How Can Entrepreneurs Tame the Peaks and Valleys of Cash Flow? With Connor Tyson

In this episode of "Cash and Sass," host Lisa Marie, the "sassy wealth queen," engages with chartered financial consultant Connor Tyson. They explore money management challenges faced by entrepreneurs, especially those with fluctuating incomes. Key topics include the importance of budgeting, debt elimination, and savings strategies. Connor introduces the "hills and valleys account," a method to stabilize cash flow by saving during high-income months and using those savings during lean periods. They also discuss the emotional aspects of money management and the significance of financial awareness and education. The episode offers practical advice for achieving financial stability and empowerment..

• Importance of open communication about finances
• Understanding personal financial habits and patterns
• Emotional aspects of money management and mindset
• The journey of financial transformation and gradual change
• Practical strategies for managing finances effectively
• Concept of a "hills and valleys account" for cash flow management
• Significance of financial literacy and education
• Impact of small, incremental changes on financial wellness
• Balancing personal and business finances for holistic health
• Aligning financial strategies with personal values and goals

Connor earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Quinnipiac University and spent over 23 years as a Financial Advisor. His extensive experience in the industry revealed gaps in traditional financial services, leading him to establish Progress Solutions LLC. At Progress Solutions, Connor focuses on financial wellness coaching, addressing issues often overlooked by conventional financial advice.  Connor holds a Series 65 certification as a Registered Investment Advisor and is licensed with NY Life Insurance. He is also a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) and a Master Trained Financial Coach through Ramsey Solutions.  At Progress Solutions LLC, Connor provides personalized coaching to help individuals take control of their finances and achieve lasting peace of mind. He empowers clients with the knowledge and tools needed to confidently navigate their financial journey. Free consultations are available at www.progressfc.com. 

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Transcript

0:02

You're listening to Cash and Sass. I'm Lisa Marie, your go to gal for all things money. As the sassy wealth queen and the brains behind the sassy wealth coach, I'm here to take you on a thrilling ride. From the financial chaos to sassy and sexy money. Welcome back, my sassy friend, to another episode of Cash and Sass. I am Lisa Marie, your host and the sassy wealth queen, the brains behind this podcast, and of course, the sassy Wealth coach. And today with me, I have Connor Tyson. Connor is a chartered financial consultant. He provides personalized coaching to help individuals take control of their finances and achieve lasting peace of mind. His approach covers critical areas such as budgeting, debt elimination, savings strategies, money mindset, retirement planning, education, excuse me, educating children about financial literacy, and estate and legacy planning. His mission is to transform how his clients manage their money, focusing on creating sustainable financial habits and behaviors for long term success. And he's married. He has two kids. And he believes the same as I do about, you know, changing that trajectory of of how we talk about money so that it's going forward. You know how I talk about seven generations. So as we know, we're going to jump right in to the, um, the Cash and Sass and talking candid conversations about money. Um, and before we went live here, I was talking about how I would love for us to talk about. And so we're just going to dive in. You know, with entrepreneurs, we have those, uh, those peaks and valleys where there's it's not just even kill every month. Right? You know, we're some of us will have some consistent, consistent income. But there's times where you don't and some of the entrepreneurs, you're not going to have that consistency. And I would love for us to just talk about how budgeting and forecasting based on those, so that they're able to strategically make it through those months so that it doesn't hurt them so that they can be successful. So first of all, thank you for having me on Lisa Marie. I wanted to it's a good topic, right. And the intro, basically, I help people stop the eternal tug of war with their personal finances. Right? And no matter if you're a small business owner, personal side, everybody's kind of struggling with this because they're not taught teaching this stuff in schools, right? And it's not so much the tools because if it was easy, it's just like a tool. I mean, there's an app for that, right? If it's just a budgeting or a spreadsheet, go use a spreadsheet. Move on. Right. It's the habits and behaviors behind implementing these tools on a regular basis. Right. So one of the things that I use with small business owners is understanding their cash flow, right. Meaning money comes in, money comes out at different times of the month. And there's certain obligations of which they have to meet. And there's it's an illusion that they have the money, so they spend it on something this month, not knowing how it will affect them, let's say two months or