[00:00:00] Shannon Hernandez: So today I want to help out all of the podcasters that are out there who are looking to start something that is brand new within the new year. And when it comes to things that are brand new into the new year, and that means typically brand new projects. And so who I want to invite to you into the podcast today is someone who really, I think will help get our mindset in the right.
[00:00:22] Position her name is Karmen Reed. And according to her LinkedIn profile, she says I help forward-thinkers and high achievers who are ready to grow and level up or up-level create success habits. And that will help them success succeed beyond average and consistent consistently. And lastingly one thing that carbon has set on this profile is that she says she helps find clarity.
[00:00:42] Confidence energy and courage to take your leadership, your influence, and your business to the next level. So I want to introduce to you Karmen Reed, who is a money mindset coach, how you doing Karmen? I'm
[00:00:55] Karmen Reed: doing great. Shannon, thank you so much for having me,
[00:00:58] Shannon Hernandez: Rob. I appreciate you jumping on and I got to tell the audience that you and I, this is our second meeting actually talking.
[00:01:05] I reached out to you via LinkedIn because I was looking for our money mindset coach. And one of the things that I was kept running into is that I didn't want to get like these big people who were like, All on the circuit writing books, I'm looking for people who are really helping the leaders down in down in the trenches.
[00:01:21] And I, I feel like maybe that's what you do. But I also feel as though you're helping higher level people reach that high level of success with money mindset. So can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got into this area of expertise?
[00:01:35] Karmen Reed: My journey is just that as entrepreneur, as being from really helping women succeed in business and launch their businesses.
[00:01:45] So I started as a graphic designer and web designer. And what I noticed this throughout my work with them that a lot of women are having a really. Huge reservations and investing in themselves and investing in their businesses. So I examined my own. Way of doing that. Like how do I grow my business?
[00:02:10] How do I invest in myself? How do I change? How I think about money on a regular basis? So it can actually help me grow. And I started seeking a coach for myself and when I found a coach it was just incredible. Like all these biting ding moments, right? Like my gosh, Karmen, I've been living in almost like an, a shadow of me when it comes to money.
[00:02:36] My mom and dad were not entrepreneurs. They were government employees. I CA I come originally from Croatia. I came to the United States when I was 20. And at that time, it wasn't a Croatia was a different country, was Yugoslavia and it was a cash country. So w everybody got paid in cash. There was no credit cards.
[00:02:56] There was no, barely anybody had even checking accounts. And when I came to the States, I encountered. Paying taxes, credit scores all these new ways of paying and dealing with the money that I had no idea. So I took that cash money mindset to the next level, by learning about [00:03:20] credit and and it's some investments and stuff.
[00:03:24] And, but definitely knew through my whole journey that I. Was handicapped in the area in order for me to be really bringing my business to the next level and consistent basis, because you can level up, but you never stayed there. You always want to level up again. So no matter, yeah. You know how much you Uplevel last year, you want to up-level this next year again.
[00:03:50] So that means there's an opportunity for that money relationship to to get stronger and better and Uplevel. Sure. So that's how I started. I started with the me and then, because I was already working with women I. Taught them and what I've learned through my own coaches. And then I got my own certification and money mindset and certified high performance.
[00:04:12] Habits, coaching and combined it all together and actually bringing a lot of content and people that haven't really thought of money. As I call it as a partner in life and in business, but just, starting to realize that is the gap that they need to fill to be successful in every area of life.
[00:04:33] Shannon Hernandez: Let's talk about some of the people that you have helped, because I think it's important to understand that podcasting pretty much. If you're investing in, something can relate to just about someone else's journey, whether there be graphic design, they're starting their own business. Tell me about some of the women that you are helping out right now and how you've seen them grow over time.
[00:04:52] Karmen Reed: So one woman that I'm having right now, she is she's pretty successful. She has probably like just about to reach her six figures and. Just want to streamline her business in order to put less effort into like really working and more effort into a scaling everything. So in order to think about that, she needs to, she needed to learn how to think in releasing the control and creating a team.
[00:05:26] And when we talk about that, especially in coaching, business and industry, it's really hard to invest. Your money that you don't really have yet. It's very scary to invest into something that you don't know whether it's going to work or not. The difference is the, I think the clarity that, she has an in her vision and the goal that we, created, we created the clarity.
[00:05:54] But it's not just in creating the clarity and saying, Oh, this is what I want. This is why I wanted this. This is how I want my business to work. This is, these are my clients that I want to work with. This is the money that I want to make. This is how I want to show up every day. This is where my job, this is one of my team.
[00:06:09] So like all that clarity around that, it's not just about, setting it up once. It's about literally like. Having that clarity B habit, a daily habit, and asking yourself what do I need to do today in order to have that success? At the end of the year, what do I, how do I need to feel today?
