137 – She’s passionate about WHAT?: Tom interviews Bobbi Olson

Episode 137 – Bobbi Olson
[00:00:07] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:23] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode 137 of Screw the commute podcast we got Bobbi Olson and she's going to talk about something that I really suck at but it's is really important for your business and that's the exciting topic of budgeting. So I'll introduce her to you in a minute. That last episode was 136 It was one of my Monday trainings on screen capture video. Oh man I've been using this technique for 19 and a half years and now it's still making me and saving me money every single day. So make sure you do not miss episode 136. Now I've got a big freebie to thank you for listening to this podcast. It's my twenty seven dollar e-book how to automate your business and it's just just one of the tips in this e-book has saved me over seven million keystrokes and it might be seven and a half million by now because that was a couple of years ago we figured that out and I also have another little special extra gift for you that I know you're going to like as a lot of people charge thousands of bucks for something I'm given to you. So check it out at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and of course everything we mentioned today will be in our extensive show notes for episode 137 now our podcast app is in the iTunes store you can go to screwthecommute.com/app and we've got complete instructions on the use all the fancy features so you can take us with you on the road and let's see. Hey our sponsor this week. Guess what folks. It's me again Tom Antion's internet marketing retreat and joint venture program where myself and my staff work with you for a year to either get you started in an Internet business or to use the Internet to take your existing business to the next level. And I'll tell you more about that later. The details are going to be at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com they're in the show notes but just a little bit about the background of this. I turned the Internet marketing training world on its head around the year 2000 people at my level were charging 50 or 100 thousand bucks upfront to teach what we knew to clueless business people who refused to learn on their own. Now I'm a small business advocate. I knew many small businesses could never afford that kind of upfront money. So I made all the gurus mad by charging a relatively small entry fee to my program that also got a percentage of profits. That was capped. So you're not stuck with me forever. So for me to get my big money you had to make way bigger money. And plus you know I'm not going to disappear on you because I won't get my money. I even took it a step further and I have a big estate home and a TV studio where my students as part of their year long training come and actually stay in my house for an immersion weekend. And that's just one of the unique features of the program. So check out the full details later at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com.

[00:03:45] All right. Let's get to the main event. Bobbi Olson became a budget Coach thanks to a phobia of driving. I don't see how that works what? So dealing with the Orange County Metro Traffic that's in California required the perfect distraction which led to an education on budgeting through books on tape. Now I'm gonna figure this out. That she was afraid of driving so she always rode or she was driving and learning budgeting at the same time. I don't know. We'll find out but it really changed her life creating a passion for budgeting. Now I'm almost cracking up when I say because I just I spoke to her on her podcast centsable a while back I just couldn't get by wrap my head by getting excited about budgeting. She's a rare individual so she's going to tell you about it and she just loves to help other people so. Bobbi are you ready to screw. The commute.

[00:04:48] Let's get it on Tom.

[00:04:49] All right. I know your husband's a producer on the other end so I'm going to be a good boy. I know these O.C. people will come and get me so. So tell us what you're up to with his budget. I mean like I said it is cracks me up with him the worst bean counter in the whole world. So tell us a little bit more about it.

[00:05:13] Yeah. You know I was too and I made pretty much every mistake you could possibly imagine in my younger years. As a matter of fact when Scott and I got married he had to teach me how to balance a checkbook. I didn't even know how to do that. And just through the years you know we had so I mean once once he taught me how to do everything you know everything was OK we were getting by. Nothing was ever late. But then you know we started a business and it failed ultimately and we had so much debt left from that business. And I had to take on a job that I absolutely hated in order you know to help us make ends meet. And so through doing that it just got to the point where again we were getting by but we weren't getting ahead we weren't getting out of debt. And I wanted to be able to get out of that job and take another job even if it paid less. But I couldn't do that while we were still in debt. And so I finally started reading books about budgeting and learn. And the irony was that I was working for I was producing a financial radio show so I was hearing this kind of stuff all the time but I had been doing that since I was 20 years old and hating it so I'd never listen to the content. And finally I was so frustrated I started listening and it shocked me that these were things that could actually work for somebody at any level because I had been listening to it for you know people of high net worth and so when I discovered that it could actually work for me Get me out of debt and get me ahead. It just became exciting and I became passionate about it and it went from being something to just get me out of my job to something I had to share with everybody else who had felt the same way I had and just hopeless about their situation.

