Episode 197- How to Rewire Your Brain for Wealth and Financial Success w/ Barbara Huson

Jamila Souffrant 0:00

You're listening to the Journey to Launch podcast How to Rewire Your Brain for Wealth and Financial Success with Barbara Huson.

Intro 0:11

Welcome to the Journey to Launch podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant. As a money expert who walks her talk, she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom.

Jamila Souffrant 0:36

Hey, hey, hey journeyers Welcome to the journey to launch podcast. I hope that you are having a wonderful start. We're still in January. So like start to the new year. It's still the start of 2021 depending on when you get to listen to this episode, if you're listening when it drops, but as always, I'm wishing you a very successful year, and to help you actually not just like wishing you to make it happen. But to actually help you. I have a really special guest on the podcast to help us all rewire our brain for wealth and financial success. Today's guest is Barbara Huson. Now Barbara Houston was formerly known as Barbara Stanny. And she is the leading authority on women wealth and power. She's a best selling author, financial therapist, teacher and wealth coach. She has written books, previous books, let me know if you heard of them. Some of the previous books that she's written, one "Overcoming Under Earning: A Five Step Plan to a Richer Life" next book she's written, "Prince Charming Isn't Coming, How Women Can Get Smart About Money." And her newest book is called "Rewire for Wealth: Three Steps Every Woman Can Take to Program Her Brain for Financial Success." I am really honored to have Barbara on this podcast because as you'll hear in the interview in the conversation, she has a deep background, understanding how wealth works, how our mind works, bridging the, you know, technical side of money with the psychological and mindset side of it, right? I always say, it's not that you don't know what to do. You know, it's like, why aren't you doing it? And so Barbara really breaks down this in her work about how can we rewire our brains so that we can reach the stage of financial wealth and financial independence and freedom that we are all searching for.

First, a word from today's sponsor. As we are in the beginning of a brand new year, it's the perfect time to get focused and committed to your financial goals. Not only is it great to reflect on your money wins and lessons learned from the previous year, but it's the perfect opportunity to set and commit to your financial goals for the year ahead, take time to reevaluate your current financial tools, banking situation, and consider joining your local credit union if you're not already a member, for example, digital Federal Credit Union, better known as DCU is committed to providing their members with the financial products and services they need to help them achieve their financial goals. Not only does DCU offer free online education for the members on many topics, including saving, building credit and budgeting. DCU also offers products that can help members establish or improve their credit. To learn more, check out dceu.org and stick around to the end of the show for the DCU money Tip of the Week. Well, I'll be sharing tips to help you save and manage your money so that you can reach your goals.

Jamila Souffrant 3:33

Hey, journeyers Welcome. Welcome back. You know, I am always getting inbound requests, which I guess comes with the territory now as having a podcast that people are listening to, especially from authors, right that are you know, putting out works of art, which you know, when it comes to personal finance, especially books around money, a lot of it can sometimes repeat itself, right the way that the author writes or just the content. And so when I got the email from Barbara, who you'll hear, you know, Barbara Stanny formely Barbara, Barbara standing but now Barbara Huson.

Jamila Souffrant 4:08

Her team reached out about coming on about her new book that she has out and it's not this your book, Barbara, like the new one that you had out, you have such an incredible like, history of writing really impactful books in personal finance. I was excited to finally like, you know, have you on the show and to have you actually share your insight on everything I can't even like really pinpoint yet its subject. But I want to talk about, obviously your new book, and then your previous work, but I just want to welcome you to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast. Barbara.

Barbara Huson 4:41

Thank you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Jamila Souffrant 4:44

And I actually started to read your book. I didn't finish it your new book, and I was really impressed by how you merged all the things that I actually find. Whether it's the real personal finance, like the the metrics and the numbers but also like the emotional and psychological and the neuroscience of it, which is what you did with this latest book. And so I want you to talk through, because I love, there's a point in your book where you said, You lost the passion with your work at some point. And then you open an article and was reading about neuroscience. And you were like, that's it. That's the missing link on to why people are not sticking, or having the results they want with their finances. So I want you to talk you through what led you to your newest work of art with your book, and how you knew that this piece of neuroscience was what was going to be your next passion and helping people.

Unknown Speaker 5:37

through it.

