The Ramsey Show - App - Being Content Is NOT the Same As Being Complacent (Hour 1)
Episode Date: February 18, 2020Christy Wright, Rachel Cruze, Debt, Career Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: h...ttp://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR
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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions,
broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio,
this is The Dave Ramsey Show,
where you learn to take control of your money and create a life you love.
Hello, America.
I am Ramsey personality, Rachel Cruz,
filling in for Dave this hour while he is out traveling.
And right beside me, I have actually a good friend and co-worker.
Yes.
Christy Wright.
Hello.
Christy, welcome to the show.
This is so fun.
I can't believe they let us do this.
Don't add it together.
It's a little scary.
It's a little scary.
We're going to get in trouble.
So two women hosting the hour, and actually both of us are fresh off of maternity leave.
Very fresh.
I start back actually next week.
But you've been back for what?
About a month.
Yeah.
How's it been?
I mean, it's a new normal, right?
Like going, everyone told me that going from two to three kids was easier than one to two.
And I did not believe them.
But we have experienced that somehow.
Maybe we're just more relaxed.
I don't know.
But you do.
You think going from two to three was easier?
Yes.
Oh, see, I'm opposite.
Oh, really? You think one to two is better? Or easier? Easier. Yeah. Two't know. You do. You think going from two to three was easier? See, I'm opposite. Oh, really? You think one to
two was better? Or easier? Easier, yes.
Two to three, game changer.
It's insane. But we're here. We're here
and holding it together. Barely.
Barely. No, I'm just kidding. No. So, if you
want to give us a call at 888-825-
5225, we can talk life,
money, business. And so, Christy,
what all is going on with you that's exciting?
So, yesterday was the launch of the Business Boutique Conference for October 22nd through the 24th.
So we're so excited.
You know you've spoken at this before.
But it's just a really fun event.
So that's kind of the newest thing we've launched that people have been asking about.
And it always sells out early.
So we want to give people kind of an early heads up, early bird pricing.
But it's just fun to see how much this one weekend of a couple days can
transform their businesses and really their whole life when they get the information they need.
Yeah, it's amazing. Amazing. Again, a free call anywhere in the country, 888-825-5225.
And it'd be fun to do a ladies theme hour. So ladies, if you want to call, if you're a guy
calling in, we'll take your call too. But it'd be fun to make it an hour with some questions from women all over America.
So we'll start us off with Amanda in Maine.
Hey, Amanda, welcome to the show.
Hi, ladies.
Thank you for taking my call.
I'm so blessed to be able to talk to you.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
How can we help?
Okay.
So I kind of feel like I'm at a crossroads between a couple of different principles.
I really used the concept of contentment to work my husband and I through Baby Step 2,
but I also feel like I need to find my purpose with Business Boutique,
so I don't know if I need to go off on that or if I should like stay in my
current job, be content with the life that we have and just try to maybe work into the proximity
principle to where I think my true gifts are. Well, I'd say a goal for all of us, for you,
from us here at Roomsy Solutions, is to do something with your life that you're passionate
about and you feel gifted and you feel called in, You feel like you're created to do. And so
ultimately that would be it. I mean, being content is not being complacent. Okay. So being content,
you can still strive for bigger and better things. Being content is just that you have a peace in
your heart with where you're at. And it doesn't sound like you have a peace. It sounds like you're
kind of stirring into something. And Christy, I feel like you see this a lot. Yeah. And I don't
think it has to be an overnight change. So that's the great thing is,
Amanda, if you're feeling a little bit of this stirring of like, maybe there's something more
for me, you can explore that without jumping off the deep end and putting yourself or your family
in trouble financially. And so one of the things that it sounds like you're wrestling through right
now that I'd like you to start with kind of exploring for yourself is if you would like to
have a business. Because if you pursue the route of starting a side business, that's different than
pursuing the Ken Coleman proximity principle career path. And both are awesome. I don't believe
that everyone should start a business. I'm very pro business. I'm pro side business, make it easy,
put the cookies on the bottom shelf. And a lot of people can do this. But I don't think it's for
everyone. Because at the end of the day, it takes a particular type of person to be okay with risk, to be okay with that full responsibility.
You're writing your own checks. And so there's a little bit of a dynamic there that you need
to consider. Do I want that? Or do I really like going to a job, going to an office, going to a
place where they write my checks and there's expectations and it's stable and there's no risk
and I've got benefits. You know, like I said, neither are right or wrong. It's just finding
what's best for you. So Amanda, when you're thinking about kind of maybe what's next for you
and you're exploring that, I would love for you to look at all your options and maybe it's a
variety of options like a part-time job and a side gig. You know, you can get creative here.
