You’re Not Broke… You’re Making Broke Decisions w Dominique Broadway | Episode 240

Most people are making very broke decisions every single day. If you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can't, you can't. Your brain does not know what's true and what's false. If more women could see that if they were more financially present, they could be more physically present.

The average American makes $50,000 a year.

Yes.

So imagine you're still working, you make $200 a day trading on the side. You literally made an extra salary.

I loved options because it allows you to control much more stocks at a fraction of the cost. You do have options. There's so many different ways that you can make money in this world, and it does not have to be this singular option of a job.

I feel like so many Black mothers want to be present physically, but they don't take that same energy to being financially present.

You're a mom, entrepreneur. What does being a melanin millionaire mean to you?

Mm.

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Welcome back to another episode of the Melanin Money Show. And today we got a very special guest, somebody who actually inspired me when I was getting into the financial literacy and financial education space, has been doing the work for such a long time, and we're excited to have her on our show. She actually was the award recipient at our inaugural Melanin Money Awards back in 2023 for Women in Wealth.

Yep.

Right? So I'm going to actually, again, I don't like to butcher people's intros who actually have done real work. So I'm actually just going to read it. No shame. Uh, Dominique Broadway is a financial strategist, author of The Wealth Decision, and founder of a thriving financial education platform helping women, families, and everyday investors build wealth with clarity and confidence. She is passionate about empowering moms, teaching financial literacy to the next generation, and simplifying advanced strategies like options for new investors. So with no further ado, Dominique, how are you?

I'm great. I'm, I'm so excited to be here with y'all.

Yes. This is so excited to have you.

This is awesome.

Yeah.

Long time coming. We've had a long time.

Yeah, because like, I know she inspired you. You say she inspired you. She inspired me because like my first FinCon, when I walked in, Dominique was like the celebrity, bro. People were waiting in line to shake her hand. I was like, wait, you mean to tell me there's people that look like us that could talk about money and really do it at the highest level?

So I was—

I forgot about that.

It was like 2017, 2016.

Yeah, I found out about Dominique Broadway before I knew what self-hacker was. I was like, wait, Finance Demystified. She got the ebook. She got— I was like, okay, that's what she got going on.

Oh man, that is hilarious.

So is this cool?

It's a full circle moment.

We're all doing our thing and just glad to have you on the show. So let's start off with The Wealth Decision.

Yes.

What, what is The Wealth Decision in a nutshell?

So what is The Wealth Decision? So this is, this is, this is my best-selling book, The Wealth Decision. And the interesting thing is I feel like wealth is truly just a decision.

Yeah.

And most people are making very broke decisions every single day, right? So every day I always like to say the decision that I'm making, is it getting me closer to my financial goals or further away? And most people are literally making these decisions that's keeping them stagnant, keeping them broke, keeping them paralyzed, keeping them, allowing them to procrastinate. And because of that, they're never hitting their wealth goals. So when I think about the wealth decision, which is interesting, I wanted to name the book One Decision Wealth. My publisher was like, nah, it's not really one decision. I'm like, well, the first decision to me is the most important decision, which is deciding that wealth is the only way to go. And so when I really, when I made my own wealth decision was I was broke. I was broke as the thing, okay? My house is in foreclosure. My car had got repossessed and I was stressing. My HOA fees was behind. Like everything was behind. I was getting like lawsuits. It was just like, what is happening?

And you had financial acumen.

I did. I did. We can talk about that. This is what made it harder, right? And so it's like, wait a minute, what are we doing? Like I was a financial advisor and like all these things, but it was really me not charging enough. And we could talk more about that. Just as a woman, a lot of times we don't charge enough. And I ended up broke, just super, super broke. And one day I woke up and I was just like, I'm done. Like, this is not going to be my story. And I started to realize that month after month, I was allowing myself to get more and more and more and more comfortable in this situation. And like, oh, woe is me. This is happening to me. And like, once I was like, okay, this is over. Like, at the end of the day, so I'm changing it. And I was like, I'm making only wealthy decisions from here on out.

Love that. Yeah, love that.

So let's talk about that because we all started out not charging enough for our service.

It's embarrassing to say out loud. And now, so let me at least get the context so y'all see, I feel what I'm saying, why.

What you always charging?

So I remember like, you know, I started, this is when the subscription model for advisors was new. Like we're going to charge for our services.

I remember seeing you and I was posting, I was like, how is he making money?

