The Ramsey Show - App - Business Is a Conversation With the Marketplace (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 3, 2020

Christy Wright, Debt, Taxes, Career Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Thank you to all of you that have sent your prayers by Twitter and by Instagram and by many other ways. I've gotten emails from friends all over the world about the tornadoes that we had in Nashville last night. Sadly, we had some folks lost their lives and a lot of folks lost their homes. A lot of people lost businesses. It was a pretty rough night around here. And

of course, a tornado is not ever something you can see coming, particularly at 1.30 in the morning. But out of our 1,000 team members, no one was hurt, thank goodness. We did have three people that lost their homes, and quite a few of us lost items here or there, things. But stuff is stuff, and stuff can be replaced, and that's what insurance is for, and that's just stuff. You get you another one, you know. And it's just hard when it's your personal home for our team that did that and a lot of the other folks in Nashville. But thank you to all of you that have had nice things to say and kind things to say. And we appreciate your prayers and we appreciate your support.

Certainly our team is supporting each other here, and our family foundation is reaching out into the culture and into the community, and we'll be there for a lot of people and help a lot of people along the way here. It's what Nashvillians always do. But thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for your best wishes and for your prayers and so forth. Thank you. We appreciate that. Open phones here. We'll talk to you about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Bernadette is with us in Canada. Hi, Bernadette. How are you?

Better than I deserve. How are you, Dave? Just the same. How can I help? Okay. So my father just recently got diagnosed with cancer and he lives on the other side of Canada. And we're not sure how severe it is. We will find out on March 13th. However, given the state of his heart and lungs, it might just be his time. So I'm trying to figure out what I should do financially. I've been working on my debt snowball, like my emergency fund and debt snowball. I've been trying to get out of debt journey for about two years. So, and then last month, I had a car repair that cost about a grand that used up my emergency fund, but I get paid on Friday and my emergency, like I'll have my thousand dollars again. Um, but my question

is, uh, like I'm down to my last debt, but I've been trying to put about $1,100 down on it each month. This month is different because it's just a replenishing the emergency fund month. But should I just go back to a minimum payment and then put that money I was putting towards debt off to the side in case it's like I got to move home and like take care of my dad. I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out what to do. And I just don't want to get back in a spot where I'm going back into debt. Like I've canceled my credit cards, all that stuff. And my last debt is on the line of credit, but I don't want to, like, I don't want to use my limit on it. I want to do this debt free, but yeah, um, I hope that made sense. Sure. Sure. I'm sorry about your dad. I'm sorry. Sick. Uh, but the plan is if he's, uh,

if he is, uh, if he's super ill for you to move in. That's the plan? Well, I live in Alberta, and he's in Ontario. Are you going to have to become the primary caregiver? Well, no. I have seven siblings. You said I have to move in with my dad. I don't understand. Do you or don't you?

Well, I don't have to, but I would want to. Become the primary caregiver or visit him? Well, I flight across Canada. It's easier to get to London than cross Canada, like it would be very expensive to like go back and forth if he's sick or something. Like let's say that- What do you do for a living? I nanny. Okay.

So you would just quit that job- I nanny a family. I'm 24. You would just quit that job and you would go back and be with your parents and take care of him and, you know, that would put your financial world on hold for a little while while you did that, right? Because you wouldn't have an income. No, I wouldn't.

I would probably try to get some sort of job at a coffee shop or something like that back home just so I have something that I could do part-time. Basically, you would put your financial life on hold while you took care of him for a while. Yeah, pretty much. All right, then stack up some money and get ready to go do that okay because you just told me what your plan was okay so we have to have the money to execute the plan right yeah yeah it's not going to happen if you don't do it i mean the thing is that a lot of stuff like this we can see coming and if we don't go ahead and, you know, fund what we see coming,

then we act like later it was an emergency when it really wasn't an emergency. It's a sad thing, and it's something you've got to prepare for, and it's a thing you want to do. It's a tough time in your family. I appreciate all of that, but it's not a sudden thing. I mean, for goodness sakes, you got till March 13th before you even know, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I sure hope he's okay. I hope that, I hope the diagnosis comes in better than your, than your fears. But if he's, if he's not, if he's not, and you decide to make that move at 24, I think that's a good move.

