00:40:10.720 --> 00:40:17.440] But because I can speak about these things and not have to worry about my money, I do.
[00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.160] And because I'm one of those people, like I said, I just keep it real.
[00:40:20.160 --> 00:40:25.360] Like, oftentimes, my mouth can get me into trouble that my money can back to me about it.
[00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:26.880] It's needed.
[00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:27.440] It's needed.
[00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:29.440] This information is needed.
[00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:41.720] So, when it comes to fire, so essentially, you're putting money in the investment account where the returns, the percentage returns, which I believe you target 4%, right?
[00:40:42.600 --> 00:40:50.600] Then, you know, once you have a certain amount, the returns that you'll get each year will cover-is it your minimum lifestyle or just your ideal lifestyle?
[00:40:50.600 --> 00:40:53.800] Like, what you've depends on what you're going for, right?
[00:40:54.120 --> 00:41:00.920] So, there are different kinds of fire: there's like fat fire, lean fire, coast fire, um, barista fire.
[00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:08.680] So, I mean, like Google, like, but the thing is, is that it should cover a portion of your expenses right now.
[00:41:08.680 --> 00:41:25.640] So, right now, I'm on maternity leave, so I was very intentional before I went out and like cut my expenses down to be able to like live off of a minimum amount of money without having to worry about bringing in extra money from my business.
[00:41:25.640 --> 00:41:32.520] Because if I don't feel like shooting content for a brand, if I don't feel like putting a podcast out, I don't want to have to do that.
[00:41:32.520 --> 00:41:42.280] And so, it's about like understanding in that moment or in the future what your expenses are going to be at that time and having investments be able to cover that.
[00:41:42.280 --> 00:41:45.960] Investments are sources of income to be able to cover that.
[00:41:45.960 --> 00:41:47.560] So, yeah, that's what it's about.
[00:41:47.560 --> 00:41:55.800] So, traditionally, you want to look at it like this: so, to your fire number is going to be 25 times your expenses.
[00:41:55.800 --> 00:42:03.000] And so, if you know it takes you, like $40,000, we like to use that example because it's easy to multiply by 25.
[00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:14.760] But if you know your expenses, your living expenses, transportation, all that stuff, it's $40,000 a year, you want to have 25 times that, which is a million dollars in investments or savings.
[00:42:15.200 --> 00:42:31.040] And then according to the safe withdrawal rate, which is 4%, you can take $40,000 a year off of those investments to live off of without having to generate any other income.
[00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:34.320] And so that's how fire works.
[00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:36.800] But there's different levels.
[00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:41.760] If you know that you're getting, like, I live in California, so I get state disability.
[00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:50.640] If you know that your state disability is going to be a couple thousand dollars a month, then that's less that you need to put into that number, you know?
[00:42:50.640 --> 00:42:56.080] So, like, it's just different ways to factor into those things.
[00:42:56.080 --> 00:43:12.400] But, and that's to say that you can reach different levels of fire, or you don't have to be completely like at your fire number to be able to unlock levels of freedom in your life where you don't have to necessarily trade time for money.
[00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:18.080] Now, as someone who lives in a very expensive city, I also live in, you know, I live in New York City.
[00:43:18.080 --> 00:43:20.480] You live in San Francisco or Oakland.
[00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:21.360] Which one are you in now?
[00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:21.840] Are you?
[00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:23.760] Well, I live like in a suburb like East.
[00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:24.560] In a suburb.
[00:43:24.720 --> 00:43:25.600] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:29.200] Still the pay, right?
[00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:34.000] What does cutting back look like for you as like someone who's side hustling?
[00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:36.800] You know, you're working full-time as a nurse, but you're also cutting back.
[00:43:36.800 --> 00:43:40.800] What does cutting back look like when you are in an expensive city?
[00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:43.520] Really, it's just like getting your income in check.
[00:43:43.520 --> 00:43:53.680] So the two biggest things that you're going to usually have in your budget is your housing expenses and your transportation expenses.
[00:43:53.680 --> 00:43:55.840] For me, I try to minimize those expenses.
