Angie Colee (00:03):

Welcome to Permission to Kick ass, the show that gives you a virtual seat at the bar for the real conversations that happen between entrepreneurs. I'm interviewing all kinds of business owners from those just a few years into freelancing to CEOs, helming nine figure companies. If you've ever worried that everyone else just seems to get it and you're missing something or messing things up, this show is for you. I'm your host, Angie Colee, and let's get to it. And welcome to Permission to Kick ass with me today is Lisa Marie. Say hi.

Lisa Robinson (00:37):

Hi. How

Angie Colee (00:38):

Are you doing today?

Lisa Robinson (00:40):

I'm doing good. How are you? Thank, thank you for having me on.

Angie Colee (00:43):

Oh, it's my pleasure. Uh, we, we've spent probably entirely too long admiring each other's brightly colored hair before we started recording, so I can already tell that this is going to be off to a fantastic story. ,

Lisa Robinson (00:56):

We do, we have

Angie Colee (00:57):

The pros and cons of letting the salt and pepper come in or not, but tell us a little bit about what you do.

Lisa Robinson (01:03):

Um, I am a, uh, money coach for women entrepreneurs. Mm-hmm. . Um, I help women entrepreneurs, uh, change their money stories so that they're empowered by their money instead of fearing it. My big motto is I say, I take money from chaos to sassy and sexy. Ooh. And, um, my biggest thing that I want to do is I wanna be able to help as many women as possible stand on their own two feet, whether they need to or not. Yes.

Angie Colee (01:32):

I'm writing that down and circling it

Lisa Robinson (01:34):

. I'm really, I'm really passionate about it.

Angie Colee (01:37):

That is fantastic. I mean, that's such an important thing that we don't talk about it, and I see it come up over and over and over again, even when people aren't aware that money is causing the thing. If a spoiler alert for everybody listening, if you have found yourself saying, I need this client, oh my God, this client is stressing me out, and your thought is not immediately, I don't, no, I would be all right till my next client, I'd be, I'm fine walking away from this, then you are victim of a money story right there. You think that you need the money from this client, which means that you have to put up with this behavior or this thing that's making you miserable. And as long as you are stuck in that belief, you're not going to make a move that empowers you. So, like, such important work. Yeah.

Lisa Robinson (02:22):

Yeah. And, and it really is. And, and for me, I most of us don't realize that our relationship with money, um, stems from our money stories. Um, and a lot of majority of the money coaches don't actually talk about how money mindset and money management go hand in hand. Mm-hmm. , what they talk about is changing your money mindset and everything is fine. And I call

Angie Colee (02:49):

Lisa Robinson (02:51):

Because if you ha change your money mindset, but you're not able to manage $5,000, meaning you can't tell me, okay, you have $5,000 and this is where it went. You can't look and honestly tell me where it went, then you're not gonna be able to manage 50 mm-hmm. , you're still gonna be broke. Um, yes. And if you're managing it penny by penny, meaning you're reporting it, but you haven't changed your mindset, then you're still gonna be having that fear of broke because you're not doing anything with the money. You're just making it sit there and you have all this anxiety. Um, Ooh,

Angie Colee (03:26):

I love that. Are you cool? Unpacking that one a little bit, because that's so oppositional to what I normally hear. Uh, to me that sounds like a shade of, you know, making sure that money is in circulation is part of the success story versus just hoarding it. And I know I ran into that challenge once. I, so I, I grew up poor, the eldest of three kids with a single mom. I, yeah. We, we have the money stories, you know, the, the poor background, all of that jazz. I've told that before on the podcast. But suffice to say that with the American education system, I had no idea how money works. Got myself in over my head with credit card debt, with student loan debt. It's taken a lot of time to get out from underneath that stuff. Money has not always been my strong suit.

Angie Colee (04:08):

So when I signed on with Dave Ramsey, love him or hate him, that was what got me toward financial freedom. So, you know, I know I see you making the face. People have strong opinions about him, and I'm going to say whatever gets you on the journey to bettering yourself is okay. He is not my guru these days, but he's what got me started on the journey. So I appreciate him for that. Um, once I got to that point of having the savings in place, man, whenever that emergency popped up for, you know, the, the money was saved for the emergency, I had trouble even spending that money on the emergency because I felt like a dragon guarding my treasure. Like, no, I work so hard to say that up. I don't even wanna spend it for what it's meant to be spent on. Oh, I don't know what the question is and all that, but

Lisa Robinson (04:52):

, you would, you, you'd probably laugh when you, um, find out how many savings accounts I have.

Angie Colee (04:57):

Mm-hmm. , it's, uh, I've got a lot of savings accounts that I'm hoarding money into, but they're all earmarked for different things. I

Lisa Robinson (05:04):

Don't, I don't hoard though. I don't want my, one of my clients thought that, um, she was like, I need to stop spending and I need to save, save, save. Mm-hmm. for the future and all. And she's, she's young. And I said, well, why can't you do both? And she just looked at me and she went, I said, why can't you live now and save for the future? So why, why can't you, why, why does it have to be one way or the other? Why can't you do both? The reason why I, I believe traditional budgeting, traditional money management plans don't work. They suck, period. . But there's a reason, there's a reason they suck because they don't include one-off expenses. They don't include the yearly expenses. Mm-hmm. , they don't include the things that pop up and all of a sudden throw us out.