I think you would regret it if you didn't do that. When you're 54, you'd look back and go, you know, I wish I'd have spent that last summer over there with my dad. Yes. Thank you so much. I think I would do that, but make sure you fund it and it takes the if you take the financial edge off of a a super tough medical situation um and family situation like this if you take the financial edge off of it by saving up the money like you said you were going to do um it changes the whole it changes the whole experience because you don't have with it this latent guilt of I'm going back into debt and oh

I'm screwing up and while I'm doing something good here I'm also doing something bad and you don't have all that because you just don't go in debt. Right? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Good luck darling. I hope it all works out. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Y'all jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Working the debt snowball with gazelle intensity is not what you do when you're square in the middle of an emergency or a medical event or whatever, but that's a family emergency, a family situation that she's going to say, I'm pushing pause on my career goals. I'm pushing pause on my, uh, income. I'm pushing pause on making progress on my finances in order to do something that means more to me than those things do. And that's to spend time with dad if he's ill well there you go that's called making good choices but you're making your choices intentional and you plan around them and

that's called wisdom this is the dave ramsey show We've been voted one of the best places to work in Nashville 11 times. You want to know how we do it? Well, our team has been using LinkedIn jobs for years to find the best people from all over the country to come and help us change lives. Think about it. LinkedIn has more than 600 million active members. I'm talking about people who come to LinkedIn to make connections, grow their careers, and discover new job opportunities. In fact, 90% of LinkedIn users are open to new opportunities, but not actively scanning job boards. This means LinkedIn Jobs gives you access to an entirely different demographic.

Don't wait. One hire can change the direction of your company. Post a job today at linkedin.com slash Ramsey and get $50 off your first job post. That's linked is with us, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author of the book Business Boutique, equipping women to make Money Doing What They Love. She works with ladies, helping them become who they're supposed to be in any area of their life, but certainly in their careers and in their small businesses.

And she'll be with us at the bottom of the hour. If you've got questions for Christy, you jump in. We'll open up some phones at 888-825-5225. Christy Wright at the bottom of the hour. Sarah is with us in Tennessee. Hi, Sarah. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? My husband and I started Baby Step 2 in January of last year. And we've made good progress. We're down to our final two debts. And they're bigger. And they're car loans, and I wasn't sure. Up until now, everything has been like we could basically pay it off in a

month's time. Like, I didn't know on attacking the car debt if I needed to save up the chunk and pay it, or do I make extra payments each month? Pay it as fast as you can pay it. So, as often as you can pay it. Double payment? Triple payment. Quadruple payment. month? Pay it as fast as you can pay it. So, double payment? Triple payment. Quadruple payment. Okay, perfect. Pay it as fast as you can pay it. As much as you can pay it, as often as you can pay it.

It really doesn't help to pay more than once a month, but as much as you can put on it in a month, do it that month. Okay, got it. Because they calculate the interest owed monthly on a car loan. Unless you've got a real high interest rate ripoff car loan, and then it doesn't save you anything. You just pay it off as quick as you can anyway. But if you've got a normal car loan, it's calculated as what's called simple interest, which means the interest rate divided by 12, you're charged each month on the outstanding balance so the more you lower that balance the less your interest is the next month okay perfect so that's

why we chunk on it each month you make sense yes sir it sure does thank you so much thank you for the call lauren is with us in missouri hey lauren welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I am trying to start baby step number one after several failed attempts. I am, and then my husband and I just did our tax return, and we owe $1,200 in taxes, so I'm trying to figure out if I should stop trying to save on my emergency fund, if I should do it while I'm saving for my taxes. What's your household income? Right now it's $50,000. My husband is going back to school.