[00:06:30] Because when we have a thought and then we have a feeling based on that emotion is how we're going to act. So whether, if we're thinking of something is not possible for [00:06:40] us, are our emotions shrink and then we don't do. Either we don't do anything or we don't do enough. She's taking all these new steps in order to create that business, which one 21 and throw, there are a lot of things that, we need to give up in here between our ears and switch that mindset. And how we show up as a. VP or as a president of our, cause the CEO's of the, of our companies, of our businesses that we're in.
[00:07:10] We're no longer these little Reactors. It's more about responding, learning how to respond to the money thing and your business goals and
[00:07:21] Shannon Hernandez: visions. Let's go down that rabbit hole real quick, because you brought up a point that you talk about where people get inside of their mind and the. That is there's something that is holding them back.
[00:07:31] What is the number one thing that you see in some of your clients and people you work with that holds them back from taking the next level to a better and a money mindset?
[00:07:42] Karmen Reed: Number one thing as the money story that they are living with, and not just one, there's one that is overreaching, but there's all these little stories that we came to.
[00:07:55] Maybe not even created ourselves, but inherited, when we're born with the money story of our parents and our grandparents of our community. So that money is stored. Like you have to, one of the stories like you have to work really hard in order to create. The abundance in your life to, to have money to live and to create the riches or, to make a lot of money, right?
[00:08:17] You have to work really hard. I examine that, not just my own research or anything, but, I've read the books and I listen to podcasts and I get coaching and I go to the events. And the part about working hard in order to make a lot of money takes us into this, especially running re relay that to the podcasts and the podcasts are the way that I see it as.
[00:08:46] First you have a business, right? Then you want to create some content and you want to share that content the best and the newest way to do it is so podcasts. People are on the go. People love to listen to Basquiat, did a podcast, but in order to do with the proper podcast, as you're teaching, you have to invest time and money.
[00:09:05] Maybe team, maybe some learning you have to invest in courses and equipment and so if I don't have clarity that this is the way that I'm actually going to make money at some point how I'm not even thinking that this is an investment, this is not an investment. This is spending money on to something, but if I'm really connected to the outcome of that, Action that I'm doing like creating podcasts.
[00:09:32] That is going into a certain area that will grow my business attract more clients have a better, bigger reach out there, then it becomes an investment. So the stories that we create prior to that, I have to work hard or do I have to work even harder now? I don't have enough. Time in my day, because I already work hard in my business.
[00:09:55] The podcasts now becomes another business where I have to [00:10:00] work hard in order to create something. So switching the story about that, and when you switched the story about what's going on in your head That it has been so ingrained from, from a time when you were young, you don't know any better, right?
[00:10:17] So this is what it is, it's really hard to just drop that story, like a hot potato and start brand new. Still have to practice this. You have to catch your yourself. Excuse me. So that self awareness piece becomes huge. Piece of moving forward. When you create your story, you also have to think about, ha my boundaries, where are my boundaries right now with the money, with time and stuff.
[00:10:43] How do I strengthen that? How do I move that? So it actually serves me, who's in my. Circle, who's taking time away from what I wanted when I wanted to do what are the, some, the actions that I'm doing that are not really helping me. Reach my goals. Do I need to switch that around and, the boundaries with ourselves, our own promises and not just with other people, do you
[00:11:10] find,
[00:11:11] Shannon Hernandez: I'm sorry, I don't mean to cut you off, but do you find that when you look at this concept of finding your own self-awareness and.
[00:11:18] With the clients that you're working with, the women that you work with, how difficult is it for them to break through that barrier of saying, Oh I need to create you new habit. If this is what my purpose is I guess you could call it the why, or maybe you call it your purpose. How difficult is it for them to break through?
[00:11:38] Karmen Reed: It's not difficult at all, if you're willing to learn how so it's not just about, having the tools and having, to know it's practicing every single day. So you literally have to change how you show up for yourself every single day. If I say, Another piece of the whole, money mindset is gratitude.
[00:11:57] But if I don't practice gratitude every single day in a way that I'm really, truly authentically feeling grateful for everything that I have, for every penny that leaves my bank account as much. Just as grateful as for every penny that I see. If you practice that only sometimes only when you need money, only when you need your business.
[00:12:18] You're only when you're stressed and stuff, then, the things are not as smooth. They don't go. You have these big sharp edges up and down. I said, I always tell to my clients, having a balance. And your life is not about being a flat line, right? It's about having those.
[00:12:37] Those ups and downs curved so there are no sharp edges, so there are more they feel more like a viable wave rather than the wave that you're going to crash. What so practicing every single day practicing self-awareness too can change w what you do, how you think, how you feeling and, being consistent.
[00:12:58] Consistency is a big piece in success, in everything as we know.
[00:13:02] Shannon Hernandez: That's interesting that you bring that up because I've read books on, on habits and building habits and they talk about, habits on the very foundation, basic level of, , I remember one book that I had read.