three months from now, right? Cash flow wise, based upon where it is. So you talked about it, the ups and downs, the hills and valleys. So I actually one of the easiest things I've done for my clients is called a, um, hills and valleys account in that the cash flow is uneven, but you want to make it appear flat, meaning there's first of all, your baseline. You have to establish a baseline of what it is you need to keep the doors open. Pay yourself. Operate the business. Okay. Once you have that established, there are going to be months where you exceed that number. Now, what do you do with that extra cash flow that month? I actually have them automatically Save it into this peaks in a valley account and then accumulate money. So then when there are in the valley, you can actually draw upon that and then level out your cash flow. And the stress is not that high. When you are dipping into that valley account, it is a big signal that you need to either a increase revenue, cut expenses. How long is that valley going to be and then establish that from there, that point on. So I actually have we talked about it prior. Um, you need to have a cash flow methodology, right, of what is the cash flow management system of your business. And you want to simplify it to something you already know, which is your personal life. There's many different methods of doing that, but that is something that we established. We actually have a master account. And then under that master account you have sub accounts or Council reserves. One of those accounts is the Hill and Valley account. And that that basically over time, evens out your cash flow. That's not going to happen in the first month. It's not going to happen in the first three months, but over six months, you will have established enough to basically know the seasonality of your business and forecast, if you will, what you can spend without having to dip into that hills and valley account. I like that name. I'm going to actually steal it and use it, but I'm going to use it instead of an emergency fund. I'm going to that's what I'm going to call it because it has. A value account. I like I. Said, Valley account. You didn't see that coming. Peaks and. Valleys. Peaks. Yeah. Well, because when you do the peaks and valley again, it's a mindset shift because, you know, several of the people said anytime they see emergency, again, it depends on what we all perceive. What would be an emergency. And so like what I perceive an emergency to be wouldn't necessarily be what you would perceive. And so and, and sometimes it's like you're calling it in if you're calling saying it's emergency. Right. So when you know I have a client who's a she's a manifestation coach, but she's an action like she takes action, she says. But for her she wants to be called something else so that when her brain sees it, it's not actually drawing that that name into her brain, which makes totally sense. Peaks and valleys is perfect. Like, there it is. That's the name. I wrote it down. There's the name. Or. I'll get the royalties. Yes you do. Um, but I like that because, you know, we were talking about you asked me if I utilize profit first, and I do I utilize the profit first mythology. And I told you, I use I utilize the mythology, and then I sacrificed it. Um, specified it. Yeah. Um, but I did that be based off of, uh, I work with women, and I was seeing that sometimes they would go and they would read the book, and they would just automatically go and open all these accounts, and then they'd get very overwhelmed. And then they were, you know, they weren't seeing the whole picture of what should be done first, and then they'd get overwhelmed. Oh, I can't do these percentages. And so, you know, one of the things I tell everybody, you call it the baseline, I call it, you need to know what the hell is going on with your money. I, I put it very blunt. You if you don't know, at least your monthly fixed expenses, you can't build anything until you have that. Um, and this basically, you know, does that. So when they have this, this peak and valley, the, the what I'm assuming the goal is, is the goal is to you can touch it on those on those low months and then you're putting money back in there, um, on, you know, the high months. And if you're having to constantly touch That's the flag. That. Okay, I need to go and look and see what's going on is my, you know, has all of a sudden my cash flow just gone down or have my expenses gotten too much, right. Yeah. I mean, it's it's not so much that you're going into it more than once. It's right when you have to go into it's a signal. Right. So there's something either with revenue or expenses that has made me go above and beyond my baseline. That doesn't match my revenue. Right. And either I have to increase revenue or cut expenses, and then you can forecast off of that how how deep would that how big is that valley. Right. So if it's a few hundred dollars. A big. Deal. Right. So but if you know that so for example, I have some clients who know that during the summer their revenue is much lower than the rest of the year. We know that for a fact. We figured it out. We know June, July and August, especially July and August are the two lowest months. Um, so the cash flow is extremely. And that's because they're a therapist. And the children who are normally seen throughout the year don't want to be seen. You know, the parents don't want. To take a