The Ramsey Show - App - I Struggle With Confidently Pricing My Services (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Christy Wright, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host this hour. Open phones for your questions about your life and about your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You can get in if you dial quick, 888-825-5225.

Lacey's going to start off this hour in Flint, Michigan. Hi, Lacey. How are you? Hi, I'm good. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, my question is for Christy. So I've been doing a blogging business for about two and a half years. I'm a single mom of three kids and I also have a day job. So the blog business has kind of been slow to take off, but I've learned a ton, enough so that I keep having friends and family come to me for help with all the problems. You are breaking up. You're breaking up. See if you can get your phone where you can get it going.

Sorry, can you hear me now? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So I've had a lot of friends and family been coming to me over the last few months asking for help with their marketing. And I'm ready to start pitching it as an actual business to do marketing consulting for people. But I'm struggling with confidence to ask for the amount of money that I feel would be valued at, which is in like the higher end range. And I'm just wondering what I can do about that. Why is it worth that?

Well, as a single mom of three kids, I'm spending a lot of my time doing these things for different people. So I know that my time is worth that. And I know that I know what I'm doing. I just, every time that I go to start to invoice someone, I notice myself, like, changing my pricing. Like, okay, well, I don't want to ask for $50 an hour for that. Maybe I'll just ask for $30 an hour for that.

I'm sorry, you're invoicing them for consulting or for blog? I'm invoicing them for helping them with their marketing. Oh, okay. So this is a marketing consulting business. That's what you've sort of been doing and you want to keep doing it, but with more confidence. Yes. Gotcha. Okay.

So here's the biggest thing with marketing or any type of business. Lacey, you just want to talk in results. They're not interested in which social media posts you're going to do, which blogs you're going to write. They're interested in what's that going to do for their business. How is it going to gain followers, make an impact, increase their bottom line? And so the biggest thing that I would encourage you to do is when you begin to talk about your pricing, you're talking about it camped in the lens of results. Here are the results I'm going to get for you and you need to. And then here's

the cost of me to get you those results. Then it takes all the emotion and squirmy, weird feelings out of it. The one thing I do want to call out, though, you made a comment. You said you've been helping friends and family and your pricing's on the higher end. These two things don't necessarily go together. So your friends and family may not be your higher end client. So I do just want to call out that, that if you want to do marketing consulting for businesses, small businesses big

businesses or higher-end clients you know the people the people that have a budget for that it's probably not going to be in your friends and family pool it might be i might be off base completely here but you need to make sure you're going after your target market that is willing to pay the price you're charging so you're you said you're charging 30 and you're worried about going to 50 that's when it starts feeling weird. Per hour, is that right? Only for some services. Okay. Well, let's just use that service as an example.

Okay. So if you did 10 hours, that would be $500 at $50, right? Mm-hmm. So if you did 10 hours of work for us and I paid you $500 as a business for marketing consulting and the advice that you gave us or the project that you helped us implement made me five million dollars will that be worth it right absolutely okay you you would have undercharged at that point that's an exaggerated that's an exaggerated example of what christy's saying what are the results yeah in other words if you make me more than you cost me, you're free. I'll give you an example,

Lacey. The first week we opened our academy, which is my coaching group in April for enrollment. And the first week we did it for $99, which was a steal. It was a pandemic thing. We were trying to help people out at the very first week. I did something called the hundred dollar challenge. And I challenged all of my members to make $100 in seven days. So they made ROI in the first seven days as a member. Many of them made thousands of dollars, way exceeded that goal. When I focus on what my members are earning as a result of my coaching, I don't feel bad at all about charging them $99 or $244, which is the normal price.

We don't charge them enough. Yeah. And so when you focus on the results you get for them, your confidence comes from that because you know the price is not all about you and your feelings. The price is about the results. And those results have a value. And, you know, I had a friend tell me one time, sales is an exchange of value. That's all it is when you take the emotion and the squirminess out of it. So I would focus on the results for the customer when you're pitching them and voicing them and for yourself.