Barbara Huson 5:38

I've been working with women and coaching them financially for 25 years. And let me just Can I just give you a little background because honestly, every book I write is what I want to learn every book, because I grew up, not knowing squat about money. I grew up wealthy. I grew up very wealthy. My father was the R of h&r block. And the only advice he ever gave me about money was Don't worry. And so I didn't, I thought that was great advice. But it turns out a married man who was a compulsive gambler, I didn't know that he was a stockbroker. But he turned out to be a compulsive gambler, and he lost a fortune of my money. And I'm not stupid, I have a graduate degree. But I continued to let him manage the money, because that's how terrified I was by anything financial. And finally, after our divorce, I decided I didn't want to I did not want to deal with money. Well, I have this theory, if you don't deal with money, your money will deal with you. And I got tax bills for over a million dollars, I did not have over a million dollars. It was for back taxes. My ex didn't paper legal deals, he got us in, he left the country, my father wouldn't lend me the money. And that's when I knew I had to get smart because I had three little ones. And I did not want to raise them on the street. And it was, I couldn't figure money out, I couldn't figure it out. My eyes would glaze over, my brain would fog up. And I was working as a journalist and for the San Francisco Business Times, and I got hired for friedens project to interview women that were smart with money. And those interviews changed my life. And I wrote, I not only got smart about money, but I wrote my first book, Prince Charming isn't coming, a woman gets smart about money. And then I've written I'm now on my eighth book.

But for me, it's always been a struggle. To make money, to figure out money to make money. And always I write my books, because I want to know, and my latest book, which is called "Rewire for Wealth." So I've been helping women empower women financially, for like, like I said, over 20 years and about six years ago. And I love what I do. I love what I do. It's like It's like what I was born to do. It's like, it's my god given destiny. But about about six, seven years ago, I started losing interest. And it's like, I, I lost interest. It's like, it was like something's missing. I don't know if there's something missing in my life, that I shouldn't be working anymore, but something was missing. And so I think it's very important that we get these signs, these internal signs to pay attention. I could have powered through, but I didn't. I stepped back. And I prayed. And I said, If something's missing, show me. So I was just, you know, I was going on I was on my email, I was looking in my inbox. The article about neuroscience showed up. And I knew nothing about neuroscience. But as I read that article, it's like something in me just went Ding, ding, ding, ding, you look like a slot machine. You won, you won the prize, ding, ding, ding, ding. And suddenly, I thought, this is the missing piece. And if I could integrate neuroscience, the study of the brain, with the other components I've long been working with, with the psychology, the study of the mind, spirituality, particularly mind training, as taught by their numerous spiritual approaches, and personal finance. I thought I had something there.

And so I started practicing on my clients, I started giving retreats. I started just modifying it. And I came up with this next book.

Jamila Souffrant 9:31

Yeah, and I'm actually glad to walk through the history of just you writing things that you needed at the moment. And in your book, I love that you gave a reference. So when you talk about earning money, and you said that someone said you were you were under earning. And so one of your books that actually people recommend or talk about a lot is overcoming and under earning. And that wasn't the book where you wrote where you said you were interviewing the six figure woman was it or was it

Barbara Huson 9:56

What happened is after I wrote Prince Charming Isn't coming, I got very savvy about money, I understood how to manage it, you know, but I didn't know how to make it. And I was traveling all over the country. And I was working my ass off. And I didn't know how to make it. And I remember going to this financial counselor. And she said to me, Barbara, you're an under earner. And I said, No, I'm not. I'm a writer, cuz everyone new writers make money. And that was the beginning of me, trying to figure out how to overcome under earning.

Jamila Souffrant 10:29

And here's the thing, guys listening journeys, listening, you were in the space, talking about money already, and still had a blind spot still yourself was not, whether it was demanding your worth or your market, and understanding your market. But you still had these hiccups within the personal finance space, teaching other women and people to make and handle their money.

Barbara Huson 10:53

Oh, honey, I always say to everyone, I've been doing this for 25, over 25 years, when I got my shit together, I'm out of here. And I still haven't gotten it all together, there's always something more to learn. There's always challenges. It's not about being perfect. It's about being as good as you can be.

Jamila Souffrant 11:15

But I love that because it just shows the realness. And even I relate to that so much. Because while people look to me as an expert in the space, and I'm leading them on their financial journey, I am still within my own journey on when it comes to my money blocks, and my money hang ups about earning and like all that still happening within me. But I just love that you were so real about just like your realization that wow, I'm not earning enough myself.

Barbara Huson 11:40

But I love that you are using your, you're being transparent like this. because the world needs role models, like you just say, you don't have to have it all together, to what you're here to do. You know, we are here to serve. And if we wait to we're perfect, or we got it all together, then we're not doing what we're here to do. And that's a waste of a life.

