The Ramsey Show - App - How Walking Off the Car Lot Changed Everything (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 19, 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. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It is a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Christy Wright, the Ramsey personality that is the founder of Business Boutique, joins us at the bottom of the hour, equipping women to make money doing what they love. And so if you've got a question for Christy about a lady in your life that is starting a business,

maybe that lady is you or running a business, and maybe that lady is you. Maybe it's your girlfriend, your mother. I don't know. But we're going to talk about ladies running and operating and growing and starting businesses, starting at the bottom of the hour. You can get in line on the phones anytime you want. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Now, in addition to that, the Ramsey personalities are on here from time to time.

So anytime you've got a question for Christy or Ken Coleman about your career or Anthony O'Neill about teenagers or Rachel Cruz about money or Chris Hogan about millionaires or money or whatever, you can email us, and we'll have the question ready for them when they're here. Like, for instance, Rachel will be on next week, Rachel Cruz. She's in L.A. today doing a television show out there, but she'll be on next week as a guest, and you can email her a question. You can email Christy Wright a question for the bottom of the hour here.

See, just send it to DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. We probably need to get a new email address that says like Dave's personalities or like I have multiple personalities or something. Some people say that's true. So, anyway, email us your questions at DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com.

Mikhail is with us in Orlando. Hi, Mikhail. How are you? I'm doing great, how about you? Better than I deserve, what's up? Well, I'm 17 years old and I want to do it right. I've been watching your show for about 4 months now and I'm all about building wealth

little by little, not getting too deep being smart with my money and investing in it and all of that, and I just want to do it right. I'm currently on my last year of high school I've been taking college classes, so by the time i graduate high school i'm going to be one year ahead on my associate's degree i am also very close to getting my scholarship that will cover 75 on my tuition once i achieve that i'm going to work my way through to get 100 one but i can assure you that i will get to 75 because i am so close

man you can work you can work you, make money, and cover the rest. Dude, you're on fire! So what are you going to study? Statistics. Statistics, okay. What do you want to do for your career? Well, I want to be a data analyst. Okay.

Well, you're right. I don't think there's anything stopping you. How can I help you? Well, I just want to you're right. I don't think there's anything stopping you. How can I help you? Well, I just want to do it right. I want to know what should I be doing after high school, you know, and get a job or should I start investing, should I start saving up, what should I be doing? That's all my question. I can think of no better person to invest in or with than the guy I'm talking to right now.

You are going to give yourself a great return on investment. You're a go-getter. You're a hustler. You're goal-oriented. I mean, I can't get 57-year-olds to think like you think, and you're 17. It's amazing. Well done. So all of that to say, investing in a mutual fund is not going to give you the rate of

return that investing in you will give you. So I want you to study and get your degree, and I want you to pay cash for it, no debt, and I want you to have money to go all the way through college and eat real food while you're doing that, and everything, not just ramen noodles, right, not just beans and rice, college food, we call it. But, I mean, you know, you can work like a crazy man, but I want you to just pile that cash up, and that pile of cash is an insurance policy that not only you graduate and not only that you graduate debt-free but that you graduate debt-free in style with honors because you aren't worried about money you have the scholarships and

the money piled up and everything else so you don't need to put a dime in mutual funds until you graduate from college when you graduate from college, now you go get the big boy job, right? And you start making some serious bank as a data analyst. You should be able to. And real quickly, you start, you know, moving on up through the baby steps, and you're going to jump right up to baby step four real quick here and start investing 15% of your income, get your first house, get it paid off, and, dude, you're on your way.

I can't wait to talk to the 27-year-old version of you in 10 years. You are going places, man. Very cool. Thanks for calling in. That call there was placed there by God just for you that were wondering if this nation had a future. You were wondering if we were all going to die because all young people are idiots. You were wondering about that, and that call was placed there by God just to say, no, we're not all going to die because all young people are idiots. You were wondering about that, and that call was placed there by God just to say, no, we're not all going to die.

