The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Make My Small Business More Profitable? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 11, 2018

The show about you

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. At the bottom of the hour, Ramsey personality Christy Wright will join us. She is the founder of Business Boutique and the author of the number one best-selling book,

Business Boutique, equipping women to make money doing what they love. If you're a lady that wants to go into business or is in business, or you've got questions about that subject in any way, anything about that, Christy will be here at the bottom of the hour for a half an hour to answer your questions. Make sure you call in right now, and Kelly will try to get you lined up. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Valerie is in San Francisco. Hi, Valerie.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. I have a couple of questions for you. Right now at my current job, they're giving me a default life insurance of $25,000. And my question to you is, do I need an additional life insurance if I'm not married but I do have a four-year-old? I don't have any debt other than my school loan, which I'm going to try to pay that off as soon as possible. If anything was to happen to me, I know my daughter is well taken care of by her father.

So my question is, do I still need additional life insurance? What is well taken care of? In her future for colleges, any current needs. So what does he make? Her debt. What does he make? He makes over $400,000 a year. Okay.

Financially, he's well off. Okay. We're not together or anything like that, so I'm more like a single mom. Yeah. Okay. Do you have anything in – were you married? No, we never got married. So do you have anything in writing from him that says that she's taken care of?

We do. We have a custody agreement where we have 50-50. And the custody agreement covers death, that in the event of death, that he would get custody and be responsible for the child. Correct, yes. He's a very well-involved bar end. Okay, and he makes $400,000, so he can afford a kid. Okay.

He absolutely can. Yeah, all right. No, you probably don't need any life insurance, enough to bury you. Your student loans, if they're federally insured, are forgiven upon death or disability, either one. And, you know, clean up any death and any cost associated with your death, God forbid. And then if the baby is taken care of, then we would treat 100%. It sounds like the baby is, child is taken care of. Then, you know, then we would treat you financially like a single lady in that sense with no kids,

single lady, no kids. And in that case, you don't need life insurance, just enough to take care of your final expenses or any bills. You just don't want to be a burden to someone, and you wouldn't be. Of course, yeah. Twenty-five grand should take care of a funeral pretty easily. And like you said, it's student loans, so they're forgiven. If there's any other debts, you might want to pick up a small policy or something.

Or if there's ever any question about the child being cared for, you'd want to pick up a bunch of policy at that point to make sure that the child would be taken care of. But the trick is to make sure that they're cared for. That's the responsibility. And so in a traditional family setting, you know, dad and mom married, baby is there, then yes, you need life insurance because you need to replace your lost income that that family is counting on to raise that child with. And so you need about 10 times your income in that case, 12 times your income in that case.

But in your case, I agree with you. I think you're fine. Good question. Eugene, Oregon. Julio is next. Hi, Julio. How are you? I'm doing well.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have a question. I'm wondering if I should stay in the debt reduction program that I'm currently in right now. Yeah, I have about $34,000 in debt. That includes credit cards. Is it all in the debt consolidation plan?

No, in the debt consolidation, there's about $10,400. Okay, so $24,000 on your car? There's five. There's about five that's other credit card debt that is not in the consolidation program, and then about $19,000 in cars. Gotcha. And what's your household income? My wife, she brings in about $30,000 a year.

I'm currently finishing school. I don't have a steady income. I do side jobs, and I'm getting about minimum $250 every week. When do you finish school? So about hopefully in the next month. I'm just testing out. I'm getting my barber's license, and I have a job lined up already. Making what? I just need to.

It depends. Yeah, it varies. It depends on how busy I am. Roughly, what do you think you're going to make? You went and got a barber's license because you thought you were going to make money. How much do you think you were going to make money how much do you think you're going to make um i'm hoping that i'm making over 50 i would hope so yeah all right so your household income is going to be 80 at that point um so the cars are okay in the sense we can get them paid off fast credit cards are okay cut them up get them paid off fast. Credit cards are okay. Cut them up. Get them paid off fast. The Debt Consolidation Program, is this a program where they had you not pay payments?

