385: The Unusual Habits Of The Financially Free With CNBC Producer Allison Lau

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You’re listening to the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, the place where I bring on successful bootstrap business owners and dig deep into what strategies they use to grow their businesses. Now, as you may or may not know, I was recently featured on the hit series CNBC Make It, where I revealed how much money and profit I take in from my businesses, my family life, where I invest my money, and little things that I haven’t revealed anywhere else. Now, you can watch this episode by doing a search on YouTube for CNBC, and I’ll link it up in the show notes below. But why am I mentioning this to you today?

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It’s because today I have a really special guest on the show, Alison Lau. Alison is the producer for the hit CNBC series, Make It and Millennial Money. And because she has interviewed so many different successful individuals across different demographics and backgrounds, I thought that it’d be super interesting to break down the habits of the people that she has interviewed. Specifically, their philosophy on money, what drives them to succeed their daily routines, mindset, and how they make their money. But before we begin, I want to thank Clavio for sponsoring this episode.

00:57
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Piece of cake and there’s full revenue tracking on every email sent. Now Klaviyo is the most powerful email platform that I’ve ever used and you can try them for free over at klaviyo.com slash my wife. That’s K-L-A-V-I-Y-O dot com slash my wife. I also want to thank Postscript for sponsoring this episode. Now if you’re running an e-commerce business of any kind, you know how important it is to own your own customer contact list. And this is why I focus a significant amount of my efforts on SMS marketing. SMS or text message marketing is already

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That’s P-O-S-T-S-E-R-I-P-T dot I-O slash Steve. And then finally, I wanted to mention my other podcast, which I released with my partner, Tony. And unlike this podcast where I interview successful entrepreneurs in e-commerce, the Profitable Audience podcast covers all things related to content creation and building an audience. No topic is off the table and we tell it how it is in a raw and entertaining way. So be sure to check out the Profitable Audience podcast on your favorite podcast app. Now onto the show.

02:57
Welcome to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast. Today I’m excited to have Alison Lau on the show. Now, Alison and I met when she invited me to be a guest on CNBC’s hit YouTube series, Make It. And CNBC Make It is a show that helps you get smarter about how you can earn, save, and spend your money. They’ve interviewed hundreds of guests about earning money, saving money, and spending your money wisely. Now, my episode went out this week, and you can check it out in the show notes for this podcast. But Alison is a producer of the show.

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And during her time with CNBC, she’s interviewed many people. And because she’s probably spoken to and encountered many more people than I have running this podcast, I thought that it’d be interesting to chat with her about some of the commonalities that she’s noticed about some of her most accomplished interviewees. And specifically, we’re going to talk about money philosophy, the drive to succeed, high performance habits, cultural background, routines, mindset, everything. And with that, welcome to show, Allison. How are you doing? Thanks, Steve. Great to be on.

03:55
So Alison, before we get started with the guts of the interview, I just have to ask, how did you get into journalism and video production? I mean, you’re Asian, so I took a look at your resume and I don’t see a single thing about studying engineering, medicine or law in there. How’s that possible? Yeah, that’s a great observation. And actually no one’s ever asked me that before. So my parents, you know, never forced me into STEM and I am seeing how rare and uncommon that is now. They…

04:24
were creatives themselves. So my dad started a photography business in the Bay Area, I think in the 1970s, and it really took off. So I was born into a family where my parents were photographers. And I have three older sisters and they all knew how to use a camera. And that was really the path that was carved out for me. And that was the path that my dad really wanted me to take.

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So when I was seven years old, was shooting alongside with him and my mom, going to weddings every weekends. And I didn’t realize that that wasn’t a normal thing to do, I think, until I was a teenager and no one else was doing that. So I think my life has always been visually based. I didn’t really know what the options were until I went to college. And I really wanted to merge that with storytelling to have

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a story behind the visuals. So that really led me into journalism. It was a medium that made sense for me. And I had a lot of different jobs before I got to where I am today as a video producer for CNBC. But what really kicked me into the video section was, you know, going to Columbia and getting my master’s degree in journalism, but it was more specific in video journalism.

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So that’s when I really merged this passion of photography and visuals with storytelling. And it kind of created this really nice mix of having a subject, you know, that was visual and, you know, getting all this creative B-roll and then having an interview drive their story. And that’s really the format that I love most. Yeah, I mean, there’s definitely an art to it. And I feel like it’s something that you either have or you don’t. And you clearly have it.

06:21
What’s funny about all this is my dad was an electrical engineer. And so I became an electrical engineer. It’s funny how your parents can influence you towards your future careers. Yeah, so actually, my dad was an electrical engineer as well. fair child in the Bay Area. And that’s how he got started in the Bay Area. But I think he worked there for 20 years and he got laid off. So after a while, he decided to completely pivot into something that was more creative.

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And photography was more of a passion for him, but I think because he was really invested in changing his career, similar to you and Jen have, he really made that investment, got a lot of gear, trained himself, and started a business out of it. So I think in terms of our, you know, the roots, it is very similar.

