#131 - How to Build Wealth Without Burning Out w/ Camille Diaz - Authority in the Wild

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It's really easy to become a zombie preneur.
Who are they? It's the entrepreneur who.
Meet Camille Diaz, who brings zombie preneurs back to life.
In this episode, we do exactly that.
We help you stop being a zombie preneur that's just moving to
the motion and actually build wealth in a way that is
sustainable and enjoyable. And if you don't choose what

(00:21):
you're doing with your time, something else will choose for
you. She's a wealth strategist,
optimization coach, connector, podcaster, author and speaker
Also to empower people with knowledge and resources.
If you have a credit card, you can borrow money for a whole lot
of things. To go to school, to buy a house,
to start a business, to buy ATV.You cannot borrow money for

(00:42):
retirement. Her desire is to see others
succeed in business and life andto help inspire entrepreneur
design A path toward happiness, harmony and financial security.
Always leave yourself a little something that you can use as a
reward, that you can buy something you want just because
you want it. Camille, welcome to authorities
in the World. Thank you so much.

(01:03):
I'm so excited to be here. Me too, because you bring zombie
preneurs back to life. Who are they and why they're out
there not living? It's, it's really easy to become
a zombie preneur. It's the entrepreneur who is
working super hard and they're very busy every day, but they're

(01:24):
kind of always teetering on the edge of complete burnout.
They just feel like they have towork more and more and more in
order to achieve their goal. I figured out that that's not
really what we have to do, but it's how we all get trained,
right? Like if you got taught that
lesson. But I definitely did like, hey,
if you want to be successful, work hard.

(01:44):
And if it's not going the way you want, maybe you should work
harder. And that just kind of leads us
into the spiral of continuously working harder.
And every time we don't get the success we're expecting, we just
think, well, it must be me. I'm, I must be doing something
wrong. It must be my fault because I
worked hard and I still didn't get it.
So I guess I didn't work hard enough.

(02:04):
So I have to work even harder. And then we just get in this
downward spiral where we're justjust a zombie.
Preneur is going through the motions, doing the work all the
time, but not really seeing the results and not really having
the joy from all of our efforts.Unfortunately, I can't relate.
I've been there, I I was a zombie preneur and learning the
hard way and I truly hope that those watching or listening,

(02:27):
they won't learn on their own skin because it's not a nice
place to be. Yeah, it's really hard.
It is. It's truly is because you you
end up in that position without sometimes even realize it that
you go through the motion without being able to do much.
You think you're busy, but in the same time you don't achieve
much and it's a nice place to be.

(02:48):
And how do those that are closing that path or are already
on it can identify this in orderto avoid it?
Yeah, yeah. So I have kind of a little, I
call it a productivity PSA. So I don't know if you have it
where you are, but we used to have these public service
announcements. And it was, it was really funny

(03:11):
because like back when I was a kid, the public of service
announcements meant would be, you know, it's 10:00 PM.
Do you know where your kids are?Like apparently our parents
forgot they had children. So I kind of changed the public
service announcement to three things that people can do in
order to get out of the zombie preneur state and really start

(03:31):
to be more effective with their time.
So if it's OK, I'll just share that.
Please please get into it because I'm super curious how.
I guess the old school public service announcement were funny
sometimes, like parents forgetting when their kids are
and so on. But applying something actually
useful to the real world scenario for entrepreneurs I

(03:52):
think will be super useful. So please get into it.
Yeah. So the P is priorities.
So it's really figuring out whatyour top priorities are, whether
that's what you want to achieve,where you want to spend your
time, all of that kind of thing.And I know that priority sounds
easy. Most people like, yeah,
priorities. Yeah, I know it's important.
But when it's time to choose between two activities, are we

(04:17):
actually living into the priority that we set?
So I'll give you an example because I've tested this one
multiple times, you know, like for science.
OK, so let's say I have something important the next
morning. For me, it's morning right now
and recording this. So I wanted to be rested, be
ready, have my computer's fired up, have have something decent

(04:39):
that I'm wearing, all of that kind of stuff.
I want to be ready for that morning activity.
So if I want that and that's my priority at night, I should pick
out my clothes or go to bed on time, all of that kind of thing.
So be ready for the morning. However, so many times we say,
oh, well, I, I deserve a little break.

