178: Academy Student Spotlight with Amy Scott
Finances can be intimidating and exciting—whichever emotion you feel when you look at them, we believe there is always room to improve. In today’s episode, I’ve brought on one of my Speaking Strategy Academy students, Amy Scott, to showcase her expertise on this topic and share a little about what she’s taken away inside the Academy.
Listen in as Amy shares a little about her business, how she believes in shifting your money mindset, and three steps to adjusting your approach to finances.
If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Meet Amy
Amy Scott is a Certified Financial Coach who teaches couples how to get on the same page about money - and why it's so important. She has spent the last seven years teaching couples to use her unique budgeting system, which gives them confidence and peace of mind in making financial decisions together. Amy has worked with hundreds of couples to reduce financial stress and disagreements, allowing them to live life with less conflict and more space to focus on what really matters to them.
How the Academy Changed Her Approach to Speaking
Conversations around money can get in the way of our relationships and the dreams that they want to achieve. This is where Amy comes in to help couples, specifically with three simple steps that every couple should take to get on the same page about money.
One thing Amy wanted to look at adjusting in her talk based on her time in Speaking Strategy Academy was creating analogies and visuals that would better resonate with her audience.
Creating a Visual for Her Talk
Imagine that you are someone and you go shopping at the grocery store, then you come home to put all this food to put away. You go to put away the two cans of black beans that you just bought and you realize, you already have four cans of black beans in the cupboard.
Another example is that you go to make a special dinner and you realize you don't have that one main ingredient that makes it a special dinner. You were sure that you had it in the back of your fridge, but you don't actually have it in order to make that dinner.
When food is hidden and out of sight for you, you sometimes end up buying duplicates of things that we already have in the cupboard, or we don't buy that thing that we actually need. We're sure that we have enough of it somewhere in the house. The same is true with your money.
We could have things that we are paying for that we're actually not sure that we're still paying for them. Often, it’s things like a fitness app, a membership to something, a subscription, etc. You’re either surprised by a charge, or you’re not sure if you've paid them.
People will often end up paying twice on a student loan or on a credit card payment. When our money is not clear, we end up getting duplicates of things or we end up not paying for things that maybe we are supposed to pay for. It ends up being a lack of clarity.
Adjusting Your Approach to Focusing on Your Finances
Step 1 - Think about your money in three categories:
Recurring Bills
Day to Day Spending
The Whammies of Life (Random, Non-recurring Expenses)
Step 2 - Turn Your Day-to-Day Spending into a Fixed Expense
Look back at 3-6 of months of these expenses and how much you're spending.
Your personal finances are not personal to a coach.
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Review the Transcript for this Episode
Transcript for Episode 178:
Jessica Rasdall
Does looking at your finances make you feel empowered and excited, or nervous and anxious? Either way, I think we all have some room to improve. So I've brought in my friend Amy to help us get a handle on our numbers and get a sneak peek behind the scenes of how she's maximizing her time in the speaking strategy Academy. Let's dive in.
Jessica Rasdall
Welcome back to another episode of The speak to scale podcast, where we're helping small business owners just like you grow and scale their company by speaking on stages, podcasts, webinars, and more. Today is a very special episode because this is our second Student Spotlight series where we are doing an interview with one of our speaking strategy Academy students. So you can learn from them, we can showcase their expertise. But we can also dive in a little bit behind the scenes to unpack what they've done inside of the academy, how they're using our strategies to their advantage, and how you could see different approaches of how to use speaking within your business. So today's guest is my dear friend, Amy Scott, who is a certified financial coach, working with couples to help them get on the same page about money.
Jessica Rasdall
Now, Amy has presented her presentation inside of the academy. And when I tell you, it was so good, you'll see why in today's episode. But she's so incredibly gifted at being able to meet people where they are break down financial concepts into simple practical steps that we can all take in bringing couples together to get on the same page. Now she has a very high touch service, she's working with couples individually. So I'm really excited for you to hear this strategy that Amy has taken to make speaking work for her because it may be different than from other some of the other strategies we've been hearing. So grab a pen if you don't feel 110% confident in your finances, kick back, grab a warm beverage. And let's dive into today's interview and behind the scenes peek of Amy Scott.
