The Ramsey Show - App - Sunup Until Sundown: Debt-Freedom Has a Price (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 17, 2019

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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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. It's all about you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Joining us at the bottom of the hour, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, Christy Wright, author of the book Business Boutique, and of course, the creator of the whole business boutique movement, equipping women to make money doing what they love, ladies in business.

And if you have a question about that or anything about ladies in business, jump in at the bottom of the hour. Christy will join us. The phone number, 888-825-5225. Mark starts off this hour in Memphis. Hey, Mark, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks, Dave. I sure appreciate you taking my call.

I'm a big fan. I'm honored, sir. How can I help? So I need to know basically if what I'm considering doing is just stupid or not. So I am debt-free other than my house, and I have my emergency fund fully funded. And I'm considering getting into paramototoring which is basically a type of aircraft and um so it's about seven grand um that's counting training and everything and basically my argument is is it a stupid idea for me to buy something like that right now without my house

paid off and everything or you know would it just not be that big a deal for me to buy it? So this is like an ultralight aircraft of some kind? Exactly. Okay. Which scares the crud out of me just when you say it out loud. I'll just say it, okay? Just like a parachute with a motor. Oh, my God.

Okay. I hope you got a parachute. Yeah. So basically what you're saying is I have a hobby I want to spend $7,000 on, and I'm in Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6. Correct. What's your household income? $48,000 take-home. Okay.

$7,000 as a percentage of $48,000 is a little rich. Okay. And in general, we've got a motorized item. So we always say anything with wheels and or motors all added together should not equal more than half your annual income. So what are your two cars worth? I have a 2010 King Ranch that's worth about $21,000. And my wife drives a Nissan that's worth about $5,000. Okay. So you're already at $26,000 and you make $21,000, and my wife drives a Nissan that's worth about $5,000. Okay, so you're already at $26,000 and you make $48,000. You're already over half. Right.

Okay, so you're pretty much the motor part of this. In other words, if I wanted to buy a $7,000 tractor for my farm, making $48,000 with those two cars, I probably wouldn't do it. Same thing, right? Because, you know, you've got too much tied up. Anything with a motor or wheels goes down in value. Right. Pretty simple. I mean, with 1% exception of a few classic cars.

But other than that, everything with a motor or wheels goes down in value. Boats, Sea-Doos, Sea-Doos Sisters, you know, anything that's got a, you know, a tractor, a lawn tractor, and these people buy $8,000 lawn tractors, you know, this kind of stuff, right? You have to think about this stuff because all of this is going the wrong way. If your income was a little higher, I would be going, yeah, probably. So I'm probably going to just work towards this as a goal longer term. But you're not bad. It's not like stupid.

It's not like you're crazy. But you're just over the bubble. You know what I'm doing? You see how I'm doing these numbers? I see. The two numbers I'm looking at that are giving me a little bit of a tilt are the total number of dollars tied up in vehicles and $7,000 as a percentage of $48,000 for playing. If you just said, I want to go on a hunting trip that costs $7,000, okay, still that's a lot as a percentage of $48,000. Right.

So that's your household income, your whole household income, right? I'm the only one working. My wife is actually getting certified as a medical translator right now, and then she'll start working full-time at La Bonheur or St. Jude. Yeah, okay, cool. Then, you know, all of a sudden your income doubles. Right. We've got a whole different discussion then.

I'm probably doing it. Now or when she works full-time? When she's working. Okay. But as a percentage of 48, you can do whatever you want, but I'm not going to put it in the stupid column. I'm just going to say you're over the bubble, and those are my reasons. It's a high percentage of your income,

and you've got too much tied up in things that are going down in value as a percentage of your income. Two things there. So as your income goes up, it solves these problems, and that's the thing to look at. Naomi's in Chicago. Hi, Naomi. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hello. So glad to be speaking with you. You too. How can we help? Well, we bought your book, Baby Steps, Total Money Makeover, several years ago. And my husband was, you know, let's do this. Well, that went by the wayside somehow we've been married for 30 years and we have now gotten ourselves $103,507.05 in debt again

between student loans three credit cards a home equity loan a boat a bed. We kind of went on a little spending spree when our son died because we were looking for happiness in all the wrong places, I guess you could say. Well, a lot of people do grief spending. What happened to your son? How old was he? He was 31, and he had a heart condition. Oh, I'm sorry. When did he pass?