Lisa Robinson (05:53):

Now for businesses, they suck because they don't include our yearly expenses. They don't include the one-off expenses. So like our legal fees, our office supplies, they, they tell you to include the yearly stuff, but they don't tell you how. Mm-hmm. have it included into a monthly budget. They just say, list it. Okay, well, what does listing it do? Mm-hmm. , it's not due every month. So it doesn't do anything. And when I started realizing that this just wasn't working, um, and I realized that I had, I hated money. Mm. I hated money. I know, that's funny. I'm a money coach and I hated money. . Yeah. But I hated money. Um, I get that. But like you said, I grew up with a single mom of me and my sisters. She worked plant, she was, um, I, uh, she dropped out of high school to have me.

Lisa Robinson (06:49):

She got her g e d, she never went to college. You know, my father was in and outta the picture. He didn't pay the child support. Um, so, you know, there's, when we say money stories, a lot of times we don't realize that our money stories go all the way back to when we were just walking and talking and we're seeing what people are saying or not saying how people are spending or not spending, how they're reacting to money, or if they talk to us about money or don't mm-hmm. compare it to mental health and sex. They're all three taboo subjects No one wants to talk about. You're only supposed to take those behind the closed doors, sex behind the closed doors, not supposed to discuss mental health when those are probably the three biggest things that need to be discussed, in my opinion.

Lisa Robinson (07:41):

Um, absolutely. Because the more we talk about it, the more we are educated and the better our relationship will be. You know, especially with money. And, um, when I started realizing there's a mindset coach that said, if you're, if you hate money, then you have a bad relationship and you really need to look at your money story. Mm-hmm. and I started digging and I started doing the research. Um, and um, to kind of give a lead back to where it all started, um, you were talking about bad credit, your bad debt. Mm-hmm. , um, you're talking to someone who has had a chapter seven bankruptcy to foreclosures two short sales, um, yeah. And rebuilt her credit probab, I think fourth four times. This will be the fourth. Mm-hmm. the final time. Um, and now I'll be 50 and less than two months, and I have the highest credit score I've ever had in my entire life.

Lisa Robinson (08:47):

Um, I have, I actually make more money than I have in my entire life. Um, and I've, but I've, but I've done it more, better and more smarter, um, because, um, I took what I learned from Dave Ramsey a long time ago mm-hmm. , and then there are some things that I, I just totally disagree with. Same. I can't, he's changed his tune on some things and I can't, um, I can't, uh, back it, you know? Mm-hmm. , I have, you know, I tell people all the time, look, um, I'm a mom of two special need kids and I know what it's like to work, you know, late till 5 30, 6 o'clock, you barely make an ends meet, but the drive-through is appeasing because you just need some sanity. You know what, go through the drivethrough.

Angie Colee (09:37):

Yes.

Lisa Robinson (09:38):

Because sometimes eating

Angie Colee (09:39):

Is more important than perfection.

Lisa Robinson (09:41):

Some, sometimes having that sanity is, is is more important. Um, what I tell people is we need to be able to choose, we need to be able to be strategic. Mm-hmm. , we actually need to know, okay, am I spending a hundred dollars a month going out to eat or am I spending $600 a month out to eat? And if I'm spending 600, am I OK with it? Yeah. Majority of the time we're spending 600 and we don't even realize it. Mm-hmm. . And so I help my clients become mindful by how I became mindful. And I probably have about 16 savings accounts now. But they are, they are nicknamed for specific things. And when their expenses comes up for those specific things, and some of 'em are are for trips, then money is moved out of the savings account. It's money is funneled. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (10:34):

consistently in and out. Um, and that's where that save for now, you know, Lyft for now save later comes from, is, I don't believe we should just have one emergency savings. I believe we should have, uh, savings for stuff that's gonna happen with your house. Mm-hmm. Whether you're rent it or owning it, you know. Perfect example is, I just had to replace my standup freezer, um, a couple months ago. That was mm-hmm. That was fun. Mm-hmm. So fun. That was fun. That was super fun. Um, and, um, and then I have a vehicle savings, which is for, like, I live in South Carolina, so we have property taxes on our vehicles. So that's for my property tax. For that I have to pay yearly on my vehicle. That's if I have to, perfect example. I just had to have my, um, shocks and stretch replaced cuz there was a leak.

Lisa Robinson (11:22):

Guess what? Every single, almost every single penny that was in that payment account was immediately transferred to the credit card that I paid it so that it was paid. Mm-hmm. . Cause I had the money, was there, paid it. Um, yeah. I didn't like paying it. I hated the fact that it drained the same, but that's what it's there for. Exactly. Right. And so we have to change our mindset around, um, around the money. People have this mindset of, well, I can't take it with me when I die, so I'm just gonna spend it. Mm-hmm. . Um, okay. But do you also wanna be able to stay for some of the things you know later, especially if you're someone who's barely getting by and Yes. I was barely getting by and then I was, um, matter of fact, we couldn't have my salary go over a certain amount because then I would have to, I wouldn't be able to qualify for Medicaid for my girls and they would have to go on my insurance and it would pretty much take almost my entire check.

Lisa Robinson (12:19):

Oh man. Man. So we had to stay below the certain level. Um, and then I was let go. That was in September of 2016 mm-hmm. . And something told me that I was needed at, I kept hearing a voice. I was needed at home. Um, and, uh, now is the time. Now I have accounting background, I have auditing background, so I could have literally sent my resume out and I could have had a job in a couple of weeks. Mm-hmm. , but it would've been basically the same thing, just as a different rat race. Yeah. Um, and I was working 60 hours a week, barely making, barely getting by and, um, couldn't qualify for food stamps at the time cause I made too much money, but just enough where I could get the Medicaid. So I would always be picking and choosing which bill was gonna be paid.

