Latest / Marci talks money (and life) / Season 1 Wrap-Up: Catch Up on Guest Conversations, Money & Life Lessons with Caryn Martinez
Transcript
- Marci Grossman (00:05) Welcome to Marci Talks Money and Life. I'm your host Money Marci. this is my final episode of season one. So I brought back my friend Caryn Martinez, the serial entrepreneur and owner of Peppy Paw's Play Yard, to help me kind of wrap up what we did over the season, talk about the people that we've met, the wonderful guests I've had on the show, and just... Kind of odds and ends, so I hope you're joining us and here we go. Hi, Caryn. you were in that first episode. You've seen how far I've come, I hope. Caryn (00:41) I listen to all of them. I think people don't know that I listen to them as soon as they come out. Marci Grossman (00:46) On Wednesday mornings it posts and I will hear from Caryn by Wednesday evening, Thursday afternoon at the latest, what she thought of the episode, what I could be doing better, how fabulous my guests are. so we're going to just kind of wrap up and talk about all the people that I've had. That first guest, she was something else. What do you think? You Caryn (01:06) I wonder what people thought when they learned all the things I did one after another. That might have been a little confusing. Marci Grossman (01:15) Well, but if you listen later on, you saw I had some other people that had wide and varying careers as they figure out things and make changes. Caryn (01:23) You know who made a lot, this is to me really fascinating, who did a lot of changes was Alex Greene. You recently interviewed him because he was going from music into construction and then back into being a music producer and then a TV producer. And just, I love the way he did that. He would just take these big swings. He would just say, okay, done with this. you know, just completely shut it down and take a swing at something different. Marci Grossman (01:52) Yeah, though some of the times he did that because there were challenges and he had to move on and find something new, not necessarily, okay, I'm bored, let's try something new. Whereas you get someone like Donnie and he got the business degree, became IT, transitioned to real estate, then became a financial consultant and wrote some books. Really just saying, okay, this is good, I've learned what I need to know. and I'm ready to move on and change and see what other opportunities there are out there. and then you've got Michael who said, okay, well, it's time to retire and follow my passion of rice pudding. I think it's fabulous that these people were willing to share their stories with me. For some of them, they've had a lot of experience and they have podcasts and have guested on podcasts before. And for some of them, this was the first time that they were doing it and they were willing to really come on and... and talk about things. I've gotten a lot of good feedback that it makes people evaluate their own situation differently. Caryn (02:53) Mm-hmm. Marci Grossman (02:53) in. Season two, I'm hoping to continue to grow my followers and find interesting guests. I'm hoping I can pick up some sponsorship rather than using standard advertisement, which I am grateful for. Don't mind me, but I would love to pick up sponsors who say, hey we really like what you're doing. Let's support you. And Caryn got to hear our theme song for next time. We are going to have music on our opening next season. So I'm excited about that. Caryn (03:23) Original music done by musician Marci. ⁓ Marci Grossman (03:25) Original music, well no no, played by the house band. And I guess I don't say this often enough. What I'm here for is to give educational information. I am not giving financial advice. I am not telling you what is right for you. I'm trying to help expose you to more financial opportunities to consider more financial information so that you can find the right opportunities for you. So that you can talk to the financial professionals who know who you are and what you're doing and reach for whatever your goals are financially and in life. So let's go back to this. Yes, you with your varied businesses. And now, well, I guess we're in the summer, so you're probably not as busy as you would be, but you're able to schedule better now that you're not dealing with, well, unfortunately, your father's health issues as you were last time. Caryn (04:18) Yeah, actually now, we did take time off for people that don't know. I have a private doggy playground, my daughter and I run it, and we live in Arizona and it's outdoors. But now that we've come back from summer trips, we do have people that are coming. Like I'm really happy with the number of people who are coming out in the heat. I think that their dogs all wanted to play. So actually it's going pretty well. and we're getting ready to do more things in the fall that are promotional, like be part of festivals and have booths and things like that to tell people more about it. So it's a good time to plan for the future, but we got dogs. Marci Grossman (04:56) I think that's awesome. it's hard when you are a relatively new startup and then things happen in life, in the world, that kind of derail your plans and your father had gotten sick shortly after you started and that changed your focus for a while. So I'm glad that you are back on track with that. Caryn (05:13) Yeah, it really helps. And some of your guests also had similar things happened as well. So it was nice hearing how they handled that. Like, pudding guy who had the house fire. I don't think you probably wanted me to call him pudding guy, Marci Grossman (05:26) Michael Farino. The website is Pudding, as in pudding that you eat on the Rice. And they do the various flavors of rice pudding. it was a nice group that I had because I had the entrepreneurs and the people with Caryn (05:30) Yeah. Yeah. Marci Grossman (05:42) various stories of their own things. And then