[00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:58.960] So before I went on maternity leave, like I paid off my Tesla.
[00:43:58.960 --> 00:43:59.800] Like, I don't have a car.
[00:43:59.680 --> 00:44:01.240] No, that was $1,100 a month.
[00:44:01.240 --> 00:44:02.200] That's a lot of money, right?
[00:43:59.840 --> 00:44:02.360] Yeah.
[00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:04.920] So that's done, right?
[00:44:04.920 --> 00:44:10.600] I always make it so my housing expenses are way less than 30% of my income.
[00:44:10.600 --> 00:44:14.040] And a lot of people are like, that's impossible in the Bay Area.
[00:44:14.040 --> 00:44:22.600] But what I always do is, even if I'm renting, I always find a place where I have an extra room where I can rent that out if I need to.
[00:44:22.600 --> 00:44:26.200] And I rent it out to travel nurses or nurses that I work with.
[00:44:26.200 --> 00:44:32.840] Because a lot of nurses, even if they're not travel nurses, they're staff nurses, but they live in like Georgia, Florida, Canada, even.
[00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:35.240] They come down here and they want a place to stay.
[00:44:35.240 --> 00:44:37.000] And nurses come and they work.
[00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:37.720] They're quiet.
[00:44:37.720 --> 00:44:38.760] They're background check.
[00:44:38.760 --> 00:44:39.400] They're screened.
[00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:40.520] I have kids in my house.
[00:44:40.520 --> 00:44:41.480] So they don't bother me.
[00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:43.800] Actually, they become part of my family.
[00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:45.480] Oh, that's so smart.
[00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:48.600] Like, is there a website just to rent to travel nurses?
[00:44:48.600 --> 00:44:51.800] Because if I could just do that, I'm like, okay, I trust that.
[00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:52.600] I trust that.
[00:44:52.600 --> 00:44:53.160] Okay.
[00:44:53.160 --> 00:44:54.280] You got to tell us that link.
[00:44:56.040 --> 00:44:57.560] It's furnish finders.
[00:44:57.560 --> 00:44:59.000] So furnish finders.
[00:44:59.160 --> 00:44:59.480] Okay.
[00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:06.360] And then they have like a section just for travel nurses, but also there's like Facebook groups that are just travel nurses looking for housing.
[00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:08.120] And you can post in there.
[00:45:08.120 --> 00:45:19.000] But usually it's word of mouth because once one travel nurse knows, or if somebody, I'm a nurse, so I work if a staff, you know, they need somewhere to stay, they're going to come stay with you.
[00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:21.720] So it's really not that hard to find really reliable people.
[00:45:21.720 --> 00:45:25.960] And like I said, most people stay with me for months or years even.
[00:45:25.960 --> 00:45:26.360] Wow.
[00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:32.200] And so that almost, that's like a third or more of my housing costs.
[00:45:32.200 --> 00:45:33.800] So that's cut down.
[00:45:33.800 --> 00:45:41.400] And then what gets me and what gets most people is like those little things that you spend a hell of money on that you don't need to spend money on.
[00:45:41.400 --> 00:45:44.360] Like when you go to Target or you go grocery shopping, or you go to the money.
[00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:47.360] Listen, I knew you were like trying to come for me like this.
[00:45:44.680 --> 00:45:49.600] I knew you were gonna start talking about this.
[00:45:50.400 --> 00:45:55.760] Listen, like you really have to, like, so I have to put that budget in check.
[00:45:55.760 --> 00:45:57.680] Like, do I need to go to Target?
[00:45:57.680 --> 00:46:01.040] Like, yeah, I'd be like, making up any reason to go to Target.
[00:46:01.040 --> 00:46:02.560] And it's really bad.
[00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:04.800] Like, do I really need to go to Target?
[00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:07.360] Or do we really got to eat out like today?
[00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:09.920] Like, my kids don't even eat, like, for real, for real.
[00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:12.000] So, like, why are we going to this restaurant?
[00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:15.760] Like, so it's just so I could be like, I want to eat something good and spend hella money.
[00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:21.920] Like, it's like checking those expenses and like, really like getting that number.
