298: [Petra-Ann Brown] Breaking Barriers: Embracing Island Money

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Petra-Ann Brown (00:01):
They're migrating, starting from scratch, right? You have to
learn the culture. You got to learn the new financial system, everything. And
some of us come from a system that raise corruption. We don't trust
it. Some of us come from a system where it's just like the United States. We can
easily transition system. There's a lot of barriers that we need to think
about. Don't know anything about credit. Some of us come from a cash system.
But the most important thing is that we work

(00:22):
like several jobs.

Anthony Weaver (00:29):
Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting show, Are they About
that Wallet Podcast? I am your host, Anthony
Weaver, and we focus on
the sandwich generation to help you build strong financial
habits so that you can spend money, talk about
money, and enjoy your money with confidence.
And today I have somebody who
is, uh, I guess you could say

(00:53):
a force to reckon with when it comes to
the outreach perspective. She has
always looking for the right ways and
the right tools to make sure that she's providing the
greatest information for our audience. Um, and
when, I mean, like, she's a force that's going out the way, she's cold
calling people. She is not only cold calling, she

(01:14):
will show up on the door and knock people down, you know what I'm saying?
To get what she needs to get to make sure that
she's providing the best information.
And I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show, Petra.
And how are you doing today?

Thank you, Anthony. I am great. I'm so happy to be
here.

It.

And now I want to be happy with my money. I want to happily
spend my money.
So let's talk about how we can happily
spend our money.

Well, let's talk about it. Like, what was the most, uh, let's see.
What is the one thing that you're so happy that you
purchased it that you still use today?

Oh, I don't know if I still use it, but I recently I
attended a event, um, of one of the Caribbean events
that we have here in Connecticut. Um, Caribbean connections.
It's called Ann, since,
you know, I'm a financial coach, so, and
money conscious. So I really, I really spend money
in terms of these things. I spend money on, like,

(02:08):
vacation. That's where that's what my value is.

Right.

So I had to go buy a dress and I went to
Macy's. Okay, I don't build Macy's. I went to
Macy's. My, uh, mom had some coupons because she loved
Macy's. So she had those star points. I was like,
everybody got coupons. I went there
I saw this dress, it was beautiful. I didn't want any black because
everybody wear black togethers. And I was like, I don't want to wear black. And

(02:31):
I walked in, saw this beautiful, um,
burgundy kind of dress. And I just
picked it up, I tried it on for my side. Tried on, looked beautiful on
me. I said, this is it. My husband was with me. They look at the
price tag.
I went to the red, it was like 100 and something
dollars. I look at my husband, I was like, what?

(02:52):
He was like, let's buy. Wasn't there. I
was like 100 some dollars for a dress I'm gonna wear one time.
He was like, you better find another use for it, but
you should buy it. And I bought it. It had a
great time. It was a beautiful dress. I felt so beautiful in it.
But I mean I would not have.
It's not just. That's not what I do, you know, I'm a

(03:13):
couponer. I don't buy anything at full
price. I did not distress.
Anyway, I did get um, like $60
off. I paid well originally two something and I end up paying one
something for it. So. But it was a great purchase.
The reason why, because I enjoyed it. I had fun.
I just went in there and bought something without thinking about it, which is
so not me.

Well, I mean, but that is amazing thing when you cross
that threshold of confidence in your finances. You're like,
you know what? Not that I deserve it, but the fact
that I can do it without it impacting any part of
your finances, you know.

Yes, exactly. Plus, you know, I knew this color was
coming up and I did allocate money for this because, you
know, I had none of these kind of clothes. I don't.
I go to like, um, like rainbow
and stuff, you know, Marshall.
Marshall TJ Maxx, you know, Burlington.
So I don't have any of these nice, nice stuff, uh,

(04:12):
outside of my church clothes. You don't want to wear church post. It's to
a gala.

So they don't know.

Everybody was dressed to a T. And these are. Look, these are
Caribbean. These are Jamaicans, you know, um, um,
Beijings. I mean they dress, they go all out, right?
So I got my hair done, got my
nails done, I did a whole shebang. So I knew it was going to
cost. So I allocated money for it. And then, you know, I was
okay because I knew what my parameters are. And I went on to bought it and I stay within
my budget. So it was pretty good.

That's good.
Um, because I um, like to ask that question, because
a lot of times we feel afraid to spend money on things that we
really want, um, and we
feel guilty sometime of purchasing it.
And sometimes it's like, well, I bought it for this
one thing. What other uses
am I going to use this for? Um,

(05:02):
did you decide to keep it or did you give it
back? Did you donate it back? What?

You know, I keep it. I do not do that.
I wore it, I danced in it. I sweat in
it. That is not. Not right. No, I am not giving that
thing. That's not. No, no, you would. My
moral compass would not allow me to return it. But
I have it in my closet. I am thinking, is anything else
going to come up for me to wear this dress? I was like, I need to wear it again. So I'm

(05:27):
sure somebody going to have a wedding somewhere, you know,
or some kind of ball, or maybe a class reunion,
something's going to come up, um, for me to use it
again. But either way, I'm not stressing it. It doesn't think about it.
It's beautiful. It's in my closet. It's a fond memory.
It's a really, really fun memory. So I had a great night with some
girlfriends, just celebrating with Caribbean people. Have some

(05:47):
Caribbean music, celebrating our achievement.
It was fun. I love it.

That's good.
So, you know, obviously, um,
a lot of people are, well, my audience is new to you.
And what is it that got you
to where you are today? It's like, let's say, start with your
early, uh, memory of money. What is
your earliest memory of money?

Oh, well, my money. My memory of money changed. I had
two drastic, um, memory of money. One,
when I was in Jamaica, before I migrated to the U.S. we
were the, I would say, the better off,
the affluent, um, memory in
our little community. I live in the country. Country, country, country.
People in Jamaica don't know we're there. So.

(06:32):
But. And I don't want to say affluent, like my father was. Rich, flowing.
No. But I was the only one in the community at that
time that had a tv. You know, I was wearing shoes
on my feet, and my friends were going barefoot to school.
So in my mind, I was like, okay, we have a little
bit more than my neighbors, right? Most of most of us
were farmers, but for some reason, we

(06:52):
had just a little bit more. Um, and then I
came here. We migrated to the U.S. we had
nothing. We had to start from scratch. Zero.
And my mom, who migrated as a teacher, had to
come here and start all over, right? Because some Things doesn't
translate or doesn't transition with you, um, or
we didn't know about it back then. Maybe you can trans
transfer your credentials now, I don't know. But she

(07:14):
came here and became a.
Essentially start cleaning people homes in the, uh, in the
rich areas. Right? That's what, that's what we do.
We got the connection. Start cleaning homes and taking care of their kids.
And so some nights
I was left to be the cook and I had to just create something
out of nothing. You know, I remember this one particular

(07:35):
incident where I would never forget. It's always my,
my pain point. Where I go back to every time when I realize how
blessed I am now is that I was opening the
refrigerator and all there was, was two single hot dogs. Two
single hot dogs. That's all that was there. And a bag of
flour, right. So what I did was I cut up the hot
dogs, um, toss it down with some ketchup,

(07:56):
and then make some, um, dumplings and boil that. And we have
boiled dumping massages. My sister and I had. We had a great
dinner. So we always had food. But you know, go
from. Have always have food at home back in Jamaica, to
come in here and just making something out of nothing. And
then seeing m. How my mom worked, you know,
come from a teacher to be basically a domestic

(08:16):
servant. Right. And then now as a, um, ed
nurse, as a rn, it shows me that anything is possible.
So my pain, my memory
of money is that, yes, we had.
We don't. But you don't have. That's only temporary.
You're passing through, right? You be
content where you are until it gets to where you want to go or you work to

(08:37):
where you want to go. So now, you know,
money is not as much as
scarcity anymore, is not
evasive, it's not missing,
but, um, we're okay. So those are my two
memories of money. Early memories of money.

