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🧘 Money Tree Pose: Downward Debt and Upward Dollars 💸
338 Plays8 months ago
Watch on YouTube and subscribe @forgetaboutmoneypodcast
🌟 A passionate yoga instructor from sunny San Diego, Danielle dives deep into her money habits, sharing the ups, downs, and transformative realizations that are reshaping her financial destiny.
🆓 Free Money Course: https://www.fiology.com/free-fiology-workbook/
Join Danielle on her eye-opening journey towards financial enlightenment in this unmissable episode!
From tackling pesky debts to dreaming big about geo-arbitrage adventures, get ready for a candid exploration of how she's bending her financial future towards success, all while maintaining a zen-like balance.. 🌟
What You'll Learn:
📘 Effective strategies for debt management and investment.
🧘 Insights into the financial aspects of being a yoga instructor.
🌏 How geo-arbitrage can significantly reduce living expenses.
💰 Techniques for maximizing income through diverse yoga offerings.
🤝 Importance of aligning financial and lifestyle goals in relationships.
Keywords: Financial Independence, Debt Management, Yoga Instructor, Geo-arbitrage, Investments, Danielle’s Journey, Money Habits, Teaching Yoga, Financial Stability, Couples Finance
Resources:
You are Badass book: https://a.co/d/0WiQKjX
🌟 Dive into this journey with Danielle and discover how aligning your financial habits with your life goals can lead to a more fulfilling and financially secure life. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and comment with your own financial aspirations and insights! 🌟
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Transcript
Financial Awakening of Danielle
00:00:00
Speaker
10 years into her career, yoga instructor Danielle realizes that her money habits need to change if she is going to live the life that she envisions for herself. Here we go.
00:00:15
Speaker
where we encourage you to take action today so that you can focus on what matters most to you. On today's show, we've got 31-year-old Danielle. She is a yoga instructor in San Diego, and she is ready to make some money changes so that she can be well on her way to financial independence. Welcome, Danielle. Thank you. I will say you said yoga instructor, not instructor. But I think it's funny that you corrected me, so we would just leave that in. Okay. Perfect.
Early Influences and Career Beginnings
00:00:44
Speaker
Danielle, how long have you been a yoga instructor? It's been nine years, I think. I did my training in 2015, finished in March 2015. So nine years, right? Yeah. Took a little break during COVID, one and a half year hiatus. What brought you into the yoga community?
00:01:03
Speaker
So my mom actually in high school when I was 16, she was a part of a gym and it was, they had hot yoga there. So she just like brought me to a class one time. And, um, I thought she was more of like a casual yogi, but she was pretty like, I mean, hot yoga is intense as you know, you know, you've been to yoga box. Um, but yeah, she was all in and she like, have you done crow pose before? I have not. Do you know what it is? No.
00:01:33
Speaker
Oh, okay. Maybe I'll demo it later. My mom just like popped into crow pose and I was like, what is this? It's like an arm balance. And so yeah, anyways, that was my first yoga class.
High School and Early Work Experience
00:01:45
Speaker
Now, were you in athletics before that in any capacity?
00:01:49
Speaker
Kinda, yeah. Like I did like high school sports, but basically not like anything hardcore. I did tennis and swimming and in my senior year of high school, I did gymnastics randomly because I just like wanted to try it. And I thought, you know, it's my last year. Why not? Just go all in. Your high school actually offered gymnastics as a class? Like the team.
00:02:12
Speaker
It wasn't a class. Oh, I didn't know high schools had gymnastics teams. That's pretty cool. Oh, really? Yeah. Not where I grew up, they didn't. We just had basically the cross country, basketball, football, track. I hated running. I was like the slowest person for the mile ever, you know? And I was just like, oh, why do I have to do this? Like the typical, you know, teenage. Well, lucky for you, there's not a whole lot of running and yoga. Exactly. Yeah. That's why I'm here.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, I've done hot yoga at yoga box where one of the places where you are an instructor and it is it's it's it's rough. It's nice. It's good. Honestly, I think I did better than I thought I would do going into it because I heard all these horror stories about so much sweat on the ground and people passing out and.
00:03:02
Speaker
But I didn't see any of that. Well, I did see some sweat, but I didn't see people passing out or anything. But it was very positive and just tried and the instructors, you and the other instructors there were very helpful and very patient with those of us who aren't yogis. I really enjoyed it and I definitely would do it again. It seems like your mother was very supportive of you as you were growing up. Yeah. I love my mom.
00:03:29
Speaker
as a parent and the relationship between a parent and a child as they grow up is like money or money habits. And do you remember some of your earliest memories involving money?
00:03:43
Speaker
Did you get an allowance? Did you eliminate Stan? Okay. Interesting question. Yes, I did get an allowance. So we would actually have chores. And I think before that, actually it was just me and my mom.
00:03:59
Speaker
So, so basically it was me, my mom for say like 10 years. And then she got married to one of actually our close family friends. So then I had like stepbrothers and sisters who were actually my friends already. So it was pinned out pretty well. Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
We had a little brother and a sister with them. So yeah, we had a big family. I would say before then, I mean, I was only 10. So yeah, I'm sure my mom just like bought me things and didn't give me money, you know? And, or I would get money for like normal things, say like Christmas or whatever, you know? And yeah, so then we would do chores. When we were a big family, we would get like our weekly
00:04:44
Speaker
allowance. I think also I'm trying to remember because I feel like my weekly allowance wasn't that much, but also like what was I spending money on? Probably not much, you know? But if there was anything, I'm sure my mom just like gave me money because she just did that, you know? And then when I was 16, I got my first job. What was that first job?
00:05:06
Speaker
It was actually at a Montessori school, almost like a daycare, like a preschool
University and Post-College Journey
00:05:10
Speaker
kindergarten. And they had like an afterschool program. And it's actually the same one that I went to as a little kid. And then my little brother and sister also went there. So I just got a job there and I was like, they're kind of assistant. I would like prep food and clean and just like hang out with the kids, play around.
00:05:29
Speaker
Yeah, I'm already starting to see like a common theme. And so this was 16, you're 16, you're now 31. Yeah. And you're doing something not too dissimilar right now, right? In some spare time, you're working with kids still. Yeah. Yeah. So it sounds like you've got a natural knack or desire to be of service, particularly to young people.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah. And it's actually funny because I, like so many people will ask me like, Oh, like, are you having kids? Like, you know, do you want kids? And I'm always like, no, I don't know about that. You know, like it's not that I'm fully opposed to it, but I think.
00:06:08
Speaker
Maybe because I've worked with kids a lot that I'm just like, not that I don't like it. I really like it, you know? Like I have fun with them and they're great. But yeah, maybe that's fulfilled my child need. And I have two cats. Uh-oh. With the cat lady. Yes. Only two? Do you have like an upper limit? You're like, I'm never going to be that many cats. Yeah. I feel like they shouldn't outnumber the people.
00:06:35
Speaker
I think that's a, I've never heard about that rule of thumb, but I think that's a good one. At 16, you got your first job. Yeah. And do you remember what it was like to get those first paychecks? Yeah, I felt like, I think.
