Victory: Enjoying the Fruits of Your Labor | Episode #433 | Encore Edition #238

Right Thinking with Steve Coplon | Guest: Johnnie Lloyd


This week's show is called "Victory: Enjoying the Fruits of Your Labor," with guest Johnnie Lloyd. Tune in and hear Steve and Johnnie complete their series Right Thinking: Life, Money, Relationships. Now that you have decided to take control of your life and put in the work, go forth and succeed.

https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/right-thinking

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
There must be lies, Harning Brider somewhere.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Got to be birds. Why, Hi.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Sky, Good morning, welcome to Right Thinking with Steve Copeland.
I'm your host, Steve Copeland, and thank you for tuning in.
Let's have a great day. Good morning, everybody, glad to
be with you. Well. Today's episode two thirty eight Right
Thinking with Steve Copeland is very pleased to announce that

(00:49):
this week's show is called Victory Enjoying the Fruits of
your labor with guests Johnny Lloyd. Tune in and here
Steve and Johnny complete their series Right Thinking, Life, Money, Relationships.
Now that you have decided to take control of your
life and you've put in the work, go forth and succeed, Johnny,

(01:11):
how do you like that?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I love that go forth and succeed. It's like going
forth and conquering things. Isn't it taken over, taking control
of what's yours, getting it back? I love that comment,
and I'm so excited about this because this gives us
an opportunity to discuss all a little bit of all.

(01:34):
As people go through and listen to each episode, it
is critical that they go back and actually take a
deep dive. So Steve let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Oh yeah, Johnny, We've done twelve previous episodes on this series,
and I'm just very, very pleased. It's been a joy
and a pleasure to to do this series with you,
and I've gotten a lot of really positive feedback from
some people. And one of the most positive things that

(02:09):
I've gotten back is that one of our listeners has
said that they have a young nephew, a recent college
graduate embarking on his first career job right out of college,
got a beautiful job, an engineering job, and she wants
to have him listen to the whole series with a

(02:31):
recommendation that this will really get you ahead of the
game because it'll put you into a mindset that will
really help you become successful in your life. It'll give
you a head start. What a compliment that was to
hear hear that giving back to me like that. So,

(02:52):
you know, Johnny, we started with episode two twenty six
and that one was called the series title Right Thinking, Life,
Money Relationships, and we pretty much talked about how financial
literacy is what we've dedicated ourselves to you and I
is to try to help people in life. And it
was a worthwhile undertaking, wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Johnny, Yeah, it really is a worthwhile undertaking. And literacy
is about knowledge and understanding, because do we really know
something unless we're doing it. So it was about pulling
that together and getting a chance not to just reinforce
what some people may know a little bit about, but

(03:35):
taking a deep dive. So that's critical as we move forward.
And those are the three areas. Life, money, and relationship
are so inter connected like a three fold cord that
is not broken very easily. So that is the critical
part of it. Okay.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
See one of the expressions that I've used and all
of my teaching for thirty years, I hate to say
maybe longer, is I try to teach the relationship of
the beariables. And what I mean by that is that
I view a lot of things like gears, gears that

(04:17):
are the teeth of those gears. When you turn one
of those gears, or when one of them turns, it
causes another gear to turn. And so life is like that.
There's not anything that happens in a vacuum, I don't
think unless it's a science experiment. And so if we
can see how one thing affects another, and so really, Johnny,

(04:39):
it's been a real pleasure to go through this because
what we've tried to do, and I'm saying a lot
of this in case somebody is a new listener and
hasn't gone through the whole series, We've tried to encourage
and motivate and make people very aware of how everything
fits together in your life. If you get your financials,
your financial your money straight, and then all your relationships

(05:03):
will prosper. And we spend a lot of time given
a lot of examples of how when when things aren't
in sync, when things aren't working in tandem together, it
can cause a problem. But it all started with the
second episode in this series. When you set goals, they
are easier to achieve. And Johnny, that's when we really

(05:24):
wanted to have everybody understand if you don't know where
you're going, if you don't have a purpose to find,
if you haven't found your purpose yet, life's not going
to be so easy for you. So what's your thoughts
on that.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know, goals are so imperative, because what we talked
about a little bit was GPS Goals positioning system and
it's similar to your GPS, whether it be on your
car or your phone, which is Global Positioning System. You
have to give yourself permission to be low hat it

(06:01):
and you need to have a destination which is connected
to your goals. And when you put that together and
you connect them, then that becomes the process that you
get to opportunity to move forward as you get closer

(06:22):
to your goal. The beauty of that is in the process.
Most people are looking for a straight line because it's
what we've been taught, right, the shortest distance between two
points is a straight line. Well, life is not a
straight line, nor is your money. The things that happen

(06:44):
there are things that happen in our lives, whether it
be we end up, we have get married, we have children,
all of those things. So when we look at that,
that's what we talked about, and how important each one
of those things that happen in our life, or decisions
we make, or people that we are connected to, how

(07:05):
each one of those impact our destiny and cause us
to be more strategic, stay on focus and move forward.
And I like the way you first started off saying
that someone was telling you that they were going to
give it to their child, give the information to them

(07:27):
regarding because they had gotten a real good job and
they wanted their mindset to change. That's part of the process.
Part of the process is transformational at the mental level,
because our habits and our thoughts are the things that
get us to where we desire to go, and so

(07:50):
that is part of all of that. And like I said,
it's a process, but it's a process of progress, of
moving forward, of staying connected. In the gearing system that
you brought up, because when you put all the gears together,
you can put one little thing in between those gears
and it can lock it up. One thing can fall in.

