More Money Podcast - 135 Making Life-Changing Money - Michelle Jackson, Blogger at Michelle Is Money Hungry

Episode Date: December 6, 2017

Don't think of want to earn more money as being greedy. Think of it as a way to help you help others. I talk about the idea that it's okay to be "money hungry" with the goal of being able to serve others and live your best life with blogger and podcaster Michelle Jackson of Michelle Is Money Hungry in this last podcast interview episode for Season 5 of the Mo' Money Podcast. Long description:  Before I recorded this episode, I’d only met Michelle Jackson from Michelle Is Money Hungry a few time at past FinCon conferences. But the few times we did meet, we immediately hit it off. Michelle just has a special energy and light that I couldn’t forget, and because she is all about earning money these days, and that’s what the theme for this season has been about, I knew she would make the perfect guest for my last interview for Season 5 of the show. The reason I gave this episode the title “Making Life Changing Money” is because it’s one of the things Michelle mentioned at the start of this episode that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It’s just such a great way to express how I also view earning more money. I don’t want to earn more just so I can buy more stuff. I want to earn more so I can do more stuff, including continue to create free content like my blog, podcast and YouTube videos that aim to promote financial literacy. I want to earn more so I can live a life that is full and financially secure. I want to earn more so I can take care of me and my family, but also others who need my help too. And that’s exactly how Michelle lives her life as a new entrepreneur. She wants to earn more so she can live her best life, but also so she can afford to help others live their best lives too. Throughout this season, I interviewed a lot of guests on how to earn more, but I think this final episode is a great way to cap things off by focusing on the why. Make sure to check out Michelle’s website and feel free to reach out to her at [e-mail]. For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/135 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 135 of the Mo Money Podcast. And I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you for joining me. This is the last week for season five of the show. I've got a stellar interview and super, it'll get you pumped. It'll get you pumped to make some money because I am interviewing Michelle Jackson from Michelle is Money Hungry, which I love. I love that name. It really does fit Michelle so good, as you will totally get when you listen to this interview. But just a big shout out for Michelle because she is just one awesome, inspirational lady and took me around Denver when I was on that Money 2020 payments race, which was fabulous. She bought me brunch and took me to Red Rocks and just was a delight, which was really cool because we had just been kind of internet friends for years and saw each other at FinCon a little bit but never spent some quality time together. So it was super, super fun.

But what's funny is I recorded this interview with her before I did the race and before I got to hang out with her in person. But so I think I, in this interview, I even talk about like, I would love to go to Denver and, uh, it's sometimes if you just put things out into the universe, uh, you know, you never know what's going to happen. Right. Um, so this episode is about what Michelle is up to now, why she's kind of rebranded to Michelle's Money Hungry before she was under the moniker the Shop My Closet Project. She was that for years. But now she's Michelle's Money Hungry. She is also, besides being a blogger, she's also a podcaster in her own right. She has the podcast Girl Gone Frugal. And she is just up to a lot of cool stuff she uh i remember talking to her when we're hanging out in denver uh just about you know some of her goals what we want to aspire to and she's

uh obviously is money hungry she wants to just earn so uh i loved that i got her for this specific season where the focus is all about earning potential and going beyond what you think you can earn and just saying, no, I can do more to get more. And it doesn't mean you're greedy. I think that's the thing that I've been trying to make sure that people understand that. The reason this season is all about earning is because this is an important element. And especially, especially I feel like as a woman, you know, I've always felt that I have been kind of undervalued in terms of the money that I've been able to earn in past jobs. I've always worked just as hard as my male counterparts, but I know for a fact that they were earning more than me. And it's frustrating, which is a big reason why I, you know, got a side hustle so I could earn more.

And a big reason why I decided to go off on my own with my own business, because, you know, realistically, like when you are your own business person, the, you know, the sky's the limit, really. So that is kind of why the whole season has been about earning. It is not about being greedy and, and all that kind of stuff. It's just about being paid your worth and not being afraid to ask for more when you deserve it and working hard, never forgetting to work hard on that hustle, but also not undervaluing yourself. So anyway, so that is just me. I'm sure I'll get more into this in tomorrow's solo episode. So get ready for that. Okay, longest intro ever, obviously.