00:06:48
Speaker
Um, I wasn't, I definitely wasn't, I think I was making minimum wage at that time and it was probably, uh, maybe like 2009. Um, so it wasn't that high, but for me, it was a lot, you know, cause I didn't have to pay rent. I didn't have to do anything. So I don't exactly remember, but I think, I think I do remember thinking like, Oh, this is a lot. Did you try to save any of that or did you, I knew you were going to ask that. I don't recall saving it.
00:07:19
Speaker
I don't remember what I did though. I think, Oh, you know what I would do? So I was 16. So I had my car, which my parents bought for me. Bless very nice of them. Um, and I would just like go hang out with my friends, drive around and like, I paid for my own gas and stuff, but we would go like get coffee. We were so innocent. We would just drive up on the weekends at like late at night and go to this place called, um, Oh shoot. Bigfoot Java. Have you heard of it?
00:07:48
Speaker
I have not. Oh, okay. I think it's a thing in Washington and they're open pretty late, so we would just drive up there and we'd get coffee. The teenage years. The teenage years. The hanging out in parking lots. Yeah. On Friday night. Exactly. Nice, it sounds fun. What did you do after high school graduation? Did you go to college? Did you continue to work? Did you change careers or jobs?
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah, I went to college right away after high school. Went to Washington State University, which is on the other side of Washington. So it was like a five-hour drive. At that time, I didn't really work. I would work maybe part-time, but I didn't really work with kids. I did tutor, but it was like college tutoring. Yeah, at that time, my parents did give me an allowance. I remember that. What were you studying in college? Political science and philosophy and French. I almost went the pre-law route, actually.
00:08:41
Speaker
And did you go through and get a bachelor's and was that like a major, minor, minor? The three were actually all majors and I had a minor in ethics. And I was able to do that because in high school I did Running Start actually, which is like when you go to college for like community college rather than high school. I did that for a year. So I pretty much knocked out like a year of college.
00:09:04
Speaker
I'll say congratulations on recognizing that as a hack early on or your parents are steering you in that direction. So that's definitely a benefit of taking college credits into college. And either one, it gives you the option to either graduate early because you reached the credit that you need early or take additional classes in that same timeframe to get additional education or additional majors.
00:09:27
Speaker
So I think that's a great hack. So if somebody's listening, if your high school offers something like that, consider it and see if it's something in your circumstances that would be beneficial to you over the next decade. And you graduated in four years? Yeah, actually a little bit less. I think it was three and a half. Wow, you're killing it. Thank you. Yeah, that's great. It took me a lot longer than you, four and a half.
00:09:52
Speaker
And like I said, I wasn't really working at all. So it was just like, I did take summer classes too. That was one thing. So yeah. Well, I don't even know how you found time to do any work if you're too busy studying all that time. So I don't know either. Yeah. I couldn't do it now. Yeah. I look back to you as like some of the things I did as a, in my twenties, like, man, that's really pushing it. I don't know. I definitely would not want to be a part of that at this point in my life.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, I would do all-nighters like all the time. I was like pushing my essays to the night before, stay up literally all night, just writing an essay, maybe get like one hour of sleep or none and just like book it to class in the snow.
00:10:34
Speaker
You graduated college in what year? And then what did you do? I graduated in December 2014. And then I went back to Seattle. I worked a little bit. I didn't really know what the next step was. I did get into yoga a lot more in college.
00:10:54
Speaker
So I was, you know, pretty into yoga. And then I moved back to Seattle. I live with my dad for a little bit and I worked at a gym. So I was like pretty full time working at a gym, uh, just like front desk kind of stuff. And during that time, actually I did sign up for my yoga teacher training. So that's when I started my yoga teacher training was like right after college. So I was doing the training while I was working at the gym. I did a couple of things. So I did the gym for like.
00:11:24
Speaker
Maybe a few months I also hated it because it was very early morning like I think I started at like 6 a.m. And Yeah, it was way too early. I eventually quit the job. I got a different job, which was like at an office
00:11:39
Speaker
It was called icicle seafoods so I was like in I was a recruiting assistant and that again was only like a few months. I'm all over the place.
Life-Changing Move to Thailand and Back
00:11:48
Speaker
But then I moved abroad to Thailand. I don't know if I told you that I lived in Thailand. No, that's great.
00:11:55
Speaker
Yeah, so that was life-changing and I did that mid-2015 with a good friend that I met in college studying abroad in France. She was from Florida. She graduated before me and figured out she was going to move to Thailand and teach English. I was like, well, I don't know what I'm doing, so let me just do that, you know?
00:12:16
Speaker
How was that experience? It was just really a learning experience. You know, like the people there are so different and so kind and just so welcoming. And I made a lot of friends there and I also taught yoga there. So I had a lot of friends at the yoga studio. And how long were you in Thailand? Um, almost two years. So from 2015 to 17 or 2014 to 16,
00:12:42
Speaker
2015 to 17. And then after that, I went to Vietnam and that was a year. So I was over there until 2018. So you were not a stranger to travel. No, I did a lot of traveling there. This is amazing. Yeah. This is great. I love traveling. I'm in VSO, yeah. I've been to Thailand a few times, but it was work related with the Navy. So I didn't get to really experience culture like you did for such a long duration. Yeah.
00:13:09
Speaker
Do you ever see yourself going back to Thailand or somewhere else to live? Um, definitely I do. And I always think about it. Me and my boyfriend always talk about it either Thailand or we talk about potentially like Costa Rica. We really like Costa Rica and we have a couple of friends there. But yeah, I think about it a lot. And so you're in San Diego now and when did, so when did you get actually settle in San Diego?
00:13:37
Speaker
Um, in 2020, and, uh, we had just gotten back from Thailand, although we weren't living there, but I let a yoga retreat there in early 2020, like right as COVID was happening. We were looking at places and then we were like, what about San Diego? And the cost of living was pretty similar at that time. And we had only been here like once or twice on vacation, but yeah, so we looked at jobs and my boyfriend got a job right away in San Diego. So we were like, okay, let's move. And how long have you and your boyfriend been together?
Settling in San Diego and Cost Considerations
00:14:07
Speaker
We've been together for 10 years. We met in college as well. Okay. Wow. That's most marriages don't last that long. So you're doing something right now. Yeah.
00:14:19
Speaker
in your discussion with your boyfriend, do you see is part of that like moving elsewhere? And the reason why I keep saying this a little bit is because I also live in San Diego and I know how expensive it is here. I think it is the number one, just depending on what list or what survey you read, it's either one, two or three in the country now, as far as the most expensive place to live. Yeah, it definitely is. Yeah.
00:14:43
Speaker
So anytime you talk about money, it has to come into play. And have you heard of geo arbitrage? Do you know what that means? No. It's where you actually relocate in order to take advantage of lower costs so that you can have money left over to invest or just a better quality of life. There's a lot of elements to it, but it's for people who are trying to reach financial independence, geo arbitrage can be a tool for them so that they can
00:15:12
Speaker
widen the gap between their expenses and their income so that they have more to either pay off debt, build up their net worth and to reach that number where they can no longer work if they so choose. But it doesn't sound like you want to no longer work. It's just you want to do what you want to do as far as work. Is that right? Yeah, I would like the option to not work. I would say, um, you know, to take off many months at a time or kind of do
00:15:37
Speaker
I like to be able to do what I want to do. And I'm not financially independent yet. But yeah, I would say now I still even try to do what I want to do. I would like that option. We used to have a friend who lived in Rosarito, which is basically right across the border in Mexico. Have you been there or heard about it? Yes, beautiful. Oh, yeah, yeah. She used to live there and obviously way cheaper.