Jessica Rasdall
Listening to the podcast is a great first step. But I want you to go take action. So if you are ready to apply everything you've learned here on the show, listen up, we took all of our best resources, like our plug and play crafting your story workbook, or how to select your speaking topics workbook resources on crafting your talk finding and pitching events, we put them all together inside of the speak to scale vault, and we put them in order. So you know exactly what to do and when to do it. to scale your business was speaking, ready to unlock the entire vault, head on over to speak to scale vault calm or click the link in our show notes. But be sure to use the code podcast for a special discount for me.
Jessica Rasdall
So before we get into full dive deep on money, and couples and relationships, and how this all plays a part in our lives and in our businesses and in our marriages, give us a little bit of background on who you are, what you do and who you serve.
Amy Scott
Sure I who I am Amy Scott, and my company is Amy's got financial coaching. And I work with couples just so I am a financial coach for couples. And I teach couples to get organized around their finances, so that they can get on the same page of money about money and really focus on what matters to them. Because I find that money, whether we have a lot of it or not a lot of it the conversations around it in our relationships, the stress around it, sometimes the disorganization the chaos around it, it really gets in the way of a having strong fulfilling relationships. But it also gets in the way sometimes of pursuing those dreams that are really important to us, kind of is that blockade between us really going after what we want in life. So my purpose, my mission, the excitement, what I get up for in the morning is to really get couples on the same page so that they can focus on the things that matter to them and have that impact that they want to make.
Jessica Rasdall
And I love seeing you do the work you do because you're not somebody who just you know is talking theory or you know, says this might be nice, but you are in the trenches with your couples and you care so deeply about them. And the result that they that you want them to be able to achieve leader you see what's possible for them. And that that's just, if I haven't told you that in that I see how much you love your couple. Thank you for seeing that. How did you get into this work? How did you start working with couples? What brought you here?
Amy Scott
Yeah, I don't have a background in finances or economics or anything like that I studied public health. I was working in nonprofits in Baltimore. And I, it was really my own family's, I don't want to say necessarily struggles, but like, what came to a head for us around finances was that my husband and I were both working, he spent a high school teacher for 16 years, I was working with nonprofits. And we had two boys pretty much back to back felt like they were twins at the time. And, you know, the reality was, I was just pretty exhausted. I was feeling like I was up in the middle of the night with a newborn. And then I got this toddler bouncing off the walls at 5am. And I did not feel ready to go back to work, when my work, thought I should be ready to go back to work. And I wanted to be able to take some more time off with the kids, I wasn't thinking long term was just really thinking of like, you know, maybe the next three to six months that that would be nice. And I remember going to my husband and saying, Do you think we can make this work? Like, could we put my work on pause, and I could just be at home with the boys and embrace this time. And he and I were like, we should be able to do this, like we've been doing pretty well financially, like we're doing good enough. And when we looked at the numbers, what we saw was that we could not get by and just as income. And I remember, the emotion I felt around the time was I felt frustrated. I was like, What could we have done differently? That was a question I was asking myself was like, Well, why didn't we make different decisions in the three to five years leading into this so that this would be an option? And I'm not the kind of person who's like, oh, well, I guess that just won't work. You know, so I went to town, I went really deep. He and I pulled apart our income and our expenses. And where we looked at it from was the viewpoint of like, Alright, for this season of our life, what could we maybe put on pause or not have or get rid of. And what we saw was pretty shocking to both of us that actually the gap was much smaller than than we thought it was. We really only needed about $600, in addition to his income monthly to be able to cover our bills. And once we saw that, it was like, okay, game on, you know, where are we going to have that come from my husband did some tutoring, some LSAT prep, I just don't like babysitting for kids in the neighborhood, like we did whatever we had to do to be able to pursue what I wanted, which was to be home with the boys. And what happened just is I found that I had a passion for personal finances, that doesn't come naturally to most. I thought everyone kind of like jammin out on their numbers and budgeting and talking big picture. And people would start to say like, how are you doing that? And I'd say, Well, my kids nap between 12. And to come over to my kitchen table. And we'll talk numbers. And I did that for a couple years until I realized, wow, this is something I actually want to create as a business. So I became a financial advisor that led into becoming a financial coach. And I've been working with couples for the last eight years now. And it is just my jam. I love it.
