144: Saving with Steve with Steve Sexton & guest Diana Bernal

0:00Everyone has their own unique views and needs when it comes to financial success. If you'd like to leave your financial woes behind and live a life of financial freedom, you've come to the right place. Welcome to the Saving with Steve's Show, hosted by Steve Sexton. The show will help you with the ins and outs of money. We talk about financial issues that can be costing you thousands of dollars and keeping you up at night. We talk about money, tax reduction, saving more, spending less, 401K's, risk management, retirement, and everything under the sun that relates to you having a healthier, happy relationship with money. Now here is your host of Saving with Steve, Steve Sexton on UK Health Radio. Hey folks, welcome to the Saving with Steve's Show. We talk about the ins and outs of money. Prevents everything under the sun relates to you having a happier, healthier relationship with money. My name is Steve Sexton. I want to thank you for joining us. Really want to thank you for sharing us with your friends and families. We're well over a million listeners here in the United States. We're well over a quarter million listeners over Saving. It's just wonderful that you keep sharing this with your friends and family.

1:03But folks, the topic of today's episode is financial freedom when you need a way out. There are many people listening today struggling and they feel stuck in a toxic workplace, unhealthy relationships, or just an unsustainable or unsustainable life situation. They're stressed. They feel they don't have control. They're feeling like they're a neutral. This is reason why we have Diana here. She's an executive coach, author, a career with intentions. She coaches professionals to show up with competence, overcome obstacles, accelerate their success. Diane inspires groups at conferences on topics around mindset, money, momentum, leading those participants with actionable strategies and ready to take actions and get ahead. The big thing here is Diana has a lot of experience guiding people just like you through career transitions into self-employment. We're going to ask her first after we welcome her to tell us about her experience because she's experienced what you want through as well.

2:03Diana, welcome to the show. We're really glad you're here. Excellent. Thank you, Steve. I'm excited to be here, too, because I was that person. I was frustrated. I was looking for something different and it can be hard to make a change, especially considering what's going on in your personal life. Here, I was a woman with kids, thinking about kids in college, aging parents, and the family responsibility that we have to think about, the impact of the finances on what we bring to the household. There's a lot of different things that play. I'm eager to unpack all of it and to hopefully give our listeners some ideas, some options for how to walk through it. I know that we have a lot to go through today, so let's just get through it. One of the big misconceptions or frustrations is the toxic workplace. A lot of people, they think, hey, if I stay with my one employer, they don't realize that could potentially be riskier than being self-employed. Let's just start right there. That's the kind of kind of worms in its own. Could you just share what people don't realize sticking with one employer?

3:07Yes, especially if you've had the idea to become self-employed. I'll explain it this way. Right now, if you have one employer, you have one client. You go to work every day serving that one client of your W2, your company. You and I see we are self-employed. We have a service industry. At any given time, we have, let's say, five, six or ten clients. We're always talking, perhaps, to two or three new potential clients. If one client leaves, we can replace it with another client. Think of it. If you are working for a company, you have one client. You can go from one to zero really fast. That's why I think the side hustle is a great way to start exploring these options and to be possibly ready for something that might be out of your control. Let's talk about that out of control side of part. Yes. What my father's 89 worked for a company for his one company, Whole Life.

4:09We're talking 35 years. We got a college, got married, worked for that same company, and then decided he didn't want to move to Georgia and decided to retire. Luck is guy in the world. But when that happened in the 80s, many companies were very important in them, but they didn't have to lay people off. They became a shift in the world of economics, in the world of business where the companies started realizing, you know, we don't have to go down with the shift. We can start laying people off and we can cut cause. We can do this and we've seen this over the last 20, 30, 40 years. And you know, you were sharing with me before we got started. You know what, hey, what happens with the people who worked at Salesforce for? So share that with everybody there so they can understand that. Yeah. And it's my own personal experience that I bring to this as well. My dad was laid off often when we, when I was younger. And so you think about that era in the 80s and 90s and he was a truck driver.

5:10So this is when they would lay you off and perhaps call you back a month or two. That's why some people went back to work a month or two later or not. So now we have more concrete layoffs where people's jobs are eliminated and that position is gone. And we were talking about Salesforce before we hop down that Salesforce is this big massive company that a lot of people here in California want to work for. But the reality is that they have already had two layoffs in less than a year. And they know the impact it has on their older employees. And I'll tell you why because for anyone who is 60 and older who worked at Salesforce and who was laid off, they gave them extra severance pay. They gave them extra co-breath health insurance so they know how hard it is to find a new job. So that's why when we talk about control, sometimes being self-employed can then give you a sense of control. Now, you have to be someone who's ready for it, who likes building a pipeline, who likes following up with the people. And you can ride out the uncertainty and risk that comes with being self-employed.