They're not all idiots. There are some awesome McHales out there, and there's more of them than there are the others. Every generation has had idiots. Every generation. Baby boomers, my generation, we had to corner on idiot for a while. I mean, yeah, we invented some stuff that this society is still paying for. We learned new ways to sin.

It was unbelievable. We invented new stuff. So every generation has had its idiots, but every generation has got its McHales, and you're going to be okay, we're going to be okay. Talk to a 17-year-old like that, you just go, boom, we're going to be all right. John is with us in Atlanta. Hey, John, how are you? Hi, Dave.

Thanks for taking my call. Sure. My wife and I are both followers of your plan. We're in baby step six now. Cool. I work for a regional bank that is, I'm actually a project manager for them. Good. We're not one of the big guys, not the Wells or B of A's.

Right. We're in a handful of states. Mm-hmm. And the question that I've got, so personally, in my own life, I'm very anti-debt. Mm-hmm. But although there's a lot of stuff that goes into the banking business model, obviously a lot of it involves selling debt to customers. So the question that I have is, if I want to achieve in my career, which I do,

I love the company, I love my boss and my coworkers, but I have some cognitive dissonance about the fact that ultimately if I do well, my company kind of gets better at selling debt to people. So what is your perspective on that? Do you feel like banking is kind of a net negative as a career or do you have a perspective that would be helpful? No, I don't think it's a net negative. I've got actually good friends that work at regional banks, and I think they do a wonderful job. Obviously, they are in the debt business.

Obviously, you're in the debt business. If you're not involved in something that you go home at night feeling in your spirit that you are slimy, then you're okay. I mean, and if you're at Bank of America or Wells Fargo, there's a good chance you're involved in something slimy because they're pretty much slime balls, you know. But if you're at a local bank, a regional bank, a good credit union, just because you loan money doesn't make you a slime ball.

Now, obviously, you have cognitive dissonance about that. I would because I'm Mr. Get-out-of-debt-for-the-nation, right? That's me. But I don't personally use debt, and I don't have anything inside this business that uses debt or helps the consumer get into debt. We don't take credit cards, as an example. But that would be highly hypocritical in my case. But you work at a bank. I mean, that's highly hypocritical in my case. But you work at a bank. I mean, that's not hypocritical.

It's like you work at Pizza Hut and you take a credit card to sell a pizza. Is that a bad thing? I hate debt, but I take credit cards to sell pizza. No, you're selling pizza. So I think the only time I would tell you you need to get out of there is if your spirit is constantly heavy. And then I think that's God talking to you. But I don't think it's an ethical judgment of everyone who does project management in good regional banks. No, I'm not going to place that ethical judgment out there.

I don't agree with that. But if you're feeling heavy, you'd be talking to God about that part. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. There's nothing smart about smartphones if your wireless plan is blowing your budget each month. Pure Talk USA offers smarter wireless with unlimited plans starting as low as $20 per month. You never pay data overage fees and we never turn off your data. No contracts, no hidden fees. And if you're thinking our low cost means less coverage, think again. Our voice and data service covers 99% of Americans and our 4G LTE network provides the fastest internet speeds like

more expensive carriers. We operate on the largest GSM network in the fastest Internet speeds like more expensive carriers. We operate on the largest GSM network in the U.S. to ensure you receive reliable coverage virtually anytime, anywhere. Plus, you can keep your same phone and number and add multiple lines to save more. We're so confident you'll love Pure Talk USA that we invite you to try our service risk-free. Just visit puretalkusa.com, enter promo code SAVEDAVE, no spaces, and receive 50% off your first month. That's puretalkusa.com, promo code SAVEDAVE. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Thomas and Cassie are here. Hey, guys, how are you?

Good. Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Indianapolis, Indiana. Uh-oh, you're down here for the ballgame. Nope, just this. No, you missed the ballgame. Nope. Just this. No. You missed the ballgame. We lost a little bit on the TV yesterday.

Yeah. It wasn't good. It was good for you guys. Yeah. It wasn't bad. Not good for us. Well, welcome. You're here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, we are. Love it. How much you paid off?

