The Ramsey Show - App - It's Time to Make Your Dream Job a Reality (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 25, 2018

The show about you

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Dave Ramsey Show. It's where America is hanging out to have a conversation about your life and your money. Sitting in for Dave Ramsey this hour, I am Ken Coleman. I get to host the Ken Coleman Show, which is part of the Ramsey Media Network. It's on Sirius XM every day leading into the Dave Ramsey Show. And this hour is a career hour. So the call is this hour about your job, your career, your calling. Are you confused?

Are you stuck? Are you scared? Well, let's look at what you do best and what you love to do most. It's a simple formula. We talk about it every day on the Ken Coleman Show. At the end of the day, finding work that matters to us, the work we were love to do most. It's a simple formula. We talk about it every day on the Ken Coleman Show. At the end of the day, finding work that matters to us, the work we were created to do, is about using your top talents to perform the work that brings you the greatest passion.

888-825-5225. 888-825-5225 is the number. We'd love to have you on. We started off with Caitlin, who's on the line in Charlotte. Caitlin, how can I help? Hey, Ken. So I started my own cleaning business at 14, and I just sold it last year. I'm 23 years old, and I know I want to do something else entrepreneurial,

but I just haven't figured out what that is. I want it to be something I'm passionate about. I have been in car sales for the last year, hoping that some business would come out of it related to cars, but I just haven't come up with anything and kind of feel discouraged. So I was hoping you might be able to help with that. Okay. Well, that's very interesting. So obviously you love cars.

Is that right? Is that what I'm getting out of this? I do. All right. Tell me about that. What specifically do you love about cars? I think I just, I love, I mean, I love to drive them, but I also just, I think that they're so unique in the way that they're designed and built and put together.

I enjoy feeling different ones and just kind of learning more about them. All right. Okay, so the idea is you thought if I go sell cars, I'm going to come up with an idea for a business to do with cars, and you've yet to come up with that inspiration so let's let's look at what you enjoy uh doing besides cars what kind of work uh function task do you find yourself really enjoying um maybe i, I love helping people. No, I get that.

But what I want to do is find a pattern here. I want to see a thread, if you will. So you're thinking too hard. I want you to just reveal, rattle off, when you had your own business, you're very entrepreneurial. What are the functions in a day uh what are the roles that you have played thus far you're only 23 but what do you enjoy what what functions do you enjoy there's something that gives you a burst of energy when you're engaged in it what is it completely locked up all right let's go another direction i'm going to show

you how you do this let's talk about what. I'm going to show you how you do this. Let's talk about what you do best. This is what people compliment you on. Could be subject matters in school. Could be tasks, functions that I've been talking about. People always compliment you on it. You know that you've just always been good at what? What is it? I think talking to people and just being able to easily talk to somebody

and make them feel good and confident. Okay. So here's the situation. I think you've got more talents than that. I want you to do an exercise where you spend a little bit of alone time today. While it's fresh on your mind, I want you to write out several skills that you have because you have more skills than just being able to talk well. You started a business and sold it. You started at 14 and sold it. I think you're thinking way too hard. And I want you to just release your brain and write out

the top three or four things you do best. And then I want you to go over to the passion side, work that you just enjoy. You find yourself, even if it's a small task around a car, if I was going to pay you tomorrow to just be around cars, what would you want to do all day? And just begin to let your mind run and make a list of three or four of your top passions, things that you enjoy to do. Then I want you to sit down with somebody who knows you very, very well and is also a truth teller in your life. And we want them to be able to verify and confirm both of those lists.

The reason is, is because I think you need a jolt of confidence and you're a very special young lady who's done something pretty amazing at the age of 23. And I think you're just overthinking, and I think you need to get somebody else in your life who will show you a mirror, and you come away going, okay, I get it. So back to that talent-passion combo. Once you get clarity on that,

it's how do I use those top skills to do work that I love? And if that's involving cars, great. But maybe just maybe you love talking to people about cars and helping get in a new car. Do you get a lot of joy when you sell a car to somebody? Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Yeah.

