If you want to have success in your life, you have to put in the work.

I heard (or read) this recently “If you want to have success in your life, you have to put in the work” and it reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a friend.

I was talking to this friend, who is a very successful business man, and he was telling me that someone had recently told him: “when life hands you lemons, you know how to make lemonade.” He corrected their statement like this… No, when life hands me lemons, I cut the lemon open, get the seeds out, plant them, grow lemon trees, sell the lemons I’ve grown to the retailers, all while continuing to cultivate and harvest more lemons.

My friend didn’t become successful overnight. He didn’t win the lottery. He didn’t get where he is by accident. He has worked hard to be where he is today, it wasn’t easy for him. It may look like it’s easy for him now, because others can see him enjoy the fruits of his labor.

The truth is, most of us just want the rewards, but we don’t want to do the work associated with creating or reaping the reward. The reason success doesn’t come easy to you is because success doesn’t come easy to anyone. Success comes by hard work and perseverance. You won’t be successful in your career, health, family, or finances until you decide you are ready to do what it takes.

If you hired me as your personal trainer to teach you how to lose weight, and I told you to stop eating junk food and to get on the treadmill, but then you continued to eat the junk and refused to get your butt on the treadmill, you can’t get mad at me if you never lose any weight!

I have had people hire me as their debt coach and then cancel their membership after a few months because they aren’t seeing results. Can I just tell you, very plainly, that I can’t make you get out of debt. If I show you what to do and you refuse to do it, then I can’t help you. You can pay me to coach you forever, and you still won’t get results if you won’t do the work. I can’t decide for you that you are ready to get out of debt. You have to decide for yourself that you are ready to change your life and accept the coaching. The only people that I can help are the ones that want to change and are willing to put in the work.

Is hiring a Debt Coach good for your marriage?

I met with a client today who I have been working with for just over a month. We are so excited about their progress. When I first spoke with them, they were behind on several things and were additionally incurring NSF fees from their bank and were utilizing the cash advance place. Today they are caught up on everything (except for 1 which will be paid to current next week). They also have a little money saved and have not accrued any more debt. They have paid cash for birthday festivities for one of them and been able to start tithing again. By November, we should have their first debt completely paid off as well as over $500 in their Emergency Fund. And then in December, they will pay cash for Christmas! While all of this is very exciting to me, it isn’t even the best part…

She told me that while having a conversation with her husband about their money, something came up that, in the past, had triggered a “huge fight.” She said that this time, they shrugged a little, decided to do better in the future, and moved on. Because they now had a plan and were taking control of their money, something that used to make them fight, no longer did, they were able to just move on from it!

Now, I am by no means a marital counselor, but knowing that the most frequent reason given for divorce is money, I can’t tell you how excited it makes my heart that this couple now has the skills and support to communicate & be on the same page about something that used to make them fight!

I am so humbled that they have chosen me to help them!

Don’t close your credit accounts!

I recently had someone tell me they were going to pay off a credit card and close the account. I told them not to, and here’s why…

Let’s say you have 5 credit cards and each of them has a credit limit of $2,000. Let’s then say that your balances are $500 on each card. The totals would be as follows: You would owe $2,500 (5 cards @ $500). The total amount you can owe on these cards is $10,000 (5 cards at $2,000 each). You have borrowed $2,500 of your available $10,000 – therefore you owe 25% of your limit.

If you paid off one of your credit cards ($500), then you would owe $2,000 of the $10,000 available and now you only owe 20% of your limit. Lowering your percentage this way helps to increase your credit score. The smaller the percentage you owe, the more “credit responsibility” you demonstrate.

If you took that paid off credit card and closed it, you would then increase the percentage of what you owe… You would still only owe $2,000, but your total available credit would only be $8,000. This would raise you back to owing 25% of your limit. When your percentage goes up, your credit score goes down.

So, as you pay off your debts, you should not close your accounts. (If you pay an annual fee or a non-activity fee, closing the account MAY be an option here – depending what your immediate & future goals are).

Keeping your credit score up is a game. You should know the rules to have a chance at winning! I figured if my friend didn’t understand this, you may not either. So here’s your free advice for the day!

