032 Family, Biz, Money & Charity with Alison J Prince

Hey there, real quick before we jump into the episode, listen, if your earnings treadmill hasn't set you free yet, running faster won't either. Listen, hustle without principles just going to burn you out. So here's what I want for you. I want you to join me for my money machine experience live. It is three free trainings. Deep dive into how to escape the treadmill and build a money machine that actually works for you. All right, grab your spot here by going to moneymachinelive.com and I'll see you in the free training. Hey there. Welcome to this episode of the Affluent Entrepreneur Show. This one's another good one. You're gonna wanna go through this one. The whole way through this is with a dear, dear, dear friend of mine, Alison J. Prince. Now this is a gal. Her story is incredible. She went from being a junior high school teacher to a multi million dollar entrepreneur with her family doing things. I mean, her kids made their first six figures before they were even in high school. We're going to talk about all of that in this episode. Plus how she was able to give a million dollars away to charity and make a difference in over 8,000 families lives. So you can too. All right, stay tuned.

This is the affluent Entrepreneur show for entrepreneurs that want to operate at a high level and achieve financial liberation. I'm your host, Mel Abraham and I'll be sharing with you what it takes to create success beyond wealth.

So I'm.

So you can have a richer, more fulfilling lifestyle. In this show, you'll learn how business and money intersect so you can scale your business, scale your money and scale your life while creating a deeper impact and living with complete freedom. Because that's what it really means to be an affluent entrepreneur.

Hey there. If you're here, I already know that you're one of the people that really want to get this money thing situated. You want to understand what it is to try and change your financial destiny and build financial independence in your life. You want to be an affluent entrepreneur. I get it. So here's the deal. I want to go deeper with some of my audience and my community and spend a little more time with you. So I have a free three part live training event that I am doing starting October 20th. I want you to mark that on the calendar October 28th. We're going to do three, three different sessions, about 90 minutes each. We're going to go through a number of different things because I'm going to set you on a different trajectory financially, wealth wise, business wise and life wise. And so to save your spot or to be on the VIP list to make sure you're there, go to affluencelive.com affluencelive.com and make sure you grab the spot. We're going to have limited spots, but I want to help you. The first session, really going to focus on this idea of what, what is the affluence journey? What does it take? What are the four stages of the affluence journey and what are the barriers, the things that are getting in the way of building the wealth at the level that we want to have the freedom that we want so we can break those barriers down. In the second session, we're going to talk about the core affluent entrepreneur principles and drivers that drive wealth and start to give you the breakdown of the pillars, the three pillars that all affluent entrepreneurs need to have in place to make it happen. And then we're going to bring it home. And in our third session, in the third session, I'm going to talk about the nine accelerators to being an affluent entrepreneur to live a richer lifestyle, to have a deeper impact, and to have complete freedom. So October 28th is the date. Go to affluencelive.com grab your spot, set yourself up on the VIP list. I'll see you there. Let's change your financial destiny together. Hey there, Alison. So good to have you on the show. You're part of the show launch and we did live and everything, so it's just a blessing to have you here. So thanks for being here.

Yeah, I'm so glad that I'm here. And it's funny because you kept saying, allison, sign up to be on the show. And I was waiting for a link and you thought maybe you sent it and it got lost. And I'm like, well, I guess they'll send me the link if he really wants me on. And we discovered that like two weeks ago. And you're like, why haven't you signed up? And I'm like, why haven't you sent me the link? Oops.

We're pointing fingers at each other.

Totally, Totally. I'm glad we made this happen.

Oh, my God. But it's so cool because I don't know. Well, we met a couple years ago.

Two and a half years ago.

But it was just this connection and we've had a chance to have conversations. I've watched the things that you've done. It's just been amazing to watch not only your rise, business wise, financially, but more importantly, impact wise and how you've navigated it through life with, with a family and you know, a new house with one bathroom and all the people in it. We can, we can touch that.

Yeah, that's a horror story.

So. But let me, you know, for some of the people that don't know, you have, tell us, tell us how we got here. Tell us, tell us how Allison got to doing what she's doing and impacting so many people's lives. Because I love your story.

All right, so it started out with the lie of go to college, get a degree and you'll have financial security. Like that's what my parents believed, that's what the school teachers believed to be the way to financial security. So I did that, went, got my teaching degree, math and science, junior high teacher. Woo hoo.

There you go.

I got in there and then I worked so hard my first month, so incredibly hard. And they handed me my first paycheck and I qualified for government assistance. And it was like this big old slap in the face of not only do you not have financial independence, the government has to help you or has said you qualify because you don't make enough. And I remember thinking, uh, I'm not gonna, no, I'm gonna figure out a way to pay for food. My husband was going to school full time. We had a new baby. And so I went to the library at the school, the junior high school. I didn't have a phone cause we couldn't afford that. And I started looking through the junior high's library about how people made money. And then I would go to the grocery store and then stand in the magazine racks and just look at like Entrepreneur Money magazine. And everybody kept saying the same thing. Entrepreneurs make money. Entrepreneurs make money. I'm like, okay, that's cool. What's an entrepreneur? And how do you, like, how do you even spell the word right? Whoever made up the spelling of entrepreneur, like seriously, that's horrible.