(08:13):
So then you have to know where is the problem,
fix the problem so that everything will start running again
very systematically.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
You remember a lot of people probably don't think about
it much, but in the early elementary school when we
first learned about simple machines, right off the top of
my head, the wheel, you know, when man invented the wheel,
then put an axle in it, and then he put
a little a little seater or chair or platform on

(08:46):
it so he could move things without having to lift them,
just by rolling them. The one that I always liked
was the the fulk room with the lever where you
can balance something and rease the amount of force that
you can apply by using the leverage that you can create.

(09:07):
And then the third one that I remember, there's I
don't remember how many of them there were, but the
pulley where you where you put a rope on something
and you use that wheel with a ridge in it
to keep the rope in place, and then you can
lift things with a pulley. So I think that one
of the secrets to life is to is to take

(09:28):
the tools that are available to us and apply them
and use them because ultimately it makes life easier. And
part of our overall goal here was just that it
was to help people find their purpose, get focused, and
then give them tools. And in that second episode, that's
when I introduce what I call the topic Papers, which

(09:50):
are a series of six papers that help people find
a way through both conversation and self reflection, start to
look at what their goals are, look at what they
want out of life, and then realize that money can
help you how you manage your finances. Money will help
you get to where you want to go. So that

(10:13):
was a good process. The third episode that we did
was called A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, and
in that one, I brought the single most important topic
paper beyond once you know what your purpose and your
goals are. I mean we're talking about as far as
the tools go. The other ones were very important because
without that you don't you're not going to get anywhere.

(10:34):
But once you make up your choice, people go, Okay,
well how do I do it? How do I do it?
And so this particular topic paper was called keeping Track
of Spending. And whenever I only have a short period
of time with people and I'm showing them my seminar materials,
I just go to this one page because this is
the one that I've had the most successful people, and

(10:54):
that is to sit down and take an hour of
your life, because because everybody's worth an hour of of
private time about themselves. Cut out all distractions, put yourself
in a room, don't let your cell phone, you know,
just be by yourself and start thinking about you. And
what I teach people is a little exercise to let

(11:16):
you look at everything you've done that relates to how
money flowed through your fingertips out of your pocket for
the last thirty days. Just to kind of get this
exercise going where people actually look at their own behavior
and what they find when they do that sometimes it's
quite shocking. But the two biggest results that I've ever

(11:40):
had responses that I've gotten across the board are I
didn't have a clue what I was really doing with
my money, and then the other one was I'm wasting
an awful lot of my money. And so once they
realize that they're on the right path to starting to
say do you want to do something about it? What
do you think about that? Johnny?

Speaker 2 (11:59):
You know what I think about it is in that
episode we talked about the reality of it, and that's
just what you just addressed was sometimes what people think
is not what's happening. So good intentions are amazing. However,
if good intentions are not followed by actual actions that

(12:23):
align to those intentions, then that's when most of us
have I'm gonna call it a pothole in the road,
right And what I liked about that episode was what
you just brought up is actually doing an inventory of
what's really happening with your money, going back and looking

(12:47):
at where you're really spending it, not where you think
you're spending it. Because most of the people we have
both worked with, where they get in trouble is not
what's in what they thought they were doing, it's what
they're actually doing, you know, like those little things that
don't seem to be big, but when you start doing

(13:08):
them on a regular basis, they add up very quickly.
And we showed them how to take the little things
realign it in such a way to help them take
control of their finances even better than that, take control
of their life. And that was the key in that

(13:29):
episode for me and I'm sure others that were watching
and listening to it, is that the key is knowing
and then shifting what you need to shift, even if
it's for a definite amount of time, so that you
can realign so you can be empowered with the money

(13:52):
that you have coming in to instruct it where to go.
And I thought that was a powerful episode.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
The thing that comes out of that exercise that we
taught in that episode, it's a self motivated behavior change,
because when people realize what they've been doing, then they
can decide if they want to make a change or not.
And one of the things that I've gotten some really
good feedback from several people. They like that we're not

(14:23):
telling you how to spend your money. We're trying to
teach you how to be aware of what you're doing
so that it's your choice what you do. I don't
really try to tell people what they got to do
with it. I want them to make those choices for themselves.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Right, It's just about no excuses, just results. If we
can say like that, no excuses, just results, because when
you're empowered to know that and to make those decisions,
like you said, it's their choice, so you get a
chance to have no excuses, just results.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
Johnny, we were doing really good for a minute. They're
just speaking at a real nice high level of sort
of summon this up. But you just you just said
something that I've got to go into for a second here.
You know, when you take away somebody's excuses, when you
give them a focus on what they're really doing and

(15:18):
they don't have any more excuses, that's a difficult thing
to do because some people they love those excuses because
they go through life just making excuses and never feeling
actually responsible. And so I just want people to think
for a second, because this is serious. If you're a

(15:40):
person that's gone through life just trying to rationalize, make
excuses and not take responsibility for yourself, and you realize
that you're really not living the life that you want,
or you haven't acknowledged that you're not living the life
that you want. That could be a time for you,

