December 19, 2025 • 24 mins
It’s time for another BA Q&A, where we answer your money and career questions straight from the inbox!
This week, we're rewinding to a couple of our favorite questions from this year.
💫 “How do I set and stick to financial goals?” — Listen up, Unicorn! We’re breaking down how to get clear on your money priorities, stay consistent when life gets messy, and finally start hitting those goals that keep slipping off your list.
💼 “Help me find a financial planner!” — Solange, we got you! We’ll walk you through what to look for in a planner, the questions to ask before you hire one, and how to find your money match—someone who actually gets your goals and your budget.
Whether you’re just getting started or ready to level up your finances, this episode is packed with practical tips and real talk to keep your ambition (and your money) growing strong.
Don’t forget to:
• Share your favorite BA episodes
• Follow us @BrownAmbitionPodcast on IG
• Send your questions to BrownAmbitionPodcast@gmail.com
Until next time, keep stacking that paper and living your best life! 💅🏾
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, BA fam, what's up. Welcome to the BAQA where
we take your questions. And I need you to get
your salt shakers out because I don't need y'all suing me. Please,
please don't. I have a lot of big goals for
Brown Ambition, and none of those involves being the party
of a lawsuit. Okay, so get your salt shakers out
because everything I'm saying is infotainment. So I'm giving you
(00:26):
my opinions. This is not meant to be personalized. Investment, business, career, life, health, wellness.
Whatever we're talking about not personalized to you in your situation.
So yeah, take it with a little shake assault. This
has been an incredible month. I can't believe we're rounding
out the month of January. The new chapter Brown Ambition
(00:47):
is in full effect, and y'all have been so supportive,
continue supporting us. If you can do one thing as
a BA listener, it would be to share an episode,
your favorite episode of the show, share it with a friend,
a colleague, a family member, posts about it on social media.
Just tell a friend to tell a friend one. One
(01:08):
thing that women do is we talk. Okay, we talk,
we share, We put each other on to the things
that we love. So I hope that Brown Ambition is
on that list and you.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Will share it. I don't know if I've talked.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
To y'all about this new tool called Teal, but it
is my favorite thing in AI right now. Let me
tell you about Teal, And yes, I will go ahead
and just say I am an affiliate of Teal. That
means that if you see any links for Teal, they
are Brown Ambition links, and we will get we may
make some money off of those links. But I freaking
(01:42):
love this tool so much that I was like, I
talk about y'all anyway, so like, can we get an
affiliate link?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So it just makes sense.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But Teal is an AI resume builder, cover letter maker
LinkedIn profile juger. It is incredible. If you're someone who
is searching for a job right now now, and first
of all, you are applying to all of the jobs
because the market out here, honey, you need to keep
all your eggs in all the baskets, right, So you're
applying to multiple jobs. That means often you have to
(02:12):
put the same put a different resume because you got
you got to tailor the resume to the job description.
You got to write a new cover letter, and you
can't just copy and paste because if you do, it'll
just come off generic or it'll come off like inconsiderate.
And as a former hiring manager myself, I could tell
when cover letters were just generic versus the ones that
(02:32):
were tailored to the job description and tailor to the
kind of company that we were in, the kind of
role that I was hiring for. So I just told
the Mandy Moneymaker today. She was like, I'm putting in
these applications. I need help with the cover letter. Do
you know any services? And I was like, Teal boo
Teal because with Teal you can put your resume and
the job description. So you put the link to the
(02:53):
job description, or you can find the job description from
Teal because it has it's connected to all the biggest
posting sites. It will create a sample cover letter for you,
so you can go in there after that and tweak it.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
You can change things.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You can say, oh, I don't really like the way
you said that, you know, give me a different version
like this. And because it has the job description, it
has your resume, it's able to create a cover letter
that like makes sense. And if you want to personalize
it by finding the name of the hiring manager. You
can do that and just come back and pop that
in there. But the best thing is that it's going
to simplify the job search process. And y'all know that
(03:28):
when it comes to searching for jobs, like it is so.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Stacked against us.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Right now, everyone's using AI and applicant tracking systems to
weed through resumes and cover letters. They're looking for the keywords.
So you know how some people would like copy and
paste a bunch of keywords from the resus from the
job description and like put it in their resume or
their cover letter, but like make sure the font was invisible,
like it was white so it wouldn't show up, but
(03:52):
it would be triggering the ats to like recognize their
resume or their application as highly qualified for the You
don't have to do that anymore because Teal is going
to take the job description, going to track all the
keywords and make sure that it gives you advice on
how you can update your resume in a way that
actually will show up for the keywords that are in
(04:13):
the job description. So I'm a Teal Stan I would
love y'all to check it out. I want you to
go to the show notes, or if you're on watching
on YouTube, I'll post a link in the show notes here.
So love my teal, let them know that Brand Ambition
or Mandy Money sent you, and let's get into the
rest of the show. Here's our first question of the week.
(04:33):
This comes from a listener from IG who'd like to
be called Unicorn and has a very straightforward question. Unicorn asks,
how do I set financial goals for the new year,
and then how do I discipline myself to keep my commitments.
I got one word for you, Unicorn, accountability. Who's going
to hold you accountable? Who's going to check in with
(04:54):
you and remind you what you said you were going
to do? And for me, that has to be a person.
