The Ramsey Show - App - Everybody Just Wants Freedom (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, specifically winning with your money, winning in your work, and winning in your relationships. The phone number to jump in, we'd love to coach you today, is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Rachel Cruz joins me. I'm Ken Coleman, and we are thrilled to be here to coach you, guide you. We want you to win.

So let's get to the phones. Susie is up in Seattle, Washington, one of my favorite cities. You were just out there recently. I was, yes. A little T-Swift? A little T-Swift action this summer. Love Seattle. That's where Susie is.

Susie, how can we help? Well, first of all, thank you, Ken and Rachel, for taking my call. Ken, you're the perfect guy for this question. After 33 years, the corporate headquarters where I work is moving out of state. And my question is about how I go through this transitionary process where they are, you know, we kind of have an end date that's vague and how I go about interviewing and what do I share with my current boss about what I'm doing? I mean, obviously I'm not going to stay. They know that. And it's just a weird kind of ethical thing I have going on in my heart. Yeah. Well, you're a very, very, very upstanding, high integrity person because of even asking this question, but I would tell you, this may shock you, I wouldn't tell them anything. Now, what I mean by that is, I tell people all the time,

don't cheat on your current job. So if you're going for job interviews and you got personal time or your lunch hour, you use that. You know what I mean? You're not going on job interviews when you're supposed to be in the office. So I want to be very clear about that. But they know you're leaving. You already told us that. They know why you're leaving. Company's relocating. And my guess is you're an employee with high standing. Is that true with your leader?

Correct. Yeah. I'm just the person that kind of wears my emotions on my sleeve. I'm the cheerleader. Get that. And for the couple of us that are looking for other jobs, I'm kind of like trying to encourage them at the same time. Do it. Do all that.

It's just a weird line. No, I mean, I understand what you're saying, but I'm trying to tell you there is no line here. It's not unethical for you to look for a new job when they've told you your job is essentially ending and they know you're not going to relocate. So it would be, in my mind, the issue is not is it ethical, it would be nonsensical for you not to apply for a job and to go do interviews.

Does that make sense? Yes. All right then. So you don't have to tell them anything. And don't lie. I mean, right, like if they ask you point blank, be honest. Of course. But my point is that if you're going to do a job interview and you got a lunch hour,

then instead of taking a normal lunch hour, then go do your job interview and you take that hour and you're a good steward of what you're supposed to be doing now. You're not doing anything wrong. Now, to Rachel's point, they go, hey, are you looking for jobs? Go, yeah. Which, by the way, they're probably going to ask you because they know you're not staying with them anyway. So none of this is a secret. Therefore, you don't have to act secretive, but you also don't have to walk around going, hey, I interviewed the other day. Let's just go about our business. It'd be like

me telling Rachel, hey, she knows I probably have to go to the doctor every once in a while, but I don't go, hey, I went to the doctor today. I got a case of gout. She doesn't care. She doesn't want to know. I don't have a case of gout. But just saying. Or even if I know what that is. It's an overshare.

You know what I mean? It's like you don't need to share this because you're not doing anything wrong. Does that make sense? Yes. The other nuance here is that they're having a very hard time finding people in the new state. In the other departments that have already transitioned, they offer them to stay longer. here is that they're having a very hard time finding people in the new state and they have in the other departments that have already transitioned they offer them to stay longer and and up until this last month I've been pretty clear that I was willing to stay longer

but my heart has kind of changed because partly because of your show I am encouraged about the job market I know there are some better people out there and I am encouraged about the job market. I know there is something better for me out there, and I'm excited about that. And because of the Ramsey plan, I have total financial peace. I am not concerned at all about that, and I'm ready to move on. And so I'm also kind of worried about that transition when they ask me to stay if I don't or if I – Well, here's the deal.

You're right, though. It's on paper that they're letting me go on this. That's right. And here's the deal. You're right, though. It's on paper that they're letting me go on this. That's right. And here's the deal. You're such a nice person. You're probably a bit of a people pleaser, and you're probably wrestling with some guilt, but you have not done anything wrong.

See, we use the word guilt. We apply guilt to something that is, I've done wrong, you know? And so you've done anything wrong, and I think you're just very open and clear, and if they ask you to stay a little longer, you go, well, I don't think I'm going to. And that doesn't make you a bad person, and it doesn't make you ungrateful. I think that's what you're wrestling with.