Yeah. So I started my own little tutoring business and I realized that I could tutor and it would, it would take like an extra three hours a day on top of me teaching full time. And I remember thinking this is not the life I want to live. I'm working two jobs, I have a newborn baby and I hardly get to see my husband. I gotta fix this situation. So speed it up. I dabbled in some business stuff here and there. And speed up a few years. And I remember reading about selling stuff online. E commerce. And I hated the word E commerce. I apparently have hates with some words. Right? So I just, I called it just selling stuff Online, everything I read, like, it was perfect for me. I could stay home, I could be in my pajamas. And I didn't have to be the face of my brand because I had kids I didn't want to get ready or it was just too much for me to be able to do that. Like, some days I just rewarded myself for just keeping the kids alive. Like when they're also little. Like, the biggest thing, they're still breathing.

It's a good day.

Yeah. That was the only thing that I wanted to do. That was my total goal for the day. And man, I smashed that goal because they're all still alive.

Anyway, so everything I read about E commerce was so attractive. Like, I loved hearing about it. I loved how people are able to do it. But everybody said you had to have a lot of inventory and you had to have money to start. And I didn't have either. And so I looked around my makeshift office. It was just this little corner of a room. And I found some leftover crafting supplies. And I put it up online. And I remember so clearly I was holding my infant at 6:50 and like, frantically putting stuff in. And I had to do it before my toddler woke up. And I remember hitting this submit button to go live. And then I ran upstairs to help with the toddler. Cause you can't leave a toddler alone, right? And just started the whole breakfast routine. And my husband walks around the corner. He's like, what is that dinging sound, Allison? I'm like, I don't. I don't know. What is it? Is it a Buzz Lightyear toy? And he's like, let me go investigate. So he goes off to investigate to find out what this dinging sound is. Comes zipping around the corner. And he said, allison, those are cells. Every time a ding goes off, you're making a cell. And Mel, I'm not kidding. I think I had every single emotion in my body hit me at one time. I was so excited it happened. I was so scared it happened because I'd never shipped, like, products out the door. I'd shipped a package here and there, but I didn't know how to ship products. I was mad at myself that I didn't start earlier. And then I confirmed to myself that this was possible. I didn't need a boss to tell me how much money I was going to make, that I could actually do this. And by the end of it, I felt like I can't compare it because I don't know that feeling. But to me, I felt like I had won the lottery. I had just cracked the code that said, yes, Alison, you can make money online. And so I was super happy, like running around super, super excited. And. And then I sold out. I had, I don't remember how many pieces, but I made like 2 to $300. So it's not like massive amount of money. I just needed to prove to my brain that actually worked.

It could be possible.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we sold out. And then the next day I'm like, I gotta have another product. So I go rummaging around my house and I find something from a birthday box and I put it up online and it didn't sell. I'm like, okay, 50, 50 shot. Odds are in my favor. I'm just going to say odds are in my favor. And then the third day I did it again and didn't sell anything. And I was talking to my husband that night and I'm like, I just, I made two or three hundred dollars. That was fun. That's it. And he said, okay, well I'll support you with whatever you want. And then I just had this super strong feeling. And I believe it was God, other people, it's the universe, like the strength, the higher power that wants you to do better. And I believe it's God. And he whispered in my ear and he said, alison, I showed you it's possible. How dare you quit? And that just like radiated into my entire soul. And it was at that moment that I decided to make God my business partner and have really leaned into that. And then he, he's just the best business partner out there.

There you go.

And then we, I did it the fourth day and then we sold. And then we grew and grew and grew. By year two, we had built a multimillion dollar business. This is like coming from a school teacher that was on government assistance.

Yeah, Government health.

Yeah. Never taking a business class ever. And then creating a multimillion dollar business. And it was through consistency, showing up day after day after day and just putting out offers. Does this work? Great. Does this work? Nope. Does this work? Yes. And just showing up every single day, the consistency, the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship. And then. Okay, this is a fun part. I thought I was a one hit wonder and I'm like, nah, I just got lucky. And so I started another business. But I didn't want to confuse my team because we had a team in a warehouse at this time. So I actually built it in secret and didn't even sign up my name. I signed up my middle name. Like all the emails, all the everything. We didn't even have a social media account, Nothing. And we grew that to a million dollar business by year two. And I'm like, okay, I think I'm onto something.

So then I'm like, I wonder, okay, I've done it twice. I wonder if I can teach my girls how to do this. And they were 10 and 13 at the time. They were sleeping in you. You've had teenagers, you know. Oh, yeah, get them out of bed. And so we decided to encourage them to start their own business or do more chores or move out of the house. And they chose the business option. And then they built their first six figure business before they even stepped foot into high school. Wow. Oh, that's so cool. And then my sister calls me and she's like, allison, what are you doing to with your daughters? Can you teach me how to do it? And I'm like, sure, I'll show you how to do it. Showed her how to do it. And she hit over six figures. And then a friend came to me and then they hit over six figures and I'm like, oh, this works. Like, it was so funny how you do it, but you still can have that self doubt, right? And repetition builds the confidence to be able to move forward. And then by about that time, that's when I got the void, like God speaking again, and said, alison, I didn't give this journey to you just for you. I gave it for you to share with others. And I was like, no, I'm an introvert. I'm going to hide behind my cupcake liners. I'm going to hide behind my straws.