It's going to help you really feel confident in charging what you're worth. Yeah, if you will think, that's just the exact answer. That's the bottom line. So when we started the radio show, Lacey, years ago, we sold the radio spots for $10 a piece. Those same spots now are on 668 radio stations, and they're millions of dollars to be on the Dave Ramsey show. But guess what? If I charge Jeff Zander at Zander Insurance, I'll just make up a number because it's not true,

but I'll just say I charged him a million dollars and say he made $10 million. I'm pretty confident when I send him that invoice that i'm right i'm worth that yeah absolutely and that that's what that's the thing that christy's telling you here and you can do it take off take off five zeros off that you know it doesn't matter the still the point is make you more than it costs you it's free and i can do that all day long and i'll be going well why wouldn't you use my service i'm freaking i'm free yeah okay okay you got this if you'll stay on the line i'll have kelly send you a copy of business boutique i go into pricing how to charge how to pay yourself and even how to build confidence um in that book and that can

help you take that even further her laugh at the end says your answer was right what do you mean when she laughed after i said that one thing but that was all i was doing is restating your answer was right what do you mean when she laughed after i said that one thing but that was all i was doing is restating your answer but that's like i got it yeah the confidence you could hear the confidence change the light bulb comes on yeah so and it's true with anyone in business you know um when i had sold one financial peace book i wasn't sure if it was worth 12 dollars right but you know i've sold financial pieces, two and a half million. Total money makeovers, eight million. We've sold half a million of business boutique or maybe more. I don't know.

Something like that. About that. And so, you know, is that book worth that? Yeah, because we've got filing cabinets or the equivalent of electronic filing cabinets full of stories of people who spent 20 bucks on a book and freaking changed their life. Right. And you know what's cool is it changes your posture as the person talking about this thing, whether it's your services or like, for example, during Academy Open Enrollment, my posture

isn't this desperate. Please get in. Please, please, please. I don't know what I'm going to do. It's like, hey, this is awesome. And these ladies are rocking it. And you want to be in here? I'd love for you to be in here.

But it's this invitation where you're sitting back with confidence, inviting them to be a part of it, not desperately begging them. Your whole approach is different. And you have more fun, and they have more fun. Yeah. And, you know, the radio show is free. So if you listen to this, I think you get a return on investment. Yeah.

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Open phones at 888-825-5225. Looks like Austin is with us in Orlando. Hey, Austin, how are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I have a quick question for you.

So I'm on baby step number two, and I'm trying to create this budget and create it as accurately as possible. And I have a townhouse that is currently in Atlanta, or it is in Atlanta, that I'm renting out to my best friend. So I was trying to see if I should sell that townhouse to speed up my debt-free journey, or should I just save it, put it in my baby steps, and use it as a retirement income in the future? I would sell it, and here's why. I own a bunch of real estate, and I own it all within 20 miles of my home. As far as rental real estate goes, that is. I mean, I've got a lake house that's further than that.

But I'm talking about stuff I rent out is all within 20 miles of my home. Long-distance landlording is very difficult to do well. You did not set out for this to be a rental property. This is a rental property by default. You used to live there, and you moved away to Austin, or you moved away to Orlando, and you kept it. Correct. Yeah. So you would not be living in Orlando and go, hey, I think I'm going to buy a townhouse in Atlanta.

No, you wouldn't do that. For atlanta no you wouldn't do that for for all the reasons that you wouldn't do that are the reasons i would sell it okay i've had some rental property long distance and it's how you get someone to change their harley oil in your living room it's just a problem it's hard to manage and so yeah you i mean you know what you want to do if i were in your shoes that what I would do. I think this thing is more of a, I mean, other than the inconvenience of having to deal with some, displace your friend or something like that, but it's more of a hassle for you than it is an actual financial blessing at the end of the day. You can take the increased financial position that you're in and buy something down there when you're in a better

shape to do it and have your rental properties that you use in retirement there in the city that you're going to spend your life in. And that's that or the next period of your life for sure. And that's what I would do. Mark is with us. Mark is in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Hey, Mark, what's up? Hey, Dave, great to be on the show. I

appreciate you taking my call. It's an honor. You're doing a great service. Thank you, sir. How can we help? I have a daughter who is 15 and a half years old. She's going to be starting driver's ed here in the next couple weeks. Yeehaw. I'm in the market for a car for her. It's exciting and nerve-wracking, of course. Yeah. I'm in the market for a car for her. It's exciting and nerve-wracking, of course. I'm in the market for a car for her. And the car that I'm looking at is fairly expensive. It's about a $14,000 car. I can afford it, so that's not an issue. I can pay cash, and that's not going to be a problem.