(16:01):
because it's I don't want you to think, oh, I'm
a total failure, I'm a loser, not at all. I'm
telling you that if you get to that point, you
know almost every program that's out there that relates to
recovery and things like that, You've got to get to
the low point before you say this, I'm never going

(16:22):
to let this happen to me again. And both of
us are very very close to Napauling Hill principles and philosophy,
and that's what happened, is that is when you get
to the bottom of the barrel in your strip, naked
of every excuse you've ever had, and you realize that
you're at a place where I this is the definitive
purpose principle in Napauling Hill. It's when you finally say,

(16:45):
I will never let life do this to me again.
That's what Johnny and I are about here to try
to help you focus, realize what's going on, and then
give you some positive tools, and that leads right in
to the next show, and this is one that I
really enjoyed presenting. It was called no More Robbing Peter

(17:06):
to Pay Paul, And that week is when we introduce
the importance of cash flow budgeting and having savings and
the whole concept of cash flow budgeting. It's kind of
new to a lot of people because I mean, we're
both accountants, We've been trained in finances our whole careers.

(17:26):
But there's a difference between budgeting looking at something like
for a whole month saying well, I make this much money,
so I have this much leftover. But when you do
a cash flow budget, you actually look at when it
comes and when it goes. And timing is so important.
Everybody's used that expression in their whole lives. Timing is

(17:48):
all important. You know, if you don't have the right timing,
things aren't going to turn that right. And I'm not
going to even try to do it. But the place
where timing, I think is probably the single most important
that you got to you're timing right. It's in comedy
if you if you don't do the punchline at the
right moment, people aren't gonna laugh. We're not talking about

(18:09):
laughing here, we're talking about trying to help you focus
on your life so you can get yourself ahead. Johnny,
what do you think about cash flow budgeting?

Speaker 2 (18:18):
On the cash flow budget budgeting, one of the things
even that we brought up is scheduling. You alluded to it.
It is scheduling and setting things up so that they're
scheduled and so that you take control of when your
money comes in, well it goes out, let's talk about

(18:40):
when it goes out. We know when our funds come in,
we need to take control of when they go out.
And so the cash flow budgeting, I thought, is just
as important as the regular budget because with the cash flow,
that helps people avoid any expenses, any overdrafts, anything like that.

(19:05):
And it also helps you which is one of the
things we're going to talk about too, is the credit.
You want to make sure that everything is done timely,
So the cash flow piece is critical. So I'm gonna
go back to this because I like scenarios. So when
you look at the flow of water, water the way

(19:26):
it flows is very important as to the health of
not just the environment, but the health of everything in
the water. So when you look at your flow, your
cash flow, it's not just about one decisions about how
every decision you make impacts your overall well being in

(19:51):
your social economic system, your system, not the general population
economic system. And that's what cash flow budgeting helps you with.
It helps make sure that your economic system is in ten.
So I like that. I really like that.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
I appreciate that. Well. The fifth week that we did
a show, I gave it a title that's just real simple,
the substitution principle. The substitution principle is one of my
favorite things that I've ever been able to communicate to
people and what it is. We said this in that

(20:33):
show's announcement. Once you realize what you're doing with your money.
The previous couple of shows are helping people get that
understanding of what you're really doing. You can choose alternative
ways to use it. The choice is yours. And so
when people are constantly complaining that they just can't afford

(21:00):
something that they want it that it might be they
wanted to pay their bills on time. I hope they
want it to. But when they don't pay their bills
on time, or when they don't get something for their
child a birthday present, or they don't take a vacation,
or they don't get the house repairs done, or you know,
whatever it is. So many people go back to making

(21:21):
those excuses, not taking responsibility until they realize, you know,
I do have enough, but I'm just not using it
in the best way. And so, you know, in that show,
we gave a lot of examples of ways that if
you just cut back on something that has no value
in your life, you can take what you save from

(21:44):
not wasting it on something that had no value and
do something with it that you want it to do
that does have value. You know, Johnny, as I heard
myself say that just now, I think that I talk
real simple sometimes. I mean, I heard those words. You know,
I use the word value about four times in that

(22:05):
previous sentence or two. But really it is simple, Johnny.
You know, you're not living the way you want to live.
You're not able to experience things you want to experience.
You ask yourself, finally, why am I not? You do
the work to focus on on the reasons why you're
you're not able to do things that you set out

(22:27):
to do. The goals that you set aren't happening, and
then all of a sudden you realize, I'm not managing
myself very well. I'm not looking at my own personal
use of my time and my resources. And so that's
where that's where you and I have have got together
on this whole series, and we've tried to have people

(22:49):
focus on their own lives, and then we're trying to
show them you do. Johnny, you use the word and
and and you're speaking engagements and your motivational speaking and
empowered a great deal, and it's a beautiful word. A
lot of people don't get to where they experience what

(23:09):
being empowered means. What we're trying to do is show
people the substitution principle is really simply stated. It's looking
at what you're doing, realizing that if you did it differently,
you could have more of what it is that you
really want out of life. What do you think about that, Johnny?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
You know, one of the substitution principle, and I use
a couple examples, I think is really powerful, and I
use the word powerful quite a bit. The reason I
do is because we get a chance in the substitution principle,
you get a chance to look at what you're doing

(23:55):
and take the thing that that's the most value based
on your goals that you have established and bring those
to the top. Let those be the cream in what
you're stirring up, and bring those to the top. So
it's not that for me, for an example, or anyone else.

