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The Goal Digger Podcast Episode 687: Practical Money-Saving Tips for the Financial Feminist
Podcast Overview Title: The Goal Digger Podcast Host: Jenna Kutcher Guest: Tori Dunlap, Founder of Her First $100K Episode Topic: Practical tips for overcoming financial fears, saving, and understanding financial feminism.
Episode Summary In this episode, Jenna Kutcher interviews Tori Dunlap, a financial expert who empowers women to manage their finances better. Tori shares her journey from saving $100,000 by age 25 to founding Her First $100K, where she provides resources to combat financial inequality. She explains the importance of financial education, especially for women, and challenges common money narratives that stigmatize women’s spending habits.
Key Themes & Discussions
- Overview of Tori Dunlap's Journey
- Tori Dunlap saved $100,000 by age 25.
- Transitioned from a corporate marketing job to starting Her First $100K.
- Focuses on fighting financial inequality and empowering women.
- Understanding Financial Feminism
- Financial feminism advocates for women gaining financial independence and literacy.
- Challenges the stigma around women's spending habits, emphasizing that spending on "feminine" items is often labeled frivolous.
- Highlights how societal narratives discourage women from pursuing wealth.
- Overcoming Money Fears
- Tori discusses how societal narratives about money can lead to feelings of guilt and shame.
- Encourages women to embrace financial confidence and the pursuit of wealth as a path to options and freedom.
- Practical Money-Saving Tips
- Know Your Numbers: Tori emphasizes the importance of understanding personal and business finances.
- Identify your "ramen noodle number" (the minimum income required to cover essential expenses).
- Consider your "sushi number" (a comfortable income that allows for some luxuries).
- Automate Savings: Set up automatic transfers to savings and investment accounts.
- Business Reserves: Create an emergency fund for business to manage fluctuations in income.
- Diversifying Income Streams
- Tori suggests entrepreneurs consider multiple revenue streams:
- Expanding services offered (e.g., wedding photographers can branch into event photography).
- Developing passive income sources (e.g., e-books, online courses).
- Importance of recognizing that relying on one income stream can be risky.
- The Role of Community and Support
- Tori highlights the significance of having a support network of like-minded entrepreneurs.
- Encourages women to champion one another and share financial experiences and knowledge to empower growth.
Key Takeaways
- Financial Education is Crucial: The lack of financial education leads women to feel inadequate about money management.
- Balance Enjoyment and Saving: It’s possible to enjoy life while being financially responsible; deprivation should not be the goal.
- Challenge Societal Norms: Women should feel empowered to pursue wealth without guilt or stigma.
- Take Action: Understanding personal finance can lead to more fulfilling business decisions and personal growth.
Resources Mentioned
- Tori Dunlap’s Quiz: [Her First $100K Quiz](https://herfirst100k.com/quiz)
- Free Workshop on Investing: [Investing Workshop Registration](https://jennacutcher.com/investing)
- Book: "Financial Feminist" by Tori Dunlap
- Podcast: Financial Feminist
Conclusion Jenna Kutcher and Tori Dunlap provide valuable insights into financial literacy, empowerment, and practical tips to help women navigate their financial journeys confidently. This episode serves as a reminder that financial independence is achievable and worthwhile, encouraging listeners to take actionable steps towards their financial goals.
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For more insightful episodes and resources, visit [Goal Digger Podcast](https://goaldiggerpodcast.com).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:01Okay, I have been on this ruthless pursuit to purge any clothes that I'm not actually wearing. Like if I haven't reached for it in months, it's got to go. I am trying to be really intentional about what I bring into my closet right now, which means I am only buying pieces that I know I will actually wear and use. Revolve just gets it though. I'm literally wearing my brown Autry sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse. It fits my laptop in it. So it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything. I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life.
0:35Their holiday shop is live right now with all the good stuff. Sparkly party dresses, cozy sets, cute gifts, everything you need for whatever is on your calendar. And it's all in one place, which makes shopping feel way less overwhelming. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out or a holiday party, your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger, shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Fast two day shipping, easy returns. it's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop by favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger offer available for a limited time.
1:15So happy shopping. When you're thinking about money, especially if you're a business owner or somebody who is wanting to be an entrepreneur someday, I think it's so important to not only overcome these narratives at a personal level, but also for the success of your business. Hey, my name is Jenna Kutcher and I am obsessed with all things business, marketing numbers, and helping you to navigate both the messy and the magical seasons of this thing called life. I'm a small town mama who took a$300 camera, grew a successful photo biz, and now I work from home and run a seven figure online business.
1:49I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss, and marketing are all topics we discuss here. Think of this as your one-stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Do you ever wish you were taught more about how to handle your finances in grade school? Me too. But it's better late than never to get educated. And today we're going to learn what our teachers didn't tell us through my guest.
2:23She's an internationally recognized money and career expert, a podcast host and author, and a friend of mine. After saving$100 ,000 by age 25, Tori Dunlap quit her corporate job in marketing and founded her first 100K to fight financial inequality by giving women actionable resources to better their money. Since then, she has helped over 3 million women negotiate salary, pay off debt, build savings, and invest. She is the real deal. She's the author of the instant New York Times bestselling book, Financial Feminist, host of the number one financial podcast led by a woman financial feminist, a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, and co-creator of Treasury, which is an investing education platform that has over$40 million dollars invested.
3:11She's been featured on the New York Times Business front page. She's also been on Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN, BBC, and more. Tori now travels the world writing and speaking about personal finance, online businesses, and confidence for women. And I am honored to have her on the show today to teach us how we can overcome our money fears, practical tips for saving and investing as an entrepreneur and exactly what financial feminism means to her. I'm so excited. Let's dive on in. Pop quiz. Who do you think is more popular these days? Taylor Swift or ChatGPT? Now, although our feeds are flooded with hype around the era's tour, ChatGPT is actually beating Taylor Swift in search volume, which tells us that the AI revolution is upon us.