(05:00):
So I'm going to watch my favorite show or I'm going to
read this book or whatever it is.
And then it ends on a cliffhanger.
And then you say, oh, just one more episode and then one more
episode. And then you've watched six
different episodes and it's 3 something in the morning and
we're doing advanced calculus tofigure out, well, if I go to
sleep in the next 5 minutes and then I, I set my alarm for, for
this many minutes later and I, and I don't take a shower and

(05:23):
we're trying to figure out then I'll get 3 hours and 27 minutes
of sleep. And it's like, no, that you did
not actually do the priority. The priority was be ready for
the appointment. And what you actually did was
just hang out and have fun. So it's not just picking out the
priorities, it's actually livinginto the priorities when you
make choices each and every day.And we truly have almost in the

(05:48):
time control, right? Like we make those choices even
needs to go to sleep and be rested or to choose to watch
another episode and so on. And often still that doesn't
happen. Like for most of us, we we put
aside our top priorities for something else that gives us
pleasure in the moment. And I think that's kind of

(06:11):
separate successful entrepreneurs from those that
don't succeed and go back to thefull time job, which sometimes
it's good as well, but they havedifferent ways of dealing with
those priorities and setting them in a way that they've
managed to achieve them. How do you do it in order to
make sure your top priorities stay on top and don't go down?

(06:34):
Exactly. So that's the S The S in PSA is
to schedule them. So once you know what the
priorities are, you actually have to make time for them in
your schedule, which means planning out what's happening
during your day and not allowingother things to take over what
you planned out so easily. We just let whatever happens get

(06:56):
in. And I view it more like an
interview process or like casting for a show.
So you are the director of your own show and you decide who got
gets on stage. You decide who makes it into
your movie and who gets cut. So many times we just allow
everybody to run up on stage andget there 15 minutes and the

(07:18):
next thing you know, all of our priorities got pushed to the
side because everyone else took over.
And if you don't choose what you're doing with your time,
something else will choose for you.
Things will happen and and garbage will get in there and
it's up to all of us to determine.
And it this works whether you are an entrepreneur or not, even
if you have a nine to five cool,it's still going to be the same

(07:39):
things. You still have to show up, well,
you know, ready for your day. You still have to show up like
you're going to get something done.
If you just come in dragging every day, it's probably not
going to go well, right? You're going to get fired pretty
quickly. And the same thing as an
entrepreneur. Yeah, you're in charge of the
business. But you know what?
If you were your own boss, wouldyou fire you or would you keep
you? So it's thinking about the same

(07:59):
thing. So when I look at scheduling
those priorities, it's what do I, as the director of my show,
want to allow on my stage, who is getting a spot on my show and
what kind of show is that going to create?
Is it going to be this amazing show that's going to have rave
reviews and everything is going to go well, or is it going to be

(08:21):
a total flop, complete disaster?Nobody's going to want to come.
People are going to be like, I want a refund.
I hate that that show, right? Like, So what kind of show am I
putting together? And that's the way I think about
scheduling the priorities into the day.
I love this example specificallybecause all two people can
resonate like they won't and theprevious examples still with
watching episodes late at night and so on.

(08:44):
You'll watch that if weren't good, the the actors were
playing badly and so on. Probably not.
So being careful who you add in doing your show is so important.
I still I found on our skin as well and working with others
that there is something out there that fear that I'm not

(09:06):
good enough. And because of that, it
escalates to something else likesaying yes to everyone, being a
people pleaser and not being able to say no to different
commitments. And even that those are not in a
schedule in that particular moment, you let them in and let
another one and you let another one.
And I feel like it's a deeper thing there that needs to be

(09:26):
addressed in order to be able toactually plan that.
Because, for example, I was intoa situation in which I was very
clear with my goals. I was very clear with the things
that I want to do in a certain day.
But if someone come to me, I waslike, oh, I really need your
help, either family member or someone that they work with that

(09:47):
wasn't scheduled. But still I say yes.
And then I end up being 10:11 PMin the evening, still finishing
the other things that were earlier planned.
And this is something that I find very commonly in a lot of
people, and it's because of thatinner fear or that inner
limiting belief they have eithertowards themselves or towards

(10:09):
others. Did you find that to be true as
well? I do, yeah.
It definitely happens a lot. And really the core of it is
something that a lot of people don't really consider being part
of it, which is staying in integrity with what you said you
were going to do. So when you say what the
priority is and then you stay inintegrity, you, you follow

(10:34):
through on whatever you said youwere going to do, which it
sounds like you were doing because you're up doing it at
10:00 or 11:00 at night. You said, you know, this is what
I was going to get done. And I chose to help these other
people, but I still committed todoing this thing.
So I'm staying up late and getting it done.
So you're staying in integrity with what you promised to do,
with what priorities you laid out.
The next step of that would be to figure out, OK, I know that

(10:58):
my family frequently needs assistance or this thing usually
comes up or this person often has an issue.
And then determine if you're going to change your
relationship with that person orthat that family member or
whatever so that they're not coming to you anymore.
Or if helping that person is also a priority and you're going
to change your schedule to allowmore flexibility in order for

(11:21):
you to actually set aside time to be able to assist them.
So it's really figuring out what's most important and how
you want to put it in. Yeah, absolutely.
And you would tell me something before started courting that you
have a nice sign on the door, which is for your younger
members of your family. And can you give us that example