They didn't pay the payments for a while, but you were paying them, and so all of these loans are in default? All these payments are current. They basically negotiate to a very low minimum payment I pay them $50 as a fee for them to do this and they basically talk to the accounts and have them bring down the monthly payment and since I started listening to you I'm wondering whether I should just get out of that and kind of start, you know, snowball. And then pay, you know, $34,000 worth of debt on an $80,000 income in about a year and a half, 100% debt-free. That's the hope, yeah.

Well, that's what I would do. You don't want to hope. You won't go do it. If you hope, you'll end up four years and not be out of debt. I want you to go do it. I want you to make a lot of money, work all the time, beans and rice, rice and beans. If you do all that, you don't have to sell the cars. And, yeah, you can clear up this $10,000 worth of debt in no time.

But, you know, you're paying them $600 a year. You're paying them the equivalent of six percent interest in fees just to manage the little ten thousand dollar account so no i don't think i'd be doing that i agree with you i'd get after it but dude you really need to get real serious real organized real focused you and your wife we're on one plan we're fired up and wired up we're going to get this done that's how you get out of debt. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM,

helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org.

Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live, AJ and Bernadette are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi, Dave. are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hey, Dave. Welcome, welcome. Where do you two live? Thank you. Charlotte, North Carolina.

Awesome. Well, welcome to Nashville. Thank you. Good to have you visit. Thanks for hanging out with us. And all the way over here to do a debt-free scream. Heck yeah. That's right.

Love it. How much you paid off? $127,000. Very cool. And how long did that take? It took us 24 months. Good. And your range of income during that time?

It actually went down. It started at $140,000 and went down to about $110,000. Okay. How come? I actually decided to start a small business in the midst of Baby Step 2. And we were able to do that because we were really focused on the debt part. Okay, cool. What kind of business did you start?

I started a dress rental business in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yeah. Yeah, we rent out dresses for special occasions to help women save money. Absolutely. There's a big one. Is it called Runway or somebody that does that? That's the big online version. So everyone calls us the local version, except you can try everything on ahead of time and everything's under $100.

Rachel Cruz is a big fan of that stuff. Oh, well, if she's in Charlotte, she can come visit. Very cool. Good for you. That's a great idea. So what kind of debt was the $127,000? About $70,000 of it was student loans for my MBA, and then the rest of it was a rental property that we own.

Oh, so you paid that off. Yes, we did. Good. So the rental's gone, and the student loans are gone. Yes, sir. paid that off. Very cool. Yes, we did. Good. So the rental's gone and the student loans are gone. Yes, sir. The rental debt, did you sell it or did you pay it off? We paid it off. Okay, and kept it.

What's it worth? It's probably in the 130s. Nice. Very nice. Oh, before I drive by, what's the name of your shop? Dressed Charlotte. Dressed Charlotte. Yep.

Okay. Give you a nice plug for 15 million people right now. We're going to stop by next week when you get home. Sounds good. Very good. Thank you. So how long have you two been married? We've been married since 2011, so coming up to seven years now.

That's wonderful. Well done. He has the math in his head right now. He's like da-da-da-da-da. The year. Oh, no. You'll be doing that the rest of your life, brother. So what happened 24 months ago?

Well, it actually started four years ago. So I was in corporate HR for a long time. That was my career. And I realized that I didn't really enjoy it that much, but I didn't know what else I wanted to do. And I thought like any other person in their 20s who doesn't know what they want to do is like, no, it's a good idea. Let's go back to school and take out student loans and get a degree you don't necessarily need. And so I ended up going to school, getting my MBA. And then while I was in the MBA program, I had this idea for this business. And also during that time, we had just gotten married.

We just moved to Charlotte. We had bought our first house together. And I also thought that we wanted to be like DIY fixer-uppers. And so we were like, oh, we want to build this rental empire and do all of this stuff. Hey, Jay, she has an idea every 20 minutes, doesn't she? I know, right? How did you can tell already, right? He's just sitting here smiling.