I had the financial experts or people bringing financial information like Keith and Paula and Karen who brought interesting information that hopefully gives people resources of things that are available. Obviously we talked about divorce with Keith and Fortunately, that's not something I need to know about, but I did have a couple of people reach out to me saying, I wish I had known that and things for me to consider as I'm moving forward. Caryn (06:13) He had great cautionary tales. The stories that he told were actually really interesting and entertaining, but they were good. So even if you're not going through a divorce or thinking you might have one, you could kind of gently steer people that you know think about some of those things. Yeah. Marci Grossman (06:32) Right. I mean, that's the information. I mean, that's such good information. And what happens is when you're going through a divorce, you don't necessarily think to ask questions. And if you don't ask questions and your lawyer doesn't realize those are areas you should ask questions about, there are things that just might not get brought up. So it's good to kind of be aware of all those things. And Paula, I love talking money stuff with social workers because so much of money becomes emotional and becomes this problem, whether it's in relationships of communicating with each other or your personal stuff that you deal with and your own baggage about money. So I love talking to people who can, we can kind of bridge that gap. Caryn (07:12) I related so much to the things that she was saying one of the things that Paula had noticed as a social worker is that people will talk about really personal things with their friends, except money. They will talk about their sex lives. to their friends, but they won't say, I'm having trouble figuring this out. I don't understand this thing about my paycheck or my taxes or this banking thing. And without people talking to each other, they might miss really helpful things that you don't even need a professional to know that your friends might know. She gave the example of she originally didn't know that her mortgage lender could take care of paying property taxes for her, making everything easier. that she learned from a friend. So she talked about how people really should talk about money with each other more. And what I remembered is that I've been an employer of people and I've been a dance teacher. And in both of those cases, people would come up and tell me terrible things that had happened about their money and other bad things in their life. As a dance teacher, it's kind of confession syndrome. I'm a teacher of some sort, so they feel like they can tell me, a stranger who has some kind of expertise in something that makes them feel better. But also, as somebody, and I'm not just talking about employer when I owned an entertainment agency, just like employing people who take care of the yard at Peppy Paws or... Leah and I that pay people that are contractors that do things with dogs and horses. So many people are really struggling understanding banking, especially online things. So many people getting locked out of Venmo. They're like, how did I get locked out of my Venmo? I can't accept payments. There's no way to pay them. There's all these things that are happening. And I don't know if they're actually telling friends and relatives who could help them. They're just telling us. And we're not, I mean, I really can't ask them for their financial information to help them out. That's not appropriate. You know, figure out how to get back into their Venmo. Anyway, I related a lot to what Paula was saying. Marci Grossman (09:11) Right. Caryn (09:17) What they have to do is talk to their friends and people exchange ideas and say, I read this or I've been doing this or this is how I took track of my budget. And it's not a stranger, it's your friend. Marci Grossman (09:27) Yeah, yeah, that is true. And then Rahul came on and, you know, many, many kudos to him because he came to Canada from India and then found going back to India would have been a financial struggle because he came here to go to graduate school and the things that he learned wouldn't necessarily. Transfer the same way he had hoped because culturally and and the way the business works in there and so he's he's looking at Finding ways to to create financial freedom. I think he's got an Instagram and other ways that he's trying to create a following, I think move into potentially some financial services where he can help and encourage other people to bridge the gaps of controlling their own financial future. Caryn (10:15) Yeah, and I think he also is trying to do this for himself as well. After he had lost a job, he didn't want to be beholden to an employer. He wanted to make sure he had some other way that money was coming in for him, money to invest and have. It's not dependent upon a paycheck. Marci Grossman (10:35) I totally agree. we've got to do it ourselves by aggressively saving and putting money away and that's what he's working on doing and that's what he's encouraging people to do, so I think that's awesome. And then after him we had the other Karen Caryn (10:50) yeah that was very interesting because she helped people that, should they be on disability or should they, how can they return to the workforce? She really tries to get people to be able to switch what they can do after they have something devastating that happens to them so that they can return to the workforce. Marci Grossman (11:09) Right, and because she's a forensic expert on these things, so she goes to court and helps not just the individual in the counseling part of it, but legally, hey, this person can work, this person can't work, this is what they are able to earn, this is what they're not. I mean, it's fascinating. I never knew such a career existed, and after talking to her, it's like, well, of course it does, it has