0:00

It's hard to get advice from people who don't understand

0:02

what you got going on and don't understand

0:05

the lifestyle . If you don't show up today

0:07

, you're not going to eat . They're not in the thick of

0:09

it with you or haven't at least been through the thick

0:11

of entrepreneurship . It's hard for people

0:14

to really talk about how to get you

0:16

from point A to point B if they never took

0:18

the journey themselves .

0:21

The journey to wealth is a long walk and

0:23

some may walk quicker than others , but what good

0:25

is sprinting to the finish line if you pass

0:27

out when you cross it ? When walk to

0:29

wealth , we enlighten and empower

0:31

young adults to build wealthy , abundant

0:33

lives . They say the journey

0:36

of a thousand miles begins with a single

0:38

step and your first step starts

0:40

right now . This

0:42

is Walk To Wealth with your host

0:44

, John Mendez .

0:48

Hey everyone , welcome back to the Walk To Wealth podcast

0:50

. If you're tuning in on YouTube or any of the podcast

0:53

directories , make sure to do yourself

0:55

one teeny , tiny little favor and make

0:57

sure to give us a follow , because I don't want you

0:59

to miss out on any of the amazing

1:01

guests we have . Coming on Without further

1:03

ado . I have amazing guests

1:05

. I was able to go to Fincon in October

1:08

in New Orleans and I got to meet a ton

1:10

of amazing people . Honestly , in

1:13

terms of the people that I've met , hands down

1:15

, the best conference bar none . It wasn't

1:17

even close to the amount of amazing people I got to

1:19

meet this one lady named Shani

1:21

that I'm super excited to bring to you guys today

1:23

. Shani , for anyone who hasn't

1:26

had the opportunity yet , the pleasure

1:28

to get to know you , to get to meet you

1:30

, tell us a little bit about yourself . Who

1:32

are you and what do you do ?

1:35

I assist my clients with

1:37

what I would call money

1:39

therapy , in

1:41

terms of always being able to connect

1:43

your emotions back to

1:46

your money habits

1:48

Things

1:51

that you haven't accomplished yet , things

1:53

that you have already accomplished . What

1:57

does that teach

1:59

you about your emotional health and where

2:02

you are at this time ?

2:04

That's amazing . Now , Shani , before

2:06

we get into all the amazing good stuff you got

2:08

going on , take us back in a time

2:11

machine a little bit . What was Little Shani

2:13

like growing up ?

2:15

Little Shani grew up

2:18

very economically

2:22

pampered . I

2:24

would say I've

2:28

had a really , really good childhood

2:31

. As we reach to the

2:34

access that I have to financial resources

2:36

, the access that I have to education

2:38

, the access that I have to

2:41

a balanced emotional

2:43

environment to be raised

2:46

in was really , really good . That

2:49

was Little Girl Shani world . Then

2:52

I transitioned

2:55

into what

2:58

would be my

3:00

princess era that I

3:02

would call , when I was in

3:05

, actually , my princess Deep Rony

3:07

. Once I got to college

3:10

I realized that , oh

3:12

my gosh , money really doesn't grow

3:14

on trees . It does

3:16

, but not that kind . Most

3:23

of the I've been working myself

3:25

backwards to get myself

3:27

back to the amount of

3:30

financial , emotional

3:33

stability I felt as a child

3:35

. Most because

3:37

I feel that just

3:39

largely American

3:42

families really don't know how

3:44

to transition their children from

3:46

being children into being adulthood

3:48

. I don't think that it's specifically

3:51

my parents . I just think that it's a

3:54

larger challenge about being able

3:56

to get your children to move

3:58

through the sequence of adolescents

4:01

being a teenager , being a young adult , getting

4:03

into full-on

4:07

adulthood . I don't think that we

4:09

always do a good job of that

4:11

. Because

4:14

of it , I would call that particular

4:16

time period as being

4:18

like the financial

4:20

deep droning

4:23

of what I would consider to be

4:25

my princess era , while I'm

4:28

in church college .

4:30

Let me ask you something . Let's take you back

4:32

a little bit Before college . At any point in time

4:35

, like middle school , elementary or high school , were

4:37

you ever interested in money at all ? Was

4:39

money or something that you liked talking

4:41

about , or did you take an entrepreneurship class

4:44

in high school or something like that ? When

4:46

did that ever come into ?

4:48

play . I got my first

4:50

job when I was a sport team

4:52

. I was a candy striper . I

4:56

also worked for the movie theaters . I

4:58

would be the person who used to pack the nachos

5:01

. At that time

5:03

I had the opportunity to experience

5:05

what it was like to control my own money

5:07

. The money really

5:09

didn't have an assignment , it was just extra

5:11

. I didn't really have to do anything with the money

5:14

. There

5:16

wasn't anything like that . In

5:18

high school , I spent my time working

5:20

for the newspaper , being a part of the radio

5:22

station , being a part

5:24

of TV . Those were the experiences

5:27

that I had , not

5:30

so much in what it is that

5:32

you would be describing . Oh , wait

5:34

a minute . I did have one ballot

5:36

of entrepreneurship . Now that I think

5:38

about it , I would always be the person

5:40

selling the most Krispy Kreme donuts

5:42

. I one time

5:45

would have different type of competitions

5:47

for selling different things . I would be the person

5:49

that would win the competition because

5:51

I was not afraid to sell that chocolate

5:54

candy or go knock on doors

5:56

, any of those things like that . That

6:00

experience is not foreign to me

6:02

in terms of delving into entrepreneurship

6:05

.

6:05

That's amazing . That's pretty much

6:07

like door to door

6:09

sales 101 right there .