(11:41):
and other example that people can apply in real life, that
they can set those boundaries, but in the same time communicate
clearly to those around in a respectful way that they are
still important, but there are other things that needs to be
addressed maybe earlier than they expect to have your
attention and so on? Yes, I have a few of these

(12:02):
because it's come up for us a lot.
The one that I was sharing with you right before we recorded is
that I used to when I very firstgot into podcasting, I would put
a little post it note on my door.
So a little piece of paper stuckto the door that said recording
so that my family would know I was recording and that it would
not be a great time to come in. And also if you could avoid like
yelling and screaming in the hallway right in front of the

(12:23):
door, that would be awesome too.So they would know I was
recording. And now I have been gifted a
little light that is pinned top of the door.
And so I just flipped the switchfor that one and it actually has
a little recording light. So it's even easier for
everybody to spot it. Times that I have noticed in
myself that I have needed to shift where my priorities are

(12:45):
and shift where my schedule is in order to do, you know, really
follow through with integrity onwhat's important in my life is
the times that I spent at work and not at work and teaching the
rest of my family when is my work time and when is not my
work time and then sticking to it from my side.
So let's take for example, when my kids were younger, they're,

(13:07):
they're almost out of the house now.
But when they were little, I would have times that I wanted
to do meetings with clients and they couldn't be involved.
And then there were times when we were doing family things.
So usually they would get home from school somewhere between
3:00 and 4:00. And then they would, they could
have a snack and do homework. But at some point they needed

(13:27):
attention from me and they wanted to hang out.
And then I needed to cook dinneror we would do dinner together
and we would eat together and clean up and all of those things
and help with homework, all the things you got to do with the
kids, which are definitely one of my priorities, right?
Raising my family is a priority.So it needs to happen.
I kept getting stuck on scheduling client appointments

(13:49):
that overlapped with that time. Usually between 4:00 and 7:00 in
the in the evening with the kidsand try and letting a client
appointment start at 3:30 and run till 4:30 or something along
those lines. Every time I did that, it was
complete chaos. The kids needed help with
homework and there was no one tohelp them.

(14:10):
The dinner needed to get started, otherwise everyone was
going to be hungry because we were eating late.
And then everybody's mad. The client never had turned into
a good client. The prospect never turned into a
client. The meeting never went anywhere
because I was halfway distractedtrying to see if like, can my
kids start the cooking? Like, is something burning it?
Like? It was just terrible every
single time. So I learned that I needed to

(14:31):
stay in integrity, protect that window of time.
This is my break time. This is the time when I do not
schedule appointments so that myfamily knows they're I'm
committed to them. During that time, I have 0 guilt
about work. I'm not even thinking about it.
I'm fully engaged with what I'm doing with them.
So we're cooking, we're doing homework, we're doing showers.
Like all the evening things thatyou do with family, we're doing

(14:52):
that during that time, during the work time.
They know that's my work time. I'm committed to work time.
So please don't come get me. You can say hi when you get back
from school, but I still have another hour of work.
So we had to learn that that's where the boundary is, right?
I'm going to see you when you get home.
I'm going to work for one more hour while you do your homework,
and then I'm going to come help you and hang out with you and be

(15:13):
fully present. So it was getting that balance
where I know this is a priority for this time.
This is a priority for this time, and here's how I'm
scheduling it and then I am sticking to it.
Client asked me, can I meet at 5?
No, no, I cannot meet at five. That is already booked.
And that's one of my favorite phrases.
I'm already booked at that time.Doesn't matter what you're
booked for, you're just already booked and people can respect

(15:34):
that. Yeah.
And this power of calendar that you stick to it because it has
power. If you know that between that
time doesn't have to be a meeting with a big CEO or
anything, but meeting with your family or meeting with a friend
or your spouse. It's so important to be there
even that some people say, oh, why should I put in my calendar

(15:56):
time for something personal? Because it's your day and you
need to know that it's time for you to take rest maybe, or spend
time with your family and so on.And scheduling has that power.
And for example, what trick thatI use when I don't know exactly
a specific thing that I need to do in that amount of time, I

(16:17):
just use time blocks, like 2 hours time blocks for specific
marketing work or for operationsor for whatever.
If it's not something super specific that I already know in
advance to know that that time cannot be blocked by either a
family member or client and so on.
And yeah, people, if you're listening, use the calendars

(16:38):
because it's so, so powerful. And once you know that I don't
see your priorities and you havethem in your calendar and you
stick to them because this is important.
If you couldn't in in your calendar and you don't do
anything about it, you just let anyone like over come and
overpass that meeting or whatever we have to do then
doesn't work and a what does it stand for?

(17:03):
Yeah. So the A is accountability.
When we say accountability, so many people are like, Oh yeah, I
want to do it. Yeah, yeah, I definitely want to
be part of the group. And then the first week they're
in, and then the second week, like half the people are gone.
And then by the third week, nobody wants to show up anymore.
Happens all the time. Yeah.