Jessica Rasdall
It's incredible. And I think that's what makes you so good at what you do and so passionate about your couples, because you've walked that walk like, you know, their frustrations, and you know what it's like on the other side, right? Like, I think so often when we're trying to make those decisions, whether it's in our business in our personal life, or our children, you know, to take a scary leap that like you said, we think it's either going to be easy, no brainer, we can do this, or we think it's completely out of reach. And for you to be able to have that tangible number and say it's $600. Like how can we make up 600 That gives you a plan. And so many of us don't even know what that is. Now, I know that you have delivered your presentation for us in the academy. And you have an amazing visual for what this looks like in our lives. And we don't know what our finances look like. So I want to get into that. But I want to back up a little bit and just make sure our audience knows if they want to bring you in to speak right if they want. They want you to talk to their their community of couples. What does your presentation look like? What is this thing that you talk about?
Amy Scott
So I talk about three simple steps that every couple should take to get on the same page about money. So the academy really helped me to focus on because there are so many steps that couples can take right and I was one of those people when I came into the academy so I think it was two years ago now and December was like, Oh, I could talk about all the things. I've so many different ideas i And I love the brainstorming activities that we do, because it really got me to see like, Well, what do I want to pinpoint? What do I want to focus on? And what do I want to leave the attendees of my talk with. And that was something I really honed in on which is like, Alright, these are the three steps that they can take. And so my talk is really around that.
Jessica Rasdall
And it's so good. It's so so good. I think you were you might have been our first or your first showcase presenter. If not, you're one of the first
Amy Scott
think I was like, maybe second maybe Amanda one in front of
Jessica Rasdall
me, Yeah, somebody but you were one of the first which which is a big deal. So again, the academy, every month, the student can deliver their presentation to practice it in real time, get feedback, get testimonials, and it's a scary thing to do right to speak in front of your peers. And but you, you crushed it, okay, so in your presentation, you're really good at showing the audience like visually what it's like to be in that season, where you don't know what's happening with your money, give us a little sneak peek share with us what that might look like.
Amy Scott
So I and this was something, again, that I got out of the academy is kind of like using analogies, metaphors, you know, for what it feels like, because I was giving talks before I was in the academy is like something I knew I love to do. But I was talking a lot in numbers. So a visual that I like to use that I got out of being in the academy and getting coaching was imagining that you are someone and you go to you go to the grocery store, you go shopping, and you come home, you got all this food to put away whether it's in the pantry, the fridge, if you're in my house, you've got an 11 and 13 year old taking the food out of the bags and easy as you're putting it away. But just imagine that you're putting all this away, and you go to put away let's say two cans of black beans that you just bought, and you go to put a weight in the cupboard and you realize, oh, wow, we already have four cans of black beans in the cupboard. But you didn't realize that you just bought what you thought you needed to buy. So or you go to make a special dinner, maybe for your family, and you've got all the ingredients to make it you sit down, you're ready in the kitchen, and you realize you don't have that one main ingredient that makes it a quote unquote special dinner, you were sure that you had it in the back of your fridge, but you don't actually have it in order to make that dinner. And when food is hidden and out of you, we can sometimes end up buying duplicates of things that we already have in the cupboard, or we don't buy that thing that we actually need, because we're sure that we have enough of it somewhere in the house. And I like to say that the same is true with your money. Right? In my experience working with couples, the same is true with our money, that we could have things that we are paying for that we're actually not sure that we're still paying for them. Right. Like, often with my clients, it'll be things like a fitness app, right, or a membership to something, maybe a subscription to something, it's like an annual subscription you got for 999. And all of a sudden you get charged 9999. And you realize where did that come from? Right? Or could be things that you're not sure if you've paid them or not. And people will often end up paying you know, twice on a student loan or on a credit card payment or something like that, when our money is not clear, we end up getting duplicates of things or we end up not paying for things that maybe we are supposed to pay for. And it ends up being a lack of clarity. So I like to say that, you know, when we have clarity around our money, right, that $600 I was talking about earlier or you know what's coming in in you what's going out, you're able to have confidence and peace of mind in making those financial decisions together. And that's the piece that I feel like is really missing for couples is that clarity?