(24:20):
It's not that the other things you don't want to do,
or you don't desire to do, or you don't like them,
that's not the issue. The issue is in the substitution principle.
You look at your goals and align your out goal
based on the goals that you have decided are the

(24:40):
most important. So when I look at power or empowerment,
I look at the fact that you get a chance
to choose. It's not someone else getting a chance to
choose for you. It gives you the power, an authority,

(25:02):
and the authorization. The substitution principle gives you the power
and the authority and the authorization to release your funds
according to your goals. So it's not like I don't
like Starbucks coffee, because I do. However, the substitution principle

(25:23):
allows me to take a bag of Starbucks coffee and
make it. Instead of me spending six seven eight dollars
on one, I can buy a whole bag of Starbucks
coffee it's how you do it. It empowers you. And
that's why I really like the word empowerment. Most people
want to be empowered from an external source. What I'm

(25:46):
saying is empower yourself from the internal source and decide
what you're going to do and substitute as it becomes
an alignment with your goal and the things that you
have decided, because it is empowerment, is self empowerment.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
I think you stated that absolutely beautifully. I'm getting ahead
of ourselves because we do. We have a whole episode
on investing. But you've talked about how you can put
a lot of things in your life and join them
together in a positive way throughout this series. And when

(26:29):
you were talking about Starbucks, I remember that you gave
some advice out there. If you like Starbucks, if you're
investing your money in drinking coffee or whatever you buy
at Starbucks, get a couple of shares of stock in
the Starbucks companies so that you feel like you're making
money because you're feeding your habit, you know. In other words,

(26:50):
that's just a little bit higher level. And so as
we get a little further into these episodes, and we'll
talk about it as we get further into the summary
of each show. Here we try to go higher level.
We're trying to build a foundational footprint here that you
get one building block in place and you learn something,
You learn what it is that you want, you focus

(27:12):
on that, and you get your purpose to find. Then
you set your goals and you look at how you're
actually spending your money. You see how you're keeping yourself
from reaching your goals because of distractions and things that
don't have value. And then when you finally learn how
to track these things, we go to higher levels. And
ultimately that's why I call the show victory. So we'll
get back because at the end of this show, I

(27:33):
hope that you go, I'm going to do this or
I've been doing it and it's work, and that's even
better because it's better to have already started. Okay, Well,
the next show that we did, Johnny, we called it
reality Check, and that's when I asked the question, will
the way that you handle your money work for you

(27:54):
in the future or will it cave in on you.
We're going to teach you how to find out. That's
when I brought in a cash flow weekly cash flow
projection that I taught people how to do that. I've
been using for over thirty some years and I use
it very effectively when things get kind of overwhelming. When

(28:16):
I got a lot going on, I go down to
this tool that I created as an Excel spreadsheet. You
don't have to do it and Excel if you're an
an Excel person, but it's easiest in Excel. And I
go out a full year and I do my cash
flow budget items. I put them all in by the
date that they're due, and then I lay them out

(28:38):
like a big puzzle, like if I got to build,
it's due on the fifteenth of the month, I'll pop
that amount in that's projected for the next twelve months
under the week that the fifteenth of the month falls.
And then when you put them all in there and
put them all on paper like that, you're going to
see the story right there. And when we set a

(28:59):
picture's worth thousand words, this one makes the full picture
because it takes it out into the future long enough
to be able to do what I called the reality check.
It's like, well, I think I got enough money to
do this. Well, when you see it laid out on
paper like that, where each week you get at how
much is available at the beginning of the week, what

(29:21):
comes in that week, what goes out that week, and
then what you have left over, and that becomes the
starting point for next week. And then when you go
through that, you can do anything you want to alter
your course. You can say, WHOA, I built up a
lot of extra cash here, I'm getting ahead of myself
because I'm paying closer attention, I'm getting more disciplined. And

(29:44):
then you can surprise your significant other and say, hey,
let's take a weekend trip that we didn't think we
could afford. Or let's go get those extra plans to
put in the yard that you've been asking for that
we couldn't afford, or something so simple, let's put some
extra money into the savings account because we don't want
to just spend it on something we don't need. Johnny,

(30:06):
what do you think of the concept of taking a
reality check by really looking at it for a period
of time, And we gave the tool that they can
do that.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
You know, the concept of a reality check is amazing.
Most people are looking for someone to tell them instead
of them seeing the reality. So reality check is really
about what you just lifted up is looking at it

(30:36):
from a position of truths, of honesty, of not looking
at what you think is happening, but looking at the
real deal. It eliminates misconceptions. It causes you to look
at it from a real world perspective, right, what's really

(30:56):
happening in your world. It's a reality check. And so
that is the power of that, the spreadsheet, all of
that really works. And like you said, if you're not
an excel person, but look at what it actually happens
when you look at the document and then put that

(31:20):
actively in your life, because it is not about limiting you.
A reality check actually causes you to see from a
different perspective where you are so that you can continue
to make great decisions like add things on like you said,

(31:40):
the going on vacation or doing a nice little thing
for yourself. And then I would say this is that
when you look at the reality check of it, when
you look at the light your life and see the
all the gains that you're acquiring by staying on track
or as close as possible to on track, then looking

(32:03):
at it and saying, now, how can I take these
available dollars and use them to get to my goals faster?
To move forward, or to even treat myself, like Steve said,
on something that I may not have had the opportunity
to do in the past. Do something that feeds you

(32:24):
and help make your reality the best thing you can
do in your life as you follow these principles and
these goals, and don't beat yourself up. Steve alluded to
that earlier. Don't beat yourself because you're not being perfect,
and I'm start perfecting them because it's about building habits.