Yeah. So, you know, seeing your mom going through
that, um, how was your dad? Did he come
over too?

No, usually, um, my mom migrated first and then she
brought us up and then my dad came later.
So that's usually the flow of it. Everybody don't come
out all at once. You know, one person come, set things
in motion and, you know, file for you, you come over and
then. Plus my father had a lot of businesses in
Jamaica. Eventually, as my mom was over trying to get things right, you
know, they couldn't just up and leave all his

(09:24):
things at his land and all that kind of stuff. We didn't have a mother leave it
to. So we. They had to make that decision. I don't know what the conversations
were, but they're still married. But
okay, that was. I wasn't proof of that kind of information.
I just knew my dad wasn't with us at the time.

Gotcha. And, um,
so does that actually help you in your
business today? Like, why are you helping other people?
Um, you know, coming through that particular
upbringing, does that actually impact the way how you view money
now?

It does. I am, um.
I. I don't look at it as if I don't have it. It's a big deal.
You know, some people, like, oh, my life is over.
Or um, they say, you know,
why can't I figure this out? I just know once you have the
information and once you have opportunity, anything is
possible.

(10:16):
So my experience with money and a lot of different
various experiences I have with money definitely helped me to be a better
coach. Help me to be an empathetic coach. Help me to show
people and show the through experience. And I think that's the best coach
you can have is someone. We're not just talking from textbooks. Cause we
all read, right? Read every day. We
digest this stuff, we absorb this stuff, right? We just boom, boom,
boom. All this money stuff.

(10:37):
I read articles, I read books. But at the end of the
day, your experience is what can really change and
shift somebody to. So look, this is possible. I was
here. Um, you're here. And this is how I
came through it. And I think that's the amazing thing about
it. Because even though I went through that when I
went to college and graduated and started making money, I still wasn't

(10:57):
responsible with it. You know, I was
like, okay, I have money now. I spend on buy what I wanted,
right? I'm like, wait a minute, I'm doing
that. I had debt, lots of debt. Um,
and I'm like, wait a minute. I wanted to
stop using my credit card. I'm like, I'm paying so much money in credit card. I want
to stop using my credit card. And when I tried that, I didn't have enough

(11:18):
money in my bank account to buy a large pizza. I was like,
piece of that man was like, a large piece was like, what, 17?
Not even 15 back then. So it
was like the positive, the. The idea that I
couldn't buy a large pizza from my money without
using my credit card. That was a wake up call for me because I
didn't realize I was mismanaging it. I didn't.

(11:40):
I just knew I had enough to buy because I had A good paying job.
I had enough to buy what I want, right? And I was
not living this passion life. I was never that person, but
yet I didn't have it. So where was it going? Because I wasn't buying
fancy cars. I wasn't, um, buying fancy clothes.
I was still this, the way I grew up,
still marshalls BJ's. You know, that's what my.

(12:01):
My mom used to bring us a salvation armor to buy clothes because that's what we could
afford. So I still continued on that path, but yet I still
didn't have the money. Where was it going? And
that's why, you know, debt, um,
eat your income, right? It takes away your income. So
that's what happened to me.

Yeah. And what did you do to get out of
that, that rut?

I said, I want money.

And I just thought it coming to you like I did my affirmation
in the mirror, right?

No, I know.
I decided I did not want this kind of
life because I promised myself the reason I went to college. And I was
so focused. I mean, and I actually,
funny story, M. I went into. I ran into a high school friend
and they were surprised that I was married with kids because it was like you were so
focused, you didn't see. Even see boys. You were so tunnel vision.

(12:51):
And I was tunnel vision because I wanted to leave that circumstance that I
was in and make a better life for myself and my family.
And I did that. But here
I am not totally out of it, right? It's still kind of
survival because if something should happen from, uh,
my job, I'm back to square one. So really there was no
security there. There's no freedom there. Right? So

(13:12):
all that sacrifices and then now what? I'm making money
and what's happening? So I realize, um,
getting back to your question, what, what
made me make that change is like the
fact this, this the fear
or the anxiety that, oh my gosh,
I can go back to our empty refrigerator. Yeah, I can

(13:35):
go back to an empty cupboard. I was like, nope,
this story is changing. I'm rewriting
this story. Absolutely not.
And I started just diving deeper into,
you know, the Internet, YouTube, went to YouTube University. I found out
about Dave Ramsey, went through their coaching
program, the seven Steps. I did all that.
You know, I even did his coaching program as well

(13:57):
and get certification through his coaching program where I want to do other things.
But, um, that was it for me. That was the wake up
call. I was saying, no, I can't. I worked too hard. I made
too many sacrifices. I um, deny myself too much
to go back to that space. So
everyone to move on, have to have enough is enough moment
for them to make that change. If they're not there, they're not

(14:18):
ready. You have to have something to say. Enough is enough. Whether it's your
kids, um, whether it's your life situation, whether
the fact that you want to go on vacation. All I can do is
go to your backyard. Yeah. Something happened for
you to say, know what? It's over. I'm starting
over. Change here, it ends here, and then you go do it.
Once that switch turned on, you're determined.

And one of the things I like about that
is when that switch comes on, I always
treat it as if it's like a disease. If the
doctor come up to you and say, like, hey, you can no
longer have peanuts or you'll, uh, die.

I know.

And you. If you can switch your habits so quickly to get
peanuts out your life, why can't you do that about everything
else? So if you say, like, hey, if
you go to another happy hour and buy a drink,
your finances are going to go back to zero.
If you treat it like a disease, you
operate differently.

(15:14):
Um, so what was that one thing that you had to cut back on
that you noticed that you're spending a lot of money on to kind
of get you focused back on? Because I'm familiar, um,
with the Dave Ramsey process. So
what was it that you notice that you're spending a lot on
that you need to cut back on?

My family.
I gotta be like, oh, you guys gotta get a job?
No, my family, um, I give a lot.
You know, as immigrants, we are told
to take care of each other, to take care of family. We are here. You
know, this country is very. Yeah, it's very hard.

