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Everyone, welcome to another exciting episode of

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the bulletproof entrepreneurs podcast.

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My guest today is Diana, King.

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She's also known as the money boss.

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Mama on Twitter right down.

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That's right. All right, so I have done here today because she

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has a very interesting story. I saw on Twitter and I

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would love for her to talk about herself and what she does.

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So let me read out the title for this podcast today.

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She's a single black mom of two who built a 76

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thousand dollar. Worth and a six-figure and I'm six months.

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Emergency fund. I'm paid off all our debts without ever making a six-figure

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income. She's here to tell us exactly how she pulled out of

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because if you're building the 76k networth and

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six months, emergency fund. Most people will think, you're making at least well

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into the six figures or you have like a couple side hustles or you married rich or you

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got an inheritance or something like that, but

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apparently she didn't have Any of all that, she

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came up from the bootstraps and built all this, and she's here to teach us exactly how

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she did it. So with that said, Diana, welcome to the podcast

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today. Yeah. Thank you for having me.

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Awesome. Awesome. So that I tell us your story, I know

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you were in debt. I know you struggled financially and

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then you also you put eventually put yourself out of that.

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So walk us through your origin story if you will.

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Yeah, so when it all started with my first did, so, I

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was 18, you know, I came from a single-parent

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household, my parents divorced, when I was in the third grade and

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by that time I was living with my mom.

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And so, when I turn 18, I decided it was going to

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be a very good idea to go out and get a new car.

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So I was tired of driving my little hoopty because that's

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all, you know, my mom could afford to

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give me and so I decided that I work hard.

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Even though I work as a Sonic CarHop in fast food, I

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was gonna go out. I'm a big girl. I'm 18 now and I'm

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going to go get me a new car because I Define

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financial success by what you have, right?

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And so I figured if I get this new car people are

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going to think that I'm a lot more well off than I really

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am. And so turns out, I knew nothing about the process.

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I didn't know anything about a credit score. I didn't know anything about an interest rate and so

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Oh, I got hit with a very large interest rate because my mom's

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credit wasn't the best. I didn't have any credit.

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So she was the only one that would co-sign for me and

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it wound up that my auto loan payment was taking one of my

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paychecks per month. I got paid twice.

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Yeah, and one of them had to go to my auto

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loan. And so when I it didn't become a really big problem.

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What car was it? It was a Volkswagen Passat.

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It was brand new Volkswagen Passat Bradley, but it

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low mileage. Okay, so it had like it was like the luxury kind leather

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push to start really know if I was feeling myself until I got pregnant

3:15

with my first born in life, kind of like to

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shake me, right? How am I supposed to

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take care of myself and my child

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and I'm still having to give up one paycheck per month.

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Mmm, and so, it wasn't until I I got really, really

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uncomfortable and I realized like I really cannot afford this that I started to

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research ways in which, how can I get rid of this car started with

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the auto loan. I went down this Rabbit Hole of Google.

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A lot of people seem to think that to be financially successful or or have

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spending Freedom. You had to be, you know, like the finest Bros. You have

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to know the lingo, you have to be very good, very smart,

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but basic person, Arkansas, I don't know all the big words simplify

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it in my head before I could do it.

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Right. So basically I went down this Rabbit Hole Google trying to

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figure out how to lower my auto loan and it

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feels out these words that you have no idea what they are.

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So you have to go and research those. So what's an example of one of those words that you?

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So that's how I learned about interest.

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Okay? Oh, really? Yeah.

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I'm not no idea for is that I for the First

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time I went in and I looked at my balance for the first time since having this auto

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loan and I'm like, why is my payment not?

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Why is my balance still high? My payment isn't going anywhere.

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200 dollars of that 495 payment was going to interest.

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And so I started slowly building that financial literacy.

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That way going down this Rabbit Hole of figuring out, what I

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don't know. And the more I realized what I didn't know that.

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Up like this Pathway to actually being able to teach myself what these things meant, and

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then going into developing a strategy to

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get the debt paid off. So what were some of those steps you have to take?

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Because like you rightly said, know, if 50 percent of your paycheck

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is going to pay the car by means you were making.

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I'm just saying like about the thousand dollars roughly at the

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time, right? So what were some of the steps that you took?

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Because obviously now I mean, 2012 is like 10 years away.

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You kind of crawl out of it. So how did you start?

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So when did you actually take like a financial seminar

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class or one of those type of things and how did you start crawling out of the debts?