Lisa Robinson (13:15):

There was always a bill that was, that I'm paying two months at a time. Always was mm-hmm. always. Um, and I can laugh about it now, but it had me in tears. I hated money. And when I was let go, um, I had always, I'd always had the dream of owning my own business. Um, and I'd already been trying to have a business on the side, you know, like accounting work, that kinda thing. Um, and um, I, I think I took two weeks and then I decided, okay, I'm done. You know what? I'm not going. I'm not looking for nothing else. So I cashed in my four. I had them repossessed my vehicle. Yes. I did a voluntary repossession. I didn't know how long it was gonna take to make the business work. I just knew I was going for it. Yeah. Um, and then I sent a letter to my landlord asking for if she would prorate my rent until, so it was, that was October to April of next year.

Lisa Robinson (14:12):

Decrease it, prorate it. And then when I got my tax refund, I would catch it up and God had to be on my side. Somebody higher power had to be on my side. Cause if she'd have said no, all of this would've been nilch. Mm-hmm. . And she said she went and got advised by two people and they both told her she was crazy if she would do it. And she was still doing it. Yep. And she did the agreement. I signed it and I made sure that she was paying by, cause she of 2017. Um, and I, I took off and groomed my business from there and I found out six months later while I was needed at home. And that was because my oldest, um, wa just wasn't sure if she belonged to here anymore. And, um, she did a call out for help and, um, she was in middle school and that triggered a bunch of, uh, following up and figuring out what was going on.

Lisa Robinson (15:12):

And that's when she was diagnosed as being autistic. Um, that she's on the spectrum. And, um, along with her anxiety disorder. So, um, I knew then it had to work because she needed me at home because I was gonna, it was gonna be a full-time job dealing with the public school system. Um, and so right after I had my vehicle repossessed, I went and did something I swore I would never do. Since I didn't qualify before I swore I would never ask for help. And I did. I went to the state and I got on food stamps. And that was probably the hard, one of the hardest things I've done, actually, I'll say that's the second hardest. The first hardest was that year because there was barely any money I went to. Um, you know, those buses each Christmas they do those buses for the families mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (16:05):

that qualify for Christmas presents. Yeah. Yeah. I filled out the application qualified for it, and the Christmas presents my kids got from Santa that year were donated to me. That was that mm-hmm. was, was hard. That was gut wrenching for me. Um, but I was determined there was, there was, it was pure, it was pure as determination. I think that's the only thing I knew how to do it. Mm-hmm. , I grew really fast that first year and then all of a sudden I lost a bunch of clients and I freaked out . Yeah. Because wow. I, I was, I was doing it as a bookkeeper, right? Mm-hmm. . So, you know, and I was, and I was starting to delve into the money mindset and that part. And so I didn't start off as the SASSI wolf coach. I started off as Lisa Maria accounting mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (17:02):

. And then I rebranded in 2020 in the middle of Covid of all Times's mm-hmm. , um, to the SASI wealth coach because I had upleveled from, I wasn't doing the accounting work because I'd done all the, I'd started doing, I literally dug deep and did mindset work the end of 2017, beginning of 2018. And that's when things started changing. Um, and my service, how I did my pay, my pay me first service started changing. And I incorporated the money mindset and the money management because I truly believe they go hand in hand, you know? Oh, yes. Um, Dave Ramsey talks about you shouldn't go and you shouldn't go and, um, do this or that unless you've got three months of, you know mm-hmm. your emergency savings. Okay. Well guess what? I don't have three months of my emergency savings mm-hmm. , however, I have a savings account for these things and I'm consistently funding money in there. And at the same time, my daughter who's autistic graduated last year and two years ago she, um, when she was a junior, she said, I wanna go on a cruise. And I just looked at her and I went, overstimulation, are you absolutely sure this is what you want? She said, yes. And I said, okay. And I have a savings account. And that is how I, I paid for everything.

Angie Colee (18:31):

Mm.

Lisa Robinson (18:32):

Paid everything. I was paid for within seven months of us going everything.

Angie Colee (18:36):

Oh, that's

Lisa Robinson (18:37):

Awesome. Um, and you know, and then I still had extra in the account because I know my daughter was gonna see something hyper-focused cuz she has a ADHD as well and she's gonna focus on it and that's gonna be it. She's gotta have it. Mm-hmm. I know how this works. Mm-hmm. , so I knew to have extra and so I did. I had extra in there. So the whole point is one, if you're struggling, it's not always that way. Mm-hmm. . But a lot of times the reason why we're on that rollercoaster rat race of struggling is because we haven't changed something with our money story to change our mindset, which in turn changes the way we manage.

Angie Colee (19:19):

Oh yeah. I mean, I was taking notes the whole time. I mean, first of all, what an incredible story. Thank you for sharing with all of us. I think that we're gonna do something, uh, that I'm very passionate about, which is shining a light on the shame. Cuz I think that shame thrives in the shadows, which is exactly why ex we what you said. That we don't talk about money. We don't talk about sex, we don't talk about these things publicly. So there's a lot of shame and I don't like I ra I rage against this level of shame about these things. Cuz if we're not talking about it and we're not teaching each other about it, how the hell do we expect people to just like be born and then know what to do with their bodies, know what to do with their money, how to conduct themselves if they're making smart decisions, anything like that. So if we're hiding those things away and we don't have any opportunity to talk to somebody else, and I love that you talked about fixing this financial situation four separate times. Like, guys, even if you find a system that works for you, that doesn't mean everything is instantly fixed and you have learned your lesson and can move on. I've fallen into the same thing too. Like I disagree with, uh, Mr. So-and-so's, uh, philosophy on not using credit cards ever because oh,

Lisa Robinson (20:31):

If you don't even get me started on that ,

Angie Colee (20:34):

The rewards cards alone. Like I have flown all over this country, gotten free rental cars because I'm smart about how I use it. I wasn't always, and I've gotten in trouble a couple of times and had to go pay it down afterwards. But like, I use it in a way that works for me. And that ties into something that I hear a lot of entrepreneurs talk about too, about I can't go out there and teach something because somebody else is already doing this. Well, like we just talked about how Lisa's a wealth coach and Mr. So-and-so is also a money coach and we don't like him anymore. And that's okay. He's, we started where we started and we got what we could. And there are always going to be people out there who could be your customers who are in the same boat. Like, just because they learned from somebody else doesn't mean they can't also learn from you have a great experience from you. Put yourself out there and teach the thing that you feel called to teach. Share what you feel called to share.