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah. So it's, it's been a thought and that would be like easy. Just like right across the border. Um, I also love Mexico. I love the people super nice down there. You're not alone. I also have thought about getting a place down there and maybe like downsizing here and just having two places. So maybe to try to save some money that way. Yeah. Yeah. And I enjoy the culture and the people are very, very nice as well. So it's just a short drive. You know, it's 15 minutes from where you're sitting right now.
00:16:31
Speaker
Yeah. Does your boyfriend have a job where he can work remote? Yes. But currently he actually has to go in the office like three times a week. So it's not fully remote. I think the ultimate goal is for him to get a fully remote job so he can travel more, you know.
Yoga Instructor Challenges and Earnings
00:16:51
Speaker
And once you're certified as a yoga instructor, what kind of jobs are you able to get and what kind of money do those jobs pay?
00:17:01
Speaker
There are a lot of jobs at yoga studios, so you can get a job at a yoga studio. Sometimes it's not super easy right away. There's a lot of overcoming of mindset. A lot of times right out of yoga teacher training, some, not saying all, will not prepare you really for like job hunting or the business of yoga or, or like how to do an interview or how to get into a yoga studio or that kind of thing. Long story short, you can find a yoga studio. Usually they kind of want you to be like a student there so they know like
00:17:31
Speaker
their style of yoga and their vibe and they know that you actually want to teach there. You don't just like want a random job. You can also do things like, I'm trying to expand my reach now, like, you know, yoga retreats, workshops, like people also will create yoga teacher trainings or little trainings, things like that.
00:17:53
Speaker
And what kind of salaries do these instructors make? And is it, when you first start out, is it low? And do you get like raises over time like a teacher would, or like, I'm not sure exactly how, how does it scale up?
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah. So that is a big issue, especially in San Diego, because I will say, so when I first started teaching yoga, it was probably like 20, 25, $25 per class, which at that time was like pretty good, you know, like for an hour, sometimes a little more. Now studios are still paying that actually like $25 and sometimes even less. Like I've seen job postings for like literally minimum wage.
00:18:34
Speaker
Like, I don't know, $18 or whatever it is. You know, as you know, the cost of living has gone up a lot from the last nine, 10 years. It's not great, uh, especially at studios, but I will say like, for example, at yoga box, we have like a base and then we have per person. So you can actually make a decent amount if there's like a full class, for example.
00:18:59
Speaker
Well, I can just say my base. Right now I'm 26. It starts at 25, and then they give you like a yearly $1, I think. Base is 26, and then per person who comes is $1. So like, they cap it at 30. So you could make up to 56.
00:19:17
Speaker
And what's the average client size? Um, it really depends on a lot of things like time of day, um, time of year. Uh, like for example, in January, everything is packed because everybody wants to start yoga, you know? So that was like packed, packed classes. Summer is usually a little bit less, but I would say on average, like, I don't know. Yeah, it depends on the location too. Like for example, my class at North Park is always packed. So that one is like 40 people.
00:19:47
Speaker
And then in OB, I have sometimes like 20. So is it fair to say that with 25 being a base and 20 people being the average across like every class over like a year, is that a reasonable assumption?
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, I could say that. 20 people per class. Maybe 15, 20. Like over a long period of time. So then you're looking at $45 an hour, but that isn't eight hours straight either, is it? Yeah. So how, yeah. So you say, let's say how many classes would a yoga instructor teach in one day? And is that Monday through Friday? Is that?
00:20:25
Speaker
let's say per week, how many, how many classes would an average yoga, an average decent yoga instructor teach in a week? For example, YogaBox wants you to teach three classes a week. So regardless of if you're doing it for your full time or not, but you can teach more if you want, just minimum three. Okay. And then when I was at my peak teaching public classes,
00:20:49
Speaker
I was probably teaching 10 to 15 a week. And that was like exhausting. Like 15 is like too much. Okay. And that's because I would average if like, if it was a Monday through Friday work week, that's three per day. And that's three hours per day that you're in hot yoga studio or even just a normal yoga studio. I imagine that's pretty physically demanding.
00:21:12
Speaker
Yeah. Especially if you do something else, like right now I'm teaching bar as well, which is a lot more physically demanding. And it's, it's kind of a weird thing. Like, I feel like you really get adrenaline when doing it. Like you're like, yeah, go. And then you get energy afterwards, but then eventually you kind of crash. Like say the weekend comes, you're like, whoa, why am I exhausted? You know, when did you get certified? What year? 2015.
00:21:35
Speaker
2015. So you're very seasoned. I would imagine, I guess in the yoga world, that's in any world, you're doing something for nine years. You're probably seasoned, you're a veteran of whatever that skill is. And you're probably at the top of your game right now. And I would imagine. I think I should be more if that's what you're saying. I think you should be too. Thanks. But right now, what are you getting paid on average per month?
00:22:03
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I do quite a few different things other than the studio classes. So sometimes I have private classes. Sometimes I have like bachelorette parties, which is what I did this morning. Those pay a lot more, usually like a hundred per class, maybe sometimes more. So it's, it's kind of hard to estimate my exact, because sometimes I'll have nothing like December. I had literally nothing and I was freaking out. And that's why I got my job at the elementary school.
00:22:31
Speaker
And sometimes like I feel like it's really picking up like spring to summer, but I would estimate like the last couple of months I've been making probably like, wait, just yoga or with my other job? Just yoga, right? Well, I don't know. Yes. Let's for now, let's just do just yoga. Okay. Probably like 1200 to 1800. I think January was like on the high end. We'll keep the focus of the conversation on yoga, but
00:22:57
Speaker
What is your income from the other job? Just quickly say what that job is and what your monthly income is from it. It's an afterschool program at an elementary school. So I'm like a coach. So I just do activities with them. I make 20 per hour, like 20 hours a week. So that's about 400. Yeah, 400 per week, 16 per month, 1600.
00:23:23
Speaker
And this is all gross, right? So this is before taxes, correct? Yeah. Okay. So we're looking at 16 plus 18 on a high end. Yeah. Okay. So you're looking at 3400, but did the math right? Yes.
00:23:40
Speaker
Okay, and if you know, if anybody's listening and you want to go to apartments.com and go look and see what $3,400 is going to get you for living expenses, even with the roommate or significant other, you see that there's not a whole lot left over to actually live your life. Yeah, exactly.
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah. But it seems like you are doing a lot of good in the world. You're helping kids and you're bringing, what to say, yoga is mind, body, spirit, connection to many, many people. So for that, that's nice. And as you do, you wish that the competition was greater, I'm sure. Yes.
00:24:20
Speaker
And it is interesting that if that is true, that the average pay of a yoga instructor hasn't really gone up since a decade, and yet the cost of living has significantly gone up. I mean, there's a lot of people complaining about that out there, and rightfully so.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah, but we can't change all those things, but we can change what we're doing. Maybe, at least hopefully. So let's take it.