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And I myself came from a marketing background. So after I graduated from journalism school, my undergrad career, I couldn’t get a job in journalism. The first thing that I could was in marketing. And so I was working in that for four years, but I think I could relate to Jen and that it wasn’t really the right fit for me. I was trying to find something else, but for me, you know, I invested a lot of money in my education to become a journalist. And that’s what, you know,

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gave me my blue sky, I guess. I actually love this. I mean, it’s never too late to start over. Like I was an engineer for 17 years and I don’t really do much of it at all anymore. I imagine it was the same for your dad, right? Yeah, he doesn’t. I mean, I found out he could use a solder when I was a teenager for a science experiment or a science project. And that was really cool to me. And, you know, he also helped me with like a circuit board.

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also for a science class and I was like, whoa, where is all this coming from? So that’s when I really saw it come into play. But other than that, you know, definitely doesn’t really use much of it anymore other than buying me a pack of light bulbs occasionally. So Alison, I run a course that teaches people how to build an audience by putting themselves out there, whether it be blogging, YouTube, social media, TikTok, whatever. So I’m actually very curious, how did you find me?

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And what are actually some of your criteria for the guests that you select for the show? Yeah, that’s also a great question. So when it comes to finding a story, there is no medium above or below me that I will not go to find my next story. So my last few stories have all been sourced from YouTube, whether it was reading a comment.

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that someone had left on one of my videos or a different video and I reached out to them and it just so happened they had a really robust social media platform or they, I think, what else? So another one was just that they had YouTube videos themselves. So I think I found you through your social media and YouTube presence already. And I was specifically looking for people who

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had found a way to retire early or achieve financial independence. And even though you and Jen, you know, have done that, you choose to work still. So I realized that there was a different angle and maybe one that was more relevant that involved side hustles that could lead to financial independence. So that’s how I found you. And that’s why I was interested in featuring your stories. That’s cool. You just mentioned

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you have no qualms about looking above and below. So I’m just curious what the below sounds like. Yeah. So I’d say low hanging fruit is by working with a PR agency because they’re usually pitching you and sometimes it’s irrelevant. Sometimes it’s not, but if you do work with them, there’s usually an angle that they have in mind. They’re really promoting their business or something that they already have. If you know, you’re looking yourself,

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you have a little bit more creative freedom as to what that angle is, and it’s not really being forced upon you. And so, you know, initially I was looking for someone who fit the fire bill, but because you and Jen aren’t retired, it was kind of easier to approach it from a different angle and to be flexible with that, as opposed to if you had a rep, they’d be like, hey, we really want you to mention Bumblebee Linens in a certain way and to, you know, film all of their different inventory, right? So…

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you know, it would be a lot more forced and I think heavy handed. Okay. I mean, I guess the point I’m trying to make is just put yourself out there and just good things will happen, right? It was complete luck, but you can’t, this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have a YouTube presence in this case, right? Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, always ask. I think a lot of people get shy about, you know, getting a response back or not.

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But I’ve always seen that if you are just polite and explain exactly what you need and what something will entail, people will get back to you even if it is no. Cool. Well, that’s great advice. So Alison, what I love about your guests that you’ve had on is that they’re just regular people. mean, everyone that you’ve had is approachable, relatable. And I always leave every episode thinking to myself, hey, I can do that too. I can try that. So what I want to do first,

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is I wanna focus on the people who you’ve interviewed that have retired early. I wanna start, we talked about retirement already. Everyone seems to have their own definition of retirement. So what does it mean to be retired? Yeah, that’s a great question. So I’d say that the way in which I’ve depicted retirement is that people leave a job that they felt…

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bound to in a negative context. So it was a standard nine to five job and they felt like they weren’t passionate about it, but they had to stay there because of money and that they didn’t really have any other option. So it was, let’s say mostly a corporate job type of situation and they were feeling very, very constricted in what they could do. They were told when they could take time off.

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and they had to work specific hours each week. Right. So the people that you’ve had on are there they’re retired in that definition, but are they still doing work in general? So they are retired from those full time corporate jobs. However, I’d say it’s half and half. So some of them are completely retired and hanging out on the beach most of the time, or you know, just got a new puppy or something. And then some of them have started their own

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let’s say consulting businesses, where they are helping other people achieve financial independence and retiring early, just like them. So I’m just kind of curious for myself for the people who aren’t, they don’t really have side gigs. I always wonder like, because for my personality, I can’t do that. Like when I go to the beach, I can lie on the beach at most one day. So I’m just kind of curious for those people that have enough money and are just

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I guess living a life of leisure. Do you sense that anything’s missing from their lives? Not at all. They’re still really busy, actually. So there are some people coming up that I will be featuring and one of them never got her college education. So her college degree and she is going back to school now and taking some courses and hoping to get her degree or it’ll be a master’s degree or a PhD.