Before I get to this fabulous interview with Michelle, here are just a few words about this episode's sponsor. So you're racing against the clock to wrap up three projects, prepping for a meeting later in the afternoon, all while trying to tackle a mountain of paperwork. Welcome to life as a freelancer. Challenging? You bet it is. But our friends at FreshBooks believe the rewards are so worth it. Let's be honest, the working world has changed. With the growth of the internet,

there's never been more opportunities for the self-employed. To meet this need, FreshBooks is excited to announce the launch of an all-new version of their cloud accounting software. It's been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Get ready for the simplest way to be more productive, organized, and most importantly, get paid quickly. The all-new FreshBooks is not only ridiculously easy to use, it's also packed full of powerful features. Create and send professional-looking invoices in less than 30 seconds, set up online payments with just a couple of clicks and get paid up to four days faster, and see when your client has seen your invoice and put an end to all those guessing games. FreshBooks is offering a 30-day unrestricted

free trial to all of my listeners. To claim it, just go to freshbooks.com slash Mo and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section. Once again, that's freshbooks.com slash M-O and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section. Thank you, Michelle, for joining me on the Mo Money podcast. I'm so glad that you could join me. Thank you for having me. You're so welcome. I can't believe it's been so long since we've connected. It's been almost a year since I saw you at FinCon and a lot has changed since then for both of our lives, which is actually kind of exciting to see. It's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. I can't wait to see you in a couple months.

I know. We're going to have to dance on tables because that's what you do in Texas. I'm just saying. Oh, I am so excited. I'm going to eat all of the things because I hear everything's bigger in Texas, including food. And that's what I want. All the deep fried food and dancing on tables. I'm eating barbecue. Right now I'm vegan. And for that week, I will suspend the vegan life and eat meat candy. Ooh, yeah. And anyone who's like a vegan, like extremist listening to me now and you're horrified. Well, let me just say I'm a vanity vegan. So basically, I believe it's good for my health. I think it's great for the earth and it's nice for the animals, but really, I just want to be skinny and hot. And, um, so I, I own this about myself. And, um, if I go on a date or go to my grandma's house, I'm not going to be like, well, I can't eat that. Cause my

grandma doesn't understand. No, you got to eat it. And don't be rude. Yeah. Like in a potential suitor might be like, you might be too much work. And I, I am, I am a lot of work, so I don't, I want to ease them into that. So, so if I Jedi mind trick them and I'm like, well, yeah, I eat some meat candy, which honestly, this seems like it's going in a different direction. But my point is I will eat meat depending on the situation. We're going to eat a lot in Texas and I'm very excited. We're going to eat all the, I'm so excited for all the barbecue. So, so, so excited. I do not eat barbecue in Colorado because we do a lot of things really well. I feel like that's not in our wheelhouse. Yeah. Yeah. I see that even in Toronto. It's like, I don't think I've ever gone out for barbecue here. And I don't know if there is a place that has it. I'm sure there is, but we have, I just don't go. There are just other things we do so well that I just, I don't touch it. I don't,

I don't eat Southern food here. Um, I have once actually it was really good, but in general, I'm like, I go to the source. You go to the source, you go to the place where it is. Absolutely. Absolutely. So since I saw you, what have you been up to back when I first, you know, got to know you, you, uh, your kind of brand, your blog was the shop, my closet project. And yeah, a lot has changed since then. So it's really funny because I started my website in 2012, I want to say I'm blogger and it was called the shop, my closet project. And my notion, my thought was, well, it's like you shop your actual closet and use what you have and love what you've got and live your best life, you know, kind of embracing minimalism and things like that. People did not understand that concept.

It was before minimalism was cool. Americans did not get it. They hardly got it now. And it was funny because I had friends from Europe who were like, wait, is it called the shop my cupboard, my cupboard closet. I was like, what? We don't say cupboard. Like what the hell? So it was just, um, it was a concept that I understood, but it was, it was difficult to get people to understand it. So I actually rebranded this year and the site is now called Michelle is money hungry.com. And the reason why I changed it to that is not because I'm greedy. I'm not greedy, but I wanted to give myself permission to own

the fact that I want to make life changing money, broke people. It's hard for broke people to help other people. And I felt like owning the fact that I want to make as much money as I possibly can and not limiting my earning potential was a really powerful statement to myself and to others. Some people, I actually got some weird Twitter things where people were like sending me religious stuff because it does. Yeah, it was weird. And I'm like, you know what? Because I'm of service does not need does not mean I need to be broke that's not going to work for this generation of of Jacksons in the United States so so I'm really excited about this rebrand um I also have a podcast that uh is on hiatus right now until I get back from podcast movement in a couple of weeks, which is called Girl Gone Frugal Again, where I talk about all things, saving money, online entrepreneurship, which I'm

really, really focused on, freelance writing, and just things that you can do utilizing all of the amazing tools that we have now because of the internet. I love the internet. I love all the internet right now. Like that's the crazy thing. Just, just cut the middleman out, which is your nine to five. Once you have a system and ideas in place. And, um, I love the power that the internet kind of returns to the individual. I'm American if you couldn't tell. And, um, for And for, I'm like, it's very obvious. And, you know, in the U.S., the way that our system is set up, it's not set up, in my view, to create healthy lives. I personally, I come from the state of Colorado. And as a mindset in my state, we kind of work to live instead of live to work.

And even though I worked in a great, I worked for a great organization, I worked for a university, I actually had good leave and stuff like that. But it took 10 years to get to that level of leave and pay time off and all that stuff. And I was like, you know what, there has to be a better way to design my best life because no one else is going to live it but me. And so now I'm also coaching Gen X and older millennial women. So like if you're 28 to 45, 47, you're the people I'm looking at. Am I an older millennial? Oh my Lord. I just call myself millennial, but I am getting older. I am in my 30s.