6:11But today's environment has almost as much uncertainty and risk. Even if you have a W2 job, then those of us who are self-employed. And it's really interesting. We hear about AI. And we heard about Microsoft, Amazon, and many companies like that. But those are big gigantic companies. But I have clients that are telling me about their kids. Right now, they're 35 years old. They've been working at the same business for about 10 years. And that business has now decided to cut a level of management. And start cutting certain people. And it doesn't matter how good or bad they are. It's just like, hey, we need to do this. And they want to be more nimble. So it doesn't matter. You've got to go. And it's not your fault. You didn't do a bad thing. It's just the way it is. Yes. Yes. And we saw a lot of the older millennials in their 35s and 40s. That's right. That's getting cut. Because if you've got some senior managers, they've got some experience. They've got some very explicit data institutional knowledge that you want.

7:12And the younger people are cheap. Let's be honest. Gen Z is cheap. So it's people around 35 who are getting cut. Yeah. And I have one other person. I'm just sharing this. This gentleman was in his 50s. He actually worked for Dell. And it's happened a few years ago, where they decided to cut things. And his income was a significant income, multiple six-figure income. But basically, they re-hired him for a little more than half of that. Because he asked me, he asked himself and says, you know what? I don't need that much. I just need a few more years of this before I retire, which is great. But basically, at the end of the day, they're looking at cutting salaries. And they're looking at cutting that over. They've got a lot of costs that go along with cutting people. Yeah. And that's why it can be so hard for anyone who's in their 40s or 50s. If you do have kids, maybe you have a mortgage, maybe you have aging parents to think about. These are really tough decisions. And so a side hustle and perhaps being self-employed might be your best hedge against what's happening in corporate America. Mm-hmm. So let's start talking about the mindset.

8:12Oh, yes. Somebody is necessary to do that side hustle. Mm-hmm. You know what? Before you get into that, when should somebody start looking into doing a side hustle? Well, if they're listening right now, that could be a sign. That could be a sign. I mean, there's a lot of different elements to take into consideration. If you're bored at work, if you are tired of being moved around in your industry, if you see the riding on the wall, or maybe you're just curious, there's lots of reasons to consider a side hustle. So I think that's the most important part is to figure out why do you want to do a side hustle. There are a lot of people who bake or do flour, ranging on the side because it brings them joy. And it brings them a little bit of extra money. That's fine. But you've got to figure out why you want to do it, because the mindset to be self-employed means that you have to be comfortable with the uncertainty and risk. You have to know when to delegate, when to hire a bookkeeper, when to hire someone to do your website and your social media. And you have to be someone who is willing to iterate time and time again. Because I don't know about you, Steve, but when I started out being self-employed,

9:14I had a different website. I had a different name. And my offering was a little different and it evolved. And I had to be open to letting it evolve. And I had to listen to what the market was telling me. Oh, yeah. You're definitely going to have to listen to the market. Yeah. Because the world changes. And quite frankly, that's the reason why many companies, because the world changes, economics change. That's the reason why many companies are restructuring their way they operate, the people that work there, they look for new talent in certain areas and they cut old talent. Because, hey, we want to move in this direction. And that's just changing worlds of economics. So, and we've seen a lot of that recently with AI. I mean, I think people need to really think about this. When the ex we all hear about the ex ex-self spreadsheet. OK? Yes, the example. It didn't it didn't bury the accountant, right? No, it didn't bury the accountant, but it buried all those people who filled out all the balance sheets and stuff like that by hand or by a tie-brader. They didn't need as many.

10:15So, a few left, but it didn't bury the accountant. Right. And my own experience, I can use that for sure. Because when I first started doing career coaching, I did it because a lot of women were coming to me. I worked in nonprofit, which is very female-dominated. And, you know, we were all just trying to figure it out. And we were doing well. We were making six figures and maybe multiple six figures. But, you know what? When I studied career coaching, this was before AI was in everyone's hands. I could work with people on resume writing or giving them some interview skills, feedback, right? But today, you and I are talking in 2026. The young people are happy to use an AI platform to get their resume redone, to even practice their interview skills. So, that level of the market, they don't need me. And I don't, that's not where I'm going to serve. So, then as I was an executive woman too, I thought, aha, I'm going to focus on the executive women because Chachy-P-T has never been laid off. Chachy-P-T doesn't have to worry about different colleges and the different marital harmony that they're trying to achieve.