You are an introvert. Teaching junior high school kids.

Okay, it's totally different. It's totally different.

Because junior high kids, I don't. They're just fun. They're all over different levels, but they're fun. I don't know. I love junior high kids. That was my favorite age group to be able to teach in school.

And then, anyway, so I just had that feeling, you need to start teaching. And that's when I found coaches to come in and support me and help me to be able to start getting out of my shell. And then I started teaching and we had. Our students were getting so much success that we expanded, exploded. We got opportunities to sell our other businesses. We did. I'm. I still have stores because I'm a serial entrepreneur.

Right.

Some of the big ones we were able to sell, which we were very, very excited and happy about. And now I get to teach people how to sell online. And it was really solidified when I had sold something and it was blankets and we had made like $60,000 in a weekend just in this really cool sale. And that was fun. But. But Mel, you know, this, it, it gets to a point where it's not fulfilling anymore. And then I had a student come to me and she made a couple thousand dollars over the month and said, alison, you changed my life. I will never have to live like I've lived in the past. I can afford a couch now instead of sitting on the floor. And I just remember how impactful that was for me. And that's when I'm like, oh my gosh, this is why I've been led here. I had to go through this whole journey of ups and downs to be able to understand, to be able to help people know that they can do this and then have that self doubt like I had in the beginning of am I one hit wonder, Can I really do this? Oh my gosh. So that I can help my students do get through that headspace as well. Anyway, fast forward at four years. I love my business. I love my students. I have so much fun with them and sharing and watching them in their journey. They that I don't like this. I don't know. I just want to keep doing it for a really long time.

And I hope you do because you're impacting a lot of lives. And I think that's the thing is so often it feels like people think we're getting in the business for the transactions and we truly aren't. I mean, at some level we are because we got to pay the bills and we got to make sure that food's on the table and things are taken care of. But once we get past that, it's like improve to yourself. You say, what else can I do? What else can I do? Because I know for me that anytime I hear something from someone where they say my life's different because of something you said or did, that is huge catalyst to keep moving forward, to know that we're on the right path and everything. And now this is a family business. Y' all are in it, right?

Yes. So I.

I run a lot of it. I am obsessed with working in numbers. Like I just have so much fun with it. But I bring like my husband is there. So he ended up quitting work because it was getting too much. But he was still my business partner. He may not have been working in the business, but he was making sure that shopping was done, that the kids homework were being done. And I felt that this has been a whole journey, like the whole business has been a family thing. Because in the beginning, yeah, he was contributing so heavily to allow me to get going. And then my kids, like, when my girls were younger, they would help watch. Either they would watch the boys or bring the baby to dad or something like that. And they all pitched in and helped. And so anytime people ask, is it a family business? I'm like, absolutely. Was it my husband in there selling or picking out cupcake liner designs? No, it wasn't. And then through the years, I brought him in more. Now he helps with. I think it's the boring stuff, but he's good with it. Like the lawyer stuff and the accountant stuff, and he's really good with that. And so he'll come into my community and love on them and then show them some really cool things about accounting and making sure that they're all like, legal. And then he gives stuff away all the time. He's like, hey, why don't we buy so and so something and give it to someone else? So, yeah, it's been truly a family business. And I think all humans, there's six of us, have contributed in some form or another. When my daughter was doing dishes, that was contributing to this family business because I wasn't staying up all night, I was actually able to sleep, work, and then go be with them. And we all just, we all just pitched in.

This is so good to hear because often we. You see someone that is the entrepreneur, the, the kind of the figurehead of the business, and we don't, we don't think about the family dynamic. And this is why when I talk about the, the whole idea of being an affluent entrepreneur, it's. It's really not about wealth. It's about richness in life and everything. And it's this holistic view of what is life like. And one of the first things when people say, what should I do first? And I said, well, if you're in a committed about money and wealth and all that, so if you're in a committed relationship, I said, I want you to have a conversation with your significant other, with your spouse. As much as my wife Stephanie's got her own career executive and she just got a promotion. She's been with the company. I mean, she's just doing amazing stuff, running hundreds of million dollars of sales teams and all that stuff. But as long as we're under the same roof, as long as we're in the same bed, as long as we're in this relationship. I am her career partner. She is my business partner. And they don't have to have the name on the door. They don't have to be the face of the product. She doesn't want to be on it much at all. And I go and start doing my. She says, what are you doing? What are you doing? But the fact of the matter is that I think the worst thing we can do is to look at our partners in life and say, when you're going through a hard time, and they say, hey, how can I help? You know, you wouldn't understand because it becomes this little wedge that becomes this chasm over time and everything. Now, was it something that you and Jared had to navigate at times and figure it out?

