513. 6 steps to feeling financially able in uncertain times

Stay educated, obviously, five to 15 minutes a day of what's going on in the world and then focus on something else. Focus on what's good. Your mindset right now does matter. What you're thinking will become your reality after this. Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul, and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go.

All right, babe, we are back.

He said, she said.

I can't believe that's the name of this thing. Still, we might have to sit down and really put some thought behind that. But all that matters is the content that we are giving. And actually today, in the light of, in light of everything that everyone is facing, one of the most common questions that I've been getting, and I think even you've been getting it, is what do you do if you feel financially unprepared?

Oh, yeah. I don't know too many people who felt prepared for this.

I mean, paint the scope of what's happening. Mom and dad are home from work. They're ill prepared on how to work from home, much less balance that time and that space together. The kids are home, they're supposed to be tutored. The world is, you know, in flux. It's okay to not feel financially or in any way prepared for this, but it's not okay to not figure out and get the tips and get the steps as to how to become prepared really quickly.

Yeah, I definitely am hearing this, understanding and feeling this because a lot of my family members right now were living paycheck to paycheck, and not just that, they were living behind their paychecks. So I'm really excited to be talking about this, number one, because I think the things we don't talk about are the things we fear the most. So putting a voice to it is really, really important. And facing it and seeing what we can do right now, because focusing on what we feel we're stuck in or what we're afraid of, that absolutely does not help whatsoever. And the energy of that is a really low level energy. It will, it will pull you down. So even just focusing on the things that you can do is going to give you energy and it's going to help pull you up. So I'm so excited you've been doing this webinar like a few times a week. So if people want like the full thing, I know they can go to your page and check everything out. But we're going to do like a short synopsis of what he's been talking about with everyone.

Yep. So I've been sharing this webinar with live Q and A. Really for anyone who feels financially ill prepared for this, or even if you feel financially kind of prepared, you're going to want to make sure you have these six steps in place. And just to give you the tiniest, shortest version of where these come from is right now, as Lori and I face this, we face it with financial abundance and certainty and we are in a beautiful, blessed position. But the last time we faced a big recession coming our way, it was the opposite. I was in banking. You think I would have seen it coming. I was one of the fastest rising executives at the world's biggest bank. But I did not see it coming. Nobody really did. And on top of that, we did not take care of our money. I literally had us living so far beyond our means because we were young and arrogant, ignorant and we thought it would last forever. So we were financially ill prepared, to say the least. It got to the point where we were literally selling our furniture, our TVs, everything in this massive home that we had just built and then short sold the home, Craigslist, so that we could get back to barely below 0 and prepay one year worth of rent in a tiny little 900 square foot apartment to start all over again.

I just paint that 30 second picture because this was, it was just that moment that you're like, please, somebody pinch me and wake me up. Because we had just bought this big house, we thought we were only going up from here, filled it with brand new furniture, and not long after that we literally put all of our furniture that was, we picked out and chose and had handcrafted for this home. And not long later we put it all on Craigslist for the lowest price ever. Because you know that people do not.

Want to pay pennies on the dollar.

They really just basically want it for free. And we needed that money. So for I don't even know how many days straight, we had people walking into our home taking the things that, you know, cost us so Much money essentially for nothing. It felt like at the time and walking out with the things that I loved. And I just remember feeling like, okay, let go of your ego right now. Like just detach, detach, detach. Because this is what has to happen right now, in this moment, in order to move forward. But I do remember just feeling, I felt ashamed. I felt really stupid, stupid. I felt super caught off guard. I felt embarrassed and I felt scared. Really, really scared at that point.

Yeah, well, it's. Here's what is the hardest, the toughest thing that we did, but the thing that we did correct was we did it before everyone else. I remember the neighbors watching, like, what are these people doing? And that's where the shame part came in. That's where the ego part came in.

We were younger than everyone, so it was very much a I told you so type of thing. Because when we moved in, they're like, who are these young kids rolling?

