Tackling Personal Finance and Facing the Numbers with Erin Lowry Founder of Broke Millennial

Alright, so it's time. It's time to get your financial life together. There, I said it! Whether you are a money maven or a personal finance newbie - today's conversation will be just the dose of inspiration you need to get in control of your finances.

Meet Erin Lowry, Author, Personal Finance Expert, and the woman behind Broke Millennial. Her goal is to provide practical advise to Millennials so you can navigate pesky financial questions and challenges.

Tune in below as we talk about misconceptions in saving money, best practices to pay off debt and loans, how to start investing, and more! 

SHOW NOTES:

Having started her career with a degree in theater and journalism, Erin learned you don’t have to be a mathematical servant to make it in the financial world (0:40.)

Money was discussed frequently in Erin’s household growing up, but not as a topic of stress as she later discovered monopolized other people’s lives. Despite making minimum wage through three jobs, Erin found herself less stressed out than some of her friends who still even had their parents' support (1:40.)

Broke Millennial, an early blog of Erin’s, empowers others through her storytelling of how she has managed to figure out her finances while living in New York City. Shortly after, due to its success, Erin received book deals and launched her career into personal finance (2:50.)

The biggest misconception Erin finds in the finance world is the belief that you have to be wealthy or have reached an arbitrary level of financial stability to start investing( 4:05.)

Erin shares that the common phrase, “Save for retirement” really should be, “Invest for retirement”. This means you are the investor and that you have access to the market  to make your money work and grow for you (5:00.)

A good first step Erin recommends to get started is to face your numbers and really understand where you stand. How much debt do you have? How much do you earn after taxes? Then ask yourself, what are your goals? (6:00.)

When it comes to debt, Erin finds it is important to understand what form of loan you are working with so you don’t get caught off guard by the interest. Make sure it is affordable for you to pay off or set up a repayment plan if necessary (9:10.)

Erin believes it is absolutely okay to talk about finances in the workplace and actually writes about how to do so appropriately in one of her books (14:00.)

Erin finds it’s beneficial to ask your LinkedIn connections for guidance (colleagues that are at a similar level as you) when determining comparable salary ranges (17:25.) 

There’s now wrong way to run finances at home with a significant other. But, it is important to expose all finances prior to any engagements so you find a fair balance (21:00.)

When it comes to savings, Erin finds it is important to write your goals down with a timeline and work financially backwards (24:00.)

Try not to tie your self-worth to your paycheck. Ask yourself what will keep you happy in the long term (25:40.)

Interested in learning more and continuing to follow Erin’s journey? Follow Broke Millennial here! Need a hand in getting started with your finances? Checkout her bundles, workshops, and shop here!

Keep an eye out for Erin’s latest book, Broke Millennial Talks Money, released on December 29th, which provides stories and advice to navigate awkward money conversations.

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Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Finding and Sharing Your Story With Amy Draheim Founder of ABD Creative Agency

Brava listeners, meet Amy Draheim, a dynamic leader, author, entrepreneur, and podcast host that specializes in storytelling. She is the founder of ABD Creative Agency, a boutique agency that specializes in storytelling and developing brand strategies for businesses in the travel and hospitality sector. Amy is also the founder of the innovative tool "Marketing in a Box", a one-of-a-kind subscription based model she created among the pandemic to help small hotels reach their marketing goals.

Tune in below to hear how this multi-faceted leader began her career, her advice for entrepreneurs, and how she stays motivated to continue learning and growing.

SHOW NOTES:

Ok, so have you ever wanted to kill an ex-boyfriend? [I know, you heard and read that right!] Well, Amy Draheim started her career off with just that as inspiration! (But not quite literally…) What started out  as just therapeutic journaling after bad first dates, ended up as her published novel Jenny Green's Killer Junior Year. Incredible! (1:30.)

“There’s always a story to tell. There’s always a voice to get behind to craft a story. ”

— Amy Draheim

10 years after her book released and after years working in corporate, Amy took a leap of faith and started up her own creative marketing firm for hotels (7:30.)

Amy admits that when taking a leap of faith, such as changing your career, it is expected to get messy! But, if you do what you truly love and are passionate about it, you will be successful (9:20.)

To make sure she stays on track with all her moving parts, Amy relies on the project management tool Asana, to hold herself accountable (11:50.)

Due to the turn of events COVID-19 created, like many industries, marketing for hotels depreciated. Rather than letting the pandemic run havoc on her marketing firm, as many companies furloughed their marketing managers, Amy created an innovative tool: Marketing in a Box. (13:30.)

Marketing in a Box provided her clients with a toolbox of how to market on a budget (16:00.)

“2020 forced a lot of growth and learning to take inventory of what’s working but also what is not working and continue to grow and adapt. Otherwise you may shut your doors and who knows if you will come back. ”

— Amy Draheim

Having a work-home balance is non-negotiable for Amy. To do so she hired a marketing manager to help business run smoothly without having to put in excessive hours or compromise her quality of work (20:35.)

In the future, Amy aspires to keep up her agency, travel, give a TedTalk and go full circle by writing another book about her personal journey (29:35.)

Want to continue to follow Amy’s career? Be sure to follow here! Interested in learning more about marketing, hospitality, and storytelling? Check out her own podcast show, “How To Share”!