Okay. So you're going to make $4,000 a month, roughly, $3,500 a month for the next two months, right? Yes, sir. Okay. What have you got you can sell? Nothing, but I know i've gone through everything i've looked at you had a garage sale i have not had a garage sale have one saturday okay a big one okay i mean scrape out the bottoms of the closets and let's turn it in because six hundred dollars right now at a garage sale would be a big deal for you wouldn't it yes yes it would that's the thing so uh you know here's the thing i think

you should be able with uh seven thousand dollars coming in roughly between now and april 15th to do both okay so you need to shoot both at the same time. Okay. $2,200 out of $7,000. Okay. You see what I'm doing? Yes, yes, I do. So I want you to get on a really, really tight budget. If you have to choose and you can't quite make one of them,

let that be the emergency fund. Go ahead and pay the KGB, I mean the IRS. Okay. All right, let's get them out because your interest and your penalties is very high with the with them and so let's go ahead and knock that out and then two weeks later finish up your baby step one okay or something like that if you have to but with a garage sale with ringing every drop out of your freaking life between now and april 15th i think you can make both okay but you need to get on a budget right yes yes i've done i've started every dollar good is your husband helping you with this yes he's on board so the two of you together are

a team that's what we're after and then you look at this and you flex your muscles and you go game on baby okay you got it you can do it you can do it the number the math works here it's just going to be a matter of how hard you lean into it and what you cut out and and how disgusted you are with living the way you have been living and you're not going to live that way anymore because it's too freaking stressful all right up next is going to be emily in north carolina hi emily welcome to the dave ramsey show hi dave hey what's up um so my husband and i are we're just about finished with the book but our biggest question was basically we aren't starting with a ton of debt we have about 80 000 savings. We do have a car payment and we have

a mortgage. I didn't know if we should go ahead and deplete our savings for our car payments and then start building, like, should we invest that or just go ahead and just pay off the car payment. Which book were you reading? Total Money Makeover. Okay. So go back and start again. There was a chapter in there that told you exactly what to do. Chapter 3. Okay. It said take all of your savings that is not in retirement

and become debt-free in Baby Step 2. And so you should write a check today and pay off your stupid cars. Okay. That's what it says. It didn't say stupid. I said that in a different – I didn't write that. I should have written it, but yeah. Okay.

And so how much do you owe on your stupid cars? So we have $27,000 on the car that we need to pay. That's it? $27,000. And that's your only debt except your home? Yes. Well, like $1,500 on And that's your only debt except your home? Yes. Well, like $1,500 on a credit card. Okay.

Our main thing is we move the budget so that we aren't using the credit card. Because before we were doing the whole, oh, we'll use it and pay it off every month. Okay, so tonight you have children? Yes. What age is? She was a third on the way. Okay, good. What age is she?

One, five, and pregnant. What time do they go to bed? Eight o the way. Okay, good. What age is she? One, five, and pregnant. What time do they go to bed? Eight o'clock. Okay. At 8.30, you and your husband sit down at the kitchen table, and you have three things you have to do, and you can't get up from the kitchen table until you do this. Okay?

Okay. Number one, pay off your car. Okay. Number two, pay off the credit card and cut it up into little bitty freaking pieces. Mm-hmm. Okay? Number three, do the budget, the two of you while you're sitting there. And you get your every dollar app out, and you give every dollar a name because you don't need a credit card.

You make too much money. You got $53,000, $52,000 left in the bank now, right? Yes. Tell me you had 80. Yes, and we have 10,000 that we've allotted, like, towards kids. And originally that amount, that big chunk, we wanted to save for our forever home. Why do I get the feeling you're not going to do what i told you to do at 8 30 i will do it okay i will do it okay you just you just ran off down the road talking about something else as soon as we finished you just you're chasing your

tail in circles you think this 80 000 is 800 000 it's not you need to get yourself out of debt put an emergency fund aside and then the balance of that money can be your down payment on your home and if you buy a home 15 year fixed rate where the payments know more than a fourth of your take-home pay and i'm an old guy let me tell you something there's no such thing as a forever home everybody moves yeah well very few people live in one home their whole freaking life it almost never happens it's just that's a myth forever home is a mythology it's just it's this thing everybody says well my forever home you're just you're not gonna be because as soon as you build that your

dream changes and you're doing a different one because i build my dream home your dreams change thank goodness they change your life changes the kids grow up they move away the grandkids come back i want i want room for them i need a yard for them i got i got a dog i don't have a dog i got a horse i don't have a horse your dreams change right and so you know you don't there's no such thing as a forever home there's a forever there's a for this season of my life home that's all it is it's just a freaking house and there's one on every corner. You can get you a different one later. So use that as your down payment above your emergency fund and above you being debt-free.

