Biz Insider: moveHER Money

Imagine conquering a mountain of debt that nearly reaches the million-dollar sky—that's precisely the voyage my friend Sarah Kurtenbach embarked on, eventually founding move Her Money to share her wisdom. In our latest episode, we talk about Sarah's unique, TikTok-style online courses that break down complex concepts like budgeting, wealth building, and taxes into digestible bites, creating a foundation of knowledge we all can benefit from.

moveHER Money: https://www.moveher.money/

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Transcript

Financial Fitness and Money Education

Speaker 1 0:00

Friends, today's episode is all about financial fitness, being financially fit, and I have no one better than a good friend of mine, sarah Kurtenbach, joining me on the show today to dive in how she has been able to pay off over almost a million dollars of debt. Let's dive in to today's episode. Well, Sarah, welcome to the show, my dear.

Speaker 2 0:46

Thank you for having me here, CJ. I'm super pumped.

Speaker 1 0:52

Yeah, this is awesome. So everyone kind of watching or listening. I've known Sarah, honestly, for most of my life. We weren't really ever connected, but we did graduate from Sioux Falls Christian. Sarah graduated a few years before myself.

Speaker 2 1:02

So I'm much wiser, much wiser my older years.

Speaker 1 1:05

She has the years of experience on me, Always watching from afar and learning so much Sarah.

Speaker 2 1:12

Yes.

Speaker 1 1:13

So your wiser wisdom has been passed on to me. But recently I've been kind of I got reconnected with you at church and so I'm like, I'm pretty sure like you went to school and we did, but I seen that you had launched a new it's a new business, right, and I was very intrigued by it. Obviously, this is the Fit and Healthy podcast, but as we launched this new year of the podcast, I really wanted to take all aspects and angles Right. And Sarah, you launched Move Her Money, yes, and so I want to dive in and talk today about what it might look like to be financially fit, totally, because there is a lot that goes into finances and, as I've ran a team, I've even noticed to a lot of my team members they just don't have the knowledge of money, because where do you get it?

Speaker 2 2:08

Yeah, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 2:10

So can you explain to us like what is move her money?

Speaker 2 2:12

Yes. So move her money is something I created about a year ago and it came from seeing that there was a void and there was something missing, which is really great financial literacy geared towards girls. So Move Her Money really specializes in teaching girls in their teens and in their 20s about money in a way that they like learning and what they need to learn in that specific season in their life. And the reason why I focus on that age of girls is because, first of all, god really put a calling in my heart to speak to that age, so it really came from the Holy Spirit, but also when I started really diving into the data and the science and the research behind it.

Speaker 2 2:54

The number one target for credit card companies is teenagers and high schoolers. And then, obviously, if you look into college students now, all of a sudden, when you're 18, you can sign student loans and get six figures worth of money that now you have to pay back. So it's a time in their life when they can start taking out debt. They are getting marketed debt all the time. They're making debt look like sexy, like you should get this Everybody has it and it's also a time where, if people do that, they start making money mistakes that become habits that now come into their entire life, into their marriage, into their family. So I figured, man, if I can really get to these girls before the credit card companies do, before these bad habits are created, before the loan sharks go to get them, it could be so helpful for them and significantly help their financial future.

Speaker 1 3:43

Yeah, it could be so helpful for them and significantly help their financial future. Yeah, that reason speaks to me because my wife, she owned a preschool and I asked my wife I was like babe, I'm like man, like dealing with kids is hard, like why a preschool? And her answer was very similar to what you just said. She said if we can reach the kids at this age, we can help then basically shape the future. And so I love the fact that you recognized a demographic of people the younger women that are getting targeted and that are having this problem where they don't have the information available to them. So Move Her Money helps with money. And what is it that you use to sell? Like, what order are people buying?

Speaker 2 4:28

Yeah, so I've created online courses that girls can take on their phone, on their laptop, on iPad. I also created it to be very TikTok style, because before I created it, I actually took a lot of online courses myself to understand this kind of style is just like a little bit boring or this kind of style is really exciting. So when I was taking these online courses, I liked the courses where the videos were a lot shorter. It wasn't like you watch a 30 minute video, because even me, as an adult woman wanting to learn this topic, I find myself all of a sudden scrolling on my phone or I'm checking emails or I'm doing something else. I'm not totally listening. Or if a video is like one to three minutes long, you don't really have time to do a whole lot else.