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So I came from the University of Google, I'm self-taught, but

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the way that I started first. I always tell people, it has to be your mentality.

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You got to start with that and you got to reach that

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place where you're so sick of being uncomfortable that it forces

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you to remain consistent. Stand because a lot of us start, right?

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And then something happens if not thing as quickly as we wanted

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to. We feel like we don't have enough money and

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then we quit and we don't realize if we just stayed

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consistent, you were going to make some progress.

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It just may have taken a while. And so after I got my mentality because I

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started first once before and I quit I was like, I'm

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not quitting this time. If I keep going, something's going to

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break. I'm going to have a breakthrough and then it went to

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Budgeting. Yeah, I was that person.

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That was like, I don't know where my money is going.

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So I had to go find it and the

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first budget that I made my expenses, did exceed my income.

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And that's when I learned that, I was paying out a lot more than what I

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was bringing in. So of course, discipline has to come in.

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You've got to make the sacrifice if you really want this.

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And so I had to let certain things go or

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a lot of things go, obviously, since I wasn't a high

6:58

earner, And so nails, hair.

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All of that, the little little treat.

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Yes. That had to go all of that to

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go. I got my kids clothes from the thrift store like consignment sales

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and Goodwill. I was determined to get this debt paid off and

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one thing I will say that really accelerated my journey as well.

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That a lot of people don't see it as an opportunity

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is extra income. Like if you could tax refund What are you doing with that

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tax refund? That's a way in which you can leverage and

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make up for lost time. So what I would do is like a 70-20-10 allocation method, just

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depending on what was my main goal.

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So if it was dead, 70% of that 12 debt 20% went

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to savings and then 10% I just used for personal fun.

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And that way, I got to enjoy little bit of that money, but

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90% went to something that was moving, the needle forward, and my

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life. Tax refunds were only about 23-thousand dollars, but

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still, that helped me to

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make progress a lot faster. Because even though I made this lump sum payment

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I would still make my regular payments. So was like, I paid it up for six months and

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then just left it alone. I learned that the hard way and interes

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is still going to eat you alive. So I would pay it up and

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then I would make my regular payments that way, extra 10, 15

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dollars because that's all I had.

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And then as the Dead Dwindle?

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What I learned was that that puts more money in my budget.

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So if I could get rid of this lower this lowest balance

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credit card, once that was done that put an extra 50, 60

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dollars that I could apply to my other debts and it started to snowball method.

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Yes, it took four years, but I

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was still able to do it without making six figures.

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So in those four years, you literally just like focus on the

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dead cut down on things like like you said, Your head Nails,

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make up going to through. So that's not something like a real period of pain because

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although group going from like no showing everybody or a baller,

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getting the leather option Passat and everything

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to like doing it. Like I can assume you were cooking at home.

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I'm not eating out and all those that I was something like a real solid period of

9:23

pain. Do you think like, most people would want to subject

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themselves to that kind of Pain. Because you first of all knew that hey, if you don't

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get out of this that probably be no way out for you.

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Yes, I saw it as that just that if I don't

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do this now, there's literally going to

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be no way out for me. If I don't take on this little bit of motivation and

9:47

optimism that I have and kind of work with that.

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There's a there's no way out and

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then when I realized that, I was the blueprint for my children

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like they were watching me, kids may not do as you say,

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but Do as you do. And so these two kids are on me and that

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that fueled and kept me, consistent within these four years.

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And now, yes, I did cut out a lot.

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I don't expect other people to

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have that same level of discipline and dedication

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as me, but for me, I saw the vision I saw the

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angle and when whenever I have that Vision, I'm willing to

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do whatever you get to it. And so that all of nothing mentality.

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Really did help me and I will stay with my credit card debt.

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One thing that I started realizing through. The University of Google was that there was this world of side

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hustling, right?

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And so what I did was I made a list of my

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for skills. I was like, okay what skills do I have?

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Because going into it. I didn't feel like I had anything to

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offer but Ronnie was always something that I enjoyed.

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So I again riding okay writing and so I

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actually went A cause for writing to, so I'm like, well, what can I do with this writing?

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Because everyone was like, can you help me with my paper?

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Could you help me proofread? And so I started, I went to Google

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and said how to make extra money writing and it

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came up with freelance writing and so I

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would find Opportunities online to

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write for other people. And then when those clients you did a good job and they

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like their work yet. They like your work, they become recurring customers and

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make 22. Four hundred dollars a month because I

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realized this extra $30 towards my credit cards wasn't going to

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cut it. I'm extra money.