(32:44):
And what you do with a habit is you build
it on something you already know and you continue to
build up so you become better at it. So your
reality check is to be truthful with yourself, to walk
this out, to get the tools and implement them in
your life.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Johnny, I just love that we have something that we
believe in so much that we want to share it
with other people, because that's really where we're coming from here.
The seventh week of our series was called credit Doing
what you say you're going to do and you know
you're you're You have a chapter in the book that

(33:24):
I did a year ago called from the Lip to
the Hip is a pretty far distance. Doing what you
say you're going to do is where that line came
from lessons in character and integrity. And so what we
did in that episode was we said, specifically, one of
the most important things that a person must do to

(33:46):
have a healthy financial life is to have good credit.
And so a lot of people are going through life
with poor credit and they're paying a major price for that,
and they don't have to have bad credit. But it's
just like everything else that I try to try to do,
I try to keep it simple, and when it comes

(34:07):
right down to it, credit is no more than doing
what you say you're going to do. And that show
really went into a whole great deal about how we
want people to make up their mind. And there you
go again, John, everything that we are doing in this series,
it's all based on a person making up their mind.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
What do you think it's about a person making up
their mind, right, It's about them making the decision to
move forward. And so this is what two things. One
is is I would like to re encourage, as we
did during that series, that people, wherever you are right
now is not where you have to stay. In that episode,

(34:48):
we give you some pointers as to some of the
things you can look at as far as it relates
to your credit score. We we told you what is
the best place to start and make the greatest impact. Right,
We did all that, and then I'm gonna say this,
that show was very powerful because remember, your credit score

(35:08):
impacts every area of your life. Whether you're buying insurance,
whether your car insurance, any of that, medical, it impacts
when you go out and get a loan, any of
those things. The credit score impacts it, credit card rate,
all of that. The credit is your financial identification. That's

(35:31):
a simple way to put it. Like your name is
your identification. You know, my name is Johnny, So that's
part of what id right when you go into and
you're in the money realm, your credit score is your identifier.
So make your name great From the lips of the
hips is a pretty far distance. Make your name great

(35:54):
and do what you said you were going to do
in that episode. When you go back to that episode,
you'll also get tips about what happens when something comes
up and you can't do it. What are some of
the things and tips you can do to make sure
that it doesn't have as negative an impact on your
credit score? How to do those things? So you want

(36:16):
to make sure that if that's an area that you
want to increase your score regardless of where it is.
Unless it's at eight to fifty, you can increase it,
and at eight fifty you want to maintain it right,
So you want to do the right thing to make
sure you move forward so that your name, your financial
name is great as well.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Oh that's beautiful, that's really beautiful. Well, sometimes when you
don't have such good credit, you go into debt. And
the next show, Series eight was Debt Your Obligations to others,
and we talk about how we all have obligations to others,
but do we manage them forward having value in our

(36:59):
lives or we controlled by them?

Speaker 3 (37:01):
And we really get into the essence of why people
have debt. A lot of it is is that they
haven't done good financial planning. They're buying things that they
shouldn't be buying because they don't have the money, and
there's just all sorts of ramifications. But we did a
very very exhaustive study and that one show of why

(37:22):
you're in debt and what you need to do to
not be in debt. That's kind of what the show
was about. Do you remember that show very well?

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Absolutely? I mean, the thing about debt is all of
us do debt for different reasons. There's what we called
in the show, there's a thing is good debt and
bad debt, because when you purchase a home, that's debt.
Most people can't do not are not a positioned to
pay a cash for a home, right, So we looked

(37:52):
at those pieces and how that continues to go back
to your credits for but in addition to that, it's
not be over obligated where it impacts your health, it
impacts your relationships because remember finances have an impact on

(38:14):
relationships because a lot of people are in conversation about debt,
so you don't want to do that. So we looked
at the concept of debt, some good and bad types
of debt, and then we looked at all of those
pieces to bring you to a place to have more insight.

(38:37):
Because remember this is about literacy becoming more astute in
the financial realm of your life. So when you look
at that, what are some of the tips and tricks
to help you with the debt that you have. We
talked about debt consolidation in there. We talked about all
those pieces and even we even talked about what happens

(38:59):
if you can't borrow money to consolidate, and how to
do that, and then what to do with the extra money,
and how to pay things off early and all that.
So you don't want to miss that as something that
you want to tap into for those who are definitely
maybe overwhelmed by their debt and or looking to come

(39:20):
out of debt, or just want to make sure as
someone who's not in debt yet, you want to make
sure that you don't get tapped into that.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Believe me, I've been in debt, and a lot of
reason that you're going debt's not always your own fault.
Unexpected things that happen, you know, medicals, illnesses, accidents, things
like that. And so we haven't extended what we call
the invitation yet. Johnny, I'll do it right now. You know,
Johnny and I are here for every one of you