11:17So, a lot of the women who come to me are more executive. They are more accomplished because they do want that personalized experience that human touch. That's perfect. Hey folks, stick with us. We're going to be right back with more Diana Bernal. And we're going to be talking about making this change to stick with us. We're right back with more saving with Steve. More expert advice for having a happier relationship with money still to come on the Saving with Steve show on UK Health Radio. UK Health Radio. This station makes you feel good. Good. Welcome back to the show that is here to help you achieve your financial goals. It's the Saving with Steve's show. Now here's your host, Steve Sexton, on UK Health Radio.

12:17Hey folks, welcome back to the Saving with Steve's show. I truly want to thank you for sharing this with your friends, families, and associates, all the replays are available on Saving with Steve. US. If you're enjoying the stories of health, insight on information on Saving with Steve, I encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel. So you never miss a show. Check out a few of our fields at UK Health Radio, BBS Radio and Talk Radio in New York City, E360 TV, Las Vegas TV networks. All these networks are dedicated to empowering you to solve problems up in your spirit and live a life of personal financial freedom. Hey, you can also follow us on the Facebook page at Saving with Steve Sexton. There's an insider's club. You can get the replays, excuses, gifts, all the little handouts that we provide, all the little information that many of you are wonderful guests provide us, so you can get the resource you need to help you out. So with that, let's get back to Diana and let's start talking more about how do we make a transition? Is a side hustle good for you? So let's start talking about a side hustle. Yes.

13:18Yes. You alluded to it with people baking and doing little things and crafts and things like that. But when somebody's looking at a side hustle as a transition or that stopgap, if something happens at the office, what should they be looking at? How should they be looking at it? That would be like, what's kind of the mindset, the lens that they should be looking at to, at that. Sorry. Yeah, where they should start, where they should start. Well, I always say start where you are with what you are good at. So for instance, if I wanted to do a side hustle, I was not going to bake cookies. I was not going to open a flower shop or do yoga. What I was going to do is what people were already coming to me for. Like I said, I worked at the University of Southern California where we had so many women, we had so many fundraisers and we had developed this little network and I had become known to other women like, oh, you should talk to Diana. So women were asking me questions about work and life, about how to manage their schedules and things like that. I always carried that with me. And even after I left USC, it was like, well, people are still coming to me for this.

14:22So this is something I'm going to test. So because I was kind of evangelical, I'm someone who made a career transition early in my life, I really wanted other people to find that type of fulfillment. So I started helping people on the side. And then I started to realize, okay, will someone pay for this? And how much will they pay? Because it's one thing if it is bringing in money, but is it profitable? So you've got to think through what you're good at, what people already come to you for, and what is of interest to you. So this was a combination of like, I still love working in business, I love working with other women. And I had this skill set of being able to help women find the next step in their career, not just the resume writing and the applying for jobs, but really trying to figure out what is important to them. You know, we always hear about like, what's your why? And a lot of people work at these companies because they're like, well, I make money, I have benefits and that's what I need. That's not going to serve you if they lay you off tomorrow and you will feel so dejected. If you spent, you know, 10 years with this company and you got laid off with everybody else,

15:23this puts a little bit of control back into your hands. And the side hustle can also be that nice. Like you said, the sort of that temporary runway, it's really important to have a financial cushion period. Full stop. You're right. No matter who you are, no matter where you work, you always need a financial cushion. But if you have a little side hustle and you do get light off, then this might be a way to bring in some money. That way you can take the time to look for what you really want and you don't have to settle. So that is one of the things that that side hustle can do. But I always ask people to look at the combination of their scales and their interests and where they want to be and then testing the waters. And that's the beautiful thing. If you are fully employed now and you want to get out, but you're feeling stuck, let's test the waters on the side and see what happens and see if there is potential in your idea. Okay. So that's a great question. And it's interesting that many people ask, how do you determine profitability for a business? Yes. Yes. I've got a good 30, 35 emails.

16:24It's so, you know what? I've been doing this. I love it. I make money, but I'm not sure if I'm profitable. And that's telling me and probably you a few things. And I was just curious if you can expand on that. How does somebody figure out if things are profitable? Yeah. Well, I use a bookkeeper. First of all, I am not a person doing it. So you have to just really look at the revenue that you're bringing in and the expenses against that. And then how sustainable is this? It's one thing to be barely profitable to cover your costs and a dollar, right? But is this sustainable for the life that you want to lead? So in my case, I use a bookkeeper. And this is one of the things that when you become self-employed, you got to figure out the different arsenal of people that you need around you. Maybe you need a social media or marketing person. One of the first people I hired was a bookkeeper. So that way I could track those monthly financials and then actually make some projections. I was just doing that this week because we have just finished when you and I were talking the first half of 2026. Like, okay, this is the money I've made this year. What are my projections for the rest of the year? Because your mom or your sister paying you to do that thing is not the same as a stranger