to, someone's gotta do these things. I'm glad they're bringing someone in that has both the financial and the counseling to put it all together to determine this because I'm certainly, I'm a financial person. I can look up the numbers, but I can't necessarily say what this person is capable of doing, and all the aspects of that. So I hope I never need her, but I'm glad to know she's there. Caryn (11:55) She has three careers in one because she helps the people who want to be employed again. She helps the employers and then also helps people. One example that she gave is a caregiver of somebody who's disabled and to find out how they should be compensated for that. That's another thing she can evaluate. Marci Grossman (12:18) it's amazing the things that I'm learning by having these guests on my show and she's someone I know. I mean, not as well as I know you, you're my longest term knowing you in my life guest. I'm not gonna say how long, but I will say high school. Caryn (12:23) Mm-hmm. Marci Grossman (12:32) And I, cause I have to behave with you because we have, we have those stories on each other. Caryn (12:37) I think you have the more she was crazy stories than I do. have the more long suffering Marci. Marci Grossman (12:45) You are too kind and I appreciate that. Caryn (12:47) Thank Marci Grossman (12:48) and then there was Julieta. And she went through debt consolidation twice and learned about financial literacy along the way and is working to build her money muscle. I love that term, money muscle of managing it and taking control of things and making the decisions that are best for you. She's another one that had to do a lot of evolving over COVID when her kids came home from school and now she's home schooling and very active in that. I love the pivots that people do. I mean I just think it's so tremendous to see what's out there when people feel they're stuck in their situation and have an opportunity to learn, wait, there are other things to consider. There are people who go through big changes. Caryn (13:32) She was talking about how she became financially literate and took control of her own money and the things. so she started out by saying that she, like a lot of people, was worried about paying all the bills but not saving anything for herself at all. And what she said, which is really true, is that when she started to save even the tiniest bit amount of money each month, it helped her trace where her money was going to because it's difficult to do nowadays. And that's what I really could understand very well. With so many different ways that you might buy something and not get it well labeled back, like on a credit card statement or buying things from Amazon, which could be anything, or subscriptions, which come from these different places and are charged to you in different ways. Those are all things that are harder to trace than they ever were. And so that's why I was like, yes, that is really true. That is something that people have to... really do. I personally just made my own Excel spreadsheet for that. None of the tools that I tried. Remember Marci was even asking, was there a good tool? There was not. I had to do it that way. But can I say the few things that you had suggested that I thought were really good in that? There were two things. One is you literally had the term I hadn't heard before, which was money dates. Marci Grossman (14:43) give me all kinds of compliments. Tell me I'm wonderful. Go for it. Caryn (14:53) which I really liked. That was when family, could be a couple or a family, get out of their house and go somewhere more neutral to regularly talk about a combination of their calendar, what they're doing and their money. Like, what are we going to really prioritize and spend on? What can we do? And I thought that was really neat. Money date. Just seems like a low pressure way for people to talk about things that... should be like, let's plan in advance for this and do it. So I liked that idea a lot. Also, I liked, this is something that I always thought was a really neat idea, but nobody liked this idea until you said it, so you liked it too. Like literally having multiple bank accounts for different things that you'd say, this is the money that I've set aside for here, here, and here, not just on paper, but in actual separate, bank accounts for all I know even separate banks. I don't care but I'm like yes this is what I always thought made sense and I'm glad a actual accountant says it makes sense too. Marci Grossman (15:53) Okay, I can take it, I can take it. Caryn (15:56) Thank Marci Grossman (15:56) Well, and then next was David who is a, he's from Columbia. He's a business English coach among all the other things that he does. And he helps non-native English speakers to improve their business communication. And we don't realize it because We're both American. We were born here. And so, We might need to learn particular words if we're dealing, if I have a client that's in a medical field, I might need to learn particular words to understand things that they're doing that might impact their finances. But I don't have to worry about some of the other things that non-native speakers have to learn. And business communications, we're in a worldwide economy now, whether we want to believe it or not. The accounting profession, there's more worldwide kind of designations and financial reporting requirements for these businesses that cross country lines and whatever else. it's so important to be able to communicate well in the language that you're communicating with. I'm fortunate. or spoiled that English is a common business language that is used in many places. be having to communicate in your non-native tongue for business. transactions, business meetings, all the things that it just blows my mind. Caryn (17:17) we don't think of it as being specialized, but it really is. Anybody that is born in America and speaks English as a