July 16th. It'll be three years. Okay. So I used to hear when I was growing up that about 90% of solving a problem is realizing there is one. Okay. You just told me there's a problem. We went on a spending spree. Some of it was grief-related, which doesn't make you a bad person.

It just means that you you know went through a hard time and you managed it the wrong way but that's okay we were all that just makes you human okay i get it and so now but we don't have to look in the rearview mirror it's smaller than the windshield you can glance at it and say that's what happened uh now let's look out the windshield so what are you gonna do about all, my question is, we did baby steps before from the book. Do we need to go back to the book, or is Financial Peace University better to do? We need a budgeting tool. Well, every dollar plus is a part of Financial Peace University, and it ties to your bank, and that's the budgeting tool.

Financial Peace University is the best thing on the planet to solve this problem but guess what none of that's going to help unless you're done you're never going back no you're wasting your time to go to the gym if you're going to overeat and gain the weight back right so you got to be skinny from now on, right? Actually, that was part of my wake-up call was I had been using food as well. But the problem is that for 30 years, I've been the quote-unquote budgeter, and my husband has been the spender. Well, this has not worked. No, it doesn't work. So are we ready to change?

Financial Peace University and the Baby Steps are the way to fix this, but they don't work unless you do. Yeah. They don't work unless you as a couple do, you and your husband do. So will he go to Financial Peace University this time? Can we do that online in our region? Because we live in the middle of nowhere. We don't, we live about a quarter of an hour.

Yeah, you can get online. You can do it online. You can do whatever. I will give it to you as a subscription you can do it online you can do whatever i will give it to you as a subscription for a year and give you the class and that includes every dollar and includes the online membership where you can watch everything but honey you can't do this by yourself it's not gonna work mr spender boy has to be on the plan with you or you're gonna crash again it's okay that you have fallen off the wagon.

Now get back on, but get back on. This is big news, guys. You need to stop and listen. The Fed decided not to raise interest rates. That means you've got a small window of time before rates rise again. Here's the deal. Most people are paying too much interest on their largest expense, their home. So you're freaking crazy if you don't take 10 minutes to call Churchill Mortgage right

now and see if they can save you money before rates rise again. A mortgage through Churchill could save you thousands or better yet reduce the time until you're debt free. Can you imagine how it would feel to no longer have that payment looming over your head every month? Just go to ChurchillMortgage.com or call 888-LOAN-200. Their team of experts will give you more clarity about your options and more peace knowing you're saving significant money in the long run. Call 888-LOAN-200. That's 888-562-6200 or churchillmortgage.com. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Ramsey Personality, Christy Wright joins us. If you have questions for her, she's the author of the number one bestselling book,

Business Boutique, Equipping Women to Make Money Doing What They Love. She'll be with us a couple of segments taking your questions. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Gabriel and Andrea are with us. I'll get it right. Welcome, guys. How are you? Better than we deserve, Dave.

How about you? Just the same. Where do you guys live? We're from Tallahassee, Florida. Oh, great. Cool. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And all the way up here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. there dave how about you just the same where do you guys live we're from tallahassee florida oh great cool welcome to nashville and all the way up here to do a debt-free scream yes sir how much have you paid off we've paid off thirty seven thousand seven hundred and sixty two dollars and five cents i love it how long did this take 14 months wow and your range of income during that

time sixty thousand the whole time? That was average. Average. Yeah. Okay. All right. And your house, what do you guys do for a living? I'm a metal fabricator, and I own my own business making custom furniture and home renovations. Cool.