6:11

Oh man , that was like the ultimate

6:13

crash course , but it wasn't so hard

6:15

, I guess , because I was a child

6:17

. Most children would do that . Then the other

6:20

part of entrepreneurship . So now that you're getting me to jog my

6:22

memory , I wasn't really thinking about it . I also

6:24

grew up in a hair salon . One of

6:26

my biggest entrepreneurial

6:28

influences would be my grandmother . My

6:31

grandmother was a cosmetologist and

6:33

that's really where I learned entrepreneurship

6:35

. One on one . She

6:39

was able to . She had her

6:41

own business and then she used that

6:43

business to . She had like

6:45

what's called . I come from the banking world , so

6:48

she had what's called sticky products

6:50

right . So in the bank

6:52

, if you're a banker like when you come to the

6:54

bank they don't just want you to get a checking account . They

6:56

want you to get your debit card

6:58

there . They want you to get your mortgage there . They want

7:00

you to have your savings account there . They want you to

7:03

have your online banking there . They want you to get your car

7:05

loans there , because the more that you have there

7:07

, the more likely that you're not going

7:09

to advance in the bank and get your new one

7:11

right . They call those sticky products . So

7:14

my grandmother aside from

7:16

her having a cosmetologist business , she also

7:19

used to sell fake and then

7:21

she would sell like sodas , and

7:24

then she would also sell stuff

7:26

for the women to

7:28

be able to take care of their hair when they

7:30

went home , you know . So she

7:32

had all of these different ways

7:34

of being able to connect with her clients

7:37

on multiple levels . She

7:39

also was the kind of person

7:41

that would really like emotionally

7:44

get to know her clients . So I guess

7:46

that's why I don't just deal with the money

7:48

aspects of people . I

7:51

deal with the relational aspect of people

7:53

. That would be something that I learned with my grandmother

7:55

in terms of knowing that

7:57

whatever service that the person is

7:59

coming to you for is not

8:01

actually just that service

8:04

. You know , it's just two layers where it's

8:06

also a bonding experience that they're

8:08

connecting with you for . So they know

8:10

, trust and like you by some degree

8:12

, and then they're also coming to you for

8:15

that service per se . So now

8:17

that you're talking my memory , I'm thinking of

8:19

all the entrepreneurial experiences

8:22

that I've had , coming

8:25

into the breaking and the dethroning

8:27

of what would be considered

8:29

my princess .

9:01

Yeah , so it's funny that you mentioned that

9:03

. I feel like , for whatever reason and I'm not sure

9:05

like how this came together or why this

9:07

came together , but like , hair salons and

9:10

barber shops are like the

9:12

ultimate , you know , like environment

9:14

, just to talk about life and connect with people . For

9:17

whatever reason , I don't know , I

9:20

go in my barber shop and I go . I mean I've been going to my barber now

9:22

for almost five years . It's been a while

9:24

. Every

9:27

time , you know , you catch up and there's a point , once

9:29

he brings a razor out , I start , I stop talking

9:31

like that . That's like , hey , alright

9:34

, you focus up , do your job . Like

9:36

when he just like give me , like you know , my my little

9:38

taper on the side . You know

9:40

he was just chopping up about life and it's one of those situations

9:43

I you know you really get to connect

9:45

with the people that you're working with and get cut . You

9:47

know it's like my barber knows more

9:50

about my life than I'd

9:53

say some of my friends . Sometimes I

9:55

go barber shop maybe like once a month and some

9:57

friends , you know I especially like the low maintenance

9:59

friends that you know you're still cool and locked in but

10:01

you haven't seen in a while . It's like Barbara

10:04

knows more about me than they do and what I got

10:06

going on . So , but to fast

10:08

forward the story a little bit , you said you got dethroned in

10:10

college . That's when you realize money didn't

10:12

grow on trees . Well , it did , but not in the

10:14

way that you thought it did when you were younger , right ?

10:16

No , what was that ?

10:17

culture shock like because I was just I was talking

10:19

to another guy , I'm at that Fincon and

10:21

we were talking about how college like being

10:23

that broke college student Now you got to find

10:26

ways to be scrappy and make ends meet . So

10:28

what was that kind of culture shock like

10:30

? And I never you heard the term economically

10:32

pampered . It makes Cold

10:40

for disfoil .