Yeah, and Susie, even when you said, oh, my gosh, they're having a hard time finding people in this other state, if they have trouble, that's not your responsibility. You know what I mean? There's a point that they've made this decision as a company and now that decision is not sitting well with you because of you're not going to move and so naturally your heart has moved on do you know like that's it's a reasonable line of thinking you're not like out of the blue this crazy person I mean it that all makes sense so just just know that too yeah, Susie, you're a great lady and there's great things ahead. And I would be moving forward on everything that you want in the next season of your life.

No guilt. Thank you so much. Yeah, you bet. Appreciate that. What a sweet lady. I love that. Yeah, so fun. And just as a little tack on to what she said, she said, because of the Ramsey Plan, I'm able to do this.

And that's a beautiful thing that we talk about a lot. When you put yourself in a position financially, you guys, and the Ramsey plan is you're out of debt. You have money saved in the bank. You're living intentionally. You have options. So like, even if Susie's company came in and said, you're laid off, Susie probably would say, okay, because I don't have debt and I have three to six months of expenses in the bank and I'll just look for a new job. That's really sad. I've been with them for a long time,

but I'm going to just, you know, even if this decision was forced upon her, it still has a level of peace because things are taken care of. And so there's wisdom in that, you guys. But even on the front end, she can proactively now say, I don't want to go with where my job is going.

And she's thinking about something else. Now I can think about something else. And even if you don't have something for a month or two, like it's okay, you know, so. It's a very good point. The financial freedom that Susie has gives her the professional freedom right now when this change has been forced on her. And now she's like, I kind of want to do something else. It kind of reminds me of that scene from Jerry Maguire. Have you seen it? Yes. You know, he finally leaves.

Yes. And he's thinking he's got the world, you know, and he's in the car, and he just rolls the windows down, and he's singing Tom Petty's I'm Free, and he's letting it go. And that's a guy, you know, in that situation is going, look, I'm doing my thing. I'm doing what I want to do. And in this case, Susie, I think that might be the play. It might be a little chilly in Seattle,

but maybe we crank up the Tom Petty on the drive home tonight. And just enjoy. She's financially free, which means she's free to do what she wants. And by the way, that's what everybody's longing for is freedom. Yep. That autonomy over your life where you have a say. I know George Campbell and I were talking this morning on my show, and we were filming a segment for his new book, Breaking Free from Broke. If you have not pre-ordered George Campbell and I were talking this morning on my show and we were filming a segment

for his new book, Breaking Free from Broke. If y'all have not pre-ordered that, make sure to pre-order. You get some free goodies and stuff with the pre-order. So check that out at ramseysolutions.com slash store. But we're talking about how, you know, you go through high school and college and then you're out on your own,

out of your parents telling you what to do. And then you all of a sudden look in a system that's telling you what to do, the financial system, or you're looking to the government, whatever, telling you what. And I'm telling you, it's like when you break free from all of those quote-unquote systems, you have the ability to have a say over your life

in so many ways, in your career and in your money. So that freedom is massive. I'll tell you what I am fighting the freedom to do is to sing that last, that big refrain, but I think James is going to write me up for it, so I'm going to just do it during the commercial. Do it. Just for the, just for the, because I'm free! There it is. That's all I got. This is The Ramsey Show.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by Rachel Cruz, and we are here for you to talk to you about your money, your work, and your relationships. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Victoria is joining us now in Philadelphia. Victoria, how can we help? Hi. I just had, I guess, a question and just wanted your opinion on me and my husband. We just bought a home.

Okay. Tell us about it. So my husband was in the military the last five years. So we lived on a military base, and I own my own hair studio. So living with no expenses with the military, we were able to save up quite a lot of money. So when we moved back home our intent was to buy a home and not to rent so we lived with my parents for just a month before we found a town

home in the area that we wanted to be in we kind of went into it knowing like it wouldn't be our forever home it's just a small two-bedroom little town home but we didn't want to rent and not be able to save up another significant amount of money as our down payment. So we went through with buying it, and now in my head, I'm like, will we ever be able to get out of it? It's not a forever home. How long should we stay in it? So not that I have regret of buying it, but sometimes I wonder, should we have just waited to buy a forever home or was this a good move? All right. Let's see what the details give us here. So how much did you put down? How much do you have left on the mortgage?

So it started at 385 and we put 10 down, and we also bought out the PMI. Okay. So how much do you have left? I think we have about $360,000, I believe, $358,000, something like that. And how long ago was this that you bought it? Exactly a year ago, in November of 2022. Okay. Okay.