Amanda, I'm curious from you, what are you doing now and what would you want to be doing?
So I'm a data specialist. I enter information into a database and then I reorganize it to pull reports. But I feel like there's something in me that I need to share.
I was listening to, I'm going to not say his name correctly,
but Luke LaFerre on Entree Leadership the other day.
And he was talking about how when you were a kid,
what did you do?
And when I was a kid,
I used to speak to myself in the mirror and share stories.
So I'm not sure if that makes me sound crazy.
No, I think that's awesome.
We do that all the time.
So yeah, but something like in that realm
that you could start exploring.
Well, it sounds like that there hasn't been a ton of groundwork laid,
but you have the stirring in your heart.
And I would say, listen to that.
And like you said, Christy, you don't have to jump off the deep end.
I'm not saying quit your job tomorrow
and go start something brand new that you have no idea dip your toe in the water and always when you're
starting something go talk to people that do it right so like you said okay i started talking to
myself in the mirror i don't know if it's crazy or what maybe speaking is something maybe there
is a message that you have like i want to start public speaking go talk to people that do that
because you you get the reality of the job and that that's with any job, not just public speaking.
But even for that, since that's part of our job and our career, it's not always glamorous. You see the end product and on stage and the thing, but you don't see the canceled connection flight
that you had in Atlanta. And then the overnight stay in some random hotel you weren't supposed
to even be at because you're at a different city. You don't see the whole picture all the time. And
so go talk to someone who's doing that. Well, even people ask me all the time if they want to become a public speaker, how do I do it?
And I'm like, you speak to anyone anywhere for anything, even if they don't pay you.
Because that's what we did, Rachel.
Like I've spoken at high school reunions, family reunions, Kentucky County libraries on a Friday night.
Like it's not glamorous when you're getting started.
But those reps are giving you experience and it's making you better.
And then you also know more about who you are, what your passion to speak on,
and you'll get more clarity about where you're going.
But it starts by just dipping your toe in the water
and doing a little bit of it to figure that out.
And that's with any line of work.
So great question, Amanda.
Great question.
Maureen from Instagram asks,
how do I get my spouse on board if they're not?
He says he is.
He says he wants to pay off our debt, save money,
but his actions say differently.
So is it possible
to do, is it possible to do it even if you don't have his support? Um, it would be, I always say
it's, it's easier and pretty much possible. It's impossible if your spouse is not on board. So it
is possible you guys getting on the same page and driving the same lane. Like that is so important.
It's going to be very, very hard if one spouse is not committed, they're just involved. And that is a, that is a real thing
because there are people we say around here, Dave ish, right? That they're like, Oh, I kind of do it
like, yeah, we want to get out of debt, but I'm okay. If we take a vacation in the middle of the
debt snowball, like, Whoa, you know, no big deal. Okay. That's ish, right? You got to be, if you
are committed, that's when you're going to see results that you're not just involved. And it sounds like he's kind of involved.
So I would say, Hey, sit down, show him the numbers and say, if we get crazy with this
crazy motivated, here's how fast we could pay off debt.
If we just stay focused for eight solid months or whatever it is, we could be done.
We could be done.
But for a lot of men, they need to see results and visual resort resort resort results.
So make sure that you, that you like write it down and let him see it, and that will help him keep him motivated.
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Welcome back, America, to the Dave Ramsey Show.
I am Ramsey personality Rachel Cruz, filling in this hour with Ramsey personality Christy Wright.
This is fun.
Yeah, so great.
Glad that we're doing this together.
All right, we're going to get to the phones.
And Shaylee from Texas is on the line.
Hey, Shaylee, welcome to the show.
Thank you for taking my call.
Absolutely.
How can we help?
Well, I have a mobile boutique.
We just got started, like, in July of 2019.
And just from July to December, we have around 30,000 in sales.
But we still had a loss in our business.
We're wanting to go to bigger shows than what we've been hitting at.
A lot of them are small local town shows.
But to get into bigger ones, we're going to have to have more inventory and more risk.
And we want to do that without going into debt.
Can you help?
Is there any advice you can help me with?
Yeah, I'll jump in on this one.
Shaylee, have you spent some time digging into why you took a loss last year?
Like what is going wrong in your business that you have $30,000 in sales
and you're having your expenses look like that?
So have you spent some time to kind of dig into the root of the problem from this last year?
Well, we did just start, like I said, and we bought like a trailer for our mobile boutique and redid a trailer and things like that.