10:43

I Was also the only child

10:45

for ten years , so I didn't

10:47

get a sibling until I was ten . So I

10:49

didn't have to share anything and after sharing

10:51

toys , I'm sure , anything . So

10:53

I kind of really have like a

10:55

very exclusive

10:57

, independent space to grow up in

10:59

, on top of being surrounded

11:01

by lots of adults who were , you

11:04

know , mid-age , so they have a lot of spare

11:06

change to support my projects and

11:08

my ideas and to give me conversation

11:10

. You know , it was just like this lap

11:13

of luxury , both economically

11:15

and emotionally . So

11:17

when I got to college

11:20

it was a lot different

11:22

in terms of it became apparent

11:24

that the resources that

11:26

my Parents

11:29

had access to well , specifically

11:31

my grandmother , because she was the one who was

11:33

mostly doting on me the

11:35

most Largely was in credit

11:37

. Was it necessarily in dollars

11:40

, you know ? So it wasn't really cash . So

11:43

obviously , when I got to college

11:45

, she was it that freedom that I once

11:48

had in terms of having access to her credit

11:50

card . So it felt like this endless amount of

11:52

money . When I got to college that

11:54

was no longer available to me . She was

11:56

a lot more on restrictive

11:59

on my access to the

12:01

cards , obviously because I was no longer living

12:04

in the home , so she needed to be able

12:06

to have a little bit more

12:08

control , so that my

12:10

ability to go into the store and just not

12:12

think about what something costs

12:14

was no longer available to me . You

12:16

know , I could go in rack up a $500

12:19

tab and not even think about it

12:21

. You know , and that's when I was like 12 , 13

12:23

that's like how I spit my teen years I just

12:25

never thought about it . You know , about a pair

12:28

of two , three hundred dollar jeans , never thought about

12:30

it . When I got to college , I literally

12:32

had to think about every single thing because

12:34

I didn't have access to this endless

12:36

amount of money anymore . You know , um

12:39

a lot of my the

12:42

individuals that I went to college with , some of their parents

12:44

, they have access to different levels of resources

12:47

. So I didn't have a car my first

12:49

year of college , but a lot of my roommates

12:52

and people that I was connecting with online

12:54

, they already had a car . You know , they have like

12:56

BMW , they would have , you know

12:58

. So I was like , oh , wow , yeah , these are real princesses

13:00

. I don't know what that was I had before . So

13:03

then the law , comparison starts to come

13:05

into play and that place , you know

13:07

, begins to play a role . Um , the

13:09

next year I was able to get a car , though

13:11

. The very next year my parents was able to go ahead

13:13

and give me a car . I had to help out with the penis , but

13:16

that was fine , I still had a car . The

13:18

way how , um ? So I still

13:20

went through a bit of bitterness

13:22

and , just like you know , just

13:24

it's like a baby having

13:26

a pacifier ripped out of their hand

13:28

without anybody actually , you know , telling

13:31

you about this . You know , right , a passage

13:33

that , for undergoing , I just felt like so

13:35

alone and my independence was

13:37

very overwhelming . You know , like I like

13:40

the independence and the freedom of being able to come

13:42

in whenever I wanted , not to have to have

13:44

any accountability , but I didn't

13:46

necessarily particularly care

13:48

for , um , the lack of

13:50

financial resources that I had access

13:53

to . So , um , at that time

13:55

, um , I developed like another syndrome

13:57

that I'm often not proud of , but

13:59

sometimes it does serve me Uh

14:01

, being a penny pincher . During

14:04

that period of time , I no longer had

14:06

the luxury of just being mindless about

14:08

picking up things in the , in the store , so

14:10

I became very Cheap

14:13

right when I looked at things . Now , I have

14:15

to look at the price , I have to look at the cost

14:17

. I never had to do that before um

14:20

, so I went through that process and

14:22

then , um I

14:25

, because I felt so

14:27

alone , you know , and so

14:30

overwhelmed by being responsible . I

14:33

then , um , I , started

14:35

working endlessly . So I

14:37

was a ra on college , so I never

14:39

had to worry about Staying on campus

14:41

. You know where would I go ? I worked

14:44

at the bookstore , so I would get this , this

14:46

count when it came to my books . I

14:48

was a part of student government and

14:51

my student government job actually

14:53

paid um , so

14:55

I didn't really have to go off campus

14:57

a whole lot because I would go to the different departments

14:59

on the campus and just become employed

15:02

through all of those different um departments

15:05

. Um , on top of being ra

15:07

, you get free housing . But not only getting free housing

15:09

, I also got like a financial staff stipend

15:12

for , you know , actually being there . So so

15:14

at that time

15:16

, when I went from the pinning penny pincher

15:19

, I became someone who like , kind of like

15:21

overworked and used

15:23

work as a way to kind of like avoid my family

15:25

, because I just didn't like that transition

15:28

. Now , as an adult , I realized that they

15:30

had their own responsibilities at their own

15:32

life . They really wasn't thinking about my right passage

15:35

and how to transition me from being a spoiled brad

15:37

to being , you know , a young adult , like they weren't really

15:39

thinking about . It's not something they do intentional . It's

15:41

just that largely Americans are just

15:43

not intentional about that process , you

15:45

know , in terms of just weaning their children off

15:48

from one financial resource to another

15:50

. So , um , I've

15:52

used work to kind of avoid that . I never want

15:55

to come home . I just feel , um

15:57

, I just felt overwhelmed

15:59

by my independence , so yeah , yeah

16:02

, I mean , I

16:04

mean For better or for worse .

16:06

I mean at least it was like a

16:08

productive and at least in some

16:10

case , hobby that you picked up , right

16:12

working as I are , you know

16:14

. I'm overwhelmed and responsibilities . I might

16:17

as well just work and make some money .

16:19

To escape .

16:20

It was like the root of it but like at least

16:22

you were getting paid to escape . A lot of people

16:24

find refuge and in you

16:28

know addictions that aren't as productive

16:30

For their well-being or the health

16:32

or you know , both mentally and physically

16:35

.

16:35

Yeah , yeah , thank you that . Thanks for pointing

16:37

that out . So that does have something

16:39

to do with the support of , just like

16:42

the endless amount of support that I felt . So

16:44

I never really , you know , got

16:46

into , um , any

16:49

types of addictions that

16:51

would , you know , have

16:54

any immediate consequences

16:56

, you know , like drinking , or

16:58

, you know , dancing , or getting

17:00

into relationships with men solely

17:03

for money . Um , you

17:05

know , those types of addictions

17:08

to kind of go from being one princess

17:10

to being another type of princess , I didn't

17:12

really get into that . I became my own

17:15

princess to myself . I would , you

17:17

know , work and you know , find

17:19

ways to be , you know

17:21

, economically sound

17:23

. Yeah , yeah .

17:25

And so you said in high school to

17:27

bring it back a little bit that you were doing like

17:29

newspaper , radio , tv , local

17:31

tv stuff . And then in college you

17:34

said you're at bookstore . Um , student

17:36

gov . What were you studying in school ? Was

17:38

it more so on like the media , press side of

17:40

things ?

17:40

Yeah , financial money

17:42

, mm-hmm . So I also , I didn't

17:45

. I don't have a finance degree , so I also

17:47

, when I went to college , I um , I

17:49

also worked on the schools news . That's

17:52

one of my other jobs . Like I had so many jobs , that

17:54

was one of my other jobs . I also worked for the tv

17:57

station . So I got paid

17:59

from the tv station the on campus tv station

18:01

. That was one of my jobs . To cover events and

18:03

get paid for that . Yeah , like literally

18:05

. I also worked at a call

18:07

center . Like I had so many

18:09

jobs , like so many

18:11

jobs , and I wasn't afraid . Like I , I was able

18:13

to balance my classes and going to work

18:15

. So , plus , because I was an

18:17

ra , I got a free lunch plan

18:19

. I didn't have to pay for food . Like I've

18:22

been like this for a long time .

18:24

You're so up in good positions .