I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't. Um, and so I was like, I'm gonna beat Netflix for financial advising. But what I didn't realize, Netflix is intellectual property, is information, not providing services.

Yeah.

So I had, I had 3 tiers of service, and my big dog tier was $149 a month.

Whoa.

For services.

Big dog tier.

I was the big dog tier. And I remember doing the math one day. I was in my little WeWork corner office, right? Um, and I was like, wait, so I gotta have how many clients to even remotely— I was like, this ain't gonna work. Yeah. $150 for advisories, which we now charge Substantially more important, obviously. But yeah, that was what I was originally thinking.

And did you have advisors working for you at the time?

I wanted to.

You couldn't. I couldn't.

Barely could pay a system. And that was the issue. I was like, yeah, I'm about to start marketing so I can have other advisors. I was like, wait, I'm going to have to have 300, 400 of these clients to even consider this making a thing. So yeah, that was my moment where I realized I had to—

So it was nothing for you, obviously.

You know.

We move on.

Check the wrist.

Check the wrist.

We move on.

You know what I'm saying?

We move on.

But the reason I asked that is because you mentioned making broke decisions early. And I feel like— We all made some of these broke decisions because the way, not the way the marketplace saw us, but the way we saw ourselves.

That part. And so you charge based on what you can afford.

Mm-hmm.

So the people that I was working with could technically afford more, but I was charging like, okay, at this point in time, I, you know, I was starting to go broke. Now, mind you, my clients that I'm coaching thriving, buying first house, second house, paying off debt. I'm like, what? What is going on? Like, what are we doing wrong? But I'm over here charging $50 an hour, right? Which seems like a lot, but I'm not working 8 hours a day, right? You may only see a couple clients in a day, if that. And it wasn't adding up, but I was charging based on what I can afford. And I'll never forget somebody, my mentor told me, it was something about, oh no, I was meeting with a client and she was, you know, having some financial stuff and she had just bought Beyoncé tickets. Yeah. Okay, she had paid $750 for these Beyoncé tickets. And that was a moment where I was like, if you could pay $750 for these Beyoncé tickets, you could have paid me. Trust me, I'm going to help you way more than Beyoncé ever will. And it also made me realize that people, they'll figure it out. When people want something and see the value in something, they're going to figure out how to pay for it, right? And giving their money to Beyoncé, Beyoncé ain't gave her no ROI, okay, at all.

Nothing.

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

That's the kind of clients I'm looking for.

That's not to get you. So what's your take? No, so that is, the interview is not about me, but nah.

I mean, I was charging somewhere around the same thing, I think maybe like $150, $200 a month, um, you know, for, for advisement services and things like that.

He's doing a little CPA services in there too.

You are doing a whole full financial service.

Let's just talk about it.

Um, I remember sitting down in Houston talking about he tried to just sell some ebooks.

Yeah, yeah. And I was like, I need to get my time back.

Long story short, we all have made some poor decisions.

Yeah.

And, but we all one day decided to make a wealth decision that has brought us back here today. So I think that's to ask you, Dominique.

Yeah.

How does the listener at home truly make that wealth decision to say that whether I, what is the decision that I'm worthy of wealth?

Yeah.

What is the decision they need to make and like how do they make it today? Because we can, we about to give them game the rest of the episode and strategies, but if they don't make that wealth decision, the rest of the strategies we give them gonna be null and void because they're not gonna do anything with it.

Very true. And the key word that you said was worthy, right? And so what I am seeing even now, and it has been breaking my heart, is I'm like seeing some of my students in our community, especially women, specifically Black women over age 55.

Yeah.