So was it mostly startup?
A lot of the shows that we went to, we just broke even at.
And so we even though we had really good shows, it might have been like too much gas or, you know, the travel was too far for us or something
along the lines of that. Yeah, no, I hear you. And you know, unfortunately, it's a really common
thing in that first year of business to be testing and figuring things out. And it feels like some
things are mistakes or man, we just broke even. And so that's what's great about the fact that
right now, what you can do is you can really dig into some of those problems.
And I want you to fix it at the level that you're at.
I don't want you to take out additional debt.
I don't want you to try to grow and expand and get bigger shows and more inventory and bigger trailers.
I don't want you to do more of what you're already doing, thinking that the more is going to be enough to offset the expenses and the cost and the loss that you experience.
What I want you to do is I want you to fix it at the level that you're at. I want you to get profitable at the level that you're at.
Maybe those shows are the wrong shows. Maybe there's an area that you can cut expenses to
get there. Maybe there's a completely different business model for you, Shaylee, that doesn't
involve going to shows at all. Maybe you're finding that shows is not where your market is.
Shows are not profitable for you and you're going to try a different model, whether it's through
online or social media, something different entirely. So what I really
want to encourage you to do is to not grow and expand until the business justifies it. And that
means the money is there and you're going to cash flow any growth or expansion. That's the business
telling you I'm ready for growth. And the business is telling you right now it's not ready for growth
yet. Yeah, I think that's and like we tried online, we're trying online and trying to figure out different ways.
But when we have a website and we have Facebook and Instagram, but we don't get a lot of sales
on that platform, on any of those platforms.
Yeah.
Well, Shayla, one of the things that I help women do a lot of times through Business Boutique
is to run different tests and different experiments to identify the root of the problem. Because sometimes you're not having
sales on your website, but you don't know why. Is it because the photos are bad? Is it because
you don't have enough traffic or you've got the traffic, but it's not converting? So I love to
help people with that. Shaylee, I would love to send you a copy of my book, Business Boutique,
and that would just be a good starting point to walk you through a plan to build this business,
get it profitable. And when it's profitable, and I think it will be when you get it right, then you'll be ready to grow and expand.
But it's a great question. I'm glad you called. Yeah, absolutely. And I think when you, whether
it's business or in personal life, when you say that we're going to do this without debt, I love
that because it's like this hard line, this hard boundary that you've drawn, and it's going to
force you to get creative, right? It forces you to ask other questions because debt then has this
whole other avenue of, oh, hey, it feels like you can like band-aid the problem. But when you don't
have that, you have to force yourself to say, okay, what's working and what's not. So that's
so great. All right. Up next is Esmeralda from California. Hey, Esmeralda, welcome to the show.
Hey, Rachel. Hey, how are you guys?
Doing great. How can we help? Okay. So I have a question regarding my career.
I currently make about $95,000 to $100,000 in my current job right now.
How much again?
I'm sorry.
Oh, sorry.
$95,000 to $100,000.
Okay.
And we have, so right now our combined income is about $200,000.
Okay.
And I just got promoted.
So before, we used to make $120,000,
and that's what my husband makes now. And we have about $65,000 in debt. So my question is,
should I leave my current full-time job making $95,000 to $100,000 and take a part-time job where I can make maybe 80 to spend more time at home with my
kids and also the current job that I have now everybody tells me that I'm really dumb if I
leave it due to the retirement benefits and the health insurance yeah it's a state job that I
automatically contribute yeah so I just want to know if it's possible to still retire with a good amount of money
or do I have to sacrifice that and return with my kids or vice versa?
Okay, well, let's look at the current problem that you have,
which is that you guys are $65,000 in debt and you're saying,
okay, what do we want to do?
So the question would be, okay, what do you and your husband want for your family?
Because you can look and say, okay, we're going to live on less.
We're going to throw all this in because you have a great income.
And you guys can clean this up in less than a year.
If you really get gazelle intense and you cut everything, live on rice and beans, like
you do it.
You could get there really, really fast.
And so I don't know what you're, you staying home, though you can make 80, you said, which
is only about $15,000 less.
So that could be something to look into as well.
But you need to say, okay, here's our goals.
Here's when we want to pay off debt.
Is it worth staying in it for this amount of time?
And if you're absolutely dying in your job and you're thinking, there's no way I can
get up every day and do this thing again, then maybe say, okay, maybe we're in debt
an extra month or whatever it is.
So look to see what taking that income down, what that does to your debt snowball.