Jessica Rasdall
It is it is and and you also talk speak so much to the dynamic of two people, right because like when one person can't see their money, they don't know what's in the pantry. That's one issue but what happens now when we bring a second person into that mix?
Amy Scott
Yeah, I think it can be really challenging because when we come into and you know I say marriage, but it may be your you know, if you're not married or just two people that are sharing their finances together, when we come into that relationship. The reality is that we both have had such different experiences with money. Such different beliefs, expectations around money, right not only just how your parents manage money growing up, but then how you as an individual before you share it, finances, how you manage money. So for example, you might have one spouse that loves to use credit cards. They love the points that come along with them. They like the cashback, they like the flexibility. And then you have another person, the relationship who's like, no, cash is king, I've always used cash that's always worked for me. And that can present a conflict. Or you have one person who's like, oh, I want to make sure we pay off all this debt, like I need to have debt paid off before we start saving for retirement or college savings. And the other spouse is like, okay, to carry some of that debt forward, that's not that big of a deal. I want to make sure I'm maxing out my 401k, for example. And there's that conflict because that money is now shared. But two different people have different ideas, what to do with that, or what I also find is really common is one person, their relationship, likes to manage the finances. So they have their head in those bills and the money going out and the money coming in. And the other person in relationship would rather talk about anything else. Besides money, they want to avoid that conversation till the end of time. And that can cause conflict. Because the thing is, as you know, Well, Justin, your relationship and you know, people that you work with, it's not like someone can say, Well, I'm just not going to do money. Yeah, that doesn't work. That just doesn't work. Like it's a lie, you both people in the relationship are going to have to use money. And often one person who is managing those bills, who is very dialed in, this is what we're doing, this is what we're spending. And then the other person goes to buy, you know, maybe an extra grocery run, or an Amazon purchase, or pizza for the kids after soccer practice, for example. And the first person is like, wait a second, that wasn't part of the plan. And person number two is like, oh, wait a second, what was the plan? I didn't see that plan, I'm not clear about that plan is I know, you get annoyed around this time of the month, or you know, that that type of paycheck time of the month. Oh, sit here. We can include all of it. Um, but you know, you can tell that there's that tension, but the person who's not managing those monthly bills, might feel like, I don't know what I can spend. I don't know when I can spend it. And I don't know if it's gonna cause an argument or tension inside of our marriage. The reality is, both people are doing the best that they can. I truly believe that. I don't think anyone's trying to sabotage things. I think both people are trying to do the best that they can. They just can't see the big picture. They can't see the impact of those choices they're making today on some of those longer term goals, and they're not on the same page.
Jessica Rasdall
And then what about in a situation like, like us, where you have somebody, maybe one of the people is a business owner? Does that bring a different dynamic to because now we're not just talking about the shared personal money, but we're talking about a business entity as well.
Amy Scott
Yes, these were some of my favorite couples to work with, was like, I love puzzles. And sometimes when there's two people who have like W twos are paid on the first and the 15th, even that can have a lack of clarity to it for sure. But when you add in, you know, maybe one person is a W two, or let alone, they're both business owners, but let's just deal with one for now. And you know, they're running their business, and it hasn't been decided how much that business is going to contribute to the family. That can cause a certain amount of stress and tension. Because you know, the reality is your business could have a good good month, a lower month, not such a good month, high month again. And sometimes that person is contributing variable income to the family. And that can make it very hard to plan around. Very challenging to know like, what's count honorable from that business. And at least from what I've seen, that can cause frustration, stress tension inside of a marriage, because it's like, well, hold on last month, you gave 3000 You're telling me you can only give 1000 This month like that can cause stress of like, well, what's count honorable, and sometimes I'm just say this like sidebar, you know, like, well, what are you spending money on in your business? And then the spouse over here is like, well, hold on a second, you went to a conference with Jessica, last month, you could go to Tampa, but you can't contribute, you know, for example, if they're not in the business, seeing how the money is being spent, that can cause stress inside of our marriage as well.