I'm just like, oh, here's my next idea. That's good. And so I went to school, got the MBA. We were both working full time during that time. And then while I was in the MBA, we got a second house, which is a house that we live in now. And then when I was on the verge of graduating, it was my last semester in school. And I decided, I'm like, I wonder how much I have in student loans. It can't be that much.

I've been paying some along the way. Like, should be fine. And then I went to go look, and it was like $70,000. I had no idea that I had actually taken out that much. So your heart rate changed. So I basically, like, yeah, almost passed out. And then, you know, I had this epiphany that, you know, in just two years, I had gone from being completely debt-free to having student loans

and having two mortgages on top of it. And I felt like I literally couldn't breathe. I felt like, oh, my God, what have I done? And so I went to AJ pretty much in hysteria. And if you can tell, he's super calm all the time. And I said, I basically screwed up, and I think we need to figure this out, but I don't know how. And the great thing was that he was super supportive the whole time um and then I started a friend of us a friend of ours

uh taught us about you and like the millennial I am I stalked you on Instagram and Facebook and everything um and we started following except AJ was not a fan of you to be honest she introduced me to you and you quickly became the uninvited house guest. Yeah, yeah. Well, she doesn't do anything halfway. So she joined a cult and didn't take you with her. Exactly. I heard your voice when I came home from work, while I was cooking, when I went to bed.

Oh, no. So I heard you, but I ended up listening to you and your message and your plan. So that's really what got me all in. Cool. What do you do for a living? I'm a business analyst at a utility company. Okay.

Very cool. Very cool. So you're a process guy. Absolutely. And Bernadette goes after everything wide open. Yeah. And you guys are a complete perfect couple. Oh, thank you.

Because you're complementary, I mean, to each other. One of you is wide open, the other one's like, whoa,. Because you're complementary, I mean, to each other. One of you is wide open. The other one is like, oh, careful, careful. Yeah, we have good balance for sure. And I think what was challenging for us in the beginning, too, was that process point. We had completely different philosophies on how we should tackle it. We got into some major arguments early on about, should we cut up our credit card? Like, I was all in.

I was like, we're going to go into budget. We're going to cut up all our credit cards. We're going to get rid of my car. And he was like, no, I don't want to do it. And slowly he figured out that it made sense to do it. Okay, cool. This is worth it. Gotcha.

So, AJ, I don't blame you, by the way. I would probably be that guy, too, if Sharon came home doing this stuff. So what did bring you around I think I just saw how how much this ate her up on the inside and you know I had to adjust my personal financial philosophy I think you know I didn't have any bad debt before and I was like you know if we can if I did it beforehand we should be able to work it with her MBA degree and it still ate her up I mean I think just timeline, it just didn't fit for paying this off in 10, 20 years.

So I think once I saw how much it affected her, I was like, you know what? I've got to listen to your plan and accelerate the process, and that's what I was here to do. Yeah, okay. And then it's game on. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is, AJ? I think the key to getting out of debt, if you have a partner, definitely communicate with them. If not, you have your friends and family. Encourage each other and hold each other accountable, I think,

and also to have the courage to really, you know, you're going to have naysayers and skeptics out there and be able to face them and say, hey, you know, I'm focused on this. We're focused on that. You know, whatever you say doesn't bother us. And, you know, we'll be better out in the long run. Did you have more haters or more supporters? Oh, actually, well, what was interesting. So you talk about millennials a lot.

