The Ramsey Show - App - Should My Church Accept Money From People in the Marijuana Industry? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 8, 2022

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the 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, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, best-selling author of the book, Paycheck to Purpose, is my co-host. As we talk about your work, we talk about your relationships, your jobs, your money, your life, all right here in front of you.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-52255. That's 8888255-2255. New jobs report out. Where the jobs are, all in one chart. Very interesting. Explosion in January jobs in, guess what, leisure and hospitality. Yeah, so if you look at the top three categories, first of all, 450,000 jobs, nobody predicted that one, right? Because we were still hearing things of Omicron spreading, and so, you know, what's happening?

450,000 new jobs taken. 450,000 new jobs. Were taken. Yes. In the month of January. Yeah, a big spike. And so if we look at where those are broken down, leisure and hospitality, 151,000 of those. So clearly what's happening is we've got restaurants are reopening in some states across the country. Some are staffing back up due to restrictions coming down. I mean,

that's just the reality. We're seeing a lot of states, depending on, we're not getting into politics, but that is how this is divided. And so as states are opening up, so is the leisure and hospitality industry. And so they're staffing up. Obviously, professional and business services, that's just a fancy way of saying small businesses, corporations, businesses are hiring. That was the second highest amount of jobs, 86,000. And then this is interesting. The third highest was retail, 61,000. So we're seeing slowly the thawing across the country as it relates to restrictions and kind of the traditional economy.

And so we're seeing retail, which has been hit very hard during the pandemic, seeing those jobs being added. It's very interesting. And then final piece, transportation and warehousing. This is good for manufacturing. Specifically, Dave, we've seen a big supply chain problem. Maybe you've seen it in your grocery stores, depending on where you're listening and viewing from. But truckers, there's a need as of November of 2021, they needed 80,000 truckers to fully staff up on the supply chain. 7,500 truckers were added in the month of January.

So it's kind of a snapshot of not just what's happening, but where the opportunities are for people. Let's just be real. You need a bigger shuffle. You need to add that second or third job. This is where people are hiring. From an economics standpoint, in just the movement and the disruption of labor, the pandemic was dramatically unfair to those who could least afford it servers hotel maids um hourly wage earners people working people working retail none of these are super high paid gigs by and large uh not none of them but most of them aren't

and uh they were inordinately the hardest hit because those were the people that got completely shut down and now that medical freedom is coming back and people are free to in some states it's been for quite a while and some it's just now a brand new thing to reopen and travel and stay in a hotel and go to a restaurant now we've got states that that's still virtually impossible to do but the the thing i was hearing at first is is that they couldn't get them to come back to work. That's true. So I'm wondering if this surge in leisure and hospitality, as an example, is the fact that the freaking unemployment just ran out. Yeah. Well, they had to go back to work.

Yeah. Well, we've got a very interesting. They went back to work when there's no more unemployment. That's right. That's part of it. But we're also seeing that the pandemic itself spun off a whole bunch of jobs that didn't exist pre-pandemic. So when you're watching the news, folks, and you hear this, well, we've got this employment gap. We've got more jobs available. It's about 10.3 million versus people who are unemployed. We're now getting into low H. Folks, we're steamrolling towards a 3%, Dave. You're going to see unemployment rate in the threes very soon.

Which is by far below real employment. Oh, yeah. We're in a deficit. Yeah. So what's going on? A couple things. More jobs have been created that didn't exist pre-pandemic. A lot of health services jobs.

You have a lot of support staff that are being hired to support doctors and nurses. That's one example of where hospitals have staffed up. Now, the other thing that we've seen, Dave, is that more people are starting businesses in the pandemic. If they were laid off or furloughed, or maybe they stayed with it, but they got some stimulus money and they wanted to start that side hustle.

As you know, and we teach this entrepreneurship all the time at Entree Leadership, the barrier for entry is lower than it has ever been in the United States to start a business. So we're seeing on the rolls now more companies have been started. So they not only started a business, didn't go back to the job. They didn't go back. But they also now need to hire people.