And I'm an accounting doctoral student. Very good. Very good. Fun. Good job, guys. What kind of debt was the $38,000? Credit cards and student loans. So what happened 14 months ago that lit

this fuse? So backtracking a little bit from 14 months ago, we are originally from Miami, Florida. And when we lived in Miami, Gabriel's business was always doing really well. I had a really nice, well-paying corporate job at the time as well. And we just would spend freely. We didn't have a budget, had no restraints on our spending. And I was at a bit of a crossroads at my job and decided to make a career change and go back to school to get my PhD. And we realized this was the time to do it. We had the flexibility. We were recently married. So we got up and packed our stuff up and moved to Tallahassee so I could enroll in a PhD program. And we maintained the same lifestyle.

We really didn't want to acknowledge that our income had been cut in more than half. So we kept spending, kept living the same life we had back in Miami. And in the course of seven months, we had racked up over $11,000 in credit card debt. Yeah. And then you have an oh crap moment, right? Yes. We had an oh crap moment. Um, but the, the real oh crap moment, uh, happened when, uh, we were also getting ready to buy a house. So we actually had around $15,000 in savings, um, that we had put aside while we were working in Miami. And in January of 2018, we decided we wanted to be homeowners and found a house that we loved. It was a fixer upper. And we knew that with Gabriel's, you know, handyman skills and renovation skills, we'd be able to, to take it on and tackle it. And we, uh, had our realtor, uh, sign, uh, draft up our offer letter

and we went through it and we realized, you know, we're about to put every single dollar that we have to our name into the down payment for this home and just start, you know, completely deplete our savings account. And that same exact weekend, we actually came across your show. Wow. And it was the slap in the face that we needed. You know, we sat down and it was a really hard pill to swallow, but we realized that we were in absolutely no condition to purchase a home. And we decided instead to put the money we were saving for the down payment towards the credit card debt.

And that started our debt snowball, and it was no looking back from there. And so you've been working like crazy then. Yes. For 14 months, knocking out the other, what, $20,000 worth or whatever. Yeah, about $23,000 left. That's right.

Wow. Good for you guys. Well done. So what's the secret to getting out of debt? The secret is make sure both you guys are on the same page of paying off your debt being your number one priority. And two, work from sunup to sundown. Wake up before the sun. Don't come home until you're ready to sleep.

That would be your job. She's in the accounting program. Yeah. Wow. Way to go dude so you've been carrying this thing i worked every day until my bones hurt yeah i bet i bet and how's it feeling now to be free amazing i mean the best feeling just not only not paying not having to owe anyone but also being able to just pay yourself and start building wealth. It's just a phenomenal feeling. Every single sacrifice we made was worth it.

You know, there's a sense of, I got this, a sense of empowerment. That once you've done it, it's like, okay, we can do this. Yeah. And before, it's more theory and you're watching someone else do it or you're reading a book about someone else doing it. But once you've actually done it and you're free, it gives you a hope for the future that's more than just mathematical. Because you're like, we did this.

We can do this. We're the heroes in this story. You're heroes. Well done. Thank you. So proud of you. Very, very cool. Gabriel, you really manned up, man.

I mean, you worked till your bones hurt and caused this to happen. And she's living the dream over there, getting the Ph.D. in accounting. We're going to make her go earn some money with that later. It's not a luxury item. But very well done, y'all. Very well done. Thank you. Who were your biggest cheerleaders?

Personally, we didn't really share our story with too many people, but we would tune into your podcast and show on a daily basis. And every single time I'd hear someone do their debt-free screening, it would just bring tears to my eyes knowing that that was going to be us one day and we were just on that journey. And it was very motivational to have all those resources available to us. 14 months. In a sense, that's forever. And in a sense, it went by in an eye blink. Yes.