(15:51):
Um, so we got to give back,
not only here. And that's one of many challenges that immigrants
have. Not only taking care of family here and yourself, but you also taking
family, taking care of family back home. And in
addition to that, we had gotten to the habit, um,
of eating now on Friday nights. I know where it came
from. Friday nights, no one cooks. You know,

(16:12):
it's Friday where we're going to eat out, where we're going to go. It's
Friday. No. So we cook all the way from bunch on Sunday
to Thursday, and then Friday, it's like, boom.
So I realized that too, even in my family,
with my mom, everybody. So I will eat off
Friday night for dinner, right? And then go to visit my mom on the
weekends. And we like, oh, let's go for breakfast. Let's, you

(16:33):
know, then obviously didn't cook anything from the night before. There's no
leftovers. Right. So lunch, m
dinner, and then Sunday morning, Grandma
always cook a nice feast. And then Sunday afternoon,
m. Mama said, let's go, you know, let's go to the all you can eat place. I'm
like, okay, so. So,
um, that time was like, Hometown Buffet.
I mean, almost every Sunday we're at Hometown Buffet.

(16:55):
Um, and then. Or the Chinese one.
The Chinese. Um. Um, all you can
eat. So I was like. When I had that switch, I was like, mom,
we're not doing that anymore. She was like, what? I was
like, no, we're not doing that anymore. I was like, if a family member
needs something, we can. But it's something they can do
on their own. They're going to have to figure it out. If it's

(17:16):
a situation like, you know, somebody is sick or something, I need
help. Absolutely. But we're just gonna say,
this is what we're gonna do. This is how we're gonna do it. If we're gonna send money back home,
say, you know what? We're gonna send money home once a month
or every quarter. We just, like, we're gonna put
some barriers, put some railing on this
thing. Because I realized, well, those one that goes out of the

(17:36):
family is not coming back. It is not coming back. Right.

You know it.

And then it's, can you please stop using the word borrow? You're not
borrowing the money. Okay? Just say,
can I have the money? I'm looking at. I've been giving you money for
years. That money have never come back.
And Jamaicans have this sound office in America as well.
It's like, as long as I owe you, you'll never go broke. I was like,
it's the same. Yes, I will go broke.

(18:01):
You're not giving it back. So, um, have no
problem helping families. But I just put guardrails around it and how much,
and I tell my immigrant, um, clients is that we
like to give back, which is, there's no problem with that. But you need to allocate certain
amount. They're going to give back monthly or quarterly. And
once you reach that threshold, that's it. Tell them it's over.
You have to wait for the next quarter or the next one, because

(18:22):
you're done. And so I denied myself going
out. I changed that. I was like, we're going to cook on the weekends, too.
You know, it's okay.

Yeah. And how did they.
Because I would say now that you're mom and everybody,
it seemed like almost that that was a your family event.
But now that y' all don't have that family event anymore,
what was like, that conversation? Like, did they, like,
accept it or just like you and your immediate
family did not show up to the next one?

Well, my mom was like, is it that bad? Is everything
okay? I was like, I'm
broke. I'm broke,
Mommy. And that was very. And that was very impactful
for me because my father. So ashamed,
right? And some of us use that fear, like when people.
People see us a certain way, because I went. I was the one that went to college

(19:12):
in the family, and people look at me as. I got myself
together and I'm making good money, right? They don't know how much,
but then I was making money, and they feel like I'm the
successful one, we're the one that doing well. So they look up
to you and they look at you as, okay, this is what we need to aspire
to, right?
That's the reality of it. You are the one that did it.
You made it out. You're doing things. And

(19:33):
I had to go back and say, no, I don't have any
money. I don't. Um,
and not to say I had. And to say I had like
$3,000 in savings, but that was like my. My life
vest, it's like my. My lifeboat that I didn't touch it. It
didn't exist. But that was my money. Like, if anything should
happen, I was like, that was my safety net, you know, made me feel okay.
But other than that, in my check in and regular savings account, because

(19:56):
I was at a different bank account that was at a different bank. It was at a credit
union. And I would advise anybody to do that. You have a checking and
saving combo, and then you have one savings account that's out of reach, out
of sight, you know, doesn't exist.
I know. But, um, you know, I was. I had to go back
and say, no, I don't have it. I said, oh, stop it. Oh, stop

(20:16):
it. You do. I was like, no, I don't.
I was like, if I do not use my credit card, I do not.
So I was like, that's going to change. And that empowered
me. That took away the fear, that took away the, um, the
shame of it. And I just told my mom, no, I'm broke. Once
I said those lines, it was like, I got empowered.
And I was like, okay, now I told you, now I'm gonna do so I'm gonna do

(20:37):
and they come to me, and they always said to me,
oftentimes like, patrick, do you really have to go that hard? I'm like, yes,
I am. I was like, yes, I am. I'm going real hard.
I was like, I'm not searching this thing out for three years. I was
like, in 15 months, I'm done.
You know, I said maximum two years. And I had
$68,000 in debt, and I did it within that time.

Let's go.

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

Because it's. It's like a switch that goes off,
and setting those boundaries have really helped you out,
M man. Because, uh, it gets
you to think of, like, how many other people are willing to make those
type of sacrifices, uh, with their. Well,
are they afraid to. To have those
conversations with their parents? Because I'm

(21:24):
thinking about, you know, people like yourself who are in the
sandwich generation. Like, you got kids to take care of. You have your own
household to take care of first before you deal with mom and dad.
And it's like, yes, yo, I need a break.

Yes.

So how was it with the kids? Like, did the kids
take it okay? Where they was like, hey, well, we don't get to see.

I was in a good spot, actually, to be honest with you. And it was scary.
Don't think it wasn't. It took a lot of. But, um,
the desire to be better off was way
outweighs what they will feel about me and the opinion of me
changing. Um, I was in a better spot. My son was
young. My husband and my son was young.
Um, he was still under 1 years old.

Okay.

And another tipping point for me was that I
was. We said that we're not going to use a credit card anymore. And I was like,
okay, the baby need diapers. And my husband was like, we're going to get the money
from. And, you know, I remember being so irritated one
day, and I was, ah. And this was right in the
same, um, moment of when everything was just
enough is enough was coming together for me. And

(22:24):
I was like, what do you mean? I was like, we need diapers. It doesn't
matter if I put a. Put on a credit card. We need diapers.
And he was very, you know, I don't want to use that.
Because he came into relationship debt free.
He came in debt free. So he
was like, I'm just. I just want to stop using the credit card. I'm like,
I understand, but I need diapers for my child, and I'm not going to

(22:44):
nappies, you know, so. Right.
Anybody who don't know what nappies are. Is just what Jamaicans. What, uh,
we use to those cloth things and soap and put it.
And just that run. No, no, we're not doing that
properly. No. So, you
know, I don't want to have those conversations. Right.

Yeah.

This is what the person I love, you know, my partner, and I'm
not. I don't want to do that.
I don't want to have those kind of conversations. Um, so.
And how. How hard is that to
look at each other and say, to buy your diapers. I can't put
in a credit card. Like, that's very
painful, you know, Very painful. I
can't surprise provide for my family. We can't

(23:28):
provide for our family. And that was very heartbreaking for my husband as well, and
for both of us. And we had to realize that we want the same
thing for our family, and we want us to be financially stable because
we're both coming from a place of nothing,
you know, um, of, um, food insecurities and
stuff like that, especially my husband's side.
Um, so I don't want. We don't want to go through that

(23:49):
again. So.