Who do not see and understand their worth, right? And so a lot of the conversation, I'm supposed to be helping them get some strategies together, options and things like that. And we're spending most of the time just trying to help them shift their money mindset to understand that they deserve to take a trip, that they deserve to have whatever it is that they want. So how do you make that shift? Well, it's not always easy. You know why? Because we're trying to change for some people 30 years, 40 years, 50 years of a mindset, right? So I think the first thing is honestly, I'm an affirmation person. I'm like, yo, say this to yourself every single day. Like, I am worthy of wealth. I am worthy of success. I am worthy of whatever it is. But you have to like literally tell yourself because, you know, that famous quote, if you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can't, you can't. So if you keep telling yourself, I can't do this, I can't do that. I tell people all the time, don't join my programs if you already telling yourself you can't do it because it ain't going to work. And then you going to be asking us for a refund. But like, well, you done sat here every session and said you can't do it. And so at the end of the day, you have to start stop and really think about like, what am I telling myself? Am I telling myself that I can't do something or am I telling myself that I can? I am crazy. Clearly we're all a little bit crazy, right? Because we're literally trying not the same thing over and over again. That's insanity. But we're trying different things every single day and we're telling ourselves that we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there. We're gonna be millionaires. We're gonna be whatever. But a lot of times people don't, they don't do that. So I always say, take a second, sit down and first figure out What is your relationship with money? Honestly, it's very important. It's like, what is your relationship? And I have a whole chapter in my book about that. Like, are you avoidant? Are you, are you, what do you call it? Have a scarcity mindset or are you a hoarder of cash, right? And the thing is, once you start to understand like, okay, this is a relationship I have with money and then you kind of start reframing it. So it's like, what can I start to tell myself that yes, I am going to take a trip this year, right? I was talking to one of our students the other day, she lent some money to somebody else so that they could take a trip.

Wow. But wouldn't do it for herself.

Wouldn't do it for herself.

Wow.

And that's an example. That's so many people. It's so common. So it was like, women, you have to just, first of all, you are allowed to have and reach whatever dreams you want to reach and accomplish, point blank, right? And so you really have to just start telling yourself and talking to yourself and saying, I want this. I deserve this.

Yeah.

I can accomplish this. And like, I tell myself this all the time. And the thing too, I think where people get a little thrown off is that they think that once they start telling themselves these things, that it's just going to automatically flip. It's not. It's like a muscle. It's like going to the gym, right? So Cardi got them big guns we see on Instagram all the time, right? You got to build that, right? He can't go to the gym. We can't go to the— y'all can't go to the gym one time and expect to come out with some abs, right? I'm trying to remind myself that. You have to go all the time. So you have to build that mental money mindset muscle, just like you're building every other muscle. But over time, trust me, your mind and your brain does not know what's true and what's false. So if you're saying, I'm fat, I'm ugly, I'm broke, I'm poor, it's like, cool, this is what we are. But if you're saying, I'm wealthy, I'm hot, I'm sexy, I got a good man, my kids is thriving, da da da, that's what's going to pan out. So that's where I would start personally.

Yeah, I think the bridge between like the delusion and the actual outcome is action, right? So it's like you start with those affirmations, but it's like then you have the behaviors that match the belief. That's right. Come on now, listen, listen. But I taught you something, man. Yeah, listen, listen. I think that's so powerful. People hear that like, oh, I'm gonna shout in the mirror every day. But it's like, yeah, start there because you have that self-talk. Actions have to follow. Now I love that.

Totally agree.

This is going to be slightly a different direction. We have a lot of ways we're going to take this episode, but I'm just feeling inspired to ask this question. So like I said, we, we were inspired by what you were doing, you know, over a decade plus ago. So you're the definition of a power, a boss, power woman, mom, all the things. How do you feel like you balance those things while still like showing up in your other roles? Because obviously, you know, you want to be successful in your career. But you're a mom of two beautiful girls. Um, are you, are you dating now, Kim?

Married?

More or less? Okay.

Depends on who it is.

Depends on who's asking.

I am a single mom. I am very single.

So there's a lot of different roles, right? So how do you feel like, because I feel like men don't struggle with it as much, right? Because it's expected for you to be ambitious and be a father and do all these things, right? But like to be that as a woman, I feel like it's a different level of it's a different level of perspective, right? So how do you balance that and how you just reconcile, you know?

I don't know, man. I don't, you know, this is the interesting thing. I don't know if there's such a thing as balance.

That's fair, yeah.

There is, it's interesting. I will say, being, I have been the breadwinner in my entire life, honestly, with everyone that I've ever been with. And it creates this interesting dynamic, right? So that's one part. And it's funny, a lot of my fellow 7, 8 figure entrepreneur friends, we talk about this often. Like, what is it? What, what? It's different, right? And so at the same time, you're still expected to do the household things, but you're still bringing in all the coins. So there could be a balance, right? And that haven't necessarily been my situation, but I've seen that. And there's like, well, you need to be cooking, cleaning. Now, mind you, I love to cook. Like, that's one of my favorite things to do. But there has to be a balance. I'm all about outsourcing, right? So if it's having— I've had nannies. I've had, as a single mom, I've hired live-in nannies. Game changer, you know, for me. So that I can be present for my kids. So for me, I think that in this state with the finances I have now, it's being able to outsource the things that will allow me to be more present for my children, will allow me to be more present for my company, will allow me to be more present for my mom, for my sister. And so that has been it for me. But I don't believe in balance. I think that at the end of the day, there's always something that's not going to be balanced. So example, if I'm here right now, I'm not picking my kids up from school today, right? So I'm not present I wasn't for them today, right? I didn't drop them off at school today. So I think that there, there's no such thing as balance. But I think that the, the goal for me, even with having and building wealth, was so that I could be present in their lives.