And besides it just not knowing it's not your forever home because forever homes victoria honestly yeah it's kind of a romantization of this term but that rarely happens i mean some people do they buy their first home and they stay in it forever ever and ever but most people move two or three times right houses in their lifetime um so for you guys i understand yeah not wanting to rent, especially when you have the money saved. So is the mortgage, how much is the mortgage compared to your income right now? Does it feel like a lot? I feel like it felt like a lot coming from, you know, not having any bills. So our payment is $2,700 a month. We have a 6.9% interest rate, so it's definitely not low.

Altogether, with all of our bills, we probably end up paying maybe $3,300 a month. My husband alone brings in just about $7,500 himself per month. And then I'm a business owner, so now that it's my first year owning my hair business in this state, so I bring in about $12,000 a month, but I have to pay all the taxes. $12,000 a month? Yeah, but she's paying. What's your take home? Well, that's the thing.

It's different every month, but I would say maybe around $7,000, which is still really good. Listen, you guys have a 14 you got 14 000 yeah your your income yeah you're good you're fine your ratio of mortgage to your to your income is great um yeah y'all are fine victoria i think i would you're probably having a little buyer's remorse because it's probably just sticker shock it's one of the largest purchases probably the largest purchase you guys have ever made. I think you were in a great, I mean, you guys had prime position to buy.

Do you guys have consumer debt? You mean any other debt? Yes, any other debt besides this mortgage? Just our two car payments, which I have, I think, 12,000 on mine, and he has, I think his is in the 20s. So it's not too bad. How much are the car payments a month?

Mine's $325 and his is $400. Good grief. I'd be more nervous about that. I know. $700 going to car payments. Do you guys have any money saved? Yeah. I have about $100,000 saved and he has just around $30,000. What is going on here hey victoria you

guys are great i would i would pay off your cars today yes and no more of his savings and my savings you guys together have 130 that y'all need to start looking at this as a as a unit right that you guys together have 130 000 put it in the same account the same high yield savings you guys together have $130,000, put it in the same account, the same high yield savings. You guys, this is a together conversation you and your husband are having or living out is yeah, together, this is what you guys have. You guys have $130,000. Pay off your cars today, Victoria. You have a great savings. You're in a beyond perfect position. You're great. Can I ask you, Victoria, have you seen another house and you know your income, and you've been really disciplined to save that kind of money?

Is this because you see something else that you want and you're like, dang, I got my money wrapped up in this other thing? Is that what's going on? Yeah, that's exactly what it is. So I'm 20. Me and my husband are both 23. So the fact that we were able to save so much, I feel like at a somewhat young age, I'm like, did I not waste my money on this house? Did I have waited enough?

No, no. Okay. So now, all right, let me be big brother for a minute. Okay. Let me tell you what you've done. You've been really, really smart except for these car payments. And Rachel's right. Cut a check for $32,000 today. If I wrote it down right, 20 and 12, and you guys still have right at $100,000 in savings, high-yield savings account, you guys are making money hand over fist. You just gave yourself a $700 plus month raise because the car payments are gone. You know what I would do if I were you? And I won't let Rachel correct me here because she's the little sister. Believe me, she'll correct me. I would take the $700 a month that you've been in car payments, and I'd put that towards the next house. After you've got your emergency fund, you're investing 15%.

All of that should be. You walk in the baby's house. But I'd take that $700, and I'd go, we're going to save up, and we get through year number two of having that home, so we don't take a capital gains hit. And then if you want to sell, and you've got a down payment that you've saved up for with the rules that we give, Rachel, I'd like to see them stay in the townhouse two or three more years. Don't be in a rush. You've got a great asset. Yes, exactly. Yeah, I would be okay with that, Victoria, or putting the $700 towards the house. So you have built-in equity.

I would pay that off too, sure. And you have built-in equity. So you're building equity. So when you guys save, you have more equity in the house to use for the next house. They've got margin. They've got margin to do both. Yeah, you're fine, Victoria. I look at $14,000 take-home and you said your bills are we're going to call, I think you said $3,300

or something? Just around that. My goodness. Yeah, you could be doing the baby steps, paying towards that, plus saving the down payment. You did not do something, no, you did not do something wasteful. This is it. You did it perfectly. You're doing great. Yep. You guys have a nice intel.

