138. The System is Rigged to Keep You Broke with Janine Mix
Join Carla and special guest Janine Mix, a bestselling author, investor, and Christian entrepreneur, as they uncover how the financial system is set up to keep us stuck. Janine shares her journey from $120K in debt to financial freedom by age 33 through real estate investing. Tune in for life-changing wisdom on unlearning money myths, using debt as leverage, and building generational wealth.
What You'll Learn:
How overcoming limiting beliefs about debt paved Janine’s path to financial freedom
Why “budgeting and cutting expenses” is outdated advice
Leveraging real estate to pay off $80K in student loans in 3 years
Unlearning the myth that debt equals bondage
The power of intentional money planning and surrounding yourself with abundance-minded people
Money mindset tools: MIX framework, creating a money plan (not a budget), and leaning into prosperity energy
If you're ready to shift your Money Mindset and transform your financial story, this episode is your blueprint.
Resources & Links:
🎧 More episodes: https://www.moneymindsethub.com/podcast
📲 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moneymindsethub
💡 Take the Money Archetypes Quiz: https://www.moneymindsethub.com/quiz
Connect with Janine & Grab her book, Buy The Damn Coffee: https://www.janinemix.com/mmh
Watch the full episode below:
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Hello and welcome back to the Money Mindset Hub podcast. I'm your host, Carla Townsend, a money mindset and success coach who helps purpose-driven women, dissolved money blocks, and earn more, so they can create a life and business that they never want to escape. Today I have Janine Mix with me. She's a Christian entrepreneur, author of the bestselling book, buy The Damn Coffee, A speaker, a podcast host of permission to Prosper podcast and investor who turned her financial life around from being $120,000 in debt to becoming a multimillionaire.
By the age of 33, if I'm correct. After years of frustration with conventional financial advice focused on strict budgeting and cutting expenses, Janine finally experienced a breakthrough by unlearning those limiting approaches and transforming her relationship with money. This pivotal shift empowered her to take bold strategic actions that led to complete financial freedom by the age of 33.
Janine believes that more wealth in the hands of women will change the world and is passionate about helping women get out of their own way and break financial barriers to build generational wealth. Welcome, Janine.
Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here with you.
I just have to say by the age of 33 is pretty damn impressive. I love it. Well, that's how old I am right now, so, so I'm like, that is, that is so amazing. And I just wanna take everyone back to what was your life before then? Like where did this all start? What made you just go, that's it, let's go. I'm taking complete control.
And did you have that age in mind, like a timeline in mind when you started this, or when did it all begin?
Absolutely not. I did not have a timeline. I just knew it kind of the pain and the suffering. Began is where the change started. And I would say that it was right after I graduated college, probably about a year, year and a half into that experience because I had gotten the typical advice.
Go to a good college, get a good degree, get a good job, except for my parents didn't prepare for me. And I actually, I wanted to go to school for acting. I didn't even wanna go to school actually. I just wanted to go to Hollywood and be in movies. And my parents were like, well, you need to go to college for a real job.
And so they asked me to. Apply for some colleges for a totally different field. I ended up applying for marine biology 'cause I was like, well, I guess I like the ocean, so maybe I'll do something like that. I got accepted and. Before I committed to that, I sat my parents down again and I said, I just don't wanna do this.
This isn't what I wanna do, and this seems like a total waste of time. So then they were like, well, alright, you can, you can go for acting, but you still have to go to school for it. And so I was encouraged to go to the best school right, to get the best degree. 'cause it's a very competitive market. So I went to a private university in Los Angeles and it was very expensive.
It was $55,000 a year. I had to take loans for that. And so fast forward after graduation, all the loans in the reality hits me, and I'm paying $1,200 every single month just to pay my loans, let alone living in Los Angeles. So I didn't get to go on auditions, I didn't get to act, I just had to work multiple jobs to try to make ends meet. And I had done that . for so long and so hard, and I was so unhappy. Like I was miserable. I couldn't go out to dinner with my friends. You know, some of my friends had wealthy families that like paid for their education. There's nothing wrong with that, but I didn't have that. And so they'd go to bars and go to restaurants and I'm like, I don't have the money for this.
So I wasn't living a good or exciting or fun life. I was completely drowning in debt and just. Overwhelmed. I honestly felt like I was ill. Like I felt like I was bringing on so much stress and anxiety and torment over my student loans that I was gonna probably get sick. Like, you know what I mean?
Like I really believe in that kind of energy and so fast forward several more years. I meet this guy, he ends up telling me he is gonna move to Montana, and it wasn't until he told me he was gonna move to Montana that I was like, I think I love this guy. I'm super unhappy. I'm super unhappy here.
I'm miserable. I'm making decent money in my jobs, but don't have anything left to show for it. And at the time, I was 22 and. I thought, you know what, what's it gonna hurt to move? Like, I can always move back. I can always do something else, but I am dying in this industry here. I'm, I'm literally dying in Los Angeles.
And at the same time, like, you know, we're told, you know, cut out your coffee. No debt. All that's wrong, you know, and I was doing budgets and all cash and envelopes with my sister, who at the time. Who at the time was going through she was living off food stamps, so she wasn't really the person I should have been getting financial advice from. 'Cause she wasn't where I wanted to be. And at the same time, I'm dressing celebrities like Paris Hilton and Katy Perry and Faith Hill. And I'm seeing like they aren't cutting out their coffees and they don't have cash in envelopes. You know, they got the American Express Black Credit card, you remember that one?
And I, I'd be like, this is cool. And so I knew there had to be another way and so. When he told me he was moving, I thought this is my chance to change something, to change something in my life. I had everything and nothing to lose at the same time I had to do something and whatever that was wasn't gonna happen for me in LA I just knew that I couldn't get ahead, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't keep my head above the water.
So I decided to move to Montana with a guy I had just started dating you know, to a place I had never been with no job. So. Quite a bit of a risk there. And it ended up working out. And this isn't like Prince Charming sweeps her off her feet, and, you know, it's, it's not that story. In fact, it would take us several years to decide what we wanted to do, which was to start investing in real estate.