So that has to be a decision between you and your husband to make what's best for your family. And then that's when you can
start looking at the future when you're looking at retirement and all of that. So you need to
sit down with a smart investor pro, run some numbers and say, okay, if I go and take this
$80,000 job, work at home, I won't have, you know, you still can have retirement benefits.
You won't have necessarily a 401k. I'm assuming so if you're just working for yourself, but
go and say, okay, what are my
retirement investments look like? If our income goes down to this, what does the future hold?
So sit down definitely with one of our smart investor pros and run those numbers out. But
specifically for the present, yeah, you guys need to say, okay, how fast do we want to get out of
debt? And is it worth staying in the job for that? Yeah. And I really love it when I sit down,
when I'm looking at a couple different options is I try to think of as many options as I can.
So it's like you have one option to stay in the job, another option to leave the job.
Then what are the in-betweens?
Like we're going to stay in the job for three months or maybe go home and here's how I'm
going to earn this extra money and still pay off the debt.
So give yourself as many options as possible, Esmeralda.
And then what you can do is you're going to feel like when you make that decision, it's
the best decision based on all of your kind of analyzing every different option you have. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You definitely don't
want to be forced into one or the other. So look to see for sure. So America, it's a free call
anywhere in the country. 888-825-5225. And Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, and myself,
Rachel Cruz, we are hosting this hour. And we said it'd be fun to kind of do like a ladies
theme hour. So guys, you're welcome to
call. It's a free country and a free call. So you can, we just may not answer. We'll see. We'll see.
But the ladies, it's been, it's been fun. All right. Hannah from Twitter asks, how do I budget
on every dollar if I get paid every two weeks instead of every month? Well, we teach you to
do a monthly budget, Hannah. So you're going to look to say, okay, here's my two payments that
I'm going to get each month. And then you break it down from there, but then you may have to have a specific timeline to say, okay, these bills are due on the 15th.
So my paycheck coming in on the 15th, they're going to pay those paycheck coming on the 30th,
we'll pay the other. So you may have to finagle it specifically if you are paycheck to paycheck,
and you're still there. So look to see, but for sure, the monthly budget is what we teach. And
you'll just have to kind of map it out a little bit more specifically with getting
paid every two weeks because that's how we get paid.
That's all we get paid.
We're every two weeks as well.
So that's how we live.
So it's amazing, though.
Budgeting is something that gives you control over your money, but also within your marriage.
It helps eliminate so many money fights and money arguments.
So if you're married out there, you guys have to do a budget together.
And having an honest conversation about money is one of the most important things that you're
going to do for your family.
And to reach really any goal, you have to budget and budget together.
So EveryDollar is here for you.
This is our budgeting app.
And it makes budgeting so easy, you guys.
It's the tool that I use.
Winston and I actually checked it this morning, tracked my transactions.
I love it. I love it. So make sure to check out EveryDollar.
Text EVERYDOLLAR to 33789 to get started today. That's EVERYDOLLAR33789. This is The Dave Ramsey
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Welcome back America to the Dave Ramsey show. I am Ramsey personality, Rachel Cruz,
filling in for Dave this hour and sitting in the co-host seat
next to me is Ramsey personality,
Christy Wright.
This is fun.
Yes.
So we've been having a ladies theme hour so far.
So good.
You ladies have been calling in.
We appreciate it.
So it's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225.
And we were talking about at the top of the hour,
how we are back ish from maternity leave me.
I come next week.
You've been back for a few weeks, but the whole,
you know,
work life balance,
especially as a mom is a real thing.
And it's a conversation I feel like we have as a culture,
but also specifically as women,
right?
That is a hard balance to find.
So you found a really interesting article in Forbes.
Yeah.
And I'm talking about this.
This is something that I feel like I'm asked about this question more than any other
topic. And even with business, I'm just asked about life balance. And so this article from
Forbes is talking about some interesting stats. 26% of work is done outside of regular working
hours. And I think about my own life. I'm like, yeah, that's probably true. I'm writing a night
or on the weekends, just whenever I can kind of fit it in and you get creative. I don't want to
shame it like, oh, everything has to be done in
the office. But you start to look like where the unhealthy habits or patterns where I don't have a
life or you don't have a life. Something else I thought was interesting here is it says we check
email on average every six minutes. And 40% of people that took the study use their computers
after 10pm. So obviously, that's cutting into sleep. And I'm curious for you, Rachel, like for me, um, with, when it comes to life balance,
when people ask me about this, I don't have a perfect formula, but I do have habits. And so
I'd love to know, like from you, I'll, I'll share some of mine. What are some of the habits that
make you create your own version of balance that help you do that? For me, for example,
is we have very specific boundaries, you know, like Sunday night is a boundary. We don't
take commitments with very few exceptions on Sunday night. So we say, okay, that's family time.