Speaker 1 5:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2 5:10

So you're going to like, you're going to listen to it and then take the next action to go to the next one. So it's very TikTok style.

Speaker 1 5:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2 5:15

So that's how I created it. But the online courses I have one like major course that teaches a girl almost everything she would need to know, including taxes, how to fill out a W-2, like everything. And then I've also split my course into smaller mini courses. So if a girl or if her parent wants their daughter to just learn about budgeting, just learn about wealth building or just learn about debt, they can buy the mini courses as well too.

Speaker 1 5:40

Yeah, that's very cool, and I mean we know that attention is like it's gone.

Speaker 2 5:47

Oh, it's totally gone. Even for us it's gone.

Speaker 1 5:50

It's gone. So I think those short clips I mean, as you're just talking like something that comes into my mind that I'm just questioning, and maybe our audience as well, since it is targeted to women like this intrigues me. Yes, and so if I wanted to buy it and take it like, would I still get value out of it? Or is it like very Sarah is speaking to a woman and so I would just have to, as my own person, get over the fact that you keep calling me a her? Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 6:15

That's so great. I get asked this question a lot actually, because also moms are like well, I also have a son. Like can my son learn this? Because boys need to learn this too, and I agree a hundred percent the boys and the men need to learn. It's not just girls and women the boys and the men need to learn, we all need to learn, right, um. So I will say, like in the courses, there's definitely a feminine touch, like the branding is more feminine the colors, are more feminine I I'm like, hey, girls, yeah, she her a lot, yep, but the fundamental learnings is for everybody, yep, everybody.

Speaker 2 6:43

And I even have women who are ages 50 and up taking the course, yeah, and they tell me they're like I almost feel ashamed taking this course because you created it for, like, high schoolers and college students, but no one ever taught me about money, yeah, so I want to learn now and I'm like you should. The last thing you should be is ashamed. I am so proud of you. I want to scream from the rooftops that you're making a change right now and you are taking it right now.

Speaker 1 7:05

Yeah, so yeah, absolutely. So that would just be for anyone that's listening. Now, if you are a guy and you want to learn this stuff, number one, like dive in, like, learn it, but know that you'll just have to get used to Sarah calling you a girl or hey, ladies, and you'll just have to overlook the fact that you're not a girl or a lady, exactly, it'll be a good brain test, oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 7:29

And hey, sometimes for the guys that may be listening and my audience is actually mostly women as well, but maybe the couple of guys that might be listening it's okay for us men to pick up some ladylike characteristics and be a little more in touch with our feminine side. Yes, thank you. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 7:46

It's so true. Well, we also have a lot of teach right. Yes, and when I teach the girls, I teach what I've done right and what I've done wrong.

Speaker 1 7:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2 7:53

Because that's the most important thing. My dad always says everyone is a great example. You either are a great example of what to do, or you're a great example of what not to do, or you're a great example of both. And are we all kind of an example of both? We've all made mistakes. We've all made great choices, and now we can teach other generations about it.

Speaker 1 8:11

I love that. That leads me to really wondering, kind of, my next question for you and I just kind of want to know what your answer would be. What puts you because sometimes I even get this question I own a gym or a couple of gyms. What qualifies me to be a gym owner? So, speaking of that, what qualifies you, in your words, to teach finances?

Speaker 2 8:35

Totally so. This is such an awesome question too. So I would say it's really, if God placed something on your heart there's like that saying it's like God doesn't qualify the called no, how's it go?

Speaker 1 8:48

Yeah, god doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. Amen.

Speaker 2 8:52

So that's one part of it, and I think that if God really calls you to do something and to be a voice for do something, he's going to give you the passion to do it, he'll give you the ability to do it. So that's one thing. God has definitely put this calling on my life. But the other thing is, you know, sometimes people will ask well, sarah, are you like a financial advisor, or did you study? Are you a finance major? And I'm like no, I'm none of the above. I'm not a certified financial planner. I didn't graduate with a finance major. But you know what I did.