But I've never done this before. And $14,000 just seems like a lot of money for a car for a teenage girl. And am I being crazy here? Do I need to be shopping for a $5,000 car instead just to kind of start her off on the right foot as far as showing her how to value shop for a car? I mean, the idea here is I want to buy a car that's going to last forever. I want all-wheel drive because I'm in Michigan. And I want a good, reliable car.

But I don't know. That just seems like a lot of money, and I thought nobody knows better than Dave, so let me give him a call. You're right about that, Mark. I'm not in those shoes yet. My kids are little. What did you pay for your first one when you were a teenage girl? I think it was like 15 000 i think

mom yeah my mom oh wow that's what mom got was that on payments no they paid cash for she paid cash she went big yeah go big or go home it's funny though because it's like it's it's when you think about the you do want something safe you don't have to it doesn't have to be i don't think 5 000 or 15 000 like i think you could find a middle range if that felt like too much money to you for whatever reason you know one of the things that you talk about Dave is how you did it with your kids and I'm Rachel's Rachel and our very good friends so she's talked about it from the daughter's perspective of having a skin in the game when she helped pay for her car but she treated her car differently because she had to pay for part

of it and I think there's something to that regardless of the amount of money where you take care of it you value it it doesn't just feel like you know you can just you know be careless with it so i don't know i mean yeah mark what we did was they paid uh whatever they saved up we would match it we had 401 dave i'm gonna do that with my kids mark i'm serious this is and so i love this plan in rachel's case she saved up six thousand dollars and she got a twelve thousand dollar little uh 323 beamer uh which is pretty sweet little car actually not a bad first car at all and um so but she had saved up half of that and i matched it um you're late in the game to start that process because you're on the cusp of buying the thing does uh does your daughter have any money to throw to put some skin in the game, to Christy's point? She does.

Frankly, I don't have her work too much. In my house, we really prioritize education and doing well in school. Working at this point, not quite as much. I mean, that's going to come, and they do work some. But even when they do, there's not a whole lot of money necessarily involved i mean if i can have them doing um you know volunteering and and working here at home that's i'm okay with that because money is not as much a concern at least at least for me um so i guess the short answer is no they don't have much in the way of savings. Okay. Well, you need to do something emotionally so that when her friend drops a McDonald's large Coca-Cola in the passenger seat that she cringes.

You could have her even just pay for insurance mark where if that if she speeds gets a speeding ticket that insurance goes up she's paying for the insurance she could work a day or two a month and make enough money to cover insurance you know there's just something there's something very valuable about having some skin in the game overall obviously you know just in talking to you you're making a lot of money you got a lot of money this is not an issue it's not it's not out of control i do tell people that it's whatever whatever kid car you get is your first one you're you're going to screw it up i mean you're going to destroy it yeah it's not going to be a forever car i think he said that

no yeah that's a joke that's not even good they didn't make one they make it halfway through college with their first cars um and so uh but four-wheel drive in your area i don't have a problem with that something reliable i'm a problem with that something safe i'm a problem with that you can get all of those things for a lot of different price ranges but um you've got the money it's not a problem but i'm more concerned with the uh with her posture towards the car um than i am uh the actual expense of it and you know but i i mean we live in a neighborhood where people buy 16 year olds you know 35 000 bmws because they're brain damaged now that's stupid okay but and i would just call you on that but what you're describing is not out of line

uh it's not aligned with what we did and it was a few years ago that we did it. And I'm going to send you a copy of Rachel and I's number one bestselling book, Smart Money, Smart Kids, which is how we taught Rachel and I wrote it together. It was the number one bestseller. Her from the daughter perspective, me from the dad perspective. It's how we taught our kids how to handle money, and it discusses this car thing a lot in there. So, like I said, it was a number one, and I'll send it to you. I think you'll enjoy it.