HGTV's Solution to Debt

HGTV has a show called “Income Property” where the host teaches a family how to turn a portion of their home into rental property by renting out a room or a basement or something along those lines. I caught the show last week, and while I don’t know all the details of the family on the show, here’s what I do know…

Two adults own a home. They are planning to get married in the near future. All their primary income currently goes toward debt repayment. The husband (to be) is already working an extra job, just to pay the monthly expenses and other bills that they have.

So then the host shows them a plan to redo / finish their basement so that it would be a rentable apartment. He shows them 2 plans, which are virtually the same except one cost $6,000 and the other costs $12,000. The one that costs more is due to the cost of labor, so the couple can save $6,000 by doing most of the labor themselves.

Now I realize that the host is a designer and not a debt coach, but I was still baffled that anyone would suggest to this couple to go $12,000 (or even $6,000) further into debt to get $700 in rental income.

Then the longer I thought about it, the less baffled I was. Most Americans do the same thing… they will refinance the mortgage on their house to lower their payment. They transfer balances or borrow “free” money to lower payments. …and the reason this doesn’t work – the reason it doesn’t get you out of debt, is because it doesn’t address the problem. The reason you are in debt to the point that it hurts is because you haven’t been accountable to where your money is going. You don’t have a plan. You don’t understand how money works. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is! There is no magic to getting out of debt. Creating more debt to create more income is not the answer.

It did not surprise me that the husband (to be) was very reluctant to choose the cheaper plan that required all the work. Unfortunately, that couple will be spending the “extra” $700 that they have created in no time, and they will be further away from financial freedom than ever before…

"No matter who you are or what you do, you'll always have debt"

I met with a lady recently who was struggling to pay a couple debts and a few bills. Near the end of our appointment she looked at me and said: “No matter who you are or what you do, you’ll always have debt.” I looked her right in the eye and said: “That’s BULL!!” I think I may have even slapped the table!

This line of thinking is not of God. Now, I know we like to pick and choose what parts of the Bible we like best – like love and grace and forgiveness, but we don’t like the parts that say feed the hungry and love your enemies, cause they’re hard. We also don’t like the parts about debt being slavery, because we like our debt, and all the stuff that comes with it!

I don’t buy stories about how you HAD to go into debt. We don’t HAVE to go into debt, we just choose to. Debt may have seemed like a better choice at the time, but the truth is, it is a choice. When we bought our last car 7 years ago, we financed the whole thing. We didn’t HAVE to, we just chose to. We justified it with the warranty and such, but the truth is, we wanted to drive a new car and we didn’t care what anyone else had to say about it, including God.

Look, the lenders want us to believe that we’ll always be in debt… that we will always have car payments, always have a mortgage, always have student loans, and always have credit card payments. This is why mortgage companies want you to refinance, this is why car companies spend so much time on advertisements, this is why I can’t go buy an outfit at Kohl’s without the cashier asking me if I want to save an extra 15% to open a store credit card. The lender’s lure you in. They know what the odds are that you will pay your bill off when it comes due. They know what the odds are that you’ll pay your house or car off early… that’s why they help you justify your debt.

Do I still have debt? Yes!

Am I working my debt freedom plan to get it paid off? Yes!

Am I tempted by the lures of debt everywhere? Yes!

Will I be out of debt one day? ABSO-frikin-LUTELY!!

Dear Discover Card... No Thanks!

Dear Leslie M Sweet,

You never know when unexpected expenses may arise, so it’s good to have credit available to back you up. As a reminder, your Discover card has a credit line of $6,300.

This is the beginning of a letter I got the other day from Discover Card. The truth is, I don’t know when unexpected expenses may arise, and it is good to have something to back me up, but AVAILABLE CREDIT is not what is GOOD to have to back me up. What is GOOD to have as a back-up is an EMERGENCY FUND!!

The other truth is, that until I had an emergency fund, my available credit WAS my emergency fund. While I cannot predict WHEN an emergency will arise, I can predict that one will. My chances of an unexpected expense arising in the next 12 months is about 99.99%. The chances that I'm saving for that unknown event: 100%

So while I do have $6,300 available to me in available credit, I also have an emergency fund. Even though credit is available to me, I will do everything in my power to not accrue more debt. I just don’t think God was kidding when He said that the borrower is slave to the lender and I refuse to willingly enslave myself to Discover Card – or anyone else for that matter. I just don’t know how I can live a life that honors God when I willingly put others in front of Him.