Speaker 2 9:21

I had parents who taught me amazing financial literacy from a young, young age. So I have grown up learning and knowing what can happen in a girl's life if you know how to manage your money the right way. And, again, I have made amazing choices when it comes to my money. I've also made mistakes when it comes to my money, and I will talk about all of those things. So I think, when it comes to even just like qualifications, I think, if it's something where, like you've lived, you've learned, you've made really great decisions and you learn from your mistakes and you don't keep making the same mistakes. Why not teach someone else?

Speaker 1 9:55

Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's just it too, because the truth of it is, as a gym owner, what qualifies me like literally nothing? Yeah, like what qualifies me Like literally nothing. What qualifies me is that I have a passion for helping people believe in themselves Exactly.

Speaker 1 10:08

That's it Exactly. That's it. But I do know, as we've been leading up to meeting today and shooting this episode, I've been a little more interested in making sure that if I do see one of your reels or one of your clips on social media pop up, that I take it in to be able to get a little more intellectual knowledge of who I'm talking with.

Speaker 2 10:26

Thanks for the love.

Speaker 1 10:27

Yeah, but I watched one recently that was talking about like a lot of debt that you and your husband have had to overcome because of school loans and just life. Yeah, but kind of walk us down that a little bit of how you were able to take a substantial amount of debt.

Speaker 2 10:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1 10:48

And work together to to eliminate it.

Financial Freedom Through Strategic Planning

Speaker 2 10:51

Absolutely. So you know I mentioned that my parents did a great job teaching me financial literacy, so I totally knew what debt was before going into college. So I graduated from college with no student loans. I paid for college in cash. The only loan I ever had in my life was a super small car loan that I got right when I graduated from college and moved to Atlanta and I paid that off in nine months. So outside of that, I never had any debt. No credit card debt, no, nothing.

Speaker 2 11:19

I lived in Atlanta for two years. I moved up to New York City and worked there for four years. So during those years I really focused on investing, building my net worth, building my portfolio. And then I met my now husband and changed the financial game, both for a time when we were married and then, way for the better. So I fall in love with this man from South Dakota named Chad, and he proposes we're getting ready to get married.

Speaker 2 11:45

I will say one amazing thing that I love about Chad is so Chad's an orthopedic surgeon. So to become a surgeon, there's a lot, a lot of school, and let's just say I had no idea how much medical school costs. So when he first, like you know, laid out and we talked about money very early on in our relationship. So when he first laid out how much debt he had, I think my jaw hit the floor because I'm like, excuse me, medical school is how much? But also, if you, you know, invest in yourself and in your education, knowing what the outcome is going to be from an income standpoint, it's much better than going to school having $200,000 in debt in, like, you know, ballet or something like that, and you're like, how am I going to?

Speaker 1 12:27

pay for this.

Speaker 2 12:28

So that was definitely a part of our debt. So when we got married, I absorbed that debt, but we were also building a house at the same time. Thus, here comes the other part of debt. So we bought a plot of land, we're building a house and if you added up those things basically the cost of the land in the house and the cost of his student loans those two things were almost a million dollars in debt, which is so crazy, such a big number.

Speaker 2 12:55

So after our first year of marriage, we were doing our taxes Yippee taxes. And that's when I really saw, line item by line item, of how much we were paying in interest every month, every year, and it changed something in me and that's when I was just like we are not going to live a life where we do this anymore, so let's be super strategic in paying this off as quickly as possible. So what we did is we sat down with our financial advisor, put together a plan, and the plan was he first of all automated everything. So all of our retirement accounts, all of our investment accounts, everything to set us up for a healthy retirement, was automated. And then all of our retirement accounts, all of our investment accounts, everything to set us up for a healthy retirement was automated and then all of our bills were automated and he goes. Whatever is left at the end of the month is for your discretion. I'm like our discretion is paying off debt. Baby. Let's roll so every month like kind of whatever was left.

Speaker 2 13:51

I would go to the bank and I would handwrite a check because I wanted the validation of manually handing it over and then getting the receipt of what our balance was Like. That just really motivated me to continue to do that. So we would do that. We first paid off his student loans, because those were the smallest loans, also had the smallest interest rate, and then we pounded our home loan and so we paid everything off in under six years. So in under six years we paid off that whopper amount of debt and now we have lived a debt-free life since.

