Focus On Money: Transformative Financial Strategies for Busy Entrepreneurs with Jen Paterson

🎙️ Welcome back to Pathways with Amber Stitt! 

 💪 In today's episode, we're excited to have Jen Paterson from Dollar Divas joining us. Jen shares her inspiring journey of empowering entrepreneurs, particularly women and 'mompreneurs,' with effective financial management strategies. 

🗂️ Drawing from her own experiences, Jen developed a revolutionary "bank account architecture" system that simplifies financial tasks for busy entrepreneurs. We'll dive deep into how this system, with its user-friendly spreadsheet and tailored bank accounts, offers quick clarity and control over finances.

💰 Jen also emphasizes the importance of financial stability, financial mindset shifts, and strategic money habit formation. 

🌺 We'll explore how early childhood money memories shape our financial behaviors and how the powerful role of scent memory can help in reinforcing positive financial habits. 

📊 Whether you're looking to manage your income more wisely, or strengthen your financial mindset, Jen's insights and practical tips are invaluable. So, get ready for an enlightening conversation that's sure to inspire you to take action!

📻 Stay tuned as we unpack these topics and more. You won't want to miss it!

🚀 And remember, for additional resources, head over to our website.

🗣️ Let's jump in and join the conversation!

📽️ To watch the video podcast: https://youtu.be/ZCCHqSIwobM

🔗 Resources & Links:

To learn more about Jen Paterson please visit:

🌱 Website: www.DollarDivas.org

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-paterson-79714230

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenpaterson.biz

To learn more about Amber Stitt please visit:

🌱 Website: www.AmberStitt.com

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-stitt-acp-chfc%C2%AE-cltc%C2%AE-clu%C2%AE-gallup%C2%AE-1b186821/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberstitt_

#PathwaysWithAmberStitt, #DollarDivas, #AmberStitt, #JenPaterson, #BusinessTips

Transcript

Amber Stitt [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Pathways. I am your host, Amber Stitt, and today we welcome Jen Paterson from Dollar Divas with us today on the show. So welcome, Jen.

Jen Paterson [00:00:10]:
Thank you so much for having me, Amber.

Amber Stitt [00:00:11]:
Super excited to have you here. I've been doing some stalking online and watching all the great work that you do, and we're going to dive into really how you started helping entrepreneurs, but mainly females, and you call "mompreneurs", too. Was that an evolution that came about from personal life? How did that begin for you?

Jen Paterson [00:00:31]:
Honestly, the story. The story of how that got started goes way back to when my husband and I were at a bank, and we were...I can't even remember why we were there. We were opening some type of account, and we were literally sitting in front of a woman, and she almost acted like I didn't exist.

Amber Stitt [00:00:48]:
Because normally that's not what's happening. So usually there's no eye contact from the male to the female.

Jen Paterson [00:00:54]:
It was a female to female, and it bothered me. But I remember thinking, this is not the first time this has happened. And it was funny because I'm sitting there thinking, I'm the one with the degree in economics. I'm the one who manages our finances. You should be talking to me, not my...at the time, he was my boyfriend. You need to be talking to me because he hasn't a clue what's going on. And so that was sort of the catalyst that got things going.

Jen Paterson [00:01:19]:
And when I went into my career as a financial advisor, I just kept coming across the same thing over and over again, where the education options for women were just awful. It was like the old white dude in a suit touting the same old information that doesn't work, that isn't helpful, or isn't effective, didn't bring in mindset, didn't bring in our experiences. And so I was talking to a girlfriend who was a realtor one day, and we just said, "We can do better. We can just do better." And so that was how Dollar Divas was born. And we initially started with just working with purely women. And then after I had my kids, and I realized that not only did I need to be smart with my money, I needed it to be fast and efficient, because I no longer had time to stare at spreadsheets, as much as I love doing that, brings my heart, so much joy to stare at spreadsheets. Yeah, I'm that weirdo.

