The Clever Girls Know Podcast With Bola Sokunbi

Stefanie O'Connell is a nationally recognized millennial money expert and author of the book, 'The Broke and Beautiful Life' and she has appeared on CBS News, Fox & Friends, ABC World News and The Dr. Oz Show. Her work has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Glamour, SUCCESS magazine, Oprah Magazine and various other print and digital media outlets. She's all about helping women on how to develop rich habits and feel as confident with their money as they do in the rest of their lives. On this episode of the podcast Stefanie shares how she found herself broke and living paycheck to paycheck in New York city and how an expensive visit to the dentist's office was the awakening for her to turn her financial situation around. She talks about pursuing her passion as an actor and having the experience of a lifetime but being limited by the financial instability of not earning enough and how she turned that limitation into an outlet to achieve financial success by deciding to start really paying attention to her finances and the type of life she really wanted for herself and taking a new approach to get there. She's now transitioned into a full time business owner with StefanieOconnell.com and she share exactly how she went from acting to finance. Some other things we touched on include business budgeting and diversifying your income. I had such a great time recording this episode with Stefanie as you'll hear from how much we were laughing. Money is such a serious topic that sometimes you just have to laugh about it. I hope you guy enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it! Stefanie's website is http://StefanieOconnell.com For the books, tools and resources mentioned in this episode, visit the main show notes page here: https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/podcast-episodes/from-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-to-building-a-successful-full-time-business If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Clever Girl Finance Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher. Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

Have you heard that the average millionaire has 7 streams of income? Well you heard right! On this episode of the podcast, I'm discussing the different types of income streams and sharing examples for each of them. Ideally, your wealth building strategy should be a based on a combination of four actions taken consistently that I would describe as the four pillars of wealth building and they include: 1. Reducing your expenses (debt, living expenses etc) 2. Budgeting properly 3. Increasing your income 4. Putting your money to work for you the right way Increasing your income allows you to pay off your debts faster, save more and invest more. It can greatly accelerate the time it takes for you to accomplish your financial goals so much more than if you were just solely focused on reducing your expenses. So listen in to learn about the types of income and different avenues through which you can increase your income and accelerate your wealth building journey. Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

On the podcast today I'm going over some key situations that will require you to review your budget in detail. Budgeting is a key financial action when it comes to building wealth. Your budget helps to guide your spending and saving decisions and basically helps you stay on track with your financial goals. As you get comfortable with creating a new budget in advance of every new month (because no two months are alike), it's important to keep in mind that certain situations might require you to review your budget in detail or even completely overhaul it so listen in :) Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

Weddings can be very, very, expensive and today, my guest is a listener of the podcast and also an expert wedding planner who is sharing some amazing wedding planning insights. Her name is Tereill Peay of CaterToTheBride.net and she's all about helping you get creative (and cost effective) when it comes to planning the wedding of your dreams. Tereill saved $20,000 while planning her wedding by getting a portion of her wedding sponsored and she's mastered exactly how you can create the wedding of your dreams. in this podcast episode, Tereill shares her own personal wedding planning story that lead her into the business as well as tips on: 1. How to be a guest at your own wedding 2. How to get your wedding sponsored 3. How to raise money for your wedding - 4. How to manage your costs on a fixed budget 5. How your wedding planner can pay for themselves Terreill's website is http://www.catertothebride.net For the books, tools and resources mentioned in this episode, visit the main show notes page here: https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/podcast-episodes/creative-ways-to-have-the-wedding-of-your-dreams If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Clever Girl Finance Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher. Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

On this episode I'm sharing a couple updates on what's happening at Clever Girl Finance including the fact that I'm writing my first book! - What I covered on this episode: I'm get into answering some of the questions that have been sent to me and they include questions on: 1. How to end living pay check to pay check when you earn a good income. 2. Where and how to properly save for vacations. 3. The difference between investing and trading. 4. How to manage being an entrepreneur and an introvert. The website I mentioned to compare bank account reviews and savings rates is BankRate.com Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance over at www.clevergirlfinance.com

When it comes to personal finance the main focus is typically on the outcome - the financial success but it's also very important to discuss the transitions and emotions that leads you to that financial success and what it feels like to be on that journey including the peaks and valleys. To have this conversation, I've invited an amazing lady and friend of mine Xenia Viray. Xenia is the owner of a women's clothing boutique in Brooklyn called Myths of Creation (mythsofcreation.com), focused on building community and teaching women how to empower themselves. On this episode, Xenia and I have a very honest conversation about her money story and on money in general. She shares her emotions around money, how she's gotten to the point where she feels deserving of financial success and financial wellness. She shares the role money played in her upbringing, the lies she was telling herself about money, why she wasn't putting money on the top of her priority list and her changed thinking around money and her goals for financial success now and in the future. I also got completely vulnerable with Xenia she pulls it out of me) in our conversation about my personal challenges around being deserving and proud of my financial success. - How to keep in touch with Xenia: Follow her on social media @shopmythsofcreation and on her website at mythsofcreation.com - Stop by her store at: Myths of Creation Brooklyn 421 Graham Ave, Brooklyn NYC - The podcast episodes Xenia mentions: Unmistakeable Creative - https://apple.co/2BXwCG3 Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

