The Ramsey Show - App - What It Means to Submit to the Plan (Hour 2)

Episode Date: June 17, 2020

Debt, Insurance, Business Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

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, Christy Wright. Ramsey Personality is my co-host on the air today. We're talking about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Wendy starts off this hour in Washington. Hi, Wendy. How are you?

Hi, Dave. Hi, Christy. How are you guys? Great. How can we help? I am finding myself in a predicament these days. I'm 46 and getting a divorce. And with the pandemic going on right now, the courts are not having any trials or any hearings. And so we've been split since August and we're not able to finish proceeding with the divorce. So that part of it put me very financially strapped with just now going down to my income and having to pay rent. So I'm not sure what to do and how long this pandemic is going to happen because when we're all finished, you know, he's sitting in the house right now that we have a hundred thousand of an equity loan taken out. And then the house,

we owe about two 30 on it. Um, now my name is not on the house loan of two 30. It's only on the equity loan and I, he needs to sell it cause I'm going to need that equity out of that house in order to get out of debt and get into another home. So I guess my question is, where should I go from here? I took out a $16,000 loan from my 401k, so I'm paying myself back the interest. Five of it has gone so far for my attorney fees, and the remaining $10,000 is just sitting there right now

with me trying to figure out exactly where I should go from here. Okay. So what do you make? I make $64,000 a year. You set up your budget to live on that? What's that? Have you set up your budget to live on that? I have, but I have to, in order for me to be able to do that,

I'm going to have to pay off some debt in order to. I have about $21,000 in credit card debt. It's in your name? That's all in my name. Yeah, we kept our financial parts separate. We each had a portion that we paid and contributed to the marriage. I have a car, and that's what really kills me, is I still owe $25,000 on it, a $40,000 car.

Okay. You owe $25,000 on it, a $40,000 car. Okay. You owe $25,000 on it. What's it worth today? What's it worth today? Probably only $28,000. Okay. Won't you sell it? You know, I think I should, but the thing is we're still in the middle of this divorce

and we're still dividing the equity, and that's what i'm afraid of you know if i get rid of this is he going to have more stake in equity than me well um so so the divorce there's no uh settlement on the divorce you're gonna have to go before the judge to get settlement correct because uh he believes that I should not be entitled to any equity in the house. I see. Okay. Have you asked your attorney what would it do to you if you sold your car? I have not done that yet.

Call him right now. Okay. I will definitely call him and find that out. A $25,000 or $28,000 car does not fit in a $64,000 budget. No. So it needs to go. And you were going to pay it off. I don't want you to pay it off.

I want you to get rid of it. I want you to get a $10,000 car that you can own free and clear or less and get your life on balance without him. Are you anticipating support from him as well? Are there children involved? No children. In fact, we had a Zoom hearing for temporary for him to remain in the house, and he actually tried to get spousal support from me, and the judge said no. So he's a real gamesman. He is. His mother is. Basically, he can do no wrong, and she just gives him anything he wants.

He can't afford to live in that house, but she's supporting it. Okay. Well, I don't really care about her. I'm just trying to help you. Right. So I think you get your life on balance. Here's the thing. When you're dealing with a guy like that, I think you can starve him out if you can get yourself in a position that you can float.

Right. Right now, you're the one that's motivated by this weight. I'd rather let this weight weigh on him. He's the one with the big payment over there. Well, his payment's actually less than my rent is. And I'm the type of person who's always owned since I was 18. This is the longest I've ever rented in my life. You're okay. You're not dying from renting. No. You've got to get through this thing, and it's not going to happen anytime soon, so you've got to get yourself stabilized because the divorce isn't going to be final.