And I guess we're considered millennials. And we started posting in social media about what we were doing in paying off our debt. And a lot of our friends haven't heard of you. And in the beginning, we used to get into arguments with friends that were like, why do you cut up your credit cards? You could get points. Why do you not come with us on these fun trips? You're missing out. And once we started showing how much progress we were making, when it went from 70 to 50 to 40 then all of a sudden people tried to tried to reach out to us instead and ask us how we were doing it so in the beginning people weren't on board but once they saw results then it actually changed it and now we have a lot of people who

support us that's cool very good that's fun good good way to process it well you got in a community one way or the other huh yeah yeah and it started social media, and then it became in real life. So I think that's really important to tell your story. Putting out there holds you accountable as well, too. Okay. So, Bernadette, what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I think for me it's having a goal in mind for the future. I think a lot of people that I know are kind of going through life

and not really sure what it is they want to do next. And for me, it was really helpful that I had this business that I wanted to start. And that was my goal. And I wanted to do this business completely debt-free as well. So the only way I felt like we could do that is if we followed your plan. And if we, you know, even all the sacrifices that we had to make in the last two years, I mean, we got rid of everything. We had yard sales and rice and beans and everything that you say to do, and a lot of people thought we went crazy, but what they didn't know is that I had this vision in the back of my mind of what I wanted to be. Well, you're proof of what I always say.

Some millennials don't get it, and the others really get it, and there's not much in between. The ones that get it are on fire, and we love them. We've got a building full of them working on our team here, and we love them. We talk about it all the time around here. Congratulations, you two. Very proud of you. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's Retire Inspired book for you

and $127,000 paid off in 24 months making $140,000 to $100,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Great job, you two. Great job.

Well done. Man, what great, what rock stars. What a great couple. That's a lot of fun. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, this is Dave Ramsey. You know, most of us have gotten behind on our bills at one time or another. That's nothing to be ashamed of.

It happens. And many of us know the embarrassment that comes with those harassing calls from collectors. Some of these guys are just scum. But then there are the collectors that are just plain crooks. These are the guys that take it a step further and they violate the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act on a daily basis. They're breaking the law and they need to be stopped. The truth is debt collection is the most abusive, out-of-control industry in America today. But you don't have to put up with it. If you have collectors calling you multiple times a day, calling you at work after you've asked them not to, cursing or threatening you in any way,

then you need to visit CollectionBully.com. These folks will connect you with an attorney who I know can help you. These attorneys know how to stop collection agencies from bullying and threatening you anymore. CollectionBully.com. Go to CollectionBully.com today. That's CollectionBully.com. Go to CollectionBully.com today. That's CollectionBully.com. Joining me this half hour, Ramsey personality, Christy Wright, the host of the Business Boutique podcast, the founder of the Business Boutique movement, for that matter, author of the number one bestselling book by the same name,

Business Boutique, equipping women to make money doing what they love. Welcome back, Christy. Thanks. Glad to be here. So you did a big event. When? This weekend? Yeah, it was just on Friday. There was like 12,000 ladies you were speaking to. 12,000. It was insanity, but it was so much fun. You know, I'm a high I. I get my energy from people, so I loved every minute of it, but it was crazy.

I mean, it was just the hallways were full. They were everywhere. That's a fun audience, a lady audience that big, because they're so responsive and emotive that it's easy for a speaker, male or female speaker, but I mean, it's just easy. There's a lot of energy in the room, but also just something about the fact that it's... A room full of guys will sit there and look at you like a bunch of hoot-outs. A hundred percent. That's exactly right. It's like speaking to a brick wall where you have to bring all the energy yourself, but

when you're talking to all women, they're more expressive, they're more energetic they they show emotion more and man you could stay on stage all day because you get so much energy from them so it's it's a different experience both are important but it was it was a lot of fun oh yeah it's a lot of fun to do all of it very and that's a great size group man 12 grand that's amazing yeah well done chrissy does speaking all across america teaching again women uh about the subject of business. And what were you teaching on there? What subjects? I talked about the fear aspect for these women because there's a lot of, they have a lot

of tools and plans, but overcoming fear is a big piece of this business. And so we talked about that. And then, of course, many of them are joining my Business Boutique Academy, and that's where they get the kind of practical tools and steps as a continuation from there. But yeah, the fear talk is always a big one at our business boutique event, and so I wanted to bring that to them and kind of help them with some practical steps to push past their fear so that they can do this thing they love to do. You know, we started doing the business boutique three-day events several years ago

before the book was out at number one, before there was a business boutique academy, before the new course was out, the Business Idea Boot Camp that we've now got as a part of Business Boutique, all of that under the businessboutique.com. But before any of that, you were researching and you were spending time with, by the way, ladies, if you want to jump in and get on the phones, Christy will answer your questions about money, I mean about, I'm sorry, about starting and or operating a business. Women in business, equipping women to make money, doing what they love.