Yeah, yeah, that's tough.
And. But it's really good that, you know,
you both were on the same page. Uh, because
they talk about marriages usually fail
because of finances,
but really deep down, when you think about it, it's about the
communication about the finances.

Yes.

Um, and so with you being
a certified, um, person
in the financial realm, why
you focus on the finances so much,
uh, instead of anything else,
what.

If finance like to mean, why focus on the core
building blocks versus all the investments and stuff like that?
Because most people, when they come to me, they said,
um, oh, you're not. Help me say, do you do investment
and stuff? And then you want to invest, but you don't have
$2 in your savings account. It doesn't make sense.
Make it make sense. Right. You don't have

(24:45):
the discipline or the
understanding of those core principles for you
to build that foundation. It's going to
crumble. Right. You know the Bible story that says you build
a house in the sand, they build a house in a rock. Right. Which one is going to sustain
itself? So I'm passionate about
teaching people the foundation, giving them the tools to build that strong
foundation. So when they're done, they go off and build their wealth.

(25:08):
But you cannot build wealth if you don't understand
the. The principle of savings, the principle of how debt
affect your paycheck and how budgeting
helps you manage it all. And to get that goal and dream that you have in
your mind, if you don't have that is.
Is. Is pointless.

So why the, um.
So.
So what is it that somebody right now is listening to this
who, like you said, don't have those. Those only
have those $2. Um,
and with so much amounts of debt and everybody's
asking for money, um, and they just
don't know what to do. Are you more

(25:47):
of a defense side of the person or you more offense?
Meaning, like, offense is like, hey, go get a
job, increase, uh, your income, or you more of the
defense. Like, hey, let's cut back on your spending
and let's, uh, focus on your core structure
first.

We. I do both. We have to look at the whole person, right?
Um, you can't just attack one side. You need both sides to win.
To win a game, you need defense, I need offense. Right? You can put
all defense you want, but if you're not making the shots, you're not gonna get enough points for
the game, right? So you're not winning. Um, so I look at both
sides as a financial coach, and I tell my individuals or
tell my clients, I say, okay, what are your pain

(26:23):
points? You gotta identify your pain points. Right? We all
have them. And if you only have $2.
A lot of us have pride. I know in the, in the immigrant
community, there's a lot of pride. Right, right, right.
There's a lot of pride. All right, so you only have $2
and you have all these bills that you have to pay.
Okay, what if. What are the necessity? What are

(26:43):
necessities? We need food. Okay, what can
supplement your food right now? Can we go to a food pantry
temporarily, you know, and supplement and, um, you know,
supplement the food and lower the cost of the food
while you try to do these other things? What else can you do? What
other services are out there? That's why it's
good. As I tell all financial coaches,
I hope they know of those nonprofits out there that provide

(27:05):
certain help in your community, in your local
community that you're operating out of, because then it can
direct people to those services. I have
a client who was on the verge of being
evicted, and I knew of a program
that supplied temporarily,
short term, um, money

(27:26):
for them to stay in their home. Like they rent, like the
supplement. They're supplement their rent for a certain amount of time if they
get some things in order and if they go through, like a coaching program.
So obviously she'll leave for me as a coach and go to that coaching
program because she had to go through that program to get the help she
need, uh, for them to pay her rent for the
few months that they would. Right. No problem with

(27:46):
that. But, um, so what would I do with somebody who
has $2? I would look where they are. Is
it money issue? Is it an income issue? Is it
or is a spending issue? Right. If the income issue, then
we got to get to some services. If it's a
spending issue, then we got to tighten it up,
cut back on some spending, um, and

(28:07):
then take that money and reallocate it to the place that it needs
to be so you can get back to be financially stable.

Nice. Um, and I would say you focus in
on immigrants and minorities to help financial
freedom. Um,
why that particular demographic?

Because I'm an immigrant.

I know. It's like a rhetorical question.

No, no, honestly, all
seriousness, I see the struggles
that we go through. We come here. When this person migrate,
um, they're migrating something from scratch. Right. You have
to learn the culture. You got to learn the new financial system,
everything. And some of us come from a system that we as corruption.
We don't trust it. Some of us come from a system where it's just like the United

(28:49):
States. I can easily transition. So there's a lot of
barriers that we need to think about. Um, some don't know anything about
credit. Some, uh, of us come from a cash system.
But the most important thing is that we work,
like, several jobs, you know?

Yeah.

Working is not the issue. We work, and we can always find
a job. I mean, one of these running jokes about Jamaican is like, when I
tell people I'm Jamaican, they ask me, how many jobs do I have?

How many jobs do you have? Right.

How many jobs do you have? Anything is. It's funny, but at
the time when they asked me, I had several jobs. Even though
I had a great career job, I still had several
other jobs. And I'm like, when I
married my husband, he was like, why do you have all these jobs? I'm
like, that's all I know. What
do you mean, job? You work? He was

(29:34):
like, well, uh, it doesn't have to be that way.
So, um, making the money work for you,
so you have all these jobs where you have all this responsibility.
And I think a piece in the financial world that
is not really discussed or explored is the fact that most
immigrants are not just taking care of home here as they're
trying to build their financial lives here. They also have to

(29:55):
uplift. And their families back home, you
know, they give in a lot to their families back home. Those
barrels being sent back home, those packages, I mean
Western Union, those money transmitters, you know, they're
making money. They're making money,
you know. So I think is a unique,
um, challenge that we have our unique perspective

(30:16):
or something that's different in the financial world that
most other cultures, probably our American
finances doesn't really address. That's why I focus on
that. But, um, I know, I hope
anyone across my definitely going to turn them away. And to
be honest, um, right
now I have more enough my non clients on um, my non

(30:36):
target market than I have my target market. But
that's why I like the immigrant community because I know what it
is to start from scratch, work your way up, you
get to where you want to be. I know that you have money. What are you going to do about
it?

Yeah. And when did you actually
finally get your certification? Because I'm just going through your
timeline. Uh.

Oh, when did I get it?

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. All right. So when did I get it? It's a good
question, Anthony. I just be, I just be going. I don't mean.

It seems like whatever, tracking.

I know I don't tracking. Unlike my money that I
track every month, I don't be tracking these things.
So I. Okay, so I went to the Dave Ramsey program,
the coaching program, right. I got debt free and
then they had it. Then, you know, they stopped bombarding you with emails.
Right. So they had a coaching program.
Went through their coaching program. But,

(31:28):
um, but obviously I feel like
needed more than that because I always want to keep learning
and go. And before that was, I was going to money seminars. I really was.
I was, I was reading books. That was just, just a crescendo for
say, hey, let me see what this coaching program is about. How can I help people? How can
I be of service? And I went through, um, then I got
my certified financial examiner. Oh,

(31:48):
that's something. That's my job. Job. My examiner. Hold on. That's my job.
What is my other, what's my other certification? What are you looking at?
My cfbi. Right, yeah. Certified Financial
education. Yeah. Instructor.
Yeah, that one. Yes. So I got, I got, I went to
that one because I was very serious. I

(32:09):
was like, I really want to help people, make sure I help them correctly, you
know? Yes, it's nice. I read, uh, books. I have those kind of
knowledge. But how can I put it together in a
package so they can be impactful for the
individual? Because everybody can have knowledge,
but you have people who go out and talk on the Stage, you have people
who go and move you. Right. Go on that same
stage and move you differently, Right?