It's a contested divorce, and you've got to get before the judge to get it settled. And it's going to be a little while in your state in particular. Your state's one of the slower ones to open and get back to work. If you're in Tennessee, you'd probably be before the judge by now. So this is the impact of the continued coronavirus shutdown on stuff like this. But plus you're dealing with the heartbreak of the situation. It's very hard. Yeah, I would revisit the budget as well, Wendy, because when you said, yes, when Dave asked you

if you could live on that amount of income, you said, yes, if I get rid of this debt, and that's going to take some work, and it's going to take money to be able to do that. So I would just say, especially if you are able to sell the car, that margin from that car payment, figuring out how you can live on that budget realistically,

making sure that budget works because, you know, it's real tempting to create a budget that's a pie in the sky, but you're in a tough season and put a really honest lens on this budget to make sure you're going to be okay

because that's going to be really stressful if you set yourself up to fail because it's a budget that's not realistic. So I would say re-look at that, especially with the car payment gone. Agreed. Judy is in Canada. Hi, Judy. How are you? Fine. How are you? Great. How can we help?

My husband is 60 years old, and I'm 44 years old. We each have a $250,000 20-year term insurance, which will expire in April 2023. Our kids are now 12 and 14 years old, and we have a net worth of $775,000 and no debt. So my question is, are we self-insured enough to drop the term insurance? If he dies today, can you survive on the income that that money creates? Can he? If he dies today, can you survive off of $60,000 a year? I think so. Okay.

Can the $700,000 be invested to where you get an income off of it if he dies? Yes. Yeah. Okay. That sounds good. Then you're getting close. The idea is if your investments can't take care of you upon his death, then you need life insurance to supplement it. And a lot of people start with zero investments with little kids, and so you need a lot of term insurance in the early days. But as your nest egg increases and your debt decreases, your need for insurance decreases.

And that's the way you look at it, is can we make it, and how much do we need extra to make it if we can't make it? This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We're all going through challenges, and our lives have been impacted in ways we've never anticipated. If we learned anything, it's that change is constant and having a plan is crucial to our family's livelihood. This is why I talk about term life insurance every day. And for those of you that haven't taken care of this for your family, I'm not sure what you're waiting for. Hopefully recent events have opened your eyes and if you need some extra motivation, companies have started raising rates. So the smart move is to get this taken care of right now. For over 20 years and through all the challenging times,

the only company I have recommended who gets the job done is Zander Insurance. Their team will shop all the top companies, find the best rates for the coverage you need, and get this done quickly. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Your timing is crucial, so please get this done. Well, you never know who's going to drop by. Our neighbors dropped by to hang out with us. Elizabeth Hesselbeck now lives in the Nashville area.

Yes. We got to be good friends back when you were on Fox & Friends a few years back and have maintained connection. And appreciate you speaking with Christy and the team at Business Boutique in the coming fall. And we want to talk about your new book. Thanks for coming by. Well, hey, thanks for having me. This is one of the most generously hospitable places I've walked in. Your entire team

like top down, bottom up, all of it is, I've just had the best day. Christy, you're so sweet. I love sitting with you. I'm excited to be part of the boutique. Yeah. I tend to lecture from all my mistakes. So I've made a lot of them. I don't to be part of the boutique. Yeah. I tend to lecture from all my mistakes. So I've made a lot of them. I don't know anybody that does that.

So we'll have a good time. It's going to be a great event. And yeah, we do have nice people in the building. We fire the other ones. It's intentional. We work real hard to only keep the good ones. So the new book has been doing really, really well.

It's been out a little while. It has. And it's done extremely well called Point of View, A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom. So for those of you that aren't out there, that aren't friends and haven't tracked with Elizabeth, we know that she was a big deal on The View for a while, moved over to Fox and Friends for a while,

and then moved to Tennessee and decided time out. Time out. I want a time out. I want to spend time with my kids. The frenetic pace of the media will use you up if you let it, and I think some of that's covered in the book, right? It is. I mean, I had 10 years at The View, learned from the best of the best.