vacation. Right? Summer vacation won't take a break. So we they know that they're going to have those slow months. So in my my mind, what I see is for this peaks and valleys is this would be when, you know, they still have to pay their people. Right. The, the, their payroll may be slightly less because the numbers are slightly less. And they still have to pay their expenses because you can't really cut the expenses, especially the fixed monthly expenses, because you still need those things, um, during this month. So that's when okay, I have that to touch. So if they're putting enough up, they're able to touch whatever it is they need during those months, and then they're able to excuse me, then they're able to keep putting money into it because come like for example, this in September, they went right back to where they were, and now they're above what they were last year in October. So they've totally increased. We just know that those two months are are going to be low. And we're going into the holiday season now and you may have excess. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So again the peaks and valleys of it. But you bring up a good point in that most people start their business to start enrich their personal life. If you don't have a system on your personal side, there's always going to be a hole in your boat. I mean, you're always going to be chasing revenue to pay the salary that you need to live off your lifestyle. If you don't have a system on your personal side to regulate cash flow and things like that. The business is always going to be a challenge. Yeah, because and I've said that before because, uh, your business affects your personal your personal affects your business. Correct. Period. And when you're an entrepreneur, that's just the way it works, right? Um, and, you know, One of the things I did, I did the business first and then like you were talking about, I realized, oh, wait, okay, I need to do something, but how do I how do I satisfy this more? How do I change it, tweak it so it works for personal. And that's what I did. And once I was able, once I started doing that, and with changing the mindset and changing the way I looked at the money and then satisfied that built that money roadmap so that it would work, uh, for me, um, and have the, the different accounts. Once I started having that for those peaks and valleys, two that helped streamline to the business, because then the business was able to be more, uh, streamlined because I'm okay, I have this set. I know what I need, right. And you're able to look at both and make sure that you're paying yourself. Because so often, so many entrepreneurs, at least the ones I come across, um, they're making sure everybody else on their team is paid, but they're not paying themselves as much as they they should be or paying themselves at all. Um, and I think that, you know, they'll say, oh, well, I just take a, you know, I just move money every once in a while and I'm like, okay, no, we need to come up with a better system. Yeah. So with that, I mean, we have a lot of commonalities. I just did things in reverse. So I work with women also, and I start with the personal side to help them figure out the salary they need or what they need to pay themselves to have those fixed expenses. So it's you end up in the same place, it's just which order you do it first. So I start on the personal side and then go into the business. You start with the business and go into the personal side. You end up in the same place, the same habits and behaviors, insights and awareness. Right, right. Yeah. And I started with the business because normally they're coming to me for the business. They're they're coming to me for the business. So okay, we're going to start here because I want to see what your numbers are. And then we're going to go, we'll look at that and then we're going to come back and we're going to say, okay, where are you at in this? And what we need to do to make sure you can get, you know, can get there. And sometimes we strategically work backwards. It just depends on their particular, uh, situation, um, and their desires and their goals and their values. Because I tell everybody, if it's not aligned with your desired goals and values, then it's not going to work because you're going to get aggravated. No, it's not going to stick. You're just going. You're not going to stick to it. You're not going to do it. Um, tell us a little bit about your journey with your money mindset and your money management so that they understand that I share mine because I want people to understand that I'm not just some, you know, person who always had money and, you know, and I'm just telling someone, I let them know I'm walking my walk. And I think it's important for them because I've seen some of it, uh, you know, just from, uh, us talking and me reading, you know, when we talk back and forth before you came on. Um, but I would like the listeners to understand, you know, where you're coming from and how you came to the place you're at now and why you see this as working. All right, so the short story of it is. I'll fast forward the first 22 years of my life. Well, yeah, I'm in college, right? I get out of college and I get a degree down, and I get a degree in finance. I'm working down Wall Street. Prior to this, I came from a family where my father didn't come from money, but he he he was basically compensated very well for the