How do you feel when they walk off the lot and they're pleased? How does that make you feel? It feels good, for sure. Yeah. So I think if you're looking long-term to start a business, I'd stay in that space. I'd be thinking about how you can continue this idea and maybe expand it a little bit. But what you're doing is when I ask you those direct questions, you're having a hard time identifying some specific things. And this is important.

I think there's a lot of people out there that are in the same boat. We get this on the Ken Coleman Show quite a bit. And there is some type of limiting belief that is holding you back when you can't quickly say, these are some things I do well. Because here's what I know. If I sit down with people who know you well,

and I interview them about you, those of you that are listening right now that have a hard time saying, well, this is a talent. These are my top talents. When I sit with those people, they're going to tell me areas that you are good at. Things you do well.

There's something that's holding you back and locking you up. Is it that somebody verbally abused you? Did you have a failure in your life at some point that has made you believe that you don't have much to offer? Folks, we deal with this every day. And some of you out there are locked up on that one limiting belief. And when you get beyond that and realize, wait a second, I have something to offer,

I have something to give, then you begin to allow yourself to truly identify what it is that you do well and work that makes your heart come alive. Let's take a question from Facebook. Rachel writes in, should I take a lower-paying lower paying entry level job if it is the first step toward a new career path that would eventually lead to a higher salary? If so, should

I do this while still in baby step two or should I wait until after baby step three? This is a great question. So if the answer is you would take a pay cut by taking the entry level job, which is what she's saying here, it's a lower paying entry level job, unless you can handle that, I would wait until you get Baby Step 3 done. That entry-level job is always going to be there. And many times when people take a step backward financially to pursue the dream, it puts them way behind the eight ball. So I'd get Baby Step 3 done, Rachel, and then take the lower paying entry level job when you plan for it and you've actually budgeted for the lower paying job. That's the way to do it. Then you're moving forward financially and professionally. It's

the career theme hour here on the Dave Ramsey show. I'm Ken Coleman taking your calls. Don't go anywhere. More of your calls coming up right around the corner. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk. And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

These are the guys I personally use. Term life insurance is inexpensive and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. Welcome back, America. You're joining the conversation on The Dave Ramsey Show. It is our career hour, taking your calls about your career. Do you know what you were created to do? If not, how do you figure that out? And once you get that clarity, how do you step forward?

My name is Ken Coleman, host of The Ken Coleman Show on SiriusXM, one of our Ramsey Solutions Media productions. And thrilled to be sitting in for Dave this hour. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in. Let's go to Cody, who's on the line in Seattle, Washington. Cody, how can I help? Hey, Ken. Thank you for taking my call.

So I'm about five years into my career field in IT and cybersecurity. And I currently make $105,000 a year. I've completed all of Dave's baby steps. I don't have a wife or kids. And then this past August, I've been given an opportunity to take a job that is less stable as in being full-time, and it pays approximately $300,000 a year cybersecurity consulting. And I've been raised with, you know, try to keep a stable job. You know, you can go in five days a week and make sure, you know, you get your paycheck in. Um, but I, I think since I'm pretty young and I don't really have, you know, I don't have to support a family or anything.

I was just curious what your thoughts were on, uh, either staying at my job or taking this position. Well, let's start with how excited are you? Forget the stability issue, which I'll get to momentarily. How excited are you about this opportunity? It's, it's pretty awesome. The field itself, I enjoy doing it. I don't consider going to a job like a chore or anything like that.

I enjoy it. So the opportunity to take this other one is pretty exciting. Yeah, okay, that's great. That's one question. The other question is when you say stability, you said you're going to make $300,000. That's a massive, it's over half, okay, two times what you're making, okay? So where's the stability issue, meaning that you're not going to have normal hours,

but you're still going to make $300,000? Did I understand you correctly? Yeah. So I basically worked it out for like a 20-hour work week, and I multiplied it by the hourly rate. So it's consulting. So, you know, I can have work for three weeks in a row, and then I'll have no work for, you know, months on end.