17:29paying you. So you don't just have to be profitable. You have to figure out what rates can you charge? What can you charge for this thing? And keep moving it up and testing the waters and doing your research. How much are other people paying financial services or executive coaching? Or how much are other people paying for flower arranging or bake rates? You have so much research available to you online that your first stop can be right there. And then the follow up to that is how long should I be grinding until I make a profit? Ooh, that could vary for everyone. You know, usually I think two years is an minimum that I've heard for other people. And then as an executive coach, I talk to other female coaches. A lot of them don't even hit their stride really until four or five years. You know, I also am someone who works a lot with the Latino community. And last year, 2025, I did a lot of women's groups and Latino speaking groups. But guess what? There have been changes in our business environment that companies cannot spend money on things

18:29that are ethnic or that it's specifically call out women. So that dried up. So now I have to replace that with new revenue. So I think you always have to allow a few years to find your stride, like you say. But you always have to remember that you're pivoting along the way. Because when I first started, I had this podcast called Job Talk Weekly. And I thought I was going to serve everyone. But you know, we have to niche down. We have to serve a community. And since I've worked with so many women, that then became my niche. But it's so tempting in the beginning because you want to make money. You want to serve everyone, right? But then becomes a reality that if you serve everyone, you serve no one. So because I'm so effective working with other working women who I've been in their shoes, then I can really appeal to that market and really help them. I have had male clients. That's not a problem. But just knowing where I'm going to show up to build that audience is really helpful. I think that's so important because a lot of people don't realize the demographics of your clients. Let's think about it. Let's say, for example, in your situation, 95.7% of your clients are female.

19:343.3 are male. So males are probably referred by somebody else. That's why you're getting them because that's your focus. So if you apply that to somebody else's business, they're like, where are you actually getting the business from? You can be way out here. But now you're focused on this little tube. And that fun will make it work providing you focus every effort and every dollar there. You will turn that engine into a grow bigger and bigger. Am I correct in that? Yes. And what I would also say to people, if you're doing anything service, like me or Steve here, you really are going to make your money from referrals from your network, not from a fancy website. I have a website. I know we'll give it up at the end and people can find me there. But most people that I serve, they've seen me speak at a conference, or they've been referred to me by somebody else. And if you're launching a product, an app, sure, you want to make sure that you have the right website and the right name. But if you want to test out a service, just go do it. Just start doing it. Don't worry about the website. Don't worry about the LLC. Test the waters if someone will pay you to do that thing.

20:34Mm-hmm. Oh, I totally agree. I totally agree. It is funny for the show, the demographics of the people who listen are people who have some means. So all the little things for $25 or $35, every time there's doesn't work here. But if you're in a cellar motor home, you're good. So I totally get that. With Diana Bernal, we've been talking about making that transition. One of the things that we do want to talk about first, and I just thought of this again, is many people will, hey, they'll get an LLC or they don't even know what they're doing. Or people think that they can just start this business and the money's going to flow in because they had one positive experience. So let's talk about those misconceptions and misunderstand right up front. So people go, oh my God, I was thinking that way and I need to think this way. Yes, yes. And I was really lucky. I used the small business development corporation. I don't know if you've talked about that on your show before, but these are free services.

21:37These are your taxpayer dollars at work. The SBDC partners usually with community colleges. And you can get access to a lawyer. You can get access to a business manager to get just some general advice. Because yes, the first thing people will say is, well, I got an LLC and I got my website and I'm like, well, what are you making? Does anyone care? Does anyone get a buy it? Sometimes people will spend money on the website and their logo and branding. It's like, okay, let's just try and sell the thing first and figure it out. That's why in the book, I tell people to journal a lot. What is that thing you keep coming back to? Because building a business is hard. So it's got to be something that you are passionate about. And I get it. Listeners, they're stuck. They're in bad environments. And you want to make a move. You've got to figure out why do you want to make that move? And then how are you going to get there? And being self-employed could be one of those options. But you just got to think it through. And what is that one guiding force taking you through to that business? Again, I had worked with women. I was that woman who was making these career changes.

