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Episode #124 — The Holistic Wallet with Michelle Bobrow

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Where do you start when it comes to getting your finances in order? On today’s episode of Financial Fluency, I have Michelle Bobrow with me. Michelle is the founder and personal finance strategist behind The Holistic Wallet. The Holistic Wallet is a place where people can help you set a financial foundation and provide creative and casual guidance to reign-in control of your spending, overcome your mental money blocks, and optimize your cash flow.

Michelle shares her path to The Holistic Wallet and what led her to make the transition to become a personal finance strategist. She recalled graduating in the recession and had $55K of consumer loans from spending in college.  To defer the student loans, she started grad school with no real direction in what she wanted to do. Her first job was with a bank, and it was an excellent opportunity to earn money.

Because she was making significant money, Michelle wanted to optimize how she was spending it.  Michelle has a background and degree in women’s studies, and when she first started in finance, she noticed how masculine the entire industry was and continues to be today. Michelle found a way to feminize the financial world, and help others seek the emotional, “right-brain-side” of finance. All of her research helped her create ideas and ideologies of personal finances. And now, The Holistic Wallet is her full-time gig.

Notable Quotes from Michelle

 

“We are relating to media messages and things we’re supposed to buy because it’s supposed to make us feel good.”

“We keep spending and pushing the envelope because we’re looking for that boundary.”

“Our financial lives are always going to be changing. There’s always going to be a variable expense that comes up whether we anticipate it or not—there’s so much variation in our lives and finances.”

“Our financial lives are always going to be a work in progress.”

Michelle’s Personal Message

“In the 5 years it took me to increase my net worth by $100K, I went from spendaholic to burnt-out personal finance addict. It seems innocent enough to make positive lifestyle changes but when you spend most of your waking minutes obsessing over them, you kind of forget to live your life. I’d love to share what ignited my obsession with personal finance, how it consumed my life, why being addicted to something good can actually be bad, and what I did to create a more balanced relationship with money.”

To learn more about Michelle and The Holistic Wallet, visit theholisticwallet.com or follow her on social media:


Resources

Money Cleanse Ebook: http://moneycleanse.theholisticwallet.com

#124 — The Holistic Wallet with Michelle Bobrow

Michelle Bobrow is the founder and personal finance strategist behind The Holistic Wallet and is here to lighten up your relationship with your money. Having gone from shopaholic to personal finance addict, Michelle now focuses on money psychology to integrate healthy and balanced financial habits into our lives. Set yourself up for big savings in 7 simple steps by grabbing your free copy of The Money Cleanse. http://moneycleanse.theholisticwallet.com

If you enjoyed this episode you can subscribe to Financial Fluency here on iTunes and listen every week. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and leave an awesome iTunes review.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

If you’re enjoying the podcasts and something has lit a fire for you, carry on the conversation over on the Financial Fluency Facebook Group. And if you are interested in creating some Happy Money Habits, check out my free PDF here!

Jen x

Episode #97 – Own Your Money with Belinda Rosenblum

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Does your money own you? Do you find yourself sticking your head in the sand instead of facing money problems head-on? Today on Financial Fluency, we have Belinda Rosenblum. She’s a CPA, author, and creator of Money Maker’s Academy. Today she’ll talk about how to develop the skills you need to manage money, rewrite your money story and ultimately, own your money.

Belinda had a thriving 15-year career in corporate finance. During that time, she recalled feeling like she was checking her personality at the door. She was bored. Belinda was working without the problem-solving, and she missed the emotional connection with other people. In May of 2007, she decided to start her business, one year after leaving her corporate job. (And one year before the infamous 2008 stock market crash.)

At first, Belinda planned on transitioning into a financial advisory role. She wanted to be the financial therapist who could help nurse clients back to a stronger relationship with money, and help them understand the tactical side of what they need to do. After talking to several women, she turned down the advisory job, started her own business, and launched her first program in December 2007. She had 12 people in her first workshop; those people in the group set the foundation for the rest of the year. In 2008, everything crashed. Despite that, Belinda claims it was the recession that helped her grow her business. Everyone was spending more than they were making. There were no “financial coaches” in the game ten years ago, so she was able to lead the way as a financial specialist to help clients work through their money stress.

Belinda’s mission is to transform the way people think, feel, and act with money to give them back their power over their money mindset and money management. She notes money management is a learned skill. There’s nothing wrong with you because you haven’t learned how to manage your money. What matters is knowing what actions to take based on what your numbers are telling you.

Belinda’s Money Advice

“People feel stuck in their circumstance. We feel broken when we’re not good with money. It’s as if other people know what they’re doing when really, they don’t. People spend a lot of time hiding what they don’t know about money. It’s a skills problem. There’s a gap between where we are, what we know now, and where we want to be.”