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Thank you readers for tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Build a Life You Love With Author and Entertainment Executive Tara Schuster

Brava listeners, if you are needing a dose of inspiration - you must tune in today’s episode. Meet Tara Schuster, best-selling author, playwright, and accomplished entertainment executive. She served as Vice President of Talent and Development at Comedy Central where she was the Executive in Charge of the Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning ​Key & Peele​, the Emmy® Award winning ​@Midnight​, and Lights Out with David Spade.

In today’s episode, Tara touches on the inspiration behind her first book, Buy Yourself The F*cking Lilies, that debuted as the #1 New Release in Humor Essays and Self-Help on both Audible and Kindle. InStyle, People Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Goodreads, BuzzFeed, Goop, and many others have chosen Buy Yourself The F*cking Lilies as one of the best new books of 2020.

Keep on listening to get inspired, get real, and get that does of motivation to build a life you love.

SHOW NOTES:

Tara has a career path that makes you think, “yes!” (because it’s so dynamic and successful) and she notes how often we don’t stop to think and congratulate ourselves on doing what we’ve set out to do (1:43.)

“Persistence” is the foundation of Tara’s career. She refuses the word “no” and always finds an alternative solution (2:10.)

“I think a lot of people stop with the first ‘no’. We hear ‘no’ and we think, ‘that’s that’. You can always go around it. ”

— Tara Schuster

Tara’s university education started at Brown and she quickly realized that playwriting and her want to write would need to be matched with a career choice that could help to allow her to save and earn money. This challenged emerged an opportunity: an internship on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (4:00.)

Her first position was as a Production Assistant at Comedy Central and it served as her ultimate foot-in-the-door in her dream job in entertainment (5:55.)

“Instead of ‘what promotion can they give me,’ ask yourself: ‘what work can be done? What value can I give?’”

— Tara Schuster

Tara snuck into the pilot of Key & Peele and immediately had a lot of ideas of how to use the content she viewed and how it could be used on multiple platforms. She was promoted to Digital Producer for the show and helped to create segments for the shows moving forward. With Key & Peele under her belt, the development team took notice of her and with a lot of “asking” and by proving her value she became the Vice President of Talent Development (8:15.)

“Ask for what you want. ”

— Tara Schuster

She asked herself, what works needs to be done, not work she wants to do (11:50.)

Tara believes that confidence is a huge asset. If you can be confident, reliable, kind, and pleasant to be around - then you are in whole other league (14:15.)

“I don’t want to be an expert, I want to be a beginner because a beginner has enthusiasm, passion, and curiosity. ”

— Tara Schuster

Tara’s book, Buy Yourself the F*cking Lillies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, From Someone’s Who’s Been There allows Tara to use her creativity full-time (15:44.)

She never set out to write a book, she set out to save her life. Anything where she could check off a box (getting an internship, goals at work, or getting good grades) she was good at, but on the inside she was miserable. She decided to change, using the persistence she used at work, but for her personal life (17:38.)

Tara is interested in us, on the inside. She believes we need to learn how to take care of ourselves (22:05.)

Running into a challenge? Multiple challenges? Tara recommends you change the way you treat yourself and to be gentle. She also believes it’s the small steps and attainable goals before your worry about the big picture (25:42.)

Tara’s self-care go-to routine is journaling each morning, writing a gratitude list, and including exercise (30:15.)

Tara sees a 2nd book coming in the future. She also knows she wants to live her life in service to others and is trying to figure out how to marry that passion with storytelling for ideas in the future (33:30.)

Follow Tara on Instagram to stay connected and continue following along!

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Thank you readers for tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Minding Your Own Business with Ilana Griffo

Welcome back listeners! Today’s guest is Ilana Griffo. Today on Brava we’re discussing how you can take your creative passion and grow it into your full-time gig…and Ilana is an expert on this! She’s a freelance designer and illustrator. Plus, she’s a newly published author of the book, “Mind Your Business”! Want to start your own side-hustle? Tune in now below to mind your (own) business with Ilana Griffo.

SHOW NOTES:

Ilana always knew she wanted to be a graphic designer. She went to school for graphic design and started freelancing immediately while working full-time. She went off on her own four years ago and hasn’t looked back since (1:05).

Despite using school to hone in on her design craft, her favorite class in school was a career development class that focused on interview tips and tricks and how to conduct yourself in the professional world (2:25).

Ilana wrote her book to help other creatives (like you!) create the business foundation to launch their careers (3:30)!

Working from home can be tough with all the distractions around you. Illana created a dedicated office for herself. A day in the life for Ilana includes her one year old son, a to-do list and drawing (7:00).

She sources inspiration from every aspect of life and is very inspired by the seasons (8:22).

When reviewing your own business, Ilana recommends not diving directly into a branding voice until you find your voice as a brand (10:50).

It takes a lot of adventure and trial and error to develop and find your voice (12:00).

The hardest part of publishing her new book, “Mind Your Own Business”? The beginning and getting started! What helped? Her loyal and hard-working team (13:45).

“Ilana’s go-to mantras: “Do it with passion or not at all” and “ask for what you want.” ”

Hoping to start your own side-hustle, Ilana recommends just to…start! Never stop having fun with it (17:45).

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Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave us a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story!