Paid off $111,000 in 16 months. All right. And your range of income during that time? We started about $90,000 and finished up around $115. Nice jump. What do you guys do for a living? I work for the federal government. And I'm a government contractor.

Cool. What do you do for the feds? I work for a member of the Senate. And I do background investigations. All right. Very good. Very cool. So you can, like, investigate his people.

You got it. That's it. I won't say anything like that. that see we didn't know who it was so it's all good that's all just funny okay oh welcome you guys what kind of debt was the 111 uh it was 103 000 in student loans and about 8 000 on the car wow so just sally may yep she had set up her own place in your place she did did. She did. How long have you two been married? We got married in October. We just celebrated our one-year anniversary.

Oh, okay. So you started this before you got married. Yeah, about 10 months before we got married. Both of you had student loans. Yep. So you're working it independently and then get married and worked it together. Yes, sir. Very good.

Very good, you guys. So how did all this start then? Oh, you know, we were about 10 months away from getting married. Just celebrated Christmas. I was coming off a campaign that was successful and had a new job that was lined up. And I had got a small gift from my parents. At the time, my car had 285,000 miles on it. And I looked at this little gift from them and thought it was time for me to get a new car and went out shopping for cars. And just something spoke to me and said, why don't you look at your student loans? You haven't looked at those in four or five years. I'm sure you've made some progress on them. And when I pulled up that

page, my heart just dropped because we have all these plans and our incomes are going them. And, uh, you know, when I pulled up that page, uh, my heart just dropped because, you know, we have all these plans and our incomes are going up and, uh, you know, next thing we know, I'm still $75,000, $80,000 in student loan debt. How can I justify going out and spending 10, $15,000 on a car? And, um, yeah, I mean, that, that was sort of where it all started. And, uh, you know, some family members. Getting engaged and getting married made you all responsible and everything. Unfortunately, yeah. I guess. All right.

Yeah. Very good. That's fun. So you walked off the car lot. Yeah. You know, and had a family member who was working on it as well. And just by some chance, my mom had bought me a financial piece universe or not financial piece, but total money makeover for Christmas. Um,

chance. Yeah. With the gift. I know. So, she's subtle as a brick through a window. Yes, she is.

She generally is. Um, you know, so that was sort of where, um, it all started. And, uh,

yeah, Thomas gave me a call. Um, he was living in Indianapolis. I was living in Pittsburgh, Thomas gave me a call. He was living in Indianapolis. I was living in Pittsburgh. He gave me a call one day, and he was like, hey, just got to let you know, we're not buying a house when we get married.

Bro! I'm like, yes, we are. And he was like, no, I'm looking at my student loans. You got student loans. You got your car payment. You know, I don't think we can do this. And it's embarrassing, but I threw my phone. I whipped my phone in my car, and we didn't talk for an entire day. I was like, I am not talking to him.

I deserve a house. I have a job. So I drove home. I ran right to my dad, and I was like, Dad, Thomas said we can't get a house. Like, what's wrong with him? I have money. And my dad just, like, sat me on the couch. He looked at me, and he was like, Cass, sounds like you have a wise man there.

Oh! Oh! Oh, shoot. Dad's on his side too. Guess we're not getting a house. And so from then on, I went to the bank, paid off my car and I was like, okay, well I'll show him I'll pay off my car. You know, so good start. Uh, yeah, we got a good start. And then from there it was, yeah, we hit the ground. We cash flowed the wedding cash flowed the honeymoon um ended up about a year later getting me a new car finally and cheap car uh so yeah it's been good ever since so once you once dad said and then once you paid off the car you kind of had to sit down and go okay i can i can see we're going to get a house we're just not going to get it stupid yeah yeah we don't have have it still, but we're working on it.

Oh, you'll be there before you know it, though. You're right on track. You're making great money. You've got no debt. How's that feel? Fantastic. It's a weight off our shoulder, for sure. For sure.