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4:35Again, that's hubspot.com slash artificial dash intelligence to check out these tools for yourself. This has been a long time in the making, and this is a human that I have been connected with. I've been inspired by, I have worked out on a zoom call while we are talking business. Tori Dunlap, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me. I am speaking of long journeys. I was a gold digger way back in like 2015, 2016. So it's so thrilling to be here. Thank you. It is full circle. And it's really cool. I'll give people a little bit of the backstory because you and I are connected a lot more than a lot of my guests and I are connected.
5:16And Tori worked with the same publisher I had. Her book came out months after mine. and there is something so crazy about putting a book out into the world. It is like the Olympics. It really does feel that way. It feels like a marathon. And just when you think you're done, it's like, nah, you've got another six miles. Yeah. Yeah. I remember reaching out to Tori when I saw that she had a book coming out and I was like, how can I help? What can I do? Because I just knew that she was like about to enter this race. And I, I want to see more women win. And through that, it has just been such a blessing to be connected.
5:53And we, I mean, we talk about like, who's your graphic designer? What are you doing for this? What's your strategy here? And I think it's so invaluable. I love when we share that we're talking to each other because I think that more women need to see what true like championing looks like. And so it's just been so fun with you. Yeah. And I mean, I think a lot of us have heard the community over competition thing and like truly that, but also I found as I was, you know, growing my business and getting more followers and getting a book deal and, you know, having a successful podcast, it got to the point where I felt like I was climbing this mountain and I had friends at the bottom of the mountain, of course.
6:32And I had friends throughout the journey, but as, you know, as I scaled, you know, into the elevation, it felt like there were less and less people who understood how to navigate that. And so it was really nice talking to folks like you and Amy and my friend, Tiffany, who's the budget Nista. Like it's been really, really comforting to have people with similar following, similar goals, and to just talk about that experience, because it is, it gets to the point where, you know, it's a little isolating. So it's really nice to have, to have that support. And, you know, you and I text into the point where it's like, hey, I have this thing.
7:08What's your opinion on it? Or you're coming to me and being like, I did this is this question mark. And so it's just really, really nice being able to have that support. And that's I mean, that's like first takeaway from the home audience is it's like, as your goals get bigger, you have to find people who also reflect those goals. Like, I have so many friends in my life who I will continue to be friends with, but like, we're in different career trajectories, right? Some people are like, you know, above me, some people are not on my say, like, they don't want to be an entrepreneur. And so like, you have to have certain people in your life to like meet you where you are and support you.
7:40And it was so helpful as I was navigating, especially the book process to chat with you. Oh, it was so fun. I want to, so I'm going to kick this off a little bit differently. Usually we just dive in, tell me your story, but you posted this Instagram reel the other day and I was obsessed. And in it, you said, you said you can make a down payment on a house with the money you spend on coffee, but in the caption, here's what you wrote. And I thought this was so powerful and a great jumping off point. So you said, what if I told you that you can have your daily little treat and be a badass with money?
8:10I'm done with financial advice that tells you to deprive yourself of the things that make life worth living because the truth is you can have it all. I'm done with the myth that women are frivolous spenders whose lattes are to blame for the wealth gap. And then you say, what if money didn't mean restriction and instead choice, the ability to luxuriously travel, quit toxic jobs, or donate to important organizations, the freedom to live the life you want, and change the world while you do it. It is time to make your money work for you instead of the other way around. So Tori, clearly you are passionate about empowering women to feel financially confident.
8:45Where did all of this come from? Like, how did it begin? Yeah. So I was the friend, all of my friends came to for money advice and guidance because I had parents who taught me about money. And I thought that was normal. I thought everybody knows not to overspend on credit cards. Everybody knows how to save money. And I got to college and realized, oh, this is a privilege. Nobody does. And with that privilege came a responsibility. So I was coming into adulthood in 2016. I graduated college May of 2016. Of course, the 2016 election happens not soon after that. And I am navigating adulthood, but really womanhood in a very different country than I think myself and a lot of others expected.
9:26And I am trying to figure out what kind of person am I? What do I stand for? What are my values? What do I want out of life? And I was realizing that when I had money, I had options. And I don't mean like Jeff Bezos money. I'm just talking like an emergency fund. When I had an emergency fund, I was able to leave the toxic situation I didn't want to be in anymore. Whether that was a relationship or a job or some sort of situation, right? When I had money, I was able to travel. I was able to start a business. I was able to donate to causes I believed in. All of these options opened up to me because I had money.
10:00And when I was the friend all my friends were coming to for advice, I was like, oh, maybe this is how I this is my thing. This is the thing I can give to the world. So I was running a nine to five in marketing. It's very similar to your story, Jenna, where I was like in a nine to five, wanting something different, was growing her first hundred K on the side. The origin story with HFK was me trying to save$100 ,000 at age 25. I successfully achieved that goal, went to Europe to celebrate with my best friend, and got the call for Good Morning America in a pub in London. Came home, did the interview, three weeks later, quit my job.
10:37The rest has been crazy since then. We have over 3 million followers. We have a New York Times bestselling book called Financial Feminist, the number one money podcast for women called Financial Feminist. And I fight the patriarchy by making women rich. It's what I believe I was put on this earth to do because I saw both in my life and my women friends' lives around me is that, again, when you had money, you had options. And if we can get more money into more women's hands, the entire world starts to change because women aren't playing small. Right. And you were talking about that Instagram caption of like frivolous spending.
11:09I mentioned in my book of like the only spending that is frivolous that gets labeled, quote frivolous is inherently feminine spending. It's the manicures, the lattes, the purses, right? But it's not NFL season tickets or golf clubs, right? It's shaming. And so I did so much research around this. The interesting thing is that money advice in 2023 still now is gendered. For men, it is expand. It's make more money. It's invest in the stock market and invest in real estate, right? Play bigger. For women, the advice is shrink yourself. It's stop spending money. It's five meals you can make for under$5, right?