I don't want anyone who's like 25. I feel like that's a little tooial, but I am getting older. I am in my thirties. I don't want anyone who's like 25. I feel like that's a little too young, but, um, I want you to have a little seasoning. I want, you know, a little seasoning and, and basically I'm working with women and men if, if, you know, they're wanting some, some support on creating online businesses with the skills that they already have serving people that they really want to help and, and, you know, help create better lives. And, and, and my goal was to connect more with my friends and family to manage my health, to volunteer in my community, to, um, just be a better me. And I felt like the commute, all of the, you know, with work where you're working a nine to five, they kind of, they'll keep piling stuff on until

you break. That's, that's what they do here. And I felt like, and I was just like, this sucks. Like no one has my best interests at heart other than me, my mom and my grandma, like really like, and my friends. And I was like, I have to take back my life. And it's, it was initially very scary because I was like, this is crazy. I was really fortunate in that I live in a state with, in a city where online commerce is very common. And actually there's so many people working digitally or offsite. It's just a very common thing. So it's actually very easy for me to find camaraderie, camaraderie, excuse me, and support and networks and things like that. But, but it still made me feel a little selfish. Like, is it, am I wrong for wanting more than this? Like,

yeah. And, and people around me who were older, especially not, not people my age and younger, I'm not going to say how old I am. Um, but, but people who are older, like my parents and grandparents, it was sometimes they took it a little personally, but I was like, this isn't about you. This is the fact that I'm in, I'm living in 2017, 2016, what have you. And we have resources to facilitate this change in my life. And I'm going to take, take, I'm going to take advantage of it and not look back. And, and it's been a very interesting and it's been up and down as you could imagine. But I've, I love being of service and helping people who really want my help versus when I was at the university, I was working, doing immigration. As you could imagine right now, that would be very difficult.

Oh gosh, that's a tough job. Yeah. With rich students, but still it would have been, it's currently would be very challenging. And, um, it was very stressful because I was dealing with hundreds of people at any given time, physically in the building with me, not including hundreds on their way. So I went from working with about a hundred people at any given time when I first started my job to about 600 to 700 at any given time. And that was crazy. And I wanted boundaries. I wanted boundaries so that I can manage my mental and physical health. I was anxiety ridden. I broke a tooth. My hair fell out. I gained weight. Towards the end, it was crazy. So I was like,

you know what? This isn't going to work. And so I took the leap. Yep. Yeah, I know. I think you nailed going to work. And so I took the leap. Yep. Yeah, I know. That's, I think, yeah, you nailed a couple of things on the head and so many things. I feel like, you know, older generations, especially they have this idea that no, it has to be, you work for a company and you get your salary until you retire. That's what we did. That's what our parents did. That's where their parents did. It's, you know, been kind of what you've done for generations. So the idea of doing something different can definitely kind of ruffle some feathers. That's for sure. I mean, I certainly had a conversation with my mom when I decided to do the same and I don't think she quite understood my reasoning, thought it was very risky.

And it's like, I'm like, you're talking to me. I'm the most risk averse person. I'm all about financial security. You better believe that I put a plan in place, saved my money and I'm earning money. So I'm not just leaving my job. So I don't know what I'm doing. But I think just the whole idea of even just being a business owner. I mean, that was when I was growing up. I don't know where it exactly came from, but I learned somehow that to be a business owner is very hard and you may not be very rich. You'll probably lose a lot of money. Lots of businesses go out of business. So don't even try. It's a lot safer to work for a company. That is how I lived most of my life because that's what I learned in various ways. So to do the opposite, even though it is way easier to start your own

business because of the internet, it's still very, you know, kind of taboo. I think I would 100% agree. And I think the other thing is the earning component where I was like, I want to earn more money because I was working all, I was working 60 to 70 hours a week. Yeah. And also with the commute, it was just crazy. And I felt like there's a point where it's diminishing returns where for, for every extra hour I work, it's like I'm making $5 and I, I would rather work at Starbucks at this point because at least I'll get, you know, coffee to take home. Exactly. Get that pound a week. Get my pound, get some tips. Like I was just, I'll get some health insurance. Like it just, it just wasn't worth it to me after a while. So I took the risk and my mom didn't understand it.