What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Just sticking to the plan. We knew that when we got married, we had goals that we wanted to travel. We didn't want to be those people who look back 15 years down the road and say, well, we knew that when we got married, we had goals that we wanted to travel. We didn't want to be those people who look back 15 years down the road and say, well, we never traveled. We never did this or that. So, you know, knowing that once we finished this step, we'd have no excuse for why we couldn't do those things. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. Good. That and saving for a house. Yeah. Okay. Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. Who was your biggest cheerleader while you were doing this, outside of you two?

My family and his family, for sure. Okay. Yeah, I would say that pretty much everybody's been, Mom bought the Total Money Maker book, Dad said you've got to do this. You're getting at it from both sides. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, they've been very supportive, thankfully, so we're appreciative of that. Well, they're proud of you, I'm sure. Yeah.

Yeah, we're proud of you, too. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. You're rock stars. How old are you two? I'm 34. 28.

Oh, man. You've got such bright stuff ahead of you. Life is great. Very, very well done. Very well done. All right. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, number one bestseller, Retire Inspired. And that's the next chapter in your story for you to be one of these everyday millionaires we're talking about all the time.

Yeah, for sure. And outrageously generous along the way, too. Of course. Travel, house, millionaire, generosity, it's all right there in front of you. Absolutely. Thomas and Cassie, Indianapolis, Indiana, $111,000 paid off in 16 months, making $90,000 to $115,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Love it. That's awesome. I love her story i whipped the phone across the car that's so real how many of you have done that i mean i've reached the point in my career with the the dave ramsey brand that my name is now verb, and in some places it's a cuss word. Dave Ramsey said, we're not getting a house.

Now, he didn't say that. He was smart enough not to say that, but he said, we're not getting a house. We've got too much to do in Lone Dead. Oh, and she whipped the phone across the car. That's awesome. Well, that's the way it should be. You need to be thinking for yourself. You need to learn to think clearly outside of what the culture tells you, outside of what anyone tells you.

You need to think through this for yourself. Critical thinking skills are, there's a vacuum in our culture. And if you can learn to think through things for yourself and see wisdom in delaying pleasure, adults devise a plan and follow it. Children do what feels good. If you can walk your way through that, you can walk your way through the critical thinking skills around relationships, around your career, around your investing, around your business

and business leadership skills, then you're going to be able to win. Christy Wright joins us here at the bottom of the hour, Ramsey Personality, the founder of Business Boutique, just coming off the high of a three-day event with about 3,000 on-fire incredible ladies. And the Business Boutique event was a massive success again. And the book continues to be a bestseller. The Business Boutique book and the Business Boutique Academy continues to boom as well. We're going to talk about that and let you guys chime in, you ladies chime in,

that have questions about starting your own business or running your own business. And maybe you've got a lady in your life somewhere that's starting her own business and you want to encourage her or she's running her own business and you want to encourage her. You've got a lady in your life somewhere that's starting her own business, and you want to encourage her, or she's running her own business, and you want to encourage her. You've got questions for Christy? She's going to be with us for the next two segments. And the phone number here is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

And always remember, you can e- email for any of the Ramsey personalities to answer your questions when they do appearances here on The Dave Ramsey Show, and they do quite often by emailing DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. One question I get asked all the time is, do I need life insurance? Listen, the whole point of life insurance is to replace your income for someone who counts on you. So if you have a spouse or you have kids, yes, you need term life insurance. It's the only way to protect them until you're out of debt and have built up your wealth.

You're only digging a deeper hole if you waste money on cash value plans since it robs you of the ability to make real progress. And that's why I send you to Zander Insurance, and I have for 20 years. That's where I get all my insurance, and they only offer the plans I recommend. It is not expensive. It's not complicated. And Zander will be there as your guide every step of the way. We'll be right back. Take that important step to get your family protected. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Joining us this half hour, Ramsey personality, Christy Wright, the founder of the Business Boutique Movement, the podcast, the book, the event, the planner, the academy, it continues to go on. Lots of ways to get this information, and today you get it free talking to Christy.