Barbara Walters debated every day. And I think, you know, having the two years of quiet when I really decided on that time out, the blessing that came from that was, you know, I had spent so much time getting good at trying to be right. Like super right. I talk about this. In 10 years, you get good at something so i call myself a recovering rightaholic like i was so right i'm like i'm gonna spend my day practicing how right it can be about how wrong you are and so that's just what you do at the view and so

unfortunately and it you know really carries over into fox and friends as well sure you're taking a stand on a political issue yes those are not uh uh neutral positions when you're sitting in those seats that's right and so you've got to be you got to be on top of your game and you got to be right and you got to be smart about being right or you get or you get baked even worse that's right i have felt the heat of that at times but and i think that what this book i went back and kind of looked at how you know i spent my the 10 years trying to get someone's point of view on a topic and really kind of focusing on my point of view. And I think the two years, what it taught me was really kind of getting behind someone

else's lens to see where they're coming from is powerful. And then putting all of that, your point of view, their point of view, someone else's point of view on it, all under God's point of view and the lens of the gospel and grace. And if you look at it ultimately through the lens of grace, you can get to a much better place. And so this recovering redaholic, well, I just want to prove again how right I am about how wrong you are, began using the skills of broadcasting and really taking a look at some different topics and having some really great conversations and trying to get to a

better place of understanding. And like what you stand for and on, all those principles for me had so much more beauty once I placed it second to the God I stand under. And so I think when I get that out of order, you end up in like an arm wrestling debate and it's exhausting. And I did that for 10 years. And so I think the beauty of what I was able to find in the quiet is that really taking a look at this lens and having better Godversations, less debate, less hate, more conversations about things. It's a different level of spiritual maturity. Totally.

You catch a different gear. Totally different gear. I mean, one of the reasons we connected is we're obviously both people of faith, and so our friendship didn't take but about 30 seconds to start, you know, in the middle of us being on stuff in New York and being around each other and everything. And so immediate respect for you through all that process. And were you opinionated sassy little girl when you were a little girl? I probably, yes, I think I was.

I think I had opinions. Here's the thing. Because like Rachel, I got pictures of her with her hands on her head. I bet. I bet. Just looking at you. I know you are. You were that kid.

I was a leader. I was a leader, Dane. Oh, that's it. A leader. We were leader girls. Yeah yeah that's what you call it now now it was i had leadership skills i was a five-year-old firecracker yeah we would have been best friend leaders that's right the three of us just walking around the neighborhood having ideas of our own but it's interesting that uh all three of you rachel and you two um you, you start out with this natural wiring that God gives you. And then you the first thing you learn is to get in the argument and win. Right. And then you learn to step in under the lordship of Christ and figure a whole different

level, a whole different gear of maturity using your faith as a lens. And that's where your courage comes from because you've been hired and fired and retired and tarred and feathered on the Internet. And, I mean, I know the feeling, okay? I've been there myself. But it puts us in a different place than some of our contemporaries in the media where they are, I think, just more devastated when stuff happens. Yeah, and I've had those days. You know, I think my hardest days is when you, you know, you say something out loud and you think, gosh, did that hurt somebody? And you

know your heart and you're talking to God and you're like, I didn't mean to say anything that would hurt anybody that I can't go and remedy. You know, my, I think the hardest days for me are when, if did I say something that could have possibly hurt someone and I might never get to them to say, I'm sorry. I really like reconciliation. I really like to make things better. And I think part of that's a control thing. I just want everything to be okay. Um, but I do think those years of battle, what I've learned is that I can be a little less right so that I can be right with you. You know, Bob Goff has been a great teacher to me in those ways. And I think giving enough space, because I think that ultimately the enemy wants us divided and discouraged and separate. And so God doesn't want that for us. So if God doesn't want that for

us, then what am I doing to make that better? And so I think it's having those hard conversations or those Godversations where you're adding a big dose of grace, looking behind the lens of his truth and are able to see a situation. And you might not come to the same spot, but you're approaching it from the same place. You know, like I love you because you're God's creation. And we don't see whoopie. And I have this relationship. We talk all the time. We do not see things the same way.

You're kidding. No, I mean, it's shocking. But we have these good talks because we're not expecting the other person to just, you know, be a puppet to what we're saying. We're just trying to figure it out. So we say, what are you seeing? What are you seeing here? I don't hate you for it. And you don't hate me for it.