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So I think that, you know, utilizing that time for education and doing things that you never could have initially is great. I also have met people who are buying their first house or doing a lot of traveling. And for them, the adventure is in the travel and the learning and they’re experiencing different countries for the first time. And they’re really seeing…

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with fresh eyes, you know, how exciting it is to live their lives in a different context. So I think they’re still learning in a different way. It’s not as structured, but because money isn’t as big of an issue, it’s really exciting for them to explore these different countries, you know, in a very recharged mental space and for them to really just live their best life. You know, what I’ve noticed is that

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Everyone that you featured seems to be very driven. So I kind of want to just want to switch gears and talk about some of the common traits that people use selective have. And I’d like to start with money philosophy. How would you describe for the people who have retired, what is their relationship with money and how it has it evolved, you know, since when they were working? Yeah. So I will preface that I generally try to find people who did not come from money.

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So people who grew up either from immigrant families where they were always, you know, being taught how to save or to save. I’ve even featured some people who were, you know, one of seven siblings or something and grew up on a dirt road and, you know, had to rely on a single father’s paycheck to eat that week. So I featured people from all ranges of poor or poverty.

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And I’m really curious to hear always how they got themselves out of that situation, given that they didn’t really have much mentorship. And I think it’s so fascinating to hear, you know, it goes beyond just living frugally, which everyone says to do. So don’t live above your means and, you know, save every dollar you can. But, you know, of course, people have made mistakes. So there were a couple of people I spoke to where they bought

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the house that was too much money, paid the mortgage that drained their savings, you know, and then they immediately, the first moment they could, after learning about fire or savings, they downgraded. So they gave up that expensive apartment or expensive house, and they bought something much more modest because they realized they didn’t need that much and that it was more important to them to have.

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a secure financial future than it was to have that big house or luxury car at the time. So was it based on experience that most of your guests learned about money? I mean, what did they learn their money skills like investing, saving? I know a lot of guests have gotten into real estate. Where did they pick up those skills? Yeah, so I don’t think any of them said I learned this from school. I think it was really the College of Hard Knocks, as people say, right, where they made a lot of mistakes.

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and they really tried to fix them. So as I mentioned, some lessons that they learned from purchasing above their means, but then there was also people who got themselves into massive debt. So credit card debt, student loans, things like that, where they were like, oh, great, the government will give me money for education. I’ll just do that. And so based on that, they realized

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how crippling that debt was and how little financial freedom it would give them. So then they were forced to live within, you know, like, within their means, because they had to pay off those debt payments as well. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, this is something that I’ve been trying to teach my kids. There was this one story where we were out shopping, and I didn’t have any cash, but this place that we were at only took cash.

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And I’m sorry, I told my kids, I’m sorry, I don’t have any money to buy this. And they were like, oh, just go to the bank and get some more. And I remember when I heard that, I was like, okay, you guys are getting a lesson in money because I can’t just go to the bank every time and get money. Right. I’m especially interested, actually. It seems like there’s a lot of people who got into real estate. And the thing with real estate with your guests is that it requires a lot of upfront money. So where did those people decide to just buy real estate from? Where did they get that from?

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Yeah, so that also ran the gamut. And I can say that the few people that I featured who bought houses really bought the first thing that they could get their hands on. And then they did DIY renovations. DIY renovations obviously cost a lot less. It’s something that you can learn yourself as long as you have the time and patience to. And really they didn’t buy like a really

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big fancy house in like a city center. They just bought any property they could get their hands on at the time. And they saw it as an investment that they were going to flip the house for to, you know, modernize and upgrade it. And then they, sold it themselves. And it seems like a good number of people also started making money through other means, whether it be through social media or consulting. How did they get into that?

19:37
Yeah, I think very similarly to how you got into my wife quit her job.com. They started getting a lot of questions as to how they did that, how they retired early, and they had people reach out to them constantly. And initially, it was, you know, a few phone calls, consults, things like that. But then it was constant, it was consistent, because they were, you know, kind of keeping a blog or diary for their families to follow up on.

20:05
or a newsletter, and then it just grew in popularity. And a lot of them were like, hey, I can turn this into a business. And that’s really how it happened. If you sell on Amazon or run any online business for that matter, the most important aspect of your long-term success will be your brand. And this is why I work with Steven Weigler and his team from Emerge Council to protect my brand over at Bumblebee Linens. Now, what’s unique about Emerge Council is that Steve focuses his legal practice on e-commerce

20:35
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manage to build an audience without being public facing, so to speak? Not that I have seen so far. Yeah. And because of the nature of my work, it wouldn’t work for them to not be on camera. That’s true. That’s true. Obviously. Yeah. One thing that I’ve noticed, so I run two different training classes and sometimes I’ll hop on a call initially with whoever signs up. And oftentimes I can tell within like maybe the first 10 or 15 minutes.