[00:07:01] Well I'll tell you I doubt if you're alone nowadays the movie come full circle I thought of many of the young people can actually take care of a checkbook. Everything on their cell phone though. There's just push a button nowadays right.

[00:07:16] Right. Right. That's true and there are a lot of budgeting apps now that will help you with that but you really still have to have the mindset of how to do that and why it's important. That's the major thing.

[00:07:29] So how long did it take you to get good at this and to get out of that job you hated that dreaded JOB.

[00:07:38] Well you know I'm actually still there but I have come to the point where I'm debt free and that was my important first step. And so once I started putting it in place it took me a couple of years just because of the size of our debt versus our income but it became exciting right away because it was just a matter of doing the math. And I actually had a date when I would be debt free. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. And so every month I actually got to the point where it was fun for me to pay those credit card bills because I knew we were one step closer to not having to pay them. And I started thinking about what came next. What should I build up next what should I make sure that we have. How do I build my financial foundation so that we never get back to this place again because it can be very easy to get out of debt. But if you don't change your habits you can just go back right back in.

[00:08:32] That's for sure. That's for sure. So what you're saying is you were at a job or maybe you're still at a job that you just despised but this effort that you were putting in to give yourself an out eventually made it not so difficult to go. You were having fun and getting your mind off of the hatred for the job.

[00:08:53] Yeah absolutely I mean at least it gave me the willingness to keep going because I knew now that it wasn't forever versus before I started doing it when I just felt like nothing would ever change and I'd be stuck there for you know indefinitely.

[00:09:07] Well you know there's been some people in the past that have espoused you know good don't go to Starbucks and you know save three dollars here. Three of those that were we're talking about that. So something bigger.

[00:09:20] Well I mean that's part of it. Certainly those things have to change depending on your income I mean it's it's different for everybody. But I mean especially if you're in debt that helps a lot because the more dollars that you can throw at that debt the faster you can get out. And it may not seem like you know as somebody who grew up with the poor mindset it was always like well you know 10 bucks here doesn't matter. You'll never be able to save for like a vacation or something grandiose so just reward yourself with the little things that you can get. And so 10 bucks here 10 bucks there didn't really seem to mean anything but it all adds up and so yeah. I mean you know I've heard it called the latte factor right. That certainly makes a huge difference. And I had already stopped doing those things but there are a lot of people who don't want to make those changes. And you know maybe their cup of coffee is the only thing that keeps them sane on any day.

[00:10:19] Well are you saying that that's what you came up with that that wrong mindset.

[00:10:25] No the latte factor was David Bach.

[00:10:28] No no not the latte factor. I'm saying that the you grow up with that mindset that ten dollars just doesn't make much difference might as well enjoy it.

[00:10:37] Absolutely.

[00:10:37] And from your parents how did they treat money or teach they teach you anything about.

[00:10:43] No just how to be afraid of it basically.

[00:10:49] What does that mean. How to be afraid of it.

[00:10:53] Well it was kind of an unspoken thing. You know I got from them from. From my mom specifically just that you know the work ethic was strong. You go to work you go to work no matter what. I don't care if you know there was no balance. If if somebody is getting married or whatever on your work day you go to work. I mean. But the reason for that was because the mindset was kind of you struggle until you die. That's just the way it is we're poor. Other people are rich. You're never gonna be able to break out of that cycle so deal with it and keep struggling and that's really it. I mean and so I and I didn't get any of this is how you you know manage your money balance a checkbook. None of that. And so I was very ill prepared when I went out on my own and I yeah I just didn't think that there was any other way.

[00:11:42] What message would you send to parents now that you went through that.