[00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:24.800] Like, how much does it really take for you to live every month?
[00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:30.720] And the thing is, hey, look, if you ask most people, they really cannot tell you how much they spend every month.
[00:46:30.720 --> 00:46:31.280] And I know that.
[00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:32.320] That's so true.
[00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:33.120] That's so true.
[00:46:33.120 --> 00:46:36.560] I had to get, we had to get ourselves in check with that too.
[00:46:36.560 --> 00:46:40.960] Like, I mean, Moya was always asking me, like, you know, he wants to fill out the spreadsheet.
[00:46:41.040 --> 00:46:42.960] I'm like, nah, leave me alone.
[00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:45.840] Jeff on your channel.
[00:46:46.720 --> 00:46:48.640] Just give you a number.
[00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:51.440] Just like, just give me a number.
[00:46:53.200 --> 00:47:00.880] Because when you face the number, when you face the number, that's when, you know, you really have to come to terms with how much you spend on certain things.
[00:47:01.280 --> 00:47:05.920] But it's good because once you have that, you can then do all these calculations you need, right?
[00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:12.240] Like the, okay, what would 25 times my income look like and all of our expenses and all this other stuff.
[00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:15.040] And the thing is, it's not about deprivation.
[00:47:15.040 --> 00:47:21.920] Like, it's like, I really didn't need those things in Target, but I spend a lot of money on the things that I'm passionate about.
[00:47:21.920 --> 00:47:23.520] Like my car, like my car.
[00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:25.120] Like, I'm very passionate about that.
[00:47:25.120 --> 00:47:27.120] So, I adjust my budget to spend on that.
[00:47:27.120 --> 00:47:28.160] Vacations.
[00:47:28.160 --> 00:47:33.800] Like, my kids have been to Disneyland and Great Wolf Lodge so much, like, we have towers of ears.
[00:47:29.600 --> 00:47:34.440] I love it.
[00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:39.240] Yeah, that's a category that I have to have in my life as well.
[00:47:40.200 --> 00:48:01.080] And, you know, this conversation is definitely taking more of a financial turn than we expected, but I still love it because I feel that a lot of times when we start side hustling and we have this now, this discretionary income, if we're not careful, you can blow that instead of being able to do so much more with it.
[00:48:02.040 --> 00:48:03.960] It's called lifestyle inflation.
[00:48:04.360 --> 00:48:07.560] Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, lifestyle inflation.
[00:48:08.440 --> 00:48:10.120] Yes, keeping that number in check.
[00:48:10.120 --> 00:48:19.640] Like, if you know you can't spend more than $5,000 a month, you figure out what your passion is about to spend that money on, and then you don't feel like you're deprived.
[00:48:19.640 --> 00:48:23.160] So, that's how I, that's how I've done it in different stages of life.
[00:48:23.160 --> 00:48:31.720] And there's times where, yeah, you know, I do ball out, but being able to rein in that money is in that spending is what's important.
[00:48:35.240 --> 00:48:55.000] And before we get into the lightning round, I love if you could touch on disability insurance a little bit more because you had a great episode on it, and I'll link to it where you touch on you might have great insurance and you might have awesome benefits from your job, but never rely solely on what your job gives you for any of these categories.
[00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:57.800] So, you take out, of course, California has state, right?
[00:48:57.800 --> 00:49:00.840] But then you take out your own personal disability insurance.
[00:49:00.840 --> 00:49:02.280] Like, how do you go about that?
[00:49:02.240 --> 00:49:02.800] Yes.
[00:49:02.840 --> 00:49:03.640] Yes.
[00:49:03.960 --> 00:49:10.280] So, it's always important, just like anything else, life insurance, anything, to have your own policies in place.
[00:49:11.080 --> 00:49:16.640] And what I like to do, and let me tell you, there's a lot of scammers in this industry, so be very careful.
[00:49:14.840 --> 00:49:18.720] That's part of what makes it intimidating, honestly.
[00:49:18.880 --> 00:49:20.320] It's like, who do I trust?
[00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:26.480] Who do I trust with sharing what I make and you know, looking inside my books and all this other stuff?