You can call in. Kelly has cleaned off the entire phone bank, so it's completely empty. That's something you never see here. 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. And we'll take your calls when you call in with whatever. But the very first way we started all this was the three-day business boutique event. And I remember distinctly, this is, gosh, three, four years ago, I guess, we're talking and brainstorming about this, and you had really started doing research

and really started spending time with a lot of ladies who were starting businesses and or running businesses, either way. Maybe they were builders or what we call dreamers. They were just getting started or builders already got their hands dirty. They're going. The thing's actually operating. And you kept running into this fear thing. You call it the fear talk now.

It's like it's a standard product, but it was just such a felt need that you ran into over and over again. And it wasn't lacking in courage. Right. It was fear. There was a difference. It's interesting, too, because it happened at a very distinct stage of the process for all of them. And so whether they got into business kind of accidentally, like they started making something, putting it on social media, and then they got more and more requests, whether it was that way or it was someone intentionally setting out in business. I want to start a business and here are my goals.

I've talked to both groups of women regardless of how they're getting in. But after they have the desire and the dreams and all that initial excitement, they hit a wall. And at that wall, their overwhelm replaces that initial excitement. They have questions. Well, what about business licenses and taxes? And what if I can't set myself apart from the competition? I'm not business minded.

I don't have a business degree. What about this? And they start to want to give up. And those questions make them feel unqualified, make them feel like they can't do it. And fear creeps in and just kind of puts fuel in the fire of, you know, who are you to do this? And what happens at that stage, Dave, is they take one of two paths. Either they get the help and answers and encouragement they need and they overcome that wall and they win.

Or they use that as an excuse and they give up and they say, well, that was never for me anyway. Well, I was never cut out to do this. I guess I'll go, you know, back to my original plan or it must have not been God's will. Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's not for me. Spiritualize it. That's not me. So. been God's will. Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's not for me. Spiritualize it.

That's not me. So it's interesting. I feel like that when you speak to them about this topic of fear, you're intersecting them at a very pivotal time in their journey to help them over the wall. And it can be the difference of whether or not they go for it or they give up. And I love being there at that moment to be able to be the voice that says, you can do this. In fact, when you do this, because I know you will, I want you to write me your story because I'm going to share it on my podcast because I love shining a light on women winning like you and you're going to do this and I can't wait to watch you climb, climb that

wall, climb, just speaking, speaking life into them and speaking it into being and they walk away and go, hey, I can do this. It's really important. And, you know, the in that sense,'s what Business Boutique, the three-day event, originally was formed to do was to give someone the confidence from the information, but also the inspiration. Right. You're going to have the information and the inspiration to do anything.

Right. Information is stale. It just sits there on the shelf. Inspiration without information will get you hit in the traffic. Right. You're excited, but you don't know what to do. Yeah, you just run around in circles and chase your tail. Yeah, not a good idea.

So this three-day event has really evolved in that regard. It's always about content that is helpful. We're doing another one, November the 1st through the 3rd, here in Nashville. Talk about a destination event. Our friend Dave Barnes will be there, and he's the world class with praise and worship. Just a lot of fun as a performer. Annie Downs will be our world famous, our favorite, everyone's favorite emcee around here. Everyone's best friend.

Yeah, that's right. For sure. And, oh, I'm getting to speak this year. You're speaking? Yay. That's right. You'll be back. I'm back.

I looked down and saw the list of speakers. There's Dave Ramsey. Look at him. And there you are. And Sarah Jakes I looked down and saw the list of speakers. There's Dave Ramsey. And there you are. And Sarah Jakes-Roberts. What's Sarah Jakes-Roberts going to talk about? She has this incredible talk. I heard her speak at Propel when I was on that tour last fall. Oh, yeah, with Christine Kane and Beth Moore and all of them. Yes, just a few small names that no one's ever heard of, I'm sure.