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Peace. And it's so funny, the other day my daughter was like, oh my God, Mommy, you're working all the time. Now mind you, she was out of school that day. I still had to work, right? I was on my computer at home sitting beside her, right?

Well, our parents, they had to leave.

Sandy's elsewhere. And I'm trying to explain to her like, you don't even understand that most people have to like leave the house and they come home at 8 PM and she's like, you're just working. Like, you still— she don't care. But basically, I don't think there's such a thing as balance. And I think that a lot of times people drive themselves insane trying to reach balance and there is no such thing. There's going to be a day where your partner is going to feel a little bit neglected, your kid is going to feel a little bit neglected, your business is going to feel a little bit neglected. But at the end of the day, if you are making your intentions aware, like, this is why I'm doing this. I am working hard in this season so that we can spend the whole summer in Europe. And you'll have 100% of my attention, or because I want to take more cooking classes because I want to start making sushi for the family, or whatever. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't think there's a balance, but I do think that communication is key for sure. Um, and understanding that there are seasons in people's lives. I think that even in a relationship, there's a season where, hey, this is your season. Hey, this is my season. Hey, this is the kids' season. And I think that that's what people understand because everybody's so damn selfish, but That's another conversation.

But yeah, yeah, I don't think— I don't think it's balance. I think there's seasons of imbalance.

Exactly.

And I think communicating those seasons where everybody needs to know is— what do you say all the time? Unarticulated expectations lead to premeditated resentment. I'm only giving credit for that one more time. Taking it after this. But, but just to give you all an example, for me, like, I knew I was operating at my highest potential that I could as an entrepreneur. January 2025, I sent my family a text message letting them know I probably won't be coming to birthdays. I probably won't be doing this. I probably won't be doing that because I need to— this is about to be a season of massive focus for me. I need y'all to be understanding in this season. Everybody understood because I gave them that heads up, right? And then in November, I took my entire family on to another country for Thanksgiving. 12 of us paid for everything. And they were like, OK, do it again. Like, the second time— now that I know that you can— that's going to be a payoff. Go ahead. And I think that if we communicate it, whether that's to our spouse, whether it's to our kids or whatever, I think it goes a lot further. In that direction. So my next question to you, George, unless you have something. I feel like so many Black mothers want to be present and the help and the guiding light for their children physically. They want to be physically present, but they don't take that same energy to being financially present, right? And I mean, like, there's, there's so much, you know, Black women's strong prowess about being that lioness for your family and protecting them physically, which is amazing. Yeah, right. But like, if we could take that and take that to a financial realm, then we help them pull back the blockers of I'm not worthy of wealth. The same way you want to be physically present for your family should be the same way you should be financially present for your family. So how do we like navigate towards that?

Hmm, that's interesting. I think Understanding if more women could see that if they were more financially present, they could be more physically present. I think, I think that's what it boils down to. So, um, I saw someone, I saw something on Threads the other day, and they're basically like, the key to motherhood is money or community. And, uh, as I was just telling George, I was like, when I first lived in Miami, we didn't have any. I didn't have any family. I had nannies. These nannies are still very close to me to this day. I had to lean on what I had, right? And so the first year I didn't have a nanny because I was like in super Black woman mode. Like I could do it all. My mama did it all. I can do it all. Biggest mistake of my life. Okay, I'm over here making $800,000 in a month. I'm breastfeeding. I am answering customer support emails. Make it make sense. Let me tell y'all something. The first time I had my million dollar month, I didn't even know.

Because you—

Because I was busy. I didn't even know. I just happened to be looking as I'm sitting up one night, breastfeeding again, happened to be looking. I was like, oh my God, I made a million. What? I was like, oh, I need a break, right? But it's basically saying that if your finances are in a better situation and if you're starting to learn skills that show you that you don't have to work 8, 9, 10 hours a day to get the same financial result is huge.

Yeah.