I just love you because God made you. And I'm so glad that he made you to be my friend who thinks nothing like me. So at least I could see something differently than I might have had I not known you. And so I think that that's, that's the beauty. And I think journeying through this book was just a great opportunity to look back because I've been in a fight for 10 years, like literally a boxing ring at the, at the view for 10 years. And so there's not a lot of time to, to reflect when you're in that situation. And it's so fast paced. And so I think the blessing of this time to sit back, have time at home with the kids and, and be in a season where I could at least think about the fast 10 years that I had.

Because who knew I'd be doing that? Interviewing the presidents of the United States and heads of state and queen of England and all of it. I mean, I'm not qualified to do any of that. I wasn't when I started. You had all us fooled. Well, you're fine. You're fine. The book is Point of View, Elizabeth Hasselbeck. I just dropped by for a segment to talk about it.

Make sure you pick it up anywhere great books are sold, certainly on Amazon or anywhere else. Point of View. And this is your second book. And talk a little bit about your experience on Survivor. That's kind of what launched you into the public eye, wasn't it? Yes. Survivor was just preparation for The View. Not get thrown off the island

that was just all preparatory work right there um and easier the survivor was great because it was a situation i was designing shoes at puma i love designing shoes i love millimeters and densities and sketching and i loved all that articulating and outsole like i'm a total shoe nerd so that was fun and i love my job but there was something in me that wanted to figure out what I was made of and I had college debt so this is one thing Dave I can't believe you haven't talked about this theory that if you want to reduce college debt you just go on Survivor and try to stay there a long time and then you pay it down that's the one I hadn't thought of I didn't think of that one we'll have to put that in Anthony's yeah put that as a book i mean this is this is going to make your next book i think one strategy um but i do think there's a part of me and i think it's

because my parents raised us to have feel free in our opinions not be afraid to make mistakes go for it that i did and i think that the the beauty of survivor was it changed the direction of my life in a way i couldn't have expected so i'm so thankful now even though i think Mark Burnett was trying to kill me at the time, I say thank you to him now. Thanks for coming by. Thanks for letting me visit with all of you and your team. Appreciate you being our friend. Elizabeth Hesselbeck, Point of View is the book.

Make sure you pick it up anywhere great books are sold. It's an absolute wonderful read. It's on my wife's nightstand. She's enjoying it. Oh, gosh. That's going to make me cry. Thanks, Dave. Thanks, Christy this is the dave ramsey show Hey, folks. Father's Day is just around the corner.

If you're looking for the perfect, unique gift to give dad, I've got it. Grip 6 belts. If dad's like me, he's not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right, and they're uncomfortable. Grip6 belts are exceptional. Owner BJ designed a truly modern minimalist belt made of high quality materials with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. And the buckles come in really cool interchangeable designs. I personally own these belts in different styles. And about affordability grip six belts come with a lifetime

guarantee that means if your dad no longer likes the fit or style of his belt he can replace it for free plus these guys do business right they make their products and source their materials in the u.s so show dad you love him and get a grip six belt6 belt. To get the Dave Ramsey special, visit GRIP6.com. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, they're here! Chris and Leslie are with us from Owensboro, Kentucky to do a debt-free screen. Welcome, guys. How are you? Good.

How are you, Dave? We appreciate you joining us. How much have you paid off? $147,000 in two years. Good for you. Wow. Way to go. And your range of income during that time?

Take-home has been $115,000 to $120,000. Good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a firefighter. And I'm a pharmacist. Awesome. And what kind of debt was the $147,000? Student loans.

All of it? Yes, sir. Might be. $120,000 of it, was it a truck? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. And $127,000 was my student loans. So it wasn't all you.

Right. It was just a truck. Can't forget that. It wasn't just pharmacy schools. It was just truck. Can't forget that. It wasn't just pharmacy school. It was a truck. Let's just get this straight. It's a truck. All right.