[00:11:48] Yeah. The message that I would send is definitely start them as early as humanly possible on the the mindset that money is a tool and you can use it to make your life better. Yes there will be sacrifices at times but the sacrifices can be short for your long term success whatever that means to you. And so I would definitely say to parents yet teach them the value of a dollar and teach them how to plan for the things that they want early on because you know we always hear about kids teaching trying to teach or parents trying to teach kids about the importance of saving for retirement. But you know when you're 15 20. Retirement is a world away. Nobody cares about that. Right. So the things maybe that are more to think about for kids are saving for that car that you really want or saving for your first home or just saving for a vacation that you want to take whatever it takes to get that mindset in place so that they never have to struggle save so that you have a couple months of of income ahead because then if you have a job that you hate and let's face it we've all at one time or another well maybe not you. But most of us have had a job that we didn't want to go to but we had to pay the bills. Well if you start early enough and plan ahead you'll never be in that situation. And I think every parent should teach their child that.

[00:13:13] Yeah I know that you have jobs as a child.

[00:13:16] Yeah as a matter of fact my first job I was actually 14 and I worked in cornfields. I was a corn detasseler in Lincoln Nebraska.

[00:13:24] Corn detasseler.

[00:13:29] Yes, and it was the it's like the top of the corn stock. And if you don't pull out the tassel it will contaminate all the corn. So all those kids went out there into the cornfield and we got muddy and we were pulling all the tassels out.

[00:13:43] Just my mind had to go other places there. Because when I got recruited for football or college they they took me to a strip joint at Penn State and the queen of the tassel twirlers was there. You said you were a detasseler. So you're out in the fields basically and then what.

[00:14:13] Oh yeah yeah. We're out in the field and you know you start at basically sunrise and you go out there and we we used to wear big plastic garbage bags for our first walk through because you know it was wet from the from the dew from the night before and just pulling you know walking through the mud pulling all the tassels and yeah it was a dirty job. Somebody had to do it. I got paid like you know three bucks an hour or whatever it was. And I was glad to get it.

[00:14:39] Well then what then what was after that.

[00:14:41] Well let's see. Then I had several jobs after that I mean I worked as a waitress. I worked at Burger King for three years I worked. I kind of worked all through and I worked all through high school because I went to a private school. And so I was working off my tuition so I mean like I said I mean in my family you just worked I mean that was the one thing work work work so I always had a job from the time I was 14.

[00:15:04] But they sent you to a private school it's pretty it's not normal for a family that struggles right.

[00:15:12] Yeah. No it really isn't and that's why I had to pay for my tuition. I was still working for my tuition after I graduated high school.

[00:15:19] They usually say that college students are in debt so now the high school.

[00:15:25] Right. Exactly yeah. I graduated high school with debt. If you can believe that.

[00:15:28] Wow. Oh yeah. I haven't heard that on the show. Yeah.

[00:15:34] I was taught I mean I graduated thinking OK I'm not going to get a credit card because I'm smarter than everybody else and I know that credit card can lead to debt. And I certainly wouldn't want to do that. But what I wasn't told was that you know you if you don't have savings behind you you a credit card is probably a good idea from the fallbacks and yes I wasn't prepared for anything so I got myself into all kinds of trouble.

[00:15:55] Well somebody told me the other day on their credit card. Apparently I don't know if there's a law or something they have to tell you how long it'll take to pay off something like there. They didn't have like tremendous debt but they said if you make the minimum payment of 40 years to pay off your credit card debt.

[00:16:19] It's just crazy. I mean you look at that and you go what. Yeah. And that's why I mean I completely believe in you know no matter what even if you don't have very much at all just pay even a dollar over the minimum you know anything that you can throw at that is gonna make it so much better. I mean interest just eat so much of my money right.

[00:16:37] So give people some tips there they're trying to start a business or improve their business on what would be the some of the biggest things you'd say with regard to getting a hold of your budget.

