Episode Guide

Episode Summary:

Jamie Masters shares her transformative journey from being overburdened by debt to building a successful coaching practice. She provides insights into the crucial role of storytelling in connecting with others, particularly as a female breadwinner determined to pay off her debt while raising a family. Jamie discusses her experiences interviewing millionaires to extract actionable business lessons. Her own journey includes the realization that early financial success did not equate to happiness, prompting her to prioritize personal fulfillment and well-being over mere financial gain. Critical advice centers on honing one\u2019s strengths, the importance of mentorship, and effective time management strategies, which include auditing personal tasks to maximize productivity while minimizing burnout. A focus on creating systems within a business and managing one\u2019s team is emphasized as essential for scaling efforts efficiently.

Episode Timestamps

ChooseFI Podcast Episode Show Notes

Episode Title: Navigating Financial Independence with Jamie Masters

Episode Summary: In this episode, hosts Jonathan Mendonsa and Brad Barrett sit down with Jamie Masters, a seasoned business coach and host of the Eventual Millionaire podcast. Jamie shares her inspirational journey of overcoming $70,000 in consumer debt, discovering the significance of mentorship, and the pivotal strategies she employs to guide other business owners towards success.

Key Takeaways:

Debt Reduction: Jamie emphasizes the importance of actively focusing on paying off debt as a critical step to financial freedom.
Value of Mentorship: Finding the right mentorship can significantly influence career paths and personal growth. Seek mentors who align with your business goals.
Time Management: Conducting a time audit can help identify areas where time is wasted, leading to improved efficiency and productivity.
Effective Team Building: Hiring the right team members is crucial for scaling a business and overcoming growth challenges.

Timestamps:

Introduction to Jamie Masters
Jamie’s Debt Journey
Finding Mentorship
Building Your Business
ChooseFI Hot Seat

Key Quotes:

"Life first, then money!" - Jamie Masters
"Perfectionism is a trap; everything is fixable!" - Jamie Masters
"Build a business that serves you, not the other way around!" - Jamie Masters

Actionable Takeaways:

Actively focus on paying off debt as a path to financial freedom.
Seek mentorship that aligns with your goals to help navigate your career transition.
Implement a time audit to understand and improve how you allocate your working hours.

Discussion Questions:

What steps can you take to begin paying off debt effectively?
How can mentorship influence your career growth?
What strategies can you implement to ensure effective time management in your life?

Resources:

Eventual Millionaire Podcast: eventualmillionaire.com
Book: Eventual Millionaire: Amazon Link

Hosts: Jonathan Mendonsa & Brad Barrett
Featured Guest: Jamie Masters

Podcast Intro: "You're listening to ChooseFI. The blueprint for financial independence lives here..."

Podcast Extro: "You've been listening to ChooseFI Podcast, where we help middle-class America build wealth one life hack at a time."

Transforming Debt into Empowerment: The Journey to Financial Independence

Understanding Your Financial Journey

Embarking on your financial independence journey can be invigorating yet daunting, especially if you're grappling with significant debt. Jamie Masters, a seasoned business coach and host of the Eventual Millionaire podcast, has transformed her own financial struggles into a blueprint for success. By sharing her story of overcoming $70,000 in consumer debt, Jamie offers invaluable insights that can lead you toward financial empowerment.

Embrace the Power of Mentorship

Seek Aligned Mentorship

One of Jamie’s crucial pieces of advice is to actively seek mentorship that aligns with your goals. Mentors can provide guidance and support based on their experiences, helping you navigate your own journey more effectively. Whether it’s through formal relationships or casual networking, connecting with individuals who have succeeded in areas where you aspire to thrive can be transformative.

Recognize the Value of Different Perspectives

A mentor’s perspective can open doors you may not have seen on your own. By learning from those who have already faced and surmounted challenges similar to yours, you can fast-track your understanding and growth potential. Be open to diverse viewpoints, as they can inspire innovative solutions to your unique hurdles.

Take Charge of Your Debt

Active Debt Repayment Strategy

Paying off debt is a critical step towards achieving financial independence. Jamie's experience highlights the importance of creating an actionable strategy focused on eliminating debt. This includes assessing your financial situation, developing a budget, and committing to making consistent payments. Adopting a debt repayment plan, such as the snowball method, can create momentum and motivate you to keep pushing forward.

Transform Your Mindset about Money

Shift your financial mindset from one of scarcity to one of empowerment and opportunity. Recognize that the motivation for paying off debt is not solely about numbers; it involves prioritizing the life you want to create. By embracing the notion that every small payment is a step closer to freedom, you can cultivate a more positive and resilient financial outlook.