That's fun. How long have you been out of pharmacy school? Since 2012. That's right. Eight years. And then what happened two years ago that lit you guys on fire? You said, okay, truck debt death's going pharmacy school debt we're gonna knock this out what fired you guys up well it kind of backtracked to uh when she graduated

it's actually been an eight-year journey but we really didn't start following your plan until two years ago in total it's been 264 000 but then we were coming home from vacation in 2018 and we had our little girl, uh, Lily, and we were listening to your podcast and there was a couple that was like the same exact situation as us. And that's when she looked at me and she was like, you know, I think we can do it. Um, prior to then I was, you know, we had, uh, when we had Lily, we did what she said, saved up cash, uh, for her. And then we still what she said, saved up cash for her. And then we still had about $20,000 left in that account.

And I was wanting to pay it for the truck and then start the student loans. But she wanted to keep that for security, which I completely understood. But it was that podcast, that episode of that couple that was pharmacy school graduate. She looked at me and she said okay let's do it and so it's been gazelle intensity uh since then wow okay so had you gone through financial peace before or during or after my parents uh went through financial peace through their church so when you were a kid i know um oh i don't know when i had their uh their books and cds okay um but i've been listening to your podcast every single day for probably five years.

Okay. So it's kind of family woven in our stuff, and then you guys just got to get the wake-up call and go, wait a minute, there's a couple just like us. We can do this. And that made it believable. Yes, sir. Yeah.

Okay. Very cool. Leslie, what was it about that that made you say, let's do it? Well, just listening to that couple that was just like us and then looking at my daughter sitting in the back seat and knowing that how can I say for her college, how can I do things for her if I'm still paying for mine when I'm 50 years old and you know it was just submitting to the process and and just putting our heads down and I was like okay well let's do this. So how old was Lily at that time? She was a brand new baby? Yes. Okay yeah so there's something about that new baby that gets things right. Yeah it gives you some perspective you didn't have before. Exactly. Wakes you up and gets things moving. Very cool.

Good job, you guys. Thank you. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? Our family and friends. And friends, yeah. And my pharmacy family at Rice's was huge cheerleaders. Yeah, because they all got it too. Right.

They're all like, yeah, somebody please get out. Save yourself. Somebody needs to be free. What was the hardest part of this over this 21 or two years, 24 months? I think just finally submitting to the plan, you know, when you're trying to do it your way. That's funny. Both of you used the word submit. What did that mean?

It meant. Because you both used that. That's funny. Both of you use the word submit. What did that mean? It meant because you both use that. That's fun. Right. Well, I mean, before this, you know, we would do Dave ish. Okay. So we would throw a little bit extra to the student loans and then, okay, so we did good. So then we, you know, the next month, one of us would want to make a purchase on something. And then the month after that, somebody else would make a purchase. Then we would feel guilty. So we weren't giving it everything. We weren't submitting to it. We weren't saying, you know, okay, we're getting rid of this safety net,

this, you know, money that we had saved up for Lily. Until debt becomes a major, the major priority, it doesn't get done. Right. That's exactly right. You can't play with it. It's too insid priority. It doesn't get done. Right. That's exactly right. You can't play with it. It's too insidious. It will not go away. It's too big a problem.

Well done, you guys. Thank you. How's it feel now that you're here? Oh. Phenomenal. Amazing. Wow. Amazing.

And to think that you're standing here right now, and you're going to be the story that someone's driving in their car listening to, going, if they can do it, we can do it. Right. How incredible that someone was that for you and you get to be that today. That's really cool. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, well done, well done, well done. And you brought, of course, the star of the show, Lily, with you.

Yeah, little Lily. Yeah, and how old is Lily? So Lily's two now? Yes. All right. Very good. And she's a rock star. Very cool stuff.

All right. $147,000 paid off in two years, making $115,000 to $120,000. They got it all paid off. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That's the next chapter in your story. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready?