Jessica Rasdall
And like I've definitely found that like was we have that kind of diamond we've had all the dynamics, right where, where in the beginning of my business, it was just his income, or when he was no longer working a corporate job and was working with me and it was all my income or now today where it's both of us like we've had all of these ups and downs and different dynamics. And I think the biggest thing is communication for us that In the beginning that was in the case, I think it was easy to be like my business, my money. And not even from a place that it didn't go to or family or anything. But I think it's, it's easy to like it's your business baby wanting to protect it. And I've definitely found the more. I include him in those conversations, the more I'm just open about what's happening and keeping him in the loop. Not that he's making any decisions, but that he's in the loop. Yeah, it completely changes the dynamic. It really does.
Amy Scott
It completely changes it, and it has, you know, yes, it is your business. But I like to say when it's a partnership always say yours. Yeah, it's ours.
Jessica Rasdall
I've never Yeah, that tiny language shift from mine to ours, when we talk about it is been is huge, huge.
Amy Scott
Just, I even say like I said before, we have two boys who are 11 and 13. We call it the family business. So I'm pretty geeked out, obviously, around finances, I wear two different hats. I wear the financial nerd hat. And then I wear the couple's coaching nerd hat. Yeah, but I like to call it a family business. And I like to be as transparent as possible with kids around around what's happening, especially if I'm going to spend time going away. Or if I'm spending time on the weekend, and the kids are seeing me working. I'm like, Well, this is the family business, like they can see the connection to we're all a part of that. And I think that's a subtle shift. But it makes a difference in our family.
Jessica Rasdall
No, us too. Absolutely. And Chloe, we and we assign names to everything to everyone. Like it's not just that I'm working today, it's I'm working with so whoever my client is that day, or you know, whoever's she knows who's presenting she in the academy, you know, she knows who I'm gonna call with. And I think it it helps for her to see it's not hours away from her. These are people, right? We're serving people. And I want her to grow up. Seeing that and being proud of that, too. I love that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's a family business, a family business. Okay, so what if somebody's listening right now and they are feeling like they're in that buying too many or not enough black beans scenario right now that they're, they don't know what's happening with their finances. And maybe them and their, their other person are not on the same page yet, what are some of the first things you would recommend somebody do is just start to see things better?
Amy Scott
Yeah, from a clarity perspective, like, I think one of the first things that you can do is start to categorize not even categorize, but like, think about your money in three different categories, even if you don't take out a piece of paper or an Excel sheet or anything like that, but just start to think about how you spend money in these three different ways. One is set bills, recurring bills, so these are you know, your mortgage, your rents, your Verizon bill, your car payment, whatever, anything that's a set date of the month, and a set amount. These tend to carry less stress and anxiety with them, even though they may be higher payments, your mortgage might be your highest payment of the month, some parents I work with Totally agree to, like you know that exactly, you know how much it's going to be and you can plan around it. The second category is the day to day spending. So this is the swiping we're typically doing with a debit card or credit card. And we're buying gas and groceries and Amazon purchases and coffee and takeout anything like that, where you know, you might have one few days where you don't spend anything, maybe you're holed up in your house recovering from Thanksgiving and eating leftovers. And now all of a sudden you venture out you got a trip to Costco and you got gas in both cars and you picked up you know, takeout for the family, you could spend five 600 $700 In one day easily. That's the second category. Then the third category is really what I like to call the Whammies of life, these non recurring random expenses that you might have a few months where you don't have any, and then all of a sudden, you took the car in to get the oil changed, and $950 later, you had brake pads and rotors fixed, right, the kind of things that kind of put you on a roller coaster, you know, they're coming, but they can be very hard to plan around. So that's the first step is to categorize your expenses into these three different areas. If you don't do that, it can be very challenging, because it's like, we're paying for things in all the same way. We're treating them the same way but they actually impact our budget in different ways. And so we need to relate to them differently. So that is step number one.
