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Hey, BA fam. What's up? Welcome to the BA QA where we take your questions and I need you to get your salt shakers out because I don't need y'all suing me. Please, please don't. I have a lot of big goals for brown ambition and none of those involves being the party of a lawsuit, okay? So get your salt shakers out because everything I'm saying is infotainment.
So I'm giving you my opinions. This is not meant to be personalized investment, business, career, life, health, wellness, whatever we're talking about, not personalized to you and your situation. So yeah, take it with a little shake of salt. This has been an incredible month. I can't believe we're rounding out the month of January. The new chapter, Brown Ambition, is in full effect and y'all have been so supportive.
continue supporting us. If you can do one thing as a BA listener, it would be to share an episode, your favorite episode of the show, share it with a friend, a colleague, a family member, post about it on social media, just tell a friend to tell a friend. One thing that women do is we talk, okay? We talk, we share, we put each other on to the things that we love. So I hope that Brown Ambition is on that list and you will share it.
I don't know if I talked to y'all about this new tool called Teal, but it is my favorite.
in AI right now. Let me tell you about teal. And yes, I will go ahead and just say I am an affiliate of teal. That means that if you see any links for teal, they are brown ambition links. And we will get, we may make some money off of those links. But I freaking love this tool so much that I was like, I talk about y'all anyway. So like, can we get an affiliate link? So it just makes sense.
But Teal is an AI resume builder, cover letter maker, LinkedIn profile, it is incredible. If you're someone who is searching for a job right now, and first of all, you are applying to all of the jobs because the market out here, honey, you need to keep all your eggs and all the baskets, right? So you're applying to multiple jobs.
That means often you have to put a different resume because you've got to tailor the resume to the job description. You've got to write a new cover letter and you can't just copy and paste because if you do, it'll just come off generic or it'll come off inconsiderate. And as a former hiring manager myself, I could tell when cover letters were just generic versus the ones that were tailored to the job description and tailored to the kind of company that we were and the kind of role that I was hiring for.
I just told the Mandy money maker today. She was like, I'm putting in these applications. I need help with the cover letter. Do you know any services? And I was like, teal boo teal because with teal, you can put your resume and the job description. So you put the link to the job description.
or you can find the job description from teal because it has connected to all the biggest job posting sites. It will create a sample cover letter for you. So you can go in there after that and tweak it. You can change things. You can say, oh, I don't really like the way you said that. You know, give me a different version like this. And because it has the job description, it has your resume. It's able to create a cover letter that like makes sense.
And if you want to personalize it by finding the name of the hiring manager, you can do that and just come back and pop that in there. But the best thing is that it's going to simplify the job search process. And y'all know that when it comes to searching for jobs, like it is so stacked against us right now. Everyone's using AI and applicant tracking systems to weed through resumes and cover letters. They're looking for the keywords. So you know how some people would like
copy and paste a bunch of keywords from the res from the job description and like put it in their resume or their cover letter but like make sure the font was invisible like it was white. So it wouldn't show up but it would be triggering the ATS to like recognize their resume or their application as highly qualified for the role.
You don't have to do that anymore because Teal is going to take the job description, going to track all the keywords and make sure that it gives you advice on how you can update your resume in a way that actually will show up for the keywords that are in the job description. So I'm a Teal Stan. I would love y'all to check it out. I want you to go to the show notes or if you're on watching on YouTube, I'll post a link in the show notes here. So love my Teal. Let them know that Brown Ambitioner Mandy Money sent you.
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Let's get into the rest of the show. Here's our first question of the week. This comes from a listener from IG who'd like to be called Unicorn and has a very straightforward question. Unicorn asks, how do I set financial goals for the new year and then how do I discipline myself to keep my commitments? I got one word for you, Unicorn, accountability.
Who's gonna hold you accountable? Who's going to check in with you and remind you what you said you were gonna do? And for me, that has to be a person. So I actually connected with a fellow solopreneur, another woman who has a podcast and also has a similar business model to me. We connected before Christmas, I wanna say. We're also moms of young children. So we just really get each other on a certain level, but we're not like best, best friends. We really only have been getting to know each other as accountability partners.