They do. That's added even more jobs. So think about the person who is making an hourly wage as a waitress or maybe working in a night shift at a hotel. So you're looking at, I'm just ballparking this, but this is somewhere between a $10 to maybe working in a night shift at a hotel okay so you're looking at i'm just ballparking this but this is somewhere between a 10 to maybe 12 an hour job so they can now pre-pandemic pre-pandemic so now it's 22 it has jumped however they went out and said hey i can replace that and i don't have to work the crazy hours you know weekends and put up with

crazy people at your local chain restaurant these are the restaurants by the way that have struggled the most your faster food services for instance stacy and i we went to a lovely dinner locally with my in-laws and my brother's just a lot this weekend we went to a five-star restaurant let me tell you something they haven't struggled at all other than the initial shutdown the servers in there are making bank because it's a great experience and the food's great the services make their servers the servers are making bank. Because it's a great experience and the food's great. But the servers are making great money. Because people want to go to

a high-end experience and have great food. If you look at the chain restaurants, you just look at human behavior, that's where we saw less traffic and things kind of contract. So all that said, we've seen a great entrepreneurship explosion. We're seeing the tip of it. Over the next six months, I think you're going to see a record amount of business starts. In fact, we already know from

the Bureau of Labor Statistics, applications to start businesses, the highest rate it's ever been. So the Supreme Court mandate comes out, and the Supreme Court comes aside and sets the Biden mandate aside for vaccines. So companies like ours at Ramsey, if you want to get a vaccine, you can. But we're not going to interfere in your medical freedom. You get to decide. We don't make you do anything with your medical freedom, one way or the other. That's right. And so companies like ours are hiring like crazy,

and people are leaving these companies that are clamping down on their medical freedoms and coming to companies like ours. So we're still seeing that great resignation move. Some of it is associated with the medical freedom issue. Some of it is associated with just this waking up, and I hate my job, and life's too short, and the pandemic reminded me someday I'm going to die. That's right. And one other thing that we've seen happen,

companies, because you saw the hourly wage go up with Target, Walmart, Amazon leading the way. Here's what's happening. People are leaving their jobs record pace. 20 million people have left their jobs over the last five months. It's going to continue. Why? Because there's a great kind of arms race with companies. They're enticing people with signing bonuses and bigger salaries.

And that's going to catch up to people. However, if you need a bigger shovel and you're in the Ramsey tribe, go get it. Go get it now. It's not going to last forever. House prices aren't going to be this and job prices aren't going to be this white hot forever. Supply-demand curves always shift one way or the other. They never stay

exactly where they are. And that includes the supply of labor. That's correct. This is the Ramsey Show. 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. Open phones this hour. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host. Thanks for joining us. Tax season is upon us, I know. Try to contain your excitement. Sorry, Dave. I have the doggy bag here for just a moment Tax season is upon us. I know. Try to contain your excitement. Sorry, Dave.

I have the doggy bag here for just a moment. Oh, my stomach. No one likes your taxes, especially when you realize what the big software companies are up to. Every year, these companies lure you in by saying you can file your taxes for free. Then when you're knee-deep in the filing process, they sucker punch you with upcharges, offers debt and credit card pitches somehow i think you got sold there's a better way to do it it's called ramsey smart tax this is our online tax filing software with ramsey smart tax you get all the deductions all the forms and every tax break you deserve and the best part is the price ours is already much lower than the leading competitor

and there won't be hidden fees plus this year you'll have a promo code that'll make it truly free to file your federal taxes go to ramsey solutions.com slash tax to get your promo code and file without surprises ramsey solutions.com slash smart tax. I said it wrong. Slash smart tax. And, oh, by the way, if you're a Ramsey Plus member, and thousands, millions of you are, you can use the Ramsey Smart Tax to file for free as well. So it's out there. We're just trying to help you.

And if you want to hear about the people that begin with a T, and it sounds like turbo, you want to hear about them, just listen to George Camel on the Fine Print broadcast where he exposes the scams that are out there, and you'll have a whole new view on the innocuous little turbo. All right. Erica is with us in Cincinnati. Hi, Erica. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Yeah, so I was given a trust fund when I was 13. I'm now 26, and I have about $300,000 in that trust fund for emergencies and other necessities. I have $250,000 in a savings account, and then currently, my husband and and I have $142,000 mortgage with a 2.5% interest rate and a combined income of about $80,000. We plan on going to the mission field in the next three to five years if the Lord wills. And so I'm wondering if I should pay off the house now, if we have the money in the savings accounts to do so, and then rent it out at the mission house while we're away or continue paying our mortgage and just sell the house when we leave.