She, she, she, again, like, like what you expressed with your parents, she was taught that you work for someone else. I was like well that's someone else doesn't care about me not in a mean way but you know corporation really is there to take care of their clientele and I am just a byproduct of that and I was like you know what I want I want to just figure this out and help people the best way that I can knowing using what I already know. So it's been weird and crazy and I've been my own like test dummy. Yeah. And, um, but it's been also amazing because I, instead of having to stay in my lane and only do the stuff that I've been trained to do, I could do whatever I dream up. So I'm launching a coaching program. I, uh, I speak at conferences

and not just in one specific, specific, excuse me, field, but in different areas of interest. I, um, run a meetup group. Like there's all these things that I can explore as long as they're moneymaking, you know, that there's, they're connected to ways that help me make money is fantastic. So I'm growing as a person, I'm growing professionally. I'm part of professional organizations basically. And, and so it's been really interesting because these would be opportunities that, that I wouldn't have had to speak at conferences to, to connect and, uh, with people and, and grow my expertise. Because when you, when I was working with, you know, for the university, there was just,

there was a narrow focus that I had to focus on and, and, and I got frustrated with that. Absolutely. I think, and you definitely, you know, mentioned a couple important things, uh, especially that, you know, definitely ring true to my life is that, you know, depending on what kind of job you're doing, or if you've been there too long, or it's just not the right fit or whatever, or maybe you're meant to not do the nine to five, you know, it can really affect your mental health. And I absolutely near the end of my last job, I didn't even realize it until it was almost kind of too late. I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is making me, you know, anxious. I'm getting a little depressed. I gained a ton of weight as well. And I was just unhappy, but I didn't really relate it to my workplace until I'm like, oh,

actually, hmm. And very well, I could have gone on to find a different job at a different company. It would have been better. But I think what I realized was also, you know, like you, this is kind of a good time, I think, to try out this whole thing of being an entrepreneur. So I'm going to take that risk. I don't like living with regrets. So, and right now, you know, similar to you, it's like, I don't really have that many responsibilities. I don't have children right now. You know, we have a mortgage, but it is absolutely within our budget. That's why we bought it. And I'm very frugal. And that's definitely, I think, yeah, I feel like, and you probably relate to this too, is just when you do make a big leap in that, doing something totally different, like working a nine to five. And this could be similar to if someone wants to go back

to school and has to get a part-time job or whatever the shift in your life is, you know, sometimes that means, okay, I can't spend the way I used to at my old job. And so I have lived probably the most frugal I have in like six or seven years. And not necessarily because I'm earning like nothing. It's just because I want that, A, I want to kind of get back to the basics. I want to stop feeling like I needed to spend because I got into this pattern of spending to make me feel better. And I didn't like that side of me. I wanted to get used to only using things that I already own and just like, I don't know, living healthier. I didn't, you know, you kind of don't relate those things usually, but if you make your meals at home, it's not only cheaper, but it's way healthier,

you know? So just kind of getting back to the basics, which I think is kind of a nice byproduct and it's taking a risk like this. Well, and, and I think the important thing to touch on, which, which I didn't mention was I spent a lot of time reworking all of my habits because I had a lot of bad, bad financial habits, which was why I started writing about money. I was like, my money is really funny and I'm not laughing. This is horrible. And part of those mistakes were made because of lack of information or because of circumstance. It was like a mix of things and they kind of came together in a perfect storm of hell.

And so then I started blogging about money. And when I got to the point where I was like, I need to leave this job because it's killing me off. I just broke a tooth and now I have to get it replaced and my hair is falling out. I was like, I gotta figure out what I need to do in order to even take a risk. So what I did was I started, I had to be honest about the things

that I wanted to have in my life and wanted to enjoy, but I knew that what I wanted to have in my life and what I enjoyed, I was gonna have to figure out ways to do it for less. Um, and I was concerned about if I do this activity for less, am I going to lower my quality of life? And that was a big issue that I kind of grappled with. And so I eventually, um, lowered my overall annual budget by $13,500. I'm going to say it's more now because I'm a lot more frugal. But at the same time, I've had no change in my quality of life. I'm still doing the same exact things. So I still have a Michael Kors purse and a coach purse, but I use, uh, affiliate income from my blogging, uh, so that I could get

clothes. So I no longer really pay cash. Like I bought clothes for cash this year, but it had been like three years since I've done that because I had so much affiliate income. Um, so I got clothing for free. Um, I travel, but I still like to stay in very, very well vetted, nice hostels. I love hostels. I really do. But now what I typically do is I'll stay in my own room or a room with like one or two people or like a maximum of four. And like recently, you saw the picture, I think, where I'm from Colorado again. I stayed in the mountains in Breckenridge and I'll be going to this hostel every time I go back to Breckenridge, which is often called the Bivy. And it's actually stunning.

It is stunning. And when I shared pictures of that hostel, people were like, they couldn't believe it. They have an antler chandelier and a giant fireplace and a hot tub. It looks like a hotel. It looks like a hotel. So I just sat there and I was like, I want to live this way, but that I don't want to be spending crazy money to do that. And I don't want to, and I'm on a cash budget now because again, I'm cleaning up my financial life and I never want to go back to that hell that I was in. So I was like, how am I going to do this? So I just went through my list.