Dreams of Financial Independence
00:24:48
Speaker
Your goal is to be financially independent. What would your life look like if you didn't have to worry about money?
00:24:55
Speaker
So I think I would for sure still teach yoga. I would love to eventually buy a house, probably not in San Diego, though I love like, I love the city, you know? But sometimes the city gets to me a little bit, like it's just loud and chaotic. So I also love just being in the middle of nowhere. I love a desert, mountains,
00:25:22
Speaker
If I were financially independent, I could see myself with a house. It doesn't have to be big, like nothing crazy, but just a house like middle of nowhere, garden, cats, traveling. Maybe I live abroad, you know, for half the year. Maybe I come back because, you know, I will miss my family and friends, I'm sure. Have you run the numbers to determine what that lifestyle will cost you?
00:25:46
Speaker
Not exactly. So I'm actually just now getting into budgeting, which is a good thing. But as you know, I'm 31. I feel like I should have really done that before. I saw a thing on Instagram the other day and it was like, who else is 30? And just living off vibes, not budgeting, just vibes. Vibes. I was like, me actually. That's funny. Yeah.
00:26:12
Speaker
I don't know. I know every time I think about buying a house, I'm like, well, that's not happening. And I think that's not the right mindset. Like I think I should definitely be like, especially because my mom actually does, I think I told you she does mortgages. So I have been exposed to it for a long time and I kind of know, I don't know the process, but I hear her talk about it a lot. Um, so I kind of, I probably know more than like your average person. Um,
00:26:39
Speaker
but yeah just looking at prices and like the monthly mortgage being like so high like you know i don't know seven thousand plus per month at least i feel like san diego for sure yeah yeah so i'm just like that's out of the question but
00:26:58
Speaker
I read a book is about how you're awesome and, you know, stop telling yourself you're not awesome and capable of all of the things in the world like you are, you're a miracle. Like you can do anything you put your mind to. And one of the main things is like to stop saying things like I'm broke or stop, you know.
00:27:15
Speaker
saying, I can't afford that. I can't afford this. I can't do that because of money. It's like, you should shift your mindset and what you're saying to not, I can't afford that, but like, how can I afford that? So I'm trying. I think anytime we say I can't or it's impossible.
00:27:32
Speaker
every time we say something like that, we're our own audience in that. And then we're basically programming our brain not to expand because then you've already told yourself you can't. And what's the phrase, I think it's Henry Ford says, whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right. So I think that's definitely a defeatist attitude. And as a society, we are fraught with that. I can't, it's impossible. I can't because of, and usually that because of is some other factor that's
00:28:00
Speaker
not even in their control. And then they want to blame it on that rather than saying, what's in my control to change or influence an outcome. Yeah. And if we can shift that mindset towards a more positive can do attitude, then I think we'll be a lot happier with the results. And life is hard. I mean, everybody has challenges, no matter where you are on the income scale, no matter where you are on the health scale, we all get challenges and mindset is very, very important.
00:28:28
Speaker
So up till now, how would you define or describe your money habits? Pretty much living off of vibes and not planning. My habits are very much, I wouldn't call myself fully irresponsible, but I definitely, like I said, I do want to do what I want to do. For example,
00:28:52
Speaker
traveling or going out to eat, that kind of thing. But I will say I'm pretty good about things like, you know, I, I pretty much never go shopping. Like I'll never go to like the mall. I'm like not one to buy like new clothes all the time or like do my nails. Can't remember the last time I did my nails.
00:29:11
Speaker
It sounds like you're already looking at value as far as how you align your resources. So when I say resources, I mean time, energy, or effort, and money. And then if you intentionally identify your values of what's important to you,
00:29:27
Speaker
And then you take those resources and use them in alignment with what you say your values are. That's way more intentional. And it sounds like you've already decided what's in or determined, at least for now, what's important to you and what's not important to you. So you're not spending money out there on maybe all the beauty products that your peers are or the clothing that you see in advertising.
00:29:48
Speaker
or those things, you know what's important to you. And you're not just frivolously throwing money at things because society says you need to. I think that's a huge mindset win for you already. Already. Thank you. Yeah, you're very welcome. Because society is programmed to get us to spend money on things that we don't need. And it sounds like you already know what you need and that's where you put your resources. So I think that is a huge step already in the right direction.
00:30:17
Speaker
It doesn't sound like you'll have to undo that to get to the next step. True. I will say this. One way I look at spending particularly on things that are outside of necessities is have you earned the right to spend that money? Have you earned that right? Have you earned that opportunity to do that?
00:30:38
Speaker
So whereas you say you like to live free and you want to go do things on your own time and on your own dime and those, but have you earned that right yet? Have you bought that right for yourself to be able to do that? So maybe that's where you could put some
00:30:53
Speaker
You know, be a little hard nosed on yourself a little bit and say, you know, because what's going to happen if you don't do that? You have to say you can, you can forecast an outcome flash forward 15, 20, 30 years. You know, was that trip to the desert that weekend worth not being like hyperbolic for effect here, but.
00:31:11
Speaker
Was that spontaneous trip to Vegas worth me not being able to retire at 54 versus now I've got to work till 60? Of course I'm being hyperbolic. But I do that. And exaggerating for effect. However, that is how these play out. And all these little steps add up, as you already see.
00:31:30
Speaker
Time, and I'll say you're 31. Thank God you're not 51 in the same situation, or older. And even if you are, that's okay, but everything's a trade-off. You can continue to do that, but then you won't have some of the other things that you say you want later down the road. So I would say be a little more hard-nosed. Have you earned the right to do that thing that you want to do? And the other is debt. Do you have any debt right now? Yes. Okay, do you feel comfortable sharing it? You can just do ballpark if you want.
00:32:00
Speaker
Um, yes, I have some credit card debt. Um, okay. Most people do. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And that's one thing too is like, I feel like, I don't know when you have this debt, you feel so, at least I felt like I'm the only one who has this, you know, um, 10 to 15,000. Okay. So we'll air on the high side of that.
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah. And do you have any student loan debt? No student loan debt. That's a huge one, good. Yeah, that's good. Okay, good. So you don't have that one to, what else? I owe the IRS a decent amount of money, so. Okay. I'm working on that. Are we talking 5, 10, 30, 100,000? About 8,000. Okay. And is that just like back taxes or, I mean,
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, so I recently found out
00:32:55
Speaker
per my mom helping me cause she's a saint.
Financial Management and Tax Hurdles
00:32:58
Speaker
Um, but I didn't do my taxes right. And the last couple of years I, because I do so many things, uh, like various yoga studios, like I didn't file one of the studios. And, um, then in 2021, I worked a job that was like a full time office job, but remote. And it was in California, I was in California, but they were in Washington. So they made me 10 99.
00:33:25
Speaker
Um, so I did not pay my taxes quarterly, which I should have done. So that was, that was a big one.