Jen Paterson [00:02:08]:
I realized I didn't have that time anymore. So not only did I have to figure out a way to do it. I had to figure out a way that I could do it in 20 minutes because that's all I had because my daughter never napped. And so that's kind of how it evolved and how I got to where I am and working with entrepreneurs because I saw the same story over and over again. Entrepreneurs who were amazing at what they did, who loved their job, loved their trade, and yet were living hand to mouth, feast, famine, lifestyle, paycheck to paycheck, and were constantly hustling to bring in new business because they didn't know how to manage them money.

Amber Stitt [00:02:39]:
Yeah.

Jen Paterson [00:02:40]:
So put all of those pieces together, and that is how you got the mompreneur money coach that I am today.

Amber Stitt [00:02:46]:
Well, the focus on money part of the podcast with the audience is really trying to help people be smarter with their money and really take the reins on it. Because you don't have to be a finance...I've mentioned this, you don't have to have a degree in finance to care about your money and understand even how taxes work. And when I was mentioning, looking through some of your social media, I came across this post you had, and I'm going to grab it here really quick because you talk a lot about mindset, and I think this is a great way to segue into it. You have a post that says, "Do not place your money or savings in an account that's hard to access." Can you answer, or explain why that could be critical for just teaching yourself how to be involved with your own money?

Jen Paterson [00:03:29]:
I think, honestly, it depends on the person. It depends on what type of savings that money is. There's a lot more context. And I mean, obviously, when you're putting out a post on Instagram or something like that, you kind of have to be succinct and you can't go into the big long haul story about it. But at the same time, if you've got savings and you need it I think about something that even happened to me earlier this week. My car randomly just didn't start in the morning. I have no idea why. And so, we're going to need that money that we have in our savings account to pay for the mechanic because I wasn't planning on my car not starting.

Jen Paterson [00:04:01]:
It just kind of happened, because that's life. That is what happens when you are a person in the world. Things that you weren't predicting happen. And so if you've got it in an account that it's 3 to 5 business days before you can get the money out. Then in a true emergency, you're going to be hooped. So while I do think that there is some validity to putting some money out of sight, out of mind, tough to access accounts, I think that there's a reason for doing that and there's purpose behind having some money in types of accounts like that. I also think you need to have some savings that are at your fingertips that you can access in a matter of seconds because you never know what's coming down the pipeline. And maybe you have an emergency and you have to book a ticket to fly across the country to go and see some family member, or you need to fix your car, or suddenly you just need cash.

Jen Paterson [00:04:53]:
And having some savings that are at your fingertips is part of that financial stability. So you don't have to rely on a credit card, or some other debt vehicle to give you that instant cash.

Amber Stitt [00:05:07]:
Yeah, it's helping when there's that fire drill. Right.

Jen Paterson [00:05:10]:
That there's, I don't know what's going to go wrong. I don't know when it's going to go wrong, but I'm going to guarantee that something's going to go sideways in your life at some point. And what makes it a lot easier is having cash.

Amber Stitt [00:05:20]:
So it's almost like, I feel in entrepreneur world, we'll say, like scaling the business. And when you are going through being a mom, you have the 20 minutes. I like spreadsheets, too, so I have a lot of tabs and different ways to organize. But you're essentially, you can take some of the things that, make a business successful and pull it into your house and then kind of go vice versa. So what are some of these strategies that you were like, "Okay, that 20 minutes," what are some of those things that you just had to quickly implement and just going with the flow at that point, you built out a plan.

Jen Paterson [00:05:52]:
Yeah, absolutely. So that is when I developed what I call my bank account architecture. So it's not necessarily having like, a budget or a spreadsheet or things like that. It's literally having multiple different bank accounts, each with a specific job to do so that I know in less than 30 seconds where I stand financially. So having a separate bank account, that's just purely for me to put my tax dollars away. Having another bank account that's purely for dollars to grow my business, another one for the operating expenses that day to day in and out money. And creating that system that did the work for me so that I wasn't taking numbers out of my accounts, putting them into spreadsheets, cross referencing, going back and forth. It was literally a matter of, okay, what did I bring in this week or month or however often you bring in, you know, revenue, allocating it to those different accounts and going, "Okay, this is where I stand right now." And that really is so much faster.