Lisa Robinson (21:26):

And here's the thing. If you feel like he is the one for you, just remember or someone else's great. Just remember that even me, you may not always agree with every single thing the person's gonna say. One of the things my coach told me is you're supposed to take in what you want and leave the rest. Yes. Right. You know, um, I, I disagree about the credit card thing and this, here's why. One, he says, don't go buy a house unless you do a 15 year mortgage. Okay? Mm-hmm. Well, most of us can't do a 15 year mortgage unless we have a huge chunk of money just Yes. Laying mouth. I make good money for the record. I went from six from food stamps to six figures and three years mm-hmm. and I got off. I, one way or the other, I was getting off the food stamps and a lot of people who end up on the food stamps end up in this little rat race of never being able to get off mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (22:20):

. And I had to change the relationship with my money in order to get off. And I will say that that was a constant, constant mindset battle. And I, I can recall the conversations I would literally have with myself mm-hmm. and, and the worry I would have. And I would be talking to my best friend going, okay, I think this is it. You know, this is the month. Okay. You know, literally worried. Right. Um, credit cards are the fastest way to rebuild your credit. Mm-hmm. . And they're the fastest way to destroy your credit. Yep.

Lisa Robinson (22:55):

I tell my clients credit cards aren't bad, it's what we do with them. Mm-hmm. , it's us as a person. It's us as a person. How the discipline, how, how we use them. Um, I am now, I'm almost, I'm gonna be 50. I now have more credit cards and higher credit limits than I've ever had in my entire life. Mm-hmm. and mine still aren't as high as some, some of my clients. Um, but I also use them strategically. I use those reward points. And when I see that, you know, my mindset is like, yeah, you're getting a little too much for me. Okay. You know what? That reward cash can turn into a payment against that credit card and bump you down a little bit, you know? Mm-hmm. , um, or my girls will go, mommy, I want this and I can go look and ho I got $75 for work cash. Sure. What is it you want ?

Angie Colee (23:48):

Yeah.

Lisa Robinson (23:49):

Cause it's gonna be free. Um, the, the key is, is you have to use it strategically. Mm-hmm. . Um, I have my business expenses on the card that I use for my business. Um, because I have that repossession and it hasn't been quite seven years, it'll be seven years this October. I don't qualify for a business credit card. They won't give me one like, city and Chase will normally give 'em to you pretty quickly. They won't. Cause I have that repossession. So after the seven years, that one should go away. Mm-hmm. . Um, and that should bump my score up even more. Yeah. Um, but I have Capital One and so I use my Capital One venture as my business card. Mm-hmm. , which is my, you know, the miles which you can convert, convert to points against hotels or airlines that you've already purchased.

Lisa Robinson (24:42):

Yeah. Um, and so, um, I use that strategically. But here's the key. With my business, I have a, uh, yearly savings, which is for my yearly expenses. And then I have what I call education training slash trips. So for any business trips I'm gonna take, I'm putting money in there mm-hmm. . So know that I can, when I charge it between the yearly savings or whatever, that should be able to be put onto the credit card immediately. Yeah. Um, the same thing with my monthly expenses. Right. I charge my coach and all of my credit cards. Okay. Well that's so I can get the points and then I immediately pay the card. Yes. I have a balance. Because having a balance is what it, it is so funny. Having a balance is what increases your credit score.

Angie Colee (25:32):

Yes.

Lisa Robinson (25:32):

Because you paying it off each month is not gonna increase your credit score. You making payments and them seeing you have a balance and that you are gradually paying it off is what increases your credit score. Mm-hmm. , but you also have to make more than the minimum payment. Yes. Because then your, if you don't, then your debt ratio is too high and then it lowers your score. It's like a, it's like a little balancing seesaw system. Mm-hmm. . Um, and it's sad that it took me, it took me this long to figure it out, but it, but it did because we don't talk about it.

Angie Colee (26:04):

Yeah. I don't think it's sad. I think it's because we don't talk about it that it takes that long. And, you know, it's interesting to me because I got that message too about credit cards being bad. But here's where I got myself into trouble beyond just borrowing. But I am also like late, late stage diagnosis. A D H D only got my diagnosis just last year. It's been less than a year since I, I've got the official diagnosis. I had trouble paying the bills because I would forget and because all of them have different due dates and I was not great about setting down a date that I could stick to to pay my pay this bill, check that bill check. Like I couldn't do that every week. And so I would get hit with late fees. I would get hit with penalties for not making those payments.

Angie Colee (26:47):

And so what really actually helped me get my financial life in order was being able to put all of my regular recurring monthly expenses onto credit cards, which I could then pay off one day a month. I go in and pay all of those credit card bills. And it actually, it worked out in my favor too when I was doing the digital nomad stuff, because then even my living expenses were on the credit card. Like the house that I was staying in would go on my amex, I'd get all those points, I'd pay that off from the money that I earned. And it was like, it worked. But there's so many reasons to be able to use this strategically. Like for me it was to shift all of those dates onto one manageable account that it's getting paid automatically. And I don't have to worry about my bank account going negative if something happens. Plus I've got a travel card in case something happens when I'm on the road. Heaven forbid my, I'm not gonna be locked outta my account. All of my money drains credit cards have excellent protections for that. I will never ever, ever, ever, ever use a debit card at a pump. Don't do it. . It's too easy for that stuff to get stolen. And you don't have much protection when it's coming directly outta your account. Right.