(17:24):
And it's because we get really freaked out about accountability
because now we know someone's actually watching, someone's
actually checking if we did the thing.
But accountability doesn't have to be super hard.
It doesn't have to be super complicated.
It doesn't have to be stressful because there doesn't need to be
judgment attached to the accountability.
And I think that's where we get worried is that we're worried

(17:45):
someone else that we're being accountable to is going to judge
us. And really all we have to do is
tell them. If you tell them one time what
it is you plan to do, like, hey,I'm going to do this project,
just tell somebody one time, you're already more than half
likely to get it done. 50% raiseyour likeliness of finishing it
by 50% or more. If you meet every week and all

(18:08):
you do is check in, hey, I was going to do this.
Did you do it? Yes or no?
Just yes or no, No explanation, No why, no, nothing.
Just yes or no. And then what are you doing next
week? You can get over 90% likely to
achieve whatever it is that you set out, you were going to do.
That's all you have to do. You don't have to punish people.

(18:30):
You don't have to berate people.You don't have to explain what
went wrong and well, this happened and such and such broke
and that. No, nobody needs any of that,
None of that. All you have to do is say what
you were going to do. Did you do it, yes or no?
And here's what I'm doing going forward.
And that works. I've been part of contours
groups and now we meet by monthly with some entrepreneurs

(18:51):
as part of a mastermind group and accountability is part of
it. And it worked because when you
say something in front of some folks, some might be friends,
some might be some people that you admire and such, the
likelihood of you actually putting in the work cannot be
the only one that doesn't do it.It's so, so much higher.

(19:13):
And do you recommend when it comes to accountability to just,
for example, your significant other or someone close to you or
should be someone that it's outside of your family circle or
outside of a close friend circle?
I have made it work with friends.

(19:34):
I think it's really hard to do with a partner.
If you're if you try to do accountability with your spouse,
it can get ugly really fast. That's why I ask.
I guess there's probably a lot of other stuff tied up there and
the, the goal with the accountability is to take that
emotional piece out of it and just make it take it out of it
from the person you're talking to.

(19:55):
You don't necessarily want to have a strong emotional
connection with the person you're talking to because we're
not trying to complicate the accountability with something
else. You're probably going to have
enough feelings on your own about whether or not you did the
thing that you don't need to pile on with them trying to
comfort you if you messed up or berate you like you don't want
any of that stuff. Involved, you just want it to be

(20:17):
really clean and simple of I said I was going to do this, I
did it. Yes or no.
Here's the new structure I have going forward, whether it's a
way that I'm going to fix it or this is what I'm moving on to
next week, whatever it is. So I actually recommend sort of
a neutral group. It's great if you're friends
that that's OK, if you like the people that are in there, but I

(20:37):
would say a neutral group that'sable to be supportive and really
believes that you are capable ofdoing the things.
I think that's the most important is that the group
genuinely wants the best for each other, whether it's one
person or five people or whatever.
I'm part of a mastermind group too.
We meet every single week. We do exactly this, where you
have to report what you said youwere going to do last week,

(21:00):
whether or not you did it and what you're doing the next week.
And if somebody, it's really easy when you haven't done it,
to fall into wanting to explain why.
And really, nobody cares why youdidn't do it.
It's not a big deal. You just didn't do it.
So what are we doing next time? And we work really hard on
helping people set up themselvesfor success.
So let's say somebody's going tomake phone calls.

(21:21):
Oh, I'm going to make 10 phone calls this week and they only
made 4. Then it's like, OK, it's been 2
weeks in a row, you haven't madethe 10.
How about we lower the goal to three so that you know you can
be successful. So our brain needs to be
continually taught that we're that we're successful.
We need to give it continuous votes of confidence for us to
continue moving forward. If you miss it all the time

(21:42):
'cause you're setting it too high or whatever, then you just
end up feeling like a failure and you go, I'm not any good at
this, I can't do this. I think that's where people
spiral on the accountability as they miss it.
So they say, well, I didn't make10 this week, so I'm going to do
20 next week and kind of make upfor my mistake that opposite.
Don't do that. Make the goal lower.

(22:02):
Say I'm only going to do 5. When you hit your five,
fantastic. You can still do 10 and then you
just blew it out of the water. It's amazing.
But you you always want to try to get it to where it's
something that you can consistently do so you can
consistently build the confidence.
And that's, that's the thing with goals, right?
If you don't set achievable goals, you're just make your
life harder and you're spiraled down from there rather than

(22:26):
getting back on track. And we were sure that I was
thinking about another way of doing it.
So for the past 6 plus years, I work from a lot of working
spaces and just being surroundedby people that were taking
action and doing things kind of push you forward as well.
Similar with an accountability group.