[00:13:14] I forget the name of it off the top of my head. I would probably come to me here in a second, but they talked about how The smell that comes [00:13:20] with that when that is in your house upon someone's first visit or entry within the home can make the biggest difference in creating a new habit that the house.
[00:13:31] Is much cleaner than what it is. It could be a pig style or a rat's nest, but there may be this habit of spraying for breeze in the house every single day to make it smell a little bit better. And it makes the environment feel a little bit better. And maybe that small habit leads to making you. Clean up the house, maybe that small habit moves to.
[00:13:51] I cleaned now the house every other day. And then to building better habits, eating better, maybe it's, cleaning just small foundational pieces that are key to resetting your mind into, this forward-thinking motion. Is that kind of what you're saying here?
[00:14:07] Karmen Reed: Yes, absolutely. It's things like you're saying, it's going to trigger a different behavior, right?
[00:14:14] So that trigger when we don't have it, we have to build it. We'll have to create it. And then that help people create that. So I don't tell you, Oh, you need to do this. We explore what is the best thing to do this for you? What are you going to change? Instead of me giving you a recipe, Oh, do this and this change, do this.
[00:14:33] Instead of that. It works fine the beginning, but because you're in it, doesn't come from you. We'd let go of that. And we start, if we go back to the old stuff in order to really truly break through it, you have to create
[00:14:48] Shannon Hernandez: it yourself. Yeah. And I think that is a key thing when it comes down to building out, whether it be podcasts, whether that be building out a business for.
[00:14:58] All intents and purposes. I think the people who are listening to this particular podcast, they want to see their podcast turn into something that is like of a business, not everyone, but a lot of people are trying to decode this idea of how do I get it? How do I turn it into something that is, driven by money, but yeah.
[00:15:15] I always try to reel it back for myself. Maybe I'm doing this wrong, but I try to reel it back and say, I know what my goal is at the very end. And I need to know what my steps are in that process to, to achieve the goal. And I think a lot of podcasts are just, or even business owners for that matter. Just go, I just want to hit.
[00:15:33] Goal, and then we're ready to go, not knowing what the steps are in between. And I think that's where the disconnect is for a lot of these people, whether that be investing in software or hardware or. Services for taxes or anything like that. That's where I think it becomes difficult for people to understand.
[00:15:52] So I think the foundation of when we talk about habits and what you're talking about, those are all the things, the little things that matter in the overall scope of. Your business,
[00:16:03] Karmen Reed: it, we're habitual creatures and we're humans. They're not the only ones there dogs. And that's why we train them and habits create a consistent set of actions that will help us up level, no matter what we're doing, whether that we're working on our relationship with a significant other or with a family or work.
[00:16:25] Working on our relationship with our business and how we show up for for our clients for a tasks, for our podcasts, where blogs for you.
[00:16:34] Shannon Hernandez: We're moving into a brand new year and we're recording this. I'm actually just a few days before [00:16:40] the new year, 2021. And I had this interesting conversation with my brother yesterday.
[00:16:45] Excuse me. And we talked about. How there were a lot of excuses that we were seeing based on 2020, and I'm not sure maybe those excuses I'm air quoting right now, excuses. Maybe they were legit and valid or maybe they were just literally legit, legitimately excuses. People just didn't want to take that next step.
[00:17:07] And when I came down to it and I thought about it on the drive, back to my house, I thought to myself, what have I learned from 2020? I have learned how to refine and make my skills that much stronger investing, not just with money, but investing in myself and learning.
[00:17:26] So something that you had mentioned earlier in the conversation investing in a course, and I, that is something that I really try to preach to people on this podcast and on my YouTube is that. Investing in yourself doesn't necessarily mean that I'm spending the money means you're investing.
[00:17:41] Karmen Reed: That's the mindset about spending and investing? When I spend, when I think I'm spending on something is I am not really expecting any return on that. It's just money gone. You done. But when you start thinking of everything as an investment, even if I buy groceries, I'm investing in a great nourishment for myself.
[00:18:04] So I can actually, be healthy return on that investment is my health. When I say I'm investing in my own learning and my own growth, that means that money is, did not, was not spent. It was actually invested. Like I'm a different person. I'm thinking differently. I am showing up differently, different, right?
[00:18:27] When you invest in a podcast course that means I'm going to learn about this. Eventually, it's going to turn into something. If I follow. The plan, that I create for myself. So investing in spending, I say, wherever you say, spend just saying best, just train yourself to, it's a habit of catching yourself to about, it's Ooh, I'm thinking of again.
[00:18:51] It's . I'm investing. If I'm investing in makes you immediately think of what is the return, what is it that you expect from it back? So when people are scared and pudding, investing into equipment or investing into a course there really don't see first of all, they're not clear about what they want, what is this going to brink?