So she gave this incredible talk about Mary and Eve in the Bible. And she draws these parallels, and it's just incredible about these women and how each of them are in each of us. And I sat there watching her, and I immediately texted Amy Severson, who's leading the business boutique brand, and I said, we have to have her. She is so good, one of the best speakers I've ever seen in my life. Wow. And if you talk to her offstage. If she's standing next to Christine Kane and you say that, she's a rock star.

That's right. She is. But she's so unassuming. You know, in the green room, she was not the center of attention, telling stories, getting laughs. She was over in a corner talking one-on-one with someone over coffee. She's very reserved. But on stage, she turns it on in a way that it's incredible. Like, it's really fun to watch.

And then Amy Jo Martin, which is just a social media expert, and she is phenomenal as well. I'm really excited about having her. So we've got some new people this year that I'm really looking forward to bringing some new content. And we love to change it up. And, of course, we keep all of the favorites there as well for the women that are coming back. So it's going to be a killer event. Very cool. Business Boutique three-day event, again, in Nashville, November the 1st through the 3rd.

You can get your tickets at businessboutique.com or daveramsey.com, either one. And this event is usually about 3,500 ladies, typically, somewhere in that range. It always sells out early. It's, I think, already 50% sold out, and it's way out there in November. And I'll tell you what's interesting about this event, as well as the Business Boutique book. You and I have noticed this. Me, as the CEO of the company, watching this product line, but you, Boots on the Street, are seeing it a lot. A lot of men are buying these tickets for a lady in their life, their mom, their sister, their wife, their girlfriend, as a way of saying,

you got this. You can do this. That's right. And it's really fun because women are leaving the event or holding on to the book going, this is the best gift you could have given me because it's speaking life into them. It's helping them move in the direction of their dreams. But like you said, it's a gift that says, I believe in you. So it actually brings those two people even closer together.

And women actually buy it as well for sisters and friends and daughters. It's like if it changed their life, they want to pay that forward and encourage someone else. So it's been really cool to see the testimonies of, you know, best Christmas present ever, best birthday gift ever, best Mother's Day present from someone that believed in them and gave them that thing. If somebody's been to the other business boutiques before the three-day events, is it worth coming back to this one? Oh, yeah. Well, as you know, we've done events for 25 years. You're going to have new speakers and new content,

but you also get something different from even the content that has been done before. But I'm changing some of my talk. So even that, if you've been before, some of the things I'll be teaching are new as well. Ramsey Personality, Christy Wright, founder of Business Boutique, with us this half hour. Back with questions from ladies about this right here at 888-825-5225 on the Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, I need you to listen to this because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home, you're at risk of hackers easily seeing every site you visit and every search you're doing online.

It doesn't matter if you're on your cell or your laptop. They can see you visiting websites, streaming or downloading, uploading photos, files, and more. I'm not telling you this to scare you, but I want you to be aware and take action. You need to download an app called Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield helps keep your connection on your own Wi-Fi and any public Wi-Fi secure. 600 million people worldwide have downloaded Anchor Free's Hotspot Shield. Download it right now.

Just search Hotspot Shield on iTunes or Google Play or go to hotspotshield.com. You can be secure in seconds. Download Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free today. Music Our scripture of the day, Colossians 3.23, Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. The old version that I had memorized was, Do your work as unto the Lord, as unto the Lord rather than for man. Steven Spielberg said, even though I get older, what I do never gets old, and that's what keeps me hungry.

Very good. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, founder of the business boutique movement Equipping Women to Make Money, Doing What They Love, joins me this half hour. And Alyssa is in Kansas City with a question. Hi, Alyssa. Hi. How can we help? I'm taking my call.