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And so I would freelance. When my daughter went to sleep

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when my kids were sleeping and then on the weekends and

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sometimes it's time-consuming, but that

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two to four hundred dollars. Obviously it helped me break ground when it came to the credit

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cards and it helped me pay it off faster as well as transferring

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my balances 20. With It intro, a PR card, so no interest extra money.

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Knocked it out a lot faster. Good good.

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So now let's talk a little bit about that side hustling because,

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you know, if you're reading the news watching, you see that, you

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know, inflation is going Sky High.

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So in as much as people might be trying to get out of debt, things that posting more food is costing me.

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My life is generally cost in here, and

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then side hustling, you found clients and

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all that. So for someone who had a full-time job and I

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started hustling nights and weekends.

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Could you walk us through some of those steps?

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You took to like find the exact side hustle.

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how did you apply?

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How did you find the right person? all those type of little ABCDE steps that if somebody

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listening to this today, says Bow.

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Wow, I think I could also do a Diana's doing.

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Let me go follow. This roadmap that she laid out on.

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Let's see how I can get to the same result.

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Yeah. And so the simplest way to

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do it, I would say first of all, right out your skills.

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Don't think of it in your head, make a bulleted list

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of what you're good at that you could possibly monetize.

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And then from that list, right out how you

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can monetize each skill depending on which one stands out

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the most to you that You really feel like you could be consistent with because

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if you're like me, you're a single parent. You're already stretched thin, right?

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And I know that the idea of side hustling can turn a

13:34

lot of people off because you're like, how am I finding the time to

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do this? And so you want to make sure that whatever you do is

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going to be worth the time that you're putting in.

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You don't want to put in four hours and you only made 10 dollars you don't want to

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go that route and then depending on, whichever wanted to skills

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that you really feel. You can monetize.

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It's a simple web search. We literally have the world at our fingertips now, with the internet

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and so you can go online depending on your skill and

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look at how to monetize those skills.

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And there are a lot of job boards that I found that

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are online for even if it's just not freelance writing but

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just Freelancers in general General. It's like yeah fiber that you could literally sell

14:21

your skills on and then when you get those clients You do a good job.

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They're going to want to work with you again, because you've

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proven to them that you have high quality work.

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And so you can make online portfolios that list out your skills.

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Any examples of the work that you have.

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That's what I use. Like an online portfolio for my writing.

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So when using online portfolio not a website, just like static page

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or whatever. It's like a it's like a static page.

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Okay. Website that I use, right?

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Right now with Wix or

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yeah, those type of things. It's like instead of an in paper resume its digital resume.

15:06

Okay, and link your pages to and I had a little blog

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at that time too. So I anything that I could use I was linking into it

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just so I can add some proof in the beginning and

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still I until I started to get the proof from the client work that I had.

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Okay? Good.

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So, how long did you do that up until you build the

15:28

76k networth? Because now you spent four years digging yourself out of the temple,

15:34

right? So now I believe you have side hustling in place.

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You have your daytime nine-to-five job, we please.

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Now. How did you go? And now expand the pie to, you

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know, socking away 76k whether it's

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in, your 401k Ira or stocks

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or whatever it is. Yeah, so I will say with the side hustle.

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It helped me pay off that credit card debt faster, but it

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really didn't help with the network part.

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Well, I guess it did because the lower the debt, the higher, your, the more, your assets

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are going to be able to shine in their entirety. So I, my journey did not come without many, many ups and

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downs. So, let's hear some of the awesome down.

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And so I wanted to dance like four more times during my

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those four years. Oh, wow.

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When I got It knocked on my, but I had to pick myself right back up.

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And that's why I said it's very important to

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start with your mindset.

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Like I'm going to do this and I'm going to stay consistent.

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Otherwise when life hits you you're going, you're going to

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quit and everything that you've built up to that

16:40

point. You're going to lose out on. And so whenever I got pregnant with my son, a few months,

16:46

after I started my debt, free Journey. Here Comes childcare again.

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I find him rid of childcare got pray.