[00:19:11] Invest into this. Or if I spend my money, when I put in, I have to, park with my money. But if I'm not clear what I want back. It's spending. And a lot of people don't invest because they're not clear. They're not clear. What is this going to do for them? They're not clear about what they want this to do for them.
[00:19:30] And therefore, it's just like they pass, or you have people who are going to invest, but are going to do. Nothing with it. They are spending their money. That course is sitting there. The equipment is, locked up in the basement or something, because one day I'm going to do this.
[00:19:47] And then you have people who are truly like I'm and I'm all in. I know where I'm going. I know what I want out of it. I'm not sure if this is going to be the right path, but I'm taking steps anyways. I'm [00:20:00] going to adjust as I go.
[00:20:01] Shannon Hernandez: Yeah. Yeah. This is an interesting point because I wasn't high school English teacher in another life.
[00:20:07] And I talked about with my students at one point in time about the power of words and how the power of a single word can change the outcome of something way later down the line. And when we talk about this idea of the word invest versus spend, I try to remind myself that. Whether that be spending time with you or investing my time with you or spending money on something or investing money on something are two almost completely different.
[00:20:36] Yeah. Ways of looking at the world. And so I try to remember that when I go and I spend time with a friend, I'm not just spending it, I'm investing my time with them. I'm investing in my, in the relationship that I am building with that human being I'm investing in the experiences that I can gain from that, so that I can utilize those experiences for a future possibility of who knows what may be down the line.
[00:21:02] Even when I say I'm spending time. I try to reframe it for myself by saying I'm an, investing that time with someone, whether it be a romantic relationship, whether that be a professional relationship, building a podcast, going into a course. And those are key things that I think that we have to re we have to reframe our future and looking at our future.
[00:21:24] Go ahead. Do you look like you wanted to say something?
[00:21:26] Karmen Reed: Absolutely. I so agree with I wouldn't have known I had five heads that would, yes, absolutely. But here's where my head went also is you don't want people, they say it's like, Oh, I don't have time for that. Or I don't have money for that. Yeah.
[00:21:42] It's all. I'm not saying it's an excuse, but it's a perception of what's important to that. We will always find money in time. If we believe that whatever we need to, put it into is important to us. So when somebody tells you, sorry, I don't have time for that. That means that whatever you propose that time on that particular activity is not a priority to them.
[00:22:09] The money, Hey, invest into this podcast course, or this money course, or, whatever, buy this book. And not today, it's not important today. There eventually it will become important maybe. And when he does become, then, a party with your money will become an investor.
[00:22:28] Shannon Hernandez: Yeah. That, that is, that's a huge point now.
[00:22:32] I want to ride on that point because when we talk about people saying, all right this is investment in time with a person or investment in money. There's also the idea of risk and the amount of risks that you're taking. Will it pay off in the end because you don't know what the future is. So how do we get over that mindset?
[00:22:52] Because I know. Personally for myself as that, as an example, this year I purchased a thousand dollar camera. I had to repurchase a brand new computer you're talking this year I had to spend close to $6,600 in equipment because it was all. All failing on me and I needed to upgrade in that equipment.
[00:23:13] But in my mind, I thought to myself, I'm investing in it because that's going to help me get it's going to help [00:23:20] my workflow much easier. So how do we get someone to rethink the idea of risk when it comes to their podcast or their business or whatever it may be?
[00:23:33] Karmen Reed: I think that people perceive something as risky, especially if they're buying something.
[00:23:38] Or investing into something that, that they have the main role in, they don't trust themselves. They don't trust themselves that they're going to show up and therefore there's a huge risk. Of it. If I'm a hundred percent in a hundred percent in, if I. If I have done my work and create is I know my vision, I know what I'm going to do with this.
[00:23:58] I know how this is gonna, turn into like I w I am expecting a certain results and when I'm expecting certain results, this is how I show up. I investigate. I look at the information like what's not going, where's not what is not working. How can I make it work? Where do I need to shift?
[00:24:20] So I think it becomes actually a matter of personal buy-in yeah. Into the idea of why am I investing this money? What is this investment going to do for me? If we're not aware of that, if we don't do the pre-work. To especially the large purchases like yours, $6,600 investment. It's not a small change, it's a, quite a chunk.
[00:24:48] So when you're thinking, it's you need to look at and says okay, am I going to use it every day? If I use it how is this gonna how am I gonna get my money back in this? How am I gonna, I was just going to turn into an amazing investment, right? Your quality or your or tell me, you tell me right now,
[00:25:06] Shannon Hernandez: what's going on.
[00:25:07] So at the time when that happened, so we'll start with the camera. The camera was an idea where I, I've been using just a regular webcam, which is fine. It's completely fine. But then I invested in this brand new Sony 6,408 6,400 camera. And I thought this will really step up the quality of what my videos will look like on YouTube.