Like I eat healthy food, I eat organic or, you know, like a very good food. How do I do that? I use my, I bought a app, which is a Denver based app. And I've actually met the CEO. He's awesome. And I was like, this app saves me money on groceries. This is great. I go to the farmer's market and at the farmer's market, they have, at the one that I like to go to, there's actually one of the stalls where you have a plastic bag. It's a $10 plastic bag. You just like fit as many vegetables into that bag as possible. 10 bucks. That is the busiest stall, by the way. I bet it is. And so you get like fresh kale and cucumbers and tomatoes and sweet potatoes and regular is. And so you get like fresh kale and cucumbers and tomatoes and, you know, sweet

potatoes and regular potatoes. And so I eat healthy. So I just literally went through my list and I was like, what do I, what I want in my life? What am I willing to do to continue to have it for less? And what's going to be kind of not painful to do. So I think for a lot of people, these changes can be a little painful. They associate pain with it. And I was like, I'm a single woman. I still need a date. I still need it. There are certain things that I want to do because I want to get married. Hey guy, where are you? I think he's like, I think he's hiking on a mountain somewhere. I always see you guys. Maybe in Canada.

He could be in Canada. Hey Canada. Oh Canada. Oh Canada. He could be in Canada. Hey, Canada. Oh, Canada. Oh, Canada. So it's like there were things that I knew I wanted to do or needed to continue to do so that I could be happy socializing. So meetup in towns like Denver, which are really like have huge influxes of new people. The meetups are insanely well attended. Um, there's tons of people coming in. There's all these different leagues and things like that. So I utilize Groupon and just, I've just found a ton of different ways to do all the same things, but for a heck of a lot less. And it's been a lot of fun. So, um, I still,

you're like, my gosh, I can't believe I was living my life, paying full price or doing it And it's been a lot of fun. So, um, I still, you're like, my gosh, I can't believe I was living my life, paying full price or doing it where it's like, basically it does kind of seem though, like when you do find ways to lower the amount of money that it costs to do the same thing, sometimes you're trading time, but if you have time, you know, like it will take you some time to look at coupons or to look on the app to see, you know, what the discounts are. But I think in general, it's probably worth it. It's definitely worth it.

Most of us spend way too much time wasting our time on Netflix, binge, you know, watching shows. It's like, you didn't even like that show. Why'd you watch all of it? I still haven't watched this season's Game of Thrones because I'm really slow, but I did,

I will admit. Okay. So I have free tv because i have the ears the rabbit ears oh yeah and then i have hulu and this year i was like okay maybe i'll add netflix um so i did but do you know what i watch on netflix which is hilarious i watch burn notice oh that's a pretty good show oh actually the guy michael what the guy who plays michael weston lives in denver so a friend of mine ran into him at the grocery store and we were all like, was he buying yogurt? He wasn't, he was buying like baby crackers or something. Um, but I was just like,

that's awesome. So, so I might actually get rid of Netflix after I watch game of Thrones because I think that that's where they show it. You have Game of Thrones on American Netflix? I don't know. I don't know. I have to double check. I think it might be on HBO or something. I have to figure it out. But I'm always a little behind.

But this year, again, before we got onto the call and start recording, I'm like, all I want to do is make money this year. Yeah. And that's not a bad thing. And I think, yeah, there's definitely a mental shift. I think a lot of people need to make, I think a lot of millennials are a little bit more open to understanding, you know, it's okay to want to earn. That's definitely something that like, it's only been in the past year that I've felt more comfortable about talking about

that. I want to earn more and I shouldn't, it shouldn't, it doesn't, it's not means it doesn't mean that you're greedy, but it just means you want to utilize the skills and the opportunities that you have in order to earn more. Just like you said. So when you earn more, you have more opportunities and freedom to help others. And that's the thing too. Do you ever feel dirty when you're like, I want to earn more? A little bit. Maybe when I like whisper it in someone's ear. Your husband's like, why are you, why are you whispering it to that guy? Why are you saying that? Yeah, that's weird. Stop it. I know. But it's true. It's like when you do

work, you know, a traditional job, it will take you, I mean, depending on again, what kind of job you are. But you know, for me, I was working in marketing and I knew that in order to kind of get to that level that I wanted to financially, just making a salary and not having any side hustle income, man, it would take me a decade to get to the point where I am. And so, I mean, that is why I am like, well, fine, then I'm going to start a side hustle to supplement my income. And, and then, you know, I made the choice to, to do this so I can potentially make as much money as I want. But, you know, it's just, it's, yeah, I think an important lesson that people shouldn't feel guilty about wanting to

earn more as long as they're doing it in a legal and healthy way. And actually, it's benefiting people too. And I will be frank and say, I still do side hustles. I have, there are a lot of locally based, really cool products here in the state. And I have a friend who is in charge of a team of brand ambassadors. And this, the cool thing about doing that, that it's the easiest side hustle ever, because all you do is hand out like samples and I like people. So one of the things I was a little concerned about was when I took the leap and I'm working for myself, would I become a weirdo shut in because I'm always like on the computer and all that. And so I helped my friend out.