And what's been great about that is something that I learned, even just starting this podcast with Tiffany. I said, I've said before that one of the reasons that we have been so successful with Brown ambition, I believe, is because Tiffany and I started as part friends, but more heavily toward the business partner side of things. And I just feel like when it's not your bestie, you're going to bring your A game a lot more often. That sounds terrible. You're also going to
you're going to like you want to sort of impress the other person you care more about how they perceive you so you're not going to like miss deadlines you're not going to be late for recordings because you know the other person is not just there because they're just your friend and they'll be there no matter what no this is another person who's time you're going to value differently than you would a friend so I kind of I put that same train of thought into my accountability partner so let's get someone who
I respect and who we have things in common and we like each other, but not someone who is going to like take me for granted or vice versa. So I highly, highly recommend the accountability partner method. It's one of the reasons why.
I make sure if you come through any of my career coaching challenges or my Mandy Moneymakers coaching program that you get assigned an accountability partner and the makers who are showing up who are bettering their finances, you know, negotiating more are typically the ones who are actually showing up to group coaching, the ones who are checking in with their accountability partners. And the reality is that like,
And I've said it before, we do not have to do hard things alone. And in fact, hard things are not meant to be done alone. And I think that we set ourselves up to fail by telling ourselves that, oh, well, everyone else is doing this. So I should be able to, you know, set these big goals. And that it couldn't be further from the truth. Like everyone else who's accomplishing things is probably getting help. And that's okay. It's okay for us to admit that we need accountability.
and that we need someone to check in with us, you know, and it's okay for us to ask for that help. And so what I would say to you unicorn is what kind of goals are you setting for yourself and who in your community, your peer group, your colleague group, who is someone that you respect who has a similar need for accountability and who can you engage with to start that kind of accountability. So that can look like
a regular check in virtually. For me, it works better to be a phone call. No video. We have a rule. No video. Just talk because I don't need to be on screen more than I already am. And it's like half an hour a week. And yes, we may change that. We both have young children. So sometimes life happens.
But we stick to that and we do check in with one another and we don't just talk about like, you know, what's going on in personal lives. Like we actually have a couple of talking points for the business and we kind of check in on goals that we had. There's not a ton of pressure around it. If one of us is like, Oh, I know I said I was going to do that thing, but then I just didn't do that.
then that's where the accountability comes in. It's like, okay, girl, I get it. Like, why don't you, there's been times where I've been like, girl, go take a nap. We can talk about this tomorrow. You sound like you really need a nap right now. And that's what it is. It's about like, I will check in on you tomorrow. You know, I understand that you need time and we'll check in tomorrow. And it's just, it's wonderful to build that relationship. And saying all of that, I can already hear the people who were listening and they're like, wow,
But I tried that, but like, you know, we stopped checking in with each other or the other person wasn't a very good accountability partner because they didn't really hold me accountable. I think it's really important and a couple of things to think about is one, like setting the expectation. What is this relationship going to look like?
I remember with my accountability buddy from the jump, I was like, so how much accountability, how much communication are we talking here? Because if you tell me to be your accountability buddy, I'll be texting you, I'll be calling you, I'll be taking notes, I'll be going back to the receipts to be like, well, okay, here's what we said last time. But that can be a bit much. Some people may not like that pressure, but I can be a lot.
That's how I get so much shit done. I execute the hell out of everything I do, and I like to help others execute. So from the beginning, I just wanted to just gently check in with her to make sure that was cool with her, because that's also what I wanted in return. I wanted someone to hold me accountable and check in with me and care about how certain goals are going and how things are working out.
And I found that to be helpful to just like set that boundary or lack of boundary, I guess, upfront and just like set the expectation. So if you're someone who doesn't really need like, you're not looking for someone to critique what you're doing, that's not what accountability buddy does. No, that's what like a mentor, you know, I don't know, like a business partner may do.