[00:25:25] As I got that camera, I started editing them on my old Mac book pro that Mac book pro came from 2013. And at the same time, I had been someone who reached out to me and said would you be willing to partner with me to start building some videos out so that we can create a partnership on our product and in turn it helps you out with your podcast as well?
[00:25:44] And I said, yeah, sure. So as I started filming on these, this camera, it's the one that we're on right now and editing on my old computer. It started to slow everything down because the files were so large and it just wasn't because of the files from these videos that I was doing, it was from everything else that I was doing prior to even getting the camera.
[00:26:05] The computer was crashing, the everything just started to fail and it would be failing at the wrong moment. And in that time, in that moment, I thought to myself It was like a time. It was like time versus productivity type situation where I was like, I was spending way too much time dealing with something that was not working to the satisfaction, which I needed to get the work done.
[00:26:27] And I had already had the quality, but it was the process. Could I have farmed it out to someone. Yes, I could have, but I also know what my process of workflow is for this brand new project I had to set up. [00:26:40] So I invested in the computer and everything that has led up to this podcast interview to launching my brand new podcast, to launching these brand new videos.
[00:26:51] Has been a complete investment has been a complete godsend because it cut the time down probably by over a half to three quarters of the time that it was taking me to create those things. So I knew that down the line, it was hard to see. It was very difficult to see. What that was going to look like down in the end, but I knew I had to keep it in mind and, I have a whiteboard over here on the, to my right.
[00:27:17] And I wrote it down on the white board saying, this is what you're going to be receiving. You will receive these things just to remind yourself that you have to get through this difficult time. And I think that all is in part by there's some training that I've had to go through and personally, whether that'd be through my relationships, whether that be through health issues that I've had to go through nutrition, all of those pieces.
[00:27:36] And I just kinda knew that internal matrix of what was going on inside of my head of saying. If I just invest in it, it will happen. I just, like you said, though, I have to be all in before I can do this specific thing. And that's where I want to unlock. And maybe have someone think in this podcast and say, Oh, I haven't been all in on this thing.
[00:28:00] Karmen Reed: And most people would find that piece. Probably the most important one and the most authentic one. I'm not all in. Why am I not all in let's go investigate. Why am I gonna, I tell people when they're having, so my particular client that I was talking about earlier, she.
[00:28:21] I call her Maverick when it comes to, investing, she spends money thinking she's investing and then she doesn't really use it up, which means spending money. But if you she saw a course and she goes, Oh my gosh, I found this awesome course about selling and this is what's going to be.
[00:28:37] And I signed up and I sat for a certification and dah, and she goes Do you think I did the right thing and I go I don't know. That's investigate. Yeah. If you had done the right thing, like what w let's list the pros and the cons for the sufficient, what is this going to bring you, how's this going to, how is this going to elevate you?
[00:28:57] How is this going to elevate your business? She said some really great pros in there, so she decided she's just going to keep the course, but she's gonna Decline or canceled the certification piece because all she needed to learn how to sell higher ticket items to more people. So she can meet her plan of growth for the next year.
[00:29:18] So she was thinking in the right directions, but she's also she wasn't overthinking, but she was like, there was a lack of. Thinking look because, there are, people's Oh, I want the best, the top, the best did it, and there might be a few thousand dollars difference in your investment there.
[00:29:36] And. How would I like, I'm trying to look for a metaphor. I have a sister in law. She loves cars. She loves her Beamers. She's like a three-year lease. And she likes to be the first one in the whole County to drive with the brand spanking new model. She takes so much pride into that.
[00:29:56] This last year was a really tough one because [00:30:00] she worked at out of home. She barely drove her car. Those cars are super expensive. So even though it's a lease, so it's a lower cost, you're still paying a few hundred dollars. If you're not a thousand dollars a month for a payment on the car that you're not driving.
[00:30:18] And then at the end of three years, That lease is actually going to be two year, at least. So the whole at least $12,000 are pretty much down the drain because she did not really drive that car. So those are the things that sometimes are unexpected teachers for us to see, she could not have predicted this, but it's am I over, over investing into something and I'm not gonna use it versus am I investing?
[00:30:45] And I'm all in. Because I know what this is going to bring back to me.
[00:30:50] Shannon Hernandez: I think that is an important point to make, especially as we have business owners like you and I, this one of the things that you and I have in common, and I brought it up when we first met was that we both are customers of the platform Kajabi and.
[00:31:04] Prior to me investing in Kajabi, it was investing in going to conferences. And I always tell podcasters, yes, invest in going to a con invest in going to a conference because the ticket price may be, $500. But what you're going to gain in the value of. The experience that is there of people who have come before you that have done it, you will learn so much and you will start implementing and investing not only that knowledge, but that time that you have spent for those four days or three days or whatever it may have been into now, your business, will it work maybe on the first round?