Yeah. Yeah, we still are. He was raised in a traditional family where the dad goes to work and the mom could work part time or stuff like that. And we've. We've switched roles a lot. And even his peer group has, like, said little things to him, like, you gonna just go watch soap operas and eat bon bons today? And he's like, what? And he laughs it off. He's such a good sport. But I tell him all the time how essential he is to the growth of the business. Whether he's working on or in the business or whether he's helping the family, it is absolutely essential. We actually got an award. And they said, alison, will you put your name on there? Will you just put Allison J. Prince? And I said, I didn't do this alone. I said, I want my family's name on there. So the award says the Prince family. And they were like, we've never had anybody put a family on an award. And I'm like, okay. But for me, I know the truth. My family is amazing. What they've done and what we've gone through to be able to get to where we are today. I literally needed every single one of those souls to be able to do this. And then in return, we have the funds to be able to do the things that they want to do. And it just becomes this ecosystem of people supporting people. And I think that's what we want, especially in our own little world. Like, how can I support you? How can I support you? And then I'm able to leave to go watch one of their soccer games or surfboard lessons. Cause we live in Puerto Rico now, right? And have the freedom to be.

To.

To control my own schedule and be with them. Like, that's magic.

That's so good. Because I think that. And I hope that People will hear this and if they can go back and re listen to this because this is really important for us as too often we become these treadmill entrepreneurs and you end up like that George Jetson, if you remember the cartoon at the beginning where he's like, get me off this crazy thing, he's on a treadmill. And we get into the business believing that it's where our, our freedom's gonna come from. But it's not, it's where our cash comes from. And we need to build another machine outside of it to give us our freedom. But the reality is that it isn't even about the business. It's about life. And if we don't think about how it impacts the lives that are with us. This is why it drives me batty when someone says, oh, they're self made. The hell they're self made. Because first things first, if I'm selling anything, I'm not self made because I needed my customers to buy something from me. So. And second, there are people in my life that there's no way I would be here. People like yourself that have supported me that you know, I. So I'm insulted when someone says self made. I think that it's wrong. And so I love that you with the award and how you look at this and you realize that you recognize that the value of whatever task it was, whether it was washing dishes or you know, other things, that it contributed and allowed this business to grow.

Yeah. And my daughters, they're at the age now where they are learning to manage money and they're doing a really good job with it. They look at thing like my 17 year old. You're gonna like this part too. We actually cut em off at age 12 and we say we'll pay for four things. Your underwear, your school, your food and like your home. Right. Like your basic necessities. But you gotta go earn your own money. And they like freak out. And then we show them how to build a business, how to create money. And so when they're asking for that five five dollar toy at Target, I'm like, okay, let's figure out how to like you can have anything you want at Target. You've got to figure out how to create the money to do it. And we've just seen how powerful that's been as they've grown and they're able to manage that money then. Now you're gonna love this. Speaking of that wealth and what your business does and what you teach and what I've learned so much from you Is the. Our daughter that's 17, she has this little business that creates pretty good cash. And she's like, mom, what do I do with it? And I'm like, plant those seeds. And she's like, wait, what? Wait, what? And so, I mean, that's your story. You take what your businesses makes you. You plant it in the ground. Don't eat the seeds. Plant in the ground, and then let it grow. And then you live off the harvest. And so she's asking me, mom, how do I invest? Can I look into crypto? Can I look into the stock market? What do I need to do? What do I need to do? And it's fun to be able to start those conversations when they're 17. I mean, we, we start it when it's younger, 12, when they're starting their own businesses. Um, but then the investment starts to come before they're even 20 years old. Not waiting until they're like 45 and like, oh, shoot, I don't have a retirement plan. I think it gives them some options to start exploring.

Yeah, it just, it's certainly. And she's got the, the greatest wealth lever on her side. And that's time. I mean, Jeremy, I started giving him a. A commission at 11 years old and started on this. And, and you know, they're effectively set at 31 and 28.

They've got a multimillion dollar net worth at that age with three homes. And I think that that's the gift to give, the gift of resourcefulness to our children, to the youth of the country, of the world, so they don't become dependent. I think it's a huge gift. And we can do that through entrepreneurship. We can do that by understanding the fundamental principles of money and, and how we can control that. At times, we allow money to control us. And when we flip that script, when we figure out the stories that are in our head and then we understand the tools and the principles, man, it makes it so much easier. And start them early, start them often, and then let them write. And it takes pressure off the parents. They're not coming back at 30 years old, going, not moving to the basement.

Although I kind of want mine to live in the basement forever because I really like them.

I know, I know mine's out. And.

Yeah, yeah, it is. It's been. We've had some fun conversations with it. And I remember one time, my son, he had to mow the lawn. And he comes in and he's like, mom, why don't you ever have to mow the lawn? And I said, oh, honey, I'm sorry you see it that way. But I actually worked beforehand to buy the lawnmower, and then you're helping to do the second part of it. So isn't that so cool? We actually have a lawnmower. My work was just different than mowing the lawn. And this gives you the opportunity to learn how to mow a lawn. And he's like.