Sure. So my question is, what are some tips on how I can make my small craft business more profitable so I can quit or go part-time my other job? Great question. What is your business? What do you do? It's a very small craft business that I run out of my house. Okay. What question. What is your business? What do you do? It's a very small craft

business that I run out of my house. Okay. What type of crafts, for example? I make like greeting cards, wreaths, like custom letters, that type of stuff. Okay. And do you have a website or are you selling on Etsy or somewhere else? No. Well, it's sort of a website. I'm on Facebook. I have one on Facebook. Okay. Okay, awesome. Well, Alyssa, I'll tell you, out of the gate, I'll go ahead and send you my book because that immediately will answer your question.

That's really why I wrote my book, Business Boutique, was to give you the steps and the plan because it can be overwhelming. There's a lot of things you can do, but I'll give you a few starting out. First, I would just encourage you to think about your business differently. Even the way you describe it to me is, oh's small it's just this little thing it's in my craft room it's no big deal and if you think about it that way then you'll treat it that way and you'll have those type of results so if you want it to make more money and you want it to be bigger i want you to start thinking about it don't call it cute anymore call it a monster i have this awesome business where i sell greeting cards that are, you know, unlike anything you can get anywhere else.

And Alyssa, I know that sounds silly, but changing your mindset will change your actions and your changing your actions will change your results. It's the simplest thing, but I want you to start there because I even hear it in your voice and how you perceive your business. So I want you to start there. The second thing I would encourage you to do is really get very intentional about how you manage the money of what you're currently working on. So you specifically said profit. So if you're not very profitable or you need to create more profit, I want you to get very, very strict about your expenses. Find ways to cut expenses anywhere that you can. Any costs, any, you know, what materials are you getting?

Can you get them cheaper? Can you buy in a little bit larger quantity to save money? Can you buy on a subscription base to save more money? It sounds like saving 10 cents here or a dollar there doesn't sound like much, but as you scale and get this business bigger, because we're taking it bigger now, we've decided the last five minutes, then that scales to a lot of money and expense. And then I also want you to look at your pricing and see what your pricing model is. Alyssa, I want to encourage you. If your pricing strategy right now is to look at the competition and be the cheapest, that's a bad pricing plan.

And the reason I say that as just a guess is because a lot of people do that, especially a lot of people starting out. A lot of people on Etsy, they say, well, here's what everyone else is charging. So I guess I'll be the cheapest because that's my value proposition but alissa that's not your value proposition there are a variety of other reasons why people would buy from you versus the competition and you need to think about what those are and then leverage what those are and that's what you're charging for and you're no longer in a race to the bottom where you're whoever wins loses so you're able to charge more and then of course become more profitable i would start with those two things dave you obviously have i think you're able to charge more and then, of course, become more profitable. I would start with those two things.

Dave, you obviously have one. I think you're exactly right. I would stay right on that. Hang on, and Kelly will pick up. We'll get you a copy of the book. The other thing I tell you to do is use Christy's app on her website at Business Boutique. It's called the Profit Potential app. And really, there's kind of three variables you're fighting for here.

It's the volume of business you're doing, the number of units sold, the price, and the expense. And then that gives you your profit in dollars. And so what we want to do is we want to get to, you know, a large volume, a low expense, therefore a large profit. And that's totally free, by the way. And, yeah, the Profit Potential app is free. But get in there and play with some numbers. large profit and that's totally free by the way and yeah that the profit potential app is free but get in there and play with some numbers because if you're selling 10 greeting cards at a buck a piece you're a long way from quitting right uh but if you're selling 10 000 at 50 cents a piece or at

five dollars a piece now we're starting to talk about quitting and i'm talking about a month so i mean it's all about the volume that you're doing and how you're going to produce those then too is the other question you're going to get at is if you're hand producing them and what you're getting to. But take some price it in such a way that you have that it indicates to me the buyer that you're proud of the quality because I'm not looking for cheap quality. I'm looking for good quality. And if it's too cheap, even though it's good quality, I might think it's cheap. That's right. Because it's cheap. That's exactly right. Alyssa, I would argue that it needs to be a price that will make you uncomfortable because there are people in the

market, believe it or not, that actually want to pay more. Dave, I use this example with my Business Boutique Academy and coaching sessions. I say, for example, if you are a massage therapist and you are advertising, come get an hour-long Swedish massage for $25. I'm not buying. I don't trust a $25 massage. I'm like, no, that seems like a red flag to me. Some people want to. That sounds like one of those things on the beach under a tent.