Yeah.

I want it to be impactful for my clients. So that's why I
continue to get the certification and growing. But when did I get it?
I don't know the date, but I got it. I have a
certification.

I want to be like you when I grow up. Just, just doing it
just because I was like, I don't know, I'm doing it. This is my
thing. Yeah.
So, you know, with all the impact and everything like that you're
providing, um, we just kind of move into the
futures a little bit. Which is, you know, where
do you feel is from a
financial expert, what do you feel is the

(33:03):
gaps that a lot of people are missing when it comes to their
finances?

I used to say the know how. Right. But people are
reading so much information out there, so they have all this information
going on in their head. Everybody know you need to have an emergency fund, right. If
you go out and be like, oh, yeah, we need to advertise. Oh, I need the budget,
um, the action piece, the
action, please. The steps you need to take.
Everybody's like, okay, I know this, I know this, I know this. What's the

(33:29):
first step? What's the next step by giving them an order?
You know, I think give them. Giving them some kind of
direction, I think is what people are missing.
Once they have the. This is the moment and they start going. The first thing to do is go
to you, um, Google or YouTube, right? You're gonna get all this
information. You're gonna be bombarded m with information, some good, some
bad. They have a differentiate and cipher through that. But then

(33:49):
you're like, crap, where do I start? Yeah, I think
that's what people need. People need order of doing things.

So give us the order.

What is the order, Petra? What is the order?
Okay, everybody's. Everybody's different kind of person where your starting point is.
But let's say you're starting from, um,
uh, nothing or you're. You're in a
lot of debt. Like I was first. You got to just
face those numbers. And I tell people all the time,
print your first three months of your bank statement.

(34:20):
I know why I do that with my clients, because it jolts
them. They have now, some people have never looked at their bank
statement, right? So. And
I'm talking about all of them. Your credit card, all of them, like
three months. And then go through that line by line,
taking that action alone. Give people
such a wake up call. It's unbelievable. Um,

(34:41):
almost everyone of my clients come across. I did not know. I
did not know I was spending so much on this. I did not know. Um, this
is where I was. So because we have imagination
or we have an idea of what's happening,
oh, I made a lot of debt. How much debt? I just feel like having
a lot of that. People have emotions and feelings, but until they actually
put numbers to that, and it's no longer conceptual,
but actual is, and it's like it hit you

(35:04):
over the head. And from there, you know, I like to say,
okay, what's next? What are your goals from
here, what you want to do? So after they do that, I have them,
as I said, depends on where they start. Different pathway.
Um, there was, you know, sometimes people have like 10 bank
accounts.

10. Wow.

Okay, I know we had a lot of bank account, but
after. But let's back up a little bit. Once they look at their, their statements and
see what's going on, what actually you're going to take, you know,
if you say, well, I spend way too much on Uber Eats,
okay. And that's what you want to focus on. Okay, tell me what you want to focus on.
Or you can say, well, you know, I see a lot of
fees going on here. I didn't know these fees are coming out. I have a lot of

(35:41):
subscription. So whatever you see, the problem area is that you spend the most
money on. You're going to decide how you're going to cut that back.
Right. And then how's the flow of money coming in? I
want. I, I looked at that. Okay. Your money comes
here and it goes here, it goes here, it goes here. From your
paycheck, uh, does it go to one central
location and then disperse. You can actually see the flow

(36:02):
of money. You know, I like people to see. It's like,
streamline your money. I call it streamlining your money.
For, for example, your paycheck get deposited
into your checking account and you can automatically send it to some.
To savings. It can automatically send some over here. But at
least you see the lump sum that's coming in. And then you can start
allocating to where you want to allocate it to. I think you need, need to

(36:22):
organize your money in that sense. And
obviously, you know, before you even come to your checking account, please have.
It goes to your retirement account.
Let's plug that in there. Please have some so you don't see it.
All right. Uh, I know. And we, we go
from there. Also organize those. We stop putting a
planning motion and I do have to look at their credit

(36:43):
report, but that's down the road. But budgeting doesn't come in right away. People say,
oh, when I go to starting budget, I was like, wait a minute. We got to behaviors
first. You know, budget is not right away. We don't jump in that right
away. No, no, no. We got to change some behaviors first
because you.

I mean, obviously, Dave Ramsey got the seven steps. Is there like a
Petra steps? You know what I'm saying that you got.

You know what? I was. I. I haven't named it.

Okay.

But it's definitely a process that I go through that
definitely works and give the results that, um, my clients
need and. And want and they're happy with. But you're right.
I should do that. I should have, like a, you
know, outline it like that.

So, uh. Because I'm thinking of, um.
Because, okay, we got those entry barriers. A lot
of my audience. Well, the person has listened to this right now,
might understand that already. What is it
that they can do? Um, now that they got the.
They understand.
They finished beating themselves up, like, hey, you know,
I suck at this. Uh, now that

(37:40):
they have all their information and they feel even worse.
What should they do next?

What do you ask me? What should they do next? In terms of what.

Because they. They know, okay. Like, they feel
like, okay, I need to cut back on some of the things.
Okay, they played the defense side of the house.
Where can we start making this money? Where can. Because now
that they found the money, where it's going at, um, they
started cutting everything out.

We can't grow everything at once, though, Anthony. You know, somebody can go
cold turkey, but we want to jolt the system,
But I find it beneficial if we
reduce and we reduce and reduce.
So, for example, I had a client that go to Target every day.
She was like, I don't know why I go to Target every day. I just go to Target. I just pass. I
just stop at Target. I like Target. I'm like, that's great.
Fantastic. I say go to target because I get to target seven

(38:31):
days a week. Okay, what do you get? A target. Sometimes I
just walk around. I'm like, okay. You know, I was like,
okay, can we reduce that? Can we cut it down to maybe, you
know, some, uh. No, not seven days a week. She was
like, I can, you know, I can do. I can do 40.
I make them pick it. Obviously, it's your journey, right? I'm not going to give you a
number. You got to choose that number, because as your coach, I'm

(38:52):
going to hold you to it. And once you say it right, and
I write it down, I say, okay, four days this week,
right? Then in your head, you know, crafts.
And then just like that, she was able to do it.
And now she go to want to go to Target. Like
probably only when she needed. Cause she go her grocery shopping when she needs something for
her K. But she did that. So, um,

(39:12):
I don't say jump on it right away and get upset with yourself. Beat yourself
up. You don't know what you don't know. Just the learning process.
You gotta be upset with yourself for something that you didn't
know, you know, so that's a learning process. You've
been there. Now what? You take little steps. Little
steps. Um, what's it? What's it? What? I say,
um, Anthony, small steps made big changes or something like

(39:33):
that.

I mean, there's so many different analogies with that because I usually
say raindrops create oceans.

Oh, I like that. I like. I've never heard that one.
Raindrops prayed oceans. Okay,
all right. I like it. Might steal that one.