I actually connected with a fellow solopreneur, another woman who
has a podcast and also has a similar business model
to me. We connected before Christmas.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I want to say.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
We're also moms of young children, so we just really
get each other on a certain level. But we're not
like best best friends. We really only have been getting
to know each other as accountability partners. And what's been
great about that is something that I learned even just
starting this podcast with Tiffany I said. I've said before
that one of the reasons that we have been so
successful with Brown Ambition, I believe is because Tiffany and
(05:32):
I started as part friends, but more heavily toward the
business partner side of things. And I just feel like,
when it's not your bestie, you're gonna bring your a
game a lot more often that sounds terrible. You're also
gonna you're gonna like you want to sort of impress
the other person. You care more about how they perceive you.
So you're not gonna like miss deadlines, You're not gonna
(05:53):
be late for recordings because you know the other person
is not just there because they're just your friend and
they'll be there no matter what. No, this is another
person who's time you're going to value differently than you
would a friend. So I kind of I put that
same train of thought into my accountability partner. So let's
get someone who I respect and who we have things
in common and we like each other, but not someone
(06:16):
who is going to like take me for granted.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Or vice versa.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So I highly highly recommend the accountability partner method. It's
one of the reasons why I make sure if you
come through any of my career coaching challenges or my
Mandy money Maker's coaching program, that you get assigned an
accountability partner, and the makers who are showing up who
are bettering their finances, you know, negotiating more, are typically
(06:40):
the ones who are actually showing up to group coaching,
the ones who are checking in with their accountability partners.
And the reality is that, like and I've said it before,
we do not have to do hard things alone. And
in fact, hard things are not meant to be done alone.
And I think that we set ourselves up to fail
by telling ourselves that, well, everyone else is doing this,
(07:03):
so I should be able to, you know, set these
big goals, and that it couldn't be further from the truth,
Like everyone else who's accomplishing things is probably getting.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Help, and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's okay for us to admit that we need accountability
and that we need someone to check in with us,
you know, and it's it's okay for us to ask
for that help. And so what I would say to you, Unicorn,
is what kind of goals are you setting for yourself?
And who in your community, your peer group, your colleague group,
who is someone that you respect, who has a similar
(07:34):
need for accountability, and who can you engage with to
start that kind of accountability, So that can look like
a regular check in. Virtually, for me, it works better
to be a phone.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Call, no video. We have a rule, no video, just
talk because I don't need to be.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
On screen more than I already am. And it's like
half an hour a week, and yes, we may change that.
We both have young children, so sometimes life happens, but
we stick to that, and we do check in with
one another, and we don't just talk about, like you know,
what's going on in personal lives, Like we actually have
a couple of talking points for the business and we
kind of check in on goals that we had. There's
(08:12):
not a ton of pressure around it. If one of
us is like, oh, I know, I said I was
going to do that thing, but then I just didn't
do that, then that's where the accountability comes in. It's like, okay, girl,
I get it, Like why don't you. There's been times
where I've been like, girl.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Go take a nap. We can talk about this tomorrow.
You sound like you really need a nap right now.
And that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
It's about, like I will check in on you tomorrow.
You know, I understand that you need time, and we'll
check in tomorrow. And it's just it's wonderful to build
that relationship and saying all of that. I can already
hear the people who are listening and they're like, but
I tried that, but like you know, we stop checking
in with each other, or the other person wasn't a
very good accountability partner because they didn't really hold me accountable.
(08:53):
I think it's really important in a couple of things
to think about, is one like setting the expectation, what
is this relationship going to look like? I remember with
my accountability buddy from the jump, I was like, so,
like how much accountability?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Like how much communication are we talking here?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Because I if you tell me to be your accountability buddy,
I'll be texting you, I'll be calling you, I'll be
taking notes, I'll be going back to the receipts to
be like, well, okay, here's what we said last time.
But that can be a bit much like some people
may not like that pressure, but I can be a
lot right. That's how I get somewhat shit done. An
I execute the hell out of everything I do. And
(09:28):
I like to help others execute. So from the beginning,
I just wanted to just gently check in with her
to make sure that was cool with her, because that's
also what I wanted in return. I sort of wanted
someone to hold me accountable and check in with me
and care, you know, like care about how certain goals
are going and how things are working out. And I
found that to be helpful to just like set that
(09:49):
boundary or lack of boundary, I guess up front and
just like set the expectation. So if you're someone who
doesn't really need, like you're not looking for someone to
critique what you're doing, that's not what accountability buddy does. No,
that's what like a mentor you know, I don't know,
like a business partner may do. Accountability is literally to
be a cheerleader and to help you get over whatever
(10:12):
humps you may be getting over with, or just to
witness the challenge of doing the hard thing, to witness
the times when you have to take five steps back
to go ten for ten steps forward, you know, and
that can be important too. So just say, like, you know,
I'm really looking for someone I know once a month
or once every couple of months, I have these like
(10:33):
depressive episodes, or I get really anxious and I just
want to know that I have someone to call who
can understand that and just like tells me the you know,
tells me what I need to hear to get me
back you know, doing it and doing whatever I said
I was going to do. Or I have a really
tough deadline that I have coming up, and I need
someone to check on me, like on these dates for
(10:54):
the next three months, and it's going to end after
three months, but just to get me through this. Another
way that I've used accountability partnership in setting goals and
actually crossing those reaching those goals in my business is
when I have needed to, I've hired an actual coach.