11:48Even in 2023, we're still getting these narratives fed to us, right? That like, in order for you to be financially confident for men, it's make more money, right? Your earning potential, it seemingly is limitless. But for women, it is shrink yourself, stop spending money, coupon clip, cut the very latte that gives you life in the morning. And instead, live this scarcity driven mindset. And that's the way to get rich. When in fact, there's only so much you can cut. So I've realized through my book and my work that like everything has, unfortunately, this like very gendered shaming lens on it. And the more we can start talking about that, I think, again, the entire world starts to change when women not only have money, but unabashedly pursue it.
12:30Wow. I have never thought about it in that way. And now that you say that it is 1000 % and even more specifically geared towards like moms. And, you know, I mean, it's so it's so fascinating to me. Gosh, I mean, that's that is like earth shattering and also so obvious. But so many of us have never caught on to that. So let's talk about this idea real quick, because I think it's powerful. So many of our listeners are having that guilt, right? Like they're not enjoying the simple pleasures in life. And I know for myself, and I think probably similar for you, maybe Tori, is like I would set these milestones of like, I will enjoy when I hit this, or I will start giving or tithing when I hit this.
13:14And it was never enough. So can you talk to me about like, how do we as women find that balance of like enjoying life and the money that we work hard for while also being financially savvy to set ourselves up for the future? What is that balance? I'm going to blow y 'all's mind. Here's the thing about balance in general. We just had a therapist on my podcast that talked about balance is the new Prince Charming is that you think, oh, the Prince is going to come save you. Everything's going to be complete when he comes. And balance is the thing that the modern woman is chasing, right? It's the thing like, oh, when I get this, right, when I lose this amount of weight, then I will take the vacation or, you know, up here in photos.
13:54When I have kids, then I will be happy. When I have a husband or a partner, I will be happy, right? When I start a business and the business succeeds, when I get this amount of money, right? And the truth is, It's like, that is the thing we strive for because that's our, that's our thing as human beings as we're striving, but like we never fully achieve it. So if you are waiting to be happy or content based on some arbitrary goal that either a, you're never going to hit or B you're going to hit. And it's not going to actually make you happy. Like let that shit go. Like it is not worth your time.
14:24The thing with money in particular is that we've been fed all of these narratives about how to manage our money or what to feel about money. and I talk about these also in my book is this feeling of, first of all, like we shouldn't even talk about money because it's gauche or taboo or impolite, right? And that is a narrative we're all believing that's keeping us underpaid and overworked. Because if we don't talk about money, I don't know that Chad who got hired two years after me is making 20 % more. And I feel shame about my student loans, not knowing that all of my friends do too. Or me as a business owner, I am wondering, hey, what does Jenna make?
15:00Or what does this other person make? What was their I told you, I tell you everything, which was so powerful. It was so powerful. You might have to believe that, but like so powerful to have that. And I think that that's one narrative that we're believing. The second is that we have to deprive ourselves in order to, you know, get to that level. And again, like we were talking about before that, that is not a narrative that comes out of, out of nowhere. Even like finance experts have told us that I got the very public vendetta against Dave Ramsey. And like Dave Ramsey has literally told you, like the latte is the reason you're not rich.
15:34And I'm like, no, that's systemic oppression, like racism and sexism and ableism and homophobia and a trillion dollar student debt crisis and a minimum wage stagnation have much more of a standing in your money, have much more of a reason that you can't get financially ahead than your personal choices do. And to your point, you can navigate saving for retirement and saving for these larger goals that are so life-affirming and life-changing while also traveling and having coffee and spending money on the things that are important to you. And so when you're thinking about money, especially if you're a business owner or somebody who is wanting to be an entrepreneur someday, I think it's so important to not only overcome these narratives at a personal level, but also for the success of your business.
16:30One of the things that I know that you've highlighted and that we've talked about a little bit is I think there's this public, I don't know, perception is the right word, but like for women, especially who are running businesses, you should not want money. That's for women in general, I think. It's like, you should not want money. Wanting money is greedy or you're selfish if you want money. And we believe this as women. So what happens a lot because of that narrative is that women will push away money. They're like, I don't want it. It turns people into terrible people. I don't want it. Money is a neutral thing.
17:07It's a stack of government-issued paper. It has no moral value. What you do with it has moral value, right? There's plenty of people with lots of money who do terrible things. There's plenty of people with lots of money who do really life-changing, incredible, world-changing things, right? And you have been actively taught to not pursue money in order to keep you playing small, right? The pursuit of wealth is not a bad thing because the pursuit of wealth means options, right? The pursuit of wealth means all of those options opened up to you. And I want a world where women, people of color, queer folks, like anybody who's a member of a marginalized group, money is never the reason they can or cannot do something.
17:47Money is never the thing that's either holding them back from doing something or is the thing that is contributing to their stress, right? And there's something so powerful about saying, no, I want to be rich. I want to be rich, not only to take care of myself, but to then say, I'm going to bring everybody into the fold. It was actually, I think you were the first person I read this quote from, and it became literally the intro and the epilogue of my book, which is when you have all you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence. Yes. And that is literally like, that was the bookends of my book was if I can help you get financially whole and stable and build your own table, you get to invite a bunch of other people to the table.
18:31They get to build their own table. And then you get to tear down the fences that other people have built. We get to literally rebuild a society and a system to benefit everybody else. And I know I'm on a rant, but truly, like, I think women unabashedly pursuing wealth is the most powerful thing we can do. And understanding how these narratives affect us, how they come from society, from our parents, from, again, financial experts. Like, it's so important to start digging into the why behind those and understanding, like, our role in them. I always have heard the line money is a magnifier and I think that's so powerful in the sense of like if you're a bad person and you get a lot of money your level of bad is only going to increase but if you are a good person money magnifies the goodness that you can have and so why do we not like encourage more good people to go out and earn the money to do more good work like it's just it's really fascinating.