The phone number here is 888-825-5225. Christy, before we jump on the phones and start answering questions from email and so forth, welcome. Thanks. And congratulations on the huge Business Boutique event. Thanks. You know, we say this every year, Dave, but truly it happens every year. It was better than we've ever done before, and i don't know how that's possible but the energy in that room and and you spoke with us so you felt it like oh yeah it was it was a party it was amazing

yeah party just a party and y'all did some business too that's right y'all were having fun it was the whole thing was absolutely amazing and uh our our events team is world class so that people have an incredible experience but i mean there's no accidents in these things. We plan them out. But it's just that there's something special about this movement. There is, and it's amazing how it's this combination of you get the information you need, you need the tools and the steps and the plan and the content that's going to teach you practically how to start your business or grow your business. But then you also get all the inspiration and encouragement.

We talk about what it looks like to weave your faith into this. We have a lot of world-class speakers that really leave people ready to charge hell with a water pistol. And this group came in at like a 10 in energy. So it was just really fun all weekend of seeing how that just grew. And like you said, we had a lot of fun, a lot of funny experiences. We laughed. We cried. It was just really fun all weekend of seeing how that just grew. And like you said, we had a lot of fun, a lot of funny experiences. We laughed, we cried. It was just, it was really amazing. Now, since you've been on the air last with me, we have officially launched the, and started

mailing the shipping. That's right. The new goal planner, the Business Boutique 2019 goal planner. And we haven't even hit Black Fridayiday haven't even hit christmas sales that are half gone let's think we're gonna we're gonna end up with a problem here we're gonna have to order some more because i'm afraid we didn't order enough yeah amazon blew it up like two days they screwed up didn't order enough and or uh we just blew them up and they sold out instantly yeah well it's a new thing so we weren't sure how it's going to do we were conservative in our ordering

but what's really cool is this market loves planners. And this is, I know this sounds cheesy to say, but it really is more than a planner. It's not just a calendar. This has content every single month where I teach you. Well, it's $49. It better not just be a calendar. We focus on a different topic every single month. And then you get activities, worksheets, action items, journaling questions.

Your goals are carried through every single month and every single week, even into your tasks and to-do lists. So this really is the tool that's going to help you stick with your goals this year and not just set them and forget them. And so I'm really excited. And the women that have gotten it, if you see any of the reviews on Instagram or Facebook, I do a behind-the-scenes where people can see it on my Facebook page and on Instagram. It's really incredible.

Women, even that are, they call themselves planner snobs. They say, this is my favorite planner, and I'm a planner snob. So that's saying a lot. So they're very excited about it. That's somebody that knows what they're talking about. This thing's like an inch and a half, two inches thick. Our product team, and you put a lot of love in this and a lot of money in this, honestly. So it was an expensive item to produce because the quality, the paper quality, the delivery,

the color schemes, the tabs, the spiral bound, the easy fold over, easy to use, easy to carry. It really is the type of thing that becomes integrated into your daily life, doesn't it? It really is. And even if you're not a paper calendar person, this is a goal setting tool for you. And that's what we talked about, Dave, even with the team where I said, I don't use a paper calendar, so I need to have something, create something that I would stand on stage and say, yes, I would use this. And I read books to grow personally and professionally. And I use workbooks if I'm doing a Bible study.

And I'll journal for goal-setting. And so I was like, let's put all that together with a calendar. And that's what this is. It's got content like you would have from a book. It's got workbook elements and worksheets that's going to help you put things into practice like a content calendar for your social media or a budget for your business. And then it has questions to reflect on the content and then also to set goals and carry those throughout the year. So all that's in addition to the calendar, weekly spreads and to-do lists. And so it's really, really fun. We even have some spots in

there for things you're grateful for, things you're doing for your family, yourself. It's got scripture. So we really wanted it to be something that, things you're doing for your family, yourself. It's got scripture. So we really wanted it to be something that, like you said, it's a tool and companion to help you stick with your goals and just manage your day and time better. Business Boutique 2019 Goal Planner, your personal guide to getting results. Ladies, I suggest you get this while the getting's good because it's going to be gone soon at the rate we're going. All right, let's go to Krista in British Columbia with a question for Christy. Hi, Krista, how are you?