It feels like at the time you're in the middle of it, it's like, is this ever going to be over with? 14 months. And then when you look back, out of the scope of my life, 14 months. It's nothing to pay for the freedom we got. It seems just like yesterday we were watching YouTube, binge-watching everything. Wonderful. And now you're on YouTube and people will be binge-watching you.

I love it. That's a good payback right there, man. Well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you. I love it. That's a good payback right there, man. Well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That is the next chapter in your story. You will go on to do that without a doubt. You're obviously hardworking people working together.

You're smart. And well done. It's an honor to meet you all. Proud of you. Thank you, Dave. All right. Gabriel and Andrea from Tallahassee, Florida. $38,000 paid off in 14 months.

Working sunup to sundown, making 60. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.

I love it. That is fabulous. Oh, man, that whoop, whoop, whoop! I love it! That is fabulous. Oh, man, that's amazing. Well done, you guys. Very, very well done. Neil is with us in Phoenix. Hey, Neil, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Thank you so much for taking your call. I really enjoy your show. I listen to the podcast a lot of my time on the weekends. Well, thank you. How can we help today? Me and my wife are in the middle of step two. We started just a couple of months ago, February. I expect it to be done next year, June, maybe August.

Good. She got her educational loans that she's repaying, or we're repaying. Apparently it's an income driven uh repayment application it was due up for a reapplication and i'm just and part of the application is we're married now we got married less than a year ago asked for my information therefore my uh co-signing um and i'm wondering if I should co-sign it or not. No, just because they want your information does not mean you're co-signing. Okay. Number one.

But number two, it doesn't matter. You're going to pay it off a lot faster than they're going to request. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure we're going to pay it off much sooner than they think, so I really didn't think it mattered, but just that fundamental question, should I co-sign it or not? You're not co-signing. You're just giving them your information.

And they use that in the calculation for income-based repayment because there's income in the household, but they're not asking you to co-sign. If they asked you to co-sign, I wouldn't do it. Okay. Just refuse. Just say no. Sounds good. No.

I mean, what's the worst thing they can do? Make your payments go way up, which your payments are going to be over in June anyway of next year because you've got a 12-month plan to be completely free. Well done. Kristen's in Riverside, California. Hi, Kristen. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Thanks so much for taking my call. I really appreciate it. Sure. I'm real short on time. Ask your question quick. My mom wants to add me to her deed to avoid probate, and I'm just not sure if it's a good idea or not. Has she owned the house a long time? She has, but she's refinancing, which I don't think is a good idea.

Refinance doesn't matter. No, she does not want to do that. She's making a mistake. She needs to see an estate planner because it's not the probate that will kill you. It's the income tax when you sell the house someday. Your basis in the house, if your name's not on the deed when she dies, is the value of the house. In other words, if you sold it within a year of her dying, you pay zero taxes. If you put your name on the deed, it's a gift, and she's going to have to look at gift tax anyway.

And guess what? Your basis becomes what she paid for it, and you guess what? Your basis becomes what she paid for it. And you'll pay taxes on everything over what she paid for it, her basis. Huge mistake to put your name on the deed in most cases. See an estate planner, please. Joining me this half hour to answer your questions. Open phones this hour, 888-825-5225. It's Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality and the creator of the Business Boutique Movement and the author of the number one best-selling book, Business Boutique,

and also the host of the Business Boutique Conference that we put on each fall here in Nashville. This year it will be October 24th through the 26th. Welcome back, Christy. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here. Absolutely. So this fall event is going to sell out really, really, really early. So we need to talk about it even though we're just barely in the edges of summer here. Yeah.

Because usually we're talking about it in September, but it's not going to make it to September because the VIP seating is all gone. All sold out. The premier seating is all gone. It's well over half sold out completely. The only seats we have available left are general admission and what you're calling the BFF packages. What's a BFF package?