Yeah, but you're going to make $300,000. That's pretty clear, correct? Well, that's given if I get 20 hours a week throughout the year. Okay, gotcha. All right, but is there some question as to whether or not that's going to be consistent? Is that a moderate goal, a conservative goal, or an aggressive goal, the 20 hours a week? That's pretty moderate. I've spoken with some of the other people that work in the position, and they say that that's about average.

They've had some months where they didn't get a paycheck in. Yeah, but Cody, this is a no-brainer because you're completely debt-free. You've already gone all the way through Baby Step 7. You have no wife and kids. I mean, you're in great shape to take this opportunity. And here's the other thing. You've probably planned for it. What does your three- to six-month emergency fund look like?

How big is it? It's $15,000. Yeah. I mean, juice that a little bit. How long would it take you to get that up to 30 or 50? What's my current position? Yeah, or just in this new position. Because you're in such good shape.

Just taking a new position, you can stack up some money. My point is, let's say you get in this new role, which you really want to take, and I'm telling you to take it. But let's say you're killing it the first three months. Live on way less. You already can anyway. So the new job is actually going to allow you to maybe put six months away. So you've got no risk at all because you can jump back into cybersecurity.

I think it's a no-brainer. I think you're overthinking it because it's not the 40-hour week. But, buddy, you did all the hard work to get to the point where you can take a job like this. You don't have to work 40 hours a week. Okay. You got't have to work 40 hours a week. Okay. You got me? Yeah. So I think you need to celebrate tonight. My goodness, don't overthink this.

I mean, half of the audience is going, man, I'd love to be where Cody's at right now. I mean, buddy, this is the kind of smart risk, you know, because you've put yourself in a great financial situation to be able to go after this. There's really hardly any risk at all. Man, and here's the deal. You're saying that all you have to do is get 20 hours a week, and that would put you at 300K. If you only do 10, you're still going to be making about the same, if not even a little

bit more. Of course you're going to be making more. So again, go, go, go. Oh, that is fun stuff. 888-825-5225. This is the Career Theme Hour on the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, sitting in for Dave. Let's go to Rachel, who's on the line in Madison, Wisconsin.

Rachel, how can I help? Hi, Ken. Thanks for talking to me. I'm 24 years old, and right now I'm working in the legal industry, but I'm not a lawyer. My role is a section coordinator, so basically I'm working in the legal industry, but I'm not a lawyer. My role is a section coordinator. So basically I'm working with different boards to help coordinate their programs or events. My end goal is administration.

However, I don't want to work in legal administration. I want to work in a different industry. My question is, do you think my current job would give me transferable skills? How long should I stay? And will it look like I'm job hopping if I onlyable skills? How long should I stay? And will it look like I'm job hopping if I only stay one to two years in this position? No, you won't look like a job hopping at all. How old are you? 24. Okay, 24. I forgot to write that down. So here's the deal. You're pretty much the average millennial who looks at a job, we know this from data,

that looks at a job as no more than about 12 months. So first of all, that's out there, and it's not job hopping. It's like you left after six months. You've been in the legal world, and you now know very specifically where you want to go. So congratulations at being 24 and knowing where you want to end up. So the first question you asked me, are your skills that you have manifested and learned in the legal industry transferable to the business industry? The answer is absolutely yes. Let's do a quick example here. Tell me two or three or four things that you do really well right now in your job.

If I interviewed your coworkers and your leaders, what would they tell me that Rachel does very well right now? Go. and your leaders, what would they tell me that Rachel does very well? Right now, go. I would say systems and processes and then probably also collaboration. One of my big roles or big jobs is to figure out who is doing what program and then on the other side of the organization I'm in, who is doing something similar and then kind of match them together and figure out how to get the ball rolling in both directions. Yeah, everybody in America is listening to that going, wow, that's extremely valuable.

Who doesn't want somebody who can do that? Pick the industry. I mean, think about how valuable you are. And again, I want to remind you something, Rachel. I tell my audience this almost on a daily basis. Here's where we sit right now in 2018. Seven million jobs available in the United States. Seven million.

It's historic. There are more jobs available than there are people who are unemployed. And you just told me you're really great at systems and processes, and you're really good at collaborating with other team members. That's extremely valuable. I believe there are people listening to the show right now who are going, I wish I could talk to Rachel. I'd interview her tomorrow.