Speaker 2 14:24

But I will tell you, cj, the day I walked into the bank and I wrote the last check to pay off our house and I handed that over and they gave me the receipt saying zero balance. It is like the biggest feeling of freedom maybe outside of accepting Jesus into your heart, that like I've ever felt, because I was thinking we don't owe a penny to anyone anymore. Everything we make now we can keep and we can use to do amazing beautiful things for the world, for our family. And we can use to do amazing beautiful things for the world, for our family, for our legacy, and so it was an amazing feeling.

Speaker 1 15:00

Yeah, yeah, and I think even that, right there, as you mentioned earlier, you don't have a degree in X, y or Z with finances, but I think that you I don't know if a degree could teach you that Right, yeah, you, that's life. Yes, you learned through doing.

Speaker 2 15:15

Yes.

Speaker 1 15:16

And, as you're talking, I also remember another one of your social media clips that came through was your kids walking into the bank and doing that same thing. I think that was with your guys as like giving them allowance, yeah, but taking it in, and you're like, okay, you need to put this much into your savings and you can keep this much. But I think you said something about your boy. Your boy is younger.

Speaker 2 15:38

Yes, my boy is older.

Speaker 1 15:39

Your boy is older, okay.

Speaker 2 15:40

It's my daughter who thinks she's getting scammed.

Speaker 1 15:42

Yeah, there we go that's what it was and it gives her the money and then they get a piece of paper and she's like, well, I don't understand.

Speaker 2 15:49

She's three. These people just scan me, man. I gave them like all of my money and then I just get this little tiny piece of paper back.

Speaker 1 15:55

So boo and I think even that, like as I think about, like with health and fitness, I definitely love it. We don't have a kid's area at our gym, right, but if a parent needs to bring a kid because that's life Totally.

Speaker 1 16:09

We will allow them to sit on the sideline or in the lobby, so long as the parent still kind of gets the responsibility For sure. But there's nothing better than seeing that kid watch mom or dad work on their health and their fitness. Yeah, and I feel that this has that same effect. There's nothing better than having your kids watch mom and dad but not only watch actually do it and live it with you guys understanding finances.

Speaker 2 16:37

Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you. So my son is five and my daughter's three.

Speaker 1 16:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2 16:42

And when we pay them money. So we created these sticker charts for them, so they have all these different chores based off of their age, and then we give them money at the end of the week based off of how many stickers they have. So there's a range and I will tell you. It has given me a glimpse into why a majority of parents don't take the time to teach their kids about money. Because it is work. I will tell you, it is work and even for me, teaching money is my passion, financial literacy is my passion. But even for me, sometimes I was like, oh Lord, we got to make sure that we do this every single day and like all of this stuff so I can totally get a glimpse into it. But I will say, like as a parent, being able to have your child watch you do this, teach them along the way, and again, I just know what it's like because my parents did an amazing job teaching me about money.

Speaker 2 17:33

I just know, what it's like, because my parents did an amazing job teaching me about money.

Speaker 1 17:35

So I know firsthand the choices that I made because I knew, because someone taught me, and I also saw firsthand the choices my friends made because no one taught them, and I'm like, goodness, it is so worth teaching my babies about this, and the thing that's crazy about that is that if we, whatever it is, whether it's finances, fitness, faith, whatever if we don't take it upon ourselves, whether it's our kids, our friends, those that were around to try and teach what we have learned, if we leave it up to the world.

Speaker 1 18:08

What's unfortunate about that is that everything that you learn, based off of the world, somebody's got something in it for them, yes, so these banks and these credit cards, like what they're teaching through their ads and through their marketing platforms and all their stuff, they're teaching. You're learning, whether you think it or not. Advertising is teaching.

Speaker 2 18:28

Right.

Speaker 1 18:28

And so they're teaching their audience that they should get these things and how it'll help them. Yeah, but they're not teaching how much it's actually a benefit to all of them and how rich they're getting on the back end of all of the uninformed Right, totally.