That's what we call Baby Step 3B. And then that'll move you to 4, 5, and 6, which is kids' colleges, 5, retirements, 4, and start paying off that new house is six. You can do all of these wonderful things when you start paying attention. 8.30 tonight, kiddo, you have an appointment. Christy Wright's up next here on the Dave Ramsey Show. If you do this one simple thing that we all do, you are literally at risk of being hacked and someone stealing what you've worked so hard for. Do you ever use public Wi-Fi?

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Download it today from your app store and be secure in seconds. Joining me this half hour, answering your questions, ladies, Christy Wright, number one bestselling author of the book Business Boutique, equipping women to make money doing what they love. You got a question for Christy? Give us a call at 888-825-5225. And, ladies, you can call in about business questions, but sometimes people have questions for Christy just on encouragement or on fear or on whatever right balance life personal development all that good stuff and as a matter of fact because of that some things are changing a little bit with christy

right she's been exclusively a business boutique uh creator promoter driver and she's going to continue to do that but in addition we're putting some other stuff on your plate i mean since you got three kids you need more to do i'm really just kind of bored dave i just thought we could take on more to do three little babies and let's just load you up with work yeah no it's it's really fun and it's interesting because even as i've been coaching women through my academy my online coaching group i use this as a great teaching example because people think in business you get to a point where you just get it perfect and you set it and forget it and that never happens never it's you always

you don't iterate you die right and I love how you always describe it as a conversation with the marketplace and so you put something out the market tells you hey we like this we don't like this a little bit more of this a little bit less of this and we're always responding and iterating and what's interesting is the last few years we have seen a pattern through business boutique where we have women coming to the event listening to the podcast reading the book that don't have businesses and don't necessarily want them they just are really feeling encouraged motivated helped uh taught uh directed through being a community of doers yeah and i And I think I think what's

interesting and you see this, I know, through Entree Leadership, but our life is not segmented. It's not just, well, you have a business life and a personal life. No, it's all your life. One bleeds into the other. They always do. So even in business coaching, I find myself helping people in other areas of their life. And I know you do this as well. And so what's interesting is we're just really excited about some things coming up where we're not going to help women with just business. We want to help them in more areas of their life, from their relationships to their self-care to life balance and goal setting. Things we've really been doing, we've just always been putting it through a business lens. And I'm excited because we're going to be expanding in the next month or so and really helping women in more ways than just business.

Is it okay to say you're launching a new podcast? Yeah, this is gonna be fun. So the big announcement is the Business Boutique podcast is transitioning to the Christy Wright Show, where sure, we're still going to talk about some business, but we're also going to talk about your entire life to help you create a life that you love and are proud of. So I'm really excited about it's going to all launch on April 28. And that's when you can, you can find it in wherever you listen to podcasts, and just look for the Christy Wright Show. It should be really fun. We'll do a big official announcement coming up for all that. Yeah. So if you want to talk to Christy, this is our 888-825-5225. Britton is with us in Montana. Hi,

Britton, your question for Christy. Hi, Christy. Hi, Dave. It's an absolute honor to speak to you guys. You too. Thanks for calling. So my question, my husband and I have a remodel contracting company in Montana, and we are having a really hard time getting people to finish paying their contract. So after the job is done, you know, before, of course, before they start the job, they pay half down. That covers the material and the initial costs of our subcontractors. And then the job will get done, and we have a really hard time getting people to finish paying. As of right now, we're owed about $10,000 from separate jobs. And I'm just wondering, you know, how do I go about collecting money without ruining relationships with our clients? And how do I go about doing that in, like, a respectful way, in a biblical way that I'm not being mean?

I don't really know how to say that. Well, Bretton, you're not being mean. You're just not getting paid. They're the ones that's not doing the right thing in this scenario. I'd love to hear what you've been doing and also how the agreement is set up on the front end. You know, is this a handshake? Do you have a contract? Like, how are you setting up the entire arrangement with your clients when you bring them on or when they bring you on rather? So we do have a written contract. It lays out the details of what we're going to do and then

what the project is that we are doing, the location of the project. We get their signature, our signature. We attach all the relevant forms. And it's 50% up front and 50% on completion? Yes. Okay. Change your terms. Change your terms.