Like anytime, any invitation comes our way, if it's a Sunday night, we already know the answer.
We don't have to like wrestle with it. Oh, we should, or we feel obligated. Like that's a
boundary we set. Um, another one is, and this is most recently. Um, so my son Conley, he can talk,
we were talking about our middle children here. Um, he's three and a half years old. He can talk
pretty good. But the other day he said to me, my phone was just in my hand. I was
looking at him, but he said to me, mommy, please put your phone down. And Rachel, it was like this
punch in the gut of like just hearing it from my tiny toddler. And so I went out that day and I
bought this like box that I sit on the kitchen counter and that's where phones go now. So when
I walk in, my phone goes in this box to not even have it in my hand, the visual or the temptation to pick it up and look at it when I'm with my kids. Um, but what are, you know,
those are just habits. What do you guys do to help you feel some sense of balance between all
the things we've got going on? Yeah. The two big things is the phone, right? Technology. I'm like,
even if it's not even working now, it's you're scrolling through social media. I mean, it's just
like, it's just tempting. You're just attached to it. So I always, when we get home from work,
I always put my uh phone
in our room and i plug it up to be charged and i just leave it back there because we're never
usually back in our bedroom we're always out in the living room the playroom the kitchen
with the kids doing dinner and so it's always back there and i just you know it's kind of like
out of sight out of mind yeah honestly totally and then and then it's like the time goes by faster
and uh and you're with the kids you're present present, all of that. Because one of the quotes, and I always quote you, I attribute the quote to you because
you said it.
I was like, amen, sister, is that life balance is not about being 50-50.
It's about being 100% present.
And I love that because I think it gives you the permission to be at work and something
that you love to do, you feel passionate about, you feel called to is how I feel with my work.
And I love it.
And I'm like, you know what?
If I'm at work, I'm at work.
Like obviously if an emergency happens, obviously my kids take priority over everything but like when I'm at work I'm able to be present and I
focused on that and then when I go home same thing is true right I am now mom and I am home with my
kids and work is on the back burner and if there is a time I need to check email or something people
know it's usually gonna be after seven o'clock and then that's when I'll look. Yes. So that's big. And then because of travel, because we travel, Winston and
I put in a rule a few years ago, right after our first was born. So about four years ago that I'm
not gone more than two nights. So we've just said that we're like, you know what? And I'll come home,
take a late flight in, even just spend the night at home, be with them for breakfast. And if I fly
back out, back out to another city, then I'll do that. But that's kind of a boundary we set.
Just that I'm not just
gone constantly. You know, the whole idea of being present to like you were saying with this 50-50
split is I think that to me helped me shake the guilt that I felt because what I found, Rachel,
the source of guilt in my life came from always focusing on where I'm not. So if I'm here at work,
I'm like, are my kids okay? Are they sick? Do they need me? Are they scared? Are they sad?
And then when I'm at home, I'm like, oh, I didn't catch up on email. I didn't hit my deadline.
We're always focusing on where we're not. Well, if that's how you live your life, looking through the rear view mirror,
then of course you feel guilty because you're never present in the moment there. And so there's
such a gift to simply switch your focus and be present in the moment you're in. When you're at
work, be at work, focus on the people in front of you, be present. Don't worry about your kids.
They're taken care of. They're good. Then when you're at home, don't worry about email. Close your computer, put your phone down,
and be present there. I love that concept of just be where your feet are, and then you shake the
guilt, and you actually give people the gift of your attention, which is a rare thing these days.
Yeah, absolutely. That's so good. All right, going to the phones is Stephanie from Minnesota. Hey,
Stephanie, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How
can we help? Well, my husband and I, we are working on baby step number two. I'm a stay-at-home mom,
so what you guys were just talking about really kind of resonates with me. We're doing our budget.
We got that all figured out, you know, rice and beans. But it still just doesn't feel like enough.
And I'm trying to figure out if I should go back to work, if I should just do side hustles, you know, what I can do to help contribute to getting rid of that debt. Yeah, that's a great question.
And I feel like there's a lot of women that are exactly in your spot. We hear this question a lot.
And so, Chrissy, you actually help a lot with women and getting
kind of a side hustle going to make extra money, not only to do it for their passion and their
gifts, but also to bring in some extra income. Yeah. Stephanie, first, I just want to say,
well done because there's a value on the fact that you're staying home with your kids.