[00:16:59] Yeah and I my work is with people personally not with businesses but I do have a few tips for entrepreneurs especially being you know in business for ourselves previously. The first one is not to commingle your business and personal money. It can be really tempting. You know if you're out there and just whip out your business credit card for a personal expense no big deal and I'll fix it later in accounting or whatever but it piles up sometimes and it doesn't get you know separated later on it just becomes a convoluted mess and it can really screw up your accounting and your taxes and all kinds of stuff. So it's just much easier to keep those straight if you can. And then the second thing that I would say is that it's really important to have a personal budget next to your business budget because if you don't you're going to be you could be much more likely to overspend on the personal side. And where's that money going to come from the business side. Well if you're new in business you may not have a lot of extra to throw towards that. So if you can keep a strong personal budget that's going to help your business out a lot in the end especially in the growing stage and then the third thing and I think most important is to know how to budget on an irregular income because there's gonna be months where you make a ton of money and you could be riding high and you know maybe be tempted to go out and party a little bit or have some fun whatever. But if you do that then you're bad months could be really bad. And so and a budget really helps to be able to even those out so that you can maintain through anything.

[00:18:44] Those are yeah those are all great tips. Now are you working on some kind of online course or something for this or what. I thought you were looking for beta testers.

[00:18:54] Yeah I actually just finished my budget systems and launched my budget coaching page of my website. And so I am in a beta phase with that and I'm looking for clients to put through my program.

[00:19:08] All right so I mean these podcasts have a pretty long life so. So I encourage people to jump on this if they hear this quickly because as soon as it gets perfected she'll be charging for it. So so. So how would they get in touch with you to find or sign up or read about this.

[00:19:26] Sure. They can email me at bobbi@centsablechat.com and all the contact information is available at centsablechat.com.

[00:19:52] That's great. All right. So we've got to take a brief sponsor break and we come back. We're gonna ask Bobbi what a typical day is like for her working and working on a business and also how she stays motivated.

[00:20:06] So folks if you like the idea of an online business sitting around like I do on my big rear end making money that's what we figure out here and I've been doing it since the commercial Internet started around 1994 and I started my mentor program. I was actually helping people around 1997 but more formally around the year 2000. So if you want somebody that's been there and done that. That's a multi-millionaire that's still down to earth and we're willing to talk to you and help you and put our whole staff at your beck and call. This is the right program. You can check out. It's really the longest running most successful mentor program. In this field there's nowhere even close through all the things we give you but you could check out the details the greatinternetmarketingtraining.com. And you can also check the show notes for episode 137 any time I say that that screwthecommute.com/137 that would be this episode.

[00:21:14] All right let's get back to our super passionate budgeting Queen Bobbi Olson and say Bobbi so. So you're planning to get out of your job eventually and so you're budgeting for this and getting things ready right. So tell us how that process goes for you.

[00:21:33] Well it's a month by month and what I actually have is a spending plan that is created a year out. Yeah it seems like a lot but it's really pretty easy to do once you have one month. You can pretty much do them all but the difference is that I am that way I can plan for all the expenses that come up just once in a while. You know you have you know like a lot of us have Amazon Prime and things like that that come up once a year and so if you don't plan for them ahead of time and you don't have a lot of money they tend to slap you in the face and it's like you know oh my gosh I forgot about it even though it comes up every year. You know how I forgot about it. So I like the plan a year out and that way everything is budgeted for and that way I know how much additional I have to set aside so that I can have enough of a cushion to live on you know and leave my job and pursue this full time without devastating our finances.

[00:22:28] Right. Right. Right. So so what's a typical day look like then for you because you're working in building a business so what's the day look like for you.

[00:22:38] Well I go to my full time job which is quite a commute. So I listen to podcasts coming and going like Screw the commute. And that helps me you know just learn new things and take up my time and like you mentioned the beginning I had a big driving phobia and that was just I somehow developed a fear of driving and I was so afraid on the freeway that I needed something to defer my attention.

[00:23:03] I got to get my head around this. I know L.A. traffic. I've spent a lot of time driving in L.A. traffic. And so you were actually driving and you decided that it would be safer for you to be distracted. I thought you made your husband drive you places.

[00:23:24] No no I actually had a a partner for about four years. I had a carpool partner for about four years but then our schedules changed and that was no longer available to me and so I started having to drive myself which was just hugely. I mean I just had these anxiety attacks.