I'm just also wondering what to do with the money moving forward. I opened a Roth IRA last year and we have about $40,000 in crypto investments. We have no kids, but we hope to someday. I just don't want to waste this money. I want to be a good steward of the resources God has given me, but it just seems irresponsible for me to pay interest. Very good for you. Yeah, I will pay off

the house, for sure. And then you can decide when you go on the mission field if you want to keep it as a rental or you want to sell it and use that money to invest and live off of the investment. Either way, you could live off the rental investment or you could live off the same amount of money from the sold house into a mutual fund investment right yeah either way would yeah i work for a i work for a property management company and they say

absolutely not to potentially paying off my house i think it's nuts to consider well yeah i know but they're not as wealthy as you are they're not the person you you are. They're not. The person you work for doesn't have the same net worth you do. Right. You're wealthier than they are. And so, you know, I don't really care. When broke people don't like your financial plan, that's usually a good sign.

Is there something that you would do specifically with it? I'm sorry, I lost you. You dropped the phone or something. Am I doing everything good so far? You dropped the phone or something. I lost you. You dropped the phone or something. Am I doing everything good so far? You dropped the phone or something. I lost you. Where'd you go? Okay.

Yeah, that's what I would do. I would pay off the house. It's that simple. Paul is with us. Paul is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Hi, Paul. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Hi, Ken. Hey, what's up? Quick question for you. I'm on my church's finance committee, and we're going to be having a capital campaign fundraiser coming up for a new social center. And in Massachusetts, the marijuana industry is now legal. And so I've been thinking about what is your thoughts on receiving donations or soliciting donations from someone who, you know, makes their living from that industry? And is it something that we should consider or not consider? I know you always say money is neither moral or immoral. And even though I'm against it, should I not care about it, or should I care about it? Well, are you talking about just walking out in the community and knocking on doors, or are these people in your church?

They're people in the church. They're in the church. Okay, so you have a guy that sells pot legally that goes to your church. Right. Does he tithe or give i do not know that okay what is your uh spiritual your church's spiritual stand on this in the community um i think we're against it um you know but then then I sort of say, well, if it was a liquor store, which, you know, I'm not a big drinker at all, but, you know, I don't think we have any problem with that.

So then I'm like, is it just my trying to be overthinking it or not overthinking it? Well, both are certainly legal in your state okay the question is how you all perceive it as a as a church okay from a spiritual viewpoint um if you are if your pastor stands up in the pulpit and preaches against drinking under any circumstances then even though a liquor store is legal you shouldn't take money from them. That would be hypocritical. Agreed? Right.

And if he stands up in the pulpit and says, even though marijuana is now legal, we don't think it's good. We think that, you know, smoking pot, getting high is a sin. I don't think you ought to do that. Then, you know, taking money from the local weed store is hypocritical, right? Yeah, that's what I was saying. But if your pastor is ambivalent about it, and your pastor and the spiritual leaders, the deacons, the elders,

however your church is governed and structured from a spiritual standpoint, if they're ambivalent about it and they know pot in the same category as liquor then is you know and and you're not you don't you don't have an issue from a spiritual standpoint if we wouldn't call it sin okay then then you know uh for instance the church that i go to uh alcohol is not something that is preached against, obviously in moderation, but having a glass of wine or a glass of bourbon or something like that, our pastor does not scream and yell and get red in the face about it, okay? And so that church receiving tithes from the local liquor store would not be a problem,

you know, at the church that I attend, as an example, okay? But if you went to a church that had that stance, then to receive the money is hypocritical. So I think you need to establish where you all stand on this issue, and then that will tell you, spiritually, where you stand, and that will tell you whether to take the money or not. Make sense? Yes, it does.