(22:47):
And often of course, you get to know them and asking what they
are working on, they ask you back.
And just from that sharing is like so, so freaking powerful.
Because you know, I, oh, I just say that I'm doing that.
So I'm, I should do that rather than looking through the window
or scrolling through social media.
And it's often even when you become an adult, some people are

(23:11):
still struggling with this type of like small addictions through
either consuming content rather than creating, for example, or
to being in that spiral that youmentioned at the beginning,
being a zombie preneur. And apart from having these
tools that you just share, let'ssay they start applying this,
get traction with it. How do you actually build wealth

(23:33):
as an entrepreneur? Yeah.
And I, I love that you brought that up of the people that you
hang around with, because you dostart to take on the behaviors
of those you hang around with. If you hang around with people
that are always just, you know, watching TV and not really very
ambitious, you're probably goingto fall to that level.
If you hang around people that are, like you said, in your Co

(23:54):
working space, ambitious and working and you're seeing that
example, you're like, oh, well, I definitely want to fit in
here. So I guess I better get it
together and step up my game. So when it comes to building
wealth, so yeah, you move to thepart where you're actually
getting the stuff done and you've got the money coming in.
It's really deciding even the same as how you got there is
what habits do you want to create going forward?

(24:16):
So first thing people think, oh,yeah, well, I definitely want to
save. OK, save for what?
So it's, again, knowing what thepriorities are, like building up
an emergency fund, which is one that a lot of people don't think
is super important. But as an entrepreneur, you
never know when the big client'sgonna disappear, if you're going

(24:37):
to get sick and can't work for awhile, if the marketplace is
going to change and all of a sudden the thing that you were
doing got taken over by AI and nobody's buying your and you got
a pivot. You know, all of all of that
stuff is it makes it so smart tohave an emergency fund, even if
just your fridge goes out and you have to buy a new one or

(24:58):
your tires, you need tires or whatever, it's going to happen
at some point. I once had a coach called an
immortality fund, basically making sure that all of your
stuff will always keep running regardless of what happens.
And I think it's a great way to go.
And that's one of those things to never stop putting money in
it. Just go figure out how much
you're going to put in every month and always keep adding to

(25:20):
it because at some point you'll pull a big chunk out.
And you'll say everyone should start there.
So that's the first thing that you have to do in order to
protect basically not just theirbusiness by their life or
should. Start, I think, yeah, I think
it's a good place to start. Having a little bit of money in
the bank that you can fall back on prevents a ton of things from

(25:41):
going wrong. So lots of people think, oh, I
got to pay off my debt. Well, OK, great.
Pay off your debt. I got to save for my future.
Yes, Also save for your future. Fantastic.
How do you avoid going into moredebt?
How do you avoid getting, let's say, fees on because your bank
account went too low, right? So that you, if you don't have

(26:01):
money in the bank and then you accidentally overdraw, then they
charge you a fee. So now you have less money if
you forget to pay your credit card on time because you're
waiting for a check to come in. And so then you get more fees.
So, so there's this system that continually, if you don't have
money, charges you more money for not having money.

(26:21):
Yeah, it's kind of broken, right?
Like if. You don't have money for more.
Fees and higher interest rates, so you're getting charged for
not having money. So that's why I say if you have
an emergency fund, if you're able to keep a cushion in your
account that prevents it from dropping below 0, that prevents
you from having to put more debton a credit card when a crisis
comes up. That prevents you from not being

(26:43):
able to pay your bills when you're out of work for a month
or two because some crisis happened or a market shift or
whatever. That is a huge gift for you to
give yourself that. Now you have this cushion of
money so you don't have stress, right, 'cause you know, the
bills are paid, it's fine. You don't have stress and you
have time to figure out the bestsolution for something.

(27:03):
So it's it's a strategy that covers a lot of different
angles, but in having that cushion, having that emergency
fund really can make a huge difference in the bottom line.
And should people back home think about a certain amount?
For example, I know current lifestyle expenses plus business

(27:25):
expenses are a certain amount. A month should be 6 months, 12
months or more than that to be quote UN quote safe.
Yeah, if you have a regular job and you're employed, usually six
months will be enough because ifyou're if any of you are able to

(27:46):
go get another job, typically six months is reasonable for an
entrepreneur. If you're self-employed, you
probably need a year or more saved up to really be in a
position that you're not going to struggle and suffer if
something major happens to you or your business.
So definitely the more you have in there, the better.
At some point, yeah, it becomes obnoxious.