22:37And I had to take into consideration my family and my husband and the house and everything. But because I put front and center my own happiness and what I knew I was good at, it was okay. It was time. It was time for me to make a change. And I think that's another thing that I will ask people to think about. What is that thing that you have been thinking about for years? I thought about career coaching years ago. And then, you know what happened? I got pregnant. I got pregnant so life changed, right? But I always thought about it. I was an HR director early in my career. I have a master's in human resource. And I just loved helping people find that fulfillment. And whatever it was that filled them up to create that career that was good for them. Because if you're happy, everyone else around you is going to be happy. Does it mean that you have to make some changes financially? Maybe, but maybe not. There are a lot of self-employed people. And I don't know if you have this appellate, but a lot of people will say, I wish I would have done this sooner. But you got to think through what you are good at, what people will actually pay you to do, and where is the profit?

23:38You know what? I've actually heard that many, many times from people in their mid to late 30s, early 40s, where they had made that transition. They were, you know, a senior manager or a senior manager to company killing themselves. Come and appreciate them. They just had to get it done. Yeah. And they made that transition. And they started realizing, you know what? I'm making twice as much money as I did before. I have less stress. I don't work as much. My wife loves me again. And you know, here I am. And like I get to see my kids. This is cool. Yes. Have no, they never realized how great it could be. And in it, you know what? They're just like, God, I wish I had done this right at the beginning because life would have been so much easier. And I was going to say, let me talk about the impact on the kids. Because if you're talking about Gen Z or that next Gen, these young, these 10 year olds, these teenagers, they see us now. They see us self-employed. My kids are in college and barely out of college. They see me self-employed. So they know there are different options. I mean, when I was out there working, they saw me travel. I traveled all over the world for work.

24:40So they saw a different version than, you know, Mrs. Brady at home. And I'm okay with that. And they were okay with that. And one of my kids once said to me, Mom, you know, no offense, but I don't want my can office job. I was like, that's fine. Like, I know that their lives are going to be so different. And this we know. And you and I just touched on AI. And I know you had an episode a while back about AI as well. The young people today are going to have a multi-high-finite career. We have no idea what their careers are going to be like. So why not model for them? The type of behavior where they can test different things. And yeah, I do executive coaching. I still have some fundraising clients. You know, so I have a variety of things that I enjoy doing and that work for me. I think that's really important for people to understand. You never know until you make that transition of really how, you know, I'm just going to say you don't know until you get there. But when you've been killing yourself for somebody else, for a paycheck, and then you make that transition and you really thought it through and did a good job of it, you know,

25:40what it's great. I'm just going to say I basically left the corporate world after being essentially downsized because I wasn't part of the click, so to speak. And you know what? I was like, okay, I'm not going to do this again. So I went in on them. I knew that I was going to go on on my own and that was it. And it's been great ever since. And I want to tell you my aha moment, okay, was the bunnies. I worked at this beautiful space. Hear me out where you know, we're here on Southern California. We're taught during the day. But when it cools off at 630 or 7, the bunnies would come out. And I said to another coworker, I'm like, oh, did you see the bunnies? They're like, we don't see bunnies. And I thought to myself, I am the only one who sees bunnies because I'm the only one who's working until 7 o'clock at night that had to stop. If you know the cleaning people, because you are working so late and you're the only one and if it's not serving you, if you're working late and it's really serving you, aim into that. But if you're frustrated and you want to figure something else out, don't wait any longer. At least start thinking about it.

26:41And then try to hold yourself accountable, have an accountability partner. Or some people do work with a coach. But just start asking yourself, what is working for me and what's not? You know, the funny thing is, was it, I was probably, it was a 45-mile drive from where I worked through the house, but the problem went traffic. It didn't turn into two hours depending on the time I'd leave. Yeah. So, I worked, I would call my wife, my new wife at that time at about 630 and said, hey, I'm on my way home. But some would pop up and then I'd have to call her a little bit later and say, I'm leaving and it'd be like night. And then, so, you know how that goes if you were in the house. That doesn't work at all. And then, finally, just got to the point where like, hey, you know what, you just need to call me when you've left the building. Yeah. You know, it can be so tough and then that drive home, you know, especially those of us who are in California when I used to drive home from USC, which has a lot of great perks and benefits. But if it was raining, it would take longer. And there was a moment when I had to actually sit in the driveway and I did the same thing. I called my husband and I said, I'm here.