Jamila Souffrant 12:04

Yeah, I want to get into the neuroscience part of this. Because you know, the personal finance, like the logistics of you know, you need to budget the you need to earn more, you need to spend less, kind of like investing one on one all like the things that we can get informational wise, like, there are tons of articles and podcasts and courses to find that, even with the spiritual part of it, you know, like, I do love that now adays, maybe it's just me, because I'm becoming more spiritual and more aware of my own, just how I move in the world, and how like, you know, my energy levels and how that relates the money, that I see more of it and other people's work. So that's good, but I think people kind of get that too. Like, they say there is a spiritual side to money, but the neuroscience piece of it like so even if you get all that other stuff, right? Even if you get like the, you know, you understand, like, what a 401k is, and even if you know, you feel like you have a strong spiritual groundedness, you know, in your beliefs, and you know, you have a positive mindset and all this stuff. If you don't understand how your like brain is wired, that still is like the missing link to why things don't connect. Right?

Barbara Huson 13:13

Exactly. Because we may know we need to contribute to our retirement, to why aren't we doing? We may know, we need to follow a budget. So why aren't we doing it? We may know we need to save more. So why aren't we doing it? And that's, that's where I was very interested. And so what neuroscience taught me is that the mind and the brain work together, the brain is a physical organ in our skull, and it works on electrical chemical impulses, and the brain controls all our behavior, inhaling exhaling, saving spending is all controlled by our brain. The mind is not an organ, the mind is a non physical entity, that is the source of our thoughts and feelings. And the two work in tandem. What flow flows through the mind changes the brain, what flows to the mind reinforces whats in the brain. So if you want to change your behavior, which the mind control, you must change your thought which because the brain that the mind is the master, the brain is the servant. And so however, the brain does not want to be changed the brain those every thought that you think let's say you're having a thought about I'm not enough, or I don't have enough. And every time you think that thought, I don't have enough, I'll have enough or I'm not enough.

Nobody, that thought goes into the brain, all these chemicals and electrical impulses are released. And it deepens the current neural pathway, or it starts building the new one. And so the key is, how do you shift your thoughts, but it not just shifting your thoughts, because there's neural pathways are so strong, they're like, they have the force of gravity, that they'll actually suck you in and just stick you in, and you feel helpless to change plus when you go to change the box. those chemicals that release your body literally gets gets addicted to those chemicals. And so when you go to change, your body screams your brain screams No, no, don't do that. And then every time you're tired or stressed, you just can't find it. You just can't find it. So I created a simple, but not easy, simple system to help you shift your thoughts, shifting your thoughts. This is not the hard part. It's making sure they reprogram the brain. That is where the challenge is.

Jamila Souffrant 16:11

Yeah, I love that you went through that. Because for someone like myself, who's getting more into the like, spiritual and just mindfulness and it's been there, but now definitely integrating in my work. And as an entrepreneur in my business, right. Like, sometimes I'm just like, okay, I just want the spirituality like that should just be enough. Like, if I meditate, and I, you know, think positive, that should be enough to change my reaction to certain things or my behavior to certain things. And but I realized that's not like what you're saying, like with the brain, like your brain is such like the ego, the monkey mind is so persistent, to keep you beholden to, you know that.

Barbara Huson 16:52

There's another part to that.

Jamila Souffrant 16:53

Yeah.

Barbara Huson 16:54

So there's all this talk about the law of attraction, right? We get what we focus on, we want a new car, we think only about the car, we imagine ourselves driving the car, we imagine we have the money coming in. But the problem is, what they don't talk about is the law of congruence. And that is, it's a universal law that we get what we want, not what we asked for. So let's say you are asking for more money, I want more money, I want to be wealthy. But if a part of you, if what you, if a part of you thinks that money is bad, or the people who have it are bad, or people won't like you, if you have it, then that's not what you really want. What you want is to stay safe to be liked and that's how your brain is wired. And here's the thing, your brain is wired by your beliefs. And so there's such a thing called confirmation bias, that you will not see anything, your brain will not literally not see anything that contradicts your beliefs. If your thought is I don't have enough, I don't have enough. And you're it's wired into the brain, then unconsciously, you will start behaving in ways that will make sure you don't have enough. And this can be very frustrating. Right?

Will power alone will never do it. It will never do it. And we make ourselves crazy. And then we feel bad. And we feel terrible, which only gets embedded in our brain that we're awful. And we're lazy, and we're losers and all of that.

Jamila Souffrant 18:35

Yeah, so okay. So I know right now everyone's like, all right, you convinced me. It's not just willpower. There's wiring that I need to do to my brain. So what is that process? What does it look like to do that?