Jen Paterson [00:06:44]:
And it's a lot more intuitive as well. I found that a lot of times I'm working with a lot of creators and entrepreneurs who really don't like spreadsheets in the same way that you and I clearly do. And they love this system because there is one spreadsheet and it's very user friendly, and you only have to look at it for about five minutes. When you're quickly running through these allocations and using those multiple bank accounts, it's literally opening up your banking app. We all have banking apps now. It's just open it up, having a quick look, and in seconds, you know exactly where you stand. You know how much you've got to spend on your operating expenses. You know if you've got money to cover payroll, it's all right there in black and white.

Jen Paterson [00:07:24]:
And that really made a huge impact on not only my ability to do things quickly, but also the fact that as a mom, I mean, I'm sure everyone is familiar with the delight that is "mom brain". You don't have to keep it all up inside your head anymore. You can very quickly... and because it does the work for you, you don't have to remember all the little details because it's just right there.

Amber Stitt [00:07:50]:
So you're saying one bank, but the multiple accounts are the way that you can kind of go globally with your eyes and go scan, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you get kind of used to...it's like a folder system, but it's in that bank account, and then you have your departments, basically, if you will. Yeah, so that's really neat. So where do you see that some of your clients get a little frazzled and maybe don't put the money where they should? Is there any of those war stories that you've heard where they might be spending where they shouldn't? Any hacks for us outside of the bank accounts, of course?

Jen Paterson [00:08:19]:
Yes, absolutely. And you know what, again, that's life. People sort of think about money and savings, and they think it should be like a ladder or a very steady increase over time. That's not what money and savings looks like because of that wonderful thing we all call life, right? Especially when you're a business owner, there's always ebbs and flows and things that you don't expect and these things that come out of nowhere that just kind of throw you for a loop. I had a client that she said, "I love that I have my bank account architecture, because, yes, I know that this is in my expense account, and, yes, this is from my tax account. But if things really hit the fan, I've got all this cash." That's all it is. It's just cash that's sitting there.

Jen Paterson [00:09:02]:
So if I need to pull from my emergency savings because I overspent in my expense account, that's what it's there for. That's its job. And so I sleep better at night because I've made the plan to put these dollars towards these things. But it's still there. It's still cash. I can still access it, and so I can use it if something comes up. And like I had in my own business. So this is a bit of a funny story.

Jen Paterson [00:09:27]:
So I actually run three different businesses, and one of them is a gluten-free foods business. And we started doing markets this year, and one of the things that we never saw coming was wind. Wind, like literal, physical wind. And so we had our tent set up, we had our table set up. We were really excited. And then we had a crazy windstorm, not even a windstorm, just like a wind pickup. And I'm literally watching vendors chase their tents down the street because the wind picked them up and carried them. And I thought, "Oh, my gosh, we need sandbags."

Jen Paterson [00:09:57]:
And I hadn't planned for that expense. But let me tell you, I was really glad that I had that emergency fund right there to go out and that day go and buy sandbags so that we were no longer chasing our tent down the street, because it's not exercise that I enjoy, and I don't recommend it to anybody.

Amber Stitt [00:10:15]:
Oh, my gosh. Well, I mean, in Arizona here, we don't have a lot of...well, we have haboobs, but anytime on the media, there's some sort of act of God, they call it...we are laughing about it, but it's not a joke. In certain cities, you got to be prepared for these types of things. So that's an interesting one.

Amber Stitt [00:10:31]:
I mean, what are your thoughts on in our industry, financial services, we'll say, where you have certain people are like, "Cash is trash," and you shouldn't leave things in cash, you're losing money on the dollar. But what about having resilience and less stress? Is there a way to put a dollar on that?

Jen Paterson [00:10:48]:
Yeah, I'm a big fan of...again, you have to tailor the advice to the person and tailor the advice to the business. Rather than one size fits all. There are some people who are like, "Yes, I want to invest everything. I want to take advantage of every dollar that I could possibly make." And there's some people who that will literally keep up at night, who will not sleep because they're worried about the shifts in the markets.