But at the time my husband, well my boyfriend at the time my husband now had bad credit. We had no money. And yeah, that's where we decided to be like, let's do real estate. And so, the real shift was when he handed me Rich Dad, poor Dad where I understood that there were the different quadrants and passive income.
And definitely opened up something for me to be like, oh, there's another way to look at money besides always selling your time for it. And. I believe there are two quick ways to wealth, not get rich quick, but the two best and quick ways to wealth are through business and real estate. And so we just decided to choose real estate as the vehicle for our financial freedom, which at the time I thought was crazy.
First of all, we didn't have money. Second of all, it was more debt. What do you mean I'm $120,000 in student loan debt and you want me to take a loan on a rental property? Whatcha talking about? Because I had the good credit and so I was like. I couldn't reconcile those things. I just thought it was absolutely crazy.
Asinine. Everybody's telling me I'm crazy, don't do it. Like, you know, debt is wrong and bad and all of these things. And I ended up taking that leap and on that first real estate deal, it paid off $80,000 in my student loans in three years. So I realized that this, this can work we went all in, we went all into real estate and we did that for. The last 14 years, but around year seven was when we really started to be like, whoa, we can do anything we want when we want. We now have enough cash flow that's replaced our job income. And that's a pretty amazing feeling. We were able to pay off that student loan. But it's interesting the emotions around debt because I actually have more debt now than I had then.
But it's all in real estate and I don't feel bad about it. And it's not the same anxiety. 'cause I had to understand. There are different forms of debt and money as a tool, and the more that you learn about it and how to use it, you can actually use it to your advantage and you should. And one thing which is cool about not having any money is we got really good at at learning. How to get other money to make real estate happen. So you know, the banks didn't loan to us at first. It was a lot of private investors and things like that. That took a leap of faith with us, with us. But yeah, that was the big shift for us was really doing that first real estate deal and being like, whoa, we could do this, this, even, even back then, like when it cash flowed like a hundred dollars, we were like, that's amazing.
We probably wouldn't take anything that cash flow to only a hundred dollars now, but to us. It was like, this is possible. This is possible. We can do this. It works. We're not crazy. And we kept doing that until we built up a $15 million real estate portfolio.
I love that whole story because you touched on so many things just there. I mean, even at the beginning, right? You were working the normal path. The path that you were told that this is the way to be successful. Go to uni, get a good job, all of the things. That's exactly the same way that I grew up, until it gets to a certain point where you're like, this isn't working, and I feel like we.
Very similar on that because when my, my husband will remind me of this. Whenever we met, like this was back 14 years ago, I was working four jobs. He's like, you are working four jobs. You're working seven days a week. Because I was doing the same thing as you. I had the cash and the different envelopes and mapped it all out, but I feel like.
Those principles of being able to manage money when you're a young person are still so timeless. However, yes, there is a different way to do it. So you touched on there too. Debt, right? Debt is one of those things that most people, they fear and they move away from, instead of learning how to actually leverage it to earn more, to then earn passive love that book Rich Dad, poor Dad.
It is incredible. I've read it a couple of times and it really does. If you haven't read it, please go read it. Rich Dad, poor Dad. It is going to open up your mind to so many more possibilities because this is something that also, we might touch on this belief, but this, you've gotta work really hard.
Yeah.
gotta work really hard for money. That is debunked in so many different ways. I definitely agree. You've gotta work hard, right? But there are smarter ways to do it. Like you said, leverage debt. There was two areas that you noticed you could actually do that. Whether you wanted to earn money from business or whether you wanted to go into real estate and look how quickly it started to cash flow.
Yeah.
But you have to be intentional, right? So be intentional. And also begin to start debunking those money myths. I like to call 'em money myths, money blocks, same thing that you were taught about money. So let's dive into some of that.
Mm-hmm.
were some of the money blocks or money myths as I like to call 'em, that you had to debunk to actually make this happen, especially when it comes to debt and working hard and smart, all those things.
What were the ones that came up for you?
I'll share some, but I have to just lay it out there that I had to change everything I believed about money. It wasn't just a few things. It was I had to unlearn everything I'd ever known about money, how to make it, how to look at it, how to view it, how to spend it, how to save it, how to invest it.
Literally everything. I will give you a few of my money influencers that impacted me that I had to work. Through and you still work through. It doesn't matter what income level you get to, you have these, these myths. You have these, what I call money influencers that impact you at every stage, but you get better at recognizing, is this true?
Like, is this, is this my past story? Is this my, I like to say poverty mind or prosperity mind? Is this my poverty mind? Poverty mind speaking to me right now, trying to make me believe what I used to believe about myself or is this fear, you know, like what is the scarcity mind telling me right now and how do I shift that perspective into the prosperity mind? And I think for me, the biggest one was if you have debt, you cannot be financially free. And that was just. Drilled into me and I was so confused because here I was told to go to school at all costs. Right? Get a good job go to school, get a good job. That's what you do. But not everybody has a ton of money to save up for college.
And I didn't have grants and loans and things like that either. So yeah, I could've gone to a cheaper college. I still would've come out with debt 'cause I had no money. So so I think like that was the hardest thing to understand was. of all, I don't know who decided that being debt-free is synonymous with being financially free.
I know a lot of debt-free broke people. I know a lot of debt-free broke people. So what is financial freedom? And for me, it was not working a job I hated until I was 65. And then, and then only then travel the world. I was like, no, no, no. I wanna travel the world when I can experience it fully and not through the view of a tour bus. So, I made it a priority to like focus on that and. So I had to unlearn these beliefs around debt. I also had to learn like there's a lot of wealthy people that have a ton of cash that don't use their cash. They still use debt. Why? Like what is this tool? And I, unfortunately, the things that were taught, I mean, the fact that I could even sign on a 50, $55,000. year loan at 18 years old is predatory lending to me. I just think that it's so wrong. I couldn't go get a car, but I can sign on that, you know, I couldn't get a lease. I had to have my mom on a lease for like a house with some of my friends in college. I wasn't even old enough to, to get that or have the credit score to get that.