Speaker 2 18:44

You know, when I started looking into the stats too, I mean a majority of Americans consider themselves like they say me myself I am financially illiterate. Yeah, and so if you think about it, if you are financially illiterate, you're definitely not going to teach your kid because you don't know. And the other thing I want parents to know is that if you feel like you are not qualified to teach your children about money, or what you want to teach them is not adequate enough, that's actually okay because there's other resources out there. If you have a girl who's in her teens or 20s, like something like Move Her Money or like Dave Ramsey has programs, there's all these other programs because, also as a parent, we can also just do our best.

Speaker 2 19:24

I say this because our son we just signed him up to play baseball this summer. I know a lot about basketball. I don't know a whole lot about baseball, cj, I'm just going to tell you. So I'm thinking I am. I can't really help prepare our son to do this. So thank God there's a coach there, there's another dad who can pour into my son and be able to teach him. And the same is true with you Like, if you, if you're a parent where you're like gosh, I just don't think I'm the right one to teach my daughter, my son, about money. That's okay. Find someone who can find it.

Speaker 1 19:52

It's okay, absolutely, and I, and with that, what we will do is we'll put a link to move her money in the description of this episode so that way they can find it, they can look at it Right and just know that it's okay if you're not totally there.

Speaker 2 20:08

Yes, yes, exactly. I think the main thing, too, is like choices. I was on a previous podcast, too, where we were talking about kids and being parents and family, and they said that once your child hits I think it was like 10 or 12 years old, when they start getting into like middle school, tween, teen years, the most important thing you can do as a parent is to show them that you are still learning and still growing.

Speaker 1 20:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2 20:31

Because that creates such a reaction to the child where they know, like it inspires children. Children also know their parents aren't perfect right. Lord, we are not perfect. But also too like if you show your children or if they just watch you yourself learning more about money, about finances, sitting down trying to figure out your budget, and it may be a struggle at first. It's a struggle for everybody at first right.

Speaker 2 20:55

Budgets, like, don't come intuitively. It's something you really have to work on. But if you have a child who like sees you do that, and then you say, no, we can't do that this month because we can't afford it. But if we save up for four months, we can. What a gift to your child to be able to see this and start to calculate that too.

Speaker 1 21:10

I have two things I want to say on that. I have two things I want to say on that. Number one is kind of like an analogy that I've heard that just really resonated with me as it relates to fitness, but then obviously as learning in general.

Financial Success and Mentorship

Speaker 1 21:22

But an airplane there's so much gas on an airplane and I think it's like over a third of the fuel on an airplane is used during takeoff. The rest is just to barely get you to where you're going, because you don't use much. Once you're up there, you're now just kind of flying, but to take off there's a lot that's needed to go into it to get this thing going. And so, as you're learning a new skill, there's a lot that goes into it. But once you learn that skill that's the one thing that I love about learning is that learning it's the only thing that, like, you get to take with you, no matter what you have this skill now, like if I would give you a new jacket, that jacket could rip, it could go away, whatever, but if I teach you a new skill that's inside of you, it's yours. So that's the first thing, and then the second thing I wanted to mention about just saving and learning how to save. I can remember a time when I was in high school and car audio kind of intrigued me.

Speaker 2 22:20

Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:20

I found myself walking into Audio Playground here in town and I met Patty. She's still the owner of Audio Playground. She's probably there working right now. Shout out to Patty. Shout out to Patty Because I don't think that I even realized that and, honestly, until right now, or that she would have ever realized it. But like she helped me learn about money.

Speaker 2 22:43

And how was that?

Speaker 1 22:44

I wanted to buy this subwoofer system for my my vehicle Sounds very high school. It was very high school, absolutely Yep. But I didn't have just the money to buy it. And so she said that she would work with me to to have a layaway account, which I didn't know what that was, and really we picked everything I wanted. She told me how much it was going to be and I remember literally stopping in there weekly, if not every other week, giving Patty money and her putting it in my file and helping Patty.