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It now here comes childcare maternity leave and

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all of that. So once the my life happened life happen, and

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so when my credit card debt got manageable, I didn't use

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the funds from that side, hustle to

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build my maternity leave fun because I

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wasn't going to get paid in my entirety. And also I used it to

17:12

side hustle. What I would need to

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make up for childcare. So I need about two hundred extra dollars to

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keep my debt payments. The same. I wanted to Oh, I'm I set a goal and a

17:25

year to pay off my my last credit card and my auto

17:28

loan to pay it off in its entirety. And so to keep my debt payment, the same, I had to

17:34

side hustle for that extra money.

17:37

So that my son's Child Care didn't eat everything.

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So, I moved out of my apartment to a

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little crappy apartment. At the end of the lease that saved me $120 and

17:48

then it came with free water. So that saved me money too.

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And so based on my savings. I'm like Is what I need to

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keep my debt payment. The same that I can get out of this crappy apartment within

17:59

a year's time. And once again going back to you

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being so uncomfortable. You leaving yourself?

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No choice, but to stay consistent.

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I was tired of living with roaches. And so that was all I needed to

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stay consistent on that paid off my last credit card, paid off

18:15

my auto loan, and got the heck out of there to a

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better apartment. And then after that, the thought hustling for the freelance writing.

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I let that go because now I

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don't have those two payments taken from my pay.

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I've got extra money in my budget now. Okay, so you did some downsizing and

18:34

then, use the filler in to

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make up money for your kids screaming, but back to the 76k.

18:41

So how did that come about? So that really started to

18:46

take off the last year and a half?

18:48

Okay. A debt free Journey.

18:51

Okay. So I was always kind of contributing to my

18:55

401 k. That is the book, the bulk of my net worth.

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And so Since I don't have any debt or liabilities

19:03

taking from these assets, they can just sign in their entirety.

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So the bulk of it is 401K.

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I'm at percent now that I'm contributing to that

19:13

then I have my Roth IRA that I set up last year

19:18

and then I put the most the majority of my extra money towards

19:21

my Roth IRA and I

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started investing in single stocks first before the Roth IRA

19:28

or anything else like that a little Go backwards, but I

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have single stocks shares and

19:35

single stocks that I have also.

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So with me, it was a very simple game plan.

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I knew that the more that I pay off these debts the

19:44

higher my net worth will be and

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so now I don't have any debt.

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My income mostly goes towards my Roth IRA and my

19:53

401k. So how much are you making in this year and a

19:57

half that you were able to? Because you said you never made Six figure income.

20:01

So, what was your annual income?

20:04

This point in time? I started my journey at thirty two thousand dollars.

20:09

Okay. So about 15 dollars an hour and

20:12

then I paid off all of my debt and

20:15

2020 the worst year ever for a lot of people, but it

20:18

was the best for me because stimulus checks are coming in.

20:22

I have my incentive, who's got, sobered up to

20:25

dead, and to my investments to and I would sell my PTO.

20:30

Go to to help me fund my investments and my dad.

20:33

What do you mean? So, a PTO seal back, some companies allow you to

20:39

sell back. Unused PTO. Okay?

20:41

For my company, anything over 80 hours.

20:45

We can sell back. So if I had 200 hours of PTO, I could sell back

20:51

120 and get that act.

20:53

Oh perfect. Yeah, and so like I was saying when you're

20:56

so dead set on a goal, you're going to

20:58

see opportunities. Yeah, so yeah, so you're finding money within like what you

21:04

are. That's what everyone like having to do too much ice cream.

21:08

I'm finding. I'm literally looking at my situation and I'm

21:13

going in with the mentality of, how can I make this

21:15

work? Not, this is why it can't work.

21:17

No, how can I make this work?

21:20

And I'm finding opportunities and day-to-day things

21:23

that I didn't see the opportunity and because I'm

21:26

that focused on getting there. So you started from 30 to them

21:31

by 2020. How much? Yeah, so by 2020, I was at about 55,000.

21:36

Okay, and that included also making a little money through my Instagram

21:42

page by this time. So it was about 50,000 for from my day job and

21:48

then I had 5,000 that I made from Instagram.

21:51

And so that was what I ended the debt free Journey with.

21:56

Now. I'm at roughly.

21:59

The 80,000 with still I'm still making about 54,000 at my

22:04

day job, but I've still I've been able to

22:07

bring in more income through my Instagram page and

22:10

obviously that helps as well. Well, so that's almost like what 25,000 from IG?

22:20

Yeah. Yeah, and that started last year.

22:23

Well, okay. So let's talk about that because this is an interesting trajectory because now people

22:28

can see that. Hey, Diana doesn't have like to

22:31

head. She didn't do anything magical, right?