(39:50):
that are listening in a personal way. You can go
to the website right think dot org. I can get
in touch with Johnny, you can get in touch with me.
You know, we'll have fun conversations with if you will
email whatever you like to do it to a certain extent.
I'm not into Johnny's into TikTok. I don't do TikTok.
I don't know how to do it. Maybe i'd like
to after listening to Johnny talk about it last couple

(40:10):
of weeks here. But we're here for you, and we
are experts in certain areas from our career, training, our education,
but also from our experiences in life. And I can
I can tell you that I've gone through debt and
worked through it and done my very best with my
creditors to try to keep my credit score as high

(40:30):
as possible and to be able to hold onto my
house and not let my house be taken away from
me because of you know, extreme situations with health, et cetera.
So anyway, we were trying to share our experiences with you.
But we're here for you because we care. You know, Johnny,
we're getting kind of past the basics now, and we
said this was a fundamental kind of thing, you know.

(40:51):
We modeled the whole program a lot after Maslow's hierarchy
of needs, where you start off with the basic level
of food, shelter, clothing, and then you start getting up
to sell actualization. It's a pyramid that you go up
the wrongs as you go through life. And so the
next one that we did was the ninth episode and
that was called Insurance. Are you covered an insurance? You know?

(41:16):
We want to talk about We talked about how important
having a good insurance program in your life is, and
I asked the question, think you can't afford it, think
twice as you understand the consequences when something goes really wrong.
I'm telling you, Johnny, what we're trying to do is
protect people. Here. We're trying to have people go through

(41:38):
life and make a good value judgment a little bit
of insurance to protect you for a situation that could happen.
If it happens, we'll keep you out of debt. It'll
help you dramatically stay stable in your life. So I
like the show we did on insurance. What are we
cover in that show? Johnny?

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Wow? We cover it. We covered life insurance, we covered
health insurance. We covered okay, so let's talk about and
we talked about this. We talked about what is insurance
and the benefit of having it. We talked about and

(42:20):
that we talked a little bit about when you consider
life insurance, how that is part of what you're living
to make sure the loved ones you're taken care of
and that you help your loved ones after you're gone,
and for health insurance to take care of your financial

(42:41):
health well being. Let's do well being, your financial well
being so that everything that comes in is not necessarily
paid out for that because it gives you a support system.
And we talked about the benefit of having those type
of types of insurance, how critical they are to your
life and your livelihood. And we discussed each one not

(43:04):
as insurance agents, because we're not. We were looking at
it as it becomes a factor in your steps ahead.
You buy health insurance not because you want to be sick,
just in case. You buy insurance for your property, not
because you wanted to burn down or anything happened to it.

(43:25):
You buy it just in case. You have car insurance
for the same reason because not because you're planning on
an accident, but you're protecting yourself. So how insurance protects you,
protects your financial well being, and protects your family. How
it's a veil of coverage. So we talked about all
those things and not super detail, but gave you enough

(43:49):
insight so that you could talk to any insurance person
and have a little bit of information and know how
it impacts your life before you go, so that you
can make the best decisions as you move forward, building
a wealth mentality.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
I love that you know when you said we're not
insurance agents, that's not what we did all these shows.
We're not trying to come across as financial advisors. We're
not trying to come across as insurance salespeople. What we're
trying to do is to motivate you to take control
of your life and get educated in things that will

(44:30):
better yourself. That's all this really is. And we do
go into a lot of detail here, like I said,
from our own experiences, etc. And we do have a
pretty good working knowledge of the areas that we're discussing.
But we are trying to help people that decide they
want to take charge, that are seeking a better way

(44:50):
to give them some of the avenues that they might
want to go explore, and we're giving you an invitation
to We'll be there to explore it with you if
you reach out to to us. There was one type
of insurance that that when I listened to the show,
and again we weren't trying to be one hundred percent complete,
but there was one that I that we left out
that I wanted to mention, and I'll mention it now.

(45:13):
Disability income insurance and and when you're working, Uh, usually
an employer might give you a chance to buy that.
Sometimes you can buy it on your own. But it's
a nice kind of insurance to have. If you're working
as an employee and you have some sort of an
accident in your out, workmen's compensation will give you something

(45:34):
after the employer stops paying you. Some employers have sick
leave or they'll have you know, if they're wonderful employers,
they might just cover you until you get back on
your feet. And that's that's more and more employers are
doing that. But then the workmen's comple cover a little bit.
But then long term disability insurance and it is a
wonderful thing if you if you have something in your

(45:56):
life that keeps you incapacity where you can't go out
out and work much anymore. Finances control a lot in
your life. It determines how you eat, where you live,
and whether you get good medical care or not. So
that's what we covered in that show. And insurance can
be Insurance can be like winning the lottery. It's one
of the highest investments you can ever make if your

(46:18):
timing is right. And this is a little morbid, but
I use myself as an example. If a person buys
a life insurance policy and they pay one premium one
and then they happen to die, the return on that policy.
Imagine buying a million dollar life insurance policy and then
you're in a tragic accident. Look at what your family

(46:41):
would get in their inheritance when that insurance pays off.
It'd be nothing like it. You might pay one thousand
dollars on a million dollar policy, and I don't know
of any other lottery that you can invest a thousand dollars. Well,
you can buy a ticket and win fifty million dollars
if you're one of those people, or you can go
in debt buying tickets your whole life and never win.
Johnny the Next Show. I got a little creative there,