When I had the idea to write a book, I
hired a book proposal coach, someone who had a framework
(11:16):
for me to follow.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Sure I could.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I could talk to Tiffany and I have at length
about how to create a book proposal and what is it.
She sent me her book proposal. Other friends for our
news friend of the show has sent me her book proposal.
I had plenty of friends you could send me proposals,
but was I going to sit down and actually do
the work without a coach, someone who had a weekly
scheduled call with me and would tell me exactly what
(11:40):
to work on for that week.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Probably not, and certainly not in the time that I
did it.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I think I had that thing done in like three
to four months. So when you need that help, you
can look at hiring that kind of help if you
can't find it, Because sometimes you need accountability, but you
also need someone who has the knowledge of what you're
trying to achieve, who can say, oh, yep, you're on
the right path, keep going, or they can say ooh no,
that's no, we're going to change this, and then alter
(12:06):
it and keep going. The key to accomplishing goals don't
do them alone. Okay, so maybe a goal for you, Unicorn,
instead of like, I don't know what your specific goal
is you don't say, but think about making finding that
accountability partner a part of that goal. You know, I'm
not even going to start until I have someone in
(12:26):
place just champion me through, be that accountability for me
and help me get to that. Okay, thank you Unicorn
for your question, and I'll take a quick break and
be right back with our second question.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I just really wanted to shout out really quick, bea
fam listener, Christine, who sent us the sweetest email Christina
is from Marylyn. She says, I haven't been the best
at keeping up with podcasts since COVID, since I haven't
had a daily commute. I was shocked and sad to
see that Tiffany was leaving on Instagram. But I have
listened to the farewell episodes and I am on the
(13:04):
Amtrak train in tears after listening to the episode with
Doctor Joy. I love you too, and I love Doctor Joy.
So this was a great episode just having the three
of you. Like many of the episodes on this show,
I heard and felt so much of my life and
experiences reflected in your words and feelings. You talk about
having evolve from two women in their early thirties and
(13:25):
relationships to where you are now. I'm just writing to
say thank you to the both of you for not
just being my financial besties, but really girlfriends in my
head and heart. I have learned so much from you
about finances, being an employee and manager, and just navigating life.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
I'm looking forward to continuing to listen to Brown Ambition
through the show's evolution with you at the hell Mandy
and adding your book next to gek it with money
on my bookshelf. Thank you, I love you and I
need it.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Christine. That is so sweet.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I don't know what to say other than aw and
and you're the reason we do the show, so I
just appreciate that so much, y'all. I love BA fam,
and if y'all have any words of support or we
have questions, don't forget to email us. Email me Brandabition
Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can slide into
our DMS. I'm at Brand Ambition Podcast on IG or
(14:18):
you can find me at Mandy Money. All right, va Fam,
I'm back with a question from listeners Solange, who wrote
in from IG to ask, Hey, Mandy.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I need your help.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Can you point me in the right direction to select
a financial planner? I don't feel comfortable to just select
anyone on the internet.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Please help?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Okay, So, how to find a financial planner without using
the internet? Okay, Well, first let me talk to you, Solange.
The Internet is our friend, but we can't fully trust
everything the Internet has to say. Right.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Sometimes it's not even about trust.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Like you may look for the best financial planners in
whatever town you live in, for example, or whatever state
or city, and then find your list and then contact
one of them who looks good and then get on
the phone and be like, hmm, this guy is just
not speaking my language, or this girl I don't understand
what she's saying, or she's talking down to me, or
whatever the case may be. So it just may not
be a good fit for you, or they have a
(15:11):
different kind of strategy, or they only work with clients
who are in couple, in a couple, or in you know,
doing family finances or doing a state planning. So I
just want to say that when you're looking for a
financial planner, there's always going to be some amount of
is this person the right fit for me, whether you
find them on the Internet, whether they're coming through a referral. Okay,
(15:32):
all that being said, I do think the internet can
be a helpful tool. I found my financial planner through
the Internet through a tool called x Y Planning Network,
which is still very much in the world and still exists,
and x Y Planning they particularly work on connecting financial
planners who can work with that gen X gen Y population.
(15:52):
They also, I believe, only work with fee based planners.
Fee based planners are going to give you a flat
rate for their services or not gonna you know, make
their money off of selling you insurance products or getting
commissions from the types of investments that they that they
encourage you to make. So think about that as well.
Check them out and ask if they are a fiduciary,
(16:14):
which means they have to work in your best interest,
and if they are fee based or fee only they
are a fiduciary. That's just like part of the part
of the the kit and kaboodle.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Other ways that you can vet a financial planner. You
can use FINRA's I believe it's called broker check. FINRA
is fi n r A, so this will show any
history if there have been complaints against them and or
disciplinary action. So FINRA is like a regulatory body for
investment advisors, so that can be a tool to use.
(16:47):
There's also the Financial Planning Association. There's the ONAPFA National
Association of Personal Financial Advisors. I know they have a
tool in there to put in your zip code and
you can find planners who are in your area. There's
also some matching services, x Y Planning Network being one,
but some platforms that'll actually try to match you with
like people according to what you need and where you live.
(17:09):
You can check out Zoe Zoe Financial. You can check
out wealth Ramp and also Harness Wealth. And I know
there's some other sites that have been, like you know,
experimenting with having like advisor marketplaces. There's investor dot com.