27:43I'm outside, but traffic was hell and I need a minute before I come in. And I don't know about you, but I don't have time to waste on those types of minutes anymore. Oh, yeah. No, I used to work at Figaro and Adams and I would drive back to Huntington Beach. So depending on the time of the day or the week and it could be 45 minutes to two hours depending on how stupid somebody was driving. But you know, you lived it. Yeah. But so let's start talking about, and this is probably going to take more time than I expect, but communicating to styles, family, this is a big thing, especially when people get set into their roles of the family life of working and doing that and you know, all that type of stuff. So communicating it to a family. Yeah. Yeah. We could actually unpack this all week, but I'll try and be concise because there's a couple of different things to think about. One thing that I do mention in the book, I'm like, if you are exploring something new, you might want to keep it to yourself for a minute. I used the example of when I first gave birth and I was so healthy and I was doing yoga

28:45and I was in the best shape of my life when I had my first daughter. And I wanted to then open a yoga shop and I wanted to do all that stuff that a lot of new moms want to do. And then five weeks later, I was like, no, that's crazy. That's not me. So sometimes we have to keep some of the ideas. I thought it was good to brainstorm to like think through everything that you might do and then bring it down a little bit to reality. And only then after you're thinking of doing some research, is it time to start talking to that next person. Maybe it's a friend before it's your partner, right? Maybe it's a sibling because you have to think through the identity. If you've always been a lawyer, what does that mean that you want to give that up and do something else? There's the guilt associated with how much money you might have spent building that career, going to grad school, who else paid for it? Did your spouse pay for it? Those are things that we have to really think through. And what else that might mean in the family? If you were the first in the family to have a corporate job, if you were the first in the family to go to college and then you say, okay, now I'm going to do something else, there's a lot that can be tied up there. But if you again are journaling on why you're doing it, what's important to you and the

29:50impact this is going to have for you and your family, then you can be ready to have those conversations. And for women, it is a lot harder these days because we are bringing so much more to the table financially than we did 30 years ago. The number of women who are primary breadwinners has tripled since the 1970s. It's still less than 20%, but it's still sizable. And so what does that have on the family dynamic, anything that we contribute to the household? And that can also just mean the flexibility that's moms are the one who are taking out a little bit more of family care, even though both partners work, but maybe we're the ones picking up the kid or remember the ones traveling to go check in on mom. So we really have to think through, okay, what are the different things that we can do to solve for that? So who else can pick up the kids? Who else can check on mom? Because if we ask, you'd be surprised, people are like, oh, yeah, I can help you do that. You're sibling might be able to pick up and do some of those things, but you have to be really centered on like, this is the right time. I don't want to put this off any longer.

30:51I have been thinking about this for five years, for 10 years, because I don't want you to retire with regret. And that's kind of like the opener of my book is that I'm here to help prevent regret, because when you're 65, 70 looking back and been like, what if, what if I would have done that thing? What if I would have, you know, moved to the beach? What happens if I would have had my own business? What happens if I would have done X, Y or Z? So we want to at least give you the tools to try something. And then if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Just you know you have tried, but being really centered on what you want to do and why will help you put everything else into place. It always helps if you have some sort of plan and work through that plan. So everybody knows that plan. Yes. When you step on there, you're just adding more stress. Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. And have a plan. And in the pages of the book, there are action plans. Look, we use people use Monday. They use notion. They use whatever little project manager or sometimes just a good old fashioned Excel spreadsheet. But I find it helpful to have accountability. And that's where sometimes we can get lost.

31:52We have an idea. We're driving home and we're like, you know what? I've always thought about working there or I've always thought about moving up to San Francisco. But then the idea goes away because there's no one else holding us accountable. So find one friend in your group. You know, someone that you can talk to, you know, I have my friend that actually she and I are having dinner next week to talk about business plan to point out because we're both working women and we need someone else to talk to. And now that I have her, I'm like, okay, I got to finish these things so that way I can keep going. And I think an accountability partner is key. Whoever that person is, someone who's not too nice, but they're going to let you off the hook all the time and say, oh, no, big deal. Let's just go drink margaritas and we'll worry about the plan next time. But you know, once I'm on also that's too tough, like, you know, that tough big sister who's like, yeah, you shouldn't have done that. See why are we doing that? You don't want that critic. You want someone middle of the road who can just sort of reflect back to you with happening. That's wonderful folks to stick with us. We're back with more saving with Steve. More expert advice for having a happier relationship with money still to come on the

32:52saving with Steve show on UK Health Radio. Welcome back to the show that is here to help you achieve your financial goals. It's the saving with Steve show. Now here's your host, Steve Sexton on UK Health Radio. Folks, welcome back to the saving with Steve show. We're talking about the ins and outs of money. Pretty much everything in the sun that relates to you having a happier, healthy relationship with money. All the replays are available on saving with Steve dot us. If you're enjoying the stories of helpful insight, information on saving with Steve, I encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel. So you never miss a show.