And as a member of the Finance Committee, you've got to talk to church leadership about this, get their position on it, as Dave's laid it out. I'll give you another example, okay? I'll give you another example. Most evangelical churches would be strongly pro-life, anti-abortion. And to take tithe money or capital campaign money from an abortion doctor that attends that church would be hypocritical as crud.

Right. You know, the money is not dirty, but the person that you're allowing them to attend the church because you hope you can change them. You hope you can lead them to a better way of life, a better way of living, a better set of activities, if you believe that what they're doing is wrong. Okay? And so you've got to, but, you know, and I'm assuming, let's just make an example here further at your church. If your church says, hey, we don't believe smoking pot is okay from a spiritual standpoint. We don't believe that if they take that stand then they not only should not accept this money but they also should begin to walk

with their arm around this weed store owner and lead him into your way of thinking or make him uncomfortable enough that he finds a church where it's okay to own a weed store you know and that because it needs to be consistent in his spiritual wall and we need to be clear about what's what is sin what isn't in your in the way you all take a stand on stuff but the money itself is not dirty it's how we're treating the people kindly and kindly disagree with them if we need to. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your work, your life, your money, your relationships. On the debt-free stage in the lobby of ramsey solutions nick and danny are with us hey guys how are you hey we're awesome we're good welcome welcome where do you guys live winniewood oklahoma all right norman area uh yeah three miles away from joe exotic

oh well not really he didn't live there anymore but yeah but you got to be famous for something right i got a friend this i got a friend didn't live there anymore but yeah i almost said he has a new domain he lives in yeah but you got to be famous for something right i got a friend this i got a friend this from ada and the uh the uh innocent man project the old murder series he's like ada's now famous for that right yeah oh man amazing well yeah welcome guys good to have you how much debt have you paid off 75 000 all right how long did this take three and a half years all right and your range of income during that time it was it was uh 39 000 started out and then now it's four times that so like 150

yeah i mean it's it's yeah it's it's gone up i'm yeah i feel like there's a mystery that dave and i aren't aware of he doesn't want to say because somebody's listening well we're self-employed too so then there's like you know it kind of is a little bit what do you do for a living what's your business i'm a uh i'm a dave ramsey smart b Pro in Oklahoma. He's a financial advisor. I'm a financial advisor. Well, good. I'm glad your income went up then. Those Ramsey leads are working out for you. Yes, they are.

Good. I'm glad. That's very good. Cool. Okay. So what kind of debt was your $75,000? Our house. All right.

Whoa. Look at it, weird people. Yes. Good. Good. Excellent. And that's everything. How old are you two? 33 weird people. Yes. Good, good. Excellent. And that's everything. How old are you two?

33. 33. 33 years old. You have a paid-for house. What's this house worth? $350 probably. Wow. $300.

Very cool. I like her number better. Depending on, you know, who. The financial guy's conservative. Go figure. Yeah. I love it. So, Danny, do you work outside the home? Yes. I clean toilets for a living. Okay, cool. Go figure. Yeah. I love it. So, Danny, do you work outside the home?

Yes. I clean toilets for a living. Okay, cool. Clean houses. Good for you. Good for you. Good for you. So you guys are doing really well.

Congratulations. Yes. And you have a $350,000 paid for home, 33 years old, not a debt in the world. Yeah. Tell us the story. How did this happen well uh we were going to school in weatherford and uh nick had your radio station on an am station and i was like why are you always listening to am stations and i was like exactly i was like you're so weird and then i just got hooked on you and sean hannity

and i was like wow these guys are awesome and that would have been almost 10 years ago we went through FPU like eight years ago did the debt snowball paid off all our consumer debt and then became a financial advisor and eventually you know bought a house paid it off so it's kind of been in you know stages yeah but but you are 33 years old with a paid-for house. Nice stages. Nice job. Well done. Well done. So now you can sit down with someone twice your age and look them in the eye and go,

well, my house is paid for. That's true. Because I tell people not to take financial advice from broke people, but he ain't broke people. This is good. He is not. This is good. That's great. This is very good.