So you need to have terrific confidence there. Now, you asked me a resume question. Here's the deal. You put your experience out there. You're 24 years old, so they take that into account. You don't have a 15-year work history. You're 24. And as long as you are open and honest

as to why you're moving, I think a solid hiring manager is going to ask you, well, why are you interested in working here? And you just tell them, hey, I was in this space. I really have a love of administration. I love leading people and systems. And here's why I want to be here. And so, Rachel, I want you to go to KenColeman.com, okay, right now, and download my free resume resource, if you haven't already. We've had over 25,000 people download this just in the last few weeks. And we actually address what you're talking about right here. What should my resume look like? What are hiring managers looking for? The average hiring manager spending,

you ready for this? Less than a minute, six to 60 seconds looking at a resume. So it's not as important as you think it is. What is important are relationships. And in this resume guide, I'll teach you how to structure your resume,

show you an example, tell you why to do it that way, and how to use relationships to get you where you want to go to get you that interview. It's not as scary as you think. You've got to create a resume that's a brochure and it's got to be attached to relationships in that company. They don't care how long you work. They just want to know, can you help me win? This is what hiring managers are looking for. Don't go anywhere. More of your calls in the career theme dower. I'm Ken Coleman sitting in for Dave Ramsey.

This is the Dave-themed hour of The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Welcome to the conversation. Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. If you are somebody who fits in the large portion of Americans, 70% to be latest, to give you the latest data from Gallup, 70% of Americans disengaged at work. And so if that's you, today could be the day that you call in and let's get you some clarity so that you can confidently step forward on the path to fulfilling your purpose through

your work and courageously staying there. That's what clarity does. Clarity gives us confidence to step out. And then clarity allows us to have courage once we're on that path and life throws its curves at us because it will. And you can just be assured of that. And yet when you face the doubt and the fear and the pride, it is where you retreat back to clarity. Who am I? What was I created to do?

Simple formula that we use. What do you do best? What are your top talents? What do you love to do most? What work brings you joy? The sweet spot for everybody exists where your greatest talent, your greatest passion intersect. In other words, I use what I do best to do what I love to do most. And here's the deal, folks. As I tell my callers every day, I don't have the answers. You do. They're inside of you. The answers to this somewhat mythical journey are actually within you.

You have them. So if you're scared, if you're confused, stuck, give us a call. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Nelson who's on the line in Fall River, Massachusetts. Nelson, how can I help? Hey, Ken. Thanks for taking my call, Massachusetts. Nelson, how can I help? Hey, Ken. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure, man. How can I help? All right. So I've been listening to the show for a while, and I figured out my sweet spot. Which is? And apparently it's creating and editing film or sound or music. Okay. And I wanted to use the proximity principle.

Okay. So I did some research, and I found a video marketing firm real close to me. And I checked them out on LinkedIn and noticed that they're linked to a buddy of mine that I've known since high school. And so I'm here to just get some coaching. I don't want to screw this up because it seems like the universe just heard my call and just gave me this great opportunity. Awesome.

Well, have you talked to your buddy that is at least connected to this company on LinkedIn? I haven't spoken to him about this. But, you know, we're close. He lives nearby. Okay. Well, that's the first step. The first step is calling him up and saying, hey, I'm interested in learning more about this company. I see that you're connected to them on LinkedIn.

What is your connection? How strong is it? That's the first thing. Because he could have a strong connection or maybe it's just a random connection or it's an old connection. You see what I'm saying? So you are in stage two, and that is full-on research. And so you found and identified one company that does what you want to do. You mentioned the proximity principle. To the Dave Ramsey Show listeners who haven't heard that, it's important to clarify what that is. The proximity principle says in order to do what I want to do, in this case, Nelson wants to do film and audio editing, production work.