job he did. He managed risk for a very big company. He didn't want for anything. He went independent, uh, in his own business as a risk adjuster. Uh, and in the 1989 recession, his business went bankrupt. Right. So my mother came from a big Irish immigrant family, knew how to make, you know, a dollar out of $0.15. And she was the second youngest, so everything was passed me down. So she was an innate saver. My dad was an innate spender because he could always outearn his bad habits. So this bankruptcy hit. I'm a young kid. Um, probably like 1110. And there's a lot of fighting going on in the house. Finger pointing. Told you so, Joe. All this other stuff. And I realized there's something to this money thing. And I took it upon myself to learn everything I could about money. I actually ended up going to college. A four degree in finance. Started working down Wall Street. 23 years old. I looked down and I realized I had approximately $90,000 of debt. I was like, wow. And I realized it wasn't really about knowledge. It was really about habits and behaviors because I had all the knowledge you could think of. I had degree in finance, you know, name all the letters after my name. And it scared me. I was like, wow, I just became my dad. This is crazy. Like, this is not good. And I had to see that my habits and behaviors were not aligned to what it is I wanted. And as much as I wanted to do the things I wanted to do, I couldn't for a season of time. So I started saying no to the things I had to say no to, yes to the things I had to say yes to, and within 15 months I was debt free. And I've been debt free ever since. Um, I built up a very, very good financial planning practice and then realized again, kept bumping into myself. Right. Because I was basically selling people things that they had no idea how they worked, how they benefited them. It was just they know they needed it. That was it. So I would say, well, why do you own it and how does it benefit you? They had no idea. And then I worked with very affluent people making big, big money. And they would invest, let's say,$1 million, and then take out a line of credit for $1 million. They simply didn't understand net worth. I was like, well, asset liability, what am I really doing for you? And they don't teach this stuff in schools. So I basically put the flag in the ground and said, you know, I'm going to be a financial coach, a personal financial coach. I did that three and a half years ago, and I don't sell any products and services other than meeting people where they're at in this journey and helping them Where? With whatever they're struggling with, be it debt like we mentioned, or get in control. They don't say I want. It's funny. It's like people don't want to I don't I want to be debt free. That's not what they want. What they really want is the feeling of being debt free and what that would enable them to do. They don't want a budget. Who wants to buy? I call it the B-word. It's like, ah, I want a money plan, I want control. That's what I. Call that. I call it, I call it a money roadmap. Yeah, right. A cash flow, money map, whatever. Where what that enables you to do is like it would stop the money fights. It would stop the guilt, shame, remorse. It would allow me to actually have some control and stop winging it with my money. And I would be able to forecast things and not being worried about taking a family vacation home with me. You know what I mean? Like on a debt or so. Those are the things, like the things I realize are not in a financial book like Communication around money. Um. The things that we learn. Everybody's building the car. Driving down the highway. And it's not working out well. And there's a lot of intangible things of, like, what type of relationship do you want to have with money clarity around that. And then is your money aligned with your goals and values like you mentioned? Right. And if it's not your ladder, you're climbing a ladder, but the ladder is on the wrong wall. So when you get to the end destination, you're going to realize like, wow, yeah, I didn't spend any time with my family. I didn't do anything for the things that were important to you. So it's like true happiness and a little bit more holistic than just a number on a page. Yeah. Right, right. So that's been my journey. Um, yeah. Married two kids. Definitely. I love it. So I get to do what I want to do with who I want to do it and help people. Like, my biggest guiding value is to be of service of others. And I was like, how can I be the most service, the most amount of people. And this is it. I was given my background, knowledge, experience, and, uh, I love it. Let me ask you a question. Uh, you mentioned, you know, the one of the things that you saw was the communication. And I honestly, I think that's a big key when you have someone come to you, um, and they want, uh, support and help on, you know, working on these things. And one of those things is communication, because I'm sure a lot of my listeners are going to say the same thing, like, okay, we were never taught how to communicate, much less budget or anything about money. But let's go back to the communication, because I think that's a big key. Um, what's one of the first things that you the first steps you would have someone do to be able to start that process, to be able to communicate about money, because it's such a taboo subject to begin with. Yeah. And that, that changed