[00:31:39] Maybe it will. Maybe it won't, I don't know. That's going to be up to you, but there is a point to where I've told myself, it's a balance with going to some of these conferences and saying, okay there's the Kajabi summit? I knew I wanted to go to this Kajabi summit because I knew I was going to learn specific key pieces about my business and that platform to help me take this to the next level.
[00:32:02] Whereas there were all these other conferences happening at the same time. And I thought, no, I need to focus on one conference right now. Get that conference under my belt, implement what I have learned. And then I can go to the next conference and do this. I see a lot of people saying that they have to invest in conference after conference.
[00:32:20] And before you know it like have they put it into action and that's the hard part.
[00:32:28] Karmen Reed: Yeah. I know. I I love conferences too, and I've learned so much through the conferences and. Here's another hidden gem with the con conferences. You'll meet phenomenal people. You'll meet possible joint ventures, joint venture partners.
[00:32:45] You meet people who can help you learn faster. There's a community. If you participate in a program that is after the conference, then you, there is a community and from the conference, so it's not just. It's not just the conference itself, right? Because when you invest into a conference of $500 and you create a a relationship with somebody that will bring in a joint venture opportunity, $500.
[00:33:11] It's nothing when you're making $5,000 potentially. But your point and figuring out what is the right [00:33:20] things for you? If you don't have clarity on what you want, what you're working on, how are you going to make that decision? So people who are constantly jumping from one conference to the next conference and not really implemented and working, taking the time to actually implement what they have learned, they have.
[00:33:37] A lack of clarity. And that is bigger item.
[00:33:42] Shannon Hernandez: That is, I think the theme of this entire podcast is that it's gotta be this idea of clarity. And I think it's clarity. And then it's the other point that we had said how all in are you? Are you all in on this entire process of developing and building your business or your podcast or whatever it may be.
[00:34:00] And so the clarity. The clarity piece that we have within today's podcast, I think is the most important. And that is going to lead into my last and final question to you. And it probably should have been the first question within this podcast is that, I want to talk to you about, with those people who have debt right now, we think about debt and.
[00:34:21] People have credit card debt, they have student loan debt. They have whatever debt that is there, but they want to do this one thing that is really lighting them on fire. How do we manage ourselves from this mindset of saying, Oh my God, I cannot handle another bill. What do I do for, how do I take this to the next level?
[00:34:40] To saying, okay, I can manage now this bill, what do I, how do we navigate that portion with debt and fulfilling your dream of doing your business or your podcast?
[00:34:50] Karmen Reed: If I told you 99% of Americans are in debt, I wouldn't be lying. I'm not saying that because I don't really know that percentage.
[00:34:59] America's built. On debt and credit. And we have as a society, as a nation, we have so evolved our death, creating I'm in debt to have a better credit score I'm in debt because of this and that, whatever the reason is getting out of debt becomes really. A painful point of people to ask themselves, Holly, how do I get out of that right now?
[00:35:28] Am I like even is a smart for me to invest into something? If I'm thinking about getting out of debt? I would say it depends. How strenuous is your debt? If it's really strenuous you have a new business in investment. In investing anything until you actually invest in getting out of it that first.
[00:35:49] That's what I would say. But then again, when we, I have a credit card, you have a credit card, probably my husband has a credit card and work, where revolving there is w what is called it is a revolving debt. When we're thinking about getting some of the stuff half off, you have to really find.
[00:36:07] A good anchor in investment and see, how is this going to help you get out of debt? So if my investment is, I want to do, I need a new computer. Is this new computer going to help me somehow get out of debt? It may be, how do we need to think about it? And we really need to, first of all, I'd say the scariest exercise of them all.
[00:36:32] When it comes to money is take a whole entire honest picture of where you are. [00:36:40] I've worked with a person who she's a health and wellness coach. And she was really struggling with, her her coaching business was her side hustle. She had a regular she's, she has a regular job and then the side hustle.
[00:36:58] And when she w when we were like looking at her whole money situation sh like she was so hesitant to do it. I go, you have to put an Excel spreadsheet. And if you're not digital, go and do a paper, like as long as it as a case and list every single account, every single money that is owed.
[00:37:21] By you that you owe what is the percentage rate on the interest that you're paying and what is the minimum pain payment of everything. And then you go through all of your holding accounts and see what money you have. 401k, I Rose a health savings account. Oh, she goes health savings account.
[00:37:43] She found she had $6,600 into a health savings account that she completely disregarded. And she was thinking she was trusting about doing some dental work at that time. So she was thinking like, if I have to put money into dental work, but not into this course or not onto this piece of equipment, then, dental work is much more important than this just can wait.
[00:38:05] But if I knew. That I had 600, $600 in my health savings account. And that can go towards my teeth. Then my $2,200 can go towards this equipment. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. Number one thing, deep breath, a little bit of courage and go at it and see what is your truth? I call this money truth.