Right. And you know, for me, I have been in the financial services industry now for a long time. I just turned 41, which is bananas. So like, what, 20 years, over 20 years. I started working, I was like 22, technically 21 actually interning.

Yeah.

Long time. And you just start to see that the more, if you can get your finances in a good place and also more importantly, if your money is working for you, you have that time freedom to be more present for your kids. And I love that my kids have visited probably over 25 different countries. I have been completely present for, you know, with them, you know, and that's big. And, you know, those are memories that they're going to have forever. Sometimes they may say, oh, Mommy, you're on your laptop, but I'm sitting beside you on the laptop. Like, you know what I'm saying? And so I think that if we can get more women to understand that you have options, right? That there is not just one way to make money. And I think that for most women, people in general, honestly, that is what we're taught. You, you would, I guess you go to school, you graduate, you get the job, you work till how long people work now? 65, 67, I don't even know, 65, 70, right? And then you retire. And so what I like to try to show women is like, look, if you go out and make your money, your money needs to try to 10x what, 10x itself basically. So if you're, if you went out and you busted your butt to make this money, Once it's in, how can we get it to grow so that you have more time freedom to spend time with your family or whoever you want to spend time with, if you have kids or not, but just to have that freedom. And I think that that's a shift. I feel like even with, what is it, Gen Z, whatever the new generation is, they're the first generation that's like really truly into like all the social media, all the things. And they're, most of them ain't working no fools.

They're not.

They're not. And so now I feel like a lot of my generation and older, they still can't even wrap their mind around the fact that their portfolio can grow $10,000 in a day or they can click a couple buttons and do a trade or whatever and make $2,000. Like, it's hard for them to fathom.

Yeah.

Yeah. But that's also another mindset shift.

And I like that you as a woman said that because oftentimes I feel like sometimes this is all or nothing mentality, right? It's like, to your point, you're beside your kid with the laptop. It's like, oh my gosh, push your 'Not present, you're not.' I'm like, come on. Like, we have to zoom out and look at the bigger picture that we created this lifestyle, this autonomy to where, yes, I can get work done, but my kid is literally right here. We're even doing it in another country.

In another country. And they gonna ask for 12 snacks. I'm gonna go get the 12 snacks. You know, they need a snack every 10 minutes.

It doesn't have to be this all— I think social media thrives on polarizing perspectives, right? It has to be this all or nothing mentality. And so I like that you as a woman have articulated, yeah, yes, I am working, but I'm still present for my kids. You know what I'm saying? I think that's huge. Speaking of your kids, so let's talk about it. So why do you feel like investing for your kids is important? And I guess talk about like how you do it. Are they aware that you're doing it? Let's just unpack that a little bit in terms of building wealth for your kids.

Yeah. So I, the investing piece is interesting. So when I was growing up, my grandfather started buying savings bonds for me, Series EE bonds, right? And so he's working with federal government. So you could just buy them straight through your paycheck. He started out $25 a month, $50, you know, just slowly growing over time. Yeah. But over my whole lifespan, the first 18 years of my life, he was buying these Series EE bonds. Now, as you know, or people that don't know, it takes what, 15 years?

For the bonds to mature?

I think for them to mature, basically for them to mature, which is to double, which is insane.

That's a long time.

That's insane. So basically by the time I get to college, he had all these bonds saved, which may have been like $25,000 or so, which was great.

Yeah.

But at the time I started teaching myself how to invest when I was 16 and I was like, Pop Pop, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, bro. Like, what are we doing? He's like, 4% interest.

interest a year. Oh my gosh.

I mean, I was like, this could be like half a million dollars, you know? But he didn't really understand a lot of the investing, but he was doing what he could, right? And so with my kids, I'm like, I am, and my sister, actually me and my sister are 17 years apart. So I started saving for my sister, buying investments when she was a kid and I was, you know, in my early 20s. And I would sit down with her and say, pick the investments. Like, let's pick what you want. It always be like Disney, McDonald's, and Heelys and, you know, things like that that she was familiar with. And so with my kids, as soon as I first found out I was pregnant, I started putting money aside, right? After the baby was born, got Social Security number, put all this money, start putting into the custodian account. Once, you know, hired them as contractors and then boom, started putting money into the Roth IRA. And what I wanted to do is just make sure that they didn't just end up with, and I say just, and I was grateful, you know, $25,000, $30,000 by the time they get there. I wanted their money to grow. right? And so that was really how I did it, just in the simplest way possible. And essentially over time, you know, obviously it has been growing. So I have my 4-year-old, she has a 5-figure net worth. My 6-year-old, she has a 6-figure net worth. She older, but we max out her Roth every year.