Actually know the co founder or the found that we
used to work together at lending Tree. But anyway, Investor
dot com. Those are a bunch of options. And I'll
(17:31):
just leave you with this. This is not going to
be the type of like professional service that you're going
to be able to just go on Yelp or Google,
you know, reviews and or it's not like finding a
restaurant like you want it to be a really good
fit for you. And the best news for you is
that a lot of these firms and advisors, they will
offer some sort of free consultation or getting to know
(17:54):
you meeting fifteen minutes thirty minutes max and actually come
prepared with the list of questions to ask them. And
if you would like to know what some good questions
to ask are, I got you covered.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Number one is how do you get paid?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Okay, so this is going to actually bypass those questions
like are you a fiduciary, are you fee based?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Are you fee only?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Just ask how do you get paid point blank? Am
I paying you a flat rate? Am I paying you percentage?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Now, if you're someone who wants to have like a
heavy active investor, like actually picking and choosing your investments,
typically they're going to be taking some kind of percentage
of your assets that they are managing. So that's just
kind of a standard policy. But then ask them like, okay,
what is that percentage? Is it on all types of products?
Are you a fiduciary? So do you actually, you know,
(18:42):
do you have to work in my best interest? Or
if you're not a fiduciary, how do you make sure
that you're acting in my best interest? And honestly, probably
best for you to go with someone who is a fiduciary,
because there's just no way to trust that someone who's
not a fiduciary isn't making decisions and choices for you
based on the amount of their commission or whatever else,
(19:03):
you know, incentive they may have to take your money
and invest it in certain places. You could ask for
their certifications so a couple of certifications like certified financial
planner that is different than like a registered investment advisor,
So you can look into that and ask how that
may change their fees or change the kind of advice
(19:23):
they can give. In general, a certified financial planner is
going to be a good starting point for people with
personal finance financial planning management. So if you're looking for
someone to set goals and like look at your you know,
household finances, work on a budget, pay down debt, you know,
maybe you're looking at a big goal like buying your
first home, just a CFP could be a good place
(19:45):
to start. But you also have like financial coaches and
maybe they don't have certification, but they may come at
a lower price point than someone who has gone through
the schooling and the continuing education that a CFP is required.
And truth be told, like if you're really vibing with
a financial coach or you know, a counselor for example,
(20:07):
and they may not have that certification, but they understand
you and your goals and you feel like you can
trust them, and you understand their fee structure and all
of that, Like you could try that out to begin with.
You don't have to necessarily skip right to hiring like
the top of that, you know, certification level. Another a
great question to ask too is like how regularly are
(20:28):
we going to meet? And then what sort of platform
or software are you going to be using? Like a
lot of times financial planners will have some kind of
software for you to load all your accounts into, and
then you know what is that software? Like? Is it
a lot of like going in and updating things to
make sure that they're accurate. You want to know are
you meeting virtually in person?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Are you going to work with them directly?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Because you may love the planner, but then they have you,
you know that they have you interfacing more with like
an assistant planner for example, so that may matter to you.
You and are they going to keep you updated on
the financial industry? Are there any like is there any
education that they offer? Some planners have newsletters or they
may have events to educate their clients. You may not
(21:14):
want that amount of you know, investment of their time,
but just something to think about. Protection and security is
a big one. So how is my money protected by
working with you? How am I protected if something were
to go wrong? So this question doesn't really apply to
anyone who's working with a fee based or fee only planner,
because you are giving them money for a service and
(21:34):
they should be performing that service for you. They're not
getting access to your accounts or taking a cut of
your returns on investment or a percentage of your assets
that they are managing for you. And lastly, a good
question to ask is just who do you love working with?
And that could be a great way to tell if
they're going to give you, you know, special attention or
like you're really going to get their best effort. Because
(21:55):
when someone is working with their ideal client, they're going
to have a lot more expertise that area. You're going
to get richer I think advice. So for me, for example,
i am a career and negotiation coach, So I'm gonna
work best with women who are at a place in
their careers where they're feeling undervalued, but they have the
skill set and they have the goods to back up negotiations,
(22:16):
you know, So I don't want to I don't work
too often with like entry level people or you know,
people who haven't really like proven their worth in their
careers yet.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I'm more of like mid.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Level, like you know, twenty five to forty five sweet
spot for me, So that's specific to me. I can
coach an eighteen year old, I could coach a sixty
five year old, but I'm really going to be in
my bag and giving the best that I can to
the client if they're in that you know that window
of ages and also like life stages. So if you're
looking for a financial planner and you really want someone
(22:48):
who's good with like household budgeting for a single woman
who doesn't plan to get married anytime soon, then maybe
you should work with the planner who really has experience
and understand some of the particular nuances of being an independent,
you know, a solo woman, and then may treat it
differently than a financial planner who only works with couples
or specializes in working with couples finances. Now, if you're
(23:11):
looking for someone who's only going to do a state planning,
you may want to find you may want to ask
a general financial planner if they recommend an estate planning
attorney or a financial planner who specializes in estate plans,
and it's just kind of like going to the doctor.
Your financial planner can be like your general practitioner and
then if you have more specific needs or questions, and
(23:32):
they may be able to connect you with other people
in their network who can help you in that specialized place.