So in order to do that, he's got to be around people that are doing that and in places that it is happening. So here are your next steps. After you talk to your buddy and see how strong that connection is, the next thing you want to do is I'd like to see you come up with a bigger list, even if it's three or four local production companies or companies that are in this space, okay? Because you know where to look in your area, so look. And ideally, I'd like to see a list of three or four companies that you at least circle and say, I need to learn more about those companies. I need to get in proximity. Now, the other thing I want you to do is I want you to start talking to your buddy,

other people, acquaintances who dabble or work full-time in this space. And I think you could probably come up with a list of those people as well. And so you need to take them out to lunch or take them to coffee. And you say, hey, listen, this is the place I want to be in. And so I'm here to pick your brain in two areas. Number one, what was your path? What are some areas that I could get better in? Where can I grow?

What do I need to learn? Who else do I need to meet? Do you have any relationships? Do you know of any open jobs? This is a very simple conversation. It's going to yield something positive. And so this is proximity. And then even if there's not a full-time job available,

because Nelson, this is the part that I want people to get that are in your similar situation. Let's say you do all of that and there's not a position that is right for you at the time. It doesn't mean you throw your hands in the air and take your ball and go home. What it means is you say, all right, I'm going to practice proximity in a non-paid situation. So I'm going to go volunteer or I'm going to say, hey, can I just shadow you for a day, I'm going to practice proximity in a non-paid situation. So I'm going to go volunteer, or I'm going to say, hey, can I just shadow you for a day? I'm going to get in places where some type of audio-video production is happening. And when you get in those places, you will continue to meet new people. And those new people will help you get in the right places.

They're going to open up doors for you. So you're on the right track. The first step is just talking to your buddy. That's just the first step. And that's how you practice proximity. It is people and places. So again, folks, if you're in a similar situation, let's apply Nelson's situation to you. He needs to simply ask today and then start to write it out and find the answers.

When he goes and looks online or wherever and he makes a list, who are the people that are doing audio video production in my area? Where are the places? What companies are doing this? And that's what he's looking to connect to. It's not difficult. It's going to take some intentionality and some hustle. That's all it takes.

888-825- 5225. Let's go to Joe, who's on the line in Charlotte, North Carolina. Joe, how can I help? Thank you, Ken. Big fan. Big fan of the whole Landry organization. I appreciate all you do. Thank you. Hey, so

I'm looking at... I'm kind of confused. I'm wondering if what I've done is a hobby or just a career. So just a little bit of a back story. I recently left a good-paying job that had excellent benefits to pursue what I thought was my passion. I took about a 50% pay cut to make this switch. And as I went to this new profession, you know, I'm quickly learning that I don't know if it's the right thing for me. I think I might have jumped the gun. I just want to get some insight from you. Well, tell me what the profession is that you just jumped to. Financial advising. What is it? Financial advising. Okay,

so you jumped into financial advising. Specifically, what are you doing day-to-day? Give me the quick rundown. Day-to-day, basically just knocking on folks' doors, letting them know who I am, what I do, and trying to get them to meet with me so that I can help them with the retirement plan and education. So are you working for a local firm, or do you open up your own shop? No, it's a national firm. Okay, so they're not providing any leads. It's all on you to go out and knock on doors like you're doing. Exactly. They provide zero leads. Okay. Why did you jump into that? I mean, I think there's no question you may have jumped too soon because you didn't plan financially, but your question was, is this hobby level?

Is this the right thing for me? And there's a little bit more to it than that. I think I have a hunch on it, but quickly, why did you jump for this? Why financial planning? So, you know, I've been listening to Dave for the last five, 10 years probably. And, you know, I've always had a passion for being able to help folks with their finances and plan out retirement. When I went to this firm, you know, they kind of told my story, you know, this is going to make a great fit. And, you know, just trusting in the process, I went with it, and it's just not working out. Well, did you plan financially for this? Somewhat. You know, I had about three to six months of expenses, which have quickly depleted.

And, you know, I thought I was going to, you know, and every job I've always had, I've always excelled. So I thought this was different. Go in, kill it. And I have no problem working on commission. Have you been able to? Here's the situation. You went after a financial advisor role. That's what you went after because you want to sit down and help people with their finances.