18:26

Yeah , I did . I've been like this for a

18:28

long time and then . So

18:30

I didn't have a finance degree . Um

18:33

, my degree is in communications and

18:35

tv . But money , that whole idea

18:37

, like when you don't begin to

18:39

really be dealing with the root of

18:41

you know why do you make chances like still

18:43

to this day , Sometimes

18:45

I don't always feel

18:48

like , I

18:51

don't feel like underwhelmed

18:57

by my financial responsibilities

19:00

, Like I still sometimes can

19:03

really relate to that place

19:05

of just having like

19:08

the road

19:10

ripped from underneath me and

19:12

sometimes that causes me to shrink

19:14

right . So I'm

19:16

always like , okay , if I don't go too far

19:19

, you know , I have this level of comfort

19:21

that I can maintain . Well , whereas

19:23

I have accomplished a lot of things that

19:25

you know a lot of people be like oh , that's great

19:27

, that's really good , and you know that's great that you've done

19:29

that . But I still have that internal

19:32

feeling of like

19:35

, okay , the work could get ripped

19:37

under me again . So because of that

19:39

, when I graduated from school , I

19:42

most people , if you really want to become

19:44

a journalist , you have to go and

19:47

work in like a smaller city where

19:50

you can basically make your mistakes , Like

19:52

I'm from Miami who don't want to

19:54

be a young news reporter on

19:57

the seven o'clock news here

19:59

in Miami , because if you make a mistake , everybody

20:03

over the entire world is gonna know . But

20:06

, like if you're like in this very small

20:08

city , plant city , somewhere

20:10

that nobody really knows about , you have the opportunity

20:12

to reveal your reputation . You know , make

20:14

a few mistakes , you know . You

20:17

know grow , you know . But

20:19

so the salary at that particular time

20:22

, starting out , was like $16,000

20:24

. I'm thinking , oh my gosh

20:26

, there's no way . Like I'm not gonna be able to survive

20:29

on my own doing it . I'm not gonna make

20:31

it , I'm not gonna be able to take care

20:33

of myself , I'm not gonna do that . So

20:35

I cheated myself out of

20:37

the opportunity of going and

20:40

becoming a news reporter , just because I

20:42

really didn't feel like I would be able to financially

20:45

support myself , Whereas in I had

20:47

already did so many things to prove

20:49

to myself that I can't take care of myself

20:51

but because the wound

20:53

of feeling like I can't do

20:55

this caused

20:58

me to shrink and not make the , you

21:00

know , the best decisions . I made good decisions

21:03

, but not the best decisions . So

21:05

the first job that I was offered when I graduated

21:07

from school was a

21:10

job working for Home Depot

21:12

, the marketing department . It was for $45,000

21:15

. I got paid $600 every single

21:17

week . I bought my first home

21:19

by the time I was 22 . I

21:22

used my severance check to do it , took some money

21:24

out of them . 401k without any penalties

21:27

Like this is the life that Shawnee

21:29

can relate to right . It was a very comfortable

21:31

life . I understood it , it was clear and

21:34

I could travel on that money . I didn't

21:36

have many expenses . It was just

21:38

great for me . But

21:40

now , as a full-on adult , I'm

21:43

well aware on how that

21:45

process of transitioning from

21:47

you know , you know teenager

21:50

until young adult and

21:53

just not really feeling

21:55

financially confident , I

21:59

definitely made a lot of decisions

22:01

that supported my comfort

22:03

as a force to my

22:06

confidence .

22:09

That's good , that's deep yeah

22:11

, I feel like when it comes to and

22:13

not just money , but I feel like that's what a lot

22:15

of things in life a lot of people tend to do that , whether

22:17

it's dreams , whether it's , you

22:19

know , whether it's aspirations

22:22

, business ideas , whatever asking

22:24

for a raise or promotion , like . I

22:26

feel like a lot of people tend to make that

22:28

habit of making decisions based

22:30

off where they're at right now and not

22:32

where they know they should or could be . And

22:36

whether it's imposter syndrome or

22:38

whatever it may be , there's a bunch of different things

22:40

that could probably be . You know the fact of it but it's like

22:42

I think we're all guilty of like kind

22:45

of selling ourselves short a little bit in one way or another

22:47

. Now we're gonna say it

22:49

too . It's

22:52

like I remember me like

22:54

when

22:56

I first originally got into real

22:59

estate , right , I was asked to

23:01

teach social media classes , right

23:03

, and that's what kind of led to AI eventually . But

23:05

before , like the person

23:08

who asked me , my first response when they asked

23:10

me originally was , instead of saying yeah , like

23:12

was I never taught a class before

23:14

, right , and they

23:17

weren't coming to me on how

23:19

to sell houses , right , they were coming to me for social

23:21

media help , because I'm about a third of the age of most

23:23

realtors , and so it was just like a

23:26

situation where had they not said

23:28

, john , like that , there's no one you want to scheduled . I

23:30

could have fumbled a massive opportunity

23:33

right there , because at

23:35

that point in time I ain't sell a house . I

23:38

was like I got no business teaching y'all about anything

23:40

, even though it wasn't my idea

23:42

, it was their idea . They were coming to me asking me for

23:44

something and I was fumbling the bag

23:46

because I wasn't confident

23:49

enough in myself . I was more comfortable

23:51

not teaching the class because it's not something I've done

23:53

before . So I definitely resonate with that

23:55

, and that's just one example . So then let me

23:57

ask you to keep the kind of the story going

23:59

a little bit so for me and

24:02

there's a lot of men that listen to the podcast , so when

24:05

you start talking about emotions , a little bit right , we

24:07

got simplified , we got dumbed down a little bit so

24:10

for me , my first time ever really getting

24:12

into emotional intelligence

24:14

and just understanding

24:17

why I feel was

24:19

in junior year high school , about ish

24:21

. My best friend told me

24:24

about attachment styles and that

24:26

was my first time ever looking into why

24:28

I ticked or why I did certain things or

24:32

why I operated the way I did and maneuvered

24:34

the way I did when certain situations happened . And

24:36

I started doing a lot of reflection and as I started

24:38

learning more and more about like the emotional attachment

24:41

styles and I'm a little rusty now but I

24:44

started became pretty good at pattern

24:46

recognition I mean , humans are naturally pretty good at

24:48

pattern recognition but I started to become really

24:50

aware of like all the bad habits

24:52

and tendencies that I had that I built

24:55

. Don't know when I built them or how

24:57

they were built , but they were just almost

24:59

like pre-built , I guess you could say , into

25:01

me and it took me a

25:03

lot and I know you say you do a lot with

25:06

the emotional side of things . It's like when

25:08

do you start getting into learning

25:12

more about your emotional side and

25:14

when did you make the tie

25:16

to your finances ? Because I feel like most people

25:18

never at least make that second step of like

25:20

okay , maybe my emotions are driving how I spend

25:22

. Most people understand like their emotions control

25:25

you a little bit , but no one ever tends to tie

25:27

it to money . So two part question what

25:29

kind of got you more into like learning about that emotional

25:31

side and how to attach it to money ?