But yeah, starting with a good financial planner as like
a base level is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
It's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And I'm so glad that you're listening to Brown Ambition Solange,
and thank you for asking a question. Be a fan
where y'all at send us your questions. You can hit
me up at Brand Ambition Podcast on ig or Brand
Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com to email your questions. Yeah,
you can stay anonymous. Come up with a fun pseudonym
if you want to like unicorn.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Okay, we don't care.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
We just want them juicy questions, all right, va Fam,
don't forget to like. Subscribe on YouTube if you're watching
here so you can get the latest episodes of our show.
We air Wednesdays and Fridays. And until next time, by
ba Fam
Hey, BA fam, what's up. Welcome to the BAQA where
we take your questions. And I need you to get
your salt shakers out because I don't need y'all suing me. Please,
please don't. I have a lot of big goals for
Brown Ambition, and none of those involves being the party
of a lawsuit. Okay, so get your salt shakers out
because everything I'm saying is infotainment. So I'm giving you
(00:26):
my opinions. This is not meant to be personalized. Investment, business, career, life, health, wellness.
Whatever we're talking about not personalized to you in your situation.
So yeah, take it with a little shake assault. This
has been an incredible month. I can't believe we're rounding
out the month of January. The new chapter Brown Ambition
(00:47):
is in full effect, and y'all have been so supportive,
continue supporting us. If you can do one thing as
a BA listener, it would be to share an episode,
your favorite episode of the show, share it with a friend,
a colleague, a family member, posts about it on social media.
Just tell a friend to tell a friend one. One
(01:08):
thing that women do is we talk. Okay, we talk,
we share, We put each other on to the things
that we love. So I hope that Brown Ambition is
on that list and you.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Will share it. I don't know if I've talked.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
To y'all about this new tool called Teal, but it
is my favorite thing in AI right now. Let me
tell you about Teal, And yes, I will go ahead
and just say I am an affiliate of Teal. That
means that if you see any links for Teal, they
are Brown Ambition links, and we will get we may
make some money off of those links. But I freaking
(01:42):
love this tool so much that I was like, I
talk about y'all anyway, so like, can we get an
affiliate link?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So it just makes sense.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But Teal is an AI resume builder, cover letter maker
LinkedIn profile juger. It is incredible. If you're someone who
is searching for a job right now now, and first
of all, you are applying to all of the jobs
because the market out here, honey, you need to keep
all your eggs in all the baskets, right, So you're
applying to multiple jobs. That means often you have to
(02:12):
put the same put a different resume because you got
you got to tailor the resume to the job description.
You got to write a new cover letter, and you
can't just copy and paste because if you do, it'll
just come off generic or it'll come off like inconsiderate.
And as a former hiring manager myself, I could tell
when cover letters were just generic versus the ones that
(02:32):
were tailored to the job description and tailor to the
kind of company that we were in, the kind of
role that I was hiring for. So I just told
the Mandy Moneymaker today. She was like, I'm putting in
these applications. I need help with the cover letter. Do
you know any services? And I was like, Teal boo
Teal because with Teal you can put your resume and
the job description. So you put the link to the
(02:53):
job description, or you can find the job description from
Teal because it has it's connected to all the biggest
posting sites. It will create a sample cover letter for you,
so you can go in there after that and tweak it.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
You can change things.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You can say, oh, I don't really like the way
you said that, you know, give me a different version
like this. And because it has the job description, it
has your resume, it's able to create a cover letter
that like makes sense. And if you want to personalize
it by finding the name of the hiring manager. You
can do that and just come back and pop that
in there. But the best thing is that it's going
to simplify the job search process. And y'all know that
(03:28):
when it comes to searching for jobs, like it is so.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Stacked against us.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Right now, everyone's using AI and applicant tracking systems to
weed through resumes and cover letters. They're looking for the keywords.
So you know how some people would like copy and
paste a bunch of keywords from the resus from the
job description and like put it in their resume or
their cover letter, but like make sure the font was invisible,
like it was white so it wouldn't show up, but
(03:52):
it would be triggering the ats to like recognize their
resume or their application as highly qualified for the You
don't have to do that anymore because Teal is going
to take the job description, going to track all the
keywords and make sure that it gives you advice on
how you can update your resume in a way that
actually will show up for the keywords that are in
(04:13):
the job description. So I'm a Teal Stan I would
love y'all to check it out. I want you to
go to the show notes, or if you're on watching
on YouTube, I'll post a link in the show notes here.
So love my teal, let them know that Brand Ambition
or Mandy Money sent you, and let's get into the
rest of the show. Here's our first question of the week.
(04:33):
This comes from a listener from IG who'd like to
be called Unicorn and has a very straightforward question. Unicorn asks,
how do I set financial goals for the new year,
and then how do I discipline myself to keep my commitments.
I got one word for you, Unicorn, accountability. Who's going
to hold you accountable? Who's going to check in with
(04:54):
you and remind you what you said you were going
to do? And for me, that has to be a person.
I actually connected with a fellow solopreneur, another woman who
has a podcast and also has a similar business model
to me. We connected before Christmas.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I want to say.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
We're also moms of young children, so we just really
get each other on a certain level. But we're not
like best best friends. We really only have been getting
to know each other as accountability partners. And what's been
great about that is something that I learned even just
starting this podcast with Tiffany I said. I've said before
that one of the reasons that we have been so
successful with Brown Ambition, I believe is because Tiffany and
(05:32):
I started as part friends, but more heavily toward the
business partner side of things. And I just feel like,
when it's not your bestie, you're gonna bring your a
game a lot more often that sounds terrible. You're also
gonna you're gonna like you want to sort of impress
the other person. You care more about how they perceive you.