6 figures at 6 years old.

At 6 years old.

Yeah.

And the funny thing is this, I have been showing her her investment account since she was probably 4 years old.

Yeah.

Right. And showing it to her And I say, look at your money, Dawson. This is how it's doing. And so usually about once a week, she'll come and say, how's my money doing? Ooh.

Wow.

We love that. She's 6 years old.

We love that.

And so it's, you know, we haven't gotten to the intricacies of like all of how all that works, but she just knows she got money and she know it's growing, but she gets mad because mommy has more than her.

So I was showing her one of my accounts the other day.

So she goes to school and she's telling everyone that mommy has millions. I'm like, shh.

Cut it, chill. Oh, you got to chill.

A lot of playdates going to your account right now.

She's like, wow. I was like, everybody need to be in our business. But it's as simple as that. And so it's just starting small. And I think that's the biggest thing where a lot of moms, like, they're confused with like, well, how do I start? Just open the account, right? So this could be a custo— most people start with a custodian account. Custodian account, you know, if you're able to get a, what do you call it, minor Roth IRA or whatever. Most people start with a custodian. There's 529s. But Custodian is the easiest way to start. $25 a month, $50 a month, whatever your budget allows, but do it consistently, right? And that's the thing. And I let her pick some stocks she likes, right? And so, you know, we do Disney because she loves Bluey and, you know, and so kind of relating it that way at a 4-year-old, I mean, sorry, a 6-year-old age, right? And so, yeah, that's basically what I've done. So there are, you know, Dawson's on track hopefully to be a millionaire by the age of 16.

You did a, come on, an article on that or something like that?

Yeah, I did. Yeah. So Time Magazine, Time has a company called NextAdvisor. So Time and NextAdvisor did an article and an interview actually on me. I don't know how they reached out to me about that. When Dawson was 18 months old, when she was 18 months old, now she's 6. And I was just talking about what I was doing, just the simple things, because I want more people to understand that they can do this for their kids. I think on the flip side too, though, You need to do it for yourself first.

Yes.

Right? So a lot of times I have moms like, oh, I want to do this for my kids. I'm like, what you got to say? They like, oh, nothing. Well, let's start with you. Let's start with you because at the end of the day, you need to set the example for them. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, that's huge. I'm going to chime in real quick. You got a question you want to ask? Okay, cool. So we were talking offline before you hopped on. I know you, so you were in Miami at one point, from DC, lived in Portugal, now you're back here. And I kind of jokingly said that like, You got options, right? And the irony in that is that you teach people how to trade options. And so it's giving you optionality in your own life. So talk to us a little bit about why you decided, because you, I mean, again, when I first came across you, you had kind of a broader spectrum of just personal finance in general.

Yep.

Which has been extremely helpful, but now you also have this skillset. Why did you decide to acquire this skillset? Talk to us a little bit about it and how has it helped the people in your community be able to give themselves more optionality?

Yeah, that's a good question. So it was interesting, like I said, I started teaching myself how to invest when I was 16. And I was just teaching myself how to invest. And then probably when I was like 19, I started dabbling with trading. Then I got, became a licensed financial planner. I worked at Edelman Financial Services. I worked at UBS Financial Services here in New York. And then actually worked at UBS here and then also in DC for a year. That's where I got licensed at. And then worked at another company called United Capital that was acquired by Goldman Sachs. And the interesting thing is when I was working at those firms, and I never forget like I was taking my Series 7 exam, like, you know, options was the thing that had me. Yeah, listen, I'm gonna be honest with y'all. It took me 3 times to pass my Series 7.

It was like a 6-hour exam, right?

2 parts. I got ADHD and I get bored and every time it was like 69%. I remember going to my car, calling my mom, my grandfather, just bawling like, oh my God, I'm so dumb, I can't do this. But look at me now. But anyway, you know, and so, you know, some people saying that a good test taker test takers. But the interesting thing with options is when I was working at these firms, they made it seem like such like this unicorn thing, right? And like, it actually made me scared to even try. And then back then, back then, you had to have like a $3 or $4 million net worth to even be able to apply, right? Right. And so I knew about them, but it always seemed very scary even once I had my license. And so Years passed by and I was like, I kind of wanted to start dabbling in it. Honestly, it was because option trading became more easily accessible with the Robinhoods and a lot of these virtual technology platforms. Kind of joke about how now, like the New York Stock Exchange floor is quiet.