Jessica Rasdall
And I loved when you broke that part down just the way you make finances so clear, and simple. I swear that's like your superpower like you make it so simple. Things that can feel so complicated. Okay, so what about that if you feel like okay, so I know what's going on? Yes, but I don't what I see it. Yeah, but I don't know, I don't know what to do from here. Like, how do I, how do I change this situation?
Amy Scott
Yeah, well, I think the second step is really the game changer for folks, which is now that you've started to categorize things, and you start to realize, like, hey, those set expenses, we can plan around, we know when they're happening, we know how much they are, what do we do about the day to day spending, because it's that up and down that area is where people typically say, to me, this is the most stressful area, I have no idea how much we're spending in this area. And then they're looking back and they're, you know, credit card, debit card statements, three to six months, and they're coming up with a number, but they don't know how to regulate that or make that recurring. So my biggest suggestion is to turn your day to day spending into a fixed expense. Because remember, blew
Jessica Rasdall
my mind, like, Yeah, cuz it blew my mind. I'm sorry, keep going. But this this had me spinning for dates.
Amy Scott
This truly is a game changer. So the idea is that, again, you got you don't want to hope wishing a dream where spending oh, maybe we'll spend $500 on day to day spending for two weeks? No, you got to look back three to six months, and see about how much are we spending on these swiping expenses. And then the idea is turn it into a fixed expense. And the way to do that is to set up a second checking account. So you have your main Bill accounts that your mortgage and your car payment, all those things are coming out of so often folks are using that seam account for day to day spending. So they may start out the pay period, here's the spouse over here who has it all planned out, we're starting out the pay period, we should have, you know, I've laid it out, we're gonna have about 500 Extra to go towards debt or savings or whatever. But then that number just dwindles every time we swipe that card another time. That's why that $35 Amazon purchase causes stress inside of your couple, because one person thought it was going to be X amount, and then the other person needed to spend that. So turn that everyday spending into a fixed expense, set up a second checking account, call it a spending account, and then transfer a certain amount of money predetermined into that account like a bill. And if you get paid every two weeks, then do it every two weeks. If you get paid once a month, you could transfer that in once a month, weekly on the first and the 15th, whatever. So for example, if you looked back and you to spent $2,000 a month on day to day, you could set it up that on the first and the 15th you transfer $1,000 into that spending account. And then only use that account that card for day to day spending. As that number goes down, you're only looking at that account, you don't have to worry about that, oh, let's get pizza and like take the kids out for ice cream, it's a $50 expense, you don't have to worry about that expense, ransacking your bill account. That all happens in the day to day spending. And now it's a bill that we can plan around. And you have a much clearer idea how much you have to go towards whatever your next goal is, because you've made that a recurring set expense.
Jessica Rasdall
And I just blew my mind when you taught us that in the academy. Because just like you said, the day to day spending that people have a hard time getting a handle on and you've, you've completely eliminated that as an issue. Look, here's the solution for that. But I can imagine even with a plan laid out, it's very clear, you know, separate these into three, add your second bank account, like all of the steps are clear, and they're simple, but when we're dealing with two people with two different beliefs and habits around money, that this could still be an issue for executing it. So before we talk a little bit about yours, I would just love to kind of put the little asterisk here for anybody who's listening who's wanting some support for themselves and their their partner, how can they get in touch with you to sit down and you have these amazing money clarity sessions.
Amy Scott
The easiest way really is just on my website, which is Amy Scott coaching, you can find me on you know all the social stuff at Amy Scott financial coaching, but my website, that's where you can find me.
Jessica Rasdall
And I'll link that in the show notes so you can easily find you but I know it's sometimes it's just having somebody there to facilitate that conversation and it's not you guys yelling at each other butting heads, but having somebody there can kind of clear away the feelings and and put it all out in front of us.