19:27It's also fascinating on the topic of like the sexes and just the different stereotyping and messaging, like for a guy to show up in like a private jet, like that shows like really cool things. Oh, he's so successful. That's so aspirational. And for a woman to do it, it's like, who is she? Like, whose money is this? Whose plane is that? It's just, is it daddy? Is it her husband? Why is she not donating more? I talk about this. I talk about this in the book. I call it like the weaponization of altruism. So what happens is when we are children and I'm going to use the gender binary here, when boys grow up, what toys are we giving them?
20:07Stereotypically, we're giving them Legos, right? We're giving them like things to build. We're telling them their value to society and to themselves is their own critical thinking, their own ingenuity, right? Like that is what we are instilling in boys. What do we stereotypically give girls dolls. We give like a two-year-old girl, another child to take care of. Like that's crazy to me. But we tell her like your value is in your caregiving. Your value is not in your own self-awareness or your own self-actualization. Your value is in the care and keeping of somebody else. Right? So what happens then when women grow up and they have the audacity to want more money or to pursue better for themselves, the weaponization of altruism happens.
20:54Altruism is the most beautiful thing for me about being a woman is I have this both instinctive and also socially conditioned feeling of caregiving and wanting to give back to the world. But if I have, again, the audacity to ask for more money from a client or at my job to, again, unabashedly pursue wealth, suddenly the response is not, wow, cool Rolex bro. You're doing well for yourself on the golf course, right? The response is you're greedy or you're ungrateful, or that can't be your money. It has to be some other man in your vicinity's money. Or why aren't you donating more? You have no idea, right?
21:36How much this person donates, but that's the narrative is like, why aren't you donate anymore. They're actively weaponizing that altruism to keep you playing small. Because here's the thing about money. It makes you uncontrollable. It makes you uncontrollable in the most beautiful way. You are not controlled by anybody, not a man, not a partner, not a job, not a situation, not a client, not even society. Right. And society gets a whiff of that. And they're like, oh, oh shit. Okay. If she has money, she's no longer controllable. So we have to weaponize the altruism that we have ingrained in her.
22:11And there's something so powerful about saying, yes, I'm going to, of course, continue to donate. I'm going to continue to give back. And also it's okay to unabashedly pursue wealth. And like you were talking about, there is this double standard where again, man can post on Instagram. Yeah. Private jet, Rolex, Ferrari, right? Cool car. And they're worshiped. They're worshipped. But women can do the same. And then suddenly it's like, I never liked her. Like she's bragging or she's ungrateful again, like daddy husband's money. And it's so interesting that that exists, right? It's crazy. We often, it's really funny, but sometimes we'll meet people and we'll bring up something about our lifestyle, whether it's that we were able to travel a lot or, you know, and people will always look at Drew and say, what do you do for a living?
22:58and then he'll always say I'm a stay-at-home dad and then they'll like look at me and go well what do you do right so it just don't we always smile at each other when that happens because we're just like oh it's like our own inside joke but it's funny so one thing that you I mean you talk so much about personal finance everyone can get so much insight inside of your book and your podcast financial feminist let's talk about the business side like for entrepreneurs because that money is usually the number one factor that is holding someone back from either going all in on their business, starting the side hustle, or really feeling secure in that their business isn't just a little hobby.
23:39And I'm using air quotes here and is a substantial thing. So walk us through what an entrepreneur or someone who wants to pursue entrepreneurship can consider when it comes to money in order to start to feel that peace, that contentedness and that confidence. Yeah. So I I established this rule when I am coaching entrepreneurs or soon to be entrepreneurs, and it's figuring out what your ramen noodle number is. And ramen noodle is like, what is the bare bones amount of money that you need to make in two ways? One, to run your business, right? These are your subscriptions, your, you know, maybe you're paying somebody, right?
24:21Like the costs of your business, your business expenses, what are your ramen noodle numbers for your business? And then what is your personal ramen noodle number, right? What is your rent? What is your insurance? What is daycare, right? What is the bare minimum amount of money you need to make? Then you need to not only know those numbers, but start tracking those numbers to figure out how close am I, right? If you are side hustling right now, and you're trying to get to a point where you can quit, you need to be watching. Am I making enough money to cover that, right? If my business expenses are, let's say$5 ,000 and my personal expenses are$5 ,000.
24:55Okay. am I making after taxes 10k right am I making at least 10k now this is the less flexible version so if you know that like I just want to be an entrepreneur I don't care if I need to eat ramen for a period of time I just want to get out cool then we have like your sushi number and your sushi number can be like I'm still going out to eat right like I'm still doing nice things occasionally like we go, you know, we do a business dinner or something like that. That number gives you a little bit of leeway and flexibility to continue living the life that you're used to. But I give you both options because sometimes people are just like, I need to get out.
25:35Like I am ready to do this and I'm ready to scrimp for a little bit. If it means that I get the freedom to do this other thing. And almost all of personal finance can be defined in those terms. Again, people think deprivation, they think restriction, right? They hear the word budget and they want to vomit. that's not it, right? A budget is literally just, I want this thing. So that might mean I don't spend money on this other thing. I don't care about as much, right? That isn't deprivation. It's actually you getting the thing that you want. It just means you can't have all of it. Right. And so when we're thinking about, you know, running a business, you need to know, first of all, know your numbers in general, but second, like, what is your ramen noodle number?