Accountability is literally to be a cheerleader and to help you get over whatever humps you may be getting over with or just to witness the challenge of doing the hard thing, to witness the times when you have to take five steps back to go 10, 10 steps forward, you know, and that can be important too. So just say like,
You know, I'm really looking for someone I know once a month, um, or once every couple of months, I have these like depressive episodes where I get really anxious and I just want to know that I have someone to call who can understand that and just like tells me the, you know, tells me what I need to hear to get me back, you know, doing it and doing whatever I said I was going to do. Or I have a really tough deadline that I have coming up and I need someone to check on me, like,
on these dates for the next three months, and it's going to end after three months, but just to get me through this. Another way that I've used accountability, partnership in setting goals and actually crossing those, reaching those goals in my businesses, when I have needed to, I've hired an actual coach, when I had the idea to write a book.
I hired a book proposal coach, someone who had a framework for me to follow. Sure, I could talk to Tiffany and I have at length about how to create a book proposal and what is it she sent me her book proposal. Other friends for a new friend of the show has sent me her book proposal. I had plenty of friends who could send me proposals. But was I going to sit down and actually do the work?
without a coach, someone who had a weekly scheduled call with me and would tell me exactly what to work on for that week, probably not. And certainly not in the time that I did it. I think I had that thing done in like three to four months. So when you need that help, you can look at hiring that kind of help if you can't find it. Because sometimes you need accountability, but you also need someone who like
has the knowledge of what you're trying to achieve who can say, oh, yep, you're on the right path, keep going. Or they can say, oh, no, that's no, we're gonna change this and then alter it and keep going. The key to accomplishing goals, don't do them alone, okay? So maybe a goal for you, Unicorn, instead of like, I don't know what your specific goal is, you don't say, but think about finding that accountability partner a part of that goal.
You know, I'm not even going to start until I have someone in place. Just champion me through be that accountability for me and help me get to that. Okay. Thank you, Unicorn, for your question. And I'll take a quick break and be right back with our second question. Stay tuned.
Hey VA fam, y'all know I used to run a team of 30 staff plus 100 contractors. And when it came to finding the best candidate, honestly I lived by this mantra. The best way to search for a candidate sometimes isn't to search at all. You need a tool like Indeed. Don't search, match.
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With Indeed, you can leverage over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day. Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences, so the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. And listeners of Brown Ambition will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com slash Brown Ambition. Just go to indeed.com slash Brown Ambition right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on our podcast.
Indeed.com slash Brown ambition terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed I just really wanted to shout out really quick be a fam listener Christine who sent us the sweetest email Christina's from Maryland. She says I haven't been keep the best at keeping up with podcasts since covid since I haven't had a daily commute I was shocked and sad to see that Tiffany was leaving on Instagram and
But I have listened to the farewell episodes and I am on the Amtrak train in tears after listening to the episode with Dr. Joy. I love you too and I love Dr. Joy, so this was a great episode just having the three of you. Like many of the episodes on this show, I heard and felt so much of my life and experiences reflected
in your words and feelings. You talk about having evolved from two women in their early 30s and relationships to where you are now. I'm just writing to say thank you to the both of you for not just being my financial besties, but really girlfriends in my head and heart. I have learned so much from you about finances, being an employee and manager and just navigating life. Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to continuing to listen to Brown ambition through the show's evolution with you at the hell, Mandy.
and adding your book next to get good with money on my bookshelf. Thank you. I love you and I mean it. Christine, that is so sweet. I don't know what to say other than, and you're the reason we do the show. So I just appreciate that so much. Y'all. Mm.
I love VA fam. And if y'all have any words of support or we have questions, don't forget to email us. Email me, brandnabitionpodcast.gmail.com, or you can slide into our DMs. I'm at brandnabition podcast on IG, or you can find me at Mandy Money. All right, VA fam, I'm back with a question from listeners Solange who wrote in from IG to ask.