(28:07):
You're like, I have five years worth of income.
OK, that's probably plenty. But yeah, I'd say for
entrepreneurs, at least a year because you really never know
what's going to happen. And if you do pivot in your
business or you decide my business isn't working, I'm
going to go find a job. It could take a while for you to
make that shift and get things built up.
Or if you're shifting to a different type of business or if

(28:30):
you have an injury or an illnessand you have to get through it,
it could be a minute. So that's it's, it's worth it to
have at least a year in there. I know it takes a while to get
there, but it's OK. Yeah, absolutely.
And I can again speak for experience that I end up in that
position of having like basically zero in my bank
accounts two times in my entrepreneur journey for 15

(28:51):
years. And that was terrible.
Like, you know, I had to borrow money for the first time in my
life and first time it happened.And I'm like, I don't want to do
that. I could go on to reach out to
people to ask for money because not only like paint a bad
picture, which I was paying too much attention back then too,
but in the same time I'm like, what I'm doing here, right?

(29:14):
So plus one thing that often people don't consider is the
decision making factor of it. Like if you have a safety net,
it's so much easier to make decisions is you don't worry
about the next invoice you have to pay or the next deal on the
groceries trip or whatever you have to do.

(29:37):
And the decisions come from a place of you can't think about
it. You can if it's an important
decision, you don't have to makeit in a moment because if you
don't say yes to that particularclient or next paycheck, you'll
grant out of money. And if you're in that position,
you might say as to the wrong people and that spirals and

(29:59):
spirals and you end up in a position that you don't want to
be. And you ask yourself, oh shit,
why become an entrepreneur? But if you have the safety net
that can be shared, I think that's something that you can
put into place and avoid all that nonsense.
And once you do that, what wouldbe the next step?
So I love what you brought up because it goes back to the

(30:23):
priorities again. If you don't have money and
you're desperate because you need food and electricity and
Wi-Fi would be really nice. So let's pay those this month.
You pretty much have to take anyjob, you have to take any
client. And it's much easier to consider
compromising on things that you normally wouldn't do because
you've gotten into this desperate situation where you

(30:45):
just have to get paid for something.
So I love that you pointed that out because it really does make
a big difference. I've been over $40,000 in debt
before when I had a business close and it is a very painful,
stressful place to be and then figure out how to get out of
that. And I, I was doing all kinds of
jobs, nothing immoral, nothing that I'm ashamed of, but jobs

(31:08):
that were rough and working for people that they were OK, but
probably not my ideal place thatI would like to be.
But I need to pay bills. I need to pay off that.
So it was a really, it was a really big deal.
I love, I love that you brought that up because it's super
important after that. So if you have debt, pay off the
debt and save for your future. And so many people are like,

(31:31):
well, I have to pay off all my debt first before I start
saving. Not true.
OK, they they think that, but the most powerful factor in what
you're saving is time. The earlier you start saving,
the longer you have for interestto compound and the more you end
up with in the end. You can borrow money to go to

(31:54):
school. You can borrow money to buy a
house to start a business, to buy ATV.
If you have a credit card, you can borrow money for a whole lot
of things. You cannot borrow money for
retirement because that is not agood investment for the people
who loan money. There's no way you're going to
pay it back because you're not working.
So you cannot borrow money for your future, which means you

(32:17):
have to be saving for your future.
Even if you're still trying to pay off that, even if you're
still building your emergency fund, find a little something,
right? So once you've got that
emergency fund to where you've got a few months of cushion
because that's costing you fees,that's costing you immediate
money out of your pocket. So once you have that built,
then it's like, how can I save for my future even if I'm paying

(32:38):
off debt? So what I do is I decide what's
being saved for the future, I split it and then I'm taking the
rest and putting it towards debt.
And using that strategy where you take the the easiest one to
pay off first, the one that's costing you the most, the
highest interest rate, the smallest balance, pay off that
little one and then roll that payment into the next smallest
1. So you're paying off all the

(32:58):
little ones first so you can have bigger payments going to
the bigger ones and making the minimum payment on the others.
Did that make sense? Yeah, kind of even that.
Kind of, yeah. Luckily I'm not familiar with
the situation since when I whereI was borrowing money I was
borrowing from for family. So they wait for me first time

(33:19):
like one year to to give them back.
Second time I was able to bounceback from zero very fast.
But I heard you had a lot of situation.
And funny enough, one of my first full time jobs were in a
bank, given that they have like 0 preparation in that space.
And I was selling mortgage, but it was a specific type of

(33:40):
mortgage for it was almost like a scheme borrowed from Germany
that they try to apply to Romanian market and of course
didn't work and so on. So anyway, but seeing how behind
the scenes kind of work, I was like, if I do something in life,
I'll try to avoid as much as possible to like borrow money
from the bank or to use a creditcard.

(34:02):
And maybe I'm wrong regarding the credit cards because I heard
a lot of mixed things regarding that, but I avoid that as much
as possible. Plus in Europe things are a bit
different. I, I think with the way you
explained this super clear. And that's a good scenario,
right? You pay off all your debts at
some point. You already say for your safety

(34:24):
net, you already have something put aside for your future.
And when it's safe for people tosee like I'm good.
I don't have to. I can't retire.
I don't have to work anymore. I'm like I, I struggled quote UN
quote for a long time. Now it's time to just enjoy
things. Yes, yeah.

