This Week’s Reads
Some of you have read in my other articles or on my social media, that I have been working on my daily rituals to improve my life. One of those daily rituals has been starting my day with 30 minutes of non-news, non-fiction reading, usually after my meditation, so that my mind is ready to absorb all that I am taking in.
One of the first things that I implore of people that I mentor or my consulting clients, is to “take notes”. The physical act of writing even the smallest of anchor points of what we are talking about helps preserve the lesson in your mind. I decided that I needed to be better about practicing what I preach, especially as it relates to what I am reading. This means I can more easily call on the wisdom of others when I am working with clients and people that I am mentoring, writing, or giving presentations. As I started making a conscious effort of note taking, I realized it would be a great first attempt at a regular weekly post… I will warn you, my reading topics are all over the place — money, writing, sexuality, marketing, social justice… you name it, I read about it. So without any further ado — here is some of what I read this week and my thoughts/take-aways on each piece.
Monday — August 10
10 Bizarre Money Habits Making Millennials Richer by Anna Davies for Refinery29 UK
So first off, don’t let the title fool you… these money saving habits submitted by readers is not just for millennials. Quite frankly, most of them are tried and true methods of tricking yourself into saving that our parents and grandparents have also tried a form of… including freezing your credit card in a block of ice in the freezer (this method doesn’t work for me, because auto-fill is a thing for me). But some of the techniques really are interesting — things like paying yourself for social media posts. This is an interesting concept, because it reminds you that social media work is work. Keeping up a brand, be it personal or professional is a job, and you deserve to get paid for it… even if it is by yourself. One of the others that I thought was interesting was “be your own bartender”. The submitter says that they have an “on your honor” system and a price list on their refrigerator — they charge themselves a certain amount for various beverages — not only does it help cut down on things they are trying to cut down on (soda, beer, wine, etc) but also acts as a savings account.
I think that if a gimmick helps you save your money for a goal you have set, then by all means, get your gimmick. For me, I have trouble sticking to a gimmick. Frozen cards, I will just auto-fill (or memorize), paying myself for beverages — I would run up a tab so fast, you get the idea… but I am fascinated by this idea of paying myself for social media posts. I might give that a go — especially if the posts are supporting one of my business ventures.
Tuesday — August 11
Create a Contingency Plan For the Days When Writing is a Real Bastard by Shaunta Grimes
Unrelated to this particular article, Shaunta’s Ninja Writers group is actually what started me on my writing journey... I went through a multi-week bootcamp that she offers, while working on a book. Since then, I have been consistently reading her newsletters, Medium posts, and perusing her class list. I don’t get any kick-backs here, but I will tell you, I think her program is pretty incredible and you should consider it if you have a book idea percolating in your brain.
Most writers will tell you that if you want to be a writer, then you need to write. Sit down every day and write something. This has been my goal since I took my first course with Shaunta. I am not always successful, because life has a way of getting in the way. This article addresses exactly that. My goal is 30 minutes a day of writing, 5 days a week — but running a couple businesses, working full time, going through a divorce, and buying a house, all have a way of encroaching on that time. So I miss a day, and a day turns to two, and two turns to a week, and I struggle getting back on the train. Shaunta’s advice is to be flexible with your goals and gentle to yourself. Most of us get to our writing time goals by building up to them, so when life hands you a shit sandwich, it is ok to dial those goals back. Even if it means you are only writing for 5 minutes instead of 30, or 2 days instead of 5, write something. Anything.
The Simple Math Behind Starting A Side Hustle by Tom Blake
So, I have to say, I was blown away by what I learned in this article. Enough so that I book marked it and have referenced it no fewer than 4 times already this week when talking to friends and clients. Tom breaks down compound interest in a way that I have literally never considered.
Money is NOT my strong suit… I grew up without it, which meant I was prone to debt as an adult. So what I knew about compound interest was how it could screw you on debt. I had never considered the opposite — what happens when my money compounds on itself. Tom takes the concept of making $50/month from a side hustle and just dropping it in a low risk savings option with a conservative return of 5%. Even in my slowest months, my makeup line definitely brings me in $50 a month… so $50/month for 20 years, with interest compounded annually, at a 5% growth rate ends with more than $20k. Just off a small side hustle.
Great advice Tom!
Wednesday — August 12
12 Self-Care Tips I Wish I’d Known About Earlier by Sinem Günel
Medium is full of self-care tips… but what I liked about this piece from Sinem is that it is one of the first collections of almost all of the tips that I use in my everyday life. I bookmarked this article, because it is an easy place to point people when they are looking for some basic jump off points of how to better care for yourself. These tips aren’t ground-breaking, but they are something that most of us need to be reminded of, sometimes often. I include some of the tips in this piece on my vision board as a constant reminder to focus on them. The biggest for me — “Don’t speak poorly of yourself”. I am the WORST about self-deprecation. Cut that shit out. You are literally giving other people subconscious permission to treat you the same way. You deserve better.
Thursday — August 13
Who Really Wants to Make $25K a Month? by Shannon Ashley
This article struck a chord with me. Shannon Ashley is very real about her background, which I DEEPLY identified with, as she was responding to an article by Tim Denning, where he posits that making $25k/month as a writer really wouldn’t change your life. Shannon points out, and I agree, that Tim made some very important points in his original article, but to say that $25k/month would not change someone’s life is out of touch at best. To quote Shannon — “It might not be a popular message, but money can change your life for the better when you’ve had too little for too long.”
But the real gem in this article for me, was that Shannon went on to actually list the ways that that kind of money could impact the life of her and her family. It made me sit down and really think about the things I could change in my life with the right amount of money, and the things I need to do to get to that level of money. Money may not solve your problems, but it can certainly help keep the bill collectors at bay, because those student loans aren’t going to pay themselves.
If You Have Any Money, It’s About to Lose (A Lot) of Value by Tim Denning
Speaking of Tim Denning. In this article, Tim explains the concepts if inflation and deflation so suscinctly. My undergad is in Political Science, so I had a high-level understanding of inflation and deflation, but I wasn’t completely clear how or why it mattered to me as an individual.
One of the reasons that I follow Tim is that he has a knack for explaining complex financial ideas in a way that a non-finance person can understand. That was certainly the case for me with this topic. I may not always agree with his points, but I appreciate his ability to communicate at my level. If you aren’t aware of how your personal finances are influenced by governments printing money, take a look at this piece.
Friday — August 14
No, I Will Not “Hop On A Quick Call” by Felicia C. Sullivan
OOOH, Felicia C. Sullivan was singing my song today! In this article, Felicia writes about a scenario that happens LITERALLY every day of my life. There is no understating the value of setting boundaries with your clients around your time. Felicia goes so far as to build her expectations in her contracts. I do the same, and reiterate in kick off meetings, in my email signatures, and my calendar invites. I let clients know when they can expect a response from me, what my cancellation policy is (I REALLY need to get better about enforcing this one), and what the escalation process looks like. As I was discussing with one of my mentor clients last week — we are not curing cancer here. Nothing is that important that you need a response from me immediately.
Felicia lays out a work practice that works for her that I am truly envious of. I am absolutely going to try out a modified version soon. More importantly, she calls out that we can often see the red flags of a problem client long before they ever become a client. If you work for yourself, do yourself a big favor and save yourself the headache and avoid them becoming a client. You will save yourself so much headache (and probably time/money) in the long run.
So that’s it. That’s some of what I read this week. I look forward to sharing more with you next week. What are you reading? Drop your links in the comments!