So you're not gonna like miss deadlines, You're not gonna
(05:53):
be late for recordings because you know the other person
is not just there because they're just your friend and
they'll be there no matter what. No, this is another
person who's time you're going to value differently than you
would a friend. So I kind of I put that
same train of thought into my accountability partner. So let's
get someone who I respect and who we have things
in common and we like each other, but not someone
(06:16):
who is going to like take me for granted.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Or vice versa.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So I highly highly recommend the accountability partner method. It's
one of the reasons why I make sure if you
come through any of my career coaching challenges or my
Mandy money Maker's coaching program, that you get assigned an
accountability partner, and the makers who are showing up who
are bettering their finances, you know, negotiating more, are typically
(06:40):
the ones who are actually showing up to group coaching,
the ones who are checking in with their accountability partners.
And the reality is that, like and I've said it before,
we do not have to do hard things alone. And
in fact, hard things are not meant to be done alone.
And I think that we set ourselves up to fail
by telling ourselves that, well, everyone else is doing this,
(07:03):
so I should be able to, you know, set these
big goals, and that it couldn't be further from the truth,
Like everyone else who's accomplishing things is probably getting.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Help, and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's okay for us to admit that we need accountability
and that we need someone to check in with us,
you know, and it's it's okay for us to ask
for that help. And so what I would say to you, Unicorn,
is what kind of goals are you setting for yourself?
And who in your community, your peer group, your colleague group,
who is someone that you respect, who has a similar
(07:34):
need for accountability, and who can you engage with to
start that kind of accountability, So that can look like
a regular check in. Virtually, for me, it works better
to be a phone.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Call, no video. We have a rule, no video, just
talk because I don't need to be.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
On screen more than I already am. And it's like
half an hour a week, and yes, we may change that.
We both have young children, so sometimes life happens, but
we stick to that, and we do check in with
one another, and we don't just talk about, like you know,
what's going on in personal lives, Like we actually have
a couple of talking points for the business and we
kind of check in on goals that we had. There's
(08:12):
not a ton of pressure around it. If one of
us is like, oh, I know, I said I was
going to do that thing, but then I just didn't
do that, then that's where the accountability comes in. It's like, okay, girl,
I get it, Like why don't you. There's been times
where I've been like, girl.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Go take a nap. We can talk about this tomorrow.
You sound like you really need a nap right now.
And that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
It's about, like I will check in on you tomorrow.
You know, I understand that you need time, and we'll
check in tomorrow. And it's just it's wonderful to build
that relationship and saying all of that. I can already
hear the people who are listening and they're like, but
I tried that, but like you know, we stop checking
in with each other, or the other person wasn't a
very good accountability partner because they didn't really hold me accountable.
(08:53):
I think it's really important in a couple of things
to think about, is one like setting the expectation, what
is this relationship going to look like? I remember with
my accountability buddy from the jump, I was like, so,
like how much accountability?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Like how much communication are we talking here?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Because I if you tell me to be your accountability buddy,
I'll be texting you, I'll be calling you, I'll be
taking notes, I'll be going back to the receipts to
be like, well, okay, here's what we said last time.
But that can be a bit much like some people
may not like that pressure, but I can be a
lot right. That's how I get somewhat shit done. An
I execute the hell out of everything I do. And
(09:28):
I like to help others execute. So from the beginning,
I just wanted to just gently check in with her
to make sure that was cool with her, because that's
also what I wanted in return. I sort of wanted
someone to hold me accountable and check in with me
and care, you know, like care about how certain goals
are going and how things are working out. And I
found that to be helpful to just like set that
(09:49):
boundary or lack of boundary, I guess up front and
just like set the expectation. So if you're someone who
doesn't really need, like you're not looking for someone to
critique what you're doing, that's not what accountability buddy does. No,
that's what like a mentor you know, I don't know,
like a business partner may do. Accountability is literally to
be a cheerleader and to help you get over whatever
(10:12):
humps you may be getting over with, or just to
witness the challenge of doing the hard thing, to witness
the times when you have to take five steps back
to go ten for ten steps forward, you know, and
that can be important too. So just say, like, you know,
I'm really looking for someone I know once a month
or once every couple of months, I have these like
(10:33):
depressive episodes, or I get really anxious and I just
want to know that I have someone to call who
can understand that and just like tells me the you know,
tells me what I need to hear to get me
back you know, doing it and doing whatever I said
I was going to do. Or I have a really
tough deadline that I have coming up, and I need
someone to check on me, like on these dates for
(10:54):
the next three months, and it's going to end after
three months, but just to get me through this. Another
way that I've used accountability partnership in setting goals and
actually crossing those reaching those goals in my business is
when I have needed to, I've hired an actual coach.
When I had the idea to write a book, I
hired a book proposal coach, someone who had a framework
(11:16):
for me to follow.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Sure I could.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I could talk to Tiffany and I have at length
about how to create a book proposal and what is it.
She sent me her book proposal. Other friends for our
news friend of the show has sent me her book proposal.