50% up front. 50% up front 50 up front and when you complete 50 of the job i want another 45 and five percent on completion where you're always ahead of them okay do you think that that's going to look kind of unprofessional though i feel like it's not unprofessional a lot of people unprofessional at all it's an agreement it's the agreement what's unprofessional is they're not paying you yeah and remember britain this is your business i can't tell you how many times a day i'm answering questions from women i'm helping in the academy or you know at book signing events or whatever we're like well can i do this well can i do that it's your business

absolutely it's your business you set the terms you set the schedule you teach people how to treat you and what you will allow and what you won't allow. And so I love that advice from Dave because you've been burned in the past, and you're going to learn from those lessons, and you're going to protect yourself and your business in the future moving forward to set them up for success to pay you and set you up for success to be able to get paid and stay in business. So I love that. It's your business. This example might be too old, but back at the end of the century, in the year 2000, we had radio advertisers, and there was a dot-com explosion, it was called, when the Internet exploded and became a thing.

And a bunch of people stood up companies that weren't financially viable, and they went broke. I don't know if anybody remembers that out there and uh we got burned a bunch of times and we found the common thing was on radio advertisers that burned us and didn't pay us their their company was dot com was something dot com and so we changed our policy if you have dot com in your company name you prepay or you don't get on and i don't care if you get on or not but you don't get on if you don't prepay. And, you know, oddly enough, we still do that to this day. We never changed it. To this day, if it's a dot-com, if it's an Internet-only business,

we make them prepay because we're worried about getting paid. I actually have a company called Integrity.com that still owes me $40,000 from 20 years ago, and I'll never get it. That's the irony of ironies right there. It's a great question, though, Britton, just I hope you feel encouraged and empowered because it is your business you have the right and the responsibility to protect yourself and protect your business the thing is someone who's not going to pay you is not going to do this deal that I just laid out and that's called walking away from business that was bad business anyway okay if they if they

were going to screw around with you at the completion they're going to be the ones that walk away because you asked to be paid heavily before the work's done 50 up front is unusual for a typical subcontractor usually you do the work and then just get paid, but you're doing retail remodeling. Right. We've gotten burned way too many times doing that. You're doing retail remodeling direct to the consumer. So 50% upfront is not unusual, and a big stroke most of the way through the job is not unusual with a little bit on the back end when the punch list is completed. That's not that weird in your world. I hear it all the time from remodelers.

But I think Christy's right. The big thing is to believe in yourself enough to walk away from bad business. I like this too, Dave, because really another common lesson here, even for anyone listening, is to look at the patterns and themes going on in your business and then respond accordingly. You know, my mom started a cake shop when I was little, and she started noticing a pattern with wedding orders, where the bride would come in, the mom would come in and their demands are just increasing and increasing. They're asking how they can pay less and cut corners and they want more, but they want to pay less.

She just started being able to identify the themes and patterns and these crazy demanding customers that were going to cost her way more in a headache than they than she would make. And she just stopped taking. You know what? I get the sense that that I'm not going to be able to make you happy. And I really want you to be happy. So I think you should go somewhere else. And then the icing on the cake, if you want to do this, is give them your competitor's business card. 100%.

You've talked about that before. But you do. You learn. Send the high-maintenance clients to your competitor. See those patterns and adjust your business accordingly. Protect yourself. That's good. Bridezilla, you have been labeled, baby. You are done. That's exactly what you need to do.

And, you know, what we teach in Entree Leadership and you teach it in Business Boutique as well in the Academy is that a collections problem is not really a collections problem. It's a product design problem and a selling problem. And you've got to get your sale done right on the front end and design your payment terms right. And then you never have a collections problem again. And I don't have collections problems here. I don't tolerate them. It makes me too mad. It brings out the hillbilly in me. It's not good at all. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Joining me this hour, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, Christy Wright is with us. And we are, got early bird tickets on sale for what is going to be the biggest and maybe the most robust business boutique event that we've ever done.

The conference is in Nashville. It always has been in Nashville. It's always been in October. But this one, October 22nd, October 24th, is going to be. I mean, the speakers, there's a feel on this one that's just got a little different depth to it. Yeah, it's really fun because every year we take one that's just got a little different depth to it. Yeah, it's really fun because every year we take what we've learned and we try to make it better and bigger. And we're like we were just talking about, you're constantly iterating, improving and that type of thing.