22:34

You still have a day job bringing in 55k, which is probably

22:38

good in many parts. Like, I know if you live in New York City, probably might

22:43

be. Oh, yeah, but like an Arkansas, right?

22:46

It's a good living, right? Yeah.

22:48

Yeah. I'll have this Instagram site.

22:51

Also, talk a little bit about the Instagram. Yeah, and so I joined Instagram at like the end of 2018

22:59

because I was desperate for community.

23:03

And I also knew that from, whenever I'm doing my research,

23:07

and I was trying to find people to help me pay off debt, like,

23:11

get some tips. It was always a two-income household and it

23:14

was always like that person making six figures and I'm

23:18

like This does not resonate with me and I

23:21

would get so frustrated and I would click out the blog post or click

23:24

out the podcast and I'm like, there's literally nothing in

23:28

front of me that's going to tell me that I can do it.

23:31

And so whenever I started gaining traction gaining progress on my journey,

23:38

and I'm showing I have the proof that it's working.

23:42

I'm figured that whoever looks like me.

23:45

Single mom black woman doesn't have a high high-end cam they

23:49

need August, I need to know this and we need more representation.

23:53

And so I started Instagram, just documenting my debt, free Journey.

23:57

Literally. I just started documenting my debt free journey in the more that

24:01

I'm learning. I would, I would put it in a post.

24:04

I learned this and I'm doing this and this

24:06

is how I'm doing this. And because I was so generous with what I

24:11

was doing. I wasn't withholding any information because I

24:14

wasn't trying to make an income off of it. I started to gain I gained like Ten thousand followers in less

24:21

than a year and then it just started growing from there because people

24:24

are like, thank you. I could not resonate with anyone elses story, but

24:29

seeing you do, it keeps me motivated.

24:32

And so they're literally the reason why I kept going on

24:35

with this page and then they just literally follow my journey.

24:39

Hmm. Interesting and then I noticed on Twitter, you were talking about you

24:46

having a discussion yesterday, I believe what a bunch of ladies where

24:49

you Talk about financial Independence, right?

24:52

And actually get into that debt, free journey and

24:55

making money. And I think one of the main things that people were talking

24:58

about was basically, Let me put it up here.

25:05

I had some influence share that they feel their partners are an

25:08

obstacle to reaching spending Freedom, Choose Wisely or

25:13

risk, attaching yourself to liabilities.

25:15

So let's dive into that, a little bit difficult, debt free Journey.

25:19

Yes. As a single mom, you were able to do it.

25:21

But something there are also women that are in relationships marriages and

25:24

all that too. And families are still struggling with this debt, free Journey.

25:29

What did? Discover in this conversation that affects relationships are money or how

25:36

many affect many women in their relationship, whether they

25:39

are black or otherwise, so it's like a, it's like

25:44

a night-and-day mix that I think.

25:47

And so I have a lot of women who want to

25:50

leave their situations who are unhappy in their situations, who are unsafe

25:55

in their, in their relationships, but they

25:58

can't leave. Because They don't have the financial means to

26:02

hmm. Well, they come to me and they're trying to get help

26:05

paying off debt and saving money. Just so they can leave their relationship.

26:10

They're stuck. And then I have another side where it's

26:14

hard for them to financially progress because they're taking care of their partner.

26:18

And that wasn't the, the agreement before the relationship

26:22

started. And so with that tweet, that came from a post that I

26:26

had where I was sharing my experience.

26:30

Of taking care of a partner and kids

26:34

as well. So I'm basically caring for three people on not a high

26:38

income and it made my financial Journey.

26:41

Ridiculously tough.

26:44

Yeah, and I find that whenever you are on a financial Journey

26:47

as a woman, it's very easy to

26:49

be gas-lit and two situations that are not helping your finances.

26:56

Whether that is use an example of that.

26:59

So, an example being gas-lit.

27:02

So, let's say that this person doesn't have, they're not,

27:06

you're not equally yoked financially job, or

27:10

maybe they're not bringing in as much as you.

27:13

It's very easy to feel bad for that person.

27:17

Hmm. It is very easy for that person to

27:19

manipulate you into feeling bad for them.

27:21

Well, you make more money than me, so you should make more it or

27:25

if you give me this and help me out to get a car or two.

27:29

Then I could get a job and start making more money.

27:33

And then those broken promises. They never.