Please, you don't got to quote me for it either. Just
take it. I was just say,
uh, so there's no plagiarism. I'll just say it's unknown.

Okay.

Um, now, because we even talked a little
bit in the green room option as far as the future side of
the house, you were talking about technology. Um,
have you decided implementing AI or any
other technical tools that. Or apps that
has been helpful for your clients?

For my clients, I usually if
they want to go to the budgeting piece, I tell them to go and explore
different budgeting options out there. So everybody know you need a
budget. Every dollar budget, you know. And
I say, okay, go look at them, see what you like.
I don't tell them. I don't recommend one over the other.
I use a Dave Ramsey one because that's what I started out with right when

(40:39):
I went to the program. And I really, I really enjoy it.
Are they limiting features? Probably, yeah, compared to the
others. But I got it down back.
It's like running like gravy. It's good. It's all good. Um,
but I have them go and do the research and
figure out what apps they look for. What is it that you need in the app,
what is it that you're trying to get from it? And they come back

(41:00):
to me and say, okay, let's start using it. Right, and we'll set it up
together. I sit with them and we go through it line
by line. Painstaking. We go through it together and set
it up and then we send them on their way to manage
it, you know, with their weekly, uh,
or monthly, um, date with their money.
I call it their date

(41:21):
night with their money. So each client, good night. They're
going to work with the money. They're a partner, they date night
with their money. So. Yeah.

Nice. Well, that's good. Um, are
you anything else?

I'm sorry? Anything other than that? No, but I used to talk my for
myself business wise, if you never know about that.

Okay. Um, and you know, because at
this point we're going to start leaning into you.

Me. Okay.

Yeah, let's.
Let's go and learn about you now. Uh, so, like, what
areas of focus that you looking to
improve on in your life?

Uh, my whole self, Anthony. You
know, I just wanna,
um. Actually and I thought about this
at the end of last year, you know, every end of the year, do a reflection and
do a strategic plan and all this kind of stuff. And I said, what
do I want to do personally? Um,
I want to strengthen my walk with God,

(42:16):
you know. Yes, I am a believer in my faith. I go to
church regularly, but I still want to strengthen. I think
it could be stronger because with kids now,
I'm like, my son is doing track and
all the meets are on Sunday. And I did not know that when
I signed him up. And it's so upsetting to me because
like, they have no respect for people who are,

(42:36):
you know, who goes to church? And I told that to the
organizer. I say, don't you know that people go to church? You know,
can we put some on Saturdays? But you know, they explained to me that
they usually causes the spring, the summer we have more, um,
in outdoor track, we have more Saturdays when the indoor track
season, high school get preference. So because
he's in a club, he's, you know, he's only eight, he's in a club.

(42:57):
So I said, okay, okay, I understand. But so next year we won't be doing
indoor track, obviously.

Yeah, look, you better get one of those treadmills from Amazon.

No, we're not, we're not, not doing that. Coming up.
But I want to strengthen my walk with God and
for my business wise, um, what I want to improve
what you said. What's going. I want to do. Ask me a question.

Oh, this, um, what habits that you.
Or areas of focus that you plan on doing.

Okay, so, um, technology
wise, I am, I'm behind the A ball
because before I start my business I avoided
social media. I was one of those people just off the grid. So
now I have to play catch up and I don't have the means
to hire somebody to do that job that I don't like yet.
I will get there, I'll soon outsource it. I'm telling you, I'm going to

(43:42):
fire myself soon. I pray to Jesus. I. But in the
meantime, what is it?

What is it? What is it that you don't want to do?

I don't want to do my social media. You know, I would like to be.
And because of everything that's going on in my life in terms of, you know,
um, have my full time job. I've been an
entrepreneur, having my kids, my family. I'm not
as consistent as I would like to be. And I know they're
scheduling apps out there and I was like, okay, I got to find
a day to just sit down and do m all these recordings. I have it in my
head, I just need to do that. And so

(44:12):
that technology, um, and putting
systems in place, building systems, I really want to
get that done this year so that I think if I have systems in
place then it will be easier for me to get what it is that I need and
it won't be such a chore. Right. Because it's
just friction there. And that's what we do in financial coaching. I try to move
the friction so people can, um, move

(44:32):
on and um, get that financial deal
to stability that they want. Once you remove those frictions, people
can. Okay, this is easy, right? But
yeah, I gotta remove all those frictions that I have,
which is a lot.

That's a lot.

Technology wise.

Yeah, yeah. Uh, well, that's the beauty of
having these conversations and being around the people that are
in this space. Um, because systems,
I love to play around with systems. Uh, my
system is not to have a system because I like to try everything.

Uh, good for you. Where do you find the time
to play around? I'm like, I need to get it done.

Like, uh, schedule.
So one of the things, uh, because I had her on the show
is Brenda that Joy. And one of
the things that she said as she was a keynote
speaker for Flingcon at one point.
Uh, she.

I love her by the way. I really love her. She was on my show too. She's
amazing. So proud, doing great things.

Uh, she mentioned talking about like, um,
setting time and really limiting your time
to other people. And that's part of her flow strategy.
So flow acronym has
something. But the L part
was the most Impactful to me. And since I've been
implementing that part, it has helped me out

(45:50):
a lot with my podcast. So, like for these
interviews, most of my interviews are either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
I don't really try to do anything throughout the week because when
I tried it, there's a lot of no shows.
And since I've limited, everybody
shows up M. So I haven't had any
cancellations or nothing. If it's a cancellation,

(46:11):
more likely my fault because I was like, uh, I can't make
it push the time back
a little bit. But yeah, it was just either
doing it that way. So that's the reason why, like some
people, like, it's just you. And I'm like, yeah, that
was like how you posting all this time and doing three
posting for your, uh, your shows and everything like

(46:32):
that. It's like you got to schedule everything out.

But how do you schedule when you have a four year old? Oh, no, he's five. He
just turned five. Five and an eight year old.

I don't have kids.
But it, it comes back to,
uh, you know, do what you can because I see a lot of people
with social media with kids, and what they do is kind of
implement their kids in that process. And because
they. Making the kids part of it, you do a lot.
Um, you can allot some money to their

(47:02):
income and so you can actually create a brokerage account
for them and so you can donate. I think it's what, up to
16,000?

Yeah, I know that process, but I don't want my kids on
social. You know, I feel like, no, no.

They like, they hold your camera up for you. Like they don't have to be.
Oh, like they're doing things for
you.

Okay.

To incorporate them in the business
without showing their face. So.

Okay, okay. Maybe my 8 year old can do
something. Yeah, you're right. He can do something. My 4 year old,
my 5 year old. He's 5. He's 5. He's five.
Let's go, y' all. I gotta figure it out.
He thinks he's a man, but he's not
like, I can do it, mommy. I'm like, no, you can't. I'm

(47:46):
like, yes, you can, honey. Go try. Thank you for trying. In my head, I'm like, no, you
can't. Yeah, a good try. Okay. Yeah,
you know what? That's a good point, Anthony. I will take that, I will take that and
do something with that, but limiting. Yeah,
I like that. I like that. I will,
I marinate on that and see what I can do with that. Thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome. Um, because I believe I was in church
one day and they was like, well, if you make time out for work, you can
make time out for church. And I was like, well,
what about the rest of my life? We
talk about, about that. Like, no, church only. And I was like, okay,
I don't need to be here anymore. So that's what happened
with that.