Barbara Huson 18:47

Okay, I will tell you, I will tell you the process, I will tell you this three steps. I will explain them a little bit. And then I'll maybe I'll give examples. While I'm explaining. I don't know what I'm gonna do, okay. The three steps are, recognize, reframe, and respond differently. Okay, recognize, reframe, and respond differently. Recognize means you notice, when you are having a negative thought, you just notice, you observe it like an objective bystander, you say, Oh, I'm having a thought that I'm stupid. I'm having a thought that I can't do this. I'm having a thought that I don't have what it takes. So you have that thought. And you notice not with judgment, not with criticism, you notice with curiosity. Isn't that interesting? I'm having a thought about. So first of all, you can't change anything until you're aware of it. So this creates awareness. Second, by saying Isn't that interesting? It creates a separation. Isn't that interesting? I'm having a thought about and you say and then you can say that's the way my brains wired. It's not the truth. It's the way it was my parents drew it was my teachers truth, it was a society, it's not the truth. So when you can see that, when you recognize it, the second step is to reframe it.

And that is the reframe. How can I see this differently? And there are good zillion ways. And there's no one way and there's no, there's no right way. There's no wrong way. But the idea is to reframe it, to see it differently. I'll give you an example of mine. So last week, my team, we came up with this project that I was going to do. And I had never done a project like this. And I was, so I felt like I didn't have what it takes. I just this this, and I've had this before. And I've worked on it before, but I never really rewired. And it came up again, I don't have what it takes. And I started to just say and argue with my team. I don't want to do this. And my team was very persuasive and persuaded me, I thought, okay, I noticed that I'm having a thought, but I don't have what it takes. This is not the truth. It feels like the truth, but it's not the truth. It's been wired in me since childhood. And I know where it came from. Isn't that interesting? And I said, Okay, how can I reframe that. And I said, Oh, I have what it takes. But that didn't feel to me. And so what I did is I played around with it for a few seconds, I thought,

I can handle this. That was my refrain, I can handle this. Whatever comes up, I can handle this. So I'm showing you a little post it note I wrote, I can handle it. And so I didn't believe it. And you don't have to believe or reframe, you don't have to. But what you do is you reframe it. And then you replace it with your current thought, and then you respond differently. Well, what I wanted to do was nothing, I wanted to say I don't want to do this, I'm stopping. But what I did is I went ahead and I wrote the script, and I wrote the emails, and I did what I needed to do. And what happens is you keep doing as you keep recognizing, reframing and responding differently. Those old neural pathways get weaker, and the new neural pathways get stronger. And what once seemed like, nothing in my body, or my brain wanted to write those scripts suddenly became easier. And I started getting ideas. Because when you reframe and you start reprogramming, your brain starts looking for ways to make that a reality. And the project was I had great time to do it.

Jamila Souffrant 22:42

And you talk about this, the self efficacy, Did I say that right?

Barbara Huson 22:47

You did a great job. I always get like, okay, so self efficacy trips up. Let's talk about that.

You know, something you're the first person to ask me about. And this is, so they have found studies have found that the reason women aren't better with money, particularly with investing is they lack the confidence. Women, we know, we want to get smart, we know we need to protect ourselves. And we really want to learn. And as you said in the beginning, there's so many resources out there, why don't we and it's because we lack the self efficacy. And efficacy is the belief that I can succeed. It's the belief is not just the knowledge because when I wrote my first book, Prince Charming isn't coming. I can't tell you how many financial professionals, mortgage brokers stockbrokers, bankers came up to me and said, This is what I do for a living but my own finances are a mess. I see it and hear it all the time. Because while they have the knowledge, they don't have the efficacy, they don't have the belief that they can do it. And that's what needs to be programmed in. And that's the way our brain needs to be rewired.

Jamila Souffrant 24:12

You know I want to hop in there because I think this is this is the if there's one thing that I could teach my children were passed down because I do believe I have this and even if there are things I don't think I can do well like I'm just like I it's gonna work it's gonna work I'm gonna figure it out right like that's just my like natural it's not natural part of his natural part of it I work on right. But this is the thing that if I could tell anyone not about like being good at math. It's not about you know, being super disciplined or having a natural ability about any of this stuff that we're talking about. Like if there's one thing I can like just beam to everyone right now is this quality because with this, like it doesn't even matter. Like you'll succeed at anything. And if it's not that first thing that you're looking to do the next thing you like, it's really just like this idea that like there's no way you can fail, even when you fail, it's a launching pad to something else. And I think that this is the thing that really, I don't know, I just, it's really, it's just a powerful thing that I wish more people understood and if they don't feel that way about themselves could start to figure out how to do that. So how can one do this now if they feel like they don't have this kind of belief in themselves,

Barbara Huson 25:19

That's where the rewiring, comes, that's where the rewiring comes. It comes from, you don't have to believe anything. I can tell myself, I can handle this. And I promise you, I did not believe it. But what's great is our brain is very malleable, they call it plastic. And it's always changing, always changing. And so if you tell yourself something often enough, just tell yourself, act on it. And if you fall down, you get back up, and you keep going. Eventually, the disbelief in your brain will weaken. And the belief those neural pathways, those those neural circles will get stronger. Because as Henry Ford once said, believe you can believe you can't. Either way you'll be right. So it is up to us to strengthen the neural pathways that have us believing we can do it.