Does that help you? Does that help you like, okay, we're okay. It does make me feel better. Yeah. It does make me feel much better. Do you guys, do you see your, like, do you guys want kids soon? Do you see that you want to move areas? Is there any of that that's kind of playing in?

Okay. It's just, it's just, you just really freaking out that you own something. Kind of. Yeah. Like we have enough space for us to, it's just like a want freaking out that you own something. Kind of, yeah. We have enough space for us, too. It's just like a want to have more space, and should we have waited to get exactly what we wanted? Listen, let me tell you, and Rachel's great at this.

You said it. I'm going to remind you what's going on. You know you can afford something bigger and better, and you didn't get it, and you're going, you're trying to play armchair quarterback and go back and go, oh, but you can't do that that you guys are making more money now and all this is is ah i'd like this and on paper financially what we're making we could make it well we could we'd get that house and that's all you're dealing with that's it that's it you didn't make a bad move though

and you can upgrade down the line yeah be patient wait a couple years 23 yeah yeah wait a couple years you'll have an upright if you want but you're good and this would be a good season too victoria of practicing a level of contentment right because i think there is something in the sense that we what we even though we can do it financially do we need it and there's a little bit of that discipline in that and i think that's what's hard but we always like warn people when they have money saved and they go to the mortgage broker, the mortgage broker is automatically going to be like, no, but look at the house you could get. You could get this much of a mortgage. And you're like, nope, I'm doing this. I'm doing this. So I think there's a level of practice of just, hey, you guys are really

blessed. You've worked really hard. You've been really smart. You're good. You don't need more space. Even though mathematically you could, you don't need it. So, Victoria, I would take this season and I would have sweet memories and a space that maybe feels a little tight to you guys. Love it. But it's a good season of life. And then when you want to upgrade later on the run, you can, but you don't need to.

What do you call these hands on Instagram? Oh, this means all done. No, sorry. What's the little praise hands emoji. Praise hands. That's what I'm doing. I can't see it, Victoria. I had to have Rachel help me. She's better at the whole social than I am. That's what I'm doing right now. You guys are crushing it. So happy for you. Praise hands. That's what that's called. That's what I call it. Praise hands emoji. Oh, I did it wrong because I started doing. I thought you were doing this. This is what you do, all done. It was a little Beyonce move.

It's a sign language for all done. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. We're here to answer your questions about your money and your work and your relationship. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225.

Portland, Oregon is where we go next. Carson is there. Carson, how can we help? Hi. I'm looking to start a fab shop with a friend of mine, and I'm just curious if that is something that I wouldn't have to take a commercial loan out for. Is that even smart? No.

I'm also? No. I'm also, no. I'm also trying to go into a welding program, right? And that will also require me to take out student loans. Okay, whoa. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I want you to keep going, but I want to understand this. How much is the welding program going to cost? $28,000.

And that is how long? How long before you before? 10-month program. How much? $28,000 for a 10-month program. 10 months. Okay. And what is the different, what are you going to do with that? Is that going to help you in the fab, the fab shop where you fabricate all fabricating, or is this something separate? No, it will help me as in, because when we start the fabrication process, I'm going to be running all of the business, but it's just going to be me and my buddy doing most of the welding. And I don't want him to be alone doing all the welding. Okay. Is there another option than a $28,000 welding program? Well, I've kind of panicked when I heard that and I called you guys and I called my parents and my dad has owned the business. He owns a body shop and has welders on his payroll. And he was looking at buying me a welder, actually a TIG welder for Christmas and just buying material myself. And I'm just thinking

about it. And I've talked it over with my friend who's the welder. And according to him, I can learn how to weld all on my own. You can. And I don't need a piece of paper. You don't need it at all. So, Carson, thank you for playing. I was walking you right into that because welding does not require any kind of licensing. Welding requires experience. You're surrounded by welders. Carson, please, please, please, please do not take that program. Do not take it. You don't need it, number one. Number two, you can't afford it. And your dad is in an industry that you could sit down with any of those guys and watch and learn. Let me also say this, just business 101, Carson, you get this business up and running and you need a second pair of hands. If you're not at that skill level yet, you can hire that out. There

are plenty of welders out there and you build that into the cost of doing the work. So you having to take this course is, it's not requirement, and I don't want you to take the loan out. Now, let's talk about the business itself. What do you think it's going to cost, real capital, to actually start this fabrication business? $300,000. What's the $300,000 go for? Talk me through that. Leasing the building out for a period of time, however that may be. The welders in particular, the welding tools, TIG welding, the MIG welders, all of that, the gas, that's going to cost around $3,000 for the gas.