[00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:29.440] That is the thing that intimidates me sometimes.
[00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:33.120] You hear so many horror stories, and you honestly, you don't know these people, right?
[00:49:33.120 --> 00:49:33.840] Right.
[00:49:33.840 --> 00:49:47.680] When you're looking for a financial advisor, somebody who is doing insurance for you, you want to look for somebody who is independent for like, okay, so on my podcast, I work with Aquania S.
[00:49:47.680 --> 00:49:58.240] Garnet, and she's, she's in the personal finance space too, but she is an independent licensed insurance agent, meaning that she's not tied to any one company.
[00:49:58.240 --> 00:50:04.480] So her interest is always going to be to get you the best rate, period.
[00:50:04.480 --> 00:50:16.400] When you look for financial advisors or somebody to help you with your finances, you want to work with somebody that is a fee-only like fiduciary advisor.
[00:50:16.400 --> 00:50:23.760] And fiduciary means that they are only like they are licensed to only work in your best interest.
[00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:28.080] And you would think that all licensed agents are fiduciaries, but they're not.
[00:50:28.080 --> 00:50:38.960] And the fee only just means that, okay, like you're sitting down for a session, you're going to pay them like $300 for a session, and then they're going to put together a plan specifically for you.
[00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:46.800] Oftentimes, you'll get financial advice for free, or somebody will set up an insurance thing policy for you for free.
[00:50:46.800 --> 00:50:48.400] It's not free.
[00:50:48.400 --> 00:50:52.960] Their best interest is getting the highest commission for themselves.
[00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:58.320] And so they'll put you in a policy for them that pays them in the front end.
[00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:07.640] So there's a lot of policies out there that like they're incentivized to sell you because they make a lot of money, almost 50% of the premiums that you put up front.
[00:51:07.800 --> 00:51:08.360] Wow.
[00:51:08.760 --> 00:51:15.640] So like as far as disability insurance, you're guaranteed to get hurt at a job.
[00:51:15.640 --> 00:51:18.360] Like life insurance, like you're going to die, whatever.
[00:51:18.360 --> 00:51:20.040] We're guaranteed to die.
[00:51:20.040 --> 00:51:27.720] But like most people are injured in some kind of way where they can't do their job or they have to go out for a pregnancy or whatever.
[00:51:27.720 --> 00:51:28.360] Right.
[00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:43.480] And so disability insurance is something that you that you can get through your job, but you also want to have a separate policy in place just in case like you lose that job, something happens, they change their benefits every year.
[00:51:43.480 --> 00:51:45.480] You don't know how it applies.
[00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:49.880] And so I have state disability insurance.
[00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:54.120] I have disability insurance, long-term disability insurance through my job.
[00:51:54.120 --> 00:51:58.680] And I also have long-term disability insurance on my own.
[00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:01.560] And I've had that in place for years.
[00:52:01.560 --> 00:52:07.080] And the way that it's working right now with my maternity leave is that I'm high risk.
[00:52:07.080 --> 00:52:08.120] I'm 42.
[00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:10.280] I'll be 42 on Monday.
[00:52:10.280 --> 00:52:13.480] And so I had to go out of work early.
[00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:23.880] So with my long-term disability policy, it kicks in after 90 days to supplement your income in order to make you whole.
[00:52:23.880 --> 00:52:29.320] So short, I have state disability, which starts after 10 days after you're out.
[00:52:29.560 --> 00:52:30.840] So that started.
[00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:41.080] Plus, like then you can use your sick leave and your vacation at your job, and then but that eventually runs out if you're not working.
[00:52:41.080 --> 00:52:41.480] Right.
[00:52:41.800 --> 00:52:56.960] So then after 90 days, your long-term disability policy comes in, kicks in that you know you just get paid a certain benefit to cover your expenses, and it's only going to cover up to 60% of your expenses, but it's pretty not taxed.
[00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:01.200] So sometimes it's actually more than what you bring home.
[00:53:01.200 --> 00:53:07.280] But the incentive is like you can't, it's not going to replace all of your income because then nobody will want to go back to work.