Hey, Mandy, I need your help. Can you point me in the right direction to select a financial planner? I don't feel comfortable to just select anyone on the internet. Please help. Okay. So how to find a financial planner without using the internet? Okay. Well, first let me talk to you Solange. The internet is our friend.
But we can't fully trust everything the internet has to say, right? Sometimes it's not even about trust. Like you may be, you may look for the best financial planners in whatever town you live in, for example, or whatever state or city, and then find your list and then contact one of them who looks good and then get on the phone and be like, mm.
this guy is just not speaking my language or this girl. I don't understand what she's saying or she's talking down to me or whatever the case may be. So it just may not be a good fit for you or they have a different kind of strategy or they only work with clients who are in a couple or in doing family finances or doing estate planning. So I just want to say that
When you're looking for a financial planner, there's always going to be some amount of, is this person the right fit for me? Whether you find them on the internet, whether they're coming through a referral, okay? All that being said, I do think the internet can be a helpful tool. I found my financial planner through the internet, through a tool called XY Planning Network, which is still very much in the world and still exists.
and XY planning, they particularly work on connecting financial planners who can work with that Gen X Gen Y population. They also, I believe, only work with fee-based planners. Fee-based planners are going to give you a flat rate for their services or not going to
make their money off of selling you insurance products or getting commissions from the types of investments that they encourage you to make. So think about that as well. Check them out and ask if they are a fiduciary, which means they have to work in your best interest. And if they are fee-based or fee-only, they are a fiduciary. That's just like part of that.
part of the kit and kaboodle, okay. Other ways that you can vet a financial planner, you can use FINRA's, I believe it's called broker check, FINRA is F-I-N-R-A. So this will show any history if there have been complaints against them and or disciplinary action. So FINRA is like a regulatory body for
investment advisor, so that can be a tool to use. There's also the Financial Planning Association. There's the ONAPFA, National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. I know they have a tool in there to put in your zip code.
and you can find planners who are in your area. There's also some matching services, XY Planning Network being one, but some platforms that'll actually try to match you with people according to what you need and where you live. You can check out Zoe, Z-O-E, Financial. You can check out Wealth Ramp and also Harness Wealth. And I know there's some other sites that have been experimenting with having advisor marketplaces. There's Investor.com.
Um, actually know the co found or the fact that we used to work together at lending tree, but anyway, investor.com, those are a bunch of options. And I'll just leave you with this. This is not going to be the type of like professional service that you're going to be able to just go on Yelp or Google, you know, reviews and it's not like finding a restaurant. Like you want it to be a really good fit for you. And the best news for you is that a lot of these firms and advisors, they will offer some sort of free
consultation or getting to know you meeting 15 minutes, 30 minutes max, and actually come prepared with a list of questions to ask them. And if you would like to know what some good questions to ask are, I got you covered. Number one is, how do you get paid? Okay. So this is going to actually bypass those questions like, are you fiduciary? Are you fee based? Are you fee only? Just ask, how do you get paid point blank? Am I paying you a flat rate? Am I paying you percentage? How does that work?
Now, if you're someone who wants to have like a heavy active investor, like actually picking and choosing your investments, typically they're going to be taking some kind of percentage of your assets that they are managing. So that's just kind of a standard policy, but then ask them like, okay, what is that percentage? Is it on all types of products? Are you a fiduciary? So do you actually, you know, do you have to work in my best interest or or if you're not a fiduciary?
how do you make sure that you're acting in my best interest and honestly, probably best for you to go with someone who was a fiduciary because there's just no way to trust that someone who's not a fiduciary isn't making decisions and choices for you based on the amount of their commission or whatever else incentive they may have to take your money and invest it in certain places. You could ask for their certifications.
So a couple of certifications like certified financial planner, that is different than like a registered investment advisor. So you can look into that and ask how that may change their fees or change the kind of advice they can give. In general, a certified financial planner is going to be a good starting point for people with personal finance.
financial planning management. So if you're looking for someone to set goals and look at your household finances, work on a budget, pay down debt, maybe you're looking at a big goal, buying your first home. Just a CFP could be a good place to start, but you also have financial coaches and maybe they don't have certification, but they may come at a lower price point than someone who has gone through the schooling and the continuing education that a CFP is required.