Yeah. So in the summer, we ran a campaign last summer of the bff package where you get two tickets at a discounted rate and it just went bananas everybody wants to come with a friend you know how women are we like to do things together so it's just nashville such a great destination city for a girl's trip for a road trip and so we want to make it easy on them save a little money and they can get that this summer you could call it the thelma and louise we don't know how to we don't want it to end the same way, but yes, same idea. Well, it's still a road trip.

Sure, sure. It's a road trip package. Okay, very cool. Hey, this lineup this year is absolutely stellar. You and I have the pleasure of hosting this. You primarily. You'll be speaking. I'll be speaking.

And you'll do several sessions because this is you. This is your DNA in this thing. But, man, we've got some people coming in that are going to really light up the place. Yeah, and what I love about this event is the whole strategy behind choosing our speakers is based on what the women have told us they need. So we don't just go out and find any good speaker on any topic. We say, okay, what do the women need help with? What are these topics? And then who are experts in those spaces?

And we go find the best of the best in every year. We change it up every year. It just gets better than ever. So we've got Bob Goff this year. Everyone loves Bob Goff. He's an unbelievable communicator and leader. So inspirational. Unbelievable human being.

Yes. Oh, yeah. In every possible way. So we're so excited to have him this year. And then Jasmine Starr, she's a social media expert. And social media is a really big pain point for women running businesses at any stage of business. I'm so excited to have her. Not only a pain point, it's a big opportunity.

It is. That's right. It's like free everything to get your business out there. It's an awesome opportunity. But you'd be amazed at how many women I talk to, Dave, that don't use social media simply because they're intimidated by it. I'm scared I'll do it wrong. You don't want to be shmarmy. Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm so excited about having Jasmine. And then Ian Cron, which we're talking all about our strengths and staying in our strengths. And Enneagram is a big hot thing right now. People love talking about the Enneagram number. But man, I interview- You and Rachel get together. You don't shut up about it.

I mean, it's- It's just unbelievable. Rachel got me on it, and I thought she was crazy't shut up i mean it's just unbelievable rachel got me on it and i thought she was crazy she's just going on for days about this but yeah it's a great book i read the book and ian is a great teacher he came in and spoke to our team that's right our whole team and went through the enneagram it's very interesting stuff it's fascinating once you get into it because i remember once i read the book then i saw what rachel was raving about before so we're both fans. I've interviewed him on my podcast as well.

And that was really well received. So we're so excited to have him talking about strengths. And then we've got some awesome business women. Women that are out there rocking it, doing the thing. They're on the front lines. They're in the trenches. We've got Jennifer Allwood, Stacey Tushel, Jamie Ivey, Ashley Lemieux, Mignon Francois.

And all of them have different unique perspectives on running a business successfully. They're all doing it. They all have platforms. They're all speakers as well. But it's going to be fun to hear from all of them in different capacities. And then Kelsey Humphries is our new emcee this year, which I'm so excited about. She is hilarious and everyone's best friend. So that's going to be a lot of fun.

I don't know these other ladies. I do know Mignon, and she's a force of nature. She is. She will bring the house down. She is a blast. And I've got to tell you, if you come to Nashville and you don't get anything, but you get to meet and watch and hear Mignon's story, it will have been worth your trip. That's right. She is on fire.

She makes me seem like I don't have any energy. She fills up a room. It's awesome. She is fun. She's a lot of fun. And we're big fans of hers. She's big fans of ours. So it's a fair tradeoff. The Business Boutique Conference. It's three. She's a lot of fun. And we're big fans of hers. She's big fans of ours. So it's a fair tradeoff.

The Business Boutique Conference. It's three days long, the 24th through the 26th in Nashville. It will sell out early. And prices are going up as we reach towards sellout. The tickets can be had at businessboutique.com, daveramsey.com, or, of course, you can go to 888-22-PIECE, 888-227-3223, and the Ramsey Concierge team will help you out. Crystal is in Atlanta. Crystal, your question for Christy.

