S6 E05 | Navigating The Highs and Lows

How to not quit when things get tough. What's normal with the highs and the lows? How do you overcome the darkest days? The phone call that says you are hemorrhaging and you don't know how to overcome it. Listen to this episode. We'll give you all the advice to survive and thrive.

Brittany Faith Turner. We have millions of listeners. The most popular requested topic is how do you get over losses? Like investing losses, business losses. Do you know anything about the pain, the highs and the lows of investing in businesses? I've.

I've heard about it.

Like, anything at all.

I've read about it on Instagram.

Okay.

Not. Maybe not personally.

You're doing some story swipes.

Story swipes. No, I've. I've had a few. I've had a few. And, you know, I actually have the tattoo on my arm that says, God is greater than the highs and the lows, and that was absolutely related to business and all the things decided not to add.

Investing in businesses.

You know, the one thing I was going to change about this tattoo is I was going to continue it and go, God is greater than the highs and the lows and the highs and lows and highs and lows. Highs and lows all the way around. All the way around. So it's a nice little bar around my. You know, I. To finish that. I'm gonna do that this week. Like, it coming in, fresh new tattoos.

You're gonna tattoo this week?

I love tattoos. I just can't think of a good one. Let's do it. Let's record an episode.

Oh, snap. Wow. You get a tattoo artist here, cry during tattoos.

I.

Okay. When I was getting the one, the whale on my side.

Yeah.

There's a whole difference on a female from, like, this side to this side. And I was definitely crying on that one. And then they're like, do you want me to number on you? I was like, you have number.

What?

And he's like, yeah. And I was like, of course.

Why?

I literally told you to leave it as just a whale tail. I'm in so much pain. Just leave it as a whale tail. I'm over here crying. And you had number.

People, they'll know it's a whale because there's a tail there.

I don't need to be all, like, I've done enough tough stuff in my life. I don't need to be like, look how tough I am. More tattoos. I am all about that number. Hashtag. Hashtag plan C section, baby. Hashtag plan C section. No, I am Not. I'm all about the number. Why go through it? I just don't have to. That was me, my choice, so.

Yeah, well, it's because you went through all the pain investing in businesses.

I've, I've, my limit. I've had enough of that. I just, I'm not into like challenging the universe. Bring it up. Nope, nope. I'm just, I've already done it. So, yeah, that's where I'm at. So, yes, we've been through a few things and I do have several pieces of advice that would probably be very helpful. And I know you do too, because if you can win this emotional game, if you can get it right up here, then you can get it right in your investing especially. I can't even imagine the emotional game of stock investing and how much of an identity crisis. I got to witness one just a few weeks ago, how they lost a bunch of money. But did they? But did they?

Right.

Did they? You didn't pull the money out like, did you? So there's a lot that can be shared. So tip number one, and I'm going to. We're just going to go back and forth here.

Yeah, let's hear it.

Tip number one is to actually have a game plan for your investing. So have a vision for how long you want to purchase this asset and own it for so that all the highs and lows in between you don't even have to pay attention to. So I actually learned this one from Warren Buffett. So Warren Buffett, wb, he says, do not pay attention to what's going on every day. Just pay attention to your plan. So if you buy a house, let's say for $350,000.

Okay.

And your game plan is to hold it for 10 years.

Sure.

So two days after you buy it, the market tanks. That house is now worth 275. Are you stressing out?

That sounds like what happened to me. Keep going. Yeah.

Are you stressing out? Most people would be, but literally Warren doesn't even look at what the market's doing until year nine.

Come on.

And then year nine, you're like, how's it doing?

Yep.

Oh, should I adjust my plan?

Yep.

Who cares about the value? Because 10 years from now, it's probably going to be worth more.

Yeah.

Just based on history.

Yes.

If you're buying in a decent area. So definitely pay attention to your plan. Don't pay attention to what the world is trying to freak you out about. Media has a different level of control on the world than it ever has. In the history of mankind, the way it can rock people emotionally and scare them. I've never seen people so just in the clutches of media, like especially the last four years, really. Good lord, it's been crazy. So have a plan, Stick to the plan. What you got?

I got fully understand worst case scenario.

Yes.

Right. Know what it is? I've said it in every single season. This is single six. Season six is you've told me once you never fully work with someone who hasn't lost at all.

Yes.

And for you to know truly and understand truly what worst case scenario means, what I would like to impart by saying that is realize and go through the motions mentally, I'm going to invest in this, let's call it Tesla. And you invest in Tesla. What's worst case scenario? Okay, Tesla goes to zero and then you lose all of your money. Money's gone. Okay, all of your money's gone. But is it all of your money now? Most people will say it is. They're like, all my money is gone. Well, it's not all of your money. You have some in savings. Well, yeah, but I mean you also have like a retirement account that wasn't in Tesla was in gold. Well, yeah, but I mean I still lost most of my money. Okay, but that's a different story. That's a different truth. I've lost all, all of my money.