I like it. Good, good good good okay so what do you tell people the key you've been through the stages you've done it in the waves the way you're supposed to baby steps uh four five six you're supposed to take a little bit longer you're supposed to be living life while you did it that's exactly what you did you paid off all the consumer debt coming out of financial peace university what's the key to getting out of debt? I would say put first things first. Begin with the end in mind. Work hard.

We cut $10,000 worth of firewood to pay for our wedding. I've built more fence than any woman should ever build. Yeah, we've always had two jobs. We just have always just hustled. So it's hard work. But now it shifted, basically. But it took years and years to get it like that. But now it's like we can let off the throttle and come here, you know, and do stuff like this.

I kind of think Danny can work rings around all of us. I mean, from building fence and chopping firewood to cleaning toilets, I'm just saying. And so that's what i can i just tell you you're that's impressive i love your joy and i want to tell you something i love how when dave asked you what you do mind you folks she's debt free no house payment and you said with a giant smile i clean toilets for a living that that's awesome there is honor in all work and i gotta tell you there's something special about you and the hard work. Why do you say that with that much joy?

I love what I do. I read your book, From Paycheck to Purpose, and I was like, man, I love my job. I wish I would have done it when I got out of high school. Just making moms happy when they come home to a clean house, clean sheets. I don't know. It just brings joy to my heart. Do you hear that? You said cleaning toilets, but that's what you do. You know what?

You're in the joy business. You give moms joy and a little bit of respite from all of the... For one day. Just one day. Yeah, we get all the cheez-its out of the couch, for heaven's sake. Yeah, that's a big deal. I applaud you. Thank you. you guys have a

wonderful spirit and that hard work is attractive to people amazing yeah okay so uh mr smart vestor pro you gotta you have to come clean now how much is in investments um it's uh personally it's uh 60 or something like that but we we actually are a little bit behind on that because we threw so much at the house and saved to put a lot down. Okay. So you're about four years, five years from being baby step millionaires. Yeah. Now we're able to actually invest, which is way more exciting than paying off debt. It's the whole opposite side of the coin, which now I'm always talking her ear off.

Now let's do this and do this. And it's not just boring. Now he gets excited. It's not just the boring looking at, you know, how quick we can get it paid off type deal. I love it. You guys are amazing. Congratulations. I'm so proud to have you as a Smart Investor Pro.

Thank you. Anybody would be lucky to have you advising them and teaching them along the way. You are wise beyond your years, and you're really, really incredible. So very fun. Very fun. Thank you. Excellent, excellent, excellent. So who were your biggest cheerleaders outside the two of you?

I would say, well, each other and you. Just watching your show, I go to the gym, and I just watch your show, and I'm like, oh, I'm going to the gym and I just watch your show. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to keep running because Dave's show is awesome. You just are so funny. I love your show. It keeps us motivated. Wow.

Very cool. Well, you keep us motivated for sure. You guys are heroes. Very, very well done. Very well done. Amazing start. Amazing young couple. Rock stars. Good stuff. Good stuff stuff what was the hardest part for you the chopping wood yeah keep chopping wood yeah it's

the um the sacrifices you have to make um which you know looking back weren't hard but you know you just do things that our peers don't normally do we might drive worse cars than them and this and that and but if you don't worry about that stuff it doesn't matter so how many young couples are willing to chop ten thousand dollars worth of firewood cash flow wedding for anything for any any reason under the sun yeah i mean it's an extraordinary story he used to park around the corner when we'd go corner when he would meet with his clients because his car maybe wouldn't start. So he would park around the corner and actually walk to their house instead of parking in their driveway. Well, you could find a hill to get it on.

Well, it was a Chevy Impala. It would start almost all the time, but sometimes it wouldn't. It was ignition. It was a good car. We had it for a long time. The financial driver whose car won't start. And some people think they've got to go in debt for a car to impress people, and you just snuck around the corner and gave great financial advice.

They don't know. And what I've found now, like my bigger clients and stuff like that, I could drive the old beat-up truck to their house because they don't know. They know me, and that's all that that matter come on you know what they they know what the beat-up truck means too the big ones do good stuff well done guys got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you number one bestseller that is the next stage in your journey for sure the next part of your story you're an impressive hero young couple very very cool and of course. And, of course, a copy of Total Money Makeover. You can give that away to a client one of these days if you want.