Hi, Christy. How you doing? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. Hi. Hi. My question is, I'm starting a business. It's a wellness consulting company. And although I'm a Christian and the company is not necessarily Christian, but I'm using some biblical principles in toe the line when working to get corporate clients about some of the. But I'm a little bit nervous about saying scripture and saying this is what God says, this is what the Bible says. So how do you, can you recommend some things for me to navigate the secular world with

this information? Yeah, Crystal, I'll start by just giving you a resource. I actually did an entire podcast episode on this, on inviting faith into your business and the different ways that you can actually exhibit your faith in your business. Anything from a nonprofit for profit, a Christian based company, a general market company run by a Christian and everything in between. And I give you a lot of examples. So if you go to the Business Boutique podcast, just check out the one titled Inviting Faith

into Your Business for a full hour teaching on this topic. Exactly. But I wouldn't see that it's any different than honestly what Dave has done here. And Dave, you know, you jump in as well. But who you are will always shine because God is in you and you are in your business. So it doesn't matter who you're talking to. God is going to shine because he's in you and you're in those capacities. Now, using wisdom and discernment to adapt your strategy for your client is just wise. So, for example, we are in the education market and we approach that a little differently.

We have to use wisdom and discernment with what meets standards and regulations and all that kind of things for that particular industry. But we're unapologetic about who we are and what our values are and what we stand for uh and where those come from dave i mean talk a little bit about because you're in so many different arenas and this is a big part of who we are yeah and she's right you have to be wise as serpents harmless as doves the first thing though you got to do is if you're going to put a fish on the back of it you better drive it right i mean you got to be so good that they don't even care and that's where we are we're

so dead gum good we're the best there's not anybody even close to our high school curriculum there's not even anybody in sight they can't even see our taillights we're so good they don't have a choice now we are legal also and there are certain ways you can use Scripture in your materials that is not proselytizing, meaning you can't say Jesus is the way in my high school curriculum, but I can say Solomon said in Proverbs, the borrower is slave to the lender, and Mark Twain said similar things too. And so I can do an instructional quote. And so we had to learn the law.

And there's laws about that that are very specific. Still, there are people that will not have us because we're Christians. And they will not have our curriculum or they won't have us in corporate America or they won't have us. And the way I look at that part is, oh, well. And the reason it's oh, well is who am I going to be scared of that guy or god um i'm not scared of that guy i can tell you and i'm not scared of god but who would i rather disappoint i'm so disappointed in you dave you're not tolerant you're not all faith you're not you don't open up listen i'm nice to everybody darling i mean i and i'm excellent in serving everybody i never

told turned away a single soul that was that we wouldn't serve them ever that's not the question but you don't get to tell me what color to paint my walls this is my building i'm gonna paint them blue i like blue if you think red is the only way to go then you don't want to work with me then that's your decision but i'm gonna i'm gonna be worried about i'm gonna be worried about god being disappointed a long time before i'm worried about jc penny being disappointed you long time before I'm worried about J.C. Penney being disappointed. You know, I'm just not worried about J.C. Penney. I can live without him. You know, life goes on and so on, you know.

And that didn't really happen, but it might have. You never know. So, you know, I've been told I can't come speak somewhere if I have to leave Scripture out or whatever. And I can't do that because I'm not because I'm taking a stand. I'll just forget and quote a Scripture and then you'll all be mad. So, you know, just don't have me then. It's OK. I'll be all right. You'll be all right. Life goes on, darling. Just be really, really good at what you do. It solves a whole lot of these problems. I'll tell you that this is the Dave Ramsey show. Thank you. Joining me this half hour, Ramsey personality, Christy Wright. Your phone calls are welcome, 888-825-5225.

She is the national bestselling author of the book, Business Boutique, number one bestseller. Also the host of the Business Boutique podcast and the Business Boutique conference coming back to Nashville October 24th through the 26th. VIP and Premier are already sold out. And we are now selling general admission only and what we call BFF packages. Two general admission seats at a discounted price. Bring a friend. Meredith is in San Diego.