You may pick up a couple of points. Nothing you're doing there is wrong. We teach in that book that regardless of whether they have to or not, our job as parents is to train children, as our friend Andy Andrews says, not to be good kids, but to be great adults. In order to do that with money, they need to have four skills. They need to know how to work.

And so I don't think your daughter's working enough. I would have her doing more work just because I want to teach her to work. And you worked. Yep. Rachel worked. Yep. And neither one of you had to from a standpoint. Your parents weren't broke or something like that

work give save and spend wisely spend wisely give wisely save wisely and work wisely and and learn to do all those things and you're not doing those things because they create a lot of money but because i want you to build those muscles it's the habits it's the i have to be on time and if not i have a boss to report to. You know, Dave, before I worked here, I worked for the YMCA. I had a staff of teenagers. I would have sometimes the mom call me and tell me, you know, Johnny's sick. I'm like, Johnny needs to call.

This is Johnny's job. You learn these. Helicopter mom. Yeah, these skills for life. It's not about the paycheck. It's about the skills for life. Johnny's going to be late. Johnny's little cell phone not working?

I was like, Johnny's going to call me. Bust little Johnny. That'd be, yeah. That's good. That's good stuff. Yeah. That's was like, Johnny's going to call me. Bust little Johnny. That's good stuff. That's really good stuff. That's a funny story. This is the Dave Ramsey Personality, is my co-host this day here on the Dave Ramsey Show. On the debt-free stage, Nick and Allie are with us right here at Ramsey Solutions. What's up, guys?

We're doing great, Dave. Good to have you. Welcome, welcome. So, how much debt have you paid off? We paid off $130,000. Wow. Great time. How long did this take 24 months whoa and your range of income during that time it's 110 to 150 wow okay so what kind of debt was the 130 was my vehicle um student loans and our house whoa okay did you have some money in savings or something?

These numbers are ridiculous. We did have some in savings. We had getting started on it. Allie always wanted to save and I always wanted to get the debt down. So we kind of fought a battle with each other for quite a while on this. We were Dave-ish for probably about the first year. And then to be honest, I'm fairly cheap. I like to hoard money. I like to have a big pile of it. And so when I finally broke down and got a new iPhone and was able to start listening to podcasts, I was introduced to

Dave in a different way than my husband had been able to introduce me to Dave. Oh, secondhand Ramsey. Yeah. Then I came in as the expert saying, hey, well, Dave said this. And thankfully, he was very patient with me and didn't point out that he had been telling me that for a year. And I had kind of been a passenger. He's a nice guy. He is a nice guy. He's like, no kidding. I've been saying this. So how much money did you have hoarded? Maybe about, I'm the free spirit. So I say maybe about 35 to 40 um that went to it and then the rest was just kind of hammering down we went gazelle intense on the house yeah you went crazy once we got her i mean you're doing 65 000 a year out of 150 that's that's dramatic and you threw 30

at it so that helped yeah okay help me get there Yep, and we cash flowed a truck and my maternity leave during it as well. But, yeah, it went a lot faster when you're both together, so. I've heard the rumor. Yeah, and that Ramsey-ish thing doesn't work either. No, it doesn't. So what got you all started on this whole process? Well, a friend at work, I was complaining, basically basically that we had made more money than we'd ever made and had none.

And there's some friends that you tell these things to and they go, oh yeah, that stinks. There's other friends that you tell these things to and they go, hey, have you heard of this guy named Dave Ramsey? And luckily that was my friend Jake at work and that got me started on it. So I was on

it for about 12 months before I got Allie on board with it. Okay. All right. And so of the 24, Allie, you just did it together for 12, really? Really, yeah. Really, yeah. Except in a sense you helped because you were piling up cash. She was piling up cash, yeah.