(47:04):
and I hope that people still remember where this expression
comes from. But when we got into insurance and we
got into debt and all those things, it goes directly.
It points in a direction of medical expenses. Medical expenses
is one of the single highest expenses that people have
in their lives, outside of your mortgage and your household
expenses and so forth. Medical expenses can actually dwarf that

(47:27):
if you're unfortunate to have long term, protracted illnesses and
so forth. So the name of that show, it was
a tenth show in the series and Apple a Day
keeps the Doctor Away, And so we took a look
at how health issues can have a devastating impact on
your life and how you want to put yourself in
a position to simply do the best you can. And

(47:50):
with all else that we said that show, I said,
preventative maintenance, staying healthy is a much better way to go,
and that brought out something that our financial well being
also talks about. This whole program that we're doing is
a very holistic approach to a healthy life, and you.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Know the power of that, Steve is part of it
is and a lot of people don't look at it
from this perspective. However, we discuss the fact that, like
you said, preventative measurement, even the training that we're providing
is a preventative measurement because when your finances are right

(48:32):
and you have a more than enough, when that is
not an issue in your life, then you are not stressed.
And because stress will impact negatively impact your body, your relationships,
every aspect of your life. So following the principles, getting
the information, becoming active in this area, looking at life

(48:57):
insurance because, like you just alluded to, one of the
one of the biggest things people have as far as
getting into going into bankruptcy. One of when a person
goes into and have a medical or real major medical issue,
a lot of people end up bankrupting, going and having
to file let me go like that, having to file

(49:20):
bankruptcy because of medical So you don't want to be there.
So let's step back a moment and say, Okay, what
can I do to control my finances? What can I
do to empower myself? What can I do to release
any of the stress that I may be on that
relates to finances. Now, the one thing that Steve mentioned
earlier and I want to step in and address too,

(49:43):
is that we are the ones that are providing you
a neutral We are neutral because remember we're not working
for anybody else. We're actually empowering you. That is that's
our goal. Our gift to you is information to empower
you to make the best decisions you can make, so

(50:03):
that you have more knowledge that you have more insight
and that you take your power and you move from
considering yourself a victim to a victor when it comes
to your financial wellbeing. So look at that, because remember,
this is about your life, your money, and your relationships.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
Wow, Johnny, that's going to lead us right in to
the eleventh episode in the series, investing turning your goals
into reality. And this one's really powerful because once you
have made the choice to take control of your life
by discipline personal financial management, there are many ways you

(50:46):
can and I'm going to slow down before I say
the last part of this sentence. This is one of
the keys to everything to be financially building wealth. Put
your money to work for you. When you learn how
to put your money to work for you, that's a
great chapter in your life. Johnny. You're somewhat of an

(51:10):
expert in this subject. Speak to it.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Yeah, okay, So I'm going to speak to it a
little bit differently than I did then because this is
really powerful and you just triggered something in my head.
You know. That's the wonderful thing about you and I
being together is that we trigger things, which is really
good because we're thinkers. So one of the things that invests.
If a person is looking where should I invest first,

(51:35):
you should invest in you. Invest in your knowledge, your understanding,
and your well being. Take your time and go back
and listen to all the episodes and invest in you
so that the decisions you make, you gain all the
benefit of all of our expertise, all of our experiences,

(52:00):
so that you start off on higher shutting. So invest
in you. Number one. Number two is take advantage of
the time value of money. So invest now, start today.
That's one of the things I always talk about, and
Steve said, you know that's my space, but my thing
is invest now, no excuses, invest now, and that's what

(52:23):
you can. You don't have to wait until you have
thousands of dollars. Start investing now, by doing the substitution principle,
by looking at your budget, by looking at cash flow,
invest now, do not wait. Invest now. And now we
gave you like the insurance is required. You don't want

(52:45):
to not have life insurance and trying to invest money
in a different platform. We talked about in that episode.
The fact that you want to take advantage of the
system that you're a part of. If you're a system
and they match your money, you want to start in
those areas so that you can benefit from that. So
the key is to be a producer of wealth and

(53:10):
not always consume everything that comes within your hands. I'm
gonna say it again. To be a producer of wealth
means investing and letting your money work for you versus
always being a consumer of wealth. Every penny that comes in,

(53:31):
you push it out. Okay. So that's what I would
say regarding that, is to make sure you do those things, Johnny.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Last week we try to sort of sum up a
whole lot to take it to the highest level. And
the show was at a place where I had a
little concern that maybe only one out of one hundred
people I said that during the show would really get
what we're trying to say, but that after I listened

(54:00):
to it, I was very very pleased that I think
we did about the best we could to make it
available for what we're trying to communicate, the name of
the show was Legacy living a Transformational life, and what
we said there was that your financial literary skill, your

(54:21):
financial literacy skills can help lift you to higher heights
where you can leave a mark that cannot be erase. Johnny,
we're getting to the end of the series now, and
we tried to take people to a high place. We
took them past the focus, the understanding, the purpose that

(54:42):
they needed to define, setting their goals, giving them tools,
teaching them some of the pitfalls, teaching them how to
cover themselves with insurance, how to do the reality, all
those things that we've just reviewed. But Johnny, last week's show,
to me, we probably could have ended the series on
that without going through this little you know, going back