Meredith, your question for Christy. Yeah, morning. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. Christy, I was just wondering if you recommend doing the WBE certification. I'm a small business owner. I was six years in business as of last Thursday, and I'm my only employee. So I've been wondering if it's worth it to do the time and effort that

goes into getting that certification. What is your business? I have a staffing firm, so I do temporary and permanent placement of scientific professionals. Well, I'll be honest, I don't know a ton about this. Tell me, what do you get for it other than the certification and showing that you have that? Do you get a network or connections or what all is involved? You don't, really. So, you know, from what I've understood to date is that it could open doors from a perspective of businesses that require that or that look for some kind of diversity certification. And I don't do a lot of that type of business right now. You know, I don't do government contracts.

I have a couple big clients that I've got coming online that potentially might value that, but they've never actually asked for it. And from what I understand, it's quite involved to get it. And being my only employee and not having an admin, it's one of those things that I've just kind of put on the back burner year after year after year. Yeah, I think it sounds like you're answering your own question. Even now, as you weigh the cost, the time commitment, the cost, and the ROI, is it going to pay you back more than it costs you? Is it worth it to you, essentially, if they're not your target client or you're not in the business of having to turn down a ton of business because of this or missing out on a ton of business you want because of this. I'll give you an example, Meredith. I years ago got

my coaching certification as a certified business coach. And I went through all the credentialing, all the classes, all the time, all the money, all that stuff to get my initial certification. But to maintain whatever status, I can't even remember whatever the status is, you have to do this continuing education every year. And I haven't done that. And to be honest, a lot of why they want you to do that is to have access to their network for leads for clients. And I don't need that. I'm coaching all the time every day. So for me, similar to kind of what you're processing here, it wasn't worth it. Now, if that's your target client, and you're not going to be able to get into this certain industry or open a certain door without this certification, then I would say, hey, yeah, that's something to really think about.

But it doesn't sound like it's necessary for what you're trying to do. You've been in business six years. That's an awesome accomplishment. Most businesses don't make it past their first year. So you're doing great work. You're solving problems. You've got clients. I think you can spend your time and money somewhere else marketing your business

and just helping more people unless, like I said, down the road, you realize that that's something that really is in line with your goals and priorities. But it sounds like from what you're saying it's not. Am I missing something, Dave? No, it's not today. If that changes, what Christy's saying, you know, you had a government contract plopped down in front of you or something, and you could win the contract as a minority by being a woman-owned business that's certified in that way, and that wins you the thing. Some of those contracts, though, you can get without actually getting the actual uh certification you're talking about you just have to prove

that you're a minority is all uh and a woman-owned business in other words and uh i actually a thousand years ago in the real estate business i actually knew a lady who uh the first time this how long ago it was we discovered that asbestos was dangerous that's how long ago this was and she opened an asbestos removal company woman owned and got all the government contracts and just was just bailing money i mean it because there was no other minority owned asbestos removal because there was hardly any asbestos removal to start with it's all brand new kind of an industry but it was like everything it popped up had asbestos in it it was the boogeyman of the day, and she cleaned up because of this. So if something like that gets on your radar and it makes it worth it, then, yeah, I would ROI it. The other thing I would add is this.

You may reach some point in your evolution as a business owner, money-wise, you're making really big money, good money, and you want to do something like this just as an element of pride and just say, hey, a lady did this, and I'm going to certify that. You don't have to, but sometimes if you wanted to do that, that would be an acceptable reason to go through all of it. But I don't think you're forced to do it. As a matter of fact, it's also an element of pride. It doesn't matter if a lady runs it. It's just well run. Shut up. It doesn't matter what't matter if a lady runs it. It's just well run. Shut up.