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whether they’re going to succeed or not. So I’m just kind of curious, what do you see in your interviewees? They’re all very successful. What character traits drove them to succeed? Like, could you tell when you talked to them at first? You know, because you mentioned that everyone does really seem like a normal average person. There wasn’t, I don’t know, it wasn’t like there was like that spark or fire or anything. It felt like I was just catching up with a friend and having a conversation or getting to know someone. So

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I think like in terms of like enthusiasm or charisma, there really wasn’t too much there other than that some people are just more media trained and less camera shy. So, you know, there are people who have told their story a million times to camera and I think they have their narrative down pretty solidly. They also have a media persona.

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So I’ve spoken to people who have that and by nature, I think they’re easier to work with because they don’t get nervous on the interviews when the cameras turn on. But then I’ve talked to people who really were not and had never done anything like this. And they were totally fine on the phone, but then when the cameras turned on, they froze and they had to keep referring to notes that they had taken themselves about their story. That’s hilarious. They had just blacked out basically.

23:19
And we have to be very patient through that. So in terms of like a personality style, I really don’t think there is one that’s consistent. Everyone’s very different. I’m actually asking this for selfish reasons, because I’m trying to inspire my kids to gather some of these habits. Like, what are some of these high performance habits that you noticed about some of these people that you interviewed? I mean, clearly there’s something special about them, right? Everyone.

23:45
Yeah, so I will say that, you know, with regards to teaching kids early, public speaking and learning how to do that can only help. So I’d say that, you know, if you’re trying to teach them how to talk on camera, go for it. Nothing bad can come of it. I think that they would definitely benefit from it, you know, at some point down the line or even just have confidence like presenting something in front of class.

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And it’s something that I wish I had done more of when I was younger because now it’s like, I feel like I could still learn, but you know, when the cameras turn to me, I get very nervous now. And I recognize that there are skills that I lack in that area that would limit my career in a certain way. And with respect to being like an on-camera reporter, right? Really? Because you’re very eloquent. Here’s what I want to just point out a couple of things you just said. So public speaking,

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I’m of the belief that it actually doesn’t really matter which medium you choose, but you have to be able to communicate your ideas. You have to learn, whether that be public speaking, it could be through writing, it could be through video or audio. I mean, that’s just a very important skill that I really wish they taught more in school. I know my daughter was just actually in a play and she’s done some public speaking for this entrepreneurship program that my wife runs for her school. And it’s just been very valuable just for her confidence, really, if anything.

25:11
But you did mention that a lot of people aren’t trained in that. are any of the people that you’ve interviewed who have been successful not great communicators? Yes, absolutely. But with the magic of editing, we find the best versions of what they said. And we include that. Okay. Yeah. So you would never be able to tell, you know, I think some people are just by nature more

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loud, charismatic, flamboyant on camera. And some people are a little more, you know, sit back and reserved, but we really do our best to try to make everyone feel equal in that way. We don’t include like the parts where they stumble or they’re stuttering because there’s really no value of that when it comes to editorial content, right? We want to tell their success story, not to depict them, you know, even if it is like more honest in that they were

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very nervous and sweating, you know, constantly needing breaks or to even have people reciting lines with them. So I don’t think there’s much value in that. But I guess like habits of successful people, what I saw that they all had in common was that they all had situations they wanted to leave and a idea visualization of their own future that they really wanted. So

26:32
You know, I can give an example of a recent story I did where he, a 23 year old moved from Texas to Mexico and he was very, very broke at the time. So he was living paycheck to paycheck at his parents place, you know, worked two jobs as a real estate assistant and fast food chain. And he just was really unhappy and wanting to have financial independence, you know, at 23 making minimum.

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wage that’s really difficult. And then also having the pandemic deter his plans a little bit. So he felt like the only way that he could do that was to move to Mexico, where his family, part of his family resided. And so he decided that he was going to build his American dream abroad. And as soon as he moved there, you know, his rent was $300 a month for a studio.

27:25
He felt like he could go out and hang out with friends and not really have to worry about money. He also bought a car. So, you know, this guy wasn’t, you know, by any means, like well off, made $12 an hour and he utilized time, the pandemic to, he, he studied to be a web developer. So he wasn’t working minimum wage jobs anymore. He wanted to advance his career in tech.

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And so he had some time to reset while he was unemployed and that’s how he did it. And it was really great to hear that he had been through so many struggles, but then also utilize time to really build a life that he wanted for himself, even if it was very modest. Yeah. I’ve noticed actually about the stories that you’ve, that you’ve produced, everyone always has some very deep drive to change their situations.