I'm better than I deserve. Good. How can we help today? I'm going to try not to cry. Okay, so I've been an entrepreneur my whole life, essential oils as a network marketer, as a massage therapist. And now a year ago I opened a candy store. My husband actually started working in that candy store because he lost his job five months ago. That's when I had a bone spur, so I was literally crippled.

And I'm still struggling to move through that. I need surgery. He left me five days ago, but I'm just finding out now that over the past five months, my business hasn't been going down. He's been stealing from me. So my question is, should I sell this business? Because I have so many things on my plate, and now I'm a single mom again. So have you gotten an attorney to get your money back from him in terms of

your divorce proceeding? He's not somebody that I can even get any money back from. I'm the one that's not in debt. He's $20,000 behind on child support payments. And one of those children he didn't even tell me about until six months after we were married.

How much did he steal from you? A good probably $4,000 or $5,000. Like, it's not that major. It's a small business. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, okay.

You're struggling medically. That's emptied your tank. You're struggling relationally. that's emptied your tank. $4,000 or $5,000 isn't that much. No. That's not a big problem. It's all this other stuff hits you, and then this was like a tiny little straw that fell on a camel that was already pretty weak.

You follow me? Yeah, I was paying for everything, though. I don't think your business is what's got you where you want to sell the business. I don't even think the theft has got you where you want to sell your business. I think it's just you're out of gas. Yeah. So, you got children? Yeah. I have an 8-year-old son, and my 88-year-old grandmother lives with me.

Okay. And so if you close this or sell this out, what are you going to do for a living? I'm a network marketer, so I get a check from that. You get that check anyway. Pardon? You get that check anyway. Yeah, I do. Okay.

So what are you going to do? I'm writing a book. You're going to write a book. You're going to write a book. You're a serial entrepreneur. You're an addict. No, I think you run the business. That's my opinion.

And let me tell you why, and then I'll let Christy chime in. She's being real quiet. Her eyes are full of tears for you. But I think you run the business because I think that's the only thing left in your life right now that's stable. And I don't think you need to start new stuff and new ventures as empty as your tank is. I think we run the predictable things while your tank's empty. And 12 months from now, if you want to look at the business and you decide you don't want to be in the candy business anymore, that's fine.

But I don't think you want to be in the lying, thieving, stealing husband business anymore, which I think that's a good business to get out of. Yeah. But the candy business isn't bad. And $4,000 or $5,000 didn't break you. You're okay. Yeah. It just broke your spirit a little bit, kicked your spirit a little bit.

I only found you five months ago, and so I tried to, like, do the financial stuff with him, and I realized that he didn't even want to save $1,000, so I've saved $1,000. Yeah. Christy? Yeah, I hear it in your voice, Krista. It's just all of that is weighing on you, but I couldn't agree more with Dave. The business is something that you can hold on to. You can make it grow.

You can make it fly. I just want to encourage you to keep in mind that right now you are in a season. This is not forever. This is a hard season, and it's a season of survival. But you're a survivor, and you're going to survive it. And I just want to encourage you to stick with it because you can. You've got more stuff left in your tank than you think you do. You're just scared and beat up.

You've got the stuff. You're the kind of lady that pulls it off right when this stuff happens. That's who you are. So I don't know if you're in this business three years from now, but for right now, I'd stick with it. Hold on. We're going to get you into Christie's Business Boutique Academy. It's closed. You can't get in. But I know a guy because you need some support right now. Hold on. We're going to get you into Christie's Business Boutique Academy. It's closed. You can't get in.

But I know a guy because you need some support right now. Hold on. Christy Wright Ramsey Personality joins us this half hour. She is the founder, the creator of the business boutique movement. Christy, one of the things I guess people don't realize about business boutique, the movement, when we're equipping women to make money doing what they love, is, I hesitate to say it this way, but it's the only way I know how to say it, and you can correct me, you put better words on it. There's almost a dark side to this movement that ladies are running businesses to survive, like that lady there.