But I can sign on $55,000 a year. This is stupid. This is totally stupid. and so. We are only taught consumer debt. I don't like to use good debt, bad debt. I don't like to use emotions and feelings with money. I don't like to give money emotions. I mean, you are emotional when you spend and stuff, but I don't like to give money, emotions, and so you have leveraged debt and consumer debt.
Unfortunately, you are shoved in your face and I think now more than ever for the youth. Like you see your favorite YouTubers just throwing Lamborghinis out there like that was nothing. Right? So now more than ever, you're trying to keep up with the Joneses. And so we're taught really easily to go get that credit card and just put it on there and deal with it later. That's not a problem. But no one teaches real estate investing. They'll teach you about a home mortgage, but they don't teach you about a mortgage for a renter. And how that is different and how it doesn't matter if you're paying interest on a loan as long as a property cash flows and you have a tenant that's paying down the property.
'cause you have so many tax. Benefits you're gonna have you know, appreciation. You're gonna have this asset that's making you money for years to come, if not your lifetime. So you don't learn about any of that. You just kind of get pushed into this consumer debt hole, you know? And so
Yeah.
big belief that all debt is wrong and I won't be financially free unless I'm completely debt free.
'cause what that also did to me too, carla is, what that did was it made me only focus on the debt. So I couldn't even focus on anything else. I couldn't focus on making more money. I was selling literally all of my time. I was working as much as I could. And there's only so much, you know, that you can do. And so it had me focusing on all the wrong things. It had me focusing on my depravity, on my lack, especially in my budget, right? I'm, I'm working so hard, but I can't enjoy my coffee like. Shame on me. If I spend $5, which I didn't put it on a credit card, but I spent it and someone's telling me that it's this one thing that's keeping me broke, And I'm like, decided that coffee was the thing? 'Cause I've read it and I'm sure you have too.
Oh yeah,
So many books. Every time I read it in a book, I stop, I stop reading the book. I'm like, I can't. I can't because there's no books out there for men. Like written by men for men telling 'em, cut out your golf membership and skip your beer.
Like, 'cause
no.
gonna get you the breakthrough. And so I'm not into that like guilt and that $5 thing and, because I was so focused on debt, I could only focus on, well, what could I cut out? What could I cut out? You know I can make more, but what could I cut out and how do I roll?
Roll that over. And I was fixated. And I think, that this thought, it makes you actually scared more into poverty.
Yeah.
just like so afraid. You're not taking risk, you're not getting a new job. You're in your comfort zone, like it just scares you into poverty. And so I think that that really was a huge thing for me that really hung me up for a long time.
Yeah, and look, let's talk about that because that whole cutting expenses there is only so much that you can cut, but then you are not experiencing any fulfillment or any joy in your life, and that doesn't make it fun. I'm a hundred percent on the same page as you because I believe that you can save, you can invest, you can pay down debt, and you can also live your life all at the same time.
Yeah.
It is just about being intentional around where you're spending your money. So when you said about not giving money, emotion, it's a neutral tool. It is just like a pen. But it's however you feel emotionally about it depends on how you're going to use said pen or money, right? So it doesn't need to be so emotional.
But the thing is, we're not taught about it and you hit the nail on the head there. We're not taught about it. We're not taught about in schools, we're not taught about taxes. You're not taught about investing. You're not even taught about business and how to be an entrepreneur in schools.
Mm-hmm.
are literally, what I wrote down when you were talking is the system is rigged to keep you broke.
Yes,
Maybe that is what we need to call this podcast because it is, it is. It is rigged to keep you in a certain cycle, and you are only going to learn how to get out of that cycle and how to do things different because here's the kicker. Nothing will change if nothing changes. We've all heard that before, right?
It's not gonna change. But then how are you supposed to change when you don't know or you don't have people in your environment, in your circle that are doing different things. It's about stepping out of it and like you said, those. That whole cut the coffee. It's the $5 coffee. It's never the $5 coffee.
It's actually got nothing to do with the $5 coffee. It's about these emotional spending habits and behaviors.
Yeah.
around not feeling safe, having more money and being able to hold more money or the knowledge to. Being able to grow that money. It's actually got nothing to do with $5 coffee.
Treat yourself. Buy the damn coffee, right? Buy the damn coffee. That's the name of Janine's book. Buy the damn coffee because it doesn't matter. That $5 is not gonna keep you broke.
Right, right.
going to be all the emotional behaviors that actually keep you stuck, right? Because again, lack of safety, I.
It's not the money in your wallet that's keeping you broke, it's what's in your head about money. And I talk about, in my book, I have a whole chapter on your three money influencers, and it really comes down to like, what did you hear? What did you learn and what did you experience? And you might have multiple examples of that from multiple people who influenced you.
Multiple things that people say what society says, you know, like, where do we, that's where it's like, where did I get that? If you were debt free or financially free? Well, I mean, we all know who we got it from, sme Ramsey, you know, like, you know, you know what I mean? We all know where that came from and that was his story and his event.
And you know, he went almost. Well, I think he did file bankruptcy investing in real estate, and so he got burned, and so he never wanted to deal with that again. And so he built his entire mountain in life and business and career on that. There's nothing wrong with that. I do think that like some people are so out of control with their money.
You need Dave Ramsey. You need to be able to like, you know, and if you, if you like his personality and you mesh with him and you know, every coach, every money person, you're gonna relate to differently. It was, he was never my vibe. Not, not. To a hit on him. He just wasn't my vibe. I didn't wanna be told I was stupid.
I didn't believe that this was the only way to financial freedom. And I definitely knew and understood that there was another way. So, yeah. I think too when, when you say like you have to change something in your mindset, why I am moved. I could not. that in my circumstance in LA for several reasons.
One, I was around a lot of people who, money didn't matter to them, but it did matter to me and I was hurting myself more financially trying to keep up with them. So I needed to leave, I needed to get out of that situation. I needed to start somewhere fresh that I could actually start making money like.
Actually see it in my account and build. I couldn't do that with all of my bills in Los Angeles. I wasn't living in a really nice apartment. I was living in a studio apartment that was filled with cockroaches, and it was so bad that literally I would come home late at night and I would put my purse down, all the lights were off.