It's going to cost around $10,000 for all the welders. And it's going to cost, well, the welder salaries, that's the thing because there's per diem and then there's how much you're actually getting per hour. And I'm thinking, well, I'd want somebody starting out at least 25 because I want somebody of skill. And per diem, well, that's $100 a day or $75, $50 a day depending on the level of skill. How old are you, Carson? I'm 19 years old. Carson, this is great. So I'm going to challenge

those numbers, but I like that you're already able to rattle off those answers. But you're 19. My advice to you is go work for a fabricator. Get the welding skill by getting paid to do it, working with your dad, working with friends of your dad. Get into this business, but have somebody else pay you. You're 19. Maybe you do it for four or five years. I'm not going to hold you to that. I don't want you, I don't want to hang that timeline on you. I'm giving you an example, but let's just say that you did it for four years. That puts you at 23 and you've been making really good money as a welder or in a fabrication shop, even if you're on the business side, because I hear more of a business guy than a welder.

So if I go to work for somebody who's winning in the car fabrication space and all that, and I get a master's degree in real life experience while I'm getting paid and I'm putting money away and I'm going to take that new welding skill, and I'm going to make an extra $50,000 a year, and in four years, I got $200,000. I'm trying to play this out for you that, my friend, if, in fact, it's going to take you $300,000 to eventually open up your own business, you are so young and so far ahead of the game with your vision and knowledge, be patient, because at 26, you could start that business cash, have zero risk, and be crushing it and be a multimillionaire. Carson, the amount of small business owners we talked to that are paying for companies that have closed eight years ago and they're still paying off the loan, it's not good.

So remember this, move at the speed of cash. It's going to be slower it's not going to be as exciting but you're not you're going to make way less mistakes and different decisions when you're using your money versus the banks so no at please at 19 don't go take out a student loan for twenty eight thousand dollars please don't go take out a business loan with your friend for a hundred grand don't do the three hundred thousand no no no none of that i would not do any of that. Yeah. Take your time. You're very smart. You're going to start.

This stuff is going to start to click. And you're going to start to understand. Oh, my gosh. If I just stay in this and I'm patient. And it's going to go by so fast. Three years. It's like a blink. I mean, life goes by so fast, Carson. Take your time.

And you're going to freaking kill it. That's right. You're going to do so well. Oh, yeah. And it's going to be all yours. It's going to freaking kill it. That's right. You're going to do so well. And it's going to be all yours. It's going to be all yours. So do not take the risk of taking out that debt. Listen, one last thing on this to all young people like this.

If you want to start a business in a certain field, when you're this young, go work for somebody who's crushing it in the field. The amount of knowledge and wisdom you're going to get while getting paid is enormously valuable. And sometimes you may get into the business and be like, oh, is this what this is? It's not all it's cracked up to be. It's not what I was thinking.

Very good point. I mean, people do that a lot where they have this idea of something and then you go get it and you're like, ooh. What do you say, Rachel? Can we help Rebecca? Yeah, we'll go quick. Let's go. So Rebecca in Minneapolis, how can we help? Hi, I'm just calling because I'm going back to work next week. I just had my third baby, so maternity leave is ending, and daycare costs are going to

be starting. I already have one son in daycare, and we pay $225 a week for him to be in there full-time. And right now, with adding a baby, we're going to be up to $425 a week, which seems pretty steep for our area. I've kind of been looking around at rates and just burning home. It seems like a lot. We've been with her for five years, and I just don't know if it's worth bringing up, you know, a conversation about like, well, what happened or I mean, living is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like why? Because I had my daughter, when my daughter and son went, I paid 360 for them to be there for full time. So it's jumped pretty significantly. Probably inflation.

And I just don't, I don't know if it's worth the conversation or is that just something that we got stuck up for two years? I think it's always worth a conversation. I think, yeah, I mean, I think it's totally fair to talk to her and just say, hey, here's the numbers we had.