28:20
I’m actually kind of curious, have there been people where they just kind of stumbled into it? Like they didn’t have like an innate drive, but they just kind of by circumstance? I would say that everyone kind of stumbled into their careers. So if they were, you know, working these jobs that they weren’t too happy at, it wasn’t really something that they had actively chosen. It was more like a family path that led them to it or something that they didn’t really actively decide on themselves or hadn’t

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thought through completely themselves. And really the drive for what was next, I think was being suppressed all those years in a job that didn’t make them truly happy. Yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m sure we’ve all been there. Like I have tons of friends who are actually lawyers now that they kind of regret their decisions. They just kind of do things because that’s what everyone else is doing or what their parents want them to do. Yeah, absolutely. And I featured a lawyer that was just like that. Oh, is that right?

29:18
All right, so you know, it’s one thing to actually want to change your life, but it’s another thing to actually execute upon that. So I want to talk about routines, like, what are these people doing to make sure that they make forward progress? Yeah, so I’d say, again, the biggest one is not living above their means. Okay, second one is, you know, I met a woman who was a single mother, and her strategy was that she maxed out her 401k.

29:47
And she also had another account because she was an educator. So she basically had two accounts that were similar to 401ks. And I’m, the name is escaping me right now as to what kind of account it is, but she contributed the maximum and I asked her, Oh, how, how much is that? Like when she was like, Oh, I don’t know. It was just the maximum. was the maximum that I could put in every time I had a paycheck. And so, uh, it gave her a really nice buffer for when she retired officially, you know,

30:17
So she basically realized that she could live very, very minimalistically and just kind of wait until, you know, to access her money and that it would have grown, you know, by a lot by the time she retires. I mean, that takes a lot of forward thinking. Absolutely. How did she know about how did she know to do that? Because I think her company had a really great match program. I think it was above eight percent, maybe even 10 percent.

30:47
And so she did the math and just realized that, you know, how much her money could grow if she had saved it like for later as opposed to spending it now. So I think that really incentivized her. also noticed a pattern in at least the episodes that I watched. A lot of people seem to retire outside of the U.S. And I know for myself, I’m thinking about getting out of California just because the taxes here are ridiculous. Is that a common trait among the people that you’ve interviewed in general?

31:14
Yeah, absolutely. So expats or, you know, people who just want to try living somewhere else, if temporarily or not permanent, that is definitely something that I’ve seen among my subjects, because the cost of living abroad is generally much lower than in the United States. So I have a couple that I’ll be featuring in the new year where they do a little travel diary on YouTube as to how much

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I think $2,000 or $10,000 will get them in terms of housing, healthcare, the value of the city itself, food, things like that. So they take a certain number and then they compare it. So they’ve hit Mexico and they’ve hit Portugal so far. And it’s really interesting to follow their adventure and see how much money, or how much they can get from that money. I’m actually very curious about that episode.

32:12
Can you just give me an idea of how much cheaper it is to retire in Portugal compared to California since you’re from here? Yeah, so I haven’t looked at the numbers specifically, but I can say that people have told me, you know, I asked them why Portugal because that’s where they were at the time that I called them. And they said that so one of the best things about Portugal, in addition to the health care, is that when you buy a house, they said that they only have a 1 % interest rate.

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to borrow. Yeah, but they have to put down I think 40%. So they have to pay 40 % of the house. But then if they borrow the rest, it’s a 1 % interest fee. So it really incentivizes people to purchase property. I see. I mean, even outside of real estate, I know in California, I just actually filled up my gas tank for $5.49 a gallon. It’s got to be cheaper elsewhere. Yeah, I’m sure. Or there are places where you don’t need any car at all, right? That’s true.

33:11
Yeah, like New York, for example. Right. I’m curious about these routines, like a lot of these people, they want to do things, but then they have families, they still working their jobs at the time. How did they make time for whatever they were doing for their side hustles? Yeah, so I will say that several people I featured their kids were the biggest motivators for them to quit their jobs and retire early.

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they really, really wanted a way to spend more time with them so that they didn’t feel like they were missing out on the most important moments of their kids’ lives. So, and I think that’s very similar to you and Jen, where you work 20 to 30 hours a week and then spend the rest of the time with the kids and being very present in everything they do. A lot of that sentiment was there with my sources as well, where they had a child maybe very early on.

34:04
and the kid really just scared them into living responsibly. Whereas before they maybe would not have cared as much or prioritized it, or would have just gotten the luxury car, house, vacation, whatever it was, you know. Yeah, well, I can totally relate to that. I’m actually curious, were there any sacrifices that people had to make, whether it be family, friends, health to get out of their situation? Yeah, so

34:34
Let me go through each one individually. I think the couple that I had mentioned that I will be featuring said that when they were working all the time around the clock, they definitely were having health issues, back pain, know, chronic aches, conditions that they didn’t even realize were a thing anymore. And then when they moved abroad and actually got affordable healthcare where they could go to the doctors for like

35:02
let’s say $30 a visit without even health insurance, you know, they started losing weight. They started feeling better. They were very light on their feet and just, you know, more active because they realized how sick and ill they felt, you know, being in the States and like, you know, working around the clock and that it had just been kind of baked into life and they didn’t really even feel, feel it anymore, you know,

35:28
So once they were removed from that context, they really felt so much lighter. So I’d say that getting to that point where they could retire early, health was the main sacrifice there.