And the coolest thing about this is if they, you know, it's like 10 hours a week. So it's very easy. But if they run out of products, we still get paid for that day. It's the best side gig ever. So like yesterday I made 200 bucks, but, but the, the, but we didn't end up handing anything out and it was a short shift, you know, very simple, easy. And I was like, well, I continue to do this after the other money comes in. I was like, probably because it's kind of fun. So as other, you know, cause I have money coming in from different places, but I'm like, I enjoy it.

Like it's, it's really. Yeah. I think it's, it's important to like, yeah, get outside of the house and talk to people. And honestly, like Nick Loper from Side Hustle Nation still does side hustles. Does he? He didn't tell me that when I had him on the show. I mean, I kind of assumed he dabbled just to explore for his side hustle nation, but that's awesome. I love that. He did a focus group

recently actually. And I thought it was hilarious. I think that's great. There's no shame in doing different things. There's absolutely no shame. I do a lot of different things and maybe some could be considered a side hustle, but I mean, whatever. I would totally do like, I was even thinking about this because it's like, I do work alone a lot. I'm like, you know what? I would kind of like to do something for maybe one day a week or half a day a week. I could do some totally different job, but that still integrates what I kind of like to do, which is helping people. I'm on the lookout for whatever that is. I go to a co-working space. Do you go to a co-working space? No, I just work from my house. No, you know what? I pay 50 bucks a month for a,

a thing called desk pass a service. Yeah. And it's really cool. It's, it's, it's only in, um, Chicago, LA, Denver, Austin, and New York right now. And it's cool because I get the, I have the mini pass. So four days a week, four days a month, I go to a coworking space and just do all the things. And my, what I do is I like to front load my week because I like to go hiking and stuff at the end of the week. Yeah. Yeah. Or like socialize or hang out with my mom. Like that's really important. I'm only child. And so I go to the coworking space and I just knock it all out. But it's nice because you're around people. Do you collaborate those people or like, or do you just kind of hang out? You just, you're with them. We're just around each other. Not, I mean, everyone's busy doing

their thing, but it's nice because I focus better there. So I live in a small place, like my place is small. And so like right now I'm in my bedroom and I'm like, oh my God, I need to clean that. I've got that. Like I can, yeah, that's distracting. It's very distracting here. So instead I prefer to front load the week, get out of the house, get it done. I feel like I don't want to co-mingle work with my home too much. Yeah. And, um, that could change as the weather changes. We've already started getting snow reports in the mountains. So yes, because it's crazy. So yeah. And the highest peaks, uh, we've already had three snow reports in the past week and it was cold last week in Denver. So now I'm like, all right,

I'm going to be working a lot. I'm already in winter mode. I'm like, it's hard work. So it's going to be like in the nineties and then September we get snow. I mean, I'm sure Toronto is the same thing, right? No, it is not the same. We don't get snow till like November. What? Are you serious? Yeah. Maybe like there might be a couple crazy days in October, and we're like, whoa, what's going on there? But no, it doesn't start until November, but it's a long winter. It usually lasts until March or April. It starts on and off-ish in September. I mean, basically, it's already started in the mountains, but we will have winter-like situations probably all the way until the end of May,

June. Why do you live there? That sounds like the North, you know, of Canada. But we have sun. So we have sun all the time. So it's like 300,

we have more sun to San Diego. And so we'll go snowboarding or it's just a lot of fun. We love, we love it. Yeah, of course. But, but'll go snowboarding or it's just a lot of fun. We love, we love it. Yeah, of course. But, but yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's already, I've noticed that I've had a shift in how I want to work moving forward and, and what I'm excited about and the people I want to serve and, and just all the opportunities. I think that that's the other thing is I've learned that there's so many opportunities out there. It's just a question of putting yourself in front of them and taking the risk and understanding that you might be rejected or not. Yeah. And it's okay to be rejected. I feel like it's almost good to put yourself out there and

you get rejected because I've had that before. I've sent a number of emails to dream guests and crickets, which in my mind is like, okay, well, they're not interested. Usually I'll get a no or whatever, which is fine. But I almost felt proud of myself for at least taking the leap and emailing them and getting that kind of rejection because it's better than doing that. And then, you know, always, or, you know, it's better to do that and try than to not even try. And then you have no idea, uh, of what could have happened because there's been guests where I've emailed and they did get back to me and you're like, Oh, wow. Okay, cool. So it's, it's better to kind of try and fail than to not try at all. Random questions. So how are you loving the podcasting?