Amy Scott
Absolutely. Because I like to say you know, your personal finances are not personal to me. That's my objective point of view is I can look at your numbers just like their numbers. So I have these three simple steps but I don't want anyone to think like oh, well, we just couldn't get those in place. because we argued about this or that, like, that's perfectly normal, hiring a coach, any kind of financial coach is someone who's going to come in and look at it objectively. So don't feel like you have to do it on your own is my point.
Jessica Rasdall
And there's no judgment, I guess. Yeah, exactly. You don't you bring none of that to the table. Yeah. Okay. So we know what you do we know this incredible process, you have your love for your couples. I would love to just hear a little bit. You know, you mentioned that you've been in the academy for two years, what does that experience been like for you? Because you have a very, you know, niche topic, very specific audience. What have you been able to do? What are you working on? How have you kind of adapted everything that we have to fit your needs?
Amy Scott
So many things, I don't even know where to start. But I'll start with a few things. And then maybe just even, you know, ask me other stuff. But you know, I think the biggest piece for me was, I knew, I already knew that I love speaking. And when I came across you, and you're saying like, for people who want to scale their business was speaking, I just hadn't heard that terminology to begin with. So it really sparked something in me like, Oh, I could lean into this, like get better, you know, more dialed in around my talks. And that would lead to my business going like, Yeah, I'm in let's throw my hat over the fence. And one of the first things that I saw in the academy was because for anyone who doesn't know, there's like, a lot of lessons in there. And everything. There are millions, but there are there are a lot in there. But the great thing about is it's a step by step process. I think sometimes you can get into things and it's like, here's all the things to learn. This is like, okay, A through Z started a, and one of the first exercises was honing in on your topic. And I think for me, just because I had talked about a lot of different things, that doing that exercise to write down, like, here's everything I could talk about, here's what I'm skilled to talk about, here's what I'm passionate about. Here's a difference I want to make. What my talk really rose to the surface, like, yes, I want to talk to couples. But yes, I am into the practical piece, do talk about the money mindset. But really, at the end of the day, I want people taking practical steps, it was so helpful to do that exercise and be like, Okay, this is what I'm really meant to be talking about talking about and then move on to the next step. And what was nice was that I couldn't think of a better word thinking about talking about this, then sneaky. I think you're kind of sneaky. Just very Oh, you're sneaky. In case you were like, What do you mean by that is that in the academy, you just start to brain dump. It's a lot of brain dump. It's not brain dump your whole talk, but it's like, here's five sections, what are some ask a little question and you brain dump, you get to the end of it, you move on to the next section, brain dump, you move on to the next section. By the time you get to the end of those five sections, you realize almost by magic that you've pretty much written 80% of your talk. And that's why I use the word sneaky because it never says in there, this is going to be your talk or like I think about because then
Jessica Rasdall
you would get stuck on making all your words perfect. I know better.
Amy Scott
Yes, it made me think like she's learned a thing or two and how to come about this. But the process never felt. There were parts that felt challenging. What do I keep in what do I not keep in? How do I really connect with the audience. But the bulk of it was honestly just written from what was already in my head. And that's the piece, I feel like you really validate people because it's like, you already know all this stuff. Here's what there is for you, you know, you're gonna have to pull some stuff out, put some stuff in. But here's the impact and how you really want to serve, lay valid out of all out first, and then you'll be able to pull out of that the message. So yeah, good job.