Three, two, one. We a debt-free scream. Ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yay! He's not real sure what to make of all this. What just happened? They're clapping, though, so it must be good. That's fun. Very cool.

You know, anytime you're going to transform yourself, you have to, that word submit. I had a friend of mine who's a millionaire, and had always just fooled around with debt. Yeah. And I was sitting with him about a year ago, and he said, you know, I did your stuff, and I got out of debt. And I said, what? I didn't have any idea. He didn't even tell me he was doing it. And he goes, yeah, I finally had to submit. And he said, what? I didn't have any idea. He didn't even tell me he was doing it. And he goes, yeah, I finally had to submit.

And he said, because I know you, it was hard. I didn't think you knew anything. It's like you're never a prophet in your own land, right? That's right. But he said, once I submitted, he used the exact same word. That is an interesting word. It is, especially just having that back-to-back. Because we don't really use that around here, you know,

and when we talk about the plan. But it's the solution for the problem of i'm just going to halfway do it you can't halfway do it i hear you say this all the time that you can wander into debt you cannot wander out and that is the truth you you can accidentally tiptoe your way into it a purchase your credit card there and you don't even realize what's happening but you're not going to get out that way you have to get out with intensity but true but i mean like i've run uh i don't know 15 half marathons you've run a whole bunch of marathons a whole bunch you're a big runner major runner but if you're going to train for that yeah you develop a training plan you find someone who has a training plan that you like their plan and it

and the plan is you're going to run three miles this week or this day and five miles this day and take a day off and then you run your long run in a week and there's a weekly plan for about 12 weeks up to a run yeah and there's several different versions out there but you figure out which one and you say okay i don't think i'm really gonna do that i'm just gonna kind of go running. Yeah, I'm going to see how this works. I'm going to see what happens. And then you get halfway through a race and you fall on your face and your nutrition's gone, your hydration's gone, your body wasn't trained for it. Yeah.

Or if you're going to do something like that, you have to submit. Yeah. You really do. You have to say, this is the plan and i don't need to make up a new one yeah and we talk about this all the time the the plan being the requirement for it to work because whether with weight loss even in your spiritual life i heard annie f down say the other day if you want to grow in you know studying scripture you need to have a place in a plan if you want to lose weight you need a plan if you want to get out of debt you need a plan and then you have to do right the plan that's the point do it you have to submit

it's not ish right you're not gonna look at it and just hope the plan magically changes your bank account it's not gonna happen you have to actually and i love how even even when they talked about submit it's like there's a negative connotation to the word submit in terms like oh that doesn't sound fun it's hard it is but the reward so often people the bottom line is i believe that if i do this path i'm gonna get success and once i believe that then i'm willing to do whatever it takes to be on that path you're willing to sacrifice and that's that's what works that's why financial peace university works by the way there's a 14 day free trial right now if you want to get in financial peace. If you're ready to say never again after coronavirus, this is your time.

DaveRamsey.com slash FPU. You can take the whole thing in 14 days if you want to. But it's nine lessons, all the budgeting apps, all the Baby Step Tracker apps, the whole premium product, world-class stuff. 14-day free trial for financial peace. DaveRamsey.com slash FPU. Most people's money problems come from not paying attention. That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels

like your options are limited. Name brand sunglasses cost too much and the cheap knockoffs are ugly and really don't protect your eyes. Discovering Shady Rays is a game changer. With Shady Rays, you can count on premium sunglasses that protect your eyes and are affordable. They give people the best overall value in sunglasses. They also replace your shades with a brand new pair if you lose or break them from day one of your purchase. And they guarantee your sunglasses for life. Plus, they offer an exclusive for Ramsey Show listeners. Go to ShadyRays.com and use the code RAMSEY for 50% off two or more pairs.