Let me get this right. With that church, right? It didn't just
cross off church.

Right, right.

Okay.

Just with that one, because I was like, come on now. Like, I got
a life too.

Um, there's a balance and it's necessary.
Right. Um, people tend to forget that, you know, people in the
Bible, they dance, they socialize, they had dinner
parties, you know, they got to, they had gatherings, they got together. And
it's very important for us to be with people. I truly
believe that. It's very important.

So what do you think? Um, is very
essential for people
who haven't started yet and they looking to start.

It's either you're going to start. I, uh, don't think you're looking to start.
I think you start, you know, once you have that, this is that
moment you are starting because your brain already
switched off and say, okay, something's getting done. We're
going to do this now once you are there. And
once again, we need those steps, right? You,
you going to figure out what your pain points are, you know, you know,

(49:21):
what your problems are. You know, if you go to anybody that's
like, I'm a spender, I like to spend. Or so,
yeah, I like to go out with friends, like, you know, everybody
knows something about the behavior that
is keeping them back from the financial stability that they want. They might know
everything yet. You know, I can look at it and do an analysis of everything,
but at a minimum, you know what

(49:42):
those core issues are that you're
working with. As for me, as I said it was, I know it's my family and it was
eaten out every weekend with my family. I know. So if you're looking
to start, admit, um, it to yourself.
Be honest. Be honest with that.
Um, I think once you can say it out loud like,
okay, I'm, um, broke, you know, I don't have

(50:02):
the money. And take away that facade, right? And
just be true to yourself, truthful to yourself, and especially
so challenging if people see you as the one that, with the
money, right. People see that the one that's doing
well. And you have to change that whole perception of
what they have of you, it can be, it can be a little bit.
If that was your identity, it can be a challenge. But you

(50:22):
have to be true to yourself and then start living in that truth and work to where you want to
go. Know that it's only temporary. It is only temporary.
You're passing through and as you get through one obstacle, you're going to get
to the next one. Whatever you're going through do is building you and forging
you to be the virgin of yourself that you want to
be.

Nice. Well said. Well said.
Is there anything that you want to leave the audience with before we
dive into the final four questions?

Uh,
I was in a Tony Robbins,
um, seminar workshop, three day free
workshop that he does at the beginning of the year. It's my first
time going to one of them. I've seen his clips
coming and stuff. And he said something, he said, if you
can't, then you must.

(51:06):
People are so fearful because, oh, I can't do that. Or, you know,
whatever. He said, if you can't, then you must. So those cold calls
you talk about that I make, you know, I don't know
that that just happened, but, you know, because I'm so
scared. That's why I do most of the things I do, because I'm m.
Like, if it's scary that, I mean, it's going to yield great results.
But, but for anything to happen in your life, you have

(51:29):
to take massive action. You have to act. So
I'm telling anybody that's listening or watching this,
but any change to happen, you gotta act. You gotta
be, you gotta take initiative. You gotta start, um,
sitting on the sideline, just hoping and dreaming or thinking
about what could be. No, you
gotta start and don't. I know people say this all the time, it's
so contrary, but, oh, uh, it has to be perfect.

(51:53):
Just get out of your head. Get out of your head. It might
look stupid doing it, it might fall down, it might bruise yourself. It's
okay. This is your life. I'm not sitting around thinking about
your life and what your problems are. Only you. It's happening to
you, right?

Because you got our own lives to live, right?

So get out of here. How are people gonna think like nobody's in the
home thinking about you and your financial issues. Only
you are facing that in your family. So you need to be like, you don't need to be concerned
about you and your family. I know what everybody else think or feel or see or
might have their perception of human may
be. So think about that got it.

All right, so you ready for the final four?

Okay. What's the final four?

All righty. So the way how the final four works are the final
four questions. They same for everybody. Unless, um, you've been on
the show multiple times, you get different.

Uh, but the first time. Yes.

The first time you get some water.

I'm just give myself a.

Perfect.
All right, so number one.

Yes.

What does wealth mean to you?

Oh, wealth means to me, choices,
choices, experience
and the ability to give back. Um, and I say
choices. I mean, like Anthony,
I was not able to. Like, my son said he
wants to do track, and I said, okay, he can do track,
and I can be there. I can be at practices. I can go to

(53:22):
games. Even though it's on Sunday right now. I can go to games. You
know, I can go to meet. Sorry, not games. Meets. Right.
I have choices. I have. I can do
experiences like we go on vacation once a year and.
Because that's what my value is. And I can do all
inclusive because, um, mommy need a rest, and I don't want to think about
making breakfast. So. So right now,

(53:43):
because they're still young, we're doing all inclusive because I'm not working.
Okay. I need a vacation too. So you're hungry. Great. Go to the
hut right over there. Go to that hut. Right. You want
some juice later? Have some juice. Right?
So. But I guess what it gives
me. And who doesn't want that?

Yeah. I mean, honestly, I can't wait to
see you post on how you do these all
inclusive. Because I'm like. I mean, I should put.

Thank you. I don't post on anything. Oh, my
God. That's my problem. I don't think. I don't think to post.
Like, I got to get into that mindset of pet. Oh, this could be a post.
I don't think like that.
Not right now. Not right now. I'm not gonna say
I gotta think like that. Right.

Well, I mean, like you said, you can't, which means that
you must.

Yes.

But if this one of those cancers. Okay.

Yeah, I gotta. I gotta think. I gotta change my mindset around that. Just
think, oh, this is the, um. This is. Does he do it? I say do it. Does something
happen? Oh, this could be a post.

Wait, this could be. I mean, I'll take
posts of me just eating food. Um,
so it's okay.

Yeah, that's so mundane, I would think.
Oh, so mundane.

Okay, well, put some text. Put some texts on there.
I mean, you know.

All right. Okay. New me 2025. You're
gonna see more. Woo. I'm ready. I'm
ready. I'm taking charge here.

Number two.

Uh-huh.

What was your worst money mistake?

Um, as I said, giving too much to family. But
I, I love them there and I want to support them. But um, one of the worst, one
of the mistakes I made was when I started my job. I knew because I went
to business school, right. In my accounting degree and all that stuff. My,
um, I knew to contribute to my retirement
account what I didn't do because
it was in the 2008 whole financial

(55:28):
craziness. Right. Um, didn't get a
raise for a while. So my initial plan was every time I get a
raise, I'll put that difference in. Because my raise was.
My money was frozen. Everything didn't get raises. I really
didn't. What I should have done was no matter what,
every year I increased that even by
$50. Increase my contribution year over year.
That's what I should have done. So it's okay. But it could have been

(55:50):
so much better
if I just increased it year over year. It would have been so
nice.

All right, number three.

Mhm.

Is there a book that inspired your
journey or change your perspective?