Jamila Souffrant 26:23

Yeah, and you know, oftentimes you said this in the book, like our ego has a lot to do with what prevents us from going I just want to like read like this excerpt because I thought it was really good. So it says, The ego urges you to hide and craves the comfort of the familiar, the soul pushes you to shine, favoring the uncertainty of the unknown. We're all success lies. The ego makes excuses. The soul takes action. The ego focuses on your flaws, constantly comparing yourself to others insisting you're either better than or less than the soul is filled with compassion for self and others remind you of your gifts. Here's what you need to firmly Keep in mind, the ego always speaks first and loudest. So I thought that this again, goes back into why you know, if you're listening to this, and you are picking up patterns on why maybe certain things are not working, you tried before and things are not working that picking up on what's really, what do you What's that voice that you listen to the one that speaking loudest? Usually which is the ego. Right?

Barbara Huson 27:22

So elaborate a little bit on that. Yeah, it was fun hearing you read my words back to me. It's very fun. I have to tell you. When you write your next book, you will understand what I'm talking about.

Jamila Souffrant 27:35

Well, my first book, I haven't written my first one yet.

Barbara Huson 27:37

I know you haven't. But that's your next book. Okay, wow.

I have a feeling you're going to write a book. I don't know why. Okay, anyway, that that's another thing. So we all have two voices in our head, as you said, one is the ego. And one is the soul. The ego is not bad. The ego sole purpose is to protect you. And it learned how to protect you when you were a child, what you learn as a child how to survive. And survival for a child means getting love, attention and approval. So you learned very early on and your ego learned very on how to get love attention and approval. But what helped us survive as a child will suffocate as an adult. So I learned very early, my mother told me very early when I was three years old, my earliest memory, and I asked her how much money she had. And she looked at me, and it was like, I got the message, you do not talk about money. You do not. So my ego. When I was going through, my husband was losing all my money. And I was in psycho analysis three times a week, I never talked to him about money. Because my ego said never talk about money, never talk about money. So you have to understand all these old voices and the ego. It's not the truth. It's a lie. And that's what's keeping you back. So the idea is, you can't quiet the ego. You have to find a way to say thank you for sharing, and then tune in to your soul. And your soul is your is the direct contact with the divine with your highest truth with your highest purpose. And you need to get quiet to listen to yourself. You need to do you need to be in stillness, which is hard for people, but to listen to your soul, and that is where your truth and your purpose and the way forward resides.

Jamila Souffrant 29:35

Yeah, yeah. And And the thing about it is so you talk about this again, in the book, you say that the softer side of talking about money is often kind of looked down on like, you know, people need the tools and give them the tools and like the direct instruction, and in a world dominated which maybe I'm in a bubble because I see so many women with platforms now in money. I'm like, oh, there's I feel like there's so many more women in the space. But really, I do feel like sometimes people just like, okay, inspiration is not enough motivation is not enough. I'm lucky. But you know what, I think that actually is the biggest motivating factor on providing change, because the budget, the templates, the tools, they're there, they're there for people. I want to get into that a bit. Because people sometimes discount like the feeling, just feeling good fit and what that does for someone.

Barbara Huson 30:26

So I remember when I was writing one of my books, and a poster for a big polling company there was doing a big survey a study on women and money for one of the major financial firms and brokerage houses. And I remember he called was kind of picking my brain about women and money. And one day when he called he just come back from a focus group, where they were, he had a bunch of women talking about money. And I said, What did you learn at this focus group, and this was a while ago, and he said, Oh, my God, it's such an emotional subject for women. And I thought, Well, duh. But the, the financial industry is very male oriented, very male oriented. There are so many women like yourself, now, going into financial education, and there are women in the financial industry, but it is very male oriented. And so much of the financial education is geared towards men. And dealing with emotions, is considered touchy feely. And it's very, men can very be very condescending about that, because men are very out of touch, generally speaking with their emotions. So yeah, it's very important. So for me getting smart or smarter about money, because it never ends. It's really a four pronged process as this thing was three, but now it's four. And that is what I call the outer work of wealth, the inner work of wealth, the higher work of wealth, and the deeper work of wealth. And the outer work of wealth is you know, understanding the difference between a stock and a bond and how to do retirement planning, and how to negotiate a raise, and all those things which are very important. But if like me, you get stuck on the outer work, then it's really important to go to the inner work, looking at your attitudes, beliefs, and early decisions you made about yourself and money that may be holding you back.