33:52Check out a few of our fields at UK Health Radio, BBS Radio, Talk Radio in New York City, E36CTV, Las Vegas TV Network, AMFM247, all these networks are dedicated to empowering you to solve problems up with your spirit and a live a life of personal financial freedom. I want to get right back to Diane here. This has just been like wonderful, big a haze. I know we've got more to come. So let's start talking about, first of all, I love this, the unexpected surprises. Well, you know, that things that happen to people who are self-employed. What are those surprises? Well, one thing that might happen to you, especially if you're in a service like again, you're selling flowers or financial services or in my case career coaching, you would be surprised at the people who say they're going to follow up, they say they're going to hire your service and then they disappear. You would be amazed at the people, like some of the contracts, I came this close to signing a contract with a really good old friend and then radio silence. So some people are eager, but it's just not the right time and you will be surprised by that.

34:53You will then be surprised about the people who find you. Like I didn't know about Steve and he didn't know about me and so now we have connected. But those people will show up unexpectedly, which is a good thing. And then I think being able to know that how you start is not necessarily how you finish. And so you need to be really open to how you're going to evolve your business. And again, don't worry about the LLC, don't worry so much about a website and logo and colors, really just focus on what it is that you want to create and really be willing to pivot and then keep testing the waters. Because again, you might realize, you know what, this isn't for me and that's okay, we'd rather have you try it. So I think some of the things that surprised me were, you know, how much like a logo and colors, they're nice, but they're not really the key essential to what I'm producing. So for me, it's referrals, it's networking. And things always take longer than you think. You asked earlier, see how long it takes to get something going and you know, two to five years is a wide range, but it's true. These contracts take so much longer.

35:55You know, someone takes a look at it and someone else wants to chime in. So things will surprise you in how long they take. But you have resources, you can get anything available to you right now, pretty cheaply or freely on the internet as far as like contracts, you know, insurance I haven't thought about, you know, we need work insurance. So there's just little things like that that come along the way. So one of the things that I recommend to people, if you do want to go out on your own, go ahead and find someone who has done it, who is a few years ahead of you. And don't worry, there's enough to go around. There are plenty of executive coaches. And Steve, I know there are plenty of financial consultants, but you know, we only need one, right? So people will find you if they are attracted to you by the service that you offer and the personality and how you speak, that's okay. So if you have a little bit of time to spend with someone who's coming up, then that's what we need to do to make sure that everyone has a good experience. I think that it was wonderful that you talked about, you know what, you might have come across a friend and you know, I call it's being ghosted is what it really is in the nice

36:57term, but that happens. And that's one of the reasons why you develop a funnel of people coming in. And you know what, when you start seeing some regular trends with that funnel and you see it in service businesses where you say, you know what, I'm bringing in 35 new people in this funnel every single month. And I found out out of those 35 people, four will become clients. And I'm thinking of that. And I was four, I'm going to be profitable with them because they meet all my criteria. I meet all their criteria and I'm going to have a wonderful relationship. And you know what, if I create this relationship out of every 40 people, I'm going to have one person who's going to be a connector. And then what a connector is, somebody who knows other people loves what you do and becomes an advocate for you. Yeah. You know what, there goes your word of mouth and you start getting your referrals and you know if you continue to work down that line, that line, you're going to be a larger and larger business to the point where you're profitable because you know what's going on. And I think that's the reason why people need to talk to you.

37:57The people who are experiencing the things that you can help or you know are looking for that type of service. So you know what, I'm just saying that what you're talking about is really creating a suitable funnel that fits your life, providing you to certain things. Yeah. And don't be afraid to do what you were doing for a while until this other thing picks up. You know, I mentioned that I was a fundraiser for many years and I still have fundraising clients. So if you're an accountant, you didn't still do accounting or tax prep on the side while you build up that other business or maybe that is the business you want to build up. Sometimes we just get so frustrated because we don't like the company. We don't like the boss. So we say, forget it. I don't want to be on the accountant anymore. Maybe you just want to be on account and someplace else. And that's a deep dive that people need to do first. Maybe you're just at the wrong place. You have the wrong boss. You have the wrong people around you. And I see that happen a lot again using the account as an example that maybe it's just the wrong place for you in the downtown skyscraper. But everyone's going into the office anymore and you don't want to. So maybe you find a job closer to home with more flexibility, but you're still doing something

39:01that you are good at. So explore what you do first before you launch out into anything really big or really different. Yeah. I'm just remembering a conversation I had with the gentleman that was introduced to me when I was very frustrated with what was going on with the company that I had worked for that, you know, I left it. And he just said he was actually a very well known political consultant type guy. And he just says he goes, what do you love about it? What do you not like about it? Why do you not like that? What would you need to do to in order to get to where you wanted to go there? Yeah. The answer was like, I don't want to go there. And he goes, okay. Now that's he there's your answer. He just said, why, why, why? And then he said, okay, there's your answer. And I mean, it was about four or five, my, my, my, my why answering. And I just decided I don't want to go there anymore. And, and then, and then he says he goes, I actually told him I go, I'm not a political guy.