35:42
I just wanted to let you know that tickets for the 2022 Seller Summit are now on sale over at SellersSummit.com. Now, what is the Seller Summit? It is the conference that I hold every year that specifically targets e-commerce entrepreneurs selling physical products online. And unlike other events that focus on inspirational stories and high-level BS, mine is a curriculum-based conference where you will leave with practical and actionable strategies specifically for an e-commerce business. And in fact, every speaker that I invite

36:09
is deep in the trenches of their own e-commerce business. Entrepreneurs who are importing large quantities of physical goods and not some high-level guys who are overseeing their companies at 50,000 feet. The other thing I can assure you is that the seller summit will be small and intimate. Every year we cut off ticket sales at around 200 people, so tickets will sell out fast and in fact we sell out every single year many months in advance. Now if you’re an e-commerce entrepreneur making over 250k or $1 million per year in revenue,

36:36
We are also offering an exclusive Mastermind experience with other top sellers. Now the Seller Summit is going to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from May 4th to May 6th. And as of right now, we’re almost already sold out of Mastermind tickets and we’ll be raising the price every month leading up to the event after Cyber Monday. For more information, go to sellerssummit.com. Once again, that’s sellerssummit.com or just Google it. Now back to the show.

37:02
You know, I can speak to that actually. I’ve noticed it’s not necessarily about physical health, but when you’re constantly under a lot of stress, it actually takes its toll on you in a lot of different ways. Like you tend to binge eat more, or like if something’s always on your mind, like you can’t sleep well. And so that’s why I make a conscious effort today to always keep my schedule open. And if anything is gonna cause a ton of stress, I tend not to do it. But that’s just my attitude now after learning about that.

37:31
I want to shift gears a little bit and just talk about side hustles. Like how did most people make their money? Yeah, so I did hear some Etsy stories here and there. Someone sold blood plasma to pay off loan. I don’t recommend that. Well, that can’t be sustainable, right? Yeah, exactly. Okay. So there were some, you know, like big sacrifices.

37:54
I also have a series called I did it for the money where people donate their eggs for, you know, upwards of $10,000 and someone joined the military to subsidize their six figure tuition to become a dentist. So I’ve seen very extreme sacrifices where, you know, you’re selling a part of your body, or like, you know, your, your time. So those are, I’d say on the more extreme side, but.

38:22
The question was sacrifices, right? Well, this I kind of wanted to switch gears away from sacrifices, but just how do people make the side hustles that allowed them to retire? Oh, right, right. So yeah, side hustles. I featured a Portugal couple, maybe the one that you saw with Amon and Christina. they did everything. So they were saying they went dumpster diving for apple crates to make furniture.

38:47
They also, you know, they bought and flipped a lot of houses in the Bay area all over California. And these were, you know, like kind of let’s call them nothing special houses, right? Where they would buy a property and then flip it after renovating it like crazy. So they did a lot of DIY renovations. They also were very successful in running a YouTube channel. They’re very popular on social media and very well known for their efforts in the fire community.

39:15
They also run, I think, a class as well as to how to retire early. So I’d say that in terms of side hustles, like they really were like, we grew up from nothing. We had no money. I was homeless at a point. So nothing was beneath me in terms of making just a little extra cash. They even drove for Uber at a point. So they really did whatever they could to get to their fire number, which was, I think, around $2 million. I remember they had no background in

39:44
house flipping when they got started, right? Yeah, yeah. So a lot of this was everything was DIY, and they were both government workers making less than 100k. So I was very, very impressed by them. Here’s the thing, like, I feel like you can’t have anything feel beneath you. Like, I’ll clean like I actually went to the office not too long ago just to plunge the toilet. I mean, these are things that you just got to do. Like I get my hands dirty with everything. I think that’s the attitude you have to have in order to be successful.

40:14
I’ve noticed that with a lot of the people you’ve interviewed actually. Yeah, I think that, you know, when you come from nothing, grow up poor, you are willing to do anything to make money and to get out of that situation. So I’ve met a lot of people who are very humble about, you know, where they’re where they came from. There was a guy that I was going to feature, but, you know, timing didn’t really work out for him. So he, you know, was a

40:41
one of those like opioid babies where he was born to drug addicts. And then he grew up pretty much in and out of foster care and was finally adopted as a teenager. And then, you know, he, he was like, Oh, I’m like making, making a life for myself, finally have the opportunity, but his parents weren’t well off either. And so he was overspending when he first got his job and living well above his means. And then he realized that he was never going to pay off.