I would open up my door, turn on the light, and start stomping in as many as I could. Like,
Wow.
infested my apartment was. Okay. So I wasn't in luxury and I was still paying over a thousand dollars for this stupid apartment that I couldn't eat in, sleep in or shower in because like, it was disgusting. So I wasn't like being frivolous. I just was in an environment that did not allow me to thrive. And, and you might be in that right now if you're listening to this. You might be in that right now. If you want something to change, you have to do something to change it. And it might be a move, maybe it's a move in a career, a move in your life, a move in a job, a move in a relationship. Like I had to change everything. It was my personality. I understand it's risky, like maybe I have a higher tolerance for risk. 'cause I moved across, I moved to a place I'd never been with a guy. I'd just started dating with no job. That's pretty risky. But like I said, like. I also am resilient and if it didn't work out, I'd figure something out too.
But I, I knew nothing was going to improve where I was. 'cause I had been in this cycle of just endless working and not seeing any money in my bank account. So sometimes you just gotta make that big pivot in that big shift in order to actually change.
And you touched on something there too, your environment. It's not just where you are living and the lifestyle that you're living in. I suppose that pressure to keep up with the Joneses, right? But it's also the people that you surround yourself with. Like you said, the people you were with, they weren't worried about money.
They had money, they had backings, they could do whatever, but you trying to fit in with them just kept you feeling lack and scarcity with your money. So you had to move. So. I think for everyone listening here, it's not just your physical environment, but it is also those relationships, those connections that you have, they are really going to dictate your bank account.
And it does sound, I suppose, cliche, but you do become the average of the people, the five people. I don't know whether it's five, but you know it sounds good.
They always say it's five. It sounds good.
You do become the average of the people that you hang around because you're going to adopt their mindset. You're going to adopt their habits, their behaviors, and.
One thing that I notice, and you probably pick up on it a lot too, is around people's language, around money, finances. This is too expensive. That's too expensive, you know, oh, they're rich, they're greedy. They just have every, you know, all of these things. Even those little comments, those little complaining, the whinging around money and the cost of money and how everything's so expensive and people, and what they do with it, the judgment, the jealousy, whatever it is.
Yep.
All of those are one triggers to see what it is that you actually want, right? And two areas that you need to evolve and let go of because the more that you complain, the more that you're going to keep yourself stuck in that cycle, and you'll never cultivate and abundant mindset.
Mm-hmm.
do you have to say about that?
Did you have to let go of relationships as well?
I mean, I moved away from my family. I actually like in, I love, like I love my family, but I, this is the first time I've lived in the same state with my sister in 30 years.
Yeah.
and what's really interesting is I. I see her a lot now. She lives in Arizona. I live in Arizona, and she always says, oh, this is bougie.
That's her new thing. This is bougie. 'cause I'm in Scottsdale, and she's like, oh, we're going to a bougie restaurant. Oh, this, getting ready to close on a house. She's like, oh, this is a bougie house. You know? And like, I'm like, you know that's your money story, right? At least she's read my book so I can like call it out.
I'm like, you know, that's your money story, right? Like. I have asked her, I'm all, can you stop using the word bougie? Like, what does that even mean? It's your insecurity because you see wealth differently. You still see it in that, that scarcity, poverty mindset. And every time you say that, it like, brings me down and I'm not interested in having it.
You know, I just went out to dinner with, I don't know the combined net worth of people, but I'm talking like. The one guy was like he goes, oh yeah, I was a consultant to like the Czar of Dubai, and I was like. Okay. Like, that's so cool. And you know what I loved about that dinner is I was the brokest in the room. That's the kind of room you wanna get in. If you actually wanna grow and be pulled up and out of your circumstance. You gotta get into a room of people who are doing something with their life, and they're not gonna let you in that room unless you've changed your relationship with money. Because no one wants to be with Debbie Downer who's like, everything's bougie.
This dinner's bougie. These people are bougie. Like, no, these people are business owners, entrepreneurs, risk takers. And it's amazing. And I'm inspired and I'm motivated by it. Every time. And I'm like,
that's why we moved down here so that we could be around more of that entrepreneurial energy. We were kind of in a little bubble in Montana, you know, great quality of life, love it, have great friends there, great community.
But I wasn't being expanded anymore personally and professionally. I wasn't being expanded. So we took another leap and we moved and it's been really, really great. And it, it's like starting over as far as like. Being a small fish in a big pond and it's great. I'm learning so many things about myself, but yeah , I stopped taking advice from my sister about money a long time ago.
Okay. Like I, 'cause I didn't realize she was on food stamps and going through these things when she was trying to give me advice and she meant, well my family has always meant well for me, but they didn't know any better. I believe I'm the first millionaire in my family. I don't know of anybody else that, that was able to accomplish that.
So. When you're a trailblazer and you're a family, likely you're gonna leave some family behind, but hopefully you can also raise those ships. You know, a rising tide lifts all ships. And I've seen my nephews start to ask more about investing in other things. And I've been able to influence my family in other ways.
Now my sister's actually getting ready to do, to potentially get a Chick-fil-A franchise. And so that's really exciting. And this will be like some of the best money she's ever made. And I can tell she's like uncomfortable about it, but I'm like, how exciting she's doing something that she probably wouldn't have done, you know, had she not like seen what you can do. And that's what a trailblazer does. They go before you and they help blaze the trail, so you don't have to, they show you what is possible and you can raise up your friends and your family. And if you can't. Sometimes you have to let those people go and it's
Yeah,
hard feelings, you know, you definitely who you surround yourself with matters.
a hundred percent. And the thing is, you can't attract what you judge
Mm-hmm.
You can't attract more than what it is that you are surrounded by. If that is what's consuming your mind because your thoughts consume your mind, they become your beliefs. The more that you're around people who have a belief system that is the opposite of abundance,
the more that you're just naturally gonna operate in that way, even if you consciously think you don't, right?
It just shows in your energy. It shows in your behaviors and your habits. I'm so excited for your sister. That's so amazing and that's such a huge step, right? I love that you touched on that too, that your nephews are now starting to change their relationship with money too. Because I think, especially now for kids, and like I said to you before, I have three kids, so we are constantly teaching them what we didn't know that we wish we did.