Good stuff. Nick and Danny from Norman, Oklahoma. Absolute rock stars. $75,000 paid off. Three and a half years, making $39,000 to $160,000. What a great story. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Oh my gosh, there's hope for this world. Just when you think that all the youngsters are idiots, you run into those rock stars, man. So true. There is hope for this world. There's a whole generation of those people out there.

That's right. You old people, we're going to be okay. That's correct. We got youngins like that coming on. We're going to be okay. our scripture of the day hebrews 10 35 36 do not throw away your confidence it will be richly rewarded you need to preserve persevere so that when you have done the will of god you will receive what he has promised james madison, the circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money. Ooh, good stuff. Our question of the day comes from blinds.com.

They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure, you pick the wrong color, they will remake your window blinds for free. Free samples, free shipping, new promos all the time. Always use the magic word, the promo code Ramsey, to get the best deal. Blinds.com. Today's question comes from JC in Georgia. I'm a 32-year-old engineer with a household income of $95,000.

My wife stays home with our four kids, and we earn baby steps four, five, and six. We plan on starting a side business this year for me to do some home inspections part time depending on how well this side hustle goes we've talked about growing this into a full-time business doing business inspections and consulting in the future recently i discovered that there are franchises available for engineering consulting firms doing this exact type of work right now both the full-time small business and the franchise are just ideas that we're toying with that would not happen for several years after we pile up more cash and do research. As we think about and look into these opportunities, we want to get your advice on buying a franchise versus starting my own business. Would you prefer one or the other?

Are there major disadvantages to a franchise that should make a stay away, or is franchising a viable option? I'm going to lean in on Dave on the franchise. I know some friends who are franchisers or some of the biggest names that you've heard of in that space. I personally would recommend you start your own business. The reason is because you have the experience and the skill set as an engineer who's doing very well right now. Financially, being a Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6, you're on your way to being

Baby Steps Millionaires if you're not already there. And you're starting this idea of doing it on the side. And I like that because it allows you some flexibility as you begin to kind of get in and test, which way do I want to go? The home inspections are a great way to make money on your schedule, build up your reputation. I just don't think you need the franchise, this is my opinion, to be as successful as you want to be and can be. I think you can do it on your own, and it's a much better way to go. It's all yours. You're making the call, and you're not having to up front a bunch of cash

and buying into something else. I wouldn't go the franchise route. That's me. There's two things you can get from a franchisor when you buy a franchise. One, you can get national name recognition that you wouldn't have on your own. So you can open Dave's Subway Shop, or you can open a Subway Shop with the green and yellow, and we all know Subway. Or Jersey Mike's, nationally known. shop right um with the green and yellow and we all know subway yeah right or jersey mike's sure nationally known uh or mike could just open even if he's from jersey right but it's just a subway

shop and when you roll up in front the customer gets name recognition they immediately associate that with a uh cookie cutter predictable experience they know what they're going to get when they walk in okay in the home inspection world, there's no such thing. There's not a national name that says, oh, I always go to them for home inspections. Home inspections have largely been mom and pop situations or grown out of mom and pop situations. There's not a national name. The second thing you can get from a franchise is a proprietary, trademarked, copyrighted process or access to use of a certain technology.

For instance, in the quick sign business, there is some proprietary software for cutting out the letters and getting them onto those the letters and getting them onto those banners and getting them to your office in three hours if you wanted to have a banner that says happy birthday at the office okay that proprietary software if you're an individual if you want to write that or go build it might take you a bazillion dollars not millions but hundreds of thousands of dollars lots of man hours so you get a a proven process and or proprietary technology of some kind that gives you a head up you don't have that either here there's no such thing here so i'm with you i would not go with a franchise in the home inspection business there's not a proprietary process there's probably

some good business practices that you could learn, but basically you're going to pay an upfront fee, probably not a large one, maybe $20,000 or something for a franchise. It's not a $200,000 Subway or a half-million-dollar McDonald's. It's not that at all or whatever McDonald's costs these days. But even though you're doing that, the other thing you're going to do is you're going to pay royalties, a percentage of your gross revenues, for the rest of your life. And the success of this business is going to be, in your case, 98% based on you.