Yes, and I was supportive of him paying extra while I was saving. It worked out. It worked out in the end, but I recommend just partnering together from the very beginning. Good. Me too. Good. I like that. Well done, guys.

Yeah, thank you. Paid off your house. Yes. What's it worth? About $170. I love it. And you're how old? Well, we had a goal.

I said to Allie when we were getting close, I was like, you know, I think we might be able to do this before I turn 40. And then once we got that in our heads, we made that our goal to do it before I turned 40. So she's 40 and I'm 32. Love it. Way to go, guys. Thank you.

You're paid for our house. You're officially weird. We did. Amazing. You're weird people how's it feel you don't owe anybody oh it feels amazing it feels great i kind of feel like when i was when we were going through the process i was on the other side of the desk from you listening to you and then when i went back and started listening to the podcast afterwards i felt like i was on

the same side of the desk there you go it's It's kind of a weird feeling. Yeah, that's cool. Man, you guys, at your age with this paid for house and a great income, you're going to be so wealthy. Yeah, it's unbelievable. The only problem is we are people that go all into whatever we do. We've done endurance, athletic events, marathons, iron bands, that thing. And so we are very disciplined and very intense people. So now it's a little disappointing because we don't have like a financial goal to focus on other, of course, than retirement. But it's not nearly as fun. It's not as tangible. You need to set some net worth goals.

We're going to give you a copy of the Everyday Millionaire book and now you've got a new goal. Yeah, all right. Well done, guys. That's amazing how does it feel to get paid and get to keep it and not be paying it backwards to these debts and these bills it feels amazing the um favorite part of baby step seven for me has been the ability to give generously yeah we um are big when you're in when you're paying off your debt rather intensely you have to be creative with ways to find um inexpensive date nights and so we did a lot of parks in our um local parks programs

and so one of my favorite things was after we paid off our house we got to give a pretty generous donation to our local parks and that was actually one of the pictures that we put in with our dogs so that's been that's been the best part for me. That's awesome. Good for you guys. Well done. Well done. Well done. So working together is the key. Any other keys?

I think being disciplined. Yeah. And being patient to get the other person on board. I think it could go very wrong very fast if I was to push too hard. Yeah. And just being patient, waiting for her to come when she was ready to come. That's good. That's good. One interesting thing happened.

So we were just about to pay off our house, and I have to do some reporting to the IRS for my job. And part of that was to get a login through the IRS system electronically. And in order to verify your identity, they ask for some sort of loan information, whether it be a mortgage or a car payment or a student loan. And it was a little uncomfortable to have to tell our consultants that I was unable to log in to verify my identity because I didn't have any loans. There is a way that you should be able to use your tax return. Come to find out it doesn't work um so i actually had to drive an hour and a half to verify my identity in person in order to be able to

that's crazy that's amazing yeah wow oh man well you got no payments no no payments No payments in the world. And just in time for COVID, I mean. Yeah. Yeah, you have a completely different reaction to the kind of garbage we've gone through in the last 90 days or 120 days than you would have had you not been there. So way to go, guys. Very well done. Well, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. And I understand Mr. Carson is with us.

How old is Carson or Mrs. Carson? Miss Carson will actually turn one tomorrow. Sweet. Oh, my goodness. Happy birthday, little girl. Oh, she's so cute. Look at that bow. That's awesome.

Well done. Well, you changed your family tree, didn't you? Yeah. It's got to feel good, y'all. It does. I'm so proud of you thank you well done i'm looking at where people their house is paid for and everything they're not even 40 130 000 paid off in 24 months making 110 to 150. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yay!

How fun. I'm sure Carson's that thrilled. She's so cute. She's like, why is everybody screaming? What are we doing? Why are these people yelling? What are we doing? Oh, that's fun.

That is awesome. You know what? The year we filed bankruptcy, Rachel, was about that size. Yeah. And, you know, you make a decision to change your behaviors, change your habits, and change your life. It not only changes your life, it changes your whole family tree. It changes your destiny of your family.