And others and other people, I get.

It, I know it all is. But you didn't lose all. So speak truth. Yes, but sit down and really understand what your worst case scenario is. Go through it, the whole thing. And I've done this so many times where I go, okay, my worst case scenario is this happens, this happens, this happens, this happens, happens. And I call one of my friends and just live in their house for a couple weeks. That's usually where I get to like worst case scenario, wait, I still have people that love me. I still have a home, I, my wife still loves me, my kids still love me. Wait, I'm in that position now. Oh, crazy. So my worst case scenario is usually now with less money. Yeah, that's most people's worst case scenario.

That's good.

Hit me with another tip.

I like that. And I think Tim Ferriss talks about that in four hour workweek and he says play out your worst case scenario and then laugh at it and ask yourself, is that reality? Because your fear self is just like worried about all this stuff. But until you, I think, pick it up and look at it and say, is this reality? I mean, he plays Out a scene where like it ends with him under a bridge and a bird poops all over his face or something crazy. Is this like, will Tesla go to 0? 0? Is that actually likely? Based on how Tesla's ever performed before and who the leader is and whether or not he's really liked right now or hated right now, will Tesla go to zero? And so playing that out and then being able to ask yourself, no, that's not true. Just like Newsom was saying is, is that actually all my money? No. So then you're bringing yourself back to a place of hope. I think that's a lot of wisdom and that is something I do a lot.

Sure.

And then you get to laugh at all your fear and then you start gaining that strength and that faith to say that's not ever probably going to happen. And so I don't have to think that. And then you can let that fear go because you didn't just ignore it, you looked at it, you asked for logical questions, you moved on. I think that's really good.

For me. I've lost it all, I think a few times. And.

I've had to ask myself, because I actually lost island a few times in the process of buying it and that was really hard because I had such a powerful vision for how to use that as my vehicle to change the world. It wasn't like I was ever egotistically wanting to own an island. I don't care that much. I just don't. And I've got so much purpose in my life. There's really not a lot of self centered. I need to look cool. So I was really upset when I was losing it. Other people tried to buy it, somebody tried to block me. Haters, My gosh, it was a lot going on and even just the purchase of it and then the hurricane. And so you have to just ask yourself and come to a realization on who you are. And if you don't know how to do this. If you've ever had a kid, when that kid comes out, I like to ask parents like, did that kid need to be a multimillionaire in order for you to love it? The answer is normally no.

Did that kid have to be a high performer when it first came out for you to love it? No, they came out enough. And so how much more infinite is God's love for us when we're here? We came out, we are enough. So everything we do after that is bonus, but it doesn't change your value. And so I really, after the hurricane, got to see really wealthy people get taken to nothing overnight in just a matter of hours. Actually, you can lose everything in a matter of hours. And so you really have to know who you are. So Brittany Turner has the same amount of value when she lived in her car as when she owned a private island. And so I know that and I go to enough disasters to remember that and to have that enoughness and then you can continue to speak life of yourself. Just like we said earlier, I'm a hyper growth person. I'm an opportunity creator. I am a wealth creator. I've made it before, I could make it again and now I know even more. And that's something I learned when I was working for free was nobody can take this education away from me. I'll always have this education. And so I wasn't worried about making all the money when I was learning the trade because I knew I was learning something that I could continue to apply to keep making money. So again, start with knowing you're enough and therefore your identity isn't lost when you sell your business or your identity isn't lost when you lose or you're not. Like I'm a failure just because there's things like Covid that happen outside your control. You are not the thing that's happening. You are enough. You're valuable, you are worthy, you are wonderful. You're fearfully and wonderfully made and you will be able to create it again. You're probably going to lose friends and staff every time you lose because humans are normally using you for something.

But that still doesn't change your value. It's gonna hurt your feelings, but it's not gonna change your value. Anyway, that was really important to me to get down to the foundation of my essence before I could grow any further.

Love that. I got one hot and ready off the press. Now, I don't know the exact perfect way to phrase this, but the way I have it written down is understand confrontation is coming.

It's coming, it's coming.

Now, I generally tried really hard to avoid a lot of confrontation. And again, hashtag you shout outs to you. You're great at it and you don't love it, you don't love it, but you're better than me. And I want to become better. Because at some point in life you have to take stance.

You have to been liked more than me in your life.

Well, sure, maybe I'm used to being.

More disliked than you.