Okay. And I think we just bring back reality about how we're all contributing together, whether it's through buying something, whether it's through helping out. And then they start to learn the value of what things cost and the value of time, and they're just starting to think differently than how we were raised or how. At least how I was raised about money and about investing and how finances don't have to control every single decision that you ever make. Like, can I buy that? Can I go there? Can I give this? Can I do this right? Like, even service. Like, if we want to serve, like the local home homeless shelter, we got to have transportation to get there. If we don't have transportation, we got to pay for the bus ride to get down there. It costs money. Everything costs money. Maybe you have an elderly parent or grandparents that are. Social Security is not paying enough. How cool is it to be able to create money so that you can get them into an assisted living center that they actually feel really comfortable with? And so I really feel like it's our job to figure out how to create money because it can be such a blessing to so many people and to alleviate some of. Like, I think about my grandparents. I wanted them to have the best because they gave me the best, and I was willing to do anything for them. And if I didn't have the money, then it would have, like, limited our decisions, and I'm not ready to. I've been there. I don't want to do that.

It truly gives you the options. It gives you the options and the freedom to do alternatives and everything. So it sounds like. Let me know if this, if I'm getting this, is that most households, they say it's, I don't know, impolite to talk about money. But you. You weren't that way. It sounds like you guys. You all add conversations about it.

Yeah, my kids always say, mom, here's the line. And, like, you're clear over here. Like, you totally cross the line. We are very, very open about money. And I think it's because. Just think about, like, high school, just growing up. I guess it's even growing up like even the movies. Scrooge McDuck, he was so crazy and would lose his absolute mind if he lost 15 cents. Lex Luthor, like, he was getting money to like destroy people. And so in our minds, like, money has been this evil thing.

Yeah.

And I think we have to realize that money is actually just a resource.

It's what it is and that's it.

Yeah. And where whoever we are, if we're evil or if we're bad, money is just going to make us more of who we are. And I believe most of the world is good and have good hearts. And so let's get more people money so they can do good things in the world. If you're evil, yeah. Don't get money. But if you're good, let's just figure out how to give you more of a resource so you can go and prove the world.

So, so this is, this is really cool because I do think that, that when we start to look at this idea of money and the money taboo and not talking about it, you know, one of my arguments against it saying we do need to talk about it is that first off, when people come to me and say, oh, I've got a money, I got money issues, I go, no, no, no, you have money symptoms.

That's good.

And the symptoms are symptoms that have come up because of the behaviors and the decisions and the choices you've made. Now, I don't say that to have people feel bad. I actually want them in empowered enough to go, oh, so if I need to shift the money, I need to change my behaviors, I need to change my habits. Most wealth building, most money things are habits and behaviors. The problem is that it starts with the thinking. It starts with the stories. Because our behaviors are. And habits are a result of the stories. And we don't intentionally, unless like you did go into the library trying to understand, trying to learn, get educated about money and wealth and business and those types of things. I say that money lessons are caught, not taught too often. That we get them from observation of our parents media, social media these days. And so when you see things, like someone could see that whole scene with Lex Luthor and see it one way and another person could see it another way. And if they come away and that becomes their money story, it starts to drive everything they do. They become either a hoarder, a miser, a spender, or they see people with money as greedy. That's the only thing I mean people. But all those things will affect your life. We are most of the time we're unaware of it. It's an insidious little thing that it's below the surface that we don't understand why we feel that way, why we have that. And I know that we talked before we went live and you mentioned about something that you've done that is phenomenal. And I want to touch on it because I think when we understand the kind of tool money can be to change lives, to change society, to make a difference now, we can start to view it through different things. And I remember, I remember early on you, I remember you calling me, saying, hey, can we talk? And you're probably one of the only people I can have this conversation with.

Yeah.

And so tell us about that point and what you just kind of found out. Because I think that all relates to the why behind this. The richness of life that comes from doing this this way.

So throughout this whole entrepreneur journey. And I think a lot of people are like this, Mel, maybe I'm wrong, but we have this number in our heads and we're like, if we can ever get to that net worth, oh my gosh, it's going to be so great. It's going to be so great. Right? And so I actually got there faster than I thought I would. And I felt the same. Nothing had changed. There were no fireworks, there was no parade, right? Like, it was the same and it was almost like a letdown because I had built it up for so long and like that was my drive and go, go, go, go, go. And then I got there and I'm like, well, now what do I do now I gotta find a different number. And it was, it was like this. I told Jared, I'm like, I think I'm having like a midlife crisis. I have to like everything I've thought, what do I do if I stop now? Then I'll just get depressed. I know I'm supposed to do more. And so I just had this thought. So that's when I called you and I'm like, hi.

What'S next? What's the next thing? And you're like, you have to find a new number. Like focus on a new number. Because we are like, we are a very money driven society. And that's what's taught, like, how to earn, how to earn, how to earn, how to earn. And there no one never teaches, like, what do you do when you earn?

Yeah.

And when you get there and what's next? That conversations aren't had around that. And so anyways, you gave me such good advice and you're like, choose a different number. Choose a different number. And I thought about that for a long time and I'm like, okay, what fills me now? And then I was thinking, watching entrepreneurs succeed, that is a true fulfillment for me. When I see people do well, whether it's their first dollar, whether it's their first millionth dollar, it's just such a, just such a fulfilling feeling for me. And I had come across this, it's called Hope International to where they give micro loans to people who have zero resources. So, like, they'll give them a sewing machine, they'll show them how to create a business. And they have weekly classes, they have Christian based classes and then business based classes. And I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. I wonder if that's my new number. I wonder. Let's see if we can get to that number. And so anyways, I started. That became my passion. And.