[00:53:07.280 --> 00:53:07.680] Right.
[00:53:08.880 --> 00:53:10.080] That's how it works.
[00:53:10.080 --> 00:53:18.720] But you should always have that policy in place because Lord forbid you be out of work for longer than 90 days.
[00:53:18.720 --> 00:53:25.200] But in that case, you need something to cover your income because you still got bills to pay.
[00:53:25.200 --> 00:53:26.000] Yep.
[00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:26.960] Absolutely.
[00:53:26.960 --> 00:53:36.240] So, and this applies to everyone, all of us, like whether you are side hustler, entrepreneur, full-time corporate job, what have you.
[00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:38.640] I thought this was such an important conversation.
[00:53:38.640 --> 00:53:40.640] It's something that I'm working on right now.
[00:53:41.040 --> 00:53:47.280] Let me know if you guys want me to share more about my journey as I, you know, finalize a plan and all of that good stuff.
[00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:53.360] But I saw an entrepreneur friend who's recently going through an unexpected injury.
[00:53:53.360 --> 00:53:58.000] And, you know, when we work for ourselves, it's something to think about with side hustling.
[00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:00.960] When you work for yourself and you are the business, right?
[00:54:01.920 --> 00:54:03.040] I am the podcaster.
[00:54:03.040 --> 00:54:04.720] I am the content creator.
[00:54:04.720 --> 00:54:07.920] If I'm down and I can't make content, then who's paying me?
[00:54:07.920 --> 00:54:09.440] You know, exactly.
[00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:16.960] And so that's something that we talk about in the last episode I think I did about disability insurance for entrepreneurs.
[00:54:16.960 --> 00:54:18.080] It's is super important.
[00:54:18.080 --> 00:54:28.160] So, in two ways, if you've been an entrepreneur for a while, um, to get a disability policy, they're going to want to see a couple of years of um income so that they can cover you.
[00:54:28.160 --> 00:54:33.640] But if you're side hustling, you use your work income to be able to cover that.
[00:54:29.440 --> 00:54:48.040] Like, so if you're knowing, if you know that you're going to transition like to be a full-time entrepreneur, it's a good time to get a lot of policies in place because it's going to be based off of like the salary that you're making at your job, and it's less things that you have to prove.
[00:54:48.040 --> 00:54:49.400] So, just something to think about.
[00:54:49.400 --> 00:54:56.280] Like, if you really are transitioning into full-time entrepreneurship, like get those things in place now.
[00:54:56.280 --> 00:54:56.680] Nice.
[00:54:56.680 --> 00:54:58.840] That's a yeah, that's a really big tip.
[00:54:58.840 --> 00:55:00.600] That's a really good tip.
[00:55:00.600 --> 00:55:06.760] And you know, something that we forgot to even touch on is you getting into podcasting, right?
[00:55:06.760 --> 00:55:09.160] So, just you know, let's really touch on this.
[00:55:09.160 --> 00:55:12.600] So, you had the platform, you started on Instagram.
[00:55:12.600 --> 00:55:18.600] Why podcasting and what makes you continue to podcast, man?
[00:55:18.920 --> 00:55:33.080] Like, no lie, like, it's where I get my information from, and I really feel like they're in the personal finance space, like, is male, pale, and stale.
[00:55:33.080 --> 00:55:37.480] And I needed to hear voices like me and you know what I'm saying?
[00:55:37.480 --> 00:55:39.560] Like, that's the first time I've heard that.
[00:55:39.560 --> 00:55:41.320] Male, pale, and stale.
[00:55:41.320 --> 00:55:44.280] Okay, that's the that's my girl.
[00:55:44.280 --> 00:55:47.960] She always uses okay, yes.
[00:55:47.960 --> 00:55:54.120] And so, I was like, man, we need to like hear from we need more voices like me.
[00:55:54.440 --> 00:56:03.320] And initially, I was like, Well, there's no lack of like personal finance podcasts out there, so let me just niche down and speak specifically to nurses.
[00:56:03.320 --> 00:56:08.280] And when, of course, when I wanted to do my podcast, of course, I reached out to my girl, Nikayla.
