Hey guys!! Today is going to be a little different on the blog because I have a very special guest and friend here to tell you a little bit about her new company. I’ve know Bri (Brianna) for years now through my CrossFit gym and I’ve watched this woman put her mind to something and absolutely crush it. Whether it came to beating cancer (that was before I met her but it’s f*cking badass and I had to mention it), crushing it at CrossFit, killing it at her job, juggling multiple jobs, becoming a dog-obsessed mom, saving money like a champion or whatever else…she always made it happen and dove head first into whatever she felt passionate about. She never let something stand in her way. And just like a true badass, she recently started a company all around improving yourself. I couldn’t be more proud or more excited about The School of Betty and today Bri is here to tell you a little about it and give you a freebie to help you plan for a better, more financially stable 2018. With the New Year upon us, I think it’s the perfect time to talk a little about budgeting and how to set yourself up for success in 2018! I’m even talking about it more on Friday!

Bri is ready to change lives with her new company and I’m so excited for you all to check it out!! Thanks for reading!!

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Happy New Year and HOLY BALLS, I’m just so pumped to be guest bloggin’ up in here! I remember when I started reading Juli’s blog at the beginning of my crossfit journey 6 years ago and it was truly the highlight of my morning while I sipped my coffee. Until I laughed so hard that I spit up coffee all over my cream colored rug (coffee is hard to get out of a cream colored rug…just an FYI). So now I sip and then read. You know, it’s all about knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Am I right?

So, HEY PaleOMG fans! I’m Brianna Firestone (call me Bri!) and I’m the founder of The School of Betty I help individuals find a kickass relationship with money, time and energy (a.k.a. your resources) so they can create financial freedom, lessen their stress and live their best life. Say goodbye to fear of failure and lack of control, and hello to empowerment, knowledge and good habits that stick. I focus on money, time and energy because I believe those are the foundation for a happy and healthy life. If you think about it, these are often the top 3 reasons why we often get stressed out or feel “off” and you know what? We don’t have time for that because life is meant to be amazeballs!

My 16+ year career is a colorful trek through strategic marketing & business development, public relations, customer experience, theatrical performance (I think this is why JB and I get along so well…a flare for the drama!) AND fitness (I coach at Crossfit Broadway). So…I have a lot of loves, but creative solutioning is my JAM and applying that to habits & problems around an individual’s resources is what wakes me up each morning…that and coffee (okay, I’ll stop talking about coffee). Enough introductions, let’s get to the good stuff.

At coffee one day (sorry!), JB and I started talking about money and budgets and how SO.MANY.PEOPLE simply fly by the seat of their pants. That’s code for: they don’t budget and don’t have a financial plan. And, they wouldn’t be alone because only about 32% of households do have a monthly budget. WHAT!? True Story. No judgement here because guess what!? In school, they only teach us how to MAKE money and they never teach us how to MANAGE it. Can you believe that!? That’s bonkers. We rely on our friends and family to teach us and if they don’t know what they are doing, guess what again? That’s what you are being taught. I only became obsessed with managing my money resources better when I found myself in $30k in credit card debt and $20k in student loans at the young age of 23 and had a credit score that was NOT large and in charge. Oh, and I BARELY made $30k per year and lived in New York City (you can read my story here. You don’t have to be a math genius to figure out that wasn’t going to work out. In my head, I was livin’ the “Sex in the City” life, but my financial records definitely didn’t agree. I finally figured out my crap and created a system for paying off ALL of my debt and managing my money. I still use that system today and THAT is one thing I teach at The School of Betty. I’m SO passionate about helping people master their money, that I got certified as a financial educator so I can spread the money love.

If you’ve ever gone through hard times with your money then you know it can (and usually does) consume your thinking all day, every day. And that, my friend, is not good for you! It’s stressful, takes up your energy and is probably making you a cranky pants. But, GOOD NEWS! January is a great time to focus on a simple budget plan, money habit reset or getting more comfortable with your finances because, let’s face it, the holidays can be REAL stressful and so many people get swept up in the holiday spirit that they need to slow their roll in January to recover from the gift buying extravaganza.

First thing is first: what do you want in 2018? Do you want to go to the beach 4 times a year (that’s my goal)? Buy that new pair of shoes? Build a garage? Work for 6 months and travel for 6 months? Give more to charity? Buy all of the outfit combinations that Juli creates? I love it. That’s badass. The world is your oyster. And let’s be clear: creating a budget or a financial plan isn’t about becoming a penny pincher. It is about setting yourself up for success so you can live the lifestyle you want to live. You do you and let’s make sure you have the tools to create the good money habits to get there.