that. Like, do you like it to be taboo? Like, is your communication open or closed in your household? And why is it so? If it's always been taboo. What's a step that they can. What's a step that you would get provide to them that they could actually like listen to this podcast and they could go home and start doing so that they could move it from be, you know, if they're not wanting it to be taboo and. You don't want to make it so heavy. Right. So what I typically do is just have a cup. First of all, I want to know how they operate with money. Now, what are their fears, hopes and dreams around it? Do they play whack a mole with their bills? What, like what is that operating system look like? Right? And then priority list. We all have goals and dreams, and very few people openly share, like, oh, yeah, I want to have a nice summer cabin in Asheville, North Carolina or something in the summer, right? So it's like, make a priority list, not together. You make one and your significant other makes one. And then combine them and you'll learn a lot about the other person that may maybe not there and then the things you want. But then how about the things you don't want? What is it you want to avoid? Everybody talks about the things you want. Well, how about what is it that you don't want to do? What are the things you want to avoid? What are some of the biggest regrets you have? Right. And those open. It just opens up communication around your perspective around money. What was it like growing up with money? What's your best memory? What's your worst memory? What's the biggest boneheaded decision you ever made with money? Right. And you get some chuckles out of it. And sometimes it's serious. Like, I have clients that have been through divorces, and every time they open up that envelope from the debt collector, they have to relive that whole process, right? And it's it's emotional. And that affects that radiates out. And then there's mindset Issues. So really what I do is I basically have them dream a little bit and then open up about what things they want to accomplish or avoid. Right, right. So I like that. I think it's important, um, you know, for the listeners to understand, I always say, um, have a coach or have someone help you. And if you're not to the point to where you could, you feel like you can afford one. What I'm getting from it is a first thing. Be honest with yourself. How how are you? You know right now. How are you paying the bills? How are you? You know, are y'all communicating about bills or is it a joint effort or are you playing whack a mole? I love that that analogy. Are you playing whack a mole to see what what hits? Um, and you know, like, you know, are you laying are you playing whack a mole to see if you're going to land where you know, where it pops up, right? Um, and then from there, you know, being able to shift the perspective. Right. And, you know, I think the key is, is to understand that it's not something that happens overnight. I will probably go to my grave saying that over and over and over again. Um, it's not it's something that that, you know, like, um, he has said that it's going to take. It's going to take time. Right. Because you can't you didn't get in this position overnight. Therefore it's not going to be fixed overnight. And like Connor said, it's not going to be something that'll be done in two months or three months. But it can be done. It can be shifted. You just have to, um, work at it and and it goes back to where I say, you just have to make a decision. You have to decide, um, and and you have to decide that you're wanting to change that. And I love the way you say that, you know, people don't want to be on budget. They'll just say, I want to get out of debt. Right. And a lot of times, what I think they're actually saying, or what they don't realize is part of getting out of debt is being. Having the knowledge and the education and understanding of when you should use the debt and when you shouldn't. Right. Because again, that's not taught in schools. That wasn't taught to our parents. Our parents didn't teach us. Just all of a sudden credit cards started appearing. I mean, let's just be honest, okay? I was 19 years old in college, working full time and discover card decided I, who I've never had credit and I'm 51 now. So this is how many years ago, people? Okay. Um, I was 19 and they just decided I needed a five, that I deserved to have a $5,000 line of a credit card. I got 19 years old. I and I. Have. No inkling. No clue what's so ever. I've had this credit card thing works, and they're fine print. Might as well be in another language, right? Um, you know. And did I end up maxing out? Yes, I end up maxing. I think I, you know, what I was doing and I wasn't really strategically using it. I didn't understand the point of it. Right. Yeah. Um, and I think that that's I think that that's the key I tell my, my clients all the time is like, okay, we're gonna work on paying off your stuff. And then until, like until we can see till you can see that you've learned the difference and you can actually be strategic with it. I want you to put it in a Ziploc bag, and I want you to stick it in the freezer. And they're like, what I, I that's what I want. And then I want you to go to Amazon and delete all the cards off of it. Yeah, it's too tiny. So I my story. Is that I don't. Do anything that makes it to where the temptation is no longer there. And