25:36

Okay . So

25:38

the way how I started focusing in

25:40

on there has to be something to

25:42

how people emotionally relate to

25:45

money , because when

25:47

I was a banker , so

25:49

eventually I worked for Home Depot

25:52

and then I went to go and sell cars for a little

25:54

bit and after I sold cars for

25:56

maybe about two years , I

25:58

then became

26:01

a banker and as

26:03

a banker I had the opportunity to

26:05

work in a very wealthy

26:08

neighborhood as well as

26:10

a very a

26:17

neighborhood where the

26:19

income was

26:22

minimum wage , right

26:24

. So I worked in afterloads

26:26

and then I worked in a

26:29

space where it's like minimum wage

26:31

and

26:33

largely in the community

26:36

of people who English was

26:39

not their first language , and

26:41

I would just look at how

26:44

much they work

26:47

and how

26:49

little they were compensated

26:51

for what it is that they did

26:53

, versus those

26:56

that were more professional

26:58

nurses , doctors

27:02

, attorneys

27:04

, all of these different spaces

27:08

of financial producers

27:11

and I would

27:13

observe what

27:15

those demographics would come to

27:17

the bank floor , so largely those

27:19

that had

27:24

economics at the minimum

27:26

wage . I would look in their accounts and they would have

27:28

40 , 50 , $60,000

27:30

in liquidity in their bank accounts

27:32

and I would always wonder how

27:35

is it that you make $8

27:38

, $10 an hour and you're able

27:40

to put this amount of liquid

27:42

aside versus in

27:44

the more affluent neighborhood

27:47

. Why is it that the majority of the

27:49

people came in arguing about

27:51

taking over drafts in y'all

27:53

? They were getting

27:55

denied for loans . They

27:58

wanted to prematurely

28:01

apply for personal loans in order

28:03

to get themselves out of some type

28:05

of financial

28:07

orange rut that they had

28:09

gotten themselves into . So

28:12

I started to look at

28:14

hey , why are

28:16

people at this level saving

28:19

so much more money in ? These people are

28:21

such a deficit-based on

28:23

education and employment

28:25

. And that's when I started

28:27

emotionalizing money . Those

28:31

that didn't find money easy to

28:33

come by . They just had

28:35

a different relationship with money . They

28:37

were more likely to hoard things

28:39

and to hold on to them . They

28:43

rarely overdraft their accounts simply because

28:45

they weren't living some

28:48

grand lifestyle there

28:50

wasn't tons of dining out

28:52

and came splitting the field

28:54

of under the friends . That just wasn't data

29:00

versus those that had a

29:02

job that suggested that

29:06

they should have a level of lifestyle

29:09

. They were putting themselves in these financial

29:11

bonds . So that's when I began to

29:13

kind of like emotionalize it For

29:16

my own self . I

29:18

think I started to be able to do that

29:20

for others before

29:24

I began to do it for myself , before

29:27

I started having that connection with

29:29

myself . The

29:31

connection that I was beginning to emotionally

29:34

relate to money is once I had

29:36

my first son , because

29:38

I didn't move from being

29:41

a banker into being an

29:43

entrepreneur , which means that

29:46

I had the opportunity to

29:48

really spend way more time with

29:50

myself . Entrepreneurship is a deep

29:52

dive into self-development because

29:55

in entrepreneurship you're going to fail

29:57

a whole lot more

30:00

versus when you are working

30:02

. When you're a full-time

30:04

employee , even if you are failing

30:06

, you may not hit those commissions

30:09

, but you're not going to

30:11

not be able to eat

30:13

because you're going to get paid . You're

30:15

going to get that check versus

30:18

when you're an entrepreneur , you

30:20

have to create value

30:22

and present the value that you

30:24

create and people have to want

30:26

to exchange with the value that you're putting

30:29

in front of them . So there's a few different layers

30:31

of that and sometimes

30:33

you can get yourself stuck in whichever

30:35

of those particular cycles about

30:38

your production and things like that . And

30:41

because I was then again

30:43

, as an entrepreneur , taking myself back

30:45

to that spot where I felt the most financially

30:48

vulnerable

30:50

, when I had just gotten to college and

30:52

changing up the way that

30:55

I had access to money because my parents

30:58

were no longer affording it

31:00

, I began to relate entrepreneurship

31:02

back to when I felt unstable

31:05

and just not in control of my resources

31:08

again . And then I was able to

31:10

connect those stories to see like , ok , why

31:13

are you feeling so

31:15

financially vulnerable ? What

31:18

do we need to do to answer this

31:20

call again to get yourself

31:22

up to speed with

31:24

the goals that you're setting versus

31:27

the goals that you're actually

31:29

accomplishing ? So that's when the

31:31

conversation began to

31:33

start happening more on an internal level

31:35

. One because that's entrepreneurial you spend way more

31:38

time by yourself and your

31:40

failure is way more apparent

31:42

, so you have to interface with it more

31:45

often . You can't just bat it

31:47

off because it's like right in your face .

31:52

No , 100% . I like to keep

31:54

going like that . That bat analogy . You're like

31:56

to bat it off right , maybe ? Think of like for

31:58

entrepreneurship . You're going to strike

32:00

out a lot more in

32:03

life when you're an entrepreneur , but

32:05

you're also going to hit a whole lot more home

32:07

runs if you stick with it .

32:08

Oh yeah , oh yeah , For sure .

32:10

And to say and then home

32:12

runs . Eventually they become grand slams

32:14

and I don't take too many grand slams before

32:17

, like your name , start popping off real . But

32:19

it's like it's that

32:21

rich reward , right , the valleys are deeper right

32:23

. And the peaks are higher right

32:25

. And so taking that run

32:28

and the

32:30

thing was starting off too is that you mentioned . It's like

32:32

a deep dive into self-reflection and personal development

32:34

. It's like , when you're starting off , usually most

32:37

people are in your circle , especially

32:39

like , statistically speaking , the

32:41

majority of the world are employees . So

32:44

it's hard as , unless you start

32:46

going to masterminds very early on and stuff

32:49

like that which most entrepreneurs don't even found

32:51

out about , like masterminds and conferences , until

32:53

, like , they start growing a little bit more as an entrepreneur

32:55

. So usually them earlier days are spent

32:57

with just you in the mirror and that's

32:59

it , and you questioning why nothing is working

33:02

.

33:02

Yeah , why are you telling me ? And ?

33:02

you trying to figure out everything ?