Master Your Time Management

Conduct a Time Audit

Understanding how you allocate your time can be a game-changer. Jamie recommends conducting a time audit to pinpoint inefficiencies in your daily routines. By tracking how you spend your time, you can identify areas that require adjustment, allowing you to focus on activities that support your financial and personal goals.

Prioritize Effective Over Busy

Time management isn't just about filling your calendar with tasks; it's about ensuring that each task contributes significantly toward your objectives. Distinguish between being busy and being effective. Put systems in place to streamline your daily activities, enabling you to accomplish more without burning out.

Build a Business that Aligns with Your Values

Focus on Your Strengths

As you grow your career or business, it’s essential to focus on your inherent strengths. Jamie emphasizes the importance of aligning your endeavors with what brings you joy. By concentrating on what you're good at, you can create business practices that resonate with you personally and professionally.

Assemble the Right Team

Your team can be your greatest asset or your largest obstacle. When scaling your business, invest in hiring the right individuals who complement your skills and enhance your capabilities. The right team can hold you accountable, manage tasks, and allow you to focus on strategic growth, thus lessening your workload and stress.

Pursue Continuous Improvement and Learning

Embrace Mistakes as Learning Opportunities

Recognizing that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process can significantly influence your growth. Instead of fearing failure, embrace it as a stepping stone toward success. Jamie's journey underscores that the most successful individuals often experience setbacks, which serve as pivotal points for learning and improvement.

Invest in Personal Development

Continually seek growth opportunities by investing in personal development. Whether it’s through books, courses, or workshops, expanding your knowledge base enhances your decision-making skills and empowers you to take calculated risks in your financial journey.

Conclusion

Jamie Masters’ experience serves as a beacon of hope for those aiming for financial independence. By prioritizing mentorship, actively managing debt, mastering time management, building a coherent business structure, and committing to self-improvement, you can navigate your own path to financial empowerment. Remember, it’s a journey filled with bumps and lessons, but each step brings you closer to achieving the financial freedom you desire.

By applying these practical strategies and insights derived from Jamie’s journey and the broader principles of financial independence, you can take control of your finances and transform your life. Embrace the power of intentional actions and a positive mindset, and step confidently toward a more prosperous future.

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Jamie Masters shares her story of overachieving and burn-out, finding Personal Finance, Business Coaching, and Mentoring.

Jaime's Story

Jaime is a self-proclaimed classic overachiever. At age 19, she was earning $40,000 per year and bought her first home. At age 22, she was already earning a six-figure income. With that, she was the breadwinner of her family. In fact, she was making around three times as much as her juggler husband.

It was "proving" mode. It was--my parents didn't have a lot of money...we didn't even have money for shoes...back when I was eight, my mom told me to marry somebody rich because I wanted to have a lot of money. And I said, "Mom, I'm going to do it myself!" It was very much this "I don’t want to rely on anybody else." So, therefore, I have to take care of myself no matter what.

Early on, she decided to take care of herself. Her chosen career path, tech, was an effort to make a high income even if she didn't love the job. She thought that six figures would be the answer to everything she wanted. Once she reached that level, she realized that the money wasn't making her happy.

What I had set myself up for was a life that I didn't actually like...It's a test, right. But the overacheiverness was to prove something that made a life that I didn’t even want for all the people to prove to, that, in the end, didn’t care whether I had a life that was enjoyable or not.

Listen: Struggle: The Psychology Of Poverty With Andrea Motenko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBAu-0mwHtM

Changes

By age 24, she realized she had created a trap for herself. She was miserable, heavier, and didn't enjoy the life she had created.

Jaime realized that she wanted to stay home with their future kids. However, without her income, it would be extremely difficult to make ends meet.

So she made the choice to set up a better financial future by making to decision to pay down $70,000 in consumer debt. Jaime chose to pay down the debt because she wasn't sure what else to do. Looking back, she calls this a quarter-life crisis.

According to Jaime, it was a pain in the butt for an overachiever to find out what she wanted to do with her life. It's rarely a linear path.

Enjoy [not knowing what to do] as much as you can because the amount of opportunities that you can have is absolutely amazing! Right, you could do anything. That is a fun space to be in. Except when you hate being in that space because you don’t have an answer.

Now, she tells people to enjoy that time period in their life because the opportunities that pop up when you aren't sure what you want to do are endless. The idea of doing anything can be exciting and scary at the same time but embracing it can only help the situation.

If you aren't sure how to move forward, then start by learning. Read a book. Find a mentor. Expand your zone of awareness to find new possibilities.

Coaching

At the time of this transformative period, Jaime tried out a lot of things. From project management to extra gigs and everything in between. It came down to trying out new things and seeing what she enjoyed.