41:09
his $75,000 worth of student loans that way. So he instantly, you know, like, did the calculations downgraded his apartment and was saying that he was living in a think $800 a month one bedroom and there were rats and roaches and stuff, but it kind of gave him the freedom later on to be more independent. So just to give you an idea of mentality and mindset and breaking free from loans, that’s what some people

41:38
you know, we’re willing to do. Student loans are evil. That’s a topic for a different episode. So outside of real estate, what are some of the other ways that people made money in a sustainable way, like not selling eggs or sperm and that sort of thing? Yeah, so outside of real estate and extreme measures, I think, you know, we’ve had a lot of people pursue side hustles as a full time passion.

42:05
Other colleagues of mine have featured people who planned luxury picnics or bachelor parties, you know, people who did wedding planning services. It was really about finding their strength and figuring out how to make that monetizable. And they also had great media and social marketing or social media marketing skills that really helped them. And then also networking, you know, trying to spread the word and

42:32
going to events wherever they could broadcast. We’ve had all kinds of kind of oddball, you know, side hustles from like sheep herding to like, you know, chicken coops and things like that. But I think, you know, more sustainable ways were, you know, people just selling inventory like yourselves, where they found a product that was lucrative and then, you know, found a way to sell it either on eBay or build a platform themselves to sell it.

43:02
And I was also talking to someone who was a multimillionaire at the age of, think, 23 or 24. Yeah. And he basically was really into drop shipping. So he found a way to, you know, also same background, like didn’t grow up with money. He found products that people would be interested in mass ordered them from abroad and then would sell them on eBay or

43:28
built a website to sell them on and really just networked like crazy to build a following so that every time he posted an item, he could instantly see how it would do. So I think he said that he had a lot of success with women’s products and apparel, but not as much with pet items or, you know, little tchotchkes and toys. And it was all really just trial and error. And eventually he found a way to find local.

43:56
suppliers so that he wasn’t waiting on shipments from overseas. Let me just dissect a bunch of the things you just said. So it’s funny, I teach a class and a lot of people come to me and they want to make some extra money. But they’re not willing to actually, they just want to sit behind their computer basically. And just see if the money comes in. just based on what you just said, a lot of it is just doing legwork, like actually doing something you’re good at.

44:22
even if it’s not scalable. Like some of the things you mentioned were not scalable. Like you have to spend all of your time doing those things. But in doing those things, you actually pick up a lot of skills and maybe later on you can decide whether you want to grow that business or not. And not hide behind a computer. You also mentioned networking. I know for my businesses, things didn’t start taking off until I met other people doing the same things and establishing friends that you could help each other with with each other’s businesses, forming mastermind groups and that sort of thing.

44:50
So it sounds like there’s a lot of commonality there with the people that you’ve interviewed who have had successful side hustles. Yeah, I’d say that you can’t build a successful business without doing either because your own personal network will only take you so far, right? So you absolutely have to find people who are very similar in their goals and mindsets and really find a way to connect with them for sure. So, Alison, I want to ask you, what is your side hustle?

45:20
I have some odd ones for sure. you know, lately I have been thinking about, you know, teaching journalism skills here and there. Right now it’s something I do for volunteering only because I really want to give back to the community. But I think there is a way to potentially make that monetizable in the future where I teach people harder skills like editing and camera work. I’d say that’s like a goal at some point.

45:50
or just how to edit faster. So essentially like a math tutor, but for journalism and video editing maybe. So I’ve had that brewing for a little while, but in the meantime, it’s really just been teaching classes alongside professors or volunteering for nonprofit groups that are really trying to help marginalized communities that don’t have the same access as other people do.

46:17
or maybe don’t have as much money to spend on equipment. So I’ve been volunteering since I’ve graduated to help those demographics. And at some point I would love to branch out and make it into a side hustle, but it’s really not like a huge priority on my list right now. I also, when I graduated Columbia, I had massive, massive amount of debt that I’m still.

46:42
working to pay off now because the program was six figures for it was very expensive. And I was working on stories about social anxiety. So I would go to these social anxiety support groups where people felt that they had a safe space to talk to other people. And I was, you know, writing and learning about them, talking to them myself. And there was also an online platform for people to

47:12
rent people as friends, essentially. so, yeah, this was like a, you know, it was a really cool concept where people could just kind of select someone profile, reach out to them and ask to meet for coffee. And it would make up to $50 an hour. So at first I was writing about this all for a class paper. And then because I made a profile to explore, I was getting a lot of hits myself.

47:41
So at some point I actually met up with some of these people and started making money from it and it was about $50 an hour. it was really interesting to learn about the human psychology of loneliness because a lot of people just don’t have accessibility to share their emotions on a day to day basis and need to pay people to do that.