33:04

Yeah , so

33:07

that internal process gave

33:09

me the opportunity to start plugging into

33:11

this , you know , looking at some of my own dysfunctional

33:14

habits and

33:16

just going and allowing myself to grow

33:19

. You know I've been an entrepreneur for the last

33:21

four years , so I've seen a lot of phases

33:23

. You know I've seen a lot of failures

33:25

. I've seen a lot of successes . I've seen a lot

33:27

of miracles . I've seen a lot of deficits . I've

33:30

seen almost every type

33:33

of you know weather

33:36

of a financial , I mean of

33:38

a entrepreneur . You know , like

33:40

, I've seen almost every client . You know I've seen

33:42

every cash client . You know , and

33:44

I know that miracles do happen . You

33:46

know , I know

33:49

that deficits happen because I live them . So

33:51

during those different phases

33:54

of who I was financially , I

33:56

had the opportunity to go

33:58

through all of those phases . But what I noticed

34:00

from even new financial level

34:03

that I have the opportunity to go through , I

34:06

wouldn't call it little girl Shawnee , I would call

34:08

it two-naked Shawnee . It's always there to meet

34:10

me and to question me about stability

34:13

. You know , little girl Shawnee really doesn't

34:15

have a whole lot of questions about money because she

34:17

grew up in a lack of luxury . You know she really

34:19

didn't have any . You know

34:21

frustrations . You know Versus

34:25

when I became , you know , a

34:28

young adult in

34:30

college . That's the woman that

34:32

I often have to interface with

34:34

about you know , what are you willing to do to

34:36

get to your next level ? Are

34:39

you going to shrink or are you going to swim

34:41

, you know ? So that's

34:43

the girl that I have to go back to to

34:46

kind of challenge myself with

34:48

. You know , learn a lot from her

34:50

as we age to you

34:52

know , shrinking as we learn to expanding

34:55

, taking risks . You know , sometimes like , okay

34:57

, do you want to not take a risk again ? Because

34:59

, remember , you never did become that news reporter

35:01

? You know , never did because you're so afraid

35:03

and you're just so afraid of business and that . Do

35:06

you want to have that conversation about

35:08

? You know your 30-year-old self ? You know your

35:10

35-year-old self , do you want to have that conversation

35:13

? So oftentimes I have to

35:15

push that person to . You

35:18

know , go forward in that way . So

35:20

I learn a lot from

35:22

that version of Shani in

35:25

terms of her capacity to level

35:27

up as well as her capacity to

35:29

kind of just like you know , bearing

35:31

grant and just , you know , fill her little

35:33

stuff .

35:35

Yeah , you remind me of . You

35:38

know , what you said

35:40

reminded me of this lady I interviewed on a podcast

35:42

a few a little while , a few

35:44

months ago . It was named Shrmitria . She's

35:47

really a nice lady and she

35:49

was talking about , like how

35:52

, an entrepreneurship

35:54

and just in life in general

35:56

, how , pretty much how , there's

35:59

so many times where we , like , we

36:02

get in these situations where times

36:05

start getting tough , as you mentioned , like you know

36:07

, the financial distress that comes to entrepreneurship

36:09

, and that's when a lot of like the

36:12

stuff that we did know that was deep

36:14

inside starts to pop out . And

36:17

so I kind of wanted

36:19

to ask you a little bit it's like when

36:21

you were going through those times , especially because , you know

36:23

, emotions tended

36:25

to , like , control us a lot of times , and a lot

36:27

of times it's not until

36:29

it hits the fan that

36:31

things start coming to the surface that

36:33

we didn't know we had deep down . So it's

36:35

like times like that , you know , how

36:38

are you able to ? You know , keep

36:40

your , you know your money

36:42

habits and your financial habits

36:44

in at least where they needed

36:46

to be ? Or , if they even got off course , how do you get them back

36:48

on track to where they needed to be so

36:51

you didn't catch yourself , you know , reverting

36:53

back to old habits for a long period

36:55

of time .

36:58

So was I able to ? So

37:00

then there's your . So there's the

37:03

your actual physical financial

37:05

habits and then your

37:08

mental

37:10

financial habits that you have to be

37:12

aware of . So you could be doing

37:14

something with your physical habits that

37:17

are not really that . There's

37:19

for mental to you . You know , like

37:22

you can just be saving all of your money

37:24

and just putting it to the side

37:26

, you know . But mentally

37:29

you're also not doing anything

37:31

to move yourself forward , like you're not investing

37:33

, you're not learning any new skills , you're just sort

37:35

of just holding on to the money and

37:37

sitting in the same spot , not taking

37:40

any risks , not doing anything

37:42

. So meant . So physically you look like

37:44

someone who is doing the right

37:47

thing by just putting money to the side . Well

37:49

, inflation is going to play a large role

37:51

in that . What you can get for

37:54

$40,000 today

37:56

will not be what you can get for $40,000

37:59

in three years , right , it definitely

38:02

wasn't what you can get with $40,000

38:05

five years ago , right , it's

38:07

just a different world . So

38:09

you have to be aware

38:11

of both of your dynamics . Have

38:13

to be aware of your physical dynamics

38:15

as well as your mental dynamics , and your

38:17

mental dynamics matter way

38:20

more . So I

38:23

, the way , how I pull myself

38:25

out of like different

38:27

levels is

38:29

I have accountability , so

38:32

I have to meet with my accountant , right , I

38:35

have assistance on my team . I have to meet

38:37

with them , and those conversations

38:39

are not always . You

38:41

know , hey , this is

38:43

really great . You know it's like , okay

38:46

, this is how you've been underperforming

38:48

. You know what type

38:50

of habits , what type of plan , what

38:52

type of behaviors do you now want to put

38:54

in place so that you can

38:57

ascertain the new level

38:59

that you want . Do you want to stay where you are or

39:01

do you want to move forward ? So one of

39:03

the biggest things for me is allowing

39:05

myself to have that financial vulnerability

39:08

with people that you

39:10

know like they're my friend and a way

39:12

, but not so much . They're more so there

39:14

for the accountability . So the

39:17

friendship is not really the biggest aspect

39:19

of it , the accountability in the mirror

39:21

that they reflect back to me to show

39:23

me hey , shawnee , this is where you are and

39:25

this is where you've been for a while . And

39:27

then there's some other partnerships that I

39:29

have that you know I also

39:32

have like publicist and things like that . So they

39:34

send me checks , you know they

39:36

pick up my brand sponsorships and you

39:38

know so I may be filling a certain kind of way about

39:41

one aspect of my business . But I can have a meeting with them and they'll

39:43

be like , oh well , you picked up an

39:45

extra $30,000 this year doing this

39:47

. And then they'll be like , oh well , this

39:49

part of my business may not be working , but this

39:51

part of my business is working . So I

39:53

would say , having accountability

39:57

and relationships

39:59

that will allow

40:02

you to be vulnerable has

40:05

played a very large role

40:08

in my ability to move

40:10

through some of those different

40:13

levels of my entrepreneurship

40:15

.