for the record, I've done that for me. I when I was first doing that, I did that. I made sure we didn't have Amazon then, but I made sure all the that's where it's happened, and I've had a client who did that. And just recently we've started adding some of the stuff out because she's now understanding and has the knowledge and she feels more empowered because it's a true fact, especially with women. We're emotional spenders. I don't know why, but across the board, most of the women are emotional. We get mad, we won't spend, we won't get upset. We're going to go spend, we're happy, we want to celebrate and spend. And so if we don't have control over that or don't have the power to say, wait, there's another way to celebrate, right? There's another way to go release the anger, um, and not spend money, then get upset and beat ourselves up over it later. And so I think it's important to understand there's a difference that being being responsible and being strategic with it. Yeah, I mean, I, I, I share the same story. I mean, I got my first credit card car with a t shirt. I was a freshman in college. 18. Same idea. Like, oh, here you go, kid. Free t shirt with every application you fill out. I filled out three of them just to get three t shirts. And then. Yeah. It's to the point of, like, you can have all the desire you want without recognizing the habits of behaviors I equated. I always tell the story of, like, I'm right handed. It's like brushing your teeth with your right hand. I've been brushing my teeth in my right hand ever since I've learned how to brush my teeth. Someone comes along and says, no, you gotta start brushing your teeth with your left hand, okay? It's awkward. It's uncomfortable. I want to revert back to my right hand. And what really, what I found is clarity on your. Why. Why are you going to change your habits and behaviors? Yes. What is it preventing you from doing? What is it preventing you from feeling? Who else is dependent upon this change? What happens if you don't make this change right? And and getting really deep with that and vivid that changes habits and behaviors. So yeah, I mean if you want to freeze your credit cards, go ahead. But if you get really clear on that, you're probably not going to have to because you're going to realize, okay, this is not in line with what I really want. It's gotten me where I am, a plane of a place of pain. But also once you realize cash flow, like, here's a little secret I have credit cards. I use them. Oh, I have big points. So what is it that I have done? If I don't have the cash, I don't use it. I only utilize it as a tool. So I swipe the card and within 26 days, I've paid it in full. Yep. And that's. That's just what I use, right? So did I start out there like you said? No. Absolutely not. I mean, it was that's what it is. It's really the clarity of it, the awareness of it. And then you'll know the pain that you're going through as you're going through your journey. Um, I say the same thing, which is it's progress, right? It's not perfection or. It's a journey. Not the destination. Yeah. And once you're going through that journey, wherever you are in that journey, if you're halfway through it and someone says, oh, listen, you don't have the money, why don't you put this vacation on your credit card? You'll recoil from that like a hot flame sometimes, but sometimes you'll pause and think where before you would just do it because that was brushing your teeth with your right hand. You just did it. That's what I want. Immediate gratification. Not knowing what that represents. Right. Right. Absolutely. And I think I think that's the key is the pause and think. Because with businesses, you know I and this is really important, do not beat yourself up if you do have some debt because it's okay. Businesses have debt. I mean sometimes you have to have it. I do the same thing with the credit cards. I've got points and do and miles and all that. And there was a time to where I made the decision to use my credit card knowing I couldn't pay it off. However, what I did was is I stopped. I thought about it. I looked at all the things and said, okay, is this going to be worth it or is this out of alignment? How is this going to help me grow my business? Does it make sense to do it? And if it made sense, then I did it right. Now you're getting you're basing the the if you're basing your answer off of the information you have at that time. And sometimes we make bad decisions. Okay. Based off the information again. Do not beat yourself up because that's just part of entrepreneurship to having a business. You just sometimes you've been given the wrong information and you make a decision based off of that. My point is this isn't to beat yourself up because you're not debt free. My point is, I want you to understand the importance of having the knowledge and the power of being able to pause and think about it and say, does this make sense for me to do it? Like start brushing your teeth with your left hand instead. Well, this is my right hand. Start brushing your teeth with your left hand instead of your right hand, because it's going to feel awkward at first. Right. It's the same thing where I have a client who goes, uh, they realize they were going to Starbucks every single day, like six days a week. And she. And she was like, you want me to stop? And I'm like, no. She's like, you don't. I'm like, no. That's like a huge restrictive crash