Lisa Robinson (27:53):

I use a credit, I mean I use a, I have it included in my budget about, I, I do what I call a quarterly check, uh, quarterly check-in with my money. Mm. And what that is, is I pull three months of my bank statements or my credit card statements and I look and I say, okay, what did I spend on gas for the last 90 days? Because I wanna make sure what I have on my budget sheet is still accurate.

Angie Colee (28:17):

Oh.

Lisa Robinson (28:19):

And so I do that and I go, ok, how much am I spending on um, going out to eat? Right. Because, you know, you wanna make sure, and that's the funny story. That's how the out to eat savings account got opened. Oh. Is because I realized that me, my kids had holy crap, the amount of, I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I had the money, but I didn't wanna be spending that much going out to mm-hmm. . No. So I was like, you know what? Boom, went to Capital 1 360, opened up a savings account cause they're free and nicknamed it out to eat. And told my girls that $150 was gonna that account each month. And if there was money in that account, we'd go out to eat. If there was no money in that account, we couldn't go out to eat. Period. Mm. They now don't ask. And we got, mommy, do you have money in that savings? mm-hmm. . And it's only been like four months that I've done that. Oh wow. Because wow. I did the, because I did the quarterly check-in and I realized that I had wasn't really keeping up with it as much as I could because again, swipe up a card, you don't really pay attention. Right. Yep.

Angie Colee (29:26):

So

Lisa Robinson (29:27):

She doing a check-in on my gas. I'm like, okay, I'm at between four and four 50 and I was budgeting four. I wanna up it at four 50. And so what I do is I have it on my budget to pay my personal credit card 450 a month for gas. So I have it as, I have it as Capital one dash gas. Mm-hmm. . And I have the amount, and I know that I need to pay that on this date to that credit card because it's gonna offset the gas that I've been purchasing. Yeah. Um, and it, and it, it works. The key is, is you have to find what works for you. Like I have a Yes. I, I don't like, I don't like automatic drafts.

Angie Colee (30:09):

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (30:09):

. But the reason why is because if we put everything on a reoccurring automatic draft, majority of us, not all of us, majority of us will not look

Angie Colee (30:21):

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (30:22):

To see if it's come out and check it off or to see if there's a duplicate. We just don't worry about it. I had to get in the habit of making myself look in order to change my relationship with my money. I, because that's how I, because I hated money. I just wouldn't look at it. Yeah. I wouldn't look at anything and I had to stop myself from avoiding it. Yeah. So now what I do is not only do I have my budget system, but I have an app on my, my phone that's called prison. Is it still called Prism? But they've named, they've Rechanged the name. Yes. It's called pri. They've rechange the name a couple times and it, I set it up bit my, I'll have, if it's a business bill, I'll put biz Dash in the bill and if it's a personal bill, it just has the Bill's name and it sets up reminders and it'll tell me when the bills are due.

Lisa Robinson (31:12):

And if it's a manual one, meaning that they don't sync to it, it'll start 15 days prior to it being new and it'll give an alert several times. And so when it pops the alert up on my phone, I go, Hey. Okay. And I'll look and I'll say, is that an automatic one yet? Cuz I'll have it on my budget sheet. Does automatic? Yes. That is like my car insurance. We don't have a choice if you wanna mm-hmm. have car insurance they wanna autodraft. Yes. Okay. Did it come out? Yep. Mark pay check off my, so I have a check system. Mm-hmm. now I have gotten busy and have forgotten to like look once a week. Like I make, like I'm in the habit of doing and when I don't look, my anxiety goes up now. Yes. So where, whereas it was reversed before . Mm-hmm.

Angie Colee (31:58):

. I'm glad glad that you brought that up because I think that was the part that I left out about switching everything over to the credit cards to where it automatically comes out because of the business and the way I have everything set up. I also on the first of the month, reconcile all of my expenses. So I've just added onto that. All right. While I'm in here reconciling all of the business expenses so that my bookkeepers can do their thing. I'm also looking at what I'm spending, what's going out, where my balances are, what I need to transfer, what I need to do up. So, but to me that also made it more manageable that I was doing it once a month to pay all these bills once a month to reconcile all the expenses. And I think the key here is that you've got to find something that works for you. Like for Lisa it was having that weekly visibility. For me it was having to not think about this more than once or twice a month because I just needed to not be overwhelmed by it. But having that visibility without that shame and doing what you need to do, regardless of whether the gurus are telling you you should use a credit card or not, do what's right for you.

Lisa Robinson (32:57):

Here's the thing. If you're using the credit card strategically Okay. Or when there's an emergency mm-hmm. or say for example your laptop guys and you're in your business and you've gotta have a laptop. To me, you just started, you just started your business. You probably don't have $2,000 laying around and majority of us are gonna spend at least $2,000 on a laptop. Cause we need to have decent speed. Mm-hmm. , we need to be able to have multiple windows open. And if you go and buy a laptop and it only has eight gig bags of ram, you might as well four, you might as well turn around and send it back. Cuz it ain't gonna do. You're not gonna be able to have more than one window open at a time. Trust me, I learned my lesson. Same.