first language and goes into business or business school doesn't think they're speaking quote unquote business English, but they really are because it's a whole set of words and vocabulary and ways that you might speak to coworkers and bosses that is different You actually have to learn how people talk in an office. Marci Grossman (17:44) It's not just that, I mean the enunciation, you can know the words but you have to pronounce them in a way that the other person understands them. you've got to learn the language and you've got to learn the enunciation and the grammar, And he also does stuff with social media and helping people to maximize what they do and how they reach out in social media. what he does is so important in today's world, today's economy, and all of these things. So I was thrilled to have him. Caryn (18:12) David also had some advice that didn't have to do with the English language, but I thought it's really, really important for people to avoid wasting their money in scams. He warned people not to listen to quote unquote experts who haven't actually done the thing that they're teaching. He says, do your research. Do they really have experience? And also, warning about people who promise fast results, because generally, it's not that fast to become successful at something. Marci Grossman (18:44) You can have it good, you can have it fast, or you can have it cheap. You can't have all three. Sometimes you can't even get two, depending on what it is. But you know, he is all encompassing the things he does with social media, with the internet. And he's the one who gave me one of my new favorite terms. I don't know that he created it but green flags. Because we always talk about red flags. don't do that, there's a red flag. Caryn (18:49) Yeah. Marci Grossman (19:09) He said, green flag, and that's like, that's so important to recognize when something is good. Caryn (19:14) one thing that he was saying there be careful of the people who promised fast results. It goes in really well with the next guest that you had Scarlett, because Scarlett was also telling people, hey, you know, there's, nothing wrong and many, many things right with keeping your original job and paycheck while you're building whatever you're doing about your business or your nonprofit or whatever it is. it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a while and be financially secure while you're starting to build it. I think, yes, that's true. And so anyway, that was, and then you'll probably introduce Scarlett next, but that was, was the next guest and they. Marci Grossman (19:53) I love when they flow together naturally like that. Yeah, I like Scarlett was sure she was going to be a chef and was doing all this culinary things and then her culinary coaches said, yeah, but you're not going to make any money. You might want to look at something else. Caryn (19:53) I know it. Yeah. Marci Grossman (20:08) she pivoted before she even started. I think Caryn (20:11) Mm-hmm. Marci Grossman (20:13) That's eye-opening because so often we know what we're going to do, we're sure what we're going to do, and sometimes we just get stubborn and someone gives you advice and says, this isn't really the best idea for whatever valid reasons. And just because you end up still doing it, if you take your time and consider, just because someone else says you shouldn't do it for X, Y, Z doesn't mean that they're right and you're wrong. But if you don't stop and consider it, and evaluate, these are my goals, this will take me there or it won't take me there or whatever else. So I think that's, that's valuable to hear. And she did get her business degree and now she's teaching coaches and she'd been working in the restaurant. that was such a great conversation. Caryn (20:53) ⁓ I didn't remember that she was still cooking. Marci Grossman (20:57) ⁓ don't know that she's still cooking, but I meant as she was initially building it up. And, you know, I think That people need to hear that. I have this business, I'm going to build it. I'm going to put in my, my a hundred percent to it, but I'm still going to put in my 20 or my 40 or whatever percent I need to, because I need to keep the door open. if I only work on my business that I'm creating, I've got six months, a year. I've got whatever worth of funding. But if I keep doing this part time, then I can stretch myself out and some businesses, some things that you create. Caryn (21:05) Yeah. Marci Grossman (21:30) might need a thousand percent of your time and there really isn't anything extra you can do during that time. Other businesses, need the lead-up time to build your reputation, to build your connections and whatever else and you're better off not doing them for a billion percent of your time so that you can give them that lead-up time so that they have the opportunity to grow it. Caryn (21:49) Mm-hmm. Marci Grossman (21:53) and you have the opportunity to still put food on your table because, I don't know about anyone else. I like to eat. I am a hobbit. Caryn (22:00) You know, I was just thinking, I wonder if lead up times to business launches haven't stretched longer now because getting the word out to people relies so much now on social media and social media following, which takes a while to build. I kind of wonder, I don't know the statistics about how long it took. to get the word out about businesses before compared to now and get people interested in them. That'd be interesting. Marci Grossman (22:29) Well, I think social media makes it easier whether you have a following or not, because before, how did you start a business? Caryn (22:35) On social you can literally pay for ads to be in front of people, but it's not the same thing as knowing that everybody's reading that same newspaper. So if you put an ad in that newspaper or some place where they're looking up in the yellow pages, everybody's looking there. does it take longer to get