diet. And the only thing that's going to happen is you're going to fail. You're going to quit because it's so restrictive. Instead of going six days, let's go for. Yeah. Let me eliminate the only joy you have in your life at this point. Right. Like that won't work. Right? Right. I'm like, she's like, wait, what? I'm like, I'm not going to tell you to stop because it's just proven it doesn't work. I don't care what any bigwig says, it doesn't work in the everyday world. That doesn't work. Let's go to four and then we'll go. Okay. Can we go to three? And if three makes you happy. And that's a sweet spot. Great. Guess what? We just saved at least $100 a week. Cutting out 3 to 4 days because I know how much Starbucks cost. And I'll go to Starbucks, but I've seen and and so the it's the same thing with anything. It's it's okay. Let's pause and think about it. And is me going six days a week totally necessary? And is it aligned with where I'm getting my money to go? No. Okay. Can I do four days instead? Because then four days doesn't seem so hard, right? She was able to cut it to four days. She's. Oh, I've cut it to four days. I'm only doing this. She said okay, this is better. I'm now we've done it two months. We're cutting it to three, and three will be it. She'll go three days a week and that's it. And we've been able to help her take that money and put it somewhere else. And so I think that the whole concept of just being able to take the negativity back and say, okay, How can I go from brushing? I love that analogy to. You've given me a lot of analogies today. I like this, but instead of brushing the teeth with the right hand, your left hand and you're changing your thinking and it's going to make you stop and think. And I just think that's really important. Well, the other thing that I found might help your audience is this understanding what money is. They don't. Even teach. This in school. Right. So what is what is money? Okay, we know it's the exchange of goods and services, but what does it represent? Right. So let's say I mow your lawn for two hours. You pay me 100 bucks. That represents two hours of this. My time. My time. The sweat off of my brow, the work. Right when I borrow that, what am I borrowing? Time and work. So why is it that I have to save it? Because I don't want to. I don't want to spend time and work later on in life. Right? So there's always it always has to be paid sooner or later. Not that you can't use it, but if you have the means to do it, then go ahead and do it. I'm fine with that. Right. And you know, the no spend challenges and all that. Like it's not sustainable, right? And it's it doesn't it doesn't stick. And if you want to have lifelong habits that are healthy in line with what you want. Mhm. It has to be something that's functional and in line with who you are and how you operate. That and. Understanding that. Yeah. Right. Is it. And it's the same thing with fitness. I mean it has it's a, it's a life change. It's not a short change. And it's the same thing with this you it's it has to be habits over a long term. And again, it's not going to happen overnight. Um, you know that's the important thing I think so often people are like, okay, you can fix this. You know, today I'm like, no, that's not how this works. Um, yeah. It's just like, oh, I can get fit in one day. I know, like, no. Okay, well, your money situation is not going to change in one day. It's like. That's not how. It works. If it did, we would all be muscular and fit, and we would all be having tons and tons of money. It's not how it works. Um. You have a free gift for my listeners. Will you please tell them about that? And then again, uh, it'll be in the show notes for everybody. So everybody that's listening, uh, everybody gets a 45 minute win with money session. It's basically just a conversation with me and a consultation of what is you, where you're at, what you're struggling with. And if you go to my website, there's all free tools and resources on there. There's a blog post, a bunch of information. It's WW, you want to make some progress FC like financial coaching.com. So it's progress. You go on there. There's the blog. There's free resources and tools. There's um, and then there's a book of 45 minute consultation, no cost or obligation, just to get some more insights as to how to help you and your journey. Absolutely. Thank you again for being on the show and, uh, being my guest and my, my sassy listener. As I've stated before, you know what I want you to take away, especially from this episode, is just the different way of thinking and and taking a step back and making sure you're pausing. And again, like all the other episodes, you have to know your numbers before you can do any of this. The stuff. And so that's the the whole basis is in order to make those changes you've got, you've got to know what's going on with your money. Uh, thank you again for being a guest on my show. I loved having you and my sassy friend. Remember? Until next time, stay sassy. Thank you. Lisa. Thanks for joining us this week on Cash and Sass. Check us out on social media and on our website at. Where you can download my free Money Story Start guide. The website again is sassy.com, and as always, subscribe to the show to catch every new episode and leave us a review so we can continue to bring you fresh content. And remember, yes, it is possible to have sassy and sexy money. See you next week!