Like, how has that been? And it's been so awesome kind of watching what you've been doing and the people you've been connecting with. And when you first started this project, was this what you expected would happen? Hell no. Hell no. So yeah, this has been around for over two years now, getting close to two and a half years, which is insane. And I literally just started it because

I wanted to podcasting started to get kind of cool. Serial came out and that was all the rage. And I'm like, huh, I think I like podcasts. Maybe I could try it. I've had the blog for a while and I was getting a little bit bored of just doing that. So I wanted to see if maybe this would be a good avenue. And I like to talk and I'd like to love, I love people's stories. And that's the main thing. I get to talk to so many cool people with amazing stories or just regular stories that sound amazing to me and to other people. And it's a cool opportunity to share it with other people who listen. And yeah, what I found is it's been kind of the main reason people know me now. How crazy is that? I wouldn't have known that this would be the right path for me had I not tried. And it was terrifying to start because again, what if no one

listened or gave me a bunch of bad comments or whatever? I think that you just have to do it. The thing about like no one listening, well, of course no one's going to listen when you first start because no one knows you're there. Yeah, exactly. It's like, it is what it is. And for me as a person who's taken a lot of risks, um, there have been things that haven't worked out, but the other things have worked out beyond my expectations, like beyond what I could have dreamed of. And, um, it, it is something that I hope the listeners will leave with and just think about. No, you do not need to be quitting your job

if that is not something that is, please don't. If you're happy, be happy. But I do- Yeah, be happy that you're happy at your job because it's rare. But I think the thing that I want people to leave with is there are things in your life that you can control and you can take control of. And if you're dissatisfied with where you're at, do something about it.

Don't just let life happen to you. Yes. I just, I think that for me, I was, I was an autopilot for a long time and I felt like things should be a certain way and I should just be satisfied with the status quo. And for me personally, it didn't work for me. And once I decided to take charge of my own narrative, like how my story would be, how I would live my life, who I would be around, it's been phenomenal. So I actually, I'm going to woo-woo right now. I'm going to get would be around. Um, it's been phenomenal. So I, I actually, I'm going to woo woo right now. I'm going to get woo woo. I'm going to get woo woo. I do. I, I create vision boards and I love, I just, I made my first vision board this year. And you know,

what's crazy though? Cause I had a friend who's, it does work. Cause I had a friend, the reason I started, I had a friend who's a realtor and he has some amazing goals. He's very ambitious and very good at what he does selling homes. And he said, yeah, every year I make a vision board. And he kind of said it like, oh yeah, I know some people think it's dumb, but I do it every year. And guess what? Most of the time I do all of it. And so like I, you know, what's the worst that can happen? I'm going to make a vision board and I've made it and it's halfway through the year. I'm like, oh my gosh, I've actually done most of this. That's crazy. It's scary. Okay. And so I think the reason why I love vision boards, for those of you who are like, what the what? What's a vision board?

So a vision board is basically literally a representation of the goals and dreams that you have for yourself for the upcoming year, two years, what have you. Typically I do a year. I do. Yeah. Um, I focus on personal life, wellness and health, professional and travel. Those are, and, and like friends and things like that. And so this year has been so like, like so many things have been crossed off the list so fast. I have to actually go back and redo the board because so many things have been taken off the list. And, um, it's funny because I've always been the type of person who does, who's had a list or an idea of like a one year, three year, five year plan. I've always been that person. And so, um, I like vision boards

because they're, they're proactive versus, um, Oh God, I just, I just had a brain fart. Oh, I hate when that happens too. Oh God. There's, there's proactive instead of reactive. Well, there, you know how like people want to manifest things versus doing like, basically a vision board to me is a very active process because you're looking at it every day. So every day I look at my, I'm looking at it now and I have a couple of things on the list and things that I'm reminding myself of on a daily basis. And what happens is every day I take small actions, whether I realize it or not, that help me, help move me towards that outcome. And so anyone listening, I would, I would strongly recommend putting together a vision of what you, you want your life to look like. If you're with someone,

if you're married or not, but you're with someone, your lives are intertwined in some sort of way. You've got little people, they should be included in that vision and part of that conversation, but also you should do it separately as well because you're not one being. You are a unit. Exactly. Yeah. I think it's important to have individual goals and that's fine. Exactly. And so it's like you're a unit, but you have separate things going on and, and kind of giving voice to your dreams and, and aspirations and, and, uh, the things that you want for yourself. I think that you become a lot more fulfilled. I have a very dear friend who lives in Europe and we were talking and he's like, I'm really happy. I'm like, well, you live in Sweden. It's hardly surprising that you're really happy, but it was

funny because we're talking and I was like, I'm going to give you some homework on things you need to be doing. And this friend was really, really receptive to it because they hadn't really thought about some additional things that they could do to kind of, I mean, again, their life is pretty awesome in Sweden. But there were certain things that they hadn't thought about to incorporate with their family. So they're going to do this family trip that I had suggested. I was like, why do you, why don't you guys do this? And my friend was