Uh huh. And a year after we did this, the whole neighborhood of these big beautiful homes was just like a ghost town. Everyone else had to follow suit. So we did it early. And that was one of the things that we did best. And so as I share these six steps with you, if you don't feel prepared, don't be afraid to be the person who does it early. Don't be afraid to be the person who takes action right away. Releasing that ego is going to be one of the best moves you can possibly make. It's not one of the six steps, but when you release the ego around this and you just say, okay, here's a position I'm in, I'm going to make all the right moves to be in a much better position going forward, then that is what empowers you to take action. So here's the six steps and it's really based around this one central theme. Survive and then thrive. You see, I believe that we're going to have three really, really, really rough months. Two or three really rough months while we're all stuck at home. Businesses are shut down the whole nine yards. And then things are going to start to pick up again. But we will be in a recession. And so the goal is to survive, survive those six to 12 weeks and then thrive. Because there's gonna be opportunity absolutely everywhere. So step one out of the six steps is if you feel financially ill prepared, step one is to stop the bleeding. Stop the bleeding means this. Get your monthly expenditures, your household monthly expenditures down as low as you possibly can. Call and negotiate with your creditors, defer your car payments, defer your mortgage payments, defer your rent payments. They are all saying yes with no questions asked right now. They have to. It's literally a mandate right now. Call your creditors, call your credit cards, call your lines of credit, ask them to defer the interest, to stop the payments. And they'll take all these payments and they'll put them on the back so you're not off the hook, but it stops the bleeding and it gets your monthly nut down as low as you possibly can. So that's step one. Step two, build a powerful routine. I'm not going to go into this because we went into this on our last episode, but you're like, wait a minute, this is supposed to be six steps for if I'm financially ill prepared. Well, here's why. Step two is build a powerful routine. Because this is a time for surviving and then thriving. That means you need to be productive and to be productive. That means you can't be frozen in fear and you can't be sitting there in doubt. And a powerful routine where you fill yourself up first with positive propaganda, with confidence, with an understanding of knowing where you're at and then the space to be productive and pull your family out of this is a must or none of this is going to happen. There's going to be two camps coming out of this thing. Camp I took action or camp I sat there and froze. And you get to choose which camp you're going to be in. So step one was stop the bleeding. Step two, build a powerful routine.

So on building a powerful routine, you guys, I launched a 30 day challenge. You can start it at any time that you want and you can literally right now just pause this podcast or keep listening and go to your text messages. It's super basic. Go to your text messages right now. I'm gonna give you one second. So close out of the windows. Awesome.

This is so badass that you're doing this.

Text me at 310-496-8363 and I'm going to give you a link for five free workouts. And also it's four non negotiables every single day. It's going. It's literally the exact routine I am doing right now every single day. No fail. I'm telling you, it's changing my entire mindset right now. It's like for me, you guys, I struggle with anxiety and depression pretty easily if I don't keep up my non negotiables. So this is so important for me right now that it's a game changer. Like, I can go from feeling, like, extremely hopeless, overwhelmed, anxious, upset, like the world is bad, to completely changing how I feel by doing these four non negotiables. So you guys go head over or go text right now. 310-496-8363. Yes. It is an actual number of mine that comes to my phone, and I'm going to text you back the link. For the 30 day challenge, you can start this at any time. Go read the directions.

I love the hashtag. I love the name of it.

Oh, better hashtag. Better together 30. Because there's just such a beautiful community aspect when you search that hashtag, you get to see what everybody's doing.

So cool. I love it. All right, step one was stop the bleeding. Step two is build a powerful routine. Lori just literally gave you a gift as to, you don't even have to build the routine. You can just do this right along with her. Step three is now that you've lowered that monthly outgo by stopping the bleeding in step one. Step three is find 12 weeks worth of Runway. If we are really in the thick of this for 12 weeks, and we're already a week or so in, if we're really in the thick of this for 12 weeks, then you must find and notice. I say find, no excuses, three months Runway and secure that. So all you do to find three months Runway is you take this new monthly number that is your household expenditure, and you take it times three months. So if your total household bills are $3,000 a month, you take it times three months to get the three months Runway. And you know, you need $9,000. Now, this is not where you say, doesn't this guy get it? I don't have $9,000, or I wouldn't be sitting here feeling financially ill prepared. You go find $9,000. I want you to go back to. This is why Lori and I told that story about selling our furniture, selling our TVs, selling everything on Craigslist, while we literally swallowed our ego and the neighbors looked on because we were finding our Runway. That gave us the chance to reinvent ourselves without pressure. And that was literally the time that launched us into the people that you know today. Right. That was the beginning of our story. The story, you know today.

Yeah. And I just want to share a mantra that I am. I am saying to myself every single day and that it's essentially what I've been saying to myself for years, because. But this is powerful for me. It should join the list of tattoos that I need on my forearms. I need bigger forearms. It is.

Please don't get bigger forearms.

What is the story you're going to tell? What's the story you're gonna tell from this? Are you going to look back at this 30, 60, 90, 120 days and say, wow, I was literally told to stay home and essentially work on myself or projects or create what I wanted. And I didn't do anything. I froze because I didn't get in a routine. I froze because I focused on my fear and I watched the news. Stay educated, obviously, five to 15 minutes a day of what's going on in the world and then focus on something else. Focus on what's good. Your mindset right now does matter. What you're thinking will become your reality after this. So focus on what's good, what's the story you're going to tell from this.