Sketchy. Sketchy. So you need to price for what the market will bear. You need to price for something that communicates, like Dave said, like you're proud, but communicates there's value there. It's worth that. It's really important. That's just funny. That's a good example.

Allison in Springfield, how are you? What's your question for Christy? Hi, very well. Thank you for speaking with me. Sure. I finished the Business Boutique book. I reached my goal of finishing it just before midnight for the new year. So that has really helped me to lose a lot of my emotional anxieties and nervousness.

But I am very, so apprehensive. I'm trying to do the combinations of taking the few things that I know that I do and combining them to do something different that I can do from home because I'm going to be 40. I still owe all my school loans, and I just don't like that. It just makes my stomach turn. But I homeschool. We have four boys, so time is extremely limited. Getting out and working for myself is not really what I can do.

So I'm trying to do some classes on YouTube, and I want to get those posted. But utilizing the time and how to make money on doing that, I'm not sure, because I've kind of boxed myself in. I don't like the ads that pop up. I've looked in the ad sense, and some of the ads make me very uncomfortable, and they're awful things I wouldn't want my kids to see. So I don't want to go that route on waiting for Google to make money with them. And I don't know if there's any other ways I could charge for those,

like not charge for those, or if I could just do it through PayPal, where they, you know, say they enjoy the classes that I've gone through with them, and then they could donate money in that sense, and doing that aside from what I already make. Nobody's donating anything they're going to buy because you provide value. So we do a lot of YouTube stuff, as you probably know, and you can actually slip in there and limit certain advertisers. You can actually keep them from being on your show.

And so if you've got certain subjects you're uncomfortable with or something like that, you can keep them off. And then if you put together a curriculum, what you can do is put stuff on YouTube that teases the curriculum. Give them a sample of how good you are on the curriculum and then send them to your site to buy the curriculum and house it on your site. Christy, what else have you seen people do?

Yeah, I would say, Allison, it sounds like you may just need a different platform. If you're talking about courses, that's different than making money with YouTube advertising. And if you're just saying, I need a place to put this course I want to sell where people buy access to this content or this teaching, there are a variety. I would Google search and look at the pros and cons of each. I know one that's a really popular one is Teachable. It's super easy to create a profile and create your course

and they walk you through how to do that and that's the platform you're building on. So really it's just a different strategy of you're going to build on a different platform and sell access, like Dave said, through your website. But if you want to use YouTube as a search engine, which is the number one or number two search engine in the world,

number two search engine in the world, then you could put, like Dave said, teaser content out there. Here are three tips to XYZ that then drives people to, and you do a call to action where you drive people to buy your course on your site, which is housed on a different platform. So there are a lot of ways to do it. To be honest, Allison, the one that you understand the most is the one you're going to do. So pick one that's easy on you.

It's going to make it easy on you to win. Christy Wright, thanks for dropping by. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here. Ramsey Personality, author of the number one bestselling book, Business Boutique. That puts us out of the day. Ramsey's showing the books. We'll be back with you before you know it.

In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey guys, this is Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month. You can find debt-free screens, millionaire hour clips, Dave rants, and so much more. Go check it out. With more frequency than you know, I get calls and emails from people dealing with the recent loss of a spouse or a parent. You can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing.

And at a time they should be grieving, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money, especially when it's a situation that could have been avoided. If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term life insurance. It's one of the things you do to say I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I have to get my point across, so be it. For over 20 years, I've been telling you about the importance of term life insurance and protecting your family. Listen, you need to check out Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

I can't say it enough. Protect your family. It's what you're supposed to do. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.