00:33:32
Speaker
Okay. So there's some, obviously, I mean, these are, so if somebody's listened to this and you're doing some freelancing and pay your taxes or thinking this is not going to come back to get you or you think you're just, they're not going to check or you're going to get away. I'm not saying this is you, but I'm saying like I do. And I know a lot of people who are in, you know, the act is independent contractors. So they get paid in various sorts of ways and it's a headache to keep all that book, that bookkeeping. However, if you don't,
00:33:58
Speaker
It's gonna bite you. Yeah. So do we know the interest rates on all of this? Like you said two credit cards and the interest rates on, do you know the interest rates of these credit cards? Yes. One is pretty high. So the one of them I actually worked out a
00:34:15
Speaker
payment plan so okay they are not charging interest right now okay good and then the other one is like pretty high it's i don't know 25 percent something like that oh wow okay i don't know about the irs i'm sure they're charging me like late fees and that kind of thing
00:34:34
Speaker
Okay. How often do you, are you, I don't know how the IRS stuff works. Do you get like, is there something online that you just log into and you see the current balance or is it something send you in the mail to say, Hey, this is how much penalties or late fees or whatever it is or interest that you're having to pay on your principle that's owed. How are you, how are you getting that information to stay current? That's interesting because they don't really mail me, which I think maybe why that I'm just kind of like, eh, you know,
00:35:04
Speaker
But you can go online and see irs.gov or whatever, and you can see your past taxes and that kind of thing. But yeah, I didn't really check in depth to the point where like, is there interest? Is there late fees? That's a good question. This is homework. Yes. There's a few things I want you to find out.
00:35:24
Speaker
one, know exactly the interest rate you're paying on your credit cards. And if one is at 0% right now, is that indefinite or when is that time? When does that expire? Is that like just a six month period? What is that? It's conflicting because I would say pay down the 25% as quickly as you can.
00:35:45
Speaker
However, however, I don't know the balance. So I'm not sure like ultimately, you know, which ones, if you've got 15K in credit card debt is one seven, one eight, I'm not sure, but it may not matter. There's different payoff methods. There's an avalanche and then there's the snowball method. But in this case, 25% is very high and 0% is zero. So it'd be very aggressive, I would say, in paying down the debt of your 25% credit card.
00:36:14
Speaker
but know when that 0% is up. Yeah. Because, and one thing I'm worried about is I don't know what this arrangement is. And I don't know if it's going to be 0% just that like, is it no payments due or just zero interest right now? Zero interest. Zero interest. Payments are due. Payments are due. Okay. So do you know how long that interest is going to be a zero? Yes, it's three years.
00:36:40
Speaker
Okay. It seems like a good deal. I'm not like, I want that credit card. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I would say one log on like rarely set and set a monthly alarm on your Google calendar or whatever it is you use to make sure you're logging in irs.gov and get you a Google doc or whatever it is you're doing to start tracking it.
00:37:05
Speaker
So that way you can actually see the rate. For example, if you're not paying down that $20,000 or that $8,000 and you check every month and it's going up $200, well, now you kind of just like know that I better get on it because it's just going to be $200 more every month if I don't start paying it down. Yeah, exactly. So kind of get a grip on what's going on with the IRS. Obviously you don't want them, you don't want to be in their bad graces.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, so the homework is don't pay if it's zero percent interest and it's not like accruing in the background. Do you know that? Yeah. Is it still accruing in the background or it's just not due now?
00:37:37
Speaker
There's a monthly payment due, but it's not, there's no interest. It's basically, it goes straight to your principal, meaning what you owe. Oh yeah, yeah. Principal is what you owe, like what you actually spent money on, that value. Yeah, exactly. So if I buy a jacket for $300, I put on my credit card, the principal that I owe on that is $300, and then they, if it's 10% interest, then I owe $30 of interest. So principal would be the $300 original jacket cost. Yeah, it goes to principal.
00:38:03
Speaker
Okay, if there's no negative effect of not paying that 0% credit card right now, put all your money towards that 25% credit card or the money that you have to pay down debt. And then obviously figure out what's going on with the IRS.gov. And then maybe we talk again and try to figure out where that falls in the priority. Yeah. But they are both extremely high priorities. If you have debt, it is an emergency. And here's my thought on debt.
00:38:28
Speaker
If you have debt and you make money, it's not yours. It doesn't belong to you. Yeah. It's not yours. It belongs to someone else. Even though you're out there working for it, if you have debt, it's not yours. It belongs to someone else.
00:38:42
Speaker
So when you're out there making that decision to spend on this or pay down debt, well, if I've made the mental shift of, well, this money's not mine, I can't go down and get a Gatorade and a bag of chips because this isn't my money, it's their money, then you're less likely. You prioritize debt over your spending or paying down debt over your spending.
00:39:04
Speaker
Yeah. And I will say I'm better lately, probably like this whole year and the past few months of the last year. Like I'm pretty much not traveling to try to figure out the debt thing. So that's the main thing. I could eat out less. That's another thing. Okay. All right. That's good. So maybe look at meal prep options.
00:39:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, milk perving is great. And you end up eating healthier too when you do that, but you know that. I mean, you're very health conscious. You know that. And it's just a matter of pulling the trigger and just spending an hour and a half on a Sunday afternoon to get your 20 mils in the refrigerator. But that's a great way to do it. And then you don't even have to think about it. It's also a mindset ease too, because you don't have to think about what you're going to eat. You just go to the kitchen, grab it and eat it versus like, are we going to go out to eat or what are we going to cook to eat?
00:39:55
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. I should do that more. Okay, let's see. All right, so there's a few things we can we can attack there. I have a question for you too. Sure, yeah. Never. So say like, when I'm done with the debt, that's kind of figured out, like, or during to I don't know what your thoughts are. I know where you're going. Let's do it. Okay. Like, what do you recommend for investing?
00:40:24
Speaker
Okay. Is that what you thought? One, I will say many times people, whether it's you're paying down debt or investing, the question is, do you do them both at the same time? Do you pay down your debt and just put all your money there? I am in the camp of do both at the same time and automate, particularly your investments, automate your investments. Yes. But automate your debt pay down too.
00:40:46
Speaker
So that almost just forces you, like if you look at your checking account, you don't have any money. Well, you know, at least at least, you know, you, you might have to make some adjustments, but at least you know, unless you're going negative that you're paying down those debts and that you're investing. So I would say even in this case right now, what I added up was $23,000 in total debt that you've got.
00:41:06
Speaker
And you do not have any investments right now, correct? Zero? Zero. Zero. Yeah. Okay. So let's get that going. So you have a W-2 job right now, your afterschool program, correct? Yeah. Okay. If you have a W-2 income, you can start a Roth IRA. So what a Roth IRA is, have you heard of what that is? Do you know what that is?
00:41:30
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard of it. I don't know how to start it though, or anything like that. Okay, great. Well, I'll send you a link after this, but any of the fund houses like Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, and there's many others, they all make it very easy to start a Roth IRA. So you can just go to their homepage and says, open an account. And within 30 minutes, you could probably have your account set up and funded. So it links to your checking account, and then you'll put in how much do you want to make your initial investment,
00:41:59
Speaker
And then how often and how regular you want money taking out of your checking account and invested. So let's take a look, you know, offline and figure out what funds, what broad market index funds, low cost index funds are available for.