But the problem is you signed up for a door-to-door sales job. That's what's going on. And I don't know if straight commission sales is the thing for you. The reality is you need to get some feedback, I mean today, from your leaders and maybe some of your coworkers to see why they think this isn't working. And pretty quickly, you've got to make a decision. And so maybe it wasn't the right place. Maybe it's the right thing, but maybe it wasn't the right place. Maybe it's the right thing, but maybe it's not the right place.

Because if you've got the talent to give people advice and coaching, and you have the desire to do it, maybe you're just not in the right format, the right setting to be able to do that. So get some feedback, reassess, and let's get stable and find a better scenario. But don't stop moving forward. 888-825-5225 is the number. Coming up, more of your calls in the career hour on The Dave Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You're joining the conversation here on the Dave Ramsey Show. It's our career theme hour.

I'm Ken Coleman, host of the Ken Coleman Show that leads into the Dave Ramsey Show every day on Sirius XM Channel 121. That's 2 Eastern. Thrilled to be with you. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Speaking of career and jobs, if you've ever changed jobs, you need to make sure you're listening. A recent study showed that over half of employees who change jobs leave their old 401k with their previous employer. That is not good, folks. It's just leaving money on the table.

An investing professional will help you get your old plan rollover to the right kind of plan so you can get back on track for retirement. You can't afford to wait. Your retirement is too important. To find an investing professional in your area that can help, go to DaveRamsey.com slash SmartVestor. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash SmartVestor. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in, taking your career calls.

Let's go to Josh. He's on the line in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Josh, how can I help? Hey, Ken. It's go to Josh, who's on the line in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Josh, how can I help? Hey, Ken. It's good to talk to you. Right now I'm stuck in a job that I'm not happy with. I wake up every Monday and I just dread going to work. And I know your slogan used to be make your Mondays great again, and that's really what I want to do.

And I want to work for myself, and I just don't know how to make that jump from leaving my current job that I'm not excited about at all to going to my other career that is completely in a different field that has nothing to do with what I'm currently doing. Gotcha. Okay, well, let's talk about where you want to end up. You want to eventually own your own business. So let's identify that dream.

What is that? Currently, it's kind of, I know I've got to focus on one thing, but I have a degree in web development, and I have a passion for web development, web design, creating websites for companies and just doing maintenance for companies. But I also have a big passion of Dave Ramsey's teachings, and I've done the financial coach master training. And I would like to open up a practice of maybe financial coaching on the side. And it's completely different.

I know I've got to focus on one thing. I just don't know what exactly I should be focusing on right now. And I know it's hard for somebody else to give me that answer. No, I think you have the answer. I think you have the answer. I'm going to put you on the spot. Okay. So I know that you're passionate about Dave Ramsey and he's helped change your life,

and so you'd love to help others get some of that change. That's what's really drawing you to that. But I think that's fine. I think you can have multiple passions. I think passions can be on different levels, and I think you could maybe do some coaching on the side for extra money. But I heard you clearly and definitively say that you've always loved design and web design, and I think that that's the work that brings you great joy.

If I could snap my fingers and give you a job doing that right now, how would you feel? Right now, I feel fantastic. Of course. But here's the deal. So there's a pathway to getting there. What are you doing right now? What is your job and how much are you making? Right now I do commercial laundry equipment repair, like hotels and laundromats and dry cleaners. What do you make?

About $65,000 a year, but I do a lot of overtime working and out of town. And that's really kind of what is making me burned out right now is the overtime and the out-of-town travel. Are you completely out of debt? What's your situation there? I'm still in baby step two. We started with about $70,000, and right now we're down to about $18,000, and we started three years ago.

That's awesome. We've had two babies cash flowed in, and we've had a lot of medical expenses come up that we've been working through cash flowing in. But we've not given up on the plan. No, listen. We didn't quite do it. That's incredible. You're doing great.

What's your payoff date? You've got an idea in mind. If life doesn't keep throwing some curveballs at you and everything stays the same, when do you think you pay off that $18,000? By March or April of next year. That's where we're headed right now. Okay, so here's what I want you to see. First things first, your current job, I know you're busting it, you're working hard, but it's making a huge difference.