And there's the higher work because, honestly, once women are financially stable, once we have a roof over our head, and food on the table, once we have enough, very few of us are motivated by more money, we want to I mean, we want to make more money, no question, I want to make more money, but what motivates us is wanting to help others wanting to make a difference. And that's what I call the higher work. So sometimes to get women motivated. The financial industry tends to rely on fear, oh my god, 90% of the women are going to be single and have to manage money, all these fear based messages. But really, what motivates us is the higher work I believe we are all here for a purpose, we are all here to do what God put us here to do. And we can't do that work if we're struggling to make ends meet. And so the higher work is really looking at why you're here, how you need to serve and how you can use money to support that. And then there's that deeper work of wealth which is the mind body connection, which is understanding how the mind and the brain work together to rewire. To create the life you want to live.

Jamila Souffrant 33:41

Yeah, and this this there wasn't let me this year I'm saying make millions help millions and give millions.

Barbara Huson 33:48

So what happened? Yes. So what happened is after I wrote my third book, which was overcoming under earning and I was making six figures and I had been for quite a few years. One night I woke up like just straight up in bed the middle of the night. And I had this new goal I want to make millions help millions give millions. And that led to my fourth book which is sacred success a course in financial miracles

Jamila Souffrant 34:14

wow and you know I like purposely if you put you put make millions first I'm assuming because the not wanting to seem greedy or all about money would want to say Oh, I should put helped millions First I want to like lead with helping people first and then I'll make money and then I'll give it but I like actually reading this again like purposely make money is the first thing and making money. Yeah.

Barbara Huson 34:41

It's like what do they tell you on an airplane? I mean, I know it's been a long time since I've been on an airplane but it's always put your mask on first. Because if you don't take care of yourself you're no shape to take care of others

Jamila Souffrant 34:51

yeah and and a lot of us know this right? I know this I know you listening you know this like just on a surface level but the blocks that come in in terms of making more money, because you don't want to seem like you're taking advantage of anyone, you know, like, there's all these, especially I think, as a business owner, and even if maybe you are in within a corporate environment and you work for like a boss or manager and you go and ask for a raise, you know, like, there's these thoughts about what people perceive of you for having money. And so you have to lead with no, no, it's not about making money, I just want to help people which you can do both. It doesn't have to be either.

Barbara Huson 35:26

What's under that is something that's very unhealthy. Under that is a devaluing of yourself, that other people's opinions are more important, that money is bad, and will make you look bad. But there's a devaluing of yourself. And that's where we women get in trouble. We devalue ourselves, get give away our time, our knowledge, our experience for free or bargain prices, because we don't believe we're worth more. And the trouble with that is that it always leads to resentment. Eventually, it always leads to resentment, which is not good for our mental health, or physical health. And it's not good for our relationships, either. I rather see. People value I want to see a woman value herself. I ended when I interviewed six and seven figure women, I always asked them, Why are you doing what you're doing for the money? Everyone but two have 154 said, No, I'm not doing what I'm doing for the money. I'm doing it for the passion. I'm doing it for the recognition. I'm doing it for for the challenge.

But, and here's what got me. But I damn well want to be well compensated because I know I'm worth it. And that is what leads to financial self efficacy. efficacy, is when we have to believe we are worth it.

Jamila Souffrant 36:57

Hmm, that cell speaks to me. They really does. And I know Yeah.

Barbara Huson 37:03

I even interviewed for my overcoming under earning book, a preacher, a minister. And she said, I always tell my congregants, you get don't give to the church first, give to your family first give to you first, you make sure you are solid. And then you give to the church. You don't hear that very often. But she understood that of protecting yourself and your family.

Jamila Souffrant 37:29

And you know, the resentment that you talk about, that can come in the form of you know, you're in your job that you're earning, you're not getting paid your worth. It can come in your business to your client, it can come to just the way you now are putting work out into the world. And it's a self fulfilling prophecy where you're maybe not doing as much or your best because of the resentment.

Barbara Huson 37:47

But I do I believe God does not want us to struggle. God does not want us to devalue ourselves. It is, okay, if I talk about God,

Jamila Souffrant 37:57

yeah, yeah.