I had plenty of friends you could send me proposals,
but was I going to sit down and actually do
the work without a coach, someone who had a weekly
scheduled call with me and would tell me exactly what
(11:40):
to work on for that week.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Probably not, and certainly not in the time that I
did it.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I think I had that thing done in like three
to four months. So when you need that help, you
can look at hiring that kind of help if you
can't find it, Because sometimes you need accountability, but you
also need someone who has the knowledge of what you're
trying to achieve, who can say, oh, yep, you're on
the right path, keep going, or they can say ooh no,
that's no, we're going to change this, and then alter
(12:06):
it and keep going. The key to accomplishing goals don't
do them alone. Okay, so maybe a goal for you, Unicorn,
instead of like, I don't know what your specific goal
is you don't say, but think about making finding that
accountability partner a part of that goal. You know, I'm
not even going to start until I have someone in
(12:26):
place just champion me through, be that accountability for me
and help me get to that. Okay, thank you Unicorn
for your question, and I'll take a quick break and
be right back with our second question.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I just really wanted to shout out really quick, bea
fam listener, Christine, who sent us the sweetest email Christina
is from Marylyn. She says, I haven't been the best
at keeping up with podcasts since COVID, since I haven't
had a daily commute. I was shocked and sad to
see that Tiffany was leaving on Instagram. But I have
listened to the farewell episodes and I am on the
(13:04):
Amtrak train in tears after listening to the episode with
Doctor Joy. I love you too, and I love Doctor Joy.
So this was a great episode just having the three
of you. Like many of the episodes on this show,
I heard and felt so much of my life and
experiences reflected in your words and feelings. You talk about
having evolve from two women in their early thirties and
(13:25):
relationships to where you are now. I'm just writing to
say thank you to the both of you for not
just being my financial besties, but really girlfriends in my
head and heart. I have learned so much from you
about finances, being an employee and manager, and just navigating life.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
I'm looking forward to continuing to listen to Brown Ambition
through the show's evolution with you at the hell Mandy
and adding your book next to gek it with money
on my bookshelf. Thank you, I love you and I
need it.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Christine. That is so sweet.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I don't know what to say other than aw and
and you're the reason we do the show, so I
just appreciate that so much, y'all. I love BA fam,
and if y'all have any words of support or we
have questions, don't forget to email us. Email me Brandabition
Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can slide into
our DMS. I'm at Brand Ambition Podcast on IG or
(14:18):
you can find me at Mandy Money. All right, va Fam,
I'm back with a question from listeners Solange, who wrote
in from IG to ask, Hey, Mandy.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I need your help.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Can you point me in the right direction to select
a financial planner? I don't feel comfortable to just select
anyone on the internet.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Please help?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Okay, So, how to find a financial planner without using
the internet? Okay, Well, first let me talk to you, Solange.
The Internet is our friend, but we can't fully trust
everything the Internet has to say. Right.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Sometimes it's not even about trust.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Like you may look for the best financial planners in
whatever town you live in, for example, or whatever state
or city, and then find your list and then contact
one of them who looks good and then get on
the phone and be like, hmm, this guy is just
not speaking my language, or this girl I don't understand
what she's saying, or she's talking down to me, or
whatever the case may be. So it just may not
be a good fit for you, or they have a
(15:11):
different kind of strategy, or they only work with clients
who are in couple, in a couple, or in you know,
doing family finances or doing a state planning. So I
just want to say that when you're looking for a
financial planner, there's always going to be some amount of
is this person the right fit for me, whether you
find them on the Internet, whether they're coming through a referral. Okay,
(15:32):
all that being said, I do think the internet can
be a helpful tool. I found my financial planner through
the Internet through a tool called x Y Planning Network,
which is still very much in the world and still exists,
and x Y Planning they particularly work on connecting financial
planners who can work with that gen X gen Y population.
(15:52):
They also, I believe, only work with fee based planners.
Fee based planners are going to give you a flat
rate for their services or not gonna you know, make
their money off of selling you insurance products or getting
commissions from the types of investments that they that they
encourage you to make. So think about that as well.
Check them out and ask if they are a fiduciary,
(16:14):
which means they have to work in your best interest,
and if they are fee based or fee only they
are a fiduciary. That's just like part of the part
of the the kit and kaboodle.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Other ways that you can vet a financial planner. You
can use FINRA's I believe it's called broker check. FINRA
is fi n r A, so this will show any
history if there have been complaints against them and or
disciplinary action. So FINRA is like a regulatory body for
investment advisors, so that can be a tool to use.
(16:47):
There's also the Financial Planning Association. There's the ONAPFA National
Association of Personal Financial Advisors. I know they have a
tool in there to put in your zip code and
you can find planners who are in your area. There's
also some matching services, x Y Planning Network being one,
but some platforms that'll actually try to match you with
like people according to what you need and where you live.
(17:09):
You can check out Zoe Zoe Financial. You can check
out wealth Ramp and also Harness Wealth. And I know
there's some other sites that have been, like you know,
experimenting with having like advisor marketplaces. There's investor dot com.