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26:15is that enough for me to live my life realistically? If it's not, let me give myself a little bit of a buffer. One of the other things that I don't think I've talked to you about, and I would love your insight. Yeah. I have this, I have this idea that there are two kinds of entrepreneurs or two kinds of people who are soon to be entrepreneurs. Yeah. One is that they have to fling themselves off the cliff. Jump in the net will appear. Yep. Yes. Yep. And they're like, you know what? I don't have either, you know, a fully fledged idea yet, or maybe just like, I don't have savings, but I'm going to figure it out.
26:46And then the other kind that has to have all of their ducks in a row in order to like give themselves permission. I am a number two, my a hundred K was like the permission slip I needed to quit my job. And even then like the universe, like made me quit my job. It was like, things got weird at work. Like I had to quit my job. And literally my friends were calling me and they're like, you hit your a hundred K. Are you ready to go? And I'm like, no, I just got to give us six more months. And literally the universe made the decision for me because I was so cautious. So that's the other thing is like, truly figure out what kind you are.
27:17And that doesn't mean, oh, I'm going to fling myself off a cliff, even though I don't know I'm that kind of person. Actually figure out like, am I the person who would feel better spending more time in my corporate job, but getting my savings together, getting my ducks in a row, understanding my ramen noodle number, sushi number, and getting that amount of money. or are you the kind that's like, I'm going to fling myself off the cliff and figure it out? Quick recommendation for you. If you love Gold Digger, check out My First Million, hosted by Sam Parr and Sean Puri. Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, My First Million features guests like Alex Ramosi, Sofia Amoruso, and Rob Dyrdek.
27:56They're sharing their secrets on how they made their first million and how to apply their learnings to capitalize on today's business trends and opportunities. I was just listening to them talk about Sean's AI plan dinner with tech billionaires, something I cannot relate to, but I am utterly curious about. And it was honestly so clever and also hilarious how he used chat GPT to create the menu. You're going to love their candid business conversations, industry observations and world class advice. Listen to my first million today, wherever you get your podcasts.
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29:53Revolve just gets it though. I'm literally wearing my brown Autry sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse. It fits my laptop in it. So it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything. I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life. Their holiday shop is live right now with all the good stuff. Sparkly party dresses, cozy sets, cute gifts, everything you need for whatever is on your calendar. and it's all in one place, which makes shopping feel way less overwhelming. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or a holiday party, your dream wardrobe is just one click away.
30:31Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger, shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Fast two-day shipping, easy returns. It's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Offer available for a limited time. So happy shopping. How many times have you thought to yourself, I should start a podcast? Maybe you've got a voice backed by passion, a knack for storytelling, a penchant for entertaining, a gift for listening and asking those really good questions.
31:06No matter what your specialty is, there's a reason you're feeling pulled to the podcast space. So listen to those words. That's the universe maybe telling you something. You should start a podcast. Lean in and make a move. It's time to hit record and host your own show. I can help you craft one from scratch. Snag my totally free guide for podcasting beginners at jennacutcher.com slash start a podcast. That's jennacutcher.com slash start a podcast for my beginner podcasting guide. I always say it's like, there's the one, it's like jump in the net will appear and then the other people who are like weaving their net during the midnight hours.
31:45That's me, I'm a net weaver. That's me. um i'm like i need three nets i'm just like yeah yeah i'm not a big risk taker and this is so this is so good to her i have to tell you a funny story so i used to eat ramen noodles every single day so much so that my grandma bought me a large box of ramen for christmas they were like seven cents a pop my dad literally the other day sent me a picture he was eating ramen noodles he's like this made me think of you. And I was, I like literally laughed because I like loved them. So anyways, I was a very budget conscious kid because my parents could afford that.
32:22I love this. And I think it's really powerful. What you're saying is like, get really honest. I think so many people are so afraid to even like open the envelopes, open up their bank accounts, like just do an assessment. Like so many people don't even know where their money is going to, or how it's disappearing or what that looks like. let's talk about when you become an entrepreneur for so many entrepreneurs, there are ebbs and flows. You no longer get every two weeks, your bank is deposited around the same amount of money. Now, all of a sudden you might have really high seasons and like drought.
32:56What do you do from a financial standpoint in those situations? Yeah, this is a great question. And I wanted to highlight to really quick what you were talking about before. I want to say, if you are out there and wanting to be an entrepreneur, you want that so desperately, but you're not looking at your money. Like this is me giving you a little bit of like tough love and encouragement. Like you won't get there. Like you just won't. If you want this thing, but you refusing to like understand your financial picture, understanding how that plays into not just your personal finance, but your also potential businesses finances, like you will not do that.
33:31That will be impossible for you. So if the fear of money is holding you back from living this beautiful entrepreneurship dream life that you want, like look at your money. That's the first place to start. And again, I say that with all of the love and empathy in the world, because we actually have a, I almost said slogan, but like there's a metaphor in the personal finance community for this. And it's called the ostrich effect. You bury your head in the sand, you act like your problems don't exist. And then you just expect to keep on living your life. And it's like nothing changes in your life unless you change it.
34:02So if you do want to be an entrepreneur, you want to be an entrepreneur who's, who understands their numbers in order to both again, make an impact, but also get rich. You can't do that unless you're looking at your numbers. I will say, I always think about like Shark Tank. Like I'm so impressed when entrepreneurs go on and they can like say all these things. Yes. They have to. And I'm like, if every entrepreneur even just prepped for one day, pretending like they were going on to Shark to really do like an analysis of like, where are my leads coming from? How much do they cost? What is my average order?
34:34Like what all of these things, like you would have so much more clarity. And for me, I think entrepreneurship is a very like emotional thing and numbers to me, give me clarity. Like there's no confusing the numbers. So like it pulls you out of that, like spiral of like, can I do this? This is the best thing. This is the worst thing I am feeling. I am going to make it big. And like numbers just give you this concrete evidence of what is working and what isn't working. And so again, what you said about money being neutral, like your numbers can be neutral. They can just inform your steps ahead. And I feel like so many entrepreneurs like shy away from them because they attach so much emotion to them, but I'm like, remove that.