Oh. Or the failures. Relationships with contractors. Or the failures can be 98%. And even the biggest, most highly dialed-in franchises, the success is still 42% based on the operator. You still got to go do the crap. Yeah, that's right. You got to show up. You got to do it with excellence.

You got to do it clean. You got to do it with a smile, whatever it is. And so the operator still matters. And so I'm not anti-franchise, but you need to analyze what it is you're getting versus what you're giving up and you're going to be giving up a percentage of your growth and some upfront money for basically some good business practices no i wouldn't do it and in this situation you look at the two sides he's looking at dave on the home inspection if you get connected with some great real real estate professionals you're going to have all the business you can go

find you can go find you know can go find engineers that have engineering consulting slash home inspection businesses in other cities, spend a day with them, pay them $500, take a yellow pad or recording device and record everything and ask them 8 million questions about what works, what doesn't, what's your biggest challenge, what was your biggest victory, what's the dumbest thing you ever did, what's the smartest thing you ever did, how did you get your best customers? Where do you get them?

How do you get them? What do you do? Da-da-da-da-da. Just ask a bazillion questions and come home with a business plan, really. That's correct. And come home and hustle your butt off and hustle and grind. Hustle and grind. You are the secret sauce for sure in this setting.

Most of the time that's true in business anyway, but it's for sure true here. No question. So, good question, man. That's a fun one to dial in on. Jan's with us in Lexington. Hi, Jan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you for taking my call.

I appreciate it. This is probably more for Ken. My husband and I are kind of over our heads in this. One of our children is in a situation where she is separated from her husband and children by a distance of 1,000 miles. And obviously, they're divorced. But she's looking to find ways to get closer to them, but is very satisfied with her position. She's a physician. And we don't know, you know, we kind of broached the idea of, well, is it something that you could do remotely,

because there are a lot of types of telemedicine nowadays. And looking online, we were looking at Indeed and LinkedIn, some of those types of things, and it looks like, yes, there are positions, but there's such a wide range of salaries. Is there some general guide or rule of thumb as far as benefits, investment, you know, like things that you put in retirements? Do you get health care? How does it work if you work remotely? Yeah, well, telemedicine is obviously a new development coming out of the pandemic. And the reality is, is that I don't think you have to help your daughter that much with this.

This is a physician. She knows this world. And what she doesn't know, she can quickly get the answers to this. I think the real issue here is encouraging her and in some way try to help her see that this move is going to be better for her relationally. Because it seems to me, the way I'm reading between the lines here, Dave, is we've got, well, should I move closer to the kids? Should I not? Telemedicine is a physician doing the consulting over video. It's not a change in practice.

But here's the thing. She is on to something here. And what she's on to is that more than likely in this remote setting, medicine or otherwise, you're moving from a salary position or an employee position to an independent subcontractor. Yes. And so you're becoming self-employed. In some instances, yes. Not every instance, but a lot of the work from home is basically freelance. Right.

You're basically moving to a freelance gig in most cases. I mean, not everything, but a lot of this remote stuff that is fairytale sounding. What are the red flags in 30 seconds that you look for? Here's what she needs to be looking for. Instead of trying to do this on her own, we want to see if she can get in with an established medical group or clinic of doctors where they're looking for telemedicine and those physicians. We're looking for that. We're looking to be established. Out on your own.

Click and mortar. Independent contractor. I wouldn't do that with a divorce situation. Click and mortar. That's right. Not just click. That's exactly right. Get something that has an established roots in the community.

They're looking for a specialist in this area and they're established. Good. Very That's exactly right. Get something that has an established roots in the community. They're looking for a specialist in this area, and they're established. Good. Very good. All right. And beware of stuff that sounds too good to be true. Because it is. It always is. Yeah, there you go.

That puts us out of the 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. Did you know you can listen to The Ramsey Show on your smart speaker? Just tell Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri to play The Ramsey Show podcast. Check out all Ramsey Network shows on your smart speaker today.