You know, it doesn't matter what color the person is that runs it. It's just well run. Shut up. It doesn't matter if you're from the north or the south. It's just well run. It's an awesome business. You want to do business with them because they're good at what they do. And so there's an element of pride in that, too.

So you could take it either way and run it out either way. It's an interesting discussion though um but i wouldn't let um political correctness or or uh some kind of a thing like that push you to do this no and it doesn't sound like you're a candidate for today i'm with christy on that because you kind of said that yourself yeah we're just going back what you were saying to us so good question you know. You know, ladies do, Christy. The reason we started this whole business boutique movement, my mom was in the real estate business before men were. I mean, before women were. It was an all-men-driven residential real estate business back in the 60s.

And so, I remember ladies coming into this space, and they had to be, it's almost like I tell the Ramsey kids working here, you have to be twice as good to be respected. Yep. And that's how you fight against the isms. Right. Sexism, racism. You have to be twice as good, you know, to be accepted. It shouldn't be that way. But it's kind of like a competition thing.

Bring it, you know. Yeah. I'm from the South. I have an accent. And I'm still the number three talk radio show in America. Shut up. Bring it, you know. Bring it. south i have an accent and i'm still the number three talk radio show in america shut up you know bring it you're gonna you know you're gonna say all those people that all have a southern accent live in a trailer and don't wear shoes now come on i'll prove i'll show you i'll intellectually

whip your butt you know and so it's kind of fun you know uh fighting back against the stereotypes and um there's some pride in that side of it and you've seen a lot of ladies get uh fired up in a good way, not a toxic way about that, haven't you? Well, yeah. And I love what you said, even in your advice to her. There are some of these contracts or businesses that you can gain as clients, even if you don't have the certification, even if they say you need to, if you can prove it or just

be good enough. It was like you were talking before, even about our foundations curriculum. It's the best. You've got to have it because it's the best. It doesn't matter where it comes from because it's the best product out there. And so when you just out business them, when you out serve them, when you just are better, a lot of times they're not really interested in whether you have certifications or not because, oh my gosh, you're so stinking good. They've got to have you and they've got, you know, you're solving that specific problem for

them. A lot of times I think as business owners, we, you know, get caught up. A lot of the women I work with, they get caught up in their own head of, oh, I'm not qualified enough. They're wringing their hands. I don't have this master's. I don't have this background in business. It's like, no one really cares. Are you doing a good job?

Are you running your business well? Are you providing the product or service or widget or whatever the thing is? That's what they care about. They don't care where you went to school. They don't care what paperwork you have, what certifications. Very few industries do you have to have specific certifications. A lot of the women I work with don't. And if you just do a good job, you out-business them, that's what people care about.

Yeah, just be excellent at what you do. Rachel Cruz was on Good Morning America this morning. And they didn't call her because she was a lady. They called her because she's good. Right. And that's what's more important, really. Right. You know, you want to be good.

You want to be good at what you do. You want to be excellent at what you do. And then if someone wants to have sexism or racism or whatever their individual problem is, you just kind of look at them, roll your eyes, and keep rocking. Yeah. You know, and just bust on past it and bust on through it. And, you know, I always joke and call, you know, the same thing with me and my southern accent or baldism. Hogan and I were joking about baldism.

He and I think baldism is a real problem in America. We think people looking down on bald people is a real problem. So it's something he and I are going to work on personally. But you've got to be extra good if you don't have hair on your head so there you go you know i mean and a southern accent extra good as a friend of mine says yeah but you know that that's the thing you just but the whole point is if you are really out businessing if you're out serving if you're bringing the best possible product in the marketplace in that space to the table people don't notice one way or the other.

That's right. I mean, there's very few people who notice. And the ones that do, move on. Next. Probably not who you want as a client anyway. They're all worked up about that. Amen. One way or the other.

That's right. It's a good discussion, though. Thanks for calling their question, Meredith. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, the creator of Business Boutique and host of the Business Boutique podcast. Be sure and check it out. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for having me.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.