(34:45):
So that is part of the early part.
I want to add something real quick to paying off the debt and
the saving and all of that kind of stuff.
Always find a way to reward yourself.
So I like to use percentages andfigure out because sometimes,
especially as an entrepreneur, your, your revenue is going up
and down, your incomes going up and down until you figure out

(35:05):
how to really, you know, stabilize your business and know
that you're going to get the same amount every month.
But a lot of times it's kind of up and down.
So I like to figure out a percentage of what I have
leftover. So it's like, OK, I've got, you
know, I paid all my bills, everything is good.
Now I'm going to take, you know,20% goes to this, 30% goes to
this like that. That's how I like to deal with

(35:26):
whatever money is left beyond the basic expenses, rather than
necessarily saying it has to be this certain amount because then
you start feeling like a failureif you had a low month and
didn't hit that amount. And if you have a high month,
then you're more likely to just go spend all the extra because
you're like, oh, I have extra and then you're done.
And you forget to save it for the low month, right?
So then balance it out. So I kind of do percentages on

(35:48):
that and I always leave a small percent, you know, 1-2, three,
5%, something small that can be used for fun.
So you're doing all this saving,you're paying off debt, you're
putting for your emergency fund,you're putting for your future.
Always leave yourself a little something that you can use as a
reward, that you can buy something you want just cuz you

(36:10):
want it. Not cuz you need it just cuz you
want it. Or that you can go get.
Even if all you're going to get is a fancy coffee or you know, a
small dessert or I go to a movie.
You know, whatever is easy, whatever you can reward yourself
with. Always save a little something
so that you have a reward for yourself so it feels like it's
worth it to keep going. When we get into the situation

(36:33):
where we're all focused on this is the galls and this is what I
have to do and I can't have anything fun, we're more likely
to break somewhere along the line and just say screw it, I'm
getting everything and just justspend way too much on some kind
of reward because we got frustrated and we never had joy.
So always give yourself something that's a reward thing.

(36:57):
So happy that you share that because indeed, some people just
go through entrepreneurship through jobs and the only reward
they have is like sitting in front of TV or doing something
that doesn't really fulfill themor bring them joy and so on.
And I even see people that are have, they're having specific
saving accounts for such things.Like for example, I'm saving for

(37:17):
a trip that I want to make in Hawaii or something that I was
dreaming about from when I was akid, or even for like weekly
date nights with your partner orsomething that truly brings you
joy rather than I'll just get from my retirement account or
I'll get from my safety net account.
But if you have that specific safety saving account for

(37:40):
specific things, I think it's much more easier as well when
you retry. Oh, now I have money to buy that
thing that I was wanting to do since I was a kid or do that
trip or do that date or whatever.
And I think that's powerful because it gives you some sort
of visual thing, like I still need 15% arrival that amount in
order to be able to book that trip.

(38:01):
Or the simple thing of knowing that you go to do something push
you even better down the right path rather than the old
sparring down thing. Yes.
Yes, and you're so right about just rewarding yourself with all
I get to watch TV now or whatever.
So you make it a little something special or save up for

(38:24):
the big trip. So you know like, hey, this is
my busy season. When busy season ends, I'm going
to Hawaii or whatever it is you want to do Like yes, I love that
you said how do I know when whenI'm good, When can I back down?
When can I retire? So this is the distribution
piece, which you know there's build your foundation and then
do your accumulation part. You know, foundation is going to

(38:45):
be where you have your emergencyfund, where you have your life
insurance, where you have all ofthese base things.
And then the accumulation is growing your money for the
future. You're getting that compound
interest, you're growing your investments, whichever way you
choose to do that. And then the distribution is how
am I going to get my money out? How am I going to use it in the
future? So many people don't think about

(39:07):
distribution until distribution time and then they're like, it's
even going to work. So I love that you brought this
up because the time to think about distribution is away at
the beginning and go, am I goingto have to pay taxes on it?
Or did I grow it in a way that it's tax free?
When it comes to me, do I, how much of A percentage can I take
out? Is it 3%?