traction where people know your name now than it did before? I don't know. Marci Grossman (22:58) As an accountant, I built my business from, word of mouth. People met me, they liked me, they would talk to their friend. And it was all local and spread out local. As a financial literacy educator, I have spoken on podcasts across the world. I have taught classes via Zoom, across the country. Caryn (23:02) Mm-hmm. For what you're doing there, social does make it easier We're assuming that it's faster, I don't know, Marci Grossman (23:18) trying to s- it's such a different world with the internet than it was before. And with Zoom and with, social media, TikTok, Instagram, all of these things, it's just a different world. There's no other way to say it. Okay, next up, my good friend Frank, the musician accountant. he set his sights. This is what I'm going to do. He was working full time, so it's not like he went to college and at 22 he had his degree and kept moving on. He took his time and went through. He needed some time off from high school to college to get moving again and whatever else, but he is now... and has been for a number of years doing the accounting thing. He's still doing music thing and doing well at it. ⁓ Caryn (24:04) And a big schedule because I looked him up and they're playing all the time. Marci Grossman (24:08) Well, they're great. They're a great band. I've gone to hear them a number of times and caught him solo and caught him at open mics Music is his passion, but he likes keeping the lights on and he's got it balanced. A lot of people don't necessarily find the way to get it balanced as well. Caryn (24:17) Mm-hmm. What I really like about that is when he was telling the story about going back to school to become an accountant and he was playing music professionally, he says, I got through school by setting aside one hour a day to study. He did not say I was setting one hour a day away from music. So many people would not have done that. They would have dumped the music career. So I loved that he was like, nope, that thing is I'm going to carve out the time for studying for that. I really liked that. Marci Grossman (24:59) There were times he needed more than an hour, and he made sure that time happened, but even if he didn't have anything, he would spend an hour to review his notes, to reread a chapter, to do whatever so that he stayed on top of it. Caryn (25:00) Right, yes. Yeah. Seven days a week. He said every day he'd carve out at least that much time. How many people don't do that one thing every day toward the goal. Can I tell you some wisdom from my father that helped me in college a lot? So maybe people in college, whether first time or going back will like that. He said, every single day, go through the notes that you've taken in class, even if you're just reading through the notes. But then I also did the extra step that he had recommended. You might need to rewrite them or to make something clear about them. And then just do that every single day. By the time you get to the end of the class when you need to either take an exam or in many of classes that I took put things together into a research paper, you're so much further ahead because you've reviewed all the notes every single day. we went to college together and I was on the dean's list so it must have worked. Marci Grossman (26:10) Well, my problem is I can't read my writing, so I can take the notes, but I can't read them afterwards. Caryn (26:15) I would type them up because, you know, three months later, you're not going to know what you scrawled. I would just. ⁓ Marci Grossman (26:21) Yeah, but they've done studies that when you write it by hand versus when you type it, it stays in your mind more. So even though I couldn't read my writing, just the act of putting it down and I wasn't just writing chicken scratch, that was actually words in there. Caryn (26:26) Mm-hmm. Is your hand? I was writing by hand and then I would like, you know, retype them. Yes, for people that don't know, back then there was no way you could type in class because you have to take a giant typewriter with you. Or I had one of those Kaypro computers, a portable, quote unquote, computer that weighed 25 pounds and had a tiny screen. Marci Grossman (26:56) I remember those portable computers. They were heavy. They were not going to class with you. Caryn (27:00) I did take him to the library though. Marci Grossman (27:02) Those teeny tiny screens and it either had orange writing on a gray background or green writing on a gray background and those were the color choices. Caryn (27:12) That was the exciting part about it. Marci Grossman (27:15) moving on to Otis, who was just fascinating. I can only hope to do as much as what he's done so far, and he is not done by any means. He's got a degree in broadcast and an MBA. and he does sales and testing for a screen reading software and he helps adults who are newly vision impaired and he's a podcaster and just fascinating. See if I could have had you and him and Frank, then my theme song would have been stepped up from my house band. Caryn (27:44) and Well, some of the things ⁓ Otis, if people don't remember, he has always been blind, correct? I believe that he had always been blind. And he could have just kept on with just doing music all his life, but he goes, no, I want a career. I want to go and do this. And what he... Marci Grossman (27:53) I believe so. Caryn (28:04) He started before they had computers and screen readers and things like that when everything was in Braille. And what he did that was so to so many people is when he got the job at the company Freedom Scientific, which makes the JAWS screen reading software, if anybody knows anybody who's visually impaired, they're gonna be using JAWS. It's like the number one. thing that is everywhere. I have a neighbor who's blind, so I know these things, and she does computers as well. But the thing is that he