35:13And like, there's so much power in your numbers. So anyways. Yeah. And also again, I know we're on tangent, but people will, will say to me like, Oh, I'm the right brain creative. And like, I don't know my numbers, right. I'm not a left brain person. And like, I will asterisk that with like, yeah, at some point you probably need to get a left brain numbers person in, but when it's just you and when you're a solopreneur, I majored in theater guys, I majored in theater. I majored in theater and communications in college. I got a marketing degree basically. And then I majored in theater. People are shocked to hear that.
35:43They're like, you're a finance expert. And I'm Yeah. Yeah. You can have both and you need to, if you're not good at it right now, if you're not good at looking at your numbers, if you're not good figuring that out. And I'm just talking at the first, the first jump, just like, what are you bringing in? Like, it doesn't have to be like, how much does a lead cost? It's just like, what are you bringing in? And if you don't know that, I need you to know that. Okay. So your original question of like, how do we manage money when it's constantly fluctuating? I think I can probably speak for both of us.
36:12I know we're recording this in June, 2023. I know roughly how much the business is going to make in June of 2024. Like I know roughly how much we're going to make every single month, every single quarter, every single year. And that's not because like I can see into the future, right? It's because I understand the ebbs and flows of our business. Now that comes from some experience, right? That comes from me doing this now for a couple of years, but it's also me being smart with how I'm making strategic decisions. So if I have, let's say January is a killer month for me, right? And I know that March is not going to be as good.
36:56Well, I still have the same expenses, right? I still have the ramen noodle expenses. I, for me, have to pay my people. I have the subscriptions. I have the lawyers, right? I have just, you know, the general expenses. I know I need to be making at least that amount of money in order for the business to survive, in order for the business to keep going. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to hold some of that money. We call this like business reserves, right? Is I'm going to take some of that money and stick it in a bank account and just hold it. And it's almost like my emergency fund for my business, right?
37:26I have my personal emergency fund in case my cat gets sick or in case I get sick or in case I lose my job, right? And then I have my business emergency fund that is there if I have a rough month, if I lose a client, if something happens, right? Right. And you can be strategic in how you set this up in terms of, again, pulling money out of your more profitable months because you have made more money, taking that excess of profit and sticking it in an account that's there in case you need it, in case you do have a month that isn't great. when you are a solopreneur and you are like doing this, like, I don't know what money is coming in.
38:01Like, I have no idea month to month. And you're also trying to figure out what do you personally save? I always say that there, there's a level of automation you can do. I talk about automating your savings all of the time is setting up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account. Again, this is a lot easier if you're like a W2, nine to five employee, because you're getting paid the same amount. It's a little bit trickier when you are running a business. So automate what you can. And then there is going to be some of that manual transfer because you're like, I'm not sure what money I'm going to get this month.
38:38The other thing that I want to highlight too, and you were mentioning about not being afraid of your numbers and embracing them. I was literally talking to my team member, one of our marketing members on our team yesterday about this. I view our numbers as a game and not, it's not a game. I don't take seriously. I take this very seriously. I know people's livelihoods are on the line for me though. It's like, Oh, we're five days out from the end of the month. Let me see if I can make 20 K like, let me see if I can do it. And if I can't, well, cool. I've still made 10. Like it's so actually rewarding to know your numbers because when you're in control of them, right?
39:12We were talking about before when you control your money, your money doesn't control you. And the second is it just becomes fun. It's like, let me see if I can tweak this one thing in my Instagram bio to make 2K more. Let me see if I can put our products on a flash sale and make a bunch more money. Let me see if I can, you know, nab a speaking client before the end of the month. Like it actually is so exhilarating for me because it's just like, it's like, if I pull this lever, what's going to happen? If I pull this lever, what's going to happen? And there's something again, so freeing about that because I'm in control.
39:45I'm in control of what happens. So if you haven't taken on that mindset of, again, like have a little fun with your money, have a little fun with your numbers of like, what, what kind of game can I play here? That's, that's actually such an incredible tool. I love that. I feel the same way where I'm like, let's just see, let's try, let's experiment. I think it makes it so interesting. And it also, like, if you do have a team, it like challenges the team to like actually see their work turn into something as a tangible result. one thing I'm curious your take on. And now that I'm thinking about this, I'm like, was this a good idea or a bad idea?
40:20So when I first started my business, I was a wedding photographer. So I would shoot for six months out of the year. And then there would be six months of pure winter where there was nothing happening. And so what I ended up doing is I put myself on payroll so that I had that consistency every two weeks. And what's interesting, Tori is even as my business scaled from 50 K to a hundred K to 150 K, I still paid myself the same amount, which was my salary from target because that was my sushi money. Like that. I knew I can pay my student loans on this. We can afford rent. We're good. Like I want to just like stockpile as much as I can so that heaven forbid anything happened.
41:01Is that a good strategy or a bad strategy? I would have done the same thing. I would have done the same thing. I think, yeah, I don't think it's a bad strategy by any means. I do think there is this balance, right? Because I know for you, again, you and I are similar where you would have the kind of restraint where if, you know, if I was the person who was paying you and I gave you 10 K more a month that you had, it would probably go into savings. Like I know you, it would go into savings. So if somebody's listening and they're like, Oh, I'm starting to make more money. Like I need you to have something to show for it.
41:33I was at a, like, I'm getting invited now to these like fancy New York dinners, which is like very flattering. And I love, and the first one I ever went to was like this time last year. And I showed up and it was like a bunch of like, you know, fashion bloggers and influencers and people who you all know. And I was sitting there and it was like, it was actually like talk about money kind of dinner. It was sponsored by one of our financial partners. And so like, it was like this encouragement to have conversations about money. And I remember sitting there, I was like the only finance expert there.