[00:56:08.280 --> 00:56:10.720] Like, oh, yeah, we gotta take this course.
[00:56:11.280 --> 00:56:12.080] Oh, yeah, right.
[00:56:13.760 --> 00:56:15.280] Yes, I'm going to build it.
[00:56:12.680 --> 00:56:17.440] Yes.
[00:56:18.240 --> 00:56:25.040] So, yeah, I started like speaking specifically to nurses and about financial independence and nursing.
[00:56:25.040 --> 00:56:28.400] But I just know that my voice is needed across the board.
[00:56:28.400 --> 00:56:38.480] So recently, in December, I did a rebrand where I just kind of generalized just my audience because I've always had the overarching brand financially intentional.
[00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:42.480] But I just made it and opened it up for everyone because it really was.
[00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:49.440] Like, if you even listen to my old Nurses on Fire podcast, like there's nothing that it was specific to nurses that nobody else could do.
[00:56:49.440 --> 00:56:51.680] But I just thought I needed a niche.
[00:56:51.680 --> 00:56:52.160] Yeah.
[00:56:52.480 --> 00:56:54.480] Sometimes you could overly niche too.
[00:56:54.480 --> 00:56:58.720] Sometimes you can overly niche because it's like, then you always have to find nurses.
[00:56:58.720 --> 00:57:01.440] Then it always has to be around a nurse's story.
[00:57:01.440 --> 00:57:02.960] So I understand the challenge with that.
[00:57:03.280 --> 00:57:04.080] Yes.
[00:57:04.080 --> 00:57:04.640] Yes.
[00:57:04.640 --> 00:57:12.480] But you know, but I just love podcasting because like, like, I really feel like people just need to hear different voices.
[00:57:12.480 --> 00:57:21.200] And there is such a void of voices like ours out there that talk about this information in a digestible way.
[00:57:21.200 --> 00:57:23.920] Plus, there are so many barriers in personal finance.
[00:57:23.920 --> 00:57:39.280] There's so much gatekeeping intentionally and unintentionally in a finance space for really simple concepts and access to things that ways to access things that we didn't even know was possible for us, but it's right in front of us, but we just didn't know was there.
[00:57:39.280 --> 00:57:48.240] And so to hear from somebody who has came from the struggle, who has gone through all those things and who can keep it real with you 100%, I feel what's needed.
[00:57:48.240 --> 00:57:48.720] Yeah.
[00:57:48.720 --> 00:57:49.840] Oh, absolutely.
[00:57:49.840 --> 00:58:06.280] And as it relates to gatekeeping, if I was to even just oversimplify it, you know, take away some of the problematic aspects of it, you know, it comes down to people share with the people they know, and you're more likely to know people who look like you and hang out and you know, have friends.
[00:58:06.600 --> 00:58:13.400] So it's being, um, this information is being circulated in circles that might not look like you because you're not friends with that crew.
[00:58:13.400 --> 00:58:22.600] So you have to find your crew and make sure that if you are that person that has that information that you're realizing that the rest of your crew doesn't have, you need to start sharing that.
[00:58:22.600 --> 00:58:25.480] Like you, you are missing out on a gift.
[00:58:25.480 --> 00:58:30.120] You're missing out on sharing something that you're meant to share because there's a reason why you know it.
[00:58:30.120 --> 00:58:32.360] There's a reason why it comes so easily to you.
[00:58:32.360 --> 00:58:35.720] So I'm just thankful that you have this information.
[00:58:35.720 --> 00:58:39.320] And like before this interview started, I was saying like, can I hit you up?
[00:58:39.320 --> 00:58:44.440] Because like I truly, I need some more support and I need guidance from someone who has done it.
[00:58:44.440 --> 00:58:46.680] And it's just, it's too much.
[00:58:46.680 --> 00:58:48.840] Sometimes people are like, oh, I can just Google that.
[00:58:48.840 --> 00:58:52.360] I don't know about you, but there's a lot of stuff on Google.
[00:58:52.520 --> 00:58:54.040] I don't want to Google anymore.
[00:58:54.040 --> 00:58:55.800] Like, this is why I pay for courses.