40:03I want to go to politics. And he goes, you don't have to go into politics. You just got to figure out what you love to do and how you like to, you know, what are the things that he just started going through? Hey, do you, what do you like to do this? What do you like to do here? Why do you like to do that? I just got to the point where there's an inventory of things that I could do really, really well that I love to do. And I was energized by doing that. That's the reason I went into the vein that I went into in the self-employment world. And I just say, Hey, if you can find somebody who will be honest, honest enough with you, a good friend that'll ask you questions, call you on your stuff. Nice. Yeah. Not a backhanded slap stuff, but you can really find out what makes your life different. And it's okay. You have to give yourself permission to say, I don't want that anymore. And that's why, you know, I talk about this too in my newsletter and in my book that, you know, I think years ago, I would have thought I'm going to be the senior vice president of a big nonprofit. I'm going to be the chief fundraiser. And then a couple of years later, I was like, I do not want to be the senior vice president.

41:04Like I don't want that anymore. And that was okay. I wanted it a long time ago. And then as I got really close to it, I was like, there are other things that I want for me that are more important. It's great for other people. That's fine for other folks want to do it. But I finally had to give myself that permission. Like I want to do something a little different. Yeah, I had a friend, a real good friend who basically he was the CEO for multiple companies, but for owners. And he just said he goes, I'm never going to own it. I'm usually going to transition off to one of the kids in 10 or 12 years if that's what goes on. And that's what made him go, you know what? I want to own it. Yeah. I just want to own it. And basically the odd thing is he just said, buy everything. And then he went and developed, he took him about six months to figure out what he's going to do. And then develop his own business. He was lucky to have the cushion and all that stuff. But, you know, it was very interesting. So if somebody, just I would like to reiterate this, if somebody's looking to move, make

42:04that move today, what's the first thing they need to do now? Like what's the first three things? And then I'd like to give out your information. And thank you for being here. This has been wonderful. I'm just like, all over the place. Okay. So if someone's working in a company job and they're frustrated and they want to leave, first I would make sure have you explored all options at that company. Sometimes it's just a matter of working for a different person or a different department. Then, okay, companies all back. Got to leave. All right. Then can you do it someplace else? Right? Can you be in the account for a different company? But then third, okay, you really want something different. And what does that look like? And then that's where you kind of have to do the work as we say. You know, look at that combination of skills, interest and place. What are the good skills that come, things that come easy to you? And what are your interests? So where can you do it? So let's say you are an accountant and you have good number of skills, but your interests are performing arts. And so maybe you don't have to be an accountant for a downtown firm anymore. Maybe you can work for a performing arts center or an orchestra.

43:04And then really think through place because we don't give enough credit to the geography of where we live because we get a job out of college, we get recruited and we go where they tell us to go. So think through, is this still the right place that I want to work or the place, the city that I want to live in and work? And then start figuring out what is that next thing? So again, journal on the interests that you have, the skills that you have. What do people always come to you for and then develop your plan? And that's why career with intention has a six week framework to help people move through that. Find whatever framework works for you. But just keep asking yourself the questions, what are my good at and how do I want to spend my days? Because you still got a lot of time left out there and we want you to enjoy what you do while you're doing it. That's wonderful. Hey, Diana, I want to thank you for being here. This has been just outstanding. Could you share your website so that people need your help? They can connect with you. I appreciate that. Find me at two places. The website is Diana Inc, which is pretty simple, Diana Inc.com. You can sign up for my newsletter there to stay up to date on what's happening.

44:07And then you can also find me on LinkedIn, Diana Bernel, where I post different things and different events and opportunities where I will be speaking. So again, the website is Diana Inc. And thank you, Steve. It's really been great pleasure. This has been wonderful. You're great. Hey folks, I want to thank you for joining us today on saving with Steve. You know what? Look forward to seeing you next time. Be safe, be healthy, right here on saving with Steve. Bye. Thank you for joining us on the saving with Steve's show, hosted by Steve Sexton on UK Health Radio. To learn more about the show and how to become a guest or sponsor, visit savingwithsteve.us that's savingwithsteve.us. Join us again next time as we continue to talk about everything under the sun that relates to you having a healthier, happier relationship with money. This has been the saving with Steve's show, hosted by Steve Sexton on UK Health Radio.