You know, like they have investment accounts. Like,
yep, yep.
what, 3-year-old, but I, I wish I'd had that when I was three. But you know, like even that is, is so different. So we're trying to do this now to set them up for when they're older to buy into property. That is our thing. I'm like, this money will not be spent on cars because it's depreciating assets.
Yep.
And my dad taught me many things, but he was like, never spend money on cars
Yep, yep. Yeah. Buy the property. That cash flows enough for you to pay for the car. You know, like that's the thing is you, you gotta buy the assets first. The, the assets are gonna be the thing that helps you find financial freedom for sure.
A hundred percent. Did you have any times of self-sabotage? When you noticed that your income began to grow, your net worth began to grow? Did you have any struggles in being able to hold it? Because you and I both know that. It's always your behaviors, and when people don't feel safe with the money, the more that they earn, the more that they have, the more that those self-sabotaging patterns begin to appear.
Did you have any of those come up?
I mean, yes. I feel like you have those come up, like I said, at multiple income levels for a very long time. I couldn't even say that I was millionaire. I felt uncomfortable about that. I couldn't even say that I was investor. I would say my husband is, even though I'm like, wait, we own the company and we've done it together.
But I'm like, he's the investor. I'm just, you know, like, I just couldn't say it. So yeah, imposter syndrome is real. I mean . I think it's, again, it's like going back to your influencers. What did you hear, learn and experience. When it's so unfamiliar and you are shaping a new identity, it's really easy to get stuck back into the identity you are familiar with. I think it happens all the time. You know, I can't think of a specific moment where like. All my finances went crashing down because of it. But I can remember specific moments where I avoided my finances completely, because I was like, oh, I just can't, it's too much. I didn't wanna log into my bank account and see anything and be faced with the truth, you know?
I was too scared and, and I don't even know if the truth was that bad. I just didn't wanna do it. I wanted to avoid it. There were times, even at the beginning of real estate, when you're going through a learning curve and learning a new skill, it seemed like my husband was like. Totally getting this skill faster than me.
So then I felt really insecure and I didn't wanna ask questions or look stupid with the bank and blah, blah blah. So I would just sign paperwork and kind of let him do it. And then I was like, this isn't helping me learn. And he's not doing it on purpose. He's obviously, I'm like, leave me out of it. I'll just show up at the bank when I need to sign it. And it wasn't until I had a realization like, listen, we're building this together, and if he dies, I'm not gonna know what to do. I'm not gonna know how to handle our assets. I'm not gonna know where things are. I, and I, I certainly trust him, but like if I'm just signing stuff, it's not very financially responsible of me either.
And I remember reading a book prince Charming isn't Coming. I mentioned that book in my book as well. And she had. Grown up in a wealthy family and then, but wasn't taught the knowledge didn't get that passed on, but she was taught you should marry someone that's good with money. So she married a financial advisor.
Turns out this financial advisor had an a gambling addiction and got her millions of dollars worth of debt and then they got divorced. So I'm like, when I heard that, not that I believed my husband could do anything like that, but you never know. And I was like, wow. I'm, what I really learned from that is that I'm the only one that should.
Care and will care more about my financial situation than anybody. Like hopefully when you're in a happy and healthy marriage, you both work together and I really believe in togetherness with your spouse, not separation of your finances, but there was a separation in the learning curve. At least I thought he was scared.
He didn't know things, he just did it anyways. You know, I remember being like, do you understand what the banker just said? And he'd be like, no, but. I feel good about it.
I'm like, oh, you know, just a different, again, a different way to process or take risk, different risk tolerances. yeah, I think that identity shift and that imposter syndrome and telling myself, yeah, my biggest belief was always like wealth and learning how to make stupid money.
Like I call, call it stupid money. 'cause there's, I've, I've just met so many people at stupid amount of money and I'm like, they learn something secret in rooms, and that's not for me. And I believe that for so long. And do I think that that hindered my ability to make me more money?
Yes. Do I think it hindered my ability to keep more money or invest more money? Yes. Because I was like, I was never someone who's like, don't give money because I'm a, I'm afraid I'm gonna be greedy. I always knew my heart. And I think people do that. They're like, money will change me. I don't want anything to do with it. Money doesn't change you. It magnifies who you already are. If you're a greedy person, you're probably gonna be greedy with money. If you weren't a greedy person, you're probably gonna be very generous with money. The easiest way to combat. Greediness is generosity. Try it and you'll be surprised. I don't think you could be a generous, greedy person. So yeah, I had to work through a lot of those beliefs and at different stages in different businesses, even through the failures of businesses. You know, there was almost a near bankruptcy in one of our business deals that we did in our second year of marriage, and I held onto that. Failure.
Like I wore that as a title. I was like, I am a failure and I can't do anything. Right? See, there's the message again. I can't do anything, right? Wealth isn't for me. Look, you tried and you lost half a million dollars and it was like, no, that's not necessarily true. This was a good deal. I actually increased the business quite a bit.
We ended up getting involved with some horrible, greedy people. Turns out that it doesn't matter if you have a contract, if people don't follow through on their contract, then you have to take it to litigation. what we, what we learned from that is like, have multiple strategies, but also bounce back because money can be made again.
Yeah.
Knowledge. When you talk about your kids and the accounts, that's great. You have to teach your kids and the future generations about money. If they don't have the knowledge mixed with the money, they're gonna lose it. It's statistically by the second generation, they're gonna be gone.
They're gonna buy that dumb car and thing that they didn't need. You know, because they don't have the knowledge. I think it's great to pass on money to your family. I think it's even better to pass on the knowledge.
A hundred percent. Well, clearly we're on the same page. We love speaking about the relationship with money and money mindset because that is the most important thing anyone can. Live off a budget if they want to, but it is based on their mentality around money. So that honestly is the number one thing that we focus on with our kids.
My daughter, since the, like since kindergarten age, she was about four or five. She would just say, I love money. I love money. And I'm like, yes you do. Money will provide you everything you ever wanted and you'll be able to give back and you'll be able to do so many incredible things with money. So she's always said that, and some people, this is the kicker.