(39:27):
Is it 4%? Is it 5%?
How much of that amount can I take out?
Did I set it up in a in a situation where I have to figure
out how much to take out? Or did I put it in a situation
that has some sort of guaranteedincome built into it so that
they're going to send me a certain amount for the rest of
my life and I know what it's going to be.
So all of those things are important to consider at the

(39:49):
beginning as far as how you wantit to look at the end and you
envision it to be, do I just want to get checks?
Do I want to be managing my wealth?
Do I want to think about something?
Or I don't want somebody else tohandle it and they're just going
to send it to me And then running the calculations.
There's online calculators. It's not like it's hard, right?
You don't have to sit down with a pencil and paper and do a

(40:09):
bunch of math. You could just go online and use
online retirement calculator to figure out if I want this much
income per month and I want to compensate for inflation, how
much do I need to have in my account so I can get that much
out. And you can go do it and figure
out what the number is right now.
It's not hard to figure it out. I bet though, when most people
figure out be like, it looks like a lot and it might, But if

(40:32):
you have the benefit of time, the earlier you do it, the more
time you have to build compound interest, the more time you have
to let those investments level up.
And depending on where you choose to place them, you can
figure out, you know, what sort of risk strategy works for you.
No risk type of person. I like to put stuff where I know
I'm not going to lose money because I've already lost money

(40:54):
and risky things before and I didn't like that.
So for me, that's not the thing.But for other people, it works.
It just depends on what they want to do and how they how they
feel about what they're doing. Of it and I just wish someone
share all these things with me not just when I started being an
entrepreneur but even in school because unfortunately this type

(41:17):
of education it's kind of missing all almost everywhere
and even in school that it's practiced, it is not at the
level that it should be. And I'm just grateful that
Someone Like You can it's able to bring this light to such
important matter like how do younot just how you don't do
entrepreneurship the wrong way like we started a conversation,

(41:38):
but how you actually build that world that it's helping you live
a life that is not just fulfilling but as well is not
stressing you out and putting ina situation that you have to do
a decision in a worry or from a place that you don't want to
make decisions. And I'm really truly grateful
that for the work that you do and coming today here and

(42:01):
training this to my audience. And can you explain specifically
who are they, Who are those thatyou can help best in order to
say the least thing? Now that's me.
We want to reach out to Camille.Yes.
So if it's for something on the financial side, I can help

(42:21):
people inside of the US I'm licensed in lots of states, so
feel free to reach out. We'll make it work.
I actually do have a download that anyone could get.
It's at camillediaz.com/habits and it's 6 Millionaire Habits.
Anyone can copy. So you know that I can give to
everyone as far as helping set up products, I can only do it
for people in the US As for my licenses.

(42:44):
And as far as just the zombie preneur stuff, that part is that
part's everywhere. So if you feel like I'm working
too hard and I'm not making enough money and how do I
actually work less hours and make more?
But no, I don't have to work anymore hours that one.
Anybody can grab my free class. It's at camillediaz.com/master

(43:04):
class. So it's how to get more done and
make more money without working extra hours.
So that's available to anyone who feels like, I think I'm a
little bit on that zombie preneur side.
How do I get off that train? And then I do you actually teach
a class in the US for those who want to know more financial
stuff, just like you said. I wish someone would have taught
this to me in school. I wish someone would have come
to me after school when I started my business and just

(43:25):
kind of like been my accountability buddy and said,
hey, let's make sure you're taking care of yourself and made
me do it the whole time. That would have been amazing.
So I do teach a class on that and people are welcome to reach
out and ask me how they can get to that class.
Awesome and forever everyone watching or listening.
Make sure you check below because the links will be there.

(43:45):
And I just want to ask you 2 last things first, what are the
principles that you are being guide by in order to be not just
successful in your entrepreneur journey, but as well making sure
that you you don't get bored by the things you do, you are

(44:06):
fulfilled and so on. I am a natural teacher.
It's tons of teachers in my family.
I tried to avoid it and do otherthings and I fell face first
into teaching with like my second job and never looked
back. I love empowering people with
knowledge and resources so that they can achieve their goals,

(44:28):
that they can have financial security, that they can be happy
and healthy and all of those things.
And as long as I get to be out there sharing information and
seeing people have that light bulb moment, seeing them be
successful and find joy in all the things they do, I'm happy.
I will never be bored if I get to go teach new things and
people say, I'm really not sure about this.

(44:50):
I'm like, oh, well, what about this?
And they go, yes, I'm going to try that.
Fantastic. I've had the best day.
So that's that's really what keeps me going.
I. Love it.
And Speaking of sharing and not being each of these things in
school, you just enter your classroom back when you were in
college and the problem is that you have just 60 seconds with

(45:13):
not just you, but your entire classmates.
What do you share with them in those 60 seconds?
I'm. Going to share two things.
One, you do not have to do this alone.
Ask the questions, build the team, find the help, get the
advice. There are always people out
there willing to help you and it's not something that

(45:34):
everybody knows. We don't all get born with this.
We just talked about. We didn't learn it.
So don't be ashamed that you don't know everything about
money or business or finance or,you know, entrepreneurship or
whatever. It's OK, other people do.
Go ask them and keep asking questions.
Never be afraid to ask questions.
Don't feel like you have to do this by yourself.

(45:56):
And the second thing that I always tell people is enjoy the
journey. Nice.
This is Camille Diaz on Authority in the Wild.
Thanks for tuning in.

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#131 - How to Build Wealth Without Burning Out w/ Camille Diaz

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