40:15

Yeah , I love that

40:17

there's one of those things where , when

40:22

it comes to , like

40:24

you said , like the

40:27

accountability piece so that's

40:29

part of the reason why I started joining a couple masterminds-

40:31

and as to talk about what we talked

40:34

about earlier , about like entrepreneurship and starting off

40:36

and it being kind of a little lonely and a journey into personal

40:38

development . It's hard

40:40

to get advice from people who don't understand

40:43

what you got going on

40:45

. Understand the lifestyle of

40:48

if you don't show up today , you're

40:50

not going to eat , you're not going to have

40:52

nothing to you know , come

40:54

back to . So it's like most

40:57

people , as you said , show up and they're good , whether they

40:59

give it 150% or to give it 50%

41:02

or less than 50% and it's like

41:04

the check cut is coming in and it's not

41:06

until and a

41:08

lot of people give advice on theory and

41:11

a lot of ideas sound good , but

41:13

it's like man , if

41:15

they're not in the thick of it with you

41:17

or haven't at least been through the thick of , you

41:19

know , of entrepreneurship , it's

41:21

hard for people to really talk about

41:23

how to get you from point

41:26

A to point B if they never took the journey themselves

41:28

or experience .

41:29

Well , you know what I like

41:31

both you know . I like having

41:34

people that are

41:36

in entrepreneurship share

41:39

guidance . You know different

41:41

experiences with me and I also like to work

41:43

with because , like my team is

41:45

made up of , you know

41:47

, in my group of people . So

41:49

I have an accountant , I

41:53

have an assistant

41:55

. I have a movie about four

41:57

assistants that work with like different aspects

41:59

and they're all at different financial levels

42:01

of themselves . So

42:03

what they share with me is from

42:06

you know different aspects . You know some

42:08

of them have not been in different years

42:11

, like myself , right , so they

42:13

may be first or second

42:15

or third year entrepreneurs . So they're

42:17

hungry , you know they have a different hunger . They're

42:20

not jaded . They haven't experienced so

42:22

much failure that you

42:24

know maybe I'm thinking about giving up . And

42:28

then there's some that I

42:30

communicate with that just have like an amazing

42:32

work ethic and then some

42:35

just are able to really like

42:37

. When I work with the individuals that work on my

42:39

branding team , they have a way of

42:41

, like you know , getting

42:43

money with the ease . You know like they

42:46

work with $100,000 contracts

42:48

. You know $50,000 contract . That's

42:50

their world , that's where they communicate . So

42:52

I like interfacing

42:55

with people from varied

42:57

financial experiences

42:59

as well as varied levels of entrepreneurship

43:02

because , depending on the

43:04

time and within this , that person is going to come

43:06

in and feel , you

43:08

know , one of my assistants

43:10

exclusively works

43:13

with me only on like take off

43:15

and she's young I think she's 21

43:17

years old , but he's young

43:19

and sometimes she'll just

43:22

like like well , you got to just do it

43:24

like this and I'm just thinking to myself about

43:26

the amount of experience and how things should

43:28

be done . But it should come in

43:30

and shatter those thoughts because he's

43:32

young , you know , he has like a different

43:35

perspective . You know like she

43:37

isn't as far on her thoughts and things

43:39

like that so she can offer something . You

43:41

know new to me that you

43:43

know that I may just be missing

43:45

out just because I've been doing something a

43:47

certain kind of way for so long and just

43:50

rigid on my ideas . So

43:52

I welcome the

43:54

entrepreneurial advice

43:57

from you know , any level . I like

43:59

to speak with people who have struggled and

44:01

those who have it , you know , because

44:04

you have struggled , remind

44:06

me of you know young Shawnee

44:08

, you know . And then those who aren't struggling

44:10

, reminds me , you know , puts me in perspective

44:13

of one when I'm not

44:15

struggling , you know like okay , I

44:17

can see a little over the riverband , or they put me

44:19

in touch with success that

44:21

I have accomplished before , and it can be a reminder

44:23

. So it really depends on the day and time

44:26

, so the right people always show up , though

44:28

, so 100%

44:30

, and the people that want you

44:33

to show up more in their life .

44:35

How can we connect with you , shawnee ? How can we find

44:37

you ? How can we keep up with all the amazing things

44:39

you have going on on all the social media platforms

44:41

and all the channels and everywhere ?

44:43

So I am her

44:46

empowerment on all social spaces

44:48

. So you can always find me there I

44:51

do offer was called a financial

44:53

wellness score

44:56

, where you have the opportunity to

44:58

kind of look at your score . You

45:00

can also help you be able to see your

45:02

reluctancies , your stagnations

45:05

if you're more interested in the money

45:07

, the money therapy

45:09

aspect , whereas in we can find

45:11

your you know

45:14

, young Shawnee

45:16

, because I'm sure everyone has a young

45:18

Donnie , a young Marquise

45:21

, a young whatever your name is , fill in the

45:23

blank . That person is there

45:25

and you have to make sure that you're

45:27

not only learning from

45:29

the parts of yourself that that

45:32

is successful but also can take lessons

45:34

from the parts of yourself that

45:37

failed . You know both

45:39

of them are your friends and together

45:41

you guys are able to learn to

45:43

do life in a way that you're really proud of . So we

45:46

can find you on anything . Person empowerment

45:48

. I have a 15 million money

45:50

pair concession where in

45:53

there we can kind of like find your trigger

45:55

space real quickly and I

45:57

work with groups as well as individuals

45:59

. So I look forward

46:02

to helping you transcend

46:04

and transmute whatever

46:06

stage and level that you might be in

46:08

to get to your next level .

46:11

Amazing and that's going to be in the show notes

46:13

for anyone that is interested . Make sure to take

46:15

her up on that . She is got to

46:17

eat lunch for Shawnee and a couple other people over

46:19

at Fincon and had a amazing time

46:22

chatting with her , so definitely go

46:24

check out the show notes . And now it's time for

46:26

our famous five questions . Okay

46:29

, question number one what

46:32

is the most impactful lesson you've

46:34

learned in life ?