48:07
I kind of considered myself a cheap therapist, but I wasn’t really giving advice. I was more just listening to them and giving them a space to talk about what had happened. Yeah, it was really, really fascinating, but I really did that to pay off loans faster. And I think within a year I made like a couple thousand dollars if I was really just passively trying to kill some time, you know? So yeah, it was a great way to make some side money, some grocery money or, you know, just

48:36
put more towards my loans. Well, if you ever do launch that course on camera work and video editing, I’m there. That’s a skill that I’ve always wanted to learn. Oh, awesome. You know, what’s also funny is I have a lot of friends with successful entrepreneurs that actually just aren’t happy or they’re lonely. So I mean, it’s actually a huge problem because there’s a lot of sacrifice. Whenever you’re good at something, something’s got to give. so Allison, I wanted to ask you if actually if someone

49:04
wants to be or has the potential to be featured in CNBC. Do you have like a contact that you give out for people to like pitch or? Yeah, absolutely. So we do have a form submission in every single one of our millennial money videos. There is a link and it allows people to submit their information and apply to be casted.

49:28
We don’t guarantee, of course, that they are, but it’s definitely a way for them to be considered. And we are always looking, of course, people can shoot us a message. And the only things that we really require that they’re open to sharing their salary and money transparency, of course. So we generally talk about, you know, this person makes X amount in the city or area that they live in.

49:57
And they just have to be open to sharing like a tax return with us, which doesn’t get published, but we just have to verify documents. And we have to talk about how much they spend, what they spend on and you know, what, how much they make and what that gets them in life essentially. But we’re totally open to all backgrounds. And I think the one thing I will also say is that because of journalistic practices, we don’t feature people who

50:24
have like a political slant in either direction. So if they are working in politics or something, we’d have to be careful around that. Sure. Yeah. But really, we are completely open to anyone. And we love just everyday people with a message. What’s funny about this is prior to us meeting, an occasional CNBC episode would flash in my YouTube feed. But

50:51
I’m actually a regular watcher now. I think I’ve watched maybe 75 % of them and there’s a lot at this point. They are so interesting. There are just so many diverse backgrounds. Everyone is totally different and it’s really fascinating how these people made it, know, retired early or make extra money or live way below their means. It’s actually a great way to get ideas on how you can change your own life as well. Yeah, definitely. I think that there’s something to learn from each episode either

51:21
you know, someone making like six figures or seven figures or someone making less than $20,000. Like there’s always something to learn from how they live for sure. Yeah, so I encourage everyone to go check out my episode, check out the channel and watch them all. It’s crazy. There’s some people who are living in like $20,000 in New York, I didn’t think that was possible. And then you watch a story and you’re like, Oh, okay. I mean, their lifestyle actually isn’t that bad. So

51:47
And that reminds me that I featured a young woman who was in her early 20s and she was working as a production assistant and she had a side hustle making candles because she just really loved candles. And then she posted a couple on TikTok and it really just blew up. she’s pretty much making, I think she’s making like maybe 30,000 at some point, like projected revenue soon.

52:15
just really interesting to see how she essentially doubled her income pretty quickly. So here are my key takeaways from talking today. So one, live beneath your means. Two, put yourself out there in some form if you want to get discovered. It sounds like TikTok was a big hit with this candle maker person you just mentioned. And the third key takeaway is to get out there and network because you have to expand beyond who you know already in order to be successful. And at least that was the case for myself.

52:44
Anything else that you’d like to add to that? Yeah, I will also say that a lot of people mentioned just having multiple streams of income, you know, regardless of what that looks like. So I guess that goes along with having a side hustle. And then also, maybe consider life abroad at some point, you know, I know I am for sure now. So, you know, see how far the US dollar can take you outside of your city, your country, and just be open minded. Cool. Well, hey, Allison, if anyone

53:14
wants to get ahold of you, what’s the best way to do that? Yeah, so I am totally reachable on social media platforms. My website is loud and proud.com L A U D because my last name is Lau. And my Instagram handle is the same. yeah, I think those are the best ways to get ahold of me. Okay, sounds good. Well, Alison, hey, thanks a lot for coming on the show. This is great. Yeah, no problem. Thanks, Steve. Hope you enjoyed that episode.

53:43
Now, if you’ve never watched the CNBC Make It series, I highly recommend it. The show is both inspiring and very well done. Also, while you’re there, please give my episode a like and a thumbs up. More information about this episode, go to mywifequitterjob.com slash episode 385. And once again, I want to thank Postscript, which is my SMS marketing platform of choice for e-commerce. With a few clicks of a button, you can easily segment and send targeted text messages to your client base. SMS is the next big own marketing platform, and can sign up for free.

54:11
over at postscript.io slash Steve. That’s P-O-S-T-S-E-R-I-P-T dot I-O slash Steve. I also want to thank Clibio, which is my email marketing platform of choice for eCommerce merchants. You can easily put together automated flows like an abandoned car sequence, a post purchase flow, a win back campaign, basically all these sequences that will make you money on autopilot. So head on over to mywifecoderjob.com slash KLA V-I-Y-O. Once again, that’s mywifecoderjob.com slash KLA V-I-Y-O.

54:39
Now I talk about how I these tools on my blog, and if you are interested in starting your own eCommerce store, head on over to mywifecoderjob.com and sign up for my free six day mini course. Just type in your email and I’ll send you the course right away. Thanks for listening.