That's ShadyRays.com, code RAMSEY. folks you hear me talk a lot about term life insurance it's the tool that protects your loved ones financially if you pass away your family shouldn't have to worry about money at a time like that we want to make this easy for you. Our team created the Term Life Calculator. It's a life insurance calculator that lets you know exactly how much coverage you'll need in less than five minutes. And here's how it works. You answer a few simple questions, it gives us a snapshot, and the free calculator will then tell you how much coverage you need

and how long you need to keep the coverage. That's term insurance, of course. Finally, check out our trusted partners, Zander Insurance, and they'll help you find the best policy and get the best deal on the rates. To get your results, text TERMLIFE, no spaces, TERMLIFE, one word, to 33789. TERMLIFE 33-789. Term life to 33-789. It's completely free. Try it out.

It'll help you calculate this stuff. Kelsey's with us in California. Hi, Kelsey. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello. Thanks so much. I am part of the Business Boutique Academy, and it's definitely a great experience. I'm thankful for that.

Great. It's a privilege talking with you both. Because of the coronavirus, I was able to identify a new business opportunity that will probably be able to thrive in what will be the new normal. And while in this season of developing a new business, my question is, how do I capitalize on this opportunity while dealing with the overwhelm and never-ending to-do list to reach the launching goal? Now, ask that last part again. How do you deal with the overwhelm and what? Just like a never-ending to-do list to be able to launch in

the goal that I am set for the new business. Well, talk about the new business. What is it, and what's the goal, and give us a little bit more. So it's a subscription box service called Simplified Gifting, which is designed for busy parents, where it's a box each month with gifts from small businesses and wrapping supplies so that everything you need to give gifts is there and at your doorstep. So it's stress-free and simple. Okay. And you want to start this up in addition to the business you're currently doing? Correct, because I'm a wedding planner and do a lot with events, which is a big, large hit. So you've got some time on your hands right now. Yeah, because most of my weddings are now next year, so just trying to fill this time with a business that I think would

work just with people's new approach to even shopping, like not wanting to go to the store. So that kind of just being shipped to them and also trying to use this as an avenue to support small businesses also. Okay, well, cool. Now you said something interesting, Kelsey and Dave, I hear this a lot. This is a buzzword for women I work with, people I work with, this word of overwhelm. You're overwhelmed. Let's dig into that for just a second. What is overwhelming you? Is it having too much to do?

Is it not knowing what to do? Is it not being organized? Let's unpack this for a second. Let's get to the root of what is overwhelming you. I think just the extensive to-do list that's in order to have a successful launch. So I've kind of prioritized as far as what needs to be done from a marketing perspective. And I think the overwhelming part is trying to find time to do it, even with weddings postponed. But having a two-year-old at home can be very time-consuming.

And just trying to kind of keep everything afloat while prioritizing the necessary steps to have a launch ideally in August. Okay. So when you say it's prioritized, like it's truly prioritized. So your to-do list has categories of like this is, you know, top priority. We have secondary and so on. It's in order of importance. Yes. Okay.

Well, great. Well, here's what I would say to you. And, Dave, we say this all the time. If it's not on the calendar, it's not going to happen. Now, you know, your calendar, Kelsey, and you know what you're able to do. So if your toddler is being crazy in the morning, that's not a great time to schedule to work on your business. But when can you work on this new idea, whether it's during nap times, do you wake up earlier? Do you do it in the evenings? Maybe, you know, work it around what's realistic. But I would just suggest something called time blocking. And that is where you

block on your calendar this amount of time that you're going to work on this thing. Because if you're waiting until you have time left over to tackle that to-do list, it's never going to happen. So instead, what you're going to do, and I literally was working on this today for my week. Here's what I'm going to block out time to read this book I want to read. If I wait till there's time left over, I'm never going to read. But you can block it on the calendar and be realistic and you can adjust it as you go, just like we adjust a budget or anything else. But if you block the time on your calendar for that to-do list, then I think it's much more likely to happen. The other thing I would say is figure out what you're willing to let go of. I'd be willing to bet Kelsey, and I haven't seen your

to-do list. I'd be willing to bet at least 30% of it doesn't have to happen. You're just holding yourself to that. It's a nice idea. If you, if you get to it, that's great. But to launch a side business, a new project, you don't have to have the Cadillac to launch with. You can launch with a baby version, a starter version. The iPhone started with the iPhone 1. Because everything, even if you launch the Cadillac version, you're going to find out a percentage of it. That's not right. A disturbing percentage of it was wrong.