42:07And I was looking around the table and I knew that these women, largely in their twenties and thirties, you know, women of color, queer women, like disabled women, like they were making bank. Like I know what I'm making. And some of these women had more followers than me or were getting more opportunities than me. And I'm like, I know you're making a lot of money. And I had this thought where I was like, I don't know it though, if they have anything to show for it. And that's not their fault, right? Again, nobody's taught them this. But what I'm so worried about is that, you know, in this like boom of entrepreneurship that we're having, you know, after 2020, we're seeing more women and members of marginalized groups get into entrepreneurship and kill it, which I love, but it would be absolutely heartbreaking for me for these women to be making six, seven, eight figures and not know how to manage it, right?
42:58Not know, oh, I need to put money into investments and I need them to grow for me. Oh, I need to make sure that I'm making strategic hiring decisions to use this money in a way that is going to catapult my business. I don't know. And again, I was assuming, but like I had statistically like speaking, that table was probably a$50 million table, maybe more than that. And I'm wondering how much of that was actually going back into their pockets, sustaining them. They're sustaining their family, sustaining their businesses long term. And again, that wasn't anybody's personal moral failing or like their inability.
43:41It was just no one is teaching them this. So if you are that person who is, you know, privileged and lucky enough and works really hard and is making good money, I need you to have something to show for it, right? Put that money in something like a Roth IRA. A Roth IRA is a individual retirement account that you can set up. If you make too much money for a Roth IRA, there's 401ks, there's other options, but like, I need you to take it a step further. Don't have all that money sitting in a bank account. Don't spend all of it. Don't just ignore it because you're too scared. Like I need you to have something to show for all of that hard work and dedication.
44:18I became a millionaire by age 27 because I was able to take the money that we were earning and leverage it, put it into investments, allow it to grow for me and allow it to grow for her first hundred K. So just don't let the ostrich effect, don't let the fact that nobody taught you about money, which is, again, totally understandable. Don't let that keep you from progressing financially. when we were young we dreamed of castles and fairy tales and as we grow up those dreams might shift into building something real like starting a business you need a website payment systems a logo and a way to reach customers it can all be overwhelming and confusing but thankfully that's where today's sponsor shopify comes in shopify powers millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all US e-commerce, from big brands to folks just getting started.
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46:54Can you believe that we're already wrapping up 2025? this year was packed with travel and so many new memories. One of my favorite moments was our team retreat in Arizona with the incredible women who helped me keep this business running. I also recently took the kids to Nashville during fall break and somewhere in between I squeezed in a trip to Puerto Rico with friends. We booked some of our most memorable stays this year on Airbnb. There's something special about finding a place that doesn't just look great in the photos but actually feels welcoming the moment you walk in. That this feels right kind of feeling.
47:27If you've got trips coming up, whether it's a family vacation, a retreat, or a work trip, your house will probably be sitting empty while you're gone. Have you considered hosting your home on Airbnb and letting it work for you? It's a simple way to earn some extra income that can be put towards a future trip or home improvement projects. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com forward slash host. So powerful. One question that I want to kind of close with is there are so many people listening that have one stream of income. Talk to those people because that, I mean, that's generally how everyone starts, right?
48:08You're passionate about a thing or you have an idea or you have a product or service or offer. You go out, you make money doing that one thing, but so many people stop there. And one revenue stream is too close to zero for comfort. Talk to me about that because even the things you're talking about really are just different streams of revenue, different places that can be working for you. And so what would you say to someone who's listening who has just one stream of revenue? I will asterisk all of this with, I am not a proponent of hustle culture. The side hustle in and of itself is this kind of glamorized thing when for plenty of people, it's just called a second job and it's just because they need to survive.
48:49So I want to highlight, like if that is you and you are working hard and you're doing the best you can, I applaud you. You don't need a second source of income. You need societal support. Like that's so important for us to talk about is again, like I was mentioning before with personal finance, it's about 20 % your personal choices and 80 % your circumstances and what's going on in the world and lack of government support, lack of, again, an increased minimum wage. So if you are the person who's just working one job or is working multiple to survive, I see you, you're doing great. For those who do have a little more flexibility and who are either business owners or who are like voluntarily doing the side hustle because they do want to like become a business owner someday.
49:32Like you said, there's something so powerful in knowing, okay, not only in your numbers, but knowing, okay, if this revenue stream were to disappear tomorrow, I'm gonna be good. Right. And this is what I was talking about where money makes you uncontrollable, right? If I have to fire a client or if a client fires me, I know I'm going to be okay. Right. I know that the business and me are going to be okay. So when we are thinking about income streams, like perfect example, and it's literally going to be your business plan. So it's going to be pretty obvious. But if we're talking about wedding photographers, right?
50:01For you, it was like, I'm shooting six months out of the year. I go dark the other six months. Well, what can you be doing? Okay. Well, not only do plenty of people need wedding photographers in person, but maybe you can branch out to say, oh, I'm going to shoot not just weddings, but I'm going to shoot engagements or elopements or what is it when you do pregnancy announcements, right? I'm not a mom. Can you tell I'm not a mom? I'm like pregnancy something. Maybe I can shoot graduations. Maybe I can shoot bloggers, right? That is a varied sources of income, but it's still you doing it. Right. So how do we like start to remove Jenna from the picture?
50:37Right. Where she's not doing as much active work. Well, how about I coach other wedding photographers? It's going to sound very, very, very similar. It's going to sound very interesting. How do I coach other wedding photographers? Right. How do I teach what I'm doing? People ask me all the time, like, how do I pose for photos? I don't know how to pose for photos. Cool. I'm going to create an ebook about how to show up best on camera. Cool. Oh, oh, I am in the wedding industry and I see all of the things that people do that are terrible on wedding day. And I see a bunch of things that people do that are great.