Fair, fair. But again, that's probably because ultimately we just said I have avoided confrontation, I've avoided Speaking truth and setting very strong boundaries where I go, if I do this, this person might not like me. And so I just take that boundary and just throw it in the trash and go and walk all over me. It's fine. You're right, I'm wrong. You just do everything that you want and I'm just a piece of garbage.

That sounds healthy. Yeah, I'm super healthy.

But that is the way of a people pleaser. I'm sure there's people pleasers out there listening to this podcast where they get walked on. They are always the yes person. They say yes until their well is dry, and then they go borrow water from their neighbor to pour it into the well to keep saying yes. They say yes all the time, and they have no boundary of no. And that confrontation, really just bringing up with a business owner, a partner, a friend, or someone else. I have understood that to navigate the highs and lows of business, both the highs and the lows, you are going have to step into that ring. And one of the things that has helped me do this personally is I'm a very big words person, if you haven't noticed.

Words of affirmation, Just words in general.

Like, I love words, and words construct me, and they are me, and they create the world that I live in. And so I'm very meticulous with the words I use. So when I need to address confrontation, what I've been doing in the past is going, hey, I'm gonna be a little confrontational for a moment.

Oh, you preface it.

I preface it. I like.

Very nice.

Hey, is this coming? I'm gonna be confrontational. So that. That way they know. Oh, I need to buckle up for something. This might not be the greatest conversation this.

I'm ready. Yeah.

Yeah. Now you've done that with me too.

I have, Right.

You've called me on the phone and go, hey, I need to talk to you about something important right now. Cool. And so that braces me and I get ready for it, and we have those discussions. And again, awesome. We've moved past it. Hashtag, we're in season six.

Season six.

And most importantly, again, there's. There's hate. That's gonna come when you do amazing things because you're doing amazing things. The enemy don't come after you if you do anything. If you're not stepping up and showing up. Right. The tallest blade of grass gets cut first.

Now, the quote is, the enemy only attacks that which he fears.

Come on.

Which is good.

Come on.

It's helpful.

Yeah. Right. So Ultimately, for me, that was a big one. Is if you want to navigate the highs and lows of investing, investing into businesses, creating businesses, growing your wealth, you will have to start to understand, love, and be more comfortable in confrontation.

Hmm. So the tip is to just learn how to be comfortable.

Correct.

Ooh, man. Great tip. Mine is create a cash sheet. It can be a Google spreadsheet, whatever you want. This is not something you need to wait till the end of the quarter. If you are again dealing with the ebbs and flows of money coming in, money going out, you might be running upside down. I actually coached a couple that was leveraged 100% on all of their houses. Okay, Fully leveraged on every property. And they were real estate investors, plus $680,000 of debt. That was not leveraged. It's just in the abyss of not tied to an asset. So if something happened, they'd just. Their investors would lose. Brink of divorce. Like, so stressed the freak out, like, upside down. And I coached them through it by learning, how do you plan? Who do you pay? Who can wait? Who. It's not that you ever want anybody to wait. You never want to be late. And I'm not a proponent of not paying your bills, but it's bankruptcy and people never get paid. Or you create the best plan you can to navigate and try to communicate.

How to pay as best as possible.

As best you can. And it's really. It is hard, it is painful, it's embarrassing. But I've never not paid somebody. You just sometimes will end up having to deal with that embarrassment of saying, I'm going to end up paying you late, and it sucks, and I'm sorry, and I want to make it right. I'm going to take care of it next time, best I possibly can. But a cash sheet is broken down like this, so.

Okay, tell me about a cash sheet.

It's very scary for somebody who's not used to looking at it because it's going to show you going negative, potentially millions of dollars, because you do have a lot of fixed costs.

Tell me more.

But you might not have fixed income. So, for example, I'll just use the island. We know we have X amount of staff. We know the cost of the island every month. We know our expenses for food and vehicles and taxes and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But we don't know when a booking's coming or not. And so the cash sheet would show all of our hard costs for all the months, broken down by month, and all the line items that we know are coming that are costs that again, that you know, not the surprises. And then you don't know when the income is. So let's say we get a booking. We know that's going to be payments in May, payments in June, payments in August for the final payment. So you can see when that cash is coming in and you can start planning your expenses accordingly. And so it's more of a forward planning if you're really tight versus like, we're shitting on millions of dollars and just pay bills. Routine. Yeah. And then you can also do big pushes. So we do it in the nonprofit too. We can see all of our expenses for the next couple months. We know you need to push if you want to keep running this kind of programs. And again, you're not sitting on millions of dollars and you can see the end of your cash. How do you start planning your marketing strategies, knowing what to invest in, what to push if you don't know when and where you're going to run out of money? So again, all your bills, all your income, how do you start strategizing on even a daily basis if you have to, if you can be. If you're that cash tight, you need to look at that money every day and plan, plan, plan, and do your pushes. You can sell assets. I used to have a sheet of all the things I could sell. What can I sell if I really needed the money? If we're in a hole or if we want to buy something else, here's how much equity I had in certain houses that I could just sell. And then I'd even know I could. I might have $300,000 of equity in there, but let me sell it and only make 200. I'll sell it at $100,000 less than I may have been able to get because this deal or this debt was more important to me than getting the full value of that equity. And you're sitting on millions of dollars of assets. You don't have cash in the bank. These are the kind of decisions you might need to make. So just looking at it, creating a plan instead of saying, I mean, I've been able to weather things like, you're $680,000 short of payroll this week, two days before payroll's hit, like, and I've.