27:35

Those promises. Never come to fruition. And I'm speaking from personal experience.

27:38

And so I've lost thousands behind a relationship because I

27:43

didn't ask the right questions before I

27:45

went into that relationship and I didn't know to ask the right questions or to

27:50

really observe. This person's financial habits before we

27:54

got attached, because once you get attached to that person, your discernment

27:59

It goes out the window. It is very easy to

28:02

get stuck in a situation that's taken from Mmm.

28:07

So what are some of the questions someone needs to

28:09

ask before they get into a relationship about a person's financial habits,

28:14

or what are some of those red flags or observable things that you need to

28:17

notice because like you said, if you go into a

28:20

relationship and you don't know the person's financial habits or

28:24

even what their debts and assets

28:26

are, even before the relationship that could be another anchor, that could

28:30

drag you down if Financial Independence and freedom.

28:35

Yeah, and I feel like a lot of us.

28:38

We don't ask those questions because we

28:40

feel like it's tacky or that person

28:42

is going to think that we want something from them.

28:44

When in reality, that's not it at all.

28:46

You're doing your diligence by protecting yourself situation, right?

28:51

And so some questions that I like to tell people to ask, and of course is going to

28:55

depend on your where you are in the dating face with this

28:59

person, but you could just simply ask them to

29:02

give them room to express themselves.

29:05

How do you feel about debt? How do you feel about generational wealth?

29:10

How do you feel about joint bank accounts?

29:12

One good thing that's important to ask. How do you feel about 50/50 splitting expenses equally with

29:19

your partner. Is it that 30?

29:21

Because that's something that I see. Now, with our culture, causes a lot of arguments, the whole 50/50

29:27

thing. When you say 50/50 in regards to,

29:30

what just the bills alone, or like going out to eat, or what all of the expenses, like

29:35

if you move in together, always splitting the rat.

29:38

Okay, utilities. Okay.

29:41

So you want to know, what is their perspective on these things?

29:44

What is their perspective on wealth building?

29:48

Some people don't realize their Partners in six-figure debt until they're

29:51

walking down the aisle and and

29:54

suddenly it becomes part of your problem because you're

29:57

now having To make a life with this person.

30:00

In there being weighed down by dead.

30:04

And so once you really sit back and

30:06

observe this person spending habits, you can go out together.

30:10

You can go to a mall. How is this person spending their money?

30:14

How is this person spending their time? And then it's literally up to you to

30:18

decide. Is that something that you're willing to

30:21

compromise? Is that something you willing to

30:24

accept? Do you feel like you can make this work with this person,

30:27

but if not, if you're seeing those red flag Eggs, it's

30:30

probably best to go ahead and walk now before you start gaining that attachment to

30:36

that person. So, in the situation, like mentioned earlier, where one person makes less

30:41

than the other, does 50/50 still apply?

30:44

Or are you, do you have to like prorated based

30:49

on each person's income? Like we have a progressive tattoo.

30:52

It the Richer you are the less you pay something like that.

30:55

Yeah. Yeah. The wealthier. You are, the more you play on the expenses.

31:00

I hear from certain people like the person who has

31:04

the higher income. They'll normally take the larger expenses.

31:08

And then the person that has the lower income.

31:11

They'll take like the utilities like the water-filled and things

31:14

like that, and it may be a male-female thing to that

31:18

comes into play. So so why you say male female, that means the men prefer

31:24

to pay more of the bills and take on more of the weight, right?

31:28

Yeah, some Some men prefer to

31:30

take more of the weights because they

31:32

see them that I'm the man. I should be the provider and some women

31:36

follow suit with that too. And that's once again going into those questions, that it's

31:40

important to ask in the beginning, just to

31:43

make sure that you're on the same page when

31:46

it comes to how you want to split the expenses or if you want someone to

31:50

take care of all of the expenses and there

31:53

are, you want the man to do that. Then you need to make sure that you're asking those questions

31:57

in the beginning. So you're not disappointed whenever it.

31:59

Time for you to combine forces. So when it comes to things

32:03

like spending because now we've

32:07

talked a lot about death. It's another debt, make it Max, putting things into 401K savings,

32:12

selling back your PTO and all that stuff when it comes to,

32:16

like really enjoying yourself and splurging.

32:18

What do you think about that? Because that's another area where especially now that

32:23

economy might be tanking, but a lot of us have been cooped up at home for the

32:28

past year and a half two years. Years. So people kind of want to

32:31

go away. Take a trip or something, but you still have that debt and

32:35

you still have those bills to pay. How does one do that in a way that doesn't affect

32:41

their overall debt Financial Freedom Journey.