51:08How about I make a guide? The wedding photographer's guide to your perfect wedding day. Something like, right? Like there are ways that you can diversify that income. And I see a lot of people, you know, are doing the thing that they do really well, but they don't understand like, oh, I can do something digitally or virtually or passively that allows my income to increase. I was a money coach. That's how I started was I would literally sit down with people at my Starbucks 10 minutes away and coach them about money. And I live in Seattle. We would literally go to Seattle. It was only people in Seattle, right?
51:43And that's a limited market. So what I was doing though, was in that coaching, one, I was increasing my own confidence, but two, I was understanding how do I, you know, communicate this more effectively. I was almost beta testing, but getting paid for it. So then what happened is I realized with all the love in the world, everybody was talking to me, asked 95 % of the same questions. Like they thought their experience was unique, but really like they were asking the similar things. So I took that coaching and created a workshop and that workshop was still my time. But instead of one person, well, now it was virtual and it was$97.
52:20So I could have 50 people there. And then when that workshop was tested, I created a course out of it so I could sell that passively. Right. There's a way that you can even doing what you do now, continue to do it, but then think like, what is the next step of me getting a little less involved? And then you do that for a while. And then what's the step of me getting like way less involved. And when you're thinking about diversifying your income streams, in addition to you running your business and working, the kind of personal finance things are also a source of revenue. We talk about high yield savings accounts incessantly at her first 100K.
52:56They're everyday savings accounts, except you get a higher percent interest. We have the one we recommend on our website. It's like, that is income, right? You're making interest off your money just sitting there. When you're investing, you're making money, right? Your money is making you money. I remember the first time I made money while I slept, I was like 23. And I remember looking up, you know, my bank account at 7 a.m. the next morning. And I'm like, oh, the stock market in New York opened three hours ago and I have made money. Right. And there's something so incredibly badass about that feeling.
53:25So both think about like diversifying your income streams as you the person or as you the entrepreneur, thinking about like, how can I continue doing the work that I'm doing, but for different people, for different audiences. right? Or how can I work to scale back and to start thinking about passive revenue streams or like online revenue streams? And then what are the sort of personal finance tools I can employ for me to make money without me even having to think about it? I love it. Tori, do you have anything that our audience could take advantage of? Obviously, your book, your podcast, your social accounts, they're all so good.
54:01I feel like I'm like the incessant bookmarker of all of your posts and or like the forwarder, but anything that our audience can take advantage of to learn more from you and learn more about what you teach. Yeah. One easy way to like engage with our content. We have a quiz. You go to her first hundred K.com slash quiz. It is six questions. It allows us to serve you best. And it's not a pass or fail. It's just like, what is your financial situation? Do you have debt? And it allows us to give you our resources. So you're not like panic Googling how to save money question market to in the morning.
54:31And then our big thing that we just launched is we're doing a free workshop about investing misconceptions, all of the things I wish I knew about investing, how to manage the stock market and navigate the stock market without losing money, how to think about growing your wealth and investing. We were talking about passively before this is the perfect place to do it. So I'll give Jenna the link to link that in the show notes, but I would love to see you there. Perfect. You can go to jennacutcher.com forward slash investing so that you can learn all of these things. I think this is so powerful. This is a place where even I like 10 years into entrepreneurship still feel a little overwhelmed, a little lost.
55:09And I think for so many of us, we don't want to admit that like there's shame, like you said, of like, I don't totally understand how this all works. So again, jennacutcher.com forward slash investing, learn from Tori. I feel like you are such a wealth of knowledge. Plus you're hilarious. Like there's this humor in it that makes it feel not so serious and way more approachable. And so where else can people find you? Give us your social handles, your website so that people can connect with your work. Thank you. I appreciate it. That's my big thing is it's like this big, scary thing that seems inaccessible.
55:41Like make, let's make it accessible. It's a bunch of finance bros who think that it's complicated and that's how they stay in business. That's my not so conspiracy conspiracy theory. Her first hundred k.com is where you can find me or at her first center k and then i have a book and podcast called financial feminist and jenna will be a featured guest here on financial feminist soon when we can get schedules coordinated so yeah yeah we'd love to see you thank you so much for coming on the show this was everything i dreamed of and so much more you are the best thanks for having me this was such a treat i love talking to my friends having them on air and just having candid conversations, especially about money.
56:20I'll never forget one of the first times Tori reached out to me. She asked me about one of the work proposals that I had gotten. And I flat out told her exactly what I was being offered to be paid. Having that sort of transparency will transform the landscape for other women. And I think it's so powerful that we not only know our numbers, but that we share them to encourage one another to see what's possible and to go after what we are worth. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Gold Digger Podcast. Thank you so much for choosing this show and for tuning in. And of course, until next time, Gold Diggers, keep on digging your biggest goals.
56:58I'm over here giving you a virtual high five because you just finished another episode of the Gold Digger Podcast. Did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, head over to golddiggerpodcast.com for show notes and all the discount codes from today's sponsors. And if you're looking for a new crew of movers and shakers like you to bounce ideas and ask questions, be sure to join my exclusive community for Gold Diggers on Facebook. The link's waiting for you at golddiggerpodcast.com.
From the publisher
Do you ever wish you were taught more about how to handle your finances in grade school?! Me too… but it’s better late than never to get educated, and today is the day!
After saving $100,000 at age 25, Tori Dunlap quit her corporate job in marketing and founded Her First $100K to fight financial inequality by giving women actionable resources to better their money. Since then, she has helped over 3 MILLION women negotiate salary, pay off debt, build savings, and invest.
I’m honored to have her on the show today to teach us how we can overcome our money fears, practical tips for saving and investing, and exactly what financial feminism means to her. Click play NOW to hear from internationally-recognized money and career expert Tori Dunlap on the Goal Digger Podcast.
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