Speaker 1 23:10

Where am I at now? Okay, you need this much more to be able to afford it and learning to save to get it. And I can tell you what, when I finally got those speakers, when I finally got the thing, I valued it way more than if I would have just went and bought it now, because we live in a world where we want instant gratification, everything like literally there's series and Alexa's and hey, google's, all these things Cause we want the answer now, right, but when we can delay gratification, that is like the utmost sign of progress Totally. And so if you watching, listening, can to learn to just delay whatever it is Like right now you might not know it, but if you take the time to invest in it, to learn the things you're going to learn through, move Her Money or whatever. It might be that delayed gratification like was it fun living a life of saving all your money? Everything left over is for you and Chad? Go have a date night. Go have some fun. Was it fun taking that and going to the bank?

Speaker 1 24:06

I mean, there was something in you that I can clearly tell like you liked it but I'm sure you could have done a lot more fun things to do, but now not having that debt, I mean, I'm a little envious. I'd love to not have debt. I'm sure you know people watching and listening would too. But I think, with that, if you would love to not have debt, what are you going to do? Yeah, you have a choice to make. If you're listening right now, you have a choice to make. You can start making small decisions that are going to set you up for financial success, or you can continue to live the way you're living.

Speaker 2 24:38

Exactly. You really do have to create a plan. On the way here, I was listening to the Rachel Cruz show, who's Dave Ramsey's daughter, and she was just talking about the importance of creating a financial plan. I agree a hundred percent. One of my friends they have a podcast for singles and they wanted me to come on to talk about the biggest red flags in dating in regards to finances. Like, hey boys, hey girls, if you're dating someone and they do this with their money, just like, watch out, big, big red flag. One of the things I talked about is one of the biggest red flags is dating someone who literally has zero financial plans or zero financial goals.

Speaker 2 25:08

It's kind of like fitness, right, if you like. Have no idea where you want to be in your fitness. Are you going to be motivated to go to the gym every day? Probably not, because there's so many other things that are distracting and pulling us in other directions, things that sound nice, sound good at the time. Same is true with money, too. So you really got to have that goal, that plan. I'm also a big believer in mentorship, or sometimes like board of advisor for your life or a financial advisor. People really need someone else helping with their portfolio. I have people asking me all the time should I get a financial advisor? Yes, you will have to pay your financial advisor a fee or a percentage of your portfolio. To me, I feel like it is 100% worth it. My husband and I would not be where we are financially if it wasn't for our financial advisor, because then you have an expert like literally helping you to create a plan and then changing it every 3, 6, 12 months as well, too Kind of like with fitness.

Speaker 2 26:03

you know it's like you've hit this goal. Now you can do this goal in your fitness, totally you know, it's like you've hit this goal Now you can do this goal in your fitness.

Speaker 1 26:08

Totally yes, and to that point with goals. If you don't have that goal, you don't have that North Star. There's always going to be something that would be better in the moment. Totally. There always is, and there's always somebody doing better than you out there oh my gosh, that's life.

Speaker 2 26:22

Yes, comparison is terrible, it's huge.

Speaker 1 26:25

But the world that we live in too, especially for, like your target audience, which is that you know that teen to twenties female all you do is you open up the different social media platforms and you see everyone under the sun doing things that they say that you're supposed to be doing and the truth of it is is that we get to decide what success looks like for us. Totally, Totally, do so. You could go on a date with Chad when you were in your six year period of paying off debt Right. And you could go on a date with Chad that you know the Instagrams and the Facebooks say look like this, perfect pitch, perfect date that costs X amount of money to go do Right. Or you guys could go on a free date that still has just as much meaning to you guys and not spend the money, because your North Star, your goal, was to pay off debt.

Speaker 2 27:16

Exactly. Even in the Move Her Money course. I created a whole module on comparison because, especially I mean comparison. Everyone deals with comparison but being a girl, I understand what girls compare to other girls and it's everything.

Speaker 2 27:31

I'll tell you this Girls compare everything to other girls, but what I speak to the girls about is specifically financially right, because you are so right. When you look on TikTok, when you look on Instagram, there's all these girls promoting like I just went on this vacation, I just bought this bag, check out my new car, look at my brand new apartment. I just bought this puppy. I just went and I got a mani-pedi, I just went to the juice stop or whatever and bought like a $12 smoothie. So so much of it is consumption. And so when I talk to the girls, I also tell them you are going to see this everywhere, but you have no idea what actually is in their bank account. Yeah, and you don't know how they got it.