Barbara Huson 37:58

Because I mean, whatever you believe in God, but there is a higher power, there's a greater intelligence out there that put us on this planet. And we are not meant to struggle, and we can serve others better. If we are financially secure, and financially stable. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our families, we owe it to the world. And whoever said money is bad is wrong. It's a lie. Money is not bad. And money's not good. Money can't shoot a gun money can't bandage a wound. What's bad is the lack of self love. And it's the lack of self love. The creates the bad in the world.

Jamila Souffrant 38:42

Amazing. I mean, okay, so for someone listening, what is other than picking up your book? What is something that they can start doing? Like, you know, I like to make things actionable for people listening. And if they're noticing, right, that they are lacking some of these qualities and or self sabotaging themselves under earning, not really just demanding their worth? What are some things right now, I know you already talked about rewiring, and it's like about reframing and you know, those process but what's something else that they can do around us? And a behavior that they have that they know that needs to change? Like, what's something they can do right now, like after listening

Barbara Huson 39:23

Two things, Can I do two things?

Jamila Souffrant 39:25

Yeah, to fine.

Barbara Huson 39:26

Sure. It's really important to think I'm going to tell you really quick and then do what you're scared to do. And surround yourself with support. Because success in anything, whether it's making more money or losing more weight, it always lies just outside our comfort zone. And the number one requirement for going to the next level is the willingness to be uncomfortable. And always, always success lies. It's like I have this quote by Joseph Campbell. The cave you fear to enter is where your treasure lies. So my kids who are always in who are in their 30s and 40s. Now, they always call me when they get stuck or confused, or they're not happy about something. And they always say, what should I do? And they know exactly what I'm going to tell them. But they always say, what should I do? And I say, What are you most scared to do? And they tell me, and I say, that's what you need to do. So do what you're scared when I know what you fear. It's what I call the stretch. It's what I learned from successful women. You do what you're scared to do. And that's how you succeed at the same time. That's scary as hell. So it's important to surround yourself with support to kind of push. Stay away from the naysayers from the pessimists from the worrywarts. They're not bad people, they're just scared. And you become who you're with, to spend time with people who are cheering you on. Look for role models for people who are doing what you're scared to do. Just surround yourself with support.

Unknown Speaker 41:04

So those two things.

Jamila Souffrant 41:07

Can you talk about, Some times that you done the scary thing that pushed you to the next level in your career, I'd love to hear that.

Barbara Huson 41:15

Oh, my whole life. I am always doing things that scare me. Oh my god. Every book I have ever written scares the bejesus out of me. There is okay, let's just take my,every book. But let's take my last book. I started writing it. I read all this stuff. I read all about it. For four years, I worked on this, trying it out testing it out. So I went to write my proposal. Everything in my brain said you are so stupid. No one's gonna read this. My father always used to tell me that your stupid opinion. And sure enough, my brains that that's your stupid opinion. And I was so scared.

And I worked on rewiring, I was so scared. But I knew my soul wanted me to do this. My soul gave me all this information. And I did it. And I did it. I had to go through this with eight books. And if I ever write another book, which right now this is so fresh, I always say I'm never going to write another book. And my husband always says, Yes, you are. But if I ever do it, I know it's going to have to I will be scared and do it anyway. And just like this last project I was terrified to do. And I worked on rewiring it. That's, that's a way I have a, I have this thing on my desk, scare yourself every day, surround yourself with support and make a difference in the world. And that's why I scare myself. So I can make a difference. At least one person's life.

Jamila Souffrant 42:38

Yeah, yeah. And you said even in the book that, um, when you opened up about like your spiritual kind of like work with money, you were scared about how people were perceived that.

Barbara Huson 42:48

So spiritual was a very big part of my own process, especially Of course, in miracles, which is spiritual text. It was a huge part. But I never told anybody I never wrote about it never talked about it. And finally, after I had this epiphany that I wanted to make millions helped millions and give millions. And I was going to, I decided I'm going to write about how spirituality a lot with practical finance, along with a psychology really aided me in becoming financially savvy, and scared to death. Scared to death. I'm always scared to Mila. I'm always scared.

Jamila Souffrant 43:29

I love and I know. So I'm getting so much benefit from this because there are some things seemed like you were, you know, there are certain things that I probably while I do share a lot. And I'm open, there are some things where I'm just like, Oh, I don't know, you know, if I can want to share this just yet. And do I know how to communicate this in a way that makes sense that not that I need to defend? But if someone says, Wait a second, why do you think that's like it'd be helpful, you know, there's, there's just I know, for me, there's some unlearning of, despite where I am now, if I share even more of these things like and nothing's something like crazy, but it's just like, just just my day to day, you know, how I process things would even be more impactful. But it's also like, okay, but you have to be like, willing to, like, put it out there and not be so afraid of any thoughts or opinions on other people?