That's right. Yeah. And especially just in their situation with just a little tiny one, it's just going to be really cool to see how they have such a long time to see how those changes affect not just their family, but even her and how she views money and handles money and grows up to manage money on her own. That's gonna be really fun. Yeah.

It changes. It changes the destiny of the kid. It really does. And of your children, of your extended family, everything else, because you're in a position to do things for them. A friend of mine whose grandmother had a stroke in the middle of all this stuff, and she's by herself up there, can't get anybody. And so he just said, he just hired medical professionals. Wow. And put her in a bed, bought a hospital bed, put her in their home.

Wow. And, you know, I was able to just write checks. That's what you can do. Like crazy checks. That's what you can do when you've got money. Crazy checks. But creates a completely different world for the people you love. That's right.

Very well done. Very well done. That puts us, segment of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. our scripture of the day deuteronomy 31 6 be strong and courageous do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the lord your god goes with you he will never leave you nor forsake you. My friend Simon Sinek says, what good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try, experiment, iterate, fail, try again, change the world. As only Simon can say it. You got to love it. Hey, the main difference between houses that sit on the market and houses that actually sell

is the real estate agent that knows what the flip they're doing. And this starts with you knowing the value of a top-notch real estate agent. It's worth it to find an experienced agent who has the track record and cares about you getting 100% of what your home is worth and getting it sold. And this is why we endorse top agents across the country, our endorsed local providers. And these are people that are high octane, high protein. Do not settle for a subpar agent on your most expensive asset for most of you, your home.

Don't hire your relative. Please. home don't hire your relative oh please Dave Ramsey dot-com slash agent and you can find who we recommend in your area Dave Ramsey dot-com slash agent Drew is with us in Asheville North Carolina hi Drew welcome to the Dave Ramsey show hey Hey, how are y'all? Great. How can we help? So I just got engaged, and my fiance and I were talking about our financial situation at the advice of our premarital counselor, and we kind of realized we're lost, and all we really know is that tithing is important and credit cards are bad, but we don't really know much else. I love it. You're awesome.

You are awesome. How old are you? I am 20 and my fiance is 21. Cool. And who's doing your pre-marriage counseling? So it is my childhood youth pastor, except for my parents. He's probably the biggest influence in my life, and it was kind of a no-brainer who we were going to ask to marry us.

When are you getting married? We were getting married at the end of June 2021. So when I was growing up, Drew, my dad used to have a saying, and he used it to make me go do stuff he didn't want to do but he said uh recognizing that there is a problem is 90 of solving it so you are well on your way uh you what you you are a you are conscious that you don't know what you need that you don't know and then that means you you put you on a journey, a search to find what you need to know. So Christy, what's he need to do? Financial Peace University. I mean, this is the class that we have seen millions of families go through. But what's so cool is it's an amazing engagement gift. And

it's one of those things that when you start to have conversations, not only do we walk you through the baby step, Dave walks you through exactly what you need to do way more in depth than we could on this call. But you begin to have conversations about what are your beliefs about money? What are your fiance's beliefs? How was she raised? How were you raised? How was money treated in your household? How do you view debt or working or saving? Who's the nerd? Who's the free spirit? It's just going to spark so many great conversations that's going to continue you on that journey, just like you said. So can we give it to him? Absolutely. Financial Peace University is part of Ramsey Plus now, which also includes the Every Dollar budgeting.

So you learn, you budget, and the Baby Steps Tracker app. And so we can plug you guys into it as a gift, and I'll go ahead and give you a one-year subscription to Ramsey Plus, and that'll give you plenty of time to go through the class. And then you can go back through it after you're married. And go through it while you're dating or engaged and part of your pre-marriage counseling, then go back through it. But the key things, Drew, and you've already got it down. I mean, you were laughing about credit cards and the other stuff.