[00:58:55.800 --> 00:58:59.240] I want to go to someone and I want to follow your roadmap.
[00:58:59.240 --> 00:59:01.160] I want to just tell me the steps.
[00:59:01.160 --> 00:59:01.560] All right.
[00:59:01.880 --> 00:59:04.520] I'm at a just tell me the steps phase of life.
[00:59:04.520 --> 00:59:04.920] All right.
[00:59:04.920 --> 00:59:06.840] I will follow 100%.
[00:59:06.840 --> 00:59:14.200] But the thing is, and there's the unfortunate thing about this industry is that there's also a lot of room for people to take advantage of you.
[00:59:14.200 --> 00:59:14.680] Yes.
[00:59:14.680 --> 00:59:17.720] And so a lot of people are really leery.
[00:59:17.720 --> 00:59:19.800] And I ain't got no reason to take advantage of you.
[00:59:19.800 --> 00:59:21.480] I'm not a scammer.
[00:59:22.120 --> 00:59:22.440] Right.
[00:59:22.440 --> 00:59:25.240] I mean, you obviously, you have to, what's it called?
[00:59:25.320 --> 00:59:27.800] You have to do your due diligence and research.
[00:59:27.800 --> 00:59:29.800] You can't just throw money at anybody.
[00:59:29.800 --> 00:59:31.320] But once you've done that, yeah.
[00:59:31.640 --> 00:59:32.040] Yeah.
[00:59:32.040 --> 00:59:36.280] You have to be able to trust that people are really have your best interests at heart.
[00:59:36.280 --> 00:59:39.880] And a lot of people, you know, unfortunately can't get past that step.
[00:59:39.880 --> 00:59:49.280] But, you know, unfortunately, you know, for our communities, we have been historically taken advantage of financially, and so there's a lot, a lot of mistrust.
[00:59:44.840 --> 00:59:51.760] So, I get it, and I'm here.
[00:59:52.000 --> 01:00:05.520] And so, a lot of the things that I teach and talk about, I give a lot of free game because I don't want you to think that these are things that you have to pay for, but it is something that you have to be intentional about and actually take action on.
[01:00:06.560 --> 01:00:16.080] As long as you do what you got to do, I don't care if you pay me, I just want you to get the stuff in place for yourself because it's that important for you, right?
[01:00:16.400 --> 01:00:28.560] And that's another hint at why producing content is so helpful because the free game that you share is actually helping people to see that you're qualified and trust you.
[01:00:28.560 --> 01:00:39.200] And they, so it may not come right away, but you know, after a year or two or listening to you, it's worth the wait to have that customer, that client that just is really rides for you.
[01:00:39.200 --> 01:00:44.000] Like, no, Nikayla knows her stuff, Nassima knows her stuff, and that's that.
[01:00:47.200 --> 01:00:48.080] Thank you so much.
[01:00:48.080 --> 01:00:49.680] We're gonna jump into the lightning round.
[01:00:49.680 --> 01:00:55.360] I could go on and on, but clearly, like I said, we need a side conversation with you.
[01:00:55.680 --> 01:00:58.000] Um, so we're gonna jump into a quick lightning round.
[01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:00.400] You know, the deal, just answer the first thing that comes to mind.
[01:01:00.400 --> 01:01:01.200] Are you ready?
[01:01:01.200 --> 01:01:02.160] I'm ready.
[01:01:02.160 --> 01:01:02.800] All right.
[01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:11.040] So, number one: What is a top resource that has helped you in your business that you can share with the Side Hustle Pro audience?
[01:01:11.040 --> 01:01:12.320] Side Hustle Pro.
[01:01:12.320 --> 01:01:13.760] I always turn to Nika.
[01:01:13.760 --> 01:01:16.480] If I need something for her, I got my website started.
[01:01:16.560 --> 01:01:18.480] I got my podcast started.
[01:01:18.480 --> 01:01:20.880] I got my business started from Nikayla.
[01:01:20.880 --> 01:01:21.920] You got it.
[01:01:21.920 --> 01:01:22.800] Yes.