Some people will hear her say that and be like, what? But I'm like, yes, honey, you do love money. Money loves you.
Yeah, yeah.
But some people feel ick when they hear that. They're like, oh, what? Because they've still got the, the scarcity loop within them,
Mm-hmm.
they haven't broken out of that. But I love it because you're right, it's not just knowing what to do with money when you do have it, but it's actually being able to look at it in a way that it is supportive of you. It's a relationship. It really is. Like you said, you were in a stage of avoidance there once and that didn't help you, that didn't serve you, that didn't grow your wealth, but when you started to take responsibility, you started to get aware of the stories that were repeating itself and you started to actually address them one by one.
And as you said, this is something I do get asked a lot, and you might too, is do you ever just fully get rid of your. Money blocks. Money myths. Money influencers. No.
Nope. They just come up at different times and sometimes they come out and you're like, what? I went shopping gosh, I think this was like two years ago. not, I'm not big on like designer bags. It's not really my thing. Nothing wrong with it, but I do like feeling good in my clothes and things.
I'm not, again, not labels, but. Like just a vibe. I like the vibe, right? So I go to Scottsdale. I'd flown from Montana and I went to Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. And I had a beautiful experience where I had a stylish dressing me. I had a big photo shoot coming up. I got all these outfits. I didn't even realize that they closed.
It was Neiman Marcus. They closed it all down because they were closing early. And so I'm in the fitting room. I didn't even notice the store was closed till I came out. He was absolutely wonderful. I'm going down the escalator, they open up the gates. To me, I feel like I'm a Kardashian right now, like some like private shopping experience.
I felt amazing. I get to the hotel, I'm staying at this beautiful Marriott. I think it's like the original Marriott in Scottsdale, and I. I just start crying and I, I'm like, why am I crying right now? What did I, and it was this shame and this guilt and all this stuff, and I called my husband and I'm like, I am struggling.
Because I had never done that. I had never, like, it felt selfish to me. I had never done that. Usually my husband and I buy trips and experiences together, but I hadn't really like. Bought stuff just for me, you know, it just felt very selfish. And I call him and he's like, I can't wait to see everything you, you got.
I bet you look amazing. Like he's helping me rewire that. And that's, that was part of my money event. I had had this experience in my book that I share where I had had this very similar experience with my mom shopping and. get home and she's like, okay I had a great time. And then she goes, you need to wait till your daddy's asleep, till you bring the bags in.
And it was like I had to hide it, right? There was shame and guilt and stuff around this purchase. And so that had come up. And here I am like a multimillionaire, like buying. Not even that much money worth of clothes, to be honest. And I was crying and I was like, oh, there's the money story. So these things will absolutely come up.
They'll come up at different levels of revenue that you feel like you can't reach or are unattainable 'cause. You might plateau in your sales or something like that, because it is a lot of that mental work that you have to work through to be like, okay, or just like the focusing on the things that are gonna be income generating.
Sometimes we feel like we're distracting, we, we don't wanna do sometimes the hard things that are the things we should be doing Instead, we're like. Maybe posting on social media thinking that's a priority or scrolling or whatever. So it absolutely will affect you at multiple income levels and it will affect you your entire life.
But the cool thing is, is once you identify it and you name it, you know, name it, claim it, like once you do that, you can see it and you can move from it quicker. I really like to use this makeshift framework. It's my last name, MIX, and it's like, what is the message that you're telling yourself? You know.
For me, buying those clothes, the message that I was telling myself is, I'm not worthy of a clothes. Like this is selfish. That was the message that I was telling myself. So the I that, that was the m the I is ask yourself the message that you keep repeating. We usually have the same one over and over again. You know, is it true? Ask yourself and be really honest sometimes in your life, maybe it's true. Sometimes I would think more than not, actually, it's not. Is it true? I'm being super selfish. No, I mean, my husband wasn't there and he didn't buy anything, but, you know, I like clothes, he likes other things, so it's fine. And ultimately I wasn't doing anything like harm our situation or hide it or whatever. So was it true? No. And then what would I rather be telling myself? I look great and I love these clothes. You know, like cross out, that's the XMIX. So the X is cross out that first message and rewrite the new one.
The new one is, I feel great in these clothes and I love them. They were great. It, and it ended up being such a, I felt so confident in that photo shoot. And I can tell you that that photo shoot and, and for that product and the things I was doing made me way more money than the money I spent on the clothes.
So yeah, I think that using the makeshift framework is really easy to identify when you have those stories kind of come up.
Yeah, absolutely. And it's always about that energy in which you are being received by other people too, right? So the thing is, you could have just gone, no, this is selfish. I'm just gonna take it all back. I'm not gonna spend this money. I'm not gonna feel good. But the thing is, that could be the very thing that builds that confidence to put yourself out there because.
The energy in which you feel is how you show up and how you create whatever it is you're creating. Whether it is, you know, a connection with another person, whether it is something on social media. If you feel. If you feel like you're holding back, if you feel like, I can't do this because I'm selfish, I'm this, I'm that.
All these labels that you're identifying with in that moment, it's going to affect how you're received.
Mm-hmm.
especially for women, we are so intuitive. So we can feel that. We can feel, if someone feels insecure, we can feel if something is off. So by you being able to receive that. Which is so hard for women.
It's always that receivership. We can be great at
Mm-hmm.
money and it coming in, but then it's like, oh, I've gotta hold this. I've actually gotta accept this, that I'm worth it.
Mm-hmm.
tied into your self-worth. Right?
Mm-hmm.
you doing that is such a big inner shift, and then it showed up, like you said, in this beautiful photo shoot that you had that made you more money because you felt confident because it was the energy in which was being received from doing that.
I think it's amazing that you did that.
Yeah. Thank you. It was definitely, it was definitely an interesting experience and, and yes, absolutely, there's, whether you're investing in a coach or something in your business, you, you feel like, oh, I don't know. accelerates your ability to make more money. Almost always, if you're open to receiving it.
It is a transferring of energy, you know, money is that way, it's a currency. It flows, you know, you can sit here with money and. You can't save or cut your way to wealth. I don't, I mean, you could save your way to wealth and it's gonna take a very long time and I don't know how with inflation. So,
Yeah, no, I, no, I'm pretty sure inflation is like triple the interest rates if you wanna save it.