It'S so fun.

It's so fun because it was attached to a Y outside of the bank account.

Yeah, it was. And that was the money that was driven. And to this date, Mal, we're at over 8,000 thousand micro loans. I think we're at 8,300, something like that. Microloans. So that became my new obsession. And so now I'm like, okay, let's get 10,000 and then what's the next number after that? And so my number has focused on giving more micro loans because it's not just giving a mom a sewing machine or a mom 2 goats to produce milk to go sell at the local market. This is a mom letting her kids go to school. This is a mom where she's doing the same thing that I did with my children. I'm like, hey, come watch what I'm doing. Hey, do you want to help out? Hey, let's do this together as a family. And so the kids will learn. It becomes this ripple effect, right? The husband's getting involved. And so it's not just 8,300 people, it's 8,300 families.

And the families, the generational ripple effect of that, I mean, you, you've changed the trajectory of lives. And I hope let that.

For the listeners and viewers, just let that sink in for a moment that this wasn't even on your radar when you first started. All you knew is, I don't want government subsidy and I'm not going to work two jobs. And now you're on the verge of impacting 10,000 families. But there's another side to this that I think is really important because of just who you are. And this is the gift that happens with. And this is why I use the term affluence versus wealth. Because affluence to me is building a life of meaning. Building a life that makes a difference. Building a life that's fruitful. So there is money involved in it. But you know, so there's, there's affluence. And I didn't know this when you first started doing this until we had a recent conversation is that you make these microloans and you don't do it in your name.

I don't. I do it in my students names. So cool. Because I know, because, right. Remember, go back to when you first started business and you saw like Tom's shoes giving a shoe right to someone else. And you're like, I want to create a business to be able to give back to the world. But you're a new business, you're like just trying to give back to your own bank account.

Yeah.

And so what I do is I tell my students I don't even like when they join and sign up. I don't tell them that. I actually tell them mid program because I don't want them to sign up based on that. I want them to serve them first. I want them to know that they're worth investing in themselves. Then I say, hey, remember when I said our family's table but I wanted to put food on someone else's table? And we just couldn't do it at the beginning because we were just pouring all of our resources into this business. So how about I do it for you? How about I donate a microloan in your name so that you know that your business on day whatever we're on right now is actually providing food for someone else. And I just think that's so much more impactful than being like, look how cool I am. Right? No, I'm just there and I get to do with the resources that I want to. And I want my community to feel like rock stars because they truly are the winners in this game. They invested in themselves first. And I want them to see the power of what businesses can do to help drive them so that one day they're able to donate a whole bunch of money to these amazing organizations that are blessing lives. So it truly is like a ripple effect in the families that are getting it and then a ripple effect with the students knowing, I gotta help, I gotta help. I didn't even know that. I like, that's so cool. It's just a surprise, total surprise. For em.

So cool. Because what you've done, you've given a gift back to them. Because with the martial arts studio, we used to do things with the students and, and we would do it anonymously where they'd be giving and serving and doing that type of thing. They don't wear the martial arts studio T shirts and they didn't understand it. But after they experienced the experience of giving to someone that was. That completely didn't expect it and giving from the heart, it was the greatest gift back to them that they could have ever, ever got received. It's just, it's so cool to see that. And I think that's the thing that gets lost when we start to talk about this idea of building wealth and money. And I know that you struggled a little bit with something recently.

Because this thing has grown into something big. You figured out I don't want to put you on the spot, but you.

Figured out you can put me on the spot. I can handle it. I can handle it.

You figured out that you have donated for various causes and everything. Seven figures, a million dollars this year.

Yeah, it was a combination of years, so it just wasn't in one year. I think it was three, four years. I'd have to look. But the reason why this is so impactful is because I always thought that if you gave money away and you told people about it, you lost the blessings from it. You know, like you've seen people on social media and they're like handing money to someone and they're like taking a picture of it and saying how cool they are. And I didn't want to be like that. And I struggled to say this. And that's one of the awards that we're getting is because we donated a million dollars. And I was like, I don't want to do it because I don't want to be the. It's just the stupid things we have in our heads, right? And this was my thing that if I tell people that I did this publicly, then it doesn't count. And I want it to count. I want that money to do good. And I was talking to a friend, Alex Hermosi, and he. I watched him get the million dollar award. I think, I think it was three years ago. And I watched him stand on stage and get this award for donating a million dollars. And I'm like, I wanna do that one day. I wanna do that one day. And so I called him and I'm like, I'm really struggling with getting this award. And he's like, why? And I said, because? And I went through the whole process and he's like, alison, when we stood on stage, what did it do to you? And I said, oh, it made me want it so bad. It made me want to donate a million dollars. And he said, so you are denying all the people in your world that are going to see this, you're denying them the inspiration and hope that they can do it too. And I was like.