Jen Paterson [00:11:13]:
They're worried about not having access to their cash. Like we talked about earlier that it takes that 3 to 5 business days for it to transfer from your investment account to your bank accounts. There's so many other factors that go into it that I think it really depends. And there are some businesses that can go a little bit longer between cash infusions, whereas there's some that we talked about maybe they need cash that day, that minute, to deal with a crisis that is sitting in their lap. So I don't think that there's a one size fits all for everybody. I think that cash has a place. Absolutely. Cash has a place.

Jen Paterson [00:11:49]:
And, you know, investments are also great, too. And there is no one size.

Amber Stitt [00:11:53]:
Yeah, I love that you customize, and that's big with some of the planning that we do. Does this architecture fall into the five steps of how to work your paycheck?

Jen Paterson [00:12:03]:
Yes, it's absolutely a big part of creating that 9 to 5 income without the 9 to 5 job. And when you're creating a paycheck for yourself, human nature is really interesting...so we as people, when we buy a house, we find stuff to fill the house, right? Like if you have an empty closet, you'll find something to put in the closet. Right? I mean, I'm guilty of it, too. It's just human nature. We're the same with our money. If we see dollars in the account, we'll find ways to spend it. And that's another great thing about the architecture, is if you're not looking at those accounts in all in one, you're actually separating it out.

Jen Paterson [00:12:42]:
And your subconscious sees this isn't money to spend. This is money that belongs to either the tax man, or for future me when I have to chase my tent down the street, subconsciously you will find a way to make it work on less. And so siphoning out the money you pay yourself with is a big part of that. And so when you're creating a paycheck for yourself, it's creating that separate bank account that only holds your paycheck dollars and using it like an old fashioned well. So, we all understand how wells work. When it rains, the well fills and when you have a drought, the well drains slowly, and you pull the money out in, or, sorry, the water out in little bits and pieces. And it's the same thing with your paycheck.

Jen Paterson [00:13:27]:
You use it like an old fashioned well. When you're having a rush or you're in your high season, or whatever the ebbs and flows of your business are, then you fill the well, and then you draw on it. But you don't empty it out every single time. You just take a small portion of it, and you use that to pay yourself with so that you're not always hustling for that next paycheck, you're not always hustling for that next client, and you're able to build your business in a much more comfortable and authentic way. You're not worrying about where that next client is coming from. And you can bring in the business that makes you feel good because you've got your paycheck well that's there, covering your expenses. And is it something that's going to happen overnight? Absolutely not. It's something that you have to build up to.

Jen Paterson [00:14:10]:
But once it's in place, it's like magic.

Amber Stitt [00:14:13]:
And that's where I want to head next. Because you're really big about the psychology of money and that mindset. And so that is so important to some of these strategies that you're implementing. Well, you could probably say, with your clients, is there something that's just an absolutely, like a starting point to really work on that mindset, that's a must have to then allow for this all to be built for each individual.

Jen Paterson [00:14:36]:
The first step that everyone has to accept is that you have to work on your mindset as well as your strategy. They must work interdependently. There is no other way around it. Because if you are constantly working on strategy, but in the back of your mind, subconsciously, or consciously say, "I'm broke, I'm terrible with money, I'm never going to succeed at this," well, then, guess what? You're going to find ways to fail. That's just how we function as humans. So that's the first step, is just accepting that money mindset is part of the journey, you have to work on these things. And the place I always start with every single one of my clients and everyone I talk to is, in your childhood, what are your first money memories? What are those key developmental moments in your life that started your money journey? Because 9 times out of 10, the hangups that we have as adults stem from something that happened in our childhood very early and is usually one of those very first money memories. And I go through this exercise with my clients, and I'll say, "Okay, let's take 10 minutes and write down your first money memory. Whatever pops into your head, just write it down.

Jen Paterson [00:15:39]:
No judgment, just whatever it is, let's put it on paper." And when they're going through it, they'll have these "A-ha" moments of, "Oh, my gosh, I do that now." Whether it's scarcity mindset, whether it's hoarding, overspending, it generally stems from those very early days of, how we're they taught about money. How was it discussed at the kitchen table? What did your parents teach you about money? What was your interpretation of what your parents were saying? Because sometimes it may not be what the parents are saying. It's just how their little 5-year-old brain interpreted and so then that's carried them through. I had this one client that came to me and she said, "Well, I really just want to be okay. I just want to get by.