I mean, her husband is obviously a screw-up. There are great husbands, and there are lousy husbands. She had a lousy one. And I mean, people that lie about whether they have a kid or not and steal money. This is in the lousy category. Check that box. You know, but I mean, there's these ladies. And what we see is the positive part of the story, because but sometimes there's some real darkness. That's the motivator.

But the positive part of the story is resilience. And the strength is oftentimes awe-inspiring. It really is, and it's amazing because they got into business in some cases, like you're saying, not because they necessarily wanted to, but as a means of survival. And really, Dave, we've talked about this before, but that's my mom's story. Like she found herself with a baby to raise, a six-month-old, when she was 33 years old, me, and she had $64 to her name,

and she was planning to be a stay-at-home mom. She had no dreams to start a business, no plan to start a business. She realized she had to go into survival mode to support me and support us. And you can't raise two kids on minimum wage, so you've got to go do something that earns you more than that. You've got a couple of babies looking at you, and he just takes off, leaves you standing there. That's kind of the dark side of this story. The great news is it activates some ladies to do some stuff they might not have done otherwise. It is all inspiring.

Well, and they're surprising themselves. They're like, I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm running this, what becomes a huge business or a national business, multiple locations, multiple team members. You know, Cordia Harrington has had a similar story of going into survival mode, of being a single mom, wanting to be with her kids. She was a real estate agent. It's just incredible what these women are capable of when they're put through the fire and they come out on the other side as a survivor, truly, and they've built this business. Like you said, it may have been something dark that put them in survival mode,

but they come out as survivors, and they're surprising themselves and everyone around them at what they're able to to accomplish yeah we see the shining result oftentimes and and sometimes we probably need to talk up more about the um the manure that allows the stuff to grow i mean that's the amounts to right yeah the valley is a valley but that's where rich stuff is is. It's where the rich soil is. And that's why I can look at a lady like that and listen to her story in about two minutes, and I go, oh, you've got a lot more left than you think you do, girl. I mean, you were hearing that, weren't you? Well, and to your point, the heavy stuff was actually not the business.

The business was the one thing she felt like she could control, so let's get rid of it because this seems like this is the problem. That actually wasn't the problem. It's the relational things. It's the the problem. It's the relational things. It's the heartbreak. It's the emotional burden that she's having to walk through and, oh, by the way, run her business. But that's why I just kept focusing on the season because you can survive for this season, and then you still have your business on the other side, and you can grow this thing and chase this dream. It doesn't have to die just because things got hard right now in other areas of your life.

That's the key right there. And you don't have to keep it. You can sell it later. Right. But this is exactly the wrong time to bail. Yeah. Because this is a. It's an emotional decision.

Yeah. And sometimes it's like you're in the manure and it's almost as if God's saying, this is a test. Yeah. You know, and you go, are you going to play through here? And I've been there, and I've watched a lot of the ladies in this situation. And sometimes maybe it's not a relational thing. Maybe their marriage is great, but they just don't have enough money in the house. And that's a dark secret, too. That's a dark side of this.

And I go, I don't really necessarily want to do something, but I've got all these skills and this education, and I can go do this, and I can add economic value, maybe even more so than my husband. And so it's time for me to go do something. And that's how this business boutique thing has come alive. You know, we've been awfully tempted and I think have done a great job of showing the shiny parts and the smiling successful lady but the dark part that causes her to start or caused her to keep going um that i think that's a real part of the story part of the narrative i think you feel that in the room at the event for an example like there are tears streaming down faces during certain moments in certain sessions because you're hitting on something deeply personal something uh maybe wounds that, you know, when they walk in the room, they're carrying baggage.

We, you know, as speakers on stage don't know about, but you know about because you know that they're bringing that with them. And so to be able to hit on that and love those women as a whole person, not just a business leader, not just a mom, you know, where you are weaving together all these aspects of their life and loving them, encouraging them and sending them out to to go win in all those areas, it makes a big difference. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right.