Um, what? Not really inspired
or changed, but reinforced what I knew. And that's the Million,
um, the Millionaire Next Door. I read
that and I, and I reread it and I was like,
yeah, because reason we. It reinforced what
I knew is because I know individuals that are like
multi millionaires and you'll never know because they

(56:26):
look dirty, they look beat up because they're coming from work,
they will help their own businesses and you'll just never know. So many
people have come to me and told me their stories and I was like,
the millionaires that you're looking for are the
carpenters or the contractors or the
electrician. You might be laughing at them,
thinking their pants is under their butt, you know. But guess what,

(56:47):
that man, you're paying him a hundred dollars for
like half an hour or $500 for the.
They're, they're millionaires, they're rich, they got the money.

I love that book.

Yeah, it's a good book, right? Every time I,
I read it twice, every time I reread it, it got,
got something new from it. Like something that just passed over before.
Cause you had different place to your life so you get different meanings from different things.

I like that.
Number four, what is your
favorite dish to make?

My favorite dish to make is chicken foot soup.
Chicken foot soup. The reason why it's so easy to make. I.
When the kids and I always make Saturday soup, I
still do that, and I still make Saturday soup.
And if you ask any Islander, they tell you especially Jamaican
soup. You just cook on Saturdays. Don't know ramen reasons. What's funny

(57:42):
is cook. And I just continue that tradition because that's what I
know. But it just put everything in the pop. Some dumplings, some
potatoes. Yeah. You know, it doesn't. One pot, and
it's a hearty meal, and you're good to go.

Okay. Is there, like, a veggie option? Because.
Just asking for it.

Actually. Actually, I brought it,
um, unknowingly. I brought it to work, um, earlier
in my career. And actually, you know, look at
eating area cafeteria, and I was sucking up my foot, my
chicken foot, and put it like. They
were like, The Americans are like,
what? I'm not there. But the good thing is that I

(58:19):
had a Polish, um, co. Um,
worker as well, and a Chinese co worker.
And they know what it was. No, not. Not the Polish one. The
Chinese co worker. And who was that one? Was
she Beijing or she Italian? Another Islander.
And they knew exactly. You know, they was like, oh, we love it,
too. I'm like, great. Everyone was like, eating a

(58:39):
chicken foot. They didn't even know it was edible. And
the thing is, Anthony, you can't even find it in the supermarket. Like, it
goes like hotcake. Okay.

Wow.

You have to go there. Yeah. One of the. One of the person working there,
I was like, you have a chicken foot in the back? He was like, no. He said, before I work here,
I didn't know that thing sold. But now I come here working at this grocery
market. I'm doing, you know, packing. He was like, that's the number one
thing people fight over is chicken foot. I'm like, yeah,
that's. It's a hot commodity. Chicken foot is great.
But, um, I can make you any kind of soup. I love soup. Soup.

Okay. Because I was looking at the ingredients because it
was reminding me a little bit about corn soup, but.

Oh, okay. Uh-huh.

Yeah. I like corn soup.

Okay. Or pepper soup. You like pepper soup?

I haven't tried pepper soup.

Really? Okay.

Yeah. I might add that to my list.

You eat goat?

Uh, yes.

Are you. Do you eat meat?

I do from time to time. I don't like.

I don't. I don't indulge in it like that. I. I had. Cut it out. Um,
but I m like, do you know, like, my kids are probably
getting me twice a week I try to cut down on it. That's the thing that
we do in our family. So when we do chicken foot. But
yeah, okay. Pepper soup is with goat.

Uh, that's interesting.
Okay, we have to talk offline about that.
Uh, this is the very last question of the show, which is
where could people find out more about you?

Oh, my goodness. Please check out my
podcast. It's everywhere. Spotify, Apple
podcast, Hyatt Radio, YouTube, um,
Islands, Money 365, where we share the immigrant
migration story, their success, their failures, and their
triumphs. I also share money, um,
money lingo as well. Money ideas, how to get there, how to
rebuild yourself. Also my website,

(01:00:20):
www.brownfinancialsolutions.com
and same thing for Facebook.
See, I'm there. I promise. There's stuff on their
financial solutions and on instagram.
Island money 365.

Anthony Weaver (01:00:34):
Nice.

Petra-Ann Brown (01:00:35):
And right here about that wallet.

Well, one of the things I might have to do is,
um, because I did do a geek out
session that aren't for my regular day audience.
We were talking about just geeking out about podcasting,
the features of podcasting and how could we do
better and stuff like that. Um, I might
have to bring you back on just to kind of talk about from a

(01:00:59):
podcasting realm.

Okay.

What do you like about it, what you don't like about it, how can
you get better and stuff like that? I'm not sure if I'll make that a whole
nother segment, but this is something that has been
on my mind. Yeah. So if you're listening
to this right now, you think like, hey, I will be
interested in a podcast episode just to kind of
talk about this. Go to and leave a comment on

(01:01:22):
Spotify, because you can leave a comment on the actual episode
or even on YouTube. So I look forward to hear
about it.

Yeah, I'll let you know. I like it. I put some. Put
some words down there. Put some
words. I would like to talk about it. I know it's gonna be
helpful.

Hey, I mean, one of the cool things is that I like
the, uh, the questions from
new podcasters about how they can get
better. Um, and it gets me to think about
ways that I can actually get better. Because for me, I
can only talk about what I've experienced and what I've seen and what's
coming down the pipes, which has been good.

(01:01:59):
Um, but also, everybody's podcast and everybody's audience
is different. So, yes, what might work for me might not work for
you. Just like personal finance is personal
running your Podcast business is personal, too, because
it depends on your.

Yes, yes, I love it. Um, though I love talking to people. I like hearing
stories. I like stories. Anthony, tell me, how
did you get here? How did you get here? You know, I just want to
know.

Well, that's why I asked you your questions in a. In a different
way, to kind of get through your story. I didn't. You
know, we touched on a few things, but we'll get
there.
All right. I'm sure you who are
listening is tired of us bantering
at this point, so.

No, we're absolutely amazing.
Never.

Oh, yeah, they never. Obviously, you
love us if you stayed this long.
Um, so, because you made it this long, I just want
to let you know you do have what it takes, uh,
to be successful in anything that you want to do.
And remember, throughout this whole
interview, what we talked about was pretty
much getting started and really have

(01:03:05):
a reflection in the mirror of saying, you know what?
I don't like where I'm at. I need to do
something different. And in order for you to do different,
you need to set up your boundaries. And
from the people that are in your life or even from the
things that you're purchasing, um, that
is no longer adding value or is actually taken

(01:03:26):
away from your goal
in life, you know, because Petra and you talked
about it, it was like, hey, family,
not that I don't love y' all, but y' all
need to block this. This can't happen anymore. I got. I
got things that I want to do for my. Me and my family, so.
All right. So you got what it takes. If anything else,

(01:03:49):
y' all be safe. We out. Peace.

Bye. Uh.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Crime Junkie

24/7 News: The Latest

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}298: [Petra-Ann Brown] Breaking Barriers: Embracing Island Money

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Crime Junkie

24/7 News: The Latest

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

298: [Petra-Ann Brown] Breaking Barriers: Embracing Island Money

Crime Junkie