Jen Paterson [00:16:23]:
I don't want to be a millionaire or anything." And I said, "Well, what's wrong with being a millionaire?" She's like, "Is that an option?" It's like, "What do you mean, is that an option?"

Amber Stitt [00:16:31]:
Gotta be comfortable with the bigger numbers. Then that becomes more normal, and then you can...I mean, 15 years ago there was some of that wherever, probably from my childhood. There was some stemming there that now that I've mapped that out, as I'm hearing you speak, for sure we don't really know what was completely ingrained, but taking a moment there, embrace some of those.

Jen Paterson [00:16:51]:
Yeah. And a lot of times it's these subconscious stories that we tell ourselves that are just...they're silent stories like a big one is, "I have to buy a house. I have to go to college." These things that you just feel like you're expected to do, whether you want to or not, whether it's the right move for you, or not. I have to have a job with a steady paycheck, because steady is stability. And stability is safety. And there's all of this juice that goes along with that that helps, because money is very practical, but it's also very emotional.

Jen Paterson [00:17:23]:
9 times out of 10 we don't make spending or financial decisions because of the practicality of it. We make it because of the emotions behind it. And so, digging into these things is so important. If you want to level up, if you are wanting to truly change your financial life and circumstances, then you got to dig into this stuff.

Amber Stitt [00:17:43]:
With your team at Dollar Divas, what are you doing to help clients today, but then in the long term, as well?

Jen Paterson [00:17:49]:
It's about setting habits. So I'm a big believer in habits because it's the thing that keeps us functioning as humans. If you think about the way you tie your shoes, if you think about the way you take a shower or the way you get dressed every morning, it's pure ingrained habit and that is what dictates your day to day. And your day to day is what's going to dictate your overall life as a whole. And so true, long-term financial stability, yes,

Jen Paterson [00:18:14]:
there's things we can do to talk about mindset and strategy, but if we're not also actively developing quality habits, all of the work that we're going to do is going to go out the window when we stop working together. Because unless you've got somebody sort of staring down and being accountable...

Amber Stitt [00:18:29]:
A yo-yo, diet, "Hey, we lost...great...see ya. See you later!"

Jen Paterson [00:18:33]:
And then you go back and do what you did before, and it all comes back on. And it's the exact same with our money. So it's not only about giving them the knowledge and creating these structures, but it's also ingraining the long-term habits. And so I've done a lot of reading and a lot of research on strategic habit formation and I've talked to a lot of my clients and I've worked with them on, "Okay, what is it that we want to create, and how are we going to weave that into what you're already doing so that it becomes easy?" There's a book that I read that...I don't say this lightly, but it's truly life changing. It really is. And it's called, "Tiny Habits". And the author's name is BJ Fogg, and he has dedicated his life to understanding how humans develop habits and how to create them. And so I've implemented his teachings, not only in my business, but also in my general life.

Jen Paterson [00:19:29]:
And it's just completely transformed the way that I see my day and the way that I see how my life has sort of turned out. And his whole thing is, if you can do it in less than 10 seconds, then that's something that you're going to be able to maintain. And I was like, "Hey, I got two kids and a dog and a crazy life.

Jen Paterson [00:19:47]:
I can make that work." And so he's about getting the habit started and celebrating the win when you start the habits. So when I'm working with my clients, I'll say...I'm a big fan of what I call the weekly power hour. And your weekly power hour is 1 hour a week where you're checking-in with your money, because if you're checking-in with it, you're aware of it. Just human nature being that you'll check-in with your finances, then they will improve because of awareness. You will be more aware of what's happening with your finances. You will catch those subscriptions that you forgot about. You'll catch money that you like,

Jen Paterson [00:20:21]:
"Oh, I really shouldn't have spent that money." And you'll learn those lessons and that stuff sticks. And so when we're talking about the power hour, I don't talk about what to do during the hour. Most people know what they need to do. What we talk about is how to start it. So we talk about what's something that you do that we can tack this onto, whether it's making your coffee in the morning or maybe it's something you do in the evening, maybe it's something you do midday where can we tack on a little bit extra that's getting you started to doing your money? Power hour. It's almost like being a little bit of a detective and like piecing through somebody's day or somebody's week and saying, "Where is the best place to put this?"