The topic of divorce can be very touchy and even considered taboo but is a topic that needs to be discussed especially because 1 out of ever 2 marriages in the United States ends up in divorce. To have this conversation, my guest on this episode of the podcast is Cassandra Cadeau. Cassendra is the CEO of Gifted Financials (giftedfinancials.com) an organization that helps women learn how to effectively manage their money and live a lifestyle of financial abundance. She's also the founder of the legacy crew movement, a platform where women also learn how to teach their children and loved ones how to also improve their finances. - What we discussed on this episode: In this episode, Cassendra and I talked about how emotions can cloud your judgement and cause poor financial decisions pre, during or post a divorce and how to manage it all to make sure that despite the emotional turmoil you are able to make sound decisions. We talked about making sure you understand the full picture of your finances as a couple in your marriage, how to get your finances in order after a divorce, picking yourself emotionally and get back on your feet financially if the process took a toll on your finances. Cassendra also shares her personal story, of going through divorce, how she handled it, what she did to keep it together for her 3 daughters and how she came out not the other side financially stable. - How to keep up with Cassendra: You can keep with Cassendra on her website at http://giftedfinancials.com and take advantage of her free 20 minute phone consultation at http://bit.ly/bookmyfreeconsult Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

Today's podcast is focused on helping you prepare your resume as you look for a new job or if you are looking to transition careers, because your resume is the first touch a recruiter or the HR department at a company has with you and getting employed especially at the right job ties heavily into your personal finances. To speak on this important topic, my guest today is Lauren McGoodwin, the founder of careercontessa.com which she founded in 2013 after working in recruiting for a tech company and experiencing a gap in career development resources for women who might be job searching, soul searching, leading and managing, or trying to find new ways to advance within their careers. Lauren's career expertise has appeared in Forbes, Business Insider, Fast Company, Refinery29, and more. Career Contessa now helps over 1 million women navigate their careers each year though original career advice, job opportunities and an inside look at companies hiring, online career classes, and access to expert career coaches—all tailored to the needs of professional women. On this episode Lauren shares the details of how she started Career Contessa, her career journey and how she transitioned out of her full time job to launch CareerContessa.com. She also shares some really important advice and details on how recruiters find you, why your linked in profile is REALLY important, the makings of the perfect resume, what should 100% be on your resume and what shouldn't, whether you should have a 1 page or 2 page resume, whether recruiters want to see your photo or your address on your resume and so much more. The course Lauren mentions: - 24 hour resume makeover course - http://bit.ly/2E0jsst - Use coupon code RESUME10 To keep up with Lauren and learn more about Career Contessa: - Stop by the website at CareerContessa.com - Follow them on all social media: @careercontessa Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

It's tax season ladies! Receiving a tax refund check can make a big difference towards improving your finances and achieving your financial goals, so it's a good idea to create a clear plan for what to do with your refund in advance of receiving it this way all that money doesn't just slip through your fingers unaccounted for and on this episode I'm sharing a few suggestions to help you out. Also, I'm sharing some of the most commonly overlooked tax deductions that you should keep in mind when you are filing your taxes so you don't leave any money on the table. Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com

**Just a heads up if you are listening with small children there is adult language in this episode.** Sharon Beason is a serial entrepreneur, national speaker, educator, holistic business strategist and the founder of Womeneur.com. She's known for 'telling the hard stuff that you don't want to hear, but that you need to hear' and she fuses her no-nonsense, in-your- face and personable style to connect with her audience - which is exactly what she did on this episode. With over a dozen years in a corporate, supervisor accounting role and ten years paving her own path as a problem solver, trailblazer, connector, educator, educator and most importantly real-life, roll up your sleeves and let's get this done experience, Sharon knows it takes to do all of the aforementioned and more to be successful at being your own boss and she doesn't sugar coat what's needed for the journey. On this episode, Sharon shared her personal story and where Womeneur came from, how fears set women back from achieving their dreams of building successful businesses and what to do about it, what it really means to "hustle" and how your mindset ties into it all, how to get past self limitations and the day to day actions you can take and so much more. Sharon's website is http://Womeneur.com For the books, tools and resources mentioned in this episode, visit the main show notes page here: https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/podcast-episodes/no-nonsense-advice-on-ending-the-crazy-building-a-truly-successful-business If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Clever Girl Finance Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher. Get access to my free budgeting tools in my resource library on www.CleverGirlFinance.com Check out the Clever Girl Finance YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/CleverGirlFinance Do you follow Clever Girl Finance on Instagram yet? You should! www.instagram.com/clevergirlfinance Ready to get accountable? Join the Clever Girl Finance Accountability Program over at www.clevergirlfinanceacademy.com