We love to create experiences at this event. So this isn't a stuffy business conference. You don't come, you know, we have a PowerPoint and you're bored taking notes like we have so much fun. But at the same time, you're learning and getting inspired and empowered to go home and change your business and change your life. And so the team and I are already working on some of those really fun surprise elements, experience elements. But, of course, we have unbelievable speakers. Chris Hogan is going to be with us this year. And that audience is going to love him.

Oh, my gosh. It's going to be so much fun. And then Lisa Bevere, she is a phenomenal speaker. She is a powerhouse. Yeah, she's a great speaker. Oh, my gosh. It's going to be so much fun. And then Lisa Bevere. She is a phenomenal speaker. She is a powerhouse. She owns the room. It's incredible. And she's brilliant, too, by the way. Pat Flynn.

He's spoken at our conference before, and he was a favorite. He's so smart with passive income and podcasting and a lot of things these women need help with. Gigi Butler is going to tell us kind of her success story of founding Gigi's Cupcakes. And then everyone loves Annie F. Downs. In the past, she's been actually our emcee. And this year, she's going to be doing a keynote, which I'm so excited about. Yeah, she's good. Yeah. Awesome.

Her podcast is real hot right now. Yeah. And it's amazing how even her personal brand, her business brand has blown up in the last couple of years. Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Kelsey Humphries will be our emcee this year, which is going to be a lot of fun. So it's an incredible lineup. And it's been amazing to see how much this brand is known in the marketplace. So, man, when we launched, people were like, oh, my gosh, this is the year I'm going or I've been every year. I'm getting tickets again. And so it's got a lot of excitement

around it. You and I worked with Elizabeth a lot when she was on Fox and Friends, and she's moved into our community now. And she's been friends of ours for years and mine for years and her the way she carries herself and who she is as a person will really connect to this audience when such she just has such grace and such class and so I'm really excited to see and also just having so much variety of different industries represented on the stage like from her experience and her background so I'm really excited about that grace and class that's not usually something you say about somebody that used to be on the view well her demeanor her demeanor that's right yeah she's different she really is she's different that's she's amazing so hey if you want tickets uh we've got them on sale as a uh as an early bird seats

uh for only 149 dollars get them. We will be raising the prices soon. This event always sells out, always sells out early. And just go to businessboutique.com for the Business Boutique Conference, October 22nd through the 24th, or call Concierge Team here at Ramsey, the Ramsey Concierge Team, at 888-22-PIECE, 888-227-3223. Shannon's in North Carolina. Shannon, your question for Christy Wright.

Hi, y'all. How are you doing? Hey, great. How can we help? Good. I have several different side hustles that I do on a regular basis. Some are seasonal. And I was just wondering if that would be something that I should focus more on a couple of things or keep with the variety.

I do like the variety, and none of them are primary bed dinners besides the cleaning and management of vacation rentals. Okay. What are the other ones? What all do you have going on? Oh, goodness. okay what are the other ones what all do you have going on oh goodness um baking crocheting cooking catering we run a homestead where we sell eggs and um various different animals we raise bees you're cutting in and out you need to speak directly into your phone okay yes sir is this better okay thank you yes all right so we've got cleaning vacation homes baking cooking crocheting animals any i missed yeah vacation rental and management

yeah vacation rental cleaning and management of the same rental okay okay let me ask you this that's my primary okay let me ask you this what's what's kind of your why for these businesses? If it's not the primary breadwinner, you approach it like a hobby. This is fun and the money is bonus. What's your motivation towards having these? With the crochet, at first I did it just because I enjoyed it and people started liking the product. So I do it for other people as well. My animals I love.