There's a value on that childcare. Childcare is expensive and your work at home is not you
just sitting around. I know it's not around And so are maids and valet
And chefs, everything that you do
There's a value
On what you do, so please don't feel like
I'm not contributing enough because I'm not working
Outside the home, you are working
Inside the home and there's a value
On what you're saving your family and child care costs
So I want to start with that baseline
Of you already are bringing in money for the family
By doing that Now if I want to start with that baseline of you already are bringing in money for the family by doing that. Now, if you want to contribute a little bit more or in a different
way, you use your gifts, have some, you know, side hustle. It's easier than ever before to do that.
And what I teach people to do that may just be a good starting point to explore for you
is to start with what you have, your skills, your strengths, and your stuff. And when you start with
what you have and coming
up with an idea for a side hustle or a home-based business, it makes it so easy on you to win
quickly and to turn a profit quickly and to have income coming in because it's not this scary thing
that you have to go learn a new skill and buy a bunch of stuff. You're just going to look around
you. What am I good at? What do I have experience in? What am I naturally talented at? What stuff?
I've got a sewing machine. Maybe I can sew. I've got a swimming pool. Maybe I can teach some lessons.
I've got a computer. Maybe I can write. You know, when you look around you with what you already
have, you make it so much easier on you to win and become successful and bring in money faster.
And then it builds your confidence. It's more fun. And as a side note, you're also making more money.
So if you want to explore that in addition to the value you're already bringing to the table
in your family for baby step two, then I would encourage you to do that.
And Stephanie, I would love to also send you a copy of my book, Business Boutique, and
that is a plan to start a business.
So should you decide to do that at any level, even if you just want to make an extra $500
a year, it's going to help you do that.
I love helping people get started.
And so if you'll stay on the phone, we'll send you a copy of that.
But I think you see this a lot, Rachel, with baby step two, people want to bring in more money faster because
they're so motivated. And that's a good thing. That's a really good thing. Absolutely. For sure.
But I love that we don't discount the fact because people get out of debt all the time
and the wife stays at home and that's what, and that's her job. That's what she does. That's what
she focuses on because there is something to be said that there's a peace of mind, right? When
the husband comes home from work and you're there and you're, you're helping out and you're doing, you know what you do at home. I'm like, that's powerful. There's something to be said that there's a peace of mind, right? When the husband comes home from work and you're there and you're helping out and you're
doing what you do at home.
I'm like, that's powerful.
And childcare is expensive.
Yes.
Oh, gosh.
So there's plenty of people in America, Stephanie, that are getting out of debt on one income.
So don't lose hope on that.
Don't think it's impossible.
But if there is something that you have, they're like, man, I really could do this and it'd
be fun.
I would enjoy it while the kids are in school and all of that. Then that definitely is an option. But don't, again,
discount being home because that is such a gift that you're giving your family for sure.
Well, again, a free call anywhere in the country, 888-825-5225. And is this spring
busy for you, Christy? Are you guys hitting the road at all? Well, we've got the Ramsey
cruise coming up. That's the next big thing for us, whichy? Are you guys hitting the road at all? Well, we've got the Ramsey Cruise coming up.
Yes, we do.
That's the next big thing for us, which I'm excited about that.
And then Entrez Leadership Summit in May.
And so I've got a lot of new talks, which I know you know as a speaker is kind of scary.
Yeah.
But exciting.
So it's going to be a fun spring.
I love it.
So we're traveling all across America to you.
So make sure to check out all those dates at DaveRamsey.com.
And this is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Welcome back, America, to The Dave Ramsey Show.
I am Ramsey personality Rachel Cruz filling in for Dave this hour.
And sitting next to me is Ramsey personality Christy Wright.
This is fun.
So great.
All right, let's go to the phones.
This is Rosie from Virginia. Hey, right, let's go to the phones. This is Rosie from Virginia.
Hey, Rosie, welcome to the show.
Hi, how are you guys?
We're doing great.
How can we help?
This is good.
I'm due, well, my husband and I are due for our third baby in July.
And we have been working for almost two years on finishing up baby step number two, which is a big deal.
And my husband got a good bonus and raise.
And we think that we might be able to swing paying everything off.
But we're not sure if that will kind of put us in a situation that might be scary having another baby on the way.
Yeah, absolutely.
How much debt do you guys have left?
Um,
so we were at 70,000 right now.
We are at,
uh,
we have a $9,000 and a $12,000.
Nice.
Nine.