00:42:18
Speaker
without having an initial amount that you have to put in. Because I know some mutual funds that there's a $3,000 minimum initial contribution that has to be made, investment has to be made, and then you can do like $100 a month or something like that from your checking account automatically.
00:42:35
Speaker
So yes, let's talk about that. I think that's great. As long as you have W2 income, you can put money into a Roth. And it sounds like you're not meeting any of the income thresholds to where you can't put money into a Roth. So we will work offline to get that going. And then we'll check back in in like six months on where we're going with that and what balances.
00:42:54
Speaker
Yeah. So I say do both concurrently, automate your debt pay down, starting with the 25% credit card, then the IRS or both concurrently, whatever you don't, you definitely don't want those balances to keep climbing.
00:43:07
Speaker
So definitely more than the minimum payment, and that's high priority. We'll pick an investment for a Roth IRA and get that going in the next week. I'll work with you to do that, okay? Okay. And so we'll have debt being down, paid down, and then you'll have your investment starting. And if you automate it, you don't think about it, but it's great because you just kind of know it's working. You check it every couple months to make sure it is doing what you expect it to be doing.
00:43:35
Speaker
Those are the little things that make a big difference over time. And as you get your debt paid down,
00:43:41
Speaker
then you're able to shift those same payments that you were paying towards your debt, shift them over to your investment. You don't spend more money, you shift them over to your investment. So the debt comes down to zero while your investment's growing up, boom, and then you take whatever you were paying down on your debt, shift it over here, and it starts to go up really, really fast. And then that's where you start to feel kind of pretty good, because then you get that trend line, like, all right, my net worth is growing.
00:44:06
Speaker
Yeah, so right now you're like debt zero net worth or negative net worth because of the debt as soon as you cross that zero and you see it and then that's the first that's the first part of the the mind that mindset because I Kind of exhale and ticket, you know, like a calming breath out as I'm not sure I'm sure there's a word for it in yoga, but
00:44:26
Speaker
And then, because then you start to see that trend line and then not too far after that, compound interest take place. And then that trend line starts to shoot up and you're not doing any more work and you're just contributing the same amount every month. And this starts earning money. And then you can really not relax necessarily, but know that you're going to, within a particular amount of time, realistically achieve
Improving Financial Habits and Goals
00:44:48
Speaker
whatever financial objective that you set out to do. And we can, we're going to get you there.
00:44:52
Speaker
All right, it's gonna, you're gonna do just fine, but we gotta start taking some action. Yeah. What are you doing now? Cause you're still doing a lot of freelancing. What are you doing to make sure that you keep your books in order so that you don't get into future trouble with the IRS?
00:45:06
Speaker
I have found out about an app, which I don't currently use, but I forget what it's called, but my friend uses it. It basically tracks your 1099 income. So your contractor income. So I think basically you put, you can put money into it and somehow it separates it and it's like, okay, we're saving this for your taxes.
00:45:28
Speaker
So I think with my income, that is 1099, which is only one of them right now, The Bachelorette Company, because my yoga studios are actually W2, so they save the money. But yeah, so I should get going on that because that will sneak up on me. Last year was the first year I did The Bachelorette Company, so I still have not done those taxes yet.
00:45:53
Speaker
But I'm trying to do write-offs and stuff too, which is taking a long time. Yeah. It goes right back to that. It's the burden of being an independent person. As far as whether you're a freelancer, you got to keep the books. Actually, how do you do that? You've got to set 30 to 40 minutes a week for you to get on to your Google Doc sheets and running through and just keep it
00:46:21
Speaker
So are there courses out there that you're taking to try to like do small business bookkeeping or other than the app? Just to make sure that you, because I wouldn't know what I didn't know unless I had some kind of mentor or read a book or actually took a course on how to keep books for a small company.
00:46:38
Speaker
You can definitely hire people, of course. Like I looked into getting an accountant, but this accountant didn't really do bookkeeping. So that wasn't really useful for that. Either hire somebody or I'm sure there's courses out there too. There's a course for everything. So that'd be an interesting thing to look into. And this, you're right. And this is interesting to me too, because now I'm thinking like we need to do a podcast on small business bookkeeping. I think that would be good. Interesting. A good topic. Yeah.
00:47:05
Speaker
Get a bookkeeper on here? Yeah, I know many. I just don't have that much experience doing it myself. My brother actually does it too. Get him on. I know. Good luck. You might have to call him to get him on. He doesn't want to do podcasts too often. He's great at it. He's my twin brother. He's great at it. Does your yoga box or any of your other jobs offer a 401k?
00:47:29
Speaker
Yoga box, I'm pretty sure does because they, I don't think they automatically put it in. I think you have to set it up though, which I haven't done. Okay. So the questions I would have for you to find the answers to would be, do they offer 401k? How do you set it up and do they match the contributions?
00:47:50
Speaker
So ask those questions because depending on how much they match, that might be where we need to go to first instead of the Roth. I want you to do both. However, I'm also a fan of simplicity. So let's find out the answers to those questions and then we'll weigh whether or not we do the Roth right now, both, or just the 401k.
00:48:13
Speaker
Okay. I would guess I, I feel like they probably don't match it, but I can definitely ask. And they have surprised me actually, because there's some stuff in California that is like, you know, workers rights that I'm like, I'm constantly surprised about. Like I had sick leave at a yoga box.
00:48:33
Speaker
I had like three days built up and I was like, okay, let me take those, you know? Which I've never had at a yoga job. So maybe. Yeah, obviously California is definitely good for the workers side in many, many cases, especially when compared to other states. Okay, so we've got some more questions there. And then once we find out some data points, these answers to these, then we can actually do a to-do list on what we're going to tackle and in what order and why and prioritize. Now your resources, time, effort, money, particularly money, like how are we going to use that money?
00:49:03
Speaker
to get to the objective that you're trying towards. Yes. Okay. So your monthly expenses are around 2,700 is what you told me. So we won't go through each one, but you also, is this your just individual expenses or is this yours and your boyfriend's living expensive combined?
00:49:24
Speaker
I would say it's just yours, right? Yeah. I don't think one person can live downtown or wherever you live on 2,700 a month. No, that would be like my rent. That's it. Yeah. If that, yeah.
00:49:36
Speaker
Okay. So yeah, just mine. And can we talk about you and your boyfriend's relationship with money? Because I think that's important too. If this is somebody that you spent a decade with, and you're perhaps planning to spend many more decades with, where do you all differ? And where do you see eye to eye on the money goals? Is it something you discuss routinely?
00:49:58
Speaker
We have a pretty similar idea of our goals with money. I think we definitely both could be better about saving, even though he definitely makes more than I do. And he knows this. He said he's bad at saving money too.
00:50:17
Speaker
but he spends his money on the next you know coolest tech thing or the vr headset or just like samsung watch or whatever he scooter we have to eat scooters so things like that he'll spend his money on um so he's like yeah i could definitely save money more and he wants to get into investing more
00:50:34
Speaker
Cause we both, I think his company, he works for Amazon. So I think they definitely, they have like their stocks and that kind of thing that they give him, but he's not like actively saving himself, I think. I think he has like money, but just not putting it somewhere. Did I answer your question? I think that how you answered the question answered my question.