Actually know the co founder or the found that we
used to work together at lending Tree. But anyway, Investor
dot com. Those are a bunch of options. And I'll
(17:31):
just leave you with this. This is not going to
be the type of like professional service that you're going
to be able to just go on Yelp or Google,
you know, reviews and or it's not like finding a
restaurant like you want it to be a really good
fit for you. And the best news for you is
that a lot of these firms and advisors, they will
offer some sort of free consultation or getting to know
(17:54):
you meeting fifteen minutes thirty minutes max and actually come
prepared with the list of questions to ask them. And
if you would like to know what some good questions
to ask are, I got you covered.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Number one is how do you get paid?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Okay, so this is going to actually bypass those questions
like are you a fiduciary, are you fee based?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Are you fee only?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Just ask how do you get paid point blank? Am
I paying you a flat rate? Am I paying you percentage?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Now, if you're someone who wants to have like a
heavy active investor, like actually picking and choosing your investments,
typically they're going to be taking some kind of percentage
of your assets that they are managing. So that's just
kind of a standard policy. But then ask them like, okay,
what is that percentage? Is it on all types of products?
Are you a fiduciary? So do you actually, you know,
(18:42):
do you have to work in my best interest? Or
if you're not a fiduciary, how do you make sure
that you're acting in my best interest? And honestly, probably
best for you to go with someone who is a fiduciary,
because there's just no way to trust that someone who's
not a fiduciary isn't making decisions and choices for you
based on the amount of their commission or whatever else,
(19:03):
you know, incentive they may have to take your money
and invest it in certain places. You could ask for
their certifications so a couple of certifications like certified financial
planner that is different than like a registered investment advisor,
So you can look into that and ask how that
may change their fees or change the kind of advice
(19:23):
they can give. In general, a certified financial planner is
going to be a good starting point for people with
personal finance financial planning management. So if you're looking for
someone to set goals and like look at your you know,
household finances, work on a budget, pay down debt, you know,
maybe you're looking at a big goal like buying your
first home, just a CFP could be a good place
(19:45):
to start. But you also have like financial coaches and
maybe they don't have certification, but they may come at
a lower price point than someone who has gone through
the schooling and the continuing education that a CFP is required.
And truth be told, like if you're really vibing with
a financial coach or you know, a counselor for example,
(20:07):
and they may not have that certification, but they understand
you and your goals and you feel like you can
trust them, and you understand their fee structure and all
of that, Like you could try that out to begin with.
You don't have to necessarily skip right to hiring like
the top of that, you know, certification level. Another a
great question to ask too is like how regularly are
(20:28):
we going to meet? And then what sort of platform
or software are you going to be using? Like a
lot of times financial planners will have some kind of
software for you to load all your accounts into, and
then you know what is that software? Like? Is it
a lot of like going in and updating things to
make sure that they're accurate. You want to know are
you meeting virtually in person?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Are you going to work with them directly?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Because you may love the planner, but then they have you,
you know that they have you interfacing more with like
an assistant planner for example, so that may matter to you.
You and are they going to keep you updated on
the financial industry? Are there any like is there any
education that they offer? Some planners have newsletters or they
may have events to educate their clients. You may not
(21:14):
want that amount of you know, investment of their time,
but just something to think about. Protection and security is
a big one. So how is my money protected by
working with you? How am I protected if something were
to go wrong? So this question doesn't really apply to
anyone who's working with a fee based or fee only planner,
because you are giving them money for a service and
(21:34):
they should be performing that service for you. They're not
getting access to your accounts or taking a cut of
your returns on investment or a percentage of your assets
that they are managing for you. And lastly, a good
question to ask is just who do you love working with?
And that could be a great way to tell if
they're going to give you, you know, special attention or
like you're really going to get their best effort. Because
(21:55):
when someone is working with their ideal client, they're going
to have a lot more expertise that area. You're going
to get richer I think advice. So for me, for example,
i am a career and negotiation coach, So I'm gonna
work best with women who are at a place in
their careers where they're feeling undervalued, but they have the
skill set and they have the goods to back up negotiations,
(22:16):
you know, So I don't want to I don't work
too often with like entry level people or you know,
people who haven't really like proven their worth in their
careers yet.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I'm more of like mid.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Level, like you know, twenty five to forty five sweet
spot for me, So that's specific to me. I can
coach an eighteen year old, I could coach a sixty
five year old, but I'm really going to be in
my bag and giving the best that I can to
the client if they're in that you know that window
of ages and also like life stages. So if you're
looking for a financial planner and you really want someone
(22:48):
who's good with like household budgeting for a single woman
who doesn't plan to get married anytime soon, then maybe
you should work with the planner who really has experience
and understand some of the particular nuances of being an independent,
you know, a solo woman, and then may treat it
differently than a financial planner who only works with couples
or specializes in working with couples finances. Now, if you're
(23:11):
looking for someone who's only going to do a state planning,
you may want to find you may want to ask
a general financial planner if they recommend an estate planning
attorney or a financial planner who specializes in estate plans,
and it's just kind of like going to the doctor.
Your financial planner can be like your general practitioner and
then if you have more specific needs or questions, and
(23:32):
they may be able to connect you with other people
in their network who can help you in that specialized place.
But yeah, starting with a good financial planner as like
a base level is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
It's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And I'm so glad that you're listening to Brown Ambition Solange,
and thank you for asking a question. Be a fan
where y'all at send us your questions. You can hit
me up at Brand Ambition Podcast on ig or Brand
Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com to email your questions. Yeah,
you can stay anonymous. Come up with a fun pseudonym
if you want to like unicorn.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Okay, we don't care.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
We just want them juicy questions, all right, va Fam,
don't forget to like. Subscribe on YouTube if you're watching
here so you can get the latest episodes of our show.
We air Wednesdays and Fridays. And until next time, by
ba Fam
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