Here's our situation. Is there any way you could do $400 or $370 or $390? You know what I mean? Give her a price that's fair because, like you said, her rent on the place may have gone up. I mean, there are these expenses. I would assume she's not just jacking the rate, jacking the rate. She may be, but there's also a lot of cost that goes into owning a business. And so I would offer her another price and just see if she takes it. And if she doesn't, yeah,

you guys are either, it's going to be two years of dishing out $4.25 a week for childcare. Find other options if you feel safe doing that. and or one of you guys wrestling with the idea of like does one of you just stay home right I mean there's a point where child care can be sick it is it's so expensive so frustrating it's so frustrating but it can be so expensive that you have to equate hey is this worth the trade-off of what I'm actually bringing home in my other job and is it making sense financially and for our family? So that's always a conversation, but I would have a conversation with her and offer her a different price and see if she takes it. Yeah. Thank you for the call. Congrats on the new little one. I know. And this

is a hard, I know going back after the third, it's a lot, Rebecca. So I feel you. Don't move. More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me this hour. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Our scripture of the day comes from Galatians 6, verse 10. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Our today comes from theodore roosevelt it is hard to fail but it is worse never

to have tried to succeed always got a uh that guy would have been a great locker room speech guy you know would i'd love to see him give a pregame talk we got the president in here today he's gonna fire you got the army navy game coming this weekend i could see him give a pregame talk. We've got the president in here today. He's going to fire. You've got the Army-Navy game coming this weekend. I could see him giving a talk there. So there you go. There's your little known fact of the day. Nobody cares about the Army-Navy game coming up this weekend. It's a sad time for me.

All college football has ceased. I know. Until we get to. New Year's. Yeah, it's a really tough time for me. There's a few weeks. Be thinking about me. Thoughts and prayers for me on the weekend.

I will. Sorry, Ken. Thank you. Mike is up in Cleveland, Ohio. Mike, how can we help? Yeah, hi, guys. Nice to talk to you. Good to talk to you.

So I had left a 10-year career in health and fitness about two years ago, trying to get into like a new career space, looking at like project management or some sort of leadership role at the hospital I'm currently at. And my current role, it's a combination of a lot of different fields. I'm in virtual health coordinator and it's part IT, customer service, vendor management, project management, tech support. My question is, I have an upcoming surgery in January where I'm going to be off for about six to eight weeks and I'll have a lot of free time. I'm just wondering what you would recommend I can do to

expand my skills, my knowledge, and if there's any courses or certifications out there that I should be looking into. Yeah. So I love this question. I would get to the most practical things that will help you get where you want to go. So if you want to get into project management and or leadership, I would be focusing on those two things. So just off the top of my head, I'm going, all right, what leadership podcast am I going to be listening to? The Entrez Leadership Podcast is a great podcast here from Ransom Solutions. What leadership books? I can make recommendations on that, but I'm going to be really diving in. I've got this downtime, so I'm going to be reading, I'm going to be listening, and I'm going to be watching.

And so I would start there. But my question is, are you wanting to move into project management and then allow that to kind of set you up for some leadership roles? Which way do you really want to go? That's the part I'm still navigating, and I'm doing that with my current supervisor. He meets with me once a month to kind of explore career options. I was in leadership in like the health and fitness industry. And I liked that part. And now I'm in my current role, I'm doing a little bit of project management. So at this point, this is kind of where I've just kind of started to get my feet in the water and figure out more clearly what I want. Well, so for instance, we at Ramsey Solutions, we did a, I partnered with our Ramsey education department about a year and a half ago, and we came out with a project management course.

And so taking a course like that, if you're not, if you haven't done anything more than just kind of, I stepped into, I'm dabbling in project management, my current role, a project management certification would be a great thing to do in that six to eight week period. And again, kick the tires on what we've got. I'll have Austin connect you to our team on that. You can see if you want to use that or not, but it's a really good course. But absolutely, if project management is something you're interested in, I would do some research

on several courses, like you would a college course. I'd go, do I really want to spend the money and the time to take it? And I think that's the answer. I'd talk to some more people who are in project management. This is why I wrote the book, The Proximity Principle. It was largely, look, if I want to do something, I want to get around people that are doing it and get an idea of the good, the bad, the ugly. And so before you make any of these decisions on what to do, let's do a little bit of research. And I think your heart's always going to say, you know, it's either that X from Family Feud, you know, or the ding, ding, ding. And looking into something and talking to people

who do it, that's when the heart comes in and goes, oh, I don't actually want to do that. And you've been in leadership before. It was just a different industry. So if you loved leadership before, my guess is you're going to love it again. And if project management somehow gives you a little bit more skill and experience to expand your leadership role and you like the idea of it, then I'd go with it. But that's my advice. I want to keep it really simple. Rachel? Yeah. And I think Ken's advice of sitting down with people that are doing it, I think, is one of the smartest things because you can kind of have this broad idea and talk to many different people in different lanes of this and in different industries.