Okay,
great.
And then how much do you guys make a year?
My husband,
I stay at home.
My husband makes one 22.
Oh,
you said that.
I'm sorry.
Yep.
Okay.
Awesome.
Well, the rule of thumb on baby step two is always2,500. Oh, you said that. I'm sorry. Yep. Okay. Awesome. Well,
the rule of thumb on baby step two is always to pause the debt snowball when you're pregnant
and just pile up cash. Okay. And just put the cash aside. So that way you can make sure baby's
here safely. You're here, you know, you're here healthy, good, all of that. And then once
everything's good, then you can take the money you had piled up on the side and throw it at the debt snowball.
And you do want to do this because, I mean, a $1,000 emergency fund, when you know you have a big medical expense coming, if you will, having a baby,
when you know that's coming, then we always do say deposit.
And I know you guys are gazellantants.
I mean, you're killing it.
You guys are almost there.
You're so, so close.
You make a great income.
And so even if you have that money to the side that you know, okay, if we could write a check, all the debt
could be paid off. I would still rather you have the cash on the side just in case. And then again,
once you guys are home, everything's good. Then just write a check out and then just pay the rest
off with that money. So it's okay to pause for a little bit and you guys just have a few more
months. Yeah. Till July for the baby. And so that's always the rule of thumb for sure.
But I know it can be hard, Rosie, because you guys are your gazelle in tents.
You're like wanting this off.
And it kind of is hard to have that pile of money and be like, oh, but we could be completely out of debt.
So I appreciate the sentiment and the excitement with it.
But for sure, pause and have that cash.
It's going to give you that peace of mind.
You know what I mean?
Going into that delivery, it's just going to give you the peace of mind and that cushion of saying, you know what? We've got this cash. It's going to give you that peace of mind. You know what I mean? Going into that delivery, it's just going to give you the peace of mind and that cushion of saying, you know what,
we've got this cash. If we need it for any reason, if anything could come up, you're not making any
decisions out of fear or desperation because you didn't have the cash, but your debt's paid off.
And like Rachel said, yeah, that right after that, once everything's good, then you can pay it off.
But congratulations, Rosie. That's so exciting. I know, Rosie, contact me and Christy. Tell us
if it's been harder from one to two or two to three. Yeah, we've had different experiences.
Settle the discussion, Rosie.
I'm saying God bless to you with the third for sure.
But congratulations.
That's fun.
All right.
Next is Amanda from Oklahoma.
Hey, Amanda.
Welcome to the show.
Hey, guys.
Thank you so much for taking my call.
Absolutely.
I was hoping you might be able to help me with small business startup questions.
Basically, my husband has been a 1099 contracted bartender for a local wedding venue for the past five years,
and that venue is closing, and he wanted to make it official and do his own bartending service,
and we're getting a lot of conflicting advice on how to do that.
Our ELP CPA said to form an LLC. Some financial peace coordinators said to just do a
DBA until we start to generate income. And then my father's CPA was just super adamant about
incorporating it. And I'm watching every YouTube video on the internet right now of like what the
difference is, but I just want to know what you guys think we should do. Yeah. So, I mean, let me just give you kind of the rule of thumb. And this is something that, you know, I've learned
from Dave Ramsey as he's coached people in business through Entree Leadership. But what
you're going to find is if you seek counsel through an attorney, through a CPA, they're
always going to be trying to protect you against any possible risk ever, ever, ever, ever, even if
that risk is very unlikely. So they like to just cover all the bases, even to an excess sometimes to make it a little bit harder, just because they
really want to protect you. Dave's rule of thumb is you don't need to incorporate, you don't need
to become an LLC until you have, unless you have a high liability business. So for example, I had a
dream a long time ago to have a horseback riding, you know, camp for girls. That's high liability.
You've got very unpredictable animals. That would be a long time ago to have a horseback riding camp for girls. That's high liability.
You've got very unpredictable animals.
That would be a high risk business to protect you and all of your assets from anything that could go wrong.
If someone sued you, they would sue the business.
Another reason that you would want to incorporate is if you have excessive or extreme wealth
or the appearance of wealth where it's like, oh, people think you're really, really rich.