Dear Discover Card,

No Thanks!

The Shame in Your Money

I talked to an old friend today who needs my help. She said something to me that has been a recurring theme from my clients... She said she was ashamed and embarassed about her financial situation. That she had been thinking about calling me for months, but didn't want to have to admit, to me or to herself, that she needed help.
Can I just tell you that almost everyone I talk to is ashamed and embarassed about their finances. Can I also tell you that I have never been unable to help someone due their financial terribleness (not sure if that's a word...) And, as soon as people start making progress in their own lives, the shame vanishes.
You know, there's a song out right now, and the girl says several times that "you're not what you've done, you're what you've overcome"
Taking control of your finances isn't about restrictions and guilt and regret. And I know that you can't control everything, but there are a lot of choices that are made daily, that alter your financial outcome. When you are in control of who you give your money to, that's where you'll find financial freedom!

In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world! ~Jesus

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

So, I’ve been DVRing the Real Housewives of Atlanta for entertainment while I fold laundry, etc. and obviously, these shows are enticing – the people have so much pretty stuff and their lives seem so glamorous. My first thoughts are things like: wow – I wish I had …fill in the blank.

Then, I watch a lady spent $8,000 on some new furniture for her child. When the store clerk asks her how she’ll pay, she responds with: credit card!! Then another lady is getting married and her & her fiancé are fighting about money …and it hits me…
The only difference in them and us is the price of their stuff: their income is bigger, but so are their payments. They still don’t save for purchases – they still depend on credit, they just have higher limits on their cards than the rest of us do.

Most people think that if they only made more money, THEN they would save, THEN they would pay off some debt. This is why we look at people who once made a lot of money and have lost it and we wonder how that happened. The truth is… if you don’t make wise decisions on a $10,000 income, then you will never make wise decision on a $60,000 income, or on a $150,000, or on a $2.3 million income.

God calls us to be good stewards of what we are given – and He doesn’t put income limits on it!

Will helps a client save $1,500!

Yesterday, I went with Will, a Debt Buster on my team in Knoxville, to meet with one of his clients. We have been working with her for a few months, helping her rebuild her credit so that she can refinance her home. She had a debt that was charged off and we were able to walk her through coming up with the money and then “held her hand” as we settled it. We were able to show her how save her $1,500 on that bad debt.
It’s a good day when you help someone save $1,500! Good job Will !! Thanks for making a difference in people's lives!

Practing what I preach

I was telling this to a client the other day, and thought I'd share...

We have several large bills that are due on the 1st - as many people do: Mortgage payment, HOA dues, childcare, utilites, plus we still have to eat and put gas in the car. My husband gets paid every 2 weeks, so the pay dates aren't the same each month. This month, he gets paid on the 3rd of the month.

A year ago, we would've waited until the 3rd to pay the bills due on the 1st, because technically they aren't late yet becuase of a grace period.

And here's where we've gotten to - The bills that are due on the 1st are already paid. We paid them out of the last paycheck. The paycheck that we get on the 3rd, goes toward bills that are due after the 3rd. We are now paying our bills ahead instead of behind. We are no longer floating our checks to make sure they don't clear before a paycheck posts.

This is what we are teaching our clients, and this is what we are doing ourselves.

... and let me tell you friends... that feels good!

One reason my "job" is such a blessing!

I met with a client last week, who I have been meeting with for about 3 months now. When I first met her, she was late on several of her debts and monthly bills and felt tremendous pressure from her creditors. She also had several large expenses coming up that were causing her additional stress. This is what she told me when I met with her last week...

She said she no longer dreads getting out of bed to face the pile of bills & notices. She no longer stresses when her phone rings and the number is unidentified, because she knows she is current on everything. She said that when the her lights flicker, she knows it's something to do with the electricity because she knows she paid the utility bill, in full, on time.

I mean, I knew that I could make a difference in someone's financial world. I know that what I teach works, becuase it's what I do in my own life. I guess it never occured to me that my coaching would help my clients sleep better at night. What an incredible blessing to get to be a part of someone else's change for the better!