Jessica Rasdall
A little sneaky. But it was that was probably the hardest part when first putting those lessons together. It's evolved over the years, but really sitting down and saying, How do I do that? Like if I'm working with someone one on one, like, how am I able to get I don't write their talks, or I'm not coming up with that information. I write it, put it on paper, but it's coming from them. So really trying to think how could I turn this exercise? How could I make it so that anybody could feel like they're sitting down with me having that coaching experience, but they're able to do? It is very sneaky. A good word for that. And I I'm so proud of you, because when you first came in to the academy, you're right, like you had experience. There were so many things you could talk about. And that tends to be a sticking point for a lot of people and because not because it's hard, but because we have to make difficult decisions in order to move forward. We have to be decisive. And we don't want to be decisive because that might tell us In the moment feel like we're saying no to other things, or we're closing doors. But making those decisions allows us to take the next step. And it breeds so much clarity. And I remember when you finally came to a call one time with me and you were you had, like, you'd had your aha and you were like, I only want to talk to couples. Like, that's the difference I want to make like it's couples. And as soon as you made that decision, I truly believe it's like, it's the decisions when when that decision was made, like everything fell into place, like you were you knew now going forward, it was like you're, but it's hard to make those decisions. It is it's,
Amy Scott
it was not quick. I mean, it was not quick, I fluctuated between a few different things. But you're right, once I'd made that decision, I could move forward. And what I realized was, I just want to give this talk all the time. Yeah. And yes, I want to apply to places and give it so I will say two things. One is that I made two different decisions after I saw that, like, Okay, I want to give this all the time. So very quickly, in the support of the Academy, I said, Yeah, I want to apply to give this talk, you know, like at summits or conferences, or I've been at law offices here real estate, I'm talking all the people about all the things related to couples and finances, but also wanted to create my own platform. And that was something that you talk a lot about, like having your own platform, whether it be your own summit or your own podcast. And I couldn't really fit myself into what I saw other students doing, learn tons from them love everyone in that group. But I was like, Well, what's there for me? So one of the things I created this last spring was monthly budgeting workshops. That's how it's called, um, you know, that's the page the events on my website, but it's my talk. So for me, it's really easy, because my talk is totally dialed in. I love giving it and now I don't have to wait to be booked, I can still apply, I'm still doing that. But I'm able to bring people towards me. So really, it's like, almost like a lead magnet for me is to have this monthly budgeting workshop where I deliver my talk, give that value. And then I'm done. So but I'm pulling the people towards me. So I'm not just getting in front of other people's audiences, I'm creating my own audience. And I will say hands down took me like six weeks to put all that together. Once I saw once that decision was made, and there's no question that I would, I just would never have done that if it wasn't for the access to one on one support calls with you as well, just because I definitely come to the calls. I always have questions for the group calls. But I think I scheduled a couple calls with you during that six week period of time at a heavily discounted rate to have access to just one of the reasons to join the Academy. But where you just were like, Yes, that's it, I can feel that now do these five things and modify your page in this way and reach people in this way. And something that I would have thought, Oh, that's a hope, a wish and a dream, like a nice idea was able to be implemented much quicker than on my own.
Jessica Rasdall
And what did you say in the very beginning, all you wanted to do was talk and work with couples, and you literally created your own way to be able to talk every single month, yes, and pour into a couple of you didn't have to wait for anybody. You didn't have to, you know, none of that nonsense. And I'm just so proud. Like, I think it's easy to feel like speakings out of our hands, right? Just like with money. Like we don't know, when it happens. It happens it comes it comes. But that's not true at all. Like there's there's a way that we can make the impact we want on our own terms. And it doesn't mean you won't do other speaking opportunity. This doesn't mean other things won't come. But why do we keep waiting to make a difference? Like we don't have to do that. We don't have to do that. And I'm so so proud of the work you've put in through the hard decisions. You've made the commitment and your the way you've shown up because I know that so many more couples have been impacted, because you were brave enough to make those tough calls. So I'm so proud of you all. Thank you.
Jessica Rasdall
Well, I can't say thank you enough for joining us today. This means the world to me to finally have you on the show and share your knowledge with our listeners, but also allow them to just kind of spotlight you and share how much how proud we are of the progress that you've made in the academy. And I hope that our listeners can really look at their finances and their relationship with money in their relationship with their partner when it comes to money a little bit differently. And again, if they're wanting more support in that area, I can't encourage you guys enough to connect with Amy and just get that call booked. Thank you so much.
Amy Scott
You're welcome. Thanks for having me.
Jessica Rasdall
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of The speak to scale podcast. It would mean the world to If you could just take a second and head on over to iTunes and leave us a review. Your support of this show allows us to continue creating this content for you each and every week. And we appreciate your reviews and you sharing about the show more than you know. As always, I will be over here cheering you on, Fred. I'll see you next week for another episode of The speak to scale podcast.
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