[00:23:46] Anybody with half a brain would have an anxiety attack driving out there. That's nothing. Nothing strange for there.

[00:23:57] Right. Exactly. But I was so in my head about everybody coming into my lane.

[00:24:02] You know what you should have done is get one of those blindfolds you wear at nighttime because that way you wouldn't have to worry about it.

[00:24:10] Right. So that would have made it easier. Yeah. But so that's how I started listening to different audio books and stuff and podcasts. And so I really use that as my learning time. And then after my day job is complete. I come home and I have dinner with my fabulous husband and then I get to work on whatever I need to do to build my business. But that's creating new podcast content content for the Web site of course returning emails. And of course helping people with their budgets as much as I can. And I just spend as much time as I can in that direction because I know every minute there is going to lead to less time at my job and that's my goal.

[00:24:52] Any kids involved.

[00:24:53] No no no. OK. Thankfully that that gives me more time.

[00:24:57] Yeah. Oh you're kidding. All right. So how do you stay motivated. If you're working all day working all night. How do you stay motivated.

[00:25:07] Yeah you know it's just it's about that feeling. I remember when I first started budgeting and I had this aha moment and it was like this stress just left my body. But not only that I just had this feeling of excitement that well all these tools are available to me that can actually change my life in such a simple way. It was unbelievable to me and I just had this overwhelming urge to share it with other people. And so the first time I did the first friend that I helped do the same thing. I watched her and I saw that light bulb go off in her head too. And the look on her face when she got it and then she was excited about it. And. I thought Man that is like a drug. I can't get enough of that. I mean you can liken it to you know the comedian that gets their first genuine laugh from the audience. It's an amazing feeling. That's why I do it. I can't I can't help myself I have to do it.

[00:26:10] All right. Now I won't tell your boss but what's your projections since you plan so far in advance when you'll be able to take this job and shove it.

[00:26:19] Yeah my projection is one year one more year. Yeah.

[00:26:24] Now what if like a thousand people join your your class.

[00:26:28] Well yeah in that case then it would be two months.

[00:26:33] Oh you still thinking two months. All right. So we'll try and get five thousand people then. So. Well this has been really great talking to you about a subject that's not dear to my heart at all. Well yeah but that's what makes the world go round. I mean you know people like you. I mean it's so important what you have. I mean somehow I bypassed it and was successful but that doesn't mean I'm suggesting that everybody does it. Believe me I believe in what you're doing 100 percent. I mean I said I'm probably an oddball got away without out too much. But but that doesn't mean it's it's not critically important. All the bean counting watching the numbers and that's one of the reasons businesses fail. They just do the part they love and they think all the money or just roll in and everything's fine. But. But I heard some politicians say that that idea is about as popular as skim milk.

[00:27:38] Yeah. You know I did an interview with with a guy a couple of months ago Tony Bradshaw who wrote the book on the millionaire choice and he had a great analogy and that was that you know. For most of us not budgeting is like pouring water into a bucket full of holes. It just flows right back out. So you have to patch those holes.

[00:28:03] All right. So I want you to promise me something to come back and do the show again after you get out of the job.

[00:28:10] I would love to.

[00:28:12] I want to hear. I want to hear about that and see how the budgeting how it went. If your projections are on or whatever. I hope that you're talking to me in a couple of months.

[00:28:23] I hope so too and I thank you so much for the opportunity.

[00:28:26] Well it's really good. So any parting thoughts for we call people that listen to this screwballs. About budgeting.

[00:28:37] Yeah. My parting thought would be that just remember money is a tool you can have anything you want. If you apply the right mindset and that's what budgeting is. It's a mindset when you control your money you control your life.

[00:28:53] Wow very powerful very powerful. From the person driving down the OC with a blindfold on.

[00:29:03] Just don't meet me on the road.

[00:29:05] You got to let us know you're on the road.

[00:29:09] Well thanks so much Bobbi. Thanks to your husband for running the audio over there. And we look forward to hearing from you again.

[00:29:18] Thank you from us both.

[00:29:19] All right. Catch ya later.

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