So step one was stop the bleeding. Step two is build a powerful routine. Step three is find no excuses. Three months Runway. Even if you have to open up a line of credit and take it and put it in your account. We are in very drastic times right now. Calls for drastic measures. Whether you have to sell everything you have, we have been there, done that. Step four is invent new income. This is a time of pivot. This is a time of opportunity. Listen, there's going to be more bankruptcies than there are deaths from coronavirus. That's a fact. But do you know what else there's going to be more of? There's going to be more brand new businesses started, more brand new entrepreneurs born, more millionaires created coming out of the other end of this thing as well. Because in every single pivot, there's nothing but opportunity. That's all we are. We're in a big shift right now. So step four is invent new income. I want you to think about all the things that people need right now that they didn't need a few weeks ago. They need coaching. Like couples need coaching on how to coexist in house together again. They need coaching on how to parent when everyone is stuck under quarantine. They need tutors for their kids. They need workouts because their gyms are closed. Yoga because their yoga studios are closed. They need business advice because they're now working from home or managing teams from home. They need money, advice, and more so than ever, they need health advice or advice on your immune system. Like the list goes on and on and on. That is in such high demand suddenly. So you need to invent new income. Heck, even if it's mlm which is exploding right now. And you never considered it before. MLM is part of our story 12 years ago when we started with a great company that still pays us today. And it was one of the things that was a huge part of our comeback story. And we weren't open to it until we were really looking for a way to make our comeback time. So listen, this is the time, step four, that you invent new income. And this very well may be the product or the business that takes you to all your financial dreams coming out the other end of this thing. Step five is now that you've invented new income. And now that you have that monthly nut all the way down, and now that you've already found three months Runway, step five is now to figure out 12 months Runway and work towards that. The three months Runway is a non negotiable. You must find it immediately and set it aside. Now, once you've invented new income and you're kind of falling into this routine, I want you to figure out 12 months Runway. Your monthly expenditures times 12. And I want you to start working towards it. Because what you work towards, what you have as a goal, you will hit. If you just work this new income, if you just work this new lifestyle without a clear goal of 12 months Runway, then you're not going to get there. And step six is, I want you to start building your September plan. And if you're like, what is my September plan in the grand scheme of things, I can tell you right now that September is when we're going to have so much momentum, so much pent up demand for consuming, for entertainment, for purpose, for events, for everything else. And here's a very key thing that's going to happen in September. The kids are going back to school for six for the first time in six months. So I want you to build your September plan. Because money is going to exchange hands at a rate like you have never seen before. And this is going to be your chance to catch up financially and save your year.

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So you guys, I hope that this was super helpful for you because a lot of times we just need that little shift in what we're thinking and we need some steps. Because I know that when I first started working at home, after we, you know, lost everything, and I decided that I just needed to start exhausting all possibilities of what that looked like. Was it opening a gym? Was it, you know, doing network marketing? What was it? Um, there are a lot of something I want to point out right now that really has helped me is even in times of crisis and loss, there's always different markets and different things that are thriving. So for me, it was looking at what. What is thriving right now. Number one, let's just point out the obvious, like Lysol, Kleenex, and toilet paper. Not hurting. Thriving. And these are companies that actually need support right now. They can't even keep up. Right. Amazon is hiring hundreds of thousands of people. Is that right, Chris?

Yep. I literally saw an article today. 650,000 new jobs that were created in the last two weeks.

So here's the thing is, is when certain things are going down and certain things are being lost, there is a balance. The world shifts. So look where it's shift. Shifting the n. Did you know the number one trait of a successful person is adaptability? Adaptability. You guys adapt. And I'm not saying that to be insensitive. I'm saying it because I love you. I need you to look around and see how you can adapt your life, your schedule, your thought process, and what the world is going to be. Because it's not going to be a terrible world after this. No, you can make it a beautiful world. We still have love. We still have freedom. We still have a lot of really beautiful things.

There's opportunity everywhere, and you need to train yourself to see it, because what do you do? You know, my saying is always when good people just like you, make good money, they can then do great things.

And I always say, earn your happy. And I say that because if you're sitting at home on the couch, that's where fear is growing. But it's not growing in movement and connection and learning and, you know, looking at how you can create, create, create, create before you consume.

All right, guys, thanks for listening. We always appreciate you. And please share this with somebody who needed these six steps on what to do if they feel financially ill prepared.

Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn you your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it. That would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment. Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It was would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again guys. Bye bye.