46:46

I was going to share one , but I wasn't money . What

46:49

is the most impactful lesson ? Showing

46:53

up . I think showing up is really

46:55

, really , really important

46:57

. Like

47:00

I've had the opportunity to win . I've

47:04

gone to certain workshops and I

47:06

could be answering questions in the audience

47:09

and lay in one TV

47:11

within the next 2 weeks . Right

47:13

, that's actually how I got my

47:16

most consistent news

47:19

contribution On

47:21

Sending

47:24

on CBS just by showing

47:26

up . I've also

47:29

been in a space where that

47:31

time I think I'm going to have 400

47:33

followers on

47:35

on YouTube and

47:38

I landed my first farm for

47:40

$10,000 . Sometimes

47:43

I do videos . I can do 4 videos

47:46

and I'll get paid $15,000

47:50

. So

47:52

I just say

47:55

, no matter if you are entrepreneur

47:58

or if you are

48:00

employed

48:02

, that by showing up

48:04

to your next

48:06

phase , oftentimes

48:08

you will be seeing different scenes

48:11

that

48:13

you torture next level . So that

48:16

would be one of my biggest lessons . Like

48:18

show up . The one that I was going to share that has

48:20

nothing to do with money is like don't internet

48:22

dude . Like

48:28

I think that's the one I didn't want to say that

48:30

did I mean you do it , but I

48:32

just found like , for instance

48:34

, the . It is actually like everything

48:36

is economics . For me , everything is economics

48:38

. Like it all comes down to the bottom line . So

48:41

oftentimes , like a lot of times , a lot

48:43

of people will like be flirting

48:45

with me and my DMs and you know they

48:47

get wrapped into the fantasy or

48:49

whatever they take me and I just

48:52

think it's just a really

48:54

, really poor use of your time

48:56

. I think that for the most part

48:59

, if you don't have a lot

49:01

of financial wherewithal , it's better

49:03

for you to date local , because

49:05

what it takes to really build a

49:07

solid connection with the person requires

49:10

that you are , you know , interfacing

49:12

with that person in the physical aspect . And

49:14

if you're just not financially sound

49:17

, you just don't have the financial resources

49:20

to be . You know flying

49:22

back and forth , you know

49:24

paying for dinners and arguing

49:26

about 5050 or whatever it

49:28

is that you have going on . It's

49:31

just not financially savvy

49:33

. I think that people should really date local

49:35

and oftentimes if you show up in my

49:37

DMs , I always point them back like

49:39

it's more sensible and

49:42

more affordable for you to date a woman

49:44

in your city , in your town . That's

49:46

just a better use of your time . So

49:48

that was the first answer , but

49:50

that was like that's not how we think we do

49:52

with people .

49:54

I think that's valid advice because I feel like

49:56

a lot of people like Tinder and

49:58

stuff like that it's starting to become more and more just like hook

50:00

up apps and stuff and people get

50:02

caught up in a fantasy of like , oh

50:04

, it looks good , it feels good , but it's not real

50:07

. It's not . It could be real

50:09

, but it's like it's not real , as I said

50:11

, in the physical sense . It's through

50:13

a phone or whatever . So I definitely

50:16

agree with that .

50:17

Yeah , and if you're going to be able to actually

50:19

build a sustainable relationship

50:22

, it requires some physical

50:24

interaction . We're not just talking about sexual

50:27

intimacy . We're talking about you know

50:29

, going to the grocery store , sitting

50:31

in a line together , you

50:33

know , getting annoyed , you

50:35

know like you need that in real time

50:38

. So , yeah , that's what it's going to say .

50:40

No , 100% , All right . So

50:43

next topic or next question is

50:45

what is the most admirable trait

50:47

a person can have the most

50:49

who Not for dating Most admirable

50:51

?

50:52

Oh , the most admirable . I think

50:55

self reflection is the

50:57

most admirable part of who

51:00

a person is . So it doesn't

51:02

matter so much what you have done . It

51:04

matters Do you have the capacity

51:06

to course correct . That's what matters

51:08

more than anything , because I'm not a 10 year

51:10

probably going to do something financially , you're

51:13

probably going to do something humanly . That

51:15

is just from an outdated version

51:18

of yourself . You know your money habits

51:20

, your thinking habits , your conflict resolution

51:22

habits . There's this out of date . So

51:24

if you have the capacity to self reflect

51:27

, self reflecting , have the capacity to grow

51:29

and that's financially , you know

51:31

, in almost

51:33

in category , just if you

51:35

can self reflect .

51:39

If you had to change someone's life but you only had

51:41

one book , which book would you recommend ?

51:43

Thinking World Rich by Colleen Hill .

51:49

What is the legacy that you're working on leaving behind

51:51

?

51:56

Oh true , so I own quite a

51:58

bit of financial real estate , so

52:00

I spend a lot of time with my

52:02

children in

52:04

helping them understand financial

52:08

wealth . I

52:10

feel that it's not something that they fumble . And

52:13

then I also do

52:15

a lot of self reflection on myself

52:18

to make sure that I'm not just passing

52:20

them money , but I'm also

52:22

passing them emotional health in

52:25

hopes of there , when they themselves

52:28

are in control of

52:30

the financial

52:32

resources that I've been

52:34

able to accumulate up until this

52:36

point , that hopefully they'll have the

52:38

emotional intelligence to

52:40

grow them , as opposed

52:42

to just wonder

52:47

.

52:50

And final question for anyone

52:53

that wants to embark on their walk 12 today

52:55

what is the first step you recommend they take

52:57

?

52:59

if they want to walk to a , to start walking

53:02

right , to just start

53:04

hitting that actual pain . One of the things

53:06

that I've done after you and

53:08

I've met is that it's

53:11

a goal for me to get 10,000 steps

53:13

every day , and for the most part I do . Sometimes

53:16

I come like right at 8,000 on

53:19

the weekend specifically , but

53:22

walking and being outdoors

53:25

is huge for your

53:27

emotional well being and

53:29

if something's very emotional well being

53:31

, it won't be long before

53:33

it catches up to your physical

53:36

well being . On

53:38

the root word and wealthy is well

53:40

, so it begins to embrace

53:43

wellness within your physicality

53:45

Then you're going to catch

53:47

up . So take a walk .

53:51

Amazing Shawnee . It was amazing

53:53

having you on the podcast . I'm so glad we were able to connect

53:55

that thin con and I'm so excited

53:57

to continue into collab and grow with

53:59

each other . Thanks again for having on .

54:02

Thank you . Thank you for having me . I always enjoy

54:04

speaking with you .