Yeah, so like inflation monster is gonna eat your money.
Yeah.
really like you have to be able to multiply your money. You have to learn to invest your money in order to really have that breakthrough. And so, so yeah, I just feel like investing in yourself to, to. Get to that next income level, whether it was for me, the clothes or a coach or these things will accelerate your ability to multiply more and, and, and it is supposed to move through you.
The current, it's supposed to move through you, through other people. And if you're just cutting your way and saving and penny pinching, your, your fists are literally closed. They're closed, you're white knuckled, they're tight, and no money can come through that. You cannot be a vessel for the money to move through if you have closed fists.
So you have to open 'em up a little bit. Release a little bit. Money should be fun. You said that the, at the beginning, like money should be fun. It shouldn't all go to your bills. And then you resent your life and your finances. Like that's fun. 'cause you know what you're gonna do, then you're gonna harm yourself.
You're gonna harm yourself. You're gonna say yolo, you're gonna put stuff on a credit card you couldn't afford because you hate your life and you're not enjoy your money. No part of your budgeting and your money plan should include a percentage for fun. Like
Hundred percent.
with your money. Weird.
You need to be able to live your life, because otherwise at the end of the day, and I always say the whole reason that why this is even here, why this podcast is here, why this business is here, and you are probably the same too, but it's just because I don't wanna get to the end of my life and have regrets.
No.
And of course, yes, I'm always thinking about future self. I'm also thinking about my three children and their futures and all of that. But at the same time, I'm still gonna live my life. But you hit the nail on the head there is. It's not harming the financial situation now or in in the future. It's not affecting the goals, it's not affecting any of our vision, the North Star, right?
But you have to live because if you don't, what sort of a life is that? Are you gonna get to the end of your days and just have no fun experiences? You're gonna be miserable, you're gonna have all this money stacked up, but what's the point?
What's the
Now? It's not money for the sake of money, right? It's money is a tool to live the life that you don't want to escape.
Yeah. Yeah, and I think even more importantly, money is the tool that not only can improve your life and your family's life and your community and those around you, but others, you are blessed to be a blessing and in order to be blessed financially, to have your to receive. need to have to bless and I feel like, so then make more, make more, do more.
Use this tool to do a lot of good. When people say money doesn't matter and it shouldn't matter and you shouldn't focus on it and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay. You know that organization that you love so much that you wanna support? Guess what they need and what they fundraise for all the time. Money, you know what meets a real need in someone's life. Especially if they're hurting, you know, it's a really cool way to show love. And I share a story in my book where my husband went to Iraq and they like laid down money in front of people so that they could buy their daughter back from isis. Like, you wanna show someone love, you can give 'em a hug and tell 'em, I'm, I'm thinking of you, or Can you meet a real need in their life?
Like money has so much ability to change the world and money in, in the hands of good people. on, unstoppable. So let that be the motivation. If you're worried about you and consuming and blah, blah, blah and all this stuff, let that be the motivation that's like, if not for you, then for them,
A hundred percent.
needs it.
There's too much poverty in the world right now, and poverty is not a good thing. You know, there's too much poverty in the world right now for you to stay poor.
You wanna help someone. It doesn't help from your lack, it helps from your abundance. So go change someone's life. Be a vessel for this tool. Be a better manager and steward of this tool so that you can go make a difference with it.
Oh my God. I feel like that was the mic drop moment because you're so right. You're so right in every way. It's just, it is a tool to be able to go and do so much good in the world. And I think too, what popped into my mind when you were speaking as well, is. If you are feeling any guilt around your spending habits, it's probably because you're spending on things that actually don't matter to you.
They're not even aligned with your values. You're trying to buy the fancy bag, the fancy car, or the new clothes, every single paycheck because you're trying to keep up with someone else because there's this image of you that you're trying to stay attached to. It's just your ego, right? That's your shadow coming up.
So if you're feeling like that. It's because you're spending money on the things that you don't actually care about deep down, but you maybe are not willing to accept yet. So start to look into your ego. Start to look into your shadows. What's under the surface? Where are those beliefs coming from? Where are those patterns of behavior coming from?
And start to change those and think, how can I actually do more good with this money? Will I care about the way that I'm spending this money in a few years to come? Is it gonna make a difference? Is it gonna make a difference in my life, in someone else's life? And if it is, you will always feel good about it every single time.
Yep. Yeah, when I used to look at my money and my budget, I used to, you know, I used to avoid it. I was all clammy and like, ah, like I don't wanna, I don't wanna be in this, I don't wanna see it. But the more that you're in it, like I do this thing, money moves Monday. Every Monday I set some time aside to increase my financial knowledge and, and get into my money plan. And so the more I got into it, the more comfortable and more confident, and then the more I realized some of the things I was spending on money. Like you said, it wasn't bringing me any enjoyment. It was digging up a lot of my cash and I was like, oh, I don't actually like those things. Like I don't need those things.
The world's gonna tell you you need something. 'cause it's gonna distract you from your ultimate calling and purpose in your life. I don't wanna be distracted by that, but you're only gonna, I. Be able to identify if you're actually in your money, if you're really in it, you know, it, it seems like very basic, the concept of budgeting.
No one wants to do it, but it's the thing you need to do. I don't like to call it a budget. I like to call it a money plan. It makes me feel better 'cause budgets just like make me cringe. But it's a money plan and it's a full year. You can like really see where you wanna go with it, where you wanna take money, money that's coming in.
You can kind of predict some of the income, especially when you do have a W2 income. You can kind of predict that more than entrepreneurship. But then you can see how much should you actually be paying yourself because you didn't start a business to not pay yourself. Men don't do that. They're like, oh, let me stay in my business for 10 years and not pay myself.
Don't create another job for you that takes you away from your family. Create an income. like a profit center is what I say, create a profit center that impacts your life, but once you're in it, you're able to just prioritize more and be like, oh, this isn't even important to me. I didn't even enjoy, like maybe for me right now in my life, I actually don't enjoy eating out.