Truth be told, if you're really vibing with a financial coach or a counselor, for example, and they may not have that certification, but they understand you and your goals and you feel like you can trust them and you understand their fee structure and all of that, you could try that out to begin with. You don't have to necessarily skip right to hiring the top of that certification level.
A great question to ask too is like, how regularly are we going to meet? And then what sort of platform or software are you going to be using? Like a lot of times financial planners will have some kind of software for you to load all your accounts into. And then, you know, what is that software like? Is it a lot of like,
going in and updating things to make sure that they're accurate. You want to know, are you meeting virtually in person? Are you going to work with them directly? Because you may love the planner, but then they have you interfacing more with an assistant planner, for example. That may matter to you.
Are they going to keep you updated on the financial industry? Is there any education that they offer? Some planners have newsletters. They may have events to educate their clients. You may not want that amount of investment of their time, but just something to think about. Protection and security is a big one. So how is my money protected by working with you? How am I protected if something were to go wrong?
So this question doesn't really apply to anyone who's working with a fee-based or fee-only planner because you are giving them money for a service and they should be performing that service for you. They're not getting access to your accounts or taking a cut of your returns on investment or a percentage of your assets that they are managing for you. And lastly, good question to ask is just who do you love working with? And that could be a great way to tell if they're going to give you special attention or you're really going to get their best effort.
Because when someone is working with their ideal client, they're going to have a lot more expertise in that area. You're going to get richer, I think, advice. So for me, for example, I am a career negotiation coach. So I'm going to work best with women who are at a place in their careers where they're feeling undervalued, but they had the skill set and they have the goods to back up negotiations. So I don't want to work. I don't work too often with like entry level people or
You know, people who haven't really like proven their worth in their careers yet. I'm more of like mid level, like, you know, 25 to 45 sweet spot for me. So that's specific to me. I can coach an 18 year old. I could coach a 65 year old, but I'm really going to be in my bag and giving the best that I can to the client if they're in that, you know, that window.
of ages and also like life stages. So if you're looking for a financial planner and you really want someone who's good with like household budgeting for a single woman who doesn't plan to get married anytime soon, then maybe you should work with a planner who really has experience and understand some of the particular nuances of being an independent, you know, a solo woman and then may treat it differently than a financial planner who only works with couples or specializes in working with couples finances.
Now, if you're looking for someone who's only going to do estate planning, you may want to ask a general financial planner if they recommend an estate planning attorney or a financial planner who specializes in estate plans. It's just kind of like going to the doctor. Your financial planner can be like your general practitioner. And then if you have more specific needs or questions and they may be able to connect you
with other people in their network who can help you in that specialized place. But yeah, starting with a good financial planner as like a base level is wonderful. It's a good idea. And I'm so glad that you're listening to Brown Ambition, Solange, and thank you for asking a question. Be a fan. Where are y'all at? Send us your questions. You can hit me up at Brown Ambition Podcast on IG or Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail.com to email your questions. Yeah, you can stay anonymous. Come up with a fun suit in them if you want to, like
Okay? We don't care. We just want them juicy questions. All right, be a fam. Don't forget to like, subscribe on YouTube. If you're watching here, so you can get the latest episodes of our show. We air Wednesdays and Fridays. And until next time, bye be a fam.
Hi, I'm Joe Salcy. Hi, host of the Stacking Benjamin's Podcast. Every week, we talk to experts about saving, investing, personal finance trends. Oh, crypto. Can't do it. You could have done all that research, all the breadcrumbs, and thought this company's never going bankrupt. Foiled again. You never knew personal finance could be this fun. Throwin' down the gauntlet. I'm bringin' it today. I'm only gonna be off by six figures. Perfect in seven. Every boy has a dream, Doc. Every boy has a dream, for sure. Stacking Benjamin's. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.