From Unemployed to Running a Million Dollar Business
By age 25 I had a superior credit score and more than my annual salary in savings. That all changed when the Recession hit. I lost EVERYTHING…. everything: my credit, my job, my home, my retirement account, my relationship, my savings… my hope. After struggling for awhile, I turned my story of loss into one of abundance. I’ve since bounced back even stronger with my own business (The Budgetnista), a growing savings account, a rock solid budget, a rising credit score and a new found confidence. Now, I’m known as Tiffany “The Budgetnista” and I am a financial educator. I teach women what they should have learned about money at home, or at school, but did not.
Growing up, I was fortunate to have a father who had two degrees in finance and economics. Together he and my mom taught me all about personal finance. As a kid, talking about money was normal in our house. With five girls, my parents made it a priority to teach my sisters and I how to manage our money. Even with the financial education I received at home, I still made a ton of mistakes.
I started off great! After college I began aggressively saving, bought my first car in cash, then a home in my early 20’s. By age 26 I had a 803 credit score, a great job as a teacher, and had saved $40,000+ in two years on $39,000/year salary. Life was great.
Then, just after I turned 30, the Recession took everything; my credit score dropped into the 500’s, my savings and retirement account were gone, I lost my home due to my foreclosure, and I was staying with my parents to get back on my feet. It’s crazy because when I think about that time, even though there was so much loss, it was the beginning of my biggest transformation.
I guess every setback is chance for a comeback, because I began to piece my life back together. In helping myself, I realized that there so many people who needed help too and I created, The Budgetnista, a financial education services firm. Fast forward six years, I’ve built the largest following for a financial brand, focused on women of color. With over 300,000 community members worldwide, it’s more than money, it’s a movement.
Because of my impact, Hyatt House hotels recently reached out to me. They felt that my rise from losing it all, to creating a new lane was a perfect fit for their new #WhySettle campaign. The purpose of this campaign is to highlight people that know they are created for greatness and refuse to accept less. During my personal journey, there were many times that I wanted to give up, it was so hard. But I refused to, because there was a voice inside of me that insisted that I had everything I needed to succeed.This is what the #WhySettle campaign is all about, creating the means for your own success, because anything else would be settling.
Throughout my journey, I’ve been fortunate to have help. My COO, Sierra has been a critical part of The Budgetnista team. I live in New Jersey, and she lives in Pennsylvania, so we typically work remotely; but at least once a month, we meet face-to-face for a strategic planning session. I recently traveled to Pennsylvania to meet with Sierra and I stayed in the Hyatt House Philadelphia/King of Prussia. It was the perfect location. We made use of the hotel’s multifunctional lobby space. It was a comfortable and functional environment for our two-day meeting. Although I was there on business, I felt like I was at home.
Between the two of us, we are shifting the paradigm of personal finance for women of color. It’s our SOUL work. Up next is our third Live Richer Challenge launch in January 2017. We’ll be teaching over 300,000 how not to settle for less-than-great credit.
Last thing…. Know that your dreams are within reach. My journey is a testament that if you align your life with your purpose, if you give of yourself, if you’re willing to consistently work with passion and integrity, if you build a team around you and are open to listening and changing and growing, and if you acknowledge that falling isn’t failing and view every “no”, as a precious lesson that eventually leads to your “yes”, if you refuse to settle, YOU have won already.
#LIVERICHERlesson: Winning takes work. If you’re willing to do the work… why settle? What yes will you create for yourself? How will you stop settling? Share in the comments.
Live richer,
Tiffany