It's like it's expensive. I don't feel good after I, maybe I've hit I'm near in 40, maybe I've hit a certain place where just like. and food just hits differently at restaurants now, and I would rather make my food at home, save a ton of money and go spend that in Iceland.
Yeah.
like, you know, I just have a different priority for where I wanna spend that money.
I'd rather have a, an. Experience than an item. And you cannot know that for yourself if you aren't looking at where your money is going. And I always say, your dollar are soldiers. So like, where are your soldiers? And don't let your soldiers fall into cracks that you don't know. There's money there.
Everybody says, I have no time and no money. There is money there , there is time and there is money. You know, and it's just maybe not going to the places that you feel empowered to do, but you don't know that un unless you're really in your money.
Yeah, there's money leaks. I like to call 'em money leaks. There's money leaks everywhere. There's energetic leaks everywhere, and you really just need to be aware of that also, are we like twins because I also call it a money plan.
that's
I don't call it a budget, because the same thing. It's just like a budget is cringe and people are like, Ugh, budget.
You must be broke. But no, you're right. And I honestly. This is one question to everyone who feels resistance using a budget money plan. Call it what you will. Same thing. You need to know what's coming in and what's going out. And I don't believe in tracking every dollar and cent, like I don't have time for that, but everything is automated.
I know exactly what's coming in. I know exactly what needs to go out because then I can tell you at the drop of a hat. Yeah. This costs this to manage our house, our children, all of our everything. It's gonna cost X amount every week, every month, every year. Like. It's crazy,
Yep,
you don't know that, how are you gonna make these decisions?
yep.
are you gonna make decisions if you dunno what's happening? So please remember this. Every, I would say every millionaire, every multimillionaire, every billionaire, every huge corporation. They all have one thing in common, and it is a budget. The ones that you wanna be in the same position as
Right.
they know where their money's going.
They know where it's coming, they know where it's going, and they can predict what's actually going to happen in the future because that's how they make informed decisions. And if you want to adopt any sort of habit, I would say it is that.
Yep. Yep. And it gets easier for those of you who might feel discouraged and like, okay, but every time I open it, maybe you are stuck because you're a perfectionist like me. Like I had to color code it and do all these things. And if I accidentally missed a receipt, I just was like, well, there it is. Then my whole budget screwed up.
No, no. And then you have the start stop cycles. Like, let perfectionism go. It gets better the more you do it. Don't give up. Just keep getting in it. You'll feel more confident. One day you'll be so excited to get in there. One day you'll get to write a check to an organization that you wanted to support, and it's gonna feel like the best thing ever.
One day you're gonna get to pay off that debt that you thought would never go away high. My student loans, you know, like. And you're gonna feel like that was the best thing ever, and you were able to do that because you're in your budget. But it does, it does take time. Give it some time, give it like several months.
You know, you don't have to, like, I'm the same way. You don't have to track every single penny. You know, that could be really tedious. And I like to do it on a spreadsheet versus automated apps because I feel like it kind of gets you to really see the, at least the categories of things like where you're spending money and, and there's something about. You have to be like, oh, I spent that. You know, like, you write it down versus like, oh, it went away and you saw a pie chart, and okay, so our, our food budget went over this month. Like, I don't know, I think there's something more meaningful to typing it in, or you could set up a zap and automation to make that happen too.
But I think there's something to say about looking at that plan and being able to have real time adjustments so that you aren't hurting yourself for a long period of time. The first time I sat down and I did this in my marriage, we were overspending. Buy a lot of money and it was going to eating out, which neither one of us cares for. And we're like, well that's just 'cause we were lazy and we didn't have balance in our life and we were just grabbing something quick to eat. Let's fix that. Let's fix our schedule and our careers around an available time to be able to make dinner. That was a quick, quick solve that saved us thousands of dollars.
I hate saying that, but it was thousands of dollars on just eating out. 'cause we could and we just weren't paying any attention. So,
it's convenience, right?
Yeah. And you can make real time adjustments and not do that for six months. Six months is gonna put you in a bad situation, but you can make real time adjustments if you're looking at it every week.
Every week. Just get your eyes on it real quick, you know? And
Yeah.
feel better. It will feel better.
It definitely will. Well, I love this conversation and I honestly could talk to you for days because this is, I feel like we just speak the same language and pretty much just us riffing on the things that we love.
I know. I'm like, we are very similar and I'm, I love being on this podcast. I love what you're doing for women and encouraging them with their finances. We obviously have so much in common there that like, obviously I felt like the universe probably wanted us to come together so.
A hundred percent. And look, I just wanna thank you too for everything that you are doing in the world because I think it's amazing. I love that you are putting yourself out there. I love that you're speaking about money. I love that there are just more and more women like us actually getting out there and speaking about it and not, you know, money for the sake of money.
It's money in your relationship with it so that you can go out there and you can change the world. So. Thank you so much for coming along and joining me. I frigging loved it. And Janine, just real quick, where can everyone find you? And also all the links are in the show notes as well.
come and hang out with me on Instagram. That's where I hang out at Janine Mix. And then I also have a link for you guys, your listeners, janine mix.com/mmh. And there's my five step money planner on there. It's totally free. It's a Google Drive document. You can use that and to start, start today.
Start now. It's never too late. You can also get a link to my book on that too. So but come and connect with me and let me know what you liked about this. Podcast, what stood out and what kind of breakthroughs you're having? I absolutely love connecting with more people who wanna grow their finances.
It's like the best, isn't
Yeah,
when like, you end up ma making like internet besties around like entrepreneurial driven women who want to be the trailblazers for their family.
And maybe for someone listening, you could be the next multimillionaire in your family. The first, maybe you could be the first just by simply getting awareness and starting change habits and behaviors with money. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I really hope that you enjoyed it. And be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any of the incredible future episodes and guests that we have coming up for you. And if you haven't already subscribed to our email list, be sure to do so because we have some pretty epic things coming this year, as well as the magazine will be sent to our subscribers every single month to help you with all things, money and mindset, personal development and entrepreneurship.
The world needs more kindhearted, women like you with deep pockets. I'll catch you in the next episode.