00:50:56
Speaker
Interesting. It doesn't sound like you really get in the nuts and bolts of using money to shape a future together or even separately because money is a tool.
00:51:09
Speaker
And if we start looking at money as a tool, well, then didn't you start saying, well, why do I have this tool? Oh, to build something or to, you know, whatever you're gonna, to repair something, to build something, to create something. Buying things isn't creating anything. So like if it's a mind shift, so like money is a tool and that tool is used to design the lifestyle that you want, that you see for yourself going forward. That's why it's really important to identify your values, but it seems like you've done that already, which is great.
00:51:35
Speaker
But now, let's be intentional about how we're aligning our resources with those values. It's interesting, because you've been together 10 years, and I could just hear it in your voice. I hear it in your voice. I would just say that. Yeah. Yeah, so let's start with you. And then perhaps you'll be a light to your boyfriend, and then see how it goes from there. It's really tough to be in a,
00:52:00
Speaker
And I'm not saying you're one and he's the other or anything like that. I'm not saying like one's better with money, one's not. I'm not saying those things, but I will say it's great when both people in a couple are aligned with what they see money as and how they use it. For a minute, let's go ahead and get into who pays what.
00:52:19
Speaker
Do you, is it 50-50? You said he makes more money than you. Is it based on a percentage of your take-home pay? Like what you end up paying like towards rent? How do y'all split the bills? We, it's not 50-50. I don't know the exact percent. I pay less than him for rent. But right now it's like almost 1200, 11 something. And then he pays like 16 or 17.
00:52:49
Speaker
Okay. So I don't know. Do you, do you think that's fair? Um, I don't know. I, I have one mindset of like, I should pay less cause I make less, but at the same time I'm like, well, I could also like, maybe I should make more, like I'd rather make more money and just be able to do it. Yeah. I asked that not to, cause I don't think there's like any real right or wrong answer. It's just what works for each couple and
00:53:15
Speaker
Yeah, I know a lot of people do different things. Like I've heard from friends like, yeah, we'll do like a percentage, like 40, 60, or based on income, or he pays rent and I pay for everything else, or, you know, that kind of stuff. How often do you have conversations about money with your boyfriend?
00:53:33
Speaker
Mostly it's, I would say about, yeah, like what we should be doing or, you know, like, Oh yeah, we should probably like be saving more or, you know, I think it's kind of like a joke, like, Oh, like we're just, you know, like,
00:53:49
Speaker
I buy all the new gadgets and you know blah blah blah but um and he's not crazy like I think he definitely has money but it's just not like he knows he should be better about like putting it somewhere like uh stocks or whatever so when he heard I was going on this podcast he was like yeah maybe I can learn something too you know okay um
00:54:09
Speaker
So yeah, not often in like a serious way of like, okay, in like blank years, we're going to have a house. It's like, we probably both know like, yes, we would like a house, but when? Question mark, you know? So, but the thing is, is we can get rid of that question mark. Yeah. It's just taking action and planning. And you don't have to wonder when if you plan for it. Yeah. Okay. I could be better at planning for sure.
00:54:37
Speaker
There's a lot there that we won't get into right now, but maybe we will get him on. Maybe we'll get him on next time. Maybe meet me and him separately and then y'all together. That would be interesting, I think. Yeah, see if he'd be interested in doing that. I'll be up for it if he would be up for it. And I'm not trying to create hardship between relationships, but I'm just trying to get you both to where you say you want to go. That's it. Y'all are the one doing the work, not me. I'm just chit-chatting with you.
00:55:03
Speaker
When you were talking about splitting the rent and the bills and you felt like, you know, 50-50 is okay, but maybe it shouldn't be 50-50, or maybe that you should be earning more money or that you could earn more money, what are the additional sources of income traditionally that yoga instructors can get in this freelance economy?
Exploring Additional Income Streams
00:55:25
Speaker
Additional related to yoga, I assume.
00:55:27
Speaker
Yes. Or we could do that related to yoga or you specifically, if you have other skillsets that you're, that are marketable. I would say, yeah, like hosting workshops. Um, so you can charge more for that, like a couple hours, whole experience. Like maybe you teach a class and then you teach about anatomy or you go deep on one subject and you can charge, you know, more per person.
00:55:52
Speaker
yoga retreats, which I've done in the past. Uh, that is one thing that I can be better about though, is really knowing like how much I have to charge people and then overestimating that probably. Cause there's always like little expenses here and there that come up. There's always like little surprises. So, and to actually make money, you know, because normally when I have done it, it's like not really making me money.
00:56:17
Speaker
maybe a little bit. I mean, it's cool. It's a free vacation. That's worth something, but not going to contribute to my 401k or anything. Right. Yeah, I know. And for people who have never tried to run a retreat on their own, Steven, my brother, he runs financial independence camps across the country throughout the year. And one of the challenges he has
00:56:41
Speaker
is he puts a lot of work into it, just as you do your retreats. And he wants to make it accessible to everyone, which means don't have crazy expensive tickets. But there are many, many expenses that go along with just setting it up, getting food, getting linens, getting the actual room and board. There's a lot of costs involved in these. And once you start
00:57:05
Speaker
doing all that and then dividing it by the number of tickets or people that are showing up and then try to get any kind of margin on that. Then you're looking at expensive tickets and you're thinking like, who's, should I be, you know, it just costs more money to go. And you're like, it's unfortunate people have to pay this much for a ticket, but you have to because it's how much it's costing me. It's gotta be worth my time. And it's very challenging. Are there things traditionally or even not traditionally, or have you had ideas of ways to make money that are more efficient than that?
00:57:34
Speaker
Yeah, so another one actually I've been considering is like we were talking about external side things. I'm thinking about bringing my yoga and fitness stuff online, like doing like an online platform and charging maybe like a monthly
00:57:54
Speaker
fee. My friend recently told me about this website, where it's kind of like Facebook, where you have the groups. But to join a group, you can either have a free one or you can have like a monthly fee. So and they can host like videos and all that stuff. So you could, in theory, build up like a library of classes and
00:58:16
Speaker
do like a membership or launch a new one every day, every week, whatever, and then reaching more people. So like when you teach in a yoga studio, you can only reach so many people, you know, like you have like 20 people max or 40. But when you go online, you have the whole world. There are a lot of costs that go along with that, of course, like, you know, the hosting platform and
00:58:37
Speaker
about the equipment. But I think that would be eventually maybe more efficient than doing a retreat. And, you know, you could do that and a retreat maybe and not have to put so much pressure on the retreat, potentially. Is there anything else that you've seen your peers do successfully? Yeah, I would say pop ups, you know, like around the city, classes in the park, outdoor classes are really popular, especially in San Diego. Can you describe what that is?
00:59:06
Speaker
a random class here and there, you know, like say like, Oh, I'm going to teach a random class in a park or sunset cliffs. Or maybe you partner with somebody like one time I partnered with the San Diego girls group. So like maybe we do a pop up together. We do like a yoga class and, uh, or like a day retreat. Some people do day retreats.