Let's go to Shannon in Gainesville, Florida. Your question for Christy Wright. Shannon. Hi. Hi. So I've actually been wanting to call for a really long time, and it was about my business. I'm glad that Christy's there today. Awesome.

And thank you for taking my call. So back in January, I started an in-home boutique, and it was going really well. But I've always had the mindset that this was kind of more for fun money. And I do, I suffer with depression, so it was another one of those things that, like, any time I felt in a rut, I just pulled back and I pulled away from my business. And I finally had my aha moment that we're not going to do the debt thing anymore. You know, I constantly feel like I'm being crushed and I'm drowning, and the way that I've always ran my business is building it organically

and just paying exactly what's needed for my business and not taking anything for myself, which burns me out. So now that I've had my aha moment, now I want to dive in. I want to grow it as quickly as I can, but I also want to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor as far as getting this debt paid down. And I wanted to know where you would start with that. Would you say a percentage is income? Would you say, how would you go about that? So you run a product-based income? Would you say like, how would you go about that? So you run a product based business? Are you talking about clothing boutique from your house? Yes. Okay. So what, what, what's your, your margin right now? What, what type of profits are

you, do you even have to work with? Um, so in the first six months of the year, I did $35,000 in sales. Top line? Um, Well, that was like all profits. And I would say maybe, or not profits, all sales. Right. And trying to think of my numbers here because I haven't sat down and done them for a minute. I would say about $6,000 of it was profit, which I just rolled back over into the business and getting more inventory. And, you know, I pay like the Internet, which does help with the house, but I've never taken a penny for myself.

So what's your primary source of income? My husband. And his income literally pays our bill. We're actually $400 short a month if I don't pay anything. Yeah. So we need this. I really need this to, you know, I really need to find the motivation and drive now to, you know, get down, buckle down, do this, stick with it,

and, you know, start seeing some stuff that is helping our family as well. Yeah, for sure. Well, I'll tell you, one of the things you said a second ago, I just want to highlight, when you said you haven't sat down and done the numbers in a while, I would sit down and do the numbers and look at what are you actually working with, what do you have that you have to work with as potential take

home? And then from that money that you take home as your paycheck or your salary, however you want to structure it, that is what you have to work with in terms of putting it towards your debt and paying off your debt quicker. How fast you pay off your debt is a value decision. How intense do you want to get? How quickly do you want to get out of debt? That's where we talk about getting gazelle intense. I love how Dave says you can wander into debt, but you cannot wander out. So getting on a plan and getting serious, the more serious you are, the more committed you are, but at the same time, enjoying the fruits of your labor, you know, of your business. So in terms of percentage, Dave, do you have a specific percentage

you advise people? Shannon, it looks like you're running about a 20% profit margin, roughly. Okay. And so that's all you can take home is 20 cents out of every dollar of sales because the rest of it's got to be plowed back into buying new inventory, right? And so that's the most you could take home is 20 cents out of every dollar. And I would not

take the entire 20 cents home. You've got to take 80 cents out of every dollar and buy new inventory because that's your cost of goods sold roll back in. Now, so what I would do is figure out what your net profit is by doing the details like Christy suggested. And then of your net profit, only take home 80% of that. So that not only allows you to buy all your inventory replacement for what is sold, but it allows you to grow the business by 20%. So take home 80%. Just try that and see how it works.

And do your numbers. And then the last thing is your drive, your motivation is going to come from when you take that 80 cents out of every dollar of profit home and you throw it at the debt and you see the debt snowball rolling. And then you're going to go, woo-hoo, let's go sell some clothes. Yeah. That's what you're going to do then. So Christy Wright, thank you for dropping by.

Thanks for having me. Glad to be here, Christy Wright, thank you for dropping by. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here. Christy Wright, Ramsey personality. Be sure and subscribe to her Business Boutique podcast on iTunes. It is a number one podcast. You don't want to miss it. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly Daniel, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know that in 2017, Dave Ramsey Show listeners paid off $50 million in debt?

That's pretty impressive. And it could be you this year. Keep listening for more inspiration.