like, wait a minute. I hadn't really thought about that. That sounds kind of cool. You know what I mean? And, and I think that when you do a vision board, you give yourself permission to, to, to make things reality that sometimes you feel shy about. Yeah. It's like, you don't want to even, it's hard enough to, uh, you know, vocalize what your dream is, but to, to kind of put it, you know, take some time, cut some, you know, images outside of, you know, a magazine and put them on like a, a board and, and have it in your house. So people that come over can see, I mean, that's, it's tricky. And then actually manifesting it is like kind of the last part, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Right. So, yeah. And now this year I have three things that I'm doing, which is, uh, muscles. Cause I'm trying to lose a little more weight. Yeah. Muscles, money, man. That's it. Those are, that's just,

that's, that's the next 12 months. That's it. I'm pretty sure if you have muscles and money, a man will follow, but I'm not sure if it's the right man. No, you it. I'm pretty sure if you have muscles and money, a man will follow. But I'm not sure if it's the right man. You know what? I don't know about that. But we're going to work on it. And I'll keep you posted. I love it.

Well, Michelle, it's been a delight talking with you. Before I let you go, I want to find out how if someone wants to learn more about you or your new coaching program, how would they be able to find more information about that? Um, I will share a link with you, uh, for Calendly if people want to do like a 20 minute free consultation. That's great. I love it. I've been doing a lot of research and it's just been a lot of fun talking to women about their vision and what they want to do. Um, I also, you can email me at michelle money hungry at gmail.com. Do not judge me because my branded email does not like me. So I'm trying to get that fixed, but that's all right. Um, that's fine. So Michelle, uh, Michelle is money hungry at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Twitter, uh, or actually I prefer, uh, follow me at Instagram at MichelleIsMoneyHungry. So that

one's kind of fun. So yeah. Fabulous. Fabulous. Well, thank you so much, Michelle. Thank you. Thank you. It's been a blast. You could probably talk for another four hours if you wanted to. Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think so. Okay. Well, thanks again. And I wish you all the best. And I can't wait to see you at VidCon very soon. And that was episode 135 with Michelle Jackson. You can learn more about her, what she's up to at MichelleIsMoneyHungry.com. She also has the podcast Girl Gone Frugal. Check that out on iTunes and Stitcher and everywhere.

And make sure to check out the show notes. I'm going to put more details and just kind of recap of what we talked about in this episode, jessicamorehouse.com slash 135. Now, before I let you go, got some more things to chat about with you. Do not go away. Here's just a few words about this episode's sponsor. Did you know that one in three Americans are self-employed? Because of the internet, it's now easier than ever to become self-employed or start a small business. That's why I was able to take a huge leap of faith and leave my nine-to-five almost a year ago. What started as my side hustle is now my full-time job, and I can run my entire business out of the comfort of my own home. Now, it has not been a

walk in the park. I will not lie to you about that. Going from employee to entrepreneur is not for the fainthearted. But what has made the transition so much easier in my life is by using software that really fits my needs. That's why I use FreshBooks as my go-to cloud accounting software. It helps me stay organized. I can pull reports within seconds. I can stay on top of payments from clients. And it basically takes a huge weight

off my shoulders come tax time. And what's really cool is FreshBooks just came out with an all new version of their cloud accounting software. And they're offering a 30 day unrestricted free trial to all of my listeners. If you want to take advantage and try FreshBooks out for yourself, all you have to do is go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section. Once again, to try it out for free, go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section. All right. So as I've mentioned, tomorrow is going to be the last episode for season five. I'm going to be taking a bit of a break.

But a couple important things about tomorrow's episode. So number one is the solo episode. So get ready just to hear me in your ear for 30 to 40 minutes. I say that because I haven't recorded it yet. But it will be fabulous. You will love it. I love to do these solo episodes, especially when it's kind of close to the new year because I do like a nice reflection on the year. It's going to be kind of my

year in review kind of solo episode. So a lot of stuff has happened this year, more stuff than I think I remember. So I'm gonna have to write some notes to remind myself. But I will also be a couple things. I'm also going to be announcing who the winners are for my contest that I've been running all season. So if you haven't entered yet, well, it's too late. I've already gotten the, you know, the winners. So sorry. So I will be announcing the winners in tomorrow's episode. And they are winning, you know, a $25 Amazon gift card. So hopefully

help them out this holiday season. Another thing I would actually love to do is I want to get your feedback. I want to get your feedback. I want to know what you think about this show, my me, and all the things that I share with you, my resource library and my Facebook group, all those things. So if you do want to take just literally like two minutes to give me your feedback, I would love that. Just go to jessicamorehouse.com slash podcast survey and take you two minutes and I might might as well if you enter that survey you will be in the running for another 25 amazon gift card how's about that how's them apples um so yeah so if you do that just morose.com slash podcast survey fill out the survey you will be in the running to uh also win a 25 amazon gift card. So there you go. Okay, I'm going to stop yabbering. I'm going to let you get on with your day. I'm sure you're a very busy person. And I will see you back here tomorrow for my last episode of the season. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network.

Find out more at womeninmedia.network.