was in testing for that. testing all of that to improve that product, because that product has made people's entire lives and careers so much better. And I've seen it in person. That was a really important thing that he did, like for everybody. What I wanted to know though, do you know, is he still doing that? I thought that he was like now helping, people who are newly blind to know how to use all of the tools. Does he do that as an independent consultant or is he working for a company? Yeah, yeah, cool. Marci Grossman (29:05) I it was with the state or the county or something like that. I would have to pull up my show notes to know for sure. So Otis, please don't come after me if I got that wrong. Caryn (29:15) Yeah. Marci Grossman (29:16) then from Otis, went to Kathy James, who... Caryn (29:19) yeah. I can't wait for her project to actually go live, because I think it's so cool. Marci Grossman (29:25) The project is called Catapult U and it is a learning platform for people to learn things about pretty much everything. She wants to make learning and education accessible because of the challenges she faced when she was a young mother trying to educate herself better and how she found the resources for that. And so she is turning that around. She is again, one of those people who reinvented herself and talked about her resilience and has moved forward and created many wonderful things out all of her life lessons. Caryn (29:54) you What I think is neat about the Catapult U is she wants it to be both free for the people creating the courses and the people taking the courses. So that is a unique sort of thing. I think that's so great. Marci Grossman (30:17) Yeah, my understanding is she wants it to be free for people taking it through organizations like churches and that, but she also wants to have paid content available for other people who want It's not like eventually everything is free for everyone, there will be a lot of available, accessible content for people to get them started, to get them learning. Caryn (30:36) Do it. Marci Grossman (30:38) she is very passionate. This is her mission and she's making great things happen for a lot of people out there. And then Christine, my HR professional. I adore Christine and the information she has because HR is this resource that is not always as well managed as it could be. It's not as supportive of the organization. It's not as supportive of the employees because people don't know how to have those conversations. They don't know how to bridge the gaps, figure out what employees want. Caryn (30:48) you Marci Grossman (31:10) know, employers know that they want to get the most results and employees want to earn, you know, good money and have the benefits they need and whatever else. And she does such important work helping them bridge that gap and working with them from both sides to get that to happen. Caryn (31:27) I only have one big giant note about her and it says in big letters, HR is your friend. That she's trying to tell everybody. HR is your friend. Please go see HR. Marci Grossman (31:33) Hahaha! Well, yeah, mean, the problem is companies are like They're going to make me do things for my employees and employees are like HR. I'm probably in trouble. And it's not that way from either side. So the stuff she is doing to get them connected, to get them past that, her new organization, Lighthouse Engagement Advisors, that works with organizations to figure out the best way for them to use their HR departments. It's wonderful stuff to put out there and she's such an engaging speaker. It was a gift to have her on the show. And then Michael, Caryn (32:12) I especially related to part of his story because he was in event planning. I used to be an entertainment agent, and part of that was either working with event planners or partially doing event planning. So I know what he was. And he was one person that he was doing that while he was fully employed. He was taking that advice to have that steady paycheck while he was working on the other thing. That was before he became the pudding guy. Marci Grossman (32:36) Yes, yes, the event planning. Well, part of the event planning was his job because that was what he did within. So he wasn't an attorney, but he worked in attorney's offices and doing a lot of the various things. if you've had a large company of any kind, whether it's attorneys or whatever, they plan events, whether it's speakers and education or things for their employees or things for their clients. So there's a lot of planning that goes into. Caryn (33:00) What? Marci Grossman (33:01) keeping those organizations fully engaged with those around them. And what a unique idea, rice pudding that is themed after Broadway plays. I love it. Caryn (33:10) huh. Yeah, I like that he said, he goes, you know what, I'm getting on in life. I better do this now. Marci Grossman (33:16) many times people are like, oh, I wish I had. And he said, you know what? It's time. So I think it's great. I do have to taste that pudding. I've been delinquent in that and I apologize, Michael, if you're listening to this, I will get an order in there. And then Jenna. We had so much fun. She has such an amazing energy. I've also gotten the opportunity to guest on her podcast. And so she's an educator, leadership development, career readiness, and she shared so openly her challenges through, they were high earners and yet They also had a lot of debt and they made the changes to bring it down and show that they could live debt free and then said, okay, well, that's good to know we can do this. Now we can make the choices of managing our money and managing how we want to live and what are the choices we want to make. Because that's all I tell anybody is you've got to find out what's right for you. You've got to get enough education, enough understanding of how money works. so that you can decide this is something that I'm going to go into debt