[00:38:29] And also when it comes to money, it's What am I good at? And what am I not so good at when it comes to money? It's how about a checklist of that? Because then you go, Oh my gosh, I need to work on learning how to invest better. Or I know nothing about the investments, 401k, fidelity is doing that or Schwab.
[00:38:50] No, it's like somebody else. Dictating how your life is going to turn out when you're ready to retire and then, take that into your own hands and let's learn something about it. It doesn't have to be, you don't have to be an investment pro now on wall street, you just need to know enough to make good decisions or to actually see and feel good because you see your money
[00:39:13] Shannon Hernandez: growing.
[00:39:14] Yeah. And I think that is also part of the concept of manifesting. It's all about manifesting money. Like you bring up this idea or this, that you've got this idea, but you bring up the story about someone needing dental work well and not knowing where you're going to come up with that money.
[00:39:31] And sometimes when you sit down and you take that snapshot of your financials and you go. Oh, I didn't realize I had that. Or, you're trying to buy a home and you say, Oh God, I need to put 10% down or I need to put 20% down on it. And you think to yourself, where am I going to come up with 20%, 10%.
[00:39:48] And you start looking at the snapshot and you go, Oh, I have money that is here and here. And I can probably start investing in my new home or investing in my [00:40:00] equipment or investing in whatever it may be. I think once you look at that snapshot, you and you get. Like that, that checklist of things like, okay, I need the car.
[00:40:08] Obviously the car payment is a big thing. I need insurance. You start looking at the things that are necessary. Then I think one, one of the things is seeing all the little unnecessary things that are our subscriptions and, can you live without Netflix for, five months, is that $12 a month going to make a big difference in impact for you later down
[00:40:26] Karmen Reed: the line?
[00:40:27] Yeah. Or how many magazines are you receiving that is creating piles of magazines? You never even look at them or, is that carwash membership still, trending out for you or it's Oh no, I moved six years ago. It's what am I paying? Car wash membership in a different town, right?
[00:40:45] Yeah. So I suggest people have what I still do. I've been doing this for eight years. Have a money date. I have money date every Monday. We're disturbing it right now. I'm going to have it right after the call, but my money date is 10:00 AM. Pacific time every Monday. And. It's a whole hour that is blocked in my calendar.
[00:41:06] And I go through my counselor, my bills through my spreadsheet, and I look at it and see if there's anything that I need to do. And and if I'm done in 15, 20 minutes, then I go deeper in and I look into the details of some charges of some maybe I'll call somebody and say, Hey, can we lower our Verizon, how am I on the best plan, for me, making those calls and being diligent with your money means you're paying attention. Mommy loves the tension, because if you give it your attention to it, I will give you the attention. It's a relationship, right?
[00:41:41] Shannon Hernandez: Yeah. Yeah. That's I just want to stop right there because I want to say that relationship does show its return.
[00:41:49] It is very reciprocal when you give it attention. And I just think like I have experienced this. I know I have other friends that have experienced this and when they shift the mindset. Away from the lack into saying it's not, I wouldn't even say it's lack when they shifted from the lack into okay. And abundance, then you go, Oh, it wasn't necessarily monetarily possible.
[00:42:18] Maybe it wasn't monetarily. Maybe you spent some money to get to that abundance, but the abundance comes in so many other forms that are just beyond the money. That's how I felt.
[00:42:29] Karmen Reed: And that's why I say, practicing gratefulness and gratitude every single day. Frank's that, it's kinda like an elevated feeling about, what money is to you.
[00:42:40] It's yeah. But money. If I pay my electricity bill, that means that I have charged for my computer and my phone, and then that flight and, juice for your camera and all this other, food in my refrigerator, cold food in my fridge. So it's. We have to bring ourselves into a state of thinking different thoughts so we can do different, take different action, right?
[00:43:06] Because if the action actions, what we have been taken up to now had brought us to this place where we're going or where we want to go. Not the same set of actions and habits are going to take us to the next place. We [00:43:20] have exhausted it's abundance, right? So you have to create the new abundance of opportunities.
[00:43:25] So that's where I think when it comes to getting rid of debt, I'd say when you're, if you're so deep into it, there are so many services out there that are going to help you consolidate debts. And I think that, There are so many options out there. I am very hesitant to giving any advice on that because first of all, I'm not an expert on debt, and the second of all, I do believe that we all have our personal needs based on our goals. And I say, have a really great CPA. An accountant that is familiar with your situation that is familiar with your goals and your vision. Have a really great either wealth advisor or financial advisor, however you want to, to create more wealth and to have the right investments that pay yourself first, which means save money every single day.
[00:44:14] Money that you come in, a certain percentage goes away. Or even if you don't, you're totally in debt and you're barely making it. So pay yourself a dollar. It's a habit that counts because the amount it's easy to adjust the amount, but the habit that's the hard part. So if you started with it, dollar savings, every time you receive something, it automatically.