Yeah, it's quiet because everybody online.

Yeah, it's quiet. But anyway, so I started kind of dabbling with it and just got really good. And like a lot of my old financial just experience kind of came back and I was like, wait a minute. I was like, this isn't nowhere near as complicated as people made it, made it seem. And so that was it. And then I just started doing, you know, a couple of trades a day and just practicing, practice trading at first. And then just started doing more and more. And I set a goal. I was like, all right, cool. I'm just going to try to make $200 a day. Yeah. Right. Just, just—

And to put that in perspective, we talked just on the last episode with Peter, I was saying, you know, people's trading psychology goes out the window because if you say just stop at $200 a day, but the average American makes $50,000 a year.

Yes.

So imagine you're still working, you make $200 a day trading on the on the side, you literally made an extra salary.

Yes, exactly. And that's how I said, let me just, let me just try, you know, $200 a day. Let me see what's happening. And, um, started getting really, really good. So $200 a day went to, you know, $1,000, sometimes $50,000. It's just like, I was like, whoa, right? This is, this is really going. Um, and it was, it was fun. It was something I could do even, you know, as, as a new mom, you know, all those things. And so that was really how I got into it. But it was, it was combining traditional, what I call just traditional trading, all the indicators and things that I'm already, you know, familiar with. But I loved options because it allows you to control much more stocks at a fraction of the cost. So if you were to go and buy 100 shares of, you know, Apple, it would cost you $200 and— what is it? Not $200, but $26,000, whatever Apple is trading at right now. But to go and control 100 shares of Apple, you could do that for like $100. For $200. And so I started teaching my family first, but actually before I started teaching anybody else. And the interesting thing is, and you, like you said, I started out with just doing personal finance. This goes back to being, feeling like you're worthy. Yeah. I felt like I wasn't like worthy enough to teach investing. It was weird. And I also feel like everyone that was teaching investing was so scammy.

Yeah. And you actually had the credentials. You actually worked at a firm. These people, no official, who go online, they have never—

it's almost like a It's almost like a blissful ignorance, right?

It's like once you know the gravity of like, hey, look, this is important. It's not play money. Like, we don't get that same blissful ignorance of somebody who's just like, just learn.

Oh, I saw somebody on YouTube, I'm going to teach you how to get it. Yeah, it's not that good. And I think because of that, because I also too, as y'all are familiar with, because I did have licenses for years, I could not say anything about it. You really can't talk about it. And so I made that hard decision also to give up my licenses so that I could talk more freely about it. But the interesting thing is with the options, like I said, I started teaching my family first. I'm like, if I can teach these people who hard to teach, right? I can start to teach other people. They were doing really well. And then I was able to start teaching just others. And then we just started having amazing success stories. People making $200 a day, $500 a day, $1,000 a day, making $100,000 in a year, a couple hundred thousand dollars in a year, getting more fancy, doing covered calls, getting those already, not just calls and puts. And it was such a game changer. And like I said, it was amazing because you didn't need a lot of money. And a lot of times when people teach just stock trading, you do need a lot of capital. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah. And so it just made it super accessible and it just allowed people to grow their portfolios a lot quicker. And my goal is, hey, you take your option trading income, use it to pay your debts or bills or whatever. And then anything in excess of that, put it away.

Yeah.

Right. To that long-term investment.

So, so you teach them both, cuz like I think about a lot of options trainers in the space, they teach about only trading options.

Yeah.

But they don't, they, they ignore the long-term wealth strategy. Right.

Yeah.

So you're teaching students how to use options to increase their active income, use that active income to pay debt, and they use that active income to invest, to build their true net worth.

Yeah.

So they're not just in this continuous cycle of trading when not actually building the true portfolio.