For more information about Belinda and her online workshops, visit her directly on her website: www.OwnYourMoney.com or follow her on social media.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ownyourmoney/

Twitter – @ownyourmoney

New online free workshop: ShiftYourMoneyDestiny.com

 

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Resources

Personal Workshop http://ownyourmoney.com/video/destiny/

Business Owner’s Workshop http://ownyourmoney.com/video/destiny-business/

Money Makers Academy Program www.ownyourmoney.com/academy

Also check out  90 Day Year

Belinda Rosenblum

Belinda Rosenblum is a CPA and Wealth Expert who helps you take the worry and fear out of money. She believes life is supposed to be fun, and money is supposed to fund it for you!

Belinda is the creator of the Money Makers Academy, a monthly step-by-step program teaching you the essential money skills and mindset that you may assume everyone else knows but actually very few people were ever properly taught.

Belinda is the coauthor of the book, SELF-WORTH TO NET WORTH: 12 Keys to Creating Wealth Inside and Out, offering a step-by-step approach to help you build your financial self-esteem and manage your own financial life. If she’s not talking about financial freedom, Belinda is likely enjoying the sunshine and chasing after her marathon-running husband and 2 spirited toddlers.

Episode #93 Understand Business Finances with Liz Lajoie

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Are you feeling out of balance with the money for your business? Today on Financial Fluency, we are chatting with the lovely Liz Lajoie. Liz is the owner of Stratera Business Solutions, a consultancy that helps coaches and creative professionals manage their finances. In this episode, Liz will give us an insider look into her new book which is being released today, that details how to manage and understand your business finances. With this, you’ll be able to free up your time so you can do more of what you love and achieve your zen.

Liz has a strong background in professional services and business management. She spent a decade as a business manager, CFO, and partner for a civil structural engineering firm. Liz was invited into the ownership and became the only woman in the ownership group. During that time, she suffered from a mystery illness that seemed to have no true diagnosis. After several years, she discovered her illness was Lyme disease. The disease put things into perspective for Liz and made her realize what kind of work made her happy—helping people sort out their small business finances while helping them achieve their goals.

Money management is a process. Liz’s book From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow is a financial how-to book for small businesses and entrepreneurs that will walk you through the best financial practices. Her goal is to have readers feel confident about their money and better understand all the ins and outs of being a small business owner. The book goes through how to read financial statements, setting aside money for taxes, how much money to take out of your business to pay yourself, and more. Liz drives home a key point—you can’t do things right if you don’t have a handle on it.

Some of Liz’s business tips:

  1. Separate personal and business money.
  2. Create a business checking account.
    1. Note: If you haven’t created an LLC or an incorporated company, it might be hard to open a business checking account. In that case, open up a separate checking account to manage your business finances.
  3. Use a financial accounting system to give you a full financial picture.
  4. Look at your cash flow regularly in order to keep accurate reports for your business.
  5. Scan paper receipts to one location to keep a track of everything.
  6. Assess your client onboarding process as the business owner to develop and nurture your relationship(s).

Liz Shares Words of Financial Wisdom

“Take a look your initial onboarding and/or contract flow to get cash in hand is. It can be an area that takes a lot of time, which can affect how long it takes for us to get paid. It’s a great opportunity to develop a great client relationship. Your contracts, invoices, receipts—anything written for your service can be a part of your client communication. The better you are at that, the more the client is going to love working with you. And they may be great as a referral or a continued client.”

Connect with Liz

You can connect with Liz on her website www.staterabusiness.com, or follow her on social media.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lizlajoie

Facebook: www.facebook.com/staterabusiness

Twitter: @staterabusiness

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Resources

Get Liz Lajoie’s book, From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow 

Zen Calculator: https://staterabusiness.com/zencalculator

Stratera Business Solutions: http://www.staterabusiness.com/

Quickbooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

HubDoc: http://hubdoc.com/

 

#93 - Understand Business Finance with Liz LajoieLiz’s passion is partnering with coaches and creative professionals to help them focus on their clients and grow their businesses. She loves to support her clients as they learn the ins and outs of managing their money, and finding ways to increase profits while decreasing any stress associated with their business’s finances. She believes it can be intimidating to face your finances as an entrepreneur. When you jump over the hurdle of “I just don’t want to know” and get comfortable with your numbers, amazing things can happen and you realize how much better you feel about your money, your business, and the life you’re working hard to build.

Her new book From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow is available on Amazon Thursday, May 18th.

She also has a fun, free tool – The Zen Calculator – which helps identify the top money-making numbers and how to use them to grow your business. Get access to the calculator here: www.staterabusiness.com/zencalculator.