And so they're going to try to have something wrong, complain and sue you and take everything that you have. So it's really to
protect you and your family financially. If you're in a high liability business, I don't know the
ins and outs of bartending other than just the, you know, from an outside perspective of what I
think you're doing. I know there could be some risk there, but I would not say that that's a
high liability business, especially with all the laws and regulations around that. So you'd want to do a little bit more digging. But I would say most likely you're fine
operating as a sole proprietor, which is doing business as for the first few years as you get
your feet under you and get that business up and going. But again, just with the nature of alcohol,
I would, you know, kind of check the law specific to that industry. But most likely you're fine
as a sole proprietor. So good. And from business boutique uh community christy has a question
yeah i love this question so she sent this in and this is about the idea of saying no and we talk
about this rachel because it's hard to do but it's so important and here's what she said yep
she said i have a full-time job that i love but i need more income and i have a side gig that i've
started and i'm good at it which i love that she acknowledged that and I have a side gig that I've started and I'm good at it, which I love that she acknowledged that, but I have a problem telling people no. So it leaves
me completely drained. What's the best way to set myself a boundary and quit trying to please
everyone? Here's what I tell people. And I would love to know how you do this, Rachel,
but I tell people that saying no is a muscle. If you never use it, that muscle is weak. So the
first few times you do, it's a little shaky. It's a little awkward. It's hard. But the more you use it, the stronger that muscle becomes and the easier it becomes. And you
realize over time that it feels good and you feel more powerful and you have a right to your own
life. But I would encourage you. The one thing I want to call out here, Monica, in your question,
if you're listening right now, is you said, I have a problem telling people no, so I'm completely
drained. That lets me know that you're in high
demand. So you probably need to raise your prices. Instead of just trying to please everyone and
serve everyone, if your demand is up, that means it's time for the prices to go up. And you've got
a completely great justification in doing that as your demand is going up. But this idea of saying
no can be hard. But the more you do it, I found the easier it becomes. Rachel, how do you do it?
For sure. I've seen you do it. Right. Well, I mean, I for sure think
whenever you put a new boundary in your life in place, whether that's like, okay, we're not going
into debt anymore, or we're going to stick to the budget, or I'm going to start saying no,
or I'm going to actually charge for my hobby instead of just giving it away for free. I mean,
whatever that boundary is, a new boundary, it's always going to be uncomfortable because it's new.
It's a new way you're kind of viewing life. You know, your perspective is changing. And so for you to say, okay,
this is what I'm going to do. And when you kind of have an absolute in your mind,
it makes life easier. So if you have like when you're going to say no, like under these
circumstances is a for sure no, then it makes it easier to say, okay, this is it. Like it's
going to be a no. And it is practice. And I think you have to be confident in your no.
And it can be hard and awkward at times and you're not going to be able to please everyone.
And some personalities are more people pleasing than others for sure. Um, but man, it feels good
when you can take control of your life and say, okay, here's the margin I have in my life with
my talents, my job, everything. And I'm going to dictate what is best for me and my family in this
time. And so when you have that confidence, I mean, I think it for sure helps. Yeah. And you teach people how to treat you. So
what's amazing is your clients, your customers will begin to behave when you teach them to
behave. Most of them may say, Hey, can you, can you do this on a last minute notice? And you say,
no, they will give you more notice than they just get in line. Most of you may lose a few customers,
but if someone tries to undercut your price and you say, no, this is the price they'll go, okay.
And most of them will just pay it. You are teaching them how to treat
you. You're teaching them what you tolerate and what you allow by your behavior. And so just like,
like Rachel said, feel confident in your, your permission and your right to do that,
to run your business that way. I love that. Okay. So one last question, Christy, before we wrap up
here, uh, because this happened actually to a friend of mine, she's starting to charge for a hobby that she had.
She was like, I really want to make some extra money.
And I know what I'm doing.
I'm really good at,
but now I feel awkward going back to people that I used to just give this gift for free.
And now I'm having to charge.
What's like your rule of thumb for women in that position?
Okay.
So I hear a lot of times that people that have a business and they have family and friends
asking for free.
So that's a little different than what you're saying.
Cause it sounds like your friend has been doing
it for free and now wants to charge those same people. So here's what I would do. I would tell
your friend to send an email or do a Facebook post or just almost kind of like a little mini
campaign announcing that she's starting a business and really share her heart. It's not like I'm
starting a business. Buy from me. It's not a sales pitch. It's just saying, Hey, I'm so excited. I'm
going to try to make money doing this. I would love your support. Here's the website where you can
find out more information. And it gives them an opportunity to rally around her. And I think they
will. So good. What a fun Women's Theme Hour on The Dave Ramsey Show today. Christy Wright,
thank you for being here. So great. Thank you to producer James Childs and Madison for filling in
for associate producer Kelly Daniel and for you, America, this is The Dave Ramsey Show.
Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show.
If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register.
We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.