Amber Stitt [00:21:01]:
Kind of attach it into it.

Jen Paterson [00:21:03]:
You will do it every single time without fail. And then once we find the place, it's, "Okay, what are the things that's going to help it stick?" So one of the things that I use a lot is scent, because scent memory is so powerful. So I'll say, "Pick a smell that you have warm, fuzzy feelings about." So for me, it's citrus. I love the smell of citrus. And so every time I sit down...I'm trying to see if I have one here...I do, so I literally have a bottle of lemon essential oil, and I open it up.

Jen Paterson [00:21:33]:
I give it a sniff every time I do my money power. And it is so ingrained in me now that whenever I smell lemons, I'm like, "Oh, money!"

Amber Stitt [00:21:43]:
Yeah, yeah, let's go get some of that.

Jen Paterson [00:21:46]:
Right!

Amber Stitt [00:21:47]:
I did a...you didn't know I was going to say this but, I did an essential oils class up in where I live. We had a bunch of friends go, and there's a peppermint that can help with clarity and studying. There's some scents that match up to more clarity in your brain, but if you study with them and they show back up right before that test, it's like muscle memory. That sounds like the book that, and we'll link up the book, too, on the video, but it sounds like almost "Atomic Habits", too, where you're giving yourself these bite sized chunks, and it's not so overwhelming, but then you're training your brain over and over out of some of those potentially bad habits, or establishing new ones that are always just moving into positive and reinforcing that and keeping it consistent.

Jen Paterson [00:22:26]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:22:26]:
That's really cool.

Jen Paterson [00:22:27]:
Absolutely. Actually, you talk about that...so when I was in university, my dad told me, "When you study, pick a gum that you love, and chew it every time you study, and then bring it to your exams." And that worked. It helped bring back all of the stuff that I would study because it was something that I could bring into the exam space. There was no proctor that was gonna say, "Well, no, you can't chew gum." And so, I'd pick a specific flavor of gum, and I would religiously chew it every time I studied, and then I'd bring it to the exam. And I'm telling you, the scent is such a powerful memory tool.

Jen Paterson [00:23:03]:
It really is.

Amber Stitt [00:23:04]:
It's like in Arizona. We get through summer, and then it's September, October, and until October at Halloween, it doesn't feel right to have pumpkin anything because it's so hot here. But once you have that, you're like, "Okay, now it's cozy." It gives you that...you know? And we do that with our seasons. So that's really cool. Going back to that very beginning, sitting with the female, having that interaction at the bank. I work with a lot of females with Women in Insurance & Financial Services, and some other organizations that are part of the financial services world, and we talk about some of these things that we just allow ourselves to happen as females.

Amber Stitt [00:23:42]:
So let's kind of wrap it up with some takeaways just from your perspective. What are some of us allowing to happen to ourselves? Maybe some of us are not mothers. Maybe some of us are not entrepreneurs, but we're females. Maybe some of us never want to be entrepreneurs, or a parent. But bottom line, what are we allowing, from your perspective, to happen that's just not okay anymore and we gotta stop doing that?

Jen Paterson [00:24:05]:
Being talked down to. I do a lot of interviews, and I do a lot of podcasts. You know, it's across the board. And the number of times that I've been in an interview with a man, a male host. And they sort of go, "Well, isn't that cute?" You get the, "Well, why women?" Those questions like that, and they draw...

Amber Stitt [00:24:29]:
Cause we're gonna rule the world, and trillions of dollars are heading our way. No. Well, let's get some statistics if you really need that.

Jen Paterson [00:24:37]:
Exactly. And it makes me a little bit insane tolerating that kind of mentality. It's got to stop. And also, when you're in the meetings, not speaking up, just accepting that the person you're talking to doesn't respect you, and that's not okay, because what you have to say matters, your voice matters. And if you're in a situation with...I remember this very vividly. I was having a conversation with one of my clients who, she said, "Oh, it's tax season. I have to go see my accountant."