Speaker 2 28:08

And I'll tell you if, like, looking at the stats and what's happening in our nation right now, most of all they probably bought it on a credit card. Yeah, that's probably how they got it, and they're showing you their new handbag and their new shoes, but they're not showing you your credit card bill. Also, one of my good friends when I lived in New York city she became a very successful beauty um blogger and beauty influencer, so she was getting like brand deals by all the top skincare and beauty brands. And then her and her husband were like moving to a new house outside the city and, honestly, after I moved to South Dakota and I was just watching her life on Instagram and texting her, I'm like, girl, she is crushing it. This girl is killing it.

Speaker 1 28:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 28:50

So then anyway, one day, right before Thanksgiving, I'm walking through Hy-Vee and she called me, so I'm chit-chatting with her as I'm going through the aisles. I'm like what are you doing for Thanksgiving? And she goes well, I'm really hoping that we can close a brand deal with Lexus. I'm like Lexus girl, look at you, I mean you're killing it. And she goes well. Actually, the reason why I'm really hoping we can close this brand deal with Lexus is so they'll let us rent a car for free so we can see my family for Thanksgiving. Others, we can't afford to see them. And CJ, I was completely shocked because this girl is also my friend and again, it was everything you see on the outside on social media. It looked like she was living the life, making bank, like cash rolling in. On the inside. She couldn't afford a $300 ticket to see her parents.

Speaker 1 29:36

Yeah, right.

Speaker 2 29:37

Yeah, so that's for I mean, that's literally for everyone. Yeah, but especially when I speak to the girls, I'm like just remember that when you see all these posts and I think that that is so true because people aren't posting that stuff, no way.

Living a Fit and Honest Life

Speaker 1 29:51

But I mean, it's real life but nobody would post it because in the world's eye and I like being transparent because that's the only way I know how to be Fitbody over the last six months we have started to go through a season of difficulty and we've been blessed for nine years. It has been nothing but growth. And when people are like, oh, how's Fit Body? Because from the outside it looks amazing, we're posting pictures of new clients coming in. We're not posting every time we lose a client. We're not posting every time a cancellation comes through but, that's real life.

Speaker 1 30:27

But you don't want to like celebrate that. You're celebrating the wins Totally. But that's not what people. All they see is the wins then. But so what's weird about it? And I'm at a place right now we're even going through this difficulty like that's life and I'm totally at peace with it. And I know that it's just a season and for a reason, and we're going to get out of it and keep rocking and rolling. So I have no doubt in my mind of that. But the weirdest thing is when people are like hey, cj, how's Fit Body doing? Those that are close to me and I'm like you know, right now we're not doing as well as we have the look on their face. It's almost like I hurt them by saying that we're not crushing it.

Speaker 1 31:03

Because the world doesn't know how to react to honesty. The world doesn't know how to react to truth, because we're so used to just seeing this facade that when you actually hear truth, it's almost like the reaction that I'm going to are you okay? Yeah, and like I'm good. Like you asked me how Fit Body was doing, I said it's doing okay, it's not crushing. And you're like are you okay? I didn't say I'm hurting. I said it's doing okay, it's not crushing.

Speaker 1 31:27

And you're like are you okay? I didn't say I'm hurting, right? I didn't say that I'm worried, right, right, but it almost feels that way and I think that that is so big as it pertains to like comparison Totally, because you never know what someone is going through. Someone could just get the biggest promotion in their life from a financial standpoint but literally last week went through a divorce, lost their parents. You never know, right. And so I just feel like that's another big key indicator as it relates to like living a fit and healthy life, a better life, like understand that every single person is going through some type of hurt and to be kind.

Speaker 2 32:02

Yes, yeah, oh my gosh, it is so true. Yeah, exactly what you said. Like just to be kind to people, because you know, know, we've all heard this thing like everyone is fighting a battle that we don't know about. How true is that? Everyone is, except. I did see something funny where they were like everyone's fighting a battle we don't know about, unless you have a toddler. Then the battle is like very, and I have a toddler, so I'm like I feel that big time People have seen bad parts of me out in public, right, but yeah, that's I'm trying to get them through the store.