Yeah. And you've got to change it anyway. And so, you know, Amazon is famous for ship it. You know, they try an idea and they try it out on the customer. And then they start changing it in flight. Yeah. And that's so ship it. You know, they try an idea and they try it out on the customer and then they start changing it in flight. Yeah. And that's so ship it. Just get something, you know. And so the first five or 10 things on your priority list are the most important because that's what we call my priority. And then the other 10 or 15 things, you don't have to be a dead gun perfectionist because it's not going to turn out like you think it's going to

turn out. Yeah. And it's better to get it out there and get that feedback. Dave, you say this all the time. Business is a conversation with the marketplace. A conversation means both people are interacting. So you've got to have something to put out there, even a first draft version to put out there for the market to respond to. And here's what's happened. Here's what will happen. They will respond to you and say, hey, we love this. We want more of this, a little less of this. Can you change this? Can you add this? And you will learn from them what they want more and less of. And you will iterate and iterate. And that's what we continue to do in business as we have this conversation. But I think you can hit your August deadline. No problem. If you block time on your calendar to work on this

idea and you really know what is important and what you can let go of. If you do that, I think you can get it out there. Well, even that time blocking, like you said, will shift because, okay, you know, we get into July and you say, based on the amount of hours I got left in my time block, I'm not going to get this out. So now we decide we're either going to reschedule our day with a different time block or we're going to push the launch date. That's right. One of the two. But at least you've got a baseline, a plumb line, by which to measure your progress against. And this sense that the harder I run, the behinder I get, because there is no deadline, there is no set process, there is no acceptable minimum launch product level,

minimum value of product, you got to get something going. And so you, you know, we, we like to test things around here, but sometimes we like to launch things. Yeah. And you know what I've noticed, and I do this in my life, Dave, but I know a lot of people do this. You'll have an idea and you'll think I could fill in the blank with whatever that is. And then you put it on your to-do list. And when you put it on your to-do list, it becomes a should. It started out as a could, like I could do this. I could, in the blank with whatever that is. And then you put it on your to do list. And when you put it on your to do list, it becomes a should. It started out as a could like I could do this. I could, you know, have an entire Instagram marketing campaign for this new business subscription business. You put it on a to do list, it turns into should and you're like,

I've got to get the Instagram assets. I've got to get the graphic design. I've got it. You don't have to do that. Let let your could stay could let them stay ideas. Don't turn it into the standard that you hold your feet to the fire when you're running out of time or you've got other priorities you you don't have to have all of those things i'd be willing to bet most people listening right now 30 of their to-do lists they don't have to do maybe even 50 or 60 figure out what you have to do and do those things and if you get to the other things that's fine but you don't hold your feet to the fire yeah you've got time to do this you're just gonna have to decide it is there because you're running another business that just disappeared. So you've got you got holes that you know what what if you still had the wedding planning business you know I mean right now it's just it's gone temporarily hopefully temporarily I would imagine it's temporarily but for today all the stuff you were going to be doing, you know, in the month of June is simply not there. And so if you'll just sit down and put that to paper with time blocking,

like Christie's suggesting, um, you'll realize that there's no reason for you to be overwhelmed. You can do this. This is very, very doable in your situation. Assuming you've got your product sourced and you've got the, you know, your idea fleshed out the rest of the way. But in terms of getting a simple launch done, yeah, you should be able to do that. Ship it. Ship it. When in doubt, ship it. Get it out there.

Start having that conversation with the customer. The customer will tell you if you suck. Don't worry about it. They sure will. And they'll be loud about it. You don't want to make it horrible. I'm not suggesting put bad things in the market. But this waiting on perfection, never do that that puts this hour of the show in the books Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show.

If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.