Barbara Huson 44:20

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that second part, no, no, no. You can be afraid. There's no such thing as fearless at least for women in the world of work, and building our business, you can be afraid. I'm always afraid. I really am. I'm always afraid how people think. But I have a higher power. And I have a higher purpose. And that is that I want to serve. And and I don't know you gotta just take baby steps. Look, it took me how many years of reading how many books to like 10 people. The spiritual part was a big big part. You do what you can do what you can.

Jamila Souffrant 44:57

Yeah, yeah, I love this. Okay. So Barbara, please tell everyone where they can pick up your latest book, find out more about your work and just follow you.

Barbara Huson 45:06

So, my, my website's a really good place to start. It's Barbara-Huson. Barbara- Huson, I always say hyphen, because it's, you know, be alliteration, Barbar-huson, but there's a dash because people don't know either. Barbara-huson.com. And there's just a lot of information on there. And, and I also, and my book is now for pre sale, everywhere, Amazon, Barnes and Noble everywhere. You can get it for presale. And it goes on sale, I think January, the beginning of January.

Jamila Souffrant 45:41

And the book again, say the Title One more time,

Barbara Huson 45:45

"Rewire for wealth: Three Steps any woman can take to program her brain for financial success"

Jamila Souffrant 45:51

Yes, and I will link all that we can get it follow up with you and the episode show notes. But this was an amazing conversation. I hope that this really was impactful for others as it was for me.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed that episode with Barbara Hewson. And you got some really, really good takeaways, you know, my goal for this podcast is not only to inspire you, and I get tons of messages, I love when I get these messages of people just listening to the podcast that how you've been able to apply what you learn, right? So I want you to be inspired, I want you to have that fuel in you as you listen, this is part of it. But I want you to take action, whether that is you know, looking into the guest, let's say a guest resonated with you and their book resonated with you go ahead, do not delay, go buy that book, there's a course or a program or something that you can get right now, that's gonna take you to the next level, take some action, there is a you know, article that you need to read, there's a budget you need to make, take that action, take the action, don't let the momentum just slip away. And you know, you put it off to another day. So I'm hoping you got a lot of action steps from this interview with Barbara Hewson, I really really enjoyed what she had to say and and super honored that she was on the podcast. And just, you know, as a quick aside, I wanted to just like, share this little story before the episode like before we taped the episode, you know, I always chat with guests before I press record. And one thing is that, you know, that stood out for me with Barbara is that she actually listened to the podcast, you know, she was like, you know, I checked out your podcasts before I came on. And you know, I really enjoy your interview style. And you know, you really are good at what you do. And it was great. Because typically, you know, especially with someone like Barbara who has such a long history, and it's probably done a million interviews, you know, like, typically, like guests aren't as you know, researching me as the interviewer. And so I love that even at a current stage in this game, she was doing her due diligence on me. And that actually, if you're listening, Barbara actually made me kind of nervous because I was like, Oh, so now I have to like really do well, I don't want to disappoint Barbara with my interview skills. So Barbara, I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. And of course, don't forget to pick up Barbara's book, "Rewire for wealth: Three Steps any woman can take to program her brain for financial success" It should be out now it says it'll be out in January. So we're in January. So go get that book.

Now it is time for DCU's money tip of the week where I share with you a quick money tip win resource that you can use to further your journey to financial freedom and your money goals. So this tip is about how you can earn more money with the money you already have. Okay, let me explain. I want you to reevaluate your current checking and savings accounts. For other competitive interest rates and options. Find out what you're currently earning as interest on your bank account now and shop around for better rates so that you can earn money on the money you already have. For example, DCU has an earn more feature as part of its free checking account that offers a competitive interest rate up to $25,000 in your account, you can compare that to most other banking options and see if making the switch makes sense to you. Again, you don't need to have more money to earn more money, but you may be getting a better competitive interest rate somewhere else by simply moving the money you already have. Just make sure it makes sense for you. Okay, for more tips and resources to help you on your money journey, check out dcu.org

If you want to check out the episodes show notes, that's where you can get links to anything that's mentioned and even get a transcribed version of this episode that you can read and go to journeytolaunch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode.

If you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One make you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen. Whether that's Apple podcasts, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you are not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this and Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there, I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And I love love love interacting with journeyers there. Three support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here. So show them some love for supporting your girl. Four, and last but not least, share this episode this podcast with a friend or family member or co worker so that we can spread the message of journey to launch. Alright, that's it until next week, keep on journeying journeyers