Speaker 2 32:28

Exactly, and I also think that's why it's so important, as, like humans, to be able to have, whether it's like one person or like a close group, that you can like, really share and be vulnerable to, because you also don't feel obligated. You have to be vulnerable to the entire world. Right, right, you don't have to let everybody into your problems and into your issues. Some people do, some like big influencers do. That's totally cool if that's you, but you also need to let somebody in. Yeah, right, somebody.

Speaker 1 33:00

And that's interesting that you bring that up, because the podcast that's dropping right before ours. I was actually talking with Jacob Lewis. Yeah, that's dropping right before ours. I was actually talking with Jacob Lewis, who I told you had the big headphones Right, but he was actually talking in his whole episode. That we did was about loneliness and about how people need people, because everybody is. There's stuff that we need to share and how do you do that? So if you are just watching this episode and you maybe are finding yourself dealing with loneliness, go back to the last episode and dive into that one as well, because that'll really help you. But as it relates to money and living financially fit and just having all those things figured out, I like to always kind of end our shows with Sarah what's one piece of advice that you could give someone? And because this episode is specifically on financial fit, yeah.

Speaker 1 33:49

What would be one piece of advice? Someone is here watching like man. Everything we talked about today, like spoke to them. It's overwhelming. I know I have a lot that I need to change. What would be your advice to that person?

Speaker 2 34:00

Yeah, yeah, no, that is so true, because money is a very taboo topic.

Speaker 1 34:04

Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:04

It can be very awkward. People don't like to talk about it. It's very overwhelming. People hide it under the rug. I think the number one thing I want people to understand is that money can be a very simplistic approach and it all really comes down to teeny, tiny little habits that you do daily, so very much like fitness. There is this incredible book called the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Have you ever read it?

Speaker 1 34:30

I don't feel like I have.

Speaker 2 34:31

You would love it.

Speaker 2 34:32

You've got to read it because he talks about a fitness component in there too, but what this book is about is he talks about the teeny tiny habits compounded over time makes a big, big difference. So from a fitness standpoint, he'll give the example of you work at an office and there's a big bowl of M&Ms and if you were to go grab a handful of M&Ms once a month, not going to do anything to you, If you go grab a handful of M&Ms every single day or twice a day, compounded over time, that's going to make a really big difference. And he literally did the analytics to show if you eat this handful of M&Ms every day, over the course of 10 years you would gain this much weight versus you would either stay the same or lose, Like I mean, it's crazy.

Speaker 1 35:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:13

He also talks about money.

Speaker 1 35:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:14

And when I read that book for the first time, it opened my eyes to how these little, tiny changes with money, compounded over time, can make a big, big effect in my life.

Speaker 2 35:29

So I would that's just the main thing I want people to know Maybe pick up that book and give it a read too, because it's about it's so true with all areas of life, right, like even being married. Like if you go home, do you just like, sit on the couch in school on your phone, or do you go kiss your husband, kiss your wife, and now, compounded over 10 years, what does that mean?

Speaker 2 35:49

You know it's a really really good book, but try not to have finances be overwhelming. Instead, think of maybe one little tiny thing you can start doing today and then watch a compound over the next couple of years Remind us of the name of the book and the author.

Speaker 1 35:59

again.

Speaker 2 35:59

Yes, it's called the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Darren Hardy, very good.

Speaker 1 36:04

Yeah, I love audio books, like I'm like, thanks, I'm not a kid. You're like, dad, can we listen to something else other than a book? I'm like, yes, we can, we'll listen to some music. Yeah, but I love that. And you guys, I just think that is so great for today. Wherever you're at, whether it be anywhere, start with something small, add it up over time, watch the compound effect grow into a huge change for the better in your life. Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. We're going to drop a link for the Move, her Money, all the resources, so you can check all that out in the description of the show. But you guys do me a favor like subscribe and share the Fit and Healthy Sioux Falls podcast, because Sarah and I wouldn't be able to be here and we wouldn't be able to do what we do if it wasn't for amazing people like you. So thank you for being here, spending your time with us. We'll catch you on the next episode of the Fit and Healthy Sioux Falls podcast. Bye, guys.