[01:01:22.800 --> 01:01:23.680] Yes.
[01:01:24.040 --> 01:01:31.240] Um, number two: Who is a non-celebrity black woman entrepreneur who you'd want to switch places with for a day and why?
[01:01:31.800 --> 01:01:33.800] You know, I love me some, my leak.
[01:01:33.800 --> 01:01:39.560] Like, she's crazy, relatable content.
[01:01:39.880 --> 01:01:41.560] Yeah, I just love her.
[01:01:41.560 --> 01:01:44.600] I love how she keeps her real, but very smart.
[01:01:44.840 --> 01:01:48.200] She's very, she's very intentionally knowledgeable.
[01:01:48.200 --> 01:01:53.560] Whatever she doesn't know, she like drills in down into it and like gets to know it.
[01:01:53.560 --> 01:01:55.400] She's always chock full of resources.
[01:01:55.400 --> 01:01:59.560] I can't tell you the amount of things that I bought because my leak suggested it.
[01:01:59.560 --> 01:02:01.880] Um, but I love I Love Me Some, My Lique.
[01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:13.720] We're birthday twins, she's a couple of years older than me, but you know, I just feel like she's like one of the few people that black women own just like I love me some relatable content.
[01:02:13.720 --> 01:02:14.760] You know, I feel the same.
[01:02:14.760 --> 01:02:20.040] Number three, um, what's a non-negotiable part of your day these days?
[01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:24.280] Um, if I'm not, don't feel like doing it, I'm not gonna do it.
[01:02:26.840 --> 01:02:29.880] It's a no, it's a solid no, it's a solid no.
[01:02:29.880 --> 01:02:38.040] I love that number four: what's a personal habit about you that you think has significantly helped you in business?
[01:02:38.040 --> 01:02:48.280] I think consistency, um, just being able to just, even if it's just a little bit, um, a little bit is still doing something.
[01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:54.600] So, I'm gonna consistently be doing something and I'm gonna be consistently like working on myself.
[01:02:54.600 --> 01:02:57.960] And so, yes, consistency is where it's at.
[01:02:58.200 --> 01:03:11.960] And finally, number five: what is your parting advice for fellow black women entrepreneurs who want to be their own boss or be a steady side hustler but are worried about losing or compromising a steady paycheck?
[01:03:11.960 --> 01:04:48.920] I think it's about taking action and it's the consistency part again small daily actions are bigger than what you think they add up to like we we overestimate what we can do in a day but we underestimate what we can do in a year by taking small intentional actions so just take those actions dot stop with the analysis paralysis and just do one thing today right now yes just one thing you're so right i'm all i'm so big on the one thing man i'm so big on the one thing because whenever i get overwhelmed i have to bring it back to that i have to say all right what's the one thing i want to accomplish today and and that's it so i'm thinking about doing a one thing a day challenge or something along the lines of that you guys let me know if you're interested in that but with that listen thank you so much for being in the guest chair nassima where can people connect with you and financially intentional after this episode so i'm at most places financially intentional i'm mostly on instagram just hit me a dm me i'm very responsive there um but yeah financially intentional um you can find check out all my resources there financiallyintentional.com and the financially intentional podcast listen out guys it's great all right you guys and there you have it i'll talk to you next week thank you again nissima and you guys will chat next week hey guys thanks for listening to side hustle pro if you like the show be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple podcasts.
[01:04:48.920 --> 01:04:52.680] It helps other side hustlers just like you to find the show.
[01:04:52.680 --> 01:04:57.320] And if you want to hear more from me, you can follow me on Instagram at side hustle Pro.
[01:04:57.320 --> 01:05:04.440] Plus, sign up for my six-foot saturday newsletter at sidehustlepro.co/slash newsletter.
[01:05:04.440 --> 01:05:11.800] When you sign up, you will receive weekly nuggets from me, including what I'm up to, personal lessons, and my business tip of the week.
[01:05:11.800 --> 01:05:16.520] Again, that's sidehustlepro.co/slash newsletter to sign up.
[01:05:16.520 --> 01:05:18.120] Talk to you soon.
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