for, this is something I don't want to go into debt for, this is where I want to save, this is where I want to let things go. So that was fantastic. Any notes? Caryn (34:31) Because you just mentioned it, the fact that I guess it's the cautionary tale for people that are making a lot of money or have just gotten a job that pays them a lot of money, particularly if it's a contract job, that you can still be making a lot of money and end up feeling like you're living paycheck to paycheck If things are getting away from you expenses, so I think it was her that was surprise taxes Marci Grossman (34:57) Her husband was paid 1099. So they hadn't really thought in terms of, if he's getting a 1099 and not a W-2, they're not withholding taxes. We're gonna have to pay all of that when we do our taxes. And she realized that's not something that the company's gonna tell me. That's something I've gotta figure out. Caryn (35:17) She was also talking about how they would keep traveling and traveling and not really thinking about how all of that spending was adding up as well. Again, you can be making a lot of money, but then you haven't set anything aside to, like for example, invest. If you're high earning, you can be able to invest in things or save in things. That was a good cautionary tale for people who are making a lot of money. You Marci Grossman (35:40) And then there's Donnie Mangos, who is the author of "Replace Your Salary with Real Estate" and "Get Wealthed Up". And he did a lot of transitions and is now part of a money management team. I like that he's getting his kids involved and his friends are coming to him saying, OK, how do we set up for our kids to figure out how to make all this work Caryn (36:02) He had set up this thing where his daughter was actually borrowing from herself, to invest in something. Marci Grossman (36:08) I don't know all the vehicles that he used to make this work, but if you think of when you're making these expenses, instead of taking a loan for it, you borrow it against your investments or you take it out from your investments, but you know you owe it back. That gives you so much more control and an awareness in your mindset because, hey, that was my money. I want it back. Caryn (36:22) Mm-hmm. Marci Grossman (36:30) However it's structured, whether it's a loan that you're borrowing against it or you're borrowing it from that pot, owing it back to yourself is huge. And I think a lot of people would be in a much better financial situation if they thought of that at the beginning. Okay, this is my money. How am I going to pay it back? and Alex Greene, Mr. GreeneStuff, you mentioned him earlier. Caryn (36:52) yeah, if I remember this he went back and forth between doing things that he says, well, I have to do this because this is the way I'm supporting myself and my son. But then this is the thing I'd want to pivot to for a better future. ⁓ I loved this. This was the power of doing a good job and having people spread the word. He started this, it was a swing to start the insulation business. Cause he started with like nothing. If I remember correctly, they were homeless, I think at the time. he homeless at the time. And he said, I have these skills. He got the first job fortunately in a rather exclusive neighborhood. Marci Grossman (37:23) He was homeless. He had his son staying with, I think, his sister. Caryn (37:35) starts working on this and the man for whom he was working told all the neighbors, this guy's doing this great job. And so he got some good jobs right away. And also when he decided, once that business was successful and he decided, you know what, with the urging of friends, he wanted to get back into the business side of music. I also liked the fact that when he shut that business down, which apparently he did really rapidly, he just found buyers for everything. He found places for all his employees to work. He didn't just like lay them off. He went and found other jobs for them, which I thought was very cool. Marci Grossman (38:10) Well, you he talks about how there was always someone there for him when he needed them, whether it was his late ex-wife when he injured his hand who encouraged him to learn to play the guitar on the other side, or this guy networking for him when he did a job. He liked his work, he liked his work ethic, so he found him more jobs to do. When he wanted to go into music producing, he had someone help him pick out wines and... And all of these things, he's always had people there for him when he has needed them, willing to step out, willing to network, willing to emotionally support, whatever, and that he's trying to do that for others as well. That he did it for his workers, that now he wants to get into being a resource for people going into various things. I love the story about the young woman who approached him. And he said, you know, when you figure this out and get moving forward, you're going to find the thumbprint on your forehead is your own thumb. That, you know, we get in our own way. We get in our own head all the time. And I love the fact that he was just very bluntly, okay, we can figure this out. You know, it's all there. Caryn (39:18) Is he being a career consultant now? I couldn't remember what he's doing now. Marci Grossman (39:21) I think it's a lot of different things, not necessarily a career consultant. I think more like a ⁓ coach kind of thing, helping people learn how to network, helping them learn how to finance bigger projects, the skills that he did, networking, all of those kind of things. So, you know, it's so fascinating to hear someone's evolution story. We look at someone like some of the younger guests that I had who are near the beginning of their careers. And then you look at someone like Mr. Greenestuff, who's been doing this for a few years. And they have different information, different resources, and it's great to get those varying perspectives. Caryn (40:04) Yeah, I didn't have anything else to add to that one. Marci Grossman (40:07) I'm sorry. I don't want to talk so much that I don't get any comments from you. I don't want to use up all the words. Caryn (40:12) I'm Marci Grossman (40:12) And then my double guest, Marci Grossman (40:15) Carol Lempert and Scotty Watson. Marci Grossman (40:18) and they are theater kids. They are theater adults. They are people who came from this performance background, and they still perform, both of them, in different ways and different things, but they're also using those skills. They learn doing that on stage, being comfortable on stage, being able to... present information, being able to coach other people to present information. Marci Grossman (40:43) We had a really great conversation talking about gig work and diversifying and your personal brand. And of course, one of my favorite topics, spreadsheets. Caryn (40:53) Besides the good points that they made in a very entertaining way, but the good points that they made about what somebody with a theater background can do for your organization, how that sort of person might really help it. They also made the point in general. about what unions and professional organizations can do for their members. And this isn't just entertainment. This would go across the board. I think people don't think to turn to professional organizations or their own unions as much as they do for help with a huge variety of stuff that had to do with making your career better and just making your life better, including understanding financial things. So that was a good point that they made. Marci Grossman (41:42) Yeah, and a lot of us probably don't even realize all the professional organizations that we're in and that they offer things. As a CPA, I'm in CPA organizations and I can get discounts on various things by, letting them know my membership number and whatever else. And that's true of a lot of organizations, whether it's answering questions or having discounts or helping you to network and make connections. I feel like I've overused the word important, but it's important to know that these resources are out there and that you have access to them. Caryn (42:16) I've seen it firsthand in music because one of my clients, people probably don't remember the things that I do and still do, is managing websites, just keeping them afloat, well, keeping them going in the background. One of my clients is the Phoenix Musicians Union. I think a lot of the people, hopefully you have a lot of fans that are in music, as you have a lot of guests that way. All of the classical musicians belong to it and use it all the time. But I think a lot of times the jazz musicians, pop musicians and everything don't think about, if I join that, look at all the help and networking and things that they can do for me. so, pop musicians, jazz musicians, think about being involved in your local music union, don't make it all the classical people. Marci Grossman (43:01) Classic people are wonderful. We are not in any way digging on classical people. Caryn (43:05) They all belong to it and participate all the time and the rest of you are missing out is what I'm saying Marci Grossman (43:11) You and I, we met because of classical music. Musicians. We love you. What's a little Dvorak between friends? Caryn (43:18) So. Marci Grossman (43:18) I think we've the gamut of the season. Caryn, what do you think? How'd I do for a first season? Caryn (43:24) Well, since I'm the one that listens all the time, I obviously liked it. Marci Grossman (43:29) This is not a paid sponsorship. I didn't threaten her. I didn't anything. She's safely in Arizona. I'm in Michigan. I am not in any way twisting her arm for the endorsement. Caryn (43:32) I get it. I found it all really interesting even when it wasn't my personal life thing. It was still really interesting to hear all of the stories and the things that people did and all of that. And then I learned stuff and then it reminded me of stuff that I really should know. Marci Grossman (43:55) that's okay. So hopefully we'll have some new and wonderful guests coming up this next season and to go with my theme song from the house band. Caryn (44:04) And if you're listening, consider being a guest. I know that there's people I know that Marci would like to have on that are like, oh, I don't know. I personally know the people that are going, I don't know. Marci Grossman (44:16) relatively harmless. It doesn't hurt a whole lot. And I try to make you look good. Caryn (44:21) And it's radio. Nobody can see you or anything. Marci Grossman (44:23) Well, the only thing is if I put a short snip of a video on social media to encourage people to listen. Caryn (44:31) She's filming me. What is she going to do with it? Marci Grossman (44:34) Any final words of wisdom before I wrap up? Caryn (44:36) Oh boy, I think I said all this stuff. it's hard for me to give you words of wisdom because I am not a podcaster. I just appear on podcasts and radio shows. Marci Grossman (44:47) You're here as a listener. You're here as someone who hopefully enjoyed the show. You're here as someone who listened to all the episodes. So this is where you tell people to catch up on the episodes they missed and there won't be a quiz. Caryn (44:49) you decide you want to be a sponsor. Yes, as a listener, I would really like to hear Marci go. my wonderful sponsor is, and I can't even think what it is, Finance Books or Shop at Fry's Grocery Store. Everybody wants something that has to do with what they're listening to. Like, buy my pudding. Marci Grossman (45:17) You are too funny. Listeners, thank you so much for by. you enjoyed it. I hope you will share it, follow if you're not doing so, and tune in next time. This has been Marci Talks Money (and Life) with my special guest for my wrap-up of Caryn Martinez from Puppy Paws Playyard. And thank you for listening to season one. You got this. See ya!