And in less than a year from now, you're going to be debt-free. And then after that, you're going to put an emergency fund together and get through baby step three. How long do you think that's going to take? Less than a year, probably eight months, I would say six to eight months for a good emergency fund. I'd like to have about six months. I agree with that. Josh, that's not that much time for you to bite your lip and be the stud hero that you're being right now and get yourself set up to make this step. Not a leap, but a step.

So my other question is let's focus on the future. So how much experience do you have with web design? I have a lot from the past, but as you know, with technology, everything advances so quickly that I'm kind of out of the loop on that as far as the new code and stuff. But the one good thing I have in my corner is I'm a very quick learner, and I'm a self-motivator,

so I can learn this stuff, and I can teach myself. But as far as the old knowledge, I mean, I've got a lot of knowledge from the past. But Josh, here's the deal. So you've got some experience, which is great.

So you know that you've got the skill set. This isn't a skill issue. This is a training issue. So your number one homework assignment today is to go find out what qualifications you're going to need for the marketplace to say, I'd hire Josh to do web design. That's number one homework assignment. What additional qualifications slash training education do you need? And I don't mean college education. I just mean getting more equipped and getting up to date to make yourself marketable.

Find out what that is. Now, when you find out what that is, the next question is, how much is this going to cost me financially? Then the next question is, based on my budget, based on getting out of debt and everything that's going on in my life, if it's going to cost me this much financially, how long will it take for me to complete that qualification, which will then make me qualified and marketable to do the role I want to do? Josh, that's all you've got to do. Because once you get the answers to those questions, that's your plan. Do you understand? You just plug and play at this point. All right, it's going to take me this much time.

I'm going to save up this much money. I take this class, this course. And then you begin to practice proximity and talk to people who are in the web design space in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Who's hiring web designers? This could be companies that hire internal people. Maybe it's a marketing group agency. You begin to identify targets. Now, this is all happening, Josh, while you're paying off debt.

And this current $65,000 overtime gig is not going to burn you out anymore because you're going to change your attitude to one of gratitude, which is this job is setting me up to step easily and triumphantly into the role that I ultimately want to fill. Do you see where that is? Do you see that about a year from now and maybe sooner, if you get the qualification sooner and you can get a web design job that's going to pay you $65,000 or $60,000 after you've paid off the debt, it's a game changer. All of a sudden, Josh, you're waking up on Monday morning, fired up and feeling so light, you're not even sure if you're sitting in the car.

That'd be fantastic. Yeah, but I mean, you can see that, can't you? I can, I can see it. With you saying that, it makes my attitude change already. And I'm glad I called you, and I'm glad you gave me that clarity that I needed right there. Well, listen, man, I'm glad you called because I think there are millions of people that just heard your story, and they see themselves in your story because you've got it figured out.

And it's just coming up with a basic plan. Dave Ramsey has been giving people a plan for 25-plus years. Folks, there's five stages to realizing the dream. One, discovery. Who am I? What do I want to do? Why do I want to do it? Next, research.

You just heard me walk Josh through it. Research. What do I need to learn to be able to do what I want to do? Then after I figure out the research, what I need to know, who I need to know, what I need to learn, who I need to know, then I need to learn, who I need to know. Then we're going to move into actually embarking, stepping out and making something happen. Practice that proximity principle. Get around people.

They're doing what you want to do. Get in places where what you want to do is happening. That's the embarking. You're going to start knocking off those many milestones and those goals. You're going to begin to achieve. And as you achieve, you're eventually going to step into that dream role, the role that you were created to fill, that the world needs you to perform.

That's the final stage of realizing the dream. That's meaning. Waking up like Josh wants to wake up. He's dreading Monday mornings. How many of you dread Monday mornings? Don't be ashamed. That's 70% of America. No longer.

Thrilled to sit in for Dave Ramsey. I want to thank Dave for allowing me to do this career theme hour. I want to thank our producer, James Childs, and our associate producer, Kelly Daniel. But mostly, you fine Americans. Thank you so much for listening. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know that in 2017, Dave Ramsey Show listeners paid off $50 million of debt? That's pretty impressive.

And it could be you this year. Keep listening for more inspiration.