Angie Colee (33:35):

Oh, same

Lisa Robinson (33:36):

. I'll just go buy an 800 laptop. Yeah. And, and not be able to do jack crap on it. . Um, so you're gonna spend $2,000. Okay, well when you're just starting out, most of us aren't gonna have $2,000. Perfect example. Me, when I tell people I started my business from less than nothing. I mean it mm-hmm. , I mean, less than nothing. I cashed in my 401K to make what little bit ends meet. I was put on food stamps so I didn't have to worry about the food on the table. Um, I was a couple months behind with my, uh, life bill. I got on a pay, I, I'm still, I like the fixed thing. I like the fixed monthly thing. And once I was, you know, I made sure I kept paying that I was put on the rated thing with my, um, with my landlord.

Lisa Robinson (34:24):

And once I started making the money and I realized I was still broke, it was like, why am I still broke? And it was because I didn't have a system that worked for me. Mm-hmm. . But also part of that was because I was afraid to look at my numbers. Yeah. And I don't mean just in QuickBooks or your accounting software. I mean like, this is the reason why I have my clients. I, I created what was called an all inclusive budget and it's a dashboard and it has tabs and so it has a goal tab. It has your yearly expense tab, it has your bi monthly business expense tab. It has stuff about your taxes. When you, your m a taxes are gonna have to be paid. Um, you know how much and all of it wraps into that main page and it tells you, okay, these are what transfers we should be making every two weeks that, you know, on basis up to the tax and all, are we gonna have enough for the operating?

Lisa Robinson (35:17):

You know, like if they have payroll, making sure the payroll's done. But it's the basic, because when you have your expenses all in one place, even if they're reoccurring, you have 'em listed in one place, then you're gonna be, you're gonna be able to look and say, oh, my monthly expenses is 2,500 or oh my monthly expenses are 6,000. Mm-hmm. , when you don't have it listed, you really can't see what your reoccurring monthly expenses are just by looking at QuickBooks. Because QuickBooks has everything. Office supplies everything. Yep. So, you know, you need to be able to see what your one-offs are, what your reoccurring are, you know, reoccurring is, and, and be able to tweak it, right? Mm-hmm. , you've gotta be able to do the check in and say, oh, I don't wanna spend 600 a month on office supplies. Okay, well then we need to figure out what'll work to make that stop. Right? Mm-hmm. . So it's just it, I created that system because having everything in one place will work with any other system. You also have, I call it, it's all part of the puzzle. Mm-hmm. , your accounting software is gonna be part of the puzzle. That budgeting part's part of the puzzle. I need reminders cuz again, I said I have two special needs kids mm-hmm. . Um, and so I need the reminder cuz Mama brain, um, .

Angie Colee (36:36):

Yeah. Valid. Totally valid.

Lisa Robinson (36:41):

Um, and so I need the reminder. And so then I also have no joke. Y'all, y'all think that I'm kidding. , I'm holding up. I'm holding up a folder.

Angie Colee (36:50):

Yes. I love it. And,

Lisa Robinson (36:52):

And I have it printed out. I have, because I'm a service provider coach, I have a list of what money is expected, what I'm expecting. Um, and then I have my expenses personal and business and they're separate. And so even if they're automated, and even if I'm being reminded here or if I pay it, I have several places I'm checking it off at and I'm looking at, but that's cause that's what works for me and, and my brain. Mm-hmm. , um, yeah. I need to, I have a control thing. I need to be in control of it because if I'm not in control of it, then part of it's mindset, I'm afraid it's gonna disappear. Yeah. I'm work, I'm working on that. That's why I have a mindset coach. Mm-hmm. . Yes. Money coach has a mindset coach. Um,

Angie Colee (37:33):

All of us could benefit from coaching. And if you think that you're the exception to that, uh, you're not ,

Lisa Robinson (37:40):

Sorry. No, your mindset is always gonna have your mindset. Mindset. Just like fitness, right. Mindset is something you're always going to, um, work on. Mm-hmm. just like, uh, having a, uh, your fitness, you can't, you know, get in, get into shape and then say, okay, I'm good. I don't ever have to work out again. Oh God, please. That was the way I would be, my trainer would be outta luck and I would be happy as peach. Um, but I, that,

Angie Colee (38:04):

That's the perfect analogy. I got my mental health to a certain state. I never have to work on it again. Wrong .

Lisa Robinson (38:11):

Right. I've got my mindset just where it's needed. I don't ever have to do anything again. Yeah. Uh, wait until you go to up level . Yeah.

Angie Colee (38:21):

The whole point behind show is that none of

Lisa Robinson (38:25):

Level level, the next up level ,

Angie Colee (38:27):

This is a constant journey of stepping outside of your comfort zone, which surprise is uncomfortable, which makes you feel like you don't know what you're doing because you're outside your comfort zone and you don't actually know what you're doing. And that is every stage of the business game. Sorry, spoiler alert, not sorry. Welcome to the club.

Lisa Robinson (38:44):

Yeah. If you welcome. Right. Welcome to entrepreneurship. Um, and if you don't, if you don't like it, don't wanna have anything to do with it, then entrepreneurship's not, it's not gonna work. Mm-hmm. and it's not gonna, and it doesn't work for some, but here's the thing. We have to be willing to look at things to say, okay, I stuck with money, um mm-hmm. , I'm bad with money. I'm, and you know, I want something to change. I want more money. I wanna be able to do this. I wanna be able to do that. Okay. Well, are you willing to make changes? Mm-hmm. , now I'm not saying do a restrictive diet because we all know restrictive diets don't work and literal sense and metaphorically they don't work. Mm-hmm. , you know, when big restrictive sugar was a big phase, restricted sugar, restricted sugar, all of these people restricted sugar.