And you really will start to weed out. My husband, Winston, just did this a few months ago. And he was like, it was so funny because you kind of have one picture in your head. And then you're kind of like, okay, that was good information from there okay i got that that i mean probably four or five different meals lunches and then another opportunity pops up he's like oh now i really know that's exactly what i want to do there because of you know it's all of it so go and and have lunch with people talk with them and all these industries and people are happy to share their experiences and what they know the good the bad. But I think that that's one of the best resources you can do. And I think it is

so helpful just to weed down, okay, this is it. This is really what I've realized I love. Yeah, absolutely. So Mike, where you're standing right now, I mean, what is that five, seven, 10 year, not holding you to this, what would you like to be doing? Yeah. And that's, that's something I've talked about with my, my boss and, uh, it just coming from such a different space. It's hard, but I, I know one of the pieces of the puzzle is like the current hospital I'm at, I would love to stay there long-term. And then, um, I do want to get back into leadership. It's just I don't know, you know, which area of the hospital I would want to fall into. Well, then, as Rachel just said, that's what you're starting to do.

You're in. You need to be setting up meetings with people in all those different departments of the hospital, whatever that looks like, and get an idea where you want to land. That's the good news. You're already in the door. And then so if you want to be in the leadership role, I would just be using that downtime to just fill yourself up with knowledge, but then get some real wisdom, like Rachel said, from real people who are leading in the hospital industry, whatever that's like.

That's a very nuanced world, very different than probably what you're used to. But the leadership side is still the same. That's going to change. You care for people. You love coaching people. You love serving people. You've got great experience there. All this other stuff is now just like, what's that sandbox I want to play in? And I thought Rachel's advice was great. And by the way, most people are afraid to do that, Rachel. They're afraid to just go, hey, can I take you to lunch? By the way, everybody loves to get a free lunch and a free coffee. And the only thing people love more than a free lunch or a free coffee is? Talking about themselves.

Yes. That's what you're going to say. Yes. Like, I mean, this is a no-brainer. Hey, Rob, can I take you out for lunch? My treat. I want to pick your brain on what you think about it doesn't even matter what you say after that but rob's gonna be like yeah i'm in man absolutely

give me a sub and a diet coke and i'll give you what you need a sub and a diet coke all of a sudden we're at subway rob is dispensing wisdom yeah yeah yeah yeah i know call there but isn't that true though yes well and it's and it's having the real life. It's just like the young guy we talked to last segment about the welding. There is something about just real life experience. And I think that's one thing. I know about the education system. You have all your thoughts and stuff on. And I'm like, and that is one missing piece.

It's not the real world. You can take as many classes on something. It's true. But when something is just in a formulaic way or in your head, what you've made it up to be, it may not all be accurate until you're really in the nuts and bolts of life and asking people's experiences and understanding with the filter, right, that they're bringing their own stuff to the conversation. So, right. But you're getting a picture of, okay, this is kind of what this looks like, expectations.

And even, I mean, even for him in a great way, it's like that specific hospital. And you know you're going to learn the culture of that place. You know what I mean? Like there's a lot of things you'll be able to pick up, nuances within that, within those conversations with people. But it's very helpful too to be on your side as you start this leadership track. couple of little practical questions coming off this call for a lot of you that are out there wondering, even on a side hustle, do I launch it? Let me give you a couple of quick questions based on what Rachel and I've been talking about.

Do I want to do it? Does my heart get excited about the idea of doing? I want to. Now you got to follow up with, can I do it? Do I have the core talent that with training and experience that I could pull it off? And then how, right? So how, meaning what's the best way? By the way, there's always multiple paths up a mountain.

Yep. And so that, everything we've just described is going to answer those three questions. And if you do that, guess what happens? You've got yourself a really good plan that's not very risky because you know what you're getting into. It isn't just I'm walking blind trying to hope that it works out. So there you go. Rachel Cruz, absolutely fun show today.

Thank you, my friend. By the way, she was telling me she's on the Instagram and she's putting out these great things, great advice all the time. So check her out on the gram at Rachel Cruz. She's dropping the wisdom bombs. Go check her out. I'm Ed Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show.