Are you ready for this? There is nothing more personal in your life (other than your family) than your relationship with money. It is the ONE THING that impacts EVERYONE and…we never ever talk about it. In fact, you might get some side eye if you do. SOOOOO money gets a bad wrap and is widely misunderstood (poor thing). A few things you should know about money:

#1. Decisions around money are emotional…NOT logical. All of us know we should budget, save money, contribute to our retirement blah blah blah. But why don’t we do it? WELL, I’ll tell ya: decisions around money are not logical, they are HIGHLY emotional. If our decisions around money were logical, all of us would already have perfect bank accounts, credit scores and amazing retirement funds. But that isn’t the case. For most of us, if you had a choice to buy a hot tub or put that money in your retirement…most of us would buy the hot tub. BECAUSE, we’ve already visualized the value it is going to bring to our lives. And I can guarantee you probably haven’t done that for your retirement. So, when you are ready to set those financial goals, leverage that emotion in your favor. Instead of saying “beach trip” say: take a girls trip to the beach for 5 days and drink margaritas. See what happened there? It stirs ALL the feelings around. You can SEE the trip, taste the salt and feel your toes in the sand. And that is a good thing because when you are emotionally tied to your financial goal, you are already seeing the value it will bring to your life and thus are more likely to stick to it.

#2. Money is not complicated. Humans are complicated, money is not. Money is just a way for us to say something is valuable. It is a value system. We give a value to everything and what I find valuable (Coffee!), might not be valuable to someone else. TRUTH SPRINKLE: When you say you can’t afford something, you are really saying it isn’t valuable enough to you to commit to the actions it would take to get it. Make sense? When your finances aren’t where you want them to be, you have three options: make more money, spend less money, or do both. Think of a time when you wanted something REAL bad and got crazy creative so you could make it happen. THAT is committing to the actions to make it happen. And here is the thing; we are all unique unicorns and one size does not fit all in this department. So it is important that YOU know what is valuable to YOU so you can create a plan that serves YOU.

#3. Mastering your money actually starts in your brain. We humans tend to move AWAY from pain and TOWARDS pleasure. Make sense? And depending on how you grew up, odds are, you heard and saw money cause pain. Either the people around you struggled with money or they spoke about money in a negative way. Example: “money doesn’t grow on trees”, “We’ll never be able to afford that”, “Rich people are stingy” etc. And that, whether you know it or not, has had an influence on how you perceive money. When you catch yourself having a negative thought around money, flip it to a positive and instead of looking for proof that confirms the negative thought, look for proof that proves you wrong.

Once you start working on your relationship with money, magical things can happen. When it is no longer an area of your life you are scared to deal with, stress will start to melt away because you will feel confident and empowered in your actions around your finances! AND, you’ll get a new BFF out of the work…money. Money is your new BFF.

There are 5 simple actions you can take TODAY to start creating a badass relationship with money. Ready? Let’s Grab Life by the Betties shall we?

Click here to download the 5 simple actions

Time for my coffee break!

Livin’ & Lovin’
b

P.S. If you have any specific money questions, I’d love to hear from you. Email me! If you are REALLY ready to take 2018 by storm, you can check out The School of Betty courses on money HERE!

Email – hello@theschoolofbetty.com

Websitewww.theschoolofbetty.com

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9 Comments

  1. Kelsey says:

    YES! I hate that money is such a taboo topic. People should know about it, how to manage it, and how to not be hot messes running after expensive things they don’t need. Money is all part of a healthy life. Thank you, Bri and Juli for posting this!

    1. Bri Firestone says:

      Preach Kelsey! Recently this past week, my husband and I talked money and investments over some drinks. And it was awesome to hear our friend say “I was taught to never talk about money…this is great.” Thanks for the comment lady!

  2. Alli K says:

    This was an awesome post! Thank you for always coming up with new topics to cover on your blog Juli. Also, I feel like these are perfectly applicable to our relationship with food as well. Decisions around food are personal not logical. This cookie is valuable enough to eat/your health is not valuable enough (obviously cookies can be valuable, but the 100 I ate over Xmas break were not lol).

    1. Bri Firestone says:

      So true Alli! Glad you liked the post!

  3. Megan says:

    Great article! It is so empowering to take control of your finances and really have a plan for your money. When I got my very first job I didn’t have an employer who matched 401k contributions and my dad told me to do 15% right away, so I did. I didn’t think much of it but eventually I got to the point of being able to max it out every year AND bonus – my employer matches a hefty amount now. It kills me when I hear that people aren’t saving and are living paycheck to paycheck AND when women aren’t asking for what they are worth.

    1. Bri Firestone says:

      Megan cheers to you! That is amazing. I so agree (obviously!). Thanks for reading.

  4. Madison says:

    Hi Juli!

    Thank you so much for talking about money! I started the Dave’s Ramsey Plan about 1.5 years ago and our lives are completely changed. He’s basically The Godfather but I’m so excited to meet Bri and have a new fresh voice out there helping people. Awesome topic!

  5. Bri Firestone says:

    Madison that is awesome! Dave Ramsey has helped so many people. Congrats on getting started and taking control! Thanks for reading.

  6. Laura says:

    Thank you!! I really want to try the 90 day no shopping challenge!!