Jen Paterson [00:25:10]:
It was just...you could see the weight that was sitting on her shoulders. And I said, "Well, what's going on there? Why are you so intimidated by, or holding back seeing your accountant?" She said, "Well, I don't like him. He's not a very nice person." And I said, "Well, then why are you continuing to pay him?"

Amber Stitt [00:25:23]:
It's not the tax bill? It's the person?

Jen Paterson [00:25:26]:
And she said, "Well, I guess I've always done my taxes with him. And it was my dad's accountant." I was like, "That's great. There's a thousand accountants out there. Fire your accountant and go find someone who makes you feel good." And so continuing to give your business to people who make you feel small, and continuing to just accept that this is the norm, and it's not the norm. There are amazing financial providers out there who will not talk down to you, who will answer your questions without making you feel stupid, and who are excited to talk to you. And so, don't be afraid to fire your accountant if you don't like them.

Jen Paterson [00:26:02]:
Don't be afraid to speak up and have your voice heard and don't be afraid to ask the questions. And if somebody makes you feel bad for asking questions, then you need to leave and find somebody else.

Amber Stitt [00:26:10]:
Love that. Because we're just not advocating enough. And there's quite a movement we'll say in the last couple years for DEI and all of that. More feminist awareness, let's say. But I don't know that we're still giving ourselves where the confidence, like, just saying, "Go, speak up." Talk about money with your colleagues, or friends and really having that growth, leadership, it's, do what the guys are doing. It's okay to do that. And set yourself up for that raise. Have those questions asked.

Amber Stitt [00:26:38]:
Push for something.

Jen Paterson [00:26:40]:
Yeah. Talk to your girlfriends about money. You will not see men hesitate to have financial conversations in a social setting. Let's start as women bringing that to the table. We'll talk about literally everything else, all of the really very private, intimate details of our lives and bodies and things like that. No problem. But the minute finance comes to the table, everyone gets real quiet. And so be a leader, don't be afraid to bring up those conversations.

Jen Paterson [00:27:07]:
Ask your girlfriends, "How do you invest? What are your thoughts on...? I'm thinking about doing this. What are your thoughts on that? What's your experience with this?" Have those conversations, because it's only going to lift each other up. And the more we talk about it, the more we bring it out in the open, the better we're going to be as a whole.

Amber Stitt [00:27:24]:
Have those conversations. Stay motivated. And sometimes my girlfriends in my industry, sometimes we get a little jealous of each other in a good way. And we're like, "I want that, too!" And they're like, "Well, let's go get it!"

Jen Paterson [00:27:33]:
Yeah. And find those women who will be behind you and tell you to go and get it. Who will tell you to not be afraid to raise your rates, who will tell you, "Here's my person who's amazing, let me introduce you." These are the conversations that are going to just lift all of us, and that's what we need. We need to support each other, and we need to be kind to one another, and we need to stop being afraid to talk about the finances.

Amber Stitt [00:27:58]:
Yeah. Love that. Okay, so how do people find you? Let's tell everyone how to find you.

Jen Paterson [00:28:03]:
Absolutely. So you can find me on Instagram.com/jenpaterson.biz. I also host a weekly power hour on Friday mornings, Pacific time at 9:45 AM. And that is a place to come and talk about money. If you're a little bit intimidated and you don't know where to start, come join me Friday mornings at 9:45 on Zoom. We talk about money. We work together. We do a group power hour.

Jen Paterson [00:28:23]:
It's so much fun. It's an amazing, supportive community. So, that's a great place to find me. Or you can check out my website, www.DollarDivas.org.

Amber Stitt [00:28:31]:
Awesome. It's been so fun to hang out. I love all the takeaways.

Jen Paterson [00:28:34]:
Thank you.

Amber Stitt [00:28:35]:
So great to have you here today. So thank you so much. We'll see you soon. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Pathways. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, the blog, and so much more, please visit my website at: www.AmberStitt.com And remember, let's take action today! Thank you for listening!