Exactly. And that's also cuz my background, I'm, I did goal-based financial planning, right? And, you know, so it's at the end of the day, once a financial planner, always a financial planner, right? They don't go away. And so I think that that's also what makes, you know, has made me so successful where I'm not, it's not just one angle. Like I can sit here, we could talk about basic budgeting, we could talk about trading, we could talk about long-term investing, right? There's a wide set of skills. And I think that when you're looking for someone to teach you about stuff like that, which another reason why I love what y'all do, it's not one, thing, right? You know, it's not like, oh, I learned about options yesterday and I'm going to teach you tomorrow. Like, no, because there's levels to this, there's levels to it. And also the different times of the economy. Like I said, I've been in this business for 20-something years. I remember when that stock crash, I was working in, I was actually working in, was I here? No, I was actually in DC at UBS and they had to halt trading. That's the first time I saw them halt trading. I think that was 2008. Yeah. You know, so, and seeing how the wealthy people reacted to that, that was a learning experience, right? And so, Yeah, the wealth thing, it's levels to it, but I think I always want people just to understand, like, no pun intended, but you do have options. There's so many different ways that you can make money in this world, and it does not have to be this singular option of a job. And as we see, people are losing jobs every single day.

Period.

Tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of jobs, and these jobs are not getting replaced. No. So what skill can you learn that's going to allow you to still make your income, if not more, without being subjected to potentially losing your job every, every 60 days. And that's why I love the world of investing and the world of trading is that once you learn this skill, once you learn this stuff that we teach, no one can ever take it away from you. Ever. It's theirs forever. And that is how you start to change, you know, really create that generational wealth and just impacting and changing generations to come because now you're exposed. I've exposed you now, right? I can't take that away from you. Awesome.

So you mentioned teaching options and you mentioned before we started recording that you have this training that's coming up.

Yeah.

It's like a 5-day workshop challenge or something of that nature. Can you give us some more insight on that? Because I think that's going to be a great way for people to see if options is what they want to do.

Oh yeah, it's going to be so good. So we have a 5-day workshop coming and I'm going to break it down. So if anyone knows me, y'all know I break all the most complex things down super, super simple. And we're going to take it step by step, right? Like, what is an option? What is an expiration date? What is a stock? How do you pick it? What are, what are the Greeks, right? And I think a lot of times people don't even teach the ins and outs, right, of how all these things work and really just showing you how you can use this financial instrument, which is what options are, to actually start making money consistently, right? And so yes, it's easy to have a $10,000 day and a $20,000 day here and there, but how can you do it consistently over time, right? So making sure that, hey, if your goal is $500 a day or $1,000 a day, How can you do that? How can you utilize— if it's looking at lines of support and resistance, what does all that mean? Looking technical analysis, fundamental analysis. So if you've ever just like wanted to understand a little bit deeper about how trading stocks and trading options work, we're gonna break it all down for you day by day, step by step. I'ma hold your hand, right? We're bringing some amazing other experts in to tell you how to make that money do even more. So make sure you check out the link. The option challenge is going to be phenomenal. Trust me, like you are going to learn so much. And like we said, once you see it, you can't unsee it, right?

We'll make sure to link it in the show notes so that anybody listening can tune in with Georgia Dominique Broadway.

Yeah. And so one question we always ask all our guests, I think it's especially particular for women of color to hear this because you're a mom, you're an entrepreneur, you're killing it. What does being a melanin millionaire mean to you?

Mm, it means a lot. I think that there— this is why it means a lot. Because I wanna show other people that look like me that it's possible. And I think one of the most interesting thing is being a melanin millionaire and seeing people who are sometimes older than me saying, I wanna be like you when I grow up. And for many of them, they're saying, I have never met a millionaire. I've met people in their 50s and 60s like, I've never met a millionaire. You're the first millionaire I've ever met. And so for me, it's just showing other people that look like me what's possible, especially women, especially single women. A lot of times, you know, single women, we get the, oh my God, you're a single mom. Let me tell you something, you choose to be a single mom, you clearly, this is a better path than where you was going, right? But at the end of the day, you know, it's just showing them like, this is possible. And I think more people, one of my people that I looked up to was Melanie Hobson. I'm like obsessed with Melanie Hobson, y'all. I saw her one day in LA and I don't get nervous. Yeah. Her and George Lucas was walking, going down the steps, and I was just like, uh. But she's been an inspiration for me. So that's what it means. Just, yeah.

Love that.

Love that.

Well, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Yeah.

Matter of fact, if you subscribe to our channel and leave a comment on this episode, we'll actually buy— we'll give her book away to 3 people, right? So make sure you're a subscriber. Make sure you leave a comment, what you enjoyed about this episode. We'll buy 3 copies of the book. And get it sent out to you somehow. Team, I know y'all like, he always come up with these crazy ideas with no logistics.

I'll try to get him signed too, so you got to work.

Yeah, yeah, there you go.

All right, so make sure you, uh, comment, subscribe, and we'll see you in the next episode.

Peace out.

Peace.

Thank you.