It's a long-term chosen path of testing things that work for you. That's what I suggest for my clients now. The more you start testing and figuring out what really works for you, the more you can find out.

As one of her side hustles, Jaime was coaching a friend. Since she was great at giving advice, her friend recommended that she start coaching for a living. At first, Jaime couldn't get over the 'woo woo' factor of life coaching. But eventually, she came around and found her calling.

Finding A Mentor

After interviewing hundreds of millionaires, Jaime has discovered that millionaires seem to know themselves really well. They are good at knowing what they are good at and know when to ask for help. So, Jaime decided to find a mentor to teach her what she needed to know about coaching.

The first meeting she had with her mentor was a short meeting full of helpful advice. However, he was looking for someone over age 45 to train to take over his business. After the meeting, she sent a thank you card even though it was likely he wouldn't be able to mentor Jaime. Immediately after receiving her handwritten thank-you note, the mentor reached out to offer an apprentice type relationship. Jaime accepted, even though it required working for him for free for the first six months.

Jaime's mentor taught her everything she needed to know about the business. They were together every single day working on the business. After two years of working together, she struck out on her own. She had a developed workflow to obtain results for her clients. She even offered a 100% money-back guarantee at first to show clients that she was serious.

Nowadays, most mentors and mentees don't talk every single day. However, it can still be helpful to talk to someone that is walking the path ahead of you that can give you direct advice. There are many nuances in the labels of coaching, mentors, helpers, and such thing, so be aware of the context and needs.

When you reach out to potential mentors, be respectful of their time. Don't offer to trade a single project for countless hours of their time. Be respectful and the right mentor will find you.

Building Your Business

If you are building a business, then a business coach might be a great asset. In the following example, Jaime dives into her advice for a contractor bringing in gross revenue of $150,000 per year that wants to grow. Generally, she tries to help clients double their income in the first year. If her client is making less than $150,000.00 then the goals focus on sales and marketing. Over and above, the focus changes to getting a team in place.

Assess Your Team

First, you need to assess the team you have. Talk to your people and grade them. Start by ranking people from A to F. Often, you'll have to fire someone. It can be hard to make that decision but typically you'll see an increase in revenue quickly.

Sales And Marketing

Successful sales and marketing are critical to growing your profits. First, extract what is really working. Pull that out and double it to start earning more money. Start with the most successful tactic and continue to work your way down the list.

So what we are trying to do is pull out the pieces that will make the biggest difference on the short-term.

Continue working on improving different aspects of your business. Try diversifying your income and weeding out any issues that pop up. You'll have to recalibrate your systems as your business continues to grow. Don't be afraid to make changes along the way.

Time Management

You only have so much time in the day. It is important to realize that. You shouldn't focus on doing more. Instead, focus on the things that only you can do.

Start this process with a time audit. Jonathan uses Toggl, Jaime recommends a Timeular device. After tracking your time, break down the data. Divide how you spend your time into different categories such as administrative, sales, and more. Go down the list and weed out what you should not be doing. For example, consider passing along any administrative work to your right-hand man. Focus your time on where you add the most value.

Focus on being an effective person that accomplishes your priorities. That should include a balance between your home and work life. Don't confuse productivity or efficiency with getting actual results. Be clear in the results you are working to achieve, and be willing to take a close-up look at which tasks are busywork, and which ones get the results you are looking for.

Doing Less

Don't be afraid to build a team you trust and hand off tasks to that team. Find a team that can become autonomous without you. Train them well and move forward. You can stick to the tasks that are your 'special sauce.'

In the long run, most business owners either want to sell their business or work as little as possible. You need to focus on building something that can run without you as opposed to a ship that will sink without you. Learn to let go piece by piece.

How To Connect

You can connect with Jaime on her website, Eventual Millionaire.

Her book is called Eventual Millionaire.

The Hot Seat

Favorite Blog, Podcast, or Book: The Untethered Soul and The Surrender Experiment

An Inflection Point: Sitting down to add up $70,000 in consumer debt. Plus, being on Yahoo's homepage is pretty amazing.

Favorite Life Hack: Sending out her laundry.

Biggest Financial Mistake: She bought a brand new car for $19,000. She sold it two months later for a $1,500 loss.

The advice you would give your younger self: She didn't realize how fixable things are. She was so scared to do things wrong that she didn’t want to try. She would tell her younger self that you can always fix something later.

Bonus! What purchase have you made over the last 12 months that has brought the most value to your life? A waterproof notepad in her shower to capture her shower thoughts. And an eye mask because sleep is so important. Plus Nootropics to help her focus. (And don't forget the Timeular device.)

Listen to the Friday Roundup of this episode here.

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New to FI? Be sure to check out Episode 100: Welcome To The FI Community!