Dang it. And so I did. Like, I had to think about it long and hard and of course I prayed about it because I had to find peace in it, right? You have to find peace in your decision, especially when it comes to money and to talking like this is such a huge number. I was a school teacher and then not just to make it, but be able to give it away within a three to four year period. I just think that is, I don't know, so inspirational. And I wish, like, looking back, I would have loved to hear that story when I first started. And so who am I to not tell this story? Because it, my, I was, I feel very, very blessed. And for me to hide it doesn't do anybody any good. And so I am, I'm going to proudly stand on that stage and the whole Prince family, that's the award, whole Prince family is going to stand up there and receive that award. Why? Because we all pitched in some way or another, we all pitched in to help us to be able to donate. There were times when I was like, hey, kids, we need to figure out how to donate some money. What do you want to donate to? And they would be actively looking for places to donate. And I think that we, if we can teach our kids that as well. It takes them out of this scarcity mentality and into this abundance mentality. And it's really cool to see them say, hey, I see someone struggling over here with that money that we've set aside. Can we just go like, sneak some money and put it underneath their porch and run? And I'm like, yeah, for sure. And so they've been a big part of the giving and just the whole learning process of being able to. That's a large number. It is.

But you came from, well, you came from nothing in a relatively short period of time to do something. If one person's done it, someone else can. And you know, so often, you know, when people come to me, it's too late for me to make money, it's too late for me to build wealth or, you know, people that are wealthy of the, you know, they inherited it or they won something, or they, you know, 79% of millionaires are first generation millionaires, meaning it wasn't given to them. It wasn't inherited. It wasn't a lottery. It wasn't. It was earned in one generation, one generation. Here's the more challenging statistic, though. Something like 60% of that wealth is lost in the second generation. And by the third generation, it's almost 90%.

Kate, what do you do with your kids? I'll tell you what we do with our kids. What do you do with your kids?

So with Jeremy, I started him at 11 years old and put him on a commission and he would pay for, he would pay for his. He paid for his school lunches, he paid for his clothes, he paid for, paid for all that. So it allowed us, now the accountant in me, it allowed me a tax deduction, but, but at the same time, it allowed us to have a different conversation about spending, about savings, about giving. And Jeremy, as you know, 16 years old, started his own business and has been in business for half his life. He's 31 now. So this is the thing we do and we'll do. I've got, I'm a, I'm a brand new granddad, little Emily Ray, and she's, she's amazing. And she's, I don't know, a month and a half. She's a month and a half old now. So we'll be doing some things there, but, and I don't, I'm not one that ever believes in, hey, let's just hand it over.

Agreed.

So even with Jeremy, when he got his first car, I said, here's the deal. I'll match you. So whatever you save, I'll match it. Whatever you give, I'll match it. So we created something that allowed him to take responsibility and have some input. And nothing, nothing, nothing was ever handed to him, nor necessarily would it be. So I think that's, that's the way. In fact, I've got, I've got an episode that our dear friend Jenna Kutcher has asked me to do about financially, what do we do for, for as a, as a new grandparent or as a new parent. So I'm going to do two different episodes. We're going to talk more.

So. Good. Yes. Do I think it's needed. I totally think it's needed with our kids. So when we hit a million in net worth, one of my daughters came up and said, we're millionaires. And, and I said, oh, no, no, honey, your dad and I Are you don't have any money. You're poor? And she goes.

Wait, what? And I said, did you what? And I know I'm always talking about the family, and, like, we all contribute right now.

I'm not part of the family.

Yeah. They haven't brought that argument up with me yet. Well, I'm waiting for that one.

But it was a realization for her to be like, oh, okay, I've got to learn how to earn my money. And now she's got this great little business, and she's investing, and I think we do need to let them know and teach them money. We have to talk. We have to have these conversations constantly, because the news and the media and the world is just teaching them the complete opposite. And so we do have to have these conversations all the time.

Yeah. And I think that you hit the nail on the head. This is kind of where Jeremy picked some of it up from. I had a family come to me years ago. Jeremy was young at the time. They came to me, they were worth $5 million. The two boys came to me worth $5 million. Their mom had just passed away, and I found out that dad passed away five years before that. When dad passed away five years earlier, they were worth $175 million. They lost $170 million in five years. You got to try really hard. $170 million at 5% is $800,000 a freaking month without touching it.

What?

And Jeremy looked at me, says, how does that happen? I said, here's the problem. We spend a lot of time worrying about how do we acquire, achieve, accomplish, and accumulate. And we worry about how do we protect it and transfer it to our children, to our grandchildren to keep it in the family. Problem is that we're transferring assets and not skill sets.

Amen.

And I need to. My job is to make sure that I can give you a hundred bucks and you can make it a million, because if I give you a million without the skills, you'll make it a hundred. And then I'm not a responsible parent, and so good. That's why I brought him with me to some of my wealth strategy meetings. You know, he's a kid playing on what am I doing here? But it sunk in. I mean, for parents out there that are listening, you just keep exposing them to your values and to the way you're doing things. I promise you, it sinks in. It will resurface somewhere in their life to start to understand that. And that's the thing that I think we need to look at, and that's kind of the approach that I took because whatever I was building at some point, in some way, a lot of it will go once Stephanie's gone to them and granddaughter. But I don't want it to destroy them. I want it for them to be able to expand on it. We get a chance. You have a chance to change the whole trajectory of the generations of princes to come. Okay. And may they be many, you know.