32:45

Yeah, so, I know that it's kind of split in the

32:48

money Community. There are some that like to

32:51

go extreme and basically stop all discretionary spending.

32:56

Mmm, so they can hit their financial goals and

32:58

then live their life later. I'm someone where I say that financial responsibility and

33:03

treating yourself. The two are not mutually exclusive.

33:06

You can't spend money and still be financially responsible.

33:10

So I think one major way that's really important is to

33:14

align your values with your spending. So value-based spending look through your bank accounts over the past 30

33:22

days. And look at all of your discretionary spending are these things that

33:27

you actually value or is it just Thing that was impulsive or you

33:31

made an emotional purchase. And then from there you want to

33:34

choose what you're actually going to spend money on that align with your values and your goals.

33:40

So this is where the budget comes in.

33:42

What is your main goal? If you're budgeting without a goal, it's like you're

33:45

going nowhere fast. So, I like to recommend gold base budgets.

33:50

You have your main goal. Maybe that's you paying off of your American Express credit card.

33:56

So depending on that end goal date.

33:59

You Want to have a deadline? Otherwise, you'll keep putting it off.

34:02

Right? So you want to have your deadline to kick-start you

34:08

to kick start your journey, but also so you can calculate how much you need to

34:12

apply to that goal to reach it by the end date.

34:16

And then let's say it. Maybe you need $200 a month to

34:20

reach this goal. So you would put that $200 in your budget, with your essential

34:26

expenses. You need to pay your rent and everything and then you You

34:30

add your discretionary spending in after that and

34:33

make it work with your spendable income. And this way, you're able to pay your bills.

34:39

You're still hitting your financial goals because you

34:41

built your budget around it and you made your discretionary spending work, within whatever was left over.

34:48

So you made it work with your spendable income and that way,

34:51

it forces you to re-evaluate what you're actually purchasing because You

34:56

may not have much left over, but you

34:59

still have some. And it's important to give yourself something.

35:02

A lot of people try to, they

35:05

let that same, talk them out of, treating them self here and

35:09

there, it doesn't have to be expensive.

35:11

It can be a six dollar coffee. Three times a week, but you

35:16

need something to keep you motivated and you need something to inspire

35:20

you. Otherwise the journey is going to

35:22

be held and if the journey is Hell on your budget is

35:26

hell, it's making you unhappy, you're not going to

35:28

stick with it. Okay, so as we reach the end of the podcast, this has

35:37

been very insightful and helpful. I can see here that in as much as you

35:41

started not notice or the financial terms.

35:44

You've picked up quickly because now you're bringing in different lingo where you're not part of money

35:50

to return. You're now part of like the gang using the

35:53

same terminology that you probably didn't know earlier.

35:56

So do I am I assuming correctly that you are Doing Financial

36:03

coaching on your Instagram, or

36:07

how can people reach out to you to learn more and probably connect with you.

36:10

So, for single moms somewhere.

36:13

Let's say, oh, I don't know. Not the coder is reading this and

36:17

watching this and she's like, hey what?

36:19

I really resonated with what Diana or

36:21

saying, how can I get in touch with her and learn from her?

36:25

And I know she's like, just like me because

36:27

we're kind of on a similar Journey.

36:29

What are some tips you can give?

36:31

Or Not helping people reach out to you. Yeah, so I'm new to the Twitter world, but I have

36:37

an amazing community on Instagram.

36:40

And so you can always DM me on Instagram at money boss.

36:44

Mama, and I also have a spinning challenge coming up where I'm

36:50

going to be able to have like a text message thread

36:53

with everyone in the challenge to

36:56

just so I can work alongside them as well.

36:59

Okay, so I just put that in the The Cisco I'm

37:04

using this type of the first time I don't thinks.

37:08

So is it money? Doc boss, not mama or altogether?

37:13

The name is. That's correct with the dots on my thoughts together.

37:25

That's it. So, thanks for coming to

37:28

share your story. Then appreciate you taking the time to

37:30

teach us more about how to Apply some of these practical steps to

37:34

get out of that and I hope that somebody listens into this podcast, will, take actionable

37:41

steps, to get out of debt and, you

37:44

know, get on the path to Financial Freedom.

37:46

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

37:49

All right, that's it for us.