The cooking, it's mostly because I was raised to cook for an army, so we can't consume it all. The baking is on request. All right. Well, here's the thing. The reason I ask that, Shannon, is because if, like, let's say, for example, if you were trying to pay off your debt and you just want some extra income and you want to have fun with all these things, that's the thing. The reason I asked that, Shannon, is because if like, let's say, for example, if you're trying to pay off your debt and you just want some extra income and you want to have fun with all these things, that's one thing. But if you want to build a business, like you want to have a focus, like I want to build

this business, earn more revenue next year than I had this year, earn more personal income. I want to expand my brand, expand my influence, my platform, my footprint, then it's going to need to have some focus. But if you're just kind of having fun, you know what I mean? If you're just kind of playing around like, well, I'm going to crochet anyway, so I might as well sell some. That's kind of a different approach to it. But a lot of the women that I work with, they really want to build a business. They want that business to grow, but they have like 15. And you can't be great at 15 things. And your audience definitely can't remember you for 15 things. They really can't be great at 15 things and your audience definitely can't remember you

for 15 things. They really can't even remember you for three. They're gonna think of you as an expert in one space. So what I'd encourage women is figure out what you wanna be known for and go be that. Now, it sounds like if your vacation rental is the primary, that's something you could pour some fuel on that fire, that could be the main thing.

And then on the side, you kind of dabble in these other ones. But I just, I don't personally know how you keep all this straight if you're kind of treating them equal um but if you're just kind of having fun with the others but you have a focus then then that's a little bit different dave what would you say to this because it's interesting you would get more enjoyment out of them if you would do less of them yeah i'm feeling i'm feeling exhausted yeah thinking about it shannon like that's a lot to keep up i think you would do a better job you'd make more money and you'd have more fun if you would just say those two are just hobbies and i'm not going to talk about them as a gig anymore are those three right and um you know the animals the cooking and the crocheting i don't

think those are your businesses i think those are hobbies that got out of control and you just need to rein them in just what i'm hearing i mean you do what you want to do, kiddo. But like Christy said, it's what do you want? That's the trick here. There's no wrong answer to this. But I have found that when I can go deeper in something and concentrate on it, focus on it, get better at it, make more money on it as a result, help more people with it as a result, that I get more joy out of that rather than half butt doing 17 things. When you get more momentum, and you talk about momentum all the time, momentum is powerful, but that comes from focus.

But I want to point out one thing you're doing really well, Shannon. I work with a lot of women that have hobbies or something they enjoy, a craft, a trade, and they want to turn it into a business, but they're scared to charge and they feel guilty for charging. Well, I don't know if I could make money at this because I love it or whatever you know what you're you're opportunistic shannon you're making money out of all these things you're doing i think that's awesome now we might need to to pare it down but well done well done that you're like hey i crocheted something i'm gonna sell that and i'm gonna sell my baked goods and i'm gonna sell my my you know what cleaning services all that i just

i think that that's a great quality but i I agree. I think you'll get more enjoyment, more momentum when you focus on one or one or two. I'm the classic serial entrepreneur and ADD. And so, I mean, I have an idea every 20 seconds. And I have found that if I don't, as an act of my intellectual will, overcome that to be focused on something. Right. And focus on what's in front of me, not the next thing, you know, because I'm always worried about the next thing while I'm in the middle of that thing.

Right. And if I don't do that, I don't get as much joy out of it and I don't have as much success with it. Right. Not as much progress. I personally struggled with that as a character trait for 30 years. And so that's kind of why I recognize it. I guess it's like the serial entrepreneurial thing.

It's really, really easy to fall into the trap of doing almost nothing and a lot of it. Yeah. Well, I think a lot of entrepreneurs are like that. My mom and dad both are entrepreneurs. I have a lot of those traits where it's like we do. We have 100 ideas a day, and they're all brilliant, according to us. They're all going to be massive success. When you're on the running trail, everything's brilliant. It's so smart.

But it's true. I like how you said a matter of the will you will yourself to focus so that you can make more progress help more people have more impact make more money and so on and so it might just be a matter of discipline shannon but but great question good question very good question and uh i agree christy you're go get her kiddo you got you got it going on good stuff christy right number one best-selling author of the book Business Boutique, the Business Boutique conference on sale. Early bird special, only $149 at businessboutique.com. Get your tickets before they're gone.

Thanks for dropping by this hour, Miss Christy. Thanks for having me. Christy Wright, Ramsey personality. You guys check her out. New podcast coming up in April with her name on it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. You can now listen to the Dave Ramsey Show on Spotify, Pandora, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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