Gotten that phone call from you, it's.

The worst, it's the worst. And so it's just one of those things on ebbs and flows. And so how do you not lose yourself? How do you not collapse in a corner like a dying star? How do you actually make plans and forward, figure it out versus quit. And then you owe everybody money and you're a bad person. Like, you don't want to do that. You just need to keep making a plan. So, planning tool, cash sheet, Google spreadsheets. Best friend, I want one last tip from you before we go into our next episode.

All right, Last tip for me is stockpile cash.

Oh, yeah.

So you mentioned cash sheet, Right. And so ultimately, yes, you're going to be using these numbers. You're going to be using this information that if you treat business the exact same way that you treat your personal income, or let me rephrase that you should treat your personal income. There's two books that if anyone hasn't read or listened to, you should. First one, everyone has listened to it or read it. Richest man in Babylon.

Yeah, of course.

Right. And then number two is Profit first.

Right?

Both great books. And so profit first, the book is saying, hey, you're making money. If you're a business, the goal is to make money.

Yeah.

High five. So if you get a thousand dollars of revenue, take a portion of that, put it aside, right? Just like if you as an individual have a job and you get paid a thousand dollars for your salary, take $100, put it aside, right? That 10%, the very first time you get income, that's yours. Use it when it comes into you, keep it safe, it's yours. Don't just give it away to the wolves.

Protect it.

So in business, for me, 10% of everything I've always made, I take it and I shove it aside, put a nice little pot. Now, that pot generally has been Bitcoin or stocks or something, other asset, but it's a liquid pot that I can get in, get out anytime I want. And if you could stockpile cash, the amount of things that you can do with liquid opportunities, investing liquidity provides so much more flexibility. And when you're talking about your balance sheet, when you're talking about your cash sheet, when you're talking about your income statement, your profit and loss, understanding the numbers, understanding the profit, understanding what's coming in, and knowing that every single dollar that comes into your life, if you can at least take 10% of that dollar and put it to you at some point, hopefully very, very quickly, and rewire your brain. Instead of, I get money and then everyone else gets paid and I get what's left over, flip that pyramid. I make money, it goes to me first, then everyone else gets paid. We make that shift. It's a mindset shift. Also that you're more important than bills, you're more important than the people that are relying on you. You're the most important player in your game. Money comes to you, you save it, you protect it, you keep it.

I mean, you can say that, but I'm gonna go ahead and poke a hole in this.

Try.

I mean, I'm a woman, and typically women put everybody before themselves, take care of everybody. You know, we put ourselves last, which I know in theory put the mask on yourself before you can do everything else. But how do you actually get over feeling like you're a bad person? By not sacrificing and paying everybody else first. So give me the permission slip to give to our listeners on if I felt that come up as you were saying that, yeah, I know somebody else might be feeling that. So what's the permission slip? How do you justify it? I mean, the only thing I heard was recognizing you are the most important player in your game. And if you're gone, the game's gone. But how do you set it aside if you owe people money?

Well, you. You said put your mask on first.

How do you set it aside if you owe people money?

Well, yeah, if you owe them, I mean, and you have an agreement and that agreement falls in line where, oh, okay, I have money. I have this agreement, and this money will pay for this. Agree. You sell the agreement for sure. But the point is, the goal is you hopefully have some money already that you don't have to always tap into to potentially pay this investor or this person or this bill or this invoice. So again, hopefully it is arranged mathematically where you're good. But what I do think we can and should talk about definitely in this next episode is what you're referring to, which I love. Debts and credits.

Debts and credits.

Because to your point, I would start going into debts and credits versus using my cash because my cash is more important. This particular investor, this particular person need to pay back. I would figure out a way to leverage that in the future because it'd be very easy for me to borrow money to pay that person and be able to pay that debt back versus pay for my cash because my cash is more important than the debt.

Oh, are we talking about robbing Peter to pay Paul? You'll find out in this next episode.

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