(55:03):
and reviewing each chapter individually, each each episode individually. But
you know what, Johnny, you are a you know, you're
a published author on the subject of legacy and transformation.
And that show I thought was absolutely beautiful when I

(55:24):
listened to it a couple of times since last week.
It made me feel really good that what we set
out to do twelve weeks ago, this is the thirteenth
week we achieved. Because your heart's in it, Johnny, My
heart's in it. And I just love the way that
we've tried to take them through all these all these

(55:45):
episodes lessons to get to a place where they can
have a better life. I'm having a better life because
I've been dedicated to this series, Johnny. Why don't you
reflect on the last week's show for a minutes because
it was a beautiful show.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
You know, thank you Steve. Last week's show And even
when we talk about legacy and transformational development is huge
for me because of all the principles we discussed, I
know how they can transform and have transformed my life.

(56:25):
So the reason that I know that is because where
I am today is not where we started, and we
talked about that through the through the episodes. So what
we did on the last week's show is talking about
you personally leaving an imprint that cannot be erased. That's

(56:46):
more than money. That's your word, that's your skills, that's
character and integrity. That's the things that you passed on
to your children and your children's children and people around you.
So what legacy are you leaving to others that goes

(57:07):
beyond money? Even though money is important, and leaving people
that kind of legacy is fine. However, there's more to
it than that, because when the money is gone or
you're gone, what do you really want people to say
about how you made them feel, how you love them,

(57:29):
how you touch their lives, how you impacted their lives.
That's the real legacy, because of course, transformation is about
a metamorphois. It's about literally transforming from what you were
to what you are to become. So it's about being

(57:55):
in the process of becoming I'm gonna say that again,
it's about out being your best you and the process
of becoming your best shere from no matter where you start,
So no matter what situation you're currently in, what level
of transformation you're at, where you're starting right now, you

(58:18):
have a legacy to live and to leave. So start
where you are, use what you have available to you,
no excuses, just results, and move forward in every area
of our lives. Because remember the habits that we're discussing
right now and have discussed through all of these other

(58:40):
sessions can be applied and should be applied in every
area of your life, every area. When you look at budgeting,
you should look at think about your time, look at
your energy, look at all that. When you think about
cash flow, where you're flowing into what do you doing?
What are you impacting? When you look at substitution principle,

(59:05):
what are you doing As far as when you need
to spend time with your five year old or your
three year old, what are you exchanging that for and
don't decide all the time to do the work to
get the money and miss out on their time. So
that is the kind of legacy. The words, the statements,

(59:26):
the touches, the smiles, that's what people need. So keep
that in mind as you move forward and you build
and live a legacy that cannot be erased from people's hearts,
their minds, their spirit.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Beautiful, Johnny, I'm going to put out about five or
six seven keywords that are built into the series that
we did. We're coming to the clothes now, Johnny, and
it's kind of it's a joyous moment for me to
know that we've done and I thank you for what
we did together here. These are some words that are

(01:00:06):
all part of what we're doing here. Purpose, character, integrity, honesty, discipline, priorities,
planning now and if you do all that, you can
have the victory that we're talking about. Johnny. I want

(01:00:26):
to I want to end my contributions to this series
with two quotes from one of the greatest men that
I think ever lived in our in our lifetimes, Nelson Mandela.
And he was just an incredible civil rights leader from
South Africa and a Nobel Peace Prize. And these two

(01:00:47):
quotes I've been I've been looking at him thinking which
one I want to do first, and I think I'm
going to reverse it. Here's the first one. There is
no passion to be found playing small, in settling for
a life that is less than the one you are
capable of living. The second quote, Johnny is this is here,

(01:01:11):
Nelson Mandela. If you want to lift yourself up, lift
up someone else. Johnny, I love you, thanks for participating
in this series, and I'll let you. I'll let you
close out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Wow, how do you close out after that? Okay? So
this is what this is. What I'll say is that
during this series, just like I have felt Steve's passion
and his compassion for others, his desire and his purpose

(01:01:51):
as we have come together, this has been about you.
This has been about you. That is regard. Listen where
you are in your life right now. This is about you.
This is about you transforming to be and to become
all you were creative to be. I love what he

(01:02:11):
just lifted up about Nelson Mandela, and I think that
is really the synopsis of the whole thing and our
desire for each and every one of you so again,
if you if you have any questions or quin concerns,
please reach out to us and looking for someone to
come in and talk to your organization. Reach out to

(01:02:35):
us because we care not just about your structure. We
have all the insight, but more than anything, we love
your most valuable resource and that's the people. So thank
you Steve for this opportunity. You know, I love you.
I am just honored to be here and it's been

(01:02:57):
my pleasure to participate as all.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Joinning you up to my game. So everyone, I hope
you got a lot out of this show today, the
whole series, and we're here for you. Reach out to
us and as I as I said in the announcement,
I ended it with you take control of your life
and put in the hard work. Go forth and succeed. Everybody,

(01:03:22):
go out now and go forth and succeed. God bless you,
and we'll see you next week. Thanks thanks for listening
to Right Thinking with Steve Copeland. I'll look forward to
being with you again next week. And remember it, don't quit,
plan ahead, it will get better. God bless you and
have a great week.