[00:44:37] It grows little, but he
[00:44:38] Shannon Hernandez: grows, right? Yeah. And I think that is going to be, I think, a point where it's paying yourself and building the habit of saying, Oh, I am building, I am paying myself a dollar every say two weeks, or maybe it's every time I get a new client that has a, paid me a certain amount, whether that be it's a $50 an hour, $120 an hour, a $300 an hour.
[00:45:01] Call pay yourself first, give yourself that. That time and then use what, and then distributed the money elsewhere, whether it be in your business or whether that be in, in needs. But always pay yourself, keep that money saved and have it have it there for you. So I wouldn't say always.
[00:45:21] Think that you're saving, just because you're going to buy something later on down the line, you're building more of a habit than anything else. And I think
[00:45:27] that's
[00:45:27] Karmen Reed: true. And, bring back that too, the fact that most people that are listening to your podcast and are my clients and your clients are entrepreneurs solo printers mostly.
[00:45:38] When we make money, we have to pay tax on it. Don't forget that 30% away and put it in a savings account. I'd say, I don't pay estimated taxes to IRS because I don't know how to estimate it in a sense, the season, but if that works for you, pay the estimated taxes.
[00:46:00] It doesn't work for me. What works for me is putting the money. What, when I get the money, let's say you get a thousand dollars, 30% goes to your 10% goes there. So that 10% goes into savings and 30% goes into tax account. The rest of it, the 70% or the 60% gets distributed in, I have paid the bills, dah, do whatever.
[00:46:20] Yeah. It's you have a plan of how your money will work for you versus constantly thinking, struggling, feeling, anxiety, worry, shame, guilt, all this stuff that is not taking you any place, new and better.
[00:46:37] Shannon Hernandez: And to wrap it all [00:46:40] into this key theme that you brought up in the beginning, it's the gratitude.
[00:46:47] Yeah. The gratitude of knowing that you have the money to spend for electricity, to charge your laptop, to power your camera, to make a meal, to do all these things. Like we don't think in those terms, we think in terms of Oh, I just got the money and I have to pay my bills and reframing it and saying no, I now have the money because I can now do these things.
[00:47:09] Karmen Reed: I get to pay my bills. I take pride in pairing my dose because I've already spent the electricity, right? Yeah. It's only fair that I say, and I get to pay for that now. How awesome is that?
[00:47:21] Shannon Hernandez: And it becomes reciprocal at that point. And I think that is what really lights me on fire. That's why I want to see all my listeners, the pod-casters that is trying to get involved in something that is a bit bigger.
[00:47:33] We'll turn it into possibly a business. I want them to start thinking in these terms as opposed to it's a waste of time and it's no, there's no for sure plan, because I think the most for sure plan is believing in yourself.
[00:47:45] Karmen Reed: Absolutely. So glad you brought that up again, because it's that it's if we don't work every single day on towards our goals, shorts that are plans that includes working on ourselves because we need to become somebody else in order to be able to manage our new life.
[00:48:01] Our new adventure. Yeah. Absolutely has to be this is where we go back to consistent consistently showing up and being all in.
[00:48:11] Shannon Hernandez: Yeah. Being only
[00:48:13] Karmen Reed: life
[00:48:14] Shannon Hernandez: reciprocates. Definitely. Absolutely. Karmen, I have had such a great time talking with you. I feel like we could just talk for hours, honestly, and I'm not even saying that because we're recording.
[00:48:24] I honestly do feel that we could just sit and talk. Me
[00:48:26] Karmen Reed: too. I can talk about this for Apple. Having a conversation helping other people is awesome.
[00:48:33] Shannon Hernandez: Yeah. So Karmen, tell me how can people find you and do you have anything that any resources or anything that can help these people take their money mindset to the next level?
[00:48:43] Karmen Reed: Karmen Reed.com. That's spelled with a K. Okay. And I have a clarity playbook download. I'm updating it now for 2021. So that will be up the first week of January, but that is one piece. I think that people, whoever is thinking about upleveling, anything, be clear on what you're upleveling with and be clear about what is going to motivate you to actually get there.
[00:49:10] Shannon Hernandez: Great. Great, Karmen, thank you so much again, for being on the podcast therapist today. I really do appreciate it and we will hope I will be sending people to obviously that that download for you. I'll leave those links in the show notes. So we can grab those from you after today's interview. But again, I want to express my gratitude for having you on the podcast today, and you're helping so many people change this way of thinking into a more positive and hopeful future.
[00:49:37] Karmen Reed: And thank you Shannon for having me for this very awesome conversation we were having. I think that's, that was great.
[00:49:45] Shannon Hernandez: And I know you got a date right now, so I don't want to keep you from your date. Thanks, Karmen.