But there's only four or five key things, and then the rest of the sophistication flows out of those. Saving money, giving money, budgeting money, staying out of debt, living on less than you make. And those are the key, and those are all backed up by scriptures. You mentioned a youth pastor being an influence so uh it sounds like you're christian like i am and so i can quote your scriptures on every one of those things but but being on a plan jesus said don't build a tower without first counting the cost lest you get halfway up and you're unable to finish and all who see you begin to mock you and say this man began to build and

was unable to finish saving money in the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil. Living on less than you make, a foolish man devours all he has. Those are Proverbs. The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender, getting out of debt. And, of course, God loves a cheerful giver. Be outrageously generous and weaving those things together creates a plan and christy you did you and matt well i know you did because i went through it uh when i first started working here but what's cool is you got married after while you were here

yeah and so what i like is that you told him to go through it and then go through it again because matt and i had conversations about money all these things we're talking about as an engaged couple, as part of premarital counseling, all of that. But it takes on a totally different meaning. Once you're married, you've combined your finances, you've combined your expenses, and you're working through that budget. It took Matt and I three and four months to figure out the budget and what were we doing wrong and why I can't believe we spent this much on food.

So it's good to have the conversations now when you're engaged, but it feels a little bit more like theory and you can put some stuff into practice in your life. But when you combine it, you need to revisit it so that you're having that conversation again with a real practical, making sure you guys are living it out in your marriage. Yeah, it just resets it with a different set of eyes on it. Yeah. Yeah. Joshua's in Knox marriage. Yeah, it just resets it with a different set of eyes on it. Yeah. Yeah, Joshua's in Knoxville. Hey, Joshua, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, thanks, Dave. Sure, what's up? So I'm thinking about starting a business, a computer repair and like a small computer shop. And I've got about $ thousand in my savings and I want to take about twenty five hundred and put towards the business I found a spot to lease and that much will cover the twenty five hundred cover insurance an accountant and leasing the space for six months okay what do What do you do now?

I work at a retail store right now. You're going to continue to do that until you get this up and running? That's right. Yeah. You know, Joshua, the only thing I would question, it sounds like you've thought this through, but I would just question if it has to start that big, the lease, the space. I mean, if you're repairing computers, do you have to have a specific, you know, retail take on that lease and the overhead?

And I mean, you know, you need someone to help you with your taxes, most likely if they're, you know. But I just wonder if it has to be that big upfront commitment where you could just repair computers on the side. Are you already doing that? Yeah, I've got just doing it really part time. I mean, I made like $50 in the last month, but I feel like it might be beneficial to have an actual location people can come to. Let's talk about that real quick, Joshua, because I see this a lot. People think if you build it, they will come. And that's just not the case. If you build it and go after them and there's a demand and you work your tail off, then they will come. So I don't want you to think that

by buying or leasing a retail space, a storefront space is going to create the foot traffic just because you're there because it won't. What I want you to do is keep doing what you're doing, but build up the demand a whole lot more on the side, make a lot more money and prove the idea. Get your client base, get word of mouth, prove that this has built up the demand, prove that it's a viable idea and let the business be booming so much that you need to expand in this space versus going into the space hoping that people are going to appear. Is that right, Dave? No, I completely agree. It's $2,500, so even if you screw it up, it's not going to end your life. It's not $25,000 or $250,000 or something like that. But to Christy's point, if I were you,

I would do the exact same thing you're talking about doing after you've made $500 or $1,000 a month for the next three months, and then I would open the location and just prove we call it proof texting which means you go into the marketplace and you actually take your theory and put it in the wild and make it survive yeah and that's uh you know we so we'll do a little small test launch of some kind to proof text the idea in the marketplace before we do some kind of massive launch it's's not too massive, but just the same. It's a good idea to go ahead and build up your business so that, you know,

you don't have the disappointment of losing the $2,500. It does a lot for your confidence, too. Yeah. Christy, good job. Thanks. This was fun. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and 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. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. You can listen to Dave, Rachel Cruz, Chris Hogan, or the rest of the Ramsey Network anywhere with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Catch all of our full shows, browse by topic, or send clips to your friends. Head to the App Store and download the Ramsey Network app today.