00:59:28
Speaker
So these pop-up classes, it's, I know in Pacific Beach, they have like a little grassy area, right? Yeah. Overlooking the ocean. And might be like a couple times a day if the weather's decent, they'll just, I just see groups of people doing yoga out there. And is that a pop-up or is it somebody out there? I think somebody is leading it. They have a speaker or something and then they're leading it. Yeah. And a bunch of people doing yoga. And then how does that person get paid?
00:59:51
Speaker
It depends if they're like charging for an event, but there's a lot of like rules with the city basically saying like you need a permit if you're charging, but they will let you do it if it's like a free offering or like donation based. So like people can donate or pay what they want kind of thing. Um, or they can just show up for free. So a lot of those classes are donation based, which I teach one on the cliffs, but we've been having a little issues with those because we are following the rules, but the neighbors don't love us there.
01:00:21
Speaker
Yeah, so those are usually donation based and they can actually make a decent amount of money, especially like those classes on Pacific Beach. They have a lot of people. The guy who leads it, I think his name is Steve. He is namasteave. And he's been there for a long time. Yeah.
01:00:39
Speaker
Well, maybe you have to scout out a location that you can, you can monopolize and be the constant person there. It seems like these could be because I've seen a lot of people there. And if they all donated like five bucks or even half of them donated 10 bucks, that's much more, much more than you're getting. Oh yeah. They're $45 at a yoga box for a class. Yeah. That's multiples. It is. So when we're looking at, when we're looking at time effort, time and effort resources,
01:01:05
Speaker
And the trade-off that what you get back for that, I mean, you've got the Yagobakus is great because it's a legit company and he's got W2 or it's a W2 income with potential 401k, at least some amount of steady income with a schedule and some kind of structure support system there. But in addition, let's look at these other options that it seems like for return of your time and effort, those pop-ups can be fairly lucrative.
01:01:32
Speaker
Yeah. And I have to look more into the permit situation because like, for example, Sunset Cliffs, they don't want to give us a permit. They say we don't do permits for fitness classes, but they're saying, oh, if you keep it under 50, then it's fine. Which 50 is a lot of people, you know? We're trying to work with them. We want to get a permit, but it's hard, apparently. When you say we, do you mean you?
01:01:59
Speaker
me and there's other teachers who teach at Sunset Cliff so we basically have like a group chat that we're always talking about these things you know like permits
Online Presence and Outdoor Classes
01:02:08
Speaker
and
01:02:09
Speaker
I will say many times when we're groups like this, especially informal groups, it's a lot of talking and not any one person actually going to do a lot of stuff. So the reason why I say that is I don't know these people that are in your group, but I'll say if this is your livelihood, you take the action. Don't rely on other people in a group to control your financial outcome. You get on the phone with the city. You get a permit.
01:02:33
Speaker
And then if they want to use you as a resource or as a mentor, then that's fine. But this is your livelihood. Don't rely on them for your outcome. Yeah.
01:02:42
Speaker
But the great thing about San Diego is there's so many parks, Boa Park, that perhaps with a little bit more research, you can pick three or four and then just hit those same locations every week. One, maybe it's not Pacific Beach, but that's okay. And then you do your socials and get those groups up and as long as you're regular with it, maybe you can get those followings. There's a lot of colleges as well. So again, I don't know other rules, but find out maybe a park close to a college, sororities,
01:03:12
Speaker
Mostly, I mean, more, I know there's men that do yoga, but it's probably more women that do it than men. So hold those events close to places where there's your clientele. Yeah. And they're more likely to show up. Weddings and bachelorette parties has been really good for me too because they pay more and yeah, it's a fun time.
01:03:35
Speaker
Okay, so while the retreats are great, and maybe offline we'll talk about the finances of those retreats, but you said they're pretty much break even, and for the experience is great, but we have some debt to pay now, so. Yes. Let's look at where you're, is everything okay? Yeah. You keep looking over your shoulder, you gotta be looking at the clock. No. Hello? Oh, you can't hear me because you have headphones on. Yeah. So. You said hello.
01:04:04
Speaker
So let's look at, and let's keep talking, like I wanna help you, I'll get on the phone, like I'll help, because I'm interested in this stuff. I think it's cool to entrepreneurial type of thinking and executing and looking at the bottom line. Yeah, I would love to help support that if possible, if you'll allow. But yeah, I think let's explore that pop-up a little, I'm sure at San Diego, I know there's a lot of people doing yoga, but that doesn't mean, you know, make them tell you no, that's always a philosophy that I always have.
01:04:33
Speaker
Makeup till you know. Don't assume that you can't do it because there's 50 other people doing it. Don't assume you need a permit or even if you do, what's the downside? They tell you to stop once or twice while you just still make 200 bucks.
01:04:47
Speaker
Yeah. And then I didn't, I mean, do it legally of course, but yeah, let's be smart about it, but you know, just be assertive. That's kind of how I was before. Cause I was like, I don't know the rule, but then, um, a ranger came to my class and was like, you need a permit. And I was like, oh, but we, they're not able to give us a permit or whatever. And I was like, here's my email, send me the information about getting a permit. And he did not email me, but okay. And that's it. That's the last you've heard of it. Yeah.
01:05:15
Speaker
And then when you got home and then when you got home and googled how to get a permit, what happened then?
01:05:20
Speaker
I have not done that to be fair. That's right. Yeah. I got to take it. All right. So don't wait on other people to do what they say they're going to do or what they should do for your result. All right. I think we've got a number of items on your to-do list. I didn't see you taking notes, but either if you remember it or you have any questions, you know, let me know. Let me quickly go through the list of notes we've got here.
01:05:46
Speaker
I took a couple of notes on the IRA and the 401k. Good point. Let me write down the permit thing.
01:05:55
Speaker
Like do you need a permit in different locations or you just need it one for you? Like to be able to do these things. That's another thing too. Good question. And bookkeeping should also be in your list of things to tighten up. All right. So I'm going to like, I don't want to text you too much and bother you, but I just want to try to help keep progress going. So if for your own, you know, like, so maybe twice a week I'll text and it's like, Hey, if I'll ask you a question and maybe it'll help you keep on track. Is that okay? Yeah, that's okay.
01:06:21
Speaker
Okay, and if you need me to do anything for you, just say, I need help, and then I'll help, okay? Are you sure? Absolutely, yes. Okay, I appreciate you. No, I enjoy doing this. Yeah. Because I know what difference it makes in people's lives. I mean, it's made a difference in my life.
01:06:39
Speaker
Danielle, thank you very much for sharing your story with us today. I know it's not easy to get on a podcast, especially this is your first podcast ever and spill all of that information out. I know there's a lot of emotion behind it. I know there's, there's a lot of information that you don't know, that I don't know. And then we're just trying to come together to figure out a way forward. It can be hard, but it's very interesting and it's all for a good cause, which is for you to eventually be able to live the life that you designed for yourself. And I'm excited for you and thank you very, very much for coming on today and sharing your story.
01:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate all of your help and for having me on, despite me not having a lot of experience with finances, but yeah, I really appreciate your help. You're very welcome. And we'll check back in in a couple months to see what action has been taken and just kind of how are you feeling about it all? Does that sound good? Yeah, sounds good. Let's do it. Thank you, Danielle. And thank you all for watching and listening. Thank you.