But we have also a chance to destroy the generations if we're not careful. And so. So these are the things that I think we ought to. And the money taboo. Not having conversations is a step in the wrong direction. Complacency is the first step to crisis, and we get complacent. We don't want to talk about it. Might be difficult conversations. You know what? Jeremy today really doesn't know exactly what our net worth is. He doesn't need to. He knows we're good. Okay. But he understands it. And we have conversations around it. And like just yesterday, having a conversation about different investments, he's thinking about, what do I think? What do you think, dad? And those kinds of things. I know that him and Cami and little Emily Ray, they're going to do fine. They don't need me. They don't need my money. They don't need Stephanie's money. They don't need any of it. They're going to do just fine because we equipped them.

Yep. Yep. It's so true. Don't. It's not the wealth that we're passing, it's the education that we're passing on. So much more powerful. It's again, planting those seeds. Right.

Yeah.

So saying let's plant them with their kids. Take them to business conferences. Yes. Let them go.

I took Jeremy to a. He was 12 or 13 years old, and I took him to a leadership conference in the UK and. And people said, you're doing what? I go, just trust me. You know, I just want him to get exposed to. To different things. He may not understand it all today, but let's just plant the seeds.

Yeah.

You know, work.

So true. So, so true.

Man, I could talk to you for days. I mean, you know, so. So.

Yeah, we do that when we get together. I love it.

Oh, man. Couple things. One, I'd love to bring you back on again.

Let's do it. Let's do it.

And I'd love to possibly even bring some of your kids on still.

All right, let's see their version of it.

Yeah, let's see their version of it.

Uh. Oh.

They'Ll tell you some funny stories about how they reacted when we said, we're not going to pay for anything anymore. They were not happy. And I thought I was doing everything wrong because they were like, no one else's parents make them pay for their jeans. And I was like, okay, I'm on the right path. I don't want to be like everyone else.

I remember Jeremy was a year and a half away from graduating college, and I got a text from. I was out speaking. I got a text from him saying, dad, you know, he had already started his business. He's going, I don't think this college thing's working for me. I think I'm just going to quit now. If there is. One of the things that I think college serves is I believe in it for the fact that you start something big and you finish something big. And so I said, we'll talk when I get home. So I get home. And I said, here's the deal. I said, you're an adult. You can make adult decisions. Totally cool with it. And I will support the adult decision. Understand this, though. You don't get to make half adult decisions. You get to make all adult decisions.

If you want to make the adult decision to quit college, I'm cool with it. But that means that living expenses, all that stuff, you're an adult now, and you get to make those decisions. And I said, so think about it, and then just let me know and I'll support you any way you want.

And he came back to me and goes, yeah, I did the math, dad. Year and a half's not that bad. I think I'm just gonna.

So it's like, I will stay. I will stay.

So.

But it's so cool. So cool. And you're doing some great things. I'd love for our people to know where to find you. Where can they go to find you, to follow you, to see what you're doing? Because I think you truly are a role model of what's possible as an entrepreneur, that you don't have to jeopardize values, that you don't have to jeopardize family, that you have the ability to use the machine, if you will, the business machine, the entrepreneurial machine, to build a money machine and also build a giving machine. And you've hit it. You've hit it on all cylinders. And I see the relationship that you and Jared have and the family, and it's really incredible to see. And I think that there's a lot of value in people just following and Listening and hearing and seeing what you do.

Oh, thank you. So my social is Alison A L just one L, I, S O N J, Prince, P R A N C Instagram, Facebook. I have a podcast called the Because I can Life L I, F E where we talk business and how to create money through building a business. And usually it's through E commerce, through building an online store, because that's the playground that I play in. I can help people really quickly there. So that's. That's kind of like where I stay is. Is right in there, and I have a lot of fun with it.

So. So awesome. We'll hook all that stuff in the show notes and. And everything. But reach out to Taliesin. She's one. She's a dear, dear soul. We became fast friends. Friends with me. Jared and I are good friends, too. So about the only bummer is that they're in Puerto Rico, I'm in Laguna beach, and we even have the same type of dogs.

That's right. They're best friends and they don't even know it.

Yeah, exactly. So listen, I appreciate you, Allison, just for being in my life and being in everyone's lives to be that example, to run the miles that you've run, to represent how things can be done for good with good and how to do it in a graceful way. So I appreciate it.

Thank you. And thanks for being such a great teacher, leader, and friend and just letting me call you and just be like, I have a question.

I'm stuck. I am stuck here.

So I look very good anytime. Anytime.

Awesome. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much.

All right, thank you, Alison. Little talk soon. Cheers. Thank you for listening to the affluent entrepreneur show with me, your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the affluent entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to melabraham.com forward/group, and I'll see you there.

And that's it for this episode of Building your money Machine, where we help you learn how to master your money, eliminate financial stress, and live a life of choice. If you found this valuable or helpful to you, here's what I'd love for you to do. If you do me a favor, go to Apple, Apple Podcast, or wherever you're listening to this podcast and rate and review the show. It helps us tremendously to keep us at the top of the list so we can continue to get this information and this message out to people, because I truly believe that financial freedom is your birthright, and I want to help each and every one of you claim it. Thanks so much.