Lisa Robinson (39:36):

And how long did it last? I think most for like two or three weeks. Maybe a couple months. And then guess what? They gained it all back and more. It's not sustainable. Well, the same thing is, it's the same thing with money in your spending. I'm, I'm big on small changes. Mm-hmm. looking at it, you gotta get real though. You, you gotta get real with it. So you gotta get into it and you, you gotta look at it and you gotta be real with what you're spending, but make small changes because the small changes are gonna be the big changes. Yes. One of the things that I did that changed everything for me is every time I started, every time I paid a bill, and I started this in 2018, which is funny, when I started working out with my fitness trainer, um, in 2018 when I was paying the, every time I pay a bill, I would say thank you.

Angie Colee (40:30):

Hmm.

Lisa Robinson (40:32):

Every time I paid my rent, I said thank you. Every time I paid a light, my light bill, I said thank you. At the end of the month when I paid every single one of my bills, I didn't have to go to anybody for any money, anything. I just said Thank you.

Angie Colee (40:46):

Mm.

Lisa Robinson (40:47):

Because, and people are like, huh? And I am not woowoo in any sense whatsoever. Okay. I'm very analytical .

Angie Colee (40:56):

No, but that changes the whole energy around this. It

Lisa Robinson (41:00):

Changes, it changes the way you look at your money. It changes the mindset and the energy of it and it, it opens the door for more mm-hmm. . But when you're like, I can't pay this bill, I'm pay this bill. But all you're doing is creating more negativity. Oh yeah. And I'm a firm believer on what you focus on. You create more of.

Angie Colee (41:27):

Yes. Absolutely. And that's, that's all you see. If that's all you focus on this, this sucks, well you're just gonna, you're training your brain literally to only spot the sucky things and not notice any of the good things around you. And I, you know, I wanted to circle back to something that you said toward the beginning, which I thought was great because I was in a similar situation once upon a time and dealt with a whole lot of shame. Had to go on food stamps because there was a while in Los Angeles, which is a very expensive metro area to live in, that I was living off 39 cent tacos from Del Taco, which I don't, it probably doesn't even exist anymore. Thank you. Inflation. But after a while it was like, I couldn't even scrape up 39 cents to get tacos. What am I going to do to feed myself?

Angie Colee (42:11):

This is getting desperate. And I called my mom crying cuz what else are you gonna do? But call, call your parents or call a loved one and just commiserate and let it all go. Right? And she told me, there's no shame in asking for help. There's no shame in going to this program and making sure that your basic needs are met. If that's where you are right now, for now is not forever. And that's something I say all the time to my coaching students now, for now is not forever. And if you like, you are going to feel so much better about your life and your options and your choices. If you've had a good meal and you've had the ability to sleep because you know that you are going to eat tomorrow. Like do this thing for yourself and understand that that's what that program is there for, to help you because you're in this situation and there's no shame in that. Go get the help you need. So I tell that story just to be able to say, there's no shame in being where you are, even if it's not where you wanna be, even if it's in a very struggle, full situation. There are programs out there to help, there are people out there to help. You've got people in your corner that you don't even know want to help. So let it be known that you need some help. And and you might be surprised who will joyfully gleefully step forward to help you out.

Lisa Robinson (43:30):

Yeah. And not only that, but like, you know, if you go to my Facebook page, unless you follow me for a while, you know, and you see my pictures, you would never know mm-hmm. , you know, that except the fact that I broadcasted that I went from the stamps to, but you wouldn't know otherwise of the struggles of me having to borrow money, um, from my family, um, or constantly ask for money. I say borrow, but they would never let me take it back. You know, there was a time mm-hmm. Where, when, right after I had my oldest, um, I was, um, I, when, well, when I was pregnant with him, I was high risk. I wasn't supposed, wasn't supposed to be able to have any kids. My father-in-law paid for my car payment for six months,

Lisa Robinson (44:15):

Like paid it and I was in tears because, you know, again, I we should be able to do this, right? Mm-hmm. , um, we, but even at 25, 26, 7 have the, when, when you don't talk about it and money's not talked about mm-hmm. their money story, you know, I can look back now and I see the money story issues and I can see now why there were issues with money with us, um, you know, when we were married and because of the money story mm-hmm. . And so, um, my point is just be kinda like what you said, just because you're there now doesn't mean you're gonna be there forever. Mm-hmm. , however, you also have to be willing to make a change, you know? Yes. That there's a saying that I I I have a couple of them that I love, but one of the sayings is, um, oh, what is it?

Lisa Robinson (45:14):

You can't do the same thing over and over and over again and expect a different result. That's actually the pure definition of insanity. Yep. Insanity. . And, and you know, if, if what you're doing isn't working, maybe being open to seeing another possibility of what could work. And the key is, is like, you know, the reason why I'm able to help so many, um, women especially, is because I've been there. I tell my clients all the time, even when you come and look, and even in my group, my pre group, my, my, my Facebook page, all those places, there's no judgment. Mm-hmm. , you can't, you cannot shock me, . There's nothing I haven't seen, lived, done, or, you know, almost done, been there, done that. I can, I can write books on it mm-hmm. . Um, so there is, there's no judgment because we all at some point in time have hit rock bottom whether we wanna realize it or not.

Lisa Robinson (46:19):

Mm-hmm. and the only way we're able to change our relationship with or have a good relationship with money is being willing to make the changes. Yes. Um, and you know, I I tell my clients all the time is that, you know, yes, I have a multitude of savings accounts. I think having savings accounts is a good thing, but you probably won't have the same one I have. Mm-hmm. you have, it has to be one that works for you in your lifestyle, right? Yeah. Um, and but be open to seeing, okay, what I'm doing is not working mm-hmm. what could, what can work, you know, especially when you're starting out as an entrepreneur, um, the biggest thing is, is is knowing your numbers is going is going to help you get so much further. Yes. So even if it's just creating a spreadsheet and as you start growing, because I can laugh and say, when I first started my business, I thought my 600 a month mm-hmm. in expenses was were applying Oh

Speaker 3 (47:20):

My god, so much money.

Lisa Robinson (47:23):

Oh yes. And, and now I'm like seven years in and I'm going, I thought $600 is bad now. Like, and I don't blink mm-hmm. . Cause you know, I look at it and go, okay, is there anything that needs to be cut back? Is there anything you know that? No. Okay. What am am I still making a good ratio? You know? Um, I believe in having coaches, so I have two, and then on my personal side, I have my trainer, um, and my trainer has been like a life is, she's a life coach as well, but she's my fitness trainer, life coach and one, and I tell people constantly, I hate working out mm-hmm. , I can't stand it, but I don't, but I hate how I feel more when I don't. Yes. I do it more for my mental health than anything. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Robinson (48:11):

now I did it before because I didn't like the way I looked, I didn't like the way I felt. I didn't like any of that. And when I started taking care of myself, guess what I was able to do? Mm-hmm. I was grow my business and take care of my clients even more. Yes. So it, it's kinda how that goes hand in hand. Money, mindset, money management go hand. You can't, you cannot have one without the other. Mm-hmm. . And I think my biggest thing that I would love to drill into people is all these little money stories that we've been told, especially the negative ones. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Um, mine was you didn't come, you didn't come from money and you don't marry the money, you'll never have money.

Angie Colee (48:55):

Yep. I know that one.

Lisa Robinson (48:58):

Um, I was told that many times, um, I was told that because my father had a drug addiction disorder and I was with a, a single mom, I was basically going to amount to nothing. Um, I wasn't gonna graduate from college. I wasn't gonna be able to make any money on again, unless I married into it. Well, guess what? I didn't marry into money. I made my own .

Angie Colee (49:23):

Yes.

Lisa Robinson (49:24):

It took, it took me a while. . Yes. It took me a while, but, um, I, I, I did. So, you know, you, you have to be able to have the determination to stand on your own tv. Mm-hmm. You, you mm-hmm. , you have to have that determination that has to be part of it and be willing to make that change. But I think the whole key that me and Angie are trying to say is, is that you can move from where you are Yes. To where you wanna be. Exactly. You know, I'm, I'm gonna point, I'm living proof and, and in a million years I would've never, ever believed I'd be where I'm at now. Mm-hmm. . Um, if someone would've told me that I'd be on podcast talking and that I would be going on speaking on stages and that I would even want to speak on stages mm-hmm. , which by the way, public speaking, scare the crap out me, um, I would literally tell them they need to go. Mm-hmm. , uh, admit themselves to an asylum cause it was crazy. Um, and yet here I am and it all started with the pure determination of being home where I was needed.

Angie Colee (50:31):

Mm-hmm. , I love that you used that word. And I think that's the perfect note for us to wrap on too. Determination, neither of us is asking you to become a guru. Neither of us is asking you to become fanatical about this or change your identity to somebody who loves money or loves working out. Like you don't actually have to love it. Like you said, you have to do it because you're determined to take care of you and create the best possible scenario for you and the people that you support and the people that you work with. Um, and there is a way to fall in love with that feeling of taking care of yourself, even if you don't necessarily love taking the actions themselves. Uhhuh. And I

Lisa Robinson (51:09):

Think you'd be, and I think you'd be surprised again, if the same thing you're doing is not working mm-hmm. , try some, be willing to look at something else and see if you know something else would work. Um, breaking it down and I, I mean, literally know what's going on with your money and Okay. If I'm not able to keep up with it, would having this a separate account for just, you know, gas or whatever, would what would, what would work to help? Because used to be it would be the envelope system, right? Mm-hmm. . Cause none of us carry cash anymore. Yeah. They're all the, we've got cards and now one of the things I will never do, now people can put all their cards on their phone and just tap their phone. I won't do that because one that makes either way too easy, um, way, way too easy mm-hmm. not only for your to be stolen, but also just way too easy to, to charge .

Angie Colee (52:06):

Yeah.

Lisa Robinson (52:07):

Way too easy. Um, so I don't do that, but because we have that, we have to make, we have to make a conscious choice to be more aware mm-hmm. so that we know what's going on with our money. Yes. Cause if we dunno how much is coming in and how much is going out, you're never going to be able to grow and move.

Angie Colee (52:31):

Yes. Uh, this has been fantastic. I hope that every single one of you got as much out of this as I did. Tell us a little bit more where we can learn about you, Ms. Lisa Marie,

Lisa Robinson (52:43):

Um, you, I'm all over Facebook. Um, you can find me on Facebook. Uh, my business on Facebook is, um, the Sassy Wealth Coach. Um, it's the same on Instagram. Perfect. It's the same on Instagram. And, uh, my personal is Lisa Marie, e s wc, um, as well. So I'm, I'm all over there. I also have a free Facebook group that's called, um, sassy Wealth Makers. Um, and I do training in there and, and tips and posts and, um, that's, that's, I mean, my passion is, is, is helping as many people as possible.

Angie Colee (53:22):

Oh, that's so awesome. I'm gonna make sure that they have clickable links in the show notes. Thank you again for taking the time. This has been eye-opening in the best possible way. Thank you. And we're gonna have to do a follow up.

Lisa Robinson (53:33):

Oh yes. I love . That makes my day .

Angie Colee (53:39):

That's all for now. If you wanna keep that Kick ass energy high, please take a minute to share this episode with someone that might need a high octane dose. If you could do it, don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the Permission to Kick ass podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you stream your podcast. I'm your host, Angie Colee, and I'm here rooting for you. Thanks for listening, and let's go Kick ass some.